The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.

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Zim Online

35 soldiers desert Mugabe's special guard
Wed 24 November 2004
  HARARE - Thirty-five of President Robert Mugabe's special guard troops
have deserted abroad because of worsening economic hardships in Zimbabwe,
ZimOnline has learnt.

      The servicemen and women of the Presidential Guard, a crack battalion
of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), left their jobs without official leave
this month.

      Some of the deserters are still in hiding inside the country but most
have already fled to South Africa, Britain and other countries to join their
compatriots living there on menial but better rewarding jobs.

      Military police and state secret service agents have launched a
manhunt for the deserters still in the country who if arrested will be
court-martialed and face long terms in the army's notorious detention
barracks.

      A notice at the army's Inkomo barracks just outside Harare, listing
the names of the 35 deserters reads: "Arrest on sight. All the persons
mentioned must be arrested at once and shall be charged for absconding from
duty."

      Both Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi and army spokesman, Ben Ncube,
were said to be too busy to take questions on the matter yesterday.

      A deserter, who is still in hiding in Zimbabwe, said: "I will never go
back to the presidential guard. We are not treated as human beings, we are
paid peanuts and our commanders beat us willy-nilly. There is nowhere to
report these abuses."

      And a former army corporal now working at a London factory, said:
"It's hard to survive in Zimbabwe with the salaries we were receiving. I had
to flee to Great Britain because senior army officers visited my parents
when I deserted. The salaries were pathetic."

      The ZNA has been hit by a spate of desertions since the beginning of
this year as mostly lower ranking troops, struggling like every Zimbabwean
to survive a grinding economic crisis gripping the country opt to go abroad
to seek better opportunities.

      To curb desertion, army authorities are understood to be considering
seizing passports from all soldiers, releasing them only at the end of their
contract or when they are going on authorised trips abroad.

      The government has also instructed immigration officers to report all
serving members of the army travelling out of Zimbabwe. At least 20 soldiers
have been arrested at Harare international airport since March this year
while attempting to leave the country. - ZimOnline
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JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE LEGAL COMMUNIQUÉ - 23rd November 2004

Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet: www.justiceforagriculture.com

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Please find below the list of properties that appeared in the Herald on
Friday 19th November 2004 relating to 41 properties listed with a Section 5
Notice.
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LAND ACQUISITION ACT (CHAPTER 20:10)

Preliminary Notice to Compulsorily Acquire Land

NOTICE is hereby given, in terms of subsection (1) of section 5 of the Land
Acquisition Act (Chapter 20:10), that the President intends to acquire
compulsorily the land described in the Schedule for resettlement purposes.

A plan on the land is available for inspection at the following offices of
the Ministry of Special Affairs in the Office of the President and Cabinet
in Charge of Lands, Land Reform and resettlement between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
from Monday to Friday other than on a public holiday on or before 20th
December 2004.

(a) Block 2, Makombe Complex Cnr Harare Street and Herbert Chitepo Avenue,
Harare; (b) Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, CF 119,
Government Composite Block, Robert Mugabe Way, Mutare; (c) Ministry of
Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, 4th Floor, Block H Office, 146,
Mhlahlandlela Government Complex, Bulawayo; (d) Ministry of Lands, Land
Reform and Resettlement, M & W Building, Corner Park/Link Street, Chinoyi;
(e) Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, 1st Floor, Founders
House, The Green, Marondera; (f) Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement, 19 Hellet Street, Masvingo; (g) Ministry of Lands, Land
Reform and Resettlement, Exchange Building, Main Street, Gweru; (h)
Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, Mtshabezi Building, First
Floor, Office No. F20, Gwanda; (i) Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and
Resettlement, Ndodahondo Building, Bindura.

Any owner or occupier or any other person who has an interest and right in
the said land, and who wishes to object to the proposed compulsory
acquisition, may lodge the same, in writing, with the Minister of Special
Affairs in the Office of the President and Cabinet in Charge of Lands, Land
Reform and Resettlement, Private Bag 7779, Causeway, Harare, on or before
20th December 2004.

J L NKOMO Minister of Special Affairs in the Office of the President and
Cabinet in Charge of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement
______________________________________________

LOT 159 SECTION 5 19TH
NOVEMBER 2004 Salisbury
 1.  3504/04. S Chitsike: Salisbury: Lot 1 of Kintyre Estate: 13,9475 ha
 2.  1212/04. Mavash Farming (Private) Limited: Salisbury: Lot 2 of
Kintyre Estate: 12,7681 ha
 3.  6421/03. W E Bako Investments (Private) Limited: Salisbury: Lot 3 of
Kintyre Estate: 11,8762 ha
 4.  1455/04. G & V Investments (Private) Limited: Salisbury: Lot 4 of
Kintyre Esatte: 10,0336 ha
 5.  1432/04. S Chipindu: Salisbury: Lot 5 of Kintyre Estate: 10,0546 ha
 6.  814/04. W & S Watambgwa: Salisbury: Lot 6 of Kintyre Estate: 14,4448
ha
 7.  9124/03. F & C Dangare: Salisbury: Lot 7 of Kintyre Estate: 11 5519
ha
 8.  2445/04. S Sikhosana: Salisbury: Lot 8 of Kintyre Estate: 11 9141 ha
 9.  1987/04. O & C Magwenzi: Salisbury: Lot 9 of Kintyre Estate: 16,0521
ha
 10.  6718/04. P Chali & G Chali: Salisbury: Lot 12 of Kintyre Estate:
13,6135 ha
 11.  1784/04. C M & E M Ncube: Salisbury: Lot 14 of Kintyre Estate:
17,7635 ha
 12.  5102/04. Junestar Investments (Private) Limited: Salisbury: Lot 16
of Kintyre Estate: 11,9037 ha
 13.  1923/04. T F Madyara: Salisbury: Lot 17 of Kintyre Estate: 22,7171
ha
 14.  5745/04. A K Chimbindi: Salisbury: Lot 18 of Kintyre Estate:
17,3278 ha
 15.  5743/04. T Tongoona: Salisbury: Lot 20 of Kintyre Estate: 15,5463
ha
 16.  5744/04. C & R Dewu: Salisbury: Lot 21 of Kintyre Estate 11,4573 ha
 17.  50119/04. Shelea Family Trust: Salisbury: Lot 22 of Kintyre Estate:
12,5775 ha
 18.  1431/04. P T & A Chikwata: Salisbury: Lot 24 of Kintyre Estate:
10,4990 ha
 19.  5897/04. M & R M Ditima: Salisbury: Lot 25 of Kintyre Estate:
10,5981 ha
 20.  5219/04. L Gamyeka: Salisbury: Lot 27 of Kintyre Estate: 10,2523 ha
 21.  4266/03. S G Mavunga: Salisbury: Lot 29 of Kintyre Estate: 8,5356
ha
 22.  684/04 Adroland Farming (Private) Limited: Salisbury: Lot 30 of
Kintyre Estate: 10,2165 ha
 23.  5478/03. Fourland Investments (Private) Limited: Salisbury: Lot 31
of Kintyre Estate: 11,5191 ha
 24.  8963/03. I Katsiga: Salisbury: Lot 33 of Kintyre Estate: 10,8551 ha
 25.  3395/03. E T & F Kucherera: Salisbury: Lot 34 of Kintyre Estate:
10,6926 ha
 26.  9128/03. G & R E Ndanga: Salisbury: Lot 35 of Kintyre Estate:
10,6827 ha
 27.  428/04. T C Maboreke: Salisbury: Lot 36 of Kintyre Estate: 11,3076
ha
 28.  6308/03. A M M Holdings (Private) Limtied: Salisbury: Lot 37 of
Kintyre Estate: 11,6531 ha
 29.  6309/03. A M M Holdings (Private) Limtied: Salisbury: Lot 38 of
Kintyre Estate: 12,2346 ha
 30.  9710/03. K Vavushe: Salisbury: Lot 39 0f Kintyre Estate: 10,2843 ha
 31.  6310/03. Batgain Investments (Private) Limited: Salisbury: Lot 40
of Kintyre Estate: 8,6837 ha
 32.  3289/03. Dorville Enteprises: Salisbury: Lot 42 of Kintyre Estate:
10,1177 ha
 33.  6483/03. Bev King (Private) Limited: Salisbury: Lot 43 of Kintyre
Estate: 12,0104 ha
 34.  3222/03. S R Chetse: Salisbury: Lot 44 of Kintyre Estate: 11,7721
ha
 35.  6708/03. H Wacubengo: Salisbury: Lot 45 of Kintyre Estate: 11,4362
ha
 36.  6311/03. M & S Mhundu: Salisbury: Lot 46 of Kintyre Estate: 11,5422
ha
 37.  6522/03. D & T Mpofu: Salisbury: Lot 47 of Kintyre Estate: 11,2225
ha
 38.  3221/03. Host-Crest Investments: Salisbury: Lot 48 of Kintyre
Estate: 10,6760 ha
 39.  8864/03. Pomoree Investments (Private) Limited: Salisbury: Lot 49
of Kintyre Estate: 9,0613 ha
 40.  483/04. E Masina: Salisbury: Lot 50 of Kintyre Estate: 7 1338 ha
 41.  9507/02. Aberfoyle Farming Company (Private) Limited: Salisbury:
Remaining Extent of Kintyre Estate comprising
     Lot 10 of Kintyre Estate: 14,06 ha
     Lot 11 of Kintyre Estate: 15,24 ha
     Lot 13 of Kintyre Estate: 13,61 ha
     Lot 15 of Kintyre Estate: 14,79 ha
     Lot 19 of Kintyre Estate: 17,86 ha
     Lot 23 of Kintyre Estate: 9,49 ha
     Lot 26 of Kintyre Estate: 9,99 ha
     Lot 28 of Kintyre Estate: 12,86 ha
     Lot 32 of Kintyre Estate: 10,04 ha
     Lot 41 of Kintyre Estate: 9,78 ha
     Lot 51 of Kintyre Estate: 160,06 ha
     Lot 52 of Kintyre Estate: 31,51 ha
     Lot 53 of Kintyre Estate: 21,11 ha
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THE JAG TEAM

JAG Hotlines:
(091) 261 862 If you are in trouble or need advice,
(011) 205 374
(011) 863 354 please don't hesitate to contact us -
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                                we're here to help!
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Sporting Life

ECB CHIEFS SEEK TO RESOLVE MEDIA BAN
Leading English cricket officials will touch down in Harare today attempting
to put pressure on the Zimbabwe government to reverse their decision to ban
several British media organisations from covering England's one-day tour.

The England one-day squad and the travelling media were due to touch down
tonight in Harare for the start of a 10-day tour which has been widely
condemned because of the land reform policies of president Robert Mugabe.

But just 24 hours before the arrival of a strong media contingent, the
Zimbabwe government released a list of journalists who would be banned from
making the trip which included reporters from BBC radio and television, the
Daily and Sunday Telegraph, the Times and Sunday Times, the Sun, the Daily
Mirror and the News of the World.

The International Cricket Council, the world's governing body, are seeking
urgent clarification about the reasons for Zimbabwe allowing entry to some
journalists and preventing others, and a contingent from the England and
Wales Cricket Board aim to add further pressure when they arrive this
morning.

ECB chairman David Morgan, chairman of the first-class forum Mike Soper and
director of cricket operations John Carr arrive today determined to resolve
the dispute but also insisting it would not cause the controversial tour to
be cancelled.

Morgan, speaking shortly before he boarded his flight at Heathrow airport,
claimed he would try again and speak to Peter Chingoka, the president of
Zimbabwe Cricket, as soon as possible.

"I'm very disappointed," he admitted. "I've been working on this with Peter
Chingoka day-in and day-out for some time now and the ICC have also been
helping and trying to exert pressure.

"I will attempt to speak again to Peter Chingoka and try and get the
decision reversed but I don't think it's something which will call the tour
into question.

"It's something we've pondered about but it doesn't provide us with a reason
for non-compliance."

England captain Michael Vaughan has also been drawn into the dispute,
holding talks with the Professional Cricketers' Association and claiming: "I
think it's totally wrong - I'm flabbergasted by the decision.

"Whether we like the media or not, they have a huge role to play in the game
through exposure in advertising and TV, and they contribute 60% of the
game's income.

"There's something very wrong if our media can't get in and cover a tour. I
don't know how a cricket tour can be called a cricket tour when our media
are not involved in it.

"I wouldn't pull out of the tour because of it, but I'm now in direct
contact with Richard Bevan, our PCA representative, asking for advice."

Bevan, who formed part of the safety and security delegation which visited
Zimbabwe last month which ensured the tour went ahead, is not optimistic
there will be a resolution to the current dispute.

"We're very disappointed in the decision to ban certain newspapers and
broadcasters - it's unacceptable for the game of cricket," he said.

"We'll be talking to the relevant bodies to try and reverse the decision.
There are significant discussions taking place, but I'm not optimistic.

"I'll be discussing the decision with David Morgan over the next 24 hours.
This is going to hurt Zimbabwe cricket the most - it may not affect this
particular tour but the stakeholders in the game are very soon going to lose
patience with Zimbabwe cricket because it's extremely important to look
after the image of the sport.

"This should be a major concern for the ICC and it will be interesting to
see how they react to the position of Zimbabwe in world cricket...for these
journalists to be banned is totally unacceptable."

England's opener in the five-match series is on Friday and, providing the
dispute does not cause a premature end to the tour, they will enter the game
in high spirits after a second successive emphatic warm-up victory over
Namibia yesterday.

The tourists completed their seven-wicket victory with 6.1 overs remaining
after Worcestershire opener Vikram Solanki hit a superb 82 to help overhaul
Namibia's modest total of 219 for eight.

"The games have been ideal where everybody has spent some time in the
middle, the bowlers have had a good run-out in conditions that would seem
similar to Zimbabwe, so we've got what we hoped for in preparation," said
Solanki.
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The Telegraph
 

Siege mentality insults downtrodden country
By Martin Johnson 
(Filed: 24/11/2004)

It was the winter of 1996 when England first went to Zimbabwe for an international cricket series, and nothing much has changed. They couldn't wait to get out of the country then, they can't wait to get out of the place now.

Eight years ago, England, in that selfabsorbed way of modern sportsmen, opted to barricade themselves inside a comfortable hotel when mixing would have enlivened the humdrum existence of a poor but happy people. Now, however, the country has changed from one in which people are simply dying to see them, to one in which people are simply dying.

Robert Mugabe
Brief encounter: Robert Mugabe is introduced to England captain Mike Atherton on the 1996 tour

When the players, for example, go to lunch at the Queens Club ground in Bulawayo, the menu presumably will be more appetising than the staple diet of the local population, who have been reduced to making soup by boiling tree roots. There is hardly any food in the entire country, but here in Matebeland, as punishment for being the heartland of Robert Mugabe's political opposition, deliberate starvation is actually part of government policy.

In these circumstances, you might say that England were right not to come for a game of cricket during the 2003 World Cup, except that their motives for not doing so were shameful in their self-centred expediency. They ditched the moral argument in favour of safety, which was entirely geared towards hoping to invoke the only clause in the tournament regulations which might have got them two points for not turning up.

It was a country in which they knew perfectly well that the only serious danger of injury was in falling down a pothole in Harare High Street, and given that they were making this 'protest' from South Africa, where having white skin in the wrong part of town guarantees a funeral, it was a far more pathetic performance than anything they managed in 1996.

And that is saying something. It wasn't so much that they were held 0-0 in the two-Test series, and lost 3-0 in the one-day internationals, but that the players were so determined to treat their visit to Africa as a re-staging of the siege of Mafeking that they made as many friends as the number of matches they won.

Upon their subsequent arrival in New Zealand, one senior player remarked that it was "nice to come to a civilised country", a conclusion arrived at after exploring Zimbabwe so thoroughly that his travels took him the length and breadth of his hotel room. The players never went out, they never mixed and were so arrogant in their one-eyed view of the actual cricket that the home captain, Alistair Campbell, described them as having an "insufferable superiority complex".

Zimbabwe in 1996, had England ever taken the trouble to find out, was a country only too pleased to dip into what few resources they had to extend their hospitality to overseas visitors, and it was the English media who benefited most by taking up all the invitations that the cricket team declined.

There were some memorable days at the local golf clubs, where the only hint of violence came from the avalanche of black caddies fighting to carry your bag, and the local custom was never to tee off – even at 8 am – without having first knocked back several glasses of gin and tonic.

The locals were, and still are, inordinately friendly to whites, and you'd go with them to a back street money-changer without ever wondering whether you were going to be ripped off or robbed. The black market was the only way to change your money, a conclusion not hard to come to when passing a shop where a plastic bathtub was on display for the equivalent, at official rates, of £17,000. Not the kind of price tag you'd expect to see down at B & Q.

So downtrodden are the people that England playing cricket there no longer provides a welcome diversion from the privations of everyday life. They're too busy trying to stay alive. England's cricketers keep saying that they can't wait to leave, which presumably is supposed to make us feel sorry for them. But when they do leave, they should bear one thing in mind. They're lucky that they can leave.

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The Telegraph
 

'They'll play the great game as people starve'
By Simon Briggs 
(Filed: 24/11/2004)

The great Zimbabwean dilemma is still dividing opinion, even among those who know it best. Andy Flower and Henry Olonga were united in protest last year, when their black armbands provided the most resonant image of the 2003 World Cup. But now, just 18 months on, they have opposing views on the issue of England's tour.

 
Henry Olonga
Heart on his sleeve: Henry Olonga makes his armband protest

Flower, who was consulted by several England players, including Darren Gough, has opted to place his considerable influence behind the tour. As he told the Yorkshire Post last week, he feels England's visit will bring much-needed attention to the atrocities of President Robert Mugabe. "It will keep the plight of the Zimbabwean people firmly in the news at a time when events in the Middle East have taken centre stage," he said.

Olonga, in contrast, takes the view that Zimbabwe should be treated like apartheid-era South Africa. While sympathetic to Flower's perspective, he is concerned that any resumption of normal service might suggest that "everything is hunky-dory".

As he said yesterday: "It's a very difficult question, and we've been discussing it for two years without consensus. But overall, I err in the direction of sporting boycotts."

Olonga lives in London now and, while he still turns his arm over for Lashings, the celebrity pub team, he has a new life built around his singing talents. His father, though, is still based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, where food shortages are a constant worry. Insiders say that many of Mugabe's opponents have been silenced by the simple expedient of squeezing their food supply.

"When you look at the bigger picture," Olonga said, "what is happening on the ground is more of a priority than the great game that I love. When people are starving, unemployment is running at 70 per cent and the Zimbabwean government is buying arms from China rather than looking after its own, those are the kind of things that get me going.

"I'd say the better of the options is for countries not to tour Zimbabwe, because we saw the benefit of what sporting boycotts can do with South Africa in the Eighties and Nineties. But the International Cricket Council have gone the other way, and England seem to be the ones who keep copping their wrath."

Before he put his conscience ahead of his cricket career, Olonga was a famously unpredictable pace bowler. One minute he would be taking three wickets in an over, the next he would be going around the park. One thing he did have, though, was a natural performer's sense of enjoyment, something we can expect to be conspicuously lacking from England's five one-day games.

Given that sport is meant to be about entertainment, for players as much as spectators, it seems extraordinary that Michael Vaughan's England should be forced to press ahead with this benighted tour, which the senior figures admit they are dreading. Some series are one-sided and some are simply joyless, but this series is shaping up as the worst of all tours.

A closer contest might have been arranged if the overlords of Zimbabwe cricket had deigned to strike a deal with Heath Streak and his comrades, or at least the small minority who have not already fled overseas. But here, too, the ICC are guilty of double-speak. First they threatened to annul Zimbabwe's Test status, then they claimed it had never been in danger. As Olonga said, the player dispute was "a headache they just wanted to go away".

"The players had the chance to bring forth evidence," Olonga added, "but when they were too intimidated to testify, the ICC were quick to draw the conclusion that there was no racism in Zimbabwe cricket. I disagree and so do a lot of other people."

No one denies that Zimbabwean sport and society are in a sorry state. But will England's tour be a force for good or ill? For all the sound and fury, the sad truth is that it is unlikely to make much of an impact. The next 24 hours should tell us more.

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The Telegraph

Mugabe abandons last freedoms
By David Blair, Africa Correspondent
(Filed: 24/11/2004)

President Robert Mugabe's regime drove some of the most repressive laws in
Zimbabwe's history through parliament last night, hours before the arrival
of the English cricket team on its controversial tour of the country.

Critics say that one law will cripple human rights groups and allow the
regime's abuses to pass unrecorded. Another law will ensure that Mr Mugabe's
allies run the parliamentary elections due in March. The regime announced
that parliament would sit all night, ensuring that the Non-Governmental
Organisations Bill and the Electoral Commission Bill will be available for
Mr Mugabe to sign into law today.

Both will be ready to come into effect a few hours before the scheduled
arrival of the English team in the capital, Harare, tonight.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which has called on the
England authorities to boycott Zimbabwe, believes that Mr Mugabe's new laws
will remove the country's last vestiges of democratic freedom.

Once they come into effect, all charities will be forced to register with a
council appointed by the regime. Any deemed to be concerned with "governance
issues" will be banned from receiving foreign funding.

The regime has already named 20 organisations, including every human rights
group, as targets for this measure. Innocent Gonese, the MDC's chief whip,
pointed out that all these groups are entirely dependent on outside funding.

Mr Gonese added: "What they are trying to do is effectively prevent
non-governmental organisations from reporting on their bad human rights
record. Abuses of human rights will go unrecorded.''

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum recorded 37 political murders and 18,000
other abuses, ranging from assault and torture to abduction and rape, before
polls in 2000. It blamed supporters of Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF Party for more
than 90 per cent of all offences. Deprived of foreign funding, they will be
unable to do the same for the next elections.

The regime accuses human rights group of conspiring with the British
Government to overthrow Mr Mugabe. The Herald, an official daily newspaper,
yesterday accused them of "destabilising the country and meddling in its
internal affairs under the guise of promoting and championing human rights".

. An ally of President Mugabe, who styles herself "Comrade Spillblood", was
all but certain to become Zimbabwe's new vice-president yesterday.

Joyce Mujuru, 49, the rural resources minister, vaulted into the most senior
ranks of the ruling Zanu-PF Party after a career steeped in the violence and
corruption of Mr Mugabe's rule.

Mrs Mujuru chose her bloodthirsty nom de guerre while fighting with Mr
Mugabe's guerrillas during the 1970s bush war against white Rhodesia. She is
married to a retired general.
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The Sun (UK)

Olonga in ban rap
By DAVE KIDD
CRICKET hero Henry Olonga says Robert Mugabe's move to ban The Sun and other
British newspapers from Zimbabwe proves they have secrets to hide.
Olonga and Zimbabwe team-mate Andy Flower staged a brave protest during last
year's World Cup when they wore black armbands at a match in Harare to
'mourn the death of democracy' in their homeland.
Former seam bowler Olonga now lives in exile in England, having been
targeted by Mugabe's thugs.
He insists Mugabe's government murder, torture and starve their own people
and have no regard for freedom of the Press.
And he fears anyone who protests against the government during England's
five one-day internationals could be arrested and tortured.
Olonga said: "I am not at all surprised that the Zimbabwean government has
banned so many of the British media.
"If you speak your mind in Zimbabwe, you are considered an enemy of the
government.
"They do not want foreign journalists in the country because they have so
much to hide."

John Etheridge's view
AN ENGLAND cricket match will take place on Friday - but you will not be
able to read my report about it in The Sun.
It is a scandalous situation that proves Zimbabwe is run by thugs under the
command of tyrant Robert Mugabe.
The decision to ban Britain's No 1 paper and eight other media organisations
is an affront to free speech and a further blow to the starving masses in
Zimbabwe.
Mugabe and his henchmen won't let me in to write about Michael Vaughan's
cover drives and Darren Gough's bouncers.
They believe I should be denied entry because of past truths told by The
Sun - and they are scared I might expose some more of the horrors taking
place in Zimbabwe.
I first covered cricket there in 1990 and on each of my three subsequent
visits the country has become more run down, confused and frightened.
It has been fleeced by a leader desperate to cling to power. Mugabe rigs
elections so his ZANU PF party always win.
He has forcibly ejected white families from their farms and gives their land
to his friends.
Government heavies infiltrate every area of society, including the cricket
authorities.
Skipper Heath Streak quit after being told he must pick more black players -
despite them being below standard. Fourteen players resigned in sympathy.
Vaughan will lead out his players in front of a quarter-full ground and
half-full media centre. It is another knife in the heart of a country where
democracy died years ago.
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The Times

            Rebels resigned to fate despite moral victory
            By Tom de Castella
            The fight could be over for Streak's strikers

            THERE was an air of resignation when Zimbabwe's rebel players
met for the final time amid the surreal calm of Harare's Botanical Gardens.
Eight months after Heath Streak's controversial departure as captain, the
subsequent boycott by 15 white players and the ensuing inquiry by the ICC
into racism, only half a dozen rebels remain. And last week's decision to
pull out of the " alternative dispute resolution" process ended their
attempt to reach a compromise with Zimbabwe Cricket.
            The group - Grant Flower, Stuart Carlisle, Craig Wishart, Trevor
Gripper, Neil Ferreira, Chris Venturas, their lawyer, and Streak,
represented via a mobile phone line from his farm near Bulawayo - attempt to
put a brave face on things. But the senior players admit that, without the
departure of two Zimbabwe Cricket officials, Macsood Ebrahim, the chairman
of selectors, and Ozias Bvute, a board member, they are unlikely to play for
their country again.

            Flower, who joins his brother, Andy, at Essex next season,
summed up the mood when he said: "After this inquiry, there's nothing more
to be done. Now they've said there's no basis for racism, what else can you
do?" Carlisle, an experienced team-mate, said that the players "have lost
complete trust in the ICC". They are still smarting about the way the
inquiry was run by Goolam Vahanvati, India's solicitor general, and Steven
Majiedt, a South African high court judge.

            Despite ruling that witnesses would give their evidence in
camera, the judges failed to penalise Bvute and Ebrahim when they refused to
leave the courtroom. As a result, the inquiry collapsed and the players'
verbal statements alleging racial and regional discrimination in Zimbabwe
Cricket selection policy were not heard.

            Venturas presents the legal battle as setting a precedent for
global sport. "There's never been a strike like this in sporting history,"
he said. "These guys have come up short, but Zim cricket will benefit
because the world of cricket is a more accountable place."

            Carlisle believes that the ICC inquiry's eight recommendations
endorsed the players' grievances "without having the courage" to find in the
rebels' favour. "The recommendations are exactly what we were asking for
seven months ago, so indirectly we probably won the inquiry without even
giving oral evidence," he said. "They stated that there is a problem with
some directors, that (Peter) Chingoka (the chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket) has
to do something, that selection criteria is wrong."

            None of the rebels accepts the need for quotas, but Bvute argues
that Zimbabwe Cricket is just trying to develop young black talent and
create a racial balance in the national team more representative of
Zimbabwean society.

            Zimbabwe Cricket has set itself a number of goals in its
Integration Task Force document, "which is premised on inclusivity" and was
endorsed by the ICC, he added.

            But Carlisle said: "You've got documents saying a crowd should
be 75 per cent black by the year 2005 and that there should be seven
non-whites in the team. Regardless of whether they're goals or quotas, it's
discrimination," he said.

            The bitter stand-off has whittled down the number of rebels.
Some, such as Andy Blignaut, Travis Friend and Sean Ervine, headed for
Australia and three players, Gavin Ewing, Barney Rogers and Mark Vermeulen,
have gone back to Zimbabwe Cricket.

            "Barney and Gavin are young, you can't hold too much against
them," Carlisle said. "But I have a big problem with a guy like Mark
Vermeulen. He said to us that if even five or six of us go on strike, he'd
be right there with us."

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Pretoria News

      Mugabe set to stay put for a while...
      November 24, 2004

      By Basildon Peta

      Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is set to remain a key feature of
Zimbabwe's political landscape for some years after his ruling party's 10
provincial executive committees unanimously nominated him for a new term as
president.

      The nomination announced by the party's secretary for information and
publicity, Nathan Shamuyarira, is to be ratified at the Zanu-PF five-yearly
congress which opens next week.

      It follows the nomination of water resources minister Joyce Mujuru for
the coveted co-vice presidency slot left vacant by the death of Simon
Muzenda. Co-vice president Joseph Msika, who was elevated to the position
after the death of nationalist Joshua Nkomo, is due to retain his post, as
is party chairman John Nkomo.

      Mugabe (80) will remain party leader until 2009 when he will be 86.
His term as president of the country ends in 2008. But even if he does not
seek re-election in 2008 he has hinted he wants to remain party leader.

      Supporters of speaker of parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa, long touted as
Mugabe's successor but whose chances have now been eliminated by Mujuru's
elevation, are not taking it lying down.

      They are believed to be planning to disrupt the ratification process
and call for new nominations and open elections of party leaders at the
congress.

      But Mugabe has already signalled he won't tolerate any disruption of
the congress, referring to the dissenters as being sponsored by British and
white capitalists.
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The Telegraph
 

A country gripped by fear
By Peta Thornycroft in Harare 
(Filed: 24/11/2004)

If England arrive at 7 o'clock tonight at Harare International Airport they will be stepping into a gloomy, fearful Zimbabwe where most people neither know nor care that they are here. The buzz and cheer that preceded their arrival on earlier tours is missing.

Few cricket fans are going to turn up to watch the one-day games in Harare and Bulawayo. Protesters have either left Zimbabwe or cannot afford the bus ride to the grounds. Most of those still in the country live in the poverty of the ghettos and will be doing what 90 per cent of Zimbabweans do every day – scavenging to find enough food for their families.

Robert Mugabe
Three-way split: Michael Vaughan seeks an exit, Robert Mugabe seeks propaganda and Alistair Campbell seeks to keep cricket alive in Zimbabwe

At Harare Sports Club a grim task for England will begin on Friday. Against their will, but fulfilling International Cricket Council orders, they will face a young Zimbabwe side. Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu, 21, not only has talent and determination but also the top job in the only solvent sport in the country. He and his colleagues must perform to protect Zimbabwe's Test status ahead of India's tour next year when money from television rights will flood the game with foreign currency. Professional cricket is rich pickings in Zimbabwe, even now, when the game is at its lowest ebb in 50 years.

Harare Sports Club is across the road from the back entrance to President Robert Mugabe's official residence. Locals know not to walk outside the club. Mugabe's guards, pacing up and down clutching automatic weapons, are bad tempered. They arrested a woman last week saying that she failed to stop her car in time as Mugabe's motorcade sped towards his residence. A soldier drew blood when he slapped her in front of her weeping children and she was taken to a police station where her husband had to pay a small fine.

Roads near the ground and hotels for visiting journalists and cricketers will be overrun by members of the Central Intelligence Organisation and uniformed policemen. Locals can spot them a mile off, lounging on sofas, loitering at reception and watching entrances to the club and hotel lobbies.

There will be roadblocks around the city on Friday morning looking for any potential protester, perhaps wearing an old T-shirt from the World Cup last year. Even then, with deepening repression and political demonstrations banned, there was excitement when the games started. A few dozen people had bought tickets and were enthralled when the new heroes, Zimbabwe cricketers Andy Flower and Henry Olonga, wore black to grieve the "death of democracy". Scores were arrested, some were beaten.

Harare is clean by African standards, its rush hour traffic and pedestrians are orderly, but as the city empties after 5pm, thousands queue quietly for hours to take dilapidated commuter buses to the townships far from the best hotels and the cricket ground.

"I'll see a couple of friends in the English team and some from the Zimbabwe side after the game in Bulawayo, but I don't feel like going to watch," said former captain Heath Streak yesterday, still sad that his Zimbabwe career ended last April when he was sacked.

Former Zimbabwe captain Alistair Campbell arranged a cricket training session for disadvantaged children to coincide with England's arrival to raise money for the rural school where he teaches. The school, about 35 miles north of Harare, has been seized by the government for "resettlement" but it still functions, watched over by Mugabe's supporters who call themselves "war veterans".

The government-controlled Sunday Mail speculated that the 30 foreign journalists seeking permission to cover the tour had more than cricket on their agenda. It wrote: "This training session has been kept a closely guarded secret, a situation that has raised eyebrows amid reports that this may be a ploy to provoke war veterans around that farming area so that whatever will happen will be used as the basis for writing negative stories on Zimbabwe."

 
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Zim Online

BITTER MUGABE SUCCESSION WAR BREAKS OUT
Wed 24 November 2004
  HARARE - Veterans of Zimbabwe's independence war are threatening to
disrupt the ruling ZANU PF party's congress next month after Emmerson
Mnangagwa, whom they had backed to succeed President Robert Mugabe, was this
week blocked from the race.

      In a move that could see a silent but vicious struggle over Mugabe's
job breaking into open warfare, the volatile ex-combatants are said to be
mobilising to break up the December congress at which Water Resources
Minister, Joyce Mujuru, is set to be voted ZANU PF's second vice-president.

      "There is deep disgruntlement out there. Most senior leaders of the
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) are asking
why Mujuru was drafted in at the last minute to block Mnangagwa," a senior
leader of the association who did not want to be named told ZimOnline last
night.

      ZNLWVA chairman Jabulani Sibanda could not be reached for comment on
the plans.

      Disclosure of the veterans' plot to scuttle the key congress comes as
Mugabe meets ZANU PF's politburo today to whip into line dissenting leaders
he has accused of trying to split the party because they were not happy with
the new power set-up.

      Mugabe earlier this week told a gathering at a school in rural
Zimbabwe that there would be "crackers" at today's politburo meeting against
the disgruntled party leaders whom he did not mention.

      Mujuru was last Sunday nominated by six of ZANU PF's 10 provinces to
take over the late Simon Muzenda's post as second vice-president, placing
her at a great advantage to take over as party and possibly state president
when Mugabe and his other deputy, Joseph Msika, retire in 2008.

      Her nomination was guaranteed after ZANU PF's powerful politburo
declared earlier in the week that it wanted a woman to be nominated
vice-president, effectively blocking Mnangagwa, for long regarded as
Mugabe's heir apparent.

      Four of the party's provinces however revolted, refusing to nominate
Mujuru and instead opting for Mnangagwa and another woman politician
Thenjiwe Lesabe for the two vice-presidents' posts.

      Although not as well organised as they once were under the leadership
of the late Chenjerai Hunzvi, war veterans are still a powerful force within
ZANU PF, forming the main cog of the party's re-election strategy.

      War veterans led Mugabe's farm seizure campaign which the government
continues to use as its main vote-catcher.

      They have in the past forced Mugabe to grant key concessions, most
notably in November 1997, when they forced the Zimbabwean leader to pay them
unbudgeted pensions gratuities totalling Z$50 billion which resulted in the
collapse of the dollar, triggering off the country's economic crisis. -
ZimOnline
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BBC

      Doomed tour must be called off

             By Jonathan Agnew
            BBC cricket correspondent

      There was always the feeling that this tour could hit the buffers at
the last minute and surely this is the case.

      Some of English cricket's most senior correspondents have been banned
from entering Zimbabwe, purely at the whim of the Zimbabwe government,

      And that has presented as sound a reason as anyone could wish for
finally to call the tour off.

      Even the selection process to determine which of the media is
acceptable, and which is not, is bizarre.

      No one has run a more vehement anti-Zimbabwe campaign over several
years than the Daily Mail, yet all three journalists from that organisation
who applied for accreditation have been accepted!

      It is true England have not wanted to go to Zimbabwe, and everyone is
aware of the reasons why.

      Cricket followers will also be aware of the pressure that has been
exerted on the England and Wales Cricket Board by the International Cricket
Council.

      But this latest development does not represent a contrived opportunity
for the board to pull out.

      Indeed, it is the ECB's responsibility to abandon the tour here and
now.

      To hear ECB chairman David Morgan repeating his determination to
proceed regardless will have left many feeling deeply disappointed, and
questioning the leadership of English cricket.

      It might be that Morgan simply wants to be seen to explore every
avenue before telling his players not to travel to Zimbabwe.

      He will have to be quick, however, because they are due to arrive in
Harare on Wednesday afternoon.

      Michael Vaughan's men may yet have a say in this. They are consulting
Richard Bevan of the Professional Cricketers Association, to gauge his
feelings.

      As happened in Cape Town 18 months ago the players could very easily,
and with justification, take the matters into their own hands.

      The fact is that everyone has jumped through hoops to make this
unhappy tour happen, and now it is the Zimbabweans who have scuppered it.

      That should be the end of the matter.
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Zim Online

EU takes Zimbabwe's human rights crisis to UN committee
Wed 24 November 2004

HARARE - The European Union (EU) will ask the Third Committee of the United
Nations (UN) to discuss Zimbabwe's deteriorating human rights situation at
its 59th session early next month.

A resolution to be presented to the key committee by the Netherlands on
behalf of the EU will also request the committee to note that conditions did
not exist in Zimbabwe for the holding of a free and fair general election
next year.

In a statement this week, deputy permanent representative of the Netherlands
to the United Nations, Arjan Hambuger, said: "The European Union is
concerned that conditions do not exist at present in Zimbabwe for holding
free and fair elections.

"We are moreover concerned about the restrictions on the freedom to operate
without fear of harassment and intimidation of members of parliament,
independent civil society and human rights defenders."

Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs Minister Stan Mudenge could not be reached for
comment on the matter yesterday.

But Mudenge was yesterday quoted by the state-run Herald newspaper
criticising the resolution as a desperate attempt by Britain and its EU
allies to discredit and tarnish the March 2005 parliamentary ballot
before-hand.

Mudenge also called on African and other developing countries to help block
the resolution from making it through the Third Committee.

If the resolution is adopted by the committee, it will be brought before the
UN's General Assembly, a development that could see the world body getting
directly involved in Zimbabwe's deepening political and economic crisis.

Previous attempts by the EU to have the UN Human Rights Commission condemn
abuses in Zimbabwe have flopped because of opposition by key African and
developing nations. - ZimOnline
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From The Daily Mirror, 23 November

Mugabe explodes

Daily Mirror reporter

President Robert Mugabe is expected to travel to Bulawayo Friday to patch up
the widening cracks that have emerged in the ruling party, threatening to
sideline the party's old guard and derail proceedings at the party's
congress in December. Speaking in Matabeleland North yesterday, a visibly
angry President Mugabe said he would expose those bent on destroying the
party from within to rise to positions in the high echelons of Zanu PF using
money from "white capitalists". He threatened to reveal, ahead of the party's
forthcoming congress, the names of those behind clandestine manoeuvres to
get into power without the authority of the electorate. A new leadership
will be ushered in to run the affairs of the party for the next five years.
President Mugabe's outburst follows revelations that former Home Affairs
Minister Dumiso Dabengwa and deputy political commissinor Sikhanyiso Ndlovu
were rejected by Bulawayo province on Sunday as possible central committee
members.

Chewing nails, President Mugabe said: "There are mischievous individuals
misleading people by using money from white capitalists. Their names will be
revealed before the forthcoming congress. Their actions are meant to
sideline the old leadership of the party through clandestine ways, divisive
ways and cunning methods to sway you. Don't be divided, don't be purchased,
we are not for purchase!" He questioned the stamina and motive of those
inclined to dividing the party asking: "Who are you to want to have that
place which was given by the congress?" Impeccable sources said the
President also wanted to know why Bulawayo had ignored a Politburo directive
to nominate a woman as co-vice president. Minister of Water Resources and
Infrastructural Development Joyce Mujuru won the women's ticket to the
presidency in six of the ruling party's 10 provinces. National chairman John
Nkomo also won the support of six provinces, Vice President Joseph Msika,
seven, while all provinces retained President Mugabe as leader and First
Secretary of the party.

Bulawayo nominated President Mugabe as the party's President and First
Secretary, Vice President Joseph Msika and Parliamentary Speaker Emmerson
Mnangagwa as the deputy presidents and second secretaries and Justice, Legal
and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa as national chairman,
in defiance of the directive that one of the vice presidents should be a
woman. The source told The Daily Mirror last night: "We are going to sort
out the problem there. The President and members of the Politburo will be in
Bulawayo on Friday to meet the province's leadership to find out what
happened." Playing down the defiance of Bulawayo province, national
political commissar and Minister Without Portfolio Elliot Manyika yesterday
said: "I spoke to the chairman there and he told me that he had not received
the directive last week. However, we still have to find out what really
transpired on the ground and deal with the issue." The directive to nominate
a woman as co-vice president came out of an emergency politburo meeting last
Thursday.

The source said facts on the ground indicated that the Bulawayo leadership
deliberately defied the directive and that it was mind boggling that only
the Bulawayo province was ignorant of it. "Certainly major decisions will be
taken. We have to sort out the mess. You cannot defy the President," the
source reiterated. You cannot just chuck out all senior leaders. This is
like a circus." Manyika told a press conference in Harare yesterday that the
ruling party would deal with Bulawayo. However, he denied that Bulawayo had
defied the politburo and questioned: "Defiant to who?" However, speaking on
the sidelines of the press conference, Zanu PF national spokesperson Nathan
Shamuyarira said: "Bulawayo's move seemed to have been open defiance to the
Politburo directive." Ndlovu said: "I can't comment yet, but the issue is
controversial." During the liberation struggle Dabengwa, a member of the
Politburo, was known as the 'Black Russian.' The ex-Zipra intelligence chief
was once incarcerated on a treason charge after independence, but later
released and incorporated into President Mugabe's government of national
unity as Minister of Home Affairs. Ndlovu, the veteran educationist and
former deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, was said to be
making attempts back into mainstream Zanu PF politics. Efforts to get
comment from Dabengwa proved fruitless at the time of going to press last
night.

Apart from the problems in Bulawayo, Manyika said Zanu PF might re-run
nominations for the presidium in Matabeleland South because they were
presided over by a suspended provincial chairman, Lloyd Siyoka. He said the
provincial executive suspended Siyoka and the decision was endorsed by the
Politburo last Friday. "Matabeleland South's nominations were presided over
by a chairman under suspension. The Politburo endorsed the suspension," said
Manyika. "We might have to re-run the nominations. Siyoka was not supposed
to preside over the elections." The province nominated President Mugabe and
selected women's league boss Thenjiwe Lesabe and secretary for
administration and Mnangagwa as the two vice presidents. Chinamasa, a dark
horse in the race, was nominated national chairman. Meanwhile, Bulawayo Zanu
PF provincial co-ordinating committee (PCC) is divided over the nomination
of Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association leader (ZNLWVA)
Jabulani Sibanda into the central committee ahead of the party congress
slated for December 1-5 in Harare. Sibanda, alongside national youth
chairman, Absolom Sikhosana and former Bulawayo provincial chairman,
Abednico Ncube, were nominated by the district co-ordinating committee (DCC)
in Nkulumane over the weekend. Sibanda's nomination, however, did not go
down well with some PCC members, believed to be aligned to chefs who lost
bids as provincial central committee members. "The deputy secretary for
indigenisation, Jimmy Ndlela, queried the nomination of Sibanda. Ndlela felt
Sibanda should not have been nominated because of his suspension from the
party," said one party member who attended the elections.

Sibanda was suspended from Zanu PF some three years ago for, among other
reasons, disrespecting senior party members - charges he vehemently denied
and in turn accused his seniors of tribalism. The sources said Ndlela, who
is aligned to the anti-Sibanda camp, protested Sibanda's nomination, leading
to the candidature being referred back to the DCC. Themba Ncube, the Zanu PF
provincial chairman for Bulawayo, confirmed that Sibanda's candidature had
been sent back to the DCC for reconsideration. Ncube said: "It's true that
there were differences over the nomination of Sibanda. One of the DCC
members raised the issue." Speaking to The Daily Mirror last night, Sibanda
said: "I was elected unopposed and in absentia, but I hear they blocked my
nomination saying I still have a pending case which resulted in me being
fired from the party for disrespecting the hierarchy, which is nonsense."

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Zim Online

Parliament debates two controversial Bills
Wed 24 November 2004
  HARARE - Zimbabwe's Parliament was by late last night still debating two
controversial Bills one seeking to impose severe restrictions on
non-governmental organisations (NGO) in the country and another proposing
electoral reforms dismissed by theopposition as cosmetic.

      The ruling ZANU PF party was however expected to use its simple
parliamentary majority to push the two laws through the House.

      Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa indicated when debate was adjourned
last week that the government wanted the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)
Bill and the NGO Bill passed by Parliament this week.

      The NGO Bill seeks to bar civic bodies from carrying out voter
education while those focusing on human rights and governance issues will be
prohibited from receiving foreign funding.

      The ZEC Bill proposes the setting up of an electoral commission that
the government says will have the power and independence to run elections in
the country.

      But the country's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change says
the five-member commission will lack independence because its chairman will
be appointed by Mugabe while the other members will be nominated by the ZANU
PF dominated Parliament.

      By late last night, the MDC had managed to force Chinamasa to amend
the ZEC Bill and specifically reserve two seats on the commission for
women. - ZimOnline
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