Zimbabwe ostensibly conforms to democratic practice by
holding regular elections. The next one, to the House of Assembly, is due on
March 31. But since the shock of defeat in a referendum on a new
constitution in 2000, President Robert Mugabe has used every trick in the
tyrant's trade to prevent a repetition.
Despite this, the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) ran Zanu-PF close in parliamentary
elections later that year, the president securing a comfortable majority for
his party through 30 non-contested seats. By the presidential poll of 2002,
the levels of electoral fraud and voter intimidation had increased,
resulting in a 14-point margin of victory for Mr Mugabe over the MDC
candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai. This time the president, who was 81 last week,
is aiming for a two-thirds majority in parliament. This will enable him to
amend the constitution so that he can appoint a successor to complete his
six-year term, rather than holding elections within 90 days of his stepping
down.
If this month's poll were free and fair, he would lose. The economy
has been wrecked, causing millions to flee the country. Land reform, on
which Mr Mugabe has previously campaigned, has largely failed. Unemployment
is widespread; people can afford neither the food in the shops nor
agricultural equipment; education and health services have deteriorated. So
the president will once again have recourse to rigging voters' lists and
stuffing ballot boxes, having made sure that election observers come only
from friendly countries. His bogeyman this time will be "the latter-day
British imperialist", Tony Blair, rather than the white
farmer.
Zimbabwe's collapse is a tragedy for the whole of southern
Africa. Yet the region's leading figure, President Thabo Mbeki of South
Africa, persists in the lie that "quiet diplomacy" is paying dividends: on
Wednesday he expressed confidence that the March 31 poll would be free and
fair. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, which is planning a series
of demonstrations against Mr Mugabe's thuggery, has a firmer grasp of
reality. The courageous opposition in Zimbabwe may yet surprise us. But the
odds are crushingly stacked against it.
For some time now President Thabo Mbeki's approach
to the Zimbabwean situation has cast him in an unfortunate
light.
As perhaps the most powerful leader in Africa, his apparent
reluctance to act decisively against the despotic Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe has given rise to all sorts of negative
perceptions.
Critics of the South African government strategy have
suggested that it is based more on loyalty than logic and have even
questioned the country's commitment to human rights on the
continent.
Arising from this are broader concerns about Africa's
commitment to the ideals outlined in the founding principles and
constitution of the African Union.
Just as worrying has been
the potential effect of such perceptions on the ambitious New Partnership
for Africa's Development (Nepad), largely conceptualised by Mbeki and which
links aid to good governance.
Up to now many may have been willing
to give Mbeki's approach the benefit of the doubt, even in the absence of
any visible reward.
But the president's comments on Wednesday
on the forthcoming Zimbabwean election are completely baffling.
He expressed confidence that the election would be free and fair, and cited
several steps Mugabe had taken which he (Mbeki) is convinced would ensure
this.
This surely does not correspond with reality. The respected
International Bar Association, for example, has pointed out that Zimbabwe
"is nowhere near complying with regional guidelines for free and fair
elections".
And who could possibly suggest that the conduct of
Mugabe's goons in recent months, weeks and days would ensure a level playing
field come election day?
Mbeki's bewildering comments seem to
indicate an inability or unwillingness to read the writing on Zimbabwe's
wall. And, ultimately, they have the real potential to undermine his
legacy.
Douglas Rogers' mother and father sleep with a shotgun by
their bed. Most of their friends have emigrated and they face expulsion from
their home. But with parliamentary elections looming, he returns to the land
of his birth to find his parents refusing to leave their 'Orwellian
nightmare'
Friday March 4, 2005 The Guardian
The dogs come in
from the east: snarling, bone-thin mongrels the size of terriers, their
howls echoing down the valley to the farmhouse. Following behind them,
hacking their way through the bush with sticks and metal slashers, come
their owners, six men usually, squatters from the neighbouring farm who are
ready to beat off the hounds after they have run down a zebra, bush buck or
impala. Three years ago at the height of the land invasions, when my father
first heard the dogs, he hauled out his shotgun and drove to the western
edge of his property. He fired two shots in the air and the animals fled,
their owners in hot pursuit. These days when he hears the dogs, he just
shrugs. The game he stocked his farm with has all been slaughtered in the
past few years or has fled through holes cut in the fence by squatters. The
gun is now just a small measure of protection for himself and my mother,
should they be attacked by thieves or bandits who periodically roam their
land.
It was with some trepidation that I returned to Zimbabwe last
month, the country in which I was born and spent the first 22 years of my
life. I was last here a year ago and even at that time my parents were - in
my father's words - "in the shit". They had just received a Section Five:
notice that the government intended to compulsorily acquire their 730-acre
game farm "for resettlement". They had not yet received a Section Eight,
their final marching orders, but their prospects looked bleak. For the first
time since the Liberation War more than 25 years ago they slept with a gun
by their bed, and my mother had taken to hiding her diamond ring in a window
pelmet. Via intermittent emails my father had sent in the interim, I
gathered things had got worse: most of their remaining friends had
emigrated, their housekeeper had died of Aids; the next-door farm, one of
the most productive in the country, had been trashed by police and the youth
militia, and its 4,000 workers and their families had been made homeless.
The bush was rapidly closing in on my parents.
But I was just as
nervous about returning for myself as I was for them. I have "writer"
stamped in my Zimbabwean passport (a document locals now call "the green
mamba" after a poisonous snake), and with the imminent parliamentary
elections at the end of this month, it was not a good time to be a
journalist. So I decided to enter the country of my birth on the UK passport
I recently qualified for. Not that being British would help: "Britain wants
to turn us into a colony, slaves of whites in our own country," the
president likes to say at political rallies. When I paid the US$70 entry
visa at Harare's sleek chrome-and-glass airport the immigration officer
smiled. "Have a good holiday."
My parents' farm is in the Eastern
Highlands, four hours east of Harare, close to the Mozambique border. It is
not agricultural land and never has been. They bought it in 1990, 10 years
after independence, having got a certificate from the government stating it
had no interest in using the land for resettlement. Back then there was
nothing here but rock and bush on a range of steep hills, but my parents had
a plan: they erected a game fence, brought in herds of zebra and antelope
and built cottages, chalets and a restaurant for budget tourists. For 10
years they ran a thriving business. In the past four years, though, tourism
to Zimbabwe has collapsed; my parent's chalets and restaurant stand empty,
most of their staff laid-off.
It was early evening, under a blood-red
sunset, when I arrived, and my parents were locking their front gate. There
were uniformed guards on the perimeter, and I saw the fence around their
house had been electrified in the past year. "We've just been to a
farewell," my mother laughed. "Soon we'll be the only ones left!" She meant
the only whites left, although leaving Zimbabwe goes both ways these days:
three million of us now live outside the country; more than a million in the
UK. In Harare they call London "Harare North".
My parents refuse to
leave - "We are Zimbabweans, this is our country," they say. My mother was
born in Zimbabwe and my father, a South African of many generations, moved
there in the 60s. And even if they wanted to go they could not afford it.
Everything they own is invested in the farm. But they no longer rail against
those who do leave. In the early 1980s, when 150,000 whites fled the
country, I recall them having stand-up rows with whites for selling out. "We
don't do that now," said my mother. "We can't blame anyone for going." At
dinner my mother showed me a note sent to her by the "new farmers" -
genuine, resettled peasants who now occupy the land across the road. "Open
your gates," it read, "we come in peace." Apart from trashing their game
fence and killing their animals, they've been true to their word.
In
typical Zimbabwean fashion, my parents find humour in the absurdity around
them. While their own house is safe, they say, their rental cottages are
routinely burgled; entire lounge suites and fridges dragged away through the
bush at night. When my mother phoned the police about one robbery the
officer in charge barely stirred: "I have no car," he said, "Can you come
and pick me up?" When my mother found a well-fed stray goat in her garden a
week later and reported it, the same policeman drove around in minutes. "I
refused to hand it over," she said. "He obviously wanted to eat it." That's
Zimbabwe: just when you think it's Orwellian nightmare, it turns into Evelyn
Waugh farce.
It is hard to imagine that just a few years ago
Zimbabweans stood strong in the face of the political corruption of Robert
Mugabe's government. Even during the height of the violence between 2001 to
2003, the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change was ascendant;
people really believed change was coming. The 2002 presidential elections
felt as momentous as South Africa's in 1994. Despite threats and
intimidation, people lined up in their millions to vote, and for the first
time in 22 years whites - my father included - moved out from behind their
high walls and sports clubs and got involved in the campaign. They
volunteered for the opposition, donated money and voted. They became
Zimbabweans. But the election was lost by the MDC - or, more accurately,
"stolen" by President Mugabe through widespread vote-rigging in and
intimidation - and the backlash was swift and brutal. The opposition has
been virtually silent since, its leaders beaten, tortured and jailed. Four
newspapers have been closed since 2002, a dozen journalists expelled,
including the Guardian's correspondent. Four thousand of the country's 4,500
white farmers, overwhelmingly MDC supporters, have lost their land. There
are now fewer than 50,000 whites in the whole country (in the 70s there were
250,000), out of a total population of 12 million, and alarming numbers
continue to leave. So I asked my father if he would volunteer again this
time around. "No way," he said. "We'll keep our heads down. We realise now
that you can't be too committed to thinking this is your home. We are
expected to live as expats in this country and that is what we'll
do."
The MDC is no more hopeful. The week I arrived it reluctantly agreed
to contest the March 31 vote, but insisted it will be unfair. I call
Davison, a 25-year-old activist from a nearby township, whom I met a year
ago: "We're ready for change," he said. "From the bread basket to the
begging bowl - this will end!" "Really?" I asked. "Well, maybe," he replied,
suddenly downcast. And then he railed against the MDC for not being prepared
to go further, to consider violence, to go to war. I saw his point. Less
legitimate insurgencies around the world get all manner of sympathy when
they start killing people.
He also suspects the party has been
infiltrated by spies, he said. He could be right here, too. Spying is a
growth industry in Zimbabwe. The government, desperate for money, encourages
citizens to inform on people it suspects are dealing in foreign currency
(for which they are paid in foreign currency). I heard of one white
businessman who, suspecting employees were spying on him, hired two new
workers - spies to spy on the spies.
To see the true extent of the
paranoia, one only has to read the state-owned press. My father refuses to
buy the state-owned Herald newspaper but I got it one morning. The lead
story had a ruling party official responding to criticism of the Zimbabwe
government by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Tutu is an "embittered vassal of
imperialism" the official ranted. "He should pray to the real God and not
his false Gods - Tony Blair and George Bush." Another article quoted the
president: "Western nations are meddling in Zimbabwean affairs. What do they
want here? Do they want to take away our wives?" Then I bought the Worker,
the independent monthly paper of the Zimbabwe labour movement. It had a
small story about an assassination attempt on Raymond Majongwe, a
protest-singer and leader of the Progressive Teachers Union. It mentions,
matter-of-factly, that this is the fourth attempt on his life in three
years.
I drove to Mutare, the city where I grew up, to visit Michael, my
only childhood friend still left there. The owner of a construction company,
he has taken to making headstones. "Three thousand people are dying from
Aids a week," he said. "It was a good business for a while." Why for a
while? "Oh, everyone's making them now."
I said goodbye to my parents
one Friday morning and head west towards Harare, the capital. As I drove I
realised it was wrong to say there were no crops being planted in Zimbabwe,
but the maize and tobacco I saw on the roadside looked scrappy, stunted.
Some of these fields belong to genuine new farmers who have neither the
money nor equipment to cultivate it properly. But most belong to "telephone
farmers" - fat cats from the cities who helped themselves to farms in the
land grab and now use them for weekend barbecue getaways. With 1.5 million
Zimbabweans in urgent need of food aid and the government spending US$8m on
imported maize in the run-up to the elections, even the president has
started to speak out against "telephone farmers". He might start close to
home: his wife is one of those who owns a large farm.
Reaching the
capital, though, a strange thing happened: I felt as if I had been
parachuted into a vibrant, prosperous African city. True, many of the
traffic lights didn't work and the roads were more potholed than I
remembered, but there was no shortage of new Mercs on the street, many
driven by glamorous black women with cell phones to their ears, the wives
and girlfriends of the political elite. Chaos always has its cash cow. I
drove through the grounds of my old state high school, Prince Edward, also
the alma mater of England cricketer Graeme Hick. The grounds were immaculate
and the pupils a model of multiracial harmony. Inflation is at 133% but
there is, bizarrely enough, a property boom; in the suburbs of Borrowdale,
Helensvale and Chisipite houses are being snapped up, many by the diasporans
waiting quietly in exile for change to come.
On my final night, my
sister threw a dinner party for me, all friends and family, and all who are
sticking around, just like my parents. There is a calm resilience to them as
they insist that they are Zimbabweans, this is still their home. It made me
feel a little guilty for not sticking around too. But were they really that
confident about the future? "Sure," said one. "If you can avoid getting
sick, being arrested, losing your house or your farm, you can still live a
really good life here." He wasn't joking. I realised how far my safe western
life has got from theirs; I realised, too, the reserves people find to get
by. Stephen, an old school friend, told me his story. In 1997 he bought a
600-acre farm right next door to where his parents ran one of the most
successful tobacco farms in the country. He is still on his land, but he no
longer owns it. "I lease my own farm back from a war veteran," he said. "I
get on with him, I pay him rent, I get to stay, and I have a good crop this
year." I tell him the Cosa Nostra worked the same way. He says: "Doug, I'm a
farmer. I do what I can to survive."
I then asked him about his parents
and his mood darkened. He told me they were evicted last year by a family
who now live in their old home. Is the new family farming the land? "They're
trying but their crop is terrible. I asked them why it was so bad and they
said: 'Stephen, this farm has no good water. But your farm, your farm...'"
And they looked longingly from the house they recently acquired to Stephen's
farm across the way.
Mbeki angers democracy groups in Zimbabwe JOHANNESBURG,
South Africa (AP) - Advocates for democracy in Zimbabwe believe South
African President Thabo Mbeki has betrayed them by endorsing an upcoming
presidential election, in spite of arrests of opposition politicians and
laws that put the army in charge of polling stations. The criticism Thursday
came a day after Mbeki said Zimbabwe had complied with regional protocols
ensuring fairness in its March 31 parliamentary vote.
"I have no
reason to think that anybody in Zimbabwe will act in a way that will
militate against elections being free and fair," Mbeki said.
Arnold
Tsunga, the director of Lawyers for Human Rights in Zimbabwe, said in a
telephone interview that Mbeki's comments "disregard the suffering of
ordinary Zimbabweans in the face of a dictatorship."
Tsunga said
Zimbabweans who endured hardships and sacrificed as Zimbabwe helped finance
the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa now feel betrayed by South
Africa.
Mbeki has said he is pursuing a policy of "quiet diplomacy" to
push Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's increasingly isolated regime
toward reforms.
Lovemore Madhuku, the leader the National
Constitutional Assembly, a Zimbabwean civil society group, said Zimbabweans
believe Mbeki's objective has always been to give legitimacy to Mugabe's
harsh but stable dictatorship.
"He wants to assure that Mugabe gets
an electoral victory that is seen as legitimate in the eyes of the world,"
Madhuku said in a telephone interview.
The election law has many critics.
The State Department, human rights groups and African analysts have all
condemned Zimbabwe's election practices.
Opposition candidates do not
have equal access to state media, and voter registration lists have as many
as 2 million illegitimate names, analysts said. The army and the police will
provide election officials and decide where polling stations will be
located. The State Department has accused the government's youth militia,
the Green Bombers, of beating up and torturing opposition
politicians.
However, Mbeki spokesman's, Bheki Khumalo, said the South
African president stood by his comments and would work with the people of
Zimbabwe to help find a solution to the political crisis.
Last month,
South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told reporters she was
satisfied Zimbabwe was taking steps to ensure free and fair parliamentary
elections and said she had seen signs campaigning has been less violent than
in previous years.
Nearly 90 million
Africans could be infected by the HIV virus in the next 20 years if more is
not done to combat the epidemic, the UN has warned. Some 25 million
Africans have HIV, the virus that causes Aids, at present.
The
world body estimates the next two decades could see 89 million new cases of
the disease in Africa - or up to 10% of the continent's population.
The UN recommends a committed campaign against HIV/Aids - and $200bn
(£105bn) of investment - to stem its spread.
At best, taking
more action against Aids could save 16 million people from dying of the
disease and a further 43 million people from contracting it, the UN
says.
Dramatic impact
The UN report concludes that if
millions of Africans are still being infected by the HIV virus by 2025, "it
will not be because there was no choice".
"It will be because,
collectively, there was insufficient political will to change behaviour at
all levels... and halt the forces driving the Aids epidemic in
Africa."
The study, entitled Aids in Africa, was compiled over two
years using more than 150 experts.
According to the BBC's UN
correspondent, Suzy Price, it demonstrates the dramatic impact government
policies could have on the spread of HIV and Aids in Africa.
Epidemic threat
The report offers three different models of how the
disease could affect the continent in 20 years, based on how much money and
effort is invested in fighting it.
The worst-case
scenario, in which funding and policies stay as they are now, foresees a
fourfold increase in the total number of people dying from
Aids.
The report also looks at two more positive
outcomes.
In the best-case scenario, international aid flows to
Africa are doubled, investment in health systems is increased and
agriculture and education and treatment is dramatically
improved.
The report says that even in this case the total number
of deaths would continue to rise.
According to our
correspondent, the UN offers hope that the effective use of resources could
eventually end the Aids epidemic in Africa.
At the same time, it
warns that current levels of action could see the disease bring the entire
continent to its knees.
Mbeki opens his mouth and puts both feet in it to defend
Zimbabwe polls March 4, 2005
By Tony
Weaver
I have great respect for President Thabo Mbeki. Under his
leadership, South Africa's second miracle, the economic miracle, is taking
place, we are becoming a major force for peace and democracy in Africa,
crime levels have stabilised and in many areas are dropping, and generally,
the country is doing very nicely indeed.
So why oh why does he
have such an incredible, unfathomable, bizarre blind spot about
Zimbabwe?
It really is beyond comprehension. And don't come out
with that old myth that it is because the ANC and Zanu-PF have revolutionary
fraternal ties going back for decades.
The truth is that the
ANC was close to Joshua Nkomo's Zapu, and had little to do with Robert
Mugabe's Zanu.
For months now, Mbeki has kept relatively quiet
about Zimbabwe. Then, on Wednesday he opened his mouth and put both feet in
it.
Perhaps it was because he was standing next to Namibia's Sam
Nujoma, who never seems to think before speaking. Or perhaps it was just to
remind Cosatu who's the boss.
To remind you: Mbeki said that "I
have no reason to think that anybody in Zimbabwe will act in a way that will
militate against elections being free and fair".
He went on to
say that there had been no violations of the SADC protocol and "as far as I
know, things like an independent electoral commission, access to the public
media, the absence of violence and intimidation ... those matters have been
addressed."
I am not sure what planet the president is currently
inhabiting if he really believes that stuff. Even a cursory reading of
recent headlines gives the lie to any belief that the elections could by any
stretch of the imagination be free and fair.
Just yesterday,
Zimbabwe's Public Service minister Paul Mangwana said the government was to
close down 30 NGOs because they were suspected of funding the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, MDC.
They were guilty of
"anti-government activities, in the name of democratisation", and were
"actively working to undermine the ruling party", thus there was a need to
"monitor their activities".
Also yesterday, Andrew Moyse, the
co-ordinator of Zimbabwe's Media Monitoring Project was quoted as saying "an
atmosphere of fear pervades the whole country" when asked what the chances
were for free and fair elections.
This follows the closure by
the state of the independent Weekly Times, and the decision by three veteran
foreign correspondents - two of them Zimbabwean by birth - to flee the
country.
Last week, Jan Raath, Brian Latham and Angus Shaw, three
of the last remaining independent foreign correspondents in Zimbabwe skipped
the border after being warned that they were in imminent danger of
arrest.
We are not talking about lightweights here. They reported
on a freelance basis for, among others, the Associated Press, The Times of
London, Bloomberg, the Independent Group, which includes the Cape Times,
702/Cape Talk, and the Guardian.
Also this week, it was
reported that the Zimbabwean military was conducting sweeps through MDC
strongholds in the Eastern Highlands, home to the Nyanga and Chimanimani
Mountains, and press-ganging youths into the notorious National Youth
Militia, or "Green Bombers".
Over 100 youngsters had been grabbed
and forced into what is euphemistically termed "military and ideological
training".
I grow weary of this: simply listing all the evidence
would take 10 or more columns. It seems like an exercise in
futility.
Mbeki has declared that the elections will be free and
fair, despite the fact that candidates' deposit fees have been increased
20-fold;
that Mugabe has awarded civil servants, traditional
leaders and others 1 400% pay increases; that the MDC has been banned from
campaigning in army barracks;
that the Mugabe regime has
hand-picked who may and who may not observe the elections and hand-picked
the make-up of its own electoral commission ... need I
continue?
President Mbeki, an election, like a revolution, is a
process, not an event. The process has been unfolding for months and years
now, the actual event is but one miniscule part of that process. Please get
real.
From: "Trudy Stevenson" Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 4:27 PM Subject:
Harare North Polling Stations
Please note that our constituency
boundaries have changed, so half of Mabelreign is now in Dzivarasekwa
Constituency and cannot vote in Harare North but must go to a polling station
in Dzivarasekwa - eg Haig Park, Sanganayi Inn. I still have a request in for
more polling stations, in view of the one-day voting, however this is what we
have as of now.
Note also that there will be 3 queues at every polling
station, one for surnames beginning A-L, one entirely for surnames beginning
M, and one for surnames beginning N-Z. This should speed things up, in
theory. The ink will not be invisible, this time, but coloured indelible
ink, so you can see if someone has already voted.
Polling is supposed
to be completed in ONE DAY, and verification and counting will start
IMMEDIATELY after close of the poll. The ballot boxes should be translucent,
so you can see the level of ballots, but not what is written on
them.
..................................... Harare North Polling
Stations - 31 March 2005
Alfred Beit Primary Mabelreign Girls
High Ellis Robins Boys High Hallingbury Primary Avonlea
Primary Westgate Masaisai Primary (crnr Lorraine Dr/Neill Way) New
Marlborough Katsande Broken Arrow Shops Marlborough District
Office Marlborough High Marlborough Primary St Johns High Emerald
Hill School for the Deaf Mt Pleasant High North Park
Primary Groombridge Primary Vainona High Vainona Primary Hatcliffe
Extension Zambuko Primary Hatcliffe ZRP Boarding School Hatcliffe 1
Primary Hatcliffe 2 Primary Hatcliffe High Hatcliffe District
Office
"When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest
or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always sturring
up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader
."
LETTER
1: RE: MF WRIGHT'S COMMENTS IN FARMER, received 3.3.2005
by
Canaan
Dear Jag
With regard to comments made by Wright of Massey
Ferguson, I refer to 2 statements in the Farmer magazine article which
deserve comment:
1) Respected international agricultural machinery and
implement manufacturers, Massey Ferguson.......
2) The anger has also
spread to many farmers in neighbouring countries who sympathise with the
evicted farmers.
Lets look at the word "Respected" - it almost sounds
like the article was written by the previous junior minister of Information.
Has he just been employed by the farmer magazine?
Secondly, what a
huge assumption to say "anger has spread........ who sympathise with evicted
farmers." That's a ruse. ALL farmers with half a brain in Southern Africa are
angry because Mr Wright said "We can safely say that Zimbabwe's agriculture
is in safe hands," and they know that agriculture is NOT in good hands.
President Mugabe admitted it this week. It seems that every time MF says
anything , it gets them deeper in the dwang. This second statement infers
that only farmers who sympathise with evicted farmers are angry. That's not
true. ALL farmer I speak to are angry, even if they don't sympathise with the
evicted farmers. Get it right Massey Ferguson.
When this article is
published , it is going to get a response and this response and the entire
background will be transmitted globally to all farmer organisations for them
to pass on to their members.
What is quite obvious to all is that MF's
Wright should either step down, clarify very clearly to the farming community
what he meant or retract what he has said.
If he doesn't, MF will not
only lose respect, they will probably lose a lot more. This problem is not
going to go away. It's just the beginning.
My last message is to JAG.
Keep up the good work, we're all proud of what you are doing and what you
stand
for.
LETTER
2: RE: The Late Major Andrew Fuller, received 2.3.2005
by Peter
Bellingham
Dear JAG
One of your subscribers who responded to my
request for information regarding the late Andrew Fuller was Jill Merrelle.
The lady who first raised the query as to his whereabouts was a Mrs. Beryl
Hulbert from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, and her request was relayed to me
by my sister-in-law, Mrs. Anthea Bellingham.
I passed on all the
replies that you so kindly sent to me to Anthea who in turn passed them on to
Beryl. Beryl would like to write to Jill Merrelle, and asks if I can obtain
Jill's address for her.
Can you ask Jill if she is prepared to release
her address to Beryl?
Beryl and her husband Jack visited Andrew Fuller
when he was well and stayed with him at his farm some years ago. Jack
Hulbert knew Andrew when Jack lived in Winchester where Andrew's father was
his family doctor.
Once again, many thanks for assistance and your rapid
response to my original query.
Sincerely, Peter
Bellingham
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1.1 VACANCY: ZAMBIA FARM MANAGER, received
17.2.2005
Manager Required for mixed farming enterprise in Mkushi, Zambia
growing 550 ha grain crops and 150 ha tobacco in summer and 400 ha wheat in
winter. Mechanical knowledge would be an advantage as would experience in all
of the above crops. Good basic salary and bonus, dependent on experience.
The incumbent would be required to commence duties in April
2005.
Please reply in the first instance with CV's to:
Pam P O
Box 810052 Kapiri Mposhi Zambia Ph: +260 5 362233 email muloba2003@yahoo.com
1.4
VACANCY: KENYA: BUSHCAMP MANAGER, received 28.2.2005
Wanted, a well
educated, management couple for a small, upmarket lodge in Kenya near the
Masai Mara. The camp has 16 beds and is situated in the Loita Hills over
looking the Masai Mara but in its own private concession which means that
guests can go on game drives and also walk, go on night drives, picnics etc.
The camp has a very homely atmosphere, good game and wonderful climate
(1950metres No Malaria).
This is not a hotel but an upmarket and very
personal lodge. It is the second home to the owner as well as being and
exclusive lodge taking paying international guests. This would not suit a
couple with small children, the right people would be between 25 and 50 years
old.
This position would suit an ex farming couple or a couple with
experience in the tourism industry.
A well-established Nursery
School in the northern suburbs is looking for an energetic and creative
school teacher to start second term. A Degree or Diploma in either primary
teaching and/or early childhood education is essential plus experience in a
similar role. English as a first language is required. Competitive salary
offered to the right person.
Please deliver CV's to 44 Princess Drive,
Newlands or email pjb@africaonline.co.zw by latest the
12th March
2005.
1.6
VACANCY: ZAMBIA: TOBACCO BUYER, received 28.2.2005
A contract for 6
months hasbeen created for a mature bachelor or married couple with no
children at Lundazi in the north east of Zambia. The positino is to supervise
the collection, purchase, and recording of mainly Burley tobacco at eight
different outlets for a prominent Tobacco company. Tobacco experience need
not be a necessity.
This contract could become a permanent position to a
suitable applicatn.
For details, contact: Keith Nicloson in Zambia:
(260) 6480051 email keithnic@zamnet.zm Fiona CFU Harare
04-309800
45 Daily News journalists to face trial Fri 4 March
2005 HARARE - The Zimbabwe government is reviving cases against more
than 45 journalists of the banned Daily News it accuses of having illegally
worked for the paper without being registered with its Media and Information
Commission.
A senior official at the Attorney General's office,
who did not want to be named, told ZimOnline yesterday that the journalists
would be dragged to court "anytime after the elections" as part of an
onslaught on independent journalists and foreign correspondents in the
country.
"Instructions from above are that the journalists should
not be let free," the official said. He added: "They should be prosecuted
and we are now finalising preparations for a trial. They will be charged
under AIPPA (Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act) for
working as journalists without accreditation."
A lawyer for the
journalists, Beatrice Mtetwa, said the police had told her that the matter
against the journalists was being revived and that they could possibly be
tried in June.
She said: "I have been told that the
journalists will now be prosecuted. I was told by the police that a trial
date has been set and it would be in June. But I have not yet received
official communication on the exact trial date. I am still waiting for
that."
The journalists were initially charged in September 2003
when the newspaper was forcibly shut down and its equipment seized by the
government after a ruling by the Supreme Court that it was operating outside
the law because it was not registered with the state
commission.
At the time, the journalists argued that they had
applied to the government commission for registration but the state media
watchdog had not responded to their applications.
The matter
however appeared to have died a natural death after the state never followed
up the issue.
Several of the journalists have since left the
country. The official from the AG's office said those who were no longer in
the country and could not be brought to court would be tried in
absentia.
Under AIPPA journalists and media companies must register
with the state commission to operate in Zimbabwe. Companies publishing
newspapers without being registered will be shut down and their equipment
seized while journalists practising without a licence will be jailed for up
to two years. - ZimOnline
Moyo steps up attacks on former pay-masters Fri 4 March
2005
HARARE - Former government propaganda chief Jonathan Moyo
stepped up attacks against his former employer accusing President Robert
Mugabe of surrounding himself with "politically insecure"
sycophants.
Without naming names, Moyo, himself a former close
confidante of Mugabe, claimed that the people calling the shots in ZANU PF
and the government were a small, selfish clique some of them with strong
ties to powerful forces hostile to Zimbabwe.
Moyo said: "The
clique calling the shots is very politically insecure because most of its
key players have no mandate from the people and can never have such mandate
but happen to occupy key positions in the party and some of them have strong
links with powerful forces that are hostile to Zimbabwe."
Moyo,
dismissed as information minister by Mugabe two weeks ago after opting to
stand as an independent in the upcoming parliamentary election, also vowed
to surprise Mugabe and ZANU PF by winning the Tsholotsho constituency where
he is standing.
He said: "The campaign is on. I did not start
campaigning there after 18 November 2004. People are saying because I am not
wearing a ZANU PF jacket I am not going to win. The people of Tsholotsho
have never voted for jackets but for substance.
"The people of
Tsholotsho and the rest of Matabeleland have no time for jackets, they
always vote with their consciences. Once they have made their minds, no one
can beat them into submission. It is important for all who care to listen
that people in Tsholotsho and the region have certain jackets that they
really dislike. Let the election come and all will see."
Moyo ran a
crude propaganda campaign in defence of Mugabe and his government before the
two fell out after he attempted to block the appointment of Joyce Mujuru as
second vice-president of ZANU PF and Zimbabwe.
Mugabe backed
Mujuru, now vice-president, for the key post seen by many as a key stepping
stone to the top job. - ZimOnline
No freedom yet for jailed mercenaries Fri 4 March
2005
HARARE - Sixty-two mercenaries jailed at Chikurubi near Harare
were still in prison yesterday, a day after the High Court ordered their
release because immigration officials had not finished processing documents
for them to leave the country.
Department of Immigration
officials told ZimOnline late last night that the department had applied for
further detention of the mercenaries until their travel documents were in
order. The officials, who did not want to be named, did not say when the
documents would be ready.
The mercenaries, most of whom were
traveling on South African passports, are citizens of South Africa, Angola,
and Namibia. They were arrested at Harare International Airport in March
last year en route to Equatorial Guinea where Harare said they wanted to
topple that country's government.
Two pilots flying the plane
that brought the men to Harare were sentenced to 16 months in jail each
while the rest of the plane's passengers were each given 12 months in
prison.
The sentences were however reduced by the High Court on
review with the pilots getting an effective 12 months in jail while the
passengers' sentences were slashed to 8 months each.
Under
Zimbabwe's Prisons Act, inmates who behave well are entitled to remission of
two thirds of their sentences meaning the mercenaries who were imprisoned
last September were due for release after five months and 10 days on account
of good behaviour. - ZimOnline