The Star
June 17,
2008 Edition 1
Basildon Peta
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
will have a comfortable head-start of at
least 130 000 votes through early
voting by security officials, sources
claim.
They say this is the
start of a plan to rig elections by stuffing ballot
boxes in areas where the
opposition has been violently removed.
The Independent Foreign Service
spoke to several sources in the armed forces
yesterday about their special
vote on Friday. They say the spouses and
children of members of the army,
air force and police have been forced to
cast ballots, and instructed to do
so in favour of Mugabe.
Armed forces members in Zimbabwe are usually
asked to cast their votes ahead
of the actual voting day. For the June 27
run-off they were told to fill out
the ballots in front of their station
superiors - which the sources say
flouts voting procedures.
Armed
forces heads, with police chief Augustine Chihuri in the forefront,
have
publicly declared that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
will
not be allowed to rule despite winning the March 29 election.
The MDC's
Morgan Tsvangirai won the first round of voting on March 29 with
48% of the
votes, against Mugabe's 43%.
The sources estimate that Mugabe could have
between 130 000 and 150 000
votes before the June 27 poll.
It is the
first step in a comprehensive plan to rig the elections, the
sources claim.
State-sponsored violence has forced thousands of Tsvangirai's
supporters to
flee their homes in rural and peri-urban constituencies.
They will not be
able to vote elsewhere because of a requirement, being
stringently enforced,
that voters can cast their ballots only at polling
stations where they are
registered. - Independent Foreign Service
Mail and Guardian
Mandy Rossouw
and Jason Moyo
17 June 2008 06:00
The
Zimbabwean government slapped an import duty of 40% on
foreign newspapers
and magazines and launched a campaign to remove satellite
dishes from homes.
Both actions will choke information sources that tell a
different story from
that of state-controlled media.
A special edition of the
Government Gazette classified foreign
newspapers as luxury goods, making
them subject to the punitive duty.
Coupled with this measure
is a drive in rural areas called
Operation Dzikisai Madhishi ("pull down the
satellite dish"). It mainly
affects police camps, because few other rural
Zimbabweans can afford
satellite television.
Rural police
officers live with their families in three-roomed
houses with satellite TV
access. Zanu-PF said the dishes are being removed
because the police
officers tell their communities about violence in other
parts of the
country.
The state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
does not show
the violence or cover the MDC in its news
bulletins.
Said the MDC in a statement: "The regime is
determined to cut
off Zimbabweans from the rest of the world by ensuring
that they are unable
to receive news from outside Zimbabwe about what is
happening in their own
country.
"[The campaign] began in
Matabeleland South. It is being
undertaken by elements of the central
intelligence organisation, police,
army and youth
militia."
Justifying the new duty on foreign publications,
secretary for
information and publicity George Charamba told the audience at
a media
awards ceremony in Harare that foreign newspapers make profits from
sales in
Zimbabwe but the money leaves the country.
"We
lose the politics, we lose money," he said.
Currently a copy
of the Mail & Guardian retails for
Z$800-million and the average monthly
take-home pay of a Zimbabwean civil
servant is Z$50-billion.
Mail and Guardian
Wilf Mbanga
17 June 2008 06:00
There's been no "coup" in Zimbabwe. The relationship between
Robert Mugabe
and the generals is one of mutual dependence.
Mugabe and his
generals are fighting together in a deadly battle
for survival that has seen
thousands of Zimbabweans brutally beaten and
maimed since Zanu-PF lost the
March 29 general and presidential elections.
The idea that
the military has usurped Mugabe's powers and is
running Zimbabwe in his
stead is erroneous. True, the country is being run
by a military junta --
but Mugabe is firmly in place as its head. This is a
symbiotic relationship
-- with both sides giving and receiving in equal
measure.
Mugabe's generals have no standing in Africa, and they know it.
They have no
standing in the world. They are shadowy figures -- many
Zimbabweans don't
even know who they are. The regional body, the Southern
African Development
Community (SADC), has said it will not countenance any
coups among its
members. The generals know that if they come out openly and
declare a coup
they will lose the political backing of SADC and the African
Union.
But they don't need to declare a coup. Mugabe has
willingly
handed over the country to them. He is so comfortable with them
that he left
the country for more than a week to attend the Food and
Agricultural
Organisation conference in Rome, during the crucial run-up
period to the
June 27 presidential election. He is not even bothering to
campaign -- the
generals are doing that for him.
Mugabe
is a well-known brand and it therefore makes sense for
the generals to keep
him as their figurehead. He knows he has lost popular
support and he needs
the generals to stay in power. He has been the source
of their fabulous,
ill-gotten wealth and they need him in order to maintain
it.
The head of the joint operations command -- in effect
the
junta -- Emmerson Mnangagwa, has been Mugabe's right-hand man, personal
assistant, trusted confidant and hitman since way back in the 1970s when
they were in Mozambique together during the struggle for
independence.
He has been at Mugabe's side ever since -- for
many years
minister in charge of the loathed Central Intelligence
Organisation.
Even more significantly he has been the
treasurer of Zanu-PF for
more than 30 years. He is wealthy beyond
imagination and feared by everyone,
including his closest
colleagues.
Over the years he and Mugabe have gathered around
them a clique
of like-minded military men.
They have all
shared in the spoils of power. They own
businesses, farms, mines. They grew
even more fabulously wealthy during the
DRC military campaign. They have a
lot to lose.
Mnangagwa and air force commander Perence Shiri
presided over
the mass killings of the then opposition Zapu activists in
Matabeleland in
the early 1980s.
The junta's heartless
brutality is in line with the worst
tradition of African dictators. The
killing fields of Gukurahundi, the
senseless destruction of Murambatsvina
and the diabolical beatings, burnings
and maimings of the past few weeks all
bear their personal stamp.
Make no mistake, Mugabe and his
generals are working hand in
glove. It is a macabre marriage of convenience.
-- © Guardian News and Media
Ltd 2008.
Mail and Guardian
Jason
Moyo
17 June 2008 06:00
As in other
places in Zimbabwe, the mood outside the Aids
hospice was swinging between
anger, patience and dogged determination.
It's a cold Monday
night and a dozen people wait quietly outside
a small home in Belgravia,
Harare. They have just been asked to leave; the
doctors are not coming today
and there will be no treatment or drugs this
week. Perhaps not even next
week. There are grumbles, but still the group
waits.
"The
truth is we have had to stop until the elections. But who
knows what will
happen after the elections", Conrad Makonese, who helps run
the centre, told
the Mail & Guardian.
As President Robert Mugabe tightens
the noose on the activities
of his opponents, even sending field workers out
to monitor people on
anti-retroviral treatment would get Makonese jailed. A
blanket ban on aid
work has added to the despair caused by worsening
pre-election violence and
the sharpest ever price hikes.
The consequences of the ban are dire, says James Elder, Unicef
spokesperson
in Zimbabwe: "Unicef alone was reaching hundreds of thousands
of children
with health, nutrition and education -- and they haven't
received any of
that for the past four days and they won't until the
government reinstates
all these NGOs."
Two weeks ahead of the polls, sentiment on
the streets is a mix
of dejection and determination. In the long bank queues
tempers boil over
easily and there is robust political debate, yet people
wait patiently for
hours, determined to withdraw salaries, which now come in
hundreds of
billions.
The only clear signals are coming
from Zanu-PF; Mugabe's party
has made it plain it no longer feels it has
anything to lose: "The comrades
are at their most dangerous," one Zanu-PF
official told the M&G.
The broad sentiment within Zanu-PF
is that its reputation has
been soiled so badly in the months since the
first round of the presidential
election that it has no image left to
defend. Reflecting this, the
state-owned Herald daily published an opinion
piece at the weekend urging an
even tougher response to dissent, including
from foreign diplomats, whatever
the consequences. "We have hit the bottom,
we should not fear to fall," the
article said, "what the
heck."
Zanu-PF is going for broke, shedding all its
inhibitions and all
the pretences to democracy it showed ahead of the March
poll. Its most
senior officials now go on television to openly declare war
if Mugabe loses.
"Voting for Tsvangirai is to vote for a return to war,"
Hubert Nyanhongo, a
deputy minister, told a rally in a Harare slum. "So to
prevent a war that
will kill you and me, let's vote for President
Mugabe."
Zanu-PF had hoped violence would numb the
opposition. But
although MDC leaders deny it publicly, opposition supporters
are organising
and retaliating. In Manicaland and Masvingo provinces, areas
that once
staunchly supported Zanu-PF but which voted MDC in March, the
opposition has
been fighting back. While this has encouraged MDC supporters
elsewhere,
retaliatory attacks raise the spectre of a rapid escalation of
violence.
Few are safe. After diplomats from the United
States and United
Kingdom were involved in a high speed car chase and a
tense standoff with
police last week in Mashonaland Central, diplomats too
have seen their
immunity to the violence disappear.
Mugabe has closed down all the space he had allowed the
opposition in the
run-up to the March elections. Police have banned MDC
rallies, defying court
orders declaring the bans illegal. "The run-up to
March 29 had represented
real progress. All of that has been more than
reversed," an African diplomat
said.
In this campaign the MDC has been denied even a
fraction of the
airtime it had been allowed in the public media in the first
campaign. The
head of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), the
public broadcaster,
has been sacked and eight of his most senior journalists
suspended. Their
crime was to follow legal requirements -- and SADC election
guidelines --
compelling public media to grant access to all parties.
Regular programming
on television has now been suspended, with the
prime-time staple now a diet
of lengthy talk-fests featuring pro-government
commentators.
But Morgan Tsvangirai still believes he can
defeat Mugabe.
"I'm encouraged by the people's determination
and their desire
to ensure that we finish it, that we dismiss hunger,
poverty, loss of
dignity and suffering on June 27," Tsvangirai said on
Tuesday.
Observers, however, doubt Tsvangirai's chances.
Eldred
Masunungure, a professor of politics at the University of Zimbabwe,
said a
free election is impossible.
"The chances are very
slim for an MDC victory." And Simba
Makoni, a former Zanu-PF official who
came third in the presidential
election, said "in the current situation,
there is no hope that a free and
fair election can be undertaken". He again
urged talks between the two
sides.
But as tensions rise,
calls for a negotiated settlement are
being drowned out. Tsvangirai said he
would not negotiate with Mugabe before
the election, while Zanu-PF insiders
also say they would only negotiate
"from a position of power" once they had
ensured Mugabe's re-election.
Mail and Guardian
17 June 2008 06:00
Manicaland
Philemon is
now scared to move around at night in his own
neighbourhood in this eastern
part of Zimbabwe. Even being at home is no
longer safe and he lives in
perpetual fear.
"Being at home or away at night can be the
same, as one can be
beaten up for being a supporter of a particular
political party.
"The difference is that at home there are
family members, unlike
being out there with no one to witness your fate," he
says.
Philemon says he will nevertheless vote "freely" in the
presidential run-off come June 27.
"If anything people
are now hardened. There is no turning back
at this time," he
says.
Lloyd, a villager in Manica Bridge, says that despite
the
violence people are not relenting.
"The spirit in us
is to go ahead until final victory. We have
come a long way and what is left
is a short distance," he says.
Wonder, of Zimunya in Mutare
South constituency, says that,
while there has been little violence in the
area, hunger is looming and
intimidation is the order of the
day.
"People have no food and the NGOs that used to give food
aid no
longer do so. We don't know why. People are going to die," he
says.
"People are likely to show their dismay through the
ballot, but
it is likely that Zanu-PF and Mugabe will show the people the
barrel if they
dare vote overwhelmingly against him again. This is what is
happening now in
most parts of the country," says Wonder.
Mashonaland Central
Zanu-PF accuses the villagers in Chiweshe
district of being
"sellouts" who voted for the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) in the
March 29 elections.
Mbuya (62) was
admitted to Howard Hospital after sustaining
injuries in a beating frenzy by
youth militia. She says she was dismayed
that she was assaulted by mere
"children".
"I was never into politics, but in May this year
10 local boys
came to my home and ordered me to lie down. They assaulted me
with rods and
clenched fists until I was unconscious. They went on to torch
my only hut.
"All my children are dead and that was the only home
I had."
She says she was terrified to go back and
vote.
Tawanda likened the situation in his home area of
Madziva, also
in Mashonaland Central, to a war zone, adding that because
they were no
longer receiving food aid many people faced
starvation.
"We were told that the cooking oil and the maize
we used to
receive was poisoned by whites to kill us because we are all
Zanu-PF
supporters and therefore the food was banned.
"We
were told that we now have to rely on government aid and
only showing
loyalty to the ruling party would speed up the food
distribution by the war
veterans," says Tawanda.
Mashonaland East
Donald (62), a known MDC activist, now walks with the aid of a
stick after
he was severely assaulted by a suspected Zanu-PF militia two
weeks ago at
his home near Murewa Growth Point in Mashonaland East
Province.
"They swamped this homestead. They were many, some
with sticks,
axes and machetes, and they started beating me all over my
body, demanding
that I stop supporting a puppet party," said Donald, whose
back and legs are
still swollen.
His two sons managed to
flee and now live with a relative in
Harare, about 80km
away.
"They sent word that they are safe. I can't run away
leaving my
livestock, homestead and everything I have worked for all my
life. If they
want they can come and finish me off," says Donald, a veteran
of the 1970s
war of liberation.
Other war veterans and
Zanu-PF militia have established what
they call "bases" in the province,
where they torture MDC supporters. During
the day they man roadblocks,
demanding identification cards from passengers
and
motorists.
"If they discover that you don't come from the
province they
will terrorise you, demanding to know the purpose of your
journey," says
Martin, who was forced to return to
Harare.
"Every night we are forced to attend pungwes [night
vigils] at
the bases and are ordered to sing liberation war songs praising
President
Robert Mugabe," says Goodwills.
Locals are
forced to "donate" food for "comrades" who stay at
the bases, he
says.
"They are given chickens, goats and, at times, cattle
by
frightened villagers. They slaughter and feast on them everyday," says
Goodwills. -- CAJ News
http://zimbabwemetro.com
By Norbert Jacobs ⋅ zimbabwemetro.com ⋅ June 16,
2008
On Monday evening UN’s Assistant Secretary Generall, Haile
Menkerios,
arrived in Zimbabwe to evaluate the political situation.
“I
have come to see the situation, then I will report to him,” Menkerios
said,
referring to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Menkerios is
the UN Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs,
responsible for
Africa.
The MDC has said that the violence has so far claimed the lives
of more than
60 of their supporters since the first round of the
presidential election in
March.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who
faces Mugabe in the run-off, has claimed
Zimbabwe is now run by what is
essentially a “military junta” that has
unleashed a campaign of violence and
intimidation throughout the country.
Besides the violence, the MDC has
faced major obstacles in their campaign.
Police have detained Tsvangirai
five times over the last couple weeks and
two MDC campaign buses have been
seized, though one has since been returned
but banned from
plying.
Earlier Monday, police searched the home and computer of MDC
Secretary
General, Tendai Biti, who is facing a treason charge following his
arrest
last week minutes after returning home from a long stay in South
Africa.
“Police searched his home and they spent the last three hours
going through
his laptop,” said Biti’s lawyer Lewis Uriri, who was present
during the
searches.
Officers took nothing away from the house in
Harare and left the computer
there, he said.
Police had refused to
reveal his whereabouts until a court ordered
authorities to bring produce
him on Saturday.
He appeared in good health in court over the weekend,
and Uriri was allowed
to meet with him and bring him food later in the
day.
According to Uriri, authorities interrogated Biti continuously for
24 hours
following his arrest.
Authorities have said they plan to
charge him for having allegedly authored
a document(See the Document here)
said to have contained details of a plot
to rig the election.
He is
also accused of “communicating and publishing false information
prejudicial
to the state” for proclaiming victory for his party in Zimbabwe’s
first-round March 29 polls ahead of official results.
The treason
charge carries a potential death penalty.
Uriri said Monday police were
planning a further accusation against Biti for
allegedly seeking to cause
disaffection within the armed forces.
The document he allegedly authored
said all senior members of the army,
police and intelligence services would
have to resign and re-apply for their
posts if the opposition came into
power, or they would face being fired.
Uriri said he was also planning to
ask the high court to declare the further
detention of Biti unlawful. Police
are allowed to hold suspects for up to 48
hours, and Biti is already beyond
that limit following his arrest on
Thursday.
http://zimbabwemetro.com
By Tongai Gava-Special Projects Editor ⋅ zimbabwemetro.com
⋅ June 16, 2008
Victor Mungazi, the MDC elections secretary for Magunje
district in
Mashonaland West province was brutally murdered by Zanu PF
supporters in the
early hours of Sunday morning.
Mungazi was abducted
during the night by a group of Zanu PF thugs at his
home at Magunje growth
point.
They then took him to their offices at the centre, where they
severely
attacked him until he lost consciousness.
Friends and
relatives, who made a follow up on Mungazi, discovered his body
lying in a
pool of blood ten metres away from the Zanu PF offices at about 4
am that
same day.
The death of Mungazi brings the number of murdered MDC
activists to over 70
during the past two months. His body has been taken to
Majunge mortuary. A
report has been made to the police but no arrests have
been made so far.
Meanwhile, Simba Chikova, a high school teacher at Zaka
Secondary in Zaka,
Masvingo province was on Saturday beaten to death by Zanu
PF supporters.
Chikova was taken from his home at the school’s premises
before he was
attacked on accusations of being an MDC supporter.
He
was taken to a Zanu PF torture camp where he was beaten with logs until
he
passed away. His body was later found abandoned outside the school’s
premises.
His body has since been ferried to Bulawayo for a post
mortem.
Mail and Guardian
Jason Moyo
17 June 2008 06:00
President
Robert Mugabe rejected fresh calls for economic reform
at a rare meeting with
the heads of Zimbabwe's largest business groups this
week. He accused
business of being part of a Western conspiracy to overthrow
his
government.
At the meeting on Wednesday the heads of bodies
representing
banks, industry, mining and tourism presented Mugabe with dire
accounts of
the state of the economy.
The official
inflation rate is 165 000%, but private estimates
put it at over more than
one million percent.
Industries are shutting down under the
impact of price controls
and rising production costs, the business heads told
Mugabe.
However, the president refused to accept any
responsibility for
the economic crisis. "The blame lies with manufacturers
and distributors who
are contributing to the escalation of prices," he told
the meeting.
He also defended legislation introduced last
year compelling all
major businesses to sell majority stakes to local
investors, saying it was
designed to help businesses "make sovereign
decisions".
Mugabe said his government wants to check who
owns companies he
suspects are controlled by "people representing foreign
interests".
"Some . are just managers and their authority is
limited. Their
political orientation might be that of the past and not in
line with that of
the present government," he said.
"It is
now time that we accept that we have been left by
ourselves, we have been
abandoned by people who used to rule us," he said.
"Instead, some of you here
are dishonest. You have turned against the
government and refuse to comply
with our policies."
Mugabe asked the businessmen whether they
were willing to allow
Zimbabwe to die because of the Western sanctions he
blames for the economic
crisis.
Zimbabweans should not
vote his party out of power, "handing the
country over to the colonialists,
just because they cannot get sugar".
He warned his audience
that "our veterans were not happy by the
actions of
businesses".
At the meeting were the Chamber of Mines of
Zimbabwe,
representing large groups such as Zimplats, and the Bankers
Association of
Zimbabwe, which includes the Zimbabwean arms of Standard
Bank, Barclays
and Standard Chartered.
Large international
corporations such as Tongaat Hulett, Rio
Tinto and SAB still directly or
indirectly hold assets in Zimbabwe. Many are
members of the Confederation of
Zimbabwe Industries, which also attended the
meeting.
This
was Mugabe's first meeting with business leaders since
August last year, when
they approached him at the height of the crisis
caused by his order to
retailers to halve prices.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
June 17, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has
launched a novel
constituency-twinning program to address a serious shortage
of polling
agents caused by the massive displacement of its supporters from
rural
districts.
Over 25 000 MDC activists have been forced to flee
their homes after Zanu-PF
militants launched a brutal terror campaign
targeting MDC supporters in the
party's former strongholds accused of voting
against President Mugabe in the
March 29 general election.
Official
sources said the MDC has twinned each urban constituency with a
rural one in
a strategy that will see urban constituencies provide polling
agents for
their rural counterparts on voting day.
MDC organizing-secretary Elias
Mudzuri confirmed that the opposition party
had decided to use constituencies
under its control to provide polling
agents in areas where its activists had
been displaced by political
violence.
Mudzuri said: "In areas where
our supporters have been forced to flee
because of violence we are going to
provide agents from other areas using
our constituency twinning
program".
The former Harare mayor revealed that the most affected areas
were the three
Mashonaland provinces where thousands of MDC activists had
been terrorized
and displaced.
Addressing a meeting of MPs and
councilors at the weekend MDC elections
officer Donald Chirunga said 80
percent of party activists in Mashonaland
East had been displaced while 50
percent had fled Mashonaland Central
Province.
Another 30 percent had
been forced to flee from Mashonaland West Province,
he said. All three were
former Zanu-PF strongholds.
Chirunga said: "We must make sure that we
provide polling agents for all the
areas where our activists have been
displaced. The same applies for the
rural Matabeleland provinces".
The
MDC says it had the capacity to raise enough manpower for all the
polling
stations to be used in the run-off poll despite the violence that
has caused
the death of several MDC supporters.
"Zanu PF has murdered some but not
all of our supporters," said. "We still
have overwhelming support as a party.
We can provide polling agents for two
countries".
The MDC last week
ordered its MPs and councilors to compile two lists of
polling agents in each
constituency with one being made up of volunteers who
will be deployed as
polling agents to the affected constituencies.
Zimbabweans vote in a
second round presidential poll on June 27 after the
first round failed to
produce an outright winner.
Mugabe who was beaten into second place by
the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai in
the first round has unleashed a vicious terror
campaign designed to cow the
electorate into voting for him in the crucial
run-off election which he has
vowed to win.
The opposition which
accuses militants loyal to Mugabe of perpetrating
violence against its
members says 66 of its supporters have been killed in
the post election
violence that has seen the displacement of thousands
of
villagers.
Mugabe has denied the allegations of violence. Instead
he accuses the
opposition of fomenting violence against Zanu-PF supporters.
He has warned
that the MDC is "playing a dangerous game".
Zanu-PF lost
its House of Assembly majority for the first time since1980 but
retained
control of the Senate.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
June 16, 2008
I want to let you
know that President Robert Mugabe has stepped up his dirty
tricks in his
quest to remain in power.
The people of my village, ... Village in the
Makoni District were all taken
to a war veteran base in the Gurure area to be
"taught how to vote", as the
war vets claimed.
My family and relatives
were beaten thoroughly in front of people from eight
other villages who had
been marched to the base to witness people from my
village receiving
"lessons".
Their crime was to thank the MDC who assisted financially in
burying my
niece who died of natural causes just before in April. After the
beatings
everyone's identity card was taken. As I write to you, eight
villages in the
area will not vote, come June 27.
Please, expose these
dirty tricks. I know your Editor because he comes from
the same area. He can
verify this information. I don't know how you can
bring this to the attention
of the MDC and the international observers or
how they can counter
this.
I'm not too sure whether this is widespread or just an isolated
incident. We
appear to be in a fix with
Mugabe.
Troubled,
Rusape
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
June 12, 2008
By Lance
Mambondiani
THERE is no shortage of superlatives to describe the state of
the Zimbabwean
economy.
According to statistics the country has the
worst economy in the world. But
can it really get any worse when every
economic indicator suggests we have
hit rock bottom. Without a bold change in
policy direction, the economic
outlook remains bleak. The truth is economic
fundamentals can deteriorate
further and inflation can still get
worse.
Zimbabwe's inflation is hardly history's worst. In Weimar Germany
in 1923,
prices quadrupled each month. During hyperinflation in Yugoslavia,
shoppers
would use wheelbarrows to transport bank notes for a shopping
expedition.
There is a certain surrealism associated with analyzing the
Zimbabwean
economy; good news is as scarce as the US dollar in Harare. The
impact of
the economic collapse is felt on every street corner and by every
business.
The country has been in a deep recession and hyperinflation for the
last
decade.
The impact of both on ordinary Zimbabweans has been
retrogression back to
the Stone Age. Besides breaking records as the country
with the highest
inflation rate in the world, it is the comparative
difference with other top
five countries rated on the current high inflation
list which highlights the
Zimbabwean problem like a sore thumb.
The
second highest inflation is that of war-torn Iraq, with an inflation
rate of
53.2 percent,. Next in line are Guinea (30.9 percent), Sao Tome and
Principe
with 23.1 percent and Yemen at 20.8 percent. Economists say that it
is a
miracle that Zimbabwe's economy is still surviving with the
unprecedented
rise in prices and an unemployment rate of 80 percent.
So why is it that
there are few, if any positive economic forecasts on
Zimbabwe?
The
Zimbabwean government itself is deeply torn and conflicted between
an
interventionist, command control policy prescriptive approach and a
free
market approach to economic policy. This has been typified in
contradictory
policies such as the floating of exchange rates and the price
controls or
the high level fight against inflation ('enemy number one') but
expanding
quasi-fiscal activities thereby increasing money supply
growth.
The result has been a blend of less than austere economic
experiments,
unsuccessful anywhere else in the world. Beyond the short-term
need for
political survival, the country's economic model remains uncertain,
if not
non-existent.
On a balance of probabilities, weak policy
formulation and implementation
has been as responsible for the economic
crisis as the 'declared and
undeclared sanctions'. It is possible to find
sympathy with a school of
thought which suggests that Zimbabwe has more of a
'governance' problem than
it has an economic crisis.
The recent rise
in inflation has been entirely man-made. Inflation surged
between February,
March and April following the sudden rise in money supply
that flooded the
market to finance the March 2008 elections and the June 27
presidential
run-off. Reflecting this increase, the money market is
currently in a huge
surplus, peaking at $15 quadrillion last week.
Unconfirmed reports
indicate an increase in annual inflation from 355,000
percent in March 2008
to 732,000 percent in April and 1,700,000 percent in
May. This translates to
a monthly inflation of 224 percent in March, 314
percent in April and 261
percent in May which matches fundamentals on the
ground. The late great
Milton Friedman told us that inflation is always
exclusively a monetary
phenomenon.
The recent paralyzing rise in money supply has been a major
contributory
factor to rising inflation. The central bank has never denied
that it has
been printing money to fund some of the country's critical
supplies. This
indeterminate rise in Money of Zero Maturity is considered to
be a
reasonable proxy for watching the movement of M3, which is the
broadest
measure of money supply.
The huge rise in inflation has also
in part been attributed to the
depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar on the
inter-bank foreign exchange
markets. Since the floatation of exchange rates,
the Zimbabwe dollar has
been depreciating by an average of 20 percent daily
due to sustained
pressure on an unsupported market. The parallel market has
been ferociously
resurgent, with the interbank market playing
catch-up.
Although the reasons for the dominance of the parallel market
are varied,
there could be other dynamics at play. Often neglected is the
fact that with
industry utilization at less than 10 percent, there have been
little or no
exports. Companies have also been discouraged from investing on
the local
market due to the general uncertainty about the future values of
their
currency holdings or investment portfolio which in turn leads to low
levels
of employment and economic growth. The market for 'free funds' often
from
people in the Diaspora sending money to their relatives has become the
major
source of foreign currency. Currently, the exchange rate tends to be
driven
by money transfer rates than by the semi-liberalized interbank
market.
Addressing the country's economic problems will not be easy but
a
turn-around is possible. The central bank has introduced a couple of
good
policies which have gone unsupported by business due to polarity or
simply
contradicted by politicians in aid of political rhetoric.
The
liberalization of the foreign currency market is one such policy.
Analysts
have been calling for the liberalization of the currency market as
a measure
to address economic imbalance, now that the market has been
liberalized,
there is a growing call to return to a fixed exchange rate due
to spiraling
prices and skyrocketing inflation.
This would suggest that our economic
crisis cannot be resolved by addressing
a single policy with contradictory
ones still in place. It's like patching
up a hole in a threadbare shirt with
a new cloth, sooner that later, the
holes will start showing
again.
What the economy needs is an urgent overhaul of the entire
financial
architecture and a government capable of identifying and addressing
the core
of policy dysfunctions. Although economic growth may be long on the
horizon,
economic stability is achievable.
(Lance Mambondiani is an
Investment executive at Coronation Financial Plc in
the United Kingdom. He
can be contacted at coronation.uk@btinternet.com)
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
June 17, 2008
A FRIEND asked me
if I had see the advertisement by 40 prominent
personalities, mostly
Africans, "putting pressure on President Mugabe" to
end violence, repression
and murder and accept the concept of free and fair
democracy. He was ecstatic
that pressure was mounting on the despot now that
Africa was speaking
out.
It was difficult to suppress my anger, not at him, but at most of
the
signatories to the statement. Joachim Chissano, Ben Mkapa and Kenneth
Kaunda
should have been the last people on earth to sign that statement. They
are
just as culpable as Mugabe in the maiming and murder of Zimbabweans.
They
were part of the conspiracy of silence when they were Presidents, and
did
absolutely nothing to stop Mugabe from what he is doing.
Just a
few weeks ago, Kenneth Kaunda was talking, for the umpteenth time,
about the
problem in Zimbabwe having been the creation of the British. Ben
Mkapa said
as much even in the last days of his presidency, embarrassing
former British
Prime Minister Tony Blair who had invited him to sit on the
Blair Commission
on Africa. Mkapa was desperate not to be seen by Mugabe as
a British stooge.
So he had to sing an antiquated African revolutionary
song.
The
Botswana duo, Festus Mogae and Ketumile Quett Masire's hands are
dripping
with blood of Zimbabweans as well. By their silence, they were
complicit in
the murder of Zimbabweans. One always thought they feared
Zimbabwean military
might. But new President Khama has stood up to be
counted. Now he is alone,
protesting the wanton arrest of opposition members
for no other reason than
to stymie their campaigning.
Shame on us Africans. The OAU was built on
the premise of liberating Africa
from colonialism and organising for African
unity. It was on the basis of
"non-interference" in the "internal affairs" of
member countries. Among the
founding fathers was Emperor Haile Selassie. One
Colonel Mengistu
Haile-Mariam was soon to take power in the very capital of
the OAU, declared
Red Terror and went on to butcher his own citizens
wantonly.
I held no truck for the likes of Haile Selassie in the same way
I hold no
truck for Morgan Tsvangirai. But Africa, based in Addis Ababa,
looked the
other way while Mengistu acted like a man possessed. He went on to
butcher
Selassie's family and threw the bodies in a pit latrine! Are these
the
actions of a sane human being? No, it was an internal affair and as such
it
was right not to interfere.
The AU was established on a totally
different premise: peer review. But old
habits die hard, particularly for
those who want to keep their old habits
for their own benefit. Robert Mugabe
is but just one of them. Thabo Mbeki
would have been another had the ANC not
clipped his wings at Polokwane. His
"former" friend Bakili Muluzi tried it
and they bundled him out. Lucky for
Bob the next guy in line, Bingu
waMutharika turned out to be another
Mugabite. Sam Nujoma was
another.
Most of these "guys" are all the same. If Mugabe were finally to
be thrown
out today he would soon join "prominent" leaders of the world to
preach
democracy in his Queen's English, with George Charamba hopefully as
his
speech writer. What credibility Africa. We are the laughing stock of
the
world, the only continent in socio-economic decline and generally
still
ruled by a bunch of despots who thrive on protecting each
other.
Come June 27, Mugabe must be voted out. Let him start the civil
war. That's
what Mbeki wants, isn't it, so that we destroy an economy and a
country that
was rated second only to his beloved South Africa. But, listen
to this, a
civil war is a civil war. It's two or more sides fighting against
each
other. If Mugabe thinks he has the military and the police on his side,
he
better look who really is with the foul-speaking
commanders.
JM
Harare
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
June 17, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Former Zimbabwean finance minister Simba Makoni,
and a losing
candidate in the presidential election held in March, says
President Robert
Mugabe's former ruling Zanu-PF party is on the way to its
final demise.
He also says even with only two weeks to go, it is not too
late to abandon
the second round of presidential elections which is scheduled
for next week.
Makoni, who secured only eight percent of the poll in the
March 29 election,
said this in a wide ranging interview with a South African
weekly newspaper
at the weekend. He also said the prevailing political
conditions in
Zimbabwe, which have seen many MDC supporters murdered and
several of the
party's leaders arrested during the past week, were not
conducive for a free
and fair poll.
Zanu-PF succumbed to its first
electoral defeat since independence when it
came out second to the MDC in
March while Mugabe was humiliated by
Tsvangirai, the opposition leader whom
he publicly despised and dismissed as
a mere puppet of Britain and the United
States. Tsvangirai did not win a
large enough majority to form a new
government and a second round of polling
was declared in terms of Zimbabwe's
electoral Act.
Makoni has since his defeat campaigned for the scrapping
of the election
run-off while proposing a process of negotiation leading to a
government of
national unity.
In the newspaper interview Makoni said:
"Zanu-PF is already now a minority
party. They are on the slippery slope;
they are going down. It's going to be
difficult for them to come up again.
They are already on the road to
nothingness."
He also took time during
the interview to describe his intriguing departure
from Zanu-PF which he
publicly announced on February 5. He made his move
after months of
speculation that he planned to lead a breakaway faction of
Zanu-PF.
At
the time the faction was believed to include Vice President Joyce Mujuru
and
her feared husband, former guerrilla war fighter and former army
commander,
Solomon Mujuru. The two, however, quickly distanced themselves
from Makoni's
so-called Mavambo Project. Last week his strongest allies
since he made his
presidential ambitions public, Edgar Tekere and Dumiso
Dabengwa, both former
Zanu-PF stalwarts effectively distanced themselves
from Makoni's campaign for
a government of national unity, saying they now
backed
Tsvangirai.
Nkosana Moyo, another former minister in the Mugabe
government, who has of
late successfully raised funds for Makoni, told the
BBC that the correct
political strategy now was to support the MDC leader
against Mugabe.
Makoni has said his Mavambo/Kusile Project is set to be
formally launched
into a fully fledged political party later this
year.
Makoni said in the interview: "In politics there are different
processes.
You have conversations with individuals or small groups and then
you have
conversations in formal structures like the politburo, the
central
committee.
"You say, 'Why is the country in this position?'
You say it's because we
were following the wrong direction. In my case, I had
the opportunity to be
in leadership structures of both the party and the
government."
Makoni said the turning point in the political fortunes of
Zanu-PF started
some ten years ago when the debate on the need to change the
leadership of
the party was started. But Mugabe had moved to crush it when he
said that
there was no vacancy to the post of the party's presidency at the
2004
annual conference of the party.
Makoni said a huge number of
Zanu-PF politicians believed that Mugabe had
played his part for the party
and the country and needed to hand over power
to another person but they were
not courageous enough to come out in the
open and express their
views.
"I am quite clear that the large majority of members of Zanu-PF
for five,
seven, 10 years have believed that it was in the best interest of
the party
and the country that we change leadership," said Makoni. "President
Mugabe
has made his contribution; he excelled himself in the early years
of
independence, but the direction we were taking beyond 1996 was
ruinous.
"There was a time I used to say if you see any two, five or 10
members of
Zanu-PF in conversation, you are sure that top of the agenda is
the question
of leadership change and direction and policy change. Somehow
that
conversation did not develop to be a movement in the manner that you saw
at
Polokwane, for instance, because some people felt constrained, some
would
say we were afraid.
"Unfortunately there were not many of us who
felt they could come open in
the manner that I finally did. I guess we all
have a breaking point and mine
came after the special congress in December
when we couldn't make a decision
that changed the leadership, and I felt this
was enough. There was no
prospect that I could change this thing from within
and I therefore went the
way I did."
Makoni said his decision to break
away from Zanu-PF had created animosity
between him and Mugabe who publicly
labelled his former finance minister as
"charlatan, sell-out and prostitute"
at rallies.
"Judging by his remarks after I announced my candidacy, it
created
animosity," he said. "There are many more people in Zanu-PF who
believe in
what I'm standing for even if they are unable to say that in
public. I think
that is more important than one man's opinion."
Makoni
also revealed that he was trying to mediate between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai to
agree on a government of national unity after setting aside
the
much-anticipated presidential run-off which is scheduled to be held
next
week.
"You have heard my public stance. The country cannot afford
another
election," said Makoni.
"We don't need this run-off. It is not
going to solve the problems of the
country and we should get down to
seriously constituting what we have called
the national transitional
authority - most of you call it the government of
national unity. That is
what we are promoting very actively and forcefully.
Basically, Zimbabwe does
not have money to finance this election.
"I am talking to both the MDC
and Zanu-PF about solving the crisis in
Zimbabwe at the moment."
Asked
if he was succeeding, Makoni said: "Fortunately I can talk to both
quite
easily. I have no difficulties arranging meetings with them. I have
not met
Robert Mugabe but I'm meeting senior Zanu-PF leaders and senior MDC
leaders
as well.
"At this stage I do not have problems communicating with both
parties. That
is one of the advantages of my position. I feel I can
facilitate a
conversation with them. I had a meeting with Morgan once since
he came back
(from his self-imposed exile in South Africa)."
Makoni
said, however, that the process had not been easy.
"These things are not
so simple," he said. "They are listening to me and
others also. I'm not the
only one who is facilitating in this process of
getting together leaders.
There are other players at home and outside
Zimbabwe. All of us are in the
process of nudging Zanu-PF and the MDC to
accept that the country's problems
cannot be solved by one entity.
"The country does not need the run-off
and we are working to persuade the
two contenders that there is another
better solution. At the moment I cannot
say that it will be put off. We have
16 days; it's tight, but until it's
11.59pm we will persevere because we
believe this is the best way out for
Zimbabwe."
Makoni also said that
if his efforts to bring stability to Zimbabwe through
a negotiated settlement
failed, he would try and do so through his
Mavambo/Kusile party.
He
expressed confidence that he would become the president of Zimbabwe
in
2013.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
June 11, 2008
If Tsvangirai allows
himself to be inveigled into becoming Mugabe's prime
minister, he will
deserve Joshua Nkomo's fate
By David Blair
If Morgan Tsvangirai
agrees to join President Robert Mugabe in a government
of national unity,
Zimbabwe's recent history suggests that he will tread a
short route to
political oblivion.
Uncanny echoes of Mr Tsvangirai's dilemma can be
found in the events of two
decades ago. Then Joshua Nkomo, a pillar of
Zimbabwe's struggle against
white rule and the leader of the Zapu party, was
a beleaguered opposition
politician. Mr Mugabe was obsessed with crushing his
opponents, just as he
is today.
Mr Nkomo, who enjoyed enormous
popularity among his minority Ndebele people,
making him a significant
political threat, faced violence on a scale that
makes today's campaign
against the MDC look relatively restrained. Mr Mugabe
unleashed a special
army unit, the Fifth Brigade, to destroy Zapu's support
base by terrorising
and murdering the Ndebele. At least 8,000 were killed
and tens of thousands
abducted, tortured or assaulted between 1982 and 1987.
The Zapu
leadership was rounded up and Mr Nkomo spent almost a year in exile
in
Britain. To end the bloodshed and restore his own political influence,
Mr
Nkomo began talks with the ruling Zanu-PF party. In December 1987, he
signed
the "Unity Accord" with Mr Mugabe and hailed the deal as a "new
beginning".
In theory, Zapu and Zanu-PF merged to form a new party under
a new
leadership. There was one problem: the new party was called Zanu-PF and
its
leader was Robert Mugabe. The Unity Accord was a cruel sham. By signing
this
deal, Mr Nkomo had agreed to abolish Zapu and serve Mr Mugabe as a
meek
subordinate, thereby signing his own political death warrant. Mr
Nkomo's
only consolation was that he became vice-president, living in a
mansion and
making money on the side - notably becoming one of Zimbabwe's
largest
landowners. But his purely ceremonial functions left him powerless.
He died
in 1999, a forlorn, pathetic figure, whom Mr Mugabe had outsmarted at
every
turn.
This is the fate that awaits Mr Tsvangirai. When Zanu PF
politicians talk of
a coalition government, they have the Unity Accord in
mind and are preparing
the MDC leader for Mr Nkomo's inglorious role. For his
part, Mr Tsvangirai
has insisted that the "mandate" he won in the
presidential election's first
round must be respected. If there is a unity
government, he must be
president.
But South Africa may have other
ideas. Following the example of Kenya, it
may be suggested that Mr Mugabe
stays as president with Mr Tsvangirai as
prime minister. If Mr Tsvangirai
allows himself to be inveigled into
becoming Mr Mugabe's prime minister, he
will deserve Mr Nkomo's fate.
(David Blair is the Diplomatic Editor of
The Daily Telegraph (UK))
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com
June 16, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
GENEVA - TRADE unionists from across Africa and from around
the world on
Friday called for an official International Labour Organisation
(ILO)
Commission of Inquiry into Zimbabwe, as more reports of torture and
murder
of trade unionists by state security agents and gangs linked to the
President Robert Mugabe's autocratic regime emerge from the
country.
Trade union delegates attending the ILO's International Labour
Conference in
Geneva from Angola, Botswana, Guinea, Senegal, South Africa,
Swaziland and a
range of other countries including ILO Workers' Group
Chairperson Sir Roy
Trotman on Friday attacked Zimbabwe's appalling record
on trade union rights
and lodged a formal complaint under Article 26 of the
ILO Constitution,
which could lead to the establishment of an ILO Commission
of Inquiry.
This procedure is the strongest investigative measure which
exists under the
ILO's supervisory mechanisms.
"We feel obliged to
lodge this complaint, and call upon the ILO Governing
Body to propose
measures to make sure that the Zimbabwe government fully
respects ILO
Conventions 87 and 98 on Freedom of Association, the Right to
Organise and
Collective Bargaining," said South African trade union delegate
Alina
Rantsolase.
The move by the trade union delegates follows a
strongly-worded condemnation
of Zimbabwe's trade union rights record by the
Committee on the Application
of Standards at this years' ILO Conference
which began last month and ended
Friday. Employer representatives and
governments joined with trade unions in
criticizing the government on its
record and on its failure once again to
come before the committee to put its
case.
The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, a militant teachers
union
reported on Friday that Shepherd Chegwu, a member of the PTUZ and
principal
of Katsukunya High School, was abducted from his home early this
month, and
his body, showing signs of severe torture and a gunshot wounds in
his neck
and head, was found nearby two days later. Chegwu had previously
been
interrogated by "war veterans" and militia about actions taken by PTUZ
members at his school to protest at the governments' actions in the lead up
to the re-run of the presidential election on June 27.
Another
agricultural union, the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers'
Union of
Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) reported that its official Edward Dzeka was
kidnapped by
Zanu-PF militia on Thursday and is believed to have been taken
to a torture
base near the town of Chegutu, about 100 kilometres west of
Harare.
Unionists in Harare say the police have not taken any
effective action to
investigate the incidences.
President Robert
Mugabe's administration has been cracking down on labour
leaders since the
emergence of the labour backed opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) party. While both President Robert Mugabe and his
Zanu-PF party were
defeated in separate elections on March 29, the
government accuses the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union, the country's
largest labour alliance and
its affiliates such as the PTUZ and GAPUZ of
working with the MDC and
western government to effect regime change in the
country.
However,
the ZCTU denies the charge and accuse Harare of doing too little to
improve
workers welfare.
International Bar Association (London)
PRESS
RELEASE
16 June 2008
Posted to the web 16 June 2008
The
International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute [IBAHRI] today
called
for the immediate end to the unlawful detention of Eric Matinenga, an
eminent Advocate of the Zimbabwe High Court and opposition Member of
Parliament. Mr Matinenga has been detained in police custody despite a
ruling by the Zimbabwe High Court on 8 June ordering his release.
The
IBAHRI said it is alarmed that the Director of Public Prosecutions and
Investigating Police Officers have refused to comply with the court order.
Mr Matinenga's continued detention is a violation of both Article 18 of the
Zimbabwe Constitution and international standards concerning the treatment
of uncharged prisoners. 'Mr Matinenga is being punished for the sole reason
of having campaigned against state-orchestrated political violence,' said
Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the International Bar Association. The
IBAHRI further notes that conditions in which detainees are held in Zimbabwe
are very poor and that Mr Matinenga's lawyers have been denied access to
their client, in violation of international law.
The IBAHRI
called for officials defying the court order to be investigated
and held
accountable for their actions. 'The defiant disregard of a valid
Zimbabwe
High Court order by police officials is a flagrant violation of the
rule of
law,' stated Mr Ellis. 'The world is watching as people in Mugabe's
regime
violate international law with impunity. We continue to support the
efforts
to ensure that those responsible for egregious human rights
violations in
Zimbabwe will be held accountable.'
Mr Matinenga's attorneys have filed
contempt proceedings against the police
officials for failure to comply with
the High Court's rulings, and expect to
have a hearing tomorrow.
Comment from The Cape Times (SA), 16 June
Peter
Fabricius
The whole protracted saga about the letter which Zimbabwean
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai sent or did
not send to
President Thabo Mbeki on May 13 looks rather like a diversion
from the
reality on the ground in Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai says he sent it,
Mbeki's
office that they never got it. But while the Sunday Times and
Mbeki's
director-general Frank Chikane were exchanging insults and threats
about the
letter, President Robert Mugabe was declaring, and indeed waging,
war on his
people. About 70 mainly opposition supporters have now been
killed since the
first round of elections on March 29, scores more have been
injured and many
homes burned. All of this to ensure that Mugabe wins the
presidential
run-off poll on June 27. But while Zimbabwe bleeds and burns,
the Presidency
is fiddling with the Tsvangirai letter, or non-letter, as the
case may be,
and saying very little about the violence. Let's forget about
whether or not
the letter was delivered to Mbeki and concentrate on its
contents. In it
Tsvangirai asks Mbeki to step down as the exclusive mediator
in the Zimbabwe
crisis because of his alleged bias towards Mugabe.
Tsvangirai cites several
instances, including a garland-festooned Mbeki
holding hands with the
Zimbabwean president on April 12 - just before
attending a Southern African
Development Community (SADC) summit on Zimbabwe
- and saying there was no
crisis there.
What annoyed Tsvangirai about
this remark was not just what annoyed many
other people - the fact that
Mbeki could see no crisis in Zimbabwe when no
results had been announced two
weeks after the election. It was also that
Tsvangirai says in the letter
that two days before the SADC summit he had
met Mbeki and shown him a
disturbing document, which, he says, was brought
to his attention by
sympathisers in the Zimbabwe military establishment.
"This document showed
that a decision had been taken by the Zimbabwean
government to deploy
military, war veterans and militia in a violent
campaign against supporters
of the MDC. This operation has now resulted in
many supporters being beaten,
maimed and killed." Tsvangirai says it was
this document which prompted the
SADC leaders to meet in Lusaka on April 12.
We have sources who attended
that meeting saying Mbeki stuck to his no
crisis position, incurring some
rude rebukes from Zambian President Levy
Mwanawasa, the current SADC
chairperson. What we need to be hearing from
Mbeki's presidency is not their
theories about how unnamed (read British and
American) intelligence agencies
wrote the Tsvangirai letter as part of a
disinformation campaign to
destabilise Mbeki's mediation.
What we need to hear is: did
Tsvangirai give him that document about
Mugabe's plans for a violent
campaign to retain the presidency on June 27 -
after his shock defeat in
both the parliamentary and presidential elections
of March 29? (Though, of
course, Tsvangirai did not win the 50%-plus victory
in the presidential poll
to avoid the June 27 run-off.) And if Mbeki did get
this document on April
10, what did he do with it? Did he also treat it as
disinformation
(concocted by the MDC, perhaps, with collusion from its
friends in MI5 or
the CIA)? Or did he take it seriously and attempt to do
something about it?
Because by now it is fairly obvious that something very
like that violent
campaign against the MDC was launched and is now in
absolutely full swing.
Mbeki did express concern about the violence last
week, but does he very
much care? It appears that South Africa was as
surprised as Mugabe himself
by his defeats on March 29, possibly because
they upset Pretoria's scenario
for a Mugabe victory, followed by Mugabe
graciously handing over power to a
more palatable Zanu PF leader who enters
into some power-sharing deal with
the MDC. Is Mbeki watching the election
campaign with some complacency
because Mugabe has now put this agreed
scenario back on track?
Republic of Botswana
16 June,
2008
GABORONE - Political analyst and UB political science lecturer, Dr.
Zibani
Maundeni, says the time has come for SADC leaders to apply more
pressure on
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.
Dr Maundeni was speaking
in an interview with BOPA, in reaction to South
African President Thabo
Mbekis recent statements expressing concern about
reports of violence
against members of opposition parties in Zimbabwe.
Dr. Maundeni says
recent statements by South African President Thabo Mbeki
show that President
Mbeki has now recognised the need for a change of
strategy when dealing with
Zimbabwe.
Perhaps President Mbeki thought he would be able to negotiate
the process
with Mugabe, but we hope he can now join other leaders and apply
pressure on
him, Dr. Maundeni said.
Dr. Maundeni said SADC presidents
as leaders should know what to do to
improve the situation in
Zimbabwe.
President Mbeki, who is the SADC regions mediator on the
Zimbabwean
situation, has denied that there is a crisis in
Zimbabwe.
However, recent news media reports have quoted him as saying
the violence in
Zimbabwe needs urgent attention, and that his government is
doing all it can
to ensure that there are no major problems in the
presidential second-round
elections.
President Mbeki has also been
reported as saying SADC should strengthen its
observer missions in
Zimbabwe.
His statements come after reports of violence and intimidation
of opposition
party members in the campaigns leading to second-round
presidential
elections scheduled for June 27th.
Leader of Movement
for Democratic Change, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai was recently
released after
being detained by Zimbabwean police for the third time in one
month, while
the secretary general of the party, Mr. Tendai Biti has been
arrested and
will be charged with treason.BOPA.
Republic of Botswana
16 June,
2008
FRANCISTOWN - Government has so far spent more than P350 000 in the
assessment of the 439 Zimbabwean asylum seekers who have been granted
refugee status in Dukwi The Chairman of the Refugee Advisory Committee, Mr
Richard Oaitse said in an interview that his committee made financial
estimates for the coming six months to prepare for any possible increase in
the number of asylum seekers.
We were allocated P200 000 to use in taking
care of Zimbabwean asylum
seekers at the reception centres and the holding
centre in Francistown when
the first batch of asylum seekers arrived, and
over the weeks we asked for
another P200 000, which we are left with P30
000, he said.
Mr Oaitse, who is the Francistown District Commissioner,
explained that the
numbers of asylum seekers coming into Botswana was
decreasing, attributing
this to the approaching June 27 presidential run-off
in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile none of the Zimbabwean refugees have shown
interest in going back
to their country to vote.
I wish I could go
back to cast my vote yet again, but I cannot Im too
scared, said Bangana
Moyo in interview last week.
He said it was better to be in a foreign
country alive than die for a vote.
People may say I am a coward but I am
better of here, alive, he said. If I
go back home those people will torture
me and label me a sellout because
some of my brothers have decided to stay
and die for their votes.
Current news media reports on the Zimbabwean
situation are that violence
continues in that country, and that police
officers have been ordered to
confiscate identification cards of suspected
MDC supporters until after the
election.
Botswana has been the first
SADC country to send observers to Zimbabwe, with
the first batch having left
on Saturday. BOPA
http://zimbabwemetro.com
By Staff ⋅ zimbabwemetro.com ⋅ June 16,
2008
“I remain deeply concerned about the crisis in Zimbabwe, where the
government of Robert Mugabe last week banned the operations of humanitarian
agencies working across the country. The regime’s latest attempt to hold on
to power at any cost has already accelerated the suffering of millions of
Zimbabwe’s citizens. Food and other assistance from international agencies
including UNICEF, CARE, and Oxfam are critical to the survival of millions
of Zimbabweans who cannot afford basic foodstuffs due to skyrocketing
inflation and the government’s disastrous economic mismanagement.
The
United Nations estimates that two million people now face starvation in
a
country that was once a breadbasket serving all of southern Africa. In
this
man-made humanitarian crisis, the most vulnerable citizens-children and
AIDS
patients-have been hit the hardest.
Robert Mugabe’s government has
frequently used food as a political weapon
and required citizens to prove
their membership in his ZANU-PF party in
order to receive aid. The
government is at it once again, denying food
donated to Zimbabwe’s citizens
by the international community, including the
United States, to punish the
Zimbabwean people for voting peacefully for
change. This egregious abuse is
part of a broader campaign of intimidation
and repression designed to
manipulate the results of the June 27
presidential run-off elections.
Members of the opposition, civil society
activists, independent journalists
and foreign diplomats have all been
targets of harassment and brutality in
recent weeks. This week’s arrest and
detention of senior MDC leaders is the
most recent example of the government’s
determination to hang on to power at
any cost.
Governing means acting in the best interests of a nation and
its people.
Robert Mugabe has abandoned this fundamental responsibility, and
continues
to jeopardize the future of Zimbabwe’s children while undermining
the
economic progress that has been achieved in southern Africa. I am
pleased
that African leaders, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan,
former
heads of states, business leaders and some of the continent’s best
and
brightest artists and activists have called for an end to the violence
and
the ban on humanitarian aid operations.
Urgent action is required
to prevent a further deterioration of this tragic
situation. The United
Nations, the African Union and the Southern African
Development Community
cannot afford to be spectators to this tragedy. Along
with the United States
and Africa’s other partners, they must speak out
against repression in
Zimbabwe. They should also swiftly deploy observers
for the June 27th
run-off and demand that the Government of Zimbabwe
immediately lift the ban
on NGO operations before millions more suffer as
victims of this
crisis.”
Source: Senator Barack Obama
Zim Online
by Mutumwa Mawere Tuesday 17 June
2008
OPINION: The last 52 years have exposed how ill-prepared
native Africans
were in connecting the inherited colonial dots or points of
light in an
inclusive and progressive manner.
The architects of
colonialism knew what they wanted in Africa and to a large
extent the
settlers were assimilated into the African setting on their
terms. They
adopted Africa as a new home and proceeded to build institutions
that have
in large measure witnessed uninterrupted growth.
The infrastructure of
the colonial state provided a new address for
post-colonial
administrations.
To what extent were the majority Africans that were
alienated from their
natural resources and forced to trade their labour for
cash prepared to take
ownership of the agenda for change and
transformation?
The institutions that were established during the
colonial era were meant to
serve an exclusive group but judging by the pace
of development in
post-colonial Africa, it is evident that no serious
attempt has been made to
conceptualise and execute strategies designed to
empower the previously
disadvantaged without weakening the economic power of
the settler community.
The knowledge, capital and execution gaps that
confront Africa can only be
addressed when it becomes obvious to all that no
amount of rhetoric about
the ills of colonialism will help create a better
continent.
The poverty challenges that face Africa are not new and even
when the white
settlers were acutely aware that access to capital was one of
the stumbling
blocks to the exploration and exploitation of the continent's
resources.
Accordingly, the first African capital ambassadors were the
settler
community. They not only encouraged the movement of labour from
Europe but
also marketed the resources of Africa to European financiers
without whose
resources no development would have taken place.
The
link between capitalism and colonialism was, therefore, direct and
mutually
beneficial for those fortunate to access capital.
To the extent that the
colonial state was successful in creating a
functional state machinery
serving the needs of its tax payers, it is
important that an informed
conversation about the kind of Africa that we
need to see begin with an
examination of some of the institutions that have
helped to position South
Africa as a success story for the settler
community.
South Africa is
the host of the largest white settler community and its
infrastructure is
the most developed in the continent suggesting a causal
link between
colonialism and the development of a sophisticated financial,
industrial and
mining infrastructure.
One such institution is the Old Mutual Group, an
international savings and
wealth management company offering a range of
solutions for pensions,
investment and protection as well as asset
management services, whose
origins trace back to 1845 when a Scotsman, John
Fairbain, led a group of
166 members in the formation of South Africa's
first mutual aid society,
Mutual Life Assurance Society of the Cape of Good
Hope.
The institution was set up in the first instance to serve its
members and
their premiums, therefore, represented the group's sole capital.
The noble
idea to establish a mutual to serve members did not need a crowd
to
germinate but required a small group of people who were ahead of their
time
but knew that they had sown a seed that would produce a
harvest.
From humble origins, the institution became the leader in South
Africa's
financial services market and in 1885; the name of the company was
changed
to South Africa Mutual Life Assurance Society to reflect its status
as an
insurance provider for the entire South African colonial
state.
In the face of competition from mushrooming mutual aid
institutions, the
institution was adopted the name, Old Mutual, to emphasise
the fact that it
was the colony's first mutual society.
The
transformation of South Africa into an industrial society required
enabling
institutions to provide solutions to the growing class of working
people.
The interplay between politics and business became obvious when
South Africa
was granted its independence in 1910, its Chairman, John X.
Merriman was
elected as the new British Commonwealth's first premier.
Old Mutual grew
over the years to become a dominant player in the financial
services
industry accounting for more than a third of the domestic market.
It became
a major shareholder in a number of South African institutions,
such as the
future Nedcor bank, Richemont, the diversified Rembrandt group,
Standard
Bank, industrial group Barlow, mining group Anglo American, and
others.
It also was one of the pioneers in pan African investments
when it extended
its tentacles to the then Rhodesia & Namibia in 1927,
Kenya - 1930, and
Tanzania, Zambia - 1950s.
By the late 1990s, more
than half of the society's member-customers, which
by then numbered more
than three million, were black South Africans.
In the 1980s, Old Mutual
extended its tentacles outside the continent of
Africa.
In 1999, Old
Mutual demutualised, moved its headquarters to London, and took
a listing on
the London, Johannesburg, Frankfurt, Zimbabwe, and Malawi stock
exchanges.
Until 1999, Old Mutual was a benefit or mutual aid society
organised as a
voluntary association to provide mutual aid, benefit or
insurance for relief
from sundry difficulties. This institution was
organised around a shared
English ethnic background solely to provide
solutions to members.
The people who set up Old Mutual must have known
that they were on to a big
thing that would outlive them.
In 1994,
the race-based political system was replaced by an inclusive one
but
regrettably no serious attention has been paid to institution building
during the last 14 years.
If 166 white settlers could in 1845 see the
need for creating a mutual aid
society, why is it that over the last 52
years we have not witnessed the
creation of sustainable mutual aid societies
to serve the needs of a
generation that easily surrenders to blaming the
past for the lack of
progress in Africa?
Today, Old Mutual is flying
its flag high as a global brand with African
roots. However, how African is
Old Mutual? This question is relevant to the
extent that without
colonialism, it is safe to conclude that Old Mutual
would not have been
formed in Africa. We have not seen a working example of
collective
institutions formed by native Africans to support and facilitate
their
economic development.
The founders of Old Mutual created their own
institution that operated in a
manner that our governments ought to operate.
It was formed to serve members
and in doing so it grew with the times. The
real owners of the institution
were the members.
As we look back, we
have no choice but to start challenging ourselves on
what kind of Africa do
we want to see. Where is our new mutual? Who is our
own John Fairburn? How
do we create enduring institutions?
Old Mutual did not need the British
Empire to set it up and yet we have a
tendency of blaming other people for
things that we can do something about.
It is not too late to think
seriously about the possibility of creating a
new mutual aid society to
address the challenges of building a new Africa.
Old Mutual has now
relocated its headquarters to London and is no longer a
mutual.
With
the convenient disappearance of Old Mutual as a mutual, we have no
choice
but to pick up the pieces and challenge ourselves to be the change
that we
want to see by using our existing premiums to consolidate them into
one
platform. - ZimOnline
“Let us all campaign
against poverty and tyranny”
My brothers and sisters, for how
long can we continue to suffer under this despotic and self serving regime?
Enough is enough lets put a stop to it, we have the power to do it, come 27 June
2008, we will celebrate another independence day. None but us can free
ourselves.
As the defeated former president,
Robert Mugabe and his illegal regime continue to cling on to power by hook and
crook, subverting the people’s will which prevailed on 29 March 2008, it is now
upon every right thinking Zimbabwean to play his/her role in showing these sycophants the exit door once and for all. Morgan
Tsvangirai is being prevented from holding rallies and campaigning for his MDC
party. Access to public media by MDC is being denied whilst it churns out ZANU
(PF)’s rhetoric and propaganda day and night whilst denigrating MDC in general
and Morgan in particular. MDC’s political activists and supporters are being
intimidated, maimed or even killed, thanks to the state sponsored violence by
security forces and some militia. Thus, it becomes very dangerous for one to
engage in opposition politics let alone to be a known MDC supporter. The regime
does not want MDC to reach out to the electorate. This is the main objective of
violence, according to the master of deception Mugabe, to paralyse MDC
structures and at the same time neutralise its support base. Extraordinary
challenges require extraordinary solutions. Here is my extraordinary
strategy.
Strategy
MDC need to reach down to the
voters, which the regime is going at all odds to block. To circumvent this, let
not campaigning be for politicians only. Each and every one must campaign for
Morgan Tsvangirai! Politicians must reinforce and encourage people to help with
the campaign amongst them. Leaflets/fliers to distribute across country and
adverts in a few available independent newspapers will go a long way in opening
the closed space. Leaflets must be done using the country’s major languages,
print as many as possible to reach all corners and flood the country. MDC must
seriously consider investing hugely in these fliers as they will reach even
people who are risk averse and do not attend rallies for fear of being noticed
which side they belong to. Here is an example of information to include on such
leaflets.
Leaflet
specimen
Brothers and sisters of our beloved
Zimbabwe, lets all unite and stand firm and finish off the job we have already
started. The job of freeing our country from oppressors. On 29 March 2008 we
beat Mugabe and his Zanu Pf, this time we must deliver them a killer knock out
punch on 27 June 2008. With Mugabe still ruling the country will not develop and
move forward, we will continue with this man made disaster which will then
worsen. To Zanu PF, failure is the only option; they do not have any new ideas
now, except to beat innocent and unarmed people to force them to vote for
mediocrity and incompetent Mugabe. Yes we have been beaten, we have been
tortured, we have been harassed, we have lost loved ones, but we will know how
to vote, we will vote for change.
This is just but a sample; the sky
is the limit; let’s reach the people and hit Mugabe where it hurts most.
Sometimes the simplest idea brings the greatest
change
Zimbabwe atmosphere is pregnant with change
Its election season, but one in which everyone
seems especially on edge.I am not sure what it is, they say run off, but I hope
that its not a run over or run away .The current political atmosphere is one of
extremes, with much at stake regardless of where on the spectrum of politics you
reside. The current political environment is actually a threat even to the
apolitical people who want basic commodities such as bread and butter. People
who just want to go to their workplace and raise their
children.
The atmosphere in Zimbabwe is pregnant with change, and it is unfortunate that it is going to be impossible to contain this fever. If I was a weather commentator I would tell you the report with an umbrella claiming that it might rain anytime from now.There is
Certainly a widespread feeling that President Mugabe has reached the point of political perishability. Change is a natural process which cannot be stopped. I know that in the hush seas its only the captain and his crew who will adjust their sails or risk perishing. Change is a force which has gathered momentum to the peak. There are people who are trying to temper with the change , I feel that I should caution them that they are fighting nature. If they succeed they become demi-gods though its truly a mammoth task. No individual can control time, but many of us adjust to time. I feel most people are fighting a loosing battle if nature is in control.
Whenever I meet people they are humming a song of change in Zimbabwe, I have been surprised to realize that some staunch ZANU PF are also part of this crusade. Change seems to be the world order and its unstoppable, I think Senator Obama can attest to that.
No amount of intimidation and violence is going to stop this spirit which has gripped the atmosphere, everybody in the streets, buses; rains workplaces are singing, talking and even whistling about it. An ocean of people from all over the diaspora will flow to Zimbabwe on the 27th June to what has been denied them. The people have their candidate who has stood with them for more than ten years in the struggle for change and they are determined to see him through to victory.
The wrath of the masses cannot be stopped, people are determined to show their anger through the ballot box .During the smith regime I was told that the freedom fighters were denied access to the media, but still they always found a way to communicate. They were labeled terrorists and sell-outs by the regime when they were actually our brothers and sisters. Instilling fear is a good strategy for as long as it doesn’t backfire, because if it does the wrath of the masses is inevitable. We need peace in Zimbabwe and that we shall surely get against all odds.
The champions of violence should not forget that they are doing this to their own parents, brothers and sisters which might make it difficult to be accepted in the community. Preach peace instead and allow the people to choose a candidate of their choice. I can assure you that people are determined to continue speaking through the ballot box for as long as they are allowed to vote. Lets not deprive people the right to speak, let the people speak.
The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in the period of moral crisis maintain neutrality. What is happening in our beautiful country is unacceptable, there is no pride in
killing your own people. These people do not have guns, but their vote as a weapon. You cannot call yourself a mighty hunter when you are killing hapless chickens in your mother’s fowl run. I think there is still room to reconsider the violent stance. There are better methods of addressing issues not murdering and maiming your own brothers and sisters. Its against Pan African values and these scars of violence will take longer to heal as the people killing each other are from the same village. Brothers do not loose hope Zimbabwe shall rise again,this time better than ever
Simbarashe Chirimubwe is the leader of Concerned Africans Association(CAA) and Global Zimbabwe –Diaspora Forum representative for Africa
The Age, Australia
Editorial
June 17, 2008
Democracy is a sham, the economy is a
basket case, political repression
rules. Change must come to
Zimbabwe.
WHO or what will stop Robert Mugabe? The President of Zimbabwe
should be
seen now for what he is and what he represents: a thug who will
plunge his
country into the abyss in order to cling to power. The rhetoric
of
politicians can usually be dismissed as theatrical gesture, but the words
of
Mr Mugabe have a deeply disturbing and distressing menace.
The
tyrannical leader raised the odds significantly when he spoke at the
weekend
of fighting a war against those whom he saw as opposing his rule.
"We shall
never never accept anything that smells
of the MDC," Mr Mugabe said.
Admittedly he was speaking at the funeral of
former general Norbert
Chingombe, and so was speaking to a gathering of
mourners sympathetic to his
aims. However, within the exhortation is the
whiff of terror. He also said:
"Anyone who tries to undermine our land
reform we will challenge. We are
prepared to fight for our country or go to
war if we lose it - as happened
to our forefathers." The MDC to which he
refers is the Movement for
Democratic Change. Mr Mugabe and the MDC's leader
Morgan Tsvangirai are
engaged in a campaign for the presidency, the run-off
vote for which is to
take place on June 27. But this is not democracy. Mr
Mugabe has made it
clear that he will not relinquish power, whatever the
will of the people
decides.
Mr Mugabe has made it clear that it is his will that dictates
the process.
This is not democracy. It is farce, but it is now much worse
than that. With
his latest declarations Mr Mugabe, in effect, has silenced
his people's
voice. This is the mark of a dictator.
It is also the
mark of a dictator to nurture the loyalty of those who can
safeguard one's
power - that is, the security forces and the militias.
With that nexus
firmly in place, it becomes a matter of survival for both
camps. As it has
become in Zimbabwe. Last weekend the secretary-general of
the MDC, Tendai
Biti, appeared before a court in Harare accused of treason.
Mr Tsvangirai
has been detained on several occasions for no other reason
than that he is
Mr Mugabe's political opponent. At least Mr Biti is still
alive. Others have
been beaten and murdered in a parallel campaign of
intimidation by
Government forces. In recent days, General Constantine
Chiwenga, chief of
the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, declared that the opposition
to Mr Mugabe was
"treacherous". In such a climate of fear how can it be
reasonably expected
of anyone to cast their ballot and believe it will make
a difference? To
vote becomes an act of bravery.
The outrage that should rightly be poured
upon General Chiwenga's statement
stems from the fact that when elections
were held in March, Mr Tsvangirai
comfortably beat Mr Mugabe for the
presidency by almost six percentage
points. However, he fell short of the
simple majority needed to claim the
position. Hence the run-off vote in two
weeks. What then will happen if Mr
Mugabe loses the vote? He will not go
quietly, that much is certain. He will
not bend to any other political
entity running than country other than an
ally. What then can bend his
will?
The answer lies outside Zimbabwe's borders. It lies in sustained,
concerted
condemnation from the international community of Mr Mugabe's rule
and in
particular from the African nations. It is on this point, however,
that the
chorus of disapproval fades. The South African President, Thabo
Mbeki,
warrants special mention. As chief mediator to Zimbabwe for the
Southern
African Development Community, Mr Mbeki should be taking a much
stronger
stance publicly than merely stating a "serious concern" towards
developments
in Zimbabwe. The time for diplomatic niceties is over. Mr
Mugabe has shown
repeatedly that in the face of criticism he will invoke
both his legacy as a
freedom fighter against the British and, flowing from
that, a "us-and-them"
attitude to the rest of the world.
Australian
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith have
denounced
the Mugabe regime (as have many Western nations), and while
denunciations
can have a cumulative effect, what also is needed is the
emergence of a
compelling and unarguable opposing voice to Mr Mugabe's, such
as that of
Africa's towering freedom fighter, Nelson Mandela. The Nobel
Peace laureate
turns 90 next month. He is reportedly frail, yet his voice
still carries
moral authority. Perhaps Mr Mugabe is past caring what anyone,
including
Nelson Mandela, thinks. On the evidence of his leadership of his
country he
cares little for his people. That task has fallen to the rest of
the
world.
Jamaica Observer
Editorial
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
There's
obviously wrong being committed on both sides in the violent run-up
to the
June 27 presidential run-off in Zimbabwe. Supporters of both the
Opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the ruling ZANU-PF party
are being
attacked and injured amidst charges and counter charges
of
culpability.
However, no one can deny that members of the
Opposition are bearing the
brunt of the attacks as forces loyal to Zimbabwe's
tyrant president, Mr
Robert Mugabe, are engaging in a campaign of
intimidation in order to
prevent Zimbabweans opposed to him from voting next
week.
Since the first round of voting at the end of March when Mr Mugabe
and his
goons decided that the results of the presidential election should
not be
released - obviously because he had lost - Opposition supporters have
been
attacked and arrested.
Eventually, the electoral authority
announced that MDC leader, Mr Morgan
Tsvangirai, had received more votes than
Mr Mugabe but not enough to avoid a
run-off for the
presidency.
However, what has transpired in this once proud nation since
then has been
nothing short of scandalous. Mr Tsvangirai's attempts to
campaign have been
repeatedly thwarted by the police and he has been detained
at least six
times.
Mr Tendai Biti, the MDC's secretary general, has
been arrested on
allegations of treason and yesterday his lawyer was reported
by wire
services as saying that the police had slapped his client with two
extra
charges under the security laws - insulting the president and
making
statements intended to bring about disaffection in the police and
security
forces.
Both these charges, we are told, are punishable by
imprisonment or a fine,
while treason can carry the death
penalty.
According to news service reports, the police jail in western
Harare in
which Mr Biti is being held is known for filthy, harsh conditions
used to
intimidate suspects in custody.
We have no doubt that had Mr
Mugabe intended for the June 27 election to be
free and fair he would not
have allowed the continuation of this travesty in
his country - a county for
which many brave men and women fought and died to
win its freedom.
As
we have said before in this space, Mr Mugabe has trampled on the
very
democracy he and others fought so valiantly for, and has squandered all
the
goodwill won by the Zimbabwean people's struggle over many
years.
If, after all Mr Mugabe's vile and oppressive actions, anyone
still had
doubts about his intentions, his campaign speech in the central
Silobela
district on Sunday should have removed all uncertainties.
"We
shed a lot of blood for this country," the Herald newspaper, described
as a
government mouthpiece, quoted him as saying. "We are not going to give
up our
country for a mere X on a ballot. How can a ball-point pen fight with
a
gun?"
Aside from the fact that Mr Mugabe has become a disgrace to
the
anti-apartheid movement that helped to win Zimbabwe its independence,
we
feel particularly let down by the response of President Thabo Mbeki of
South
Africa. For he, more than anyone else, we believe, could have used
his
stature and influence to broker a solution to the problem. Instead, he
has
insisted on treating the sore with what he has termed "quiet
diplomacy",
which is really an attempt at a resolution through
dialogue.
That, clearly has not worked, and President Mbeki, supported by
a few other
African leaders, have merely sat back and allowed the Zimbabwean
people to
continue suffering at the hands of the Mugabe regime.
It
will be interesting to observe the response of these African leaders, as
well
as that of Caricom, who has been shamelessly silent on this issue,
after the
results of the presidential vote. That is, if there is
an
election.
Reuters
Tue Jun 17, 2008 6:36am
BST
By Bernardino Ndze Biyoa
MALABO (Reuters) - British mercenary
Simon Mann, one of the last prominent
"dogs of war" in Africa, was to go on
trial on Tuesday in Equatorial Guinea
accused of leading a failed 2004 coup
against the oil-rich African state.
Mann, an Eton-educated former special
forces officer, was arrested in
Zimbabwe with 70 mercenaries en route to
Equatorial Guinea.
Public Prosecutor Jose Olo Obono said last week Mann
would go on trial on
Tuesday on three main charges: crimes against the head
of state, crimes
against the government and crimes against the peace and
independence of the
state.
He could face the death penalty, but Obono
said it was unlikely he would
seek the maximum sentence against
Mann.
Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo told
Channel Four
news that it would be up to the court to decide on Mann's
punishment if he
was convicted.
"We've reached a conclusion that Simon
Mann was used as an instrument but
there were material and intellectual
authors behind it that financed the
operation," Obiang said.
Tuesday's
edition of the Guardian newspaper quoted Obiang as saying that
Mann was
revealing important information on a daily basis, something the
judges might
take into account when it came to sentencing.
"If they think cooperation
has been good enough, there might be clemency
shown at the end of the case,"
the paper quoted Obiang as saying through an
interpreter. It added that
Obiang had held out the prospect of negotiations
to allow Mann to serve part
of his prison sentence in Britain.
BREWING HEIR
Mann, held in
Malabo's notorious Black Beach prison, said in a TV interview
broadcast in
March that he plotted to oust Obiang, who has ruled the
ex-Spanish colony
since 1979.
Equatorial Guinean authorities have said Mann has testified
that Mark
Thatcher, the son of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, knew
all about
the scheme to topple the government of sub-Saharan Africa's
third-largest
oil producer.
Mark Thatcher has denied any involvement
in the plan. He was arrested in
2004 by South African police at his Cape Town
home on suspicion of
bankrolling the coup plot, and pleaded guilty under a
deal with South
African authorities.
Mann, heir to a brewing fortune
who attended the exclusive Eton College, was
extradited from Zimbabwe in
February after serving a four-year sentence for
buying weapons without a
licence. Prosecutors said the arms were to be used
in the coup.
The
arrest of Mann, who once served in Britain's elite Special Air Service
(SAS)
regiment, ended the career of one of the last prominent "dogs of war"
still
active in Africa.
One of Africa's most notorious foreign mercenaries,
Frenchman Bob Denard,
died in October.
After his army service, Mann,
55, helped found two security firms that
became bywords for mercenary
activity across Africa in the 1990s, Executive
Outcomes and Sandline
International.
Mann had appealed against his extradition from Zimbabwe by
arguing he would
not receive a fair trial and could be tortured in Equatorial
Guinea, which
has faced sharp international criticism for human rights
abuses.
Eleven other men, including several foreigners, are already
serving
sentences of between 13 and 34 years in Equatorial Guinea in
connection with
the alleged plot.
(Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by
Alistair Thomson and Alex Richardson)