http://www.iol.co.za
June 12 2011 at 08:00pm
Southern African leaders prepared
Sunday to again pressure Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe to make democratic
reforms ahead of new elections,
after a day of talks failed to settle the
issue.
Leaders of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community
met late
Saturday on the eve of a broader free trade summit. After failing
to reach a
decision, they planned to resume talks late Sunday.
The
region's security “Troika” body in March issued a unusually sharp rebuke
to
Mugabe, demanding an end to political violence and insisting that reforms
promised in the so-called Global Political Agreement are
implemented.
That agreement created the unity government between Mugabe
and his rival
Morgan Tsvangirai, now the prime minister, after failed
elections in 2008
ended in spiral of deadly political unrest and economic
collapse.
Together they were meant to oversee the drafting of a new
constitution and
hold elections, but the process is running a year behind
schedule, a delay
that the Troika blamed on Mugabe during the March meeting
in Livingstone.
“Livingstone represented a major advance on the part of
SADC,” said
Zimbabwean political analyst Bornwell Chakaodza.
“In the
past, it had a softly-softly approach to our situation. I think the
last
thing that SADC wants is to look toothless, not only to Zimbabweans,
but to
the international community, after their robust approach.”
Now the full
summit is expected to sign off on a roadmap that will lay out a
new
timetable for the constitution and later elections.
Neighbouring nations
had previously handled Mugabe with kid gloves, and the
pointed statement in
Livingstone drew a fierce reaction from the 87-year-old
president and his
party, which questioned the integrity of South African
President Jacob
Zuma.
That provoked a diplomatic spat with Zimbabwe's powerful neighbour,
and
Mugabe's ZANU-PF has since softened its tone, perhaps realising the
risks of
alienating its most important trade partner.
Christopher
Mutsvangwa, part of the ZANU-PF delegation at the talks, said a
three-hour
meeting Friday with Mugabe and Zuma had laid the groundwork for
the
summit.
“The matters discussed involve the requirements of the GPA that
will pave
the way for the new elections, like the drafting of the
constitution,” he
told AFP.
“We also want to minimise external
interference. We are glad that the issue
of the country's security forces
which was being drawn into the mediation
talks has been put aside,” he
said.
The security forces remain firmly in Mugabe's grip under the
power-sharing
arrangement, and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
has voiced
alarm over the recent tendency of military leaders to wade into
politics.
Amnesty International has also accused the security forces of
complicity in
a wave of violence against MDC supporters this
year.
Tsvangirai wants SADC to endorse polls for no earlier than
2012.
Election officials say the shambolic voters roll Ä an estimated
one-third of
the people on it are dead Ä will never be ready this year. The
finance
ministry says it has no money for elections.
Whatever SADC's
roadmap said, the question is how the region will ensure its
decisions are
implemented after the original timetable was so thoroughly
ignored, said
Amnesty's Zimbabwe researcher Simeon Mawanza.
“Even when the roadmap is
adopted, they have to put a very strong oversight
mechanism,” he said. -
Sapa-AFP
http://www.radiovop.com
2 hours 32 minutes ago
Sandton, June 12,
2011-The Tripartite alliance comprising of Southern Africa
Development
Community (SADC), East African Community (EAC) and Common Market
of East and
Southern Africa (COMESA) launched negotiations for a Free Trade
Area (FTA)
between these two regions meant to bolster intra-regional trade,
a
communiqué released after the COMESA summit noted, Sunday.
The
negotiation launched is meant to “increase a wider market, increase
investment flows, enhance competitiveness and develop cross-regional
infrastructure”, read part of the communiqué issued at the end of the
meeting.
The FTA negotiations are in line with achieving Africa’s
vision of
establishing the African Economic Community that seeks to
harmonise and
coordinate policies and programmes of Regional Economic
Communities (REC).
The summit adopted a developmental approach that will
see these regions
being anchored on market integration, infrastructure
development and
industrial development meant to boost production capacity of
the Tripartite.
The COMESA summit commenced Saturday and spilled on to
Sunday afternoon with
the Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe being reported to
have been absent most
part of the day due to alleged health
problems.
The SADC special summit on Zimbabwe meant to deliberate on the
roadmap to
elections and full implementation of the Global Political
Agreement started
after the COMESA meeting late Sunday afternoon and a
communiqué was expected
to be issued at the end of the deliberations later
in the evening.
http://www.radiovop.com
4 hours 24 minutes ago
Sandton,
Johannesburg, June 12, 2011 - The Zimbabwean crisis was expected to
be
tabled at 5pm on Sunday after the heads of state cleared the main
business
of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) which
kicked
off on Saturday.
The Southern African Community Development (SADC) heads
of state were
expected to discuss Zimbabwe's election roadmap. President
Robert Mugabe who
met with the mediator, South Africa President Jacob Zuma
on Friday is
accompanied by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa among his
large entourage.
Mugabe met with Zuma on Friday where the two discussed
progress on the
Global Political Agreement (GPA), the constitution and the
security sector.
The Movement for Democratic Change led by Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai
has called for security sector reforms as among the
conditions for a free
and fair election in Zimbabwe.
The SADC leaders
were expected to pressure Mugabe to drop his plans for
elections this year
before reforms are done to pave way for a free and fair
election.
“On
Sunday, we will first hold the tripartite negotiations for the free
trade
area in the morning, after which the leaders will meet at around 3pm
to
resume discussions on Madagascar and then Zimbabwe. I can assure you that
the leaders will not leave this place without first finishing those issues
because that is what they have committed to,” SADC Secretary-general, Thomas
Salomao told the media.
“On Zimbabwe, the summit will look at the
Troika resolutions reached on
March 31 in Livingstone, Zambia and a report
from SADC envoys that were sent
to the headquarters of Britain, United
States and the European Union to
advocate for the removal of sanctions on
Zimbabwe,” said Salomao.
Zimbabwe’s Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara left for Harare Saturday
night to attend the burial of Edgar
Tekere, but Salomao expressed hope that
the disposed leader of the smaller
MDC formation could still re-join the
discussion.
Welshman Ncube and
Priscilla Misihairabwi are also representing the small
MDC faction at the
summit.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Stanley Gama in South Africa
Sunday, 12 June 2011
12:23
JOHANNESBURG - President Robert Mugabe, who is battling for his
political
life in the face of a possible backlash from impatient Sadc
leaders,
yesterday met facilitator President Jacob Zuma to try and plead for
leniency.
Mugabe met Zuma in Pretoria yesterday ahead of today’s
make-or-break Sadc
summit on Zimbabwe, where regional leaders are expected
to endorse the
findings of the Livingstone, Troika on politics, defence and
security, which
sharply rebuked the octogenarian leader’s abuse of
opponents.
The 87-year-old leader, who has been plagued by ill-health
associated with
people of his age, was also said to be planning “heavy
overnight-lobbying”
on Friday among Sadc leaders and diplomats, according to
a Zambian diplomat
who spoke to Daily News.
The meeting between Zuma
and Mugabe comes as Zanu PF launched an astonishing
personal attack on the
South African president, with the party’s
propagandists accusing him of
working with the West to remove Mugabe from
power.
Today’s crucial
Sadc summit is expected to focus on the role of military in
Zimbabwe’s
political crisis, after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC
reiterated
that the country was now under a “de facto coup.”
A top official in
Zuma’s government yesterday confirmed the meeting took
place.
“President Mugabe was desperate to meet President Zuma, and
Mugabe realises
that Sadc is no longer buying into his ideas and there is
likely to be an
adverse report, which will severely damage him. Mugabe told
Zuma that the
GPA is working well and that he was working normally with the
Prime
Minister,” the officials said.
“Mugabe blamed the media for
exaggerating the situation in Zimbabwe and the
problems between him, and
Tsvangirai. By pleading with President Zuma,
Mugabe wants the report watered
down so that it appears as if the three
parties are working well together,
but it’s going to be difficult because
the other two parties say that all is
not the position,” they added.
“Mugabe does not want to appear a loser in
the eyes of the public. That is
why he is coming up with the idea that they
are working well together in the
inclusive government. But President Zuma
has a full report on what is
happening in Zimbabwe. He is the facilitator…
all the facts and, obviously,
he will not be swayed by Mugabe’s
pleas.”
“The facilitation team is adamant that this time around, they
have to come
up with strong resolutions against Mugabe and his Zanu PF
party. They will
not be hoodwinked again,” said the highly-placed South
African official.
MDC officials told the Daily News last night that
Mugabe was so desperate
his party also wanted to meet with the MDC in a bid
to come up with a common
position before the Sadc meeting.
Mugabe’s
desperation is made clearer by the heavy presence of a team of
propagandists
led by serial political flip flopper Jonathan Moyo, who is
also leading an
onslaught of crude attacks on Zuma and his facilitation
team. Besides Moyo,
the team includes Chris Mutsvangwa, media hangman
Tafataona Mahoso and
failed musician Joshua Sako, among others.
Also on tour are several Zanu
PF youths, who are reportedly planning a
demonstration in support of Mugabe.
There is also a heavy presence of
traditional chiefs in Johannesburg,
although it could not be established if
they were part of the lobby effort
for Mugabe’s political survival.
Reports also indicated yesterday that
Zanu PF was mobilising students on
presidential scholarships to attend the
summit and join the protests. The
scholarships are paid for by Zimbabwean
taxpayers.
In the scenario, police in SA are reportedly on the lookout
for violent
confrontations between rival groups.
The MDC yesterday
said they were in full support of the facilitation team
unlike Zanu PF
sycophants who were advocating for Zuma and his team’s
removal claiming they
were biased.
Jameson Timba, the party’s secretary for international
relations, urged the
summit to adopt the Troika’s resolutions and a roadmap
for free, and fair
elections – reiterating it is the only way to resolve the
Zimbabwean
crisis that has been raging for some time now.
Tsvangirai’s
MDC also urged the region to deal with the issue of political
meddling and
interference by the country’s military, accentuated by Douglas
Nyikayaramba’s recent utterances.
“Key elements of the security
sector, represented by Zimbabwe’s service
chiefs and a handful of serving
senior security personnel, still present
themselves as above the law,
declaring loyalty solely to a yester-year
people’s revolution that was
superseded by a nation’s success against
colonialism 31 years ago,” Timba
said.
“Zanu PF and the security sector continue to deploy… forces in
rural areas
to intimidate the electorate. The reality is that Zimbabwe is in
a state of
a de facto coup by a civil military junta. The type of violence
in Zimbabwe
is different from any other type in Africa. Ours is
state-sponsored and
includes selective application of the law targeting
those who differ with
Zanu PF, in particular the MDC and civic society,”
said the minister, who
also works in Tsvangirai’s office.
“The
reserve army of war veterans and retired soldiers act as Zanu PF’s
shock
troops to destabilise the electorate through intimidation. We call on
the
service chiefs to stay away from politics and enable a civilian order to
prevail.”
There have also been reports that Mugabe is planning to
pull out of Sadc if
he does not get his way and a favourable outcome from
today’s summit, but
the MDC yesterday shot down the desperate policy saying
it was illegal
and impossible.
“Zanu PF is not Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe
is not Zanu PF. We are in government
together so there is no way we can pull
out of Sadc. In any case, we are
happy with the role they are playing in
trying to make sure that the country
holds free and fair polls,” Timba
added.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Jun 11, 2011 3:06 PM | By HENDRICKS
CHIZHANJE
President Robert Mugabe's administration has intensified
repression against
perceived opponents despite a reprimand by the Southern
Africa Development
Community in March.
Influential human rights
group, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR),
says since the summit of
SADC leaders in Livingstone, Zambia, more than 200
people have been
subjected to harassment, intimidation, arrest and selective
prosecution,
despite a demand by the regional leaders for an end to such
acts.
Harrison Nkomo, a member of ZLHR, told journalists at a press
conference
convened by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition in Johannesburg on
Thursday
ahead of the weekend extraordinary summit on Zimbabwe, that the
organisation
had recorded cases where 204 people had either been arbitrary
arrested or
detained, or had been victims of selective and malicious
prosecution. Of
these, 183 were arrested, detained and or prosecuted while
21 people were
subjected to attack or harassment requiring legal
intervention.
Nkomo said between January and this month, 819 people had
been subjected to
harassment, arrests, detention or prosecution in Zimbabwe.
The majority were
charged with public violence, criminal nuisance or holding
meetings without
notifying the police.
"Most commonly used
legislation is the Criminal Law (Codification and
Reform) Act and the Public
Order and Security Act.
"The trend is that victims of politically
motivated violence report cases to
the Zimbabwe Republic Police but are then
arrested and charged instead of
police seeking out and arresting the
perpetrators. This is contributing to
loss of public confidence in the
police and perceptions of bias and
partiality," said Nkomo.
ZLHR said
charges of criminal insult under the repressive Criminal Law
(Codification
and Reform) Act, were on the increase - particularly charges
of insulting
President Robert Mugabe, while treason and subverting the
government were
also common.
The extraordinary summit, which finished yesterday, was held
on the
sidelines of a Comesa summit.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC-T) on Friday launched two
magazines exposing the use of violence and
torture by Mugabe's supporters
against the party's supporters.
Footprints of Abuse and The Case against
Violence were launched ahead of the
SADC's extraordinary summit .
The
party also opened a photo exhibition showing pictures of victims of
violence
perpetrated against the party's supporters, including Tsvangirai,
party
secretary-general Tendai Biti and women. The MDC said the pictures
chronicle
state-sanctioned abuse against innocent civilians, the painful
legacy of
torture and the moral corruption of the perpetrators of the
violence.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Jun 12, 2011 10:24 AM | By
Sapa-AFP
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Sudan's President Omar
al-Bashir, who
is wanted by the International Criminal Court, are to visit
Malaysia for an
economic gathering, says a minister.
Kohilan Pillay,
deputy foreign minister, told AFP that Mugabe and Bashir
will be among the
seven African leaders who will participate in the Langkawi
International
Dialogue from June 19 to 21.
"Leaders of the African countries will
present their views on how to bolster
trade, economic and political ties at
the annual meeting," he said.
The African leaders will be hosted by Prime
Minister Najib Razak who will
address the issue of socio-economic
development.
Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, a close friend of
Mugabe, will
deliver a keynote address at the meeting held in the new
administrative
capital of Putrajaya, just south of the capital Kuala
Lumpur.
Mahathir and Mugabe share a love of anti-Western rhetoric in
defence of the
developing world, but while Mahathir had steered his
Southeast Asian country
from the economic backwaters to the mainstream of
Asian development,
Zimbabwe's economy is facing a severe economic
crisis.
Mahathir stepped down as prime minister in 2003 but Mugabe, 87,
who has
ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, remains in
power.
Bashir, the first sitting head of state to be targeted by an ICC
warrant,
faces charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity
in Sudan's
western region of Darfur.
The warrants have hampered
Bashir's movements outside Sudan. ICC statutes
dictate any member country
should arrest him if he visits but Malaysia is
not a party to the
ICC.
Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo accuses Bashir of personally
instructing
his forces to annihilate the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic
groups.
About 300,000 people have died since conflict broke out in Darfur
in 2003,
when non-Arab rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated
government in
Khartoum for a greater share of resources and power, according
to UN
figures.
Sudan's government says 10,000 have been killed.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
AG moves to stop auction of Cape properties,
claiming Gauteng judge's ruling
was 'null and void'
Jun 11, 2011 3:19 PM
| By HARARE CORRESPONDENT
Zimbabwe's Attorney-General (AG) says he
will appeal the North Gauteng High
Court ruling that went in favour of three
Zimbabwean farmers in the case
dealing with the seizure of Zimbabwean assets
in South Africa.
Johannes Tomana, the AG, said the ruling on Monday was
null and void, adding
it was based on the judgment of the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) Tribunal that he said had been
disbanded.
"We will not accept that judgment and we are going to appeal
against it,"
said Tomana. The SADC Tribunal was suspended at the last SADC
summit held in
Namibia last month, allegedly at the behest of President
Robert Mugabe after
it passed land judgments unfavourable to him and his
strategy to seize land
from white farmers.
The case in which the
Pretoria court ruled in favour of the white farmers
concerned an application
brought by the Zimbabwean government last year to
reverse the seizure of
Zimbabwean assets in Cape Town by farmers who were
assisted by AfriForum.
The legal battle started after the tribunal had ruled
in November 2008 that
Zimbabwe's land-reform processes had been racist and
illegal and that
farmers ought to have been compensated for their farms.
The protocol
makes provision for the enforcement of tribunal orders in SADC
member
countries. Based on this protocol, AfriForum assisted three farmers,
Louis
Fick, Richard Etheredge and the late Mike Campbell, in having the
ruling
registered at the court.
The farmers then seized three properties that
were no longer used for
Zimbabwean diplomatic purposes. In July last year,
the Zimbabwean government
instituted court applications to have the seizure
of its properties
reversed.
AfriForum's legal representative, Willie
Spies, said the door was now open
for the sale of the properties in Cape
Town.
"The ruling is of historic significance. For probably the first
time in
international legal history, a court has ruled that the assets of a
country
guilty of human rights violations must be sold at public auction,"
Spies
said. "Arrangements will be made without delay to have the properties
sold
at public auction."
Meanwhile, an 87-year-old farmer from
Gweru, who is a South African
citizen, will be sentenced tomorrow after he
was arrested for not leaving
his farm voluntarily.
If Philip Hapelt
is found guilty, his sentence could include two years in
prison. Several
calls to the department of international relations in
Pretoria and the South
African embassy in Harare by his family to request
humanitarian assistance,
were unsuccessful.
AfriForum is considering taking legal action against
the South African
government in this regard.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
A close ally of Robert Mugabe has
called for talks with Britain's
Conservative-led government, praising the
Conservative Party's historic
approach to Zimbabwe
By Aislinn Laing,
Johannesburg
3:46PM BST 12 Jun 2011
Jonathan Moyo, Mr Mugabe's
communications chief, said Prime Minister David
Cameron could repair
relations between his country and its former colonial
power.
Mr
Mugabe and his allies believe his approach contrasts sharply with Tony
Blair
and Gordon Brown, both of whom were outspoken in their loathing of
Africa's
oldest leader.
"We can all see that David Cameron is not as loquacious as
Brown or Tony
Blair, he has kept his views on Zimbabwe to himself," he
said.
"He is not even as loquacious as William Hague, who gets carried
away by
what he believes are successes in Libya to say ridiculous things."
He said
that the new approach of the Conservatives harked back to the early
days of
Robert Mugabe's rule after the signing of the Lancaster House
agreement that
brought him to power in 1980.
"They are behaving as we
have historically known of the Conservatives. The
approach of the
Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher was very different to
the approach of
Labour."
Mr Cameron's "circumspect and careful" attitude, which had
reduced the
levels of "noise and tension" between the two sides, meant his
boss would
welcome "constructive" dialogue with him.
"The British
problem is that they behave like a drunkard who climbed a tree
overnight
then woke up naked and could not get down," he said. "We are
prepared to
give them a ladder, and a blanket, but it's up to them whether
they climb
down at night or during the day."
But he said that British intelligence
was still interfering with regional
plans for the country and dismissed the
UK playing any part in policing
elections that Zanu PF wants held this
year.
Press statement Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)
AT ELEVEN am on 10th June
2011, seven or eight men who identified
themselves as police officers arrived
at the gate of a venue WOZA
members use for their internal meetings. They did
not produce any
search warrant and were extremely aggressive. A lawyer for
Human
Rights was immediately asked to attend the scene to demand any
search
warrant and observe the processes police would undertake.
Two
of the Police officers noticed at the gate were notorious
perpetrators of
torture George Levison Ngwenya and Moyo from Law and
Order department of
Bulawayo Central Police Station. WOZA members
present resolved to exit
through the backyard and moments after Riot
police arrived and police forced
the motorised gate open and gained
entry.
Shortly after this a tenant
who is not a member of WOZA arrived and
was immediately beaten by police who
demanded to know where the
occupants were. The lawyers, Kossam Ncube and
Nosimilo Chanayiwa from
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights had arrived outside
the gate but
were threatened with extreme violence by police and ordered to
leave.
Since Friday police officers have invaded the property and over
the
weekend armed guards were observed taking in the winter sun in
the
yard.
Later that afternoon, the lawyer, Mr Ncube, visited the
offices of the
Law and Order Department to seek clarification about the
'invasion';
he was refused clarification and told to present Jennifer
Williams and
the owner of the house to explain what the house was being used
for.
Two privately owned vehicles are also within the yard but in
this
climate of lawlessness, the owners would risk arrest if they went
to
get their cars.
Since the beginning of the year, 38 WOZA members
have been arbitrarily
arrested and 24 detained and charged under the Criminal
Law
Codification and Reform Act. Threats were made that upon the
eventual
arrest of Williams and Mahlangu, they would be denied bail
and
imprisoned in the male prison. This police harassment of WOZA
Human
rights Defenders provides leaders of the South African
Development
Community (SADC) with direct proof of the intransigence of the
Mugabe
regime and their refusal to respect the Global Political
Agreement
(GPA) of which they are guarantors. This proves there is no
political
will to implement respect for freedoms of assembly and expression
and
end harassment of human rights defenders. The practice of
persecution
and punishment by arrest, detention and prosecution in the
absence of
any genuine suspicion of criminal activity needs urgent
addressing
through security sector reform.
Their targeting of WOZA in
this way shows their inability to deliver a
new Zimbabwe where people can
live a dignified life, free to express
their views. It is because of this
that the nonviolent social justice
movement remains fast expanding and has
capacity to mobilise
Zimbabweans to demand full enjoyment of all their
rights.
It is our view that that the raiding of our members' private
meeting
place means the regime has made the last leap from its
'pretended
democracy' and respect for the rule of law into the dark abyss
of
authoritarianism and militarisation."
WOZA call on SADC to
immediately enforce implementation of the GPA and
protect Zimbabweans from
this violent state and bring perpetrators to
book.
WOZA call on the Joint
Operation Monitoring Implementation Committee
(JOMIC) to investigate this
illegal raid and force the police to leave
our premises forthwith.
WOZA
call on Police Commissioner Chihuri to order his officers to
cease occupation
of our premises with immediate effect and return
intact any possessions
taken. And to publicly apologise to WOZA.
WOZA call on all police officers to
refuse to be used to carry out
illegal acts in the name of political
supremacy, we call on their
family members to prevail upon them to think
carefully about their
future and personal sanity. There will be a time for
their action to
be judged if not on this earth then in heaven.
WOZA call
on local, regional and international human rights defenders
to directly lobby
their presidents or prime ministers to put pressure
through diplomatic means
to stop persecution of human rights defenders
and especially women human
rights defenders. Special emphasis should
be on their rights to peacefully
hold their own government to account
by direct or indirect street
engagement.
WOZA call on Zimbabweans to mobilise themselves to nonviolently
demand
respect for people will before it is too late. Your mothers need
your
help.
WOZA as a direct action nonviolent movement, mother of the
nation will
take action, we will not be silenced.
12th June
2011
For more information, please call Jenni Williams +263 772 898 110
or
+263 712 213 885 Magodonga Mahlangu +263 772 362 668 or email
info@wozazimbabwe.org or wozazimbabwe@yahoo.com or
wozazimbabwe@googlemail.com. Visit
our website at
www.wozazimbabwe.org. You can also follow
us on Twitter at
twitter.com/wozazimbabwe or find us on Facebook.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Tonderai Kwenda, Chief Writer
Sunday, 12 June
2011 17:06
HARARE - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says Zanu PF
ministers are
refusing to report to him as mandated by the Global Political
Agreement
(GPA), a situation that has collapsed many operations of the
coalition
government.
Tsvangirai said this in his weekly Prime
Minister’s newsletter, a
publication that acts as his official mouth
piece.
The former trade unionist, who is in an awkward coalition with
long-time
rival President Robert Mugabe, says Zanu PF ministers such as
Webster Shamu
were sidestepping him despite his role as the chief overseer
of government
policy.
“We have seen a distinct division between the
two parties where certain
ministries are no longer accountable to the
collective. They are only
accountable to the president. So you can see that
there is growing discord
and fissures within the government and these are
causing the government to
be dysfunctional,” said Tsvangirai.
Shamu
is the Minister of Information and Publicity and has resisted
implementation
of media reforms agreed to by Tsvangirai and Mugabe.
“This is against the
GPA and the law. The Constitution says specifically
that all ministers are
supposed to be supervised by the prime minister but
that is in theory. In
practice people have maintained their separate ways,”
said
Tsvangirai.
The GPA spells out that the prime minister shall “oversee the
formulation of
government policies” and “shall ensure that the ministers
develop
appropriate implementation plans to give effect to the policies
decided by
cabinet: in this regard, the ministers will report to the prime
minister on
all issues relating to the implementation of such policies and
plans.”
The prime minister is the one who will regularly report to the
president and
parliament, according to the GPA, which forms the foundation
of the
coalition government.
Tsvangirai painted a picture of a hugely
divided cabinet where daggers were
always drawn out at the expense of
service delivery.
He said although his party was in a coalition with
Mugabe’s Zanu PF, the
parties had largely remained entrenched in party
politics and were
answerable more to party organs than government
structures.
“They have remained answerable to their separate leadership.
For instance,
the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity, in spite of
repeated calls
to the president to intervene in this ministry, nothing has
happened,” said
Tsvangirai with a hint of frustration.
“In spite of
repeated calls for President Mugabe to rein in some of the
rogue elements in
the military who have been pronouncing statements which
are
unconstitutional, he has not done so.
“It appears that people are either
in defiance or are being encouraged to
make those statements in order to sow
seeds of discord to the only
institution which has helped rescue this
country, which is the transitional
Government.”
Apart from the
Ministry of Information and Publicity, all the security
aligned ministries
such as Home Affairs, State Security Defence and Mines
have so far refused
to report to the premier but instead deal directly with
Mugabe.
The
ministers concerned were not reachable when the Daily News repeatedly
tried
calling their mobile numbers.
Tsvangirai said the current status quo had the
potential to “plunge into
chaos” which would be detrimental to the
country.
Tsvangirai also emphasised that there were some in Zanu PF who
“believe they
can claim continued hold onto the State”.
Tsvangirai
said the treatment of his party by the police and recent attacks
on the
house of Finance Minister Tendai Biti were worrying.
“We have a situation
here where one half of Government is blatantly abusing
and harassing the
other half,” said Tsvangirai adding that the bombing of
Biti’s residence “is
a matter we are taking seriously and we will not let it
pass just like
that.”
University of Zimbabwe Political analyst, John Makumbe said the
premier’s
complaints were a sign of a government in paralysis.
“He is
correct to complain but that is the nature of the coalition
government. It
is effectively a parallel government. The MDC T ministers are
reporting to
Tsvangirai while Zanu PF Ministers are reporting to Mugabe and
I doubt that
the MDC N ministers are reporting to anyone,” said Makumbe.
“Effectively
we have two governments and it’s a government in paralysis.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com
By Associated Press, Published: June 12
HARARE,
Zimbabwe — A Zimbabwean official says at least three people died
after a
gasoline truck overturned in the capital and burst into flames after
people
rushed to the vehicle to take the leaking gas.
Fire department chief
Savius Mugava told state radio on Sunday that the
incident in southern
Harare late Saturday left corpses burned beyond
recognition. He says nine
people were hospitalized and that more victims’
remains may still be found
in the wreckage.
State radio says a crowd that gathered at the scene
in an impoverished
suburb where gasoline shortages are common ignored pleas
by the truck driver
not to siphon spilling gas into containers.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Helen Kadirire, Staff Writer
Sunday, 12 June 2011
16:11
HARARE - Police crackdown against MDC supporters is continuing
following the
arrest of a councillor and two party officials in the volatile
suburb of
Budiriro on Thursday evening.
Yesterday the MDC said
their whereabouts were unknown while Police said they
were still pursuing
more suspects in the “murder” of their colleagues in
Glen View two weeks
ago.
The MDC said police raided the homes of councillor Sydney Chirombe
and
employees Abina Rutsito and Jeffias Moyo.
“Last night arrests
brings to 23 the number of MDC members who have been
arrested on the trumped
– up charges of killing the police officer. Rutsito
and Moyo manage the MDC
Excellence Shop at Harvest House,” read part of the
statement.
However police claim that they know nothing about these
recent arrests.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Andrew Phiri denied
knowledge of the
arrests and whereabouts of the three MDC members.
“I
am not aware that anyone has been arrested. All I know is that the police
are investigating the death of inspector Petros Mutedza,” Phiri
said.
Over 20 Glen View MDC activists are in remand custody facing murder
charges
following the death of Mutedza last month.
Mutedza died upon
admission at Harare hospital after he was allegedly stoned
in a cold blooded
brawl by people police suspected to be MDC supporters.
The MDC has
dismissed the allegations which they say are meant to portray it
as a
violent party.
Police heavy-handedness in dealing with the suspects has
been roundly
condemned by rights groups.
Dozens of Glen View
residents arrested during raids in the suburb were
limping heavily when they
appeared in court in what their lawyers claimed
were a result of intense
torture during interrogation.
The arrested include Glen View councillor
Tungamirai Madzokera and national
executive member Last
Maengahama.
They claim that they were denied food and medical attention
while in
custody.
Since the death of Mutedza, Glen View residents are
said to been living in
fear, with some fleeing the area after police
declared “a war” against
“murderers” of their colleague.
Jun 12, 9:26 AM EDT
By ANGUS SHAW
Associated Press
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)
-- The party of Zimbabwe's president on Sunday buried
with full honors a
foremost critic it twice expelled from its ranks.
Edgar Tekere, a
founding member of President Robert Mugabe's party who went
from being
Mugabe's staunch friend and ally to one of his harshest critics,
died
Tuesday at the age of 74. His family said he died of cancer.
Mugabe was
attending a regional summit in South Africa on Sunday. For the
first time
since independence in 1980, Mugabe did not officiate at his
party's shrine
outside Harare for fallen guerrillas and political leaders.
Vice
President John Nkomo said despite a "bad patch" in his political life,
Tekere did not join other opponents in "going to bed with the enemy" -
former Western colonial powers.
Mugabe's absence at a crucial summit
on the Zimbabwe crisis spared him from
praising the veteran guerrilla leader
who enraged him by speaking out
against corruption and misrule in the first
decade after independence.
Tekere went on to form an opposition party,
the Zimbabwe Unity Movement, and
lost to Mugabe in presidential polls in
1990.
He was readmitted to Mugabe's ZANU-PF party in 2005 but was
expelled again
after publishing an autobiography in which he trashed Mugabe
and most of his
political contemporaries.
Nkomo said Tekere's
recognition at the Heroes Acre shrine outside Harare on
Sunday paid tribute
to his "great heroic deeds in his younger days" as a
youth activist and
guerrilla leader fighting to end white rule.
He said Zimbabweans this
week anxiously waited to see if Tekere - widely
popular and known as "Two
Boy" for being said to have had the energy and
outspokenness of two people -
would be honored.
"The nation breathed a deep sigh of relief when he was
declared a national
hero," Nkomo told mourners.
"Despite everything
that might have gone wrong later in his life ... he
never turned his back on
political independence and majority rule," he said.
In a veiled reference
to the former opposition party of Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai in a
shaky two-year coalition with Mugabe and its Western
links, Nkomo said
Tekere showed "his patriotism by not selling out to former
colonizers.
"There are others who have betrayed the nation and the
liberation struggle
by going to bed with the enemy," he said.
Mugabe
routinely uses state burials of his loyalists to lambast Western
policies
toward Zimbabwe.
Tekere helped start Mugabe's party in 1964 and spent a
decade in
colonial-era jails, mostly alongside Mugabe. After their release
the two men
escaped together on foot across the mountainous border into
neighboring
Mozambique to lead a burgeoning guerrilla army that launched
attacks from
there.
Tekere served briefly as a minister in Mugabe's
first government after
independence but left the post after being charged
with shooting dead a
white farmer later in 1980. He was acquitted in a
defense that the farmer
resisted a security sweep by the new government at
his property.
Tekere brought reggae icon Bob Marley to perform at
independence
celebrations marking the birth of Zimbabwe. Marley's song
"Zimbabwe" had
been an unofficial anthem of bush fighters, along with
"Buffalo Soldier" and
other black rights songs, Tekere said.
Tekere
is survived by his wife and a daughter.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Staff Writer
Sunday, 12 June 2011
16:22
HARARE - International Socialist Organisation (ISO)
co-ordinator for
Zimbabwe Munyaradzi Gwisai was on Thursday temporarily
given back his
passport.
The 37-year firebrand socialist was
facing treason charges together with
five others.
The application to
temporarily have his passport back was granted by
regional magistrate Morgan
Nemadire.
Gwisai’s lawyer Alec Muchadehama told Daily News that he
liaised with the
Attorney General’s office in order for the passport to be
released until 27
June.
“Gwisai intends to travel to South Africa
where he was invited to make a
presentation on labour and politics at
Johannesburg University and at Rosa
Luxemburg Foundation.
He will
also get the chance to see his family in South Africa,” said
Muchadehama.
The politician is jointly charged with five other
social, economic justice
and human rights activists.
The activists
were arrested with 39 others in February as they watched
television footage
of uprisings that toppled long-serving tyrants in Egypt
and
Tunisia.
Police accused them of plotting to unseat the government using
similar
revolts. The 39 were released after Harare magistrate Munamato
Mutevedzi
ruled the state had failed to prove a case.
The State
initially charged Gwisai and the other five activists with
treason. It now
prefers lesser charges against Gwisai and the other
activists. The six are
now facing a charge of attempting to subvert a
constitutionally elected
government.
Prosecutor Edmore Nyazamba made the disclosure during an
application filed
by Muchadehama in the High Court seeking the relaxation of
his clients’ bail
reporting conditions late last month.
Nyazamba told
High Court Judge Justice Samuel Kudya that Gwisai, anti-debt
campaigner
Hopewell Gumbo, Antonater Choto, the director of the Zimbabwe
Labour Centre,
student leader Welcome Zimuto, Eddson Chakuma and Tatenda
Mombeyarara would
no longer face treason charges.
Three of the activists, Gwisai, Gumbo and
Choto wanted the High Court to
release their passports to allow them to
travel outside the country to
attend to professional, academic, medical and
social business.
However, Gumbo and Choto have not yet availed proof to
the court pertaining
to their travel arrangements.
Muchadehama said
that once they availed the documents he was going to make
another
application for the release of their passports.
Justice Kudya has since
ordered the six activists to report to the police on
the last Friday of each
month and not three times a week as had been the
case.
The trial
commences on 18 July at the Regional Magistrates Court.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/
AARON LAWTON
Last updated 05:00
12/06/2011
The Government has signalled it won't stand in the way of
a proposed cricket
tour by Zimbabwe to New Zealand for what would be the
first time in 11 years
next summer.
The Black Caps are due to tour
Zimbabwe in October, which would be their
first tour of the troubled African
nation since 2005, when their decision to
go polarised opinion. The proposed
tour has already been delayed twice due
to security
concerns.
Following October's series, it's expected that the African side
will then
travel to New Zealand for a reciprocal series.
New Zealand
Cricket resumed bilateral ties with Zimbabwe last year by
sending a New
Zealand A team on a tour there.
Standing in the way of Zimbabwe's tour
here, however, is the fact the
government has imposed travel sanctions on
sporting tours from the country
in opposition to the ruling regime of
President Robert Mugabe.
But Sports and Foreign Minister Murray McCully
confirmed yesterday that a
waiver would be provided to allow the Zimbabwean
cricket team to tour New
Zealand despite the political
situation.
"New Zealand Cricket has advised us of their intention to
travel to Zimbabwe
which, I think, is in October," McCully said. "They have
asked us whether we
have any concerns about that and, of course, made the
point to us that the
expectation will be that Zimbabwe is able to make a
return visit.
"The return visit runs smack into the travel sanctions that
operate in
relation to sporting tours from Zimbabwe. So I have taken some
advice from
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and what I've said to New
Zealand Cricket is
that we have no concerns about them touring Zimbabwe. We
have therefore
adopted the position that we are prepared to issue visas for
the Zimbabwe
team to come to New Zealand and to provide an exemption from
the sanctions
for that purpose.
"That is all conditional, of course,
on the situation in Zimbabwe not
deteriorating in a significant
way."
In 2005, the government refused to grant visas to the Zimbabwean
cricketers,
and a proposed tour to New Zealand was called off.
The
New Zealand government has recently been engaged in a public spat with
Fiji
after deciding not to relax travel sanctions that would allow rugby
officials and players with military links to enter the country during the
Rugby World Cup.
McCully described the situation with the Zimbabwean
cricket team as
"identical" and was at pains to point out that the Fijian
rugby team had
been granted a similar waiver.
The debate surrounding
the Fijian rugby team relates to individuals with
military links and McCully
said if any Zimbabwean cricketers boasted similar
connections they would
also be refused entry into New Zealand.
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"The situation [in
Zimbabwe] is not fantastic, but there are aspects of
stability there and our
judgement is that we shouldn't do anything to derail
the planned sporting
exchange," McCully said.
- Sunday Star Times
There was a buoyant mood at the
Vigil as SADC met in
We were encouraged that so many
Zimbabwean groups had worked so hard to produce incontrovertible proof for SADC
of what we have suffered in
President Zuma’s report to the SADC
Troika’s Livingstone meeting suggested that the
A more pressing reality was the
bullyboy Zanu PF tactics in Sandton. And SADC must have been surprised by the
presence as a member of the Zanu PF delegation of Tafataona Mahoso, Chief
Executive Officer of the Zimbabwe Media Commission who also happens to be the
Chairman of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe. That must have told them a
lot . . .
At the Vigil we felt a corner had
been turned. We know that whatever deal is reached Mugabe will set out to
outmanoeuvre it. But SADC has reached the point of no return and must curb him.
Confirmation of this came from two Angolan diplomats who parked outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy and happily told us they thought Mugabe was finished – too old.
(We were too polite to ask them about President Dos Santos who has not faced
elections since 1992!) Their comments confirmed reports from
But we know we still have a long
road ahead. We spoke by phone to management team member Fungayi’s sister and
asked what was happening on the ground there.
She said ‘Zanu PF are forcing us to go to their meetings. If we don’t go
we are dead.’
Other
Points
·
We
mentioned last week that a bird nesting in one of the trees at the Vigil had
defecated on one of our petitions and got several messages back from
·
Vigil
founder member
·
Vigil
Co-ordinator
·
It
was good to have back with us regular supporter Gladys Mapanda of whom we
haven’t seen as much recently because she moved to
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they
cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil
website. For the latest ZimVigil TV programme check http://www.zimvigiltv.com/.
FOR THE RECORD: 74
signed the register.
EVENTS AND NOTICES:
·
The Restoration of Human Rights in
Zimbabwe (ROHR) is
the Vigil’s partner organisation based in
·
ZBN News. The Vigil management team wishes to
make it clear that the
·
The Zim Vigil band (Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has
launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our Vigil)’ to raise awareness through
music. To download this single, visit: www.imusicafrica.com and to watch the video
check: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QukqctWc3XE.
·
ROHR National Fundraising
Event.
Saturday 25th June from
·
Free film screening of 'Hear
Us'. Saturday
25th June from 7 - 9 pm. Venue: The Frontline Club, 13,
·
Service of Solidarity with
·
Stop the violence in
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
·
‘Through the
Darkness’, Judith
Todd’s acclaimed account of the rise of Mugabe.
To receive a copy by post in the
UK please email confirmation of your order and postal address to
ngwenyasr@yahoo.co.uk and send a
cheque for £10 payable to “Budiriro Trust” to Emily Chadburn, 15 Burners Close,
Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 0QA. All proceeds go to the Budiriro Trust which
provides bursaries to needy A Level students in
·
Workshops aiming to engage African
men on HIV testing and other sexual health issues. Organised by the Terrence Higgins
Trust (www.tht.org.uk). Please contact the
co-ordinator
Vigil
co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe
Embassy, 429
http://www.southernafricareport.com/
9 June 2011
Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe goes into Saturday's extraordinary SADC
summit in
Johannesburg still battling to overcome the consequences of
President Jacob
Zuma's skilled manoeuvring at Livingstone, Zambia in March
(see SAR Vol 29
No 13).
He may have done enough to achieve an honours-even outcome in the
battle of
public perceptions. But in achieving this he has been forced by
Zuma into
key practical strategic compromises, not least over the timing of
Zimbabwe's
next elections. These will now not take place before March
2012.
The Livingstone meeting of the SADC Troika on Politics, Defence and
Security
put Mugabe on terms to implement the SADC-approved 2007 Global
Political
Agreement (GPA), which set up Zimbabwe's multi-party government.
It
criticised "all stakeholders to the GPA", as did the South African report
on
which it was based, for delays in implementing the agreement. But the
thin
diplomatic veneer fooled no-one that Mugabe was the target - least of
all
Mugabe and his Zanu PF party, which has spent the two months since
furiously
attempting to undo the Livingstone decision.
SADC's meeting
on Livingstone was to have taken place last month (20 May
2011) in Windhoek,
Namibia, but was postponed because Zuma, the SADC
facilitator on Zimbabwe's
GPA process, was unavailable – he was at home
awaiting the outcome of local
government elections.
The extraordinary summit has been thus squeezed
into busy head-of-state
schedules alongside the tripartite free trade area
summit at the Sandton
Convention Centre in Johannesburg on Saturday (11 June
2011) – see Taking
the first step elsewhere in this issue.
In the
wake of the Livingstone set-back Mugabe recognised – as did
traditional SADC
allies in Namibia, the DRC and Malawi – that he would have
to rapidly
implement the GPA's dozens of outstanding clauses, if he were to
head off
the Troika insistence on a hands-on SADC (in practice South
African) role in
creating an environment suitable for
internationally-credible
elections.
The "inclusive government" has thus completed a raft of GPA
requirements,
from beginning the process of ending Zanu PF's monopoly on
broadcast media
and control of state-owned newspapers to significant
progress in drafting a
new constitution. The multi-party Constitutional
Parliamentary Committee
(Copac) expects to have completed revision of a
draft constitution by
September this year. The constitution is then
scheduled to be approved by
national referendum, paving the way for national
elections.
At last week's (1 June 2011) Zanu PF politburo meeting in
preparation for
the SADC summit, Mugabe implicitly acknowledged that,
although the party
remains committed to elections this year, the time-table
for delivery
against SADC requirements might mean elections will take place
"early next
year".
These are crucial compromises on Zanu PF's
previously immovable insistence
on retaining absolute control of the key
institutions of state, irrespective
of its commitment to SADC to abide by
the GPA.
While none of these processes is irreversible, Zanu PF is now
more locked
into multi-party processes than it has ever been. This is
precisely what
Zuma and Zambian President Rupia Banda sought to achieve in
Livingstone.
They are less interested in humiliating Mugabe publicly than in
persistently
worrying him into taking one apparently small step at a time
down the path
to internationally-credible elections.
Come Saturday
they will therefore be content to allow the aging Zimbabwean
president to be
seen to be back in SADC's good graces – possibly even to the
extent of
softening some of the wording of the Livingstone Troika meeting
communiqué –
provided the summit allows Zuma to keep the pressure on Mugabe.
The
journey to credible elections remains a long one, with key preconditions
not
addressed. These include a voters' role that bears little resemblance to
Zimbabwe's adult population – although agreement has been reached on
allowing the country's SADC diaspora to vote for the first time.
But
probably the most crucial precondition not yet addressed is control of
the
armed forces and the police – both still massively partisan and, as
demonstrated in during 2008 elections, a major obstacle to free and fair
polling.
Security sector reform is vital for Zimbabwe, as is the
establishment of
impartial military and police. But this is a process not an
event, and
impractical even in the more leisurely, but less likely,
timetable of
elections in 2013.
The challenge for the South African
facilitators in the months ahead will
therefore be to achieve agreement on
confinement to barracks of the more
aggressively pro-Mugabe military and
police special units. A related
challenge is the continuing operation of the
intelligence and internal
security agency, the Central Intelligence
Organisation, which accounts to
the presidency rather than to parliament,
operates under a secret budget,
and which maintains a comprehensive national
network of informers and
agents, including many responsible for maintaining
and mobilising Zanu PF
militias.
The urgency of a solution to this
has been vividly demonstrated in the past
three weeks (see Zanu PF turns up
the heat elsewhere in this issue).
The immediate challenge, however,
is to keep Mugabe on the straight and
narrow – and under at least the
partial influence of SADC.
Mugabe has been actively lobbying across the
region since Livingstone,
shoring up wavering support and winning converts.
But key influences,
notably Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and several
of his generals,
have been arguing that Mugabe has lost the hearts-and-minds
battle in SADC
and that Zanu PF needs to prepare to go it alone.
So
far Mugabe has resisted this argument – recognising that alienating his
few
remaining allies will spell disaster for Zanu PF. But he is not about to
surrender power willingly. The months ahead will be challenging for Zuma –
currently distracted by his involvement in Libya, persuading another African
president to do the decent thing.
