Gibson Nyandoro defected to MDC from Robert Mugabe's party, Zanu PF. His defiance cost him his life. Photograph: Robin Hammond
The Sunday Times
May 18, 2008
Christina Lamb
ZIMBABWE’S opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
was forced to cancel his
planned return home yesterday after learning of a
plot by President Robert
Mugabe’s forces to kill him.
Tsvangirai had
planned to launch his campaign today for next month’s run-off
election for
president with a rally in Bula-wayo that would have marked the
start of what
was billed as a nationwide “victory tour”.
As he was preparing to leave
for Johannesburg airport at 8am yesterday to
fly to Zimbabwe, he received a
telephone call from a sympathiser within
Mugabe’s state security apparatus,
telling him that he would be
assassinated. When he passed the details to his
own security team, they told
him it would be madness to take the
risk.
“He gets phone calls of threats every day but this was specific,”
said
George Sibotshiwe, Tsvangirai’s spokesman, who would not reveal the
exact
nature of the plot for fear of compromising the source. “Politically
and
personally he desperately wanted to be back, but the security situation
trumps all that.”
The warning to Tsvangirai was backed up by an
eyewitness report of a
high-ranking police meeting at which it was stated
that “due to the high
level of tension and uncertainty, the police would not
be in a position to
guarantee security for Tsvangirai [at tomorrow’s
rally]”.
The source interpreted this as a clear instruction that the police
would not
be allowed to provide him with any security.
Tsvangirai
spent yesterday in meetings with the leadership of his Movement
for
Democratic Change (MDC) to decide on a new return date and steps to
protect
him during his campaign for the June 27 run-off. “There will never
be a
situation of no threat,” admitted one of his security advisers. “The
question is how best to mitigate this.”
Among the issues being
discussed was changing the nature of the campaign
from his usual emphasis on
big rallies to small spontaneous meetings.
The run-off is due to take
place almost three months after the March 29
presidential election, which
Tsvangirai insists that he won outright.
Although much delayed, official
results showed Tsvangirai as winning the
poll with 47.9% compared with
Mugabe’s 43.2%. He did not pass the 50%
threshold necessary to avoid a
run-off.
Clearly infuriated by losing his first election in 28 years,
Mugabe told a
meeting of his ruling Zanu-PF on Friday that the party should
have been
better prepared. “Although the presidential result did not yield
an outright
winner, it was indeed disastrous,” he said.
Last week the
government announced that it was lifting import duties on
basic foodstuffs
for three months in what appears to be a blatant attempt to
cut food prices
during the election. The lifting of duties on cooking oil,
rice, salt,
margarine and other foods lasts only until August 12.
As in previous
elections, the regime’s main electoral tool is intimidation.
Within two
weeks of the earlier poll, the regime unleashed a campaign of
violence
orchestrated by the military aimed at terrorising people to vote
“correctly”
in the second round. Hundreds have been beaten and flailed or
had molten
plastic poured onto their skin, and thousands more have had their
homes
burnt down.
The MDC says 32 of its activists have been killed.
A
close associate of Mugabe said the president was determined to go to
whatever lengths were necessary to stay in power. “He’s going for broke,” he
said.
Tsvangirai has survived three assassination attempts, including
one in 1997
by unidentified assailants who tried to throw him from a
10th-floor office
window in Harare. Last year he was hospitalised after a
brutal assault by
police at a prayer meeting and images of his bruised and
swollen face caused
worldwide outrage.
However, he has come under
attack from his own supporters for spending the
past five weeks out of the
country while they have been beaten and tortured.
“I think he should have
come back and faced the threat,” said one. “By not
coming back this means
they [Mugabe’s regime] are in control and able to
dictate the
campaign.”
Many believe the climate of brutality is such that it is
impossible to hold
elections. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN)
said many of its
poll observers had been targeted and 185 forced to flee
their homes, making
it difficult to monitor the election’s second
round.
“ZESN observers have been under siege from suspected Zanu-PF
supporters,”
said Noel Kututwa, chairman of ZESN. “Observers have been
abducted, severely
assaulted and injured. I think the legitimacy of that
election will be
called into question.”
Comments
The United
Nations has got to immediately sanction force to be taken against
such
dictatorships as Mugabe's. This is the 21st Century and such animals as
Mugabe and the Burmese Junta should no longer be accepted as legitimate and
they should both be brought to trial for human rights abuses.
John,
Woking, Surrey
Why is The Times being so even-handed with a monster like
Mugabe? Phrases
like, 'the Opposition claims to have won the Presidency
already'! Indeed.
Everyone knows the MDC won the Presidential election by
about 60% to 30%,
and this with Mugabe employing illegal state terror and
fraud to get his
30%.
Paul Francis, Brisbane, Australia
Why do
papers like The Times persist with the fiction, that any electoral
results
issued by the likes of Mugabe, are anything but utter fraud? Mugabe
is a
DICTATOR. He is not a democrat. He has no legitimacy as leader of
Zimbabwe.
Please call a spade, a spade.
Paul Francis, Brisbane, Australia
Gibson Nyandoro told The Observer of his disillusionment with the regime. Now he is dead, a victim of new violence as Zimbabwe faces an election rerun
Gibson Nyandoro defected to MDC from Robert Mugabe's party, Zanu PF. His defiance cost him his life. Photograph: Robin Hammond
When Gibson Nyandoro raised his arm and slowly unclenched his fist to make the open-palmed salute of Zimbabwe's opposition at a rally eight weeks ago, it was a moment so loaded with symbolism that it stilled the crowd.
Only days before the presidential election, the gesture by this 53-year-old war veteran and former government supporter reflected a nation's rising defiance of President Robert Mugabe and the growing hope that a change of regime was really coming, and with it a path back to prosperity and freedom.
This weekend Nyandoro's body lies rotting somewhere near the army barracks where he was taken and tortured to death. His friends and family, and his fellow political campaigners, are all too scared to collect it for fear of a trap that might cost them their lives.
Nyandoro's story is the story of his country - he fought for its freedom in the independence struggle, he backed Mugabe's ruling party, Zanu-PF, acting as his henchman, one of the feared 'war vets' who seized white-owned farms, beating and sometimes killing anyone who got in their way. He told The Observer of how he regretted his violent past. 'People were very, very afraid,' he said. And how he had come to see that Mugabe had betrayed Zimbabwe and brought people not land but starvation. Now, he said, he wanted change.
The remarkable bravery of that public salute in March, watched by The Observer, was quashed in the most brutal way by the militias of Mugabe, the president Nyandoro had fought for.
They came for Nyandoro on 2 May as he sat at one of the long tables of the Zimunhu Bar in Epworth, 15 miles from Harare, chatting with old comrades about football and politics. Sungura music was playing, a fast beat danced with fast moving feet to imitate horses' hooves, and the drinkers were making their glasses of sour white beer made of sorghum last. Around 15 men, some in uniforms, arrived in cars, poured into the bar, smashing out with long iron bars before taking Nyandoro away.
A political 'cleansing' campaign in Zimbabwe is escalating fast. For the five weeks it took the electoral commission of Zimbabwe to announce the disputed results of the 29 March presidential vote there was an uneasy, but mostly peaceful, calm as everyone waited out the unexplained delay. When it finally came, it was claimed Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, had beaten Mugabe - but only marginally, not by enough to prevent a second round. With that run-off election now set for 27 June, there is mounting evidence that the political violence against anyone who supported the MDC is increasing by the day as Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party supporters work hard to ensure that far fewer voters dare to defy them at the polling stations this time.
The body of Emmanuel Nelson, 30, has also not yet been returned to his family - he leaves a mother, a wife and a three-year-old daughter. He was taken from his home at Hopely Farm, a poor scrabble of half-built breeze block homes outside Harare, after dark by four men and bundled into a car. He was found last Monday, unconscious, bleeding and dumped in the road. He was taken to hospital, where he later died. He had been slashed in the face and stabbed in the side with a screwdriver.
Nelson's wife, Joice, sits outside their home with her mother-in-law receiving the mourners, their faces glazed with the shock of fresh grief. 'He was MDC and they say that is why he was killed. But I don't understand. My daughter keeps on asking and asking where he is. I have had to send her to a relative's house because I cannot answer her,' she said.
Tsvangirai was in Johannesburg last night, having delayed his return home for the third time in as many weeks, saying there was evidence of an assassination plot against him. He has been busying himself in Africa and Europe trying to raise support and cash for his campaign. An MDC rally planned for today in Bulawayo has been banned. At least 32 people have been killed. Hundreds have been beaten and tens of thousands have been intimidated into fleeing their homes. Young men are slipping away to South Africa or Botswana. Last week in Harvest House, the MDC's Harare offices, about 350 people were clustered in the corridors and stairwells, many with fresh bandages on wounds and broken limbs inflicted by soldiers and militias. Some had come straight from hospital; all were too afraid to go outside on to the streets or to go home.
With the desperate food shortages, unemployment and a lack of available cash in the country, MDC activists are struggling to feed the influx of refugees, but they can and do offer counselling for the traumatised and everywhere people huddle and listen to one another's stories.
But it was the story of Gibson Nyandoro that persuaded Batanai Muturu where his future lay. 'He was my friend and now he is killed. He was a soldier and they didn't care. He worked to help make people see that Mugabe is a wrong man. Hundreds of people are being attacked now, all the time. They take away MDC people's food and they go to funerals to arrest others there. They were expecting people to vote for Zanu-PF and now comes the punishment. They are trying to get rid of all these people. I don't think I will be in Epworth again.'
'This is it,' he said, lifting up a battered sports bag. 'All I have now, a few clothes.' He was leaving. 'I have no money for visas, so I will jump the border. We're not secure. Any time we can be killed.'
Muturu reached South Africa last Wednesday. He joins more than three million Zimbabweans now in exile.
Shaking hands at the end of the interview in March, Nyandoro spoke excitedly of his belief that change would come to the blighted country for which he had fought so many wars; he was going to persuade more war vets to join the opposition. With great warmth he thanked The Observer 'for your bravery in coming here to meet us'.
The irony is Nyandoro had no idea that it was his courage, the bravery of all Zimbabweans defying Mugabe's regime, that would cost him his life.
The Times, SA
Dominic Mahlangu Published:May
17, 2008
Veteran Cabinet minister Pallo Jordan has called on Robert Mugabe’s
Zanu-PF
party to “surrender power” to Morgan Tsvangirai’s opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change.
Jordan’s comments are the
first of their kind by any member of President
Thabo Mbeki’s senior Cabinet,
and are in radical contrast to Mbeki’s refusal
to openly condemn either
Mugabe’s refusal to accept election defeat or the
accompanying
violence.
In a searing critique appearing on the ANC website, Jordaan
said Zanu-PF
only has itself to blame "for losing the confidence of a
substantial number
of the citizens of that country, such that the only means
by which it can
win elections is either by intimidating the people or
otherwise rigging
them."
Referring to those who label Mugabe’s
Zanu-PF critics as “imperialists”,
Jordaan said ‘nobody doubts the
anti-imperialist credentials of ZANU (PF),
but that cannot be sufficient
reason to support it if it is misgoverning
Zimbabwe and brutalising the
people."
Jordaan’s analysis was a direct response to a document authored
jointly by
academics Eddy Maloka and Ben Magubane which circulated in
political circles
and various media houses, including the Sunday Times, in
which they labelled
the MDC an imperialist movement.
Said Jordaan:
“Perhaps the most alarming suggestion of all is that
opposition to ZANU
(PF), irrespective of its merits, is ipso facto
illegitimate and necessarily
counter-revolutionary, and therefore
pro-imperialist.
"This curious
line of reasoning dominated in the Communist Parties of the
Soviet Union and
other east European countries.
“When workers complained about the
conditions of work (as they did in
Poland) that was characterised as
counter-revolution.
"If intellectuals complained about rigid censorship
and the repression of
the free flow of information, ideas and knowledge,
that was
counter-revolution. Even youth, yearning to enjoy rock and other
forms of
popular music produced in the rest of the world, that was
counter-revolution."
Jordaan said “democracy is not a luxury, perhaps
affordable in a few rich
countries, but far too expensive for peoples and
countries emerging from
decades of colonial domination. What is more, I
insist that democracy is not
merely the right to participate in elections
every few years; it is a
complex institutional framework that serves to
secure the ordinary citizen
against all forms of arbitrary authority,
whether secular or
ecclesiastical.”
It is an undisputed
historical fact that colonialism denied the colonised
precisely these
protections, subjecting them to the tyranny, not only of
imperialist
governments, but often to the whims of colonialist settlers and
officials.
All liberation movements, including both ZANU (PF) and ZAPU,
deliberately
advocated the institution of democratic governance with the
protections they
afford the citizen. All liberation movements held that
national
self-determination would be realised, in the first instance, by the
colonised people choosing their government in democratic
elections.
“The questions we should be asking are: What has gone so
radically wrong
that the movement and the leaders who brought democracy to
Zimbabwe today
appear to be its ferocious violators. What has gone so wrong
that they
appear to be most fearful of it?
“Maloka and Magubane want
us to ignore the will of the Zimbabwean people, as
expressed in elections,
and do what the imperialists did in Congo and Chile.
Such action, they
claim, would be anti-imperialist. In other words, we must
behave like the
imperialists to demonstrate our commitment to
anti-imperialism.”
"Rather than raising and attempting to answer such
tough questions, they
skirt around them by marshalling a mixture of emotive
arguments and outright
political blackmail, again reminiscent of the
far-right and its adherents.
You are either with ZANU(PF) in the
anti-imperialist camp, or against it
(and therefore with Blair, Bush, the
DA, etc)."
Jordaan said "it cannot possibly be right that, while we in
South Africa
expect our democratic institutions to protect us from arbitrary
power, we
expect the people of Zimbabwe to be content with less.
“Let
all recall that the people of Zimbabwe endured a 15 year war of
national
liberation, during which the colonialist regime employed every
device from
beatings, to torture, to executions and massacres to repress
them. They did
not waver. Yet it is being suggested that today, for no
apparent reason,
they have fallen under the sway of the helpers and agents
of that colonial
power. I think that betrays a worrying contempt for the
ordinary Zimbabwean.
A contempt reminiscent of the colonialists’ contention
that the people rose
against them because they had been incited by “outside
agitators!”
“We will not assist ZANU (PF) by encouraging that
movement to proceed along
the disastrous course it has embarked on. Offering
it uncritical support
because it is anti-imperialist will not help ZANU (PF)
to uncover the
reasons for the steep decline in the legitimacy it once
enjoyed. That party
would do well to return to its original vision of a
democratic Zimbabwe,
free of colonial domination and the instruments of that
domination - such as
arbitrary arrests, police repression of opposition,
intimidation of
political critics, etc."
Given the outcome of the
recent elections, said Jordaan, “ZANU(PF) should
surrender power to the
party that has won."
Reuters By Nicholas Coates, Associate Editor Mugabe must go. There is no way of
putting it kindly. He has outlived his usefulness and has dragged Zimbabwe and
its people down. In a continent that is known for extremes in governance,
President Robert Gabriel Mugabe excels. Neighbouring countries to Zimbabwe
are no better. South Africa, still considered the most influential nation in the
region, has done little or nothing to persuade Mugabe to relinquish power.
So, with the lead African nation
unable or unwilling to grasp the mettle and take issue with the problems in
Zimbabwe, it enables Mugabe to continue in his despotic ways, believing he is
still the saviour of his people, when the very reverse is now true. He has retained power through
bullying and corruption, stuffing ballot boxes to ensure victory and doing away
with any opposition through torture, killing, jailing or their "mysterious
disappearances". It has got to the state where people are afraid to speak out
against him, his government or his party. Compelled Even the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai felt compelled to flee Zimbabwe
after his success in the presidential elections, fearful that he may again be
arrested and beaten up for daring to speak out and challenge Mugabe. It has been asked by outside
observers if the public are truly against Mugabe and his party, then how is it
he manages to stay in power? The answer is simple and one followed by all
dictators in corrupt societies. The trick is to ensure that
supporters, their relatives, and the security services are well taken care of.
In a society short of funds, make sure they receive more than enough to live in
luxury even if the people at their door are destitute and dying. Fear Probably Mugabe would have stepped
aside years ago if it was not for his fear of being prosecuted by his successors
for corruption. Or the world court charging him for what is tantamount to the
ethnic cleansing of his own people over the years. However, let one thing be very clear.
While Mugabe may be an obnoxious blot on the landscape, there is no proof that
Tsvangirai will be any better. There is evidence that his supporters have also
resorted to terrorising Zanu-PF supporters, and there is nothing to say
Tsvangirai is any less corrupt than Mugabe. Gulf News
In a continent that is known for
extremes in governance, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe excels.
Published: May 18, 2008, 00:41
He struts around African
countries expecting, and getting, revered treatment as the senior-most leader
and the liberator of his country. Ironically, many still believe it to be true,
as he lives on his past glory of having kicked the white people out of Zimbabwe.
For too many years now, it has been expected of South African President
Thabo Mbeki to resolve the conflict in Zimbabwe, but his softly-softly approach
has been so ineffective as to make no difference.
Except, that is, to
demonstrate to other African countries and the rest of the world just how weak
and incompetent Mbeki is. Possibly his personal and domestic problems have
detracted him from carrying out his mission, for there are certainly enough
issues in South Africa to retain the full involvement of an effective president,
had South Africa got one.
He
has convinced himself that he remains in power through popularity, ignoring the
obvious thuggery that takes place through his well-fed police and army, who kill
or critically injure any opposition to Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.
The
farce of the presidential and assembly elections that took place, with all the
delays incurred in announcing the results, exemplifies the machinations that
take place under Mugabe's dictatorship.
Ensure
the security forces get their pay, with increments and bonuses, and have an
adequate supply of food, despite shortages in the market. In other words, a
corrupt leader must always protect and look after those around him. Then there
will never be a challenge to his supremacy because those "nearest and dearest"
have a vested interest in the leader retaining power.
There is also a fear
of his cronies that they also might be charged alongside Mugabe or that their
corrupt earnings coming to an end they will never be able to continue payment of
the overseas properties and foreign education for their offspring.
This
is why many ministers are secretly making deals with Tsvangirai and his
followers, in the hope that either the next government becomes a coalition
government, which will let them off the hook, or they get a promise of a clean
chit when they leave office. All that, of course, is still in a state of flux
and is very much dependent on the result of the presidential run-off, now slated
for June 27.
Sadly, the history of Africa
shows all too well that politicians in that continent, once they come to power,
become quickly tempted and resort to corruption and all other means to retain
control.
ABC Australia
Posted 6
hours 5 minutes ago
The Zimbabwean Government says that it is unaware of
any threats to the
security of Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
following claims by the
Opposition of an assassination plot.
Mr
Tsvangirai has postponed his return to Zimbabwe indefinitely because of
the
alleged plot to assassinate him.
The Opposition has so far given only the
sketchiest details of the alleged
plot and Mr Tsvangirai's spokesman George
Sibotshiwe was unable to say who
was behind it.
"We have received
information from a credible source concerning a planned
assassination
attempt against President Tsvangirai," he said.
Mr Tsvangirai has been
out of Zimbabwe for over a month and had been due to
return from Europe on
Saturday to campaign for the June 27 second round
ballot against President
Robert Mugabe.
Officials from the Opposition's Movement for Democratic
Change party (MDC)
insist that Mr Tsvangirai wants to return to Zimbabwe but
they say they
first asking a regional observer group to ensure he can
campaign for the
presidential run-off without risking his life.
-
BBC
Email: jag@mango.zw : justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
JAG
Hotlines: +263 (011) 610 073, +263 (04) 799 410. If you are in trouble
or
need advice, please don't hesitate to contact us - we're here to
help!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------
ANDREW
PAUL ROSSLYN STIDOLPH state that:
1. I am citizen and permanent resident
of Zimbabwe. My Zimbabwe national
registration number is 24- 042486L -
00.
2. The facts hereunder are true and correct according to the best
my
knowledge and belief.
3. I am the registered owner of the certain
piece of land called Grand
Parade Estate A, measuring 2270,4507 hectares in
the district of Urungwe
(Hurungwe) commonly known as Grand Parade.
4.
The property in question purports to have been compulsorily acquired
by
Government through the expedient of Gazetted notices.
5. It becomes
necessary to outline recent developments leading to my
unlawful eviction from
the property details of which are set out below.
ATTEMPTED SPOLIATION, AND
SPOLIATION
6. At around 06.30 am on 7 May 2008, against our will, and
contrary to the
laws of Zimbabwe, and in contempt of a Karoi magistrate's
court order bail
conditions, my wife Sheila and I were forcibly removed from
our home at
Grand Parade farm in Karoi North. There were approximately nine
armed
soldiers who came to the house to force my wife and I out at the
command of,
or at the instance of, Major Gen. Nick Dube of ZNA Defence
Headquarters
Harare, and who ordinarily resides at Glen Lorne district of
Harare, and who
claims to be a beneficiary of the remaining portion of Grand
Parade that I
was previously occupying with my wife and two sons. At the time
this
incident took place my wife and I were resident in our homestead. Most
of
the soldiers were in uniform. I recognized Cpl Shoko and soldiers known
to
me as Chimsimbe, Chibatamoto, Jingura and Chewore. Some were armed with
AK
rifles, whilst others carried metal pipes, or sticks and one, Sgt Gange,
had
a swagger stick.
7. By way of general background:
Soldiers have
been resident at Grand Parade since they seized the farm on
behalf of Major
Gen N M Dube and his wife Colonel Gertrude Dube, on 25
September 2007. The
Major General had been given an offer letter for the
same portion of land
already allocated or promised to me by the acquiring
authority consequent to
the fact that I was an acknowledged compliance
farmer having given up more
than two thirds of the farm and to the fact that
I had "shared" the farm in
harmony with A1 settlers.
8. I confirm that I was called to the Karoi
magistrates to answer charges of
allegedly contravening a section of the
Gazetted Land (Consequential
Provisions) Act Cap 20:28 in late 2007. Pursuant
to my initial appearance on
remand I had denied the charge of unlawful
occupation and indicated that I
wished to contest this issue at my
'trial'.
9. The magistrate dealing with my initial appearance stated - as
a condition
of bail - and in writing - that I should remain on the farm
pending the
finalization of the alleged criminal matter. I subsequently
appeared on
periodic remand and confirm that a provisional date for the
commencement of
my trial was set for the 14 May 2008 at the Karoi Magistrates
court.
10. In regard to my tenancy, I also had an agreement with the
Major General,
witnessed in chambers by Judge Uchena and Mrs Mwatse of
Ministry of Lands
that I and my wife were to remain in our house - pending
finalisation of
proceedings and the issue of an eviction order by a competent
court - and
that we be allowed to continue with our registered dairy
operations.
11. I confirm that the commercial farming activities carried
out on Grand
Parade constituted the sole source of livelihood. Apart from
milk to the
local community, my wife and I supply dairy products - butter and
cheese -
to supermarkets in Harare.
My son James was farming wheat, maize
and tobacco on Grand Parade - that is
until he was of a sudden barred from
entering the farm by Dube's soldiers in
September 2007.
Since that
date his tobacco crop and equipment and material have been
summarily
commandeered and taken over without recourse to the due process of
law and
payment of compensation. The resultant loss runs to trillions of
Zimbabwe
dollars.
12. There was a prior attempted eviction that took place on
Monday 14 April
2008. On this occasion Cpl. Shoko called me to the house gate
to the main
homestead. He told me that Tuesday 15 was to be my last day in
our house;
that I was to pack my things and summon transport for my
furniture, pigs,
dairy cows, and cattle. I refused.
I said I had
permission to remain on the farm and that my case was sub
judice because I
was awaiting a trial date at court, and that it was part of
my bail
conditions that I remain on the farm. I also informed him that I had
obtained
interim relief from the SADC Tribunal ruling, filed of record in
Namibia
under SADCT 04/08.
I displayed to Cpl Shoko some relevant papers. He said
he was not interested
in such things; he and his men just followed orders. To
this end, at an
earlier time, my wife had asked the Major Gen why he was
behaving above the
law - did he not respect the laws of the land. His
response was that 'he was
army,' and it did not apply to him.
13. Re
SADC, I confirm that I - along with other affected farmers - had
appealed to
the SADC Tribunal to obtain relief from the Government of
Zimbabwe who had
threatened our eviction; we get no fair justice from
Zimbabwe's Higher
Courts.
We sought to interdict the Government from directly or indirectly
attending
to our eviction from our properties before the merits of the Mike
Campbell
case - filed of record under SADCT 2/2007 to which interim relief
had also
been obtained - had been completed. In that regard Campbell and
the
interveners assert that varying SADC Treaty and Protocol rights have been
or
stand to be infringed.
14. Interim relief was granted by the SADC
Tribunal. The ruling to my
application was handed down in open court in
Windhoek on 28 March 2008 by
H.E. Justice Dr Luis Antonio Mondlane
(President).
15. I am advised and accept that Government has signed the
Treaty and
relevant Protocols. The Treaty was signed by President R G Mugabe
in 1992
and the Treaty was ratified by Parliament.
16. I am also
advised and accept that Government has expressly or by
implication submitted
itself to the jurisdiction of the Tribunal. It has
done so by appearing in
Windhoek on two occasions and by reason that it has
filed papers in that
court. Additionally, Government's legal representatives
expressly undertook
to abide by and honour the decisions of the Tribunal -
whether of an interim
or final nature.
17. My forced eviction - promoted or acquiesced in by
Government - and the
determination by the State to continue with my criminal
prosecution in the
Karoi Magistrate's Court offends the order of the Tribunal
and runs counter
to the undertakings made by Government through its legal
representatives.
18. Returning to the background details:
An initial
attempt to evict my wife and I took place on Wednesday 16 April
2008. On this
occasion I was called to the gate to the main homestead where
I was residing
with my wife by Cpl Shoko and five other soldiers who were
standing there
with him. Most of them were in full army uniform and had in
their possession
either AK rifles or sticks.
Cpl Shoko told me since I had not heeded his
prior instructions that he was
taking over the house, would throw out my
things and that we must 'pack and
go'.
I refused. Despite efforts of
my wife and I to stop entry, the soldiers
managed to force open the
gate.
My wife Sheila sustained slight bruising to her hands when she
was
attempting to prevent access of the soldiers into our home.
With
the soldiers coming behind us we retreated to the house.
We have four
large dogs. The soldiers said they would shoot our dogs.
We managed to get
the dogs in a bedroom and locked ourselves inside the
house.
The
soldiers gathered round the back kitchen door and tried to enter.
I went to
the radio to call for help and told my son James to call
the
police.
The soldiers brought hosepipes and started putting water
under the doors
into the house in order to try to flood us out.
My
wife said we were not moving.
While I was on the radio she told the
soldiers it was best that they shoot
her dead and get the matter over with
for only her dead body would be
leaving her home, and in a box. They finally
retreated back to the tobacco
barn area.
19. The Karoi police, who had
promised to come immediately, never came.
Inspector Chaguta,
officer-in-charge of Karoi ZRP had been informed of the
incident at
0730am.
The whole day his men failed to attend our call for help; even
after 24
hours, they still had not come.
20. On May 5 Cpl Shoko sent
another message to the effect that we had two
days notice to get out of our
home.
I phoned the Commercial Farmers Union.
They asked me to
phone Nelson Samkange, Governor of Mash West Province.
21. I phoned the
Governor. He asked me if I had a court order. I said yes.
He then said that I
should just contact the police and he stated that 'they
will protect
you'.
I later wrote a formal letter to Inspector Chaguta requesting
his
protection.
I sent another letter to Supt. Jiri at ZRP Dispol office
Karoi, and yet
another to Assistant Commissioner Chihuri at Propol Police, in
Chinhoyi. I
informed all of them of the unlawful threats of the soldiers and
requested
their help. I advised that if they did not come to our aid when
called upon,
I would hold the Commissioner responsible for any loss of life,
injury or
damage to our property.
No police ever came to see me, and
the letters have not been responded to.
22. The next attempt was made by
the same group of soldiers, plus three
others, on 7th May 2008. On this
occasion nine soldiers invaded the house
with sticks, iron bars, some holding
AK rifles.
At 0700 they refused our workers and housemaids to come to
work.
They then patrolled round the house intimidating us.
We managed
to take some photos of them outside of the kitchen.
23. My wife Sheila
who is aged 65 years was very stressed.
She has cancer and an artificial hip
and high blood pressure. I was
concerned for her blood pressure and
health.
Finally the soldiers made entry into our house by forcing the
kitchen door.
They commenced throwing out our property.
My wife
and I could do nothing to stop them.
They threw all our belongings
out.
Once they had thrown everything out, they took occupation in the
main
lounge.
They kept only some chairs and our stereo there to play
loud music with our
CDs.
Some drank beer taken from our
pantry.
24. We managed to radio for help.
My second son Alex went
to see Inspector Chaguta at ZR police.
He promised to send someone, but of
course they never came.
We had to sit outside with our belongings, but it was
by then scattered
everywhere and I could not look after it. My wife and I
were numb, exhausted
and quite traumatised by this time. None of our
employees were allowed in to
help us.
25. Our family arranged for
lorries to come, but they came late because of a
diesel shortage. The first
lorry came at sunset, at about 6pm. The loading
was not completed until
around 11pm that night.
We then left the farm in our car. The soldiers had in
the interim taken up
occupation inside my residence.
26. The next day
when we unloaded the trucks that had been hastily loaded,
we found many
things missing.
Stolen was a Nikon camera, DVD, Nokia cell phone, brown
safari boots, six
pair shoes, pair of 'Bose' speakers, most of our towels and
many of my
wife's personal clothing including imported bras, a breast
prosthesis and
underwear. The general self-help and theft is attributable to
the army
personnel sent to Grand Parade to evict us.
Additionally, large
quantities of property were - through force of
circumstance - left behind.
This includes without in any way attempting to
be exhaustive - a 100 KVA
Kohler mobile generator on wheels, contents of our
farm office - filing
cabinets, farm computer, printer, company and farm
records etc - contents of
Chubb walk-in safe and contents, 10 new bicycles
for staff and numerous stock
such as filters, oils, batteries, new tyres,
rope, workshop tools, fertiliser
and numerous farm materials the latter of
which in fact are owned by my son
James who has been prevented access to
remove the same since September of
last year. His property also includes
many tractors and farm equipment and
material and much irrigation equipment
including two Valley centre pivots.
The cumulative value of these items runs
to trillions of Zimbabwe
dollars
27. I confirm that the following day we were "permitted" to
collect certain
remaining items such as pots and plants and some remaining
livestock. Some
pigs remained.
FURTHER BACKGROUND DETAILS:
28. On
25 September 2007 Major Gen. N.M. Dube came with his soldiers to
seize our
compliance portion of the property.
29. In addition he seized all of my
sons James and Alex's equipment that
include two centre pivots for
irrigation, five tractors, much valuable farm
equipment and materials, and
his soldiers at a boom gate prevented my sons
from entering the
farm.
He also seized James' tobacco crop and his 10 tonne sugar bean
crop
harvested by James in July of 2007, a crop that had been kept in his
shed on
behalf of Prime Seeds Company for seed, and to be delivered to Msasa
Harare
by December 2007. Prime Seeds sent a lorry to collect this on 1
October
2007, but the soldiers refused it and sent him away empty. Other
materials
were seized and have subsequently been used and/or stolen, such as
farm
chemicals, plus minus 1000 bags fertilizer, two motor-bikes, all
James'
workshop equipment and tools, oils, tyres, batteries, filters, his
office
computer and printer, James' farm safe, filing cabinet, files,
etc.
30. This ongoing theft and confiscation has been repeatedly drawn to
the ZRP
police and to Governments attention and protested. Again, without
pretending
to exhaust my efforts and that of my son, I wrote three times to
the
Permanent Secretary of Lands, Ms Tsvakwi for her to authorise
the
repossession of my son James farm equipment and materials. She has
not
responded to the complaints at all.
We supplied Ms Tsvakwi - the
Permanent Secretary for Lands - with proof that
my sons are still farming.
They do so on land in addition to Grand Parade
farm that they lease. The
equipment on Grand Parade was and still is needed
by my sons for their
continued farming operations and to earn a livelihood.
Consequently the
equipment so confiscated and currently been used without
the consent of my
sons James and Alex is not 'idle equipment'.
Ms Tsvakwi has not had the
courtesy to reply.
She would seem to us to be complicit with Major Gen
Nick Dube in the theft
or unauthorised use of our equipment.
There has
been no valid acquisition order, no agreement, no inventory, no
valuation, no
handover, no receipt, and no compensation for this property.
31. My two
sons and I have lost everything - not only our agreed compliance
portion of
farm, but now all of our equipment and materials - the results of
a life's
work, savings and investment.
32. My wife and I are in our sixties. We
have nowhere to go and have no
savings. Practically everything had been
invested in the farm, its
infrastructure and its assets. We built a large 3
km dam for irrigation of
4000ml capacity with loans from the bank that took
us some ten years to pay
off. We have enjoyed minimal benefit from this
investment.
33. My son James used to grow 150 ha wheat and was one of the
districts'
volume growers. This is no more. Because of human greed (Nick Dube
and his
'agent' Temba Mliswa), our businesses at Grand Parade of tobacco,
maize,
wheat, cattle, pigs, dairy, have been needlessly destroyed. Harare
city with
its current chronic food shortages will no longer receive our
butter. Some
150 workers are now unemployed.
Meantime Gen Dube to date
employs only 10 people.
Since we no longer have a farm, our dairy
products are no longer going to
Harare. The dairy cows will be killed for
meat. I now have no option but to
look for some kind of job. I have no house
in Harare or elsewhere, and my
local pension is now worthless.
34.
While we for our part have cooperated, in our opinion the Zimbabwe
Government
has been most unfair to us. Senator R. Maramahoko, the Deputy
Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Vice President J. Msika and his Director Mr
Madamombe, all
know the truth of this unfairness and of our general
circumstances.
We
have given up two farms previously for Land Reform - in 1980 and in
1984.
We moved to Grand Parade Farm in Karoi in 1984.
From 2001, when
the fast track Land Reform started, we voluntarily downsized
the farm three
times - sharing with A1 settlers as compliance farmers,
ending up with only
30% of the original farm.
35. Then in 2004 I was unfairly charged with
unlawful occupation of Grand
Parade in breach of the then section 9 of the
Land Acquisition Act Cap 20:10
which was then in place. I denied those
charges.
I was summoned to court.
Evidence on Government policy about
compliance farmers was given at court by
then Perm Sec of Lands, Simon
Pazvakavambwa. As a result of his evidence -
concerning Government's
compliance policy - I was acquitted by the
magistrate.
36. Shortly
after this acquittal my two sons and I were left with 650 ha as
'compliance
farmers and we resumed share-farming in harmony with the
resident A1
settlers.
37. In early 2006 Temba Mliswa, nephew of Minister Mutasa, used
his
influence with his uncle to get our compliance portion allocated to
Major
Gen N.M. Dube.
The Major General was given an offer
letter.
38. We protested this fact and continued farming.
39 Many
local leaders have supported our case.
40. In 2007 our name appeared on
the list of the 'Cooksey Hall Resolution'
where a list of certain white
farmers of Mash West Province was produced and
who were recommended to stay
on their land.
That document was subsequently endorsed by Vice President
J. Msika, Dr N,
Shamuyarira, Secretary for Information of ZANU-PF and the
Minister of Policy
Implementation Webster Shamu. I understand that it was
endorsed by the
Politburo and Presidium, but it appears that it was opposed
by Minister
Mutasa of Lands.
41. Nonetheless, on the strength of this
resolution, we remained farming. We
moved nothing off the farm up to the time
of our forced eviction.
42. We did not leave the farm of our own free
will.
We have been unlawfully forced off by armed uniformed soldiers of
the ZNA -
who are effectively employees/agents of the Government - albeit
used by
Major General Nick Dube for his private purposes.
43. Not only
ourselves but our approximately 150 workers who are employed by
my two sons
and myself, are nearly all displaced. I am concerned for their
welfare.
They too are SADC citizens and are going to suffer chronic
hardships in the
current economic climate.
44. I contend that the action conducted against
the Stidolph family as
citizens of this country, and citizens of SADC, is
contrary to the domestic
law of this country as well as contrary to
international law and conventions
including the SADC Treaty.
Dated at
Harare this 10 day of May 2008.
ANDREW PAUL ROSSLYN STIDOLPH
From the Zimbabwe Vigil
16th May 2008
Founding member of the Vigil, Ephraim Tapa, has just returned
from a trip to
South Africa. He was invited by Zimbabwean activists who
were keen to
participate in the on-the-ground protests of the Vigil and its
partner ROHR
(Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe). His plan was to
identify ordinary
Zimbabwean activists and place them at the heart of the
human rights
campaign spearheaded by ROHR with the strong backing of the
Zimbabwe Vigil.
It is encouraging to learn that ROHR is now operational in
three nations:
UK, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Walking down the street
in Johannesburg Ephraim came across a large
gathering of Zimbabweans and
found they were part of the Zimbabwean
community supported by Bishop Paul
Verryn of the Central Methodist Church.
When he introduced himself he found
that he was already well-known. He
learnt that most Zimbabwean exiles in
South Africa keep a close eye on the
internet and the Vigil website among
others. Ephraim had a number of
meetings with sections of the Zimbabwean
community and was welcomed as a
guest of honour and invited to speak to a
1000-plus group. He received
overwhelming support for what ROHR aims to
achieve for Zimbabwe. Overwhelmed
by the level of support and the people's
commitment to set themselves free,
he established an interim committee to
spearhead efforts to mobilise the
Zimbabwean community in South Africa for
the restoration of their rights.
ROHR in South Africa and elsewhere is
devoted the promotion of human rights
through non violent
protests.
While in SA he met many people with stories of the horrors of
what was
happening: an elderly man with his arm in plaster who had fled from
the
recent atrocities, a member of ROHR in Zimbabwe who had fled after
sustaining broken ribs and being left for dead, 15-year-old girls turned
prostitutes, victims in South Africa of xenophobic attacks including women
and children now encamped in the bush for fear of more violence, angry
former soldiers of the Zimbabwe National Army and more. Ephraim also
visited the Home Affairs Departments in both Pretoria and Johannesburg where
thousands of Zimbabweans spend countless days and nights waiting in a futile
attempt to get papers. Zimbabwean refugees are desperate to become active
and can bring a vital impetus to the struggle to restore human rights across
the Limpopo,
Shortly after Ephraim left South Africa, he was pained
to hear about the
monstrous xenophobic attacks on Zimbabwean and other
refugees in the Joburg
townships, which resulted in several
deaths.
Vigil co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy,
429 Strand, London, takes place
every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to
protest against gross violations of
human rights by the current regime in
Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in
October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair
elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk
Mail and Guardian
Johannesburg, South Africa
18 May 2008
09:25
Five people were killed and 50 were injured on Sunday
when
xenophobic attacks spread to Cleveland, Johannesburg police
said.
Spokesperson Captain Cheryl Engelbrecht said the
violence
started at about 1am. Foreigners, mainly Zimbabweans, were attacked
at the
Cleveland informal settlement.
"Two people were
burnt and three people were beaten to death.
Fifty others were taken to
various hospitals for gunshot and stab wounds.
About 300 people are seeking
refuge at the Cleveland police station and more
are coming in," she
said.
According to police, several shops were vandalised and
goods
were stolen.
"The situation is very tense at the
moment and the police are
monitoring the area," said
Engelbrecht.
Cleveland is a suburb on the main railway line
to the East Rand
and beyond, and is situated near the crossing of the N3
highway to Durban
and the busy M2 elevated freeway to the inner
city.
The violent attacks on foreigners started in Alexandra
and by
Saturday had spread from Alexandra to Diepsloot, Thokoza and
Tembisa.
About 300 foreigners had flocked to the Thokoza
community hall
on Saturday, seeking safety after attacks broke out in the
East Rand
township.
Seven people were arrested for public
violence on Saturday in
Thokoza, according to police spokesperson Captain
Mega Ndobe.
He said two shacks had been burnt down and a
number of people
had been injured. At least 50 foreigners had sought refuge
at the Thokoza
police station.
In Tembisa, one man was
shot and killed and two others were
injured, also in xenophobic
attacks.
Spokesperson Captain Manyadza Ralidhivha said scores
of Tembisa
residents went on a rampage, destroying property that belonged to
foreign
nationals on Saturday. He said at least 15 shacks had been burnt
down in
Kanana, Tembisa.
The situation in Diepsloot
continued to be "tense and
uncontrollable", police said on
Saturday.
Captain Louise Reed said extensions one and six
were still
volatile, with residents setting alight uncollected garbage in
the streets.
"The residents are starting fires in the street and lighting up
the garbage
that has not been collected," she said.
Protest march
Socialist organisations said in Johannesburg on
Saturday that
South Africa's working class is turning its anger against
immigrants instead
of the "true enemy", the capitalists.
The organisations, attending a march organised by the Congress
of South
African Trade Unions (Cosatu), agreed that foreigners and South
Africans
should unite against the problems of underdevelopment.
About
200 people had joined Cosatu and other left-wing
organisations at the
Library Gardens in the Johannesburg CBD to protest
against recent xenophobic
attacks in Gauteng, the situation in Zimbabwe and
soaring food
prices.
Holding Cosatu banners saying "Africans united",
protesters sang
struggle songs and listened to speeches.
South African National Civics Organisation president Mlungisi
Hlongwane
said: "The issue of xenophobia should end and it should end now."
He called
for "man-made boundaries" of countries to be "demolished" to
ensure all
Africans free movement through the countries.
"Let us unite,"
he said. "African people should understand that
we are all brothers and
sisters."
The Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (ZACF)
handed out
pamphlets saying a divided working class would win nothing but
more than
exploitation and oppression. Referring to the "crisis" of housing
in South
Africa, the ZACF said: "A battle between South Africans and
immigrants over
who gets the houses will only prolong the
crisis."
The organisation Keep Left blamed the government for
underdevelopment, saying it has been slow to meet its promises. "If
government had kept their promises to deliver houses and jobs, then no one
would be fighting over this." -- Sapa
The Times, SA
Published:May 18,
2008
Francois
Rank, Suthentira Govender and Philani Nombembe
More foreigners in South
Africa are being attacked than ever before, in a
wave of xenophobic violence
that has sent hundreds fleeing for their lives.
Since
2005, there have been 16 reported attacks on foreign residents
throughout
the country — most of which have occurred in the past six
months.
Research by the Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South
Africa
(Cormsa), shows that, in the past six weeks alone, four attacks
occurred in
the Gauteng townships of Alexandra, Diepsloot and
Mamelodi.
An advocacy group in Durban, the KwaZulu-Natal Refugee Council,
reports that
more than a dozen xenophobic attacks, in which at least two
foreigners were
killed, have taken place since the beginning of the
year.
Council head Pierre Matate says that, at a meeting in the Durban
inner city
area of Albert Park this week, South Africans demanded that
foreigners leave
the area.
“They accused us of being criminals, of
being smelly and of taking their
jobs.”
The exact number of
foreigners killed around the country is unknown,
however.
In March,
seven people, including Zimbabweans, Pakistanis and a Somali, were
killed
after their shops and shacks were set alight in Atteridgeville
outside
Pretoria.
In Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, there have been two major
attacks this
year, including those of the past week, in which seven
foreigners were
seriously injured.
On January 8 , there were three
attacks around the country, including two in
the Eastern Cape towns of
Jeffreys Bay and East London, in which two Somali
shop owners were
murdered.
The same day in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, a foreign man
was burnt to
death after being accused of burgling a spaza
shop.
Ahmed Dawlo, the chairman of the Somali Association of South
Africa, says
471 Somalis have been murdered here since
1997.
Cormsa’s head, Loren Landau, said the consortium had noticed a
dramatic
increase in the number of attacks on migrants .
“About two
years ago, Somalis were attacked in Masiphumelele on the Cape
Flats. That
wasn’t the first, but since then we have seen a steady
acceleration in the
number of attacks on foreigners,” he said.
Landau, also the director of
the Forced Migration Studies Programme at Wits
University, said although
there were foreigners involved in crime, “there is
no evidence that they are
in any way responsible for the surge we have seen
in national crime
rates”.
“In fact, some surveys have suggested only 2% to 3% of arrests
involve
migrants . If anything, foreigners seem under- represented in
crime.”
On Wednesday, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa- Nqakula told
Parliament’s
home affairs committee that a “third force” could be behind the
violence
because people who had lived together for many years were suddenly
at each
other’s throats.
Landau, however, says there is almost always
an economic reason for
xenophobic attacks.
“We have seen competition
among shopkeepers and among taxi owners who use
gangsters and others to
mobilise mobs against foreigners.”
David Cote of Lawyers for Human Rights
said on Friday that his organisation
was concerned about how government had
handled recent incidents.
Landau said his organisation “never
thought” xenophobic violence would
happen in Alexandra “because these people
have been living there for 20, 30
years”.
“Now we see it can. This is
why we want to see a national response, not just
a public condemnation,
involving councillors and police in every township in
SA.” — Additional
reporting by Rowan Philp