Zvakwana Newsletter #36 - It's time
to walk your talk
July
19, 2003
But screw
your courage to the sticking-place and we'll not fail.
- William
Shakespeare
How many
portraits does a dictator need to flatter himself?
Zvakwana
was moving around the other day. Some of us had just been to the airport. We
were going there to see whether the desperate dictator has been putting up even
more portraits than before. Have you seen that the old man's face looks down at
travellers from just about every wall in the building. It is well known that as
dictators feel their grip on power slipping that they try to bolster their shaky
positions by all means possible. In this case it's 26 portraits in one building.
But on the way to the airport we were noticing that just some few years back we
could hardly spend even one month without some dignitary visiting this place.
And then we would see the old man's portrait pasted up on top of those poles
along our main roads together with the visitor's picture. It has been quite some
time now since we last saw this happen. Now they are just standing there vacant.
It is yet another indication that the region and the rest of the world is
isolating the madman, mugabe.
Rhodesians never die: they're alive and well and living in the
politburo
On 19
July 1960, 3 National Democratic Party (NDP) leaders were arrested (Michael
Mawema, Stanlake Samkange and Leopold Takawira). Over 7000 Harare residents
gathered in protest against these arrests, and tried to march from Highfield to
the city centre. This demonstration was violently disrupted by the police,
resulting in widespread riots in Harare during the week of 19-24 July 1960. These riots spread southwards, first
to Gweru, and then to Bulawayo. Police in both cities reacted with force to
squash the riots, and in Bulawayo 11 activists were shot by the police on 24
July 1960. Shortly after these riots, the Rhodesian government of Edgar
Whitehead enacted the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act (LOMA). In 2002, the
government of Zimbabwe repealed LOMA, and replaced it with the Public Order and
Security Act (POSA).
POSA
is LOMA's ghost, and we need to chase it out - one time!
Activists
from all around Zimbabwe are gearing up to protest against POSA. We are using
this July 19-24th anniversary as a time to demonstrate against this illegitimate
dictatorship's unjust laws. Watch out in your areas for action, and more
importantly get involved even if it is to start discussing between yourselves
about ways to say Zvakwana! Enough is Enough. Sokwanele.
Let us remind
ourselves about the similar tactics that smith used and that his shamwari mugabe
has snatched onto like the hungry crocodile he is.
POSA Section 5
= LOMA Section 51 - Subverting Constitutional Government
Using or threatening physical
force, violence or threatening violence in a boycott, civil disobedience or
resistance to any law, whether such resistance is active or passive.
POSA Section
15 = LOMA Section 50 - Publishing false and prejudicial statements
Publishing false statements with
the intention of causing public disorder, violence, endangering public safety,
damaging Zimbabwe's economic interests, undermining confidence in law
enforcement agencies or disrupting or interfering with an essential service.
This is regardless of whether the author or publisher realises that the
statement is false.
POSA Section
16 = LOMA Section 46 - Undermining Authority of or Insulting Head of
State
This section
makes it an offence to make a public statement about the head of state that is
likely to cause feelings of hostility, hatred, contempt or ridicule towards him.
This is regardless of whether the speaker's intention is to cause these
feelings, and regardless of whether the statements actually result in other
people having these feelings.
POSA Section
19 = LOMA Section 36 - Gatherings to conduce riots, disorder, or
intolerance
Includes
speaking about, distributing writing, ridiculing or exposing hatred towards or
about any group based on race, nationality, tribe ethnicity, colour religion or
gender [but does NOT include political party].
POSA Section
33 and 34 = LOMA Section 17 and 59-Cordon and search
Gives police the permission to
close off any area and search it if they suspect a POSA-related offence has
occurred.
Enough!
Zvakwana! Sokwanele! - It must go!
Bob
and Bush have more in common than we realised
We had someone write
to us to say that they were hoping that Bush was going to put some pressure on
mugabe to change his bad behaviour. Isn't it strange though to have mr stolen
election bush telling mr stolen election bob how to do things right. Apparently
during the American elections people in poor neighbourhoods in Florida (the
swinging state!) got leaflets delivered saying that they'd be prosecuted for
overdue parking fines when they went to vote. This was one of brother Bush's
ploys to disenfranchise voters in Florida.
And
on a lighter note . . .
We don't have any oil but then again
mugabe is a weapon of mass destruction in his own right, says a pro-American
invasion Zvakwana subscriber.
Patrons at
the premiere of Matrix Reloaded get a shock on Thursday night
Unsuspecting people moving around
the Avondale Shopping Centre in Harare got their fair share of tiger as the wind
blew it over there from the University of Zimbabwe campus. Students have a right
to protest the small size of pay-outs and the terrible conditions that exist on
campus. There are no longer any well functioning kitchens there. Students are
going hungry. For over 12 000 students there are just 15 computers in the
computer centre. The library is falling apart. Whenever students decide to
demonstrate and try to put pressure on the administration to improve conditions
they get assaulted and tear gassed. In fact we wouldn't be surprised to find
that the riot police are permanently camped in UZ dormitories. Have a look at
this letter that Zvakwana recently received. It is high time that we come
together to support our university students who are the future leaders of
Zimbabwe.
Let's bemoan the death of
education in this country Zimbabwe. At universities we are no longer learning
facts. Most of the lecturers have left and many departments are closing. Those
that have not closed are left with few lecturers who can not fulfil the
intellectual demands of the minds of the students. For example the surveying
department is gone forever. Talking about hunger at Campus, if I am to tell you
students only afford one proper meal a day and supplement with things like eggs,
water etc. I am appealing to you people of Zimbabwe if you have a child at UZ,
pliz help him/her before the worst happens.
Urgent
confirmation needed!
Zvakwana has been informed that at approximately 3:10 on the
afternoon of Tuesday 15th July 2003 grace mugabe was seen waving goodbye to the
guards at the mansion on 7th Street. Then she started walking down the road
pulling one of those big suitcases with wheels on it. Zvakwana is offering
copies of Mapfumo's Toi Toi to those Zvakwana subscribers telling us why she was
leaving and where she was going. Email news@zvakwana.org with your
suggestions.
Zvakwana will be coming to you in more ways soon
To
keep up with the ever increasing demand for news from Zvakwana we are taking
Zavkwana newsletters to the streets. In the coming months you will be seeing
much more from us. We will be working especially hard to keep you inspired and
informed because all around us we are suffering from high costs of newspapers
and state-propaganda. If you are willing to help us distribute Zvakwana printed
materials in your area please email us news@zvakwana.org
Father
forgive us . . .
In a stunning appeal for forgiveness, Zimbabwe's Christian churches have
apologised for not doing enough to help stop political violence, hunger and the
collapse of the economy. The Zimbabwe Council of Churches, which represents all
Christian denominations in the country, said it had watched passively as poverty
worsened, leaving more and more children begging on the streets. It had also
stood by amid the collapse of state health and education services and widening
political divisions, it said.
"We have, with our own eyes,
watched as violence, rape, intimidation, harassment and various forms of torture
have ravaged the nation.
"Yet some perpetrators have been set free," the
council said in a statement.
"We have been witness to and buried our people
who have starved to death because of food shortages.
"While we have continued
to pray, we have not been moved to action.
"We as a council apologise to the
people of Zimbabwe for not having done enough at a time when the nation looked
to us for guidance."
The church leaders, who
released the statement after their annual meeting, said they planned to pressure
the government to allow them to import food aid. They would also lobby for
economic reforms and the resumption of talks between the ruling party and the
opposition. They intended to set up a task force to investigate the National
Youth Service, widely accused of being used as a ruling party militia that
engaged in the violent intimidation of Mugabe's opponents. The church leaders
said they had "looked on" as the government's land reform programme was
conducted without proper infrastructure, leading to decreased production on
underused land.
Email
your outrage
REDRESS is an international human rights and legal
organisation which helps torture survivors obtain justice and reparation. The
group has contacted the United Nations about a Zimbabwean officer serving with
peace keeping troops in Kosovo. Detective Inspector Henry Dowa has been named by
several Zimbabwean torture victims as having directed and carried out beatings
with fists, boots and pickaxe handles, and giving electric shocks at Harare
central police station throughout 2002 and in early 2003. The charges have been
backed up by medical examinations which confirm injuries consistent with
torture. Zimbabwean police thought to have done a good job by the government are
often seconded to UN peacekeeping missions, where conditions are comparatively
good and they are paid in dollars. Redress has urged the United Nations to
detain Dowa until he can stand trial under international law.
Please email your views or
stories of abuse and torture in Zimbabwe to redresstrust@gn.apc.org
Zim
inflation on course for 1000%
Zimbabwe's powerful labour movement
has called on President Robert Mugabe and his entire cabinet to resign as
inflation soared from 300% to 364.5%. Inflation is on course to reach the 1 000%
peak predicted by many economists by the year-end. Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions (ZCTU) secretary-general Wellington Chibebe said his organisation was
appalled by Mugabe's failure to implement measures to ease the economic crisis,
which had now led even to a shortage of Zimbabwe dollar notes. "If it were any
other democracy ... the entire government would have resigned for presiding over
the mess that this economy is in," Chibebe's statement said.
Do you think that the ZCTU
should continue to call for stayaways to protest unrealistic wages in our
inflationary environment? Write to news@zvakwana.org
Moyo
uses soccer to market zanu pf
Zvakwana has received several
complaints about the junior propaganda minister's musical jangles that are heard
every two seconds on our unfree and unfair airwaves. His latest attempt to get
the nation to click our fingers to "Go Warriors, Score Warriors" has backfired
like when he tried to take the Zvakwana slogan for his own purposes. Now we are
hearing a new version, it goes something like
"Mugabe
you used to be a great warrior. You fought to free this country. But now please:
GO WARRIOR GO!"
Stay
and fight
Our country is currently losing many valuable and
energetic people who have grown tired and scared of the spiralling plunge of
Zimbabwe. Many times we will be hearing that they will "come back when it's
fixed". Of course it is difficult to put bread in our bellies these days. Also
with mugabe's incompetence and use of strategic violence and disruption we are
witnessing once peaceful cities being turned into a den for thieves. What will
happen if everyone who has a voice and who is willing to use it and willing to
engage in this struggle for democracy, leaves? We will just be giving Zimbabwe
to mugabe on a paper plate. We cannot afford for all our valuable people to be
living as exiles making forex in other countries.
Talking point: email us what do you - news@zvakwana.org
Feedback
How come your mail does not come on a
regular basis have you lost hope on Zimbabwe. I have not received a single
newsletter for the whole month of July. What seems to be the problem?
From a Zvakwana subscriber
- Sorry for that Ngonidzashe.
We have been a bit irregular in July seeing as we were monitoring the movements
of that helicopter flying in and out of State House. But we will be back more
often in the next months as we continue to encourage pro-democracy
actions.
Weighing up the costs
Vamwe Ambuya vakapinda ma TM
ndokubva vanhonga Romance soap ne one pair yeunderwear. Vasvika patill vakabva
vati: "Mukuwasha nditaurirewo kuti zvose izvi zvinoita marii nokuti
ndingazoshoterwa." The till operator did a quick calculation and turned to her
and said, "Ambuya, kana muchida zveRomance, bvisai underwear
yenyu!"
----
A woman walks into the shops and wants to by romance soap and
a pair of underwear. She gets to the till and asks the man at the till how much
everything is going to cost, since she's worried she wont have enough cash. The
guy at the till quickly adds up the cost of the items and tells her, lady, if
you want this Romance, remove your underwear.
Are we
together?
We all want peace. But let's remember, it won't come without a
fight.
Zvakwana,
Sokwanele, Enough!!
Your
Action, Your Country, Your Decision, Things are on the move
Please remember Zvakwana
welcomes feedback, ideas and support for actions.
Please help us to grow
this mailing list by recommending it to your friends and colleagues.
Visit our website at www.zvakwana.org -
Join our mailing list by clicking here
Enough is enough,
Zvakwana, Sokwanele.
Daily News
100 000 may die
BULAWAYO – More than 100
000 people in Tsholotsho and Bulilimamangwe
South constituencies in
Matabeleland South province could starve to death
after food aid
organisations cut relief aid to the two areas at the
beginning of last month,
it was learnt yesterday.
The Members of Parliament (MPs) for
the two constituencies told the
Daily News in separate interviews that the
number of hungry people had risen
sharply in their areas since the
Organisation of Rural Associations for
Progress (ORAP) and World Vision
started scaling down food relief operations
in the two drought-prone areas in
May.
Bulilimamangwe South MP Edward Mkhosi warned there could
soon be
"famine-induced deaths" if food relief was not urgently restored for
more
than 50 000 people in his constituency who had nothing to
eat.
Mkhosi said: "The situation is fast getting desperate
because food
relief organisations continue to scale down operations. I do not
know how to
help the needy people who are still approaching me even as I
speak right
now.
"The hunger is more widespread from
Brunapeg to as far down as
Mphoengs along the border with
Botswana.
"We will soon be reporting famine-induced deaths if
no food assistance
reaches the people before the end of the
month."
Tsholotsho legislator Mtoliki Sibanda said the number
of people in
desperate need of food aid in his constituency had risen to more
than 45 000
in the last few weeks.
Most were now surviving
on wild fruits, the MP said yesterday.
"Hunger is so widespread
that people have resorted to eating wild
fruits to survive. As it is, I have
confirmed a report that three children,
including a 13-year-old orphan
attending Mathuphula Primary School, almost
died after eating different kinds
of fruit which caused them a serious
stomach disorder.
"They
were treated at Jimila Rural Health Centre.
"But this is not
the complete picture as there are several other cases
which are never
reported."
ORAP and World Vision, which were the main food relief
agencies
operating in the two areas, could not be reached for comment on the
matter
by the time of going to print last night.
Social
Welfare Minister July Moyo could also not be reached for
comment on the issue
of worsening hunger in the two constituencies.
But well-placed
sources within the non-governmental organisation (NGO)
community told this
newspaper that nearly all NGOs had been cutting down on
food aid for Zimbabwe
after the delay by the government to formally appeal
for continued food
support.
The sources said it would take up to two months before
international
donors could raise food in response to an appeal for help
finally made by
the government this week.
According to the
sources, the government delayed in making the appeal
because it could not
agree on what quantities of food to ask for from
donors.
Zimbabwe is grappling with severe food shortages after poor rains last
year
combined with the government’s chaotic land reforms to cut food
production by
60 percent.
Only the timely intervention of the World Food
Programme and other
international food donors saved more than seven million
Zimbabweans – about
half the country’s population – from almost certain
starvation last year.
The country’s drought-prone southern
region is the worst affected by
hunger with Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city
located in that region,
reporting that 179 people, most of them children,
died because of
malnutrition in the first four months of this
year.
Staff Reporter
Daily News
Zimbabwe fails to meet EU rules to resume meat
exports
ZIMBABWE is unable to meet stringent European Union (EU)
regulations
for the processing of crocodile, fish and ostrich meat for the
giant EU
market because of shortages of foreign currency and fuel that
have
compromised livestock surveillance and monitoring in the country,
the
Department of Livestock and Veterinary Services (DLVS) said in a
report
released this week.
"There are greater difficulties
in maintaining the EU standards,
especially in the Central Veterinary
Laboratory where foreign exchange
constraints have delayed the procurement of
new and the repair of old
equipment," a report by the DLVS on the country’s
livestock industry read in
part.
The DLVS said a team of EU
experts that toured Zimbabwe last month to
assess the country’s compliance
with standards for the processing of meat
for the EU market noted various
deficiencies in the production of meat that
it said needed to be rectified
first before exports to EU countries could be
resumed.
The
DLVS report stated: "A number of deficiencies were noted during
the visit
which require correction. These deficiencies were mainly
attributed to the
fuel shortage and the inability for veterinarians to
travel to ostrich
abattoirs to supervise the slaughter of ostrich for the EU
market. The EU
have refused to accept any product produced without
veterinary
supervision."
According to the DLVS, the three-member EU
inspection team toured
ostrich, fish and crocodile farms, production and
processing systems used in
Zimbabwe with a view to harmonising the rules for
export to Europe.
A similar delegation from the EU that visited
the country last year
urged the government to provide the DLVS with more
vehicles in order to
ensure high levels of surveillance.
The
department said the EU team had also noted deficiencies at the
Central
Veterinary Laboratory and the residue testing section, where the
DLVS said it
had been unable to buy spares or new equipment to test for the
deadly
Newcastle disease and residue testing of meat.
Zimbabwe exports
various meat products to the giant EU but beef
exports were suspended in 2001
following an outbreak of the foot-and-mouth
disease in the
country.
Before the ban, the country was exporting 9 100 tonnes
of beef to the
EU.
The DLVS said ostrich farmers had,
however, offered to assist the
department with transport to ensure EU
standards of surveillance are
maintained.
"However, ostrich
abattoirs have agreed to assist in the transport of
the official
veterinarians to their abattoirs so that the export of ostrich
meat to Europe
can continue," the department said in the report.
Last year
ostrich farmers exported 25 000 birds to the European market
at US$270 (Z$222
480) per bird, earning the country about $260 million.
Zimbabwe’s ostrich meat and skin export processing industry was once
one of
the largest such operations in the region, boasting 26 000 breeders
on farms
that produced 56 000 eggs per year.
But, according to farming
experts, farm seizures by the government
under its chaotic land reform
programme and the shortage of stockfeed has
seen the industry plummet by 50
percent.
Staff Reporter
Daily News
What else does Africa need to rein in
Mugabe?
It is ridiculous and surprising that African leaders
Thabo Mbeki and
Olusegun Obasanjo, presidents of South Africa and Nigeria
respectively,
still want to associate themselves with President Robert
Mugabe.
Do they not have eyes to see and ears to hear of the
terrible
dictatorship of Mugabe here? What else do they
want?
Mugabe’s disrespect for human rights is there for all to
see. It is
him and his supporters who are free to do as they
please.
It is unfortunate that when these African leaders come
to our once
beautiful country, they dine with Mugabe and rarely have time to
dig deeper
into the real situation for the ordinary Zimbabwean
here.
We are living in hell.
For as long as these
African leaders continue to be ignorant the
situation in our country is going
to deteriorate further. Surely with no
rule of law there is bound to be no
development and no turn-back for the
battered economy?
It is
advisable that these leaders change their attitudes towards
Mugabe and tell
him to be human enough for the good of Africa and for the
good of
Zimbabwe.
If the African leaders continue to praise Mugabe
amidst the suffering
of millions of Zimbabweans, they should not cry foul
when we call upon
superpowers such as the United States of America to come
and help us. As
things stand at the moment, Mugabe will only understand the
way that Saddam
Hussein fell over.
Remember that as always
the United Nations has not acted as it should
while our beloved country sinks
deeper into chaos, rendering UN a toothless
bulldog.
True
Zimbabwean
Bulawayo
Daily News
Hardships increase lure of ‘death trap’
trains
ALTHOUGH it is mid-week, on Wednesday, when usually fewer
people
travel between Harare and the eastern border city of Mutare,
the
Harare-bound passenger train is so overcrowded with people that there
is
hardly any space to move.
Clutching a bottle of brandy as
if for inspiration on the long and
hard 263-kilometre journey to Harare,
Givemore Matawi, one of the travellers
on the crowded train, says: "I travel
to Harare frequently to sell my wares
and I will continue using the train for
my journeys.
"The buses are now too expensive so I would rather
use the train. At
least it’s affordable otherwise all my profits will be
absorbed by bus
fare."
Without the creaky and unreliable
train his second-hand clothing
business would collapse.
The
frequent Press reports of fatal accidents involving the
state-owned National
Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) trains or the routine delays
of trains because of
signal systems failure do not appear to deter Matawi,
who sources second-hand
clothing from neighbouring Mozambique for resale in
Harare.
But Matawi is not alone.
As the cost of road travel continues
to skyrocket because of the high
cost of fuel and vehicle spare parts, the
majority of Zimbabweans have been
forced to turn to the NRZ’s passenger train
service, which remains the
country’s cheapest mode of
transport.
In the last three weeks, for example, long distance
and city-to-city
transport operators hiked fares by about 33 percent while
urban commuter
transporters increased fares by an average of 150 percent
citing the
exorbitant price of diesel and petrol on the black market, their
main source
of fuel.
An NRZ spokesman said this week:
"Following the recent fare increases
by rural bus operators, the demand for
inter-city passenger trains has
increased and the volume of passengers has
doubled.
"It is common knowledge that inter-city passenger
trains are the most
economic mode of transporting large numbers of people in
the country."
But the grinding economic crisis gripping the
nation has taken a heavy
toll on the national rail carrier.
At one time one of the best rail networks, poor maintenance and in
some cases
underfunding has reduced the NRZ rail system to a virtual
death
trap.
A malfunctioning signals system, because there
is no foreign currency
to buy spare parts, has resulted in frequent delays of
trains and at least
two major train accidents.
About 1 400
people aboard an NRZ urban commuter train from Harare’s
lower income
high-density suburbs into the city centre escaped death by a
whisker when the
train left the tracks because the automatic control system
that allows trains
to change tracks was not working.
Thirty-three people were
injured in the accident, the third one
involving NRZ trains since the
beginning of this year.
In one of Zimbabwe’s worst train
disasters, over 50 people died and 64
others were seriously injured when two
trains collided near Dete in
Matabeleland North province because the signals
system was not working.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
secretary-general Wellington
Chibhebhe said while the cheaper train fares
were benefiting hard-pressed
workers, the government and the NRZ had paid
little attention to the safety
of passengers on the trains.
"While it is a noble idea to provide workers with cheap transport,
this
should not be done at the expense of safety.
"It is very
disturbing to note that these commuter trains were
introduced by the
government for political expediency without any
consideration of the effect
and risk they would have on both the NRZ and the
commuters who use
them.
"Train accidents are now very common yet the government
seems to see
nothing wrong with the railway system."
Urban
commuter trains, also known as "Freedom Trains", were first
introduced by the
government ahead of last year’s presidential election in a
move political
analysts said was an attempt to buy the support of a largely
disgruntled
urban electorate. But for Sarudzai Maturi, from Harare’s
Mufakose
high-density suburb, the savings she makes by opting for the
cheaper train
shuttle than a relatively more expensive ride on a commuter
omnibus is worth
all the potential danger now associated with Zimbabwe’s
trains. For a train
ride from her home into the city centre, Maturi pays $70
compared to the $400
she must fork out on the omnibuses. Maturi said: "I
earn $30 000 a month and
half of that would be spent on transport if I
boarded commuter buses. "I know
the dangers posed by travelling by train
nowadays but I really have no
choice. At least the train does not kill
people every day like what poverty
and hunger is doing." By Farai Mutsaka
Chief Reporter
Daily News
Zimbabwe Belgian envoy’s toughest posting
OUTGOING Belgian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Benedicte Franckinet
yesterday
described Zimbabwe as her most challenging assignment in her
25-year career
as a diplomat because of the government’s wanton disregard of
the rule of
law.
Franckinet yesterday told the the Daily News in an
interview:
"Zimbabwe has been the most challenging of my assignments because
of the
events unfolding in the country. It has been the most challenging
posting in
my life. I have been to places where there was no question on
the
established rule prevailing.
"It has been easy to
understand the established rule in other
countries but in Zimbabwe there is a
lot of unpredictability.
"The political establishment in
Zimbabwe was shaken and was being
questioned by the very same people who
established it. It is not what the
establishment had expected that those who
established it could be
questioning it now."
Before her
posting to Zimbabwe, Franckinet had previously served in
France, Brazil and
the United Nations.
Franckinet, who leaves the country on
Tuesday for Belgium to wait for
her next posting, said since 2000 Zimbabwe
had changed from a country that
respected human rights to a rogue
state.
"It is disappointing that Zimbabwe changed from a
country that
respected the rule of law to a country that for reasons that
probably were
more important to the establishment chose to ignore the rule of
law," she
said.
She said that during her stay in Zimbabwe
the government had
persistently refused to listen to advice offered by the
European Union (EU),
particularly during her country’s tenure as the EU
president.
"It was a disappointing time because we came to
think that we were
making rational points that we thought would result in a
lot of progress
being made but the other side didn’t think so," Franckinet
said.
It was during Belgium’s tenure as EU president that the
15-member
nation decided to impose travel and financial sanctions on
President Robert
Mugabe and his ruling elite.
Staff
Reporter
Daily News
MDC fears for safety of Rusape candidates
MUTARE – The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party
yesterday
said it feared for the safety of its candidates in Rusape for next
month’s
council elections after suspected ZANU PF youths allegedly
threatened some of
the opposition candidates with death.
MDC spokesman for
Manicaland province Pishayi Muchauraya told the
Daily News yesterday:
"Our
candidates are living in fear after they received death
threats. We
are also very concerned about their safety because of the
magnitude of
terror in Rusape."
Elections to choose new
councillors for Rusape are scheduled to be
held on 30 and 31
August.
Muchauraya said two of his party’s candidates in the
council election,
Kidwell Gomana and David Mukunda, standing for wards six
and two
respectively, were on Thursday this week assaulted by Zanu PF
supporters and
threatened with death if they contested the election on behalf
of the MDC.
The MDC official said: "We are fielding candidates
in all the 10 wards
but our candidates have endured door-to-door visits by
Zanu PF youths. This
cannot be a fair election where our candidates have not
been allowed to
campaign."
Muchauraya said the MDC had at
one time contemplated pulling out of
the ballot in protest against violence
against their candidates and
supporters.
The MDC spokesman
accused ZANU PF politburo member Didymus Mutasa of
encouraging violence and
death threats against opposition members and
candidates in
Rusape.
He said: "Mutasa has declared Rusape a no-go area for
MDC supporters.
He has blessed all this violence and we hold him
responsible."
Mutasa, who is also the Member of Parliament for
Makoni North
constituency, dismissed the allegations against him, saying he
was not even
involved in his own party’s campaign for the
ballot.
Mutasa said: "It’s very funny because I am not active at
all in these
council elections. I do not even know who is contesting for Zanu
PF so how
would I then know MDC candidates?"
The ZANU PF
legislator and official claimed the MDC was raising
allegations of violence
in order to cover up for the drubbing it will
receive from ZANU PF in the
polls next month.
He said: "They are afraid of losing. They are
cowards. They will lose
because nobody will vote for the MDC in
Rusape."
Own Correspondent
Daily News
State-sanctioned violence on the rise:
report
THE Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum (ZHRF) this week called on
the
government to end human rights violations by state security agents and
some
of its senior officials.
In a report on the human
rights situation in Zimbabwe last month, the
ZHRF said state-sponsored
retribution against citizens, most of them members
of the opposition, had
intensified in the country.
The ZHRF, which is a coalition of
Zimbabwe’s human and civic rights
groups, said three people died because of
political violence during the
period under review.
The human
rights watchdog also repeated claims that Youth Development,
Gender and
Employment Creation Minister Elliot Manyika was involved in
assaulting
residents in Harare and Marondera during the opposition Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC) party’s mass protest last month.
The
ZHRF report, released this week, read in part: "Particularly
disturbing are
allegations that high-level government officials were
actively involved in
organised violence and torture.
"More than five victims made
allegations that the Minister of Youth
Development, Gender and Employment
Creation, Elliot Manyika, was actively
involved in the torture of residents
in high-density suburbs in Harare,
specifically Glen View as well as in
Marondera.
"In Glen View, DZ, DN, VT, GM, FG, and TS were
sleeping at the home of
Weddy Dewah, MDC Councillor for Ward 31, when CID
officers, armed and
uniformed policemen and soldiers, under the leadership of
Elliot Manyika,
allegedly forced entry and assaulted everyone with baton
sticks, accusing
them of planning the MDC mass action protest
march."
Manyika yesterday could not be reached for comment on
the allegations
that he helped assault people in Glen View and
Marondera.
But the ruling ZANU PF politburo member has in the
past dismissed as
untrue allegations that he had assaulted people in the two
areas.
The human rights watchdog said while abuses had
persisted in Zimbabwe
since 2000, a pattern was emerging where violation of
Zimbabweans’ rights
peaked during election time or when there were civic or
MDC-organised
demonstrations or marches.
According to the
ZHRF, the worst human rights violations, most of them
allegedly perpetrated
by state security agents, were witnessed during mass
protests called by the
MDC at the beginning of last month.
Three people, Plaxedes
Alfonso, Amon Nyadongo and Tichaona Kaguru, all
from Harare died because of
political violence during the 2-6 June protests.
The MDC said
the protests were meant to force President Robert Mugabe
to step down or to
agree to negotiations with the opposition party on a
solution to Zimbabwe’s
crisis.
The government deployed heavily armed police and
soldiers supported by
water tanks, helicopters and ruling ZANU PF party youth
militias to crush
attempts by MDC supporters to march to Mugabe’s State House
residence.
The ZHRF said: "That is of concern to the ZHRF as it
appears to be an
attempt by the State to subvert any public attempts at
exercising rights to
freedom of expression.
"This
particularly characterises the bulk of the violations recorded
in the month
of June. While attempts were made to demonstrate peacefully,
allegations of
violence perpetrated by both the MDC and ZANU PF surfaced.
"Peaceful demonstrations were disrupted and participants arrested on
the
basis that the demonstrations had been declared illegal by the
High
Court."
After crushing the MDC protests, state security
agents raided homes in
some parts of Harare, assaulting and torturing people
suspected of having
taken part in the opposition demonstrations, according to
the ZHRF.
"Victims tortured by army and police officers have
been hesitant to
make reports at police stations, to the very same
authorities that are
responsible for their trauma," the human rights group
said.
The ZHRF also recommended that the country’s legislation be
amended to
"designate and define torture as a specific crime of utmost
gravity. The
state should also bring to book all of its agents accused of
torture."
Staff Reporter
Daily News
Justice will prevail
REPORTS that an
international anti-torture group is seeking the
prosecution of a Zimbabwean
police officer allegedly involved in the torture
of opposition party
supporters should serve as a timely warning to other
state security agents
against whom similar accusations have been levelled.
As we
reported yesterday, anti-torture group Redress has appealed to
United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan to facilitate the arrest and
prosecution of a
Zimbabwe Republic Police officer who is presently part of a
UN mission in
Kosovo.
The officer was allegedly involved in acts of torture
while he was
still in Harare.
As a Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights official noted in our report
yesterday: "This should serve as an
adequate reminder to law enforcement
agents who are being implicated in
torture that the day of reckoning will
come and it can be anywhere in the
world."
Indeed, the international group’s determination to see
that justice is
done for Zimbabwean victims of torture should strike as much
fear into the
hearts of the perpetrators of political violence as it must
surely give hope
to torture victims that their tormentors will not go
unpunished.
As history has shown, the truth will always come
out and even those
crimes committed in the darkest and most forgotten cell
will one day come
back to haunt their perpetrators.
And as
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s experience has shown, when
the day of
reckoning finally comes, there will literally be nowhere to
hide.
It would therefore be foolhardy for the people who have
sanctioned and
performed horrific and barbaric acts of torture and violence
in Zimbabwe in
the past three years to believe that they can commit these
crimes with
impunity.
When the day comes for them to pay for
their brutal violation of the
trust the nation has placed in them, it will
not be enough to plead that
they were merely following
orders.
Neither will it be enough for those in charge of the
rogue agents
committing these crimes to plead ignorance of their
actions.
There are too many cases of torture in which state
agents are alleged
to be involved, so many that any reasonable person must
realise that
something is terribly wrong in the country’s security
agencies.
In its June political violence report, released this
week, the
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum notes that there were 113 reports
of torture
in June and 379 between January and last month.
Many of these allegedly involved state security agents and led to the
death
of at least one person in June.
Medical evidence of injuries
sustained in police custody has been
provided by several alleged torture
victims.
Some of this evidence was even tabled in court earlier
this year by
opposition party legislator Job Sikhala, prompting the court to
order an
investigation, the results of which – if there was any investigation
– have
not been made public.
It is tragic that the
government has not treated these allegations
with the seriousness that they
deserve and history will, without doubt,
judge the ruling ZANU PF harshly for
its failure to take vigorous action
against those accused of acts of
torture.
We fully support the recommendations made by the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights to Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi,
calling for the
government to include in local legislation international
policies against
torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment.
It is imperative that the government investigates
allegations of
torture made against identified state security agents and
allows the law to
takes its course if these people are found
guilty.
The state’s failure to strongly condemn and vigorously
act against
those accused of torture will only lead Zimbabweans to conclude
that neither
is the government ignorant of what its agents are doing nor is
it wholly
opposed to their actions.
Daily News
The longer Mugabe stays the safer it is for
Mbeki
Many commentators have displayed for a long time their
skills of
prediction and near prophecy.
However, the country
has continued to suffer, with the unfeeling still
at the reins and even
mapping out ways to perpetuate their continued hold on
power, directly or
indirectly.
As I said in the year 2000 that the people of
Zimbabwe must treat
President Robert Mugabe to his own medicine, now is the
time.
I personally have no confidence in a peaceful resolution
of our
country’s crisis.
On the other hand, it is only fair
not to blame South African
President Thabo Mbeki for not doing much to help
resolve the crisis in our
beloved Zimbabwe or even siding with the people’s
enemy running our country
down. Mbeki does not like Mugabe at all, however.
The longer Mugabe or his
ZANU PF appointees stay in power, the safer Mbeki’s
leadership.
Not only is Mbeki benefiting from the collapse of
Zimbabwe’s economy,
skilled labour, international investment etc, the coming
to power of a
labour-backed government in Zimbabwe activates the Congress of
South African
Trade Unions to push out the self-serving African National
Congress leaders
in South Africa. Mbeki is fighting for his own political
survival.
As a result, Zimbabweans should use whatever means
necessary to bring
down the injured lion ZANU PF government, forget Mugabe’s
purported promise
to vacate State House in December 2003 or June
2004.
Now is the time for decisive action.
Jennings Rukani
UK
Daily News
Nation’s vast mineral wealth remains
untapped
A LARGE portion of Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth is untapped
because of
lack of policies to encourage resource exploitation and inadequate
funding
for miners, mining experts said this week.
David
Matyanga, a mining analyst with the Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines,
said diamond
deposits and unexploited tantalite around the country offered
opportunities
for beneficiation.
He said the closure of several gold and
other mining ventures also
meant there were unexhausted
minerals.
"A lot of mines closed shop in the year 2000 leaving
a lot of
under-utilised mines countrywide. The country is rich in mineral
resources
that can earn the country a fortune if fully utilised," said
Matyanga.
"Recently, diamond was discovered near Buchwa in
Zvishavane and there
is the Murowa diamond project, which is coming in 18
months," he added.
However, the mining analyst was unable to
indicate the extent of
Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth because "private claim
owners prefer to keep such
information on exploitable resource to
themselves".
The country is, however, rich in chromite,
diamonds, gold and other
base metals.
Methane gas has also
been discovered in south-west Zimbabwe, while the
country has the second
largest platinum resource in the 500-kilometre Great
Dyke.
Gold and nickel are two of the critical contributors to mining revenue
in
Zimbabwe, contributing 57 percent and 11 percent respectively.
Exploitation of the two has, however, been adversely affected by
the
country’s worsening economic crisis.
A geologist at the
University of Zimbabwe (UZ) said most of the
country’s minerals were close to
the surface, making them easy to exploit.
"Our geological
studies (of the country’s mineral wealth) reveal that
there is more mineral
content in the country’s belts and the advantage we
have is that the mineral
is quite close to the surface, as compared to
regional countries," he told
the Business Daily.
Zimbabwe Platinum Mines Limited is
developing an open-cast mine in
Selous to exploit minerals that are close to
the surface.
Other resources that are said to be easy to
exploit by open methods
include coal, also found in south-western Zimbabwe,
and tantalite, which can
be mined in many parts of the
country.
The mining experts said Zimbabwean miners were
fortunate in that they
did not have to struggle to reach ore bodies buried
deep in the ground.
The occurrence of minerals close to the
surface also makes it less
expensive for local mining companies to exploit
resources, the experts said.
The analysts said the country’s
mineral resources were not being fully
exploited because of lack of
government incentives to attract mining
investment and the lack of policies
to encourage private sector investment.
UZ analyst Brian
Muchemwa said:
"The government is not designing any relevant
policies that are suited
to encourage investors to venture into mining
activities. Most of the
policies are more or less political gimmicks, making
it difficult for
investors to sacrifice their funds into huge mining projects
because of fear
of an immediate reversal of policies by
Harare."
The analysts said government policies that had eroded
the rule of law
and property rights had also weighed against investment in
the mining
sector.
Under a controversial land reform
programme, the government has seized
most white-owned land and even
threatened to extend the policy to mining and
other sectors with significant
white and foreign investment. Exchange rate
policies have also discouraged
investors, the analysts said. The government
has insisted on maintaining a
controlled and over-valued exchange rate that
is out of step with
macroeconomic fundamentals. This has adversely affected
exporters’ earnings.
"Recently, the government introduced the export support
scheme and promised
to frequently adjust the exchange rate, but the reality
is that the rate is
not going to be adjusted any more," Muchemwa said.
Economist Marko Kwaramba
said mining projects required huge sums anchored in
long-term tenures and
guaranteed security. He said high import tariffs on
the chemicals needed for
mining were prohibitive of investment. Zimbabwe’s
mining industry contributes
about 4 percent of gross domestic product and
over 20 percent of export
earnings. It also accounts for about 3.5 percent
of national employment.
Business Reporter
Mail and Guardian
Zimbabwe grapples with record inflation
Ryan Truscott | Harare
19 July 2003 07:45
Zimbabwe is
grappling with record inflation of 364,5%, rising at nearly one
percent a
day, a nightmare for ordinary Zimbabweans.
The latest figures from the
state-run Central Statistical Office (CSO) show
that inflation jumped from
300.1 percent in May and is likely to rise
further.
The figures are
significantly higher than those of other countries in the
southern African
region, badly hit by disease and drought.
In Zambia, inflation is
estimated to be 25%, while in Botswana --the
regional economic success story
-- the figure is 11,1%.
News of Zimbabwe's latest inflation figures has
been greeted with dismay.
"The chief victims are the populace -- in fact
anybody except the political
plutocrats or those with access to forex,"
charged an editorial in Friday's
Zimbabwe Independent, a private business
weekly.
"Those with a little savings or on fixed incomes have been
ruined."
Shoppers here find prices increased on a weekly
basis.
Houses in Harare's plush northern suburbs that cost around three
million
Zimbabwe dollars in 2001 now sell for anything up to 300-million
Zimbabwe
dollars ($364 000).
Last week bakeries increased the price of
bread by up to 1 000% in reaction
to a similar hike in the price of flour by
millers.
Analysts say Zimbabwe's economic woes date back to the late
1990s but
deepened following the start of a controversial land reform
programme to
take over white-owned commercial farms for redistribution among
new black
farmers.
The programme has resulted in a downturn in foreign
investment and chronic
foreign currency shortages. The impact can be felt at
all levels of society.
Last month bodies were reportedly piling up at
Harare's crematorium due to a
shortage of hard cash to buy gas to run the
furnaces.
The Zimbabwe government blames its economic problems on hostile
foreign
forces and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which
it
says has been calling for "economic sanctions" against the
country.
The United States, Britain and the EU have all imposed targeted
sanctions
against President Robert Mugabe and members of his government for
alleged
human rights and democratic abuses.
Independent economic
analyst John Robertson said the government was both the
beneficiary and the
victim of its own policies.
He said its policy of borrowing local money
at interest rates kept below the
rate of inflation for the past two or three
years had seen it repaying money
back to lenders, such as pension funds, at a
fraction of its original value.
"Nearly all our pensioners have been
pauperised by this process," said
Robertson. "There are hundreds of thousands
of people who have lost their
savings."
He added that the government
was in a "short-term survival mode" when it
resorted to printing money for
unproductive uses such as wages for soldiers
and civil servants.
The
government is in the process of pumping 24-billion Zimbabwe dollars
($29
million) worth of new banknotes into the economy to stave off severe
cash
shortages.
The result of such policies, Robertson predicted,
would be "increasing
inflation and increasing misery". - Sapa-AFP
News24
Zim morgue workers nabbed
19/07/2003 14:49 -
(SA)
Harare - The desperation caused by Zimbabwe's fuel shortages was
illustrated
on Saturday when a Harare mortician and his assistant lent an
infant corpse
to a black market fuel dealer so he could claim cheap diesel
reserved for
the bereaved burying their dead.
Police spokesperson
Inspector Cecilia Churu confirmed that Knocks Zvakwidza
and his assistant,
named only as Chikwanha, both of whom worked in the
mortuary of a state
hospital at Chitungwiza township just south of Harare,
had been arrested on
Thursday for "violating a dead body" and for corruptly
issuing burial
orders.
An unnamed illegal fuel dealer was also in custody, she
said.
The scarcity of fuel is so serious now it can be obtained at
ordinary
service stations almost only with special permits, including burial
orders
carried by undertakers or grieving relatives.
Having a coffin
with a body inside ensures prompt attention at the pumps
without having to
wait in a queue, the state-controlled daily Herald said in
a report on
Saturday on the incident.
The newspaper said Chikwanha issued a burial
order for a month-old child to
the fuel dealer on Thursday, and also gave him
the use of the corpse in a
tiny coffin. The dealer drove to the nearest
service station where the
production of the burial order and the dead baby
got him instant attention.
He drove back to the Chitungwiza mortuary to
return the coffin and its
contents, but was stopped at the hospital gates by
security guards whose
suspicions were aroused when they saw that the same
coffin which was taken
away earlier for supposed burial was now re-entering
the hospital.
"Investigations that we have carried out so far indicate
that senior
hospital officials were called and the man was quizzed, and he
revealed that
he was working in cahoots with the mortician and his
assistant," the Herald
quoted Inspector Churu.
The newspaper said
Zvakwidza had been suspended from the same job two years
ago for allegedly
extorting money from poor people who came to collect the
bodies of relatives
who'd died in hospital but who could not afford to pay
the dead person's
hospital fees. Kvakwidza would only release the body after
the grieving
relatives had paid him a bribe, the Herald said.
Economic collapse in the
last three years of President Robert Mugabe's rule
has dried up fuel imports,
to the point where the country's vehicle fleet is
kept going by the illegal
black market, which carries a high risk of buying
fuel contaminated with
water.
Executives of multinational oil companies, which own most of the
country's
service stations, say they have not had deliveries for well over a
month
from the state-run fuel procurement company.
So valuable is the
black market - most of it said to be run by cronies of
Mugabe - that most bus
operators park their vehicles outside service
stations which get special
allocations of fuel meant to keep commuter
transport services
running.
However, police say, the bus operators immediately drain their
tanks once
they get fuel and sell it on the black market for about Z$2 000,
four times
the official controlled price. - Sapa-DPA
Comment from ZWNEWS, 19 July
Pied piper
By Michael
Hartnack
Lord Renwick, a British ambassador to South Africa in
apartheid days, noted
in his memoir that the British Foreign Office had a
rule against trusting
white liberals as sources. He made an exception for
Helen Suzman. Last week’
s contradiction in statements from the South African
and U.S. presidents, on
the one hand, and Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai on the other,
may have been due to diplomats placing too much
reliance on feedback from
Zimbabwe's jet-setting business community. Like the
old-time white liberals
with their now, apparently, laughable faith in basic
human decency, Zimbabwe
’s commercial mandarins believe that "economic common
sense" must, surely,
prevail.
Like the white liberals, they do not
appreciate the primacy among many
African leaders of the quasi-religious
belief that economic and social
problems will solve themselves if, first, a
political unit is created
containing only "loyal, patriots". The line of
Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party
is that anyone, black or white, who fails to
see reality as they do has no
right to be here. That is what "Fast Track Land
Redistribution" is all
about, at root. In today's crisis, Zimbabwe's
politically ambivalent
businessmen go to and fro (hoping to keep their
enterprises afloat whichever
faction triumphs), much as white liberals used
to trudge between the black
nationalists in Lusaka and the whites south of
the Zambezi. Given
hospitality at diplomatic dinners and cocktails, our
businessmen bathe
second-hand remarks and petty shifts in an optimistic glow.
They
instinctively "talk up the market’’ - it is in their financial interest
and
their personal nature to do so. Together with various rather
unrealistic
churchmen, members of Zimbabwe’s business elite (both in Zimbabwe
and South
Africa) have been urging a coalition upon Tsvangirai’s Movement
for
Democratic Change. They want its leaders to accept posts (maybe under
Simba
Makoni or Emmerson Mnangagwa), to grant immunity from prosecution to
Mugabe
and his defence chiefs, and security for their lavish pension rights
and
business empires, in which the commercial elite are often shareholders.
The
MDC say this will merely perpetuate past misgovernance and
corruption.
The sequence of events on Wednesday July 9, while Bush
was in South Africa,
was that at 11.25 a.m. reporters received a fax from
Tsvangirai saying
claims by South African President Thabo Mbeki on SABCTV the
previous evening
of dialogue between the MDC and Zanu PF were "without
foundation.’’ He said
there had been "no political engagement" since the
aborted talks in April
2002 (when Mugabe demanded the MDC accept his
re-election was valid), and
claims of dialogue were false, partisan, designed
to buy time for Mugabe and
"ward off potential genuine brokers." Zanu PF
secretary for administration
Didymus Mutasa likewise denied talks were taking
place. He would be the one
to know, he said. At noon on Wednesday, the two
presidents gave a press
conference at which Mbeki said: "We have urged the
(Zimbabwean) government
and the opposition to get together. They are indeed
discussing all issues.
That process is going on." Bush voiced confidence in
Mbeki as "the point
man" where Zimbabwe was concerned. Many news outlets
reported, incorrectly,
that Tsvangirai issued his denial in response to
Mbeki's press conference
remarks. Zimbabwe's state media gleefully declared
that Tsvangirai had
"called Mbeki a liar" and suffered a snub. In a later
statement, intended to
mollify, Tsvangirai said there were no formal
negotiations with Zanu PF, but
that "emissaries from various groups that
include churches, civic groups and
indeed the South African government" were
trying, so far unsuccessfully, to
get talks resumed. From here, it seems
clear Mbeki was misled by
over-optimistic reports, fed to his advisers by
those given to minimising
problems. We can guess their source. It would also
be interesting to know
what US diplomats told Bush, and from where they get
their information.
However, if diplomats in Southern Africa are not
to heed businessmen, to
whom should they talk? Academics? Exiles?
Professional lobbyists? Something
Doris Lessing wrote in "The Grass is
Singing" is apt: any group of people
should be judged by its failures, it
worst elements, as well as its
successes, its better products. Diplomats and
policy makers should take in
the widest range of views. Among these must be
semi-articulate voices they
don't like to hear, the irrational men of
violence, the hate-crazed
extremists. As Nicholas Mosley, son of the leader
of the British Fascist
Movement in the 1930's, Sir Oswald Mosley, wrote after
his father’s death:
"I clearly see (now), while the right hand dealt with
grandiose ideas and
glory, the left hand let the rats out of the sewer."
South Africa's
Nationalist government had to be judged by its death squads
and police
torture cells as well as by the urbane, persuasive voices of
one-time
Foreign Minister Pik Botha and his like; the ANC by the perpetrators
of
necklacings and human rights abuses of the most chilling kind in Quattro,
a
guerrilla camp in Angola, as well as by its genial Lusaka spokesman,
the
late Tom Sebina. South Africa needs to admit the rats have
emerged
triumphant from Zanu PF's sewers. Bush has asked Mbeki to play Pied
Piper.
News24
Bush blacklists Zimbabwe, Cuba
19/07/2003 11:10 -
(SA)
Dallas, Texas - President George W Bush on Friday hit out six
regimes on a
US blacklist he said were guilty of oppression and human rights
abuses in
Myanmar and Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Zimbabwe and
Belarus.
In a proclamation issued to mark "captive nations week" first
observed in
1959 as a statement against communism, Bush hit out at a familiar
gallery of
US foes.
"Millions of people still live under regimes that
violate their citizens'
rights daily," Bush said in a statement issued as he
made a day-trip to
Dallas from his Texas ranch.
"In countries such as
Burma and Iran, citizens lack the right to choose
their government, speak out
against oppression, and practice their religion
freely," Bush
said.
"The despot who rules Cuba imprisons political opponents and
crushes
peaceful opposition," he said, in barbed remarks aimed at Fidel
Castro.
There were also harsh words for North Korea, with which
Washington has been
locked in a nuclear showdown since
October.
"Hundreds of thousands languish in prison camps, and citizens
suffer from
malnutrition as the regime pursues weapons of mass destruction,"
Bush said.
"Violence, corruption, and mismanagement reign in Zimbabwe,
and an
authoritarian government in Belarus smothers political
dissent."
But Bush lauded his ouster of the "brutal regime of Saddam
Hussein in Iraq,"
during a US-led war earlier this year.
"The Iraqi
people are no longer captives in their own country," Bush said.
"Their
freedom is evidence of the fall of one of the most oppressive
dictators in
history," he said, claiming that Iraqis were now meeting
"openly and freely"
to discuss the future of their country.