http://www.africasia.com
HARARE,
Jan 3 (AFP)
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is preparing to form a unity
goverment
after firing a number of ministers from his ZANU-PF party who lost
in the
March 2008 elections, state media said on Saturday.
"What I
can tell you is that President Mugabe has already started preparing
an
administration," George Charamba, state secretary for Information told
The
Herald newspaper.
Charamba would not reveal further details about the
makeup of the
power-sharing government and the exact date of its possible
formation.
The US last month announced that an inclusive government in
Zimbabwe was not
possible with Mugabe at the helm.
According to the
paper, Mugabe earlier this week fired 12 ministers and
deputy ministers from
his ZANU-PF party.
Among the ministers fired were Sikhanyiso Ndlovu who
is in charge of
Information, Samuel Mumbengegwi for Finance and Oppah
Muchinguri for Women's
Affairs.
Deputy ministers for health, and
agriculture were among those who lost their
posts.
Last week
Zimbabwean authorities issued prime-minister designate and
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvangirai a new
passport to enable
him to return home from Botswana.
Tsvangirai won a first round
presidential vote in March 2008, but pulled out
of a June run-off, saying
the violence had left more than 100 of his
supporters
dead.
Zimbabwe's three main political rivals signed an agreement in
September to
form an all-inclusive government aimed at ending the country's
ruinous
economic meltdown.
But the formation of the government has
been delayed by disagreements over
the allocation of key cabinet ministries,
such as the home affairs and local
government.
http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Efforts
to form an all-inclusive Zimbabwe government
have hit a snag as the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai has snubbed an
invitation by President Robert Mugabe to be sworn
into office, APA learns
here Saturday.
Mugabe had on Christmas Day sent an invitation to
Tsvangirai asking the
opposition leader to avail himself for swearing in as
Zimbabwe's Prime
Minister-designate as agreed in a power-sharing agreement
signed in
September 2008.
An MDC spokesman confirmed that Tsvangirai
had refused to join Mugabe's
coalition government, insisting that the
power-sharing deal could only be
consummated once all outstanding issues
were resolved.
"As we have said before, we will not be pushed into a
marriage of
convenience in which we are not treated as equals," the
spokesman told APA.
In a letter to Mugabe, Tsvangirai demanded a meeting
between the two
Zimbabwean leaders and South African President Kgalema
Motlanthe who chairs
the Southern African Development Community
(SADC).
He insisted that the Zimbabwean parties would not proceed to form
the unity
government on the basis of the resolutions of a SADC emergency
summit held
in South Africa in November 2008.
The SADC summit
recommended the co-chairing by Mugabe's ZANU PF and the MDC
of the disputed
ministry of home affairs.
The MDC national council rejected the SADC
resolution and insisted on sole
control of the ministry, which runs the
police force and immigration
department.
"I have written in the same
vein to President Motlanthe suggesting he
convenes a confidential meeting in
South Africa between you and me, under
his chairmanship, so that we can iron
out these matters to the satisfaction
of all parties," Tsvangirai
said.
Under the power-sharing agreement, ZANU PF will have 15 cabinet
seats in the
new government, Tsvangirai's MDC 13 and three for a breakaway
MDC group led
by Arthur Mutambara.
JN/daj/APA 2009-01-03
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=9434
January 3, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The mainstream Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) says it will
soon discuss whether to pull out or continue negotiations
with Zanu-PF in
light of the continued detention of its members and other
human rights
activists.
The MDC has signed an agreement with Zanu-PF
and a smaller faction of the
MDC led by Arthur Mutambara to form a unity
government.
The agreement followed talks, brokered by former South
African president
Thabo Mbeki.
The pact has, however, stalled as the
parties fight over the allocation of
key cabinet and government posts, among
other issues.
The MDC has threatened to quit the agreement following the
abduction and
detention of its members, human rights activists and
journalists. The
abducted people have since been brought to court.
It
is unclear whether the public appearance of the activists was a result of
the threats by the MDC.
MDC national spokesperson Nelson Chamisa,
told The Zimbabwe Times that his
party's supreme decision making body, the
National Council, would meet soon
to decide on whether to pull out or
continue to participate in the
negotiations.
"The national council is
going to meet as soon as a date is set to make a
determination on whether
MDC stays in the deal or not," said Chamisa.
The detained group of human
rights, political activists includes a two
year-old child taken along with
her parents. They have been in detention for
the past four
weeks.
They were abducted by members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police
(ZRP), the
army and Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
The
activists, who include Jestina Mukoko, the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP)
director, face charges of plotting to oust President Robert
Mugabe.
Other MDC activists, who include Tsvangirai's former personal
aide, Ghandi
Mudzingwa and a freelance journalist, are being separately
charged of
bombing police stations, bridges and other key government
institutions.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, currently in Botswana, has
said he would
recommend termination of negotiations with Zanu-PF for the
inclusive
government if the abducted persons were not freed or failed to
appear in a
court of law by January 1.
"What the President
(Tsvangirai) said still stands," said Chamisa. "We are
still saying that
these people in detention must be released."
High Court Judge Yunus
Omerjee issued an order last week compelling the
state to release the
detained activists but State prosecutors have thwarted
the orders through
counter court appeals.
The activists are currently in remand at the
Chikurubi Maximum Security
Prison in Harare .
Lawyers representing
the activists believe the government does not want to
release the activists
though there seems to be no prima facie case against
them.
"It
appears they are just reluctant to release our clients though there is
clear
evidence that they have no case to answer," said Harare lawyer, Alec
Muchadehama, who is part of a team of lawyers representing the
activists.
"It is now a tendency that the government just chooses to defy
court
orders."
Justice Omerjee had ordered that the activists be
released into the Avenues
Clinic where they could be treated by doctors of
their own choice, since
they had told the court that they had been tortured
while in police
detention.
The mainstream MDC says it wants the
police to identify the people who
brought the activists to court since the
police had initially indicated they
were not aware of their whereabouts and
were treating the case as
kidnapping.
The party has also demanded
that the names of the army and prison doctors
who were examining the
activists be made public.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
False Accusations
In late 2001, the local
media covered a story claiming that a war veteran,
Cain Ncala had been
murdered - the story was elaborate and carefully
constructed. The State
claimed that he had been abducted by MDC operatives,
taken into the bush and
strangled. His body was found in a shallow grave
some 40 kilometers from
Bulawayo.
National television showed pictures of two MDC activists in
shackles and
handcuffs showing the site of the grave to the Police. Several
people were
arrested in the aftermath and eventually charged with the murder
and
complicity with the murder. In front of a High Court Judge appointed by
the
regime and known to be sympathetic to the regime, the State case
collapsed
when the defence demonstrated that the whole case was a
fabrication.
The Court dismissed the charges and all the accused were
released - but only
after they had been subjected to six weeks of
incarceration and
mistreatment. Below is the account of one of the
co-accused in that case. It
is his personal recollection of what he was
subjected to during the 35 days
he spent in Police custody and in Remand
Prison.
This story is apt because this is exactly what Jestina Mukoko and
others are
being subjected to right now in Zimbabwe. In late 2008, the
regime decided
to concoct a story about the MDC training military insurgents
in neighboring
Botswana. The objective was to discredit the Botswana
Government and
strengthen a case for the declaration of a State of Emergency
as a result of
which the State would ban the MDC, call off the talks and the
formation of a
transitional government. In tandem with this elaborate hoax,
they staged
bombings in Police Stations and at various strategic points and,
although
there was no evidence, blamed elements linked to the MDC.
To
support their story - distributed to SADC Heads of State by a team of
Zanu
PF Ministers and security officials in the form of a 27 page dossier
with
color photographs of young trainees in a camp in Botswana, State agents
(we
now know they were police with CIO and others assisting and authorized
from
the top) abducted at least 42 individuals and in three cases produced
film
of confessions that they had participated in this training after being
recruited in Zimbabwe by MDC related individuals.
If you are going to
construct such an elaborate plan why not hit more than
one target and that
is how Jestina and her colleagues came it. Their crime
was to run a human
rights organisation that was recording violations of
basic rights in
Zimbabwe. They were picked up and were to be charged for
recruiting the
people sent to Botswana for training. The main difficulty
since the plan was
hatched has been the reaction of the region to all of
this. Botswana simply
said to the SADC - please send a team to investigate
the allegations. They
did and came up with nothing. Then, the President of
South Africa simply
poured scorn on the story.
In order to carry out the scheme the regime
had to violate its own laws -
and get the Courts to collude. This they have
done without compunction. In
addition, to get those abducted to confess they
had to torture them -
Jestina has confirmed this and in addition we know
that the two year old
abducted with its mother was beaten in front of the
mother to get her to
confess.
Now Morgan Tsvangirai has further
compounded their problems by demanding
that those abducted be produced in
Court and charged or released. South
African pressure led to them being
eventually produced in Court and now the
State faces to unpleasant reality
of going through Court proceedings in
public and being further embarrassed
by the disclosures that are bound to
emerge.
But what is also
essential is for everyone to understand just what Jestina
and the others are
going through and this true account of the 2001 incident
and its aftermath
involving another elaborate scheme to implicate the MDC in
crimes against
the State sets out that in graphic detail. I found it
difficult to read. In
fact the conditions in our Prisons and Police holding
cells are much worse
today than they were in 2001. Food conditions are worse
and many prisoners
are dieing in Prison from hunger, disease and general
mistreatment.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 3rd January
2009
I am an MDC activist and a Zimbabwean Patriot
who is committed to bringing
about true democracy in our country.
In
early November 2001, I had just returned by car from a trip to Masvingo
to
meet with other activists in the area in preparation for the upcoming
Presidential Elections.
At 0830 hours, Monday 12th November 2001, 3
plain - clothes gentlemen
arrived at the Office and asked if I could
accompany them to Central Police
Station to answer some questions. I asked
them to produce identity and they
came from the notorious Law and Order
Section of the ZRP, whose specific
responsibility was to use muscle in all
its forms to enforce both the
archaic laws of the past and those more
recently introduced, in the course
of the subversion of Justice. I knew at
this time that, what I had
psychologically prepared for, and hoped would not
come to pass, had
happened. I managed to quickly pass word to my assistant
to urgently inform
the shadow Justice Minister for whom I work, of my
predicament. I knew that
I would soon be focusing on mustering all the
strength and discipline that I
would need to face what was in wait for me.
My time had finally arrived.
On walking to the Central Station, I was
informed that the questioning would
be in regard to the murder of two
members of Zanu PF.
I was taken to the top of the building and told to
sit and wait and I took
the opportunity to use my cell phone and managed to
warn a work colleague of
my predicament, knowing precisely my fate. I
focused my mind on all the
positives of my situation and immediately
re-examined my likely timetable in
terms of the legal process - can't be
held more than 48 hours without
appearing in Court, High Court application
etc. The cell phone was snatched
from me and in about an hour's time, a
young lawyer appeared on the scene
only to be physically forced from the
room and told that he could see me at
1600 hours. The 'time factor' was
already being brought into play, during
which time I was treated to the
sight of scrofulous disheveled plain-clothes
Officers slopping over their
food from the canteen. I was refused a glass of
water.
Within minutes
of their lunch, I was shackled by the wrist and had leg-irons
fitted and was
promptly moved by armed escort to a waiting Land Rover. I
realised then that
they would make every effort to deny me access to my
lawyer and various
thoughts went through my mind. I suspected that I was
being taken out of
Bulawayo to be hidden in an outlying Police cell, a
favourite strategy of
the state thugs in control of the "law". An amateurish
attempt was made to
confuse me by driving in zigzag fashion to Esigodini, 45
kilometers on the
Johannesburg road.
I knew then what I faced. This station and its cells where
notorious in the
genocide days of Gukurahundi when over 20 000 people were
murdered by the
same regime that was attempting to put me out of action. I
recall the
stories of screams from the cells where torture regularly took
place.
Earlier, all my questions were refused and it was only when I was
"logged
in" did I see the charge of "KIDNAPPING AND MURDER. Stripped to my
trouser
and shirt, I was then moved to the cells which I could smell some 20
metres
away.
Once my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, I counted 12
forms prostrate in
the cell which was indescribably filthy. The toilet in
the corner (a hole in
the concrete floor) was overflowing with a mound of
excrement over a foot
high with rivulets of fluid spreading across the floor
as urine dissolved
the solids.
There was only enough room for me to sit
with my knees under my chin. Three
heavily fouled floor mats were available
for the 13 inmates and 10 filthy
blankets stiffened with excrement and dirty
bodies. There was neither toilet
paper nor water and due to the inevitable
runny stomach, prisoners had to
use their hands when using the toilet and
wipe them on the walls.
Opposition party graffiti scribbled with stone
and cigarette stubs were in
evidence everywhere. The ceilings were
polka-dotted with the blood of
engorged mosquitoes, millions of which
swarmed the cell continuously. It was
like some unique wallpaper and the
drone reminded me of old film footage of
bomber squadrons in a
blitz.
Lunch was served ... a dirty bowl of sadza (maize meal), The prisoners
were
forced to use their hands, finger nails of which were filthy for the
reasons
referred to earlier. I refused the food, as I knew I probably had a
long
stay in prison and that any food poisoning would deem me defenseless in
terms of contending with my situation and my captors. My fellow inmates, who
were petty criminals from the local tribal areas, greeted me warmly and
treated me with great respect and compassion, despite their lowly
status.
Once they knew that I was MDC, the spirits of the group rose, as
they were
all supporters of the opposition. The cell - wall graffiti
testified to
this. Supper consisted of the same meal and again I declined,
taking only
water from a sink, in an area adjoining the cells. It was
eventually time to
bed down for the evening and an elderly tribesman offered
to share his
blanket with me. The only floor space available was that
alongside the
seepage of the "toilet". I had no choice but to eventually lie
down on this
filthy floor and accepted the shared blanket gratefully. The
mosquitoes were
so bad that the prisoners tried to cover their bodies as
best as they could.
When I tried this, the stench of the blanket was simply
too much, but this
was a choice between that kind of smell and that which
emanated from the
oozing mass in the corner. I eventually covered my face
with my shirt and
somehow slept through to the morning. When the first
officer visited, I
appealed to him for more blankets and floor mats and
indicated that I had
money, which I understood that I could use to buy in
additional food and
cigarettes for my colleagues and me. A decision could
not be made and was
referred to the Officer - In - Charge. Needless to say,
he did not consent
or give any decision. Eventually, all the others were
sent to Court and I
was left on my own. Lunchtime passed and no food was
forthcoming, despite my
shouts in the direction of Officers coming and going
from the offices some
20 metres away. They would pause, listen, turn and
move on.
It was my intention to insist that I be able to phone my lawyer as
was my
legal right and endeavor to buy some food. At this stage, I would
have been
happy to be fed sadza if other dirty hands were not in evidence at
mealtime.
I was completely ignored throughout the day and in the
early evening
(suppertime) I began to realise that I was to be abandoned, at
least for the
time being. At all times, I remained positive albeit in a
disciplined sense
and knew that somehow, Justice would be done and that
someone would find me,
before my captors realised that they would be able to
deal with me in the
usual manner. It is a matter of fact that torture and
brutality had become
the order of the day. Eventually I managed to attract
the attention of a
cleaner as I was tall enough to peer out of a top window
into a Courtyard,
where he was working.
He was obviously nervous but
realised my predicament. At this stage, I was
now thirsty and although
empty, was not hungry, as the stench was enough to
put one off one's food. I
thought at the time that there is a reason for
everything and a good reason
at that - filthy stench, no hunger pains. It
was now some 48 hours since the
last time I had a proper meal other than a
very light breakfast at 0630 hours
on Monday morning. I continued to try
and attract the attention of passing
Officers, and they all ignored me.
Eventually, the cleaner "worked his way"
towards me so that he was not
noticed and whispered "your friends are here.
Two white men and a black man".
I had heard a car draw up to the station
earlier. My spirits rose.
Earlier that morning, a young man who had been
detained for 5 days without
trial had picked a piece of cement plaster with
his finger nail from the
wall and used it to scratch my office telephone
number on his shin bone
under his trousers. Had he been remanded out of
custody he would have phoned
for help. Little did I know it, but the area
was staked out by local MDC
activists monitoring and recording all activity
and vehicles that came and
left the station. An hour and half passed. I
heard nothing. For the first
time my spirits dropped. A car drove away and I
did not know who the
occupants might have been.
After half an hour,
and various further appeals to Police Officers, I heard
a jingle of keys and
an Officer handcuffed me and took me through to the
Charge Office, where I
found my lawyer seated. My wife had prepared a meat
and salad roll and a
fruit juice and only after my lawyer pleaded, was I
allowed to eat. At this
stage, there was still no Warrant for my Arrest and
I was illegally
detained. My wife sat in the next office but was refused
access to me. The
lawyer switched on his Dictaphone and asked whether I was
ill treated or
physically harmed in any way. He was able to reassure me that
a High Court
sitting had been sought to force the Police to confirm my
whereabouts and
that they would be reminded that I was already becoming
overdue for court
appearance in terms of the regulations.
It was obvious that the Senior
Officer was hostile and had a political
motive. I was then moved back to my
cell and later on joined by three other
petty criminals. This time we were
able to share the blankets available and
position ourselves in the furthest
point away from the cesspit in the
corner. Again, sleep was difficult due to
mosquitoes, but we endured. Next
morning, no breakfast appeared and soon I
was led to the Charge Office
dressed and greeted by Officer Ngwenya from Law
and Order Bulawayo, who said
we were on our way. Again, auxiliary police
armed with AK47's squeezed in
the Land Rover with me and I was taken to
Central Police Station, Bulawayo.
Again, no food or drink was made
available and I was delighted when a Senior
Advocate managed to speak to me
although Officers refused to move out of
earshot though were continually
asked to do so by the Legal Counsel. He did
his best to prepare me for Court
and it was made abundantly clear that he
had overstayed his
welcome.
When I arrived at the Magistrates Court, it was my first
introduction to two
of the co-accused and we then proceeded to the dock,
remanded in custody and
sent to cells below the Tredgold Building. These had
not been swept or
cleaned, seemingly for years - broken toilets, no light
bulbs and a bare
concrete floor.
We were offered no lunch, or anything to
drink and eventually placed in
leg-irons and handcuffs, herded into a
vehicle and driven to Khami Maximum
Security Prison.
On arrival
there, we were documented and issued soiled prison clothing
consisting of
khaki shorts and shirt. Finally, shackled, we were moved to
our respective
cells, which were essentially concrete boxes, 4 metres x 1 ½
metres x 3
metres high. We were then stripped naked, as was the practice for
solitary
confinement. The cell was furnished with a plastic dog bowl as a
toilet and
3, now familiar filthy blankets on a concrete floor.
The "bush telegraph"
as we call it, had obviously been operating and somehow
the prisoners knew
that MDC activists were arriving and the whole block of 3
floors of cells
erupted into MDC Political Slogans and Chants. Eventually,
other prisoners
on their way to exercise, passed scraps of toilet paper,
small pieces of
soap and even a tooth brush and ballpoint pen through the
brass peep hole.
The daily routine consisted of a wake-up bell at
approximately 0600 hours
(we had no idea of time nor date as all contact
with the outside world was
virtually denied) and then we were issued with a
cup of sweet tea and a
piece of bread covered with margarine.
We were allowed to empty our dog
bowls into one of six broken non-flushable
toilets for 120 inmates and
return to cells. Some time before midday, we
were allowed out into a
courtyard for one hour's exercise and approximately
½ hour in mid-afternoon.
At the discretion of the Guard, MDC inmates were
usually separated and sent
to cells considerably earlier than the convicted
criminals. At any time
between 1120 and 1330 we were issued "lunch" which
consisted of a portion of
rice, a third of an inch deep and four inches
across, which was soiled with
brown filth from plates stacked above. There
were no cleaning materials and
the risk of dysentery was high. A handful of
bitter cabbage was dished out
as well and a cup of sweet tea. Anywhere
between 1430 and 1530 we had our
supper, which was made up of the same size
portions but with red beans,
substituting cabbage. From that time through to
approximately 0700 hours the
next morning, there was no access to food and
drink.
It was evident
from the facilities and information from long-serving
prisoners that
excellent facilities once existed even for the Maximum
Security section. The
Medical Officer's, Office and Store Room was virtually
empty of all drugs,
which had to account for 1400 prisoners. One draw of
drugs was all that
remained and empty shelves extended the length, breadth
and height of a room
6 metres x 6 metres. The libraries were all completely
empty and prisoners
had no access to reading material. In the adjoining A
Block, 1200 prisoners
shared the same space as the 120 in our solitary
confinement
block.
Records show of the total number of approximately 470 at any one
time being
on remand. Some of these have been in this situation since 1995.
There were
reports of beatings and recriminations and the death rate from
AIDS Related
TB and Pneumonia and Dysentery and general ailments was very
high.
In A Block, there was so little room, that at night time, prisoners
were
forced to sleep in shifts and those lucky enough for floor space had to
sleep on their sides, stacked like sardines all facing in one direction. On
the hour, when sore shoulders and hips could no longer withstand the
discomfort of the concrete floor, everyone stood and turned to lie on the
other side.
At nighttime, we often heard prisoners screaming from
nightmares. It was
chilling experience. Somehow, despite being locked in a
concrete block for
22 ½ hours per day, with no reading or writing material,
we still considered
ourselves lucky. As remand prisoners, we were virtually
denied every
privilege due to us, such as weekly visits from wives,
additional food, and
reading and writing material. After much protestation,
I personally managed
to eventually receive letters and some books but this
was towards the end of
my internment.
We were allowed two letters to
be posted in a month. None of mine reached
their destinations. This was
commonly understood by the prisoners who,
through this total lack of contact
with friends and relatives, were
effectively denied legal representation.
The tragedy of remand prisoners
appearing in Court with no one present to
pay their bail was almost
sometimes too hard to bear. On each remand hearing
we were shipped like
cattle, handcuffed with leg-irons to Bulawayo. Due to
lack of transport any
form of vehicle was used and at one time, in a fully
enclosed metal truck,
panic broke out, as we had been left in the hot sun
for nearly an hour
waiting for the gun-toting auxiliaries who had to be
present because MDC
prisoners were on board.
Fortunately, we were
able to calm ourselves down and it was not long before
the escort arrived
and we began to breathe freely again. In my own
situation, I witnessed the
appalling treatment of my fellow prisoners, both
at the magistrates Court,
where the cells were totally insufficient to cater
for the masses of
wretched prisoners who were fed from a bag of poorly
cooked sadza with no
eating instruments available. The filth and flies
simply meant that there
were more victims of a variety of ailments, related
to these
conditions.
At the High Court, where I was imprisoned for approximately
one week during
my bail application, the cells were appalling. No lighting,
no blankets or
floor mats and a broken toilet, choked and foul. The graffiti
on the walls
was written in the medium of prisons ... excrement. A mere few
feet above
us, judges reclined in wooden paneled Court Rooms, completely
unaware of the
plight of those that stood in the stands before them. My own
experience was
that Prison Officers refused offers of fruit juice from my
own lawyer and
counsel and at times we would go for as long as 8 hours with
anything to eat
and drink.
If we were lucky, before leaving prison to
travel to Court, we were able to
shovel dried sadza and beans into a dirty
bag and carry that with us, to be
shared in the middle of the day. On
arriving back in the evening at prison
after the day in Court, it was always
too late for our "supper", which was
scheduled at no later than 1530 hours.
On the one occasion, we were lucky,
as plastic plates of food had been left
in the sun in the Courtyard for us
by some caring fellow prisoner. However,
the food was blackened by blow
flies, the species which is renowned for its
attraction to rotting fish and
faeces.
My wife attempted day after
day to visit me and spent hours at the external
boom gate waiting for
permission to enter, which was her and my right (once
per week for 10
minutes). Of the 35 days in detention, she was able to visit
me twice at
Khami Maximum as it was the habit of Senior Officers, who were
often
politically appointed to deliberately delay the process of visitors
accessing their relatives. On the one occasion she spoke with me for 3
minutes and the second for 7 minutes.
When finally, my lawyer succeeded
in a High Court application, ordering the
prison authorities to grant me my
remand prisoner rights, I was present when
he served the order on the
Officer Commanding and he gesticulated violently
several times and said
"..... will get nothing. Nothing !! No toothbrush, no
food, no writing
paper, no books, Nothing !!"
My lawyer had numerously, on occasions
brought letters from my doctor
explaining the digestive problems from which
I suffered and still special
food was denied. I suffer from a displaced
spine and only after a good
number of attempts, was I finally allowed to
wear a back brace. This is just
an indication of the deliberate political
motive in dealing with what were
effectively political prisoners. Through my
lawyer, and the help of friends,
I was able to arrange for a football to be
delivered to the prison by my
lawyer, but in all four attempts, the prison
authorities refused the offer.
Football is the only activity permitted and
their ball had long exceeded its
usable life.
Finally, after winning
my release and after being re-detained after 17 hours
of freedom, due to a
technicality, I won my appeal in the country's Supreme
Court and joined my
family, 8 kgs the lighter. Subsequently, after other
vague chargers were
laid against me, I finally was absolved of my crime
although there is still
no acquittal as such. This allows the authorities to
find new evidence to
re-detain me. It is on this basis that some of my
colleagues are still
incarcerated and others due to stand trial in November.
This whole
episode has been counter productive for the authorities as my
resolve has
strengthened, my appreciation for my compatriot and colleagues
has grown
tremendously, and my faith in the future of my country is stronger
than
ever.
(In the subsequent Court hearing all charges were dropped against
all the
accused. The Judge found that the Police "diary" of events had been
fabricated and it was found that a policeman had actually been protecting
the site of the dead body for 24 hours before
"discovery".)
The Star, 2.1.09
By
Peta Thornycroft
If ever proof was needed that Zanu PF should no longer
control the
police then last week's circus around Harare's courts should
provide it.
Peace worker Jestina Mukoko and about 24 others, after being
abducted
and held in secret locations for weeks were supposed to be sent
to
hospital or freed on Christmas eve according to an order from
High
Court judge Yunus Omerjee.
Instead they remained locked up. It is
no use South African
presidential spokesman Thabo Masebe saying: "There are
many issues
that need to be addressed by a unity government. This (Mukoko and
co)
is one of them."
In a unity government as it stands now, Zanu PF
would control justice
and Zanu PF and Movement for Democratic Change would
jointly run the
home affairs ministry, which controls the police.
No
country in the region has ever tried to co manage a ministry, so
imagine the
first experiment within SADC, carried out with an
incompetent Zanu PF
appointee.
If SADC believes that Robert Mugabe won't shift on allowing
MDC sole
control of the police, and he already has the the armed forces
and
intelligence, then South AFrica, will have to push him, hard,
and
they have plenty of non military weapons.
It is not that the
police haven't defied the courts before, starting
just after independence as
human rights lawyer David Coltart reminds.
He spent years defending people
loyal to the then opposition, Zapu
and other Ndebeles, locked up without
trial, or held after the courts
ordered their freedom.
Zimbabwe
had a state of emergency then, a handful of traitors in its
ranks, and hits
from South African security forces, although its
efforts were, in retrospect,
muted.
There is no record of a professional police force in Rhodesia or
in
Zimbabwe although there were spasms of impartiality in both
eras.
At least early Zimbabwe had a preponderance of professional
judges.
Without control of the police, forget any unity
government.
If Mbeki believes that giving Morgan Tsvangirai a passport is
enough
to lure him into the prime minister's office, then he should
think
again. Tsvangirai only got his passport because the South
Africans
lent on Mugabe.
The charges nine of those who appeared in
court again on Monday add
up to treason, with a death penalty. They are
charged with recruiting
or trying to recruit people for military training in
Botswana to
topple Mugabe
It was obvious Botswana would be accused of
harbouring MDC insurgents
as soon as President Ian Khama spoke out against
Mugabe.
Treason and similar charges are a favourite of Zanu PF, they
have
done it to all political opponents.
Tsvangirai's
secretary-general Tendai Biti is similarly charged.
His treason charges
arise out of a document written in April by
military intelligence in a
document littered with clichés of what
MI believes is
Rhodesian-speak.
Biti is an intellectual, a lawyer, and could never, even
if he tried,
write the childish, semi literate language of which he is
accused.
The document, about the way forward under an MDC
government,
attributed to Biti was first published in the wicked Herald
newspaper
in April.
Biti laughed it off, issued a denial, and lo and
behold it appeared a
few weeks later on a charge sheet, with treason
attached.
They did similarly to Morgan Tsvangirai, then MDC
secretary-general
Welshman Ncube, and the party's then agriculture spokesman
Nelson
Gasela three weeks before the violent 2002 presidential
election.
This time they had a Canadian crook, Ari Ben Menashe, paid him
more
than US$1 million (admitted in court) to produce a video
'proving'
Tsvangirai plotted to kill Mugabe. Any half decent police force
would
have refused to process the charges.
The CIO, which devised this
plot didn't care whether or not it got a
conviction. The charges took two
years of the accused' lives and
drained the MDC of funds.
Even if MDC
gets home affairs Mugabe still has the right to appoint
the commissioner, and
the Police Act has many ways he can
circumnavigate the
law.
Nevertheless, for the morale of the police, at least, Zanu PF must
be
removed from day to day control.
Nevertheless Morgan Tsvangirai is
the people's choice as he easily
beat Mugabe in the first round. It is rough
of the ANC to be snide
about Tsvangirai. .
Zimbabweans want Morgan
Tsvangirai and he is brave enough to still
want to try fix his country and he
has learned many hard lessons.
Without the MDC in control of home affairs
the region will have to
find a solution other than a unity government to the
catastrophe
north of Musina.
02/01/2009 19:43
http://www.iol.co.za
January 03 2009 at
10:24AM
Harare - Public hospitals in Zimbabwe will start accepting
payment for
all medical services in foreign currency; a development which
the government
hopes will improve the country's collapsed health
service.
The state-owned daily Herald, in its Saturday edition,
quotes
Zimbabwe's Health Minister David Parirenyatwa saying the hospitals
would
give patients the option to pay in foreign currency if they "so
wished."
"What we have said is that our patients should continue
paying in
local currency, but in the event that they opt to pay in foreign
currency,
we are to go by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe regulations,"
Parirenyatwa is
quoted by the Herald as
saying.
Zimbabwe's currency has rapidly
lost value over 2008.
Commodities, including basics such as milk
and bread, are now priced
in foreign currency.
The Zimbabwean
dollar, which has been devaluated repeatedly over the
past two years, is
trading at more than six billion dollars against the US
dollar as of
Saturday, the price of a loaf of bread.
Doctors and nurses have
been on strike for more than two months,
demanding payment in foreign
currency and modern equipment for hospitals.
That strike has
compounded the problems in the battle against a raging
cholera epidemic,
which has claimed more than 1 500 lives and affected more
than 20 000 people
as the country fails to import adequate stocks of
chemicals to treat water,
forcing people to resort to shallow wells and
rivers for drinking water. -
Sapa-dpa
http://www.apanews.net
APA-Harare
(Zimbabwe) Food availability has drastically improved in Zimbabwe
during the
past few months on the back of the government's decision to
licence foreign
currency shops and liberalise imports of basic commodities,
a famine early
warning body said here Saturday.
The US-based Famine Early Warning
Systems Network (FEWSNET) said while the
level of food insecurity was still
high, the move by Zimbabwe to allow shops
to sell food in foreign currency
has improved food availability,
particularly in urban
areas.
"However, those without access to foreign currency and with only
limited
access to the rapidly depreciating local currency face daily
challenges
accessing adequate food," FEWSNET observed.
Zimbabwe has
since September 2008 allowed selected shops to trade in foreign
currency, a
move meant to restore the viability of local companies in the
face of
world-record inflation last estimated at 231 million percent in
July.
The move was also meant to improve liquidity in the market in
the wake of
acute shortages of Zimbabwe dollars.
FEWSNET also noted
that informal food imports plugged the gap left by the
inability of local
business to bring in adequate commodities.
About five million Zimbabweans
are estimated to require food aid until the
next agricultural harvest in
March.
JN/daj/APA 2009-01-03
http://www.herald.co.zw
Saturday,
January 03, 2009
Herald
Reporters
BUSINESSES and service providers yesterday again went on a
spree of price
hikes after workers started accessing the additional $10
billion cash
withdrawal approved by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe last
week.
There were shorter queues at a number of banking halls yesterday
compared to
when the RBZ approved a similar cash withdrawal limit in
December last year.
Bank clients without pay slips were also accessing
the increased weekly
withdrawal limit of $5 billion, up from $500
million.
However, most people who spoke to The Herald took a swipe at
foreign
currency dealers and unscrupulous businesspeople who they accused of
inflating rates and prices of goods after every review of the cash
withdrawal limits.
"I went to the bank and managed to withdraw the
$10 billion, but now I don't
know where to use it. If it was yesterday, I
would have bought three pints
of beer but now beer is $9
billion.
"Even if these withdrawal limits are increased, they will not
solve our
problems because of these foreign currency dealers," said Mr Shaun
Mazarire
of Highfield.
Mr Terrence Jari of Mbare echoed the same
sentiments and appealed to the
central bank to consider the plight of
students when reviewing cash limits.
"Why does the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe segment people? We understand in the
case of the informal sector,
but what about the case of students whose
parents deposit money into their
accounts?" he quizzed.
Commuters were not spared by the unjustified price
increases as transport
operators hiked their fares with many charging
anything between $5 billion
and $7 billion for a single trip, up from
between $2 billion and $3 billion.
Others urged the RBZ to review the
withdrawal conditions because they
negatively affected people in the
informal sector who do not have pay-slips.
"The majority of the
population are in the informal sector and a way should
be found to assist
those with legitimate businesses.
"I cannot register my company because
of the requirements, but there is no
denying that we in the informal sector
are sustaining the livelihoods of
many people.
"Thus I urge the
authorities to reconsider the issue as I used to pay my
employees their
salaries through transfers. However, now they cannot access
their salaries,"
said Mr Simon Gwatimba, who runs a cellular phone repair
business.
"I
failed to access my December salary as our company is not fully
registered
and was caught unawares by the stringent regulations put in place
by the
central bank for one to access their December salaries.
"We urge the
central bank to review their conditions to take us into
account," said Mr
Brighton Chipurura, who operates a milling business in
Rusape.
Some
members of the public decried the manner in which prices were rising in
relation to the cash they could access, pointing out that they would find it
impossible to meet their obligations in January when schools are scheduled
to open.
"The RBZ should closely monitor shops selling school
uniforms and related
products," said Mr Leo Gwatimba.
By close of
business yesterday, many banks had managed to clear their
queues.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=9399
January 2, 2009
By Mxolisi
Ncube
JOHANNESBURG - Concerned Zimbabwean health professionals and
businesspersons
based in the Diaspora have established an organisation to
mobilise critical
resources, especially financial, to rehabilitate
Zimbabwe's battered
health-care infrastructure.
The Zimbabwe Health
Access Trust (ZiHAT), a non-profit organisation, is also
registered in
Zimbabwe. It has already launched an appeal for support aimed
at both
Zimbabweans in the Diaspora and the international community. The
organisation seeks to mobilise financial and human resources as well as
material support for a once flourishing health sector, which is now ravaged
by the world's worst ever economic meltdown.
ZiHAT has established
chapters in Australia, Canada, South Africa, the
European continent, the
United Kingdom and the United States. In Zimbabwe it
is represented by Dr
Paul Chimedza and by Dr Michael Mbizvo and Dr Godfrey
Sikipa in Switzerland
and the United States respectively. The trust has
opened offices in
Washington DC and in Geneva, Switzerland, under its
European
chapter.
Both offices are already mobilising resources on the
continent.
Washington DC-based physician, Sikipa, who is the president of
ZiHAT, says
the organisers were inspired by the difficulties faced,
especially by
rural-based Zimbabweans, as they try to gain access to medical
and health
care.
"Every year an estimated 1 300 to 2 800 mothers die
from causes associated
with pregnancy and childbirth and 12 000 people are
estimated to die every
month in Zimbabwe from AIDS related illnesses," says
Sikipa.
"Most of these deaths are due to lack of access to drugs and
essential
equipment and other supplies in health facilities".
Sikipa
said the trust, which he said will work closely with the Ministry of
Health
and Public Welfare, will also seek to support and work with other
health
care providers in Zimbabwe, including faith-based health care
institutions,
local authorities, public facilities and private sector
entities to try and
strengthen health care services in the country.
Sikipa said that ZiHAT
would raise funds and material contributions directly
from both financially
able Zimbabweans and members of the international
community. Such funds
would be channeled to health care institutions in
Zimbabwe under a tight
monitoring program.
Sikipa says vital needs (life-saving drugs and
equipment) for Zimbabwe's
health care are currently estimated at around US$1
250 000, while essential
needs (basic priority drugs and equipment) are
estimated at US$2 196 000
every four months.
"The urgency of the
situation on the ground requires a united and concerted
effort to support
health care for Zimbabwean people," he said. "ZiHAT will
use all the monies
raised to purchase the needed health commodities and then
forward them to
Zimbabwean health facilities."
He said ZIHAT was already appealing for
donations in any amount from well
wishers.
He invited Zimbabweans
resident both at home and abroad to join the trust's
efforts to mobilise
resources that are urgently needed for the refurbishment
of the country's
health facilities, procurement of essential drugs and
equipment, as well as
to support health workers.
The Zimbabwean health sector has suffered
considerable damage as a result of
the country's economic meltdown, which is
caused by a downward economic
spiral that began about a decade ago and is
blamed on the failed economic
policies of President Robert Mugabe's
government. In Zimbabwe's annual
budget more funds have invariably been
channeled to the Ministry of Defence
at the expense of the Health
Ministry.
As a result of this under-funding of the Ministry of Health,
ordinary
Zimbabweans are now bearing the brunt, as the country's public
health
institutions continue to collapse due to a lack of both drugs and the
human
resources needed to cope with even curable ailments.
Industrial
action by health professionals over very low salaries has often
affected the
country's health delivery services, while a serious brain drain
is a
contributory factor to the crippling of the sector.
Major government
hospitals have closed their emergency referral units in
both Harare and
Bulawayo, the country's capital and second biggest city,
respectively.
A recent outbreak of Cholera, usually a curable
disease, has killed more
than 1 500 people and infected over 20 000 others
since August.
Donations to ZiHAT can be made by direct deposit or bank
wire transfer to
the following account:
Bank of America
Washington
DC
Account name: ZiHAT USA, INC
Account Number: 002260872665
Routing
Number: 054001204
For bank wires use: 026009593
Donations can also be
made through PayPal or by check. Please send donations
to donations@zihatusa.org. Checks are
payable to ZIHAT-USA Inc. Send checks
to:
Dr Godfrey
Sikipa,
President, ZIHAT USA
1250 Connecticut Ave,
Washington DC,
20036
Phone 202 - 261 6585
http://www.chronicle.co.zw
Chronicle
Reporter
LOAD-SHEDDING by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (ZESA) has
brought a lot of suffering to the Tsholotsho community
with the electric
motor of the district hospital mortuary having been
damaged, Chronicle has
learnt.
In an interview on Wednesday, the District
Medical Officer (DMO), Dr
Claudius Verenga, said as a result of the damage
to the electric motor
fitted to the mortuary compressor, the refrigeration
system was not
functioning.
"The motor was damaged early in November and
we went on to replace it. No
sooner had we fitted a new one than it was
damaged as a direct result of
load-shedding.
"When the power is switched
on it comes back with a high voltage and this
has resulted in the motor
being damaged again. As a result our mortuary is
in a sorry state because
bodies rot in this heat and we try to dispose of
the bodies as fast as we
can," said Dr Verenga.
He said the hospital was trying its level best to try
and keep the death
rate of inmates low.
The DMO said plans were at an
advanced stage for pauper's burials for some
bodies that have been lying
unclaimed at the hospital mortuary and are at an
advanced stage of
decomposition.
"Plans to hold pauper's burials are at an advanced stage and a
meeting of
all stakeholders is scheduled for 9 January. We have six bodies
that need to
be given pauper's burials," he said.
Sources at the business
centre said the number of bodies that lie unclaimed
at the hospital mortuary
stands as high as 14.
Dr Verenga attributed the failure to collect bodies
from the mortuary to
high costs of moving bodies to communal lands as injiva
who own vehicles are
charging high fees.
He added that the other
contributing factor was the breakdown of the family
tree, as it proves
difficult to trace relatives of those who would have died
while admitted at
the hospital.
Some people admitted to the hospital are also to blame as they
give
insufficient details of their areas of residence and their next of kin,
he
observed.
The vice-chairperson of the Tsholotsho Rural District
Hospital Board, Cde
Musa Mathema, said this was the second electric motor to
be damaged, adding
that they now needed to buy a new one.
She also
attributed the damage to the electric motor to continued power
outages that
are now a common occurrence in the area.
When Chronicle visited the centre on
Wednesday residents of the growth point
said power had gone off on Saturday
afternoon.
"We are now looking for money to buy a new electric motor.
Although we could
avert the power outages by switching on to a generator,
our main constraint
is a shortage of diesel. The generator has a capacity of
10 000 litres but
we even fail to source the commodity from the National Oil
Company of
Zimbabwe (Noczim).
"We are appealing to well-wishers to assist
by donating money towards the
purchase of a new electric motor and buying
fuel for the generator," she
said.
Cde Mathema was grateful to the local
business community for donating fuel
for the engine that pumps water to the
hospital when there are power
outages.
Once there is a power outage, the
centre does not have any running water and
residents have to rely on
boreholes scattered within and around the centre.
Meanwhile, the Tsholotsho
business community has also cried foul over
incessant power outages that the
area has had to stand for the past four
months.
"There has been no
meaningful business for the past four months due to power
outages.
Butcheries are the worst affected because if you slaughter a beast
and it is
not sold out then you have to see what is remaining rotting.
"We have sent an
appeal to ZESA authorities for a resident electrician and
we are yet to
receive a response from them. We are prepared as the business
community in
the area to meet his salary and fuel bills," said Mr Austin
Bhule, who runs
a butchery.
He said butchery owners are now forced to team up and share a
beast as
taking the whole carcass at times proves to be a great loss as the
meat
rots.
http://www.herald.co.zw
Saturday,
January 03, 2009
Herald
Reporter
ECONET subscribers were yesterday caught unawares when their
mobile phones
could neither phone nor top up their accounts after the
cellular service
provider switched them to the new foreign currency payment
regime.
Subscribers to other networks face the same fate as NetOne and
Telecel are
also charging in United States dollars after cellular service
providers were
granted foreign currency licences by the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe under the
Foliwars programme.
Yesterday Econet subscribers
on the Buddie, Libertie and Business Partna
packages briefly accessed the
mobile phone services during lunchtime before
these were abruptly
terminated.
In a survey conducted, subscribers who were battling to
recharge their
mobile phones expressed dismay at the sudden loss of
service.
"I have been trying to use my phone since yesterday evening, but
the service
is just bad.
"I cannot get through to dialled numbers and
no messages are going through,"
said one of the several subscriberrs who
besieged the company's branch along
First Street in Harare.
Weston
Kadya, another subscriber who was battling to recharge his phone
after
buying a US$5 recharge card, said he was worried that the new payment
mode
would be unaffordable for many subscribers.
"The new system would be a
problem for many subscribers who, firstly, cannot
afford the new tariffs
and, secondly, for the few who can afford, the new
charging regime is
unfamiliar to many of us," he said.
Other subscribers said the new
charging system was unfortunate because the
little foreign currency they
come across was usually used for basic
commodities.
"Mobile phones,
which many of us believed were an essential and convenient
service, could
end up being for the rich people only because ordinary people
would not be
able to afford the services," Catherine Chawaguta of Mabvuku
said.
Tinei Gede of Kambuzuma said mobile phones would now became
''nhare mbozha
(a preserve for the rich)".
A customer services
officer at Econet Wireless in the city centre, however,
said the brief
access to service by many subscribers was due a slight lag in
upgrading and
subscribers be debited for using the service during that
period.
"The
system is currently down and that period was just a loophole and I
think
most of the people who phoned during that period have had their
accounts
debited," he said.
Econet Wireless corporate communications manager Mr
Ranga Mberi on Wednesday
said the service provider was still upgrading its
system and the system
would be back to normal today.
"We have been
engaged in a major network updating since yesterday in the
evening and this
has disrupted the whole system," he said.
Mr Mberi said while the
upgrading had affected all networks, the exercise
would be complete by the
date when the new charging system comes into
effect.
While most of
the networks have told their customers that the new charging
system would
start today, subscribers complained that airtime already in
their phones had
been converted from Zimbabwe dollars to foreign currency
yesterday.
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/
January 3rd, 2009
To all those "damn
British" people out there . I would like to thank you.
Apparently the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) has
raised US$35.6
million towards fighting cholera in our country and
apparently nearly 40%
(US$13.8 million) came from donations made by the
British.
So. to all
you "oppressors/ traitors/ racists/ colonisers", thank you for
letting our
lunatic geriatric dictator's words of hate wash over your heads.
More than
that, thank you for giving a damn about ordinary struggling
Zimbabweans when
our grubby vitriol-spewing political elite quite clearly
doesn't give a damn
at all.
Actions speak louder than words, a simple fact that the myopic
Zanu PF junta
has yet to grasp.
Posted by Hope
http://www.voanews.com
By Patience Rusere
Washington
01
January 2009
The people of Zimbabwe are entering 2009 facing
a plethora of problems -
many critical such as a cholera epidemic which has
claimed some 1,600 lives
and severe food shortages on top of a political
crisis that has intensified
despite a September pact for a unity
government.
Then there's is the economy or what is left of it, ravaged by
hyperinflation
measured not in double or triple digits but in the
sextillions -
60,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 percent by the estimate of
Harare economist
John Robertson in a recent interview with VOA.
For
help looking into 2009, reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe turned to MacDonald Lewanika, chairman of the Crisis In Zimbabwe
Coalition, and commentator Jonah Nyoni of Bulawayo. Nyoni said said the
national crisis came to a head in 2008, predicting that Zimbabweans will
reach the limit of their patience in 2009.