The Zimbabwe Situation

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Farai Mutsaka and Gift Phiri
Friday, 16 March 2012 12:03

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace are some of the
state-owned power firm Zesa Holdings’ biggest debtors.

After a month of investigations by the Daily News, we can today reveal that
the Mugabes as at December 31, 2011 owed Zesa over $345 000 in unpaid
electricity bills at their multiple farms.

Mugabe’s bitter coalition partner Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told
Parliament this week that he had settled his $5 000 Zesa bill only recently.

The other coalition government principal Arthur Mutambara is in the green
after making an advance payment of $400 to Zesa.

As the struggling power firm switches off hundreds of thousands of
hard-pressed Zimbabweans owing paltry amounts, an investigation by this
newspaper has unearthed shocking electricity bills for Mugabe and his
family, and they are not in this alone.

The stunning revelations come as Mozambique power utility Hydro Cahora Bassa
has just switched Zimbabwe off its grid over an unpaid power import bill of
about $80 million.

Among those that owe Zesa hefty amounts are Mugabe’s closest aides going
back to the 1970s liberation war days such as Defence minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa, minister of State in the President’s Office Didymus Mutasa and
State Security minister Sydney Sekeramayi. Information and Publicity
minister Webster FROM P1

Shamu, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere,
Higher Education minister Stan Mudenge and Mugabe’s deputy John Nkomo make
the list.

Others that joined Mugabe after the liberation war years but have become
part of his close knit, such as presidential spokesperson George Charamba
are also up there on the Zesa defaulters’ list.

Charamba’s phone was unavailable when the Daily News called last night.

Zesa spokesperson Fullard Gwasira’s mobile phone was also unavailable.

Service chiefs such as Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Constantine
Chiwenga and Airforce commander Air Marshall Perrance Shiri are part of the
crew that has left Zesa in financial doldrums.

Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) director-general Happyton Bonyongwe
also owes the power utility hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But it is Mugabe’s bill that is stunning, particularly when Zesa has over
the years mounted a spirited campaign to force ordinary Zimbabweans to pay
by disconnecting power in poor suburbs where unemployment is rife.

Mugabe and Grace, through various properties cumulatively owed Zesa more
than $345 000 as at 31 December last year.

This was just about the time a large number of Zimbabweans spent Christmas
in the dark as Zesa claimed defaulters were crippling efforts to generate
power and pay for enough imports.

Mugabe’s four plots at Foyle Farm plus a cottage as well as Gushungo Dairy
Estates put the octogenarian into a $143 667,33 debt with Zesa as at
year-end.

The President’s Gwebi Woodlot 1st Farm owed $24 901,05. Mugabe’s Sigaro Farm
1st PO, 2nd PO, 3rd PO and 4th PO owed a total of $78 218,71. The First Lady
fared less.

Her Iron Mask Cottage, Iron Mask 2nd POIN, Iron Mask 3rd POIN, Mazowe
Wholesalers, Annant Cottage, Iron Mask Farm 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th owed a
total of $98 306,60 as at December 31, last year.

Mnangagwa owed Zesa $240 824,03. He is listed under sensitive customers
profile.

Goche owed Zesa $158 245,52 for properties spanning several plots at Ceres
Farm and businesses that include grinding mills, a farm store and a service
station.

Mutasa owed $179 590,31.

Happyton Bonyongwe, the Central Intelligence Organisation director general
owes Zesa $350 989,48 but has forked out $77 800 in payments as he makes
steady efforts to retire the debt.

Air Marshall Perrance Shiri owes $26 947,70 for his Hopdale Farm. Police
chief Augustine Chihuri’s homestead and his Inyika Farm owe Zesa $106
778,25.

The politicians’ penchant not to pay is evident in the figures, according to
investigations.

Outstanding electricity bills for “sensitive customers” increased by 9
percent between December 2011 and February 2012.

* Look out for more shocking details in tomorrow’s edition of the Daily
News.

Police defiant over roadblocks

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Staff Writer
Friday, 16 March 2012 12:51

HARARE - Government is now seized with the issue of roadblocks that have
littered Zimbabwe’s roads and have become a source of conflict, but police
say the checkpoints are here to stay.

So heated has the issue of roadblocks become that it took centre stage at
Tuesday’s government meeting.

Responding to questions from reporters on how police appear to be using the
roadblocks as fundraisers, Biti said government had tasked co-Home Affairs
ministers Kembo Mohadi and Theresa Makone to deal with the matter.

“Cabinet discussed the issue of roadblocks for an hour and the co-Home
Affairs ministers will issue a statement,” said Biti.

But police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told the Daily News the roadblocks
could actually intensify “until sanity returns”.

Bvudzijena said the roadblocks in Harare and other cities were necessary
because public transport drivers, commonly known as kombi drivers, had
“become clever” because they sent each other text messages on where the
police would have mounted roadblocks.

“We decided then that it was wiser to mount more roadblocks. If they decide
to change route, they will find us there. That is why you find more than one
roadblock in a small area — we are actually closing their escape routes,” he
said.

Giving an example of how public transport operators had turned towns and
cities into a jungle, Bvudzijena said there were 3 500 unregistered kombis
in Harare alone.

“These kombis are not registered at all and most of the drivers have fake
driver’s licences, so we have to put a stop to this. We have done a lot to
help the carnage on the roads,” he said.

The police spokesperson said most of those driving kombis were under the
prescribed age and some had not gone for any medical check-ups.

“We have to control all this through roadblocks. We will continue to refine
the roadblocks while maintaining our presence on the roads.”

Researcher arrested for interviewing victims of 2008 violence

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
16 March 2012

A researcher assigned by the MDC-T has reportedly been arrested in Gutu for
interviewing victims of the political violence that rocked Zimbabwe in 2008,
when Mugabe lost presidential elections to Morgan Tsvangirai.

A report in the NewsDay newspaper says Shepherd Mazorodze was: “Arrested
last Sunday in Gutu while compiling a list of army generals accused of
terrorising villagers before and after the 2008 disputed polls.”

Mazorodze was on Thursday granted US$20 bail when he appeared before
Masvingo magistrate Learnmore Mapiye. Although he is being charged with
“publishing falsehoods likely to undermine public confidence in the Zimbabwe
National Army” Mazorodze said his report was for documentation purposes only
and not for publication.

The case was remanded to the 30th April.

In 2008 members of the notorious Joint Operations Command (JOC) deployed
over 200 senior army officers countrywide. These were used to coordinate
Operation Mavhotera Papi, a murderous campaign that targeted people
perceived to have voted for Tsvangirai.

The MDC estimates that 500 people were brutally murdered, although it’s
believed the figure is many more than that, tens of thousands were tortured
and raped and hundreds of thousands were displaced.

It’s reported that Mazorodze’s research documented senior army officials
like Major General Engelbert Rugeje, Colonel Roger Magumise, Colonel
Masanganise, Captain Ezra Gono and a sergeant only identified as Nkomo, as
having taken part in the campaign of violence and murder.

Despite the formation of a coalition government in 2009, it’s believed many
of these senior soldiers are still deployed in the areas they were sent to.
SW Radio Africa understands Air Vice Marshal Henry Muchena, a fierce Mugabe
loyalist, is coordinating ZANU PF’s election strategy and how to use these
soldiers.

Other notorious soldiers being used include Brigadier General David Sigauke
(Mashonaland West), Major General Douglas Nyikayaramba (Army HQ), Retired
Brigadier General Victor Rungani (Mashonaland East) while Air Vice Marshal
Abu Basutu will oversee matters in Matabeleland South province.

Below is a list supplied to SW Radio Africa showing some of the soldiers
deployed

The list shows the province, district or constituency in which the soldier
will be based and the name of the soldier:

Harare Metropolitan Province – AVM Karakadzai
Bulawayo Province – Col. C. Sibanda
Bulawayo central – Maj. J. Ndhlovu, Maj. J. Ncube
Manicaland and Mutare South – Brig. Tarumbwa

Buhera Central – Col. Morgan. Mzilikazi (MID)
Buhera North – Maj. L. M. Svosve
Buhera South – Maj. D. Muchena
Buhera West – Lt. Col. Kamonge, Major Nhachi

Chimanimani East – Lt. Col. Murecherwa
Chimanimani West – Maj. Mabvuu
Headlands – Col. Mutsvunguma
Makoni North – Maj. V. Chisuko

Makoni South – Wing Commander Mandeya
Mutare Central – Lt. Col. Tsodzai, Lt. Col. Sedze
Mutare West – Lt. Col. B. Kashiri
Mutare North – Lt. Col. Chizengwe, Lt. Col. Mazaiwana

Mashonaland Central – Brig. Gen. Shungu
Bindura South – Col. Chipwere
Bindura North – Lt. Col. Parwada
Muzarabani North – Lt. Col. Kazaza

Muzarabani South – Maj. H. Maziri
Rushinga – Col. F. Mhonda, Lt. Col. Betheuni
Shamva North – Lt. Col. Dzuda
Shamva South – Lt. Col. Makumire

Midlands Province – AVM Muchena, Brig. Gen. S. B. Moyo, Lt Colonel Kuhuni
Chirumhanzu South – Maj T. Tsvangirai
Mberengwa East – Col. B. Mavire
Mberengwa West – Maj T. Marufu

Matebeleland South – AVM Abu Basutu
Beit Bridge East – Group Cpt. Mayera, Rtd. Maj. Mbedzi, Lt. Col. B. Moyo
Gwanda South – Maj J. D. Moyo
Gwanda Central – Maj. B. Tshuma

Matopo North – Lt. Col. Maphosa
Matebeleland North – Brig. Gen. Khumalo
Binga North – Maj E. S. Matonga
Lupane East – Lt Col. Mkwananzi

Lupane West – Lt Col. Mabhena
Tsholotsho – Lt. Col. Mlalazi
Hwange Central – Lt. Col P. Ndhlovu
Masvingo Province – Maj. Gen. E. A. Rugeje

Bikita West – Maj. B. R. Murwira
Chiredzi Central – Col G. Mashava
Chiredzi West – Maj. E. Gono
Gutu South – Maj. Chimedza

Masvingo – Lt. Col. Takavingofa
Mwenezi West – Lt. Col. Muchono
Mwenezi East – Lt. Col. Mpabanga
Zaka East – Maj. R. Kwenda

Mash West Province – Brig. Gen. Sigauke
Chinhoyi – Col Gwekwerere
Chegutu East – Lt. Colonel W. Tutisa
Hurungwe East – Lt. Col. B. Mabambe

Mhondoro Mubaira – Col. C. T. Gurira
Zvimba North – Cpt. T. Majongwe
Mashonaland East – Rtd. Brig Gen Rungani
Chikomba Central – Lt. Col. Marara

Goromonzi North – Lt Col. Mudzimba, Maj F. Mbewe
Marondera Central – Maj. Gen. Chedondo (COSG), Lt. Col B. Kashiri
Marondera West Squadron Leader – U. Chitauro
Murehwa South – Maj. Gurure

Murehwa North – Lt. Col. Mukurazhizha, Lt. Col. Chinete
Gutu North-Retired Colonel Mutero Masanganise
Gutu South-Colonel Muchechetere

WOZA leader released after ‘shock’ two day detention

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Alex Bell
16 March 2012

The co-leader of pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), Jenni
Williams, was released from custody this week after she was detained
following a ‘shock’ decision by a magistrate.

Williams and her WOZA co-leader Magodonga Mahlangu appeared before
Magistrate Godwin Sengweni on Monday as part of a continuing trial.

As part of the proceedings the WOZA women’s lawyers presented a doctors
certificate regarding Williams’ health, as well as proof of purchase of
medication causing drowsiness.

The defence team then requested a postponement of the trial until the High
Court application had been finalised.

But Prosecutor Goodluck Katenaire vehemently opposed the application
insisting Williams was faking illness to stall the proceedings and that she
should take the stand. He went on to to complain that ‘these are the people
who say justice delayed is justice denied’. He made accusations that the
doctors certificate and prescription were ‘fake’.

According to a WOZA statement released Thursday, Magistrate Sengweni
returned to deliver a “shocking ruling.”

“He narrated how Williams could not walk unaided and had to be helped in and
out of the dock, that she was obviously unable to pay attention to
proceedings. He then referred to the court as a ‘human court’ and ordered
that she be sent to prison ‘to save her life and dignity’ and be seen by a
prison doctor. He then remanded both accused persons to reappear before him
on 15 March,” WOZA said in a statement.

Williams was escorted out of court and transported to the Mlondolozi prison
complex. She was eventually released two days later, having spent the time
without her medication or food.

The trial continues.

Mujuru inquest findings out, but not public

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tererai Karimakwenda
16 March 2012

The anxiously awaited findings of the inquest into the death of retired
General Solomon Mujuru are reported to have been completed, with a report
submitted to Attorney-General Johannes Tomana on Thursday. But according to
NewsDay newspaper, no details were available.

Tomana is quoted as saying he had received the report and needed “time to go
through the results before making any announcement on the matter”. Mujuru’s
family is believed to have written to Tomana last week, seeking information
on when the magistrates’ findings would be available.

Mujuru died in late August last year in a suspicious fire at his farm in
Beatrice, outside Harare. It was recently revealed that he was due to travel
to Beitbridge the next day with Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere,
to finalise indigenisation plans for River Ranch diamond mine.

The Mujuru family has reportedly been wrestling for control of the mine from
the Dubai-based Rani Investment, the majority share holders who reportedly
turned down the Mujurus’ latest offer and are approaching the government to
sell their shares directly.

Luke Zunga from the Global Zim Forum told SW Radio Africa that although the
nation may be anxiously awaiting the findings of the inquest, the AG must
study the report to see if there is any evidence of foul play and whether
charges need to be filed. The family must also be notified and given the
report first.

“It’s a delicate case involving a very powerful family so the AG needs to be
careful. Zimbabweans deserve to know the findings but it may take some
time,” Zunga explained. He added that his own observation is that Mujuru’s
death was a political assassination, done by people with much experience.

Testimonies given by police, security guards and workers on Mujuru’s farm
was largely contradictory, especially regarding the candle found in his
bedroom, the ‘odd’ place where the car was parked and whether someone was in
his car when he returned from a local bar.

There are unconfirmed reports that the inquest found Mujuru had died from
“carbonization”, caused by fumes from the fire and that there was nothing
ominous about his death. A trusted source said he believed the family’s
lawyer was not happy with that result and plans to call for another autopsy.

A number of observers have said they would not be surprised if the official
inquest result said it was just the fire, as it would be extremely likely
that any murder would have been well covered up.

Govt criticised for ‘hypocrisy’ over Transfrontier Conservation Park

http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Alex Bell
16 March 2012

Zimbabwe‘s government is facing criticism for a display of ‘hypocrisy’,
after signing off on the country’s involvement in a transfrontier
conservation area this week.

Five Southern African nations, including Zimbabwe, have agreed to form the
world’s largest international conservation area, with the aim of protecting
the area’s wildlife. At a ceremony in Namibia on Thursday government
ministers from Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe signed off on
a cross-border treaty, set to combine 36 nature preserves and surrounding
areas.

Called the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), the site
includes the Victoria Falls World Heritage site in Zimbabwe and Botswana’s
famed swampland of the Okavango Delta.

This is not the first transfrontier conservation initiative Zimbabwe has
been involved in, as already the Gonarezhou National Park forms part of the
Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, which includes South Africa
and Mozambique.

Johnny Rodrigues, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force
(ZCTF), told SW Radio Africa on Friday that in principle the transfrontier
initiatives are a good idea. But he explained there is a huge problem with
no one trying to follow up on the laws that are supposed to govern the
running of the areas.

“On paper, I’m all for it. The problem is that on paper people are signing
up to a set of laws. But is it being enforced? That’s the question,”
Rodrigues said.

The ZCTF chairman used last year’s spate of elephant killings at the
Gonarezhou National Park as an example of this, explaining how no laws were
enforced to prevent the slaughter of the elephants and other animals in this
conservation area.

Rodrigues also agreed with criticism voiced by observers that Zimbabwean
authorities are being hypocritical, especially because “there seems to be no
one able to enforce the laws that are in place to protect the animals.”

Zimbabwe’s National Parks Authority has been slammed for its involvement in
recent elephant killings, after it emerged that Parks staff killed three of
the animals within a conservancy last month. The employees from Chipinda
Pools went to Chiredzi River Conservancy last month and shot three
elephants, including two lactating cows and one young bull. It brings to
seven the number of elephants killed in the Conservancy in the past month,
where the elephant numbers are dwindling.

Rodrigues said that the Park staff are working with illegal land invaders,
who have all but taken over the Chiredzi River Conservancy. He explained
that the invaders are deliberately trying to get rid of the wildlife there,
to make way for farming.

He said on Friday that until the rule of law is restored in all Zimbabwean
sectors, there is not much hope that conservation efforts will be ass
successful as they could be.

“Whenever you have this kind of turmoil, the law just disappears. And
honestly I think the future looks very bleak for Zimbabwe’s wildlife,”
Rodrigues said.

Attorney General Clears MDC T MP On Charges Of Embezzling Development Funds

http://www.radiovop.com

Bulawayo, March 16, 2012- A Bulawayo legislator, Albert Mhlanga from Prime
Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change party (MDC T)
has been acquitted on charges of embezzling the US$50 000 Constituency
Development Fund (CDF).

The acquittal of Mhlanga comes just few days after Attorney General,
Johannes Tomana, called for a halt on the arrest and prosecution of
parliamentarians for abusing the CDF, a move that has been vehemently
criticized by Tsvangirai.

Mhlanga, a legislator for Pumula North, had his charges withdrawn by the
state during his court appearance at the Bulawayo Magistrates Court, his
lawyer, Liberty Mcijo from Lazarus and Sarif told Radio VOP.

“Mhlanga is a free man. All the charges against him have been withdrawn by
the state before plea,” Mcijo said in an interview.

Mhlanga who was arrested on 2 March and was out of custody on US$400 bail
becomes the first legislator to be acquitted on charges of abusing the CDF.

The parliamentarian is one of the four legislators including, Marvellous
Khumalo (MDC-T, St Mary’s), Franco Ndambakuwa (Zanu PF, Magunje) and Cleopas
Machacha (MDC-T, Kariba) that had been arrested and charged with corruption
over the abuse of the fund.

The AG last week said the arrest and prosecution of parliamentarians on
charges of abusing the CDF should stop, a call that Tsvangirai has dismissed
arguing that there is no such government policy.

Tsvangirai on Tuesday this week told Parliament that all corrupt MP’s should
be arrested and prosecuted.

Speaker of Parliament, Lovemore Moyo recently noted that he also wants ‘zero
tolerance of corruption in Parliament,’ saying he supports the arrest of
thieving legislators.

Mangoma dates Mozambique

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Xolisani Ncube, Staff Writer
Friday, 16 March 2012 12:43

HARARE - Energy and Power Development minister Elton Mangoma has been jolted
into action as large parts of the country face darkness over Mozambique’s
decision to switch off Zimbabwe due to an unpaid debt.

Mangoma told the Daily News yesterday he would be travelling to Mozambique
to discuss the matter, although there was no hint that Zimbabwe had the
money to pay up.

He said Maputo’s decision to cut electricity supply will “certainly” affect
most parts of the country as Mozambique was the only country that was still
supplying power to Zimbabwe.

He said the debt by power utility Zesa Holdings (Zesa) would be dealt with
by forcing consumers to pay their arrears with the firm as well as use
political means.

“We will continue disconnecting power to people so that they can pay their
dues as well as deal with the issue politically. I will be travelling to
Maputo soon so that we can find a solution,” said Mangoma.

Mangoma said the way in which Hydro Cahora Bassa (HCB) cut off the power had
no legal binding as it was supposed to give the country its quarter
allocation of the paid debt.

“They are supplying only 25 megawatts, a quantity which is being produced by
our Harare power station,” said Mangoma.

Zesa owes Mozambique’s Hydro Cahora Bassa (HCB) over $75 million for power
exported to Zimbabwe.

The country’s power supply authority, Zesa was importing between 100 and 185
Megawatts from (HCB), but it will only be receiving 25 megawatts forthwith.

The Energy minister had earlier told the Daily News that government had made
arrangements to clear the debt but HCB would have none of that.

So far, three other regional countries have already terminated their
assistance to Harare due to its poor track record of debt settlement.

Before the fallout with other countries, Harare used to get 35 percent of
its total distributed power from Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo and
South Africa.

The national power supply authority on the other hand is battling to recover
over $400 million it is owed by customers hence it has resorted to power
disconnections.

The country requires 3500 megawatts but it could only supply 1400 megawatts,
a feat which is likely to worsen the current crisis.

UK boosts Zim basic education

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Gift Phiri, Senior Writer
Friday, 16 March 2012 09:54

HARARE - Britain yesterday gave Zimbabwe £10 million (over $15 million) to
support basic education that has suffered from government neglect.

The funding will be channelled through government’s Basic Education
Assistance Module (Beam) earmarked to assist underprivileged children.

Dave Fish, head of the United Kingdom’s Department for International
Development (DFID), unveiled the £10 million donation to support Beam, a
Zimbabwean government programme which pays for disadvantaged children to
access education and complete school.

The country’s formally stellar education system collapsed at the height of
hyperinflation in 2008, resulting in a lost generation of youths who failed
to access education for prolonged periods.

Britain has helped revive government schools that were forced to close when
the economic crisis peaked in 2008, and the latest contribution is a
response to the request of the ministries responsible for Beam — Finance;
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture; and Labour and Social Welfare — to fund
the shortfall for primary school students.

In 2012, the government allocated $15 million to Beam to fund secondary
school students.

“I am delighted that the United Kingdom has once again been able to help the
Government of Zimbabwe channel assistance to those Zimbabweans who most need
it,” Fish said.

“The $15 million we are committing today is an investment in Zimbabwe’s
future, which we, as friends of Zimbabwe, are only too happy to support.”

Paurina Mpariwa, the minister of Labour and Social Welfare, said: “We are
highly appreciative of the $15 million assistance to Beam 2012 provided by
the UK government. This will change the lives of 400 000 orphans and
children in need.”

Despite accusations by President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party that
Zimbabwe's former colonial master Britain was undermining the unity
government in Harare, London was helping to revive essential services in
education, health, water and sanitation since the formation of the GNU three
years ago.

David Coltart, minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, thanked the
UK government for the donation.

“On behalf of the Zimbabwean government, I would like to express my
gratitude to the British Government for this generous assistance, without
which hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable Zimbabwean children would
have been deprived an education this year,” Coltart said.

Beam was set up in 2000 and supports orphans and vulnerable children through
a basic education package that includes levies and school and examination
fees.

Activists Sue Ministers and Police Chief, Alleging Torture

http://www.voanews.com

15 March 2012

The Activists are alleging both physical and mental torture while in
detention. According to papers filed in the high court, they are demanding
US$300,000 from the state for their experience at the hands of state
security agents

Blessing Zulu | Washington

Zimbabwe International Socialist Organization leader Munyaradzi Gwisai and
five colleagues arrested last year on allegations of trying to overthrow the
government, Egypt style, are suing senior government officials alleging they
were tortured while in custody.

Those cited include co-home affairs ministers, Kembo Mohadi and Theresa
Makoni, Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri and Prisons
Commissioner Paradzai Zimondi.

Gwisai, who previously represented Highfield in parliament for the original
MDC, is jointly charged with Antoneta Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Edson
Chakuma, Hopewell Gumbo and Welcome Zimuto.

The group was arrested in February last year after watching videos of Arab
spring uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

The Activists are alleging both physical and mental torture while in
detention. According to papers filed in the high court, they are demanding
US$300,000 from the state for their experience at the hands of state
security agents.

Initially they were charged with treason and plotting to overthrow President
Robert Mugabe. But their offense was downgraded to conspiracy to commit
public violence.

Human rights groups complain many activists are being tortured while in
detention, charging the biggest culprits are individuals and youth militia
from Mr. Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and state security agents.

Gwisai’s lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, says his clients face up to 20 years in
detention if found guilty. The judgment is expected to be delivered Monday.
He says he's confidence his clients will be acquitted.

Unity Gov't Divided Over Municipal Probe Team Costing Residents Thousands

http://www.voanews.com

13 March 2012

The Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and residents of Chitungwiza are bitter that the team, led by
Manicaland provincial administrator Fungai Mbetsa, is costing the
cash-strapped municipality thousands of dollars

Blessing Zulu | Washington

A probe team appointed by Zimbabwe's local government minister Ignatius
Chombo to revive the Chitungwiza municipality, a dormitory town 30km south
of Harare, has become the latest lightning rod in the shaky government of
national unity.

The Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and residents of Chitungwiza are bitter that the team, led by
Manicaland provincial administrator Fungai Mbetsa, is costing the
cash-strapped municipality thousands of dollars.

Workers allege that Mbetsa is getting US$26,000 in salaries and allowances
per month, his deputy about US$14,000 while the five committee members are
getting about US$13,000 each. Mbetsa himself says he is earning US$16,000
plus allowances.

As a result the MDC wants the cabinet and the anti-corruption commission to
probe Chombo for alleged corruption. The MDC is furious that Chombo
reinstated 20 councillors the party has fired for alleged corruption last
year.

Chombo then belatedly appointed a probe team to lead the local authority
citing corruption and dereliction of duty by councillors.

Chombo told VOA's Blessing Zulu that that his “detractors” are attacking a
team he says has been turning around the fortunes of Chitungwiza.

But Chombo’s deputy, Cecil Zvidzai of Tsvangirai MDC formation accuses his
boss of corruption saying he’s parcelling out such jobs to people with close
links to ZANU-PF and the minister himself.

Chitungwiza municipality workers are threatening industrial action to force
Chombo to reverse his decision on the so-called revival team. They have
since served the council with a strike notice citing the allowances being
paid to the team when they have gone for months without pay.

MDC-led Bulawayo Municipality Rattled by Chombo Corruption Probe

http://www.voanews.com

15 March 2012

Residents and councilors fear the probe may be a ruse by Chombo to
destabilize the MDC-led council like he has done in Chitungwiza and Harare
over the years

Ntungamili Nkomo | Washington

Zimbabwe's Bulawayo City Council was in panic mode Thursday as an
anti-corruption task force appointed by Local Government Minister Ignatius
Chombo to investigate the local authority started its investigations.

Chombo instituted the inquiry following complaints of council impropriety in
the allocation of public amenities and leasing of its shops.

Residents and councilors fear the probe may be a ruse by Chombo to
destabilize the MDC-led council like he has done in Chitungwiza and Harare
over the years.

Preferring anonymity, one councilor said the move was nothing but a
political witch-hunt to destroy the MDC council.

Another councilor, Prince Dube of Entumbane said the local authority has
nothing to fear as it does its business above board.

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association coordinator Rodrick Fayayo told
VOA residents are worried.

"While we believe in transparency and accountability... the association sees
it as prudent for impartial and objective investigation teams to be
appointed to carry out investigations where local authorities are accused of
graft," Fayayo said.

Mugabe is Air Zimbabwe's last man flying

http://mg.co.za/

RAY NDLOVU Mar 16 2012 02:06

President Robert Mugabe was Air Zimbabwe's only passenger when it flew for
the last time this week after nearly 32 years in the sky.

Nicholas Goche, whose transport and infrastructure ministry has jurisdiction
over the airline, said this week: "President Mugabe is the only one who has
made Air Zimbabwe fly because he charters an aeroplane and he pays before
flying. Even just last week he chartered an Air Zimbabwe aircraft to
Bulawayo for the council of chiefs meeting and is unlike ministers like
myself, who you find either on South African Airways or British Airways."

Air Zimbabwe Holdings, the country's flagship carrier, was disbanded this
week to make way for Air Zimbabwe Private Limited, a new carrier. A
$150-million debt, an ageing fleet and constant strikes by pilots and its 1
360-strong workforce brought the business to a standstill.

Government to partner a foreign airline
It is understood the government will announce a foreign partner in the new
venture later this month. It is keen to have a domestic airline operating
before the United Nations World Tourism Organisation summit set for Victoria
Falls next year.

The severity of Air Zimbabwe's problems were highlighted by the suspension
of international flights last December because of growing debt, which, in
turn, led to the suspension of both regional and domestic flights. Last
year, Air Zimbabwe's long-haul Boeing 767 plane was impounded by American
General Supplies at London's Gatwick Airport over the non-payment of
$1.2-million owed for spares.

Consequently, regional creditor Bid Air of South Africa also threatened to
impound one of Air Zimbabwe's aircraft over a $500 000 debt, which put
pressure on Goche to cancel all regional flights to avoid seizures.

Air Zimbabwe has five aircraft -- three Xian MA 60s and a Boeing 747 and a
767. According to media reports, the airline recently acquired an Airbus 320
to complement the fleet, but Goche told a parliamentary portfolio committee
this week that it needed at least nine aircraft to remain competitive.

South Africa rules lucrative route
SAA now dominates the lucrative Harare-Johannesburg route and has
consolidated its grip on the neighbouring market by operating an Airbus
330-200 to meet the increased demand. According to the Civil Aviation
Authority of Zimbabwe, by the end of last year SAA was flying 21 flights a
week to the country, up from 14 in 2010.

Observers are warning of a possible price war as more international airlines
make a beeline for Zimbabwe. Emirates launched a maiden flight to Harare
last month and Air Namibia started flights to the country this week. Air
Namibia sales executive Ireen Schroder said the development had been
prompted by the unprecedented and renewed interest in Zimbabwe among
travellers.

"We used to fly two times a week into Victoria Falls, but we are now going
to be flying to Harare four times a week, starting from March 15," Schroder
said.

Tanzania moving in
Precision Air of Tanzania has also shown interest and has held talks with
the government about starting flights in May.

The announcement of the disbandment of the national carrier has not evoked
any regret.

Economist Eric Bloch said: "I am pleased that this is the end of an era for
Air Zimbabwe and that the government is finally doing something to deal with
the airline after repeated calls to privatise it. Business suffered greatly
as road travel had become the mode of transport for businesspeople, which
was a time-consuming and expensive exercise."

Tour operator Misheck Ncube said: "It doesn't mean anything, really. The
government just wants to be seen to be acting, but this won't do anything.
What will help that airline is debt relief, new investment and a new fleet
that flies reliably."

Despite its problems, Air Zimbabwe has never had a major air disaster, save
for an accident in 2009 when an aircraft crashed into five warthogs on the
Harare International Airport runway.

Zanu (PF) Double Standards Exposed, Launches Election Campaign On Twitter

http://www.radiovop.com/

By Professor Matodzi Harare, March 16, 2012 - President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu
(PF) party has embraced the usage of social media platforms as it launched
its election campaign.

The exploitation of social media by the former ruling party which was handed
its first major electoral defeat by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s
Movement for Democratic Change party in 2008 exposes Zanu (PF)’s double
standards after it passed a resolution last year criticising the usage of
social media platforms.

At its December annual conference held in Bulawayo last December, Zanu (PF)
passed a resolution ordering a crackdown on social media platforms such as
Face book, Twitter, My Space, among others.

Emmerson Mnangagwa, the party’s secretary for legal affairs who read out the
conference resolutions warned that social media networks should be
controlled if peace was to be guaranteed in the country because the
platforms had been used with devastating results in countries such as the
United Kingdom, where anti-government riots erupted, Occupy Wall Street
campaigns in the United States.
Mnangagwa, who serves as the country’s defence minister advocated for the
tightening of screws on the use of social media, stressing that the Arab
Spring revolutions were driven by new media. Long-serving dictatorships of
Libya, Tunisia and Egypt were toppled through mass uprisings largely
coordinated through Face book and Twitter.

But Zanu (PF)’s duplicity has been exposed following discoveries that the
party is exploiting Twitter to preach its election campaign gospel.

Although, the party’s spokesperson Rugare Gumbo could not be reached to
confirm whether those managing the Twitter account had the blessings of the
party, some of the party’s strategists such as former Media, Information and
Publicity Minister, Jonathan Moyo have been exploiting new media to spread
the party’s doctrine while Gumbo has been friendly to respond to media
enquiries from media houses considered to be hostile to Mugabe’s party.

To date Zanu (PF) has 83 tweets, 455 followers among them Floyd Shivambu,
the former spokesperson of the African National Congress and follows 41
people who are signed up on Twitter.

In one of the tweets, Zanu (PF) said ‘Embrace Zimbabwe African National
Union Patriotic Front The land is the economy, the economy is the land,’
‘Our twitter account is part of our new operation. We want to control this
media,’ and ‘Become one among the revolutionaries- give us your vote or we
will tweet you off the planet!’

UK music concert to raise money for conservation task force

Zimbabwe's inflation figures don't add up

http://mg.co.za/

MATT QUIGLEY CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - Mar 16 2012 14:40

Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate remained unchanged at 4.3% in February,
according to official statistics released on Thursday. On a monthly basis,
the rate of price rises facing Zimbabwean consumers edged up only slightly
from 0.46% in January to 0.49% in February.

These official figures suggest that prices are rising at a slower annual
rate in Zimbabwe than in neighbouring countries. Zambia reported a 6.0%
annual inflation rate last month, for example, and South Africa most
recently recorded a 6.3% inflation rate in January.

Tony Hawkins, an economist at the University of Zimbabwe and member of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's monetary policy committee, believes that "the
figures don't stack up". They are "not realistic", he said in a telephone
interview earlier on Friday.

The consumer price index (CPI) data released by Zimbabwe's National
Statistical Office -- Zimstat -- suggested that prices have increased at
just over 1.0% in the three years since the country abandoned its local
currency after a prolonged period of hyperinflation.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the only other country in the
world to experience such a low rate of inflation over the same time period
was Japan, a country which has long battled deflation or falling prices. The
IMF, according to Hawkins, "reckons Zimbabwe's inflation rate has been
closer to 6%".

Hawkins believes that one of the reasons the numbers are so inaccurate is
that Zimbabwe's consumer price index -- compiled based on the average prices
of a fixed basket of consumer goods -- gives a 30% weighting to food prices.
Most African countries weight food at around 50%, he says.

John Robertson, an independent economist based in Harare, agrees that
something is amiss in the data.

"[CPI] numbers have not gone up in the last three months, very much against
expectations," Robertson said, "Government increased import duties on food
in January, but the food [price] index has yet to move."

Robertson argues that Zimbabwe's highly competitive retail environment may
partially explain the situation. Zimbabwe has experienced a significant
expansion in supermarket and other retail space since 2009's "dollarisation"
(abandonment of the local currency primarily in favour of the US dollar and
South African rand). And, more recently, retailers increased their stocks
around the Christmas holidays.

Although reliable retail sales figures are not available in Zimbabwe,
Robertson believes that retailers are experiencing a surplus of goods. As
evidence, he cites the fact that retailers have yet to repay the banks for
the borrowing they undertook late last year to stock up. As a result of
this, and other factors, Zimbabwe's retailers have not been able to achieve
price increases, keeping inflation in check.

"There is very little liquidity [in the country] and cash is just not
available." As a result, he argued, "retail sales have suffered over the
past few months".

Although the two economists cite different possible explanations for the
data's unreliability, they both believe that the official statistics are
painting a "more and more distorted picture", as Hawkins explained.

Robertson agrees. "I think there is a certain amount of political
interference in the numbers."

Consumer price index (CPI) figures compiled and released by Zimstat are one
of very few economic statistics regularly available in the troubled nation.

In South Africa, dozens of economic variables -- from inflation measures to
tourism statistics -- are released -- predictably, regularly and reliably --
by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). This information, in aggregate,
provides a useful snapshot of the country's economy to policymakers,
economists, investors and businesses. Zimbabweans do not enjoy the same
luxury.

An online visit to Zimstat on Friday morning resulted in a message informing
visitors that the website is down. The same happens with a visit to the
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), which was hacked in August of last year and
has been "under maintenance" ever since.

Zimbabwe needs up to $1bn cash to compensate Implats fairly

http://www.miningweekly.com

|

By: Martin Creamer
16th March 2012

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The government of Zimbabwe will need
between $500-million and $1-billion in hard cash to honour its commitment of
paying South Africa’s Implats fair value for control of Zimplats, Mining
Weekly Online can today report.

Treaty protection under the South Africa-Zimbabwe bilateral agreement
commits the Zimbabwe government to paying fair compensation for shares that
it is forcing Implats to sell to it.

There is no point in Implats going back to the Zimbabwe negotiating table if
South Africa’s errant neighbour is unable to show that it has access to
between $500-million to $1-billion in cash to pay for the 31% of Zimplats,
analysts have calculated.

While Zimbabwe’s Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister
Saviour Kasukuwere has agreed in principle to be “fully contributory for
cash at an independently determined fair value to be agreed”, consensus in
financial circles is that it would surprise on the upside if Zimbabwe is
able to come up with even the $500-million that is required to cover the
barebones of the real value - $153-million for the land that Implats
voluntarily gave over in exchange for empowerment credits that did not
materialise, plus the $350-million that represents 31% of Zimplats' current
market capitalisation.

However, Laurium Capital fund manager Gavin Vorwerg made the point during
the Implats analyst and media conference call that any independent expert
would value 31% of Zimplats at “a significantly higher figure” than the
$350-million value that 31% of the current market capitalisation amounts to.

In arriving at fair value, Implats would take into account the net present
value of Zimplats’ Phase 2 expansion that was in the process of ramp-up, as
well as planned future investment and the value of the platinum that is
still in the ground.

While Implats CEO David Brown refused to disclose the value, he was prepared
to divulge that the value submitted took into account the proposed
$1-billion Phase 2 expansion of Zimplats as well as the undeveloped ounces
at $1/oz in determining Zimplats’ overall value.

Brown also made it patently clear during the same conference call that there
was absolutely no chance of Zimplats vendor financing Zimbabwe’s National
Indigenisation Economic and Empowerment Board (NIEEB) 31% purchase.

Implats, which owns 87% of Zimplats, has agreed to vendor finance loans to
the community trust and the employee trust to enable them to fund their
collective 20% of Zimplats, which is expected to take place fairly quickly
even if the NIEEB aspiration is delayed.

However, if the NIEEB did succeed in sourcing funds to pay fair compensation
and Zimbabwe did succeed in recreating a favourable mining investment
climate for the errant country, Brown said that Implats would reward it by
proceeding with a $1-billion investment in Phase 3 of the Zimplats expansion
and would also consider investing in a refinery in Zimbabwe that could be
used by all the country’s platinum producers.

Implats currently has an offtake agreement with Zimplats for all the
platinum concentrate that it produces, which is transported to South Africa
for final processing into refined product.

But there is also value for Implats in making that additional investment in
Zimbabwe should the economic conditions be appropriate as it could be a way
for it to regain the controlling share of Zimplats.

This is because the new 51% Zimplats shareholders will at that stage
presumably be wanting to benefit from their investment rather than plough in
even more capital, which they would be required to do in terms of the
in-principle agreement.

As Zimbabwe appears to be following a once-empowered, always-empowered
position, failure of the new shareholders to follow their rights would mean
that the collective 51% control would dilute to below the control level.

Even without any additional investment, Implats employs close on 5 000
people in Zimbabwe and, with the multiplier effect of 10:1, some 50 000
people are directly and indirectly dependent on its operations in Zimbabwe,
which include the Mimosa platinum mine.

Implats co-owns the higher-margin Mimosa with JSE-listed Aquarius Platinum
and both have been ordered to come up with new indigenisation plans for
Mimosa, which Brown is currently reluctant to discuss.

Zimbabwe to repossess idle mining claims

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

16/03/2012 00:00:00
by NewZiana

ZIMBABWE will repossess mining claims which are lying idle in order to make
room for new players and investments, a senior government official has said.

More players would widen revenue base through tax collections, Mines and
Mining Development Ministry Permanent Secretary, Prince Mupazviriho has
said.

"There is a lot of land being held by these large mining companies and some
local individuals," he added.

Mupazviriho said the government was committed to empowering locals and
therefore all under-utilised land should be made productive.

"We are working under sanctions and thus we need to come up with our own
solutions to the liquidity challenges," he said.

He said mining was given the task of resuscitating the Zimbabwean economy
and hence there was a need to increase production.

"If we work together and increase production, the 15 per cent growth
projected for 2012 will be achieved," he added.

Mupazviriho said the government would, through the Mining Loan Fund, assist
small-scale miners with working capital and equipment to develop the sector.

Archbishop of Canterbury resigns: the row over gay bishops and the Anglican Covenant

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has stepped down as the
leader of the 77-million strong Anglican Communion amid a struggle with the
Church's liberal wing over the issue of homosexuality.

By Matthew Holehouse

12:23PM GMT 16 Mar 2012

Dr Williams has been long known for his socially liberal views but he
frustrated the liberal wing of the Church by siding with conservatives over
the issue of the appointment of homosexual priests.

He faces defeat over the Anglican Communion Covenant, a deal designed to
prevent the Church splitting. It effective prevents openly gay clergy from
becoming bishops by preventing branches doing anything that might cause a
schism.

When Dr Williams unveiled the document in 2010, he urged the church to
endorse it or risk seeing the “piece-by-piece dissolution” of the Anglican
Communion.

The Bishop of Sherborne, the Rt Rev Dr Graham Kings, warned that rejection
of the Covenant would cause the worldwide church to “disintegrate”, and
added: “Rowan Williams has put his whole weight behind this ... For anyone
in his position it would be devastating [if it failed].”

Branches of the Anglican church around the world are considering whether the
deal should be adopted.

In the Church of England it requires the approval of a majority of the 44
dioceses to proceed to a final vote at the General Synod.

But so far 17 dioceses have voted against, and only ten in favour. The
rebellion is being led by liberal dioceses who say they would be punished
under the arrangements.

The Covenant was drawn up in response to the split that emerged in 2003 when
Gene Robinson was elected the first openly gay Anglican bishop by the
Episcopal Church in the US.

Dr Williams set up a commission to try to heal the divisions after protests
from conservative clergy, particularly in Africa.

The Covenant does not directly address the issue of gay bishops. But it says
the 38 branches should take into account the views of the wider Anglican
church when doing anything that “may provoke controversy”.

Under the proposed regime, a branch of the church that breached the rules
could suffer sanctions, including suspension from Church bodies.

Dr Kings said: “If we don’t pass the Covenant we will disintegrate into a
vortex of more splits and more fragmentation. It’s between increasing
fragmentation or intensifying our relationships - that’s the choice."

Dr Williams said earlier this month the aim is to make branches more
"accountable" to each other. "As in any family, what we do affects those
with whom we are in a relationship," he said.

Stepping down today, he said the row had not "overshadowed everything," but
said: "It has certainly been a major nuisance. But in every job that you are
in there are controversies and conflicts and this one isn't going to go away
in a hurry. I can't say that it is a great sense of 'free at last'."

MDC bail hearing postponed for 6th time

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
16 March 2012

The MDC-T Youth Assembly has deplored the continuous postponement of the
bail application of 29 MDC-T members, facing charges of murdering a police
officer in Glen View last year.

On Friday the bail hearing was postponed for the sixth time in less than two
weeks. Clifford Hlatywayo, spokesperson for the youth assembly, told SW
Radio Africa said they are not ruling out ZANU PF working in cohorts with
the judicial system to delay their members being set free.

‘First of all, as MDC Youth Assembly we reiterate our position that both the
arrest and detention is illegal and thereby unconstitutional. It is a
political act by ZANU PF using the police and courts,’ the spokesman said.

The MDC-T has on numerous occasions complained about the selective
application of the law in the country. Hlatywayo also accused the police of
campaigning for ZANU PF by arresting MDC-T cabinet ministers and MPs, while
leaving out what he called ‘criminals’ in ZANU PF. Anyone arrested from ZANU
PF he said is either released within hours or after a day in custody.

Referring to the 29 MDC-T activists he said: ‘These people have proven
beyond reasonable doubt that they are suitable candidates for bail and they’ve
performed very well. Amongst the group who were on bail, there is one who
was reporting everyday at the Harare Central Police Law and order section,’
he added.

On Thursday, the defence team told us it is increasingly frustrated at the
delaying tactics by state prosecutors to have their clients set free from
custody. Charles Kwaramba, the lead defence lawyer said the state conduct
over the matter has not been forthcoming.

The 29 MDC-T members are accused of murdering police inspector, Petros
Mutedza. However the group denies any involvement in the murder, saying the
cop was fatally assaulted by patrons at a Glen View bar who were discussing
football. Seven members of the group spent 9 months in custody. They were
released a month ago, and had only tasted freedom for just two weeks before
they were taken into custody again.

The bail application was postponed to Monday next week.

Ben Freeth speech to Royal Geographical Society

This is the text of a speech presented by Ben Freeth at the Royal
Geographical Society in London on Wednesday 14 March for the launch of the
Mike Campbell Foundation, together with a photo.

His co-presenters were Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York who, as a
High Court judge in Uganda, was beaten up by the Idi Amin regime, and Dr
Paul Negrut, President of the Emmanuel University of Oradea, Romania. Dr
Negrut is respected internationally for his stand against the repressive
communist regime.

14 March 2012

Presentation at the Royal Geographical Society
London

Dictatorship in Zimbabwe: What stands in its way?
By Ben Freeth

It is a great honour and a privilege to be here tonight and talking to you
all with Archbishop Sentamu, [the Archbishop of York], and Dr. Paul Negrut
[of Rumania]. I have such a deep respect for them. Thank you, Kate Hoey
[Labour MP for Vauxhall, South London], for chairing. Thank you all for
being here in this place – this place from which missionary explorers like
David Livingstone set out on his explorations into the African interior all
those years ago.

Many of you here tonight will know my story. I will not dwell on it. There
is a book for you to read and a film for you to watch. In the sustained
attacks against us by the state machinery in Zimbabwe I have been beaten
with whips; beaten with sticks; beaten with rifle butts. I have been kicked
around on the ground and had bones broken and my skull fractured. I have
been shot at. I have been abducted. I have been tied up. I have had guns
put to my head. I have been arrested. I have had our home surrounded by
men with guns. I have had our home broken into by men dragging burning
tires through it and threatening rape and death - and threatening to eat our
children. We have had everything stolen and everything burnt and when we
got off the farm we did not even have a toothbrush between us. It is only
by the amazing grace of God that I stand here today.

But I wish to talk tonight about something from long ago that I have come to
hold very precious – something more precious in holding societies and
nations and peoples together than anything else. It is something that 12
years ago I knew almost nothing about; but which now, only when it was taken
away, I have come to value so greatly.

There is a story about a place by a river in Africa. One day a crying baby
came floating down the river in a little basket and one of the women of that
place heard the baby crying and rescued it and looked after it. The next
day a woman came floating down the river holding onto a log and she was
emaciated and had been raped. The people in that place took her in and they
gave her food and looked after her. The day after that a man who had been
mutilated came floating down the river. He had had his hands chopped off
and he was also very thin. The people of that place bandaged him up and fed
him and looked after him.

The days went by; and then the weeks; and then the years. All the time
desperate people carried on coming down the river – mostly in waves.
Sometimes very few people would come down and it was thought that everything
must now be OK upstream. At other times great numbers of people desperately
needing help would come down. The people of that place carried on helping
where they could; but they couldn’t help everyone and the suffering was very
great.
Over the years so many people came down needing food and medicine that the
people of that place began to suffer themselves – and many of them didn’t
want to help any more.

And so it is so often under dictatorship. We used to come to Harare
sometimes and talk to the people there about what was happening in the rural
areas and the people would often say: “Is that still happening?” And mostly
they would try to change the subject.

When the film Mugabe and the White African first came out, I met an elderly
gentleman here in London who said to me after watching it: “You know, I have
never met an evil man.” It was clear to me that this man had never tried to
go upstream. You see people generally do not like to go upstream. They are
afraid of what they might meet. They are afraid of what might happen to
them.
In Zimbabwe there are some influential people that have tried to go
upstream. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture tried to come in but he was
turned around at the border and deported. Unfortunately the UN did nothing
about it.

When Zwelinzima Vavi, the Secretary General of COSATU, the trade union
movement in South Africa, flew up to Zimbabwe in 2005, he was put in a
minibus and deported. He tried to come back a second time but after that
the trade unions have failed so far to do anything effective about the melt
down taking place on their northern border.

When the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, [Morgan Tsvangirai], wanted to go to
the [Marange] diamond fields in his own country where some estimate that 25
percent of the world’s diamonds lie, and where a military massacre had taken
place, he was turned around too - and was unable to go back.

I asked various senior people in the Zimbabwe Government to come out and see
with their own eyes what was happening on Mount Carmel Farm where we lived.
When we eventually got them to come they assured us we could farm on; but
when, within hours of their leaving, there was further brutalisation of our
workers and all of our crops and tractors and everything else was stolen
and eventually our houses burnt down, they never tried to come again or to
say anything about it.

When we went to the Southern African Development Community’s highest court,
the SADC Tribunal, about the racial discrimination in taking our homes and
livelihoods, the complete lack of any compensation and the flat denial of
even giving us or our workers a hearing in our own courts regarding our
criminalization for living in our own homes and trying to produce food in a
nation that is starving, we won.

But what did the southern African states do to enforce that? After the
Zimbabwe Government had been found to be in contempt of the highest court in
southern Africa three times, the southern African leaders at their last
summit [May 2011] closed the doors of that court and sent their judges
packing. To this day – to the best of my knowledge - no outside government
has said or done anything about the Zimbabwe Government’s continued contempt
of court!

When the British Government was asked in parliament recently to write to the
Secretary General of the UN to activate the UN Committee on the Elimination
of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, they refused. Rather, they
subsequently lifted the travel ban and unfroze the assets of some of the
people that they had formerly deemed responsible for being involved in
aiding and abetting the break-down of human rights and the rule of law in
Zimbabwe.

It is a long and sorry story of people with influence refusing to really go
upstream. We could be here all night if I carried on.

I want to go back to the river in Africa and talk about that precious thing.
There was another baby in a basket once. He was rescued from where he had
been hidden near the delta of the longest river in the world about 3,500
years ago – the same river that David Livingstone went to try to find the
source of. The same river from the same country [Uganda] from which
Archbishop Sentamu also sprang. This baby grew up in the household of those
that had ordered the killing of all the other male babies.

When he grew up, he had a strong sense of what injustice and the abuse of
power was. He tried to protect one of his people from being flogged once -
and was so incensed that he killed one of the Pharaoh’s men – and had to run
away. When he eventually came back he went to the Pharaoh to ask him to let
his people go. Pharaoh refused and there were severe consequences for each
refusal. Eventually on the tenth request to let his people go we read that
Pharaoh let Moses’ people go. Moses walked with his people through the Red
Sea and they came out the other side as a free people – a free nation for
the first time.

They were in the Sinai desert then and before they had gone more than a few
miles this man Moses went up Mount Sinai. On Mount Sinai something very
significant happened in the history of the world. Moses was given the Law –
inscribed by God’s finger on two tablets of stone.

Around those two tablets the Ark of the Covenant was made and they were
carried in the front of the nation. The first thing to cross the Jordan
River was the Ark with the law inside it - and the river dried up in front
of it to allow safe passage.

We then read through history and we see how precious the law was to those
people and how when the people upheld the law they flourished in the land
and they became the superpower of the day, set as they were in the centre of
the world between Africa, Europe and Asia. In the centre of their kingdom
was built the temple with all its gold – but at the centre of the temple was
the most precious thing – those two plain tablets of ordinary stone.

I am honoured to have had a father-in-law, [Mike Campbell], who understood
the importance of standing for the law. You see, when the law is taken
away, when there is nothing left protecting people and their property from
the abuse of power, poverty and suffering immediately result. Over a
trillion dollars has poured into post independent Africa. Much has been
done to bind up the wounds and to feed the starving – but still there are
more and more wounds and more and more starving people coming down the
river.

Unless we go courageously to the source; unless we try to hold people
accountable; unless we boldly bring out the truth and do not let it be a
casualty, unless we strengthen those institutions and those people that are
trying to help build houses of justice in Africa so that people and their
property are protected from corrupt and evil leaders, the suffering will
continue - and the trillions will continue to be needed to try to alleviate
the severe poverty that Africans are in.

Ladies and gentleman, I come from the richest continent on earth in terms of
natural resources. I come from a continent with more agricultural potential
than any other. I come from a country that used to be the bread basket of
Africa - but when I go to the rural areas where that food was produced I
find only desolation, hunger, suffering and extreme poverty.

When the rule of law was usurped by the dictatorial rule by law, the
collapse happened very quickly. We became the fastest shrinking economy in
history in a peace time situation. GDP per capita income more than halved.
While in Zambia it grew from US$3bn to US$3.8 bn; in Kenya from US$4bn to
US$5.2bn; in Lesotho it grew from US$4 bn to US$5.5 bn; in Tanzania it grew
from US$2.6bn to US$4.7bn; in Zimbabwe it dropped from US$6.8bn to US$3.2bn
in the same period [2000-2008].

Production plummeted – our wheat crop last year was a paltry 10,000 tons –
from over 300,000 tons 10 years ago – less than 5 percent of former times
and the lowest crop since 1907. Our maize crop this year will result in
massive starvation for the tenth year in a row unless the world feeds us yet
again. Our health and education systems are shadows of what they were.
Nearly a third of the population of our country has left – teachers,
doctors, nurses, artisans, business men, farmers.

The rule by dictatorial law continues and so long as it does – so long as
there are not enough people prepared to risk going upstream to try to change
that, the suffering will continue.

I wish to show you a disturbing picture of Joshua Bakacheza.

Those of you that saw the film Mugabe and the White African will remember
Mike Campbell patching up a group of people in his dining room who had been
stoned by militia and shot at by police. One of them was Joshua. Two
months later Joshua was abducted with another activist by 16 state security
agents with AK 47s while he was helping the widow and children of another
murdered activist move house.

After 3 weeks he was eventually found on a farm taken by an army colonel.
He had been tortured and then shot and left in the bush. I show you this
picture not because it is a picture just of what was but because it is a
picture of what is to come if good men and good women do nothing.

Like Joshua, Mike was a man who went upstream. He stood for the rule of law
and property rights and ultimately he died for what he stood for. His death
was not in vain though. Today we honour what he has done in taking a
dictator to court on fundamental justice issues - and winning; and we want
to build on the foundations he has laid. In that vein the African
Commission on Human and People’s Rights - as an arm of the African Union -
last week took the unprecedented step of registering our case regarding 14
African Governments disbanding the SADC Tribunal, and breaking the SADC
Treaty and international law without any consultation with the people of
Southern Africa.

So today we treasure what Mike held dear and we want to take responsibility
for those things and help regenerate the rule of law and respect for human
rights in our land. We need men and women of courage – a courage that
overcomes the fear of evil – a courage that is underpinned by the values and
the faith encapsulated in what God wrote on the two tablets of stone – a
courage to stand for was written, written now on our hearts in love.

Today we say: “For the sake of the next generation of suffering children
that will otherwise come down the river - by God’s grace we too will go
upstream - either in person or as supporters - and thereby stand boldly in
the way of dictatorship and poverty with the rod of justice and truth in our
hands.”

I thank you all.

Ben Freeth, MBE
Executive Director
The Mike Campbell Foundation

http://www.mikecampbellfoundation.com/

Contact details
E-mail: freeth@bsatt.com
Mobile: +263 773 929 138 (Zimbabwe)

Award-winning documentary film: “Mugabe and the White African”
http://www.mugabeandthewhiteafrican.com

As the Dust Settles on the Limpopo River

http://ipsnews.net/

By Fidelis Zvomuya

BEITBRIDGE, Zimbabwe , Mar 15, 2012 (IPS) - Chapita Ramovha remembers the
days when the Limpopo River lapped at the foot of his village in south
Zimbabwe. He says that back then residents of Makakavhule village had to
build high walls to protect their homes from flooding. "The Limpopo River
was a marvel to watch, a beauty of nature, a source of food and income for
us who lived along it," the subsistence farmer recalls.

But now, when he looks out across the landscape, he sees only a vast, sandy
plateau that is devoid of natural life. "Dust," laments Ramovha, who has
lived here since 1942. "It is nothing but a dust river."

Previously, agriculture and tourism flourished here along the Limpopo River.
The area was well known for its beautiful lakes and vast fields, which
produce the local agricultural yield. "But that livelihood is now being
threatened by a severe water shortage that dramatically illustrates a
broader regional crisis," Ramovha says.

The Limpopo River Basin is one of the most water stressed and, according to
the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, extreme
droughts occur in the basin every 10 to 20 years.

The basin has a catchment area of around 413,000 km² that covers four
countries - Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe - affecting a
combined population of 14 million people, most of whom are subsistence
farmers. About 244,000 hectares are under irrigation and an estimated
234,000 hectares are under crop production here, while 1.7 million hectares
are used for pasture.

However, due to bad environmental management, only craggy stumps of trees
line the riverbank. People have cut down the trees that once used to create
jagged coves along the river, which has long been home to crabs, fish and
wild animals.

"But at the few water holes on this part of the river you can hardly catch a
frog. The river is gone, siltation has taken over. The rains are no longer
reliable. They come late and sometimes don’t come at all," Ramovha says.

He says the daily temperatures have increased substantially within the
region and have killed many of the catchment’s once-lush grass beds,
depriving livestock and game of their natural feed and habitat.

Timothy Chauke, a farmer and a contracted field research assistant for the
Agriculture Research Council’s Limpopo Basin project on data gathering, says
the drought has become the most common and devastating of all environmental
issues affecting the basin.

Chauke, who is a livestock and crop farmer, says the impact is being felt in
economic, social and environmental terms here.

"Variable and erratic rainfall means that the rainy season often does not
start when expected and can be episodic, with an entire season’s rainfall
occurring in the space of a few days."

He says over the years he has seen reduced grazing quality and crop yields,
and this has resulted in a decline in the quality of living and income.

"Food insecurity is now high. Cases of malnutrition and famine are on the
increase. My farm productivity has been reduced from five tonnes per hectare
of maize to less than three. Our natural environment has been destroyed, and
as a result this is affecting productivity," Chauke says. He adds that his
input cost has also increased over the years.

Most of the farmers IPS interviewed along the Limpopo River say the water
levels have drastically gone down as a result of a rise in daytime
temperatures.

During what is meant to be the rainy season in the area, drought is killing
off the crops. The resultant dust and sandstorms have increased soil erosion
and air pollution, while reducing soil productivity.

"We are faced with poor soils and limited water resources. Most of the
rivers that feed the Limpopo are able to provide water only for short
periods of time each year," Chauke says.

Pollution and competition for water in areas along the river create
significant stress on the available resources. Poverty is widespread and
people are extremely vulnerable to the effects of drought or crop failure
here. Each of the 24 tributaries that feed the basin has communities with an
average annual per capita income of less than 200 dollars.

Starvation and malnutrition have become common. About one million people in
the basin currently rely on food aid.

Addressing the Third International Forum on Water and Food in December in
South Africa, Dr. Simon Cook, a scientist with the International Centre for
Tropical Agriculture and head of CIGAR’s Challenge Programme for Water and
Food (CPWF) Basin Focal Projects, said climate change is expected to
exacerbate Africa’s struggles with strained water resources and food
security.

Cook says research confirms that rising global temperatures are expected to
increase flooding in some areas, cause a decline in agricultural production,
threaten biodiversity and the productivity of natural resources, increase
the range of vector-borne and waterborne diseases, and exacerbate
desertification.

As part of a five-year global research project, scientists from the CPWF
examined the potential effects of higher temperatures and shifting rainfall
patterns caused by climate change, on, among others, the continent’s five
river basins. In the process, they say, some unsettling scenarios have
emerged for parts of Africa.

During a telephone interview with IPS, Cook says of concern are the
projected changes in the Limpopo Basin, which include rising temperatures
and a decline in rainfall.

Cook says there is a need for researchers to ask whether current agriculture
development strategies in the Limpopo, which are predicated according to
current levels of water availability, are in fact realistic for a future
that may present new challenges and different opportunities.

In a recent press statement CPWF ‘s director of the Water and Food
programme, Alain Vidal, says the new insights regarding the effect of
climate change on river basins may indicate a need to revisit assumptions
about water availability.

Vidal says the Limpopo River, like many rivers around the world, is heavily
affected by higher global temperatures.

"In some parts of the Limpopo even widespread adoption of innovations like
drip irrigation may not be enough to overcome the negative effects of
climate change on water availability," Vidal adds.

"But in other parts, investments in rain-fed agriculture such as rainwater
harvesting, sand pits and small reservoirs might be better placed, as there
could be sufficient rainfall for innovative strategies to boost production.
The key is to obtain the data needed to make an informed decision."

How Mugabe won over a nation – again

http://www.independent.co.uk

After 32 years in power, Zimbabwe's President is winning new adoration with
a familiar formula: taking from white businesses to give to black people. In
Harare, Alex Duval Smith reports

Friday 16 March 2012

He may face opprobrium abroad, but at home President Robert Mugabe has
soared back to popularity thanks to a campaign to turn over white-owned
companies to black Zimbabweans. A crusading indigenisation programme – the
corporate version of the farm invasions a decade ago – on Tuesday netted its
juiciest prey yet when the world's second-largest platinum miner, Impala,
agreed to cede 51 per cent of its Zimbabwean arm, Zimplats.

The controversial minister for indigenisation and youth, Saviour Kasukuwere,
described the deal as a "historic moment for Zimbabwe and for the region"
and called on black Africans to "reclaim their resources". The Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), the opposition party which in 2009 formed a
power-sharing government with Mr Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union -
Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), sees the indigenisation wave as a feeding frenzy
by ruling-party cronies that will deter foreign investors.

But it is working for the 88-year-old president. In questionable health and
in power for 32 years, Mr Mugabe has suddenly, in the eyes of many
Zimbabweans, regained the revolutionary credentials he earned fighting white
rule in the 1970s. Emboldened by international sanctions, he is riding a
wave of populist glory born of lots of rhetoric and a few converging
realities: tens of thousands of resettled peasants have reaped bumper
tobacco crops, civil servants have taken possession of thousands of hectares
of redistributed farmland, and national pride is back, boosted by major
diamond finds.

At the same time, the MDC has suffered its share of corruption scandals. It
has failed to reverse poverty or define itself as a reforming force within
the power-sharing administration. And the indigenisation programme, despite
its popularity, has divided the trade unions, the MDC's electoral heartland.

In an interview with The Independent, Mr Kasukuwere , 41, did not deny that
indigenisation was favouring Zanu-PF "cronies". In his office on the 20th
floor of the Mukwati buildings, in Harare, the firebrand politician and
businessman said: "Indigenisation is undoing yesterday's cronies. That is
why they are complaining. We are empowering the people of Zimbabwe
irrespective of their tribe, language or home area. Yes, some will do better
than others, but should I cut down those who are going to grow taller to
help those who are still below? Every nation must have a middle class, and
if I can create an environment in which millions of Zimbabweans are cronies,
then fine, good.''

Mr Kasukuwere , who is among 112 Zimbabweans under European Union sanctions,
denied that the programme was a ruinous electoral ploy. "We want to get our
people out of poverty. Who can be against that? There is now an appreciation
that if the majority of the population remain a minority in the economic
affairs of the country then they are beggars. They can now see which
political party has their interests at heart."

Fourteen years ago, Zimbabwe was a breadbasket for southern Africa. Maize,
tobacco and much more were produced by 4,500 commercial farmers – mostly
white – using a black workforce. Then Mr Mugabe launched the often-violent
"fast-track land redistribution" drive.

The MDC was supported by the white farmers. Elections in the 2000s were
violent, and in the 2008 presidential polls, Mr Mugabe finished
neck-and-neck with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. A South African-brokered
unity government took office in 2009, with Mr Tsvangirai as prime minister.
It brought hyperinflation under control by replacing the local currency with
the US dollar. Donor countries took over funding social ministries to
support the 11-million-strong population. With a few exceptions, Zimbabweans
are limping along under the burden of an economy going nowhere.

An agreement to move towards elections with a new constitution has become
mired in party infighting. MDC finance minister Tendai Biti on Wednesday
warned that the government would have to "close" unless the treasury
received income from the diamond fields. Sensing his new-found popularity,
the president has begun claiming he will call elections with or without a
replacement constitution. He could also simply throw out the proposed
document when it comes and hold elections using money from diamonds and
indigenisation.

Mr Kasukuwere , accused by human rights activists of leading Zanu-PF mobs
before the 2002 elections, said the next poll would be violence-free. "We
want peaceful, free and fair elections. Let us sell our ideas. People now
understand what President Mugabe has been aiming at. He is the only
politician who has clearly articulated his thoughts, unlike the other
political parties who are just feeding on our people – look at the
corruption in the local councils they [both wings of the MDC] control. How
can they win elections when it is clear that they are a tool, an agent? They
are incompetent, corrupt characters."

Zanu-PF's recent popularity surge has wrong-footed the MDC. Mr Tsvangirai,
who recently visited the Marange diamond field, welcomed it as a boost for
the country, even though his supporters are critical of the army's heavy
hand in the extraction process. To Zimbabweans, the prime minister is seen
as speaking with one voice when he addresses investors, and with another –
more Zanu-friendly – when at home.

Mr Kasukuwere said his next targets, as he implements the 2007
indigenisation legislation, will be banks, such as Barclays, Standard Bank
and Stanbic. "They take our deposits and yet refuse to lend. They have not
been interested in funding our [resettled] farmers. "

Details of Tuesday's Zimplats deal remain sketchy. But Impala has agreed to
transfer 10 per cent of Zimplats shares to the community around its mines,
10 per cent to employees and 31 per cent to a National Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund. State media put the
total value of the Zimplats transfer at £383 million. Other miners with
interests in Zimbabwe, such as Anglo Platinum and Rio Tinto, will watch
developments closely. A few investors have sold up or left Zimbabwe, such as
the South African construction giant Murray & Roberts.

Eleven years after the farm invasions were at their height, the Commercial
Farmers' Union is struggling financially and has only 575 members, many of
them past farming age or having moved their operations to Zambia, Australia
or Britain. They are no longer political players and may no longer support
the MDC.

It is a climate in which poverty grinds on and politics boils down not to
delivery but to which party makes the best promises. To many Zimbabweans,
President Mugabe once again looks like the country's best defender.

Fighting talk: The president's man

The son of a liberation war fighter, Saviour "Tyson" Kasukuwere is President
Mugabe's point man on the issue he holds dearest: indigenisation.

Aged 41, he built his fortune a decade ago after using his ruling party
connections to win five contracts to import oil. But Kasukuwere's oil
company, Comoil, and his Migdale transport firm, both run by his wife
Barbara, have suffered as a result of American sanctions that forbid US
companies from doing business with his concerns. "If anything, sanctions
have emboldened me," he said.

Mr Kasukuwere joined the the Central Intelligence Organisation straight from
school. He moved into business in his mid-20s and only entered politics when
he ran for Mount Darwin South in 2000, a constituency about 200km from
Harare, becoming Zanu-PF's youngest MP.

He became deputy youth minister in 2005 and was studying for a political
science degree when he was appointed minister of youth and indigenisation in
2009. He went on to do a masters degree in inter- national relations with a
thesis on indigenisation and empowerment.

Zanu PF’s protection of Rushwaya on Asiagate scandal shameful

Friday, 16 March 2012

The MDC is concerned by Johannes Tomana, the Attorney General’s failure in
properly prosecuting Henrietta Rushwaya, the former Zimbabwe Football
Association (Zifa), Chief Executive the Zimbabwe’s chief architect, in the
shameful football scandal that has become known as ‘Asiagate’.

During her reign as the Zifa CEO, Rushwaya shamelessly masterminded a total
of 15 games without the authority from the association’s board and the
Sports and Recreation Commission.

From these shady deals, she received more than US$1 million to throw away
international matches that Zimbabwe was playing in.

Most of the matches were against minnows like; Vietnam, Jordan and Thailand
but the Warriors lost after being paid huge sums of money.

She was arrested on 2 February 2012 and is facing match-fixing and bribery
charges.

However, in an unprecedented move, Rushwaya this week got her passport back
after it had been deposited with the Clerk of Court as part of her bail
conditions on the false pretext that she wanted to travel to South Africa
and Dubai on business.

Earlier, Henrietta had reportedly been put under house arrest, only for the
court to turn around and claim she was asked to stay at the given address
but it then turned out that she did not reside at the given address and even
travelled out of the country during this period, breaching her bail
conditions.

While breaching the bail conditions, the former Zifa boss visited the Middle
East where some of the fixed matches were played. One cannot rule out that
she interfered with the witnesses – another breach of her bail conditions.

We have therefore no doubt that Rushwaya is being protected by some people
in Zanu PF where she is known as the “Iron Lady” at the expense of football
and the country which were the losers because of her corruption.

As a Party, the MDC is wondering why Tomana is allowing such blatant
disregard of the country’s laws to happen.

The MDC is concerned that Asiagate scandal has seriously affected the
performance of the senior men’s national football team, the Warriors and put
the country image into serious disrepute.

Investigations by Zifa, which the MDC fully supports, led to the suspension
of 100 players who were implicated in the scam.

The players remain suspended until they are cleared by the Ethics Committee
led by retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Ahmed Ebrahim.

As the MDC, we have lost confidence on how Tomana and the Attorney General’s
Office selectively apply their prosecution with Zanu PF members being immune
to prosecution.

A total of 29 MDC members are currently languishing in remand prison on
false charges of murder and public violence.

The People’s Party of Excellence does not condone any form of corruption and
we are concerned by the continued disregard and selective application of the
country laws by Tomana in order to protect corrupt Zanu PF politicians.

The people’s struggle for real change - Let’s finish it!!!

--
MDC Information & Publicity Department

SADC lapse deals Nigeria a prized ace

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-03-16-sadc-lapse-deals-nigeria-a-prized-ace/

Mail & Guardian
SEAN CHRISTIE: ANALYSIS
Mar 16 2012

The authoritarian reaction of the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) to a judgment handed down by the SADC Tribunal in favour of
dispossessed Zimbabwean farmers could blow up in its face -- and in South
Africa’s in particular.

SADC, probably unaware of the ramifications when it established the
tribunal, suspended it after the judgment, which had angered many of its
members, pending a review of the protocol that underpinned it. The damaging
political implications of this decision have not gone unnoticed by other
countries in Africa, particularly Nigeria, which is challenging South Africa
for political dominance of the continent.

And SADC’s political conundrum is not likely to be resolved soon: two
Zimbabwean farmers, Ben Freeth and Luke Tembani, are asking the African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to open a case against all
14 SADC members at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

This unprecedented request has stemmed from a decision taken by SADC’s heads
of state last year to suspend the tribunal -- the regional court that in
2008 had awarded Freeth, Tembani and dozens of other Zimbabwean farmers a
judgment against the Zimbabwean government after it had sanctioned the
invasion of their farms in the name of the country’s land reform programme.

Judgment in favour of Zimbabwean farmers unpopular
But instead of enforcing the judgment, the SADC summit suspended the
tribunal in 2011, ostensibly pending a review of the protocol that
underpinned it. It is widely accepted that the judgment against Zimbabwe was
extremely unpopular with the region’s leaders.

Ottilia Maunganidze of the Institute for Security Studies said: “To put it
bluntly, when that decision was made, SADC leaders suddenly realised they
had created a monster.

Previously they do not appear to have registered that individuals could use
the tribunal to call them to account.”

According to Keith Gottschalk, an expert on African institutions based at
the University of the Western Cape, it was not possible for Freeth and
Tembani, or any individual, to open a case at the African court, as they did
with the tribunal. But the commission, as a non-governmental organisation,
could do so on behalf of individuals.

“It’s rather clever what they’ve done. The ACHPR has agreed to consider
Freeth and Tembani’s complaint, which includes a demand that the SADC
Tribunal be reinstated. If the ACHPR does proceed to open a case at the
African court on behalf of the Zimbabweans and the court finds in favour of
the applicants, the SADC states will, theoretically, have to comply because
all have voluntarily signed on as states subject to the African court,”
Gottschalk said.
While discussing the recent diplomatic row between Africa’s two superpowers
after South African immigration services turned back 125 Nigerians at OR
Tambo International Airport for allegedly failing to produce authentic
yellow-fever certificates, a Nigerian diplomat, who did not want to be
named, warned: “There are many ways to embarrass your country if this
attitude towards Nigeria and her people continues.”

According to Lloyd Kuveya of the South African Litigation Centre, South
Africa voted with the other SADC nations to suspend the tribunal, an
institution with a reputation as a defender of human rights, but regional
courts in West and East Africa that had made similar landmark judgments had
not been threatened.

“It’s easy enough to see how dominant nations in these other African
regions, especially Nigeria, could use this whole process to paint itself as
a more responsible continental leader than its competitor [South Africa],”
said Kuveya.

Nigeria vs South Africa
Nigerian and South African competition for the soul of the African Union was
clearly visible when Nigeria, joined by most members of the West African
economic community, would not vote for South Africa’s candidate for
chairperson of the African Union (AU), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Gottschalk said: “The power of their [Freeth’s and Tembani’s] tactic lies
not in any threat of enforcement, because the African court has no air force
or policemen, but rather in its potential to embarrass respondents and to
pressurise their allies into reconsidering their support.”

Clayson Monyela, spokesperson for the department of international relations
and co-operation, said South Africa’s diplomats were “fully apprised of the
situation” and “would never let this matter [South Africa’s handling of the
tribunal] get to that point [the loss of credibility]”.

Several analysts and lawyers have differing views on the Zimbabweans’
strategy.

“They secured a judgment in their favour, but it was rendered meaningless
when the SADC Tribunal was suspended. Their options were to simply hope for
a miracle when the outcome of the SADC protocol review process is announced
in August, or to try to have their grievance brought to the African court by
the African commission,” said SADC Lawyers’ Association president Thoba
Poyo-Dlwati.

But Kuveya doubted that the Zimbabweans would ever reach the African court.
“The ACHPR characteristically takes a long time to come to a decision and,
in this case, all 14 SADC countries are listed as respondents. By the time
they’ve all made their submissions, the outcome of their own SADC protocol
review will have been announced. And if they announce that the SADC Tribunal
is to be reinstated the entire adventure up north will have been academic.”

Kuveya said the applicants were “possibly seeking merely to have some
influence on the SADC protocol review process” by keeping SADC’s attitude to
human rights “right in front of their fellow AU members”.

Gottschalk, paraphrasing an observation by Judge Dennis Davis, said: “The
world is increasingly moving from states of warfare to states of law-fare”,
referring to the fact that states were seeking legitimacy by appealing to
international law and embarrassing their competitors in international
courts.

“We can expect to see African nations playing the same game as the United
States and others who have mastered the art of law-fare,” he said.

Peace Watch: Mbare

The Reconciliation Trust is appalled by the violence in Mbare which is premised on ownership and control of trading stalls at Mbare Musika. The Chipangano vigilante group is accused of perpetrating violence in the area against suspected human rights defenders and members or sympathizers of the opposition MDC formations. This development is in spite of the code of conduct that was developed and adopted by the three principals in the inclusive government in December 2011 and is a negation and blow to the spirit and letter of the Global Political Agreement especially Article VII which alludes to the need to promote national unity and cohesion and the ultimate creation of a culture of tolerance to divergence. The group which is led by Jim Kunaka, the same violence maestro who stopped a Harare businessman from building a service station and a food court accusing him of being an MDC funder. The Mbare case is a microcosm of the dysfunctionality of a society where political violence, corruption and bickering on the part of law enforcement agents exposes the generality of the society to social and economic woes.

The Reconciliation Trust reiterates its position that the Global Political Agreement has been violated many times by insincere politicians who have held Zimbabwe’s democratization process at ransom. We call upon the Inclusive Government to:

o Guarantee the safety of all citizens regardless of their affiliations as enshrined in the Constitution

o Launch an investigation into the alleged human rights violations

o Arrest all perpetrators of violence

o Provide counseling and recourse to all victims of political violence

o Uphold the Code of Conduct against Violence

In the same vein the Reconciliation Trust warns partners in the inclusive government from plunging the country into an early election before the nation has healed from wounds of the previous elections. Zimbabwe must embrace and prioritize national healing lest the country will recede to the 2008 bloodbath. Political parties are encouraged to refrain from using violence as a tool to garner electorate’s support ahead of the next elections

The Trust will mobilize its members to reject any moves that may lead the nation into an ill prepared election and will join forces with all progressive civil society in denouncing, discrediting and mobilizing for apathy from an ill conceived electoral process.

SAY NO TO VIOLENT ELECTIONS & YES TO PEACE

For Views and Comments Contact:

Media and Communications Desk

Reconciliation Trust

44 Mbuya Nehanda Street

Harare

0776016429, 0772485519

Email: reconciliationtrust@gmail.com

Diaspora Diaries with Stephen Lewis co-director of AIDS-Free World

http://www.swradioafrica.com/2012/03/16/diaspora-diaries-with-stephen-lewis-co-director-of-aids-free-world/

Posted by Alex Bell on Friday, March 16, 2012

Stephen Lewis co-director of AIDS-Free World

Broadcast 13 March, 2012

AB: Welcome to Diaspora Diaries on SW Radio Africa, Zimbabwe’s independent voice. I’m Alex Bell and on tonight’s show I’ll be talking to the co-director of the international advocacy group AIDS-Free World, who has called the UN out over its silence on Zimbabwe.

Stephen Lewis, who’s work with the UN has spanned more than two decades has called on the international body to end its silence on the campaign of political rape used by Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF. Speaking on International Women’s Day last week at the UN Human Rights’ Council, Mr Lewis questioned what hold Mugabe has over the UN that Zimbabwe was left off a ‘name and shame’ list of serious sexual violence during elections in different countries.

In December 2009 AIDS-Free World released a shocking report detailing the systematic and widespread attack on MDC members and supporters in the 2008 election period in Zimbabwe. The group said their report contains enough evidence to warrant the prosecution of Mugabe and other top ZANU PF officials for their complicity in the attacks saying they are guilty of crimes against humanity. Their report titled “Electing to rape: Sexual terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe” detailed the testimonies of 70 survivors of the rape campaign. This is just one account from one of these women:

“My husband was truly active in his MDC party. He was a youth co-coordinator for MDC. So sometimes he had some grudges with ZANU PF youth leaders and other people who were involved in politics. The first attack it was on my wedding day, when we were having afterwards a party at home. There comes some other two guys and my husband was busy braaing with other guys, then they come, and wanted to beat my husband. Then saying ‘we told you about this MDC thing and you think you are very clever’. So that’s when my brothers and other people come and they attacked the guys, they beat them and they tell them ‘we are ZANU PF guys and they sent us to come and beat this one’. Then the second attack. He was attacked by the time he was coming from his work, he used to teach at a local school in Mabelreign. So they started beating him along the way from school and they told him ‘we are ZANU PF guys and we are after you, we will win you this one day, you should stop that MDC thing’. It was a strong knock and I knew that something wrong is going to happen, or even my husband just know that something was just going to happen, something and we didn’t open the door, they break the door, then they enter the house.

The three other men they hold my husband and the other two, they raped me one by one and I had no alternative just because they tie a cloth on my mouth so that I couldn’t shout and they raped me. Then they told me I will never ever see my husband again. I think my husband is dead. I started crying, shouting for help, then the other teachers they came to my house and I told them the whole story. Then they took me to their house up to the next morning, then we went to report to the Chief. Then from there, they didn’t do anything.

After the rapes I started having some colds, fever until I was tested and I was positive. Most of my time I am thinking of what happened to me, as a result I’ve got something in my hand that I won’t forget that event because I’ve got a result, I’ve got a baby. So each time I just look at the baby I just think of what happened to me and I don’t even know what I will tell the baby when she grows up. I suppose she’ll want to know who is the father and I don’t even know up till now what to tell her. There are so many people who are tortured and raped and most of the people they are scared to tell where they are still living in Zimbabwe, just like myself, if I was staying in Zimbabwe, I wasn’t going to tell this thing.”

AB: Well that was one of the Zimbabwean women who was a survivor of the brutal rape campaign launched by Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF in the 2008 election period. Now the women, whose identities are being kept strictly confidential for security reasons, spoke to AIDS-Free World of extreme acts of brutality; some women were forced to watch the rape of their daughters and the brutal murder of their husbands and other family members before or after they themselves were raped, often by groups of men. Several other women were held as ‘sex slaves’ at ZANU PF base camps for up to two weeks. All the perpetrators of the attacks identified themselves to their victims as ZANU PF members. We have another testimony from another survivor of this brutal attack

“They just came and then they started beating me because they beat me first. They said ‘you people you want to sell our country to whites, you want to’, they are just talking strong like that. And then I was raped, they left me at home and then I was raped. Why they raped me because we support MDC because we need a change in Zimbabwe; we are tired of suffering; we are suffering in Zimbabwe, we are tired. All I want is for them to be arrested and then they must face the judges but all we want is justice because even to go to the police or what, they can’t do anything because they can’t arrest them because they are the same you know?”

AB: Well that was another of the survivors of the brutal ZANU PF-led attack on MDC supporters which included the unbelievably brutal and systematic rape of women in the 2008 election period. Now these testimonies have been contained in the report by AIDS-Free World – ‘Electing to rape: Sexual terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe’. You can read that full report if you go to our web site: www.swradioafrica.com

Now these details are severe and shocking but despite this, the attacks in Zimbabwe appear to have been ignored by the world’s supposedly highest peace authority, the UN, which has sparked anger from AIDS-Free World who are trying to launch a case on the contents of the report in South Africa. Now the group’s Mr. (Stephen) Lewis last week told the UN Human Rights Council that it was ‘unforgivable’ that Zimbabwe has been left off the UN ‘Name and Shame’ list which is seen as a document that will change the course of history for women. Well I’m very pleased to welcome Mr. Lewis as a guest on tonight’s show and I thank you very much for joining me on Diaspora Diaries. Well Mr. Lewis you had some strong words for the UN last week and it’s all related to the ‘Name and Shame’ list released in January. First of all for some context, what is this list?

SL: In December of 2010 the Security Council said to the Secretary General – “we’re passing a resolution which requires you to provide for us a report on situations of sexual violence in conflict and begin to name the names, not just of the countries where the sexual violence is occurring, but of the perpetrators, whether they be militia groups or even individual assailants.” And there was a lot of skepticism about whether the UN would go that far but then in January of this year the Secretary General released a report which surprised everyone because it did name country after country where conflict was taking place and itemized the episodes of sexual violence, including a great of detail about individual perpetrators and about whether or not the groups that were behind the raping. Because this was all about rape, whether the groups that were behind the raping were associated with governments or were independent rebel groups, they were variously defined.

And then as recently as a couple of weeks ago now at the end of February, the Security Council actually debated the report and gave the report its blessing and indicated that they wanted further detail in the future. Then AIDS-Free World, the organization with which I’m associated, began to read the report and I was completely taken aback by the fact that right in the centre of the report, what they did was to argue logically, that conflict has many definitions: It doesn’t just have to be violent militia, internal civil war, it can also be politically orchestrated conflict and rapes which occur in those circumstances should also be included in this report and the countries should be named and shamed – that’s what naming and shaming means.

And then they listed Kenya and Egypt and Syria and Guinea and notably missing was Zimbabwe and it’s just totally fascinating that president Mugabe, with a history of using rape against women who support the opposition party that somehow Zimbabwe was exempt. So I went to the Human Rights Council to make the case that if you’re going to extend the principle of naming and shaming countries engaged in sexual violence and rape who are using it within an election context, then you have to extend it to Zimbabwe.

AB: Now you’ve mentioned some of the countries that were listed, especially in this category of election violence. Are they comparable then to the situation that we’ve seen in Zimbabwe?

SL: Our own feeling is that Zimbabwe exceeds them all because the pattern of sexual violence didn’t begin in 2008, it began in 1980 when Mugabe was Prime Minister, and certainly in 1987 when he became President this has been a strategy of his political apparatus. So if you look at it over the years, the numbers of people, women in particular who have suffered physical violence, sexual violence and rape certainly hugely exceeds Kenya – there’s no comparison – and yet Kenya was named. And it also would exceed Guinea and Egypt and probably even Syria. Syria is devastating at the moment of course but cumulatively I think that president Mugabe leaves a much more malign legacy.

AB: What does this say then about the UN and its relationship with Robert Mugabe, because this seems like a startling oversight?

SL: It is a startling oversight, it takes one’s breath away and I’m not entirely sure what’s going on. It could be that people still hark back to the days when Robert Mugabe was a freedom fighter and one of the front-line states opposing apartheid and nobody will deny that the roles of the countries like Zimbabwe and Tanzania for opposition to South African apartheid. But those days are long gone and President Mugabe’s career has deteriorated into a malevolent authoritarianism and in fact some would call it a kind of berserk tenure, demonic in its behavior. And again on top of that, there is this caution to go after former Commonwealth countries, I don’t know what that’s all about. But mostly I think it’s South Africa. Mostly I think it’s the refusal of President Mbeki and President Zuma to move in on Zimbabwe. I think President Zuma has been showing signs that he’s losing patience and that now Mugabe is calling for another election in 2012 and he’s past his 86^th birthday, that Zuma may be feeling that it’s time to bring Zimbabwe to heel but it’s had a lot of protection from the other African countries, particularly southern Africa and for that there’s no excuse. There’s no excuse in the world for African countries to have put up with President Mugabe.

If I can just make the necessary point – one of the reasons I raised this – I shouldn’t say “I”, AIDS-Free World raised this at the Human Rights Council and with a group of diplomats afterwards, is because it’s undoubtedly continuing according to reports and the raping will be as ferocious as ever when the election is called later this year and somehow the international community has to be alerted to the importance of stopping it.

AB: Well this was my next question because the document, this “Name and Shame” document, it’s being lauded as something that could change the course of history for women in the world, so why is it so important then that Zimbabwe’s included and this is raised in the international circles?

SL: Precisely because this document, for the first time, has the sort of legitimacy, the imprimatur, the authenticity of the Security Council; it’s a document where the most powerful nations in the world gathered together are saying to the rest of the world – “this behaviour is intolerable and we are going to confront it and we’re going to name it and we’re going to shame it and we’re going to tell the world how your misbehaviour is so brutal and callous and compromising the lives of women wherever it’s applied. “We’ve got to bring an end to the raping, it’s as simple as that and if Zimbabwe were included, and that’s the power of the report, I think that organizations like AIDS-Free World, are now fully at liberty to argue that president Mugabe be named and shamed by the Security Council and the United Nations. Just because Zimbabwe doesn’t appear in the report on this occasion doesn’t mean that it will be exempt in future occasions. I think people didn’t realize that the political and election related part of the report should encompass Zimbabwe and now that we can make that case, I think it will be easier to go after the president of Zimbabwe.

AB: Were people shocked or surprised when you raised the argument about Zimbabwe being left off?

SL: Yes, yes because these were Human Rights Council people, they are familiar with the sort of the Human Rights doctrine and therefore they were familiar with the resolution, it’s called Resolution 1960 that was passed back in 2010, they were familiar with the report and it’s so interesting that it hadn’t really fully occurred to people that Zimbabwe should be included. I mean just think of it – my co-director of AIDS-Free World and I, we’ve spent a week in Nairobi after the post-election violence in Kenya which was pretty severe, we spoke to endless numbers of women’s organizations and women activists who chronicled for us the sexual violence that had occurred but nothing that happened in Kenya, nothing, approximates what went on in Zimbabwe in 2008 in terms of the raping of women and will go on again in 2012, you can be absolutely sure if there’s another election called this year unless the international community intervenes. Diplomats suddenly realized that the oversight of not including Zimbabwe should be corrected. Corrected in the way we talk about it now and including it in the future.

AB: Were we to look at the state of this report then and the facts that the contents are hopefully going to be used within international courts, does the leaving out of Zimbabwe in this list impact if it’s to have this heard before courts?

SL: Well what we intend to do is to launch a case now with the National Prosecuting Authority in South Africa which can employ what is called Universal Jurisdiction where you can indict and try people from outside your own country if they have committed crimes against humanity which we believe we proved unassailably in 2008 and we are able to do that now because there was another case involving torture in Zimbabwe which is being taken to the High Court in South Africa and it will be heard at the end of this month and now we feel we are in a position to launch our own court case through the National Prosecuting Authority. So I think that what we are really seeing here is the beginning of a campaign to bring Zimbabwe to account, the beginning of a campaign to overcome the culture of impunity which has allowed president Mugabe doing some of the worst things to women that have been done anywhere in the world, we’ll probably finally be able to confront president Mugabe, both in law and (inaudible)

AB: A final comment then; you’ve mentioned a couple of times already that if the international community does not intervene, 2012 and a possible election in 2012 could have the same results for the women of Zimbabwe.

SL: I think that’s true; I don’t think it could happen, I think indisputably it will happen. Mugabe is a crazed politician, I’m sorry to use adjectives which are incriminating but I think they are accurate. I think anyone who follows the behaviour of president Mugabe, the language he uses, the weapons he employs, will understand that his wish to hold on to power or to hold onto power long enough to transfer it to somebody else of his choosing, that wish is just insatiable. He’s determined and the ploy that has been used most effectively in the past is the raping of the women of the MDC, the raping of the women of the opposition so that ZANU PF, the war veterans and the youth corps become the rapists and there is not a single question in our mind that president Mugabe will use that again and that women will suffer horrifically again and that’s why we’re trying to stir the momentum through the next several months so that the world is alerted to the possible carnage that is coming if the raping is repeated.

A toxic mix

http://www.cathybuckle.com/

March 16, 2012, 1:23 pm

One of the many disadvantages of not living in Zimbabwe any more– apart from
the inevitable heartache – is that one is no longer in touch with the
day-to-day realities of life in the country. That is why Cathy Buckle’s
Family and Friends letter fills such a vital information gap. Cathy keeps us
up to date with how even middle-class people struggle to survive in a
country which shows increasing signs of being in near-meltdown. This week
the Finance Minister warned that the government will ‘close’ down without
diamond revenue. “Diamonds have to deliver” he said. They haven’t so far! Of
the 600million promised when the diamonds were found, the treasury has
received only 19 million.

Cathy Buckle’s Letter last week had the intriguing title ‘Soggy Letters’ and
described a visit to her local post office to collect her mail. Customers
pay a sizeable amount to hire a mailbox but it seems payment is no guarantee
of mail’s protection from the elements. In Cathy’s case it was a leaking
roof at the post office, or so she was told, that caused the trouble. She
also wrote about the irony of paying huge bills for services such as water
and electricity that are no longer available. The citizen can of course
refuse to pay the bill but then the water and electricity will simply be
disconnected and he or she will get neither water nor power on the rare
occasions when they are available.

Knowing the everyday details of living that a writer like Cathy Buckle
provides, gives a very different slant on other news coming out of the
country. My first reaction is always to wonder if cabinet ministers and MPs
have ever carried water into their houses to flush the loo or stood in line
to pay bills for services they haven’t got! When I saw that Zesa has
switched off the power supply of the biggest fertiliser company in the
country because they have not paid their bill, it wasn’t hard to predict
that bread will be in short supply in the months ahead and we know that it’s
ordinary citizens who will be standing in the bread line - again.

Similarly, politicians’ actions which seem at first sight to have little to
do with the man or woman on the street generally end up having a direct
effect on their lives. The thousands of farmers who lost their farms in the
‘land reform’ must have been astonished to hear Didymus Mutasa declare, as
he did this week, that there is no need for a land audit because there are
no multiple land owners! We all know that Mutasa’s assertion is in direct
contradiction of the reality on the ground. And, when the Attorney General
himself halts the anti-corruption probe because it’s getting too close to
top Zanu PF officials, the ordinary citizen realises that he or she can
expect very little protection under the law. A judge this week said that
corruption in Zimbabwe is now at such a level that the rich can buy their
way out of prison. Lawyers connive in this blatantly corrupt process and the
result is that only the poor, who are unable to buy their way out, will end
up serving prison sentences.

There are reports that Robert Mugabe is seeking the help of Iran and China
in the forthcoming elections. Both Iran and Zimbabwe are under sanctions but
Zimbabwe has uranium and diamonds – in exchange for Iran’s weapons no doubt?
Some years ago, a certain flamboyant businessman said that the reason he
joined Zanu PF was that it enabled him to succeed in business. The
combination of political affiliation and commercial profit together with a
partisan police force produces a toxic mix.
The police’s failure to do anything to stop the activities of the notorious
Chipangano gang in Mbare protects the Zanu PF bigwig behind the gang but
leaves the ordinary citizen exposed to Chipangano’s criminal activities:
beatings, torture and murder. The political dimension was clearly
demonstrated last weekend in Sunningdale, a working class suburb in Harare,
where an MDC rally was broken up by Chipangano while the police stood by and
watched. When the police protect the criminals, it’s the ordinary citizen
who pays the price. That’s the reality of life in Zimbabwe.

Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.

Mugabe's shock $350 000 Zesa bill