Mukoko, eight others remanded to April 9

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Friday, 20 March 2009
HARARE - Zimbabwe Peace Project director, Jestina Mukoko and eight of
her co-accused were on Friday remanded to April 9, 2008.This was after
Mukoko, who looked resplendant on a navy blue two piece attire, together
with her co-accused, had appeared at the Harare magistrate's court on Friday
on routine remand.

The decision to remand the group was reached by consent by both the
state and the defence after the former had earlier promised the defence that
a trial date will be provided for the accused persons during their next date
of remand.
The defence, led by human rights lawyer, Alec Muchadehama wants the
state to furnish the accused persons with a trial date, short of which the
court should refuse them further remand.
Muchadehama also wants the accused persons' stringent bail conditions
to be relaxed.
He argues that his clients were not properly remanded and as such it
was not proper for them to remain under their stringent reporting
conditions.
"None of these accused persons are properly on remand," Muchadehama
told the court during Friday's brief sitting.
"The state must regularise that anomally. Some of the accused persons
were abducted in October last year and they have been in police custody
then.
"The state has failed to try them on time and in light of that, I feel
their bail conditions must be relaxed."
But the state, represented by Tawanda Zvekare told the court the
accused persons would definately be notified of their trial date when they
appear in court on their next remand date.
"It is not true that the accused persons were not properly remanded,"
said Zvekare.
"If they were not properly remanded, they would not have been granted
bail in the first place. The accused persons would definately be served with
their charge sheets when they appear during their next day of remand.
"The relaxation of bail conditions does not arise because we are in
the process of preparing their indictment papers.
"By demanding for the relaxation of bail conditions, the defence is
trying to put the cart before the horse."
Having listened to both arguments by the state and the defence, Harare
magistrate Memory Chigwaza said she had noted their arguments and thus
remanded the accused to next month.

Mukoko, seized from her Norton home early December last year and kept
in secret custody for nearly three weeks was produced a three weeks later to
be charged with conspiring to violently overthrow the government.
She was granted a US$600 bail by the High Court early this month after
a vigorous and widely publicised attempt by her lawyers to have her
released.
She was also ordered to report twice a week to police in Norton, about
30 kilometers northwest of Harare where home is located, and surrender the
deed to her residence.
The bulk of the other accused persons were also granted bail the
previous week.

CFU vice president released from custody

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
20 March 2009

The Vice President of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), who has spent most
of the week behind bars in Harare, was finally released on Friday morning -
although the charges of 'defeating the course of justice' that were levelled
against him have not been dropped.

CFU vice president Deon Theron was taken into custody on Tuesday in
connection with photographing the scene of the tragic accident that killed
the Prime Minister's wife. Theron was expected to appear in court on
Thursday morning for a bail hearing, but was instead left in cells at the
Harare central police station while police officials searched his property
and home. Theron was finally released without appearing in court on Friday,
although CFU officials have said the vice-president has been ordered back to
the police station for a court date next Tuesday.

Theron was initially arrested while filming the crash scene earlier this
month. He'd been contacted by the MDC shortly after news of the crash
spread, and was asked to take pictures of the site for an independent
record, in case of a later inquiry. The MDC had contacted Theron because the
CFU official lives near the crash scene.

Meanwhile, the Danish government has voiced concern over the ongoing farm
invasions across the country that has forced many commercial farmers into
hiding. Despite Zimbabwe's political leaders agreeing to end land invasions
and to encourage food production on farms, as part of the unity deal
brokered by SADC, the fresh wave of farm attacks has intensified in recent
weeks. The government has so far taken no action to stop the invasions that
threaten to scupper the unity deal. An interim economic blueprint that was
released on Thursday has, among other things, demanded an immediate halt to
the farm disruptions, in an effort to kick-start the country's economy. But
there was no clear plan of action as to how this was going to be enforced.

The visiting Danish minister said this week that her government will only
consider new investments in Zimbabwe after outstanding issues of farm
property rights and protection of commercial farms (protected under
Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements) have been
resolved.

The Danish Minister said this at a meeting with members of the Joint
Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) held at the Ministry of
Economic Planning offices in Harare. The chairman of JOMIC for March, Elton
Mangoma, who is also the Minister of Economic Planning, told The Zimbabwe
Times that the Danish delegation had stressed the need to stop the fresh
wave of land invasions. However, according to the online newspaper, Mangoma
had sidestepped the land issue in discussion with the Danish Minister,
saying: "The land question has been properly outlined in the GPA." Mangoma
instead used the opportunity to call for money and investment, saying a
proper land audit, which could signal an end to farm invasions, would only
be possible with financial investment in the unity government

Chaos in Bulawayo as civil servants fail to cash forex vouchers

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
20 March 2009

There was chaos in some banks in Bulawayo as civil servants and workers from
the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) struggled to cash their foreign
currency vouchers on Friday. Our correspondent Lionel Saungweme reports that
there were huge crowds at most banks, with the most affected being the
Central African Building Society (CABS).

Most army and police personnel failed to redeem their salaries which are now
paid in forex vouchers. Economic analysts have previously warned of the
problem of printing more vouchers than the actual physical amount of forex
that is available. This now seems to be the problem.

Top management in the NRZ are also being accused of stealing money earned
from train fares and other services, instead of depositing it into the
parastatals accounts. At the end of the month employees are being sent to
the bank to collect their salaries, when management is fully aware there is
nothing in the account.

It's feared many companies, including supermarkets, will begin to refuse to
accept foreign currency vouchers in return for goods, if they continue
struggling to cash them.

ACTION ALERT : Harare Central Prison has run out of food

March 20th, 2009

Posted by Sokwanele

Death and disease in Zimbabwe's prisons

http://www.thelancet.com

The Lancet, Volume 373, Issue 9668

Jocelyn Alexander
Jocelyn Alexander spoke to former prisoners and former and serving prison
officers about the precarious conditions inside Zimbabwe's prisons, where
illness and death are regular occurrences.
A bare struggle for survival, with food at its core, has come to define
prison life in Zimbabwe. Describing the conditions in two of the capital
city Harare's main prisons in late 2008, a prison officer explained: "we've
gone the whole year in which-for prisoners and prison officers-the food is
hand to mouth.They'll be lucky to get one meal. Sometimes they'll sleep
without. We have moving skeletons, moving graves. They're dying."
Prison staff have had to convert cells and storage rooms to "hospital wards"
for the dying and to make-shift mortuaries, where bodies "rotted on the
floor with maggots moving all around". They have had to create mass graves
within prison grounds to accommodate the dead. In many prisons, the dead
took over whole cells, and competed for space with the living. Prisoners
described how the sick and the healthy slept side by side, packed together
like sardines, with those who died in the night. A former prisoner, a young
man, struggled to convey the horror of these conditions: "That place, I
haven't got the words.. I can describe it as hell on earth-though they say
it's more than hell." Another simply said, "The story of the prisons is
starvation".
Deaths from disease in Zimbabwe's prisons have risen since the start of the
precipitous economic decline and political crisis that gripped Zimbabwe in
the late 1990s. From 1998 to 2000, the Zimbabwe Prison Service estimated
some 300 deaths per year due to disease, tuberculosis being the biggest
killer. In May, 2004, a senior prison officer reported 15 deaths a week, and
a peak of 130 deaths in March of that year, in just one of the prisons
serving Zimbabwe's second city Bulawayo. In 2008, a Zimbabwean
non-governmental organisation reported an average of two deaths per day at
Harare's two main prisons while prison officers reported three deaths per
day in October, 2008 at Bulawayo's main prison. Across Zimbabwe's 40-odd
prisons the annual death toll undoubtedly now reaches well into the
thousands.
The immediate causes of escalating prison deaths are not hard to find:
severe overcrowding, broken, overflowing toilets, water and electricity
cuts, a lack of blankets, uniforms, winter clothing, medicines and other
commodities like soap, and severe food shortages. Prison populations have
high rates of HIV/AIDS infection, with some reports estimating that more
than half of prisoners are HIV positive. Antiretrovirals are rarely
available, and the dietary requirements of treatment cannot be met. There
are few drugs available for the treatment of tuberculosis and other
diseases, and the cramped and filthy conditions ease the transmission of
infection. In late 2008 and early 2009, a cholera outbreak in Harare's
Central Prison killed on average four to five prisoners a day with a peak of
18 deaths in 1 day, according to prison officers. Throughout the prison
system, prisoners were rendered acutely vulnerable to disease because of the
lack of food, and they increasingly contracted malnutrition-related diseases
like pellagra and died of starvation.
Zimbabwe as a whole and Zimbabwe's state institutions have had to face
repeated food shortages in recent years. State hospitals and the army for
example have struggled to acquire sufficient food, but their inmates can at
least seek alternatives to the state, however inadequate. Most prisoners
cannot. In 2008, prisoners at Bulawayo Remand Prison described receiving one
meal a day consisting of a small piece of sadza (Zimbabwe's staple food-a
stiff porridge of maize meal) and half a cup of watery boiled cabbage. At
times the meal was reduced to cabbage alone, at times to nothing.
Desperation meant that "the fighting over food was horrific", as one former
prisoner put it: "Some guys would snatch other guys' food and stuff it in
their mouths before they'd get beaten. There'd be fights every day. At
shower times you'd see the amount of guys who are just literally bones."
Prisoners traded sex for food and ate food normally regarded as waste; those
with resources traded for food and other commodities with guards. Prison
officers asked visitors to bring more food, but only a tiny minority of
prisoners had relatives who could afford to feed them. As one officer
remarked, "The problem is the poor".

Police barricade striking RBZ workers in

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=13672

March 20, 2009

By Our Correspondent

BULAWAYO - Heavily armed police barricaded the premises of the central banks
in the city to bar striking employees from leaving the building to launch a
street protest over pay.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) whose workers downed tools over salaries
intended to march through the streets of Bulawayo. They have denounced the
central bank governor, Gideon Gono, for failing to address their poor pay
and working conditions.

According to RBZ workers, Gono, who is a close ally and personal banker of
President Robert Mugabe, has refused to listen to their demands for salaries
in foreign currency that has replaced the hyper-inflated local currency.

They claimed that Gono - who is blamed for stoking inflation fires through
relentless of printing of money - has also failed to pay them their monthly
salaries since January.

"We have not been paid since January but when we protest, we are threatened
with dismissal," an RBZ employee who was out of the building before police
cordoned it off, told The Zimbabwe Times.

"We downed tools today (Friday) and wanted to go out on the streets to
protest against Gono but the police blocked us."

A heavy presence of heavily armed police in riot gear surrounded the RBZ
building to block employees from taking their strike action out onto the
streets.

Bulawayo RBZ workers committee chairman, Witness Mugabe commented on the
issue over the phone and said: "We decided to strike because we have not
been paid since January. The management has also kept quiet over our demands
for payment in foreign currency.

"We have families to feed, kids to send to school yet we continue to work
without pay. As workers, we have said, 'Enough is enough,' and we will not
go back to work until the management meets our salary demands."

Kumbirai Nhongo, the RBZ spokesperson and the banks, Bulawayo manager,
Cassandra Sibanda could not be reached for comment as they were both said to
be locked in meetings.

Gono, whose five year term was extended by President Mugabe in December
2008, is blamed for the country's economic decline.

Critics say Gono has played a key role in printing money with reckless
abandon to sustain the Mugabe administration's profligate spending as well
as in fundraising for Mugabe's Zanu-PF party,

Gono's policies have been one of the main drivers of the country's
hyperinflation, officially over 231 million per cent since last year, but
estimated by independent analysts at sextillion percent.

As pressure on Gono has grown with the collapse of the economy, he has laid
the blame squarely on international sanctions, malpractice by banking
institutions, the stock exchange, insurance companies and the country's
hordes of black-market currency dealers.

Gono has however pledged to stop the central bank's widely condemned
quasi-fiscal operations by returning it to its core business of monetary
policy formulation and implementation.

South Africa cannot afford to bankroll Zimbabwe recovery

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/


Friday, 20 March 2009
JOHANNESBURG - South African Finance Minister, Trevor  Manuel, says
that his country does not have the financial capacity to sponsor Zimbabwe's
economic recovery plan, can only talk to developed countries to come to the
aid of their northern neighbour.
Zimbabwe is going though an unprecedented economic crisis, which has
spanned more than a decade and is being blamed on the populist policies of
President Robert Mugabe and corrupt members of his cabinet.
Mugabe inherited the erstwhile bread basket of Southern Africa from
Britain in 1980, and has during the past 29 years driven it into being the
world's fastest shrinking economy outside a war zone.
MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who became the country's Prime Minister
under the current national unity government formation that is ruling the
country, and his party's secretary general, Tendai Biti - the new finance
Minister, recently travelled to South Africa to seek financial aid that
would help revive Zimbabwe 's economy.
However, Manuel said this week that South Africa , cannot afford to
bankroll Zimbabwe 's recovery.
"We are not a bank, we are poor. Part of what we are doing is speaking
to wealthy countries and getting them to help," said Manuel, who appealed to
Australia and the United Kingdom for the aid.
The government of Zimbabwe faces a variety of difficult economic
problems as it struggles to reverse an unsustainable fiscal deficit and
hyperinflation.
The government's ill-fated land reform program of 2000, characterized
by chaos and violence, badly damaged the commercial farming sector, the
traditional source of exports and foreign exchange.
Support from the IMF has been suspended because of the government's
arrears on past loans.
"We also need to stimulate the Zimbabwe economy and get the farmers to
produce so we can get a significant improvement in the quality of the lives
of the people." Manuel added.

International community demands 'rule of law' in Zimbabwe

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
20 March 2009

There must be a return to the rule of law in Zimbabwe, the international
community has said, in reference to Robert Mugabe's call for US$5bn in
international aid to revive the country's shattered economy.

Launching the inclusive government's Short-Term Emergency Recovery Programme
(STERP) in Harare on Thursday, Mugabe appealed to the 'friends of Zimbabwe'
to come to the country's aid. But the friends Mugabe was appealing to in
Southern Africa and the Far East have not responded and have remained
generally quiet.

But those that can help revive the country's economy are demanding
democratic reforms before they will inject any cash. The same Western
countries Mugabe regards with disdain have donated humanitarian aid worth
hundreds of millions of dollars in the last 10 years.

The visiting Danish minister for Cooperation and Development, echoed the
same sentiments on Thursday when she said Zimbabwe must restore the rule of
law and stop the fresh wave of farm invasions, if aid is to flow.

'I underlined to the Minister (Herbert Murerwa, Agriculture minister) that
the evictions of farmers from their land and the lack of respect for
Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements and the invasion of land without
compensation is unacceptable,' Danish Minister Ulla Tornaes said.

Tornaes arrived in Harare on Tuesday on a mission to assess progress in the
implementation of the country's power-sharing agreement between Mugabe,
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara. She
will also explore areas of cooperation between the two countries. She has
already met Acting Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe and Foreign Affairs
Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, and was expected to meet other ministers
during her stay in Zimbabwe this week.

Political analyst Bekithemba Mhlanga told us the Western countries are
essentially demanding that the inclusive government immediately strengthens
the rule of law, which is key to ensuring long term security and stability
in the country.

Mhlanga said democracy and the rule of law provides the foundation for any
sustainable economic development, adding that there cannot be democracy, let
alone social democracy, without the rule of law, which is meaningful only if
there is equal treatment of citizens.

During the last 10 years, laws in the country were only applied selectively.
Law breakers from ZANU PF always go free, while the authorities have always
dealt harshly with MDC officials and supporters.

The economic blueprinted launched on Thursday recognises that the anchor to
a new Zimbabwe needs to address not only economic issues, but also issues
around the rule of law, a new people driven constitution, and entrenched
property rights.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti said reforms in the country should be commenced
as a matter of urgency. He also said STERP, like the GPA, recognises the
importance of creating a vibrant and free media as an important part of
democratising institutions. This entails liberalising the air waves, freeing
the media, and ensuring that plural voices are heard through both electronic
and print media, consistent with Article 19 of the GPA.

Although the words are good, action is needed soon to back them up.

Zimbabwe's black market dealers out in the cold as economy recovers

http://www.sabcnews.com


March 20 2009 , 5:00:00

Thulasizwe Simelane, Harare

Zimbabwe black market dealers are finding the going tough as the
formal market is slowly finding its way out of the economic crisis.  The
dealers once controlled the flow of goods and services in a decade of
economic turmoil. With the Zimbabwe dollar almost obsolete, it's a bleak
time for money traders.

Black market dealer "Chancellor" says: "Many people here in Zimbabwe
were surviving on that system, and now things are very hard for us as you
know only eight percent of the people in this country are employed, so it's
really hard for us, this has impacted us negatively."

Economist Blessing Sakupwanya says: "The beneficiaries of the black
market are those people who were not taxable, I think the introduction of a
respectable trading unit in the form of the rand or the US dollar has closed
that space."

In a dramatic reversal of fortune, some black market dealers are
selling their properties to squeeze out an existence.

Zimbabwe dollar pronounced dead

http://www.upi.com

HARARE, Zimbabwe, March 20 (UPI) -- Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Tendai Biti
told members of parliament that the country's currency was essentially dead.

"The death of the Zimbabwe dollar is a reality we have to live with," he
said. "Since October 2008, our national currency has become moribund," Biti
said during a 2009 budget presentation, New Ziana reported Friday.

Along with his remarks, Biti announced "the removal of all foreign currency
surrender requirements."

Previously, Zimbabwe's central bank required currency traders to pay 5
percent of their gross earnings at the Zimbabwe dollar's exchange rate.

The inflation rate in Zimbabwe hit what has been called a "hyperinflation"
rate, officially posted as 231 million percent, essentially wiping out the
currency's value.

 

Foreign companies shun ZITF

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk


Friday, 20 March 2009
ZITF Zimbabwe's International Trade Fair (ZITF) is proving to be hard
selldespite slashed exhibition rates with no foreign exhibitor registeredto
attend the fair, about five weeks before it is due to open.

But ZITF manager Daniel Chigaru was quick to dismiss
growingspeculation that the 2009 fair could be postponed, insisting it
wouldgo ahead despite the fact that no country within the region or
furtherabroad had confirmed participation.
Ironically, organisers drastically cut charges in a bid to lure more
exhibitors to ZITF, the country's premier traders' fair.
Charges for external sites per square meter were reduced from US$25
toUS$15 while hall space is now US$25 from US$40 per square meter. A
preconstructed nine square meter space is now US$362 from US$587.
"The rates are the lowest in the region. There is a lot of
speculationthat the exhibition could be postponed but it will be held
asscheduled," Chigaru told journalists at a press conference on Monday atthe
ZITF Company premises.
The 50th edition of the country's 2009 annual trade showcase will
runfrom 28 April to 2 May under the theme "Golden Platform for
DynamicTake-Off".
Last year, only seven countries from the Far East participated at
theZITF while the rest of the exhibitors were government enterprises
andparastatals.
A number of countries that had confirmed participation withdrew at the
last minute.
According to Chigaru, exhibitors from Far East countries who were
amongthe seven countries at last year's fair have not yet indicated
whetherthey will pitch this time round.
"Inquiries for participation from our traditional exhibitors in
theregion and beyond have been forthcoming but confirmation forparticipation
is so far very disappointing and low," Chigaru indicated.
At its peak, the ZITF attracted dozens of international exhibitors
andbrought together multi-sectoral interests across the whole
businesssectors, mining, hospitality and tourism among others.
The annual exhibition was at the time celebrated as a platform
toshowcase the vast investment opportunities in Zimbabwe, once a
modelAfrican economy.
ZimOnline.

Wiki map aims to help rebuild shattered Zimbabwe

http://www.tmcnet.com

[March 20, 2009]

(New Scientist Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) AID workers in Zimbabwe need all
the help that they can get, so a website that enables them to share
information could be a big boost. Although Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak is
finally showing signs of abating, the site could help relief groups as they
attempt to rebuild the country's shattered infrastructure.

Launched this month, WikiMapAid will use collaborative wiki software to
enable humanitarian workers and others to add health, welfare and education
information to a version of Google Maps that can be viewed by anyone. The
hope is that by circumventing official information channels, a clearer
picture of what is happening on the ground can develop.

As went to press, a total of 89,649 cases of cholera and 4041 deaths had
been reported in Zimbabwe since the outbreak began in August. But new
cholera cases have fallen from around 8000 a week at the start of the year
to 2151 in the first week of March. A central control centre was also
recently set up in Harare with help from the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health.

Nevertheless, collecting data is still proving difficult, says Paul Garwood
of the World Health Organization. "A crucial element for the control of
cholera in Zimbabwe is the need to improve access to information, and the
monitoring of new cases and suspected cases in the country," he says. "Any
system that improves data collecting and sharing would be beneficial."
That's where WikiMapAid could help. Users can create markers to show the
location of places such as schools, hospitals or refugee centres, and they
can attach links to video or photos of that place, or post a report of the
current situation in the area. Similar services, such as the website
HealthMap, have recently been developed to map disease outbreaks around the
world.

At the moment, WikiMapAid is focusing on Zimbabwe, and as well as schools
and suchlike, the tool lets you create other categories of marker to show
not only the location of cholera outbreaks but also places like food and
water distribution centres, says Rupert Douglas-Bate of Global Map Aid, the
organisation leading the project. Users can also create new marker
categories to show, say, public buildings, or to mark disease outbreaks in
other countries.

The website is based on a Brazilian project called Wikicrimes, launched last
year, in which members of the public share information about crime in their
local area. It is designed to provide an alternative source of crime figures
to official statistics, which some suspect of government manipulation,
according to Vasco Furtado at the University of Fortaleza in Brazil, who
developed the software for Wikicrimes and WikiMapAid. "Wikicrimes is a way
of showing citizens that a particular area is a problem and to push the
government to do something about it," he says.

Douglas-Bate hopes a similar approach in Zimbabwe could help ensure that aid
is distributed correctly. "If we've all got the same situation report then
we're all singing from the same hymn sheet," he says. Also, if people feel
they will attract attention from the authorities by posting information,
they could perhaps get friends on the outside to post information for them,
he says.

As with all wikis, the integrity of the data will depend on the people
supplying it. Although moderators will edit and keep track of postings,
Douglas-Bate admits unreliable reporting could be a problem. To lessen this
risk, Furtado is developing an algorithm that will rate the reputation of
users according to whether the information they post is corroborated, or
contradicted. "But even if we're just 80 per cent perfect, we will still
have made a huge step forward in terms of being able to galvanise public
opinion, raise funds, prioritise need and speed the aid on those who need it
most," Douglas-Bate says.

Tracking a diseaseLinda Geddes Cholera breaks out in a remote part of a
developing country and officials at the district capital are swamped by
requests for help. Healthcare workers are scattered across the sparsely
populated countryside and the situation is changing hour by hour. How can
health services keep track of the situation and decide where to send aid
first? From this June a marriage of cellphone and internet technology may
help them cope. Cellphones are now widespread in many poor nations, and
rather than health workers communicating individually, the new service,
called GeoChat, will create an online map of their locations and any
information they have to offer. Once up and running, it will coordinate
relief efforts and ensure people are aware of who is doing what, and where.

Health workers start by creating a group on the GeoChat website that
contains the contact details of all relevant people. Once the group is set
up, workers will be able to text the other members via a special number. The
text of each message is also relayed to the GeoChat map and appears next to
the sender's location. Senders can identify their location by placing their
coordinates or an address at the start of the message.

Watching the map of the messages will be like tracking the epidemiology of a
disease in real time, says Eric Rasmussen of Innovative Support to
Emergencies, Diseases and Disasters, a non-profit organisation based in Palo
Alto, California, that developed GeoChat.

US sends CIA to investigate PM's wife's death

http://en.afrik.com/article15456.html

Friday 20 March 2009, by Alice Chimora

An CIA agent from USA would arrive in Harare Tuesday to carry out
investigations into the death of Prime Minister's wife, Susan Tsvangirai.

This comes after the Zimbabwe Cabinet agreed to allow an independent
international investigation into the death. Official sources said the
decision to investigate the car crash was taken on Tuesday and would soon
lead to a thorough probe by a yet to be announced commission of inquiry.

Tsvangirai's wife died along the Harare-Masvingo road on March 6 after their
Toyota Land Cruiser was sideswiped by a truck and overturned.

Sources said Public Works minister Theresa Makone, who was close to Susan,
raised the issue and suggested there should be a comprehensive
investigation.

"Makone brought up the issue on Tuesday and suggested the inquiry and
cabinet agreed," an undisclosed source said. "This means a commission of
inquiry must be set up in due course to probe the matter. Makone and others
supporting her want an independent and international inquiry," The source
continued.

Despite efforts by Tsvangirai to calm down nerves, saying he thought it was
a genuine accident, suspicions of foul play have remained. Tsvangirai said
chances were only one in a thousand that it was a plot.

Britain, linked to the issue through international humanitarian assistance
programmes, has said it also thought it was just an accident.

The Americans apparently share the same view after their consultations with
Tsvangirai. The United States Agency for International Development (USAid)
is embroiled in the controversy. USAid last week said contrary to reports,
the truck and driver involved in the accident did not belong to them.

USAid said the truck and driver belonged to a contractor who was initially
identified as the UK's Crown Agents and others as US-based John Snow
International.

The truck was however bought using USAid money and had a US embassy number
plate. Australia initially called for a thorough investigation of the
accident but later went quiet

Tsvangirai crash driver due in court Monday

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
20 March 2009

Chinoona Mwanda, the driver of the truck involved in the crash that killed
Susan Tsvangirai 2 weeks ago, will be appearing at the Chivhu Magistrates on
Monday. This will be the driver's second appearance in court to face charges
of culpable homicide. His lawyer, Chris Mhike, confirmed to Newsreel they
expect to hear how far the state has gone with its investigation of the
tragic crash which claimed the life of the wife of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai. While the nation awaits the details from the trial, speculation
around the driver's status has continued to grow after revelations that he
was not employed by the contractor who owned the truck. Some reports claim
he is a soldier, while others say he is from the Central Intelligence
Organisation.

Mhike refused to be drawn into the details of who exactly employed Mwanda,
saying the contractors involved should explain that. He says on Monday his
client will go through a remand hearing, a process meant to confirm he had
not absconded from the courts. The state will then provide him with the
'case papers' that will enable him to prepare his formal plea to the
charges. It will be some time before the actual trial begins, he explained.

An article published by the Zimbabwe Telegraph website quotes a former CIO
claiming Mwanda is a little known member of the organization. 'I first met
Chinoona Mwanda in 2007 when we were in Masvingo. He was a soft spoken
moderate recruit and was infiltrating NGOs in the area. I remember very well
assisting him to apply as a driver with WFP (World Food Programme) so as to
make our operations easier,' he claimed. The truck involved in the
Tsvangirai crash is owned by John Snow International, a contractor for an
AIDS project funded by the US Agency for International Development.

The alleged former CIO also said the incrimination of a USAID driver Frank
Muchirahondo in the 'assassination' attempt on Air Force chief Perence Shiri
was meant to smear USAID and create suspicions around their activities.

Meanwhile the new coalition cabinet has agreed to allow an independent
international investigation into the accident that killed Susan Tsvangirai.
The decision is said to have been made on Tuesday and will also see a
commission of inquiry being announced. A report by the Zimbabwe Independent
newspaper says Public Works Minister Theresa Makone, who was a close friend
of Mai Tsvangirai, suggested the need for a comprehensive probe.

Geoff Foster: paediatrician remaining hopeful in Zimbabwe

http://www.thelancet.com

The Lancet, Volume 373, Issue 9668,

The hospital lift isn't working, parts of the ward flooring have peeled
away, and the nurses' chairs have holes in their seats. Geoff Foster can
hardly contain his excitement. A paediatrician at the main government
hospital in Zimbabwe's eastern city of Mutare, he has just attended a
report-back meeting on a ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF, plumpynut),
being given to young patients. Made from a simple peanut butter base, it is
administered in sachet form. Each sachet delivers 500 calories and severely
malnourished children get up to six sachets a day. Result? Hospital
admission times have been cut from an average of 3 weeks to 1·5 weeks at
this hospital. Patients are now being given 2 months' supply upon discharge,
he says. This is not the only source of Foster's excitement. Patients have
also started coming back to the hospital's 36-bed children's ward, where
Foster, a leading expert in Zimbabwe on health care for children affected by
HIV and AIDS, works.
When Zimbabwe's economic crisis peaked in December and January, the ward was
quiet. "People were afraid of having to pay hospital fees and transport
costs", Foster told The Lancet. "Plus a lot of adults had left the country,
leaving their children behind with relatives or grandparents who had no
resources to bring them to hospital." But when, on Feb 11, 2009, President
Robert Mugabe swore-in former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime
Minister of a new coalition government, glimmers of hope began to emerge for
the first time in 9 years. "The money has started to come in", Foster says.
The children's ward is half full. The hospital is finally able to provide
food; until last month patients and nurses relied on local churches for
meals. Earlier this month, nurses at the hospital were paid a monthly salary
of US$300, a huge rise on their 50-cent December pay packets. Foster has
been told his salary will be $600 "although I haven't seen it yet", he says.
Foster has spent 23 years at Mutare Provincial Hospital, moving there a year
after his arrival from the UK. He has seen many of Zimbabwe's crises
first-hand-notably the rise of HIV/AIDS. In his first year, he saw no AIDS
cases; by 1987 he had seen 25 children with the disease in Mutare. "What I
knew of the disease was that it was going to progress." He wanted to help,
but, as in South Africa later, Zimbabwe's authorities were in denial. "We
were the only country at the time that had AIDS cases actually coming down",
Foster recalls wryly. When he set up the non-governmental organisation
Family AIDS Caring Trust (FACT), in 1988, his superintendent warned him not
to put up a poster in the doctors' tea-room, "You might get into trouble".
One of Africa's first AIDS service organisations, FACT has worked to help
community-based organisations and churches better respond to HIV, pioneer
orphan outreach programmes, and raise HIV awareness. Jeffias Mundondo, the
current director of FACT, says that "Geoff has been an inspiration. Very few
people knew anything about HIV when FACT was started. Because Geoff was in
the medical world, we relied heavily on his knowledge". So successful was
one programme that it roused the ire of the local authorities. Working with
its partners, FACT trained 40 sex workers to tour beerhalls with HIV
prevention messages. "That programme saw a 50% reduction in sexually
transmitted infections in Mutare", Foster says. "People also stopped going
to beerhalls as often as they used to", which displeased the municipality
that relied on revenue from the drinking halls.
With the huge spread of AIDS in the 1990s, "It was difficult to see what it
was we had achieved", Foster says. One question troubled him for many years:
why, when the onset of sexual activity is so much later in Zimbabwe than in
many western countries, was the country sitting at the epicentre of AIDS? In
recent years, it's become clear that major factors in the spread of AIDS in
Zimbabwe are low rates of male circumcision and high rates of concurrent
sexual relationships. Foster is proud that Mutare Provincial Hospital has
been chosen as a pilot site for a male circumcision programme to start next
month. He says he was heartened by government reports in 2007 of a drop in
nationwide HIV prevalence, which he believes may be "largely related to
abstinence and behaviour change", having taken into account the country's
desperately high mortality rate. But, he says, HIV prevalence is "still far
too high" (the government estimates HIV prevalence in adults at 15·6%).
Foster stepped down as director of FACT in 2000. His work there won him
international recognition, including an Order of the British Empire in 2003.
Recently, he has been assessing the role of faith-based organisations (FBOs)
in responding to AIDS in eastern and southern Africa. Foster, who is himself
a committed Christian, points out that "Between 30 and 40% of hospital beds
in these countries are provided by FBOs, yet there's very little
documentation. These organisations don't write things up, they just serve.
Most of them are doing it in an unsupported-and not always the best-way."
Like the nurses who walked up to 15 km a day to work alongside him for as
little as 50 cents a month, Foster has kept reporting for his clinical
duties at Mutare Provincial Hospital throughout the poverty-wracked and
politically unstable years since 2000 because he believes "healing is a
calling". Despite the dire state of health for Zimbabwe's people, which has
only been exacerbated by the current cholera crisis, Foster remains hopeful
for what can be achieved by health workers in the country. "I'm an
 optimist," he says, adding, "But it is a roller-coaster."

Sibanda needs Tsvangirai to rescue him

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=13664

March 20, 2009

By Our Correspondent

HARARE - The Minister of State in the Deputy Prime Minister's Office, Gibson
Sibanda has to secure a seat in Parliament within two months or risk losing
his Cabinet post. Sibanda, who is the vice president of the smaller MDC
party, was the last person to be sworn into office as Minister of State. By
then all the non-constituent seats that were allocated to the Arthur
Mutambara-led MDC had been taken up.

According to Section 31 E of the Zimbabwe Constitution, every minister or
deputy minister must either be an MP or a Senator when appointed or become
one within three months of appointment. Sibanda has already been in office
for a month.

Mutambara himself was allocated an ex-officio seat in the House of Assembly
on appointment as one of two Deputy Prime Ministers, while Prof Welshman
Ncube and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga took up the other two seats in the
Senate allocated to their party.

That left Sibanda in a quandary and facing the real prospect of losing his
ministerial post. Sibanda lost his Nkulumane parliamentary seat in the March
legislative polls last year. He was defeated by mainstream MDC youth
chairman Thamsanqa Mahlangu, who is now Deputy Minister of Youth.

The embattled Mutambara MDC is said to have approached Siyabonga Malandu
Ncube, who was elected to Parliament on its ticket in Insiza constituency to
relinquish his seat in favour of Sibanda so as to save the party's deputy
president the embarrassment of losing the ministerial post he miraculously
secured after enduring heavy defeat in the elections.

Ncube apparently refused to play ball.

Edward Mkosi Moyo, Bulilima MP was reportedly also approached. He was
offered the position of provincial governor if he surrendered his seat to
Sibanda. He too is reported to have decided to hang onto his parliamentary
seat.

Informed sources say the Mutambara MDC party was now considering pleading
with the mainstream MDC to donate one of its non-constituent seats. While
the mainstream MDC party has four seats available to it in the Senate only
three of its deputy ministers are without seats.

Deputy ministers Dr Tichaona Mudzingwa, Sesel Zvidzai and Roy Bennett will
take up three of the four Senate seats, leaving the MDC free to choose one
more Senator for appointment. Mutambara hopes to plead with Tsvangirai for
that seat in return for greater collaboration in Parliament.

However Tsvangirai is said to be under such pressure to appoint someone from
among the dozens of his loyalists who failed to get a position in the
inclusive government. He is said, therefore, to be unlikely to cede the seat
that Mutambara desperately needs.

The beleaguered Sibanda was Tsvangirai's deputy president in the MDC until
October 12, 2005, when he and secretary general, Welshman Ncube, information
secretary, Paul Themba Nyathi and treasurer, Fletcher Dulini Ncube walked
out on Tsvangirai to form a party of their own in Bulawayo. They named it
the MDC and invited Mutambara who was based in South Africa to return home
and lead the new party.

Mutambara was walloped in Chitungwiza in the March 29 elections; so were all
his lieutenants in Bulawayo.

He is now also said to be exploring the prospect of entering negotiations
with Zanu-PF which also has an extra seat in the Senate. There is only one
Zanu-PF deputy minister without a seat, Aguy Georgias who will presumably
take up one of the two Zanu-PF Senate seats.

Mutambara was also said to be exploring entering fresh negotiations with the
other party principals to expand Parliament to 315 members. Already
Parliament has been expanded by 11 more members to accommodate election
losers and hangers-on, expanding its size from 303 members to 314.

There were 210 members in the House of Assembly but there are 214, now while
the Senate has been increased from 93 members to 100 Senators.

Constitutional law expert Lovemore Madhuku said the law clearly states that
Sibanda has three months to regularise his legislative issues otherwise he
ceases to be a minister three months from the day he and other deputy
ministers took oath of office.

"He has to have his papers and formalisation process sorted out before the
end of three months or else he will lose his cabinet post," Madhuku said.

UNDP admits vehicles registered in its name were used to smuggle diamonds

http://www.insiderzim.com/march09undprrfinding.html

The United Nations Development Programme has finally admitted that vehicles
registered in its name were used to smuggle diamonds from River Ranch Mine
near Beitbridge into South Africa but claims that the vehicles were
fraudulently registered.
It does not say who fraudulently registered the vehicles -UNDP staff in
Harare, River Ranch Mine, or UNDP accredited staff seconded to the mining
company through African Management Services Company (AMSCO), a company that
the UNDP jointly owns with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and
the African Development Bank.

The revelation could have serious repercussions on the credibility of the
Kimberley Process Certification System (KPCS) -a system that was introduced
to stem the flow of "blood" and illicit diamonds into the world market-
because a KP team that visited the country in 2007 ruled that there was no
smuggling from River Ranch.

A Bulawayo-based mining company, Bubye Minerals, has insisted over the past
three years that UNDP registered vehicles were used to smuggle diamonds from
River Ranch Mine, which it claims it still owns, but the UNDP office in
Harare has flatly denied the allegations.

Bubye Minerals is involved in an ownership dispute with River Ranch Limited
which took over the mine in 2004. The mine was originally owned by Auridium
Zimbabwe - a company that was jointly owned by Australian and Canadian
investors- but it went into voluntary liquidation in 1998.

Bubye Minerals took over the mine through a Deed of Compromise in 1999, but
was kicked out by Saudi Arabian billionaire, Adel Aujan who Bubye had
invited to assist in buying out the foreign shareholders of Auridium. Aujan
invited Kupukile Resources, which is owned by former army commander Solomon
Mujuru and his business associate Tirivanhu Mudariki, to join him.

The UNDP says that three internal investigations it carried out cleared the
organisation of the smuggling allegations. A fourth investigation was
carried out by an independent expert, Frank Dutton, a former South African
police officer who founded the crack Scorpions unit. Dutton was hired by the
UNDP head office in New York in July last year to carry out a six month
investigation into the operations of the UNDP office in Harare. He completed
his report in January but the UNDP has refused to release the report.

"We do not share investigation reports, regardless of their outcome," it
says in a statement obtained through a Capitol Hill staffer. "This is -
among other things - to preserve the due process rights and the reputation
of a staff member who may have been accused of wrongdoing. Disclosure of
investigators' reports could result in irreparable harm to a person accused,
but against whom no subsequent disciplinary action may be warranted".

"UNDP has indeed investigated the accusation of collusion in diamond
smuggling in Zimbabwe," it said. "The allegations were found to be
unsubstantiated. On the particular accusation that UNDP vehicles were used
to smuggle diamonds, the investigation found that those vehicles were
fraudulently registered in the name of UNDP."

Bubye Minerals' lawyer Terrence Hussein said the statement by the UNDP,
which has been confirmed by another source, was a vindication of what Bubye
Minerals had complained about all along.

"We at no time ever said or complained that the UN as an organisation was
involved in diamond smuggling or was involved at the mine. Our complaint had
two issues: that UN registered vehicles were being used at the mine and that
UN accredited staff members were employed at the mine," he said. River Ranch
entered into an agreement with AMSCO in November 2004 under which AMSCO
seconded five managers to the mine including Aujan's personal assistant
George Kantsouris who was appointed the company's chief executive officer.
The other two known officers were Pradipta Susari who was the chief finance
officer and Lloyds Dass who was the chief security officer.

The Insider has not been able to establish who the other two officers were
as AMSCO has refused to disclose their names.

Under the agreement, the officers were supposed to offer technical services
to River Ranch with River Ranch paying their salaries and an administration
fee to AMSCO. The UNDP provided diplomatic accreditation to the officers.

Bubye's initial complaint was made to the Kimberley Process secretariat in
December 2006. The company also lodged complaints with the New York-based
World Diamond Council, the World Bank whichowns the IFC, the UNDP head
office in New York, United States ambassador to Zimbabwe at the time
Christopher Dell and then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. None of them
investigated the complaints apart from the UNDP office in Harare.

Bubye's complaint was that staff seconded to River Ranch, who had diplomatic
status, were using UNDP registered vehicles to smuggle diamonds from River
Ranch Diamond Mine to South Africa because they were not subject to search.

Bubye's major concern was that it was being prejudiced because River Ranch
was not supposed to sell any diamonds because of the ownership dispute
between the two. It therefore wanted the KP to make sure that River Ranch
was not selling any diamonds because it would lose revenue.

The company also dragged in the World Bank and the US government because
AMSCO, a company owned by the IFC and the UNDP and AfDB was funding a
business owned by Solomon Mujuru who is on the US sanctions list.

They also wondered why the UN was funding a business that was owned by a
billionaire when AMSCO was supposed to fund small and medium enterprises
owned by Africans. AMSCO had already been severely criticised for this, by a
British company, DFC, that was hired by the IFC to evaluate its operations
way before it entered into the agreement with River Ranch.

"AMSCO's client base included too many companies that appeared to have
little or no need for its services," the evaluation report said. "These
tended to be larger foreign-affiliated companies capable of finding their
own managers and likely to provide training on their own. Too many exhibited
a modest interest, if any, in the substantive services AMSCO provided and an
overwhelming interest in the financial benefits AMSCO confers, particularly
the tax exemptions."

Complaints by the directors of Bubye Minerals, Michael and Adele Farquhar,
were never addressed. Instead, the two were arrested and detained for
stripping the mine of its assets when a KP review team visited the country
in May 2007. They were acquitted of the charges last month.

In its report released nearly six months after its visit, the seven-member
KP team said it had not been offered any evidence of smuggling yet Bubye
Minerals had written the KP secretariat giving them the evidence five months
before the team's visit.

"The River Ranch mine has not exported any diamonds under the Kimberley
Process scheme, due to the legal dispute referred to above," the team said.
"Diamonds produced at the mine have been checked, weighed and sealed by MMCZ
(Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe) and are stockpiled in the River
Ranch safes."

On the use of UNDP registered vehicles, the report said: "Following up
reports received that vehicles allegedly registered with UNDP Number Plates
were involved in smuggling of rough diamonds from the River Ranch operation,
members of the review visit team held a meeting with the resident
representative of the UNDP, accompanied by officials from the UNDP as well
as a representative from the Zimbabwean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The
UNDP representative informed the team that he believes that the UNDP was
caught between the two factions that were locked in a legal dispute over
ownership of the mine."

The report said the factual link between the UNDP and the River Ranch
operation was that the World Bank and the UNDP had established a company
called AMSCO, which provided technical assistance to emerging companies in
Africa.

"In this regard, UNDP will also facilitate registration of employee permits
for the staff of AMSCO in Zimbabwe through the Zimbabwean authorities. If
the employee brings in a car, UNDP will also assist in obtaining Zimbabwean
license plates that are issued to employees from international governmental
organizations in Zimbabwe. Such license plates are white, with the Number
200, identifying the car as belonging to UNDP, UNDP-employees or
organizations under the UNDP.

"Regarding the allegations that a UNDP car could have been used for
smuggling purposes, the resident representative stated that their own
investigation showed that the number plates referred to in these allegations
did not belong to the UNDP but to another fund. The lawyer acting on behalf
of Bubye Minerals later denied having said that a UNDP vehicle was ever
involved," the report said.

Hussein raised a complaint with the KP secretariat and threatened to sue
individual members of the team over this statement saying he had never
retracted the allegations since they had been made by his clients and not by
him.

Only one of the three AMSCO seconded employees Padipta Susari was using a
UNDP registered vehicle, 200TCE664. This was even confirmed by the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs.

The Insider has however, established that two other vehicles which had
civilian number plates, AAQ9041 and AAQ9042 were registered in the name of
the UNDP.

AAQ9041, a Toyota Hilux ranchwagon was supposedly owned by UNDP but kept at
River Ranch Mine according to its registration book. AAQ9042 was a Toyota
Hilux Surf. It was also registered in the name of the UNDP and kept at
Beitbridge.

It is these two vehicles that were allegedly being used to smuggle diamonds
to South Africa hence the claim by the UNDP that they were fraudulently
registered.

AAQ9041 was reportedly stolen in South Africa on 26 October 2006, but there
is wide speculation that it was dumped to destroy evidence of smuggling.
South African police have confirmed that the vehicle was reported stolen and
their records show that it has not been recovered up to now.

The smuggling allegations are also supported by the findings in the KP
review team's report.

It said: "Not without effort, the mine has been brought back into operation
although an ownership conflict seems to prevent rapid improvement of the
decrepit state in which it finds itself today. Since June 2006 approximately
59 000ct has been produced that has been sealed in tamper resistant
containers by MMCZ valuators that estimate the average value at 30 US$/ct."

Bubye Minerals complained that this statement had two contradicting points.
One was that the mine was in a "decrepit state" and the other was that only
59 000 carats had been produced.

It said the mine could not be in a decrepit state because AMSCO chief
executive officer Ayisi Makatiani had said in a statement in March 2007 that
it had managed to turn the mine "into a commercially viable operation".
Makatiani also said the mine had been "fully operational since 20 June 2006
and employs some 300 people".

Bubye also disputed the quantity of diamonds that had allegedly been mined
arguing that River Ranch itself had pointed out that it was producing about
20 000 carats a month. At the time of the KP review team's visit the mine
had been in full production for almost a year.

Another issue was that though Makatiani said the mine had been fully
operational since June 2006, Kantsouris had told the state-owned Herald on
28 April 2006 that the mine was negotiating with the MMCZ, the authorised
KPCS agent, to sell 22 000 carats of diamonds worth US$1.5 million that it
was sitting on.

"In the concentrates currently being held at the mine, we estimate that
[there] could be about 22 000 carats of diamonds and we have a capacity to
produce at least 60 000 tonnes of ore per month from which we can extract
about 20 000 carats worth about US$1.4 million per month," Kantsouris said.

The mine manager, Munashe Shava was quoted in the Zimbabwe Independent on 12
January 2007 as saying that production was 80 000 tonnes of ore per month
but the company was planning to double that after settling the ownership
dispute.

Bubye Minerals argued that on the figures provided by River Ranch there
should have been at least 262 000 carats of diamonds in the River Ranch
safes when the KP review team visited and not just 59 000 carats.

"At a gross yield of 59 000 carats, their average grade is 6.14 ct per 100
tonnes. This is sub-economic and no rational company would continue to
operate at this level," Bubye argued.

The mine was said to have a capacity to produce 500 000 carats a year when
it was opened in 1995. It produced 474 134 carats in its first full year of
production in 1996. It produced 39 000 carats in January 1998 alone, a month
before it closed.

Posted- 17 March 2009

The last stand of Zimbabwe's white farmers

CHEGUTU, ZIMBABWE — James Etheredge relaxes on his patio and surveys a bucolic scene of green lawns and orchards, where a peaceful river sparkles in the sunshine. But slowly, as he talks of the violence and destruction that surround him, the pastoral landscape emerges as something very different: a war zone.

On the river behind him, calmly fishing now, are the farm invaders, young thugs who wear the T-shirts of a prominent member of the long-ruling ZANU-PF political party.

They set up their camp at the entrance gate, where they nailed their posters to the farm buildings. “Our Land, Our Sovereignty,” the posters say, bearing a large photo of President Robert Mugabe.

The thugs have repeatedly ordered Mr. Etheredge and his brother to surrender their 110-hectare citrus farm, one of the biggest in Zimbabwe with 6,000 tonnes of fruit waiting to be harvested this month. So far the young invaders have refrained from violence, but there is a menace in their presence.

James Etheredge talks with workers on his citrus farm, where invaders are preventing him from harvesting 6,000 tonnes of fruit. (Erin Conway-Smith for The Globe and Mail)

The assault on the citrus farm is just the latest in a fresh wave of invasions of the dwindling white-owned commercial farms in Zimbabwe, a last-ditch scramble for free land before the new coalition government can prohibit the practice. About 80 farms have been seized and at least 50 more are under siege, sparking a crisis inside the new government as Mr. Mugabe continues to defend the invasions.

“I'm not afraid,” Mr. Etheredge says, gazing at the young men who invaded his land. “I've told these guys, ‘If you come into my house, I will kill you.'”

He speaks of guns and death with the nonchalance of someone who has seen violence around him for years. “I killed a person in my house last March,” he shrugs.

He keeps his guns under his bed these days. Until last June, his arsenal was locked in a safe. Then a gang of young men, led by a powerful senator from the ZANU-PF government, drove onto the farm and threatened to kill the Etheredges if they refused to leave.

The gang looted the farm and stole everything they could haul away, including tractors, stoves, refrigerators, freezers, furniture and even the curtains on the windows. Using a jackhammer, they blasted through a thick wall into the safe and took 14 guns. When the Etheredges tried to recover some of their looted property, they were clubbed.

Later the Etheredges fired shots in the air to recover a stolen tractor, a small part of their $5-million investment. One of the invasion leaders was a soldier from a nearby military camp, they say. “If we had found him, we would have killed him,” James Etheredge says.

Three months earlier, he used a shotgun to kill a military-garbed man who had burst into his house at 3 a.m. The man killed one of his guards and struck his wife with a gun before he was shot dead, the farmer says.

The killing took place with one of his two young children watching. “They've been through a hell of a lot,” he says. “I just tell them we have to be careful because of the bad people.”

Nine years ago, Zimbabwe had about 4,300 white-owned commercial farms. Today only about 300 remain, and many are reduced to small plots of land. Many of the invaded farms are sitting idle or neglected despite a desperate need for food in Zimbabwe, where three-quarters of the population is dependent on food aid from foreign donors.

Largely because of the invasions, Zimbabwe's farm output has dropped by 50 to 70 per cent in the past seven years, and most people subsist on one meal a day.

After reaching a peak of brutal violence during the national election last June, the invasions stopped for a while. But in recent weeks they have accelerated again.

Senate president Edna Madzongwe has been targeting the Etheredge farm for the past two years, though she is believed to have four other farms already in her possession. She visits the farm almost every day, accompanied by gangs of young men who tell the 50 farm workers that they must work for her now. After one confrontation last month, the police filed an attempted murder charge against Mr. Etheredge's brother for allegedly trying to run over an invader with his car, a charge they deny.

The farm workers are deeply worried by the senator's attempt to seize the citrus farm. “When the oranges are gone, she will move on and leave us stranded,” says Fillipo Banda, the oldest of the employees. He doesn't know his age, but farm records show that he has been employed there for 58 years. “If these disturbances continue, I won't be able to feed my family,” he says.

The workers remember that the senator paid them nothing when she seized the farm for two weeks last year. “If Edna comes, we'll die of hunger,” says Lodi Jizara, a tractor driver on the farm.

The Etheredges and other farmers have managed to hold off the invaders – for now, at least – by taking legal action to defend their land. They even persuaded a tribunal of African judges to issue a ruling in their favour. The judges – from the 15-nation Southern African Development Community, which includes Zimbabwe – ruled that the invasions were racially discriminatory and a breach of the community's rule-of-law guarantees, since the farmers were denied any compensation or judicial hearings.

Mr. Mugabe reacted furiously, saying the tribunal's decision was “absolute nonsense.” He vowed to force out the white farmers, using a derogatory word for whites in the Shona language. “They must vacate those farms, they must vacate those farms, they must vacate those farms,” he thundered in a speech at the celebration of his 85th birthday last month.

The farmers have tried unsuccessfully to persuade Zimbabwe's courts to respect the tribunal's ruling. Most Zimbabwean judges are ZANU-PF loyalists, and many have been rewarded with seized farmland.

At a dairy operation near the Etheredge place, a group of armed men are in control of the property, and the farmer has fled. “He will be allowed back to collect his belongings,” says a young man carrying a shotgun. Then, showing some unease about the challenge ahead, the gunman asks a visitor whether he thinks the farmer might be willing to return as a “partner” to show them how to run the dairy operation.

Another nearby 1,200-hectare farm is owned by Ben Freeth and his father-in-law Mike Campbell, who were savagely beaten with rifle butts in an invasion last June.

“I can still feel the hole in my skull,” says Mr. Freeth, touching the 15-centimetre fracture on his skull. His ribs were broken, and he still he has no sense of smell as a result of brain damage from the assault.

“I've been beaten up quite a few times, but it's never stopped me,” he says. “We said, ‘If you want to take this farm, you must do it legally.' We've been protecting ourselves through the courts. But it's a full-time occupation, just to stay on the farm.”

Three weeks ago, Mr. Freeth and Mr. Campbell were served with a “Notice to Cease Cropping” by a local official who ordered them to “pave way for the new beneficiaries.” A few days later, gangs of young men arrived on the farm.

“In a country that's starving, we've been ordered to stop farming,” Mr. Freeth says incredulously. “It's a nightmare trying to operate in these conditions. They've destroyed agriculture in this country.”

Of the 30 white farmers in the Chegutu area, only about five are still on the land, he said.

“Most of them are on the run, so the police don't find them.… This is ethnic cleansing, so that Mugabe can intimidate the population in the next election. He wants to get rid of the last white farmers.”

A letter from the diaspora

http://www.cathybuckle.com

20th March 2009

Dear Friends.
The British media went into a tailspin this week when the unemployment
figures for the UK were announced: over 2 million people are now without
jobs. Most of the job losses have been in the retail sector and boarded-up
shop fronts are now a common sight in towns and cities around the country.
Hardly a day goes past without companies closing down or announcing layoffs.
Car manufacturing has been massively affected and towns whose economies
depended on the car industry are badly hit. Is it recession or is it
depression, the economists ask, but it hardly matters to the two million
people without jobs, unable to pay their mortgages; house repossessions have
become another painful feature of the recession. The Bank of England has
resorted to printing money - you can imagine how Zimbabweans in the diaspora
chuckled when we heard that! Here it's called 'Quantitative easing' and is
intended, so the economists tell us, to ease the economy by using the newly
created money to buy assets from banks and other financial institutions; in
effect, to inject more cash into the economy so that the sellers of assets
have cash to spend on goods and services. That's the theory anyway but for
ordinary folk it means very little.
But the truth is that no one in the UK will starve in this
recession/depression. The state pays Job Allowances and sends you on courses
to retrain for a new job, if you can find one; if you get sick there is free
medical treatment and your children can still go to school - no school fees,
of course, and eligible children can still get free school meals.

It's a world away from the poverty we know in Africa and Zimbabwe in
particular but the recession that is being experienced in the developed
world has direct relevance to Africa and the developing world. African
leaders met with Gordon Brown in London this week ahead of the G20 summit
next month. The BBC's International Development correspondent reports that
Brown was warned that the possibility of conflict and unrest breaking out
all over the continent was a very real one if the African economic downturn
continues. (No one mentioned Zimbabwe of course, that's a basket case in a
class of its own.) In Zambia half a million have lost their jobs in the
copper mines; the halving of the cotton prices have resulted in farmers
losing their livelihoods in Tanzania and the drastic reduction of receipts
from tourism has led to a severe drop in foreign revenues across Africa. As
the recession bites in the west, African migrants have less disposable
income to remit to their families at home. The point was repeatedly made by
the African leaders that it is in the west's own interest to ensure that
Africa does not descend into conflict; as Liberian President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf said, it makes sense for the richer countries in the world to fund
the poorest since it would cost much less now than paying for peacekeeping
operations later. It is not going to be easy to persuade the west of the
force of President Johnson Sirleaf's argument. The commitments made to
Africa at the Gleneagles summit in 2005 have still not been fulfilled so it
seems unlikely that western financial institutions and banks will be willing
to honour their pledges now.

All of this makes very dismal reading for Zimbabwe; the Inclusive Government
is hardly likely to attract any substantial investment even from sympathetic
countries while the old regime still holds the reigns of power. The picture
painted by Tendai Biti in his 'Reality Budget' this week is truly grim. It
seems that Government revenue is sustained by the excise duty on cigarettes
and beer; there is no production going on in the country and 94% of the
population is unemployed. Even as Biti spoke the devastation of the
agricultural sector continued unabated, often with the direct collusion of
the ZRP and the army. Biti calculated that government revenue would be 1
billion but expenditure would top 1.9 billion. It doesn't need an economist
to work out what every householder knows; we must live within our means. The
greed and profligacy that led to the west's economic collapse is, sadly,
already a feature of the new Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe. With a hugely
bloated cabinet and ministers and deputies all being allocated brand new
Mercedes, not to mention all the other perks, it is hardly surprising that
critics are voicing their alarm that the MDC is no better than Zanu PF at
resisting the patronage that is so freely coming their way. To paraphrase
the prophetic words of the great African writer, Chinua Achebe, when people
have been out in the rain and the cold for so long, they are reluctant to
share the warmth and comfort of the cave with others when they finally get
out of the rain. When asked by a reporter how he could justify driving
around in a Mercedes, one MDC Minister replied that it was what the people
expected of him, without such a status symbol, he would not have the
people's respect! Such twisted logic does not suggest that Tendai Biti's
'Reality Budget' is being taken seriously by the Ministers so newly come in
'out of the rain.'

The 'reality' of Biti's revised emergency budget is that Zimbabwe is broke,
there is no money and little prospect of western donors bailing out the
government. The Education Minister admitted as much when he told the
teachers that he cannot even guarantee their March salaries. "We'll give you
fourteen days to increase our pay
(from US$ 100 currently being paid to all civil servants) or we go back to
the trenches" stormed Raymond Majongwe, the PTUZ boss. What this means is
that children who have had almost no schooling in 2008 and a severely
curtailed first term in 2009 face the prospect of a second term without
teachers. Exam results, due out shortly, will surely reflect the disastrous
effect all this disruption has had on children's lives. The children are the
innocent victims of Zanu PF's politicisation of education; it is not
surprising that the MDC were given the education portfolio and the job of
cleaning up Zanu PF's mess! Money is a big part of the solution but it is
also part of the problem. Teachers rightly claim that they cannot survive on
$US 100 a month but they should remember that hundreds of thousands of their
fellow citizens have no jobs at all. Without education now for thousands of
Zimbabwean children, the danger is that they too will join the ranks of the
unemployed, ten years from now. Getting our children back to school must be
a priority if Zimbabwe is ever to regain its status as the best-educated
workforce in Africa. Greed and self-interest - from whatever side of the
political divide - must be set aside for the greater good of the country.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH

JAG open letter forum - No. 611 - Dated 19 March 2009

Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw

Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the subject
line.

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

1. Shocking legacy

2. Heartbreaking to read

3. Farm seizures should cease

4. Our abilities

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

http://www.moneyweb.co.za

Shocking legacy

It's very early days and a mountain of decay, corruption and plain
thievery stands in the path but the feeling of hope continues to grow.

Cathy Buckle*

18 March 2009 00:51

Its been a month now since Zimbabwe's unity government took office and
this seems an appropriate point to record the changes that are affecting
everyday life.

The economy is now running completely on US dollars and the prices of
most goods are still two, three or sometimes even four times more
expensive than in our neighbouring countries. But, on the positive side,
more and more shops have got products back on their shelves so at least
now we can find food - even if we can't afford most of it! Basic economic
rules of supply and demand and competition are coming back into play and
forcing the outrageous profiteers to back down. Seeing shelves stocked
with food is such a shock that we still stand and stare wide-eyed at the
sight of tins and packets and bottles. For such a long time we've been
scavenging, scrounging, bartering and just going without that seeing food
for sale again makes us realize the terrible abuse that was inflicted
upon us by the previous leadership.

Another positive development has come for civil servants who have begun
receiving a small monthly salary in US dollars, and a top up in Zimbabwe
dollars. Frankly the top up in Zim dollars is a waste of time and utterly
useless as there is nothing at all that you can buy in local currency -
not even a single banana or cup of ground nuts from a woman on the
roadside. The US dollar amounts being paid to civil servants is nowhere
near enough, is not linked to people's qualifications and is not
comparable to salaries being paid for the same work in the region, but it
is a start.

I had to visit a Police station recently and seeing the appalling
circumstances under which these men and women have to work is truly
shocking. Ceilings falling in, broken tables, chairs collapsing and
without backs, no stationery, nowhere for people to sit, doors falling
out of their frames, roadways almost unusable because of deep gullies and
potholes. This situation is similar in almost all government buildings
and is another shocking legacy left by the previous leadership.

In the last month utilities, licences and other urban service fees have
gone through the roof and despite our paying in US dollars no changes are
yet noticeable on the ground. Garbage is still not being collected (its
been a year now) roads are a maze of deep potholes, street lights still
don't work and sewage continues to run openly in some streets. Water and
waste management is in a perilous place and the handing back of assets,
tools, chemicals and other equipment by ZINWA (controlled by government)
to the local municipalities has opened a writhing can of worms. Water
pumps have gone missing, chemicals have vanished and assets which
actually belong to the ratepayers, have simply disappeared. We are told
by the incoming MDC officials that legal action is being taken and that
people will be held to account. This promise is a breath of fresh air but
actions speak louder than words!

It's very early days and a mountain of decay, corruption and plain
thievery stands in the path but the feeling of hope continues to grow.
Change must come from the top, the middle and the bottom; we're ready at
the bottom!

(C)Copyright cathy buckle 16th March 2009

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

Dear JAG,

It is heartbreaking to read in the JAG updates the accounts of what has
happened to Rob Taylor and on Stockdale Citrus Estates.  These accounts
seem horribly familiar. It is a clear indictment of Mbeki's
`quiet diplomacy', and much else,  that the campaign of
eviction of commercial farmers by ZANU, endorsed by Mugabe and the
Zimbabwean Police,  through the same old methods of intimidation and
violence, is now into its ninth year.

The release of the admirable and courageous Roy Bennet is clearly welcome
news.  But the broader picture is surely as dark as it has even been for
the wider commercial farming community of those evicted and those still
clinging on to their farms . For back in 2000 and in the years that
followed there was the clear hope that the MDC would sooner or later
attain power, would restore the rule of law, and would set about a proper
land reform policy that had the integrity to win the support, financial
as well as moral, of the international community. Now that the MDC has
endorsed Fast Track , or at the very least accepted its
`irreversibility', in its  power-sharing agreement with ZANU,
it is hard to know where to turn. Rob Gass's perceptive letter
(Open Letter Forum 15 March) seems to me to be quite right - of
course Zimbabwe needs international help to re-float the economy. But
why, as Mr Gass notes,  should any donor put its hand in its pocket when
good faith is so patently lacking?  And when, I would add, every day we
see further news coverage of the demolition of the agricultural means of
production  by a ramshackle political bulldozer whose  passage of
destruction to date has now been accepted as a fait accompli across the
Zimbabwean political spectrum?

We must hope, request, perhaps even demand  that if and when that
International Community, itself strapped for cash, does invest in
Zimbabwe its conditions for doing so include a recognition of the
monstrous injustice and folly of Fast Track, recompense for commercial
farmers, their work-forces and for those formerly employed in other
business destroyed by Fast Track, and a means whereby Zimbabwe may draw
again upon its rich, but now scattered, reserves of commercial farming
expertise.

Lance Stringham

Canada

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

Dear JAG,

Events that have been taking place in farms are a cause for concern.
Farming activities are being disturbed, thereby not guaranteeing the
nation of food security this year. We have lost a thousand of united
states dollars for instance at Stockdale Citrus Estate where a greedy
Madzongwe wants to loot what the Etheredges have worked for.

It is a cause for concern when the people who are supposed to uphold the
constitution are the ones who are violating it.ZFTU under the guidance of
the ideologically bankrupt Chinotimba supports an insane thing by
Madzongwe.

The government is silent about this, we then doubt if MDC is in a
position to restore sanity. Eddie Cross writes an article complaining
about farm invasions when he is one of the top brass in MDC, does it mean
they do not have power?

The civil society is silent about the farm invasions. Are members of the
civil society also being racist? We have heard NCA and other
organizations making noise when the constitution is violated. Why are
they silent now? It is the duty of every Zimbabwean to fight racism. The
whites are fellow Zimbabweans, why then seize their properties? ZANU-PF
in the early stages of land seizures argued that they want to restore
wealth balance but this is disempowering the whites.

Why are you silent about these unfair practices by Mugabe and his allies.

The rule of law is not present in this country, if we are to succeed we
have to restore it. If the government continues with its silence towards
this evil practice, there is no option rather than to petition the donor
and investor community to continue blacklisting the country. If nothing
comes out it is better for MDC to step out of the government since
ZANU-PF will not be honoring MDC as an equal partner to the inclusive
government.

ZCTU why are you being silent when fellow workers are losing their jobs?

Land seizures disadvantages farm workers as they will be displaced,
disturbances in income,disturbances in the education of the students
among other things. ZINASU,WOZA,SCMZ among other organizations also need
to be involved in the fight to eradicate farm seizures. The Prime
Minister announced that farm seizures should cease, however it is
persisting. We can actually see that ZANU-PF is not willing to work
together with MDC.

The duty lies with the people of Zimbabwe to ensure that ZANU-PF honors
the constitution. Let us organize ourselves as the people of Zimbabwe we
are ready to die fighting against oppression by fellow countrymen.
Oppression will always remain oppression no matter who has done it.
ZANU-PF is declaring war against the people of Zimbabwe, we should not
hesitate to wage a war against them.

Regards

Grant Tabvurei

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

Dear Jag

Everyone says one of our biggest attributes is the ability to "Make a
Plan"

but I think having a sense of humour is at least as important, or a close
second.  This letter was a perfect example!

Best wishes and thank you for keeping us informed and helping keep our
morale up.

Colleen Taylor

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

All letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for Agriculture.