Media Institute of Southern
Africa (Windhoek)
PRESS RELEASE
19 September 2007
Posted to the web
19 September 2007
In the first case of its kind, a Harare magistrate
has tried and convicted a
man who was found in possession of a printed email
message containing
information that was said to denigrate President Robert
Mugabe and Vice
President Joice Mujuru.
On 23 August 2007, Tendai
Murove was charged and convicted on his own plea
of guilt to contravening
section 26(1)(a) as read with section 33 of the
colonial Censorship and
Entertainment Control Act after he was found in
possession of a six-page
letter allegedly sent to him by a friend. Section
26 prohibits the
possession of prohibited articles while section 33 states
the determination
of what is indecent or obscene or offensive or harmful to
public
morals.
The message, which was written in Shona, repeatedly makes
reference to
Mugabe and Mujuru, mocking Mugabe for his economic policies and
Zimbabwe's
record inflation, which now stands above 6,000
percent.
"There is not a drop of fuel in Zimbabwe. Neither is there any
sign of beer.
I pray that Bush (George) and (Tony) Blair can come and rid us
of this
bespectacled man," the email laments in apparent reference to
Mugabe.
"My sister-in-law hails from a wealthy family. She only gets
reminded of
matters to do with Zimbabwe's economic problems and inflation
when Gono
(Gideon, the central bank governor) presents his monetary policy
statements.
She has a sizeable round bottom. From that you can tell she grew
up sitting
on a sofa, unlike those (bottoms) of (Vice President) Mai Mujuru
which were
repeatedly scratched by thorny bushes and bullets during the
liberation
war."
Murove was convicted and sentenced to a fine of Z$1
million (approx. US$33)
or seven days' imprisonment.
Murove was
initially arrested for public drinking in Harare's Avenues area.
The police
then discovered the document on him.
BACKGROUND:
Faced with
growing criticism over its policies, the Zimbabwean government
recently
introduced a plethora of laws which critics say are designed to
both silence
and punish dissenting voices. One such law, the Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), has seen a number of
independent media
journalists arrested for allegedly publishing information
the government
deemed to be subversive.
The government recently enacted new legislation,
the Interception of
Communications Act that empowers the authorities to open
emails, letters as
well as to monitor telephonic conversations of
people.
MISA Zimbabwe is outraged by the fact that Murove was charged and
convicted
for something he did not even author.
Section 20 of the
Zimbabwean Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of
expression, which
includes the right to receive and to disseminate
information. Murove
received the email and MISA-Zimbabwe believes he should
not have been
punished for a constitutionally guaranteed right and is
convinced that
section 26 of the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act is
ultra vires
the Constitution and should be challenged.
The Zimbabwean
(19-09-07)
MISA-Zimbabwe
Alert
19 September 2007
Government boost propaganda project as
'rural Information Officers' are
deployed
The government is set to
deploy 60 'Information Officers' under the
Zimbabwe Information Service
(ZIS) by November 2007 to facilitate news
dissemination from the rural
areas. ZIS is a defunct Ministry of
Information and Publicity news agency
meant to convey government information
in rural areas and vice versa. ZIS
was active in the 1980s and has existed
only in name since then.
In
an address to Harare Polytechnic School of Journalism students on 14
September 2007, the acting Director for Rural Communication in the Ministry
of Information and Publicity, Regis Chikowore, stated that currently there
are 38 information officers operating in selected parts of the country, with
the number expected to rise to 60 by November 2007. According to the
Ministry this move will ensure that all the rural districts are manned by
information officers.
The acting Director went on to state that
besides news dissemination, the
information officers would be liable for
revitalizing the operation of the
mobile video units to be used to breach
the rural- urban digital divide.
He highlighted that presently, the
government is mobilizing resources to
set up rural information centers and
mobile units which would be used to
address the information and
communication needs of rural people.
Speaking on the same issue during
the official launch of the National
Information Communication Technology
(ICT) Policy Framework by President
Robert Mugabe in Harare , the Minister
of Information and Publicity,
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, said the information
centers would be rural-based
multimedia platforms which the government
intends to avail to rural
communities.
MISA-Zimbabwe expresses
concern that the sudden realization of the need for
information distribution
in rural areas is a sinister ploy to flood rural
communities with ruling
party campaign materials disguised as information
towards the 2008
elections. This fear is based on the current skewed and
biased coverage of
issues by the state controlled media. MISA-Zimbabwe
further expresses
surprise that at a time when national institutions
including the state
broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation are
struggling
financially the Ministry has resources to pour into the defunct
ZIS. This
project therefore raises serious questions on its sincerity and
anticipated
benefits to rural communities long cut off from access to
information.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
19 September 2007
Posted to the web 19 September
2007
Henry Makiwa
Zimbabwe's main labour union received a
boost Wednesday as various
pro-democracy movements affirmed their support
towards the mass job boycott
that continues through
Thursday.
According to reports, response to the stayaway was slow in most
cities
across the country today. However civil society and the opposition
have
swiftly moved to the side of labour in support of the strike, called by
the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). Labour is protesting the
six-month
blanket wage freeze decreed by Robert Mugabe a fortnight
ago.
The National Constitution Assembly (NCA), the Progressive
Teachers Union of
Zimbabwe (PTUZ), the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) and the
London-based Zimbabwe Vigil are some of the
organisations that declared
their support for the labour action.
NCA
national co-ordinator Ernest Mudzengi, said despite most workers showing
up
for work on the first day of the stay away, most did not conduct their
normal duties once at the workplace.
Mudzengi said: "Workers are
simply 'staying away' at work and that's a very
strong statement as well.
Before anyone dismisses this strike as a failure,
you should assess the
conditions and circumstances facing workers and the
labour
leaders.
"Workers are threatened by employers with job losses while the
ZCTU is being
pursued by state security agents. The safe route for some
therefore, is to
report to work and not do anything at all," he
said.
Lovemore Matombo and Wellington Chibhebhe, the ZCTU's president and
secretary general respectively, are understood to be in hiding following an
onslaught by police on the labour union, which saw at least ten being
arrested across the country since Monday.
Sithokozile Siwela, the
ZCTU secretary for the Women's Advisory Council,
today confirmed that both
Matombo and Chibhebhe were on the run.
Siwela said: "We have gathered
that the police have actually been to
Matombo's house and confiscated his
mobile phones and detained his brother
Ephraim and a domestic worker until
they locate Matombo.
"We will however push forward with the stayaway
despite the arrests and
harassments. Already we have received support from
organisations outside the
country and we will be holding a demonstration in
London on Thursday," she
added.
Siwela also invited Zimbabweans in
London to join the Zimbabwe Vigil, the
Action for Southern Africa and the
Trade Unions Congress, for a protest
march outside the Zimbabwe embassy at
noon on Thursday.
Meanwhile the PTUZ has called on teachers not to return
to work, after the
end of the ZCTU job boycott.
PTUZ general
secretary Raymond Majongwe, urged teachers to shift from the
go-slow mode
and embark on a full strike after government refused to
increase their wages
this month.
Majongwe said: "We are in solidarity with the ZCTU in this
strike. Most of
our members discovered that the government had not increased
our salaries
when they checked their pay Wednesday morning.
"We are
obviously very dejected and angry indeed because some of us have
earned as
little as Z$1 million. The government should realise that it is
not our will
to go to strike, but they are forcing us to do it if they can't
recognise
our worth and effort," he said.
Thousands of teachers have been skipping
borders into neighbouring countries
for menial jobs as the economic crisis
continues to bite. According to
sources, at least 21 teachers quit their
posts at Kuwadzana high school
alone last week.
VOA
By Peta Thornycroft
19 September
2007
Despite a rare moment of harmony in parliament Tuesday
between the ruling
ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change, arrests of
opposition personalities in Zimbabwe continue. Peta
Thornycroft reports for
VOA that a founding leader of the protest group
Women of Zimbabwe Arise is
still in detention after her arrest on
Tuesday.
Since she helped found the protest group Women of Zimbabwe Arise
four years
ago, Magodonga Mahlangu has been arrested many times. She was
picked up
again on Tuesday on her way into the center of Zimbabwe's second
largest
city Bulawayo. This was hours before the two factions of the divided
opposition MDC united in parliament to support the ruling ZANU-PF's proposal
for a constitutional amendment which may lead to a new constitution for
Zimbabwe.
The state press and opposition legislators both hailed the
moment of unity.
A spokesman for the MDC, Nelson Chamisa, said the
opposition is not selling
out, but had to support the amendment, because it
could lead to a new
constitution with better laws. He said the crisis in
Zimbabwe needs a
resolution because people are suffering from a lack of the
basics necessary
for life.
Brian Raftopoulos, a prominent Zimbabwean
political analyst, said Wednesday
the amendment is a confidence building
exercise and part of the South
African-backed mediation between the two
political parties.
Despite the moment, repression continues and, on
Wednesday, Mahlangu was
still in detention but had seen her
lawyers.
When she was picked up, she was held in a cell with activists
from the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. The ZCTU had called for a
two-day
national strike beginning Wednesday, but few workers heeded their
call.
Last week, the MDC in Harare reported that Jabulani Chiwoka, who
intended to
stand in rural elections next year, was stabbed to death in
Marondera, a
small town 120 km southeast of Harare.
One of his
associates, Tafirenyika Nyandoro, was injured in the attack. The
MDC said
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights is investigating.
Police were not
available for comment Wednesday on the latest arrests.
Mail and Guardian
Peter Apps | London, United Kingdom
19 September 2007
06:30
Economic crisis, hunger and the impact of Aids
are pushing
Zimbabwean children as young as seven to risk exploitation and
walk alone or
in small groups into South Africa, aid group Save the Children
said on
Wednesday.
Hungry, tired and often
orphaned, the children come in
hope of food, work or schooling. More often,
they end up being exploited by
unscrupulous guides or employers and end up
living in squatter camps or
rubbish dumps, the agency
said.
"They are definitely chronically malnourished,"
Save the
Children spokesperson Dominic Nutt said by telephone from near
South
Africa's border with Zimbabwe.
"They have
swollen stomachs and ripped clothes. They look
a lot younger than they
really are. But they still see South Africa as the
Promised Land despite
everything."
Economic crisis, drought, runaway
inflation currently at 6
600% and one of Southern Africa's worst HIV
epidemics have led millions of
weary Zimbabweans to move to more stable
neighbouring countries.
The aid group estimates about 1
500 underage Zimbabweans
cross into South Africa each
year.
Based on a survey of 130 such children in
Johannesburg and
near the borders with Zimbabwe and Mozambique, the group
said one quarter
had already been returned to their native lands at once but
managed to get
out again.
"The seven-year-olds
won't usually be coming across on
their own," said Nutt. "But they might be
coming across in groups of four
with 10- and 11-year-olds. They are being
taken across mainly by local
guides -- which is a euphemism for thugs who
beat and exploit them."
Half the children said they had
paid a bribe to get across
the border, while 14% said they had been
assaulted.
With many of the children lacking
documentation, only one
in three surveyed had found a place at schools and
most were forced to work,
Save the Children said.
South African officials have struggled to cope with the
influx.
Save the Children said it hoped to set up
shelters along
the border where young Zimbabweans -- and other needy
children including
South Africans -- could be cared for and
schooled.
"These children are coming and we have to
deal with that,"
Nutt said. "We don't need to go criticising the South
African government --
they are still trying to build housing for South
Africans." -- Reuters
VOA
By Chinedu Offor
Washington
19 September
2007
In Zimbabwe, the ruling party and both factions of the
main opposition party
have agreed to amend the Constitution.
The
ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
held
talks in the capital, Harare, in the face of widespread skepticism that
they
could reach an agreement. If the amendment is adopted, it will expand
the
membership of Parliament and improve electoral laws ahead of next year's
election.
Chris Maroleng is senior researcher at the Institute of
Security Studies. He
says the recent development in Zimbabwe is
significant.
"I think that it is a positive development in Zimbabwe
politics which has
been characterized by intransigence on the part of
ZANU-PF and a lack of
strategic vision and direction on the part of the
MDC"," he says.
He says that the opposition has made some achievement in
getting the ruling
party to give in to some demands.
"I think we can
look at it from the stand point of the SADC brokered
negotiations between he
two main political parties. When seen it this light,
we can see the
constitutional amendment is really provisions that were
agreed upon during
this on- going negotiations dialogue between this
political parties," he
says.
Maroleng says that it will take time for the benefits of this
breakthrough
to impact on the lives of the people.
"What it would
ultimately provide for the Zimbabwe people is the possibility
for the MDC
and ZANU-PF at these negotiations being able to find more
compromises and
further movement towards resolving the crisis in Zimbabwe,"
he says.
By Tichaona Sibanda
19
September 2007
The MDC will never join Zanu-PF in a government of
national unity or broker
any deals that are detrimental to its existence,
the party's chief
representative in London said on Wednesday.
Many
worried Zimbabweans had raised their concerns after both factions of
the MDC
announced they had struck a deal not to oppose the amended
constitutional
amendment number 18. There were suggestions from concerned
activists that
the party would go the same way as Zapu, which was swallowed
up by Zanu-PF
after striking a peace deal in 1987.
Hebson Makuvise, the MDC chief in
the UK, sought to remind people that five
weeks ago Robert Mugabe was
telling the world his party would never deal
with the MDC on any
constitutional matters. He said in any negotiations,
parties come to a
compromise as has happened in Parliament on Tuesday,
although a new
constitution was still on top of their agenda.
'While we work towards
that (a new constitution) we have to work with
Zanu-PF to repeal repressive
laws such as AIPPA and POSA that are contained
in the current constitution,'
Makuvise said.
The chief representative said what people seem to have
missed is that from
the changes agreed to in the new version of amendment
number 18 was that the
man who helped Zanu-PF 'win' all its elections since
Independence will not
play any role in next year's
elections.
'Tobaiwa Mudede is now out of the equation, and so too is the
power by
Zanu-PF to change constituency boundaries. Robert Mugabe no longer
has the
power to appoint a commission that will run the elections, but
because of
the majority he enjoys in Parliament he will have the privilege
to appoint
his successor when he decides to retire. But this depends if he
wins the
elections. People talk as if he has already won them,' Makuvise
said.
Referring to Tuesday's events where the MDC and Zanu-PF unanimously
agreed
to amend the constitution amendment Bill Number 18, which seeks also
to
harmonise presidential and parliamentary elections, Makuvise said there
was
no winner or loser from the pact. Further deliberations on other
important
aspects, including the overhaul of the security, media and
electoral laws
are expected to be discussed during this parliamentary
session.
'This (deal) was a victory for all Zimbabweans because a
journey of a
thousand miles starts with single step. We are still
negotiating and the MDC
has not put pen to paper yet. We are still looking
at more constitutional
and electoral changes so we are keeping an open
mind,' he said.
The six amendments that drew unity from both sides of the
House and agreed
to in the ongoing dialogue between the warring parties were
that the House
of Assembly membership of 210 members is to be directly
elected by voters
registered in the 210 constituencies.
The Senate
will be constituted of a membership of 93 made up by six senators
per
province directly elected by voters registered in the 60 Senatorial
constituencies plus 10 provincial governors appointed by Mugabe in terms of
legislation governing the appointment of Governors.
Mugabe will also
appoint the president and deputy president of the Council
of chiefs, 16
chiefs--two from each of the provinces other than metropolitan
provinces and
five Senators. All four elections, for President, House of
Assembly,
Senatorial and Local Authorities will take place at the same time.
During
deliberations on the passage of the Bill, MDC leaders Thokozani Khupe
and
Gibson Sibanda reiterated that they still wanted what they called a
people-driven constitution and an overhaul of some security and media
laws.
But despite this analysts remain sceptical. A comment on ZWNews
Wednesday
said by failing to put up even ultimately futile arguments against
the Bill
in parliament, the (two MDC factions) have done precisely what the
government desires.
'They have begun the process, however
unwittingly, of cooperating in their
own demise. The power of the president
to name his successor - through his
party's majority in parliament - remains
included in this odious Bill. And
glaring by its omission is any mention of
the comprehensively rigged voters'
roll, the totally biased electoral
apparatus and election courts, and the
various Zanu PF-controlled militias
that make any talk of free and fair
elections a sick joke,' the website
said.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
Time
Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2007 By
ALEX PERRY
The story of Zimbabwe's downward spiral now has a climax -
and even a
possible end-date. A constitutional amendment passed Tuesday by
Zimbabwe 's
parliament paves the way for joint parliamentary and
presidential elections
in March 2008. The bill also allows parliament to
elect a new president if
the incumbent does not serve a full term. Since his
ZANU-PF party has a
parliamentary majority, that effectively gives President
Robert Mugabe the
authority to handpick a successor, if he so chooses, even
before the next
election. Raising the possibility of Mugabe's departure, the
Brussels-based
International Crisis Group (ICG), a leading think-tank on
global conflict,
said one of the keys to saving Zimbabwe was offering Mugabe
and his allies
amnesty from prosecution, and allowing them to keep fortunes
amassed during
their rule, in exchange for political reform and a free and
fair election.
It added that Zimbabwe's "only real hope" lay in the South
Africa-mediated
talks between the government and the
opposition.
Despite the often violent suppression by the government of
opposition
activity in recent years, Tuesday's bill had the support of both
the
government and the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic
Change
( M.D.C.). This rare consensus - brokered in the South African
negotiations - prompted Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, who represented
the government in the talks, to declare a "new unity of purpose" in
Zimbabwe. Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the main faction of the M.D.C.,
agreed the development indicated progress in the talks.
Talking is
certainly an improvement in Zimbabwean politics. But make no
mistake, this
is merely setting the date for a fight. Both sides have reason
to believe
that an election will work to their advantage. The ruling
Zanu-PF, however
much Western governments may dislike the idea, remains
Zimbabwe's most
popular and most effective political party - and it can
expect to win. The
M.D.C., on the other hand, believes that a campaign will
give it a platform
to get its message across to Zimbabweans and the
international
community.
The latest political intrigues have little impact, however, on
the vortex of
deepening poverty in which most Zimbabweans now find
themselves.
Unemployment stands at 80% and between 3 and 4 million of a
total population
of 12 million have fled the county. Mugabe's government
announced what it
considered good news on Tuesday, declaring inflation had
fallen from 7,
634.8 % to 6,592.8%. The widespread failure of last year's
maize harvest has
left millions dependent on food aid. Today, the streets of
Harare and
Bulawayo are as empty as the shelves in their food stores. The
question is:
when the politicians finally decide who is to run Zimbabwe, how
much will be
left of the country?
The Namibian
(Windhoek)
19 September 2007
Posted to the web 19 September
2007
Windhoek
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's spokesman has
ordered state media editors
to impose a partial blackout on Vice President
Joice Mujuru, whose camp
within the ruling Zanu-PF party has been actively
seeking the veteran
leader's ouster, ZimOnline established on
Monday.
Authoritative sources told ZimOnline that George Charamba
summoned top
editors from Harare-based state media last Thursday and ordered
a blackout
on Mujuru and her known allies.
Editors of the state
media's print flagship The Herald, its sister The
Sunday Mail as well as the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation attended the
meeting held at Charamba's
Munhumutapa offices. The presidential spokesman
tightly controls state media
entities because of his position and closeness
to Mugabe. The sources said
Charamba, who is also permanent secretary in the
Ministry of Information and
Publicity, told the editors that they should
amplify support for Mugabe's
candidature in next year's watershed
presidential elections.
"We were
told to bring to the limelight the fact that most party organs
support
Mugabe's candidature," said an editor who attended the meeting but
spoke on
condition he was not named.
The editor said Charamba was emphatic that
the Mujuru faction should be
blocked out from news coverage. "Mujuru herself
would have her coverage
reduced to a bare minimum. We can't completely
ignore her because she is the
vice-president," the editor said. Charamba was
not available for comment.
His boss, Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu,
refused to comment on the
matter yesterday, insisting that he did not attend
the meeting.
"I don't even know that my secretary had a meeting with
editors recently,"
said Ndlovu, a Mugabe loyalist. The partial blackout is
seen as part of the
bitter internal infighting in Zanu PF over who will
succeed Mugabe. Mujuru
and her husband, retired army general Solomon Mujuru,
lead a Zanu PF faction
that is vigorously pushing for Mugabe's retirement.
The faction has on two
occasions since last year successfully blocked
Mugabe's efforts to win
endorsement as the Zanu-PF candidate for next year's
presidential election,
forcing the necessity of a special Zanu PF congress
in December to settle
the matter. Another faction led by Rural Housing and
Social Amenities
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and supported by war veterans,
has thrown its
hat in with Mugabe, hoping for a swap deal.
The state
media has of late given acres of space to war veterans and other
pro-Mugabe
party organs such as the Zanu PF Youth League and Women's League.
From The Daily Mail (UK), 19 September
By Gwyneth
Rees
British Airways is expected to announce that it is to end its
flights to the
Zimbabwean capital Harare. The UK's largest carrier is to
cease flying to
the beleaguered country in October, citing economic reasons.
In a statement
issued last night, it said: "We have made no secret about the
fact we have
been reviewing our Harare service. We will be announcing the
conclusions
very shortly." British Airways is currently the only European
carrier that
flies to Harare, with three flights a week leaving from
Heathrow airport.
Although the airline insists that any decision will be for
"commercial
reasons" and not a boycott of Robert Mugabe's despotic regime,
the step is
likely to increase the isolation of the ruler. It may also
encourage other
British businesses to review their links with the south
African country,
which has seen inflation rocket to 8,000 per cent. Shops
also have no food,
hospitals have no medicine and the average life
expectancy is 37 for men and
34 for women.
The decision to axe
flights will be a huge step for British Airways, which
has been flying to
Harare since the 1930s. The only gap in the service was
between 1965 and
1979, when flights were suspended due to economic
sanctions. It is thought
that those wishing to continue to fly to Zimbabwe
will have to fly to
Johannesburg in South Africa and get a connecting flight
with a BA franchise
airline Comair. Passengers who have booked Harare
flights with BA leaving
from October onwards are likely to be contacted in
the near future about
making different arrangements. The decision comes in
the week the Archbishop
of York called for tough economic and sporting
sanctions against Robert
Mugabe's tyrannical regime in Zimbabwe.
Ugandan-born Dr John Sentamu called
Mugabe a racist dictator and compared
him to his own country's murderous
leader of the 1970s, Idi Amin. Last year,
Air Zimbabwe suspended its own
flights to London fearing the seizure of its
planes by a European navigation
agency over a $2.8 million debt.
Monsters and Critics
Sep 19, 2007, 9:52 GMT
Johannesburg/Harare -
Zimbabwe's main political parties have agreed that
President Robert Mugabe
should no longer be allowed to handpick members of
the lower house of
assembly, reports said Wednesday.
The ruling ZANU-PF and the two factions
of the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) agreed on Tuesday to
amend Zimbabwe's constitution
to create a bigger parliament of 210 elected
members, the official Herald
newspaper reported.
Currently the lower
house of assembly has 120 elected members. Thirty other
seats are taken by
chiefs, generally seen as loyal to Mugabe, as well as
governors and
non-constituency MPs directly appointed by the president.
If the
Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill is passed into law, the
83-year old
president will only be allowed to appoint some members of the
upper house of
parliament, the Senate.
The number of seats in the Senate will be
increased from 66 to 93. Sixteen
chiefs will have seats in the Senate, as
will 10 provincial governors who
are chosen by Mugabe. The president will
also handpick five more senators.
In a surprise move, MDC members of
parliament (MPs) on Tuesday allowed the
bill through its second reading
without blocking it.
The opposition had been expected to mount some
resistance to the bill, which
allows for joint presidential and
parliamentary polls in 2008 and had been
condemned by some as a means of
entrenching Mugabe's hold on power.
Thokozani Khupe, the deputy leader of
the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC faction,
said her party decided to co-operate
with the ruling party as a
confidence-building measure following
negotiations led by South Africa.
The new legislation will give the lower
house of assembly powers to appoint
a successor to the president should he
die in office or retire before his
term expires.
Currently Zimbabwe's
constitution says that the vice president should take
over running the
country and an election be held within three months.
Mugabe, who has
ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 is expected to
seek another term
in office in elections next year.
The watershed polls are expected to
take place in March, although
unconfirmed reports say the political parties
are considering postponing
them to June.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche
Presse-Agentur
Business Day
19 September 2007
Dumisani
Muleya
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harare
Correspondent
ZIMBABWE's bitter rival political parties, the ruling Zanu
(PF) and the main
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), yesterday
reached an
agreement on constitutional amendments to facilitate joint
presidential and
parliamentary elections next year.
The agreement,
announced in parliament amid expectations it would pave the
way to resolve
the country's worsening political and economic crisis, almost
certainly
ensures President Robert Mugabe would be re-elected for another
five-year
term of office. This would extend his rule to 32 years.
Mugabe has been
desperate to ensure the Constitutional Amendment (Number 18)
Bill is adopted
by both Zanu (PF) and the MDC to guarantee the legitimacy of
his grand plan
to secure re-election and manage his succession crisis.
Even if Zanu (PF)
has the necessary majority to pass the Bill alone, it
would have been viewed
as illegitimate if the MDC did not endorse it. By
agreeing to the bill, the
MDC unwittingly ensures Mugabe goes to the
elections in a much stronger
position than he would have done if the bill
was not passed with its
support.
The bill is designed to bring together the presidential and
parliamentary
elections.
Officially, government claims this will help
to cut down the costs of
elections, but the real reason was revealed in the
Zanu (PF) central
committee meeting on March 30.
Zanu (PF) senior
official and legal affairs secretary Emmerson Mnangagwa
said joint elections
would help Mugabe's re-election bid because it would
ensure Mugabe and
ruling party MPs' political fates were tied together.
Minutes of the
March 30 meeting also show that the decision to hold the
joint elections was
not a Zanu (PF) resolution, but that of Mugabe,
Mnangagwa and senior party
official Patrick Chinamasa who is currently
spearheading Mugabe's plan in
parliament.
Zanu (PF) overwhelmingly wanted the elections in 2010, but
powerful elements
unilaterally declared they would be held in
2008.
Retired army commander general Solomon Mujuru, a powerful force
in
Zimbabwean politics, blocked Zanu (PF)'s original effort to have both
elections in 2010, saying Mugabe would benefit from another two years in
power.
The bill also helps Mugabe to manage his explosive succession
battle.
It ensures Mugabe's successor is hand-picked by parliament and
Zanu (PF)
insiders, which guarantees Mnangagwa will take power, sidelining
the Mujuru
faction.
While Mugabe makes concessions on electoral
issues in the bill as a result
of the ongoing talks between Zanu (PF) and
the MDC facilitated by President
Thabo Mbeki, Mugabe and Chinamasa made it
clear in the Zanu (PF) politburo
on September 5 the changes agreed to would
not affect their grip on power.
Mbeki and the MDC are under pressure to
salvage something from the talks.
Mbeki wants a solution for the
14-nation Southern African Development
Community, while the MDC wants a
negotiated settlement.
But in the end Mugabe and Zanu (PF) emerge as
winners because the Bill takes
off pressure with a manageable early
election.
Meanwhile, an international think-tank yesterday called on SADC
leaders to
put pressure on Mugabe to retire.
In a report entitled
Zimbabwe: A Regional Solution? the ICG said the SADC
was Zimbabwe's "only
real hope". It urges western leaders "to close ranks"
behind
Mbeki.
The report coincided with the release of figures by Zimbabwe's
Central
Statistics Office that showed hyperinflation had slowed to an
annualised
6593% , down from 7635% in July.
The drop was attributed
to a government decree in June forcing traders to
slash prices by over half
on a range of goods.
The move resulted in panic buying and widespread
shortages. With Sapa-AFP
Comment from ZWNEWS, 19 September
There you have it. Yesterday, without even token
resistance from the
opposition, yet another amendment to the constitution -
the 18th - sailed
unopposed another stage closer to becoming law. The
opposition, of course,
lacks the parliamentary votes to block the Bill's
progress. But by failing
to put up even ultimately futile arguments against
the Bill in parliament,
they have done precisely what the government
desires. They have begun the
process - however unwittingly - of cooperating
in their own demise.
The amending Bill contains many cosmetic changes
labelled by the ruling
party as concessions to the opposition negotiators:
alterations here and
there to the initially proposed increased number of
constituencies, MPs, and
senators, new rules on the demarcation of
constituencies, a reduction in the
number of appointed MPs. But the power of
the president to name his
successor - through his party's majority in
parliament - remains included in
this odious Bill. And glaring by its
omission is any mention of the
comprehensively rigged voters' roll, the
totally biased electoral apparatus
and election courts, and the various Zanu
PF-controlled militias that make
any talk of free and fair elections a sick
joke.
And all this based on a nod and a wink that the ruling party -
among the
least trustworthy administrations on the planet - may relax the
effects of
POSA, AIPPA, and all the other draconian legislation which has so
effectively denied political choice to Zimbabwean voters ever since the
referendum in February 2000. The opposition says that the decision not to
oppose was to show goodwill in the continuing South African-brokered talks
with the government. But bets are now off as to whether their show of
goodwill will be tossed aside - it is now just a question of when. And when
the opposition does cry foul, before or after next year's elections, their
behaviour yesterday will be thrown back in their faces. "You agreed to the
constitutional amendments," the governments of both Zimbabwe and South
Africa will say. They won't have an answer. They will have been co-opted
into legitimising the Zanu PF regime.
SADC and the AU will
trumpet the elections as being free and fair, despite
all the evidence to
the contrary. Mbeki will travel the world saying, with
tongue firmly in
cheek, to anyone who will listen: "How many elections does
Mugabe have to
win in order for you to accept that he is the properly
elected president of
Zimbabwe?" And the repression and economic decline will
continue. Does
nobody remember the brief interregnum between Smith and
Mugabe, when Abel
Muzorewa was a very token prime minister? As it turned
out, his power was
illusory, and the violence and economic slide got worse
and worse during his
tenure. This constitutional agreement will confer even
less power on the
opposition than was allowed to Muzorewa. Welcome to
Muzorewa-lite.
From VOA News, 18 September
By Ndimyake
Mwakalyelye
Washington - Consumer inflation in Zimbabwe declined in
August to 6,592.8%
compared with July's figure of 7,634.8%, the country's
Central Statistical
Office reported Tuesday, but economists questioned
whether the figures
reflected the true cost of living. The agency attributed
the slowdown of
more than 1,000 percentage points to a drop in prices for
food and
non-alcoholic beverages resulting from the government's June-July
campaign
to force producers, wholesalers and retailers to slash their
prices. It said
the cost of living rose 11.8% in August after 31.6% in July.
But independent
economists said they doubted inflation had declined, noting
that the
statistical agency based its findings on official, controlled
prices,
whereas consumers must pay far more on the parallel market to obtain
extremely scarce goods. Harare Economist Eric Bloch told VOA that the CSO
figures flatter inflation performance for two reasons. On the one hand,
inflation has been in the stratosphere for so long that the base of
comparison 12 months ago makes for a less stunning percentage change. More
importantly, he added, the latest report is not based on real-world prices
and "disregards the fact that virtually no products are available at the
official prices." The latest data "are totally false, totally meaningless,
because they are based on prices at which one cannot obtain goods," Bloch
concluded, estimating that in fact inflation has climbed to about 14,000% -
more than double the official rate.
SABC
September 19,
2007, 18:15
Deputy minister of foreign affairs, Aziz Pahad, said tough
decisions need to
be taken to prevent Zimbabwe's economic crisis from
escalating. Pahad was
speaking at a weekly press conference at the Union
Buildings in Pretoria.
A task team, made up of Southern African
Development Community finance
ministers, is to come up with a plan of
action. Inflation in Zimbabwe is now
at 1 000%.
The South African
government has hailed the constitutional changes agreed to
by all the
parties in Zimbabwe as a positive development. It allows for
changes in the
constitution to prepare for free and fair elections.
Yesterday, the
ruling ZANU-PF and the two factions of the opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change announced an agreement on the adoption of a
bill for joint
presidential and legislative elections next year. The
amendments also give
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe sufficient clout to
hand pick his
successor.
Earlier, Pahad said South Africa's stance of "quiet diplomacy"
was showing
results. This comes a day after Archbishop Desmond Tutu called
on Britain to
toughen its stance on Zimbabwe and press its neighbours,
including South
Africa, to intervene.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
19 September 2007
Posted to the web 19 September
2007
Tererai Karimakwenda
After 4 years of battling to get the
African Commission on Human and
People's Rights to hear his torture case
against the government of Zimbabwe,
lawyer and human rights activist Gabriel
Shumba has finally scored a major
victory.
He received a
communication from the Commission acknowledging that his case
will be heard
at the next session. A jubilant Shumba said he is optimistic
he will win the
case, because he has affidavits from doctors, including
government doctors,
and witnesses to support his claims.
Shumba was forced to leave the
country in March 2003 after he was tortured
while in police custody. He has
been assisting Zimbabwean refugees in South
Africa since then, and pushing
for his case to be accepted by this organ of
the African
Union.
Shumba said he has pursued this case because he wanted others who
were
victimized to know that they have options that allow them to pursue
justice
using the Commission as a platform. "I also wanted the world to know
that
even lawyers like myself are not immune to assault or torture under the
Mugabe regime." The lawyer believes a victory could also compel other
governments to desist from torturing their citizens.
On our programme
In The Balance, Shumba told presenter Gugulethu Moyo that
he wanted the
Zimbabwean government to desist from the practice of torture
and abide by
article 5 of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights.
He also
wanted payment for pain and suffering incurred during the horrendous
acts.
The lawyer acknowledged it is difficult to enforce decisions
made by the
Commission, especially if the offending government is stubborn
as in the
case of Zimbabwe. But he said he is happy that at last the
Commission has
agreed there is a case to answer.
From The Baltimore Sun, 19 September
Mugabe power remains intact in package seen as part of
economic rescue
strategy
By Robyn Dixon
Johannesburg -
Zimbabwe's ruling party agreed to modest democratic reforms
yesterday ahead
of national elections, including slashing the presidential
term by a year,
ending presidential appointment of legislators and expanding
the lower house
of parliament. The reform package, however, left intact the
sweeping powers
wielded by President Robert G. Mugabe, and failed to address
the southern
African nation's flawed electoral rolls, less than six months
before
national elections are to be held. Although some analysts hailed the
accord
between the ruling Zanu PF party and two factions of the opposition
Movement
for Democratic Change as an important step toward strengthening
democracy in
Zimbabwe, others viewed it as a cynical concession by a ruling
party that is
confident it can beat a fractured opposition in March
elections. The deal
also was seen as a bid by Mugabe's regime to win greater
credibility for its
electoral procedures as it seeks a regional rescue
package for its
collapsing economy. "It's a very major development in terms
of African
solutions for African problems," government spokesman George
Charamba said
in a telephone interview. He said the reforms answer "all
these claims made,
especially by the Western media, that the negotiations
between Zanu PF and
the MDC are going nowhere. ... Now that there is this
working relationship
between the two parties, it is interesting to see how
this whole argument
justifying sanctions will go. I'd really like to see how
they would justify
that."
The agreement came as the International Crisis Group called on
the West to
drop travel bans and an asset freeze imposed on Zimbabwe's
elite, and
suggested Mugabe and other leaders be offered immunity from
prosecution as a
way out of the country's economic and political crisis.
Mugabe and his
allies are believed to fear charges in connection with the
massacres of
thousands by government security forces in Matebeleland in the
1980s. A
report by the Roman Catholic Church estimated that about 20,000
were killed.
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was arrested last year
and became
the first former African leader to face an international tribunal
on
war-crime charges over his alleged role in Sierra Leone's civil war. He
had
been in exile in Nigeria since relinquishing power in 2003. Mugabe has
ruled
Zimbabwe since the former British colony, then known as Rhodesia, won
independence in 1980 after a liberation war that had made him an enduring
hero in many parts of Southern Africa. Human rights abuses and the country's
decline from one of the region's wealthiest nations to one of its poorest
since have damaged his legacy. The International Monetary Fund has predicted
hyperinflation, now more than 7,500 percent annually, could reach 100,000
percent by the end of the year. Jonathon Moyo, a former Zanu PF Minister who
was sacked by Mugabe for alleged disloyalty, said that while the government
appears confident of victory in March, it is increasingly panicked at
economic chaos sparked by its price-control policies.
"This is an
acknowledgment by the ruling party and by the president that
there's a
crisis that needs to be resolved," Moyo said. "There is a crisis
which has
reached boiling point and left everyone, the ruling party
included, in
uncharted waters, and there is desperate search for a way out.
There are
1,000 miles to walk, and this is the first step in the first
mile." To
obtain the reform package, which also included restrictions on the
president's power to draw electoral boundaries, the opposition agreed to a
government plan to let parliament choose Mugabe's successor upon his
retirement or death. Mugabe increasingly relies on a narrow group of
security and military chiefs for backing, as support in the broader ruling
party falters over concerns about the country's economic chaos. A spokesman
for the smaller of the two MDC factions, Welshman Ncube, said in a telephone
interview that the opposition continued to seek more sweeping constitutional
and electoral change before the March elections. There have been reports the
government is willing to give ground on these issues as well.
UN Integrated Regional
Information Networks
19 September 2007
Posted to the web 19 September
2007
Bulawayo
Desperate measures being taken by residents of
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second
city, to cushion the effects of acute water
shortages are aggravating the
health problems of its 1.5 million
residents.
Stringent water rationing has been introduced in a bid to make
the contents
of fast-dwindling dams last until the onset of the expected
rains in
November, but the municipal council acknowledges that the poor
inflows of
water into the southern city's reservoirs has led to an increase
in
waterborne diseases.
Council spokesperson Pathisa Nyathi told
IRIN the "Council is making every
effort to ensure those who have contracted
diarrhoea receive treatment
before more people are affected," but declined
to disclose how many
residents had suffered from waterborne diseases since
the shortages began in
earnest five months ago.
"We are praying that
we do not get a cholera outbreak because that will be
difficult to control,
but as water shortages continue we are likely to get a
cholera outbreak in
the city, but as of now we are doing everything to
contain the diarrhoea and
dysentery cases," Nyathi said.
The situation is critical and as water
levels deteriorate, residents will be
getting water once in every eleven
days, and we expect this to happen as
from the beginning of
October
"The situation is critical and as water levels deteriorate,
residents will
be getting water once in every eleven days, and we expect
that to happen as
from the beginning of October this year."
Last
year's poor rains, which resulted in some of the city's dams being
decommissioned, has translated into a life of waiting for Makhosana Siziba,
a resident in the working-class suburb of Nkulumane. "Life has become a
routine of queuing," Siziba told IRIN, who spends up to five hours daily at
one of the municipality's boreholes.
"At times fights break out over
positions in the water queue. As far as I
can recall it has never been as
bad as this," the 45-year-old mother of
three said, remembering the 1992
drought when water rationing was also
introduced in the city.
Hand
pumps find favour
Zimbabwe's seven-year economic recession, which has
seen inflation climb to
over 6,000 percent and shortages of electricty, fuel
and food become
commonplace, is deepening the plight of residents, because
many borehole
pumps are driven by electric motors.
"When electricity
is cut we have to walk to the neighbouring suburb, where a
non-governmental
organisation (NGO) has sunk a borehole fitted with a hand
pump. In most
cases, the queue will have stretched for almost a kilometre,"
she told
IRIN.
The difficulty in obtaining water means her children leave for
school
without washing, as "regular bathing has become a luxury", she
said.
To counter the erratic electricity supply, the Department for
International
Development, an international aid agency, has equipped 176 of
the 230
boreholes sunk in and around the city with hand pumps so water can
still be
drawn when power outages occur, albeit at a slower pace, causing
even longer
queues.
Impatient residents have taken to digging shallow
wells, but the lower
levels of hygiene associated with this are heightening
the risk of
waterborne diseases, despite pleas from the city authorities to
refrain from
the practice.
Bulawayo resident Mandla Ndlovu told IRIN
that sourcing water from the
backyard wells has had its consequences. "My
family suffered stomach aches
and had to be hospitalised after drinking
water from the unprotected wells,
and we are now resorting to buying water
sourced from boreholes, as it is
safer."
A 20-litre bucket of water
sells for Z$25,000 (US$0.09 at the parallel
market rate of Z$300,000 to
US$1) in working-class suburbs, while in
middle-class areas the same amount
of water fetches twice as much.
Prioritising water use is having a
knock-on effect on sanitation practices:
in a bid to reduce water
consumption, households are using flush toilets
sparingly and instead
digging shallow furrows in their backyards for
ablutions.
"We have to
use the water sparingly whenever possible. We are fortunate that
we have a
big yard, and reserve the use of temporary pit latrines for
children to
relieve themselves, while the adults use the flush toilet
indoors," said
Siphathekile Ngwenya, 50, in the suburb of Waterford.
"It works for me
because I have five children of my own, two others I
inherited from my late
sister, and an ailing mother-in law to look after,"
Ngwenya told
IRIN.
Underground water supplies polluted
Bulawayo's health
services director, Dr Zanele Hwalima, has warned against
pit latrines
because of the associated health risks. "Wide use of pit
latrines in
built-up areas such as the high-density suburbs is not feasible,
considering
the proximity of houses in these areas."
"Bulawayo is increasingly
relying on borehole water for domestic use. The
use of thousands of pit
latrines in high-density suburbs will pollute our
underground water systems,
and lead to other unforeseen environmental
problems," said director of
Housing and Community Services Isaiah Magagula.
Bulawayo is increasingly
relying on borehole water for domestic use. The use
of thousands of pit
latrines in high density suburbs will pollute our
underground water
systems
Residents are aware of the dangers of polluting the groundwater
and are
taking measures to alleviate the effect of their alternative
sanitation
practices by "borrowing" from the ecological sanitation (Ecosan)
system
developed by the UN children's fund (UNICEF) and World
Vision.
The concept involves twin pit toilets, one metre deep, dug
adjacent to each
other. One hole is kept as dry as possible and after every
visit to the
toilet a mixture of ashes and soil is added to the pit to raise
the pH
level, which balances the acidity or alkalinity of the contents and
inhibits
the growth of pathogenic bacteria.
The only somewhat silver
lining to the widespread electricity outages is
that wood is increasingly
being used as a fuel for cooking and warmth,
generating plenty of ash to
sprinkle into pit latrines.
In periods of normal rainfall, five
reservoirs - Inyankuni, Lower Ncema,
Insiza, Umzingwane and Upper Ncema -
supply the city's daily requirement of
120,000 cubic metres of water, but
two of its dams, Umzingwane and Upper
Ncema, have been decommissioned,
leaving only 69,000 cubic metres for all
the city's
requirements.
Another of the city's reservoirs, Insiza, is to be
decommissioned at the end
of September, which will make the water shortage
even more acute. The
council plans to deploy water bowsers to alleviate the
situation, but there
are fears that it may not have the necessary resources
to cope with the
anticipated demand.
The politics of water
The
last supply dam for Bulawayo was built by the council in 1976, before
the
Water Act was amended, giving sole authority for dam construction to the
central government. No dams have been constructed for the city by President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF government since it assumed power in 1980, when
Zimbabwe obtained independence from Britain.
However, the
southwestern part of the country, including Matabeleland North
and South
provinces, has tended to support the opposition Movement for
Democratic
Change (MDC) in elections.
Although the water shortages are generally
being attributed to severe
drought conditions, the resident ZANU-PF
government minister for Bulawayo,
Cain Mathema, is blaming the city
council.
The city is in this water crisis because of politics and poor
planning by
the opposition [MDC] council. They should allow government to
take over
water supply
"The city is in this water crisis because of
politics and poor planning by
the opposition [MDC] council. They should
allow government to take over
water supply through ZINWA [Zimbabwe National
Water Authority] and unless
that is done government will not help
out."
The executive mayor of Bulawayo, Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube, was elected
to office
in 2002 and has resisted attempts by ZINWA to assume
responsibility for the
sewerage and water management of the city. The mayor
claims that the
government water authority has failed to deliver water
services to other
cities, such as the national capital, Harare, when it
assumed overall
responsibility for water services.
"Our view is that
[the Bulawayo] council would prefer the status quo, as it
has not failed in
its mandate to deliver water to the consumers. There is
nothing
confrontational about this," Ndabeni-Ncube said.
Among several government
departments in arrears to the Bulawayo council for
water and sewage charges,
amounting to a total of Z$8.5 billion (US$28,350),
the Rural Resources and
Water Development ministry, which falls under the
authority of ZINWA, owes
the Bulawayo city council its biggest debt - Z$3.9
billion
(US$13,000).
To boost water supplies, the council is attempting to
resuscitate boreholes
in the Nyamandlovu Aquifer, about 50km northeast of
the city. Only eight of
the aquifer's 77 boreholes are functioning, yielding
298 cubic meters of
water per day, as opposed to the 16,000 cubic metres
supplied to the city
when all boreholes are operational.
It will cost
Z$50 billion (US$166,660) to rehabilitate the 69
non-operational boreholes,
but the ZANU-PF government has been reluctant to
release the money for the
project.
Instead, it favours the construction of the Matabeleland Zambezi
Water
Project, which envisages the construction of a 450km pipeline to
divert
water from the Zambezi River to Bulawayo at a cost of about Z$600
billion
(US$2 million).
[ This report does not necessarily reflect
the views of the United Nations ]
Business Day
19 September 2007
John
Kaninda
Diplomatic
Editor
MOZAMBICAN President Armando Guebuza said that Zimbabwe remained a
"very
serious problem", but one which "is in very good hands" - those of
President
Thabo Mbeki, who was appointed a mediator in Zimbabwe's political
crisis by
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at its summit in
March.
Guebuza was talking at a roundtable discussion organised yesterday
by the
University of Pretoria. He is in the capital for a SA-Mozambique
heads of
state economic bilateral commission meeting with Mbeki.
The
Mozambican president ducked a question on whether it was important that
a
group of former African statesmen be set up to help Mbeki prevail on
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to accept and implement reforms and, most
critically, convince him to retire in 2008.
Guebuza said, however,
that Mbeki enjoyed total confidence from his SADC
peers. "We do support him
and we understand that dialogue between Zimbabwe's
ruling Zanu-PF and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change is at an
advanced
stage."
Guebuza's comments come a day after the Brussels-based
International Crisis
Group (ICG) released its latest report, titled:
Zimbabwe: A regional
solution?
According to the ICG, it was critical
that all international actors closed
ranks behind the Mbeki mediation.
Western sanctions had proven symbolic and
condemnation from the UK and the
US, if anything, was counterproductive
because it helped Mugabe claim he was
the victim of neo-colonial ambitions.
The ICG report also said that SADC
should use its leverage, extend to
Zimbabwe desperately needed aid and ask
the west to lift its sanctions only
for full Zanu-PF co-operation with the
mediation process and implementation
of reforms that will allow free and
fair elections.
Guebuza said that the political and economic situations
in Zimbabwe were
intertwined and it would not be possible to solve one
without solving the
other.
"Once the political problems have been
solved, we may look at the economic
component of the whole issue and make
sure everything moves smoothly," he
said.
But the ICG said that
should co-operation from Zanu-PF not be forthcoming,
Mbeki should "candidly
and promptly acknowledge failure".
It said that the SADC should refuse to
endorse any election which was not
the product of mediation and be ready to
isolate Mugabe and his regime.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
19 September 2007
Posted to the web 19 September
2007
Tererai Karimakwenda
Two student leaders, severely
assaulted by campus police then arrested on
Tuesday, were released late
Wednesday after paying fines.
The president of the University of Zimbabwe
students union, Lovemore
Chinoputsa, and his Secretary General Fortune
Chamba had been arrested
during a demonstration on the UZ campus calling for
a resolution to the
housing problems affecting students. Benjamin Nyandoro,
a programmes officer
in the students union, told us the student leaders paid
a Z$2,500 fine each
after police failed to charge them with any particular
crime. Chinoputsa is
reported to be badly bruised after beatings all over
his body.
The arrests followed a general meeting to discuss the
University's refusal
to provide accommodation in the halls of
residence.
After the meeting students headed for the Vice Chancellors
office to demand
that he address them. It was during this march that
plain-clothes security
guards marching with the students arrested Chinoputsa
and Chamba. Police
took them to Avondale Police station in
Harare.
Over 4000 were kicked out with short notice during a clampdown
last
semester. Critics say this was meant to keep a lid on student activism
ahead
of next year's elections. The university allegedly connived with city
health
authorities and declared the hostels unsuitable for human habitation.
This
was despite a High Court order instructing the university to reopen the
hostels. The students are now calling on the UZ to either open the hostels
or renovate them.
SW Radio Africa
(London)
19 September 2007
Posted to the web 19 September
2007
Tererai Karimakwenda
The 3 members of Women of Zimbabwe
Arise (WOZA) who were arrested by police
in Bulawayo on Tuesday were
released Wednesday afternoon without paying any
fines.
The 3 women,
coordinator Magodonga Mahlangu, Rosemary Siziba and Sitshiyiwe
Ngwenya were
charged under the Criminal Codification Act for malicious
damage to property
owned by the State. The charges relate to messages that
say "choose love
over hate" that have been written on roads in Bulawayo's
western suburbs. It
is not clear whether police will proceed by way of
summons. The group says
there is no evidence at all linking any of the three
activists to the road
markings. The homes of 2 other WOZA members were
raided in the last week by
police looking for paint, related to the
markings. Nothing has been
found.
None of the members were physically harmed, but speaking to
Newsreel after
her release Wednesday Mahlangu said she was removed from
Bulawayo police
station then driven around town and was finally brought to
the 6th street
station 30 kilometres away. She had threatened to go on a
hunger strike
until the police charged her and brought her to court.
Fortunately lawyers
located her and facilitated her release
Wednesday.
While in detention, Mahlangu alleges that Law and Order
officers threatened
her with death, saying when her missing dog is found it
will be next to her
dead body. The WOZA leader claims her dog Snowy was
taken by Officer
Mathonsi the last time the police raided her house. She
said this time, the
police said her dog had been given to "the Chinese".
Mahlangu said she was
harassed and interrogated all day by officers coming
in and out of her cell.
Siziba and Ngwenya were picked up from their
homes Tuesday night and taken
to Donnington Police Station and detained
until Wednesday. Siziba's one and
a half year old daughter was with her in
detention. Mahlangu said the baby
was crying all the time because she was
hungry.
WOZA has been at the forefront of street activism in Zimbabwe.
Their members
have been assaulted, arrested and harassed by police on many
occasions but
this has not stopped them from holding regular, peaceful
demonstrations over
the declining economic conditions
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Mugabe may face greater threat from own party than weakened
MDC.
By Norman Chitapi in Harare (AR No. 133, 19-Sep-07)
Though
President Robert Mugabe is reported by state-controlled media to have
won
endorsement from ZANU-PF's powerful Women's League, Youth League,
traditional leaders and war veterans to lead the party in next year's
elections, analysts say his fight for survival is just beginning.
In
their view, the biggest threat to his supremacy emanates from other more
powerful groupings within his party who are far less vocal in their support
of him.
The decision by the ruling party last week to call for a
special congress in
December suggests deeper, behind-the-scenes divisions in
the ZANU-PF
leadership.
The agenda of the meeting has not been made
public and the ruling party's
political commissar, Elliot Manyika, said it
would be determined by the
central committee.
But speculation is rife
that the purpose of the special congress is to
choose a candidate to
represent ZANU-PF in next year's joint presidential
and parliamentary
elections after a faction of the ruling party, led by
retired army general
Solomon Mujuru, refused to have Mugabe endorsed as the
sole candidate at the
party's central committee meeting in March.
Since then, Mugabe has
cajoled more pliable wings of his party to
demonstrate their show of support
for him as the preferred candidate.
The decision to call for the special
congress shows that Mugabe's position
is now even more precarious because he
has to fight his battle on two
fronts: within his party and against the
opposition, in the form of a
determined, if splintered, Movement for
Democratic Change, MDC.
Oppah Muchinguri, leader of the ZANU-PF Women's
League and a close associate
of Mugabe, has often been quoted endorsing
Mugabe as the sole candidate but
some say she is speaking for herself. She
is openly campaigning to replace
Joice Mujuru, wife of Solomon Mujuru, as
vice-president. She can only
achieve this feat if Mugabe holds on to the
presidency.
All is not well either in the Youth League where vocal Mugabe
supporters -
youth leaders Saviour Kasukuwere and his close lieutenant,
Patrick Zhuwayo
(who is also Mugabe's nephew) - apparently made false claims
that the league
had unanimously endorsed Mugabe as the sole candidate. The
two were
subsequently removed from the leadership of the Youth League,
ostensibly
because they were "too old". However, analysts believe senior
members of the
party opposed to Mugabe were behind the move to clip their
wings.
Two weeks ago, war veterans demonstrated on the streets of the
capital
Harare, vowing that they would "die with our president" who should
be
president for life.
"We don't want to give the imperialists any
room to remove him (Mugabe) from
power and we think now is a good time to
show the whole world that we are
behind President Mugabe," said war veteran
leader Jabulani Sibanda,
explaining the reason for their demonstration.
"Anyone in the ruling party
with ambitions to challenge President Mugabe is
digging his own grave."
Although he denied that there were factions in
ZANU-PF, he referred instead
to "internal reactionary forces within our own
party".
Mugabe has called war veterans "torchbearers" of his presidential
campaign
but as far as the special congress is concerned they have no
independent
vote. Also some analysts say it would be foolish to think that
the war
veterans are a homogenous grouping. A week after the demonstration a
fight
broke out between senior war veteran leaders in Masvingo city, 300
kilometres south of Harare.
War veteran leader Joseph Chinotimba was
beaten up by provincial leaders who
told him they did not support Mugabe's
candidature but backed the Mujuru
faction instead.
In May this year,
some war veterans said they would not campaign for Mugabe
unless they were
given huge cash payments well ahead of the elections.
"You have ignored
us all this time only to resurface because there is an
election tomorrow," a
war veteran was quoted saying at a meeting in Mutare.
"We are tired of being
used. We are not going to campaign for the president
or the party (ZANU-PF)
until you give us more money."
Analysts say Mugabe would have to fork out
huge sums to placate this
important grouping, as he did in November 1997
when he gave each of the
50,000 or so former fighters a lump sum of 50,000
Zimbabwe dollars each, as
well as other unbudgeted-for perks. The Zimbabwe
dollar collapsed in the
aftermath of that "black November" decision, setting
the country's economy
into a tailspin which continues today.
The
embattled Mugabe has bribed traditional leaders in rural areas by giving
them new vehicles for their personal use. He has said they can buy fuel from
the money they receive from penalties paid by offenders under their
jurisdiction. Traditional leaders are empowered by the constitution to try
minor crimes in their areas and charge fines.
Analysts note that
traditional leaders can easily manipulate their subjects
to vote according
to their bidding. Food shortages have only made rural
communities more
dependent on government handouts which come through chiefs.
In past
elections, traditional leaders have been ordered to herd their
subjects to
polling stations where they then "helped them mark their
ballots" because
they were illiterate. That way Mugabe's victory in the
populous rural areas
has been guaranteed. With the latest gifts to the
chiefs, their voting
pattern is a foregone conclusion. But the urban-rural
drift which followed
Operation Murambatsvina - where hundreds of thousands
of people had their
dwellings destroyed, leaving them with no choice but to
return to their
rural homes - may change voting patterns in the rural areas.
A political
scientist at the University of Zimbabwe said Mugabe was
personally facing a
greater threat from within his own party than from the
weakened MDC. He said
in recent months Mugabe had begun warming towards a
faction led by Rural
Amenities Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa who "because of
the nature of his
portfolio should be closer than anyone to influence the
majority rural
voters.
"There is no doubt that Mugabe is having more sleepless nights
[because of
threats] from within his own party than from the MDC," said the
commentator.
"He would have loved to have been endorsed as the sole
presidential
candidate at the March meeting but that did not happen and he
is angry. That
has driven him closer to the rival faction led by Mnangagwa
who sees this as
a chance to improve his prospects against
Mujuru."
The political scientist said it was not a coincidence that
Sibanda, the head
of the war veterans, was also personally close to
Mnangagwa. "When it really
comes to the elections, we know what the war
veterans can do," he said.
"Mugabe would like to use them as his foot
soldiers just as he has done in
the past. This will undermine Mujuru's
influence. But when it comes to the
special congress, there will be so much
noise about Mugabe [from the women
and youth leagues] we may never hear what
Mujuru stands for."
Another analyst said that a wily Mugabe had cleverly
linked his fate to that
of his ministers and members of parliament by
holding presidential and
parliamentary elections at the same time. He said
it would be difficult for
his members of parliament to "delink" their
campaign to the president's. "It
means every MP who is campaigning for
ZANU-PF is also campaigning for
Mugabe, because if ZANU-PF loses the MP also
loses his seat," he said.
"Similarly, one cannot vote for a ZANU-PF MP and
not vote for Mugabe."
But will he survive the extraordinary congress?
Analysts say the battle
lines are drawn but which way the fight will go is
not yet clear.
Norman Chitapi is the pseudonym of an IWPR journalist in
Zimbabwe
Fin24
Sep 19 2007 09:06 AM
Chris Muronzi -
Finweek's Harare correspondent
Harare - Zimbabwe has increased prices of
foodstuffs and fertiliser after
consulting the business community in a
desperate bid to end
shortages.State-owned daily The Herald reported that
prices of foodstuffs
were reviewed by the National Incomes and Pricing
Commission (NIPC), the
price monitoring team, to ensure viability of firms.
Prices of maize-meal,
salt, milk, cooking oil, beef, pork, as well as
lagers, opaque beer and
carbonated drinks were increased.NIPC chairperson
Rose Siyachitema told the
paper that although her commission is determined
to protect consumers, she
wants a win-win situation for industry as
well."The commission assures the
public and the business community that it
will diligently carry out its
mandate of protecting the consumer while at
the same time ensuring viability
for business."The commission will strive to
maintain a balance between
viability and affordability. All manufacturers,
wholesalers and retailers
are urged to comply with the prices," Siyachitema
said.Inflation figures
'doctored'She also warned that business that did not
comply with the new
order would attract an appropriate punishment.President
Robert Mugabe
ordered businesses to halve prices of goods and accused them
of causing a
runaway inflation, the highest in the world.At least 7 000
businesspeople
had been arrested by end of July for defying Mugabe's
orders.Owing to
Mugabe's price control and monitoring policy, foodstuffs
vanished from shops
but are available on the black market.According to the
Central Statistical
Office (CSO), August inflation dropped below the 7 000%
mark because of
price controls.But critics say the CSO's figures are
doctored.It remains to
be seen if the latest price review will stimulate
supplies of goods. Past
increases have done little to stimulate supplies. -
Fin24