The harassment of MDC members is continuing across the country
amid widespread fears that ZANU PF has started an early election
campaign.
MDC deputy organising secretary, Senator Morgen Komichi, was
arrested on Wednesday at Lupane police station in Matabeleland North
province, on charges of communicating so-called ‘falsehoods’. Komichi had
gone to Lupane after being told to report to the police station last week,
where he was apparently wanted for questioning about comments he made at a
party rally in Hwange earlier this year.
Human rights lawyer Alec
Muchadehama, who is representing Komichi, told SW Radio Africa on Thursday
that his client spent Wednesday night at Lupane police station and was
expected to appear in court soon. Komichi is being charged with contravening
Section 31A III of the Criminal Law (Codification) and Reform Act when he
addressed the rally in February. The police are accusing Komichi of
‘communicating falsehoods’ and ‘undermining the police’ by accusing the
provincial police, led by Edmore Veterai, of confiscating three MDC vehicles
in 2008.
Muchadehama explained that in the run up to the sham June 2008
presidential run-off elections, Lupane police impounded MDC President Morgan
Tsvangirai’s campaign vehicle and two others, belonging to the Matabeleland
North province and the Youth Assembly. The three vehicles are still at
Lupane police station.
“At this point I do not know exactly when my
client will be in court, because the police have indicated they might take
him to court in Hwange where the rally was, for his remand hearing,”
Muchadehama said on Thursday.
The lawyer said the charges against Komichi
are nothing more than “political harassment,” explaining that police across
the country are always impounding MDC vehicles. He said that regardless of
the formation of the unity government, “we can see the selective application
of the law against the MDC, we can see political persecution.”
“It is
business as usual for the police,” Muchadehama said.
Meanwhile, the MDC
on Thursday said that an MDC activist in Insiza district of Matabeleland
South had been threatened with death by a group of ZANU PF supporters. The
group was led by the deputy minister of Public Service and Insiza North MP,
Andrew Langa. The activist, Sitshengisiwe Ndlovu, had apparently asked the
local Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) team if people would be
safe after making their contributions during the public consultations.
Langa, the village headman Magaba and a Ward 17 ZANU PF youth activist only
identified as Ernest, visited Ndlovu at her homestead and threatened her
with death on Wednesday night.
“Fearing for her life, she has since
relocated to Filabusi,” the MDC said.
The party added in a statement that
in Midlands South, soldiers and war vets closed down local shops and forced
residents to attend a ZANU PF meeting at Mutasa growth point in Mberengwa.
The ZANU PF meeting was meant to ‘articulate’ the ZANU PF position on the
constitution and “those who refused to attend the meeting were threatened
with death.”
The process to garner public opinion on a new constitution
has been blighted by harassment, intimidation and violence against MDC
supporters. Observers and analysts have said that ZANU PF is
‘electioneering’ in preparation for polls many believe will be called next
year.
Exiled journalist Tanonoka Joseph Whande said on Thursday that the
end result of the constitutional outreach exercise has already been
compromised because of the ZANU PF sponsored campaign of violence and
harassment already underway.
“As long as Mugabe has the authority,
which he illegally still does have, then it doesn’t matter what constitution
he wants,” Whande said. “The MDC are at fault here for not ensuring that
their supporters would be safe, before allowing this process to begin.”
The Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) has
announced that four new media houses have been granted licenses to operate
in the country. According to the ZMC chairperson Godfrey Majonga, the Cable
News Agency and the African Open Media Initiative will run news agencies,
while Berimark Enterprises will publish a monthly magazine called Zimceleb
and Feyjay Investments will publish a weekly sports magazine called
Sport/24.
Ironically, Majonga then referred to the repressive Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), to send a warning to
licensed media houses that have not yet started operating.
Quoting a
section of AIPPA, Majonga warned that the Commission can cancel or suspend
the registration certificate of any mass media service that fails to publish
mass media products within twenty-four months from the issue date of
registration.
Tabani Moyo of the Media Institute of Southern Africa
(MISA) said they applaud any increase in the number of media outlets, but
they were shocked that AIPPA was still being used to close media space in
this era. Moyo said: "If we are really serious as a people about opening up
media space, what we need to do is to correct the mess in the GPA article
19, which says all broadcasting will be done through AIPPA and the
Broadcasting Services Act. These two pieces of legislation have presided
over the shrinkage of media space within our country."
Moyo added:
"We as MISA always insist that we need democratic legislation, to repeal
AIPPA totally, rather these cosmetic changes."
Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF
have been under pressure to liberate the media in the country and to allow
independent publishers, and radio and television broadcasters to operate
without political interference. The formation of the coalition government
was supposed to fully facilitate this, but as always, ZANU-PF has
resisted.
Despite the recent licencing of new independent daily papers
and this latest announcement, there has been no mention at all of any
attempt to licence independent broadcasters. ZANU PF keeps a tight rein on
the electronic media and continues to use ZBC as it's own personal media
house.
A statement from the MDC announced that the party leadership
will address thousands of supporters at a rally in Hwange, Matebeleland
North on Saturday.
The statement said MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai
and a high-powered delegation known as the "The MDC Real Change Team" will
"brief the people on the performance of the inclusive government and the
progress made since the start of the Constitution-making process, which
kicked off in June."
The rally, which has been branded as the "Real
Change" rally, is scheduled to take place at the No. 1 Old Hwange Colliery
grounds.
The same team is expected to address similar rallies across the
country
CHIMANIMANI, July 28, 2010
-TEACHERS at Roy Bannett's Charles wood farm primary school in Chimanimani
have accused war veterans at the farm of interfering with the day to day
running of the school. They said war veterans who invaded the once coffee and
cattle ranching farm are demanding to address pupils at morning assembly
once every week. The school's development committee which is mainly
comprised of war veterans and Zanu (PF) supporters last week held a meeting
at Bannett's former farm house and endorsed the idea that war veterans
should once every week address the people.
"Two war veterans, Stan
Muusha and Samuel Masabeya came to the school on Monday this week and said
they want to teach the pupils about the liberation struggle history of this
country. The school's headmaster politely asked them to seek clearance from
the Ministry of Education for whatever they wanted to do at the school,"
said a teacher at the school who refused to be named for fear of
victimization.
The teachers also accused the war veterans of interfering
in the selection and coaching of the school's soccer teams.
"At times
when we are playing soccer with other neighboring teams as a teacher you are
just told to field a particular player just because his father is the
chairperson of the SDA or local war veteran association branch," said
another teacher.
The teachers said most of the pupils at the school have
become uncontrollable because of the war veteran's interference at the
school. There are also incidences at the school where teachers who have
tried to do their professional work by disciplining the students have ended
up in trouble with the war veterans.
"We have a recent case where
a pupil was punished for always coming late toschool. The pupil then lied to
her parents that the teacher who had punishedher was teaching them MDC
gospel and the teacher was in trouble with the war vets.
Most of the
teachers who spoke to Radio VOP at the school said they were contemplating
leaving the institution next term.
The chief executive of the Zimbabwe Football Association
has been suspended over match-fixing allegations.
Henrietta Rushwaya
is being investigated on betting allegations relating to the national team's
tour of the Far East in December.
Zimbabwe lost 6-0 to Syria in Kulala
Lumpur and 3-0 to Thailand on the tour.
Rushwaya has denied any wrong
doing and says she will co-operate with the investigation while the issue
has been referred to world governing body Fifa.
"The decision has
been necessitated by alleged acts of mismanagement and the serious
irregularities surrounding the national team's trip to Asia in December
2009," the football federation president Cuthbert Dube said in a statement.
Iran has
extended a 40-million-euro line of credit to Zimbabwe to finance energy,
banking and industrial projects, the local media reported Wednesday, quoting
the country's t op diplomat in Tehran.
Zimbabwe's Ambassador to Iran,
Nicholas Kitikiti, said the funds would be used, among other projects, to
rehabilitate the country's main power station to increase electricity
supplies and reduce rationi ng.
The country faces critical power
shortages, producing only 65 percent of its nor mal requirements. It imports
the balance from neighbours.
''The facility is there and waiting for us
to harness. I am sure this will go a long way in assisting us in our
economic development programmes,'' Kitikiti said, referring to the Iranian
credit line.
He said Zimbabwe had already opened fresh negotiations with
Iran for further lin es of credit covering the agriculture, health and
technology sectors.
Zimbabwe and Iran have strong political ties,
cemented by their common enemity t owards the West which accuse both of
human rights abuses.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmajinejad visited
Zimbabwe in April this year, and s igned several co-operation agreements
with the government and private firms.
Tony Hawkins, a prominent business economics analyst,
believes Zimbabwe faces an enormous challenge that could prolong its
recovery in era that has been termed “the new normal”, which also coincides
with a similar cycle of adjustment in the global economy.
Globally,
the “new normal” denotes subdued growth in gross domestic product (GDP),
high unemployment, a fragile, highly illiquid banking industry, state
capitalism enlarged through interventionism and an apparent shift in
economic activity from West to East.
Springing directly out of
dollarisation, Zimbabwe’s new normal is characterised by a fragile,
fractious coalition government unable to make the bold decisions needed, low
levels of investment, scarce and expensive capital, a lean middle class,
skills deficiencies and a current account deficit widened by falling
exports.
The IMF estimates that Zimbabwe will run an annual balance of
payments deficit of $1 billion for the next five years.
“Accordingly,
the country must attract huge inflows of capital to finance the deficit
through aid, foreign investment and foreign borrowing,” Hawkins said.
“Simultaneously, the country must expand exports as quickly as possible.
Exports today are about a 65% of their peak in 1996. There is a lot of
ground to be made up.”
“It’s gonna be the private sector, not government,
which provides the kind of capital needed.”
To spur recovery,
Zimbabwe estimates that it needs to spend $10 billion a year on
infrastructure development and rehabilitation for the next three
years.
Last year, the economy grew for the first time in 11 years,
touching 4% from the 3,5% initially projected.
This year, Hawkins
sees both GDP and inflation slowing to points below official projections,
with GDP falling below the revised target of 5.4%. It was initially thought
to reach 7%.
“My forecast is less optimistic partly because I think
government is not taking sufficient note of the global economic situation
and also because of the disconnect between aspirations and
achievability.
“But it’s not going to be large difference. We have to see
who is right at the end of the day,” Hawkins said.
According to him,
inflation will come down for three reasons.
Firstly, prices have been
increasing in the form of one-off adjustments, which leaves very marginal
scope for further adjustments.
Secondly, South Africa’s rand is forecast
to depreciate against the greenback in the outlook, bringing down the costs
imports, including inputs.
Lastly, excessive money supply growth that
drove inflation two years ago would not be repeated under the current
multi-currency system.
Hawkins also warned local businesses the ball game
has changed, prompting the need to quickly learn the rules, review their
business models and adapt to the changing needs of the new industrial and
market realities.
“At both government and private sector level the
tendency to rely on business-as-usual approaches remains strong. Some
aspects of the new normal are acknowledged, but others — equally important —
are ignored.
“So we have both business and trade union leaders calling
for greater protection, higher wages and salaries in the public sector and
public utilities to provide services below their costs of
production.
“There is precious little action. Even when there is
movement, there is a tendency to ‘trim’, to compromise, to avoid taking a
bold and principled stand.
“Business models must change because the
ones many firms relied upon in the past are no longer viable,” said Hawkins.
The
violence and intimidation being perpetrated by ZANU-PF to sabotage the
constitutional outreach programme has turned into a fully-fledged official
campaign dubbed, Operation “Vhara Muromo”, which means “Shut Your Mouth”.
This is intended to make it clear that those with views opposed to official
ZANU-PF policies are to remain quiet at the outreach meetings being
conducted around the country.
Many people are reported to have gone
into hiding and others have been assaulted or displaced after making
contributions deemed to be sympathetic of the MDC on constitutional
issues.
ZANU-PF is alleged to have assigned individuals who are supposed
to raise their hands and contribute pre-written opinions that have been
photocopied and distributed countrywide.
Operation “Vhara Muromo” is
reported to be intensifying in Mashonaland Central province, the Midlands
and Manicaland.
SW Radio Africa has received daily reports from around
the country confirming that exactly the same contributions were being made
by ZANU-PF agents at different constitutional outreach meetings.
An exiled Zimbabwean businessman, who says his bank
was illegally seized by the government in 2004, has condemned the recent
takeover of that same institution by Interfin Financial Services
Limited. Gilbert Muponda says he owns Century Bank through his ENG Capital
investment company, but was forced to flee the country at the height of a
controversial crackdown on the financial sector in 2004.
Prominent
businessmen like James Makamba, Mutumwa Mawere, Nicholas Vingirai and James
Mushore, among others, were persecuted on various allegations, including
black market trading.
Six years down the line Century Bank now known as
CFX Bank has been taken over by Interfin Bank. A furious Muponda told
Newsreel; 'Interfin is now liable to my claim due to their attempt to cover
up the ownership dispute by rebranding and changing CFX Bank operations.
This is clear money and transaction laundering being executed by Farai
Rwodzi and Interfin Bank." Rwodzi is the CEO.
In November 2009
Muponda successfully used an internet campaign to block a major financial
institution from buying the disputed bank. One of the world's biggest banks,
Credit Suisse, through the Finance Bank of Zambia, had sought to buy the
struggling CFX Bank.
But using an aggressive internet campaign dubbed
'Return Muponda's Bank' he made enough noise to scare Credit Suisse away
from the deal. Internet banners picked up by Google, plus letters and
articles circulated online, were enough to finally discourage the deal from
going through.
When Muponda and his colleagues left the country there was
a belief that they had engaged in underhand financial deals, including
running away with investor's money. But on Thursday he told us the
government at the time was desperate to find scapegoats in the business
community, to blame for the country's economy collapse. "I was turned into a
corruption poster boy and spent 4 months in prison without trial,' he
said.
So what was the case all about? Muponda said; "We did not have a
political godfather. Despite claims we stole people's money and did not have
assets to pay them back, we got bail in court after proving the company had
Z$200 billion in assets against total liabilities of Z$61 billion. After
being granted bail I was told I could start the company again but only if we
got a political godfather within ZANU PF."
Muponda, through his
lawyers, has now written to the new owners of the bank telling them the
transaction will expose them to 'reputational risk'. He said that warning is
still in force as he seeks compensation for his shares 'fraudulently'
seized. He said CFX Bank was struggling to mobilize sufficient business to
return to profitability because 'all market participants in Zimbabwe are
fully aware of my claim and the high reputational risk that comes with
ignoring the claim.'
Abductee Detained in Banket as Komichi RemainsinPoliceCustody
29
July 2010
HRDs
Alert
ABDUCTEE
DETAINED IN BANKET AS KOMICHI REMAINS IN POLICE
CUSTODY
Police in Banket on
Wednesday 28 July 2010 detained Fanny Tembo, a councillor for Banket Town
Council and a victim of State sponsored abduction after attempting to report a
case of harassment by some ZANU PF supporters.
Tembo was detained as he reported a
case of harassment by some ZANU PF supporters who confronted him on his way from
Banket Police Station, where he had gone to report to the police in accordance
with his bail reporting conditions. Tembo, together with another BanketTown councillor Emmanuel Chinanzvavana and Givemore Hodzi are reporting to the police
everyday as part of their bail conditions in a case in which they are accused of
murdering a ZANU PF special interest councillor Lancelot
Zvirongwe.
The ZANU PF activists who confronted
Tembo accused him of exposing him to the media for victimizing the councillor on
an earlier occasion.
Tembo was manhandled and had stones
thrown at him. He tried to defend himself from this unprovoked attack and then
went to the police station to report the matter.
At the police station Tembo was
surprised to be informed by the police that they were now detaining him on what
seems to have been a public violence charge.
Tembo was only released around 1:AM
on Thursday 29 July 2010 after spending six hours in police
detention.
Meanwhile, Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) organising secretary Morgan
Komichi was on Thursday 29 July 2010 transferred from Lupane Police
Station to Hwange Police Station where he was charged with contravening Section
31 (a) (iii) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23, for
allegedly publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State
which undermined public confidence in the police.
The police allege that the
non-constituency Senator made a statement claiming that the police were
wrongfully impounding and stripping vehicles belonging to his
party.
Kossam
Ncube, a
member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) is representing Komichi, who
is likely to appear in court on Friday 30 July 2010.
ZANU PF
has announced that Sabina Mugabe has died after a long illness. She was
76.
ZANU PF spokesman, Rugare Gumbo, said Sabina would be buried at
Heroes Acre after the politburo were ‘unanimous in granting her that
honour.’
The Associated Press news agency said her death would be a
severe blow to Robert Mugabe, as he is a man known to have few friends and
she was a most trusted family confidante and associate.
Sabina
retired from politics in 2008 after respresenting Zvimba in Parliament for
many years. She is the mother of former ZIFA president Leo Mugabe and former
MP Patrick Zhuwawo.
South African
President Jacob Zuma may have used the benefit of foresight when he said
early this year that the parties in Zimbabwe's inclusive government should
prepare for the holding of fresh elections in 2011.
Mr Zuma made the
suggestion as President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and the two MDC
factions led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara carried on with seemingly endless talks over outstanding
issues in their power-sharing Global Political Agreement (GPA).
That
suggestion is becoming real everyday, as the parties now recognise that it
will be difficult to sustain the inclusive government beyond its two-year
life-span, given their political differences.
The South African
leader was appointed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to
facilitate the smooth implementation of the GPA but has had an uphill task
convincing the principals to stick to the letter and spirit of the
agreement.
Time appears to be running out for the parties to iron out
their differences, as they focus on the on-going constitution making process
and likely elections in 2011.
Although Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC party has been the most vociferous against the holding of
fresh elections outside a new constitution, it has now declared its
''readiness to participate'' in what it called ''credible
polls''.
And given that President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF has remained
adamant that it has fulfilled its part of the bargain with regards to the
GPA, talks on the outstanding issues will most likely going to drag on until
fresh polls are held.
The GPA is now almost two years old since its
signing on September 15, 2008, but the parties are not fully agreed on both
interpretation and implementation, to the extent that they have declared a
deadlock.
Mr Mugabe further stoked the fire this week when he reassigned
ambassadors and recalled two others at a time the MDC wants more of its
members to be considered for diplomatic posting.
Deputy Prime
Minister Arthur Mutambara's breakaway and smaller MDC faction has not
publicly raised the issue, with observers saying that it would be futile for
it because it plays the most junior role in the inclusive government,
despite wielding a swaying vote in Parliament in the event of a stalemate
between the major parties.
Early this year, Mugabe partially fulfilled
the GPA when he dispatched five ambassadors - four from Tsvangirai's party
and one from
Mutambara's - to stations in Germany, Sudan, Australia,
Nigeria and Senegal.
However, the MDC wants more and despite indications
by Mugabe ahead of a SADC troika meeting in Mozambique last November that
the issue of provincial governors was close to being resolved, none from the
two MDC factions has been appointed.
With the perceived election year
now only five months away, it is not likely that Mugabe will finally give in
to Tsvangirai and Mutambara's demands for a quota in the
governorships.
In March this year, Mr Zuma said the parties had agreed to
a package of measures to be implemented concurrently in line with the
decision of the summit of the SADC troika on politics, defence and security
last November.
The troika summit was convened after Tsvangirai had
announced his party's partial disengagement from the inclusive government
alleging lack on sincerity by Mugabe and his party.
However, since
that statement, there has been no tangible movement towards implementing the
outstanding issues. Mr Zuma had also promised to submit a report to troika
chairperson and Mozambican President Armando Guebuza and suggest the way
forward, but the last scheduled follow-up meeting between his facilitators
and the party negotiators was shelved.
One observer said if elections
will indeed be held in 2011, it means that SADC no longer has enough space
and time to unlock the stalemate, especially when the parties are actively
focused on the new constitution.
Another observer in the intelligence
service said he doubted elections would be held in 2011, saying they were
likely to be held in 2013 instead. Mugabe has indicated that he will stand
in the next elections if elected by his party. (Agencies)
Vigil Response to ‘Sword of Truth’ Ambassador Makuvise – 29th July 2010
FROM THE ZIMBABWE VIGIL
Vigil Response to ‘Sword of Truth’ Ambassador Makuvise
– 29th July 2010
The Vigil made the front page of the Zimbabwe Herald this week
(see
attached).We are mentioned in the
Herald’s interview with Hebson Makuvise, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Germany.He reportedly says of
activists in the UK"Every
Saturday they gather at the Zimbabwean Embassy in the
UK playing drums denouncing President
Mugabe, Prime Minister Tsvangirai and the inclusive Government. They are then
given some money by tourists who visit the embassy in the name of the suffering
masses of Zimbabwe.” He said he has tried without success to
dissuade the activists from carrying out such activities.
The Vigil’s take on this is rather
different. Makuvise, Tsvangirai’s uncle and representative in the
UK, tried to control the Vigil as he
did the MDC in the UK. Check: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/ZimVigil-Diary-Entries/vigil-diary-archive-jan-feb-2008.html
(17th January 2008). We
can’t forget how he thundered down to the Vigil with his goons and,
oblivious to the irony, waved his fist at the Vigil Co-ordinator saying ‘How
dare you accuse me of being a bully-boy!’
Makuvise has come back from the dead
through articles on the websites Zimdiaspora and Zimeye. (Check:
Judging by comments on these
articles Mr Makuvise does not have many fans.
The articles follow an MDC decision to launch an enquiry into
allegations of corruption in the MDC UK. The investigations were carried out by
a team from Zimbabwe led by Sam Sipepa Nkomo.
Zimdiaspora published in seven parts what they said was the report leaked from Prime Minister
Tsvangirai’s office. The alleged report detailed financial irregularities in the
MDC UK and strongly criticized Makuvise. For his part, Makuvise is particularly
angry with Tendai Biti’s brother Stanford, Chair of MDC Southend, who the Herald
says is campaigning for the recall of Mr Makuvise from Germany and accusing him
of embezzling party funds donated by well-wishers.
The latest development is that
Ambassador Makuvise says he is instituting legal proceedings against
Zimdiaspora. No doubt he will be seeking donor funding to finance his legal
costs! The Vigil offers its support to Zimdiaspora and recalls the case of
former British cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken, who, under the banner of
wielding the ‘sword of truth’, told a string of lies in a libel case in London
and was sent to jail for perjury. Mr Makuvise must realise that he will have no
diplomatic immunity in the UK. and that donors may, in their
ignorant way, decide to feed the starving, help the ill, educate children and
protect the innocent rather than sponsor Makuvise.
PS why has this MDC report still not
been published?
We cannot attest to the veracity of
the report published by Zimdiaspora. But you can find it by looking at the
following:
The
Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand,
London, takes
place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of
human rights in Zimbabwe.
The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in
Zimbabwe:
http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.
AFTER his travel diary following a visit to Zimbabwe in
November 2009 [DAY 1; DAY 2; DAY 3; DAY 4; DAY 5], Scott Ramsay returned
recently and travelled for four weeks in the western parts of the country,
discovering deserted tourist attractions, plenty of welcoming locals and
more than a few roadblocks.
Want to find out what it's like to travel
in Zimbabwe at the moment. Can you have a good time in the country? Are
visitors welcome? Is it safe? Is there fuel? Is there food? How bad is the
poaching? In his new diaries, Ramsay hopes to answer those questions. This is
Part 2 [Read PART 1]:
FROM Bulawayo, we headed about 30 kilometres
south to the Matopos, an area which surprises with its rich cultural
heritage, beautiful landscapes of rocky outcrops and wide diversity of
wildlife.
A troop of baboons greeted me at the turn-off to Camp Amalinda.
Manager Billy Dally was next to greet me, this time at the entrance to the
lodge. "Whenever things get stressful around here - this is Zimbabwe after
all - I go watch the baboons for an hour," Billy laughed. "They always make
me laugh!"
Amalinda is just a few kilometres from Matopos National
Park, and wildlife moves freely through the camp. Where there are baboons,
there are leopards. "The Matopos supposedly has the highest concentration of
leopards in Africa," Billy told me. "We see them right on our patios
sometimes. One of our guests recently spent a few hours watching a mother
leopard and two cubs on the boulder next to her room."
Colossal
boulders dominate the Matopos. Piled high as if a giant was stacking
marbles, these rocks dot the earth for 100 kilometres around. The dramatic
landscape invites habitation, offering shelter from the elements, and the
beautiful Camp Amalinda makes good use of the natural architecture. Each of
the nine disparate rooms is designed around a collection of boulders, and
each feel like the luxurious lair of a leopard.
The natural caves have
proved attractive not only to tourists in the modern era. Hunter-gatherers
have favoured the region since the dawn of humanity, using the thousands of
shelters as their homes - and spiritual shrines. Consequently, the largest
concentration of rock art in the world is found in the Matopos, and it is
this feature - allied to the region's religious significance - that helped
the area to earn World Cultural Heritage Status in 2003.
Local
archaeologist and guide Paul Hubbard picked me up to show me some of the
impressive rock art in the area.On the way, he explained how these are some
of the oldest rocks on earth, laid down by volcanic activity close to four
billion years ago. Then, however, the altitude of the ground level was three
kilometres higher than the present day. A few billion years of weathering
and erosion have reduced the rock to present-day elevations.
"All these
standing boulders we see will eventually be reduced to sand," Paul told me.
"That's still a few years away though, of course."
We stopped the Land
Rover and trekked a few kilometres along a faint path, heading uphill
through riparian forest. Streams were running strongly from the summer
thunderstorms. After a steep hike up a vast granite dome, we eventually made
it to Bambata Cave, a national monument. The size of a small house, the cave
provides 270 degrees of protection from the elements, and all the way around
the walls are hundreds of Bushmen paintings, some dating back at least 9,000
years.
Paul explained how over many millennia the ground level of the
cave has risen 15 metres with the deposition of soil and firewood by the
inhabitants. So much so, that the artwork we see today was once far higher
up on the wall. Bushmen constructed scaffolding out of branches, and like
Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, painted art of spiritual significance
for all to see.
"They would probably have used this cave much like
renaissance artists used churches," Paul said. "The artists were painting
something spiritual, something beyond simple aesthetic beauty. And they
wanted other people to see the paintings high up, and out of reach, so that
the art would last."
According to Paul, Bambata is also the site of the
discovery of Zimbabwe's oldest known, securely-dated art object: an 8,500
year-old stone engraved with a grid design. Even on its own, Bambata would
make the Matopos special, yet it is just one of hundreds of rock art sites
in the region.
The nearby cave of Pomongwe hosts the oldest art in
Zimbabwe - at least 13,000 years old, which is not surprising given that
it's also the longest continuously-inhabited cave in the world.
Astonishingly, for 100,000 years up to 1896, Pomongwe had been used by
humans.
All the rock art include a prodigious variety of animals:
wildebeest, zebra, kudu, cheetah, impala, rhino, roan, sable, giraffe ...
but the lengthy, continued use of the Matopos by humans has impacted the
natural environment. By the 1960s, when the Matopos National Park was
proclaimed, hunting and agriculture had reduced the wildlife to near
local-extinction levels.
Since then, the wildlife has been reintroduced
somewhat successfully, including a sizeable population of black and white
rhino, both currently under serious threat from poachers.
AFTER his travel diary following a visit to Zimbabwe in
November 2009 ,Scott Ramsay returned recently and travelled for four weeks
in the western parts of the country, discovering deserted tourist
attractions, plenty of welcoming locals and more than a few
roadblocks.
Want to find out what it's like to travel in Zimbabwe at the
moment? Can you have a good time in the country? Are visitors welcome? Is it
safe? Is there fuel? Is there food? How bad is the poaching? In his new
diaries, Ramsay hopes to answer those questions. This is Part 2 [Read PART
1; Part 2]:
"Careful," said Wilson Zano, the armed ranger from
Matopos National Park. "Rhino have terrible eyesight, but excellent hearing
and smell."
We were approaching a group of three white rhino - father,
mother and calf. Even when viewing rhino from a Land Rover, they can be
intimidating. On foot, they are frightening. Now we were only twenty metres
away from them, and the only thing stopping them from skewering us on their
horns was Wilson and his 37 years of experience as a ranger in the
park.
Paul and I dared not move, but Wilson beckoned for us to walk
forward with him, closer to the prehistoric beasts. We stopped 15 metres
away. The rhinos had sheltered in the shade of an acacia tree, flicking
their ears back and forth, listening carefully for the human interlopers.
These particular rhinos in the Matopos are descendants from South African
imports in the 1960s - all the native rhino in the area had been previously
shot by hunters and poachers. Now, the Matopos National Park is one of the
few places in Zimbabwe where you can see them reliably at such close
quarters.
The park rangers are dedicated to looking after them. When
Wilson approached the group of three in front of us, he made a unique
clicking sound with his tongue, letting them know he was around, and meant
no harm. "The rhino have learnt to trust certain sounds," Wilson whispered.
"I make these clicks to make them feel comfortable in our
presence."
We watched the rhino quietly for about half an hour, and then
backed off slowly, heading back to the Land Rover. Wilson was pleased for
us, and his relationship with the rhinos was a source of obvious pride for
him.
However, despite the enduring efforts of rangers like Wilson, it
hasn't stopped the poaching of rhino (or other wildlife). On New Year's Day
this year, just before our arrival, a rhino was shot in the Matopos National
Park. It was discovered a few days later.
According to official
figures from Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife, more than 200 rhino have been
killed in the last three years, or about a quarter of the country's
population. There are only about 500 black- and 300 white rhinos left in
Zimbabwe.
"These guys - the rangers - are trying as hard as they can to
protect the wildlife", said Paul afterwards. "But you can see how poorly
equipped they are. How can they compete with well-armed and highly-organised
poachers?"
The vanishing of tourists in the last decade since Mugabe's
land reform process has left the parks without much-needed revenue. There
are just 23 rangers in the 45,400 hectare park (roughly the size of 45,000
rugby fields). Most of them don't have their own vehicles or radios, and at
some entry points to the park, the rangers use simple steel shelters,
without electricity, water, toilets, beds or desks.
Billy Dally from
Camp Amalinda told me how rangers are paid about US$150 a month (before the
abandonment of the Zimbabwe dollar, their salaries were the equivalent of
US$5 a month).
It does mean, though, that visitors can enjoy some amazing
wildlife encounters at an absurdly low price: it will cost a group of
guests just $8 an hour to hire a ranger in the Matopos National Park and
track wild rhino on foot - for the whole day, if you wish.
Cricket fans watch a one-day between Zimbabwe
and England at the Harare Sports Club in 2004. Zimbabwe return to Test cricket
next year. Photograph: Themba Hadebe/AP
High tea and cakes to the strains of a grand piano. Rooms with names such as
Balmoral, Edinburgh, Windsor, Mirabelle and Edward & Connaught. An
oak-panelled grill that recalls a gentlemen's club on Pall Mall.
The Meikles in Harare claims to be the country's best hotel, and it certainly
seems to have dodged the economic bullets of recent years. Its colonial aura,
with regal tapestries and framed black and white photos of Harare a century ago,
would probably console the establishment's founder, Thomas Meikle, a Scottish
immigrant.
To me too it felt reassuringly, and alarmingly, like home. One night there I
switched on Zimbabwe state television to discover, amid controversial jingles
extolling President Robert Mugabe, a
developing crisis for Siegfried and Tristan in a rerun of All Creatures Great
and Small.
Only a few buildings from the era of empire survive in Harare, formerly
Salisbury, but there are also parks and tree-lined avenues that feel somehow
familiar. In the east of the country, near Mutare, the best place to stop to
admire the scenery is Prince of Wales View.
It might be 30 years since independence, but Britain remains in the cultural
DNA. O-levels and A-levels are still studied. St George's College and Prince
Edward are the leading schools, with much that evokes Harry Potter's Hogwarts or
Billy Bunter's Greyfriars. English, the official language, is not only widely
spoken, but spoken very well.
I have attended public events where black Zimbabweans
deliver speeches with an ornate eloquence, or sometimes grandiloquence, that
seems more Victorian literary salon than oppressive African dictatorship. Theirs
is a language no longer spoken by the British.
Mugabe, self-declared nemesis of the evil former empire, is no exception to
this. His speeches are finely polished and buffed in the colonisers' tongue: "If
yesterday I fought you as an enemy, today you have become a friend. If yesterday
you hated me, today you cannot avoid the love that binds you to me, and me to
you."
Heidi Holland, author of Dinner with Mugabe, recalls being handed tea in an
exquisite English porcelain cup by a waiter in white gloves and tails while
waiting at the State House to interview the president in 2007.
Last year in a speech entitled The Britishness of Mugabe, she spoke of how he
has dressed all his life in austere suits of the stereotypical English
gentleman, polished his vowels self-consciously and developed something of a
British sense of humour.
Holland said: "What most revealed Mugabe's fragmented identity to me, though,
were the tears glistening in his eyes when he talked about Britain's royals. The
Queen and her four children, her sister and her mother had all stayed with him
at State House, he told me. 'And now, to this day, we treasure those moments,
and we have nothing against the royal family,' he continued - using the royal
'We'."
His love for Savile Row tailors is matched by a love for that most English of
games: cricket. Mugabe, patron of Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC), once declared: "Cricket
civilises people and creates good gentlemen. I want everyone to play cricket in
Zimbabwe; I want ours to be a nation of gentlemen."
Now, after years in the doldrums, there are signs of the sport coming back to
life here. A recent domestic Twenty20 tournament was televised and brought in
multiracial crowds of more than 7,000 and corporate sponsors otherwise starved
of entertainment. A Pop Idol-style contest toured the country inviting all
comers to prove they could be Zimbabwe's fast bowling star of the future.
The national team is also on the up. Alan Butcher, a former England batsman,
is now the coach of a side, no longer dominated by white players, that has
claimed the one-day scalps of the West Indies, India and Sri Lanka. Zimbabwe is
looking to return to Test cricket for the first time since 2006 with a home
series against Bangladesh next year.
Some hope this could be the catalyst for wider social recovery. But there's
no escaping politics. In 2003 two of Zimbabwe's finest players, Andy Flower and
Henry Olonga, wore black armbands at the World Cup to mourn the death of
democracy. The men in charge of the game have notoriously had ties with
Mugabe.
Ozias Bvute, managing director of ZC, is on the EU's banned list owing to
alleged associations with Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. Recently I found Bvute in a
freshly painted office, complete with satellite TV and Wi-Fi internet access,
that some may find suspiciously plush for a country in which many government
buildings are shabby and threadbare. But he insisted he is no tool of
Mugabe.
"I woke up one day and was told I was on the sanctions list," he said. "I
read, 'These are the people responsible for the tragedy of Zimbabwe.' I read
that cricket is a political instrument. This is a myth. I do not hold any card
from any political party. It's like the ANC in South Africa: 70% of individuals
here have had associations with Zanu-PF. It's a small society. We know each
other."
Certainly David Coltart, the Movement for Democratic Change's sports
minister, and a cricket fanatic, seemed untroubled. He told me: "There are
people in the administration in influential places who are aligned with Zanu-PF,
but I'm in a cabinet chaired by Robert Mugabe.
"In the first four or five years post-Nelson Mandela's release, there were
many people in the South African government who I'm sure the ANC had difficulty
in dealing with. But it was part of the process. It was the price you paid for a
peaceful transition. The same applies to cricket."
The return of Test cricket would give the appearance, at least, that Zimbabwe
is almost back to normal. Alistair Campbell, a former captain and now chairman
of selectors, said: "I'd like to see England and Australia touring here again.
I'd like to sip chardonnay on the opening day of a Test at Harare Sports
Club."
At the sports club's Maiden or Red Lion pubs, a summer's day on the playing
fields of England can seem eerily close at hand. Whereas South Africa, that big
and brash power of the continent, often reminds me of America, it's Zimbabwe,
the quieter, ironic and perhaps cripplingly introspective cousin, that makes me
think of Britain.
I wonder if this is why, like many of my compatriots, I fall head over heels
for this beautiful country, both strange and familiar, satisfying a lust for
African adventure but leavened by a comforting, nostalgic scent of home. And I
worry how healthy that is.
