|
Now the Herald further says the Mugabe regime has made a
formal complaint to UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon alleging the denial of the
visas was a violation of international law by the US government. They also
further claimed this was the second successive year that members of the
president's delegation to the UN have been denied visas by the US embassy. So
what we've decided to do on Behind the Headlines is track down the spokesperson
for the US embassy in Harare, her name is Sharon Hudson-Dean. Thank you for
joining us on the programme.
Sharon Hudson-Dean: It's nice to talk with you, thank you
for inviting me.
Guma: OK, first things first, let's clear this story. Were
Bonyongwe and Barwe denied visas or not?
Hudson-Dean: No they were not denied visas and in fact as of
today, the 21 st of September, both of them have their visas. Mr. Bonyongwe's
visa was issued on Friday September 17 th as part of the official delegation.
Mr. Barwe's visa was issued today.
Guma: Now why do we have this scenario where the state media
is reporting that the two have been denied visas and that and the government has
actually made a formal complaint to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
alleging the denial of the visas is a violation of international law by the US
government?
Hudson-Dean: Well at no point were the individuals, the two
individuals denied visas. Their visas did take some time for administrative
processing. Because of the number of visa applications from Zimbabwe for the
United Nations General Assembly we were not able to complete all of the
processing immediately but as I have said, at this point all of the individuals
have received their visas. All of the official delegation did receive the visas
last week. Mr. Bonyongwe is part of the official delegation. Mr. Barwe's visa
took a little bit longer because he is not part of the official delegation but
he did receive it today.
Guma: OK and you do state that Mr. Barwe's is not part of
the official delegation. Any particular reason why he is making the trip?
Hudson-Dean: I would have to refer you to him about that but
I believe he is a member of the media and is going in that capacity. But as I
said there were approximately 80 members of the official delegation and they did
all receive their visas, including the members of the Air Zimbabwe crew, by last
Friday.
Guma: Zimbabweans will know that most of these individuals
are on targeted sanctions and would want to know - basic, simple question - why
are these measures wavered in cases like this?
Hudson-Dean: Certainly and that's an excellent question.
Zimbabwe is the subject of a Presidential Proclamation from the United States
that does restrict certain government officials from travelling to the United
States. However, this Presidential Proclamation also contains an exception to
permit the US to meet its international legal obligations such as those under
the United Nations Headquarters Agreement and so we are permitted to issue visas
to Zimbabwe official delegates to the United Nations General Assembly. So as I
said before, in that we have done that in this case and all of the official
members of the delegation did receive their visas.
Guma: Well then in Rueben Barwe's case you did state that he
is not part of the official delegation so is that not a contradiction then that
someone who is on the banned list is given a visa even though they are not part
of the official delegation?
Hudson-Dean: Well we do have certain obligations to the
United Nations given that we are the host country for the United Nations and so
as the host nation for the UN we are generally obligated to admit foreign
nationals who are travelling to UN Headquarters in New York for official UN
business. Now in Mr. Barwe's case, I cannot discuss the specifics of his
application etcetera but I can just say that we did process the visa and so he
has it in hand now and I would refer you to him to discuss his trip.
Guma: Now the story will of course be confusing a lot of
people because in the state-owned Herald newspaper they are also claiming that
the denial of the visas as they say, is the second successive year that members
of the presidential delegation to the UN have been denied visas by the US
embassy and they say this followed the denial of a visa to the Herald deputy
editor, Caesar Zvayi and of course retired Major General Bonyongwe last year.
Was this the case last year?
Hudson-Dean: I'm afraid that I was not here last year and
I'm not fully briefed on exactly what happened last year so I regret to tell you
that I cannot answer that question. What I can say though is that these visas
can take a longer time for processing and that is what happened in this case
because travel by certain Zimbabweans is vetted through multiple agencies in the
United States before we are given the green light to issue and so that is what
happened in Mr. Barwe's case. The administrative processing took longer than
would have been ideal but in the end he did get the visa. So I'm afraid I can't
comment on what happened last year but in this case, for this year's UN General
Assembly, I can tell you that no-one was denied a visa.
Guma: OK. So the question though still remains why the state
media ran this story alleging the visas had been denied - what do you make of
that?
Hudson-Dean: Well I think it is unfortunate that nobody
called us or called me before the story ran. We would have been very happy to
try and explain the situation, in particular to note that no-one had been denied
but that the administrative processing was taking a little bit longer. That did
not happen and this story did run but I'm very happy right now to have the
opportunity to speak with you in order to clarify and to actually tell you what
did happen and especially with the news that both of these individuals currently
have their visas and are ready to go.
Guma: Also the other question that arises from this is we
know the government, and that is the Mugabe regime in a sense, although we have
a coalition government, but they have been making quite a lot about the targeted
sanctions placed on members of ZANU PF and other allied companies as it were. Do
you think then this story about the denial of visas was probably part of this
campaign to make something out of the targeted measures?
Hudson-Dean: Certainly the targeted sanctions are an issue
that does come up frequently, if not every day and we do like to emphasise that
these are targeted sanctions, they are not intended to have an impact on the
general population of Zimbabwe. The United States is completely committed to
helping the people of Zimbabwe and we do that in many ways including through the
provision of three hundred million dollars worth of humanitarian assistance and
HIV and Aids programmes and many other ways.
As you point out, these are targeted sanctions, targeted at individuals who
we feel are not promoting democratic processes and a transition to a more open
and free society. That is the purpose of these sanctions, that has been made
clear in many of our statements and that's why they are in place. They are in
place through a Presidential Proclamation and as we have said many times in the
past, when progress is made, concrete action such as the items in the Global
Political Agreement that are still outstanding, when progress is made on that,
then these targeted sanctions will be re-examined.
Guma: And when we ran the story yesterday, we did explain of
course all members of the official delegation were granted visas and that's 80
people, we got a lot of emails from our listeners saying - 80 is such a huge
number for a delegation to the UN. Is that something that cropped up in your
processing these applications, because 80 does sound to be a huge number for a
delegation?
Hudson-Dean: It is quite a large number. I don't, I have not
personally worked at the United Nations so I don't have anything to compare it
to in speaking about other delegations, I don't know how it compares. However I
can say that yes in processing 80 visas for official people to travel to the UN
that does take time and you are right when you say that there are several
members of the group, I don't know how many exactly but that are the subject of
some of these travel restrictions and therefore we must go through it,
additional processes in processing their visas.
That does take time but as I noted again, we did that and so we were able to
process all 80 members of the official delegation and I do know that that
includes the Air Zimbabwe crew as well which I believe might be about ten
people. They were processed in time to travel as planned to get there for the
beginning of the UN General Assembly.
Guma: Is there a point though where it comes pointless at
times to have these measures in place if you are going to be forced into making
exceptions like this. For example retired Major General Bonyongwe, he heads the
Central Intelligence Organisation and that is one of the key organs in the
Mugabe regime that is used for things like abductions of activists and so for
somebody like that to be travelling under of course the auspices of the UN, does
it kind of make the measures pointless?
Hudson-Dean: Well the United Nations as you know is an
international organisation of which we are a member and Zimbabwe is a member and
as the host country we have obligations to the United Nations. This is the
General Assembly, a critical, if not the most important, meeting for all of the
member countries during the year and the US must meet its obligations for
granting visas to the country representative delegations, so we are meeting our
international obligations in doing so in this case.
I'd rather not get into a long discussion on whether or not sanctions are
pointless; our government believes very strongly that they are there for a
reason and we do enforce them. At the same time we are a member of the United
Nations and we have obligations to the UN and so we meet those obligations as
well.
Guma: My final question - in the coming weeks there I
believe there is going to be a re-engagement committee from the coalition
government to discuss the lifting of these measures we are told and there has
been debate in previous trips made by this re-engagement committee where certain
members of that committee were denied visas. In this particular case will you be
granting visas to those who are under the targeted measures who are part of this
re-engagement committee?
Hudson-Dean: To my knowledge everyone that's part of the
delegation, as I've said, they have received their visas and will be going. I am
not aware of additional people that are making this trip.
Guma: That was Sharon Hudson-Dean a spokesperson for the US
embassy in Harare. Thank you so much for sparing your time and explaining the
story for us.
Hudson-Dean: Thank you, I appreciate it.
Feedback can be sent to lance@swradioafrica.com or http://twitter.com/lanceguma
SW Radio Africa is Zimbabwe's Independent Voice and broadcasts on
Short Wave 4880 KHz in the 60m band.
Zimbabwe tourism: should we go back?
Graham Boynton asks whether new tours help ordinary people or legitimise
Mugabe's corrupt regime.
By Graham Boynton
Published: 10:12AM BST 24 Sep 2010
36 Comments
Slowly but surely, British tour operators, safari specialists and travel
agents are beginning to re-engage with Zimbabwe. This week W&O Travel
announced a programme for 2011; last month Aardvark Safaris announced a new
tour. Expect to see even more operators offering trips over the next few months.
This is great news for the poor, battered tourism industry folk in Zimbabwe who,
since President Mugabe decided to derail his country socially and economically a
decade ago, have been hanging on to their livelihoods by their fingernails. But
is it right for the people of Zimbabwe?
Ever since Mugabe's supporters began murdering, beating and
kidnapping political opponents and evicting farmers from their land - a purge
that can be traced back to February 2000 - all but a minuscule trickle of
European and Commonwealth tourists have stayed away. (Americans have been more
in evidence, but that is probably down to the fact that they can't tell the
difference between Zimbabwe and Zambia.)
Now we are being told it is all right to go back because the
coalition government, featuring Morgan Tsvangirai and the barely reformed Robert
Mugabe as joint leaders, is taking the country into a new era of prosperity and
freedom.
Of course, the main victims of Mugabe's decade of destruction have
been the ordinary Zimbabweans, black and white, and the statistics charting the
downward spiral of a once prosperous country are out there for everyone to see.
The most damning is that the life expectancy of Zimbabweans has fallen from 61
to as low as 34 years since Mugabe became the executive head of state in 1987.
So should we encourage tourism there? First, let me declare my
personal interest. I am from Zimbabwe and I have been in and out of the country
- to cover elections, write about conservation crises and visit friends -
throughout the past decade. Which allows me to conclude that there is nowhere
safer, friendlier or more beautiful in Africa and, even though the
infrastructure has deteriorated over the past 10 years, it is still no worse
than in most other African countries. The roads are pot-holed but there are
still roads; since the coalition government abolished the Zimbabwe dollar the
economy has stabilised and the shops are once again stocked with food and drink;
and providing you're not a white farmer or a member of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC), you are unlikely to be attacked by Mugabe's political
thugs.
The big question is whether the normalisation of international
relations will allow Mugabe's political heirs to cling on to power when the
86-year-old despot finally has the presidency prised from his grasp. If there
were free and fair elections there is little doubt that Tsvangirai's MDC would
win with a landslide. However, the last two elections have been rigged and
murderous, despite the presence of international observers. The fear is that the
next election, due next year, will follow the same course.
The answer is complicated. If you want to visit a wonderful
African country struggling to survive after years of abuse from a handful of
amoral cronies of Mugabe, then go. You will see largely unspoilt wilderness and
meet wonderful people. Of course, you should be careful to place your money/fees
etc in the right hands, ie, those of the ordinary people on the ground. But if
you feel squeamish about appearing to treat ghastly tyrants and their grim
cohorts as normal, hold fire, as it were, until the next election and let's see
what happens.
As much as the beleaguered citizens of Zimbabwe deserve financial
relief, so the beneficiaries of Mugabe's reign of terror do not deserve a
glimmer of light.
- Graham Boynton is Group Travel Editor
Comments
Mugabe: Welcome to interception, snooping and jamming
Introduction
In
June 2010, Zimbabwe jumped on the mobile phone registration bandwagon
that
has been embarked upon by governments in Africa and elsewhere in an
effort
to crack down on criminal activity, however it has not been a smooth
ride.
As a result, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of
Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) extended the deadline for the registration of mobile phone
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards indefinitely on 1 September 2010.
There does not seem to be any justification for the Mugabe regime's huge
expenditure outlays for interception, snooping and jamming of radio
stations, in the absence of a terrorist threat to Zimbabwe.
Winding
up Mugabe
At the height of Mugabe's hyperinflation of 1,193% in May 2006 and
in the
face of a battery of repressive laws that made it a criminal offence
to
criticise Mugabe and his government, Zimbabweans coined very witty and at
times naughty mobile phone text messages or "anti-Mugabe humour" to mock and
poke fun at the establishment.
One of the jokes said: "American
President George Bush had US$20,000 he
bought himself a posh car. South
African President Thabo Mbeki had 20,000
Rand, he bought a posh car.
President Robert Mugabe had Z$20,000. He wanted
Z$40,000 more to buy a loaf
of bread." Another text message dared say: "The
ruling party has just
changed its symbol from the cock to a condom to
reflect its new thrust. A
condom allows inflation and kills the next
generation." And yet another one
coined after Mugabe's 82nd birthday said:
"Vice-President Joshua Nkomo was
82 when he died. Vice President Simon
Muzenda was also 82 when he died.
Mugabe has just turned 82. You never know
what good happenings are in store
for this nation. It's just a thought."
While there could be other more
serious reasons why the regime embarked on a
major assault on freedom of
expression by introducing "Big Brother"
surveillance legislation, the "texts
warfare" might have irritated the
regime. As Ken Banks aptly puts it, "To
dictators and leaders of oppressive
regimes, mobiles are often seen as more
of a nuisance, as disruptive and
something to be wary of, to fear and
control", (IDG News Service, 14/04/08).
Where democracy is under pressure
around the world, the mobile phone is
increasingly seen as a tool that may
help stop the rot, he adds, and gives
the example of the Philippines where
President Joseph Estrada was allegedly
forced from office in early 2001
following text message-fuelled mass
demonstrations in Manila.
Mobile
phones have indeed proved viable instruments for safeguarding
democracy.
Some human rights organisations used mobile phones to monitor the
presidential elections in Nigeria, the state of emergency in Pakistan and
indeed Zimbabwe's controversial 2008 elections. Banks reports that a
combination of Short Message Service (SMS) and e-mail was used by Kubatana
in Zimbabwe with positive results to transmit election news and a "What
would you like a free Zimbabwe to look like" initiative or "opinion poll".
People will always find a way out of a repressive system.
Criminal
offence
Under the controversial Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act,
it is a
criminal offence to spread falsehoods, especially those prejudicial
to the
state. However, that legislation has been criticised by civic, human
rights
and media freedom organisations wary of possible abuse of civil
liberties by
state security agents. For example, a man was overheard by an
operative of
the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)'s talking to his
friend on a
mobile phone on a bus saying: "You're just thick headed like
Mugabe," and
was arrested but later acquitted.
Initially the SIM card
registration exercise was supposed to run from June
to 31st August, however,
the MDC Minister of Information and Communication
and Technology Nelson
Chamisa said the move had been extended to an
indefinite date without saying
why there had been a slow up-take of SIM
Cards' registration. Although
Chamisa said that Sim registration was "a
growing trend across Africa and
the globe" and that there was no need to be
suspicious of the intention it
is proving to be a hard sell as people drag
their feet due to Mugabe's
repressive record. There are about 5.8 million
mobile phone subscribers for
Zimbabwe's three networks, Econet, Telecel and
Netone. Despite the
minister's assurances, the registration of sim cards
remains a highly
sensitive issue in Zimbabwe because of fears that the
personal information
collected could be used for government or security
surveillance purposes.
Industry sources claimed that although the formal
deadline was set as 28
February 2011, the operators would be required to
start implementing the
"restrictions" from 1st January 2011 (Cellular News,
13/09/10).
Bugging
While several countries are engaged in
registering sim cards, there are
suspicions about Zanu-pf's intentions
because of allegations of phone
tapping or snooping by Mugabe's Central
Intelligence Organisation. Of
concern has been the use of bugging on
Mugabe's political opponents. One of
Robert Mugabe's most outspoken critics,
former Archbishop Pius Ncube feared
his phone was tapped.
The
Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM) discovered that their press conference
held on
30th April 1990, in the Great Indaba Room at the Monomotapa Hotel,
now the
Crown Plaza Hotel was bugged by the CIO according to Edgar Tekere,
the then
leader of ZUM. Writing in his book, A Life of Struggle, Edgar
Tekere said:
"To my disappointment, the CIO had appeared and installed a
listening device
to record the proceedings and most of our speakers suddenly
became
faint-hearted," (2007:163). An MDC cabinet minister said in August
2010:"We
know that Zanu-pf through its agencies, has been snooping on our
telephone
conversations in the hope of catching us in the act (of leaking
cabinet
secrets) (Zimbabwe Independent, 05/08/10).
Despite objections from
concerned citizens, and from the telecommunications
industry, the Zimbabwe
government introduced the Postal and
Telecommunications Act on 16 June 2000,
and the statute came into operation
on 1 January. The Posts and
Telecommunications Act 2000 allows the
government of Zimbabwe to monitor
e-mail usage and requires ISPs to supply
information to government officials
when requested. Against all odds someone
posted anti-Mugabe rhetoric on the
Zimbabwe Embassy web-site guest book in
Washington DC and signed-off "R
Mugabe" according to the Register. The
message read: "God is dead. Long live
Bob. I'm getting tired of listening to
all black and white peasants arguing
out there. Just shut up, get on with
your work, and keep my money flowing
in. I've got a swimming pool here if
you give me trouble. Remember my
brother, brothers? Now keep quiet, and get
back to work, cos I've got to
count my diamonds. R Mugabe. My Hotel,
Switzerland" (The Register,
20/04/00).
In June 2004, the state telecommunications monopoly, Netone,
started to ask
Internet Service Providers (IPs) to sign commercial contracts
that required
them to take "all necessary measures" to prevent the
transmission of illegal
material online, a move that was denounced by
Reporters Without Borders as a
threat to freedom of expression (RSF,
04/06/04). However, the Law Society
successfully challenged the 2000 Act in
the Supreme Court in 2004 on grounds
that Section 98 (2) and s103 were
repugnant to s20 of the Constitution of
Zimbabwe, i.e. the right to freedom
of expression. Accordingly, in March
2004, the Supreme Court ruled that the
sections of the Act that permitted
monitoring violated the constitution
(Open Net Initiative, 30/09/09). The
Court declared as unconstitutional
legal provisions that gave the president
powers to eavesdrop, including the
powers to intercept mail, telephone
conversations and other such electronic
telecommunication devices.
Sitting as a full bench, the Supreme Court
made a number of observations
such as: that the 2000 Act defined "postal
services" too broadly; that
freedom of expression includes freedom from
interference with
correspondence; that the Act conferred wide and unfettered
powers on the
President and that there were no mechanisms to prevent abuse
of such powers.
Furthermore, the 2000 Act did not give guidance as to what a
citizen should
not do to avoid the interception of his/her mail; the
provisions were too
vague and bestowed extremely broad and unfettered powers
to an individual
without the necessary checks and balances - to degrees that
were not
reasonable in a democratic society (MISA-Zimbabwe,
26/04/06).
E-mail snooping
Following the passing by Parliament of the
controversial Telecommunications
Act in 2002, which empowered the government
to intercept and monitor all
electronic traffic, a Zimbabwean man was
arrested in July 2003, for trying
to send a fax to a friend in the UK which
included a newspaper cutting
alleging that local elections were rigged
(DowJonesNewsWires, 16/11/03). How
the law could have been broken for faxing
a newspaper cutting that had
already been published and was in circulation
in Zimbabwe defies logic,
although we don't know what was contained in the
fax message.
Later in November 2003, 11 people, seven men and four women,
were arrested
and later released, on bail of 50,000 Zimbabwe dollars - about
US$10 for
circulating an e-mail which police claimed incited violence
against Robert
Mugabe's rule according to the state-controlled paper, the
Herald (Zimbabwe
Situation, 16/11/03). The e-mail was entitled
"Ma-Demonstrations Ndizvo"
Shona for (Yes to demonstrations). According to
the Herald which did not
give its source, the e-mail, said "starting
November 24 there should be
nationwide violent demonstrations and strikes to
push President Mugabe out
of office." Although, the political situation at
that time was highly tense
amidst strikes and demonstrations against the
country's mass unemployment,
poverty and hyperinflation which was then at
455%, the authenticity of the
e-mail is rather questionable given its tone
and wording as it could have
been the work of the CIO aimed at justifying a
clampdown on the opposition.
MWeb, a private ISP operating in Zimbabwe
said in February 2004 that it
would block content or divulge the source of
its' customers' e-mail messages
if required by the Zimbabwean authorities.
There were heightened fears in
October 2004 that the state could seize the
opportunity to snoop on private
communications when the Zimbabwe's military
spies and communication experts
from the police manned the main telephone
exchange and controlling traffic
on the main fixed line, mailing and mobile
phone services after workers went
on strike for better pay.
In 2005,
Zimbabwe government security arrested 40 people after a raid on an
internet
café allegedly because an e-mail insulting Mugabe was sent from
that café
(OpenNet, 30/09/09). A worker at a Harare internet café told
journalists in
May 2005 that some men who only identified themselves as from
the
President's Office were warning internet users not to open news websites
by
CNN, BBC and SW Radio Africa because they allegedly spread "anti Zimbabwe
propaganda" (Journalism ZA, 17/05/05). Ironically CNN and BBC have since
been allowed back in Harare and one wonders what the men from the
President's
office are now telling internet users not to do.
Robert
Ndhlovu, a US-based Zimbabwean IT Consultant, said Zanu-pf can try to
interfere with locally registered domains only ending with .co.zw, .org.zw,
.ac.zw (New Zimbabwe, 11/12/09). "But all e-mails that are not local
domains like.net, .com, .co.za, .co.uk can never be accessed
(intercepted/hacked). Because the email servers that serve these are either
in J'burg, Los Angeles, New York or Lon don and are owned by big companies
like Yahoo or Hotmail - Microsoft products," said Ndhlovu.
The
cafeteria style of surveillance - Russian, Chinese, Israeli
The Zanu-pf
regime has adopted the cafeteria style of shopping around for
intelligence
gathering and surveillance. In May 2005 there were media
reports that China
was supplying Zimbabwe's CIO with new high-tech equipment
to "boost its
capacity" to monitor people and internet traffic and jam radio
signals
(Journalism-ZA, 17/05/05). CIO officers received training from
Chinese
technicians on how to install, operate and maintain the equipment. A
CIO
officer was quoted as saying "The upgraded Chinese software will replace
the
outdated Soviet gadgets that we have". This could be part of Mugabe's
'Look
East' policy, however Chinese investors remain reluctant to risk much
capital in the country (Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
12.07/10).
As Zanu-pf or Mugabe became more paranoid about a possible
"foreign-inspired
ouster of his regime through a coup"(prior to the 2008
elections) they hired
Israel's Mossad secret police who were deployed at
strategic points such as
airports, government offices as well as banks
specifically for the purpose
of spying, according to Itai Dzamara, (The
Zimbabwean, 14/09/10). The move
which was described by Lauren Hutton, in
"Mossad and Zanu-pf - The Strangest
of Bedfellows," (ISS Tshwane, Pretoria,
08/10/07), would enable the regime
to "snoop on the phone and internet
communications of key opposition
figures, civil society leaders and
journalists."
It comes as no surprise that during the 2008 presidential
elections, the
government of Zimbabwe hacked into journalists' e-mail
accounts and eight
journalists lost their jobs because they were not
supporting Mugabe and his
Zanu-pf party (Reporters Without Borders,
12.03/09). This year, security
agents were blamed for the theft of emails
from a South African businessman's
briefcase in May. In his Report to the KP
Certification Process following
the arrest of the NGO activist Farai Maguwu,
Abbey Chikane claimed that on
Monday, May 24, 2010 his unattended briefcase
was opened in Harare and
several copies of e-mail messages and letters from
Participants and
Observers relating to his visit were taken and photocopied
without his
knowledge or consent. One of the documents was subsequently
leaked to the
Zimbabwe Herald which reported "very damaging allegations
about the manner
in which the KP Monitor (Chikane) conducted his duties"
(page 19).
The e-mail was reportedly from the United States' state
department's special
advisor on blood diamonds, asking Chikane to clarify a
number of issues
(Zimbabwe Intellegence, 08/06/10). The state media accused
Chikane of
pandering to the whims of the United States (Ibid). It's rather
amazing that
in his report Chikane castigated Maguwu for giving him a
"stolen document"
and shrewdly spared himself any blame for leaving his
briefcase with such
sensitive documents unattended. Had the e-mails been not
printed, probably
they would not have ended up being ridiculed in the Herald
as long as
certain security procedures had been taken.
However, the
state has not found cyber warfare as easy as that of the AK47s
as the
following case showed. An Information Technology "expert witness" who
was
invited by Attorney General Johannes Tomana in the treason trial of Roy
Bennett a leading opponent of Mugabe was in February 2010 discredited by the
defence as an amateur who could not give a valid opinion on Exhibit 13
(e-mails) as he lacked appropriate qualifications since his previous job was
equivalent to that of a general hand and not a provincial engineer as
claimed by the AG (Zimbabwe Independent, 25/02/10). The "expert" astounded
the court when he said he did not know what hackers and computer forensics
were when asked by the defence. Roy Bennett, was in May 2010, acquitted of
terrorism charges that could have led to the death penalty after prosecutors
failed to prove that e-mails linking Bennett to the arms dealer were genuine
(Guardian, 10/05/10). He was represented by Zimbabwe's award winning lawyer,
Beatrice Mtetwa.
A commentator from Washington DC on the Reuters
website on 06/08/10
regretted the use of surveillance excesses by
authoritarian governments
"from the Burma junta to Sir Robert Mugabe,"
adding, "but we know their
excesses will toughen their victims, and insure
(sic) that those millions of
oppressed humans really cannot wait to hasten
their own oppressor's time of
reckoning" (Reuters, 06/08/10).
'Tit
for tat'
As is said that every action will have a reaction, the Zimbabwe
government's
website was reportedly hacked into in January 2005 by two
UK-based "computer
wizards" forcing it to go offline (New Zimbabwe,
02/01/05). "The idea was to
hack into the website and replace everything on
there with slogans like
'Robert Mugabe is a tyrant'," one of the hackers
told New Zimbabwe.com by
telephone on 1 January 2005, adding, "We were about
to achieve our goal when
the whole thing crashed." The tit-for-tat in the
cyber warfare seemed to
gather momentum with yet another attack on the
Financial Gazette which was
suspected of being government controlled barely
two days after Zimbabwe's
Herald newspaper's website was also hacked
(Zimbabwe Guardian, 15/05/08). An
edition of the website www.fingaz.co.zw, had all the headlines
replaced in
exactly the same way as The Herald headlines were replaced. The
hackers
managed to get through security systems on both the server and
database at
the Internet Service Provider hosting the website and changed
the headlines
on the front page (Ibid).
Phone bugging
Mugabe's CIO
proved that they could intercept phone calls in spite of the
Supreme Court's
ruling of March 2004, when they bugged the phone of Zimbabwe's
former
consul-general to South Africa, Godfrey Dzvairo. They took an
interest in
Dzvairo's conversations with former Metropolitan Bank of
Zimbabwe company
secretary Tendayi Matambanadzo, whose phone was also
tapped. Dzvairo and
Matambanadzo were convicted in February 2005 of selling
"confidential
Zanu-pf documents" to the South African government (News24,
08/12/06).
However, there was debate as to whether Zanu-pf confidential
documents
constituted State secrets and whether there is no distinction
between
Zanu-pf and the State since Zimbabwe has never been a one party
state, at
least by law. According to the BBC, Zimbabwean telephone calls
were already
being monitored in 2006 (BBC, 31/08/06).
Experts say, with the backing of
the "law", the CIO can intercept mobile
phone calls using not very
sophisticated equipment for a spy organisation
that enables them to control
your calls by pretending to be the telecom
service provider, forwarding
calls to intended recipients and listening in.
Using the equipment, they can
target specific individuals for snooping.
Highly placed sources say a list
of names was given by Zanu-pf to Israeli
intelligence operatives, Mossad for
monitoring (The Zimbabwean, 27/09/07).
Interception and Communications
Act 2006
In a move seen by analysts as an attempt to overturn the 2004
Supreme Court
determination and despite condemnation from the civil society
(Human Rights
Watch, World Report 2007) the Mugabe regime introduced the
Interception of
Communications Bill in March 2006.In order to lend
legitimacy to repressive
laws, Zanu-pf party had to have a parliamentary
majority before tabling any
controversial legislation in parliament.
Accordingly, the 31 March 2005
election which was condemned by the then
British Foreign Secretary, Jack
Straw as "seriously flawed", gave Mugabe's
Zanu-PF party 78 seats, the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
41 and an independent
candidate one seat (BBC, 05/04/05). However, the
Southern African
Development Community (SADC) said the poll was "peaceful,
transparent,
credible and well managed" (Ibid). They have been faithful
right to the end.
By June 2006, Zimbabwe's internet service providers (ISPs)
had reportedly
started to block e-mails with political content. The Reserve
Bank of
Zimbabwe started to bar its staff from receiving e-mails with
political
content e.g. words like "Morgan Tsvangirai"or "MDC" from 2006
(OpenNet,
30/09/09).
Criticisms
Criticisms of the Interception of
Communications Bill 2006 Act were that it
violated s20 of the Constitution;
had very broad, vague provisions;
incompatible with fundamental rights and
lacked any sound justification and
therefore unconstitutional
(MISA-Zimbabwe, 26/04/06). Civic organisations,
human rights bodies,
opposition parties, business communities criticised and
urged the government
to drop the Interception of Communications Bill 2006
during a public hearing
in August 2006 (SW Radio Africa, 31/08/06).
Concerned stakeholders told the
Parliamentary Committee Chairman, Mugabe's
nephew, Leo Mugabe that there was
need for more extensive debate on the bill's
constitutionality. The
Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders
feared that if
adopted, the law would expose journalists, NGOs and human
rights activists
to the possibility - a real one in Zimbabwe - of being
accused of
representing a threat to national security (RSF, 06/08/07).
According to
Violet Gonda, one freelance journalist expressed worry at the
heavy presence
of soldiers, intelligence operatives and police officers who
came to defend
the bill at the public hearing (SW Radio Africa, 31/08/06).
This law
makes provisions for persons in "positions of authority" to request
the
interception of communications as they see fit. Such persons include the
Chief of Defence Intelligence, the Director General of the President's
Department of National Security otherwise known as the Central Intelligence
Organisation (CIO), ,the Commissioner of the Zimbabwe Republic Police and
the Commissioner-General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. Amidst heated
exchanges in Parliament, the then Zanu-pf Communications Minister,
Christopher Mushowe argued that there was no difference between the new law
and anti-terror laws in countries seen as the beacons of democracy - the
United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, among others (Afrol News,
14/06/07). Incredibly, Mushowe had chosen to ignore or forget the Supreme
Court's ruling in 2004 when the interception law was deemed
unconstitutional.
Critics counter-argued that there was no terrorism
against Zimbabwe. Also,
Mugabe's government has an "abysmal human rights
record" and there is no
provision for judicial oversight of the interception
laws (The Register,
01/09/06). To underscore this point, the
Washington-based Genocide Watch
said on 18/09/10 that Robert Mugabe and his
top army generals must be tried
for genocide and crimes against humanity for
the 1980s massacre of 20,000
civilians in the south of the country (APA
News, 18/09/10). Despite public
outrage, Mugabe's regime legalised
communication censorship on 3 August
2007 when the Interception of
Communications Act became law thereby sparking
debate and fear about how the
new powers would be exercised without
compromising the human rights, privacy
and confidentiality of Zimbabweans
and whoever they communicate with (The
Women's International Perspective,
03/09/07).
Apprehension
The
Interception of Communications Act (ICA) 2006 created "apprehension in
the
country" prompting one concerned individual to switch from the official
email address from his workplace hosted by a domestic ISP, to an encrypted ,
web-based email address service hosted overseas, even for business
communication, but he's now wondering how to deal with eavesdropping on
calls (Dumisani Ndlela, 04/09/07).This has led to a growing phobia around
phone calls have suddenly turned into spying instruments for Mugabe's regime
rather than gadgets of convenience.
Stripping MDC
Ironically, in
April 2009 Robert Mugabe unilaterally transferred the
functions of the
ministry of information, communication and technology
headed by Nelson
Chamisa to the transport ministry, controlled by his
protégé Nicholas Goche.
Among the responsibilities taken from the MDC was
the control of Net One, a
major mobile phone network and internet service
provider (ISP), postal
services, and TelOne which is Zimbabwe's largest
fixed telecommunications
service provider of voice, fax, internet, satellite
and data internet
services for the whole country. The "draconian"
Interception of
Communications Act 2006, which was under Chamisa's ministry,
was transferred
to the President's Office (SW Radio Africa, 08/03/10) which
hosts the much
dreaded secret police Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)
and is not
answerable to Parliament for its budget and operations. Zanu-pf's
absorption
of the communications ministry allows it to avoid obtaining
authorisation
from the MDC to spy on its citizens, according to IRIN
(16/04/09).
Risky
Critics of compulsory sim card registration in
Ghana say its "risky and
unnecessary" (IMANI, 19/01/10) arguing that the
measure was actually
devolving law enforcement to the private sector domain
without the
corresponding infrastructure of "accountability and
responsibility". In a
statement, IMANI Centre for Policy & Education in
association with African
Liberty organisation, said the scheme was based on
faulty logic: "The
presence of a phone number in the phone logs of a
complainant and the
subsequent linkage between that number and a certain
individual does not
provide any durable evidence of significant weight in a
law enforcement
setting" (African Liberty, 19/01/10). In Nigeria,
subscribers and telecoms
operators were pessimistic about whether the
SimCard registration process
would be well conducted. While some were saying
the country was not ripe for
that, others believed the scheme might be
"marred by corruption (Daily
Trust, 30/12/09).
World's worst
dictator
Mugabe was ranked as the world's worst dictator living in the modern
era in
2009 by the US based Parade Magazine (Zim Eye, 25/03/09) citing iron
rule
and more than 85 per cent unemployment rate. A number of laws undermine
fundamental rights to free expression in Zimbabwe. These include the Public
Order and Security Act (POSA), the Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act. Even Road Traffic Regulations have been amended to make it an
offence to swear or gesture within the view or hearing of the Mugabe's
motorcade with the perceived intention of insulting any person travelling
with, or member of an escort (Dumisani Ndlela, 04/09/07). Under POSA,
Zimbabweans must first seek permission from the police before holding a
gathering of more than three people to discuss politics.
Censorship
appears to have been "decentralised" by the Mugabe regime. In
September
2007, Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri issued a stern warning
to all
police officers that they would be fired if they were caught reading
a copy
of The Zimbabwean newspaper, and warned provincial police
spokespersons
against granting interviews to any independent online
newspapers (The
Zimbabwean, 27/09/07). "Police station, district and
provincial commanders
should also make sure that members do not bring copies
of the same to police
stations. It has come to the attention of this office
that most members get
carried away with what they read in these newspapers,
as evidenced by
careless comments that have been made by some junior
members," read the memo
(Ibid). As a member of the JOC, it's to be expected.
Personality
Cult
Mugabe has been transformed into a personality cult and anyone who
crosses
the line risks trouble. A case in point is that of Zimbabwean
freelance
photographer and cameraman, Henry Chimbiri who was severely
tortured by
Mugabe's men. Chimbiri told Peter Godwin, author and journalist
that a few
years ago he was on the way to a rally for Tendai Biti, one of
the MDC
leaders, when his truck was passed by Mugabe's cavalcade, and the
people
chanted and jeered. Shortly afterwards, they were pulled over at
gunpoint by
soldiers and ordered into a government house. "They beat us so
badly, using
planks and sticks they had cut from the pine trees, one man had
to have his
arm amputated afterwards," said Henry (an extract from Peter
Godwin's The
Fear: the last Days of Robert Mugabe, to be published by
Picador 1 October
2010, Zimbabwe Situation, 19/09/10).
Even critical
comments about Mugabe can land you in jail in Zimbabwe as Gift
Mafuka, a 23
year old man from Zimbabwe's eastern district of Chipinge found
recently.
Mafuka was sentenced to one year in jail with hard labour for
insulting
Robert Mugabe after asking why two boys were wearing T-shirts with
the image
of an old person with wrinkles on the face (Radio VOP,
04/09/10).
Journalists
Although, the CNN and BBC have since been
allowed back in Zimbabwe, the
United States Ambassador Charles Ray, recently
said despite the formation of
an inclusive government, the country's
journalists are still operating in a
dangerous environment (Daily News,
02/09/10). It remains to be seen if the
thawing of relations with the
western media will survive the tumultuous
times ahead. Exiled Zimbabwean
journalist and author, Geoff Hill was quoted
by the Committee to Protect
Journalists as saying "Journalists continue to
be followed, detained, and
abducted, phones and email messages are
intercepted, the output of news from
government reminds one of Radio Moscow
during the Soviet Era,"(Committee to
Protect Journalists, 16/02/10).
Veteran Zimbabwean journalist and former
editor of the fearless Daily News,
Geoffrey Nyarota, wrote that the Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO)
hired an agent to assassinate him."Handled
personally by a nephew of
President Mugabe, the would-be-assassin developed
cold feet and exposed the
plot" (03/05/07). People feel terrorised by the
regime through selective
rule of law, human rights abuses, eavesdropping,
arrests on trumped up
charges, abductions, disappearances, torture or even
murder because of
opposing Mugabe's oppressive
reign.
Jamming
Despite the so-called inclusive government formed in
February 2009, Robert
Mugabe's CIO has reportedly resumed jamming the SW
Radio Africa, an
independent radio station operated by exiled Zimbabweans in
London due to
repressive media legislation back home (SW Radio Africa,
06/09/10). The
whole idea is to deny Zimbabweans of an alternative source of
news. The
regime's disruption of the station's news broadcasts which has
been
condemned worldwide began in 2005 just before Operation Murambatsvina
(Operation Drive Out Trash) possibly as a news blackout on the unsuspecting
700,000 residents who lost their livelihoods. The then Zanu-pf Deputy
Minister of Information, Bright Matonga admitted they were jamming the
broadcasts in 2007 albeit intermittently possibly due to the high cost of
the operation. Similarly, the Zimbabwe government admitted on 28 February
2007 that it was jamming the Voice of America's Studio 7 broadcasts into the
country claiming its acts were aimed at protecting Zimbabwe's sovereignty
(MISAZIM, 28/02/07). Under the repressive media laws in Zimbabwe, the
Dutch-funded Voice of the People (VOP) has reportedly survived bombings,
police raids, arrests, frequency jams, and a court battle for broadcasting
without a licence.
However, what might add to Mugabe's misery is news
that a new radio station
has been launched in Johannesburg by Zimbabweans in
South Africa. Radio
Mthwakazi FM is using pre-recorded shows and doing live
broadcasting every
Friday evening (Zim Diaspora, 23/09/10). The reason why
people prefer
alternative radio stations was experienced by exiled
journalist, Basildon
Peta who recently visited Zimbabwe and was reminded of
"Soviet newscasters
lost in time," as he listened to an hour-long bulletin
of ZBC news"dominated
by ministerial speeches followed by an extra 40-minute
clip on Mugabe
addressing mourners at the funeral of his brother in law,"
(Zim Telegraph,
23/09/10).
Surveillance
Zimbabwe's state security
agencies warned of a violent Mugabe ouster in
2005. In his confidential
20-page internal report dated 30 September 2005
covered by the Zimonline
(SA) 20/10/05), Edmore Veterai, a senior assistant
police commissioner who
sits on the Joint Operations Command (JOC), warned
that Mugabe's government
could be overthrown in a popular uprising. In a bid
to forestall the
uprising, the JOC allegedly drew-up a list of 55 political
and civic leaders
of "the most dangerous individuals" who it said must be
kept under
surveillance by the CIO.
The State has been progressively getting
paranoid especially due to fear of
regime change. As part of a cat-and-mouse
game played by the CIO and the MDC
since its formation in September 1999,
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and
eight senior officials were deported from
Livingstone, Zambia in February
2006 because of suspected CIO overtures to
Zambian security. The MDC
officials had gone for a strategy planning meeting
with some non
governmental organisations (NGOs) at the Zambezi Sun Hotel. It
was alleged
that the MDC officials were aware that their phones, homes and
offices were
bugged (The Zimbabwean, 10/02/06).
Dr Knox Chitiyo of
the Royal United Services has underscored the importance
of security sector
reform in Zimbabwe "to ensure the transition leads to
sustainable
development," (The Case for Security Sector Reform in Zimbabwe,
September
2009). However, Mugabe's CIO agents have been reported to be
harassing
political opponents on Facebook. A leading campaigner says CIOs
are on the
streets of Southend and Romford in Essex allegedly spying on the
1000 exiles
living there (Echo News, 03/07/08). The claims have been backed
up across
the UK with other MDC members saying they are being filmed, spied
on and
have their meetings disrupted, according to the UK paper.
Death
threats
The executive leaders of a UK-based MDC Branch told the press that if
they
tried to speak to their relatives in Zimbabwe, "we know the phones are
tapped and their lives would be in danger" (Get Surrey, 30/07/08). The group
did not feel safe in the UK because one of them had received a letter from
Zimbabwe that threatened their branch and named all the executive members.
"It said they knew we were engaging in political activities and there were
blank bullets enclosed," an executive member said (Ibid). A Zimbabwean
journalist, Basildon Peta who was exiled in South Africa was warned by a CIO
operative he met in Johannesburg that, even dead, they would get him. "My
corpse would be shred into 'mince meat' even if I return to Zimbabwe in a
coffin for burial", Peta was told by the CIO (Zim Telegraph.com,
23/09/10).
Analysis
Although Zimbabwe is entitled to protect its
national security, there seems
to be no conviction secured to date based on
intercepted communications,
apart from the Dzvairo and Matambanadzo case,
which raises the question
whether the State is getting value for money from
its apparent enormous
investment in interception, snooping, jamming and
censorship. It was
believed that Mossad operatives were erecting spying
equipment across
Zimbabwe brought from Israel at great expense, in addition
to the Chinese
intelligence hardware also meant for snooping, together with
any army of
8-10,000 CIO operatives in Zimbabwe and dozens in the Diaspora.
Is it worth
it for a country with such a small tax base?
With
elections looming in Zimbabwe in 2011, the regime's real intentions in
wanting to register mobile phone sim cards other than for combating crime
remain suspect. However, fears of what the regime could do with the
information from snooping may have been over-dramatised in view of almost
nothing having materialised from their spying since the Interception of
Communications Act 2006 was passed. It looks like the regime is simply
trying to use fear in order to control people and buy time. In any case
people can choose between Zimbabwean and foreign sim cards e.g. South
African or Botswana if they feel very vulnerable, although it could cost
them slightly more in topping up but they would be much safer. 'Big Brother'
Mugabe, are you listening? I mean snooping.
Clifford Chitupa Mashiri,
Political Analyst, London. zimanalysis2009@gmail.
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