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Archived News
20th August 2002
Mugabe endorses military seizure of white-owned farms
Violence continues ahead of elections
PM moves to tighten screws on Zimbabwe
Internal confusions
Middle Sabi incidents
Targeted households allegedly denied food
Price of bread shoots up
Zim blames farmers for eviction
White farmer quits as mob rule returns to Zimbabwe
Farmers set to abandon $33 billion crops
Power struggle moves to CIO
Libyan oil group hit by its dealings with Zimbabwe
Fuel crisis set to worsen as BP blocks supplies to Zim
Zim cops arrest farmers for defying evictions
SA - and Nigeria - clueless over Zim crisis
CBZ's grain import deal in trouble
MDC youth leader arrested
Zimbabwe's judicial system in tatters
Libyan 'dragged onto plane' in Harare
Arrests
Mugabe pays off Libya with an embassy
MP briefly detained for allegedly diverting food aid
Patience runs out on Zimbabwe
Chamisa charged with treason
Zimbabwean troops attack Mozambicans
Mugabe fails to heed pleas of starving
Mugabe's men storm farms as arrests begin
80 farmers arrested as Mugabe 'cleans up'
Hoogstraten "to buy" MiGs for Mugabe
Howard wins sanctions call on Zimbabwe
Former Libyan spy "hired to kill" Mugabe rival
'Pol Pot' tactics leave half of Zimbabweans to starve
Mugabe gangs arrest 147 white farmers
Anything that is alive, we'll eat
Scores of Zimbabwean farmers arrested for defying eviction
A tale of two tyrants
Mugabe's wife to move into white couple's farm
White Zimbabwean farmers 'go on the run' to avoid arrest
Famine looms for 6 million in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe situation coming to head, says New Zealand PM
Botswana badly hit by crisis
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From VOA News, 13 August
Mugabe endorses military seizure of white-owned farms
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe Tuesday formally endorsed seizure of white owned farms by members of the military. At the annual Zimbabwe Defense Forces parade, Mr. Mugabe said members of the security forces would continue to be rewarded with land. White farmers were hoping Mr. Mugabe would provide more clarity about their situation after his statement Monday, that the August 8 deadline for them to leave still stands. Hundreds have defied the order and have remained on their farms. Mr. Mugabe provided no new information when he addressed the Zimbabwe Defense Forces other than to say that the confiscation of white-owned land would continue. He said distribution of white-owned land would be completed by the end of the month and that more land would be given to members of the security forces, who he said had fought bravely in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Without giving any deadline, Mr. Mugabe said Zimbabwe's troops would be withdrawn following the recent peace deal between Rwanda and Congo.
No action has yet been taken against those who have defied the government order to quit their farms and remained in their homesteads. However, there have been sporadic incidents of violence. A white farmer and his workers in the Banket area, 80 kilometers north of Harare, are reported to have been shot at by a Harare businessman who claims to have been awarded the farm. No one was injured. Police did not intervene to disarm the man who said he wanted the farmer to leave the property so he could occupy the farm. The white farmer is one of the very few who has not been served with an eviction order. Tens of thousands of people who have been awarded land have been given until August 23 to take up residence. The government says if they are not in place they will lose the land to others. There are fears the August 23 deadline will bring more violence as those awarded the property try to take possession of farms still occupied by white farmers. Many farmers have already endured more than 30 months of intense physical and mental pressure from Mr. Mugabe's supporters. Hundreds of farmers were forced off their land in the last five months. And half of the approximately 3,000 farmers who remain on their land have been physically prevented from growing crops.
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From ZWNEWS, 14 August
Violence continues ahead of elections
Two murders, two attempted murders, seven cases of torture and 205 cases of malicious damage to property were documented by the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum during July. There were also six cases of unlawful detention or arrest, one kidnapping, and 14 cases of assault during the month. Teachers, schoolchildren, and suspected supporters of the opposition MDC have borne the brunt of the violence. The July figures bring the toll of murders this year to 59, the documented cases of torture to 1024, and the number of kidnappings to 220, and the incidents of unlawful arrests or detentions to 280. The violence was in many areas related to the upcoming local elections.
Cosamu Mudzimuirema of Buhera South was severly assaulted by members of the riot police. An MDC committee member, he was arrested during a raid at his home, having been accused of taking part in the burning of Zanu PF members’ houses. He fled to Harare where he received treatment until he died on 16 July. Richard Ncube, the MDC organising secretary for Zhombe, died from injuries sustained after he was allegedly kidnapped and assaulted by Zanu PF youths at a torture camp. Ncube was abducted from his home by Zanu PF youths sometime in February. He was taken to St Paul’s Primary School in the village where the youths operated a torture camp. Police from Zhombe eventually rescued him from the camp. His uncle claimed that he never fully recovered from the torture, and at the time of his death could hardly walk. The police report into his abduction said "The complainant was kidnapped by a group of youths and taken to a certain place in the village where he was then assaulted all over the body with sticks, booted feet, clenched fists."
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From The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 August
PM moves to tighten screws on Zimbabwe
Canberra/Harare - The Prime Minister, John Howard, is set to back tougher international action against Zimbabwe, including possibly wider sanctions, in the face of continued expulsions of white farmers from their land despite worsening famine. The Australian Government is also moving towards bilateral "targeted" sanctions against Zimbabwe. Measures being considered include bans on senior members of President Robert Mugabe's regime travelling to Australia and stopping them transferring money to or through Australia. Mr Howard will discuss options for further co-ordinated international action with the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Don McKinnon, and regional leaders at the annual Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji this week. The New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, also warned yesterday that stronger punishment of the Mugabe regime was urgently needed.
As the chairman of the Commonwealth, Mr Howard is part of a "troika" of leaders, including the South African President, Thabo Mbeki, and the Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, appointed to try to stem endemic political repression, violence and corruption in Zimbabwe. Mr Howard successfully pressed for the suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth after elections in March, which were widely condemned as fraudulent. "If we don't get some response on what the Commonwealth troika decided earlier this year from Zimbabwe, then countries like Australia have no alternative other than to look at some action on the sanctions front," Mr Howard said on July 16. A spokesman for Mr Howard said yesterday Zimbabwe had "not made a serious attempt to respond to the Commonwealth's concerns". He said that as well as talking to Mr McKinnon, Mr Howard planned talks on Zimbabwe "on the fringes" of the Pacific forum in the Fijian capital, Suva. Several of the Pacific nations are members of the Commonwealth.
In Zimbabwe, critics of Mr Mugabe have reacted coolly to a key speech which has added further confusion to his Government's already chaotic land reform program. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said that despite its aggressive anti-white and anti-Western sentiments, Mr Mugabe's speech to mark the country's Heroes' Day on Monday failed to clarify the fate of about 2000 white farmers still defying an August 9 deadline for them to quit their homes and land. Jenni Williams, a spokeswoman for the farmers' defence group, Justice for Agriculture, said the omission was "a change from what we usually expect from him, so we take some heart from that. But the problem is we get messages in messages and we never know exactly what it means". The MDC's economics spokesman, Eddie Cross, said that while Mr Mugabe repeated his insistence that black settlers who wanted to farm should occupy white land before the end of this month, he had made no mention of the already-expired deadline for white farmers to leave. But Mr Cross dismissed international reports suggesting that Mr Mugabe had made a concession when he said in the speech that confiscations would only affect farmers with more than one farm and that no co-operative white farmer would be left without land. "I think the statement that no farmer will be left without land is mainly aimed at an external audience and those African leaders who find it convenient to believe that what's going on here is a good thing," he said.
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From ZWNEWS, 14 August
Internal confusions
By Michael Hartnack
Robert Mugabe, on a Zimbabwe state holiday which - even in less traumatic times - was notorious for militant anti-white rhetoric, delivered a mixture of menace and false assertions Monday, adding to the chaos and confusion over seizures over commercial farms. He made no mention of his long vaunted Aug. 9-10 deadline for 2 900 farmers to leave, but said the land will be taken over by the end of August. Meanwhile, a majority of white farmers hang on, nervously defying eviction orders and threats of jail; the Commercial Farmers' Union, vainly seeking to mollify the authorities, tells members to avoid confrontation, while a militant lobby tells farmers to stay; and the High Court rules that the regime cannot seize mortgaged farms. Mugabe and his two octogenarian vice presidents, Simon Muzenda and Joseph Msika, go on contradicting themselves, each other, and the realities in the rural areas, while the CFU keeps offering compromises and being called racist. All that is certain is that food shortages worsen and queues for staple items get longer and longer. Mugabe added to the confusion in his Heroes' Day speech Monday by reiterating a patently false claim that farmers are allowed to keep a single farm, and adding a new one: that "loyal" white farmers would be allowed to stay - when 95 percent of all commercial farmers have been ordered to leave their properties.
As well as the rhetoric, there is confusion over exactly what the law is, who is breaking it, and what the facts are. The Commercial Farmers' Union says 6 022 farms covering 10,2 million hectares are targeted for takeover in the next few months - 95 percent of all white holdings; and that 2 900 of their 4 500 members have received "Section 8" eviction orders under the Land Acquisition Act, which required them to be off their properties by midnight August 8-9 on pain of two years' imprisonment. The CFU believed 30 percent had complied, while the rest were anxiously awaiting developments, and trying to safeguard their assets. Many had sent their families to safety. However, acting Minister of Agriculture Ignatius Chombo said a total 2 000 orders had been issued and 400 had complied with a deadline he believed was 24 hours later. "All the excuses by the farmers show what an arrogant and racist bunch they are," said Chombo, while the US State Department described the evictions as "reckless and reprehensible" when 6 million Zimbabweans already lack adequate food. Chombo likewise dismissed as "raw racism" the plea by CFU president Colin Cloete for a moratorium on Section 8 seizures and evictions, in order to sustain crop production.
Fearing being seen as provocative and also afraid that the police have orders to make mass arrests of farmers at some unspecified time, the CFU dissociated itself from test cases brought last week by farmers facing eviction. In the first, George Quinell won a temporary stay on the grounds his Section 8 order was invalid. His lawyers argued that Joseph Made ceased to be Agriculture Minister on April 1 (and was therefore not lawfully entitled to sign the order) because Mugabe has failed to gazette a new Cabinet after claiming victory in disputed March 9-11 elections. The matter has yet to be argued and formally decided. In the second case, Andrew Kockett obtained an interdict against seizure of Tengwe Estates because it was mortgaged to National Merchant Bank. Banks and other creditors who have been given title deeds as security have first claim, ruled High Court judge Charles Hungwe. At the inaugural meeting last Tuesday of a militant lobby within the CFU, the Justice for Agriculture Group (JAG), Zimbabwe's most distinguished black advocate, former judge Eric Matinenga, went much further. The legislation under which Section 8 orders were promulgated was irregularly passed by Parliament, he said, as well as being unlawful and unconstitutional. Matinenga added he had no confidence that Mugabe's regime would heed court injunctions against seizures and evictions, even if farmers wrested these from a subverted judicial bench, and declared that Zimbabweans must make a show of standing for their rights. "We must record for posterity. Sooner or later we are going to have to explain what we did," said Matinenga. "When you look at the manner in which government has legislated - it has simply criminalised those who are not criminals and made criminals saints or martyrs."
Cloete disowned JAG the following day at the CFU's 59th annual congress - possibly its last. He said CFU leaders still wished for dialogue not confrontation. Vice President Msika, invited to address the congress, said the evictions would be carried out, and also made the startling claim that only 74 white farms had been offered to the authorities for resettlement, (54 in the previous two days) under the CFU's compromise land reform plan. Cloete insists 5 million hectares have been offered, but ignored. There had been a "reticence to deal with offers," said Cloete, in a masterly understatement. Contradicting Mugabe's February 7 statement, "We will take all the land,'' Msika told Cloete: "There is room and space for everyone in this country. We are not usurping farms from anyone." Whites whose farms were acquired should apply for new land, he added, saying this way ``no one should be rendered homeless.'' "I am not a racist. I repeat, I am not a racist. I despise racism," he pledged, apparently forgetting that during the election campaign he declared: "Whites are not human." His audience had not forgotten, either, that two years ago - during one of Mugabe's many absences abroad - Msika raised false hopes by announcing that war veterans and squatters should leave commercial farms immediately. Mugabe, also flying in the face of facts, boasted Aug. 2 during a trip to Malaysia, "There is no farmer being deprived of the land, we are kicking nobody out." He added that the exercise had "gone very well" and bumper crops were expected. Diplomats in Zimbabwe can only go on facts: a catastrophic drop in production by commercial farmers while the 350 000 "new" farmers, about whom the authorities boast, show no sign of stepping into the gap. By December, 7,8 million people may be starving. By March, many may be dead.
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From JAG, 13 August
Middle Sabi incidents
In the Middle Sabi farming area 475 kms from Harare in Zimbabwe, a group of up to 17 people, comprising Land Committee members, visited four farms on Saturday afternoon. The group was made up of soldiers armed with AK 47 assault rifles and armed members of the police force. The leader of the group, a woman who refused to identify herself, told the farmers that they were to leave by the next morning - Sunday. Two of the farmers visited (Farms 19 and 34), told the group that they were not under compulsory acquisition notices but had only received Section 5, preliminary orders. This did not seem to deter the group who told both farmers that the acquisition orders would be upgraded soon. One of these farmers was told that he would be arrested immediately for arguing that the farm was only under preliminary notice. He declined to be arrested saying the he was a Police Reservist, whereupon they requested his Police Identity card and confiscated it telling him he was 'discharged' from the force on their say so. He was however not arrested.
In this wheat producing area, there are nine farmers under compulsory acquisition. Despite these orders, these farmers were granted permission by the District Administrator (DA) to grow food crops with the assurance that they would be allowed to continue farming. The permission to plant had come in writing and was stamped with the official Government stamp. The farmers then used the written authorization to seek finance from their bankers and when it was granted, they planted 1025 ha of wheat, 160 ha barley, 20 ha tomatoes, 10 ha of Litchi trees and 40 ha of Citrus. The approximate market value of this produce is in excess of Z$500 million. It is normal practice for farmers to obtain such documentation and present it to bankers when requesting financing. The farmers met after the incident to exchange notes and decided that for safety reasons they would relocate to neighbouring farms for safety. Of major concern was that there have been other incidents whereby 'youth' in an inebriated state have arrived and intimidated families. The farmers decided to avoid violence at all costs and elected to relocate those viewed as vulnerable to surrounding farms. This strategy proved fruitful, as there were no further intimidatory incidents over the weekend.
A further development on Monday - the farmers were revisited and told to meet the Land Committee on their respective farms. Fearing illegal arrest, they declined and it then transpired that a group meeting was held at a neutral venue. The Land Committee members have further confirmed in a meeting earlier Tuesday, that whilst they acknowledge the stamped and signed letter granting the right to farm and harvest, orders have come from a 'national directive' and the previous permission is therefore rescinded. No explanation was given. The farmers then pressed for direction as to what to do with the employees still resident on the farms numbering 630 and their family members. There are also over 3500 people employed during the cotton-picking season. Clarification was sought by the farmers as to the continued irrigation and care of their crops. The Land Committee group were divided on how to respond to these questions and seemed to have no directive to follow. The farmers await a return to normal office hours to be able to obtain legal counsel on the way forward. The farmers remain united but they have no assurances that any agreement reached will be honoured by this Land Committee as the members refused to identify themselves.
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From The Daily News, 14 August
Targeted households allegedly denied food
Zanu PF, whose president, Robert Mugabe, has been warned by the United Nations World Food Programme against using food as a political tool by the international community, is starving more than 100 households in Mhondoro on suspicions that they support the opposition MDC. Headman Loveless Nyariri of Nyariri Village and an elder from Kawara village confirmed that a councillor in Ward 7 was ensuring that only Zanu PF supporters can buy maize from the Grain Marketing Board. The councillor, identified as Matswayire, was not available for comment. Nyariri said a woman whose life could have been saved if food had been made available to her, was believed to have died of hunger after reportedly being denied food on allegations that she sympathised with the opposition. "After she failed to get any maize, her relatives collected wild fruit called mutukutu and pounded it into a pulp before making porridge for her. However, she died the following day." He said although the woman might have been facing certain death, her death could have been accelerated by hunger. In his election campaign Mugabe said no Zimbabwean would starve to death due to food shortages and he repeated the comments at the national shrine on Monday. "We will feed everyone, even the puppets and stooges," said Mugabe at Heroes’ Acre in apparent reference to MDC supporters.
Mhondoro and Kadoma Central are the only constituencies in Mashonaland West, Mugabe’s home province, which were snatched by the MDC in the June 2000 parliamentary election. Nyariri said orphans and elderly people, whose "biggest sin" he alleged was to be suspected of belonging to the MDC, faced certain death as Zanu PF officials and youths were uncompromising on their party’s bid to win the September rural and urban council elections. An elderly member from the Kawara clan, who declined to be identified, said: "We are being accused of supporting the wrong party, but if we believe that party will improve our lives, what is wrong with that?" Aspiring Ward 7 councillor under the MDC ticket, Manuel Mutikani, said villagers were prepared to buy the maize with their own money. "We have been starved since April, but we are prepared to buy the maize. How can people intentionally cause death among vulnerable groups like the elderly for the sake of becoming a councillor?" he said. So desperate are the villagers that on Tuesday, they summoned enough strength to get to Mubayira growth point where they hoped to confront the councillor, whose approval would guarantee them a bucket of maize each. The councillor was not available, but the hungry villagers were addressed by a Zanu PF official identified as Mafa. Mafa promised to "look into their problems" at a meeting to be held in Mhondoro.
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From The Daily News, 14 August
Price of bread shoots up
Bread prices have shot up to between $75 and $100 on the black market in Bulawayo as the shortages of the essential basic commodity continue to worsen. Long queues form every evening as workers jostle to buy bread on both the black market and in supermarkets. Due to the inconsistent supply of maize-meal on the market, people have substituted sadza with bread which was more readily available until last month, when loaves started disappearing from shop shelves. Bakers have said this is due to wheat shortages countrywide. The situation is likely to get worse as wheat stocks continue to dwindle. Black market traders at the Renkini bus terminus have taken advantage of the shortage and are selling at exorbitant prices to desperate families. "We have no choice but to buy the expensive bread because the children would starve and bread is more available than maize-meal," said Emmilia Chingoma, a resident of Bulawayo.
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From Business Day (SA), 15 August
Zim blames farmers for eviction
Harare A Zimbabwean cabinet minister yesterday accused white farmers of bringing in impostors to evict them from their farms to attract attention and paint a bleak picture of the situation in the country. "We are fully aware of the gimmick that is going on and these impostors are being made to pose as if they were war veterans," Lands and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made told state television. "Those impostors (are) brought in by the farmers to paint a very bleak picture. But the law enforcement agents are there in full force," he said. "It's the usual case of demonising the war veterans," he said. Made's comments came as landless blacks tried to evict a white farmer, Terry Hinde, from his land in the first such reported instance since a deadline set by President Robert Mugabe's government expired last week. Mugabe says the land reforms aim to correct colonial-era injustices that left Zimbabwe's tiny white minority owning most of the best farmland by seizing their farms and redistributing the land to blacks.
Hinde and his family locked themselves inside their home for hours along with two journalists, waiting for police to escort them to safety, according to a spokeswoman for the Justice for Agriculture (JAG) advocacy group. The police never arrived, and the two journalists - Precious Shumba of the Daily News and Peta Thornycroft of Britain's Daily Telegraph - escaped under a hail of stones after a five-hour siege by the militants. Made reiterated that farmers served with eviction orders which had expired had to vacate their properties. He accused some farmers of trying to exaggerate the events on the ground in a bid to attract attention. "There are pockets here and there of people playing to the gallery as it relates mainly to the independent media, but physically on the ground the message is very, very clear," Made said. "On the ground things are moving fairly well," the minister said.
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From The Times (UK), 15 August
White farmer quits as mob rule returns to Zimbabwe
Harare - Pelted with stones and missiles, Terry Hinde and his family barricaded themselves inside their home as an armed gang tried yesterday forcibly to evict the first white Zimbabwean farmers since the deadline set by President Mugabe. The 60-strong mob that had been besieging Condwelani Farm for two days told the Hinde family to collect what they could of their belongings and flee by nightfall or they would be killed. Family friends said later that the Hindes had taken refuge in a safe location. Windows were smashed and much of their furniture was thrown on to the front lawn as the mob, armed with clubs, axes and machetes, charged into their house to menace Mr Hinde, his wife and son. The farmer radioed the police and his neighbours for help, but armed groups had sealed off all approach roads at Bindura, 55 miles north of the capital, Harare. Many farmers’ leaders suspected that this armed takeover signalled the start of a new campaign of intimidation of those who refused to leave their land by last week’s deadline.
Some who did try to reach Condwelani Farm yesterday were ambushed. As two local journalists were being beaten, a couple of elderly men emerged from the bush telling their young followers to spare their hostages’ lives, saying: "We have not had orders to beat them yet." Two other reporters were trapped inside the Hindes’s farmhouse for six hours. Farmers’ leaders said that it was impossible to know if yesterday’s attack was sanctioned by officials in Harare or the work of a local vigilante group. Locked inside a secure room, Mr Hinde sat in tears of rage and frustration as his son, Chris, tried unsuccessfully to reason with the mob, who were also demanding that the 60 workers and their families leave or face violent reprisals. Many of those now menacing them had been squatting on the farm for two years since they first invaded n 2000. The Hindes had helped some of these settlers to plant their own fields of wheat, but yesterday the mob’s leaders took over half of their house and began looting.
While the family made an urgent legal appeal, Chris Hinde, 30, said: "We have no other choice right now to get out while we can, though I don’t know where." Police said that they could not reach the Hindes’s home, where the family had lived for the past 27 years. This year’s needed crop of wheat is nearing harvest and the Hinde family had been told that they could stay until it had been collected. Terry Hinde’s plight yesterday made a mockery of Mr Mugabe’s pledge earlier this week that farmers with only one property were safe to continue. Nevertheless, Mr Hinde hopes to challenge the eviction after a precedent set last week, when the High Court said that farms still under mortgage could not be resettled until the bank had been notified. Jenni Williams, spokeswoman for Justice for Agriculture, said: "This shows what farmers are facing. Our country is starving and they are evicting wheat producers."
Nearly 3,000 white farmers had orders to quit by last Friday, but at least 60 per cent stayed on, uncertain of the legality of the orders and verbal promises of security to reap food crops in the face of nationwide shortages. A further 2,000 farmers expect to receive eviction orders imminently. Mr Mugabe said on Monday that he wanted 350,000 new black farmers to be settled on all former white farms by the end of this month, to prepare for the rainy season due in November. Reports from the Middle Sabi farming area, 300 miles from Harare, told how a number of properties were visited by self-styled militias demanding the occupants leave, even though some are not on the eviction list. One farmer who explained that he was a police reservist was told to hand over his identity card, which was ripped up in front of him by the gang leader, who said that the man should also consider himself dismissed from his police post. In another incident, in the eastern district of Marondera, Hazel Thornhill returned to her farm yesterday to find it occupied by militants after she had left at the weekend for her own safety. Joseph Made, the Lands and Agriculture Minister, claimed later on state television that white farmers were bringing in impostors to evict them from their farms to attract attention and paint a bleak picture of the situation in the country.
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From The Financial Gazette, 15 August
Farmers set to abandon $33 billion crops
Zimbabwe’s white commercial farmers might be forced to abandon more than 65 000 hectares of crops valued at over $33.4 billion after President Robert Mugabe this week scuttled hopes that he may give the farmers a reprieve from the mass land evictions ordered by his government under its controversial land reforms. Under the programme, which could cost Zimbabwe's economy $62 billion or 12.7 percent of gross domestic product, the government is set to take over more than 90 percent or over 2 900 of the country's 4 500 commercial farms. Mugabe on Monday indicated that the government would forge ahead with its plans to evict white farm owners, who have been served with Section 8 notices requiring them to cease farming and start leaving their farms from August 10 or face arrest. "Whilst this ban on planting, producing and marketing of food occurs, Mr Mugabe, his Cabinet ministers and aid organisations are lobbying the international community for food aid to feed over six million Zimbabweans who are already starving," said Jenni Williams, spokeswoman for the militant Zimbabwe Justice for Agriculture (JAG). JAG represents the interests of commercial farmers, farm workers and industries dependent on agriculture and wants to fight the evictions in court.
According to figures from the commercial farming sector, the ban on agricultural work will affect more than 65 758 hectares of land that is presently under crop, 24 692 hectares of it comprising wheat that is supposed to be harvested in September to October. Zimbabwe is facing a serious wheat crisis that has already triggered bread shortages in urban areas at a time the country has been forced to import maize, used to manufacture the nation's staple mealie meal. "(The planted wheat crop's value) in terms of dollars and cents is $6 billion but its value as a scarce food commodity is priceless in the current stock out position," Williams said. Commercial farmers also have about 41 067 hectares of maize in the ground, which translates into 226 000 tonnes or three months' supply of the national staple grain and is worth $9.4 billion. Tobacco farmers, who have also received Section 8 notices, could lose a crop valued at US$330 million ($18.2 billion), which is awaiting grading. This is part of the 170 million kilogrammes of tobacco, the country's main hard currency earner, that is supposed to be marketed this year to bring in foreign exchange to alleviate massive hard cash shortages.
Farmers would also have to abandon the country's remaining 800 000 commercial head of cattle. Figures from the Commercial Farmers' Union show that the commercial herd has already fallen by 400 000 from 1.2 million. Destocking has mainly been a result of poaching by ruling Zanu PF supporters occupying white-owned farms and drought. "Unlike crops where production can be doubled or even trebled in one year, it takes years to rebuild cattle numbers," according to Tim Reynolds, the chairman of the Cattle Producers' Association. "The saddest fact is that the cattle being destocked come from the sector that produces 90 percent of the cattle for the export market," he said this week. It was not possible to ascertain this week the value of movable and immovable assets which commercial farmers will be forced to leave behind when they vacate their properties, although an estimated $14.5 billion worth of moveable assets has already been seized by invaders since farm invasions began in February 2000.
Williams said farmers were carrying out inventories to determine the value of their assets. "We have a major campaign that we are putting together on behalf of farmers. We're asking them to do an inventory of their assets and of their workers' assets. All these assets have to be quantified and we are using that information for a class action," she told the Financial Gazette. "Obviously this is a major undertaking and we have to give it another week. The next step will be to brief legal counsel so that they can give us advice." She said her organisation was advising farmers to continue pursuing legal action against the seizure of their farms by the government, despite Mugabe's insistence this week that the farms have to be turned over to black peasants. She said over 60 percent of farmers issued with eviction orders remained on their farms after August 10 deadline and were defying not the government, but the acquisition orders, which they believe to be illegal. "Farmers are not defying government but rather the orders, which they believe to be illegal and therefore continue to fight the acquisition of their farms and titles through the courts," Williams said. "This is not confrontational. It is regrettable that the opportunity to restore the rule of law and establish proper planning and sustainability to the inevitable process of land reform has not yet been addressed and this is endangering the lives and livelihood of millions of Zimbabweans."
The land reforms, partially blamed for Zimbabwe's food shortages, are expected to displace close to two million people and force the closure of at least 3 000 companies directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture. According to analysts, if 90 percent of commercial farms cease to function, the economy will lose $62 billion or 12.7 percent of gross domestic product and $689 million of the $765 million that agriculture contributes towards export earnings. Opposition Movement for Democratic Change shadow minister for agriculture Renson Gasela said: "Agricultural production will decline drastically and the country's economy, which is highly dependent on this sector, will take the last step towards total collapse, thus worsening the hunger and famine that is affecting the people of Zimbabwe."
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From The Financial Gazette, 15 August
Power struggle moves to CIO
The Titanic battle to succeed President Robert Mugabe, the ageing Zanu PF leader expected to resign before the end of his new six-year term, has shifted to the powerful spy Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) where incumbent director-general Elisha Muzonzini has been abruptly transferred to Zimbabwe's mission in Kenya. Zanu PF and government sources this week said Muzonzini, the retired army brigadier at the helm of the shadowy spy organisation for four years, has now been demoted to become Zimbabwe's High Commissioner in Nairobi because competing camps are now keen to install their own person at the CIO. Although Mugabe appoints the CIO head, it is believed former army chief and Zanu PF kingmaker Solomon Mujuru masterminded his appointment and that of his deputy, another military officer known as Happyton Bonyongwe, to the spy agency in 1998. The two military officers were appointed after Mugabe had sacked the then directors Shadreck Chipanga and Lovemore Mukandi in the same year because of the poor working relationship between the two. Chipanga is now Zanu PF's legislator for Makoni East.
The sources said the poor relations between the two former CIO bosses stemmed from the fact that they were aligned to different factions within Zanu PF. Chipanga was aligned to Parliamentary Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa's camp while Mukandi was said to be sympathetic to Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi - a strong ally of Mujuru - who headed the security portfolio at the time. Authoritative sources in the ruling party say Muzonzini is a victim of the power game that has intensified in the party ahead of Mugabe's expected departure as different power brokers position themselves to control the strategic arms of government. They say while Muzonzini's re-deployment to become the senior envoy in Nairobi might look as promotion at face value, it was a demotion in terms of influence because the spymaster no longer controls confidential state security and intelligence information. "In monetary terms, one may say he was rewarded but in terms of influence regarding state affairs in intelligence among Zanu PF politicians and the Presidency, he no longer has any influence," one Zanu PF source told the Financial Gazette. Insiders also pointed out that Muzonzini's deployment in Kenya, not one of the most critical or glamorous postings for Zimbabwe in Africa, was a clear sign that he had been relegated.
The sources say as a result of Muzonzini's exit, a reshuffle within the top ranks of the CIO is imminent and that the rival camps in Zanu PF will battle it out to try to get their own man at the top. Mernard Muzariri, the director of CIO's internal operations and one of the most shrewd and experienced spies in Zimbabwe, and current deputy director-general retired Brigadier Bonyongwe, emerged this week as favourites to land Muzonzini's hot seat. Muzariri hails from Mashonaland Central, the home province of Security Minister Nicholas Goche, who could not be reached for comment yesterday. Mnangagwa, who is supposed to be head of one of the camps, was Zimbabwe's longest serving security minister in post-independent Zimbabwe until Sekeramayi replaced him. Mnangagwa, a favourite of Mugabe who continuously denies he harbours presidential ambitions, is understood to be working very hard to solidify his political platform for an eventual takeover from his master. The Zanu PF sources say the re-assignment of Muzonzini is a strategy to weaken Mujuru's influence in key areas and a prop up Mnangagwa's ascendancy to the throne as the succession race hots up.
The CIO is viewed as a very sensitive and critical organ where individuals with presidential ambitions have to have great influence. Mujuru, the former commander of Zanu PF's guerrilla army, is also considered to have strong influence on who is going to be the next leader of the party after Mugabe. According to sources, he has close allies in Airforce chief Perence Shiri, army commander Constantine Chiwenga and prison services' head Paradzai Zimondi, all army generals. The sources say Mujuru might be lobbying for Finance Minister Simba Makoni or Sekeramayi to take over from Mugabe.
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From Business Day (SA), 16 August
Libyan oil group hit by its dealings with Zimbabwe
Pretoria - Tamoil, the Libyan stateowned oil company is faced with bankruptcy over its dealings with Zimbabwe, industry sources say. So desperate is Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to maintain this vital source that he had handed the deeds of Zimbabwe House, the home of his country's high commission in London, to Libya's leader Muammar Gadaffi as surety. Libya already owns vast tracts of land in Zimbabwe as a result of the deal. Following the $360m-a-year deal struck between Mugabe and Gadaffi last December, Tamoil was contracted to provide 70% of Zimbabwe's 800 000 barrel a month requirement. The rest of Zimbabwe's oil came from IPG in Kuwait and overland from SA. Oil industry sources said one of those suppliers, BP, would close the taps to Zimbabwe because of nonpayment.
The sources said the Libya-Zimbabwe transaction took an early turn for the worse. Supplies had been stopped twice. Zimbabwe was unable to meet he $90m quarterly payment in May this year and Tamoil turned off the taps for 21 days. Gadaffi personally intervened to get the oil flowing again. Among the items taken in payment were controlling interests in the Jewel Bank, formerly the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe and in the state travel company, Rainbow Tourist Group. Gadaffi has been given a controlling share in the oil pipeline between Zimbabwe and the Mozambique port of Beira. He also has a significant shareholding in Zimbabwe's state-owned energy company Noczim. Gadaffi had said he also wanted shares in the Victoria Falls Hotel and the Sheraton in Harare.
Mugabe was understood to have facilitated foreign travel for 10 000 Libyans by giving them Zimbabwean passports. Sources inside Zimbabwe said more than 1500 Libyans had been given homes, work permits and jobs in Zimbabwe. Nevertheless, Tamoil had cash flow problems resulting from the overly generous transaction with Zimbabwe and other mismanagement. It could not make the $45m safety upgrade to its 340km pipeline that runs one metre below the road surface from Genoa in Italy to the Colombey refinery in Switzerland. Swiss authorities reacting to the fires in the Mont Blanc and Gothard Tunnels said the line had to be moved away from the Great Saint Bernard Tunnel pipeline in Switzerland. Tamoil assets in Hungary and Slovakia had been sold at knockdown prices to Agip of Italy.
Unless Libya could negotiate a $500m soft loan for Tamoil, more of the company's $2bn in assets might have to come under the hammer. Tamoil looked likely to pull out of a deal to buy 40% of Egypt's Midor refinery. Executives from Tamoil, which had offices in Monaco, London, Milan and Geneva, had been sacked for complaining and for providing information to the international media. They included former Tamoil CE Muhamed Abduljawad. Tamoil employees in Europe could lose their jobs, while those involved in the deal with Zimbabwe had pocketed their commissions and left. Businessmen trusted by Gadaffi used the investment system to bypass remaining sanctions. Zimbabwean representatives were starting to talk out about the damaging relationship causing Mugabe to give away or pawn his country's assets. A Zimbabwean diplomat in Paris described the Libyan assistance as "poisonous".
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From The Financial Gazette, 15 August
Fuel crisis set to worsen as BP blocks supplies to Zim
Zimbabwe’s fuel crisis could worsen in the coming weeks as Mozambique's British Petroleum (BP) refuses to allow a ship laden with fuel for Harare to offload its cargo because it is owed more than US$3 million by the state-run National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM), it was learnt this week. Oil industry sources said a ship with fuel from Libya had been docked at Beira port in Mozambique for the past week after BP refused to allow it to offload its contents into its tanks until NOCZIM settles more than US$3 million outstanding for previous usage of storage facilities. The fuel is offloaded from the ship into tanks before it is transferred into a pipeline that connects Beira and NOCZIM's depot in Msasa, Harare. The pipeline is jointly owned by NOCZIM and Lonrho. "There is a ship that is currently docked at Beira right now but it can't release the fuel until NOCZIM settles money owed to BP for storage facilities," one source told the Financial Gazette.
No comment was available from NOCZIM this week, but Energy Minister Edward Chindori-Chininga last week assured the nation that there were adequate supplies of fuel. He blamed the current intermittent shortages to transport glitches as well as poor distribution strategies by oil companies. Some fuel pump stations in Harare have run out of fuel in the past fortnight, resulting in motorists queueing for limited fuel supplies in some areas. This has raised fears of a repeat of the 2000 fuel crisis when Zimbabwe completely ran out of oil as the government struggled to raise foreign currency to purchase the commodity. The fuel shortage was worsened by the cancellation of lines of credit by foreign suppliers. The sources warned that the fuel crisis was set to worsen in the coming weeks unless an immediate solution was found to the impasse with BP.
About 70 percent of Zimbabwe's oil needs are imported from Tamoil in Libya and come through Mozambique. The other 30 percent is supplied by the Independent Petroleum Group of Kuwait and overland from South Africa. The sources said President Robert Mugabe managed to renegotiate a US$360 million fuel deal with Tripoli in May under which the Libyan Arab Foreign Bank and the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) have acted as financial advisers to Tamoil and NOCZIM respectively. Under the deal brokered between Mugabe and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Tamoil has supplied fuel to Zimbabwe in quarterly tranches of US$90 million since August 2001. Mugabe has offered the Libyans investments in state-run firms and bilateral trade in exchange for the fuel. Libya now has significant stakes in the CBZ as well as in hotel and leisure firm Rainbow Tourism Group and is believed to be interested in investing in fuel facilities in Zimbabwe. Mugabe's critics say Zimbabwe stands threatened by a new colonialism because of Gaddafi's increasing hold on the Zimbabwean leader, a charge the government rejects.
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From The Star (SA), 16 August
Zim cops arrest farmers for defying evictions
Harare - Six Zimbabwean farmers have been arrested in south-western Zimbabwe for defying eviction orders under President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reforms, police said on Thursday. A farmer's advocacy group said it had been told up to 50 farmers had been summoned to appear in court. "Some six farmers who were arrested this afternoon (Thursday) were brought into the police station, and warned and cautioned," police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said on state television. About 60 percent of an estimated 2 900 farmers ignored a government notices served on them to be off their land by a deadline set for midnight on Thursday last week. The police spokesperson said the six "are likely to appear in court tomorrow (on Friday) facing charges arising from their failing to observe the Section 8 (eviction) notices".
A farmers' advocacy body, Justice for Agriculture had earlier said some farmers in the Gwanda area, near the second city of Bulawayo, had received summonses to appear in court Friday. "We know of four names and we are told there could be as many as 50 farmers who have been summoned to court," Justice for Agriculture (JAG) spokesperson, Jenni Williams said. If convicted for failing to comply, they face a maximum sentence of two years in jail. The arrests came as the Zimbabwe government, after repeatedly warning farmers that they would face the brunt of the law if they defied the eviction orders, accused white farmers of stage-managing the eviction of the first ordered to leave his property under Mugabe's tumultuous land redistribution programme. Black militants on Wednesday forced farmer Terry Hinde off the land he had worked for 27 years in northern Zimbabwe, according to the JAG advocacy group. But Lands and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made told Thursday's state-run Herald newspaper: "The so-called militants are groups of people being hired by desperate farmers to cause confusion." He said the ploy was part of a broader anti-Zimbabwe campaign.
The Hinde family fled their home in Bindura district, about 80km north-east of the capital, to Harare after spending most of Wednesday barricaded inside their house as the assailants bore down on them, JAG said. Made also told state television: "We are fully aware of the gimmick that is going on and these imposters are being made to pose as if they were war veterans," referring to veterans of Zimbabwe's war against white rule during the 1970s. The veterans spearheaded invasions of white-owned farms that began in 2000. Williams reaction by saying: "This is an oft-touted excuse by government officials." Mugabe himself on Monday warned that those ordered off their farms by government should vacate the land without delay, saying whites who wanted "another war should think again, while there is still time for them to do so." The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that the eviction of Zimbabwe's white farmers would worsen the food crisis in the southern African country where up more than six million people, making up roughly half the population, face starvation.
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From The Cape Argus (SA), 15 August
SA - and Nigeria - clueless over Zim crisis
Finally a government minister has admitted it: South Africa hasn't a clue what to do about the rapidly deteriorating political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. "What is it that we are expected to do?" Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad asked journalists on Wednesday as they repeatedly pressed him on what South Africa was doing about the crisis across its border. "In all our consultations with the international community and our colleagues on the continent, the question always comes up - 'What can be done more than what is being done now?'" Pahad admitted the only idea Pretoria could come up with was to continue to join its Commonwealth partner Nigeria in pressing for a resumption of the stalled talks between President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. "It is a matter that we are concerned with and we are trying to deal with it. We are part of the process with Nigeria to find a way forward."
The talks had not resumed because of Zanu PF's refusal to take part as long as the MDC continued to challenge the results of March's presidential election. Government sources said relations between President Thabo Mbeki and Mugabe were still strained after two of Harare's state-owned newspapers quoted a leaked letter which Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart, Olusegun Obasanjo, had written to Mugabe. The letter warned Mugabe of an intensified international siege and encouraged him to push his party back into talks with the MDC. Pahad said suggestions of military intervention were "nonsensical". "There's no way that we can take any option seriously: it's not our way of dealing with things." And there was a limit to what could be done about Mugabe's apparent defiance of international pressure. The European Union's sanctions on Zimbabwe - in the form of a travel ban - for example, did not seem to be having an impact.
Pahad disagreed with suggestions by journalists that South Africa was applying double standards in its responses to the crises in the Middle East and Zimbabwe. "In no way can that (the Zimbabwean crisis) be equated with the level of the depth of the problem between Israel and Palestine," he said. The situation in Zimbabwe had "not reached a situation, in our view, that's endangering regional security and international stability." In comparison, the conflict between Israel and Palestine was "a very, very volatile situation". Democratic Alliance spokesman Andries Botha said that although Zimbabwe's threat to regional stability might not be as acute as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it was still very serious, and should not be dismissed by Pahad. "Zimbabwe is facing its worst famine ever, a famine virtually entirely of President Mugabe's and his Zanu PF party's making. "This, combined with the destruction of property rights and the complete collapse of the Zimbabwe economy, will reverberate throughout the region, including... the creation of large numbers of economic refugees." One important difference between the situation in Zimbabwe and the Middle East crisis was that South Africa's potential influence was radically different. "South Africa's leverage over Zimbabwe is immense, and our failure to use it deplorable," Botha said.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 16 August
CBZ's grain import deal in trouble
Plans by the Jewel Bank to import 500 000 tonnes of white maize are now uncertain owing to unforeseen logistical problems and the scarcity of the commodity in South America. The Zimbabwe Independent reported last month that the Jewel Bank had gone into a deal to import white maize valued at US$95 million on behalf of the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). But industry sources this week said the bank was now looking for yellow maize after failing to secure adequate stocks of white maize. The Independent also has it on good authority that the bank, which initially tried to negotiate the deal on its own, had sought the assistance of a commodity broking firm to land the contract. To date, only 26 000 tonnes of maize have been secured and are expected in Beira this week. "There is no more white maize left in that part of the world (South America) because of the huge draw-down from southern African countries," an industry source said. "The Jewel Bank can only bring in yellow maize which is available, but there is immense competition for it. That's why they now need an experienced broker to fight for the deal," the source said.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Regional Disaster Alleviation Trust (Zirdat), which was recently formed by local businessmen, has secured a permit to import 700 000 tonnes of food in a move to augment the humanitarian assistance thrust in the country. Speaking at a press briefing in Harare on Wednesday, Zirdat chairman Don Middlemost said his organisation secured the permit last week and had opened dialogue with donors to fund the imports. "The permit we obtained allows us to import 600 000 tonnes of maize and 100 000 tonnes of other foodstuffs," Middlemost said. "The permit has a six-month lifespan but has a provision to extend it." Middlemost said his organisation would import food which conforms to government requirements in terms of hygiene and genetically-modified organisms. "Our imports will be tested against rules and regulations set by government in terms of storage and GMOs," he said, adding that the food would be distributed through non-governmental organisations which already had structures on the ground. "We have no capacity to distribute food but, on the other hand, NGOs with personnel on the ground have no food to distribute or permits to import so we will join hands to provide food to the needy," he said. The 700 000 tonnes would feed the hungry population for around five months. Middlemost said about nine million people were projected to be on food aid by next month.
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From News24 (SA), 15 August
MDC youth leader arrested
Harare A youth leader of Zimbabwe's main opposition movement has been arrested on accusations of trying to unseat President Robert Mugabe's government, police said on Thursday. Nelson Chamisa, the national youth chairperson of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) turned himself in to police on Wednesday after learning that they were looking for him. "He is alleged to have been holding private meetings where subversive material was discussed," said police spokesperson Andrew Phiri. Chamisa is likely to be charged under the country's new security law, the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). "We are questioning him with a view to charging him under POSA," said Phiri. If convicted, the opposition official faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in jail.
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From SABC News, 16 August
Zimbabwe's judicial system in tatters
While Zimbabwe's white farmers waited nervously last week to be thrown off their land, an unexpected court ruling appeared to save many of them by invalidating hundreds of eviction orders. Yet, like so many other court rulings, this one was completely ignored by President Robert Mugabe's government. Top Cabinet ministers have continued to demand farmers immediately leave their land. "It isn't surprising," said Jenni Williams, spokesperson for the white farmers' group Justice for Agriculture. "In the past, (officials) have just paid lip service to the laws, and on the ground it has absolutely made no difference." Since political violence blamed mainly on government supporters - began in 2000, Zimbabwe's once respected judiciary has been utterly marginalised. The government has ignored a raft of rulings it dislikes and pressured judges it considers critical of its policies to resign. Most other judges have stopped ruling against the government, local legal observers said. "The independence of the judiciary is gone," said Lovemore Madhuku, head of the National Constitutional Assembly, which is fighting for constitutional reform in Zimbabwe. "I think some judges genuinely fear for their lives."
In the past few months, a court decision throwing out new election laws was brushed aside, a foreign journalist was ordered deported minutes after being acquitted of violating media laws and the justice minister simply ignored his three-month jail sentence for contempt of court. Efforts to suppress the judiciary began more than two years ago, when the government outlined its plans for seizing white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks and sanctioned ruling party militants' often violent occupation of many of those farms. The courts repeatedly ordered the government to remove the militants from the farms and restore law and order. The government refused, saying land redistribution was a political, not legal, issue. "The courts can do what they want. They are not courts for our people and we shall not even be defending ourselves in these courts," Mugabe said at the time.
In November 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the government's land seizure plan was illegal and unconstitutional. Soon after, hundreds of thugs from Mugabe's ruling party stormed the court, dancing behind the judges' benches and chanting: "Kill the judges." Police stood by, and no one was arrested. Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay was forced into early retirement last year after the government said it could not guarantee judges' safety. Several other critical judges were also replaced with ruling party loyalists. "Any judge who has been brave enough to take positions against government institutions has been harassed and intimidated into resigning," said Ashwin Trikamjee, a member of the International Bar Association's human rights institute. Now, on the rare occasions now when the courts rule against the government, it is usually in cases too obvious to have been decided any other way, many local lawyers said. The government has ignored those rulings anyway. Despite the obstacles, Justice for Agriculture says it has no choice but to contest the evictions in Zimbabwe's courts. "We can only have the moral high ground if we continue to do the usual when faced with the insane or unusual," Williams said.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 17 August
Libyan 'dragged onto plane' in Harare
A former intelligence officer at the Libyan embassy in Harare, Yousef Murgham, has been deported, the state controlled daily The Herald reported on Friday. Murgham is alleged to have been "engaging in activities that posed a threat to the security and national interests of Zimbabwe," according to the newspaper. The action comes as President Robert Mugabe is desperately seeking Libyan support for his economy, including reported oil-for-farms deals. The newspaper suggested the authorities may have tried to silence him before he could give information about controversial business deals to independent media. Legal sources say expulsion of the diplomat-turned-businessman on Thursday was legally dubious as he is married to a Zimbabwean and entitled to permanent residence. Independent sources said there were unruly scenes at Harare's international airport as Murgham (43) was dragged aboard a flight to Nairobi, accompanied by agents who were to hand him over to Colonel Muammer Gaddafi's security police in Tripoli. Officers of the Zimbabwean Central Intelligence organisation prevented his wife Jean from serving officials with a High Court injunction delaying deportation until after a hearing. "My husband was a staunch Zanu PF supporter and ally," she told The Daily News. "It was sad that the man who negotiated the current fuel deal for the government of Zimbabwe with the Libyan authorities left the country without a cent." Murgham leaves behind his wife, and children Samia (12) and Mohammed (8). "We are ready to take the matter to the International Court of Justice at the Hague, if my husband disappears," she said.
The Herald said Murgham's deportation was "carried out with the full knowledge and co-operation of the Libyan Government" after he "used the cover of contacts he made within the ruling Zanu PF party and government while a diplomat" between 1986-1992. "The former diplomat was also working very closely with British intelligence and the opposition MDC whose leadership he once met with," the newspaper claimed. "He had become an undesirable element by engaging in activities threatening the interests of the country. He had also developed links with certain private newspapers in the country and has tried to blackmail the authorities by claiming he had given damaging information on the government to one local newspaper, which planned to run a series of stories using the information." President Mugabe's ruling party is known to be riven by rival factions. Many members of his elite own multi-million dollar businesses that vie for lucrative deals, including the import of famine relief and fuel. Murgham's lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, said he would go ahead with plans to have the High Court declare the deportation unlawful. He had a residence permit valid until 2004.
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From ZWNEWS, 17 August
Arrests
49 farmers were arrested yesterday for 'overstaying' in their homes. 41 were still in custody as of Friday evening. A further eight were arrested but were freed pending court appearances The arrests followed the appearance in court of seven farmers on Thursday. Six of the seven, from Matabeleland, were remanded out of custody on Z$5000 bail. The seventh had no bail conditions. The 49 arrested were from various parts of the country. Eleven are from Nyamandlovu, and include; David Olds, brother to Martin Olds and son of Gloria Olds both murdered during the farm invasions; Robin Greaves, an invalid who is almost blind; and Chris Jarred who is being denied medication for a severe blood pressure condition. The total arrested in Matabeleland was 23. Eleven were arrested in Mashonaland East, 13 in Mashonaland West, and two from Middle Sabi. Five others were either arrested in error, or were questioned and released.
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From The Times (UK), 17 August
Mugabe pays off Libya with an embassy
London/Harare - President Mugabe has run up such colossal debts that he is reported to have handed over the deeds of his country's High Commission in the Strand in London to Colonel Gaddafi of Libya as surety on an oil deal. The Zimbabwean leader has already parted with hotels, farms seized from their white owners and some of his country's most valuable assets to ensure that Libya does not halt its vital oil supplies. Libyan officials have warned Colonel Gaddafi that Tamoil, the state-owned oil company, is perilously close to bankruptcy over its dealings with Zimbabwe. Twice in recent months Tamoil has turned off the taps to Harare and only a personal plea to the Colonel from Mr Mugabe has restored the oil after he promised to settle the mounting debt. Opposition leaders were speculating what else Mr Mugabe could give away, and there was consternation in Harare last night at claims that the prestigious Zimbabwe House now belongs to the Libyans. Diplomats at the Zimbabwe High Commission denied that the deeds had been transferred to Tripoli. A spokesman said: "It is a claim to discredit our Government. We have no debt with Libya for oil." Tamoil says that Zimbabwe failed to meet its $90 million (£59 million) quarterly payment in May after Colonel Gaddafi had agreed last December to supply $360 million worth of oil. The Foreign Office said that it had not been informed of any change in ownership of the former Rhodesia House. A spokesman said: "It's their property so I suppose they can do what they like with it."
In Zimbabwe, at least 40 white farmers were detained yesterday on allegations of defying seizure and eviction orders that came into force a week ago, the Justice for Agriculture Group said. Police assistant commissioner Wayne Bvuzijena denied that his headquarters in Harare had issued a countrywide directive to rural stations to round up those who had not yet obeyed orders that expired on August 9. "The situation over the number detained is changing every ten minutes," said Jenni Williams, spokeswoman for the group that represents the rights of 5,000 white farmers and their 500,000 black workers. Mrs Williams said police action appeared to have been co-ordinated with the aim of making the farmers spend the weekend in cells. Of the detentions, 23 were in the western Matabeleland region. The police action coincided with fresh reports that British nationals were being refused entry into Zimbabwe. Four British passport holders, suspected of being journalists posing as tourists, have been deported in the past week.
Details of the alleged High Commission swap in the South African newspaper Business Day came as a former Libyan diplomat was arrested in Harare as "a threat to security and national interests of Zimbabwe". Lawyers for Yousef Murgham, 43, say that he brokered the controversial Tamoil deal with Zimbabwe. Jonathan Samkange said that his client had been deported amid fears in Libya and Zimbabwe that he was going to reveal more embarrassing details about the financial links between Colonel Gaddafi and Mr Mugabe. The Government-controlled Herald newspaper in Harare reported that Mr Murgham "was working very closely with British Intelligence and the opposition MDC". He is also accused of trying to blackmail the authorities in Harare "by claiming he had given damaging information on the Government to one local newspaper". MDC leaders have challenged Mr Mugabe to "open the books" and reveal the extent of his financial links with Tripoli. A Zimbabwean diplomat in Paris has described the growing Libyan deals with his country as "poisonous".
The Times revealed a week ago how Tamoil is supplying 70 per cent of the 800,000 barrels Zimbabwe needs every month. Tamoil has assets worth up to $2 billion which may need to be sold to pay debts arising from the deal with Mr Mugabe. The company has already sold its operations in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia to Agip of Italy. It operates petrol stations in Eastern and Southern Europe and refineries in Switzerland, Germany and Italy. The company also issues a Tamoil credit card to customers and has sizeable operations in North Africa, including a chain of petrol stations in Egypt. Because of cashflow problems Tamoil is reported to be likely to pull out of a deal to buy 40 per cent of Egypt's Midor refinery. Executives from Tamoil, which had offices in Monaco, London, Milan and Geneva, have allegedly been sacked for complaining about the flawed Zimbabwe deal and for leaking details to the media. Diplomatic sources claim that the Zimbabwean assets taken by Libya include a controlling interest in the Jewel Bank, formerly the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe, and Rainbow Tourist Group, the state travel company. Colonel Gaddafi has been given a controlling share in the oil pipeline between Zimbabwe and the Mozambique port of Beira. He also has a significant shareholding in Zimbabwe's state-owned energy company Noczim and top hotels. President Mugabe is understood to have facilitated foreign travel for 10,000 Libyans by giving them Zimbabwean passports. Sources inside Zimbabwe said that more than 1,500 Libyans had been given homes, work permits and jobs in Zimbabwe.
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From The Daily News, 15 August
MP briefly detained for allegedly diverting food aid
Police in Gokwe last week briefly detained Gokwe Central Member of Parliament, Lovemore Mupukuta, after he allegedly diverted six tonnes of drought relief maize meant for starving villagers in Masoro communal lands. Mupukuta was apprehended at the Grain Marketing Board depot at Gokwe growth point on 7 August but was later released without charge. Police said they were tipped off by GMB officials and intercepted a tractor carrying the grain as it drove past the Gokwe district hospital. The maize had been allocated for distribution in Chisina Ward. "We were surprised when the MP turned round and said the grain belonged to a woman only identified as Nyenya, yet it had been released in his name," said the GMB official who declined to be named. GMB officials confiscated the grain but a few hours later Mupukuta allegedly returned and ordered that the grain be given to Nyenya. "We had to comply with the order for fear of victimisation. We still do not know whether the intended beneficiaries eventually got the maize," the official said. Last month, Mupukuta caused a stir at the growth point when he led a group of mainly Zanu PF vendors in attacking a police vehicle carrying wares police had impounded from them. Police were forced to abandon the raid on illegal vendors selling sugar, cooking oil and maize grain at inflated prices.
Meanwhile, hundreds of starving villagers living near Loreto High School in rural Silobela are reportedly streaming to the boarding school daily in search of leftovers. More than 100 students are having holiday classes at the school. "The number of villagers increased last week when we had a group of trainee census enumerators camped at the school", said a teacher at the Roman Catholic-run secondary school. George Muzimba, the MDC vice secretary for Midlands North confirmed the incident and said most of the villagers scrambling for leftovers at the school were MDC members denied government food aid by Zanu PF councillors.
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From The Courier Mail (Australia), 17 August
Patience runs out on Zimbabwe
Suva, Fiji - Patience with the intransigent government of Zimbabwe was fast expiring today, with Australian Prime Minister John Howard sending the strongest signal yet that the Commonwealth would take tough action. Mr Howard chairs a troika of leaders tasked by the Commonwealth with developing a plan to ensure Zimbabwe conforms to Commonwealth norms. The other two members are South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. Mr Howard cited Fiji's suspension from the Commonwealth in 1987 and 2000 as an example of action that awaits delinquent participants in the 54-nation group. "When you remember how the book was thrown at Fiji - properly, but it was nonetheless thrown - you have to keep that sort of thing in mind when you look at Zimbabwe," he told reporters. "I'm talking about books being thrown in relation to status within the Commonwealth. There are some things being considered at the present time."
Six months after the troika imposed restrictions on involvement in some Commonwealth forums, Mr Howard said time was running out. Speaking after a meeting with New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who is urging strong action, Mr Howard said the two leaders had agreed the situation was unsatisfactory. "We're extremely unhappy, there's been no response and I am giving some thought right at the moment to some further ... action in relation to Zimbabwe," he said. "Just at the moment I don't want to talk any more specifically than that. We've been very patient. It's now six months since the London meeting. We've not had any meaningful response from Zimbabwe, none whatsoever. The situation has got worse. People are going without food. People are being arbitrarily thrown off their farms and thousands of black Zimbabweans being dispossessed of their jobs as a result, and there's been no attempt made to answer the apparently irrefutable evidence in the Commonwealth Observers group report on the elections." Previous troika action on Zimbabwe followed the observers' report, which found Zimbabwe's elections were neither free nor fair. Mr Howard said at the time he favoured fresh elections. He is taking advantage of the 33rd Pacific Islands Forum meeting to consult with Ms Clark and the leaders of several other Commonwealth nations on the next steps against Zimbabwe. He is expected to discuss these views with Mr Mbeki and Mr Obasanjo, and an announcement on any action is likely within days.
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From The Daily News, 16 August
Chamisa charged with treason
Nelson Chamisa, the MDC national youth chairman was on Wednesday night charged with treason for allegedly trying to subvert a constitutional government using unlawful means. Chamisa's lawyer, Innocent Chagonda said in Harare yesterday the police from the law and order department at Harare Central police station recorded a warned and cautioned statement from his client before they released him. He said the police did not tell him when his client would appear in court in connection with the case. Chagonda said: "It is alleged that Chamisa went to an indoor meeting at Dunmore Makuwaza, the MDC MP for Mbare West's house and told people there that they should be ready for mass action on 14 August 2002." He said Chamisa denied the charge and said he did not violate any section of the Public Order and Security Act, under which he was charged.
Last month, the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was briefly arrested and charged with trying to subvert President Mugabe's government when he addressed a rally in Gwanda in May. Tsvangirai, Welshman Ncube the MDC secretary-general, and Renson Gasela, the party's MP for Gweru Rural and shadow minister for agriculture, will be tried at the High Court on 11 November for allegedly plotting to assassinate Mugabe. Last week Chamisa was summoned by the police to appear at the Harare Magistrates' Court for contravening sections of the now repealed Law and Order Maintenance Act. The police have been accused of selective application of justice for allegedly arresting MDC officials on flimsy charges while known Zanu PF supporters accused of allegedly killing people have been set free. The police still refuse to hand over to the Attorney-General's Office for prosecution the docket of Joseph Mwale, a member of the Central Intelligence Organisation and Tom Kainos "Kitsiyatota" Zimunya, a war veteran accused of killing two MDC activists in 2000. Last year, retired High Court judge, Justice James Devittie ordered Andrew Chigovera, the Attorney-General to prosecute Mwale and Zimunya after he ruled that there was evidence linking them to the murder of Tichaona Zimunya and Talent Mabika at Murambinda growth point in the run-up to the June 2000 parliamentary elections.
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From Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, 16 August
Zimbabwean troops attack Mozambicans
Maputo - Zimbabwean troops have been accused of robbing, beating and even murdering Mozambicans near the Machipanda border post between the two countries. Friday's issue of the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique" says that since Zimbabwean police at the border were replaced by troops in March, Mozambicans attempting to engage in cross-border trade have been forced to pay bribes (the soldiers are said to demand 500 Zimbabwe dollars from each Mozambican - about nine US dollars at the official exchange rate). There have also been cases of torture, rape and at least one death. The body of the man killed, Jorge Maquenzi, was returned to Mozambique on Thursday: Zimbabwean troops shot him dead over a month ago as he was crossing the border. He died in a hospital in the eastern Zimbabwean city of Mutare on 5 July. The delay in returning the body was due to bureaucratic complications on the Zimbabwean side. Apparently nobody was sure who should pay for the coffin. An irritated Mozambican official, from the Manica district government, told the paper "I never saw such disorganisation. We had to visit three different offices in the Manicaland Provincial government, without anyone being able to tell us who would deal with the coffin for our fellow countryman".
Maquenzi was a 27 year old unemployed man who made his living out of cross-border trade. "Diario de Mocambique" remarks that he was killed "under cover of the war against contraband in which, on the Zimbabwean side, human lives are not respected". The administrator of Manica district, Paulo Majucunene, condemned the murder of Maquenzi, and told the paper "This matter of the border is being dealt with at the highest level". "Even if somebody is a smuggler, that's no reason to deprive him of his life", added Majucunene. One of those interviewed by "Diario de Mocambique", 23 year old Antonio Joaquim, said Zimbabwean soldiers forced him to drink some of the diesel he had crossed the border to buy. He was among a group of 30 Mozambicans who crossed the border last Saturday morning and went shopping in Mutare. He said that each of them paid 500 Zimbabwe dollars to the troops. But when they returned the troops attacked them, stealing the goods they had bought. Joaquim had purchased 40 litres of diesel - he said the Zimbabwean soldiers forced him to drink five litres of it.
No doubt much of this was not swallowed, but spilt, for "Diario de Mocambique" reporters could see that he was dripping in diesel. His eyes were reddened, he had lost his shirt, and his upper lip was swollen from the beating he had received at the hands of his soldiers. Joaquim's friends were urging him to drink milk and go to hospital at once. Also on Saturday an 11 year old schoolboy, Elias Mateus, who makes some money at the weekends carrying goods across the border, was attacked. The Zimbabwean soldiers broke his left arm. 17 year old Libat Diogo had bought a crate of beer in Zimbabwe. He told "Diario de Mocambique" that the soldiers seized the beer, drank it all, and then beat him and his two brothers. "Before they beat us, they said we were opposed to the Zimbabwean government", he said. When the paper asked Majacunene how the Mozambican authorities treated Zimbabweans found to be in Manica illegally, he replied, "they are repatriated without violence, and nothing is stolen from them". Majucunene appealed to Mozambicans "not to meet violence with violence" - but this may be falling on deal ears. "Diario de Mocambique" reports that on Saturday, after the violence against Antonio Joaquim, a group of Mozambicans attacked Zimbabwean traders at Machipanda in retaliation for the brutal behaviour of the Zimbabwean soldiers. "We don't want Zimbabweans here, because at the border they treat us like animals", said one of the Mozambicans. The attack on the Zimbabwean traders was planned in advance. The paper said dozens of people met under a tree near the Machipanda immigration post, and discussed how to take revenge for the violence committed by the Zimbabwean army.
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From The Observer (UK), 18 August
Mugabe fails to heed pleas of starving
From the Zambezi Valley, where land redistribution has fatally deepened a drought-led food crisis. A straggly queue trailed around the fence of the government grain store in Muzarabani, a village on the floor of the Zambezi Valley in northern Zimbabwe. An old man shook his head in disgust. The shelves were empty - again. 'This is crazy. We've been waiting here for five days,' said 68-year-old Sinet Muzanenhamo, slumped under the shade of a tree. A truck had come to the store, known as Grain Marketing Board (GMB), three days earlier, he explained. But it carried just 100 bags of maize for more than 1,000 waiting people. He got nothing. 'By now, we are eating only once a day,' he said, fingering a piece of worn cardboard that showed that he was 10th in line. 'We fear that soon it will be nothing at all.' All across Zimbabwe, the story is the same - a chronic shortage of maize, exacerbated by stubbornly destructive government policies, is pushing a once plentiful country to the verge of famine. The full folly of President Robert Mugabe's land redistribution programme is being laid bare. Yesterday farm groups said that 80 white farmers had been arrested and some charged for defying government orders to vacate land targeted for redistribution to landless blacks. Of the remaining 4,500 white farmers, 2,900 have been told to quit their land without compensation. Nearly two-thirds are refusing to go. According to the United Nations, more than half of Zimbabwe's 12.5 million people are going to need urgent food assistance in the coming months.
Famine is not inevitable - yet. Aid food is starting to arrive, and malnutrition rates remain relatively low - around 5 per cent in some areas. But it is a fragile stability, aid workers warn. 'People's capacity to cope is almost exhausted,' said Chris McIvor of Save the Children-UK. 'Once that goes, there can be a very rapid decline. We could be looking at a catastrophic situation by December.' Across the country, the early signs of starvation are starting to show. In classrooms, children are fainting or dropping out of school entirely to search for wild food. Some have died after eating poisonous roots. To the south, young women are flocking to the border town of Beit Bridge, to prostitute themselves to the passing truckers. There is competition from wild animals. Near Chadereka, two men lie in hospital, one of them close to death. He was attacked by an elephant while picking berries off wild trees; a buffalo gored his neighbour. Foreign aid has not yet reached Chadereka, a sleepy village further inside the Zambezi Valley, near the border with Mozambique. With maize hardly available, villagers have turned to masawu - berries normally used for making moonshine - to fill their stomachs. 'But this type of food, it doesn't stay,' complained Dzidzai Musinyari, a 22-year-old woman who was seven months pregnant. 'You eat it, go to the toilet and then it is all gone.' Her five-year-old son was starting to suffer from diarrhoea. The valley people used to farm cotton, then use their earnings to buy maize grown in the fertile highlands. Not any more.
The crisis cannot be blamed entirely on Mugabe. It was sparked by a sharp drought at the beginning of this year, wrecking the maize harvest. The scourge of HIV/Aids made things worse: one in three Zimbabwean adults is infected with HIV, and there are more than 600,000 Aids orphans. Grandparents find themselves struggling to feed the children of their dead sons and daughters. But if bad weather sparked the crisis, Mugabe's ruinous policies have made it infinitely worse. He has closed down food-producing white farms. He has beggared the economy, cutting off access to foreign currency needed to import food. He has maintained a steely grip on the monopoly of maize imports, though private trade is vital to fend off disaster. Zimbabwe used to be self-sufficient in maize, with commercial farms meeting almost half of the requirements. But this year, drought and farmer intimidation have caused production to plummet by 70 per cent. More significantly, the tobacco industry, which brought in much of the country's foreign currency, has also collapsed. As the government struggles to import food from abroad, it is discovering that there is precious little hard cash with which to buy it. Under current plans, a famine can be averted if the government, aid agencies and private traders each import one third of the maize deficit. The aid agencies should keep their part of the bargain, at least until Christmas. But the government is broke, so scepticism abounds that Mugabe will be able to import 500,000 tonnes of maize in the coming months, as promised. He is refusing to allow private traders to bring in food from abroad, because prices would inevitably rise, perhaps as much as tenfold. Foreign donors are desperately trying to persuade Mugabe that this is the only way forward. Those with money, mostly in urban areas, could become self-sufficient, leaving the aid agencies and government to concentrate on the most vulnerable people in rural areas. But this would also highlight to Mugabe's supporters how poor his policies have been, so he has refused to listen.
Instead, his cronies have been accused of playing dirty politics with food aid. In June, war veterans shut down a Catholic Church project to feed 40,000 people in the western Binga province. They claimed that the project, which is funded by the British agency Cafod, was being run by supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. More recently, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abednico Ncube, was quoted in a local newspaper as telling villagers that food 'will be available only to those who dump the opposition and work with Zanu PF'. Some 13m people in southern Africa, across Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Swaziland and Lesotho, are threatened with famine in the coming months. Zimbabwe should be anchoring the region; instead it is pulling it down. While the suffering is most extreme in Malawi, the sheer scale of numbers makes Zimbabwe the most vulnerable country. But Mugabe has acted with an arrogant cool towards international aid. He recently warned parliament of the need to 'remain wary of countries and organisations which seek to take advantage of our hour of need'. There were 'sinister interests', he claimed, that wanted to use the 'cover of humanitarian involvement'. The irony is that foreign money is the only thing keeping his country from slipping into starvation. Britain, which is frequently derided as the great colonial evil, is putting £32m into Zimbabwe this year. The European Union has pledged E35m (£22m). One frustrated diplomat said: 'Things are getting worse and worse, yet it appears he is more interested in power politics than helping his own people.' Speaking at Heroes' Acre, the national shrine for black liberation fighters, Mugabe vowed last week to ensure that 'no Zimbabwean starves to death'. It is increasingly clear that the ageing autocrat is running out of both money and ideas. But if he does not find a way of getting food into Zimbabwe, fast, a preventable disaster may soon become an inevitable famine.
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From The Sunday Telegraph (UK), 18 August
Mugabe's men storm farms as arrests begin
Johannesburg - Up to 100 white farmers, including an elderly woman, were arrested yesterday in Zimbabwe for defying a government eviction order as President Robert Mugabe's controversial land reform programme threatened to reach a violent climax. Hundreds of police and war veterans stormed white-owned farms around the country and arrested those accused of defying government orders to quit their land. "We had the names of 84 farmers who had been arrested by midday with reports of further arrests coming in all the time," said Jenni Williams, spokesman for the farmers' pressure group, Justice for Agriculture (JAG) . "At this rate we will have easily reached 100 by this evening." The crackdown is the culmination of a two-and-a-half-year campaign which began in February 2000 with the forced occupation of white-owned farms by so-called "war veterans" sparking an international outcry. The arrests came eight days after the expiry of a deadline for 2,900 white farmers to quit their land. They were also ordered to remove all their belongings and to sack their labour force. About half of those who received eviction orders ignored them in the hope that Mugabe would not make good his threats. Mugabe vowed last week that he had no intention of abandoning his policy of evicting white farmers despite predictions that half the country's population of 12 million was on the verge of starvation. "There are those who believe that the land reform programme can be reversed . . . this is not reversible," Mugabe told an annual gathering of the mostly-black Zimbabwe Farmers Union. "This is not [Tony] Blair's land, this is Mugabe's land," he said.
Last night relatives were still trying to track down an elderly woman who was carried off in a police van. Flo McKay had been looking after her son's farm in Wedza, 100 miles south-east of Harare, while he was on holiday. "When police discovered he was away, they took the old lady instead," a neighbour said. One farmer, who had moved off his land, was beaten unconscious and sustained a broken leg after pro-Mugabe activists tortured a member of his staff into revealing his employer's new address. Seven farmers appeared in court on Friday. A further 77 have been arrested for failing to comply with eviction orders, Ms Williams said. Of those arrested, 20 were later released and ordered to appear in court in the next few days, while 57 remained in custody. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he could not comment on the latest arrests or say how many farmers were behind bars pending charges on new legislation which carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail and a fine. But those already in police custody including 75-year-old Robin Grieves, who is blind - are expected to spend the weekend in jail before being brought before the courts. Sue Fould, the British-born wife of rose farmer Ian Fould, who is being detained by police, said: "They are not only arresting those who stayed on their farms but also those who left property on their farms." Ms Williams yesterday said she was "not surprised" at the mass arrests. "Our eyes have been wide open for a long time now and we always believed that Mugabe was not prepared to negotiate over this or implement his land reform plans legally or without violence." The Foreign Office confirmed yesterday that four Britons had been refused entry into Zimbabwe in the past two weeks in apparent retaliation for European Union sanctions preventing the travel of Zimbabwean cabinet ministers and Mugabe's supporters in Europe.
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From The Independent on Saturday (SA), 17 August
80 farmers arrested as Mugabe 'cleans up'
Zimbabwean police and war veterans on Saturday stepped up the long-threatened nationwide crackdown on farmers, increasing the number in prison to 80, including two women and one black farm manager. Farmers were divided over whether there was a clear pattern in the swoop, which included those who have eviction notices and those who don't, and farmers who have only one farm, which President Robert Mugabe said earlier this week was allowed. In raids that began before dawn, farmers including leaders of Justice for Agriculture (Jag) solidarity group and supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were among the targets. The chairman of Jag, David Connolly, was visited and questioned at 5am on Saturday even though he does not have an eviction notice. He was not arrested. Jag alleged that Tony Smith, who left his farm a month ago, was severely beaten by police and war veterans at his Harare home. Jag alleges he was handcuffed and severely beaten, and that he has a broken leg and head injuries. Among the 80 in custody from earlier arrests is David Olds, whose brother Martin and mother Gloria were murdered in separate incidents. No arrests have been made in those cases. This week, some of the new black farmers attended the annual congress of the Zimbabwe Farmers' Union, which represents 100 000 peasant and small scale farmers. A Jag spokesperson said farmers from all affiliations were being targeted. But the opposition justice spokesperson, MDC MP David Coltart, said Mugabe was seeking to crush anyone associated with the MDC or Jag, which has no political affiliation but believes in using the legal system and the constitution to fight evictions. "There are now good whites and bad whites," Coltart said. "Farm owners who support Zanu-PF have been left alone, but small farmers, who run a foundation to educate farm workers about Aids, get targeted. It's a political cleansing."
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From The Sunday Times (UK), 18 August
Hoogstraten "to buy" MiGs for Mugabe
The notorious property magnate Nicholas van Hoogstraten, convicted of manslaughter last month, has been involved in secret negotiations to help the Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe buy Russian fighter jets. Leaked documents reveal that in return for underwriting the £250m purchase of 14 MiG-29s, Hoogstraten would receive 1.2m acres (500,000 hectares) of prime ranching property, much of which would be taken from white-owned farms. The Zimbabwean intelligence documents, obtained by The Sunday Times, disclose that Mugabe was told last month by the head of his air force that Hoogstraten was interested in underwriting the loan for the MiGs. At the time Hoogstraten was on trial for killing a former business partner. The document, dated July 5, states: "Mr van Hoogstraten is not unreceptive to the idea of underwriting the loan in exchange for an additional 500,000 hectares of land . . . his current circumstances though are creating difficulties in finalising the arrangements."
Mugabe, who is said to be worried by the superiority of the South African air force and the increased military power of Botswana, has been seeking to upgrade his air force for some years. According to the leaked documents, a Zimbabwean delegation travelled to Russia earlier this year to prepare a technical evaluation of the MiG-29 multi-role combat aircraft. The underwriting deal, outlined in an addendum to the technical evaluation, would make Hoogstraten the biggest landowner in Zimbabwe, where last week the government charged five white farmers and arrested more than 80 others for defying orders to vacate land. Hoogstraten already has a huge landholding of more than 500,000 acres after taking over three estates formerly belonging to Lonrho, the conglomerate built by "Tiny" Rowland, in the 1990s. This weekend Hoogstraten’s lawyer Giovanni di Stefano, who has also represented the assassinated Serbian warlord Arkan, denied "any specific allegations" of arms-dealing However, he added: "His (Hoogstraten’ s) investments and sympathies with the Zimbabwe government are well known and while to date he has received no request for assistance, if any such request were received he would adjudicate each request on a purely business proposition."
Hoogstraten, 57, is in Belmarsh prison awaiting sentence for manslaughter after being found guilty of hiring two hitmen who shot and stabbed to death a former business partner, Mohammed Sabir Raja. The jury accepted that he had hired the men to harm Raja but not that he had specifically ordered his murder. The property baron’s ruthless and violent reputation stretched to Zimbabwe where he routinely threatened his farm managers, whom he labelled "white trash". He is said to have fathered five children by three different women there. Hoogstraten’s backing for the Mugabe regime won him friends within the ruling Zanu PF party and his lands have been relatively unaffected by the past two years of lawlessness.
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From The Age (Australia), 18 August
Howard wins sanctions call on Zimbabwe
Suva, Fiji - Prime Minister John Howard wants to "throw the book" at Zimbabwe and has won the support of Pacific nations - who make up one-fifth of the Commonwealth - to suspend the rogue African state. Leaders at the Pacific Island Forum issued a joint statement condemning President Robert Mugabe's regime and calling for strong action if the rule of law was not restored immediately. Mr Howard, who heads a troika of Commonwealth leaders considering diplomatic action against Zimbabwe, said there was irrefutable evidence of serious abuses of the electoral process, people were starving and farmers being arbitrarily evicted from their land. "We are not happy with the situation," Mr Howard said. "I'm talking about books being thrown in relation to status within the Commonwealth." Fijian President Laisenia Qarase said Commonwealth sanctions should be applied evenly across its members. "Fiji has been in the same situation as Zimbabwe - I believe the Commonwealth should be applying the same rules to everybody," he said. (Fiji was suspended and later readmitted to the Commonwealth following a coup in 2000.)
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke said the crisis was coming to a head. "It's only fair the rules be applied evenly," she said. "This hasn't been the case previously with Zimbabwe." The joint statement urged the restoration of the rule of law in Zimbabwe and an immediate end to political violence and forced farm evictions. To enforce suspension Mr Howard must win the support of the two other troika members, South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo. Hectic lobbying is under way to persuade the pair to back stronger action against their African neighbour. However, patience at senior levels of the Commonwealth has been exhausted on the issue. It is believed President Mugabe has been refusing to return phone calls from Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon.
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From The Sunday Times (UK), 18 August
Former Libyan spy "hired to kill" Mugabe rival
Harare - Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, claimed yesterday that a former Libyan intelligence officer deported last week had been hired to poison him in a plot hatched by President Robert Mugabe’s intelligence service. Zimbabwean authorities accused Yousef Murgham, 43, a former intelligence officer at the Libyan embassy, of compromising national security by working for British intelligence. In a bizarre twist, however, Tsvangirai claimed the Libyan had been assigned by the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) to assassinate him when it realised Mugabe would lose the presidential election in March if it was free and fair. Mugabe won, but the poll was widely regarded as rigged. "We have intelligence information to that effect and the party does not doubt the authenticity of that information," said Tsvangirai. Details of the "plot" emerged as it was claimed police had arrested more than 80 white farmers and charged some in court for defying government orders to vacate land set aside for redistribution to landless blacks. One farmer, named as Tony Smith, suffered head injuries and a suspected broken leg after he was beaten up by police and war veterans, some farmers claimed. The government has ordered 2,900 of the country’s remaining 4,500 white commercial farmers to quit their land without compensation, but two-thirds are refusing to go after ignoring an August 8 deadline.
Murgham was arrested on Tuesday and deported amid unruly scenes at Harare airport. Witnesses said the former Libyan spy turned businessman, who has lived in Zimbabwe since he came to the Libyan embassy in 1987, was dragged aboard a flight to Nairobi accompanied by CIO agents under orders to hand him over to Colonel Gadaffi’s security police in Tripoli. His expulsion is legally questionable because he is married to a Zimbabwean and entitled to permanent residence. His wife Jean, 39, daughter Samia, 12, and son Mohammed, 8, are still waiting to hear from him. The government line is that Murgham was expelled for "engaging in activities that posed a threat to the security and national interests of Zimbabwe". It accuses him of compromising national security by working for British intelligence and meeting officials from Tsvangirai’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Other sources in Harare attributed Murgham’s expulsion to a rift with Grace, Mugabe’s young and avaricious wife, over a confiscated white commercial farm that they both coveted. Tsvangirai is in no doubt, however, that the Libyan was expelled because the CIO realised the MDC had information about a plot to assassinate him. "Murgham became a liability to both the Libyan and the Zimbabwean governments," he said.
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From The Times (UK), 19 August
'Pol Pot' tactics leave half of Zimbabweans to starve
Bulawayo - "It’s quite simple. Those who have Zanu PF cards get food; those who don’t starve." The man explaining the politics of food in Zimbabwe today is speaking in a hotel room in Bulawayo. It is too dangerous to talk in his home. The name of the 34-year-old railway worker must be concealed, along with the name of the hotel whose manager allowed 20 hungry black Zimbabweans to talk to me, and the name of the church mission who brought them. Any criticism of the Government is considered a slur on President Mugabe and his party and can result in charges of conspiracy and subversion. In the absence of food, fear is the staple diet in Zimbabwe. "The food trucks arrive in the villages once a week," the man explains. "Everyone has to stand up and shout ‘Long Live Robert Mugabe!’, ‘Down with the whites!’ and ‘Down with Morgan Tsvangirai!’," (the opposition leader). "Only those who can prove they are members of the Zanu PF can queue. They say to the others ‘go and get your food from Tony Blair in No 10 Downing Street in London!’ But we don't know where London is." As everyone in the hotel room nods in agreement, a woman, a former shop assistant whose husband died of Aids, begins to cry. "My seven children are starving. I heard that food was being delivered in a village 40 kilometres away," she says. "When I arrived, they said I could not have any because I supported the whites and the opposition party during the election. I dare not go home and face my children. I wish I could die."
Drought is causing famine across southern Africa. In Zimbabwe the catastrophe is aggravated by the collapse of commercial farming, and manipulation of food supplies. "There is only food available for half the country of 13 million people," an economist in Harare said. "Robert Mugabe is employing the tactics of Pol Pot. He plans to get rid of the dissenting half of the population by starving them to death." A village close to Nkayi, in the Midlands region of Zimbabwe, made the mistake of voting for the opposition in last February’s elections. Now its people are being punished. No food trucks arrive here and there are only 44lb of maize left for 200 people until the next harvest in June. Sithembiso Sekai sits in a forlorn heap outside her house, watching her painfully thin eldest daughter crack muphura, a foul-tasting wild nut, to feed to the other four children. The baby at her breast lies asleep, exhausted by the effort of sucking to no avail. At the neighbouring house 15-year-old Musa prepares a supper of cow’s intestines and one tomato for her family of 16. They have two cows left. Her father, Sima, worked on a white-owned commercial farm before he was laid off when the farm was invaded by black squatters. He says that once the cows have gone, they will have nothing and the family will starve. While Mr Mugabe appeals to the outside world for food, the 2,500 or so white farmers who are left have been forbidden from planting crops. They have watched helplessly as the war veterans and their hangers-on have invaded their farms, slaughtered their cattle and poached the wildlife. "It’s the paradox in Zimbabwe today," says Peter Rosenfels, under siege at his farm near Bulawayo. "While the Government carries a begging bowl we, the producers of food, are being criminalised. Zimbabwe once fed the region. Now we can’t feed ourselves."
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 19 August
Mugabe gangs arrest 147 white farmers
Scores of people were being held in police stations across Zimbabwe last night as Robert Mugabe's regime fulfilled its promise to enforce eviction orders against 2,900 farmers. A Zimbabwean police spokesman said 147 white farmers had been arrested in a weekend of raids that were both violent and arbitrary with gangs of uniformed "officers" behaving like lawless thugs. Driving around the countryside in police Land Rovers, many of the "officers" were members of the Zanu PF youth militia who had been specially issued with the uniforms. The militia has been responsible for some of the worst acts of violence during Zimbabwe's land crisis over the last two years. At least one farmer suffered head injuries and a broken leg during his arrest despite having voluntarily left his property and a number of women were seized and held in cells before being released without charge.
The government appeared to target only farming communities it saw as belligerent or uncooperative while leaving other white areas largely untouched. As with much of the land-acquisition process in Zimbabwe over the last two years, the granting of bail to the arrested farmers was piecemeal and illogical. Dozens of farmers were charged with obstructing the law and then released but in several cases the farmers were refused bail and held in police cells. The treatment of one elderly and infirm farmer from Matabeleland was so brutal that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change claimed it represented a clear breach of the United Nations' Convention against Torture.
In Harare a leading political scientist, Professor Masipule Sithole, described the targeting of the white farmers as a clear act of racist thuggery. "This whole exercise of evictions is racist and cruel, and smacks of barbarism," he said. The human rights of the farmers have been grossly overlooked in this exercise. I am depressed. It couldn't happen at a more inopportune time when we are faced with devastating food shortages and here we are stopping farming." A 67-year-old farmer, Guy Coke-Norris, who recently had a heart by-pass operation, was refused bail even though the prosecutor in Mutare, eastern Zimbabwe, recommended his release on humanitarian grounds.
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 18 August
Anything that is alive, we'll eat
As drought and famine grip Zimbabwe, starving villagers are driven to desperation
"It is God," Charles Simampale concludes simply. "I don't know what happened but they both just went blind. First him," he says gesturing over his shoulder to his younger brother sitting on a rock nearby, "and then his wife." When you have to contend with the wrath of the elements, a starving family, crying children and two adults who are unable to help to sustain a 12-person household, it must be comforting to think that this is the plan of a higher being. Simampale, 32, and his brother Myros, 28, built their little settlement in a valley that would have been pretty had the grass not turned pale gold and the trees not lost their leaves. A small stream dried up months ago. The Simampales last received mealie meal from the Zimbabwean government in March. Five months later, they think their village, between Kamativi and Binga, about 250km east of Victoria Falls, has been forgotten.
With no rain, no food and no income, many families and small communities like theirs have upped and left. The area is among the worst affected by the drought, which has turned large parts of the country into wasteland. What was once a busy tourist route is now almost deserted. Abandoned villages serve as an eerie reminder of the life that once was. Kilometres of devastated landscape are punctuated by dry riverbeds. Some of the riverbeds have become playgrounds for children; in others, adults burrow for water. The elder Simampale says he has never had stable work and made a living by catching and selling fish. Now, to fish, he has to make a 60km journey to the Zambezi River. His wife, Nancy, walked off that morning in search of something - anything - to feed the little ones. She came back empty-handed. About 30km down the road, Philemon Msaga has arranged carved ornaments and animals on the side of the road. He is one of few artists who live in hope that the tourists will soon come back and buy their crafts. Others abandoned their stalls long ago to go in search of food. "It is hard at the moment. We have to hunt in the field for food . . . Anything that is alive we eat . . . We dig wells in the river to get a little bit of water," he says.
It's 4pm and several hundred people are queuing outside the Saba Trading Store , where a man is standing on stacks of mealie bags, shouting out names from a long list. He is a representative of the local government department that has provided 197 bags of mealies to be sold at Z510 a 50kg bag (R98 at the official rate) to the locals. But many people who have been waiting since dawn cannot afford to buy food. From the crowd emerge several aggressive young men, some in Zanu PF T-shirts. It is clear that they are in authority at the distribution point. The agencies distributing food in Zimbabwe have become a new force in the country. Political wrangling seemingly takes precedence over people's hunger. Catholic Bishop Robert Ndlovu says a consignment of maize to Binga was stalled for about six weeks by the government because of the involvement of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, which has earned the government's wrath for investigating human-rights abuses. "In order not to jeopardise the project, we now use the Catholic Development Agency to distribute the food," said Ndlovu. "Everyone is affected and the situation is desperate."
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From The Guardian (UK), 19 August
Scores of Zimbabwean farmers arrested for defying eviction
Johannesburg - Zimbabwean police officers detained more than 140 white farmers at the weekend for defying a government deadline to vacate their land and homes. Farmers' leaders say the arrests are illegal now that the courts have declared Robert Mugabe's expropriation laws invalid, but hundreds more arrests seem likely. About half the 2,900 white farmers |
