Zimbabwean officials flout courts after seizing
Guardian correspondent
Steven Morris Saturday May 17, 2003 The
Guardian
The Guardian's Zimbabwe correspondent, Andrew Meldrum, was
deported last night even though three separate court orders were made
prohibiting his expulsion. After spending 23 years reporting on the
country, Meldrum was manhandled into a car outside the offices of Zimbabwe's
immigration service, driven to the airport and put on a plane to
London.
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, led worldwide condemnation,
saying: "I'm very concerned at this case. Petty and vindictive actions like
this simply expose the Zimbabwe regime for what it is."
Michael
Ancram, the shadow foreign secretary, said: "This is yet another disgraceful
action showing the lack of respect for freedom of expression and speech of
Robert Mugabe's evil regime. This is the act of a dictator."
A US state
department spokesperson said the treatment of Meldrum, an American citizen,
"reflects ongoing erosion of basic rights and the rule of law, and is yet
another example of the intimidation faced by journalists in Zimbabwe, who
have endured threats, arbitrary arrests and violence at the hands of the
government and its supporters."
Meldrum's wife, Dolores, spoke to him on
his mobile phone. "He told me the immigration officials had covered him with
a jacket, hooded-style, and drove him around a dirt road. When they got to
the airport he was locked up in an underground room," she told
Reuters.
Meldrum's lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, claimed his deportation
signalled a "complete breakdown of the judicial system and the entire state
machinery".
The disturbing sequence of events began yesterday morn ing
when Meldrum, 51, presented himself at the headquarters of the immigration
service. He was told that he was considered a "prohibited immigrant" and "an
undesirable inhabitant"and would be deported. He emerged from the building
surrounded by officials and police.
Meldrum shouted to waiting
reporters: "I'm being deported. This is a vindictive action of a government
afraid of a free press." He was manhandled by police officers, one of whom
grabbed him by the collar, and bundled into an unmarked police car before
being driven to the airport.
During the day the high court in Harare
issued three orders at three hearings that Meldrum should not be
deported.
At the second of the hearings yesterday afternoon Ms Mtetwa
argued that the immigration officials were in contempt for ignoring Meldrum's
right to appeal a previous de portation order last July to the supreme court.
That appeal has still to be heard.
The state attorney, Loice
Matamba-Moyotold, said she did not know why the home affairs minister, Kembo
Mahadi, issued the deportation order because he had said it was not in the
public interest to disclose why Meldrum was deemed an
"undesirable".
Judge Charles Hungwe said he saw no reason why the
reporter should be detained. "He must be able to enjoy his freedom," the
judge said. He said the state's reluctance to give reasons for Meldrum's
deportation left "suspicions in one's mind".
After the third hearing
yesterday evening, Ms Mtetwa raced to the airport and served the new order
prohibiting Meldrum's deportation to Air Zimbabwe staff. Though immigration
officials rushed away when they saw her, she also managed to serve the or der
on them. Nevertheless, Meldrum was put on a flight to Gatwick. He managed to
wave to friends and make a phone call to reassure them that he was all
right.
Ms Mtetwa said it was clear the state attorney and the immigration
officers were not acting independently.
The editor of the Guardian,
Alan Rusbridger, said: "The deportation of our reporter Andrew Meldrum from
Zimbabwe is a political act which should invite the strongest possible
condemnation from the international community.
"The Zimbabwean
authorities have been persecuting Andrew for the past 12 months and their
determination to deport him can only be interpreted as a concerted effort to
stifle any free press within the country. This is an extremely grim day for
Zimbabwe."
The latest attempts to deport Meldrum began last week when
immigration officers ar rived at his home after dark and said he was wanted
for questioning.
On Tuesday Meldrum voluntarily went to the
immigration offices, where he was told he had been writing "bad stories"
about Zimbabwe. His residence permit and passport were confiscated. He was
subsequently told to appear at the immigration offices
yesterday.
Johann Fritz, director of the International Press Institute,
said: "Meldrum's illegal and unwarranted removal is yet another example of
the ongoing attempt by the government of President Mugabe to prevent
information on the appalling situation in Zimbabwe finding its way out of the
country."
Paul Themba Nyathi, secretary for information and publicity for
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, described the decision to
deport Meldrum as "another nail in the coffin for press freedom in
Zimbabwe".
In their determination to prevent news of what is
happening in Zimbabwe reaching the outside world, Mugabe's officials have
launched a fresh attack on the Guardian's correspondent, Andrew Meldrum, one
of the last correspondents to be working there. Accused of breaking the terms
of his residence permit by writing about the country's political situation,
he has had his residence permit and passport confiscated.
A prominent
local lawyer who is representing him has herself been threatened with
detention. Behind this campaign against Meldrum, who has lived in the country
for 23 years, lies the aim of intimidating him to a point when
such journalists as remain are persuaded to stop reporting the dire
conditions that now prevail in that country.
Many people find it hard
to understand how Robert Mugabe, who has brought Zimbabwe to this pass,
remains apparently impregnable, defying all advice to step down and strong
enough to avenge himself on those who attempt to stand in his path. He is in
fact surrounded by ministers, officials, policemen and paramilitaries, well
aware by now that if Mugabe goes they are doomed. Most of them would have no
place under a different regime except the prison house. That lends a certain
desperation to actions designed to muzzle the press, direct the judiciary and
punish those who dare offer political opposition. Morgan Tsvangirai, the
Zimbabwean opposition leader, is on trial for treason.
The recent
attempt by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and others to persuade
Mugabe to step down or at least to attempt to pull his country back from the
brink by enlisting the help of the opposition fell on stony ground. Though
last year's presidential election was derided by observers as a travesty of
democracy and is being challenged in the courts, Mugabe insists that his
re-election must be recognised as legitimate before there is any question of
talks with the opposition leader of Movement for
Democratic Change.
Such a demand has, properly, been rejected. Since
that unsuccessful encounter, President Mbeki has done a U-turn and is now
protesting that it is wrong for outsiders to meddle in Zimbabwe.
Embarrassingly for us, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, has chosen this
moment to make his first visit to South Africa. He is likely to be told
bluntly to mind his own business.
What we now have to reckon with is that
sooner or later the end will come in Zimbabwe for Mugabe, and the ugly truth
of what has been happening there will pour out. The world will hear in full
of the tyranny that has prevailed, the gross denial of human rights,
intimidation of the judiciary, the theft of white farms and pervasive
corruption. All this without serious rebuke from South Africa, without
redress by United Nations, but with a certain amount of hand-wringing by
Britain, Europe and America. What has been happening in Zimbabwe, a former
British responsibility, will take its place in history alongside the more
shaming episodes of our times. We shall not find it easy to live it
down.
Source: Committee to
Protect Journalists Date: 16 MAY 2003 Country/Topic:
Zimbabwe Person(s): Andrew Meldrum Target(s):
journalist(s) Type(s) of violation(s): harassed , legal
action Urgency: Bulletin (CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a
CPJ letter to President Robert Mugabe:
May 16,
2003
President Robert Mugabe Office of the President Munhumutapa
Building Samora Machel Avenue/ 3rd Street Harare, Zimbabwe
Via
facsimile: 011-263-4-708-820
Your Excellency,
The Committee to
Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by your government's continuing
harassment of Andrew Meldrum, Zimbabwe correspondent for the U.K.-based
Guardian newspaper. Immigration officials ordered him today to leave the
country.
Meldrum, a U.S. citizen who has covered Zimbabwe for The
Guardian for 22 years, went to the Department of Immigration today at 10:00
a.m. for a scheduled meeting with officials, where he was informed he had to
leave the country. The deportation order, signed by Home Affairs Minister
Kembo Mahadi, called Meldrum "an undesirable inhabitant" of Zimbabwe but said
it was not in the public interest to disclose why, The Associated
Press reported.
Immediately after the meeting, while he was speaking
to journalists outside the immigration offices, Meldrum was manhandled by
police and pushed into an unmarked car that drove him directly to the Harare
Airport, local sources told CPJ.
Beatrice Mtetwa, Meldrum's lawyer,
obtained a high court stay against the journalist's deportation, which she
later presented to officials at the airport. The court order stipulated that
Meldrum was to be allowed to attend a hearing on his deportation this
afternoon. However, officials have not yet produced Meldrum. Though the state
attorney has informed the court that the journalist is still at the airport
and has not yet been deported, no one has been in contact with Meldrum since
he was taken this morning.
Meldrum, along with Daily News journalists
Geoff Nyarota and Lloyd Mudiwa, was charged with "publishing false
information" under Section 80 of the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act (AIPPA) in April 2002. Though acquitted of the charge on July 15,
2002, Meldrum was ordered to leave the country within 24 hours. He
successfully challenged the deportation order, which was
overturned.
Meldrum recently went into hiding after a group of
immigration officers went to his house on the evening of May 7, demanding to
question the journalist. On May 13, Meldrum attended a meeting at the
Department of Immigration during which his passport and residence permit were
confiscated. Officials told him that his permit only allowed him to report on
economics and tourism. Meldrum had recently filed stories about the
deteriorating political and economic climate in Zimbabwe and police
brutality. Meldrum, however, told CPJ that his residence permit does not
include any conditions on his reporting.
As an organization of
journalists dedicated to defending the rights of our colleagues worldwide, we
condemn the harassment of Andrew Meldrum. The order for his deportation, as
well as the extraordinary conditions of his arrest, indicate that this is a
blatant attempt to silence the reporting of a journalist who has criticized
Your Excellency's regime.
We remain deeply concerned about Meldrum's
well-being. We call on you to do everything in your power to see that Meldrum
is immediately released, and that the deportation order against him is
dropped. We also urge you to stop the harassment of journalists in reprisal
for their work and to see that they are allowed to practice their profession
freely.
Thank you for your attention in this matter. We await your
reply.
Sincerely,
Ann Cooper Executive
Director
CC: American Society of Newspaper Editors Amnesty
International Article 19 (United Kingdom) Artikel 19 (The
Netherlands) Canadian Journalists for Free Expression Freedom
Forum Freedom House Human Rights Watch Index on
Censorship International Center for Journalists International Federation
of Journalists International PEN International Press Institute Lorne W.
Craner, United States Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor The Newspaper Guild The North American Broadcasters
Association Overseas Press Club Reporters Sans Frontières Sergio Vieira
de Mello, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Society of
Professional Journalists World Association of Newspapers World Press
Freedom Committee
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Similar appeals can be sent
to:
President Robert Mugabe Office of the President Munhumutapa
Building Samora Machel Avenue/ 3rd Street Harare, Zimbabwe Fax: +263 4
708 820
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
MORE
INFORMATION:
For further information, contact Adam Posluns (ext.
107) at CPJ, 330 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10001, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 465
1004, fax: +1 212 465 9568, e-mail: africa@cpj.org, aposluns@cpj.org,
Internet: http://www.cpj.org/
**Updates
IFEX alerts of 16 and 9 May 2003. For further information on the previous
legal harassment of Meldrum, see alerts of 18, 15 and 3 July, 19, 13 and 3
June, 22, 8, 7, 3 and 2 May 2002**
The harassment of Guardian journalist Andrew Meldrum and his
lawyer is symptomatic of the clampdown on freedom of speech in Zimbabwe. We
have documented widespread threats, arrests and beatings, including the
police attacks on a peaceful international women's day march, and know that
human rights defenders are more fearful than ever. The Zimbabwe government
has systematically introduced legislation which silences criticism and
opposition, while continuing to perpetrate human rights violations and place
the basic rights of the Zimbabwean people under siege.
The work of
Andrew Meldrum and other independent journalists who continue to work against
pressures that would be unimaginable in the UK is vital.
The
international community, particularly Zimbabwe's African neighbours, must
state categorically that these restrictions and abuses must end and ensure
that this happens. Kate Allen Director, Amnesty International
UK
Herald Report The story in the Daily News yesterday
claiming that a deal for a transitional government in the country has been
put in place is a shocking and unacceptable example of the kind of
unprofessional and unethical pink journalism that Zimbabweans neither need
nor deserve, the Minister of State for Information and Publicity, Professor
Jonathan Moyo, said yesterday.
"In fact, nobody in the civilised world
needs or deserves this kind of journalism. The deliberately false and
sensational story in Strive Masiyiwa's beleaguered paper has provided the
clearest proof to the media fraternity that pink lies from elsewhere have
come to the blue Daily News," the minister said in a
statement.
Quoting unnamed western diplomats, the Daily News story,
written by Sydney Masamvu, said the international community was putting
together an economic package for Zimbabwe that was dependent on President
Mugabe stepping down in the next six months.
But Prof Moyo said:
"Unsuspecting readers of the self-evidently false story who might be misled
into believing that Sydney Masamvu, who recently left the Financial Gazette
in a huff under as yet unclear circumstances, actually wrote the article,
should be forgiven for not realising that the story is a typical case of a
reporter without a soul or mind of his own being used to peddle not so clever
anti-Zimbabwe British intelligence propaganda."
He said that was why,
despite purporting to be about a major issue that should be of major public
interest, the whole story was based on an unnamed and faceless western
diplomat "who must, in fact, be a British intelligence operative".
"No
serious, ethical and professional reporter, editor or newspaper would want to
be associated with that kind of a story. Therefore, there is something going
on here," said Prof Moyo.
"If Strive Masiyiwa, who has been recently
reported by some sections of the media to be harbouring presidential
ambitions, imagines that he can improve his chances of leading an imaginary
transitional government in Zimbabwe by using the Daily News' outright
fabrications, then he and his blue-eyed editors at the Daily News should
think again."
Prof Moyo said Masiyiwa, his editors, reporters and
newspapers as well as others like them, including British intelligence
operatives, could have as many scenarios in their heads about imaginary
transitional governments and exit plans as they wanted but none of them would
become true through the mere fact of their repeated publication in
unprofessional and unethical media.
United Nations - The Security
Council on Friday demanded an end to a wave of killings in northeastern Congo
and urged Secretary-General Kofi Annan to try to round up troops for an
emergency international force.
Mr. Annan
sent a letter Friday asking the council to approve the speedy deployment of
"a highly trained and well-equipped multinational force" to the town of
Bunia, which has been at the center of the
ethnic violence.
He expressed concern
that "the rapidly deteriorating situation" would worsen and have serious
humanitarian consequences.
The
secretary-general has already asked France to lead the force and provide a
battalion with up to 1,000 troops.
But
Paris won't accept unless other nations join and the deployment is for a
limited period.
Council diplomats said Mr.
Annan has asked about 20 countries for troops and some indicated they were
prepared to contribute, including South Africa and
Angola.
Pakistan's U.N. Ambassador Munir
Akram, the current council president, said the council hopes to have a
clearer idea about troop contributions early next
week.
Then, a resolution authorizing an
emergency force would be drafted, and hopefully be approved later in the
week, he said.
Rival Lendu and Hema tribal
groups have been fighting for control of Bunia in resource-rich Ituri
province since May 7, when neighboring Uganda withdrew its more than 6,000
troops from in and around the town as part of a U.N.-brokered peace
accord.
At least 100 people have been
confirmed killed in the fighting.
The
Ugandan withdrawal left Bunia in the hands of local Lendu tribal fighters, a
625-member U.N. peacekeeping contingent made up mostly of troops from
Uruguay, and an even smaller Congolese police
force.
The contingent proved no match for
an estimated 25,000 to 28,000 Lendu and Hema fighters in
Ituri.
The United Nations strengthened its
forces in Bunia to 750 on Friday as the tribal factions signed a cessation of
hostilities agreement.
"This is an
escalating and serious situation to which greater international attention is
urgently needed," said Richard Grenell, spokesman for U.S. Ambassador John
Negroponte. "The United States is very concerned about the recent
developments and is looking for ways in which we can support efforts to end
the violence."
A formal statement adopted
by the Security Council on Friday condemns the recent killings and "demands
that all hostilities in Ituri
cease immediately."
The council warned
that "there will be no impunity" for the perpetrators of human rights
violations and other atrocities in Bunia.
The French-led force that Mr. Annan is trying to put together would be an
international force, backed by the United Nations, which Mr. Annan said would
provide security at the airport and vital installations in Bunia "and protect
the civilian population."
It would not be
a U.N. peacekeeping force.
Neighboring
Uganda and Rwanda and their Congo rebel allies held east Congo during a civil
war that began in 1998.
The armies and
those of Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia have since withdrawn under a series of
peace deals.
Uganda had warned that the
withdrawal of the last of its troops would leave a security
vacuum.
The council authorized an
8,700-strong U.N. peacekeeping force for Congo in December and Mr. Annan is
expected to recommend an expansion in a report next week, diplomats
said.
A 1,500-strong Bangladesh-led
battalion is expected to be deployed to Bunia and Ituri in the coming months,
and diplomats said France wants the emergency force to remain only until it
arrives.
MALAWIAN President Bakili Muluzi
has withdrawn an invitation to Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader
Morgan Tsvangirai to hold talks in Lilongwe, pending further consultations
between Malawi and South Africa, it was learnt this
week.
According to a preliminary plan that
was drafted by the Malawian government, Tsvangirai and his delegation were
supposed to have travelled to Malawi yesterday for talks with Muluzi. The
talks were supposed to centre on ways of resolving the political stalemate in
Zimbabwe.
MDC officials said the trip was
cancelled abruptly on Friday afternoon.
Tsvangirai yesterday confirmed that the trip had been put on
hold.
"We were informed that the trip had
been shelved and that President Muluzi and Mbeki are still consulting. That
is all I can say," Tsvangirai told The Daily
News.
The MDC leader was also supposed to
meet with President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, who is part of a regional
troika - including Nigerian leader Olusegun Obasanjo and Muluzi - that is
attempting to facilitate dialogue between the MDC and the ruling ZANU
PF.
The three southern African presidents
were in Harare last week to hold talks with leaders of the two parties in an
attempt to bring them to the negotiating
table.
Sources told The Daily News that
after the visit to Harare, Tsvangirai received an official invitation from
the Malawian government, through its Foreign Affairs Ministry, to hold talks
with Muluzi.
They said the invitation was
received last Friday morning but was cancelled on the afternoon of that
day.
They said on Friday afternoon, the
MDC leadership received a message from the Malawian High Commission in Harare
cancelling the invitation and saying that Muluzi and Mbeki were consulting on
the matter.
It could not be established
yesterday why the Malawian and South African leaders still needed to consult
over Tsvangirai's visit.
No comment could
be obtained from the Malawian High Commission
in Harare. It was not clear yesterday
whether a new date had been set for
the trip.
On Monday, Tsvangirai had
used the letter of invitation from Muluzi to request Zimbabwe's Attorney
General's Office to relax his bail conditions to enable him to travel to
Malawi.
Tsvangirai, who is on trial for
treason, had to surrender his passport as part of bail conditions set by the
High Court.
By yesterday, there had been
no response to his request for a return of the
passport. Sources say following the
cancellation of Tsvangirai's proposed trip to Malawi, Mbeki and Muluzi are
now expected to travel to Harare again for another round of talks with the
leaders of Zimbabwe's main
political parties.
Analysts yesterday
said the withdrawal of the invitation could be a bad omen for attempts to
break the political impasse in Zimbabwe.
Diplomats this week said the international community was already working on
an economic package that would become effective once Mugabe stepped down and
a transitional government took over to prepare for
fresh elections.
JOSTLING for the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)-held Zengeza parliamentary seat has
intensified after Member of Parliament Tafadzwa Musekiwa vowed this week that
he would not return home from the United Kingdom, where he is in self-imposed
exile.
MDC officials said the party had
failed on Wednesday to persuade the MP to return
home.
Gabriel Chaibva, the MP for Harare
South, said Musekiwa was adamant that he would not return to Zimbabwe and
vowed to remain in Britain, citing safety
concerns.
Musekiwa himself told The Daily
News: "It is unfortunate that I am living in exile because of the behaviour
of this rogue regime, which does not respect human dignity and the sanctity
of human life."
Gibson Sibanda, the MDC's
vice president and MP for Nkulumane, said the decision to contact Muse- kiwa
was made at a caucus meeting of MDC MPs in Harare on Wednesday. Sibanda said
if Musekiwa failed to return immediately, he would lose his seat in
Parliament because of his long absence from the
House.
The Speaker of Parliament on
Thursday indicated that the Zengeza seat would be declared vacant next week
if Musekiwa did not return to Zimbabwe. Sibanda said: "Musekiwa's problem
emanates from police brutality. He says he has evidence that his life is
under threat." "Although we are concerned about the constituency which is not
being served, the MP's life comes first. His life is in danger and that is
our greatest concern," he explained.
Asked
what became of an ultimatum the MDC issued to the legislator to return home
by 26 February, Sibanda said: "At that time Musekiwa had not elaborated on
the seriousness of the matter. I spoke to him after the ultimatum had been
issued and we are now more concerned about his
safety."
Silent Dube, a former army
captain, yesterday said he had already started campaigning for the Zengeza
seat, while Collin Gwiyo, secretary general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions, said he was also interested in the
seat.
An MDC insider said apart from Dube
and Gwiyo, others gunning for the post were Solomon Madzore, an MDC activist,
Alex Musundire, the MDC's chairman for Chitungwiza, and businessman Batsirai
Potera. However it was not possible to secure comment from Madzore, Musundire
and Potera.
Musekiwa fled Zimbabwe last
year for what he said was temporary exile in London, citing a plot by ZANU PF
officials and relentless efforts by the police to eliminate him and other
"Young Turks" in the opposition MDC. Musekiwa has been arrested on several
occasions in the past and in March 2002, the MP fled from his home in
Chitungwiza when six men threw teargas into his
bedroom.
MEMBERS of the European
Parliament (MEPs) have petitioned the Belgian government against the granting
of a visa to Samuel Mumbengegwi, Zimbabwe's Minister of Industry and
International Trade, to travel to Brussels despite a European ban on senior
government officials.
Mumbengegwi is in
Brussels to attend the African, Carribean, Pacific countries-European Union
(ACP-EU) Council of Ministers meeting in Brussels, which began on
Wednesday.
However, the minister is one of
several government and ruling ZANU PF officials who have been banned from
travelling to EU member countries as part of smart sanctions imposed by the
15-nation economic bloc.
The United States
of America, Canada and Australia have also imposed smart sanctions against
President Robert Mugabe and his top hierarchy because of alleged human rights
abuses and electoral fraud.
Lizzy Sugg, a
press officer for the EU Parliament, said parliamentarians had on Wednesday
voted unanimously on a report of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly
severely criticising Mugabe for sending the banned Mumbengegwi to
Brussels.
She said the MEPs had petitioned
the Belgian government over its decision to
grant Mumbengenwi a
visa.
"We still await the response from
the Belgian authorities as regards the granting of the visa to the Zimbabwean
minister to travel into the EU despite his travel ban," she
said. Speaking from Brussels, MEP's Geoffrey
Van Orden said the travel ban against Zimbabwean officials had mostly proved
to be a failure.
Van Orden said: "Yet
again this exposes the ineffectiveness of EU measures. To add insult to
injury, Mumbengegwi, who is personally banned by the EU, is being hosted in
an EU building by EU ministers. What message does this send to the Zimbabwean
people suffering Mugabe's continuing
repression?
"We have this ludicrous
situation of an individual banned by the EU coming to the EU's capital, with
the host country claiming it has no power to stop this. The simple fact is
that if EU governments wanted to prevent Mugabe's henchmen from attending
meetings in the EU, they would."
But
Frankeinet Benedicte Frankite, the Belgian ambassador in Harare, said
Mumbengegwi had only been granted a visa so that he could participate in the
EU-ACP meeting.
"We understand the
concerns of these people. It must be understood that the visa was granted
solely for the duration of the meeting," she said. "When the travel bans were
imposed, there is a clause which allows banned people to attend an
international conference being hosted in a given EU country." She added: "The
visa is strictly to Belgium only and for the duration of the meeting. The
freezing of his property also applies, so if Mr Mumbengegwi has some assets
in Belgium, he will not have access to them. He will have to depend on what
he brought from outside the EU."
Governor ordered to stop interfering in
conservancies
5/17/03 7:28:38 AM (GMT
+2)
Staff
Reporter
ENVIRONMENT Minister Francis Nhema has directed provincial officials to cease
unilaterally allocating interests in Zimbabwe's national conservancies, where
the government is attempting to empower blacks, it was learnt this
week.
Government sources said one of the officials to whom the instruction was
communicated was Masvingo provincial governor Josiah Hungwe, who has been
accused of interfering with privately-owned
conservancies.
Hungwe is said to be using his influence to plant politicians and businessmen
on privately-owned conservancies in his
province.
Officials within the Ministry of Environment and Tourism said that Nhema was
opposed to Hungwe's attempts to force conservancy owners to co-opt his allies
into their ventures without the ministry's
knowledge.
The officials said Nhema had ordered Hungwe to stop the interference after
complaints from conservancy owners and villagers forced to move from ranches
to make way for politicians and
businessmen.
It was not clear when Nhema had made the order, but officials in his ministry
said the minister had raised the issue " a few weeks
ago".
Nhema confirmed that he had ordered a stop to any interference in
conservancies, but said the directive had not been issued to
Hungwe alone.
"I have told all the provinces not to do that. The ministry has a programme
of action to indigenise conservancies and it has to be followed through in a
proper manner," he
said.
"We don't want it to be carried out haphazardly, so we have told provincial
leaders not to interfere with the conservancies. It has to be well planned
because it is not a matter of just bringing in local people, but we are
convinced that local communities should benefit," he
added.
But Environment Ministry officials said Nhema was particularly disturbed by
Hungwe's actions, which they said threatened an indigenisation programme of
conservancies that the ministry had embarked
on.
"Hungwe has been trying to arbitrarily plant his own people onto some of
these ventures. Reports that he intended to do this to all the conservancies
in his province alarmed the minister, who felt compelled to order a stop to
such shady practices," said a ministry
official.
Hungwe has been involved in wrangles involving multi-billion-dollar
conservancies and ranches in the province because of his insistence that they
should co-opt his nominees into their
projects.
Contacted for comment this week, Hungwe remained defiant: " I am not going to
comment. Go back to Nhema if you want a comment. I am just going ahead with
the indigenisation
programme."
Earlier this year, Hungwe attempted to force the privately-owned $50-billion
Malilangwe Conservancy Trust to co-opt prominent businessman Enock Kamushinda
and army boss Brigadier-General Gibson
Mashingaidze.
Nhema slammed the move then, saying Hungwe's actions were out of line with
his ministry's
programme.
However, Hungwe defended his action saying it was part of a government
indigenisation programme, a claim dismissed by
Nhema.
Nhema this week said his ministry would continue protecting conservancies
until it had finalised the indigenisation
programme.
"Most provinces had not resettled people into conservancies and those that
had moved in people are actually in the process of finding alternative land
for the
people.
"We have finished our paper as a ministry and we have asked the conservancy
owners to give us proposal on how best they can take on board indigenous
players. We are beginning to receive those proposals now,"
said Nhema.
MANY Zimbabweans must
have been relieved to read in The Daily News yesterday that veterans of the
country's war of liberation are urging President Robert Mugabe to dismiss
most of his Cabinet and governors because they are corrupt and regularly
misinform the nation about the dire situation it is
facing.
In a bold move, the veterans
declared that corrupt ministers, governors and senior civil servants were
enjoying immunity from the justice system while, to put it in the veterans'
words, "small people are sacrificed very often for small mistakes"
.
In fact, the veterans just stopped short
of telling Mugabe to fire his entire
Cabinet. Not that there is anything new in
what the veterans are belatedly telling
Mugabe.
Many Zimbabweans who do not use
rose-tinted glasses to look at the mess that is Zimbabwe actually want the
entire government to step down.
What is
refreshing though in the ex-combatants' statements is that it reflects a
growing soberness and realisation among even the most pathologically radical
elements within ZANU PF and the government that Zimbabwe is in deep
trouble.
It is an admission, veiled
though, that the government's chaotic land reforms and its new National
Economic Revival Programme have failed to stop the economic haemorrhaging and
Zimbabwe's steady progress towards
total collapse.
Because this is coming
from the veterans - the last bastion of support for Mugabe and his
administration - it is a sign that at long last the chickens may be on their
way home to roost.
This should be cause
for serious introspection by Mugabe and his government. Not that the war
veterans themselves are saints.
These are
the same people who have been Mugabe's foot soldiers, constantly being
whipped into line to do the hatchet job to keep ZANU PF in power, never mind
the cost of the activities to the nation.
It is the veterans who spearheaded the violent seizure of land
from commercial farmers and destroyed this key sector in
2000.
The results of the veterans'
workmanship is now seen in the unending queues for scarce food, scarce fuel
and many other essential products which are no longer easily available or
affordable.
It is they again who scared
away the last foreign investors and
their capital. Perhaps, more crucially, it
was the veterans who triggered the present economic crisis when they
virtually blackmailed Mugabe in 1997 into giving them hefty financial
packages that Treasury had not budgeted for. The now worthless Zimbabwean
dollar collapsed because of this act of
madness.
In short, it is the actions taken
by the veterans with the full blessing of Mugabe in the past six years which
have brought Zimbabwe to its knees.
Indeed, if there was to be a truth commission to delve into the present
chaos, the veterans and their leaders would have a lot to
answer for.
But the point really is: If
Mugabe will not listen to anyone else, then at least he should listen to his
own veterans and fire the government because it is failing the
nation.
After which Mugabe himself must
tender his immediate resignation as Head of State in the name of collective
responsibility
The Land. The Land. The
Land. These two little words have been shoved
down our throats every single day for the past three years and now we are
sick to death of them.
"The land is ours!
The land is in our hands! The land is the economy! The Third Chimurenga is
almost complete," is the loud and proud proclamation of the
government.
What a war it has indeed been
as seen in the results of the latest Commercial Farmers' Union survey
published in a shocking front page article in this paper this
week.
The statistics are almost too
embarrassing to repeat here. Tobacco
production has dropped from 200 million kg in 2001 to under 100 million kg
today; 60 percent of the national herd is culled and hanging on hooks in
abattoirs and slaughterhouses around the country; maize production has gone
down from 2 million tonnes three years ago to a paltry 70 000 tonnes today;
soya bean harvests of 162 000 tonnes per year before the start of this
chimurenga have now dropped to an abysmally pathetic 30 000
tonnes.
Prior to 2000, Zimbabwe was
exporting basic food like maize, soya beans, wheat and beef to a number of
neighbouring African countries and now we are just paupers, holding out our
begging bowls to the world.
Last year the
World Food Programme had to feed 8 million of us and this year the figure is
well over 7 million people needing assistance. Isn't it a big shame that
Zimbabwe, the former breadbasket for their entire southern African region,
has now been reduced to a street beggar?
The most dramatic statistic produced in the newspaper article related to
tractor sales in Zimbabwe. Prior to the start of the ZANU PF's
"land redistribution exercise", farmers purchased an average of 1 600
tractors a year, but in 2002 just eight new tractors were purchased from
distributors around the country.
These
are just a few of the horrifying figures that have been produced from our
government's land redistribution policy, but they alone do not fully capture
the awful struggle that now makes up our daily
lives.
Most of us haven't got enough to
eat anymore, we can't afford three meals a day, we can't find bread or
margarine and have no money for even the cheapest of spreads or
jams.
Middle class people can no longer
afford to eat properly and unemployed people have been reduced to starving
and desperate scavengers.
There used to be
a sticker that farmers displayed on their car windows which read "No farmers,
no future" - how true these words have become for us all! No food, no fuel,
limited electricity, no public telephone boxes, no spare parts, no foreign
currency and now, not even any bank notes left in the
banks.
Winter is upon us and again those
great fields of wheat which used to guarantee our daily bread are not there
and not planted.
How much longer are we
going to allow this to continue? In just four months' time the land should be
filled with huge tobacco leaves, shoulder-high maize and a sea of green
soya-bean leaves.
Surely we are not going
to waste yet another farming season? Surely we are not going to wait, again,
to see what happens on the political
front?
Politics does not put food in our
bellies or fuel in our cars, farmers do. To
exacerbate an already dreadful situation, we now hear from a report in The
Financial Gazette that Zimbabwe is to swop US$100 million of agricultural
produce so as to access money promised earlier by the Libyans but which was
being held because the government had reneged on its payment commitments on
fuel.
The question is: what agricultural
produce? The commodities apparently involved in this deal are tobacco, sugar,
beef, tea and coffee.
Already we are
hungry, but now we are going to give what little food we have to Libya. Will
someone point out to the government that foreign currency is such a precious
and critical commodity it must be spent wisely? The reason we are in dire
economic straits is because we mismanaged our foreign currency
reserves.
With these horrific figures and
the dreadful cost to our daily lives and the economy, I do not know what Zanu
PF have got to be proud of.
Surely after
this, the word Chimurenga will forever be banned in Zimbabwe because there
have been no winners in this war. We have all
lost.
LOCAL banks this week hiked
lending rates to between 65 and 75 percent because of the escalating cost of
money, according to industry officials.
Lending rates were previously around 57 percent, after rising from slightly
above 30 percent in the past few months.
Banking officials said most financial institutions were being forced to
borrow money from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe at high rates because they did
not have Treasury Bills (TBs) to secure funds
cheaply.
Unsecured funds attract a 40
percent penalty but borrowing using TBs is charged at 51
percent.
Officials with banks said the
rise in interest rates was meant to cushion banks from the high cost of
borrowing.
"I think it's only fair that as
the cost of borrowing goes up, banks have to adjust accordingly," said an
official with a local commercial bank.
"We
will obviously keep rates in line with the cost of money, but we will also
accordingly adjust depositors' rates," the official
added.
The government last year indicated
that it would allow interest rates to be determined by the market, but rates
only started firming a month ago when banks hiked rates to around 57 percent
from 35 percent.
Kingdom Bank has now
increased its minimum lending rates to 65 percent, First Banking Corporation
to 67 percent and NMB Bank to 75 percent from 55
percent.
In a statement displayed in its
banking halls, the latter financial institution said: "NMB Bank Limited
wishes to advise that due to changes in market conditions, we have had to
change the minimum lending rate from 55 percent per annum to 75 percent per
annum with effect from 12 May 2003.
Meanwhile, Kingdom Bank has already suspended issuing new
individual loans. It was not possible to
secure official comment to establish why the bank had suspended the issue of
the loans, but officials at NMB's loan centre in Harare's First Street said
the financial institution would only resume lending to individuals in two
months.
The rise in lending rates follows
indications by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe that it wanted to increase
interest rates to curb speculative and consumptive
borrowing.
Some investors had taken
advantage of the central bank's low interest rate regime introduced in
January 2001 to borrow money to buy foreign currency, while some of the money
was invested on the stock market.
Meanwhile money market rates, which had peaked to a record 95 percent, have
retreated to around 75 percent as a result of increased liquidity in the
market.
The market was estimated to be
$8,5 billion up yesterday
I was very
upset by the way ZBC-TV, in a recent Newshour programme, tried to imply that
the assistance allegedly being offered to dispossessed commercial farmers by
non-governmental organisations to defray relocation expenses was racially
motivated. Indeed, if anyone should be accused of fanning racism, it should
be ZBC-TV.
Is it not enough that highly
skilled and productive farmers have been denied the right to practice their
trade? Is it not enough that these human beings have been thrown out of their
homes and their property confiscated with no compensation, all in the name of
land reform?
It appears ZBC Munyaradzi
Hwengwere and company would rather these commercial farmers begging in the
streets as proof that the agrarian reform really has
succeeded.
Now that someone recognises the
commercial farmers' invaluable skills and offers them assistance to resume
their farming activities where they are appreciated, is that
racism?
We all know that the United
Nations Development Programme initiates and funds development programmes in
poor countries and issues concerning food security are bound to be of prime
concern to them.
We have chased away
large-scale producers, so why should we be worried if Mozambique decides to
take them on to enhance its agricultural
output?
If you really want to measure the
success of our land reform programme, check out the market prices of
tomatoes, onions, beans, beef, eggs, milk and maize-meal, and you will
realise that 11 million hectares of prime agricultural land is truly in
everyone's hands except the farmer.
Cape Town - It is
a travesty that Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has the freedom of South
Africa while so many citizens of Zimbabwe do not have the freedom of theirs,
Democratic Alliance deputy chair Dan Maluleke said on Friday.
"That he
and his wife take advantage of that freedom in the most ostentatious fashion,
by living it up in the most expensive hotels, adds insult to injury,"
Maluleke said.
It was also unfortunate that Fort Hare University - the
nursery for so many liberation leaders - still chose to host Mugabe, who had
betrayed so many of the ideals that were fostered at that
institution.
"His honorary doctorate of commerce from Fort Hare eight
years ago has been dishonoured by his almost single-handed destruction of
Zimbabwe's economy.
"It is also a tragic irony that Mugabe is in South
Africa to attend the funeral of Walter Sisulu, a father of the freedom
struggle, while dishonouring his legacy by eroding hard-won freedoms in his
own country," Maluleke said.
The late Sisulu would be remembered as a
man who, despite enormous obstacles, never deviated from his ideals of human
rights, freedom and democracy for all.
He steered clear of the
trappings of power, refusing any position of power - in government or the ANC
- once a free and democratic South Africa had been achieved.
In
contrast, Mugabe had turned liberation into oppression and state-sponsored
violence in his desperate attempt to cling to power.
His regime had
undermined the rule of law and attacked the basic human rights and freedoms
once enjoyed by Zimbabweans.
If Mugabe really wanted to honour Walter
Sisulu, he should restore the rule of law and democracy in Zimbabwe, retract
the oppressive legislation his regime had passed over the past two years to
restrict the opposition, the media and civil society, and resign as President
and allow an interim administration, which included the opposition, to
prepare for fresh elections, which were internationally recognised as free
and fair, Maluleke said.
Mugabe was in Alice on Friday, attending a
graduation ceremony at Fort Hare University where he was expected to meet
Zimbabwean presidential scholarship award students after the
ceremony.