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As Hopes Wither, Africans Turn on Leaders

February 25, 2001

By RACHEL L. SWARNS

VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe, Feb. 24 — The rain burst from the heavens
and drenched the faces of the jubilant supporters who serenaded the
old man at his birthday bash here today. All across town, young
women celebrated the leadership of their longtime president,
singing, "South Africa will follow you, Mugabe, Namibia will follow
you."

 But after two decades in power, President Robert Mugabe turned 77
this week with his popularity dwindling and his country in
political and economic turmoil. The high hopes vested in Mr. Mugabe
when white rule ended in 1980 have turned sour; at home and abroad,
some who once lauded him as a liberal and a liberator now charge
that he is turning to autocracy and repression to cling to power
and to realize far-reaching goals, like giving land to blacks,
before leaving office.

 And as they watch Zimbabwe and its leader, the men and the
movements who helped end colonialism in this region are shuddering,
worrying that they, too, may fall from their people's grace.

 It has been seven years since the last all-white government — the
apartheid regime in South Africa — was finally voted out of
existence. As euphoria at the triumph fades, many countries in this
relatively stable corner of Africa are feeling similar strains.
Voter apathy, particularly among the young, is rising; there is a
struggle to deliver promised jobs and land to the poor; and
opposition parties that have large white memberships but are wooing
black converts are emerging.

 In recent days, Mr. Mugabe has acknowledged his party's failure to
inspire young blacks, who tired of his talk of revolution and
flocked last year to an opposition party that promised to ease
unemployment, even though it was partly financed by whites who once
supported the old white minority rule.

 This morning, Mr. Mugabe announced that southern African leaders
would soon meet to plot strategy and to rekindle the passion for
their parties and ideals. "We feel threatened at the moment, and
not just here," he said earlier this week. "In South Africa and
Mozambique."

 No one is seriously predicting that South Africa or the other
law-abiding countries here will go the way of Zimbabwe, where Mr.
Mugabe and his followers have been assailed by the United Nations,
the State Department and human rights groups for arresting critics,
harassing journalists and threatening judges.

 And some in the region and abroad view the budding pluralism
across southern Africa as a sign of progress in a place where
one-party politics is still the order of the day.

 But there is no doubt that the parties in power, which supported
each other when all were battling to end colonial or white minority
rule, are searching for new solutions now that filling City Hall
with black faces no longer satisfies poor blacks seeking
advancement.

 "People cannot eat slogans, rhetoric or history; liberty must
bring tangible benefits to the oppressed," warned Zwelinzima Vavi,
head of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, at a seminar in
Johannesburg last week, assessing the lessons that Zimbabwe's
troubles offered its neighbors. "This is also relevant in South
Africa."

 Mr. Vavi, whose union is closely allied with South Africa's
governing African National Congress and with the Communist Party,
described Mr. Mugabe's government as a "promising transformation
project turned horrible." In the sharpest condemnation of recent
developments in Zimbabwe by a South African leader, Mr. Vavi blamed
its troubles on the repression of critics and "near-dictatorial
governance."

 But even South Africa's leaders, who won 60 percent of the popular
vote in recent elections, are nervous. A white-led opposition party
won its first slivers of the black vote in that poll. And in recent
meetings, members of what were once the movements to empower blacks
in Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe and South Africa have
acknowledged that the seeds of trouble have also been sown in their
countries.

 Officials in South Africa have vowed to root out corruption and to
narrow the gap between officialdom and the masses. In Namibia,
party members are talking about rallying alienated young people. In
Mozambique, officials are warning about the threats posed by
opposition parties with links to their old enemies.

 In October, top officials of what were once the parties of
liberation gathered to discuss those issues at a meeting in
Johannesburg. Today, Mr. Mugabe addressed young party members from
across southern Africa and urged them to stick with their governing
parties to guarantee broad access for blacks to quality health
care, education, jobs and land.

 "We're asking ourselves, 'What lessons can we learn from each
other?' " Jeremy Cronin, the deputy general secretary of the South
African Communist Party, said in an interview this week. "It's very
important for all of us to start to do that."

 Mr. Cronin pointed to the low turnout among blacks, especially the
young, in last year's local elections in South Africa. "We can't
simply expect people to vote because the A.N.C. fought a heroic
struggle as if we were some kind of museum piece. Young people say,
`What is that freedom? I'm unemployed and I can't get a job.' And
that's a fair question."

 These are still burning issues in southern Africa, where the aging
guerrillas who were beaten, imprisoned or exiled for demanding the
right to vote are still running most governments. Unlike other
parts of Africa, which saw colonialism largely swept away in the
1960's, most countries here did not start casting off white rule
until 1975 when Mozambique and Angola won their independence from
Portugal.

 Zimbabwe, then known as Rhodesia, followed in 1980 when the first
democratic elections propelled Mr. Mugabe to power. Namibia was
next in 1990, then South Africa in 1994.

 The governments of South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique are still
popular with voters and respected abroad. But Zimbabwe, which was
heralded in the 1980's for building schools and clinics, has become
increasingly associated with a contracting economy, corruption and
repression.

 Last year, urban voters here stunned the political establishment
by voting for a new, interracial opposition party and ending Mr.
Mugabe's overwhelming control of Parliament. And with presidential
elections scheduled for next year, the authorities have stepped up
efforts to silence their critics in the media, the courts and the
opposition.

 Last month, the printing press of Zimbabwe's only daily newspaper
was bombed after government officials had condemned its coverage.

 This month, officials expelled two foreign journalists who had
been critical of the government and arrested several members of the
opposition. The authorities also forced the chief justice of the
Supreme Court to resign, saying they could not guarantee his safety
from government- backed militants.

 The militants have threatened to remove the judges forcibly for
ordering black squatters to end their invasions of white-owned
farms.

 In South Africa and Namibia, where whites still own most of the
fertile land, officials have said they will never tolerate such
farm invasions. Mozambique has even volunteered to resettle white
farmers who choose to flee Zimbabwe. But the region has still been
criticized, especially in the West, for not speaking out more
strongly against the intimidation here.

 The countries say they prefer private diplomacy, not public
rebukes.

 But it is also clear that some officials look askance at the
opposition in Zimbabwe and elsewhere because these parties still
have links to supporters of the all-white governments of old.

 Zimbabwe's opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change,
is bankrolled by white businessmen and farmers — a tiny minority of
the population, but owners of more than half of the country's
fertile land. South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic
Alliance, includes members of the former apartheid government. Both
parties emphatically deny any attempt to roll back the clock.

 But for years the apartheid government financed black opposition
movements in Mozambique and Angola in an effort to destabilize the
liberation struggle. And many of the men now in power apparently
find it hard to believe the avowed good intentions of their new
opponents.

 "These are the avenues used by the former occupiers to frustrate
the independence struggle," Alpheus Narused, the secretary for
information for Swapo, said of the opposition parties in a
telephone interview from Windhoek, Namibia. "In our view all those
things are aimed at destroying the gains of independence."

 Not everyone takes such an ominous view. In South Africa, there is
heated debate in the African National Congress and its allies. Mr.
Cronin, for instance, sees Zimbabwe's opposition front as a
progressive, popular party, not just black stooges fronted by
whites. Mr. Vavi and others argue that officials here simply want
to mask a raw, ugly struggle for power.

 "I understand the frustration of people who see whites still
sitting pretty," said Nicholas McNally, one of the justices who
recently resisted pressure from Mr. Mugabe's allies to resign and
who opposed the all-white government of Ian Smith. "But I'm very
sad that this model jewel state that we had is being destroyed."
      



http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/25/world/25ZIMB.html?ex=984379989&ei=1&en=509bcced5d3f1724

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Zimbabwe's Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay has cancelled plans for early retirement after the government ordered him to quit by midnight. Gubbay's defiance in the face of an offensive to remove judges who have ruled against the government could result in police action against him at his Supreme Court chambers. Information Minister Jonathan Moyo has insisted that Judge Godfrey Chidyausiku, a prominent ruling party supporter, will be appointed soon after midnight. Moyo said state officers would be asked to take appropriate steps to remove Gubbay if he refused to go. He likened 68-year-old Gubbay to an individual who sat in the road, obstructing the highway. Gubbay accused Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa of attempting to fire him by ordering him to leave his office by midnight and his official residence by March 9 to make way for his replacement. He said that breached an agreement that he would go on extended leave and then retire on June 30. The government has not responded.
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Dear All - For your info - from Bulawayo, Ward 4
 
Here is a notice of a meeting to be held soon.Please copy as many copies as you like, cut them into four, and distribute to whoever you think is interested. Thank you,
 
Debbie York
 
MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE
WARD 4 – BULAWAYO PROVINCE
 
invite you to attend a meeting
 
DATE:  Wednesday 7th March 2001
TIME:  7:00 for 7:30 pm
VENUE:  Hotel Rio, Old Esigodini Rd, Bulawayo
SPEAKER: EDDIE CROSS - MDC SECRETARY FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
 
ALL WELCOME
Donations at the door will be appreciated.
 
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Re-focusing on the MDC's priorities
MDC Press
February 26, 2001

Members of the Movement for Democratic Change, and all Zimbabweans must
continue to experience overwhelming violence and repression under Zanu PF
rule. However, we must remain steadfast in our commitment to our
principles, and refocus on the positive potentials inherent in the
upcoming Presidential Elections. The Zanu PF tactics of beat, plunder,
loot and invade are designed to distract us from our true calling - the
desire for change, the desire for a better life for ourselves and our
children: The quest for a better Zimbabwe.

The key objective of the MDC is change. The party's objective is to bring
a better life to all Zimbabweans, and to improve each and every person's
standard of living in a sustainable and equitable manner. The MDC
understands that most Zimbabweans are not interested in politics. Our
people are interested in earning a fair salary for a day's work, feeding
their families and living in peace. It is these most basic needs that have
been jeopardised by the irresponsible actions of the government in power.
And it is these most basic needs which are the focus of the MDC's priority
areas for the next five years.

1. Restoring economic stability, growth and job creation
Zimbabwe's economy is suffering. High inflation, a huge government
deficit, foreign currency shortages, business closures, retrenchments and
increasing poverty are endemic. The people of Zimbabwe are suffering from
the ruling party's misguided and mismanaged policies, while government
ministers and Zanu PF cronies continue to grow rich. The MDC has short-,
medium-, and long-term plans in mind to stabilise the economy and recover
Zimbabwe into what she once was.

2. People driven land reform
Zimbabwe has needed land reform since before independence. Despite twenty
years of independence, and ten years of constraint-free governance in this
regard, Zanu PF has continued to use the land question as a political
tool, denying it the importance it has as a bread-and-butter issue faced
by millions of Zimbabweans every day. The MDC supports a transparent and
democratic land reform process. This will be organised by a non-partisan
commission and administered in an equitable, scientifically sound and
non-politicised manner.

3. Building accountable and transparent government and fighting corruption
The core problems of our country today can be found in its leadership.
Individuals who proudly lead the country to independence have turned
against the people in their quest for personal gain. Today's government is
so infected by corruption that it cannot be expected to monitor itself.
Too many people are involved in the corruption, and so no one will report
on anyone else. The MDC will create a Corruption Commission, whose purpose
will be to keep government officials in check and closely monitor all
payment and tender processes to ensure that graft is never given the
chance to take root. In addition, the MDC pledges to the people that it
will remain transparent in its governance, thus ensuring the people's full
understanding and involvement in decision-making processes, again
eliminating potential openings for corruption.

4. Giving life to a People's Constitution
The bedrock of a democratic society is a People's Constitution. The
absence, after two decades, of a National Constitution written for and by
Zimbabweans is one of the most telling signs of the disempowerment of the
people. That Zanu PF hijacked the constitutional reform process for its
own benefit, and then launched a bloody and ruthless campaign when it lost
the people's confidence, is a further manifestation of the extent of
corruption and selfishness of the ruling party. The Zanu PF government has
moved dramatically from its romantic ideals of national empowerment, and
is now merely interested in lining the pockets of a few select
individuals. The MDC is a party formed with the people, and together we
struggled for Constitutional reform in order to enshrine these principles
of democracy. The NCA has already restarted its reform process, and the
MDC firmly believes in the urgency of constitutional reform to ensure
that, no matter the individual or party in power, the will of the people
will be understood and reflected in the nation's supreme law.

5. Guaranteeing health standards
The most severe health problems in our country arise due to lack of food,
unhealthy environments. This stems from poverty, poor social conditions,
and insufficient access to basic health services. In particular, AIDS is a
plague devastating Zimbabwe. One quarter of our country's adult population
is infected with the HIV virus. This has a dramatic impact on the social
fabric of our communities, and on our economic stability, as parents,
children, and workers die of this disease. The party will ensure that the
fundamental right to health will be assured through the guarantee of a
minimum core of public health services to be equitably distributed. The
MDC's focus on health standards views health as directly related to
environmental protection and living standards. Thus the party will use a
holistic approach not only to promote the development of public, private,
traditional and community health providers, and in combating diseases such
as HIV/AIDS, but also to improve the basic living conditions of all
Zimbabweans, so that an improved quality of life can be experienced by
everyone, thus dramatically reducing the health problems faced by our
people.

The ruling party has demonstrated that it will tenaciously cling to its
fading glory and refuse by all means to relinquish power. It is
constraining all avenues in which the opposition might operate, and
fiercely restricting freedoms of movement, expression and information. In
this circumstance, the MDC must be creative and seek alternate means of
getting our message across. The party is constantly developing
alternatives and pursuing strategies to unite the people and gather the
collective faith in change necessary for a victory at the polls-a victory
for Zimbabwe, her people, and her principles of independence. This is not
for the party alone to do, however. History has shown us that the victory
of righteousness over oppression is never easy, but always certain. The
fiercest machinery of Zanu PF cannot defeat us if we maintain our ideals
of peace, non-violence, democracy and transparency, and hold fast, united
as one force in protest of a decaying dictatorship.

Together we can counter their oppression, unite against their selfishness,
and create the better Zimbabwe we all deserve.

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ANC chief whip, MP in talks with Zimbabwe's opposition

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

CAPE TOWN Two high-profile African National Congress (ANC) heavyweights held
talks yesterday with Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader,
signalling a change of approach by SA's ruling party towards that country's
deepening crisis.

Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai,
accompanied by his deputy Gibson Sibanda, held an hour-long private meeting
with ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni and ANC MP Pallo Jordan.

Tsvangirai flew to SA especially to meet the ANC and discuss the situation
in Zimbabwe.

Delegates from both parties declined to reveal issues discussed at the
meeting. "We see this meeting as an important engagement. (It is) very
important for the ANC to understand the situation in Zimbabwe as SA has a
very strong influence in Zimbabwe," Tsvangirai said.

Tsvangirai said President Thabo Mbeki's indication that he would meet Mugabe
to discuss the recent onslaught on the judiciary, the media and the
opposition in Zimbabwe was a "positive step" towards restoring order and
democracy.

Last year, Yengeni led an SA delegation to observe elections in Zimbabwe and
later announced, to the ire of the opposition and white commercial farmers,
that the elections were considered free and fair.

Yesterday, Yengeni praised talks between the parties, saying this would lead
to the greater understanding of each other's approach to Zimbabwe.

ANC communications head Smuts Ngonyama said the ANC's secretary-general,
Kgalema Motlanthe, was aware of the meeting and had given it the go-ahead.
"The meeting should be seen as part and parcel of the ongoing search to find
a solution to Zimbabwe's political situation."

Reuters reports that Yengeni said there had been a frank exchange of news
and views about Zimbabwe. "It was an important contact and we hope it will
continue at many other levels," he said, indicating a sharp shift in the
party line, which has in the past avoided all but very low-level contact
with the MDC.

Tsvangirai said the meeting had been set up at the weekend by mutual
consent.

Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon arrived in Harare yesterday
to hold talks about Zimbabwe's turmoil with various formations, including
farmers, the legal profession, the media and the opposition.


Feb 27 2001 12:00:00:000AM Simphiwe Xako Business Day 1st Edition

   Wednesday
28 February 2001










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From the Daily Telegraph

ISSUE 2105Wednesday 28 February 2001

Mugabe's dismissal of top judge backfires
By David Blair in Harare


PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's attempt to bring Zimbabwe's judiciary under his
control backfired yesterday when the Chief Justice refused to accept his
dismissal from office.
Instead Anthony Gubbay, 68, who is one of the last whites holding high
office in Zimbabwe, said he was now "reconsidering" his previous agreement
to retire early. After months of pressure and vilification, Chief Justice
Gubbay had agreed to go on leave from March 1 and formally retire on June
30. He is officially due to step down in April next year.
He first learned that he was now to be dismissed from yesterday's edition of
The Herald, the government newspaper. Under the headline "Gubbay to leave
office tomorrow", were extracts from a letter written to him by Patrick
Chinamasa, the justice minister. Mr Gubbay had never received such a letter.
Mr Chinamasa accused him of reneging on an agreement that his successor
would be appointed the moment he went on leave. He said the Chief Justice
was guilty of misconduct and wrote: "Accordingly, your term of office as
Chief Justice terminates on Feb 28, 2001, by which time you should have
cleared your belongings from your chambers." The constitution allows for a
chief justice to be removed only after an independent tribunal has completed
an investigation into charges of misconduct.
In a statement issued through his lawyers, Chief Justice Gubbay, who was
born in Manchester and educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, said Mr
Chinamasa's actions were "unlawful". He added: "The Chief Justice will not
vacate his chambers and his official residence. In the light of the
unexpected and unwelcome developments, the Chief Justice will be
reconsidering the question of his early retirement."
Last night Zimbabwe's lawyers were hoping that the Chief Justice would
decide to stay in office. Under his leadership, the Supreme Court has
infuriated Mr Mugabe by striking down his "fast track" land seizure
programme and ordering the eviction of thousands of squatters from
white-owned farms.
A mob of militant supporters of Mr Mugabe, who is facing impeachment
proceedings, stormed the court last November. Two other members of its
bench, Nicholas McNally and Ahmed Ebrahim, have also faced calls for their
resignations.
Adrian de Bourbon, chairman of the Bar Council, said: "The government has
decided to act illegally, outside of the constitution, and in effect sack
the Chief Justice. There is no provision in law for them to do that. They
pushed him too far and he decided to fight back. I don't know how the
government is going to react, but he has done the right thing."
Last night the government was still insisting that the Chief Justice would
have to go. Prof Jonathan Moyo, the Information Minister, said: "He is
reneging and that is gross misconduct. We have to bring him to book. Come
midnight tomorrow, the Chief Justice's term of office will terminate, his
office will be vacant."
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Former envoy leaves $17m debt in Vienna

2/28/01 8:16:58 AM (GMT +2)

Staff Reporter

EVELYN Kawonza, Zimbabwe’s celebrated former ambassador to Austria, left behind in Vienna debts totalling more than Z$17 million when she was recalled to Zimbabwe in July last year.

The 12 February issue of an Austrian weekly publication, Profil, reported that by the time she left Vienna after four years, Kawonza, 60, owed four banks almost 4,5 million Austrian schillings and 4 890 schillings to a photographic shop near the Zimbabwean embassy.
An Austrian schilling is about $3,90 at today’s exchange rate.
Profil reported: “Zimbabwe’s former ambassador to Vienna took out loans of millions of Austrian schillings and withdrew into faraway Africa.”
The banks did not have her address and were at the same time “trying hard to solve this embarrassing issue without great publicity. Which also means that they cannot sue”.
Yesterday, Kawonza admitted she owed the banks money, but disputed the amount.
“It’s far from that,” she said. “It’s manageable. I have actually paid some of it back.”
She accused an official at the embassy in Vienna of telling the banks that they would never find her in Zimbabwe.
Kawonza, however, refused to name the official.
The Austrian ambassador in Harare, Peter Leitenbauer, was said to have advised Kawonza to talk to the banks. Yesterday, he refused to comment on the issue.
Profil said: “Three weeks ago, Evelyn Kawonza flew to Vienna, stayed at the posh Radisson Hotel, and talked to the banks. She wanted to go into the export business and sell Zimbabwean soapstone sculptures or the raw material to Austria. With the profits she would settle her debts.”
Profil said an unnamed Zimbabwean sculptor had been visiting the Austrian Trade Mission in Harare asking for payment for his sculptures which were sent to Austria.
The money was allegedly borrowed to set up a business project which
Kawonza intended to manage with an Austrian businessman as partner.
The businessman, however, became suspicious when banks and other businessmen started calling him. Kawonza had allegedly named him everywhere as her business partner without ever having made business with him.
In an interview with Profil, Kawonza said she regretted that her activities were now considered as private business by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Harare.
Kawonza said her problems started when she was suddenly recalled from Vienna.
She said she was granted only one month in which to wind up her affairs.
She said she had been to Austria twice since her return to Harare and would be going back there to settle the debt.
Profil said: “The financial institutions are now considering special ways of doing business with diplomats who take out loans. Because so far, the rules have been very simple. Someone who, like Mrs Ambassador, earns 300 000 schillings a month, has access to as much credit as she wants.”
Kawonza was honoured by the tourism industry last April for promoting tourist traffic from Austria to Zimbabwe.

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Group to challenge Mugabe’s immunity

2/28/01 8:04:34 AM (GMT +2)

Staff Reporter

FIVE Zimbabweans, suing President Mugabe in the United States for the deaths of their family members in the run-up to the June parliamentary election, say they will challenge a request by the Zimbabwe government for immunity over a civil suit they filed against him.

Evelyn Masaiti, MP for Mutasa, Elliot Pfebve, whose brother was killed during pre-election violence last year, Adella Chiminya, widow of MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai’s driver and Maria Stevens, widow of a farmer killed during farm invasions, are suing Mugabe for $400 million in damages.
The government yesterday denied President Mugabe had requested immunity, saying he already enjoyed protection from such action.
Jonathan Moyo, the Minister of State for Information and Publicity, yesterday said: “You don’t have to request for immunity. Presidents have immunity.”
Topper Whitehead, spokesman for the plaintiffs, however, said Mugabe and Zanu PF made the request through the US State department. He said lawyers for Masaiti, Pfebve, Chiminya and Stevens would challenge the request.
“The plaintiffs have until 23 March to respond to the State Department letter with a brief to explain why the defendants are not immune from this action,” said Whitehead.
“This will be done and we have one of the final legal firms in the United States gathering the best available team to fight for truth and justice for all.”
Mugabe and Stan Mudenge, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, were served with papers while attending the UN Millennium Summit in September 1999. At first, the government vehemently denied Mugabe and Mudenge were served with papers on the suit while attending the summit.
The government later denied the matter was before the courts. It later turned out the case was heard before judge Victor Marrero. The court noted the default of Mugabe and Mudenge after they failed to appear. The government then argued the matter was not heard, saying the plaintiff's were turned away because their papers were out of order.
Yesterday, Moyo accused the independent media of ignoring the government's explanations on the issue. He said the government was taking The Daily News, The Standard and Topper Whitehead, spokesman for the plaintiffs, to court.
Reuters news agency reported from Washington on Monday President George W Bush’s administration said Mugabe was entitled to immunity as a head of state, citing the principle of reciprocity if it is to guarantee immunity for US leaders abroad.
The representative of the US Attorney is said to have told a Manhattan court that Mugabe and Zanu PF had officially requested that the US State department submit a letter suggesting immunity of their behalf.
However, US officials said the intervention on Mugabe's behalf should not be interpreted as reflecting any change in US human rights policy with regard to Zimbabwe, a State Department official said.
“Government-instigated lawlessness and violence in Zimbabwe pose a grave danger not only to the safety of Zimbabwean citizens but to the rule of law and the integrity of governing institutions in that country,” a US official said.

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War vets dismiss PTC workers

2/28/01 8:03:55 AM (GMT +2)

Staff Reporter

TWO workers at the Post and Telecommunications Corporation (PTC) branch in Centenary, Obert Karambamuchero and Cleopas Mavhunga, were “dismissed” from their jobs and evicted from their homes by war veterans last Friday.

Fellow workers at the branch alleged Karambamuchero, a messenger, was fired by the war veterans for travelling to St Albert’s Mission on a commuter omnibus suspected to have been carrying MDC supporters. He was accused of being an MDC supporter, his colleagues said.
Mavhunga, a general hand at the same post office, was accused of campaigning for MDC candidates running for council elections in his home area near St Albert's Mission.
The workers said the war veterans brought the police to the post office on Friday and told the postmaster that the two were fired for sympathising with the opposition.
Yesterday, the two did not report for work. Karambamuchero was a lodger at the house of the assistant district administrator in Centenary while
Mavhunga lived in a cottage at the postmaster's house.
Yesterday, the postmaster, who refused to identify himself by name, referred all questions to the police.
“They are the ones who have been coming here with these war veterans and they can give you more information,” he said. He refused to elaborate.
The officer-in-charge at Centenary referred questions to Bindura police, who in turn said questions should be referred to the police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena, in Harare.

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There are bound to be more rattles

2/28/01 7:51:48 AM (GMT +2)

THE government was evidently rattled by the visit of the British Conservative Party's shadow foreign minister, Francis Maude, this week.

The Tories, trying to go one better than the Labour Party, are calling for Zimbabwe to be suspended from the Commonwealth, which is as likely to happen as President Mugabe winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Most African members of that group of English-speaking nations seem quite satisfied that Mugabe's policy of bashing the judges, the independent Press and the opposition is none of their business.
One good reason could be that some of them indulge in the same sort of violent cleansing in their own countries, and would like Mugabe to return the favour once they find themselves in the same political stew - hanging on to power by the skin of their teeth. But we are still surprised at the extent to which the government seemed to be rattled by Maude's statements. Many European countries have already indicated their utter disgust by either cutting off aid altogether or scaling it down to the barest minimum.
None of them want to make a song-and-dance about it because Mugabe's reaction is unpredictable. He might decide to send all their nationals packing at short notice or punish their companies which may have extensive operations and assets here.
So perhaps the new US administration is nervous about its interests here too, hence the decision to grant Mugabe immunity from prosecution over the lawsuits brought against him in New York over the murders in the run-up to the election last year.
To be sure, the US government says this gesture does not in any way affect its position on the violation of human rights in this country. It remains as resolute as ever in its call for a return to the rule of law and an end to the persecution of the Judiciary, the independent media and the opposition.
What is really priceless about the request for immunity by Mugabe et al is their initial, almost hysterical denial that anything of the sort was going on. There were strident denials of the legal papers ever having been served on Mugabe and the Foreign Minister, Stan Mudenge.
Newspapers which insisted that the papers had indeed been served were vilified by the government and the journalists were hauled to the police station to make lengthy statements in an atmosphere in which they were treated almost as if they had committed breaches of national security.
Yet while all this was going on, the government must have been aware of the true situation. We doubt that the US government could have gone to all the trouble of preparing these weighty immunity papers without letting the government in Harare know what they were up to. The government seems determined to go ahead with a criminal defamation suit against the newspapers which have carried stories about the whole business of the lawsuit in the US courts. So the matter may be sub judice.
But it is enough to say there was never any need for all this aggravation if the government had been honest with the people right from the beginning. Instead, it adopted the same attitude of contempt it has always adopted towards its critics - that they don't know the facts, that they are motivated by malice and that they are not patriotic enough to ignore the government's little mistakes.
Yet even the Americans, while conceding the need to grant Mugabe and company immunity, say they are still critical of the government's support for lawlessness and violence against its own citizens. Since the referendum in February last year, the government has allowed this country to be ruled by the war veterans. It is the war veterans who started agitating against the judges and the independent Press. It is the war veterans who staged two noisy demonstrations against this newspaper before its printing press was bombed.
These are facts: there can be no malice involved.
A government is made up of fallible human beings capable of monumental blunders of judgment. Since 1980, this government has made some classical political and economic blunders and the chickens have come home to roost.
Instead of turning their wrath on the judges, the independent media and the opposition, the government ought to engage in some serious self-examination.
There is hardly a shred of patriotism in deliberately destroying the economy and antagonising erstwhile political and economic allies, Europe and the United States included, for the short-term gain of winning a presidential election, whether it is held next June or next year.

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How to survive deportation through laughter

2/28/01 7:53:04 AM (GMT +2)

Bill Saidi On Wedneday

Deporting foreign journalists is the speciality of totalitarian regimes all over the world.

The journalists' ostensible sin, always, is that they refused to send back to their newspapers and radio stations stories lavishing praise on the leader of the country in which they are based. Or failed to portray the country as a paradise on earth, even while corruption in high places was endemic and street urchins died in the city streets, of hunger and the effects of incessant glue-sniffing.
Such governments, because they have so much filth to hide, would prefer to be covered by “patriotic” journalists, by which they mean dumb-bells.
If the indigenous journalists are worth their salt they too will be in serious trouble with the government.
What the governments hate is coverage of their corruption, their persecution of judges, violations of human rights by so-called war veterans, the persecution of the opposition by the same veterans and the routine beatings of citizens by uniformed policemen and soldiers for no reason.
They don't want all that read about and listened to in foreign newspapers and radio stations.
They will hound the reporters until they can reform or eliminate them. They might even contrive to send them to “re-education camps”, which was done by the Cambodian butcher, Pol Pot, admired by many African leaders for his blood-lust.
If they can't reform the indigenous journalists, then they make life a hell on earth for them.
They can trump up charges against them: a waitress in their favourite watering hole could fake a rape against the journalists, or slip a Mickey Finn into their drink.
Their phone could be tapped, their house bugged, their relatives harassed, their movements monitored, as visibly as possible, to heighten anxiety.
In the old days, assassins were paid to simply liquidate them.
If they are foreign then they are deported, like Joseph Winter and Mercedes Sayagues. For these two fairly young people deportation is no fun. In fact, it could be quite traumatic.
But, having seen the horrors of political torture in Zimbabwe, they must be thick-skinned enough to get over the initial shock.
Spies are deported, if they are not hanged, or killed in meticulously stage-managed accidents. But deporting foreign journalists is the trademark of the xenophobic regime, corrupt and contemptuous of the rule of law.
The first and only country from which I was ever deported was in Africa. I believe I survived the trauma by imagining how my tormentors saw me as I stepped off the plane:
A monster from outer space, with slimy entrails cascading out of every orifice, a huge, Unicorn horn smack in the middle of my forehead, and sabre-size teeth dripping with blood;
A diseased monster, staggering off the plane and crying in a croaky, woe-filled voice for help from a death-dealing malady;
Or James Bond and Rambo all rolled into one, bristling with the latest lethal weaponry in espionage and mercenary legend;
Perhaps a drug-dealer, my stomach bulging with heroin and cocaine stuffed in cellophane bags;
Or an Avenging Angel in the purest white, Bible and crucifix in one hand, a sword in the other, come to inflict the punishment of God on a cruel, murderous and ungodly regime.
That's why I was able to laugh at the officials at Chileka airport, in Kamuzu Banda's Malawi in 1974, as I waited to board the plane back to Lusaka, half an hour after I had got off it. I had been PI'd, as we said then.The Ngwazi's regime was everything Slobodan Milosevic would have loved.
The previous year I had travelled without any problems and had been treated like a VIP, courtesy of Aleke Banda, then something of Kamuzu's blue-eyed boy.
In 1974, Aleke Banda was in trouble with Kamuzu and I was officially persona non grata because of just one article in our newspaper back in Lusaka.
In Zimbabwe, the so-called drama surrounding the deportation of both Winter and Sayagues was pure comic opera.
Patrick Chinamasa, the Minister of Judge Sackings, explained that one of the reasons was that Sayagues was a supporter of Unita, Jonas Savimbi's Angolan rebel movement. She says the opposite is the truth.
Winter was said to have obtained his new permit to continue to work as a journalist here through fraudulent means. If he broke the law, why not arrest him and let justice take its course?
But as we now know, the course of justice in Zimbabwe is studded with zvikwambo and zvidhoma (goblins) who will do any evil for their master, including murder.
The government says it expects the independent and foreign media to reflect, in their coverage, the reality of the political situation: that Zanu PF rules - okay?
Until some of us are satisfied that President Mugabe did not boast “we have many degrees in violence”, it won't be easy to separate his government from violence.
Until there is conclusive evidence that Zanu PF did not hire the war veterans to terrorise voters in the run-up to the election, not many journalists can believe the government and Zanu PF want real peace.
Until someone can dispel the strong suspicion that the government, Zanu PF or the army or both had something to do with the bombing of the printing press of The Daily News, it will be very difficult to believe they wish us well.
In broad terms, until the existence of this contemptible triumvirate of violence of the government, Zanu PF and the war veterans against human rights advocates, including the independent media, can be conclusively disproved, we must remain unmoved by their protests.
All the evidence suggests they are so desperate to hang to power they will do absolutely anything, including murder. But deportations and bombings have never silenced journalists.
Deporting and bombing ideas have been tried before. It's like attacking the truth. As long as Good exists in the world, how can Evil triumph?
bsaidi@dailynews.co.zw

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Uganda, Rwanda must pull out of DRC first: Zimbabwe

2/28/01 8:03:09 AM (GMT +2)

Staff Reporter

The Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) will only pull out of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC) after Uganda and Rwanda have left the vast central African country, the forces’ spokesman Colonel Mbonisi Gatsheni said yesterday.

The Monitor, a Ugandan national newspaper, has reported that the country will withdraw 1 500 soldiers from eastern DRC next week ahead of a United Nations (UN) 15 May deadline for foreign forces to pull out of the former Zaire.
A UN team has already left Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, for the south-eastern town of Pweto to prepare for the deployment of UN observers who will monitor the disengagement of Rwandan troops, said The Monitor, quoting a UN spokesman.
The dispatch of the observers follows the recent announcement by Rwandan President Paul Kagame that Rwandan soldiers would be withdrawing 200 kilometres from Pweto in the direction of their own country. UN observers left on Friday for Pweto.
Gatsheni said: “Aggressors should move out first and we will move out last.
Even the Lusaka Agreement recognises that, and I am told the UN endorsed that aggressors should move out first.”
Gatsheni, speaking from the defence headquarters on Monday, said: “I am sure it has been repeated several times by the political leadership that the ZDF is in the DRC on the invitation of that country’s government. Should our stay become untenable then we will pull out.
“They would not even stay a day longer as the President has said in the past.
“However, not everybody, even some Zimbabweans, are happy with the ZDF involvement in the DRC.”
Gatsheni was responding to reports that Ugandan troops were preparing to leave the DRC.
The Monitor reported that Brigadier Katumba Wamala, the commander of Operation Safe Haven, Uganda’s military mission in the DRC, has camped in the northeastern DRC town of Buta to prepare two battalions to withdraw, the army said yesterday.
“Arrangements are being made to fly them home. But we cannot give you the exact date because movement of troops is a military secret,” state defence minister Steven Kavuma said, according to The Monitor.
“We are committed to pulling out the troops and are assembling in Buta,” he said.
Buta was the assembling centre for over 4 000 soldiers from Kisangani who were withdrawn last August.
Uganda’s move comes ahead of the UN Security Council resolution which called on the warring sides in the DRC to begin implementing disengagement plans and urged all parties to the Lusaka ceasefire accord to adopt plans for a total withdrawal by 15 May.
The UN demands are contained in Resolution 1341, which was unanimously adopted.
The Council said it would closely monitor progress in the resolution’s implementation and would send a mission to the region.

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300 stranded after army officials turn them away

2/28/01 8:09:00 AM (GMT +2)

Staff Reporter

About 300 aspiring army recruits were stranded in Bulawayo last week after authorities at the Imbizo Recruit Training depot allegedly turned them away on suspicion they were MDC supporters.

The recruits said the authorities targeted those who came from towns where Zanu PF lost to the MDC in last June’s election.
But, a defence forces spokesman dismissed the allegations yesterday.
The youths were among about 1 200 who passed through the initial selection process at the All Arms Battle School in Nyanga in May last year.
They were invited to Bulawayo for final selection on Thursday last week.
Part of the letter inviting them for the training read: “You are required to report at the Recruit Training Depot (Imbizo Barracks) in Bulawayo on 22 February 2001 for the final selection.
“On successful completion of the selection process, you will be attested into the Zimbabwe National Army and immediately commence a six-month recruit training.” The hopeful candidates said they were shocked when security officers vetting recruits at the entrance allegedly turned away those who came from constituencies won by the MDC.
“There were about 300 of us when we arrived,” said one of the youths from Harare.
“We were not even allowed into the camp. There were officers at the gate wearing red berets.
“They looked at our national identity documents and those of us who came from towns were told to go away and ask the MDC to give us jobs.”
He said most of them had no busfare for the return trip back home.
“We had to look for people to lend us money,” he said. “I was lucky to get busfare but I don’t know what happened to my colleagues.”
Colonel Mbonisi Gatsheni, the army spokesman said:
“I don’t think there is substance in that.
“The selection was for people who had been short-listed but as usual there are some who want to take advantage and try their luck when they were not invited.”

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From the Daily Telegraph (UK), 28 February

Mugabe's dismissal of top judge backfires

Harare - President Robert Mugabe's attempt to bring Zimbabwe's judiciary under his control backfired yesterday when the Chief Justice refused to accept his dismissal from office. Instead Anthony Gubbay, 68, who is one of the last whites holding high office in Zimbabwe, said he was now "reconsidering" his previous agreement to retire early. After months of pressure and vilification, Chief Justice Gubbay had agreed to go on leave from March 1 and formally retire on June 30. He is officially due to step down in April next year.

He first learned that he was now to be dismissed from yesterday's edition of The Herald, the government newspaper. Under the headline "Gubbay to leave office tomorrow", were extracts from a letter written to him by Patrick Chinamasa, the justice minister. Mr Gubbay had never received such a letter. Mr Chinamasa accused him of reneging on an agreement that his successor would be appointed the moment he went on leave. He said the Chief Justice was guilty of misconduct and wrote: "Accordingly, your term of office as Chief Justice terminates on Feb 28, 2001, by which time you should have cleared your belongings from your chambers." The constitution allows for a chief justice to be removed only after an independent tribunal has completed an investigation into charges of misconduct.

In a statement issued through his lawyers, Chief Justice Gubbay, who was born in Manchester and educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, said Mr Chinamasa's actions were "unlawful". He added: "The Chief Justice will not vacate his chambers and his official residence. In the light of the unexpected and unwelcome developments, the Chief Justice will be reconsidering the question of his early retirement."

Last night Zimbabwe's lawyers were hoping that the Chief Justice would decide to stay in office. Under his leadership, the Supreme Court has infuriated Mr Mugabe by striking down his "fast track" land seizure programme and ordering the eviction of thousands of squatters from white-owned farms. A mob of militant supporters of Mr Mugabe, who is facing impeachment proceedings, stormed the court last November. Two other members of its bench, Nicholas McNally and Ahmed Ebrahim, have also faced calls for their resignations. Adrian de Bourbon, chairman of the Bar Council, said: "The government has decided to act illegally, outside of the constitution, and in effect sack the Chief Justice. There is no provision in law for them to do that. They pushed him too far and he decided to fight back. I don't know how the government is going to react, but he has done the right thing."

Last night the government was still insisting that the Chief Justice would have to go. Prof Jonathan Moyo, the Information Minister, said: "He is reneging and that is gross misconduct. We have to bring him to book. Come midnight tomorrow, the Chief Justice's term of office will terminate, his office will be vacant."

From The Daily News, 27 February

US invites outgoing Chief Justice for official visit

The new US government of President George W Bush has invited outgoing Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay for an official visit to Washington. According to a statement from the US Embassy in Harare, the purpose of the visit was to discuss matters of mutual concern with US government officials, the judiciary, members of Congress, leaders of legal and human rights organisations, and the role of the Judiciary in promoting democracy in Zimbabwe.

The Chief Justice would not comment on the visit yesterday. His private secretary said he would not give interviews or talk to the Press on any issue. The Chief Justice has recently been forced to give notice to resign by the government, which launched a concerted campaign to remove from the Supreme Court all the judges in whom Zanu PF says it has lost confidence. But the American Embassy in Harare said in the statement that Gubbay had accepted the invitation, although no dates have been set for the visit. An embassy spokesman said Gubbay would be "warmly received" in the US as he had a "sterling reputation" as a jurist who had made important contributions to justice and the rule of law in Zimbabwe.

Gubbay's landmark visit to the US and the recognition of his expertise by the US authorities come after President Mugabe and Zanu PF said they had lost trust in him and the judiciary he leads. Gubbay, a British-trained lawyer born 69 years ago in Manchester, came to Zimbabwe 40 years ago. He was appointed Chief Justice in 1990 after the retirement of the late Chief Justice Enoch Dumbutshena. Gubbay fell foul of the government for passing judgments upholding the rule of law, particularly when war veterans forcibly occupied more than 1 700 commercial farms.

From The Times (UK), 28 February

Harare priest survives road-ramming

A prominent churchman in Zimbabwe has survived what he believes was an attempt to kill him in a car crash. Canon Tim Neill said that a government-owned vehicle deliberately tried to run him off the road as he was returning home after giving a speech criticising the Government. "Two strangers in the audience seemed very interested in which route I was going to take," he said. "My supporters pleaded with me not to drive after dark. I didn't listen and an hour later we were hit. The police said it was an accident." Canon Neill added: "Sadly, my country is becoming a very dangerous place and I am truly scared for my family and myself."

Opposition politicians are threatened daily with murder, as are judges, journalists, farmers and businessmen. Canon Neill said that he was told about a plot to kill him after he refused to resign as Vicar General of Harare and tried to stop a friend of President Mugabe from winning the election for Bishop of Harare. The canon looked close to tears as he said that he, his wife, Carol, and their daughters, Rachel, 18, and Sarah, 16, may have to leave his native country. His brother, Paul, a medical professor, left for New Zealand this week. "I have been warned that if I continue to resist, then I can expect the war veterans to get involved and I am sure they are not lovers of my soul," he said.

From Topper Whitehead, spokesman for the plaintiffs in the US suit against President Mugabe

In response to recent statements by the Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo, emphatically denying that President Mugabe appealed for immunity:

The letter received by the United States District Court in the case No Civ.6666 (VM) Adella Chiminya et al - plaintiffs VS. Robert Gabriel Mugabe et al - defendants is in my possession and is headed Suggestion of Immunity submitted by the United States of America.

Para 2 of the letter reads ........... informed the Department of Justice that the Government of Zimbabwe on November 1, 2000 formally requested the Government of the United States to suggest the immunity of the President and the Foreign Minister from this lawsuit. I do not think that there could be any clearer clearly indication that Jonathan Moyo is out of touch, or being misinformed, or is deliberately lying for political gain. The letter is concluded ........., the United States respectfully suggests the immunity of President Mugabe ......

The letter does NOT give Mugabe immunity - it is a suggestion that the court should consider this when the case is brought before it. Remember that Jonathan Moyo denied the case even existed in the first instance. I have a copy of the letter signed by DAVID S Jones ( DJ-5276) for anyone who wishes any further proof of the misinformation and lies that the ZTV is dishing out to the tax paying public.

From Pan African News Agency, 27 February

Leon Slams Mugabe After Fact-finding Trip

Cape Town - Tony Leon, the leader of South Africa's official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), on Tuesday urged the government to make its policy towards Zimbabwe known, saying the policy of "gentle persuasion" towards president Robert Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF party had failed to make any impact. Leon has just returned from a two-day visit to Zimbabwe where he met Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Zimbabwean MDC, and his deputy, Gibson Sibanda as well as farmers and businessmen.

He said South Africa's policy of gentle persuasion towards Zimbabwe had failed and it appeared that president Mugabe was determined to secure a fifth term in office. He said it was evident to the DA delegation and the people they spoke to in Zimbabwe that Mugabe was "prepared to use any means including violence to secure victory". "The situation in Zimbabwe is dire with some suggesting civil insurrection and clearly there is a serious economic meltdown. On the evidence of the people that we met, a campaign of terror has been unleashed and is spreading from its previous confinements in the commercial farms and communal land areas to the townships, towns and cities of Zimbabwe," he said.

He said compounding the crisis is the fact that 60% of the population is unemployed, one million workers have lost jobs over the past 18 months, inflation stands at 55% and there are no foreign reserves. "The characterisation of the meltdown in Zimbabwe as being about land and land hunger is simply not true. While every party and group we spoke to acknowledges and is willing to implement land reform - including the Commercial Farmers Union - the reality is reflected in the words of Archbishop of Bulawayo, Puis Ncube, that the land reform exercise is a cloak for a campaign against the opposition," he said.

The fiery opposition leader said a campaign of terror has begun which has succeeded in terrorising the farming community, the judiciary, the press and the opposition. "In sum, and in our view, any future dealings the South African government has with President Mugabe and his government has to be premised on very specific conditions which South Africa should calibrate depending on Zimbabwe's compliance or non- compliance with them." He recommended that South Africa should invoke article 4 of the SADC declaration, treaty and protocol of 1992 which commits member states to protecting human rights, democracy and the rule of law. He also called for a cessation by South Africa of endless increments, aid and advantage to Mugabe without any quid pro quo in return.

"There are a range of specific measures the UN and Commonwealth can take and which have been successfully applied against other rogue nations and pariah states including freezing foreign assets and funds owned by individuals, which would include a fair number of the ZANU hierarchy, restrictions on travel by government ministers and an arms embargo such as that being applied to UNITA. These are but a selection of the menu of diplomatic and political measures and options with which we should confront the Zimbabwe government in the event of their non-compliance with minimum international and regional agreements to which they are party," Leon added.

Comment from The Times (UK), 28 February

Leaders 'degree in violence' will not guarantee his hold on power

R W Johnson

The present agony of Zimbabwe stems from the determination of a discredited liberation movement elite - headed by Robert Mugabe - to cling to power whatever it takes. President Mugabe has boasted of his "degree in violence" and he has used beatings, torture, organised gang rapes and murder against his opponents. The oddity is that Zimbabwe is notionally a democratic state, so violence and terror is exercised through a prism of electoralism.

Everything now focuses on the presidential election, which must take place before April next year. Mr Mugabe, who will then be 78, gives every impression that he wants to run again. There are, though, insistent rumours that he may call a snap election as soon as July or August and at the last moment stand aside in favour of Emmerson Mnangagwa, the former head of the secret police, whose hands are equally bloodstained by the Matabeland massacres of the 1980s and who has as much to lose as Mr Mugabe from allowing an examination of the Government's human rights record.

The Helen Suzman Foundation did three surveys of voter opinion in Zimbabwe last year. The first found that 36 per cent wanted Mr Mugabe's Zanu PF party to stay in power; 63 per cent thought it was "time for a change". The second survey, for the June general election, showed that in a free poll the opposition MDC would have won 62.7 per cent of the vote. The third, done in September to October, showed Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, ahead of Mr Mugabe in a presidential election by 41 per cent to 15 per cent. Nearly a quarter of voters said that Mr Mugabe should be offered immunity from prosecution provided he resigned as President; 51 per cent said that even if he quit he should be put on trial.

There followed two by-elections, the first in Marondera West, previously held by Zanu PF. War veterans and intelligence operatives moved in and violence and intimidation were used to bully opposition supporters. In the event, the MDC polled much the same vote as it had in June while the Zanu PF vote fell, greatly reducing its majority. The Government learnt its lesson. In Bikita West, which the MDC had won narrowly in June, it concentrated not on intimidating opposition voters not to vote but on corralling everyone but the MDC hard core to turn out: 2,000 veterans and other Zanu PF activists arrived in the constituency, plus 47 military encampments. Some 7,000 Zanu PF voters were moved into the constituency; about 4,800 MDC voters were struck off the rolls. The chiefs and headmen were told that they would lose their jobs if their people did not vote solidly for the Government. Zanu (PF) won handily.

The President knows that a similar effort is not possible in all 120 seats at the same time - and while Mr Tsvangirai's name is on the ballot there is a sporting chance that voters may take the chance to ditch him. Hence the decision to destroy the local press, expel foreign journalists, bully the judiciary and the attempts to disqualify Mr Tsvangirai. Already Mr Mugabe has announced that no foreign election observers will be allowed next time, but for Zanu PF to feel safe the opposition and the big institutions of an independent civil society have to be destroyed now.

Comment from The Guardian (UK), 28 February

Dreams lie buried in a land of hate

I wonder what Mugabe would say if my Uncle Guy was still alive

Angela Neustatter

Watching each new, hate-filled excess of Robert Mugabe's directed against the whites who he now condemns as the source of Zimbabwe's problems, I wonder how he would have dealt with my Uncle Guy if he had still been living there today. For just six years ago, when Guy Clutton Brock died, Mugabe came to his memorial service in Britain to collect his ashes and take them to be scattered in Zimbabwe at Hero's Acre - the first time a white man had been buried there.

My uncle was an improbable hero for the black liberation government in a country which, during his time there - he arrived in 1949 and was removed by the white regime in 1971 - knew only oppression by Southern Rhodesia's white leaders. He was a quintessential blue-blooded Englishman with his blond, rangy good looks, a double-barrelled name and a Magdalene College education. He had no idea what to expect when he decided to take his agricultural skills to Africa. He simply felt it was "the right place to be".

He and his wife Molly went to St Faith's Mission in Rusape, although he had no religious intentions for his work. But he was shocked by the poverty and sickness he found among the community of 700 blacks attempting to farm smallholdings eroded by years of over-use. It was clear to him that they needed help to achieve rights and equality with the whites. He started by refusing to be the boss man. Instead, in what sounds a quaint and quixotic gesture these days, he formed the African-European cooperative, with an African manager, herdsman and tractor driver, while the bursar and stockmen were Europeans. The crops flourished as farming methods improved, word spread that "CB" could be trusted, and it was here that Guy helped write the constitution for the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress - he was asked to be president, but refused. Mugabe became a close friend; Guy and Molly said they felt he would be "good for the country".

Needless to say, Guy, who had been granted citizenship in 1951, was not so popular with the white regime - he was living, eating and working alongside blacks, demonstrating they could live together equally. In 1959 he was detained without trial, but promised freedom if he would relinquish his citizenship and go. He refused: "African nationalism had not been achieved," he explained simply, and he and Molly - who had set up the Mukuwapasi Clinic, where she worked as a physiotherapist with children - took themselves across the border to Botswana for a while, then returned and bought a large piece of land with like-minded whites - it would not have been possible for blacks to purchase it.

The Cold Comfort Farm cooperative outside Salisbury drew unemployed young men and women, including people like Didimus Mutasa and Moven Mahachi, who went on to become political leaders after independence. Agricultural skills were learned and political ideas discussed endlessly. The white police regularly searched the farm for "terrorist weapons", but it was Ian Smith who, in 1971, passed the Citizenship Act and kicked Guy out. There are pictures of a large crowd of Africans weeping at the airport as he went, shouting: "I am glad to share in the fellowship of the dispossessed... I regard the present regime as only temporary."

Guy died happy, having seen independence achieved, and it seemed that when Mugabe came to power the memory of that group of committed and determined whites held a meaning. It seemed the new president had a real will to make reconciliation work, and for more than 15 years blacks and whites appeared to live pretty much peaceably alongside each other. And although the much-needed land reform which would give Africans some of the quality land mostly still owned and farmed by whites clearly needed to be done, the hope had been that Mugabe would bring it about in a measured way.

That all appears a sad, sick dream now. But there is another question worth asking: should blacks, once they gain independence, be obliged to go on paying obeisance to even the most supportive of whites? It is not a question for me to answer, but a young African who became a friend of my son's while he was teaching in Zimbabwe a few years ago and remains in touch, believes his generation gains from hanging on to those memories and understanding that there are whites who believe in justice for Africans. He has as good a reason as any to hate whites - his father was killed by a Rhodesian policeman - but he says he has been happy growing up in a country where it has been possible to be friends with whites and see reconciliation, for all its imperfections, working.

Clearly Mugabe does not listen to this new generation, and I suspect if Guy were in Zimbabwe now the colour of his skin would be the point, not the "immense contribution" which Mugabe spoke of him having made just six years ago.

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Alarming silence in the nation

2/28/01 8:30:05 AM (GMT +2)

Joan Brans, Beatrice

ON THE ZBC news two weeks ago, a headmaster from a rural government school was appealing to the public and donor community for money to repair the premises, broken chairs and equip a laboratory.

It is very noble and conscientious of the headmaster to want what should already be there for the children in his school.
What confused me was why he was begging when every working Zimbabwean is taxed beyond their limit.
Has he asked himself why his school is in disrepair when billions of dollars are thrown down the drain in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
Has he asked himself why Professor Jonathan Moyo’s and President Mugabe’s children attend the very colonial private expensive schools, complete with bodyguards and chauffeur-driven cars, and not the ordinary government schools?
Do Zimbabweans who have the misfortune of using Harare Hospital or rural clinics ask themselves why there are no basic medicines, and why thousands of people are dying unnecessarily through lack of medical care? Those waiting for hours in petrol queues, are they asking themselves why?
Are we asking ourselves why we are being so negative when the police and army are beating and terrorising the people on the farms and in high-density suburbs?
Why are we silent when judges are being forced to resign and the government queries and scorns the highest court in the land?
Most importantly, to the Christians in Zimbabwe, are we asking ourselves why the Church and we are so passive and silent, speaking out on the land issue but not on the murders, rapes and beatings of the congregation?
When on Judgement Day, God asks “What did you do about it all?” will we be proud of our answer?
In the near future, food shortages are coming, yet why is the Minister of Agriculture assuring us there is enough grain?
The answer to all my questions is simple.
Zimbabwe has a government that has no respect or concern for its citizens and has squandered money on a war that will bring the downfall of the country and the government.
Sadly, it might be too late by then and the economy may never recover.
What is the solution?
Every citizen has a duty before the next election to ask themselves and more importantly, their families in the rural areas, “Why?” to all these questions.
The answer will be the same every time an incompetent government which has lost direction.
It is now up to each and every one of us to change this!

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Classic case of a revolution devouring its own children

2/28/01 8:34:55 AM (GMT +2)

A Zimbabwean, USA

WHEN we celebrated independence in 1980, we thought the liberators wished freedom for all of us.

Now it turns out that they fought for the freedom to subject us all.
What freedom do we have if we are not allowed to think for ourselves?
What freedom do we have if we cannot tell our leaders that things are not going well for us?
What freedom do we have when the very people who liberated this country deny us the right to choose which newspaper to read?
If all this and worse is done in the name of freedom, is that freedom worth anything?
If being human entails the possibility of making mistakes, why should the leaders take exception to criticism unless they are not human?
If Zimbabwe is for all of us, why should a bunch of freedom fighters think only they alone have the right to enjoy freedom?
Isn’t this a case of a revolution devouring its own children?
The question I would like to raise for the “Hitlers” of this country is: How would they want history to remember them?

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Let’s rid our land of evil

2/28/01 8:36:00 AM (GMT +2)

Lancelot Saungweme, Dangamvura, Mutare

AS WE edge towards 2002 for the presidential election, it is imperative that the tormented masses remain focussed.

By then the nation would have been plunged into a quagmire of incoherence and the economy in more dire straits.
Let us take this as an opportunity to cleanse this land of all the evil that we are now being identified with. Fighting them will only make them more prepared and very difficult to beat. Together with all those in the communal areas let’s pull in one direction. What we are going through is all because the rural majority chose to do it the old way.

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