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Archived News
13th January 2002
Zim 'terror teens' on warpath
CIO harass food aid workers
Violence spreads to Ruwa, Chinhoyi
Zim heading for civil war, warns Tsvangirai
Zim top brass to get plots
Land a double-edged sword
Zim's MDC claims fifth member killed
Sixth holiday killing
Two Zim farmers beaten up
Mayoral posts to be scrapped
Zimbabwe's defiant exiles cry freedom over the airwaves
Diamonds in the rough, and more, found at chic hotel
Mugabe ignores world protests over press curbs
Mugabe steps up 'propaganda war'
Mugabe puts security forces on double pay
Zapu backs Tsvangirai
Cry freedom
Zimbabwe debates controversial bills
Zim, EU to talk this week
SA is the key
Zimbabwe is Africa in microcosm
Zanu PF in upset defeat
Lawyers' offices attacked
Mugabe militias seal town for 'recruiting drive'
Mobs drive off 26 farmers
UK threat to punish Mugabe
Zimbabwe's Mugabe to attend regional summit
The madness of Mugabe
Defying Mugabe's crackdown
Mugabe takes a stride into tyranny
Zimbabwe MPs adjourn controversial security debate
Zanu PF spots own weakness
US probes Zim generals
Mugabe declares war on dissent
How loyal is Zimbabwe's army?
Farms raided by authorities as grain runs out in Zimbabwe
Zim anthrax tests negative
Diplomats sceptical over talks
Zim is sliding toward dictatorship, says Tutu
Mugabe given EU deadline to accept poll observers
France slams Zimbabwe's deteriorating rights situation
Moves by Zimbabwe's President are criticized in South Africa
10 000 children denied an education
Zanu PF uses violence to raise poll funds
Democracy, who needs it?
Mugabe has 'gone bonkers in a big way' Tutu
Voters hide their loathing of regime
Zimbabwe militants force farmers off land
I agree with Tutu: Zimbabwe's leaders have gone bonkers
Security forces defy chefs
Mugabe trains 100,000 thugs to spread terror
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From News24 (SA), 4 January
Zim 'terror teens' on warpath
Harare - The ruling Zanu PF party, through the deployment of war veterans, has turned several schools in remote rural areas into makeshift military barracks to train youths to campaign against the opposition in the run-up to the March presidential election. The veterans are using sticks as guns in the military drills. The recruits, some allegedly forced to join the militias, undergo 10-day training sessions. Welshman Ncube, the Movement for Democratic Change secretary-general, said the schools were mainly concentrated in Gokwe, central Zimbabwe, and many parts of Mashonaland where-Zanu PF commands huge rural support. Hundreds of youths from all over the country have been trained at the Border Gezi national service training school in Mount Darwin. One youth said: "Every morning, we toyi-toyed for about 30 kilometres. We were taught other military skills, such as how to handle guns." On Monday, recent graduates from training centres terrorised western townships of Harare, smashing windows, looking for food and taking clothing from washlines in the name of Zanu PF. Residents complained that police stood idly by while youths damaged their property for about two-and-a-half hours. Armed with sticks, stones and other weapons, they looted grocery shops, flea markets and vegetable stalls. More than 70 houses were destroyed in the chaos.
Initially, the youths had overwhelmed the residents until their victims ganged up against them, resulting in running battles. Police stepped in to protect the Zanu PF youths, now outnumbered by angry residents. A member of the militia, hiding in a maize patch after looting clothes from one house, was assaulted by the residents when he tried to rejoin his retreating colleagues. A woman, who lost her New Year shopping, complained: "The police are abetting the violence. How else could anyone explain their behaviour when they are supposed to protect us from these villains?" The youths were brought in from outlying villages in five hired buses to a so-called war veterans' base outside Harare from where they launched their attack. Learnmore Jongwe, the MP for Kuwadzana, said: "It has become apparent that this so-called national youth service is, in fact, a Zanu PF party service where murderers were being trained." The youths are ostensibly recruited for national service but, in their now-familiar green uniform, are reported to have unleashed a wave of terror against MDC members. The Gokwe training programme appears to have a similar objective. New recruits are forcing people to join them in toyi-toyi sessions where Zanu PF slogans are chanted. In urban centres, many Zimbabweans are dreading the remaining 90 days before the presidential election. They fear an upsurge of violence and bloodshed before and immediately after Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai square up against each other in March.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 4 January
CIO harass food aid workers
Members of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) are stalking food aid distributors in rural areas in violation of a memorandum of understanding signed between the government and the World Food Programme, the Zimbabwe Independent has established. Some of those involved in the relief effort in Muzarabani say there have been attempts to intimidate them. This is seen as reflecting official concern that food aid could be used to enhance the prospects of Movement for Democratic Change presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai. The World Food Programme (WFP) has stressed that famine relief should not be hijacked by any party.
United Nations Development Programme resident representative in Zimbabwe, Victor Angelo, said the government was only expected to provide security to those engaged in relief work. "The government, according to our agreement, is expected to provide our members with security to facilitate their work and intimidation would be a sad development," he said on Wednesday. Aid agency workers in the Lower Gweru area have been approached and quizzed by men they were able to identify as CIO operatives. There have also been reports of intimidation from Matabeleland. Another UN official who refused to be named described the move as predictable. "The government of Zimbabwe is now notorious for breaking promises. We thought it would end with the Abuja Agreement but now they are reneging on the agreement we made (on food supplies). This is a very unfortunate development that must be condemned in any democratic country," the official said.
The WFP has taken steps to ensure the food distribution exercise is apolitical. "As the operation takes place during the run-up to the presidential election and related political campaigning, strong monitoring of all commodity movements and distribution is critical to ensure the food is not being misused," the WFP said in a recent report. A member of an NGO distributing food in Mashonaland Central said he feared for his life as members of the CIO always trailed him. "They know very well that we give aid to the needy yet they come to us Nicodemously and ask us what criteria we are using. We cannot carry out our job with this interference as we are closely monitored. It’s a risky business taking into cognisance that areas like Muzarabani are volatile," said the official who declined to be named for fear of victimisation.
Hans Sittig, the co-coordinator of non-governmental organisation Help, said they lost millions of dollars in Chimanimani after being accused of campaigning for the opposition last year. "We lost US$29 000 worth of food after being accused of campaigning for the MDC," Sittig said. "The CIO operatives claimed that we were distributing MDC T-shirts and cards. That was hogwash because we use our own Help T-shirts. We were also working with the local authorities in distributing food to the needy and the accusation took us by surprise." Sittig said the police did not help matters when called to assist. "They actually arrested nine of our members although the perpetrators were known so-called war veterans," said Sittig. He was questioned by the police in September when he went to Matabeleland to assess the food situation there. The government recently reversed its stance against NGOs taking part in food relief. But it remains suspicious of donors. The WFP has named the following NGOs as potential food distributors: World Vision, Care, Save the Children (UK), Oxfam, Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress, Farmers Community, CRS, MSF/Spain, Christian Health Care, and Catholics for Overseas Development (Cafod).
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 4 January
Violence spreads to Ruwa, Chinhoyi
Political violence has been given further impetus following the unleashing of the Zanu PF-sponsored National Youth Service brigade, with roving members creating mayhem in Harare, Ruwa and Chinhoyi this week. The brigade has been on a reign of terror since its members graduated a month ago from the Border Gezi training camp in Mt Darwin. Most of the violence has been targeted at members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the unsuspecting public. Last Saturday, five members of the MDC reportedly went missing in Bindura following an attack by suspected members of the brigade. The MDC’s information and publicity secretary, Learnmore Jongwe, confirmed the attack yesterday and said among those missing was a well-known party cadre, Moffat Chivaura. Chivaura had accompanied relatives to a Bindura cemetery to perform family rites at the grave of the late Trymore Midzi, an MDC member who was murdered by suspected Zanu PF thugs, including brigade members, before Christmas. Chivaura was attacked by the same mob. "All the family members managed to escape except Chivaura who is in his early 50s. The incident was reported to Bindura’s Chiwaridzo police station and up to now he hasn’t been found," said Jongwe.
On Monday, members of the brigade went on the rampage in Harare’s Kuwadzana Extension, destroying property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Brigade members went on the rampage again in Ruwa on Wednesday indiscriminately beating up residents for allegedly supporting the MDC. Eye-witness accounts say one man was so severely assaulted he had to be taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital for treatment. A Ruwa police officer who was in civilian clothes was caught up in the attack and severely assaulted. At Ruwa Rehabilitation Centre, the brigade allegedly assaulted a pregnant woman. According to unconfirmed reports, the youths also assaulted guests at a wedding party at the Centre’s hall after being denied free beer. Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena who promised to investigate the matter had not replied by yesterday evening.
Reports from Chinhoyi say there have been disturbances there since Tuesday. National Youth Service brigade members have raided shops, looted property and distributed it to people at random. In some cases, the youths, with the assistance of war veterans, allegedly ended up selling the looted goods and pocketing the money. Big retail stores such as OK and TM also fell victim to looting by the youths. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has condemned the attacks on innocent people. In a statement yesterday it said it strongly condemned "harassment and beatings of ordinary citizens which are being allegedly perpetrated by gangs of youths". "It is of great concern," the ZCTU said, "that the law enforcement agents are not doing enough to quell this violence...In cases where the police have acted, it seems the law is applied selectively."
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From The Star (SA), 4 January
Zim heading for civil war, warns Tsvangirai
Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Friday government-trained militants were pushing the country towards a low-intensity civil war. Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), accused the militants of killing four members of his party. "Zimbabwe is teetering dangerously on the brink of a low-intensity civil war owing to the activities of the Zanu PF government-sponsored militias," he said in a statement. "The militias have been at the forefront in the activities of terror that have resulted in the killing of four members of the MDC in cold blood in the last 10 days," Tsvangirai said, calling on the government to disarm the marauding youths. Last week the MDC claimed four of its members had been killed by Zanu PF supporters in less than six days. Police at the time could only confirm one of the deaths. Zanu PF has in turn claimed its members have suffered from MDC attacks. The state-controlled Herald newspaper said on Friday six MDC youths had been arrested for allegedly attacking Zanu PF supporters in the working-class Harare suburb of Kuwadzana Extension on New Year's Eve. The MDC has claimed that militants trained at a government-sponsored youth training camp were behind the attack that saw people beaten and houses looted, according to an independent witness interviewed by AFP. The violence comes ahead of a crucial presidential poll due in March, in which Tsvangirai will pose the strongest challenge yet to President Robert Mugabe's 21-year rule.
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From News24 (SA), 4 January
Zim top brass to get plots
Harare - Zimbabwe's government published the first list of names on Friday of some 100 000 blacks scheduled to receive land seized from white farmers under its controversial "fast track" land reform programme. The names included lawmakers and loyalists to President Robert Mugabe. The plan to redistribute farms to landless blacks has been marred by the violent occupation of hundreds of farms by ruling party militants and has plunged Zimbabwe into a political and economic crisis. The majority of Zimbabwe's commercial farmland has been in the hands of whites, who make up less than half a percent of the country's population. But human rights groups have said the government was less interested in correcting Zimbabwe's unfair land allocation than in wooing political supporters ahead of presidential elections in March.
The list released identifies Zimbabweans who applied under a government programme offering parcels of land for commercial farming, and does not include squatters who have already resettled on former white-owned farmland. About 8.5 million hectares of farmland - about 95 percent of the farms owned by some 4 000 white farmers - are being nationalised. Included among listed recipients is Tony Gara, a wealthy former deputy government minister who owns a chemicals business and a chain of hair salons. Gara was censured by churches in Zimbabwe for comparing Mugabe to Jesus and describing him as "a son of God". Several lawmakers, a government research scientist, two former broadcasters with the state radio station, an award winning athlete from the national police force and six senior journalists with the state-run Herald newspaper were also among those on the list to receive farmland. Joseph Chinotimba, a leader of a militant group that has organised scores of violent farm occupations, has defended his inclusion on the list land on the outskirts of Harare, saying: "I deserve it."
The government says applications were granted to those committed to retaining the productivity of seized land. The Herald quoted Ivy Ncube one of it's reporters who is scheduled to receive land said she was looking forward to "venture into tobacco farming". "I cannot believe I now have my own portion of land. What a wonderful way to begin a New Year," she said. The land seizure programme has disrupted production of tobacco, the main hard currency earner, and corn, the staple food, deepening the nation's worst economic crisis since independence in 1980 and raising the spectre of food shortages.
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From ZWNEWS, 5 January
Land a double-edged sword
Determined to claim victory in presidential elections due in March, President Robert Mugabe is using seized land as a double edged political sword - both to reward supporters and to punish suspected political opponents, whether they be once-wealthy white or black commercial farmers or farm workers.
Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri, who has been instrumental in turning the police force into an arm of Mugabe's Zanu PF party, last month grabbed a farm owned by a white farmer, Mark Butler, in the Shamva district, announcing he had been allocated the property "like anyone else." Butler, like all white farmers, was a target. In addition, government supporters torch homes of farm workers; a black commercial farmer, Philemon Matibe, a candidate for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in national elections in 2000, was evicted from his farm in Chegutu last June. Self-styled war veterans and dozens of other violent Mugabe supporters looted goods worth millions of dollars before driving off the Matibe family. The government promised to compensate Matibe for the loss of his farm, but did not do so.
Recently, Guy Watson-Smith, chairman of the Commercial Farmers' Union in Mashonaland East province, fled to South Africa after retired army general Solomon Mujuru ordered him off his tobacco and cattle farm, Alamein, 70 kms outside Harare. A judge ruled that Watson-Smith can reclaim his property which includes cattle, six tractors and two motor vehicles. Meanwhile, Mujuru, a former Zanu PF member of Parliament, reportedly owns three other farms. The seizures by Chihuri and Mujuru were in line with the government practice dating back to the 1980s of giving former white-owned farms to party bigwigs. The handovers to members of the governing elite were cited by Britain and other Western donors as a prime reason for cutting off aid for what was supposed to be a land reform programme involving compensation to owners and the supply of training, seeds, fertilizers and general infrastructure to resettled landless blacks.
None of this has happened. And since Mugabe instigated the current wave of land invasions in February 2000 after losing a constitutional referendum, the resulting chaos, violence and plummeting agricultural output is part of a blatant political exercise. Recently, the government published a list of 1,000 new landowners who have been given seized farms. The list, the start of what the government says will be 100,000 names, included senior Zanu PF officials. "The land issue is only being used as a tool to deal with people opposed to Zanu PF," MDC Secretary General Welshman Ncube complained during a recent visit by SADC government ministers. For example, the government stipulated that single-ownership farms, and farms with high export earnings - known as Export Processing Zones - would be exempt.
That hasn't stopped Charleswood Estate, owned by coffee-producer Roy Bennet, the MDC member of Parliament for Chimanimani, being listed for compulsory acquisition. Bennet, a white who is a popular figure among the black community in his district, has long been a Zanu PF target. He fled Charleswood in May last year after after horders of Zanu PF supporters invaded the estate. But he returned, and defeated a Zanu PF candidate in the election. In September 2000 Charleswood was given Export Processing Zone status, and Bennet with two foreign companies, trading as McKinnon Africa, invested Zimbabwe $350 million in a coffee project. Then Mugabe's Public Works and National Housing Minister Ignatious Chomo showed up, accompanied by Manicaland Provincial Governnor Oppah Muchinguri and war veterans, and order that Charleswood be pegged for resettlement. Bennet hangs on and the politics get more blatant. His house has now been allocated to the Zanu PF candidate, Munacho Mutezo, who he defeated in the national elections.
"Zanu PF is violating its won criteria on the altar of expediency. They are breaking their own laws and rules to punish the MDC members," said Ncube. Across the country, the land victimisation continues. For example, in November a mob descended on Leon van der Merwe's Romana farm in Karoi and set fire to farm workers' houses. Van der Merwe said the attack was led by a war veteran named Tim Sticha who had said the farmer was involved in politics. Zanu PF maintains that, if elected, MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai would remove resettled farmers from seized land allocated to them. But the MDC says the party would institute a national land "audit.'' "A land commission will unravel problems associated with the land reforms. The issue has never been about reversibility but a transparent and fair exercise," said Ncube.
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From The Star (SA), 5 January
Zim's MDC claims fifth member killed
Harare - Zimbabwe's main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), on Saturday claimed a fifth party member has been slain in two weeks of clashes with backers of President Robert Mugabe. The MDC's secretary-general, Welshman Ncube, claimed that Rambisai Nyika was killed on December 24 in Gokwe, in western Zimbabwe, by militant supporters of the ruling Zanu PF. Nyika's death brings to five the number of party members the MDC claims have been killed by government-sponsored militias in recent weeks. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he was unaware of Nyika's death. Only two of the earlier deaths reported by the MDC have been confirmed by police, who said a third death was due to malaria.
Meanwhile, the MDC's parliamentary deputy for Chitungwiza town, just south of Harare, said his house was attacked on Friday by ZANU-PF militias. He and his supporters were preparing for more attacks, he added. "We've been told they want to attack here again," Fidelis Mhashu told reporters by telephone on Saturday. He said he had sent his family to a safe place, while he and 50 MDC members had banded together at his home in case of further attacks. The MDC claims that militants trained at a government-sponsored youth training camp are behind the attacks on its members. In a statement issued on Friday, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai warned that the youths were driving the country to the brink of a "low-intensity civil war". The government has said the training camps are part of a national service programme, which sees recruits deployed around the country to engage in community service.
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From ZWNEWS, 6 January
Sixth holiday killing
A schoolteacher from the Shamva district of Mashonaland Central province was murdered on New Year’s Eve by a mob of 200 Zanu PF supporters and war veterans. The mob first raided Kamujariwa village, where houses were burnt and villagers assaulted, before moving to Madziwa township where Jena, the schoolteacher, was stabbed. He later died of his injuries in Bindura. No arrests have been made.
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From News24 (SA), 5 January
Two Zim farmers beaten up
Harare - Two white Zimbabwean farmers were abducted and beaten up by militant war veterans in ongoing farm violence ahead of a crunch presidential poll, the main farming union has reported. The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said in its latest report that around 40 Zanu PF supporters, armed with iron bars, abducted the two farmers from Ardului farm, in Chegutu, some 90km southwest of Harare. The attack took place on New Year's Eve. The farmers were "subsequently assaulted with fists, resulting in one of them losing hearing in one ear," said the report. Violence on white-owned farms has been on the increase in the former British colony since President Robert Mugabe's supporters, including liberation war veterans, launched a campaign of land invasions nearly two years ago. Mugabe faces his strongest challenge yet from opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in presidential polls scheduled for March.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 6 January
Mayoral posts to be scrapped
The Zanu PF government, facing a strong challenge from the opposition MDC, is to amend the Urban Councils Act to pave way for the abolition of the posts of executive mayor, sources close to the move have revealed to The Standard. The amendment will see the introduction of chief executives appointed by a board whose members will be chosen by the minister of local government, public works and national housing. Under the proposed amendments, prospective candidates will be required to submit their names and credentials to the parent ministry for consideration. "The whole format will be changed with the introduction of a chief executive who will be assisted by a board appointed by the minister. They will be taking over from the incumbent mayors," said the source. "Chegutu was the last mayoral election to be held, but I am not sure whether sitting mayors will be asked to step down. They will probably be allowed to finish their terms."
The terms of office of the executive mayors elected last year in Chegutu, Bulawayo and Masvingo, expire in 2004. Municipal mayoral elections for Chitungwiza, Harare and Gweru are due this year, while those for Mutare are due next year. The latest revelation adds weight to speculation that Zanu PF is determined to maintain its grip on Harare, which is currently being run by an appointed commission. Local government minister, Ignatius Chombo, last week extended the term of the Elijah Chanakira Commission by another six months, effectively circumventing the Supreme Court ruling that elections for the city were to be held by 11 February. Residents see the move as a ploy by the ruling party to avoid an embarrassing defeat just before the crucial presidential election scheduled for March.
Justice, legal and parliamentary affairs minister, Patrick Chinamasa, on Friday defended the move saying it was impossible to hold elections in February since the registrar-general’s office was currently preoccupied with the presidential election. When The Standard contacted Chinamasa for comment, he denied any intentions to amend the law in order to scrap executive mayoral posts. "I do not know where you are getting that information from. The Harare mayoral elections are to go ahead as directed by the Supreme Court, and Zanu PF is confident of winning the mayoral elections." However, the MDC election director, Paul Temba Nyathi, said his party was aware of the government’s intention. "We are hearing reports of that nature. Zanu PF is willing to do anything to stay in power. They know that they no longer have any support in the urban areas and it is possible for that they don’t want to continue to be embarrassed anymore by losing in the mayoral elections."
Zanu PF lost to the MDC in the three mayoral elections held in Chegutu, Masvingo and Bulawayo last year. In the 2000 parliamentary elections, the ruling party was whitewashed in Harare and Bulawayo and lost all other urban constituencies, save the peri-urban areas such as Chegutu and Bindura. Meanwhile, unperturbed by Zanu PF’s intentions, the MDC will be holding primary elections today to choose a mayoral candidate for Harare. The contesting candidates are Ian Makone, Elisha Mudzuri, David Samudzimu and Ian Kattie.
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From The Observer (UK), 6 January
Zimbabwe's defiant exiles cry freedom over the airwaves
A cramped radio studio in a London suburb is an unlikely place to find a voice of freedom in Africa. But for many Zimbabweans it offers their only chance to escape state propaganda. Radio Africa started broadcasting to Zimbabwe from Britain just three weeks ago, sidestepping the regime of President Robert Mugabe, which has cracked down on the independent media. Created and run by Zimbabwean exiles, the station has already made waves back home by being unashamedly critical of the abuses of Mugabe's reign that has plunged the country into its worst economic crisis. 'The role we play in a place like Zimbabwe is crucial. Any time when all the work just seems too much, we just think of that and we carry on,' said Tererai Karimakwenda, one of the station's staff of seven.
The station began broadcasting on 19 December. It sends out a three-hour programme each night of news, features and music in Zimbabwe's three languages of Shona, Ndebele and English. In many rural areas - beyond the reach of Harare-based independent newspapers - the station is the sole non-state controlled source of news. It is the idea of Gerry Jackson, a former radio presenter with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. Jackson was fired from her job in 1997 after taking calls from listeners during riots in Harare. She then fought a long court battle to win the right to set up an independent radio station that ended with a court victory in 2000 and led to the creation of Capital FM in Harare. The station broadcast for just six days before gun-wielding police closed it down.
Jackson was forced into hiding. But now she is back on air after leaving Zimbabwe in November and raising the money for the station from human rights groups. The response from Zimbabweans so far has been huge. By using shortwave transmitters, Radio Africa reaches the whole country. Listeners can email in their numbers and be called back to allow them to take part in discussion shows. Topics such as Aids, the environment and violence against women have all received substantial airtime. Politics gets a high profile. In recent weeks several members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been killed by government supporters. Radio Africa broadcast a call from a close friend of one of the victims who was speaking at a funeral. 'It was very moving. Everyone in the studio got a bit weepy,' Jackson said. Jackson wants to keep the exact location of the station secret because of Zimbabwean security agents who operate in Britain and have harassed opposition groups in London. Many of the callers decline to use their real names for fear of being identified by police.
Meanwhile, a violent spree by Mugabe's new militia has killed five members of the MDC. The party's leader Morgan Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe was 'teetering dangerously on the brink of a low intensity civil war'. Tsvangirai added that young men and women trained 'under the guise of a national service' were being used 'to terrorise their own parents'. Their deployment is the latest tactic used by the Zanu PF party to campaign for Mugabe, 77, who is running for election to another six-year term as president. The militia, or 'terror teens' as a local newspaper has dubbed them, are young men and women who are trained at national youth centres at government expense. During their 10-day course they have physical exercises, learn pro-government slogans and are trained in violent tactics, according to local reports. Some are trained how to use guns. The youths are provided military-style green uniforms and driven around in government vehicles and let loose on the country. The result is violence, mayhem and death.
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From The Washington Post, 6 January
Diamonds in the rough, and more, found at chic hotel
Kinshasa - At the Grand Hotel, it was another typical Christmas season. The lobby was decorated with fake snow. Battery-operated white angels in red robes sang tinny Christmas carols. Neon lights shone brightly while much of the surrounding city of 5 million went without electricity amid a sweltering tropical summer. The boutiques that line the hotel's tiled hallways offered fashionable lingerie from Paris, imported whiskeys and the latest electronic gadgets. The few shoppers were the elite of the city: senior army officers from Angola, generals from Zimbabwe, Ukrainian mercenaries, Spanish diamond dealers and Kinshasa's most expensive hookers. "This place," said Finbar O'Reilly, a local journalist, "is like a bad acid trip." The hotel, once a part of the Inter-Continental chain but now run by Congo's struggling government, is a microcosm of the many problems that keep this country in the heart of Africa among the world's poorest, despite its immense natural resources, including diamonds, gold, uranium, copper and timber. Since a rebellion erupted in 1998, Congo, which is roughly the size of Western Europe, has been effectively partitioned into several autonomous regions, each under the control of a foreign army that systematically loots its area of control. As a result, Congo's plentiful resources enrich the leaders of surrounding countries while providing no benefit to the vast majority of Congolese or even to the foreign soldiers posted here, according to diplomats and recent U.N. studies.
Because of the high financial stakes, the war is in a lull but is unlikely to end anytime soon, diplomats and analysts say. "The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has become mainly about access, control and trade of five key mineral resources: coltan, diamonds, copper, cobalt and gold," said a U.N. report published in April. "The wealth of the country is appealing and hard to resist in the context of lawlessness and the weakness of the central authority." Many of the war's few beneficiaries come from the countries that have helped the Congolese government survive the conflict. Since coming to the aid of Congolese ruler Laurent Kabila three years ago, a handful of countries have kept troops stationed in the western, government-controlled half of Congo. To pay for their support, Kabila granted his allies sizable chunks of the country's natural resources. Zimbabwe was estimated to have 11,000 troops in Congo a year ago, when fighting was still intense, and reportedly spent $1 million a day maintaining that force. In return, it was granted a major share in a partnership exploiting the richest diamond fields under government control, according to diplomats and sources in the diamond trade. Angola, Congo's neighbor, continues to position troops on the Congolese side of their shared border, both to support the Kinshasa government and to pursue its own war against Angolan rebels. In addition to compensating his battlefield allies, Kabila opened the country to virtually anyone who could pay to get in, according to diplomats and analysts. Many of the countries doing business here are on the State Department's list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
For example, in exchange for military training, Kabila allowed North Korea to mine uranium in the southern part of the country. Libya sold him desperately needed military hardware. Sudan chipped in with intelligence training, diplomats and political sources said. At the same time, Kabila courted the Israelis, French, Belgians, Americans and Chinese for loans, business investment and foreign aid. "Kabila dealt cards to everyone," said one longtime diplomat here. "The problem was, he couldn't pay everyone, so he traded away his country to meet his debts." Kabila's friends aren't the only foreigners helping themselves to Congolese wealth. In rebel-held eastern Congo, the backers of the rebellion are benefiting from the absence of government control. Rwanda, with some 17,000 troops there, and Uganda, with about 10,000, effectively control most of the east's timber, copper and cobalt fields, as well as important diamond-producing areas. Kabila was assassinated under mysterious circumstances a year ago and was succeeded by his son, Joseph, who has let stand most of the relationships his father initiated. Here in the capital, the spoils of war are in plain view. "You can say that Kinshasa is truly a melting pot of capitalism," said a European diplomat. "You have Lebanese diamond dealers working with Israeli diamond buyers. You have all the major powers, all of Africa, and the North Koreans and Chinese all doing business here. It is pure, brutal capitalism." And it is at the Grand Hotel that most of them meet and transact their business.
Angola and Zimbabwe house many of their officers not in army barracks but in this luxury establishment. They have breakfast not in a mess hall but at the hotel's buffet. In fact, most of hotel's inhabitants are official guests of the government and pay nothing - which keeps costs high for paying customers. Foreigners and senior government officials are practically the only people with access to the luxury goods offered in the hotel's shops, the only ones of their kind in the city. Most Congolese seeking to enter the hotel are stopped at the door and must provide a satisfactory explanation for what they want if they hope to get past the doormen. "The Grand Hotel is not really a part of the Congo," said one diamond dealer who has worked here for years. "It is a marketplace for anything, a place to come when you want to get away from the Congo and shop for anything - diamonds, weapons or a new pair of sunglasses. You can find it all."
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From The Times (UK), 7 January
Mugabe ignores world protests over press curbs
Harare - Spurning worldwide protests, the Zimbabwean Government plans to go ahead tomorrow with the enactment of a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, which will in effect suppress all correspondents for foreign news organisations and all newspapers outside state control. All journalists and newspapers will require an annually renewable "licence", available only to citizens, and at the discretion of Jonathan Moyo, the Information Minister. Simultaneously, Parliament, dominated 94-56 by the ruling Zanu PF party, will be asked to endorse a second important new piece of legislation, the Public Order and Security Bill, giving the authorities sweeping powers of detention and seizure ahead of President Mugabe’s attempt to win a further six-year term in March. A date for the polls is expected this week.
To boost his re-election prospects police, troops and state-funded "war veterans" have had their pay doubled to reinforce loyalty to the regime. "These two pieces of legislation, taken together, complete the transition from a form of democratic society to a total dictatorship and Fascist state," said Professor Welshman Ncube, a constitutional law expert and secretary-general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). He said that although the MDC, led by veteran trades unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, was narrowly cheated of victory in the June 2000 parliamentary elections, it stood no chance of blocking the bills in view of the presence of 30 MPs nominated by Mr Mugabe. "But we believe if they don’t actually commit fraud in the form of putting extra votes and getting people who don’t exist to vote, the life of this dictatorship has come to an end," he said. "We will not run away from this struggle but take each day as it comes."
Mr Moyo told the state-controlled daily, The Herald, on Saturday that last week’s international coverage of the resignation of Mr Justice David Bartlett, a High Court judge, proved the need for media controls. "The time to expose their lies and their liars has come," he said, denying that the judge had been "pushed out" and the bench packed with pro-government judges. "It proves the point we have been making all along, that the greatest threat to regional peace and stability comes from the apartheid press and its British sponsors." Under the new media bill, correspondents could face up to two year’s jail for quoting Mr Moyo’s words without the permission of The Herald, as for a range of other "offences" against a new government-drafted code, to be imposed by its own disciplinary committee.
Geoff Nyarota, Editor of the only daily newspaper outside state control, has vowed to use all legal methods to fight implementation of the bill, which he says will silence independent voices more effectively than the bomb which last year blew up his printing presses. Counsel’s opinion, released last week by Zimbabwe’s Legal Resources Foundation, said the bill was "ill conceived, badly drafted and dangerous", and "most of the controls (it) seeks to impose are unconstitutional". However, the new bench dominated by ruling party sympathisers may interpret the Declaration of Rights entrenched in the 1980 independence constitution to favour President Mugabe, having already endorsed his plans to redistribute 5,000 white-owned farms to 300,000 black Zimbabweans before the presidential polls.
A newly-appointed judge last month banned a Zimbabwean-born white man from challenging citizenship laws requiring him to prove he did not, secretly, hold Hungarian nationality. His parents fled to Zimbabwe after the 1956 uprising and Hungary’s Embassy in South Africa said he would have to be granted Hungarian citizenship - an impossibility, since his birth was not registered with them in 1960 - in order to renounce it. The act of applying for foreign citizenship, whether granted or not, automatically strips a Zimbabwean of local nationality. Mr Tsvangirai, the MDC's presidential candidate, meanwhile said five supporters had been murdered in the past fortnight by a newly trained "Youth National Service".
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From The Star (SA), 7 January
Mugabe steps up 'propaganda war'
Harare - Zimbabwe's ruling party has launched a media blitz for President Robert Mugabe's re-election bid, with a date for the March poll expected to be announced soon. The weekend drive also coincided with reports that militants from Mugabe's Zanu PF party have stepped up a violent campaign against the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) ahead of the elections. Zanu PF has been splashing a series of advertisements in both private and state-owned newspapers, projecting the embattled former guerrilla leader as a nationalist threatened by a Western-backed rival. The adverts, as well as dozens of articles in the government media, praise Mugabe's social, agricultural and economic policies and attack his critics and rivals - mainly MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai who is expected to give the 77-year-old president the toughest contest of his career.
The government-owned Sunday Mail newspaper said Mugabe - who is determined to extend his 22-year-old hold on power despite a severe economic crisis blamed on his controversial policies - will announce the March polling dates this week. Government officials were not available to comment on the report, which was attributed to highly placed sources. In its media blitz, Zanu PF mixes attack and defence almost in equal measure, calling its black opponents puppets of former colonial power Britain and Zimbabwe's former white rulers. The white opponents are portrayed as racists who hanker for white rule under the former Rhodesia - Zimbabwe's colonial name.
In one full-page advertisement entitled "Rhodesians Never Learn," Zanu PF attacks John Robertson, one of Zimbabwe's top economists, for criticising Mugabe's land seizure policy in a recent newspaper article. Zanu PF charges that Robertson is "a public supporter of the treacherous British-sponsored MDC" who is working with former Rhodesian war veterans to undermine black majority rule, alleging that "his views are Rhodesian and racist". "What we reject is the persistence of vestigial attitudes from the Rhodesian yesteryears, attitudes of a master race, master colour, master owner and master employer. Our whole struggle was a rejection of such imperious attitudes and claims to privilege," the advert said. Robertson dismissed the charges as a measure of desperation. "I think people will see this kind of propaganda for what it is, a sign of desperation," he told reporters.
Zimbabwe's ruling party has also stepped up its propaganda on radio and television, taking up more slots on the state-owned broadcasting service to defend Mugabe's controversial seizures of white-owned farms. In the past, the MDC has accused Mugabe and Zanu PF of relying on slogans and insults to avoid focusing on policy issues, and their record in office. On Saturday, the MDC accused youths loyal to Mugabe of attacking one of its offices and the home of a legislator, as violence rises ahead of the presidential elections. The MDC says five of its supporters have been killed in the last two weeks, and MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube says at least 100 people have been murdered in the last two years. Zanu PF narrowly beat the MDC in general parliamentary elections in June 2000 after a violent campaign that left at least 31 people dead.
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From The Sunday Times (UK), 6 January
Mugabe puts security forces on double pay
The embattled president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has doubled the pay of the country’s security forces as part of a campaign for victory in March elections, which he hopes will keep him in power for five more years. All police, soldiers and war veterans received the increases on New Year’s Day, putting their salaries and allowances well ahead of those of other public-sector workers in a crumbling economy, which is effectively bankrolled by Colonel Muammar Gadaffi of Libya, who has given Mugabe a £250m credit for oil imports. As commander-in-chief of the defence forces, Mugabe can do virtually as he pleases with the army and police, all of whose top brass are stalwarts of the ruling Zanu PF party. The war veterans who have helped push white farmers from their land over the past two years are controlled by the defence ministry, which classes them as a strategic reserve force.
Government sources said the decision to allocate the equivalent of another £400m to the defence budget was taken before Christmas at a meeting of commanders chaired by Mugabe, who belies his 77 years with a punishing work schedule. Opponents of the government accused Mugabe of an election "bribe", intended to buy the loyalty of the security forces before ordering them to crack down on critics of Zanu PF during the campaign. It was Mugabe’s insistence on rewarding the war veterans for their unstinting loyalty that prompted a series of economic upheavals that have taken Zimbabwe from self-reliance to basket-case status. Four years ago he gave them lump sums of more than £600 each, along with monthly allowances of £25. Zimbabwe could not afford such blatantly political gestures then, and the economy has shrunk to half the size since, while inflation is galloping away at 104%.
Finance ministry officials said the latest pay rise almost double the award made to civil servants - was the largest since independence from Britain 21 years ago. "This is a clear move to keep the loyalty of the armed forces ahead of the coming presidential election," said Brian Raftopolous, a researcher at the Zimbabwe Institute of Development Studies. As another plank of his election preparations, Mugabe is bringing back 8,000 soldiers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they have ostensibly been protecting the government of Joseph Kabila against marauding forces from Uganda and Rwanda. In reality the troops have been guarding diamond mining concessions given to Mugabe by Kabila’s father, Laurent, before he was assassinated last year. Analysts in Harare said they expected many soldiers to be flown back to the Congo if Mugabe wins the elections.
Last week the government published a list of 100,000 blacks selected to receive land seized from white farmers. Yesterday a white farmer, Hennie Bezuidenhout, was badly beaten as four white families were marched off their farms in the northern Centenary province by Zanu PF activists. The local party leader said they would be allowed back if America dropped proposed sanctions against Mugabe’s government. Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change and the main challenger to Mugabe, has accused the president of bringing the nation to the brink of what he called a "low-intensity civil war". Last year there were rumours that junior army officers were plotting a coup against Mugabe, but in reality there has been little sign of any military revolt against his rule.
Gadaffi’s largesse has helped Mugabe overcome the chronic fuel shortage that threatened to bring the country to a standstill last autumn. Although it is not clear how Gadaffi expects to be repaid, it is understood that Libya has received shares in various state industries. One businessman who had met Libyan delegations in Harare said they had been offered stakes in an oil pipeline, a refinery, farms, railway schemes and hotels at Victoria Falls, the country’s main tourist attraction. Mugabe’s people are nevertheless rapidly running out of food. The agriculture ministry admits it is facing shortages, and a recent internal memo said 150,000 tons of maize had been secretly ordered from neighbouring Zambia. Ironically, Zanu PF has funded a new advertising campaign that depicts empty supermarket shelves under the caption: "Say no to shortages, vote Zanu".
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 6 January
Zapu backs Tsvangirai
Zapu leader, Agrippa Madlela, has resolved not to contest the presidential election in March so as to avoid splitting the opposition vote in Matabeleland, the political powerbase of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. Madlela, a veteran politician who served in the original Zapu party led by the late Dr Joshua Nkomo, made his bold decision last week at a party conference in Bulawayo. Speaking to The Standard after the conference, Madlela said his party would now back Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader who is the main challenger to President Robert Mugabe of Zanu PF.
Madlela's decision to pull out of the presidential race was endorsed by Zapu's influential youth league which enjoys good relations with the MDC. The youth praised their leader for displaying political maturity. However, the decision to back Tsvangirai did not go down well with other Zapu officials who stormed out of the highly charged conference, accusing Madlela of betraying Zapu's principles by backing the MDC leader. But Madlela said his action has been taken in the interests of the suffering Zimbabwean masses who all wanted Zanu PF out of government by March. Madlela also denied being offered a deal by the MDC in return for his action. "I did not sign a deal with Tsvangirai. African political parties must learn to merge if they want to remove ruthless dictators," he said. He said Zimbabwean parties should bury their political differences if they wanted to remove Mugabe from power.
Tsvangirai enjoys much support in Matabeleland where his party swept all but two seats during last year's parliamentary elections. Madlela's decision not to contest the presidential election has split Zapu into two factions. The leader of the splinter group, Paul Siwela, who is also the party's secretary-general, said he would now contest the presidential election on behalf of his party. However, he narrowly escaped the wrath of angry Highlanders football club supporters when he appeared at Babourfields Stadium recently.
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Comment from The Times (UK), 7 January
Cry freedom
Were it not for the courage of his opponents, Robert Mugabe would have already succeeded in turning Zimbabwe from a de facto one-party state into a de jure one-person dictatorship. This year may, unfortunately, be the one where that aim is realised. His henchmen in Zimbabwe’s Parliament will, almost certainly, today approve legislation designed to muzzle the domestic press and render foreign correspondents virtually impotent. It openly aspires to criminalise any reporting of which the President and the ruling party disapprove - namely any that is remotely critical or simply a factual account of their actions. It is a vile measure. Astonishingly Mr Mugabe has even made Ian Smith’s regime seem pluralist by comparison.
This crackdown on the press is part of a wider political strategy. Mr Mugabe is obliged to seek re-election shortly, an inconvenience he would surely have cancelled were it not for the fear that overseas aid would then be withdrawn. Having nearly lost parliamentary elections two years ago the President is taking few chances on this occasion. Zimbabwe’s democrats, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, will do their utmost to offer the country the chance to opt for national salvation. The sad truth, though, is that this election has already been so badly rigged that their effort may be doomed.
The rules concerning the electoral register, wholly rewritten for this contest, have been cast to ensure Mr Mugabe’s re-election. Urban voters, overwhelmingly hostile to the current regime, must provide proof of identification to register in the form of title deeds, a formal rental agreement, or utility bill. As hundreds of thousands of Harare’s black residents live in self-constructed shacks with no access to electricity, they will be disenfranchised. Ironically, the tiny number of wealthy whites in such cities will not be disadvantaged. And rural citizens may only vote if they have been personally vouched for by the local village chief - every one of whom is paid a salary by the Government and is therefore tied to the ruling Zanu PF party.
Despite these restrictions, however, Mr Mugabe is still nervous. He intends to intensify the intimidation of those who will be permitted to participate in the ballot. There will be no independent election observers in a position to oversee proceedings. The violence undertaken against Mr Tsvangirai’s backers will, as from tomorrow, pass largely unpublicised. And there will be no point in challenging the outcome afterwards as the President has packed the Supreme Court with his allies. This is, in short, a charade of an election. Yet Mr Mugabe believes that no one will dare to act against him. The legitimacy of his continued rule will not be challenged nor will external funding be stopped.
On past form, alas, these assumptions may prove correct. A much more assertive approach towards Zimbabwe must be adopted this time. The Commonwealth, and especially South Africa, have to make it clear that they will not recognise Mr Mugabe as the rightful victor of such a tainted election. In these circumstances Zimbabwe should be expelled from the Commonwealth and all international financial assistance should be terminated. The people of Zimbabwe will not have the opportunity to express their views on Mr Mugabe and his staggeringly corrupt, inept and sadistic administration through a genuine democratic contest. If they could then he would be dispatched from office. The outside world must be prepared to act and speak on their behalf.
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From BBC News, 8 January
Zimbabwe debates controversial bills
The Zimbabwean parliament is reconvening on Tuesday to consider a package of controversial bills ahead of the presidential election scheduled for March. Critics say they are aimed at improving President Robert Mugabe's chances of winning the election. He is facing the toughest challenge to his presidency since he came to office in 1980. This comes as the European Union has announced it will hold talks with Zimbabwean ministers in Brussels on Friday. The three bills which members of parliament have been recalled early to consider include: a media bill banning foreign correspondents from the country; a public order bill - which critics say will grant police sweeping powers to clamp down on the opposition; and an election regulations bill which proposes a ban on local independent monitors.
The media unions in Zimbabwe say the proposed legislation is draconian and have said they will ignore it. As well as banning foreign journalists, if made law it will only allow local journalists to work if they have government accreditation, renewable every 12 months. Tough jail terms are threatened, as are hefty fines, for journalists publishing news likely to cause alarm and despondency. Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said the media bill would stop the lies being told by foreign correspondents about the situation in Zimbabwe. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said that the Zanu PF party is now the most racist and fascist regime.
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From News24 (SA), 7 January
Zim, EU to talk this week
Harare - The European Union is to hold critical talks in Brussels on Friday with the Zimbabwe government, which faces the threat of EU sanctions over its human rights record and violent land reforms, a newspaper reported here on Monday. The state-owned daily Herald, quoting a senior government official, said Zimbabwe would send Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge, Interior Minister John Nkomo, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Information Jonathan Moyo to Brussels for the talks. Relations have been tense between the European Union and Zimbabwe after the Harare government refused an EU request to allow election observers at presidential elections due in March. In November, the EU invoked Article 96 of the Cotonou agreement which governs relations between the European Union and its African, Caribbean and Pacific partners. Under the agreement, formal consultations with Zimbabwe are to be held, after which the EU can consider punitive action against the southern African nation if no progress is made.
Last month the European Parliament called for economic sanctions against Harare and said assets of President Robert Mugabe and his close associates should be frozen. EU parliamentarians blamed the government for the poor state of the country's economy, and said the deteriorating legal and human rights situation was a "direct consequence of deliberate and reprehensible actions of the Mugabe regime". Zimbabwe has been accused of clamping down on political opponents, independent judges and journalists. It has also been lambasted for allowing pro-government militants to wage a violent campaign on white-owned farms in a bid to speed up land reforms aimed at redressing colonial-era imbalances.
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From iafrica.com, 7 January
SA is the key
Harare - If Zimbabweans had hoped that the year 2001 would slow the rapid descent of their country into political and economic chaos, those hopes were soon dashed. In January, by-elections were disrupted by violence, farm invasions escalated, and President Robert Mugabe's efforts to oust members of the judiciary widely viewed as independent were intensified. During the course of the year, Mugabe forced four senior judges to retire or resign. Foremost among them was Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay. Despite criticism from international law associations, Justice Gubbay was quickly replaced by Godfrey Chidyausiku, said by Zimbabwean observers to be a government supporter. Within months Justice Chidyausiku overturned an earlier high court ruling that the government's land resettlement program was unconstitutional. By the year's end the government had identified about 95% of the commercial farmland for its controversial resettlement program. The government says the resettlement program is designed to benefit landless Zimbabweans. But the government program has not halted widespread and often violent farm occupations orchestrated by war veterans and supporters of Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party. In an annual review of political developments in Zimbabwe, Amnesty International said Mugabe's land policies are not about land reform, but rather about "rampant torture by the state and its proxies designed to bludgeon dissent." The organization said Mugabe's government is determined to remain in power by any means, including harassment, arbitrary arrests, assaults, and killings of anyone who stands in its way.
This view is shared by analysts such as Moeletsi Mbeki, board member of the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg, who says those who oppose or are perceived to oppose Mugabe are frequently the subject of attack. "There is a campaign really of violence against the opposition party and especially against the electorate that is likely to vote for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change," he said. Dozens of opposition Movement for Democratic Change supporters have disappeared or been killed, and dozens more, including party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, have been arrested. While some remain behind bars, the courts have dismissed all the charges against Tsvangirai and several others. Analysts say the attacks on the opposition are part of a campaign being waged by the ruling Zanu PF and Mugabe with the sole aim of maintaining political power. Tendai Dumbuthsena, a Zimbabwe columnist and former journalist, says the current goal is to return Mugabe to power in the presidential election scheduled for March. "Everything that he is doing," he said, "from manipulating the election register, denying perceived supporters of the opposition the vote, making it very difficult for young people in urban areas to register to vote because they are unlikely to vote for him, to amendments to the electoral act preventing the presence of observers not sanctioned by the government, etc., etc., to the violence, to the intimidation. All this is designed to guarantee that there can only be one winner when the election is held."
The Zimbabwe government vehemently denies its policies are aimed at anything other than overcoming the inequalities caused by colonial and minority rule and ensuring that ordinary Zimbabweans have access to arable land. Mugabe and senior government officials reject the charge their supporters engage in violence and accuse their critics of being racist. The international community, including the European Union and the Commonwealth, has condemned events in Zimbabwe. In December, the United States passed the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act. It will allow the United States to impose so-called "smart" economic and travel sanctions against individuals responsible for the deliberate breakdown of the rule of law and politically motivated violence. Zimbabwe Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said the law was aimed at increasing the suffering of Zimbabweans.
But analysts such as Mbeki and Dumbutshena disagree. They support the so-called smart sanctions, but they also say it is the countries of the Southern Africa Development Community, particularly South Africa, that have the real leverage to influence the Zimbabwe government. For Dumbutshena, Zimbabwe's neighbours must make it clear to Mugabe that unless he ensures the presidential election is free and fair by international standards, they will refuse to recognize his government. "I made the point about legitimacy," he said. "If Mugabe realizes that SADC withdraws recognition of his government, he is totally exposed to punitive measures from the rest of the world. If SADC were to reject the outcome of the elections, the African Union would follow suit because it will be guided by what the SADC heads of state say and it will leave him diplomatically exposed."
Both analysts note that Zimbabwe remains highly dependent on South Africa economically. In the early 1980s, at the insistence of the international community, South Africa's apartheid government used economic pressure on the government of then-Prime Minister Ian Smith to force it into negotiations that ultimately ended white-minority rule in Zimbabwe and brought Mugabe's Zanu PF to power. "Well South Africa is the key country," said Dumbutshena. "You will recall that during the years under Smith, it was when the British and the Americans persuaded South Africa to a hard line on Smith, that the tide decisively changed. That relationship still exists - the relationship of Zimbabwe being largely dependent on South Africa for its economic well-being."
Dozens of local journalists have been harassed or beaten by police or by Mugabe's supporters. Presses belonging to the independent Daily News were destroyed in a bomb blast days after war veteran leader Chenjerai Hunzvi declared at a rally the newspaper had been "banned in Zimbabwe." Several foreign journalists were expelled and many others denied visas to report in Zimbabwe. At year end, the government served notice it plans legislation that will impose severe licensing restrictions on journalists in Zimbabwe. The law will go to parliament in early January and makes provision for severe penalties, including lengthy prison terms, for any infractions of the licensing rules. During the year, the Zimbabwe economy went into free fall. Land occupations prevented many commercial farmers from producing tobacco, the country's largest foreign currency earner. The government appropriated what little foreign currency there was to pay for oil and electricity, but this did not prevent frequent fuel shortages and electricity outages. Food crops have also been affected, resulting in severe food shortages and skyrocketing prices. By the end of the year, official inflation was running at 103%. In August Tito Mboweni, South Africa's reserve bank governor said "the wheels had come off" in Zimbabwe in the year 2001. In the year 2002, Zimbabweans will be looking to South Africa and other governments in the region, to help them find ways of moving their country forward again.
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Comment from ZWNEWS, 8 January
Zimbabwe is Africa in microcosm
African leaders, generally speaking, want to have their cake and eat it. On the one hand they seek to cling to power as long as possible, to reward their friends and families, to run their nations for their own convenience. On the other they demand the respect accorded to the leaders of liberal democracies and the largesse of the West and will damn as racists anyone who questions their right to either. Nelson Mandela showed it could be different which is why the likes of Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, loathes Mandela. The crisis in Zimbabwe has made many African leaders get off the fence and they have come down heavily laden with excuses and justifications on Mugabe’s side: on the side of tyranny, corruption and brutality. Did anybody really think it would be different? Zimbabwe is Africa in microcosm: clever, industrious people; aspirations for multi-party democracy and multi-racial society; leaders from a cartoon book.
In December 2001 a Southern African Development Community (SADC) committee of ministers, meeting in Harare, announced their support for Mugabe’s fast track land reform programme. Not content with this, they then expressed concern about hostile media coverage of Zimbabwe and praised the Zanu PF government’s commitment to democracy. What was surprising about this was that anyone was surprised by it: consider the manoeuvres of African diplomacy since the Zimbabwe parliamentary elections in June 2000:
In July 2000 the government of Zimbabwe announced that it would seize 3,000 farms without compensation; leader of the self-styled war veterans, the late ‘Hitler’ Hunzvi, declared that the war veterans were higher than the law. An OAU summit in Lome declared the parliamentary elections fair and democratic and condemned the USA and the UK for their attitude to Zimbabwe.
In August 2000 Amnesty International noted that over 900 people had been victims of political violence since the elections. In Windhoek in Namibia a SADC mission voted that South Africa and Malawi intercede with the UK to seek funds for Zimbabwe land reform.
In September 2000 ZANU PF supporters first fire-bombed and then attacked and ransacked the MDC offices in Harare. A SADC ministerial conference voted to support the Zimbabwean government in its quest to recover stolen agricultural land.
In October 2000 Mugabe declared an amnesty for all those accused of political crimes during the elections. His police force brutally put down riots in Harare. President Nujoma of Namibia publicly accused the UK of reneging on its agreement to support land reform. Mugabe told a SADC conference in Windhoek that any white farmer who wished to farm would be permitted to do so. The conference believed him.
In November 2000 Mugabe dismissed a Supreme Court order to cease illegal land invasions. So-called war veterans invaded the Supreme Court. Police fired on a crowd and killed an eight-month-old child. In Gaborone SADC ministers warmly applauded the late Security Minister, Nicholas Goche, who claimed that the Zimbabwean government would abide by the 1998 Donors’ Conference guidelines on land redistribution.
In December 2000 Mugabe told the Zanu PF Congress that the party must continue to wage war on the whites who were not indigenous to Africa. Attackers killed 70-year-old farmer Harry Elsworth. Presidents Mbeki and Obasanjo visited Harare to put pressure on the UNDP; Obasanjo called for the West to pay for land reform in Zimbabwe.
In January 2001 Zanu PF unleashed wholesale violence during the Bikita East by- election. ‘Hitler Hunzvi’ attacked the Daily News; its presses were later destroyed by army land mines. Vice President Msika said that there would be war if the MDC won an election. The Zimbabwe Council of Churches offered support for the land reform programme and warned white farmers not to go to the courts. South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said that South Africa’s duty was to keep Zimbabwe strong.
In February 2001 Zanu PF forced out Chief Justice Gubbay, expelled BBC reporter Joseph Winter, attacked journalists and carried out further violent land invasions. President Mbeki said that his principle task was to support the government of Zimbabwe, the ANC ruled out sanctions, the SADC Council of Ministers ruled out any interference in Zimbabwe.
In March 2001 there were high levels of violence. Zanu PF youths murdered Robson Tinarwo for refusing to renounce the MDC, so-called war veterans invaded properties including a children’s home in Harare. SADC re-elected Mugabe chairman of its defence and security organ. (Mugabe was also, by the way, welcomed to the Elysee Palace by President Chirac.)
In April 2001 so-called war veterans attacked businesses in Harare and MDC supporters, particularly in Muzarabani. Colonel Ghaddafi said that whites should be thrown out of Africa having first paid compensation to black Africans.
In May 2001 Minister of Information, Jonathan Moyo, publicly backed the Zanu PF campaign against business; aid depots and businesses were ransacked. There were numerous Zanu PF attacks upon farms and schools. The Sudanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe warmly praised Zanu PF for its "bold steps to redress the land imbalance."
In June 2001 the Amani Trust estimated that 200,000 Zimbabweans had been subject to political violence in 2000. Former US Ambassador to the UN, Andrew Young, was quoted by the Zimbabwean state media as saying that all white farmers should burn in hell. President Moi of Kenya accused the UK of failing to honour its obligations to land reform in Zimbabwe.
In July 2001 11 MDC supporters were murdered, many more were arrested; there was much Zanu PF violence at the Bindura byelection. In Lusaka the OAU accused the UK of seeking to vilify Zimbabwe.
In August 2001 invaders murdered a 76-year-old WW2 veteran; police arrested 22 white farmers in Chinhoyi. Mugabe subsequently accused them of disgracing the country. Zanu PF youth went on the rampage in Chinhoyi and surrounding areas, looting and destroying farms. President Joseph Kabila expressed ‘unwavering support’ for the Zimbabwe’s land redistribution which would lead to prosperity. President Chissano opposed direct or indirect sanctions. A SADC conference condemned British interference in the 2000 elections.
In September 2001 Mugabe accused the Jews of shutting down businesses in Zimbabwe; Zanu PF youths went on the rampage in Makoni West and Bulawayo. The Amani Trust attributed 95% of incidents of violence to Zanu PF supporters and government employees. Farmers appealed for food and shelter for thousands of farm workers driven by Zanu PF from Hwedza. The World Conference against Racism applauded Minister of Justice Chinamasa who claimed that Zanu PF was fighting against ‘the extinction of black people.’ In Abuja the Commonwealth agreed that land was at the heart of the Zimbabwe crisis.
In October 2001 the government arrested directors of The Daily News. Zanu PF supporters shut down schools in the Gokwe area and attacked Morgan Tsvangirai; violent land invasions continued. Foreign Minister Mudenge accused the EU of dirty tricks; government media accused Canadian minister Kilgour of ‘fits of racist bigotry.’ In a follow-up visit to Harare the Abuja committee reiterated that land is at the heart of the crisis despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
In November 2001 police raided MDC offices and arrested numerous MDC supporters and officials, Zanu PF supporters burned down the MDC offices in Bulawayo, Vice President Msika threatened a bloodbath, Mugabe used presidential powers to legalise the seizure of any farm. The Kenyan High Commissioner accused British minister Peter Hain of discrediting Zimbabwe. The Nigerian High Commissioner in Zimbabwe accused the independent Daily News of producing material that was "an insult to the whole black race."
In December 2001 police arrested Morgan Tsvangirai yet again. New regulations sought to debar potential MDC voters from voting. A packed Supreme Court legalised theft of farms. War veteran leader Andrew Ndlovu said there will be war if the MDC wins the election. More horrendous intimidation in rural areas. Four MDC supporters were murdered; War veterans described the 11th September outrage as the work of ‘the hand of the Almighty’. Mugabe described Prime Minister Blair as a ‘difficult and troublesome little boy.’ In Harare the SADC task force backed Zimbabwe and praised an "improved atmosphere of calm and stability." A SADC meeting in Luanda promised to stand by Zimbabwe against the EU. The Nigerian High Commissioner to Harare said that he could not understand why Britain would not pay for land reform.
It is possible that Mugabe has conned his African counterparts time and time again and made fools of all of them. But surely they can’t be that gullible. Can they?
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From IRIN (UN), 8 January
Zanu PF in upset defeat
Zimbabwe's ruling party suffered a shock defeat in parliament on Tuesday when it introduced a controversial electoral amendment bill that critics allege is designed to boost President Robert Mugabe's re-election bid in March. With a number of Zanu PF deputies absent from parliament after a three-week break, the governing party lost the vote 22 to 36 but vowed to reintroduce the bill on Wednesday. Zanu PF holds a 36-seat parliamentary majority. However, Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said that under parliamentary regulations a defeated bill can only be reintroduced in the next session of parliament later in the year. Any attempt to bring it back on Wednesday "is blatantly illegal", and "we would seek urgent judicial intervention", MDC spokesman Leonard Jongwe told IRIN. "The fact that a majority of Zanu PF MPs stayed away from today's proceedings is a telling indication that some rational and objective voices in Zanu PF agree with our position that this bill is a fascist piece of legislation that sought to attack and reverse that which the liberation movement sort to defend - namely the right to vote," he said.
The election regulations bill is part of a package of two other pieces of legislation that critics warn will undermine free and fair presidential elections in March. The electoral amendments do away with a civil society role in election monitoring and voter education, unless at the invitation of the government. "Unless the government finds us favourable, it won't engage us to work with them," a human rights activist, who asked not to be named, told IRIN on Tuesday. Election monitoring will be conducted by civil servants, who will also run the polls. But with the alleged politicisation of the civil service after 22 years of Zanu PF rule, the concern is that "they can't monitor themselves. We are calling for an independent electoral commission," the human rights worker said.
Voter education will be the sole preserve of the Electoral Supervisory Committee, a small four-member body that has no fulltime secretariat. It has so far only managed to place advertisements in national papers rather than the grassroots mobilisation that has been the traditional role of civil society groups, the activist said. Other legislation due to be presented to parliament include a tough information bill that would allow only government-accredited journalists to work in the country, and a draconian public order bill that gives Mugabe sweeping powers. The European Council is due to debate the deteriorating political situation in Zimbabwe on Wednesday, a Council official told IRIN. The session comes ahead of a meeting on Friday between the Zimbabwe government and the European Union which will discuss the political crisis and growing violence. Alarmed at the human rights conditions in the country and threats to the openness of the March election, Brussels has warned that sanctions are on the table.
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From ZWNEWS, 9 January
Lawyers' offices attacked
A mob of 60 war veterans this morning rampaged through the offices of Gill, Godlington and Gerrans, a firm of Harare lawyers. The mob left shortly afterwards, but promised to return with "reinforcements". The ostensible reason for the raid given by the mob was to demand money for the farmworkers working for Guy Watson-Smith, who farmed in the Beatrice area near Harare. Watson-Smith won a court ruling last week against retired General Solomon Mujuru for the return of equipment and property from his farm, from which he had been forcibly evicted by Mujuru. Gill, Godlington and Gerrans acted as legal counsel for Watson-Smith.
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From The Independent (UK), 9 January
Mugabe militias seal town for 'recruiting drive'
Harare - Hundreds of President Robert Mugabe's youth militias sealed off three towns in Zimbabwe yesterday as political violence grew ahead of the presidential election in March. The situation in Bindura town, 50 miles north-east of Harare, was tense early yesterday afternoon. Residents said the youths, who recently graduated from a government national youth service training programme, descended on Sunday night and mounted roadblocks sealing off the town. In the Matepatepa farming zone near Bindura, about 40 white farmers were reportedly prevented from leaving the area by militias enforcing illegal roadblocks. Residents in Bindura said that the youths had moved from door to door in the town ordering people to produce new membership cards of the ruling Zanu PF party, worth one pound each. If they failed to do so, they were beaten.
According to the Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, hundreds of Bindura residents have since fled to Harare. The newspaper interviewed some of the townspeople, who vowed not to return because they feared for their lives. One of them, Shadreck Mabaudi, showed wounds sustained when he was stopped at an illegal roadblock and assaulted for failing to produce a Zanu PF membership card. Tapera Macheka, the chairman of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Mashonaland Central province, pointed out three badly damaged houses belonging to the opposition party's officials in Bindura. Six opposition supporters have died in the past two weeks in election-related violence. Some youths could be seen riding around Bindura town in government number-plated trucks, wearing green military uniforms marked "Third Chimurenga", a term used by the ruling party to describe its crusade of seizing white land for redistribution to blacks.
Reports said the situation was even worse in the other two towns, Chinhoyi and Karoi in Mashonaland West province, where residents were also prevented from leaving. The opposition spokesman Learnmore Jongwe said youths had sealed those towns and demanded that residents either produce or buy Zanu PF cards immediately. Residents were only allowed to pass through roadblocks mounted around the towns if they had a ruling party card. In Harare's Mbare suburb, six Zanu PF and MDC supporters were arrested yesterday after violent political clashes. A police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena, accused MDC supporters of starting the violence after attacking ruling party supporters. Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri, who has openly stated that he supports the ruling party, said he had ordered his officers to have zero tolerance of any activities that would lead to political violence. "Political activism by some parties has been criminal in nature resulting in loss of life, injury and damage to property ... this type of activism should cease forthwith," he said.
Elliot Manyika, the Zanu PF commissariat secretary and Youth Affairs Minister, denied suggestions yesterday that the beneficiaries of the youth programme were receiving military training. Speaking at the handover of certificates to 974 graduates of the training programme, Mr Manyika said the youths were being taught in self-help projects. However, the youths have been seen openly harassing residents in towns. Some of the youths have confirmed receiving military training in media interviews. They say they were promised integration into the police force and the army once President Mugabe is re-elected in the March ballot. Mr Mugabe has pulled out all the stops to ensure his re-election by barring foreign electoral monitors, naming government sympathisers as judges, cracking down on the independent media and intimidating the opposition.
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From News24 (SA), 8 January
Mobs drive off 26 farmers
Harare - More than 26 white farmers in northern Zimbabwe have been forced off their farms since the weekend by armed mobs of government supporters, in creasing tension ahead of March presidential elections, a farmer said on Tuesday. The farmer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the farmers and their families had been forced off their farms in the predominantly tobacco-growing province of Mashonaland Central, north of Harare. "Some were told to leave immediately, some were given 24 hours," he said, adding that evictions had been ongoing since Friday. Most of the affected farmers had taken refuge in Harare. For almost two years, violent farm invasions have accompanied a government-backed land reform programme, under which President Robert Mugabe's government is distributing white-owned farms to landless blacks ahead of a crunch presidential poll due in March. However, the latest report of summary evictions in Mashonaland Central violates a government law which states that farmers have three months to vacate their homes once they receive an eviction notice.
The farmer, speaking via telephone from the area, said mobs of spear and axe-wielding militants were still roaming his district of Mashonaland Central on tractors and trailers, telling the farmers to leave. While they expressed support from the government, the mobs were "operating on their own." The farmer said at least half the farmers who had been confronted were told that if they wanted to return to their farms, they had to tell the US government to reverse sanctions against Zimbabwe. Last year US President George W Bush signed into law a measure allowing him to impose sanctions on Mugabe and top aides who the US claims are tied to violence in the country. Police said on Tuesday they had received no reports of farmers forced off their farms in Mashonaland Central but said, in certain cases intransigent white farmers were to blame. "The farmers don't want to accept readily the farm settlement exercise," said police spokesperson, Tarwireyi Tirivavi. "As a result, conflict is inevitable."
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From The Guardian (UK), 9 January
UK threat to punish Mugabe
Warning of sanctions and expulsion from Commonwealth as Zimbabwe pushes through draconian laws
Harare/London - The British government announced for the first time yesterday that it favours punitive action against Zimbabwe as its president, Robert Mugabe, pushed ahead with a series of draconian measures that will restrict freedom. The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, told the Commons that he will recommend suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth if the situation continues to deteriorate. The Foreign Office's private view is that Mr Mugabe has already infringed basic freedoms enough to warrant action. Suspension from the Commonwealth is mainly a symbolic move, but at the end of the month the European Union will be looking at sanctions. The US has also taken powers to apply sanctions. Britain and most of the rest of the international community lost patience with Mr Mugabe after a series of land grabs from white farmers coupled with intimidation of the political opposition. This has been compounded by a raft of bills set to be passed today by the Zimbabwe parliament that include a controversial statute to control the foreign and domestic press and a security bill that will outlaw most public gatherings. An amendment to the labour act will bar any strike that is not approved by the government. In addition, the parliament is considering amendments to the electoral act that will increase government control of the entire election process, ban any voter education by non-governmental organisations and prevent independent monitors from acting as watchdogs against voting fraud.
Mr Straw told the Commons: "If the situation in Zimbabwe continues to deteriorate, Britain will argue for Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in March." Suspension could be recommended when the Commonwealth ministerial group meets on January 30 but it will have to await approval by the 54 countries that make up the Commonwealth when they meet in Australia in March. A Foreign Office source said: "If the meeting was tomorrow, we would be arguing for it." The shadow foreign secretary, Michael Ancram, said suspension was "toothless". Mr Mugabe, 77 and in power for 21 years, is seeking another six-year term but he is lagging behind the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, in opinion polls. Mr Mugabe is due to announce in the next few days the date of the presidential election, expected to be in March. Mr Straw said: "We can't be sure there will be free and fair elections. What we can be sure of, however, is that if the elections are not free and fair, then Zimbabwe will be in the clearest and most flagrant breach of declarations to which they have signed up."
The Zimbabwe justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, confirmed last night that he would push through the security and labour bills today and he expected legislation restricting the media to be enacted by the end of the month. Parliament will sit for the next two weeks, he said. Earlier he said that procedural rules will be suspended today in order to speed up debate and voting. The parliamentary legal committee has had lengthy meetings over the bills this week and is apparently prepared to issue a critical report on the bills, but suspension of procedural rules will allow the government to bypass the legal committee. Mr Mugabe's government lost a vote yesterday on the electoral amendment bill. The ruling Zanu PF party failed to have enough members present for the vote because many were out for tea. The amendment lost by 36 votes to 22.
The new bills have raised heated objections from journalists and civic groups. "This legislation is diabolical. It is more repressive than even the worst Rhodesian legislation," said the political scientist John Makumbe, chairman of the Crisis in Zimbabwe committee. "These bills unmask the Mugabe government as a despotic regime that will do anything to stay in power." The legislation comes as a Zimbabwe government delegation travels to Brussels on Friday to try to dissuade the EU from imposing sanctions. The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill "actually restricts access to information", said Iden Wetherell, editor of the Zimbabwe Independent. "It will make it an offence to publish derogatory remarks about the president." The press bill will forbid foreign journalists from working in Zimbabwe and will place restrictions on Zimbabwean reporters, making it virtually impossible to report on government human rights abuses. "Taken together these bills amount to a state of emergency," said Trevor Ncube, publisher of the Zimbabwe Independent. "It is a coup against democracy."
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From The Times of India, 9 January
Zimbabwe's Mugabe to attend regional summit
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will attend next week's regional heads of state summit in Malawi, his spokesman George Charamba said Tuesday. The summit of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) is to focus on the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where Zimbabwe has deployed at least 11,000 troops to shore up the government. The summit is also due to be briefed about the deepening political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, ahead of presidential elections in March when Mugabe will face his toughest-ever competition from the two-year-old Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
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Comment from The Daily Telegraph (UK), 9 January
The madness of Mugabe
The legislation that will be rammed through parliament in Harare today will in one respect make Zimbabwe the most repressive country on earth. The media Bill, introduced by an information minister who was nominated an MP by Robert Mugabe, rather than being elected, outlaws foreign journalists and news organisations. Nothing so Draconian was seen in neighbouring South Africa during the darkest days of apartheid. The Soviet Union and Communist China in their heyday allowed in selected representatives of the overseas media. And the vile dictatorships of Burma, Iraq and North Korea do so today. That Zimbabwe has sunk to such totalitarian depths is a measure of Mr Mugabe's paranoia. A presidential election is due before March 17 and the 77-year-old president will stop at nothing to avoid losing. Defeat in a constitutional referendum in February 2000 triggered the mobilisation of "war veterans" against white farms and the black opposition headed by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Despite these terror tactics, the MDC ran the ruling Zanu PF a close second in parliamentary elections in June of that year. There is little doubt that its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, would beat Mr Mugabe in a free and fair presidential poll. Economically, the incumbent's stewardship has been a disaster; politically, the climate becomes ever more odious.
It is natural that a newspaper such as The Daily Telegraph, whose former correspondent, David Blair, was expelled last year and whose present one, Peta Thorneycroft, faces the prospect of breaking the law by continuing to work, should focus on those clauses of the new legislation that affect it. But the authorities' primary purpose is to silence domestic criticism of Mr Mugabe and his party. Under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, it will be an offence to incite "disaffection against the president, the law enforcement agents or the administration of justice". That could be interpreted to punish any dissent. A public order and security Bill will further strengthen the government's hand in curbing the opposition, and an election regulation Bill will ban local independent monitors and prevent private bodies from undertaking voter education. Outside anger at Mr Mugabe's madness is growing. The United States has passed legislation allowing the imposition of sanctions against the elite. The European Union is moving in the same direction. But Zimbabwe's neighbours, with the exceptions of Botswana and Malawi, have been shamefully tolerant of a tyrant, who, in destroying democracy, sullies the reputation of the entire region. The passivity of President Thabo Mbeki, in particular, makes a mockery of his call for an African renaissance.
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From BBC News, 9 January
Defying Mugabe's crackdown
By Zimbabwe journalist Basildon Peta
If the Zimbabwe parliament passes the draconian access to information and protection of privacy bill as widely expected on Wednesday, then this might well be my last contribution to the British media if I choose to obey the new law. However, I am determined not to do this despite the hefty fines and two-year jail terms that linger over the head of anyone offending the terms of the law. This is because the bill is so absurd and abominable that many believe it would not pass the test of constitutional legitimacy even under a legal system run by the ousted Taleban regime of Afghanistan. Even though President Robert Mugabe has stuffed the judiciary with loyalists and has frustrated many independent judges into resigning, I do not see any self-respecting judicial officer jailing any journalist defying the patently illegal and unconstitutional bill. My defiance of the bill will be based on many of its prescriptions which I cannot simply afford to countenance. First, the bill will require all journalists to seek one-year renewable licences from the eccentric Information Minister, Jonathan Moyo, who deported three journalists from Zimbabwe last year including the BBC's Joseph Winter.
What this means is that I effectively have to get a one-year licence to enjoy my constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of expression from a man who does not understand even the most elementary principles of democracy. This is something I will simply not do. My career has over the years thrived on my ability to get information on the proceedings of President Mugabe's confidential cabinet meetings and on exposing his ruling party's distinguished career of misrule. The bill contains very broad provisions purporting to protect the privacy of individuals. It makes it possible for any corrupt people in government to hide under the banner of privacy. It sets imprisonment and jail terms for journalists publishing stories on protected information like cabinet meetings and information held by different government departments. A journalist can only publish information voluntarily released by a department head. The bill prescribes heavy fines of about US$3,000 and two-year jail terms for journalists publishing stories likely to cause "alarm, fear and despondency". However, the scope of these stories is not defined in the bill. Anything that offends President Mugabe might be interpreted as having the effect of causing "alarm and despondency" as we have seen in the past.
The bill will also ban journalists from publishing stories that discriminate on the basis of political affiliation, sex, religion, beliefs, education, race etc.. The scope of these stories is also not defined. It threatens to jail journalists who practise "unethical journalism" and it bans foreign correspondents from working in Zimbabwe. Most of them are currently being refused entry into the country anyway. Information Minister Jonathan Moyo will have the power to veto accreditation for any journalist he does not like. The net effect of the new law is to reduce any journalist to an official biographer, something I am not prepared to be. Coupled with the new media bill is the equally draconian public order and security bill (POSB) that will impose life and death penalties on Zimbabweans accused of assisting in terrorism, espionage, banditry, sabotage and treason against President Mugabe's government. These offences are not clearly defined in the Bill. But just as an example five journalists, including myself, were earlier this year accused by Mr Mugabe's government of aiding terrorism through our reports in the British press. Mr Mugabe has repeatedly accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of hatching several "terrorist" plots to oust the Zimbabwe Government. He has accused the British press of conspiring in these plots. So writing a story for a British media when you are Zimbabwean will inevitably be construed as aiding terrorism.
The new media bill effectively reduces all journalists in Zimbabwe to entertainment reporters who can only cover musical shows, discos, films and other limited events that will guarantee producing copy which may not cause "fear, alarm and despondency". Seasoned political writers might have to merely restrict themselves to covering ruling party rallies in glowing terms to avoid being penalised under the sweeping provisions of the bill. I am only glad that the obnoxious terms of this new law have only united all journalists working in the private media who are all unanimously agreed on the need for a boycott. This will leave the Zimbabwe Government with the stark option of arresting over 100 journalists who will boycott the bill all at once. After having read the bill several times over, the only good thing about it is that it might in fact expedite the demise of President Mugabe if he implements its foolish provisions.
Basildon Peta is secretary general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, and works for the Financial Gazette in Harare and London's The Independent.
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From The Guardian (UK), 10 January
Mugabe takes a stride into tyranny
Harare - Robert Mugabe last night called a presidential election for early March as his government illegally began to force through parliament the most repressive legislation of his 22 years in power, including draconian new security laws and curbs on the press. Just hours before the election date of March 9 and 10 was announced, Zimbabwe's military chief added to the opposition's woes by warning that the army would not accept a president who "reverses the gains of the revolution", a reference to the fact that Zimbabwe's modern-day army was formed from the ruling party's guerrilla wing. But prospects of any "reverse" grew more distant yesterday as the government rode roughshod over the law to begin ramming through a basket of legislation designed to ensure that Mr Mugabe extends his rule by whatever means. The move came after the opposition Movement for Democratic Change won a rare victory in parliament on Tuesday when too few government MPs turned out to pass election legislation that would have stripped hundreds of thousands of people of the right to vote. Under Zimbabwe's constitution, once parliament fails to pass legislation, it cannot be reintroduced in the same session. But the justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, told parliament that it would be forced through anyway. The MDC's shadow minister of justice, David Coltart, said the government's move was in breach of the law. "It's illegal. Our law is quite clear. Once it has been defeated it cannot be introduced to parliament in the same session," he said. "It is a clear indication that we are a democracy in name only."
The election legislation is part of a package that includes new security laws, which give the government and police even greater powers than the colonial-era laws used by Ian Smith's white minority regime and Mr Mugabe until now. The proposed Public Order and Security bill carries the death penalty for acts of "insurgency, banditry, sabotage and terrorism", as well as the threat of jail and fines for anyone who "undermines the authority of the president" or "engenders hostility" towards him. Since the September 11 attacks, Mr Mugabe has taken to labelling his opponents as terrorists. Parliament is also considering a bill aimed at silencing the opposition press by licensing journalists and barring foreign reporters from working in Zimbabwe. The government will be forcing through amendments to labour legislation designed to curb strikes and other protests by the unions at what is widely expected to be a rigged election.
After Tuesday's defeat, the government rounded up elected MPs and non-elected members, including chiefs, to push through what the opposition alleged were illegal changes to parliamentary procedure so that the security legislation could be passed in one day's sitting. The press bill is expected to be forced through in much the same way. "These are the actions of an absolutely desperate regime," Mr Coltart said. "Mugabe loves the pretence of legality. They are still determined to have at least the facade of legality so they can turn around and say whatever they do is all legal." The few opinion polls available suggest Mr Mugabe would lose heavily in a free election. His party barely won a majority in last June's parliamentary ballot and the government has grown more unpopular amid surging inflation, unemployment, and the growing threat of food shortages. But the new laws, and the unleashing of a wave of violent intimidation against government opponents, suggest the ballot will be anything but fair. Yesterday, the commander of Zimbabwe's military, General Vitalis Zvinavashe, gave an ambiguous warning that the army would not accept a government that it did not like. "The highest office in the land is a straitjacket whose occupant is expected to observe the objectives of the liberation. Any change to reverse the gains of this revolution will not be supported," he said.
The government defended the new security legislation yesterday by accusing the MDC and whites of being behind an alleged anthrax attack at Harare's main post office. On Tuesday, the health ministry claimed to have found envelopes containing a suspicious white powder after two postal workers fell ill. One of the envelopes was allegedly addressed to a senior government official. The state-run Herald newspaper quoted the home affairs minister, John Nkomo, as blaming whites. "Those responsible for these terrorist attacks are people who formed the MDC and supported it. It is obvious that former Rhodesians are involved in these dastardly acts," he said. But the minister presented no evidence. The country's information minister, Jonathan Moyo, condemned the warning by the British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, on Tuesday that the UK would press for Zimbabwe to be suspended from the Commonwealth if political violence continued. "They are going farther from funding the opposition. They have never treated Zimbabwe as a sovereign country," he said.
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From The Globe and Mail (Canada), 10 January
Zimbabwe MPs adjourn controversial security debate
Harare - Weary Zimbabwean MPs finished a marathon session early on Thursday on a controversial security bill that critics say is designed to stifle opposition as President Robert Mugabe seeks re-election." The debate came as Zimbabwe's military brass signalled they would not tolerate an opposition victory in the crucial poll, which was set on Wednesday for March 9 and 10. MPs took more than 12-hours to discuss all 46 clauses of the controversial bill that has been fast-tracked by the ruling Zanu PF party. Parliament adjourned until 1230 GMT on Thursday when MPs are set to vote on the bill after a third reading. The bill, which can criminalize criticism of Mugabe, will likely be passed, as Zanu PF holds 93 of the 150 seats in parliament. Discipline is seen being enforced by party whips after Zanu PF failed to pass a section of legislation on Tuesday when its members did not turn up in sufficient numbers. "You will pass this law I have no doubt, you have the numbers but we will resist it," said opposition MP Paul Thema Nyathi.
Mugabe, aged 77 and in power since 1980, faces the toughest battle of his political career in the poll against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), headed by former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai. The president has seen his popularity slide amid a collapsing economy, growing international criticism of his human rights record, and the violent seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks. The legislation under debate gives the government sweeping powers to "protect public order and security and to deal with acts of insurgency, banditry, sabotage, terrorism, treason and subversion." Penalties for these offences - which analysts say can be broadly defined to include any suspicion a person is plotting against the state - are life imprisonment or death. The bill outlaws publishing or communicating "false statements prejudicial to the state or that incite public disorder, violence, affect defense and economic interests of the country or undermine confidence in security forces."
It also bars public gatherings "to conduct riots, disorder or intolerance" and makes it an offence "to undermine the authority of the president by making statements or publishing statements that provoke hostility." These measures will be enforced by the southern African country's security forces, who pledged their support for Mugabe. "The security organizations will only stand in support of those political leaders that will pursue Zimbabwean values, traditions and beliefs for thousands of lives lost in pursuit of Zimbabwe's hard-won independence," defense forces commander General Vitalis Zvinavashe said in a statement on Wednesday. He was referring to Zimbabwe's liberation war in the 1970s against white-minority rule. Veterans of that struggle have led the invasions of white farms and are staunch Mugabe loyalists. Mugabe has derided the MDC as a puppet of former colonial power Britain and white Zimbabweans, who he says are enemies of the "liberation struggle" because of their opposition to his land policies, which he says are needed to rectify the legacy of colonialism. Mugabe faces growing international pressure, with Britain pressing for Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth at the group's heads of government meeting in Australia early in March. Critics say another bill likely to be pushed through soon targets the media and will bar foreign correspondents from working in the crisis-stricken country. Zvinavashe also took aim at the press in his Wednesday statement, saying the media should "not generate profits out of false reports that discredit the leadership and membership of security organizations." Zimbabwe's woes have been cited as a factor behind the 37 percent decline in the value of neighboring South Africa's rand against the dollar last year.
From ZWNEWS : Parliament adjourned just before 5:00 am this morning, having completed the second reading of the Public Order and Security Bill. The third reading will take place later today. The government is then expected to introduce the Access to Information Bill, and reintroduce the General Laws Amendment Bill - the prospective legislation which was defeated on Tuesday.
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From News24 (SA), 10 January
Zanu PF spots own weakness
Harare - Despite the fanfare and public show of bravery at the recent Zanu PF bosberaad in Victoria Falls, the ruling party's top brass came face to face with the political reality on the ground: the potential for losing the March presidential election. A confidential Zanu PF central committee report submitted to the delegates, leaked to The Daily News, shows that the party is in a precarious position. "We are so weak that we can lose the election to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), if rampant corruption by top leadership and factionalism does not stop immediately," says the report. The party further accepted that it was unpopular in Harare and if elections for a mayor and a council were held in February as directed by the Supreme Court in December, Zanu PF would lose its hold on the capital city. The city has, over the past four years, been run illegally by a government-appointed commission. Ratepayers recently challenged this, leading to a Supreme Court ruling that an election be held on 11 February. The ruling irked Zanu-PF because of the tremendous psychological effect a bad Harare result could have on the presidential election in March. The report says the party could forget winning Harare unless rampant corruption within its ranks was curbed.
Compiled by the security department, the report says: "Corrupt leaders within the party are seriously endangering and eroding the party's fortunes in the forthcoming presidential election. "As the security department, we remain seriously concerned by the allegations of rampant corruption in the Harare provincial executive, where leaders who should lead by example now indulge in criminal activities. The party should urgently restructure the Harare provincial executive to redeem the party in Harare and therefore improve its chances." The former ambassador to Cuba, Amos Midzi is the chairperson for Harare province while the self-styled "commander of farm invasions" and an attempted murder defendant, Joseph Chinotimba, is the political commissar. "A very strong character should be sought to lead the Harare province," says the report. "If Harare mayoral elections are to be held under the current executive without something dramatic happening, we will lose Harare to the opposition," the report said.
News of the possible loss in the election could explain why the government is keen to reduce the registered voter population in urban areas through various restrictions that impede voter registration and access to voting materials, analysts said on Monday. In June 2000, Harare and Bulawayo, had a combined voter population of 1 225 o78. The majority here support the MDC. Mashonaland East, Central and West provinces, known as Zanu PF's rural strongholds, had a total 1 507 022 voters, a difference of 281 944. Matabeleland North and South, safe constituencies for the MDC registered 659 363. That clears the difference and leaves a floating figure of 377 419 in favour of the opposition. The MDC further registered a strong showing in the Zanu PF areas of Mutare, Gweru, Masvingo, Marondera, Chegutu, Kadoma, Nyanga, Kwekwe, Chinhoyi and Bindura. Except for Bindura, where the MDC received half the vote to Zanu PF, it won in all these towns and cities. That leaves a thin belt for the real battle in March: the Midlands (682 882 voters, including Gweru, Kwekwe and Zvishavane) and Masvingo (612 306 voters, including Masvingo town and the Lowveld). The Zanu PF report said the party was concerned with factionalism which was costing it membership and support.
"This monster, if not properly addressed, would cost the party the presidential election," said the report. "The issue of factionalism in Masvingo needs to be addressed if Masvingo was to become a one-party province again. The issue of factionalism in Masvingo should be resolved before the presidential election in 2002." Zanu PF lost in the parliamentary election in Manicaland, a province with 612 253 voters. "Looking at these figures," said Bernard Murwira, a politic |
