http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Zimbabwe's parliament is due to meet on Tuesday, just two days after
the
country's neighbours demanded that Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai's
power-sharing government be formed 'forthwith'.
By Sebastien Berger
in Johannesburg
Last Updated: 12:09PM GMT 10 Nov 2008
A constitutional
amendment - which has yet to be formally put on the
agenda - needs to be
rushed through to create the prime ministership that Mr
Tsvangirai has been
allocated under the deal, along with other posts and
changes.
Asked
on state television when a new cabinet would be formed, Mr Mugabe
said: "We
will try to institute it as soon as possible."
But the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change is rejecting a demand by
the southern African
Development Community (SADC) that the key home affairs
ministry, which
includes authority over the police force and elections,
should be shared
between the parties.
The SADC summit in Johannesburg decided that 'the
ministry of home affairs
be co-managed' between the two, its communiqué
said.
Mr Mugabe, the octogenarian who has presided over Zimbabwe's
collapse,
agreed to the proposal, but Mr Tsvangirai refused, saying he was
"shocked
and saddened" at the meeting's conclusions.
But the MDC
appears to have only two options - accept a compromise which it
says does
not amount to 'equitable' power-sharing, or walk away from the
entire
agreement, which it has previously said it will not do.
Appeals for
intervention from the African Union or United Nations have not
led anywhere
in the recent past, and in any case without Mr Mugabe's
agreement - which
would not be forthcoming - they would be meaningless.
Arthur Mutambara,
leader of a smaller MDC faction which holds the balance of
power in
parliament, said that he backed the compromise, even though it was
not his
grouping's preferred position, as SADC had been asked to rule on the
issue
and as a matter of principle its decision should be accepted.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
10 November 2008
SADC leaders at the extraordinary summit on
Zimbabwe allowed Robert Mugabe
to dictate the terms, giving him the coveted
backing of the regional bloc,
Newsreel learned on Monday.
The summit
ruled that the Ministry of Home Affairs must be co-managed by
ZANU PF and
the MDC T, a proposal presented by Mugabe. MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai has
rejected this.
It's reported that the ZANU PF leader took advantage of the
absence of his
critics, namely Botswana President Ian Khama, to advance his
accusations
that Khama was actively working with the MDC to destabilise
Zimbabwe.
Botswana has strongly refuted the accusations.
The latest
failed diplomatic effort - which attracted only five leaders from
the
15-nation bloc - leaves the country sinking deeper into a humanitarian
crisis. Only Kgalema Motlanthe, the South African host, Joseph Kabila from
the DRC, President Hifikepunye Pohambo of Namibia, Armando Guebuza of
Mozambique and Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili were present. The
rest had representatives standing in for them. An extraordinary situation
when you consider that the summit was set up to discuss two major crises -
Zimbabwe and the DRC. But we should also remember that Kgalema Motlanthe was
the head of the South African observer mission to the massively rigged
Zimbabwe presidential election in 2002. He declared that poll completely
free and fair.
After Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara made
their
presentations to the SADC leaders, the trio was asked to recuse
themselves
from the room to allow the summit to deliberate and issue a
ruling.
Basildon Peta, a Zimbabwean journalist who covered the summit, said
Tsvangirai and Mutambara made their way out, but Mugabe flatly refused to
leave the room.
"Mugabe told them (SADC leaders) point blank he was
not going out. So he sat
in judgement of his own case. He had his way and no
leader, including the
South African President, challenged him on that," Peta
said.
Mugabe's participation in the deliberations, where he had 'vested
interests'
was also raised by Tsvangirai during a press briefing at the end
of the
summit. The MDC told the SADC leaders they lacked the courage to tell
Mugabe
that his position was wrong.
There are reports from the summit
describing Mugabe as 'extremely
contemptuous' of Tsvangirai throughout the
summit, and interrupting him
during his presentation. When the MDC leader
said he had won the March 29
election, Mugabe shouted 'You didn't! You
didn't!'
Although the SADC leaders ruled that the contentious Home
Affairs Ministry
should be shared, almost all leaders, except Mugabe,
acknowledged that it
was not workable. SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz
Salamao admitted that not
only was it not workable but SADC had never heard
of a similar situation,
and never experienced it in their own
countries.
Peta said Salamao was of the view the situation in Zimbabwe
was 'abnormal,'
and they were 'trying to get a middle of the road position
for the crisis.'
"Salamao told us it was a bizarre solution they were
prescribing to the
crisis. I think what they wanted was to bury their heads
in the sand."
Asked if the summit had discussed anything apart from the
Home Affairs
issue, Peta said the SADC position was, "go home, establish a
new government
and then the rest will follow." SADC said all other areas
that were being
contested would be resolved once there was a government in
place.
November 10, 2008
MDC supporter carries a mock coffin while protesting outside the venue of the SADC meeting in Johannesburg, Sunday.
HARARE (AFP) - President Robert Mugabe said Monday a new Zimbabwe government would be formed “as quickly as possible” despite his rival Morgan Tsvangirai’s rejection of a regional compromise on a power-sharing deal.
“We will try to constitute (the new government) as quickly as possible,” said Mugabe, who unilaterally appointed key ministries to his own ruling ZANU-PF last month.
The veteran leader told reporters on Monday he hoped the opposition leader would change his mind and accept a proposal by regional leaders to immediately form a government and share the disputed home affairs ministry.
“I hope they will” agree, the 84-year-old leader told reporters on state television as he boarded his airplane back to Harare, following the emergency heads of state meeting in Johannesburg on his country’s worsening crisis.
Mugabe’s lead negotiator Patrick Chinamasa said that Tsvangirai had been asked to submit names for ministers from his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
“We invited Mr Tsvangirai to submit names from his party. Whether he will respond positively or not only time will tell,” Chinamasa told state television.
But Tsvangirai, who defeated Mugabe in the first-round of the presidential election in March, has already rejected the proposal by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
“SADC approached this summit without any concrete strategy and did not have the courage and the decency to look Mr Mugabe in the eyes and tell him that his position was wrong,” Tsvangirai said after the talks in Johannesburg.
“This issue of co-sharing does not work. We have said so ourselves, we have rejected it, and that’s the position,” he told reporters.
“It is about power sharing, it is about equitable power sharing, it is about giving the responsibility to the party that won an election and has compromised its position to share a government with a party that lost,” he said.
A unity government is seen as a life-line to save Zimbabwe from political and economic crisis, and foreign donors have warned that no rescue packages will reach the southern African state without a new government.
Under the unity accord signed on September 15 in Harare, Mugabe would remain as president while Tsvangirai would become prime minister.
But the deal has stagnated over the share out of key ministries, particularly the home affairs ministry which runs the police.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s official spokesman voiced disappointment Monday with the impasse in the former British colony.
“The international community is quite clear that it expects an equitable agreement on the allocation of ministries between ZANU-PF and the MDC,” the spokesman told reporters.
“The longer there is a delay in appointing a cabinet, the more difficult it will be for Mr. Mugabe and ZANU-PF to convince the world of their commitment to the September 15 agreement,” he added.
Mugabe has unilaterally allocated all the key ministries to his own party
Tsvangirai said he was still committed to the deal, but said he would not accept Mugabe’s proposals for a cabinet that locks his MDC out of critical posts.
“The deal is teetering on the verge of collapse. Technically it has collapsed,” said Sydney Masamvu, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.
“SADC have failed in mediating the Zimbabwe crisis by failing to come up with a compromise position agreeable to all the principal parties.”
With inflation running at more than 231 million percent, half of the population requires emergency food aid while a breakdown in basic services has led to deadly outbreaks of cholera in Harare.
9 November 2008
Statement from the Movement
For Democratic Change on the outcome of the SADC Extra ordinary summit on the
Zimbabwe dialogue
The Extraordinary Summit of the SADC leadership, held on the 9th November
2008, has just concluded with the resolution that a Government of National Unity
be formed immediately in Zimbabwe and furthermore that the Ministry of Home
Affairs be co-ministered between the MDC and Zanu PF.
In addition, the SADC
leadership have stated that Constitutional Amendment 19, which would provide the
legal framework for the agreement, should be drafted as soon as possible, but
only after the new government has been formed.
With greatest respect to SADC,
the issues before them, which were not resolved by the facilitator's various
visits to Zimbabwe and by the Troika meeting held in Harare on 27th October
2008, centred around the
following:
• The equitability and
fairness in the allocation and distribution of all ministerial
portfolios.
• The immediate agreement and legal passage of
Constitutional Amendment 19
• The constitution and composition of the
National Security Council
• The equitable allocation of Provincial
Governors
• The fraudulent changing of the Global Political Agreement
between its acceptance by the principals on 11th September 2008, and the signing
of the same on 15th September, 2008
The MDC is shocked and saddened that the SADC Summit has failed to tackle
these key issues .
Firstly, the principle of equity and fairness. It is the
MDCs position that any coalition or cooperative government has to be based on
genuine power sharing of portfolio allocations. In this regard, we had proposed
a formula which seeks to pair various ministries on the basis of relative
parity. Thus, in our view, to the extent that Zanu PF had allocated itself the
portfolios of defence and state security, it only made sense that the Ministry
of Home Affairs should go to the MDC.
Equally, this methodology was
suggested and communicated to the facilitator in writing on Wednesday the 15th
October , to the Troika on the 27 October 2008 and to the SADC Executive
Secretary on 30 October, 2008. Thus SADC knew fully our
position.
Secondly, we had also made it clear that the issue of the
enactment of Constitutional Amendment 19 was a precondition to the formation of
any new government. More importantly, the offices being created in the
global
political agreement, such as that of the Prime Minister, could only come into
being with Constitutional Amendment 19. Events after the 15th September 2008, in
respect of which serious lack of sincerity has been displayed by Zanu PF,
demonstrated quite clearly that one could not proceed on the basis of good faith
in a government not grounded on a legal foundation. Thus the question of
Constitutional Amendment 19 cannot be postponed as it is not a question of
procedure but rather an issue of substance.
Furthermore, in a political
environment such as ours, poisoned by lack of a paradigm shift by Zanu PF, lack
of sincerity and utter contempt towards the MDC and the wishes of the people,
quite clearly the concept of co-ministering cannot work. In any event, what is
the rational of proposing a co-ministry only in relation to the Home Affairs
portfolio in total oblivion to Defence and State Security which Zanu PF already
holds.
In our view a great opportunity has been missed by SADC to bring an end to
the Zimbabwean Crisis. This omission has occurred because SADC approached this
summit without any concrete strategy and did not have the courage and the
decency of looking Mr Mugabe in the eyes and telling him that his position was
wrong.
For the record, in today's meeting it had been agreed that all the
Zimbabwean principals would recuse themselves to allow an open and unfettered
dialogue to take place amongst the SADC leaders. However, Mr Mugabe refused and
the Chairman of SADC did not tell him to leave.
Thus, Mr Mugabe became a
judge in his own case.
Perversely, pressure was brought to bear on the
MDC, a party that won an election but has shown compromise and political
maturity in these negotiations rather than the party that lost an election and
has flouted the spirit and substance of the agreement, namely Zanu
PF.
The failure of this summit to acknowledge the only fair and rational
solution with regard to equitable power sharing, places the Zimbabwean people in
a quandary. It is no exaggeration when I say that the needless suffering being
experienced by millions of Zimbabweans every day is unprecedented in our
country's history.
It is precisely because of this that we remain
committed to the agreement signed 15th September. It is precisely because of
this that we cannot accept any arrangement that does not allow the MDC to
effectively contribute to ending this suffering.
I would like to put out
that the failure to consummate and implement the Global Political Agreement
means that there is no legitimacy on any government or any person purporting to
be Head of State. In short, Mr Mugabe is not the President of Zimbabwe without
this agreement.
Given this dangerous and precarious situation and the
suffering of the people of Zimbabwe we hope and pray that the guarantors of the
agreement, in particular progressive members of SADC and the African Union, will
now move very quickly to try and salvage this agreement.
We remain
committed to the agreement and peaceful resolution of the Zimbabwean crisis and
I am hopeful that sooner, rather than later, the democratic voice and vote of
the Zimbabwean people will be heard and respected by our African
institutions.
Until that day, the MDC will continue to stand with the
people of Zimbabwe, for it is from them that we derive our legitimacy, and
because of them, that we remain resolute in our struggle for
democracy.
Thank you
Morgan Tsvangirai
President Movement
for Democratic Change
http://thestar.com.my
Monday November
10, 2008
By Michael
Georgy
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Southern African leaders are highly unlikely
to
ever force Zimbabwe's rival parties to implement a power-sharing deal and
their lack of resolve will continue playing into the hands of President
Robert Mugabe.
An emergency weekend summit of the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) failed to break the deadlock in talks on
cabinet posts which
threatens a Sept. 15 power-sharing deal seen as the best
chance to rescue
Zimbabwe from economic collapse.
SADC was more
assertive than usual, saying Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai should
share control of the powerful Home Affairs ministry and
quickly form a unity
government.
But Tsvangirai rejected the idea and Mugabe quickly
capitalised on that,
apparently seeking to portray the opposition leader as
a spoiler and vowing
to form a unity government "as soon as
possible."
Aware that SADC is divided and lacks the will to force the
sides into a
deal, Mugabe knows he has time to wait.
"They (SADC)
would love to have this go away and have it swept under the
carpet. It's
difficult for them to come out and impose anything on Mugabe's
regime," said
Mark Schroeder, director of risk analysis for sub-Saharan
Africa at
Stratfor.
Mugabe has held power since 1980 with what critics say is
patience, cunning
and ruthlessness. He has already survived international
isolation and
sanctions imposed by Western foes.
FEW
OPTIONS
Although neighbouring countries are struggling with millions of
refugees
fleeing Zimbabwe and fear a total meltdown there, they have few
practical
steps to take even if they could agree on the need to take
stronger action.
While Botswana and Zambia have taken a tough line on
Mugabe, others still
respect him as a former African liberation
hero.
"You have this mythological figure. Robert Mugabe is like George
Washington,
he can't be touched," said one Western
diplomat.
Influential regional politicians who have made the strongest
calls for an
agreement in Zimbabwe also have more pressing issues to worry
about.
Jacob Zuma, leader of the ruling African National Congress in
regional
powerhouse South Africa, has said Zimbabwe's parties must be forced
into a
deal.
But he is distracted on the home front after senior ANC
members defected to
form a breakaway group in the biggest political upheaval
since the end of
apartheid in 1994.
Analysts believe South Africa's
caretaker president, Kgalema Motlanthe,
cannot make a difference before
South Africa's election next year, which is
expected to put Zuma in
power.
Zambian President Rupiah Banda is fighting opposition accusations
he rigged
in last month's presidential election -- which might make it
harder for him
to champion Tsvangirai's assertion that Mugabe cheated him of
election
victory.
COLLAPSE
Zimbabwe's economic decline, once
seen by the opposition as the only factor
that could weaken Mugabe, has been
worsening while he digs in for a
prolonged power struggle which now centres
on the Home Affairs ministry --
seen as crucial to the veteran leader's
survival because it controls the
police.
But Mugabe knows the economy
cannot get much worse.
Inflation is officially 231 million percent. Even
under government price
controls, the cost of bread is doubling every week
and all food is in short
supply. Zimbabwe is dependent on handouts and
malnutrition is on the rise.
With Mugabe keeping a strong hold, the
chances of badly needed aid and
investment from Western countries are
nil.
"Mugabe will not listen to anybody at this stage because he is
resigned to
fate. He knows nothing will change about the economy even if he
continues to
hang onto power because it has already gone down," said
prominent Lusaka
economist and political analyst Chibamba
Kanyama.
"There was so much hope that there would be change in Zimbabwe
and donors
had begun to reposition themselves to bail-out the country, but
now Mugabe
realises that the bail-out will not come quickly because of the
global
financial crisis and as such he will hang onto
power."
Zimbabweans can expect more of the same -- talk of a unity
government, new
accusations and counter-accusations, calls for SADC
intervention -- while
Mugabe keeps the upper hand.
Western countries,
pre-occupied by their own worries, are unlikely to do
much more and had in
any case always emphasised that it was the region that
needed to play the
main role.
An exasperated Tsvangirai complained at the weekend summit
that SADC leaders
told opposition parties to leave their meeting while they
formulated a
resolution but allowed Mugabe to stay on as what he called a
judge of his
own case.
"SADC is made up of a group of leaders that
are friends of President Mugabe.
Many of them have been in power for a long
time and do not respect
democratic decisions," said Fernando Macedo,
political analyst and professor
at Luanda's Lusiada
University.
(Additional reporting by Shapi Shacinda in Lusaka, Henrique
Almeida in
Luanda and Rebecca Harrison in Johannesburg)
http://news.yahoo.com
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The
United States said Monday it is "very disappointed"
at the outcome of a
summit to carry out a power-sharing deal between
Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe and his rival Morgan Tsvangirai.
State Department deputy spokesman
Robert Wood told reporters that a proposal
at a summit of the 15-nation
Southern African Development Community (SADC)
only served to reinforce
Mugabe's grip on power.
Wood said the US government is "very disappointed
by the outcome of the
discussions on Zimbabwe at the SADC summit" in
Johannesburg.
"This proposal that was put forth to share the home affairs
ministry, to us,
is just another example of the Mugabe regime's attempt to
subvert the will
of the Zimbabwean people," Wood said.
Under the
unity accord signed on September 15 in Harare, 84-year-old Mugabe
would
remain as president while his Tsvangirai, leader of the main
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change, would become prime minister.
However, the
long-awaited deal has stagnated over the share out of key
ministries,
particularly the home affairs ministry which runs the police.
The SADC
has proposed co-sharing the home affairs ministry between the
ruling ZANU-PF
and Tsvangirai's MDC as a way out of the deadlock, at least
for a trial
period of six months.
But Tsvangirai, who defeated Mugabe in the
first-round of the presidential
election in March, rejected their proposal
as unworkable.
Asked if he believed Tsvangirai was cooperating, Wood
replied: "I think you
can understand his position right now.
"This is
supposed to be power sharing. This example of trying to share the
home
affairs ministry ... doesn't reflect the will of what the Zimbabweans
voted
for," Wood said.
"What we want to see is true, substantive power-sharing
negotiations so that
they can agree on a cabinet so that Zimbabweans can
feel they have a
future," the deputy spokesman added.
Asked if it was
time for more sanctions against Harare, Wood replied: "I'm
not going to say
it's time at this point.
"We obviously want to have further discussions
with our partners and see if
that is a route we want to pursue," he
said.
"But if he (Mugabe) continues to subvert the will of the people,
then we
will have to look at additional measures," he added.
http://news.yahoo.com
Mon Nov 10, 7:53 am
ET
LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman voiced
disappointment Monday after a summit of southern African leaders failed to
push feuding Zimbabwean parties into a power-sharing deal.
Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party faced
growing
scepticism about his commitment to a September agreement with the
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the spokesman added.
The 15-nation
Southern African Development Community (SADC) failed Sunday in
a bid to
persuade Mugabe into a compromise with opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
in closed-door talks in Johannesburg.
"We are disappointed that the SADC
meeting hasn't been able to resolve the
deadlock over ministries," Brown's
official spokesman said.
"The international community is quite clear that
it expects an equitable
agreement on the allocation of ministries between
ZANU-PF and the MDC," the
spokesman told reporters.
"The longer there
is a delay in appointing a cabinet, the more difficult it
will be for Mr.
Mugabe and ZANU-PF to convince the world of their commitment
to the 15th
September agreement," he added.
Under the unity accord signed on
September 15 in Harare, 84-year-old Mugabe
would remain as president while
Tsvangirai would become prime minister but
the much-awaited deal has
stagnated over the sharing out of key ministries,
particularly the home
affairs ministry which runs the police.
Britain is the former colonial
power in Zimbabwe, which gained independence
in 1980 with Mugabe as its
first leader.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
Comment:
SADC and its Leadership have once again failed
their mission, embarrassed
the Continent and disappointed the people of
Zimbabwe. Implementing SADC's
ill considered decision of yesterday will
solve none of the issues facing
the population of Zimbabwe. But yesterday's
summit assures us that
Zimbabwean's will die even faster and that the topic
will remain on Africa's
and the World's agenda going forward.
Let us
remember that the MDC is the winner of the only recognised election
in
Zimbabwe and has nevertheless agreed to share power, something they need
not
have done. Robert Mugabe and his colleagues in SADC are now trying to
force
the MDC into a position which largely ignores the will of the people
expressed in the March 29 election, as well as the economic, food and
medical disaster added by a huge amount of violence brought to bear on the
people of Zimbabwe by ZANU-PF and its leaders.
· March 29, 2008 was a
flawed election in Zimbabwe marred by violence
against the opposition,
nevertheless the MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai won on
all accounts against huge
odds. Yet Morgan Tsvangirai is treated by SADC as
the leader of the
opposition, not the winner of the election. He is still
denied a passport
and unable to make his case in person to the SADC and AU
Governments. By
SADC standards that appears to be a fair situation as
otherwise they would
have insisted on a passport to be issued.
· June 27, 2008 saw a massively
flawed Presidential run-off election, marked
by extreme violence by the
ruling party youth brigades, but recognised by no
one, not even the ruling
party ANC in South Africa. Yet the single
participant in this fraudulent
election is treated as President and head of
state by African
leaders.
· Yesterday's SADC summit in Johannesburg reached a conclusion
biased to
Robert Mugabe and places pressure on the opposition MDC rather
than ruling
party ZANU-PF:
· When both parties were asked to recluse
themselves from the Zimbabwe
debate, Morgan Tsvangirai left the forum.
Robert Mugabe refused, stayed on
and was tolerated by the Heads of
Government. A level playing field was
clearly not available from here
on.
· Mugabe and the ruling party have single handedly awarded themselves
all
senior Ministries with the exception of Finance. This is in total
disregard
of the spirit of the Power Sharing Agreement reached in
September.
· The issue is not about the Ministry of Home Affairs alone.
If ZANU-PF
wants to control the Armed forces it is a balanced approach for
the MDC to
control the Police. Attached is the MDC letter to SADC laying out
the
sharing of ministries going forward. None of these issues have been
addressed. And unless the winner of the elections, MDC, receive at least 50%
of the senior ministries, Governors and other positions, they simply can
neither attract foreign assistance nor will they be able to effect change so
desperately needed.
· We must understand that ZANU-PF has no interest
in seeing the proposed
Transitional Government succeed. Only if it fails
will ZANU-PF have a chance
of winning a new election in two years time. A
fair and free election today
would give Mugabe less than 15% of the votes
and the MDC a landslide
victory. Only if the MDC is discredited severely
will this picture change.
ZANU-PF HAVE SHOWN NO GOODWILL AND OR SINCERITY
TO IMPLEMENT A REAL POWER
SHARING ARRANGEMENT.
UNDER CURRENT
CIRCUMSTANCES A TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT WILL FAIL.
NEW ELECTIONS
SUPERVISED AND RUN BY A COMBIANTION OF THE UN, AU, SADC ARE
NEEDED TO HEAR
THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
MEANWHILE THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE ARE DYING IN
LARGE NUMBERS DUE TO LACK OF
FOOD, WATER AND MEDICAL SUPPORT,
A
SITUATION CREATED BY MUGABE AND ZANU-PF, NOT THE OPPOSITION MDC.
SEVEN
MONTHS AFTER WINNING THE ELECTION THE MDC IS STILL KEPT OUT OF POWER.
A
SITUATION APPARENTLY FULLY SUPPORTED BY SADC!
http://www.radiovop.com
HARARE, November 10 2008 -
South Africa President Kgalema Motlanthe on
Sunday fired a broadside at
Zimbabwe's political leaders - calling them
"disappointing" in an opening
speech at the Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC) emergency Summit
in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Motlanthe told the Zimbabwean
leaders that he was disappointed with
their continued haggling and urged
them to quickly reach an agreement.
"The political leaders of
Zimbabwe should show maturity because they
owe it to the people of Zimbabwe
to see to it that they come to an agreement
and solve the crisis," said the
caretaker South African leader in a no holds
barred speech.
South Africa has been for a long time accused of taking a soft
approach on
Zimbabwe's veteran leader Robert Mugabe.
"We urge the leaders
of the three political parties to build on the
agreement breached thus far
and solve the outstanding issues including the
Home Affairs Ministry issue,"
said Motlanthe.
The Zimbabwean political parties signed a
historic power sharing
agreement on September 15 in Harare but talks on
cabinet sharing have been
deadlocked since then.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
10
November 2008
Organisations lobbying against the ongoing political
stalemate and
humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe have lashed out at the
Southern African
Development Community (SADC) after the regional body once
again failed to
end the impasse between ZANU PF and the MDC over the
weekend.
Thousands of protestors gathered outside the venue of the
extraordinary SADC
summit on Zimbabwe in Johannesburg on Sunday, to pressure
African leaders to
facilitate an end to the deadlock over cabinet
ministries. Men and women
from different pressure groups waved placards
reading "Mugabe must go" and
"Hands up for freedom", while child sized
coffins were carried during the
demonstrations to symbolise the many
children dying in Zimbabwe while the
stalemate persists.
Carrie
Shelves from People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) , whose members are
spearheading the Zimbabwean Women Solidarity Campaign in South Africa,
explained on Monday that there is a definite "anger and sense of urgency"
felt by its members and by other pressure groups, caused by the lack of
action by SADC.
"We are all aware that the longer there is this delay
in resolving the
political crisis, more people will die from hunger and
disease," Shelves
said.
She added that the "apathy of African leaders
to deal with dictators" means
pressure groups need to adopt different
strategies to keep the Zimbabwe
crisis in the forefront of news and of
general concern, explaining that POWA's
members were still campaigning about
the human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
At the same time John Vincent
Chikwari from the Zimbabwe Revolutionary Youth
Movement said on Monday the
group was extremely disappointed and concerned
that SADC was unable to
produce a successful end to the political impasse.
"A lot of hope was
riding on SADC's influence," Chikwari explained. "Our
only hope now is that
the AU will make a difference where SADC could not."
Chikwari added that
the Revolutionary Youth Movement was planning
demonstrations to target and
pressure the AU, saying the group will not rest
until a lasting solution to
Zimbabwe's devastating crises was found.
"We cannot lie idly by while
Zimbabwe burns," he said. "We will not let our
voices be silenced; instead
we will take our action to whatever levels until
an end is reached."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona Sibanda
10 November
2008
The MDC will summon its entire leadership on Friday to deliberate on
the
outcome of the SADC summit in Johannesburg and plan the way
forward.
Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said they will not accept a
'false settlement'
to the country's political crisis, adding that the
leaders will be
considering the future of the power-sharing deal, signed
nearly two months
ago.
Chamisa told journalists that the MDC position
was that a false settlement
was riskier than no settlement. He said the MDC
wanted a deal that would
give it 'the influence to change the situation of
the people of Zimbabwe.'
The summit in Johannesburg on Sunday called for
Robert Mugabe and Morgan
Tsvangirai to form a unity government immediately,
saying the parties should
jointly control the disputed Home Affairs
ministry, which controls the
police.
Tsvangirai, who defeated Mugabe
in March elections, has rejected this
proposal as unworkable, while Mugabe
told state television on Monday he
would form a government soon, despite the
disagreement.
http://www.ft.com
By Richard Lapper in Johannesburg and James Blitz
in London
Published: November 10 2008 18:16 | Last updated: November 10
2008 18:25
Zimbabwe’s main opposition party says it is preparing to face
a government
crackdown after it yesterday rejected a South African-backed
proposal to
share the ministry that commands the country’s police force and
controls its
electoral machinery.
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
Movement for Democratic Change and prime
minister-designate, rejected the
idea of sharing the home affairs portfolio
with President Robert Mugabe’s
Zanu-PF as unworkable.
“They [Zanu-PF] are on the war path,” said an MDC
spokesman in Harare, who
said that party leaders would meet later this week.
“Now we have rejected
the carrot, the next thing will be a very, very huge
stick.”
Mr Mugabe welcomed the SADC proposal, telling Zimbabwe state
television that
he intended to form a “unity government as soon as
possible”.
The proposal, fashioned at a special weekend summit of the
15-nation
Southern African Development Community, would have involved both
the MDC and
Zanu-PF naming home affairs ministers. The MDC said it was
“shocked and
saddened” at the proposal, which it said violated the
“principle of equity
and fairness”.
Britain yesterday ex-pressed
disappointment over the failure to break the
deadlock. A spokesman for
Gordon Brown said: “The international community is
quite clear that it
expects an equitable agreement on the allocation of
ministries between
Zanu-PF and the MDC.”
European Union diplomats also expressed concern.
“Tsvangirai was hoping the
SADC would put the MDC in charge of home affairs
and finance,” said one.
“They got the finance portfolio – but with a desk
and a chair and not much
else. As far as home affairs is concerned, it is
clear that Zanu do not want
to hand over control of the police to the
MDC.”
There was also concern about the status of Mr Tsvangirai. “He still
doesn’t
have a passport, he travelled to the summit on emergency documents,”
said a
western diplomat. “That is another manifestation of the clear lack of
desire
of Zanu to work with the MDC.”
The MDC won elections in March
but then withdrew from presidential polls,citingviolence against its supporters.
In a recent report Amnesty International,
the human rights group, said 180
people had been killed and 9,000 injured
since March, blaming the security
forces, Zanu-PF and pro-Mugabe veterans
for most violence.
Mr
Tsvangirai and other MDC leaders have been concerned that failure to
secure
control of either the police force or the army would make it
impossible to
agree a wider division of power.
According to The Herald, a
pro-government newspaper, Zanu-PF was reluctant
to hand control of the
police to the MDC because it alleged the opposition
party was training
anti-government militias.
Analysts said that southern African leaders’
refusal to pressure Mr Mugabe
had handed a propaganda victory to the leader,
who has been in power since
1980. “This has been a great comfort for Mr
Mugabe. He will be able to tell
his party that we have seen them [the MDC]
off,” said a western diplomat
based in Harare. Equally, Mr Tsvangirai had
been placed in an impossible
position. “They are basically asking him to
join a Mugabe government in a
junior position. It is hard to see where we go
from here.”
Sydney Masamvu, a Pretoria-based analyst at the International
Crisis Group,
also criticised the proposal: “The MDC won the election in
March and has
already conceded a lot. SADC should have been looking to
pressure Mugabe
more.”
In the run-up to Sunday’s summit Kgalema
Motlanthe, South Africa’s
president, and other senior figures from the
ruling African National
Congress had indicated that South Africa would adopt
a more active
diplomatic stance, marking a change from the “softly softly”
approach of the
former president, Thabo Mbeki. Instead, said Mr Masamvu,
this break with the
past had failed to materialise and “the new
administration had let Mr Mugabe
off the hook”.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
18 November 2008
It
is reported that SADC leaders admitted at their extraordinary summit in
Sandton, Johannesburg on Sunday that they had never experienced a situation
in their own countries where rival parties actually share ministries, and
yet they chose to prescribe this bizarre solution to end Zimbabwe's
political impasse. In their final communiqué they said the rival political
parties should immediately form a government of national unity and that the
contentious Home Affairs ministry should be shared.
There has always
been a clear division of powers in cases where rival
political parties are
expected to share power. Not even in Kenya (held up as
the role model for
Zimbabwe) do President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister
Raila Odinga share a
ministry.
But National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) chairperson Dr
Lovemore Madhuku
says the decision by SADC is not surprising as the regional
body has a
history of taking positions that are in favour of ZANU PF. He
said SADC
merely endorsed this 'ministry share' to appease Robert
Mugabe.
The outspoken civic leader also said it is "unrealistic and
naïve" for
anyone to think SADC would have taken a different position from
its Troika
and mediator Thabo Mbeki. Both the former South African President
and the
SADC Troika on Security and Defence had in recent weeks supported
the
co-sharing of the Home Affairs ministry.
Madhuku urged the MDC
and Zimbabweans in general to focus more on finding
their own solutions
locally, saying the solution doesn't lie by just waiting
for SADC, the
African Union or the UN, as their results are very
predictable.
Madhuku said as a political party with the greatest
support in the country
the MDC will always have permanent options and should
be urging supporters
to make a noise in Zimbabwe, rather than wasting time
on "lengthy and
useless discussions" with ZANU PF.
"You must ask why
the MDC is in an arrangement with such a dishonest party
like ZANU PF. If
they found reason to sign a deal on the 15th of September
I think it is too
much to simply blame ZANU PF. The blame must be put on the
shoulders of both
parties as that agreement on the 15th was unworkable from
the start,"
Madhuku added.
Starting Tuesday the NCA will embark on countrywide
demonstrations as part
of their civic initiative to focus the nation on
pushing for a transitional
government that would address hunger and other
forms of suffering. The NCA
chairperson said they also want fresh elections,
under a new constitution.
The Zimbabwe National Student Union (ZINASU) is
expected to support the
pressure group, while other organisations are
expected to join in a week
from Tuesday's demonstrations,
ZIMBABWE
SOLIDARITY FORUM
Secretariat hosted by
ACTION for Conflict
Transformation in South Africa
10 November 2008
The Zimbabwe
Solidarity forum in South Africa express deep concern over the
failure of
SADC and the feuding political parties in Zimbabwe to find a
sustainable
solution to the political impasse!
The Forum urges the conflicting
parties in Zimbabwe to consider the needs of
the suffering people of
Zimbabwe and immediately come up with a solution to
the ever deepening
crisis. The people can not afford to wait any longer. In
his opening speech,
during the SADC Extra-ordinary Summit, South African
President Kgalema
Montlanthe expressed disappointment at Mugabe, Tsvangirai
and Mutambara for
failing to form a new cabinet in line with the Mbeki
brokered power-sharing
deal which was signed on the 15th September 2008.
The stance taken by
Botswana and Zambia is also a welcome form of solidarity
for the people of
Zimbabwe and it is imperative that other African Heads of
state join the
band wagon of isolating the Mugabe regime. Zimbabweans are
struggling to
survive amid widespread shortages of meat, milk and other
basic commodities
as a result of the collapse of the agricultural sector.
The country is
dependent on food handouts and malnutrition is on the rise.
Zimbabwe's
economic crisis has forced millions of its citizens to flee the
country, an
estimated three million of them moving to neighbouring South
Africa alone.
Ties between Zimbabwe and neighbouring Botswana have also
become strained
recently after Botswana President Seretse Khama Ian Khama
said a new
election was the only solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe.
Establishing a
unity government is seen as critical to reversing economic
meltdown in
Zimbabwe, where inflation is officially 231 million percent.
Even under
government price controls, the cost of bread is doubling every
week.
The call for ceasefire and sending an increased number of
peace-keeping
forces in DRC is a welcome development. Instability in DRC and
Zimbabwe is a
threat to regional stability and there is a need for a quick,
collective
regional response to the challenges.
The Struggle
Continues!
The Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum in South Africa is a network of
progressive
South African civil society organizations, which include youth,
women,
labour, faith movements, human rights and student formations engaged
in the
promotion of solidarity for sustainable peace, democracy and human
rights
for the people of Zimbabwe. The Forum is hosted by Action for
Conflict
Transformation in South Africa.
Sipho Theys
Action
for Conflict Transformation, S.A
Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum
http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk
Monday, 10th November 2008.
5:36pm
By: Kumbirai Mafunda.
Harare: The British
Embassy yesterday reacted angrily to a report
linking the British government
to a plot aimed at sponsoring insurgency in
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper, usually the government's
mouth-piece
on Monday alleged that Britain, Zimbabwe's erstwhile colonizer
and the
United States were conniving with the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC)
to spoil the establishment of a coalition government between President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party and Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party and Arthur
Mutambara's smaller faction of the MDC.
The Herald report
alleged that the MDC was angling for a total
collapse of the Cabinet talks
so that the party could then use some alleged
militias to destabilise the
country and force the staging of a fresh
presidential election under
"international supervision" early next year. The
newspaper also alleged that
the US had already started courting the UN
Security Council members Russia
and China that have previously vetoed UN
sanctions on Zimbabwe to support
any vote sanctioning military intervention
in the troubled southern African
country.
But Keith Scott, the First Secretary Political/Press and
Public
Affairs at the British Embassy in Harare dismissed the Herald's
insurgency
support report saying it is aimed at shielding President Mugabe's
administration from the fault of ruining the country's once prosperous
economy.
"These allegations are utter rubbish and an invention
by ZANU (PF) to
distract attention from the ruin of Zimbabwe's economy, the
collapse of
essential services and the impoverishment of its people" said
Scott.
Veteran MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai at the weekend rejected
SADC
recommendations forcing his party to co-minister the Home Affairs
ministerial portfolio with ZANU PF. The MDC party's national executive and
national council, the party's supreme decision making bodies, will meet
Friday to deliberate on the outcome of the extra-ordinary SADC summit
meeting held in South Africa last weekend.
Relations between
Zimbabwe and Britain have been strained in recent
years chiefly because of
London's outspoken criticism of Robert Mugabe's
controversial rule and human
rights excesses.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tichaona
Sibanda
10 November 2008
The city of Bulawayo was engulfed in tension
over the weekend, following
bloody clashes between riot police and people
queuing to try to access money
from their banks.
Scores were left
injured on Saturday when heavily armed riot police ran
pitched battles with
anxious customers who were losing patience after
failing to access their
money from the city banks.
With tensions running high, things boiled over
when the banks called police
to control the crowds. A witness to the chaos
wrote to us saying the police
used baton sticks to try to control the crowds
and this inflamed the
situation. Outside the CFX Bank, irritated customers
retaliated and pounced
on a lonely policeman who was overpowered by the
angry mob.
'The policeman was left in a daze after the clients at a local
bank vented
their anger on him in revenge. He was left bleeding profusely
after he was
attacked,' our source said.
Other reports said that on
Friday some banks had enlisted the services of
soldiers to keep the peace in
the queues. The soldiers used this to jump
queues and access the cash for
themselves, beating up people in the process.
'Managers blamed the Central
bank for its limited allocation of money to the
banks. While the Reserve
Bank has increased the cash withdrawal limits to
Z$500 000 from $50 000, the
money is still not enough as people spend the
nights sleeping outside the
banks.'
In Harare, the military police on Saturday battled fellow
soldiers who were
creating problems in bank queues. Reports say
baton-wielding military police
beat soldiers in uniform. At Coal House in
central Harare, where two
building societies are located opposite each
other, fights erupted as
members of the public cheered.
It's alleged
that a number of soldiers were bundled into military vehicles
and taken to
barracks where they were expected to be detained.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
10 November
2008
The human rights lawyer representing a British journalist who
skipped bail
and fled Zimbabwe last weekend, is now facing arrest himself -
on charges of
defeating the course of justice.
Harrison Nkomo was
representing Philip Warington Taylor - a journalist who
was arrested and
charged with 'practicing journalism without accreditation'
more than a week
ago. He was granted bail during a brief court appearance
and was expected
back in court last Wednesday for the trial against him to
begin. Taylor, who
was ordered to surrender his passport, pleaded not
guilty, arguing he was
merely a visitor during his month long stay in the
country.
The
journalist was facing a possible two year jail term if found guilty.
Under
the Access to Information and Privacy Act passed in 2000, it is a
criminal
offence for local and foreign journalists to practice journalism
without
accreditation from the state-controlled Media and Information
Commission
(MIC).
After failing to appear in court throughout the day Taylor's
defence lawyer,
Harrison Nkomo, told a magistrate in the Harare Magistrates
Court on
Wednesday that the prosecution could not proceed as he had received
reports
that Taylor had sneaked out of the country. Nkomo apparently told
Harare
Magistrate Catherine Chimanda that Taylor had already left the
country and
was in South Africa.
According to the Media Institute of
Southern Africa the police now want to
charge Nkomo with defeating the
course of justice. It's understood police
officers from the Law and Order
section visited Nkomo's offices in Harare
looking for the him. He was
reported to be out of town.
http://www.iol.co.za
November 10 2008 at
06:07PM
The Constitutional Court will hear argument on whether the
South
African government should have provided diplomatic protection to a
South
African citizen who had land taken away by the Zimbabwean government,
when
it sits in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The Pretoria High
Court ruled in July that the government had failed
to consider and deal with
Crawford von Abo's application for diplomatic
protection after his farms
there were expropriated without compensation and
he was arrested with a
warrant for being on one of these farms.
The failure of the
government to help him in respect of the violation
of his rights in Zimbabwe
was found to be inconsistent with South Africa's
Constitution, the judge
found.
The respondents - the government, the
president, the foreign affairs
minister, trade and industry minister and
justice minister - had a
constitutional obligation to provide diplomatic
protection for him and were
ordered to take steps to remedy
this.
In that judgment, the respondents were found to have shown a
"shocking
dereliction of duty", had failed to respond appropriately and had
dealt with
the matter in bad faith.
It was also noted that
citizens of other countries in a similar
position had received the support
of their respective governments when
trying to protect their
investments.
Von Abo estimated that he had lost between R50-million
and R60-million
through the Zimbabwe government's actions. - Sapa
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=7064
November 10, 2008
By
Sibangani Sibanda
ZANU-PF in general and Robert Mugabe in particular have
been accused, over
the years, of gross violations of human rights. In the
main, these have been
fairly straightforward violations and abuses - like
the well documented
"Gukurahundi" massacres in Matebeleland in the 1980s
and, more recently, the
"pre-presidential-run-off-elections" violence in
2008.
In between, there have been any number of other abuses that have
included
the early 2000's land invasions in which some white commercial
farmers lost
their lives, the denial of freedom of speech and association to
the citizens
of Zimbabwe and the "normal" pre-election violence that have
characterised
our electoral process.
Unfortunately, these are the
public (therefore "newsworthy") violations that
the world gets to know
about. Other violations and abuses, which are either
the result of the
negligence of an uncaring government, or the willful
actions of elite whose
only motivation for being in power is the amassing of
obscene wealth, or
even the cynical doings of a government who will do
things simply because
they can, barely get a mention.
Zimbabwe, or should I say Harare, is
currently in the middle of a cholera
epidemic that threatens to take many
lives. The reaction of the authorities
(what reaction there has been) is one
of surprise rather than concern. It is
as if the signs, so ominously obvious
to most, were completely unseen by the
powers that be.
About two
years ago, we read with shock that Harare's main sewage treatment
plant was
broken and that most of the city sewage was being discharged into
the city's
water supply system untreated. At that point, there was no money
to fix the
plant so this was likely to go on for a while (I am not sure
whether that
treatment plant ever got fixed). At the same time, the city was
woefully
short of water treatment chemicals! Many of us had already started
to
question why the Manyame River, which flows into Lake Chivero, Harare's
main
water reservoir, smelt like an open septic tank. I even wrote an
article,
then expressing concern.
It fell on deaf ears.
Not long after, I
wrote an article about how Highfields, that township that
is often touted as
the birthplace of Zimbabwe's revolution (Zimbabwe's
revolution being the
equivalent of Zanu-PF), had sewage running uncontrolled
all over the place.
It had become so commonplace that the residents of
Highfields no longer
noticed it!
Today, it is the whole of Harare (including those areas that
we used to
describe as the leafy suburbs of Northern Harare) that smells
like a
cesspit! Street vendors sell their wares (mainly food) sitting next
to open
sewers; children - who are not going to school because of a
teacher's
strike - spend their days playing alongside (or in) sewers; the
homeless
find places to sleep in storm drains and sewerage pipes!
And
everywhere is the stench of uncollected rubbish! The other day, I saw
two
women struggling to move huge piles of rubbish with hand-held brooms. I
asked them why the rubbish had been allowed to pile up so much that it had
become such a problem to shift. Their answer did not surprise me but might
surprise a lot of readers. The city had all along had no money to buy
brooms! A consignment of brooms had only just been delivered thus they were
now catching up (or trying to catch up) with months of unswept
streets!
All this because the city is broke, in spite of increasing rates
and other
service charges for years. All that money went to creating wealth
for some
employees of the city, who bought, not from the supplier of best
value, but
from the one who gave the largest "cut", who demanded perks that
were
equivalent to the best in the private sector, at the expense of the
residents of Harare. The money went to pay authorities that thought that
"preventive maintenance" meant the same as "no maintenance". And when the
residents of Harare booted out the Zanu-PF Council for non-performance,
Government booted out the elected council and replaced it with an
unaccountable commission that was made up of failed Zanu-PF
stalwarts.
Now we have an epidemic, but the City Health Department has
neither the
resources nor the personnel to begin to cope. But, who cares?
All that
matters is that Robert Mugabe remains President of the sovereign
and
independent state of Zimbabwe, to "protect" its territorial integrity.
All
that matters is that Zanu-PF controls all key ministries and its leaders
can
neither be held accountable for their failures nor "shown up" as the
incompetents that they are.
For this, the people will die, if they
must. Just as they did at the hands
of the fifth brigade, at the hands of
land invading war veterans, and just
as they continue to die of hunger in a
land that has the ability to feed
them. They are, after all, cannon fodder
for Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF.
But, if we are dying anyway, why are we so
afraid of standing up to Zanu-PF?
They continue to kill us because we do not
stand up to them. Surely a bullet
in the head while standing up for one's
rights is an altogether more
merciful and dignified death than keeling over
and dying of hunger or
choking on one's own vomit while lying in one's own
bodily wastes in a
dingy, unmanned, drugless city health clinic?
http://www.journalism.co.za/
Monday, 10 November
2008
Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal contains little cause for hope for
improved media freedom, argues jocoza's correspondent in Harare. While the
ruling party's track record in dealing with the media is well known, the
opposition MDC has allowed President Robert Mugabe to retain control of the
Ministry of Communications - and has itself displayed hostility to
journalists.
Our correspondent writes:
The signing
of Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal on 15 September led to a
belief that
Zimbabwe was about to turn the corner. Indeed the prospects of
a new
political, social economic and media life improved as the leaders
appended
their signatures under the watchful eyes of the Southern African
Development
Community (SADC) leaders in Harare on that historic day.
As a
journalist coming from a background of four stressful and
miserable yeas
caused by the closure of my newspaper, and like any other
Zimbabwean, I was
keen to know what the deal held for me.
Among other key issues, the
agreement seeks to respect and uphold
press freedom and transform the media
industry in general. Given a
background of closures and arbitrary arrests of
journalists by the state,
this raised hopes. However, as the weeks go by,
the agreement seems
increasingly to be on its last legs. Disagreements and
mistrust in
allocating ministries have driven the deal towards total
collapse.
The failure by the SADC mediator, Thabo Mbeki, and the
SADC troika
means that it will be a long way before Zimbabwe can start on
the road to
recovery. For me, the inordinate delay in implementing the deal
means that
there will be no quick recovery for the media.
What
are disturbing are the actions of both political formations, Zanu
PF and the
main faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by
Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Zanu PF, whose destruction of the media is well
documented, has
retained the Ministry of Information. The MDC did not
challenge this key
ministry being retained by Zanu-PF.
Under
the stewardship of Zanu PF, four newspapers including the
largest
circulating daily - The Daily News - have been shut down. Nearly a
thousand
journalists have been rendered jobless as a result of closures of
newspapers
and one television station.
The MDC itself has borne the brunt of
media control as it was denied
space in both the state papers and electronic
media. Allowing Zanu-PF to
retain the Ministry of Information means Mugabe
and his party keeps a key
advantage over opposition parties.
While it can be argued that Tsvangirai as prime minister will run this
ministry including others, Mugabe will appoint the Information Minister from
his party. As Tsvangirai's boss, he will either veto or approve of his
decisions.
Despite the MDC's majority in Parliament, Mugabe is
able to use his
majority in the Senate to exercise power.
It is
ironic that the MDC is demanding control of Home Affairs, which
includes
police services, without looking at how it can help influence
reform in the
media.
Yes, Mugabe has used the police to crush public dissent but
control of
the media has been as effective as police in crushing opposition.
Mugabe has
shown total disregard for press freedom. Zanu PF has driven the
only
broadcaster - The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation - towards
collapse.
Several journalists from the state media have been fired
either for
"supporting the MDC" or trying to be professional. By retaining
the Ministry
of Information, Mugabe will still pack these institutions with
his
supporters. The veteran leader will surely resist reforms he deem
"suspicious".
He has continued to abuse journalists despite
changes to the law. In
December 2007, both Zanu PF and the MDC amended
contentious laws - the
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act
(AIPPA), Broadcasting
Services Act (BSA) and the Public Order Security Act
(POSA) in the spirit of
dialogue.
This was done without the
input of the civic society and media houses.
The amendments
included the non-criminalization of practising
journalism without
accreditation and disbandment of the Media and
Information Commission (MIC)
which was on paper, replaced by the Zimbabwe
Media Council. But nothing has
changed on the ground.
On 27 October hundreds of protesters were
assaulted by armed police as
they marched towards the SADC troika summit in
Harare to show their anger at
the slow pace in implementing the now shaky
power sharing agreement.
Freelance journalists, who, under the
amended AIPPA are no longer
compelled to seek accreditation, were barred
from covering the SADC summit.
Secret service operatives who were manning
the hotel entrance demanded
accreditation from the MIC.
It was
baffling as it was nonsensical to ask for accreditation from a
disbanded
organization (MIC).
But the MDC itself has also displayed
disturbing behaviour.
At the beginning of October, journalists were
barred from covering a
press conference at Tsvangirai's residence. His
security personnel demanded
accreditation cards from the MIC!
This was despite the fact that the MDC itself in official gatherings
and
statements demanded the repeal of the restrictive media laws and the
scrapping of accreditation cards. MDC security details said they were
acting on orders from "above".
Given the historical background
surrounding the closure of papers and
a radio station in Zimbabwe and
arrests of journalists, many had hoped for a
good sign from both Zanu PF and
the MDC.
As for Zanu PF, very few hope that the party can change
its spots.
This is why we had placed much hope on the MDC when it
entered into
this deal. Both parties are consumed with the power game whose
ending is
far from known.
While I agree that media reform is
necessary for recovery, I am not
too optimistic that there would be
significant changes in the media under
this deal.
In short: it
is a long way to press freedom and recovery.
* This column was
written for journalism.co.za by our correspondent in
Harare.
Hi there,
My name is Kyle Peters and I am a film student in Cape
Town. I have my
graduation short film coming out at the end of November and
it is entitled
‘Zim’. It is about undercover journalists operating in
Zimbabwe. Dave
Coltart gave me your contact details and I am writing to you
for two
reasons. Firstly I would like to ask if you can spread word about
this short
film anyway possible. I really believe we have something special
here that
can really make an impact. We are trying to promote this film
anyway we can
and get as many key people as we can to see it. If you
personally cannot
help, then perhaps you could forward this email to anyone
you know or help
me get in touch with someone who could better spread the
word. Secondly, we
would love to invite you to the Opening Screening of our
film which will be
at Cinema Nouveau in Claremont, Cape Town on the 30th of
November. Our final
marks depend on audience response and we want to get as
many people who are
aware of the Zimbabwe situation to see the film.
If
you are able to help in anyway possible, please get back to me as soon as
you can.
Thank you very much,
Regards Kyle Peters.