Tell that to the children
author/source:ZWNEWS
published:Sat
12-Oct-2002
Zimbabweans will need all these potential leaders, desperately, if
their country is not to slide into endemic banditry
Comment
By Michael Hartnack
At least 8 000 Zimbabwean children, the Amani Trust estimates, have been
traumatised by seeing their parents or teachers subjected to political brutality
by militant supporters of Robert Mugabe. It is a figure that should be borne in
mind by those commentators who, from a safe distance in foreign lands, sneer at
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change for not getting the people on the
streets. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has spoken repeatedly of putting the
creation of a long lasting political culture of democracy and tolerance before
the short-term goal of his own power. However, there are voices calling for the
party to espouse revenge and retaliation. A recent article in the
independently-owned Daily News, written under a pseudonym, called the MDC
leaders a “bunch of cowards”. The writer listed MDC supporters who have been
murdered with impunity by members of Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party, and
declared, “The best way to destroy an evil system is to let such people have a
taste of their own medicine.” Ominously, the writer urged the formation of a
militant “Third Force” to get rid of both Zanu PF and the MDC. Happily, the
weight of Zimbabwean culture is still against such hot heads. Although two
children were reported to have been accidentally trampled to death last week in
stampedes for maize meal, queues are generally orderly and good-humoured,
showing this culture lives on, even in dire straits.
In the context of the shortages, by the way, we discovered last week the
regime's working definition of “a journalist” anyone who records information
Zanu PF does not want recorded. MDC member of Parliament Roy Bennett was
arrested under draconian new anti-press laws on charges of working as a
journalist without accreditation. He video-recorded officials distributing maize
to people who had asked to be "assisted" in voting, on the grounds they were
illiterate. Those who did not ask for assistance were barred from getting the
maize piled high near the polling stations. Legislation presented to Parliament
last week bans private organisations from giving voters instructions on how to
complete ballot papers without assistance. While the official media crow that
these bogus elections indicate the impending demise of the MDC, the depth of
popular anger must not be mistaken. For now, however, as Tsvangirai well knows,
people are pre-occupied with day to day survival. Some, even in towns, go
without a crust of bread from one day to another, while in rural area such as
Binga they are reduced to eating vile-tasting porridge made from leaves of wild
plants.
Mugabe's security forces, shielded from these hardships, could not be
relied on – yet - to defy orders to shoot down protestors. An MDC legislator
told me the party has information that the regime hopes there will be unrest at
this comparatively early stage to give Mugabe an excuse to destroy potential
leaders of civil society. “Pseudo dissidents” may be deployed to fabricate a
“British-sponsored invasion.” When the crunch comes - when Mugabe has a health
crisis, or his lieutenants panic and start fighting for places in the life
boats, and the warlords turn on each other over the loot - Zimbabweans will need
all these potential leaders, desperately, if their country is not to slide into
endemic banditry. There are grounds for fearing the business sector will just
sweet-talk the warlords. In the sector's long, craven tradition, the tobacco
giant BAT withdrew sponsorship last week for the Zimbabwe Institute of Public
Relations Communicator of the Year award. The company was frightened the award
might go to Jenni Williams of the Justice for Agriculture Group, formerly
spokeswoman for the Commercial Farmers' Union, for her work exposing the rape of
commercial agriculture over the past two years.
The action of the Southern African Development Community at last week's
summit in Luanda may perhaps offer a glimmer of hope. Mugabe (accompanied as
always by his young wife) went there expecting to be nominated to become SADC
chairman in 2003. He returned early, in high dudgeon, his spokesmen declaring he
had “chosen not to take over the post,” and had “other pressing commitments.”
Actions of this sort, which undermine Mugabe's overweening pretensions, require
neighbouring countries to summon the political will. They serve to save lives
both in the short term (by reducing the bully boys' confidence in their culture
of impunity) and in the long term by helping to revive hopes that peaceful
change still has a chance. We who remain, and here the responsibility lies
heavily on a handful of independent journalists, must strive to check the growth
of Zimbabwe's latest image as an international by-word for mistreatment of
whites by blacks. Black people have suffered most at Mugabe's hands, and white
people have been privileged to witness some truly inspiring examples of black
goodwill. We must tell that to the children.
Zimbabwe faces Aussie action
CANBERRA|Published: Sunday October 13, 10:05 AM
Australia will launch sanctions against Zimbabwe from today, Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer said.
Mr Downer said the proposed measures would include a ban on visits to
Australia by 77 top officials including Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and a
freeze on any of their assets in Australia.
He said Australia would suspend all ministerial contacts, terminate
non-humanitarian aid programs and ban the sale of any defence equipment to the
Zimbabwe military.
Mr Downer said these were symbolic gestures.
"Obviously, they are not going to overwhelm the Zimbabwe administration in
any way," he said on ABC Television.
"But they are an important statement by Australia that we have done
everything we can to try to get Zimbabwe effectively to engage with the
international community ... particularly with the Commonwealth.
"They have refused to do so in a constructive way."
Mr Downer said Mr Mugabe boycotted the most recent Commonwealth meeting in
Nigeria, although his officials indicated he would attend.
He said it was important that Australia send a strong message to Zimbabwe and
the rest of the international community.
"Here is a country that Malcolm Fraser when he was the prime minister helped
to put in place a democratic regime that led to the election of President
Mugabe," Mr Downer said.
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE - LEGAL COMMUNIQUE - 11th October
Most farmers
are aware of what transpired at the CFU Matabeleland meeting
last Friday
where there was a unanimous vote for litigation rather than
dialogue and a
call for the CFU President's and Vice-President's
resignation and for a
referendum of all commercial farmers. Herewith in
the interests of
transparency, the transcript of the speech by Chris
Jarrett of the
Nyamandhlovu Farmers Association. Included also in the
interests of
transparency, is the interim provisional ruling on an urgent
representative
action brought in the Bulawayo High Court lodged that same
day. It must be
stressed that this is an action brought as a
representative urgent action by
the Matabeleland Commercial Farmers'
Union.
Needless to say that this
will have a knock on affect throughout the
country and a similar action
should be brought in the Harare High court to
cover the rest of the
country.
John W.Worswick
SPEECH BY CHAIRMAN OF NYAMANDHLOVU
FARMERS' ASSOCIATION
About two years ago in this hall, I gave the
Director a book Nick
Swanepoel needed to read. Nick was proposing a solution
to the land crisis
whereby a one-off tranche of appeasement would satisfy
forever the demands
of a power hungry clique.
The book was a history
of Neville Chamberlain's attempts to appease Adolf
Hitler, how this
appeasement policy failed ultimately, resulting in the
Second World War. Nick
Swanepoel never demonstrated that he understood the
pitfalls of appeasement.
Neither it appears do you, Mr. President.
Our Government has broken every
agreement concerning land since they
signed at the 1998 Donors Conference.
Abuja, SADC Summits - all of them
have been trashed.
In addition,
we've had a presidential election that clearly was ******
(fraught with
problems). We have a civil service increasingly ******
(compromised). And
you, Mr. President, in spite of all this, believe you
can deal honourably
with these people. As long as you don't rock the boat,
as long as you can
cast aside the Ben Freeth's whose prayers at Congress
made ****** (the
authorities) squirm - then you can do a deal. Then you
like Chamberlain, can
achieve "peace in our time".
Well you are wrong. Not only that but you've
been used. Worse still you've
allowed the Union to be used to prolong the
stay of an illegitimate
abomination you call "the ****** (authorities) of the
day".
You have an irrational compulsion to interact passively with people
who
blatantly in front of television cameras oversee the plunder of farms,
the
killing of dogs. Then you bring them to congress and ingratiate
yourself
by slating farmers who are disgusted by what is being done and who
have
the courage to do something about it.
You refuse to challenge
illegality because it may upset those with whom
you have dialogue. Then
individuals and Farmers' Associations have to
institute a multiplicity of
legal actions that rightfully are the
responsibility of the Union to look
after the interests of members. We in
Nyamandhlovu have you to thank for our
legal bill of over a quarter of a
million dollars.
Although I believe
you, like Chamberlain, felt you were doing the right
thing, you see how
disastrous your appeasement approach has been.
We in Nyamandhlovu expect
you to acknowledge that your policy was wrong
and that it was not in line
with the wishes of members generally. We
expect you and your Vice-President
to resign as you are no longer
acceptable to represent our interests. Should
you refuse I am tasked to
tell you our Farmers Association in Nyamandhlovu
will not be renewing
their memberships.
CHRIS JARRETT
Chairman
Nyamandhlovu Farmers' Association
CASE NO HC2394/02
IN THE
HIGH COURT OF ZIMBABWE
In the matter between:
THE COMMERCIAL
FARMERS UNION
MATABELELAND BRANCH
Applicant
and
THE OFFICER
COMMANDING, ZIMBABWE REPUBLIC POLICE,
MATABELELAND SOUTH PROVINCE
1st
Respondent
and
THE OFFICER COMMANDING, ZIMBABWE REPUBLIC POLICE,
MATABELELAND NORTH PROVINCE
2nd Respondent
Bulawayo: Friday, 11th
day of October, 2002
Before the Honourable Mr. Justice
Cheda
Advocate E. Matinenga Counsel for Applicant
WHEREUPON, after
reading the documents filed of record and hearing
Advocate Matinenga for the
Applicant,
TO:- THE OFFICER COMMANDING, ZIMBABWE REPUBLIC POLICE,
MATABELELAND SOUTH
PROVINCE
and
THE OFFICER COMMANDING,
ZIMBABWE REPUBLIC POLICE, MATABELEAND NORTH PROVINCE
TAKE NOTE THAT on
the 11th day of October 2002, the Honourable Mr. Justice
Cheda sitting at
Bulawayo issued a provisional order as shown overleaf.
The annexed
Chamber Application, Affidavits and documents were used in
support of the
application for this Provisional Order.
If you intend to oppose the
confirmation of this Provisional Order, you
will have to file a notice of
Opposition in Form 29B, together with one or
more opposing affidavits, with
the Registrar of the High Court at Bulawayo
within ten (10) days after the
date on whch this Provisional Order and
Annexures were served upon you. You
will also have to serve a copy of the
Opposition and affidavits on the
Applicant at the address for service
specified in the application.
If
you do not file an opposing affidavit within the period specified
above, this
matter will be set down for hearing in the High Court at
Bulawayo without
further notice to you and will be dealt with as an
unopposed application for
confirmation of the Provisional Order.
If you wish to have the
Provisional Order changed or set aside sooner
than the rules of the Court
normally allow and can show good cause for
this, you should approach the
Applicant's Legal Practitioners to agree,
in consultation with the Registrar,
on a suitable hearing date. If this
cannot be agreed or there is a great
urgency, you may make a Chamber
Application, on notice to the Applicant, for
directions from a Judge as
to when the matter can be argued.
TERMS OF
ORDER SOUGHT
That you show cause to this Honourable Court why a final
order should not
be made in the following terms:
That the present farm
evictions being carried out by the Zimbabwe Republic
Police be and are hereby
declared to be unlawful.
That the Zimbabwe Republic Police be and are
hereby permanently
interdicted from evicting any farmer from his farm until
such time as the
Administrative Court has confirmed the acquisition of the
said farm and
that there is a lawful court order evicting the
farmer.
That any farmer unlawfully evicted from his farm be and is
hereby
permitted to return to the said farm and that First and Second
Respondents
are hereby ordered to ensure that the farmer is restored to his
farm.
That First and Second Respondents should be ordered to pay
applicant's
costs of suit in this application.
INTERIM RELIEF
GRANTED
Pending the determination of this matter, the applicant is
granted the
following relief:
1. That the Zimbabwe Republic Police be
and hereby interdicted from
evicting any farmer from his farm until such time
as the Administrative
Court has confirmed the acquisition and there is a
lawful court order
evicting the said farmer.
2. That any farmer
unlawfully evicted from his farm be and is hereby
permitted to return to the
said farm and that First and Second Respondents
are hereby ordered to ensure
that the farmer is restored to his farm.
SERVICE OF PROVISIONAL
ORDER
That this court application and provisional order be served upon
the First
and Second Respondents by the Deputy Sheriff.
BY THE
JUDGE.
REGISTRAR.
N.B. Anyone who requires a copy of the
original document urgently, this
can be made available by FAX or a copy can
be collected from the JAG
offices, 17 Phillips Ave, Belgravia,
Harare
JOBS ON OFFER
Full
Time Personal Assistant required for young dynamic company
executive.
Successful applicant will be female, aged 35-45, motivated,
bright, keen
to learn, and able to run the show alone for short periods of
time. Does
not need to be an expert on computers, just keen to learn. This
job is a
genuine solid offer, with a good package for the right person.
Phone Lindsay Campbell 023 410 300 for further details.
Two
opportunities have arisen in Nigeria:
Northern Nigeria: Farm Manager
required for 3500 ha farm, mostly
cereal/row crops, but some other crops
also. Owner is offering an expat
package, with usual perks. Interviews will
take place in Johannesburg
between 10 & 15th December 2002, expenses
paid. Please submit CV with full
particulars to masibs@zol.co.zw, or fax to 04 744166.
Schools are
available, and Nigeria is only 5 hrs' flight time away!
Phone
Mary Cosgrove for more details on 011 613735.
Eastern Nigeria :
Timber/forestry Specialist required to manage a 114 ha
forestry concession,
with sawmill and furniture factory. Successful
applicant must be capable of
managing the concession and running the
furniture factory & sawmill.
Expat package with usual perks offered.
Interviews will take place in
Johannesburg between 10 & 15th December,
exps paid. Please submit CV with
full particulars to masibs@zol.co.zw,
or
fax to 04 744166, or contact Mary Cosgrove on 011 613735.
Job in
RSA - no further details available - ph Sakki Van Der Clos 021
9398365 or 021
9399909
Junior Manager required for 94 ha tobacco, 15 ha paprika, maize,
& 26 ha
coffee. Contact Willie Watson on 064 7535
I write on
behalf of a company called Instamac (Pvt) Ltd.
We are a medium sized
construction/development company specialising in
residential and other
developmental infrastructure. Amazingly enough in
these troubled times, we
currently have a large volume of works on our
books. Subsequently, we are
urgently looking for suitable persons to
recruit as staff in the following
fields :
(a) Construction Site Management
(b) Workshop
Management.
(a) Above would involve managing at least one construction
site in or near
to Harare (i.e. Ruwa and Norton). The type of construction we
are currently
mainly involved in, is that of providing roads, water and
sewerage to
residential stands. Construction of housing may come in at a
later stage.
The incumbent manager would be responsible for at least one
site, and all
the construction works on it (i.e. plant, labour, materials,
etc.). The
works on site are not highly technical, but does require a person
with a
practical mind, motivation and initiative.
(b) Above would
involve the daily management of our central workshops in
Harare, plus the
liaison of our various site workshops and personnel. This
vacancy again
requires a hands on type of person, with some mechanical
experience, but not
necessarily a formal qualification in mechanics. We
are prepared to offer
the right type of person a good package. It would be
good if the person(s)
had their own transport. We would obviously pay for
this.
We have
contacted yourselves since we admire your positive and motivated
stance in
these difficult times, and because you may have a database of
ex-farm
owners/managers who have experienced problems recently, and may be
looking
for something to do. We feel these types of people would be ideal
for the
vacancies we have described above.
Thank-you for your time, and we would
greatly appreciate it if you
wouldn't mind possibly posting a copy of this
e-mail onto your
noticeboards, and/or with the relevant persons in your
organisation.
Thank-you once again for your kind cooperation on this
issue.
Yours faithfully
Paul Brown
Contracts Director for
Instamac
Accomodation in RSA
Accomodation and Assistance offered to
Zim refugees in Western Cape, also
JoBurg and Bloemfontein. Contact Carol
Miller at mil@iafrica.com.
Weekly
South African Newspaper advertising jobs: www.helderberg.co.za
Farming
Opportunity in SA
My family has a farm in Lowveld (Nelspruit), which was once
regarded as
the best tobacco ground in the lowveld. We would love to offer
the land
to evicted land owners from Zimbabwe, to use and restore their
lives
again. Please could you let me know if you know of people that would
be
interested!!
My uncle up in the northern province can be contacted
regarding this matter.
Dennis Traynor +27 15 295 9247
Regards
Jack
Smith
083 235
5615
____________________________________________________
Justice for
Agriculture mailing list
To subscribe/unsubscribe: Please write to jag-list-admin@mango.zw
When a President Becomes an Outcast
Financial Gazette
(Harare)
EDITORIAL
October 10, 2002
Posted to the web October 11,
2002
THAT President Robert Mugabe chose to pass over the Southern
Africa
Development Community (SADC) chairmanship to Tanzania at the just
ended
regional summit in Luanda because he is preoccupied with completing
his
agrarian reforms is neither here nor there.
The bottom line is
that the SADC leaders, fearing the contagion of Mugabe's
policies, told him
it was not be. The government, through its propaganda
mouthpieces, can lie,
rant and rave, but the truth is that Mugabe has become
a destabilising force
in southern Africa.
Mugabe has not only become a liability to his
colleagues in the region, but
he has become an outcast, a misfit. I'm sure it
would not be far fetched to
suggest that presidents Thabo Mbeki of South
Africa and Festus Mogae of
Botswana are in their hearts saying 'if only we
could choose our
neighbours'.
In the days leading to the summit, the
state media in Zimbabwe was gloating
that Mugabe would soon assume the deputy
chairmanship of SADC, and this was
the official position known by all member
states.
It is important to note that then, the government never hinted
that it would
not take up the position because it had a busy schedule. The
fact that the
land reform programme is underway has been known for the past
two years, way
before the summit.
The SADC chairmanship is a largely
ceremonial post and most of the work is
executed by the
secretariat.
It boggles the mind that the implementation of the
controversial land reform
programme - a free-for-all looters' paradise - is
so overwhelming as to
prevent Zimbabwe from taking up the ceremonial
chairmanship.
When a president becomes a confirmed outcast wherever he
goes, all sorts of
excuses are peddled to try to save face.
Looking at
it from another angle, the SADC leaders know very well that the
behaviour of
any president at the helm of the regional bloc has far-reaching
implications
on the way the rest of the world views the entire region.
The region
foresaw an image problem if they allowed Mugabe to assume the
leadership of
SADC, which they would have to battle with at the expense of
tackling
developmental issues and much sought after investment.
Coming at a time
when they are trying to foster development and good
governance in southern
Africa through the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD), Mugabe's
leadership of SADC was a non-starter.
Mugabe has become a fly in the
ointment for the region. He has become a pain
to, not only poverty stricken
Zimbabweans, but to the region as a whole,
which is battling to woo foreign
investment.
No reasonable organisation, let alone a country, would
progress with such a
leader at the helm.
But to those who have been
following events, it comes as no surprise that
Mugabe has over the past year
been diplomatically sidelined by his peers,
who I have no doubt agree he is a
liability in global politics.
During the launch of the African Union
earlier this year, Mugabe was
relegated to the backstage as if to save the
event from any controversy.
Even in the spearheading of NEPAD, Mugabe was
again sidelined because of
fears that the whole project might suffer from his
contagion.
During the United Nations summit held in New York a month ago,
American
President George Bush met 10 heads of state from Africa on the
sidelines to
discuss the NEPAD project and notably absent was our own
Mugabe.
When a president becomes an outcast, the only people who want to
be near him
are the demented and the sycophants.
When as a president,
governments the world over enact laws to ban you from
even visiting their
countries, then you indeed have become an outcast.
Nothing can drive home the
point better than that.
Zimbabwe, because of its leadership, is viewed as
a leper by the rest of the
world.
This is why Zimbabwe, as a country,
is crumbling. Because we have at the
helm a leader who has now been virtually
isolated by the rest of the world.
We have an outcast leading a nation
endowed with a skilled labour force that
is in need of peace and
prosperity.
Unless and until we rid ourselves of the outcasts and misfits
in our midst,
who are the sources of our suffering, we shall remain an
outcast as a
nation. The responsibility to change this damning situation is
in our hands.
UN urged to investigate state torture
Zimbabwe opposition leader says
rights abuses are on the rise
Andrew Meldrum in Harare
Saturday
October 12, 2002
The Guardian
Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan
Tsvangirai, yesterday urged the United
Nations to investigate the growing
number of incidents of state torture in
the country.
"We are witnessing an
alarming rise of cases of torture, electric shocks and
beatings perpetrated
by the police," Mr Tsvangirai told the Guardian. "We
are calling on the UN
human rights commission to urgently investigate this.
It would help to stop
the carnage, the violence and human rights abuses that
are taking place in
the country.
"It is clear that Zimbabwe's political crisis is deepening
and state torture
is being used to suppress any opposition to the Mugabe
regime. We are
appealing to the UN to look into this as soon as possible,"
added Mr
Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
"We are appealing to the international community to help us stop
the torture
and to hold the perpetrators accountable. The police, the army,
the CIO
[central intelligence organisation], the militia are all being used
to
inflict violence and brutality against the people. They are on a campaign
to
crush our opposition party."
More than 1,050 cases of torture in
Zimbabwe have been documented this year,
according to a report issued this
week by the Human Rights Forum.
Linos Mushonga, a Harare city councillor
and MDC member, said he repeatedly
lost consciousness from police giving him
electric shocks. "They attached
electrodes to my toes, my fingers and my
penis. They said they were going to
punish me for supporting the opposition,"
Mr Mushonga said.
"They switched the current on again and again. The pain
shot through my body
and I saw white, like lightning. I went into
convulsions."
The torture took place at Chinamora police station at the
end of August, he
said. "I had been blindfolded but I knew we were at the
Chinamora station
because I could hear the police radio
communications."
Mr Mushonga was not released until September 17; he was
then in hospital for
eight days. Doctors' reports confirm injuries consistent
with electric
shocks and beatings.
"If the police can do this to me, a
city councillor, then who is safe in
Zimbabwe?" Mr Mushonga asked. "This has
happened to many other people. The
international community is letting us
down. How can Augustine Chihuri
[Zimbabwe's police commissioner] be a
vice-president of Interpol? How can he
be the chairman of the southern
African regional police organisation?"
Other recent reports of torture
include Tom Tawanda Spicer, 18, a leader of
the MDC's youth wing, who was
also shocked into convulsions and beaten,
according to medical reports. He
claims his torture took place at Harare's
central police
station.
"This is happening at police stations across the country,"
admitted a member
of the police force, who would not give his name for fear
of retribution.
"Many of us are ashamed of it but if we protest we are
reprimanded."
Zimbabwean human rights groups are compiling reports of
torture and offering
medical treatment and counselling to the
victims.
Those groups are also facing the wrath of the Mugabe government.
Recently
police raided the offices of the Amani Trust and arrested Dr
Frances
Lovemore, who treats victims of violence. He was jailed for more than
24
hours before being released without charge.
· A leading US food aid
official warned yesterday that Zimbabwe would face a
"major famine" if the
government did not allow massive amounts of food to be
imported by the end of
the year. Tony Hall, the US ambassador to the UN food
and agriculture
organisation said: "The critical time is in the next two
months."
Botswana to Probe Alleged Rights Abuses
Mmegi/The Reporter
(Gaborone)
October 11, 2002
Posted to the web October 11,
2002
Fraser Mpofu
Bulawayo
The Botswana government will
institute investigations into allegations that
its law enforcement
authorities are subjecting Zimbabwean visitors and
immigrants to severe
beatings and other forms of ill treatment, the Botswana
High Commissioner in
Harare said last week.
The Botswana High Commissioner, Cecil Manyeula
pledged to act after the
Zimbabwean state-controlled media carried extensive
reports of alleged
brutality and human rights abuses on Zimbabwean visitors
by Botswana
authorities.
After the reports, Manyeula immediately held
a meeting in Bulawayo with
Obert Mpofu the governor for Matabeleland north
province, which covers
western Zimbabwe. He was accompanied by an unnamed
senior Batswana
immigration official.
The High Commissioner confirmed
in a post-meeting interview that his
government would investigate the claims
after which a proper response would
be made. He did not disclose more
details.
The reports in the state-controlled media last week claimed that
the Special
Support Group (SSG), army and police routinely rounded up and
assaulted
Zimbabweans visiting or living illegally in Botswana.
In
reports also carried in its sister papers countrywide, Chronicle,
a
Bulawayo-based daily wrote in its issue of Wednesday last week
that
Zimbabweans, some with proper travel documents' were being deported
from
Botswana while female travellers alleged sexual abuse. The paper
splashed
front-page pictures of deportees bearing fresh wounds, allegedly
inflicted
on them after beatings by law enforcement agents in Botswana, in a
story
under a screaming headline, - Extreme Brutality.
According to
the newspaper, the Batswana authorities told deportees to '"Go
back to
Zimbabwe and till your land." Botswana is a favoured destination
for
thousands of hard-up Zimbabweans who are fleeing economic hardships at
home.
Thousands of others are flying to the United States, Australia, Canada
or
the United Kingdom daily as economic problems, marked by shortage of
basic
commodities, high prices, unemployment and low wages deepen. Scores of
other
Zimbabweans travel to South Africa.
Thousands of informal
Zimbabwean cross-border traders travel between
Zimbabwe and Botswana through
Francistown in droves to conduct business in
various commodities. On the
other hand large numbers of Batswana shoppers
routinely travel to and from
Zimbabwe and scores of Batswana students are
studying at colleges in
Zimbabwe, mainly in Bulawayo, the second largest
city.
According to
figures obtained from immigration officials at Plumtree border
post, a total
of 18 000 illegal Zimbabwean immigrants were deported from
Botswana last
year, up from 11 000 the year before.
However, in the same stories,
Zimbabwe High Commissioner to Botswana, Zenzo
Nsimbi said while some of the
reports were true, the majority were false. He
acknowledged that a
significant number of Zimbabweans living in Botswana
were illegal
immigrants.
At the same meeting in Bulawayo, Manyeula suggested the
formation of a
regional spatial development initiative, which he said, might
be
instrumental in resolving such immigration problems and
increase
co-operation between the two neighbouring countries.
Zimbabwe
already has similar cross-border co-operation initiatives with
Zambia and
South Africa.
Batswana complain of mistreatment in Zim
Mmegi/The Reporter
(Gaborone)
October 11, 2002
Posted to the web October 11,
2002
RYDER GABATHUSE
FRANCISTOWN: In what seems to be a
tit-for-tat, Batswana who visited
Zimbabwe recently have complained of
harassment at the hands of the police
at road-blocks between Ramokgwebana
border and Bulawayo.
Speaking to Mmegi, Phase Four Customary Court
president, Paul Motshwane said
they were shocked at the way the police
handled them. "What happens at the
road blocks there is a clear form of
segregation. Driving immaculate cars
like Batswana do, you are simply
signaled off the road and subjected to a
thorough check whilst Zimbabwean
vehicles are given green lights to
proceed," he protested. After producing
all the necessary documents, the
police reportedly move around the vehicle
looking for an offence. "I was
charged 500 Zim Dollars for a cracked vehicle
wheel stud which I paid on the
spot. I was not given a receipt. Given the
police hostility we could not
wait to demand one (receipt of payment)", he
said.
Motshwane added that he was simply told, "now you can go" after
the payment.
At another roadblock Motshwane and his companions were
inexplicable called
to produce foreign exchange declaration forms and the
declaration for all
the goods they had. "All the things that the police
demanded from us was a
repetition of the point of entry procedures,"
Motshwane said.
He asserted that the behaviour of the Zimbabwean was a
clear sign of
xenophobia. "Even the remarks they made whilst assisting us
were really
bothersome. We gave them a deaf ear as we were not there for
confrontation,"
he asserted. He stated that he has been to Zimbabwe several
times, but the
treatment he encountered on his last visit on September 29 was
unusual. At
the Bulawayo Sun Motshwane said they met more hostility. "We
entered the
hotel talking amongst ourselves and in our own language. A
boisterous and
rather negative Shona speaking man turned at us and shouted
'You Batswana
you should leave us alone. And for the South Africans we will
soon demand
visas from them. You Batswana, you think you are smart and can
simply come
into our country and buy Zim dollars the way you like',"
Motshwane said. The
man went further to pronounce that he was a ZANU PF man
and would die as
such. Motshwane's experience on his way back home the
following day at the
roadblocks was not any better. His advice to Batswana
who enjoy their
shopping in Bulawayo is to "act with a lot of
caution".
Police officer Goitsemodimo Mogale who accompanied Motshwane on
the visit
was shocked how a fellow SADC and neighbouring country could
mistreat
innocent people. "Batswana are generally peace loving people who
also
respects the rule of law. It seems those officers were really looking
for us
(Batswana)," he said.
Julius Bolokwe, of the Botswana National
Productivity Centre (BNPC) office
here has also had a tough time visiting
Zimbabwe. "These people were all out
to teach us a lesson or two considering
their attitude. I have been to
Zimbabwe several times. May be they realised
that a lot of Batswana were
going to Zimbabwe to spend the holidays there and
wanted to punish us in a
way," said Bolokwe.
Meanwhile, the Officer
Commanding, Francistown Police District, Senior
Superintendent Boikhutso
Dintwa has expressed ignorance about ill-treatment
of Batswana in Zimbabwe.
He indicated that the Botswana Police and their
Zimbabwean counterparts were
working smartly together.
"The relationship between us and our Zimbabwean
counterparts remains
cordial," Dintwa said.
The Star - Malaysia
Namibian farmers wearily eye land seizures in
Zimbabwe
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - As a chaotic land seizure program
plunges
Zimbabwe into economic ruin, white farmers in neighboring Namibia
are
growing increasingly nervous.
Though the Namibian government says
it will only acquire farms from
Namibians willing to sell, President Sam
Nujoma's recent statements
lamenting the slow pace of land reform have raised
fears he will push for a
more aggressive land redistribution
plan.
"Our farmers are concerned because we cannot afford a Zimbabwe
situation,''
said Jan De Wet, president of the 3,500 member Namibian
Agricultural Union.
"It is a priority of the commercial farmers to assist
the government with
land reform.''
More than 70 percent of Namibia's
1.8 million people depend on agriculture
for a living, the vast majority of
them subsistence farmers on communal
land.
Although whites form 6
percent of the population, they own most of the
country's 4,500 commercial
farms.
Many indigenous Namibians were stripped of their land under
colonial rule.
While the government has passed legislation aimed at
rectifying the past
injustices, progress has been slow and an estimated
200,000 people remain
landless.
Last month, Nujoma told an
agricultural union conference his government was
investigating new legal ways
to acquire land for resettlement because the
process of finding willing
sellers was too slow, cumbersome and expensive.
He said it was
unacceptable for each white farmer to own more than one farm.
"The
deliberate practice of inflating land prices, which has become a
common
tactic of many land owners, is counterproductive, dangerous and
could
backfire,'' Nujoma said.
"It serves only to slow down land
redistribution, and that could result in
social (upheaval) as the landless
people become impatient.''
While landless groups have occasionally said
they planned to occupy
white-owned farms, none have carried out their
threat.
The ruling South West African People's Organization resolved at a
party
congress to expropriate 192 farms belonging to foreign absentee
landlords.
The government is still investigating the legal implications
of the
decision, but says the owners will be compensated.
De Wet said
the government had given assurances that it would not take over
any land
which belonged to Namibians, or which was being productively used.
"We
have assurances from the president, from the minister of lands, from
the
prime minister that they do not want a Zimbabwe situation in Namibia,
and
... there will be no expropriation,'' he said.
He added that ample
land was available for sale, and that his union was
working with the
government to speed up resettlement.
Few in Namibia believe Nujoma, a
close ally of Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe, would condone
Zimbabwe-style land seizures.
Namibia gained independence from South
Africa in 1990, the last African
country to gain its freedom.
Many
human rights activists see those seizures as part of a Mugabe-led
campaign to
crush the opposition in his country and to shore up his
popularity amid
economic and political chaos.
Nujoma has no need for that, said Bill
Lindeque, a political science
professor at the University of
Namibia.
"The economic conditions here are quite good (and) the political
credibility
of the government and the ruling party is strong,'' he
said.
Lindeque feels Nujoma's remarks about speeding up land
redistribution were a
part of internal party politics and did not reflect the
responsible policies
being implemented on the ground.
Phil ya
Nangoloh, director of the Namibian Human Rights Organization and a
virulent
government critic, disagreed, saying ruling party politicians had
been the
leading beneficiaries of land redistribution.
"There is genuine concern
for land reform here, but it is not being done in
a proper way,'' he
said.
Ya Nangoloh said Nujoma could use the land issue to bolster his
support for
a currently unconstitutional fourth term in office and to deflect
attention
away from rising unemployment and poverty.
"We are going the
same way Zimbabwe has gone,'' he said. - AP
The Village Voice
Nat Hentoff
Hell Is a Real Place
Zimbabwe: Anyone
in America Give a Damn?
October 11th, 2002 4:00 PM
This is the
story of a woman in Zimbabwe. She is not one of the white farmers
being
extracted from their land and homes by President Robert Mugabe and
the
veterans of the 1980 war for independence, who are in the front lines of
the
takeovers. This woman is black and is being punished for her support of
the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the leading opposition
party.
Her tormentors are members of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African
National
Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), which has been in power since
independence
was won under Mugabe's leadership. I learned of her story from a
June 20,
2002, report by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition-a wide range of
what we
call civil rights groups fighting for a "civil society." Among them:
trade
unions, women's rights organizations, students, and the Zimbabwe
Human
Rights NGO Forum. Leading the report is a letter of confirmation signed
by
Desmond Tutu, archbishop emeritus, Cape Town, South Africa-a
world-renowned
paladin of the anti-apartheid movement.
This thoroughly
documented and voluminous Zimbabwe Report contains many
horror stories. This
one is "Case 2 and 3: Baby 4 months old, and mother of
child: interview with
mother . . . Date of Incident: from November 2001, and
still continuing in
April 2002."
"B is four months old. When he was only eight days old . . .
he was taken
from his mother at midnight by 12 war veterans and held upside
down by his
ankles. The war veterans said he was a whip and they would use
him to beat
others. They slapped him on the face and all over the body and
said that he
should die because he was 'an MDC property.' The mother was
gagged and
beaten."
While she was eight months pregnant with B, the
mother was attacked by war
veterans who kicked her in the groin and lower
abdomen "until she bled
profusely from her vagina." She couldn't go for
treatment at any clinic in
her district because "she is among those
blacklisted as an MDC supporter."
(An interesting use of
"blacklisted.")
Refused health care throughout her pregnancy because of
her pariah status,
she delivered by herself at home. She has had no postnatal
care. Her child
"has also received no medical attention whatsoever-his birth
is officially
unrecorded and he has received no immunizations."
In
hiding and on the run, she is "in severe pain" and "needs urgent
specialist
attention for her back and needs to see a urologist" for problems
that
started "from her beating when eight months pregnant."
The entry of this
case in the Zimbabwe Report closes with "The history is
remarkable as to the
violence against a newborn baby; but otherwise it is in
agreement with other
testimonies of reprisals against MDC supporters."
There is a foreword to
the report by Pius A. Ncube, archbishop of Bulawayo,
Zimbabwe: "In the past
two months, I have known of a number of persons who
have died of hunger right
here in my city. We have seen police and militia
threaten, intimidate, and
sometimes attack unarmed civilian protesters. We
have spoken out, only to be
threatened and attacked ourselves. Writing a
report such as this one by the
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition carries great
risks. Those risks must be borne
by us all if we are to find a more peaceful
path into the future."
The
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in New York and Washington has
distributed
this report to members of Congress and other groups. But while
there has been
considerable coverage in newspapers, though not on
television, of what is
happening to the families of the foreclosed white
farmers, the desperate
condition of huge numbers of black Zimbabweans is
largely ignored.
In
his letter that prefaces the report, Archbishop Tutu writes: "The hard
facts
on the ground in Zimbabwe, so well compiled in this report, suggest
an
alarming array of policies and practices that may be leading the country
to
a catastrophic future. . . . The ongoing political violence . . . must
be
brought to an end. The threatening famine, caused in part by
government
lands policy, will make things even worse."
While a
critical mass of anger and indignation in this country helped end
South
African apartheid, there is scarcely any awareness here of the facts
on the
bloody ground contained in this message in the Zimbabwe Report:
"Since
January 2002, 57 people have been killed, 26 'disappeared,' and more
than 450
tortured. Thousands have been forced to flee their home areas.
Ninety percent
of the violence has been perpetrated by ZANU-PF supporters or
State Security
agents, with encouragement from leading members of
the
government."
And in the August 25 Sunday Telegraph in London,
Christina Lamb quoted Tony
Reeler, clinical director of the Amani Trust,
based in Harare, the capital
of Zimbabwe. The Trust monitors and treats
victims of torture and other
human rights abuses. Tony Reeler
says:
"We're seeing an enormous prevalence of rape, and enough cases to
say it's
being used by the State as a political tool, with women and girls
being
raped because they are wives, girlfriends, or daughters of
political
activists. There are also horrific cases of girls as young as 12 or
13 being
taken off to militia camps, used and abused and kept in forced
concubinage.
But I suspect, as with Bosnia, the real extent of what is
happening is going
to take a hell of a long time to come out." (Supporters of
the Amani Trust
include the UN's Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture and
the Swedish Red
Cross.)
Why, in this country, are there only whispers,
if that, from most civil
rights activists and organizations, the clergy of
all colors that finally
awoke to the slavery and mass rapes in Sudan,
editorial writers, women's
rights groups, and such trombones of the people as
Jesse Jackson and Al
Sharpton?
In Congress, Donald Payne of New Jersey
is involved, as he has been for many
years about slavery in Sudan, but what
of his colleagues in the
Congressional Black Caucus and the white human
rights champions on both
sides of the aisle?
For information: Lorna
Davidson, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, 333
Seventh Avenue, 13th floor,
New York, NY 10001; 212-845-5251; nyc@lchr.org.
We're supposed to be fighting a
war on terrorism, right? By the way,
Zimbabwe is a proud member of the United
Nations Human Rights
Commission-along with Syria, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, and
Sudan.
News24
Zim plans new curbs on media
Harare, Zimbabwe - The
Zimbabwean government is planning to tighten already
draconian security laws
in a bid to further restrict the independent media,
a state-owned newspaper
reported Saturday.
Zimbabwe has been gripped by more than two years of
political and economic
turmoil, widely blamed on the increasingly unpopular
ruling party. The
government has ordered the seizure of thousands of
white-owned farms and
ruthlessly tried to silence all dissent against its
policies.
A law passed earlier this year granted a state-appointed
commission the
power to ban publications and bar journalists from practicing
or have them
prosecuted.
The commission currently has to conduct an
inquiry into any alleged
infringements of the law, but a proposed amendment
may abolish this
requirement when the commission "considers that no
substantial disputes of
law or fact are required to be determined", the
state-owned Herald newspaper
reported.
The government is also
considering making abuse of the freedom of expression
an offense, it
said.
Independent jurists have yet to receive copies of the proposed
changes.
Thirteen journalists and an opposition legislator, who was
accused of
filming the distribution of food aid to ruling party supporters,
have
already been arrested under media laws, which carry maximum jail
sentences
of up to two years.
Independenet charities
Meanwhile
President Robert Mugabe has also threatened to clamp down on
independent
charities, describing them as "hatcheries of
political
opposition."
"We hear some noises about (non governmental
organisations) threatening to
defy government," he told a meeting of 200
senior ruling party officials
Friday. "We will soon remind them who they are,
where they belong and what
their accredited mission is."
Mugabe said
new laws would be drafted to curb foreign funding of
organisations which
regarded themselves as "little governments".
"Moneys continue to pour in
variously, through individuals, through Trojan
horses, among them
non-governmental organisations, trade unions, select
private media,
embassies, private companies and selected banks, through
trusts, through the
so-called international development agencies, through
foundations and even
through drought relief structures - all to be used
against us," he
said.
Mugabe began seizing white owned farms in February 2000 after
losing a
constitutional referendum that would have extended his rule
indefinitely.
Subsequent parliamentary and presidential elections which
returned the
ruling party to power and gave Mugabe another six-year term in
office were
condemned as flawed by local and international
observers.
More than 6 million Zimbabweans currently face food shortages,
blamed on
drought and the farm seizure program. - Sapa-AP
IOL
Mugabe warns against meddling
October 12 2002 at
01:02PM
Harare - President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has accused
some
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) of meddling in the country's
internal
affairs and says his government will regulate them, a newspaper
said
Saturday.
NGOs, trade unions, the private media and embassies
were among the "Trojan
horses" that received money from abroad "all to be
used against us," Mugabe
was quoted as saying in the official
Herald.
He singled out the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace
(CCJP), a
church-funded human rights group, which he said had recently
fielded
opposition candidates in a northern rural constituency in local
elections.
"This is a gross interference in our national affairs,
disguised as
non-governmental work," Mugabe told members of his ruling
Zimbabwe African
National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) Central Committee
on Friday .
Mugabe said NGOs were not registered to be "hatcheries of
political
opposition" and said his government would tighten policies to
regulate their
work, the Herald added.
"They should not cry, for they
have redefined the rules of engagement,"
Mugabe added.
A move to
restrict the work of NGOs is likely to be seen as a further
clampdown on the
country's civil society.
Mugabe views criticism of his country's
controversial land reform
programme - which aims to give white-owned land to
blacks - as being fuelled
by the West.
His government regularly
accuses NGOs of being manipulated by Western
powers, especially former
colonial power Britain. - Sapa-AFP
From The Times (UK), 12 October
Van Hoogstraten faces £1m fine a
month for hiding assets
By Steve Bird
The jailed property
tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten will be fined about £1
million a month until
he discloses the full extent of his wealth to the
courts, a judge ruled
yesterday. Van Hoogstraten is being sued by the
relatives of Mohammad Raja,
the property dealer murdered by his associates.
Mr Justice Peter Smith found
van Hoogstraten in contempt of court for
purposely disobeying orders to
disclose his assets. He said that the fines
were the only option left. He
told the High Court that van Hoogstraten, 57,
said to be worth between £60
million and £500 million, would have viewed
imprisonment with "utter
indifference" as he faced a possible life sentence
for the manslaughter of Mr
Raja. Mr Raja, 62, had been suing van
Hoogstraten, his former business
associate, for £5 million for alleged
property fraud. He was shot and stabbed
to death in July 1999 at his home in
Sutton, South London, by two men
identified at the criminal trial as van
Hoogstraten's hitmen. An Old Bailey
jury found van Hoogstraten guilty of
manslaughter. The jury accepted that he
had not ordered Mr Raja's murder.
The Raja family is continuing the legal
action against van Hoogstraten over
the alleged property fraud and brought
yesterday's action after he refused
to disclose his assets and make a sworn
statement verifying his account of
his wealth. The judge froze van
Hoogstraten's known assets and imposed a
£200,000 weekly fine, to increase
each week by 10 per cent, from next month.
Van Hoogstraten is already
facing huge legal bills after his trial, and
there are doubts over the future
of his extensive holdings in Zimbabwe.
Legal action is also pending over
unpaid bills for the £40 million Hamilton
Palace, in East Sussex. He is being
held in Belmarsh Prison and is due to be
sentenced later this month. Peter
Irvin, for the Raja family, said that van
Hoogstraten was delaying matters to
allow his associates - "who are not
people of probity" - to remove his
assets. The more time it went on the more
his assets would be dissipated. Van
Hoogstraten has sacked the lawyers
representing him in the civil case and is
now representing himself. The case
is due to begin in March. He was allowed
28 days to pay the fine and apply
to the court to discharge the fine order.
The judge ordered him to pay the
costs of the applications, amounting to
£7,272.50. David Croke and Robert
Knapp were jailed for life in July for Mr
Raja's murder. Mr Raja's two
grandsons, Waheed and Rizvan Raja, were upstairs
and rushed to help their
grandfather when they heard his shouts. Both told
the Old Bailey jury that
they had heard him shout in Punjabi: "These are
Hoogstraten's men. They've
hit me, they've hit me."
Dear Family and Friends,
The rains have arrived in Zimbabwe and after 5 months of clear skies and
dry days, the arrival of rain should be cause for celebration. With more than
half our population starving you would think that there would be a great flurry
of activity out on the farms and that the government would be working 24 hours a
day to get professional farmers planting seeds in the ground. Exactly the
opposite is happening in Zimbabwe this year as the government's so called Land
Task Force have been touring the country and evicting every commercial farmer
they can find. It doesn't seem to matter where the farm is, what is being
produced or how desperately the country needs the food being grown on a
particular farm, the government wants these professional food providers out.
Farmers producing export crops like flowers which earn foreign currency for
Zimbabwe, are being evicted. In a landlocked country like ours where all our
fuel is imported and paid for with foreign currency, removing the earners of US
dollars is pure insanity. Other farmers producing staple food like sugar have
also come under attack and 39 sugar cane farmers were evicted from their
properties and homes this week. It seems that there is no foresight whatsoever
in Zimbabwe's land grab and it makes no sense at all that while we are
starving, queuing for hours and days and going without staple items, the
government are evicting the farmers and their workers and condemning us to both
immediate hunger and long term shortages. The repercussions of the events of
2002 will undoubtedly be felt in Zimbabwean stomachs for the next five years at
the very least.
One of Zimbabwe's top cattle farmers, Sam Cawood,
who is 74 years old, was arrested by police in Beitbridge this week. Having been
ordered by the government to vacate his farm in a matter of days, Sam was forced
to send his entire breeding herd of Brahman cross Hereford Cows for slaughter.
The cows had begun calving and tiny calves, two and three weeks old, could not
go for slaughter, could not be abandoned and certainly could not go in the
trucks with their mothers as they would have been trampled to death. Sam,
forbidden by police from returning to his farm, instructed his workers to do the
only humane thing and slaughter the calves rather than leave them to die of
starvation. For this reason Sam was arrested and told he was being charged under
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Sam shared his prison cell with 6
other people, 4 adults and two young boys. The boys, aged 12 and 14, had been
thrown into prison after stealing a pair of shoes. They had been there for 5
days already and in that time had not seen a lawyer and had not had any food at
all. When Sam Cawood's wife bought him a toasted sandwich in prison, the elderly
farmer could not eat while others were not, he broke the sandwich in half and
gave it to the young boys. Sam was released from prison the next day without
charge - the two young boys are still there, unknown, un-noticed and un-fed.
Sam Cawood and two little boys are not the only people who are in
Zimbabwe's prisons this week. For many months Zimbabwe's government school
teachers have been appealing for an increase in their salaries. Our country's
educators presently earn less than the governments land officials who are going
around driving pegs into the ground and carving up other people's farms. The
teachers pleas have repeatedly gone unheard and so this week they went on
strike. A number of top officials of the teachers union were arrested including
Raymond Majongwe who was seriously assaulted whilst in custody. His lawyers
said that Raymond was unable to sit or stand, had suspected broken ribs and
possible internal bleeding. Across the country teachers and civic leaders have
been appalled at this treatment but as always there is no one to turn to for
assistance. Blacks and whites, farmers and teachers, adults and children,
professionals and peasants are all alike. We have no legal, human or
constitutional rights, there is no one within Zimbabwe that can help us and
apparently no one outside the country prepared to intervene either. We are alone
and floundering. Until next week, with love, cathy
http://africantears.netfirms.com
Copyright Cathy Buckle 12th Oct 2002
Dispatch online
Dlamini-Zuma criticises SA media for trashing
Zim
HARARE -- Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma yesterday, after
holding
talks with Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, criticised the media
in South
Africa for presenting that country in a bad
light.
Dlamini-Zuma briefed Mugabe on developments in South Africa, and
Mugabe
briefed her on developments in Zimbabwe, state radio
reported.
She told reporters after her meeting with Mugabe that the South
African
media was "very negative" and had "failed to paint a balanced picture
of
events both in Zimbabwe and South Africa".
The minister, who met
with her Zimbabwean counterpart Stan Mudenge after her
arrival in the country
late on Thursday, is due to return to South Africa
today, after visiting
tourist sites in the country.
On Thursday a statement from the South
African foreign affairs ministry said
Dlamini-Zuma's talks would focus on
resumption of negotiations between
Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF)
and the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).
Talks between the two rivals were suspended earlier this
year after the MDC
mounted a court challenge to Mugabe's victory in a
disputed presidential
poll.
For more than two years, political tension
between the MDC and Zanu-PF has
seen scores of mainly opposition supporters
killed, according to human
rights groups. -- Sapa-AFP
S. Africa
Pledges Zimbabwe Aid, U.S. Warns of Disaster
HARARE -- South Africa's Foreign Affairs Minister
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma pledged her government's support for crisis-stricken
Zimbabwe on Friday as a U.S. aid official warned of a looming food disaster in
the country.
"The South African foreign affairs minister said her party is there to assist
its neighbor Zimbabwe," state radio reported after a meeting between
Dlamini-Zuma and President Robert Mugabe, which was barred to all journalists
except state media.
Dlamini-Zuma is on a two-day visit to Zimbabwe to discuss the country's
controversial land reforms, which together with drought has caused a severe food
shortage that is affecting nearly seven million people, or half the population.
The food crisis in Zimbabwe and five other Southern African countries due to
drought and mismanagement has led to increased exports of maize from South
Africa, helping to drive up the price of the staple in South Africa, Reuters
reported.
There were no reports on state media on talks between Dlamini-Zuma and Mugabe
on his seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks, which
has disrupted agriculture in Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of the region.
But South African officials in Pretoria said Dlamini-Zuma was likely to have
raised the concerns of white South African farmers whose land has been seized in
the reform drive.
On Friday, the U.S. envoy to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization Tony
Hall warned disaster was looming in Zimbabwe and said the government should take
full responsibility.
"There is no famine here in Zimbabwe -- yet. But there is a major disaster
coming. The government of Zimbabwe bears the responsibility for what has
happened to this once productive country," Hall said in a statement after a
four-day visit.
"All indicators point to a major catastrophe in the making here and I am not
sure it can be stopped," Hall added in comments carried by the South African
news agency SAPA.
ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM
POLITICAL VIOLENCE REPORT: SEPTEMBER
2002
09 October 2002
A report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO
Forum
OVERVIEW
The month of September saw the holding of council
elections for 1 397 rural district council and 27 urban wards over the weekend
of 28 and 29 September 2002. It was reported that militant Zanu PF youths
unleashed a reign of terror forcing many MDC supporters to withdraw their
candidature.1 In the race, only six hundred and forty six seats available were
contested by the opposition, due to, among other factors, the ongoing
victimisation and persecution of opposition party members.
Zanu PF saw this
to mean that their popularity had returned and that the electorate had realised
their mistake in supporting the opposition, MDC. On the other hand, the MDC
alleges that most of their candidates withdrew from contesting in the elections
after threats and intimidation by Zanu PF supporters and in some cases by state
agents.
In Shurugwi, Herbert Mhlanga was reportedly forced to withdraw his
candidature by Zanu PF youths and was forced to surrender all his MDC t-shirts
and cards following unspecified threats from Chief Mapendere. Joshua Tongogara
and Anthony Musindo were also allegedly forced to withdraw their candidature
for the Shurugwi rural district and council elections after persistent visits
and unspecified threats of intimidation by Zanu PF youths and CIO agents.
Leornad Mhlanga, former Zanu PF chairman for Bubi-Umguza who defected to the MDC
three months ago citing mismanagement by the Zanu PF, was allegedly barred from
contesting in the urban ward on an MDC ticket, on the basis that his father was
Malawian. However, according to the Urban Councils Act, he qualified to stand as
a candidate in the elections.
ln Chivi North, Charity Vimbainashe Zvidza, the
daughter of Elson Zvidza, MDC candidate for Ward 13 in the September 2002 rural
district council elections, reportedly fled to Zvishavane with her brothers
after more than fifty Zanu PF youths stormed their homestead in Hapazari Village
in Chivi, wielding sticks and clubs. In Chegutu, Stephen Nyikadzino was
allegedly assaulted by Zanu PF youths who then confiscated the MDC nomination
papers that he had. He was on his way to the nomination court in Chegutu. In
Seke, TS claims that he was severely assaulted by Zanu PF supporters for
intending to contest in Ward 15 on an MDC ticket.
War veterans have
allegedly been supplemented by army personnel in the wave of land evictions in
some parts of the country. It has been alleged that well-known military
personnel are behind the latest wave of ultimatums and evictions taking place in
Mashonaland West, East and Central. Mr Cochraine, who owns a farm in Karoi, was
reportedly approached and forced off his farm by a group of about sixty to
seventy suspected army officials, armed with automatic shotguns and rifles. In
another related incident at Wicklow Farm, Selous, the farm owners were forced
leave the premises temporarily for security reasons following a 24-hours notice
to vacate the farm from the police, army officers, and the CIO agents. At
Chakoma Estates in Goromonzi, General Constantine Chiwenga, his wife Joselyn
Chiwenga and a T. Mautsa have been reportedly implicated in the forcible take
over of Chakoma Estates in Goromonzi and produce from the farm valued at
$125m.
Forced evictions appear to have spread to companies in some parts of the
country. Reports were recorded of company officials that have been subjected to
threats and intimidatory visits at work and at home by CIO agents, as well as
humiliation before their workforce.3 In one case, Chikerema and Hamadziripi of
the ZNLWVA are allegedly trying to forcibly take over a $230m Bindura
Engineering Firm, Hammond Engineering (Pvt) Ltd, in defiance of a High Court
order issued on the 4th of September 2002. Chikerema reportedly led a group of
about 50 Zanu PF youths to evict the company's owners, George Hammond and his
wife Elaine.
In comparison to the month of August, cases of political
intimidation in September declined to twenty from thirty-five and cases of
assault rose from twenty three to thirty-eight. One case of murder was reported
to the local press. Nikoniari Chibvamudeve was allegedly hacked to death by Zanu
PF supporters in Hurungwe West ahead of the two day by-election which was held
on 28 and 29 September 2002. He was reportedly brutally murdered by youths
suspected to have been deployed by Zanu supporters to drum up support for its
candidate.
The majority of the evidence recorded by the Human Rights Forum
point to the Zanu PF as the main instigator of violence in the just ended
September 2002 rural district and council elections. However, this is not to say
that the MDC had no involvement in political violence.
Totals 1 to 30
September 2002
Cumulative Totals 1 January 2002 – 30 September
2002
Sources: The information contained in this report is derived from
the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum Legal Unit statements, CFU reports, newspaper
reports, and statements taken by the member organisations of the Human Rights
Forum. (See last page for list of member organisations)
Notes to the
tables:
Torture:
All cases of torture fall under the definition of
torture according to the general definition given in the United Nations
Convention against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading
Treatment and Punishment.
The four elements of torture are:
1 Severe pain
and suffering, whether physical or mental
2 Intentionally inflicted
3 With
a purpose
4 By a state official or another individual acting with the
acquiescence of the State.
Those individuals referred to in point # 4 include
the ZRP, ZNA, ZPS and the ZNLWVA (as a reserve force of the ZNA) and by any
other grouping when directly sanctioned by the state.
Unlawful arrest and
detention:
Arrest by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) with no reasonable
suspicion that an offence has been committed. Detention thereafter for a period
exceeding 48 hours without access to redress through the courts or subsequent
release without charge.
Abduction/kidnapping:
A kidnapping by a member(s)
of an organised group that is not the ZRP organisation. political party, ZNLWVA,
ZNA, MDC, Zanu PF etc
Disappearance:
Kidnapped persons whose whereabouts
remained unknown at the time of reporting. Their whereabouts have still to be
ascertained through follow –up reports or further investigation.
Property
related
These are incidents in which property rights have been violated. This
includes arson, property damage and destruction and theft.
Key
Abbreviations
CIO – Central Intelligence Organisation
DDF – District
Development Fund
MDC – Movement for Democratic Change
MP – Member of
Parliament
NCA – National Constitutional Assembly
PTUZ – Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe
UMP – Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe
ZNLWVA – Zimbabwe
National Liberation War Veterans Association
ZNA – Zimbabwe National
Army
ZRP – Zimbabwe Republic Police
Zanu PF – Zimbabwe African National
Union Patriotic Front
Cases of Political Violence
Note: The
identities of victims that have not been published in the press and are not
public officials are protected by the use of
initials.
HARARE
Chitungwiza
9 September 2002
· OM claims that he
was assaulted by Zanu PF militia at his home for supporting the MDC and for
intending to contest in Ward 15 in the council elections held in September.
Around 1300hrs, Zanu PF militia came in two trucks to the victim's house in Unit
D, Seke and ordered the victim to come with them. They beat him up with sticks
when he refused to comply. The assailants later fled, and the police came and
took the victim to the hospital where the cut on his head was
stitched.
· About thirty people arrived at HF's house at Lynn Farm, forced
entry, and dragged him into a truck amid kicks, and slaps. One Mr. Chitota, who
apparently was the "boss" of the kidnappers, met them along the way and took the
victim to the farm compound where they chanted anti-MDC songs and slogans. The
victim was called a sell out who deserved to be kicked out of his farm. After
about an hour the neighbours brought about six war veterans and some police
officers to the victim's residence. The police took a statement from the victim
and they took him to Beatrice Police Station. The member-in-charge informed him
that the war veterans had been annoyed by the client who had ploughed down their
crops. HF explained that he had authority of the lands committee to continue
farming and was therefore set free.
12 September 2002
· Moses Chitindo, a
police officer and four other police officers entered OM's bedroom and searched
through the room. Having found nothing OM was ordered to dress up. They informed
him that they were looking for guns. The victim, a youth secretary for MDC, was
taken to Chitungwiza police station and interrogated on Kitsiyatota's
whereabouts. Kitsiyatota is an MDC activist being sought in connection with the
murder of Ali Khan Manjengwa in Mbare. He was then taken to Harare Central
Police Station together with three others who had been captured, and was handed
over to Detective Inspector Dhowa who interrogated him again about Kitsiyatota
and the possession of guns. On professing ignorance, he was assaulted under the
feet whilst in leg irons. He was ordered to undress, was taken underground where
more assaults were perpetrated. He was forced to confess at gunpoint that he
had received military training in Norton. He was blindfolded, had a gun poked
into his mouth and was taken to Goromonzi Police Station where he was forced to
confess to the whereabouts of Kitsiyatota under the application of electric
shocks. Under duress the victim then told them where Kitsiyatota's wife was. No
charges were pressed against Chitindo. He suffered injuries under the feet
cheek, buttocks and arms.
· TT, an MDC activist reports that CIO agents
arrested him, on allegations that he had a pending case in Marondera where he
used to stay. On their way to Chitungwiza Police Station, the victim was asked
about Kitsiyatota's whereabouts. Mwanjaranji, a CIO agent assaulted TT with
sticks under the feet, open hands and fists before the assailants arrested 3
other MDC activists. Inspector Dhowa and lnspector Dhliwayo also interrogated
the victim at Harare Central Police Station, with Inspector Dhowa stepping on
the victim's knee with booted feet. On 14 September the victim was forced to
sign an affidavit, which stated how the victim knew Kitsiyatota. TT was released
on 16 September 2002, and told to report to the police on 18 September 2002, and
to bring information on the whereabouts of Kitsiyatota on 20 September 2002. No
charges were laid against TT.
22 September 2002
· ST was severely
assaulted by Zanu PF supporters for allegedly intending to contest in Ward 15 on
an MDC ticket. He currently complains of pains on the back, legs and
hands.
25 September 2002
· A group of Zanu PF youths came to RM's house
looking for her husband in Unit D, Seke at around 5pm. As he was away, they took
the wife instead to their candidate's house, C.M Chikwirakomo, in Seke. He was
the candidate for the rural district council elections on a Zanu PF ticket.
There, the victim was assaulted with sjamboks and a plank. A stone was also
thrown on her face. She was only released around 6pm after a whole day's
torture. (refer to Case 2 in the photographs document)
Harare Central
3
September 2002
· Tapiwa Mashakada, the MDC MP, was arrested on suspicion that
he took part in the bombing of the Voice of the People Offices in Milton Park.
He was not charged and was released. It is alleged that the police got an
anonymous tip to the effect that Mashakada had taken part in the bombing of the
premises, a private radio station not licenced by the government. This came
twenty-one days after the bombing of the Daily News offices by unidentified
people.
Mbare East
9 September 2002
· ST was at Magaba Bakers Inn in
Mbare when suddenly a mob of Zanu PF supporters surrounded him chanting anti MDC
slogans, assaulting him and calling the victim names. They alleged that he was
one of Mr. Hakata's supporters. Mr. Hakata is the MDC Councilor for Harare East.
ST was clapped on his left cheek with an open hand. As he tried to flee the
area, one of the assailants struck the victim's left eye with an object. He was
kicked several times on the chest with booted feet.
13 September
2002
· LC was having dinner in his room around 2000hrs when three Zanu PF
youths arrived at his home and demanded to know why he had not attended a Zanu
PF meeting which was being held at that particular moment. They dragged him
downstairs where ten more Zanu PF supporters assaulted him with fan belts on his
back. He was kicked several times with booted feet on the left, on the chest and
on the right arm. They stole $800 from the victim, an ID card, and his hat. The
victim was then dragged to a Zanu PF meeting which was being held between block
twelve and thirteen at Shawasha flats. Later the victim was released and went to
report the case to the police. The police, however, did not take any
action.
Mbare West
3 September 2002
· Linos Mushonga's brother,
Adrian, alleged that about nine policemen from the CID stormed into their house,
woke them up and assaulted the victim, his brother and a maid, demanding that
Mushonga surrender the pistol that was used to kill Ali Khan Manjengwa, who was
shot in one block of the Nenyere flats in Mbare while coming from a meeting. He
was a prominent Zanu PF activist who campaigned for the President, Robert
Mugabe, in the March 2002 presidential elections. The assailants demanded that
Linos Mushonga hand them over the keys to the house so they could search for the
pistol that was used to kill Manjengwa. The victim and his brother were then
taken to Waterfalls Police Station where they were assaulted with clenched fists
and booted feet accusing Adrian Mushonga of concealing Linos' alleged
activities. Adrian was interrogated for about four days in police cells, he
came back blindfolded with a military camouflage shirt, wet all over, raising
suspicions that he had passed out at some stage as they assaulted him along the
way. The shirt he was wearing when he was arrested was tainted with dry blood
from days of torture. Linos Mushonga sustained a dislocated ankle, bruises and
lacerations from the brutal police torture. It is also alleged that Linos
Mushonga's maid was assaulted by the CID officers who ordered her to produce all
the keys to Mushonga's house. She alleged that the assailants chased her all
over the house and turned things up side down while some of them assaulted Linos
Mushonga in the other room. This case of assault follows the murder of Zanu PF
activist Ali Khan Manjengwa,
· About twenty Zanu PF supporters were going
around with sticks, iron bars and empty bottles assaulting innocent civilians.
They allegedly attacked Tongesai Goremucheche, an MDC supporter, at Nenyere
flats. He sustained a swollen cheek and a cut on his face. The victim alleged
that he could not retaliate, as he believed the police would come after him.
Goremucheche reported the case to officers at Matapi Police Station and it has
been confirmed by one of the officers that investigations are underway. This
follows the murder of Ali Khan Manjengwa, who was murdered in August 2002 in
unclear circumstances in Mbare
· A female informal trader at Mupedzanhamo
flea market in Mbare was assaulted by unnamed Zanu PF youths on accusations that
she had ululated when she heard that Ali Khan Manjengwa had been murdered.
11 September 2002
· Zanu PF youths allegedly assaulted AM for not
attending a Zanu PF meeting held at Shawasha flats. The group of about twenty
went to the victim’s room, forced down the door and allegedly assaulted him with
sjamboks, booted feet and open hands. AM was taken to Harare Central Police
Station and was accused of being part of the group which had killed Ali Khan
Manjengwa. The victim was then released on 14 September 2002 around 10:00am. He
was ordered to report back to the police on 16 September 2002. Statements were
recorded but no charges were pressed against the victim. The victim claims that
he lost $26 400 during the assault.
MANICALAND
Buhera North/
South
September 2002
· Reports have shown that at least eleven teachers
have not reported for school since the beginning of the third term, citing
rampant intimidation, death threats and assaults by Zanu PF supporters and war
veterans. Mr. Muti of Mutasa Secondary School was seriously assaulted while his
wife Mrs. Muti was intimidated to the extent that she was forced to flee the
area. Murabanda and the other teachers claim that they were assaulted and
intimidated by Zanu PF vigilantes over the school holidays and some of them were
threatened with death. Svinurai, a teacher at the school, is also alleged to
have fled the area to Harare. Stanislous Chikukwa, a national executive member
of the ZNLWVA based in Manicaland, dismissed the allegations as a smear campaign
against the war veterans. Takavafira Zhou, Progressive Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president, said that teachers must seriously consider putting
the victimisation to an end by any means necessary.
18 September 2002
· SM
claims that he was severely assaulted with heavy logs by about sixteen Zanu PF
supporters who came to his house and asked for his MDC party credentials. Having
handed them over, the victim was allegedly assaulted on the soles of the feet,
the back and shoulders, only releasing him go after three hours. The victim now
complains of a painful back, chest and feet.
Buhera North
12 September
2002
· AM, an MDC activist and Ward Vice Chairman for Buhera, was herding his
cattle when seven Zanu PF activists: Obert Windizi, Mari Khumalo, Hosiah Tsuro,
Lovemore Nyamayaro, Taurai Nyarume, Murambiwa Tigoni and Mubayi approached him
holding voters' rolls which they had confiscated from an aspiring MDC councilor.
The victim was accused of including their names in the rolls and was allegedly
assaulted with sticks whilst lying on his stomach and was beaten on the buttocks
and back. He confronted the incumbent councilor on the violence in the area and
his subsequent assault. However the councilor professed ignorance. The case was
not reported to the police.
Chipinge North
September 2002
· It was
reported that Gift Dhliwayo, a traditional healer of Tanganda Halt in Chipinge,
was asleep in his house with his family at around 3am, when about twenty-five
Zanu PF supporters attacked his house, destroying property worth about $700 000.
They threw stones and bricks at the house, injuring his daughter on the back.
Asbestos roofing sheets, windows and traditional herbs were also destroyed in
the attack. The attackers reduced the hut to ashes and there were stones and
glass all over the place when the reporters arrived the following morning to
take a report. The assailants threatened to kill him and his family because he
sympathises with the opposition party, MDC. The victim alleges that he reported
the matter to the police but nothing had been done as yet. Dhliwayo identified
two of the assailants and although he handed over their names to the police, the
suspects were not convicted and the victim actually saw them boasting about the
attack that same afternoon, walking around the township. Dhliwayo entered the
political arena during the presidential elections when he joined the opposition
MDC. During the ensuing bloody campaigns, his hut was set on fire and property
worth thousands of dollars was destroyed and about $23 000 cash was destroyed.
Makoni East
24 September 2002
· John Hwenhira of the MDC and his wife
were severely assaulted and left for dead by suspected Zanu PF supporters. No
reason was given for the assault. Pishai Muchauraya, MDC provincial spokesman,
has insisted that Zanu PF vigilantes were on the warpath against the MDC in the
area.
MASHONALAND CENTRAL
Bindura
September 2002
· There have been
press reports to the effect that Zanu PF officials and CIO agents have subjected
some company officials to threats, intimidatory visits at work and home, as well
as humiliation before their workforce. The company officials are being forced to
sell their shares and their companies at prices way lower than their actual
market value. It has also been alleged that the company officials cannot refuse
these offers, which are like a fraction of their real market value. Companies,
which have been attacked, include an engineering firm, a small chrome expoter, a
baking company and a cement manufacturer all in Bindura.
3 September
2002
· Elliot Manyika, the Minister of Youth, Gender, and Employment
Creation, Zanu PF Political Commissar and Acting Governor for Mashonaland
Central, together with Bindura police officers, twelve Zanu PF supporters and
war veterans namely Dickson Mafios, John Muchavepi, Cannan Nyaminhepa, Remigio
Matangiro, Timothy Timothy, Joshua Kazaka, Mr. Mazivarimwe, Lot Gora Mataka,
Mazivarimwe and Comrade Chitate are alleged to have severely assaulted Keiphas
Madzorera on allegations of supporting the MDC. The assailants threatened to
kill the victim together with his family if they were to come across them in the
area. The victim alleges that he was once stabbed in the chest and chased him
away from Bindura by the group. Manyika hit the victim using an iron bar and
someone else stabbed his right ear with a knife, injuring him on the eardrum.
All the accused, including Manyika, were served with the provisional order
papers by a police constable identified as 050782V at Bindura Police Station,
after Madzorera won a provincial order barring Manyika and his colleagues from
assaulting him. This called on Manyika to show cause why the order barring him
from assaulting Madzorera should not be effected by 12 September 2002, when the
matter was set down for hearing. By the date of the report, it was not yet clear
whether Manyika and the Zanu PF supporters would challenge the order before the
return date.
21 September 2002
· Some villagers at Trojan Mine had
property worth tens of millions of dollars damaged and looted by a Zanu PF mob.
The mob is said to have been angered by the residents' failure to attend a Zanu
PF meeting held at the mine's stadium that morning. Eunice Levi, a five months
pregnant woman alleges that she was prodded in the stomach by some of the
youths, who accused her of faking her pregnancy. They beat her up on the back
with sticks while police officers residing next door watched. Levi alleged that
one of the assailants was picked up later on by the police. The man was
allegedly holding a Zanu PF card in his hand, and he told the police that he was
ferried from Mt. Darwin in a district development truck, but refused to say who
had ordered them to attack the mine villagers. A three-year-old girl was also
assaulted but no reason was given for the assault. Henry Chembiri, the MDC
Information and Publicity Secretary for Mashonaland Central, claimed that Elliot
Manyika, the Minister of Youth Gender and Employment Creation, was linked to the
assaults on Trojan Mine. Other assailants identified were Dickson Mafiosi;
Ezekiel Motsi; Eliah Chikamba and Lazarus Miti. The mob, armed with iron bars,
slashers, sticks, axe-handles, electric cables and catapults, attacked the
residents, injuring hundreds. Places of worship at the Trojan mine were also
destroyed, clothes varying amounts of cash and groceries were stolen from the
houses. One supermarket in Section 1 of the Trojan Mine was stoned. Most of the
victims of the assault were treated at Trojan Mine Hospital, Bindura Hospital
and Shashi Private Hospitals.
4 September 2002
· Edward Chikerema, Zanu
PF, and Kowerai Hamadziripi of the ZNLWVA are allegedly trying to forcibly take
over a $230m Bindura Engineering Firm, Hammond Engineering (Pvt) Ltd, owned by
Elaine Hammond and George Hammond, in defiance of a High Court order issued on 4
September 2002. Hamadziripi and Chikerema previously tried to force the Hammonds
to sell them the company for only $65m, before Justice Hungwe granted the
company a temporary order barring the two war veterans and other farm workers
from interfering with the business. Chikerema reportedly led a group of about
fifty Zanu PF youths to evict the company's owners, George Hammond and his wife
Elaine, who are both in their sixties. Those in the group included Shoeshine
Mbata, Godfrey Chanetsa, Kenias Mavura, Benjamin Murape, Tenganai Punzaro and
Onias Nhemachena.The mob proceeded to eject Peter Arnold, the company's managing
director, from his home. Arnold alleges that he saw Chikerema dropping off Zanu
PF youths from a Mazda B1800, which he had stolen from the victim three weeks
earlier. The mob told the victims not be seen any where within the vicinity of
Mashonaland province, by 5pm that day. They manhandled Arnold and confiscated
the keys to his house, car and workshop. The victims alleged that they had
reported the case to the police and they said they would see what they could do
with the assailants.
Muzarabani
20 September 2002
· The Zanu PF MP for
Muzarabani, Nobbie Dzinzi, is alleged to have arrived in the area with five
lorries, carrying nearly 300 Zanu PF youths who then beat up the suspected MDC
supporters within the Chakaenda Ward of Muzarabani. Several villagers suspected
to be MDC were reportedly being held hostage at Chimoio base after they were
severely beaten up in front of officials from the Zimbabwe Election Supervisory
Network at Gunduza business center. It is also alleged that Solomon Mazarire,
Isaac Karimete, Mwaka Katsamwa and Paulos Nhete were admitted at hospitals in
Harare after they sustained injuries from these attacks. Elliot Manyika, the
acting governer and resident Minister for Mashonaland Central, said that he was
not aware of the incident. Dzambara, the MDC spokesman for Muzarabani, said that
the political climate in Muzarabani was not conducive to holding free and fair
elections.
23 September 2002
· Zanu PF youths descended on the SM's home
at around 12 noon and accused her of having reported some of them to the police,
leading to their arrest. They also accused the victim of being an MDC election
monitor during the council elections held in September 2002. They force-marched
the victim to their base in Mushinye, Muzarabani, where they assaulted her under
the feet and on the back with a wire and an iron bar while lying in a prone
position. At night more Zanu PF supporters were called in and the victim was
further assaulted until the following morning. The victim alleged that after the
whole day's beatings, she could hardly walk, sit or stand. The following day the
other victims were allowed to leave but SM could not because of the condition
that she was in. The assailants then decided to ferry her home in a scotch-cart.
When she got home, she quickly packed her belongings as she had been ordered not
to stay at her home ever again. She left for Harare. No report was made to the
police. (refer to Case 3 in the photographs document)
25 September
2002
· At around 0100hrs DN heard a knock on the door and orders to come out
of the house. He went out and was faced by Zanu PF youths who then ordered him
to follow them as they rounded up other MDC supporters in the area. They arrived
at the house of another MDC supporter but only the wife was there. She was
ordered to watch while the youths assaulted the victim, to serve as a warning to
her husband to stop supporting the MDC. The victim was ordered to lie in a prone
position and was assaulted thoroughly on the buttocks. On their way to a Zanu FP
base the victim escaped but he was met by another group of Zanu PF youths who
also assaulted him. He was then forcemarched to their base in Chimoio. The
victim was only released on 26 September 2002 but was cautioned not to report to
the police or else they would kill him. The victim complied and did not report
to the police. (refer to Case 1 in the photographs document)
Shamva
5
September 2002
· It was alleged that there were no nominees for the eighteen
wards in Shamva because all the candidates were barred by the Zanu PF youths. On
one occasion, Zanu PF youths stoned an MDC vehicle but no reason was given for
the attack. The MDC spokesman for Mashonaland Central (a Zanu PF stronghold),
Henry Chimbiri, alleged that most of the opposition candidates were barred from
filling their nomination papers.
MASHONALAND EAST
Goromonzi
September
2002
· General Constantine Chiwenga, Jocelyn Chiwenga, his wife, and T.
Mautsa have been reportedly implicated in the forcible take-over of Chakome
Estates in Goromonzi and produce from the farm valued at $125m. They are said to
have demanded money for the produce already sold by Chakoma Estates to Farnaby
Management Consultants and Hortico, saying Chakoma Estates belonged to them.
Chiwenga and his wife have already reportedly received $80m for flowers and
vegetables belonging to Shephered Hall Farm. According to the documents in the
High court, Mrs Chiwenga spearheaded the siege of the farm, accompanied by armed
guards. The trio allegedly used force and threats to grab the farm. Parts of the
affidavits by Roger Stauton, a director of Shepherd Hall Farm (Pvt) Ltd, a
company operating the Estate, showed that Jocelyn Chiwenga said that she had not
tasted white blood since 1980, and that she needed just the slightest excuse to
kill somebody. She is alleged to have ordered one of her guards to kill 'the
white bastards' and the guard closest to the victim cocked his weapon and
pointed it at him in a menacing manner. The Estate grows vegetables and flowers,
mainly for export. Justice Matika prohibited Afex Zimbabwe from remitting to
Mautsa all funds currently in its possession emanating from the sale of flowers
from Shephered Hall Farm by Mautsa, until the court directs the company to
disburse the money to such person as it may, after considering evidence, deem to
be the lawful beneficiary of the funds. He ordered Mautsa to surrender any money
that has been disbursed to him by the company. Afex Zimbabawe is to pay into an
account to be approved by the Registrar of the High Court, all funds currently
in its possession realised from sales of the produce from the farm. The same
order was also granted against the Chiwengas, Mautsa and Hortico, except that
they were to disclose the bank statements reflecting the proceeds of exports of
the produce to the farmer's lawyer, Constantine Mkinya of Mkinya and
Associates.
Marondera West
September 2002
· It has been reported that school
children and resettled farmers at Eirene Farm in Chief Svosve's area near
Marondera now have to relocate to another area, Mapuranga Farm, after they were
served with an eviction order to leave the farm. The children will have to cross
a river and some bushes from Mapuranga Farm, about 30km, in order to access the
school back in Eirene Farm, as there is no school at Mapuranga. The victims
alleged that they had been fooled into believing that they had become the new
owners of the farm after they had been resettled under the A1 model three years
ago. The victims also alleged that the farm had been, in fact, reserved for
Government officials who wanted the farmhouses and farming equipment left by the
white farmers. The victims claims that their lives at Mapuranga would be
unbearable, as there were no facilities necessary for every day living, such as
a grinding mill, which was only at Eirene Farm. One of the victims alleged that
the people staying at Mapuranga at that moment drank water from the same dam
that animals used. The farmers were resettled at the farm three years ago under
the A1 model. Hamish Charters formerly owned the farm.
Mutoko North/
South
3 September 2002
· RM, an aspiring MDC councilor who had registered
as a candidate in the September 2002 rural district and council elections, was
asleep in his house when twelve policemen from Mutoko ZRP came to his homestead
and fired gunshots into the air more than eight times. The victim came out and
was told that he was under arrest and was taken to the police camp. He was
accused of having played a part in the murder of Ali Khan Manjengwa, a Zanu PF
activist who was shot in a flat in Mbare. The following day he was taken to
Harare Central Police Station, together with the MDC District Chairman, in the
guard of CID members who then tortured and detained them to 6 September 2002.
They never appeared in court but statements were recorded at Harare Central
Police Station. The victim was released on 6 September 2002 around 11am.
11
September 2002
· Chatambarara, Makichi, Mai Kazhanje (nurse), all of whom are
war veterans, Ketani (a Zanu PF youth leader) and several other Zanu PF
supporters allegedly deflated the wheels of the bus in which TG was travelling
in. He was coming from an MDC meeting with other MDC supporters. The assailants
called out their names and TG was assaulted with sticks. He managed to flee, but
was stoned on the back. He suffered injuries on the back, chest, and sustained a
sprained ankle. The case was reported to the police but no arrests have been
made as yet.
· FC, MDC District Chairman for Mutoko, was on a Mutoko bound
bus coming from an MDC meeting in Harare when he and others were confronted and
attacked by Zanu PF supporters and war veterans who demanded to see the victim
and two other MDC supporters. He claims that they were dragged out of the bus
and assaulted with sticks and sjamboks. Amongst the group was Chatambarara,
Hodzi, Makichi (war veterans) and Mai Kazhanje (war veteran and nurse). The
victim was assaulted all over the body and he suffered bruises on his body and a
cut above the right eye. He passed out and they left him for dead. The case was
reported to the police but no arrests have been made as yet. The victim lost
some clothing, two pairs of shoes and $10 000 cash.
22 September 2002
· OC had visited his grandparents when he was
allegedly abducted by a group of Zanu PF youths at Jembere shop and was
interrogated on MDC activities in the area. They took the victim to a nearby
river and made him roll in the water then on the bank of a river and then beat
him up. Their leader, Hodzi, who came in a truck, forced the victim onto it and
beat him on all the joints using empty beer bottles. He was taken to a bush
where he was assaulted together with the shop assistant. He was ordered to cover
up his eyes and the assailants drove off beating him. They then abandoned him in
the bush and removed his shoes and belt. He later found his way
home.
Seke
17 September 2002
· At around 1400hrs AM was abducted by
war veterans allegedly for being an MDC supporter and for distributing MDC
pamphlets and flyers to residents of Danstan Estates. He was assaulted with logs
and bricks all over his body and with clenched fists on the face, head and rib
cage. He was then taken to their nearby base where he was made to lie in a
prone position and then assaulted with an electric cable several times on his
buttocks and with pieces of a hose pipe. The victim was assaulted on the left
arm and on the shoulder with the butt of a gun. One of the war veterans wanted
to cut his throat but then he dunked his head and got cut on the middle finger.
Later on around 0900hrs, the police came and they managed to rescue the victim
but they did not arrest any one of the assailants.
Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe
15 September 2002
· FM was reportedly assaulted by Zanu PF supporters at
his home in Mashambanhaka Chipuriro for daring to stand in Ward 9 in the rural
district council elections held on 28 and 29 September 2002 on an MDC ticket.
The assailants came to the victim's house at about 2100hrs and accused him of
standing for Councillor, therefore embarrassing the Zanu PF MP. The victim now
complains of painful eyes and a painful left hand. The victim alleged that he
was ordered not to leave the area for treatment.
MASHONALAND
WEST
Chegutu
September 2002
· Stephen Nyikadzino, MDC secretary for
Chitungwiza, claims that he had just arrived in Chegutu from Harare when some
Zanu PF supporters started assaulting him and confiscated the MDC nomination
papers that he had. The victim also alleges that nine of the MDC candidates ran
away and that they would probably not register anymore in the rural district and
council elections because of fear for their lives. The victim had gone to
Chegutu to assist MDC candidate in registering for the nation-wide polls
scheduled for 28 and 29 September 2002.
5 September 2002
· About two
hundred unidentified Zanu PF supporters reportedly besieged the Chegutu rural
district council offices, assaulted an MDC official and detained Hilda Mafudze,
the MDC MP for Mhondoro. The offices were the nomination courts for the rural
district and council elections held in September 2002. The victim alleges that
the youths chased away eight of their eleven candidates and it was not certain
whether they would be courageous enough to return to register. Mafudze claims
that she had come to make sure that all the MDC candidates were registered but
when she arrived, Zanu PF youths assaulted MDC members. She complained that at
that moment, she could not drive out of the yard as she has locked herself in
the car. These assaults are allegedly taking place under the eyes of the police.
9 September 2002
· At Wicklow Farm in Selous, it has been reported that
police and army officers forced farm owners to leave their premises temporarily
for 'security reasons'. The police, army officers, and the CIO agents gave the
farmers 24-hours notice to vacate the farms. Prominent faces of war vetarans who
had spearheaded the farm invasions since 2000 have reportedly suddenly
disappeared from the scene, being replaced by military personnel. lt has been
alleged that although firearms have been used in the past, this has become more
dominant making the farming community suspect that there has been a change in
the personalities commanding the land seizures.
Hurungwe East
September
2002
· Cochraine, a farmer in Karoi, was approached by a group of about sixty
to seventy suspected army personnel at his farm. The victim alleges that the
army personnel tried to evict him from his farm, and the three who were armed
with automatic shotguns intimidated and threatened him. The victim could not
identify the assailants by name. Residents in the area have reported that war
veterans have been replaced by well-known military personnel, who are now said
to be behind the latest wave of ultimatums and evictions taking place in
Mashonaland West, East and Central.
6 September 2002
· AB and two of his
colleagues at Nill Farm in Tengwe were reportedly assaulted by war veterans on
allegations of continuously working for the employer when the farm was acquired
by the government under Section 8, and with the farmer not having paid farm
workers their terminal benefits. AB's workmates invited the war veterans to
assault him and his work colleagues. War veterans arrived at around 1400hrs that
day and ordered the disgruntled farm workers to beat up the victim and his
accomplices. The victim and his friends fled from the area on 24 September, as
there were rumours that the war veterans were coming for them again.
18
September 2002
· At about 1400hrs at Meidon Farm a group of war veterans and
settlers approached GW and accused him of supporting the MDC and the white
farmer whom he worked for as a general hand. They reportedly assaulted him with
sticks and open hands.
20 September 2002
· At about 0300hrs war veterans
came to Meidon Farm in Karoi and allegedly stoned the house in which AC was
sleeping, injuring him on the forearm. He alleges that the assailants wanted to
beat him up because he was continuing with his duties on the farm. AC was cut on
the neck by wires as he tried to flee from the assailants. He went to the
farmer's residence for help but his assailants followed him again. The victim
managed to escape and he hurt his left ankle in the process.
Hurungwe West
21 September 2002
· It has been reported that Nikoniari
Chabvamudeve, an MDC member, was axed to death in the Chivende Communal area by
suspected Zanu PF supporters as the violence in the run up to the 28-29
September rural district and council elections flaired. Chabvemudeve was
reportedly brutally murdered by youths suspected to have been deployed by Zanu
supporters to drum up support for its candidate. The youths were moving around
in three pick up vehicles. However, the police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena, says
that investigations have shown that the victim died in clashes over gold panning
rights.
Makonde
7 September 2002
· Peter George Viljoen and his family
were locked up in their farmhouse at Tevrede Farm in Mhangura in the afternoon.
The victim alleged that he had been served with an eviction order, paid all his
one hundred employees and was loading his truck so that he could leave when
Major Mboweni who ordered him to leave all his personal belongings behind
approached him. It has been reported that the victim made a report to Inspector
Magwenzi of Mhangura police, but he has done nothing about the situation so far.
The victim's son, Dirk, a cricketer for the Zimbabwean national team, was also
locked up in the house together with his girlfriend, the victim's sister and
brother-in-law. His son Dirk failed to attend a cricket match that he had
scheduled for that afternoon. The fresh wave of evictions saw about two
commercial farmers being ordered to leave their farms in Mashonland East and
West. The victim pointed out that although he had been issued with section 8
order, the courts had overruled this, making the forced evictions
illegal.
Zvimba North
4 September 2002
· The owner of Meme Estates in
Banket was forced to flee his farmhouse when war veterans, two Libyans and one
Major Murombedzi, armed with a rifle approached him and forced him to leave the
premises.
MASVINGO
Chivi North
22 September 2002
· A group of about
one hundred and twenty Zanu PF youths arrived at Elson Zvidza’s home in Hapazari
Village, under Chief Makonese, singing anti MDC songs. They allegedly threatened
to beat him up for standing as an MDC candidate in the rural district elections
held in September 2002. It is alleged that there were many reports on Zanu PF
supporters beating up MDC supporters in the area as the dates for the rural and
council elections drew nearer.
26 September 2002
· Charity Vimbainashe
Zvidza, the daughter of Elson Zvidza, MDC's candidate for Ward 13 in Chivi North
in the September rural and district council elections, and her brothers Aleck,
Nyasha, Wellington, and nephew Adonis fled when a group of more than fifty Zanu
PF youths wielding sticks and clubs advanced on their homestead around 10am. The
youths reportedly surrounded their homestead, singing and shouting slogans and
using strong abusive language denouncing Zvidza and his wife as puppets. The
five victims only returned when the youths were away attending a party for
Chikati Ruimbe, the Zanu PF candidate for the ward in the Council elections in
Takawarasha Township. The incident was reported to Constable Makaya at Chivi
Police Station. On a follow up the next day, no one answered the phone at the
police station.
Gutu North
18 September 2002
· Chief Rogers Nyamanda
Masunda was allegedly humiliated infront of his subjects. He was grabbed and
dragged outside the hall and put in a disused cell while eighty-five Headmen
watched from a distance. He had his traditional headgear taken from him,
symbolically stripping him of his powers. Masunda, a war veteran and chief's
son, said his father was being victimised because he was related to the MDC
candidate for Gutu Ward 11, Getrude Bora. By the time the report was taken, Gutu
District Administrator, Felix Chikovo was still negotiating with the youths to
return the chief's headdress. It was also alleged that Zanu PF youths were
harassing, torturing and intimidating innocent civilians in Gutu North
Constituency, accusing them of supporting the opposition MDC, ahead of the rural
council and district elections.
Masvingo North
29 September
2002
· About twenty-three families invaded former Zanu PF MP Albert
Chamwadoro’s farm near Mashava and reportedly went on a rampage driving out
livestock in the face of their imminent eviction from the property, which they
have allegedly been occupying illegally. The resettled farmers threatened to
destroy the farmhouse after they were served with a High Court Order to vacate
the property. The illegal settlers uprooted fences and threatened to mete out
instant justice to Chamwadoro if he set foot on their property. The drum beating
invaders, led by one Stephen Zibako, said they were settled on the farm by
Masvingo Governer, Josiah Hungwe, and would only move out if they got the
directive from him, not from the High Court. Hungwe was however not available to
comment on the issue. Chamwadoro is the owner of the farm and he alleges that it
is the only farm that he has. The High Court order for the invaders to vacate
the farm by 31 September 2002 is still valid. Chadamwoyo bought the farm, Lot 1
of Allavale Farm, from the Shabani Mashava Mines in 1999.
Zaka West
4
September 2002
· Michael Chitsama and Johannes Chongore were severely
assaulted by suspected Zanu PF youths while they were waiting for transport to
take them home soon after the nomination court. Chitsama was allegedly robbed of
$20 000 meant for the funding of a number of MDC candidates in the area. The
Zanu PF youths, armed with sticks and iron bars, were chanting anti-MDC slogans.
However, fourteen MDC candidates were disqualified from the nomination court
after they were allegedly misled by the officials from the registrar's office to
bring wrong birth certificates. However, the Human Rights Forum could not find a
provision in the Urban Councils Act for a specific type of birth certificate
ideal for registration in the elections. Police in Zaka confirmed the incident
but refused to give details.
Zaka East/ West
10 September 2002
· While conducting a workshop on
social and economic issues at Ferry Training Center, a truck reported to be
written, Zanu PF- DDF (ZAKA) came to the venue where TM was conducting the
workshop, ending it prematurely. Edmore Munjanja was at the venue of the meeting
when the truck pulled up and he took the victim with some resource materials
including leaflets, to Jerera Growth Point police post. Hazvidi, a war veteran,
interrogated her and accused her of being an MDC puppet working for NCA and
Zimrights. She was threatened with death and was taken to a river where people
were given "re-education". About twenty war veterans were invited to watch the
“re-education" and the victim was forced to sign an agreement that she was
kidnapped but was treated nicely, with no abuses. Ernest Zvirevo, a ZRP officer
at Jerera, is said to have witnessed the signing of the agreement. She was then
"escorted" by war veterans and was forced to buy drinks and to give Hazvidi and
Edmore $1 000. The case was reported at Masvingo Police Station.
MATABELELAND
NORTH
Binga
6 September 2002
· Zanu PF supporters and ‘war veterans’
have reportedly caused the closure of seventy primary and secondary schools in
Binga District, ordering teachers to attend a rural district and council
election campaign rally on 8 September 2002. Headmasters and teachers in Binga
district were forced to close down schools and attend a rally addressed by the
Matebeleland North Zanu PF chairman Jacob Madenda. Notes were sent to the
headmasters warning them to identify teachers who would not attend the meeting
to be held in Binga. It has been reported that Binga is an MDC stronghold.
Duncan Sinamampande, the district education officer, confirmed that there would
be a rally held by Zanu PF in the area but refused to confirm whether the
schools had been closed. Binga MP Joel Gabhuza of MDC confirmed that teachers
were not going to school. Gibson Sibanda, the MDC vice-president said, in
addition to legal means of disqualifying the opposition candidates, there was a
lot of intimidation of potential candidates before the nomination court. He said
that this showed that the ruling Zanu PF wanted to retain power "by hook or by
crook". This happened as the MDC's legal committee met to decide to take legal
action against the Registrar General's office for alleged improper handling of
the nomination court, which sat on 5 September 2002
Bubi-Umguza
September
2002
· At the Umguza rural district offices in Bulawayo, riot police were
called in after Zanu PF supporters forced the closure of the offices. Obert
Mpofu, the Governer for Matebeleland North Province, who lost the Bubi Umguza
parliamentary constituency to Jacob Thabane of the MDC, intervened in the
dispute and overrode the decision of the constituency registrar to extend the
nomination court sitting.
25 September 2002
· The former Zanu PF chairman
for Bubi Umguza, Leonard Mhlanga, who defected to the opposition MDC in June,
was barred from contesting the September 2002 local government elections.
Mhlanga used to be the Zanu PF Chairman for Bubi Umguza for ten years before he
deflected to the MDC, citing poor policies and the misrule by President Robert
Mugabe and his party. Mhlanga had hoped for the councillorship for Bubi Umguza
on the opposition ticket. He alleges that the nomination court had refused to
accept his nomination papers on the grounds that his parents were of Malawian
origin. He further alleged that the nomination court ruled that because his
parents were of Malawian origin, then he was Malawian too. However, Mhlanga said
that he is not Malawian, but he is Zimbabwean. The victim believes that the
ruling party is only afraid of meeting a former Zanu PF official in the race.
Nkayi
September 2002
· Fourteen MDC candidates were disqualified
after the nomination court closed before they could present their papers.
Abednico Bhebhe, the MDC MP for the area, alleged that some of the candidates
were disqualified because they allegedly did not have the proper birth
certificates.
Tsholotsho
September 2002
· War veterans prevented
Mloliki Sibanda, MDC MP for Tsholotsho, from attending a ceremony to donate a
borehole to the community there by an NGO. The war veterans and the Zanu PF
militia threw him out of the gathering and said that he should never attend
their functions in his constituency, let alone campaign for his party in the
council elections that were to be held on 28 and 29 September 2002. War veterans
allegedly refused to grant MDC supporters permission to campaign in Tsholotsho
for the forthcoming elections.
MIDLANDS
Chirumhanzu, Mberengwa,
Zvishavane
September 2002
· In the Midlands province, only fifty-seven MDC
candidates had the courage to stand their ground to run in the September 2002
rural district and council elections, against ninety-three Zanu PF condidates.
Chirumhanzu constituency was one of the most affected in the Midlands Province.
Reports have revealed that even those who have braved the threats of violence
were finding it difficult to openly campaign as rowdy Zanu PF supporters often
disrupted their rallies with the police taking no action. Opposition MDC
candidates were harassed and threatened with unspecified action if they
contested in the September 2002 rural district and
council.
Shurugwi
September 2002
· Dave Wilson received threats from
Chief Mapendere and some Zanu PF youths, ordering him to leave the area and
emigrate to England if he was to insist on representing the MDC in the
forthcoming council elections. He later withdrew his candidature. Thirty-six
opposition MDC candidates in Midlands South reportedly withdrew their
candidature from the September 2002 rural district and council elections fearing
for their lives after being threatened with violence by Zanu PF
supporters.
· Herbert Mhlanga was allegedly forced to withdraw his
candidature by Zanu PF supporters in the area and was allegedly forced to
surrender all MDC t-shirts and cards following unspecified threats from Chief
Mapendere. Thirty-six MDC candidates have been forced to surrender their
candidature by Zanu PF supporters in Midlands South. This came about in the run
up to the September 2002 rural district and council elections. In Shurugwi, MDC
was only left with only six candidates in the twenty -three wards that were
contested as the rest withdrew from the election run.
· Njere Chou, Farai
Sibindwani, Muhle Mudewa and Deliwe Marima claimed that Zanu PF supporters
summoned them to the nomination court for daring to contest the election against
their Zanu PF headmen. What transpired at the court was however not
reported.
9 September 2002
· Joshua Tongogara and other MDC candidates in
the rural district council elections had been held hostage at their homes by
suspected ruling Zanu PF party militants. They were allegedly forced to withdraw
their candidature in the upcoming rural and district council elections. Lyson
Mlambo, MDC provincial spokesman for Midlands, alleged that all the MDC
candidates' homes in Shurugwi had been sealed off by marauding Zanu PF youths to
ensure that they did not reach out to the constituencies. They were forced to
withdraw their candidature before the election. It is alleged that Zanu PF
military tactics in the run up to the rural district and council elections
reached alarming levels and the MDC activists feared for the lives of their
candidates. Joshua Tongogara is the last brother of the late Josiah Tongogara,
former Zanu PF liberation fighter, and it is alleged that the whole family
defected to MDC because the ruling Zanu PF had neglected the mother of Josiah
Tongogara, yet Josiah had fought tirelessly and led the fighters into battle
against the Smith Regime just before Independence.
List of deaths
reported as having resultant from political violence: 1 January 2002 – 30
September 2002
NB: This list is subject to update and correction as and when
new/additional information becomes available.
Name, Political Affiliation if
known, Date of Death, Province, Constituency
1 BHEBHE, Newman (MDC), February
2002, Matabeleland North, Nkayi
2 CHATUNGA, Richard, (MDC), 20 January 2002,
Masvingo, Bikita East
3 CHIDARI Micah, (Zanu PF), 2 April 2002, Mashonaland
West, Mhondoro
4 CHITEHWE, Mr, (ZNLWVA), January 2002, Harare,
Hatfield
5 CHIBVAMUDEVE, Nikoniari, (MDC), 21 September 2002, Mashonaland
West, Hurungwe West
6 DUBE, Nqobizita, (MDC), 1 March 2002, Bulawayo,
Nkulumane
7 FORD, Terry, (commercial farmer), 18 March 2002, Mashonland West,
Mhondoro
8 GATSI, Ernest, (MDC) 19 March 2002, Mashonaland Central, Guruve
North
9 GWAZE, Tafirenyika, (MDC polling agent Rukwenjere), 12 March 2002,
Mashonaland East, Mutoko South
10 GWIDZIMA, Noah, (Zanu PF), 4 April 2002,
Manicaland, Makoni North
11 JEFTHA, Peter, 3 March 2002, Harare, Harare
South
12 JEKA, Petros, (MDC polling agent), 4 April 2002, Masvingo, Masvingo
North
13 JERANYAMA, Donald, (MDC polling agent), 25 March 2002, Manicaland,
Mutasa
14 KATSAMUDANGA, Tichaona (MDC), 5 February 2002, Harare, Harare
North
15 KUMALO, Khape, (MDC), 6 February 2002, Mashonaland West,
Mhondoro
16 KUVHEYA, Lawrence, (MDC), March 2002, Mashonaland East,
Chikomba
17 MADHOBHA, Tipason, (MDC polling agent), 2 May 2002, Midlands,
Gokwe Central
18 MAHUNI, Funny, 13 March 2002, Midlands,
Kwekwe
19 MANJENGWA, Khan Ali, (Zanu PF), 22 August 2002, Harare, Mbare
West
20 MANYARA, Owen, (MDC), 17 March 2002, Mashonaland Central, Mount
Darwin
21 MAPHOSA, Richard, (MDC), 20 January 2002, Masvingo, Bikita
East
22 MAPHOSA, Stephen, (Zanu PF), 2 February 2002, Harare,
Budiriro
23 MAPINGURE, Atnos, , 9 January 2002, Masvingo,
Zaka
24 MASARIRA, Gibson, (Zanu PF), 9 January 2002, Masvingo, Zaka
25 MASEVA, Amos Misheck, (ZNLWVA), 8 March 2002, Masvingo, Gutu
North
26 MATOPE, Kenneth, (MDC), 13 January 2002, Mashonaland Central,
Guruve
27 MIJONI, Simwanja, 15 January 2002, Midlands, Kwekwe
28 MOYO,
Henry, (MDC), 7 February 2002, Masvingo, Masvingo Central
29 MPOFU, Muchenje,
(MDC), 19 January 2002, Midlands, Mberengwa East
30 MTETWA, Davis (MDC), 27
April 2002, Harare, Zengeza
31 MUDZIMUIREMA Cosamu, (MDC), 16 July 2002,
Manicaland, Buhera South
32 MUKAKAREI, Tabudamo, (MDC), 14 February 2002,
Masvingo, Masvingo North
33 Munyaradzi (no surname given) (farm worker), 14
February 2002, Mashonaland East, Marondera East
34 MUNIKWA, Isaac, (Zanu PF),
17 January 2002, Masvingo, Zaka
35 MUPAWAENDA, Takatukwa Mamhova, 16
February 2002, Mashonaland West, Zvimba South
36 MUTEMARINGA, Fungisai,
(MDC), 27 January 2002, Mashonaland East, Murehwa
37 NCUBE, Richard , (MDC),
18 July 2002, Midlands, Zhombe
38 NCUBE, Sambani (MDC), 17 March 2002,
Matabeleland North, Hwange East
39 NCUBE, Mthokozisi, (MDC), 26 January 2002,
Bulawayo, Pelandaba
40 NEMAIRE, Solomon, (MDC), 23 January 2002, Manicaland,
Makoni
41 NGAMIRA, Genus, (MDC), 5 May 2002, Mashonaland Central,
Bindura
42 NGUNDU, Shepherd, (MDC), 5 February 2002, Mashonaland Central,
Mount Darwin South
43 NHITSA, Takesure, (MDC), 20 February 2002, Mashonaland
Central, Rushinga
44 NYANZIRA, Tariro, (Zanu PF), 8 February 2002,
Manicaland, Buhera North
45 PILOSI, Simon, (MDC), 26 March 2002, Mashonaland
West, Zvimba South
46 ROMIO, Edwin, (MDC polling agent), March 2002,
Mashonaland East, Mutoko
47 SANYAMAHWE, Kuziva, (MDC), 18 January 2002,
Mashonaland East, Murehwa South
48 SHELTON, Lloyd, (Zanu PF) 27 February
2002, Mashonaland East, Chikomba
49 SIBANDA, Charles, (MDC), 2 March 2002,
Midlands, Zhombe
50 SIBANDA, James, (MDC), February 2002, Matabeleland North,
Nkayi
51 SIBINDI, Halaza, (MDC), 30 January 2002, Matabeleland North,
Tsholotsho
52 SIBINDI, Joseph, (MDC) January 2002, Bulawayo
53 SICWE,
Jameson, (MDC), 29 January 2002, Matabeleland North, Lupane
54 Unnamed, (2),
(farm guards), 23 January 2002, Masvingo, Mwenezi
55 Unnamed, 26 February
2002, Bulawayo, Makokoba
56 VIKAVEKA, Darlington, (MDC), 15 March 2002,
Mashonaland East, Marondera East
57 WHITE, Fanuel, (MDC polling agent), 29
March 2002, Mashonaland Central, Guruve North
Total of 58 deaths
(Political affiliation: MDC- 38; Zanu PF- 8, ZNLWVA- 2, Unknown/none-
10)
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (also known as the “Human Rights
Forum”) has been in existence since January 1998. Nine non-governmental
organisations working in the field of human rights joined together to provide
legal and psychosocial assistance to the victims of the Food Riots of January
1998.
The Human Rights Forum has now expanded its objectives to assist
victims of organised violence, using the following definition:
“Organised
violence” means the inter-human infliction of significant avoidable pain and
suffering by an organised group according to a declared or implied strategy
and/or system of ideas and attitudes. It comprises any violent action, which is
unacceptable by general human standards, and relates to the victims’ mental and
physical well-being.”
The Human Rights Forum operates a Legal Unit and a
Research and Documentation Unit.
Core member organizations of the Human
Rights Forum are:
Amani Trust
Amnesty International (Zimbabwe) (AI
(Z))
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP)
Gays and Lesbians
of Zimbabwe (GALZ)
Legal Resources Foundation (LRF)
Nonviolent Action
and Strategies for Social Change (NOVASC)
Transparency International
(Zimbabwe) (TI (Z))
University of Zimbabwe Legal Aid and Advice
Scheme
Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of
the Offender (ZACRO)
Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (ZIMCET)
Zimbabwe
Human Rights Association (ZimRights)
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
(ZLHR)
Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA)
The Human Rights Forum
can be contacted through any member organization or through the
following:
The Administrator, c/o P O Box 5465, Harare – email:
admin@hrforum.co.zwThe Legal Unit, c/o
P O Box 5465, Harare – email:
legal@hrforum.co.zwThe Research Unit
c/o P O Box 5465, Harare – email:
research@hrforum.co.zwTelephone:
792 222, 737 509, and 731 660
Fax: 772 860
The London Liaison Office, 33
Islington High Street, London N1 9LH – email:
zimbabwe@article19.org; Telephone: +44
(0)20-7239.1194
Website:
www.hrforumzim.comPrevious reports of
the Human Rights Forum can be found on the website.