The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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Zimbabwe sees red over MDC colours    Basildon Peta
          July 13 2004 at 03:11AM

      South Africa's most senior Catholic prelate is puzzled as to why South
Africa is not considering sanctions against Zimbabwe when these were
effective in ending apartheid.

      Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, president of the Southern African Catholic
Bishops' Conference, spoke on Monday as the human rights situation in
Zimbabwe deteriorated further.

      Zimbabwe state television has directed that the colour red - and so
the Aids ribbon - not be shown because it is the symbol of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

      And in a separate development, President Robert Mugabe's government,
which faces acute foreign currency shortages and a collapsing health sector,
has introduced ox-drawn ambulances to ferry ill people to health centres in
rural areas.

      The main opposition party said the introduction of ox-drawn
ambulances, reported in the Zimbabwe government's own media, was yet another
indication of the "continuing collapse of institutions" in Zimbabwe while
Mugabe focused on terrorising the innocent.

      Napier told Sapa that while he was not calling directly for sanctions
against Zimbabwe, he did not understand why they were not being considered.

      He said no progress had been made with PW Botha, the second-last white
president, during the apartheid era. Most churches therefore had supported
the African National Congress's call for sanctions, through the United
Democratic Front.

      "Sanctions in South Africa brought us a quicker end to the oppression.
But I think you have got to do it intelligently," said Napier.

      Equally, if sanctions were applied on Zimbabwe, they should be applied
"intelligently" and it should be up to the people of Zimbabwe to decide when
they should be lifted.

      The cardinal's words resonated with those of Zimbabwean Catholic
Archbishop Pius Ncube's call for South Africa to consider sanctions.

      Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe News Service (ZNS) has reported that the
Zimbabwean government has banned the colour red from the state-run national
television because it is the official colour of
      the MDC.

      The first casualty of the "no red" directive has been the Red Ribbon,
the internationally recognised HIV and Aids awareness symbol.

      Producers of the weekly Aids discussion programme, Perspectives,
ordered participants - which included Aids activists - to remove their red
ribbons before filming could begin.

      "We were told to take off our red ribbons. When we asked why, we were
told it's because of the colour," activist Martha Tholanah told ZNS, a news
service recently created by Zimbabwean journalists.

      A ZTV producer said they had been instructed "not to give unnecessary
publicity to the opposition by avoiding the colour red on screen".

      Paul Themba Nyathi, a spokesperson for the MDC, described the decision
to ban red as a classic example of how Mugabe focused on trivia while the
country burned.

      Referring to the government's decision to introduce ox-drawn
ambulances, he said: "Zimbabwe is being dragged back towards the stone age."

      The move comes after the bankrupt state-run National Railways of
Zimbabwe reportedly brought back steam locomotives, which had long fallen
into disuse, because it could not afford to run its modern electricity and
diesel locomotives.

      Nyathi said: "As long as we have Robert (Mugabe) and his gang around,
we will not end at ox-drawn ambulances, but we will see further
deterioration in all aspects of life."

      According to state media reports, the ox-drawn ambulances are a result
of an initiative by the Ministry of Health and are based on the ox-drawn
carts used for rural transport.

      They would initially be used in at least 10 district councils around
Zimbabwe to ferry people to hospital.

      The state-run Herald newspaper said preference for the ox-drawn carts
would be given to children and pregnant women. The carts would be based at
the homesteads of headmen in the districts.

      Health ministry officials told the Independent Foreign Service that
the carts were an act of desperation because there was no money to buy
proper equipment.

      "At many state hospitals, the only drug you will find is Panado. An
ambulance will thus be a big luxury," said one official.

      "Maybe these ox-drawn carts will help in reducing people dying in
homes. They will either die on their way to the hospital or on arrival.

      "That will save the families the hassle of transporting bodies to
mortuaries."

      Health Minister David Parirenyatwa was quoted by The Herald as saying
the carts would make a great impact in reducing avoidable deaths. He said
most maternal deaths in Zimbabwe were caused by avoidable factors, such as a
lack of transport.

      He hoped the cart ambulances would provide an affordable form of
transport "in a way communities can manage".

         .. This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on
July 13, 2004

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Washington Post

A Farm Disaster of a Different Color
Mugabe's Land-Seizure Campaign Leaves a Black-Owned Business in Ruin
By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, July 13, 2004; Page A10

ODZI, Zimbabwe -- Where rows of sweet corn once grew, there are now brown
and dead stalks. Where beans once sprouted, there are weeds. And where 5,000
Zimbabweans long made a good living off the land, there is hunger.

Similar scenes are common on farms, most previously owned by white
Zimbabweans, across this southern African nation after four years of violent
land seizures under President Robert Mugabe. What is different about the
Kondozi farm is that the owner of the business that was confiscated is
black.

Edwin Moyo, who owned 52 percent of Kondozi, thrived at what was
traditionally a white man's business in this former British colony, running
a horticultural company that stocked vegetable bins throughout Britain and
brought in $15 million a year to this poor corner of a poor nation.

But under a farm seizure program Mugabe has said was necessary to
redistribute the ownership of land, Moyo's business met the same ruin as
those owned by thousands of whites. On Good Friday, in April, dozens of
police arrived with water cannons and submachine guns, Moyo said, and
blocked off the road, looted the offices and beat anyone who sought to
resist.

"This is something I wanted to do as a black man . . . so I could look after
other people," said Moyo, 46, who owns several other business interests in
Zimbabwe.

In an interview, Moyo did not blame Mugabe or his ruling ZANU-PF party,
which controls most aspects of the national economy. Instead, Moyo vaguely
accused "certain greedy individuals," whom he did not name, of taking
Kondozi.

But former employees of the farm, opposition leaders and independent
journalists say Kondozi represents the reality of land reform in Zimbabwe,
where there are few, if any, checks on government power and those who wield
it.

Moyo's former employees, most of whom are still out of work, said a group of
top government officials who live in the area coveted Kondozi for themselves
and were eager to punish independent farmers, seeing them as the financial
base for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

The toll has been high for thousands of workers, their families and the
region. One former employee, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of
government retribution, said he had lost income equal to $100 a month -- a
good wage in Zimbabwe -- plus housing and living expenses.

"Now it's disaster," he said. "I've got nothing right now."

Twenty-two farmers, most of whom are black and who sold beans, corn, melons
and other crops under contract to Kondozi, also lost their livelihoods.
Hundreds of other workers were employed by these smaller farms, many of
which have stopped producing.

The attack was even more startling to those here because the High Court of
Zimbabwe had ruled in February that the government could not take Kondozi.

The government, in newspapers it owns, has repeatedly portrayed the seizure
of Kondozi as an unvarnished success of land reform and contended that the
farm has resumed its earlier productivity.

But a recent visit showed that on Kondozi's 550 acres, only a few fields
still had crops, and those were stunted and immature. Most fields were
overgrown with weeds, including an inedible reddish plant that Zimbabweans
call "witch's wheat."

Mayor Misheck Kagurabadza of nearby Mutare, Zimbabwe's third-largest city,
about 25 miles from Kondozi, said suffering in the area had been widespread
since the farm was seized.

Former workers and their families come to the mayor's office looking for
help buying food, or a few dollars to pay school fees for their children.
The situation is worse in the rural areas, the mayor said, because the
prospects for work are slimmer there.

"People who used to work in that area, they are really in trouble," said
Kagurabadza, a member of the Movement for Democratic Change.

Since Zimbabwean authorities began seizing land in 2000, they have taken
thousands of farms, often by threatening and attacking farmers and their
families.

The government has said the farms will remain the property of the state, but
leases of 99 years have been given to members of the political elite. Some
cabinet members have received several farms each, a development that even
Mugabe has criticized.

"A man can have as many wives as he wants as long as he can look after
them," Mugabe said last week in Harare, the capital. "Unfortunately, the
same cannot be said about farms."

The former farm owners, most of whom are white, in many cases have fled to
Britain, Australia or over the border to Zambia, where the agricultural
industry is suddenly booming.

The former farm workers, almost all of whom are black, often have been left
destitute because new managers often lack expertise, training and equipment.
In the process, Zimbabwe has been transformed from a nation that was known
as southern Africa's breadbasket into a country where hunger is common.

In April, the same month Kondozi was seized, the U.N. World Food Program
reported feeding 4.5 million Zimbabweans, roughly one-third of the nation's
population. Millions of citizens have fled to South Africa and other
countries in search of work and food.

Two decades after white rule ended in 1980, most of the country's best
farmland had belonged to several thousand white farmers. Although many
Zimbabweans said they were uneasy about the ruthlessness used to seize the
farms and were troubled by the hunger that resulted, there initially was
support for the idea of reclaiming the most fertile land from the
descendants of colonizers.

But the takeover of Kondozi provoked a reaction different from that
regarding earlier farm seizures. Many Zimbabweans were puzzled over how the
government could take a business that was owned by a black man, employed so
many people and generated so much precious foreign currency.

In defending the takeover, despite the High Court's ruling in February,
officials pointed out that although Moyo was majority owner of the business,
a white family owned the land.

Yet even within Mugabe's party, the seizure provoked outrage so intense it
caused a rare public fracture. Vice President Joseph Msika, who oversees
land redistribution for Mugabe, sought to block the takeover.

But in an interview with the Zimbabwe Independent in May, Msika said he had
no choice but to back away from the issue after discussing it with Mugabe.
In the same interview, Msika blamed the farm seizure on "immoral little
boys" whom he did not name.

"More people must be included in the ownership of the concerns, but not
through violent and barbaric ways," Msika told the weekly newspaper.
"Personally, as the chairman of the land task force, I wouldn't accept
having the army and police descending on farms to forcibly evict owners,
farm workers or peasants. Such actions cast a bad image on the land issue
that has been a success generally."

As Kondozi's workers struggle, Moyo said he has moved on. He has written off
the debt from the farm and turned his attention to a processing plant he
bought in Zambia. It employs 9,000 people, a success that is bittersweet for
Moyo, who said he would rather see those jobs in Zimbabwe, at Kondozi.

But, he said: "It is over and done with. This farm is gone. There's nothing
to be done."
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The Herald

GMB pays $40bn to farmers

Herald Reporter
THE Grain Marketing Board has used at least $40 billion of the $100 billion
so far released by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to buy grain from farmers, a
senior official said yesterday.

GMB chief executive Retired Colonel Samuel Muvuti told The Herald yesterday
that the Reserve Bank had provided a facility of $550 billion.

"We have got a $550 billion facility from the central bank. Of the total
amount, so far $100 billion has since been released to us, of which only $40
billion has been paid out to the farmers.

"We want to assure farmers that we have adequate money to pay for grain
deliveries," said Rtd Col Muvuti.

He added that more deliveries were expected in the coming weeks since most
farmers have already completed their harvests.

"We are actually moving to the peak of the deliveries because we are now
getting an average of 8 000 tonnes to 13 000 tonnes a week.

"Deliveries are expected to increase in the coming few weeks since most
farmers have already wound up their harvest and are now making their
deliveries to our depots,'' he said.

The GMB boss dismissed as baseless allegations that some cheques that were
issued by the parastatal have been dishonoured by banks.

"We want to assure the farmers that no cheques will be and have been
dishonoured because the money to pay them is there.

"In fact, most people have commended us for paying the farmers promptly.

"We pay cash straightaway for a maximum of three tonnes of grain to enable
farmers to meet their immediate requirements.

"Additional tonnage is paid for in cheque form and farmers can access their
cash within five days at the banks.

"The GMB would also want to further reassure farmers that with its programme
of electrifying and computerisation across the country, payment will be
greatly speeded up," he said.

Rtd Col Muvuti dismissed fears from some quarters that the money loaned to
the GMB could be used to retire some of the parastatal's debts.

He said most of the debts that were taken over by the Government have since
been settled.

"There is $450 billion which we are still to use after receiving the $100
billion from the central bank and this money is specifically to buy grain,"
he said.

Meanwhile, the GMB is sending some of its staff for national service as part
of efforts to inculcate a sense of patriotism and appreciation of the
ongoing land reform programme within its ranks.

"To start with, we have been recruiting most of our staff from graduates of
the National Youth Service. We have already employed more than 500
graduates.

"Because of the discipline, maturity, patriotism and diligence of the
graduates, we are sending some of our workers who meet the criterion for
training under the National Youth Service programme,'' he said.

Rtd Col Muvuti said they were sending workers for national service out of
the recognition of the strategic importance of the GMB to the land reform
programme as well as ensuring that the nation was adequately fed.

"We have, therefore, taken a deliberate bias towards taking these graduates
to enable us to fulfil this important role and we feel we should take a
leading role in implementing Government policy," he said.
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The Herald

New US envoy vows to step up anti-Zim drive

Herald Reporter
United States ambassador-designate to Zimbabwe Mr Christopher Dell has vowed
to continue his government's efforts to effect "regime change" in the
country.

Mr Dell appeared before the US Senate committee on foreign relations on 23
June where he bragged about being experienced in dealing with "troubled
spots", citing his excursions in Kosovo, among other countries.

He said the US should continue to put pressure on the Zimbabwean Government,
claiming that the Government had caused the decline of the economy and human
rights abuses, among other allegations.

"If confirmed (as US ambassador to Zimbabwe), I would continue the efforts
of our government in seeking Zimbabwe's re-emergence as a country with a
legitimate, democratically elected government that respects the rule of law
and human rights . . . ," Mr Dell told the committee.

Mr Dell replaces Mr Joseph Sullivan, who is expected to leave Zimbabwe soon.

The incoming diplomat is currently the US ambassador to Angola and has
previously served as the chief of mission in Kosovo and deputy chief of
mission in Mozambique and Bulgaria.

". . . I am proud to have helped in the effort to bring about Slobodan
Milosevic's departure from power by 'democratic means'.

"These experiences, and others from my previous postings, have convinced me
that American engagement is critical to helping countries such as Angola and
Zimbabwe move beyond crisis," Mr Dell said.

He said the Zimbabwean Government had remained defiant even in the face of
the economic sanctions imposed by the US through the so-called Zimbabwe
Democracy and Economic Recovery Act.

He claimed that the Government was repressing the opposition ahead of next
year's general elections.

"Despite these discouraging signs, I believe that we must not relegate
Zimbabwe to the league of failed states; or abandon its people to the
consequences of their government's misrule.

"While we must continue to maintain pressure on the current Zimbabwean
government, we must also continue to demonstrate our support for the
Zimbabwean people," Mr Dell said.

Diplomatic sources said it was unprocedural for an ambassador-designate to
speak so definitively about the politics or situation of a country he was
being posted to.

"Upon appointment, you are assumed to be open-minded and discover the
situation when you get there. But Dell is promising regime change before
confirmation and arrival.

"The interesting question will be: When he arrives to whom would he present
his credentials because the person (President Mugabe) he wants to oust is
the one who should receive his credentials?

"It will also be interesting to see what would be the attitude of the
Zimbabwean Government and President Mugabe himself, whom he brags that he
would oust," the sources said.

However, it is understood that the Government is likely to, if it has not
already done so, summon Mr Sullivan to express its displeasure about the
undiplomatic Mr Dell.

Diplomatic sources in Angola say Mr Dell's posting to Harare has been a
subject of curiosity in government and diplomatic circles there because of
what appears to be a pattern for future US ambassadors to Zimbabwe to serve
in Luanda before proceeding to Harare.

Mr Sullivan served in Angola before he came to Harare in July 2001.

The Angolan sources said much of the talk among some Western diplomats in
Luanda was on how the "abrasive Dell, who distinguished himself for lack of
tact among the Angolans and even with his diplomatic colleagues," would
survive in Zimbabwe, which they viewed as a totally different political
environment where authorities brook no interference in the internal affairs
of their country.

According to the sources, in 2002 Mr Dell tried to gatecrash into the
ceasefire talks between the Angolan government and Unita, which were being
held in the remote town of Luena.

"The Angolans wanted to avoid interference in what they termed an Angolan
solution to the conflict. But, without invitation, Dell flew to Luena and
only sought clearance when he was already airborne, much to the disgust of
the hosts," said one source.

When he landed in Luena, the Angolans told him he was unwanted and ordered
him to return to Luanda.

The sources also told The Herald that Mr Dell had told some Latin American
and Western diplomats in Angola that his special project in Zimbabwe would
be to bolster the faltering opposition MDC ahead of the 2005 general
elections.

"I welcome the chance to work on the challenges and seize the opportunities
that our next ambassador to Zimbabwe will face," Mr Dell told the US Senate.
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[This documentary was first broadcast on 17th September last year, and the transcript can be seen at https://www.zimbabwesituation.com/old/sep18_2003.html#link3 ... ]
 
Dear All
 
Radio Netherlands this coming Wednesday  14 July has a documentary -'On the
Rampage'.

Don't use the times on the email as those are for AfriStar satellite
listeners- rather USE the SW freqs & times of Radio Netherlands that are noted immediately below:
 
18.00: Newsline
18.30: Weekly Documentary
19.00: Dutch Horizons
19.30: Newsline
20.00: Weekly Documentary
20.30: Newsline
 
WEDNESDAY 14 July

*** The Weekly Documentary ***

On The Rampage - Zimbabwe's Youth Militia: another chance to hear Eric
Beauchemin's documentary, which won a Gold Medal at this year's New York
Festivals.

Zimbabwe's youth service-training programme is designed to provide school
leavers with job skills and instill in them a sense of patriotism. In
reality, however, the youth militia uses intimidation, terror and torture to
keep President Robert Mugabe's regime firmly in power.

Eric Beauchemin travelled undercover to Zimbabwe and spoke with former
militia members and their victims about the devastating effect the youth
militia is having on Zimbabwean society.

Broadcast times (UTC): 10.30 (Pacific/Asia/Far East), 11.30 (Eastern USA),
14.30 (South Asia), 18.30 + 20.00 (Africa), 21.30 (Europe), 00.30 (Eastern
USA), 01.30 (Central USA), 04.30 (Western USA)
Frequencies:

18.00 until 19.00 UTC:

6020, 9895 and 11655 kHz


19.00 until 20.00  UTC:
 
7120, 9895, 11655 and 17810 kHz

20.00 until 21.00  UTC:
 
7120, 9895 and 17810 kHz

Intelsat 707 satellite
Transponder 238, 3.915 GHz

01.00. 02.00, 04.00, 10.00, 14.00, 15.00, 18.00, 19.00, 20.00

World Radio Network

Intelsat 707, 1º West MPEG2 Digital at 3.9115 MHz, right-hand circular polarisation, Symbol rate 8.022 Mbaud, FEC 1/2, audio stream WRN (left-channel audio) 

09.00 until 10.00
22.00 until 23.00

 

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Botswana Daily News

      Khama laments destruction of Botswana/Zim electric fence
      13 July, 2004

      BOBONONG - The Vice President Seretse Khama Ian Khama has lamented
that government's efforts to electrify the border fence between Botswana and
Zimbabwe had borne no fruit as people cut the fence and stolen the solar
panels.

      Speaking during a consultative meeting with VDCs and other
stakeholders in Mathathane, Lt. Khama said the ministry has suggested some
strategies of controlling the destruction made by wild animals and would
make some recommendations to the government.

      The Vice President called on dikgosi to implore their communities to
desist from involving in such criminal activities.

      Khama was responding to remarks made by Kgosi Richard Serumola that
there is need to intensify the control of elephant movement in Bobirwa,
adding that elephants killed people and destroyed their crops in the
district.

      Concerning development issues, the district economic planner,
Kgangmotse Kgangmotse, said there was shortage of classrooms in all the 31
primary schools in the district, adding that there was need to build 87 273
teachers quarters and 218 toilets.

      He said the new feeding programme was implemented though construction
work on the planned school kitchens has not been completed.

      He said the council had planned to electrify some of the clinics in
the 2004/2005 recurrent budget but this would not happen due to budgetary
constraints.

      Kgangmotse noted that the demand in transport has increased as
HIV/AIDS patients were being transported to Serowe and Francistown almost
everyday for ARV therapy.

      He was however hopeful that the introduction of such treatment in
Bobonong will help relieve the need for transport.

      Concerning the social welfare section, Kgangmotse said Bobirwa has a
total of 774 destitute persons eligible for assistance and people still come
forward for assessment due to various reasons such as the loss of bread
winners within the family and insufficient rains that hinders people from
ploughing.

      He said there were 324 home based care patients who are provided with
food baskets as per their needs and more than 27 500 orphans in the sub
district.

      He lamented that while the council was trying its best to assist VDCs
to collect rental arrears the problem still persisted.

      He said the Bobirwa VDCs were owed P112 741 as rental arrears as at
the end of March this year.

      However, the VDCs recovered P9 560.

      Kgangmotse said while tenants owed the VDCs, committee members
misappropriate funds and in addition failed to submit monthly arrears as the
council requested, adding that this made it difficult to assist them collect
the arrears, he said.

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Tuesday 13 July, 2004

Top bishop moots Zim sanctions

Mail & Guardian (SA)

"When people are dying it is not politics, it is a matter of life and death
and about the promise of a better life and making that fulfillable. Life and
death is not about politics"

Durban - South Africa's top Catholic bishop said on Monday he cannot
understand why the South African government is not considering sanctions
against neighbouring Zimbabwe, given the success that sanctions brought for
South Africa. However, the Catholic Church believes that if sanctions were
imposed on Zimbabwe, they should be applied "intelligently" and it should be
up to the people of Zimbabwe to decide when they should be lifted, Cardinal
Wilfred Napier said. Napier said that while he is not calling directly for
sanctions against Zimbabwe, he does not understand why sanctions are not
being considered. He said that during apartheid no progress was made with
the second-last white president, PW Botha, so most churches supported the
African National Congress's call for sanctions, through the United
Democratic Front. "Sanctions in South Africa brought us a quicker end to the
oppression. But I think you have got to do it intelligently," said Napier
who is the president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference.

He said Zimbabwe's Catholic Bishop Pius Ncube told a gathering of church
leaders in KwaZulu-Natal last week that nobody is pressuring the Zimbabwe
government to find a solution to its problems. Ncube is reported to have
said: "All they do is back each other up and drink tea together." Napier
said: "It's difficult on the outside of the situation to comment, but for my
part our government has the means to find out what needs to be done."
Commenting on whether the church should get involved in politics, Napier
said: "When people are dying it is not politics, it is a matter of life and
death and about the promise of a better life and making that fulfillable.
Life and death is not about politics." He said it is usually people who have
a lot to lose who oppose sanctions, and disputed that it will have a
negative impact on ordinary Zimbabweans. "What further suffering will
sanctions bring to the people of Zimbabwe?" Napier asked.

Zimbabwe is currently reeling under the combined effects of food shortages,
spiralling inflation and unemployment. Certain Zimbabwean government
officials have had "smart sanctions" imposed on them, meant to prevent them
from travelling to certain countries across the globe. However, diplomatic
protocol has usually enabled them to bypass these restrictions. Last week
civil rights groups expressed their concern at a decision by the African
Union not to make public a report said to be critical of the country's human
rights record. The report, compiled by the AU Commission on Human and
People's Rights two years ago, contains allegations of government complicity
in a wide-range of rights abuses, the United Nations's Integrated Regional
Information Network (Irin) said. According to Irin, Brian Kagoro, chief
executive of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, said: "There was a glimmer of
hope that African leaders would finally publicly condemn the ongoing human
rights violations, but that opportunity has once again been lost."
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Business Day

Zimbabwe unlikely to beat IMF deadline'

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Harare Correspondent

ZIMBABWE is unlikely to meet the recently extended six-month deadline to
settle its arrears to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and avoid
expulsion.

An IMF report, produced after last week's decision to delay Zimbabwe's
looming dismissal, says Harare owes the IMF 295m and its repayments are
"insufficient to stabilise the country's arrears".

Zimbabwe recently paid 9m and undertook to pay $1,5m quarterly to settle its
arrears.

The report says the IMF is "gravely concerned" about the Zimbabwe crisis.

"Zimbabwe still faces dismissal unless it repays arrears in time."

The report says it is sad to see a once prosperous country in such a
dramatic decline.

"Unemployment is very high and increasing; social indicators, which were
once among the best in Africa, have worsened, and the widespread HIV/AIDS
pandemic remains largely unchecked," it says.

"Severe food shortages have necessitated massive food imports and donor
assistance. This can be attributed mainly to inappropriate macroeconomic
policies and structural changes that have weakened its economic base."

The reports says the "disorderly implementation of the land reform programme
has contributed to a sharp reduction in agricultural production" and the
economic crisis.

"Concerns about governance and human rights, and the lack of clarity about
property rights, have damaged confidence, discouraged investment and
promoted capital flight and emigration," it says.
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Briton accused of plotting coup drops legal team

Rory Carroll in Johannesburg
Tuesday July 13, 2004
The Guardian

Simon Mann, the alleged mastermind behind a suspected mercenary plot foiled
by Zimbabwe, has hired new lawyers to negotiate his release from a maximum
security jail in Harare.
The former British officer has angered his co-accused by dropping the
lawyers they share. One of them claimed yesterday that Mr Mann was pursuing
a private deal with the Zimbabwe authorities which could result in his
transfer to Britain and to freedom.

The move came close to next week's opening of their trial for allegedly
conspiring to overthrow the oil-rich government of Equatorial Guinea, a plot
which collapsed in March when the group landed at Harare airport for fuel
and weapons, only to be arrested.

Mr Mann was detained with three crew members and 66 men, mostly former
members of South Africa's defence forces, who claimed to be private security
guards en route from South Africa to central Africa to protect mines.

It emerged yesterday that the former SAS captain had hired new lawyers in an
apparent effort to distance himself from his co-accused.

"We are no longer representing him, that I can confirm," said Francois
Joubert, a lawyer who will continue to represent the other 69 detainees.

Another of the original team, Alwyn Griebenow, told the South African Press
Association that Mr Mann had broken with them over their attempt to force
Pretoria to seek the defendants' extradition from Zimbabwe. "I have no
proof," he said. "But I was told that Mann's legal team did not want to go
ahead with the constitutional court case against the South African
government." Mr Mann's team could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Mr Mann bought weapons and equipment from Zimbabwe Defence Industries, a
state-run company with a history of shadowy dealings.
If it emerged in court that senior government officials had helped the
plotters, it would sour Zimbabwe's propaganda triumph in foiling an alleged
coup and upholding African solidarity.

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IOL

'We are being dragged back to the stone age'    Basildon Peta
          July 13 2004 at 02:29AM

      The Zimbabwean government, which faces acute foreign currency
shortages and a collapsing health sector, has introduced ox-drawn ambulances
to ferry ill people to health centres in rural areas.

      The main opposition party said the introduction of the ox-drawn
ambulances, reported in the government media, was yet another indication of
the "continuing collapse of institutions" in Zimbabwe under the weight of
President Robert Mugabe's mismanagement.

      "Zimbabwe is being dragged back to the stone age," said opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi.

      The ox-drawn ambulances come after the bankrupt state-run National
Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) reportedly brought back steam locomotives, which
had long fallen into disuse. The NRZ could not afford to run its modern
electric and diesel locomotives.

      Themba Nyathi said: "As long as we have Robert (Mugabe) and his gang
around, we will not only end at ox-drawn ambulances, but we will see further
deterioration in all aspects of life."

      State media reports said the ox-drawn ambulances are a result of an
initiative by the ministry of health, and are based on the commonly used
ox-drawn scotch carts for rural transport. They would initially be used in
at least 10 district councils around Harare to ferry ill people to
hospitals.

      The state-run Herald newspaper said communities would take charge of
the ambulances, while a cart minder would be responsible for management and
maintenance.

      Health ministry officials said the ox-drawn carts were an act of
desperation because there was no money to buy proper equipment.

      "At many state hospitals, the only drug you will find is paracetamol.
An ambulance will thus be a big luxury," said one official.

      "Maybe these ox-drawn carts will help in reducing people dying in
homes."

      "They will either die on their way to the hospital or on arrival. That
will save the families of the hassle of transporting dead bodies to
mortuaries."

      But Health Minister David Parirenyatwa was quoted by the Herald as
saying the carts would make a great impact in reducing avoidable deaths.

         .. This article was originally published on page 3 of Pretoria
News on July 13, 2004

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Comment from The Mercury (SA), 13 July

Zimbabwe's messenger

By the Editor

There is an age-old means of dealing with unpleasant news. It is to "shoot
the messenger" and to continue pretending that all is well. That obviously
is the convenient tactic being adopted by Zimbabwean authorities to the
moral arguments put forward by that country's Archbishop Pius Ncube this
week. Ncube said nothing revolutionary in a speech in Durban at the
weekend - he called on his government to start caring for its people,
particularly those starving and dying of malnutrition. He appealed to South
Africa to impose sanctions on its neighbour should its human rights
violations continue. He also called for the Zimbabwean government to allow
the United Nations to objectively assess the food situation and he expressed
concern about the legitimacy of the elections in Zimbabwe next year. In a
knee-jerk response, Gadzira Chirumanzu, Zanu PF's South African Secretary
for Information, yesterday virtually accused the archbishop of agitating for
"chaos and insurrection". Deaf ears will not change the truth that lies
behind the cleric's concerns. The Zimbabwe situation is of huge humanitarian
concern and, if unaddressed, could threaten the political and social
stability of the region. It is shameful if a report on the human rights
situation has been stifled at the African Union, as has been claimed. The
leaders of the AU indeed need to show more concern and become far more
outspoken on these issues. Ncube is to be admired for his courage in a stand
that brings back memories of some of our own history during apartheid -
Ncube recounted how his mother has been visited twice by state intelligence
officers in an attempt to intimidate him into shutting up. More leaders
should take heed of his response - that his faith and beliefs will not allow
him to remain silent in the face of human rights violations.
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Zimbabwean Skilled Workers Seek Employment in Manica

Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

July 13, 2004
Posted to the web July 13, 2004

Chimoio

According to the governor of the central Mozambican province of Manica,
Soares Nhaca, the economic crisis in Zimbabwe is leading to a flight of
Zimbabwean skilled workers into Mozambique, looking for employment.

Speaking to AIM in the provincial capital, Chimoio, Nhaca said that Manica
has been one of the beneficiaries of this Zimbabwean exodus. Currently the
province is absorbing many skilled Zimbabwean construction workers.

There is plenty of work for them to do: Chimoio is an expanding city, and
several large scale construction jobs are under way.

Nhaca paid tribute to the skills of the Zimbabweans. It was thanks to them,
he said, that many recent buildings in Chimoio are of high quality.

Due to the vocational education available in Zimbabwe, the country has a
large pool of skilled workers, and many more specialists in various building
trades than Mozambique has. So building companies in Manica are eager to
recruit Zimbabwean labour.

The Zimbabwean building workers are following in the footsteps of several
dozen Zimbabwean commercial farmers. Driven off their land in the chaotic
occupations that the Harare authorities call a land reform, they have been
welcomed as investors in Manica. They have been allocated land, and are
producing both for the local market and for export, creating many jobs for
Mozambican farm workers.
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Zim Online

"Patriotic guards" for Mugabe and other dignitaries
Wed 14 July 2004

      HARARE - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, other senior government
officials and diplomats will in future be guarded by youth militias from
ZANU PF's National Youth Training Service.

      Police officials said, the  Zimbabwe Republic Police  (ZRP) has
replaced over 300 policemen from the Police Protection Unit (PPU) with youth
militias.

      Zim Online interviews with several inside sources have confirmed  that
the police have removed virtually all officers in the unit from their posts
to create a loyalist guard out of the militia youth instead. "Most of these
police officers in the PPU were seen as being of questionable allegiance to
the President and the government," a senior police official, who cannot be
named, told Zim Online.

      Police officials said the move was a result  of a "serious security
paranoia" that had gripped Mugabe who  also recently ordered that members of
his ZANU PF politburo, the party's highest policy implementation body,  be
searched before going into meetings.

      "This (the PPU) is a sensitive unit and the highest authorities want
it to be manned by people of unquestionable loyalty," the official said.

      Highly placed police sources said a specially recruited and trained
group of youth militia underwent training at a police camp situated at a
farm in Shamva, about 100km north-east of Harare last year.

      The first batch of 250 underwent training for  six-months  from
January to June last year while a similar number undertook their
      training from July to December last year.

      The sources said there were plans to send some of the youths for
further training in "friendly countries such as Libya".

      Police recruits are normally trained at Tomlinson Depot in Harare.
Sources said the clean up was spearheaded by PPU commandant Winston
Changara. "Changara personally oversaw the whole recruitment, training and
deployment exercise. He said he wanted patriotic people in his unit," said
another officer."Normally policemen are deployed to various units, including
the PPU upon completion of their training or by transfer, but Changara said
he wanted to do his own selection. Basically Changara is suspicious of
policemen who came through the normal channels".

      Changara  refused to comment on the matter and referred questions to
police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena. "You want me to talk to the media about
the operations of such a sensitive department. You must be crazy. Anyway
phone Bvudzijena," said Changara before he slammed down the phone.

      Bvudzijena dismissed the story: "That is ridiculous. We are not
targeting anyone and there is no special recruitment or transfer process for
anyone. Police officers can be transferred to any station in Zimbabwe at any
time. That has always been the case, " he said.

      "You should also know that it is the prerogative of the police
commanders to transfer their manpower at any given time. The command itself
can also be transferred. It is a normal police procedure."

      According to police sources, the youths were first deployed in other
units to familiarize them with "normal police operations" before being
deployed to the PPU.

      "The kind of training we gave them was different from what we normally
teach at Tomlinson Depot. The emphasis here was on firearms handling and
physical training while theoretical subjects such as Law and policing
procedures were peripheral. So they had to be initiated on other police
duties before commencing duty at the PPU," another police source said.

      "The idea was also not to deploy the whole 500 youths to the PPU at
once as this would have caused logistical problems. There has to be some
continuity," said  the police source,   who was involved in both the
selection and training of the militia youths.

      He said recruits applied for the training through the various national
youth training centres. He added that the selection criteria
      had been heavily biased on ethnic grounds with the majority of
recruits coming from ZANU PF stronghold provinces Mashonaland Central and
Mashonaland West.
      "We recruited only five Ndebeles for the two training programmes and
out of these, two dropped out, possibly because of tribally influenced
harassment," he said.

      Mugabe has in the past been accused of creating a loyalist youth
terror squad through the national youth training service. He has
      denied the allegations saying he is only teaching youths to be
patriotic.

      Despite mounting criticism on the national youth training programme,
reports indicate that the government intends to spend Zimbabwe  $1 billion
on re-opening three more youth training centres. Zim Online

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Zim Online

SADC Tightens Electoral Norms
Wed July 14 2004

      JOHANNESBURG - The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is
about to adopt stringent guidelines for elections in the region, nine months
ahead of Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections next year Among these are the
setting up of impartial electoral bodies, the safeguarding of human and
civil liberties, measures to prevent vote rigging and adequate security.

      The upcoming SADC Summit to be held in Mauritius from 9 to 17 August
will discuss "Principles and Guidelines governing Democratic Elections" -
nine months before a crucial poll in Zimbabwe .A"2nd zero draft", dated 9
June 2004, which is in the possession of Zim Online, enjoins SADC member
states to "adhere to S principles in the conduct of democratic elections".
These principles are "full participation of the citizens in the political
process", "freedom of association", "political
        tolerance", "equal opportunity for all political parties to access
the state media" as well as "equal opportunity to exercise the right to vote
and be voted for", "independence of the Judiciary and impartiality of the
electoral institutions" and "voter education".

      According to the draft member states shall "establish impartial,
all-inclusive, competent and accountable national electoral bodies staffed
by qualified personnel".

      The draft further obliges members to "safeguard the human and civil
liberties of all citizens including the freedom of movement, assembly,
association, expression, and campaigning". The guidelines say that members
shall "take all necessary measures and
        precautions to prevent the perpetration of fraud, rigging or any
other illegal practices throughout the whole electoral process, in order to
maintain peace and stability".

      Member states are to ensure that "adequate security is provided to all
parties participating in elections".

      They have to ensure "the transparency and integrity of the entire
electoral process by facilitating the deployment of representatives of
political parties and individual candidates at polling and counting stations
and by accrediting national and/other observers/monitors". In addition the
draft sets "guidelines for the observation and monitoring of elections".
Election observers from SADC will have to monitor, among other things, the
"constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of the citizens",
the "conducive environment for free and peaceful elections",
"non-discrimination in the voters' registration", and the"existence of (an)
updated and accessible voters roll".

      At the SADC Summit in Mauritius, the draft will be discussed by
officials and then passed on to Heads of State for adoption.
      Zimbabwe has thus far been widely criticised for not observing SADC
norms on free and fair elections. It remains to be seen whether it will
support the proposed tightened rules.(ZNS)
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Zim Online

Call for expulsion of Zim sect
Wed July 14 2004

      FRANCISTOWN/ BOTSWANA - Botswana civic leaders have called for the
expulsionof Zimbabweans who refused to have their children immunised against
polio  during an immunisation campaign that ended last month.

      Unhappiness over Zimbabwean sect in Botswana

      FRANCISTOWN/ BOTSWANA - Botswana civic leaders have called for the
expulsionof Zimbabweans who refused to have their children immunised against
polio during an immunisation campaign that ended last month.

      A religious sect from Zimbabwe was last month locked in a protracted
wrangle with the Botswana government over new legislation, which made it
illegal to prevent children from being immunised. Despite the new law some
families refused to comply, resulting in arrests. Last week, councillors in
Jwaneng, a mining town near the capital Gaborone, called for the expulsion
of members of the religious community. They urged the government to review
the citizenship of members of the religious sect, accusing them of
undermining the country's laws.

      "They must be stripped of their citizenship because they do not
respect the laws of this country," one of the councillors, George Seremane
said. In recent weeks, there have been reports of serious ethnic divisions
between the Shona speaking community, most of whom have since acquired
Botswana citizenship, and their Tswana speaking counterparts.

      The religious community is being accused, among other things, of
harbouring criminals from Zimbabwe as well as turning some villages into
"separatist zones"' where only church members live. Residents of Semotswane,
near Francistown, during a meeting with their chief accused the religious
sect of stifling development in the village as a result of what they
termed"traditional practices".

      A meeting between the Tswana speaking community and the religious
group has been scheduled for this week to try and iron out growing
differences. However, the community says it is victimised because of its
origins."They do not like Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans. This is just an excuse
to have us expelled from their country", Joseph Maposa, a Francistown
resident told
      Zim Online.

      He said he found it surprising that people wanted to have them
expelled simply because they  refused to compromise their religion. The
majority of the sect members do not take their children for treatment when
they fall sick but believe in divine intervention. Some do not send children
to school but teach them survival skills like venturing into business at a
tender age.

      The religious sect continues to swell as members in Zimbabwe flee the
country's political and economic hardships.

      The conflict comes amid hostilities between the two countries over
increasing reports on alleged ill treatment of Zimbabwean citizens in
Botswana. A series of meetings at ministerial level have been held in the
recent past. Zimbabwe's Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo, is scheduled
for a meeting in Gaborone later this month to assess the situation. Zim Online
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Zim Online

Green light for Red
Wed July 14 2004

      JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe denied the banning of the colour red on its
statetelevision (ZTV) as reported by Zim Online last Thursday.Zimbabwe's
ambassador to South Africa, Simon Khaya Moyo, told South African
Broadcasting Corporation's  main TV news on Tuesday evening that the colour
red had been"with us for time immemorial" and did not belong to the Movement
forDemocratic Change (MDC).

      He emphasised that the colour red was prominent  in Zimbabwe's flag,
whichwas displayed next to his seat, and that he himself was wearing
red,pointing to his  - red - tie.The claim that "red" was banned on TV for
its MDC connotation was bordering
      on the "lunatic fringe", he said.

      Zim Online reported that the colour red was banned at ZTV as it was
used forMDC's Red Card campaign "Mugabe must go now".AIDS activists had told
Zim Online that they were requested to take offtheir red AIDS awareness
buttons because of their colour before appearing ona show. ZBC insiders had
confirmed the ban. Zim Online
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Suspended Councillors: Hearings Begin

The Herald (Harare)

July 13, 2004
Posted to the web July 13, 2004

Harare

HEARINGS into events leading to the suspension of 13 Harare City councillors
began yesterday with acting mayor Councillor Sekesayi Makwavarara, town
clerk Mr Nomutsa Chideya, chamber secretary Mrs Josephine Ncube and the
assistant town clerk, a Mr Magwenjere, appearing before an investigation
committee.

The suspended councillors are expected to appear before the committee today
with hearings expected to be completed by tomorrow.

The committee was established by the Government.

The councillors were suspended on June 1 this year without benefits for
interfering in the management of council affairs.

The suspension followed the councillors' defiance of a Government directive
stopping the holding of elections to choose a new deputy mayor and standing
committees.

Last year six councillors were fired for conduct inconsistent with the
governance of the city.

The suspended councillors are Christopher Mushonga, Peter Chikwati,
Shingirirai Kondo, Last Maengahama, Betty Suka, Peter Karimakwenda,
Tapfumaneyi Bangajena, Wendy Dehwa, Tichanzii Gandanga, Elijah Manjeya,
Wellington Madzivanyika, Linus Paul Mushonga and Oswell Badza.

The dismissal and suspension left the city with only 26 councillors out of
45.

"It has come to my attention that certain activities on your part continue
to interfere with the management of council affairs, thus hindering the
efficient operation of council and subsequently the delivery of services to
the people of Harare," read the letter of suspension written by the Minister
of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Cde Ignatius Chombo.

Manicaland acting provincial administrator Mr Fungai Mbetsa is heading the
investigation committee established on June 29.

The other members of the committee are Masvingo provincial administrator Mr
Felix Chikovo, Kwekwe City chamber secretary Mr Edward Mapara and Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority legal advisor Mr Chinondidyachii Mararike.

"Following the suspension of 13 councillors at Harare City Council on 1 June
2004, in terms of section 114 of the Urban Councils Act, the said committee
is now set to proceed with investigations, beginning Monday 12 July, 2004,"
said Cde Chombo in a letter to council.

The councillors have a pending court application on their suspension at the
High Court. An earlier application to have their case heard as an urgent
matter was thrown out for lack of merit.

In a related matter, Clr Makwavarara has said several councillors face
suspension or dismissal for boycotting council committee meetings.

Her comments follow inquiries by The Herald over council's failure to hold
committee meetings.

Last week concerned city workers informed The Herald that some councillors,
especially from the environmental committee, were boycotting committee
meetings, a development that could affect the convening of a full council
meeting.

"Some councillors are not coming to meetings. If they miss two consecutive
meetings in two consecutive months, I will not hesitate to recommend their
suspension or dismissal," she said.

Clr Makwavarara said councillors should behave in an honourable manner that
leaves their constituents happy. She said if she failed to act on the
boycotts it would be tantamount to negligence of duty on her part.

The Urban Councils Act, which governs the operations of local authorities,
states that a seat shall be vacant when a councillor absents himself or
herself from meetings.

The Act notes that a vacancy occurs if a councillor is absent without leave
of council from its ordinary meetings during a period of two consecutive
calendar months.

A vacancy also occurs if a councillor is absent from meetings of any
committee of the council to which he has been appointed during a period of
two consecutive calendar months, if the committee has at least one meeting
in each of those calendar months or from two consecutive meetings of the
committee which are not held in the same calendar month or in consecutive
calendar months.

However, the minister may, on application by the council concerned and on
good cause shown, excuse the councillor's absence for such period or periods
and on such terms and conditions as he may fix.

Clr Makwavarara said some of the councillors were not committed to the
welfare of the city as observed at the recent 63rd annual conference of the
Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe.

She said some councillors who had earlier applied for leave of absence
during the period covering the conference requested to be accommodated for
the trip to Kariba.

"Because there was money (allowances), they requested to be in Kariba. We
cannot allow that to happen," she said.
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Another Illegal Settlement Fast Taking Shape

The Herald (Harare)

July 13, 2004
Posted to the web July 13, 2004

Harare

ANOTHER illegal settlement is fast taking shape at a farm adjacent to Tafara
high-density suburb in Harare.

Some of the settlers at the farm said they had decided to move onto the
property and build houses there after monthly rentals in various suburbs of
the city became unaffordable.

"I came here last year after I was informed that there were some people
allocating stands at this farm," said one settler, who came from Mbare
high-density suburb last year.

He said there were people from as far as Norton who had also secured
portions of land to build houses.

Mrs Tecla Banda, a vendor, said she settled on the farm last year after
being evicted from her lodgings in Mabvuku. "There was a group of elderly
people at this farm who allocated me a stand for free after I approached
them," said Mrs Banda.

She said they were not paying any rentals and the people who allocated her
the land have since left the farm. Some residents of Mabvuku and Tafara are
now moving to the farm in large numbers to beat the high rentals being
charged in the suburbs.

The Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Dr
Ignatius Chombo, recently said his ministry was in the process of resettling
squatters in a bid to restore the status of Harare as the "Sunshine City."
He said the ministry deplored the haphazard construction of houses and urged
local authorities to complement Government's efforts in providing decent
housing to people.

It is estimated that over 500 000 people in Harare live in backyard cabins
that are not suitable for human habitation.

Among some settlements which have sprouted up in Harare are those near
Whitecliff along the Harare-Bulawayo Highway, and in Mount Hampden near
Goodhope. In all these settlements, there are no basic sanitation facilities
like water and toilets. A health disaster would occur in the event of a
disease outbreak.
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New Zimbabwe

SA in secret talks over 'mercenary' transfer

By Agencies
Last updated: 07/13/2004 21:54:18
A DEFENCE lawyer for the 70 alleged mercenaries detained in Zimbabwe accused
the South African government on Monday of conducting secret talks with UK
lawyers to help transfer team leader, Simon Mann, to England.

"I have no proof but I was told that Mann's legal team did not want to go
ahead with the Constitutional Court (appeal) case against the South African
government as they felt it would piss off certain government officials in
South Africa," said attorney Alwyn Griebenow. He said he would officially be
withdrawing as Mann's defence lawyer when the trial resumed on July 21 in
Zimbabwe.

He was told on Friday that Mann's family had appointed US attorney Rebecca
Gaskill to lead his defence. She would be backed up by legal representatives
in the UK as well as another team in Harare.

The UK group reportedly includes Mann's brother, Edward, an insurance
litigator who has engaged a British barrister.

Griebenow is challenging a Pretoria High Court decision not to force the
South African government into seeking an extradition of its citizens from
Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea.

Transvaal Judge President Bernard Ngoepe turned down an application last
month for an order compelling the South African government to seek the men's
extradition. They are suspected of plotting a coup d'etat in Equatorial
Guinea.
Griebenow alleged that the South African government was assisting Mann's
defence teams in getting him moved from Chikurubi Prison outside Harare to
the UK.

Griebenow's senior defence counsel assisting him with the case, Francious
Joubert, spoke to Sapa from London, moments before entering a meeting with
Mann's new legal team.

"I am not sure what is going on but am hoping to find out soon," he said.
Joubert said he was not aware that he no longer represented Mann.

"They have not ended my mandate yet as far as I am aware," he said.

Joubert, who has been in the UK for the past 12 days, said he had heard that
a new team had been appointed and that they "did not want to upset the South
African government".

"They (Mann's new legal team) do seem to know something we don't," he said.

Mann's Zimbabwean representatives were also in the UK on Monday as well as
Mann's wife Amanda, who is reportedly expecting their seventh child. On the
Zimbabwe trial, Griebenow said he was still confident that if a fair trial
was possible, they would be successful in saving the men.

He did not feel the break-away by Mann had damaged his defence or scuttled
the credibility of the group.

The South African Government was not immediately available for comment.

According the Guardian Online, Mann (51) has spent most of his career in the
special forces or as a mercenary. The son of an England cricket captain who
made a fortune from a brewing empire, he was educated at Eton and Sandhurst
and joined the Scots Guards, a regiment of the royal household.

He then applied and passed the gruelling selection procedure for the SAS and
became a troop commander in 22 SAS, specialising in intelligence and
counter-terrorism. He served in Cyprus, Germany, Norway, Canada, central
America and Northern Ireland.

Mann moved to South Africa where he founded Executive Outcomes, accused by
many of being a mercenary outfit.
SAPA

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New Zimbabwe

Banned Daily News bosses seek discharge

By Agencies
Last updated: 07/13/2004 21:52:26
THE trial of four Zimbabwean newspaper directors charged with illegally
publishing the popular Daily News, shut down by authorities last year,
resumed for one day on Monday at a Harare court.

At the hearing, the defence lawyer applied for the charges to be dropped
against Samuel Nkomo, Brian Mutsau, Rachel Kupara and Michael Mattinson, who
are accused of breaching strict media laws by publishing the Daily News last
year without a licence.

"The defence wishes to apply for a discharge," Beatrice Mtetwa told
magistrate Lillian Kudya, who adjourned the case to July 19, when she is due
to make a ruling. The Daily News had refused to register with the official
Media and Information Commission (MIC) in 2003, saying the law was
unconstitutional.

This led to the forced closure of the paper on September 11 last year.
Zimbabwe's Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA)
requires all journalists and newspapers to be registered. The four
directors, who have pleaded not guilty, could face a fine or a two-year jail
term if convicted.

In a move that sparked an international outcry, armed police officers closed
down the Daily News in September, and confiscated equipment. A subsequent
attempt to register the paper was turned down by the MIC. The Daily News
successfully challenged the MIC's decision in court, which ruled that the
paper should be registered "on or before" November 30, 2003.

The paper published a comeback edition on October 25, which was short-lived
as the state again stopped publication and police arrested the four
directors. They said the paper was still operating illegally by not being
registered. "As far as I'm concerned, they [Daily News] had no right to
publish on the 25th [October]," state witness Norbert Chibasa, a police
detective, told the court during Monday's hearing. "Any media house that is
not registered should not be allowed to publish until they comply with the
law," he said.

The newspaper directors face an alternative charge of contempt of court for
publishing before the November 30 deadline set by the court. The defence,
however, disputes this charge. "The court did not at all stop ANZ
[Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe - publishers of the Daily News] from
publishing," defence lawyer Mtetwa said.

She said under Zimbabwe's laws a mass media service is deemed to be
registered while its application to the media commission is pending. She
said the Daily News had applied by October 25. "Police should comply with
provisions of the law. You as the police failed to do that," she told the
state witness. In a landmark ruling, Zimbabwe's administrative court ruled
on October 24 that the media commission was not properly constituted, and
had shown bias in denying a registration certificate to the Daily News.

The Daily News was launched in 1999, providing nearly a million readers with
the only independent alternative to two state-run dailies - the Herald and
the Chronicle. Its harshly critical editorial line proved to be a thorn in
the side of President Robert Mugabe's government.

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African Business Magazine

Land reform masks power struggle
by Tom Nevin
Zimbabwe's contradictory statements on land nationalisation caused a great
deal of confusion inside and outside the country. Was this in fact, Tom
Nevin speculates, the starting signal for a power struggle to take over from
Robert Mugabe?

The public face of a power struggle for presidential succession might have
been behind contradictory statements emanating from the Zimbabwe government
over plans to nationalise all land in the country.

Within hours of each other, two contenders for President Robert Mugabe's
leadership of ruling Zanu-Pf party issued statements they both insisted
reflect government land policy.In the first, Land Reform Minister and
Zanu-PF party chairman, John Nkomo, made absolutely no bones about the
government's intentions when he stated: "The government will nationalise all
farmland by cancelling the titles to all productive land and replacing them
with 99-year leases. In the end all land shall be state land and there will
be no such thing called private land. The state should not waste time and
money on acquisitions."

In case not everyone was clear on his meaning, he added: "Ultimately, all
land shall be resettled as state land. We want a situation whereby this very
important resource becomes a national asset."

No so, asserted Information Minister Jonathan Moyo quickly, categorically
rejecting his senior colleague's announcement. "There is no change in
government policy. This (99-year lease) position only applies to land
acquired by the state under land reforms, and does not in any way invalidate
or supersede other lawful forms of tenure which, in any case, are recognised
and protected by the laws of the land."
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13 July 2004

 

PRESIDENT TSVANGIRAI’S TUESDAY MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE

 

I spent three days in Chimanimani and Chipinge at the weekend, meeting ordinary people, community leaders, village heads, chiefs and spirit mediums. Provincial officials, NEC members Giles Mutsekwa and Innocent Tinashe Gonese and Members of Parliament Roy Bennet, Sydney Mukwecheni and Mathias Matewu Mlambo, accompanied me.

 

In a direct act of provocation, Zanu PF activists, armed with sticks, stones and knobkerries attempted to stage intimidatory meetings near our rally venues, in one instance, less than 100 metres away.  At Mutema in Chipinge, the local Zanu PF officials tried to bribe the people with maize as an inducement to shun our meeting, an attempt that was spurned despite the hunger in the area. At Hot Springs in Chimanimani, police watched from a distance as village heads and MDC supporters were intimidated and ordered to ignore our meeting. Again, these coercive measures were resisted.

 

Chipinge and Chimanimani are in a class of their own. The level of political development is fairly advanced. People, clad in party regalia and openly stating their political choices, villagers eased through business service centres in full view of their Zanu PF compatriots, secret service agents and the police. Fear is not as serious a factor as it is elsewhere.

 

Roy Bennet, earlier confirmed as the Chimanimani MDC candidate in 2005, received a further seal of approval as chiefs, headmen, village heads declared that he was one of them and should have nothing to fear. You will recall a few weeks ago Zanu PF decreed that Bennet was banned in Manicaland and banished from Chimanimani. We were together in Mutare, Chimanimani and Chipinge on Friday, on Saturday and on Sunday. Traditional leaders assured him in the presence of thousands of their subjects that Zanu PF has failed to stop the desire for change. Change is an idea that cannot be wished away.

 

The MDC supports our traditional institutions out of the realization that nearly 70 percent of all Zimbabweans still value their role in our society. Traditional leaders maintain stability and social harmony in their communities. They attend to spiritual needs of their people, regardless of their political or religious affiliation.

 

The point was made clear at Mutema in Chipinge and at Nedziwe in Chimanimani when the chiefs and spirit mediums categorically stated that they were apolitical and embraced all shades of political opinion from the people. To demonstrate their seriousness, before we started our meeting at Mutema by paying tribute to Ndabaningi Sithole, the late doyen of Zimbabwean nationalism and leader of Zanu who was denied a heroes status by the Zanu PF regime.

 

The chiefs told Mlambo and Bennet that they were willing to entertain Zanu PF, MDC and any members of any political parties in their communities without fear or favour. They are against violence. They vowed to do all they can to stop violence in Chimanimani and in Chipinge.

 

The chiefs were incensed by claims in some quarters that a political party or a single politician could be the primary source of life, liberty, happiness and the pursuit of development.  As paragons of virtue, traditional leaders cannot perform their traditional functions in societies without essential freedoms to make basic moral choices.

 

Can virtue flourish in a climate of coercion?  Our chiefs have witnessed some of the horrendous acts of Mugabe’s brutality. Since 2000, there were mass displacements in villages; Zanu PF activists banished teachers and other civil servants from the rural areas; several homes were burnt down; businesses collapsed and thousands were brutalized. Our traditional leaders and chiefs know all this. They know that Zimbabweans are crying out for a virtuous social environment in order to cast off the nation’s pariah status. They are ready to stop the rot.

 

Any chief who supports a dictatorship risks alienating himself from the people. In Smith’s Rhodesia, some chiefs co-operated with the regime and lost out. They learnt a rough lesson. Let us avoid a repeat of that sad history. I was particularly encouraged by the stance taken by the chiefs in Manicaland. They intend to remain apolitical, representing the interests of all their subjects. We expect our chiefs to earn the respect of their communities and to be above reproach.

 

As long as there is no peace and security, our chiefs will find it hard to perform their duties in their communities. Our chiefs will always fail to pacify a hungry constituency. Our chiefs will never live in peace as long as unemployment, poverty and political violence continue to stalk their communities.

 

The loss of our rights and freedoms started soon after independence in 1980 with government exhortations that everybody must belong to some kind of co-operative society. Villagers were organized into tiny committees and compartments run by Zanu PF chairpersons; capitalism and private initiative was shunned and discouraged; and Zanu PF or the party, as it was called, was the ultimate provider of social and political security.

 

The nation traded away its freedom for empty nationalism and Zanu PF privileges. That approach has backfired. The regime was unkind to dissent and opposing views. The regime replaced the value of the individual to his or her society with a central, authoritarian accumulation of power resulting in a wholesale usurpation of basic freedoms and dwindling initiatives for wealth creation. The evidence is there for all to see: hunger, poverty, under-development, collapsing rural businesses and a democratic deficit.

 

The dilemma facing Zimbabwe’s rural areas today stems from our political experiences of the past five years. Will it be possible this time, the people asked me at Wengezi Junction in Chimanimani, for them to register their political affiliation, to vote freely and to meet without harassment?

 

The people dread a harsh campaign period; the prospect of being forced to line up behind their village heads and chiefs on the voting day. That will not happen in 2005. We have the assurance of the people that they shall resist any attempts to influence the outcome of the vote in such a way. The people said they detest the practice of assisted voting, arguing that the majority of Zimbabweans aged 50 and above were literate.

 

My experience in Chimanimani and in Chipinge showed that Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF have failed to deny the people new ideas, to side-step reason and to alter attitudes towards the MDC despite the physical and mental cruelty involved in the regime’s propaganda and coercive approach. The people are now clear that the regime has no intention to treat everyone as an end. The regime is not ready to attend to their needs or to listen to their demands.

 

I told the meetings that it is a national wish that we have a genuinely free and fair election. The security of the voter and that of the candidates are non-negotiable requirements for any legitimate elections. If Mugabe proceeds with the election under the current conditions, then Zimbabwe will join other failed states.

 

The MDC has a comprehensive turn-around plan to restore the dignity of Zimbabwe and that of Zimbabweans. We are determined to implement an all-inclusive programme that respects individual contributions to national development, a programme that respects our diversity and creative energies of all Zimbabweans regardless of race, ancestry and social station.

 

We believe in a political dominated social formation such as Zimbabwe, any economic revival programme that fails to address issues of poverty, underdevelopment and redistribution is as irrelevant as it is anachronistic.

 

An MDC government shall promote the concept and practice of social justice in our communities. The past five years have been painfully devastating for the majority. A mere eight percent remain in formal employment. The runaway HIV/Aids pandemic sits on top of our national crisis. We are committed to reversing this negative trend.

 

What I witnessed in Manicaland is sufficient proof that we can win a free and fair election and form a formidable majority in Parliament after March 2005. The support we have is strong and overwhelming.

 

Together, we shall win.

 

 

Morgan Tsvangirai

President.

 

 

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From: "Trudy Stevenson"
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 3:30 AM
Marsh Special Needs Class

For those of you who haven't heard of the Marsh Special Needs Class, it is a
small class of 6 children with various disabilities ranging from Autism and
Cerebral Palsy to Downs Syndrome taught by Molly Bolton, a dedicated and
very experienced lady who taught at St Catherines for 30 years.

All the children have progressed tremendously since we opened in September
2003. They all love school and long for school during the holidays which
tells you how much fun they have as well as how much they learn. They all
love each other and help each other out and some very special friendships
have formed.

We have employed another dedicated teacher for the third term this year and
thereafter and would like to have two classes of 5 which means that we have
space for 4 more children. I know that they are out there but may not have
heard that we exist.

We have an equipped sickroom/TV and video room and two classrooms. From next
term we will have a speech therapist who will visit once a week and give
therapy to those who require it. We hope to get parents involved in
transport so that we can take the children to swimming and horse riding
lessons. Gateway Special Needs Unit has expressed an interest in combining
our classes with theirs for disabled sporting activities once a week too.

So all in all a full and varied day for these special children who otherwise
would be stuck at home! We stick to all the school term dates and operate
from a secure cottage in Mandara where there is a lovely garden for the
children to play in at break time.

Please be kind enough to forward this email to everyone in your Zim address
book so that this much needed facility can be more widely known. For anyone
out there who feels that their child (aged anywhere between 4 and 14) could
benefit from our "school" please feel free to contact me anytime on 011
402924 or at home on 746012. Molly will assess your child and if we feel we
can help a trial period will be arranged which, if successful (and they
almost always are!), will result in permanent enrollment.

Best regards
Nicky Franco

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'Politicians Interfering With Muderede Probe'

The Herald (Harare)

July 13, 2004
Posted to the web July 13, 2004

Harare

THE investigating officer in the case of Chinhoyi businessman Cecil
Muderede, who has been re-arrested on fresh charges, yesterday told a Harare
magistrate that some senior politicians and Government officials were
ordering him to stop the prosecution and investigation of Muderede.

Chief Superintendent Musarashana Mabunda revealed this while testifying
during the initial remand hearing of Muderede, who is facing fresh charges
of externalisation, theft, smuggling and contravening the Grain Marketing
Board Act.

Chief Supt Mabunda told magistrate Ms Memory Chigwaza that some senior
powerful politicians and Government officials were giving him instructions
to stop prosecution.

"There was interference in the docket management despite the fact that the
docket had been brought to court at one time," he said.

On being asked by the prosecutor, Mr Gerald Butaumocho, to name the
politicians and Government officials, Supt Mabunda refused to supply their
names, saying it was confidential information.

"That is confidential . . . I can only say it came from some senior
Government officials," Chief Supt Mabunda said.

Chief Supt Mabunda also opposed the granting of bail to Muderede, saying he
was facing several serious charges, which were likely to attract a custodial
sentence and he might abscond.

He also said the fact that Muderede was specified in terms of the Prevention
of Corruption Act would make him abscond.

He said the police were also looking for Muderede's young brother, Kuvimba
Muderede, who is on the run and is suspected to be in South Africa.

Chief Supt Mabunda said the fact that they had been failing to locate
Kuvimba for a long time means that he was in a safe hiding place and may be
tempted to invite his brother.

He further said some witnesses had already left their places of employment
and homes under Muderede's instructions, hence he was likely to interfere
with investigations.

Earlier, Muderede's lawyer, Mr George Chikumbirike of Chikumbirike and
Associates, had urged the court to refuse to place his client on remand,
saying the charges he was facing were similar to the initial allegations on
which he has already been brought to court.

"Accused was placed on remand on two charges, subsequently the charges were
withdrawn before plea.

"Therefore, he cannot be placed on remand. The only way accused can be
brought to court is by way of summons," Mr Chikumbirike said.

He submitted that on these charges the court refused to place the accused on
remand.

"It's a simple abuse of the court process. How do you bring an accused to
court on charges that he has already been placed on remand?

"The State seems to be blowing both hot and cold. Why do they want to
vigorously oppose bail?" asked Mr Chikumbirike.

He said his client had paid bail twice and considered a suitable candidate
for bail.

"He cannot be placed on remand on these charges. How can this court allow a
further remand on same charges?

"All these cases date back as far as four years ago. The police ought to
have done their investigations expeditiously," he said.

He also lambasted the law enforcement authorities of breaching the law,
which he said they were supposed to uphold.

"The police have a duty to arrest and bring accused to court. Courts make
decisions, they should accept it otherwise it's a mockery of the judiciary.

"It's a sad and sorry tale to tell. One can only describe it as wrong," he
said, before asking the court to drop the charges against his client.

Charges against Muderede who was re-arrested last Thursday soon after he was
granted bail arose between August 2000 and August 2001 when he allegedly
exported 6 400 tonnes of cotton seed to PJC Raw Materials, a South African
company.

It is alleged that Muderede instructed the company to pay US$527 500 into a
South African account. According to the State, the money was not repatriated
to Zimbabwe.

The State alleges that during the same period Muderede exported 2 000 tonnes
of soyabeans to PJC Raw Materials and instructed them to deposit a total of
US$390 000 into his ABSA bank account in Sandton, South Africa.

The money was never repatriated to Zimbabwe, the State alleges.

It is further alleged that in October 2003 Muderede exported 2 000 tonnes of
maize to South Africa's Industrial Commodities Holdings and advised the
company to pay US$344 767,74 into his ABSA account and the money was also
not repatriated. The charge of contravening the GMB Act arose between May
and August 2003 after he bought 2 527 tonnes of maize from Guruve, Chiweshe,
Raffingora, Mhangura, Banket and Chegutu without the authority of the GMB.

He allegedly sold the maize to Makonde Industries through Mayflower
Commodity Broker after he misrepresented that it had been imported from
South Africa.

On the theft charge, the State alleges that in 2002 Muderede stole 62 bales
of tobacco valued at $6 million from the Tobacco Sales Floor Limited in
Willowvale, Harare. Police recovered the alleged stolen tobacco at Shankuru
Estates in Banket.

The State further alleges that on August 26 2003 Muderede sold US$20 000 to
Telecel Zimb-abwe using the parallel market rate.

The total prejudice in foreign currency when all counts are put together is
US$1 679 909,74. The case continues today.
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Influx of Asian Products Stirs Discontent

The Herald (Harare)

July 13, 2004
Posted to the web July 13, 2004

Harare

THE clothing and textile industry is making representations to Government to
guard against the continued influx of products, particularly from Asia,
which the local manufacturers say are threatening to push them out of
business.

Commodities from Asia, most of them viewed as sub-standard, have flooded the
local market during the last 18 months, virtually outwitting interest among
consumers on products manufactured locally, which are priced at slightly
higher levels.

Domestic manufacturers have, consequently, raised serious concerns over the
continued viability of their businesses if the present scenario is allowed
to persist.

Economist Dr Erich Bloch, contracted by the concerned industry, said a
document highlighting the manufacturers' grievances has been completed and
would be lodged for consideration to the Ministry of Finance and Economic
Development soon.

The document, according to Dr Bloch, attempts to lobby the Government to
consider, in its policy making, hazards that are posed through the continued
influx of imports to local businesses.

The relevant ministry must apprise the need to revise import duties on
clothing and textile goods coming into the country in an attempt to protect
domestic manufacturers against unfair competition.

"We must have an even playing field for everyone, to our local producers and
goods coming into our country," Dr Bloch told delegates attending last
week's exporters conference.

"Products must come in on a fair basis were competition is based on quality
rather than subsidies by governments in respective countries.

"The Finance Ministry might have to make a further upward review on the
current tariff duties in order to protect our manufacturers against unfair
competition."

Exporters from other countries make profits even from low quality products
that are prepared for the export market as their respective governments
subsidise their costs on exports.

Dr Bloch said Zimbabwe was not seeking to abandon trade with any country,
but this is an effort of creating an allowing environment based on fair
trade.

However, in some circles, the influx of the Asian products is a welcome
development largely due to their cheap prices.

The traders have reported booming business in the country of as much as $300
million per day as consumers with their heavily eroded disposable incomes
have found solace in the cheap products.
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New Scientist

            'Tidal wave' of AIDS orphans rising

            13:52 13 July 04

            NewScientist.com news service

            The world is facing a "mind-boggling" crisis of children
orphaned as a result of AIDS, reveals a major international report.

            The most comprehensive analysis of orphans to date suggests that
by 2010 sub-Saharan Africa will be home to 50 million orphans due to AIDS.
Currently 12.3 million children have been orphaned by the virus in this
region.

            "Parts of sub-Saharan Africa are undergoing a tidal wave of
orphaning, in varying degrees due to AIDS," said Carol Bellamy, executive
director of UNICEF, at the launch of the report on Tuesday.

            "The most striking finding of this report is that the overall
number of orphans worldwide would be falling were it not for the pandemic of
HIV/AIDS. Overall, orphan numbers have dropped by a tenth since 1990," she
says.

            However, in some African countries as many as 20 per cent of all
children are now orphans. In countries like Botswana and Zimbabwe, this is
mainly due to AIDS. But in others like Rwanda, other causes like conflict,
are mainly to blame.

            Bellamy says the enormous scale of orphaning in Africa will have
huge consequences. "Unfortunately, we are talking about something truly
destabilising societies, even more than the pandemic itself," says Bellamy.

            Vast gaps

            "These children are the forgotten victims of this epidemic,"
said Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS. The new study, based on
estimates of orphans in 93 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin
America and the Caribbean, is a joint report by UNAIDS, UNICEF and USAID. It
was launched at the XV International AIDS conference in Bangkok, Thailand.

            The document, endorsed by all UN agencies urges action to pull
orphans and other vulnerable children "back from the brink". Bellamy says
there are "vast gaps" in what is being done for vulnerable children. Only 17
countries made the first step, in 2003, of producing national policies to
help these children.

            Piot says that support for orphans must be an integral part of
any AIDS programme. Another report, released at the conference on Monday,
reveals that just 700,000 orphans worldwide received some kind of support
from AIDS resources.

            Tuesday's report recommends a framework for supporting orphans,
including community based approaches to strengthen the caring capacity of
extended families, access to education, and improved legal and policy
changes - for example, to ensure they do not lose their inheritances.

            Piot notes that studies show children orphaned by AIDS are more
likely to contract the disease themselves later in life. Bellamy adds that
these children are more likely to be malnourished and to suffer a loss of
knowledge from parents, such as how to farm crops.

            Labour force

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                        Related Stories

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                        12 July 2004

                        AIDS vaccine years away, researchers warn
                        12 July 2004

                        Asian nations urged to quell HIV epidemic
                        12 July 2004

                        For more related stories
                        search the print edition Archive

                        Weblinks

                        UNAIDS

                        UNICEF

                        USAID

                        XV International AIDS conference

            A previous World Bank report on South Africa suggests the orphan
crisis will have a major economic impact, as these children may be less able
to contribute to the labour force.

            The new orphans report uses a different methodology from
previous "Children on the Brink" reports. Children under 18 are included
instead of only those under 15. The term orphan due to AIDS refers to "a
child who has at least one parent dead from AIDS".

            The report did not include numbers other vulnerable children -
such as those caring for a parent dying of AIDS.

            Data on AIDS orphans were used only for sub-Saharan Africa as
the low prevalence in other regions of the world meant the data was not as
reliable.

            Shaoni Bhattacharya, Bangkok

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Mail and Guardian

Zim archbishop appointment 'not political'

      Harare, Zimbabwe

      13 July 2004 13:56

The Vatican's diplomatic envoy in Zimbabwe has dismissed charges that the
appointment of the new archbishop of Harare, Robert Ndlovu, a member of the
minority Ndebele ethnic group, is "irregular" and "politically driven".

The appointment of 49-year-old Ndlovu, currently bishop of Hwange in western
Zimbabwe, to the highest clerical position in the country has been
criticized by government figures and even senior churchmen, who argue that
the new archbishop should be a member of the majority Shona ethnic group
from central and eastern Zimbabwe.

The state-controlled daily Herald newspaper said on Monday that unnamed
"influential Catholics", including an unidentified cabinet minister, had
written to Father Edward Adams, the Papal Nunciature in Harare, to protest
the appointment of Archbishop Ndlovu.

The newspaper said there was suspicion that the appointment was
"unprocedural".

However, in a statement published in Tuesday's Herald, Adams said Ndlovu's
appointment "has nothing to do with politics" and that "he comes to Harare
in obedience of the express wish of the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II".

The move is seen by many as an effort by the pontiff to distance the
Catholic Church in Zimbabwe from the regime of President Robert Mugabe, who
draws the bulk of his support from the Shona majority.

The second archdiocese of Bulawayo, in western Zimbabwe, is headed by the
fiery Archbishop Pius Ncube, also an Ndebele and among Mugabe's fiercest
critics.

Critics have accused the church of being largely silent over human rights
abuses in the country, including the massacre of at least 20 000 Ndebele
civilians by Mugabe's security forces in western Zimbabwe during the early
1980s.

Ndlovu succeeds former Harare archbishop Patrick Chakaipa who died last
year, and who was regarded as a confidante of Mugabe's.

He was instrumental in obtaining a special papal concession for the
80-year-old leader to marry his wife, a divorcee 40 years his junior.

Ndlovu is regarded as an uncontroversial, humble figure. "He is deeply
spiritual, very prudent, very mature and very transparent," Ncube said
shortly after Ndlovu's appointment. "He will not make headlines."

However, an indication that Ndlovu is more likely to take a more critical
position against the government came earlier this month when his office
issued a public apology over a group of nuns who had attempted to seize a
white-owned farm.

In remarks seen as critical of Mugabe's campaign to drive nearly all the
country's white farmers off their land, the new archbishop insisted that
land redistribution should be "in accordance with the laws of the country,
transparent and above all, just."

Friar Nigel Johnson, an outspoken Jesuit priest in the western city of
Bulawayo who has been arrested for taking part in demonstrations against the
government's human rights abuses, has said that the Vatican "might have got
it right and appointed the best man for the job". -- Sapa
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New Zimbabwe

SA churchman 'puzzled' by SA stance on Zim

By Agencies
Last updated: 07/13/2004 21:53:37
SOUTH Africa's most senior Catholic prelate is puzzled as to why South
Africa is not considering sanctions against Zimbabwe when these were
effective in ending apartheid.

Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops'
Conference, spoke on Monday as the human rights situation in Zimbabwe
deteriorated further.

Zimbabwe state television has directed that the colour red - and so the Aids
ribbon - not be shown because it is the symbol of the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC).

And in a separate development, President Robert Mugabe's government, which
faces acute foreign currency shortages and a collapsing health sector, has
introduced ox-drawn ambulances to ferry ill people to health centres in
rural areas.

The main opposition party said the introduction of ox-drawn ambulances,
reported in the Zimbabwe government's own media, was yet another indication
of the "continuing collapse of institutions" in Zimbabwe while Mugabe
focused on terrorising the innocent.

Napier told Sapa that while he was not calling directly for sanctions
against Zimbabwe, he did not understand why they were not being considered.

He said no progress had been made with PW Botha, the second-last white
president, during the apartheid era. Most churches therefore had supported
the African National Congress's call for sanctions, through the United
Democratic Front.

"Sanctions in South Africa brought us a quicker end to the oppression. But I
think you have got to do it intelligently," said Napier.

Equally, if sanctions were applied on Zimbabwe, they should be applied
"intelligently" and it should be up to the people of Zimbabwe to decide when
they should be lifted.

The cardinal's words resonated with those of Zimbabwean Catholic Archbishop
Pius Ncube's call for South Africa to consider sanctions.
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New Zimbabwe

Church denies tribal tensions over new Harare bishop

By Agencies
Last updated: 07/13/2004 21:55:01
ROMAN Catholic church officials in Zimbabwe on Monday dismissed calls to
revoke the papal appointment of the nation's most senior Catholic cleric.
Pope John Paul II's appointment last month of Bishop Robert Ndlovu as the
new archbishop of Harare raised the ire of some Catholics in the country who
said it favoured the minority Ndebele tribe.

Critics in central, eastern and southern Zimbabwe and in Harare, home of the
majority Shona tribe, sent a letter protesting the appointment to the pope's
representative in the capital, the state Herald newspaper reported on
Monday.

The authors, identified by the paper only as "influential and concerned
Catholics", demanded Ndlovu's post be given to one of several more senior
and experienced clerics from their districts.

The newspaper said church members, supported by unnamed senior government
officials, were planning to petition Pope John Paul II to rescind his
decision on the appointment of Ndlovu.

But church officials said such efforts would be fruitless. "That's nonsense.
It doesn't work like that. The decision has been made," said Tarcisius
Zimbiti, head of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe.

Ndlovu, 48, is the bishop of Hwange in western Zimbabwe, home of the ethnic
Ndebele people. He is scheduled to be installed as archbishop in Harare, the
biggest church district, next month. He replaces Archbishop Patrick Chakaipa
who died April last year at age 71. The appointment left the nation's two
top Catholic posts in the hands of Ndebele clerics.

Ndlovu's appointment has been seen a signal that the Vatican wants the
Catholic leadership in Zimbabwe to take a firmer stand on human and
democratic rights.

Chakaipa, his predecessor, defended many of President Robert Mugabe's
policies, including a programme to redistribute thousands of white-owned
farms to blacks, despite farm seizures often marred by violence.

Ndlovu's home district of Lupane in western Zimbabwe was the scene of some
of the worst violence during a five-year armed rebellion against Mugabe's
government that ended in 1987.

Mugabe crushed the rebellion with his mostly Shona troops being accused of
atrocities that left more than 20 000 Ndebele civilians dead. Ethnic
Ndebeles comprise about 30 percent of the population of 12.5 million.
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