News24
MDC wants Zim out of C'wealth
30/09/2003 23:01 -
(SA)Harare - Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC), on Tuesday said the country should remain suspended
from the
Commonwealth.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth in
March last year over its
poor human rights record and President Robert
Mugabe's re-election in a vote
that was widely condemned as
rigged.
When the initial 12-month suspension ended in March this year,
the
Commonwealth announced the southern African country's suspension would
be
extended until December when the 54 Commonwealth countries hold their
annual
meeting in Nigeria.
"Because there has not been any improvement
on any of the benchmarks set by
the Commonwealth, we don't see any reason why
Zimbabwe's suspension should
be lifted," said opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
He said the government had violated the Harare declaration on
good
governance.
He urged that the Commonwealth "position must be
enforced until there is
meaningful change in the behaviour of the
regime".
"The crisis in Zimbabwe is not about land, not about Britain, it
is about
governance," he told a news conference.
South Africa's
President Thabo Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart, Olusegun
Obasanjo, sit on
a troika chaired by Australian Prime Minister John Howard
tasked with
overseeing the Commonwealth's response to alleged human rights
violations in
Zimbabwe.
'Sons of the soil'
Mbeki has been pushing for the
lifting of Zimbabwe's suspension from the
grouping of mainly former British
colonies.
The MDC leader welcomed overtures by Mugabe calling on the
opposition to
consider settling political differences with his government
internally "as
sons of the soil" without seeking foreign help.
"The
public statement by President Mugabe that he would like to talk to the
MDC,
is welcome, but is only welcome if that speech can only be translated
into
action," he said.
"Let's see the Daily News ban lifted... and all the
restrictions that are
being imposed lifted, so that we can demonstrate that
there is seriousness,"
he said.
The forced closure of the Daily News
earlier this month was politically
motivated, he said.
"We view the
closure of the Daily News as an attack, as an attack on the
MDC. The paper
has just become a victim of the whole strategy to emasculate
the independent
communication channels.
He said his party did not own the Daily News,
neither was the paper a
mouthpiece of the opposition, "but we believe in the
spirit of freedom of
association".
"Any closure of any newspaper is an
affront to democracy," he said. -
Sapa-AFP
The Star
The making of Zimbabwe's crisis
October 1,
2003
By Brendan Seery
The tale of Eric Roberts is one
that South Africans, and particularly
white South Africans, should
hear.
Eric Roberts was a simple, honest, hard-working cop. In the
1970s, he
worked for Ian Smith's police as a detective, investigating
"terrorism"
cases. After the country became an independent Zimbabwe in 1980,
Eric
Roberts carried on with his trade, rising to the rank of detective
chief
inspector.
As he had done for Ian Smith, so he did for
Robert Mugabe - tracking
and investigating those embarking on terrorism. His
loyalty was to the
government of the day: Zimbabwe was his home and he had no
other masters .
One night in the early 1980s, Roberts opened the
front door of his
modest suburban home in Bulawayo. A volley of 9mm
parabellum bullets tore
into his body, probably fired from a silenced Uzi
submachinegun. One or two
would have done the trick. The rest were a public
message in much the same
way as were the 27 9mm slugs which mutilated the
body of the ANC's
then-representative in Harare, Joe Gqabi, in
mid-1981.
I knew Eric Roberts. He was a nice, ordinary guy. He
didn't deserve to
die.
But why is the tale of Eric Roberts
relevant 20 years later?
Simply because his story is in danger of
disappearing, along with
everything else that has happened in the past 23
years in Zimbabwe, as
Robert Mugabe goes about destroying one of Africa's
gems. By his conduct,
the Zimbabwean president has succeeded in focusing all
eyes on the present,
while the past is forgotten or ignored.
Eric Roberts was, in all probability, murdered by his own former
countrymen,
white Zimbabweans paid by the South African "dirty tricks"
departments to run
underground subversive networks - groups whose job was to
eliminate ANC
members and to do as much as possible to "destabilise" the
newly-independent
country.
There's that word "destabilisation". Haven't heard that in
a while,
have we? Let me recount a bit of that rapidly evaporating
history.
From about 1981 onwards, the National Party government and
its
military and intelligence organs - as part of their "Total
Strategy"
policy - set in motion a campaign to put the uppity Mugabe in his
place.
His speeches at the time made no bones of his support for
the
liberation movements in South Africa, although he never allowed the ANC
or
PAC to establish military bases on Zimbabwean soil. A small number of
groups
of guerrillas did infiltrate into SA via Zimbabwe, but the vast
majority who
came back to this country did so via Swaziland, Lesotho and
Botswana. Those
countries did not attract anything like the attention
Zimbabwe did from the
apartheid machinery.
Among some (but not
all) of the incidents which were either carried
out directly by SA forces or
by Zimbabwean whites and blacks being paid by
Pretoria were the
following:
nThe blowing up of the Zimbabwe National Army's main
armoury in Harare
in 1981.
nThe bombing of the Zanu-PF
headquarters in Harare in 1981, in which
more than 20 people were
killed.
nThe assassination of Eric Roberts.
nThe
assassination of Joe Gqabi.
nThe attack on an ANC house in
Bulawayo, in which an innocent
Zimbabwean died after he was paid to drive a
bomb-laden car up to the house.
nThe bombing of a car park outside
a cinema in Harare, in which
anti-apartheid activist Jeremy Brickhill was
badly wounded.
nThe booby-trapping of a TV which exploded and
severely injured and
disfigured Anglican priest Father Michael
Lapsley.
nThe destruction of the fighter strength of the Air Force
of Zimbabwe.
In the wake of that sabotage, a number of white Zimbabwean air
force
officers were tried and acquitted but later re-detained by the
Mugabe
government.
nThe repeated sabotage of the pipeline
carrying petrol from the
Mozambican port of Beira to Zimbabwe. Eventually,
Mugabe had to commit
hundreds of his troops for almost 10 years to defend the
pipeline.
nThe sabotage, and attempted sabotage, of the railway
line between
Zimbabwe and Mozambique. With this and the pipeline often out of
order,
Zimbabwe was, at
stages, dependent solely on the good offices
of SA for the import of
petroleum products - something the South Africans
used on a number of
occasions for diplomatic blackmail.
nThe
funding and arming of diverse opposition groups in Zimbabwe. The
biggest of
these was a group of Ndebele dissidents initially loyal to Joshua
Nkomo's
Zapu, who took to the bush in the early 1980s. These dissidents
murdered
white farmers with weapons obtained from the SA military. A group
of foreign
tourists was also kidnapped by these "dissident" bands. All six
were later
found dead - and the incident devastated the country's tourism
industry,
which was at the time the second biggest earner of foreign
exchange, after
tobacco.
In a heavy-handed reaction, Mugabe deployed the notorious
North
Korean-trained Fifth Brigade, which went on a bloody rampage some
have
likened to ethnic cleansing and which left thousands of people dead
and
caused many more to flee to South Africa and Botswana.
nThe attempted rescue of white former Rhodesians, who were convicted
of
treason for their involvement in South African-funded acts of terror.
A
9-year-old girl was shot in the stomach during this
"operation".
Not much of this is ever likely to be debated
publicly: this was not
within the mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commision (which dealt
only with acts committed within SA's borders) and
former military and other
operatives in SA have held their tongues. In any
event, they were acting on
orders from politicians, who have demonstrated
their talent at hiding behind
the cloak of "plausible
deniability".
But many of those acts of destabilisation involved
white
ex-Rhodesians, including those now languishing in Chikurubi prison in
Harare
and on whose behalf President Thabo Mbeki has been asked to intercede,
on
the basis that they are South African citizens. Mbeki pointed out
earlier
last week that he cannot interfere in the case because at the time
the acts
of terrorism were carried out, the men were citizens of
Zimbabwe.
Is it any wonder, then, that over the years of
destabilisation, the
attitude of Mugabe towards whites hardened
markedly?
How many remember that, in addition to the constant
attempts by the
Rhodesians to kill him and others in the Zanu leadership
during the war, at
least two attempts were made on his life in the run-up to
elections in 1980?
Perhaps one can understand why Mugabe has felt himself
pushed into a corner.
The commitment of troops to securing
Mozambique and the pipeline
proved such a drain on finances, that the economy
quickly got into trouble.
The Mozambique excursion also provided the
precursor for the later
involvement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
formerly Zaire.
When the economy began showing signs of faltering,
the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank came on to the
scene. Their
prescription for economic health (subtext: do this or there will
be no more
loans) was Esap - the Economic Structural Adjustment
Programme.
There are those who argue that Esap, with its strict
commitment to
capitalist principles, was the international community's way of
putting an
uppity would-be socialist in his place.
Whatever its
motives, Esap was certainly one of the factors in the
start of the current
tailspin of the Zimbabwean economy.
Few remember now that it was
Esap's "harsh medicine" which saw the
scrapping of a number of subsidies and
controls on prices which had made
life liveable for the majority of the
country's citizens.
By the time Mugabe tried to reintroduce
controls later, they were
ineffective and the economy had degenerated into
its current dog-eat-dog
state.
With his Esap-hit economy in
trouble, Mugabe had to look around for a
scapegoat. And that scapegoat was
white-owned land. The British government
never came through with its
Lancaster House promises of vast donations to
enable the Zimbabwe government
to acquire land from white farmers on a
"willing buyer, willing seller" basis
for resettlement. Not many farmers
offered up their land either.
Then there was the fact that the majority of whites had done little to
endear
themselves to the new, black majority order in the country.
After
independence, they mixed little, withdrawing to their enclaves of
privilege,
many making far more money than they could have dreamed of in the
times of
Ian Smith.
What really got up Mugabe's nose, though,
was that whites remained
aloof from blacks until it became obvious there was
a burgeoning black
opposition to Zanu-PF. Rightly or wrongly, he felt that
whites suddenly felt
able to engage in a marriage of convenience when he
(Mugabe) was the common
enemy.
Today, the architects of the
policy of destabilisation can look back
with pride on a job well done.
Pretoria's securocrats started the process
which has made Zimbabwe so
unstable that it is a threat to the whole of
southern Africa.
None of this excuses what Mugabe has done to the economy, to democracy
and to
the people of his country. It doesn't justify the murder of thousands
of
Ndebeles; the dispossession of white farmers; or that the povo (the
people)
fight a daily battle for mere survival.
But nothing happens in
isolation. Mugabe didn't wake up one day and
shout: "I hate whites! Take
their land away!"
That is something that very few whites in Southern
Africa want to hear
these days.
Mired in their own
self-absorption, they cannot conceive they did
anything but right. They
cannot conceive that evil lurks within their race
as in any other. They
perceive themselves as victims, but never as
perpetrators.
And,
unless we, as whites, accept that we weren't saints, then true
healing and
reconciliation cannot being to start.
So, listen to the story of
Eric Roberts. Absorb a bit of that history
that everybody seems to be
forgetting these days.
Because, as the saying goes: those who don't
learn from the mistakes
of history are doomed to repeat them.
The Star
Let's see progress or stay home, Mugabe told
October 1, 2003
By Brian Latham and Basildon Peta
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has ruled out inviting President
Robert
Mugabe to the Commonwealth summit in Abuja unless there are big
changes in
Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has denied
President
Thabo Mbeki's claims that there have been talks between the
Movement for
Democratic Change and the ruling Zanu-PF.
Obasanjo's first-ever public remarks on the issue differ sharply from
those
of Mbeki, who has said he wants Mugabe invited to the summit -
although
adding that it was up to Obasanjo, as leader of the host country,
to
decide.
In an interview published on the allafrica.com website,
Obasanjo said
the decision was not his alone, and had been made in
consultation with other
leaders.
"Well, it's a decision for
me but not really a decision for me alone.
For now, after appropriate
consultation, I believe that there should be a
big change in Zimbabwe for an
invitation to be sent."
Obasanjo and Mbeki have reportedly been
pressuring Mugabe to agree on
a power-sharing deal with the
opposition.
But for the moment, Obasanjo seems to have all but
given up any hope
of achieving one before hosting the summit in
December.
a.. The MDC said yesterday that Zimbabwe should
remain suspended from
the Commonwealth. Leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the
government had violated
the Harare declaration on good governance. -
Independent Foreign Service
From ZWNEWS, 1 October
Friends of The Daily News
A group
formed in London has joined the battle to overturn the silencing
of
Zimbabwe’s only independent daily newspaper, The Daily News, using
two
weapons: trying to shame the supreme court judges who shut down the
paper
two weeks ago, and encouraging protests, particularly in the 19
other
African members of the 54-nation Commonwealth. "Whether it will work we
don’
t know. But we are looking at how you put pressure on a government that
is
not open to peer pressure," said Lindsay Ross, executive director of
the
Commonwealth Press Union, and an organiser of the Friends of The Daily
News.
The group was set up after a meeting at the House of Commons attended
by a
cross-section of sympathisers, including representatives of
international
bodies concerned with constitutional law, human rights, the
media, trade
unions and commerce. The group is banking partly on the fact
that the
supreme court judges in Zimbabwe are sensitive to their
international image.
"The supreme court judiciary is still very conscious of
its position, and
likes to be seen as working in the best interests of the
profession," said
Ross. "We are seeking international support from
high-ranking judges and
judicial bodies to put pressure on their colleagues
in Zimbabwe." It is a
moot point whether the judges, who include
long-standing supporters of
Mugabe’s Zanu PF party, and recipients of farms
seized from white owners,
will be open to reversing their judgement - despite
international
condemnation and legal opinion that they contravened
Zimbabwe’s
constitution. But there are signs that the latest crackdown in
Zimbabwe has
aroused serious alarm in fellow African countries on whose
support Mugabe
relies, in depicting himself as an African liberator whose
country’s woes
are the fault of the West, particularly
Britain.
Following the Daily News ban, even South African President
Thabo Mbeki
dropped his campaign to get Mugabe invited to the Commonwealth
summit in
Nigeria in December. Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth
after
Mugabe claimed victory in the 2002 presidential elections,
generally
regarded as flawed, including by Commonwealth observers. Nigerian
President
Obasanjo, the Commonwealth summit host, said in an interview Monday
with
allAfrica.com that only a sea change in Zimbabwe would get Mugabe
an
invitation. Of the ban on The Daily News, he added, "I will say that if
it
qualifies as a sea change at all, its a negative sea change." In
addition,
newspapers in South Africa and other African countries have
condemned the
ban. After meeting South African editors and the Media
Institute of Southern
Africa on Monday, a government spokesman said the
authorities would take up
the ban with Mugabe. "I think the case of the Daily
News has focussed
concern," said Ross. "They expect in Africa that
governments can be hard on
the press. But you could say almost that the
closing of the Daily News has
been one step too far. Many newspapers are
concerned that they could be next
if this is allowed to happen in a country
that purports to be a democracy."
Ross added: "It will take a little time.
But the interesting fact is that
the Daily News has become such a cause
celebre that people feel they can
speak out with a certain degree of
impunity." Meanwhile, the Daily News
publishers have said they will keep
paying staff salaries, and hope some
reporters will get temporary placings
with other newspapers in Africa.
[The Friends of the Daily News have a new website which has not yet got new content but should be updated shortly. http://www.daily-news.co.za/]
From News24 (SA), 30 September
Moz, Zim re-demarcate
border
Maputo - Mozambique and Zimbabwe have agreed to re-demarcate
their border in
the wake of reports of illegal land occupations on both
sides, a senior
Mozambique official said on Tuesday. "We have agreed to
re-demarcate the
entire border in order to end border violations, mostly by
farmers and
prevent any major land conflicts," said Elias Mucombo, head of
Mozambique's
land management directorate DINAGECA. Mucombo said technical
teams from both
countries would start "reconnaissance missions" in early
October so that
work can begin in November on the 1 134km-long border. Land
disputes have
been reported in parts of central Manica province which borders
Zimbabwe's
eastern Manicaland province. Zimbabweans, whose government has in
recent
years embarked on a massive and controversial land reform, are
reported to
be farming or raising cattle on the Mozambican side of the
border. The
Zimbabwe land reform exercise involves forcibly taking land from
a minority
population of whites and giving it to the majority blacks.
VOA
Zimbabwe: Judge Rejects Daily News Request for Return of Seized
Equipment
VOA News
01 Oct 2003, 17:45 UTC
A judge has rejected
a request by Zimbabwe's only independent daily
newspaper for the return of
equipment seized by police.
A lawyer for the Daily News said Wednesday that
Zimbabwean High Court Judge
Tendai Uchena turned down the request without
giving a reason. The court
session was closed to the media.
Police
raided the offices of the Daily News several times last month as they
moved
to close the paper for operating without a license. The newspaper has
been
shut for three weeks.
The licensing requirement was part of strict media
laws introduced last year
by the government of President Robert
Mugabe.
The Daily News had been challenging the requirement in the
courts. After its
closure it filed an application to register, but was
denied.
The paper regularly criticizes the government and President
Robert Mugabe as
the country tries to deal with a deep political and economic
crisis.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and
Reuters.
MSNBC
Zimbabwe bus crash, second in two days, kills
16
HARARE, Oct. 1 — Sixteen people died and 28 were injured in
southwestern
Zimbabwe on Wednesday when the bus they were travelling in
rammed into a
tree after a tyre burst, state television reported.
The accident happened a day after a bus collided with a haulage truck
60 km
(45 miles) south of the capital Harare, killing 21 people. Earlier
in
September, 12 people were burnt to death and 19 others injured in
another
bus accident.
The Times
October 01, 2003
Mugabe raises
petrol prices by 70 per cent
BY JAN RAATH IN
HARARE
President Mugabe ordered a 70 per cent
increase in the price of
petrol in Zimbabwe today, deepening the country's
already acute economic
crisis.
This latest increase, which
comes just five weeks after a 160
per cent overnight hike in fuel costs, was
ordered in response to a plunge
in the value of the Zimbabwe dollar on
currency markets.
Diesel, which used to cost Z$1,060 (£1.44)
a litre, rose to
Z$1,850. Petrol rose from Z$1,170 to
$1,980.
Price controls, which lag behind the chronic
depreciation of the
dollar, have contributed to a severe shortage of
petrol.
Most petrol pumps have been closed for weeks, forcing
motorists
to pay exorbitant prices on the black market and to queue for days
in the
hope of filling their tanks.
Few believe that the
increase in the price of petrol will
alleviate the chronic shortage of fuel
available on the open market. The
state-owned petrol company is effectively
bankrupt.
"We will have some trickling in," said Simba
Kambarame, chairman
of the Petroleum Marketers' Association. "It's not what
we wanted. These
products are politically sensitive."
The
combination of price controls, shortages, huge demand and a
hungry population
have created a black market for fuel where anything goes.
Mike Benson has a licence to sell fuel at his garage in Harare
to funeral
parties, at an official price of Z$470 a litre, a quarter of the
new
commercial price.
He knew that something was wrong last week
when he saw three
young men on the forecourt with a coffin on the back of a
pick-up truck,
proffering a burial order. But when Mr Benson ordered them to
open the
coffin he discovered it contained a man pretending to be
dead.
It was the 10th such incident in three weeks, according
to Mr
Benson, including a crowd of wailing women with a coffin containing
an
enormous doll.
Last week the Air Zimbabwe flight from
Harare to the western
city of Bulawayo was held up for two hours. "Sorry
about the delay, but
we're waiting for our London flight to come in, so we
can siphon from its
tank," a flight attendant explained to waiting
passengers.
However, public transport companies and
government departments
are running normally, with fuel acquired on the black
market.
There are still traffic jams in the capital every
day. Dealers
import fuel from abroad, and sell it on the black
market.
The fuel shortage is compounded by the even more
severe shortage
of banknotes. A new Z$1,000 bank note was issued by
Zimbabwe's central bank
today, the highest denomination bank note available
in the country.
Yet the bank note is still not enough to buy
a standard loaf of
bread. Zimbabwe's annual inflation is now 426 per cent,
with unemployment at
75 per cent.
One Harare trader has
learnt to profit out of fuel, cash and
hard currency shortages
simultaneously. "He buys fuel on the black market
with a cheque and then
sells it for cash, at a loss," said a colleague.
"Then he
takes the cash to Beitbridge [on the border with South
Africa] and buys South
African Rand on the street at Z$350 for R1, which is
cheap because it is on
the border," he said.
"Then he comes back to Harare and sells
the Rand at Z$700 to
one. So he loses 20 per cent on buying the fuel, but
doubles his money when
he sells the Rand."
There is
usually a confused mass of about 1,000 people trying to
get visas outside the
South African High Commission every weekday.
All adult
applicants have to produce bank statements of a
balance of up to Z$102,000,
travellers' cheques worth Z$100,000 and proof of
travel
bookings.
It all amounts to just £30, but it is a vast sum of
money for
any poor Zimbabwean trying to reach South
Africa.
Last weekend the High Commission unexpectedly
announced that it
would drop all requirements except a passport and
photographs.
The next day there was a mob of about 5,000
people trying to
force their way into the gates. Riot police came and beat
them into order.
After two days with its doors shut the High Commission
reinstated all
requirements.
Radio Netherlands
|
Searching for Fuel in
Zimbabwe | |
|
by our Internet desk, 29 September
2003 | |
|
|
Commuter vans often have to queue for weeks for
petrol
| | In today's Zimbabwe, petrol, food,
cash, and even hope are in short supply. Queues have become a feature of daily
life. The sheer drudgery of life is causing many middle class Zimbabweans to
despair.
"Life was easy until about 5 years ago," says Elizabeth, a teacher
in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second biggest city. "We had everything we needed and I
could afford to send my kids to private schools. But now I'm struggling." School
fees have risen repeatedly in recent years, even in the middle of the term. But
Elizabeth's biggest problem is transport. "My youngest daughter attends school
outside of town, so she has to be driven to school and then back home. Now there
is no fuel. I don't know what to do. When I talk about pulling her out, she
tells me: 'But mommy, you say there are no books at your
school.'"
Petrol
|
|
| Most petrol stations in Zimbabwe are
deserted. Drivers don't even bother trying to fill up their cars because they
know the stations have no gasoline. The only petrol available to ordinary people
is on the black market. But the prices are prohibitive, so Zimbabweans who own a
car only use it in emergencies. Black gold is still supplied, albeit very
irregularly, to petrol stations that sell to commuter vans. But drivers often
have to wait for weeks.
|
Three-quarters of Zimbabweans live under the poverty line,
but food aid is only distributed to supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF
party
| | The fuel shortages mean that
hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans have to walk long distances to work or to
school. Jack, a 45-year-old fireman, walks 13 kilometres to work every day. "I
wake up at 5:30 a.m. and arrive at the fire station around 7:45. We finish at 6
p.m., and then I walk back home. I get there around 8. These days, it's not
surprising to see a chain of people walking. Along the way, people often talk
about the hardships of life today. Even total strangers will tell you: 'Ah, life
is so difficult!'"
Money
Inflation is now over 500 percent, and
economists predict it may double by the end of the year. The Zimbabwe dollar has
become virtually worthless. In September, the US dollar was worth 2500 Zim
dollars in Bulawayo. A month later, the rate was 3500, and in the capital
Harare, one US dollar buys 6000 Zim dollars. When Jack was first employed in
1982, he earned 190 Zim dollars. "I could afford to eat four or five times a day
and buy all the luxuries I wanted", he says. "Now I'm earning 102,000 Zim
dollars, but I can only afford one meal a day. In the morning, we only have some
tea without bread. Just tea. We can't even afford to buy sugar. Besides it's not
available any more. Sometimes we go to bed without eating
anything."
|
Inflation is now over 500 percent a year
| | Even people who do have a job have
trouble getting money because of the country's cash crisis. Cash dispensers are
empty, and people have to queue up to four days to withdraw 5000 Zim dollars.
"We have to queue for everything nowadays," says John, a retired school
headmaster. "There are queues everywhere. If you see a queue, you have to ask
what the queue is for. Otherwise you might stand for hours for something you
don't need."
Despair
"At times you don't really know what to
think," says Elizabeth. "This is no longer the Zimbabwe I knew. It's a prison.
If you tell the truth, you live in fear of reprisals from the ZANU-PF
government."
|
Child in a middle class neighbourhood in western
Zimbabwe
| | Some Zimbabweans fear that the
country's economic collapse and political problems could lead to violence. "If
it got worse," says John, "there could be a terrible explosion. People are
angry. It's like a volcano. It's simmering now, but it could erupt."
A
quarter of Zimbabwe's 11 million people are believed to have fled their country
in search of a better future. Many others, like Elizabeth, would like to join
the exodus. "Honestly I'm fed up. If I had a way, I would fly out of this
country. Just get my children under my wings and go anywhere. I don't mind
where, as long as I don't have to see the economical and political problems
facing this
country." | |
Mail and Guardian
Zimbabwe crisis not about land, it's about
governance
Harare
01 October 2003
08:15
Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC),
on Tuesday said the country should remain suspended from the
Commonwealth.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth in March last
year over its
poor human rights record and President Robert Mugabe's
re-election in a vote
that was widely condemned as rigged.
When the
initial 12-month suspension ended in March this year, the
Commonwealth
announced the southern African country's suspension would be
extended until
December when the 54 Commonwealth countries hold their annual
meeting in
Nigeria.
"Because there has not been any improvement on any of the
benchmarks set by
the Commonwealth, we don't see any reason why Zimbabwe's
suspension should
be lifted," said opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
He said the government had violated the Harare declaration on
good
governance.
He urged that the Commonwealth "position must be
enforced until there is
meaningful change in the behaviour of the
regime".
"The crisis in Zimbabwe is not about land, not about Britain, it
is about
governance," he told a news conference.
South Africa's
President Thabo Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart, Olusegun
Obasanjo, sit on
a troika chaired by Australian Prime Minister John Howard
tasked with
overseeing the Commonwealth's response to alleged human rights
violations in
Zimbabwe.
Mbeki has been pushing for the lifting of Zimbabwe's suspension
from the
grouping of mainly former British colonies.
The MDC leader
welcomed overtures by Mugabe calling on the opposition to
consider settling
political differences with his government internally "as
sons of the soil"
without seeking foreign help.
"The public statement by President Mugabe
that he would like to talk to the
MDC, is welcome, but is only welcome if
that speech can only be translated
into action," he said.
"Let's see
The Daily News ban lifted ... and all the restrictions that are
being imposed
lifted, so that we can demonstrate that there is seriousness,"
he
said.
The forced closure of The Daily News earlier this month was
politically
motivated, he said.
"We view the closure of The Daily News
as an attack, as an attack on the
MDC. The paper has just become a victim of
the whole strategy to emasculate
the independent communication
channels.
He said his party did not own the Daily News, neither was the
paper a
mouthpiece of the opposition, "but we believe in the spirit of
freedom of
association".
"Any closure of any newspaper is an affront
to democracy," he said. -
Sapa-AFP
News24
Zim gets $1000 bills
01/10/2003 19:29 - (SA)
Harare
- Cash-strapped Zimbabwe on Wednesday launched a new high
denomination 1
000-dollar (US$1.25) note in a fresh bid to ease a critical
cash shortage
that has rocked the country since April.
The largest denomination note
available so far had been one of Z$500(about
62 US cents) introduced in
August 2001.
Before that Zimbabwe's highest denomination note had been a
Z$100 (about 12
US cents) note, which was launched in 1995, when it was then
worth US$1.81.
Economists have blamed the shortage of cash on
hyperinflation which has
increased the demand for cash.
Zimbabwe's
rate of inflation which stood at 64.4% in June 2001, shot to an
astronomical
426.6% in July this year.
The introduction of a Z$1 000 note was preceded
by myriad of other measures
to stem cash shortages.
On Friday
authorities released new-look Z$500 notes, three days after bearer
cheques
had been launched.
At the end of August, local travellers cheques were
released to banks for
issuing to the public.
Economists also
attributed the shortage of cash on a growing foreign
exchange parallel market
and lack of confidence in the system that have led
to higher demand for cash
and hoarding.
A new law banning the holding of more than five million
Zimbabwean dollars
(US$6 250) in local bank notes by institutions and
individuals came into
effect last month.
The acute shortage of cash,
the first of its kind in the history of the
country, has at one time forced
banks to limit maximum withdrawals to
amounts which are so little they
suffice to buy just five loaves of bread,
while it created a black market for
local currency. - Sapa-AFP
News24
Mbeki accepts Mugabe decision
01/10/2003 15:54 -
(SA)
Pretoria - President Thabo Mbeki accepts Nigeria's decision not
to invite
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to this year's Commonwealth
summit, the
presidency said on Wednesday.
Spokesperson Bheki Khumalo
said Mbeki was among those consulted by Nigeria's
President Olusegun Obasanjo
before he opted to exclude Mugabe.
Khumalo would not reveal whether or
not Mbeki supported the move, but said:
"The president accepts Mr Obasanjo's
decision."
Reports that Mbeki had insisted on Mugabe's presence at the
summit in Abuja
were unfounded, Khumalo said.
"It is up to Nigeria to
decide whether or not to invite Mr Mugabe. We have
all along been saying that
this was their prerogative."
Obasanjo reportedly confirmed this week
Mugabe would be excluded.
He was quoted as saying: "I believe there
should be a big change in Zimbabwe
for an invitation to be sent."
This
followed an announcement last month by Australia's prime minister,
John
Howard, and Commonwealth secretary general Don McKinnon that Mugabe
would
not be invited.
Howard is current chairman of the organisation
that consists mostly of
former British colonies.
A Commonwealth troika
- comprising Howard, Obasanjo and Mbeki - suspended
Zimbabwe last year from
the 54-nation body's councils for 12 months.
This was prompted by a
damning Commonwealth report on the controversial
Zimbabwean presidential
elections that returned Mugabe to power.
When the initial 12-month period
ended in March this year, the organisation
announced Zimbabwe's suspension
would remain in place until December.
Mbeki and Obasanjo opposed the
move, arguing that the political, economic
and social climate in Zimbabwe was
improving.
Last month, Khumalo said South Africa did not regard the
extension of
further sanctions against Zimbabwe as valid.
"Our view is
that the Commonwealth imposed the maximum penalty on Zimbabwe
by suspending
it for one year in March last year," he said.
"There is no reason for the
continued exclusion of Zimbabwe from the
Commonwealth."
On Wednesday,
Khumalo said Mugabe's absence from the December summit would
not affect
Mbeki's plans to attend.
"There is no question of the president
boycotting the event. That notion is
a dead duck. He will be there with the
other Commonwealth leaders to engage
the issues," Khumalo said.
News24
Zim media NGO seeks ANC help
01/10/2003 13:28 -
(SA)
Cape Town - A non-governmental organisation threatened with
closure under
Zimbabwe's media laws says it is sending delegations to six
southern African
countries to plead for a tougher stand against its
government.
A three-person delegation from the Zimbabwean chapter of the
Media Institute
of Southern Africa (Misa) which arrived in South Africa this
week, said it
would seek meetings here with key figures in the African
National Congress.
The NGO is threatened by Zimbabwe's Access to
Information and Protection of
Privacy Act, used earlier this month to shut
down the country's only
independent daily newspaper.
The chair of Misa
Zimbabwe, Reyhana Masters-Smith, told a media conference
in Cape Town on
Wednesday that the Zimbabwean government was using both
legal and extra-legal
means, including harassment and detentions, to curb
the media.
It's
about silencing
"It's about silencing alternative opinion and expression.
It goes far beyond
regulating the media," she said.
She said if Misa
was closed, any NGO in the country would be under threat,
whether it was
working in the area of HIV/Aids, gender violence or food
security.
She
said Misa delegations were visiting six countries in the region in a bid
to
get their leaders to take more decisive action on Zimbabwe, and to use
the
instruments of the African Union to resolve issues in that
country.
Regional pressure
"We are hoping that if we tackle it on
a regional level it will create a bit
more pressure," she
said.
Masters-Smith said the delegation to South Africa, made up of
herself,
lawyer Tawanda Hondora and Bornwell Chakaodza, editor of the Harare
Sunday
newspaper the Standard, would seek meetings with the chairman
of
Parliament's foreign affairs portfolio committee, ANC member Pallo
Jordan.
It also hoped to meet ANC secretary general Kgalema
Motlanthe.
Quiet diplomacy has failed
"We are here to tell it like
it is," said Chakaodza. "The quiet diplomacy by
Mbeki and other leaders
within the region has completely failed."
He said Misa was trying to
persuade Southern African Development Community
leaders, and South Africa's
President Thabo Mbeki in particular, to engage
Mugabe and his government in a
"stronger, more robust way".
Hondora said the delegations would be
pressing for diplomatic letters of
protest from individual countries either
directly to the Zimbabwean
government or to Zimbabwean embassies.
Last
week representatives of Misa South Africa joined delegations of the
South
African National Editors' Forum and the African Editors Forum in a
meeting
with Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad to express their concern
over media
freedom in Zimbabwe.
Misa Zimbabwe was ordered in June to seek
registration with the state's
Media and Information Commission on the grounds
that it was "involved in
public information and communication with mass
audiences through its
publications".
It has since filed a court
challenge to the legality of the commission.
a.. Misa, which has
chapters in ten SADC countries, says it focuses
primarily on the need to
promote free, independent and pluralistic media.
Its secretariat is in
Windhoek.
cricmania
Cricket-Lord's honour for Flower and Olonga
10-01-2003 , 11:02© 2003 AFP
LONDON (AFP) - Andy Flower and
Henry Olonga have been made honorary
life members of Marylebone Cricket Club
(MCC) in recognition of their World
Cup protest against Zimbabwe President
Robert Mugabe.
The Zimbabwe duo wore black armbands during their
country's opening
World Cup match in February, against Namibia in Harare, and
issued a
statement mourning the 'death of democracy' in Zimbabwe under
Mugabe.
It was a move that effectively signalled the beginning of
the end of
both players' international careers.
After the World
Cup the pair arrived in England with
batsman/wicket-keeper Flower playing
county cricket for Essex and pace
bowler Olonga turning out for celebrity
club side Lashings.
In a statement, new MCC president Charles Fry
said: "Both the
Membership committee and the main MCC committee were
unanimous in wanting to
honour Andy Flower and Henry Olonga.
"They sacrificed their international careers, earlier this year, to
take a
brave and principled stand against an appalling regime."
Honorary
life membership of MCC is normally granted only to cricketers
whose
first-class careers have ended.
However, the club's statement added
that "MCC hopes that changes
within Zimbabwe may enable both players to
resume their international
careers - ideally in the near
future".
Once responsible for running English cricket, MCC - which
owns
London's Lord's Cricket Ground - is still in charge of drafting the laws
of
the game which apply worldwide.
MCC membership remains highly
sought after with an average 20-year
waiting list for 'ordinary'
applicants
Daily News Closure Has Crippled Zimbabwe's Democracy - MISA
The
Post (Lusaka)
October 1, 2003
Posted to the web October 1,
2003
Bivan Saluseki
Lusaka
THE closure of the Daily News has
crippled democracy in Zimbabwe, Media
Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
Zimbabwe national governing council
member Thomas Deve has
said.
Briefing journalists in Lusaka over the state of media in his
country and
the closure of the nation's only independent daily, Deve said it
was only
with the development of the Daily News that Zimbabwe had a
competitive
media.
Deve, who is the newspaper's former senior editor,
said Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe's credibility had depleted and he has
been put in the world of
despots because of the current state of the
media.
"In the past two weeks, developments have taken place at a legal
level and
one newspaper has been denied a licence," he said.
Deve said
the Zimbabwean media, together with the country's Ministry of
Information,
had from 1992 been discussing the punitive legislation and the
discourse of
the media commission that dealt with ethics.
He said two pieces of
legislation passed by government, the Broadcasting Act
and the Access to
Information and Protection Act, were infringing on
journalists'
rights.
Deve said the media Acts were draconian and had been used
selectively to
target journalists from the independent media.
He said
Zimbabwe had started targeting MISA Zimbabwe.
"We have been labelled as
an outlaw organisation. We are currently being
investigated for operating
illegally," he said.
Deve criticised the confiscation of equipment at the
Daily News when the
paper was pursuing a court process.
"Its like you
have been given a death sentence and then they say go, hang
yourself first
and then come and challenge the death sentence," he said.
Deve said MISA
would continue to challenge the draconian media Acts in the
courts and the
ministry of information before getting to the office of
the
President.
Deve said President Mugabe would be responsible when
people questioned
certain Bills he signed.
He said MISA wanted the
media legislation appealed.
Deve said the group that was in the country
wanted to explain issues to
counterparts in Zambia about the state of the
media in Zimbabwe.
"We know you have your battles but comparatively, the
Zambian situation is
better than the Zimbabwean situation," said
Deve.
And Jacob Mafume, who is MISA Zimbabwe legal consultant, said the
pieces of
media legislation do not help the media in the
country.
Mafume said the minister who largely controls the media wholly
appointed the
media commission in Zimbabwe.
He said journalists were
required to get practicing licences to report and
even to move from one
medium to another.
"Concerning the Daily News, they did not deal with the
merits of the case,"
he said.
Mafume said the media Acts were a
legislative landmine for journalists who
would want to work in
Zimbabwe.
Another member, Mirriam Madziwa, said most journalists arrested
under the
media laws in Zimbabwe were those from independent
media.
Madziwa said it was difficult to get licences in Zimbabwe because
the
authorities needed too much information from the journalists.
"The
overall impact is that you may have another opportunity to work
elsewhere but
you are not sure whether you would be incensed. It has really
made life
difficult," said Madziwa.
MISA Zambia chairman Kellys Kaunda said what
had befallen journalists might
be Zambian journalists' experience some day
hence the need to hear from
them.
But Zimbabwean High Commissioner to
Zambia Cain Mathema dismissed MISA as
just a front for the US' Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA).
He said MISA was a foreign funded organisation
and a front for the CIA.
"They shout a lot because they know that they
are funded by foreign
intelligence organisations," High Commissioner Mathema
said. "I don't know
what better law they talk about."
High
Commissioner Mathema said all people were being subjected to the same
laws
that were made by Parliament and not Mugabe.
"Let them tell us which law
is better. Changing of laws in Zimbabwe is the
right of any Zimbabweans," he
said.
High Commissioner Mathema said changing of laws involved lobbying
and it was
not anything that MISA said which should be law.
He said he
had never seen any organisation in Britain lobby for support from
President
Mwanawasa or DRC's Joseph Kabila if there was something wrong they
did not
like with Prime Minister Blair.
"Now MISA has too much money to lobby
other heads of state. That law was not
created by Robert Mugabe. The law was
passed by Parliament," he said.
But when reminded that the ruling ZANU PF
enjoyed the advantage of numbers
hence the passing of the media bills, High
Commissioner Mathema said that
was what democracy was all about.
He
said people had voted for ZANU PF during elections.
Police Seize Contraband Sugar
Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique
(Maputo)
October 1, 2003
Posted to the web October 1,
2003
Maputo
Mozambican police in the central province of Manica
have seized about four
tonnes of contraband sugar, smuggled into the country
from Zimbabwe, reports
Wednesday's issue of the Beira daily "Diario de
Mocambique".
According to Pedro Jemusse, head of public relation in the
Manica provincial
police command, the sugar was seized in areas of
Sussundenga and Mossurize
districts, near the border with Zimbabwe. It had
been stored in huts,
preparatory to distribution and sale.
The
smuggling of sugar from Zimbabwe, made artificially cheap by the
Zimbabwean
government's exchange rate policy, is a major threat to
Mozambique's own
sugar producers. Vast sums have been spent on
rehabilitating the Mozambican
sugar industry, particularly the mill at
Marromeu on the south bank of the
Zambezi, which had been thoroughly
sabotaged by the apartheid- backed Renamo
rebels in 1986. This investment
could all be wasted if the Mozambican
producers are unable to sell on the
domestic market because of unfair
competition from contraband.
Jemusse claimed that the smuggling of sugar,
cigarettes and alcoholic drinks
from Zimbabwe has been on the decline in
recent months. He attributed this
to joint Mozambican/Zimbabwean police
patrols along the border.
Further south, police sources say smuggling is
getting worse along the
border with Swaziland. Anibal Bachir, police
commander in Namaacha district,
said the smugglers are breaking through the
border fence, and carrying
quantities of sugar, meat, maize flour, potatoes
and drinks, amongst other
produce, for sale on the informal markets in
Maputo.
Last week alone the Namaacha police caught 50 smugglers who had
violated the
border fence.
Mathema Accuses British Investors of Plotting to Destroy Zimbabwe's
Economy
The Post (Lusaka)
October 1, 2003
Posted to the
web October 1, 2003
Mwila Nkonge
Lusaka
ZIMBABWEAN High
Commissioner to Zambia Cain Mathema yesterday accused
British foreign
investors of scheming to destroy his country's economy.
Addressing
trainee journalists at The Post, High Commissioner Mathema
accused British
foreign investors of inciting Zimbabweans to rise against
the
government.
" Zimbabweans are not to blame for the current economic
crisis in the
country. Our economic problems are not due to mismanagement by
the
government," High Commissioner Mathema said. "The problems have
arisen
because the people who control the economy do not like our
government's land
redistribution programme."
However, High
Commissioner Mathema said the problem was temporary.
"We are working very
hard to bring the economy back to its feet," he said.
Dismissing claims
that Zimbabwe's land redistribution would disrupt
agriculture, the country's
economic backbone, High Commissioner Mathema said
the white farmers stopped
producing maize in the mid 1980s.
"Since the mid 1980s, when the white
farmers started producing only enough
maize for their cattle, 80 per cent of
maize production has been from black
farmers and with the redistribution of
land, even more people will be able
to grow their own food," High
Commissioner Mathema said. "Therefore, the
issue of starvation is just a lie
that [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair,
[US President George] Bush and
their media have been peddling that because
of land redistribution, people
will starve," he said.
High Commissioner Mathema explained that currently
Southern Africa, as a
region, was facing a food crisis and wondered why
Zimbabwe was singled out.
He said his government's land reform was a
stepping stone to economic
freedom and warned that any forces bent on
frustrating that mission would
fail.
High Commissioner Mathema said
indigenous investment was a pre-requisite to
sustainable development which no
country could afford to ignore.
"Any country that allows foreigners to
control its economy will remain a
slave country; its people will always be
employees of somebody else and not
employers," High Commissioner Mathema
said. "This is why we have embarked on
this programme of empowering our
people with land, which is a key factor in
our economic life."
The Herald
Authority probes safari operators for abusing hunting
licences
From Bulawayo Bureau
THE National Parks and Wildlife
Management Autho-rity is investigating
safari operators in Matabeleland for
abusing hunting licences, a development
which has prejudiced the country
millions of dollars, it has been learnt.
The operators are reportedly
allowing foreign hunters to kill animals that
were not on the pre-hunting
forms.
The authority has since transferred five officers (names supplied)
from
their stations for allegedly teaming up with safari operators and
foreign
hunters in abusing the facility.
Of the five transferred, two
are from Hwange National Park, the other two
from Nicholson while the fifth
is based in Beitbridge.
The five officers allegedly helped foreign
hunters to shoot and export
trophies without following proper clearing
procedures from the Zimba-bwe
Revenue Authority.
The National Parks
and Wildlife Management Autho-rity director general, Dr
Morris Mtsambiwa,
confirmed the latest developments.
"When the issue was brought up, we
quickly asked for the transfer of the
officials and launched our own
investigations. We have removed them from
their stations to allow for proper
investigations," he said.
Dr Mtsambiwa said the issue of the illegal
hunting activities aided by some
of his officers was raised in Parliament,
hence his organisation’s quick
reaction to transfer the officials. Dr
Mtsambiwa, however, said his
organisation was still facing serious problems
pertaining to the abuse of
hunting operations on private land where there
were ownership wrangles of
the properties.
"As far as I am concerned,
the problems are stemming from the privately
owned land where we have serious
ownership wrangles. As a result the animals
are suffering, while some hunters
are conniving with foreign hunters to kill
the animals," he said.
He
said it was the duty of his organisation to make sure that there was
sanity
in the hunting industry.
"But we have been caught up in these land
wrangles where we should come in
and control and bring in sanity. The Parks
estates and Campfire hunting
concessions are quite safe as we are on top of
the situation," he said.
The Government, through the National Parks and
Wildlife Management
Autho-rity, regulates sport hunting by setting local
quotas based on annual
wildlife surveys.
A professional hunter
licensed by the Government after completing a rigorous
apprenticeship and
passing State examinations must accompany all foreign
hunters. A National
Parks game scout or official accompanies all hunters to
ensure that quotas
are observed.
The Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce has also compiled a
list of local and
South African hunters engaged in illegal hunting
activities.
The list implicates some National Parks Authority officials
in Matabeleland
North of organising hunting permits and licences to foreign
and
unprofessional hunters.
"One such area that has been affected is
the Gwayi Valley Conservancy which
borders Hwange National Park. This area
has fallen prey to unscrupulous
hunting and safari operators from
neighbouring South Africa and Botswana,"
said the Trust’s director Mr Johnny
Rodrigues.
The authority is facing a poaching crisis in the Parks Estates
and on
private farmland where foreign hunters are decimating wildlife and
illegally
exporting trophies and in some cases wild animals to South
Africa.
"We have serious problems in Gwayi conservancy at the moment
where a lot of
underhand deals are going on, but our net is closing in on the
culprits,"
said Dr Mtsambiwa.
Early this year the Economic
intelligence Unit of the National Economic
Con-sultative Forum was set up to
investigate operations of Safari operators
and professional
hunters.
Six companies were handed over to Zimra for allegedly
externalising foreign
currency as well as failing to declare the value of
their trophies exported
outside the country.
The Herald
Police recover cattle valued at over $35m
Herald
Reporter
A joint operation between the Zimbabwe Republic Police and their
Zambian
counterparts, code-named Operation Clean Borders 2, has resulted in
the
recovery of 45 herd of cattle valued at over $35 million.
All the
cattle were stolen from Zimbabwe and were recovered at different
places in
Zambia barely a week after the operation was launched.
The operation was
launched last Friday.
Police spokesman superintendent Oliver Mandipaka
said Matabeleland North
province recorded 437 cases of stock theft this year
alone.
The province borders with Zambia and chances that the cattle were
stolen
from there are very high.
He said 15 people have been arrested
for various offences ranging from drug
peddling, cattle rustling and illegal
cross-border activities.
Sup Mandipaka said 15 kgs of mbanje were also
recovered.
The operation, he said, was launched as a result of complaints
by citizens
of both countries over the increase in thefts and other illegal
activities.
"The operation is aimed at fighting criminal syndicates
operating across the
two countries’ borders. We are targeting crimes like
stock theft, illegal
possession of firearms, robberies, dagga cultivation and
illegal border
crossings," said Sup Mandipaka.
A total of 151 officers
drawn from the two countries are involved in the
operation.
On
September 28, four Zambians were arrested after being found in possession
of
35 herd of cattle, three radios, one solar panel, two garden chairs and 5
kgs
of mbanje.
Another group was arrested at London Farm in Zambia after it
was found with
10 herd of stolen cattle and 11 donkeys.
Sup Mandipaka
said three Zimba-bweans were arrested for illegally entering
Zambia through
Bimbi Fishing Camp.
The three suspects Joyce Zulu, Job Mangoshi and Liban
Ngwenya are from
Hwange.
On the same day, a Zambian Pickson Siyangali
was arrested for contravening
the Dangerous Drugs Act. He was found with 5
kgs of mbanje.
Siyangali was also arrested for contravening the Parks and
Wildlife Act for
being in possession of two bushbuck skins.
Another
two Zambians were arrested on the same day at a different venue
for
possessing 5 kgs of mbanje.
Sup Mandipaka said another five
Zambians were arrested in Siyanzongwe and
Kalomo districts for illegal
possession of firearms suspected to have been
used in a spate of violent
activities within the border areas.
Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri
and his Zambian counterpart Inspector
General Zunga Siakhalima launched the
operation at Jambezi Police Station in
Victoria Falls.
The Herald
President briefs Annan on progress in land
reform
Herald Reporter
PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday met United Nations
secretary-general Mr Kofi
Annan at the world body’s headquarters in New York,
according to ZBC’s
Newsnet.
President Mugabe briefed Mr Annan on the
progress of the land reform
programme and efforts being made by the
Government to combat the HIV/Aids
pandemic.
Mr Annan congratulated
Zimbabwe for reducing the rate of HIV/Aids infection
in the 15-49 age
groups.
The Government has declared HIV/Aids a national emergency and
awareness
campaigns have led to the reduction in the infection rate in the
sexually
active 15 to 49 age group from 35 percent to 24 percent.
Cde
Mugabe also met groups of African Americans that have solidly stood
behind
Zimbabwe in its fight against British-led international isolation.
The
groups that called on the President included the December 12
Movement.
The groups expressed solidarity with Zimbabwe and commended Cde
Mugabe’s
revolutionary stance over the land issue.
They also extended
their condolences to President Mugabe over the death of
Vice President
Muzenda who died last month and was declared a national hero.
President
Mugabe was in New York to attend the 58th session of the UN
General Assembly,
which he addressed last Friday.
In his address, which was well-received
by diplomats and representatives of
African, Asian, Latin American and some
European countries, Cde Mugabe said
Zimbabwe did not criticise Britain and
the United States for the sake of it
but its criticism was based on
fundamental principles.
President Mugabe attacked the emergence of
unipolarism in world affairs in
which powerful nations such as Britain and
the US sought to dominate the
world and dictate to other countries how they
should govern themselves.
He lamented the invasion of Iraq by the US and
Britain without the mandate
of the UN.
"Let it not be said that
Zimbabwe enjoys criticising the US and Britain for
the sake of criticism, our
criticisms are founded on sound, fundamental
principles.
"Let it not
be forgotten that Zimbabwe was in the chair when the Security
Council
authorised the first Gulf War. We stood firmly by the US, Britain
and many
other nations that removed Iraq from Kuwait," said
President
Mugabe.
He said this was done on the basis that expansionism
and occupation of a
sovereign country and people could not be right, just and
warranted under
any circumstances.
The President was expected to leave
New York for the Egyptian capital Cairo
yesterday evening on his way back
home.
He is being accompanied by the First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe, the
Minister of
Foreign Affairs Cde Stan Mudenge, the Minister of Health and
Child Welfare
Dr David Parirenyatwa and senior Government officials.
IFJ Condemns Mugabe's 'Flagrant Disregard' for Press Freedom After
Manhunt
Begins for Independent Journalists
International
Freedom of Expression Exchange Clearing House (Toronto)
PRESS
RELEASE
September 30, 2003
Posted to the web October 1,
2003
Toronto
The International Federation of Journalists today
condemned the draconian
drive by the Zimbabwean authorities to target and
intimidate journalists
from the Daily News.
"Mugabe's flagrant
disregard for democratic rights and freedom of the press
cannot continue
without some clear response from the international
community," said Aidan
White, General Secretary of the IFJ, after 45
journalists were targeted by
police in a new campaign against the paper.
On September 12, the Daily
News, the country's only independent daily was
closed following a Supreme
Court ruling and a subsequent police raid.
The paper has not been able to
resume publication for over two weeks now. On
September 25, police forces in
Zimbabwe called 45 of the paper's journalists
to Harare police station, based
on a list allegedly provided by the
state-run Media Information Commission
(MIC). Eleven journalists were
charged and released and a police manhunt has
been launched to trace the
remaining journalists who have fled the
capital.
"This militant manhunt only serves to highlight a desperate
situation for
press freedom in which the voice of independent journalism is
being
stifled," said White. "The brutal tactics of the regime must bring
about a
tough and uncompromising international response", he said.
The
IFJ has strongly opposed the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy
Act (AIPPA), which imposes a stringent registration and licensing
process for
all newspapers and journalists in the country. The Daily News
challenged the
law as unconstitutional, but a High Court ruling warned the
paper could not
operate outside the law. However, before the paper's owners
could register
police closed it down.
A further High Court decision had authorised the
temporary use of the
newspaper's premises by staff, although still preventing
the publication of
articles. However, police entered by force and closed down
the Newspaper
premises, seizing materials including 127 computers. On
September 19, the
Media and Information Commission rejected the Newspaper's
application for
registration.
Journalists can go to their office and
are still being paid but they are not
allowed to work. The Daily News
management is due to hold a board meeting
later this week. The company has
challenged the MIC decision in the
Administrative Court and is seeking a
ruling ordering the police to return
seized materials.
The IFJ is
meanwhile seeking fresh initiatives from the member states of the
Africa
Union, the European Union and the United Nations to challenge the
attacks on
Zimbabwean journalists. "The democratic world should be heard
loud and clear
in its condemnation of the intimidation and bullying of the
regime of Robert
Mugabe," said White. "It is an affront to democracy both
within Africa and
around the world."