|
Archived News
28th November 2001
Mugabe risks civil conflict without free press : Mbeki
Zimbabwe students fight with riot police
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw:
Zimbabwe farm decree scuttles land reform funds
Zimbabwe: Friends can observe vote
Editors tell Mugabe to withdraw threats
Farmer fights for life after ambush
Zimbabwe retreats on election observers
Judge urges probe of leaders
Zimbabwe's Mugabe seeks to delay Harare elections
Mugabe trails presidential rival in poll
Straw's anger at Mugabe threats
Nobody in life, hero in death
Matabeleland appeals to international community
Zimbabwe police chief in land grab at white farm
Zimbabwe poised to introduce 'dompas' law
Govt media conceal evidence on Nkala
MP Martin raises alarm over chaos in Zimbabwe
Top
From World Association of Newspapers (Paris), 27 November
Mugabe risks civil conflict without free press : Mbeki
Pretoria - The President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, warned today that civil conflict could explode in Zimbabwe if full press freedom is not ensured in the run-up to presidential elections next March. In a private meeting in Pretoria with Board Members of the World Association of Newspapers, Mr Mbeki said: "The people of Zimbabwe need to say this was a fair election contest. The press freedom issue is getting worse and exacerbates as we get closer to these elections. If the outcome is not accepted by the people of Zimbabwe, the situation will be even worse and you have the danger of civil conflict". President Mbeki told WAN that the special Zimbabwe committee of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) needed to revisit the country to try and ensure that democratic election conditions, particularly freedom of the press, were respected. He said that all attempts by international committees to achieve this objective so far had failed. Talking more broadly about the future of Africa, President Mbeki said "what causes instability is the inability of people to express themselves freely - so they take up arms".
The Zimbabwean government has been widely criticised for its attacks on the independent press. In recent months, authorities have arrested local journalists, expelled foreign correspondents, and accused some journalists of assisting terrorists. The Board of WAN, meeting in South Africa, today awarded its annual Golden Pen of Freedom prize to Zimbabwe's most prominent press freedom advocate, Geoffrey Nyarota, the Editor of the Daily News. President Mbeki said that press freedom was a major part of the whole process of democratisation in Africa and he recognised that in several countries, the independent press continued to be repressed. In the Congo, for example, it was "critically important" for peace to have the "greatest possible open political debate. If you have parties that are banned and newspapers that are restricted, you do not have the conditions for inter-Congolese dialogue." In Angola, President Mbeki feared continuing violence against the press. He urged Angolan leaders to reject military solutions and achieve a negotiated settlement to the Angolan conflict. "If we don't address the problem of democracy in this country, the harassment of the press will continue". He said that the press had been instrumental in uncovering corruption by war profiteers and warned that the press "would continue to get hit" if the war continued.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 17,000 newspapers; its membership includes 70 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and eight regional and world-wide press groups.
Top
From The Independent (UK), 28 November
Zimbabwe students fight with riot police
Riot police in Zimbabwe fought running battles with students yesterday and arrested 19 pro-democracy activists, including a prominent intellectual, after they tried to stage a demonstration in the capital, Harare. At Westminster, the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said Britain remained "profoundly concerned" at the recent increase in violence in the country and denounced as "preposterous" signals last week from President Robert Mugabe's office that journalists, including The Independent's Harare-based correspondent, are "assisting terrorists". The University of Zimbabwe students stoned police, who retaliated with tear gas, after they tried to stage a campus demonstration over the killing last Saturday of fellow-student Lameck Chemvura, 23, thrown to his death by soldiers from a train. A soldier is under arrest. The students yesterday branded President Mugabe a "terrorist" and called on him to resign. Mr Chemvura died after soldiers harassed passengers and accused them of supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The party was declared a "terrorist group'' last week, although it has 57 seats in Parliament.
The demonstration by activists from Zimbabwe's largest civic group, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), was called to protest plans by 77-year-old president Mugabe to change electoral laws. Those arrested included the respected and outspoken law professor, Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of the NCA. In yesterday's Independent, Mr Madhuku said President Mugabe was effectively running Zimbabwe under a state of emergency. Last night, NCA executive director Perpetua Bganya said Mr Madhuku remained in custody and she and lawyers had been refused access to him. It appeared the activists were being detained for "obstructing the flow of traffic". Last week, police thwarted a similar NCA demonstration to protest plans to amend Zimbabwe's Electoral Act. The amendments will ban foreign monitoring of Presidential elections due by April, forbid private organisations from conducting voter education and deny voting rights to more than million Zimbabweans living abroad.
In the Commons yesterday Mr Straw staged the vigorous defence of the rights of journalists to report the situation in Zimbabwe and praised the "great courage" shown by Zimbabwean journalists, including The Independent's Basildon Peta, "recording the situation against the most flagrant intimidation". Last week, Mr Peta was included among a small group of journalists whom the government said it would treat as though they were "assisting terrorists". Mr Straw also told the Commons that the Commonwealth ministerial action group would discuss Zimbabwe in a tele-conference next month and hold a meeting in London in January. If violence continues to rise, the Commonwealth is likely to back planned European Union sanctions from February. These would include an end to EU aid, suspension of trade privileges and travel bans on Mr Mugabe, his family and aides.
The World Association of Newspapers yesterday awarded its annual press freedom prize to Geoffrey Nyarota, 50, editor-in-chief of Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, The Daily News for his commitment to reporting the truth despite a "constant campaign of intimidation".
Top
From The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK), 27 November
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw:
We regularly raise land reform with the Government of Zimbabwe. I did so at Abuja in September and with Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister, Mr Mudenge, in New York on 10 November. My noble friend Baroness Amos discussed it during the Commonwealth Ministerial visit to Harare in October. At Abuja, Zimbabwe agreed a set of proposals for a fair, just and sustainable land reform programme. Among other things, the Government of Zimbabwe committed itself to restore the rule of law to land reform and to respect the Commonwealth Harare Declaration. Its actions since Abuja show scant regard for these commitments and have seriously undermined the agreement. My Hon. friend the member for Exeter (Ben Bradshaw) set out Government policy on Zimbabwe in this morning's Adjournment Debate. But let me emphasise again to the House that we remain profoundly concerned at recent developments, including violence against the opposition, interference in the judicial system, moves to disenfranchise Zimbabweans living overseas and preposterously labelling journalists as people who have been assisting terrorism. Our European and Commonwealth partners and neighbouring states in Southern Africa share these concerns. At the 29 October General Affairs Council, the European Union therefore opened formal Article 96 consultations with the Government of Zimbabwe under the Cotonou Agreement. Cotonou states that if there is no progress within 75 days, "appropriate measures" may be taken.
A UN Development Programme technical team is now in Zimbabwe to look at the prospects for a credible land reform programme. Once its report is available, we will discuss this with Commonwealth and EU partners and key donor nations including the US. We shall of course, consult Southern African countries as well. I will at that stage make another statement to the House. All the way through this issue, I have been concerned to ensure that we work in partnership with Commonwealth countries, the EU and with the other southern Africans. Apart from the poor people in Zimbabwe who are suffering grievously from the results of President Mugabe's policies, it is the countries contiguous to Zimbabwe who are most affected by the disastrous economic and political management of Zimbabwe. We will continue to work with all these partners on the issue of election observers. What is striking is that President Mugabe's refusal to date - we hope he will change his mind but I don't hold out too much hope - to accept election observers in at the beginning of the electoral process not just at the end not only appears to be a breach of various EU and Commonwealth declarations to which he is signed up, but also to a very detailed declaration of norms and standards for elections in the southern African region to which President Mugabe himself signed up in only March last year and which specifically commits all southern African countries including Zimbabwe to the admission of independent election observers at the beginning of the electoral process as well as through it and polling day.
The issue of measures by the Commonwealth is a matter for the Commonwealth as a whole and not just for the United Kingdom. And I will just say this: nothing would play better with President Mugabe than if he was allowed to present this issue as one between black Zimbabwe and the old colonial ruler the United Kingdom rather than what it in reality is: a major issue of multinational and international concern. As far as the Commonwealth is concerned, I spoke this morning to the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Don McKinnon, about the situation. We are likely to have a teleconference of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group of which I'm a member in December and a proper meeting in January - that meeting should coincide with the end of the 75 day period under the Article 96 process under Cotonou. In addition to that we will continue discussion with Southern African countries. Because it is clear that there have to be significant changes in the arrangements which President Mugabe is in practice willing to put in place for observers to the election process and the election process itself if that election is to carry any credibility with the rest of the world and with the voters of Zimbabwe itself. We are all profoundly concerned about what's been happening on behalf above all of the people of Zimbabwe who have suffered so badly with 80% inflation, a decline in the growth rate of what was once the bread basket of Africa and the impoverisation of what was a very prosperous country. I would counsel against the UK taking unilateral action. That would work to President Mugabe's benefit. The important thing is that we work on the basis of partnership with the Commonwealth, EU and above all southern African countries.
The journalists who President Mugabe portrayed as assisting terrorism were Zimbabwean citizens who should only be mentioned for the great courage they have shown in reporting the situation in Zimbabwe against the most flagrant intimidation by those acting on behalf of President Mugabe and the Zanu PF party. Following the reports, our High Commissioner in Zimbabwe, Brian Donnelly, made very strong representations at my specific request to the Zimbabwean Government. We continue to work with independent media, NGOs and others to ensure that so far as possible the media is able to report fairly and independently what is happening in Zimbabwe and where they are prevented from doing so, the world knows. Building coalitions is exactly what we have been about for months. That was the purpose of the Abuja discussions. It was crucial that we broke away from this parody which President Mugabe had allowed himself to invent that this was a bilateral dispute between the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe. Nothing of the kind. That's why the Abuja declaration was of crucial importance because Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Jamaica as well as old Commonwealth countries were signed up to that. That's why the discussions between President Mbeki and our Prime Minister were also important and the decision by the General Affairs Council of the EU to move from Article 8 to 96 and the meeting which took place last week between Commissioner Patten and High Representative Solana in Zimbabwe. All those are part of moves that we are making along with our partners to ensure there is exactly that coalition so that, unlike in the early 1980's when the previous Government sat on its hands while over 5000 people were murdered in Matabeleland, we take effective action based on an international consensus.
Top
From Africaonline.com, 27 November
Zimbabwe farm decree scuttles land reform funds
Harare - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) team, which recently held talks with the Zimbabwe government over its controversial land reforms, will not be recommending the release of donor funding for the reforms, sources close to the talks have said. The UNDP team was in Zimbabwe to follow up on the implementation of a Nigerian-brokered agreement under which President Robert Mugabe pledged to halt his drive to seize land from white farmers in exchange for British funding for a rational and transparent land reform plan. The UNDP team, led by Abdoulai Janneh, a United Nations assistant secretary-general and regional director of the UNDP's Africa region, was to assess the government's on-going land reforms and recommend an alternative plan that is funded by Zimbabwe's former colonial power Britain and other international donors. But highly placed sources said recently that the UNDP mission, piqued by Mugabe's stepping up of farm seizures last week just as the team flew into Harare, would certainly not recommend that donors bankroll the reforms. "Nobody should be under the illusion that the UNDP team will come up with a plan that recommends the immediate release of donor funds," one source said. UNDP resident representative in Harare Victor Angelo could not be reached for comment. He was reportedly out of his office coordinating meetings between Janneh's team and various stakeholders in the country. Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge was also said to be out attending meetings.
The sources said Mugabe's decree last week ordering white farmers off their land within three months of their designation for seizure by the government had killed whatever little chance there was of the UNDP coming up with a report recommending immediate donor funding for land reforms. The UNDP was also expecting the government to have now taken more steps to calm down the land dispute by ensuring a strict adherence to the law, removing its supporters from all land not gazetted by the state as well as de-listing farms that did not meet the set criteria for acquisition. "We were expecting the government to freeze things and allow the whole situation to calm down, but what have we found on the ground is unacceptable: more listings and in some cases new farm invasions since the Abuja agreement was signed," another source said. Under the Abuja agreement signed in September, the government must enforce the rule of law by ending the illegal occupation of farms and general lawlessness on commercial farms and across the country. Mugabe and his government were to also uphold democracy by ending political violence, which has ironically widened and, in some cases, escalated through the invasion of new farms since Abuja. A Commonwealth mission which visited Harare last month to check on the government's progress in upholding Abuja said Mugabe had done little to honour the agreement, although the panel felt the process was still on track. Britain, which is expected to provide the bulk of financial support for the land reforms in Zimbabwe, says it will only do so on the recommendations of the UNDP.
Top
From The New York Times, 27 November
Zimbabwe: Friends can observe vote
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told Parliament that the government would invite election observers from friendly countries to assess the coming presidential election, expected early next year. He emphasized that the observers would not be from groups or countries that have called for sanctions against Zimbabwe, which has been criticized for harassing opposition members, white farmers and journalists. "We cannot allow people who are our enemies to come to our soil," Mr. Chinamasa said.
Top
From The Guardian (UK), 27 November
Editors tell Mugabe to withdraw threats
Johannesburg - The International Press Institute has written to the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, asking him to repudiate his government's accusation that local and foreign journalists are colluding with terrorists. On Friday the state-owned newspaper the Herald quoted a government spokesman as saying that six journalists, including the Guardian correspondent, Andrew Meldrum, were "assisting terrorists" and would be dealt with in the same manner as terrorists. Mr Mugabe has repeatedly called his political opponents terrorists in the weeks since September 11, in an effort to justify his campaign against them. Johann Fritz, the IPI director, wrote that the allegation endangered the reporters' lives and press freedom. The IPI also expressed concern that the government was using the terrorism issue to lay the foundations for new media restrictions, including a ban on "false statements prejudicial to the state or that incite public disorder, violence, affect the defence and economic interests of the country or undermine public confidence in the security forces". Meanwhile, a student has been killed in the latest political violence. Passengers on a train near Mutare said soldiers strangled and then threw Lameck Chemvura, 20, to his death after accusing him of being an opposition supporter. A farmer, Alan Bradley, is in a critical condition after being shot near his farm 120 miles southeast of Harare.
Top
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 27 November
Farmer fights for life after ambush
Bulawayo - A white farmer was in critical condition in a Harare hospital last night after an attack by gunmen. Alan Bradley was being driven by his wife, Anthea, to their farm, Royal Visit, in the Macheke area of Zimbabwe, 80 miles south-east of Harare, when the attack happened on Sunday. Their two young children were with them. They were forced to stop when they found logs placed across the road. Mr Bradley, 36, got out of the vehicle to remove the obstruction and, when he climbed back inside, shots were fired. He was hit in the chest, the bullets just missing his son Luke, six, who was sitting on his lap. Mrs Bradley, 32, sped on to their home. Neighbours drove her husband to the nearest hospital, 20 miles away, where he was given emergency treatment before being transferred to the intensive care unit of the Avenues Clinic in Harare.
Earlier this year, about 50 so-called war veterans on his farm stopped him planting crops. He had recently built one of the largest privately owned dams in Zimbabwe, both for irrigation and to supply nearby tribal people with free water. The Macheke area is home to some of the hardiest of Zimbabwe's approximately 3,500 white commercial farmers. It has been among the worst hit since President Robert Mugabe ordered invasions of 85 per cent of white-owned land. More than half of the area's farmers have been forced to stop work. Nine white farmers have been killed. The first was David Stevens, tortured and shot in front of police in Macheke in April last year. Mr Stevens was an official of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change whose leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is standing against Mr Mugabe in presidential elections early next year. The United States yesterday poured scorn on the Zimbabwean government's accusation that journalists were aiding terrorism. Richard Boucher, state department spokesman, said: "The statements reflect a continuing trend of harassment of the free press".
Top
From The Times (UK), 26 November 2001
Zimbabwe retreats on election observers
Harare - Zimbabwe's state election agency said yesterday that foreign observers would be welcome at presidential elections next year, in an embarrassing retreat from President Mugabe's enraged dismissal of a European Union delegation last week. Diplomats confirmed reports in the state press that Mr Mugabe had stormed out of the meeting with three senior EU officials when they insisted on sending observers and said Zimbabwe should comply with "minimum international standards" for the vote. "The President could not take that," the state-controlled Sunday Mail said, quoting senior government sources. "He instantly told the EU delegation (Louis Michel, the Belgian Foreign Minister, Chris Patten, the European Commissioner for External Relations, and Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief) that Zimbabwe would not allow other countries to run our elections. He told them to 'keep out' and (he) walked out. For a few seconds the delegation sat glued on their seats. They could not believe what had happened."
Mr Michel gave a warning afterwards that the EU would not recognise the elections. The incident came after alarm over rising state-sponsored intimidation and fears that the Government was legislating to "rig" the vote, due by the end of March. Diplomats said that Mr Mugabe's outburst laid the ground for an international dispute in which the Western world would disregard an election won by Mr Mugabe and declare his Government illegitimate. "Of course they were shocked," a Western diplomat said. "You don't expect that kind of behaviour from a head of state. It just succeeded in embarrassing the Government."
However, in the Sunday Mail yesterday Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, chairman of Zimbabwe's state-appointed Election Supervisory Commission (ESC), said that Zimbabwean law defined "monitors" as officials of the ESC who have special powers to report to the Government on the conduct of elections. Foreign "observers" are outside the scope of the electoral law. Mr Gula-Ndebele said that he had held talks with diplomatic representatives in Harare and they had "indicated that they had only advocated the deployment of "observers". Election monitors are an arm of the ESC, but foreign observers are free to come, as has always been the case." A Western diplomat said: "This is a semantic problem and they have been playing on it to show that nobody can impose on them. It was always observers we were talking about."
In Harare yesterday security police were seeking a court order to force a local independent mobile telephone company to issue itemised bills of 12 senior officials of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change who are subscribers. On Friday two policemen arrested a junior official of Econet Wireless when he refused to hand over the accounts, which would have disclosed details of their calls. He was released on Saturday. "We are bound by law to keep our subscribers' details confidential," Norman Nyazema, the Econet chairman, said. "It's also a violation of constitutional guarantees to freedom of association. They arrested him for refusing to break the laws of the country." He said that Econet would challenge any application from the police to seize the documents. "The whole thing is political."
Top
From The Zimbabwe Standard, 25 November
Judge urges probe of leaders
Justice George Smith has ordered the police to investigate leaders behind the violence that has rocked the countryside since last year's election. Smith made the remarks while delivering judgement in the case of 10 Zanu PF youths found to have assaulted teachers they believed to be MDC supporters, at Uronga South Primary, before the Bindura by-election in June. "The commissioner of police has been asked to have the matter investigated as soon as possible, and if there is evidence that the base commander or anyone else is culpable, then that person will be brought before the courts expeditiously. The police are to be commended for having the accused brought before the courts, but they must not stop half way. They must now investigate those who instigated or compelled the accused to act as they did," said Smith.
The 10 youths told the court that they had beaten up the teachers on instructions from senior Zanu PF officials. The 10 were all charged with public violence and sentenced to three years in prison with nine months suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour. The court heard how the 10, all unemployed, went to Uronga school on 28 June this year with orders to evict teachers suspected of being MDC members. On arrival, they chanted Zanu PF slogans and ordered the teachers to abandon their classes and parade in the school grounds. All nine teachers at the school were asked to produce first their MDC membership cards and when they failed to do so, were asked to produce their Zanu PF cards instead. The three teachers who had Zanu PF cards were asked to stand aside while the other six were ordered to lie on their stomachs and were subsequently beaten in front of their pupils.
Top
From The New York Times, 25 November
Zimbabwe's Mugabe seeks to delay Harare elections
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government sought Sunday to overturn a High Court decision allowing long-delayed mayoral and council elections in Harare to go ahead next month. Critics say the government has deliberately held up municipal polls in the capital and other urban areas where the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) made a virtual clean sweep in last year's parliamentary elections. Mugabe faces a tough presidential election challenge next year from MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, whose party narrowly lost the parliamentary polls to the president's ruling Zanu PF. Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede filed an urgent application for Supreme Court Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku to dismiss the High Court ruling that a commission which has run Harare since 1999 should step down to allow for elections on December 28. High Court Judge Charles Hungwe made the ruling Friday after an application by Harare's residents association. Mudede urged Chidyausiku, 54, a political ally of Mugabe, to overturn the ruling on grounds that the Harare polls could not be held because all financial and human resources were tied up in preparation for next year's presidential election.
"Calling for a deviation at this stage to deal with an unplanned need to organize local council elections will render this task impossible within the time limits imposed," Mudede said in an affidavit. Lawyers for the residents association said Chidyausika suggested during a closed hearing in his chambers that he intended to enable the government Monday to postpone the Harare polls. "We are waiting for a decision tomorrow morning...but we can probably almost guarantee that he is going to stay the (High Court) order because he said that," one of the lawyers, Edith Mushore, told reporters. Harare has been run by a commission for more than two years since the executive mayor resigned and the government fired the entire council for mismanagement. Chidyausiku was sworn in as chief justice in September after the government forced his predecessor Anthony Gubbay into early retirement, accusing him of favoring the white minority in rulings on the country's thorny land reform program. Mugabe plunged the country into crisis in February 2000 when he allowed pro-government militants to invade hundreds of white-owned farms in support of his drive to seize white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks. Last year's parliamentary elections were accompanied by a violent campaign in which at least 31 people, most of them opposition supporters, were killed in the former British colony. Violence flared in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo in September after the MDC swept the board in elections for seven councillors and an executive mayor.
Top
From The Sunday Times (UK), 25 November
Mugabe trails presidential rival in poll
R W Johnson, Johannesburg
An opinion poll to be published this week shows that Robert Mugabe, the embattled Zimbabwean leader, has fallen eight points behind his rival for the presidency, despite a campaign of repression aimed at crushing opposition. The survey of a representative sample of 1,900 voters indicates that a majority of Zimbabweans blame Mugabe for the country's worsening ills. Even among supporters of his Zanu PF party, nearly half are reluctant to see him stay in office. Such is the scale of the repression that half of those questioned refused to state their opinions in the poll, which I helped to organise with Gallup International. Among those willing to reveal their views, however, Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was ahead of Mugabe by 52% to 44%. Asked who was responsible for Zimbabwe's woes, 66% of those with definite opinions blamed the Mugabe government - almost double the 34% who agreed with the official line that they are the fault of whites, foreigners or the MDC. One reason for Mugabe's failure to win support is that voters do not agree that the issue of land ownership is of supreme importance. Indeed, comparison with previous surveys confirms that fewer and fewer see things that way. Most people are too afraid of retribution to risk speaking publicly about the phenomenon of political violence, but when questions addressed their private anxieties, fear of political attacks and killings was strong. They also expressed fears about Aids - Zimbabwe has one of the highest incidences of the disease in the world - and starvation.
On one issue after another Mugabe has failed to carry the voters with him. Only 28% agreed that "all big farms should be taken away from whites". Twice that number wanted white farmers to carry on, or for those who had left Zimbabwe to be invited back. Even among Mugabe supporters, only 44% thought it sensible to blame whites for the country's problems. Among Tsvangirai's following, 92% thought it foolish to blame whites. Zanu PF's supporters were also far from being unanimously behind the president's campaign slogan: "The people first and Mugabe for ever." Only 53% wanted him to continue ruling Zimbabwe. Isaac Maposa, the chief executive of the MDC, said he was not surprised by the findings. "If the presidential election were to be free or fair, Morgan Tsvangirai would win by a landslide," he said. The reaction of the government, still trying to "disprove" a poll earlier this month that showed Tsvangirai six points ahead, is expected to be hostile. "This sort of data panics the regime," human rights activist said. "Its immediate response is to beat up, torture and kill more MDC supporters."
Mugabe's fear that he could not win a free and fair election doubtless lay behind last week's battery of measures against the opposition. They include a new law introducing the death penalty for a long list of crimes, including "attempts to undermine the authority of the president". A Zimbabwean government spokesman also branded six foreign journalists based in the country - four of whom write for British newspapers - as "terrorists". Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, accused Mugabe's government of violating its commitment to freedom of expression and said he would discuss with his European Union and Commonwealth counterparts how to respond. A proposed new electoral law deprives more than 1m Zimbabweans living abroad of the vote. Villagers will have to get their "headman", who is on the government payroll, to vouch for them. Farm workers must also ask their employers to attest to their status - a difficult test, since both have been driven off farms en masse. "You could sum it up simply by saying any MDC voter not only has to be disenfranchised but is a terrorist who should be in jail - or worse," said one human rights activist. Like most Zimbabweans, he did not wish to be named - wisely, perhaps, since such activists were also named by Mugabe last week as supporting "terrorism".
Top
From The Observer (UK), 25 November
Straw's anger at Mugabe threats
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw threatened diplomatic action last night over President Robert Mugabe's threat to treat British journalists - including The Observer's Zimbabwe correspondent Andrew Meldrum - as 'terrorists', a crime that carries the death penalty. In an unusually strong statement, certain to antagonise Mugabe, Straw expressed his 'profound concern' over Zimbabwe's actions which he said could breach international agreements over human rights and freedom of expression. Straw said the British government would be raising the issue of six journalists, including the correspondents for Associated Press, the Telegraph, the Times, the Independent and Business Day of South Africa, all accused of 'aiding terrorism' for reporting indiscriminate beatings of whites a week ago. With the economy near collapse, Mugabe's popularity has plummeted, and Western diplomats and political analysts have speculated he is trying to engineer a chaotic situation that would allow him to declare a state of emergency and toughen his crackdown before elections.
Top
From The Sunday Times (SA), 25 November
Nobody in life, hero in death
Killing of war vet becomes pretext for crackdown
In life Cain Nkala was a virtual nobody. But his abduction and brutal murder a fortnight ago has sparked a new wave of violence in Zimbabwe and become the pretext for President Robert Mugabe's renewed crackdown on opposition ahead of next year's presidential elections. Before the start of the invasion of white-owned farms last year, few had heard of Nkala. But last weekend, he was declared a national hero and buried in Hero's Acre, joining such figures as liberation war hero Joshua Nkomo. With Mugabe presiding over the funeral, several Cabinet members turned up and glorious eulogies were delivered in his honour. Labelled a martyr for "his resolute stand on the controversial land question even when faced with death", Nkala's life was far from illustrious. He only joined the liberation struggle in 1977, as the end of the war was already being negotiated. After the war he joined the army, only to be demobilised in 1983 when he went to work in a shoe factory. Even after he was elected the leader of the Matabeleland chapter of the War Veterans' Association, Nkala kept his low profile. When he died, the state media did not even have proper photographs with which to illustrate their reports and the government used faded black-and white photographs in the graveside tributes.
On Sunday, Mugabe used Nkala's death to launch a vicious attack on the opposition, saying his murder was a plan by the Movement for Democratic Change to "reverse our sovereignty, to reverse the right of the people to determine who should lead them and a fight to direct events in a way that suits foreign powers". "The MDC perpetrators of political violence and crimes against humanity and their international sponsors should know that their days are numbered," Mugabe warned. Some middle-level MDC officials were arrested and paraded on national television, during which they were made to confess for Nkala's murder. Zanu PF leaders have called on Mugabe to ban the opposition in response to the death. It has also resulted in violent clashes between Zanu PF and MDC supporters in Bulawayo, Harare and Kadoma following several inflammatory speeches by senior Zanu PF officials and war veterans. Several people have been injured, and damage estimated at millions has been caused. There were clashes at the legislature on Tuesday when war veterans and MDC youths were involved in a standoff after the former blocked opposition MPs from entering parliament. Riot police chased away the MDC youths before escorting the war veterans and Zanu PF supporters to safety. The atmosphere was also tense inside parliament as rival MPs traded insults with some almost coming to blows.
The battles inside and outside parliament were related to accusations around Nkala's death and plans by the government to fast-track amendments to the electoral law which would dramatically tilt matters in his party's to favour. In terms of the amendments, prospective voters will be required to produce proof of residence in addition to identity cards, for them to be registered as voters. City dwellers have to produce a title deed, certificate of occupation or lodger's permit issued before November 19, 2001. They will also have to furnish rates, electricity, water or credit store statements in the voter's name which shows the physical address. Rural and farm inhabitants need confirmation by their village heads, who are mainly Zanu PF supporters. With the registration exercise closing on December 9, this new requirement will automatically remove the vote from hundreds of thousands of the country's youths as most still live with their parents and have no proof of residence. Lodgers who live in the back-yards of urban properties also have no occupation certificates. They secure accommodation through a gentleman's agreement and thus become ineligible to vote despite doing so in last year's parliamentary polls. MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube condemned the new requirements, saying they were a deliberate attempt to prevent his party's supporters from casting their votes. "It's yet another attempt to disenfranchise MDC supporters," said Ncube. "It's a systematic way of removing MDC members from the voters' roll because never before have we had such requirements," he said.
The National Constitutional Assembly , a coalition of non-governmental organisations, which has been calling for the drawing up of a new constitution before the presidential election,also criticised the government's move. The NCA said the latest amendments were tailor-made to heighten electoral fraud in the election. NCA chairman Lovemore Madhuku said his organisation wanted the election conducted in a way which inspired confidence in its result. "We have already condemned the electoral process because it seems partisan in favour of one party and we will stage protests until our voice has been heard," he said. But the organisation's intended protests were brutally suppressed by riot police, who randomly beat up people moving in groups in the Harare city centre. As violence increases in the wake of Nkala's death, the government is now planning to revise security laws to tighten the screws on those charged with "political crimes" and restrict political gatherings.
Top
From The Zimbabwe Standard, 25 November
Matabeleland appeals to international community
Bulawayo - People in Matabeleland have appealed to the international community for protection against what they have said is state-sponsored terrorism in the region. Government-sponsored terror squads, some originating from Harare, are said to be harassing villagers in the Matabeleland north and south provinces, considered the political power bases of the opposition MDC. In Bulawayo, politically-motivated violence continued last week despite the presence of armed police, with the housing of opposition supporters being burnt down or looted. The appeal for protection by the people of Matabeleland comes in the wake of rising political tension in the province, following the abduction and murder two weeks ago of Cain Nkala, formerly the leader of the war veterans in Bulawayo. Nkala, a former Zipra guerrilla, was abducted from his home in Magwegwe township, Bulawayo by about 10 gunmen. His decomposed body was found buried in a shallow grave on a farm near Solusi University, about 35km south-east of the city. The government has blamed the MDC for the abduction and murder of Nkala despite evidence suggesting that the veteran was a victim of infighting within the ranks of the war veterans association.
Those interviewed by The Standard said the current terror was government's way of punishing people in the region for rejecting the ruling party in last year's parliamentary elections. They said the state had staged the Nkala and Luphalhla killings as a pretext for deploying the army in the region, to instil fear ahead of next year's presidential election. Herbert Masuku of Njube, said government aimed at carrying out a kind of genocide in the area. "I have no doubt in my mind that what is happening now is the first step towards deploying soldiers in our region," said Masuku.
Bulawayo residents told The Standard that they had appealed to the South African government for protection against the terror squads. "We are appealing to President Thabo Mbeki not to abandon us when the terror begins in Matabeleland. This government is for terror and the international community should not forget us," said Mrs Mavis Maseko of Luveve. Maseko said she lost six relatives and two brothers during the Fifth Brigade campaign in Matabeleland in the 1980s, dubbed Gukurahundi, which left hundreds of villagers dead. A lecturer at the University of Science and Technology (Nust) warned government against deploying the army in Matabeleland to terrorise the population. "It would be a big blunder. Strategies such as terrorising civilians always backfire on dictators," he said.
Top
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 24 November
Zimbabwe police chief in land grab at white farm
Bulawayo - Zimbabwe's commissioner of police has ordered a white farmer to leave his land and home, because he is moving in. Augustine Chihuri and his wife arrived last Saturday at Woodlands Farm, Shamva, 60 miles north-west of Harare, in one of the richest agricultural areas in the country, and introduced himself to Mike Butler, the farm owner. Mr Chihuri told Mr Butler that he and his wife would be arriving soon to take up residence in the homestead and the farm. He did not say when he would be arriving. Mr Chihuri, who supports the ruling Zanu PF party, handed Mr Butler a piece of paper and said he had been given special permission to acquire the farm. The paper had been signed by Joseph Made, the agriculture minister. Yesterday, Mr Made refused to comment after he heard the details of the incident at Woodlands Farm.
The incident comes in a climate of mounting repression against opposition supporters and as President Mugabe steps up his campaign against white farmers. Mr Butler's farm is lying fallow as so-called war veterans and government supporters have stopped him and his labourers from working the land. He has received only a preliminary notice of the government's intention to acquire the farm. To make the seizure legal under Mr Mugabe's recently changed acquisition laws, Mr Butler still has to receive another order, a Section 8, and be given three months' notice to vacate his home and land. Mr Butler has since fled Woodlands Farm with his wife, Ann, children and elderly parents who also lived there. He sent a message through a colleague that he would not talk to the press as he feared for his life. Several incidents similar to that endured by the Butler family are slowly coming to light. In each case, farm owners who have been confronted by senior officials' demands to take over their land under so-called special permission are terrified of giving any information to the press.
Mr Mugabe says his seizure of 85 per cent of white-owned farms is to benefit landless peasants. Hopes were raised earlier this year that the crisis might be defused after some of Africa's most influential leaders supported reform plans. But Mr Mugabe has failed to abide by the terms of the accord reached in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. In the latest diplomatic initiative, European representatives said yesterday that they had had a "difficult" time with Mr Mugabe in a 90-minute meeting. Louis Michel, Belgium's deputy prime minister; Chris Patten, the European Union commissioner for external relations, and Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, left empty-handed and sombre after their meeting.
Top
From The Star (SA), 22 November
Zimbabwe poised to introduce 'dompas' law
Harare - The Zimbabwean government would jail or fine people who move about without identity cards under a proposed law, the latest in a string of what critics see as draconian new rules from embattled President Robert Mugabe. In a statement published in the official Herald newspaper on Thursday, the government said it had approved amendments to the National Registration Act and the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act to make it mandatory for people to carry either a national ID card, a passport or a driver's licence. Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the amendments - which he said would soon be tabled in parliament - were "aimed at dealing with increasing criminal and terrorism activities". The law would reverse a 1997 Supreme Court ruling that outlawed such measures as an infringement of the right to free movement. But Chinamasa said the ruling had made police work difficult in identifying suspected criminals, identifying accident victims and in detecting illegal immigrants. Under the proposed changes, a person moving without an ID would face a fine of up to Z$5 000 or a year in jail. Human rights groups condemned the amendments as draconian, saying they violated the constitution. "The government is creating a repressive atmosphere with all these draconian proposals, especially at a time when the government has given an impression that it will crush all dissent," said a spokesman for the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, one of Zimbabwe's leading rights groups.
Critics say Mugabe, 77, is tightening electoral rules and other laws in his favour ahead of next year's presidential poll. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is expected to give Mugabe the stiffest challenge of his career in the elections. The government has tabled proposals to ban local independent election monitors and forbid private organisations from conducting voter education. The changes would oblige voters to produce several documents to prove their residence, while denying voting rights to millions of Zimbabweans abroad. On Wednesday, state officials said the government also planned to reintroduce a Public Order Security Bill, which critics say is intended to suppress opposition ahead of the presidential polls. It will punish "acts of insurgency, banditry, sabotage, terrorism, treason and subversion" with life imprisonment or death penalty. The bill also outlaws publishing or communicating "false statements prejudicial to the state or that incite public disorder, violence, affect the defence and economic interests of the country or undermine public confidence in security forces".
Top
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 23 November
Govt media conceal evidence on Nkala
The Herald, the Chronicle and the ZBC are reportedly in possession of a document which could be critical in shedding light on the motive behind the murder of war veterans leader, Cain Nkala. New information on the murder suggests the late Bulawayo war veterans' association chairman reported to the police massive fraud allegations within the rank and file of the former fighters three days before he was abducted and murdered, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt. Sources said he also handed documents chronicling the allegations to the Herald, the Chronicle and the ZBC. News of the allegations have not been published. Government sources told the Independent this week that Nkala's report had never been made public and was not likely to come to light considering the sensitivity of the matter, which has now been politicised by the government. The publication of the allegations could provide a fresh theory to explain Nkala's death. Information supplied to the Independent this week reveals that prior to his death, Nkala was approached by a war veteran at his Magwegwe house who demanded to be vetted. The source said the man, who has also been picked up by police for questioning, spoke to Nkala at length and was eventually given a letter to take to Zanu PF's Bulawayo provincial executive for confirmation that he was indeed a war veteran.
The source told the Independent that it has since turned out that the war veteran had already been vetted prior to visiting the late Nkala. "We know him as a war veteran and that he was vetted a long time ago. We are all wondering why he wanted to be vetted again," the source said. The man, identified only as Moyo, was taken to an undisclosed police station where he is being held and has not yet appeared in court. War veterans national secretary-general, Endy Mhlanga, confirmed to the Independent yesterday that he was told by Nkala's wife, Sikhumbuzo, during the course of police investigations, that a war veteran demanding to be vetted visited Nkala's home and spent the whole day there before the abduction. "That information is true. His wife (Nkala's) told me of that issue, that a war veteran came demanding to be vetted. I have information that he was also arrested and is in police custody," Mhlanga said.
Mhlanga said Nkala's wife did not relate the whole story so he never got Moyo's first name. Nkala's wife has been barred by government from talking to journalists. However, Mhlanga professed ignorance of Nkala's letter pleading with the police to investigate the war veterans' financial records. The information on the arrest of the war veteran has never been made public by the state-controlled ZBC which has since Nkala's death been running a marque: "Fighting terrorism". Police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told the Independent that the arrested alleged murderers were appearing in court and it was not the right time to reveal or discuss the matter. He could neither deny nor confirm Nkala's letter, or the arrest of the war veteran. "We might send the wrong signal or perception because this matter is before the courts," Bvudzijena said.
Chronicle editor, Stephen Ndlovu, yesterday denied ever seeing Nkala's fraud allegations letter. "I don't know anything about it, where did you hear that from?" His news editor, Isaack Waniwa, said: "I have never heard of that letter." Herald editor, Pikirayi Deketeke, was reportedly out of office. Messages were left at his office over the matter but he did not return calls. Minister of Home affairs John Nkomo told the nation on state television last week that the opposition MDC was linked to the abduction and murder of Nkala, with President Robert Mugabe reiterating at the Heroes Acre on Sunday during Nkala's burial that the MDC and its British sponsors and Tony Blair's Labour government had a hand. MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai told the Independent last week on Wednesday that the government should stop "whipping up emotions" to destabilise the country over Nkala's death.
Top
From Canada.com, 22 November
MP Martin raises alarm over chaos in Zimbabwe
Ottawa - While the world has been focused on Afghanistan, the situation in Zimbabwe has been steadily sliding downhill toward a tragedy of major proportions, Canadian Alliance MP Keith Martin says. Martin, MP for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca, said Wednesday he will introduce a motion in the House of Commons next week asking Canada to lead the fight to have Zimbabwe expelled from the Commonwealth; to have the personal assets of President Robert Mugabe and his ministers frozen internationally, and to ban international travel by members of his government. Martin, the Alliance's international affairs critic, visited Zimbabwe in late October with Secretary of State for Africa David Kilgour as part of a Commonwealth delegation requested by Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo. Part of the group's mandate was to monitor an agreement struck in early September to make sure land redistribution in Zimbabwe took place in an orderly fashion and "under the rule of law." While there was violence related to the redistribution, the delegation also heard reports of politically motivated violence and intimidation, says Kilgour.
Martin says many black farm workers were simply driven off the land with nowhere to go. There have been numerous allegations that seized farms are simply being handed over to Mugabe's friends. The World Food Program has warned more than 500,000 Zimbabweans face severe food shortages. "One of the most chilling things," Martin said, "is that black farm workers said, 'If we do not plant now, what will happen is that we will starve.' Arable land is being destroyed, wild animals are being shot and domestic animals are starving." Kilgour agrees the situation is appalling and says he worries about the ongoing emphasis on anti-terrorism in North America. "That's a huge problem. There's nothing that's more disappointing than to see the enormous interest this issue has in Britain and, of course, in Africa (compared to here). And in the European Union." Human Rights Watch, an international human rights group, condemned Wednesday the detention of at least 18 members of the Movement for Democratic Change, the official opposition to Mugabe's party. Mugabe's government issued draft legislation Wednesday to suppress the "terrorist" MDC, just three days after Mugabe reportedly said his government would crush the opposition party.
Top
|
|
You can make a difference
|
|
 |
Make a donation |
|
Support Zimbabwe at an event |
|
Lobby your local Government member |
|
Become a member of the ZIC |
|
