MSNBC
C'Wealth chief says majority backed Zimbabwe
move
By Nicholas Kotch
JOHANNESBURG, March 18 - South
Africa and Nigeria only reluctantly agreed to
Zimbabwe's continued suspension
from the Commonwealth, a month after calling
for the penalty to be lifted,
the 54-nation group's senior official said
on
Tuesday.
Neither President Thabo
Mbeki of South Africa nor Nigerian President
Olusegun Obasanjo has commented
in public about the decision to extend the
suspension, announced on Sunday by
Commonwealth Secretary-General
Don
McKinnon.
But McKinnon told
Reuters that Mbeki and Obasanjo, who along with
Australia make up a
Commonwealth ''troika'' on Zimbabwe, were sticking to
their position that
Zimbabwe should be re-admitted but acknowledged they
were not in the
majority.
''I believe that to be
right,'' McKinnon said in an interview on
Tuesday, when asked if the two
African leaders stood by their view that
Zimbabwe had done enough to justify
its return to the fold of mostly former
British
colonies.
''They recognised that the
broad overall view was to have the
suspension extended,'' he said, adding
that he had spoken with Mbeki as
recently as
Saturday.
The sanction against President
Robert Mugabe's government was imposed
in March last year in protest at
alleged election-rigging and the seizure of
white-owned farms for
redistribution to landless blacks.
The
suspension been due to expire on Wednesday, but was extended on
Sunday until
at least December.
New Zealander
McKinnon, speaking from London, said he canvassed
almost every Commonwealth
government before announcing the
extension.
''There are very mixed
feelings about the issue. This is one of the
most difficult situations we
have ever had to face in the
Commonwealth.
''(But) the clear majority
was for the suspension to remain until
leaders could assess the situation
again in December. They would like to see
more progress in Zimbabwe,
particularly in terms of reconciliation,'' he
said.
''FRANK
EXCHANGE''
Nigeria is due to host the
Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM)
summit in December. Diplomats said
Obasanjo, seeking a second term in
presidential elections next month, was
anxious the divisive Zimbabwe issue
should not dog summit
preparations.
Diplomatic sources said a
meeting between McKinnon and Commonwealth
High Commissioners in London on
Monday had seen a frank exchange of
views.
The Commonwealth has looked
racially split over Zimbabwe with many
African and Asian members either
supporting Mugabe or unwilling to line up
against him -- a split personified
inside the troika of members handling
Zimbabwe
policy.
Australian Prime Minister John
Howard is in total disagreement with
Mbeki and Obasanjo, saying the political
and human rights situation has
deteriorated and justifies stronger sanctions
against the Mugabe government.
In a
statement last Saturday, Obasanjo said he and Mbeki were at one
on Zimbabwe
and wanted the suspension lifted. He denied he had changed his
mind and
wanted 79-year-old Mugabe to leave office after 23 years in
charge.
McKinnon said the extension was
the best compromise he could obtain
from the troika and other
leaders.
''Whatever happened would have
been seen as a slap in the face for
someone...By Saturday afternoon I had
clear agreement from all three leaders
to proceed to make the statement I
did.''
Reuters
Mob rampages in Zimbabwe
By Cris
Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Mobs have burned a bus, blocked roads and
stoned
motorists in the capital Harare on the first day of a national strike
called
by the opposition to protest against President Robert Mugabe, police
say.
Factories and shops were shut on Tuesday as thousands of workers
joined the
two-day mass action called by the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) in
the first major challenge to Mugabe since his controversial
re-election a
year ago.
MDC officials said the two-day protest would
help to marshal international
focus on Mugabe's "repressive rule" at a time
when the world spotlight is on
Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
"People are sick
and tired of this regime and this is their message," said
MDC spokesman Paul
Themba Nyathi, who estimated 80 percent of businesses
were affected by the
strike.
Many shops and factories in Harare's main industrial districts
were closed
on Tuesday, but some government offices and banks were still open
downtown.
Witnesses in the southern city of Bulawayo, an opposition
stronghold, also
reported most businesses were closed.
State radio
called the strike a flop with only white-owned companies
affected. A
government spokesman said: "The MDC is desperate and they are
failing
desperately".
Police said mobs began roaming through Harare after
midnight, blocking roads
into the city centre and hurling stones at passing
motorists.
"There was a bus that was burned in the early hours of this
morning and a
policeman was critically injured," said Assistant Police
Commissioner Wayne
Bvudzijena.
He could not confirm reports that a
crowd beat up commuters boarding a train
in the township of Mufakose near
Harare, triggering clashes at the train
station.
"We are compiling
details, but we have made several arrests in Harare and
(the eastern border
city of) Mutare," he said.
Police had warned they would deal ruthlessly
with any violence during what
the government calls an illegal
strike.
MUGABE'S POLITICAL STORM
Zimbabwe is grappling
with its worst political and economic crisis since
independence from Britain
in 1980. The economy is in its fourth year of
recession with record high
unemployment, inflation and acute shortages of
fuel and foreign
currency.
Economists say a 220.9 percent annual inflation rate could hit
350 percent
before the year-end due to high prices for scant basic goods
which has
fuelled anger against the government.
Nearly half the
country's 14 million people face food shortages blamed on
drought and the
impact of Mugabe's drive to seize white-owned farms for
redistribution to
landless blacks.
Mugabe has been at the centre of a political storm since
February 2000 when
militants from his ruling ZANU-PF party invaded
white-owned farms in support
of his drive to transfer farms to landless
blacks.
The crisis deepened when ZANU-PF won parliamentary elections in
June 2000
after a violent campaign against the MDC, and after Mugabe's
controversial
re-election last March in a presidential poll critics say was
rigged.
The Commonwealth group of mainly former British colonies decided
on Sunday
to extend a one-year suspension of Zimbabwe at least until December
over the
disputed polls and land policy.
With the group's 54 nations
split on whether the measure should be continued
beyond Wednesday's one-year
expiry, Commonwealth Secretary-General Don
McKinnon said it would be
maintained until a heads of government meeting in
Nigeria.
Mugabe has
denied mismanaging the country's affairs and accused foreign
enemies of
sabotaging the economy over his land transfer
programme.
Sky
News
PROTESTS TURN
VIOLENT
Protests in Zimbabwe against President Robert Mugabe's
government were
teetering on the brink of violence after police fired tear
gas to disperse
demonstrators.
Anti-government activists erected
roadblocks and a bus was set on fire in
the capital Harare, as a national
strike gained momentum.
The action was called by the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change,
calling for the end of state repression, economic
mismanagement and
corruption, which they say has put over half of Zimbabwe's
13m population in
danger of starvation.
The strike - the first major
challenge to Mugabe since his controversial
re-election a year ago - shut
many factories and shops across the country.
An MDC official said the
protest would last two days, and urged workers to
back the
action.
"The reports we have so far is that there is an 80% shutdown
around the
country," said MDC spokesman Paul Thamba Nyathi.
"People
are sick of this regime and this is their message."
A government
spokesman said the MDC was "desperate" and warned that police
would deal
ruthlessly with any violence during the strike.
Zimbabwe is currently
suffering record high unemployment and inflation as
well as acute shortages
of fuel and currency.
JOB OFFERS
SALESMAN WITH
OWN VEHICLE
To market automotive chemicals to service providers.
Technical
knowledge with good marketing skills required.
Work on a commission basis -
excellent prospects.
Please contact Mark Wilson on 011-218006.
SITE
MANAGER
For Tennis Court construction. Ex-Farm Manager between 50 and
60 years
of age. Preferably own transport - fuel will be supplied.
Small,
busy company.
Please contact Robin Jones on 011-407028 or
023-229459.
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The
Australian
Zimbabwe blasts ban: report
March 19,
2003
ZIMBABWE has reacted angrily to news the Commonwealth has extended
the
country's suspension from the 54-member organisation, saying the
decision
was taken unilaterally, the state-controlled Herald
said.
Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon late on Sunday
announced that
Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth councils, which
was due to be
lifted this week, would be extended for nine months until
December.
The southern African country was originally excluded from the
councils after
international observers ruled that elections a year ago, which
returned
President Robert Mugabe to power, were seriously
flawed.
"McKinnon has no authority to issue such a statement," The Herald
quoted
Zimbabwe's high commissioner to London, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, as
saying.
He said there was no way the decision to extend Zimbabwe's
suspension could
have been based on a consensus among Commonwealth
members.
In taking the decision, McKinnon claimed it was
widely agreed among
Commonwealth members to leave the question of Zimbabwe's
readmittance until
the group's next full meeting in
December.
Following Zimbabwe's suspension in March last year, a special
troika -
comprising the leaders of Australia, Nigeria and South Africa - was
set up
to deal with the Commonwealth's concerns about the
country.
Both Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, of Nigeria, and Thabo Mbeki,
of South
Africa, had indicated prior to the announcement of the extension
that they
supported Zimbabwe's readmittance.
But Australian Prime
Minister John Howard favoured continued suspension.
"The two members of
the troika who decided that the suspension should be
lifted have not changed
their stance," Mumbengegwi told The Herald.
ZIMBABWE: Vulnerable rely on food
aid
IRINnews Africa, Tue 18 Mar
2003
©
IRIN
Food aid leaves WFP's Mutare
warehouse
MUTARE, - On Mutare's tobacco
auction floor rather than bails of
golden-leafed burley, sacks of maize and
corn soya blend are neatly stacked
in row upon
row.
Burley tobacco never really took off
in the Mutare area in eastern
Zimbabwe, and the town's auction floor closed
at the end of last year's
growing season after a decade of
operation.
Its new tenants, however, are
extremely busy.
Mutare is one of four
transhipment depots for the World Food Programme
(WFP). Food aid trucked
through South Africa or carried by rail from the
Mozambican port of Beira
arrives at Mutare to be off-loaded. The relief
supplies are then repacked
onto vehicles heading to food distribution points
in the seven districts
served by the warehouse, as part of the WFP's
emergency operation to feed
more than half of Zimbabwe's 11.6 million people
in urgent need of
assistance.
Diana Sibanda was just one of
the 2,844 recipients at Chiranda primary
school last week who had waited
patiently for the delivery of WFP's monthly
ration. She had struggled hard
not to be in this predicament. Since November
last year she had planted three
times, only to see the rains stop early each
time, and her maize crop whither
in the sandy soil.
"I can pick one or two
cobs to roast, but the crop has failed," she
told
IRIN.
As a widow, Sibanda has been
classified as "vulnerable" by WFP and
therefore entitled to 10 kg of maize
meal, 1 kg of pulses, 1 kg of corn soya
blend - used as a nutritious porridge
- and a little vegetable oil each
month. This, she said, had been the
difference between life and death.
"When I
saw my crops fail I felt pain and worried how I could live. I
feel gratitude
[for the aid], without it we would have died," she
explained.
Tendai Mujiwechi said that
before the WFP programme began in October,
she was surviving on un-ripened
fruit - mangoes and paw-paw - which she
would boil. "They taste good when you
are hungry," she told IRIN.
In Mutare, as
in much of rural Zimbabwe, subsistence farmers scrape a
living growing a
little maize and sorghum. The area is dry, and more suited
to ranching, but
both Sibanda and Mujiwechi said in a good year they could
grow enough to
produce a small surplus for sale.
But
three consecutive years of poor rains exhausted the few resources
they had to
fall back on. With even the wealthier farmers facing a poor
crop,
opportunities to work in their fields as wage labourers, a traditional
coping
strategy, dried up.
"As old as we are, we
really grew scared because of the hunger,"
Mujiwechi
said.
Alongside the vulnerable fed by WFP
- deemed as the elderly, widows,
women-headed households, orphans and people
living with HIV/AIDS -
increasing numbers of the just plain poor have
appealed to be included on
the distribution
register.
Supplies of cheap price
controlled maize in Mutare, provided through
the government's Grain Marketing
Board, were described as "erratic" by
aid
workers.
Throughout the region is
the evidence of the failure of the rains
during the crucial months of
November and December, when the maize crop
should have matured. In the small
plots that surround each homestead, rows
of scorched and shrunken stems stand
abandoned.
Compounding the bad weather
were problems at the village level over
access to seeds and fertiliser during
the planting season last year. Maize
seeds, when available, were late in
arriving in Mutare. Both Sibanda and
Mujiwechi said they had been forced to
plant without fertiliser.
Complaints by
producers over the fixed price of seed and problems with
the government's
input support programme had delayed
deliveries.
In a warning of worsening food
insecurity in 2003, the Harare-based
Famine Early Warning System said in a
report last month that due to
"inadequate inputs and poor rainfall
distribution", crops were in "a much
worse situation than last year, when
more than half of the country
experienced a complete crop failure or well
below-average
yields".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The material contained in this article is from IRIN, a UN
humanitarian
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the United
Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
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on this site, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations
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and Images on this site may not be re-produced without the
express
permission of the original owner.
All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian
Affairs 2003
Telegraph
Zimbabwe's cities halted by MDC-led mass
strike
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare
(Filed:
19/03/2003)
Tens of thousands of Zimbabwean workers observed a call
for a general strike
yesterday as the opposition launched the biggest protest
against President
Robert Mugabe's rule for six years.
Much of the
nation's commerce and industry was halted and streets were empty
in the
capital, Harare, and the second city, Bulawayo, on the first day of
the
protest, which will end tonight.
Officials of the Movement for Democratic
Change said the strike would focus
international attention on Mr Mugabe's
"repressive rule".
Paul Themba Nyathi, an MDC spokesman, estimated that
80 per cent of
businesses were affected. Three policemen were injured, one
seriously, in
unrest connected with the strike. Three buses were set alight
and 53
opposition supporters were arrested.
The strike, the first
successful protest since Mr Mugabe won rigged
elections a year ago, has shown
the MDC "still has the capacity to flex its
muscles", according to Prof Brian
Raftopoulos of the University of Zimbabwe.
Andrew Nongogo, an analyst and
spokesman for the Zimbabwe Crisis Group,
said: "This strike, which has been
surprisingly successful and is still
growing, has shown the opposition that
if it is willing to take the lead
people will follow."
The strike is
the most widespread since 1997 when the MDC's president,
Morgan Tsvangirai,
then leader of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions,
called the people out
to protest against food price rises.
He could not take part in the action
yesterday as he and two MDC MPs were in
the High Court facing treason
charges, arising from an alleged plot to
assassinate Mr Mugabe before last
year's elections.
Police said the strike was illegal and state radio said
it had flopped, with
only white-owned companies affected.
Zimbabwe is
grappling with its worst political and economic crisis since
independence
from Britain in 1980. The economy is in its fourth year of
recession, with
record unemployment, runaway inflation and acute shortages
of fuel and
foreign currency.
Nearly half the country's 14 million people face food
shortages blamed on
drought and the impact of Mr Mugabe's drive to seize
white-owned farms for
redistribution to landless
blacks.
VOA
Zimbabwe Lashes Out at West; Defends Land
Reform
VOA News
19 Mar 2003, 02:31 UTC
Zimbabwe's
Justice Minister lashed out at western nations Tuesday during a
speech at the
annual meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva.
Patrick
Chinamasa said in launching a war against Iraq without a U.N.
mandate, the
United States and Britain had no right to preach about
democracy. He accused
the two countries, which are his nation's most
strident critics, as having
double-standards.
Mr. Chinamasa said if the west respected human rights,
it would not "want to
unleash a senseless war on Iraq without regard to the
human rights of
defenseless Iraqi children."
The justice minister also
defended Zimbabwe's much-maligned land reform
policy. He said his government
had redressed what he called "colonialist,
racially induced inequalities" in
land ownership in Zimbabwe.
Under the controversial policy, white
commercial farmers were forced to hand
over their land to
blacks.
Zimbabwe has been under sharp criticism ever since last year's
widely
condemned elections won by President Robert Mugabe. The nation was
suspended
from the Commonwealth, and the European Union slapped sanctions on
Mr.
Mugabe's government in protest.
Last week U.S. officials said they
would lead an effort to condemn Zimbabwe
for its "flagrant and ruinous" human
rights abuses at the human rights
meeting.
Telegraph
Britain should support Olonga's
stand
By Paul Hayward (Filed: 19/03/2003)
There are
people in this country who will tell you that all asylum seekers
are
parasites. They will breathe ale on you and say that "political
persecution"
is a fancy excuse for sponging. Funnily enough, some of those
same folk will
also try to persuade you that a red carpet should be unfurled
for Henry
Olonga, the Zimbabwean cricketer who stood up to Robert Mugabe's
tyranny in
the most heroic protest by an athlete since Muhammad Ali refused
to fight in
Vietnam.
Britain will be a much better country if Olonga comes here from
his hiding
place in South Africa, from which seven of Mugabe's henchmen tried
to snatch
him this week. God knows our country could do with a few more
people who
believe in something. Mugabe's goons were in East London to see
through the
president's threat to have the first black cricketer to represent
Zimbabwe
tried for treason and probably executed. According to the Home
Office, 7,695
Zimbabweans fled to Britain in 2002 and 2,245 have already been
accepted.
Most of us would rejoice if Olonga made that 2,246.
But
since freedom and justice are at the top of his wish-list for that
blighted
land, it must be right that Olonga submits to the same procedure as
anyone
else fleeing a dictatorship: both in county cricket and at the
immigration
desk. When John Carr, director of cricket at the England and
Wales Cricket
Board, said as much this week, it sounded like classic
bureaucratic
insensitivity. Olonga, though, made his stand on the question
of basic human
rights. Courage of the sort that few of us will ever be asked
to demonstrate
should not entitle him to leap over the 3,870 Zimbabweans who
applied to
become British citizens but were turned away.
Olonga is in mortal danger
as long as he remains within reach of Mugabe's
death squads. So, too, are
many of the fellow Africans he leaves behind. He
was a candidate for
state-sponsored murder from the day he provided the
cricket World Cup's most
electrifying and enduring moment. The black-armband
protest against the
'death of democracy' in their country made Olonga and
Andy Flower the
political equals of Ali. Flower is nicely set up with
another year on the
county circuit with Essex and his wife and children are
already here. Olonga
may be heading for a career as a classical singer.
Something tells me he will
end up as a great British figure and Renaissance
man.
By coincidence,
on Monday night, Channel 5 showed a documentary on Ali in
which sport's most
celebrated refusenik told David Frost (with the help of
subtitles): "I made a
stand [on Vietnam] and I turned out right." In April
1967, Ali was stripped
of the world heavyweight title for refusing to be
conscripted and lost 3.5
years of his prime. Ali lost his stage, his
livelihood and some of his speed
around the ring. The difference today, I
suppose, is that Olonga risks losing
his life.
Veterans of the American civil rights era might try to correct
that
assertion: in an age of political assassinations, Ali, who for a time
was a
Muslim fundamentalist who argued that all white people were "devils",
was
probably at risk from the lone gunman as much as a Kennedy or a
Martin
Luther King.
The comparison is made solely to accentuate
Olonga's heroism in looking down
the barrel of Mugabe's gun while also
sacrificing his international career.
In the annals of moral protest, he
certainly surged past, say, Robbie Fowler
and his 'Support the Liverpool
dockers' T-shirt - a gesture for which Fowler
deserved respect, regardless of
whether you agreed with the sentiment. Not
until Olonga arrives on these
shores, though, will we know whether he
possesses any of Ali's imperishable
wit. During the Frost interview, the
former 'King of the World', who has
chronic Parkinson's disease, closed his
eyes and snored. Tragic, we thought.
But then the Ali eyes sprang open and
he mumbled, through a grin: "Did I fool
you?" Rope-a-dope, for interviewers.
An esteemed colleague sent me a
laminated card showing one of Ali's most
famous aphorisms: "I know where I'm
going and I know the truth and I don't
have to be what you want me to be. I'm
free to be what I want." This is the
essence of Olonga's protest. It was an
expression not just of collective
indignation but his own desire for
individual liberty. It damaged the Mugabe
regime far more than Zimbabwe's
suspension from the Commonwealth.
At 26, after 30 Tests and 50 one-day
internationals, Olonga was saying that
there is more to life than a career in
games: especially when the sport of
which you are part lends succour to a
regime that sent out uniformed thugs
this week to beat and harass members of
the Movement for Democratic Change.
Zimbabwe doubtless went off the radar
of everyday consciousness the moment
England effectively boycotted their
World Cup match in Harare. While we
looked for a new moral saga to fill the
radio phone-ins, Olonga moved from
black armbands to white wrist bands.
Different symbol, same message. His
father, a medical practitioner in
Bulawayo, warned him that he would be
tried and probably executed if he
returned from South Africa, to which he
had taken "documents and a few
valuables" as a precaution.
By that point, most of us would have had
enough, but Olonga was ready to
take on South Africa's ruling ANC - the party
of Nelson Mandela - who have
been less than trenchant in their criticisms of
Mugabe's Zanu-PF. "You have
to remember that the ANC and Zanu-PF are
bedfellows. I'll only feel
completely safe once I get to England," he said.
This brought a stern
rebuke. "While he may be an accomplished cricketer," the
ANC said in a
statement, "Olonga clearly knows nothing about the
constitutional and
political environment in South Africa. His suggestion that
his life could be
in danger in South Africa is insulting." They said he was
either "delusional
or supremely ill-informed".
But does he sound that
way to you when he talks about not "condoning the
grotesque human rights
violations that have been perpetrated . . . against
my fellow countrymen"?
No, me neither. Bravery is defined many ways. One way
to pin it down is to
say that the truly courageous do things we cannot
imagine doing ourselves.
Ali's ultimate defence against the charge of
cowardice was that he climbed
through the ropes with Joe Frazier and George
Foreman. Thus it was easy to
recognise as profound strength his famous
disclaimer: "I ain't got no quarrel
with those Vietcong."
An English businessman has already offered to pay
Olonga's county salary for
a year. First, he has cricket's
two-foreigner-per-team rule to overcome.
More appealing still is the idea of
him making a CD with Barrington
Pheloung, an Australian conductor living in
London who has offered him work.
Pheloung, who wrote the score for Inspector
Morse, heard him singing on the
radio.
So maybe now the xenophobes who
assume that all asylum seekers just want to
beg on the Tube or steal your
mobile phone will remember the story of Henry
Olonga; and keep in mind
Britain's highly honourable tradition of providing
a refuge for people who
stand up for what they believe - even at the risk of
being snuffed out by the
state. Olonga would gain a lot by coming here. But
we would gain
more.
TO ALL CFU
MEMBERS
The CFU Communications Committee is about to launch
a new medium for its information: from March 2003, we will be running a monthly
section inside Thomson Publications' TOBACCO NEWS. What's exciting is that
from now on, Tobacco News is to be called THE ZIMBABWE FARMER, and as a result
the magazine will have something for everyone.
You can expect to
receive your complimentary March issue of The Zimbabwe Farmer shortly. If
you like it, and want to continue to receive it, you'll have to subscribe.
Don't miss the April issue of The Zimbabwe Farmer - it will
include the ART FARM report, as well as lots of information from
CFU.
There are various categories and rates for subscribers:
ALL RATES
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From Reuters, 17 March
Zimbabwe
police to charge MP over woman's death
Harare - Zimbabwe
police said on Monday they had arrested an opposition
legislator and would
charge him with culpable homicide after he allegedly
hit and killed a woman
with his car while he was fleeing political clashes.
Police Chief
Superintendent Bothwell Mugariri said Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC)
member of parliament Bennie Tumbare-Mutasa was arrested late on
Sunday hours
after the incident, in which a man was also seriously injured.
Tumbare-Mutasa
was believed to be fleeing from fighting between MDC
supporters and those of
President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party in
Kuwadzana, a black township
on the outskirts of the capital Harare. "The
first charge that I know of is
culpable homicide for accidentally killing
the woman. I am not sure if he
will also be charged with trying to flee from
the scene of the accident,"
Mugariri told Reuters. There have been several
incidents of violence in
Kuwadzana and the neighbouring Highfields
constituency over the past month as
campaigning heats up for elections to
replace two MDC legislators -- one who
died while awaiting trial for the
murder of his wife and another who was
expelled by the party.
From Business Day (SA), 18
March
SA appears surprised at McKinnon
decision
International Affairs Editor
SA appeared
to have been taken by surprise by the decision by
Commonwealth
secretary-general Don McKinnon to continue the suspension of
Zimbabwe's
membership until its member heads of state meet in December. Bheki
Khumalo,
President Thabo Mbeki's spokesman, said yesterday SA would await the
outcome
of last night's meeting of Commonwealth diplomats in London
before
commenting on the development. "We understand this matter will be
discussed
at a meeting of Commonwealth heads of missions. We will await the
outcome of
that meeting before issuing a statement," he said. SA shares
Nigeria's view
that Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth was for a
year and that the
Commonwealth troika tasked with taking a decision on the
matter should not
meet to take a decision. In a letter to Australian Prime
Minister John
Howard, the chairman of the Commonwealth troika, Nigerian
President Olusegun
Obasanjo, accused Howard of acting in a pre-emptive manner
by imposing smart
sanctions on Harare.
While McKinnon's decision
poses the risk of deepening divisions between
countries that take opposing
views on Zimbabwean membership, there are new
possibilities of internal
pressures on the government of President Robert
Mugabe with a call for mass
action by the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) which will
start today. The MDC has not specified what form the
action will take, but
has said that its members know what to do to show
their anger. Indications
are it will be an appeal for people to stay away
from work today and
tomorrow. Under what appears to be growing pressure from
intimidation,
arrests and court appearances, the scale of the mass action
will be a test of
the MDC's strength. Party leader Morgan Tsvangirai has
said it has been
preparing for mass action for some time. While the mass
action has the
support of labour, commerce and industry have refused to be
drawn on whether
or not they support the show of force against
Mugabe.
|
List of
Businesses not participating in Stayaway
Harare
A&G
Motors
AA
Zimbabwe
Abacus
Real Estate
ABC
Auctions
Aberfoyle Holdings
Academic
books
Ace
international
Acol
Chemicals
Active
Glass Supplies
Adam
& Sons
Adam
Bede
Adhesive
tapes and Multipac
Athletes
World
B&P
Panel Beaters
Bakers
Inn
Banet
& Harris
Barclays
Bank
Barret
Electronics
Bata
Bata Low
Density Studies
Beverley
Building Soc
Blue
Arrow
Bon
Marche
Borrowdale Fashions
Cairns
Chemicals
Car
Guard
Celsys
CFU
Chibuku
Circle
Video
Clicks
Climax
Coconut
Joe
Coleksieuner
Country
Road
DAB
MARKETING
DAHMER
and CO
DANS
PANEL BEATERS
Dixons
Eagle
Insurance Co. Ltd.
Earthern
Fire
Earthwind Freight (Pvt) Ltd.
Eastern
Plumbers.
Eastlea
Panel Beaters
Eclipse
Executive Selection (Pvt) Ltd.
Edgars
Stores Ltd
Edisan
Engineering.
Electra
Installations & Repairs (Pvt) Ltd.
Electric
Centre (Pvt) Ltd.
Electrical & General Maintenance (Pvt) Ltd.
Electro
Panels (Pvt) Ltd
Elliot
Accounting & Secretarial Services.
Eltom
Enterprises
Empire
Gym.
Enbee
Ericom
Ernst
& Young.
Errol
Tarr Landscapers
Escapades (Pvt) Ltd.
Esgar
Products & Investment Co. (Pvt) Ltd.
Exor
Petroleum.
Floral
Wonder
Gwebi
College
Habitat
design -
Hackney
transport
Haddon
motors -
Haggie
Rand
Halsted
Brothers
Hamburger Hut
Hamilton
King
Happy
days
Happy
eater catering
Harare
Engine Repairs Hatfield
Harare
Fish Products Graniteside
Harare
Leather Co
Harare
Lock & Key
Harare
Parts Distributors
HarareToyota
Hard
Chrome
Hardware
Home
Harlequin Furniture Manufacturers
Harrison
& Hughson Graniteside
Hart
Real Estate
Hassam
Kassam Jewellers
Hassans
Leopold Takawira
Headhunters iNcorporated
Heart
Geotechnical Engineers
Hefty
Marketing
Henderson Insurance
Henmar
Agencies Avondale
Henry
Schoultz Avondale
Hensman
& Wilkins
Heritage
Insurance
Highlands Plumbers
Highrise
Real Estate
Hino
Zimbabwe
Honey
Bags Clothing
Horizon
Ventures
House of
Kumali
IDAS
Irrigation
Imperial
Refrigeration
Ind Vee
Belts
Ingersoll Rand
Innscor
Intermarket Discount
Intermarket Stockbrokers
Intrepid
Contractors
Invicta
Construction
Irvine
& Johnson
Jaggers
Jewellery Haven
K. &
K. Communication Systems;
K. &
N. Radiators;
K. &
N.Distributors;
K. &
S. Bus Service;
K. &
S. Machine Tools;
K2-Techtop Consultation;
Kabvunde
Trading Company;
Kadison
Security Services;
Kadmat
Industries;
Kalamazoo Business;
Kamfinsa
Hardware
Kantor
& Immerman;
Kapenta
Distributors;
Kapuya
ZM Bookkeepers;
Karate
Headquarters;
Karina
Textiles;
Kasasisi
Gardens;
Kasico
Pvt. Ltd.;
Kassim
A1.
Keg
& Sable
kingkold
- Chisipite
Kingstons B/Dale
L&W
Electrical
LACC
Enterprises
L'Electron
Lemons
Pharmacy
Lever
Bros
Linsell
Saachi & S
Lintas
Lister
Engines
Lobels
Lounge
Lizards
Lucullus
Lyons
Lysaght
Steel
Lytton
Tobacco
M &
H Educational
M &
M Coachworks
M &
M Painting
M &
M Scale Co
M &
N Caterers
M &
S Metal Fabricators
M &
T Plastics (GMB!)
M Hapsis
Fabrics M'Reign
M Langs
Enterprises
MA
Agencies
Mabel
Taxis
Mabelreign Bazaar
Mabelreign Hardware
Mabelreign Pharmacy
Mabelreign Plumbing
Mabelreign Service Station
Mabor
Zimb - Superbake Bakery
Machados
MacMaine
School of Computing
Mac's
Supermarket
Madz
Contractors
Magic
Mail Marketing
Mahomed
Mussa
Mako
Haulage
Makon
Handling
Makro
Mandel
Training
Mannix
Cash Wholesalers
Marathon
Retreads
Mardon
Plumbers
Marvo
Masasa
Timber
Master
Angler B/Dale
Maurice
Hassan Garments
MCD
McKeeman
& Stally
Metropolitan Bank
Millenium Motors
Mimis
Sam Levys
Mukuyu
Multicool
Mweb
N&I
Entertainment HICC
NA sales
and services
NAD
Construction
Nadia
creche
Nado
Enterprises
Naina
Creations
Nameplate Sign Centre
Namow
Trading
Nasaden
Trading (motor spares)
Nashua
HO
National
Breweries
National
Carpets B/Dale
National
cartridges
National
council - motor trade
National
Dairy Coop
National
Discount House
National
Fencing
National
Foods HO
National
Link Systems
National
Shopfitters
National
Spring Steele
National
Tested Seeds
National
Tyres
NCR
Ncube
Burrow
NDH
asset managers
NEI
Zim
Nels
diesel
Netone
Neuber
Management systems
Neumatic
Tool company
Neves
iron craft
New
Happenings
New Horizons |
|
Harare (cont)
Nicoz
NSSA
Obsession B/Dale
OK
Bazaars
Olivine
Industries
philpott
& Collins
Pomona
Bakery
QV
Pharmacy B/Dale
Reflections B/Dale
Reliant
computers
Retail
Automation
Retail
Automation
Rezende
auto repairs
Rhino
industrial
Richard
Rennie
Ricoh
RMS
Rooneys
hire service
Royal
Harare golf club
RV
Patel
Saltrama
School
Ties
Snack
Attack Arundal
South
Wales Electric Southerton
Tableware House
Tag Net
Education.Supplies
Takura
Ventures
Tanaka
Trading
Tandem
Target
Research
The
Framing Centre B/Dale
TM
Town and
Country
Toyota
Truworths
Twin
Trades B/Dale
Valley
Fresh
Van Leer
Zimbabwe
Vanity
Kitchens
Variprint
Video
Flicks Avondale
Viking
Security
Vita
Form
Volvo
Von
Seidels Trust
Vumba
Cheese
Wimpy
Zacks
Cycle
Zambezi
Chemicals
Zambezi
River Authority
ZDBank
Zebra
Freight
Zellco
Zimbabwe
Flooring
Zimbabwe
Tobacco Assoc
Bulawayo
Ale
Eng.
AMC
Amigos
Amtec
Anark
Panel Beaters
Anes
Archer
Arenel
Astra
Chem
Astra
paints
Astra
Supplies
Autobot
Tech
Avery
Berkel
B &
S Truck
Bake
& Cake
Barzen
Bee
Supermarkets
Boots
Brenmark
Canvas
and Allied
CarGuard
Carrolls
Cars
Central
Pipe and Gate
City
Furniture and Electric
Clicks
Colcom
Conquip
Cotton
Printers
Cut
Price
Dannys
Elec
Datlabs
Delicatess Meats
Dicks
Diesel
Elec
Dollar
13
Downings
Bakery
Dulux
Paints
Dunlop
Eagle
Roller Meal
Edgars
Edmund
Car Sales
Elida
Parts
Esats
Express
Stores
Factory
Shoes
Farm and
City
Fazak
Food 4
Less
Garrick
Distributers
Gees
Golden
Goose
H &
S
Haefelis
Bakery
Haggie
Rand
Hardware
City
Henry
Dunn Steel
High
Peak Eng
Hunyani
Ingwebu
Breweries
Innscor
Africa
J &
K Truck & trailer
J
Mann
Key
Services
Kingstons
Label
Clothing
Lancashire Manufacturing
Lobels
Makro
Maksons
Mansed
Marlon
Max
Meats
Max
Metals
MBA
Fasteners
Meikles
Merlin
Mica
Midas
Mine
Machines
Mirco
Monark
Monark
Workshops
Motor
Glass
Multi
Sign
Multi
Spares
Multichoice
N &
B Bakery
Nabeen
Ent
Nat
Foods
National
Blankets
National
Fencing
Nisma
Eng
Noach
Non
ferrous Metals
Office
Max
OK
Bazaars
Orlando
Furniture
Oxyco
P &
S Motors
Perkins
Steel
PG
PG
Glass
Piggott
Naskew
Power
Sales
Premier
Products
Premium
Products
Puzey
and Payne
Quest
Radiator
and Tinning
Ramjes
Red Star
Wholesalers
Sara
Bedding
Save
Centre
Savings
Centre
Security
Mills
Shoprite
Simms
Sisters
Restaurant
SKF
Bearings
Solomons
South
Fork Tools
Spares
Africa
Station
Furniture
Sterling
Furnishers
Supersonic
Suzuki
Centre
T. Mann
Truck parts
Tabs-Cash Avon
Tech
Tools
Technim
Textile
Mills
Tiger
Brake
TM
Tool
Making and Engineering
Topics
Toppers
Trade
Centre
Travel
Goods
Tregers
Truworths
Turnal
TV Sales
and hire
Tyreman
UBM
Universal Components
Victoria
Foods
Vita
Foam
Wallace
Labs
Warman
Western
transport
Wheels
Wrays
Diesel
|
MDC statement
"The MDC is very proud and impressed by the bravery and resilience shown
by hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans in the face of state oppression. Reports
so far indicate that our call to workers not to go to work has resulted in an 80
percent shutdown of business across Zimbabwe."
"The events of today demonstrate that the people of Zimbabwe desire
change," said Paul Themba Nyathi, a spokesman for the MDC. "They are sick and
tired of oppressive and illegitimate rule that has provoked an unprecedented
crisis and left them without food, jobs and security."
The movement organised the strike despite heavy government oppression.
Its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is on trial for treason, 300 party officials have
been arrested this year, and more than a dozen tortured by police, according to
human rights groups.
Mass action
round up - Zvakwana
Mutare - Sakubva residents woke to a police force who had
arrived before dawn. The police attempted to force people to board transport and
go to work. To the limited extent that they were successful the people arrived
in the city but did not go to work - they drifted back home. It is assessed that
60% of shops and businesses have closed until further notice. Those that are
open are operating with skeleton staff.
Masvingo has achieved an almost total shut down in the town.
Congratulations. May this lead to further acts of defiance. MP Silas Mangono has
been arrested.
Harare - Despite heavy police presence in most of the high
density areas the majority of people have stayed at home. Sadly this is less
true of the bourgeoisies from the low density areas The majority of companies in
the industrial areas have closed their doors. Omni Bus Drivers & Touts
Hailed as the collective action of
these transporters in not providing a service has brought the transport system
to a near stand still. A few ignored the call at their
peril.
Chitungwiza verges on a liberated area as the inhabitants of the
entire city have remained away from work. Unfortunately a licence holder/ owner
of a fleet of mini-buses in Dzivaresekwa insisted that his drivers ply their
normal route into town. This angered the local people, some of whom stoned the
dissenting buses. Zvakwana urges people not to resort to violence and rather
boycott this service from now and into the future.
Zvakwana understands that police in two high density areas (unnamed for
security reasons) have asked to be relieved due to the mounting tension in these
two suburbs. Reinforcements are finding it difficult to gain entry into these
areas as people have set up blockades.
In Kadoma MP Austin Mupanbawana was arrested and assaulted by the
police.
Bindura - Four activists who were distributing leaflets last
night have disappeared at the hands of the authorities and their whereabouts
remain unknown.
Bulawayo - The action got off to a slow start in the City of
Kings but Zvakwana has been advised that many shops that opened for business
today are closing as we go to press.
That was a round up on the stayaway sent out by the activist group
Zvakwana.