The ZIMBABWE Situation Our thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe
- may peace, truth and justice prevail.
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SABC

Mugabe's free reign running out: SACC

October 05, 2004, 20:46

If the outcome of the Zimbabwean election was not declared free and fair, it
could have catastrophic consequences for Africa, the SA Council of Churches
(SACC) warned today.

Calling for the immediate deployment of observer groups to Zimbabwe ahead of
its elections in March next year, the SACC said in Pretoria that if Zimbabwe
failed to adopt minimum election standards, it could set a precedent for
other countries in Africa. "If this happens it could mean an end to SADC
(Southern African Development Community) credibility and war," Molefe Tsele,
the SACC general secretary, told reporters. He said it was a known fact that
many of Africa's conflicts arose out of disputed elections.

Backed by the SA Catholic Bishops Conference, the Centre for Policy Studies
(CPS), the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, and the Institute for
Democracy in SA, the SACC said, however, that Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean
president's, free reign was running out.

"We feel that both South Africa and SADC and other African leaders are
losing patience with Robert Mugabe and he will feel increasing pressure to
ensure that his elections are declared free and fair," said Chris Landsberg,
the CPS director. - Sapa
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SABC

Defiant Mugabe says West will not derail land reform

October 05, 2004, 13:01

A defiant Robert Mugabe says his land reforms had earned Zimbabwe many
enemies in the West, but his government would not be bullied into abandoning
the controversial policy. Mugabe has seized hundreds of white-owned farms in
the last four years to resettle landless blacks, saying he was correcting
imbalances created by more than 90 years of British colonialism.

However, his critics say the seizures violated property rights and amount to
racism against whites. Speaking at a state dinner for visiting Yoweri
Museveni, the Ugandan president, Mugabe said Zimbabwe believed Africans had
to be vigilant in fighting for their rights and in their struggle for
economic development. "It is well known that in pursuit of that vision,
Zimbabwe has made many enemies in the West," he said at the dinner last
night.

"Your visit will, therefore, afford you the opportunity to see that our land
reform programme, which Britain and her Western allies viciously oppose, has
put indigenous Zimbabweans at the centre of economic activity," Mugabe told
Museveni, who ends a three-day visit to Zimbabwe tomorrow.

The visit by Museveni, one of East Africa's influential leaders, is seen as
a show of political solidarity with Mugabe, and as bolstering his standing
on a continent where he has enjoyed diplomatic support despite calls for his
isolation by Western opponents and the domestic opposition. Mugabe said land
reforms - which critics say have reduced a once regional breadbasket country
to one now struggling with food shortages - had economically empowered a
majority of Zimbabweans.

The veteran Zimbabwean leader, in power since independence in 1980, said
Museveni had been invited for a state visit to help improve bilateral
relations that had been temporarily strained by a war in the Democratic
Republic of Congo. Zimbabwe led Angola and Namibia into Congo in 1998 to
fight against Rwanda and Ugandan-backed rebels. Harare withdrew the last of
its troops last year under an UN-sponsored peace plan. - Reuters
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IOL

Zim women arrested for protesting - again
          October 05 2004 at 07:06PM

      Harare - About 30 women who were arrested last week for taking part in
a protest march in Zimbabwe were detained again on Tuesday when they
presented a petition to parliament opposing a clampdown on human rights
groups.

      Police arrested the women outside the parliament building in central
Harare after they presented a petition against a proposed law that would ban
international human rights groups and cut off foreign funding to local
groups that promote democracy.

      The women last week staged a protest march from the second city of
Bulawayo to Harare to draw attention to the plight of scores of groups
promoting civil society in the southern African country.

      "We have walked 440 kilometres to deliver this petition to parliament
and hope and pray that you will hear our cries and not pass this bill," said
the petition from the women, most of whom were members of the Women from
Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) group.

      "If the bill is passed in its current form, it will strike at the very
existence of us and our families."

      "We do try to survive independently but without help from NGOs
(non-governmental organisations), our families and those of us who are ill
shall surely fade away and die," said the petition, which was also backed by
AIDS support groups.

      The government of President Robert Mugabe in August made public the
bill that has yet to be presented to parliament.

      Rights activists have mobilised to oppose the clampdown, resulting in
several arrests over the past weeks for staging illegal protests under
provisions of Zimbabwe's tough security law. - Sapa-AFP

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IOL

SA and Namibia face Zimbabwe's land fate
          October 05 2004 at 06:19PM

      Four years after Zimbabwe's land reform campaign turned violent, South
Africa and Namibia are facing the same conundrum, struggling to redress
imbalances from British and German colonial rule.

      As in Zimbabwe, the vast majority of land in South Africa and Namibia
is owned by white farmers, descendants of settlers who under colonial rule
were given choice land.

      President Robert Mugabe seized on this historical injustice to justify
the forced seizure of 4 000 of Zimbabwe's 4 500 white-owned commercial farms
that were redistributed to blacks, wreaking havoc in the agriculture sector
in what was once southern Africa's breadbasket economy.

      Farmers in neighbouring South Africa and Namibia watched events in
Zimbabwe with trepidation, wondering whether the same fate would ultimately
befall them despite assurances from the governments that they will uphold
the rule of law.

      In 1995 South Africa's first post-apartheid government set up a
two-pronged approach to land reform that provided for the return of property
seized by the former regime and an overall redistribution of land.

      White farmers own 80 percent of arable land in South Africa. The
government's objective is to ensure that 30 percent of that land is in the
hands of black farmers by 2014, 20 years after the end of apartheid.

      But thus far only three percent of land has been acquired by the
government under the "willing-buyer, willing-seller" scheme and given out to
700 000 blacks, according to official estimates.

      Farmers' groups in South Africa say the goal for black land ownership
set out by the government in a document released in July may be hard to
attain.

      "I am concerned that the present version will contribute toward
unattainable expectations, especially considering that we have to respect
market forces and other limiting realities," said Japie Grobler, the
president of the farmers' group Agri South Africa.

      But another smaller hardline group of farmers, the Transvaal
Agricultural Union, says South Africa is following Zimbabwe's path on land
reform and have warned that the property transfer will lead to the collapse
of agriculture.

      The Landless People's Movement meanwhile has put President Thabo Mbeki
on notice to make good on his promises for land reform or else "the people's
anger will break out".

      In Namibia, land reform is shaping up as a hot-button issue in the
runup to the November 15 and 16 elections after the government told some 15
white farmers in May and June to set a price to sell their property to the
state.

      It was the first time that the government in Namibia led by the South
West People's Organisation (Swapo) party has moved to expropriate some of
the 3 000 white farmers under its land reform program, but no actual
expropriations have happened yet.

      As in South Africa, impatience is growing and already a group of farm
workers are threatening to seize a farm at Otjiwarango, 250km north of
Windhoek.

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5 October 2004
PRESIDENT TSVANGIRAI 'S TUESDAY MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE

For over two years, we remain trapped in the debate over the state of our
food supplies and food security, sending out a message to the vulnerable
groups that Zimbabwe has yet to get out of the woods on this matter of
national importance and a basic necessity.

Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF are adamant that food is available despite
overwhelming evidence indicating a seemingly permanent humanitarian crisis,
with livelihoods shattered by poverty, chronic food shortages and
malnutrition in both urban and rural areas. The debate shall only end as
soon as our granaries overflow with cereals and our supermarket shelves are
filled up to their traditional levels with affordable essentials.

What started off as a food crisis in 2002 has grown into an emergency,
sucking in our neighbours, international relief agencies, the Church and
donor agencies? For a nation with a runaway AIDS pandemic, the question of
food availability and food security must be never be used as a cheap
political tool.

We must accept our failures as a nation. In politics, to accept
accountability for one's errors of judgement is normal among democrats. It
happens all over the world, especially when the type and magnitude of one's
mistakes are threatening the very lives of those we proclaim to govern. The
people can see through open regime failures. They have solutions to these
impediments to development. Simply allow them to start afresh, to launch a
new beginning. It is no longer a secret that the collapse of our
agriculture, industry, social services, education and the health delivery
system has, in effect, compounded the emergency in Zimbabwe today.

In the circumstances, arguing over imaginary figures and politically correct
assumptions on harvests merely push us into a false comfort zone with
disastrous results at the end. Food security is a basic human right. Food
availability is directly linked to good governance. Politically unstable
societies are always short of food; they are a nuisance to their neighbours;
they are a source of concern to the international community.

The collapse of agriculture as the mainstay of economy accelerated in 2000.
The result became more visible in 2002. Since then, we have been stuck at
the bottom of the heap, in a class of failed states. Food availability is a
key source of family stability. Families are in danger, as mother or father
retreats to a foreign environment to pick up and save a penny, leaving a
once close knit entity exposed, gasping for breath and expecting a
repatriated mint - no matter how that coin is obtained.

At every international platform, the regime's officials, unfortunately led
by Mugabe himself have aggressively pleaded for understanding and pity, at
the same time displaying unnecessary antagonism at donor nations. Locally,
the regime has been closing down democratic space and refusing to take
advice - literally beating its own drum with a sharpened axe, at the expense
of a desperate people and a bleeding nation.

The MDC policies and programmes seek to observe the right to food as a
social and legal obligation, on the part of the state, to ensure that all
Zimbabwean citizens get sufficient food.

I wish to make it clear that Zimbabwe will never experience food shortages
again, given the bruising lessons we experienced and confirmed by the
current wave of carelessness. Zimbabwe has enough resources to stave-off
starvation, economic deprivation and poverty. We have all it takes to
reassert our previous position as a net exporter of food.

Surviving on handouts either from the state or from international donors
diminishes our pride and dignity and our ideas, influences and choices over
what we eat, and how we are being fed. The situation gets worse when the
little that is available is distributed along partisan lines.

Failure to access food is so debasing that it affects access to other human
rights. The concept of human rights refers to the manner in which our human
dignity is acknowledged, respected and recognised. Merely feeding people
disarms and degrades them, especially when they know that they are capable
of looking after themselves.

We believe 24 years after independence there can never be any excuse for our
people to be denied the right to a standard of living that assures them
access to good health, to adequate food and nutrition, to ample clothing,
satisfactory housing and medical care and other necessary social services.

Given our abundant natural resources, 24 years of independence from colonial
exploitation provide a sufficient time-frame for our nation, our small
population to enjoy the right to security in the event of unemployment,
sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in
circumstances beyond any person's control. It is ironic though that instead
of making progress, we degenerated so much that half our active, working
population emigrated because of economic insecurity.

The flight of skills worsened after 2002 when it became clear that we were
destined for serious food shortages. Thousands of professionals opted for
menial work elsewhere as long as long they were assured of food, health,
education for their families, housing, and an adequate standard of living -
basics which have since disappeared from our abused homeland.

One of our values as a party emphasises the concept of equity and
solidarity. Since we recognise adequate food as a fundamental right, we
shall deploy considerable resources to dealing with the concerns of weaker
communities and vulnerable groups. What Zimbabwe needs is a comprehensive
political programme to create conditions for the nation to feed itself, to
achieve self-sufficiency and to export. I have always stated that
agriculture is an economic asset - a finite national resource that must be
within the reach of all who wish to take up farming as a way of life.

We face a huge challenge in restoring the agricultural infrastructure that
was damaged by the so-called fast track land reform programme. Our grain
silos, grading shades, tobacco barns driers, irrigation and refrigeration
facilities need a facelift. We must re-engage international financiers and
re-open our lost markets for beef, horticulture, tobacco and cotton.

We must introduce an efficient land distribution mechanism, accompanied by a
comprehensive land use plan in order to clean up the mess in the former
commercial farming areas. The plan assures new farmers security of tenure,
financial support and technical advice. Zimbabwe will have surplus food as
soon as we implement our programme, based on need - not greed -- and on our
ability to work on the land. The Zanu PF experiments with the fast track
programme have plunged us into a deep hole. The evidence is there for all to
see - latter-day, violent evictions, food shortages, looted farm machinery,
damaged infrastructure, the resurgence of foot-and-mouth and other diseases
and environmental degradation.

I must emphasize that agricultural recovery will be rooted on a
non-negotiable return to the rule of law, restoration of private property
rights and a strict adherence to fundamental rights we aim to enshrine in a
people-driven Constitution.

With an economy highly dependant on agriculture, we wish to turn farming
into a key source of revenue to revive education, to repair our health
services, to restart the economy and to create jobs. The rationalization of
land allocation will reconcile the MDC's policy and principles with
on-the-ground realities. We shall resolutely apply the principles of justice
to the letter to rectify the anomalies created in Mugabe's land reform
process. Participatory democracy, with robust debate and discussion, will
enable us to bring food on the people's tables.

Food security and open agrarian reform, covering the whole country including
the communal lands, are among our top priorities. Our objective is to flood
the market with food and to resuscitate our exports. Zimbabweans must never
be hungry again.

Together, we shall win.

Morgan Tsvangirai

President.
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From: "Kamina Kawena" <kamina.kawena@slingshot.co.nz>

Dear Readers:

An exiting event coming your way in November 2004.

The Celebrations "Out of Africa", a free event, are being held on the 6th
November 2004 at the Lloyd Elsmore Park, Pakuranga.

Graham and Charmaine of produce an annual street festival in Picton Street,
Howick called "Taste of Africa".  The 2004 festival attracted over 30 000
visitors who enjoyed the foods, crafts and African entertainment at the
fourth anniversary of this event.

The "Out Of Africa" event has been endorsed and sponsored by Manukau City
Council.  This event is earmarked to attract between 50 & 100 thousand
visitors for the day.  We are selling sites for stalls, to generate funds to
pay for African Artists to come and perform in New Zealand for this event.

The South African High Commissioner, Mr. Anthony Mongalo, will be doing the
opening address.  Other dignitaries from parliament and the Mayors of all
the regions in Auckland have been invited to attend this momentous occasion.
GCO Agencies would like to invite the peoples of Africa interested to hold a
stall at this event as income generation or a fundraising opportunity to
complete the application form and contact them for further information.

Please support this worthwhile event, either by taking a stall - or
attending on the day!

Kind regards
Brigitte
Kamina Kawena

Graham: gco_agenciesgo@yahoo.co.nz
Charmaine: gco_agenciesco@yahoo.co.nz
GCO Agencies Limited
Tel/Fax: 0964 9 5336433
Mobile : 021 550 517
P.O.Box 64312
Botany Town Centre
East Tamaki, Auckland
New Zealand
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Zimbabwe: Bishops Call for Credible Electoral Process in 2005

Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi)

October 5, 2004
Posted to the web October 5, 2004

Nairobi

The Catholic bishops in Zimbabwe have called on the government to ensure a
credible electoral Process in order to achieve free and fair elections in
2005.

In a pastoral letter, titled 'A Credible Electoral Process for a Responsible
and Accountable Leadership', dated August 6, 2004, the bishops lament that
past elections in the country have been marred by claims of rigging,
intimidation and violence.

"The way elections have been conducted in our country since 2000 has been
controversial and marked by serious violence," the bishops said in their
statement that was only released on Saturday, October 2, 2004.

Saying that the Church is not partisan, the bishops said that the Church
looks beyond the parties and derives its ethos from the eternal Kingdom of
God, a kingdom of love, truth, justice, freedom and peace.

"Individual Christians can make their own decisions as to which party comes
closest to the Christian ethos and their aspirations in this life and vote
accordingly," the bishops said adding that "The Church respects each
individual decision and this reality is evident in all our congregations
composed of members belonging to all existing parties".

The bishops allowed Christians to freely join any political party of their
choice, as long as they upheld the moral teachings of Christianity.

"They have a right to join a particular party of their choice and to promote
its policies and activities (campaigning, recruitment of new members, fund
raising, etc.) & however, they must act as salt and light.

There must be "a firm commitment to justice and solidarity by each member of
the people of God," the bishops reiterated.

About the media, the bishops called on the government to uphold media
freedom while the media was asked to be watchdogs of the human rights that
are enshrined in the National Constitution and observe the moral principles
by passing true information.

"It is important that all political parties have access to media coverage so
that they can inform citizens about how they intend to govern if they are
elected into power," they said. "A political system that operates in such a
way that only one party has access to a proper coverage by media cannot
claim to be democratic."
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Mail and Guardian

MDC hints at poll participation

      Donwald Pressly | Cape Town

      05 October 2004 12:29

Zimbabwe's official opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has
hinted strongly that it will participate in the forthcoming March national
election -- even though conditions at present appeared to indicate
otherwise.

The party argues that South Africa is losing up to half of its economic
growth due to the crisis in Zimbabwe but it says there are stirrings of hope
because South African President Thabo Mbeki has appointed senior aides to
report progress every week "on the Zimbabwe issue".

In a letter circulated to the media, the MDC's economics spokesperson Eddie
Cross said he had no doubt that Zimbabweans would see concessions -- to the
desire for democracy -- in the next few weeks as the Zimbabwean Parliament
sat to adopt the required changes that were needed to fulfil the country's
obligations under the recently signed SADC democracy protocols.

Cross, writing from Bulawayo, said: "Zanu-PF will stall on these changes
until the very last minute and then will implement them to the letter, not
the spirit of the changes brought about by the new legislation."

He noted that the country's neighbour, Botswana, was going through an
electoral process at present -- and it was only 100km from where he lived
but it "might as well be on another planet".

"We watch the Botswana television each night and see the balanced
presentation of the news and coverage of all political parties. We see the
state president being given no special coverage and we see the adverts from
the Electoral Commission."

But in Zimbabwe the state media poured out propaganda 24 hours a day and
coverage of his party was strictly limited to negative analysis and
criticism, he added.

"No exposure is given to MDC statements or speeches.No rallies are shown on
TV or covered on the radio. On the ground no public meetings can be held
without permission and attendance by the CIO (Central Intelligence
Organisation). More than half of all applications are turned down -- most
with no reasons given -- many of the authorised meetings are disrupted by
[ruling] Zanu-PF thugs. It is an intolerable situation from any
perspective."

Cross said in the last parliamentary election in 2000 that the MDC had
evidence of poll rigging to the extent of about 15% of the poll "and had
this not taken place, the MDC would have won by a landslide".

"In 2002, Zanu had to go overboard to get a win and after ballot stuffing up
to 800 000 false votes and preventing nearly 400 000 MDC supporters from
voting, they got a small majority," he argued.

"There is no doubt in my mind, that by any measure, the MDC should have won
both elections by a wide margin and had the courts done their duty, the MDC
would have taken power at least three years ago.

"Now we have another shot at the Zanu-PF hold on power. We have been told
that our strategy of sticking with change through democratic methods is a
waste of time -- that Zanu-PF only understands force. Well that may be true,
but, for good or bad, we remain committed to change via a democratic vote.

"With all its flaws we believe that only democracy offers African states a
path out of ignominy and poverty.

"Without a free and fair election, Zimbabwe is doomed to further destruction
and despair. Failure to organise our affairs so that this becomes a
possibility would also have profound implications for the entire region. I
remain astounded that our neighbours show such scant concern for the fallout
effect on their own economies of the Zimbabwe crisis in their midst. In
particular, South Africa simply cannot go on sacrificing at least half its
growth potential just for the sake of maintaining its Pan Africanist stance
over Zimbabwe's delinquency."

Looking ahead Cross said for those who lived in Zimbabwe and wanted change
"we ask ourselves: will it work this time?".

He added: "I hope that [the ruling Zanu-PF] has confidence that it [the
election] will ... because only then will they allow the country to vote
under reasonable conditions."

"Given that freedom, even just for one day, we could be in for one of the
biggest electoral shocks in recent African history -- and with it the chance
of a new beginning."

The MDC led by former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai has suspended its
participation in the March election. - I-Net Bridge
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Courier Mail, Brisbane
 

gran
'GOT to go' . . . Pat Mansill wipes a tear from her eye as she leaves Brisbane Airport yesterday for the UK, leaving her family behind. Picture: Glenn Barnes.
Gran leaves so family can stay
Leah Moore and Guy Mosel
06oct04

PAT Mansill was quick to wipe the moisture from her eyes, saying she didn't want her beloved grandchildren to know she was upset.

"I told the kids this was a happy time. If I've got to go, I've got to go," the 69-year-old said while choking back tears.

"I just don't want them to be upset."

The tears came as Mrs Mansill waited at Brisbane Airport yesterday for her flight to Sydney and then eventually on to London after being denied permanent residency in Australia.

The Department of Immigration decreed Mrs Mansill no longer satisfied the medical requirements for permanent residency after being diagnosed and treated for stomach cancer in London last year.

By leaving the country Mrs Mansill essentially becomes a "gypsy", but the selfless decision means her daughter Laura, son-in-law John Watson and their three young children – who all migrated with her from Zimbabwe in 2002 – are able to stay in Australia.

"I'm really pleased that they've got their residency, that is the main thing for me," Mrs Mansill said.

"It has come at a huge price, but maybe things will change."

Mrs Mansill spent Sunday with her family in Goondiwindi.

Although her forced departure has devastated Mrs Mansill and her family, she was yesterday resigned to the decision and thanked all those who had supported her and her family.

"To be quite honest coming from Zimbabwe I don't think there is much advantage in getting mad at a government, even this one. I thought they would be more sympathetic but that's probably stupid."

Mrs Mansill will have a check-up with her oncologist in London and will then visit her other two daughters.

In a written response to yesterday's Courier-Mail story, Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said Mrs Mansill "has not left Australia as a result of bureaucratic bungling or unfairness by the Department of Immigration".

"All applicants for permanent visas are required to undertake health checks," Senator Vanstone said.

"This is a longstanding and understandable part of migration legislation. The family elected to remove Mrs Mansill from their permanent visa application to enable them to gain permanent residence."

Senator Vanstone said Mrs Mansill is still eligible to apply for long-stay visitor visas allowing her to stay in Australia for up to 12 months at a time.


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New Zimbabwe

Mugabe: 'Blacks now at centre of economic activity'

By Agencies
Last updated: 10/06/2004 00:20:50
A DEFIANT Robert Mugabe says his land reforms had earned Zimbabwe many
enemies in the West, but his government would not be bullied into abandoning
the controversial policy.

Mugabe has seized hundreds of white-owned farms in the last four years to
resettle landless blacks, saying he was correcting imbalances created by
more than 90 years of British colonialism.

However, his critics say the seizures violated property rights and amount to
racism against whites. Speaking at a state dinner for visiting Yoweri
Museveni, the Ugandan president, Mugabe said Zimbabwe believed Africans had
to be vigilant in fighting for their rights and in their struggle for
economic development. "It is well known that in pursuit of that vision,
Zimbabwe has made many enemies in the West," he said at the dinner last
night.

"Your visit will, therefore, afford you the opportunity to see that our land
reform programme, which Britain and her Western allies viciously oppose, has
put indigenous Zimbabweans at the centre of economic activity," Mugabe told
Museveni, who ends a three-day visit to Zimbabwe tomorrow.

The visit by Museveni, one of East Africa's influential leaders, is seen as
a show of political solidarity with Mugabe, and as bolstering his standing
on a continent where he has enjoyed diplomatic support despite calls for his
isolation by Western opponents and the domestic opposition. Mugabe said land
reforms - which critics say have reduced a once regional breadbasket country
to one now struggling with food shortages - had economically empowered a
majority of Zimbabweans.

The veteran Zimbabwean leader, in power since independence in 1980, said
Museveni had been invited for a state visit to help improve bilateral
relations that had been temporarily strained by a war in the Democratic
Republic of Congo. Zimbabwe led Angola and Namibia into Congo in 1998 to
fight against Rwanda and Ugandan-backed rebels. Harare withdrew the last of
its troops last year under an UN-sponsored peace plan. - Reuters

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The Herald

50 000 people await resettlement

From Masvingo Bureau
ABOUT 50 000 people in Masvingo are on the waiting list for resettlement as
efforts to resettle them are being hampered by the slow pace in the
confirmation of gazetted farms by the courts.

This was said by Masvingo Governor Cde Josaya Hungwe last week when he
addressed Zimbabwean and Chinese army officers from the Zimbabwe Staff
College at the Great Zimbabwe Monument.

He said more land was needed to resettle thousands of landless villagers in
the province.

Cde Hungwe saluted the decision by Government to decentralise the operations
of the Administrative Court to provinces, a move which he said had improved
the confirmation of gazetted farms.

Cde Hungwe said out of the 489 farms measuring 1,5 million hectares that had
been gazetted for acquisition, only 78 have been confirmed by the
Administrative Court.

"We went through a very difficult phase in trying to acquire land to
resettle our people because of the resistance by white farm owners, but
today the main challenge is in the confirmation of gazetted farms at the
Administrative Court.

"Many people in the province still need more land and about 50 000 people
are on the waiting list and the land from the farms that have been gazetted
will not be sufficient. So we need more land," said Cde Hungwe.

He revealed that they were going to resettle some of the people at Nuanetsi
Ranch and Mazangula in the Lowveld and at Magudu Ranch in Masvingo district
as part of efforts to quench the hunger for land in the province.

Since the start of the land reform programme, about 26 400 families had been
resettled on gazetted properties in the province on 219 farms measuring
about 750 000 hectares.

Cde Hungwe said Government had since co-opted chiefs into the resettlement
exercise, saying that all those illegally staying on ungazetted farms were
now obliged to register with their chiefs.

Indigenous black people had allocated land in the Lowveld to venture into
sugar cane farming, breaking the whites' stranglehold on the lucrative
industry.

"We have resettled about 535 A2 farmers in the Lowveld to grow sugar cane, a
move that has greatly transformed their lives. This year, the farmers are
expecting about $10 billion from their crop," Cde Hungwe said.

He hailed the Government for repealing the 1964 Hippo Valley Act which he
described as a "racist piece of legislation" that was scuttling efforts to
expedite the acquisition of properties to resettle people in the Lowveld.

Cde Hungwe said it was imperative for Government to speedily come up with a
policy on conservancies that would also pave the way for the entry of
indigenous people into the lucrative sector.

Addressing the same gathering, Matabeleland North Governor Cde Obert Mpofu
challenged more indigenous people to venture into safari operations which he
said were lucrative but were dominated by the country's detractors.

Cde Mpofu said the other major challenge to the land reform programme was
setting up infrastructure like roads and clinics in areas where people were
resettled.

He said people who were allocated land should use the land they were
allocated optimally despite the lack of machinery. They must use the
resources at their disposal to make sure the land reform programme was a
success.
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Business Day

Top Zimbabwe bankers in custody

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HARARE - Two executives of Zimbabwe's troubled Royal Bank have been remanded
in police custody without being formally charged by a Harare magistrate on
Tuesday.

The two men, chief executive officer Jeffrey Mzwimbi and executive director
Simba Durajadi, are likely to appear in court later this week to face
charges of fraud.

Police allege they defrauded the bank of billions of Zimbabwe dollars.

In August the country's central bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe placed
Royal Bank under curatorship and directed a six-month freeze on all deposits
and assets.

Royal joins a list of locally owned banks being investigated by the Reserve
Bank for misuse of funds and under-capitalisation.

No comment was available from police, but it is believed Mzwimbi  and
Durajadi will this week ask to be remanded on bail.

A crackdown on corrupt officials, bankers and businessmen in Zimbabwe has
seen several high profile people remanded in police cells, including former
finance minister Chris Kureneri who is still in custody.
Kureneri faces charges of externalising foreign currency to build a lavish
mansion in Cape Town.

Sapa

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Conference to Find Way Forward for Zimbabwe Polls

BuaNews (Pretoria)

October 5, 2004
Posted to the web October 5, 2004

Richard Mantu
Pretoria

Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Aziz Pahad has urged Africans to use
legitimate mechanisms to measure the democratic course the continent has
undertaken.

Speaking during a conference on the Forthcoming Elections in Zimbabwe,
yesterday, Mr Pahad said the challenge for Africans was the implementation
of agreed programmes meant to put the continent on a democratic path.

Guided by the Constitutive Act, the African Union at a summit held in Durban
in 2002, adopted the Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic
Elections in Africa.

In addition the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting in
Mauritius, recently adopted Guidelines and Principles governing democratic
elections.

"The biggest challenge we have to grapple with as a continent, is the
implementation of our programmes to build a democratic Africa," Mr Pahad
told members of Zimbabwe civil society, church groups and union leaders.

He said the AU member states adopted the programmes knowing that democratic
elections was a basis of the authority of any representative government.

"Regular elections constitute a key element of the democratisation process
and therefore, are essential ingredients for good governance, the rule of
law, the maintenance and promotion of peace, security, stability and
development," he said.

Turning to Zimbabwe, Mr Pahad told delegates that President Robert Mugabe
had announced electoral reforms, which included the establishment of the
Independent Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to ensure free and fair elections.

These also included the establishment of the Elections Appeal Court to hear
electoral petitions, or complaints.

Some commentators have seen this as a step towards the right direction, as
the 2000 Presidential Elections in that country were alleged to be ridden
with fraud as opposition parties claimed that Mr Mugabe instituted
repressive laws that inhibited his opponents to fully participate in the
elections.

However, some delegates at the conference expressed scepticism against the
reforms, with one saying "Zimbabwe has to create an environment of
confidence and get rid of the fear because when people are frightened they
can't fully participate in the electoral process".

Another delegate said the Electoral Commission was a sham as "the president
as the player in the elections has the right to appoint a chairperson of the
independent body."

"The president can also amend the Electoral Act without consultation during
the election process, while civil society groups are barred from conducting
voter education unless they are appointed by the commission," she said.

The conference will deliberate on other issues today, including on what
steps to take to ensure Zimbabwe fully conducted free and fair elections
that the international community will not denounce.
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From The Daily Mirror, 5 October

Showdown looms over evictions

A showdown is looming between the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans
Association (ZNLWA) in Bulawayo and the provincial administrator's office in
the city over the eviction of 160 farmers from Mfazimithi Farm in Umguza
district last week. Police last Tuesday evicted the farmers from the land
they occupied at the height of land invasions in 2000. The farmers, who have
been staying in the open about 3 kilometres from the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo
International Airport along the Nkayi Road since the eviction, told the
Daily Mirror yesterday that they had been allocated land at the farm by
Bulawayo war veterans. They said the police had swooped on them and did not
give them time to gather their belongings and domestic animals, including
cattle and donkeys. Matabeleland North Provincial Administrator Latiso
Dlamini last week told a local daily that the people had illegally allocated
themselves land at the farm, a claim which has been dismissed as inaccurate
by ZNLWA chairman, Jabulani Sibanda. "Where was the PA's office when these
people were occupying the farm? Does Dlamini mean that these people were
illegally born in this country?" fumed Sibanda yesterday. He stressed that
an Act of Parliament protected all people occupying land. "The law is quiet
clear that if government decides to remove people from farms for various
reasons, alternative land should be found for them. This stupid position by
the PA's office to deprive poor and defenceless people will not be tolerated
by war veterans," warned Sibanda. War veterans, he said, were monitoring
events closely and were greatly disturbed by recent unpalatable developments
in the agrarian reforms. Meanwhile the evicted farmers are appealing to the
government to assist them with food and sanitary facilities. "Since last
week we have been enduring cold weather, mosquitoes and hunger. Most of our
children have also been deprived of education," said David Mpofu, a
spokesperson for the evicted farmers.
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