The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.

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TUESDAY JUNE 05 2001
Hunzvi death weakens Mugabe
FROM MICHAEL HARTNACK IN HARARE

PRESIDENT MUGABE summoned an emergency meeting of his top advisory body, the Politburo, yesterday after the death of a vital ally, Chenjerai "Hitler" Hunzvi, chairman of Zimbabwe’s self-styled liberation war veterans.

The death of Dr Hunzvi, who led the campaign to force white farmers off their land, has unnerved Zimbabweans, who increasingly believe that the Mugabe regime is doomed.

His demise follows the state funerals last month of two other men crucial to President Mugabe’s security apparatus: Border Gezi, the Minister for Youth, and Moven Mahachi, the Defence Minister. Both were said to have died in road accidents, but Charles Pemhenayi, the publicity secretary of the ruling Zanu (PF) party, voiced the feelings of many when he said: "We do not want to think that Lucifer had a hand in this."

Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Parliamentary Speaker and former security supremo who is tipped to succeed Mr Mugabe eventually, said: "We don’t know what’s hitting us, it’s not natural."

The air of fear and foreboding surrounding the regime was reflected in a statement by a senior war veteran, who said that on the day before the latest death Dr Hunzvi was refusing to see him or other veterans from Zimbabwe’s liberation war because "he thinks we are bewitching him". Dr Hunzvi, 51, a Zanu (PF) MP, collapsed from undisclosed causes in the western city of Bulawayo ten days ago, and the nature of his illness was never announced. Medical sources said that he was being treated for lesions on the lungs and malaria symptoms.

"It is ironic that a trained medical doctor died of Aids," Trudy Stevenson, an opposition MP, said, airing suspicions of many Zimbabweans.

"He was also a doctor who misused his professional skills to turn his surgery into a torture chamber. I am not going to shed any tears for him. I don’t share general superstition, but this will make Mugabe’s people even more jittery, they will be thinking the hand of God is against them."

Dr Hunzvi’s self-styled former guerrillas, many of them teenagers too young to have fought in the 1972-80 bush war in the former Rhodesia, combined with members of the Zanu (PF) youth league under Gezi and with Mahachi’s uniformed forces to seize up to 2,000 white-owned farms before last June’s parliamentary elections. They are earmarked for redistribution to black Zimbabweans.

About 40 opposition supporters and seven white farmers were killed during the rampage, while police refused to intervene, granting the murderers impunity. Some of those abducted testified to being taken to Dr Hunzvi’s surgery and tortured by having their genitals bound with wire. With Mr Mugabe resolved to seek a further six-year term at the presidential elections next April, Dr Hunzvi’s militants had recently been invading factories and offices, ostensibly to extend their agitation for social justice.

In reality, Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, said, Dr Hunzvi’s aim was to break urban support for the opposition. Mr Mugabe was able to reinforce his 62-58 parliamentary majority by nominating 30 seats, but six by-elections are pending and the MDC has lodged petitions to the High Court against 29 other Zanu (PF) victories.

Dr Hunzvi declared last year: "As ex-combatants we will do everything to see that no other party comes back into power because if that happens we will be left with no other option but to go back to war.

"You cannot expect us to hand over the country on a silver plate to a party backed by the white man. We will take up arms and go back to the bush."

A Western diplomat said that the deaths of Hunzvi, Gezi and Mahachi will make key figures reluctant to fill their shoes in "a dying government".

Timothy Stamps, Minister of Health, said that Zimbabwe’s 13 million population, which has increased from a little less than 900,000 in 1920, will reach "zero growth rate" next year because of the Aids pandemic.

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What can be done? - some things you can do:
  1. Encourage friends and family in other countries to write to their MP or Congressman requesting that travel bans be imposed on members of the zanu PF government - see article on travel restrictions on Liberian President Charles Taylor below.
  2. Don't advertise with any zanu PF state controlled media - Zimbabwe newspapers, ZBC radio and ZTV.
  3. Don't participate in any zanu PF Government bonds or debt instruments.  Withdraw your support from banks and institutions that do.
  4. Withdraw any cash you may have in the POSB and deposit it elsewhere.
  5. Boycott businesses with connections to zanu PF.  If you don't already know who they are find out so you can avoid them.
  6. Shun all contact with zanu PF ministers or their political appointees, and sympathisers, don't afford them the time of day, don't welcome them in your church, don't invite them to be guest speakers at any functions you hold, and don't attend any function at which they have been invited to speak.
  7. Think clearly, don't support those that have contacts with a government that is illegitimate and morally bankrupt.
  8. Remain law abiding and retain the moral high ground - don't let yourself be drawn down to the level of those who don't respect the law.
Travel ban on Liberians - BBC: Wednesday, 6 June, 2001, 14:45 GMT 15:45 UK
MDC in talks with SA government - Daily News: 6/6/01 8:49:00 AM (GMT +2)

BBC: Wednesday, 6 June, 2001, 14:45 GMT 15:45 UK

Travel ban on Liberians

Liberian President Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor: Accused of fuelling the war in Sierra Leone
The United Nations has imposed severe travel restrictions on Liberian President Charles Taylor as part of sanctions meant to punish his government for backing rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Also on a list of more than 130 people affected by the travel ban are Mr Taylor's wife, his ex-wives, his son and close aides.

The move was ordered by the committee monitoring sanctions against Liberia.

It stipulates that all states should refuse entry to those named, unless they are going to the UN headquarters in New York, or attending meetings with regional African organisations.

The travel embargo is part of a sanctions package that includes an arms ban as well as an embargo on diamonds exported from Liberia.

President Taylor has complained that sanctions are beginning to bite.

Mr Taylor told his own private radio station, Kiss FM, that the government was losing income due to the ban on the export of diamonds.

He said the United Nations was acting in a partisan manner in the way it was applying sanctions on Liberia.

List

The list of people on the travel ban includes government and military officials, businessmen and a number of foreigners based in Liberia. Some are known to be arms dealers and involved in the diamond and timber trades.

Also on the list is a senior Sierra Leonean Revolutionary United Front rebel leader Sam Bockarie, although the Liberian Government denies he is still in the country.

A long running and brutal civil war in Sierra Leone has been largely a conflict about who controls the country's diamond mines.

Rebels have exported these "blood diamonds" from the east of the country, through Liberia

The UN began imposing sanctions against Liberia last month after it judged that all contacts with the RUF had not stopped.

MDC in talks with SA government

Daily News: 6/6/01 8:49:00 AM (GMT +2)

THE MDC last week held its most extensive official talks with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and the South African government in Pretoria.

A delegation led by the MDC secretary-general, Professor Welshman Ncube, the Bulawayo North East MP, met ANC and government officials.
South African officials told The Daily News the talks were cordial, pointing out there was nothing unusual about the meeting as their government was also in communication with the government in Harare.
Ronnie Mamoepa, the Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson, said by telephone from Pretoria yesterday the meetings “are ongoing”.
“It indicates a continuous process of interaction between our government and the leaders of the ANC, on the one hand, and members of the Zimbabwe government and the MDC,” said Mamoepa.
He would not disclose the details of their talks with the MDC. Ncube and his delegation could not be reached for comment as they were still in South Africa.
President Thabo Mbeki told the South African Parliament last week his government had to work with all stakeholders in Zimbabwe, including the MDC, to avoid a situation of collapse.
“We have to work with the Zimbabwean government and other stakeholders to avoid a situation of total collapse,” he said.
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Time for Clear and reasoned thinking

& Time to STOP inviting members of an illegitimate government to our meetings

 
From: zimactivism zimactivism
 
We note that your guest speaker at the National Gallery on Saturday 2nd June
was the Minister of Education, Sport and Culture, S. Mumbengegwi.

You might find the following article, written by Tony Reeler interesting.

The main point raised is this:
Whenever institutions or businesses invite a government minister to open a
function or event they legitimise a government that is in power through
corrupt and violent means.

There are a variety of individuals that you can invite to open a function
rather than a government representative: examples are poets, writers,
historians, artists, teachers.Your guest speaker does not have to be a
government minister even if the National Gallery has government support (and
interference).

There are many Friends of the Gallery who would prefer that the Gallery they
support behaves in a progressive and responsible manner. The only way that
we will achieve change in this country is through individuals adopting an
informed and moral stance.

zimactivism

The way forward: peace, justice and political action.

A P Reeler

Now that the government has been formed and parliament has begun, we can see
what needs to be done. First and foremost is a clear understanding of the
election process, for it is this understanding that will determine the moral
platform for the government.

So let us look at the election. All reputable observers have made the
comment that the election was seriously flawed by the pre-election violence,
and most have placed the blame for this violence on ZanuPF: both the Party
and its mercenaries, the War Veterans. Murder, torture, rape, mass
psychological terror, forced attendance at political meetings, forced
renouncing of political affiliations, destruction of property and
belongings, and internal displacement are all documented. These are not
assertions, but based upon the testimony of the victims, and independently
verified by the free press.  Making low-intensity war upon your political
opponents is no longer considered good democratic practice, and all
observers are in no doubt that this is what ZanuPF did.

The electoral process proved no less unsatisfactory. The polling days were
largely free of violence, but the combined efforts of the Registrar-General
and the Attorney-General made it near impossible to achieve the standard of
regulation that was required by the Electoral Supervisory Commission. There
were many serious irregularities that flawed the electoral process: the
near-impossibility of obtaining copies of the electoral roll, the arbitrary
changes of regulations that undermined the whole process of monitoring, the
denial of open-air time for political parties on TV and radio, and the
blatant use of State resources by the ruling party all need to be evaluated
for their contribution to the overall result. All were noted by the various
observers.

When all these facts are put together, there can be little doubt that the
moral underpinning for this new government is missing. This cannot be
removed by creating a new cabinet of "technocrats": good governance cannot
come from flawed elections, which is the basis for the United States Senate
and Congress considering passing the Zimbabwe Democracy Act. A government
created through a process of wiping out the opposition and interfering with
all the basic freedoms necessary for free and fair elections cannot be
considered to have a moral mandate to rule. It should not therefore be
rewarded by uncritically giving it a place amongst the other civilized
nations of the earth. The Zimbabwe Democracy Act is simply a
sticks-and-carrots response to bad governance, and little different to the
responses of most democratic nations to our nasty little election. Many
nations are revising their relationships with Zimbabwe.

However, whatever the international community decides should be done with
Zimbabwe, there remains the issue of what we Zimbabweans should do
ourselves. How shall we as Zimbabweans regain the moral dignity that has
been thrown into the gutter by ZanuPF?

The first steps are already in process with the challenges to the results.
This takes the problem back to the courts and is an attempt to re-assert,
through the rule of law, the grounds under which elections should actually
take place. It is also implicitly an attempt to re-assert the power of the
courts, so sullied by pre-election events as well as the ugly clashes over
the rule of law last year. We can have no doubt that many results will be
overturned. During this process we shall see how independent analysis deals
with the claims of ZanuPF that this was a free and fair election. We may
even see the MDC move from opposition to government-in-waiting!

However, challenges in the courts to electoral irregularities will not be
enough, for, although we may see the government lose those seats that it did
not deserve, it will not wholly restore the situation created by the
violence. Much more is needed. We need a proper accounting for the violence
and an end to the practical impunity that has characterised ZanuPF rule. The
current allegations have been far too serious for the mere criminal
investigations suggested by Commissioner Chihuri: the serious allegations of
the State's involvement in the violence cannot be addressed by investigation
of individual cases alone. Moreover, the partisan position adopted by the
ZRP during the whole period of both the farm invasions and the elections
provides no basis for confidence in the usual criminal process. We need an
independent - and not appointed by the President - judicial commission.
Perhaps Parliament should appoint this commission. We are not dealing with
isolated instances of violence, but with a sustained low intensity war based
around militia groups.

However, we can have no confidence that this government will do anything
like a proper accounting, so we will have to take action ourselves. This is
a fair assertion based on the evidence of  Gukurahundi, the Food Riots, the
pardoning of convicted criminals, and even the failure to prosecute the
torturers of Chavunduka and Choto. The calls for a judicial commission of
inquiry have been made by all reputable observer groups, but these calls
have always fallen upon deaf ears in the past and there is no reason to
believe that it will be different this time. Perhaps it will be even more
difficult this time, for the stakes are much higher and the possibilities of
identifying the perpetrators much better than in the past.

In order to counteract the usual impunity, three immediate courses suggest
themselves: class actions against the War Veterans and ZanuPF on behalf of
farmers, farm workers, and all the other victims of organised violence and
torture. Again to use the courts and the rule of law to provide remedies for
the wrongs inflicted in the name of ZanuPF, and to re-establish the rule of
law. This will not be as satisfactory as a criminal tribunal, but will once
again test the moral worth of this government. A fair bet is that it will be
found wanting.

Allied to these actions, both the electoral challenges and the human rights
challenges, civil society must come some decision about how the government
is dealt with on the day-to-day level. How you deal with a morally bankrupt
government is not a new problem, and we can learn from our cousins in South
Africa from their struggle against apartheid.

The first step is to begin a policy of non-cooperation. We deal with
Parliament and not the government, since Parliament has at least some
members who were properly elected. We stop talking with government qua
government: we do not talk with Ministers, except in multi-lateral meetings
of all stakeholders and only then about the basis upon which the government
will restore the country to the rule of law and democracy. How else do we
deal with the lack of a moral basis for the government? If we deal with
ZanuPF in any serious fashion, do we not in some way validate the election?
In South Africa, civil society found new ways of confronting the immorality
by forming progressive organizations and only dealing with government when
those organizations gave a mandate to such dealings.

In practical terms, we stop inviting the Government to our meetings, to our
workshops, and to our conferences. A very good method for dealing with moral
impropriety is shun the moral offender, and we should shun the government.
Actually, we do internally what the international community does externally!

We then only deal with Government through the civil service or through
Parliament. All substantive issues governing public life and policy we take
to the relevant ministry, and require the civil servants to do their job. We
require the civil service to become the neutral organization that it should
be, concerned only with the technical implementation of policy according to
the law and regulations. We use the law to ensure that civil servants do
their jobs properly, and we seek disciplinary action through the courts when
they do not. For example, Commissioner Chihuri should currently be in gaol
for refusing to comply with a court order in respect of the farm invasions.
Furthermore, we take our political concerns to Parliament or to individual
MPs on a constitiuency basis: we by-pass a morally-compromised Government.

We then begin to deal with the policies of a morally-bankrupt government
step by step. We must ask our compatriots in industry, commerce and finance
to assess with us these policies. We accept only those policies that are
consensually agreed to be for the good of the country, and refuse all those
that can be seen to benefit the government. For example, it becomes a
serious issue, as it did in South Africa, how industry, commerce and finance
act in respect of an immoral government. Is it acceptable to underwrite
government debt as the banks have done for NOCZIM and ZESA? It will become
very important for the private sector to decide whether any action is truly
in the interests of the country or in the interests of getting the
government out of the moral pit it has dug for itself. This may all sound
very conflictual, but it merely recognizes that we are well into a conflict
already, a war inflicted upon us by ZanuPF. We are merely trying to end this
war by peaceful means, by democratic means. We restore the moral balance by
taking responsible civil action against the harm that this government does.

We counteract the propaganda of the State-controlled press and media by
boycotting them. We give no news, interviews or statements to these organs
of untruth. We use our own constituencies to give the truth to the populace
until such time as the airways are free and the press print no propaganda.

We cannot now, after all that has happened, merely go on pragmatically. We
cannot simply say after the election that ZanuPF won and life goes on. This
will be to validate the most gross impropriety and give a moral basis for
this government to rule. When Ian Smith declared UDI, the choices were moral
choices for this nation: to support UDI or not was a moral choice, and thus
war became a moral choice. We do not have to reduce ourselves to such a
terrible choice, for we can deal with the current problem both peacefully
and democratically.

The choice before us is not what America or the EU do in the wake of this
foul election, but what we do ourselves. Democracy is what we make it: it
does not come as a prescription from on high. We must force accountability
and adherence to law upon the lawless. We must use the tools of democracy to
make a democracy, or else we continue to live with autocracy and outlaws.
Civil society has already shown the way, and it now remains for the wider
Zimbabwean society to take up the challenge and restore the moral balance.
Peace requires justice; justice requires the rule of law; and the rule of
law requires political action. The political action can be moral, and we
show this Government how to return to the paths of justice.
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"The Truth"
 
Please circulate far and wide
 

IQINISO LIYAPUMA LINJALO

CHOKWADI CHINOBUDA CHAKADARO

These facts have been published to help everybody get to the truth. We are interested only in the truth. The Government newspapers and radio broadcasts are full of lies. Every Zimbabwean has a right to hear the truth. We are not stupid. We are sensible people. Without the truth how can we make a sensible decision on the future of our country? We love our country. We have to make the right decisions when we vote. We will not be afraid. We will exercise our democratic rights. We can only do this by knowing the truth.

  • Our Constitution provides for the Defence Forces to protect our country. Not to fight a foreign war. Mugabe had no right to send troops to the DRC without parliamentary approval. Their presence there is illegal in terms of Zimbabwe law. Their presence there is bleeding our country dry, and our sons are losing their lives in a foreign land. They won’t tell us the truth about how many have died. They must come home. Why are they there? We need the truth.

  • Factories are closing. Despite Government propaganda, they are not closing because of some British or white plot. There is no such thing. They are closing because of lawlessness and economics which has led them to bankruptcy. Illegal invasions by so-called war veterans are also responsible. These people should be chased away. What do they know about running companies? Nothing at all. Nobody, no white man, no British agent or anyone else will ever close a company that makes profit. Mugabe can say what he likes. We know the truth.

  • The fuel shortages are caused by lack of foreign currency, incompetence and dishonesty at Government and NOCZIM. There is no other cause. There is no excuse for Zimbabwe to be short of fuel. We should be a wealthy and proud nation, not a nation of beggars. Why are we so poor? We have everything we could ever want – land, water, mines, industry , agriculture, power, railways, tourism, people. What we lack is good management at Government level. Law and order. Nothing else. Government is very badly managed. That’s the truth.

  • Government propaganda is nothing but lies. Lies, lies, lies. Jonathon Moyo especially seems unable to open his mouth without telling lies. He doesn’t know the meaning of truth.

  • The breakdown in law and order is inexcusable. Army and police are supposed to protect us, to be our friends. We are the ones who pay them, yet they are being used by dishonest politicians to intimidate and beat their very own people. They will be brought to justice themselves one day if they do not reform. They need to have a good look at themselves and their conscience. What kind of police do they think they are? Thank God for our Judges. They show us the truth.

  • The seizure of farms is a shambles. There is no plan. There is plenty of land available. 900 farms are in the hands of Ministers and their friends. The result is that we are facing unemployment on farms and food shortages very soon. The backbone of this country (agriculture) is being destroyed. What we need is jobs for our people. Yes, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. No amount of Government lies to the contrary will save us from shortages. Wait and see. You will see it is true.

Further bulletins like this will be distributed from time to time.

Because... We all need to know the truth.

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Savannah Tales: H-h-h-h-atchoo!

It is strange how an animal can be the loudest sound
in the Savannah one moment and then just not be there
at all the next.  This is how it was with H-h-h-hyena.
One moment he was tearing through the Savannah
burning everything in his path with the fire in his
eyes, the next he was lying still and lifeless in an
inconsequential glade somewhere in the darkness.  The
animals who attended him say that at the last he
lifted his head just for a moment and shaped his lips
to say something but just as the shapes became letters
his mouth closed and his nose twitched and the last
sound he made was "H-h-h-atchoo!".  I suppose that
this is a fitting way for a Hyena to die though our
great emperor, Biguana, would be heart-broken to
realise that they do not die laughing as he has always
said.

For weeks now the Savannah has been eerily silent.
Everyone has been treading the delicate balance
between telling the truth and painting it into the
cracks in the fiction so that you have to search for
it yourself.  I can understand this.  I myself have
gone to ground because the new breed of Hyena has made
its presence felt in a way that I and Lutala both
cannot ignore.  Equipped with boulders torn from the
rocks at Mana and knobkerries fashioned from the
hardest teak, this hybrid Hyena-monkey, which I call
Hymon!, has made its way through the tunnels where the
worms turn the soil so it breathes life into the
Savannah and up into the trees where the bees toil
daily to provide the honey that gives substance to our
homeland.  Hymon! has been systematically destroying
each nest leaving the worms and the bees homeless or
without cone or leaf.  Lutala and I and many others
have learned the art of blending with the background
so we cannot be seen except as shadows creeping
through the last light of day.

Lately, there have been many strange and frightening
accidents in the Savannah, all of them involving
members of the Hyena-Lizard-Baboon comradeship.
Everyone says that they are noticing their differences
and the Lizards are trying to be rid of all the Hyenas
and Baboons because they are afraid of them.  The
first to go was a young and agile baboon
affectionately know as Fwoggy (because of his rather
bulbous eyes) who teetered on the brink of a
well-known river for weeks before he fell in and
drowned.  Shortly after, his very good friend, The
Horseman (thus nick-named because of his skill with
the whip), was swimming down the same river when he
accidentally fell in and drowned - wait, that can't be
right!  Lets see, what exactly did Jongwe, the
bespectacled chicken say?

"Peepohl orv thee Sarvannah!  Eet eez eh gret tragehdy
that wee are weetnessing todeh, eh very gret tragehdy.
 Yes!  Peepohl orv thee Sarvannah, hour frehnd, the
gret, very gret Mabhiza, was todeh sweeming in the
gretest reevah in thees lehnd, thee gretest, gretest
reevah orv all time, when he fell inside eccidehntally
ehn drowned.  Yes, a very gret tragehdy indeed."

I am confused and so are all the other animals in the
Savannah.  Yet, since Hymon! appeared in our vleis, we
are afraid to express our confusion out loud, perhaps
because we fear it may be the last thing we ever
express.  This past week, they buried Fwoggy and The
Horseman under the great baobab where our most revered
ancestors, like Njuzu and Chapungu rest.  We are not
sure why they have been buried there because this is a
sacred place for animals that have given life to the
Savannah.  Lutala says that our ancestors will toss
and turn at the nearness of these animals that have
only taken life from our ancestral heritage.  Then the
ground will burst open and the bodies of the animals
like Fwoggy and The Horseman will be spat out.  Then
the final fight will begin and only those who are on
the side of right will be victors.

My new friend, the fox, has a scoreboard running and
he tells me that currently the Lizards have no sticks
down, the Hyenas 1 and the Baboons 2.  He is confident
that should sticks continue falling at the current
ratio, Hyenas and Baboons will soon be an extinct
species in the Savannah and the lizards on their own
will be no match for the hoards of animals pushed to
the edge of madness by starvation and despair.

Farisai, the hare whose lips are swelling slightly
everyday.
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From The Financial Gazette, 7 June

Plot to kill Tsvangirai

Some Zimbabwean state security agents planned to eliminate MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai in an attempt to cripple the opposition party's increasing momentum as it bids to unseat President Robert Mugabe in next year's presidential election, the Financial Gazette learnt this week.

Tsvangirai confirmed to the Financial Gazette this week that he had been tipped off about the possible attempt on his life. Speaking from Durban where he is attending the World Economic Forum meeting, Tsvangirai yesterday said although he had been tipped off about the assassination plot, he did not know whether it was true or not. "I heard about the plot, but I do not know whether it is true or not," Tsvangirai told the Financial Gazette by telephone. Reliable sources told the Financial Gazette however that the first attempt on Tsvangirai's life should have been made as early as last week but the plot was derailed by the untimely death of Defence Minister Moven Mahachi, who died when his car was involved in an accident in Nyanga.

The plot was allegedly hatched at Chaminuka Building (the headquarters of the spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation) and would have centred on the use of a group of rowdy war veterans. Under the plan, the group of war veterans aligned to Zanu PF would descend on Tsvangirai's Eastgate Building offices to ostensibly demonstrate against the opposition leader's policies on land. Tsvangirai normally works from the city centre building daily. In the ensuing melee and confusion, some members of the group who would be armed would assassinate Tsvangirai. It is understood some members of the riot police were also lined up to join in the fray and then take control and disperse crowds after the mission had been accomplished.

Authoritative sources have said the assassination would have been carried out while President Mugabe was outside Zimbabwe attending the G-15 summit in Indonesia. Sources said the planned demonstration was going to be arranged on the pretext of denouncing the opposition leader's stance on land and it would have rallied behind the cry that Tsvangirai was selling the country to the British. Tsvangirai operates out of Eastgate and state security agents carefully monitor his movements.

However, the Financial Gazette has it on good authority that Tsvangirai, who had been tipped off about the plot on his life, shunned his offices last week preferring to work from home or other premises. According to the sources, Tsvangirai was tipped off by others privy to the plan and told to stay away from his office during the days in question. If the first plan had failed, a number of options were also lined up to eliminate the opposition leader who is the only serious threat to Mugabe's continued leadership of Zimbabwe. "The bottom line is that his (Tsvangirai's) popularity has scared them (ruling party officials) to the hilt and they know he is likely to win in any free and fair election," said an authoritative source. "They believe the only effective way to sow seeds of confusion and cripple the MDC before the election is to kill the opposition leader. If you hear some of them declare that Tsvangirai will never rule this country, don't assume that they are joking," he added.

The plot to kill Tsvangirai was part of a wider plot to eliminate a number of influential personalities perceived as being "anti-Zanu PF", according to sources. These included prominent journalists, a High Court and Supreme Court judge and other members of the opposition and civic groups. Two years ago Tsvangirai survived a brutal attack when unidentified people raided his offices at the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). At the time, his attackers were widely believed to be members of the governing party incensed by persistent attacks on government policies by the ZCTU, which Tsvangirai led as secretary general before the formation of the MDC The assailants have never been arrested despite Tsvangirai's statement to police giving clues as to who they could be.

Sources said the whole plot to eliminate prominent Zimbabwean personalities opposed to Zanu PF was part of a wider scheme considered by militant elements in the party as the only way to derail the MDC's charge towards Mugabe's removal from power. On the targeted journalists, one source said: "They had hoped the bombing of the Daily News would scare the private media into submission but this didn't happen."

From The Financial Gazette, 7 June

S Africa's Mbeki tells Mugabe to accept MDC

South African President Thabo Mbeki has told Zimbabwe's embattled President Robert Mugabe to respect the rule of law and publicly assure Zimbabweans and the international community that his government will conduct a free and fair presidential election next year, diplomatic sources said yesterday. Mbeki wrote to Mugabe immediately after meeting United States secretary of state Colin Powell in Pretoria two weeks ago, the sources said.

In the letter, signalling an about-turn by Mbeki from his much criticised soft diplomacy towards Harare, the South African leader, without whose support Mugabe and his government could collapse, told the Zimbabwean leader to accept the reality of the MDC as the official opposition party. According to highly placed sources, Mbeki two weeks ago also dispatched feelers to former president Canaan Banana for his assistance in Pretoria's attempts to initiate dialogue between Mugabe, his ruling ZANU PF party and the MDC and its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. Banana could not be reached for comment on the matter while South Africa's high commission in Harare did not respond to written questions.

State House however scoffed at suggestions that Mbeki had written to Mugabe about the MDC and the rampant lawlessness, saying the two presidents communicated regularly using various ways and it would be fallacious to isolate only one out of these several occasions the two leaders have been in touch. "Presidents Mbeki and Mugabe are constantly in touch with each other and communicate in all ways," Information Minister Jonathan Moyo told the Financial Gazette yesterday. "And within that communication it would be futile to pick only one type be it a telephone call, correspondence or whatever and then start to say Mbeki has written to Mugabe when in fact that is part of a regular and mutual communication between two brother African presidents," Moyo said.

In any case, Moyo said, Mbeki clearly understood that the problem in Zimbabwe was the inequitable distribution of land and had reiterated this position soon after meeting Powell and before the South African parliament. Mbeki told South African parliamentarians just after his meeting with Powell that the root cause of Zimbabwe's deepening political and economic crisis was the failure by Britain to honour its colonial obligation to help resolve the unjust distribution of land. Mbeki refuted allegations that the land issue was being used by Mugabe to shore up his waning popularity and said that Pretoria and the international community should instead help Harare resolve the land problem.

But sources said Mbeki, whose own African National Congress has in recent months moved away from shunning Zimbabwe's opposition MDC party, wrote to Mugabe telling him that he should demonstrate his commitment to democracy by publicly according the labour-backed MDC the respect it deserves as the main opposition party. Mbeki also told Mugabe to assure the international community that his government would not countenance political violence during the run-up to the 2002 presidential election. Gangs led by self-styled veterans of Zimbabwe's 1970s independence war have unleashed violence and anarchy in Zimbabwe in a bid to cow a largely discontented electorate to support Mugabe who seeks to extend his 21 years in power next year by another six years.

The meeting with Powell, who accused Mugabe of using totalitarian methods to cling to power, had spurred Mbeki to write to Mugabe, said the sources. But most importantly, sources said, Mbeki was now under immense pressure from within the ANC party itself to take a more drastic and active approach on Mugabe and Zanu PF. "Of course there is the push by the international community as represented by Powell but the biggest pressure on Mbeki is actually coming from the ANC's allies such as the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)," one source said. COSATU is disgruntled by what it perceives as an oppressive treatment of the labour-backed MDC by Mugabe.

From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 7 June

Outrage over hero status for Hunzvi

Harare - President Robert Mugabe's decision to make his most feared henchman, Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi, a national hero of Zimbabwe has outraged human rights groups. Hunzvi, who died on Monday and will be given a state funeral, achieved notoriety through his brutal campaign against the black opposition and racist attacks on whites. Tarcisius Zimbiti, director of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, said: "Hunzvi's behaviour contributed to the suffering of many people and to numerous human rights violations." Human rights groups documented 47 political killings and other acts, such as rape and torture, affecting more than 20,000 people last year. Numerous witnesses have told of Hunzvi's participation in beatings and torture.

From News24 (SA), 7 June

Zim land grabbers evicted

Harare - The Zimbabwean government on Monday night forcibly evicted more than 1 000 illegal settlers occupying part of the Central Estates near Mvuma, 200km south of Harare, after they allegedly stole and slaughtered 90 head of cattle belonging to British business tycoon, Nick Van Hoogstraten. Hoogstraten, 54, is an influential millionaire supporter of President Robert Mugabe based in Uckfield in East Sussex, Britain. He is one of the few remaining, long-standing financial supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF party. He has nine farms of nearly one million acres. Hoogstraten has in the past described white Zimbabweans as "trash, keen to hang on to white privilege".

At the height of farm invasions in February last year, about 1 200 war veterans and Zanu-PF supporters invaded the Gadzanga Farm, which is part of Hoogstraten's Central Estates and vowed to stay. Monday night's eviction, spearheaded by a team comprising the police and members of the Zanu-PF provincial land committee, surprised the new invaders who were mourning the death of their leader Chenjerai ‘Hitler’ Hunzvi who died of an Aids-related illness. After a meeting between the Zimbabwean government and Hunzvi supporters in Harare, an announcement was made that Hunzvi will be accorded with national hero status.

Police swooped on the farm last night following reports of lawlessness on the farm. Police at Hoogstraten's farm said they were given orders to evict the invaders and drive them back to their former homes. "The crime rate at the farm was getting out of hand, so we were called in to assist in the eviction exercise in case they offered some resistance," said a police officer. Some 45 cattle were stolen recently and an equal number were found dead after being snared by the invaders. "We were asked to invade this farm and stay here," said Peter Mpofu, a peasant. "Today we are being chased away. This government must be clear about its activities. I lost everything. I thought they were serious. Now I am homeless."

Last year, war veterans and Zanu-PF supporters, led by Hunzvi, overran thousands of commercial farms as part of a brutal election campaign for the ruling party in the June parliamentary election. Thirty-five people, mostly supporters of the opposition, died in the campaign. Zanu-PF won 62 seats, most of them in the rural areas and lost 58 seats to the opposition, most of them urban constituencies.

From News24 (SA), 6 June

Zim govt bans own TV programme

Harare – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government Wednesday banned its own image-building Talk to the Nation television programme because live phone-in contributions from viewers revealed the weight of critical opinion, say broadcasters. "I have received a letter from the ZBC telling us that the programme has been banned," confirmed Matumwa Mawere, a financier closely associated with Mugabe, who was one of its sponsors. Kindness Paradza, co-ordinator for the pro-Government National Development Assembly, another sponsor, said Information Minister Jonathan Moyo was responsible for the decision. "Don't even bother asking the ZBC," he said. Paradza said the state broadcasting monopoly stood to lose 4.5 million Zimbabwean dollars ($90 000) in potential production, air time and advertising revenue. There were due to be 26 weekly broadcasts in the run-up to presidential elections next April, when Mugabe, 77, is seeking another six-year term in office.

Mashakada, a qualified economist, was strongly supported by most callers, while Chapfika had difficulty answering their questions. Broadcasting executives, who asked not to be named, said Moyo was angered by Mashakada being invited to take part. "Live productions can be tricky and dangerous," said a broadcaster. "You do not know what someone will say and there is no way of controlling it."

The government has blocked repeated rulings by Zimbabwean courts that its broadcasting monopoly breaches the constitutional right of free expression. Police defied court orders last year to seize the equipment of a would-be private radio station. In January presses of the country's only independent daily newspaper were blown up by attackers who have never been apprehended, and Mugabe has been described by world media monitoring groups and one of the worst enemies of journalistic freedom currently in power.

From The Daily News, 7 June

Mawere wants his money back

The National Development Assembly (NDA) co-ordinator, Kindness Paradza, yesterday said the civic organisation was seeking a $1 million refund from the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) after the latter breached its contract by switching its programme, Talk to the Nation, off the air without notice. The NDA made part payment of the $4,5 million to the ZBC as per the signed contract under which the ZBC would screen 26 programmes. The contract was signed last month between Paradza and Noel Nhira, the ZBC's controller of marketing.

The television programme, designed to spruce up Zanu PF's battered image, was struck off the airwaves on Monday. The NDA, created to counteract the civil society-led National Constitutional Assembly, is allegedly sponsored through a special fund established by Zanu PF and First Bank, in which Mutumwa Mawere, the presenter and moderator of the talk show, is a major shareholder. Mawere, who is strongly believed to be close to the establishment, chairs the NDA. Mawere yesterday denied the programme was sponsored by the ruling party. "The programme is not sponsored by Zanu PF. If it was meant to serve their interests, then I would have to check with my principals first before inviting someone to the programme. If that was the case, it would not have been banned."

Paradza said the programme was sponsored by the NDA's membership of about 1 000 individuals and organisations, who paid an annual subscription fee of between $200 and $200 000. The NDA's members include Native Investments of Africa, Migdale Investments and Africa Resources Limited, which are owned by Phillip Chiyangwa, Saviour Kasukuwere and Mawere, respectively. Chiyangwa and Kasukuwere are Zanu PF MPs. Paradza said the NDA would seek legal advice on how to either resuscitate the discussion programme, or recover the money it had paid to the parastatal as the ZBC had breached the contract by switching off the programme. He said, according to the contract between the two parties, the acceptance of the programme was conditional on the editorial content remaining the responsibility of the ZBC, with the NDA paying for the production, presenter or moderator and members of the panel. His organisation had met the obligations of the contract, Paradza said. Paradza said in the end, the viewers are the losers.

NDA officials alleged the programme was banned on the instruction of Professor Jonathan Moyo, the Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the President's Office. Moyo has denied he was behind the ban. However, he said the government fully supported the decision by the ZBC board to terminate the live programme. Learnmore Jongwe, the MDC secretary for information and publicity, yesterday said: "The banning on ZBC of the programme, by non-elected junior minister Jonathan Moyo, clearly puts it beyond doubt that the level of intolerance in Zanu PF has reached such a stage that they are now having difficulties tolerating themselves. The party has now reached such an advanced state of paranoia that they are constantly running away from their shadows."

Echoing Jongwe's statement, Paradza said: "People can now no longer talk to the nation and to each other, but to themselves. Moyo has closed debate between people of different political backgrounds." Jongwe said the MDC had tried to challenge Zanu PF to a national debate on topical issues to try and create a pool of ideas from which the country would benefit. He said last Thursday's NDA programme featuring David Chapfika of Zanu PF and Tapiwa Mashakada of the MDC was a step towards national dialogue. Chapfika, the MP for Mutoko North, said yesterday he personally thought that the debate was constructive, but did not know whether or not it was in line with the terms of reference of the ZBC's contract with the NDA. "I don't have any information as to what went wrong, but as far as I am concerned, my party was not bothered by my performance on the programme," he said.

Urging the government to take heed of people's feelings, Jongwe said: "The programme gave Zimbabweans a breath of fresh air and attempted to honour their right to freedom of expression and their right to fair and balanced debates." He accused Zanu PF of failure to accept democratic debate, saying the party wanted to maintain a monopoly on the public media so that it could "hurl insults at civic organisations and the opposition party". Paradza argued that ZBC employees on the production of the one-hour programme did not cease to work for the public broadcaster and become contract workers for the civic organisation. According to the NDA's contract with the ZBC, the NDA did not have to pay ZBC employees for producing the programme. Agnes Gwatiringa, a ZBC employee, was the programme's producer and director. Paradza said: "We broadcast the programme from Studio 1 at ZBC with a complete ZBC crew, including a producer and director. Conditions of the contract were that editorial content remained ZBC's responsibility and the NDA was required to pay for services of the production, presenter or moderator and members of the panel only."

From The Financial Gazette, 7 June

Donors wash their hands of land issue

The international donor community has finally resolved that it will not fund Zimbabwe's current land reform programme as long as President Robert Mugabe remains in power, diplomatic and farming sources disclosed to the Financial Gazette this week. The sources said Mugabe's inconsistency in committing himself to implement a proper and lawful land reform programme was cause of great concern among the donor community and Western investors. They said the feeling among the international donor community was that it was better to wait and deal with a new leader than Mugabe because his past actions in implementing the land reform programme were inconsistent with discussions agreed to during major donor conferences such as the last one held in Harare two years ago.

The sources however said some of Mugabe's Cabinet ministers had proved to be amenable to an orderly and proper land reform programme during discussions with key donor states based on the conclusions reached at the Harare donors' conference. "A lot of donors are willing to help but they have told us clearly that they will not commit anything under the present political dispensation headed by President Mugabe," a highly placed source within the local agriculture industry said. A Western diplomat based in Harare yesterday said it was now clear that the donor community and investors had closed the door on Harare and were not keen to fund any land resettlement programme in Zimbabwe.

He said Mugabe was the greatest impediment to the successful implementation of such an exercise because he displayed inconsistency when trying to implement the land reform programme. The diplomat said the way the economy was being managed was also a contributory factor. "It is clear that the situation will not change unless there is change at the top," one diplomat said, adding: "Donors and investors will not come forward under the current dispensation."

Zimbabwe needs about $40 billion to successfully implement its fast-track land reform programme that began in earnest after the violent occupation of white-owned commercial farms in February last year. Since the 1998, the country has failed to raise substantial amounts from the donor community to implement a meaningful land resettlement exercise. Member states of the European Union and Zimbabwe's former colonial power Britain have refused to support the exercise saying they would only do so if it was clear that the programme would be carried out in a fair and transparent manner aimed at alleviating poverty. Zimbabwe says Britain and the United States should provide funding for land reform as agreed under the 1979 Lancaster House agreement that led to the southern African country's independence.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which has tried to mediate between Zimbabwe and the international community, yesterday said it recognised the need for the equitable distribution of land in Zimbabwe and for international support to carry out a successful and sustainable land reform. "The UNDP believes that land reform can be successfully implemented based on dialogue and agreements among the domestic stakeholders," the UNDP said in statement to the Financial Gazette. "A land reform programme that is based on broad consensus and is carried out within the country's legal framework while targeted at alleviating poverty has the potential to attract support from the international community," said UNDP.

The UN agency said consultations with the Zimbabwe government, national stakeholders and the international community on how the country could be assisted in land reform were still continuing. The UNDP said it remained committed to providing support to improve the capacity for planning and implementing a technically sound and sustainable land reform programme support within the framework of the advice put forward by the UN technical mission which visited Harare last September.

The disclosures of the feelings in the donor community come at a time when a Cabinet committee on resettlement headed by Vice President Joseph Msika is considering proposals by the Zimbabwe Joint Resettlement Initiative (ZJRI), a committee made up of farmers and other stakeholders, to resolve the impasse on land. The ZJRI is made up of representatives from the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association and the business community. Under its proposals, the CFU withdraws all litigation against the government over designated farms and offers one million hectares of productive land for the immediate resettlement of 20 000 families. The proposal also includes a $1.375 billion soft loan revolving fund through the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Bank to support resettled farmers.

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Wednesday 6th June 2001
 
 
 
Hello friend and foe !
 
I would like to copy in here the last paragraph of the last news page (page 7). I wrote this statement 2 months ago, at the end of March.
 
Complacency is our worst enemy, we must continually fight against it. We must NOT accept negative change ! We need to be kicking and screaming against it ! I will NOT accept that this is to be our lot in life ! I am holding on to the hope that Mugabe will be ousted in the Presidential elections (or be forced to back down even before then). It is all I have to cling to. There is no life-raft coming along to rescue us from the troubled waters; no soft landings here ! I do not for one moment think that ZanuPF will allow their power to be taken from them without a fight, so I anticipate an increase of the terror tactics we have seen since this time last year. We have to save ourselves, we have no-one else to turn to, and it is my hope and prayer that all Zimbabweans will stand firm in our resolve to fight back, and make a better future for our children.
 
On reading this a few days ago, I realised that I am going to carry on with the website no matter what the consequences may be. If I plan to stay here in Zimbabwe, and I DO, then I need to let you all know what is happening here. No more can we allow things to be brushed under the carpet. We need TRANSPARENCY in everything, or we can never go forward as a nation (and we still have SUCH  a long way to go).
We, here in Zimbabwe, have seen so much horror since the begining of the year 2000, that we have no choice but to see it through to the end. Why give up now, when we have been through so much ? The end is not far off, and then we will know, one way or another, what to do !
 
So…the updates will continue, come hell or high water ! It is the only way I have of coping with our situation.
 
Please give me a few days to get back into full steam !!! and then I will be updating on a regular basis. Thanks to all of you who continue to email. It's very much appreciated.
 
 ~Lorraine~
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How Hunzvi rose to the top in Zimbabwe

FOR the past two days there has been only one discussion issue in Harare, the death of Chenjerai Hunzvi, the controversial leader of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association.

It is no overstatement to say that at the time of his death the Polish-trained medical doctor was probably one of the most hated men among Zimbabwe's opposition and the 4500-strong white commercial farming community.

He led supporters of President Robert Mugabe's government and the ruling Zanu (PF) party on a violent campaign to intimidate opposition supporters and to invade white-owned farms campaigns that exacerbated the country's economic and political crisis.

Before his death, Hunzvi was seen as one element of a triumvirate of Mugabe's most reliable foot soldiers who traversed the length and breadth of Zimbabwe to shore up the ruling party's sagging fortunes even when it was evident that the health of the war veterans' leader was failing.

The other key elements of this group were Gender, Youth Development and Employment Creation Minister Border Gezi, and Defence Minister Moven Mahachi. Both died in separate car accidents last month.

The questions being asked most often are what killed "Hitler", as Hunzvi was popularly known, and what his death means for Mugabe, Zanu (PF) and the country as a whole.

Allegations by Hunzvi's exwife, now living in Poland, that he was an incorrigible womaniser and adulterer when they were still married, have given rise to speculation that Hunzvi may have died of AIDS, although senior government officials say he died of cerebral malaria.

Although opposition supporters and the commercial farming community appear openly relieved that "Hitler is, mercifully, no more", as one white farmer said, it is obvious that Hunzvi's death has been a serious blow to Mugabe and his supporters if their initial reaction to his death is anything to go by.

The fact that authorities in Harare are planning to make Hunzvi a national hero despite Hitler's questionable credentials during the liberation war, and the fact that he was facing criminal charges of defrauding the state's war victims compensation fund, suggests that he had built up a credible profile for himself among the country's ruling elite.

But who was Hunzvi?

At the beginning of the farm invasions in February last year, Hunzvi likened himself to "Napoleon Bonaparte, Che Guevara, or Adolf Hitler himself".

In addition, he said, those personalities were "figures no one could stop and who led revolutions. Now no one can stop the revolution we have started (in Zimbabwe)".

Hunzvi rose to prominence in 1996 after Mugabe bowed to his violent but popular campaign for the government to award war veterans Z50000 gratuities for having taken part in the war of liberation, and Z2000 monthly pensions. He disrupted a presidential speech at Heroes' Acre that same year, a feat not done before, and demonstrated at State House to agitate for the gratuities and allowances.

Most of Hunzvi's early history is obscure. What is known is that he was born on October 23 1949 in Chikomba district, east of Harare. Later in his youth, he was detained and jailed by Ian Smith's government. Upon his release he crossed into Zambia as a Zapu cadre. While in Lusaka he was assigned to the Zapu office in Warsaw, Poland, where he remained until after independence.

Hunzvi married three times.

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Zimbabwean minister seeks world's help in solving crisis

Zimbabwe's finance minister and its opposition leader have made separate appeals to help their country out of its economic crisis.

However, officials from the International Monetary Fund said the country would need to engage in tangible economic reforms before it would resume its support.

Zimbabwe's economy is nearing collapse, with vague estimates of unemployment approaching 50% and inflation about 70%.

The crisis worsened after international lenders and investors began pulling out last year as President Robert Mugabe's rule became more autocratic.

Zimbabwean Finance Minister Simba Makoni, hailed by many as a reformist, appealed for help from participants at a southern Africa economic summit, in Durban.

He said: "We want to engage and re-engage the international community. We want you to solve the problems with us."

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, appealed for resumed investment as soon as the political crisis ends.

However, "lifelines," such as electricity and fuel sold cheaply by South Africa need to continue despite the political turbulence. He also dismissed the idea that sanctions would help end the turmoil.

He said: "The question is, are you propping up Mugabe? In all due respect, support for the people of Zimbabwe is not the same as support for Mugabe."

The IMF suspended its loans to Zimbabwe in 1999 after the country missed targets on inflation, state spending and exchange-rate policy. The country is now in arrears on its IMF loans. Zimbabwe needed transparent and just land reform and a sustainable and successful economic programme, the IMF said.

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SAA considering alliance with Air Zimbabwe

June 7, 2001    

South African Airways (SAA) is reportedly considering a new alliance with Air Zimbabwe for flights on some international and regional routes.

SAA's executive vice president, Bonang Mohale, told local press in Harare last week, 'It will make us very happy to have a strategic alliance with Air Zimbabwe and even Air Namibia and this will fully market us as a region,' reported the Financial Gazette.

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Thursday, 7 June, 2001, 13:29 GMT 14:29 UK
Poor support for Zimbabwe star
Elliot Mujaji  running
Elliot Mujaji won Zimbabwe's only ever individual Olympic gold medal
By Joan Brickhill in Harare

Zimbabwe has won only one individual Olympic gold medal. The winner was 29-year-old Elliot Mujaji for the 100m men's sprint at the Sydney Paralympic Games last October.


I wonder how they'll cope when too many people bring medals

Elliot Mujaji
This week he has been running in the Italian national championships to prepare for the world championships for the disabled in July.

But he nearly did not make the Italian competition. Three days before he was due to fly out from Harare, half the sponsorship for his ticket fell through. Alternative sponsors were found just 24 hours before the flight.

Recently he missed a chance to compete in New Zealand because he could not raise the money in time.

He is disappointed by the lack of official support and adequate recognition.

Bad reception

When he flew into Harare after winning the gold medal last year, there was nobody to meet him at the airport except family. What is more, some customs officials tried to charge him duty on his medal.

Elliot Mujaji
Elliot: I don't think they appreciate my efforts
The only other time Zimbabwe has won Olympic gold was in 1980, the women's hockey team. Yet the sole celebration of his victory was organised by the company that employs him. Six months later the national sports commission came up with a paltry grant of $360.

"I managed to bring a medal and they admitted they'd been sponsoring people for years without success - I wonder how they'll cope when too many people bring medals," laughs the athlete, "I don't think they appreciate my efforts."

But he does receive substantial support from individuals and some companies. Especially the mining company that has employed him both before and after the accident that changed his life just over three years ago. They give him as much paid sporting leave as he needs and pay some of his travel expenses.

Accident

Before the fateful day, Elliot was already a promising athlete running for the national team. He had just qualified for the Commonwealth Games when, on the 3 January 1998, he was severely burnt in an electrical accident at work. He went into a two month coma after his right arm was amputated.

"After I came out of the coma and they told me about my arm, I remembered what had happened, and I felt sad that I was no longer going to run," the athlete recalls.

But a priest visited him regularly and encouraged him to get back into sport as other disabled people had done.

Nine months after coming out of hospital he started going for very short jogs. Two years later he was back to running 100m in under 12 seconds. Then he met his present manager, American Dr Fred Sorrels, who is trying to develop disabled sport in Africa.

New chance

Fred managed to get him into the Sydney Paralympics and helped secure a six month sports scholarship for Elliot to train in Australia before going to Sydney.


I lose some balance when I'm starting because I pump very hard with one arm so I can manage to lift the legs

Elliot Mujaji
There he ran the fastest time in the 200m heats, but was disqualified for encroaching on another lane.

"I lose some balance when I'm starting because I pump very hard with one arm so I can manage to lift the legs," he explains. "I've corrected the problem with training and right now I think the 200m is my best event."

Elliot attributes his success to God and people like Fred Sorrels, but his many admirers prefer to credit his own courage and commitment.

Future success may depend on the degree of support he receives; for example, if he could afford to turn professional he could increase his hours of training from three a day to seven. But support for disabled athletes in most African countries, except giants like South Africa and Nigeria, is minimal.

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