Sunday Times (UK)
SUNDAY JANUARY 13 2002
Queen expresses her anger over
Mugabe ‘tyranny’
CHRISTOPHER MORGAN AND TOM WALKER
THE Queen has privately expressed disappointment, dismay and
“intense annoyance” at Zimbabwe’s slide towards tyranny under President Robert
Mugabe.
A member of the royal household said yesterday that the Queen had
received first-hand accounts of the increasing anarchy that is forcing hundreds
of white farmers to abandon Zimbabwe as Mugabe pushes through a programme of
land redistribution.
The Queen is also said to be disturbed by the country’s political crisis,
which intensified last week after new legislation went before Zimbabwe’s
parliament making it a crime punishable by two years in prison to “denigrate”
the president. “She is dismayed,” said the royal household source.
Senior Commonwealth officials, who have already taken steps to ensure that
the Queen does not meet Mugabe at a heads of government summit in Australia in
March, said she was “intensely annoyed” by events in Zimbabwe.
Desmond Tutu, the former South African archbishop, yesterday described
Mugabe as power mad, saying he had gone “bonkers in a big way” and had placed
Zimbabwe on a “slippery slope to perdition”.
While the Queen is always careful to avoid making any public statement that
may cause controversy, the willingness of household and Commonwealth sources to
convey her private views about Zimbabwe suggests the depth of her concern.
Mugabe’s crackdown on opposition groups and the independent press during
the run- up to the presidential elections to be held on March 9 and 10 is
causing growing alarm in the Commonwealth.
Ministers from an eight- nation action group who will meet at the end of
January are likely to recommend Zimbabwe’s suspension from the councils of the
Commonwealth. But no final decision will be taken before the Commonwealth summit
in Brisbane, a few days before Zimbabwe’s elections.
Officials say that if Mugabe attends, the Queen’s aides will ensure that he
is not photographed near her. She usually hosts a banquet at such summits,
greeting each head of government personally. On this occasion, however, she will
be a guest at a banquet to honour her golden jubilee and will not be obliged to
talk to Mugabe.
The Queen last visited Zimbabwe in 1991 and Mugabe’s most recent state
visit to Britain was in 1994. Diplomats in Harare said Mugabe still had a high
regard for her, despite his quarrels with her government.
“Ironically, her knowledge of Zimbabwe stems from the successful state
visits,” said the royal source. “The Queen is as concerned for the future of
black Zimbabweans as she is for the white farmers.”
On the campaign trail yesterday, Mugabe shrugged off the international
criticism and attacked Tony Blair, saying he had lied about the situation in
Zimbabwe. “Mr Blair, don’t be a liar, a Bliar,” Mugabe said.
Zimbabwean officials, including a delegation of ministers who held talks in
Brussels last week, have repeatedly accused Britain of interfering in their
country’s affairs.
European Union leaders, however, are considering a series of sanctions
understood to be favoured by Britain. They include measures to freeze the assets
of senior Zimbabwean officials and visa restrictions that would effectively bar
Mugabe from EU countries.
Media invitation to trial of Chinhoyi 24
12 August 2002
Please note that the trial of the 24 men on
charges of public violence is due to be heard on Monday 14 January 2002 at the
Harare Magistrates Court in Rotten Row, Harare at 10 am.
We are
led to believe that the Prosecutor is seeking to apply for a postponement.
The courtroom is very small and should you wish to cover
proceedings you are advised to come early.
Thank you
Herewith some background information
The 24 farmers are facing
charges of assaulting a group of invaders in a public place although the
incident occurred on Linton Shields Farm, owned by Mr. Hamish
Barkley.
Events unfolded on the 6 August, when farmers in the
Chinhoyi district received a distress call to assist the Barkley family who were
barricaded in their house after seeing a group of 40 persons brandishing axes
and sticks.
A confrontation ensued and several occupiers and four
or five farmers - were injured, one seriously enough to be hospitalised.
The Mashonaland West region has over 250 farms, mostly wheat and
livestock.
For more information please contact
Jenni Williams
Public Relations Newsmakers
Tel: 011 213 885 / 091 300 456
Email:
prnews@telconet.co.zw /
jennipr@mweb.co.zw
Zimbabwe Standard
Security forces defy
chefs
By our own Staff
SECURITY forces say they are ready to
serve any candidate constitutionally
elected by the people of Zimbabwe in the
presidential election scheduled for
9 and 10 March.
In an interview
with The Standard last week, several members of the Zimbabwe
National Army
(ZNA), the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and the Central
Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) dismissed outright a statement by the
defence forces
commander, General Vitalis Zvinavashe—on behalf of the entire
National Arms
of State Security—in which he hinted at a coup if the
opposition won the
election.
A CIO deputy director said it was clear that President Mugabe,
who is also
the defence forces commander-in-chief, had sanctioned the
statement by
Zvinavashe.
“We know he was told to deliver a speech
along those lines to cause chaos
and panic ahead of the election. But this
will instead turn against them.
“They should know that not everyone in
the force can be of the same
political opinion as they are. In any case, they
are forgetting that they
are under a constitutional obligation to respect the
outcome of the
election,” said the deputy director.
A colonel in the
ZNA said a huge divide existed in the army with the many
educated young Turks
preferring a change in government, while those employed
for their allegiance
to the ruling party were determined to maintain the
status
quo.
“Unfortunately for the commanders, many of us consider
ourselves
professional soldiers who will serve this country in accordance
with the
constitution. So any coup plotters will find themselves isolated,”
he said.
Another soldier, who is a captain, said Zvinavashe’s statement
represented
the sentiments of the few individuals who had benefited from the
corruption
now rife within the ranks.
“The majority of us are
suffering like all other innocent Zimbabweans. We
cannot be expected to
support a government which thrives on terror, because
after all they are
brutalising our parents and raping our sisters. We are
ready to defend the
change that people vote for,” said the captain.
Said a senior police
officer: “We all know why those chefs are saying what
they said on Wednesday.
They are political appointees and a new government
will mean the end of their
jobs, so I am not surprised. But don’t mistake
that to be the general mood of
the uniformed forces, especially the police.
Police officers are a
disgruntled lot. Our conditions are poor and the
remuneration is pathetic.
Even the much talked about 100% pay rise will mean
nothing to us. A constable
gets $13 500 a month and you expect that person
to support Mugabe?”
A
police sergeant said Zvinavashe’s statement had not surprised him
since
Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri had declared himself a Zanu PF
member.
“It also shows why those suspected of being MDC sympathisers are
being
victimised in the ZRP. It is the people who will decide who will occupy
the
office of the president, not the service chiefs,” he added.
Zanu
PF is now using the controversial statement by the service chief to
its
advantage in the rural areas where, in a two-pronged
misinformation
campaign, it is telling peasant farmers that the MDC has been
banned by the
army, while on the other hand discouraging people from voting
for a party
not supported by either the military or the
police.
President Mugabe, 77, faces the biggest challenge of his
political life from
the MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai,
49.
Zimbabwe Standard
War vets leader warns
Msika
By Chengetai Zvauya
VICE president Joseph Msika has
come under attack from the war veterans’
secretary for security, Mike Moyo,
who accuses him of corruptly siding with
commercial farmers whose land had
been acquired under the government’s
fast-track land reform
programme.
Moyo told The Standard that Mayfield Farm in Mazowe had been
given to both
himself and Zanu PF’s Harare provincial vice chairman, Chris
Pasipamire, but
they were having difficulties moving on to the farm because
of the
protection the owner, whom he identified as Stewart, was receiving
from
Msika and home affairs minister, John Nkomo.
Moyo said the farm
was allocated to them after being acquired by government
last
month.
“I am not happy with Msika because he is promoting corruption.
What he is
doing is upsetting us as war veterans. As our leader, he is
supposed to be
exemplary in his behaviour. Msika is using state machinery to
protect the
farmer whose farm was designated and he is using the law and
order section
of the state to harass us,” said Moyo.
The war veteran
said he would organise the war vets in a demonstration
against Msika’s double
standards on the land question.
“Zvekutyityidzirwa zvakapera (They can’t
intimidate us any more). This white
farmer is refusing to leave and he
(Msika) is being supported by John Nkomo
and a central intelligence officer
called Mangono. If there is no
improvement we are going to tell the people
that the land exercise is a
gimmick and we are going to demonstrate. We are
not going to allow ourselves
to be used anymore.” Msika’s secretary said he
did not wish to comment.
Zimbabwe Standard
Lavish reception for
Mugabes
By our own Staff
EMBATTLED President Robert Mugabe
and his wife, Grace, received an elaborate
welcome dinner at Le Royal
Meridien Hotel in Bangkok during his recent trip
to Thailand. This came as a
relief from the political turmoil the president
is facing in
Zimbabwe.
According to wire reports from the Far Eastern country, a
five-course
banquet with Thai traditional dancers was held on the night of 4
January and
was hosted by Kriengsak Chareonwongsak, the executive director of
the
Institute of Future Studies for Development.
In an after-dinner
speech, Mugabe, said he had been “pleasantly surprised”
at the warm reception
extended to him and that he had least expected to be
“exposed to such
tremendous friendship” on such a visit.
This is the president’s second
visit to Thailand in three months. Aside from
talks on forging trade with
Thailand, no firm agreements emerged.
Clad in a formal dinner suit,
Mugabe told about 100 prominent businessmen
and politicians that he was
looking at “opportunities to be pursued later.”
“I want to assure you
that Zimbabwe is an appropriate destination for
investment capital. Despite
all that’s said about me and my country, the
fact that I’m here speaks well
of what we are doing,” said the 77-year-old
president, in reference to what
he called “foreign disinformation campaigns
mounted by developed countries”
such as the US and Britain.
Zimbabwe Standard
Chinotimba orders release of Zanu PF
militias
By our own Staff
SELF proclaimed commander of farm
invasions, Joseph Chinotimba, has secured
the release from police custody of
approximately 40 Zanu PF militias
arrested for violence, The Standard has
learnt.
Police sources at Kuwadzana’s Blue Base said the youths from
Mount Darwin
were arrested two weeks ago for malicious injury to property and
for the
looting of property belonging to residents of Kuwadzana and
Kuwadzana
Extension.
Chinotimba arrived at the base in a cream Mazda
twin cab vehicle and told
officers that he had orders “from the top” to have
the youths released. The
sources said when the officers checked with the
provincial headquarters they
were told to comply.
The youths are part
of a large group which has been moving from suburb to
suburb terrorising
Harare residents since the beginning of the year.
Zanu PF has launched a
door-to-door campaign in Harare in a bid to coerce
the urban electorate to
vote for President Robert Mugabe in the forthcoming
election.
The party
lost heavily in the capital in last year’s
parliamentary
elections.
War veterans and Zanu PF youth militia
members are descending on residents
demanding that they produce party
membership cards.
The militias, trained under the recently launched
national youth service,
besieged Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital on Tuesday and
harassed members of
staff and patients.The youths were camped at the hospital
waiting for their
colleagues who were undergoing treatment for injuries
sustained during
clashes in the town earlier in the week.
Meanwhile,
it has emerged that members of the militia are being paid by Zanu
PF to carry
out their campaign of terror. But the minister of Youth
Development, Gender
and Employment Creation, Elliot Manyika, largely
considered the brains behind
the the campaign, denied the youths were being
paid.
“The youths are
not paid but the government does provide them with basic
training and
survival and practical skills. So it’s not true that they are
getting any
allowances from us,” said Manyika.
Zimbabwe Standard
Lawyers blast army boss
By
our own Staff
THE Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) has blasted the commander of
the Defence
Forces, Vitalis Zvinavashe, for threatening to stage a coup if an
opposition
candidate wins the Presidential election in March.
In a
statement, LSZ president, Stanford Moyo, said it was the right of
people to
choose a president of their choice and commissioned officers were
free to
resign if they found themselves unable to serve under a
certain
president.
“Whilst we accept the right of commissioned
officers to resign their
commissions in the event of a feeling on their part
that they are unable to
render loyal service under a particular President and
thereby avoid saluting
him, it must be pointed out that for as long as they
retain their
commissions, they are under a constitutional obligation to
observe the oaths
of their offices, the constitution and other laws of
Zimbabwe,” said Moyo.
Moyo said the power to choose a president is vested
in all adult Zimbabweans
who should vote for a candidate of their choice in a
free and fair election
without being coerced.
Moyo said the major
objective of the liberation struggle was to create a
democratic, non racial,
and just society in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe Standard
Local Insight—Fear fills the election
road
By Chenjerai Hove
When we were young in the 50s, we used
to be warned against going anywhere
near the police or the district
commissioner. We used to be in charge of
hiding the dogs for which dog tax
had not been paid. We would go into the
hills and hide, holding the mouth of
the dog so that it would not bark
inconveniently.
In those days, the
police were a serious instrument of fear among the
citizens and now, I hear
that the armed forces and the police have had their
salaries doubled in order
that they can improve their capacity to instil
fear.
I can only hope
that the army and police know better than that. They will, I
hope, refuse to
be used for party political work and resort to serving the
people, defending
the citizens and upholding the rule of law.
What is happening now is a
disgrace to our police and army who are being
retrained to break the laws
they are supposed to be upholding. If this
continues, our police and army
would have to be retrained in the business of
upholding the law instead of
what they are being forced to do now.
Instilling fear in the hearts and
minds of the people is not a fruitful
exercise. The people have the right to
be free of fear, free to choose the
leaders they want to map the way to their
destiny.
On being asked what a blacksmith was, a rural woman first sought
assurance
that she would not be arrested before saying: “A blacksmith is
Bishop Abel
Muzorewa.”
That was when the Bishop went into the Smith
government and was associated
with the fear which Ian smith instilled in the
hearts of the citizens.
The question is: were this question to be asked
today, to the same woman or
to another, the answer might focus on our
President Robert Mugabe and his
militias.
The habit of sowing fear in the
land is a double-edged sword. A youth who is
taught to plant fear in the
hearts of others is actually being taught to
instil fear in his own heart.
The fear begins to weigh heavily in the hearts
of the young whose parents are
hoodwinked into believing that their children
are learning useful work skills
when in fact they are being taught how to
destroy Zimbabwe.
Those who
plant seeds of fear also harvest fruits of fear. Those familiar
with affairs
in Latin America will remember the fate of Pinochet. Parents in
Chile used to
warn their naughty children that if they continued to
misbehave, Pinochet
would come and swallow them, whereupon the children
immediately began to
behave themselves.
We had a similar experience when we were growing up.
If you were naughty,
the parents would warn that a monstrous beast would come
and swallow us
whole. This beast was called dhundundu or zinhu. Once warned,
we would find
ourselves having sleepless nights and behaving ourselves rather
well. But
what I know is that we never liked this dhundundu at all. We hated
it.
The folklore beast had instilled fear in our hearts and minds and
even
today, we don’t like dhundundu at all.
Creative as the rural
people and those from the township are, I think they
have found another
dhundundu in the newly trained Zanu PF militias in their
green
fatigues.
Zanu PF will surely harvest the fear they are planting in the
souls of the
weak members of our society, people who only look to the state
for
protection and defence from any attack. Now they are weaker—poor,
neglected,
and in danger of being killed every day.
The planting of
fear simply leads to the harvest of fear. Remember how in
Macbeth, the
Shakespearian play, Macbeth was worried to death over the fact
that he had
created fear and hatred and would harvest these in old age
rather than
love.
The new laws being put in place in our country smell of worse
dictatorship
and tyranny than was the case in some eastern countries. They
actually make
the president equal to God in many ways. To think that an
executive
president cannot be criticised is beyond imagination. What we know
is that
people even criticise God in times of crisis.
I have always
said that dictatorship is, indeed, old fashioned. But
unfortunately, it has
descended on us in broad daylight.
A friend of mine was arguing with me
over why I was so critical of the
current government. I told him clearly that
at the moment there was very
little to praise in a political party which
embarked on killing people and
instilling fear so it could be voted back into
power.
Oh yes, now we know that Zanu PF ndeye ropa. Unfortunately, that
blood is
the blood of the citizens of a nation which expects upright
political
leadership instead of death.
The imagination of the ruling
party leaders must go beyond current political
power to the history of the
future. Every sensible politician must ask
himself how he will be remembered
after death. It is sad to think that some
politician’s graves will overflow
with verbal curses and human sputum.
Real power is not measured in terms
of how many innocent people a political
party has killed but rather, in terms
of how many people are saved from
unnecessary death through good governance
and compassionate leadership.
As far as the 2002 election is concerned, I
see fear and innumerable corpses
strewing the road to the ballot box. I
continue to wonder why African
politicians cannot understand the concept of a
clean election in which no
one throws even a single pebble at their election
opponents.
• Chenjerai Hove is a renowned Zimbabwean
writer.
Zimbabwe Standard
Political prospects for
2002
with Chido Makunike
OVER the holiday, I spent an
afternoon with an ardent Zanu PF member and
staunch supporter of President
Mugabe in his re-election bid. He castigated
me for being “against Mugabe”
and for giving comfort to the MDC and their
“imperialist
supporters”.
I protested that I was not “against Mugabe” as such,
although I did admit
that I thought he was a spent force as far as national
problem-solving ideas
were concerned, and that he needed to retire for the
sake of Zimbabwe. My
criticisms of him have been based mainly on his refusal
to let go of power
despite the bankruptcy of his ideas and his blatant
inconsistencies. Any
comfort Mugabe’s political opponents may gain from my
criticism of him is
purely coincidental.
An embarrassing example of
Mugabe’s confusion came in the last few weeks of
2001, when he fulminated
against the European Union’s expressed wish to send
observers to the
presidential election in March. Tough-talking Mugabe
disabused the EU of any
such notions when talking of how he would not be
comfortable about “some
white men” coming to observe the election. It might
have been crudely
expressed, in vintage Mugabe style, but I happen to agree
with him that the
EU has often been heavy-handed in its self-appointed role
as arbiter of
democracy, as shown by its offensively premature declaration
of Anderson
Mazoka as the winner of Zambia’s presidential election last
week.
What
I thought was hilarious though, was how, within days of Mugabe telling
off
the “white men” of the EU, he apparently felt a little irritation in his
eye,
and promptly flew off to Spain, as European a country as any, to
reportedly
have his eye attended to, presumably by a white man! He scoffs at
the idea of
whites—whom he rightly suspects would be sympathetic to the
opposition, if
only because of his anti-white raving of the last few
years—monitoring or
observing the election, but when it comes to an itch in
his eye, it is only
these “white men” he trusts with attending to it! This
would seem to speak
volumes of his lack of confidence in his country’s
health-care system, which
his government has admittedly brought to the brink
of collapse.
What
do those of us who cannot simply commandeer national air planes and
large
amounts of foreign currency to go abroad for treatment do when we
get
sick?
Secondly, is rushing to Europe, rather than to local,
internationally
acclaimed private eye care specialists—one of whom is about a
stone’s throw
away from the presidential palace—not evidence of a pitiful
colonial
mentality? One of Africa’s most disgraceful failures is in looking
to Europe
and the West for everything, including inspiration, while whining
about
ill-treatment at the hands of those very same quarters.
To my Zanu
PF pal, I say, if pointing out this kind of inconsistency is what
you
perceive to be “attacking Mugabe”, then too damn bad.
My Zanu PF buddy
also took me to task over my obsession with presidential
propagandist
Jonathan Moyo, and asked me to go easy on him in the New Year.
To this charge
I pleaded guilty, as I find Moyo an entertaining, fascinating
character.
Although some people think I am a detractor of Moyo, I am
actually his number
one fan.
I find him to be a tremendous inspiration, and a cure for
writer’s block.
There are many times when I do not know how to start or end
an article, then
Moyo comes to my rescue with one of his ridiculously over
the top, bombastic
statements.
Suddenly the ideas are flowing again.
In the run up to the presidential
election, whose outcome will have
wide-ranging repercussions for his own
future, I know he will be in fine
form, and will not let me down. Keep on
keeping on, Jonathan!
I am, in
the meantime, far from starry-eyed about the Movement for
Democratic Change.
Most people I know will vote for Tsvangirai in March, but
I am not expecting
any miracles from him. I will dutifully go to the polls,
but not with any
great enthusiasm. As glad as I would be to see Mr Mugabe
unceremoniously
boo-ted out of office electorally, Mr Tsvangirai has
absolutely failed to
inspire me. I would be happy and relieved if in the
event of his winning, he
proved me wrong and turned out to be a dynamic
president.
But even if
he loses and sinks into oblivion, he will have still done an
important
national service in getting Mugabe off his high horse and scaring
him like no
one has ever done before.
I have said before, and I will repeat here,
that I think our problems are
long term, developmental ones not amenable to
simple sloganeering or quick
fixes. I also no longer believe that politicians
are necessarily the people
most critical to the solutions, although I agree
that enlightened rulers are
one of several key ingredients to getting on the
road to those solutions.
Regardless of what calibre of ruling party the MDC
turns out to be, if
Tsvangirai wallops Mugabe in March, it would be an
important step in our
political development to get accustomed to the idea
that politicians and
ruling parties come and go. It would be a necessary
transition away from the
nauseating Zanu PF idea that they are somehow
ordained to rule for ever,
despite their being so incompetent.
Some
astonishing signs of that incompetence are the continuing reports from
all
over the country of Zanu PF orchestrated beatings. In this day and age,
they
still haven’t figured out that the beating and scaring of people is not
the
way to win their votes. There was a time when this might have worked,
but we
have gone beyond that stage in our political consciousness. The
crude, inept
managers of the Zanu PF campaign appear to be oblivious of
this, turning
thousands more people into the arms of their opponents every
day.
The
next few months will be very interesting.
From The Sunday Times (UK), 13 January
Voters hide their loathing of regime
"Forward with the People and Mugabe Forever", reads the
president’s election slogan. The voters do not agree. Only 23% say they want
Robert Mugabe’s rule to continue; a mere 17% say they believe his Zanu-PF party
will remain in power "forever", writes RW Johnson. The findings emerged from a
national survey of 1,900 Zimbabwean voters, which I carried out last November
with Gallup. It was the sixth such survey I have conducted in two years, and it
has been noticeable that, as the weight of repression has increased, so has the
number of voters wishing to hide their opinions. It is now almost meaningless to
ask voters directly whom they want to support. In Bulawayo, one of the
strongholds of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), 55% refused
to answer this question. The figure rose to 74% in Harare. Pollsters are used to
assuming that most of those who say "don’t know" are probably non-voters - but
this is not true in Zimbabwe. Nearly 90% of those who did not answer nonetheless
said they were determined to vote.
The bare statistics are that, among those willing to state a
preference, Mugabe is ahead by five points. But we found a way of getting people
to say which way they were really leaning. First we asked which were the main
problems facing Zimbabwe. Unemployment, rising prices and the fear of famine
predominated - with just 3% naming the land issue as the most important. We then
asked whose fault these problems were, grouping the government, Zanu-PF and the
war veterans on one side and those who blamed Mugabe scapegoats - including
whites, the MDC, Britain, and the International Monetary Fund - on the other.
Three-quarters of those questioned gave definite answers and anti-government
responses outnumbered supportive ones by 63%-37%.
However, the government is attempting to do something
unprecedented in a formal democracy: to terrify enough people into line to win.
This is what happened in parliamentary elections in June 2000, when 13%-14% of
voters admitted in our exit polls that they had switched their vote to Zanu PF
under duress. The true figure was almost certainly higher. The question is
whether Mugabe can do it again, and whether the world will accept the election
as "free and fair". On the face of it, Mugabe looks bound to lose. When
confronted with his statement that he will "never, ever allow the MDC to rule",
only 13% agreed. Some 64% thought his land reforms would reduce food production.
But repression is making voters sceptical that they will be able to vote the way
they want. Only a third believed that "the will of the people will definitely be
heard".
Business Day
Zim moves to ease EU fears
Zimbabwe has moved to ease EU concerns on civil liberties and electoral
openness, despite more strong rhetoric from President Robert Mugabe who launched
an attack on British leader Tony Blair.
A Zimbabwean delegation
to talks in Brussels said Saturday that Harare had "pledged a full investigation
of alleged political violence and the promotion of a code of conduct for
political parties before the presidential election campaign".
However President Mugabe on Saturday shrugged off international criticism
ahead of elections in March, unleashing a new broadside against Blair and saying
God was on Zimbabwe's side.
The veteran Zimbabwean leader accused
the British Prime Minister of lying about the situation in the country,
where opposition leaders are complaining of violence at the hands of state
forces.
"Mr Blair, don't be a liar, a Bliar," Mugabe told a
meeting of over 5,000 Christians in the capital Harare. "God is on our side."
"My government has been clear in its condemnation of violence," Mugabe said,
in a report carried by the state news agency Ziana. "People should live in
peace. We should not fight each other but contest in the ballot," he said.
"God gave each one of us land and wealth," Mugabe said. "He gave
us Zimbabwe and no aliens should come and dislodge what is rightfully ours."
Mugabe has come under heavy fire in the past week after the passage of tough new
electoral and security laws seen as effectively preventing foreign observers
from monitoring the election, and banning foreign journalists from the country.
Mugabe's draconian measures prompted the European Union to insist
on two "immediate actions" - "the invitation and accreditation of international
election observers, including from the EU," and "full access to national and
international media".
It said its foreign ministers would review
the situation at their next meeting in Brussels on January 28-29. In an apparent
concession the Zimbabwean government hinted that it could allow EU observers to
oversee the polling, although the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) said on Saturday that it was sceptical.
"For our part we
remain sceptical, and wait to see if they'll comply," said Welshman Ncube, the
MDC's secretary-general. "Their sincerity remains in doubt," he said.
Cry, my beloved country
by Dingilizwe Ntuli
Accused by the state of demonising Zimbabwe in his articles, Sunday
Times journalist DINGILIZWE NTULI has been forced to leave the land of his birth
ON WEDNESDAY December 19, I sat down to watch the evening news bulletin,
now popularly known as "Moyo at 8" because of the nightly appearance of
Zimbabwe's Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo.
I felt an eerie sensation creep up my spine upon seeing the Sunday Times
masthead on the headlines.
The cameras zoomed in on my article of December 16, in which I quoted
Home Affairs Minister John Nkomo confirming the presence of troops in
Matabeleland. The article had also stated that the troops were beating
villagers.
My anxiety turned to fear when Moyo, almost frothing at the mouth,
attacked me and the Sunday Times for publishing the report.
He did not dispute its content but accused the paper of attempting to
spread "alarm and despondency" and destabilising the southern African region.
What seemed to have irked Moyo the most was my report that the presence
of the troops had sparked fears of a repeat of the Matabeleland massacres in the
1980s, when President Robert Mugabe's notorious Fifth Brigade killed more than
20 000 people.
The following week, independent newspapers who followed up on the story
were told by villagers in the Lupane, Nkayi and St Lukes districts of
Matabeleland North that army units were harassing them.
The villagers said the soldiers had warned them they would relive the
massacres if they voted for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's
Morgan Tsvangirai in the presidential election.
MPs in the affected areas also complained to Defence Minister Sidney
Sekeramayi in Parliament about the troops' conduct.
But in his television appearance, an angry Moyo did not deal with the
facts but instead accused me and the Sunday Times of provoking ethnic tensions
by attempting to equate the troops' mission in Matabeleland to the Fifth
Brigade.
Moyo - who has lived in South Africa and certainly knows that the
Sunday Times is owned and edited by black South Africans - described me as a
naive young reporter being used by ex-Rhodesian editors to demonise my country.
He warned that the government would speed up legislation to check
operations of the British and "apartheid" press in Zimbabwe.
The same bulletin showed Sekeramayi telling Parliament that the article
was malicious, alarmist, exaggerated and a false representation of facts.
Sekeramayi said troops on the ground were there to ensure that peace
and tranquillity prevailed.
He warned that the army would not stand by and watch while journalists
"made up" stories that compromised state security.
The legislation Moyo was referring to was his Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Bill, expected to be rammed through Parliament this week.
It bans foreigners from working as journalists in Zimbabwe and compels
local journalists and newspapers to apply for "licences" through a committee
headed by Moyo himself.
Those who write critically of Mugabe and his government risk a two-year
jail term.
Clearly, Mugabe's government has a lot to hide and wants its misdeeds to
take place under the cover of darkness.
Having been one of the unfortunate foreign correspondents branded
"terrorists" and "opposition functionaries" by Moyo, I took his and Sekeramayi's
threats seriously.
Journalists from the local independent media had been arrested on
flimsy charges and I was scared of becoming the first "alarm and despondency"
victim of this millennium, after Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto were tortured for
writing about an alleged foiled coup plot in 1999.
Moyo had previously summoned me to his office to warn me about some of
my stories.
He said it baffled him why I, formerly a journalist on the state-run
Herald, had joined a "white-run paper with Rhodesian links".
Flanked by a stern-faced Munyaradzi Hwengwere, then principal press
secretary, and a personal assistant who was jotting down every word, Moyo also
threatened to ban the Sunday Times in Zimbabwe, saying it "denigrated" Mugabe
and the country's leaders. The other two joined in the attack.
I chose to listen and refused to be drawn into an argument with them,
as any conversation with Moyo invariably lands up in his weekly column in the
state newspapers.
When I had to respond, I gave short, non-committal answers.
So after Moyo's bluster on national television that Wednesday night, I
consulted the Sunday Times editors about bringing forward my visit to
Johannesburg for a scheduled training programme.
I left Zimbabwe on December 20 - but before I had even arrived in
Johannesburg, Moyo had summoned all foreign correspondents to tell them to wind
up their operations.
The following week, a group calling itself the Zanu-PF Supporters
Network took out full-page advertisements in the private and state-controlled
media calling for immediate action to be taken against me as I had taken sides
with Rhodesians to demonise the country.
This week, the demise of what was once a promising democracy gathered
momentum as the security chiefs effectively threatened to stage a coup if
Zanu-PF lost the March election.
Things are bound to get worse in months to come.
Despite these restrictions and brutality, people are voicing their anger at
the misery Mugabe has brought on the country.
Skilled workers are leaving for South Africa, Europe and North America.
Unskilled workers are fleeing to take up menial jobs in SA.
Inflation is at 103%, the local currency is 1:250 to the US dollar,
unemployment is at 80% and interest rates are above 65%.
Social services are in a mess and the country is facing food shortages.
Such indicators would point to the downfall of any leader.
But not Mugabe.
He has put in place mechanisms to retain power, including the legal
rigging of the elections.
While the world looks forward to Mugabe's exit in March, realistic
Zimbabweans are already preparing for another six brutal years with him -
barring divine intervention.
For now, one can only cry for a country that once had so much hope.
News24
Mugabe unlikely to change his mind
Cris Chinaka
Blantyre - Southern African leaders meeting on Monday will consider the
deepening Zimbabwe crisis, but analysts say the region has little chance of
coaxing President Robert Mugabe to abandon his fight for re-election.
Countries in the region, accused of standing silent while Zimbabwe slips
into chaos, are under pressure to act decisively and possibly even impose
sanctions against the country.
But a tradition of solidarity in the face of western criticism and a
largely uncoordinated response has undermined the influence of the 14-member
Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc over Mugabe.
"I don't think we are going to get the kind of strong statement suggesting
that Mugabe is now totally isolated in the region, which he is," Zimbabwean
political analyst Brian Raftopoulos said.
"The crisis in Zimbabwe has worsened to the level where SADC should have no
problem in finding a strong voice, but somehow I think ... we might still be
treated to the same mealy-mouthed statements we've been hearing for months."
Black Zimbabwean war veterans have occupied thousands of white-owned farms
across the country since February 2000, fighting what they see as a battle
against lingering colonial injustice.
Nine white farmers have been killed, scores of black farm workers assaulted
and thousands others displaced since the land invasions. Aid organisations have
warned of severe food shortages in rural areas.
Ahead of presidential elections in March, Zimbabwe's parliament has now
passed legislation granting Mugabe's government sweeping security powers.
Trouble ahead
Critics warn that worse lies ahead as Mugabe appears determined to cling to
power.
Zimbabwe's Defence Forces chief General Vitalis Zvinavashe on Wednesday
said heads of the country's security services would not accept a president who
did not fight in the country's 1970s liberation war against white rule.
That is seen as a blow to the hopes of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Mugabe, 77, arrived in Malawi on Saturday in a combative mood, accusing
former colonial power, Britain, of trying to help the MDC into power in the
March election.
In Blantyre, Zimbabwe presidential spokesperson George Charamba said
Mugabe's government would not be treated as if it was on trial.
"This is not going to be a court in which Zimbabwe will be in the dock. All
that is going to happen is that the summit will get an update on political
developments in Zimbabwe on the land issue and on how Zimbabwe is fighting to
retain its rights as a sovereign state," he said.
Malawi President Bakili Muluzi, SADC's chairperson, has called the
extraordinary summit to discuss the Congo, but analysts say the meeting is
likely to be dominated by backroom talks on the deteriorating political
situation in Zimbabwe.
An official briefing on developments in Zimbabwe is scheduled as the third
item on the summit's agenda.
"On the face of it, Zimbabwe might be a peripheral matter, but in effect it
is the most pressing issue for SADC at the moment," said one senior African
diplomat at the summit.
Analysts said except for South Africa the rest of the region is too weak to
confront Mugabe and has no reason to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe when South
African President Thabo Mbeki does not want to be seen as pursuing what Mugabe
calls a white-driven western-sponsored agenda.
SADC is made up of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia,
Mozambique, Botswana, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mauritius,
Swaziland, Seychelles and Zambia.
News24
Pahad: 'Don't be crazy'
Pretoria - There was no alternative to quiet diplomacy to handle the
situation in Zimbabwe, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said on
Sunday.
"We've been working at this for a long time, trying to convince (people)
that what is called quiet diplomacy, there is no alternative to that," he said
at a news conference in Pretoria.
"What is this that everybody is saying South Africa must do that they
themselves are either not doing or not willing to do?"
Some experts quoted in newspaper reports were telling the government to
send an army into Zimbabwe, Pahad said.
"It's a crazy notion...
"Let's try at this very difficult time to assist to take measures that will
help us stabilise the situation."
Pahad said he had not been convinced that anything that had been put on the
table so far needed international authority. Mandatory sanctions could only come
from the United Nations' Security Council.
Effectively sanctions already applied, he said. Almost all foreign aid to
Zimbabwe had ceased and effectively no new aid was coming forth. Investment in
that country was practically frozen, as were exports of Zimbabwean products.
"Any sanctions issues to me just tend to become rhetorical."
The Commonwealth was talking of making it difficult for individuals to
travel, the deputy minister said.
"I never thought that useful."
Regarding the proposed freezing of Zimbabwe's bank accounts, Pahad said
such accounts held abroad, if there were any, were not in South Africa, as far
as he knew.
"The European Union has all the banks there. If they want to impose
sanctions it's their decision."
The situation in Zimbabwe, along with that in Angola, and the
Inter-Congolese dialogue due to start in South Africa later this month or next
month, were expected to top the agenda of the extraordinary Southern African
Development Community (SADC) heads of government meeting in Malawi on Monday,
the deputy minister said.
He assumed the task team of SADC ministers that visited Zimbabwe last month
would report back.
Following the visit in December, the ministers from Angola, Botswana,
Malawi, Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe said they were opposed to
the imposition of any kind of sanctions on Zimbabwe.
"We have reiterated that the bottom line for Zimbabwe is a just and
equitable land distribution, which however must be done in a legally sound and
violence-free manner," Malawian Foreign Minister Lilian Patel said at the time.
The ministers also "expressed their concern at the distorted and negative
perceptions of Zimbabwe projected by the international and regional media".
On Sunday, Patel was quoted as saying: "Zimbabwe is a sovereign state. The
problem there is an internal problem."
Last week two laws described as draconian - one boosting police powers to
break up assemblies and to punish criticism of the government, and another
disenfranchising at least a million Zimbabweans overseas and outlawing
independent election monitors and voter education - were passed despite the
opposition of the Movement for Democratic Change.
This week more legislation is expected to pass that will impose stiff
restrictions on the press, including the banning of foreign journalists and
requiring journalists to renew their accreditation with the government annually.
Zimbabwe's military leaders last week indicated they would only support a
presidential candidate who upheld "Zimbabwean values".
Asked what steps SADC could take, Pahad said that would be discussed at
Monday's meeting if the agenda and time allowed.
Requested to comment on President Robert Mugabe's remarks that Britain had
declared war on Zimbabwe, he said: "We just hope that within SADC and other
forums we can help to see how we can normalise the situation.
"This is no time for war in our region. We are trying to end war."
Pahad expressed concern over what he termed "tensions rising all the
time".
Yahoo News
Summit unlikely to solve Zimbabwe crisis
By Cris Chinaka
BLANTYRE, Malawi (Reuters) - Southern African leaders meeting on Monday
will consider the deepening Zimbabwe crisis, but analysts say the region has
little chance of coaxing President Robert Mugabe to abandon his fight for
re-election.
Countries in the region, accused of standing silent while Zimbabwe
slips into chaos, are under pressure to act decisively and possibly even impose
sanctions against the country.
But a tradition of solidarity in the face of western criticism and a
largely uncoordinated response has undermined the influence of the 14-member
Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc over Mugabe.
"I don't think we are going to get the kind of strong statement
suggesting that Mugabe is now totally isolated in the region, which he is,"
Zimbabwean political analyst Brian Raftopoulos told Reuters.
"The crisis in Zimbabwe has worsened to the level where SADC should have no
problem in finding a strong voice, but somehow I think...we might still be
treated to the same mealy-mouthed statements we've been hearing for
months."
Black Zimbabwean war veterans have occupied thousands of white-owned
farms across the country since February 2000, fighting what they see as a battle
against lingering colonial injustice.
Nine white farmers have been killed, scores of black farm workers
assaulted and thousands others displaced since the land invasions. Aid
organisations have warned of severe food shortages in rural areas.
Ahead of presidential elections in March, Zimbabwe's parliament has now
passed legislation granting Mugabe's government sweeping security powers.
TROUBLE AHEAD
Critics warn worse lies ahead as Mugabe appears determined to cling to
power.
Zimbabwe's Defence Forces chief General Vitalis Zvinavashe said on
Wednesday that heads of the country's security services would not accept a
president who did not fight in the country's 1970's liberation war against white
rule.
That was seen as a blow to the hopes of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Mugabe, 77, arrived in Malawi on Saturday in a combative mood, accusing
former colonial power Britain of trying to help the MDC into power in the March
election.
In Blantyre, Zimbabwe presidential spokesman George Charamba told
Reuters that Mugabe's government would not be treated as if it is on
trial.
"This is not going to be a court in which Zimbabwe will be in the dock.
All that is going to happen is that the summit will get an update on political
developments in Zimbabwe on the land issue and on how Zimbabwe is fighting to
retain its rights as a sovereign state," he said.
QUIET DIPLOMACY
Malawi President Bakili Muluzi, SADC's chairman, has called the
extraordinary summit to discuss the Congo, but analysts say the meeting is
likely to be dominated by backroom talks on the deteriorating political
situation in Zimbabwe.
An official briefing on developments in Zimbabwe is scheduled as the
third item on the summit's agenda.
"On the face of it, Zimbabwe might be a peripheral matter, but in effect it
is the most pressing issue for SADC at the moment," said one senior African
diplomat at the summit.
Analysts said that except for South Africa the rest of the region is
too weak to confront Mugabe and has no reason to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe
when South African President Thabo Mbeki does not want to be seen as pursuing
what Mugabe calls a white-driven Western-sponsored agenda.
In South Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad rejected calls for
sanctions on Zimbabwe calling them rhetoric, and told reporters in Pretoria
"quiet diplomacy" was the way to resolve Zimbabwe's crisis.
"We've been working at this for a long time, trying to convince
(people) that what is called (for is) quiet diplomacy. There is no alternative
to that," the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported quoting
Pahad.
He dismissed suggestions for "smart sanctions" -- freezing all foreign
assets and banning foreign travel for Mugabe and his ruling elite -- which
analysts say would be supported by the European Union and the
Commonwealth.
"The European Union has all the banks there. If they want to impose
sanctions it's their decision," SAPA reported.
SADC is made up of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia,
Mozambique, Botswana, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mauritius,
Swaziland, Seychelles and Zambia.
Leaders from Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo and Lesotho arrived
on Sunday while South Africa's Mbeki was due later on the same day.
Independent (UK)
Basildon Peta: The sanctions Europe must impose on Mr Mugabe for
democracy's sake
'How many people has Mr Mugabe to murder for the EU to realise that
it's time to abandon warnings'
14 January 2002
An unfortunate truth for many Zimbabweans is that we can not rely on
institutions such as the Commonwealth, the British Government or the European
Union, which purport to be custodians of democracy, for relief against wayward
leaders like President Robert Mugabe.
Even when Mr Mugabe was at his worst this week, frogmarching his Parliament
into passing some of the most repressive and undemocratic laws in the world, the
EU was entertaining a delegation of his ministers in Brussels. The question that
many Zimbabweans are now asking is: How many people will Mr Mugabe murder before
the EU realises that it is time to stop issuing warnings and deadlines and
instead impose tough sanctions to rein in this dictator.
Many of us here hoped that the EU – rather than warning Mr Mugabe again
that he should hold a free and fair presidential election in March – would have
taken advantage of the Friday meeting to announce tough sanctions on Mr Mugabe
unless he reversed the undemocratic laws he passed this week. As things turned
out, Mr Mugabe got away with murder and is due to pass other repressive laws
this week.
An unpalatable truth for Mr Mugabe and his cronies is that he will never
win a free and fair election when Zimbabweans elect a new president in two
months time. This reality becomes firmer each passing day as Mr Mugabe's
politically illiterate and economically innumerate policies wreak havoc on a
once prosperous and promising African nation, reducing it to a pathetic basket
case.
Since it became clear that Zimbabweans had embarked on an irreversible path
to evict Mr Mugabe from power – by rejecting his authoritarian draft
constitution in a national referendum last February, the first major defeat for
Mr Mugabe in a political contest since the end of white rule in 1980 – the
beleaguered leader had to find other methods of saving his political
career.
While the list of Mr Mugabe's human rights violations would fill the pages
of this entire newspaper, the response from the international community has been
sad and feeble. Apart from endless meetings and threats from the EU, the
Commonwealth and even United Nations secretary general, Koffi Annan, Zimbabweans
have failed to see concrete action to rein in the dictator.
Zimbabweans cannot hope for relief from bodies like the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) and the African Union for various reasons. Some of
the SADC leaders, including its chairman, Bakili Muluzi, seem to be emulating Mr
Mugabe by criminalising any forms of dissent. In addition to harassing the
judiciary in Malawi, Mr Muluzi is fighting to add an unconstitutional third term
to his rein. Namibia's Sam Nujoma is already enjoying an unconstitutional third
term, while nothing can be expected from Mozambique's Joacquim Chissano, who won
a flawed election and was the best man at Mr Mugabe's wedding to his former
secretary in 1996.
South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, who could tighten the screws on Mr Mugabe, as
Zimbabwe is heavily reliant on South Africa for power and electricity, has used
racial scapegoats to excuse his failure to deliver to millions of
poverty-stricken blacks. The tragedy of the new African Union (AU) is that it is
being bankrolled by dictators such as Muammar Gaddafi, whose countries have
never known anything close to democracy. To Colonel Gaddafi, Mr Mugabe is the
"ultimate hero" of Africa.
As the presidential election looms 9 and 10 March, Mr Mugabe has
intensified his blatant human rights violations. Almost every day, Zimbabweans
are openly terrorised by Mr Mugabe's militias in the hope that they will cow the
entire nation.
Six of the 156 dead opposition supporters have been killed in the past 10
days of Mr Mugabe's organised anarchy, which is aimed at stealing the impending
election.
At the time of writing, Mr Mugabe had circumvented parliamentary
regulations and procedures to fast track fascist laws that would entrench his
onslaught on opponents and guarantee him re-election.
The Public Order and Security Act will impose death and life penalties on
people accused of assisting in espionage, banditry, terrorism, treason,
subversion and insurgency against Mugabe's government.
These offences are broadly defined and include any suspicions that a person
is plotting against the government. The Act outlaws publishing or communicating
statements prejudicial to the state or that "incite public disorder, violence,
affect defence and economic interests of the country or undermine confidence in
security forces".
The Generals Laws Amendment Bill will see the banning of independent
election monitors and forbid private voter education. It will deny voting rights
to millions of Zimbabweans living abroad.
The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, which will be
passed on Tuesday, imposes hefty sentences and jail terms for journalists
publishing information likely to cause "fear alarm and despondency". It will
also put journalists on a system of one-year, renewable licences and ban them
from publishing information about, among other things, Mr Mugabe's cabinet
meetings.
The effect of all these Bills is to make Mr Mugabe an untouchable demi god.
It will not be possible to vote him out of power, despite his massive
unpopularity.
It thus becomes imperative that, in addition to suspending Zimbabwe from
the Commonwealth, established democracies should add the following measures to
their list of sanctions against Mr Mugabe.
* Trace and freeze all his assets in Europe and America and those held by
his cronies.
* Impose permanent travel sanctions on him and his cronies to Europe and
America.
* Issue an international warrant of arrest for his current human rights
violations and for directing the murder of 25,000 innocent civilians when he
moved to crush his opponents in southern Zimbabwe in the early 1980s.
* Stop the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank from considering
any further aid to him, and any new investment into Zimbabwe by European
companies, until Mr Mugabe restores full democracy
While the people of Zimbabwe would be hurt by some of these sanctions, they
have already suffered enough. At times, a big price must be paid for democracy.