http://news.yahoo.com
HARARE (AFP) - A Zimbabwe court on Monday postponed
for 24 hours a case
involving leading human rights activist Jestina Mukoko
and eight others
accused of trying to overthrow President Robert Mugabe's
regime.
The case was postponed to Tuesday pending the outcome of their
application
to be released to hospital.
In a different ruling, the
magistrates court also deferred until Wednesday
the case of seven opposition
activists accused of banditry after their
lawyers launched a high court
appeal to have them seen by doctors.
"The accused are remanded to January
7 pending the outcome of the high court
application," magistrate Olivia
Mariga ruled.
Mukoko, seized from her home on December 3 by armed men who
identified
themselves as police, is accused of recruiting people to undergo
military
training in neighbouring Botswana aimed at toppling Mugabe's
government.
Botswana and the activists have denied the
charge.
Last week Mukoko, a former broadcaster, made her first court
appearance
after being detained at an unknown location for weeks.
Her
arrest has sparked widespread outcry from international rights
organisations
lamenting the declining rule of law in the crisis-torn
country.
Local
press report said on Sunday that she was being poisoned in custody.
The
widespread human rights abuse cases in Zimbabwe highlight the country's
deepening political crisis more than three months after Mugabe signed a
power-sharing deal with the opposition MDC.
http://www.iol.co.za
January 05 2009 at
02:31PM
Harare - A Zimbabwean judge has ordered that a prominent
peace activist
accused of plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe must
receive
medical attention before the case proceeds.
Judge Gloria
Takunda says police must comply with an earlier court order
that Jestina
Mukoko be taken to a hospital so allegations of torture can be
investigated.
Mukoko and 31 other activists appeared in the Harare
magistrate on Monday.
The case has been postponed to Tuesday.
Mukoko
had been missing for three weeks before she appeared in court in late
December.
She and the other activists claim they have been tortured
while in police
custody.
The opposition has dismissed the plot as
fabricated amid an increasing
clampdown on dissent. - Sapa-A
Source: World Health Organization (WHO) Date: 05 Jan 2009 ** Daily information on new deaths should not imply that these deaths
occurred in cases reported that day. Therefore daily CFRs >100% may
occasionally result 1 - Highlights of the day: - 751 cases and 59 deaths added today (in comparison 379 cases and 32 deaths
yesterday) - 40 % of the districts affected have reported today (22 out of 55 affected
districts) - 88.7 % of districts reported to be affected (55 districts/62) - All 10 of the country's provinces are affected
* Please note that
daily information collection is a challenge due to communication and staff
constraints. On-going data cleaning may result in an increase or decrease in the
numbers. Any change will then be explained.
http://voanews.com
By Peta Thornycroft
05
January 2009
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is pressing ahead with
plans to form a new
government next month with the consent of the Southern
African Development
Community (SADC), according the state-controlled Herald
newspaper.
SADC mediated a September political agreement between his
ZANU- PF and
Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Efforts to
implement the agreement have been unsuccessful.
According
to the Herald, a new government would likely be in place by the
end of
February. The newspaper speculates the factions led by Mr. Tsvangirai
and
Mr. Mugabe will by then have joined forces in parliament to pass a
constitutional amendment that needs a two-thirds majority to become
law.
The Herald says one of the ZANU-PF negotiators and a member of the
SADC
facilitation team met Saturday in the South African border town,
Musina.
In addition, Mr. Mugabe has reportedly met with Arthur Mutambara,
the leader
of the smaller MDC faction, who is a signatory to the September
political
agreement.
Mutambara has previously said he would not go
into a government without Mr.
Tsvangirai, who has been in exile in Botswana
for the past two months.
Mr. Tsvangirai says there is a continuing
dispute with ZANU-PF over the
allocation of ministries. According to the
Herald, he has written to Mr.
Mugabe explaining why he is not yet prepared
to return to take up his post
of prime minister.
Presidential
spokesman George Charamba said President Mugabe is determined
to have a
government in place and is keeping the Southern African
Development
Community appraised of the situation.
Mr. Tsvangirai said recently that
he has no plans to become prime minister
in a unity government until
political disagreements are settled.
By Alex Bell
05
January 2009
A manhunt has been launched by police in Masvingo for a
group of soldiers
who went on a violent rampage through the high density
suburb of Rujeko on
New Years Day.
A group of about 10 soldiers clad
in full military gear, deserted from their
headquarters outside Masvingo
last week and launched door to door attacks on
residents in Rujeko. The
rampaging group viciously assaulted residents,
leaving at least five people,
including a three year-old child injured. The
group also looted many shops
in the area while demanding that foreign
currency be handed over to them.
It's understood the soldiers told those
they assaulted that they were tired
of working without being paid and had
'every right' to take the money from
the public. One of the soldiers was
arrested while an estimated nine others
are believed to have crossed the
border into neighbouring South
Africa.
The attacks come a month after another group of rogue soldiers
went on the
rampage in Harare and looted goods before seizing cash in both
foreign and
local currency from members of the public. The Harare soldiers'
rampage was
the first sign that the loyal armed services were beginning to
turn their
backs on the regime, but the group was quickly paid off by the
government
with cash bonuses to dampen the tension at the
time.
Analysts had warned that the incident would not be the last of its
kind
because of the country's daily worsening economic crisis, which has
seen the
total collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar and the American
dollarisation of the
economy. Tension has therefore reportedly been growing
among the armed
forces that are still being paid in local, worthless
money.
Meanwhile, as Robert Mugabe's power base continues to appear
weakened,
paranoia that a coup against the government is being plotted is at
an all
time high. This after a heavily armed group of armed security agents
swooped
down on an outdoor training camp outside Harare last week, under the
pretext
that training of insurgents was underway there.
The Kudu
Creek camp site, which trains boy scouts, tourists and others in
the art of
outdoor living, became the site of a full military invasion last
Friday
night, when security agents raided the grounds. It's understood the
area was
cordoned off by four teams made up of about 40 people, with some
agents
arriving in helicopters.
The four teams comprised of heavily armed
officers from the Zimbabwe
Republic Police, the military police, Central
Intelligence Organisation and
the Air Force. According to media reports the
operation was led by two
senior air force officers, Air Vice Marshals Henry
Muchena and Martin
Chedondo, who arrived at the place in a
helicopter.
They alleged that the camp owners, Angus Thompson and Gary
Nestead, are
former members of the Rhodesian Security Forces 'Selous Scouts'
(a
controversial special-forces regiment of the Rhodesian Army which
operated
from 1973 until independence in 1980). The pair, who have run the
Kudu Creek
camp for five years, are believed to still be behind
bars.
The Mugabe government is said to be preparing to present evidence
to the
SADC security organ, that the MDC is orchestrating a coup. SADC last
month
sent investigators to Botswana to investigate this
claim.
Critics have queried why SADC is prepared to investigate what is
generally
regarded as a completely fictious allegation, but are not prepared
to
investigate the illegal abductions that the Zimbabwe security forces
continue to be involved in.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
By Tichaona Sibanda
5
January 2009
There are reports that the top leadership of the MDC,
including its
transition team and party strategists, will meet in
Johannesburg for three
days this week to decide whether to continue or
back-off from talks to join
a unity government.
MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, who is now in South Africa, is assembling his
standing committee
that includes his deputy, Thokozani Khupe, Tendai Biti
the secretary-general
and party chairman Lovemore Moyo. Tsvangirai has been
holed up in Botswana
for close to two months but travelled to Johannesburg
at the end of last
year.
Others expected at the meeting include Elias Mudzuri the organising
secretary, national spokesman Nelson Chamisa and the chairpersons of the
Women's assembly and Youth league Theresa Makone and Thamsanqa Mahlangu. The
indaba in Johannesburg is expected to run from Wednesday to Friday.
A
highly placed source told us the consensus among the top leadership of the
party was that Robert Mugabe has not made enough concessions for the MDC to
join an inclusive government under the Global Political Agreement signed
last year.
'The MDC needs additional concessions from ZANU PF. Until
Mugabe complies
with Tsvangirai's demands, I dont think you will see an
inclusive government
soon,' our source said.
Other sources said the
MDC has whittled down its demands to just four, from
about eight last year.
One of the remaining issues is for the regime to
legally define the
composition of the National Security Council which will
replace the Joint
Operations Command (JOC), made up of the country military
and security
commanders, all Mugabe henchmen.
The MDC also insists the issue of
ministerial portfolios is still up for
negotiation, as they do not recognise
the unilateral grabbing of all top
ministries by Mugabe. Thirdly, the MDC
want the issue of governors to be
resolved as they want officials from their
party to fill some of these
posts. Mugabe violated the GPA when he appointed
all 10 governors from ZANU
PF. The MDC contends that five governors should
be appointed from their
party, while four should come from ZANU PF and one
from the MDC formation
led by Arthur Mutambara. During the 29th March
elections, the MDC swept to
victory in five provinces, ZANU PF won in four
and the Mutambara MDC won the
Matebeleland South province.
Then
lastly the MDC is demanding that all detained political activists be
released or charged in a court of law. But only 30 of the 42 people believed
held in police custody have been produced in court, on trumped up charges.
Many of them have been in custody for months after they were abducted by
state security agents for allegedly training and aiding MDC activists in
Botswana.
Tsvangirai has meanwhile urged South African President
Kgalema Motlanthe,
currently chairman of SADC, to call for a meeting between
Mugabe and himself
to iron out some of the remaining issues.
The MDC
wants Motlanthe to expand his role in the stalled power-sharing
process and
take over from Thabo Mbeki, the former South African President,
as
mediator.
Already Tsvangirai has sought Motlanthe's intervention to
restart
negotiations, ahead of the proposed two day SADC summit on Zimbabwe
next
week in Johannesburg. Motlanthe announced just before the end of last
year
that he would convene a full SADC summit from January 13-15 to try and
push
all sides in Zimbabwe to form a unity government.
SW
Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 4th January 2009
When
I hear people talking about putting pressure on the regime in Harare
they
often express concern about the impact on the ordinary men and women
living
in the country. No such sentiments are in fact heard as grass roots
level -
in fact quite the opposite, ordinary people are the most vociferous
in their
view that the MDC must not enter into any sort of deal with Zanu PF
as a
junior partner.
A good friend in Harare called me just after Christmas
and said that in his
conversations with people in the capital, he was
hearing the view that we
should let the country crash and burn and then pick
up the pieces. People
are very perceptive in what they think and say about
sometimes complex and
difficult issues. Take for example the use of street
traders of the word
"burn" to describe changing money from hard currency to
the local paper. It
aptly describes the otherwise complex process that
simply destroys the real
value of the currency once it in local
form.
So what is outstanding? We have got a decent draft of the
amendments
required for the constitution to give effect to the Global
Political
Agreement, now all that remains are four issues - the legal basis
for the
National Security Council, which will replace the Joint Operations
Command,
the equitable allocation of Ministerial portfolios, the rescinding
of the
appointment of the 10 provincial governors and their replacement with
10 new
ones agreed with the MDC as required by the GPA and now a new
condition -
the production in safe and sound condition of the 42 people
abducted by the
regime in recent weeks.
Mr. Tsvangirai has received
his passport - that was finally extracted from
the Registrar Generals hands
and taken to Gaborone by the South African
Ambassador and handed to him by
the Ambassador on Christmas day. They have
also "found" 30 of the abductees
and produced them in Court to be formally
charged. 12 still; to be produced.
A number will be in Court on Monday and
we will then learn what the State
intends and what case they will try to
make against them.
This leaves
the question of the Ministerial portfolios, the governors and
the Security
Council. South Africa is still trying to persuade the MDC to go
into the
transitional government without these issues being resolved. What
they fail
to understand is that we will not get on the bus until the
steering wheel
and the accelerator and the gear lever are in our hands. Last
time someone
did that they ended up in the bush, dumped on the side of the
road and
having to walk back to civilization - they are still walking.
So the
stage is set - Parliament will sit on the 20th of January and is
ready to
debate and vote on the amendments and the new legislation to set up
the
Security Council - but we will not do so if the outstanding issues are
not
agreed and in place. It is not grandstanding, because of the way the GPA
was
agreed, largely at the behest of the South African mediation team; this
bus
is a peculiar one in design.
In the front of the bus - up against the
windscreen, is a large sitting area
that will be empty most of the time
until we have to decide which direction
to go next. Then the President will
get on the bus and meet the driver and
passengers and hear their views and
together with the driver, will map out
the next stage in this journey. He
will then get off the bus and the driver
and his passengers will move to the
divers seat, take charge and actually
drive the bus to its next destination.
Clumsy, but workable if there is no
doubt about who the driver is and how he
will operate. The Prime Minister
and the Council of Ministers is clearly
designed to take this role but the
bus hasn't been built yet.
Since
this machine was designed in South Africa we expect them to deliver a
completed vehicle into our care. To do this, the South African President has
to return to the factory and give final instructions to the factory staff on
the completion of the bus. Then, if we are satisfied it's to specification,
we will take delivery and be prepared to drive the bus to its
destination.
Spectators underestimate the MDC. In March 2006, when 22 000
delegates and
guests crowded the National Sport Stadium in Harare for the
MDC Congress,
the Congress resolved to adopt a road map - first the
democratic resistance
campaign, then negotiations, a transitional
government, new constitution,
then free and fair elections - and only then,
a genuine MDC Government. I do
not recall any commentator saying that this
was a brilliant plan or
commenting at the time on the prospects for the MDC
achieving its stated
objectives.
Yet two years later, stage one is
complete, stage two is about to be
completed and we are shortly to start
work on stage three. What people also
need to know is that we have a
detailed road map of how to traverse the
ground ahead of us. A road map
exists already and is agreed with Zanu PF, as
to how and when we are going
to complete a new national, people driven
constitution to guide us into the
future. It even has a timetable and the
next elections will be in mid
2011.
We also have a detailed understanding of the territory we must
traverse in
the next two years. The shambles in education and health, the
collapsed
economy with closed mines and factories, the deserted farms. The
absence of
the rule of law, freedom of association and information, the
destruction of
our own currency by stupid, myopic bad management. We know
what the
obstacles are and how rough the road will be - we think we will
have to fuel
for the bus and we certainly know how to steer us back to
sanity.
But you cannot drive a bus with two drivers trying to do so at
the same
time. The GPA says the MDC is in charge of the bus and MT is the
driver. We
just need to make sure, absolutely sure that there are no dual
controls in
the front of the bus - they remain where they were designed to
be - further
back in the hands of the Prime Minister.
What the people
at the bus stop are saying is "we will not get on the bus
until we are
satisfied that the driver is our man and not Mugabe". And that
is not
negotiable. If Mugabe is anywhere near the wheel, we would rather let
the
bus crash and burn.
Rev Kenneth Meshoe,
MP and President of the ACDP
African Christian Democratic
Party.
5th January, 2009
Rev KRJ Meshoe and ACDP President today
commented on the detention of human
rights activists in
Zimbabwe:
"The ACDP is disturbed by the silence of the SA Government and
former
political activists at a time when their fellow activists in Zimbabwe
are
kidnapped, tortured and poisoned by the Mugabe security
agents.
If the SA government finds the kidnapping, torture and poisoning
of Jestina
Mukoko acceptable for whatever reason, then we ask why they still
chose to
remain silent when a two year old boy, Nigel Mpfuranhehwe was also
tortured
simply because his mother opposes the Zimbabwe's cruel
dictator.
SADC leadership (except for the brave Botswana President), and
the SA
government in particular, have dismally failed the people of
Zimbabwe, and
have brought shame to our continent by their defense and
protection of a man
who should be in prison for crimes against
humanity.
Their deafening silence when their comrade Mugabe and his
illegitimate
government continue to arrogantly defy court orders, is fast
destroying the
integrity of African political leadership. That is why the
ACDP has
consistently called for the emergence of a new breed of leadership
that has
a vision for a better and prosperous Africa.
This new breed
of leadership must replace the current crop that is bound by
demonic
covenants and agreements they cannot free themselves from.
The ACDP calls
on the SA government to speak out against the kidnappings,
torture,
poisoning and abuses of Zimbabweans who are tired of oppression by
their
illegitimate government."
http://www.ft.com
By Richard Lapper in Johannesburg
Published:
January 5 2009 18:46 | Last updated: January 5 2009 18:46
Bishop Paul
Verryn is about to lose his temper and it easy to see why.
Hundreds of
desperate, often traumatised refugees, who have fled hunger,
cholera and
political repression, are camping in every inch of hallway and
staircase at
his Methodist Mission – including the narrow steps themselves.
Two
thousand or so people are staking out floor space in the building in a
grim
corner of central Johannesburg compared with about 1,300 a year ago,
the
vast majority of them from Zimbabwe, with another 500 on the streets
outside. The waves of new arrivals are looking to join their more than 1m
compatriots who already live in South Africa.
“We are flooded.
[The numbers] have gone through the moon,” said the
56-year-old Mr Verryn,
who added that pressure was growing on what was
already strained
infrastructure. “Even before the refugees came I spoke more
about sewage
than Jesus.”
But there is also a broader context to Mr Verryn’s frustration.
Like many
socially concerned South Africans he is increasingly frustrated by
the lack
of urgency in his government’s response. That has been all the more
disappointing in light of the talk of a more active approach in Pretoria
after then-president Thabo Mbeki was forced to resign in September. His
so-called quiet diplomacy towards the country’s political crisis was widely
seen as being too soft on President Robert Mugabe.
Mr Mbeki was the
architect of a September peace deal that saw Mr Mugabe
agree to form a
government of national unity with the Movement for
Democratic Change, the
opposition party that won elections last March, but
then withdrew from a
second round in June after many of its activists were
killed in a spate of
violence.
Jacob Zuma, the leader of South Africa’s governing African
National Congress
and the country’s likely next president, has been more
outspoken. He told
the nation last week that the situation in Zimbabwe was
“untenable”.
But with negotiations over a new Zimbabwean government at an
impasse, there
has been little sign as yet that the government is prepared
to become more
aggressive with Mr Mugabe or even to consider initiatives
outside the
confines of the Southern African Development Community, the
regional body
made up of 15 regional governments, in which the Zimbabwean
leader has a
number of allies. Critics say African leaders are still looking
to the MDC
to make concessions, rather than to 85-year-old Mr
Mugabe.
Shortly before Christmas, the government quietly approved a R300m
($32m,
€23m, £22m) agricultural aid package, which had been dependent on
political
progress, without that condition being met.
South Africa’s
position has seemed all the more controversial as Zimbabwe’s
humanitarian
crisis deepens. “As the stories get more heart-wrenching the
government
position is incomprehensible to me,” says Kumi Naidoo, a former
ANC activist
and the honorary president of Civicus, an international
umbrella group of
non-governmental organisations. The country’s most famous
churchman,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been a particularly outspoken critic,
arguing
that his country’s stance has lost it the moral high ground that it
won
during the struggle against apartheid.
Meanwhile, Mr Verryn draws a
connection between the policy and widespread
popular sentiment against
immigrants. Three times last year, mobs of local
residents angry about the
extra pressure on local hospitals and other
services attacked the mission,
he says.
Tensions have lessened since but “there is a lot of anger among
common South
Africans. Xenophobia bubbles beneath the surface [and has been
the] nexus of
the [government’s] policy. It is almost as if foreign
nationals are
dispensable and disposable,” he said.
Even so, that is
no excuse for the lack of urgency, he said. There is a
reluctance “to name
the thing for what it is: a crisis that is creating a
deluge of
poverty”.
http://www.capeargus.co.za/
January 05, 2009 Edition 2
Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe has taken a month's leave and is to spend
part of it
on holiday outside the country, reports the state-owned Sunday
Mail.
The report quoted Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba as saying:
"This is
more of a retreat than an annual leave. The president is very busy
reflecting on the new structures that are needed to deal with the economic
sanctions against Zimbabwe, as well as working on structures of an inclusive
government which must come soon," he said.
Mugabe's time-out comes
amid Zimbabwe's worse economic and humanitarian
crisis.
The country
has been without a new cabinet since the June 2008 presidential
run-off in
which Mugabe was the sole candidate after his opposition rival
Morgan
Tsvangirai pulled out, citing violence against his supporters.
In
mid-September, Mugabe and Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC), signed a power-sharing deal and began negotiations
for a unity
government.
But negotiations broke down as the two sides failed to agree
on the
implementation of the pact. Tsvangirai accuses Mugabe of wanting all
the key
ministries, such as defence, in-formation, home affairs, finance and
foreign
affairs.
Political commentator Lovemore Madhuku
criticised Mug-abe for deciding to
"spend the little left of foreign
currency (in Zimbabwe)" during his leave.
"It shows that he is not
concerned about the suffering people. One can only
afford to go on leave if
one has done something tangible. Honestly, Mugabe
has done nothing that
deserves a rest," Madhuku said.
"Cholera is killing people, the economy
is bleeding and someone decides to
abandon ship and rest. For
what?"
Inflation in Zimbabwe is the highest on the world, officially at
231 million
percent. The prices of the few available goods change every day
as a result.
More than five million people are in need of food aid, says the
UN.
Since August a cholera epidemic has claimed more than 1 500 lives and
more
than 20 000 people have been infected. Residents in many cities and
towns
have to depend on shallow wells and rivers for their drinking water. -
Sapa-dpa
Now seems to be the word of the moment. Kubatana
subscriber, Sophie Zvapera, wrote to Kubatana sharing a short story about her
sister and a new year resolution . . . I phoned my sister’s seventeen-year-old daughter to wish her a merry
christmas and a prosperous new year since they were visiting the rural areas and
I was not going to be able to talk to her till after new year. She was excited
to go and see her nana and I asked her whether she had already made her new year
resolution. I wish I had not asked! She said all she wanted was to study hard
and pass her A levels this year and find herself a place in some university
somewhere outside Zimbabwe where she can do her studies. Then I cried! I cried because my sister’s daughter was going to this mission boarding
school and at the end of last year she was sent back home before schools closed
because there were no teachers, no food, the school fees that we were paying in
zim dollars were not even enough to buy a loaf of bread. Therefore there was
nothing that the school could do except to send all the students back. I started
thinking of all the other children who have the same resolution as my sister’s
daughter and who cannot go to school as the term starts because they cannot
afford to pay private college fees in foreign currency. Here is a whole
generation whose hopes and aspirations have been shattered by a group of
Mugabe’s thugs. They are thugs because they have stolen our children’s future
yet they claim to be governing or whatever they call it because the people voted
them into office. Which people I ask? How many of all these school and tertiary
going students’ future have these politicians quashed, trampled upon and thrown
into the dust bin all for the sake of political power? What happened to the
concept of investing in the youth for they are tomorrow’s future leaders? What
legacy are we leaving for our children? So while I am still wiping my tears I will put my request to the political
leaders for the new year. This political bickering, grandstanding and media
statements will not bring back the lost years for our children neither will it
arrest or correct all the things that are wrong in this country. So for the sake
of Zimbabwe please put people’s interests first and foremost and rescue the
global political agreement from wherever it is and come up with a government
that will take the country forward. This does not require Monthlante, SADC, AU,
UN, Britain or America just us Zimbabweans can do it if there is the political
will to do so. How long can we continue to have all these abductions, murders,
cholera, starvation, HIV/AIDS and all the deaths before all you politicians say
the people have suffered enough? It is now or never.
From ZWNEWS, 5 January
The
Zimbabwe government has been using a vehicle seized from a Sky News crew
to
transport abducted civil society activists to and from court. The
vehicle, a
red VW minibus, together with television broadcasting equipment,
laptops,
computers, disks, and videotape was confiscated in May last year in
Bulawayo, and three Sky employees were detained. Bernet Hasani Sono,
Resemate Chauke and Simon Musimani were subsequently each sentenced to six
months in jail. In July 2008 a High Court judge reduced the sentences to
fines of Z$50 billion and they were deported. There had been speculation as
to why a red VW minibus, with Gauteng registration plates HNL 223 GP, had
been used so openly by the state to transfer the activists, some of whom
allege that they have been tortured and beaten while in custody. Gauteng
vehicle records show the vehicle to be the property of Kebone Tours and
Transport, a tourism company based in Vorna Valley between Johannesburg and
Pretoria, although as Phetole Ramatseba of Kebone Tours said: "We haven't
really owned that vehicle since it was taken by the Zimbabwean state."
From Sapa, 5 January
The Zimbabwean government has extended the period for
monitoring prices of
basic goods and services to June 30 this year, the
state-controlled Herald
reported today. This was so profiteering by some
elements in the business
sector could be curbed, the newspaper said. The
price monitoring also
included schools, many of which have embarked on large
fee hikes ahead of
the first term, which begins on January 13. According to
a Statutory
Instrument in an Extra-ordinary Government Gazette published
last Friday by
the Minister of Industry and International Trade, Cde Obert
Mpofu,
"monitoring of goods and services will continue until the end of June
this
year." According to the Herald, some of the products that were
monitored
included bread, maize-meal, cooking oil, salt and sugar. The move
meant that
businesses and schools had to apply to the National Incomes and
Pricing
Commission for any price and fee adjustments, the newspaper said.
The
effectiveness of the regulations remained to be seen since most
businesses
were now charging their goods and services in foreign currency,
the Herald
said. Recently, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe granted licences to
more than
1,000 wholesalers, retailers and filling stations to trade in hard
currency.
Other businesses and institutions have followed suit even though
they did
not have central bank approval, the newspaper said.
http://blogs.thetimes.co.za/hartley/2009/01/05/zimbabwe-motlanthes-silence-on-mugabe-is-disturbing/
5 January 2009, 16:40 GMT +
2
ZIMBABWE has entered 2009 with little prospect of progress on
democracy.
The decision by its president, Robert Mugabe, to leave town on an
extended
holiday is confirmation of just how urgently he views the hand-over
of power
to a new multi-party government.
Worse than that, he appears
intent on forming a government of national
disunity which excludes the man
who beat him in presidential elections last
year.
Morgan Tsvangirai has
refused to proceed with a power-sharing government
because opposition
activists have been abducted and are being held without
charges by Mugabe's
thugs.
He has quite rightly insisted that they be released and that
abductions
cease before talks continue.
Mugabe's failure to acknowledge
the legitimacy of the opposition comes as no
surprise.
What is shocking
is his preparedness to take his country to the wall so he
can hold on to
power until the bitter end.
The Zimbabwean economy is in ruins. The US dollar
has become the default
currency and it won't be long before Mugabe runs out
of cash to pay his
security forces.
There are already signs that the
military might toss aside the rule of law
and take to the streets.
This
is a dangerous development which seriously threatens the security of
the
sub-continent.
Through all of this, South Africa's government remains
strangely mute
despite promising signs that a tougher line was being taken
towards the end
of 2008.
President Kgalema Motlanthe appears as unable as
his predecessor, Thabo
Mbeki, to publicly chastise Mugabe for his shocking
leadership.
This moral equivalence is not inspiring.
South Africa must
stand up and take the lead in pushing Zimbabwe to reform.
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/8258
By Agencies
5 Jan
2009
Anglican bishops and other church leaders in Southern African have
been
maintaining pressure on dictator Robert Mugabe over the past week,
calling
for action against the disputed president of
Zimbabwe.
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Laureate,
renewed his attack
on South Africa for its lack of action against Mr Mugabe,
and repeated his
call to the international community to remove him forcibly
if he refuses to
step down voluntarily.
A "new doctrine of
responsibility to protect" had to be invoked, Tutu told
BBC Radio 4 in an
interview last week. Mr Mugabe "needs to be warned, and
his cronies must be
warned that the world is not just going to sit by and do
nothing," he
declared.
Meanwhile the Anglican Bishop of Pretoria, the Rt Rev Dr Jo
Seoka has called
upon President Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa to act
against Mugabe.
"Looking at the situation in Zimbabwe, one cannot help
but challenge the
government of South Africa to consider seriously the
humanitarian crisis
faced by the Zimbabwean people in Musina and act
decisively on it," the
bishop said.
He added that he had previously
called upon both the government and the
Southern African Development
Community to take tougher action against
Mugabe. "However, no action has
been taken by the political leaders of our
country to protect the Zimbabwean
nationals within our borders. Yet people
continue to be detained without
trial, and to die of diseases of
impoverishment such as cholera."
The
conditions under which the Zimbabweans found themselves could no longer
be
tolerated, Seoka said.
He continued: "As a spiritual leader and the
Bishop of the Anglican Diocese
of Pretoria, I challenge my own government
first, to send a delegation on a
fact-finding mission that will inform and
empower us to act decisively to
rescue the innocent nationals of Zimbabwe,
both in their country, and in
such places as Musina, where they are being
treated to a fate worse than
animals."
The bishop said it was tragic
to learn that one of the observers in the area
noted that even his dogs did
not live under the conditions to which the
Zimbabwean nationals were being
subjected. The bishop added that South
Africa had to now consider sending a
peacekeeping force to Zimbabwe, to
protect civilians, "particularly those
who are human rights advocates, such
as Jestina Mukoko, who was abducted and
molested".
He also called on South Africa to stop supplying electricity
and water to
Zimbabwe, "simply because these amenities have become
accessible only to
Mugabe and his cronies, and not the poor who are
evidently dying of
starvation and thirst".
Seoka said it was the
right of South African citizens to speak out on such
matters, "as it is our
tax which subsidises the supply of these amenities".
He added that should
peacekeeping fail, "we must, as a country, call upon
our President Kgalema
Motlanthe, to exercise his responsibility as the chair
of Southern African
Development Community, to mobilise SADC forces to go to
Zimbabwe as
peacemakers".
In his Christmas pastoral letter to Zimbabwean Anglicans,
the Bishop of
Harare, Dr Sebastian Bakare, said there was "a litany of
challenges" of
problems that are destroying Zimbabwe.
He wrote:
"Cholera, hunger, HIV/AIDs, lack of health care, homelessness,
unemployment,
poverty, corruption, kidnappings, callousness, harassment, you
name it. . .
All these challenges rob us of an opportunity to have a
meaningful and
purposeful life. As I write, some families are nursing their
relatives who
are suffering from the effects of cholera expecting them to
die any time,
others stay indoors, unable to come out from their houses
because of the
unbearable stench of sewage flowing in front of their
doorsteps, while still
others are burying their dead. We hear of a horrific
case where one family
lost five children in 36 hours."
Dr Bakare described it as "an ugly and
horrendous situation". Such feelings
of hopelessness and dejection can
challenge faith in God, he said, but "can
also lead us to deeper
understanding of the helplessness, powerlessness,
dejection, and pain that
Jesus had to bear on our behalf". God has not
abandoned Zimbabwe, and the
Lord does not fail his chosen, he assured his
people.
Catholic and
Methodist leaders have also spoken out in New Year
communications.
http://kubatanablogs.net/kubatana/?m=200901
Monday, January 5th, 2009 by Michael Laban
Zanu PF has
one objective - to remain in power. Everything else is subject
to that
caveat. The apparatus of state (power apparatus, army, police, tax
office,
civil service, currency, central bank, other economic tools, etc)
are to be
used to that effect. The population of Zimbabwe, and the services
they
require (education, health, infrastructure - roads, water, refuse
disposal)
are to be used to that effect. The economy, and the economic
basics, all
primary, secondary and tertiary portions, are to be used to that
effect. The
'war veterans' are to be used to that effect. Race is to be used
to that
effect.
The members of the ruling party are in power to make money. I am
not a
Marxist for nothing - Karl Marx believed, and I agree with him, that
economics/money is at the root of EVERYTHING; he said it went right down to
marriage - to create a better economic unit. So Zanu PF is a business, as is
all politics. It is a job, a method of employment, a wage earner, and if you
are good (or good at it), a very good 'wage' earner. A method of getting
rich!
Zanu PF discovered that it was possible to buy power - that is,
purchase
people to keep them in power. This is known as patronage. And the
army -
civil servants with guns - were the most important ones to by
bought.
Zanu PF discovered that there was no need to balance the budget.
Feel free
to spend more than you earn, because so long as you can print
money, you can
cover the gap. So long as there is no free press, or anyone
to ask prying
questions (eg a civil service that answers to Zimbabwe and not
Zanu PF),
they do not have to be bought off.
Civil service jobs
(right up to the ministers) were the traditional method
(as most
socialist/labour/left wing governments are accused of) of buying
power/patronage. Then Zanu PF made unbudgeted payouts for the war vererans.
Then all the Ministerial permanent secretaries' jobs went to 'retired'
soldiers. Then farms for everyone the rank of major and above, and most
politicians as well.
However, the farms 'redistribution' was a last
step. (And why did Zanu PF
stop land redistribution in 1985?); a) they
failed to put farmers on farms -
which is a crucial mistake when your
economy is based on agriculture to the
extent that ours was. (This
incidentally is why land redistribution before
1985 was successful - you had
to have a Master Farmers Certificate to be
awarded a land grant). b) those
given farms discovered that you actually had
to farm the land to make money.
Simply owning a farm did not make one
wealthy.
This meant that, the
long term plan, to take the mines and businesses,
encountered problems. Bith
the potntial givers and takers realised that just
handing them out would not
be enough, so there was little point in stealing
them. Unfortunately, the
means of buying patronage was running out.
Remember how a government is
supposed to work in an economy? A budget is
needed, where income =
expenditure. Income is from taxes. Taxes are those
levied on the economy. If
the economy has collapsed and no economic activity
is occurring, your tax
will be less (or nothing) and therefore, your
expenditure will be/should be
less. Expenditure is how you buy power/make
money.
But if you can
print money, what do you need to balance a budget for? Print
more money to
cover the gap. And talk fast (made easy by a lack of a free
press) and
convince people that there is some other reason for inflation (or
cholera
for that matter). However there is a physical limit to how much you
can
print and talk. Eventually it runs out. Even the stupidist people begin
to
think for themselves. Again, the means of buying patronage was running
out.
Patronage jobs are given to people who are loyal to the giver of
the job.
Not based on any ability to do that job. Hence, rising to the top
of any
'official' organisation have been those loyal to Zanu PF. The abilty
to
manage, get things accomplished, achieve goals, motivate staff and get
the
maximum work out of them, make machines and other apparatus continue to
function, vehicle fleets continue to drive, service to be provided - that is
secondary.
So, when you now go to any 'government' body, and find
that nothing has been
done; a) they want a bribe - because there is no
'real' (government) pay,
and the only reason to stay in that position is for
what you can take home
to feed your family (and since we are not paying them
via the tax routeÉ) b)
there is no one of any competence (or if there is,
they are in some menial
job at the back of the outer office down that
corridor on the left out of
the way of the public who might actually pay
them) to do anything.
So now, nothing works. No education, no health
services, no refuse
collection, no water, no electricty, no fuel, no food.
Everyone with any
competence has a job. In the UK of South Africa. But not
to worry, cholera
is under control.
This 'failure to separate' also
leads to a new problem. Now that the 'ruling'
party is the official
opposition, the civil service (right down to rural and
municipal levels) is
out of step with (new) ruling party policy. They are no
longer able to
'make' ruling party policy, which kept them making money from
their
position. Therefore, they have a serious 'disinterest' in seeing a
change of
ruling party, or listening to new orders from new bosses (who are
really
just the representatives of their real, old bosses, the population of
Zimbabwe). Their patronage post is in jeopardy.
There most definately
has been a coup. It has certainly not been overt, nor
has it happened at any
partcular point. It was hidden, and it crept up. But
compare today to ten of
fifteen years ago. Who conducted the coup? That is
another reason that it
has not been noticed. It has not really been the army
(the ZNA, ZDF, Z Air
Force, etc) It has been conducted by what I call the
the Zanla High.
Remember that stretching back to liberation war days, Zanu
was the political
side, a front for, Zanla. One of the liberation armies,
the one that won the
war.
They are the military establishment. Despite the fact that the
Mujurus
retired, Mutasa and Mnangagwa are 'civilians', Chinamasa is a
lawyer, one is
a party Chairman, one's a policeman, one a prison officer,
Shiri flits from
army to air force, and a few others are also inside this
group - they are
the 'militant' core of Zanu PF/ZANLA (or the new one). They
are not
currently, or possibly ever have been, part of the classic
Zimbabwean
military, but they are part of a junta that has taken control of
Zimbabwe,
often using the classic military. They maintain their theory of
military/militant takeover. Hence the concern with martial law, Botswana
bases, arms shipments, the JOC, etc. It is what they know (and how they did
it).
Post liberation-struggle, they have maintained 'alternatives' as
layers of
cover. ZAPU was absorbed a a cover. The political party, Zanu PF
was formed
as a cover (with possibly the party chairman as cover for, or
controling
from within, the junta), SADC and the AU were useful curtains to
be worked
on from within, etc.
These layers of cover are slipping
away. Zapu is leaving, for example. In
addition there is the Makoni factor.
Simply by surviving, even if he failed
to win, he has demonstrated that the
former ruling party does not have to be
slavishly followed. You can make you
own voice be heard, say different
things, suggest different paths, all away
from that dictated by the Zanla
high command.
And the former ruling
party is fracturing. Some want to use power to retain
power. Some want to
reform the party and its policies, to regain mass
support (and that power).
Some want to vut and run with the money they have
already made. Some want to
(need to) retain power, even if there is no more
money to be made, in order
to retain that which they have already stolen.
Real heart attack
material!
They are bombing each other. Killing each other. (Quite
convinced now that
they do have 'degrees in violence'). Party elections are
fired upon by the
riot squad. The civil service with guns are beating up
bank tellers, and
openly stealing from forex dealers.
So now what? So
now what? How can they hold on? And it is my opinion that
change is
happening. I will not say to what, or when it will be finished,
but it is
happening. They have to do something new, because the old ways are
bankrupt
(like the country). Former friends are gone, former enemies are
still
enemies, and are no longer crying for the implementation of the unity
agreement, but the removal of the regime, and the civil service are on a go
slow, mainly because they are waiting to see who their new bosses are going
to be.
They cannot dollarise. a) this would be an admission of
failure. Too serious
to contemplate or cover up, expecially after the party
chairman ranted on at
length about our 'sovereignty'. (Which they have done
what with? And was an
excuse for what?) It is fine to 'licence' forex shops
(it provides an income
to steal), or charge forex earners in dollars for
their electricity (or to
licence their generators), but they cannot overtly
simply move to dollars.
b) they would have to balance a dollar budget. There
could be no printing to
paper over those gaps. And with no economy to
provide income, there could be
no expenditure. And if they cannot pay the
civil service with guns, who will
protect them from the civil service with
guns?
Cholera. This cannot be hidden. It is our only export at the
moment. And it
cannot be solved with the current system. Either the system
must be changed
(impossible), or force/power/guns must somehow solve it
(dismiss the
problems).
Hence, my feeling that change is happening. A
more naked, open, junta
control, with no facade of democracy, (with no
patronage to offer). Or a
shakedown to more democratic control, stable
economy (one you can plan
within), health and education, roads, public
transport, etc.
http://www.hararetribune.com/
Sunday, 04 January 2009 19:11
Hunger and
desperation have driven a Mutasa district orphan to hunt for
snakes and sell
them in Mozambique.
Stung by hunger, no money to pay his school fees and
being constantly
overlooked at periodic food rations, Tendekai Mucheki* has
resorted to an
unorthodox survival tactic.
Mucheki started his self
taught art after he learnt from his friends that he
could make money by
selling snakes to sanctuaries in neigbouring Mozambique.
He started out
on this dangerous expedition three months ago and now keeps a
cage full of
snakes at his Vhumbunu homestead.
When RadioVOP visited his
homestead he was not at home and was said to have
left for Mozambique where
he smuggles his snakes through numerous
undesignated entry points. According
to his close friends, he has a ready
market in Mozambique's Manica Province.
Some sanctuary owners have
reportedly given him equipment to harvest
snakes.
"When he started out he was not even afraid of snakes because
he was used to
killing them with his hands, and when he heard of buyers in
Mozambique - he
started keeping them at home and it has now become his
occupation," said a
friend, who identified himself as
Hardlife.
Hardlife also claims to have killed a puff adder with his
bare hands.
"I was just walking next to our compound and I heard a
screeching sound, I
then saw a snake in a tree and it was about to attack me
but it missed me
and was dangling from a branch. I gripped it with my hands
- close to its
head and stoned it with my other hand," said the 19-year-old
Hardlife who
said he has gone on to kill a couple more snakes with his bare
hands.
Hardlife says Mucheki now goes to the mountains to look for snakes
which he
catches alive and does not remove their 'teeth' because his buyers
in
Mozambique want them in their natural state.
"I plan to join him
because he is doing well and can afford to buy himself a
few goats. He now
walks around with US$ in his pocket," said Hardlife.
*Not real name
http://www.chronicle.co.zw
Business Reporter
THE
increase in transactions in United States dollars has brought confusion
over
the validity of some notes, Business Chronicle has established.
Businesses in
Bulawayo trading in foreign currency are rejecting United
States dollars
printed in some years claiming they were no longer valid.
Confusion over the
validity of certain notes intensified over the past few
days with some
businesses refusing to take notes that have since "stopped"
being in
circulation.
The affected notes were those printed in the 1996 series. The
US$100 has
series ranging from 1996, 2001, 2003 and 2006 whose security
features are
based on notes introduced in 1996.
Members of the public
called Business Chronicle narrating how their money
was being rejected at
some shops because it was no longer "valid".
"This has happened several times
to me and I was told that my US$100 is not
legal tender anymore, I think the
Reserve Bank should explain to members of
the public which foreign currency
notes can be used," said Mr Herbert Mbizo
of Hillcrest.
Moneychangers
also known as Osiphatheleni located along Fort Street at the
infamous 'World
Bank' also revealed that they did not accept the 1996 series
notes.
"We
don't take it, even where we do accept it as form of payment usually we
knock off a bit of its value and don't change it at the prevailing market
rates", said a woman identified only as Janet.
However, investigations by
Business Chronicle reveal that the 1996 series
US$100 is still legal tender
and is in use in its country and in
neighbouring countries such as Botswana
and South Africa.
According to United States law, any bill that is 50 percent
intact is still
legal tender.
The introduction of foreign currency shops
has seen an increase in
counterfeit currency in circulation resulting in a
leading security company
urging businesses to invest in fake note detector
machines to reduce losses.
Outlets licensed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
to sell in foreign currency
are supposed to have note detection machines as
a prerequisite of getting a
licence but most workers use visual inspection
to check authenticity of
notes.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
By Mansoor Ladha, For The Calgary
Herald
December 30, 2008
Shame on Africa's leaders that they have
waited this long and have done
nothing in Zimbabwe while Robert Mugabe goes
ahead with his tyrannical
regime, ignoring the plight of his people. How
long are they and the
international community going to wait?
I
remember the days when the Organization for African Unity used to vocalize
about white minority domination, apartheid and racism. But now in the case
of Zimbabwe, with few exceptions, Africa has remained silent. It's a
shameful lesson in African history that African leaders, usually vocal in
their denunciation of apartheid, are noticeably quiet in the case of
Mugabe.
As everyone knows, the situation in Zimbabwe is worsening day by
day. It
should be clear by now that after being in office since 1980, Mugabe
has no
desire to give up power. Even if he loses an election, he will not
yield.
The only solution there is to either assassinate him from within or
to
topple him.
As far as the first solution is concerned, it would be
impossible to do so
as the army is in Mugabe's pockets so there is very
little that can be
expected from within. Somehow dictators always know that
if they want to
cling to power, they should keep the colonels happy by
supplying them with
enough lucrative goodies.
A few African leaders
have criticized Mugabe openly. Among them are Kenya's
Prime Minister Raila
Odinga and South African Desmond Tutu, the retired
Anglican archbishop of
Cape Town, who stated that Mugabe should step down
from office. He made a
lot of sense when he suggested that African nations
should even resort to
military force if necessary to remove Mugabe from
office, during an
interview with Dutch TV program Nova.
Another option to force Mugabe to
step down, Tutu said, is to threaten him
with prosecution at the
International Criminal Court. Mugabe "is destroying
a wonderful country,"
Tutu lamented. "A country that used to be a bread
basket . . . has now
become a basket case itself needing help."
The ZANU-PF and MDC
power-sharing agreement for all intents and purposes
appears to be dead. To
add fuel to the political pyre, Zimbabwe's cholera
epidemic continues to
spread and has now claimed more than 1,000 lives among
20,581 cases since
August. The easily preventable disease has spread because
of the collapse of
health services and water sanitation in Zimbabwe.
The UN World Health
Organization has said the total number of cases could
reach 60,000 unless
the epidemic is stopped and yet Mugabe won't allow
physicians from other
neighbouring African countries the visa to enter
Zimbabwe with
medicines.
The only solution, therefore, is for Zimbabwe's neighbours to
get together
and invade the country. The time for discussions and debates is
over. South
African ruling ANC leader Jacob Zuma has already said in a radio
interview
there was no reason for sending troops to Zimbabwe. "Why military
intervention when there is no war?" he told South Africa's 702 Talk Radio.
"We should be pressurizing them to see the light."
Where are the
courageous African leaders like the late president Julius
Nyerere of
Tanzania, who ousted Idi Amin after recognizing that his
neighbour had
become a tyrant and invaded Uganda to bring an end to the
tyrannical regime?
Nyerere has set an excellent precedent for African
leaders to follow, but I
see that they lack the courage that is required to
do so.
Mind you,
Amin was brutal, but his regime was even better than Mugabe's as
people in
Uganda were beaten, tortured, abused and hundreds were murdered,
but never
did they starve to death or see the level of suffering which is to
be found
in today's Zimbabwe, and yet there is no action from African
leaders.
There is still a ray of hope that some country like,
Botswana, though not as
powerful as South Africa, may take the lead to
invade Zimbabwe, or maybe
Zuma may be persuaded to change his mind. But the
clock is ticking and
Zimbabweans are suffering and dying. Something must be
done to stop that
suffering.
If Africa doesn't act, then as a last
resort the international community
should take matters into its own hands.
Many may not like this suggestion
but a mercenary or an international force
should invade Zimbabwe and capture
Mugabe and his closest allies. An example
comes to mind when in 1976,
Israeli commandos rescued 100 hostages, mostly
Israelis or Jews, held by
pro-Palestinian hijackers at Entebbe airport in
Uganda.
Ugandan soldiers and the hijackers were taken completely by
surprise when
three Hercules transport planes landed after a 4,000-kilometre
trip from
Israel. About 200 elite troops ran out and stormed the airport
building.
If this is not acceptable, then the United States, saviour of
all
democracies, should be persuaded when Barack Obama takes office next
month
to invade Zimbabwe.
Bush invaded Iraq so why can't President
Obama, the first African-American
president of the United States, authorize
the invasion of an African country
(Zimbabwe) and topple Mugabe's regime?
The idea doesn't seem that
far-fetched.
After Zimbabwe is invaded,
Mugabe and his henchmen should be brought to The
Hague to stand trail for
their crimes against the people of Zimbabwe. His
regime has not only brought
destruction, but cholera, poverty, runaway
inflation, destitution and
starvation--reducing the country into one of the
failed and mismanaged
states. If we don't act now, history will blame us for
it.
As Martin
Luther said: "We will have to repent in this generation not merely
for the
hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling
silence
of the good people."
Mansoor Ladha Is A Journalist Based In Calgary. He
Is Author Of The Book
Entitled, A Portrait In Pluralism: Aga Khan's Shia
Ismaili Muslims,
Published By Detselig.
John Kraemer and Larry
Gostin
guardian.co.uk,
Monday 5 January 2009 10.00 GMT
By any
reasonable measure, Zimbabwe's president has committed crimes against
humanity justifying an international response
If the Bush doctrine
justified the use of armed force to prevent harm to
westerners, then the
Obama doctrine should be to use the force of
international law to stop
crimes against humanity or grave, man-made
humanitarian disasters. No place
cries out for intervention like Zimbabwe,
where Robert Mugabe has been
responsible for countless deaths and epidemic
disease. His actions -
particularly systematic violence against opponents
and the deprivation of
humanitarian aid - should be viewed as a crime
against humanity, which would
justify humanitarian intervention without the
government's
consent.
The UN Charter allows the security council to authorise force
when a country
poses a "threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of
aggression".
Precedent exists for using this device to intervene in
humanitarian
emergencies. In 1992, the security council found that famine
and
deteriorating stability in Somalia posed a "threat to international
peace
and security" and sanctioned a US-led military force to restore peace
and
provide aid. Unfortunately, Russia and China have blocked security
council
sanctions against Zimbabwe.
Humanitarian intervention without
security council authorisation is
controversial but legally defensible. The
UN Charter prohibits intervention
by one country "in matters which are
essentially within the domestic
jurisdiction" of another. However, the
Charter's purpose, in addition to
preserving peace, is to prevent grievous
violations of human rights.
Sovereignty should inhere in the people and not
the government, so
governments forfeit sovereignty when they commit crimes
against humanity.
Under this view, international law recognises a right
to intervene to stop
crimes against humanity. This would give the US,
ideally in support of the
African Union, room to intervene, at least for the
limited purpose of
preventing systematic violence by Mugabe's forces and
ensuring the delivery
of food and health assistance that Mugabe shows little
interest in.
Crimes against humanity have usually been thought to apply
to widespread
torture, disappearances, and persecution on the basis of
cultural or
political group. But international law also defines crimes
against humanity
to apply equally to widespread or systematic inhumane acts
that
intentionally cause "great suffering, or serious injury to body or to
mental
or physical health".
Mugabe has made easy his own prosecution.
His redistribution of land from
large-scale colonial hold-overs to political
allies and the calculated
destruction of fields, livestock, and granaries
have wrecked the country's
food production, once one of Africa's most
abundant agricultural economies.
Roughly half of the country is malnourished
and more than 5m people are
dependent on international food aid. Need is
expanding so quickly that the
World Food Programme cannot keep up and may
have to cut rations to
already-starving Zimbabweans.
As economic and
social conditions have deteriorated in Zimbabwe, Mugabe
responded by
expelling international aid workers - leaving millions without
adequate
access to food and essential medicines. Life expectancy has fallen
by more
than two decades in the last 20 years.
And now comes cholera. Cholera is
an acute and rapidly fatal
gastrointestinal disease, but it is relatively
easy to prevent through
proper sanitation and water purification, and fairly
straightforward to
treat with rehydration salts. Zimbabwe never used to have
large epidemics of
cholera - it once had one of the best public health and
medical systems in
Africa. But Mugabe's calculated neglect of urban
population centres now
means that infectious sewage flows into the streets
and water is not
purified. No functioning hospital remains in Harare,
Zimbabwe's capital and
largest city. The epidemic - which has now infected
more than 30,000 and
killed more than 1,600 - will only grow as the rainy
season intensifies,
making sewage and drinking water exceedingly difficult
to keep separate. The
World Health Organisation projects that up to 60,000
people may become
infected, and cases have been reported in neighbouring
Zambia, Botswana,
Mozambique, and South Africa.
By any reasonable
measure, Mugabe has committed crimes against humanity
justifying an
international response. The United States should propose that
the UN
security council use its authority under the Rome Statute to
authorise
International Criminal Court claims of crimes against humanity.
An
indictment would have two major effects. First it would further
de-legitimise Mugabe, conferring on him the status of hostis humani generis
and providing a powerful bargaining chip for his resignation. Second, if he
did not resign, it strengthens the legal case for humanitarian intervention
with food, medicines and sanitary measures to safeguard the health and lives
of Zimbabweans. The alternative is to stand by while innocent people
continue to die from manmade violence, hunger, and disease.
Larry
Gostin is a professor at Georgetown Law and the Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg
School of Public Health. John Kraemer is a fellow of the O'Neill
Institute
for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University.
http://online.wsj.com/
JANUARY
5, 2009, 9:40 A.M. ET
A South African leader might
pressure disastrous Mugabe
By JOSHUA KURLANTZICK
Like a twisted fairy tale
whose pages never seem to end, Zimbabwe seems
incapable of reaching bottom.
Last month, a cholera epidemic swept the
country, killing at least 700
people thus far -- and probably far more,
since most Zimbabweans prefer to
die at home than in their country's
decrepit hospital rooms, bare of
supplies or workers.
The outbreak caps off a disastrous year, one of
repeated shocks that might
finally bring down longtime leader Robert Mugabe
-- or might just as easily
launch all-out civil war. In March, Zimbabweans
voted decisively for the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change in a
national election, sparking
hope among the population. Yet the opposition
party did not win an outright
majority. With a re-vote looming, Mr. Mugabe
outmaneuvered the MDC, using
his thugs to intimidate the opposition until
they pulled out of the
election, making Mr. Mugabe the victor.
Since
then, Mr. Mugabe and the MDC have tried to negotiate a power-sharing
deal,
but Mr. Mugabe grabbed the most important government ministries,
leaving him
the upper hand and the talks deadlocked. Meanwhile, average
Zimbabweans
starve, their farms decimated by years of predatory government
policies,
their salaries worthless, their grocery stores and schools closed.
One
analysis of the country's exchange rate by the Cato Institute think-tank
found Zimbabwe now boasts the second-worst hyperinflation in the history of
the world.
In 2009, the conflict between Mr. Mugabe and the MDC will
only deteriorate.
In the last round of talks on a government of national
unity, held in
November, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangarai admitted any deal
"appears
increasingly unlikely," while Mr. Mugabe recently declared the
country was
his "forever." Days later, army soldiers, dissatisfied they
could not get
their wages out of the wrecked banking system, rioted across
Harare, looting
stores and robbing people. The army protests only hardened
Mr. Mugabe's
thinking. Maintaining the loyalty of the army is, for him,
critical to
remaining in power; inking a deal with the MDC, which might try
to dilute
the security forces who have been beating and killing MDC
supporters for
years, would cost Mr. Mugabe that hard-won military
backing.
In fact, any decision Mr. Mugabe makes will spark more unrest next
year. If
he gives an inch, expect more protests by army officers worried
about MDC
rule; if he holds a tough line, expect a tougher MDC response-many
young MDC
members want to take the fight back to the government. Most
likely, Mr.
Mugabe will claim the opposition refused to join the government
and then
name the cabinet himself, setting off a new cycle of protest by
opposition
supporters, an even more vicious crackdown by the government, and
a possible
descent into complete anarchy, causing a regional crisis as the
country
empties even further of its people.
As in several other
countries where the United States has imposed tough
sanctions-North Korea
and Burma, for example-Washington has sharply
curtailed its own influence in
Zimbabwe. The U.S. has interests in Zimbabwe,
besides simply promoting human
rights. The country's meltdown has sent
millions of migrants abroad,
undermining stability across southern Africa,
and serving as a vector for
the spread of HIV/AIDS on the continent, which
the White House has invested
over $60 billion in fighting. Yet American
officials have virtually no
interaction with top members of Mr. Mugabe's
circle, and Mr. Mugabe
frequently blames Washington for his country's
poverty and food crisis. So,
as in Burma, where the U.S. must lean on China
to do the heavy lifting, in
Zimbabwe the international community relies on
South Africa to take the
lead.
Until recently, under former president Thabo Mbeki, Johannesburg
refused to
play along, working to broker an MDC-Mugabe deal but never
putting real
pressure on the longtime autocrat, even though South Africa
remains
Zimbabwe's economic lifeline. In 2009, that, too, may change. Unlike
Mr.
Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, the populist probable next president of South Africa,
relies on his country's powerful trade unions for political support. The
unions, sympathetic to former union leader Tsvangarai, have pushed for a
tougher line against Mr. Mugabe, and Mr. Zuma already has called Zimbabwe's
crisis "unacceptable," language Mr. Mbeki would never have
used.
Rather than simply launching new UN sanctions, sure to be vetoed by
China,
or condemning Mr. Mugabe, the international community needs to take
advantage of the rise of Mr. Zuma, still mistrusted by many Western nations
for his populist leanings. The international community should push Mr. Mbeki
to step aside as mediator in Zimbabwe (he remains in the post despite
exiting the South African presidency) and have him replaced with Mr. Zuma,
who'd be much more likely to pressure Mr. Mugabe.
For its part,
Zimbabwe's opposition should swallow its pride and join the
government, even
if it remains dissatisfied by the government posts it gets.
By staying
outside government this year, it has allowed Mr. Mugabe to fool
it time and
again. And only by joining government can the MDC finally help
close the
book on Zimbabwe's poisoned fairy tale.
Joshua Kurlantzick is a Visiting
Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace and author of
"Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power
is Transforming the World."
This is a reply to Dr. Mawere’s article posted on NewZimbabwe.com.[http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/mawere153.19192.html]
Robert hating white people--------------the biggest con ever !
Dr. Mawere,
Thank you very much for the article attached. It touched me and I am sure it has started a debate with many others, which is well and good. Somehow I think Mugabe has duped you and many others when you assume and accept the notion that he has a hatred of white people. One thing you will agree with me is, I hope, the man is a genius,[evil genius at that]. Somehow, everyone tends to listen when the man opens his mouth-----friend or foe. A great attribute, I would say.
The whole background of the liberation struggles, especially in Southern Africa, has been dominated by leaders like, Mandela, Mbeki, Mugabe, Kaunda, Banda, Nyerere and many many others, all Western educated. Many of these leaders did not actually hold a gun during the struggle but like Bush or Blair managed to persuade someone else’s son or daughter to go to the front while they were in a hideout or bunker.[part of modern day leadership and warfare ,unlike yester-year.][Bush rushed into a bunker as over 350 firemen filed into the twin towers before they collapsed---all perished].
Thus, when independence was attained most of these chaps found themselves in charge of vast wealth, --------kutuma bete kumukaka,----------[sending a cockroach to a bowl of milk], some were bound to fall in. Remember, all this time they were telling the world it was nothing to do with skin colour but the system. When the people’s patience with the looting started running out that’s when it became a “white” issue or as I call it tissue!. Politically, Mugabe has played it brilliantly in the last 8 years. The older generation in the main have been more susceptible to these tissues of lies Meanwhile, Mugabe had accepted a knighthood from the queen [1994] and several “ doctorates] from several establishments in the west. I can’t think of any titles he received from the nations who actually helped in the struggle, namely Russia and China. His holiday destinations were always Paris, London or New York-------not Mombasa, Moscow, Beijing, Dubai or even Victoria Falls. Actions of a man who has this venom against white people? I don’t think so!
Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere had his on vision which did not take off for one reason or other. But, what amazes me is, he never thought of building one first class hospital in Tanzania. Instead,sadly, he spent the last 3-6 months of his life in a coma in a London Hospital. What chance the ordinary citizen of Tanzania? Similarly, today the British government says they have frozen all the assets of the looters in Zimbabwe but are not prepared to tell Zimbabwean people what these assets are.[banking confidentiality, they say-------tosh!]. Zimbabweans should be pushing hard to find out what?, where? when? and why?. I have a different take on this. The so called looters will always come “Home”-----Kensington----London, where their assets are safe. [it might be stretching it too far, but don’t be surprised to hear Mugabe has been granted asylum at a future date They can always say ,he is an old man now.--------- alas, they are still looking for Nazis in South America, 65 years after German surrendered!]. Remember Gowon, Dikho and many many others who have slipped quietly back “Home”.
These guys plunder the resources of the countries they govern but can’t trust to leave the loot in their own local banks. Rather, they prefer to ship it back “Home”, for the former masters to look after it. Who says British diplomacy is not the best in the world?. Cecil John Rhodes had a dream. He envisaged a road, “Cape to Cairo”. The idea was to exploit the interior of Africa and send the proceeds to London. No road of his dream exists yet, but I can hear him turn and laugh in his grave at Matopo Hills because later-day Robin Hoods are robbing their own poor to send the proceeds “Home” to London. It is amazing and shocking to see Nigeria exporting 2 million barrels a day of oil over the last 20 years yet its people live in abject poverty. All the money still goes up NORTH. Kenya got it’s independence the same year as Malaysia [early 60’s],yet the average income for Malaysia is nearly $40 000 per annum while Kenya stands at $180 a month. They were both rural economies at independence.
ON being African:
“No matter how long a log stays in water it can never turn into a crocodile”------------this statement or saying, to me says it all!
AFRICAN: a native of Africa: a Negro or other person of black race, esp. one whose people live now, or lived recently in Africa.---------The Wordsworth Concise Dictionary.
EUROPEAN: belonging to Europe; a member of the white race of man characteristic of Europe.----------The Wordsworth Concise Dictionary.
Dr. Mawere, what you discussed in your article on this issue of “who is African” is mainly Nationality and World economics issues. I will touch on both. A white person born in Africa can either be Kenyan, Zimbabwean, Nigerian, Somali, South African and so forth. A white person born in Natal cannot be Zulu [it will be a biological mistake] .Similarly, a black person born in London will be British---not English,[that will be a biological mistake too!]. If born in Scotland---------- British: France—French: Germany----German and so forth because these are nationalities. [in other words, which passport one might hold.] To my knowledge, there is no English passport or for that matter an African passport. Suppose a pregnant African lady goes on a trip to the ARCTIC circle and gives birth while there, are we seriously saying the child is Eskimo or Innuit ? If so, we might as well conclude, some would argue, Jesus, born in a stable was either a horse or an ass! [hope religious people will forgive].
The debate is made more complicated when it comes to sport. In the United Kingdom for example, there are 4 “national” teams in football, namely, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland,but only one team in Athletics.[team GB]. All these groups use BRITISH passports to travel abroad when in competitions. I, like you, was born in Zimbabwe and used to worship Brazil [still do] in football, thought and still believe Mohammed Ali [Cassius Clay], was/is the greatest boxer ever. In cricket it was the West Indies, although this was later in my life since none was played by the blacks during Smith’s Rhodesia.
Living in England I have been accused of not being patriotic whenever England plays football. This, besides the overwhelming evidence that they are not very good at it. [they still insist they invented the game]. However, a Scot born and raised in England considers it a “fatwa” if one was to call him English. The English would not dare ask a Scot for support in any sport. For many Scots it’s always been-------support ANYBODY but ENGLAND. [they actually cheer and celebrate whenever England is knocked out of any tournament].
Like I pointed out earlier,politically, our dear leader has used this black/white issue brilliantly. For the majority of blacks, whether from the West Indies or Africa or the Americas, Mugabe was a hero until events of the last 12 months which exposed him as a classic despot. They don’t buy it anymore. Thus, white people, like any other group of the human race, can choose to be part of a nation state including being Zimbabwean. To actually say a white person born in Africa is an African is “political correctness” gone nuts ! The reverse is true for a an African born in England.[English? Nope]
Here is a teaser. If one said I met an African last night. What comes first to mind ? Was he or she blonde or ginger? WEIRD !
There is another angle which I look at when discussing black and white issues, i.e, the economy. At this point in time in our history the “west” holds the economic power over every country on the planet. I prefer the terms North and South, the South being predominantly the so-called “developing nations”, who are predominantly black but will include Chinese, Indians and most Asia Pacific. To me, the North is White, the South is Black. In order for the North to function well they need resources from the South and I assume that’s why the founders of the former British colonies decided on the name Commonwealth. They may be common but we got the wealth !
Rather than play cheap and divisive politics our dear leader would have served us well had he retired early and fought like he does on the imbalances the SOUTH faces with the NORTH on economic issues.
He also needs to be reminded that the 2 main reasons why Zimbabweans went to war were, 1] land which is the major cause of wars the world over
And most important, 2] the right to choose who governs you. I emphasize the 2nd because everything falls into place the moment the citizens have a say in their heritage and destiny..
On both counts he has failed miserably. So, if like you state the rest of Africa considers him as very patriotic I and many others would like to know what treachery is ?
THANK YOU,
SIMON. (neither blonde or ginger)