Reuters
Wed Mar 21,
2007 9:03AM GMT
By Irene Hoas
WINDHOEK (Reuters) - Zambian President
Levy Mwanawasa urged southern Africa
to take a new approach to Zimbabwe,
which he likened to a "sinking Titanic"
as millions flee economic and
political turmoil.
In one of the strongest African comments on Zimbabwe's
political and
economic crisis, Mwanawasa said the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) had failed to achieve much in negotiations with
Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe.
"Quiet diplomacy has failed to
help solve the political chaos and economic
meltdown in Zimbabwe," Mwanawasa
said late on Monday in neighbouring
Namibia.
"As I speak right now, one
SADC country has sunk into such economic
difficulties that it may be likened
to a sinking Titanic whose passengers
are jumping out in a bid to save their
lives."
Zambian government newspapers said Mwanawasa had suggested SADC
"would soon
take a stand" on Zimbabwe.
(Additional reporting by Shapi
Shacinda in Lusaka)
Itai Manyeruke, a member of
the opposition, Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) died after being
abducted and severely beaten up by the police on the
11th of March
2007.
Manyeruke, who was abducted in Highfields during the Save Zimbabwe
Campaign
prayer rally, died on the 12th of March 2007, he was 30 years old.
According
to reports, after the police realized that they had murdered a
citizen, they
stashed his body at Harare Hospital mortuary. No notification
was given to
relatives and friends and the body was only discovered on the
20th of March
after Manyeruke's relatives hunted for it.
A
post-mortem report revealed that the deceased suffered a painful death,
sustaining many fractures on his spinal cord. He will be buried in Buhera
today with his father, a general hand at Swift, footing all the bills since
Manyeruke's funeral policy only caters for burial in Harare.
This
brutal murder brings to two the total number of MDC activists slain
since
the Save Zimbabwe rally. Gift Tandare was shot dead during a run in
with the
police in Highfields on the 11th of March 2007.
CHRA stages successful
march
150 members of the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
staged a
successful march to the townhouse yesterday, 20 March
2007.
The marchers were protesting against the continued disregard of a
High Court
order by Minister of Local Governance, Ignatius Chombo. On the
2nd of March
2007, in the case of Nomsa Chideya versus the City of Harare,
Justice
Kamocha ruled that the commission running the City of Harare is
illegal.
However, Chombo and the Commission's Chairperson, Sekesai
Makwavarara
continue to defy the ruling.
In addition, they were
marching against the continued looting of resources
by the illegal
commission. The march took off at the footbridge along Julius
Nyerere road
to the Town House. On arrival at the destination, municipal
police attempted
to thwart the protest but failed, as the protestors were
too many. They
however dispersed after the arrival of riot police.
No arrests were
made.
CIO after ZCTU district chairman
Jacob Magombedze, the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) chairman for
Kariba district has
been summoned by members of the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO)
ahead of the April 4 and 5 mass stay away being organized
by labour unions
countrywide.
Magombedze is being accused of distributing fliers allegedly
containing
subversive information. The interrogation of Magombedze comes in
the wake of
the arrest of ZCTU activists in Karoi for distributing fliers
urging workers
to take heed of the ZCTU calls for a stay away.
The Spectator
Rod
Liddle
If you are thinking of taking your summer holiday abroad this
year and have
not yet alighted upon a suitable destination, then why not
bear Zimbabwe in
mind?
It looks increasingly likely that Robert
Mugabe will not be President for
very much longer. Instead they'll have
someone else in charge. The general
rule for African countries is that when
some obscene, homicidal and
incompetent tyrant is at last somehow
overthrown, the civilised world
breathes a sigh of relief and the new regime
is, for a while, garlanded in
roses. Suddenly, from being a basket case, the
country is referred to by the
international relief agencies, the NGOs and
Western politicians as 'the one
bright spot in Africa', because the incoming
tyrant has announced that they
will get the economy back up and running,
stamp out corruption and maybe
hold an election or two in a few years' time.
The aid pours in and so does
the goodwill. And then, after a bit, everybody
begins to realise that the
new boss is just as bad - if not actually many
times worse - than the old
boss. The economy is buoyed for a bit by the aid
and the goodwill and the
new climate of hope and optimism, but then it is
noticed that the corruption
has got a bit worse. Those promised elections
never actually come about - or
if they do take place, stuff happens during
them which you tend not to see
during elections in the UK, like shootings,
the police beating up opposition
supporters and ballot boxes being stuffed
or burned. Within a short while -
it can vary from between three or four
months to three or four years - the
phrase 'basket case' is being mouthed
again and Western governments begin
shaking their heads and thinking about
sanctions.
This has happened in almost every African country over the
past 50 years. We
forget how happy we all were when Milton Obote replaced
the ludicrous Idi
Amin in Uganda back in 1979. It didn't take long for the
incompetent,
psychopathic Milt to outdo the incompetent, psychopathic Idi,
though. When
Milt was eventually replaced by Yoweri Museveni, Uganda found
itself hailed
once again as Africa's One Bright Spot. But just for a bit.
Similarly
Tanzania, Angola, Ethiopia, Zambia, Ghana and so on, ad infinitum.
Surely,
we all thought to ourselves, the Central African Republic (or,
briefly,
'Empire') could not find itself a leader as murderous and unhinged
as
Emperor Bokassa, with his 17 wives, proclaimed status as the 13th apostle
of
Jesus Christ, reputed taste for human flesh and sponsorship of mass
killings
and torture within which he was, apparently, a commendably vigorous
personal
participant? Well, let's see how François Bozizé goes down in
history. I
would direct you to the Amnesty website for the full details of
François's
round-up of opponents, mass detentions and murderous war against
his own
citizens. These days, people flee the CAR to find refuge in Chad.
Imagine
how utterly desolate your own country must be if Chad, with its
despotic
president, its staggering poverty, its chaos and violence, seems a
better
bet. Never happened in good ol' Bokassa's day, even if he did have a
penchant for eating people.
So spend your summer in Zimbabwe, then -
because I reckon that by late July,
Mugabe may well be gone and Zimbabwe
will be the latest recipient of that
brief adornment: 'Africa's One Bright
Spot'. There will be hope and optimism
in the air, outside of the country at
least. Perhaps the new government will
be headed by Morgan Tsvangirai from
one splinter of the Movement for
Democratic Change - in which case, keep
your return air ticket about you at
all times. I know one or two Zimbabwean
dissidents who view Mr Tsvangirai
with the same level of contempt and
mistrust with which they view big Bob
himself. Or, who knows, perhaps it
will be that other, smaller, less
powerful splinter of the MDC which accedes
to power - led by Arthur
Mutambara, who has rejected international economic
sanctions against Mugabe's
Zimbabwe and is scarcely more kindly disposed
towards the country's
persecuted white farmers than Bob himself. Mutambara's
predecessor, the
excitingly named Welshman Ncube, was actually a cheerful
recipient of the
land-grab himself. Mutambara and Tsvangirai do not get on
very well. I
predict arrests, one way or the other, a little while after the
hiatus.
The last time Zimbabwe received the One Bright Spot in Africa
award was late
in 1979, when Zanu's youngish Robert Mugabe, dressed in one
of those very
smart and very post-Marxist safari suits beloved of leftish
Third World
dictators back then, won the election we had fixed for him after
the
Lancaster House agreement - a carve-up presided over by the noble Lord
Carrington. An election designed to shaft the moderate challenger, Abel
Muzorewa. But still, we all thought at the time, anything - absolutely
anything - must be better than the ghastly, racist Ian Smith. In the 1990s,
when I worked at the Today programme, we used to interview Mr Smith from
time to time. How he got through his allotted three minutes without saying
'Told you so, you mugs' is quite beyond me.
Anyway, within three
years Mugabe had done for his chief rival, the 'cobra
in the house', Joshua
Nkomo, who fled to London. The country was cheerfully
set on its path to a
one-party state which, Mugabe averred, was not merely
the Marxist way, but
also the African way. Have to say, he's dead right
about that, at least. All
hail the African way!
It is perhaps also the African way to endure
inflation of a quite remarkable
1,730 per cent and have foreign ambassadors
arbitrarily summoned to be told
that they will be kicked out of the country
if Bob thinks they are aiding
the opposition movements in any way. And to
have the opposition leaders,
including Morgan Tsvangirai, arrested and
beaten up when they are holding a
prayer meeting. Beaten up by the famous
(in Zimbabwe, at least) 'Fifth
Brigade' police, trained by those paragons of
participatory democracy, the
North Koreans. All of this stuff - the
ambassadors, the record inflation
level, the attack upon the opposition
leaders - occurred within the space
of just one week.
There is not
space here to detail all of the rest of the 27-year misery of
Mugabe's
increasingly vicious and mind-numbingly incompetent rule - just
time to
remind ourselves of the headlines. A country whose population is
starving
and intimidated, where Aids is prevalent in nearly one quarter of
the
population, where the life expectancy is now below 40 years of age. And
all
of this in a country which is wonderfully fertile and should be rich, or
at
least comparatively rich. The African way, then.
It will not surprise you
one bit to learn that Robert Mugabe still has the
fervent support of the
leadership of his neighbouring countries and, in
particular, of South
Africa. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a palpably decent man,
is about the only
black politician left in South Africa to question the ANC's
unyielding
support for the useless and violent Zimbabwean regime and he is
howled down
whenever he raises his head above the parapet (as he did once
again this
week). South Africa, of course, holds the record as holder of the
Bright
Spot In Africa award, despite its exponentially rapid descent -
economically, socially, democratically - over the last half-dozen years.
Virtually all of the African countries, though, are prepared to throw their
weight behind Mugabe - Tanzania, Angola and good old Ethiopia have done so
in the last week.
And you can see why they would do so: when Mugabe
sticks two fingers up to
the West, he is reinforcing that crucial African
shibboleth, the central
plank upon which every African country depends -
that it is not their fault
that inflation is 1,730 per cent, or that people
are starving or being
murdered - it is somehow ours. Legacy of colonialism,
etc. And the slave
trade, come to that. Zimbabwe is the way Zimbabwe is not
because of
appalling governance, or because of a ruthless black predatory
elite, but
because European powers once owned the place. If you're an
African dictator,
you can't diss Mugabe because that would imply that your
own country - more
than 50 per cent dependent on overseas aid, corrupt,
tyrannical and with a
population who can expect to live to about 45 at best
- is also to blame for
its own benighted state.
Still, Mugabe should
soon be gone. And then, as I say, we will have someone
else. Hard to imagine
anybody could be worse than Bob, isn't it? Things must
get better,
surely?
Monsters and Critics
Mar 21, 2007, 8:51 GMT
Harare - A spokesman
for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has
undergone an eye operation
after he was brutally beaten by suspected state
agents on Sunday, reports
said Wednesday.
Nelson Chamisa had an eye operation on Tuesday morning at
Harare's Avenues
Clinic, the official Herald reported.
'I had an eye
operation this morning (Tuesday) and preliminary indications
show that it
was severely damaged. Right now doctors are observing my
fractured skull,'
Chamisa told the Herald.
He said he was in great pain.
Relations
between the opposition and President Robert Mugabe's government
are at their
lowest ever ebb following an attack on MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and a
number of his colleagues - including Chamisa - at an
aborted prayer rally on
March 11.
The MDC believes Chamisa was set upon by state agents as he
tried to board a
plane Sunday morning to Brussels for an ACP/EU joint
parliamentary assembly
meeting.
But police say the attackers are
mysterious, according to the Herald.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena
said the police had taken pictures of the
badly assaulted Chamisa, which
they would use in their investigations.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche
Presse-Agentur
LibDems
21 March 2007
The Liberal Democrats today attacked
the Government's confusion over its
stance on Zimbabwe, with apparently
contradictory approaches being taken by
Margaret Beckett, Tony Blair and the
British Ambassador in New York.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Foreign
Secretary, Michael Moore MP said:
"British diplomacy is in a mess and
risks letting Robert Mugabe off the
hook. In New York the British ambassador
has been leading the charge to have
matters discussed in the Security
Council. In Parliament yesterday, the
Foreign Secretary appeared unaware of
this and said she preferred to put
matters to the UN Human Rights
Council.
"The Government's uncertainty will only allow Mugabe and those
countries
which protect his regime to escape international reproach and the
Prime
Minister's comments today have only added to the confusion on this
issue.
"The Foreign Secretary must provide an urgent clarification - does
the
Government want this issue discussed at the Security Council or
not?
"The situation in Zimbabwe is serious enough to warrant not only
discussions
at the Security Council, but the adoption of a resolution which
contains
sanctions that target this tyrannical regime.
"Zimbabwe has
reached a crossroads. The Government must not let such a vital
opportunity
slip through its fingers due to diplomatic confusion."
Fin24
21/03/2007 10:44 Harare -
Zimbabwe's central
bank governor has threatened a crackdown on fuel dealers
for hiking prices
by up to 200% recently in the face of growing shortages, a
media report said
on Wednesday.
"Service stations have really made life
unbearable for us now," Gideon Gono
is quoted by the state-run Herald
newspaper as saying.
"As governor, I will not sit and read stories and
hear reports of people
being ripped off. Service stations should either
behave or ship out. The law
will take its course shortly. We have no
sympathy for them."
Fuel prices in the beleaguered southern African
country have rocketed in the
last fortnight amid fresh shortages on the back
of spiking inflation and a
devalued currency.
Urban and long distance
transporters have put up their fares by at least
150%, and petrol is now
sold at garages for Zim$13 000 compared to Z$2 000
in January.
Diesel
costs Z$15 000 a litre.
Although the official price of petrol and diesel
is pegged at Z$335 and
Z$320 respectively, no service station is selling at
that price as it is not
viable.
"The spirit of profiteering in this
country is now as deadly as the
disease(HIV/AIDS)," Gono
said.
According to central bank figures, Zimbabwe requires 730 million
litres of
petrol and 900 million litres of diesel annually to operate at
full
capacity.
The country has faced serious fuel shortages since
1999, which the
government blames on sanctions imposed on President Robert
Mugabe and
members of his inner circle at the time.
At the worst, gas
stations went without fuel for months on end, buses and
private cars were
forced off the road and commuters had to walk or cycle to
work.
Since
controversial land reforms saw properties taken from white farmers for
redistribution among landless blacks several years ago, sparking an economic
downturn, inflation in Zimbabwe now stands at 1 730% and unemployment at
80%.
Mugabe recently launched a violent crackdown on leaders of the
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change.
Sunday Times, SA
21 march
2007
By Donwald Pressly
An urgent letter of appeal to Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe regarding
the deteriorating situation of freedom of
expression in Zimbabwe has been
sent by Advocate Pansy Tlakula, a statement
from her office said.
Tlakula, who is head of South Africa's
Independent Electoral Commission
(IEC), wrote the letter in her capacity as
special rapporteur on freedom of
expression of the African Commission on
Human and People's Rights.
Tlakula sent the letter following a
complaint that she received from the
Media Institute of Southern Africa
(Misa) while visiting Zimbabwe at the end
of last week.
The
complaint relates to the assault, unlawful detention, harassment and
detention of a number of journalists and media practitioners, a statement
from her office said.
According to the complaint journalists
Tsvangirai Mukwazhi and Tendai Musiyu
were severely assaulted by the police
following their arrest on March 11
when the police disrupted a national
prayer day in Highfield that had been
organised under the auspices of the
Save Zimbabwe Campaign.
The statement noted that it was "of great
concern" that Mukwazhi's
whereabouts remained unknown until his appearance
in court on March 13 as
the police withheld information about his
whereabouts to his lawyers who
were denied access to the detained
journalists.
The two journalists were subsequently taken to hospital
for treatment
following the assaults.
To date they have not been
formally charged despite having spent 48 hours in
police
custody.
Tlakula said: "I actually met Tsvangirai Mukwazhi during my
visit and I saw
with my own eyes the serious injuries he sustained on his
back during the
beating by the police. Not only was he in pain but was also
traumatised by
the experience. His eyes were full of tears as he was
narrating to me the
incidents of the March 11. His car, equipment and laptop
were also
confiscated by the police."
Tlakula said she also
brought to Mugabe's attention the complaints of three
other journalists who
were arrested last year whilst conducting their lawful
duties as
journalists.
She has called upon the Zimbabwe president "to respect
the rights enshrined
in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to
which Zimbabwe is a
State Party, in particular Article 9 of the Charter
which guarantees every
individual's right to receive information and express
and disseminate their
opinions within the law and the Declaration of
Principles of Freedom of
Expression in Africa which states that 'freedom of
expression and
information, including the right to seek, receive and impart
information and
ideas, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of
art, or through
any other form of communication, including across frontiers,
is a
fundamental and inalienable human right and an indispensable component
of
democracy'".
Tlakula has called upon Mugabe to ensure that his
government upheld the rule
of law and desisted from wanton arrest and
torture of journalists.
"There seem to be a consistent and worrying
trend developing in some parts
of the continent where Freedom of Expression
is under attack. Initially this
attack used to take the form of either undue
restriction or outright ban of
private media establishments in
particular.
"Recently we are seeing an increase in the incidents of
arrests, unlawful
detention, assault, harassment, disappearances, death in
detention and
murder of journalists and media practitioners in countries
that are member
states to the African Charter on Human and Peoples'
Rights.
"These heinous acts are sadly perpetrated against journalists
while
conducting their lawful duties. The Gambia, Eritrea and Zimbabwe are a
few
cases in point."
I-Net Bridge
The Times of Zambia
(Ndola)
March 21, 2007
Posted to the web March 21,
2007
Lusaka
THE Southern African Development Community (SADC) will
soon state its
position regarding the current political and economic
developments in
Zimbabwe, President Mwanawasa has said.
Speaking to
journalists at the Lusaka International Airport yesterday before
his
departure for Namibia, President Mwanawasa said foreign ministers from
SADC
countries would soon meet to make a stand over Zimbabwe.
President
Mwanawasa said he had received a report from Zambia's High
Commissioner to
Zimbabwe, Sheila Siwela, about the recent political
developments in that
country but could not disclose the contents.
"The ministers of foreign
affairs in the SADC region will in a few days time
meet over this matter,"
Mr Mwanawasa said.
Recently, President Mwanawasa expressed his concern at
the happenings in
Zimbabwe where opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai and
his colleagues were
allegedly assaulted and detained by state
police.
Meanwhile, Mr Mwanawasa hailed the sound relations that exist
between Zambia
and Namibia.
He said Zambia and Namibia shared a lot
in common and was happy that he had
been invited to grace that country's
independence celebrations.
The President said he would extend his visit
by three days in order to
exchange beneficial talks with his Namibian
counterpart.
"We have a lot to discuss with Namibia, because we are
collaborating in
agriculture where we have a joint venture which we are
studying. I hope we
can implement it some time this year in August," the
President said.
Grace Kasungami reports from Windhoek that President
Mwanawasa arrived in
Namibian to a thunderous welcome.
First Lady,
Maureen Mwanawasa, Mines and Minerals Minister, Kalombo Mwansa
and other
senior Government officials are accompanying Mr Mwanawasa who is
on a
four-day state visit.
Host President Hifikepunye Pohamba, First Lady
Penehupifo, Prime Minister,
Nahas Angula, his deputy, Dr Libertina Amathila,
Namibian cabinet ministers
and members of the diplomatic corps accredited
tohu Namibia, were on hand to
receive President Mwanawasa.
An advance
delegation comprising Home Affairs Minister, Ronnie Shikapwasha,
Transport
and Communications Minister, Peter Daka, Gender Minister Sara
Sayifwanda and
other senior Government officials were also at the airport to
receive Mr
Mwanawasa.
The welcome party at Hosea Kutako International Airport also
included
Zambia's High Commissioner to Namibia Griffin Nyirongo, Zambian
mission
staff, MMD cadres and scores of Zambian students from various
learning
institutions in Namibia.
President Mwanawasa's plane touched
down at 12:05 hours amid songs and
dances from various Namibian cultural
dance groups.
Mr Mwanawasa was treated to a 21-gun salute that ran
concurrently with the
Zambian and Namibian national anthems.
Chris
McGreal in Johannesburg
Wednesday March 21, 2007
The
Guardian
Zimbabwe's archbishop, Pius Ncube, has accused the South
African government
of failing to use its power to force change in Zimbabwe
as Robert Mugabe
threatens to crush opposition to his 27-year rule.
"They
[South Africa's leaders] are in the best position to put pressure on
Zimbabwe, to call for sanctions if necessary," the archbishop of Bulawayo
told the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
"They could force
Mugabe to change but they have been watching this thing.
It's now the eighth
year it has been deteriorating."
His criticism came as South Africa
reluctantly agreed as president of the UN
security council to allow a
British request for a briefing on the
humanitarian situation in
Zimbabwe.
South Africa's UN ambassador, Dumisani Kumalo, earlier said he
would not
permit the briefing on the grounds that the political and economic
crisis in
Zimbabwe "is not a matter threatening international peace and
security".
Britain's UN ambassador, Sir Emyr Jones Parry, said he asked
for the
briefing "because of the widespread condemnation of events in
Zimbabwe, the
attacks on the leader of the opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai,
and the
impossibility of the present situation".
Mr Kumalo's
justification for keeping Zimbabwe off the security council's
agenda has
drawn criticism at home, not least because South Africa has been
confronted
with a wave of hundreds of thousands of economic refugees from
its northern
neighbour competing for precious jobs and fuelling xenophobia.
Tony Leon
of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's opposition leader,
said: "As the
situation continues to get worse on a daily basis, there is a
distinct
possibility that the southern African region will be negatively
affected by
the fallout from Zimbabwe's implosion. This fallout could in all
likelihood
constitute a threat to international peace and security."
South Africa's
president, Thabo Mbeki, has pursued what he describes as a
policy of quiet
diplomacy, arguing that open confrontation with Mr Mugabe by
the British
government and others has only strengthened the Zimbabwean
leader's
hand.
Mr Mbeki's reluctance to publicly criticise Mr Mugabe has also been
interpreted as tacit agreement with his seizure of white-owned farm
land.
But Ayesha Kajee, head of the democracy in Africa programme at the
South
African Institute of International Affairs, said Mr Mbeki also wanted
to
avoid confrontation with other African leaders.
"I think initially
there was an element of Mugabe is not the type of leader
who will give in to
overt pressure so let's try and influence him behind the
scenes, and let's
not alienate his supporters in the region whose support is
needed for Nepad
[Mr Mbeki's strategy to revive African economies]," she
said.
"But
given the present situation in Zimbabwe, I think South Africa needs to
condemn human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. South Africa needs to do that in
order to maintain its reputation as an ethical player in the
region."
South Africa's trades union confederation, Cosatu, has accused
the
government of being soft on Mr Mugabe.
The former archbishop of
Cape Town and Nobel peace laureate, Desmond Tutu,
last week criticised
African leaders for "hardly a word of concern let alone
condemnation" over
events in Zimbabwe.
"We Africans should hang our heads in shame," he said
in a statement. "Do we
really care about human rights, do we care that
people of flesh and blood,
fellow Africans, are being treated like rubbish,
almost worse than they were
ever treated by rabid racists?
"What more
has to happen before we who are leaders, religious and political,
of our
mother Africa are moved to cry out 'enough is enough'?"
Eric Bost, US
ambassador to South Africa, said he was disappointed with the
lack of
action.
But Ghana's president, John Kufuor, who chairs the African Union,
said the
rest of the continent was not indifferent.
"What can Mbeki
as a man do? Are you proposing that Africa composes an
expedition team to
march on Zimbabwe and oppose? It does not happen like
that. We are in our
various ways trying very hard," he said.
Mail and Guardian
Johannesburg, South Africa
21 March
2007 11:49
South Africa's foreign policy has shown an
eagerness to abandon
democratic and human rights values in order to shield
oppressive regimes,
Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon
said.
In a Human Rights Day statement, Leon said South Africa
can
rightfully and proudly proclaim that there will never be another
Sharpeville.
But millions of people in the world, and in
South Africa's
neighbourhood, are still living "under a tyrant's heel" and
are denied basic
civil rights and political liberties, he
said.
"The hard question which South Africa needs to answer
on this
Human Rights Day is profound: Do we defend the oppressed in other
countries,
do we fight for the protection of human rights across the
globe?
"Looking at our current foreign policy, the answer to
this
question is regrettably too often in the negative."
South Africa's conduct at the United Nations has indicated "a
disappointing
eagerness" to abandon democratic and human rights values in
order to "shield
oppressive regimes from world attention", Leon said.
Among
stances on other countries, this includes a recent "no"
vote at the UN
Security Council on a resolution to condemn human rights
abuses in Burma and
a reluctance for the crisis in Zimbabwe to be debated.
"Instead of furthering an agenda based on the protection and
promotion of
human rights ... we are more concerned with using bureaucratic
excuses to
shield tyrants and despots from international scrutiny."
Leon
said it "speaks volumes" that the government did not
condemn the recent
arrest and torture of Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
South Africa was one of 22 countries absent
from the UN General
Assembly when a resolution was adopted to condemn
Holocaust denialism in
January.
In doing so, the country
had stood "shoulder to shoulder" with
some of the world's "worst abusers of
human rights".
"The government cannot profess a commitment to
upholding and
protecting human rights when, on the international stage, we
go out of our
way to temporise with tyranny." -- Sapa
News24
21/03/2007 19:14 -
(SA)
Brussels - The African Union (AU) denounced on Wednesday EU
"double
standards" in taking action against Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe while
ignoring abuses by other African leaders.
AU
representative in Brussels, ambassador Mahamat Annadif, said: "I would
have
preferred that there were no double standards at European level, even
for
judging heads of state."
"We talk about Zimbabwe, but for me there are
other heads of state who are
just as important to avoid as Mugabe, but they
have support ... which means
that today, no one says a word to them," he
said, without actually naming
any names in particular.
He put some of
the inconsistency down to Britain's attitude to its former
colony, which was
to make Zimbabwe "its problem".
Annadif's remarks came after British
Prime Minister Tony Blair called for
tougher EU measures against Zimbabwe,
describing the situation there as
"appalling, disgraceful and utterly
tragic".
The EU slapped sanctions, including travel bans and an arms
embargo, on
Mugabe's regime after controversial elections in 2002 won by the
long-serving ruler, which the opposition insists were rigged.
The
sanctions were extended last month until February 2008.
"We will press
the EU to widen the political sanctions that were introduced
in 2002 and
introduced very much as a result of our prompting at the time,"
Blair told
parliament.
"That assets freeze and travel ban we will seek to extend as
far as we can."
Reporters
sans Frontières (Paris)
PRESS RELEASE
March 21, 2007
Posted to the
web March 21, 2007
Scheming by Zimbabwe's Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO) is killing
off the few remaining independent news media
outlets while the
government-controlled Media Information Commission (MIC)
continues to use
obligatory press accreditation as way to pressure
journalists in an entirely
unacceptable fashion, says Reporters Without
Borders.
"The infiltration of the last privately-owned media by the
intelligence
agencies has had a disastrous impact on pluralism," Reporters
Without
Borders said. "Unable to live with a free press, casting suspicion
on the
publications they manipulate and paying little heed to the
journalists they
employ, the intelligence agencies have just helped to
undermine the already
moribund press even further."
The press
freedom organisation added: "As for the discredited,
government-dominated
MIC, it continues to practice an utterly unacceptable
form of blackmail on
the last journalists not to have fled the country,
intimidating them and
threatening them with unemployment."
Two recent episodes have highlighted
the disastrous political and financial
consequences of CIO meddling in the
media. The editor of the privately-owned
weekly "Financial Gazette"
("FinGaz"), Sunsleey Chamunorwa, was denied entry
to his office on 13 March
2007 on the grounds that he had been dismissed.
"FinGaz" chief executive
Jacob Chisese, a CIO ally, announced to the shocked
staff that changes were
to be made to the newspaper but refused for the time
being to say who would
replace Chamunorwa. In February, the MIC refused to
renew the newspaper's
licence - without which no publication can operate -
until it revealed the
name of its owner.
The newspaper has in fact belonged to the CIO since
2001 as a result of a
financial operation using central bank governor Gideon
Gono as a cover. "It
held out until today because Gono refused to bow to
pressure from the ruling
party and the CIO, which complained about its
editorial line and claimed it
was harming the party and favouring the
[opposition] Movement for Democratic
Change," a source within the newspaper
said on condition of anonymity.
Chamunorwa received a visit from CIO
members, who ordered him to change his
editorial line, the same source said.
Presidential spokesman George Charamba
wrote a column in the government
daily "The Herald" on 10 December 2006 in
which he warned Chamunorwa about
his news coverage. "Tick, tock, tick, tock,
the clock ticks," he
wrote.
Tichaonoa Chifamba, the head of the company that owns the "Daily
Mirror" and
its Sunday version, the "Sunday Mirror", announced to his staff
on 7 March
that they would be forced to stop publishing for lack of funds.
The CIO took
control of these two newspapers in 2004 after ousting the man
who founded
them, Ibbo Mandaza. Thereafter sales plummeted to as low as
2,000 copies a
day and it accumulated 500 million Zimbabwean dollars (about
1.5 million
euros) in debts. The journalists, who had not been paid for the
past month,
are now out of work.
At the same time, journalists are
threatened with being stripped of the
ability to work legally if they
displease the government. After freelancer
Nunurayi Jena submitted his
accreditation to the MIC for renewal on 31
December, as all Zimbabwean
journalists now have to do every year, he was
told on 23 February that the
MIC needed to examine his file more closely
because his accreditation for
2006 was granted in a "fraudulent" manner.
Journalists who work without MIC
accreditation can be sent to prison for two
years under a draconian law
called the Access to Information and Protection
of Privacy Act
(AIPPA).
Journalists have recently been convicted for working without MIC
accreditation for the first time since the AIPPA was adopted in 2002. Three
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation journalists - regional bureau chief Andrew
Neshamba, reporter Trymore Zvidzai and cameraman William Gumbo - and Peter
Moyo, a Zimbabwean journalist working for South Africa-based E-TV, were
arrested on 5 February in Mutare, the capital of the eastern province of
Manicaland, where they had gone to cover illegal diamond mining in the
village of Marange.
After being held overnight, Moyo and Zvidzai were
fined 40,000 Zimbabwean
dollars (approx. 120 euros) while Gumbo and Neshamba
were charged with
"criminal abuse of duty" and are to be tried on 21 March
CBS News
The New Republic: Leaders
Pledged To Democracy Allow Robert Mugabe's Reign
Of Terror In
Zimbabwe
March 21, 2007
(The New Republic) This column was written
by Joshua Kurlantzick.
A group once known for meetings where thuggish
African dictators gathered
essentially to congratulate themselves on staying
in power, struck a bold
new note. On a continent that in the 1990s had
witnessed waves of
democratization and the end of apartheid, Africa's young
generation of
leaders made their break from the past. They announced The New
Partnership
for Africa's Development (NEPAD), a vision of progress in which
fighting
corruption, empowering average people, and ruling justly would be
critical.
For African nations in the future, NEPAD's charter announced,
"Good
governance [is] a basic requirement for peace, security and
sustainable
political and socio-economic development."
One of the
driving forces behind NEPAD, South African President Thabo Mbeki,
made it
clear that the leader of Africa's most powerful nation also would no
longer
tolerate the brutality and human rights abuses of the past. Mbeki
helped
negotiate peace deals to end the civil wars in Congo, Burundi, and
Liberia.
He traveled the continent preaching the virtues of democracy. His
words
seemed to have an effect - when a coup overthrew the elected
government of
tiny Togo, the African Union, successor to the OAU, condemned
the coup
plotters. Other new African leaders, like Nigeria's Olusegun
Obasanjo and
Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, made similar pledges to negotiate
peace on behalf
of warring groups in other countries and push for better
governance.
But when it comes to one of the region's most brutal
dictatorships, this new
Africa is nowhere to be found. Over the past two
weeks in Zimbabwe, the
regime of Robert Mugabe has cracked the skull of
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and
beat up another member
of the opposition, putting him in critical condition.
Mugabe has pledged to
remain in power until he is 100 - he is currently 83 -
and has driven the
Zimbabwean economy into the worst hyperinflation in the
world while also
burning down the homes of thousands of urban dwellers. A
nation once
regarded as the breadbasket of southern Africa now faces
widespread famine.
As James Kirchick recently argued, Mugabe's terror may
even constitute
genocide, since he has deliberately organized mass murder
against his
opponents. All the while, alas, Africa's new democrats say
virtually
nothing.
The crisis in Zimbabwe has been building since
2000, when Mugabe essentially
lost a referendum on his rule and struck out
first at a small minority of
white farmers and then at the MDC and its urban
supporters. But for several
years, much of the Western press attention -
including The New Republic -
focused on the plight of the white farmers.
Their situation was indeed dire,
and several were killed, but today many of
the white farmers already have
fled Zimbabwe, and the brunt of Mugabe's
wrath has focused on the MDC and
anyone else who dares to question him,
including the urban middle class and
people from minority tribes
historically hostile to him and his ethnic
group, the Shona.
Since
late February, the crisis in Zimbabwe seems to be approaching a peak.
Perhaps because Mugabe faces renewed pressure from people in his own party
and the MDC, which had been weakened in recent years, he appears to have
decided to crack down harder. (Some news reports suggest that Mugabe even
fears a coup from dissatisfied elements of his security forces.) Besides the
beating administered to Tsvangirai, Mugabe recently prevented four other MDC
members from leaving the country, and his security forces shot live bullets
at an opposition demonstration on March 11. Police reportedly have been
administering random beatings to people across the slums of Harare, the
capital.
Other African states could wield leverage over Mugabe. South
Africa now
holds the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security
Council, the
biggest bully pulpit. Zimbabwe's economy has become highly
dependent on fuel
and other types of aid from Pretoria, as well as
cross-border trade with and
remittances from South Africa, where as many as
one million Zimbabweans have
fled over the past several years since Mugabe's
brutality increased.
But neither Mbeki nor many other African leaders
have stepped up. As Mugabe
has fixed a series of elections in recent years,
South African observers
have blessed these rigged polls. Over the past two
weeks, the South African
foreign ministry issued a mealy-mouthed statement
asking Mugabe to respect
the rule of law and to push for "a lasting solution
to the current
challenges faced by the people of Zimbabwe." Mbeki himself
remained silent.
As reporters noted, Mbeki's weekly African National
Congress (ANC)
newsletter prodded South Africans to address the continuing
scourge of
racism in their own country and made no mention of Mugabe. The
ANC even
called the Mugabe crackdown "alleged" despite television footage of
Zimbabwean thugs beating opposition activists. The African Union, meanwhile,
criticized Mugabe's treatment of the MDC but did little else, simply calling
for a "constructive dialogue" in Zimbabwe. Ghana's president, another
supposed new African leader who also currently chairs the AU, told the
press, "Please don't think that Africa is not concerned. Africa is very much
concerned. What can Mbeki as a man do?"
"We Africans should hang our
heads in shame," Archbishop Desmond Tutu
announced this week. "How can what
is happening in Zimbabwe elicit hardly a
word of concern let alone
condemnation from us leaders of Africa?" Tutu went
on. "Do we really care
about human rights, do we care that people of flesh
and blood, fellow
Africans, are being treated like rubbish, almost worse
than they were ever
treated by rabid racists?"
Why have so many new African democrats refused
to criticize Mugabe? Some
still remember Mugabe's role as a valiant fighter
against white rule in
then-Rhodesia and are reluctant to criticize this old
lion. This is
particularly true for Mbeki, a technocrat whose (wise)
neoliberal economic
policies have strengthened South Africa's fiscal
situation but left him open
to attack for betraying poor black South
Africans, some of whom may have a
quiet respect for Mugabe.
Or the
answer is worse. By refusing to question Mugabe's vote rigging and
intimidation, these new African democrats may believe they can insulate
themselves from similar treatment. After all, so many of these new leaders
have fallen far short of their promises. Nigeria's Obasanjo tried to rewrite
his nation's constitution to obtain another term in office. Uganda's
Museveni continues to fix the political process in order to stay in power.
Ethiopia's Meles Zenawi, another supposed new leader, has turned
increasingly authoritarian. Little wonder, then, that Mugabe remains
confident.
By Joshua Kurlantzick
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs -
Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
Date: 21 Mar
2007
BULAWAYO,
21 March 2007 (IRIN) - The Zimbabwean government has officially
declared
2007 a drought year, but insisted it would not ask for food
assistance
because it has the capacity to feed its own people.
Agricultural minister
Rugare Gumbo told IRIN the government had issued the
declaration after a
countrywide food assessment revealed that most provinces
had been severely
affected by a ravaging dry spell that had wilted crops,
especially maize,
Zimbabwe's staple food.
"Crops have dried up due to moisture stress and,
as government, we saw it
fit to declare this year a year of drought after an
assessment showed that
most parts of the country had been affected," said
Gumbo. "Most provinces
need food, but this will be done by government
through its drought-relief
programmes, coordinated by committees. We have
the capacity and won't need
outside help."
Last week, the official
newspaper, The Herald, reported that the government
would be importing
400,000 metric tonnes of maize, mainly from South Africa,
to cover a
possible shortfall that might arise after this season's harvest.
The most
affected provinces, according to Gumbo, were Matabeleland South,
Matabeleland North, Midlands and Masvingo, all in southern Zimbabwe, and
Manicaland in the west.
Traditional leaders and legislators,
including those from the ruling ZANU-PF
party, urged government last week to
put urgent drought relief measures in
place, as some areas were already in
need of food supplies.
Outspoken governor
Angeline Masuku,
governor of Matabeleland South and a top official of the
ruling
party,
who has been outspoken about the food crisis in her province, told
IRIN that
any delay in food aid could have grave consequences for many
households.
"Southern Zimbabwe is naturally dry and because rains
have been scarce this
year, the drought that we are witnessing is
unparalleled. There have been
droughts in the past six to seven years, but
the one we are witnessing this
year looks more severe," she said.
"We
have asked government to step up food distribution and hand over grain
to
families. The food will not necessarily be free to everybody, as the
middle
aged and able bodied will be asked to do some work before they can
receive
anything ... government has therefore promised to intervene
urgently,"
Masuku said.
In rural Matobo, a drought-prone district in southern
Zimbabwe,
state-procured maize is available at the state-owned Grain
Marketing Board
(GMB) outlets, at the highly subsidised price of US$2.70 for
a 50kg bag. The
current informal market exchange rate is Zim$18,000 to
US$1.
But, despite the low cost, villagers like Ellen Sibanda cannot
afford the
maize, and said they needed free aid. "We are just finishing the
fresh
mealie [maize] cobs that we planted in our tiny fields, and in a
week's time
or so we will be grounded. There won't be anything for us to
eat." About 83
percent of Zimbabwe's population lives on less than US$2 a
day.
Communal farmers pointed out that maize was often not available at
the GMB
outlets. "Even when it is there, some of us cannot afford it. We
don't have
the money, and what we need is free food aid, like what we used
to get from
World Vision and World Food Programme (WFP)," said
one.
"Nothing in the fields"
The government called a halt to
general feeding programmes run by
humanitarian agencies and their
nongovernmental organisation partners in
2004, saying the country was
expecting a bumper harvest. Since then, aid
agencies have downscaled their
operations to target vulnerable groups, such
as people living with HIV/AIDS
and the elderly.
WFP is currently providing food assistance to 1.5
million beneficiaries
through various feeding programmes for vulnerable
groups.
"There is absolutely nothing in the fields here [in Matabeleland
South].
People are already going hungry because the crops did not do well.
We do
selective distribution in compliance with government policy, but what
looks
apparent is that, ultimately, wholesale food distribution will be
needed,"
an aid worker commented.
As the country endures its seventh
successive year of drought, Zimbabweans
are battling with shortages of food,
foreign currency and fuel, on top of an
annual inflation of more than 1,700
percent.
The Zimbabwean
Movement
for Democratic Change Press Statement
Movement for Democratic Change Vice
President Thokozani Khupe MP
on Occasion of EU-ACP meeting Brussels,
Belgium
Wednesday 21 March 2007
I come here representing a
people who are suffering at the hands of an
intransigent dictatorial regime
of Robert Mugabe.
I am here because our Secretary for Information and
Publicity and Kuwadzana
Member of Parliament Hon Nelson Chamisa, who was
supposed to be here, is
agonisingly lying in a hospital we cannot disclose,
for fear of further harm
or assassination, having been brutally assaulted by
members of Robert Mugabe
Central Intelligence Organisation at the Harare
International Airport. This
was in the close proximity of his fellow Members
of Parliament from ZANU PF
who are with in this meeting, and should be
hanging their heads in shame.
The events of the past ten days have
shocked all reasonable people across
the globe. These events confirm our
long held and propelled position that,
Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF are a
clique of thugs, who are bent on terrorising
the people of Zimbabwe as a way
of hanging on to power.
The barbaric assault and torture of President
Morgan Tsvangirai and other
leaders of the pro-democratic movement is an
indication of the extent to
which this regime is prepared to use sadist
violence against defenceless
citizens of Zimbabwe.
It is clear to us
that the stature of President Morgan Tsvangirai and other
pro-democratic
leaders has brought the eyes of the world on Zimbabwe.
However, the MDC
would like to inform the world that, there are so many
other acts of
violence that have been, and are, on a daily basis, inflicted
upon the
ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe which have not gained the principled
international condemnation that the events of the last few days has
gained.
In this regard, we implore the world to condemn, with the same
compassion,
the brutality of Robert Mugabe, on the ordinary citizens of
Zimbabwe. It is
these people that make Zimbabwe. It is these people who,
more than anyone
else, are subjected to slavish violence.
The
situation in Zimbabwe must be resolved as a matter of urgency. The MDC
has
always maintained that it is possible to resolve the political problems
through dialogue by all in Zimbabwe. This informs, despite provocation, our
non-violent democratic resistance to Robert Mugabe's dictatorship since our
formation. The Road Map, a document, which we have developed, remains our
guiding document.
We wish to warn that the use of violence upon
citizens of Zimbabwe, who have
for a long time been mere recipients of
violence will very soon invite the
same, if not worse retaliation by
ordinary Zimbabweans. The MDC has warned
Robert Mugabe of this eventual
reality. The pockets of retaliation that we
have seen in the last few days
may very well be unfortunate confirmation of
our warnings.
More than
ever in the post-colonial Zimbabwe, the people of Zimbabwe need
the
assistance, in all ways possible of all progressive forces of the world.
Any
delay, will result in a political stalemate, which will take longer to
resolve. The political polarisation between the political majority, who are
the ordinary defenceless citizens of Zimbabwe, and the tiny minority
protected by guns and Israeli made water canons will soon develop into
exponential hatred making the prospects of speedy national healing even more
difficult.
In this regard, as we have always stated the crisis in
Zimbabwe is an
African problem, which in the main must be resolved by
Africans. We need the
solidarity of our fellow Africans when going through
such violence and
oppression, and we welcome those few who have spoken in
condemnation against
these abuses and rights violations. It is only when we
stand in solidarity
around democratic principles and the rule of law that
any nation can
succeed.
The majority governments in our bountiful
African continent have some
connection or other to the struggles for
national independence. In this
regard, they fully understand the values for
which they waged people wars
for national liberation. It is the very same
values, which we are fighting
for, as such we call upon them to ensure that
the ideals of the struggle for
national liberation find expression in the
ordinary lives of the people of
Zimbabwe.
The MDC remains committed
to the ideals for the struggle for national
liberation, in this post
liberation struggle. We shall fight on every square
inch of the Zimbabwean
soil, the region, the continent and the world to
realise these ideals. Our
demand for consistently clear and reasonable;
elections in 2008 under a
people driven constitution. This is
non-negotiable.
Reuters
Wed Mar 21,
2007 2:58PM GMT
LONDON (Reuters) - Ten protesters were arrested on Wednesday
after staging a
sit-in at Zimbabwe's embassy in London over a crackdown on
the opposition by
President Robert Mugabe.
Police said seven men and
three women were detained for "trespassing on
diplomatic
premises".
Mary Kasirowore, a member of the UK executive committee for
the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told Reuters the group
organised the
demonstration to protest against "recent events" in
Zimbabwe.
"It's a peaceful protest," she said. "Contrary to what Mugabe
wants the
world to believe about the MDC, it's a peaceful
organisation."
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and dozens of activists say
they were beaten
after defying a ban on rallies earlier this month. Pictures
of Tsvangirai's
battered face have prompted international condemnation of
Mugabe's
government.
Kasirowore said the protesters left the
diplomatic mission, known as a high
commission, with police after 90
minutes. They entered by pretending they
needed to renew
passports.
Britain has called for more sanctions against Zimbabwe.
Opponents of Mugabe
frequently demonstrate at the Zimbabwe High Commission
in London but
Kasirowore said it was the first time they had entered it.
The Nation, Malawi
Editorial
by Editor, 21 March 2007 -
06:51:53
Those who speak for
President Bingu wa Mutharika have made it abundantly
clear: He will not
speak on the Zimbabwe crisis in which the Harare regime
is accused of
arresting and beating up Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
Morgan
Tsvangirai and dozens of other opposition leaders last week Sunday
for
defying a ban on protests against government.
The President's chief political
advisor Hetherwick Ntaba says maintaining
public silence on any issue is not
a crime and that there is no law, no
constitutional provision in Malawi and
no international agreement anywhere
which requires a head of state to make
public statements on any important
issue. Ntaba concludes that Mutharika has
chosen silence and the NGOs must
respect the decision.
This is where the
problem lies. There might be no law to force the President
to speak on
Zimbabwe. He might have personal reasons to remain silent on
Zimbabwe but he
should not forget that he is our President and if Malawi is
to forge ahead
on the international scene, we expect him to speak for the
country on issues
like the one in hand.
Those who are asking Mutharika to condemn the situation
in the Zimbabwe are
not doing so because other countries such as Zambia,
South Africa, UK or the
USA have condemned Robert Mugabe's regime. They are
asking the President to
comment because what Mugabe is doing is morally
wrong.
Malawi has made strides in human rights and democracy since 1994.
There
could be no better way to show this to the world than taking a stand
on
human rights abuses anywhere in the world. What more with Zimbabwe with
which the country has some historical links?
It is time for Malawi to
stick her head out and be counted on issues that
matter to the international
community. Zimbabwe is a country burning and
Mutharika cannot pretend to be
indifferent because the future does not
belong to those who remain neutral
during a moral crisis.
Zim Online
Thursday
22 March 2007
By Thabani Mlilo
HARARE - Ruling
ZANU PF legislator for Mudzi West, Acqueline Katsande, was
last Saturday
gang raped by three suspected armed robbers in her home in
Mudzi district in
what observers said was a clear sign of rising lawlessness
in the
country.
Police sources told ZimOnline that the robbers broke into
Katsande's house
in Mudzi and went straight to her bedroom where she was
sleeping.
Two robbers allegedly took turns to rape her while the third
one stood
guard. They later ransacked the house and disappeared with
household
property worth millions of dollars.
Katsande later reported
the crime to the police.
Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed
the incident saying the
police were investigating the matter.
"I can
confirm that we did receive such a report which occurred last
Saturday. The
culprits have not yet been arrested and we appeal to anybody
with
information that can lead to their arrest to please come forward," said
Bvudzijena.
Incidents of violent crime are on the increase in
Zimbabwe because of a
severe economic crisis that has seen inflation zooming
beyond 1 700 percent,
the highest in the world outside a war zone. -
ZimOnline
The Nation
(Nairobi)
March 22, 2007
Posted to the web March 21,
2007
Kitsepile Nyathi
Harare
Southern African countries have
been hit by a huge of wave of economic
refugees escaping the crisis in
Zimbabwe, the world's fastest declining
economy.
The crisis has been
raging for seven years.
Analysts warn that the Zimbabwean situation
is a time bomb waiting to
explode following President Robert Mugabe's latest
manoeuvres to hang on to
power until 2010, side stepping a presidential
election due in 13 months
time.
South Africa and Botswana, which
share borders with Zimbabwe and are still
sticking to their policy of "quiet
diplomacy" in dealing with Mr Mugabe, are
the hardest hit by the influx of
refugees.
President Mr Thabo Mbeki of South and his Botswana counterpart
Mr Festus
Mogae say Zimbabwe's sovereignty "must be respected." Mr Mugabe
himself has
often told his neighbours to keep away from his country's
internal affairs.
According to latest figures released by Zimbabwean
police, Botswana and
South Africa deported 142,000 Zimbabweans during the
second half of last
year. Zimbabwe has a population 12
million.
Zimbabweans are flocking in droves to Mozambique, South Africa,
Botswana,
Zambia, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland and Malawi in search of
jobs.
The high literacy rate, reputed to be one of the highest in Africa
has also
made Zimbabweans an easy target for employers in these countries
who want
cheap labour.
Mozambique, Zambia, Namibia, Lesotho,
Swaziland and Malawi have not yet
resorted to costly deportations but have
all expressed concern about the
influx of economic refugees from
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe, once a promising economic giant in Africa is going
through a
severe economic crisis and is facing serious food shortages due to
recurring
droughts and the government's fast-track land redistribution
programme,
which disrupted agricultural production and slashed export
earnings.
The crisis, which critics blame on Mr Mugabe's mismanagement of
the economy
and political posturing, has also disrupted trade links in
Southern Africa.
Despite being classified by the International Monetary
Fund as the world's
fastest shrinking economy - with the highest inflation
rate in the globe of
1 200 percent - Zimbabwe remains the second biggest
economy in Southern
Africa outside South Africa.
It is therefore
understandable that when Zimbabwe sneezes the whole region,
catches a
cold.
However, with Mr Mugabe determined to cling on to power and the
international community tightening economic sanctions against his regime,
Zimbabweans have resorted to turn their backs on their country facing
neighbours with better economic prospects.
It appears, it is payback
time for Mr Mbeki and his Botswana counterpart Mr
Mogae - leaders with
political and economic muscle to whip Mr Mugabe back
into line - but have
maintained that Zimbabweans should be left alone to
deal with her own
problems.
Although there are no reliable data on the number of
undocumented Zimbabwean
immigrants in South Africa, the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe estimated that last
year close to three million Zimbabweans are
living across the border.
About 200,000 Zimbabweans are estimated to have
sought economic refuge in
Botswana. Another half a million have sought
political asylum in countries
such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United
States and the United Kingdom
since the economic problems started
surfacing.
The UK is trying to deport 10,000 failed asylum seekers from
Zimbabwe, which
it says are economic refugees but most of them acquired
Malawian and South
African on the black market and will never return to
Zimbabwe. But the
effects of Zimbabwe's economic meltdown are more
pronounced for its
neighbours.
South African deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs Mr Aziz Pahad admitted
recently that the increased number of
Zimbabwean economic refugees fleeing
the meltdown in their country called
for an urgent solution.
Last year, a South African newspaper the Sunday
Times claimed that it had
unearthed information linking Zimbabwean soldiers
deserting Mr Mugabe's army
to a spate of armed robberies in that
country.
Neighbouring Botswana has its hands full too. Last year the
government
abandoned a project to erect an electric fence along its border
with
Zimbabwe after ministers in Mr Mugabe's government said their neighbour
was
trying to create a Gaza Strip.
Botswana argued that the fence was
meant to keep away wild animals and
livestock from Zimbabwe, which had the
foot and mouth diseases (FMD),
Zimbabweans said it was meant to keep away
illegal border jumpers.
Zimbabweans in Botswana are also facing increased
xenophobia by locals who
accuse them of stealing their jobs, abetting
criminal activities and
spreading FMD. Six members of the Botswana Defence
Forces have been brought
before the courts for forcing a group of 12
Zimbabweans found sleeping in a
house in Gaborone to have unprotected sex
while they took pictures.
Meanwhile, South Africa has said it would be
concerned if Zimbabwe's
political tensions spur President Mugabe's
government to declare a state of
emergency.
The chief government
spokesman Themba Maseko told reporters South Africa's
chief concern was the
human rights situation in Zimbabwe, where Mugabe's
government is accused of
a brutal crackdown on opposition leaders.
dpa German Press
Agency
Published: Wednesday March 21, 2007
Harare- Zimbabwe's
registrar general needs 1 million US
dollars to process identity documents
ahead of next year's planned
elections, reports said
Wednesday.
Tobaiwa Mudede told a parliamentary committee on defence and
home
affairs that his office would have to work flat out to meet
the
deadline for the 2008 polls.
Although presidential elections have
always been formally
scheduled for next year, until 10 days ago it looked as
if they would
be postponed until 2010.
President Robert Mugabe, 83,
had thrown his weight behind a plan
by some in the ruling party to postpone
the polls for two years so
that they would coincide with parliamentary
elections.
But the plan sparked huge resistance from the opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) and most tellingly from some
powerful
figures in Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party.
In a surprise
announcement to a Namibian newspaper earlier this
month, Mugabe said
elections could go ahead in 2008.
He said he wanted both parliamentary
and presidential elections to
be held then, and he also said he would stand
as the ruling party's
candidate if his party wanted.
The 1 million
dollars is needed for the importation of
photographic materials such as
films, bromide paper and chemicals
from South Africa so that temporary
identity documents can be issued
to would-be voters, the Herald
said.
"We will have to work flat out because time is running
out,"
Mudede was quoted as saying.
"We will have to work day and night
to make sure we do not fail to
meet the deadline of the 2008 elections," he
added.
Mudede's comments were an about-turn on remarks he made at the
end
of February when he gave a categorical no when asked by an
MDC
legislator if identity documents could be made available for those
who
needed them during election times.
© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency
MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC
CHANGE (MDC UK)
Stop this dictator from killing our people
Mugabe
stop detaining our leaders Now!
We demand Elections in 2008!
We demand new
Constitution by 2008!
WE Demand Human Rights and Freedom of
Association!
A CALL TO ALL DEMOCRATIC FORCES AND OTHER CIVIC
ORGANISATIONS!
Prof Mutambara is detained at Harare Central Police, last
week Morgan
Tsvangirai; Prof. Mutambara and Lovemore Madhuku were detained
and severely
assaulted by the Police. We need to act now against this
regime.
Join the March against Mugabe's brutality, killings, and torture
on the 24th
of March 2007 in Manchester...From all Saints Park (Oxford Rd)
to Peace
Gardens(Town Hall)
MUGABE MUST GO!!!!!!
Assembly
Point: All Saints Park (Oxford Rd, Universities)
Time : 12:00 pm
For more
details contact: Artwell Ndlovu. 07702610035, Prince Gumpo
07813669051
Reuters
Wed Mar 21, 2007
6:19 PM BST
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Western powers
sought to persuade Africa to confront
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on
Wednesday and one African leader said
quiet diplomacy had failed in a
country he likened to a "sinking Titanic".
Prime Minister Tony Blair said
Mugabe's regime was "appalling, disgraceful
and utterly tragic for the
people of Zimbabwe" and damaging the whole
region's
reputation.
"Let's be very clear: the solution to Zimbabwe ultimately
will not come
simply through the pressure applied by Britain. That pressure
has got to be
applied within Africa, in particular within the African
Union," Blair told
legislators.
"We will continue to do all we
can to make sure that Africa realises this is
the responsibility of Africa
as well as the Zimbabwean government."
Few African governments have
joined the criticism of Mugabe although leaders
meet in Tanzania next week
to discuss Zimbabwe where inflation has soared to
1,700 percent,
unemployment jumped to 80 percent and there are frequent
shortages of food,
fuel and foreign exchange.
Regional economic and political powerhouse
South Africa has been targeted by
some human rights groups for being soft on
the Harare government, which
activists last week accused of arresting and
beating opposition figures
including Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer of Australia,
which four years ago led
moves to suspend Zimbabwe from the 53-nation
Commonwealth after the
country's flawed presidential election, said he
believed Africa was ready to
get tough.
"My takeout from the
diplomatic representations we've made around southern
Africa over the last
week or so is that there is a very significant increase
in the degree of
concern," Downer told Australian radio.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa
said the region would have to get involved
through the Southern African
Development Community (SADC).
"Quiet diplomacy has failed to help solve
the political chaos and economic
meltdown in Zimbabwe," Mwanawasa said late
on Tuesday in neighbouring
Namibia.
"As I speak right now, one SADC
country has sunk into such economic
difficulties that it may be likened to a
sinking Titanic whose passengers
are jumping out in a bid to save their
lives."
HUNGRY FOR CHANGE
Former Zambian President Kenneth
Kaunda, one of the few African statesmen
with Mugabe's liberation-era
credentials, said the West was wrong to try to
bully the 83-year-old ruler,
still regarded by many as a hero of Africa's
freedom
struggle.
"Mugabe should not be demonised... he will not accept any
humiliation. He
needs to be talked to see sense," Kaunda told Reuters in an
interview in
Lusaka. "We need to find an answer and not to throw accusations
at him."
The African Union's ambassador to the European Union said the
West was in
danger of being "two-faced" in its attitude.
"There are
leaders other than Mugabe with whom you would also not want to be
seen, but
who have support from various influence zones and to whom no one
tells
anything," Mahamat Annadif told reporters.
The United States and Britain
have threatened to tighten sanctions on
Zimbabwe's leadership following the
violent crackdown on opposition leaders.
London is also seeking action in
the U.N. Security Council and the United
Nations human rights
commission.
"Sanctions have never solved any problem in the world, they
have only made
African people suffer," Annadif said.
Mugabe last
week told his Western critics "to go hang" and his foreign
minister
threatened to throw out Western ambassadors who continue to
criticise his
government.
Zimbabwe officials have said the country's food crisis will
likely worsen
this year because of a drought, potentially exacerbating
political tensions.
Mugabe blames the crisis on Western sabotage
following his seizure of
white-owned farms to give to landless
blacks.
Ten people were arrested for staging a sit-in at Zimbabwe's
embassy in
London in support of the MDC.
"Contrary to what Mugabe
wants the world to believe about the MDC, it's a
peaceful organisation,"
Mary Kasirowore, a UK MDC member, told Reuters.
Mugabe has accused the
MDC of violence and says it is a front for Western
countries opposed to his
rule.
Kenya Times
BY Clifton O. Mulegi
The unfolding events
in Zimbabwe have put the African continent in the
limelight pitting the
integrity of its leaders in democratic dispensation.
Having been set free
from the yoke of colonialism as early as 1957, with
Ghana as the
forerunners, the continent experiences all forms of atrocities
with some
leaders still drinking from the colonial cups.
What can the continent
lay acclaim to, when the economic and democratic
gains made by the founding
fathers has been destroyed? The likes of Kwameh
Nkrumah of Ghana, Nelson
Mandela of South Africa, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya,
Mwalimu Nyerere of
Tanzania, the noble sons of Africa are no more.
The violation of human
rights by African governments, elicits no admiration.
For while other
continents the world over are grappling with economic wars,
African leaders
are deeply entrenched in spreading their tyranny through
dictatorship and
human rights violation.
After a spirited land reform by President Robert
Mugabe of Zimbabwe, what
has been left of the once prosperous nation is a
country with dilapidated
infrastructure, looming poverty, famine, lack of
electricity, 80 %
unemployment and an inflation at 1,700%. The lands were
expropriated from
the whites and given to the blacks, who lack capital,
skills and manpower to
turn them around to productive ventures. The
government of Mugabe forced
potential investors from taking interest in the
country resulting in a
weaker economy.
Having taken power in 1980,
President Mugabe exhibits all forms of tyranny
and injustice to his
countrymen with an aim of hanging onto power. His
government has suppressed
the opposition and other voices of reason and
relegated the later to
prisoners in their own motherland. At 83 years Mugabe
contends seeking
another term if asked by his ruling party ZANU-PF the
period after
2008.
His administration arrested and tortured opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
and other figures on Sunday during a prayer meeting. The court
chamber was
treated to a session of horror and uncertainty as it resembled
the butcher
gallows, now with the victims being none other than the poor,
noble citizens
of Zimbabwe. Even as the country receives international
condemnation, Mugabe
remains adamant and unperturbed, threatening and
railing at Western envoys
and asking those dissatisfied to quit. Mr.
Tsvangirai's tribulation arises
from a long standing eight-year political
rivalry between his party,
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Mugabe's
ZANU-PF.
Many can not forget former Ethiopian dictator Colonel Mengistu
Haile Mariam,
self-exiled in Zimbabwe. Mengistu, despite escaping from the
hangman's
noose, has been sentenced to 17-year-jail term, which he is yet to
serve due
to Mugabe's reluctance to hand him over.
The action is a
challenge to both the African Union (AU) and the United
Nations (UN) for
Zimbabwe's is a situation that requires more than human
intervention.
Imposing economic sanctions is not enough, but all forces
should be geared
towards forcing Mugabe out of power. Diplomacy can not be
applied where the
same language seems foreign. President Mugabe who is a
replica of Saddam in
Africa should be made to account for his misrule by
whichever means, even if
it means going to the extremes.
However, Zimbabwe's scenario compounds
the complex ailing African leaders.
Of note is President Hosni Mubarak of
Egypt who in 2005 refused to release
an ailing opposition leader Mr. Ayman
Nour. Mr. Nour then 43 years was
serving a five-year jail sentence for
forging documents of his Ghad party
plus 32 other charges.
Nigeria
continues to experience the same with President Obasanjo reigning on
the
candidacy of Vice-President Abubakar. The Vice-President is set not to
contest due to corruption charges levelled against him by his former ally's
government. Nigeria, the world's eighth richest country in oil production,
is threatened with rampant corruption, human rights abuse, political
instability and declining infrastructure. An armed group has held hostage
well over 100 foreigners linked to the oil industry since 2006, in protest
to Obasanjo's rule.
Sudan deserves attention due to the crimes in
Darfur orchestrated by the
Khartoum government. Since 2003 the population of
Darfur has experienced
crimes with 2.5 million being displaced and an
estimated 200,000 killed. The
government of President Omar el Bashir has
failed to protect the blacks in
the south from the Arab insurgency. The
peace efforts made by southern
leaders, not to mention the late Dr. John
Garang, is now futile, with cases
of murder, rape and abductions widely
reported.
The government wants to restrict UN movement in Darfur. Even
the proposed
African Union-UN hybrid force has been denied access to
Sudanese soil, with
President el Bashr writing a letter to the world body
rejecting its plans.
Other African countries on the list of shame
include Uganda under President
Yoweri Museveni, Libya under Col Muammar
Gaddafi, Senegal under President
Wade, and Guinea under President Langsan
Conte. All these leaders, with some
facing or doing their octogenarian
period and ailing are still determined to
hang onto power. They have
manipulated their countries' constitutions in
their favour and undermined
competitive democracy. They are not wise to
learn from the likes of Mobutu
Seseko of Zaire, Sani Abacha of Nigeria and
Idi Amin of Uganda who couldn't
embrace change until it dawned on them.
If Africa is to reclaim its glory
on the global forum, then leaders should
pay homage to these humble words of
a poet, Saxon White Kessinger "Sometime
when you are feeling important,
sometime when your egos in bloom, sometime
when you take it for granted that
your going would have an unfillable hole.
Just follow these simple
instructions and see how they humble your soul."
Take a bucket and fill
it with water, put your hand in it up to your wrist.
Pull it out and the
hole that is remaining is a measure of how you will be
missed.
The Nation, Malawi
by Golden Gadzirayi Nyambuya , 21
March 2007 - 06:49:49
I would like to break my silence on Zimbabwe and make
my stand bold and
clear to the world. This voice goes to my countrymen and
women during this
difficult time of transition.
This article is
accessible to everyone including President Robert Mugabe's
intelligence
officers. I am sure they read newspapers. I believe in freedom
and am
prepared to die for it. I need not prove this but I believe with all
my
heart that when my time is up, I will stand and face my sunset with grace
and honour. I know it's tough, but why live an oppressed life anyway, why
not just die once? Besides, what is a life lived for self??
The problems
in Zimbabwe are complex and no single argument can stand on its
own to
sustain itself before this complex galaxy of problems and my clever
and well
schooled but not so smart leader of my beloved country, President
Robert
Mugabe knows how to go around this and take advantage of the
situation.
For him, it's now just about life and not good legacy. The
Zimbabwean
situation is a host of many problems created, I believe, wholly
by
Zimbabweans themselves. At the epitome, thereof, is the dire need for the
African to attain his or her economic independence from the Western
governments which up until now have tight grips and jaws well unconquered on
the well being of the African.
If you allow a person to come into your
life and mess it, you have yourself
to blame and not the person that has
done so. You have allowed them to do
so. The only comfort you can have is to
simply say, you allowed them to do
so for they had a lesson to teach you.
Learn fast and do not live to learn
the same lesson again.
Africans must
be let to find solutions to their problems. The Western
governments must
stay out of the African political and economic process. Our
problems have
deep roots in colonialism and now that Africa is "politically
independent",
so to speak but in low tones, we face a new form of "ism",
namely
imperialism, leading to other "isms" too.
Western governments are the sole
authors of colonialism and how are they
going to help us solve a problem
they worked so hard and helped to create?
Albert Einstein once said, "You can
never solve a problem at the same level
at which it was created ..", let us
heed to this wise advice.
This said, I believe that Western governments must
become part and parcel of
the African and Zimbabwean solution. I may seem to
be putting my blame on
the West, no, I simple believe they are not part of
he solution like most
believe.
I see and read so much on what Western
governments see in Africa and
Zimbabwe and all I see most if not all the
times is them projecting an image
of their wishful thinking.
Not to say
they are wrong, it's just how they see things but we have to
speak for
ourselves. Everyone has a right to think what they want and speak
it out
while at the same time they have a right to not think what they don't
want
and not to speak what they do not want to speak.
An undercover reporter
recently spotted some Zimbabweans eating mice and as
Zimbabweans know, mice
are a delicacy. The reporter spread the news that
Zimbabweans have resorted
to mice because of economic hardships. The story
of the mice is partly true
but the reporter did not mention that this dish
is an all-time Zimbabwean
delicacy.
Helping a butterfly out of its cocoon won't help it fly but the
opposite is
true. The African must evolve out of the cocoon of
colonialism.
The Western governments watched and did nothing as Rwandans
massacred each
other. In fact, they knew well before hand of the events and
did nothing.
Who has been the sponsor of all the wars fought on African
soil? Need I say
anything here?
Today, we have a problem of small
magnitude compared to the Rwanda massacre
but it receives so much negative
and derogatory attention world over. Why?
Once I met an esteemed European
Particle Physicist working at the
prestigious CERN, John Ellis; he was
curious when he heard I was from
Zimbabwe.
He quickly came to me said:
"Tell me about the Zimbabwean problem because
what I read in all the
European media is the symptoms and no one tells us
the real problem." People
like Ellis will be quick to read and ask the right
questions.
Going
further, as an African, I blame ourselves for our own misfortunes but
I
believe without an iota of doubt that we will get out of these ashes much
stronger. Let us fight to break our bondage from the Western governments.
Let us violate human rights just like the Europeans have done to themselves
for centuries until they discovered democracy.
A child never knows a fire
burns until they have touched one. After all
these struggles, we will know
how we really want to be governed. If we are
generations behind the
so-called first world, let us as a united and humble
African people accept
our current fate.
We will learn and prosper from all these lessons. Why
should we let other
people speak into our own lives? No matter how advanced
one may be or appear
to be or project themselves to be, no one has the right
to speak into
someone's life. All men are created equal. We must seek
internal solutions
from deep inside the heart of our African soul.
If the
West succeeded, why will the African fail? Did anyone go to Europe or
America to free them? No! So the African must free him or herself. For six
years we have held ourselves hostage, people of Zimbabwe, my fellow
countrymen and women, let' arise and join hands on the African table of
brotherhood to solve our problems, for the time is now.
I am for life and
condemn in the strongest terms possible the treatment of
opposition leaders
in the recent foiled rally. Aurthur Mutambara, Morgan
Tsvangirai and all
others that have been tortured by security forces do not
deserve this, let
alone any human soul.
It's wrong on any yardstick or barometer of any moral
standards. But let us
believe in ourselves. This is the solution to our
problems. If we believe
Mugabe must go as I more than do, we will as a
united African people, tell
him successfully to vacate office as soon as
yesterday. I am not for the
idea of seeking alliance with any Western
government for this, for by doing
so, we are not free but still slaves,
mental slaves.
Can't we think for ourselves? Why do we call Uncle Sam, Uncle
Ben and Uncle
Amos? We have good neighbours, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia,
Malawi,
Namibia, Tanzania to mention but a few of our good friends.
It's
time to hold hands and solve once and for all the Zimbabwean problem
that
has now blown out of proportion because of waiting for the impotent
voice of
the so-called donor or the international community to save our
soul.
I
believe Mugabe must go as of yesterday, and let this be a truly
African-driven move if we are to find a lasting solution to Zimbabwe and
Africa's problems.
Mugabe is African, like it or not, he is ours, he is
our creation, we put
him into power whichever the way, we have the power to
take him out without
the help of any non-African effort. No condemnation
from the US, UK, New
Zealand or Australia on the recent events will help
solve our problems as
Zimbabweans and Africans.
Our problems as a truly
African people of all walks of life, for example,
all skin colours, nations,
creed, sexual orientation are interwoven into but
one single garment that
ties us together into one destiny before the United
of Nations.
We have
the capacity as an African people to decide our fate. I need no
justice but
peace and love for my people and all peoples of the World. No
force can
stand before an idea whose time is upon the face of the
deep.
-Feedback--mail: nation@nationmalawi.com