Independent (UK)
Summit cancelled after Britain bans Mugabe
henchmen
By Marie Woolf, Chief Political Correspondent
13 October
2003
A summit of international leaders in London next year, due to be
opened by
the Queen and addressed by Nelson Mandela, has been cancelled after
the
Government barred members of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwean regime.
A
dispute in the Inter- Parliamentary Union (IPU), set up in the 1890s
to
promote world co-operation and peace, has led to the withdrawal of
next
year's annual conference from Britain in March, after several years
of
planning.
The Foreign Office refused to break an EU travel ban on
named members of Mr
Mugabe's disgraced regime. Officials said they would not
grant visas to
associates of Mr Mugabe, including his right-hand man,
Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mr Mnangagwa, a former head of the state security
services, helped to plan
an invasion of Matabeleland to crush opposition Zapu
rebelsin which some
50,000 people died.
Also in the delegation was the
Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, an
architect of the land reform
programme.
Invitations to Mr Mandela and Kofi Annan, secretary general of
the United
Nations, have been withdrawn, and bookings of Westminster Hall,
where the
opening ceremony was due to be addressed by the Queen, have been
cancelled.
Hundreds of leading parliamentarians and heads of state were
due to attend
the event, which has not been held in Britain since Margaret
Thatcher was
Prime Minister.
The dispute revives memories of
February's Anglo-French fall-out, when
Jacques Chirac invited Mr Mugabe to
attend the 22nd Franco-African summit in
Paris.
The British delegation
to the IPU, led by the Labour MP John Austin, argued
it would be unethical to
break the EU travel ban, and any meeting would be
seen as sanctioning human
rights abuses by the Mugabe regime. "I think the
entire British group of the
IPU will be extremely disappointed by this
decision to withdraw the
conference, but there are certain principles you
have to stick by," Mr Austin
said last night. "The UK Government is
absolutely right to adhere to this
ban."
African nations threatened to boycott the conference if it was held
in
London, and France condemned Britain for adhering to the EU travel
ban,
which applies to 78 members of Mr Mugabe's regime and was renewed
in
February.
After a row at the IPU's headquarters in Geneva on
Friday, in which Britain
was called an imperialist, members voted against
holding the event in London
without the banned Zimbabweans.
Organisers
are drawing up plans to hold the summit elsewhere, possibly
in
Thailand.
Bill Rammell, a Foreign Office minister, spent months
trying to keep the
conference in London. "We did everything in our power to
accommodate the
IPU's concerns, but at the end of the day we could not breach
our
international legal obligations," he said.
IPS news
POLITICS-ZIMBABWE:
The Melt Down of Liberty Continues
Unabated
Wilson Johwa
HARARE, Oct 13 (IPS) - "Demonstrations
here never last more than 10 minutes
before the police move in,"
photojournalist Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi remarks
casually.
It is another
misleadingly tranquil day in Zimbabwe's capital city, Harare,
where Mukwazhi
and two colleagues are keeping tabs on a group advocating for
a new
constitution, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA). Members of
the
organisation are due to march to parliament with placards, agitating for
a
new constitution as the starting point to resolving the political gridlock
in
the country.
However, Mukwazhi's comments turns out to be an
understatement. Even before
the demonstration begins, it is quashed.
Plainclothes police officers sneak
up on anyone wearing an NCA shirt and
throw them into waiting vehicles.
Mukwazhi and the two other freelance
photojournalists are bungled together
with the NCA demonstrators within
seconds of snapping pictures of NCA
chairman Lovemore Madhuku who, with a
small group of activists, tries to
unfurl a banner.
Altogether, 102
NCA activists are arrested. Together with the three
photojournalists they
spend 24 hours in custody charged with "engaging in
conduct likely to breach
the peace". This is an offence under an
all-encompassing law from the
country's colonial past, the Miscellaneous
Offences Act.
Freedom only
comes when they pay admission of guilt fines, even though they
all know they
have committed no crime. "We paid in protest, not paying the
fine would have
meant staying in prison," their lawyer, Alec Muchadehama
says.
Once
released Mukwazhi seeks legal action to have the admission of guilt
stuck
down. Having three such admissions could cost any journalist his
hard-to-get
official accreditation card as it is tantamount to having a
criminal
record.
While the government of President Robert Mugabe digs it's heels
in, the
right to peaceful demonstration is one less freedom Zimbabweans
have.
Engaging in a public protest is like waiving a red flag in front of
the
police who have a reservoir of laws to justify a clampdown. The main
law
against gatherings is the Public Order and Security Act (POSA),
which
replaced another draconian colonial legislation, the Law and
Order
(Maintenance) Act.
Since its enactment in January 2002, POSA has
been used to target opposition
supporters, independent media and human rights
activities. It restricts
their right to criticise the government, engage in
or organize acts of
peaceful civil disobedience.
On October 9, a
demonstration by the country's powerful labour organisation,
the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), was also foiled before it
began. Fifty-five
ZCTU members who had planned to speak out against high
taxation and the cost
of living were arrested. Three of them were seriously
assaulted by the
police.
Members of the group were cautioned and released. But charges
might be
pressed later if the police decide to do so. However, the ZCTU
remains
unintimidated. It has planned more demonstrations against high
taxation and
inflation until Zimbabwe's budget is presented next
month.
It's president, Lovemore Matombo, was among those detained. He
says the most
distasteful irony was finding himself in the same cell that he
occupied for
35 days in 1975 for resisting colonial injustice. "You really
feel quite
depressed purely because we are an independent country and are
supposed to
be democratic enough to allow the basic freedoms to flow in the
normal way,"
he says.
The union leader says what disturbed him further
was that they were hassled
merely for protesting against the well-known issue
of taxation. For years
Zimbabweans, who are among some of the most heavily
taxed people in the
world, have unsuccessfully sought tax relief from the
government.
Three days after the ZCTU protest, a newly-formed
anti-globalisation
coalition, the Zimbabwe Social Forum which is affiliated
to the World Social
Forum, was denied permission for a peaceful
march.
"Because of the legislation and the political environment in
Zimbabwe, it
had to be a peace rally instead," said one of the organizers,
Thomas Deve.
Matombo says the government's intolerance for civil disobedience
is purely a
matter of clinging to power despite all odds.
The
government stands accused of plunging the country into it's worst
economic
crisis ever, with inflation at over 500 percent, unemployment at 70
percent
and the local currency being worth a little more than the paper on
which it
is printed.
Suppressing all forms of protest is the method of choice in
perpetuating
control over a very frustrated population.
At the
University of Zimbabwe, previously the country's melting pot of
protest, many
students' rooms still do not have doors since soldiers knocked
them down
during the "final push" mass action organized by the opposition in
June to
force Mugabe to the negotiating table.
Talks with the opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) have been on
and off. To date no headway has been
made.
Over the weekend at it's annual general meeting, the NCA warned
members who
dare to speak out to expect a lot more State repression. "As we
continue in
our conviction towards the established of sustainable democracy
in Zimbabwe,
more arrests, torture, closure and even worse forms of
oppression,
suppression and repression are certain to come our way,"
Matombo
said.(ENDS/IPS/AF/SA/IP/WJ/SM/03)
MDC
PRESS
13
October, 2003
Zimbabwe’s
Fragile Democracy on Trial Again
Paul Themba Nyathi, the
MDC Secretary
for Information and Publicity, was today informed by police that he will stand
trial on October 29 for ‘trying to overthrow a constitutionally elected
government’.
This spurious and
baseless charge was originally levelled against Mr Themba Nyathi in the immediate
aftermath of the successful MDC mass action
of 18/19 March when Mr Themba Nyathi was arrested and detained under draconian provisions
contained in the anti-democratic Public Order and Security
Act.
The announcement of Mr
Themba Nyathi’s trial date
demonstrates once again the determination of the Mugabe regime to silence all forms of dissent in
Zimbabwe and to
close down the democratic space. His trial will commence two days after the
resumption of the treason trial of MDC President
Morgan Tsvangirai. Once again it is
Zimbabwe’s fragile
democracy that will really be on trial and the noble and universal values that
we stand for as peace loving Zimbabweans.
MDC
Information
and Publicity Department
IOL
SA faces worst drought in 100 years
October
13 2003 at 04:06AM
With half of the country in the grip of
a severe drought, forecasters
have warned that the biggest drought disaster
in 100 years might be looming.
This has put the spotlight on
invasive alien vegetation, which
consumes seven percent of South Africa's
water.
Invasive alien plants destroy usable land,
outmuscle
naturally-occurring flora and fauna, consume precious water
resources and
aggravate poverty.
It is estimated that 10-million
hectares of South Africa's land
surface are currently affected - spreading at
a rate of five percent a year.
According to research published last
week using satellite imagery to
generate vegetation maps - indicating areas
of drought - the country is
presently experiencing drought conditions over
most of the summer rainfall
regions.
"The imagery shows shocking
similarities with the disastrous drought
year of 1992."
"If
current conditions prevail, South Africa can expect one of the
biggest
drought disasters in 100 years," the CSIR/SA Weather
Service
reported.
The 1992 season was one of the driest years in
recorded history. About
70 percent of the crops failed, and it was estimated
that half the
population in the affected areas were at risk of malnutrition,
related
health problems and even starvation.
An aggravating
factor this year was the number of wild fires that
occurred in Mpumalanga and
KwaZulu-Natal provinces between July and
September, destroying thousands of
hectares of grazing.
Large numbers of animals are dying and farmers
are being forced to
sell their livestock.
The bad news is that
the Zimbabwe-based SADC Drought Monitoring
Centre's long-term weather
forecasts don't hold out much promise, either.
"The south-western
and eastern parts of the SADC region (South Africa,
northern Mozambique and
Malawi, Seychelles, southern Tanzania and Namibia)
are likely to receive
normal to below-normal rainfall for the period October
to December
2003."
The Drought Monitoring Centre goes on to forecast normal
conditions
across much of Southern Africa between January and March 2004,
with the
possibility of below-normal rainfall in the west - between March and
June.
So, yes, for summer rainfall areas, the rainy season is on
its way.
But, no, it looks like it may be insufficient to turn things around
in the
parched north-east.
The WeedBuster Campaign 2003 cannot
guarantee precipitation, but if it
helps to foster a collective societal
response to the scourge of invasive
alien plants it will help to ensure that
precious rainfall does not go to
waste.
The theme for this
year's campaign - Safeguarding Freshwater,
Biodiversity and Livelihoods -
links the threats posed by invasive alien
plants to water security, ecology
and poverty.
This year is The International Year of Freshwater, and
the WeedBuster
Campaign coincides with similar focus weeks in Australia and
New Zealand.
According to Dr Guy Preston, chairman of the Working
for Water
Programme, it is widely accepted that invasive alien species are
the single
biggest threat to South Africa's biodiversity.
"In
addition to the impacts on biological diversity and water
security, these
invasive alien plants are also having very significant
impacts on the
ecological integrity of our natural systems, the productive
potential of
land, the intensity of fires, flooding, erosion, the health of
estuaries,
water quality and the livelihoods of all those (and particularly
the poor)
who depend on the life-support systems that these invasive alien
plants
undermine," he told the World Parks Congress in Durban last month.
Working for Water, initiated in 1995, is a multi-departmental poverty
relief
programme implemented by the Department of Water Affairs
and
Forestry.
It has provided training and employment
opportunities for more than 20
000 people, has been associated with more than
30 national and international
awards, and its budget has steadily increased,
from R25-million in 1995/96
to R442-million this year.
a.. Activities have been planned across the country, beginning with
the
clearing of invasive alien vegetation from the country's smallest
national
park - Groenkloof National Park - in Pretoria, on Monday.
..
This article was originally published on page 4 of The Pretoria
News on
October 13, 2003
IOL
Mugabe eases tough media laws
October 13 2003 at
03:48PM
By Cris Chinaka
Harare - Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe has approved the easing of tough
media laws targeting
journalists accused of publishing "falsehoods," but
analysts say his
government retains a big arsenal to attack press freedom.
A notice in a
government gazette made available on Monday said Mugabe had
signed amendments
passed by parliament to the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy
Act (AIPPA), including a replacement for a clause on
publishing "falsehoods"
that the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional.
Before the amendments, the
AIPPA simply made it an offence to publish
"falsehoods". But now the law says
a journalist will face criminal charges
only if there is suspicion this was
done "intentionally or recklessly".
His government retains a big
arsenal to attack press freedom
Conviction could result in a fine or two
years in jail.
Lovemore Madhuku, a constitutional lawyer and chairperson
of a group
campaigning for a new constitution, said that although the
amendments
appeared to relax press restrictions, the media legislation
package remained
a threat to press freedom.
"One way of looking at
these minor amendments is that they are aimed at
securing convictions in the
courts, and that they still leave the government
with enough ammunition to
deal with anyone in the private media if it needs
to," he told
Reuters.
Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, signed
harsh new
security and media laws last year in what his critics said was a
drive to
stifle dissent and muzzle media as the country grapples with its
worst
political and economic crisis in decades.
In February, President
Thabo Mbeki - who has promoted a policy of "quiet
diplomacy" toward his
northern neighbour - said Zimbabwe had pledged to
review parts of the media
law seen as too restrictive.
Mugabe's delay in making the expected
changes had led critics to call
Mbeki's policy ineffective.
The media
law still requires journalists and media organisations to register
with a
government-appointed commission and bars foreigners from working
permanently
in the country as correspondents.
At least two dozen journalists have
been charged under the act, including
the former Zimbabwe correspondent of
Britain's Guardian newspaper, who was
deported earlier this year.
The
government says the media laws are meant to bring professionalism in a
sector
it accuses of promoting a Western-sponsored propaganda campaign
against
Mugabe.
A month ago, police shut down the country's only privately owned
daily
newspaper - The Daily News - after the Supreme Court ruled that
its
publisher, Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, was operating illegally as
it
had not registered with the media commission.
New Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Amendment Act Now
Law
The Herald (Harare)
October 13, 2003
Posted to the
web October 13, 2003
Harare
The Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Amendment Act, which
seeks to improve and correct
certain anomalies and errors that came to light
since the law was promulgated
last year, is now law after President Mugabe
assented to it.
In a
notice in an extraordinary Government Gazette released at the weekend,
the
Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda
said
President Mugabe had assented to the law.
Parliament approved
the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy
Amendment Bill in June
this year.
Part of the amendments include the insertion of a new section
on the abuse
of journalistic privilege after the Supreme Court struck out
section 80 of
the Act which made it an offence for a journalist to publish
falsehoods as
unconstitutional in May this year.
The section made it
an offence to publish a falsehood but made no reference
to the intention of
such publication.
When the Supreme Court declared the section
unconstitutional, the Government
was already working on amending the Act to
correct the anomaly.
The new section makes publication of falsehoods a
criminal offence only when
there is a deliberate intention to publish a lie
or when the author of the
falsehood is totally reckless about whether the
information is false or not.
A journalist who abuses his or her
journalistic privilege by publishing
information which he or she
intentionally or recklessly falsifies in a
manner which threatens the
interests of defence, public safety, public
order, the economic interests of
the State, public morality or health or is
injurious to the reputation,
rights and freedoms of other people shall be
guilty of an offence and liable
to a fine or imprisonment for a period not
exceeding two years.
A
journalist who publishes information which he or she maliciously
or
fraudulently fabricated when knowing the statement to be false or
without
having reasonable grounds to believe it to be true and recklessly
with
malicious or fraudulent intent representing the statement as a
true
statement shall also be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine
or
imprisonment not exceeding two years.
A new section on abuse of
freedom of expression states that a person who
makes use of a mass media
service for the purpose of abusing freedom of
expression by publishing
falsehoods shall be guilty of an offence and liable
to a fine or imprisonment
not exceeding three years.
The new Act amends the principal Act by
repealing section 35.
The section now states that any person who, when
required under any
enactment to supply to a public body any personal
information verbally or in
writing about himself or herself or a third party,
supplies any information
which he or she knows to be false or does not have
reasonable grounds for
believing to be true, shall be guilty of an offence
and liable to a fine or
imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or
both such fine and
imprisonment.
Section 22 of the principal Act is
amended and now states that a the head of
a public body may refuse to
disclose to an applicant personal information
concerning the applicant if
such disclosure will result in a threat to the
applicant's or another
person's safety or mental or physical health.
The same section has also
been amended so that issues of personal safety are
not mixed with issues of
national security.
Section 87 is amended to provide for a right of appeal
to the Media and
Information Commission about the manner in which a mass
media service makes
a correction of information injurious to a person's
reputation, honour and
dignity.
The new Act exempts the following from
registration - a mass media service
founded by or under an Act of Parliament,
a mass media service consisting of
the activities of a person holding a
licence issued in terms of the
Broadcasting Services Act, a representative
office of a foreign mass media s
ervice permitted to operate in Zimbabwe and
the production of publications
by any enterprise, institution or other person
that are disseminated
exclusively to members or employees of that enterprise,
association,
institution or other person.
Section 2 of the principal
Act is amended by the insertion of definitions of
dissemination, journalist
and legal representative.
Under the same section, the new Act amends the
principal Act by repealing
the definition of mass media service or mass
media.
The new definition states that mass media includes any service,
medium or
media consisting in the transmission of voice, visual, data or
textual
messages to an unlimited number of people and includes an
advertising
agency, publisher or, except as otherwise excluded or specially
provided for
in this Act, a news agency or broadcasting licensee as defined
in the
Broadcasting Services Act.
Mass media products means an
advertisement, the total print or part of the
total print of a separate issue
of a periodically printed publication, a
separate issue of a teletext
programme, the total or part of the data of any
electronically transmitted
material or audio or video recorded programme.
Mass media service means
any service that produces mass media products
whether or not it disseminates
them.
World Faith News
"Walk With Us," African Ecumenical Leader Tells U.S.
Churches
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
From
"Nat'l Council of Churches" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>
Date Mon, 13
Oct 2003 10:35:45 -0400
For Immediate Release
Walk With Us,
African Ecumenical Leader Mvume Dandala Tells U.S. Churches;
New All Africa
Conference of Churches General Secretary Visits NCC, CWS
October 13,
2003, NEW YORK CITY - Determination to equip Africas churches
to respond
powerfully to the continents pressing needs characterizes Bishop
Mvume
Dandala, the new head of Africas leading ecumenical
organization.
Dandala, 51, a South African who in September became
General Secretary of
the Nairobi, Kenya-based All Africa Conference of
Churches, does not mince
words when he describes Africas daunting challenges
of tragic poverty,
HIV/AIDS and other killer diseases and conflict brought
by political
despots.
But he doesnt stop there. Sometimes when
people see the wars that
continue to afflict us, they dont see the positive
things, he says - a
continent trying to deal with its problems and the
enormous potential of
Africas churches to equip, empower and protect the
people.
Dandala, known for his work in conflict resolution at the height
of the
apartheid era in South Africa, is the immediate past Presiding Bishop
of the
Methodist Church of Southern Africa. He led a World Council of
Churches
Living Letters delegation to the United States in November 2001,
meeting
with delegates to the NCCs annual General Assembly among others to
wrestle
together with questions raised by the attacks of September 11,
2001.
October 6 in New York City, he met with staff of the National
Council of
Churches USA, Church World Service and the United Methodist Church
after
participating in a U.S. speaking tour and teach-in organized by
Africa
Action, the oldest Africa advocacy organization in the United
States.
Dandala also spoke at an October 5 breakfast forum at The Riverside
Church
in New York City and co-officiated at Holy Communion at morning
worship
there.
The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC),
established in 1963, is a
fellowship of 169 national denominations and 35
national Christian councils
across the continent, comprising an estimated 120
million members.
The AACCs program seeks to equip the members for
witness and service in
such areas as Christian and family life education,
theology, interfaith
relations, youth, women, development, refugee and
emergency services, and
information. Nov. 22-27 in Yaounde, Cameroon,
members will gather for the
AACCs 8th continent-wide assembly, under the
theme Come, Let Us
Re-Build.
Some of us are very passionate about
what this network could do, Dandala
commented to CWS and NCC staff. We want
to be sure the churches come
together in a meaningful way.
That is
easier said than done, he acknowledged. Travel and phone calls
between
countries can be difficult and expensive, letters can take up a
month to
reach their destination and Internet access is scarce.
Interconnectivity,
taking our future into our own hands, together, is key,
he said.
In
response, Church World Service is assisting the AACC with computer
hardware,
software and networking upgrades based on a needs assessment visit
last
year. The project is one of several collaborations between CWS - the
global
humanitarian agency of the NCCs 36 member churches - and the AACC,
a
longstanding partner.
This week CWS Executive Director John L.
McCullough presented Dandala with a
down payment of three new laptops as
part of the broader package of
assistance. Dandala responded, Your
commitment to help us with these
computers will help us strengthen our
networks in a vast continent that
doesnt have much in the way of digital
connections - but needs them more
than ever before. Maybe CWS is just
thinking that with computers our
letters can be written more efficiently, he
said. For us they empower the
church to speak with more authority to the
things happening on the continent
at this time.
African church life
is a mixed picture, Dandala acknowledged. He expressed
sadness and distress
at churches that take peoples money and give nothing
back. In the HIV/AIDS
and other crises, some churches are in the
forefront of the struggle to care
but others are making things difficult,
teaching, for example, that AIDS is
Gods punishment of Africa.
Dandala said the AACCs mission includes
bringing African church leaders
together to consider the kind of Christianity
we need in Africa -
ecumenical, socially sensitive, healing and transforming
- the kind of
salvation that has a direct positive impact on peoples
lives.
On the political front, Dandala called the establishment of the
African
Union in 2002 something of a miracle at the moment. The AUs
predecessor
body, the Organization of African Unity, had as a cornerstone
principle
non-interference in other countries affairs - predicated,
ironically, on
respect for boundaries that had been imposed by colonial
powers.
That principle has been the downfall of the continent since 1957,
which has
seen the inability to do anything when evil takes place somewhere,
Dandala
said. But now the AU agrees that we have a moral obligation when one
of
the leaders on the continent is destroying his or her country. For
example,
he said, it was unthinkable a few years ago that heads of
governments would
intervene as they did in Liberias civil war, convincing
Charles Taylor to
step down as President.
We wish it could happen
more, he said, expressing distress at watching
Zimbabwe destroy itself.
Its a fact that land distribution in Africa is
badly skewed against the
poor, the ordinary people. We need to find a
political solution that conveys
that democratic values can be used
meaningfully in resolving conflicts on the
continent. Some of us as
churches have said that to (Zimbabwes President
Robert) Mugabe.
Concluded Dandala, Churches are like the veins and
arteries in the body of
Africa. Yes, we are the church in Africa, but we are
not alone - we are
part of the worldwide church. Many world powers are
interested in Africa
not to build but to plunder, not to empower but to
frustrate, he said. We
look to the churches worldwide and say the only
bulwark that can protect us
is the powerful collective voice of the churches
to say, Give the people a
chance, and to walk with
us.
-end-
NCC Media Contact: 212-870-2252/2227
Daily News
Letter
Zanu-PF are communists
My fellow
Zimbabweans, most of us are seeking to understand what is
happening in our
country but it’s straightforward. Let me give you another
way of looking at
our problem, in fact we have always had this problem. Our
liberators, Zanu Pf
are communists and their political party is a communist
party too. Their
claim to be democratic but consider the following facts:
1. Before the
great fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and going back, the
leader of the
communist country was addressed as First Secretary, hence R.G.
Mugabe is your
first Secretary for those that belong to Zanu PF. The manner
in which Zanu PF
is structured with the politburo being the highest organ
that makes all
decisions my friends, that all comes from
communism
structures.
The Constitution grants sweeping powers to
the President, making him the
person to name the government while the
Parliament is restricted to
participate in setting the national agenda and -
most importantly – the
president and first secretary passes the yearly budget
in a communism State,
does that sound any different from Zimbabwe and how
Zanu PF has set our
country. The term Executive President should make you
understand better who
makes all the rules.
I can go on and on and
give more examples of how Zimbabwe is being run by a
communist party that
claims to be pro-democracy and yet we are not allowed
to express ourselves,
journalists are not allow to write the truth and our
freedom of association
is restricted by the government. Pretty soon we will
be told by the
government who to talk to and who not to talk to. My fellow
countrymen
communism has failed and we all know that. Democracy is about a
society run
by the people for the good of the people, all of us. Today our
society is run
by a few members of the politburo and only for the benefit of
Zanu PF elite,
the amazing thing is that even their loyalist are suffering
too and they
still don’t care.
This shows how politically immature we are as a
society, why can we not pick
and choose who we want to lead us without lose
of human life or distraction
of property. Why can one person not understand
that he is not longer wanted
by the people and leave in peace?
Who
ever you are, if you voted for Zanu Pf and continue to vote for them you
are
supporting communism. Look at the history here if you don’t believe me,
most
of your Zanu Pf officials have been trained in Russia one time or the
other,
look at Zanu PF’s friends Libya and Congo. There is no democracy in
those
countries and to other Sadc heads of states on how there are dealing
with the
Zimbabwean crisis I can only say “Shame On You!”
Saying we are
democratic is one thing and actually being democratic
is
another!
The end is near!
Simbarashe
Mujuru
Zimbabwean
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE
PR COMMUNIQUE - October 13, 2003
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Written
by the former president of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel, about
a
non-violent movement fighting for democracy in Burma, this op-ed in
the
Washington Post today, I hope, will give heart to those fighting
for
democracy in Zimbabwe:
The Soul of a Nation
By Vaclav
Havel
Sunday, October 12, 2003
Just recently friends of mine sent me a
couple of photographs of Aung San
Suu Kyi. The nonviolent struggle of this
woman for her fellow citizens'
freedom dwells in my soul as a stark reminder
of our struggles against
totalitarian regimes in Central and Eastern
Europe.
Our nation, the Czech Republic, together with the entire free
world, has
observed with great concern the Burmese junta's refusal to cede
power and
the subsequent brutal intervention to quell the protest of its
citizens
after the victory of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy in
Burma's
1990 elections.
The Burmese authorities began to allow her to
move around her own country
only a year ago. It was then that the photos that
have so captured my
interest were taken. Despite the ban on information about
her and despite
the junta's intimidation, the Burmese people have always
learned quickly by
word of mouth of her presence, and thousands upon
thousands of citizens
overcame their fear and gathered upon this occasion to
listen to her.
I have seen other photos from Burma as well, showing men
in uniforms who
demand to be celebrated as if they were ancient kings,
appearing before
staged audiences that betray the motivations of fear and
resignation. These
men -- armed to the teeth -- shudder at the sight of
unarmed people who are
able to overcome their own fear and stand as examples
to others. They were
so terrified to see the photos of the crowds hailing Suu
Kyi that they
blocked the road, slaughtered many of her fellow travelers and
detained her
in May. Perhaps they have foolishly convinced themselves, as
many of their
fellow dictators have, that their ungrateful nation cannot see
the good
they do.
I recall that my friends and I for decades were
asked by people visiting
from democratic Western countries, "How can you, a
mere handful of
powerless individuals, change the regime, when the regime has
at hand all
the tools of power: the army, the police and the media, when it
can convene
gigantic rallies to reflect its people's 'support' to the world,
when
pictures of the leaders are everywhere and any effort to resist
seems
hopeless and quixotic?"
My answer was that it was impossible to
see the inside clearly, to witness
the true spirit of the society and its
potential -- impossible because
everything was forged. In such circumstances,
no one can perceive the
internal, underground movements and processes that
are occurring. No one
can determine the size of the snowball needed to
initiate the avalanche
leading to the disintegration of the
regime.
There are many politicians in the free world who favor seemingly
pragmatic
cooperation with repressive regimes. During the time of communism,
some
Western politicians preferred to appease the Czechoslovak thugs propped
up
by Soviet tanks rather than sustain contacts with a bunch of
dissidents.
These status-quo Western leaders behaved, voluntarily, much like
those
unfortunate people who were forced to participate in the massive
government
rallies: They allowed a totalitarian regime to dictate to them
whom to meet
and what to say. At that time, people such as the French
president,
Francois Mitterrand, and the Dutch minister of foreign affairs,
Max van der
Stoel, saved the face of the Western democracies by speaking and
acting
clearly. By the same token, politicians such as Japan's Prime
Minister
Junichiro Koizumi and Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople redeem
the
Asian reputation by not hesitating to speak the truth. The regime in
Burma
is, as a matter of fact, the disgrace of Asia, just as
Alexander
Lukashenko's regime in Belarus is the disgrace of Europe and Fidel
Castro's
regime in Cuba of Latin America.
In Burma, thousands of human
lives have been destroyed, scores of gifted
people have been exiled or
incarcerated and deep mistrust has been sown
among the various ethnic groups.
Human society is, however, a mysterious
creature, and it serves no good to
trust its public face at any one moment.
Thousands of people welcomed Suu Kyi
on her tours, proving that the Burmese
nation is neither subjugated nor
pessimistic and faithless. Hidden beneath
the mask of apathy, there is an
unsuspected energy and a great human, moral
and spiritual charge. Detaining
and repressing people cannot change the
soul of a nation. It may dampen it
and disguise the reality outwardly, but
history has repeatedly taught us the
lesson that change often arrives
unexpectedly.
"To talk about change
is not enough, change must happen," said Suu Kyi
during a tour among her
people. The Burmese do not require education for
democracy; they are and have
always been ready for it. It is not necessary
to draft a "road map" for
establishing freedom of the press or for
releasing political prisoners. The
will to act now would be sufficient to
fulfill both. But that is apparently
what is missing in Burma. Aren't there
obvious flaws in a road map if the
road for those who set forth on the
journey to democracy is blocked and if
they are slaughtered or inevitably
end up in prison?
The writer is
former president of the Czech Republic.
© 2003 The Washington Post
Company
JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open Letter
Forum" in the subject
line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1: Re Open Letters Forum No. 160 dated 07 October
As an overseas observer
of the ongoing drama of Zimbabwe, I found Joubert's
letter quite refreshing
from the usual platitudes expressed through this
medium.
Of course he
is being sarcastic and radical, but sometimes we need to be
stirred into
action, but even so rhetoric alone will not do it, we have to
believe in what
we do and we have to have faith, faith in ourselves, faith
in whatever God we
worship, faith in democracy; and most of all faith in
our fellow men and
women.
Life has always and will always be a compromise between what is
required
and what is achievable, the saying Great Oaks from small Acorns grow
is
true and we should never forget the higher you go the greater the
fall.
Keep up the good work, Cheers
Jo-An.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
2: Re ZNSPCA Communiqué
I find the article about the dairy farms in
Beatrice very disturbing. I
feel the article loses its impact because the
owner of the farm is not
named. We should be told the name of the farm and
the name of owner of the
Dairy herd, where he lives and where he works. The
government is very quick
to name & shame anybody who falls foul of it
then why not the same for
everyone. The De Jager property being ransacked
whilst the governor and
others are watching comes to mind. I do not suggest
that any accusations
are made because then you lay yourself open for a
lawsuit. Just what was
found and the personal details of the owner and where
the farm is so
interested people can go & look for themselves. Lets name
& shame these
clowns.
John
Kinnaird
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
3:
Dick and I have been greatly saddened by the Debate and Bitterness
stirred
up on all sides in the recent correspondence. We desperately hope
this
letter offends no one, as no offence is meant, but we wish to place
on
record our feelings.
We would like to thank and commend farmers
past and present and all
townsfolk for their support and encouragement
received in all the years
since we first needed help after the first contact
on our newly acquired
virgin farm in January 1970.
When the war hotted
up in mid 70's we would have found it hard to survive
without the active
support of our community, "Bright Lights" and the
"Farmer Sticks" from many
other areas and members of the Security Forces
both Regular and Part time,
made up mainly of Urban folk, both Black and
White, who were giving time away
from their jobs, businesses and homes at
severe cost in many cases. When we
were first designated in November
1997, up to the time we were finally forced
to leave our farm in September
2002, we received sympathy and support from
All, not forgetting our Farmers
organisations. We would like to mention
especially the help we received
from our Farming Community and the African
Community around us. Till the
time we sadly left the Country for Personal
reasons in March 2003, we have
received kindness and Thoughtfulness from
everyone and still do.
So Please we all need each other, can we not wrap
up this sad and
debilitating debate? There is very little anyone can do in a
situation
where there is a Total lack of Law and Order and no support from
the
Security Forces which is the case Now. Our thoughts and Prayers are
with
our family, Friends and Community at Home.
We count ourselves
very fortunate, though heartsore, to live where we do
now. We have received
encouragement from the Community here who
incidentally are also
threatened.
Regards Dick and Sue Marr
Winterton. Kwazulu
Natal.
P.S. It may amuse many to see Dick and I delivering meat, Dick
pushing the
trolley and me checking the stock in at the "Tradesmen" entrances
of posh
hotels in the
Drakensberg.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
4: Names
Lots of letters call for working together, networking, etc. but
are
unsigned. The first step is surely to know who you are. Have your
name
published with your letters/poems/thoughts for the day so that when we
meet
we can share. Having your name attached is the first step to freedom
from
oppression and fear. This regime relies on fear to survive.
Also
name the people who are trying to intimidate you, be it an army chef
or
former worker. Intimidation can work both ways. If they know or find
out
their identities are recorded and in print they might become a bit
more
circumspect.
Good luck and God Bless to you all wherever you may
be.
Alan
McCormick
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
5: Correct Terms
I have noticed that in certain news media the current
occupiers of stolen
property are referred to as the "New owners", as if their
presence was
legal and legitimate.
I believe that where we see or hear
such inaccuracies, each of us should
take the time and effort to point out to
the offending media that though
there may be new OCCUPIERS, actual OWNERSHIP
has not changed. These
properties are still OWNED by those who bought and
paid for them.
OWNERSHIP implies a legal status that mere occupiers (or
invaders) do
not
enjoy.
Charles
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
6: Farmers in Touch
I was sad to receive an E mail from the CFU on Friday
to say that they felt
an association ought to be formed to keep farmers off
the land in touch.
Reading the Jag letters recently I have felt that we
are becoming more and
more divided. Farmers on/off the land farmers/town folk
surely the time
has now come for us to put differences aside and work
together for the good
of the country/agriculture We have your organisation
which I feel has
offered tremendous support can this not be the
"association'? Why have
another one we surely have the same aim? What better
example than for the
leaders to get together and lead?!
Juliet Anon
please!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
7: Re Open Letters Forum No. 160 dated 07 October
Mmmm The letters of
recrimination go on. I am a townie and I remember well
the deal struck by the
CFU with the ZANU-PF kleptocracy in the late 80's to
benefit the farmers to
the disadvantage of local business. For those of you
who don't remember it
was in the form of a statutory instrument that
limited all companies to a
maximum mark-up of 25% when selling to a CFU
member. Naturally such an edict
was unenforceable, as it took no account of
variations in operating costs,
staffing needs, stocking requirements or
anything else. What it did do was
display the simplistic attitude of the
commercial farmer to life in general
and business in particular. Naturally
I, along with many others, ceased to do
any business with commercial
agriculture.
When the idiotic
"agricultural revolution" got underway many of us in town
got involved in
politics and tried in every way we could to head off the
catastrophe we could
see coming, I even went to a few CFU meetings to see
what could be done to
help. It became apparent, virtually immediately, that
the white farmers were
doomed to destruction. No cohesive plan was in
evidence, just rugged
individualism and a "we'll make a plan" attitude. So
collective destruction
was the inevitable outcome.
The best I could do was offer, free of
charge, safe storage for their
moveable kit to farmers who had been removed
from their properties. My yard
filled up with a number of farmer's equipment,
some were grateful, some
took it as a natural right and I should have been
happy to be allowed to
have their stuff on my premises. After two and a half
years of watching
farm employees working on the kit and jacking it up for
sale and a constant
stream sold equipment leaving and fresh kit arriving I
have put my foot
down and asked for my yard back as I need the
space.
Those farmers having made a plan to become transport operators
have now
started to appear at my office with trucks for repair and lo and
behold
what do I find. The same simplistic approach to life as I saw in
the
eighties. He is convinced that everybody is ripping him off, he knows
more
about trucks than my professionals and never hesitates to let us know
how
he stripped down his Massey Ferguson and so has a perfect understanding
of
a 14-litre hi tech diesel. He will try and cut each and every corner
and
blame everyone else for the failure of his approach, drag out payment
and
dispute every invoice.
All in all I can understand why there was
not as much sympathy for your
plight at the time. It is an indisputable fact
that without your skills,
hard work and self-sufficiency this country will
starve, forex inflows will
never recover to any meaningful extent and the
destruction of the natural
resources will know no bounds. But with those
attributes comes a package
deal of arrogance and self-centeredness that is
breathtaking. I, as a
businessman, know full well that my business will be
taken from me when
Mugabe deems it politically expedient to do so. I also
know that the
CZI/ZNCC will not lift a finger to prevent this from happening
as that
leadership will benefit from the "Hondo ye-business". The difference
is
that what I do is not an essential part of the lifeblood of Zimbabwe, it
is
just business, what you did was and by dint of the make-up of
your
collective characters you lost it for all of us.
Take
care
Keith
Battye
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - October 13,
2003
Email: justice@telco.co.zw;
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet:
www.justiceforagriculture.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
Agricultural Experiment.
The Zimbabwe Independent of 10.10.2003. printed
a report on the wonderful
agricultural experiment that has affected so many
people in the country
over the last three years.
Following on from
respected Zimbabwean agriculturalists such as the CFU and
the late Mr. Hunzvi
being called in to monitor and assist with 'the
experiment', The Independent
has indicated that local and international
experts have now been called upon
to make assessments on the experiment.
According to Vincent Kahiya, a
report on the experiment has been published
by the highly respected former
senior civil servant Dr. Charles Utete.
Kahiya's article continues to say
that the report has now been handed over
to UN Secretary General Dr. Kofi
Annan "to convince the international
community that reorganization would take
place on the farms to correct
errors..."
It is most reassuring and
exciting for Zimbabweans to have such high level
consultancy on agricultural
research carried in the country, and it can now
be assumed that they can look
forward to studying reviews done by Dr. Annan
and his local UN co-ordinator
Victor Angelo.
Commuter Operators Demand Different Fares
The Herald
(Harare)
October 13, 2003
Posted to the web October 13,
2003
Harare
CONFUSION reigned in the transport sector yesterday as
commuters coming into
town were charged varying amounts for the same
distances.
This followed an announcement by the Government that it would
issue a new
fare structure for urban routes this week in a move set to return
transport
service system to normal.
Some operators however,
immediately effected their own increases resulting
in the confusion, as the
increases were different.
Commuters travelling from Highfield into town
were charged $500 while others
paid $400.
Those travelling from
Mabvuku were charged $500 in conventional buses and
amounts ranging from $600
to $1 000 in the smaller kombis, which led to
confusion over the exact
fares.
It was the same for Mufakose residents who were paying between
$400 and $1
000 depending on the vehicle they boarded and what time of the
day it was.
Mr Joel Muchidza of Mabvuku said the increases by the
commuter operators
were not surprising as they had a culture of trying to
benefit whenever an
opportunity presented itself.
"Commuter operators
are suffering just like the rest of us and whenever
there is a fuel price
increase or a Press report that something has changed,
they immediately hike
fares.
"When we saw the newspaper articles saying new fares might be
announced
soon, we knew that we were in trouble," he said.
Police
spokesman, Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka said the police would
continue
cracking down on commuter omnibus operators who effected unapproved
fare
increases.
He said those that were arrested for overcharging on numerous
counts would
be taken to court for prosecution.
Some commuter
operators have for the past three weeks withdrawn services in
a bid to press
the Government for higher fares. This resulted in commuters
facing serious
difficulties to get transport to and from work.
The Confederation of
Zimbabwe Commuter Operators Services president, Mr
Felix Papaya recently
attributed the transport blues to the inability by
operators to buy vehicle
spares.
He said operators were failing to repair their vehicles because
of the low
fares they were charging.
The last urban transport fare
gazette was implemented in May this year and
is still effective.
Homelessness On the Rise - UN
The Herald (Harare)
October
13, 2003
Posted to the web October 13, 2003
Tawanda
Kanhema
Harare
IT never rains but pours for the thousands of homeless
people in Harare.
Jostled around and trampled upon by the hostile
realities of life, most have
sought refuge in odd places, where they languish
in grinding poverty.
The United Nations Housing and Settlements Programme
Report recently
released saddening statistics, indicating that at least one
billion people
were living in slums around the world and this figure could
double by the
year 2030 if it is not properly addressed.
In Harare,
unplanned settlements have sprouted in the high-density areas,
industrial
sites, riverbanks, backyards of the city's most
prestigious
suburbs.
Dumpsites too have suddenly become home to many
homeless people.
The UN report attributed the continual increase in the
number urban
slum-dwellers to the ever-growing phenomenon of rural to urban
migration,
which is still rampant in developing countries, mostly in East
Asia and
Africa.
It also described slums as poor areas that lacked
basic services or access
to clean water, with poorly built and overcrowded
houses.
This would seem to be an understatement if one looks at the
living
conditions of people in parts of Dzivarasekwa extension, Mbare and
Hatcliffe
extension all in Harare and Porta Farm, near Norton, where people
are living
in abject destitution.
Residents for instance in
Dzivarasekwa Extension Phase 2, use water from
unprotected wells closely dug
next to pit latrines that contaminate
underground supplies.
Wells have
been dug at random in the suburb, which has not been serviced
since its
establishment in 1996.
Mr Sam Chaikosha, of the Civic Forum on Housing
said it is imperative to
introduce affordable building technology in order to
solve the worsening
housing crisis in Zimbabwe.
Other stakeholders
called for greater co-operation between government and
the private sector in
the battle for the provision of housing.
Local government, according to
analysts, needs adequate allocation of land
and financial resources for it to
be able to provide decent accommodation
for the thousands of people in the
slums.
However, a faint glimmer of light seems to be emerging at the end
of the
tunnel as government recently announced the acquisition of at least 65
farms
in Harare and other major urban centres for the building of low
cost
accommodation to eradicate housing problems.
Minister of Public
Works, Housing and Manpower Development, Cde Ignatius
Chombo this week
announced on UN Habitat Day, that 20 farms had already been
subdivided and
serviced in Harare for the construction of low cost housing.
He also
announced that $375 million had been invested to upgrade and build
houses to
cater for those living in slums of Harare, Bulawayo and other
cities'
high-density suburbs.
While this would change the face of Harare and
provide decent shelter for
the thousands of people living in squalid
conditions in suburbs around the
city, a fraction of society, apparently
irredeemable from destitution, will
remain without a roof above their
heads.
And, even when loans become available for housing schemes, those
living in
slums would not afford to buy the 'low cost' houses earmarked for
them,
neither will they be able to fit into the housing loan
schemes.
Having retired from society after failing to cope with the
escalating cost
of living, unemployment and rampant disease, some of Harare's
poor have
formed their own sub-society surviving on begging and converting
garbage
into laundry soap.
A visit to Pomona dumpsite revealed a
society made up of pathetic, stranded
passengers on a fast-moving train of
urban life, where the homeless use
liquid waste to make soap.
At least
12 000 homeless people live in plastic shacks around the city, with
illegal
sub-communities and clusters sprouting at bus stations, in the
central
business district and industrial sites.
These people live primarily on
begging.
The other cluster, which has sought refuge at the dumpsite, is
made up of
elderly people who are seemingly more determined to feather their
nests and
fend for themselves.
"People call us scavengers but we are
fending for ourselves," protested Ms
Fiona Munemo, who lives at Pomona
dumpsite.
"We make soap from liquid waste and sell it for a living," she
said.
They seem not aware that decent accommodation, health-care and
sanitary
facilities are a basic human right. Their growing children have
never set
their feet in a classroom.
Pathetic living conditions in
Mbare, Harare's oldest and poorest suburb,
where an average of 40 people
share a single toilet while six people share
one room, have forced most
people to opt for shacks in industrial areas, on
the banks of Mukuvisi River
and along the railway line.
According to Homeless International, 50
percent of the people in Mbare have
been on the council's housing waiting
list for the past 10 years.
As a result, most of them have given up hope
of ever being able to put a
roof above their families, moving to shacks and
slums.
The most worrisome fact is that most of the people living in slums
and on
the streets are young children, orphaned by the Aids scourge, who live
with
their young siblings. Estimates show that at least 12 000 children
are
currently living on the streets and up to 780 000 have been orphaned by
Aids
in Zimbabwe.
Most of these orphans will find themselves on the
streets as extended
families, who are supposed to cushion them, fail to cope
with the harsh
realities of economic problems.
Sunday Mirror (Zimbabwe)
Makoni leads succession race
Innocent
Chofamba-Sithole
SACKED former finance minister, Simba Makoni is the most
popular candidate
to succeed President Robert Mugabe and appears to be Zanu
PF’s best bet
against the opposition should snap presidential elections be
held today, a
recent opinion poll has revealed.
Conducted by the Mass
Public Opinion Institute (MPOI) in August this year,
the survey also found
that 60.4 percent of respondents expect a democratic
selection process in the
ruling party’s succession issue as opposed to
Mugabe picking his own
heir.
A total of 1351 questionnaires were administered in two randomly
selected
districts in each of the country’s 10 provinces.
On which
candidate they would vote for should Mugabe retire today and snap
elections
were held, the majority (35,8 percent) threw their weight behind
opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
The
respondents were also overwhelmingly in favour of Tsvangirai contesting
the
next presidential election as the MDC candidate. However, of
paramount
significance in the context of the ruling party’s succession race
is the
fact that Makoni, with 15,2 percent of the vote, emerges as Zanu PF’s
most
popular candidate. Party chairman and special affairs minister, John
Nkomo
lags behind him with 5,6 percent while the ‘Son of God” and Mugabe’s
alleged
anointed heir, Emmerson Mnangagwa follows closely with 5,5
percent.
Interestingly, while Nkomo and Mnangagwa received the bulk of their
support
from their home provinces (Matabeleland and Midlands, respectively),
Makoni
enjoys support from all provinces nationally, save for Matabeleland
north
and south.
In both the Midlands and Masvingo provinces, home to
the Karanga ethnic
group to which Mnangagwa belongs, Makoni scored better
than the ruling party
’s secretary for administration and current Speaker of
Parliament. With a
margin of error of plus or minus five percent, the survey
is also not
without its humourously shocking exposes. Information and
publicity minister
Jonathan Moyo, who is privately taunted by some ruling
party stalwarts as a
latter-day Zanu PF convert, clinched 3,1 percent to
upstage party
juggernauts Dumiso Dabengwa, Sydney Sekeramayi, Eddison Zvobgo
and Nicholas
Goche.
Viewed by residential area, 14.2 percent of the
rural respondents favoured
Makoni as Mugabe’s successor, against 6.9 percent
for both Mnangagwa and
Nkomo.
The MPOI surveys have been dismissed in
the past as non-objective on account
of their seemingly partisan results that
always favour the opposition, even
though subsequent political reality has
gone on to disprove their accuracy.
Political scientists at Sapes Trust, a
regional social science research
institute, have questioned MPOI’s
methodology, describing it as unscientific
and its survey results as
therefore flawed. Other observers also disgareed,
for instance, that Makoni
could trail Tsvangirai in popularity ratings as a
possible national leader,
saying one of the reasons why Zanu PF strategists
considered Makoni as a
presidential candidate was that he had the capacity
to draw votes from the
MDC since he also commanded a large following within
the opposition itself.
Besides the fact that he could also woo the white
world, they argued, Makoni
could be a unifying factor as a compromise
candidate for the presidency.
Senior MDC officials were this year alleged to
have made overtures to Makoni
to accept the presidency of the opposition
party in what was perceived as an
acknowledgement of, and an attempt to
exploit his popular national
appeal.
The survey results also reflect a drop in Tsvangirai’s popularity
rating. In
March last year, Tsvangirai secured 42 percent of the national
vote in a
presidential election that generated heated controversy over its
freeness or
fairness. The drop could be explained by the electorate’s
growing
disillusionment with politics as the debilitating economic crisis
continues
to deepen. Also, the failure of the MDC’s ambitious “final push”
strategy in
June, which was intended to stampede Zanu PF out of power, had
the negative
effect of stripping the party and Tsvangirai of their aura as
the harbinger
of imminent change. The “final push” to a large extent served
to pre-empt
hope among MDC followers and also confirmed that the ruling
party’s real
power base – the state’s coercive apparatus – was still very
much
unassailable.
Significantly, therefore, the survey found an
overwhelming 80 percent in
favour of dialogue as the most pragmatic option
out of the current political
stalemate.
But the dominant sentiment
among respondents is that both parties were not
genuinely committed to
dialogue.
“While a significant percentage points to Zanu PF as the
stumbling block to
negotiations, it must be noted that the MDC is not
completely absolved from
blame. It appears therefore that the people expect
both parties to climb
down from their positions even if it is by different
degrees,” the report
notes.
Meanwhile, maverick Zanu PF luminary,
Zvobgo, whose prospects of succeeding
Mugabe have virtually set, could be a
decisive factor in the ethnic dynamics
that underpin the succession race.
According to the survey, he remains by
far the most popular ruling party
political figure in Masvingo province.
This may yet prove a major asset or
liability for any Karanga aspiring for
the presidency. Popular assumptions in
the ruling party write off candidates
from the greater Mashonaland region,
home to the Zezuru/Korekore ethnic
group, as serious contenders for the
national throne. In the rationale of
ethnic rotation of national leadership,
the Zezuru/Korekore have already had
their turn at the helm of the state
through Mugabe. The current crop of
politicians from the greater Mashonaland
region is also perceived as weak
and lacking in national stature. Manicaland,
too, has not been able to
present a provincial luminary on the national
political stage since the era
of Maurice Nyagumbo and Edgar Tekere. The
province has been joked about as
having only produced district leaders like
Didymus Mutasa of Mutasa
district, Kumbirai Kangai of Buhera district, and
the late Ndabaningi
Sithole of Chipinge district. Politburo members Mutasa
and Kangai still
remain the most senior Zanu PF politicians from Manicaland,
although their
control of, and influence over the province has drastically
waned.
While these ethnic dynamics favour the Karanga in the race for
State House,
protracted factional feuds have proved to be Masvingo province’s
Achilles’
heel.
Zvobgo’s appearance before the ruling party’s
disciplinary committee on
charges that he refused to campaign for Mugabe in
last year’s presidential
election has been successively postponed in recent
weeks.
Zanu PF politburo member and alleged Zvobgo ally, retired Air
Marshal Josiah
Tungamirai, strongly warned that expelling Zvobgo from the
party would bode
ill for the factionalism-riddled province, which faces an
imminent
parliamentary by-election in Gutu North constituency. The seat fell
vacant
after the death on September 20 of Vice President Simon Muzenda,
himself a
leading son of the province aligned to a faction opposed to Zvobgo.
“It’s
very dangerous to expel Zvobgo as this may divide the province,”
Tungamirai
was recently quoted by a local weekly as having said. Although
Makoni enjoys
a national appeal that none of his competitors have, he is
however a
political weakling. He has no political power base of his own and
owes all
the positions he has held in public life to appointments by Mugabe.
In the
late 1990s he appeared to take an active interest in the affairs of
his home
constituency in Makoni district, but was hounded out by Mutasa who
saw him
as a competitor for his provincial mantle. Makoni appears to be
the
reluctant politician who lets fate direct his ship rather than take
an
active role himself. Conversely, Mnangagwa, who has long been perceived
as
the frontrunner to succeed Mugabe, does not believe in sitting on
his
laurels and waiting upon Lady Fortune’s providence. Stung by his defeat
at
the hands of Nkomo for the party chairmanship in 1999 and later by an
MDC
minnow in the 2000 parliamentary elections, Mnangagwa has marshalled
a
strong campaign to win back the town of Kwekwe to Zanu PF. In the
recently
held local government elections, the same electorate that snubbed
Mnangagwa
retained the mayoral seat for the ruling party. His position as
secretary
for administration gives him the latitude to influence the
composition of
the ruling party’s provincial structures, which will
ultimately decide on
who succeeds Mugabe at Zanu PF’s congress next year.