• MDC spokesperson accused of treason
• Zimbabwe Labor Unions Promise Season of 'Dissent' if Demands Not Met
• Three Zimbabwean Journalists Warned Of Prosecution
• Bushtale
• Zimbabwe inflation hits new high
• 'UN should condemn Zimbabwe'
• McKinnon urges Zimbabwean reconciliation
• Conference Resolves to Send Peace Teams to Conflict Areas
• Traditional Healers Have Regained Repute
• 'Aids will mow down our youth'
• JAG Open Letters Forum No. 165
• Illegal immigrants are a perpetual problem compounded by corruption, says Buthelezi

Zimbabwe police on Monday charged the spokesperson of the country's main
opposition party with trying to overthrow President Robert Mugabe's
government, a lawyer said.

Paul Themba Nyathi, spokesperson for the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), is accused of belonging to a group of opposition officials who
"wanted to overthrow the constitutional government and coerce the president
to step down," lawyer Nicholas Mathonsi said from Bulawayo.

Nyathi was charged under a section of the country's security law with
allegedly urging supporters to take part in a job stayaway in March,
Mathonsi said.

On March 18 and 19 this year the MDC organised a widely followed national
job stayaway.

      'I don't see how they can prove those allegations. They don't have a
shred of evidence'
It was done to press the government to take urgent steps to resolve the
country's economic and political crises.

If found guilty, Nyathi could face 20 years in prison.

But Mathonsi described the charges against his client as "spurious".

"I don't see how they can prove those allegations. They don't have a shred
of evidence," he said.

Two weeks after the March stayaway, MDC vice-president Gibson Sibanda was
arrested in Bulawayo and similarly charged.

Mathonsi said Nyathi was told on Monday he had to appear in a Bulawayo court
on October 29 to face the charges under the Public Order and Security Act
(Posa).

In a statement the MDC said that by making Nyathi stand trial the government
had shown its determination "to silence all forms of dissent in Zimbabwe and
to close down the democratic space".

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is already standing trial for treason for
allegedly plotting to assassinate Mugabe ahead of last year's disputed
presidential poll, which Mugabe won.

Tsvangirai faces a second treason charge for allegedly urging his supporters
to overthrow the government during another mass stayaway called by the MDC
in June.

The opposition leader denies both charges, which carry the death penalty on
conviction. - Sapa-AFP.<

  .. This article was originally published on page 3 of The Pretoria News
on October 14, 2003

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)--Police Tuesday warned three more journalists from
Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper that they faced prosecution for
working without accreditation - part of a crackdown on dissent.

Reporters Grey Chitiga, Saul Gwakuva Ndlovu and Oscar Nkala were ordered to
Harare from the western city of Bulawayo to meet with the police's political
crimes section, Daily News attorney Gugulethu Moyo said.

They were not formally charged, but if prosecuted, they could face up to two
years in jail.

"They are just harassing journalists," Moyo said. "It is meant to have some
kind of chilling effect."

Moyo said the three applied to the state media commission for accreditation
a year ago, but were refused on the basis that their paper had not
registered with the government-appointed media commission.

The commission later rejected the paper's application for registration and
accreditation under stringent new Access to Information laws, saying it had
not followed proper procedures and published illegally for eight months
without being registered.

The newspaper, with 300 employees and daily readership of more than 940,000,
has appealed the ban. But 20 journalists have now been issued warnings that
they will be summoned to court to answer criminal charges of working for an
unlicensed newspaper or without personal accreditation.

In a speech to financial consultants broadcast Tuesday on state radio,
Information Minister Jonathan Moyo accused Daily News management of risking
the livelihoods of its staff by trying to fight media laws.

"I feel very sorry for the staff of the Daily News," he said, before his
voice was drowned out by gales of laughter.

Gugulethu Moyo, no relation to the minister, responded: "If anybody is at
fault here, it is the Zimbabwean government for trying to prevent
journalists practicing their profession."

Daily News' main shareholder, Strive Masiyiwa, now based in South Africa,
has promised to bankroll staff salaries for two years while the paper tries
to have the new media laws struck down as a violation of the constitutional
right to free speech.

Since its launch in 1999, the Daily News has frequently been critical of
President Robert Mugabe's 23-year rule. The state controls the country's two
other dailies and the country's only television and radio station.

  Dow Jones Newswires
  10-14-031317ET

LETTERS FROM ZIMBABWE  (No. 50)   -   10 October 2003

by Sharon Pincott

Right now it seems that it really is over.  The peace and the tranquillity gone.  Shattered by gunfire.

It has been an awful time, my emotions oscillating between hope and dread.  No Hunting.  Hunting.  No Hunting.  Hunting.  Where is the truth?  Supporters cared, and they dared.  There were positive assurances, just days before  -  worth nothing.

A country’s wildlife crying out for help.  “Cry of the Fish Eagle”?  “Cry of the Kalahari (Sands)”?  …..   Cry of Kanondo.

I left Kanondo pan that afternoon, not realising that she wouldn’t be there again the next day in the same way that she has always been.  Looking back, I now know that I left Kanondo that day, and in some essential sense, I will never return.  Not to the Kanondo that she once was.  Wild.  Free.  I had never known any place so lovely.  A light that was often indescribable.  A place not of conflict.  A place of peace.  A place of life.  Her wildness called out to so many, who left with unforgettable memories of the elephants.  Of all of the habituated wildlife.  Shooting with cameras, not with guns.  No matter what the very final outcome, she will never be the same again.  She has been touched by ugly.  She has suffered a desperate wound.  Or perhaps that is me.  Perhaps that is both of us.  Regardless, fear will always now hang in the air above that landmark acacia erioloba that was flowering so profusely, so wonderfully, just a month ago.  Fear of what can, so quickly, happen in Zimbabwe.

The body eventually recovers from the shock, the disillusionment, the tragedy  -  but the heart and the mind do not heal nearly so quickly.  Another part of my Africa is gone forever.  This part, however, was no accident.

I had often marvelled that I had been able to find, without effort, such enchanting and special things to write about every month for years now.  I would have struggled so in my ‘first-world’ life, to do that with such passion.  No day in wild Africa is ever the same.  It is never routine.  I had wondered if I would reach ‘Bushtale No. 50’.  A milestone.  And here it is.

But there are no joyous tales to tell.  None of those special pictures to paint.  It is not how I imagined it would be.  It is all so inexplicable to me.   

Cry of Kanondo  …

….   For the first time ever, it was not a happy meeting.  I put my hand on the trunk of a 40-something year old ‘Presidential elephant’, her family so often in the Kanondo area.  Born wild.  Living wild.  Extraordinarily trusting of human beings. 

I could say to her only two words :

“I’M sorry”  …

BBC

 

Zimbabwe inflation hits new high

There are worries over food shortages in Zimbabwe Annual inflation in Zimbabwe has risen to 455.6% for September, a new unwanted record for the country's troubled economy. The rise, from 426.6% in August, has been put down to price increases in the average price of everyday items such as meat, bread, cereals, fruit and vegetables. The country was once southern Africa's breadbasket, but now seven million of Zimbabwe's 12 million people are believed to be at serious risk of famine. There are fears that the economic difficulties, following President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reforms, are forcing more people out of the country. President Thabo Mbeki... told me he has three million Zimbabweans in South Africa Don McKinnon, Commonwealth secretary general Commonwealth secretary general Don McKinnon has been reported as saying that large numbers of Zimbabweans were leaving to find jobs and income in nearby states. Strike threat He said the presidents of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, and of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, had alerted him to the growing extent of the problem. Mr McKinnon was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying: "I was talking to President Thabo Mbeki the other day and he told me he has three million Zimbabweans in South Africa. "[Mozambique's President] Chissano has 400,000 while Botswana hosts up to 200,000." On Tuesday the Central Statistical Office in Harare also revealed that Zimbabwe's consumer price index rose by 24.8% in September, a rise from 17.6% in August. Now the country's main labour movement is threatening a series of strikes over the economic policies which it says are crippling the country. Currency shortages Lovemore Matombo, president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), said they were protesting against high inflation, prices, taxes and unemployment. He said: "We won't ask for permission because it is our right to express ourselves." As well as one of the highest inflation rates in the world, Zimbabwe is struggling with shortages of foreign currency, and unemployment is over 70%. Gross domestic product is down by a quarter on the late 1990s. President Mugabe denies mismanaging the economy and has put economic problems down to foreign opponents, and has blamed drought for food shortages.

Sydney - Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Tuesday slammed the
failure of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to pass a
resolution condemning Zimbabwe's human rights record.

Downer likened the regime of President Robert Mugabe to that of ousted Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein.

"In the end the resolution did not pass, so according to the UN Human Rights
Commission, President Mugabe and his regime in Zimbabwe does not deserve
censure," Downer told commercial radio.

"That is very disturbing. It is perhaps not in the same league as Saddam
Hussein's regime, but it is also a pretty bad regime."

Australia is making a bid to take over the leadership of the UN Commission
on Human Rights in the coming months.

African Church Information Service

October 13, 2003
Posted to the web October 14, 2003

Erika Von Wietersheim, Lutheran World Information
Johannesburg

A two-day inter-faith conference for southern Africa region ended in
Johannesburg on October 1, with the adoption of a Plan of Action calling on
religious leaders to send regional peace teams to areas of conflict.

With this appeal, religious leaders from the 11 countries represented at the
conference, affirmed their "ongoing commitment to seeking and maintaining
peace in the region", and to move from consultation to action.

Accordingly, delegates committed themselves to implement some practical
steps as soon as possible.

These include the establishment of inter-faith groups in countries where
these do not exist; gathering of a reliable database of faith institutions
and religious leaders; and holding at least one inter-faith conference or
indaba (consultation), plus one "capacity workshop" every year in each
country.

Also included in the action plan is the regular reporting by national
inter-faith groups to the regions, and the establishment of a quarterly
newsletter.

The Southern Africa Inter-Faith Plan of Action was adopted by more than 60
religious representatives of the African Traditional Religion, Baha'i,
Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim faiths.

It is based on the Johannesburg Inter-Faith Declaration, a shared commitment
to safeguarding peace in Africa as outlined during the 2002 Inter-Faith
Peace Summit here.

The conference was organised by the LWF and hosted by the National Religious
Leaders Forum of South Africa (NRLFSA).

Participants came from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius,
Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Similar meetings are planned for the Western and Eastern/Central regions.

Earlier, Ntate Kgalushi Koka, director of the Karaites Institute of
Africology, South Africa, extolled African traditional means of resolving
conflicts, using the concept of Ubuntu.

"The African Traditional Religion (ATR) has only recently been welcomed into
the family of recognised religions," Koka told participants in a session
that focused on ATR's different approaches to conflict resolution.

He continued: "So now we have to ask: What is the contribution of African
Traditional Religion toward the establishment of peace? And what are the
cultural and philosophical roots of our skills and talents to make peace?"

He answered this question by referring to the African concept of Ubuntu or
"humanness."

"Ubuntu is a universal concept that recognises the equality and inherent
spirituality of every human being. This humanness is instilled in our bodies
through the divine spirit, converting them into living souls," he explained.

According to Koka, the African basis for bringing about peace is the
fundamental belief that there is nobody without humanness or Ubuntu, and
that through Ubuntu, individuals become aware that they all share a common
spirit, even with their greatest enemy.

"If we know this, we cannot avoid seeing in every other human being, our
brother or sister. The being-ness of the other person is mirroring my own
humanness," he expounded.

As this philosophical foundation is only a "potentiality," it has to be
"actualised" in practical ways to bring about peace.

In conflict situations in Africa, the administration of rituals is
recognised as a traditional way of putting the philosophy of Ubuntu into
practice. "Rituals make the spiritual forces visible in actions and
gestures," Koka elaborated.

As an example of a peacemaking ritual, he demonstrated the "Ceremony of the
Ashes." During such a ritual, two persons or parties in conflict are
gathered by community elders.

The two adversaries have to face each other, while ash is placed in their
hands. They then have to lick the ash from each other's hands and spit it
out. The washing of hands, a handshake and embracing follow.

"The ash is a symbol of something that has burned [and] whose energy has
been spent," Koka explained, adding, "By licking up the ash and spitting it
out, the quarrelling persons symbolically act out that the evil energy of
their quarrel has been used up."

Koka pointed out that there are many ways of resolving conflict, but noted
that "unfortunately, we do not use our skills enough to make peace."

African Church Information Service

October 13, 2003
Posted to the web October 14, 2003

Tim Chigodo
Harare

The high cost of treatment and increased illnesses following the advent of
the AIDS pandemic is forcing many Zimbabweans to seek the services of
traditional healers.

There is now increased awareness and recognition of traditional medicine.
Traditional healers normally referred to as Ng'angas, are making booming
business as their drugs are cheaper than modern medicine, and are widely
available in practically most communities.

As the demand for traditional medicines increases, Zimbabwe is planning to
protect and promote the growing of indigenous rich herbs in the country.

The Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers' Association (ZINATHA) has already
put in place, a programme to commercialise plant-based products, referred to
as green pharmaceuticals.

The president of ZINATHA, Prof Gordon Chavunduka, says the programme has
realised that the country is endowed with a favourable climate for a wide
range of herbal plants, some of which have been used by communities to treat
ailments for over a century.

The government wants local healers to move from traditional to commercial
use of herbal medicines because of the growing market.

Research has found that with proper knowledge and enabling structures, the
healers could benefit financially from export of herbal products, since the
market for herbal cosmetics, perfumes, condiments and confectioneries has
experienced a upward trend.

Zimbabwe has a rich bio-diversity and wealth of indigenous knowledge on
plant life, and therefore has the potential to emerge as one of the
producers of herbal products in the region.

Experts say the government and stakeholders should consolidate past gains of
traditional knowledge base, to start developing new herbal preparations on
Zimbabwe's bio-diversity, and make these products available to the
international community.

Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) urged African governments to
formally recognise traditional medicine and create an enabling environment
for its practice.

The call was made by the WHO regional director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim Samba,
in a message on the occasion of the first African Traditional Medicine Day,
observed this year across the continent.

Dr Samba noted that for centuries, traditional medicine played a crucial
role in combating multiple and complex conditions affecting Africans, and
that because of its popularity, accessibility and affordability, more than
80 percent of the people in the region continued to rely on it for their
health care needs.

"It is (therefore) incumbent on governments in the region to reverse the
erosion of the centuries-old traditional medical knowledge and practice," he
said.

"This way, they will be restoring the glory of traditional medicine to its
pride of place, and perpetuating the culture of its utilisation," he
continued.

Dr Samba also urged countries to invest in research and development to
validate claims on safety, efficacy and quality of traditional medicines,
and document such information.

According to Dr Samba, they should also engage in the large-scale
cultivation and conservation of medicinal plants, and the protection of
intellectual property rights.

These, he said, should be done for two principal reasons. First, most
Africans have recourse to both traditional and modern medicine for their
health care needs due to cultural acceptance and belief, and, secondly, the
average ratio of traditional health practitioners to the population,
compared to that of medical doctors, is 1:200 and 1: 25,000 respectively.

Cape Town - Chances are slim that your 15-year-old child will still be alive
by 2015.

By 2015, Aids will have caused the death of nearly two-thirds of all boys
who are 15 years old now in South Africa and Zimbabwe, if the pandemic's
risk levels remain the same.

Even if the risk of transmission is halved, 47% of 15-year-old boys in South
Africa and 52% of the same age group in Zimbabwe would have died by then.

These are the estimations of the United Nation's Aids Programme (UNAids) in
its latest population report.

In Botswana, the forecast looks even worse, with 88% of the target group at
risk by 2015.

These statistics are virtually the same for girls who are now 15 years old.

"If steps are not taken immediately to limit the transmission of Aids to
about zero, it might be too late to prevent a catastrophic death toll among
the present generation of young men and women", the report states.

UNAids said this was particularly true for southern Africa.

Populations south of the Sahara will start waning within the next three
years because of Aids.

By 2010, the average life expectancy in some African countries, including
South Africa, will drop to 30.

This will cause labour and food shortages and will place massive pressure on
social and health services.

      "We have 1 500 vacancies in this department that are not filled
because we are short of money."

      It was a vicious cycle. There was not enough money to employ the right
number of staff so procedures were slowed down.

      This encouraged people to offer bribes to get their applications to
the top of the pile.

      And once this kind of payment established a foothold in a department,
the problem spread like a cancer into other areas as workers became used to
the idea of making money on the side.

      But immigration was a symptom of problems in the source countries.
Zimbabwe was a good example.

      "The issue is to change what is happening in Zimbabwe so that people
don't want to come here in the first place," he said.

      "In Mozambique, the problem is linked to employment. Unless the
government there can create jobs for the people ... they will continue to
come here looking for work," he said.

      "And in Zimbabwe, the current crisis must be solved before we can
expect a slowdown in the number of people crossing the border."

      Asked whether it was appropriate for the South African government to
comment on the internal affairs of countries where bad governance was
causing an inflow of people to South Africa, Buthelezi said: "We don't have
a choice.
      "There is no question of our right to do that."

      The book, The Battle for Zimbabwe (Zebra/New Holland) will be launched
October 23.