The Times
May 1, 2008
Catherine Philp in Harare
Senior government officials
in Zimbabwe leaked results yesterday for last
month’s presidential
elections, which apparently hand victory to the main
opposition leader – but
not by enough votes to win outright.
The news sets the scene for a
bruising election run-off.
According to the officials, Morgan Tsvangirai
won 47 per cent of the vote
against President Mugabe’s 43 per cent. He
needed more than 50 per cent to
avoid a second round.
Mr Tsvangirai,
leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), claimed
to have won 50.3
per cent of the vote based on results published at polling
stations, but a
month later the official tally has still not been released,
prompting
accusations of vote rigging against the Government.
The figures leaked
yesterday – a day before the candidates’ agents were due
to begin verifying
results – suggest that the margin of Mr Tsvangirai’s
victory was too large
for the Government to overturn credibly.
Mr Mugabe’s regime has been
preparing for a run-off, due within three weeks
of the final results, by
launching a violent campaign of intimidation
against the MDC. The MDC said
yesterday that 20 of its members had been
murdered since the elections. But
it remained unclear whether the MDC would
take part in a
run-off.
Zimbabweans had hoped that the election would bring positive
change to their
country, where inflation is running at 165,000 per cent.
Instead, severe
food, fuel and foreign currency shortages have been
worsening along with the
escalation in bloodshed.
Zimbabwe’s
proximity to economic collapse was thrown into the spotlight
yesterday as
the Government announced that it would float its currency on
foreign
exchange markets to bring in hard currency. Its foreign exchange
reserves
are all but empty after years of looting and the virtual
destruction of the
agricultural sector.
Gideon Gono, governor of the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe, said that the
currency floatation would mean that “the
availability of foreign exchange
will gradually improve”. But it remains to
be seen who will be willing to
trade in the Zimbabwean dollar, which is
virtually worthless after years of
overprinting and
hyperinflation.
The announcement came hours after the regime lost one of
its last sources of
foreign revenue. Farmers called off the annual tobacco
trading season in
protest at government price-fixing. They tore up their
crops of tobacco, the
country’s top foreign exchange earner, on the auction
floors in protest at
the Government’s buying price of Z$70 million per
kilogram – more than
US$2,000 (£1,000) at the official exchange rate, but
less than US$1 at the
real black-market value.
Berison Mutemeri, a
farmer from Ban-ket, northwest of Harare, said it cost
Z$2 billion to
transport each bale.
The official exchange rate is fixed at Z$30,000 to
US$1, a rate that exists
only on paper and to the benefit of senior
officials able to purchase
foreign currency. On the universally used black
market, where rates shift
daily, US$1 yesterday bought Z$100
million.
In the past, most of Zimbabwe’s foreign exchange was earned from
exported
produce from its very productive white-owned farms. But that source
of
revenue was cut off cata-strophically with the invasion and closure of
most
commercial farms under Mr Mugabe’s land reform programme.
The
lack of foreign exchange has been devastating for an economy now
dependent
on imports. Experts say that the economy would have collapsed
years ago
without the millions in foreign remittances sent home by its three
million
refugees and migrants in South Africa and elsewhere.
Zimbabwean notes are
not even considered hard cash but “bearer’s cheques”,
complete with an
expiry date. All of Zimbabwe’s current notes expire at the
end of June
2008.
Economists say that the only way that Zimbabwe’s currency can be
rescued is
by linking it to a hard currency such as the US dollar or the
South African
rand. That would probably require a large-scale monetary
rescue package of
the kind that international institutions would only be
prepared to implement
if the current crisis was resolved and Mr Mugabe
left.
Economists have argued that the fastest way to bring down the
regime would
be for Zimbaweans overseas to stop sending remittances, even if
it meant
that families would go hungry.
Some tobacco farmers had
already decided not to sell their crops to the
Government to deny them the
means to earn foreign exchange. An informal
boycott of black-market
money-changers is also under way, with those holding
foreign currency urged
not to sell it to street traders, many of whom are in
fact runners for the
Reserve Bank and are using the black market to scoop up
US
dollars.
The long election
March 29, 2008 Election day.
Independently collated results suggest
landslide victory in parliamentary
and presidential polls for the opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change
April 4 Crackdown on foreign journalists and raids on opposition
offices
stoke fears that Mr Mugabe is planning to fight to the
end
April 11 Zimbabwean police ban all political rallies, accuse the MDC
of
“spoiling for a fight” and deploy youth members. Hopes of a diplomatic
solution fade
April 18 Independence Day. Mugabe accuses Britain of
paying Zimbabweans to
turn against him
April 23 Zimbabwe’s state-run
media float the idea that Robert Mugabe will
annul the presidential election
, staying on as president of a national
unity government while a new poll is
prepared
Source: Times archive
Victoria Advocate
By
DONNA BRYSONAssociated Press Writer
April 30, 2008 - 3:35 p.m.
Zimbabwe's
opposition rejected a presidential runoff election despite a
media report
saying Wednesday that the long-delayed official tally delivered
them a
victory short of an outright win.
CNN quoted an unnamed senior official with
Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party
as saying results from the March 29 election
gave President Robert Mugabe 43
percent and opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai 47 percent. A candidate must
receive 50 percent plus one vote to
avoid a presidential runoff in Zimbabwe.
The CNN source said the results
meant a second round of voting was
necessary.
In Johannesburg,
opposition spokesman George Sibotshiwe said he had heard
reports senior
Zimbabwean government officials were saying official
presidential results put
Tsvangirai ahead by a slim margin. Sibotshiwe
reiterated that the opposition
would not take part in a runoff because it
believed only fraudulent results
would make a second round necessary.
"If Robert Mugabe cannot accept the
real results now, what's the guarantee
he'll accept the real results after a
runoff?" Sibotshiwe asked.
Tsvangirai says he won the presidency
outright; independent observers say
Tsvangirai won the most votes, but not
the 50 percent plus one vote needed
to avoid a runoff.
In Harare,
electoral commission officials said no results had been released,
and that
party officials would not see them until a verification process set
to start
Thursday afternoon.
Sibotshiwe also said the reports a runoff would be
necessary were part of a
government strategy to gear expectations toward a
runoff that Mugabe would
engineer in his favor.
The opposition has
said a campaign of terror and violence since the first
round of voting has
left it in disarray, with its main leaders out of the
country citing fears of
arrest. Independent rights groups have also said the
postelection violence
makes it unlikely a runoff could be free and fair.
Tiseke Kasambala, a
Human Rights Watch researcher who was recently in
Zimbabwe, said even without
the violence, the government's handling of the
first round, including the
delay in releasing presidential results, raised
questions about whether any
runoff would be valid.
Kasambala, who returned Monday from two weeks in
Zimbabwe, also accused the
country's authoritarian regime of unleashing its
army and ruling-party
militants on dissenters, reserving the worst violence
for those seen as
betraying Mugabe.
The violence "is a form of
punishment of people who turned against the
ruling party," Kasambala told
reporters in Johannesburg on Wednesday. "The
government is actually focusing
on its strongholds and some of the areas it
thinks it should have
won."
She also said that in the past four days, Human Rights Watch had
received
reports that more than 100 polling station officers - most of them
teachers
and low-ranking civil servants - had been detained in an eastern
province.
She described that as another indication the government and its
loyalists
were targeting those seen as betraying Mugabe.
Mugabe's
administration has countered that the opposition groups are
responsible for
the violence. Attempts to reach Zimbabwean officials for
comment Wednesday
were not successful.
In Washington, the Senate passed a nonbinding
resolution late Tuesday
calling on Mugabe to step aside and begin a peaceful
transition to
democratic rule.
Zim Online
by Cuthbert Nzou Thursday 01 May
2008
HARARE – The United States (US) has forwarded evidence
of state-sponsored
political violence and human rights abuses to Zimbabwe’s
government, amid
claims by the opposition that state security agents and
pro-government
militias murdered 20 of its supporters in April.
US
Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee told journalists in Harare that the
embassy handed a dossier containing pictures of supporters of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party assaulted by state agents to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
McGee said: “We have handed over
evidence of violence to the government.
There are pictures of assaulted
people and there are affidavits from the
victims narrating what happened to
them. It’s sad that Zimbabwe’s political
crisis has now turned into a human
rights crisis. There is need for
international
intervention.”
Washington’s top diplomat in Harare declined to specify
how the
international community could intervene in Zimbabwe, saying it was
up to the
United Nations (UN) to decide how to get involved in the troubled
southern
African nation.
Zimbabwe, also facing its worst economic
recession and food shortages,
plunged deeper into political crisis after
electoral authorities withheld
results of a March 29 presidential election
that independent observers say
Mugabe lost to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai,
although they say a second
round ballot is required to settle the
contest.
The MDC insists Tsvangirai won the vote outright and accuses the
government
of holding on to results to allow state security agents and
militants of
Mugabe’s ZANU PF party more time to terrorise voters and cow
them to back
the 84-year old President in the anticipated run-off
election.
The UN Security Council failed on Tuesday to agree on how to
respond to the
Zimbabwe's post election crisis that the MDC and churches
have warned could
easily slide into genocide of the scale seen in
Rwanda.
Western countries led by Zimbabwe’s former colonial power,
Britain, had
wanted the council to adopt a common strategy on the worsening
situation,
including possibly sending a special envoy to probe violence and
human
rights abuses committed by state agents against opposition
supporters.
However, council president South Africa supported by Russia
and China
opposed the move to leave the 15-member Security Council split and
virtually
paralysed on the matter, as Mugabe’s government gloated on the
lack of UN
action which it interpreted as a diplomatic victory.
But
McGee hinted that Washington – which has maintained visa and financial
sanctions against Mugabe and his top lieutenants since 2002 – could widen
and tighten the punitive measures to force the Harare administration to
uphold human rights.
Zimbabwe foreign affairs permanent secretary
Joey Bimha on Wednesday
declined to comment on the US claims of violence.
“We have no comment,” he
said.
A fortnight ago, the Zimbabwe
government challenged anyone with evidence of
political violence to submit
it in order that law enforcement agencies could
act.
McGee said the
US embassy forwarded the dossier on violence in response to
the government’s
call. “We have given them the evidence. It is up to the
government to give
us evidence that there is no violence against the
opposition,” he said. “Out
of the over 500 cases recorded, only one was
allegedly perpetrated by the
opposition.”
Meanwhile, the MDC has said state agents and ZANU PF militia
have stepped
violence against the opposition party’s supporters with at
least 20 killed
as of Tuesday this week.
The MDC had previously
claimed that 10 of its supporters were killed and 3
000 displaced from their
homes in political violence since the elections.
The opposition party
claimed that ZANU PF militia and soldiers killed five
of its activists this
week alone.
The MDC said in a statement: “Tabitha Marume of Makoni West
in Manicaland
province was shot and killed by soldiers at Chiwetu Rest Camp.
Percy
Muchiwa, a teacher in Guruve was on Monday beaten to death by ZANU PF
supporters in Bakasa area.
“Tenos Manyimo and Bigboy Zhuwawo both of
Mbire in Mashonaland Central
province died on Sunday when they were
seriously attacked by ZANU PF militia
for being MDC supporters.”
The
party claimed that in another brutal act of force in Shurugwi, Midlands
province, Clemence Dube of Poshayi Village in ward 12, was killed after ZANU
PF supporters and war veterans assaulted him on April 28.
The body of
Dube, who was an MDC polling agent, had since been ferried to
Bulawayo for a
post mortem, the opposition party said.
The MDC said thousands more of
its supporters had been displaced in the
violence while hundreds are others
were in hospitals across the country
receiving treatment for injuries
suffered at the hands of ZANU PF militia
and state security
forces.
Politically motivated violence and human rights abuses erupted in
parts of
Zimbabwe almost immediately after the MDC defeated ZANU PF in the
parliamentary poll.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has not
announced results of a parallel
presidential ballot but was expected to meet
candidates in the poll or their
agents on Thursday to discuss results before
making them public. – ZimOnline
Zim Online
by Patricia Mpofu Thursday 01 May
2008
HARARE – The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said on
Wednesday that all
was set for verification today of results of the March 29
presidential
election, an exercise that will pave the way for announcement
of a winner
more than a month after the vote.
But commission deputy
chief elections officer Utoile Silaigwana cautioned
that it might still be a
week before Zimbabweans know who won the vote as
disputes over figures might
arise during the verification exercise which
would mean further
delays.
“We have invited all the political parties and everything is on
course,”
said Silaigwana, adding that ZEC officially invited all the four
presidential candidates and their election agents on Tuesday.
During
the vote-checking process, candidates or their agents and election
observers
will compare official figures with those they have compiled
themselves from
the nearly 9 000 polling stations.
Silaigwana said: "Only after all
parties agree with the figures will a final
overall result be announced. The
process could take up to a week because
disputes are likely to
arise.”
The Morgan Tsvangirai-led Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party faction
won 99 seats while the Arthur Mutambara-led MDC won 10 to
bring their total
seats in the 210-member House of Assembly to
109.
An independent candidate won one seat while President Robert
Mugabe’s ZANU
PF party, which had controlled Parliament since Zimbabwe’s
1980 independence
took 97 seats. Three constituencies where voting could not
take place will
hold by-elections at an as yet unknown date.
The
ZEC’s failure to release presidential election results has touched off a
tense stalemate that analysts fear could lead to violence and bloodshed,
while the United States has threatened sanctions over delays to issue
results.
The MDC, which says Tsvangirai won the presidential election
outright, says
Mugabe is delaying results to use the time to unleash
violence and terror on
voters in bid to cow them to support him in an
anticipated second round
ballot that according to electoral law should be
held within three days of
issuing of results.
The MDC says at least
20 of its supporters have been murdered while another
5 000 have been
displaced in the violence, which it the opposition party has
described as a
war being waged by state security forces and ZANU PF
militants against
Zimbabweans. – ZimOnline.
africasia
HARARE, May 1 (AFP)
Zimbabwe police want to question a top opposition figure
after he declared
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai had won the
presidential election, state media said
Thursday.
"Police are keen to interview MDC secretary general Tendai Biti
for
illegally declaring results ... in contravention of the Electoral Act,
which
gives the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission the exclusive right to
announce
results," the daily Herald said.
In a letter to Biti cited
by the paper, police Commissioner General
Augustine Chihuri also accused
Biti of inciting political violence.
"You know for sure, your violation
of the country's laws by declaring
presidential results ... is still to be
attended to by the police," said
Chihuri.
Biti proclaimed on April 2
that Tsvangirai had won the election with 50.2
percent of votes against 43.8
percent for veteran President Robert Mugabe
even though there had been no
official word from the electoral commission.
"Put simply he has won this
election ... Morgan Richard Tsvangirai is the
next president of the Republic
of Zimbabwe, without a run-off," he told a
press conference in
Harare.
Biti, the MDC's number two after Tsvangirai, has been out of the
country for
more than three weeks since the country went to the polls. He
has denied he
and Tsvangirai are in self-imposed exile, vowing they will
return home when
it is appropriate.
"Surely, the police have been
looking for you so that you could assist in
investigations surrounding the
above-mentioned issue, concerning the
electoral laws and other matters, but
you were nowhere to be found," said
Chihuri.
"What is very
conspicuous in the Zimbabwean political arena today is your
prominent role
in urging and abetting political violence through unbridled
rhetoric of
incitement."
The result of the presidential election has still not been
announced by the
electoral commission although the MDC has been declared the
winner of a
simultaneous parliamentary election.
VOA
By Peta Thornycroft
Harare
30 April
2008
The group Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, says it is
concerned about the
arrest of many Zimbabwe Electoral Commission presiding
officers, who are
mostly teachers. Peta Thornycroft reports that the
arrests have been linked
to government statements about the conduct of the
March 29 elections, which
were lost by the former ruling ZANU-PF
party.
According to the Zimbabwe rights lawyers, more than 100 teachers
have been
arrested, many of them in the past few days.
All of the
arrests are connected with the recent elections. The teachers
were hired by
the Zimbabwe Election Commission as presiding officers for
local polling
places.
The lawyers said among those arrested were several head teachers,
people who
had been in the education system for decades. They are all being
charged
with criminal abuse of duty as public officers, fraud or violation
of the
Electoral Act.
The Zimbabwe education system has in recent
years been severely undermined
by a shortage of resources, the departure of
teachers and harsh economic
conditions. This is now being exacerbated, the
lawyers say, by attacks on
teachers who worked for the
Commission.
Schools opened this week after unusually long holidays to
allow for
elections. Teachers unions have warned for several years that
there is
little learning or teaching going on at most public Zimbabwe
schools,
because so many teachers have left the profession.
The
lawyers say the arrests appear to be linked to what they say were
"insignificant anomalies" discovered during the recount of 23 constituencies
during the past 10 days. Problems the lawyers say could easily be
attributed to human error.
The lawyers say they see the arrests not
only as persecution, but that in
the event of a presidential run-off between
President Robert Mugabe and
Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan
Tsvangirai the election will be
presided over by the security
forces.
Police are investigating at least 100 cases of electoral fraud
from the
country's disputed general elections, according to commissioner
general
Augstine Chihuri. He told state media this was what he called a
"new
phenomenon in the electoral history of Zimbabwe."
These
elections were the first time ZANU-PF has been defeated since
independence
in 1980. Independent pollsters say that Morgan Tsvangirai
defeated
President Mugabe in the simultaneous presidential/parliamentary
poll.
Results of the presidential election have not been released and
may take
several more days for verification, according to the
commission.
FROM
THE
PRESS
RELEASE
Protest
against Mugabe’s post-election reign of terror
Zimbabwean
exiles and supporters are to stage a demonstration outside the Zimbabwe Embassy
in
The
demonstration has been called by Restoration of Human Rights in
During the
demonstration the following petition
will be available for signature:
Petition
to President Mbeki of
Exiled
Zimbabweans and supporters urge you to stop supporting Mugabe and allow a
peaceful transfer of power from the military regime to the Zimbabwean people.
Our blood is on your door.
ROHR
is an on-the-ground protest movement in
Event:
Protest
against Mugabe’s post-election reign of terror
Venue: Outside the
Date
/ time:
Photo
Opportunities: Zimbabwean singing, dancing and
drumming.
Interview
Opportunities: Political
activists, torture and rape victims.
Further
information: Contact
Vigil Co-ordinators Rose Benton (07970 996 003, 07932 193 467) and Dumi Tutani
(07960 039 775) and for ROHR Stendrick Zvorwadza (07882 460 295, 07960 113
496)
Vigil Co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside the
Zimbabwe Embassy, 429
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
30 April
2008
A strike by junior resident doctors at Zimbabwe's
state hospitals has
widened just as increasing numbers of victims of
post-election violence are
pouring in seeking care.
The job action by
the physicians started slowly last week but has
intensified. Doctors charge
that the government has failed to keep its word
on transport benefits,
failing to deliver cars which the government promised
ahead of March 29
elections.
A representative of the doctors said Harare received a
consignment of
imported cars before the elections, but those vehicles have
been given to
senior consulting doctors and administrators rather than to
the junior
doctors who are now aggrieved.
VOA could not reach Health
Minister David Parirenyatwa or another senior
ministry official for comment
on the grievance stated by the doctors.
Hospital Doctors Association
Secretary Simbarashe Ndodha told reporter
Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio
7 for Zimbabwe that while hospitals are
now receiving a mounting number of
trauma patients as a result of the surge
in post-election violence, the
government's failure to keep its word leaves
his group no other choice.
UN Integrated Regional
Information Networks
30 April 2008
Posted to the web 30 April
2008
Harare
Children are not being spared the impact of Zimbabwe's
post-election
violence.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Zimbabwe
told IRIN its work was being
hampered by the countrywide violence, which,
according to widespread
reports, was being carried out by soldiers, war
veterans and militias loyal
to the ruling ZANU-PF government.
The
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said the loss of
ZANU-PF's
majority in parliament after the 29 March elections had sparked
both
retribution against opposition supporters and a campaign of
intimidation
ahead of an expected second round of voting in the presidential
ballot.
The MDC claim their leader won the presidential poll with 50
percent plus
one vote, a majority that negates the need for a second round
of voting, but
ZANU-PF maintain that no candidate reached the required
threshold. More than
a month after the poll, the results of the presidential
vote have not been
released.
"Any violence against children, their
families and their communities
seriously threatens the wellbeing and
long-term development of children,"
James Elder, head of communications at
UNICEF Zimbabwe, told IRIN.
He said UNICEF's "regular programmes are
currently being negatively impacted
by the political impasse in the
country", and that his organisation recently
contacted 27 non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) implementing programmes
for children and "found that
almost half had virtually suspended their
activities for children due to
concern at current uncertainties".
Elder said UNICEF had increased visits
by its programme staff to projects
and was working with partners "to create
a safe and enabling environment for
NGOs to re-activate all programmes for
children", which were expected to
reach more than 150,000 orphans in May
with packages ensuring good
nutrition, health and education for the
beneficiaries, in addition to
water-treatment chemicals in areas affected by
severe water shortages.
The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, told a
forum on Tuesday during the
meeting of the Security Council that the
humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe,
caused by the delay in announcing
presidential poll results and the violence
that has flared up, was
"worrisome".
"Because of the increasing violence and the number of
displaced people
fleeing their homes to other places, there is a serious
humanitarian
crisis," Ban said.
More than 200 MDC supporters were
arrested at the MDC's party headquarters
in the capital, Harare, after
fleeing because their homes had allegedly been
razed by ZANU-PF
supporters.
Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena told the
state-controlled daily
newspaper, The Herald, that children were among those
arrested, but that 29
people were released on the day of the mass arrests,
"mainly women, babies
and the elderly".
Nelson Chamisa, the MDC
spokesperson, described the raid on the MDC offices
as "a heinous show of
state brutality", and asked, "What kind of a
government is it that
willy-nilly tramples on the rights of children?"
Ndatadzei Karonga, 65,
of Chihota district in Mashonaland East Province,
about 130km north of
Harare, fled to the capital with her three
grandchildren - both her
daughters had died of HIV/AIDS-related illnesses -
after militias accused
her of having a son who worked in Harare.
The young men told me that my
sin was that I have a son who works in Harare,
labelling everyone residing
in urban areas as sell-outs because the MDC gets
most of its support from
towns and cities
"The young men told me that my sin was that I have a son
who works in
Harare, labelling everyone residing in urban areas as a
sell-out because the
MDC gets most of its support from towns and cities. I
feared that they would
assault or kill me, and had no option but to join my
son here [in Harare]
because at least it is safer," Karonga told
IRIN.
Her bachelor son lives in a single room and works as a bartender in
the
dormitory town of Chitungwiza, about 30km from Harare, taking home a
monthly
wage of Z$2billion, enough to buy nine loaves of bread.
"All
the three children were supposed to have returned to school when
schools
opened for the second term but, given the latest developments, we
might just
as well forget about their education. My son is poorly paid and
there is no
food for the children, unlike back in Chihota, where I had my
own food
reserves that would be complemented by caregivers," she said.
Tendai (not
her real name), 32, a single mother and another victim of
political
violence, hitch-hiked from Murewa, about 90km northeast of Harare,
with her
three-year-old daughter strapped to her back, in the hope of
obtaining
antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) from the MDC.
"Being HIV-positive, I was
getting my ARVs from a clinic in Murewa, but lost
the drugs after war
veterans and militias torched my late mother's house. My
child is also sick,
and if I don't get help immediately I might lose him,"
Tendai, an MDC ward
political commissar, told IRIN.
She had to leave her home so suddenly
that she was unable to tell her
seven-year-old son, who had been spending
the school holiday in Gweru, in
Midlands Province, not to return to their
rural home.
"I think he will be traumatised to find his home reduced to
ashes. Who will
ensure that he is fed, bathed and sent to school, and how
will he feel to
know that his mother has disappeared after some people tried
to kill her?"
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the
United Nations ]
Zimbabwe Gazette
By Lee Shungu, on April 30 2008
19:20
Though the atmosphere was a bit tense owing
to the presence of
uniformed and un-uniformed state security forces, this
did not deter the
determined artistes who proceeded to denounce Zimbabwe’s
president Robert
Mugabe and his government, at the annual event, the Harare
International
Festival of the Arts (HIFA) 2008 opening
ceremony.
Packed up in the main stage arena Tuesday
night, the crowd
cheered to the emotional poetry and music mainly by local
artistes dubbed
Dreamland.
HIFA founder and artistic
director, Manuel Bagoro confirmed
yesterday the opening ceremony was indeed
touching.
“It was an emotional performance as it set the
tone for other
shows and events to come.”
“Artistes managed
to touch the hearts of many by revealing the
truth, through poetry, dance
and music,” said Bagoro.
To mark the beginning of the
festival was the late Bob Marley’s
song performed by local artiste
Outspoken- Zimbabwe. In the song, Marley
congratulated the country in
attaining its independence in 1980. He
performed the song here in
Zimbabwe.
The local artiste went on to do the late South
African reggae
icon Lucky Dube’s piece- Different Colours. The song
generally is about
uniting all races.
After this, the
audience could not hear clearly, the artistes
who followed. It seemed as if
their microphones or the sound system was bad.
Thus this
reporter realised when an artiste was performing a
‘controversial’ song- it
seemed the microphone was not clear enough. If an
artiste was doing a
‘non-political’ song, everyone could clearly hear.
According to
the South African based choreographer, Bret Bailey,
Dreamland is about a
King who stole the people’s dreams and songs, but
cannot take away the
deepest songs and dreams in them. In a nutshell, the
opening festival was to
celebrate the resilience of the Zimbabwean people in
a country marred by
economic and political instability.
Local artiste, Chiwoniso
Maraire performed a number of
‘emotional’ songs. Dudu Manhenga also did some
poetry. They were supported
by a band which included
children.
What was also of interest at the festival opening
performance
was the appearance of ‘riot policemen’ in the act. Two men
dressed as
policemen ‘beat up’ artistes and abused children on
stage.
Chimurenga music legend Thomas Mapfumo’s Mhondoro was
also
performed by Sebede and featured Zimbabwe’s protest poets, Samm Farai
Monro
aka Cde Fatso and Outspoken. In the song, Mhondoro is the spirit
medium of
Zimbabwe. The poets urged Zimbabweans to rise against oppressive
rule, so as
to be free.
The big screen on the stage had
Zimbabweans’ dreams flicking one
after the other, in the form of text whilst
artistes performed. Most of the
dreams were of children and evicted
farmers.
For example, one wrote, “I had a dream. I was to be
made the
president of Zimbabwe, but a monster came chasing after
me.”
Another one wrote, “I dreamt the country being ‘normal’
and I
was employed by ZABG Bank in the marketing
department.”
Someone also wrote, “I had a dream in which
Morgan Tsvangirai
was president and we were shaking hands and laughing
together.”
One unidentified artiste putting on a mask and dressed
in white
also performed a protest song. His supporting actors- ‘the
policemen’ did
some dances whilst holding wooden material, ‘baton
sticks’.
On the screen appeared a footage of a bulldozer
bring down a
house and a bus heavily loaded with goods on the carrier. To
many, this took
them back to the days of Operation Murambatsvina embarked on
by Mugabe and
his government in a ‘clean-up’ campaign. Many people
especially in Harare
and its surrounding areas were left homeless following
the destruction of
‘illegal structures’.
To end the
ceremony were some tremendous fireworks, for about a
good five minutes or
so.
Also yesterday at a press conference, Canadian based arts
group-
Chaos said they have been working with some local artistes at Young
Africa
Skills Centre in Chitungwiza and have come up with great performances
lined
up for HIFA.
"Actually when we arrived here we
thought of changing the name
of our group from Chaos because it seems there
is already enough chaos in
Zimbabwe." said one group member
sarcastically.
‘It is surprising to see the courage and
determination shown by
people of this country. It is amazing to see how they
have hope and wake up
to face the economic and political challenges of this
nation.”
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
Date: 30 Apr 2008
A broad coalition of
Zimbabwean churches is speaking out against a political
crackdown that is
underway in their country following disputed national
elections on March
29.
By Tim Shenk
April 30, 2008, AKRON, Pa./STRASBOURG, France – A
broad coalition of
Zimbabwean churches is speaking out against a political
crackdown that is
underway in their country following disputed national
elections on March 29.
Representatives of Catholic, Protestant and
Evangelical churches recently
issued a joint statement warning that
pro-government forces are organizing
violence against individuals, families
and communities that are accused of
supporting Zimbabwe's political
opposition.
"People are being abducted, tortured, humiliated by being
asked to repeat
slogans of the political party they are alleged not to
support, ordered to
attend mass meetings where they are told they voted for
the 'wrong
candidate' ... and, in some cases, people are murdered," the
churches
stated.
Zimbabwe's Brethren in Christ Church is a member of
the Evangelical
Fellowship of Zimbabwe, which is one of three church groups
that issued the
joint statement. The Brethren in Christ Church is a member
of Mennonite
World Conference (MWC) and a partner of Mennonite Central
Committee (MCC).
Danisa Ndlovu, the bishop of the Brethren in Christ
Church, said that his
denomination supports the statement. Ndlovu is vice
president and
president-elect of Mennonite World Conference.
Ndlovu
said that the statement is a strongly worded call for international
diplomatic assistance in resolving Zimbabwe's political crisis.
It
states, "We warn the world that if nothing is done to help the people of
Zimbabwe from their predicament, we shall soon be witnessing genocide
similar to that experienced in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and other hot spots in
Africa and elsewhere."
Ndlovu confirmed that there are many reports
of violence against alleged
opposition supporters, especially in rural
areas. However, he said that
there is currently little to no violence in
Bulawayo, the city where he
lives.
Ndlovu said that Zimbabwe's
ongoing political conflict could give rise to
further violence. While an
opposition party claims that it won the
presidency in March 29 elections,
the government is conducting a recount and
refusing to release the official
results.
The churches' statement calls on Zimbabwe's electoral commission
to release
the presidential results immediately.
"We feel like there
is something that is going on that is not right," Ndlovu
said. "And, as
churches, we feel that, I think, it's important for us to
speak strongly
against that."
The Brethren in Christ Church partners with MCC in
projects related to AIDS,
education, relief, health care and peace-building.
It is the largest
Mennonite World Conference member denomination in southern
Africa, with
about 35,000 members.
Tim Shenk is a writer for
Mennonite Central Committee.