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The
Inaugural Address by the Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Morgan
Tsvangirai, to the Seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe
http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/3500
Mr. Speaker
Sir, Vice Presidents, Deputy Prime Ministers, Honourable
Members;
Thank you for this opportunity to address this, the Seventh
Parliament of
Zimbabwe, which I trust will be amongst the most cooperative,
bold and
decisive in our country's history.
This address to
Parliament will outline the legislative vision as embodied
in the Global
Political Agreement and will later be following its
presentation to, and
approval by, Cabinet and the Council of Ministers.
In the short life of
our new Transitional Inclusive Government, I have been
encouraged by the
enormous support and cooperation I have received and
witnessed at the
parliamentary, ministerial, executive and civil service
levels. If this
spirit of teamwork continues, and I have no reason to doubt
that it will
not, then together we can rebuild our nation and restore
Zimbabwe to its
proud place in the family of nations.
The signing of the Global Political
Agreement on 15 September 2008,
signified the soft landing of the Zimbabwe
crisis and the commencement of a
process that is irreversible and will lead
to a new constitution and free
and fair elections. It signified the
acceptance of the reality that violence
has no part to play in our political
culture and it signified that the voice
of the people can not be silenced
indefinitely.
In this new Transitional Inclusive Government executive
authority rests with
the President, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. As
Prime Minister, I am
responsible for overseeing the formulation of
government policies and to
ensure that the policies so formulated are
implemented by the entirety of
government.
Mr. Speaker Sir, each one
of us here today can be justly proud that we have
been chosen by our
respective communities in our great country, to represent
their interests
and to translate their hopes and dreams into policy that
will make a
positive, tangible and sustainable difference to the lives of
those whose
trust we have won.
This is not a responsibility to be taken lightly and I
know that you will
commit yourselves to ensuring that you are conversant
with the duties that
you swore to uphold when you took your seat in this
Parliament.
I know that in this House, there are many interests
represented, many views
held and many political opinions expressed as to the
best way forward for
our nation.
While I welcome this diversity and
the robust debate that results from it,
we must always remember that we are
united by the principles contained
within the GPA, which has now been given
legal form through Constitutional
Amendment No. 19. This Agreement provides
a solid and irrefutable framework
for the task that we have to do in the
legislature and the leadership role
we have chosen to accept for our
people.
The leaders of the three parties represented here, have committed
themselves
and their members to adhere to the letter and spirit of the GPA
and on this
there can be no difference, dissent or debate.
Parliament
has been committed to implementing the clauses of the GPA and
abiding by the
Constitution of Zimbabwe. There is no room in this House, in
this Government
or in this country, for any individuals or groups that wish
to prevent
progress and keep us mired in the poverty and misery that have
come to
represent life in Zimbabwe.
Such is the scale of the task ahead, such is
the work that we have to do,
such is the support that we shall require from
the people, that on this we
must be united, we must work together and we
must put the interests of our
nation and our people above all party
political considerations.
This is what the GPA asks of each one of us -
this is what we, as your
leadership, have agreed to - and this is what shall
be done.
__________________
Mr. Speaker Sir, there can be no
viable, permanent or sustainable solution
to the problems facing Zimbabwe
without the promotion of the people's
freedoms. These freedoms form the
bedrock of any democracy and the
foundation upon which all development
builds. This is recognized within the
GPA both via the diversity of freedoms
it incorporates and the emphasis it
places upon them.
Therefore,
during the course of this Parliament a new Constitution will be
written.
While Parliament will initiate this process, it must be driven by
all
stakeholders and owned by the people of Zimbabwe. The people will have
the
final say on its validity, both in terms of process and content, in a
referendum that will be held upon its completion.
This new
Constitution will be a truly Zimbabwean product, reflecting our
history, our
diverse cultures our respect for one another and our desire to
live free
from persecution or fear.
However, there is much work for us to do in
promoting freedoms while this
Constitutional process is
underway.
Firstly, we must lead by example and the GPA commits all
political parties
to respect and uphold the Constitution and other laws of
the land and to the
principles of the Rule of Law. In doing this, we must
bring to an end the
culture of entitlement and impunity that has blighted
our country's recent
history. As leaders we will abide by the rule of law
and submit ourselves to
the people for free, fair and transparent election
at regular intervals. If
we break the law or lose the support of the people
then we do not deserve to
represent them and cannot be members of this
House.
With the formation of this Transitional Inclusive Government, all
Zimbabweans are now able to propagate their political views and canvass for
support, free of harassment and intimidation.
The right to freedom of
association and assembly are enshrined in the GPA.
It commits the police and
other law enforcement agencies to conduct
themselves in accordance with the
law and to observe and uphold the rule of
law. The government will therefore
undertake training programmes aimed at
empowering these arms of government
in the understanding and application of
human rights and the rule of law,
particularly as it relates to freedoms of
association and
assembly.
Our citizens have the right to express their views to us their
leadership.
Therefore, the days of the police wantonly and violently
breaking up
peaceful demonstrations and gatherings and needlessly
imprisoning innocent
Zimbabweans must now come to an end. In future such
activities could bring
the threat of prosecution not only on those arresting
or interfering with
such activities but also on those that ordered such
interference and
arrests. Command responsibility is a concept we must
address and embrace.
No society can be free, or hope to prosper, without
freedom of expression
and communication. This too is recognised within the
GPA by ensuring that
the government immediately processes all applications
for re-registration
and registration of media houses in terms of both the
Broadcasting Services
Act as well as the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act.
Those wishing to practise journalism must be able
to do so without being
prohibited by unnecessary restrictions or exorbitant
fees.
In addition, steps will be taken to ensure that the public media
provides
balanced and fair coverage to all political parties for their
legitimate
political activities.
All public and private media must
refrain from using abusive language that
may incite hostility, political
intolerance and ethnic hatred or that
unfairly undermines political parties
and other organisations.
Once an open and free media environment has been
achieved, there will be no
need for Zimbabwean radio stations to be based
abroad and I would encourage
those running and working for such stations to
return home and help us build
a truly free and open communication network in
Zimbabwe.
Such concepts of freedom are not foreign to our culture or our
continent,
nor are they imposed upon us by outsiders. Evidence of this is
clear to see
in our neighbouring countries where the rights of the people
are defended
vigorously, where political parties are free to campaign and
where there is
a healthy choice of radio and television stations and
newspapers to choose
from.
Therefore, the GPA only encourages us to
strive and implement the attributes
that exist in our regional African
societies.
Naturally, I could not talk about freedoms without referring
to those
individuals who continue to languish in prison on seriously
contested
allegations. Their guilt or innocence is not for us to decide but
it is a
hallowed principle of our law that one is innocent until proven
guilty.
These detainees are being punished before they have been convicted.
If
indeed there is sufficient evidence supporting the allegations against
them
their respective trials must be given precedence in the national
interest.
Let a court decide their fate.
The fact that some of these
individuals have been incarcerated for months
without trial smacks of
political persecution. This will not be tolerated
under our new Government.
Justice must be done and must be seen to be done
now.
This issue of
justice is not just related to people's freedoms alone but
goes to the very
root of the economic recovery programme that this
government intends to
implement. As proud as we are as nation, the fact of
the matter is that we
need regional and international financial aid to pull
our country back from
the economic abyss on which we are poised.
No donor country or
institution is going to offer any meaningful assistance
unless our new
government projects a positive new image. Brutal suppression,
wanton arrests
and political persecution impede our ability to rebuild our
economy, to
generate wealth for all, to rebuild our hospitals and schools
and to put a
currency of value into our savings accounts.
Thus, those who continue to
perpetuate the culture of impunity are
sabotaging the chances of all
Zimbabweans to move towards prosperity and
freedom from hunger and
poverty.
Not only are they sabotaging these prospects, but they are also
going
against the letter and the spirit of the GPA. President Mugabe, Deputy
Prime
Minister Mutambara and I, have pledged to work together to implement a
full
and comprehensive economic programme to resuscitate Zimbabwe's economy
by
addressing urgently the issues of production, food security, poverty and
unemployment and the challenges of high inflation, interest rates and the
exchange rate.
Mr. Speaker Sir, our economic recovery is also
dependent on attracting back
to Zimbabwe the millions of our talented and
skilled brothers and sisters
who fled the turmoil to seek sanctuary and
better economic prospects abroad.
In getting them to return and join us in
rebuilding our nation, adherence to
the rule of law and the implementation
of sound economic policies are
essential.
As part of this process,
the Government will establish a National Economic
Council comprising
representatives of all economic sectors and civic society
in Zimbabwe. With
the economy, like the other sectors covered by the GPA, no
top-down
directives can help solve our problems. Only through engaging with
all
stakeholders, by taking advice, learning about the issues and
understanding
the complexities of the challenges we face can we hope to
formulate policies
that will truly address our economic woes.
In this we have already made a
positive start. The open use of multiple
currencies has removed a major
distortion from our economy and allowed the
market to dictate a more
realistic price for goods and services. In
addition, the achievement by the
Ministry of Finance to pay a first round of
allowances to the civil service
has eased the harsh conditions under which
these vital employees were living
and simultaneously provided a much need
stimulus to our economy.
Mr.
Speaker Sir, a government that cares about business has no business
being in
business. Rather, its role is to ensure that an enabling
environment exists,
albeit regulated, that allows the market to dictate
prices for all goods and
services without underplaying the developmental
role of the state. In turn,
business must acknowledge its own
responsibilities to pay taxes, provide
acceptable employment conditions and
to invest in the growth of our
nation.
For our nation to grow, we must ensure that we utilise its
natural resources
as sustainably and productively as possible.
Today,
our mines are operating at a fraction of their potential, employing a
fraction of the workforce they should and producing a fraction of the
revenue they could. During the life of this parliament, we will put in place
firm policy directions to revitalise our mining sector so that it can
contribute to our economic growth and social recovery.
Mr. Speaker
Sir, in the life of this parliament we can make a significant,
positive
impact on people's lives if we stay true to the principles to which
we have
committed ourselves because our people are hard working and educated
and our
country is well endowed with minerals and fertile soils.
However, the
economy of Zimbabwe cannot grow and flourish if we are unable
to provide
basic services to our citizens. A productive nation is a healthy
nation and
this government will, as a priority, ensure that our health
system receives
the resources it needs in order to provide the level of
preventative and
curative care that all Zimbabweans deserve.
I fear that all of us here
today, have lost friends and relatives needlessly
due to the appalling
standards to which our health system has been allowed
to decline. I was
shocked by my visit to Harare Central Hospital last week
and the conditions
that prevail there and throughout the country.
I was embarrassed by the
fact that as a nation we could let such
institutions decline while spending
large amounts of money on non-productive
incentives for less valuable
sectors of the economy. At the same time, I was
enormously proud of the
spirit, resilience and dedication of the health
staff that have struggled to
provide the best care possible despite the
absence of equipment, medicines,
even light bulbs and functioning ablutions.
Our children have been
similarly neglected in that we have scared away our
teachers through
persecution and wages that fell far below the poverty datum
line, while
simultaneously neglecting to maintain our educational
facilities, provide
text books or even mark the exams of those children
still able to go to
school.
Education is a priority of this government and I commend the work
already
undertaken by the relevant ministries in these sectors to get an
understanding of what is required and set about finding resources and
implementing policies that are both practical and viable.
Indeed,
like our economic recovery programmes, we cannot hope to restore
basic
services without working hand in hand with consumer groups, resident's
associations and civil society as a whole. Forming strong partnerships with
these key stakeholders is essential if we are to rebuild our nation through
the development of sustainable policies for implementation.
I also
welcome the moves by those ministries involved in overseeing the
operations
of our utility companies to rationalise pricing structures and
implement a
short-term moratorium on disconnections to protect the consumer
while
realistic pricing structures, in line with regional norms, are
established
and implemented. I believe that Zimbabweans will accept these
new rates if
they are accompanied by an improvement in the quality and
reliability of the
services for which they pay. This government will strive
to find a balance
between affordability and viability.
Mr. Speaker Sir, in the same way
that this government intends to restore
basic services, so we shall restore
our country's ability to meet our basic
food requirements. Like the mining
sector, our agriculture sector has been
the victim of negative policy
interventions and distortion.
In addition, the collapse of our
agricultural production is clear evidence
of what can happen to a vital
sector of our economy when the rule of law is
substituted for the rule of
lawlessness.
A viable land acquisition and distribution process is
essential to redress
the racist land ownership patterns established during
the colonial era.
As flawed as the recent process of land redistribution
has been, this
government does not intend to reverse it, but rather to
institute measures
that will once again see our agricultural sector becoming
the jewel of
Southern Africa. To achieve this we need to address the issue
of land
utilisation above all else.
We must halt the wanton
disruptions of productive farming activities that
are continuing as I speak.
Already our food production for the coming season
is going to be less than
that of last year's abysmal season. Those that
believe that they can move
onto a viable farm and steal the crops that are
about to be harvested are
wrong. In our culture, as in our law, you cannot
reap what you have not
sown. In addition, those that are undertaking these
activities are
threatening seasonal crop production to the value of over
US$150 million -
money that our economy desperately needs.
In the GPA we have committed
ourselves and our parties to recognising that
all land is used productively
in the interests of all the people of
Zimbabwe. A farm is a business that
should provide food for our nation,
revenue to our economy and employment
for our people.
In line with this, your new Government has committed to,
amongst other
things:
a.. conduct a comprehensive, transparent and
non-partisan land audit,
during the tenure of this Seventh Parliament of
Zimbabwe, for the purpose of
establishing accountability and eliminating
multiple farm ownerships.
b.. ensure that all Zimbabweans who are eligible
to be allocated land and
who apply for it shall be considered for allocation
of land irrespective of
race, gender, religion, ethnicity or political
affiliation;
c.. ensure security of tenure to all land holders.
d..
work together to secure international support and finance for the land
reform programme in terms of compensation for the former land owners and
support for new farmers.
This process will go a long way to healing our
agricultural sector which in
turn will be restored to its vital role in the
economy and future of our
great nation.
However, we cannot hope to
progress without looking at healing our nation as
whole. For too long,
Zimbabwe has been infected by the diseases of mindless
political violence,
intolerance and persecution. Millions of Zimbabweans in
every community have
been affected, which is a fact that is once again
recognised and addressed
by the GPA.
We all have a role to play in healing our nation. However, we
cannot hope to
undertake such a vital task if we do not first acknowledge
the causes and
impacts of this disease in an open, honest and transparent
manner.
National healing is not an event, it is a process that must be
supported by
all Zimbabweans and every community represented in our nation.
The treatment
that has been prescribed by the GPA rests on the foundations
of equality,
regional growth and development and an environment of tolerance
and respect
among Zimbabweans such that all citizens are treated with
dignity and
decency irrespective of age, gender, race, ethnicity, place of
origin or
political affiliation.
Due to the importance of this
process and to ensure that it is encouraged
and supported, the three main
political parties in Zimbabwe have each
appointed a Minister of State whose
sole responsibility is to oversee the
mechanisms and procedures through
which we can begin to heal our ravaged
nation.
This process is not
about retribution, instead it is about regeneration,
restoration and
rehabilitation and it must have both the grassroots and
leadership buy-in
and support.
Only through beginning the process of healing our nation can
we move towards
regaining our rightful place in the family of
nations.
While in recent years, it is a fact that the relationship
between Zimbabwe
and the international donor community has deteriorated, it
must also be
recognised that this community has not abandoned the population
of Zimbabwe,
remaining significantly involved in responding to the ongoing
humanitarian
crisis.
We also have to recognise that Trade relations,
particularly with the EU
have not been the subject of any restriction. We
have signed an interim
Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU at the end
of 2007, and we are
party to the ongoing negotiations leading towards a full
Trade Agreement.
What we need is to fully re-establish relationships with
the international
donor community, which will be respectful of our
sovereignty, not a
relationship essentially based on humanitarian
assistance.
We are grateful for the support that this new government has
received
already from the international community but we recognize that the
onus is
upon us, as citizens of this nation, to lay the foundation for
greater
international support, cooperation and integration.
By
working together to promote freedoms at home and ensuring that we abide
by
the international treaties and conventions that we have ratified as a
country, this would lead to our acceptance by the international community as
a country and as individuals in the family of nations.
I therefore
urge the international community to recognize our efforts, and
to note the
progress that we make in this regard, and to match our progress
by moving
towards the removal of restrictive measures.
Mr. Speaker Sir, addressing
the humanitarian crisis remains a focus of this
government. I am pleased to
announce that I have appointed Deputy Prime
Minister Khupe as the
Humanitarian Coordinator in the Prime Minister's
office. She will liaise
with all stake holders in order to compliment the
ongoing coordination
efforts and ensure greater efficiency and effectiveness
of our humanitarian
response.
Mr. Speaker Sir, we have much work to do but I know that we are
up to the
challenge of honouring the letter and spirit of the GPA and
ensuring that we
as individuals and as a Government abide by the rule of law
and the
Constitution of Zimbabwe.
In this we also have a duty to
ensure that all State institutions discharge
their duties impartially, that
laws and regulations governing state organs
and institutions are strictly
adhered to and those violating them be
penalised without fear or favour and
that recruitment policies and practices
be conducted in a manner that
ensures that no political or other form of
favouritism is
practised.
In this, and in ensuring that all persons are adequately
protected within
the laws of the country, we have an opportunity to
implement Security Reform
Legislation to enshrine our police as protectors
of the rights of the people
and our armed forces as the protectors of our
nation.
The first step of this process has already been taken with the
passing of
the National Security Council Bill which is now law.
Mr.
Speaker Sir, we also have an opportunity to distinguish ourselves as
leaders, not just through the policies we develop and legislation we pass,
but also through the ways in which we conduct ourselves as the elected
representatives of the people.
As a start, I request Mr. Speaker Sir,
that you ensure that the mechanism
for the declaration of assets by
Honourable Members is enforced.
Going forward, we need to buttress this
by additional measures at executive
level to strengthen the fight against
corruption through increased
accountability and transparency by all members
of our Government.
In addition to requiring Members to declare their
income, liabilities and
assets and it would serve as a valuable framework to
guide us in the
execution of our duties.
Mr. Speaker Sir, our new
government will be open and transparent. We must
ensure that there is clear
distinction between the role of the various
political parties and the role
of the government. Similarly, we must
acknowledge and enforce the defined
separation of powers between this
Parliament and the Executive.
Mr.
Speaker Sir, our government cannot fulfill its mandate without respect
and a
spirit of cooperation between Ministers and Parliament, both of which
must
work together to ensure the needs of the people are addressed.
Therefore I
urge all Ministers, in the spirit of openness and transparency,
to actively
participate in Parliamentary Question Time and to work with the
Parliamentary Portfolio Committees once they have been
constituted.
Also, in this spirit of openness, today we are launching the
Prime Minister's
website that will not only serve to keep the people
informed about the
activities of our government, but will also provide an
interactive forum for
the people to participate and contribute to the
affairs of government. The
address of this website is www.zimbabweprimeminister.org.
Mr.
Speaker Sir, we must now work together to formulate our legislative
agenda.
Those ministries which govern legislation that may be affected by
the GPA
and Constitutional Amendment No. 19 should work on reviewing these
laws for
presentation to cabinet. The first step in this process will be the
ministerial retreat to be held next week where such reviews can be discussed
in a spirit of cooperation and inclusiveness.
Mr. Speaker Sir, our
nation and our peoples have paid the price for the
political differences
that have divided us for too long. Now that we have
formed this Transitional
Inclusive Government, we all have the opportunity
to put the needs of the
people above our own, to put the development of our
nation above party
differences and to look the future rather than live in
the past.
Mr.
Speaker Sir, Honourable Members, together we can work for the betterment
of
Zimbabwe, the growth of our nation and the honour of our people.
God
Bless our beloved Zimbabwe and its people. God bless Africa.
I thank
you.
Via MDC Press Release
This entry was posted by
Sokwanele on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at 3:35 pm.
Bennett's
release imminent as Mutare magistrate agrees to free him
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
4
March 2008
A Mutare magistrate has agreed to accept Roy Bennett's bail
payment. By
around 7pm (Zimbabwe time) Bennett's lawyers and the MDC
leadership in
Manicaland were waiting outside Mutare remand prison for his
release.
There was confusion on Wednesday when it had been reported that
the MDC
official would remain in a Mutare prison after the Attorney
General's office
appealed to the country's highest court to deny him
bail.
State prosecutor Chris Mutangadura said the MDC official 'posed a
flight
risk' and therefore Bennett should remain behind bars until the
Supreme
Court ruled on the appeal.
However the defence team said the
AG's appeal was purely academic as it was
filed beyond the seven day limit
they had to appeal. Lawyer Trust Maanda
said the continued detention of his
client was "unlawful now, no matter how
many attempts they make for appeals
because they are already out of time."
Maanda said the presiding
magistrate had at first instructed the clerk of
court not to receive the
payment as the magistrate said it was premature to
post bail, since the
prosecutors had filed an application in the Supreme
Court.
But Maanda
said that if the magistrate tried to stop the clerk from dealing
with the
bail payment it would have amounted to interference with the High
Court
decision.
Roy Bennett was arrested on February 13th on his way to South
Africa where
he has been living in exile with his family. He was charged
with terrorism.
Meanwhile the MDC supporters arrested in Nyanga on Friday
were released
Tuesday evening. 150 people had originally been arrested after
they had gone
to reclaim their livestock, taken during the election period
last year. By
Tuesday the number had been reduced to 86 people in custody.
Maanda, who
also represented them, said they were released on free bail.
Zimbabwe Supreme Court to rule Thursday on Bennett bail
Africa News
Mar 4,
2009, 18:00 GMT
Harare - Zimbabwe's Supreme Court
said
late Wednesday that a judge will issue a ruling Thursday on the case of
whether senior opposition poltician Roy Bennett can be released on
bail.
The court said Judge Paddington Garwe would rule on whether to
allow the
state to appeal against a bail ruling for Bennett, Zimbabwes
deputy minister
designate and a member of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) party.
State counsel Chris Mutangadura said his side had been asked
'to make more
submissions' in the case.
Bennett who is being held in
Mutare about 300 kilometres east of Harare, is
facing charges of terrorism,
sabotage and banditry. He was arrested on
February 13 at a small airport
outside Harare as he was leaving the country
for South Africa.
He was
granted bail on 2,000 US dollars by a High Court judge last week, but
the
state challenged the order, requesting seven days to decide to appeal
against the ruling. The state contends that Bennett might try to flee the
country.
Bennett's lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said: 'He ought to be free
by now. This is
a political case and everybody needs to cover their
backs.'
Mtetwa said the judge had requested the state to make more
submissions which
they would have to respond to before he makes a ruling,
but the ruling was
expected before the end of the day Thursday.
Farmers
slam 'ludicrous' court decision to nullify SADC tribunal ruling
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex
Bell
04 March 2009
Justice for Agriculture (JAG) has slammed as
'ludicrous' the High Court's
decision to nullify the SADC Tribunal ruling
which said the country's white
farmers have clear legal title to their
land.
The Zimbabwe High Court ruling on Tuesday came after Chegutu farmer
Richard
Etheredge took the President of the Senate, Edna Madzongwe, to
court,
seeking to have her removed from his Stockdale Farm. She was
'allocated'
his farm by the government under the land reform programme. But
High Court
Judge Anne-Mary Gowora dismissed the order sought by Etheredge
with costs,
in a ruling that dealt with, among other issues, the
applicability of the
decisions of the SADC Tribunal to Zimbabwe. Justice
Gowora ruled that the
Tribunal's decisions and rulings do not apply and
cannot be enforced in
Zimbabwe, unless Parliament ratifies the protocol that
set up the tribunal.
JAG's John Worsley-Worswick on Wednesday called the
High Court's ruling "a
true reflection on the complete breakdown of
governance and adherence to the
rule of law that exists in Zimbabwe now." He
argued the ruling is clearly an
"attempt by the government to fast-track
land seizures," and explained the
UN Security Council should now get
involved.
"If SADC turns a blind eye to its laws being flouted, then this
will fast
become an international issue," Worsley-Worswick explained. "It
should then
be taken to the UN security council who need to make sure that
law returns
to Zimbabwe."
SADC meanwhile has remained completely
silent about the resurgence of land
invasions, and the Tribunal is yet to
comment on the nullification of its
ruling. Tribunal President Justice Luis
Mondlane, last year ruled that
Zimbabwe's white farmers had a clear legal
title to remain on their farms
and ordered the Zimbabwe government to "take
all measures to protect the
possessions and ownership" of the farmers' land.
Mondlane also ruled that
those who lost their farms during the land reform
programme should receive
fair compensation from the government.
"No
actions may be taken by insurgents and others to interfere with or
disturb
the peaceful activities of [the farmers]," Mondlane said in his
ruling.
This ruling in favour of the 78 farmers who filed the test
case came as a
victory for those still being threatened with land seizures,
as the ruling
was meant to protect them all against eviction and invasions
in the future.
However, the ruling itself has long since been ignored in
Zimbabwe with a
recent wave of fresh invasions that have already seen almost
80 farms being
seized and more than 100 farmers facing prosecution. At the
same time at
least 50 farms are confirmed to be under siege by lawless thugs
- with the
farm owners facing possible violent eviction.
The
offensive against the farmers started just days before Morgan Tsvangirai
was
sworn in as Prime Minister last month and pressure on farmers to vacate
their land has been increasing ever since. Many farmers have now been forced
into hiding as the campaign continues - a clear violation of the unity deal
between the MDC and ZANU PF, which calls for the return of the rule of law
and also says that farmers should be encouraged to produce
food.
Mugabe meanwhile has condoned the continued invasions, declaring
during an
address to supporters at his lavish birthday celebration on
Saturday that
the land seizures would continue. Reports suggest that Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai confronted Mugabe about the comments during a
meeting on Monday,
but so far no assurances have been made by the government
that the campaign
against the farmers will be dealt with. The Minister of
Lands and Rural
Resettlement, Dr Herbert Murerwa, has instead dismissed the
reports that
fresh farm invasions are in fact taking place. Dr Murerwa was
speaking to
Zimbabwe's Sunday Mail and said the ministry had not received
any reports of
farm invasions. He reportedly argued that if there were any
invasions in the
country, the ministry would "gather the necessary facts
before resolving the
issues."
Mugabe himself has also dismissed the
SADC Tribunal's influence and
protection of farmers, declaring during his
birthday speech that SADC had no
right to interfere with Zimbabwean land
issues.
Zimbabwe Accuses Governments of Demonizing Its Human Rights Record
http://www.voanews.com
By
Lisa Schlein
Geneva
04 March 2009
Zimbabwe's
justice minister has accused powerful countries of unfairly
singling out his
country for alleged serious and systematic violations of
human rights. In a
speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council, the minister
denounced governments
for demonizing Zimbabwe's record.
Zimbabwe's minister of justice and
legal affairs did not mince his words. In
a short, strident address, the
minister, Patrick Antony Chinamasa, attacked
what he called rampant
politicization by certain governments.
He accused so-called powerful
states of demonizing a selective group of
countries for alleged human rights
abuse even though their own records were
far from perfect.
"My
country has too often been the target of condemnation and shaming on
matters
of human rights at the hands of a few members of the United Nations
who have
sought to achieve other ends through the artifice of human rights.
We have
heard them this week and we have heard them over the past several
years. Our
response is that we are no worse than other States. We shall
endeavor to
improve," he said.
The U.N. Human Rights Office has condemned Zimbabwe
for the harassment,
intimidation and imprisonment of political opponents. It
has criticized the
government for illegally appropriating the farms of white
owners. It has
deplored the impoverishment of Zimbabwe's population and the
collapse of the
country's socio-economic structures, which have resulted in
a run-away
cholera epidemic.
Minister Chinamasa accused the U.N. High
Commissioner's Office of trying to
undermine his country's political and
judicial system.
He acknowledged Zimbabwe is not without blemishes on
human rights issues.
But, said his government was concerned by what he
called the selectivity,
partiality, bias and politicization shown by the
U.N. Office. He added his
country is not the only violator.
"And, yet
the Office decides to name and shame only some," he said. "Lack of
mention
of sanctions that have brought a lot of suffering on Zimbabwe's
people
baffles us. We are not saying be silent if you see us not promoting
and
respecting and protecting human rights. We are only saying we need to
hear
you loud and clear on all without favor and in respect of human rights
violations."
Following this plea, the minister of justice said his
government will
cooperate with the Human Rights Office and will honor a
request by the High
Commissioner to visit his country in the near
future.
He noted things are moving forward in Zimbabwe with the
government of
national unity in place. He said his government deserves the
support of all,
instead of the unrelenting attempts from some quarters to
undermine it.
Fate of Zimbabwe central bank governor key to aid
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL3122584
Wed
Mar 4, 2009 7:23am
EST
-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-<>-
*
Western donors seek removal of Gono to resume aid
* Gono will not go
without power struggle
* Face-saving formula may be
possible
-<>-<>-<>-<>-
By Michael
Georgy
JOHANNESBURG, March 4
(Reuters)
Western donors who
see the removal of Zimbabwe's central bank governor as a
key condition for
resuming aid can expect a messy power struggle that could
further delay
moves to rescue the ruined country.
The new unity administration will
depend heavily on foreign cash to rebuild
an economy that critics says
President Robert Mugabe and his central bank
governor, Gideon Gono, have
brought to its knees through reckless policies.
Western countries are
looking for signs that Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, Mugabe's old foe,
has managed to put control of the economy
under new Finance Minister Tendai
Biti, also from the opposition, before
letting funds flow.
"A prior
condition is of course Tendai Biti getting rid of Gideon Gono and
creating
economic space for this to happen," said one senior Western
diplomat. "As
and when it does happen we will help."
Gono's term has spanned the
collapse of once-prosperous Zimbabwe, now short
of basic goods and with an
inflation rate of 231 million percent - according
to the last published
figures but believed to be far higher.
Tsvangirai has said it would cost
as much as $ 5 billion to repair the
economy.
Mugabe's very close
ally is unlikely to go without a fight, however,
especially as the president
manoeuvres to gain an upper hand for his ZANU-PF
party in the new
government. Mugabe re-appointed Gono last November for
another five-year
term.
"I think pushing Gono out will be difficult, as the move would
significantly
undermine a pillar of ZANU-PF's staying power," said Mark
Schroeder,
southern Africa analyst at global intelligence company
Stratfor.
"Control over the reserve bank provides the Mugabe regime
access to their
own revenue streams and crucial foreign
exchange."
Western donors want the creation of a democratic government
and bold
economic reforms such as reversing nationalisation policies before
making
any serious financial commitments.
Other demands include
guarantees of human rights, the release of political
prisoners and a free
press.
SENSITIVE
Dealing with Gono's fate may be far more
sensitive because ZANU-PF
hardliners and army generals have a big interest
in keeping him, analysts
say.
Control over the man with the purse
strings is crucial to their survival,
especially if Mugabe decides to
moderate his position to get the new
coalition moving - something that could
itself take a long time to happen
judging by the political war of attrition
before the power-sharing deal last
September.
"If money is going to
be going in suitcases direct from the reserve bank to
various Mugabe
loyalists, bypassing the Ministry of Finance, then the deal
does not have
any substance. Gono is absolutely critical," said Ross
Herbert, senior
Africa researcher at the South African Institute of
International
Affairs.
Knox Chitiyo, head of the Africa programme at the Royal United
Services
Institute in London, said investors may be able to live with Gono
for now,
under the right circumstances.
"I don't think it's cut and
dried that Gono has to go before investors come
over. I think people would
like him to go," he said.
"But if there is evidence that there is a
working relationship and that it's
the finance minister who is in charge of
Zimbabwe's finances, even the
Western countries, from what we hear on the
ground, would be willing to
engage."
BIBLE
But personal
animosity could worsen the struggle between Finance Minister
Biti and Gono,
who often quotes the Bible in his policy speeches. Biti and
other critics
have called Gono an "economic terrorist".
Tensions within the coalition
government have already arisen over the arrest
of a senior official in
Tsvangirai's MDC, seen by many analysts as an early
attempt by Mugabe to see
how far he can push Tsvangirai.
Mugabe shows no sign of being ready to
relax a hold on power he has held
since independence from Britain in
1980.
"Mugabe is going to try to hold onto his man (Gono) as much as he
can
because I don't think he wants to create an impression that the men and
women who have been with him through thick and thin are expendable," said
John Makumbe, a Harare political commentator and outspoken Mugabe
critic.
Some analysts said that the answer could be a face-saving formula
that keeps
Gono in place but with limited powers. But that would depend very
much on
the relationship between Tsvangirai and Mugabe.
"He said to
me once you know Mugabe is like his father. He is intractable.
He is old. He
is grumpy. Everything has to be done a certain way," said
Tsvangirai
biographer Sarah Hudleston. "I think they may be beginning to
understand
each other more....I think he would rather try to get Mugabe on
his side.
Because Mugabe on his side is much better than having him on the
other side
of the fence."
Zimbabwe Inclusive Government Watch : Issue 3
Sokwanele - Enough is
Enough - Zimbabwe
PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY
Zimbabwe Inclusive Government Watch : Issue
3
Sokwanele : 4 March 2009
On 11 February at a ceremony at State House in Harare, presided over by
President Robert Mugabe, the Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, and the two
Deputy Prime Ministers, Thokozani Khupe and Arthur Mutambara, were sworn in.
Addressing the small audience of invited guests, President Mugabe said: “I
offer my hand of friendship and co-operation, warm co-operation and solidarity
in the service of our great country Zimbabwe. If yesterday we were adversaries
... today we stand in unity. It's a victory for Zimbabwe.”
Despite these conciliatory words, President Mugabe chose the excommunicated
former Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kungona, to give the opening reading and to
lead the prayers during the swearing in of Prime Minister Tsvangirai.
Objections from the MDC to Kunonga’s invitation are reported to have been
ignored. The disgraced bishop still faces charges, including incitement to
murder.
Timed to coincide with the ceremony, the old government’s propaganda machine
kept rolling, with state radio reminding listeners that the collapse of the
economy and world record hyper-inflation was the fault of Britain.
The final curtain had fallen on President Mugabe’s 29-year monopoly on power,
but it was an uneasy start.
Later at a rally, Prime Minister Tsvangirai received a hero’s welcome from
the jubilant crowd. Contrary to the spirit of the unity agreement, the MDC came
in for criticism prior to the event when they said that no party regalia would
be allowed at Tsvangirai’s inauguration.
The following day President Mugabe prepared to re-appoint the same cabinet he
recently described as the worst he had ever seen. “They look at themselves. They
are unreliable,” he said.
According to the Global Political Agreement (GPA), the Cabinet was to
comprise a total of 31 ministers: 15 from Zanu-PF, 16 from the MDC-T and 3 from
the MDC-M. However, on 19 February, under pressure from Mugabe, five additional
Ministers of State not covered by the GPA were sworn in. In total, an extra 30
ministers were added to the 31 agreed by Zanu-PF and the MDC.
Despite these concessions from the MDC, Mugabe refused to fire Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana, both of whom were
improperly appointed in violation of the power-sharing agreement. Under the
agreement, all appointments of senior officials by Mugabe have to be made in
consultation with the prime minister. Gono is blamed for ruining Zimbabwe’s
economy through his policies at the central bank. Tomana, an avowed Zanu-PF
supporter, is accused of blocking the release of opposition activists.
A week before the inauguration, Zimbabweans were appalled to learn that the
new government – which had committed itself to giving priority to the
restoration of economic stability - was spending US$2 million on imported
vehicles for the country’s legislators.
The NGO Veritas noted in Bill Watch Issue 7 of 28 February that there were
procedural problems with Constitution Amendment No.19 as the gazetted Act does
not contain all the Schedules that were in the Bill. Veritas pointed out that it
needed to be considered “whether or not the gazetted Constitution of Zimbabwe
(No. 19) Act truly reflects the Bill that was passed by Parliament. The gazetted
Act does not contain all the Schedules that were in the Bill.”
The introduction of the office of the Prime Minister, as envisaged by the
Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 19) agreed draft, has the net effect of
diluting and mitigating the hitherto imperial powers of the President.
Throughout the transition, the issue of the detainees, their torture, the
denial of medical treatment and the appalling conditions under which they have
been held has continued to dominate the political landscape. Three of the most
seriously ill were Civic leader Jestina Mukoko, Tsvangirai's former aide Ghandi
Mudzingwa, and 72-year old MDC activist Fidelis Chiramba.
Roy Bennett, Deputy Minister of Agriculture-designate, who was detained two
days after the inauguration, was finally granted bail by a High Court Judge on
24 February. This was blocked by the Attorney General’s office which invoked an
act allowing them seven days to appeal the ruling.
While in jail, Bennett has sought to publicise the inhumane conditions under
which prisoners are held. A statement released by the MDC reported that
prisoners were literally starving to death. Bennett and inmates spent an entire
day with a corpse in their cell.
As the spectre of a Truth and Justice Commission looms, Police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri has ordered the police to drop all cases
relating to murders committed during the run-up to last year’s June 27
Presidential election.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has as yet made no funding
commitments to Zimbabwe, despite the country’s request for a US$2-billion
economic rescue package. SADC’s reticence is predictable given that a
R300-million donation from South Africa for agricultural aid to Zimbabwe has
been misused by senior people in Zanu-PF.
The agricultural sector remains in crisis, with Mugabe’s leading henchmen
mounting a final offensive to drive the remaining white commercial farmers off
the land - a direct challenge to the new unity government. These actions are
also in direct contravention and contempt of the SADC Tribunal ruling that
Zimbabwe’s government violated the SADC Treaty by trying to seize white-owned
farms.
Although the GPA insists that the public media provides balanced and fair
coverage to all political parties, the MDC is still being denied coverage by
Zimbabwe Broadcast Holdings. The state-owned Herald and Chronicle newspapers
refused to carry an advertisement submitted by Zimbabwe Democracy Now.
An MDC rally due to take place on the eve of a regional summit on Zimbabwe’s
political crisis was banned by the police.
While the country remains mired in political problems, Physicians for Human
Rights warns that malnutrition is set to be a major health issue over the next
several months.
A detailed breakdown of all these breaches on
the Global Political Agreement, by clauses per article, is available at www.sokwanele.com/zigwatch. This
includes other breaches not included in this email. If you do not have access to
the internet and want to view the sub-clauses within each article breached,
please send a blank email to documents@sokwanele.com. This will trigger
an auto-respond email containing the full-text of the Global Political
Agreement.
What follows is a selection of media articles highlighting breaches of the
Global Political Agreement (the articles breached are listed below each media
extract).
Tsvangirai
finally in power - on paper at least
Guardian,
The (UK): 12/02/2009
As
Tsvangirai waited to be called forward to accept the oath of office, state radio
reminded its listeners that the eradication of the country's economy was the
fault of Britain and Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Mugabe was called comrade.
Tsvangirai was just plain minister.
- ARTICLE II: DECLARATION OF COMMITMENT
- ARTICLE VII : PROMOTION OF EQUALITY, NATIONAL HEALING, COHESION AND
UNITY
- ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS
- ARTICLE XVIII : SECURITY OF PERSONS AND PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE
- ARTICLE XIX : FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION
No Party
Regalia at Inauguration
MDC
(MT) Press Relea se: 09/02/2009
An
MDC press release circulated two days before Morgan Tsvangirai's inauguration
read: "No party regalia will be entertained at the event as this is not a party
occasion but a major national event."
- ARTICLE X : FREE POLITICAL ACTIVITY
- ARTICLE XII : FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATION
Mugabe keeps
'worst cabinet'
Zimbabwe
Independent, The (ZW): 12/02/2009
President
Mugabe last night prepared to re-appoint the same cabinet he recently described
as the worst he has ever had. "They look at themselves. They are unreliable."
The line-up includes ministers who have proved manifest failures in office.
- ARTICLE III : RESTORATION OF ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH
Scathing
attack on Zim's bloated govt
Mail
and Guardian Online, The (RSA): 24/02/2009
Zimbabwe
opposition groups have launched a scathing attack following a decision by their
leaders to add more ministers to the country's "global political agreement". An
extra 30 ministers have now been added to the 31 agreed by Zanu-PF and the
MDC.
- ARTICLE XI : RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER
LAWS
- ARTICLE XX : FRAMEWORK FOR A NEW GOVERNMENT
Mugabe
defends appointment of central bank chief, attorney general
African
Press Association: 26/02/2009
President
Mugabe on Thursday refused to fire the country's attorney general and central
bank governor, setting the stage for a potential showdown. The MDC has insisted
that Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes
Tomana were improperly appoi nted. Under the agreement, all appointments of
senior officials by Mugabe have to be done in consultation with the prime
minister.
- ARTICLE II: DECLARATION OF COMMITMENT
- ARTICLE III : RESTORATION OF ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH
Zimbabwe
splashes US$ 2m on MPs' cars
NewZimbabwe.com
(ZW): 03/02/2009
Cash-strapped
Zimbabwe will splash US$ 2 million on imported vehicles for the country’s
legislators. New MPs and senators in the country’s two bulging legislative
assemblies are all in line to access funds to buy cars for use during their
constituency business.
- ARTICLE III : RESTORATION OF ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH
Procedural
problems with Constitution Amendment No. 19
Veritas:
01/03/2009
(It
needs to be considered) whether or not the gazetted Constitution of Zimbabwe
Amendment (No. 19) Act truly reflects the Bill that was passed by Parliament.
The gazetted Act does not contain all the Schedules that were in the Bill. There
is also a question over whether another constitutional amendment is needed. The
President has appointed and sworn in more Ministers and Deputy Ministers than
are permitted by the Constitution as amended by Amendment No. 19. If this
outsize executive is to be retained, to give it proper legal authority,
incorporating the new numbers either into a re-enactment of Amendment 19 or
another constitutional amendment [No. 20] would be necessary.
- ARTICLE XI : RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER
LAWS
- ARTICLE XXIV : INTERIM CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Court Orders
Urgent Medical Treatment for Jailed Activists
Zimbabwe
Standard, The (ZW): 21/02/2009
A
magistrate ordered prison authorities to arrange immediate medical treatment for
four detainees accused of committing acts of terrorism, banditry and sabotage.
Their defence team is contesting a report by the police claiming that no
violations of rights or torture of the det ainees were committed.
- ARTICLE VII : PROMOTION OF EQUALITY, NATIONAL HEALING, COHESION AND
UNITY
- ARTICLE XI : RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER
LAWS
- ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS
- ARTICLE XVIII : SECURITY OF PERSONS AND PREVENTION OF
VIOLENCE
Bennett
granted bail, but remains in jail after State opposed
SW
Radio Africa (ZW): 24/02/2009
A
High Court Judge granted jailed MDC politician Roy Bennett bail, but he will
remain in police custody after the State opposed bail. The Attorney General's
office invoked a section of the Criminal, Procedure and Evidence Act, which
allows them seven days to appeal the ruling.
- ARTICLE XI : RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER
LAWS
- ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS
Chihuri wants
murder charges dropped against perpetrators of violence
SW
Radio Africa (ZW): 16/02/2009
Police
Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri has ordered the police to drop all cases
relating to murders committed during the run-up to last year's June 27
presidential election. The beneficiaries, if granted, will be Zanu-PF supporters
who unleashed a reign of terror in the c ountry during the election period last
year.
- ARTICLE XI : RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER
LAWS
- ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS
- ARTICLE XVIII : SECURITY OF PERSONS AND PREVENTION OF
VIOLENCE
Zanu PF
hijacks SA aid package to Zimbabwe farmers
Sunday
Independent (RSA): 08/02/2009
South African
taxpayers' gift of R300 million in agricultural aid to Zimbabwe, which was
supposed to be handed over only after an international ly recognised government
of national unity was formed, is being misused for the benefit of President
Robert Mugabe's cronies in Zanu PF.
- ARTICLE III : RESTORATION OF ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH
- ARTICLE V: LAND QUESTION
- ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS
- ARTICLE XIV : TRADITIONAL LEADERS
- ARTICLE XVI : HUMANITARIAN AND FOOD ASSISTANCE
Mugabe's
cohorts begin the final land grab in Zimbabwe
Times,
The (UK): 26/02/2009
President
Mugabe's leading henchmen have mounted a final offensive to drive Zimbabwe's
remaining white farmers off their land in a direct challenge to the authority of
the new unity government.
- ARTICLE III : RESTORATION OF ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH
- ARTICLE V: LAND QUESTION
- ARTICLE VII : PROMOTION OF EQUALITY, NATIONAL HEALING, COHESION AND
UNITY
- ARTICLE XI : RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER
LAWS
- ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS
- ARTICLE XVIII : SECURITY OF PERSONS AND PREVENTION OF
VIOLENCE
MDC S till
Denied Media Coverage
Radio
Voice of the People: 25/02/2009
The
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) continues to shun covering MDC activities
despite a directive given by the newly appointed Minister of Information Media
and Publicity.
- ARTICLE XIX : FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION
Herald Editor
Refuses Valentines Day ad
Zimbabwe
Democracy Now: 18/02/09
The
Herald editor refused, on behalf of the state-owned Herald and Chronicle
newspapers, to carry a Zimbabwe Democracy Now advertisement, based around
Valentine’s Day.
- ARTICLE XIX : FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION
We have a
fundamental right to freedom of expression!
Learning resumes at Zimbabwean schools
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=4324
by
Patricia Mpofu Wednesday 04 March 2009
HARARE
Learning resumed this week at schools
across Zimbabwe as teachers heeded
calls by the new unity government to
return to work after several months
striking for more pay and better working
conditions.
Education Minister David Coltart, who met teachers' unions
immediately after
he was appointed to his new job last month to persuade
them to call off the
strike and give the government time to raise funds to
pay their members,
said only a few schools in remote rural areas were yet to
resume teaching,
blaming this on poor communication.
"There are some
few schools in rural areas that are still to open due to
communication
problems with head office but this is being addressed,"
Coltart said. "It's
a slow process but our officers on the ground are
attending to
it."
Coltart, who openly told union leaders when he met them that the
government
was broke and that he would need time to approach international
agencies for
help to pay teachers, praised the unions for agreeing to call
off the
strike.
He said he would be meeting union leaders on Thursday
to review the
situation.
The Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA)
and the Progressive Teachers Union
of Zimbabwe (PUTZ), the two unions for
teachers in the country, said their
members had agreed to give the new
administration the benefit of doubt by
returning to work while the
government looked for resources to improve
salaries and service
conditions.
"Teachers are back countrywide although we still have
teachers that are
battling to cash their vouchers so that they can raise the
money to go back
to their work stations," said Sifiso Ndlovu, the chief
executive officer of
ZIMTA.
PTUZ secretary general Raymond Majongwe
described the situation at schools
as "back to normal" but said the union
was unhappy that returning teachers
were being asked to resubmit CVs, birth
certificates and other documents as
if they were reapplying for their old
jobs.
"Although the situation has returned to normal with the bulk of
teachers
returning to work, we are disturbed by new demands that teachers
should
submit CVs, birth certificates and testimonial letters," said
Majongwe.
The PTUZ official said the union would raise the matter with
Coltart when
they meet this week.
Very little learning took place at
public schools in 2008 as teachers spent
the better part of the year
striking for more pay or sitting at home because
they could not afford bus
fare to work on their meagre salaries.
The government had to postpone the
beginning of the first term of this year
by two weeks because public
examinations written last year had not been
marked after teachers boycotted
the exercise.
The first term that should have begun on January 13 was
rescheduled to start
on January 27 but schools remained closed as teachers
refused to report for
duty.
A unity government between President
Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders
Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara
has pledged to get teachers, doctors,
nurses and all civil servants back at
work as part of a drive to get
Zimbabwe functioning again and on the road to
recovery.
Last week the government paid every civil servant US$ 100
living allowance,
keeping a promise to reward public workers in hard
cash.
However analysts say the Harare administration's ability to get
Zimbabwe
functioning again hinges on its ability to raise financial support
from rich
Western countries that have however said they will not immediately
help
until they are convinced Mugabe is committed to genuinely share power
with
Tsvangirai.
ZimOnline
Three
student leaders arrested at Bindura University demo
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
04 March
2009
Three student leaders were arrested by police, following an
impromptu
demonstration by students at the Bindura University of Science
Education on
Wednesday. According to Blessing Vava, the spokesman for the
Zimbabwe
National Students Union, students arrived on campus in the morning
to find
gates at the institution locked. Security guards were only allowing
in the
students who had paid their campus fees. Within minutes students had
mobilized themselves inside and outside the campus to demonstrate against
the move and also denounce the fee reductions announced by the Ministry of
Higher Education as inadequate.
Vava told Newsreel that despite the
fee reductions the new figures were
considerably higher than the money
earned by their parents. Students clashed
with campus security guards as
they made their feelings known. The
university Vice-Chancellor Professor
Katsvanga appeared to have left his
office to address the students, but as
it turned out he merely accompanied
police to pinpoint the alleged ring
leaders of the demonstration. As a
result student leaders Respect Ndanga,
Innocent Kapoya and Kelvin Veremu
were arrested and taken to Bindura's
central police station.
Under new fee structures students at polytechnics
will pay each term:
US$100 - was US$200 for a national certificate.
US$150
- was US$500 for a national diploma.
US$200 - was US$600 for a higher
national diploma.
US$350 - was US$1200 for a Bachelor of Technology
degree
US$150 - was US$500 for a teacher training diploma
US$300 - was
US$800 for arts humanities and social science
US$350 - was US$1200 for hard
sciences and engineering
US$400 - was US$1600 for medicine and veterinary
science
Vava said they have since requested a meeting with government
officials to
discuss the new fees announced Wednesday.
Zimbabwe Education in Desperate Circumstances
http://www.voanews.com
By Delia
Robertson
Johannesburg
04 March 2009
Like
everything else in Zimbabwe, education has felt the impact of the
crisis of
government under President Robert Mugabe and of an economy
contracting at a
record rate. The advent of the unity government has
revealed the scale of
devastation in a sector that is key to the country.
When newly appointed
Minister of Education David Coltart reported for duty
three weeks ago, he
was greeted by an astonishing scene.
"I arrived at the headquarters of
the Ministry of Education, which is an
18-story building in Harare," said
Coltart."The ministry takes up the entire
building, and on the ground floor,
I was met with the sight of Ministry of
Education ladies with buckets of
water on their heads, preparing to take the
lift up, to as high as the 18th
floor, because the building has been without
water for well over six
months."
It cost $800 to repair the pump that now brings water to toilets
and water
faucets in the building.
For Coltart, one of 16 ministers
from the combined Movement for Democratic
Change [MDC] serving in the new
government, the un-repaired water pump has
become emblematic of the skewed
priorities of Mr. Mugabe's government, and
of the degradation of the
education system in the past decade.
"So, it is a profoundly shocking
environment and a tragedy really, because,
if you think of what ironically
Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF did to boost
education in the 1980s, in the 1990s,
and we really have regressed to a
situation, which sees our education system
probably in a worse condition
since before independence," Coltart
said.
After taking power in 1980, Mr. Mugabe put education at the top of
his
government's list of priorities, spending 25% of the national budget on
education during that decade. Money was spent to build schools and train
teachers who were well paid.
Zimbabwe's literacy rate was soon the
highest in sub-Saharan Africa at 96%,
and its education system was held out
as an example to the rest of the
continent.
But from the early 1990s,
the government spent less and less on education,
so that by 2006 expenditure
on education was only 13% of the national
budget. By that time
hyper-inflation had begun to bite, and diplomatic
sources say that, in 2008,
the value of government spending per child was
equivalent to just
18-cents.
Coltart says the cumulative effects of all this have left
schools in a
deplorable state.
"I am told that virtually all the
rural schools are closed, and most of the
urban schools are closed, and even
if they were open and we had teachers
trying to teach, the vast majority of
schools do not have desks, they do not
have text books, chalk, exercise
books. The buildings are in a state of
almost complete disrepair," he
said.
The impact on teachers has also been severe. Their once competitive
salaries
are now virtually worthless, eroded by stagnation and inflation
officially
pegged at around 231-million percent. In early 2008, teachers
went on
strike, but many teachers were simply unable to afford to go to work
because
their monthly pay was less than the bus fare for the same
period.
Last month, newly appointed Finance Minister Tendai Biti agreed
to pay
public servants, including teachers, a monthly allowance of $100 in
foreign
currency. And Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Coltart each met
with
teachers' unions to try and persuade them to end the strike and bring
their
members back into the classrooms.
They agreed to do so, but
Ofwald Madziva of the Progressive Teachers Union
tells VOA they expect the
government to address their salary demands soon.
"And, as a union, we
have given the government up to around end of April to
really move in a more
practical fashion and see to it that there is a
resolution to the salary
dispute between teachers and government. And, if
they don't respond
favorably by the 30th of April, we certainly are going
back to the combative
mode and go for another strike action," Madziva said.
The problem for
Coltart is how to fund teachers' demands, and to do that he
needs to know
how many teachers he has. But he found department records in a
chaotic
state.
"One of the things that shocked me was that we don't have a
computerized
database, so our records are antiquated to put it mildly," said
Coltart.
In the past year, many teachers left Zimbabwe - mostly for jobs
in South
Africa and Botswana. Coltart says has set up a team to find out how
many
teachers Zimbabwe now has, but believes the number to be less than
50-percent of a full complement of 140,000.
"I suspect that we have
probably got about 60-thousand teachers on our
books - you know lawfully and
officially," he said.
The unions have agreed to cooperate with Coltart to
produce an audit of
teachers; and Coltart has already appealed to western
donor countries for
more than $400-million in assistance to stabilize
education in Zimbabwe over
the next six months.
"But that gives you
some idea of the extent of the crisis; almost half a
billion dollars is
required just to stabilize the education system at this
juncture," Coltart
said.
Coltart adds that to get education back to its former glory in
Zimbabwe will
take one billion dollars a year, money he says will be hard to
find.
Diplomatic sources confirm that existing policies toward providing
funding
to Zimbabwe have not changed. Countries like the United States will
continue
to fund humanitarian programs, but will not bail out the unity
government,
nor offer development assistance until all abductees are
released, progress
is made toward restoring the rule of law, and a
comprehensive macro-economic
policy framework is worked out.
Zimbabwe
has also appealed to the Southern Africa Development Community for
$2
billion in emergency assistance funding. SADC plans a summit this month
to
discuss Zimbabwe's needs, and may adopt a plan to fund at least part of
that.
But Coltart acknowledges handouts are not a long-term solution
and that,
before too long, Zimbabwe will have to take significant steps to
get its
economy up and running again. He notes that if the mining and
agricultural
sectors could be re-invigorated, it would go a long way toward
achieving
that goal.
Senior police officer 'disappears' with Bennett's passpor
t
http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com/story.php?art_id=5353&cat=1
Roy
Bennett.
By a Correspondent
LAWYERS representing incarcerated top
MDC official, Roy Bennett, in Mutare
have accused the police of frustrating
efforts to have the junior minister
designate released on bail.
The
lawyers say a senior police officer, Superintendent James Sipo Makone,
the
investigating officer, has apparently disappeared with Bennett's
passport.
Trust Maanda said this was a deliberate attempt to
frustrate Bennett's
ability to comply with bail conditions imposed by the
High Court last week.
Justice Tedious Karwi last week granted Bennett
bail but the Attorney
General's office immediately launched an appeal
against the ruling.
Bennett is still languishing in remand prison because
the AG's office has
seven days in which to note their appeal. The seven day
period elapses today
(Tuesday).
He will appear on Thursday at the
magistrate courts' for further remand.
But his lawyers say should the
AG's office lose their appeal Bennett may not
get his freedom because he
will fail to comply with bail conditions.
The High Court ordered Bennett
to surrender his passport, deposit US$ 2000,
report twice to the police and
not to interfere with witnesses.
"We are afraid the (police) are finding
ways to delay Bennett's release
unnecessarily," Maanda told journalists in
this eastern border city, 265km
east of the capital, Harare.
"They
want to frustrate his ability to comply with bail conditions."
Maanda
said should the AG's office fail to succeed in their appeal Bennett
will
remain incarcerated because his passport is not
available.
"Superintendent Makone took Bennett's passport and has
disappeared with it,"
Maanda said. "But we have launched a man-hunt for the
police officer.
He was transferred to Bindura but he is not
there."
He said efforts to locate Superintendent Makone have been
unsuccessful.
There was no immediate comment from the
police.
Bennett, appointed Deputy Minister of Agriculture, faces charges
of
terrorism, sabotage, banditry or insurgency. He denies the charges saying
they are politically motivated.
He was due to be sworn in as a junior
minister in an inclusive government
but failed because he was in
custody.
Zimbabwe asks for $2B amid more political problems
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Wednesday, 04 March
2009
HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe in a published
interview
rejected demands that he should dismiss two discredited officials,
while the
Zimbabwean government on Thursday asked its neighbors for a $2
billion loan
package to aid its collapsed economy.
In
the interview with the state Herald newspaper to mark his 85th
birthday,
Mugabe refused to cede to demands by the Movement for Democratic
Change to
dismiss central bank governor Gideon Gono and attorney general
Johannes
Tomana.
"I don't see any reason why those people should go and they
will not
go," Mugabe said in the interview. Gono is widely blamed
forZimbabwe's
economic meltdown and hyperinflation of 231 million percent,
and Tomana
stands accused of blocking the release of political
prisoners.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's request for a $2 billion loan to
salvage its
collapsed economy and infrastructure was expected to dominate a
two-day
conference of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community
(SADC) in
Cape Town, South Africa.
South African Finance Minister
Trevor Manuel told South African
radiothat Zimbabwe wanted about $1 billion
to kickstart retail and other
sectors, and the rest to help reopen schools
and restore health and
municipal services.
An estimated two-thirds
of Zimbabweans are in need of food aid and a
cholera epidemic has sickened
more than 80,000 people and killed more than
3,800 since August.
But South Africa has only limited resources to help its troubled
neighbor,
as it is heading into recession. Other southern African countries
are also
reeling from the global economic downturn, and there is skepticism
about how
Zimbabwe would use the money.
The head of the African Development Bank,
Donald Kaberuka, said
Zimbabwe also must settle its existing debt before it
could expect huge
foreign aid.
"It is important not to jump off the
bridge before there is enough
water under it," he told reporters in Cape
Town. He said Harare owed the
African Development Bank nearly $460 million.
"That has to be fixed before
we do anything else," he said.
He said
Zimbabwe's debt to the international community was about $5
billion and by
next year would be closer to $6 billion.
"What is owed to the
international financial institutions must be
settled in advance, before we
move in. That can be done fairly quickly. It
is complex, but its not
undoable," Kaberuka said.
Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Biti, a
leader of the former
opposition, headed the country's large delegation
seeking to convince other
SADC countries of Zimbabwe's commitment to
economic reform.
But there are doubts about how much control Biti and
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai will have over the nation's finances given
the power of
central bank chief Gono, who was reappointed last year by
Mugabe for a
second five-year term in office.
Uncertainty has been
heightened by an upsurge in reported "invasions"
of white-owned farms. Mike
Campbell, one of 78 white farmers who petitioned
a regional court to
overturn farm eviction laws, left his farm for security
reasons Wednesday
after they were threatened by a group led by a nephew of a
longtime Mugabe
loyalist.
The militants gave Campbell 10 minutes to pack and leave his
house,
said his son-in-law Ben Freeth.
"They said they did not care
about the law or the police," Freeth
said.
Justice for Agriculture,
a farmers' support group, has reported at
least 40 of the nation's few
remaining white farmers have been forced off
their land since
January.
Tsvangirai on Wednesday cited the campaign against farms as
evidence
of continuing lawlessness. He faces increasing pressure from his
supporters,
who say it was a mistake to agree to govern alongside
Mugabe.
The Movement for Democratic Change said its executive committee
would
meet Friday to discuss concerns including Mugabe's unilateral
appointment of
his cronies for senior civil service jobs, the "irregular
appointments" of
the attorney-general and the Reserve Bank chief, and the
continued detention
of its senior party official Roy Bennett and human
rights activists on
"trumped-up charges."
Women of Zimbabwe Unite
said five of its supporters remained in police
custody for a second day.
Riot police singing "we want war" arrested the
four women and one man
Wednesday as they staged a peaceful demonstration
outside the Education
Ministry to press for the reopening of schools.
Women of Zimbabwe Unite
leaders Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu
appeared in a magistrates'
courtin the city of Bulawayo on charges of
breaching the peace. The case was
adjourned until March 5 despite appeals
for it to be dropped.
Associated Press
Daily cholera update and alerts, 03 Mar 2009
* Please note that
daily information collection is a challenge due to communication and staff
constraints. On-going data cleaning may result in an increase or decrease in the
numbers. Any change will then be explained.
** Daily information on new deaths should not imply that these deaths
occurred in cases reported that day. Therefore daily CFRs >100% may
occasionally result
A. Highlights of the day:
- 394 cases and 6 deaths added today (in comparison 1569 cases and 12 deaths
yesterday)
- 69.5 % of the districts affected have reported today (41 out of 59 affected
districts)
- 90.3 % of districts reported to be affected (56 districts/62)
- Cumulative Institutional Case Fatality Rate 1.8.%
- Daily Institutional Case Fatality Rate 0.6 %
- Denotifications: Mutasa 2 cases, Chipinge 2 deaths
- Reclassification of deaths in Makonde( 1 death moved from community to
institutional)
86
MDC Activists Freed
http://www.radiovop.com
NYANGA, March 4 2009 - A Nyanga magistrate on
Tuesday granted free
bail to 86 Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
supporters who were arrested
and detained for allegedly repossessing some of
their belongings which were
forcibly seized by some ZANU PF
supporters.
They were remanded to May
14.
During the run up and the period after the March 2008
parliamentary
and presidential elections and the sham June presidential
elections some
ZANU PF supporters went on a violent campaign confiscating
and seizing some
MDC supporters belongings ranging from livestock to food
stuffs and torching
their homes.
The ZANU PF members
accused the MDC supporters of selling out by
backing the MDC party led by
former trade union leader and now Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. The ZANU
PF members also accused the MDC
sympathizers of working with Zimbabwe's
erstwhile colonizer Britain to
unseat President Robert Mugabe's
administration from power.
But following the swearing in of
Tsvangirai as the country's Prime
Minister early last month under a power
sharing agreement signed last
September the MDC supporters went on a
restitution exercise and repossessing
their belongings including livestock
from some known ZANU PF members.
But the police punished them,
arresting them for committing extortion.
Cases of restitution
are on the increase in Zimbabwe as the MDC
supporters who were deprived of
their possessions embark on an exercise to
reclaim their property. In Mutoko
police recently arrested 82 people on
charges of robbery and stock theft
after they went on an exercise to recover
their belongings. In Mbare the
police also arrested several MDC members for
similar offences.
Angry
Workers Set Sugarcane Ablaze
http://www.radiovop.com
CHIREDZI, March 4 2009 - Hundreds of
disgruntled workers who did not
receive their salaries since December last
year at two giant sugar milling
companies in the country, Triangle and Hippo
Valley Estate set over 10
hectares of sugarcane ablaze on Monday, the second
time in two months.
In January, plantation workers set
ablaze more than 11 hectares
demanding to be given groceries as part of
salaries.
The workers, mainly cane cutters have been on strike
for more than a
month now and have been demanding salaries in foreign
currency. Workers are
demanding that the least paid worker must get USd 103
per month. On top of
salaries, workers demand to be given mealie-meal,
sugar, salt and cooking
oil every month.
The President of
the Zimbabwe Sugar Milling Workers' Union (ZIMIWU),
Edmore Hwarare said:
"We were almost finalizing on how we are going to pay
our
members.
It is now worrying that ZCTU (Zimbabwe Congress Of
Trade Unions) is
inciting these workers to burn sugarcane. The situation is
very bad."
However the workers denied they were incited by
ZCTU.
"We can not wait for ZCTU or any other organization to
come and incite
us. We are not happy because we need money to survive. Since
December, we
have never received any meaningful salaries," said one of the
workers who
refused to be named.
Sources said management at
Hippo Valley had a marathon of meetings on
Tuesday to address the plight of
workers.
Woman of Terror - (Jestina Mukoko - Portrait of an alleged 'Terrorist')
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=19242&Itemid=109
Tuesday,
03 March 2009
Jestina Mukoko: Portrait of a 'Terrorist'
by
Rashweat Mukundu
Portrait of a terrorist became one of the most
controversial documentary
characterisation of President Robert Mugabe by the
BBC at the advent of
Zimbabwe's independence. Mugabe was, then, in his
heydays as a liberation
hero.
The characterisation, to many, was
supposedly misplaced as it sought to
fulfil a long held view of Mugabe by
his detractors. In other words, the
framing of his persona only went as far
as fulfilling preconceived views of
Mugabe as a blood thirst if not crazed
Marxist. The realities of the
immediate post independent 1980 however showed
a wholly different Mugabe.
One who strode the western capitals, riding
the Queen's horse drawn
carriage, and winning awards and recognition world
wide. Discussion on this
characterisation today might be as controversial as
when it was first put
out into the public arena. Many who thought otherwise
then, might as well be
convinced the other way, now. This however is not the
subject of my writing.
This week we saw another 'terrorist' being granted
bail and freedom after
three months of torture. This is a 'terrorist' with a
difference, one wholly
created by President Robert Mugabe's government out
of the blue and to serve
political ends. For those who have read Frantz
Fanon, Wretched of the earth
(Pitfalls of National Consciousness), Jestina's
travails might aid a better
understanding of the psychology of the post
independent African nation
state. Especially the behaviour of a visionless
and clueless leadership, one
that seeks power for its sake. Fanon explains
in vivid language how the
formerly oppressed outdo the former oppressor at
oppressing, the majority of
people.
Jestina Mukoko is free at last,
but battered to breaking point. Jestina was
a legend in broadcasting in
Zimbabwe the time I was growing up. She remained
one in civic society. More
so because many others were not prepared to do
the work she was doing.
Talking openly about the violence in Zimbabwe. She
today, by a twist, not of
fate, but of deliberate planning, became one such
victim of this state
orchestrated violence. Having had the chance to work
with her and the group
of civic activists in the Zimbabwe Peace Project
(ZPP), the organisation
that she leads, one is left wondering how on earth
such a grouping can, of
all things, be accused of terrorism. The grouping
involves old men and
women, who at some point, I struggled with the whole
day, discussing how to
compile reports on politically motivated violence,
identify and talk to ring
leaders from all parties, and act as peacemakers.
These are men and
women, who in the best of times would rather concern
themselves with their
farming, their goats and cattle and in the wildest of
dreams, hold a gun.
Jestina humbled herself to work with the so called
ordinary women and men
and ZPP never conducted business in the cover of
darkness but what ever
activities ZPP carried out where out in the open.
Their reports and work
accessible to all who wanted to see. Their office out
in the open. Apart
from vile sadism one cannot put any explanation to the
three months of
torture, denial of freedom that she went through. We had
senior government
officials, the likes of AG Johannes Tomana, portray
Jestina as one of the
most dangerous persons in Zimbabwe, a terrorist. I
dare say Jestina has
never held a gun in her hand, and I bet she does not
know the shape of a
grenade.
In the struggle over meaning making and making the stupid sound
sensible and
common sensical, the world terrorism is unfortunately accorded
a new meaning
by the Zimbabwe government, to mean anyone who opposes its
policies. A
terrorist in Zimbabwe is either an opposition supporter, a human
rights
activists or a white farmer. The skills in torture and propaganda
that the
Mugabe government learnt in Ian Smith's jail are being put to good
use,
albeit against their own citizens. Whatever the freedom that Jestina
might
have now, will not take away the scars that she physically and
emotionally
will live with for the rest of her life. This trauma has not
only been
confined to her but her family and colleagues. It seems within
ZANU PFs
scheme of things the message has hit home. What more ace is there
to play
now and who is next?
We can only wonder.
Reuben Barwe "goes to town, panel-beating" Robert Mugabe birthday address
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/1737.html
03
March, 2009 10:27:00
admin
-<>-<>-<>-
Reuben Barwe on
Monday night defended Robert Mugabe's utterances that he
would not honour
the Southern African Development Community Land Tribunal
Hearing for
Zimbabwean white commercial farmers to return to their farms.
"The
Western media are at it again, they are going on to misquote the
President
for statements he did not make. Today they have reported that the
president
has ordered that the remaining white farmers should vacate the
farms. Last
year they reported that the President had said there is no
cholera in the
country", said Reuben Barwe.
President Mugabe clearly stressed in
Chinhoyi last weekend, that white
farmers who were granted permission by the
courts to reoccupy the farms they
lost during the controversial land reform
programme and have since come back
to the said farm should vacate those
farms.
"Those white farmers who had their land taken for resettlement by
the state
and have reoccupied them should vacate those farms, they should
vacate those
farms," said President Mugabe in his speech during his lavish
85th birth day
celebrations in Chinhoyi on Saturday.
The state
controlled Television station went on to repeat the President's
whole
birthday celebrations speech.
Retired Judge Smith got It horribly wrong on the appointment of Permanent
Secretaries
http://www.zimdiaspora.com
Business,
Education & Opinion
By Kudzai Rangarirai
I have just read the
interview Retired Judge Justice Smith had with Swradio's
Violet
Gonda.
This interview has been quoted in various online publications and
was in
today's Zimbabwe Herald. When I saw the interview being carried in
the
Herald, I got worried and thought it necessary to correct some of the
learned Judge's remarks soonest. The main question put across to the learned
Judge during the interview was whether the appointment of Permanent
Secretaries by President Mugabe was constitutional in the current
dispensation.
In his response, the learned Rtd Judge, quoting the
Zimbabwe Constitution
extensively, authoritatively asserts that what
President Mugabe did was
perfectly constitutional and legal.
It was
not constitutional. It would seem the Rtd Judge was basing his
answers on
the old Constitution because a quick perusal of the Zimbabwean
Constitution
as amended by Amendment 19, would have revealed that the
leadership in
Government, comprising the President, Vice-Presidents, Prime
Minister and
Deputy Prime Ministers will consult and agree on senior
government
appointments prior to their appointment. These senior positions
include
Permanent Secretaries and Ambassodors.
The correct current position
regarding the workings of the new animal is
found in Schedule 8 of the
Zimbabwe Constitution.
It is further explicitly stated at the beginning
of Schedule 8 that this
Schedule shall prevail notwithstanding anything
contrary in this
Constitution.
This, therefore means that as long as
this marriage is still subsisting,
Schedule 8 will be our bible.
Hope
this will help.
Editors note; Kudzai Ranga is a solicitor based in
Oxford, UK
Mugabe Beneficiary of Gono's Selective Prosecution For Externalisation?
http://changezimbabwe.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2003&Itemid=2
Written
by Mutumwa Mawere
Tuesday, 03 March 2009
In this piece by Africa
Resources Limited chairman, Mutumwa Mawere, he asks
where Robert Mugabe, on
his Zimbabwe dollar salary as President of Zimbabwe,
obtained the money to
pay for a flat for his daughter, her friends and
bodyguards in the posh part
of Hong Kong. Mawere calls on the Inclusive
Government to compel state
actors to disclose their assets and liabilities.
James Makamba was first
victim of detention-without-bail decree aimed at
fighting corruption. Gono
(r) was the enforcer.
By Mutumwa
Mawere
-<>-<>-...-<>-<>-
A property in an
exclusive residential complex in Hong Kong came to light
during a Sunday
Times investigation into President Mugabe's external assets.
The identity
of the property only became public during the recent visit of
the
President's wife, Grace, in which a scuffle allegedly occurred with a
photographer of the newspaper outside a hotel near the university where
their daughter, Bona, has been studying under a different name.
Until
February 27, 2009, when President Mugabe clarified during an interview
that
he did not own the property, it was widely reported that he had
purchased
the house. He, however, confirmed that he was simply renting the
property
for his daughter.
President Mugabe said: "We are paying rent. After they
finish we will have
nothing to do with that property at all. What do I do
with a house in Hong
Kong, really?
We just want accommodation for our
daughter and her friends."
It is significant that President Mugabe
confirmed that his daughter was
studying in a foreign country and that a
house had been secured for her and
a bodyguard with all expenses payable in
foreign currency.
President Mugabe is a servant of the people of Zimbabwe
and has been
employed in the same position for the last 29 years. His income
like that of
the majority of Zimbabweans until recently was paid in local
currency.
Residents like President Mugabe were restricted in how much
foreign currency
they could externalize and all dealings in foreign currency
had to be
processed through authorized dealers.
When Gono was
appointed as Governor in December 2003, a new crime called
externalization
was introduced into the Zimbabwean statutes.
It was President Mugabe who
in February 2004 after the arrest of Mr. James
Makamba on allegations of
externalization that issued a decree allowing for
the detention of suspects
without bail for up to four weeks for political
and economic
offenses.
The decree was promulgated without the knowledge of parliament
using the
state of emergency powers.
The decree whose first victim
was Makamba was officially aimed at fighting
corruption, money laundering
and other economic offenses.
President Mugabe's order gave the police the
power to detain suspects for
seven days without evidence of a crime and a
further 21 days after showing
enough proof to justify court
proceedings.
Mr. Makamba was arrested on February 7, 2004 for alleged
illegal currency
deals and the High Court refused him bail under the
decree.
Minister Chinamasa justified the decree at the time by saying
that it was
aimed at helping police save time and frequent court appearances
in
connection with a growing number of economic crimes.
Makamba was
charged with 22 counts of externalizing foreign currency and if
President
Mugabe were an ordinary citizen he no doubt would have been
suspect by
merely admitting that he had foreign rental obligations without
showing the
source of funds.
In response to the questions about the arrest, acquittal
and re-arrest of
Makamba on allegations of externalization, Mr. Wayne
Bvudzijena of the
Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) had this to say about the
attitude of the
police to economic crimes:
"The police would like to
assure the public that the force is determined to
ruthlessly deal with all
forms of economic deviancy and we continue to
appeal to the public to supply
us with information as regards such crimes."
Mr. Muderedi, a businessman,
was also arrested on similar charges. The
former Minister of Finance, Dr.
Chris Kuruneri, also became a victim of the
same law when like the case with
President Mugabe; properties owned by Dr.
Kuruneri in Cape Town were exposed
in the media.
He was arrested in April 2004 and faced counts of breaching
Zimbabwe
Exchange Control laws by allegedly transferring US$ 500,000, 37,000
British
pounds, 30,000 euros and 1.2 million South African to buy and
renovate an
eight-bedroomed house.
President Mugabe has confirmed
that he has been paying the rent for his
daughter's house and, therefore,
such confirmation would constitute an
admission of guilt under the laws of
Zimbabwe.
One would assume that the source of funds for the rent is
income earned in
Zimbabwe in lieu of the services rendered by the President
to the
government.
Kuruneri like many businessmen was arrested at the
height of the government's
anti-corruption crusade. Kuruneri was acquitted
after spending more than a
year in a remand jail and 10 appeals for
bail.
The revelation by the President that he has external obligations
would
ordinarily raise a host of legal and political issues about equal
treatment
under the law.
However, the law that applies to other
people, for example, Makamba,
Kuruneri and etc apparently do not apply to
President Mugabe.
The accidental discovery of President Mugabe's
financial links with Hong
Kong should open a new conversation on the
absurdity and hypocrisy of Gono's
selective targeting of people on
allegations of externalization fully
knowing that the same conduct is the
order of business for other state
actors.
In the interests of
transparency and good governance, I do hope that the
inclusive government
will put in place measures to compel state actors to
disclose their assets
and liabilities.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 03 March 2009 )
Voices from Zimbabwe
Eric Beauchemin reports from inside the country
04-03-2009
This week Radio Netherlands Worldwide is focusing on the crisis in
Zimbabwe - our reporter Eric Beauchemin has just returned from the country where
he has been working in tandem with our partner station there, the local
independent broadcaster Voice of the People.
- Read more about our special week here.
- You can have your say on our site and in our broadcasts too.
- You can listen to Eric's reports in Newsline every day this week, and on Friday we'll be having a
special live edition of Newsline linking up with Voice of the People.
- You can listen to Eric's reports here too (click on the audio links
below).
Eric Beauchemin has been finding out how ordinary Zimbabweans are
coping with runaway inflation, chronic shortages and political violence. He
talks about his experiences.
President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF and Morgan Tsvangirai,
leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, took months to agree on
a power-sharing deal. Many are sceptical about the chances of these bitter
rivals managing to actually co-operate and govern effectively. Our reporter Eric
asks Takura Zhangazha, national director of the Media Institute of Southern
Africa in Zimbabwe for his assessment of the new government.
Eric also went looking for a view from the street, and asked
Brown Moyo, a white collar worker in Harare, what he thought of the unity
government.
A ruined economy has led to ruined infrastructure, meaning
Zimbaweans are often without the most basic necessities such as power food and
water. The breakdown of the country's water supply led to a recent outbreak of
cholera in the country, which has cost thousands of lives. Sam Nkomo, of the
Movement for Democratic Change, is the the new minister of water resources. Eric
asked him if his party can really help get Zimbabwe back on its feet.
But just how do the problems Mr Nkomo is facing affect ordinary
people? Eunice Barbara Eka is a legal secretary and lives in a Salvation Army
senior citizens' home in Harare . She told Eric about the difficulties of living
without a reliable water supply .
We hear how one journalist has managed to remain independent in
a country where the price for speaking the truth can be imprisonment or even
death. John Masuku is executive director of Voice of the People in Zimbabwe - a
local radio station brave enought to speak out. They broadcast via a Radio
Netherlands Worldwide relay station in Madagascar in order to avoid state
control of their content. Even so, they've been up against a great deal of
violence; many workers have been arrested and the station was bombed in 2002.
Blood, land and sanctions - part 1
http://www.independent.co.ug/index.php/column/comment/70-comment/626-blood-land-and-sanctions--part-1
Wednesday,
25 February 2009 20:10
By Mahmood Mamdani
In this four-part
series, renowned Ugandan scholar Professor Mahmood Mamdani
examines the
historical causes of Zimbabwe's political crisis.
It is hard to think of
a figure more reviled in the west than Robert Mugabe.
Liberal and
conservative commentators alike portray him as a brutal
dictator, and blame
him for Zimbabwe's descent into hyperinflation and
poverty. The seizure of
white-owned farms by his black supporters has been
depicted as a form of
thuggery, and as a cause of the country's declining
production, as if these
lands were doomed by black ownership. Sanctions have
been imposed, and
opposition groups funded with the explicit aim of
unseating
him.
There is no denying Mugabe's authoritarianism, or his willingness to
tolerate and even encourage the violent behaviour of his supporters. His
policies have helped lay waste the country's economy, though sanctions have
played no small part, while his refusal to share power with the country's
growing opposition movement, much of it based in the trade unions, has led
to a bitter impasse. This view of Zimbabwe's crisis can be found everywhere,
from the Economist and the Financial Times to the Guardian and the New
Statesman, but it gives us little sense of how Mugabe has managed to
survive. For he has ruled not only by coercion but by consent, and his land
reform measures, however harsh, have won him considerable popularity, not
just in Zimbabwe but throughout southern Africa. In any case, the
preoccupation with his character does little to illuminate the
socio-historical issues involved.
Many have compared Mugabe to Idi
Amin and the land expropriation in Zimbabwe
to the Asian expulsion in
Uganda. The comparison isn't entirely off the
mark. I was one of the 70,000
people of South Asian descent booted out by
Idi Amin in 1972; I returned to
Uganda in 1979. My abiding recollection of
my first few months back is that
no one I met opposed Amin's expulsion of
'Asians'. Most merely said: 'It was
bad the way he did it.' The same is
likely to be said of the land transfers
in Zimbabwe.
What distinguishes Mugabe and Amin from other authoritarian
rulers is not
their demagoguery but the fact that they projected themselves
as champions
of mass justice and successfully rallied those to whom justice
had been
denied by the colonial system. Not surprisingly, the justice
dispensed by
these demagogues mirrored the racialised injustice of the
colonial system.
In 1979 I began to realise that whatever they made of
Amin's brutality, the
Ugandan people experienced the Asian expulsion of 1972
- and not the formal
handover in 1962 - as the dawn of true independence.
The people of Zimbabwe
are likely to remember 2000-3 as the end of the
settler colonial era. Any
assessment of contemporary Zimbabwe needs to begin
with this sobering fact.
Though widespread grievance over the theft of
land - a process begun in 1889
and completed in the 1950s - fuelled the
guerrilla struggle against the
regime of Ian Smith, whose Rhodesian Front
opposed black majority rule, the
matter was never properly addressed when
Britain came back into the picture
to effect a constitutional transition to
independence under majority rule.
Southern Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980,
but the social realities of the
newly independent state remained embedded in
an earlier historical period:
some 6000 white farmers owned 15.5 million
hectares of prime land, 39 per
cent of the land in the country, while about
4.5 million farmers (a million
households) in 'communal areas' were left to
subsist on 16.4 million
hectares of the most arid land, to which they'd been
removed or confined by
a century of colonial rule. In the middle were 8500
small-scale black
farmers on about 1.4 million hectares of land.
This
was not a sustainable arrangement in a country whose independence had
been
secured at the end of a long armed struggle supported by a land-hungry
population. But the agreement that Britain drafted at Lancaster House in
1979 - and that the settlers eagerly backed - didn't seem to take into
account the kind of transition that would be necessary to secure a stable
social order. Two of its provisions, one economic and the other political,
reflected this short-termism: one called for land transfers on a 'willing
buyer, willing seller' basis, with the British funding the scheme; the other
reserved 20 per cent of seats in the House of Assembly for whites - 3 per
cent of the population - giving the settler community an effective veto over
any amendment to the Lancaster House terms. This was qualified majority rule
at best. Both provisions had a time limit: 1990 for land transfers based on
the market principle, and 1987 for the settler minority to set limits on
majority rule. The deal sustained illusions among the settlers that what
they had failed to achieve by UDI - Smith's 1965 declaration of independence
from the UK - and force of arms, they could now achieve through support from
a government of 'kith and kin' (as Smith called it) in Britain. In reality,
however, the agreement drew a line under settler privilege.
President
Mugabe
The inadequacy of the Lancaster House provisions for the
decolonisation of
land ensured that it remained the focus of politics in
independent Zimbabwe.
The course of land relations and land reform in
Zimbabwe has over the years
been meticulously documented by Sam Moyo, a
professor who directs the
African Institute of Agrarian Studies in
Harare.
Transfers during the first decade of independence were so minimal
that they
increased rather than appeased land hunger.
The new regime
in Harare, installed in 1980 and led by Mugabe and his party,
Zanu, called
for the purchase of eight million hectares to resettle 162,000
land-poor
farming households from communal areas. But the ban on compulsory
purchase
drove up land prices and encouraged white farmers to sell only the
worst
land. As the decade drew to a close, only 58,000 families had been
resettled
on three million hectares of land. No more than 19 per cent of the
land
acquired between 1980 and 1992 was of prime agricultural value.
As the
1980s wore on, land transfers actually declined, dropping from
430,000
hectares per annum during the first half of the decade to 75,000
hectares
during the second. The greater land hunger became, the more often
invasions
were mounted; in response, Mugabe created local 'squatter control'
units in
1985, and they were soon evicting squatters in droves. At this
point
Zimbabwean law still defined a squatter in racial terms, as 'an
African
whose house happens to be situated in an area which has been
declared
European or is set apart for some other reason'. By 1990, 40 per
cent of the
rural population was said to be landless or affected by the
landlessness of
dependent relations.
When the Lancaster House Agreement's rules on land
transfer expired in 1990,
the pressure to take direct action was intensified
by two very different
developments: an IMF structural adjustment programme,
and recurrent drought.
Peasant production, which had been a meagre 8 per
cent of marketed output at
independence in 1980, and had shot up to 45 per
cent by 1985, declined as a
result of the programme. Trade-union analysts
pointed out that annual
employment growth also fell from 2.4 per cent in the
late 1980s to 1.55 per
cent in the period 1991-97. The percentage of
households living in poverty
throughout the country increased by 14 per cent
in five years. There was now
widespread squatting on all types of land, from
communal areas to state
land, commercial farms (mainly growing tobacco),
resettlement areas and
urban sites.
The demand for land reform came
from two powerful groups at extreme ends of
the social spectrum yet both
firmly in Mugabe's camp: the veterans of the
liberation war and the small
but growing number of indigenous businesses,
hitherto the main beneficiaries
of independence under majority rule. At the
end of the liberation war in
1980, 20,000 guerrillas had been incorporated
into the national army and
other state organisations, and the rest - about
45,000 - had had to fend for
themselves. They found it difficult to survive
without land or a job, which
is why land occupations began in the
countryside soon after
independence.
Mugabe and the Zanu leaders tended at first to dismiss
complaints from
veterans as expressions of resentment on the part of the
rival liberation
movement, Joshua Nkomo's Zapu, which had been marginalised
in 1980. But
after Zanu and Zapu signed a unity accord in 1987, former
fighters from both
groups became involved in land agitation. Their most
significant joint
initiative was to form a welfare organisation, the
Zimbabwe National
Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) in 1988,
which called for
pensions to be paid and land redistributed. It soon gained
a large
membership drawn from most sections of Zimbabwean society and from
the two
ethnic groups - the Shona majority and the Ndebele - which had
defined Zanu
and Zapu respectively. Its members, about 200,000 of them, came
from a
variety of classes, employed and unemployed, urban and rural, with
positions
in different branches of the state and party and the private
sector.
Although their strength lay in the countryside, the war vets formed
the only
alliance that was both independent of Mugabe and Zanu-PF, and could
claim to
have national support, giving them a decisive advantage over the
better
organised but urban-based trade-union federation in the power
struggle that
would shortly tear the country apart.
War vets were
among the first targets of structural adjustment, when its
effects began to
be felt in 1991. Entire departments and ministries that had
been heavily
staffed by ex-combatants were disbanded and the stage set for a
series of
high-profile confrontations between veterans and government.
Mugabe accused
the vets of being 'armchair critics' at the inaugural
conference of the
ZNLWVA in April 1992; they went on to organise street
demonstrations, lock
top government and party officials in their offices,
interrupt Mugabe's
Heroes' Day speech in 1997, intervene in court sessions
and besiege the
State House.
Mahmood Mamdani is Herbert Lehman Professor of Government in
the departments
of anthropology, political science and international affairs
at Columbia
University. This article first appeared in the London Review of
Books; it is
published by The Independent with his permission.
Blood, land and sanctions - part 2
http://www.independent.co.ug/index.php/column/comment/70-comment/663-blood-land-and-sanctions--part-2
Wednesday,
04 March 2009 12:16
By Mahmood Mamdani
In the second of this
four-part series, renowned Ugandan scholar Professor
Mahmood Mamdani
examines the historical causes of Zimbabwe's crisis
After the Lancaster
House Agreement had expired, the government tried to
occupy the middle
ground by shifting from the 'willing buyer, willing seller'
formula with a
new law, the Land Acquisition Act of 1992, which gave the
state powers of
compulsory purchase, though landowners retained the right to
challenge the
price set and to receive prompt compensation. By the late
1990s, market-led
land transfers had dwindled to a trickle. So had British
contributions to
the fund set up to pay landowners, with a mere £44 million
paid out between
1980 and 1992, much less than anticipated at Lancaster
House.
When
New Labour took over in 1997, Clare Short, the minister for
international
development, claimed that since neither she nor her colleagues
came from the
landed class in Britain - 'my own origins are Irish and as you
know we were
colonised not colonisers,' she wrote to the Zimbabwean minister
of
agriculture and land - they could not be held responsible for what
Britain
had done in colonial Rhodesia.
This effective default coincided with a
rise inside Zimbabwe of demands for
compulsory acquisition. Veterans led
land occupations at Svosve and
Goromonzi in 1997, clashing with Mugabe and
Zanu-PF. They were joined by
local chiefs and party leaders, peasants and
spirit mediums (who had played
a key role in the liberation war against Ian
Smith). The next year, a wave
of co-ordinated land occupations swept across
the country, with veterans
receiving critical support from the Indigenous
Business Development Centre
(IBDC), an affirmative action lobby set up in
1988 by members of the new
black bourgeoisie. From now on, two very
different elements huddled under
the war vets' banner: the landless victims
of settler colonialism and the
elite beneficiaries of the end of settler
rule.
It was largely for his own purposes, but also as a response to
pressure from
squatters, occupiers and their local leaders, as well as from
sections of
the new black elite, that in 1999 Mugabe decided to revise the
constitution
drafted at Lancaster House. Two major changes were envisaged:
one would
allow him to stay in power for two more terms and would ensure
immunity from
prosecution for political and military leaders accused of
committing crimes
while in office; the other would empower the government to
seize land from
white farmers without compensation, which was held to be the
responsibility
of Britain. The proposals were put to a referendum in
February 2000 and
defeated: 45.3 per cent of voters were in favour. But only
a little more
than 20 per cent of the electorate had cast a vote. The urban
centres of
Harare and Bulawayo were three to one against adoption; voting in
the
countryside was marked by large-scale abstentions. Post-colonial
Zimbabwe
had reached a turning point.Very early on, the colonial bureaucracy
had
translated the ethnic mosaic of the country into an administrative map
in
such a way as to allow minimum co-operation and maximum competition
between
different ethnic groups and areas, ensuring among other things that
labour
for mining, manufacture and service was not recruited from areas
where
peasants were needed on large farms or plantations. These areas, as it
happened, were mainly Shona and so, unsurprisingly, when the trade-union
movement developed in Rhodesia, its leaders were mostly Ndebele, and had few
links with the Shona leadership of the peasant-based liberation movement
(Mugabe belongs to the Shona majority). I remember listening to the minister
of labour in Harare in 1981 complain that workers had failed to support the
nationalist movement. When I suggested that it might be useful to turn the
proposition around and ask why the nationalist movement had failed to
organise support among workers, there was silence.
The Shona-Ndebele
divide so conspicuous in the two guerrilla movements
produced great tension
after independence between the mainly Shona
government and the mainly
Ndebele labour movement, with Mugabe's ferocious
repression in Ndebele areas
in 1986 remaining the bloodiest phase in
post-independence Zimbabwean
history. The slaughter in Matabeleland was
followed by a 'reconciliation'
that paved the way for a unity government in
1987, but Zanu-PF leaders
thereafter suspected all protest - from whatever
source - of concealing an
Ndebele agenda.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, formed in 1981
with the blessing of
the government, had by the end of the decade distanced
itself from its Zanu
patrons, purged internal corruption and elected an
independent leadership.
In the 1990s it spearheaded the national agitation
against Structural
Adjustment and the one-party state that acquiesced in it.
Yet its
organisation in the countryside was confined to workers on
commercial farms.
The ZCTU had at first been an umbrella body for private
sector unions. The
spectacular growth of ZCTU, its organisation of public
sector workers, has
been written about by two Zimbabwean social historians,
Brian Raftapolous
and Ian Phimister. After independence, workers in the
rapidly Africanised
public sector had retained close links to the
government. But this began to
change when the Structural Adjustment
Programme led to public sector job
losses and many African workers -
especially veterans - were dismissed. When
government workers came out on
strike in 1996, the ZCTU was able to
establish a base in the public sector.
A general strike in 1997 and mass
stay-aways the following year set the
trade unions against the government.
Civil servants - including teachers and
health workers - who had declared
allegiance to the ruling party and the
state now began to affiliate to the
ZCTU. In 1998, it organised a National
Constituent Assembly, with the
participation of civic, NGO and
churchgrps.
By the time Mugabe put forward amendments to the Lancaster
House
constitution, an impressive alliance of forces - not only trade
unions,
churches, civic and NGO groups, but white farmers and Western
governments -
was arrayed for battle. The Movement for Democratic Change was
formed a few
months before the 2000 referendum, to campaign for a 'no' vote.
The
coalition was diverse, containing, on the one hand, public sector
workers
trying to roll back the tide of Structural Adjustment; on the other,
uncompromising free-marketeers such as Eddie Cross, the MDC secretary of
economic affairs and a senior figure in the Confederation of Zimbabwe
Industries, who was intent on privatising almost everything, including
education.
The veterans reacted to the defeat of the constitutional
proposals by
launching land occupations in Masvingo province. This prompted
a split in
the ruling party. With Mugabe out of the country, the acting
president,
Joseph Msika, told the police to torch the new squatter shacks.
This was
consistent with Zanu-PF policy: in the early days, Mugabe had been
praised
as a 'conciliator' by the international community for ensuring the
security
and property of those whites who remained in Zimbabwe, and evicting
black
squatters. Two decades later the position had changed: the support of
the
whites was no longer so important to Mugabe, and he was under enormous
pressure from the veterans. With much to gain from casting his lot in with
the rural insurgency, he returned from his trip and announced that there
would be no government evictions. As land occupations spread to every
province - 800 farms were occupied at the height of the protests - the split
in the government and party hierarchy deepened. Inevitable tension between
the executive and the judiciary undermined the rule of law; the executive
sacked a number of judges, replacing them with others more sympathetic to
land reform, and enacted pro-squatter legislation.
'Fast-track' land
reform was now underway. The types of land that would be
acquired
compulsorily were specified by the government: unused or
underutilised land,
land owned by absentees or people with several farms;
land above a certain
area (determined by region) and land contiguous with
communal areas. The
white owners of around 2900 commercial farms listed for
compulsory
acquisition and redistribution were given 90 days to move out.
Government
directives specified that 'owners of farms marked for
redistribution will be
compensated for improvements made on the land, but
not for the land itself,
as this land was stolen from the original owners in
the colonial
era.'
The closing date for 'fast-track' land acquisition - August 2002 -
came and
went, but occupations continued unimpeded until mid-2003, and on a
diminished scale for a year or so after that. Chiefs fought for land for
their constituents and for themselves, and so did their counterparts in the
state bureaucracy and the private sector. In Matabeleland, a minority of
pro-MDC chiefs were sceptical of land reform, but later submitted claims.
The black elite made a brazen land grab in direct contravention of the 'one
person, one farm' policy, provoking a hue and cry in society at large and
within the ruling party; the government set up a presidential commission to
determine the facts. Crucially, in 2005 the government passed an amendment
declaring all agricultural land to be state land. Land was seized from
nearly 4000 white farmers and redistributed: 72,000 large farmers received
2.19 million hectares and 127,000 smallholders received 4.23 million
hectares.
Mahmood Mamdani is Herbert Lehman Professor of Government
in the departments
of anthropology, political science and international
affairs at Columbia
University. This article first appeared in the London
Review of Books; it is
published by The Independent with his
permission.
PEACE WATCH of 4th March 2009 [Bail Offer for 13 Political Detainees]
PEACE
WATCH
[4th
March 2009]
Roy
Bennett’s Release Expected Soon
Despite
a High Court ruling last week that Roy Bennett be freed on bail, the order for
bail was immediately suspended by the State’s notice of its intention to appeal
to the Supreme Court. This suspension of the bail ruling has now fallen away,
following yesterday’s dismissal by the High Court of the State’s application for
permission to appeal. The defence lawyers expect Mr Bennett to be released
shortly, following completion of the necessary paperwork at the magistrates
court in Mutare.
Update
on Zimbabwe Peace Project Staff who were Abducted and
Detained
Pascal
Gonzo was released without
charge early February.
Broderick
Takawira was granted bail late
Friday evening and met the conditions and was released from Chikurubi on
Saturday. Sadly, for Broderick and his family, joy over his release has been
overshadowed by bereavement – Broderick’s father, who had come to Harare to see him, died
just two days before his release. He went straight to join his family before
even seeking the medical care he was waiting for after his torture and months of
detention in appalling conditions.
Jestina
Mukoko was consulted by her
lawyer over the weekend and was granted bail in the magistrates court on Monday
morning. The bail conditions have been met and she has been released from
custody. As she is still in hospital receiving medical treatment, this amounts
to the removal of the police and prison warders who were guarding her in the
hospital.
Deal
offered by Attorney General's Office
On Friday afternoon
the defence lawyers were summoned to the Attorney-General’s office for a
meeting at 4pm. One of Attorney-General
Tomana’s senior professional officers, reading from a prepared text, told them
that the Attorney-General had met the President
and that it had been agreed that their clients could be released on bail. The
condition attached was that they would have to agree that all other currently
pending applications lodged by them in the High Court or Supreme Court would be
withdrawn. A high bail figure was mentioned by the Attorney General’s
representative but the amount and conditions were later reduced by the
court [see
below].
Note:
The State’s condition for withdrawal of all defence applications currently
pending in the High Court and the Supreme Court is a limited one. It does not
prevent future legal action by the abductees against the State and the State
agents responsible for their abduction, unlawful detention and torture. Nor
does it stop them from pressing for the prosecution of those individual State
agents responsible for their torture.
The
Offer Covered 13 of the Detainees
For
eight of the detainees on
charges of recruiting insurgents, a bail
hearing was held at the magistrates court later on Friday evening. These were
Broderick Takawira, Fidelis
Chiramba, Concillia
Chinanzvavana, Emmanuel Chinanzvavana, Pieta Kaseke, Violet Mupfuranhehwe,
Collen Mutemagau, Audrey Zimbudzana
Bail
conditions first suggested by the State were US$2 000 per person plus separate
surety of US$60 000 per person plus surrendering travel documents and title
deeds to property worth at least US$20 000 and reporting twice weekly to
police. Defence lawyers argued the amounts
were
too high and that not everyone had travel documents or title deeds. The
magistrate eventually dropped the demand for surety and set bail at US$600 each
plus surrender of travel documents, if any, security or title deeds of at least
US$20 000 value, and reporting to police Monday and Friday.
Broderick
Takawira and Fidelis Chiramba were able to fulfil the bail conditions on
Saturday, resulting in Broderick's release from prison. Mr Chiramba is still in
hospital receiving treatment, but, like Jestina Mukoko, no longer under guard.
The others took longer while the lawyers negotiated for modification of bail
conditions, as not all of them had sufficient assets. Concillia and Emmanuel
Chinanzvavana and Audrey Zimbudzana managed to fulfil bail on Tuesday and are
now in hospital receiving treatment.
Violet
Mupfuranhehwe, Collen Mutemagau [parents of the two
year old, Nigel who was detained with them before his release last month] and
Pieta Kaseke are still in Chikurubi, as the State is still verifying their
statements that they have no travel documents.
Jestina
Mukoko was also covered by
the offer. Her bail hearing did not go ahead on Friday evening because her
lawyer indicated she would need to consult her client. It was heard on Monday
morning and bail was granted on the same conditions as for the others.
Four of the
group on charges of bombing
and sabotage – Mapfumo Garutsa and Regis Mujeyi [in Chikurubi ]
Chinoto Zulu and Zachariah Nkomo [in custody but being treated in Avenues
Clinic] – were also covered by the Attorney General's offer. The State agreed
as part of the offer to withdraw its appeal against an earlier court decision
granting them bail. All four have now been released on bail conditions similar
to those applicable to the
other detainees. The two from Chikurubi are now receiving their needed medical
attention.
3
Not Included in the AG’s
offer
The bail offer from
the Attorney General’s office excluded Gandhi Mudzingwa, Chris Dhlamini and
Andrisson Manyere [all from the “bomber’ group”]. These three were denied bail
by the High Court on 19th February on the basis that the State had produced some
apparent evidence against them. Their appeal to the Supreme Court against the
High Court decision will be pursued as an urgent matter. In the meantime, Chris
Dhlamini has been taken to hospital for the surgery he needed, Gandhi is already
in hospital, leaving only Andrisson still in Chikurubi
Court
Hearings Coming Up
All the detainees still
have to go back regularly to court for remand. For those released on bail this
no longer has to be every two weeks now they are on bail. But extension of
remand hearings will continue until either charges are dropped or their trials
commence.
Jestina, Concillia
Chinanzvavana et al [the 9 in the recruiter group] now on bail are due back in
the magistrates court on Wednesday 4th March for extension of their
remand.
Dlhamini et al [the 7in
the bomber group] are due back in court on Friday 6th March. The
magistrate has instructed the State to be ready to give the defence a trial date
at this hearing.
No date has been fixed
for the Supreme Court hearing of the appeal for bail by Gandhi Mudzingwa, Chris
Dhlamini and Andrisson Manyere has not yet been
fixed.
No date has been fixed
for the Supreme Court hearing of the constitutional infringements cases brought
by Jestina Mukoko, Broderick Takawira and Audrey Zimbudzana. Note: these cases
have not been withdrawn.
Abductees
who were being detained as State witnesses
Their lawyer is taking a court case
today on behalf of their families to try and get them released. They are Terry
Musona, Fanwell Tembo and Lloyd Tarumbwa, who were abducted on 29th October
2008.
Abductees/Detainees
who are still missing
These were also
discussed at the briefing at the Friday afternoon briefing at the
Attorney-General’s office on Friday afternoon attended by the
detainees/abductees lawyers. Evidently the State indicated that they were
willing to release these missing persons if the defence team drops court
applications asking police to release them. This makes no sense but is
apparently what the police are insisting upon. "If you withdraw applications
seeking to identify where they are, they (police) were also prepared to release
those people unconditionally. Without taking them to court, without charging
them - notwithstanding whatever number they are, they said they are prepared to
release them."
Comments
The political nature
of these cases seems clearly demonstrated by the Attorney-General’s indication
that the go-ahead for the bail “deal” came from the President and by the offer
to release still missing persons when the police have all along denied knowing
their whereabouts. As a lawyer said "This is not the rule of law, this is not
justice. It's politics taken to the wrong forum."
UN Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon last week
called for the release of
political prisoners as a gesture of
national reconciliation, warning that the international community would only
support the new government if Mr Mugabe proved he was willing to make it work.
President Motlanthe has also called for their release at a time when the SADC
Ministers were discussing bailing Zimbabwe out financially. And last
Wednesday Prime Minister Tsvangirai said that he, Mr Mugabe and Mr Mutambara had
met and agreed that all political detainees who have been formally charged with
a crime should be released on bail and those that have not been charged should
be released unconditionally. It also emerged at Friday’s meeting at the
Attorney-General’s office that the President had received input on the question
from JOMIC.
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