The Zimbabwe Situation

      March 07, 2004, 18:14

      The Zimbabwean Church is to lobby government to improve the plight of
Zimbabweans in South Africa. It will also - in conjunction with its South
African counterparts - push for talks between Zanu(PF) and the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC).

      However, while the cleric seeks peace, the situation in the country
remains oppressive. Six MDC members were injured when their convoy was
attacked on the way to a campaign rally in Zengeza, east of Harare. The
attack was allegedly carried out by Zanu(PF) militia. In addition, three
members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise are incarcerated in a Bulawayo jail.

      Quiet diplomacy
      At a special service for Zimbabwe today, Pius Ncube, the Zimbabwean
archbishop, lashed out at Robert Mugabe's government and South Africa's
quiet diplomacy towards the country. "I will not excuse the government, they
are not going to get my sympathy, they have gone around killing people,
raping the young," Ncube said.

      Churchgoers also heard from Zimbabweans who claim to have suffered at
the hands of Zanu(PF). Even those who defend human rights spoke of detention
and brutality. Gabriel Shumba, a human rights lawyer, said: "They tied it to
my genitals, some to my toes and in my mouth - I was asked to clamp down on
it."

      The animosity between the ruling Zanu(PF) and the MDC is expected to
increase ahead of next year's elections. "Next year you can be sure the
parliamentary election will be rigged," Ncube said.

      At the same time - with Zimbabwean authorities saying no to talks with
the opposition - the situation in Zimbabwe is not likely to change soon. A
reason why the church plans to talk government into giving refugee status to
all Zimbabweans in this country. It also wants NGOs to form one body that
will cater to the needs of Zimbabweans abroad.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Saturday lashed out anew at
homosexuality and also promised to stamp out corruption, which he said was
destroying the crisis-ridden southern African nation.

Mugabe, who turned 80 last month, was speaking at a special thanksgiving
ceremony for his long life organised by prominent Zimbabwean churchman
Obadiah Musindo.

"I'm morally revulsed by homosexuality," Mugabe told the function, which
also featured popular gospel singers and choirs.

Mugabe, who has called homosexuals "worse than pigs and dogs", said same-sex
marriages also deserved outright condemnation.

"It's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Adam, Eve and Eve," he said in biblical
reference to humanity's first parents.

"Let us never entertain the theory that man and man can form a family."

Mugabe also waxed eloquent on corruption -- a theme he has taken up
recently -- saying Zimbabweans had the right to prosperity honestly gained.

But anyone guilty of corruption would be brought to book no matter "who it
is that offends -- a relative of mine, a great man in business, a great
politician".

Offending businessmen would also be dealt harshly with because they were
"offending against the rules of our society... ruining our own heritage".

The function was attended by government officials, prominent Zimbabweans and
hundreds of flag-waving students.

Reverend Musindo, the organiser of the function, described Mugabe as a
"black, political, economic Moses" whose vision was "to raise millionaires
and billionaires" in the country.

The economy of the former British colony has been in a nose-dive in recent
years with international support drying up, and rates of inflation and
interest skyrocketing to record highs of more than 600%.

Mugabe's reputation as an African statesman started fading in recent years
after the country -- once the region's breadbasket -- slid into economic
decline as land reforms which had been left unresolved for years, were
jump-started with the violent occupation of white-owned farms. - Sapa-AFP

South African religious leaders are set to become the leading voice against
the escalating human rights abuses in Zimbabwe after a series of meetings
and appeals from their Zimbabwean counterparts.

An "in-principle agreement" this week to take on a more pro-active role has
been given impetus by an unprecedented cry for help from a Zimbabwean
archbishop, who asked the churches to intervene urgently in the human rights
situation and not to wait for approval to send a taskteam to their
strife-torn neighbour.

The appeal came from the Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, who
was in South Africa this week to garner support for increased pressure on
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to enter into talks with the opposition
ahead of the proposed 2005 election.

Ncube, who has won several international human rights awards, also wants
more pressure put on the South African government to abandon quiet diplomacy
and give Mugabe an ultimatum to enter into talks. "The international
community must assist us to force these people," Ncube said.

'So far and not further!'
"There is no other way of dealing with such a dictator. There must be
pressure from a whole lot of sides. We can't solve this problem alone... He
needs an ultimatum. So far and not further!"

Ncube met senior clergy this week, including the Anglican Archbishop
Njongonkulu Ndungane, and Dr Molefe Tshele, the general secretary of the
South African Council of Churches (SACC). His visit coincided with an "in
principle" resolution this week by the SACC, after a first-ever high-level
meeting with Zimbabwean clergy, to send a taskteam to Zimbabwe as soon as
the organisation received a green light from all its counterparts.

But the archbishop feared such a mandate might not be forthcoming.

"People are dying now," he said. "We can't wait for protocol. It is their
duty to respond urgently to the situation."

Ncube warned that religious leaders in Zimbabwe were divided because Mugabe
had "bought out" most of them and that the church in Zimbabwe could not play
a meaningful role without help from neighbouring countries.

"Mugabe gave them money and farms," Ncube said. "He even offered me a farm
as part of his evil devices."

He said those clergy who were anti-Mugabe felt that they couldn't "make it
alone".

"We need urgent intervention from all churches, but South Africa is the
closest historically," he said, adding that some Zimbabwean church leaders
were bedevilling efforts to garner support.

"They are trying to prevent South African churches coming in on the grounds
that South Africa is playing 'Big Brother' and that they themselves know
better about Zimbabwe."

Tshele said his discussions with Ncube on Friday had given momentum to the
earlier agreement that the SACC would help reinforce the importance of the
church in resolving the Zimbabwean impasse.

"I agree with him that the churches in South African and Zimbabwe should
jointly become the voice against moral and human rights abuses, but that we
should refrain from party political issues because it could become a
divisive issue," Tshele said on Saturday.

"[Ncube] made an appeal that we have influence and that we should therefore
use it, but this would be subject to an [SACC] executive meeting on March
17."

In an interview, Ncube also confirmed the existence of secret terror camps
in which Mugabe's regime was teaching thousands of youths to torture and
kill. He feared these youth militia were already being used to control
political activity ahead of next year's elections with tactics similar to
that of the war veterans.

Ncube said the only thing keeping the economy going was the South Africa's
continued support of Mugabe's Zanu-PF government.

"If they cut off the electricity and transport that will be the end of the
game," he said.

Mugabe was dependent on South Africa and he owed millions in electricity
bills, Ncube said.

Ncube's visit also had a third dimension - to highlight that half his
Bulawayo parish now lives in Hillbrow. Ncube said that South Africa was
breaking its own laws by not giving the estimated 2 million Zimbabweans in
the country refugee status and asylum.

"Those people have a very rough time [in South Africa]," he said. "They
can't find employment, they are badly treated and often go without
accommodation and food. They have to prostitute themselves."

He called the South African government's attitude "very hypocritical".

"On the one hand they are supporting Mugabe... and on the other will not
give refugee status to Zimbabweans."

Ncube said it was crunch time for talks as there was no possibility of
holding free and fair elections next year, as Mugabe had announced.

After President Thabo Mbeki's recent optimism about talks, Mugabe has again
rejected the possibility of entering into talks with the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC).

Ncube said Mugabe would not give in without pressure from all sides.

"He is a liar, gets up to all sorts of tricks, he will do everything he can
to stay in power. He will kill, buy people out, cheat," the archbishop said.

"It is absolutely urgent that South Africa help convene talks as soon as
possible. It is a total fallacy to say Zimbabweans must solve their own
problems."

Ncube said the situation on the ground was "deteriorating very, very fast",
with thousands dying every month of starvation and HIV/Aids, while last
year's inflation rocketed by more than 1 200 percent.

"It's impossible to live. Something like 80 percent of the people are living
below the poverty line," Ncube said, adding that the population was also
overcome by a hopelessness and a moral decline.

"People are now saying that the white government was less oppressive than
the black government."

Ncube will hold a special service for Zimbabweans in Braamfontein today.

In the aftermath of Zimbabwe's disastrous land reform programme, President
Robert Mugabe's chief lieutenants are squabbling over the spoils of the
government's land seizures. Zimbabwe seized land from white farmers under
the pretext of redistributing farms to needy peasants and alleviating
poverty. However, land disputes involving the political elite have exposed
high-level greed and other abuses attending land reform. The latest disputes
over farm seizures, as well as the dishing out of lucrative hunting
concessions, involve Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, Agriculture
Minister Joseph Made, Special Affairs Minister for Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement John Nkomo, Environment and Tourism Minister Francis Nhema and
Matabeleland North provincial governor Obert Mpofu, among others.

Moyo, who has been linked to three other farms, is now at the centre of yet
another controversy over a safari farm, Sikumi 2, in Dete near Hwange. The
farm has a top-of-the-range lodge, Sikumi Tree Lodge, and was seized by the
government before being parcelled out to a company controlled by Moyo. The
lodge is an ecotourism facility that offers upmarket accommodation and
photographic safaris to tourists. It was previously owned by a Mr B de
Fries, through freehold, but was leased by the Rainbow Tourism Group, which
tried to prevent Moyo from taking it over. Rainbow Tourism, in which the
government has a 17% stake, wants Moyo out as it claims his presence is
disrupting its tourism activities. Zanu-PF supporters in the area also want
Moyo evicted because he is not from that region. However, despite his
involvement in various farms, Moyo this week insisted that he had only one
property, Patterson Farm in Mazowe.

Mpofu is also fighting with Rainbow Tourism and other stakeholders over two
farms, Farm 40 and Farm 41, in the same area. And Mpofu is locked in a
dispute with authorities over Wildlife Estate, a world-renowned heritage
site that he seized two years ago. The farm has about 500 "presidential
herd" elephants given special protection by Mugabe in 1991. Police are
reportedly investigating Mpofu over his failure to bring foreign currency
earned from hunting back into the country. Made, meanwhile, is embroiled in
conflict over Chiumbiri River farm. Mugabe last year ordered party loyalists
with more than one seized farm to give the rest up. But the government is
still battling to repossess farms from leading party officials.

John Nkomo, who heads a presidential committee tasked with repossessing land
from Mugabe supporters, says more than 400 farms have been taken back from
members of Zanu PF's elite. He has issued a warning to those resisting
government efforts to recover land, saying they face arrest as their acts
constitute corruption. Nkomo is involved in a dispute with Zanu PF official
Kenneth Karidza over Rocky Arlington farm, which also incorporates Mbizi
game park. Nhema stands accused of granting hunting and photographic
concessions to Zanu PF political heavyweights in Dete, Gwayi Valley, Hwange,
Binga and Victoria Falls. Zimbabwe Defence Force commander General
Constantine Chiwenga and Policy Implementation Minister Webster Shamu are
among a string of officials who have been granted hunting concessions.
However, disgruntled Matabeleland North Zanu PF officials and safari
operators have cried foul - and have called for the eviction of ruling-party
bigwigs from other areas. This has sparked a high-level fight within Zanu PF
over land. The hunting industry is a money-spinner that generates millions
in foreign currency.

Speech to Conservative Party Spring Conference 2004

"Here at Harrogate today we begin the long march to political victory.

The main battle may still be some way off. But in June already there are battles to be fought, not least the European elections, and they are battles we must win.

At the heart of them will be the burning issues of integrity and trust, so cynically eroded by Tony Blair over these last seven years.

He has undermined them with spin.

He has dishonoured them by the casual ruthlessness with which those who dare to criticize him have been smeared and broken.

It is often said that the first casualty of war is truth. Here truth is the inexorable casualty of Blair.

He promised that he would ‘listen'. But his Government ignores the wishes of the British people.

He promised ‘no more lies…no more broken promises'. But these are the common currency of his Government.

He promised to restore ‘the bond of trust between the British people and their government'. No Prime Minister in history has done more to destroy that bond.

He doesn't trust the British people. And the British people no longer trust him.

As the taxi driver who brought me here on Friday said, "We don't like him any more. We don't trust him any more. It's time he was gone."

The breakdown of trust has been damaging enough here at home. In terms of our standing in the wider world it has cost us dear.

Britain's word in the world used to be respected. What we said we meant.

Not any more. The years of spin and deception have put paid to that.

Seven years ago we were promised an ‘ethical' foreign policy.

Tell that to Gibraltar. There was nothing ‘ethical' nor honourable about the furtive negotiations to sell out their British sovereignty to Spain.

And two years ago Tony Blair preached of ‘a moral duty to act'.

Ask the suffering Zimbabweans about that moral duty. They have been abandoned and betrayed by Blair in the face of Mugabe's reign of terror.

In the run-up to the Iraq war Tony Blair asked us to trust him.

I don't resile from my belief that the action we took in Iraq was justified and right.

It was not an easy decision, but had we walked away from it I am convinced that we would have had to return to it again when the challenge would have been much more dangerous and the risks infinitely more great.

But there are now growing suspicions about the case that Tony Blair made for war.

Too many unsubstantiated claims of personal knowledge of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Too many unanswered questions about what Blair knew and didn't know.

Too many arrogant dismissals of doubts.

Why Mr Blair? The case for war was sound. You didn't have to distort it.

He spoke loftily on Friday about the need to reform international law to justify future actions.

Well he must tell us what he meant and whether he can take his party with him.

Because if trust is to be restored, the Government and the Prime Minister must now come clean.

And then there is Europe.

In 1994 Blair proclaimed that "under my leadership Britain will never be isolated or left behind in Europe".

Well, now we know what he meant.

Going along with the crowd, rather than fighting Britain's corner. Following rather than leading. Surrendering our sovereignty, abandoning our interests rather than making a stand.

And all so that Tony Blair is never isolated or left behind. Never can one man's neurosis have cost his country so much for so little.

All humiliatingly illustrated in Berlin three weeks ago. The Prime Minister of our great country scuttling shamelessly around the skirts of France and Germany.

‘Euro-creep' /…/ - in every sense of the word.

Spin, deceit, betrayal, sellout. These are the true elements of Blair's foreign and security policy.

No strategic approach. No proper correlation between objectives and resources. The result - military overstretch, shortage of equipment and failure of direction.

We, on the other hand, will come into government with a coherent foreign and security policy.

It will be based on our national interest, on our sense of duty and of national pride. It will match our resources and our capabilities.

We will rebuild respect for Britain in the world, not least because what we promise we will deliver.

We won't turn our backs on the suffering people of Zimbabwe.

We will ask the UN to send in observers to monitor fair distribution of food. We will freeze the assets of all those who bankroll Mugabe.

And, much as I love cricket, I would never – unlike Jack Straw – leave England's captain in the intolerable position of having to shake the bloodied hand of Zimbabwe's cricket patron, Robert Mugabe.

I would make clear my view that the coming tour should not go ahead.

In Gibraltar we will disown this government's dishonourable agreement in principle to share sovereignty with Spain. Sovereignty shared is sovereignty surrendered.

And we will never agree to a settlement that has not received the freely given consent of the people of Gibraltar.

And unlike Blair and Straw, we will join the people of Gibraltar in celebrating their proud three hundred years of being British.

Our historic experiences in the Middle East should allow us evenhandedly to promote dialogue towards a settlement.

A settlement based on a secure Israel within acceptable boundaries and a viable Palestinian state.

And we believe that prize is within reach.

We will reassert the primacy of Nato as the cornerstone of our security policy.

We will disown Mr Blair's proposals to create a separate European military planning capability. We will support the widening role of Nato, and we will encourage continuing American commitment to it.

Our relationship to the United States will be one of genuine partnership, not of subservience.

Where we disagree we will say so. Where we can persuade we will do so.

But always in the spirit of close allies bound together by shared values and shared traditions, where loyalty to each other benefits both nations.

And we will continue to play our part in the fight against international terrorism.

We must never give the terrorist the victory of creating an environment of fear in which we have to restrict our freedoms and change our lives.

Three weeks ago I stood in the ruins of our consulate in Istanbul, where our consul Roger Short and other innocent people were cut down by a suicide bomb.

We owe it to them never to give up and never to give in.

So we must maintain our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq until real stability has been achieved.

I am proud of the way that our soldiers have responded to the challenges that they face there.

I visited them near Kabul recently. Their professionalism remains outstanding.

I honour those who have lost their lives.

I pay tribute to those who carry out their difficult tasks with such distinction.

But there must never again be a situation where our soldiers are put at risk because the likes of Geoff Hoon have delayed crucial military planning for party political reasons.

Never again should any of our soldiers be sent into combat without the right kit.

And never again should a British soldier find himself in the frontline with only five bullets to fight a whole war.

The first priority of a government is the defence of the realm and the protection of its citizens.

We will ensure that our armed forces, that invaluable national asset, are equipped to meet their commitments.

We will ensure that the excellence of our front line troops is maintained, and improved.

We will ensure that their ethos is fully respected and that they are properly resourced for their agreed tasks.

And of course at the same time we will see that every pound that the taxpayer spends on defence is both efficiently and effectively used.

And then the European Union, that partnership of sovereign nations of which we are, and are determined to remain, an important part.

That is why we oppose a Constitution which opens the door to a single European state in which we would be smothered and submerged.

In the Euro-elections in June this will be a major issue. Jonathan Evans will shortly explain why.

Let me here pay tribute to Jonathan and his colleagues for the enormously effective work they do on our behalf.

We want to see their numbers increased.

We want to see that to show Mr Blair that the British people want a forward looking Europe of Nations, not a backward looking Nation of Europe.

We will fight the Euro tooth and nail. And we will fight the proposed Constitution with equal ferocity and strength.

And above all we fight to let the British people decide in a referendum

Because we at last have the opportunity to build a flexible Europe.

A Europe within which those members who wish to integrate more closely may do so as long as they do not require others to do the same. As Michael Howard said recently in Berlin, ‘live and let live'.

A Europe in which the authority and primacy of national parliaments is reasserted, where there is proper accountability, where a genuinely enterprising and competitive Europe is created.

A Europe where national identities still matter.

And we will work with our fellow atlanticists in Europe to strengthen the vital partnership between Europe and America.

We can take the lead in creating a Europe which works for the people and not for Brussels.

We will reinvigorate the Commonwealth around its most influential members in every continent.

Because our historic role must be to bring together the Commonwealth, Europe and the US as a force for stability in an increasingly unstable world. But above all we will rebuild pride in our country.

Michael Howard in January reminded us " that by good fortune, hard work, natural talent and rich diversity, these islands are home to a great people with a noble past and an exciting future".

I am proud of that past, of those British characteristics which are our strength.

And the greatest of these is our love of freedom, a freedom which as Michael Howard also said should be defended "at any time, against all comers, however mighty".

And in looking at that exciting future we owe it to the people of this country to stand up for Britain, to have confidence in ourselves and to restore the confidence of others in us.

And under Michael Howard's clear and determined leadership we can do it.

And we can do more. We can start to set about this wretched government, to show them up for what they really are.

Our task is great.

To sweep this seedy, spin-ridden, self-seeking, self-serving, values-free bunch of second-raters out of the doors of Downing Street and onto the scrap heap of history where they belong."

Zupco boss Matonga languishes in cells
Tawanda Majoni

Mystery continues to shroud the case involving the Zupco chief executive
officer, Bright Matonga, who was picked by the police on Friday night and is
still in police detention.

At the time of going to press last night, the police seemed to be having
problems deciding on a sustainable charge to lay against Matonga, whose
arrest has been viewed as dramatic as his case is vague. His lawyer, Johanes
Tomana of Muzangaza, Mandaza and Tomana, told the Sunday Mirror that the
police were yet to tell him why they had arrested Matonga. He said he was
processing an application to the courts in order to secure his release since
the police had shown they did not have a case against his client.

"The police are yet to advise me on what charge or charges they are
preferring against him (Matonga). They should have done that by now and I
don't know what they are up to," said Tomana.

It has, however, been confirmed that the police intend to interrogate the
Zupco boss in his personal, rather than representative, capacity. The Zupco
lawyer, Wilson Manase said: "I have established that whatever charges are
going to be made (against Matonga) will be laid not against Zupco, but
Matonga per se." When contacted for comment, a senior police officer who has
been involved in the investigations that led to the arrest of Matonga,
Superintendent Edward Marodza of the Criminal Investigations Department's
Fraud Squad, declined to comment.

He instead referred this paper to the officer commanding CID Frauds,
Assistant Commissioner Nyakochwa, who he said was now handling the case
involving Matonga. Nyakochwa in turn said he did "not discuss such matters
over the phone" before switching off.

On Friday night, following the arrest of Matonga, Tomana and Manase had a
meeting with Nyakochwa.

The lawyers wanted to be appraised on what crimes had been manifested in the
Zupco-Scania deal, pertaining to Matonga and Zupco, but the police
reportedly failed to come up with a clear-cut case.

"When we met them (the police), they first indicated that they would charge
him (Matonga) with fraud but this fizzled out after some discussion. They
then promised to telephone me to advise of the charge, but that has not
happened," said Tomana.

He added: "The law is specific. You hold someone when there is a prima facie
case against him or her but that is not the case here. Since the police have
not indicated their intention to release him, I am applying to the High
Court for his release." Marodza's involvement in the matter has been lined
with controversy, with allegations being made that he forged documents meant
to force Matonga, Zupco, Metropolitan Bank and Pioneer Motor Company to
surrender documents pertaining to a deal to buy buses from a South African
assembling concern, Scania.

Just before he was arrested, Matonga had written to the police commissioner,
Augustine Chihuri, complaining over the way Marodza was handling his
investigations.

"It is our belief that .superintendent Marodza has actual intent to
embarrass and tarnish the image of both the Chief Executive Officer and
Zupco as an organisation. It is our belief that .Marodza has other ulterior
motives, driven by malice beyond the call of duty of an investigator," read
the complaint.

It has been alleged by a source privy to the goings on that Marodza was
acting at the behest of a cabinet minister who views Matonga as a political
threat. Matonga and the minister (name available) are said to be both
interested in running for the Kadoma East parliamentary seat in next year's
parliamentary election.

It has also been revealed that when Zupco underwent a restructuring exercise
about two years ago, some influential people, among them the mentioned
minister, wanted the parastatal to be sold off, with the view to snatch it
up for themselves.

The shareholding structure of Zupco was a source of acrimony.

Government however insisted to remain as the major stakeholder, arguing that
Zupco was too strategic for privatisation.

There have been suspicions over payment for the initial 48 buses, whose
total cost was $7.5 billion. Controversy started to dog the Zupco-Scania
deal when the purchase to buy the coaches did not go to tender. However,
Zupco has since been absolved by government. The buses-one Andare Class
luxury coach, 10 Andare Semi luxury coaches and 37 Torino urban and rural
coaches-have since been delivered to Zupco.

Pioneer, as the agents for Scania South Africa (Pty) Ltd, on February 10,
2004 confirmed that they received the $7.5 billion from Metropolitan. A
director with Pioneer, one M Verwey in a letter to Zupco, acknowledged that
the sum had been received from Metropolitan on November 28, 2002, January
24, 2003, February 21, 2003, June 9, 2003 and December 11, 2003,
respectively. The money was received in tranches of $3.13 billion, $1.52
billion, $150 million, $800 million and $1.9 billion, respectively.

Marodza was last year in South Africa investigating possible fraud in the
way the deal was handled. Sources say his investigations, which were done in
conjunction with the South African police, failed to yield substance,
judging by the delay to charge Matonga.

Said another source: "It becomes difficult to understand how he could be
charged, because it seems that so far, no cases of fraudulent activities
have been reported by Scania, Metropolitan, Pioneer or even Zupco itself."
It was revealed this past week that Scania intended to sue Zupco for
allegedly failing to pay them as per their contract. However, it has not
been established how Scania failed to receive its money.