http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/
October 27th, 2009
We've
just received information that MDC employee Pascal Gwezere was
abducted
today by armed men driving an Isuzu twin-cab in the Mufakose area
of Harare
at 6.45 pm tonight. We have confirmed that this is true, but apart
from
those details this is all the information we have at this point.
Earlier
today the MDC issued a press release describing how their security
administrator, Edith Mashayire, was almost abducted by four armed men, also
driving an Isuzu twin-cab. They had guns and claimed she was 'under arrest'.
It is unknown at this time whether the same men were involved in Gwazere's
abduction or not.
A house belonging to the MDC was raided earlier
this week by armed men who
claimed they were looking for hidden weapons.
They did not have a warrant to
search the property.
Towards the end
of last year state agents abducted several human rights and
civic activists,
including Jestina Mukoko from the Zimbabwe Peace Project.
Mukoko was
recently granted a permanent stay of prosecution of the crimes
she was
accused of committing, due to the violation of several of her
fundamental
rights by state agents. One of the violations of her rights
included the
fact she was unlawfully 'arrested'. Others who were also
abducted at this
time are still facing charges of sabotage based on the
bombing of police
stations and railway lines in 2008.
The MDC expressed concern earlier
this week that the recent raid on their
house may have been a pretext to
plant weapons in order to fabricate
evidence and justify trumped-up cases
against members in their party.
Today's abduction and attempted abduction
are worrying reminders of Zanu PF's
illegal and violent tactics used against
civilians to achieve political
objectives.
We'll post an update on
Pascal Gwezere's abduction as soon as we have one.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Violet Gonda
27October
2009
A group of armed men attempted to kidnap the MDC's security
administrator,
Edith Mashayire, in broad daylight in Harare on Tuesday
morning. Mashayire
told SW Radio Africa she was attacked around 8am near
XIMEX mall, on her way
to Harvest House, the MDC headquarters where she
works.
She said four armed men, in plainclothes, pounced on her while she
was
walking and ordered her to get into their Isuzu twin cab, saying she was
under arrest. They did not give a reason for the 'arrest'. Mashayire said
they tried to push her into their vehicle but she resisted and started
screaming for help. The MDC official claims that is when she was assaulted
all over her body with an AK47 rifle.
She called out for help saying
she was an MDC official and state security
agents were trying to kidnap her
and the men jumped into their vehicle when
a crowd started gathering. The
MDC's security administrator believes it was
a politically motivated attack
in response to the MDC's disengagement from
ZANU PF.
This is the
second attack on an MDC employee in the past few days and since
the party's
boycott. Last Friday 50 armed police officers raided an MDC
house that is
used by the party to accommodate its leadership from outside
Harare. The MDC
says the officers, who claimed they were looking for
weapons, beat up an MDC
employee and his wife.
The MDC is concerned that attacks on it's members
will increase as Mugabe
has been making it abundantly clear that he is not
prepared to hand over any
real power. But the MDC has said it will not
resume ties with ZANU PF until
all outstanding issues in the GPA are
resolved.
"As the MDC we are taking these acts of violence very serious.
The attempted
abduction is not an empty statement as on Friday, one of the
MDC houses was
ransacked, while two officials from the civil society were
arrested in
Victoria Falls and in Chiweshe we are receiving cases of
violence against
MDC supporters being perpetuated by Zanu PF," said MDC
spokesperson Nelson
Chamisa.
Associated Press
By ANGUS
SHAW (AP) - 6 hours ago
HARARE, Zimbabwe - The party of Zimbabwe's prime
minister said one of its
security officials was beaten by the president's
militants Tuesday, and said
the attack was part of new violence unleashed
because it has stepped back
from the governing coalition.
Movement
for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa said at a news
conference
that the official was stopped on her way to party headquarters
early Tuesday
and beaten by four armed men who said they wanted to arrest
her. He said the
men were militants from President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF
party. The men
fled when a crowd gathered.
The party also has received reports from
rural areas of attacks on its
supporters, Chamisa said. He also cited a
weekend police raid of a house
used by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's
supporters as part of a campaign
of violence and intimidation.
"We
expect this to increase and escalate on a national level," Chamisa said
at a
news conference. "We take this very seriously. We are possibly on the
brink
of another storm of persecution and intimidation."
Ephraim Masawi, a
spokesman for Mugabe's party, denied the allegations,
saying they were
"cheap propaganda" intended to mask the failure of
Tsvangirai's party to
explain his decision to withdraw temporarily from the
coalition on Oct.
16.
Tsvangirai accused Mugabe's ZANU-PF party of human rights violations
and
attempting to derail the coalition of longtime rivals that has been
troubled
since the day it was formed in February.
Tsvangirai has said
he will not attend Cabinet meetings until his concerns
are resolved.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change has continued to
participate in
parliament, where it holds a slim majority.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe met
Monday for the first time since the withdrawal.
Chamisa said the four-hour
meeting did not unblock their impasse.
The unity government was formed at
the urging of Zimbabwe's neighbors after
a series of violence-plagued
elections left the country at a political
standstill and in economic ruin.
Mugabe has been in power since 1980 and has
long been accused of using
violence to entrench his position.
Foreign ministers from three of the
southern African nations that pushed for
the coalition - Mozambique, Zambia
and Angola - were due in Harare Thursday
for talks with Tsvangirai and
Mugabe to try to revive the agreement.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
27 October
2009
Teachers in rural areas are facing a concerning increase in violence
and
intimidation against them, as the political crisis in Zimbabwe
intensifies.
According to the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe,
ZANU PF youth
militia have gone on the offensive in rural areas, in the wake
of the MDC's
decision to 'disengage' from Robert Mugabe's party in the unity
government.
The Teachers Union has reported a number of separate incidents
in Chiweshe,
Mashonaland Central province, Buhera, Manicaland and Murehwa,
all since the
MDC's decision last week.
Most recently, in Chiweshe,
over 15 teachers from Jingamvura Primary and
Secondary schools were rounded
up by suspected ZANU PF supporters last
Tuesday and beaten, apparently for
allegedly being MDC supporters. Many of
the teachers from these schools were
victims of last year's post election
violence, which resulted in the deaths
of at least eight of the teachers.
PTUZ President Takavafira Zhou on
Tuesday explained further that youth
training centres have also been set up
in Gutu, where students are being
forced to do training drills by ZANU PF
militia members. He added that CIO
operatives have also been touring
schools, and interrogating a number of
teachers, as a part of what Zhou
called 'systematic targeting and
intimidation' of his members
"Almost on
a daily basis we have at least three schools reporting threats
and beatings
by ZANU PF supporters and youth militia," Zhou explained.
"Teachers are
really very afraid that last year's madness of violence is
coming back."
HARARE, 27 October 2009 (IRIN) -
Violence and intimidation against members of the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) increased sharply within days of the party "disengaging" from Zimbabwe's
unity government, MDC spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka told IRIN.
Photo:
South African DFA
Supporters of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai targeted
In one
incident three armed men accosted MDC security official Edith Mashaire, 32, and
tried to force her into a waiting vehicle as she walked towards her office in
the capital, Harare, during working hours.
"Two other men, one
brandishing an AK-47 rifle and another holding a pistol, approached me and
threatened to shoot me. They started assaulting me with their weapons while
telling me to get into the truck," Mashaire told IRIN. She screamed to other
pedestrians that she was an MDC official and frightened the men off.
"We
have received reports of our supporters being beaten up and having their homes
set on fire, allegedly by ZANU-PF supporters led by war veterans and members of
the army," Tamborinyoka said. President Robert Mugabe is the leader of ZANU-PF,
the other wing of the unity government formed in February 2009.
Morgan
Tsvangirai, MDC leader and Prime Minister, "disengaged" from the unity
government on 16 October in protest over the re-arrest of the party's treasurer
and deputy agricultural minister designate, Roy Bennett, which had "brought home
the fiction of the credibility and integrity of the transitional
government".
Teachers targeted
Violence has
erupted in Mashonaland Central Province, once a ZANU-PF stronghold in the north
of the country. "The violence has intensified in rural areas ... Also affected
are close to 100 teachers who have fled from the province," Tamborinyoka said.
"Some of the biggest victims in this ongoing cycle of violence are
children, because they have nobody to teach them," he told IRIN. ZANU-PF
supporters have accused the teaching profession of being allied to the MDC, and
teachers have been told that since their party, the MDC, had pulled out of the
government, they were now considered enemies of ZANU-PF.
The violence is spreading to
many parts of the country like Mashonaland West and East [provinces], Manicaland
[province in the east] and Masvingo [province in the south] - all former ZANU-PF
strongholds - and even in central Harare
"The violence is spreading to many parts
of the country like Mashonaland West and East [provinces], Manicaland [province
in the east] and Masvingo [province in the south] - all former ZANU-PF
strongholds - and even in central Harare. We believe that ZANU-PF is retaliating
after our party disengaged from the government two weeks ago," Tamborinyoka
said.
At the weekend, heavily armed police and soldiers raided a house
used by MDC officials and accused the group of stealing weapons from army
barracks in Harare. Tamborinyoka said recent events showed all the hallmarks of
a crackdown on the MDC and its supporters. "Recently, a brigadier-general
pointed a gun at one of our members of parliament and threatened to shoot him."
ZANU-PF youth militia deployed in rural areas
A
special audit report on ministerial accounts has also revealed that the youth
development ministry employed 10,277 ZANU-PF youth militia since May 2008, who
were subsequently deployed to rural areas.
The period of recruitment,
which began after ZANU-PF lost its majority in parliament for the first time
since independence from Britain in 1980, coincided with escalating violence
against MDC supporters, including incidents of murder, rape, torture and
displacement, during the second round of the presidential ballot in 2008.
Tsvangirai got the majority of votes in the first round of the
presidential poll but narrowly missed securing the 50-plus-one votes required
for an outright win. He withdrew from the run-off presidential vote in protest
against alleged state-sponsored violence. Mugabe thus won unopposed, but
international observers dismissed the poll as invalid.
"The appointees
[youth militia] were not subjected to a medical examination, as required by the
public service regulations, declarations of official secrets were not completed,
and there were no staff files opened at either the ministry headquarters or
provincial centres," Tamborinyoka said.
War
collaborators
Raymond Majongwe, secretary-general of the
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, said ZANU-PF youth militia, working as
"youth or ward officers", were harassing teachers in schools.
"Sometimes
they talk about the need to 'teach children the correct history of the
country', and are going as far as appointing school prefects,"
Majongwe told IRIN.
In the past two months "war collaborators" - people
who assisted guerrilla fighters during the war of independence in the 1970s and
remain staunch ZANU-PF supporters - have been holding meetings across the
country, raising fears of an increase in violence. Zimbabwe's defence minister,
Emmerson Mnangagwa, recently addressed one of the meetings.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Africa
News
Oct 27, 2009, 15:20 GMT
Harare - Zimbabwean Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party said Tuesday it
was ready to press on
with its boycott of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF
party until fresh
elections.
Tsvangirai pulled his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) out
of cabinet
meetings 11 days ago, citing Mugabe's failure to carry out terms
in the
power-sharing agreement relating to proper power-sharing and full
democracy.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai met for three hours on Monday in a bid
to settle their
differences, but 'we are still poles apart,' said MDC
spokesman Nelson
Chamisa. 'There is no understanding between the political
parties.'
He said the MDC was hoping that diplomatic intervention by the
Southern
African Development Community (SADC), the 15-nation regional bloc
that is
the guarantor of the agreement between Tsvangirai and the
85-year-old
Mugabe, could end the dispute. Leaders of a three- country SADC
panel on
security are due to meet with the Zimbabwean leaders in Harare
Thursday.
'If that (SADC intervention) fails we have to push for a
framework for free
and fair elections,' he said. If Mugabe decided to rule
alone and without
the MDC, 'it will not be a government, it will be a
Zanu-PF organ,' he said.
Tsvangirai's withdrawal has seen a resurgence in
state repression not seen
since the inauguration of the transitional
government in February.
An MDC residence was ransacked by heavily armed
police at the weekend and
two of the country's top civil society officials
were arrested. On Tuesday,
an MDC security official narrowly escaped
abduction, the party said.
'We are beginning to see the forming of a
storm of violence,' said Chamisa,
drawing comparisons with the presidential
run-off in June last year, in
which 100 people were confirmed killed by
Zanu-PF loyalists.
Mugabe's unilateral appointment of cronies as central
bank governor and
attorney general, a wave of arrests of MDC MPs on what the
MDC says are
trumped-up charges, and the ongoing invasion of white-owned
farms are among
some of the issues threatening to collapse the
government.
http://www.reuters.com
Tue Oct 27, 2009 8:24am
EDT
* Unity govt partners "poles apart"
* Regional bloc to
send ministerial team on Thursday
* Militants allied to Mugabe on
intimidation campaign - MDC
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE, Oct 27
(Reuters) - Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party
hopes that
Zimbabwe's neighbours would this week break a deadlock
threatening its
power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe, a top party
official said
on Tuesday.
Tsvangirai and Mugabe formed a power-sharing government in
February to try
to end a decade-long crisis, but are still fighting a
low-intensity
political battle ahead of an expected democratic election in
about two
years.
Their fragile coalition lurched into a crisis
earlier this month when the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said it
would stop attending cabinet
meetings in protest against the arrest of one
of its senior officials and
Mugabe's refusal fully to implement the
power-sharing pact.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said a mediation team
from the 15-nation
Southern African Development Community (SADC) visiting
Harare on Thursday
had a political obligation to put pressure on Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party to
honour all aspects of the agreement.
The crisis
deepened on Monday after a stalemate at the first meeting between
Mugabe and
Tsvangirai since the MDC started boycotting the unity government
on Oct.
16.
"We are hoping that the troika will, in some way, thaw the impasse.
It is
our expectation that we will be helped by our guarantors," Chamisa
said at a
news conference.
"If the meeting fails to break the
deadlock, we hope there will be a full
(SADC) summit. If that fails, then
the only option will be a free and fair
election under international
supervision."
Chamisa said the MDC and ZANU-PF were "poles apart" on the
appointment of
some senior government officials, including provincial
governors, the
attorney-general and head of the central bank, and on media
and
constitutional reforms.
ZANU-PF had no respect for the rule of
law, and its supporters were still
invading white-owned commercial farms, he
said.
Chamisa said ZANU-PF militants had also embarked on an intimidation
campaign
against MDC structures, and one party worker told the conference
some armed
men had tried but failed to kidnap her in central Harare on
Tuesday.
"In our own forensic audit, we have only implemented a quarter
of the global
political agreement...and there is a danger that ZANU-PF may
want to reverse
some of progress that we have achieved," he
added.
Political analysts say although the coalition has been shaken by
the MDC
boycott, a complete collapse still looks unlikely because both
parties have
no viable alternative strategies at the moment.
On his
part, Mugabe has shrugged off the former opposition's boycott of
Zimbabwe's
unity government, saying he has fulfilled the power-sharing
agreement and
would not yield to any pressure to make concessions.
The veteran
Zimbabwean president, 85 and in power since independence from
Britain in
1980, says the MDC must campaign for the removal of Western
sanctions
against his ZANU-PF and for an end to a propaganda campaign by MDC
supporters abroad.
Hardliners in Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party
are trying to split the country's unity government, says senior official Arthur
Mutambara. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party is refusing to co-operate with
Mr Mugabe and talks brokered by Mr Mutambara ended with no deal on Monday. Mr Mutambara, who leads a separate faction of the MDC party, said the leaders
must continue to talk. The MDC and Zanu-PF were bitter enemies before agreeing to govern together.
Analysts say there are factions within both parties who still find it
extremely difficult to work together since the government was formed in February
following disputed elections last year marred by violence. 'Trying to offend' Mr Tsvangirai withdrew co-operation with Mr Mugabe on 16 October angry at a
prosecution being brought against a senior MDC member. He also cited frustration at the perceived failure of Zanu-PF to implement
measures agreed to as a part of the power-sharing deal which was signed in
February. But Mr Mutambara, one of the country's deputy prime ministers, told the BBC's
Network Africa programme he did not believe Mr Tsvangirai had made the right
decision. "There are hardliners in Zanu who are taking the opportunity to offend all of
us in government - offend our colleagues led by Morgan Tsvangirai," he said.
"What they want is the collapse of the government. "What we need to do is to make sure we don't fall into that trap. We have to
be clever, we have to be strategic, we have to out-think them." Mr Mutambara was said to have mediated in a four-hour meeting between Mr
Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai on Monday. It was the first time the pair had met since Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of the
coalition government. But Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), said the two men were "worlds apart" on many issues. The MDC, which was in opposition in Zimbabwe for many years, says it is now
looking to a meeting in Harare later in the week of the Southern African
Development Community (Sadc) to try to break the deadlock. "If that fails... a free and fair election under the supervision of the
international community, Sadc and the African Union will be the only option," Mr
Chamisa said. "If they [Mr Mugabe and the Zanu-PF] are facing west we are facing east," he
added.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Martin
Tuesday, 27 October 2009 10:36
HARARE - The Crisis Coalition has issued
a statement expressing its
concern with the state of affairs in the
Inclusive Government.
"The Coalition condemns in the strongest of
terms the failure by the
three political parties, especially Zanu (PF), to
fulfil without any
equivocation the provisions of the GPA especially
critical issues that speak
to returning Zimbabwe to democratic legitimacy
through free and fair
elections that are not subject to disputations by
political contestants and
other stakeholders in civil society."
The
Coalition urged the government to implement critical reforms in
the areas of
media, security services, transitional justice and the full
democratization
of the electoral and political environment, otherwise
Zimbabwe would slide
back into anarchy.
"The decision by the MDC to disengage from a union
that seeks to
restore Zimbabwe to its past glory is congruent to the wishes
and
expectations of democratic forces that expect to see a democratic
Zimbabwe
premised on the rule of law. In future, the MDC should desist from
its
earlier pronouncements that things were working well in the Inclusive
Government while the speed, spirit and zeal of political reforms based on
the GPA was too slow and when it is clear every day that Zanu (PF) is not
committed to the implementation of the GPA," read a statement from the
Coalition.
The statement further stressed that Zimbabweans from all
walks of life
were banking on the success of the inclusive government to
bring economic,
political and social stability to the country.
"This can only be achieved by ensuring full implementation of the
Global
Political Agreement and ensuring that all outstanding issues are
dealt with
expeditiously."
Demands made by the Coalition in their statement
were:
. That the swearing in of Deputy Agriculture Minister
designate Roy
Bennett takes place as a matter of urgency.
. The
immediate cessation of farm invasions and a thorough land
audit to ensure
equitable and non-partisan land distribution
. Reversal of illegal
appointments of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) governor and Attorney
General in violation of the GPA.
. An inclusive, transparent and
accountable constitution making
process
. Observance of the rule
of law by all arms of government
especially the police service/state
security agents
. Repeal of all repressive laws including AIPPA and
POSA
. A vibrant media environment where the media, especially the
State-controlled public media reports in a non-partisan and balanced
manner
. Promotion of media diversity and plurality
. A
peaceful political environment in Zimbabwe free from violence
and military
involvement in political campaigns and processes
. The disbanding of
vigilante groups such as the Youth Militias
http://www.businessday.co.za
Allister Sparks Published:
2009/10/27 02:42:57 PM
As the Zimbabwe crisis nosedives once
again, it should be noted that the
Zuma Administration bears a particular
responsibility for what has gone
wrong with the power-sharing agreement the
Zimbabwean political parties
entered into eight months ago. It is therefore
under a special obligation to
take action to resolved the
crisis.
This responsibility stems from the fact that it was
interim President
Kgalema Motlanthe who pressurised the leader of the
Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, into entering the
power-sharing government
with Robert Mugabe even though Mugabe had still not
honoured a range of
critical issues in the political agreement he had signed
four months
earlier.
Former President Thabo Mbeki
brokered the agreement on behalf of the
Southern African Development
Community (SADC) in September 2007. But then
the victorious Zuma faction of
the ANC forced Mbeki to step down after
Polokwane and Motlanthe took over as
interim President to keep the seat warm
for Zuma. So it fell to him as head
of the country then holding the
chairmanship of SADC to play the lead role
in ensuring that the agreement
was
implemented.
Tsvangirai was reluctant to enter into the
power-sharing government because
Mugabe was playing games. First it was
discovered that the printed document
presented to Tsvangirai for signing at
the ceremony had been surreptitiously
altered in several critical respects
from the version to which he, Mugabe
and the leader of a small breakaway
faction of the MDC, Arthur Mutambara,
had accepted in the
negotiations.
Mugabe had also blatantly violated a range of
vital aspects of the agreement
by unilaterally reappointing Reserve Bank
Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney
General Johannes Tomana, both diehard
Mugabe loyalists and kingpin figures
in continuing efforts to manipulate the
Treasury in ZANU-PF's favour and,
together with the partisan security
forces, harass the MDC and its
supporters. Mugabe had also failed to disband
the notorious Joint
Operational Command (JOC) of military, police and
intelligence chiefs and
place them under civilian control, as the agreement
required.
Tsvangirai, realising that the devil was in these
details that kept coercive
power in Mugabe's hands, wanted SADC to ensure
full compliance before
committing himself to the power-sharing government.
But Motlanthe, growing
impatient at the long delay, put pressure on him to
quit stalling and join
the power-sharing government -- telling him in effect
that he could sort out
the details later when he was in power as Prime
Minister and able to build a
working relationship with President
Mugabe.
In any case, he reminded Tsvangirai, SADC was the
guarantor of the agreement
and there was a joint monitoring committee called
JOMIC to oversee the
process.
This was the height of
naivety. Anyone who had watched the workings of
Tricky Bob over the years,
during which he had rigged at least three
national elections, violated
property rights, ignored the rule of law and
committed many human rights
atrocities, should have realised he could not be
trusted to honour the
letter, never mind the spirit, of a deal such as this.
But
Tsvangirai thought the Zuma crowd, represented by Motlanthe at this
point,
would be a tougher and more reliable guarantor of the agreement than
the
limp-wristed Mbeki had been. After all Zuma's big ally, Cosatu, had been
grievously abused by the Mugabe government when a delegation paying a
fraternal visit to the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions was arrested,
insulted and unceremoniously thrown out of the country in
2004.
Zuma's other ally, the South African Communist Party
(SACP), issued a
furious statement at the time. "This act," it said, "is
ultimate proof that
the Mugabe regime is essentially a dictatorial and
undemocratic regime which
is not willing to engage honestly with opposition
forces and other
role-players in SADC."
That must have
given Tsvangirai reason to believe he could expect more from
the
Motlanthe-Zuma-Cosatu-SACP axis than his dismal experiences with
Mbeki.
So he reluctantly agreed and went into the
power-sharing government -- the
terms of which Mugabe has continued to
violate ever since.
That is why I contend the Zuma
administration has a special obligation to
back Tsvangirai in the present
dispute and force Mugabe to implement all the
outstanding requirements of
the agreement he signed and to stop undermining
it. It is they who pushed
Tsvangirai into this deal prematurely and as the
government of the lead
member of the guarantors they must honour that
obligation
now.
Tsvangirai has put up with ZANU-PF's continuous
harassment for eight months.
He has tried to put the best face on an
intolerable situation because the
MDC's participation in the government was
bringing at least some relief to
the long suffering people of Zimbabwe. But
precisely because of that ZANU-PF
has been stepping up its harassment
lately, fearing that the MDC was gaining
increasing popular
support.
Things reached breaking point last week when the
police, acting on
Attorney-General Tamana's orders, rearrested the MDC's
designated Deputy
Minister of Agriculture, Roy Bennett -- whom Mugabe has
consistently refused
to swear in as a Cabinet member -- on trumped-up
charges of terrorism, threw
him in jail and put him in leg-irons. Outraged,
Tsvangirai suspended his
party's participation in the unity government and
called on the SADC
countries to intervene.
Even as
Tsvangirai calls on the guarantors to intervene Mugage is treating
them with
contempt, saying he will not yield to any pressure nor give away
any aspects
of ZANU-PF's authority. "They (the MDC) can go to any summit,
any part of
the world to appeal," he said last Friday. "That will not
happen."
To emphasise his disdain for SADC and the unity
deal, 50 armed police raided
a house in Harare used by the MDC's out-of-town
leaders last on Friday
night, ransacked the premises, seized documents and
dug up the garden
ostensibly in a search for weapons of which there were
none. There were also
reports of troops carrying out violent raids against
MDC supporters in the
rural areas across the country over the
weekend.
It seems clear Mugabe doesn't believe the SADC
leaders have the political
will to deal firmly with him. He has faced them
down before and he reckons
he can again.
The SADC
"troika" responsible for monitoring the situation in Zimbabwe,
currently
consisting of President Armando Guebuza of Mozambique, President
Rupia Banda
of Zambia and King Mswati 111 of Swaziland, are due in Harare
tomorrow for
three days of negotiations on the crisis. But ultimately it is
South Africa
that has the clout in this region. It is up to Zuma to prove
Mugabe wrong
and show that he is prepare to honour his obligations as
guarantor and deal
firmly with the errant president.
Doing that is not as
difficult as Mbeki's apologists used to imply. No need
for threats of force
or sanctions or other such unrealistic posturing. Just
a simple warning that
if Mugabe doesn't implement the GPA fully and tries to
rule alone, South
Africa will not recognise his government. It will regard
him as the head of
an illegitimate regime.
Botswana's President Ian Khama has
already done that. If the newest leader
of one of the smallest populations
in the region can do it, surely we the
regional superpower can be as
brave.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Violet Gonda
27 October 2009
The two
leaders from the National Association of Non-Governmental
Organizations
(NANGO), who were arrested on Sunday on allegations of holding
'an illegal
political meeting,' were granted bail on Tuesday. NANGO Chief
Executive
Officer Cephas Zinhumwe, and board chairperson Dadirai Chikwengo,
were
arrested at the airport when they were trying to leave for Harare after
attending a two-day scheduled conference in Victoria Falls.
NANGO
spokesperson Fambai Ngirande told SW Radio Africa that the two were
granted
bail, pending another hearing in November, after the State failed to
clarify
what regulation they had violated under the Public Order and
Security Act.
Ngirande said the police claim that as 'conveners of the
meeting the two
tolerated political discourse' and should have notified the
police in
advance if they were going to have a political gathering.
But the
spokesperson refuted these allegations saying it was not a political
gathering but an annual NGO Directors Summer School attended by scores of
directors from civil society and the NGO community. He said: "The fact that
they are unable to clarify their own trumped up charges, demonstrates that
POSA is a bad law."
The spokesperson also said a stakeholders'
conference, organised by the
Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, has been
postponed due to a decision
by the civil society not to participate. The
conference was aimed at
discussing challenges relating to the justice
delivery system.
But members of civil society and law based organisations
advised the
Ministry they would not participate in the conference because of
the arrests
of the NANGO officials and because of the very serious breakdown
of the
justice delivery system and the lack of any rule of law in
Zimbabwe.
The organisations that withdrew from the three day Conference
are:
Law Society of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Zimbabwe
Women
Lawyers' Association; Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum; Legal Resources
Foundation; Justice for Children Trust; National Association of
Non-Governmental Organisations and Zimbabwe Human Rights
Association.
A statement issued by the groups said: "Stakeholders from
the civil society
are committed to contributing to the restoration of the
Rule of Law and
ensuring access to justice for all in Zimbabwe. However, the
selective
targeting and harassment of non-governmental organisations and the
arbitrary
arrests and detention of human rights defenders continues
unabated. So too
does the unwillingness or inability by the state and its
agents to adhere to
the Constitution and the laws of Zimbabwe."
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The
Zimbabwean
Monday, 26 October 2009 17:39
HARARE -Armed
military police have mounted roadblocks along the
country's highways
reportedly as part of a nationwide hunt for weapons that
were stolen from
army barracks in Harare last week.
Twelve soldiers were reportedly
arrested last week in connection with
the disappearance of 19 AK-47 rifles,
pistols and ammunition from Pomona
Barracks in Borrowdale. ?
In a
bid to track the missing weapons, armed military police have been
deployed
at roadblocks along major highways to try and intercept whoever
stole the
weapons from moving there around the country.
Journalists from The
Zimbabwean on Tuesday who travelled to Harare
from Bulawayo last Saturday
witnessed nine such roadblocks where travellers
were ordered to disembark
from buses, cars and lorries and had their bags
and vehicles thoroughly
searched. ?
"This is plain harassment and intimidation. How can they
even search
handbags.they do not even have search warrants and they don't
even tell us
why we are being searched like criminals," said
Dzingai?Nyatanga, who
described the process as a 'nuisance.'
A
bus driver working for a luxury coach plying the Harare-Bulawayo
route said:
"We tell our passengers to follow orders because if they don't,
we can be
detained here for hours."
Army spokesperson Colonel Overson Mugwisi
could not be reached for
comment.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The
Zimbabwean
Monday, 26 October 2009 17:55
BULAWAYO -- A senior
army officer last week told a magistrate's court
here that he stole an AK47
rifle from his work place because he wanted to
sell the firearm to raise
money for food.
Lieutenant James Kambarume, who is based at
Mbalabala barracks,
appeared before magistrate Thobelike Matimbe last
Friday charged under the
Criminal Law Codification Reform Act.
According to the state outline sometime last month, Kambarume
approached a
civilian, Tarugarira Mudadi , and told him he was selling an
AK47 rifle.
Mudadi offered to buy the rifle for US$25 .
The following week police
arrested Mudadi at his Mpopoma home after
receiving a tip-off from his
neighbours that he had an unlicensed gun.
When asked by the magistrate
why he stole the rifle, Kambarume said
he was hungry and wanted to sell it
to get some money.
Zimbabwe soldiers are the lowest paid in the region.
Last year dozens
of troops ran amok in Harare .
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The Zimbabwean
Monday, 26 October
2009 17:57
MBERENGWA---Riot police assaulted villagers in Mberengwa
last week
for demanding money they are owed by the Grain Marketing Board
(GMB) depot
here for maize delivered as long ago as July.
The
incident took place at Mataga growth point where villagers were
protesting
the failure of the parastatal to pay them for their produce.
Riot
police were called in to disperse the angry protesters who were
threatening to break into the depot to confront GMB officials. GMB
officials who spoke to The Zimbabwean on Tuesday at Mataga on condition of
anonymity since they were not authorized to speak to the press said the
parastatal has no money to pay the farmers.
"We understand the
plight of the rural farmers but the fact is that
GMB is broke and has no
money to pay them at the moment for their maize
deliveries. We will only do
so after the government releases funds to the
parastatal," he said.
But irate villagers blasted the GMB for being dishonest, saying that
the
parastatal should have told them it was broke before taking their
maize.
"I have been waiting for my payment for the past three months
and
every time I come to enquire I am told the accountant is away. We worked
for
this and they should respect us by giving us our money," said Fabion
Hove
one of the affected communal farmers .
Another protester
,Duncan Zhou said: "We want our money; I am
surprised that these GMB
officials are behaving like this. They are
refusing to pay us but they know
very well, that's the same money we use to
buy inputs for the coming farming
season"
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Tuesday 27 October 2009
HARARE
- Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC)
party will know by October 31 whether its supporters want it to
remain in a
fragile coalition government with President Robert Mugabe, a
senior official
said at the weekend.
MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti told
representatives of civic
society groups that his party had not left the
coalition government contrary
to assertions made in the state
media.
The MDC announced two weeks ago that it was suspending
cooperation
with Mugabe's ZANU PF party over the latter's refusal to abide
by
commitments it made in a power-sharing agreement signed in September
2008.
The state media has harped on the MDC decision to suspend
cooperation
with ZANU PF by misleading the public into believing that
Tsvangirai's party
had in fact withdrawn from the fragile government it
helped form in
February.
But Biti said a nationwide exercise to
consult the party's members on
its future participation in the
eight-month-old coalition government would
end next Saturday, after which a
decision would be made on whether to remain
in the power-sharing regime or
not.
"We have an on-going process of consultation. Therefore, it
will be
premature to make a fundamental decision outside the confines and
dictates
of the ongoing people's forums," said Biti who is also Zimbabwe's
finance
minister.
The unity government has been rocked by sharp
differences with Mugabe's
ZANU PF over policy and political
reforms.
The two parties remain deadlocked over key appointments
while the MDC
also accuses ZANU PF of engaging in a campaign to persecute
its supporters.
At least 17 MDC legislators have been arrested
since the beginning of
the year on charges ranging from theft and public
violence to rape and
playing music that denigrates Mugabe.
ZANU
PF, in turn, accuses the MDC of reneging on a promise to push for
the
removal of travel bans and an asset freeze slapped by the West on its
senior
officials.
Tsvangirai embarked on a diplomatic offensive last week
to garner
support among members of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC)
who are the guarantors of Zimbabwe's power-sharing
pact.
He met Mozambican President and chairperson of the SADC Organ
on
Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, Armando Guebuza as well as
South
Africa's President Jacob Zuma and the Democratic Republic of Congo
leader
Joseph Kabila.
Kabila holds the rotating SADC chair
until the next summit of the
regional bloc scheduled for August or September
2010.
A SADC Troika meeting is scheduled for Harare next Thursday
to discuss
Zimbabwe's crisis. - ZimOnline
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Clifford
Naythi Tuesday 27 October 2009
BULAWAYO - President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU PF party has started compiling
nominations at provincial level
for the party's top leadership, with
Bulawayo province re-affirming its
support for chairman John Nkomo for the
vice president's post ahead of its
national congress in December.
The party's top leadership - the presidium
- consists of the first secretary
and president, two second secretaries and
vice-presidents, and national
chairman.
Mugabe's two deputies in the
party also deputise him in government but one
of the vice presidents' slots
has been vacant since the August death of
former vice president and
liberation struggle hero Joseph Msika.
According to a circular sent out
to the provinces by ZANU PF secretary for
administration Didymus Mutasa, the
country's 10 provinces were tasked to
submit nominations for the posts in
the presidium by 14 November.
Analysts said the incumbents - President
Robert Mugabe, Vice-President Joice
Mujuru would retain the posts and tipped
Nkomo fro promotion to vice
president.
The nominations by the
provinces are part of preparations for the party's
national congress due in
December in Harare. ZANU PF holds congresses after
every five years, where
it selects the party's top leadership.
The ZANU PF Bulawayo provincial
coordinating committee (PCC) met at Davies
Hall on Sunday to begin
nominations for the presidium.
Although politburo member Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu could not release the names of
the presidium nominations, he told
ZimOnline that the province re-affirmed
its endorsement of Nkomo as vice
president.
"We met earlier this month and nominated Nkomo as our
candidate for the vice
president's post but we want to reassure that he is
still the right man for
the post. We advise other provinces to support our
candidate," said Ndlovu.
"However, we have started nominating other
members of the presidium as
tasked by the secretary for administration,
Mutasa."
He said there were candidates for the VP's post from other
provinces who
were canvassing for support from Bulawayo
province.
Former ZIPRA chief of staff Retired Brigadier General Ambrose
Mutinhiri has
written to Matabeleland provinces, seeking support and
nomination as the
Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
Ndlovu
fired a broadside at senior ZANU PF members who were hosting
clandestine
meetings in lavish hotels to buy support.
"Any secret meeting without the
PCC or the provincial chairman Isaac
Dakamela is illegal. We should all
follow party procedure as said by the
chairman (Nkomo)," he said.
"If
the senior politicians want to use money, then people should just take
their
money and enjoy it but don't give them support."
There has been jostling
for the vice president's post in the past month with
a number of candidates
showing their interest. Among the contenders are
Senate Deputy President
Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu, Bulawayo Resident
Minister Cain Mathema and
Mutinhiri.
The Politburo will meet this week to deliberate on the vice
president's
issue after the Matabeleland provinces failed to come up with
one candidate.
Politburo and central committee members including deputy
secretary for women
affairs Eunice Sandi-Moyo, Matabeleland South Resident
Minister Angelina
Masuku, Bulawayo Resident Minister Mathema and Bulawayo
Provincial chairman
Dakamela attended Sunday's PCC meeting. - ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by STAFF REPORTER
Monday, 26 October 2009 15:42
HARARE - Zimbabwe is forecast to record a
poor harvest during the
2009/10 farming season as the US-funded Famine Early
Warning System Network
(FEWSNET) warns of a lurking moderate El Nino
conditions across the Pacific
Ocean which are associated with dry conditions
across southern Africa.
FEWSNET said in its latest publication titled
Executive Brief: El Nino
and Food Security in Southern Africa that southern
half of the region,
particularly Botswana, Namibia, southern and central
Mozambique, Zimbabwe,
Swaziland, and South Africa would face below-normal
harvest this season.
"With a moderate El Nino expected this year, it is
more likely that
some areas will face drier?than?usual conditions beginning
in January 2010,"
FEWSNET said.
Forecasts indicate that the current
El Nino is likely to be of weak to
moderate strength through the remainder
of 2009.
El Nino conditions are associated with the warming up of
temperatures
over the Pacific Ocean which often results in significant
changes in
rainfall patterns in eastern and southern Africa.
In
southern Africa, there is sometimes an increase in precipitation
very early
on, during October - December.
However, this slightly elevated moisture
drops off as the season
progresses often leading to drought.
FEWSNET noted that the dry conditions would most likely affect the
important
maize?growing areas in the southern African region.
"Should this
happen, food availability will be very tight across much
of the sub?region,
and many of the chronically vulnerable households will
easily tip into food
insecure conditions, which will quickly deteriorate as
the consumption year
progresses," said the US-based organisation.
The threat of the El Nino
conditions would worsen Zimbabwe's food
security situation at a time the
country is trying to improve crop
production.
Aid agencies have
predicted that up to 1.6 million Zimbabweans would
be in need of food
assistance during the lean season between January and
April 2010.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by STAFF
REPORTER
Monday, 26 October 2009 15:47
Harare -- Newsletters
have become a common feature in the capital as
publishers lose patience over
delays by the unity government to set up a new
Zimbabwe Media Commission
(ZMC) that is expected to open up media space by
granting publishing
licences to more newspapers.
Publishers of most newsletters flooding
the streets of Harare said
they were disappointed by the prolonged process
to create the ZMC that is
part of several new commissions that the
power-sharing government must
establish as part of efforts to democratise
and re-shape Zimbabwe's
politics.
A spokesman for the Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR),
publishers of the Legal Monitor newsletter,
said the lawyers group opted to
produce its own news publication because of
concerns over distortions and
other inaccuracies in reports about human
rights issues carried by
state-owned newspapers.
The ZLHR spokesman
said: "We found it beneficial to the public that
they get real news about
justice, crime and human rights from us as the
state media twists facts we
would have presented to them for publication.
"We are happy that the
public are now getting actual news direct from
us. We had some problems with
state security agents but we have since
improvised other means of
distributing our newsletter."
An official in Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's office said the
launch of the Prime Minister's Newsletter was
the result of disappointment
with coverage of the Premier by the state
media.
"The Prime Minister's office wants to set the record straight
for
Zimbabweans on the successes, failures and activities of the inclusive
government, as opposed to the continued onslaught against Prime Minister
by the state controlled media."
The Zimbabwe Doctors for Human
Rights has also launched a newsletter,
which focuses on health
issues.
During the just ended Sanganai\Hlanganani World Travel and
Tourism
Africa Fair in Harare, The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) ran a
daily
Newsletter, which was distributed to exhibitors and buyers. ZTA has
now
come up with a monthly newsletter.
Commenting on the
mushrooming of newsletters, the president of the
Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists, Matthew Takaona, said that such publications
were filling a
void.
"In any environment where there is repression there is bound to
be an
emergence of protest media, some people are now producing cassettes
CDs and
DVDs, it's a serious indication that there is repression, people
should
welcome them as alternative sources of news," he said.
October 27, 2009
Diamond miners at Chiadzwa
By Ntando Ncube
Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) a Canada-based group fighting for the eradication of “blood diamonds” around the world on Monday says diamonds from Zimbabwe were being illegally smuggled into Canada and accused the Kimberley Process (KP) of turning a blind eye to the illegal activities happening in Zimbabwe. In a report titled “Other Facets”, the international pressure group said in a report that diamonds from Zimbabwe’s Chiadzwa fields were being smuggled as far afield as Sierra Leone and Guyana.
In its report, the group accused the industry watchdog of manufacturing “polite fiction” to cover up for shortcomings by Zimbabwean authorities. It said that Zimbabwe exhibited a wide variety of serious problems ranging from smuggling and illegal seizure of diamond leases to outright denial of easily verifiable murder and human rights abuse in its diamond fields.
“In 2009, Zimbabwean industrial diamonds, easily identified by their size and colour, showed up as far afield as Guyana and Sierra Leone,”, the agency said in the report. It accused the Kimberley Process (KP) of turning a blind eye to the illegal activities taking place in Zimbabwe and other diamond-producing or importing countries.
“If low-value diamonds like these travel that far and that easily in search of a laundry, it is clear than high value goods have even greater range and speed,” the group observed.
It said that the KP in particular was not doing anything to stem a thriving illegal diamond market that has emerged in Mozambique’s town of Manica which is supplied with the precious mineral smuggled out of Zimbabwe by army and government officials. Manica just across the border from Mutare is a market town in western Mozambique, lying west of Chimoio in the province of Manica.
Guyana is a signatory to the Kimberley Process, a regulatory system backed by the United Nations which seeks to track the international production and movement of diamonds. The Process stipulates that freshly mined diamonds should be sealed in registered containers that certify their country of origin and that diamond exporters do not accept unregistered gems that might profit insurgents or criminals.
The Kimberley Process evolved out of international concern over the role that diamonds have played in sustaining guerilla and terrorist operations in various parts of the world, notably in conflict ridden regions of Liberia, the Congo, Angola and Sierra Leone. Since its implementation the Kimberley Process has been chaired by some of the world’s leading diamond producers including South Africa, Canada and Russia.
The process was initiated in May 2001 when diamond-producing countries in Southern Africa met in Kimberley, South Africa to discuss ways of stopping the trade in “conflict diamonds” and ensuring that diamond purchases were not funding violence.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
27 October
2009
The life of late former student leader and MDC politician, Learnmore
Jongwe,
was officially commemorated on the seventh anniversary of his death
last
Friday, with the launch of a new Trust in his name.
The
Learnmore Jongwe Trust was established to continue his legacy, mainly by
aiding youths and students in the country and furthering their education.
The Trust seeks to provide a central and effective facility for all youth
and student organisations, which will be a resource base for research,
debate and formulation of relevant policies and laws. The Trust's work is
set to benefit not only Jongwe's surviving dependents, but also Zimbabwean
youths and students in general, including student and youth
organisations.
Prior to his death in remand prison on 24th October 2002,
Jongwe had served
as a student leader with the University of Zimbabwe and
the Zimbabwe
National Students Union, and also later as the national Youth
Chairperson
and Spokesperson of the MDC. He was also an elected member of
Parliament for
the Kuwadzana constituency.
However, Jongwe's
promising career came to an abrupt and violent end after
he murdered his own
wife Rutendo, in a domestic dispute. The incident led to
his eventual death
in remand prison, under unclear circumstances, after he
was allegedly
poisoned in custody. There is also much speculation that
suggests that
Jongwe may have taken his own life. Before his death, Jongwe
had said he
regretted the tragic events of the last few weeks of his life
and apologised
unconditionally for his wife's murder.
But the MDC believes Jongwe, the
party's former spokesperson, was murdered
while behind bars. Speaking at the
launch of the Trust last week, party
Secretary General Tendai Biti said
Jongwe was assassinated.
"The state has tried to propagate the theory
that Jongwe committed suicide
but it is impossible to smuggle anything into
prison," Biti said, speaking
of the poison that was found in Jongwe's system
after an independent
autopsy. "It's not possible, so if anything is smuggled
in there, they would
have allowed you to smuggle it," Biti continued.
http://www.politicsweb.co.za
Eddie Cross
27 October 2009
Eddie Cross
writes on the fraught situation in Zimbabwe
It is a month since I
last wrote one of these weekly letters and I do
apologise for the gap but we
have been flat out here and a lot of what is
going on is very sensitive. But
despite all the nonsense being talked about
in the State controlled press, I
think we have made progress.
I think people have short memories and it is
important to keep recent events
in perspective when trying to interpret what
is going on. In February 2007
the South African Cabinet met in Cape Town to
consider the decision by Mr.
Mugabe to shift the March 2008 elections to
June 2010. They decided two
things - firstly, that the new election date was
unacceptable and, secondly,
that the March elections should be held on a
basis where no one could
dispute the outcome.
As a consequence, the
President of South Africa (Mr. Mbeki) met with Mr.
Mugabe on the 6th March
in Ghana and secured agreement to reverse the
decision to defer the election
and obtained his agreement to start
negotiations with the MDC on the
conditions under which the March 2008
elections would be held.
The
rest is history - the talks started in June, struggled on to the end of
the
year when Mr. Mugabe stopped the process saying they had done enough.
The
elections were held and although they were by no means free and fair,
the
MDC won convincingly and after 5 weeks of trying to reverse the loss,
Zanu
simply falsified the results of the Presidential election and Mr. Mbeki
approved a run off between the two leaders.
The subsequent election
campaign was so violent and one sided and so
manipulated that no SADC or
African country was prepared to say that the
election of Mr. Mugabe with 85
per cent of the vote was legitimate. That
gave rise to a further round of
negotiations and the imposition by the
region of an inclusive government to
manage the country while a new
constitution was drafted and fresh elections
held. The path towards the
instillation of the new Transitional Government
was not easy or straight
forward. Zanu had lost the election but was not
prepared to relinquish power
and control. SADC wanted a government that
included the three parties but
was not prepared to enforce power sharing on
the basis of the outcome of the
March elections.
Eventually when it
became apparent that Zanu PF was not prepared to concede
more to MDC, the
region persuaded MDC leadership to go into government and
promised that they
would ensure the signed agreements and the amendments to
the constitution
were respected and enforced. They also agreed to review
this arrangement
after six months.
MDC went into the new government with its eyes wide
open and fully
understanding the nature of the organisation we were dealing
with. However,
out of respect for the region, the MDC leadership lent over
backwards and
tried to make the government work. Despite this Zanu PF has
steadfastly
refused to cooperate in those areas that affect the conduct of
future
elections or in any way inhibit the residual power and influence of
the hard
liners in the JOC.
The list of violations of the signed
agreements between the three parties
grows by the day, but there are several
hundred at this stage and as a
result the process of economic stabilisation
and recovery is being retarded
and the restoration of constitutional and
written law is completely stymied.
No progress has been made in the
restoration of basic freedoms and in
violation of the agreements all senior
appointments to government have been
made unilaterally and in the majority
of cases been used to entrench the
power and influence of Zanu PF in the
State.
Calls for the MDC to withdraw became more and more strident and
eventually
the Party called for a period of national consultation with its
grass root
structures on the issue. As this consultation nears its
conclusion the
results are overwhelming - from Beitbridge to Binga, people
have said stay
in the government to protect the gains made but fight on for
the full
implementation of the GPA and the holding of new elections as soon
as
conditions exist for a free and fair contest.
When the State moved
to imprison Roy Bennett ten days ago and then put him
in shackles it was a
move too far for the leadership. The President of the
MDC called for talks
with the other principals to the agreement but was
refused by Zanu PF. He
then decided to disengage from Zanu PF in the
inclusive government,
virtually paralysing the State in the process.
During all this, the
guarantors of the deal, SADC remained silent and
disengaged. The originators
of the whole process, South Africa was also
silent. SADC failed to hold the
planned review of Ministerial portfolio
allocations as promised and instead
requested the Troika on politics and
security to handle the problems in the
Zimbabwe government. When the most
recent crisis in the State arose, Mr.
Tsvangirai decided the time had come
to take the case to regional decision
makers.
He did that last week and today meets with the other two Party
leaders in
the GPA while we wait for the Troika to come to Harare on the
29th to hold
joint consultations with the leadership of the Parties to the
agreement on
the way forward. I do not think the agreement is threatened but
there is no
doubt in my mind that the region should insist on all parties to
the deal
meeting their obligations.
This past weekend has seen a
flurry of activity driven by the JOC - dozens
of homes torched in rural
areas, people beaten and injured - some very
severely and leadership of MDC
and civil society arrested and imprisoned on
flimsy grounds. A guest house
owned by MDC in Harare was raided on Saturday
night by 50 armed men and
trashed in the process. Road blocks searching for
'arms' were thrown up
throughout the country - I was in Lupane 172
kilometres from Bulawayo on
Saturday and went through 5 road blocks on the
main road.
While all
this was going on Mr. Mugabe was outside the country and when he
came back
he made a clear statement saying that they were not going to move
on any of
the issues raised by the MDC. He made the tired and puerile claim
that MDC
has not delivered on the lifting of 'sanctions' and the banning of
'illegal'
radio stations and therefore Zanu was not obliged to adhere to the
agreement
either.
The fact is we have no influence over who is subjected to a
travel ban by
certain countries or restrictions on certain companies that
are considered
to be part of the problem of the rogue elements in the State
in Zimbabwe.
These restrictions have no influence over the economy and do
not affect the
great majority of our people. As for the argument on
'illegal' radio
stations - that is a laugh. For a start they are not
illegal, they are also
the most popular media in Zimbabwe and are the main
source of information
for the majority. That is precisely why Zanu wants
them banned.
Eddie Cross is MP for Bulawayo South and the MDC's Policy
Coordinator. This
article first appeared on his website www.eddiecross.africanherd.com
Written by The Zimbabwean |
Monday, 26 October 2009 16:03 |
The Lie: J. Moyo: “It is now a well known fact in Zimbabwean politics that when the Americans and Europeans who run, fund and control the MDC T find themselves cornered, they engineer political tension and political violence in our country which they blame on Zanu (PF) using elements of the international media that they control.” The Reality: The Americans and Europeans do not run, fund and control the MDC-T, and do not find themselves ‘cornered’. And it is ZanuPF that is entirely responsible for the appalling political violence in Zimbabwe. The Lie: The harsh media laws (AIPPA) he authored are “good for Zimbabwe”, according to Jonathan Moyo. The Reality: AIPPA is only good for Zanu (PF). It gags free speech, allows news censorship, keeps community radio banned and ensures that the mass media stays firmly under the control of the nationalist nazis in Zanu (PF). The Lies: Robert Mugabe justifies the seizing of white farms without paying. He says the land was stolen from blacks in the first place, and denies his land reforms ruined agriculture. Instead he blames poor weather and Western sanctions that he says crippled the economy’s capacity to produce fertilizer and other agricultural inputs. The Reality: Most commercial farms operating today were purchased after independence in 1980, with a certificate of ‘no interest’ from government. - Some of the best harvests on record were grown during ‘drought’ years by white farmers. (What’s the matter with the new ‘cellphone’ farmers?) -Western sanctions have not stopped us from producing fertiliser. Sable Chemicals in Kwe Kwe used to supply the whole of Zimbabwe with fertilisers, and exported some too. Zanu-PF’s economic bungling crippled the company. Targeted sanctions have not caused a shortage. Republic of South Africa gladly supplies any fertiliser or agricultural inputs that Zimbabwe can pay for. The Lie: J. Moyo: “I also respect my party’s leadership” The Reality: He has recently called Mugabe’s leadership “self-indulgent” and described him as “very tired, visionless and beleaguered.” He has accused Mugabe of playing “dirty games” and said Zimbabwe is doomed if he remains in office. We could go on. That’s a pretty warped view of respect… or just that Chameleon speaking. The Lie: Didymus Mutasa – “I don’t have a case to answer in the trial of farmer Rober McKersie.” The Reality: Actually, yes Minister, you do. And you are not above the law. A subpoena against you is valid. The Lie: Deputy Media, Information and Publicity minister Jameson Timba: “Zimbabwe is not a police state. It is not the policy of this government that its employees go around threatening citizens with arrest for imagined crimes.” The Reality: Good grief, are you blind as well as dim, Mr. Timba? Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri must be laughing his head off. Let’s hope he doesn’t arrest YOU on trumped up charges this week. The Lie: Patrick Chinamasa: “The problem is that most people including MPs and you journalists have not read the (Kariba draft) constitution. People should not concentrate on process but content of the constitution.” The Reality: Yes we have read it, and we do not like what we see regarding the entrenched and all-encompassing powers of the Executive President. Lie-O-Meter rating this week: 9 out of 10 |
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by The Editor
Monday, 26 October 2009 17:28
Will the Southern Africa Development
Community (SADC), which is
notorious for its impotence and complicity with
the wrong side on the
Zimbabwean question, react any differently to the
latest crisis?
We refer here to the decision by the Movement for
Democratic Change
(MDC) to disengage from Cabinet in protest against the
unceasing, brazen and
delinquent violations of the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) by President
Robert Mugabe's wing of the coalition
government.
The latest of these illogical and shameless acts includes
the renewed
persecution and prosecution of Roy Bennett, whom Mugabe has also
refused to
swear in as Deputy Minister of Agriculture, on trumped up
charges.
Zimbabweans know that the country is doomed if the unity
government
collapses and Zanu (PF, which has been rejected by the
electorate, imposes
itself on the suffering masses as the sole ruling party
once more. The
consequences are too ghastly to contemplate. And yet this is
exactly what
Zanu(PF) is angling for.
In a most un-statesman-like
manner upon his return from an African
Union Summit in Uganda on Friday,
Mugabe practically gloated over the MDC's
decision, saying, as reported in
The Saturday Herald of October 24 : "...
you will always get people in any
arrangement who are guided by little
emotional thoughts and act in
accordance with them and who would want things
to go their way, and not the
national way and not the agreed way."
This is vintage disdainful and
intransigent Mugabe who has tyrannised
the nation over the years by
labelling any opponents and critics of his
oppressive rule sell-outs,
puppets of the West or his latest obsession,
"regime change" agenda agents.
It is clear to everyone else except SADC that
all that matters to him and
his party in going to these perverse and
destructive lengths is to cling to
power regardless of everything else,
including the will and aspirations of
the people he governs.
He confirmed this on Friday when he said the MDC
should not expect
"...that we should now voluntarily, from our side, you
see, give away
aspects of our authority, we will not do that. They can go to
any summit,
any part of the world to appeal - that will not
happen."
The question any reasonable person would ask and which SADC
should put
to Mugabe is what Zanu (PF) bases its supposedly unshakeable
authority on
when it lost the last elections and did not get a mandate from
the people to
remain in power? As Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has
pointed out,
Mugabe was not elected to his current presidential term of
office but was
accommodated under the GPA through negotiations.
How
long will SADC slap Zimbabwean voters in the face by continuing
to collude
with election losers at the expense of a party that they risked
life and
limb to vote for in the hope of bringing about change and
liberating
themselves from the bondage of Zanu (PF) tyranny and oppression?
There
are no legitimate grounds for SADC to continue burying its head
in the sand
in order to appease Mugabe and his violent party. It is time to
bell the cat
by reminding him of some unpalatable truths, such as that it is
the losing
Zanu (PF) that was accommodated under the government of national
unity and
not the winning MDC that it now seeks to beat down into surrender
as it has
tried to do the populace.