Telegraph
Zimbabwe says Blair sponsors terrorism
By Peta Thornycroft
in Harare
(Filed: 19/11/2001)
PRESIDENT MUGABE accused Tony Blair
and Britain yesterday of sponsoring
terrorism in Zimbabwe in an attempt to
overthrow the Harare regime.
In a frenzy of accusations, Mr Mugabe
repeatedly claimed that the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change was a
terrorist organisation.
He said it was sponsored by the British
Government "which is corrupting our
youth, showering them with trinkets,
drugs and drinks to get them ready for
terrorism."
Mr Mugabe said the
party "had plenty of funding from [mainly white]
commercial farmers,
organisations within the region, and international
organisations such as the
Westminster Foundation which gets its dirty money,
its dirty tricks, from the
British Labour Party, the Conservative Party, the
Liberal Party and also from
the government of Tony Blair."
The Westminster Foundation for Democracy
is an independent London-based
charity set up in 1992 with the aim of
building and strengthening democratic
institutions abroad.
It receives
£4 million a year from the Government as well as contributions
from the
private sector and organisations such as the National Lottery. No
one from
the foundation was available for comment yesterday.
Mr Mugabe was
speaking at the state funeral of a Mugabe loyalist, Cain
Nkala, 43, a veteran
of the independence war who was abducted and found
strangled a week later in
a shallow grave near Zimbabwe's second-largest
city, Bulawayo.
The
president accused the MDC of organising Mr Nkala's "abduction, torture
and
cruel death".
Political analysts say Mr Mugabe's accusations are a
precursor to increased
persecution of the MDC, whose leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, is standing against
him in a presidential election which must be
held before March 17 next year.
The Times
MONDAY NOVEMBER 19 2001
Mugabe says Blair pays for
'terrorists'
FROM JAN RAATH IN HARARE
IN HIS most unbridled tirade
against political opponents,President Mugabe of
Zimbabwe described them
yesterday as terrorists sponsored by Britain and
signalled a severe security
crackdown.
Speaking at the state funeral of Cain Nkala, a murdered ruling
party
militant, Mr Mugabe blamed the death on “internal and external
terrorist
forces” funded by, among others, the British Government. He
repeated the
word “terrorist” about 30 times in his 45-minute
speech.
Among his targets were Britain and “Rhodesians” whose “dirty
money”, he
said, was being used in an attempt to recolonise Zimbabwe. “Let it
be heard
in the tall towers of London, in their tall towers elsewhere, we
shall never
brook attempts to subject us to colonial rule,” he
said.
His rambling speech ended a week of frenzied denunciations in the
state
media of the “terrorist” opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC),
the arrest of 14 party officials, the destruction of its Bulawayo
offices
and the setting alight and stoning of supporters’ homes
there.
A Foreign Office spokesman in London said that any suggestion that
Britain
was supporting terrorism was absurd. Britain had helped to fund
the
Zimbabwean opposition, specifically through the Westminster Foundation
for
Democracy, set up in 1992 to support democracy around the world, he said.
Mr
Mugabe cited “the Westminster Foundation which as we have established
beyond
doubt gets dirty money, dirty tricks from the British Labour Party,
the
Conservative Party and the Liberal party, and that is, of course, also
from
the Government of Tony Blair”.
Mr Nkala, who was found strangled
in Bulawayo, was known for leading violent
occupations of white-owned farms
in the Bulawayo area. An MDC official has
been publicly accused of the
killing but the independent weekly Zimbabwe
Standard quoted unnamed relatives
yesterday as saying that Mr Nkala had been
kidnapped and murdered by an
opposing faction of the war veterans’ militia.
It said Mr Nkala, who was
facing charges of abducting an MDC agent in
Bulawayo last year, had told
relatives that his life was in danger and he
was about to flee to
Britain.
As Mr Mugabe spoke at a “hero’s burial” for him, about 200 riot
police
surrounded the MDC headquarters in central Harare. They told party
officials
that they were there to prevent war veterans from storming the
building.
There is alarm now that Mr Mugabe’s regime is about to revisit
upon the
western provinces of Matabeleland the reign of terror of the
mid-1980s when
government troops massacred up to 8,000 Ndebele civilians.
“The brutality,
torture, intimidation, the arrests in the middle of the
night, the heating
up of emotions is exactly what we had in the run-up to the
1985 elections,”
David Coltart, an MDC MP, said.
The Electronic Herald - Glasgow
Mugabe 'tall towers' warning
DAVID
STEELE
ROBERT Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, last night made thinly
veiled
references to the atrocities of September 11 in an attack on the
British
government.
In an emotional speech at the funeral of one of
his supporters he accused
Tony Blair of sponsoring terrorism in Zimbabwe
adding: "Let it be heard in
the tall towers of London, in their tall towers
elsewhere . . . we shall
never, ever brook attempts to subject us."
He
vowed to crack down on the opposition, describing them as the
"terrorists"
backed by Britain.
In London, a Foreign Office spokesman said any
suggestion that Britain was
supporting any kind of terrorism was
"absurd."
The spokesman said Britain had helped fund the Zimbabwean
opposition,
specifically through the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, a
government
body set up in 1992 to support democracy around the
world.
Mr Mugabe, who is known for making inflammatory statements, was
speaking at
the funeral of a ruling party militant whose death he blamed on
opposition
activists.
- Nov 19th
Trudy's Diary - no 9: 20 October 2001 - published in Zimbabwe
Independent
The Presidential election procedure finally got under way
last Friday when
the Mobile Registration exercise was announced to start
October 15 and end
Thursday 13 December. The programme has been very poorly
advertised so
far - only one appearance in the Herald, none in the
independent press - so
few people will be aware, few will register or check,
and - Bob's your
president!
I have not seen an official ban on NGOs
carrying out civic education,
although the intention was made clear "from the
highest office". I recall
very clearly the RG's office stating in early 2000
that they did not have
sufficient funds to advertise or consider making
provision for overseas
voting, and they were depending on "others" to do this
- yet they refused
funding or any assistance from a recent international
delegation. It is
useful to have an excuse to maintain the communist way -
pretence at
democracy, secrecy, fear, pseudo parties and NGOs,
stage-managed
"consultation", all in the name of "the people". For an MP to
obtain a copy
of the voter's roll to help constituents check their names, it
will cost $30
000 - a month's salary. The RG's office could assist
enormously by
providing access to the electronic version on diskette - but
that would be
too much like genuine assistance. Why should they make life
easy for
anyone, especially anyone in MDC? So sick and elderly people will
have to
queue all day in the hot sun, and be jostled, taunted and intimidated
- and
maybe turned away in the end - in an effort to claim their right to
vote.
Speculation on the date is gathering momentum, made difficult by
uncertainty
as to whether Mugabe will uphold the provisions of the
Constitution and the
Electoral Act or once again make use of statutory
instruments and his
prerogative to do whatever suits him. I visualize an
operations room at
ShakeShake building where a jittery team is trying to do
mathematical
calculations on probability of food riots, resettlement
revolt/harvest,
dollar devaluation/crash, targeted sanctions (seizing chefs'
overseas
assets, banning their travel, stopping their offspring studying
abroad,
etc.), general strike, mutiny in DRC, colonisation by Libya,
etc.
before/after such and such a date. The Titanic is at 85
degrees.
Brisbane CHOGM is postponed 6 months. This is good, since
Mugabe is
pressured to restore and maintain law and order for much longer
than he
thought he could get away with - until after the election, in
fact!
Likewise the Abuja agreement cannot be swept away as soon as he
probably
hoped, while the EU machinery grinds on - they meet again next week
to
re-consider targeted sanctions and other measures under Article 96 of
the
Cotonou agreement. Pressure is building up, internationally, and that
is
all for the better. As if unaware, Mugabe converted his Brisbane jaunt to
a
visit to Vietnam, where baffled war veterans wearing splendid red
cards
listened uncomprehending as he speechified before the ZTV
camera.
Back home, the indigenisation troika - Chiyangwa, Kasukuwere and
Chapfika -
re-activated their ZanuPF Parliamentary Caucus Committee on
Empowerment and
went on a tour of businesses ostensibly to check on prices.
Once again they
intimidated and terrorized people (including an unsuccessful
attempt on
Permanent Secretary Comberbach), threatened to take them over -
and now
government is doing the same thing. The visits explain why the
genuine
Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Industry and
International
Trade, also chaired by Chiyangwa, which is bi-partisan and is
bound to
conduct itself in accordance with Standing Rules and Orders, was
cancelled
two weeks in a row, at a crucial time just before the Budget is to
be
presented. No wonder Parliament is not taken seriously.
As if
industry and commerce were not enough, Chiyangwa and Kasukuwere
even
disrupted a Parliamentary workshop organized by the Association of
West
European Parliamentarians for Africa - AWEPA - to accuse MDC MPs of
wanting
to stay in fancy hotels and waste money - seemingly unaware that
AWEPA
organized the accommodation, and hiding the fact that their own
lifestyle is
extravagant in the extreme.
CZI hosted a breakfast to
launch their report on the March-May company
invasions (notable absentees
Chiyangwa and Kasukuwere) where what was not
said in the report was almost as
revealing as what was said - eg. it was not
mentioned that the invasions were
politically motivated! The omissions were
made very clear in the discussion,
as was the feeling that the consultant
had deliberately avoided certain major
issues. CZI was reminded that they
had failed to come up with a single
concrete position during the invasions,
which had resulted in their members
being left to fend for themselves, and
that until they began to act as a body
to protect members, they would
continue to be harassed and invaded.
Interestingly, a week later after the
price controls were announced, CZI put
full-page adverts in both government
and independent press showing the cost
of producing a loaf of bread and the
consequence if government sticks to the
new controlled price. They are
learning!
Government does not learn,
however - we are back to price controls and "the
socialism we always wanted
to implement"! We on the other side have tried
to work out the strategy,
which surely cannot be to shoot themselves in the
foot just before the
presidential election, but - that's the result! We
already have bread
shortages, other controlled goods cannot be found - and
talk of impending
food riots is rife. We know they will go for short-term
populist measures in
an effort to stay in power, but taking over bankrupt
companies will only fool
the Chinos of this world. Chapfika is leading the
crusade against the
parallel market and bank profits, sour grapes for
Unibank's dismal
performance.
Parliament went into recess on 4 October, ostensibly in
preparation for
Budget Day re-scheduled for Thursday 1 November (delayed from
the
much-heralded 11 October announced in July). We passed the
Children's
Protection and Adoption Amendment Bill and the Criminal Penalties
Amendment
Bill, which sets a scale of penalty levels rather than amounts, so
that they
can be adjusted without always having to refer back to Parliament
-sensible
in times of economic instability. Ironically, however, some
penalties are
not covered by the new Bill - eg. the Broadcasting Regulations
penalty for
broadcasting without a licence is $ 5 million, while the current
maximum
under the new Act is only $200 000! No amount of arguing would
make
Chinamasa see the inconsistency - nor did he think it inconsistent to
be
setting specific amounts of penalty in the Children's Protection
and
Adoption Amendment while at the same time arguing for the need for
levels
rather than amounts in the Criminal Penalties Amendment passed on the
same
day.
Mangono managed to persuade the House that Masvingo should
be granted City
status, while Minister Herbert Murerwa fast-tracked
ratification of the
ACP-EU Cotonou Agreement despite pleas to allow the
Parliamentary Portfolio
Committee to study it before proceeding - which is
what should happen,
according to Standing Rules. The provisions to promote
democracy and
transparency are welcome, but we hope Zimbabweans will not live
to regret
this major international trade agreement. The motion to
investigate
circumstances leading to the Zisco disturbances and the killing
of 3 workers
is still unresolved, as is the motion on the strikes and
collapse of the
Health sector, while Madiro has given notice of a motion to
condemn ZCTU for
"the recent two-day stayaway" (it was last
year!).
Most ministers are still not attending Question Time, which is
frustrating
for members and also burdensome on the few who do attend, as they
then have
to face a barrage of questions! We continue to probe the
disbursement of
"project funds" and the National Youth Service, both highly
suspect
activities. Chombo answered my question on Hatcliffe Extension by
admitting
that only some 40 families have been allocated houses since the
Temporary
Holding Camp was established - in 1993! As to measures to upgrade
the
existing settlement, he informed us that they are busy knocking down
houses
in Mbare so that they can put up some flats there.! The following
week I
wanted to ask him about allocation of stands in Harare, but neither he
nor
many other ministers were there, however the Speaker insisted that I
could
not raise a point of order on that issue but I should just ask my
question -
which I duly did and which Chinamasa admitted he could not
answer. Makoni
gave a graphic description of what happens when a government
simply prints
more money, and admitted it is one reason we have constantly
increasing
prices, but would not be pinned down on it being responsible
rather than the
"economic sabotage by Whites" being put about by Jono,
Chiyangwa and co.
Ministers have been responding to issues raised in
response to the
Presidential address at the opening of the session. Gumbo
(Deputy - Home
Affairs) requested that we not pre-judge the new Public Order
and Security
Bill until we have seen it, since it should have had all the
"problems"
removed. Debate on the American Zimbabwe Democracy and Recovery
Bill has
been suspended to the end of this month in view of the attacks on
New York
and Washington, but Gwisai's proposed amendments to both it and
Chiyangwa's
Price Control motion are likely to confuse issues.
October
is suicide month, they say - the heat sends us into varying states
of
madness, including possibly the "struggles within the
struggle"
(acknowledgement to Prof Masipula Sithole) purportedly gripping
MDC. The
greater madness, however, is of those who suspend their powers of
reason to
the extent of believing what they see and hear in the
state-controlled
media. What is certain is that all the machinery and all
the tricks ZanuPF
can muster are being put into full and immediate action to
prevent the
change which 99,9% of the people of this country desperately want
to happen
in the next few months. If we allow ourselves or our acquaintances
to be
duped and disillusioned so easily, we ourselves will be guilty of
betrayal.
This is the time for us to stand firm in our resolve to complete
the change
for a better life.
TRUDY STEVENSON - MDC MP
Daily News
Mugabe threatens to crush the MDC
11/19/01 10:04:21 AM
(GMT +2)
By Pedzisai Ruhanya
PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday
threatened the MDC and vowed to crush it after he
accused the opposition
party of abducting and killing Cain Nkala, the
Matabeleland province chairman
of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War
Veterans’
Association.
Addressing hundreds of mourners at the National Heroes Acre
where Nkala was
buried yesterday, Mugabe said: “The MDC and their supporters
should know
that their days are numbered. The time is now up for the MDC
terrorists as
the world has been awakened by the death of
Nkala.”
Mugabe said Nkala was murdered by MDC activists and officials
assisted by
internal and external forces with funds from the commercial
farmers,
organisations in the region and the Westminster Foundation in
Britain.
He charged that the Westminster Foundation gets its funding from
the Labour,
Conservative and Liberal parties in the United Kingdom with the
help of the
British government led by Prime Minister Tony Blair.
In a
blistering 40-minute attack on his foes, Mugabe labelled the MDC and
the
country’s white farmers “terrorists” at least 20 times.
“Comrade Nkala’s
brutal murder was a bloody outcome of an orchestrated, much
wider and
carefully planned terrorist plot by internal and external enemy
forces with
plenty of funding from some commercial farmers and organisations
in the
region (and) organisations internationally . . . ,” he said.
British
officials were not immediately able to comment on the accusations.
But
the MDC has denied involvement in Nkala’s death and accused the Zanu
PF
government of using it as a pretext to crack down on the opposition as
the
country sinks deeper into an economic and political crisis.
“We
are not a terrorist organisation by any stretch of the imagination, nor
are
we foreign-funded,” Professor Welshman Ncube, secretary-general of the
MDC,
told Reuters yesterday.
He said Mugabe was building a case to ban the MDC
before the presidential
election, due before April.
“They want to
systematically terrorise our people and drive us out of the
campaign field,”
Ncube said.
“Let’s make no mistake about what the target of the MDC and
its British
sponsors is. It is our sovereignty, our independence and their
wish to
subjugate us,” Mugabe From Page 1 said to cheers from the mourners
accusing
the MDC of numerous assaults and murders of government supporters,
Mugabe
said his government would not “allow this programme of terrorism to
win. The
MDC should also know that their days are numbered”.
Mugabe
also accused the MDC of showering youths in colleges with money to
induce
them to commit terrorist acts against Zanu PF supporters.
“It is a fight
to reverse our sovereignty and our right to determine who
shall lead us. It’s
a fight to subject us to colonial rule through remote
control,” Mugabe
said.
He said the West, not Asia or Africa, should tell Zimbabweans who
the
terrorists are between the Zanu PF government and the MDC.
Mugabe
accused the MDC of trying to come to power through the use
of
violence.
“They want to reach the seat of government through the use of
violence. The
leader of the MDC has said so,” Mugabe said.
He accused
the MDC of training people to carry out terrorist acts in
the
country.
“Apart from MDC terrorist training camps in the commercial
farms and outside
the country, there are similar activities of torture
against Zanu PF
supporters by the MDC. We have already warned the MDC to
desist from this
path of terrorism,” Mugabe said.
Mugabe urged his
supporters to be calm and allow the police to investigate
the matter.
But
Ncube yesterday denied that his party was a terrorist organisation.
Ncube
said: “We want to state categorically that we are a lawful political
party.
Our entire philosophical foundation is based on freedom, liberty and
equality
of people before the law. We deny that we are a terrorist
organisation and do
not train anyone militarily to violate the laws of the
land.”
He said
it was Zanu PF and the war veterans who are involved in terror
campaigns
against MDC supporters.
“We have had no less than 55 people killed in the
last year or so and Mugabe
has been silent over these murders. Where is
Talent Mabika, Tichaona
Chiminya, Patrick Nabanyama and Matthew Pfebve, to
mention just but a few
people who were murdered in cold blood by Zanu PF
supporters?” Ncube asked.
Mabika and Chiminya were allegedly
petrol-bombed and killed by Joseph Mwale,
a member of the Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO), and Kainos Tom
“Kitsiyatota” Zimunya, a war
veteran, on 15 April last year at Murambinda
Growth Point in Buhera while
campaigning for Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC
president, in last year’s
parliamentary election.
Nabanyama, an election agent for David Coltart,
now the MP for Bulawayo
South (MDC), was allegedly kidnapped by war veterans
last year and has not
been found since, while Pfebve was killed in Bindura by
alleged Zanu PF
supporters.
Ncube said Mugabe’s allegations were a
ploy to crack down on MDC supporters
on the pretext that they belonged to a
terrorist organisation.
“What we are witnessing is a repetition of the
Matabeleland disturbances
where Mugabe’s government used the CIO to plant
weapons on former Zapu
properties and then went on to attack the party’s
supporters for possessing
arms of war, but I think Zimbabweans and the world
are watching carefully
the hypocrisy of this regime,” Ncube said.
| Monday, 19 November, 2001, 16:26 GMT
Harare limits farm sizes
Farm invasions began more than 18 months
ago
The Zimbabwean Government has announced maximum sizes for
commercial farms, and says that any farm which exceeds the limit will be
sub-divided into smaller plots.
The new regulations apply to those remaining white-owned farms which have not
already been listed for government seizure.
Government has decided that every property that has not been
gazetted for compulsory acquisition should immediately be sub-divided 
|
|
Agricultural Minister Joseph Made
| The government says
that in rich, arable farming areas, no property can exceed 250 hectates (2.5
sq.km).
And on poorer land used for cattle ranching, the limit is now 2,000 hectares
(20 sq.km).
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made said the new maximum size regulations have
been introduced with immediate effect.
Many white farmers own farms of several thousand acres in size.
Crisis
The government says that much of the land owned by white farmers is not being
effectively used.
President Mugabe is increasing the pressure on the
opposition
| But economists warn that the new regulations - if
enforced - would destroy the viability of some of Zimbabwe's most productive
farms.
The move comes a week after President Mugabe passed a decree, amending the
country's Land Acquisition Act so that white farmers could be forced off their
land with immediate effect.
Effectively it means that farmers who have been issued with acquisition
orders by the government will have to stop farming immediately and remain
confined to their houses, which they will have to vacate after three months.
Zimbabwe's economy is already in crisis, blamed largely on President Mugabe's
land-reform programme.
Tension
Political and social tensions have been on the increase in Zimbabwe.
The killing of a war vet leader in Bulawayo has
increased tensions
| On Sunday, President Robert Mugabe described the main
opposition party and white farmers as terrorists, and said the British
Government have been funding terrorism in Zimbabwe.
Britain says the accusation is absurd.
On Friday, gangs of government supporters ran through the streets of the
second city, Bulawayo, setting fire to buildings and attacking people after a
ruling party militant was killed.
Police have confirmed the arrest of two journalists accused of taking part in
a plot to link the government to the assassination of Cain Nkala.
The two journalists, from the only independent daily newspaper in the
country, the Daily News, were arrested in Bulawayo on Sunday on charges of
kidnapping and torture.
The Daily News says the reporters were arrested to prevent them from
publishing an interview with a member of the the main opposition party - the
Movement for Democratic Change - with details about the death of Mr Nkala.
Sixteen opposition activists and a member of parliament for the opposition
party have been detained since the body of Mr Nkala was found last Tuesday.
|
|
ABC NEWS
Zimbabwe government drastically slashes commercial farm
size
Zimbabwe's government has introduced a new regulation slashing the
maximum
size of commercial farms in prime farmlands to 250 hectares each,
down from
several thousands of hectares.
The new law will apply to
commercial farms which have not been listed for
compulsory seizure by
government under its controversial land reform scheme.
"Government has
decided that every property that has not been gazetted for
compulsory
acquisition should immediately be sub-divided," Agricultural
Minister Joseph
Made told a news conference.
The biggest commercial farm in the country's
most fertile regions will now
total 250 hectares, while farms such as cattle
ranches in the more arid
regions will total just 2,000 hectares.
Most
white-owned commercial farms in Zimbabwe average several thousands
of
hectares.
The move is likely to deal a blow to the few large-scale,
white commercial
farmers who had escaped having their properties listed by
the government for
compulsory acquisition.
Made said the properties
affected by the agricultural ministry's new
regulations will include
plantations, foreign-owned properties, wildlife
conservations and
others.
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, who was present at the press
briefing,
said that since the country's independence in 1980 from white
minority rule,
the country's white farmers had not fully utilised their
land.
"There is a lot of idle capacity in this land," he said. "It has
put at risk
food security."
Contacted for their reaction, officials
from the country's Commercial
Farmers Union (CFU) declined to comment until
they had more details.
But independent economist John Robertson described
the new regulations as a
"set of absurdities" which would destroy the
country's international
competitiveness in agricultural exports.
He
said Zimbabwe's exports of tea, sugar, coffee and tobacco, like those of
its
major rivals, were produced at a large scale to offset input costs and
price
fluctuations.
ZIMBABWE: Poverty breeds opposition
HARARE, 19 November (IRIN) - A
visitor to Joseph Shonga's home can't help but notice the large fissure that
zigzags from the roof of his mud hut, down the decaying wall, and into the
ground. A few metres from the crumbling dwelling is a stinking metal and plastic
shack that serves as the toilet for Shonga's family.
These images of
poverty and squalor are everywhere at Porta farm, a fast-expanding squatter camp
18 km southwest of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare.
Shonga leans back in his
battered chair, draws a long puff from his home-made cigar, and sums up the
reasons why he and his family left the better environs of Harare's Warren Park
"high density" suburb to come to Porta farm in 1999. "It is all about jobs. I
lost my job when our company closed in September 1999. There was nowhere else
where rentals were cheaper, except here at Porta farm," he told
IRIN.
Like the other shanties blighting the urban landscape, Porta farm
is testimony to Zimbabwe's decline after a decade of failed economic
policies.
According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP),
three-quarters of the country's 12.5 million people live in poverty. In 1990
that figure stood at 40 percent, just before President Robert Mugabe reluctantly
embarked on Western-backed economic reforms. The government acknowledged in its
latest poverty assessment survey that 45 percent of Zimbabweans are not able to
meet "basic nutritional needs".
Zimbabwe's early development success at
independence has given way to despair. After the neglect of white minority rule,
in its first decade in power, the government increased the number of primary
schools by 90 percent to 4,549 in 1990. Several hundred clinics were built
across the country, bringing the percentage of Zimbabweans with access to
medical facilities to 87 percent, up from only 15 percent in 1980.
By
1990, however, the economy was weighed down by debt and was in trouble. Most
local analysts say Zimbabwe's economic reform programme, initiated in 1991,
failed largely because of the government's persistent inability to meet agreed
fiscal targets. Concerns over policy choices - including military intervention
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), extra budgetary awards to war
veterans, and a chaotic land reform process - froze donor aid and
investment.
For the vulnerable in society, the reality - unseen in the
poverty statistics - are of families being forced to survive on one meal a day,
with little hope that things will improve. In the words of Shonga's neighbour at
Porta farm, Simon Chadema, it has also meant: "Exerting super human labour on a
daily basis but only to earn a sub-human living."
At 4.00 a.m. each
morning Chadema starts walking to Harare's Golden Quarry Road dump site, about
15 km from Porta farm. There he spends the day scavenging for plastic waste
which he sells to a recycling company in town. He makes Zim $7,000 (US $127 at
the official rate, US $27 on the blackmarket) or about one-third of what his
family of six would need for their basic monthly survival, according to latest
figures by the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe.
"I believe it is the
listlessness caused by hunger that has resulted in my son, who is doing grade
six at Porta primary school, falling behind in his school work," Chadema told
IRIN.
"Poverty has reached alarming levels at a time when neither the
economy has the capacity nor the government the resources to pay for proper
social safety nets," University of Zimbabwe business studies professor Tony
Hawkins explained. The government's Social Dimensions Fund (SDF), created to
ease the conditions of people retrenched under structural adjustment, is now all
but bankrupt.
Social scientist Edwin Kaseke argues that, as economic
failure turned into political opposition at the end of the 1990s, the
authorities began to focus too much on "political survival". But, he told IRIN,
the long term affects of poverty "are just too high. In the long run this has
the potential to destabilise society itself and could even have a serious
bearing on the political stability of the nation".
Petros Shumba, a
resident of Epworth - yet another shanty 30 km east of Harare - believes things
have yet to get worse before they can improve. "If only everything could get
worse, with more poverty and suffering then perhaps every Zimbabwean could
awaken to the need to complete the change," Shumba told IRIN. "Completing the
change" is a euphemism for voting for
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in
Zimbabwe's historic presidential election next year.
Shumba moved to
Epworth in 1999 because he could no longer afford the higher rentals in Harare's
townships after a wire making company he worked for relocated to neighbouring
Botswana, citing Zimbabwe's deteriorating economic climate. He now survives by
selling firewood to other residents in the fast growing but un-electrified
shantytown.
Shumba, who blames his job loss on what he calls "President
Mugabe's confrontational policies", said he wants to settle the score with the
77-year old president come election time early next year. The poll will be the
first time in Mugabe's more than 20 years of rule that he faces a genuine
political challenge.
But it remains to be seen to what extent the
electorate blames Mugabe and his party for the economic hardships, and whether
poverty will translate into political change when Zimbabweans vote.
Daily News
Inflation could balloon to 1000% warns
economist
11/19/01 10:25:13 AM (GMT +2)
Business
Reporter
IF a comprehensive economic programme is not initiated to halt
the country’s
decline, inflation could spiral to a 1 000 percent by next
year, an economic
consultant has warned.
Zimconsult consultant,
Peter Robinson, who was speaking at a Confederation
of Zimbabwe Industries
(CZI) post-budget seminar said: “If you take the
Budget Statement as an
indication of what is going to happen next year and
you assume the government
stays in power and they stick to the low interest
rates and fixed exchange
rate, inflation is going to go sky-rocketing.
“People will have no reason
to save but every reason to consume and to
speculate. They will move into the
stock market and the foreign exchange
market creating inflationary pressures.
If we continue in this fashion we
will get into true hyperinflation,
continually accelerating inflation.
“We will not just have increases in
inflation but the rate of increase will
accelerate every month. We could end
up with an inflation rate of 1 000
percent next year.
However,
Robinson expressed scepticism that the government would stick to
its budget.
He said: “None of us believe the budget. Even the Minister of
Finance and
Economic Development Simba Makoni assumes there will be a
change
in
policy, that there will be an increase in the nominal exchange
rate and that
there will be changes in interest rate policy. That could help
to moderate
inflation and in terms of official figures you could have lower
inflation if
you have price controls.”
Assuming that a new government came
into power after the presidential
elections, Robinson said it should launch a
new economic programme with a
clear vision of its aims which could only be
achieved if underlying
political issues such as the rule of law and the land
issue were resolved.
Robinson said: “The nexus of inflation, interest and
exchange rate will have
to be addressed immediately. Although rates of
inflation are at
unprecedented levels, Zimbabwe is yet to experience true
hyperinflation, in
which the rate of inflation itself is continually
accelerating and monthly
inflation levels move into the three digit
range.
“Such chaotic episodes tend to be shortlived and are, to a large
extend,
fairly easy for the authorities to
grapple with. This is not true
of the other common inflation variant, which
is inflation that is
persistently high but relatively stable. This
phenomenon, sometimes referred
to as ‘chronic’ inflation, is closer to the
Zimbabwean experience.”
Daily News
UNDP land team holds meeting with Mudenge
11/19/01
10:52:37 AM (GMT +2)
Business Reporter
A United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) technical team, whose mission
is to look at the
land redistribution programme, on Friday held a
closed-door meeting with the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stan Mudenge, at
Munhumutapa
Building.
After Mudenge had given his welcome speech and the UNDP team
leader had
responded, all journalists were asked to leave the room.
In
his speech Mudenge said the invitation to the UNDP to visit Zimbabwe
predated
the Abuja agreement signed in the Nigerian capital of the same name
on 6
September by Zimbabwe and Britain.
Mudenge said: “The parentage of this
UNDP team is before Abuja. It was
always envisaged that the UNDP should play
a useful and constructive role.
We are very much looking to your team to come
up with ideas which will
impact on the land reform programme as it affects
this season and as it
affects the long-term land reform
programme.
“You shall see all the stakeholders and you can visit anyone
you want so
that you can do a credible job. As a government, we are willing
and ready to
help in any way that we can to facilitate your
mission.
“Feel free to suggest who you want to meet and where you want to
go. We are
looking very much forward to your fulfilling your
mission.”
A spokesman for the UNDP delegation said: “We are here to
continue dialogue
between the UNDP and the government of Zimbabwe and to move
the process of
land reform in a credible and equitable manner. We are hoping
that based on
the discussions we have and our assessment of the current
programme and of
the context in which reform is taking place, we will be able
to put together
an outline framework which will be acceptable to
you.
“It’s our duty to make sure that the international community will
agree that
the programme is transparent and credible. We are playing a
catalytic role.
We are hoping that within the next few weeks we will move
this process
forward. Land reform is central to the developmental challenges
that
Zimbabwe is facing.”
The meeting was also attended by Victor
Angelo, the UNDP representative in
Zimbabwe
Guardian
Zimbabwe police seize reporters
Jessica Hodgson
Monday
November 19, 2001
Police in Zimbabwe say they have arrested two reporters
from the country's
only independent daily newspaper after they allegedly
witnessed the torture
of a man by opposition supporters.
The man was
forced by members of the opposition Movement For Democratic
Change to
implicate the national spy agency in the murder of a war veterans'
leader,
according to Reuters.
Daily News reporter Mduduzi Mathuthu and
photographer Grey Chitiga were in
police custody on Monday after their arrest
on Sunday in Bulawayo, a
colleague told Reuters.
A police spokesman
confirmed the arrest but could not say wwhat the
reporters would be charged
with.
The state-owned Herald newspaper reported on Monday that the two
witnessed
the assault of a man in Bulawayo by MDC supporters who made him
confess that
the murder of war veteran Cain Nkala was the work of Zimbabwe's
central
intelligence organisation.
"The youths eventually called the
Daily News reporter Mathuthu who brought
Chitiga to film the proceedings,"
the Herald said.
The Daily News said the reporters had been arrested to
prevent them from
publishing an interview with an MDC activist it said
claimed to know the
full details of Nkala's murder.
President Robert
Mugabe's government has accused the MDC of involvement in
Nkala's death, a
charge the opposition denies.
The MDC says the ruling party is using the
death as an excuse to crack down
on the opposition ahead of next year's
presidential vote.
A Harare magistrate on Friday dismissed fraud charges
against two senior
employees of the Daily News accused by the government of
giving false
corporate information.
Magistrate Weston Nyamwaza said
there was "no evidence on the table to
suspect any wrong-doing" by the Daily
News editor-in-chief, Geoff Nyarota,
and Wilf Mbanga, a former director of
the newspaper's parent company.
The two men were arrested in what they
said was part of a government drive
against the private media.
The
Daily News has been highly critical of Mugabe's controversial drive to
seize
white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks.
ZIMBABWE: NGOs fear being targeted as violence escalates
JOHANNESBURG, 19
November (IRIN) - Zimbabwe's Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) fear being
next on President Robert Mugabe's "hit-list" after a weekend of political
violence.
"It's open season now on the opposition and white farmers,
government label us as anti-state so we're expecting the worst," the head of a
prominent Harare-based NGO told IRIN anonymously, fearing reprisals.
On
Friday, reported members of the ruling ZANU-PF party firebombed offices of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the second city of Bulawayo,
where prominent war veteran Cain Nkala was found strangled earlier this month.
At least 14 MDC members have been arrested for Nkala's killing but have not been
allowed to see their lawyers. MDC supporters torched a college owned by a
prominent ZANU-PF official in retaliation.
In the last month, NGOs and
civil groups have come under increasing government scrutiny. Last week
information minister Jonathan Moyo said local and international NGOs would not
be allowed to distribute emergency food aid that Zimbabwe has requested from
foreign donors. NGOs have also been forbidden from undertaking voter education
work in the run-up to next year's presidential poll.
Such groups have
also effectively been banned from monitoring and observing the election. In a
recent interview with the BBC, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said local
monitors would be government appointees and international observers could only
play a role in the election process "when invited".
Tony Reeler of the
Amani Trust, an NGO that assists victims of political violence, told IRIN that
events in Bulawayo at the weekend signalled a worrying shift in government's
attitude to civil society. "Before we thought they would try and silence us by
legal means, now government supporters go on the rampage and burn MDC offices
while the police stand by and watch, we could come under a similar onslaught,"
he said.
One analyst told IRIN that recent events illustrated
government's determination to suppress any individual or organisation perceived
to be opposing it.
"Commercial farmers, the MDC, businesses, gay people,
the government is at war with them all, the NGO's have every right to be
worried. Most NGOs will tell you they are neutral, but there's no neutral any
more, if you are not for ZANU-PF you're in the firing line," he said.
At
Nkala's funeral on Sunday, President Robert Mugabe threatened to crack down on
opponents, describing them as "terrorists" sponsored by the British government.
In London, a British Foreign Office spokesman, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told news agencies that any suggestion that Britain was supporting
any kind of terrorism was absurd.
Britain has helped fund the Zimbabwean
opposition, specifically through the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD),
a government body set up in 1992 to support democracy around the world. A
representative of the WFD told IRIN this was not the first time this
organisation had been vilified by Mugabe and that such accusations were not
worth responding to.
Nkala's death "was the brutal outcome of a much
wider terrorist plot by internal, and external terrorist forces with plenty of
funding from some commercial farmers and organisations like the Westminster
Foundation, which we have established beyond doubt gets its dirty money for
dirty tricks, from the British Labour Party, the Conservative Party and Liberal
Party and also of course from the government of Tony Blair," Mugabe
said.
At least 31 people, most of them opposition supporters, were
killed in political violence before the June 2000 parliamentary election in
which the MDC won 57 of the 120 contested seats. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai
warned on Friday of possible civil unrest across the country after ZANU-PF
militants burned down his party offices in Bulawayo.
Daily News
Zapu fears Mugabe out to get at political
opponents
11/19/01 10:52:02 AM (GMT +2)
From Mduduzi Mathuthu
in Bulawayo
ZAPU has expressed fears that President Mugabe and his ruling
Zanu PF could
use the murder of Bulawayo War Veterans’ Association leader,
Cain Nkala, to
get at opponents in the opposition.
The Zapu secretary
for publicity and information, Gorden Moyo, deplored
Nkala’s abduction and
subsequent murder as a callous act.
He said the matter should be looked
at as Zanu PF’s widening conspiracy to
ignite a new conflict in
Matabeleland.
He said the government should investigate previous
abductions for a
long-term solution to the string of abductions which date
back to the
post-independence genocide carried out by government security
agents. An
estimated 20 000 people died and hundreds of others are still
unaccounted
for.
“We are disturbed about the situation in Matabeleland
over the past three
weeks. People in Matabeleland don’t deserve this state of
insecurity and
tension because they are still nursing spiritual and physical
wounds
inflicted on them since independence,” Moyo said.
Three houses
were burnt and scores of MDC supporters have fled their homes
following the
shelling of three houses with petrol bombs, two of them in
Magwegwe West and
the other, belonging to MDC councillor Peter Mangena, in
Pumula.
“It
is particularly sad that this crisis has its roots in the
post-independence
period when Zanu PF committed acts of mass torture,
abductions and genocide.
There are thousands of cases still pending and all
these should be
investigated if the police are serious,” Moyo said.
“In the past, we had
terror brought to Matabeleland from outside, but a new
strategy has been
hatched for brother to kill brother and neighbour to turn
against neighbour.
People should refuse to be used by parties which bring
misery into
Matabeleland.”
He lashed out at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
chief correspondent,
Reuben Barwe, who was deployed to Matabeleland soon
after Nkala’s abduction.
He said the reporter was trying to whip up
emotions to sow seeds of
conflict.
“He came here to incite the people
of Matabeleland to fight against each
other,” said Moyo. “People should not
suspend their reasoning and allow
emotions to take over.”
The MDC
president, Morgan Tsvangirai, and his secretary-general, Welshman
Ncube, have
denounced Nkala’s murder, describing the perpetrators as callous
killers who
should face the wrath of the law.
“The agenda being put in place is to
create a siege mentality in
Matabeleland resulting in a low voter turn-out,”
Tsvangirai said when asked
about chances of a backlash.
Daily News
Lawyers, MDC call for Mnangagwa’s resignation
11/19/01
10:54:14 AM (GMT +2)
By Pedzisai Ruhanya
ANDREW Chigovera, the
Attorney General, has refused to say whether an
investigation ordered by the
High Court into Emmerson Mnangagwa’s conduct
during his tenure as Minister of
Justice has started.
On Friday, Chigovera’s secretary said: “Chigovera
said he has no information
in connection with that case. He said he has
nothing to say to you. What do
you want me to say?’’
Two weeks ago,
Justice David Bartlett ordered Chigovera and David Mangota,
the permanent
secretary for the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs, to
investigate Mnangagwa in connection with George Tanyanyiwa
Chikanga’s
premature release from prison.
The judge also ordered a thorough probe
into other releases effected during
Mnangagwa’s tenure at the Justice
Ministry.
But the opposition MDC and a number of Harare-based lawyers
have called on
Mnangagwa, now the Speaker of Parliament, to resign after
disclosures that
he facilitated the premature release of Chikanga, a
hard-core armed robber,
when he was the Minister of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs.
Welshman Ncube, the MDC’s secretary-general and
shadow minister of home
affairs, on Friday said: “It is a matter of
conscience for Mnangagwa. If he
is a principled person he should resign, even
though he may be innocent,
until the investigation is
completed.’’
Ncube insisted that Chigovera should investigate Mnangagwa
in line with the
High Court order.
“The problem we have in this
country is that the law is for other people,
not Zanu PF. Chigovera’s office
is a creation of the Constitution and he
should investigate Mnangagwa without
fear or favour,’’ he said.
The MDC spokesman said if the case involved
the MDC, the police and
Chigovera’s officials would have moved swiftly to
investigate the matter.
“This selective application of the law should not be
allowed,’’ he said.
Mnangagwa yesterday refused to comment on the matter.
He cut his cellphone
twice each time the reporter introduced
himself.
Dr Lovemore Madhuku, the chairman of the National Constitutional
Assembly
and a law lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, said in a
normal
democracy, Mnangagwa should have resigned long back.
Madhuku
said: “The only honourable thing for Mnangagwa to do is to resign.
There is
more to it in the release of Chikanga than Mnangagwa’s position
that the
release was an error.’’
He said in a country where a government respects
and upholds the country’s
constitution, the government should follow
recommendations of the judges.
“Judges do not always make such orders and
when they do so, the Executive
should implement them. Chigovera should just
do that and nothing more,’’
Madhuku said.
Innocent Chagonda, a
prominent Harare lawyer, said Chigovera should
implement Barlett’s
recommendations because the judge noted certain
irregularities in Chikanga’s
release which the public is entitled to know.
Chagonda said: “If the
investigation is not carried out, the public will
raise questions which make
Mnangagwa unsuitable to hold the position of
Speaker and any other public
office. Whether Mnangagwa should resign or not
can only arise after the
investigation, if it is done.’’
Obert Chaurura Gutu, another Harare
lawyer, said: “The moment such serious
allegations were raised against him,
the only honourable thing for Mnangagwa
to have done was to resign and allow
an investigation into the matter.’’
Gutu urged Chigovera to urgently
investigate the matter so that people could
have confidence in his
office.
He said: “Chigovera should respect the due process of the law by
urgently
carrying out a thorough investigation into the matter. Everybody is
looking
forward to a proper carriage of justice in our country,’’ he
said.
Bartlett said because Chikanga was unlawfully released, he would be
failing
in his duties if he did not make recommendations designed to find out
how
that happened and to ensure that it did not recur.
Chikanga was
released before serving his sentence of 35 years on armed
robbery charges
after his mother convinced Mnangagwa and his officials that
her son had
hypertension and was the sole breadwinner at the age of 17 when
he was
initially convicted and sentenced.
An investigation ordered by the judge
revealed that Chikanga did not suffer
from hypertension.
In his
affidavit to the court two weeks ago, Mnangagwa said the release was
made in
error by his late permanent secretary Augustine Chikumira and his
personal
assistant, a
Mr Nyathi, who is also late.
Chikumira died in January
this year.
But Bartlett said he knew Chikumira for 18 years in his
various capacities
as regional prosecutor, director of public prosecutions
and permanent
secretary. The judge said he had the highest regard for
Chikumira’s
integrity.
Daily News Feature.
Hell hath no fury like a hungry
student
11/19/01 10:35:21 AM (GMT +2)
Candid Talk with
Musola
I SNEAKED into the country to visit my toiling cousin at the
academic war
zone in Mount Pleasant where some Hill is King.
First I
shall relate on the people of Harare and then on the student at
the
not-so-pleasant campus in Mount Pleasant. Surely one cannot go to
the
University of Zimbabwe without noticing the peace that the people of
Harare
enjoy!
I will not mention the calmness and collectedness of the
people of Harare. A
simpleton would have thought that everyone was at peace
with themselves,
with their neighbours and with their rent-demanding
landlords.
From the surface, Harare looked like a Utopian city devoid of
any crime and
suffering. That was before I came face-to-face with daring
street kids,
street brothers and sisters and street parents.
An
encounter with the bun-snatching street kids and the glue-sniffing
street
brothers brought me back to my senses. Nothing was exactly new. I have
seen
worse in Johannesburg. It was the manner in which my hope was dashed.
Before
I had set my sight on any desperado in Harare, I thought to myself
that
Africa had a model of a city free from vile and vice. I had bought
myself a
chicken burger from one of the food outlets in town. As I lifted it
up for
the second bite, the burger was gone!
My alertness moved a gear
up. I started seeing the cruelty of life. I came
across some adolescent boys
sniffing glue in total contempt of a police
caravan post nearby.
The
twinning of Harare and Johannesburg had taken place without pomp
and
ceremony.
The similarities of the two cities in terms of vagabonds
was striking. I
could not tell whether it was the route for all cities or it
was mere
coincidence that the two cities had similar social crises roaming
the
streets.
The few people I spoke to were not interested in talking
much about their
economic and social survival. They preferred referring me to
the next
person. I really did not know what they were afraid of. Perhaps I
looked
suspicious.
If it is vigilance that made the people refuse to
talk to a stranger, then
such vigilance is killing. It is making the people
look unfriendly. Perhaps
then that was the angry mood of the hungry people. I
could only imagine the
hardships faced by the people. The melancholy in most
of the people spoke
volumes of their plight for survival. Even the
absent-mindedness of some of
the people jaywalking the busy streets of Harare
was enough testimony of
people mourning their eroded purchasing
powers.
I got to the university campus in Mount Pleasant having learnt a
lot about
the hardships of a stagnant economy. I had learnt of the people’s
survival
instincts. I had learnt of the dealers, those swift briefcase
traders and
merchants who can con anyone into an unholy transaction.
I
had learnt of the pavement stalls that sold anything from locally
grown
fruits to imported shoes and electronic gadgets. Some mischievous
pavement
seller whispered to me that one could even buy a “wife” for a
stipulated
period right there in the streets!
Hell hath no fury like a
hungry student. No sooner had I entered the
precincts of the university than
some yelling and stone throwing began. The
students were
demonstrating!
The police were also reacting to the demonstration. I was
caught in the
middle of a war I had no intention of finding myself in. I only
wanted to
see a cousin of mine who was a student. Now, in a short spell, the
situation
had changed into a war zone. Certainly the ozone layer around the
campus was
depleted below the levels stipulated as tear gas enveloped the
atmosphere.
All possible escape routes were sealed by some law
enforcement agents who
looked ready to do battle with some fierce enemy. I
wondered if the students
had hired some armed mercenaries from the Comoros to
warrant all that force.
I could imagine the duel between the law enforcement
agents and the likes of
Mad Mike Hoare as hired outlaws tried in vain to
dislodge the men of the
law.
In the confusion of the tear gas-filled
atmosphere and amid screams for help
and menacing commands, I came across
some group of young men who seemed to
know what they were doing. The best
thing anyone could do at that time was
to find the quickest way out of the
campus.
One of the young men invited me to exit via the “Appian Way”. I
followed
this small group and found myself scaling a fence at a point where
there
were no law enforcement agents. The group explained that the “Appian
Way”
was not known by those who had laid siege to the oldest institution
of
higher learning.
I then enquired why there was all that mayhem. The
young men were surprised
that I did not know the cause. They asked me
prodding questions in an effort
to find out who I was and what I really stood
for.
Having been satisfied by my answers, they started relating to me
their
living conditions. They spoke of the lack of money and of broken
promises.
They spoke of hardships. Regarding hardships, I discouraged them
from saying
more as I had seen it for myself in the streets of
Harare.
And so when is the suffering going to come to an end? When are we
going to
say, “enough of this suffering, we are fed up”? When are we going
to
emancipate ourselves from this slavery of dependence? When are we going
to
laugh at the senselessness of other countries? When are we going to
be
spared the ridicule we are being subjected to by our neighbours and
those
beyond? When are we going to put our house in order? When are we going
to
enjoy the fruits of freedom?
What shall be done by us to correct
the imbalance? What shall we remain
clinging onto as the last straw of hope?
What shall we term the turning
point as there is no improvement in sight?
What shall we tell our children
as they see the empty bowl extended to them
by us? What shall we do when we
are charged with criminal negligence? What
shall we eat when the grain runs
out? What shall our children drink when the
well of hope and survival dries
up?
What shall you do when the
emaciated bodies of your kind start appearing on
foreign television stations?
What shall you do to save your skin?
You can elect to monitor the
situation from your bunker of plenty or you can
elect to observe from a
distance.
It is your choice.
Daily News - Leader Page
Government must probe goings-on at
ZOU
11/19/01 10:12:46 AM (GMT +2)
By Tajudeen
Abdul-Raheem
Last Monday we carried a story, which was shocking even by
Zimbabwe’s
appallingly low moral standards, of the almost unbelievable
catalogue of
blatant misdemeanours and gross mismanagement at the Zimbabwe
Open
University (ZOU), the extent of which has never been imagined possible
at an
institute of higher learning anywhere in the world.
The
allegations of misconduct levelled against ZOU’s Vice-Chancellor,
Professor
Peter Dzvimbo, and some of his senior members of staff are of such
a serious
nature they ought to have provoked an immediate reaction from
the
government.
It is, therefore, surprising that, one full week after
those shocking
revelations, the Minister of Higher Education and Technology,
Dr Samuel
Mumbengegwi, has still not said a word by way of reaction to the
story.
The allegations are contained in a damning 99-page report produced
by
K-Resources, a firm of management consultants, who were contracted
to
conduct an organisational development process on the university’s
behalf
nearly two years ago.
The natural expectations were that ZOU
management would review the report as
expeditiously as possible and make
recommendations to the authorities in the
Ministry of Higher Education and
Technology as a guide for whatever
organisational structures they would
subsequently put in place for the
institution.
However, almost a year
after K-Resources submitted its report, the
university authorities have done
nothing to act on the consultants’
findings.
Reading through the
report, it is not difficult to see why the ZOU
authorities, Dzvimbo himself
in particular, have decided to sit on it.
The things they are alleged to
be doing – which insiders say are only the
tip of an iceberg – are so
reprehensible that handing the report on to the
ministry would have been
tantamount to Dzvimbo recommending his own sacking.
Little wonder that
most of the university’s key founding management
personnel, including Dr T J
Nhundu, who had at one time been hotly tipped to
become ZOU’s first
Vice-Chancellor before the scales inexplicably tipped in
Dzvimbo’s favour –
saw no alternative but to resign as both a way of saving
their honour and
registering their frustration.
Of major concern to Mumbengegwi ought to
be the allegations of naked
nepotism levelled against Dzvimbo.
The
alleged nepotism by the Vice-Chancellor is so rampant that employees at
the
institution have unofficially renamed ZOU the University of Chiweshe
because,
as is clearly shown in the K-Resources report which cites names and
positions
held, there is a disproportionately high number of people from
Chiweshe,
Dzvimbo’s home area, among ZOU’s staff.
Especially disturbing is a part
of the report which says that at least 10
senior members of staff are being
paid for doing absolutely nothing after
they were superseded in their post by
underlings or new appointments whose
main qualification is either that they
are related to, or they come from,
the Vice-Chancellor’s home area.
We
believe this constitutes an abuse of authority and a wastage of
resources
which the government can ill-afford to countenance in silence if it
is not
to set a very bad precedent.
For the institution to have not
only kept on its payroll since July 1999 10
senior employees whose salaries
should naturally be substantial, but also
paying them performance-related
bonuses to this very day is to commit
government to wastefulness which calls
for severe censure or worse.
Apart from nepotism and general
maladministration, the running of course
studies is so haphazard and
lackadaisical that students are just as
frustrated and unamused as the
employees of ZOU.
It is absolutely imperative that Mumbengegwi interests
himself in the
goings-on at ZOU by instituting an immediate investigation to
establish the
full extent of the rot that has allegedly set in there.
Zimbabwe Agricultural Welfare Trust
P.O. Box
168
Woodbridge
Suffolk
IP13 8WE
E-Mail: admin@zawt.org
Website: http://www.zawt.org
17th November
2001
News Flash: Since the writing of this appeal, there have been some
major
developments in Zimbabwe, as a result the following is an announcement
from
the ZAWT Trustees ...
"The events of the last few days,
particularly the passing of an amendment
to the Land Acquisition Act,
(Statutory Instrument 338 of 2001 - dated 9th
November 2001) have sent
shockwaves through the Farming sector, and indeed
all sectors of the
Zimbabwean and International communities. The full
ramifications of this
amendment in terms of actual and measurable effect are
still to be assessed,
and it is very difficult to predict with any degree of
certainty what will
ultimately be the result of it.
What is certain, however, is that it has
taken the plight of Farmers, their
Workers and the communities who depend on
them to yet another, more
desperate level. As such, we at ZAWT feel that a
new sense of urgency is
called for, and we hope that we can count on your
full support in getting
the help these guys so sorely need down to
grass-roots level, where it can
do the most good”
Dear
Friends,
Appeal Report
On behalf of the Trustees, thanks to all of
you who have made donations or
offers of help to ZAWT. We are deeply
grateful to you for your
contributions, especially since recent world events
have made it all too
easy to forget the tens of thousands of people
struggling on farms in
Zimbabwe. This letter will provide more detail about
the importance of your
contribution.
For those of you still
considering the Fund, this report will give a much
broader picture of what we
are doing and the critical importance of our
mission.
A REMINDER -
WHAT’S HAPPENING TO ZIMBABWE’S FARMS:
The agricultural community in Zimbabwe
is in need of our help, now more than
ever. There have been scores of new
farm invasions, many of them involving
the savage beating of innocent people,
mutilation of livestock and pets,
destruction of property and large-scale
displacement of people.
The Abuja Agreement has brought no respite to the
farms and political
“activity” is intensifying in the run-up to the
Presidential election. The
Zimbabwe Government itself has admitted that it
will require thousands of
tons of food aid within the next 90 days or so to
avoid mass starvation.
Recent price controls have emptied the shelves of
basic commodities, while
even the meagre maize supplies carried by bus
passengers have been
confiscated at roadblocks.
Three quarters of
Zimbabweans now live below the poverty line, and
Zimbabwe's economy will have
contracted by 7.3 % by the year's end. To
quote Finance Minister Simba
Makoni, "we are sitting at the bottom of the
pile". In a recent report
forecasting food insecurity in Zimbabwe, the Food
and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) identified “farm workers who lost their
jobs as a result
of farm invasions or land acquisitions” as one of the most
vulnerable sectors
of the population.
SO, WHAT CAN ZAWT DO?
· ZAWT aims to help
the Zimbabwean agricultural community as a whole to
survive, so that it can
continue to provide livelihoods for hundreds of
thousands of farm workers and
their dependents, as well as food and income
for the whole country.
·
ZAWT is concentrating initially on trying to help farm workers who are
under
threat of being laid off. We are working in close co-operation with
farmers
and their organisations to help to retain workers on farms to
prevent them
becoming refugees in their own land. The farmers themselves
tell us this is
the help they need.
· There are already over 600 000 “internally
displaced” people in Zimbabwe,
whose ranks are being swelled all the time by
former farm workers. We will
support projects to try to find and help
destitute farm workers where
possible.
· Given sufficient resources,
ZAWT aims to broaden its support to include
educational and health
initiatives within farm communities, as they struggle
to withstand the
traumatic pressures they are currently under.
WHY SHOULD YOU
CARE?
· Apart from being the bedrock of Zimbabwe’s economy, agriculture
also
provided a livelihood and support system for some 320 000 workers,
i.e.
nearly 25% of the employed workforce of the country, together with
their
families - nearly 2 million human beings altogether. Anything that
sustains
the farming community sustains the country.
· Farm workers
have been abandoned, in some cases actively targeted, by the
Government. From
the outset of the “fast track” land exercise they were seen
as sympathetic to
the opposition MDC and to “white” interests. Many of them
originate in
neighbouring countries and have no right to vote in Zimbabwe.
Most of them
have few possessions and no-where else to go. They need our
help more than
most.
· With a few exceptions, the farm workers have largely avoided
siding with
the invaders, often at extreme cost to themselves, their
properties and
families. Between February 2000 and August 2001, an estimated
28 farm
workers had been killed during the farm invasions. Thousands more
have been
intimidated, beaten, and even raped. They will not see any benefit
from the
fast track exercise which has robbed them of their livelihood. As
owners are
forced to abandon farms, the pressure to join the invaders will
increase.
They have earned our help.
· One day, with luck, peace and
the rule of law will return to Zimbabwe, but
by then it may be a desperate
and impoverished place. Agriculture is the
only sector that has the
potential to bring Zimbabwe’s economy back from the
dead, but it will not be
able to do so without its people. This is an
investment in Zimbabwe’s
future.
Please give us a hand!
If you would like to help,
please forward a cheque to the address at the top
of this letter. May we
suggest a figure of £52.00 (a pound a week for a
year) or a variation
there-of. Alternatively, go to our updated website at
http://www.zawt.org for the bank details and
transfer funds directly to the
trust account. You could even authorise a
standing order monthly for, say,
£5.00. This really would have a massive
impact.
Incidentally, anyone in a country other than the UK may forward a
cheque in
any currency to the above address or alternatively go to the
website and
acquire the bank details and transfer funds directly to the trust
account.
In Zimbabwe, a little goes a long way.
Please pass this
on to others you feel would wish us to succeed. Thank you.
Yours
sincerely,
Charles Boscawen
On behalf of the Trustees
Comment from Business Day (SA), 19
November
SA needs a tougher policy to bring
Zimbabwe to heel
President Thabo Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" towards Zimbabwe is
not working. It is now time for SA to switch to tough diplomacy involving a
higher level of rhetoric and smart sanctions. Smart sanctions, which are under
consideration by the European Union (EU), would involve travel bans on the
political leadership of the country, freezing their assets outside the country,
and the possible deportation of the children of government leaders who are
studying or working outside the country. An EU technical group is refining these
sanctions and, if talks with Harare is viewed to have failed, they could be
imposed after two months. SA's support for sanctions could be critical in
ensuring their effectiveness. Engagement with Harare has brought no progress and
is unlikely to do so without a stick to encourage the government to adhere to
the rule of law and basic democratic norms. The alternative is to give the
government a free reign in terrorising and starving a large section of its own
population. Tough, rather than quiet diplomacy holds the promise that words from
Pretoria and the international community will receive far closer attention.
Comprehensive sanctions would hurt the innocent, but smart sanctions would
target those who count and have the power to make decisions. However, depending
on the response, smart sanctions can always be ratcheted up to include other
items such as arms.
What is the aim of smart sanctions and would they work? The
international community's diplomacy should, above all, ensure that the elections
in March next year are free and fair and that food aid can be delivered without
interference. Quiet engagement with Zanu PF is not working . Smart sanctions are
the most expedient alternative and promise to hurt and isolate a self-interested
elite. They would deliver a clear and unambiguous message about the
international community's seriousness, while other avenues of engagement could
still be kept open. Their implementation may not be totally effective, but
governments have become a lot more effective in tracking down assets and, since
September 11, there is far greater determination on this score.
Zanu PF cadre are quick to resort to the rhetoric of returning
to the bush and a second liberation war. But international public opinion would
be against them and the lack of opportunity to show support from the rest of the
world could damage them in front of their supporters. The psychological effect
of these sanctions is an important element and their potential effectiveness
cannot be downplayed. The Zanu PF propaganda machine would no doubt try to label
sanctions as a "colonial" attempt to re-impose rule. But if SA and other
countries in the region are prepared to give their support, this would be very
different. SA says its diplomacy is aimed at keeping open dialogue between the
two parties. But in the current climate, the dialogue on key issues surrounding
the election is one in which Zanu PF dominates. The opposition Movement for
Democratic Change has said it is not interested in the SA proposal for a
government of national unity. The world is dealing with a government that is not
prepared to stick to the agreements it reaches and one that is turning into a
rogue state. The international community is running out of options. The
government intends to bar monitors, but now says international observers are
welcome. While what happens on election day is important, what happens prior to
the elections could be more important.
The number of immigrants fleeing growing unemployment and
possible starvation under Zanu PF rule is mounting and the potential for massive
instability and a massive influx of refugees cannot be discounted. Should that
happen the situation would threaten SA interests directly. SA cannot afford
instability on its northern border. Another concern is the growing influence of
Libya in the country. While SA has been a very reluctant regional power since
the first democratic elections in 1994, it now needs to face up to realities.
This does not mean unilateral action against Zimbabwe it means being prepared to
persuade other countries in the region that now is the time to switch policy.
Festus Mogae, Botswana's president, has already harshly criticised Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe and, with SA persuasion, others could follow. Quiet
engagement with Zanu PF is not working. Smart sanctions are the most expedient
alternative and promise to hurt and isolate a self-interested elite.
From Business Day (SA), 19
November
Mugabe brands MDC as
"terrorists"
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe vowed to crack down
on the opposition Sunday, describing them as "terrorists" sponsored by the
British government. In an emotional speech during the state funeral of a
murdered ruling party militant whose death he blamed on opposition activists,
Mugabe issued a warning to Britain, the former colonial power in Zimbabwe. "Let
it be heard in the tall towers of London, in their tall towers elsewhere . . we
shall never, ever brook (tolerate) attempts to subject us directly or indirectly
to colonial rule," Mugabe said. In his comments, Mugabe, known for making
inflammatory statements, appeared to be making reference to the September 11
attacks on the United States.
In London, a British Foreign Office spokesman speaking on
customary condition of anonymity, said that any suggestion that Britain was
supporting any kind of terrorism was "absurd." The spokesman said Britain has
helped fund the Zimbabwean opposition, specifically through the Westminster
Foundation for Democracy, a government body set up in 1992 to support democracy
around the world. Zimbabwe's farming districts have been convulsed by chaos over
the past 18 months, when ruling party militants began occupations of 1,700
white-owned farms, demanding they be redistributed to landless blacks. The
government has since embarked on a plan to seize 5,000 farms - nearly all the
farms owned by whites - without paying compensation.
Opposition officials accuse the government of using land
seizures to garner support and intimidate opponents ahead of presidential
elections scheduled for next year. The opposition is running on a platform of
open and accountable government and its supporters range from black power
activists to conservative whites. It has an especially large following among
urban educated black Zimbabweans. Bracing for possible violence, the streets of
the capital city of Harare were filled with hundreds of paramilitary officers
with rifles and machine guns Sunday.
In his speech, Mugabe said that activists for the Movement for
Democratic Change were responsible for the November 5 abduction and murder of
Cain Nkala, a leading ruling party militant who was declared a national hero
posthumously by the government. "(It) was the brutal outcome of a much wider
terrorist plot by internal, and external terrorist forces with plenty of funding
from some commercial farmers and organizations like the Westminster Foundation,
which we have established beyond doubt gets its dirty money from dirty tricks,
from the British Labour Party, the Conservative Party and Liberal Party and also
of course from the government of Tony Blair," Mugabe said. Mugabe supporters
held up signs at the cemetery that read, "Kill All Terrorists."
Nkala's body was found strangled in the western city of
Bulawayo and MDC officials have denied any connection to his death. Nkala was
known for leading many violent farm occupations in the Bulawayo area. There has
been widespread violence since Nkala's murder. On Friday, ruling party militants
firebombed offices of the opposition MDC in Bulawayo, and randomly beat whites
on the city's streets. MDC officials were told Sunday that paramilitary units
had been deployed near their headquarters in Harare to protect them from
possible attack by ruling party militants after Nkala's funeral.
MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube denied Mugabe's
allegations that the party, which holds 56 of the 120 elected parliamentary
seats, has turned to violence. At least 14 MDC members have been arrested in
connection to the murder but have not been allowed to see their lawyers. Ncube
said they have been tortured into making bogus confessions. Ncube has suggested
that Nkala was killed by fellow members of the ruling Zanu party in order to
prevent him from testifying about violence committed by party members. A report
in the independent newspaper, The Sunday Standard, quoted associates of Nkala
saying he was about to fly to Britain to testify there on the unrest when he was
abducted from his home by armed men.
