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Archived News
11th February 2002
Zimbabwe frees Independent journalist
Mbeki's adviser gives blunt warning to Mugabe
Basildon Peta: My ordeal as Mugabe's prisoner
Chief Zimbabwe poll observer named
Really, what does Mugabe want?
Zimbabwe's climate of fear
16 die in black January
MDC MPs flee Mat North terror
And again...
Terror squads camp on farms
EU denies 'sneaking' observers into Zimbabwe
Zim declares dispute with EU
Mugabe broke the law: Chidyausiku
Zimbabwe MPs tortured in new wave of terror
Youths kill teacher
Mugabe threatens voters
Zimbabwe revokes Feingold's visa
EU invited to Zim elections
Obasanjo insists Harare should hold a fair election
MDC says assaults on supporters on the increase in Manicaland
Radio station reaches listeners by tape
EU steps closer to Mugabe sanctions
EU mission chaos as Mugabe orders ban on Britain
SADC misled over Information Bill
Zim cops guard food lines
Britain comes to Zim's aid
A daily struggle to make ends meet
Unfettered access for Zimbabwe poll observers
Big-name SA team to monitor Zimbabwe poll
Judgment overturned
What did I do to deserve this?
An encounter with silent ranks of hate
Mugabe admits EU observer as he plays for time
MDC youth leader murdered
Thug tactics and arson derail MDC rally
Women fight Mugabe with 'chitter-chatter'
No independent writing, by order of the minister
UK dismisses Sunday Mail story as rubbish
From ZWNEWS: Two day ago we made available an advice note from the Citizenship Lobby Group regarding the removal from the voters roll of those who have recently renounced their Zimbabwe citizenship. If anyone has further queries about this subject - particularly if your notice of appeal has been rejected by the Registrar-General's Office - please contact the CLG direct.
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From The Guardian (UK), 6 February
Zimbabwe frees Independent journalist
Brussels/Harare - Zimbabwean police released the journalist Basildon Peta yesterday after the attorney general's office refused to prosecute him for planning a protest against the government's harsh new press law. The incident comes just five weeks before the presidential election in which President Robert Mugabe faces the stiffest challenge in his 22 years in power from Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Mr Peta, a reporter for the Independent in London and secretary general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, was held overnight and his home ransacked twice by police, who have sweeping powers under the new Public Order and Security Act. Police blamed Mr Peta for organising the demonstration last week in which 60 journalists stood with gags and anti-government placards in front of parliament. The draconian security law states that police must be given four days' notice before a public gathering is held.
Mr Peta's lawyer secured his release by showing authorities a clause that exempts professional organisations, such as groups of journalists or lawyers, from having to give police notice of a gathering. Police were well aware of the clause because it was used last week to win the release of three journalists arrested at the demonstration. "They knew very well they would have to release me and drop the charges," said Mr Peta. "It was clear they knew of the clause about professional bodies. They just wanted to harass me and demoralise me by keeping me in their filthy conditions. They cannot intimidate me. Journalists in Zimbabwe are standing together and they cannot stop us." The arrest and release of Mr Peta is the latest in a pattern in which several journalists and editors have been jailed and released without charges. In the worst case, two years ago, two Zimbabwean journalists were abducted and tortured by government agents before being turned over to the police. Despite identification of the perpetrators, no one has been arrested.
Although the Mugabe government has promised the European Union it will allow free press coverage of the election campaign, Mr Peta's ordeal indicates the press in Zimbabwe will continue to be restricted. Britain's foreign minister, Jack Straw, warned yesterday that Mr Mugabe's government risks losing international recognition if next month's elections are not judged to be free and fair. Speaking to MPs, Mr Straw said: "If we believe, not withstanding the admission of observers and their report, that the elections have not been conducted in a free and fair way then yes, withdrawal of recognition of that government is a possibility." EU diplomats meeting in Brussels to discuss the crisis yesterday said the Zimbabwean authorities were not preventing the deployment of election observers and said a six-member advance team would be ready by February 9.
The EU team, led by a senior Swedish official, is expected to grow to 30 over the next couple of weeks and to the full strength of 150 by polling day on March 9. EU foreign ministers agreed a week ago to impose "smart sanctions" on Mr Mugabe and 19 associates if Harare prevented deployment of the observers. Sanctions could also be imposed at any time if the observers' work is hindered, violence continues or free media access is prevented. Political violence has continued to spread in Zimbabwe, with followers of Mr Mugabe's Zanu PF party accused of beating to death three MDC officials. Another MDC member remains critically ill in a Harare hospital and four others are missing after being reportedly abducted over the weekend. Two MDC officials were reportedly shot at and stopped by agents of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). They both escaped unhurt but their car was torched, said the MDC secretary general, Welshman Ncube.
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From The Cape Times (SA), 5 February
Mbeki's adviser gives blunt warning to Mugabe
New York/Harare - If the coming Zimbabwean elections are not free and fair, the ensuing government will not be recognised by either the Southern African Development Community (SADC) or South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki's economic adviser Wiseman Nkuhlu said this week. Speaking to Business Report before heading back to South Africa at the close of the World Economic Forum in New York, Nkuhlu said the SADC was monitoring the situation and that it "had the will" to act against President Robert Mugabe if necessary. An advance delegation from the Commonwealth arrived on Tuesday in Zimbabwe before an observer mission which is planned for next month's hotly contested presidential election, the Commonwealth announced. In a statement received in Harare, the Commonwealth said the secretariat team would prepare for the arrival of observers who are expected later this month. "I am pleased to have a team on the ground in Zimbabwe that will stay until the voting and counting in next month's election have been concluded," said Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon. The team is to hold meetings with electoral officials, political parties and non-government organisations about the March 9-10 presidential vote, in which Mugabe is expected to face his stiffest challenge since taking power in the former Rhodesia on independence from Britain in 1980. The first team of actual Commonwealth observers should be in the country by Monday, while the main group is expected to arrive by the end of the month.
Mugabe has said he will allow Commonwealth and EU observers. But he has said the teams should not include any member from Britain, which has harshly criticised the Zimbabwe president for actions seen as increasingly autocratic, such as muscling through parliament a raft of legislation curbing civil liberties. The EU has agreed its observer mission won't include any British officials and the Commonwealth is not expected to send any either. Britain campaigned unsuccessfully at a meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group in London last week to temporarily suspend Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth over concerns about Mugabe's moves to rein in the opposition before the election. Meanwhile, EU diplomats here said no EU observers had yet arrived in the country. The EU was awaiting a formal invitation to send them. Threatened EU sanctions were put on hold on Monday because Zimbabwe had not prevented deployment. A commission spokesperson, Emma Udwin, said: "There's been no attempt to prevent us from deploying" a team she said would number about 150 observers by polling day. Harare still faces sanctions from the EU if Zimbabwe prevents its observers from deploying or "operating effectively", if international media do not have free access to covering the vote, in case of serious human rights abuses or attacks on Mugabe's opponents, or if the vote is deemed not to be free and fair.
According to senior ANC MP Ebrahim Ebrahim, experience from the 2000 parliamentary poll showed election observers would "play a very important role" and the South African parliament would again send a team of observers to Zimbabwe. "Election observers give confidence to the voters, confidence that the ballot box won't be tampered with, that there won't be intimidation, at least at the polling booth, and that there will be proper counting of the ballot papers." He expressed concern, though, that Mugabe had pushed ahead with a draconian media bill. Ebrahim said it is "worrying" that Mugabe had continued to process the legislation despite making a pledge last month to the SADC that he would not hinder the poll any further. "One would have expected that since he had given this undertaking there was no need for the bill," said Ebrahim. However, it was "too early" to say whether Mugabe had "completely violated the agreement". It emerged over the weekend that Mugabe had come under pressure from Mbeki and other world leaders not to sign the bill into law.
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From The Independent (UK), 6 February
Basildon Peta: My ordeal as Mugabe's prisoner
As repression has tightened its grip on Zimbabwe, the Independent's Basildon Peta has found unsought prominence as a champion of freedom. On Monday came the reprisals he had been dreading: arrest and imprisonment. This is his account of his terrifying experience
"Look, you are in a VIP cell. You don't have to worry. We will attend to you when we are ready," the detective barked. I knew then I was in for a long night. The tiny cell I was being dumped in was next to a stinking blocked toilet, whose flushing system seem to have failed over a decade ago. The suffocating stench wafted straight into the next room. The floors and the walls of my cell were filthy. The few sticks of furniture were collapsing with age. For my night in Harare Central, the notorious headquarters of President Robert Mugabe's state security agents, I was given a few broken planks of wood on which to spend the night. I was not surprised, however. When I first heard that armed detectives were hunting for me on Thursday night, I could almost have predicted everything that would play out over the next couple of days.
I knew that I would have to suffer for an imaginary crime that I did not commit. I knew that there would be nothing imaginary about the way the police would treat me in their filthy, dimly lit cells and offices at the Harare Central police station. And I suspected, in my heart of hearts, that at the 11th hour - after President Mugabe's state security agents had drawn sadistic pleasure from their treatment of me - all charges might be dropped. I knew also that the police would show no remorse and would not bother to apologise for their unconstitutional and illegal treatment of me. In short, I was aware that in any contest with President Mugabe's agents, I would always come second.
So I did not even bother to ask why the police officials had stormed my home at dawn on Saturday as if they were hunting for a bank robber or an armed terrorist. I tried to co-operate all the way through, even though I knew the crime they were purporting to investigate was a hoax. I suggested that they stop looking for me and I promised I would surrender myself soon after finishing the private family business that had occupied me for the previous two days. But that did not stop them from pretending that I was not co-operating. Despite the fact that my lawyer had managed to arrange an appointment for Sunday at 10am, they still saw fit to go to my house on Saturday and force their way in without a search warrant. They ransacked the house, breaking into cupboards, wardrobes and bathrooms, knowing full well that I was not at home. I returned from Johannesburg on Monday and while the police headed to my house I went to Harare Central Station to turn myself in.
At 1.45pm they arrested me. For the second time in four months I walked down the stairs into the basement of a shabby building that would not look out of place in the middle of Kabul. There I was dumped into the wretched cell beside that foul-smelling lavatory and left there for what seemed like an eternity. Despite the efforts of my lawyer, Tawanda Hondora, to prepare all the paperwork so that we could proceed directly to the courts, the police were intent on making it a long wait. They went about their business as if I was not there. There was a good reason - after the courts close they have to keep you overnight. In the meantime my cellphone was turned off and I was out of touch with the outside world.
Late into the night, one of the officers called and announced my crime I had failed to notify the police about a demonstration by a group of journalists last Wednesday to protest against a media law that is widely seen as likely to eliminate independent journalism in Zimbabwe. The crime, covered under the new Public Order and Security Act (POSA), carries a two-year jail sentence, plus a hefty fine of Z$100 000. I immediately contested the charge, saying that under the POSA, professional associations are exempt from seeking police permission to demonstrate. The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ), of which I am secretary general, is a professional association and allowed to demonstrate against anything affecting the interests of its members. The discussion went nowhere. My interrogator suddenly changed tone and wanted me to help him locate Andy Meldrum of the Foreign Correspondents Association and The Guardian, so that he could also be arrested for co-organising the demonstration. I refused to co-operate - not least because I don't know Meldrum's home address. The officer left. My incarceration continued. Dawn came, and I was taken from the cell. Armed police officers hurled themselves into the back of my car. I was told to drive them to the courts via the attorney-general's office. Here my fate for the next two years would be decided. Making me drive myself felt like another insult: it was as if they would not waste the petrol on me.
At the AG's office, which also houses the British High Commission, I was left in the vehicle under armed guard. After a long period, one of my interrogators came down smiling and showed me some notes written by the AG's office on my documents saying that I had no case to answer. The demonstration was perfectly legal, and if the police thought otherwise, they would have to prove it. I was ordered to drive my jailers back to the police station. End of story. Not for the police. Spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena gave the media another version. "The Attorney General has ordered us to carry out further investigations and we will revisit the matter once we are ready." Does this mean another arrest at some point? I can only wonder. Zimbabwe has certainly reached breaking point. The future looks gloomy. Mr Mugabe is not about to concede that the country needs a fresh start without him. He wants another six-year term, by hook or by crook. The international community has let him off the hook. Despite all the murders of his opponents, all the illegal arrests of perceived opponents, the pillaging of a once promising economy and the passing of some of the most repressive laws imaginable, the EU says: "We will not impose smart sanctions on Robert Mugabe for now because he is doing nothing to block the deployment of EU election observers." But is the admission of these observers worth all the people who have lost their lives, their property, their livelihood and all they have worked for because of the unbridled ambitions of a power-crazed geriatric dictator? I can only wonder.
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From BBC News, 6 February
Chief Zimbabwe poll observer named
Former Nigerian head of state Abdulsalami Abubakar is to lead a Commonwealth mission to Zimbabwe to monitor the forthcoming presidential elections. The announcement came as an advance party of Commonwealth officials arrived in Zimbabwe on Tuesday to pave the way for the main group. Last week, the 54-nation Commonwealth rejected British calls to suspend Zimbabwe from the organisation, but decided to send monitors to oversee the elections. Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon said the first observers would arrive in Zimbabwe later this week, followed by a main group of about 40 monitors later this month. General Abubakar, who was Nigerian head of state until 1999, previously led a Commonwealth mission which oversaw parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe in June, 2000.
After coming under international pressure, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said he will allow Commonwealth and European Union observers, as long as they do not include any British members. Mr Mugabe has accused Britain of supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The EU says it is still awaiting an official invitation from Zimbabwe to send observers and will impose selective sanctions on Zimbabwe if it does not allow its monitors to deploy. The first of a group of 150 European observers is expected to arrive in Zimbabwe later this week. The Commonwealth has insisted that all political parties must be allowed to campaign freely in the run-up to the elections on 9-10 March. The Zimbabwean Government recently pushed a series of laws through parliament stifling opposition to President Mugabe and restricting the freedom of the media. Mr Mugabe faces the toughest challenge to his 22-year rule from the MDC. The MDC says about 100 of its supporters have been killed in the past two years by activists from Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party.
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Comment from The Accra Mail (Ghana), 6 February
Really, what does Mugabe want?
Harruna Attah
Basildon Peta is a Zimbabwe journalist I met sometime in 1994 on a visit to the US. Yesterday when I tuned to BBC World in the morning, I saw his face, and the story that went with it was that he had been arrested by Mugabe. Yes, Mugabe, because it was Mugabe's wishes that led to the enactment of the laws under which grounds were found to arrest Basildon. When I met Basildon eight years ago, he was a quiet soft-spoken man who never hurried himself. We were in a group and would chide him for his unhurried way of doing things. Even talking seemed too much of a chore for him. Today, he is a victim of whatever creatures with pointed ears, forked tails and sharp teeth have taken over the conscience of his country.
Zimbabwe was once a country we all looked up to - not because of any individual in power - but because we thought the blacks having taken over would, as we say in Ghana, "show" the whites how to create wealth and promote happiness. The golden age of prosperity for black Africa, we thought would begin from Zimbabwe. In terms of prosperity and development, can we put our hands on our hearts and swear that Zimbabwe is a success story? I don't want any excuse about a "white conspiracy". That's just an easy way of finding excuses. Today Zimbabwe is a land in turmoil. A black government has turned against fellow blacks. Not because of a white invasion, but because a black leader wants to hold on to political power forever. And in the process, it is devouring its own children.
Basildon Peta is incarcerated. Does Mugabe believe that would bring prosperity to Zimbabwe? Perhaps Mr. Mugabe knows certain things that lesser mortals are not aware of and that is why he is disregarding the gravitational pull of change. Sadly, by the time he comes out of Rip Van Winkle land, much damage would have been done to the country he claims to be so much in love with. My sympathies go to Peta. I hope he does not have to stay behind bars for long. I had only one month and I did not like it. May the wise and just eventually take over Africa.
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From BBC News, 6 February
Zimbabwe's climate of fear
New evidence of violence against opponents of Zimbabwe's Government in the run-up to next month's presidential elections has been obtained by the BBC. Families of victims have spoken of beatings, murders and disappearances, in footage recorded at a secret safe house for opposition supporters. One such victim was Trymore Midzi, an activist for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Trymore's family says he was killed by militants linked to the ruling Zanu PF party. It took Trymore's family several days to obtain permission to bury him, because of his opposition credentials. Despite the upheaval gripping white farmers, it is ordinary black Zimbabweans who are paying the highest price in the country's crisis.
At a secret location, opposition activists showed scars from attacks by what human rights groups say is an increasing number of pro-government militias. Despite the focus on the so-called war veterans, human rights groups say many other pro-government militias have been formed ahead of the presidential poll and they tolerate no dissent. "The attacks on the innocent women and children in the absence of the men at work in the cities is an indication of the desperation of Zanu PF to win at any cost," one woman said, holding a young child with a scarred face.
After 22 years in power, President Robert Mugabe is accused by his opponents of orchestrating all the violence in order to save his political career. "You must stand your ground, defend your situation, defend your family. We are entitled to do that, but please, we shouldn't go assaulting people," he said as he launched his presidential campaign at the weekend. But many ordinary Zimbabweans are not waiting for the chance to vote, they are simply leaving. Hundreds are escaping to South Africa every day. President Mugabe has not banned European election observers from attending the poll and for the moment that seems to have convinced the EU to step back from a decision to implement targeted sanctions.
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From News24 (SA), 6 February
16 die in black January
Harare A total of 16 people were killed in political violence in January, the highest number in any month since President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF began its campaign of violence two years ago, according to the country's leading civil liberties body. The Zimbabwe Human Rights Non-governmental Organisations forum said on Wednesday only three of the dead were Zanu PF members. Ten were supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and two were farm guards. "The figure may be higher as it is possible that other deaths went unreported." The organisation, a coalition of local civic bodies, is regarded as the only source of reliable statistics on political violence. In addition to the January total, the forum said the body of an MDC supporter who had been abducted in December, was discovered last month.
The forum also cited 36 cases of abduction, 18 disappearances, 69 of destruction of property and 142 of assault and torture. It said that Zimbabwean elections "are almost always accompanied by gross human rights violations and loss of life. These human rights violations undoubtedly build up a climate of fear and terror among the electorate. The incidence of political violence "is increasing at an alarming rate". It accused the government of most of the brutality, "although spontaneous incidents of political violence do occur between groups of party supporters". "It is of great concern to the Human Rights Forum that carefully orchestrated violence is still prevalent as part of a modus operandi to crush opposition party support."
The upsurge in murders followed almost immediately after Mugabe in December declared "war" against the MDC and vowed he would "give them a real physical fight". He made the assertions while presenting the ruling party's strategy for presidential elections which are to be held on March 9-10. It also followed the establishment in December of a state-controlled youth militia which has been deployed all over the country. Human rights agencies say members of the "youth national service" are becoming the Zanu PF's primary agent of terror. Appeals for protection from police have usually been in vain, the forum said. "MDC members have frequently been arrested in cases where they are in fact the victims of violence who had gone to the police station to make a report." However, in some areas police had begun to "stop displaying bias" and there had been a "commendable" effort to respond to attacks on members of the opposition by making arrests.
Attacks on teachers also continued. The forum said government saw teachers as having influence and the ability to give their communities information. Violence had also affected schoolchildren. "At times government ministers and officials have been at the forefront of the onslaught which has not only disrupted schooling but has also displaced numerous teachers." A total of 39 schools had been forced to close in January. The forum was also concerned about illegal roadblocks set up around the country by youths, who apparently made the possession of Zanu PF cards "passports of safety for travellers". Mugabe is standing for a fourth successive six-year presidential term, but observers say for the first time in his 21-year rule, he faces the prospect of being ousted, most probably by MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai.
From ZWNEWS: If you would like a copy of the ZHR NGO report for the second half of January, please let us know. It will be sent as a Word attachment to an email message - total size 112 Kb, or just over twice the size of the average daily ZWNEWS.
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From The Financial Gazette, 7 February
MDC MPs flee Mat North terror
Bulawayo - The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) legislators for Hwange East and West, Jealous Sansole and Peter Nyoni, have been forced to flee their constituencies by ruling Zanu PF militia as political violence escalates in Matabeleland North, it was established this week. MDC officials said Sansole and Nyoni were campaigning for the MDC in Lupane at the weekend when their convoy was attacked by ruling party supporters, forcing them to flee the area. "The MPs fled and they have since run away from their constituencies," Morgan Komichi, the MDC’s provincial chairman for Matabeleland North, told the Financial Gazette. "Sansole is nowhere to be found (and) Nyoni is living in fear. He has found it necessary to leave the area." He said youths wearing the green uniforms of Zimbabwe’s so-called national service had also on Tuesday this week descended on Cross-Dete shopping centre, which is owned by Sansole. They destroyed a fuel service station, a butchery, a grocery shop and a bottle store as well as Sansole’s residence.
Police yesterday refused to comment on the matter, but eyewitnesses said prior to destroying the property, the youths, allegedly bussed into the area by two government trucks, severely assaulted scores of people found outside the shopping centre. "The terror has reached new heights," Komichi said. "About 200 youths in green uniforms attacked everyone at the centre before destroying the petrol station, the butchery, the bottle store, a clothing store and the MP’s residential house. There is terror in the province, but the police are saying they are not aware. We have also reported to them (the police) that armed war veterans are threatening villagers with guns but the police are adamant they are not armed. Villagers have fled to Bulawayo because of fear of being killed. Some have had guns pointed at their chests and this is very scary."
Victor Nyoni, the MDC’s regional social welfare officer, said about 25 MDC supporters badly injured during the attacks had to be ferried from Nkayi district to Bulawayo. "Most of them can’t walk," he said. "The war veterans are said to be shooting in the air and villagers are running scared. Thousands of people have relocated to Bulawayo and are refusing to go back to vote from there." One of the Nkayi victims told the Financial Gazette: "They strangled me with a shoe-lace saying that I should feel the pain that was felt by Cain Nkala." Zanu PF has blamed MDC activists for the murder at the end of last year of Bulawayo war veterans’ leader Nkala. A Matabeleland MDC activist Joseph Sibindi was subsequently murdered last month by alleged war veterans. He was battered to death with logs and knobkerries but no suspects have been arrested for the murder. Police say their investigations are continuing.
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From ZWNEWS, 7 February
And again...
Nkayi A second assault on opposition campaigners took place yesterday in the Nkayi district some 150 kms north-west of Bulawayo. An MDC showboat a convoy of vehicles with loudspeakers and singing supporters was stopped by the police, who arrested many, including three MDC MPs Abednego Bhebe, Peter Nyoni and George Ndlovu. Getrude Mthombeni, a member of the party’s national executive was also detained, along with an unknown number of other opposition supporters. Zanu PF youth and militia then dispersed into the surrounding area and beat up anyone found with MDC campaign leaflets. Soldiers were present and shots were heard. Intimidation of Zanu PF supporters was also stepped up in Bulawayo yesterday. Simon Spooner, who together with MDC Treasurer Fletcher Dulini-Ncube and more than a dozen others was arrested last year, and kept in jail illegally for five weeks in shocking conditions, was yesterday charged with possession of an "unsafe weapon". The charge relates to a fully licensed weapon found in an unlocked cupboard at the time of his initial arrest last year. Spooner has been ordered to report to Detective Inspector Matira today. Matira has become notorious in Matabeleland for his involvement in political violence. Craig Biddlecombe, one of the bodyguards of David Coltart MP, has also been threatened with the same charge. Weapons belonging to Biddlecombe have been in the police armoury since March last year.
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From The Financial Gazette, 7 February
Terror squads camp on farms
Zimbabwe’s commercial farmers this week said President Robert Mugabe’s militant war veterans had set up "re-education camps" on several farms in Mashonaland East, where ruling Zanu PF youths were being trained in military tactics to hunt down opposition party supporters. They said youths were forcibly recruited in the province and sent to terrorise opposition party supporters and white farmers, threatening to harm them if they did not vote for Mugabe in next month’s presidential election. Youths from the government ’s Border Gezi Training Centre near Mount Darwin are said to be assisting the war veterans with the training on the commercial farms. The Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) this week said at one Mashonaland East farm, Glen Sommerset in Macheke, up to 150 people were being trained daily by war veterans before being sent to other properties. "There is a training camp in full swing with plus or minus 150 people training daily close to the farmer’ s house on Glen Sommerset," said a senior CFU official. He declined to provide further detail, saying it would jeopardise the farmer’s life.
The national chairman of the Zimbabwe Victims Rehabilitation Support Network (ZVRSN), Bopoto Nyandoro, said war veterans had also set up 10 bases in Mashonaland East where suspected opposition supporters were being tortured. He said a field study undertaken by ZVRSN had revealed that opposition Movement for Democratic Change supporters were being kidnapped, tortured and forced to reveal where their colleagues lived. He said the 10 bases were at Irene Farm, Igava, Pondarossa, Michel, Gumbeze, Sheba, Nyagambe, Mohoroza, Tranquility and Safari Farm, all located around Macheke. "Their (war veterans) strategy is that they kidnap and torture political opponents and force them to reveal where other supporters are living," he told the Financial Gazette. "Where reports have been made to the police, it is usually the victim who is arrested on the basis that he is being investigated for abducting a Zanu PF supporter." Police at Marondera provincial headquarters refused to comment on the issue, saying they did not discuss allegations.
In its farm security report this week, the CFU reported that in other provinces war veterans and Zanu PF youths were terrorising workers and farmers and falsely accusing farmers of sabotaging their crops. The organisation said the accusations were being made so that the war veterans could expel the farmers from their properties. Meanwhile, the National Association of Social Workers-Zimbabwe yesterday said social welfare officers distributing drought relief money in rural areas were being chased away by villagers who complained that the amounts were too little. "We fear for the safety and lives of all these civil servants and we urge everyone to be tolerant with them as they discharge their duties to the public," association secretary Douglas Machiridza said, appealing to the police, chiefs and politicians to provide protection.
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From The Star (SA), 6 February
EU denies 'sneaking' observers into Zimbabwe
Harare - The European Union mission in Zimbabwe on Wednesday denied government claims that it had "sneaked" uninvited observers into the country for the presidential elections on March 9 and 10, risking a diplomatic incident. President Robert Mugabe, 77, who is seeking re-election after 22 years in power, has banned British personnel coming in under the guise of the European Union or the Commonwealth, claiming Tony Blair's government is behind an international conspiracy to replace him with the Movement for Democratic Change candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, 49. Willard Chiwewe, permanent secretary (top civil servant) in the ministry of foreign affairs, told state radio he believed numbers of British and European personnel had come before receiving letters from Mugabe's government, and were "not welcome". "Those who sneak into Zimbabwe avoiding the normal processes cannot be deemed to be friends of Zimbabwe," said Chiwewe.
However, a spokesperson for the EU office in Harare said confusion may have arisen because it was planning to seek accreditation for some staff already based in the Zimbabwean capital, with special knowledge of local conditions. "We totally reject that we have covertly or illegally sneaked in anybody," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He believed there were "very strong indications" formal letters of invitation would be issued to EU observers and expected 20-30 would be accredited to begin work by the beginning of next week. He predicted a total 150 would be "in place" before polling began.
There have been widespread fears for the freedom and fairness of the upcoming elections following two years of violence in which 200 people including nine white farmers have died. Human rights groups allege state funded militants, often calling themselves veterans of the 1972-80 guerrilla war in former Rhodesia, have taken the lead in victimisation of suspected opposition, particularly in commercial farming areas where 5 000 whites are being evicted to make way for 300 000 black Zimbabweans. Former Nigerian head of state Abdulsalami Abubakar is to lead a group of Commonwealth observers while another group will be supplied by the 14 nation South African Development Community, of which Zimbabwe is a member.
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From News24 (SA), 6 February
Zim declares dispute with EU
Harare - Zimbabwe has officially declared a dispute with the European Union over sanctions threats and other differences, a government daily said on Wednesday. Harare will seek arbitration in the dispute as provided for under the Cotonou Agreement governing relations between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP), The Herald said. The government of President Robert Mugabe, who will seek re-election next month, said it resorted to the action after the EU failed to address its concerns over "human rights and governance" matters, according to The Herald. A "sticking point was the threat by the EU to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe when some members of the grouping had already imposed unofficial sanctions on Harare", said the paper. The EU deemed on Monday that it would not impose threatened sanctions because Zimbabwe had not prevented deployment of EU observers as of a Sunday deadline. But it has held out the threat of sanctions if Zimbabwe prevents its observers from "operating effectively", if international media do not have free access to covering the vote, in case of serious human rights abuses or attacks on Mugabe's opponents, or if the vote is deemed not to be free and fair.
Last week Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge said the EU had no right to demand that Harare accept EU observers at the election, set for March 9-10. Harare has also accused some EU countries, notably the former colonial power Britain, of funding the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), whose candidate Morgan Tsvangirai poses Mugabe's first real challenge after 22 years in power. "Some EU countries, particularly Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark - have been funding the opposition MDC and allowing hostile anti-Zimbabwean government broadcasts from their territories," said The Herald. Mugabe has invited several organizations to send observers, including the EU and the Commonwealth, but he specifically excluded Britain from joining their teams.
News Room
A local independent information service, The News Room, has been established to gather and disseminate all information relevant to the current situation in Zimbabwe. The News Room will provide updated information regarding, violence and intimidation, road blocks and militia movements, voting and legislative issues, availability of essential commodities, and all aspects pertaining to the forthcoming elections. Contact: 091 337 694, 091 258 525, 023 405 267 or eMail. Only first-hand reports will be accepted and disseminated please do not recycle second-hand stories or rumours.
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From The Financial Gazette, 7 February
Mugabe broke the law: Chidyausiku
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku yesterday said President Robert Mugabe does not have powers to extend the term of the commission running the affairs of Harare and that the 77-year-old Zimbabwean leader acted illegally when he gave the hand-picked local authority another lease of life last month. Chidyausiku, who was hearing an appeal by Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede over a decision by the High Court to have Harare’s mayoral and council elections held by next Monday, said Mugabe did not have a constitutional right to extend the tenure of the city commission after the Supreme Court had ordered Mudede to hold elections in the city by February 11. "The President does not have powers to validate the term of the commission running Harare," Chidyausiku said during arguments on the validity of a statutory instrument Mugabe issued last month that set the dates for the presidential, mayoral and council elections as March 9 and 10.
Mugabe, through Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, extended the term of the Elijah Chanakira-led commission by a further six months. The commission, which consists of hand-picked loyalists of Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF, has run the affairs of Harare since 1999 when the Solomon Tawengwa-led council was dismissed over alleged incompetence. Mudede was yesterday seeking Supreme Court permission to appeal against a ruling by High Court judge Justice Moses Chinhengo that he had to hold mayoral and council elections for Harare and Chitungwiza by Monday or face prosecution on contempt of court charges. The contempt of court charges arose from delays by Mudede to start preparations for the Harare and Chitungwiza elections after an initial Supreme Court judgment in December last year, which said the polls must be held by February 11. At the time Mudede said he was ready to hold the elections, although he and Mugabe now say this is no longer possible because of preparations for the presidential ballot. The Harare Combined Resident and Ratepayers’ Association then applied to the High Court to have Mudede held in contempt of court, resulting in the ruling by Chinhengo who ordered the registrar-general to comply with the Supreme Court judgment. Chidyausiku yesterday reserved judgment in Mudede’s application for leave to appeal and asked for time to consider submissions by both sides. Judgment is expected by the end of this week.
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From The Guardian (UK), 8 February
Zimbabwe MPs tortured in new wave of terror
Harare - Three Zimbabwean opposition MPs campaigning for next month's elections have been abducted, beaten and tortured for two days by supporters of President Robert Mugabe in a remote town, according to the Movement for Democratic Change. The three were paraded, injured and bleeding, wearing handcuffs in front of the police station in Nkayi yesterday while 37 other opposition party officials and supporters were also held, the MDC says. The attack marks an escalation of political violence in the run-up to the poll. Until now, the ruling Zanu PF's militia has reserved its attacks for less prominent opponents. The MDC also says at least four party supporters have been beaten to death this week, and a new wave of political terror is sweeping through Matabeleland in southern Zimbabwe, a key area of opposition support.
The three politicians - Abednico Bhebhe, MP for Nkayi, Peter Nyoni, MP for Victoria Falls, and Joel Gabuza, MP for Binga - led a convoy to distribute leaflets for Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader who is challenging Mr Mugabe in the presidential poll on March 9 and 10. The tyres of their cars were shot at by soldiers and they were attacked by Mr Mugabe's youth militia working with the army, according to local residents. Mr Bhebhe was among those seriously injured, said the residents. The MPs and other MDC officials were eventually taken to the Nkayi police station where they were interrogated and held overnight on Wednesday. Some of the MDC members were taken to the local hospital yesterday and returned to the police station, say the residents. "It is frightening," said one resident. "We don't know what is going to happen to them. The army is here, the youth militia is here and they are beating so many people."
Police in Nkayi said the MPs had been arrested for carrying dangerous weapons such as catapults, knobkerries (walking-sticks with knobs at the end) and stones. A police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena, denied that the politicians were beaten. In May last year Mr Bhebhe was abducted and beaten unconscious in Nkayi. Although many bystanders witnessed the daylight assault, no one was arrested. "Abednico is one of our best MPs and he has been planning this return to Nkayi, which is in his constituency, for some time," said David Coltart, the opposition MP for Bulawayo South. "He felt that this car rally, as he called it, would give him safety in numbers to be able to campaign for Morgan Tsvangirai. We are very concerned about him and all those with him." Mr Coltart accused the army and ruling party militia of beginning "a new wave of terror" across rural Matabeleland. Earlier this week two MDC supporters were reportedly beaten to death in separate incidents in the Matabeleland towns of Lupane and Tsholotsho.
Another MDC member of parliament, David Mpala, was abducted and stabbed two weeks ago. He is still recovering from the attack. In other incidents, a schoolteacher in the northern Mount Darwin area an opposition supporter in the Mhondoro area were beaten to death, according to the MDC. "The MDC urges all international monitors who have arrived in Zimbabwe to go to Nkayi and witness Zanu PF's brutality at its best," said Welshman Ncube, the MDC secretary general. The first four members of the Commonwealth team who will oversee the presidential elections received government accreditation yesterday. Eventually they will lead a team of about 50 observers. They met the registrar-general, officials of the state electoral supervisory commission and arranged meetings with political parties, according to the Commonwealth press liaison officer, Mwambu Wanendeya. Last night, the Commonwealth team was not aware of the violence against the MPs in Nkayi.
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From News24 (SA), 7 February
Youths kill teacher
Harare - Nine youths have been arrested in connection with the murder of a teacher in Zimbabwe's Mashonaland Central Province in an incidence of political violence ahead of presidential elections in March, police said on Thursday. Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said Shepherd Ngundu (28) was killed on Tuesday over political differences in Zimbabwe's Mashonaland Central province. The spokesperson said nine people were arrested in connection with the killing. He declined to reveal the suspects' political affiliation, but the area is a stronghold of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF. "There was a misunderstanding with a group of youths and we have since arrested nine. They were supposed to appear in court today," Bvudzijena said. The murder brings to 16 the number of people killed in political violence since December 24. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change claims that more than 90 of its supporters have been killed since it came to prominence ahead of parliamentary elections in June 2000.
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From The Daily News, 8 February
Mugabe threatens voters
Mutare - President Mugabe yesterday threatened voters in Manicaland with untold suffering, including visitations by goblins, if they voted for the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, in the 9-10 March presidential election. Addressing about 7 000 people at Munyarari Primary School in Zimunya near Mutare, Mugabe said: "If you give the country back to the whites by voting for the MDC, you will see what will happen. The country achieved independence through bloodshed. Who is Morgan Tsvangirai? He is being used by the whites to destroy the country’s heritage." Mugabe said he would haunt the people of Manicaland if Tsvangirai won. He said: "Even if I die, I will turn in my grave if the MDC wins the presidential election. I know that most of you in Manicaland voted for the MDC in the parliamentary election thinking that Tsvangirai had a better economic package for this country. Now, let me warn you that even goblins will be unleashed on you if he wins." Last Sunday Tsvangirai attracted 15 000 people at his inaugural rally at Sakubva Stadium in Mutare. Mugabe cancelled his rally at that stadium at the last minute.
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From Associated Press, 7 February
Zimbabwe revokes Feingold's visa
Washington - The government of Zimbabwe cancelled a travel permit for Sen. Russ Feingold on Thursday, saying the lawmaker's scheduled visit would interfere with the nation's preparation for an election. Feingold, D-Wis., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had planned to visit Zimbabwe later this month to educate himself on the pre-election process, according to his office. But Feingold received a letter from the Zimbabwe Embassy informing him that visa was being withdrawn and that the time "period would not be ideal for your visit as most government officials are tied down with preparations for presidential elections." Feingold said the Zimbabwe government is acting as though it has something to hide. "The regime in Harare has shown that it is willing to destroy the Zimbabwean economy, to violently repress the Zimbabwe people, to harass the press and to undermine the rule of law," Feingold said.
Zimbabwe has been in a state of political unrest for many months. Human rights groups believe that 16 people died in political killings last month in Zimbabwe, the most in two years of violence that the opposition blames on supporters of President Robert Mugabe's ruling party. Most of the recent violence in the southern African country has been between activists of the ruling party and the opposition. The opposition has charged that police have not arrested or pursued ruling party activists it accuses of involvement in political killings.
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From News24 (SA), 7 February
EU invited to Zim elections
Harare - The European Union has received a long-awaited formal invitation to send observers to March presidential elections - an issue over which the EU had threatened sanctions, diplomats in Zimbabwe said on Thursday. The European diplomats said the letter of invitation from the Zimbabwe government reminded the European Union that their activities had to be carried out in conjunction with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP). In an ongoing row mainly with former colonial power Britain over political conditions in Zimbabwe in the run-up to the March 9-10 elections, Harare has ruled out the presence of any British citizens among observers from the EU or the Commonwealth. Britain has led an international campaign against President Robert Mugabe, who has waged a crackdown on political opponents and allowed often violent supporters to run amok on white-owned farms. The EU has threatened to impose sanctions if Zimbabwe prevents its observers from "operating effectively", if international media do not have free access to cover the elections, in case of serious human rights abuses or attacks on Mugabe's opponents, or if the vote is deemed not to be free and fair.
Also on Thursday, Zimbabwe started accrediting an advance team of foreign observers from the Commonwealth, whose members plan to monitor polls throughout the country. The advance secretariat team will prepare for the arrival of observers on Friday, said the team's head, Jon Sheppard. Sheppard told reporters that six out of 33 observers, to be joined by 15 support staff, would arrive in the next three days. Former Nigerian leader Abdulsalami Abubakar, who will head the Commonwealth delegation, is expected to arrive on February 23. Abubakar headed the Commonwealth observer team at Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections in June 2000, when the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) swept nearly half the contested seats. "We have a mixture of people who come from various backgrounds ... among them members of parliament, some opposition politicians and people from the civil society," he said. The observers will deploy as soon as they get their accreditation and will cover all parts of the country, Sheppard said. "The observers will make their own assessment and decide where they want to deploy," he said. Sheppard, an Australian, said the six observers expected over the next three days would be from Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Guyana, Kenya and Namibia. Mugabe, who has ruled for 22 years since the former Rhodesia gained independence from Britain, will seek another six-year term but faces a tough race against MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
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From Business Day (SA), 8 February
Obasanjo insists Harare should hold a fair election
Abuja - Africa will not accept the results of next month's election in Zimbabwe if it is not free and fair, President Olusegun Obasanjo told UK Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday. Obasanjo said he had delivered that message to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at a meeting in Harare two weeks ago. "I made it clear to President Mugabe that the world, and indeed Africa, will not accept him not allowing independent observers, not allowing foreign press, not doing something about the violence," said Obasanjo. Blair said the time was right for Africa to lift itself up in partnership with the wealthy. "This is the best chance in a generation for us to make this partnership (with Africa) work," he said, citing two reasons, the first being Nepad, the plan for African economic recovery drawn up by President Thabo Mbeki and adopted with Obasanjo and Algerian President Abdulaziz Bouteflika. Nepad was not just about trade, or aid, but also about conflict resolution, education, good government and openness, said Blair. Second, there was a generation of leaders ready to take responsibility for moving move Africa forward. Blair thanked Obasanjo for his support on the Zimbabwean election, land reform and political violence.
Retired general and former Nigerian head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar, who relinquished power to Obasanjo in May 1999, ending more than 15 years of military rule, is heading a Commonwealth team that will monitor Zimbabwe's presidential election. Abubakar, who stewarded the transition from military to civilian rule in Nigeria in 1999, headed a Commonwealth observer mission to oversee Zimbabwe's parliamentary election in 2000. He raised concern at irregularities in the Zambian election at the end of last year as head of the US-based Carter Centre's mission. Nigeria has sustained a close dialogue with Harare as its political and economic crisis worsened. Obasanjo supported international efforts to encourage Harare to hold a free and fair election, observe human rights and end farm invasions. But he joined other African leaders last week in rejecting a call by Britain to suspend Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth. After first resisting international observers, Mugabe consented to observers from the Commonwealth, the European Union and the Southern African Development Community. Before meeting Blair yesterday, Obasanjo warned that violence threatened to engulf Nigeria and derail democracy in the run-up to the election next year. He denounced four days of ethnic clashes in Lagos that had left 100 dead and overshadowed Blair's visit. "We appear to be steadily losing ground to the suffocating influences of violence and lawlessness in the conduct of our political affairs," Obasanjo told political leaders and security chiefs before meeting Blair.
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From The Daily News, 8 February
MDC says assaults on supporters on the increase in Manicaland
Mutare - MDC officials in Manicaland this week said assaults on their supporters are continuing despite claims by the government that there has been a drastic decline in political violence in the run-up to next month’s presidential poll. The MDC alleged that between October last year and the end of last month, a total of 6 085 of their members were assaulted throughout the province while an additional 7 728 fled their homes due to political violence. But on Tuesday, the police said the figures were exaggerated and that no one had been displaced. Pishai Muchauraya, the MDC provincial spokesman, said the assaults and displacements were particularly worrying for his party because of the strong possibility that supporters who fled the violence were unlikely to vote in the presidential election on 9-10 March.
Francis Mubvuta, the police spokesman for Manicaland, said he was aware of only 19 cases of political violence in the past four months, and not 6 085. Asked why there was such a huge disparity in the figures Mubvuta said: "My figures are based on reports made. If they don’t report the cases, that is not my fault." Mubvuta said public violence often involved groups of people. "We record the incident, write down the names of the people involved, but treat the incident as one case." A record of violence from the information department of the MDC shows that of all Manicaland’s 14 constituencies, Makoni East recorded a total of 1 540 assaults and 3 005 displacements, the highest figures. Zanu PF’s Shadreck Chipanga, a former CIO boss, is the MP for Makoni East. Chimanimani, represented by the MDC’s Roy Bennet, recorded the second highest figures with a total of 1 002 and 504, respectively.
The report said 997 people in Buhera North were allegedly assaulted and 2 004 displaced while one person was raped. A total of 629 people were assaulted and 801 displaced in Buhera South while 520 in Chipinge North were assaulted and 54 displaced. In Chipinge South, 347 were assaulted and 570 displaced, 58 and 36 in Makoni North, in Makoni West, 72 and two were assaulted and displaced to date. In Mutasa, there were 84 assaults and seven displacements, 254 and 640 in Nyanga, 150 and 102 in Mutare Central. Comparable figures for Mutare South were 306 and 105.
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From African Eye (SA), 7 February
Radio station reaches listeners by tape
Bulawayo - A street-smart Zimbabwean radio station has found a way around President Robert Mugabe's crushing broadcasting regulations and is distributing its show by cassette. Radio Dialogue decided to distribute thousands of cassettes of their programme called 'Taxi Tunes' around Bulawayo after the government refused to grant it a license last month. "What we are doing isn't illegal because the use of cassettes is not included in the country's broadcasting regulations," project coordinator Qhubani Moyo said this week. Cassettes will be handed out around the city's high-density suburbs twice a week and include music, interviews and discussions on political, social and economic situations and interviews. The station was refused a licence after information and publicity minister Jonathan Moyo got wind that they were funded by the Open Society Foundation of South Africa and the German-based Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Moyo dismissed the station's application saying it was 'daydreaming'. Under the country's new broadcasting act introduced last year, foreigners and foreign-funded broadcasters can't qualify for a licence. As the March 9 and 10 elections draw nearer many radio stations have opted to broadcast to Zimbabwe from Britain using short wave. Although the government says it is putting an end to its broadcasting monopoly new players in the industry have become frustrated by the requirements and cost of a licence.
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From The Times (UK), 9 February
EU steps closer to Mugabe sanctions
Brussels - The European Union moved a step closer to imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe yesterday after Harare refused to give unimpeded access to an EU observer mission for next month’s elections. Stan Mudenge, the Zimbabwean Foreign Minister, said observers from only nine of the 15 EU countries would be admitted, and that they should form part of a joint mission led by the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries. Twelve days ago the EU’s Foreign Ministers unanimously agreed to impose sanctions on President Mugabe and 20 of his closest associates if Zimbabwe blocked the work or deployment of the EU observer mission. The same ministers are meeting in Spain today. The ministers cannot trigger the sanctions themselves because they are meeting informally, but sources said they may ask a special meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels to do so on Monday.
Another key test of Mr Mugabe’s intentions will come tomorrow when Pierre Schori, the Swedish head of the EU mission, tries to enter Zimbabwe to begin his work. Sweden is one of the six EU countries that Zimbabwe deems unacceptable. In addition to Britain and Sweden, Mr Mudenge identified Denmark, Finland, Germany and The Netherlands as countries whose observers would not be welcome. EU diplomats said Zimbabwe wanted to exclude member states who had been most critical of the Government’s repression. Next week more than 30 EU observers are due to fly to Zimbabwe, many of whom are from the blacklisted countries. President Mbeki of South Africa appealed to President Mugabe yesterday to end the violence in Zimbabwe and "let the people speak through the ballot box". Mr Mbeki said it was vital in the interests of Zimbabwe and the southern African region for the government that emerges after the poll to be legitimate in the eyes of the people of Zimbabwe.
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 9 February
EU mission chaos as Mugabe orders ban on Britain
Harare/London - The European Union's mission to observe Zimbabwe's election was in confusion last night after President Mugabe's regime barred six member states from joining the team and insisted it should be led by an African. The move came as two opposition MPs and 36 supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change appeared in court charged with "possessing offensive weapons". Both MPs showed signs of injury and the MDC said they had been tortured while in custody. Two opposition supporters have been murdered this week as a violent campaign waged by Mr Mugabe's supporters continues to escalate.
Diplomats in Harare said that Mr Mugabe's regime laid down its conditions for accepting an EU observer team in a letter sent earlier this week. Zimbabwe banned Britain, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Holland from sending any observers. Mr Mugabe believes that all these countries are funding the MDC and seeking to topple his regime. Moreover, Zimbabwe declared that the EU team must fall under the leadership of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of nations, which is chaired by Nigeria. The EU had hoped that Pierre Schori, a Swedish former cabinet minister who led its observer mission for the parliamentary polls of 2000, would repeat this role for the presidential election due on March 9 and 10. Mr Mugabe's latest move will be considered by EU foreign ministers during an informal meeting in Spain today. Last month the EU threatened to impose 'targeted' sanctions on Mr Mugabe and his allies if there was any attempt to obstruct its observers.
Peter Nyoni, the MDC MP for Hwange East, and Abednico Bhebhe, the MP for Nkayi, appeared in a magistrates' court yesterday. They were arrested on Thursday, as part of a group of 38, in a "police ambush". When he entered the court in Nkayi, 300 miles south-west of Harare, Mr Nyoni had trouble walking, while Mr Bhebhe had a wound on his head. After being charged they were taken back into custody.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 8 February
SADC misled over Information Bill
Government duped the Southern African Development Community (SADC) ministerial taskforce on Zimbabwe and South African President Thabo Mbeki over bi-partisan support for the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill. Information at hand shows Zimbabwe authorities misled the task force into reporting back to regional leaders, including Mbeki and SADC chair Bakili Muluzi, that the Bill whose future now looks uncertain was passed "unanimously" by parliament. Observers said it was not the first time this has happened. Harare successfully misrepresented the local situation to the taskforce last December and went on to repeat the trick during the SADC summit in Malawi last month. The taskforce was in Zimbabwe last week to witness nomination of presidential election candidates and update itself on local developments.
Diplomatic sources said the team was misled on media laws. This has put Mbeki and his colleagues in an invidious position in dealing with President Mugabe. Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo said his boss was told by his Labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana who represents South Africa on the task force the Bill was passed "with the support of the opposition". "The president was told by members of the taskforce the opposition supported the Bill," Khumalo said. "If political parties in Zimbabwe agreed on the Bill who are we to interfere?" Mbeki this week told the World Economic Forum in New York the Bill was passed collectively. "When the parliament of Zimbabwe passed the media Bill, a South African cabinet minister was in Zimbabwe and had informed me that the Bill had been unanimously adopted without dissent," he said.
However, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary-general Welshman Ncube said it was misleading to claim the opposition supported the authoritarian measure. "That is not correct to say we supported the Bill," Ncube said. "We supported the amendments negotiated between the Minister of Justice (Patrick Chinamasa) and the parliamentary legal committee. It's really ridiculous for anyone to suggest we supported the Bill." Ncube, who is a member of the Edison Zvobgo-led parliamentary legal committee which tore apart the draconian legislation last week, said there is evidence the MDC opposed the Bill to the end. "Anyone who actually wants to know our position on the Bill should read Hansard (official report of parliamentary debates)," he said. "It is clear that our MPs such as (Tendayi) Biti, (David) Coltart, (Priscillah) Misihairambwi, (Innocent) Gonese and others opposed the Bill during debate. SADC leaders have been grossly misinformed." The Bill was passed by acclamation after the MDC failed to call for a division. Ncube said it would have been futile to do so "because we were outnumbered".
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From News24 (SA), 8 February
Zim cops guard food lines
Harare - Hundreds of people scuffled and jostled for places in a rowdy line outside a food store in downtown Harare on Friday, as a shortage of the maize staple began to grip the capital. Police guarded the doors of the store to prevent it from being swamped by a swelling crowd after it received its first delivery of maize meal for several days. The scene was the first noticed in the city centre since food shortages began in December. Supermarket managers said most shops received their last maize deliveries two weeks ago and more crowds were expected once stocks were replenished. Police allowed small groups of people inside the store at a time, and rationed each person to one 10kg bag of maize meal, about a three-day's supply of the staple for an average family of four, until the shelves were bare.
The shortages have mostly been caused by violent disruptions of farm production since March 2000, that have triggered the country's worst economic crisis since independence in 1980. Earlier this week, the state Grain Marketing Board said the first trains and trucks carrying emergency grain bought from neighbouring South Africa began arriving at the border town of Beit Bridge. Zimbabwe used to be self-sufficient and an exporter. Food imports were needed during a devastating drought in 1992, when food lines like Friday's were last seen. The grain board said 200 000 tons of mostly maize was now being imported to make up for shortfalls in domestic production ahead of sharply contested presidential elections scheduled for March 9-10. There was "no need to panic", said Justin Mutasa, the board's operations director. Unprocessed maize was being imported and it would be milled and distributed from provincial centres across the country.
The cost of food imports was initially estimated at about $40 million. The Famine Early Warning Unit in the Agriculture Ministry warned in December of an "imminent food security crisis" that would require imports of 300 000 tons of maize to avert starvation by the end of March. The total deficit in maize and other cereals in this year's harvests would likely be about 850 000 tons, including a shortage of some 600 000 tons of the maize staple worth about $120 million. Acute hard currency shortages, which have already caused severe shortages of petrol, medicines and other essential imports, are expected to hinder food purchases. The first delivery of 5 200 tons of UN famine relief arrived in Zimbabwe January 23. The World Food Programme has appealed for $60 million from international donors to feed 558 000 rural Zimbabweans in need of immediate aid. Zimbabwe's 13 million people consume about 5 000 tons of maize a day, with additional low grade stocks needed to feed livestock.
Food shortages have led to a brisk black market in maize and other commodities since the government announced a price freeze on basic foods on October 12. Local producers of maize meal, cooking oil, milk and other controlled goods say fixed prices have made production uneconomic and have forced them to reduce output. Food shortages, spurring official or unofficial price increases, have in the past triggered food riots. Ruling party militants began occupying white-owned farms two years ago demanding they be redistributed to landless blacks. Human rights officials and opposition activists, however, say the increasingly unpopular party has transformed the farms into bases for a campaign of terror against black and white supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in rural areas. The increasingly unpopular President Robert Mugabe (77) is fighting for his political survival in the March election where he faces a tight race against opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai (49).
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From News24 (SA), 8 February
Britain comes to Zim's aid
Harare - Britain on Friday gave £6 million to the United Nations to provide urgently needed aid to avert a humanitarian disaster in Zimbabwe, the UN and Britain announced. The funds, which account for more than 10% of Zimbabwe's total emergency aid requirements for 2002, have been allocated despite sour relations between the two countries, and come as Zimbabwe stands on the brink of a potentially massive famine. "Zimbabwe needs urgent international humanitarian assistance," said Victor Angelo, the UN resident co-ordinator in Harare. "Zimbabwe's staple maize is in seriously short supply. National and household reserves are nearly depleted. Retail outlets are often without stock," said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Food Security Network in its latest newsletter.
The southern African country normally produces a surplus of food, but this year it has suffered a massive shortage of staple grains, caused by erratic rains, a national economic downturn, sharp rises in food prices, and disruptions to commercial farming by the government's land reforms. Prices of basic commodities have shot up sharply, pushing the annual inflation rate for 2001 to 112%. "Food and basic commodities shortages, health and social services are over-stretched and require urgent national action and support from the international community," said the UN. The British aid "represents an important contribution to the $83 million UN appeal launched (for Zimbabwe) in December 2001," the UN Humanitarian Assistance and Recovery Programme (Harp) for Zimbabwe said in a statement. In addition to the aid pledged on Friday, Britain has in recent months allocated some £8 million for essential medicine and food aid programmes run by non-governmental organisations in Zimbabwe.
The British high commissioner (ambassador) to Harare, Brian Donnelly, said his country's aid to Zimbabwe, which will amount to £18 million by the close of the financial year ending in March, highlights Britain's commitment to Zimbabweans. "Against the background of sometimes fevered speculation about the role of Britain in this country, I think this is the best and most reliable indication of the genuine, long-term commitment for the people of Zimbabwe and their future well-being," said Donnelly at a ceremony to officially hand over the aid funds to the UN in Harare. Diplomatic relations between Zimbabwe and its former colonial power Britain have been strained in recent years with London waging an international campaign to imposed targeted sanctions on President Robert Mugabe and his entourage in protest over his policies. British Foreign Minister Jack Straw was also behind a campaign to have Zimbabwe expelled from the Commonwealth - a move barred by Botswana, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Malaysia. Mugabe has, in turn, accused Britain of bankrolling the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), in an alleged bid to oust him from power and reinstate colonial rule.
Meanwhile, local independent media reported on Friday that villagers in parts of the country were starving. The Zimbabwe Independent reported that at least two people are dying from starvation every week as the southern African country faced a "famine worse than that which accompanied the 1992 drought", said to be the most devastating to hit southern Africa last century. And the Daily News reported: "Hundreds of children in rural Matabeleland North have dropped out of school as starvation stalks the district, with children collapsing due to hunger." The UN's World Food Programme in December called for $60 million to feed more than half a million Zimbabweans whose lives are seriously threatened by food shortages. The SADC said the response to Zimbabwe's international emergency appeal has been slow, while the UN said negotiations were still under way with some key donors that had expressed interest in helping Zimbabwe.
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From IRIN (UN), 8 February
A daily struggle to make ends meet
Inside TM Supermarket along Harare's Nelson Mandela Avenue, Joseph Sengu picked up a packet of low grade beef and for a while looked hard at the price tag. Then, shaking his head in apparent dejection, dropped it back into the display fridge. Moving over to another section of the shop Sengu selected some vegetables, salt and bread. But as IRIN watched, he returned to the butchery section and as if with some new found courage, he grabbed the same packet of meat he abandoned earlier and threw it into his shopping basket and ambled towards the tills. There, Sengu closely monitored the till operator as he punched away the figures into the machine and then suddenly shouted: "Stop! Can you tell me how much everything is now minus the meat?" Told the sub-total, Sengu visibly frustrated, reluctantly removed the packet of meat from the basket and put it aside as he indicated to the till man to close the sale. It would be the third night his family would have another supper of just sadza (maize porridge) and plain vegetables. Outside the supermarket, Sengu told IRIN: "When I am no longer able to provide enough food for my children to me it is like I am failing as a father, it hits my ego very hard."
Zimbabwe's economic meltdown has manifested itself in an acute foreign currency scarcity, fuel and food and shortages. For Sengu and many other Zimbabweans, survival has become not only a daily challenge but also an embarrassing and frustrating one. Inflation hit 112 percent in December for the first time since independence in 1980. The government-funded consumer rights watchdog, the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) told IRIN that prices of almost all commodities have in the last four years permanently moved only in one direction upwards. "Literally everything has gone up in the last four years. An average family of six now needs Z$23,860 (US $433 at the official rate) for its most basic needs per month," CCZ spokesman Nick Kanyemba said. In 1999, the same family required about Z$6,000 for its basic consumption per month. Moves last October by President Robert Mugabe to arrest the spiralling cost of living by imposing price controls on basic commodities have, as was predicted by critics then, failed. Nearly all the controlled goods are now only available on the black market, and at much higher prices. "You no longer go to the parallel market only when you need your foreign currency," independent economic analyst John Robertson told IRIN. "These days you will also have to go onto the black market for your cooking oil, soap, sugar - in fact a lot of the basic commodities, but these are often at more than double the state-sanctioned official prices."
For example, you cannot get cooking oil in the supermarkets where the government has pegged its price at Z$143 per 750 ml bottle. But Jane Mashayamombe, in Harare's Kuwadzana low-income residential area is doing a brisk business selling from her home at Z$250 per 750 ml. And likewise almost every other basic commodity is readily available on the streets of Harare, where not only a parallel market but a whole parallel economy seems to be fast emerging. According to Kanyemba, the only way to stabilise the economy was the re-introduction of tripartite negotiations involving labour, consumers and business. Agreement on a compromise package could then ensure the viability of business, at the same time ensuring reasonable wages and fair prices of commodities, he said. The unions, however, are at the forefront of demands for political change in Zimbabwe. Protest over the deteriorating economy in the 1990s crystallised into the formation of a broad based opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Stone carver Jacob Maromo, from the Harare's high-density suburb of Glen Norah, believes the presidential election due on 9-10 March offers Zimbabweans a chance to start all over again. Mugabe faces MDC party leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the crucial ballot, which many analysts insist he could easily lose if it was free and fair. "What we need now is a new man with fresh ideas and above all who has not antagonised the international community whose support we need so that we could start rebuilding again," said Maromo, mopping up the sweat and dust from the black granite stone he was working on. In October 1999, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) froze financial aid to Zimbabwe because of differences with Harare over policy and its failure to meet agreed fiscal targets. Bilateral donors and investors also steered away from the country as Mugabe's government introduced a controversial land reform programme and then cracked down on critics. Maromo, who has a wife and two children at primary school said before Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis drove away tourists, he was making on average a handsome Z$40,000 per month from sales of his stone carvings. He told IRIN he has to budget carefully to ensure that the Z$15,000 he is now making per month is enough to last the family through the month. Every month end he allocates Z$5,000 to cover what he euphemistically calls "contractual commitments". These are his family's rent, electricity and water bills. "Six thousand, which of course is not enough, covers our food requirements and the remaining 4,000 is reserved for the children's school fees for the next school term and also sometimes to pay back debts I might have accrued during the month," Maromo explained.
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From AFP, 10 February
Unfettered access for Zimbabwe poll observers
Caceres - The European Union, wielding the threat of sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's regime, said Saturday it expects Zimbabwe to grant EU elections observers safe and unfettered access to all parts of the country and to all sides in the presidential campaign. External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten said the chief of the EU observer mission, Sweden's UN ambassador Pierre Schori, was expected to arrive in Harare this weekend to prepare for the hotly contested March 9-10 polls. "Long-term observers will also be moving in over the next few days," Patten told AFP after a two-day informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Caceres, western Spain where Zimbabwe was briefly discussed. "We will see if they are able to do their job properly," he said, as the European Union remain poised to implement on quick notice targeted sanctions against Mugabe and his close associates.
"We're looking from Mugabe's government for what we'd expect from any government in a country that said it was in favor of fair elections and said it was to allow election observation. We want to have guarantees about security," he added. "We want to be able to have access to all parts of the country and all shades of opinion. Those are some of the basics you actually have to be certain about in order to do the job properly." On Friday the commission - which handles the logistics of putting poll-watchers on the ground - recommended that sanctions be implemented if Harare insists on allowing observers from some EU countries, but not others. It has also drafted a list of Mugabe associates to be subjected to sanctions that could go into place as early as next week, if EU member states decide to pull the trigger. "We have to monitor the situation day by day," said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who has pushed hard for a common EU stance towards greater democracy in the former British colony.
Zimbabwe issued a formal invitation for EU observers Thursday, but it emerged it would not accept team members from Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, diplomatic sources said. "We do not consider it an EU observer mission if any number of member states are excluded," one source said Friday. "Zimbabwe should not dictate the make-up of the mission." EU foreign ministers agreed January 28 to implement "smart sanctions" if Mugabe's government hinders the deployment of international election observers or restricts media coverage of the polls. The sanctions would include a travel ban on Mugabe, his family and close associates, a freeze on any assets they might hold in the EU, and a suspension of longer-term development aid. The EU also reserved the right to implement sanctions if journalists are prevented from covering the polls, or if the polling is judged not to have been free and fair.
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 10 February
Big-name SA team to monitor Zimbabwe poll
The first of a high-profile team of South Africans leaves for Zimbabwe this week to begin an intensive operation to help to ensure that the country has a legitimate presidential election next month. The observer mission, announced by President Thabo Mbeki in his State-of-the-Nation address on Friday, is heading for Zimbabwe to defuse trouble and ensure the poll is legitimate and peaceful. The 80-member mission, headed by retired businessman and former ambassador Sam Motsuenyane, will include Independent Electoral Commission chairman Brigalia Bam, Dumisani Hlope of the Centre for Policy Studies, chairman of the Public Service Commission Stan Sangweni, head of the Independent Complaints Directorate Karen McKenzie, Africa Institute chief executive Eddie Maloka, secretary-general of the South African Council of Churches Molefe Tsele and president of the National Union of Mineworkers Senzeni Zokwane. Parliament is also sending observers. While organisations such as the Southern African Development Community, the Commonwealth and the European Union will also send observer teams, the South African mission will be the largest and most comprehensive. There will be team members in every constituency with communication networks in all polling districts to monitor the election. Mbeki said sending the mission was South Africa playing its part in ensuring the new government is "legitimate and enjoys the support of the majority" of Zimbabweans.
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From The Daily News, 9 February
Judgment overturned
In an unprecedented move, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku and three other judges of the Supreme Court - Justices Vernanda Ziyambi, Luke Malaba and Misheck Cheda - yesterday set aside the court’s earlier ruling that the Harare mayoral and council elections be held before March. Instead, the judges agreed with President Mugabe’s notice to have the elections held on 9 and 10 March 2002. On 7 December 2001, Chidyausiku, Ziyambi and Justice Wilson Sandura ordered Tobaiwa Mudede, the Registrar-General, to hold the elections by 11 February 2002. Mudede had appealed against High Court ruling by Justice Charles Hungwe that the elections should be held by the end of last December. Sandura was not part of the proceedings in this latest ruling. However, Justice Ahmed Ebrahim disagreed with his four colleagues. Ebrahim said Mudede should have implemented Justice Moses Chinhengo’s High Court ruling ordering him to have the elections by Monday as was ordered by the Supreme Court last December.
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 10 February
What did I do to deserve this?
Zimbabwe war veteran has to flee in the face of threats to his life
A stalwart of Zimbabwe's liberation war has fled the country after he allegedly received a tip-off that war veterans and government security agencies were planning to kill him. Makhathini Guduza, a former Zapu central committee member, secretly sneaked out of Matabeleland last Sunday for a brief stay in South Africa en route to London. Guduza fled as President Robert Mugabe intensified his crackdown on dissent. Troops were deployed in the outlying eastern and northern districts of Mount Darwin, Murewa, Mutoko and Shamva in Mashonaland province early this week. Last year Mugabe similarly deployed troops in Matabeleland in what was interpreted as a bid to shore up support ahead of the crucial presidential poll next month, pitting him against the Movement for Democratic Change's Morgan Tsvangirai.
Guduza claims Mugabe's feared Central Intelligence Organisation operatives and war veterans wanted to silence him after he refused to allow his kraal to be used for planning of attacks against MDC activists in Matabeleland. He says he was threatened with the same fate as Patrick Nabanyama, an MDC activist who was abducted before the 2000 parliamentary elections and has not been seen since. "I did not do anything to deserve such treatment from the government I fought for during the struggle," said Guduza. "Even now I am still prepared to share a platform with the president to understand what exactly went wrong in our country." Guduza is reputed to have been a right-hand man of former vice-president Joshua Nkomo, and is said to have single-handedly hatched the plan to spirit Nkomo out of the country during the Matabeleland reprisals of the 1980s by the Central Intelligence Organisation and Mugabe's North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade.
This week Guduza spoke of bitterness at the way in which the Mugabe administration had treated him and his refusal to co-operate with marauding thugs in Matabeleland. "I do not understand Mugabe's intentions. There simply is no respect for human life and values under his administration. Something is terribly wrong with our country." He said his problems became serious two weeks ago when he protested about a meeting that was supposed to be between farmers and government officials in Tsholotsho district near Bulawayo. He said he became angry when the meeting ended up being part of the Zanu PF election campaign. "I thought they had no right to deceive the people like that," Guduza said. When he questioned the use of state resources for party activities, he claims he was labelled a traitor by the local Zanu PF leadership and war veterans, and told that his days in Tsholotsho were numbered. Since then his house had been put under surveillance and his movements had been monitored.
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From The Times (UK), 8 February
An encounter with silent ranks of hate
Bindura - The driver hit the brakes hard and our car skidded noisily on the gravel. We were instantly conspicuous. On the main road ahead was a column of about 100 boys and a few girls in their late teens, jogging tightly in step, in single file and in silence, except for a deep "Hoo!" uttered with every fourth step. Recruits, the driver said, to Zimbabwe’s new "youth national service" militia. They were on their way to the nearest militia base, an abandoned white farm 12 miles distant, for "re-education". Luckily, they passed without showing any interest in us.
Shephard Ngundu, a teacher, was less fortunate. He was murdered on Tuesday by trained recruits in the Mount Darwin area in the northeast of the country, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said yesterday. He was the seventeenth MDC sympathiser to be killed this year. The new militia can claim responsibility for more of those deaths than any other branch of President Mugabe’s murderous political machine. It is his contribution to the tradition of African dictators coercing or bribing unemployed and under-educated youth into service as instruments of savagery against opponents. "Youth national service" is recognised as a new branch of the country’s security forces, paid, trained, provisioned and clothed by state finance. Assertions that they are trained in carpentry and poultry-keeping are dismissed.
Since the first 1,000 completed their three months’ training in late November, many youths in crisp olive-green fatigues and caps have been appearing in MDC strongholds all over the country. They carry out their task of identifying and brutalising suspected MDC supporters with single-minded dedication. "The strategy is fully "militarised"," a human rights agency official who asked not to be named said. "The militia secure the area with illegal roadblocks, and on the inside they go to work with lists of local MDC organisers."
They came for Bernard X, 41, an MDC official in a communal area in eastern Zimbabwe, ten days ago. He woke with two petrol bombs exploding on the floor of his house. He fainted, was dragged out and beaten with metal rods. His wife had been stabbed in both thighs and beaten, but was alive. In hospital this week, he has severe burn marks on his ears, lips, nose and shoulders. On his back are the black criss-crosses of the beating. Despite her injuries, his wife told him to flee because the militias had threatened to come back. Possession of a Zanu PF membership card is indispensable. Travellers alighting at rural bus terminuses are searched for MDC material. At rural business centres, they keep watch for strangers. Being young and urban is dangerously conspicuous. Chisvo Y works in Harare, and has to travel to his rural village south of the capital every weekend to attend Zanu PF rallies. "It is a big nuisance, but I have to go," he said. "If I don’t, they will accuse me of being MDC and attack my family."
Deserters describe training, by men with military background, in parade ground drill, party obedience and intimidation techniques. "We don’t know anything about the numbers," the human rights worker said. "But when they are deployed to other areas, their job is also to train local youths. So you have a massive multiplier effect. There seems to be some systematic teaching in torture techniques. Someone is teaching them how far they can go, otherwise they will end up with corpses all over the place." Norman Z was seized by militiamen in the poor township of Hatcliffe last week. He had one set of electrodes clamped to his hands and his inner thighs and the other ends to a car battery while the engine was revved. A doctor who examined him the next day said: "His hands and his thighs were still in spasm. They could have killed him."
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From The Daily News, 9 February
Top soldiers ready to serve MDC government
MDC vice-president, Gibson Sibanda, said this week several top army officers had approached him and his party’s leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, to assure them they were ready to serve under an MDC government if the party won the presidential election in March. Sibanda said in an interview in Bulawayo, the colonels and majors distanced themselves from the controversial statement by General Vitalis Zvinavashe, the Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, last month. Speaking in the presence of his security chief colleagues, Zvinavashe virtually declared they would not accept an MDC victory in the election. Zvinavashe sparked international outrage when he avowed the service chiefs would not salute a leader with no liberation war credentials, a thinly-veiled reference to Tsvangirai. The MDC described the statement as treasonous. It was also roundly condemned by regional and international leaders.
Sibanda said this week: "Some army and police chiefs have distanced themselves from that statement. They denied ever drafting it and totally disowned it. It’s now clear that the statement was authored by Zanu PF in a bid to intimidate voters and create unnecessary panic. In fact, from the onset we did not believe Zvinavashe’s utterances because military coups are not announced at glittering media conferences but implemented in secrecy." Army sources this week said Sibanda’s revelations exposed a widening rift between top military chiefs aligned to Zanu PF and an elite corps of modern officers who believe President Mugabe has overstayed in power. They said even in the event that Zvinavashe tried to stage a coup, he could not be assured of backing from junior and middle-rank officers.
Tsvangirai told over 7 000 party supporters during the launch of his presidential campaign in the south-western district of Gwanda last weekend that a coup was not possible. Tsvangirai said if the MDC won the poll, he would immediately and duly take over the constitutional reins as Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. Military officers "tired of work" or not ready to serve his government would be asked to leave, he said. "We would take those who would not salute an MDC government for people who are tired of work," said Tsvangirai, responding to concerns raised by villagers following Zvinavashe’s threats. He said his party had no plans to create new defence structures and expected army, police and intelligence officers to carry on with their professional duties of defending the country ’s sovereignty.
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 11 February
Mugabe admits EU observer as he plays for time
Harare - The head of the European Union's observer mission for the Zimbabwe presidential election next month was allowed into the country last night, despite threats by Robert Mugabe's regime to bar him. The arrival of Pierre Schori, a Swede, is likely to delay the imposition of EU sanctions against President Mugabe and his allies, which had been threatened as early as this week. Observers believe that Zimbabwe is playing for time by making a series of minimal concessions to the EU in the hope of heading off international action. Mr Schori was granted permission to remain in the country for only two weeks, forcing him to leave and return before the poll takes place. He said he would seek accreditation from the Zimbabwe government today. He said: "I will be here before, during and after the election and will come into Zimbabwe for two weeks at a time."
Stan Mudenge, the Zimbabwean foreign minister, told the EU that observers from Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland would not be accepted. An EU mission headed by Mr Schori declared the 2000 parliamentary elections neither free nor fair, provoking a barrage of abuse from the Zimbabwean authorities, which called him "anti-African" and "a British stooge". Mr Schori said: "All countries are welcome, but some countries are more welcome than others." He added that he "took it for granted" that he would be accredited as an observer.
Harare's attempts to exclude the six EU states as European observers threatened to trigger the impositions of sanctions already agreed on by Union foreign ministers, including a travel ban on Mr Mugabe, his family and close associates, a freeze on their assets in EU member states, and a suspension of longer-term development aid. Mr Schori's trip is the first stage in Zimbabwe avoiding the sanctions. The diplomat's arrival came after the opposition Movement for Democratic Change reported that Zimbabwe police had cancelled a party rally due to be held in Gokwe, 130 miles west of Harare, after a fresh outbreak of political violence. Four white men, including two Irish tourists on a fishing holiday, were arrested on Saturday in the village of Binga after Zanu PF supporters saw them waving at children. An open-handed wave is the signal of the MDC.
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From The Daily News, 11 February
MDC youth leader murdered
Masvingo - A 22-year-old MDC activist, Henry Moyo was brutally murdered on Thursday last week by suspected Zanu PF supporters as the party’s terror campaign reached critical levels in Masvingo, ahead of the presidential election. This brings to six the number of people who have been killed so far in politically-motivated incidents in Masvingo province, since President Mugabe announced the election dates. Moyo was the MDC youth vice-chairman for Ward 1. His body was found floating in Mucheke River after he had been missing for three days. His death came two days before Mugabe addressed a rally at Chivi growth point, at which he called for a peaceful campaign.
The MDC Masvingo youth provincial chairman, Kenia Chauke, yesterday said Moyo was abducted last Sunday by six men, believed to be Zanu PF supporters. Chauke said: "Since then he had not been found until his body was recovered by the police in Mucheke River. We know he was killed for his involvement in politics. He suffered broken ribs and had injuries all over his body, which is a clear indication that he was murdered." Witnesses said Moyo was severely tortured by Zanu PF supporters before he was killed. "They beat him up with an electric cord all over his body, others used sticks and knobkerries to assault him until he collapsed," said one witness. "We all came out of our homes when we heard him crying and pleading with the assailants to stop what they were doing, but they would not stop."
The police in Masvingo said they suspected foul play since the body had injuries suggesting that he was murdered before his body was dumped in the river. However, by yesterday no one had been arrested in connection with the murder. Moyo becomes the latest victim of politically-motivated violence in Masvingo, where five people have already lost their lives. Richard Maphosa, Richard Chatunga, Atinos Mapingure Isaac Muunikwa, all MDC members, and Zanu PF’s Gibson Masarira, were killed in Bikita and Zaka last month, as violence mounted in the run-up to next month’s presidential election.
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From The Star (SA), 10 February
Thug tactics and arson derail MDC rally
Harare, Zimbabwe - Opposition activists on Sunday accused ruling-party supporters of attacking them to prevent an election rally west of Harare. After the violence on Saturday night in Gokwe, 320 km from Harare, police ordered the cancellation of the rally without heeding opposition pleas to investigate the attack, said Learnmore Jongwe, a spokesperson for the Movement for Democratic Change. Nine opposition members had arrived in Gokwe on Saturday night to prepare for the rally, when they were attacked by a mob of supporters of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF Party, Jongwe alleged. A truck belonging to the opposition was set ablaze by the ruling-party supporters, he said. There was no comment from the police.
Violence has intensified ahead of elections scheduled for March 9-10, when Mugabe faces a stiff challenge from opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist. Opinion polls indicate Mugabe, 78, is in danger of losing power and the opposition and human rights groups say the chances of a free and fair election are remote. "To date we have had 67 rallies cancelled either by the police or by Zanu PF violence since the (laws were) passed three weeks ago," said Jongwe. "We will contest this election under the most severe circumstances but we have been stretched to the limit." Meanwhile, welfare organisations appealed on Sunday for children to be spared from violence in the political turmoil. The nine independent groups noted that militants had forced schools to close and teachers to flee, and condemned the continued detention of juveniles, often in the same cells as adults. The groups did not attribute responsibility for the violence.
In the western city of Bulawayo, 17 church leaders denounced repeated attacks in the state media on Mugabe's critics and new regulations requiring police permission for religious gatherings to be held off church premises. "We abhor the fact that we now have to seek permission to hold prayer meetings in public," the church leaders said vowing to defy the law and accept the consequences. An advance group of European Union election observers were due to arrive in Zimbabwe later on Sunday night. The EU has warned of targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe unless the elections are free and fair, and observers and international journalists are allowed to work unhindered.
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From The Sunday Telegraph (UK), 10 February
Women fight Mugabe with 'chitter-chatter'
Female members of the Movement for Democratic Change are taking a new frontline role in the opposition party's attempt to defeat President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe's elections next month. Intimidatory tactics by pro-Mugabe supporters and new laws restricting anti-government demonstrations have made orthodox electioneering virtually impossible in much of Zimbabwe. In the first few weeks of 2002, according to an independent human rights group, 19 opposition supporters, all of them men, have died in political violence. In response, the MDC women's alliance has launched a so-called "chitter-chatter campaign", based on informal meetings of women over cups of tea and plates of maize meal. Even local knitting groups, a traditional meeting place for rural Zimbabwean women, are being used to spread the MDC's message and mobilise voters.
Organisers believe that female activists are more likely to escape the attentions of the police and Mr Mugabe's notorious "youth groups", who have terrorised voters across the country. "Women are going to be the most effective campaigners in this election," said Lucia Matibenga, the chairman of the MDC's women's alliance, "because they're not as visible. They can slip into houses and arrange meetings discreetly. Men like the big rally approach. But women generally prefer to chat together about issues that will affect our families. With Mugabe's new laws we have to campaign the women's way or not at all."
Across Zimbabwe, MDC officials have reported a boom in female volunteers, eager to contribute to the "chitter-chatter" initiative. The small town of Chitungwiza, south of Harare, witnessed the women's alliance in action last week. More than 30 activists gathered to knock on doors before attending a knitting meeting in the town. Before the campaigners went on the streets, they each received an MDC wrap and headscarf, in vivid green, red and yellow. The day began with anti-Mugabe songs and the usual MDC mantra: Chinja - or change. Miriam Mushaya, another activist, told her colleagues: "Go out and tell your friends and your neighbours that if they don't vote this year they are condemning their children to a life not worth living. Let us have sugar on our table before we talk about dividing up the land. If the kitchen is not right then there is nothing we can do."
Under Mr Mugabe's increasingly paranoid regime however, even a meeting of middle-aged women is in danger of being viewed as a threat to the state. Within hours, one of the women campaigners had been arrested, although she was later released without being charged. The leaflets of other volunteers were confiscated along with party insignia. The women's alliance has also discovered that the notorious list of "Wanted MDC Terrorists", which has been handed to the government's self-styled war veterans, features Mrs Matibenga and offers a reward for her capture. Mrs Matibenga is now protected by a team of bodyguards, while her three children live at a safe house, seeing their mother rarely. Mrs Matibenga, who stood as an MDC MP in the June 2000 parliamentary elections, said: "It is not us who are brave, but the women working for us at the grassroots. They do not have phones and security for protection. "They know that there is a risk and they are prepared to take it because it is the only way they can make a difference." The day after the police raid, the women were back again, in party headscarves and wraps, continuing their work. "Even the threat of arrest has to be better than the thought of Mugabe winning again," said one.
From ZWNEWS: Gertrude Mtombeni, an MDC national executive member, and 5 other women are reported to be part of the group with Abednico Ncube, Peter Nyoni and Joel Gabuza who were shot at, arrested and tortured by militia in Nkayi. Thoko Khupe (MP Makokoba) reports that Mtombeni has severe bruises and cuts, indicating torture. They are all being held at Nkayi police station and are being denied access to their lawyers and doctors.
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From The Times (UK), 11 February
No independent writing, by order of the minister
Harare - The dangers of independent reporting of Robert Mugabe’s oppressive regime in Zimbabwe were highlighted at the weekend when police raided the home of Edwina Spicer, the Zimbabwean journalist and documentary film-maker. Despite being issued with a warrant to search for "security force uniforms, subversive films and material, and arms of war", the CID officers found only a dozen video cassettes, including Air Force One, the Harrison Ford thriller, and Rebellion, the BBC documentary on the Rhodesian emergency, which has been shown on state television. This is the daily reality facing independent journalists who do not file the stories demanded by President Mugabe to fill the pages of the state newspapers and supply a daily diet of hate-filled propaganda to villagers whose access to independent media is largely restricted.
This week’s lead story in the Sunday Mail asserts that Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had promised the British Government that he would appoint David Coltart, a white MP and lawyer, to be Vice-President if he won next month’s presidential elections. It quoted an MDC spokesman as saying that the allegation was without substance. Despite that, it added: "Mr Tsvangirai made the assurance following a demand from the former colonial master that the MDC should appoint a white man as his deputy." Another front-page story is about a supposed plot by the MDC to begin a campaign of terror to show international observers that the election campaign has not been peaceful. The paper’s London correspondent, Admore Tshuma, has a story about thousands of Zimbabweans who, he claims, have undergone secret military training under the British Army and will be sent to Zimbabwe "to create havoc on behalf of Tsvangirai in case he loses the election. For good measure, Tshuma adds that "hordes of undercover British intelligence operatives disguising (sic) as tourists and arts promoters have been deployed in Zimbabwe".
This stuff fills acres of newsprint every day in all the state-controlled newspapers, as well as appearing on state television and radio. The architect of the rules governing the media is Jonathan Moyo, President Mugabe’s propaganda minister. Mr Moyo has himself quoted at great length in nearly every political story. Readers could be forgiven for thinking that he writes not only the editorial comment and most of the columns, but even the vituperative letters. At the weekend we also had an "exclusive" to look forward to in a front-page teaser in the daily Herald. "Starting tomorrow, we will be carrying an exclusive two-part series with the Minister of State for Information and Publicity, on why he joined the ruling Zanu PF party, the international media campaign against him and the effect of all that on his family life. So don’t miss your copy of the Herald." The next day I told my streetcorner vendor I did not want to buy the Herald. "Can I give it to you then?" he asked.
In urban areas, the circulation of the 111-year-old Herald has been overtaken by that of the independent and irreverent Daily News in the three years since it was founded. The Zanu PF party has "banned" all independent newspapers in a major chunk of the countryside by beating up vendors and burning their papers. Mr Moyo is also in charge of Mr Mugabe’s election publicity, which includes daily full-page advertisements, most of them rubbishing Mr Tsvangirai as Tony Blair’s puppet. "Flush them down!" declared one in Friday’s daily Herald. "The only good Blair is a toilet." It was a reference to an ingenious hygienic pit latrine, named after the eponymous research laboratory here that designed it.
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From The Daily News, 11 February
UK dismisses Sunday Mail story as rubbish
The British High Commission yesterday dismissed as "complete rubbish", a story in yesterday’s State-controlled Sunday Mail that Britain wants the MDC to appoint David Coltart as vice-president if the party wins next month’s presidential election. Coltart is the MP for Bulawayo South and the MDC’s shadow minister of justice. Quoting unnamed sources in the MDC, The Sunday Mail political editor Munyaradzi Huni, wrote in the paper’s lead story that MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai gave assurances of Coltart’s appointment as vice-president after Britain demanded that the party should appoint a white man as Tsvangirai’s deputy. The MDC has dismissed the allegations as "devoid of substance."
Sophie Honey, the British High Commission spokesperson in Harare said yesterday: "It’s nothing to do with us, whom either party should choose to appoint to the Cabinet if they win the election. It’s also a misunderstanding of th |
