| The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com
November 3, 2004
With world attention focused on the American presidential race, ruling ZANU-PF parliamentarians in Zimbabwe used their majority in the House to impose a one-year jail term of hard labour against opposition legislator Roy Bennet.
As noted by ZimOnline, that makes Bennet the first Zimbabwean to be sentenced outside the court process, and the country’s first Member of Parliament to ever be jailed over alleged contempt of parliament charges.
Bennet is alleged to have shoved Justice Minister Patrick Chinamassa during parliamentary debate last May, after the latter had referred to his ancestors as “murderers” and “thieves” who stole Zimbabe’s land from blacks.
Bennet’s arrest follows by only weeks, the acquittal of treason charges against Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai, stemming from state accusations that he plotted to kill President Robert Mugabe with the help of a Canadian-based political consultant, Ari Ben-Menashe.
“It is important that we are not lulled into any sense that the judiciary is impartial and accountable,” warned news@zvakwanaja in a communiqué following the acquittal. “The acquittal was orchestrated by the regime to make our country seem law abiding and democratic. The regime is desperate to be seen (as) upstanding, and to win favour with the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the international community ahead of next year’s election.”
Fifty-three ZANU-PF members voted to commit Bennet to incarceration against 42 opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) legislators, who opposed the motion.
Bennet had appealed to the High Court well in advance of the October 28 vote in Parliament to have the prison term set aside.
But speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa issued an order in terms of the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act barring courts from hearing Bennet’s appeal.
Mnangagwa is a close ally of Mugabe.
One of only three white opposition members of Zimbabwe’s Parliament, Bennet was arrested at Harare International Airport.
Scheduled to fly to South Africa on a business trip and return to Zimbabwe the same day, Bennet denied police charges that he was fleeing the country. “I would rather go to jail if it pleases this regime than flee my country into exile,” he said.
The pain and emotional trauma inflicted on Roy Bennet by the Mugabe regime would make a blockbuster Hollywood movie.
Sent broke by the regime when his coffee farm, in the foothills of the Chimanimami Mountains in May of 2001 was invaded, he has been forced into a change of career. During the fracas, his wife Heather, who had a pistol held to her throat, miscarried their baby.
Most western countries, including the United States did not recognize Mugabe’s tantalizingly narrow March 2002 election victory.
In a country that is starving its own people, the arrest of Roy Bennet within weeks of the acquittal of Morgan Tsvangirai seems par for the course. There are those who would argue that democracy and the whole country has been under arrest.
Their plight below the media radar screen, the longsuffering people of Zimbabwe are owed more by the international community and especially by peace-touting Canada, which harbours Ari Ben-Menashe, still conducting business with impunity from the City of Montreal.
Canada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the media. A former Toronto Sun and Kingston Whig Standard columnist, she has also appeared on Newsmax.com, the Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and World Net Daily. Judi can be reached at: cfp@canadafreepress.com.
August 19, 2002
August 16, 2002 will remain forever a red-letter day for me. That’s the day when I met real life hero Roy Bennett, senior member of Zimbabwe’s opposition.
Down to earth, direct and well spoken, Bennett doesn’t think of himself as a hero.
The sole white farmer in Zimbabwe’s parliament, he’s more coffee farmer, husband and father than politician.
The plight of almost 3,000 farmers in faraway Africa takes a back seat in the news media, whose collective eye is on unrest in the Middle East.
A passionate and outspoken advocate of freedom and liberty, Bennett has paid dearly for his courage.
"You can’t run away from everything. There are some things in life worth taking a stand for," he says of his steadfast defiant stand against Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.
Basing his land grab on correcting colonial injustice, Mugabe is demanding that the farmers turn over their farms to landless blacks on a deadline of August 8.
"This is not a black and white fight. It has nothing to do with righting colonial justice. It’s a fight about politics," Bennett told me. Real people shed real blood in Mugabe’s fight. Real tears from the real human tragedy do not move the 78-year-old Zimbabwe president.
Indeed, despite harsh criticism at home and abroad, Mugabe not only continues to push ahead with his land-grab campaign, he is adamant about not allowing any "avoidable impediments" to delay the "fast-track resettlement" by the end of this month.
Amid this power and might, a lone wolf called Roy Bennett gives new meaning to the phrase the power of one, and continues flinging his stones from a slingshot.
Worrying enough to be in the middle of human rights carnage at a time in history when what is going on in Zimbabwe is overshadowed by Mid-East unrest. This is an injustice masquerading under the alibi of "correcting colonial justice," by a president whose henchmen are dignified by the name "war veterans."
"The majority of the President’s politburo are far too young to be war veterans," Bennett insists.
The coffee farmer knows the terror of their violence firsthand. Since Mugabe’s war veterans invaded his Charleswood estate in the foothills of the Chimanimani Mountains in May of 2001, he has lost hundreds of thousands of pounds in revenue and his wife miscarried their baby.
With Charleswood ravaged, Bennett turned it into a stronghold for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, of which he remains an active member.
For farmers working the land, the fight going on in Zimbabwe is straight out of a horror movie complete with black militants armed with clubs and stones.
When it was the militant’s turn to invade Charleswood, they came of a sudden, driving around in Bennett’s vehicles, first chasing down, then catching, and beating up his workers. His cattle were shot and eaten. His wife, Heather, and children, Charles and Casey were forced into hiding.
The invaders decimated the once idyllic estate, as romantic and peaceful a setting as any that could be found. Before leaving, they had ruined not only 100 tons of the year’s coffee crop; they wiped out the painstaking preparations for another three years of planting. Devastating losses were estimated at more than 200,000 pounds.
A Scottish marketing company interested in building a coffee production plant on the estate backed off.
Just as the shock was beginning to wear off, wife Heather, who had had a pistol held to her throat, miscarried.
Living well on a coffee farm one day and barely surviving the next would drive even the bravest off the land and leave them discouraged for a long time to come.
But Bennett, a farmer at heart, is not the type to cut and run. "We’ve got to make the best of it. We’re making it work, putting our backs into it," he said.
Bennett’s private mission is convincing other farmers to stand strong and believe in Zimbabwe’s future. "We’ve got to keep going. Our long-term future is in our own home country."
Even with threats on his life, one of Bennett’ first moves after the desecration of his estate was to launch a civil lawsuit against Agrippa Natanga, the Mugabe henchman he blames for much of the violence at Charleswood.
"I know my constituency is 100 per cent behind me. Our greatest asset is our people. A lot of Zanu people are very good and are totally opposed to what is going on."
While Mugabe’s brutal regime sweeps through the farms, millions of southern Africans in Zimbabwe and elsewhere face food shortages due to the disruption on the farms, coupled with severe drought.
Someday there will be peace in Zimbabwe. And when it comes Roy Bennett, who embodies the true meaning of the power of one, will be working the land on his coffee farm.
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SOKWANELE
Enough
is Enough
We have a fundamental
right to freedom of expression!
On August 17th 2004 SADC leaders, meeting in Mauritius, adopted the SADC Protocol – Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections. Zimbabwe, as a member of SADC, also signed the Protocol and committed itself to implementing its standards.
“Mauritius
Watch” provides a regular, objective and non-partisan assessment of Zimbabwe’s
compliance with the Protocol. In the
run-up to the 2005 Parliamentary Elections we note any significant failures to
adhere to the SADC standards.
Date |
Incidents/Developments |
SADC standards breached |
|
27.10.04 |
COSATU DEPORTATION Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (Cosatu) officials,
who had gone to Zimbabwe on a fact-finding mission at the invitation of the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), were unceremoniously removed from a
meeting with ZCTU in Harare and summarily deported from the country on
27th October. The deportation was carried out despite an order
granted by the Zimbabwe High Court the previous day interdicting the government
from deporting them. Zimbabwean
immigration and CIO officials were in such haste to get the 12 member delegation
out of the country that, instead of waiting for the next flight out they had
them driven to the Beit Bridge border post and dumped on the South African
side. This extraordinary snub to an alliance partner of the ANC
has brought widespread condemnation from trade union movements and others across
the region. The South African Communist
Party (SACP) which is the third member of the tripartite alliance with the ANC,
said it was “outraged and angered by the rounding up and expulsion of the Cosatu
delegation … We call on our government”, they said, “to strongly condemn this
action. This act is ultimate proof that the Mugabe regime is essentially
dictatorial and undemocratic”. Cosatu also issued a strongly worded condemnation of the
illegal deportation, as did the MDC and many other human rights’ and political
groups. The ZCTU has threatened
unspecified action in retaliation. (For further details refer to - The Standard
- http://www.thestandard.co.zw, Zimbabwe Independent
www.theindependent.co.zw, Zimonline - www.zimonline.co.zw - 26/27/28 October) |
Article 4 of the Treaty establishing SADC in 1992 – “human rights, democracy and the rule of law” are to principles guiding the acts of member states … 2.1.2. Freedom of association 2.1.3. Political tolerance 4.1.2 Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections Plus Clause 6 The rights and responsibilities of SADC Election Observers, which should be accorded as far as possible to bona fide fact-finding missions from within the SADC region |
|
31.10.04 |
ZIMBABWE’S POLICE
BRAINWASHED Members of
Zimbabwe's police force, once the most respected and efficient in southern
Africa, have been ordered to attend brutal "reorientation" camps to be fed
anti-white, anti-MDC (the opposition Movement for Democratic Change) propaganda
in the run-up to next year's elections. In a tactic akin to those used by
hard-line Communist regimes, police officers face “reprogramming" at the hands of Robert
Mugabe's feared Central Intelligence Organisation. The camps, which have been established to help to ensure victory for Mr Mugabe in parliamentary elections scheduled for next March, are similar to those used in the late 1990s to brainwash the youth militia. The gangs, known as the Green Bombers, were responsible for murder, rape and torture of opposition campaigners and supporters.
|
2.1.4. Political tolerance 4.1.2. Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections 7.4. Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens… 7.7. Ensure that adequate security is provided to all parties … |
|
28.10.04 |
MDC Legislator sent to JailIn a clear abuse of Parliament’s powers to discipline its own members, ZANU PF used its built-in majority in the House to send opposition MP Roy Bennett to jail for an effective term of 12 months with hard labour. In May this year, acting under the most severe provocation, Bennett pushed Patrick Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamenary Affairs, to the floor. He has since apologized unreservedly for his actions, but despite the apology and notwithstanding the merciless taunting to which he had been subjected by the Minister, Bennett was sentenced to this term and taken directly from Parliament to prison. Considering the
circumstances and noting that Chinamasa had not even the slightest bruising
following the brief altercation, the sentence is considered to be grossly
excessive and totally disproportionate to the offence. Faced with similar circumstances a
Magistrates Court might have been expected to caution and discharge an accused
or, at most, impose a small financial penalty.
Furthermore the Speaker of Parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has since issued an order in terms of the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act, purporting to bar the Courts from reviewing Parliament’s decision or hearing an appeal launched by Bennett’s lawyers. (For further details refer to Daily News Online -http://www.daily-news.co.za/, ZWNEWS -http://www.zwnews.com/, Sokwanele Comment – http://www.sokwanele.com/) |
2.1.3. Political tolerance 2.1.7. Independence of the Judiciary (which must here include bodies like Parliament with sentencing powers) 4.1.1. Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of the citizens 4.1.2. Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections |
|
28.10.04 |
34 MDC supporters arrested for holding Meeting
|
2.1.1. Full participation of citizens in the political process 2.1.2. Freedom of association 4.1.1 Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of the citizens 7.4 Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens including the freedom of movement, assembly, association expression and campaigning … |
|
29.10.04 |
INDEPENDENT
NEWS WEBSITES MUSHROOM An indication of
how little democratic space is left in Zimbabwe is given by the mushrooming of
Internet news websites. The Mugabe
regime has already shut down three independent newspapers and threatened to
close down the remaining ones. As a result scores of journalists have been
pushed out of (For further details refer to the Zimbabwe Independent - www.theindependent.co.zw) |
2.1.5 Equal opportunity for all political parties to access the state media 7.4. Access to the media for all stakeholders during the electoral process |
|
30.10.04 |
CIVIL SERVANTS
FORCED TO PAY FOR ZANU PF CONGRESS The ruling ZANU PF
party has deducted $100 000 from each civil servant's October salary in a
desperate bid to raise $25 billion to fund the party's watershed December
Congress. Zanu PF was thrown into crisis after the party's funds budgeted for
the Congress were trapped in three financial institutions which were shut down
earlier this year as part of the regime’s clean up exercise in the troubled
banking sector. The ruling party needs to raise $25 billion for the Congress and
has unilaterally sought to raise the funds from members of the army, police,
teachers and newly resettled farmers. Progressive Teachers
Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said the union had
received complaints from teachers who had had money deducted from their salaries
without their prior knowledge nor consent. "We have received reports from
teachers especially in the rural areas, who are being forced to donate money to
things they are not aware of or interested in. Some of our members say they had
been told the deductions are for the ZANU PF Congress," he said. Zimbabwe National Army spokesman Ben Ncube
refused to shed more light on the deductions on soldiers' salaries saying the
issue was confidential. "That's a confidential matter. We can't discuss why and
how money is deducted," he said. Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena also
refused to discuss the matter. The ruling party argues that the civil
servants should be grateful for their jobs which it claims are a result of its
efforts in winning the liberation war. (For
further details refer to Zim Online - www.zimonline.co.zw) |
4.1.6. Where applicable, funding of political parties must be transparent and based on agreed threshold in accordance with the laws of the land 7.4. Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens … 7.5 Take all necessary measures and precautions to prevent the perpetration of fraud, rigging or any other illegal practices throughout the whole electoral process … |
|
30.10.04 |
NO
CONSULTATION ON POLLING DATE (For further details refer to Zim Online - www.zimonline.co.zw) |
4.1.3. Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections |
|
31.10.04 |
CALL TO KILL
MDC SUPPORTERS (For further details refer to The Standard -http://www.thestandard.co.zw/ ) |
2.1.3. Political tolerance 4.1.2. Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections 7.7 Ensure that adequate security is provided to all parties participating in the elections |
|
31.10.04 |
VIOLENCE
ESCALATES |
4.1.2. Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections |
|
29.10.04 |
ZIMBABWE NAMED AMONG WORLD’S TOP PRESS TYRANNIES The Mugabe regime was this week named among the world’s top press tyrannies in a new list complied by Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) . This came as the regime was stepping up pressure against the few remaining private newspapers in the country. The attacks include the harassment and arrest of journalist, unwarranted threats against the private press and newspaper vendors to limit circulation. The report by RSF notes the regime has banned the opposition from access to the state media. It also comments on the proposed amendments to the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) “It is widely feared the amended media law will give the Information Minister more sweeping powers and virtually criminalize the journalism profession”. (For further details refer to Zimbabwe Independent - www.theindependent.co.zw) |
2.1.5 Equal opportunity for all political parties to access the state media 4.1.2 Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections 7.4. (Duty to) safeguard … access to the media on the part of all stakeholders during electoral processes … |
On the basis of these and numerous other, daily, breaches of the SADC
Protocol on Democratic Elections, it can be fairly said that the government is
showing no serious intent of changing its ways or beginning to prepare for
anything resembling free, fair and peaceful elections. And the proposed Parliamentary Elections
are now only 4 months away.
Ends.