From e-africa (SA), May
The never-ending war of Robert Gabriel
Mugabe
24 years later, Zimbabwe's Big Man jousts with phantoms from a
struggle few
can remember
On March 21 the state-run Herald
Newspaper ran a lengthy analysis explaining
why Zimbabwe's ruling party beat
its rival, the Movement for Democratic
Change, in a by-election in Zengeza
township, one of the opposition's urban
strongholds in Harare. With
characteristic zeal, the newspaper stated:
'African liberation movements
which freed people from the yoke of
imperialism and colonialism would always
get support from the people and
that, in Zimbabwe's case, Zanu PF has that
solid track record.' Political
parties justify their claim to power in
different ways. Some promote a
vision, others recite accomplishments in
office. African liberation
movements often evoke the struggle they waged
against foreign or minority
oppression, especially when they have been in
office too long to remember
the ideals they once espoused or can no longer
defend the record they have
built. But when evocation becomes exploitation,
the present becomes captive
to the past. The manipulation of waning
collective memory - the re-asserting
of the affirmative, inclusive
aspirations of the struggle as exclusive
nationalism for party political gain
in societies where the majority were
born after independence - poses one of
the greatest threats to democratic
governance and economic development in
southern Africa and, consequently,
the continent.
Although this
conflict between the ideals of the struggle and their
post-liberation
interpretation influences the political and economic
dialogue in Namibia,
Mozambique and South Africa, it is nowhere more extreme
than in Zimbabwe,
where the descent into violent political and economic
disintegration provides
a case study in what happens when a liberation
movement goes from the
struggle to the State House and fails to adapt from
an essentially
military-command paradigm to a democratic one. In the lexicon
of the ruling
party, ZANU PF, the struggle has become justification for
every breach of the
hopes of the fighters who gave or risked their lives to
free their people:
Every threat to the party's power is external or
externally imposed, and
every rumble of popular discontent is justification
for permanent
mobilisation. 'Mugabe - and Zanu-PF is Mugabe - uses the
rhetoric of the
revolution to excuse repression,' said Wilfred Mhanda,
second in command of
Zanu PF's military wing in the mid-1970s. 'We are told
we are in a state of
war. We are not in a state of war.'
In the Southern autumn of 2000,
Zimbabwe's characteristic calm unraveled in
a battle for land. Stung by his
first defeat at the polls - the rejection of
his draft constitution in a
national referendum - Mugabe unleashed veterans
of the liberation war to
achieve by violence what he attempted to codify in
law, namely the
acquisition of white-owned land without compensation. The
ensuing four years
would witness the rapid unraveling of all democratic
practice. White
commercial farmers and the large community of black
labourers they employed
were brutalised and run off nearly 11 million
hectares of productive land.
Courts were purged of nearly all jurists found
unsympathetic to the
government. The foreign media was barred and the
domestic media placed under
unprecedented restrictions. Two national
elections were disrupted by violence
and extensive fraud. Food aid was
manipulated for political gain. And
militant cadres of conscripted and
coerced youth were deployed to conduct a
rolling campaign of intimidation.
Today, inflation chases 600%; eight of
every 10 working-age Zimbabweans
cannot find a job; agricultural production
has fallen dramatically and
nearly half the population faces persistent
malnutrition and risk of
starvation.
In justifying its political
course, Zimbabwe's ruling class has made two key
assertions with increasingly
militancy: first, that the struggle against
minority rule in the 1960s and
1970s was about taking back land expropriated
by white settlers; and second,
that Britain, as the former colonial power,
has actively prevented the
government's attempts to redistribute that land
more equitably. Both claims
are true - up to a point. Land was indeed a
motivating factor in the
liberation struggle, and Britain has been reluctant
to finance land reform
(exemplified most notably during the 1979
independence negotiations at
Lancaster House when London refused to make any
specific monetary
commitments). But these claims are also highly selective.
The language of the
struggle, captured most eloquently in freedom songs, was
inherently
inclusive: universal education, free health care, and land for
all. Zanu PF's
1980 election manifesto enshrined national democratic rights,
freedom of the
press - in essence, the redistribution of opportunity. The
first few years of
majority rule reflected these imperatives. Mugabe's
aggressive education
reforms created Africa's most literate society in one
generation. Life
expectancy rose and infant mortality fell as access to
health care expanded.
Reconciliation was a keynote of governance. Mugabe's
first minister of
agriculture was white - a deliberate gesture to reassure
commercial farmers,
the backbone of the economy, that their place was
secure.
Those
gains, while significant, also masked early signs of Zanu PF's
discomfort
with democratic practice. Mugabe's preoccupation with
consolidating power and
eliminating enemies, which characterised Zanu PF's
internal dynamics during
the struggle, continued after independence. The new
elite's quest for
personal gain undermined the pursuit of social change.
Importantly,
Zimbabwe's current 'permanent crisis,' as one Western diplomat
described it,
was precipitated by the emergence of the first real threat to
Mugabe's
monopoly on power. 'The struggles of the year 2000 - the farm
occupation, the
protests over the constitution, the violence before and
after the election,
to name but a few - are related to the current power
elite's definition and
understanding of the meaning of the struggle for
independence,' concluded the
war historian Josephine Nhongo-Simbanegavi in
her recent work on Zanu PF's
military wing entitled For Better or Worse?
Women and ZANLA in Zimbabwe's
Liberation Struggle. Like 50,000 other young
men and women from her
generation, William Bongo and Freedom Nyamubaya
crossed the border into
Mozambique to take up arms. She was 14 years old at
the time; he was scarcely
older. They were motivated - as they all were - by
their deep anger at the
injustices of minority rule and longed to help
secure free education, health
care, better living standards and democratic
freedoms.
Both paid
prices for their sacrifices. Asked what it was like to be on the
front,
fighting against the better armed Rhodesian army, Nyamubaya
replied,
'Wonderful. At the back we got raped.' Bango, meanwhile, spent three
years
in a Rhodesian prison. When the war was over, they both turned
their
energies toward building the society they imagined. Nyamubaya went
into
development work with non-governmental organisations and bought a small
game
farm. Bango, better educated than most of Mugabe's combatants, went to
work
for the state-owned Herald newspaper. In time, both became
disillusioned.
Although Mugabe expanded health care and opened the doors to
education and
health care, the new signs of repression soon became impossible
to dismiss.
Immediately after independence, the so-called crisis of
expectation strikes
of teachers and nurses were brutally suppressed by the
edgy new government
and within three years the leadership of Zapu - Zanu-PF's
partner in the
government of national unity - had been arrested. Its leader,
Joshua Nkomo,
was forced into exile. The national army was turned on
civilians in a
campaign of homicidal intimidation in Zapu's Matabeleland
stronghold in the
south. The reign of terror left up to 20,000
dead.
To be continued...
ABC Australia
Zimbabwe tour in doubt: Speed
International Cricket
Council (ICC) chief executive Malcolm Speed says
Australia's tour of Zimbabwe
could be postponed if the dispute between the
Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU)
and the 15 sacked white players is not resolved
within 24 hours.
Mr
Speed is in Harare for talks with the ZCU and the players later today,
ahead
of the first Test between Australia and Zimbabwe which starts
on
Saturday.
Today he told Channel Nine there was widespread concern
about the integrity
of Test cricket.
But he added that it was the
ZCU's job to put its house in order to prevent
the series descending into
farce.
"It falls back to the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, so hopefully they
can come up
with something that is acceptable to the players, they can come
up with
something that's acceptable to the rest of the cricket community," he
said.
Zimbabwe's cricket crisis deepened overnight as Sri Lanka wrapped
up a Test
series whitewash over the home side with an innings and 254 runs to
spare in
Bulawayo.
Weary Zimbabweans seek better life
A year ago this week, Guardian
reporter Andrew Meldrum was expelled from
Zimbabwe after being seized by
security agents and held captive for 11
hours, despite a court order
declaring the action illegal. From the
Ramokgwebana border post in northern
Botswana, he reports on the country he
called home for 20
years
Tuesday May 18, 2004
The Guardian
The bus driver from
Bulawayo grins and shrugs in typically Zimbabwean
fashion as he explains the
difficulties of feeding his family and keeping
his five children in school.
But he insists: "I am going to see the problems
through to the end. Nothing
lasts for ever."
The driver, Never, plies the busy route between Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe's second
city, and Francistown, Botswana, ferrying droves of
Zimbabweans trying to
find work in the neighbouring country. Amid the busy
cross-border traffic,
he leans against his 12-seater van, which sits in the
no man's land
straddling the border.
"I am out of fuel. Fuel is short
again in Zimbabwe, can you imagine? So
these women are walking across the
border with these chigubus (20-litre
plastic containers) to get diesel in
Botswana and bring it back so we can
drive all the way to
Francistown."
He chuckles at the absurdity of the situation. As we talk
he remembers my
expulsion from Zimbabwe. "They put you in jail, put you on
trial. And when
you were found innocent they threw you out of the country
anyway. Don't
worry, [information minister Jonathan] Moyo and [President
Robert] Mugabe
can't last for ever. We will get over our troubles and you
will be able to
come back."
Two Zimbabwean border guards toting
automatic rifles approach through the
tall grass and begin climbing through
the rows of barbed-wire fences. They
shout at the young women carrying the
fuel containers and motion with their
guns for them to come back for
questioning.
"You better go now," says Never. "These guys could give you
trouble. These
days they do what they like. They can be
rough."
Through the field, past four barbed-wire fences, stands a much
taller fence.
It is the electrified fence that the Botswana government
erected two years
ago, ostensibly to keep Zimbabwean cattle from straying
into Botswana, but
really to keep Zimbabweans from flooding into the
country.
Stable and prosperous, Botswana is struggling to cope with the
effects of
Zimbabwe's deepening economic and humanitarian crisis. Each month,
according
to immigration authorities, its population of 1.7 million is
swollen by an
estimated 127,000 Zimbabweans, most of them illegal immigrants,
seeking
work, food and refuge.
In the year since I was forced to leave
the country, the situation in
Zimbabwe has worsened in every respect. More
people are going hungry, with
nearly two-thirds of the population reliant
upon international food aid in
recent months. State brutality has become more
systematic and more
widespread. Thousands of young Zimbabweans have been
trained in torture at
the militia camps and are inflicting their skills on
the population,
particularly anyone suspected of supporting the opposition
party, the
Movement for Democratic Change.
The state repression
against the independent press has increased. The Mugabe
government closed the
Daily News, the country's most popular paper, with a
million readers. Other
newspapers have been threatened with closure and 75
journalists have been
arrested.
"Things are bad, really, really tough," says Thabani, 34, whose
smile shows
two teeth missing. Speaking at the Botswana border post, he says:
"I am a
bus inspector in Zimbabwe. But the money is too small. I can't pay
rent or
buy food. Here the money has power. I will take any job here, a
labourer, a
cleaner, a security guard, anything. Whatever money I make will
go much
further."
Zimbabwe's ongoing economic meltdown is evident from the
black-market
traders waving sheaves of the country's rapidly depreciating
currency. They
offer 1,000 Zimbabwe dollars to one Botswana pula, which just
a few years
ago traded one for one. One US dollar fetches Z$6,000. But a loaf
of bread
costs nearly Z$3,000.
A Zimbabwean man drives a battered
truck with a load of folding wooden
chairs which he hopes to sell in
Botswana. A young woman in a straw hat
tearfully pleads with the border
guards to allow her into Botswana, but she
does not have the 100 pula
required to enter so is turned back.
"There are so many Zimbabweans who
go from house to house looking for any
kind of work. They will work for food
or for a T-shirt," says Dorcas
Bogatsu, a secretary in Francistown. "And they
are well educated. Their
English is good. It is very sad. Zimbabwe used to be
a rich country."
In the chilly nights, Zimbabweans with no place to sleep
huddle together
around small fires at the Francistown bus station. "When I
find work I'll
send money back to my family," says Prosper, who says he once
worked as a
schoolteacher but was threatened by Zimbabwe's secret
police.
Along Blue Jacket Street, Francistown's main drag, young
Zimbabwean women
cluster at street corners and wave at passing cars.
Zimbabwean sex workers
now outnumber local prostitutes and the competition
has driven down prices.
Ordinarily Francistown is a placid little border
town, but the scenes, the
stories and the desperation of the Zimbabweans make
the locals feel as if
they are living next to a volcano. No electric fence
can keep that unease
away.
MDC suffers heartland byelection defeat
Andrew Meldrum
Tuesday May 18,
2004
The Guardian
President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party won a
byelection in the
Matabeleland district of Lupane yesterday with 10,069 votes
against 9,186
for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The
ruling party's win represents a remarkable turnaround from the June
2000
parliamentary elections, when the opposition won nearly 80% of the votes
in
Lupane. The byelection was held because the opposition member of
parliament,
David Mpala, died after being assaulted in police
custody.
The loss of the rural Lupane seat comes hard on the heels of the
opposition
party's defeat in another previously safe seat, in the Kuwadzana
township of
Harare. By snatching the seats back, the ruling party has struck
devastating
blows to the MDC's two bases of support: Matabeleland and the
cities.
MDC officials say the elections were not free and fair, accusing
Mr Mugabe's
party of rampant vote rigging and heavy intimidation by a youth
militia,
which set up camps throughout the constituency.
"It shows the
power of food," said an MDC MP, David Coltart. "Young mothers
and
grandparents who must feed orphaned grandchildren know that their
granaries
are empty and they will need food from the ruling party."
Because the
government has reported a bumper harvest of 2.4m tonnes of
maize, the country
will not receive international food aid. But many
ordinary Zimbabwean farmers
say they have not harvested enough to see them
through the
winter.
Some MDC leaders have questioned whether the opposition party
should take
part in elections that are not free from the start.
"These
elections are a sham and by taking part in elections like these, we
are just
legitimising elections that are a distortion of democracy," an MDC
member
said.
The Washington Times
Bush taps new envoy to
Zimbabwe
Washington, DC, May. 17 (UPI) -- The White House said
Monday New Jersey's
Christopher Dell has been nominated to be the new U.S.
ambassador to
Zimbabwe.
Dell is a career foreign service officer and
currently serves as Chief of
Mission in Luanda, Angola.
He previously
served as the designated chief of mission to the United States
Mission in
Pristina, Kosovo, and held earlier postings in Bulgaria and
Mozambique.
17 May
2004
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai congratulates
South
Africa for winning the 2010 World Cup
bid
We in
Zimbabwe
wish to congratulate South
Africa for winning the 2010 World Cup
bid. We felt greatly honoured by your success as we have always regarded your
bid as our own, firstly in the SADC region, and secondly in
Africa.
We followed with
keen interest your campaign to host the Cup. We learnt many lessons as to how
you conducted yourselves and presented your case to the world community for
consideration. The scars of the unsuccessful 2006 bid were still
fresh in our minds as we prayed with millions of the
South Africans and other SADC citizens to be accorded the chance to host this
prestigious event through South Africa.
It is our sincere hope that by 2010,
Zimbabweans would have overcome their debilitating problems arising from a
24-year crisis of governance. By the time our national team takes it place in
the games in 2010 in Johannesburg, that team would be coming from a solid and
proud nation, long healed from the brutal realities of the first decade of this
millennium.
Your success is a major SADC
developmental achievement. We shall all benefit immensely from the attention our
region will undoubtedly receive from the international community. We are ready
to play our part, to raise the profile of the region and to discourage any
nation from adopting a selfish approach that may earn any one of us a pariah
status.
As I said last week, millions of people
follow soccer, the world’s most popular sport. A competition such the World Cup
would bring huge economic benefits through trade, tourism and the development of
infrastructure. In addition, the competition offers a healing opportunity to a
region ruptured by a history of colonialism, racial discrimination, violence and
tyranny.
Zimbabweans will
certainly join hands with South Africans in hosting and celebrating the
competition. We shall be a free nation, ready to field a free team, long before
the games start.
Morgan
Tsvangirai
President.
The Herald
Confusion hits farming sector
Herald Reporter
MORE
new farmers yesterday expressed disgruntlement that they have not been
able
to work on their plots this year because former white commercial
farmers were
coming back to reclaim the land saying they had the backing of
certain senior
Government officials.
A farmer in Mashonaland East Province who called
The Herald said he was
offered a piece of land in the province but the former
white farmer had now
returned and is asking him to leave the farm.
He
alleged that a senior official in the province had signed papers
that
authorised the white farmer to return.
"I have seen everybody who
might matter in this issue but nothing has
materialised. I also know several
other people in the area who have a
similar problem and some have already
given up," said the farmer.
Many former white commercial farmers were
said to be claiming that they
reached agreements with a senior Government
official to remain on the farms,
outside laid down procedures.
Another
new farmer cited the story in yesterday's edition of The Herald,
saying the
same had happened to him and many other farmers he knew.
The new farmer
said if the situation continued, he would be left with no
option but give up
farming.
Another farmer said the confusion was being fuelled by the fact
that war
veterans, who led the occupation of farms during the fast-track
period, were
now quiet and the former white commercial farmers were now
taking advantage.
"I have decided to abandon my piece of land altogether
despite the fact that
I had an offer letter," said a farmer from Mazowe
district who requested
anonymity.
The farmer, a businessman in Harare,
said if the problem continued, it was
likely that people will start fighting
or simply abandon those plots and
agricultural production would be
affected.
Major problems are emerging with the land reform programme,
with allegations
and reports from all provinces indicating that not all is
well with the
scheme since the splitting up of the Ministry of Lands,
Agriculture and
Rural Resettlement and the establishment of the Presidential
Land Review
Committee.
The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural
Resettlement, then headed by
Cde Joseph Made, was split into two: the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development and the Ministry of Special
Affairs Responsible for Lands, Land
Reform and Resettlement headed by Cde
John Nkomo.
Some officials in the new ministry and those from the
disbanded Land
Inspectorate have allegedly been issuing directives to
provincial governors
and to resettled new farmers claiming that offer letters
issued, some
directives say in November 2003 and others say in December 2003,
are
invalid.
This has resulted in some former white commercial farmers
being given a new
lease of life as they now believe that they should come
back to repossess
the land from the new farmers under the pretext of the
directives.
The latest developments come after the Government disbanded
the Land
Inspectorate, which comprised civil servants from various
Government
ministries and departments.
Efforts to get a comment from
Cde Nkomo were fruitless yesterday as he was
said to be out of the country on
business.
The Herald
Zimbank workers appear before disciplinary
committee
Business Reporters
HUNDREDS of workers who took part in the
industrial action that crippled
operations at the Zimbabwe Banking
Corporation at the beginning of this
month were summoned before a
disciplinary hearing committee yesterday.
The fate of most workers
remained unclear as management grilled those who
took part in the industrial
action.
Most branches in Harare were being manned by managerial staff as
workers
attended the hearing committee meetings.
According to sources,
the majority of workers were issued with letters last
week in which they were
invited to appear before the disciplinary hearing
committee.
Part of
the circular sent to employees read: "I have a good cause to believe
that you
participated in a collective job action in May, 2004.
"In terms of the
code of conduct for the Banking Undertaking Statutory
Instrument 273 of 2000,
which is applicable to you, charges for
participating in an illegal
collective job action and any serious act,
conduct or omission inconsistent
with the fulfilment of the express or
implied conditions of your contract of
employment are hereby preferred
against you."
The letter went on: "If
as a party, you fail to attend, the hearing shall
proceed without you to the
possible detriment of your interests.
"You are entitled to be represented
by a worker representative of your
choice and you may call witnesses to the
hearing."
Zimbank is a subsidiary of the Zimbabwe Financial Holdings
Limited, which is
known by the acronym Finhold.
Efforts to get a
comment from Finhold chief executive Mr Elisha
Mushayakarara proved
fruitless.
The president of the Zimbabwe Banks and Allied Workers' Union
(Zibawu), Mr
George Kawenda, described the move by the financial institution
to summon
workers as tantamount to victimisation, which was
unwarranted.
"We are watching events at Zimbank with interest. Suffice to
say the
decision by officials at Zimbank is very disturbing.
"We know
that officials at Finhold want to retrench some of the workers, but
they must
follow the correct channels.
"We will challenge whatever decision they
may take against the workers,'' he
said.
Zimbank workers downed their
tools for two hours early this month to press
for a salary review.
The
strike ended when management agreed to discuss the workers'
grievances.
However, workers hinted to management that after a two-week
notice they
would embark on a full-scale industrial action if their
grievances were not
addressed.
Management alleges the industrial
action by the employees was illegal and in
contravention of the Labour
Relations Act chapter 28:01 section 104.
The workers have no
representatives since the members of the workers'
committee were also
summoned to appear for hearings before the disciplinary
committee.
Reuters
Australia to push on with Zimbabwe tour, CA
says
Tue May 18, 2004 12:40 PM By Greg Buckle
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's tour of Zimbabwe will continue as
scheduled
despite concerns held by the International Cricket Council (ICC)
about the
African team's lack of quality players, Cricket Australia (CA)
said on
Tuesday.
CA chief executive James Sutherland said the Zimbabwe
Cricket Union
(ZCU) were working hard to resolve a complex dispute with 15
sacked rebel
players.
"The test match is due to start on
Saturday. As we understand it, (ICC
chief) Malcolm Speed and the ICC are in
Zimbabwe and there continue to be
discussions along various lines,"
Sutherland told a news conference at CA's
headquarters in
Melbourne.
"At this stage, all I can say categorically, there is
nothing to
suggest the tour is going to take place in a different form to
what was
originally scheduled."
Ricky Ponting's top-ranked
Australian team is scheduled to play the
depleted Zimbabwe side in a two-test
series starting in Harare on Saturday,
followed by three one-day
internationals.
However, the Africans are without 15 of their best
cricketers,
including former captain Heath Streak, after the rebel players
were sacked
on May 10 in a dispute over team selection issues.
Sutherland said CA would be supportive if the ICC decided the tour
should be
postponed.
"They are the governing body for cricket around the
world and
obviously we would be understanding of their desires to do that,"
he said.
"We'd be wanting to listen to the ZCU about it as
well."
Australia leg spinner Stuart MacGill made himself
unavailable for the
tour on moral grounds.
Zimbabwe were
thrashed 5-0 in the recent one-day series at home to Sri
Lanka and also lost
the two-match test series 2-0.
"In particular there is concern
about the integrity of test cricket,"
Speed said.
From Associated Press, 18 May
Zimbabwe ruling party claims
win
Opposition alleges voter intimidation
Harare -
President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party claimed victory late
Monday in
a crucial parliamentary by-election, bringing it within two seats
of a
sufficient majority to amend the constitution at will. Paul
Themba-Nyathi,
spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
said loss of the
sprawling Lupane constituency in what had been its
stronghold area of north
western Zimbabwe, resulted from rampant
intimidation. The party, led by
former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, now
holds only 51 seats in the 150
seat legislature, dominated by Mugabe's party
with 98. Another small
opposition grouping retains one seat. With a
two-thirds majority, 80-year-old
Mugabe could amend the constitution to
perpetuate his party's 24-year rule
indefinitely. "The intimidation was just
unrelenting," said Themba-Nyathi. He
said MDC campaigners were abducted and
tortured when they protested over
alleged abuses, including warnings to
rural villagers that they would not be
eligible for famine relief if they
failed to vote for Zanu PF, village heads'
taking names of voters at polling
booths and pro-Mugabe "war veterans" -
self-styled ex-guerrillas - given
free rein to chant menacing slogans near
polling booths. The by-election
followed the death in mysterious
circumstances of the previous officeholder,
an MDC member. Asked about the
long-term implications of the vote,
Themba-Nyathi said: "They (the
government) will do what they like anyway."
State radio said the result
reflected voter disillusion with alleged foreign
backing for the opposition
and growing voter support for Mugabe's "fast
track" redistribution of 5 000
white-owned farms to black Zimbabweans. The
MDC lost the seat by 9,816 votes
to 10,069 for Mugabe's party, having won by
14,000 votes to 3,000 in June
2000 general elections. The area was the scene
of widespread atrocities
during 1982-1988 unrest after independence from
Britain, when the Zimbabwe
Army's North Korean-trained "Fifth Brigade" was
deployed in what was
considered a stronghold of Mugabe's rival, Joshua
Nkomo. The units allegedly
were responsible for the deaths of 20,000
suspected opposition supporters in
the entire western Matabeleland region.
During the past three years,
Zimbabwe's economy has been in spiralling
decline with 600 percent inflation,
70 percent inflation and 3.3 million
people reliant for survival on
international donors' food relief. The
government claims a bumper harvest of
2.4 million tons of maize has made
further donations unnecessary, but the MDC
has joined churches and human
rights organizations in alleging that Mugabe
plans to use food supplies to
ensure victory in scheduled March 2005 general
elections. They say less than
700,000 tons has been reaped.
From ZWNEWS, 18 May 2004
Who said it?
The spokesman for
the president of Botswana, Dr Jeff Ramsay, has threatened
legal action
against a number of organisations over comments attributed to
him regarding
Botswana's relations with Zimbabwe. In an article entitled
"Tetchy
cross-border relaions with Botswana", originally published on 12 May
by IRIN,
the UN news network based in Nairobi, Ramsay was reported as
saying:
""Botswana has noted with growing concern openly hostile reports
against the
government and the people of Botswana, which can only be
interpreted as a
deliberate and systematic attempt to fuel hatred and
xenophobia between our
people." The article was subsequently reposted on a
number of websites and
publications, including Mmegi (the Botswanan
newspaper), allafrica.com and
ZWNEWS, all with full attribution to the
original source. "I regard the above
postings of the article to be not only
false but defamatory and injurious to
my well being," Ramsay said to ZWNEWS.
"I never made the above comments.
Mmegi has also been put on notice of its
potential for defamation on the same
issue." In a letter published today in
Mmegi, Ramsay expressed similar
sentiments: "I regard your publication of
the above false report as
irresponsible, inexcusable and quite possibly of
malicious
intent."
Comments very similar to those attributed to Ramsay were
originally
published in a press release from the Botswana Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
on 23 April. "Furthermore, Botswana is gravely concerned about
allegations
that government and Batswana kill Zimbabweans. The Zimbabwean
reports do not
provide evidence; and their intention is not only to tarnish
Botswana's
image but also to fuel xenophobia between Batswana and
Zimbabweans. The
ingenuity of these papers of deriving facts from fairy tales
and publishing
them as such can only be interpreted as a deliberate and
systematic attempt
to fuel hatred and xenophobia between Batswana and
Zimbabweans and to sour
the warm and cordial relations that the governments
of Botswana and Zimbabwe
continue to enjoy," the Ministry said, in reaction
to an editorial in the
Bulawayo Chronicle entitled "Time to act against
Botswana". This press
release was at the time widely reported on and
reproduced in the southern
African media and beyond, without protest. The
comments were actually made
by Bostwana's foreign affairs spokesman, Cliff
Maribe.
Daily News, Botswana
Zim to pay fuel debt
18 May,
2004
GABORONE - The Government of Zimbabwe is to repay the 20
million-litre
fuel loaned to it by Botswana in 2000 by depositing money into
a Botswana
Government account, ministry of foreign affairs and
international
co-operation clarified today.
Reacting to the
Daily News story of Monday headlined "Zim fuel debt
written off?", a news
release from the ministry says the debt has not been
written
off.
"Infact, just recently, the Government of Zimbabwe requested
through
the Botswana Embassy in Harare, that it be provided with a Government
of
Botswana account where the money to repay the debt would be
deposited.
The Government account number has accordingly been
provided and we
await the deposit to be made soon," explains the
release.
The Daily News story was quoting the latest Auditor
General Seletlanyo
Seerema's report, which states that the debt worth over
P28 million has been
"indirectly written off".
Serema told BOPA
that Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation
said it had settled the
debt by crediting the National Petroleum Fund from
which the loan was
drawn.
"However, the ministry's statements states that it has not
written
off, either directly or indirectly, the debt in
question.
"It is correct that the Ministry used funds in its
recurrent budget to
pay off the Petroleum Fund, but the debiting of the
recurrent expenditure
vote did not in anyway mean that the debt should be
removed from the books
of account." BOPA