BREAKING NEWS from the Commercial Farmers ' Union
Norton farmer
murdered
Norton farmer, Terry Ford of Gowrie Farm, who was in his
mid-fifties, was
bludgeoned to death sometime in the early hours of this
morning, Monday 18th
March 2002.
Just before midnight last night, a
group of about twenty, suspected to
consist of settlers and war veterans,
approached the homestead area. Mr
Ford, who was alone in the house,
immediately made a report to the Norton
police station and alerted a
neighbouring farmer. At 02:15hrs this morning,
Mr Ford contacted the
neighbour to say that there still had been no police
response and that he
would remain vigilant and call for assistance if
necessary. Mr Ford's
battered body was found in the early hours of this
morning.
This farm
is in vicinity of Winsor Farm, where looting took place last week
and the
farmer and his family were forced to vacate. Also in the same area,
the
homestead at Wilbered Farm, owned by an 81 year old cancer victim who is
away
receiving medical treatment, was completely looted of all belongings.
These
incidents have been reported to the police at all levels. Of the
group of
approximately 70 looters involved in these incidents, 3 have
been
arrested.
The Norton district is controlled by War Veteran
leader, Mrs Rusike. The
war veteran base commander on Gowrie Farm is Cde
Wamba. Both are known to
have been involved in the previous two looting
incidents.
Visit the CFU Website www.mweb.co.zw/cfu
White farmer executed in upsurge of violence in Zimbabwe
By Angus Shaw, AP
18 March 2002
A white farmer was killed today in escalating
post-election violence as President Robert Mugabe met the leaders of South
Africa and Nigeria to discuss Zimbabwe's disputed presidential poll.
Several independent observer groups have condemned the last week's elections
as deeply flawed and unfairly structured to ensure Mugabe's re-election.
South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
met Mr Mugabe to discuss the conduct of the election and the future of Zimbabwe
after two years of widespread violence blamed mainly on ruling party militants.
Mr Mbeki was later expected to meet with opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mr Mbeki, Mr Obasanjo and Australian Prime Minister John Howard are to meet
in London tomorrow to discuss possible sanctions against Zimbabwe by the
Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth observer mission said the election did not adequately allow
voters to freely express their choice. Industrialized Commonwealth nations have
called for Zimbabwe's expulsion for abusing the group's charter on democratic
rights.
Since Mr Mugabe was declared the winner of the elections last week, white
farmers have reported on upsurge in violence in farming districts.
The white farmer was shot dead near Norton, about 30 20 miles west of Harare
in an attack by suspected ruling party militants, the Commercial Farmers Union
said.
He was the tenth white farmer killed since militants began often violent
occupations of white-owned land in two years ago.
Terry Ford, 51, contacted neighbors late Sunday and reported a group of about
20 militants were besieging his home, union spokeswoman Jenni Williams said.
Police reported his death around dawn.
Mr Ford smashed his car into a farm fence to make a getaway but was dragged
from the vehicle and shot in the head against a tree in an execution-style
killing, the union said.
"There is great concern there has been more activity in the last week in
terms of evicting farmers and looting homes" across the country, Ms Williams
said.
White farmers have been accused of providing transport and logistical backing
for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, the opposition to Mr Mugabe's
rule.
Since 2000, more than 1,700 white farms were occupied and the government
announced plans to nationalize about 4,500 white-owned properties, 95 per cent
of land owned by whites, for redistribution to landless blacks.
The opposition, which narrowly lost parliamentary elections in June 2000,
accused Mr Mugabe of seizing land to shore up his waning support and unleashing
a campaign of terror to intimidate opposition supporters. At least 150 people
have died and tens of thousands have been left homeless, most of them opposition
supporters, human rights groups said.
MSNBC
White farmer reported killed in Zimbabwe
HARARE,
March 18 — A white farmer was shot dead near his homestead early on
Monday,
apparently while trying to escape an attack by settlers and war
veterans, a
farm community spokeswoman said.
It was the first attack on a white
farmer since Robert Mugabe was
reelected last week in presidential election
marred by violence and charges
of vote rigging.
Commercial
Farmers' Union spokeswoman Jenni Williams told Reuters
Terry Ford of the farm
Gowrie, about 40 km (30 miles) southwest of Harare,
was found shot through
the head.
''There is evidence of a bullet exit wound from the head,''
she said.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed that Ford had
been
murdered, but said he had no further details. ''Our men are on the
ground
right now investigating,'' he said.
Ford was the 10th white
farmer to be killed since landless blacks
began with government sanction to
seize white-owned farms two years ago.
Williams said Ford was alone on
his farm and called for help early on
Monday, saying he was being threatened
by farm settlers and veterans of the
former Rhodesia's 1970s liberation
war.
ALONE AT HOME
''Mr Ford contacted police and neighbours,
but he did not get much
help because some of his neighbours have moved out of
the area. He was alone
in his home and he said he would remain vigilant,''
Williams said.
''At 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) this morning his domestic worker
reported for
duty and discovered his body lying next to a tree outside the
house. There
is evidence that Mr Ford was trying to drive out of the farm,''
she added.
Williams said there was no immediate word on what led to
the killing.
The government accuses the Commercial Farmers Union,
which mainly
represents whites, of using the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) as a front for its effort to maintain white economic
dominance.
About 20,000 commercial farms have been abandoned by white
owners or
are occupied by black settlers.
Mugabe said at his
inauguration on Sunday he had delivered ''a
stunning blow'' to Britain and
said he would accelerate the seizure of
white-owned farms for redistribution
to landless blacks.
Daily News
Massive election fraud unearthed
3/18/02 7:57:57 AM
(GMT +2)
By Columbus Mavhunga
FIGURES announced by Tobaiwa
Mudede, the Registrar-General, for the
presidential election do not tally
with the official poll data provided by
the Electoral Supervisory Commission
(ESC), it has emerged.
As a result, the MDC election directorate has
stepped up its campaign to
contest the outcome of last weekend’s presidential
poll.
The revelations further strengthen claims by the MDC of the
illegitimacy of
the process and outcome of the election.
Professor
Welshman Ncube, the MDC secretary-general, yesterday confirmed the
anomaly
and said the discrepancy in the figures was disturbing.
“It is clear from
the conflicting figures that about half a million votes
from nowhere went to
Zanu PF,” Ncube said.
“We are still considering all available avenues to
solve the anomaly. There
is the legal option or it can be solved on the
political arena - that can be
on streets and in factories -until the struggle
is over.”
The MDC election directorate headed by Paul Themba-Nyathi, the
MP for Gwanda
North, says on Monday 11 March the ESC provided it with
official information
on the total voter statistics from individual
constituencies, except for
Chitungwiza and Harare.
“However, the
information on total vote counts within constituencies from
the ESC varies
significantly from the total constituency vote counts
announced by the
Registrar-General in the presidential election results on
12 March,” the MDC
election directorate said.
“While the total national vote counts are
similar for both agencies, the
Registrar-General counts are widely different
from the ESC counts at the
level of individual constituencies.
“The
differences between the two have been applied to either reduce the MDC
vote
count or increase the Zanu PF count or both.”
According to figures
supplied to the MDC, significant differences are found
across more than 50
constituencies. The adjusted vote counts using the ESC
figures bear closer
relationship to the voting patterns in the 2000
parliamentary
election.
“Some of the most significant differences occurred in
constituencies where
violence was high and polling agents were obstructed in
their duties. These
are Zaka East and West, Gokwe, Mberengwa and Mutasa,” the
MDC election
directorate said.
Some of the “manipulations” the MDC
claim are shown in constituencies picked
at random, as illustrated in the
table on The MDC did not accept the result
of the election which was won by
Mugabe.
It cited irregularities such as the denial of the right to vote
to more than
360 000 voters in Harare and Chitungwiza alone, and Zanu PF
youths’
prevention of the deployment of MDC polling agents in 52 percent of
the
rural polling stations as providing further opportunity for electoral
fraud.
It also cites that up to 400 000 people were illegitimately
registered
between 10 January and 3 March 2002, and the existence of
severe
State-sponsored intimidation, harassment and fear for a period in
excess of
two years, the “fast-tracking” of legislation negatively impacting
on the
electoral process, disenfranchising voters through the voter
registration
process and lack of independence of the ESC as some of the
glaring
irregularities.
Thomas Bvuma, the ESC spokesperson, when
contacted on the discrepancy in the
election results figures, said: “I cannot
comment because I do not even have
the figures for the whole
election.”
Mudede could not be reached for comment last night. He did not
answer his
mobile phone when he was repeatedly called.
Daily News
War veterans murder guard, assault farmer
3/18/02
8:52:54 AM (GMT +2)
By Pedzisai Ruhanya
ZANU PF supporters and
war veterans on Friday murdered a security guard at
Oxford Farm outside
Marondera in the presence of a police constable and
seriously assaulted the
farmer for allegedly organising MDC meetings in the
area.
The
security guard, identified only as Darlington, was murdered in cold
blood at
one of the torture houses in the area. His body was taken to the
mortuary at
Borradaile Hospital in the town.
John Rutherford, the farmer, 4 was in
the intensive care unit on Friday
where he was being treated for severe
injuries as a result of the brutal
assault.
The police in Marondera
refused to comment, saying they were under
instructions not to talk to the
media. But when The Daily News arrived at
the hospital, a policeman
identifying himself only as Assistant Inspector
Mafu was recording a
statement from Rutherford from his hospital bed.
Rutherford said he did
not have enough information on Darlington’s family
background as he had only
known him for three months.
About five Zanu PF supporters and war
veterans were waiting outside the
hospital, threatening to remove the body
from the mortuary to take it to
their offices in the town.
Rutherford
said that early on Friday morning he was called to the war
veterans’ compound
on the farm, where he was accused of giving one of his
workers a cellphone to
communicate with the MDC on the activities of the
illegal settlers on his
farm.
“A youth from the compound said that I had instructed him to burn
down all
war veterans’ houses on Saturday. I denied the charges because I was
not
there and I have no intention whatsoever to disrupt the land
reform
programme,” he said.
Rutherford said when he denied the charge,
the war veterans’ leader, Obert
Makiwa, started to assault him with a hoe
handle. “I was then taken to
another room where I found Darlington. He was
bleeding. We were assaulted
together,” he said.
Rutherford said his
wife was also brought to the torture room.
“As they were assaulting him
Darlington fell on top of my wife and the
settlers realised that his life was
in danger.” He said Makiwa instructed
him to drive Darlington to their
offices in town but he insisted that they
should go to the hospital
first.
Darlington died on the way to the hospital, Rutherford said. “All
this
happened in the presence of Constable Chikowe. There was no help at all
from
the police,” Rutherford said.
Darlington’s murder is the second
death in three days after Zanu PF
supporters in Kwekwe killed Funny Mahuni,
an employee at Zimasco, after he
refused to release his two daughters to
attend the party’s night rallies in
Mbizo suburb.
Meanwhile, Nicholas
Chigwende, an MDC activist in Karoi, was tortured by
suspected Zanu PF
supporters last Saturday after they discovered that he was
an MDC polling
agent in the widely- condemned violent presidential election.
Chigwende,
19, was attacked with sharp instruments on the face, head and
other parts of
the body and left for dead. His father, Phibion, said
Nicholas was admitted
to Karoi Hospital before transfer to the Avenues
Clinic in Harare on
Wednesday as his condition deteriorated.
Daily News
Unregistered Zanu PF youths cast their votes
3/18/02
8:54:43 AM (GMT +2)
From Our Correspondent
Several cases of
voting irregularities surfaced in Bulawayo during the
recent presidential
election.
For example, members of the Zanu PF youth brigade, who
disappeared a few
days before the election, resurfaced on Saturday, the first
day of the
election, at a polling station at Hugh Beadle Primary School in
Bulawayo,
where most were alleged to have voted without being
registered.
When a Daily News crew visited the polling station, the
youths were in their
own queue, a parallel line with the registered voters.
They were brought in
in unmarked trucks by officials, one identified by the
MDC polling agent as
the Zanu PF provincial political commissar in
Matabeleland, Saineth Dube.
The presiding officer said he was not aware
of the presence of the youths.
He said they had turned away many youths who
were unregistered.
According to the MDC polling agent, the youths were
initially not allowed to
vote, but he said after the intervention of Dube and
some officials they
were allowed to form their own queue to cast their
votes.
The police confirmed the presence of the youths and said they were
trying
their best to keep them from blocking the entrance to the polling
station.
A case of vote-buying surfaced in Lobengula suburb in Bulawayo
North
constituency when a group of women operating from a house were
allegedly
taking down the names of voters and promising to pay them if they
voted for
Zanu PF.
A visit to the house revealed that they had a list
of names, and the
identification numbers and addresses of people who had
voted. “This is just
for our records in the district.
We know they are
our members and we are making sure they have all voted. So
what do you want
here?” one woman fumed as she hastily gathered the papers
in front of
her.
But one of the people they tried to bribe, Ethel Dube, said she was
told to
vote for Zanu PF because she would be rewarded after the
election.
“They did not tell us how much we would get. I gave them my
name and
passport number,” said Dube.
Daily News
Six teachers, businessmen assaulted by Zanu PF
youths
3/18/02 9:00:03 AM (GMT +2)
From Brian
Mangwende
SIX teachers at Checheche primary and secondary schools and two
businessmen
in Chipinge South on Friday sustained various injuries after they
were
severely assaulted by a group of suspected Zanu PF
youths.
Supporters of the opposition Zanu which was represented
by Wilson Kumbula,
were reportedly among the assailants. The attacks come
barely two days after
Mike Madiro, Zanu PF’s chairman in Manicaland, warned
his party would weed
out traitors within the party.
The youths accused
the businessmen of funding the MDC. The teachers were
accused of allegedly
voting for the opposition MDC in the contentious
presidential election won by
President Mugabe.
In Chipinge South, Mugabe polled 6 954 votes against 18
356 for Morgan
Tsvangirai. Kumbula received a paltry 791 votes in the
constituency.
In the same constituency, 313 people voted for Paul Siwela, an
independent,
while 229 votes went to Shakespeare Maya of the National
Alliance for Good
Governance.
A total of 26 643 people cast their
votes in that constituency. The police
and army were called in to restore
order in the constituency after the mob
went berserk, beating up people with
knobkerries, iron bars, chains, sticks
and logs.
At a function in
Mutare on Wednesday, Madiro said: “I know that some of you
who are here
celebrating with us voted for the MDC. “We know you all and we
are going to
deal with you accordingly. We are not going to tolerate any bad
apples in our
basket.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a teacher who received
multiple
injuries, said: “The situation here was bad. Zanu PF and Zanu youths
started
beating up teachers at Checheche primary and secondary schools at
around
8am.
They beat up two businessmen, James Moyana and one
Chikukwa. “They attacked
another businessman, Onias Mlambo, but he managed to
escape. Soldiers and
the police were deployed and the situation is now under
control.
Some of the youths were arrested and taken to Chisumbanje police
station.”
The teacher said one of his colleagues at Checheche Primary School
could
hardly walk following the severe beatings.
It could not be
immediately established on Friday how many youths were
arrested in connection
with the attacks as the police lines at Chisumbanje
police station were out
of order.
Enock Porusingazi, Zanu PF’s Manicaland provincial chairman,
condemned the
attacks and said: “If the Zanu PF youths were involved in this
barbaric act,
it’s not in the interest of the party. I strongly condemn that
type of
behaviour.”
He was remanded out of custody pending sentence.
He was re-arrested last
week. Kudya sentenced Samuriwo to 30 months in jail,
but suspended 12 months
conditionally for five years.
Prosecutor
Tendai Hangazha, said on 28 March 2000, Samuriwo approached
provincial
magistrate Cleopas Kashora, then based at the Harare magistrates’
courts, and
asked him to assist in securing the release of his friend, Devon
Jonathan
Tobva Mambo, who was detained at Harare Central Remand Prison
facing 32
counts of housebreaking and theft.
He offered the magistrate $2 500. The
magistrate pretended to agree to the
scheme but later alerted the police who
set a trap for the warder.
Samuriwo returned to Kashora’s office in the
afternoon and apologised after
Mambo’s relatives failed to provide the money
for the deal.
Two days later, he went back to Kashora’s office with the
money he had
promised and Kashora advised him to return later. As soon as
Samuriwo left
the office, Kashora telephoned the police who set another trap
for him.
Samuriwo later returned and gave the magistrate the money. He
was arrested
by detectives as he left Kashora’s office.
Daily News - Leader Page
Mudede has failed the nation
unforgivably
3/18/02 8:44:56 AM (GMT +2)
THERE are a
number of crucial players who made it possible yesterday for
Robert Mugabe to
stand before Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku who swore
him in at the
beginning of his third term as President of Zimbabwe.
The man at the
centre of Mugabe’s Pyrrhic victory is Tobaiwa Mudede, the
Registrar-General
and a close relative of the President.
The disputed plebiscite is the
sixth national poll he has presided over, in
addition to a host of local
government elections.
Mudede’s record as a partisan and incompetent
public official is well
documented. Edgar Tekere (1990), Margaret Dongo
(1995), Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga (1996), and the opposition MDC today,
have had
terrible encounters with Mudede’s conduct as a manager of
elections.
The Registrar-General ignores court orders with impunity,
views the
opposition as time-wasters and foes. It is not clear to whom he
reports
during elections. The Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC), a
body
constitutionally mandated to supervise Mudede’s office during
elections,
seems scared of him. The ESC has failed to rein in and censure
Mudede,
forcing affected political parties to turn to the courts for relief.
The
entire civil service is at the mercy of Mudede. He picks and chooses
those
he wants to work with to conduct elections.
The source of
Mudede’s problem is the state of the voters’ roll. Dongo
and
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, in separate legal challenges, were the first
to
expose Mudede’s major weaknesses. Their encounter with him exposed how
easy
it is to rig an election in favour of Mugabe.
In the case of
Dongo, the High Court found that 13 642 ghost voters cast
their ballots - a
significantly decisive 41 percent of the registered voters
in Harare
South.
The ballot papers exceeded the number of voters by 1 025. There
were 600
postal votes whose origin could not be traced. Mudede failed to
explain this
anomaly. That was in a simple and far from life-threatening
by-election
conducted when Mugabe’s tenure of office was not under any
threat.
If Mudede could go to such lengths to deal with young Dongo in a
poor,
sprawling urban neighbourhood of Harare in the full glare of the world,
such
a man could stop at nothing to save a beleaguered relative from the kind
of
humiliation Mugabe faced last weekend.
The number of so-called
spoilt papers in these areas of high illiteracy tell
a separate story. They
were so few, given the supposed high turnout.
No information was given
about the supplementary voters’ roll, used
extensively in the rural areas.
The roll was unavailable to the opposition
and nobody, presumably except
Mudede, inspected it. Nobody knows how many
ballot papers were printed and by
whom. Postal ballots remain a mystery. A
total of 25 could not be accounted
for in Mutare.
The opposition challenged the secrecy around the voters’
roll and constant
changes in the figures. But as fate would have it,
Chidyausiku reserved
judgment. It is curious that the Chief Justice could let
such an important
national process proceed while he mulled over the arguments
from lawyers.
Observers and voters say there was widespread voter apathy
in most rural
constituencies. Most of the boxes are strongly believed to have
been
stuffed, especially in areas where opposition election agents
and
independent monitors were chased away.
The chaos and jitters that
followed Sunday’s High Court order extending the
voting time countrywide
unsettled Zanu PF and Mudede.
Some plan was in jeopardy.
The
government ignored the order for five hours and when polling
stations
eventually reopened in Harare and Chitungwiza, the police were
called in to
disperse voters at 7pm sharp.
In order to command the
respect of all contestants in an election, the
Registrar-General must be
completely above any form of suspicion. Mudede
lost that trust and respect
over a decade ago.
Zimbabweans failed to pay sufficient attention to the
Dongo case, otherwise
pressure could have been brought on Mudede to go long
before the current
fiasco.
Together with others, Mudede must be held
responsible for whatever happens
in the post-election period arising from
Mugabe’s controversial and largely
unrecognised victory.
Mudede has
failed Zimbabwe unforgivably.
He must resign.
Daily News
Zanu PF supporters set ablaze MDC agents’ homes
3/18/02
8:13:46 AM (GMT +2)
Staff Reporter
RAMPAGING Zanu PF
supporters last week set ablaze 24 homes belonging to MDC
polling agents in
Gokwe, soon after the announcement of the results of the
presidential
election.
Blessing Chebundo, the MDC’s acting provincial chairman for
Midlands North,
said hundreds of his party supporters had fled to urban
centres following a
fresh wave of politically-motivated violence.
“The
rowdy Zanu PF youths set ablaze seven homes in Gokwe West and 17 more
in
Gokwe East on Wednesday night as they went on a bloody retribution
exercise
against MDC supporters,” Chebundo said.
“The attacks are systematic and
it seems Zanu PF youths are targeting mainly
our polling agents because they
openly declared their party allegiance
during the election period. We are
receiving an average of 15 reports of
politically-related arson and attacks
on our polling agents in Gokwe since
the announcement of the election
results,” he said.
The MDC had an average of four polling agents at each
of the 766 polling
stations in the Midlands province.
The majority of
these fled to either Gweru, Kwekwe or Kadoma last week
because they were
being trailed and harassed by Zanu PF militants, Chebundo
said.
He
said there was massive intimidation of MDC polling agents, before and
during
the election period, carried out mainly by senior Zanu PF officials
and
police officers working in cahoots with the Zanu PF functionaries.
Zanu
PF provincial chairman for the Midlands, July Moyo, was not available
for
comment. He was said to be attending President Mugabe’s inauguration
in
Harare.
Mugabe polled 1 685 212 votes in a poll ruled by the
Commonwealth observer
group and the Southern African Development Community
parliamentary forum as
seriously flawed because of numerous incidents of
violence, vote rigging and
constitutional amendments meant to give the ruling
party an unfair advantage
over the opposition MDC.
The MDC candidate,
Morgan Tsvangirai, who has condemned the election polled
1 258 401
votes.
Daily News
Zanu PF youths take over maize distribution
3/18/02
8:12:22 AM (GMT +2)
From Energy Bara in Masvingo
ZANU PF
youths have taken over the distribution of maize to starving
villagers in
Masvingo province denying members of the opposition MDC the
chance to benefit
from the State-sponsored food aid programme.
The youths have been
deployed at various Grain Marketing Board (GMB) depots
throughout the
province. Their function appears to supervise the
distribution of food to
thousands of starving villagers.
When The Daily News visited the Masvingo
depot yesterday, youths in party
T-shirts were manning the gates to the
depot. They demanded Zanu PF
membership cards before allowing anyone
entry.
They also stopped lorries and other vehicles loaded with
maize-meal and
maize and questioned whether the grain was going to benefit
Zanu PF
supporters.
Other youths led by their self-styled commander,
Tionei Charumbira, were
deployed inside the GMB premises where they
scrutinise and sometimes reverse
decisions passed by official GMB
staff.
“We want to make sure that our enemies do not get food ahead of
our
supporters. Zanu PF is the ruling party and, therefore, its
supporters
should get food first before anyone else. Those who supported the
MDC should
go and get their food from Morgan Tsvangirai because what we have
here
belongs to President Mugabe,” Charumbira said.
Officials at the
Masvingo GMB depot yesterday confirmed that Zanu PF youths
had taken over the
distribution of maize but said their role was only
supervisory. The officials
said the presence of these youths had negatively
affected the operation of
the parastatal as managers are reduced to mere
spectators.
“These
youths are being paid by the party, but we do not know the motive
behind such
an arrangement,” said an official who refused to be identified.
“We are
also puzzled by the development.”
In Chivi and Gutu, scores of known MDC
supporters have reportedly been
excluded from the government-sponsored food
relief programme.
Chiefs have been ordered to give food only to Zanu PF
supporters as the
government has no food to give to its
“enemies”.
Hunger and starvation have reached critical levels in Masvingo
as the
government has failed to deliver food to the villagers. Maize-meal
supplies
are still erratic in rural and urban areas.
Seeking a way to manage
Zimbabwe
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SO
ROBERT Mugabe stole the election. What did you expect? As this
column
observed some time ago, he was bound to do whatever it took to stay
in
office. Not even South Africa's obedient observers were prepared to say
the
election was "free and fair". It wasn't.
President Bush
immediately rejected the result and one supposes that
Mugabe's name will now
be added to the list of leaders, like Saddam Hussein
and Fidel Castro, upon
whose people the Americans will feel themselves
justified to inflict unending
misery. It is their manifest destiny.
Britain and the Commonwealth
concur. Symbolic sanctions are a certainty, if
a futile one; a denial of aid
and assistance to the people under Mugabe's
heel are possible, but effective
sanctions are only a distant possibility.
The result, one may assume,
will resemble the campaigns to remove Castro and
Hussein, ineffectual and
endless. Great Powers are nothing if not patient.
Anyway, they have few
options. Britain's megaphone diplomacy, as somebody
has brilliantly dubbed
it, has collapsed in a heap. It neither prevented the
rigging of the
election, nor did it mitigate the violence or preserve
British
influence.
South Africa did better but has been sullied by the foolish
decision to send
an independent observer mission instead of snuggling safely
into the
Commonwealth mission.
The international Press, abandoning all
pretence of objectivity, jeered at
poor old Sam Motsuenyane for declaring
Mugabe's election "legitimate" but I
suspect Tony Blair was delighted to see
South Africa blunder into the front
line.
If we are to believe the
leaks from London, Blair has been perpetually on
the phone, urging Mbeki to
take responsibility for a post-colonial mess that
Britain created but cannot
handle.
The irony is delicious. Mbeki's much-derided "quiet diplomacy"
has preserved
access to Mugabe (and perhaps even some capacity to influence
him) while the
West, if it abjures brute force, faces the moral dilemma of
whether to help
Mugabe by feeding his people, or to starve the peasants in
order to hurt
Mugabe. Understandably, they try to bully Mbeki into acting as
their cat's
paw.
South Africa's own interest, as everybody
acknowledges or pretends to
acknowledge, is to maintain regional stability,
and Mugabe's "victory" has
at least preserved a nasty order for the short
term. He and his army are in
charge, able to govern or misgovern as they
will.
Whether a victory for Morgan Tsvangirai would have been as benign
(if that
is the proper word for relative stability) is open to question. The
pattern
of voting was ominous, with Tsvangirai showing strength among the
minority
Matabele, and Mugabe holding his support in the majority
Shona-speakers. It
is an ancient line of conflict.
Tsvangirai may well
have found in office that he was unable to control
Mugabe's army and civil
service, or the "veterans", and the result may have
been chaotic. But that is
speculation, and it is equally possible that in
time Mugabe's misrule will
cause the state to disintegrate anyway.
To maintain stability will
require (swallow hard!) food aid, technical
support, credit, and general
assistance which can come only from the West.
Mbeki is therefore condemned to
the role of mediator, dealing with the
international community on Mugabe's
behalf, and with Mugabe on behalf of the
international community.
It
is a position of risk, but also of power in which he may be able to
force
political concessions from Mugabe in return for humanitarian and
economic
aid. The usefulness of "quiet diplomacy" has outlasted the
dubious
usefulness of megaphone diplomacy.
So South Africa now finds
itself in a complicated game, compelled to balance
the search for stability
against the ideal of democracy, the humanitarian
imperative to help the
people of Zimbabwe against the need to restore the
rule of law, international
pressure against regional interest, the hopes of
Nepad against the threat of
anarchy.
If Mbeki is to succeed he will have to deflect Western
vindictiveness and
American military hubris, calm an international Press
imbued with the
righteous spirit that burned witches at Salem, and yet try to
nudge Mugabe
towards sanity.
I doubt he will find a "solution" but he
may hope gradually to dampen the
atmosphere of crisis until the international
Press, bored and disappointed,
drifts away to another melodrama.
Mar 18
2002 12:00:00:000AM Business Day 1st Edition
Business Day
Mbeki to meet Mugabe,
Obasanjo
------------------------------------------------------------------------ President
Thabo Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo are to
meet with
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe later today before flying to
London for
talks with Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
Mbeki, Obasanjo and Howard
are mandated by the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting (CHOGM) to
decide what action should be taken after the
controversial election in
Zimbabwe.
According to the president's spokesman Bheki Khumalo, the
Harare trip was
merely to give Mbeki an opportunity to meet with both African
leaders before
the London summit.
He denied that a plan to set up a
government of national unity in Zimbabwe
was on the agenda for the
talks.
Mbeki is also expected to hold talks with Movement for Democratic
Change
leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who lost last weekend's presidential
poll.
Mugabe won the first real challenge to his 22-year presidency in a
vote that
Western observers have described as severely
flawed.
However, many African leaders have rallied behind the Zimbabwe
president,
although Mbeki, himself, is yet to pronounce on the
vote.
Mbeki, Obasanjo and Howard were at the Commonwealth meeting in
Australia
last month tasked with deciding what action to take against
Zimbabwe if the
vote was found not to be free and fair.
In terms of
the group's mandate, action against Zimbabwe could range from
collective
disapproval to suspension.
The Times
Mugabe sets out agenda that chills the West
From Jan Raath
in Harare
ROBERT MUGABE was inaugurated yesterday as President of
Zimbabwe for another
six years. He outlined a grim future, with policies
rooted in the black
nationalism of the 1960s, that will turn the country’s
back on connections
with the West.
He also used the occasion, two days
before a crucial Commonwealth meeting on
Zimbabwe, to condemn the reports of
election observer groups that had
concluded that last week’s presidential
elections were neither free nor
fair.
“They want to choose who shall
rule Zimbabwe and if the person who they have
chosen lost and another wins,
then the election has not been free and fair,”
Mr Mugabe said, in his first
public comment on the election since the result
was announced on
Wednesday.
The Commonwealth observers’ report has issued some of the most
severe
criticism of the violence, repression and bureaucratic manipulation
that
took place before and during the voting.
President Mbeki of South
Africa and President Obasanjo of Nigeria are due
here today for talks with Mr
Mugabe before they meet as a Commonwealth
troika with John Howard, the
Australian Prime Minister, tomorrow.
The “Mugabe-bashing” in the Western
world would not end with Zimbabwe, Mr
Mugabe told African leaders: “It should
be understood it is not Zimbabwe
alone they have in mind, it is other African
countries they have in mind.”
Godfrey Chidyausiku, the Chief Justice, in
a shoulder-length horsehair wig
and scarlet robes modelled on those of the
English judiciary, administered
the oath of office. White-gloved heads of the
Armed Forces, bedecked with
medals and sashes and carrying ceremonial swords,
swore their allegiance to
him while traditional chiefs in white pith helmets
applauded. A 21-gun
salute sounded and four Chinese-built MiG fighter jets of
the Zimbabwean Air
Force swept past. The US and EU ambassadors in Zimbabwe
were not invited to
the inauguration and the opposition’s 57 MPs stayed
away.
“No, no, never will Zimbabwe be a colony,” Mr Mugabe, 78, said. He
returned
to violent rhetoric against the alleged “blatant racism” of Tony
Blair’s
Government and its “white allies”.
“That ugly head that we
thought we had smashed through our anti-colonial
struggle, no, we left it
alive and it is rearing again, perhaps calling for
another much more
devastating blow to the head, no longer to the body of
that monster,” he
said.
Mr Mugabe reeled off a string of promises to end critical food
shortages,
introduce an economic recovery programme to boost manufacturing,
mining and
agricultural output and to restore the collapsed currency and cut
inflation,
which is now 120 per cent.
However, when he spoke in the
Shona vernacular to his supporters in costumes
decorated with prints of his
face, his strategy became clearer. He would
ensure that “all our people are
able to run factories”, he said. “We don’t
want them to be just workers, we
want them to run the economy. In Africa,
the black skin is the most important
skin, not the white skin. In Africa the
African is supreme.”
During
the election campaign Mr Mugabe had promised the final dispossession
of
white-owned land and redistribution among blacks, complemented
by
nationalisation of mining and industry and further price controls
that
economists say are responsible for wide-ranging shortages of basic
and
luxury commodities to all but the wealthy few.
“Growth will be
restored as investment above all by Zimbabweans, and there
are many
Zimbabweans, so Zimbabweans must stay here to invest in the
economy,” he
said.
The economic recovery programme would address “issues of
economic
empowerment and indigenisation” and ensure “preferential treatment
for
indigenous businesses with government tenders”.
A legal framework
would soon be made public, he said.
Telegraph
Victorious Mugabe mocks 'colonial' Britain
By Peta
Thornycroft in Harare and Christopher Munnion in Johannesburg
(Filed:
18/03/2002)
AFTER being sworn in yesterday as president of Zimbabwe,
Robert Mugabe
boasted that the Zimbabwean people had triumphed over
British
neo-colonialism and he declared: "The land reform programme must
proceed
with greater speed and strength".
Rober Mugabe: 'The land
reform must proceed with greater speed and strength'
"We have dealt a
stunning blow to imperialism," he added, saying that by
exercising their
sovereign right to determine their destiny, the Zimbabwean
people had said
"loudly to those in Europe, no, no, never, never again shall
Zimbabwe be a
colony".
"Mugabe-bashing has become an obsession, particularly in Britain
and
particularly in No 10 Downing Street," he said.
The inauguration,
which in the past had been held at Harare's national
stadium, proved to be a
low-key affair at State House, with hundreds of
chairs empty as fighter
aircraft flew by and a 21-gun salute boomed out.
Britain and its European
partners, along with America, Australia, New
Zealand and Canada, who were
among the many critics to denounce the election
as unacceptably flawed,
declined invitations to be present at the
swearing-in ceremony.
Though
the presidents of several African countries - Namibia, Mozambique,
Tanzania,
Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo - attended, President
Olesugun
Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa
stayed
away.
They will be in Harare today to discuss with Mr Mugabe the scathing
report
on the election by the Commonwealth observer mission.
The pair
are members of a "troika" appointed at the Commonwealth summit
earlier this
month, along with John Howard, the Australian prime minister,
who will meet
in London tomorrow to decide whether the 54-member body should
sanction
Zimbabwe or expel it from the Commonwealth.
Mr Mbeki will make a
last-ditch attempt to persuade Mr Mugabe to accept a
government of national
unity in Zimbabwe or "step down with dignity".
He will also tell the
Zimbabwean leader that unless he moves swiftly to
reconcile his deeply
divided country, his disputed election victory will
reduce to ashes Africa's
international credibility.
Mr Mbeki has been under intense international
pressure during the weekend to
abandon his "quiet diplomacy" approach to the
Mugabe regime.
Diplomats said US, Britain and other European leaders had
told Mr Mbeki that
it was time to get tough with Mr Mugabe.
Both Mr
Blair and President Bush are reported to have emphasised in
personal
telephone calls to Mr Mbeki that economic aid and foreign investment
in
Africa have been put under threat by the continent's apparent acceptance
of
a patently flawed presidential election in Zimbabwe.
The opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, whose leader Morgan
Tsvangirai has accused Mr
Mugabe of stealing the election, repeated its
assertions that there had been
widespread malpractices during the election
process itself apart from the
intimidation that preceded it.
Priscilla Misihairabwi, the national
election agent for the MDC, said she
collected documents from the the
government-controlled Electoral Supervisory
Commission and its figures varied
considerably from those released by the
Registrar General, Dr Tobias
Mudede.
"We were suspicious as we seemed to be getting different numbers
from our
polling agents to those which were announced," she said.
The
MDC's secretary general, Professor Welshman Ncube, said yesterday: "This
is
just one area of electoral malpractice. Our urgent demand is that
the
presidential elections be held again, and be supervised by the
United
Nations or the Commonwealth."
Mr Mugabe's militant supporters
clearly anticipated his pledge yesterday to
speed up land seizures by driving
away Ian Kay, an MDC supporter, and his
wife Kerry along with 80 workers from
their farm 45 miles south-east of
Harare, on Saturday.
The Kays,
unlike many white farmers, continued publicly to support the MDC
after land
invasions began in February 1990. Witnesses say the Zanu PF flag
was raised
above their looted home.
The Commercial Farmers' Union said yesterday
that another 44 white farmers
would be charged today in connection with
assistance given to the MDC during
the election. These farmers, from the
Raffingora area, north of Harare have
been in hiding since police let it be
known they were wanted and would be
arrested.
Some 56 farmers,
including their wives, are now facing charges since the
start of voting on
March 9. More than 150 white farmers have been charged
with offences in the
last two years. So far not one has been brought to
trial.
Roy Bennett,
an MDC MP in the eastern Manicaland Province, said yesterday
that the purge
against MDC election support staff and supporters was
reaching "grotesque"
levels.
"People are being attacked, one man was killed in my area, many
are beaten,
and many houses have been burned down. This is not going to
stop."
Christian Science Monitor
Mugabe embarks on rebuilding
South
African President Thabo Mbeki travels to Harare today to discuss his
election
observers' report.
By Nicole Itano | Special to The Christian Science
Monitor
HARARE, ZIMBABWE – Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, was
hastily sworn in
Sunday in a small ceremony less than a week after he
declared victory in an
election most observers say was rigged.
Mr.
Mugabe's tenuous claim to the presidency was evident even in his rushed
and
modest inauguration. He has typically favored huge stadium-style events
with
cheering crowds and lines of foreign dignitaries. This year, the
inauguration
was moved forward by almost two weeks and was open only to
invited guests.
Conspicuously absent from the ceremony were Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) parliamentarians, who boycotted the event.
Mr. Mugabe's first public
address since the controversial election last
weekend was an odd mixture of
the fiery, anti-Western rhetoric of his
campaign and calls for reconciliation
and rebuilding. In one sentence, he
called for the opposition MDC to work
with his ruling ZANU-PF in Parliament;
in the next, he pledged to purge the
civil service of opposition supporters.
The centerpiece of Mr. Mugabe's
speech, however, was a pledge to fix the
country's economy, which is
suffering from massive inflation, food
shortages, and widespread
unemployment. Yet rebuilding Zimbabwe's tattered
economy will be difficult
without the help of the international community,
which is largely skeptical
of Mugabe's claim to power. A number of
countries, including the United
States and Canada, have already said they
will offer no more aid to the
Southern African country until truly free and
fair elections are
held.
"What we've got is not an economic problem, it's a political
problem," says
Tony Hawkins, director of the Graduate School of Management at
the
University of Zimbabwe. "Until you get the politics right, the economy
is
not going to get better."
Economists say Zimbabwe will require the
help of the international
community, particularly Western countries and
international financial
institutions like the International Monetary Fund and
World Bank, if it
hopes to turn its economy around.
"This situation is
not going to get any better without an international
bailout of some sort.
That means debt relief and IMF funding, among other
things," says Mr.
Hawkins. "But that's not going to happen under a
government the international
community sees as illegitimate."
Zimbabwe was once one of the region's
most prosperous countries, but in five
years has lost more than one-third its
annual production. Winding food lines
are now a common sight in a country
that once fed much of Southern Africa.
But Mugabe seems to be saying that
Zimbabweans can repair their economy
without international help. "Growth will
be restored as investment – by,
above all, Zimbabweans themselves – is
deliberately and systematically
embarked upon in all sectors," Mugabe said
Sunday.
Also of concern to economists is Mugabe's apparent resolve to
continue his
land-reform program. During the election, the 78-year-old leader
promised to
finish the revolution begun with Zimbabwe's independence by
redistributing
white-owned commercial farmland to landless
blacks.
"Land reform is not merely an exercise in rectifying a monstrous
colonial
injustice, vital and necessary as that may be," said Mugabe in
his
inauguration speech. "The resettlement program has also been an
opportunity
to unleash the sprit of self-reliance and creativity of our
people."
In the two years since Mr. Mugabe launched his land program,
Zimbabwe's
agricultural productivity has fallen by about one-third. A severe
drought
has contributed to the decline, but economists say the greater
problem is
that small-scale, subsistence farmers are simply not as productive
as the
commercial farmers they are replacing.
But after basing his
campaign on the promise of land, few think Mugabe can
now abandon his land
program. The best that can be hoped for, they say, is
that the president is
forced to accept a new, truly free election.
"The option now facing my
president is to be buried in a dishonorable grave
or an honorable grave,"
says Masipula Sithole, professor of political
science at the University of
Zimbabwe. "If Mugabe acts now, at the last
minute, and allows free elections,
he can still be buried in an honorable
grave."
The MDC has so far done
nothing to contest the election results, although
there has been talk of a
national strike. But Professor Sithole believes
they may not need to. The
current situation, he says, is unsustainable.
"This is one instance where
it will come from the bottom up. Nobody will
have to call for stay-aways and
strikes. The people will spontaneously
strike or start food riots. Nobody
will call the people to do it," he says.
If, however, Zimbabwe continues
on its current path, the consequences are
likely to be dire.
"You'll
get a situation where it just slides into subsistence level," says
Hawkins.
"You'll have a breakdown in law and order in the common sense. It
will become
a real wild-West-type place."
Business Day
Mugabe extends an olive branch to
MDC
------------------------------------------------------------------- ZIMBABWEAN
LEADER STOPS SHORT OF GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY TALK IN RARE
SHOW OF
TOLERANCE
Harare Correspondent
ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe
appealed yesterday to his fierce
political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, to bury
the hatchet and joins hands, but
stopped short of calling for a government of
national unity ahead of today's
talks with key African leaders.
At his
inauguration ceremony at state house, Mugabe, in a rare show of
tolerance,
extended the olive branch to Tsvangirai and his Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) party, saying that Zimbabweans should unite and
reconstruct
their country as they have a "common destiny".
"You (MDC) must work
together with us," he said.
The reconciliatory gesture, which contrasts
sharply with recent outright
rejection by some of his colleagues of the idea
of a government of national
unity, is the first sign that he might agree to
an SA-inspired plan for
powersharing with Tsvangirai as international
pressure intensifies.
Two of Africa's heavy hitters, SA's Thabo Mbeki and
Nigeria's Olusegun
Obasanjo, arrive for last-ditch talks with Mugabe today in
a bid to head off
punitive action by the Commonwealth.
The two, who
will discuss the plan of a government of national unity today,
fly to London
tomorrow for talks with John Howard of Australia on what
action the
Commonwealth the observers of which have criticised last week's
poll as
unfree and unfair should take against Harare.
Mugabe's remarks also come
against almost universal indignation at his
victory, widely seen as stolen.
Unions, affiliates of the MDC, are planning
mass action against the poll's
results.
Signalling their determination to have the government of
national unity plan
accepted, Mbeki and Obasanjo are also due to hold
separate talks with
Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai, who has rejected Mugabe's
victory, met Southern African Developm
ent Community chairman Bakili Muluzi
and Mozambique's Joachim Chissano over
the government of national unity issue
the groundwork for today's talks.
Despite the MDC's boycott of his
ceremony, Mugabe sounded conciliatory
throughout it. He said Zimbabweans
should come together instead of plotting
each other's demise. "The serious
espousal of the ideal of national unity
and spirit of brotherhood will inject
correct doses of love and fervour into
our relationships hitherto soured by
hostility and anguish," he said.
Mugabe sought to stir nationalist
sentiment to drive home his appeal. "If
you are Zimbabwean you will always
be. If sanctions are imposed on us they
will not discriminate between the MDC
and Zanu (PF) supporters. We will all
suffer. If there are shortages
everybody suffers. Let's not draw back into
our little shells. We want to
work with the MDC in parliament and outside."
The MDC, however, quickly
dismissed Mugabe's pleas, saying they smacked of
hypocrisy.
MDC
spokesman Nkanyiso Maqeda said: "How can somebody who only last week
was
terrorising our people and insulting our leadership as proteges of
foreign
powers invite us into his politically bankrupt government and expect
us to
take him serious ly? When did he discover that we as Zimbabweans have
common
interests? We won't waste our time working with a failed leader and
his
fossilised government."
But Mugabe said that it was impossible to
avoid each other. "As they say in
SA simunye' we are one," he
said.
Maqeda said: "Does Mugabe seriously want to suggest that, until
today, he
did not know that we have a common destiny. We won't allow him to
buy
political legitimacy through empty and populist rhetoric."
As
always, Mugabe thanked Africans for their support, but lambasted
western
leaders for interfering in Zimbabwean politics.
"You certainly
have been able to see how Britain and its white allies have
blatantly sought
to ensure that this presidential election be won by their
protege and not by
me and Zanu (PF). But thanks to the people of Zimbabwe
for loudly saying No!
No!'
"Never again shall Zimbabwe be a colony. I thank them for their
resolute
anti-imperialist stand."
Mugabe launches attack on Western imperialism
President Robert Mugabe, who was sworn in for another six-year term on Sunday, urged fellow Zimbabweans and his African neighbours to join his fight against Western imperialism, the Washington Post reported.
Mugabe, 78, took the oath of office at the colonial State House mansion despite assertions by both the EU and US that the elections were flawed. The government and Mugabe's ruling party have been widely accused of rigging votes, orchestrating state-backed political violence and abusing the nation's laws and constitution. Mugabe said that it will not be Britain and its "white allies", who will decide upon the future of the country, but Zimbabwe itself.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said the election was marked by "numerous, profound irregularities" and that the outcome thwarted the will of the people. But many African leaders supported Mugabe's election victory in what was seen as an effort to maintain regional stability and protect their own regimes.
President Mugabe also said his land reform programme of changing white-owned farms to black ownership must proceed with greater speed and strength. Up to ten white farmers were killed, the last case today on Monday, since President Robert Mugabe's supporters began seizing white-owned farms two years ago, RTE said.
Diplomatic efforts are under way in order to avert the suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth. Tomorrow a meeting in Harare is expected to take place between the leaders of Africa's two most powerful countries and Mugabe. The aim is to reach a compromise before Tuesday's "troika" meeting of Commonwealth leaders in London, who have been asked to devise a response to the election, Unison said.
Written by Sharon Spiteri
Edited by Blake Evans-Pritchard
Parliament to
debate Zimbabwe issue
By Donwald
Pressly
A debate in the National Assembly on a parliamentary report on last week's
Zimbabwean presidential elections is expected to take place tomorrow morning.
The debate - which was scheduled to take place on Wednesday afternoon - is
now, according to parliamentary sources, likely to take place ahead of a meeting
between President Thabo Mbeki and his Commonwealth counterparts, Australian
Prime Minister John Howard and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo who must
forge a Commonwealth position on Zimbabwe in the wake of the disputed poll.
They meet in London tomorrow.
The multi-party parliamentary team which monitored last week's presidential
elections was meeting in the ANC chief whip's office this morning. The chief
whip Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula headed the team.
It is understood that opposition parties on the committee - including the
Democratic Alliance, the Pan Africanist Congress, the New National Party, the
African Christian Democratic Party and the United Democratic Movement - want the
reference to substantially free and fair dropped as a description of the poll.
Earlier, Mbeki arrived in Harare to hold talks with President Robert Mugabe.
He and Obasanjo are to meet opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as well.
I-Net Bridge
From ZWNEWS, 18
March
‘Not free and fair’ - Church
observers
An international team of churchmen invited to observe the
presidential elections said they were unable to confirm that the process was
"universal, transparent, fair or free". In a statement released last week, the
group – drawn from the World Council of Churches and the All African Conference
of Churches – set out their conclusions on the universality, transparency,
secrecy, freedom, and fairness of the vote. Noting that the voting in Harare
"became a sad experience", the group said that the dignity of the voters had
been violated, with pregnant women and others enduring the mismanagement for
days. The restriction of postal voting to "a limited and preferred group" had
also disenfranchised many voters, such as teachers, who had been forced from
their constituencies. While saying that voting and counting had been conducted
"technically according to the procedures" at almost all the polling stations
they had visited, the statement pointed out that only 109 local church observers
had been accepted, out of 2650 who had applied for accreditation. The fairness
of the campaign had been severely limited by the state media monopoly, the
disenfranchisement of Harare voters, the supplementary voters roll, the dual
citizenship issue, and the many cases of intimidation which the group observed.
But the most serious problem were cases of political violence before and during
the voting, "the clear majority of which should be blamed on the ruling
party".
From The Zimbabwe Standard, 17
March
No visa for general's
wife
The United States embassy in Harare has turned down a visa
application to travel to the US by Jocelyn Chiwenga, wife of Zimbabwe National
Army commander, Lieutenant-General Constantine Chiwenga, on the grounds that she
appears on Washington's list of Zanu PF and government officials who have been
targeted for personal sanctions. Chiwenga was to have travelled to Las Vegas on
Tuesday to attend an international hunting show. She said she planned to use the
show to promote trophy hunting on her Kazungula hunting concession where she has
a lodge. The concession, situated 180 km west of Victoria Falls, is funded by US
businessman Don Bower, who also has other hunting concessions in Nyamandhlovu,
Beitbridge and Tanzania. The Standard is informed that the trophy hunts are
being coordinated by the department of national parks which intends to recruit
war veterans as professional hunters to assist prospective international
hunters. Chiwenga on Friday refused to discuss the failed visa application.
"Haikona kundinetsa. Endai munotaura neve kuEmbassy vacho vanokupai makuhwa
iwawo. Zvamunoita hazviite izvozvo." (Do not bother me. Go and speak to the
Embassy people who gave you that information. I do not like what you are doing),
she told The Standard. Two weeks ago, Chiwenga confirmed she had bought air
tickets to travel to the US to attend the Safari International Convention in Las
Vegas.
