SABC
March 27,
2007, 19:15
Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president, will attend a
regional meeting in
Tanzania this week, official reports said today, as
pressure mounts on
African leaders to tackle his controversial rule. Mugabe,
who has faced
renewed Western-led criticism after a crackdown on opposition
leaders, will
brief leaders from the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) at the
special summit, the official Herald, newspaper
said.
Regional leaders called the SADC meeting to discuss the political
crisis in
Zimbabwe which analysts say threatens to destabilise the region as
millions
flee food shortages, 1 700% inflation and 80% unemployment. Morgan
Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main
opposition in Zimbabwe, and other party supporters, were arrested and beaten
after attempting to attend a banned prayer meeting this month.
The
crackdown raised tensions in the southern African nation, where critics
frequently accuse the 83-year old Mugabe of political abuses and disastrous
economic mismanagement. The government blames the MDC.
Meeting will
focus on Zimbabwe
The newspaper said discussion at the SADC meeting will
focus on "the
campaign by the MDC to unleash violence as part of its
Western-backed
efforts for illegal regime change in Zimbabwe." The meeting,
scheduled for
tomorrow and Thursday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's capital, is
expected to
draw 14 heads of state including those from South Africa,
Namibia and
Botswana, according to Tanzanian officials.
Meanwhile,
the government said Zimbabwe was moving ahead with plans to
incorporate
liberation war veterans - who were blamed for violent seizures
of
white-owned farms in 2000 -- into the regular military as a reserve
force.
The veterans have in the past campaigned for Mugabe and his ruling
ZANU-PF.
The MDC says they led a violent campaign which preceded the 2000
and 2002
parliamentary and presidential vote which saw dozens of opposition
supporters killed or injured.
Mugabe, the country's sole ruler since
independence from Britain in 1980,
says the MDC is receiving funding from
his Western foes to carry out a
"militia-style" campaign of violence to
topple him from power. The MDC has
denied the charges.
MDC member
charged with petrol bombing
Wayne Bvudzijena, a police spokesperson, said
today an MDC supporter, has
been arrested on charges of petrol bombing a
police station in Harare.
Southern African countries have remained largely
quiet on the Zimbabwe
crisis, but Levy Mwanawasa, the Zambian president,
last week broke ranks,
comparing the country to a "sinking
Titanic".
Aziz Pahad, South Africa's deputy foreign affairs minister,
said today his
country will work to effect change in Zimbabwe but repeated
that it will not
pursue the tougher route of sanctions pursued by the West.
"Zimbabwe and
South Africa's economies are very intertwined ... So we will
suffer the most
if we are not able to find a solution in the Zimbabwean
situation," he told
reporters. - Reuters
International Herald Tribune
The Associated
PressPublished: March 27, 2007
HARARE, Zimbabwe - The main
opposition leader announced Tuesday he will
boycott presidential elections
scheduled next year unless the poll is
carried out under a new democratic
constitution that ensures they are free
and fair.
Opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai, addressing mourners at a memorial
service for an
opposition activist shot dead by police March 11, said a free
election was
the constitutional and democratic right of Zimbabweans.
About 800
mourners, including opposition leaders wearing bandages and other
signs of
injuries sustained in clashes with police, sang traditional dirges
and
gospel songs and waved the opposition's symbolic open hand salute at a
church in northern Harare.
"We will never go into an election that is
predetermined," Tsvangirai said,
vowing to continue anti-government
protests.
The opposition accuses President Robert Mugabe of rigging all
elections
since 2000 with the help of electoral laws and constitutional
provisions
favoring his party. Mugabe, 83, is seen as unlikely to adopt a
reformed
constitution before polling provisionally slated next
March.
Zimbabwe's longtime ruler, meanwhile, was to attend a hastily
called
regional meeting on politics and security called by the Southern
African
Development Community in Tanzania beginning Wednesday, the state
media
reported in Harare. A SADC official had said the meeting was to focus
in
part on Zimbabwe.
The 12-nation regional bloc has been under intense
international pressure to
intervene in the deepening political and economic
crisis in Zimbabwe
following an upsurge in political violence this
month.
Gift Tandare, 31, died when police crushed a prayer meeting in the
western
Harare township of Highfield that authorities said was a banned
political
protest. Tsvangirai and 12 senior opposition colleagues were
hospitalized
after being injured in the police action and alleged they were
assaulted
with clubs and iron bars while under arrest without provoking
police.
An unrepentant Mugabe said later Tsvangirai and his followers
started the
violence and police used necessary force to stop the prayer
meeting and
warned pro-democracy activists police were ready to "bash" them
again.
"I don't hate Mugabe. In fact, I think he needs psychiatric help,"
Tsvangirai told about 800 mourners chanting traditional dirges and gospel
songs and waving the opposition's symbolic open hand salute at a church in
northern Harare.
He said there was no going back on a mounting
opposition campaign of
protests to demand reform and pressure Mugabe to step
down.
"We will not betray Gift and the people who have sacrificed
themselves for
the people of this country," he said.
Tsvangirai told
reporters after the angry and boisterous two and half hour
memorial: "We are
mobilizing our people. As you can see, everyone is united
over the
mobilization and confronting the dictatorship."
Arthur Mutambara, head of
an opposition faction that split from Tsvangirai's
organization, described
Tandare as "a freedom fighter and national
liberation hero," echoing
terminology of the liberation war that ended white
rule in 1980 and swept
Mugabe to power.
In that war, Mugabe did not see combat, he
said.
"Mugabe is a spineless coward who did not fire a pistol. We do not
recognize
him," Mutambara said. "It is freedom or death. If Zimbabweans are
not
prepared to die, they do not deserve freedom."
Earlier this
month, Mutambara said he would not stand against Tsvangirai if
elections are
held and would be expected to go along with any boycott.
Tandare was
buried at his rural home in northeastern Zimbabwe March 18 in
the first
state assisted funeral given to an opposition activist killed in
unrest.
His wife Sipiwe and the National Constitutional Assembly, a
reform group to
which he also belonged, said Tuesday Tandare's body was
removed by police
from his Harare home without her consent for burial,
evidently to avoid a
possibly explosive funeral procession in the
capital.
Lovemore Madhuku, head of the reform group - beaten by police
March 11 and
wearing a sling supporting a broken arm Tuesday - said
authorities removed
Tandare's body in violation of deep rooted African
burial traditions and
tribal culture that invited the wrath of most
Zimbabweans.
A nephew of Tandare, George Ngwena, said tight security
imposed by police
and state agents at the family's home village in the Mount
Darwin district,
200 kilometers (125 miles) from Harare, prevented other
family members
attending the memorial.
Tandare is survived by his
wife and three children, Fortunate, 15, Lillian,
11, and baby Gift Jr., who
is 17 months old.
afrol News, 27 March - State
leaders of Southern Africa are to meet at "an
emergency summit" in Tanzania
on Thursday to discuss the situation in
Zimbabwe. Most leaders of the
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC),
including Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe, have already confirmed their
participation.
SADC
leaders have faced increasing local and international criticism for not
speaking clearly out against the increased level of human rights violations
in Zimbabwe, following police violence and the torture of a large number of
opposition leaders and civil society activists. A recent SADC meeting in
Lesotho failed to address the Zimbabwean crisis altogether.
Since
then, however, individual state leaders from the region have started
condemning the Mugabe regime in stronger or smoother terms. Zambia's
President Levy Mwanawasa went furthest, comparing Zimbabwe to the sinking
'Titanic', while South Africa's Foreign Ministry warned of a coming
"meltdown" in Zimbabwe. Vaguer protests have been issued by the governments
of Mauritius, Mozambique and Tanzania - all SADC members.
A stronger
a more coordinated regional approach is now being prepared for.
SADC
spokeswoman Dineo Motsepe today said the regional body was "cognisant
of the
political and security developments currently taking place in the
region,"
and therefore had decided on holding "an emergency summit" of SADC
state
leaders in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
"The emergency summit will focus its
attention on the prevailing political
and security situation in the SADC
region," Ms Motsepe added, without
specifically mentioning the name
Zimbabwe. The two-day summit however almost
exclusively is to treat the
political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, which
now is affecting the entire
region, several government spokesmen have
assured.
The summit has
been initiated by SADC's organ on security and defence, which
is headed by a
troika consisting of Namibia, Angola and Tanzania. In
particular Namibia and
Tanzania have grown more sceptical towards the Mugabe
regime lately, while
the Zimbabwean President still finds support in Angola.
Tanzanian President
Jakaya Kikwete and Namibian President Hifikepunye
Pohamba both will attend
the summit.
The Harare government today also announced that President
Mugabe would
attend the summit, where he will give his version of the
current crisis. Mr
Mugabe was said to be planning to focus on the
opposition's alleged use of
violence, trying to overthrow him. He also will
appeal for African unity
against Western "imperialism", which he still sees
as the driving force
behind the growing opposition to his
regime.
While the 83-year old Zimbabwean leader probably will be able to
fence off
the most offensive criticism against his regime in written
statements by his
SADC colleagues, behind closed doors he will most likely
face heavy
protests. Already seen as a regional "emergency", Mr Mugabe will
be urged to
start negotiation with the opposition and forget his plans of
sticking to
power after his presidential term ends next
year.
Zimbabwe's neighbours already are noting the adverse effects of the
country's meltdown. Millions of Zimbabweans have already fled the political
oppression and the economic ruin, mounting a high economic pressure on
societies in neighbouring Botswana, Zambia and especially South Africa. More
violence also puts regional security at risk, SADC leaders fear.
At
home, most SADC leaders face widespread popular opposition to the "quiet
diplomacy" approach against the Mugabe regime, which has proven a failure.
In particular in South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi and Mauritius -
which all send their heads of state to the summit despite pressing affairs
at home - the opposition and civil society are pressing for a harder
stance.
Meanwhile, most SADC leaders silently hope President Mugabe will
turn up at
the summit as a weakened leader. One day before the summit, he
has to face a
critical committee of his ruling ZANU-PF party, which is to
decide on
whether Mr Mugabe's presidential term can be prolonged until 2010,
or
whether he should seek ZANU-PF nomination for the scheduled 2008
elections.
With a growing number of party veterans wishing to oust Mr
Mugabe already in
2008, he may well be set to face humiliation at tomorrow's
party meeting.
Also in ZANU-PF, impatience with President Mugabe is
mounting.
By staff writer
© afrol News
The Times
March 28, 2007
Jan Raath
in Harare
President Mugabe faces a strong challenge to his Government this
week as he
confronts an increasingly fractious ruling party, and answers a
summons from
regional African leaders who have lost patience with chaos on
their borders.
He flies to Tanzania tomorrow for a summit of the Southern
African
Development Community, the region's 14-nation economic bloc, with
the
instability in Zimbabwe on the agenda for the first time in seven years
of
lawlessness and state-driven economic failure.
The next day he
hurries back to Harare in an attempt to force the two most
powerful organs
of his ruling Zanu (PF) Party, the central committee and the
politburo, to
agree to put him forward as its sole candidate for
presidential elections
due next year, which would keep him in power until
the age of 89.
Mr
Mugabe's authority was delivered a heavy new blow yesterday as the Roman
Catholic Church -the country's dominant religion, but until now divided by
pro-government bishops - issued a damning statement. Mr Mugabe regards
himself as a devout Catholic.
"The confrontation in our country has
now reached a flashpoint," said the
letter, signed by nine bishops. "Many
people are angry and their anger is
now erupting into open revolt in one
township after another. As the
suffering population becomes more insistent,
generating more and more
pressure through boycotts, strikes, demonstrations
and uprisings, the state
responds with ever-harsher oppression through
arrests, detentions, banning
orders, beatings and torture.
"In order
to avoid further bloodshed and avert a mass uprising, the nation
needs a new
people-driven constitution that will guide a democratic
leadership chosen in
free and fair elections that will offer a chance for
economic recovery under
genuinely new policies."
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change
announced that it would
boycott Mr Mugabe's planned elections next year
without a new democratic
constitution.
"No one is going into an
election without a new constitution," said Morgan
Tsvangirai, the MDC
leader, whose face is still swollen and left eye almost
shut after his
beating by police on March 11. "We will not make the
fundamental error of
going into an election whose results are already
known."
Mr Mugabe's
summons to SADC ends years of his neighbours' policy of
so-called quiet
diplomacy. Countries such as South Africa have ignored calls
from Western
governments to exert pressure on him to check the ruination and
violence
that have driven out millions of Zimbabweans.
"They will tell him the
brutal truth that they cannot go on like this, that
the reality is that the
situation is unsustainable," Eldred Masunungure, a
Zimbabwean analyst, said.
"They will call for the normalisation of the
situation, and telling him that
he will have to start right away", on a new
constitution, amending the
country's oppressive laws and scrapping the
deeply flawed electoral
system.
Zim Online
Wednesday 28 March 2007
By
Batsirai Muranje and Sebastian Manhangambiri
HARARE - A Zimbabwean
opposition activist abducted by suspected government
agents on Tuesday
afternoon was found last night dumped in Mutorashanga
mining district with
serious injuries.
His lawyer Aleck Muchadehama told ZimOnline that a
passerby had picked up
the injured activist, Last Maengahama, and took him
to Mutorashanga hospital
where he was receiving treatment last
night.
"We just received a call from there saying someone had picked him
up. He
said he is seriously injured. We are now trying to ascertain the
extent of
his injuries," said Maengahama.
Maengahama was earlier in
the afternoon seized at gunpoint by five men
outside a church where a
memorial service was held to mourn another activist
of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party who was
murdered by the police
two weeks ago.
The abductors bundled him into a Mitsubishi truck and sped
away, leaving
onlookers stunned.
Robert Manyengavana who was in the
same car from which Maengahama was seized
said: "Two guys came towards our
vehicle and brandished their guns,
demanding to talk to Last. Before we
could say a thing, they pulled him out
of our vehicle and took him to one of
their cars which immediately off."
A report was made to the police who
last night said they were still
investigating the matter. "A report was made
this afternoon. We are
investigating it," police spokesman Wayne Bvundzijena
said.
Tendai Biti, who is secretary general of the Morgan Tsvangirai-led
MDC to
which Maengahama belongs, laid the blame on government agents who he
said
orchestrated the abduction as part of a wider campaign to harass,
intimidate
and persecute the opposition.
"The MDC is in no doubt that
the regime is behind the disappearance of
Maengahama and the general
brutality targeted at our members," said Biti,
who was speaking before
Maengahama was picked up in Mutorashanga.
Biti urged Southern African
Development Community (SADC) leaders meeting in
Tanzania on Thursday to
"rein in Mugabe" and push him to stop persecuting
the
opposition.
Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba was not immediately
available for comment
on Biti's charges that the President was behind
violence against the
opposition.
SADC leaders, unsettled by a violent
government crackdown on the opposition
and fearful Zimbabwe's crisis could
destabilise the region, have summoned
Mugabe to explain the fast
deteriorating situation in his country. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Wednesday 28 March 2007
By
Hendricks Chizhanje
MUTARE - Police on Tuesday stormed and disrupted a
Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) meeting in the eastern city of
Mutare arguing that the
workers' body had not sought permission from the
police to hold the meeting.
The police, led by a woman officer identified
as Majongwe, ordered
participants at the meeting, which was being held at
the Holiday Inn in the
city, to disperse saying the gathering had not been
sanctioned by the
police.
ZCTU vice-president Tabitha Khumalo said
Tuesday's meeting was being held
under the direction of the labour body's
research arm, the Labour and
Economic Development Research of Zimbabwe
(LEDRIZ).
Under the tough Public Order and Security Act (POSA),
Zimbabweans must first
seek permission from the police before gathering in
groups of more than
three to discuss politics.
The ZCTU says
Tuesday's meeting was exempted under POSA because it was not a
political
gathering. Khumalo said the union had gone out of its way to
notify the
police as a matter of courtesy.
"Under POSA we are exempted but we wrote
to them informing them of our
meeting for courtesy's sake. But they are
still interfering. We have no
option but to take legal action again," said
Khumalo.
The barring of the ZCTU's economic literacy meeting comes less
than a week
before the union embarks on a country-wide work boycott to press
the
government to address the worsening economic crisis.
The labour
body also wants the government to award workers salaries in line
with the
country's poverty datum line which currently stands at Z$640 000 a
month for
an average family of five.
The 3-4 April strike comes amid rising
political tensions in Zimbabwe
following the brutal torture of Morgan
Tsvangirai and several other
opposition leaders while in police custody
about three weeks ago.
Zimbabwe is in its eighth straight year of
economic recession that has
manifested itself in rampant inflation of nearly
2 000 percent, massive
joblessness and poverty. - ZimOnline
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
27 March
2007
Just a month after the Zimbabwean government ended a
10-week strike by
doctors in public hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo, a new
strike by health
workers is widening with resident doctors and nurses
stopping work over
shortfalls in monthly salaries.
Sources said
nurses at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare and in the United
Bulawayo
Hospitals have gone on strike, while nurses at Harare Hospital in
the
capital and Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo were still discussing what action
to
take in the dispute.
Nurses and some residents at state hospitals say
they received only half
their salaries this month, with some residents
receiving as little as
Z$17,000, the equivalent of less than one U.S. dollar
at the prevailing
parallel market exchange rate. Sources said more than 100
resident doctors
at Parirenyatwa Hospital were not paid at
all.
Officials at Parirenyatwa Hospital offered the residents an advance
on their
salaries - but cautioned that it would have to be paid back once
they were
paid.
Zimbabwe Vice President Joseph Msika declared last
week that the government
is committed to solving problems in the health care
system. But he said top
officials were unaware of the grievances nurses,
"hence the need to improve
on communication."
But senior consulting
physician Dr. Chris Mushonga told reporter Carole
Gombakomba of VOA's Studio
7 for Zimbabwe that the confusion at the
hospitals was due to Harare's
failure to end an economic crisis which is
affecting all sectors.
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
27 March
2007
Extending a recent series of firebombings, another
Molotov cocktail attack
took place in Harare's Mbare district early Tuesday
morning as unknown
assailants hit the ruling party's offices in the
pro-opposition district
causing Z$15 million (US$600)
damage.
Gasoline bomb attacks in recent days have hit a passenger train,
injuring
five people, a supermarket in the capital's Warren Park district
and a
police station in Mutare, the capital of eastern Manicaland Province
near
the border with Mozambique.
The attacks have raised fears that
violence may be on the rise. Police
announced that they are now authorized
to use live ammunition when faced
with violence.
Authorities blamed
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change for the
attacks, but both
factions of the MDC have denied inciting or condoning
violence.
Political analyst Chido Makunike told reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the emergence of violence was
probably inevitable
because legitimate expressions of political dissent have
been pent up in the
country for so long.
VOA
By Blessing Zulu
Washington
27 March
2007
The U.S. Senate has urged the Southern African
Development Community to
bring appropriate pressure on the government of
Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe to engage his political opposition to
resolve his country's deepening
crisis.
The Senate passed the
resolution late Monday in the approach to an
extraordinary summit called by
SADC in the Tanzanian capital of
Dar-es-Salaam to discuss the crisis in
Zimbabwe and political bloodshed in
the Democratic Republic of
Congo.
The U.S. senators urged all responsible governments, civic
organizations,
religious leaders and international bodies to condemn human
rights
violations in Harare. The senate said it would holds individual
police,
security force members and militia in Zimbabwe responsible for
whatever acts
of violence they have committed.
International outrage
was sparked when images of battered opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai,
emerging from police custody, were broadcast worldwide on
March
13.
SADC sources said Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete would brief
regional
leaders Thursday on the position of the SADC panel on politics,
defense and
security which he chairs. Zimbabwe presidential spokesman George
Charamba
told the state-controlled Herald newspaper that Mr. Mugabe would
also brief
the summit on the situation.
However, SADC leaders, in a
dramatic change brought about by the graphic
images of Zimbabwean opposition
members allegedly subjected to brutal
beatings by police, are said to be
keen to grill Mr. Mugabe on the
deteriorating conditions in his country. The
economy is close to total
collapse and food supplies are short across
Zimbabwe.
Peter Kagwanja, director of democracy and governance programs
for the Human
Science Research Council in South Africa told reporter
Blessing Zulu of
VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the U.S. Senate resolution
is a sensible
one.
Yahoo News
HARARE (AFP) - A crucial meeting of Zimbabwe's ruling party,
which was to
have discussed plans to extend veteran President Robert
Mugabe's tenure, has
been postponed to the end of the week, a party official
said.
The Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front's (ZANU-PF)
central
committee had been expected to meet on Wednesday but the meeting has
been
put back for Mugabe's return from a hastily-arranged regional summit in
Tanzania.
"All I can say is that the central committee is meeting in
Harare on
Friday," ZANU-PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira
said.
Shamuyarira did however confirm that a meeting of the party's
political
bureau would take place on Wednesday although he would not say the
purpose
of the meeting.
Friday's gathering of the central committee
will be the first since the
party conference in December when proposals to
extend Mugabe's term from
2008 until 2010, ostensibly in order to have
simultaneous presidential and
parliamentary polls, were given the green
light.
The proposals however have since met with opposition from other
party elders
and Mugabe already appears to have abandoned the idea of an
extension,
urging his supporters last week to gear up for elections next
year.
The 83-year-old, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980
from
Britain, had previously indicated he would step down at the end of his
current term next year.
But he made an about face last year,
insisting that he would stay put if his
party was in danger of falling
apart.
The Raw Story
dpa
German Press
Agency
Published: Tuesday March 27,
2007
Johannesburg/Harare- Police in Zimbabwe have arrested
six
people in connection with petrol bomb attacks in the
politically-
charged southern African nation, state radio reported
Tuesday.
In the latest attack, two families staying at offices of
the
ruling ZANU-PF party in Harare's low-income suburb of Mbare
had
clothes and household property destroyed after the building
was
petrol-bombed, the radio said. There were no injuries reported.
A
vehicle parked at a house in the impoverished eastern Harare
suburb of
Mabvuku was damaged in a separate attack, the radio added.
It was not
immediately clear when the attacks occurred.
The radio said a total of
eight petrol bomb attacks had been
reported in the past 12 days.
The
disturbances follow the banning of political rallies in
February and the
brutal beating of opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai on March 11. At least
three of the attacks have been
directed at police stations.
One of the
suspects arrested has been named as Stanley Mutsende
from Harare's sprawling
dormitory town of Chitungwiza.
He is alleged to have thrown a petrol-bomb
at the home of a police
constable before proceeding to attack the home of a
ruling ZANU-PF
councillor in Chitungwiza, police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena
said.
State media has blamed the opposition for all the attacks, but
the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says it is not
responsible.
Meanwhile, the MDC Tuesday held a memorial service for
Gift
Tandare, a party activist shot dead by police in Highfield
township
on March 11.
Several hundred people attended the service,
held at a popular
church in Harare's northern suburbs and addressed by
Tsvangirai and
Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a breakaway faction of the
MDC.
Officials from prominent rights grouping the
National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) also made speeches. Tandare
was
described by Tsvangirai as a martyr for the MDC cause.
© 2006 -
dpa German Press Agency
The First Post
Police officers throughout Zimbabwe have now been
authorised to use firearms against civilians whenever violence erupts on the
streets. They have been told that if they shoot a civilian dead they will
not face a murder charge.
A source at Harare
central police headquarters confirmed
today that this decision was taken on
Monday morning at a regular briefing
meeting. On Monday afternoon the
instruction was radioed to police stations
throughout the
country.
Each police officer is to have a daily
allocation of five
rounds of ammunition, and stocks are sufficient for the
entire Zimbabwe
force.
"Authorities fear that if
the police do not adopt a hard
stance against the growing number of violent
activities, the situation might
get out of hand," said the
source.
He referred to the petrol bombing
last week of a crowded passenger train from
Harare to Bulawayo,
when fortunately only five people were injured. "They
anticipate further
violence after the lifting of bans on political rallies
and the impending
strike called by the trade unions in early April," he
said.
The move to arm all police, even those with no training
in
weaponry and its use, is thought also to have come after a March 12 memo
to
the Zimbabwean government from Police Chief Augustine
Chihuri.
In the memo - reported in this column on March 21 -
Chihuri said
he needed to spend Z$5 trillion (£125m) to get his force up to
strength,
re-trained and re-equipped.
It is not known
whether he has yet sourced all or part of that
money. But the Central Bank
of Zimbabwe has a simple method to finance
projects which are deemed urgent.
It just prints the money.
FIRST POSTED MARCH 27, 2007
MDC Press
Statement
27 March 2007
MDC President Clarifies Party Position On the
Principle of a Single
Candidate For the 2008 Presidential
Election
Following media reports on the subject of whether or not the MDC
will field
one Presidential Candidate in the Presidential election due in
March 2008 we
wish to place the following on record:
The MDC
leadership fully supports and advocates for the fielding of one
opposition
candidate to face Robert Mugabe or any other ZANU ( PF) candidate
so as to
focus the opposition campaign and to consolidate all votes against
ZANU (PF)
and thereby ensure that each and every vote against ZANU (PF) will
count. In
this way the people of Zimbabwe will have a far much better chance
of
defeating the ZANU (PF) regime.
While we fully endorse the principle of one
opposition candidate, to
challenge the Mugabe regime in the 2008
Presidential election the opposition
forces are yet to discuss and hopefully
agree on both the principle of a
single Presidential Candidate and on the
process of selecting that
candidate.
On our part, we continue to appeal
to all our colleagues in the opposition,
that is in all opposition political
parties, to embrace this principle and
to engagement or dialogue among
ourselves as the opposition with a view to
adopting or endorsing the
principle and negotiating the modalities and
conditions upon which the
single candidate will be selected.
It follows from the above that there is no
truth whatsoever in media reports
alleging that a deal has been agreed to
field a single Presidential
candidate and that the candidate has already
been selected..
We confirm that dialogue between the two MDC formations has
been taking
place under the facilitation of the Zimbabwe Institute. That
dialogue is
ongoing and save for agreement on a Code of Conduct to govern
the relations
between the two MDC formations, no other agreement has been
established.
Prof Arthur Mutambara
President
MDC
Tue, 27 Mar 2007
00:14:00
UK Parliament
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(Lord Triesman): My Lords, I beg
leave to repeat the Statement made by my
right honourable friend Ian
McCartney in another place.
Lord Howell of Guildford: My Lords, I thank the
Minister very much for
repeating the Statement. Noble Lords' minds will
obviously also be on
another crisis; namely, the detention-illegally, it
seems-of our servicemen
by the Government of Iran.
While we fully
appreciate the delicacy and sensitivity of the position on
that crisis and
in any negotiations going on with Iran, can we be assured
that the House
will be kept fully up to date on that crisis as it unfolds?
I turn to
Zimbabwe, where we have an appalling situation. Vicious attacks on
the
opposition there have focused world attention as never before on what
has
been happening for a long time.
We heard today a very long, heavily
descriptive and very full Statement. I
will concentrate mainly on the way
forward-on the action needed.
Is it not crystal clear that the previous
policy of quiet diplomacy has
failed? Frankly, some of us warned all along
that it would do.
The background now is of rising violence, desperate
food shortages and
starvation, massive refugee movements and a completely
collapsed currency.
Money has, in effect, died.
The breakdown of law
and order cannot, I am afraid, be very far behind; that
is what the lessons
of history tell us.
Does the Minister accept that the Zimbabwean
opposition is still-against all
the odds and with great courage-very much
alive, has been re-energised and
needs to be given every possible support
and encouragement?
Has not the time come to mobilise the whole
international community with far
more vigour than hitherto? Has the Minister
noted that the African Union has
at last acknowledged the horror of what is
going on? It admitted-in a
masterly understatement-that it is embarrassed by
the hideous developments
in Zimbabwe. Should we not now press on Zimbabwe's
neighbours, with renewed
energy and in detailed discussions, the
consequences of inaction and the
need for a co-ordinated strategy? Is it not
time to urge South Africa once
more to face up to reality before it, too, is
destabilised by Zimbabwe's
collapse, of which there is a growing danger?
Incidentally, were these
issues discussed in the informal EU summit at the
weekend? I wonder whether
anything constructive came out of
that.
Should we not now offer to mediate between the parties and propose
a whole
sequence of benchmarks, beginning with the exit of Robert Mugabe, of
whom
even ZANU-PF-his own party-has clearly had enough? It made that very
clear.
I know that Mr Mugabe's plan to carry on at the age of 83 may
bring hope to
some but it could bring to the people of Zimbabwe only the
most crushing
further misery.
Could we not now set out a process
leading eventually, and positively, to a
full resumption of transition and
reconstruction aid and the eventual
lifting of targeted sanctions, and, in
the mean time, continue to operate
them very toughly-perhaps more so than is
the case at present?
Indeed, should not the removal of sanctions and
restrictions be made
contingent on following through with carefully worked
out steps towards free
elections and the adoption of economic reforms
necessary to alleviate this
grim crisis?
The UK should offer to
assist that process financially and logistically. On
this side, we
understand past international reticence to involve ourselves
in what was
deemed to be a purely African matter.
But is it not now time to cut
through all the hand wringing and apologies
and take a bold initiative with
our friends and colleagues the world over in
the Commonwealth-once again, it
was not mentioned but it is increasingly a
centre of power and influence-the
European Union and the United Nations
Security Council in saving this nation
from utter destruction and in
building a new constitution and a new
settlement, which will replace horror
and starvation with peace and
prosperity?
Lord Steel of Aikwood: My Lords, we on these Benches welcome
the Minister's
Statement, too. I find myself very much in agreement with the
line taken by
the noble Lord, Lord Howell.
The Statement was clearly
designed more for the international community's
ears than for ours in this
Parliament, but it was none the worse for that
because that is where action
is now to take place.
Will the Minister note that in recent days a number
of statements have been
made by leaders in the Southern African Development
Community? He mentioned
the President of Zambia but also included are the
Prime Minister of
Mauritius, the former President of Malawi, the Deputy
Foreign Minister of
South Africa, and the President of Ghana, who is the
current chairman of the
African Union.
That seems to suggest that
there is a growing awakening in Africa not just
about the damage that Mr
Mugabe is doing in Zimbabwe but about the damage
that Zimbabwe is doing to
the rest of Africa and, in particular, to the
southern African
region.
As the Minister said in the Statement, some 25 per cent of
Zimbabwe's
population has already left, and I have seen for myself the
impact that that
is having on its neighbours in Botswana, Zambia and South
Africa in
particular.
The number of political and economic refugees
is now becoming an intolerable
burden on those countries.
I welcome
the initiative that President Kikwete of Tanzania is taking, but
does the
Minister accept that this is not the first time that efforts have
been made
to get the opposition and ZANU-PF together? It was a private
initiative, but
President Mbeki has tried it in the past and has, I am
afraid, failed to
secure any progress from the Zimbabwean Government.
We must hope that
this new initiative will be more successful than the
previous
efforts.
There is some speculation about what has happened to President
Mugabe.
Perhaps I may tell noble Lords of an episode that I recall very
well.
The day after the independence ceremonies, at which I was part of
the
delegation, I went to see Mr Martin Smith. He had been the economics
Minister in the Ian Smith regime and, very sensibly, President Mugabe kept
him on in that role to secure economic confidence in the country.
I
distinctly remember Martin Smith saying to me, "I want you to know, Mr
Steel, that I have served under three Prime Ministers in this country, and
Mr Mugabe is not only the most able but he is also the most
courteous".
So what has gone wrong? One theory among those who know him
far better than
I do is that, following the death of his wife, Sally, he
became, to put it
politely, somewhat unhinged, and his behaviour became very
much more erratic
and dictatorial.
We have to recognise that nothing
will change in Zimbabwe until Mr Mugabe
has gone from office.
For
that reason, we need to encourage not just the opposition but people
from
within his own party, who, according to reports, are now beginning to
realise that life cannot go on under him. Therefore, any pressure that can
be brought to bear on Mr Mugabe will be welcome.
The Minister may
know that the University of Edinburgh is now contemplating
removing the
doctorate that we gave him back in the mid-1980s-that is long
overdue. But
much more important are things such as the travel ban, which is
now going to
be imposed in France.
That was not the case the last time an African
summit was held there, as I
think that President Mugabe was present, and the
ban has been accidentally
broken in Belgium.
The tightening of that
sanction will bring pressure to bear on the whole
Zimbabwean regime,
increase the possibility of a split in ZANU-PF and
encourage those who will
have a dialogue with the opposition to bring about
a new era of stability
and hope in Zimbabwe. That should be the direction of
our
policy.
Lord Triesman: My Lords, I thank the noble Lords, Lord Howell of
Guildford
and Lord Steel of Aikwood, for their comments and their focused
questions.
In response to the question put by the noble Lord, Lord Howell,
about Iran,
I know from first hand that negotiations are at a very delicate
stage.
I assure the House that noble Lords will be kept up to date. I
shall try to
do that without jeopardising the negotiations, as I want to
secure the
release of those being held.
On Zimbabwe, I do not
believe, as I have said in the House on a number of
occasions, that the
quiet diplomacy of southern Africa has had an impact.
Indeed, during the
course of the quiet diplomacy period things have got
worse rather than
better. If the outcomes are a measure of success, there is
a lack of any
obvious success. It has sometimes been said of us that we
engage in
megaphone diplomacy and that that will not work.
I have made it very
plain-I hope that the House will agree with the
approach-that we cannot let
some things go; we have to comment on them, as
they are an outrage and an
affront to any kind of decent society.
I shall continue to urge that on
leaders in southern Africa, even if that
has not been their tradition and
they feel uncomfortable about it. I believe
that it is right for us to do
so.
I say to the noble Lord, Lord Howell, that the MDC is alive and,
despite the
injuries suffered by some of its leaders, in remarkably good
heart.
Of course, it is vital that behind it and behind any splits in
ZANU-PF,
which may turn out to be the more significant of the forces at
play, the
whole community is mobilised. In particular, I mention not just
the
community that is referred to most often, but also Archbishop Pius
Ncube,
the Archbishop of Bulawayo, whose personal leadership and heroism I
believe
are of the very first rank.
He and the church have provided
an incredibly important umbrella for the
redevelopment of a democratic
space. I applaud that and the absolute decency
and humanity of the way in
which he has done it.
He has been one of the inspirations that has helped
to move the African
Union in the recent past.
We will press the
neighbours, particularly South Africa, because of its
influence in the
region. I can report that the issues were discussed at the
EU summit in a
rather more positive way than we had thought might happen,
given that some
people want to move towards a relaxation-what has been
described as a
reopening of dialogue.
However, as noble Lords will have seen from the
Statement, that is not how
we read the situation. We shall certainly want to
pursue this with South
Africa.
It has been put to me that the United
Kingdom should mediate between the
parties. That is difficult because Morgan
Tsvangirai has, in terms, asked us
not to play that kind of leading
role.
There is a delicate choice here. I respect the point that is being
made and
I do not speak of it dismissively at all.
One needs to
strike a difficult balance between trying to do what people on
the ground
think is most helpful and trying to do what we, in this House,
feel in our
hearts is right. I hope that we get that balance right.
On a point made
by the noble Lord, Lord Steel, we are trying to ensure that
we discuss the
issues with everyone, right across the region-with Mauritius,
certainly with
Ghana, which holds the chairmanship of the African Union,
with Aziz Pahad,
the Deputy Foreign Minister of South Africa, with President
Kikwete and with
others-because, as there is visible movement, we need them
to carry that
movement forward. This is the first real indication that we
have had of
momentum and we must encourage it.
The essential issue of how to move
back to the full resumption of some sort
of normality when the opportunity
occurs was at the heart of what the noble
Lord, Lord Howell, said.
I
assure the House that I cannot conceive of circumstances in which the
sanctions will be removed unless there is absolute agreement and the
beginnings of delivery-not words on paper-of the fundamental changes in
policy on democratic practice, elections and the economic reforms that are
needed to get people back to where they can live some sort of life and be
fed.
Sanctions can be relaxed only in exchange for real change on the
ground. We
regard fundamental change as critical.
As the noble Lord
said, that will take bold initiatives. The EU can
certainly play a role. The
UN is also being invited to play a role, as I
said in repeating the
Statement of my right honourable friend Ian McCartney.
The Commonwealth
has a role, too; it has not wanted to revisit Zimbabwe
after it found that
that was almost all that was discussed two conferences
ago. None the less,
there is a role, and I shall continue to urge that we
should not be
squeamish about playing it.
I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Steel. The
opposition and ZANU-PF must
work together for the whole thing to
work.
That is what the pressure in the African Union is now for. South
Africa has
held direct bilateral discussions with the opposition for the
first time in
a long time.
I venture the opinion-it is no more than
that-that the splits and divisions
in ZANU-PF might turn out to be decisive.
A number of its members must be
looking at their future and coming to the
conclusion that they do not have
one so long as they are prepared to back
Mugabe.
I have been careful not to comment on Mugabe's own future, other
than to say
that there must be a fundamental change in policy.
Every
pressure to get that change in policy is needed. Somebody replacing
Mugabe
who pursued the same policies would be of no use to anybody.
I would
guess that Mugabe would not find it easy to live with that
fundamental
policy change, but that is what is central to the work.
I was greatly
encouraged by the fact that France took the view that it
should impose the
travel ban for the most recent conference, as the noble
Lord, Lord Steel,
pointed out.
He is right that some people got into Belgium by accident. I
greatly regret
that, and there have been discussions about how Europe can be
more attentive
in ensuring that that does not happen.
However, these
bans and their effect are clearly to the disadvantage of that
regime and
they isolate it. We will work hard not only to keep that travel
ban
resolute, but to add to it all those who have visited still more
terrifying
violence on the people of Zimbabwe in recent weeks. None of them
can act
with impunity.
Lord Acton: My Lords, first, as somebody who has spent
much of his life in
Zimbabwe, I thank Britain for the generous aid that it
has given to
Zimbabweans over these terrible years. Secondly, the Statement
uses the
phrase:
"Until the Zimbabwean regime changes
course".
If a successor to President Mugabe comes from the ZANU-PF
politburo, they
will have been, at the minimum, a party to ghastly decisions
and may well
have done far more horrific things.
Will the Government
give support even to such a successor, provided that
Zimbabwe changes course
in an acceptable direction?
Lord Triesman: My Lords, I thank my noble
friend for his question and his
statement about aid. As I said in repeating
the Statement, our intention has
always been to ensure that the people of
Zimbabwe do not continue to suffer
from the misrule that they are subjected
to-that is suffering too much in
any event.
We will continue with our
aid programme. I am eager to see whether we can
step it up, particularly in
dealing with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which is a
particularly severe challenge
to the future of the country.
It is our intention to secure a change of
course. Like everybody else, we
would rather that that was in the hands of a
group of leaders who are not
stained with the crimes of the past.
We
will need to see how the leadership of all the elements, including the
opposition, decides that it can construct the new constitution, and we will
need to respect the outcome of elections.
In this dispensation, there
must be elections. The people of Zimbabwe must,
for the first time in a long
time, have the opportunity to choose the
Government and the leaders whom
they want. They have not been able to do
that freely for
generations.
Lord Hurd of Westwell: My Lords, the Minister spoke about
the momentum that
he and many others are trying to build in the direction
that we all favour.
What about the people who are still pulling in the
other direction? Why have
the Government of Angola in recent days vehemently
come out in favour of
Mugabe and against any pressure on him? What can the
Minister say about the
attitude of China? British diplomacy has been
successful in, for example,
mobilising the Chinese to vote for the last
resolution on Iran, although the
record on Sudan is not so
good.
China may now be playing quite a big role in these matters, so are
we
discussing them with the Government in Beijing? If so, what is the
result?
Lord Triesman: My Lords, I, too, fret about what Angola is doing.
However,
the most bizarre claim made in Harare last week was that the
Angolans were
about to provide an armed gendarme force.
Within
minutes of that claim being made, the Angolans were in touch to say
that it
was false-a complete fantasy.
We need to talk to them a bit more to be
clear that we understand their
attitude. I say that not because I am not
cautious about it, but precisely
because I am cautious about it.
We
discuss these issues directly with the Chinese all the time.
I have
discussed these issues at great length with their ambassadors when we
have
all met during African Union conferences, where they see what is
happening
in a more general sense. I do not want to overstate this, but I
believe that
there is now an inclination on their part to wonder whether
their
investments in a number of places are secure.
As we see meltdown in those
places, a number of people are saying to them,
"You cannot possibly think
you can rely on the resources that you think you've
bought and the methods
that you think you have for extracting them, given
the political and
economic deterioration of the kind that you're seeing". I
believe that that
argument is beginning to take root.
Lord Hughes of Woodside: My Lords, I
welcome the Statement. I am pleased
that my noble friend's efforts over
previous months have begun to bear fruit
in that SADC and the African Union
have at last begun to make it clear that
they are against what is happening
in Zimbabwe.
But does my noble friend accept that there is a long way to
go, especially
since President Mugabe's corrosive attacks regarding
interference have a
deeper resonance in southern Africa than we might
imagine? I am delighted to
hear that the story about Angolan troops going to
Zimbabwe has proved
untrue. That is marvellous news.
Does my noble
friend agree that adopting the course suggested by the noble
Lord on the
opposition Benches-that we should seek to mediate between the
parties in
Zimbabwe-would be the last message we would want to send?
It would
confirm the view that we are interfering in Zimbabwean business and
want to
cut out the involvement of others in southern Africa. That may not
be the
case, but that is what would be suggested. The situation is so
serious that
movement must be made. We must not disparage efforts made in
the past that
have not succeeded.
We must encourage all those who are working together,
because the Zimbabwean
situation will be resolved only within
Zimbabwe.
In the days of the apartheid regime we argued that only the
people of South
Africa could resolve that situation.
Only the
Zimbabweans can resolve this situation, but they need our help and
the help
of the region and the international community. I wish my noble
friend every
success in getting that message across. At last, I think we can
begin to see
a chink of light.
Lord Triesman: My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord
Hughes very much. We
will as a Government persist in the work.
He is
right: we have to listen to what is being said to us by the leaders of
the
opposition just as we did when we listened to the leaders of the
opposition
forces in the South African context.
I do not necessarily mean within
South Africa, because many of those leaders
had to flee the country.
W
e need to listen to these leaders and do what we do in a way that is
most
helpful to them. Those are the forces which, when they come together,
will
form the new democratic system in Zimbabwe. I agree wholeheartedly that
that
is where our attention should be.
The Lord Bishop of Southwark:
My Lords, my diocese is twinned with three
dioceses in Zimbabwe and, over
the years, there have been regular visits in
both directions.
A visit
is planned for next month when two dozen people from the south of
the
diocese will go to Zimbabwe. Does the Minister think that is helpful or
wise
at the present time?
Lord Triesman: My Lords, I often advise people to
read the Foreign Office
website, "Know Before You Go".
So I do today,
largely because circumstances change and places that look
relatively calm
can become extremely violent in a very short time.
Up-to-date information is
of the essence.
I say to the right reverend Prelate that I believe that a
number of
forces-if that is the right word; most certainly including the
churches-have
had a significant impact on drawing together all the threads
of the
opposition.
But I would urge him also to exercise great
caution. We are now seeing a
regime that is perfectly capable of inflicting
serious personal harm on
anybody who does not agree with it.
That is
not to dissuade him from going, but let us be very clear about it.
Closer to
the date I will add any information that I have that suggests
whether there
is too great a risk to be borne.
Lord Goodlad: My Lords, will the
Minister convey to the British ambassador
in Harare the appreciation of your
Lordships' House for his and his staff's
steadfastness under fire in a very
unpleasant and potentially dangerous
situation?
We understand that a
more strident tone by the British Government in
Zimbabwe might be
politically counterproductive and put at risk the lives of
the 12,000-odd
United Kingdom citizens in Zimbabwe and the 400-odd people
still farming
there.
Will he also accept our support in trying to stiffen the spine of
the South
African Government and other African Governments to bring their
influence to
bear on the Government of Zimbabwe in order to bring this
period of
suffering to an end?
Lord Triesman: My Lords, I thank the
noble Lord for his comments. Andrew
Pocock is indeed an exceptional diplomat
and a very fine ambassador.
He has been prepared to face great difficulty
in conducting the United
Kingdom's mission. I have no doubt that he will be
gratified by the
sentiments of the House, which I will convey to him
personally.
It is absolutely right to say that we have to be very
cautious about the
tone we use. I sometimes feel that I need to be cautious
about the tone that
I use. I feel so angry about it that at times I am not
sure that I am
necessarily adding exactly what is needed. I hope that I will
be forgiven
for that.
In the case of South Africa we will continue to
argue, exert pressure and
try to get a confluence of view. However, South
Africa has probably moved
more in the past fortnight as it has recognised
the dangers flowing across
its borders than we have seen it move in a very
long time.
My view is that up to 6 million people might go across the
Limpopo. At that
point there will be no food or security in northern South
Africa; nor will
there be security in a general sense because such a
movement of people is a
security issue for the region as well as a
humanitarian issue.
Lord Anderson of Swansea: My Lords, perhaps I
may first say a word about the
Iranian hostages.
This morning, I
spoke to the mother of one of our marines who is deeply
anxious about the
fate of her son but high in praise of the way in which the
Ministryof
Defence has communicated with her regularly throughout this
crisis.
On Zimbabwe, clearly we must make an effort to understand the
position of
South Africa-perhaps its illusion-that the big tent which worked
for it
internally in the World Trade Centre is applicable to bringing
together
Mugabe and his opponents.
Nevertheless, the words or the
mood music of South Africa have changed,
perhaps as it recognises the deep
damage done to it and to the region by the
Mugabe regime.
Can my
noble friend say whether there is any evidence, apart from words of
the
African Union or South Africa, that there is any move into effective
action
in the key areas such as energy supply?
Although one understands that the
British Government's policy will not
change until there is a fundamental
c
hange in Zimbabwe itself, surely there should be some calibrated
response
along the line. Free elections are obviously a major staging post.
Can he
give an assurance that DfID and the FCO are ready to respond
positively as
soon as there are signs of real change in
Zimbabwe?
Lord Triesman: My Lords, I give that assurance absolutely. We
have been
thinking very hard about what would happen at the point at which
it is
possible to make such moves. We have the architecture to do that and
we
would move as fast as we possibly could.
In general, if I may
answer the important points made by my noble friend
Lord Anderson about
other action, a significant number of the leaders of the
African Union are
not only now in constant touch with elements of both the
Zimbabwean
Government and the Opposition but have said-in Harare and in
terms-that this
cannot go on and it is no longer credible that it should do
so.
To be
candid with the House, I do not yet know whether they are prepared to
take
other steps. There is caution about accelerating the point at which the
movement of people across borders becomes so great that no one can deal with
it. I understand why there is that anxiety. On the other hand, I also think
that leaders of the African Union may very well react in a tough way when
the new approaches that they are now making are rebuffed.
Lord Alton
of Liverpool: My Lords, the Minister rightly emphasised the
importance of
the role of both President Mbeki and the African Union.
What discussions
was he able to have with President John Kufuor in his
capacity as chairman
of the African Union during his recent state visit
here? The Minister has
laid a lot of emphasis on the importance of European
Union countries
imposing things such as travel restrictions, but Robert
Mugabe was recently
invited to the 50th anniversary celebrations of the
independence of
Ghana.
Does he agree that if the African nations were to impose travel
restrictions
and make their views about the iniquities conducted by the
Zimbabwean regime
more clearly felt and known, that would have a much
greater impact than
European restrictions?
The Minister has rightly
also mention the bravery of people such as Pius
Ncube and Morgan Tsvangirai.
Can he tell us anything about their current
safety?
Lord Triesman: My
Lords, President Kufuor had detailed discussions with
several of us about
the position.
I have to say that it seems unlikely that the African Union
will impose
travel sanctions. Even if that would be desirable, it is not in
its history;
it has not done it with one or two dictators in Africa who
ought never to
have got where they did, let alone travel around.
None
the less, President Kufuor was clear about the embarrassment that is
being
caused and the need for an African Union response. He put that in
pretty
straightforward terms.
His organisation is faced with a number of huge
challenges, frequently
debated in this House, whether in the Sudan, Ethiopia
and Eritrea on the
border, or inside Somalia.
We know of huge
difficulties still in the Mano river basin, which is much
closer to the
President's home patch.
The African Union is very stretched in its
resources. That is not an excuse,
it is just a reflection of what it can and
cannot do on a day-to-day basis.
On the overall position, Morgan
Tsvangirai was seriously beaten and is, I
think, gradually
recovering.
But as those who heard him on the "Today" programme will
know, he is
completely undaunted. He deserves our admiration, that's for
sure. I think
that the Archbishop is not physically hurt or in physical
danger, but from
what I know of him, he will not be overly concerned. He
will continue to do
what he believes is right.
Lord Blaker: My Lords,
the noble Lord, Lord Steel, referred to one of the
reasons for Mugabe's
hostility to its existence.
I heard some years ago from a source which I
regarded as reliable that
another reason was that when his son died in
Ghana-he had a Ghanaian mother,
as the House will know-Mugabe was refused
permission by the then Government
to attend the funeral.
I cannot
imagine anything more foolish than that and I can understand why
that would
make him very resentful.
I support those who have been making a point
about the importance of the
SADC countries. They are the closest and are not
particularly stretched in
the way that other countries may be.
I
emphasise the importance of the SADC countries getting involved; it will
mean that Mbeki must take the lead, because nobody else in that group
will.
In the hope that there may be better times to come, would it be
good idea
for the Government to plan on assisting the professional classes
in
particular, who are extremely important, most of whom have fled and are
spread across the map, to get back to Zimbabwe?
Lord Triesman: My
Lords, quite a lot of detailed planning is taking place to
make sure that
there is capacity in Zimbabwe for rebuilding, which would
include the
professionals and what remains of the middle classes-if I can
use an
old-fashioned expression-which were among the first to flee the
country and
have more or less vanished. We offer quite a lot of bilateral
assistance, as
we do to particular sectors, but that help has to happen more
or less
outside the country-it is very difficult to sustain it inside
without
putting those we want to help at still greater risk.
Baroness Park of
Monmouth: My Lords, is there any prospect that the
Commonwealth-which, after
all, cared about South Africa even though it was
no longer in it-could be
induced to set up a special fund outside Zimbabwe,
available to civil
society in Zimbabwe to draw upon? They will need money if
they are to elect
people and if they are even to maintain their present
situation, and that
money has to come from somewhere. If it came from the
Commonwealth, that
would be an entirely respectable and non-partisan area
and would include all
African countries.
We should not confine ourselves to giving lots of
splendid publicity and
great admiration. We have to make it feasible for
people to help themselves,
and that seems to be one body that we could use
to do it.
Lord Triesman: My Lords, I hope I have emphasised that in all
our dealings
with Zimbabwe, we have been prepared to spend quite large sums
of money to
support those activities that we believe are right. To be clear
about HMG's
position, whether we were contributing through the Commonwealth
or
bilaterally, I have no doubt that we would wish to support the financial
consequences of re-entering democratic life. The Commonwealth as a possible
source is a very interesting idea; I do not know how it would be received
but I am certainly willing to explore it.
Press Association
Tuesday March 27,
2007
Guardian Unlimited
Extract:
Zimbabwe
The international
community must take urgent and decisive action to prevent
the crisis in
Zimbabwe deteriorating further, the Tories warned as they
challenged the
government to match "good words" with deeds.
Shadow foreign minister
Geoffrey-Clifton Brown told MPs: "The international
community's response to
27 years of Mugabe misrule, although well
intentioned, has been unable to
prevent the situation from deteriorating and
decisive action is now
needed."
Foreign Office minister Ian McCartney condemned the chaos as
"appalling,
disgraceful and utterly tragic", but stopped short of pledging
any new
measures. "The Zimbabwean crisis cannot be solved by the UK," he
warned.
Mr McCartney also confirmed that President Mugabe's daughter was
studying at
a top university in London. He told MPs that Bona Mugabe was
studying at the
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE),
which is part of
London University, and said the travel ban imposed on
Mugabe and his regime
should be extended to their children.
Sunday Times, SA
27 March
2007
MAPUTO - A delegation of Zimbabwean human rights lawyers are in
Mozambique
to seek support from civil society in that country to pressure
Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe to introduce political reforms, Vista
News reports.
This was revealed by Radio Mozambique in a report
quoting the leader of the
Zimbabwean lawyers' delegation, Tafadzwa
Mugabe.
Mugabe [the lawyer] and his delegation of two other lawyers
are being hosted
by the Mozambican Lawyers Association
(LDH).
Their visit to Mozambique comes after lawyers had suffered
physical
aggression and intimidation from the Zimbabwean government when
they tried
to seek the release of their clients arrested after the March 11
demonstrations.
The demonstrations resulted in the severe
beatings of opposition Movement of
Democratic Change (MDC) leaders, their
supporters and the subsequent killing
of a youth at the hands of the
police.
The opposition politicians had tried to address a prayer
meeting organised
by the Save Zimbabwe Coalition in Highfields suburb of
Harare.
Meanwhile, the LDH said in a press release that it wanted the
Mozambican
government to take a position on the regime of Robert Mugabe in
relation to
the recent events.
The association said the "gross
violation of human rights of the Zimbabwean
citizens does not happen as an
isolated issue in the African or global
context, but affects
everyone".
The LDH said the Zimbabwean government was "ignoring its
own constitution,
African Union laws as well as those of Southern African
Development
Community (SADC) and those of the United Nations' universal
declaration of
human rights".
The Zimbabwean situation had
started having negative effects on the African
countries, said the
LDH.
The association said it was the responsibility of civil society,
the
academics and intellectuals to press the African states to take
immediate
action to solve the situation in Zimbabwe.
The LDH said
it would soon formally send letters to the Mozambican
government and the
national parliament calling on them to take a united
decision on the
Zimbabwean issue.
Sapa
Reuters
Tue Mar
27, 2007 8:46AM EDT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe plans to cull its growing
elephant population to
limit damage to the environment and reduce conflict
with humans, state media
said on Tuesday.
The reports came after a
rampaging elephant trampled to death a British
woman and her 10-year-old
daughter on Saturday in the Hwange national part
in northwest
Zimbabwe.
The animals have also often stomped through villages,
destroying crops and
property.
Zimbabwe's parks and wildlife
authority says the southern African country's
elephant population has risen
above 100,000, more than twice the 45,000 it
can sustain.
"We are
having an explosion of the elephant population," the regional
Chronicle
newspaper quoted wildlife authority spokesman Edward Mbewe as
saying. "This
has proved to be destructive to the environment and there are
more cases of
humans encountering elephant invasions and attacks."
The culling plans face
opposition from local conservation groups who dispute
the official figures,
arguing that the government had not conducted a
wildlife audit for almost
seven years.
Mbewe said the cull would take place within the country's
annual hunting
quota of 500, allowed under the Convention on International
Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES). Zimbabwe earns about $15 million every
year from
elephant hunting.
There were no immediate figures on how
many elephants on average Zimbabwe
has allowed to be hunted in recent years,
but environmentalists say such
poaching is a growing problem.
Some
CITES member states and international lobby groups are also opposed to
elephant culling as well as ivory trade, which is banned in the country due
to illegal poaching but which has a strong black market in
Africa.
Neighboring South Africa also recently announced a new elephant
management
plan which could include both culling and contraception, saying
the current
elephant population of some 20,000 could double by 2020 with
disastrous
ecological consequences unless steps are taken to bring numbers
down.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
The government's new corruption survey is merely another way for the
authorities to be seen to be doing something, without taking resolute steps
to root out the problem.
By Joseph Sithole in Harare (AR No. 105,
27-Mar-07)
Corruption is seen in many societies as a cancer to be fought
with
relentless determination. In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe appears
content not only to live with the disease, but to allow it to flourish
unchecked among close political associates.
This reluctance to curb
corruption has created a climate in which it can
spread uncontrollably,
while those at the top look on complacently.
The most celebrated example
of corruption in post-independence Zimbabwe was
the Willowgate scandal of
1989, in which government ministers were accused
of buying vehicles cheap
and reselling them at a substantial mark-up. When
the media broke the story,
Mugabe quickly set up a commission of inquiry,
but he went on to grant
pardons to those who were implicated.
At that point, people began
doubting whether the justice system was up to
the job of dealing with
corruption.
Things got worse in the Nineties, with the "VIP housing
scandal" of 1995 in
which government officials and politicians allegedly
looted funds
contributed by civil servants to build or buy homes. Most of
the civil
servants who contributed money on the promise that the government
would
build houses for them remain homeless to this day. Nobody was
prosecuted or
punished.
This scandal was followed soon afterwards by
the plunder of the War Victims'
Compensation Fund, set up to help those who
had participated in Zimbabwe's
liberation struggle of the Seventies. Once
again, there were no arrests or
prosecutions.
But this case did
provoke 50,000 rank-and-file war veterans to start
demanding monthly
benefits from the government. They were aggrieved that
some of their leaders
had abandoned them and were living an ostentatious
lifestyle far in excess
of their salaries. After the veterans staged street
protests and threatened
to march on Mugabe's official residence, he was
forced to order payments of
50,000 Zimbabwean dollars per person in October
1997.
Because this
allocation had not been set aside in Zimbabwe's annual budget,
it led to the
collapse of the currency a month later on November 14, in what
became known
as "Black Friday". Analysts agree that this marked the
beginning of
Zimbabwe's current economic troubles.
The land seizures instituted from
2000 onwards only served to accelerate the
economic slide and trigger a
political crisis as well. The chaotic takeover
of white commercial farms -
ostensibly in the interests of a fair
redistribution to landless Zimbabweans
- soon became fertile ground for
misappropriation. Mugabe's officials and
cronies ignored the ZANU-PF policy
of "one man, one farm", with some
acquiring several properties and passing
them on to relatives.
Mugabe
has so far instituted seven land audits, all of which have confirmed
the
obvious - that most of his ministers and senior police, intelligence and
military officials possessed more than one farm. In August 2003, he declared
that he would deal with those who had seized more than one property, but the
threat was greeted with stony silence. To date, no looted farms have been
returned, and no action has been taken against the culprits.
In an
angry outburst recently, Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono lamented
the
presence of what he described as "career land occupiers, vandalising
farming
equipment from one farm to another".
One would expect such an indictment
from a senior establishment official to
be followed by swift action by the
authorities. Predictably however, no
action was taken.
Production on
these farms has all but ceased, so that the country has gone
from being an
exporter of maize to importing grain to feed itself. No one
wants to
undertake the arduous work of farming, it appears. Mugabe himself
once
complained that the seized farms had been turned into "weekend
resorts".
Finally, there are the allegations that emerged last year
concerning
misappropriation of funds at the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company,
the
country's sole steel producer. Following an official inquiry, parliament
conducted hearings in which allegations were made against a number of senior
politicians said to have benefited from payments made by the
company.
These days, President Mugabe is less reticent about the failings
of some of
his officials. In an interview to mark his 83rd birthday on
February 21, for
example, he complained that ministers were greedy and that
some were
involved in smuggling of gold and diamonds. The police and Central
Bank say
they have named names to the president, but as usual his policy is
not to
expose those accused, but to utter dark hints about unacceptable
behaviour.
The failure to act on this long series of corruption has
created a
widespread perception that there is a tacit acceptance of
corruption in high
places, and that even pledges of resolute action will
come to nothing. Thus
it was that most Zimbabweans reacted with cynicism
when they heard in
February that the government plans to conduct an
eight-month baseline survey
on corruption, at a cost of 800,000 US
dollars.
The anti-corruption minister, Samuel Undenge, said the survey
was needed so
as to give a definition of corruption, which manifests itself
in many forms
and mutates as circumstances change. "It is expected to
highlight a
comprehensive list of the types of corruption most prevalent in
Zimbabwe,
and identify institutions across all sectors where corruption is
considered
most prevalent," he said at the launch event,
A political
scientist at the University of Zimbabwe, who requested
anonymity, dismissed
the plan to research corruption patterns as a ploy to
give the public the
impression that something was being done.
"Why do we need a survey to
define corruption when we all know the people
who are abusing national
resources?" he said. "This is a waste of resources.
Mugabe [practises]
policy symbolism, pretending to be doing something when
in fact what he is
doing is giving time and warning to his corrupt ministers
and officials to
cover their tracks."
The analyst said that in most countries, the failure
to tackle the problem
effectively was often due to corruption within the
law-enforcement agencies,
whereas in Zimbabwe, the government's own
selective application of the law
had a corrosive effect on
policing.
"In which other country in the world do you have the police
waiting to be
instructed by politicians on whom to arrest and whom not to
arrest?" he
asked.
He concluded, "There is simply no political will
to fight corruption in
Zimbabwe. It has become a way of life."
Joseph
Sithole is the pseudonym of an IWPR contributor in Zimbabwe.
Mens News Daily
March 26, 2007
By Zvakwana
Since the violent onslaught on Zimbabwe's
civil and political opposition on
11th March, the Mugabe regime has
continued to conduct a country-wide
military operation to crush opposition
structures. In particular, rural
areas are getting special attention as
Mugabe's militia, police and feared
CIO seek out MDC (Movement for
Democratic Change) members for special
treatment.
Most recent
events illustrate the shocking methods being used by the regime.
Names of
some of the victims have been removed for fear of retribution.
An old man
Frighton Jairos (83 years), father of the MDC Chairman of
Mufakose, tells
the story:
He was in the dining room of their home in Mufakose with his
wife and
grandson Ivor (18) who was studying. At 10 pm four men in plain
clothes had
gained entry into the yard through a hole in the wall, then
kicked the
lounge door open. One was holding a hand gun. The men dragged
Ivor and
Frighton out of the house saying "you guys are holding MDC
meetings, where
is Charles, we know where he is" and they proceeded to give
the exact home
address of Charles. They were then blindfolded and gagged and
driven to
Kadoma in a two tone (Maroon top half, silver bottom half) Mazda
Eagle
Registration number AAP 2372, where they were severely beaten all over
their
bodies with and iron bar and fists.
After the beating, the
blindfolds and gags were removed and they were driven
back to Harare and
dropped off on Highglen Road, near Marimba Police
station. When they were
being beaten the state thugs were saying "you guys
think you can topple the
government".
Frighton sustained deep tissue bruising to both feet and shins.
Ivor was too
scared to come for medical attention.
A white Mazda B18
single cab pick up truck and a Combi Super 16 were the
vehicles seen outside
Frightons home that evening.
Other recent attacks:
1) A woman S.M.
was beaten on 11th March at the Prayer Rally, and
hospitalised. She went
home a few days later and on Friday 16.3.07 she was
visited by friends and
well wishers, one was her Mum and the other a woman
PN. Shortly after the
visitors arrived they were all arrested, including
S.M. and taken to Warren
Park Police Station, then on to Harare Central
Police Station. They were all
beaten with batons at Harare Central and then
released "no charge" on the
Sunday evening.
2) A man P. G. also from Mufakose and an MDC activist,
was arrested and
taken to Marimba Park on 21/3/07 where he was given approx.
65 cuts with a
whip - this torture took place from 12 midday to about
3pm.
3) NN, a man, was in a commuter bus in Mufakose at 8 pm on Wednesday
14/3/07. The commuter bus was stopped by riot police, including a dog
handler, and everyone including the driver were told to get out and were
then beaten. NN was beaten on the back of the legs and as he was falling to
the ground, the dog was set on him. He sustained severe puncture injuries
from the bite.
4) EZ 36 year old man was walking home from Gift
Tandares wake in Glen View
at about 7pm on Friday 16/3/07 when he was
accosted by three riot policemen,
carrying weapons. They asked him where he
had been and before he could
answer was made to lie down and the policemen
proceeded to beat him on his
back with their rifles saying "you are the
trouble causers in Glen View". He
sustained broken ribs.
5) GC, 38
year old male. Occurred on Wednesday 14/3/07 in Highfields. He was
walking
home at 8pm when he met 3 riot police, and one dog handler. They set
upon
him for no reason, beating him with batons on the back of his legs and
on
his back. They then pushed him to the ground and as he fell, they set the
dog on him. The dog got hold of his foot and ripped it about 10 cms down
through his big toe. He also sustained a deep wound on his right arm from a
baton. When he was being beaten the police were saying "policemen are not
supposed to be beaten, don't hit police".
6) LD, male, was at a bus
stop in Glen View at 5pm Wednesday 21/3/07 when he
was accosted by about 7
men in plain clothes. They told him to go with them,
and then man handled
him into a Mazda B16 single cab pick up truck - it had
no registration
plates. They told him to close his eyes and said " you are
going to die now,
what are you doing with Morgan Tsvangirai". They started
to beat him on the
head with shoes and fists and he lost conciousness. When
he regained
conciousness he saw they were in the bush near Marimba. He was
thrown out of
the vehicle and was then beaten with baton sticks and an iron
bar.
7)
A lady MM - beaten and detained at the same time as President Morgan
Tsvangirai and others. Her left shin was hit 15 times with a baton stick
causing a 10 cm wound exposing the bone completely. Other injuries include
bruising to her buttocks from whips, deep wounds to both knees.
8 )
LC, a lady in her late 30's from Mufakose, was beaten at the Prayer
Rally on
the 11/3/07. She was 7 months pregnant and healthy. As a result of
the baton
stick beatings to her back, she has just given birth to a still
born
baby.
9) JM of Kuwadzana (55 yrs) the father of 2 MDC activists was
abducted from
his home on Friday 23rd March at 11pm - he was abducted
because they couldn't
find his sons (note the pattern). 7 youths, armed with
hand guns entered his
home by showing their ZRP (Police?) ID cards. They
immediately started to
beat him all over his body, accusing him of hiding
his sons. They then drove
him to Darwendale ZANU PF office in silver twin
cab. When he had been beaten
they dumped him in the bush near the offices.
He managed to crawl to the
local police station and then find his way back
to Harare. It appears that
he sustained a fractured leg and arm.
10)
Last night the home of a local Marondera MDC campaigner was raided by
the
thug squad - as the person they were seeking was not at home, they
abducted
his son and nephew. Word came this morning that the two young men
were found
in the bush between Mahusekwa and Harare South Club having been
thoroughly
beaten. A vehicle was sent to uplift the tortured men, but they
were so
traumatised that they went and hid in the bush, obviously thinking
that the
vehicle belonged to the CIO.
There is a clear pattern
emerging:
All MDC office bearers are being targetted for abduction and a
thorough
beating and then being dumped in the bush far from their home. So
far this
has been mainly in the high density suburbs of Harare, but is now
moving out
into the district towns.
- Saviour Kasukawere (Deputy
Minister for Youth and Gender) has been
identified at at least two
abductions.
- Kasukawere appears to have a gang of armed youth many of
whom have been
identified as employees of the Harare City Council,
discharged Police
constables, CIO and Bus Rank marshalls, who are on his pay
roll. Identities
of some of these hired thugs are coming in via reliable
sources.
- They are armed and know their targets, names, addresses and
job
descriptions in the MDC.
- They have new expensive vehicles at
their disposal.
- They are not concerned about hiding their identities as
they are acting
with absolute impunity.
- They all have ID cards such
as Zimbabwe Police (ZRP), Central Intelligence
(CIO) and various other key
departments.
In another development, reports are coming in from various
sources that the
government is re-establishing militia camps in rural
Matabeland in
preparation for the 2008 election campaign. In the past, the
militia has
been used to scare rural peasants into voting for Mugabe's
zanupf. As part
of the campaign, it is understood that veterans of the
1970's war are also
being brought back into the fray. This has been seen as
an attempt by Mugabe
to ensure his success at the 2008 elections. What is
not clear is whether
his party will let him stand for another term. What is
known is that despite
infighting and factionalism within zanupf, it appears
that all are in
agreement on one issue - Mugabe must go. There is no doubt
that Mugabe
himslef is in a corner and the redeployment of 1970's war
veterans appears
to be his last card to retain power.
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
27 March 2007
State agents have continued their campaign
to intimidate officials from
Zimbabwe's umbrella labour union ahead of a
planned mass action scheduled
for April 3 and 4. On Tuesday the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions reported
that their Chinhoyi offices were visited
by 3 men in plain clothes who
wanted to find out who was distributing flyers
for their planned stay away.
They interrogated the acting Regional Officer
Wilson Kambanje and told him
they were watching his moves
closely.
Meanwhile in Gweru, about 40 armed policeman raided the offices
of the
Zimbabwe Domestic Workers' Union looking for the same thing, fliers
about
the stayaway. They asked to see an official there named Zacharia
Chikwenya,
who was fortunately not in the office at the time.
The
ZCTU said they expect the raids to continue and increase in the next few
days leading up to their protest action. But despite all this the stayaway
will not be cancelled. The labour group called for the stay away to pressure
government to address the drastically deteriorating economic conditions
plaguing workers.
ZCTU Secretary General Wellington Chibhebhe told
Newsreel last week that a
group of other fake unions met with Zanu PF
structures in Marondera and are
trying to mobilize thugs from rural areas
who will be used to intimidate
people into going to work during the strike.
But the group has been
resilient in the face of continuous government
tactics to discredit the ZCTU
leadership and intimidate
workers.
Asked if they did not risk endangering their members given
events in the
past few weeks Chibhebhe said, 'we are more threatened by
hunger than those
who are physically going to threaten people.' He urged
workers to stay in
doors and not leave their homes on the days of the strike
arguing this would
ensure the police could not brutalise them. 'They are
safer in their homes
than outside their homes,' he said.
SW
Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
The Namibian
(Windhoek)
March 27, 2007
Posted to the web March 27,
2007
Windhoek
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa said he does not
regret comparing Zimbabwe
to a sinking Titanic.
Mwanawasa told a
meeting of Zambians based in Namibia at the Safari Hotel in
Windhoek on
Friday that while he supports Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe's land
reform programme, he does not support Zimbabwe's governance
record.
"Zimbabwe is our neighbour. When people in Zimbabwe
cough, Zambians also
cough. We cannot sit back and watch when things are
going wrong there," said
Mwanawasa.
"I hear from some intelligence
that President Mugabe is popular in his
country. But why should his
government be ruling its people in such a
fashion? Why should he be denying
his people freedom of speech?" he asked.
Mwanawasa, who returned to
Zambia on Saturday after a five-day state visit
to Namibia, was responding
to a speech by the chairperson of Association of
Zambians in Namibia
(Azana), Professor CD Kasanda.
Kasanda had told the gathering that his
group supports the Zambian
president's stance and comments on the Zimbabwe
issue.
"We have been concerned on the apparent silence of our leadership
in the
SADC region. We note with pride that our president has the courage to
call a
spade a spade and not a spoon," said Kasanda, attracting applause
from the
packed Safari Hotel hall.
He added: "We hope that when
Zambia assumes the chairmanship of SADC this
August, you will continue with
this zeal without being distracted."
At a banquet Namibian President
Hifikepunye Pohamba hosted in his honour on
Tuesday, Mwanawasa had deplored
the Zimbabwe situation and called on
neighbouring countries and other
"willing" SADC member states to assist in
resolving the problems in that
country.
Zambia, he said, planned together with other African countries
to explore
the possibility of engaging Zimbabwe's leadership in "a more
supportive
manner".
Although he did not mention Zimbabwe by name
during the banquet,
descriptions such as 'troubled, distressed neighbour'
fitted Zimbabwe.
"As I am speaking 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.
"The
nationals of the said country are abandoning it in hundreds on a daily
basis
and crossing borders in search of any means of survival in all the
neighbouring states and beyond," said Mwanawasa.
He said if all SADC
members had a common destiny, they must help when one of
them runs into
difficulties.
His said his government is convinced that the time has come
for fresh talks
in "our relations with our common
neighbour".
Zimbabwe has been globally criticised for, among other
things, its human
rights and economic record.
However, President
Pohamba, who recently hosted his Zimbabwean counterpart,
has never condemned
or made any comment on the Zimbabwe situation.
Nampa
The Zimbabwean
( 27-03-07)
HARARE
BY ITAI
DZAMARA
A document containing President Robert Mugabe's litany of crimes
against the
people of Zimbabwe will soon be submitted to the International
Court of
Justice (ICJ) in Hague, The Zimbabwean has established.
This
paper can reveal that a group of political and civic leaders in
Zimbabwe is
through with drawing up Mugabe's indictment, dominated by
killings and
maiming of opponents since i ndependence in 1980.
The document was ready for
revealing by the end of January but had to be
revised recently following a
brutal crackdown by Mugabe's agents against his
main rival, Morgan
Tsvangirai and other opposition and civil leaders in
clashes that have
claimed at least two lives.
Requesting this paper to avoid divulging more
details about the document and
the plans to submit it to the Hague, Mugabe's
critics involved in the plans
also revealed they were already lobbying for
the support of members of the
international community in the indictment of
the Zanu (PF) leader, in power
for 27 years now.
"We had to revise the
document following the recent political events in the
country but it will
soon be ready for submission," one of the people
involved said. "It is not
proper to pre-empt its contents but we can just
indicate that it provides
the crimes that Mugabe has committed against the
people of Zimbabwe in
various ways."
The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations
based The
Hague , where former dictators such as Augusto Pinochet have been
dragged in
the past to answer charges of crimes against humanity committed
during their
days of power.
The atrocities in Matabeleland during the
early years of independence are
among the crimes Mugabe is likely to face
trial on. His iron-fisted 27-year
rule has of late been dominated by
spilling of blood and internecine state
sponsored violence since the advent
f the Movement for Democratic Change in
1999 to launch a determined and
effective challenge to end Mugabe's
dictatorship.
Observers say Mugabe's
obstinate clinging onto power at all costs is
inspired by the fear for
retribution he is likely to face from the people of
Zimbabwe or being
convicted by the ICJ.
He is clearly bent on staying in power after announcing
he wants to contest
next year's elections.
The Zimbabwean
(27-03-07)
By Gift Phiri
HARARE - Vast crowds of placard-waving Zanu
(PF) women marched across
central Harare Friday, defying a ban on rallies
and processions, with police
conveniently ignoring the procession, which
should have been outlawed under
a three-month ban imposed by the authorities
here.
A similar procession by the opposition and civic groups in the
capital three
weeks ago elicited a spate of vicious attacks by police that
resulted in the
death of two opposition activists and the gruesome beating
of opposition and
civic leaders.
The massive demonstration poured
down central Harare, with hundreds of women
wearing ruling party regalia
emblazoned with a portrait of President Robert
Mugabe.
Among the huge
crowds, bussed from the country's ten provinces, many flew
anti-opposition
banners, with several others wrapped in Zanu (PF) attire.
Protestors
carried signs reading: 'Down with Tsvangirai,' 'CNN are Liars,'
'Mugabe For
Life.'
The demonstration, which preceded a rally by Mugabe at the Zanu
(PF)
Headquarters, drew at least 8,000 women. Friday's events have drawn
accusations that police were selectively applying the law, violently barring
opposition from holding rallies and processions while turning a blind eye to
similar political activity by the ruling Zanu (PF) party.
Police
spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena scoffed at allegations that police were
partisan
saying he was not aware there was a procession of the Zanu (PF)
Women's
League in the capital.
The Zimbabwean witnessed baton-wielding and
gun-toting police officers
ignoring the procession of the ruling party
women, who were singing
liberation war songs.
The women managed to
march from the ruling party offices in Fourth Street to
Rotten Row,
unhindered.
They went on to attend a rally - also illegal under the
current regime of
bans - addressed by Mugabe. At the rally Mugabe vowed that
his sworn enemy,
Morgan Tsvangirai would never rule Zimbabwe. Mugabe further
made a grim
warning to his rivals that they will be beaten up further by his
security
forces if they continued leading a defiance campaign against
him.
What is life is like in a country where any sign of dissent or defiance to
the Government can result in beatings or jail? Where media is either
state-owned or regulated? And where blogging is dangerous.
All this
week the Sky News Insider Blog comes from inside Zimbabwe - where
activists
hoping for democracy are beaten or killed; where HIV/AIDS is rife;
where
life expectancy is low.
"Hope" is an activist opposed to President
Mugabe. She is having to blog
under a pseudonym to avoid
recrimination.
You are encouraged to add your comments each
day.
This is the link to the Sky Blog section: http://jeremythompson.typepad.com/
http://jeremythompson.typepad.com/
Monday
My day begins with a 30 minute walk to a
place where I wait for a work
colleague to pick me up.
Sometimes I
have to walk further because we change the pick up spot every
week. If I
stay in one place too long, other people in the area soon learn
that I have
a lift organised and start waiting with
me.
My work colleague doesn't
mind an extra one or two squeezing in, but objects
to five or six trying to
sit on laps to fit in the car.
I am extremely lucky to have a lift. Other
work colleagues who rely on the
ETs (Emergency Taxis - mini-bus cabs) are in
a terrible situation. The
country's annual 1,800% inflation has forced the
ET fares from $3,000 to
$5,000 overnight (£6-8)- and that is just one
way.
ETs divide their routes into sectors so the costs can sometimes be
double
that if you have to catch two ETs to get home.
An average
commercial worker clears around $30,000 a week (£60). So if a
person is
spending $10,000 a day on ETs their transport bill comes to nearly
twice the
amount they earn in a week. What about food, school, fees, and
rent?
Last week the employees of a major department store refused to
go to work
because their earnings didn't cover their transport. The
government's
solution at the beginning of this month was to force employers
to give their
employees an extra $60 000 (£120)on top of their wages as a
transport
allowance.
But before the month has even ended, inflation
has made the figure
nonsensical. This is why we see so many people walking
these days.
Walking 15km to work is bad enough, but worse when you have
to factor in
Mugabe's thugs trying to enforce an illegal curfew by
intimidating and
beating up civilians out on the streets at
night.
One of my friends described how his walk home is taking him twice
as long as
it should because
he is choosing back roads to avoid the
patrolling thugs. He says he's
feeling exhausted all the time now because he
can't afford to eat three
meals a day anymore, and all the walking is
sapping his energy.
People are talking about having to make a choice;
most of them are thinking
about whether it is even worth working any
more.
So I am incredibly lucky to have a colleague who gives lifts to us.
In
return, we share the cost of his fuel. The price of fuel goes up almost
daily: it was $8 000 a week ago (£15)and today it is $18 000 (£35)in most
garages.
We also help him by taking it in turns to sit in his car
when he needs to
queue for fuel (a person can queue for days to get hardly
any fuel). But the
impact of inflation tells me that it won't be long before
the whole country
is walking a very long tiring walk to work every day - the
whole country
with the exception of the Zanu PF elite.
Hope, a
Sokwanele activist
Blogging for Sokwanele at 'This is Zimbabwe' :
www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe
------------
Comments
Andy
says Mugabe has support from SA because he is persecuting white
farmers.
That may have been how it started, but it has long moved on to
persecuting
anyone who opposes him, black or white.
There are those who support him, his
Ministers, Police & the Army, because
they are looked after and get paid
etc. If they were starving like the
majoirity of his people,they would soon
turn on him -corruption & nepotism
works.
He mayhave been voted in in
a democratic election 24 years ago, but in the
majority of democraciestheere
would have been more than 1 change of
Government by now. He has stayed there
by fraululent elections &
intimidation, besides not giving everyone who
wished to the time to vote -
polling stations closing before the queues have
managed to get in - so
saying he has been voted in by the people is now a
total myth.
Much of the trouble in Iraq is because,the Sunnis were in power
for so long
under Saddam, they are in the minority, so it is mainly Shi'ites
who are in
Govt now and no-one wants to relinquish power and this is the
same in
Zimbabwe - Mugabe & co are comfortable where they are & have
no wish to be
relegated to the opposition.
Posted by: Diana, Malta 27
Mar 2007 14:49:59
To Shumba and Sello - it is obvious that you are
nothing more than CIO
plants or part of Mugabe's Fat Cat elite, spreading
propoganda and blaming
everything on the "whites". Either that, or you are
uneducated nazi types
who are happy for innocent children to be left to die
from starvation and
poverty and oppression. People like you bring shame on
real Zimbabwean black
men. Men like me who want to protect their families
from murderers like
Mugabe. Men like me who are prepared to fight for
freedom at any cost. Men
like me who are proud to belong to the once-great
nation of Zimbabwe. Men
like me who know right from wrong. The "imperialist"
race card is a cheap
one and you embarrass yourselves and your
family.
Posted by: Kudzai Mushoriwa, UK 27 Mar 2007
13:54:46
mugabe is a hypocrite and a liar he likes the power he's got but
it will not
last for ever,if sally mugabe was alive she would never agree
with what he
is doing sally could rein him in but this new wife is young and
foolish.As
for England being at fault for all the trouble what a laugh he's
a joke,if
he was a proper man he would say sorry to all his people and make
good what
he has done he should be an outcast as nobody wants
him.
Posted by: cheryl york south africa 27 Mar 2007 13:47:46
I'm
ex S.A., been in and around Europe for last 10 years now, I saw the
writing
on the wall for SA after seeing the terrible decline in Zim hence I
left,
surely now the situation in Zim is so bad that the people will
actually do
something about it, I can't really see any other country getting
involved,
especially not S.A., the S.A. government is probably watching the
situation
very closely, seeing how other countries react, and of course,
taking a lot
of notes for "future reference and use". I sympathise with the
people of
Zimbabwe very much, it's always the normal down to earth ones who
get
stuffed by the politicians and their cronies, good luck to the real
people
of Zim, and down with Mugabe and his gang of thugs.
Posted by: Mike,
London 27 Mar 2007 13:44:05
People in power need to wake up and realize
that Robert Mugabe is
responsible for human atrosities on the same level as
Saddam Hussein. He
alone was responsible for the massacre of more than 30
000 Ndebele people in
the early 1980s. Why do America and Britain make such
a big fuss over the
Iraq crisis? More people are being murdered in Africa
every day! The only
reason I can think is money money money. And South
Africa with it's quiet
diplomacy worries me. Does the ANC agree with and
maybe plan to follow in
the same land reform footsteps of
Zimbabwe?
Posted by: Michael, Ipswich 27 Mar 2007 12:30:33
What
exactly do you want Mr Mbeki and the rest of South Africa to do? I
really
can't see why this should be our problem at all. Fair enough we are
their
neighbours but when you see someone getting attacted do you call your
neighbours or the police? In this case Britian and maybe America are the
police although I'm not so sure if they even know where Zimbabwe is. We are
talking about Africa here people! While you are blaming South Africa to do
something think of the fact that South Africa might be in the same boat
someday.
Unless off course we can invade Zimbabwe and just take it
for ourselves?
Posted by: Mo, South Africa 27 Mar 2007
12:16:30
Since the beginning of Mugabe taking over the farms and killing
the farmers
of it's country, there has been a great decline in the economy.
With the
lack of agriculture which was the country's greatest income of
foreign
currency for exporting into other Southern African countries (such
as South
Africa, Botswana, etc), with fix rates of ludacrisly low amounts
instead of
the floating original rates. In short the government are stealing
money.
Posted by: Anonymous, Zimbabwe 27 Mar 2007 11:59:43
i am a
zimbo and feel mugabe is now had enough!!!!! how can he beat up
people for
holding a prayer meeting....
this madman needs to be
killed!!!!!!1
amen
Posted by: anonymous 27 Mar 2007
11:57:56
Hang him!!! Hang him. He is a murderer. Nothing but a murderer.
How long
will Blair, Bush and ALL of South africa let these people suffer.
Mugabe
calls himself a Christian?? His sons attended a christian school.
Hang him.
Someone put a price on his head.
Posted by: Dave S 27 Mar
2007 11:46:20
Don't get me wrong...I am truly disgusted with how the
people are suffering
in my former home country, and I wish the situation
were different, but Mike
Randall of Worcester is absolutely right: the
Zimbabweans voted Mugabe into
power more than 25 years ago, so they only
have themselves to blame.
Admittedly Britain are not an innocent party in
all of this either. Sadly I
think Zimbabwe was doomed from the start (which
is why so many people left
while they had the chance), because of the
communist backgrounds of ZANU &
ZAPU. What exactly the rest of the world
is supposed to do about it... who
knows? I hope & pray that the country
can one day recover from this
catastrophe.
Posted by: Sheila,
Johannesburg, South Africa 27 Mar 2007 11:26:52
zimbabwe was my paradise
12 years ago when i used to go to this country for
holiday,it was such a
wonderful country with milk and honey.It was in the
year 2003 when i learnt
that things are not alright,i experienced a very
terrible problem when i
went to south Africa by air to get my car from the
port to Malawi via
Zimbabwe,i was so suprised to see that i had stay in the
country for some
days to get petrol,what a shame a country used to be a
great nation,because
of one man the whole country is in tumoile.b
MY plea to great peaple of
Zimbabwe is use the churches to bring down this
dictator , we dont have to
fight, Ama sure God will intervene.A god lesson
is what happened in Malwi
catholic bishops released a pastral letter calling
for change, peaple
listened and revolted eventually Kamuzu was brought down
to his knees.we all
know how dangerous Kamuzu banda was.
Posted by: james kawenga 27 Mar 2007
11:13:22
There is oil (where there is coal, there has to be oil somewhere
near by
right?), diamonds, platinum and possibly uranium. Isn't that enough,
Dubya?
Posted by: thandi 27 Mar 2007 10:27:16
Stop blaming SOuth
Africa - what on earth are we supposed to do? Act like
America and invade? I
think not. Ultimately the Zimbabweans must get off
their butts and take
control of their country. Instead they sit around
passivley waiting for
someone else to take the initiative. It is their
country and they must
change the govt, no one else! Yes, the elections have
been unfair, but
technically Mad Bob is elected so any foreigh intervention
will be against
international law. The people themselves are the only ones
who have the
right to topple the regime. If the population of eastern europe
could
overthrow a superpower in the eighties, and the masses could make a
differnce in SA, both against far superiorly armed govt forces, then there
is no excuse for the Zimbabweans to sit around waiting for "Bwana" to come
and solve their problems.
Show a bit of gumption.
Posted by: ben
27 Mar 2007 10:15:16
I have visited beautiful Zimbabwe back in 1993:
Kariba, Mutare and Harare.
Already back then, when travelling, we had to
stop to police check points
every 10 km. Everyoine was nice and police never
harassed us. Its a pity to
read the suffering that same people are
experiencing now. Its no wonder that
South AFrica is doing nothing if one
thinks that ANC, MK, ZAPU, ZANU and all
other "movements" were all connected
back in 1970s and 80s and all suported
eachother. Is like asking Mbeki and
Zambia and all the others to condemn a
fellow "comrade", thus recognizing
their responsability in the mess Zimbabwe
is in. Honestly I doubt
Zimbabweans can pull out of it on their own.
Unfortunately, considering
Mugabe's age, the result might be that one would
need to wait until nature
does its course and he is no longer around.
Probably only this can prevent a
blood bath by a tyrant and free the lovely
Zimbabwean people. My message to
them is: "take courage, hang on and soon a
new dawn will come".
Unfortunately the hipocrat West will do nothing to
help. God bless you
all
Posted by: Mike, South African in Rome 27 Mar 2007
09:16:15
when you see Mugabe on TV meeting the people they all scream and
want to
touch him like he is some sort of God..... Why??????
Posted
by: Ann - South Africa 27 Mar 2007 08:55:42
Dear Mr Mbeki. Please wake up
and smell Mugabe!!! Mr Blair and Bush, did u
know there is oil in Zimbabwe.
Send your troops please!!! Africas monster is
raping his
country!
Posted by: Hugo South Africa 27 Mar 2007 06:52:13
mugabe
bye,mdc welcome
Posted by: london 27 Mar 2007 00:39:11
As a
South African, I hang my head in shame at what is happening in Zim.
What
happened to Human Rights? What happened to Free and Fair Elections?
What
happened to Freedom of Speech - all things which the ANC gov. of SA
supposedly supports. The SA gov. are too busy trying to solve the DRC and
Burundi crises. Look right next door to you Thabo - our Zim friends need
firm and decisive action from SA and the African Union. I say it time that
the great people of Zim rise up and have a "velvet revolution" like parts of
Eastern Europe did. It worked there - why can it not work in Zim? Mugabe is
nothing more than a tinpot dictator/thug. The Zim people are one of the best
educated people in Africa. Why do they allow themselves to be subjected to
the rule of this madman and his corrupt cronies? Come on you wise Zim
people - this is your time. Now is the time to re-take your
country.
Posted by: Stephen 26 Mar 2007 23:23:45
Hi Guys,
Can
anyone confirm if it's true that Mugabe's daughter is attending
University
in London UK?
Posted by: Jonathan Moyo 26 Mar 2007 21:14:52
I
find amusing that one day having finished work i was having a beer with my
guys and one of the old men at the squatter camp was a ZIPRA veteran, he was
wishing that the whites would take the country back and get rid of comrade
Mugabe. So much for fighting for a cause, he now finds himself exiled from
his country because he is the wrong tribe!
Posted by: tony roberts
jhb south africa 26 Mar 2007 20:25:13
Instead of "dealing with mugabe",
America and Britain must deal with their
point man on Zimbabwe, Thabo Mbeki!
This is the man who has lied to the
world that the situation in Zimbabwe is
normal since 2000 whilst supporting
the dictatorship in Harare through
subsidised electricity and fuel. Why do
that, one might ask, but the answer
is there for all to see. The economical
threat that Zimbabwe posed to South
Africa as a powerhouse on its own has
now been nullified, and Zimbabwe is
now virtually the 13th province of SA.
Where the scheme has gone horribly
wrong for Mbeki is the numbing poverty
that has now taken root in my country
and more of my people are now finding
their way into his own country with
the consequent rise in vice!
Posted by: Farai, Senegal 26 Mar 2007
18:03:36
Mugabe is an evil head of state who has brought terrible
suffering to all
the people of Zimbabwe.Just like the president of the
United Republic od
Cameroon, Mugabe is running Zimbabwe in exact lines of
total dictatorship
and complete disrespect for human rights.
The sad
thing is, this old Goat(Mugabe has outlived his usefulness and
hearding
towards his grave , but continues to torture in a bid to kill
millions of
his people.Zimbabwe people need to comtemplate and act rapidly
and sharply
in the most belligerent means to unseat this Corpse.They need to
eradicate
the entire Mugabe Family so that this evil spirit must not
resurface.Cameroon people are facing the same problems.Paul Biya and Robert
Mugabe must be removed immediately!!
Njifenzt form
BARCELONA(SPAIN)
Posted by: Njifenzt 26 Mar 2007 17:51:54
Dig for
oil, it's your only hope!
Find oil and 'democracy' will swiftly
follow!
Posted by: Huw from Dubai 26 Mar 2007 17:50:18
Mugabe is
going soon. He is not God.There is a higher power than him. Every
dictator
regardless of the extent of his doings always goes in the
end.History has
evidence of that. Zimbabweans are not stupid. The water has
been stirred and
Mugabe's time is up.There is no more grace left for him.
And to the people
who keep talking about imperialism, wake up. Do your
research well. The old
generation which suffered under colonialism is gone.
We the present
generation are educated,democracy loving people. I am a black
Zimbabwean and
i know a white Zimbabwean has just as every right to live in
Zimbabwe.Mugabe
needs to go because he is evil.As for South Africa please!
Quiet Diplomacy!
What is that?
Posted by: Eve. United Kingdom 26 Mar 2007
17:01:31
If only there was oil in Zimbabwe! Then we might have seen this
hideously
oppressive regime overthrown years ago. Brown lives do not matter
to these
Western governments unless there's car fuel at stake. What a sorry
state of
affairs. I only hope Zimbabwe can recover because it is a wonderful
country
with warm hearted, kind people - with the notable exception of one
greedy,
selfish moustached man.
Posted by: Katherine, London 26 Mar
2007 16:38:34
That mugabe is a crazed agent of the devil is a given. What
about his
ministers, and their children living large in UK, america etc?
Enjoying
moneys they robbed of innocent zimbabweans, vana shamhu,
munangagwa,
chikoore etc etc. these people should be rounded up and shot. on
the other
hand, mugabe has never known anything but persecuting oposition. a
lesson
well learnt from the rhodesians.
Posted by: Matope Bhanda 26
Mar 2007 16:35:23
I think we should pull out of Iraq and send our boys
and girls to Zimbabwe,
Robert Mugabe has wrecked his country, he wouldn't
last 5 mins against the
British
Posted by: Robert London 26 Mar 2007
16:18:53
As a Rhodesian resident, I was in a spotlessly clean
Salisbury(Harare) on
the day of the elections and witnessed the euphoria and
jubilation as the
Africans realised they had finally got rid of us
'Mzungus'. They wanted
Independence, they wanted Mugabe. Well, they got
their wish, but it didn't
turn out as they expected, despite the signs all
around (Zambia, Tanzania,
Zaire) that Africa breeds more Dictators than
Democrats. I'm afraid I have
very little sympathy for you - sort it out
yourselves. We Whiteys left you a
thriving dynamic country that could feed
much of Africa, now you can't even
feed yourselves!
Posted by: Mike
Randall, Worcester, England 26 Mar 2007 16:06:33
This isn't the time to
play 'the blame game'. Millions of innocent
Zimbabweans are suffering on a
daily basis. What an infringement on their
basic human rights, if they
cannot be comfortable in their own country. The
solution lies within the
Zimbabweans themselves. I am one of them. It's not
like we are powerless to
get ourselves out of this mess. Are we? Imagine if
the millions of us rise
and take back our power.
What are we scared of? They weren't scared to fight
colonialists. Let's
learn from them. It can be done. And the time is
now!
Posted by: Francisca 26 Mar 2007 15:54:16
It's a pity there's
no oil in Zimbabwe, otherwise I imagine your average
Zibabwen wouldn't be
able to move for US/UK forces falling over themselves
to bring "freedom
& democarcy" to the great people of Zimbabwe.
The same 2 governments
ironically enough who were happy to kick back and
watch the genocide in
Darfur and Rwanda unfold without feeling the need to
intervene are the same
ones who are happy to invade Iraq (Co-incidently a
country with no weapons
of mass destruction or Al Qaeda links)in the name of
democracy and decency
(not for money or oil, honest!)
Posted by: Kieran Moody 26 Mar 2007
15:25:22
What is life to a dead man, and what is the fear of death in the
grave?
Zimbabweans, your future is in your hands. Fix it or loose
it.
Mugabe is 83 and obviously not strong enough to pepertrate all that
evil
himself. Zimbabweans do it for him. He has supporters. Wake up and take
the
challenge. Zimbabwe will be better off without Mugabe and the best
people to
remove him is Zimbabweans.
I wish you all wisdom to
understand the price of doing nothing!! and Now!!!
Posted by: Oluebube,
Chester, UK. 26 Mar 2007 14:45:49
There is nothing like western
imperialism here, MUGABE is using this term to
cheat the people of
ZIMBABWE.And what i am seeing is that MUGABE will never
surrender he knows
how much problems he has caused. So the only solution is
to remove him by
force like saddam.
Posted by: Sydney from zambia 26 Mar 2007
14:17:11
My heart goes out to all decent Zimbabweans who want nothing
more than to
have a job, a roof over their heads, food on the table and a
future for
their kids. I don't think people in the West have any idea
whatsoever of how
bad the situation has become for ordinary citizens on a
day to day basis.
People talk about Britain becoming a police state and I
want to laugh out
loud. The troubles facing Zimbabwe make any gripes over
here look
ridiculous. And this blog brings home that fact.
Much as
it's tempting to think the US or the UK could swoop in, crush the
opressive
regime and install a functioning democracy, this has been shown
repeatedly
not to work (ask the Iraqis...). Sadly, the solution has to come
from the
Zimbabwean people themselves who are currently living in such a
state of
fear and opression and exhaustion that this seems unlikely at the
present
time. What shocks me the most is the indifference (up to now) of
fellow-African states. If your closest neighbours and allies refuse to
acknowledge that there is even a problem, much less help you, how much worse
your isolation and hopelessness must feel!
Most notable, embarrassing
and shameful is the reaction of the South African
Government. How soon they
have forgotten what it is like to be opressed by a
tyrannical government,
and how easily they have slipped into the comfortable
shoes of the ruling
class! Clearly, the idea of a trade union movement
leader (Tsvangirai)
challenging the power of the state terrifies them
(witness COSATU's power in
South Africa) - maybe this explains the inaction?
Whatever the reason, their
stubborn refusal to concern themselves with the
welfare of ordinary
Zimbabwean citizens makes a mockery of the concept of
ubuntu.
Posted
by: Jeanne, South African in London 26 Mar 2007 13:31:52
I find it sad
that the UK government are taking a "back seat" towards the
happenings in
Zimbabwe.
After spending Christmas and New Year there, it is clear to see
everyone on
some level is suffering.
Such a beautiful country is
slowly slipping away. Something must be done.
Posted by: Katy - London 26
Mar 2007 13:17:42
Get yourself a car.
Posted by: Dave Jones 26 Mar
2007 13:15:07
I would like to respond to Sello Ramokhoase's comments,
first of all i think
someone as narrow minded as yourself should be ashamed
of your comments. I
was born in Zimbabwe and will always be a Zimbwabwean,
how dare you turn the
situation that is happening in Zimbabwe into some
racial conflict with
Britain. When last have you been in Zimbabwe? I am a
white man who still has
family living in Harare, do not think for one minute
that the average white
person is not suffering alongside the rest of the
Zimbabwean nation.
Mugabe is a dictator, and his peoples blood is on his
hands, he has
indirectly murdered men, woman and children and this will
continue until he
has been taken from government. The rest of the world is
not doing enough to
stop this attrocities, sanctions are not
enough!!!
South Africa, Mr Mbeki, wake up and take note of what is
happening in your
neighbouring country.
I dont understand some of
these comments posted on here, you are mentioning
stop "back-door"
Imperialism etc etc - so in other words you would rather
have a nation
starve to death, a country filled with violence and chaos, i
dictator who
has no respect for human life or morals. That little moustache
he has just
under his nose, does that not remind you of a dictator who
killed thousands
of people?
Come on world, how many people need to die and suffer until
someone has the
balls to step in and help the people of
Zimbabwe.
Morgan Tsvangarai might not have all the answers but he
understands the
peoples suffering, he can relate to being beaten up,
tortured and abused. A
good President is someone who can relate to his
people, a great President is
his people...
Wake up
world!!!
Posted by: Jason K - London 26 Mar 2007 13:06:28
Mugabe
has caused more deaths that Saddam. The Zimbabwe people are broken.
This is
proof that the war in Iraq was all about oil and not setting people
free
from a tirant. If the rest of the world was so interested in saving
people,
something would have been done to help the poor folks of Zimbabwe
along time
ago, but we all just sit by and watch as thousands are being left
homeless.
How much is a life worth and how much does it cost to save a
nation.
Posted by: Andre London 26 Mar 2007 12:14:26
The
situation continues because it is obviously in the best interests of
western
governments to keep Mugabe in power.
Posted by: Roz Jones, UK 26 Mar 2007
12:10:31
Shumba,I am amazed that you are taken in by Mugabe's con. It is
not Western
imperialist forces who have used food aid as a political weapon,
selectively
starving those who are not Zanu PF supporters. It is not Western
imperialist
forces who punished urban residents for their electoral support
of the
opposition by initiating operation Murambatsvina. It is not limited
sanctions on a small Zanu PF elite by Western imperialist forces that have
caused the collapse of the economy. It is not Western imperialist forces who
have crushed every form of dissent, closed down as many avenues of protest
as possible, and who have openly admitted to beating the opposition and
undertaken to do it again. I personally do not care whether Zimbabwe is or
is not pro-West. What I do care about deeply is a society in which everyone
is free to openly express their views, where political participation is
allowed free of intimidation, where fair elections are held and most of all,
where the rights of every human being are respected.
Posted by:
Steve, Cape Town 26 Mar 2007 11:46:36
I worked in Zimbabwe from 1995
until 1999, and witnessed the 'beginning of
the end' first-hand.
In
January I spent some time in Harare, my first trip to Zim in some years,
and
the decline was apparent everywhere:
-No fuel for sale in any of the petrol
stations I visited.
-Very little goods on the shop shelves.
-Groups of
unemployed people, with little hope of work, despondent and
unhappy,
everywhere.
-A huge increase in the number of uniformed people on the streets
(police
and army).
- A general sense of foreboding and gloom -felt by
people under the heel of
an oppressive police state.
The country is
in terminal decline, and yet here in South Africa Thabo
Mbeki's government
continues the 'softly softly' approach, when it is clear
to all the quiet
diplomacy just does not work.
Whilst South Africa and the African Union
refuse to apply any real pressure
to Zimbabwe, Mugabe will continue to see
any protest as a 'western
conspiracy', and continue his despotic rule
unchecked. Meanwhile, the MDC
cannot do the job on their own.
The days of
Mugabe as a African liberation hero are over. African leaders
must say
enough is enough and do something.
Posted by: Mark, Souh Africa 26 Mar
2007 11:43:48
The South African Government is a disgrace! They do nothing
to help the
situation in Zimbabwe and I have a sneaky feeling it's because
it's blacks
oppressing the white farmers.
Posted by: Andy London
26 Mar 2007 11:08:00
People have a right to say no. If Mugabes people
lived in comfort and
without fear, then I would say that he could be left
alone, but it's not the
case.
I have black friends who live in
Zimbabwe and they are now talking about
laying their lives on the line, to
stand up to the dictator. It's a
horrendous thought and I'm desperately
hoping that it wont come to that.
Blood will be shed, but I sincerely hope
that it all comes from the people
who are making the Zimbabwean people
suffer and beg for the most basic of
human rights.
Their neighbours
had their houses burned down and now they've 'adopted' a
family of 7 who
live in their house with them. They cannot buy soap or even
the most basic
of foodstuffs.
And today I learn that They had a black out for 5 days, no
heat, hot water
or light, and the food that they had managed to pick from
their garden and
buy from the black market had been ruined because the
freezer defrosted due
to the blackouts.
Mugabe must go and the people
must rise again.
Posted by: Stephen, Scotland 26 Mar 2007
10:32:49
As a south African it is very disappointing to see the state of
Zimbabwe,
however, only the people of Zimbabwe can, honestly, determine the
fate of
the people they elected, to portray Mr Mugabe as a dictator may be
factually
accurate but he does not exist in a vacuum, without the support of
the army
& police & other culpable people he would not be allowed to
rule. Until a
poular uprising renders his support powerless the situation
will continue
and even then the people of Zimbabwe must be careful who they
elect to
replace Mr Mugabe, after all he was elected as a popular
anti-colonialist
leader and only followed the usual african democratic
process of one man,
one vote, one time.
Posted by: Keith, Gauteng,
South Africa 26 Mar 2007 10:10:36
The answer is simple. The US do not
intervene because Zimbabwe does not have
oil like Iraq has!!!!
Posted
by: Timothy Farrugia Malta 26 Mar 2007 09:25:34
The current situation in
Zimbabwe is no different to what has been happening
over the last 10 years.
A pattern has formed, every time an election is due,
Mugabe tries to
unsettle the electorate through intimidation, either to get
them to vote
ZANU-PF or to move the elections. The way in which South africa
has handled
this situation is shocking to say the least, but with the Soccer
World Cup
taking place in 2010 and Mugabe wanting to pospone elections in
Zimbabwe for
around that time he is now facing oppostion from South Africa
for the first
time. As World Cup hosts the last thing we would want is a
potential hotspot
to explode when the worlds attention is fixed on Southern
Africa, quite a
selfish approach by our Government. With the posponing of
elections in
Zimbabwe a limited option for Mugabe, you can probably expect
the
Zimbabweans to be exposed to heighted levels of intimidation and
violence
over the next year.
With regards to the blog by Shumba - 24th March 2007,
look where your
emancipation from foreign settlers has got Zimbabwe and
other countries in
Africa,need I say more!
Posted by: Marc - South
Africa 26 Mar 2007 09:25:33
As a south african, i feel very angry that a
lot of propaganda is being
dished out about the situation in
zimbabwe.
It is obvious that the white media does not want to go back to
the root
cause of this confusion - namely Britain's refusal to adhere to the
Lancaster agreement.
Does the white media not care about the
stability of the african continent,
look what is happening in DRC
Did
they ever challenge Bemba`s double standards, who is threatening the
regional stability. Look at the rampant crime that is happenin in south
africa it is endangering the democracy and political parties are fighting to
get positions in order to plunder the state coffers.
why smouldering
issues are ignored in favour of morgan tsvagirai who is an
attention seeker
who does not even have an agenda as to how to run the
country. all he needs
to do to convince people like myself is to fight for
the eradication of
sanctions against the zimbabwean people and admit that he
was used at the
expense of the country.
Posted by: sello ramokhoase 26 Mar 2007
08:50:52
Zimbabwe was the bread basket of Afica and the most promising
country in the
region.
Mugabe has systematically raped Zimbabwe to
fill his own pockets and those
of his cronies, starved and beaten his own
people and made them destitute in
their own land. He has fooled some
Zimbabweans into believeing he is the big
protector, saving them from
colonials who want to oppress them.
Thankfully, the majority of
Zimbabwe's people have now woaken up to this lie
and have seen that the only
oppressor they face is Mugabe himself. He will
be removed, and when he goes,
watch him run to live in South Africa where he
can be protected from the
wrath of his own people. (Ian Smith, for all his
misguided politics,
continued to live in Zim, with no protection - will
Mugabe be as dedicated
to his country?) Zimbabweans are not stupid, they
know who their real
oppressor is and they will get their revenge. They will
fight their own
battle and they will win.
Posted by: Claire 26 Mar 2007
07:55:53
This individual has been corrupted by power; he has been either
in the
position where his ministers are fearful of speaking up, have seen
their
peers removed for speaking up or they are 'yes men' who are fearful of
loosing their seat on the gravy train. It would appear whilst nationals of
this country are being starved to death there is little or no evidence of a
similar fate for those in positions of power.
We cannot have regime
change by the white Europeans or Americans, this
change if it is to come
must be from the people, their neighbours and the
African National
Council.
Our hands are not wholly clean in this region for it was the
power struggle
between Ian Smith and London that eventually led to
independence for
Rhodesia / Zimbabwe; in the free elections of February
1980, Mugabe and his
ZANU won a landslide victory; Mugabe has won
re-election ever since.
We cannot be seen yet again as meddling
colonialists.
Posted by: Peter, Fife 25 Mar 2007
17:56:27
While we enjoy the incitement and the global media demonising
Mugabe,
everyone knows in their conscience he is not the monster. He is
merely
paying for his saying NO!!! to back-door imperialism. Unless you
understand
real African politics, please research before being fooled. Long
live
Emmancipation from domination by foreign settlers, just as we are
treated as
everywhere else yet we dont cry foul.
Posted by: Shumba
Chireramasango 24 Mar 2007 07:03:37
If blogging is perceived to be
dangerous, then this tyrant needs to be
removed. Shameful for all is the
fact that neither the US or indeed the UN
has had the guts to provide the
people of this country with democracy....
yet another evil dictator carries
on killing and spreading mysery.
Posted by: Khalid 22 Mar 2007
21:09:35
http://jeremythompson.typepad.com/
Inside
Zimbabwe
People are talking about the recent news that
Angola had agreed to send
2,500 police militia to boost the Zimbabwean
Police Force.
The Angolan government has denied this, but no one believes
they're telling
the truth.
Zimbabweans have lost trust with
governments in the SADC region, and we
think they might lie for Mugabe and
secretly help him keep us oppressed. The
memory of the stolen elections,
which were declared free and fair by South
Africa, still feels very fresh.
How can we trust them to help us?
In my area, Matabeleland, around 20,000
civilians were killed in the early
1980s during Mugabe's military operation
code-named 'Gukuruhundi'. Many
more were brutally tortured.
The
Fifth Brigade who carried out the vicious murders were trained by the
North
Koreans. The cruelty and types of things they did to people defy
civilised
imaginations.
I know people who are still psychologically scarred by
witnessing atrocities
and living with fear. I have a friend whose mother
still suffers from pain
caused by torture injuries inflicted on her more
than twenty years ago.
So when we hear talk of foreign forces coming in
to 'help' Mugabe, that's
the first thing that comes to mind for those of us
who live in Matabeleland.
We are even more alarmed when we hear that the
Angolan police militia are
referred to as 'ninjas' because of their brutal
tactics.
I should be objective about this and say 'it has been denied by
the Angolan
government so it's probably just a rumour'. But like most of the
people in
my area of Zimbabwe I don't trust the regional leaders to stop an
injustice
BEFORE it happens, so I regard any comment by regional leaders
with
suspicion.
Like everyone in Matabeleland, I know it as an
absolute fact that Mugabe is
capable of murdering civilians on a mass scale.
It has happened before.
I hope the world is wiser now than it was decades
ago, and I hope it doesn't
react too slowly on this issue. If Angola does
send militia police to
Zimbabwe, I hope the world knows that that means
bloodshed for innocent
people.
Hope, a Sokwanele activist
Blogging
for Sokwanele at 'This is Zimbabwe' :
www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe
---------------
Comments
I
am glad that Sky have seen their way clear to give space to the Zimbabwean
issue.
I am one of a huge number of Zimbabwean exiles although I am
originally from
here.
I spend hours each day on my blog and try to
get the news out to all and
sundry.
I have also written a book on the
Gukurahundi and believe that Mugabe should
be brought to book, but not only
for his genocide of the Ndebele people, but
for the continued oppression and
violence he is perpetrating against his own
people at the present
time.
For some reason that world does not take any action against Mugabe.
Why?
Is Africa that unpalatable by the rest of the world? Very simply,
the world
doesn't know what to do with Mugabe, and if they don't make too
many waves,
the world hopes he will fade away, sooner rather than
later...
Very sad.
Take care.
'debvhu
Posted by:
Robb WJ Ellis 27 Mar 2007 15:20:41
My father's family were murdered by
Mugabe's Gukuruhundi and he watched the
5th Brigade mutilate their bodies.
No one dare tell me, or any other
Matabele, that Mugabe is honourable or
even human.
Posted by: Tendai, exiled Zimbabwean 27 Mar 2007
14:02:36
Mugabe is isolated, he appears in control but has really lost it
this time.
Amongst those disgruntled are soldiers that used to guard him ,
The
Presidential Protection Unit, after firing pot shots within the State
House
grounds over salary grievances, they have been replaced by Libyan
bodyguards. With the army still under the influence of Solomon Mujuru then
retired but powerful former army general who boasts all his successors as
relatives from his hometown of Chikomba district in Mashonaland East. He
engineered the denial of the extension of Robert Mugabe's rule in December.
Frustrating Mugabe, who can no longer trust his own army as he fears for a
coup. he cannot trust the police evidence is shown with the arbitrary arrest
of over 64 men and women, opposition and civic leaders during the Save
Zimbabwe Coalition prayer meeting which was not done by police, but veterans
from Zimbabwe's liberation army who Mugabe calls from time to time when ever
his rule is challenged. The veterans whose average age is 23 assaulted and
tortured opposition leaders including MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai in
full view of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
The economic meltdown in
Zimbabwe knows no allies, just before the 11th of
March which will be marked
as a turning point in the struggle to free
Zimbabwe from tyranny. The Chief
of police wrote a secret memo which was
leaked to the press saying that
morale within the police was low as the
wages that an average policeman
earns cannot keep with the galloping
inflation. Therefore Mugabe can not
rely on the state machinery such as the
army and policemen thats why he has
resorted to get 5000 mercenaries from
Angola to help pacify his own people.
Reports keep coming in that bus
terminus marshalls are being trained as
reserve police just to ensure that
he dies in office and escapes arrest and
possible death sentence for the
crimes he committed against the people of
Zimbabwe.
As for the Angolans, I have a warning for them. To pull out of
Zimbabwe and
return to Anbgola. If they do not I promise you we Zimbabweans
will fight
them, ninjas my foot!
Izzy Mutanhaurwa
http://crybelovedzimbabwe.blogspot.com
Posted
by: Israel Mutanhaurwa 27 Mar 2007 13:56:33
With due respect, I must
correct Mr Mears outrageous comment that "the
people of Zimbabwe elected
Mugabe" and therefore he is their problem -
tragically, the people of
Zimbabwe most definitely did NOT elect Mugabe!! I
am an exiled Zimbabwean
who was witness to both the Parliamentary and
Presidential (so-called)
"elections" and I have a million stories to tell of
rigging, violence,
torture and outright, blatant theft. My own brother and
husband sat guarding
the ballot boxes overnight, were assaulted and had
their lives threatened.
They were even forced off the road and into a ditch,
when escorting the
vehicle carrying the ballot boxes to the place they were
doing the
"counting". A substitute vehicle with new boxes was sent in the
replace it -
in FULL view of the election monitors and nothing was done to
stop them! In
places where the opposition is strong, people were turned away
in their
droves as their names, mysteriously, were not on the voters roll in
spite of
pre-registering. Deceased people voted (!), many voting stations
did not
open at all (in spite of people walking for tens of kilometres to
reach
them) and ballot boxes were stuffed with fake ballot papers. There
were a
million other nefarious things done too - stuff that no-one living in
a 1st
World would ever believe. For instance, for the months prior to the
Parliamentary elections, soap was unavailable. Suddenly, in the same week as
the election - a new kind of soap could be found at every street vendor's
stall on every corner. Thousands of desperate (and dirty) people bought the
soap, only to discover on voting day that they were mysteriously covered in
an indelible ink and therefore prohibited from voting. That's only one story
for the sadly misinformed Mr Mears to think about - I could give you a few
hundred more ..
The bottom line is that the people of Zimbabwe have been
starved, beaten &
tortured to the point where they have very little
strength left -
particularly against a cowardly dictatorial opponent who has
the full use
(even if not the support) of the military and thinks NOTHING of
murdering
his own people. Don't complain when Mr Mbeki uses the same
strategies on
your people. The signs are already there ...
Posted
by: Brenda, KZN, South Africa 27 Mar 2007 13:33:48
My Mom was beaten up
this morning by Robert Mugabe's Convoy... When is going
to stop... Some one
needs to step in!!! Some one HELP...
Posted by: Kylie - Harare 27 Mar
2007 13:19:59
I'm glad the issue of the Gukuruhundi has been raised. I so
often hear
comments from other Africans that Mugabe is a good man who freed
Zimbabwe
and everything is a plot against him, but that isn't the
case.
In this country, if a person kills one person only, they go to jail
for
'life'. In Zimbabwe, Mugabe killed more than 20,000, and nothing happens
to
him.
What is wrong with Africa?
I've often wondered if the
reason why Africans say Mugabe is an honourable
man is because they simply
don't know the facts. Or is it because they think
"that's simply what
happens in Africa?" - that life is cheap on the African
continent and people
should just accept it....???
Africans must recognise this man for the
evil he has done. He must be
brought to justice before he tries to do it
again.
Posted by: Nokthula, Zimbabwean in London 27 Mar 2007
10:31:51
When i read the article last week concerning the Ninjas being
shipped in
from Angola the first thing i felt was panic. And then I realised
that
perhaps those feelings of panic and fear, bred from Zimbabwe's memories
of
the Matebele massacres, was perhaps Mugabe's only aim all along. Another
piece of machinery in the propaganda mill he has used to cling to power.
Angola may be denying it legitimately. Then again they may not be. But what
better way to instill terror in the hearts of a broken nation.
Posted
by: Kate 27 Mar 2007 10:25:06
It is so sad to read the articles by hope,
the depth of despair is plain for
all to read, I still feel that the only
lasting "solution" to the Zimbabwe
situation has to come from the people
themselves, it is all very well
blaming the inaction of Mr Mbeki but he did
not elect the government of
Zimbabwe the people of Zimbabwe did, the fact
that Mr Mugabe now rules
illegitmately is beyond doubt, however, he will
continue to do so until
sufficient internal pressure is brought to bear to
make his position
untenable the situation will continue to deteriorate. I
agree that the
western world would sit up & take more notice if Zimbabwe
was awash with oil
but recent history hasnt looked too kindly on foreign
nations removing
undoubted dictators and then occupying that country to
serve their own
agendas, I am sure the people of Zimbabwe wouldnt want their
country again
ruled by foreigners, the old Rhodesia may have appeared stable
but the
majority of the people were denied the right to govern themselves,
this
cannot be allowed to happen again, the results of the instability in
Zimbabwe are an african problem, however, the solution is entirely a
Zimbabwean one.
Posted by: Keith Mears, Gauteng, South Africa 27 Mar
2007 07:42:08
Christian Science Monitor
from the March 28, 2007 edition
There are spiritual answers to humanity's cry for enduring
freedom.
Page 1 of 2
The sun was just rising when I looked out our
hotel window to see dozens of
people walking with a spring in their step
despite large bundles balanced on
their heads.
These were
Zimbabweans, who, a short time earlier, had gained their freedom
from
imperialistic control. Many times during our visit in Africa in the
early
1980s we encountered this jubilant celebration of liberty.
What a
contrast to the mood in Zimbabwe today! A dictator rules, and
opposition
activists are beaten as they seek to improve the government.
More than 25
percent of Zimbabweans are unemployed, inflation is rampant,
and extreme
shortages of basic commodities leave most citizens hungry. A
country that
had been one of the most productive agriculturally in Africa
now does not
have enough food to feed its own people.
Last year the Movement for
Democratic Change broke up into two factions.
They are patching up their
differences now but find it hard going against
the entrenched
government.
Zimbabwe has certainly become an object lesson that freedom
must be
sustained by something more than a changed political system. There
has to
be, and I believe there are, spiritual answers to humanity's cry for
enduring freedom from all oppression.
The Bible states, "Ye shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free" (John 8:32). Once someone
pointed out that the statement did not say
"set you free" but "make you
free." This got me thinking about how man's
natural, God-given spiritual
condition is freedom from domination of any
kind. The truth is, we have been
created free.
Recognizing this fact for oneself and for others is an
important step in
finding freedom from oppression. Accounts of prisoners of
war, concentration
camp survivors, and hostages who have found mental
freedom while still being
held captive indicate how this inner freedom is
possible even while under
severe oppression. I believe that what makes this
possible is that freedom
is indeed our natural state.
Knowing of this
possibility stirs me, especially in light of a New York
Times editorial that
told of the horrible conditions in this African nation
and posed the
poignant question, "Will no one rescue Zimbabwe?"
The editorial went on
to comment that Europe and the US had limited
influence in the area and
concluded that South Africa, Zimbabwe's longtime
trading partner, was in the
best position to help.
I didn't disagree with that conclusion, but the
question the article posed
haunted me. I recalled something that the founder
of this newspaper, Mary
Baker Eddy, had written about the US. "The history
of our country, like all
history, illustrates the might of Mind, and shows
human power to be
proportionate to its embodiment of right thinking. A few
immortal sentences,
breathing the omnipotence of divine justice, have been
potent to break
despotic fetters and abolish the whipping-post and slave
market; but
oppression neither went down in blood, nor did the breath of
freedom come
from the cannon's mouth. Love is the liberator" ("Science and
Health with
Key to the Scriptures," p. 225).
While it often seems
that political freedom is gained through warfare, this
does not mean that
bloodshed has to be Zimbabwe's source of freedom. Prayer
brings the right
thinking that allows Love to be the liberator.
My prayers affirm that
God, Truth, does make all true individuality free -
free from political
domination, from oppressive economic conditions, from
hunger and inadequate
education. Devout, earnest prayer made by those who
care will rescue
Zimbabwe.
Surely he shall deliver thee
from the snare of the
fowler...
Psalms 91:3
Zim Online
Wednesday 28 March
2007
By Regerai Marwezu
MASVINGO - A magistrate in Masvingo town, Mary Chawafambira, on
Tuesday
referred to the Supreme Court a case in which two school teachers
are being
charged with denigrating President Robert Mugabe.
Letwin Matereke,
34 and Selestino Jengeta, 36, are being charged under
the Criminal
Codification (Reform) Act that makes it an offence to insult or
denigrate
the office of the President.
Matereke was arrested last December in
Masvingo after she likened
Mugabe to Germany's Nazi dictator Adolf
Hitler.
The state alleges that Matereke made the remarks during
debate over
Zimbabwe's worsening economic crisis while traveling on a bus
from Nyika
rural service centre to Masvingo.
She is said to
have told fellow passengers that the country was facing
difficulties because
it was being ruled by Hitler.
This did not go down well with some
passengers who forced the driver
to drive to Masvingo central police station
resulting in Matereke's arrest.
The state is alleging that on the
same day, Jengeta was at a local bar
in Masvingo when Mugabe appeared on
national television defending his
government's economic
policies.
It is alleged that Jengeta then said it would be better
if Mugabe died
and that the country would be better off with a new leader.
He was later
arrested for undermining the authority of the
President.
Wellington Muzenda, representing the two, successfully
appealed to
have the case referred to the Supreme Court arguing that the
Criminal
Codification (Reform) Act contravened the Constitution of Zimbabwe
which
guarantees freedom of expression.
Muzenda also wants the
Supreme Court to determine whether the charges
are justifiable in a
democratic state.
Titus Taruvinga, representing the state, did not
oppose the
application.
Matereke and Jengeta were remanded out
of custody to June 29.
A number of Zimbabweans have been arrested
over the past few years for
insulting Mugabe whom they blame for ruining
what was once one of Africa's
success stories. - ZimOnline
Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)
March
26, 2007
Posted to the web March 27, 2007
New York
The
Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a government press
release
issued on Thursday threatening foreign correspondents with
unspecified
government reprisal in the capital Harare over alleged biased
reporting.
Prominent correspondents Jan Raath of The Times of London
and Peta
Thornycroft of Britain's Daily Telegraph and US-based broadcaster
Voice of
America were singled out among foreign media reporters accused of
reporting
"fabricated stories," according to a statement by the Information
and
Publicity Ministry. "Should this not stop, government may be forced to
act
against them . . . ," it said.
The threats were linked to
news reports alleging that Angolan paramilitary
troops would be deployed to
bolster the security forces of President Robert
Mugabe in response to unrest
in the aftermath of a March 11 opposition
rally. "[The] Government is also
aware of false stories on our arms
security, stories which are being
concocted by a group of western foreign
correspondents mostly reporting for
British papers," according to the
statement.
In an article published
in The Times, "Angola sends 'Ninja' paramilitaries
to bolster Mugabe's
security forces," Raath had quoted Home Affairs Minister
Kembo Mohadi as
confirming the signature of a security cooperation agreement
with Angola,
according to CPJ research. But the government denied any
pending deployment,
according to international news reports.
"It is totally unacceptable to
threaten two respected journalists like Jan
Raath and Peta Thornycroft
because of their reporting," said CPJ Executive
Director Joel Simon. "We
call on authorities to allow all journalists to
report the news without fear
of reprisal."
The security situation has become tense in Zimbabwe after
opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai and nearly 50 others were arrested and
then allegedly
beaten by police. In a March 19 interview with Thornycroft,
Tsvangirai had
accused Mugabe of orchestrating the violence, according to
CPJ research. But
in a subsequent interview published in the same report,
Security Minister
Didymus Mutasa denied the allegations, according to the
same source.
Zimbabwe's government has been hostile to many Western media
outlets,
registering only a few to operate inside the country, according to
international news reports. It is not the first time the two journalists
have been targeted by the government over their reporting. In February 2005,
Raath left the country following official harassment. In 2002, Thornycroft
was detained for 72 hours on suspicion of violating Zimbabwe's harsh press
laws.
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization
that works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit
http://www.cpj.org
The East African
(Nairobi)
EDITORIAL
March 27, 2007
Posted to the web March 27,
2007
Nairobi
THE UNFOLDING TRAGEDY IN ZIMBABWE is the shame of the
continent. Once one of
the most prosperous countries in Southern Africa, the
country is now fast
joining the ranks of failed African
states.
Predictably, most African democracies have opted to turn a blind
eye to the
meltdown in Zimbabwe. The likes of Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania
and
Botswana, which are slowly building traditions of democracy and good
governance, and which could offer continental leadership on the unfolding
humanitarian and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, continue to maintain a
studious silence, even as evidence mounts that President Robert Mugabe's
government is out of control.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe crisis is
reinforcing the old stereotype of the
continent being the domain of
bloodthirsty dictators and tyrants. That
perception has recently been given
credence by films such as Blood Diamonds
and The Last King of Scotland,
which depict African leaders as gluttonous,
murderous
buffoons.
Africa's leaders must tell Mugabe that the game is over.
Zimbabwe has bled
too long, and Africa is tired of carrying its shame.
SABC
March 27, 2007,
17:15
Aziz Pahad, the deputy foreign minister, today again rejected
suggestions
that economic sanctions should be imposed as a means to resolve
the crisis
in Zimbabwe. Briefing the media in Parliament, he said: "It
should now be
clear that those who imposed the so-called smart sanctions
have themselves
questioned the effectiveness of such actions."
The
European Union, for example, had stated that it had no intention to
impose
economic sanctions against Zimbabwe. "However, more significantly, no
Zimbabwean political party, none of the churches, which are playing a major
role, or any other elements of civil society in Zimbabwe, have called for
economic sanctions against Zimbabwe," he said.
Asked about the
effectiveness of South Africa's policy of quiet diplomacy
towards Zimbabwe,
Pahad said the phrase quiet diplomacy was a misnomer. "It
is constructive
diplomacy that we are working on," he said. Further, South
Africa could not
independently bring about a solution in Zimbabwe. The
situation demanded a
collective approach, such as within the framework of
the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) or the African Union (AU).
There was a general
agreement that only a collective approach will find
solutions.
SADC
meeting tomorrow
He repeated his view that if there had been a collective
approach from the
start, the crisis will not have progressed to this stage.
Pahad also
repeated South Africa's position that "we will never just make
militant
statements simply to satisfy ourselves or governments far
away".
"Our objective is to help normalise the situation and enable us to
protect
ourselves from any further serious impact of what will happen if we
are not
able to resolve the Zimbabwe situation," he said.
"That
drives us on a constant basis," he said.
Regarding the SADC extraordinary
meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,
tomorrow and Thursday -- to be attended
by President Thabo Mbeki -- Pahad
said South Africa had not been given the
full agenda, but understood it will
deal with "developing situations in the
region". - Sapa
The Age, Australia
Sahm Venter,
Johannesburg
March 28, 2007
SEKAI Holland will return to Zimbabwe
despite suffering multiple injuries at
the hands of state-sponsored
thugs.
Speaking from her hospital bed in Johannesburg, where she
underwent three
operations in as many days, Mrs Holland said that "everybody
is needed there
now". "We are going back. It is our country. We have to get
it right, we
can't be defeated by a senile old man," she said, referring to
President
Robert Mugabe.
Mrs Holland said she was not afraid to
return. "They have been trying to
kill me for years."
The 64-year-old
grandmother, who is married to Australian engineer Jim
Holland, was flown
out of Zimbabwe last Thursday with Movement for
Democratic Change activist
Grace Kwinje.
They were accompanied to the airport by the Australian high
commissioner.
Days earlier, they had been arrested on the steps of a
South-Africa bound
plane.
Mrs Holland has since had two operations to
repair her broken leg and arm,
and a skin graft to repair a wound she
sustained during the attack on her by
16 men and one woman on March 11 in
Harare.
"The ribs will have to heal themselves," she said of the three
ribs broken
when the woman attacker jumped on her.
Ms Holland passed
out three times during the attack.
When asked how she managed to keep up
her spirits, Mrs Holland replied: "It
is Zimbabwe, if you blink they cut
your head off.
"None of us asked for mercy, none of us asked for water,
none of us asked
for the toilet," she said. "And we saluted our (party)
president (Morgan
Tsvangirai), which upset them."
Mrs Holland will
have three weeks of physiotherapy next month before she
will be allowed to
go home.
She said that the international community had misjudged Mr
Mugabe, in that
he was wily and not about to resign.
"He's a bastard,
the Aussies would say."
IOL
March
27 2007 at 04:27PM
Unless economic reforms were introduced,
Zimbabwe's inflation rate,
already the highest in the world, would continue
to soar, South African
Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni warned on
Tuesday.
Briefing Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Finance,
Mboweni said
current attempts by the Zimbabwean Reserve Bank to contain
inflation, which
now hovers around 1 600 percent, would not yield any
results.
"Our colleagues in Zimbabwe are trying their best, but
without policy
changes it will not work.
"Solutions to the
economic situation in Zimbabwe are not technical and
it is therefore not
possible for the country's Reserve Bank to solve the
problem of inflation
unless fiscal policy changes were made," he said.
Current constraints on the production side of that country's economy,
Mboweni said, required a "political solution".
Attempts by the
Zimbabwe's Central Bank to reverse inflation include
last year's
introduction of a ZIM$100 000 bank note as well as the
imposition of price
controls.
However, Mboweni said, these attempts were bound to
fail.
"They will never be able to turn that inflation picture
unless
constraints on the production side of the economy were removed," he
said.
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown is largely blamed on President
Robert
Mugabe's controversial land reform programme launched in 2000 which
saw the
government seize at least 4 000 farms from their white
owners.
If economic reforms were not introduced, it is feared that
the
country's inflation rate would reach the 2 000 percent mark by year end.
-
Sapa
IOL
March 27 2007
at 03:30PM
Harare - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
launched a new
attack on veteran President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday,
branding him a
dictator who needed psychiatric help.
"We don't
hate Mugabe. In fact, I think he needs psychiatric help,"
Movement for
Democratic Change leader Tsvangirai said at his first public
address since
he was arrested and then assaulted while trying to attend a
rally on March
11.
"We must remember the scriptures which state that 'forgive them
for
they know not what they are doing,'" he said at a memorial service held
at a
church in commemoration of MDC activist Gift Tandare, who was shot on
the
same day.
With his right eye still
bloodshot, Tsvangirai told the service
attended by more than 500 people in
Harare's upmarket suburb of Borrowdale,
that the opposition was determined
to restore democracy.
"We are not talking of overthrow of a
government, as Zimbabweans we
have a constitutional ... right to deserve
democracy," he told the crowd
which included diplomats from Australia,
Britain, Germany and the American
embassies in Harare.
"There
is no dictator in this world who has succeeded to oppress the
people
forever."
Mugabe has accused the MDC of serving as puppets of
Western
governments which imposed sanctions over accusations that Mugabe
rigged the
2002 presidential election when he defeated
Tsvangirai.
Dozens of other MDC supporters were also assaulted
while in custody
after the March 11 rally was crushed.
Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the
subject line.
JAG Hotlines:
+263 (011) 610 073 If you are in trouble
or need advice,
please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here to
help!
+263 (04) 799 410 Office
Lines
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1 - Cathy Buckle
Dear Family and Friends,
An air of quiet anger
has settled over Zimbabwe in the past week as people
have come to terms with
the reality of what happened to opposition and civic
society leaders at the
hands of police. Those beatings followed by the
refusal to allow two victims
to leave the country for specialist medical
treatment and then the assault
with iron bars of an opposition spokesman
just increased the anger and
disgust. Ordinary people are bitter, they say
they shop in the same stores as
the police; they live in the same
neighbourhoods and streets as the police
and find it incomprehensible that
the upholders of law and order could have
done such things. For the last
seven years police have largely turned a bind
eye to war veterans and
government supporters inflicting bodily harm. They
excused their inaction by
saying: "it is political." That was one thing but
this now is a
different matter altogether. There is a distinct feeling of
tension in the
streets but also an air of expectation. People are waiting for
something to
happen knowing that things are very close to coming to a
head.
Yesterday Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, clutching a brown
bible,
spoke passionately about what has to happen next in Zimbabwe. "We must
be
ready to stand, even in front of blazing guns," he said, ''I am ready
to
stand in front."
The Archbishop described himself and the people of
Zimbabwe as cowards and
said: 'if we gather a crowd of 20,000, the government
will not use its
guns.'' No one in their right minds would describe
Archbishop Ncube as a
coward - for seven years he has not been silenced and
has stood as a bright
light in the darkness - for believers and non
believers, for mothers and
children, for the beaten and brutalized and for
the poor, desperate and
hungry people who are dying out of sight of the
cameras and world headlines.
Even as we Zimbabweans wait for the unknown,
we pray that whatever happens
it will lead to an election and not to bullets,
bombs and bodies. We have
begun asking the questions that so desperately need
answering. How do we go
to a truly free and fair election? What happens to
the hundreds of thousands
of Zimbabweans who have been stripped of their
right to vote
because, not them, but their parents were born outside of
Zimbabwe? What
happens to the three or four million Zimbabweans in political
or economic
exile in a score of countries around the world - how do they
exercise their
right to vote? With 80% of the population unemployed and
hungry, how do we
stop vote buying, with sugar, cooking oil, maize meal or
just dirty bank
notes? What happens to the utterly shambolic state of the
voters roll, to
the government control over every aspect of elections? What
about the
hundreds of thousands of people who do not have identity documents
or
passports because the Registrar General stopped work some months ago
saying
there was no money? What about the estimated 300 000 people displaced
during
farm seizures and the 700 000 people internally displaced after
Operation
Murambatsvina - most are no longer in their home and voting
constituencies?
How do we stop the intimidation, threats and violence that
invariably
shadows the campaign rallies. And, even if all these issues could
be
satisfactorily resolved - who gets to count the votes, I mean to
really,
honestly, truthfully count the votes?
There are only eleven
months until the scheduled March 2008 Presidential
elections. Zimbabweans at
home and abroad should already be working night
and day for the path that
will lead us to a truly free and fair election.
Out here, in the dusty
villages, the Zanu PF meetings at which attendance is
compulsory, have
already started. Propaganda and rhetoric aside, the clock
is ticking. Until
next week, thanks for reading, love cathy. Copyright cathy
buckle 24 March
2007
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
2 - Ben Freeth
Dear all,
The Mount Carmel Supreme Court case was
heard on 22 March 2007. Jeremy
Gauntlett [chairman of the South African bar]
with Adrian de Bourbon [former
chairman of the Zimbabwean bar] and David
Drury were the legal team for the
case. Everything ran on time and very
smoothly.
We sat before 5 of the 8 Supreme Court judges and it was made
clear from the
outset that the court had a choice of either joining the
"legal revolution"
and setting Zimbabwe apart from other countries; or not
joining it. Mr.
Gauntlett stated that this was the most important
constitutional issue that
the Supreme Court had had to face since the
Lardner-Burke case well before
Independence. The result of taking away
protection of the law from
individuals through amendment number 17 was quite
simply "tyranny".
The arguments on lack of compensation and on racial
discrimination in the
land reform programme were brilliantly put as well.
The whole case was
argued out by lunch time.
Judgement has been
reserved for some unspecified time in the future.
Anybody facing lawlessness
and chaos on their properties can now seek relief
from the High Court pending
the outcome of this case. We invite you to do
so. We are also putting
together an application to the international courts
[where Zimbabwe has
signed up to international human rights agreements] as a
fall back
position.
We thank-you all for your prayers and ask that you would pray
for the judges
that are deliberating at this time that they rule for justice;
pray for our
police that they uphold justice; and pray for us and our workers
and others
that we would continue to stand for justice through this time.
God is a God
of justice and we pray that we see His ways rule in our
land.
In Him,
Ben
Freeth.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
3 - Michael Quintana
Dear JAG
EMAIL EXTRACT BELOW:
I don't
know whether you know but Jane's [my cousins wife] brother-in-law
Peter has a
brother in Chiredzi. They had a farm at one stage but not now.
Both his
brothers were out in Zim but one left to go to S Africa. Peter, is
a civil
engineer
who has just been home to see us this week and is leaving for a job
in India
today. He told us he and his sister Margaret who lives in UK are
rather
'' . . . concerned to get news of Barrie, his brother, as he isn't
in good
health.''
We thought we could ask if you are able to contact
them and see if you could
get any news as they don't have an e-mail and the
telephone number we have
doesn't work! The details are:
Their names
are: Barrie & Mary Ball
PO Box 407
Chiredzi
677 Kingfisher Road
they have a son
Michael Ball and Sarah who also live in Chiredzi.
Would you know of
anyone who might know them as they have been in Zim for
many, many
years.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
4 - Ann Hein
Dear JAG,
There is a lot of carping about people
these days, in particular Cathy
Buckle or J.L. Robinson. At least these
people are still keeping in touch,
and interested.
There are very many
who have taken the Gap, and who have wiped us out of
their lives - rightly or
wrongly, and of course it works both ways. But
nothing is to be gained by
winging at or about them - too like the people
urging enthusiastic action
from America or New Zealand.
Try being here chaps, and see what its like
being a Tall Poppy even within
your own grouping!
Ann
Hein
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
5 - J
Dear JAG,
Firstly, I apologise for the lateness of the
response to Clive Midlanes
letter "the Lucky ones" What an absolute load of
drivel, not only was it
poorly written and grammatically disgraceful, it made
serious innuendos at
farmers who are still on their land, trying their level
best to eek out a
living in extremely arduous conditions.
So who are
the lucky ones Mr. Midlane?, is it the farmers you so easily
deride and
disdain, or is it perhaps people like yourself, who have never
worked the
land and have therefore lost nothing under Mugabes regime. You
who has two
opulent house's and business office that you currently rent out,
you who is
working as a mercenary in the middle east earning $20,000 USD per
month and
can afford all the so called luxuries the rest of do with out,
such as sugar,
fuel, power and water.
Be very careful Mr. Midlane at who you next cast
your aspersion's on, as he
without sin let cast the first
stone!
J
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
6 - A mother
Reply to letter 3 Jag open letter forum no 477
Dear
Sir or Madam,
What an Ass you are.
I am sure Mr Robinson has every
idea of the work and frustration that is
entailed in being a member of the
governing body of the CFU. Every person
who tries to carry on living in this
beautiful country is daily faced by
this dilemma. He and his wife before they
like thousands of others who were
EXILED from their chosen homeland faced
this dilemma.
We have waves of residents/natives of this country who are
daily forced to
become exiles. The Farmers, the Teachers, the Engineers, the
people who have
different passports, Our children who could tell about the
freedom elsewhere
in the
World, everybody who helped make this the most
beautiful country it used to
be.
Most of today's population were born
after Independence, they have been lied
to from birth about the generations
of WORKERS who produced a lasting
inheritance for a future of beauty and
plenty. This future has, since
Independence been gradually eroded by today's
politicians. The waves of
persecution and exile are coming faster, the easy
targets have
gone now so they are massing on to the people who helped find
the original
victims - have you felt the tide yet?
Do you really think Mr
Robinson is happy in Australia? do you really think
all the other thousands
of exiles are happy away from here?
May God help us all,
A
mother.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
7 - N Kirk
Please JL Robinson, keep your useless, unfounded opinions to
yourself.
You must have nothing better to do than to sit at your computer
from the
safety of Australia and make idiotic comments.
If you really want
to be heard then come back to your beloved Zimbabwe and
voice your opinion in
person, then you wouldn't feel so brave.
I see you don't even put your
full name on your letters. Why not?
N
Kirk
Zimbabwe
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
As a JAG member or JAG Associate member, please send any classified
adverts
for publication in this newsletter to:
JAG Classifieds: jagma@mango.zw
JAG Job Opportunities: jag@mango.zw
Rules for
Advertising:
Send all adverts in word document as short as possible (no
tables, spread
sheets, pictures, etc.) and quote your subscription receipt
number or
membership number.
Notify the JAG Office when Advert is no
longer needed, either by phone or
email.
Adverts are published for 2 weeks
only, for a longer period please notify
the JAG office, by resending via
email the entire advert asking for the
advert to be
re-inserted.
Please send your adverts by Tuesdays 11.00am (Adverts will
not appear until
payment is received.). Cheques to be made out to
JAGMA.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
For Sale Items
2. Wanted Items
3. Accommodation
4. Recreation
5.
Specialist Services
6. Pets
Corner
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.
OFFERED FOR
SALE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.1
Generators & Inverters for Sale
The JAG office is now an official
agent for GSC Generator Service (Pvt) Ltd
and receives a generous commission
on sales of all Kipor generators and
equipment. Generators are on view at
the JAG office.
The one stop shop for ALL your Generator Requirements
SALES:
We are the official suppliers, repairs and maintenance team of
KIPOR
Equipment here in Zimbabwe. We have in stock KIPOR Generators from 1
KVA to
55 KVA. If we don't have what you want we will get it for you. We
also
sell Inverters (1500w), complete with batteries and rechargeable lamps.
Our
prices are very competitive, if not the lowest in town.
SERVICING
& REPAIRS: We have a qualified team with many years of experience
in the
Generator field. We have been to Kipor, China for training. We
carry out
services and minor repairs on your premises. We service and
repair most
makes and models of Generators - both petrol and diesel.
INSTALLATIONS:
We have qualified electricians that carry out installations
in a professional
way.
SPARES: As we are the official suppliers and maintainers of KIPOR
Equipment,
we carry a full range of KIPOR spares.
Don't forget, advice
is free, so give us a call and see us at: Bay 3,
Borgward Road,
Msasa.
Sales: 884022, 480272 or admin@adas.co.zw
Service: 480272, 480154
or gsc@adas.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2
For Sale
So Far and No further! Rhodesia's Bid for Independence during
the Retreat
from Empire 1959-1965 by J.R.T. Wood
533 pages; quality
trade paperback; pub. Trafford ISBN 1-4120-4952-0
Southern African edition,
pub. 30 Degrees South : ISBN 0-9584890-2-5
This definitive account traces
Rhodesia's attempt to secure independence
during the retreat from Empire
after 1959. Based on unique research, it
reveals why Rhodesia defied the
world from 1965.
Representing Volume One of three volumes, Two and Three
are in preparation
and will take us to Tiger and thence to 1980;
To
purchase:
Zimbabwean buyers contact Trish Broderick: pbroderick@mango.zw
RSA buyers:
WWW. 30 degreessouth.co.za or Exclusives Books
Overseas buyers see: http://www.jrtwood.com
and a link to
Trafford Publishing http://www.trafford.com/04-2760
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.3
Pet Food for Sale
Still supplying pets food which consists of 500g of
precooked pork offal and
veg costing $1300 and 250g of pigs liver or heart
costing $1300 for 250g.
Collection points: Benbar in Msasa at
10.30
Jag offices in Philips Rd, Belgravia at 11.30
Peacehaven which is 75
Oxford St at 13.00
This is on Fridays only. Contact details: phone 011
221 088 and E mail at
claassen@zol.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4
Fuel Coupons for Sale
Caltex petrol coupons for sale (25 litres).
Phone: 730507, 799410
or
011610073.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.5
Items for Sale (Ad inserted 20/03/07)
2 Keep nets for fishing
$75,000 ea
Various hockey sticks $l50,000 ea
Hockey shin
pads (new) $50,000 ea
Roller blades size 6 $200,000
ea
Horse Equipment
2 ordinary riding saddles
$l,500,000 ea
3 bridles $l20,000
ea
Reins $l00,000
ea
Noseband $80,000
ea
Martingale $l00,000 ea
3
numnas $l50,000
ea
Surcingle $80,000 ea
Fly
guards $ 20,000 ea
2 soft
halters $50,000 ea
3 hard
hats $l00,000 ea
Long riding boots
$l50,000
3 rope Hay feeders $20,000 ea
Windsucking
collar $20,000 (needs stitching)
Pelham bit with
chain $300,000
Snaffle
$200,000
2 prs jodphurs (size 32/34) $80,000 and $l00,000
4 hoof
protectors $l0,000
2 hoof protectors
$5,000
Stirrup Irons $350,000
Tel
Jennifer at 0ll 4236l4 or 5725l3 (Allan for message) or sms to the
cell
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.6
For Sale (Ad inserted 20/03/07)
Toyota Landcruiser 100 series GX, 2005
model with 20,000kms, white in
colour, manual, Turbo, sat radio, etc. In
excellent condition. Worth looking
at.
Toyota Landcruiser 100 series
GX, 2001 Model with 100,000kms, white in
colour, turbo, full house manual and
TJM Aliminum bull bar and roof rack.
Toyota landcruiser V8 Cygnus, 1999
Model with 30,000kms genuine milage,
cream in colour hardly used in mint
condition, Full House Auto.
Phone Alex Hawkins, 091 261085 or Mike Asher
011
609709
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.7
For Sale (Ad inserted 20/03/07)
OLD COINS, COLLECTOR'S
ITEMS
Southern Rhodesia
1951 - 1penny (with hole)
Rhodesia
& Nyasaland
1961 - 1penny (with hole)
1962 - 1penny (with
hole)
1963 - 1penny (with hole)
Rhodesia
1964 - 10cent - 20cent
- / 25cent
1970 - 1/2cent - 1cent
1975 - 1cent - 10cent
1976 -
1cent
1977 - 5cent - 20cent
Total 14 coins - can be sold as one lot
or individually
Offers invited
Shabbir Menk
+263-912-378 995
e.mail:
majliszw@yahoo.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.8
For Sale (Ad inserted 20/03/07)
MESSE SERVICE CENTRE
MERCEDES E200
- 1997 - Mileage 150 000km - Metallic Gold
Accident damage to front
suspension, 2 wheel rims, windscreen & radiator -
otherwise in good
condition. Offers.
NEW HOLLAND 316 Baler - Mechanically good except 1
knotter timing mechanism
needs to be reset. - US$4500 or zim
equivalent.
TRACTORS
1 x Ford 6610 & 1 x MF390 - Both in
working condition
1 x Mushandi 500 & 1 x Zambezi - Both requiring some
attention. Would be
suitable for small farm/plot
operators
Contact us during business hours only - monday to friday -
068-22463 /
011212454 / tracspray@zol.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.9
For Sale (Ad inserted 20/03/07)
Coarse salt Z$ 97,500 per 50kg bag
delivered Harare.
Lady's buffalo hide slip-on slippers Z$
100,000.
Wheat Bran US$ 1 for 25 kg bag collected Ruwa [ currently Z$
14,000]
Apply mnmilbank@zol.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.10
For Sale (Ad inserted 270/03/07)
Mazda Cronos, 1996 metallic blue, good
condition.Please phone Shelley 04
884007/ 011-608 200 or chika@zol.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.11
For Sale (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
BASSBOAT, WRANGLER X 13, complete with as
new 60HP Yamaha, Electric start,
Trim and Tilt, Live Well, Boat Cover, Motor
Cover. Price equivalent of
USD5500. Phone
741913
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.12
For Sale (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
4 Ceiling fans
1 30 btu air con
1 4
plate stove
1 Husqvarna Chain Saw
1 Robin Bushcutter (lawntrimmer etc) c/w
5 blades
1 hand maize cob sheller
1 Duly Dam Scoop
1 Duly mounted
grader
1 old Duly planter with spare plates
1 MF Big ox 3 tyne ripper
1
Silage cutter
1 Taurus wheeled mist blower c/w spare 500l tank
2
diaphram PTO pumps
53m high pressure hose
1 mounted 4 hose
carrier
2 green 2000 ltr tanks
1 Fretigator pump unit for pivot
1
electric agitator for 2000 l tank
1 Delmhorst cotton lint/bale moisture
meter
1 Irrometer Moisture Indicator
1 Netafim Soil moisture Data
collector
11 Silaro Soil Moisture Sensors for above.
1 24" Airflo
electric Fan 2HP 3.5A 3 PH 1440 rpm
1 10" Airflo electric Fan 5.5HP 8.6A 3PH
2830 rpm
1 5.5HP Electric Motor 8.3A 2860 rpm
1 Bestobel DW40
pump
1 Stork Pump c/w 15HP Electric motor 1450 rpm 21.5A
1 Switchgear c/w
A and V meters for above
6 Craster filters c/w manifold and 4"gate valve for
above unit.
24 Plowcon/Rhotec 3" FM Alum fittings c/w short PVC pipe
attached
4 Risers as above
2 3" Alum M/FM connector c/w short
reinforced plastic hose
25 Collars and hooks for 3" pipes
40 Hooks for
aliminum pipes
Email savuli@mweb.co.zw or ph. John 091 2631
556
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1.13
For Sale (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
7 meter extension ladder - hardly
used
125 amp arc welding machine. 3 settings
5 lengths IBR roof sheets @
+-5m
1 " " transparent sheet X 4,5m
Construction site hard
hats
Scaffold jacks
Quantity of timbers and off-cuts
1 heavy duty angle
grinder
1 bench circular saw
1 6" belt/disc sander
contact mhowarth@zol.co.zw
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1.14
THE WEAVERY (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
Going Overseas or down South? Why not
take hand woven gifts for your friends
or family?
These super articles
which are light, easy to pack, take or send, and fully
washable. "The
Weavery" will be at the Borrowdale (race course) for the
EASTER FAIR-on
Saturday the 31st March, starting at 9 am. See you there!!
Contact Anne on
332851 or 011212424.Or email joannew@zol.co.zw
Crocheted oven
gloves--$50,000.
Cotton oven gloves--$45,000.
Small woven
bags--$40,000.
Large woven bags--$50,000.
Crocheted
bags--$60,000.
Queen(approx.250x240cms) size bedcover--$380,000.
Other
sizes to order.
Single Duvet cushions(open into a duvet)--$255,000.
Other
sizes to order.
2x1 meter Throw--180,000.
Baby
Blanket(1x1meter)--$110,000.
3 piece toilet set--$100,000.
Bath
mat--$80,000.
Decorated cushion covers--$50,000.
Table
runner--$30,000.
Set(4)Bordered table mats +
serviettes--$100,000.
Set(6)Bordered table mats +
serviettes--$150,000.
Set(4) crocheted table mats
only--$80,000.
Set(6)fringed table mats + serviettes--$150,000.
Lots of
other combinations.
Small(approx.105x52cms) plain cotton
rug--$80,000.
Medium(approx.120x65cms) plain cotton
rug--$100,000
Large(approx.150x75cms) plain cotton
rug--$150,000.
Ex.Large(approx.230x130cms) plain cotton
rug--$300,000.
Small patterned cotton rug--$100,000.
Small rag
rug--$80,000.
Medium rag rug--$100,000.
Medium patterned cotton
rug--$150,000.
Large patterned cotton rug--$200,000
Ex.Large patterned
cotton rug--$400,000.
Small patterned mohair rug--$200,000.
Medium
patterned mohair rug--$250,000
Large patterned mohair rug--$300,000.
Ex.
Large patterned mohair rug--$550,000.
Lots of other articles.PLEASE be
aware that prices may change
without
notice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.15
For Sale (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
Ericssen cell phone - no
line
$150,000
Socket Set
$50,000
Flippers and
goggles
$50,000 for both
Saddle horse, about 2 yards
long
$50,000
Brown Poof
$50,000
Raffia coffee
table
$50,000
Raffia chair
$30,000
Tennis balls (brand new
in box)
$100,000
Various girls bathing costumes and caps, garden hats,
belts.
$l0,000 or less
Contact Jennifer at 073 3399 or 011 423614
or message to
883461
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.16
For Sale (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
One 10 Tonne tri axle trailer. Contact
Chris at 04 611205/611272 or 0912
239963
Vintage Car - Model A Ford
Contact Peter Ph. 04 861591 Or 011
201839
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1.17
For Sale (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
Boat
Cougar 16' Hull on trailer with
Mercury redline 125 motor, electric start,
ride glide steering system, two
built in fuel tanks, one carry tank.
Wind surfer: brand
new
Various '94 Peugeot 405 body parts
Boat motors:
Two by
Yamaha 25hp motors,
One: power head in pieces, leg complete
Two: leg in
pieces, power head complete
Mercury Blue line 40hp motor, running but
needs minor attn, complete with
controls, plus many
spares
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.
WANTED
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1
Wanted
Sheila Macdonald (Sally in Rhodesia) - If you have any of Sheila
Macdonald's
books for sale, please let JAG know the details including
condition etc with
your name, telephone number and price
wanted.
Telephone JAG - 04 -
799410
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.2
Wanted
Fifty geese grey or white ASAP. Best price paid.
011610073.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.3
Wanted (Ad inserted 20/03/07)
Does anyone know of anyone who has or knows
of anyone who makes cardboard
jigsaw puzzles? The pieces must be for about
2000 pieces or bigger.
Anybody who has information can contact me, Delene
Lambert on 494796, 0912
288 448 or 011
726062.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.4
Wanted (Ad inserted 20/03/07)
If anybody has a massage bed that they
would like to sell please contact
Shelley on 04-884007/ 011 608 200 or chika@zol.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.5
Wanted (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
2nd Gear or Complete Gear Box for Hino KM
Series
1971 Model
Email info@bushmanrock.com or Phone Ira
884154
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2.6
Wanted (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
Two cable connectors used to connect a 5110
Nokia cell phone to our
computers for the purpose of downloading e mails.
These must be suitable
for a Nokia data suite. Contact Conquest Tours Ph
332450/308960 or E mail
conquest@mweb.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
ACCOMMODATION WANTED AND
OFFERED
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.1
Accommodation Wanted (Ad inserted 20/03/07)
Wanted A.S.A.P. 2/3brm House
would prefer Highlands/Eastlea/Rhodesville
area.
Rent up to $400/450 per
month.
Pse Contact Sue Engelbrecht on 0912-570-050 or
746656/7
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.2
Accommodation Offered (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
Cottage for rent - Bromley
50 kms from Harare
Attractive thatched cottage in farm garden, with
plenty of space - $400,000
per month
Contact Jennifer at 073 3399 or 011
423614 or message to
883461
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.
RECREATION
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1
Need a break? (Ad inserted 20/03/07)
Need a break?
Get away and enjoy
peace and fresh air at
GUINEA FOWLS REST:
Only 80 kms from
Harare.
Self-catering guest-house
Sleeps 10 people
Canoeing -
2kms
Fishing - 2kms
Bird-watching
DSTV
REGRET: No day visitors. No
boats or dogs allowed.
Contact Dave 011 600 770 or Annette 011 600 769
or
0912255653 or email: dapayne@zol.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.2
Savuli Safari (Ad inserted 20/03/07)
Self catering chalets in the heart
of the Save Valley Conservancy. Game
watching, fishing, horse riding,
canoeing, walking trails and 4x4 hire. Camp
fully kitted including cook and
fridges. Just bring your food, drinks and
relax. Best value for money. U12
are 1/2 price
Contact John: savuli@mweb.co.zw or Phone 091 2631
556
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.3
Hippo Pools Wilderness Camp (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
Need a breakaway into
a relaxing and stress free environment for a weekend,
where there is no
outside interference? Hippo Pools Wilderness Camp is the
place to go. On the
bank of the Mazowe River In the Umfurudzi Safari Area.
For Details phone
Tracy or Elsie on 747929 or email
wildernessafrica@zol.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.4
DURBAN SOUTH COAST - HOLIDAY HOUSE (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
Approx. 1 km
from HIbberdene beach which is a blue flag beach and is
situated in a secure
complex which has a lovely swimming pool.
Sleeps 6 people comfortably and has
beautiful inland views with stunning
sunsets.
It has just been
renovated and all one needS to take are towels and dish
cloths.
Rate R600
per night plus key deposit in season.
Rate R350 per night plus key deposit
out of season.
Interested parties please contact Jo Brophy (in UK) on
jozibee@btinternet.com who will put you
in touch with the letting
agent.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.5
Investing in a holiday home or retirement pad (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
Are
you thinking of investing in a "bolt hole", holiday home or
retirement
pad.
Try the beautiful Eastern Cape. Rob Owsley Properties
specializes in
property sales along the Eastern Cape Coast from Port Alfred
to Hamburg,
including Riet River, Kleinemonde, Mgwalana, Mpekweni and Birha.
The sales
office in located in Kleinemonde, 20km from Port Alfred on the
Sunshine
Coast between Port Elizabeth and East London in the Eastern
Cape.
The long stretches of white unspoilt beach, warm Indian ocean waves
and
peaceful lagoons make it an ideal seaside getaway. The natural assets
of
Kleinemonde make it an excellent venue for all river and beach
activities,
including water skiing, surfing, boating up the unspoilt river,
horse riding
on
the beach, fishing and sand boarding and much more! The
beautiful
indigenous
vegetation reaches down to the riverbanks and the
ancient cycads are in
abundance. Bird and wild life are abundant, the cry of
the resident fish
eagles
echoes in the silence. In close proximity are
various game reserves and
parks
where the Big Five can be seen on day and
night drives. There are two
excellent
golf courses in the area, the Fish
River Sun, 5 minutes away and the Royal
Alfred Golf Club in Port
Alfred.
All this makes Kleinemonde the ideal holiday home area and also a
restful
and
peaceful place to retire. Contact : Rob Owsley Properties;
Tel. +27 46
6751021; Fax. +27 46 6751126 e-mail : Owsley@imaginet.co.za,
www.kleinemondeproperty.co.za
If
you have children at school or university in Grahamstown, Rob
Owsley
Properties also has many delightful properties available on their
books for
short term
rents.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.6
GACHE GACHE LODGE (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
EMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE
PLEASURES OF KARIBA LAKE. FISHING AND PHOTOGRAPHIC
SAFARIS, GAME DRIVES,
CRUISES, WALKS WITH QUALIFIED GUIDE, FISHING FOR TIGER
AND BREAM, MAGNIFICENT
SUNSETS AND FANTASTIC BIRDWATCHING. GACHE GACHE
OFFERS A PERSONALISED SERVICE
IN A HOMELY, NATURAL AND RUSTIC ENVIRONMENT.
CONTACT US FOR BOOKINGS: tourleaders@zol.co.zw 0912289345 or
0912208836,
301889.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.7
Timeshare Caribbea Bay-School Holidays (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
20 April-27
April, 2 Bedroomed- Sleeps 6
$250,000 per night mid week
$300,000 per
night weekend
or $1,500,000 for the week
Ph: 0912 255869, 023
414046
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.
SPECIALIST
SERVICES
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.1
Vehicle Repairs
Vehicle repairs carried out personally by qualified mechanic
with 30 years
experience. Very reasonable rates.
Phone Johnny
Rodrigues: 011 603213 or 011 404797, email:
galorand@mweb.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.2
Borehole Pumps
T M Lambert (Pvt) Ltd, Agent for Mono Pumps,
Zimbabwe
Capacity Test, Installations, Repair and Maintenance on all
Borehole pumps.
Phone: 494796, 091 288 448, 011 726 062
Email: tlambert@zim.co.zw, Address: 22 Highland
Glen,
Umwinsidale.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.3
IT Solutions (Ad inserted 27/03/07)
Set the wheels in motion - nothing
can stop you, hit the highway to success
Study with IT SOLUTIONS and enhance
your Computer Skills Development.
Please note the following makes IT
SOLUTIONS training unique from any
other training organizations.
a)
Well structured courseware written by Ann Baillie
b) Experienced patient
facilitators - either the author of the courseware or
trained by her.
c)
Making the learning into discovery process that aids memory and
builds
confidence
d) Providing a learning experience to suit the learner's
learning style at
time and place to suit them.
e) On going study support
and individual attention from qualified tutors.
f) Easy payment
options.
We offer tuition on all of these courses including latest
office
applications from Ms Essentials, Windows XP and Vista, Ms 2007 Word,
Excel,
Access, PowerPoint Introduction, Intermediate and Advanced,
Pastel
Accounting, Stock and Inventory, Report Writer and Point of Sale,
Training
and onsite Support, Ms Exchange Server 2007 Corel Draw, Linux, Front
Page,
Page Maker, QuickBooks Accounting, Ms Windows Vista Sales, Ms
Visual
Basic.net. Touch typing and ICDL up to Advanced and many more please
do not
hesitate to contact me should you need more information.
Ann
Baillie, Managing Director, IT SOLUTIONS
61 Ridge Road, Avondale,
Harare
302789, 333881, itsolutions@earth.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.4
FERNATIC NURSERY
MANY VARIETIES OF FERNS AND TREE FERNS, PALMS, PINK AND
GREEN ARUMS AND
OTHER EXOTIC PLANTS.
4 J CROWHILL ROAD - 1.8KM AFTER
BORROWDALE BROOKE SHOPS, 1ST HOUSE ON LEFT
AFTER HOGGERTY HILL DVE. ENTRANCE
ON CROWHILL RD (BLACK ELECTRIC GATE - RING
BELL). 0912208836 tourleaders@zol.co.zw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.
PETS
CORNER
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(No
Adverts
inserted)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JAG
Hotlines: +263 (011) 610 073, +263 (04) 799 410. If you are in trouble
or
need advice, please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here to help!
To
advertise (JAG Members): Please email classifieds to: jagma@mango.zw
with subject
"Classifieds".