A Fourth Chimurenga, for gold

Photo: David Morton/IRIN

Sometimes mining pays better than farming

Kadoma, 1 October 2010 (IRIN) - A new wave of farm invasions in Zimbabwe has been dubbed the Fourth Chimurenga (liberation struggle) - the fast track-land reform programme launched by President Robert Mugabe in 2000 was the third - but this time they are not looking to redistribute land, they are looking for gold.

Thousands of unemployed Zimbabweans trying to survive in an economic meltdown that has lasted almost a decade have taken to unlicensed prospecting for gold and other minerals along the country's rivers.

As more and more illegal miners crowd the river banks, people have begun spreading onto farms near the rivers; sometimes they find consenting land owners, who often collude in the illicit enterprise.

Undocumented miners cannot dig openly so they sneak onto the farms at night and use wheelbarrows and sacks to cart away the rocks - which they hope will be gold-bearing - to millers who crush the ore and extract the gold.

"This is a new wave of land invasions and we have nicknamed it the Fourth Chimurenga," said Derick Gatsi, 24, an illegal miner or "makorokoza" who made the 300km journey from rural Wedza in Mashonaland East Province, in northeastern Zimbabwe, about a year ago.

"There are now too many makorokoza on the rivers and alluvial gold is becoming scarce; on the other hand, the farms that lie close to the rivers are rich in gold and that is why we have turned to them."

He said some of his colleagues had relocated to the Shamva district in neighbouring Mashonaland Central Province, about 260km away, where "the farms are also rich in gold."

Miners trespassing on farms were sometimes caught up in violent running battles with the farm owners and their workers, or were arrested when the police swooped on them, but Gatsi said they were never prosecuted because the police readily accepted bribes.

Ordinary Zimbabweans have to contend with a variety of shortages - foreign exchange, food, clean water, fuel, energy - because the industrial base has contracted by more than a third and unemployment is at nearly 80 percent.

Zimbabwe's mineral wealth has been in the spotlight, accompanied by lively speculation that it could take care of the country's enormous debt, but the International Monetary Fund has said this was unlikely - external debt is projected to reach 151 percent of gross domestic product by 2015.

I make more money in a month [around US$700 a week from mining] than a farmer who gets a good harvest from cotton or maize after toiling for a whole year

Farm owners collaborate

Elijah Mhuri*, 53, a veteran of Zimbabwe's liberation war, lives in Mashonaland West Province, about 180km southwest of Harare, the capital, where for years he has employed illegal miners to dig for gold on the 32- hectares plot near the Musengezi River allocated to him during the fast-track land reform programme.

The mounting costs of agricultural inputs and a breakdown in extension services mean that Mhuri and other resettled farmers have struggled to earn a living from their new farms. "I make more money in a month [around US$700 a week from mining] than a farmer who gets a good harvest from cotton or maize after toiling for a whole year," he said.

"As a war veteran, I support the land reform programme, but I don't have any problem with resettled farmers switching to gold panning for a living because that is one benefit we have from the land that we took from the whites."

The land redistribution programme forced more than 4,000 white commercial farmers to make way for thousands of land-hungry blacks, but dislocated agricultural production and turned Zimbabwe into a food insecure country that depends on imports.

The government has admitted that most beneficiaries of the land reform programme have underutilized the land allocated to them. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, has repeatedly called for an independent land audit to determine how many farms are gainfully used.

There have been efforts to subsidize inputs and more land has been planted; around 1.68 million people are expected to be in need of food aid in the pre-harvest season for 2010/11, compared to about 3.5 million people in 2009/10.

Impact on agriculture

Some farmers are concerned about the impact of illegal mining on the environment and food security - river banks are becoming severely eroded, affecting water flow, and mining on fertile land means less food is being produced.

Rodrick Masango, 60, a war veteran who was allocated a 40-hectares plot, said he was being harassed by illegal miners, who had brought down his fence, stolen livestock and tractor parts, and had ruined land he prepared for planting.

"I have made several reports to the police to flush out these illegal gold panners, but even though some raids have been made, the invaders keep coming back to dig up my farm. I don't have enough money to employ full-time security personnel," Masango told IRIN.

Innocent Makwiramiti, a Harare-based economist and former head of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), said poverty was driving illegal miners to exploit farmland.

"These miners are desperately looking for opportunities to make a living; illegal alluvial gold panning is no longer lucrative because of the intense competition among the miners and the destruction of the rivers," Makwiramiti told IRIN.

He said the move to dig for gold on farms threatened the land reform programme. "The government has always said the land reform programme was meant to boost food production by subsistence [farmers], and the new crop of commercial farmers, but if trends like the illegal invasions of farms by gold miners continue, I don't see how that will happen." 

Last week the Zimbabwean authorities reportedly arrested five Russian nationals for illegal mining.

* Not his real name

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

Electoral Amendment Bill ready for gazetting

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
1 October 2010

The Electoral Amendment Bill is now out and will be gazetted anytime soon.

The Attorney-General's office has been working on a draft of the Electoral
Amendment Bill agreed to by the coalition partners in 2009 for tabling
before parliament. The Bill contains sweeping electoral reforms that would
make it mandatory for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to announce
all election results within five days.

After the first round of the March 2008 presidential elections, the
discredited old ZEC, led by Justice George Chiweshe, took more than five
weeks to announce the results.

The anticipated Bill also proposes to remove police personnel from using the
postal ballot, or being present at polling stations on election day. The
partisan police force has always faced accusations of abusing their power
when they 'helped' disabled or illiterate voters to cast their ballots in
all elections held since 2000

A highly placed source in government told SW Radio Africa on Friday that the
Electoral Bill and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Bill will likely
generate heated debate in parliament.

The new amendments will also restrict postal voters to government officials
serving abroad and polling officers who will be on duty on election day.
People in this category will cast their votes a week before polling day and
will be supervised by presiding officers from ZEC.

In the past almost all Zimbabwe Defence Forces members cast their votes a
full month before election day. They were able to vote in their respective
military camps, without the supervision of ZEC officials. In most cases
their superior officers were their presiding officers, which forced the ZDF
members to almost exclusively vote ZANU PF out of fear.

In the 2008 run-off, observers found evidence of en masse balloting in which
troops were ordered to tick Mugabe's name on their ballot papers.
There are also proposals in the new law that will compel voters to register
and vote closest to where they live. At the moment there is a generic
ward-based voters' roll system for the entire ward or district which was
abused in the past.

 

Mwonzora Gives Snapshot Of New Zim Constitution

http://news.radiovop.com/

01/10/2010 11:02:00

Harare, October, 01, 2010 - A member of a Commitee of Parliament (COPAC)
leading the constitution making process on Thursday gave a glimpse of what
Zimbabweans should expect in the new draft constitution.

Douglas Mwonzora who represents the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
party led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai gave a snapshot of the views
of the people at a civic society meeting held in Harare.

Mwonzora told the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CIZC) policy conference what
Zimbabweans had expressed in outreach meetings that had so far been done in
provinces such as Manicaland, Mashonaland Central and Matabeleland.

Mwonzora said people in Manicaland want two of the darkest periods in the
country's history to be commemorated. He said they want Operation
Murambatsvina and Gukurahundi to be commemorated as part of the country's
national calendar.

In Mashonaland Central, Mwonzora said people had expressed their wish for a
unitary state, youths of between 18 and  35 years, a peaceful country while
those in Mashonaland East were said to be interested in elected provincial
governors and that land be given to people who need it. They also wanted a
parliamentary seat to be reserved for disabled people and an executive
president who will serve for only two terms.

In Matebeleland he said people expressed their wish to have war veterans who
are apolitical and the devolution of powers.

Zimbabweans expect a new democratic constitution that will replace the
outdated Lancaster House Constitution which was penned in 1979 in London.
President Robert Mugabe is accused of perpetually using the patched-up
constitution to maintain his iron-grip rule on Zimbabwe and stifle his
opponents.

However the country's three main political parties agreed under the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) Article 6 that a new constitution for the country
should be written. The last attempt to write a new constitution failed after
the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) campaigned for a No Vote. The
group has vowed to repeat the same campaign arguing that it is not people
driven.
 

Four Southern African Presidents to Lobby US, Europe to Lift Zimbabwe Sanctions

http://www.voanews.com/

Presidents Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Armando Guebuza of Mozambique,
Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia and Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi, now African
Union chairman, are expected to visit Western capitals soon

Blessing Zulu | Washington 30 September 2010

The Southern African Development Community has asked four regional leaders
to urge the United States and Europe to lift sanctions on President Robert
Mugabe and about 200 top officials of his ZANU-PF party.

Presidents Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Armando Guebuza of Mozambique,
Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia and Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi, currently
chairman of the African Union, are expected to travel to Western capitals in
the near future to bolster the campaign for the removal of the targeted
sanctions.

In Brussels this week, Mr. Zuma urged European leaders to lift the
sanctions. Members of the European Parliament urged him to take the lead in
helping to resolve some of Africa's most serious conflicts.

"On Zimbabwe, we gave leadership before anybody else did and the current
power-sharing deal was facilitated by South Africa", Mr Zuma told Euro-MPs,
calling on the international community to lift sanctions.

"This  would give a chance to the efforts we are making there and empower
the  Southern African Development Community to do more on Zimbabwe," the
South African leader argued.

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly  last week, Malawi's wa
Mutharika told world leaders: "The African Union feels the ideological
justification (for the sanctions), if ever there was any, has outlived its
time.

The EU has incrementally softened its stance on sanctions, earlier this year
removing some state-controlled firms from the list and inviting individuals
who believed they were erroneously named to submit supporting documentation.

Adopting what analysts described as a carrot-and-stick approach, the
European Union said in acknowledgment of the progress made by the unity
government that it has allocated an additional 138 million euros to Harare.

EU Deputy Director General for Development Christian Leffler said a
bilateral strategy will be developed in consultation with civic groups and
the government on how to use those new funds.

Energy Minister Elton Mangoma, head of a Cabinet task force on sanctions,
told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that SADC leaders must act quickly
to seek removal of the sanctions in order to be taken seriously.

But political analyst Charles Mangongongera said the EU approach is unlikely
to work with Harare as the composition of the inclusive government makes it
difficult to provide assistance only to reform-minded ministries.

World Bank Expert Says Zimbabwe Laws Investor Unfriendly

http://www.voanews.com/

According to press reports, David Bridgman said the country, ranked 159 out
of 183 nations in terms of economic competitiveness, needs to overhaul its
unfriendly laws in order to boost growth

Gibbs Dube and Tatenda Gumbo 01 October 2010

A World Bank expert in African economies, David Bridgman, says Zimbabwe has
many stringent laws that make the country less competitive globally.

According to press reports, Bridgman said the country, ranked 159 out of 183
nations in terms of economic competitiveness, needs to overhaul its
unfriendly laws in order to boost growth.

Bridgman said the nation's corporate, real estate, labor, employment,
collateral, commercial, trade and bankruptcy laws are an impediment to
potential investors.

He said Zimbabwe has only lowered the cost of transferring property but
still retains most of the laws that are not conducive to opening up a
business.

Bridgman said it takes 96 days to open a business in the country at a high
cost while in some competitive economies, it only takes a day at zero cost.

Bridgman said it is also difficult to conduct cross border trade with
Zimbabwe due to customs bureaucracy.

Reacting to Bridgman's remarks, Bulawayo company law expert Kucaca Phulu
said the country needs to change most of its laws in order to be globally
competitive.

Meanwhile, economist John Robertson said continued calls for investment in
Zimbabwe are being over-shadowed by the controversial indigenization policy,
especially following President Robert Mugabe's warning this week to foreign
investors to either accept black Zimbabweans as major shareholders in
businesses or forget investing in the country.

Magistrate says Mudede has case to answer in diesel mystic case

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Lance Guma
01 October 2010

Chinhoyi provincial magistrate Ignatius Mugova on Tuesday blasted Registrar
General Tobaiwa Mudede for habouring 35 year old fugitive 'diesel n'anga'
Rotina Mavhunga who was on the run for almost 3 years.
Also known as Nomatter Tagarira, the self styled spirit-medium fooled Mugabe's
entire cabinet 3 years ago after convincing them she could conjure pure
diesel from rocks at the Maningwa Hills in Chinyoyi. Mugabe's regime fell
for her con, hook line and sinker, and even met her demands for 2 head of
cattle, 3 buffaloes and Z$5 billion.

On Tuesday Mavhunga denied she was on the run telling the court she was
unaware police were looking for her. This is despite her having defaulted on
her bail. The magistrate still found her guilty of defrauding the government
and supplying false information and sentenced her to 3 years and 3 months in
prison.
The magistrate was scathing of the Registrar General for hiding and feeding
a known fugitive and said he should have been brought to court to testify.
Mugova added that it was clear from the evidence that Mudede 'had an
interest in the matter, whether it was for the benefit of the nation or for
himself.'

It was revealed in court that Mudede supplied Mavhunga with 125 litres of
diesel which was used in conning the likes of Didymus Mutasa (then National
Security Minister), Sydney Sekeramayi (Defence), Kembo Mohadi (Home Affairs)
and former Mashonaland West Governor Nelson Samkange. In a bizarre fit of
naivety the ministers actually removed their shoes and sat on the ground
while clapping their hands in reverence for Mavhunga and her 'mystical
powers.'

The magistrate also said the government had used a lot of resources
including a 50 vehicle convoy, helicopters and lots of money pursuing 'a
wild goose chase.' He said the 'the country was at the time dry and
transport ground to a halt. Such a prank cannot be condoned in this court.
By approaching the governor Rotina wanted the State to pursue the hoax and
it was done.'

Political commentator Dr John Makumbe told SW Radio Africa the bizarre story
showed that 'the country is being ruled by the living dead. It's being ruled
by the ancestors.' Asked how it was possible that Mavhunga was on the run
for 3 years without being arrested Makumbe said the police knew where she
was but 'they were probably scared that she would turn them into lizards or
something like that.'

Other commentators have called for leniency for the 'diesel mystic' calling
her a 'national treasure' that should be celebrated and not punished. With
her Grade 3 education she was able to con a cabinet full of highly educated
people, many with advanced degrees. Pictures of Mavhunga pouring diesel on
Ministers who were seated bare foot on the ground made headlines around the
world.

20,000 displaced people face eviction at Hatcliffe Extension

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tererai Karimakwenda
01 October, 2010

Residents of a shanty town outside Harare known as Hatcliffe Extension have
been threatened with eviction by government, despite the fact that it is the
same authorities who settled the people there after destroying their
original homes.

Amnesty International released a statement on Thursday calling on government
officials to stop the pending evictions and instead make a plan to settle
these displaced people somewhere before evicting them.
Back in June, the officials notified residents that they were to renew the
leases for their plots by September 30 or face eviction. Their land would
then be given others on a waiting list. But no-one seems to know about this
list and residents have been denied access to officials since the June
announcement.

The cost to renew a lease is $140, which the government is demanding as one
lump sum. With many Zimbabweans not even earning that much per month, it is
shocking that that the officials would threaten to evict Hatcliffe Extension
residents, who are among the poorest in the country.

The shanty town was developed when the Mugabe regime bulldozed the homes and
businesses of innocent Zimbabweans under what they called "Operation
Murambatsvina", literally meaning clean out the filth.
Nearly one million people were displaced countrywide as government officials
claimed their homes were illegal. Many were moved out of the cities and
dumped by the roadside in rural areas. The MDC argued that the operation was
a ZANU PF plot to disenfranchise voters, giving Robert Mugabe an advantage
in urban areas.

Amnesty International's Deputy Director for Africa, Michelle Kagari, said:
"Instead of threatening vulnerable people with eviction, the government must
provide protection from the cycle of insecurity and further violations by
providing security of tenure and affordable payment plans for leases."
According to Amnesty, the excessive lease fees are not restricted to
Hatcliffe Extension. Residents of other informal settlements around the
country are also under threat of eviction.

 

Furore over national hero status

http://www.dailynews.co.zw/

By Oscar Nkala
Friday, 01 October 2010 16:05

BULAWAYO - Political parties, analysts and Bulawayo residents say the
inclusive government must immediately resolve the problem around the process
and procedures of declaring national heroes saying the definition of a hero
given by President Robert Mugabe makes it a Zanu PF cemetery.

Addressing mourners at the burial of Zanu PF official Ephraim Masawi at the
National Heroes Acre on Thursday, Mugabe said the national shrine was
reserved only for those who 'sacrificed their lives to liberate this
country,' a statement viewed by analysts as a veiled response to the
nationwide outcry sparked by his refusal to grant hero status to former MDC
vice-president Gibson Sibanda who died in August.

Sibanda was buried at his rural home in Filabusi despite a nationwide and
inter-party consensus that he was a hero without blemish.

Mugabe's comments have sparked a flurry of furious responses with Bulawayo
based political commentator Fortune Bhajila saying it underlines an urgent
need for the government to sit down and resolve the issue of who should
confer national hero status before the public loses respect for the national
shrine.

"In this case, Zanu PF is drawing the red line which other parties in the
government cannot cross. They are showing that hero status is exclusive to
Zanu PF cadres because we all know that Mugabe's definition of hero's starts
and ends within his own followers.

"We need an inter-party committee that will include members of the civil
society, churches and other interested groups to be charged with the process
of evaluating the whole process and procedures towards granting national
hero status.

"This process has to be taken out of the Zanu PF politburo and back to a
people representative organ. I know Ephraim Masawi as one of the leading
Zanu officials implicated in the violence between 2000 and 2008. He is not a
hero by any account," Bhajila said.

Zapu spokesman Methuseli Moyo said they are not surprised because Mugabe's
words serve to reinforce the fact that the National Heroes Acre is a Zanu PF
cemetery.

"There is no more national Heroes Acre to talk about. The place is now not
different from Mbare, Luveve, Mucheke or Dulibadzimu cemetery. Ephraim
Masawi just did what our grandmothers did better during the war - sending
people to war, supporting the comrades and running around with information
like all the mujibhas did. That makes all of us national heroes and leaves
President Mugabe sounding like a clown," Moyo said.

MDC chairman for Gauteng Province George Mkhwananzi said as a party they
feel happy that Sibanda was laid to rest at his home because he was never
going to rest at ease alongside the 'criminals' buried at the shrine by Zanu
PF.

Zanu PF politburo member Sikhanyiso Ndlovu declined to comment on the issue
but said his party was guided by 'wisdom' in conferring hero status on
Masawi.

Hungry Mwenezi villagers survive on baboons

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Godfrey Mtimba
Friday, 01 October 2010 16:07

MWENEZI - The baboon population is under threat of being wiped out in
Mwenezi as desperate villagers have resorted to eating the human-like wild
animal  to avert hunger and starvation, game ranchers in the area have
revealed.

Hunger and starvation continue to dog thousands of villagers in the arid
district, forcing residents to survive on wild fruits, animals and roots,
following a poor agricultural season caused by low rainfall and a myriad of
artificial problems including the shortage of inputs.

National Parks officials in Mwenezi expressed concern over the depreciation
of the baboon population in the district conservancies as poaching has
suddenly increased with villagers claiming that they have no option except
to survive on  baboons that  roam around villages.

A National Parks official in Mwenezi, Edmond Garwe the Daily News that
poaching of baboons had become rampant and they were struggling to contain
poachers.

"We are experiencing a rare form of poaching here.

"This is our first time to realise that people eat baboons. Villagers are
forced to do this because of starvation here; people are hungry and they do
not have grain so they are now surviving on wild animals and fruits.

"But the activity is detrimental to the population of this particular specie
since it is going down at an alarming rate," he said.

He added that villagers were hunting baboons because the area no longer has
other types of wild animals after they were exhausted by war veterans who
invaded white owned farms during the chaotic land reform programme of 2000.

He said the ill-equipped new farmers went on a rampage hunting wild animals
after experiencing nightmares in their farms and the few wild animals left
migrated to other regions leaving the baboons at the mercy of the starving
villagers.

Tsekelani Chauke, a villager from Chief Chitanga said they were doing this
out of desperation.

"We have no choice but to feed on baboons because we can't watch our
families die of hunger. The wild animal meat has become our food and we are
surviving on it alone since we don't have the grain to prepare sadza.

Mwenezi is the driest district in the province and farming is completely
impossible; wild meat is our sole means of survival and the only animals
that are available are  baboons," he said.

He said while they were aware that most people say human beings do not eat
baboon meat, they are in a desperate situation as their calls for assistance
from government have failed to bear any fruit.

Zim Deadline Won't Be Extended

http://news.radiovop.com

01/10/2010 16:47:00

Johannesburg, October 01, 2010 - The December 31deadline for the process of
officially documenting Zimbabweans in South Africa will not be extended,
Home Affairs Deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba has said.

"We will not shift the December deadline. People must make use of this
opportunity because there will be no extensions," he said in Durban.

He visited the home affairs regional office to assess the implementation of
the amnesty for Zimbabweans with fraudulent documents.

There were concerns that the process of documenting Zimbabweans in
Johannesburg was going at a snails pace, with some people being forced to
sleep in queues.

Gigaba said his department would beef up their staff compliment to speed up
the process.

"Maybe next week we will bring more people here [Durban] to help so that
people will not wait too long before they are helped," said Gigaba.

The process of documenting Zimbabweans kicked off on September 20.

Gigaba said 1100 permits had been adjudicated and awarded since Tuesday.

"We received 6000 applications since the start of the process and 1100
permits have been adjudicated and awarded. Only eight were rejected. We have
also received 208 amnesty applications," he said.

Gigaba said according to studies there were 1.5 million Zimbabweans living
in South Africa.
Sapa
 

Tsvangirai To Remain MDC Leader

http://news.radiovop.com

01/10/2010 14:04:00

HARARE -Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will remain the leader of the MDC-T
until the party achieves its core mission of delivering political change in
Zimbabwe, the party has said.

The MDC-T was reacting to media reports suggesting Tsvangirai would step
down from his party's leadership post next year in line with the MDC-T's
original constitution that "allows an incumbent to hold office of two
five-year terms".

The reports said the MDC-T had passed a resolution to the effect that the
"movement's third congress - where a new leader would be elected - would be
held after the holding of presidential elections next year".

The MDC-T said the reports were untrue and aimed at creating problems within
the party ahead of the elections.

"The story in today's issue of The Financial Gazette claiming that President
Morgan Tsvangirai is set to step down is false, malicious and misleading,"
the MDC-T said.

"For the record, MDC and President Tsvangirai are firmly focused on the
party's agenda for real change; to stabilize the economy; to create jobs;
and to ensure that democracy flourishes in Zimbabwe. President Tsvangirai's
invaluable soft-power to let democracy sit down; to allow Zimbabweans to
reclaim their democratic space and national dignity remains the MDC's
foundation of vibrancy and strength."

The party added: "Since President Tsvangirai humiliated Robert Mugabe and
the former ruling party, Zanu PF, in the 29 March 2008 elections, the party
is clear about its roadmap to a new Zimbabwe.

The MDC-T said at its 2006 historic congress, the people tasked their newly
elected leadership with a specific agenda to take the nation out of a deep
crisis of governance.

"The party set out specific benchmarks to measure progress and the people
are confident that the MDC remains on the right track. The MDC, working
together with the people, will continue to lead until change becomes a
reality," the party said.

"The issues dominating debate in the MDC are anchored on the people's agenda
for real change; for good governance; for a prosperous Zimbabwe; and for a
violence-free society. Anything else, outside these basic needs, has yet to
find a place in the dominant discourse inside the party."

The MDC-T it  would hold its congress in line with the dictates of the party's
constitution and as re-emphasised by the National Council at its last
meeting in Kadoma.

"Furthermore, the MDC family is happy and comfortable with the leadership
and stewardship of president Tsvangirai and the real change team. Any
insinuation of imaginary discord in the party shall remain a figment of the
imagination of the authors of such. It is not surprising that those who
oppose real change will come up with all sorts of conspiracies and counter
conspiracies bent on confusing and way laying the agenda for real change."

How a pair of North Korean-built statues reopened ethnic wounds in Zimbabwe

This is not the time for divisive and revivalist politics

Today Zimbabwe is at the cross roads. This is a very crucial moment whereby
our country is edging towards the most historic and posssibly the most
decisive ever election of all times. It is the forthcoming election
(whenever it will be held), that will make or break our country and
Zimbabweans in and outside the country have an enormous responsibility to
ensure that we all play our part to deliver our country to ourselves in
unison. As Zimbabweans we must never leave this extremely important task to
anyone but ourselves. Zimbabweans for Zimbabweans by Zimbabweans.

This time calls for total unity of purpose if we are to wrestle our country
back from the maraouding vultures of ZANU PF. Zimbabweans will need to unite
unwaveringly behind the Movement for Democratic Change MDC and Morgan
Tsvangirai to ensure that the party and the leader will fulfill the long
standing mission of delivering Zimbabwe. The MDC-Tsvangirai formular is the
only one that will deliver Zimbabwe in the forseeable future and no
supposedly revived and nostalgic party will go any length better than the
MDC and Tsvangirai could go and as Zimbabwe let us not delude ourselves and
fall victim of individuals who have self-serving agendas.

Tsvangirai and his strategy to navigate round Mugabe

The arrival of the MDC party on the Zimbabwean political scene is one that
has visited both hope and dispair on the suffering Zimbabwean people. There
have been times when the hopes of the Zimbabwean people have been sky high
in anticipation of an MDC triumph and there have been times when those hopes
have turned into dispair due to an anti-climacy in MDC progression. This has
been due to a number of reasons some of them to do with clear MDC
shortcomings and many others to do with ZANU PF entrenchment. A number of
people myself included have at one time or another criticised the MDC and
Tsvangirai for a lack of clear strategy to effectively deal with Mugabe's
ZANU PF and all the spanners that they have thrown onto the path of the
democratic fight.

There have been situations when the MDC and Tsvangirai have been really
found wanting and such criticism has been quite justified especially when
one considers how the MDC promised very unambigously to do away with Mugabe
and ZANU PF as far back as 1999 when the party was formed. More than a
decade down the line, that has not happened but the blame is not limited to
the MDC and Tsvangirai only. This is an opportune time for all Zimbabweans
to reflect on where they have also fallen short of delivering their country
to themselves because that is not the preserve of the MDC and Tsvangirai to
deliver Zimbabwe. The struggle is for all Zimbabweans to partake, where ever
we are because we all have a part to play.

Since the formation of the GNU Tsvangirai has adopted a completey new
strategy and it has seen a surge in critics including some of those who have
been very enduring in their support of the MDC leader. The strategy has been
one of the most effective strategies so far the MDC leader has ever deployed
and it has been one of courting rather than antagonising with Mugabe. In
doing so, Tsavngirai has shown a clearly visionary approach to the very
complicated political situation in our country at the moment. Tsvangirai is
already seeing a Zimbabwe beyond Mugabe and he is already removing Mugabe
from the equation. But he can not do so by antagonising with the old and
frail but still defiant octogenarian.

A number of people have said in criticism of Tsvangirai that he has become
Mugabe's poodle or Mugabe's apologist or that he has now been cowed into
submission that he now speaks glowingly of Mugabe. This could never be
further from the truth at all. Tsvangirai has his eyes on the ball and he
knows where he is aiming at very well. No one has ever asked why Tsvangirai
has never mentioned any other names such as Chinamasa, Mutasa, Munangagwa or
even Jabulani Sibanda as people who are very workable with as he has
described Mugabe? The answer is that unlike a host of ZANU PF hawks who are
the real architects and actual executers of the politically motivated
violence that has claimed ountless lives and destroyed property, Mugabe is
not the one who has been physically conducting the violence. Mugabe has
never been seen brandishing a gun or menacingly pointing one to anyone. He
has never shot dead anyone as some ZANU PF terrorists have done.

Most importantly, the people who have conducted these acts of violence
against Zimbabwean humanity will have to account for their actions. For them
to account for their actions there is need to separate them from Mugabe who
in actual effect is now akin to a timed device that can go off any moment.
Given his very advanced age Mugabe can never be a sure case of appearing in
any court of human rights no matter how much some of us may want him stand
trial of some sort. Mugabe is very very old. His health is very very failing
and anything can happen to him any time. Unlike people like Dydimus Mutasa,
Jabulani Sibanda, Joseph Chinotimba, Emmerson Munangagwa and the rest of
those merchants of terror of who are freely roaming the length and breath of
the country going about their terrorist exploits unhindered.

When Tsvangirai speaks of Mugabe as human being, or as someone he can work
with, or have tea together, he is doing us a service as a politician we have
enstrusted our aspirations with. Tsvangirai is giving us the kind of insight
into Mugabe that we have never had before or ever thought we could have. He
(Tsvangirai) is trying to tell us a number of things about Mugabe that some
of us had started to question. For example our nation had started to ask
whether this man had a human persona at all? Whether he could feel of hear,
and because Tsvangirai also had all those kind of questions as well before
he "met" Mugabe, he couldnt help but share with the rest of us when he
finally met the maker of our misery.

Tsvangirai will never be Mugabe's poodle. He will never be Mugabe's
apologist and he will never forget the task he has. Neither would he forsake
Zimbabweans at the eleventh hour. But he has now realised a thing or two
about the national struggle for democracy.

The MDC and Tsvangirai  versus ZANU PF and Mugabe

As a nation let us not run before we can walk. Neither should we try to reap
the corn before we even plant it. Rather, let us take one step at a time.
For now,  Zimbabweans must not rush to conclude about Tsvangirai failing to
deal with Mugabe and his cronnies when he is actually just getting on with
exactly that. What we are all called for as a nation, is to unite, put our
various differences aside and rally behind the leader of the democratic
movement and the party that is carrying the democratic flag at the moment.
We must not dismiss or write Tsvangirai off at this very crucial moment
because he is doing an extremely difficult job in similarly difficult
circumstances.

The difference between Tsvangirai and Mugabe is that the latter has build a
political legacy that will not live beyond his lifetime because very little
separates Mugabe and ZANU PF. Whereas Tsvangirai has helped build a
democratic dispensation within the MDC that will flourish long after his own
time. The MDC is a party that has been structured and natured such that it
will live beyond the current or any future leader. Already people are
mulling about Tsvangirai stepping down after his term because it is possible
for such talk as regards the MDC unlike in ZANU PF where reagardless of
Mugabe having been at the helm of the party for nearly forty years they can
not even talk about him going.

Yes Tsvangirai may have made some mistakes as a leader or made bad decisions
but these are his own personal mistakes. They are not mistakes that can
never be separated from the MDC as a party. Unlike Mugabe whom whatever he
does can hardly be separated from ZANU PF as a party. This is why everything
including the violence that is conducted is all attributed to ZANU PF the
party and Mugabe the leader even where Mugabe himself may not even be aware
of what is happening and who the perpertrators are. Tsvangirai will be
judged by his own personal delivery but the MDC as a party will be judged
differently because while there may have been notable shortcomings on
Tsvangirai the individual, the MDC as a party has achieved for Zimbabweans
some of the things that we never thought the party would go on to achieve.

For example the kind of robust parliamentary democracy that we now have in
Zimbabwe today could never have been achieved without the MDC party's entry
onto the political scene. This has also been achieved in spite of Tsvangirai
having been a none parliament sitting leader of the party. The party went
into parliament as an organisation and has achieved as an organisation and
this shows how much the party can thrive even beyond Tsvangirai and this is
not necessarily to take away any of Tsvangirai's own contributions to the
development of the party as a political body. Unlike ZANU PF that can not
win an election without Mugabe and this is why they will be carting him to
the next election because that is just how badly they need him.

What Zimbabweans need to do in the national interest is to give Tsvangirai
the final push so that he can get through the crucial final leg of this very
essential race to democracy. Tsvangirai and the MDC must be given the final
benefit of the doubt and they must deliver for Zimbabwe. Should Tsvangirai
fail to deliver that much wanted victory against ZANU PF while he has been
given the undivided support of the nation, then I am sure he will be
graceful enough to stand down both as MDC leader and Zimbabwe's next
president. There are so many capable people who could then take over from
where ever Tsvangirai would have left.

What is essential and should not be compromised at this crucial moment is to
accord Tsvangirai and the MDC party the total support that is needed to
unseat ZANU PF this time around. No amount of ZANU PF chickenary or
manipulation of the electoral system will prevail over the total will of
Zimbabweans to remove same from the seat of power. Zimbabweans must never be
fooled that at this very moment there is any individual politician or any
other political party existing, newly formed or revived that could do better
than Tsvangirai and the MDC. That is toying with the emotions and
aspirations as well as hopes of the nation.

Why the so-called revival of ZAPU is a non-event

There is no significance at all in the so-called revival of ZAPU because
Dumiso Dabengwa is on a personal mission and that personal mission must
never be allowed to hinder the triumph of the nation in this last leg of the
race to democracy. Dabengwa miscalculated his political importance in ZANU
PF and thought that if he talked of breaking away from the party he will
have even a handful of sympathisers and that never happened. There is no
break away of ZAPU from ZANU PF and there never will be. It is only Dabengwa
who has left ZANU PF if at all he has. ZAPU is still very much in ZANU PF
because the party ad all its founders are still in ZANU PF.

There is no way that one individual's resignation from a political
organisation could constitute a breakaway of an entire party because that is
a dangrous exaggeration of that individual's political relevance. People
need to remember that Dabengwa was in ZANU PF as late as the year 2000 when
the so-called war veterans led by the notorious ( may his soul RIP)
Chenjerai nHunzi were terrorising the nation under his inept watch as the
then Home Affairs Minister. Calls for Danengwa to take action againts the
late Hunzvi fell on deaf ears because it did not suit him to take any such
action. What has changed now?

The so-called door-to-door visits that Dabengwa i said to have been
conducting in Masvingo where MDC members are being terrorised were possible
because Dabengwa and his colleagues in ZANU PF have created the situation
whereby they alone can operate unhindered. Tsvangirai as a party leader
would also want make those door to door visits but could he go about his
business in rural Masvingo without endangering his life. Maybe Dabengwa
could answer that.

They say once ZANU PF forever ZANU PF and Dabengwa will always be ZANU PF.
The only thing that has happened is that Dabengwa has joined the long queue
of disgruntled ZANU PF rejects who have fallen out of favour with their
party's system of patronage and now he wants to dupe the nation that he is
taking ZAPU away from ZANU PF. Dabengwa has simply taken himself out of ZANU
PF and who knows if he will not return "home". Dabengwa should not be taken
seriously because doing so will only undermine the effectiveness of the
democratic movement in finally removing ZANU PF from power because here is a
real chance

The next election is the final push for Zimbabweans and we should all put
our efforts on one mission and one mission alone, to remove Mugabe and his
ZANU PF from power. Fragmenting the electorate through triumphalist and
revivalist politics will not help the national cause in any way.

Silence Chihuri
BA Hons, LLB Law
 www.agglg.com
 

Gukurahundi part two begins in Matebeleland

Armed Robberies in Bulawayo.CID Officer killed.

Chihuri Declares Shoot To Kill in Bulawayo.

ZRP shoot CIO officer Accidentally

 Bulawayo Under Siege - Road Blocks Mounted

Bosso Supporters in Running Battles With ZRP

 Cops in Harare Linked To Robberies

2 Suspected Carjackers Killed along Kezi Road

ZRP Beat Up Passport Seekers In Bulawayo

Something smells fishy here.

A senior police officer, Chief Superintendent Lawrence Chatikobo, the officer commanding the Criminal Investigations Department's serious fraud section was shot and killed during an armed robbery at Cape to Cairo Restaurant and Bar on 18 September.

A few days later ZRP chief Chiuri ordered ZRP to shoot and kill anyone in Bulawayo they suspected was linked to the armed robbers who were at large.

The very same week hundreds of Bulawayo residents were beaten up at eGodini Kombi terminus after 7 pm. When I arrived in Bulawayo on Friday for weekend , I was warned by my friends not to walk after 6 pm because the police were beating up people.

But now that very weak a security guard officer dashed to Byo ZRP central to report a gent who was playing pool at chicken inn - that he had a gun on his waist. The police came out in full force and ordered everyone to get on the ground.Now as this other gent tried to take off his ID from his wallet his head was blown off by the police.

The gent was a CIO agent.

Operation shoot and kill took a major jolt.

The Sunday Mail reported this week that "7 rogue cops nailed for armed robbery"
http://www.sundaymail.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=18967&cat=12

And from Wednesday 29^th September Chronicle we hear Bulawayo is under seige with police searching for firearms - 'Present firearms, licences'
http://www.chronicle.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=12542&cat=1

And  Thursday 30^th September Chronicle reports that DETECTIVES from Bulawayo yesterday shot dead a suspected carjacker and seriously wounded another in a shoot-out that also left a police officer injured along the Gwanda-Kezi road.

http://www.chronicle.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=12577&cat=1

And Friday October 1^st the Chronicle reports that's ZRP beat up passport seekers.

http://www.chronicle.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=12622&cat=1

So one does need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what's happening here.

SOON SOME ARMS WILL BE DISCOVERED AT A SECRET LOCATION IN BULAWAYO AND NOW THE GOVERNMENT WILL CALL IN THE ARMY TO HELP FIND MORE ARMS.

And the government will have good reason to penetrate Bulawayo to the core and deal with the ZAPU activists like they did during the Gukurahundi era.

It's a question of when this will happen but not if it will happen.

By the way the violence that happened after the Bosso and Dynamos game was a reaction of Bulawayo residents who during the week had been abused by ZRP.And their last minute loss to their worst soccer enemy gave them a very good channel to express their anger.I was at the stadium. The chaos had little to do with DeMbare fans.\

Don't forget that during COPAC meetings there was NO violence in Bulawayo.And also don't forget that a survey by mass media trust indicated that Bulawayo wants devolution of power by 62% as opposed to 8% in Mashonaland Central where a centralized gov benefits them at the expense of others.

Thanks to the Internet which ZANU cant control. We will keep you posted out there on what's happening.

Benson Mathe -  Bulawayo .

Benson.mathe@gmail.com