Christian Science Monitor
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was invited for talks with
President
Robert Mugabe, says a top official. Would the talks negate a
runoff
presidential election scheduled for June 27.
By Scott Baldauf |
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the May 19, 2008
edition
Reporter Scott Baldauf discusses why Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF and
MDC parties may
soon negotiate a power-sharing deal.
Johannesburg,
South Africa - Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
canceled a
trip home from South Africa this weekend, citing a rumored
assassination
plot against him.
The trip was timed for a celebration of his party's
gaining a parliamentary
majority in the March 29 elections and to gear up
for the newly announced
June 27 presidential runoff vote.
But a
senior member of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party tells the
Monitor
that he had met with Mr. Tsvangirai over the weekend in
Johannesburg, and
that Tsvangirai had indicated that he had been invited
back to Harare to
begin power-sharing talks with Mr. Mugabe himself.
These would be the
highest-level talks yet, and could pave the way for a
political settlement
that would avoid a runoff that most observers say will
not be free and
fair.
"[Tsvangirai] said he had been approached by the ZANU-PF and they
were
prepared to forgo a runoff in favor of establishing a government of
national
unity," says Dumiso Dabengwa, a former Zimbabwe chief of
intelligence and
current member of ZANU-PF's politburo, and one of the
leading ZANU-PF
officials to turn against Mugabe in support of independent
candidate Simba
Makoni.
"I said: 'Please don't hesitate. Take it up,
and let's get on with the
negotiation,' " says Mr. Dabengwa. But hearing
minutes later on the news
that Tsvangirai had canceled his trip in fear of
his life, Dabengwa could
only shake his head. "What we want is Mugabe out,"
he says, "but we have
this impossible character [Tsvangirai], and we have to
swallow this bitter
pill to support this fellow. If he doesn't go back now,
he will lose face."
Glimmers of hope
By most appearances,
Zimbabwe's post-election crisis would seem no closer to
resolution. Attacks
against opposition activists by pro-Mugabe militias
continue, and leaders of
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party
(MDC) insist that they won
the presidential vote outright. But behind the
uncompromising positions,
there are glimmers of hope that the two parties
are quietly
negotiating.
"Now there is a real possibility of a government of national
unity," says
Eldred Masunungure, a political analyst at the University of
Zimbabwe.
ZANU-PF insiders say that Mugabe's support continues to erode,
and that
aside from a small coterie of Mugabe's advisers – and of course the
roving
bands of pro-Mugabe militias – there are few voices in ZANU-PF who
think
that violence will do any more good.
"I think they've always
wanted a negotiated settlement, and the general
tendency by the MDC and
other democratic forces was to give an exit package
for Mugabe which would
give him immunity, but it would not give safeguards
for anyone else," says
Dumiso Matshazi, an opposition activist from
Zimbabwe's second-largest city,
Bulawayo. "What [top Mugabe backers] feared
is if Mugabe gives in without
giving safeguards for them. The rest of the
guys around Mugabe felt
vulnerable; they held Mugabe at ransom. They say,
'We've done everything for
you. So if there is no package for us, then there
is no package.'
"
MDC officials continue to publicly deny any talks of a negotiated
settlement.
"That is a very remote possibility, because ZANU-PF is
murdering our
supporters," MDC spokesman Nelson Camisa told the Monitor.
"The environment
is not at all conducive for any talks and we are not
talking. The runoff is
not going to be free and fair, but despite that it is
going to be a walkover
on Mugabe."
Tough to hold a fair runoff
vote
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has indicated that it was
crucially
short of funds to hold the June 27 runoff. ZANU-PF insiders
confirm that
South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki – who has been charged by
Zimbabwe's
neighboring countries to lead a mediation process in Zimbabwe –
has assured
the ZEC that it would provide whatever funding was necessary to
hold the
elections as planned.
James McGee, the US ambassador to
Zimbabwe, told the BBC news service that
the current violence against
opposition supporters made a runoff election
impossible. He claimed to have
evidence that state security agencies,
including the police and Army, are
involved in the violence against
opposition members.
Yet former
intelligence chief Dabengwa says he welcomes the runoff date in
six weeks,
because it forces both ZANU-PF and MDC to come to a negotiated
settlement
rather than face the cost and chaos of a new election.
For Dabengwa, and
many other ZANU-PF members the thought of five more years
of Mugabe's rule
is an unpalatable prospect. Dabengwa was one of many senior
ZANU-PF members
to support an independent candidate, former Finance Minister
Simba
Makoni.
"We started saying to ourselves, are we really going to have
Mugabe stand as
our presidential candidate, with all the problems we have in
the country,
all the difficulties we are going through?" says Dabengwa. "And
are we
really going to contend for him and tell our people, you are going to
vote
for this man? For some of us, it was a very difficult prospect of
supporting
an idea like that."
Now, he says few ZANU-PF members
support Mugabe from their hearts, and are
opening channels with Tsvangirai's
party to form a transitional government
of national unity, to last a maximum
of two years.
• A reporter who could not be named for security
reasons contributed from
Harare, Zimbabwe.
Monsters and Critics
May 18, 2008, 17:40 GMT
Harare/Johannesburg -
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change drew a
large crowd Sunday at a
rally to kickstart its presidential run-off campaign
in the western city of
Bulawayo, even without the presence of its leader,
Morgan
Tsvangirai.
'There were between 12,000 and 16, 000 people there, and the
atmosphere was
lively and triumphant,' said Mandlankosi Moyo, a local
observer.
Tsvangirai had been due to address the rally which marks the
start of his
campaign for victory in a presidential run-off election on June
27, pitting
him against longtime President Robert Mugabe.
However,
shortly before he was due to fly back to Zimbabwe from South
Africa, he was
warned by advisers of a plot to assassinate him on his
return, party
officials said. No date for his return has been announced.
Mugabe and
Tsvangirai are squaring up to do battle in a run-off after
neither won an
outright victory of over 50 per cent in the first round of
voting on March
29, according to the state-controlled Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission.
ZEC credited Tsvangirai with 47.9 per cent of the vote,
to 43.2 per cent for
Mugabe.
Sunday's rally took place after Bulawayo
High Court overturned a police ban
on the gathering during the
week.
Police had claimed the political atmosphere was 'tense' and that it
was 'too
risky' to hold political meetings in the city.
Zimbabwe has
been rocked by violence since the March elections, most of
which has been
laid at the door of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.
The MDC says 40 of its
members have been killed by Mugabe supporters in
revenge for the MDC's
victory over Zanu-PF in parliamentary elections.
Zanu-PF has described
the reports as exaggerated and complained of
retaliatory MDC
attacks.
South Africa's Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in an
interview with
Germany's Welt am Sonntag, called for an international
peacekeeping force to
be dispatched to Zimbabwe to prevent violence during
the run-off.
Reuters
Sun May 18,
2008 11:00am EDT
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, May
18 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition vowed on
Sunday to 'bury'
President Robert Mugabe at next month's second-round
election, and called
for the process of checking the poll results to be open
to the
media.
The Movement for Democratic Change launched its campaign ahead of
the June
27 election in the absence of its leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who
delayed his
return from abroad after the party said it had discovered a plot
to kill
him.
MDC vice president Thokozani Khupe told about 10,000
supporters in
Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo that the opposition would
win by an even
bigger margin after official results from the March 29 first
round vote
showed Tsvangirai did not secure sufficient votes to avoid a
run-off.
The MDC insists Tsvangirai won outright the first
time.
"We decided to participate in the run-off to give the people of
Zimbabwe a
second chance to kick out the dictatorship. We have now declared
a zero vote
for Robert Mugabe," Khupe told supporters on Sunday.
"We
need to give Mugabe a final blow. On June 27 we will be having a ZANU-PF
funeral. We are going to make sure we bury them so that they will not
resurrect again."
The MDC has alleged electoral fraud in the March
election, and Khupe said
verification of results in next month's vote should
be open to the media and
observers and recorded on camera "so that ZANU-PF
will not cheat."
Earlier, police set up a security checkpoint on the main
road leading to the
stadium where the rally was held, stopping and searching
vehicles for
weapons. At a nearby police camp, four water canons were on
standby.
Police had initially banned the rally, but the MDC won a court
ruling
compelling the authorities not to interfere with the
meeting.
"ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT"
Tsvangirai, who left
Zimbabwe shortly after the first vote on March 29, had
been scheduled to
return to home on Saturday to relaunch his campaign, but
the party said it
had received information about a planned assassination
attempt.
"Mr
Tsvangirai will not be going to Zimbabwe today. We are still assessing
the
security situation," his spokesman George Sibotshiwe said from
neighbouring
South Africa on Sunday.
Next month's second-round election will be held
against the backdrop of a
political and economic meltdown in which
Zimbabweans have grappled with
165,000 percent inflation, 80 percent
unemployment, chronic food and fuel
shortages which have seen millions flee
to neighbouring countries.
The March vote was followed by violence, which
the MDC says killed at least
40 of its supporters and which it blames on
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. ZANU-PF
in turn accuses the
opposition.
Zimbabwe remains in a political stalemate over the
presidential poll,
although the opposition won enough votes in March to end
ZANU-PF's
parliamentary majority for the first time since independence from
Britain in
1980.
On Sunday state media said the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) would
only allow voters registered for the March election
in the run-off.
Zimbabwe's government has said Tsvangirai should report
security concerns to
the authorities, and have sought to cast doubt on talk
of an assassination
plot. (Additional reporting by Nelson Banya; Writing by
Stella Mapenzauswa;
Editing by Richard Balmforth)
The Telegraph
By Peta
Thornycroft in Harare
Last Updated: 8:09PM BST 18/05/2008
Armed riot
police prevented Harare's beleagured Anglican congregations from
worshipping
in their churches on Sunday in defiance of a supreme court
order.
Police
moved into the gardens of Anglican churches around the city from
early
morning and senior officers telephoned priests and warned them not to
try
and hold services yesterday.
Two weeks ago the usually pro government
Supreme Court of Zimbabwe dismissed
an application by Nolbert Kunonga, the
former Bishop of Harare, to take
control all Harare's 58 Anglican
churches.
Mr Kunonga, who is an avid supporter of President Robert Mugabe
and was
given a 1600 acre white-owned farm in 2003, was sacked by the Church
of the
Province of Central Africa last November.
The city's Anglican
community openly support Bishop Sebastian Bakare who was
brought out of
retirement to replace Mr Kunonga as Bishop of Harare.
Shortly after Zanu PF
and Mr Mugabe lost elections on March 29, the police
and intelligence
operatives began harassing priests and communities.
A week ago scores
were beaten up during a service in St Francis Church, in
Waterfalls suburb,
south of Harare.
This week the police have taken over the remainder of
Harare's Anglican
churches.
"The police telephoned us early in the
morning and told us not to hold a
service today," said a priest from one of
the city's oldest churches in the
southern part of the city.
"Some of
our congregation were beaten up the previous Sunday, so after the
phone call
I drove around the church and saw many armed policemen there so
we cannot
worship there today. There are too many women and children in the
congregation, we can't expose them to this danger.
"Please do not use
my name or the name of the church as we are trying to
protect our
families."
Bishop Bakare said on Sunday: "I will ask other religious
leaders in Harare
to lend us their churches from next Sunday so our
congregations can continue
to worhsip. We will also sue the commissioner of
police next week.
"We know the orders are coming from high up, not from
ordinary policemen."
The Anglican Church community split when Mr Kunonga
accused Anglicans world
wide of promoting homosexuality. It was on this
pretext that he claimed to
have taken Zimbabwe's Anglicans out of the
province of Central Africa and
formed the Zimbabwe province.
He
ordained dozens of "priests" in a hurry and the High Court then ordered
him
to share Anglican facilities and assets with Bishop Bakare.
He appealed
this to the Supreme Court and lost.
"Since the elections the pressure has
been on and Anglican priests and
communities are being questioned by
intelligence people. We are accused of
supporting the MDC," a priest said on
Sunday.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change won the
parliamentary election
and its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, defeated Mr Mugabe
in the presidential
poll. But official results said he failed to win more
than 50 percent and so
a second round will be held on June
27.
Zimbabwe's only Anglican cathedral St Mary's and All Saints in
central
Harare is kept locked 24 hours a day and is used briefly each Sunday
for a
service for a few dozen of Mr Kunonga's supporters.
VOA
By
Peta Thornycroft
Harare
18 May 2008
Concern is
growing about the fate of one of Zimbabwe's best-known activists,
arrested
more times than any other, was kidnapped from his home six days
ago. Peta
Thornycroft reports for VOA from Harare post-election violence
continues
across Zimbabwe.
Tonderai Ndira is 33, married with a couple of children,
and lives in the
heart of one of Zimbabwe's most politically volatile urban
slums, Mabvuku,
on the eastern edge of Harare.
Last Wednesday men in
plain clothes, driving a white four-by-four pick-up
truck went to his house
and allegedly beat Ndira in front of Raphael and
Linette, his two children,
and then took him away.
Nothing hs been heard from him since then. Four
other Harare activists who
were kidnapped in the same period have since been
released and are back at
home.
From the time the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change was formed in
September 1999, Ndira has been active in
the streets and in urban structures
and in every pro-democracy
campaign.
At last count, his family and friends believe he has been
arrested at least
35 times, certainly a record in Zimbabwe's political
history. Last year he
spent five months in detention. He has never been to
trial in connection
with any of his arrests because police have not
presented evidence of a
crime.
He has regularly been assaulted by
alleged ZANU-PF members or the security
forces during political violence and
was hospitalized with serious injuries
in 2003.
Although he is in
robust health normally, like other former detainees he has
bouts of frail
health when he is released from police custody.
A Harare judge recently
described conditions in Harare's police cells as
unfit for human
occupation.
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa and Zimbabwe police and army
officials have
not responded to question's about Ndira's
disappearance.
The MDC says that more than 30 of its supporters and
activists have been
killed since Zimbabwe's March 29
election.
Several retired South African generals, who returned last week
after
investigating the violence in Zimbabwe, say they have informed South
African
president Thabo Mbeki that they have been shocked at the violence
they have
investigated.
President Mugabe has denounced the political
violence, but says ZANU-PF
could never be involved in violence against its
people. He blames the MDC.
But most observers say the mounting violence
and intimidation, mainly
targeting opposition supporters, make it virtually
impossible for a planned
June 27 presidential runoff to be
credible.
In the March 29 polling the MDC defeated ZANU-PF in
parliamentary elections.
MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai beat Mr. Mugabe in
the presidential vote
count, but official results say he did not win a 50
percent majority so
there will be a second round on June
27.
Meanwhile, Mr. Tsvangirai postponed his return to Zimbabwe from South
Africa
due to assassination fears. It is unclear when he would return to
campaign
for the presidential run-off.
By
Dr.Zweledinga Pallo Jordan ⋅ zimbabwemetro.com ⋅ May 17, 2008
Speaking in
parliament during the budget debate of the Minister of Foreign
Affairs in
2003, amongst other things I said:
“Like peace and stability, democracy
and good governance are developmental
issues. Africa waged a century-long
struggle against colonialism and
apartheid precisely to establish the
principle that governments should
derive legitimacy through the consent of
the governed. Democratic
institutions are therefore not privileges that may
be extended or withheld
at the discretion of those who wield power. They are
an entitlement; a right
that the people of this continent waged struggle to
attain and won at great
cost!
“In the ANC’s continuing interaction
with the political parties in Zimbabwe,
we have warned against the
subversion the rule of law as we have about the
heightening of
tension.
“We have also warned against the temptations of recklessness
that could
easily precipitate armed conflict. We have consistently appealed
to the
values and norms that the national liberation movement in Zimbabwe
waged
struggle to attain - the values of democracy; accountable government;
the
rule of law; an independent judiciary; non-racialism; political
tolerance
and freedom of the media. Not a single one of these values was
observed
under British colonial rule, let alone under the UDI regime of Ian
Smith and
his cronies. We consider it a scandal that they are now being
undermined by
the movement that struggled to achieve
them.”
Consequently I was deeply shocked, if not alarmed, by an article
on Zimbabwe
from the pens of Eddie Maloka and Ben Magubane carried in City
Press on
Sunday 4 May 2008.
I was shocked by the suggestion of the
two authors that the criteria we
normally employ in judging the behaviour of
governments are extremely
flexible and are so malleable that what we judge
as criminal in one instance
we should find quite acceptable, even
defensible, in another.
I thought it was common cause, within the ranks
the ANC that the legitimacy
of a government derives from the mandate it
receives from the people. That
mandate is usually expressed through free and
fair general elections. The
record will show that the ANC has consistently
adhered to these principles
since its inauguration and re-affirmed them in
“The African Claims” of 1943;
the Freedom Charter of 1955, the Strategy and
Tactics document adopted at
Morogoro and in every subsequent document
setting out its aims and
principles, including the 1987 “Constitutional
Guidelines for a Democratic
South Africa”. What is more, we have also
insisted that these are principles
applicable to all countries, including
Zimbabwe.
Anyone familiar with the history of European colonialism in
Africa and Asia
knows that at the core of the colonialist project was
seizure and control
over the natural resources of the colony. In the white
settler colonies of
Africa, like Kenya, Zimbabwe and Namibia, seizure of the
land was invariably
the means of acquiring such control. The reproduction of
the long quotations
from The Guardian in the City Press article thus serves
no other purpose but
to remind the forgetful of that reality. But, the
information they contain
adds neither light nor weight to the principal
thrust of the two authors’
line of argument.
Opposition as
counter-revolution
Underlying the line of argument which the two authors
advance is the
suggestion that since the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) came into
existence after independence, that political formation is
necessarily
suspect. They try to buttress this by suggesting that given
that, like
Britain, the revanchist “Rhodesian” whites, the USA and the
European Union,
the MDC is not happy with the ZANU (PF) government, there is
an indissoluble
link amongst them and they all must be pursuing the same
agenda. Proceeding
from these highly flawed premises, they go on to argue
that it is therefore
incumbent on anti-imperialists to support ZANU
(PF).
There are disturbing parallels between these two writers’ line of
argument
and the all too familiar ones emanating from former US Presidents
like Teddy
Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and, in our day, George W Bush. Step
back a little,
invert the names, and the line of reasoning can be seen for
what it is.
Justifying unqualified US support for right wing dictators in
Latin America,
Teddy Roosevelt declared:” Somoza (the former banana-republic
dictator of
Nicaragua) is a bastard, but he is our bastard!” The authors
also deploy the
same guilt by association, so loved by anti-Communists and
other rightists
when they repress dissent. Virtually echoing the sentiments
of Senator Joe
McCarthy: “If someone sounds like a duck, associates with
ducks, and walks
like a duck, can it be unfair to infer that he is a
duck!”
But 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.
Is it any wonder that those
countries are now governed either by right wing
coalitions or by
anti-Communist liberals who want to hitch their countries
firmly to the EU
or to US-led alliances like NATO?
Proceeding from the tried and tested
principles of our liberation movement,
I contend that 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. Hence
Kwame Nkrumah: “Seek ye first the political kingdom!” The content of
anti-imperialism was precisely the struggle to attain these democratic
rights. In the case of Zimbabwe, democratic rights arrived that night when
the Union Jack was lowered and was replaced by the flag of an independent
Zimbabwe.
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 brush
such questions aside with a breathtaking
recklessness. To invoke the memory
of Patrice Lumumba in this context can
only be an example of woolly
thinking. Lumumba, let us remember, was
democratically elected by the
majority of the Congolese people. To subvert
the will of the Congolese, as
expressed in general elections, the
imperialists stage-managed Mobutu’s
coup, kidnapped Lumumba and had his
enemies murder him.
The same
applies to Salvador Allende of Chile. The CIA subverted the
expressed will
of the Chilean people by staging a coup to overturn the
democratically
elected government of Chile.
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.
‘For us or against
us’
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).
If that has
familiar ring, it is because the Bush administration has
employed it
repeatedly in support of its aggressive actions against all and
sundry. To
quote them: “You are either with us, or against us!”
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.
If ZANU (PF) has lost 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, it has only
itself to blame. 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.
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”! By the
Russians! By the Chinese!
I do not support the MDC and my track
record in the struggle against
imperialism speaks for itself, but I differ
most fundamentally with Maloka
and Magubane. It is precisely my commitment
to the anti-imperialist agenda
that persuades me that our two comrades are
wrong.
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,
ZANU(PF) should surrender power
to the party that has won. Another
anti-imperialist movement, the
Sandinistas of Nicaragua, lost an election in
1991. Today they are back in
office having won an election that even the US
was unable to subvert. In
order to win the Sandinistas had slowly to win
back the confidence of the
people, who then voted them back into power. Any
attempt by ZANU (PF) to
cling to power through overt or covert violence will
only compound its
problems by stripping it even further of the legitimacy it
won by leading
the Zimbabwean people in their struggle for independence,
freedom and
democracy!
Commenting on the dilemma faced by the
Bolsheviks after their victory in
October 1917, that great internationalist
and Communist, Rosa Luxemburg,
wrote:
“Freedom only for the
supporters of the government, only for the members of
one party - however
numerous they may be - is no freedom at all. Freedom is
always and
exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently. Not
because of any
fanatical concept of ‘justice’ but because all that is
instructive,
wholesome and purifying in political freedom depends on this
essential
characteristic, and its effectiveness vanishes when ‘freedom’
becomes a
special privilege.”
Maloka and Magubane would do well to weigh her
remarks seriously. Perhaps,
had the Bolsheviks been a bit more attentive to
such constructive criticism
from an unimpeachable revolutionary, we might
not be complaining of the
demise of the Soviet Union, but could possibly be
celebrating its triumphs.
Dr Zweledinga Pallo Jordan is the Minister of
Arts and Culture of the
Republic of South Africa a member of the ANC
National Executive Committee
(NEC). This article is written in his personal
capacity.
Mail and Guardian
Berlin, Germany
18 May 2008
12:35
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for an international
peacekeeping force to be deployed in Zimbabwe to prevent any violence during
a presidential run-off ballot next month.
Zimbabwe is due
to hold the delayed second-round ballot on June
27, when the opposition
hopes to oust veteran leader Robert Mugabe after
nearly three decades in
power. A first round of elections in March was
followed by widespread
violence.
Tutu, the South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate,
told
Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper the deployment of international
peacekeepers was the only way to prevent Mugabe's supporters from
intimidating and threatening the opposition.
"It would be
in everybody's interest to send an international
peacekeeping force to
Zimbabwe," he said. "That is the only way to make sure
no violence will be
exerted."
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
postponed his
return home on Saturday to contest the run-off vote after his
party said it
had discovered an assassination plot against
him.
Tsvangirai won the first round on March 29, but not by
enough
votes to avoid a second round against Mugabe.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the
violence after
the March elections left at least 40 of its supporters dead
and scores of
others injured. It accuses Mugabe's Zanu-PF party of a
campaign of
intimidation.
Zanu-PF blames the opposition for the
violence.
Tutu did not expect a free and fair second-round
ballot and had
the impression Mugabe would not give up power of his own free
will, Welt am
Sonntag reported.
Tutu said Mugabe must be
told he could either lead an
illegitimate government and live with the
consequences, "for example an
indictment before the International Criminal
Court due to the grave human
rights violations" in his name, or accept a
"soft landing" by resigning and
perhaps living in exile.
Mugabe vowed on Friday he would not lose power to an opposition
he said was
backed by "a hostile axis of powerful foreign governments" and
Western
imperialists.
Zimbabweans hope the June poll will help end
political and
economic turmoil which has brought 165 000% inflation, 80%
unemployment,
chronic food and fuel shortages and sent a flood of refugees
to neighbouring
countries. -- Reuters
Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Date: 18 May 2008
by Godfrey
Marawanyika
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, May 18, 2008 (AFP) - Fears of an
assassination plot kept
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai from
the start of his
election campaign on Sunday as his party appealed for
protection from
regional leaders.
Tsvangirai is to face veteran
President Robert Mugabe in a June 27
second-round poll, but he remains out
of the country amid spiralling
violence since he won a first round of voting
at the end of March.
After more than a month away, he had been expected
in Bulawayo at a rally to
launch his latest push for the presidency, but he
cancelled his return on
Saturday after his party said it had discovered a
planned attempt on his
life.
The vice president of his Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), Thokozani
Khupe, said the opposition was lobbying
the 14-member regional body the
Southern African Development Community
(SADC) to send peacekeepers.
"We are busy putting demands to SADC. We
want a monitoring force to make
sure there is peace in Zimbabwe," she told a
cheering crowd estimated at
8,000 people.
"SADC, the United Nations
and the African Union must be here to observe the
election and there must be
a presence of international media," Khupe added.
Violence has rocked
Zimbabwe since a first round of elections in March in
which Tsvangirai
defeated Mugabe, but not by enough to secure an outright
victory.
Pro-government militias have since been accused of harassing
and killing
opposition supporters, with a host of reports pointing the
finger at
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party for their involvement.
South African
Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu lent his support to the
idea of an
international peace force in an interview to be published Monday.
"It
would be in the interests of all to send an international peace force to
Zimbabwe," the 76-year-old apartheid-era hero told German newspaper Die
Welt.
"It's the only way to prevent any violence."
Aides to
Tsvangirai have given no date for his return after discoving the
alleged
assassination plot, but say the former trade union leader will step
up his
campaign to secure SADC peacekeepers.
The government reacted furiously to
his claims of a plot, with Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa accusing him
of "behaving like a spoilt child by
making such stupid claims."
In
comments made to the independent Standard newspaper on Sunday, he added:
"He
must stop planning his own assassination. He is spreading
falsehoods."
Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader, acknowledged last Friday
that his loss in
the first round of voting in March had been "disastrous"
but he began
campaigning on Saturday for his re-election with advertisements
in state
media.
The 84-year-old, who has ruled the former British
colony since independence
in 1980, lost the first round by 43.2 percent to
47.9 percent and is now
fighting for his survival after nearly three decades
in power.
Parliamentary elections took place at the same time as the
presidential
elections in March and ZANU-PF lost control of the legislature
for the first
time since independence.
"We decided to participate in
this run-off ... because we want to give
Mugabe a final blow," the MDC's
Khupe told supporters in Bulawayo, who were
in festive mood, blowing
whistles and dancing.
"On June 27 we are burying ZANU-PF and we will put
a big slab on its grave
so that it will not ressurect."
Tsvangirai
has made a series of demands to ensure a free and fair run-off
election,
including the presence of regional peacekeepers and international
election
monitors, but these have been largely brushed off by the
government.
No Western monitors were allowed to oversee the first
ballot and teams from
SADC and the African Union were widely criticised for
giving it a largely
clean bill of health.
Seen as a post-colonial
success story in the first decade-and-a-half after
independence, Zimbabwe's
economy has been in freefall since 2000 when the
Mugabe embarked on a land
reform programme which saw thousands of
white-owned farms
expropriated.
Eighty percent of the workforce is unemployed while the
official inflation
rate in February stood at 165,000 percent -- the highest
in the world.
The Telegraph
By Christopher Munnion in Johannesburg
Last Updated: 9:01PM BST
18/05/2008
Fear are growing that Robert Mugabe's regime had been strengthened
ahead of
a presidential election with the secret delivery of a shipment of
arms from
China.
Reports said the weapons, including three million
bullets, mortar bombs and
rocket-propelled grenades, had been off-loaded
from the Chinese vessel, the
An Yue Jiang, at the Angolan port of Lobito and
flown to Harare.
The ship had been the focus of international
condemnation when it sailed
towards South Africa last month. It was refused
docking rights and remained
off the coast for several weeks before the
Chinese foreign ministry recalled
it.
However, Bright Matonga,
Zimbabwe's deputy information minister, was quoted
by the South African
newspaper, The Weekender, as saying that the regime has
the
weapons.
Article continues
advertisement
Two Zimbabwean ministers
and senior army officers visited Luanda three weeks
ago to negotiate the
docking and unloading of the ship.
George Chiramba, a spokesman for Mr
Mugabe, said in the state-controlled
newspaper, The Herald, that "the arms
will be delivered to Zimbabwe, one way
or the other".
The Chinese
foreign ministry said yesterday that confirmation of the
delivery was
"groundless rumour".
The reports came days after the election commission
in Zimbabwe announced
the delayed presidential run-off would take place on
June 27.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, whose leader
Morgan
Tsvangirai delayed his return to Zimbabwe at the weekend due to
"credible"
reports of an assassination attempt, said it feared the shipment
would be
used to intimidate civilians "whose only crime is rejecting
dictatorship and
voting for change".
Mr Tsvangirai maintains he won
the first round of the presidential election
by more than the required 50
per cent to avoid a run-off. Official results
state that while he had beaten
Mr Mugabe, he did not gain an outright
victory.
James McGee, the US
ambassador to Zimbabwe, has warned that violence is
making a fair second
round run-off vote impossible. He claimed he had
evidence that the police
and military had been involved in "pure,
unadulterated violence designed to
intimidate people from voting".
IOL
May 18 2008
at 04:04PM
The Democratic Alliance says it is to table
parliamentary questions in
a bid to get satisfactory replies on the
Zimbabwean arms shipment.
The party's defence spokesperson Rafeek
Shah said on Sunday that his
party still wanted to know why the National
Conventional Arms Control
Committee (NCACC) granted a conveyance permit for
weapons destined for a
country in the midst of a brutal government crackdown
on its population.
"We will be asking parliamentary questions to
get to the truth of the
matter," he said.
The arms, ordered by
Zimbabwe from the Chinese government, were in a
ship that was to unload its
cargo in Durban, but steamed away after
churchmen obtained a high court
interdict effectively barring transshipment
of the material.
Shah said South Africa could not allow weapons to pass through its
territory
without rigorous scrutiny.
The fact that the Chinese consignment
was granted a permit at all
indicated that there was a great deal of room
for improvement in terms of
how permits were issued.
"We cannot
be seen to support, however passively, oppressive regimes
anywhere in the
world. Our legislation guided by our Constitution, is meant
to safeguard
against that," Shah said.
The DA would do everything necessary to
hold those responsible to
account if legal requirements had not been
met.
The Weekender newspaper reported on Saturday that the weapons
had
arrived in Harare.
The report said the Zimbabwean
government confirmed receipt of three
million rounds of assault rifle
ammunition, 3000 mortar rounds and 1500
rocket-propelled
grenades.
There are fears that Robert Mugabe is planning to use
force to storm
back to power in the presidential runoff election to be held
on June 27.
The Weekender reported that the ship was offloaded at
Ponta Negra in
the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, Zimbabwean
government officials
said it was offloaded in Angola.
Deputy
defence minister Mluleki George at the weekend rejected a
report that he had
ordered the SAS Drakensberg to refuel the ship. - Sapa
From The Sunday Independent (SA), 18 May
Basildon Peta
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations
secretary-general, has sought President
Thabo Mbeki's help to get Zimbabwe's
President Robert Mugabe to agree to
allow the UN to play a central role in a
presidential run-off election on
June 27. But diplomatic sources said Ban -
who, in fact, wants the UN to run
the entire election, in line with a
request by the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) - was
unlikely to succeed. For the UN to be involved
in the election at any level,
Mugabe would have to make an official request,
which he is not likely to do.
His government has made it clear that it will
allow observers only from
countries that it regards as friendly. Mbeki is
also said to be against UN
involvement, preferring more engagement by the
Southern Africa Development
Community and the African Union. "It seems that
both Mbeki and Mugabe now
share a common hatred of the UN, which they see as
being manipulated by the
big powers," said a diplomat.
Ban met Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC
leader, in Ghana last month. The UN boss
has since repeatedly spoken to
Mbeki by phone. Mbeki seems to have been
miffed by the decision to raise the
Zimbabwe issue during a meeting of the
UN security council that he chaired
in New York last month. Britain's Prime
Minister Gordon Brown, supported by
Ban, succeeded in getting Zimbabwe
discussed. But efforts to get the anarchy
and killing in the country put on
the agenda and to allow the UN to send a
special envoy to investigate the
violence since the March 29 elections, were
blocked - with South Africa's
help. Mbeki has visited Mugabe several times
since November, but his polite
calls for a government of national unity and,
lately, for a halt to the
violence and the creation of an environment
conducive to a run-off election,
have been futile. "It seems Mugabe never
listens to Mbeki, but Mbeki never
stops trying," a well-placed diplomatic
source said.
New Zimbabwe
By Alex T.
Magaisa
Last updated: 05/16/2008 10:51:00
THOSE of us who have spent time
in the countryside may have come across a
phenomenon referred to as Ignis
Fatuus. This is a light that one can see
from a distance hovering over the
ground, like a flickering candle,
especially during twilight or at
night.
Most people would run away upon sight of this light in the belief
that it is
a ghost. There is a lot of folklore attached to this phenomenon
in different
parts of the world. But the men and women of science have their
own
explanations.
Today, it is commonly used in reference to
something or an idea that is
misleading. It appears to be but is not. Zanu
PF has perfected the art of
creating Ignis Fatui, often using the law --
appearing to give some light,
when in fact none exists.
Manipulating
the Law
Zanu PF has always tried hard to make the best for itself of the
legal
morass that it has created over the years. But even they have exceeded
their
normal standards in the aftermath of the March 29
election.
First, it was the attempt to delay the announcement of the
results by
demanding a recount of the parliamentary results and Presidential
results
that had not at the time been announced. Some of the demands were
ridiculous, to say the least. They showed an organisation struggling to cope
with defeat. The emptiness of the demands was exposed when the recounts
changed nothing substantive.
Having been exposed at the recount, Zanu
PF has now pursued the matter
through the channel provided for under the law
– petitioning the Electoral
Court, which is something they should have done
at the time they misguidedly
asked for a recount. This will buy more time
given that it can take up to a
year to conclude the judicial
process.
That recount was used to explain the delays in the announcement
of the
Presidential Election. Even before the result was known to the
voters, Zanu
PF was raising all manner of complaints, alleging rigging by
the MDC and ZEC
officials, some of whom were arrested. That embarrassing
delay cast a huge
and ugly shadow on the credibility of the eventual result,
announced on May
2, more than a month after the election. But they still
purported to be
acting in accordance with the law.
Extending the
Run-Off Deadline
Then there was the interpretation given to the period
within which the
Presidential run-off election should be held. The law
requires that it
should be held 21 days after the inconclusive election. The
ZEC interpreted
‘election’ generously to mean not only the polling day but
also the
announcement of the result. On that basis, the 21 days did not
commence to
run until May 2, when the overdue results were announced. And so
everyone
thought the run-off would be held at least by May
23.
However, nine days before that date, the ZEC announced through a
statutory
instrument on May 14 that the run-off would be delayed by changing
the
period from 21 days to 90 days. In a related announcement, ‘Justice
Minister’
Patrick Chinamasa is reported as saying that this would allow the
ZEC to
mobilise financial resources and introduce electoral reforms. So
Zimbabweans
will have to brace themselves for more changes to the electoral
rules,
couched by Zanu PF as ‘reforms’.
The statutory instrument has
been issued in accordance with powers granted
to the ZEC under Section
192(4) and (5) of the Electoral Act. Here again,
the provisions have been
generously construed to suggest that the ZEC has
broad powers to change the
periods stated in the law. That may be so, but
surely, there has to be a
measure of reasonableness in the way that the ZEC
exercises those
powers?
In the original provision under Section 110 (3), Parliament
stated
categorically that in the event that there is no outright majority
winner, a
‘second election SHALL be held within twenty-one days after the
previous
election …” The word ‘shall’ is emphasised here to show that it
imports a
mandatory meaning into the reading of the provision’s
requirements. Surely,
Parliament used mandatory language in that provision
for a good reason, in
particular, given the paramount importance of the
Office of the President
and the need to bring finality to an election for
that office.
For the ZEC to suggest that Parliament was ‘too ambitious’
in requiring 21
days is to demean the institution of Parliament which has
the mandate to
make laws. Parliament in its wisdom chose to require 21 days
in recognition
of the critical importance of deciding the leadership
question with a sense
of urgency. That Parliament allowed the ZEC to make
necessary or desirable
changes in terms of S. 192 requires that such powers
should be used
reasonably and cannot, surely, mean that ZEC can wilfully
subvert its
intention by unduly extending the deadline for lengthy
periods.
Possibility of Further Extension
The trouble here is that
using the ZEC’s interpretation, there is nothing to
stop it within the next
90 days, from further extending the period again by
statutory instrument, on
the reasoning that it would be ‘necessary or
desirable to ensure that [the]
election is properly and efficiently
conducted’. The implication of this is
that Mugabe will retain the legal
mandate to rule Zimbabwe because
constitutionally he remains in office until
the next president is elected.
Thus there is a possibility of having a
‘Waiting for Godot’ situation, in
which the election itself might never be
held.
Legality of the
Statutory Instrument
Another problem is that the legality of this latest
move by the ZEC and the
‘Minister’ is doubtful on the basis of the
questionable status of Patrick
Chinamasa. Section 192(6) of the law requires
that the statutory instrument
be approved by the ‘Minister’ before it has
any legal effect. By issuing the
statutory instrument, Chinamasa purports to
have approved it as the
responsible Minister.
But Chinamasa is one of
the ministers whose tenure must have ended when the
Cabinet was dissolved
prior to the March 29. He is one of the men and women
whose ministerial
status was suddenly and miraculously resurrected over a
week after those
elections, upon realisation that there was, in effect, no
government besides
Mr Mugabe. The Acting Attorney General attempted to
justify this
resurrection on the grounds that President Mugabe’s
‘dissolution’ of the
cabinet was no more than an administrative procedure
which had no effect on
ministerial tenure.
This is another of the Zanu PF attempts to create a
mirage using the law in
order to confer legality on its actions. But for the
embarrassment it would
cause, Mugabe could easily have appointed his
erstwhile ministers in
accordance with Section 31D of the
Constitution.
What Happens after June 30?
At the time, the AAG
argued that Section 31E (2) of the Constitution states
that a person may
hold Ministerial office without being an MP for a period
of up to three
months. This raises an interesting question on the future
status of
Chinamasa and his colleagues after 30 June 2008. They ceased to be
MPs when
Parliament was dissolved on 28 March 2008.
Going by the AAG’s
interpretation, they have three months until the end of
June 2008 to hold
ministerial office without being MPs. But that will be
more than a month
before the expiry of the extended deadline for the
Presidential election
run-off. It will be interesting to see whether Mugabe
will make new
appointments at that time or they will continue purporting to
be ministers.
Or will the run-off in fact be held before June 30?
Zimbabwe provides a
perfect case study of the moral hazard of having the
player who is
effectively in charge of the referee. It is the equivalent of
the boxer who
upon being felled by his opponent takes his time to recover
from the canvass
and to regain control of his faculties, comfortable in the
knowledge that
the referee is his man. The referee will count slowly, yes,
he may even help
him to his wobbly feet, grant him an extension of time to
recover in his
corner. It is nothing but a charade.
They will continue to play and hide
and seek in the labyrinth of the law
because they know that this is an
election they would rather not have. They
know that electoral victory is no
more than a very distant mirage.
Alex Magaisa is based at Kent Law
School, UK and can be contacted at
wamagaisa@yahoo.co.uk
africasia
JOHANNESBURG, May 18 (AFP)
Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai
was set to stay in South
Africa on Sunday amid ongoing fears for his safety
after an assassination
plot was allegedly discovered against him, a party
spokesman said.
"There are no plans for him to leave today," said a
spokesman, who said
Tsvangirai would remain in Johannesburg where he arrived
on Saturday after
flying back from a trip to Northern Ireland.
Asked
when he might return to Zimbabwe, the spokesman said: "It hasn't
changed
since yesterday. It is still about assessing the options and making
sure
that things on the ground are ready for his return from a security
perspective."
Tsvangirai has been out of Zimbabwe since shortly after
a first round of
presidential elections on March 29 in which he beat veteran
President Robert
Mugabe, but not by enough to secure an outright
victory.
The two men are scheduled to face each other in a run-off on
June 27, but
Tsvangirai is yet to return to begin campaigning amid suspected
violence
against his supporters and threats to his security.
He had
been expected back on Saturday, but pulled out at the last minute
after his
party said it had discovered an assassination plot against him.
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!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------
HORROR
IN ZIMBABWE
STATEMENT MADE BY WILLIAM BRUCE ROGERS AND ANNETTE MARY
ROGERS
On the day of the 6th May, 2008 at approximately 1300 hours I was
visited by
three men at our farm, Chigwell Extension Farm.
They told
me that I had two minutes to vacate my property otherwise they
will send the
mob there and the house is not worth sacrificing my life for.
Because we
would lose our lives. They said they were like hungry lions.
My wife
made a report to the Chegutu Police Station about this incident,
naming the
people involved. At that stage I asked them if they would react
to any
incident that my occur and they informed my wife that they would
speak to the
Assistant Inspector. My wife also saw him before making the
report and
informed him of the visit and he told her to go and make a report
at the
charge office.
At about 1700 hours on the same day a vehicle - a white
Datsun 1800 pickup
arrived at the gate with approximately 10-12 people. They
demanded that I
opened the gate because they wanted to talk to me. I refused
and went into
the house together with my wife. We locked ourselves into the
house. They
came to the house and wanted me to go outside to speak to them
which I
refused to do. They started smashing windows and the front door was
smashed
open. One of them pointed a single barrel shotgun inside the house
at us -
we were by then upstairs. He fired a shot directly at us which went
just
over my head and close to my wifes' head. He obviously intended to kill
us.
After he fired the shot he went out and it went quiet for a while and
then
we heard three shots coming from the workers housing area. They
returned
with all the workers and fired another shot whilst outside.
I
managed to get through to the Assistant Inspector and the Chegutu
Police
Station to ask for assistance before there were dead bodies in the
house.
He said that I must phone him back in half and hour. Throughout all
of this
my wife was on the phone to numerous friends who were at the Chegutu
Police
Station trying to get assistance from them with absolutely no
result
whatsoever. My wife and I also made many phone calls to the Member
in
Charge on his cell phone and he refused to answer.
By this time it
was dark and the power went off so we were left completely
in darkness and
unable to identify our own employees.
They then used the workers as a
shield so that they could all come inside
the house and then were downstairs
chanting and singing and making threats.
They sent one of the workers
upstairs to demand the shotgun from me to take
back to them. I refused and
this employee stayed upstairs with us. They
then grabbed the son of this
employee who was downstairs and from what I
could gather they threatened to
either kill or injure him if he didn't go
back downstairs with the weapon.
He went back downstairs without the
weapon. After about five minutes they
told all the singing workers to go
upstairs using them as a shield once
more. We tried to identify the workers
one by one as they came up the
stairs, as my wife was standing at the top of
the stairs with a can of mace.
After about 15 workers came through, she
could not identify a person and used
the mace and sprayed them. After this
they ran back downstairs and out of
the house.
This incensed the thugs who then proceeded to break down the
back door and
started a building a fire in the downstairs lounge directly
below us. As we
have a wooden floor upstairs this posed a great threat and
we thought we
would be burnt alive which is when I said that we would come
out and asked
if they would let us leave peacefully which they agreed to do.
We asked
the ring-leader to identify himself. We came downstairs and they
demanded
the shotgun from me which was loaded and off safety and I refused.
They
then insisted that I give it to them and I tried to start unloading it
and
they attacked me. They then grabbed my wife around the throat and
she
started screaming. While they were trying to take the shotgun from me
three
shots went off outside the house into the ground as it is a
semi-automatic
shotgun. They then took the shotgun from me and wrestled me
to the ground
and started beating me with what I assume was sticks, or pipes
and kicking
me with their boots. They dragged my wife outside and they were
trying to
strangle her. At this stage she managed to bite the hand of the
man who was
grabbing her round the throat. Whereupon he started to beat her.
At one
time there were at least four men beating and kicking her.
They
then tied me up with rope and threw me into the back of their pickup.
At this
stage my wife was still being beaten. When they had finished
beating her,
one of them grabbed her by her feet and dragged her over to the
vehicle.
They then demanded that she stand up and get into the back of the
truck which
she was unable to do. One of them grabbed her by the hair,
pulled her into a
standing position and pushed her up against the back of
the truck and told
her to get in. She did climb in. They searched my wife
and found the
car-keys in her pocket and demanded she show them what vehicle
the keys were
for. They couldn't find the keys to the other truck. They
drove my vehicle
onto the lawn, parked near the truck where I was tied up.
The immobiliser for
the vehicle went off. They demanded that my wife show
them where the
immobiliser switch was situated which she did do. One of
them drove off with
the vehicle which we never saw again. They still had all
the employees on the
lawn around a fire that had been lit by the front door
and they were still
forced to sing.
There were about four or five of them around the vehicle
watching the two of
us, all the time they were shouting verbal abuse and
racist comments and
threatening to kill either one or both of us and also
stating the manner in
which they should kill us. This must have gone on for
almost an hour. They
were burning my feet with cigarettes and then we saw
vehicle lights shining
towards us and then my wife was told to get out of the
vehicle and was
dragged towards the headlights of the vehicle that had
arrived. When she
got to the vehicle she saw there were four armed policeman
from Kadoma
Police Station who asked what had happened. She told them
briefly what had
happened and demanded that they fetch me immediately from
the vehicle as she
feared for my life. One of the thugs came and untied me
and told me to get
out of the vehicle and made me walk towards the headlights
of the parked
vehicle. I noticed that they were armed policeman. The
incident was
described in more detail to them and they accompanied us into
the house to
get some warm clothing. Once we were in the house we saw that
the gun
cabinet had been opened and ransacked and that my weapons were
missing. I
informed the police that the weapons were missing. They then
took us out of
the house and told us to get in their vehicle as we were going
to Chegutu
Police Station to make a report.
We got to Chegutu Police
Station and they had to call some superior officer
to take a statement and he
only arrived as were were leaving to go to Harare
to get urgent medical
attention. No police personal of any authority seemed
to show any interest
in taking our statement.
We were attended to by medical staff at the
Avenues Clinic where numerous
x-rays and CT scans were taken.
My
injuries are two cracked vertebrae in my lower back. Fractured
cheekbone,
fractured nose there was copious bleeding into my sinuses and
extensive
lacerations and deep-tissue bruising to my face and back and a
bite to my
right earlobe.
My wife's injuries are fractured cheekbones, fractures
around her orbital
socket round her eye, perforated eardrum, cracked ribs and
extensive
bruising to her face and back and throat.
W.B.
ROGERS
A.M. ROGERS
Date: Sun, 18 May 2008 10:46:56 +0200
From: Veritas <veritas@mango.zw>
BILL WATCH 20/2008
[17th May 2008]
Statutory Instruments on Elections
As already notified in Bill Watch Specials of 15th and 16th May, three election-related statutory instruments were gazetted this week:
· SI 73A - modifying the Electoral Act to extend the periods within which ZEC must hold the Presidential run-off election and the three House of Assembly by-elections
· SI 78 - fixing Friday 27th June as polling day for the Presidential run-off election
· SI 79 - fixing nomination day [Friday 30th May] and polling day [27th June] for the three by-elections [see further below].
For voting procedures to be followed on 27th June [see below]
Important General Notices
GN 72/2008 - lists the 66 Senators and the 207 members of the House of Assembly elected in the poll of 29th March.
GN 73/2008 - lists the 16 Chiefs elected to the Senate by the Provincial Assemblies of Chiefs. GN 75/2008 - notifies the removal from office for misbehaviour of Attorney-General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele with effect from 16th May. The notice states that the removal was advised by the tribunal appointed in terms of section 110 of the Constitution to inquire into the allegations against Mr Gula-Ndebele.
Procedures for Presidential Run-Off and By-Elections
Ward-Based Voting Procedure
The Chief Elections Officer has confirmed that the procedure for voting in the run-off election will be the same as for the election on 29th March. That is in line with section 110(3) of the Electoral Act, which requires the run-off election to be held "in accordance with this Act". It follows that, as in the election of the 29th March, only registered voters will be able to vote and they will have to vote in the ward in which they are registered. Votes will be counted at polling stations immediately after the closing of the poll and results of polling station counts will be posted outside polling stations for public information [using form V.11]. Polling station results will be collated at constituency level on form V.23 for onward transmission to the Chief Elections Officer at the ZEC National Collation Centre.
By-election nominations
Nomination day for all three by-elections is Friday 30th May. The nomination courts will sit at the Magistrates Court, 5th Avenue, Gwanda for the Gwanda South by-election; the Magistrates Court, Tredgold Building, Bulawayo for the Pelandaba-Mpopoma by-election; and the Magistrates Court, Main Street, Gweru, for the Redcliff by-election.
Note: A candidate who was duly nominated for one of these constituencies for the 29th March elections does not need to submit a fresh nomination paper; if he or she intends to contest the by-election, all that is necessary is written notification to the constituency elections officer of the intention to remain a candidate. New candidates must submit nomination papers.
International observers
Today's issue of The Herald quotes the Minister of Foreign Affairs as saying that foreign observers invited to observe the 29th March elections are welcome to observe the run-off; their invitations are still valid. He is also quoted as stating that there would be no further invitations.
Publication of Council Election Results
This week the Chief Elections Officer has published results in the press for a further four provinces - Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Masvingo and Matabeleland North. The results of eight of the ten provinces have now been published, leaving only the results for Matabeleland South and Midlands still to come.
Election Petitions
We have no further information on the 105 election petitions [53 by ZANU-PF candidates, 52 by MDC candidates] lodged with the Electoral Court [see Bill Watch 19]. The outcome of these petitions could drastically alter the proportion of seats and accordingly the balance of power between the two main parties, in particular in the House of Assembly.
Post-Election Violence Ñü Impact on Run-Off Election
Both the extent and severity of post election violence are escalating alarmingly and the number of election-related deaths are increasing. There have been detentions and beatings of election agents from the March 29 poll. The displacement of large numbers of people is continuing and there are no facilities for internally displaced persons to vote. All this, together with the attribution of violence to State agents, does not make for an environment conducive to a free and fair election.
[Violence monitoring reports are available in electronic versions direct from Zimbabwe Peace Project [zpp@africaonline.co.zw], Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights [zadhr@mweb.co.zw], Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights [tinashe@zlhr.org.zw] and Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum [tendai@hrforum.co.zw].
Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied.
Vigil supporters were in shock to
hear that three of our friends from the
Restoration of Human Rights in
Zimbabwe (ROHR) had been killed. They were
apparently shot at point-blank
range at a road block. We are distraught.
Sketchy details were given by
Ephraim Tapa, one of the Vigil founders, who
reported on his recent visit to
South Africa to promote ROHR. He made
contact with a large number of
Zimbabwean exiles and told us of the
difficulties of their lives there.
People without papers are constantly
stopped by the authorities and money is
demanded. In the case of women who
have no money they are forced to go off
in a car with the police officer and
are raped. For Zimbabwean women the
formula is: no papers + no money =
rape. Zimbabweans in South Africa were
very keen to start a ROHR protest
group (see last diary item).
More
bad news: Elliot Pfebve, who came with us to Lisbon, reports that his
elderly parents were kidnapped and taken to a torture camp - he has no
definite news about them but has been told to expect the worst. Other
members of his family were attacked, their houses raised and property
looted. The Vigil's thoughts and prayers are with Elliot at this
time.
Otherwise, on an unseasonably cold and wet Saturday, we had a
remarkably
good attendance. Some supporters came across two Zimbabweans
down in London
from Stoke-on-Trent who had apparently phoned the Zimbabwean
Embassy to
check if the Vigil was on! We didn't hear what their response
was.
So the Presidential run-off is to take place on 27th June. Of
course we
will be outside the Embassy on that day to run another mock
election. We
invite all Zimbabweans and supporters to join us. We must
stand together.
For this week's Vigil pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
FOR
THE RECORD: 145 signed the register.
FOR YOUR DIARY:
· Fridays,
10.30 am - 4 pm. Zimbabwe Association's Women's Weekly
Drop-in Centre at
The Fire Station Community and ICT Centre, 84 Mayton
Street, London N7 6QT,
Tel: 020 7607 9764. Come and share a traditional
lunch of sadza, nyama and
relish. Nearest underground: Finsbury Park. For
more information, contact
the Zimbabwe Association 020 7549 0355 (open
Tuesdays and
Thursdays).
· Saturday, 24th May 2008, 2 - 6 pm. Next Glasgow Vigil.
Venue:
Argyle Street Precinct. For more information contact: Ancilla
Chifamba,
07770 291 150, Patrick Dzimba, 07990 724 137 and Jonathan Chireka,
07504 724
471.
· Friday, 27th June - Zimbabwe Vigil's Mock
Presidential Run-off.
More details as plans firm up.
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.
Associated Press
By
CELEAN JACOBSON – 57 minutes ago
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) —
Emmerson Ziso fled hunger and repression
in neighboring Zimbabwe, but now he
wants to go back. Even his violent,
chaotic homeland seems a haven compared
to Johannesburg, where weekend
attacks on foreigners left at least 12
dead.
"Most of the Zimbabweans want to leave. It is better at home than
here,"
said the former teacher who was chased out of his home by a mob early
Sunday.
"It's spreading like wildfire and the police and the army
can't control it,"
Ziso said, as he tried to help register about 500 people
who sought refuge
at the police station in Johannesburg's Cleveland
area.
It was a scene repeated in other poor suburbs around the city.
Angry
residents accused foreigners of taking scarce jobs and housing, many
of them
Zimbabweans who had fled their own country's economic
collapse.
President Thabo Mbeki said Sunday that he would set up a panel
of experts to
investigate. African National Congress President Jacob Zuma,
who is likely
to succeed Mbeki next year, condemned the attacks.
"We
cannot allow South Africa to be famous for xenophobia," Zuma told a
conference in Pretoria.
The weekend attacks come as the government
tries to change South Africa's
violent image ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
South Africa has one of the
highest crime rates in the world, recording an
average of 50 murders each
day.
Many in the ANC government took
refuge in neighboring countries during
apartheid and are deeply embarrassed
by the current violence, which has
targeted immigrants who came to South
Africa from other nations in the
region.
Police spokesman Govindsamy
Mariemuthoo said 12 people were killed. He said
200 people had been arrested
on charges ranging from rape to robbery and
public violence.
The Red
Cross said at least 3,000 people were left destitute.
Police said the
worst violence erupted after midnight Saturday in Cleveland
and other
rundown inner city areas that are home to many immigrants. Two of
the
victims were burned and three others beaten to death. More than 50 were
taken to hospitals with gunshot and stab wounds.
The situation
remained tense along the main street through Cleveland and
police had to use
tear gas to disperse stick-wielding crowds trying to loot
shops.
Photographs supplied by local newspapers captured horrific
images of a man
who was set on fire after a tire soaked in gasoline was put
around his neck.
There was no immediate word on his condition.
One of
the demonstrators in Cleveland, Michael Khondwane, said foreigners
were to
blame for South Africa's drug and crime scourge. He said the
violence would
send them "the message that they must go."
Johannesburg is South Africa's
economic hub and home to hundreds of
thousands of immigrants. Many of them
are illegal, but many have also been
here for more than a decade and possess
South African identity documents.
There has been sporadic anti-foreigner
violence for months, mainly aimed at
stores run by Somalis accused of
undercutting local storeowners, but nothing
that compares to the violence
over the weekend.
Eric Goemaere, the head of Medecins Sans Frontieres in
South Africa, said
his staff was helping to treat people with bullet wounds
and back injuries
from being thrown out of windows.
He called on the
South Africa government to declare Zimbabweans as refugees
and give them
proper protection. "It's a crisis," he said.
There are believed to be up
to 3 million Zimbabweans living in neighboring
South Africa who have fled
the economic and political turmoil in their
homeland.
Massive
inflation, food and fuel shortages have sent increasing numbers of
Zimbabweans to South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia in
search of business and basic commodities — or whole new
lives.
Zimbabwe's opposition also has cited mounting violence and
intimidation
targeting its supporters since the country's disputed March 29
presidential
election. A runoff between longtime ruler Robert Mugabe and
opposition
leader Morgan Tsvangirai is set for June 27.
At the
downtown Jeppe police station, large tents and water tanks were being
offloaded to help another group of 500 people who sought shelter.
Dazed-looking women sat huddled close to piles of blankets and clothes while
men kept watch over fridges, bicycles, TVs and other
belongings.
Mozambican Bevinda Komati's family including her 11-year-old
niece and a
1-month-old baby had to be rescued by police when a mob attacked
her
brother's small store in downtown Johannesburg.
"We had to hide
in the back. They were breaking windows and throwing stones.
We didn't know
what to do. Luckily, the police came and saved us."
The 26-year-old has
been living in South Africa since 1988. Her niece was
born here.
"We
have lived with these people everyday. I don't know why they are doing
this," she said.
Reuters
Sun May 18, 2008
7:59pm BST
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Hundreds of foreigners living in
South Africa took
refuge in police stations and churches as week-old
violence against them
spread further across poor townships, local media
reported on Sunday.
Numbers of casualties since the attacks against
Zimbabweans and other
immigrants began a week ago varied, with some reports
on Sunday putting the
death toll at around 10.
Some South Africans,
especially those living in poor areas of high
unemployment, accuse
Zimbabweans and other newcomers of fuelling the high
crime rate and taking
scarce jobs.
The attacks have renewed the authorities' fears that
xenophobia is on the
rise in a country which was once known as one of the
most welcoming to
immigrants and asylum seekers, especially from
Africa.
Local radio said angry mobs had at first attacked houses owned by
immigrants
from neighbouring Zimbabwe, Mozambique and other countries in
Alexandra
township.
But now these attacks had spread to other
settlements and Johannesburg's
city centre. Properties had been looted and
destroyed.
"There have been some incidents in the Alexandra area where
police opened
fire using rubber bullets to disperse crowds," police
spokesman Govindsamy
Mariemuthoo said on local radio.
"There've been
problems also in the East Rand. In the Boksburg area some
shacks have been
set alight," he added.
Mariemuthoo was not reachable for further
comment.
The anti-foreigner violence has rattled authorities and the
business
community, and President Thabo Mbeki urged police to move quickly
to find
the instigators.
"It's necessary to move as quickly as
possible to establish all the causes
and the players in all of this, so that
we can then deal with the matter
more effectively," he said on national
broadcaster SABC radio.
"The communities ... should act together with the
police and together we
should say this is very, very wrong. It is
unacceptable that there should be
this kind of violence."
Medical
rights group Medecins Sans Frontieres said the situation now
amounted to a
humanitarian crisis.
"I have been to many refugee camps and situations
and this definitely is
along those lines," spokesman Eric Goemaere told SAPA
news agency. "This
reminds me of a refugee situation. I have treated bullet
wounds, beaten
people, rape victims and the people are
terrified."
The violence has also affected businesses owned by immigrants
from Asian
countries like Pakistan.
An estimated 3 million
Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa as a result of
the political and
economic crisis at home.
(Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by
Richard Balmforth)
VOA
By Akwei Thompson
Washington, DC
18 May
2008
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has set June 27 as the
date for the
presidential election run-off. Opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai’s has
decided to take part. Following the announcement, he told a
news conference
in Pretoria, South Africa that his supporters would have
felt betrayed if he
had decided not to take part. In agreeing to participate
the MDC wants to
demonstrate that it clearly has a majority
support.
Speaking with VOA’s Akwei Thompson, MDC’s spokesman, Nelson
Chamisa said his
party was ready and so were the people. He said, however,
ZANU-PF was not
ready for the election, “that is why they have delayed the
election by
almost three months.” We would have wanted the elections to have
been held
as of yesterday so that we put this chapter behind us, and we move
forward
with the agenda of reconstructing our country,” he said.
On
the issue of free and fair elections, Chamisa said the party does not
want
the elections to be held in “darkness”.
“We want this election to have
the endorsement of the international
community, we want to make sure that
there’s international media in the
country,” as well as the cessation of
hostilities, politically motivated
murders and violence, Chamisa said.
Cellular News
APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe’s telecommunications regular
says it will
monitor mobile phone messages to fight what it sees as abuse of
the
short-message-service (SMS), state radio reported here
Sunday.
The acting chief executive of Postal and Telecommunications
Authority of
Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), Charles Sibanda told the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting
Corporation that his organization would prosecute subscribers
found abusing
the SMS service.
Zimbabweans have relied on the SMS
service to communicate political
messages, particularly after the disputed
March 29 general election which
was won by the
opposition.
Individuals and civic organizations have used text messages
to communicate
news headlines, election updates or political jokes about
President Robert
Mugabe.
Sibanda warned that POTRAZ could trace the
source of any abusive message and
bring offenders to book.
Zimbabwe
already monitors Internet traffic following the passing last year
of
legislation allowing President Mugabe’s government to eavesdrop on
telecommunications.
POTRAZ is a statutory body established in 2001 to
licence and regulate
players in the telecommunications
industry.
Posted to the site on 18th May 2008