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Archived News
22nd October 2002
Councillor battles for life
Evicted farm workers sleeping in the open
Crisis in Zim tobacco industry
Fuel shortages drag down Zimbabwe dollar
Teachers' industrial action continues
Zimbabwe union protests on the rise
Mugabe stops charities' famine work
Two die of starvation
Zanu PF official named in MDC man's shooting
Thousands queue for maize-meal
Police barred from evicting CFU members from farms
British envoy told to 'stop meddling' in Zimbabwe
There must be more maize-meal in London
Leader of Zimbabwe teachers' union re-arrested
Mbeki refuses to budge on Zimbabwe
International division plays into Mugabe’s hands
Victim of Zanu PF shooting arrested
Mudede ordered to move ballot papers to Harare
Asylum seeker's death fears
WFP suspends food aid in Insiza district
MDC claims Zanu PF using food to woo voters
Botswana demands payment for fuel
Plans to declare Todd national hero shot down
Jokonya for top CIO job?
Zimbabwe's forgotten struggle
250 000 farm workers jobless after land grab
Another blow to Mugabe in Luanda
Justice minister accused of protecting Mnangagwa over damning report
Governors on payroll despite expiry of tenure
Zimbabwe police arrest the nude 'ghost' thief
Sainsbury’s supplied by Mugabe aide
MDC activist dies
MDC war veterans' pensions stopped
EU to move meeting so Mugabe can attend
Teachers not fired PTUZ
Minus two hours
UN exposes continuing plunder of Congo
Sanctions urged for Congo plunderers
Key figures on UN list
Striking teachers' leader freed
Half of confiscated land in Zimbabwe lies fallow
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From The Daily News, 15 October
Councillor battles for life
Correspondent in Bulawayo
Matthew Ngwenya, the winning MDC councillor for Kamativi, was last night fighting for his life in St Patrick's Hospital in the town, after a vicious attack last Saturday by Zanu PF supporters. Last week, Ngwenya fled his home after threats on his life by war veterans, angered by his victory over the Zanu PF candidate in last month's election. He sustained a broken left arm and serious head injuries. The police in Kamativi said they had arrested a number of people in connection with the attack, but they refused to divulge more details. Ngwenya's wife was reportedly stabbed in the stomach and left for dead. She was in the same hospital with her husband, alongside another victim of the violence, an eight-month-pregnant woman, who was reportedly kicked with booted feet and struck with iron bars all over her body. Details of the condition of her pregnancy were still unavailable by last night. Two MDC youth members were attacked by the same group, which rampaged through Kamativi, a small town once famous for its tin mine. One suffered serious head injuries, and the other broken ribs. They are both in St Patrick's Hospital. Many residents have reportedly fled into the mountains as the violence spreads. The number of the injured could not be ascertained yesterday, as some of the villagers, nursing their wounds, were still hiding in the mountains.
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From The Daily News, 15 October
Evicted farm workers sleeping in the open
Chris Gande in Bulawayo
More than 180 families whose houses were burnt down by war veterans and Zanu PF supporters at Tshonalanga Farm in Esigodini two weeks ago, are still sleeping in the open by the roadside. The workers' compound was razed to the ground apparently to force the farmer, James Noel Buchan, off his property. The workers alleged the police refused to intervene as the group of war veterans, transported to the compound in a Zanu PF truck, set their homes on fire. "When the war veterans first came to give us two hours to vacate the compound, we reported to the police but they said we were the problem," said Manu Sibanda, a worker. They said the veterans led by a former dissident known as Gayigusu, armed with pistols and AK 47 rifles, torched their grass-thatched huts. The Red Cross Society, World Food Programme and some commercial farmers, gave them blankets and food. The more than 1 000 people, who include pregnant women and children, some of them as young as two months old, are sleeping outside Zeedeberg Garage, a few metres from the Bulawayo-Gwanda road.
The former farm workers said they were waiting for their terminal benefits from Buchan so they could travel back to their original homes. "I was born at the farm and I know of no other home," said one of the former workers. "We are so deeply hurt that if we could get guns we could fight these evil people." Buchan, who eventually moved out of the farm on Saturday, was forced to abandon an $80 million flower crop. He also produced vegetables and fruits. "I don't know where I will be going to because this was my only farm which I bought about 40 years ago," he said. The farm, which had initially been under a Section 8 notice, was given a respite by the courts. This did not deter the war veterans from evicting the farmer and torching the workers' homes. Nomalanga Khumalo, the MP for Umzingwane constituency said the arson was shocking because it was perpetrated by black people against other blacks. "What pains me most is that all these people are suffering because all they want is for one person to take over the farm," she said. She said if the government was serious about land reform, then it should take into account the plight of the farm workers. A senior Zanu PF official has already taken over the farm and is staying in the farmhouse.
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From News24 (SA), 15 October
Crisis in Zim tobacco industry
Harare - Nearly three years of rural instability has badly damaged Zimbabwe's crucial tobacco harvest, with the country likely to sell only a fraction of the tobacco it did in 2000, producers said on Tuesday. The plunge in sales of tobacco, the nation's top hard currency earner, will further damage an already withering economy suffering from runaway inflation and unemployment of nearly 60%. Net earnings from tobacco were likely to drop from US$400m in 2000, before the government began its programme to seize white-owned commercial farms, to US$105m next year, said Oliver Gawe, spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association. Tobacco traditionally accounts for more than 30% of the country's hard currency earnings, vital for purchasing fuel and corn needed to stave off a hunger crisis that threatens more than half the nation's population. In a paper presented to Parliament last week, Gawe said that "handled properly, tobacco exports could easily pay for the country's fuel needs." But the government's controversial land redistribution programme was badly damaging the industry, he said. The government was evicting nearly 5 000 white families from commercial farms so the land could be redistributed to hundreds of thousands of black Zimbabweans. Those former commercial farms would produce only 10 million kilograms of Virginia flue-cured tobacco next year, compared to 150 million kilograms in 2000, Gawe said. Over 6 000 small-scale farmers produced 25 million kilograms this season, relying heavily on large-scale commercial growers for assistance with seedlings and curing, he said. Gawe rejected government claims that the 300 000 black Zimbabweans to be resettled on the land could speedily restore production levels. "From our experience dealing with smallholder farmers, it takes five to six seasons for a farmer to master the crop and get the quality right," he said.
President Robert Mugabe has said his land reform programme was an effort to correct colonial imbalances that left a handful of whites with one-third of the nation's farmland. Human rights workers, opposition officials and foreign diplomats say Mugabe has used the land issue as an excuse to wage a violent political war against the opposition and shore up his plummeting popularity amid the economic crisis. The private Daily News newspaper reported on Tuesday 180 families of black farm workers were forced to sleep outside near the city of Bulawayo, after ruling party militants evicted them from the flower farm where they had worked. Rights groups say more than 100 000 former farm workers and their families are battling homelessness and unemployment. Less than 10% of the workers, many of whom were opposition supporters, received plots of land under the redistribution program, rights workers said. Meanwhile, white commercial farmer Roy Bennett and a Zimbabwean-born British citizen, Stewart Girvin, were to appear in court on Tuesday in the remote rural town of Chimanimani on charges they videotaped Mugabe voters being given corn during recent local elections. Bennett, an opposition legislator, and Girvin could be charged either with violating election laws by entering the vicinity of polling stations without official permission, or with working as journalists without accreditation, police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said. Also, a sporadic strike by some of the nation's 80 000 teachers continued Tuesday despite the government's dismissal of 627 striking teachers on Monday and the arrest last week of union leader, Raymond Majongwe. Majongwe, released on bail, faces up to 10 years in jail on charges he organised an illegal labour action.
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From VOA News, 15 October
Fuel shortages drag down Zimbabwe dollar
Zimbabwe's currency this week sank to its lowest level in the country's history. At the present rate of exchange, it now costs nearly 1,000 Zimbabwe dollars for one U.S. dollar. Economists say the latest plunge by Zimbabwe's currency was sparked by the cost of imported fuel. Three weeks of fuel shortages ended Monday, after the government used all its available foreign currency to pay Libya for fuel. The fuel was stored in tanks controlled by the Libyans on the outskirts of Harare, and they only released it after receiving payment in foreign currency. Zimbabwe pays Libya about 40 American cents per liter of fuel. It is sold to the public and transporters at eight cents a liter. If the fuel were sold at what it actually costs the government, it would be about 400 Zimbabwe dollars a liter. Several economists said the country would grind to a standstill if Zimbabweans had to pay the actual price for fuel. Motorists are already hard pressed to pay 70 Zimbabwe dollars a liter. And fuel is not the only import that must be paid for in hard currency. Zimbabwe imports electricity from South Africa and Mozambique and must pay those countries in hard currency. In past years, the country earned much of its hard currency from its tobacco exports, and much of this currency was used to pay for importing fuel and electricity. But this source of hard currency is also disappearing, as most tobacco farmers have been evicted from their homes and land. On Monday, the tobacco industry announced that its foreign earnings for the upcoming season would be down to less than a third of previous years.
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From The Daily News, 15 October
Teachers' industrial action continues
Staff Reporters
The strike by teachers, called by the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), continued yesterday in most centres with teachers reporting for duty but simply sitting in their classrooms, leaving students to their own devices. In Bulawayo, most teachers observed the strike, despite claims by the government that it had failed. A snap survey by The Daily News yesterday in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru and parts of Masvingo showed that students at some schools were idle, as there were no lessons in progress. The PTUZ has vowed that teachers would continue with the industrial action despite the arrest and detention of the PTUZ secretary-general, Raymond Majongwe, last week. At other schools visited by The Daily News, all was quiet and some teachers were conducting lessons. Some of the students said they were revising by themselves. "We know we cannot sustain running battles with the police, but what we can do is go to schools and not teach because we have the capacity to sustain that," said Majongwe. He said the strike was not about the PTUZ, but about genuine concerns being raised by the teachers. The Zimbabwe Teachers' Association, which is led by Zanu PF Bulawayo councillor, Leonard Nkala, has maintained that its members have not gone on strike and that they were waiting for the results of negotiations between their organisation and the government over the salaries issue.
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From BBC News, 15 October
Zimbabwe union protests on the rise
By Martin Plaut
London - The government of Zimbabwe is facing a rising tide of discontent. A strike by teachers is in progress, despite union complaints of government harassment. They have been joined by health workers, and protests from university lecturers all complaining about their pay and conditions of employment. The industrial action comes as the government is attempting to grapple with economic decline. And the signs of the country's difficulties are all too evident. The tobacco crop - once the backbone of economy - has been crippled by the seizure of white owned farms. Just two years ago it was worth $400m. This year it is predicted to fetch one quarter of that sum. Driving commercial farmers off their land has not just hit whites. Some 100,000 black farm workers are now homeless and unemployed. And the Zimbabwe dollar has fallen through the floor. fficially there are 55 to the US dollar. But on the parallel market the American currency fetches 10 times that figure. The drought that has hit all of Southern Africa has hit the country particularly hard. Essential goods are now either impossible to obtain, or too expensive for ordinary people. One leading newspaper in South Africa commented this week: "No one knows when Zimbabwe's economy will collapse, but the end is nigh".
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From The Guardian (UK), 17 October
Mugabe stops charities' famine work
Andrew Meldrum in Harare
The Zimbabwe government has banned Oxfam and Save the Children from distributing urgently needed food aid, UN officials confirmed yesterday. Despite reports that people are dying of starvation, President Robert Mugabe's government has refused to allow the two charities to deliver food supplied by the UN World Food Programme (WFP). The government also told Save the Children to stop distributing its own food to people in the Binga district of western Zimbabwe. Hospital officials in Binga have confirmed that 29 people have died in recent months through malnutrition. "This is political obstruction of desperately needed food aid at a crucial point. If people do not get food now, many will die," said Tony Hall, the US representative to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, after a three-day tour of Zimbabwe. "Government officials confirmed to me that they will not allow those non-governmental organisations to distribute food aid for political reasons, because the government views them as loyal to the opposition party. I said that is unacceptable. They are major international organisations with fine reputations for non-partisan activity." Mr Hall also said that he had "credible reports" that the Mugabe regime was "using state-owned food as a political weapon to punish communities suspected of supporting the opposition. I heard it over and over again, particularly about the Binga area."
Binga, on Lake Kariba, is one of Zimbabwe's poorest areas and it has voted consistently for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Last month, it was the only rural area won by the MDC in local council elections. The WFP has asked the government to reconsider its ban. "By December, we estimate that 6.7 million Zimbabweans will be in need of food aid, but so far we only have food for 3.9 million," said a UN official. The European Union has promised 32m euros (£20m) for food relief to the WFP effort in Zimbabwe, bringing pledges up to 37% of what is needed. "Food is coming in but it is not coming in fast enough," said Mr Hall, who monitors food distribution efforts all over the world. "Within two months many more people will be hungry. We are looking at the possibility of major famine, major death. And yet the government is still obstructing food deliveries. I don't know why they are doing it at this point. They are hurting their own people." Ten other aid bodies have government accreditation to distribute WFP food. They are: Catholic Relief Services; Goal; Concern; Lutheran World Federation; Care International; Helpage; Plan International; Christian Care; World Vision; and Orap, a Zimbabwean group founded by a current cabinet minister.
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From The Daily News, 16 October
Two die of starvation
From Our Correspondent in Bulawayo
At least two villagers in Binga are reported to have died recently from starvation after the government stopped food aid into the district as punishment for Zanu PF's defeat in last month's rural district council elections in the area. Although officials at Binga hospital refused to talk about the deaths, sources yesterday said Siatema Siamabuyu, a villager from Nalubuyu, died after going for days without food. Another villager, identified only as Mrs Fife from Simbala village, died after eating a poisonous plant. Hospital sources said they were aware of the death of Fife but could not give details as no postmortem was conducted. Joel Gabbuza, the Binga MP said: "With the ban of Save The Children UK, we are likely to witness more deaths because people have virtually nothing to eat." The government stopped Save The Children from distributing food aid in Binga last week.
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From The Financial Gazette, 17 October
Zanu PF official named in MDC man's shooting
Bulawayo - Andrew Langa, the ruling Zanu PF party's candidate in the Insiza by-election, and his election agent Patrick Hove have been implicated in a shooting incident involving an opposition MDC activist in Matabeleland South, it was established yesterday. Welshman Ncube, the MDC secretary-general who is also party spokesman, named Darlington Kadengu as the opposition party's cadre shot on Tueday night by either the Zanu PF candidate or his election agent. Kadengu's condition was not known by last night. The Insiza by-election is scheduled for October 26 and 27. Ncube said Kadengu was shot near the spinal cord in what he described as a cold-blooded attack. "Either Langa or his election agent (Patrick Hove), who were both armed, fired shots at the MDC team, seriously injuring Darlington Kadengu," he charged. Alfred Zwenyika, the police spokesman for Matabeleland South, confirmed that a shooting incident took place in Filabusi. Zwenyika however said he could not comment on allegations that the shooting happened inside the Filabusi Police Station. He promised to come back to this reporter with fuller details by 5 pm yesterday but had not done so up to the time of going to print last night. Wayne Bvudzijena, the chief police spokesman, said he was on leave and could not comment. "In fact, I have not heard of the shooting. I am hearing it from you," he said.
Ncube said 12 of his party's supporters who were with Kadengu were subsequently arrested and detained after the shooting. Among those arrested is Charles Mpofu, the MDC's outspoken Bulawayo councillor who is the opposition's campaign manager in the Insiza by-election. "The party has sent lawyers to Filabusi to represent the victims attacked by Zanu PF thugs who have now been arrested by the partisan police which continues to drag the name of the Zimbabwe Republic Police into disrepute," Ncube said. "Medical attention is being sought for the injured person." Langa could not be reached for comment. An official manning the Zanu PF Filabusi office said Langa was out campaigning. A senior Zanu PF member in Matabeleland South, who asked not to be named, said the MDC activists had provoked Langa by visiting his home at night in search of materials seized by Zanu PF militia at a roadblock in the constituency earlier on Tuesday. "It was self defence, nothing else," the official said. "People from the MDC tried to break into his house and one of them was shot. In any case, why are they out here campaigning when they know we are winning?"
Siyabonga Malandu Ncube, the MDC's candidate in the election who claims to have witnessed the shooting inside the police station, denied that his supporters were to blame for the violence in the usually quiet rural constituency. Instead he alleged that police denied him permission to ferry Kadengu to hospital, a charge that could not be confirmed with the police. Narrating the incident, Malandu Ncube said Langa and Hove confronted the MDC team at the police station when the team went to make a report about the campaign material and $1.2 million which had been seized by Zanu PF supporters at an illegal roadblock. "Kadengu was shot inside the police office. Both Langa and Patrick were armed. It is one of them who shot our man," said Malandu Ncube. "At one point before the shooting, a police officer had a tussle with Langa over the gun as Langa was visibly agitated." The MDC aspiring legislator for Insiza said police allowed Langa and Hove to go free despite the shooting under their nose. "We are appalled by the behaviour of the police. These two men should be locked up until the matter is concluded. It goes to show that Zanu PF is a violent party," he added. Welshman Ncube said: "At Filabusi police camp, there was a bunch of Zanu PF youths who tore up MDC posters and other materials. When the MDC team tried to protect themselves from the onslaught, the Zanu PF candidate and his election agent arrived. Either Langa or his election agent, who were both armed, fired the shots at the MDC team, injuring Darlington."
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From The Daily News, 16 October
Thousands queue for maize-meal
Staff Reporter
In what was one of the longest queues ever seen in Harare, more than 7 000 people waited patiently on Friday at the grinding mill of a Kuwadzana 5 businessman to purchase maize-meal, which was selling for $300 per 10kg bag. It was not clear where the maize was coming from. A Daily News crew which visited the centre was briefly detained by two men claiming to be war veterans and a bunch of Zanu PF youths. The Zanu PF activists demanded the photographer's film which carried pictures of people in the queue and refused to let the crew go until they took down their national identification numbers. The group accused the Daily News of being "servants of the British" and insulted Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC president, in unprintable language. The owner of the grinding mill was not around and the journalists were saved from a beating by the arrival of the businessman's son. "We supply the whole of Kuwadzana, Mufakose and Dzivarasekwa," the businessman's son said, insisting they were only providing a community service.
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From The Financial Gazette, 17 October
Police barred from evicting CFU members from farms
Staff Reporter
Bulawayo - The Bulawayo High Court has issued a provisional order barring the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) from evicting Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU) members from their properties in Matabeleland. Justice Maphios Cheda granted the interim relief order last Friday following an urgent application by 75 members of the CFU's Matabeleland branch who are opposed to forcible farm evictions by the police. The CFU members say the evictions are unlawful because some of the white farmers removed from their farms in Matabeleland have not been issued with eviction notices. By Thursday last week, the police had allegedly forcibly evicted about 90 percent of white farmers in the province. Albert Mandizha, the officer commanding Matabeleland North, and the officer commanding for Matabeleland South, Casper Khumalo, are the first and second respondents respectively in the court case. Part of Cheda's interim order reads: "Pending the determination of this matter, the applicant is granted the following relief: that the ZRP be and is hereby interdicted from evicting the farmer from his farm until such time the Administrative Court has confirmed the acquisition and there is a lawful court order evicting the said farmer. That any farmer unlawfully evicted from his farm be and is hereby permitted to return to the said farm and that the first and second respondent are thereby ordered to ensure that the farmer is restored to his farm."
The High Court gave the two most senior police officers in Matabeleland 10 days to file opposing papers if they wished to contest the order. It could not be ascertained this week from police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena if the ZRP would contest the issue in court. Mac Crawford, the head of the CFU's Matabeleland branch, said the provisional order offered farmers a temporary reprieve, adding: "We are in the process of returning to our properties. We hope the ZRP will abide by the interim relief granted." Meanwhile, the High Court in Harare yesterday nullified 11 more eviction orders issued to white commercial farmers. Justice Sandra Mungwira issued consent orders nullifying the eviction notices because they were not properly served. More than 500 of the 2 900 commercial farmers issued with these eviction orders have successfully challenged their validity.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 17 October
British envoy told to 'stop meddling' in Zimbabwe
Harare - British High Commissioner to Zimbabwe Brian Donnelly was warned on Wednesday not to "interfere" in the internal affairs of the southern African country, according to the state-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. Information Minister Jonathan Moyo accused Donnelly of funding non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as the Amani Trust, which were involved in violence in Zimbabwe, according to the ZBC. Amani Trust helps victims of torture and has made allegations of widespread torture by the ruling party against members of the opposition. A state-owned weekly, The Sunday Mail, accused the British High Commission of granting 3,6-million Zimbabwe dollars to the NGO. President Robert Mugabe on Friday warned NGOs not to get involved in politics. Moyo was quoted by the state radio as saying that Donnelly was posted to Zimbabwe to destabilise the country as he did in Yugoslavia where he played an active role, according to the information minister, in the overthrow of the "democratically elected" government of Slobodan Milosevic. The arrival of Donnelly in Zimbabwe in 2001 saw a worsening of the already tense relations between London and Harare with the Zimbabwean government repeatedly accusing the high commissioner of having been sent to Zimbabwe to "do a Yugoslavia."
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Comment from The Daily News, 16 October
There must be more maize-meal in London
Bill Saidi
One of the government newspapers had this headline over a story about London: Is life in London worth the effort? It was, thankfully, a Reuters story. Whatever their detractors say about their alleged partisanship, the people at this news agency have built up a good reputation for fairness and accuracy. This feature on the high cost of living in the British capital didn’t paint an overly grim picture of how expensive the city has become, or an unnecessarily rosy picture of this city of Jack the Ripper and Ken Livingstone. It even had someone saying they wouldn’t live anywhere else but in London. Which some people have been heard to say about Zimbabwe, not surprisingly. It must come as a surprise to some, however, to learn that Ziana, the government’s poodle news agency now tottering on the brink of collapse, had any association with Reuters. Come to think of it, can you believe that the ZBC had any association with the BBC? Zanu PF has an incredible aversion to anything that smacks of fairness. All journalists who ever worked for the government media in the early years of independence and then fell out with the control freaks in Zanu PF, were thrown out for one reason - they tried their damnedest to tell the truth. Zanu PF is scared of the truth the way the vampire is scared of daylight. They may not be aware of it, but they promote yellow journalism, about which someone once said: "The reason why such journals lie is that it pays to lie; or, in other words, this is the very reason for which they are silly and scandalous and indecent. They supply a want of a demoralised public." The article in London was not written by a party hack. They are these pathetic young people who have given journalism a bad name. Older scribes now prefer to introduce themselves as chroniclers. This can be confusing as the simpletons might accuse you of working for The Chronicle. You really have to be desperate to work there.
My suspicion on reading the headline was they were once again lampooning London, for the benefit of the thousands of Zimbabweans queuing to renew their passports for travel to this new El Dorado. As far as the government and its media are concerned, there can be no reason why a red-blooded Zimbabwean would want to leave this beautiful country with its deranged, bloodthirsty Green Bombers, to go to cold, damp, crowded London with its friendly Bobbies. What? Even if they don’t have a job, no food, no prospect of any in the foreseeable future as long as a certain old man believes Fate decided he ought to rule this country until one of them dies - the country or himself? What they won’t explain to the satisfaction of even their most gullible supporters is why the red-blooded folks keep flying off to this cold, damp place. Most are fleeing because they can no longer eat their staple food in their own country. What are their chances of finding a lot of maize-meal in the shops in Brixton or the other areas of London and England where there are now such large concentrations of Zimbabweans (I hear there are pubs named, nostalgically, Marengenya and Mapitikoti - except the pronunciation is something like MaRange and MacPit)? The chances of an abundance of maize-meal in the UK must be fair. There has to be more mugaiwa in the London shops than anywhere in Zimbabwe, otherwise how would these people survive? Some readers would remember my search for maize-meal in London many years ago. I wrote about it somewhere. Others wouldn’t remember it. I would not blame them for that bit of amnesia. In Zimbabwe today, people are mostly concerned with IQ - I queue. Sadza or isitshwala defines what it is to be a Zimbabwean. Would the English be English without steak and kidney - even during the horrors of the mad cow disease? The Scots without haggis, the Americans without mother’s apple pie and Coca-Cola, the Italians without pasta, the Chinese without rice, the Mexicans without tortillas, the Ghanaians without fufu? Without sadza, Zimbabweans now look distinctly bewildered, walking around with the permanently sloshed look of the lush. You see it in their eyes; they are disoriented. If you put two fingers in front of them and ask: How many? I bet most of them would holler: "Who the hell cares? Where is the sadza, man?"
My search for maize-meal in London, in 1964, was in the company of the late George Nyandoro, who was in Britain recovering from an operation but was still politicking for the nationalist movement. He said he had not eaten the stuff for sometime and was getting quite desperate. I had been in London for a week or so and had not eaten it either. We both had severe pangs of longing. We searched high and low until we found the equivalent. I can’t remember where we bought it from, but it was enough of a substitute for us to sit down in George’s humble "digs" and pretend we were back in Harare township. Previously, people bound for London took with them a bag or two of maize-meal for relatives living there, and getting uglier and uglier and fatter and fatter on junk food. Now that the staple has become as rare in this country as a free and fair election, they can’t even smuggle it in their hand luggage because they have to find it first.
Since it is now a crime to be found with maize whose origin you cannot explain, what is a person to do? Steal it, of course. One reason some people have used to rationalise their theft of maize - or sugar, cooking and bread - is quite breathtaking in its logicality: If the government could steal a whole election from them, why would they feel guilty about stealing something as teensy-weensy as a loaf of bread from anybody, but particularly the government? So, there are a lot of people with creeping kleptomania who believe they could get away with the theft by claiming they stole because the government can still not explain why it stole their vote last March. The irony is that while hundreds of Zimbabweans can hop on a plane and dash off to London - and probably have to dash back after being told their papers are not in order the President and his many hangers-on, who are accused of stealing the election, can forget about taking their wives shopping at Harrods’ for a long time to come. It’s even more ironic that it’s the alleged theft of the election for which the old man and his friends are being denied the chance to shop for those expensive designer suits in Oxford Street and in fashionable Chelsea. What must be even more painful for the leaders is that those Zimbabweans in the UK do not have to queue for anything, except to get into the cinema. Someone in the government said they intended to hit back at the UK and the USA with their own sanctions. So far, the effect has been as painful as being attacked by a drunken butterfly.
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From SABC News, 17 October
Leader of Zimbabwe teachers' union re-arrested
The leader of a teachers' union that last week called on its members to go on strike for better pay has been arrested for the second time in a fortnight, a union official said today. Raymond Majongwe, the secretary general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), was arrested yesterday while addressing teachers at a school in Harare, said the union's co-ordinator, Innocent Sibanda. Majongwe's arrest comes two days after the government said 627 teachers had been dismissed for taking part in the strike. However, no teacher has yet received any written notice of their dismissal which will leave some schools with virtually no staff at all. "We have reports that the police are going around schools telling the fired teachers to go home but the teachers are ignoring the order because we were not employed by the police," Sibanda said. Majongwe was released on bail last Friday after being detained for two days during which he claims to have been severely assaulted by police. Yesterday police spokesperson Andrew Phiri confirmed Majongwe was being held again for going around schools urging teachers who wanted to work not to do so. Phiri could not however confirm that police were informing teachers of their dismissals. The PTUZ is demanding a 100% salary increase backdated to January and a 100% cost of living adjustment backdated to June. A high school teacher in Zimbabwe takes home $364 a month, much less that other civil servants. The government, which has promised teacher salary increases next year, has refused to negotiate with the PTUZ, which is considered a radical splinter group of the official Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA). ZIMTA has refused to back the strike.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 17 October
Mbeki refuses to budge on Zimbabwe
Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki has reaffirmed South Africa's policy of constructive engagement towards Zimbabwe and again rejected calls to punish President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF party. "We are not going to act on the Zimbabwe question with a view to punishment... What we have got to do is to ensure that the situation in Zimbabwe changes," he told MPs during parliamentary question time on Thursday. Mbeki repeated that South Africa would work with the Zimbabwean government, the opposition, the business community and the Commercial Farmers Union to assist in changing the crisis-ridden country. "That's the policy and the position we will take. It's the only position we will take." Referring to Foreign Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma's recent visit to Zimbabwe, he said: "We will continue to engage in Zimbabwe and push as hard as we can to produce results." However, it was perfectly clear that there were people within South Africa who had a different objective, Mbeki said. "Other people think our task is to punish, to defeat, to crush Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF." Mbeki said the way to ensure human rights and democracy was not to crush, "but to ensure that Zimbabwe gets onto a different path". He noted that many of those calling for the "crushing" were putting the obligation on South Africa to do so. "If they want to crush, I don't know why they don't do so themselves," Mbeki said to the amusement of ANC MPs.
He repeated that some opposition parties' attitudes towards Zimbabwe was based on "the fear that things happening to white people might happen here". That is the centre of the concern and the result is that major challenges happening on our continent, those people in our country do not want to address. It doesn't matter how many Ivorians die. 'Let's talk about Zimbabwe'. Doesn't matter who many millions of Sudanese die. 'Let's talk about Zimbabwe'," Mbeki chided. Pointing to the government benches, Mbeki said South Africa would not proceed to define Africa's agenda on the basis of whether "those people who sit there constitute a threat to white South Africa and to demonstrate that we are not such a threat then we have to do something about Mugabe. What we have to do with Zimbabwe is to assist Zimbabwe to get out of its crisis ... the economic, political and social crisis." He repeated that there were many things that were wrong with Zimbabwe and which South Africa did not agree with. On the recent Commonwealth troika meeting in Abuja, he said Zimbabwe's Commercial Farmers Union had approached South Africa's High Commission to Harare ahead of the meeting and forwarded a memorandum in which it said sanctions were not the answer to the country's ills.
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From ICG, 17 October
International division plays into Mugabe’s hands
Media focus on white farmers feeds Zanu PF propaganda
Deep divisions in the international community about the response to Zimbabwe ’s crisis are playing into President Robert Mugabe’s hands. Foreign media emphasis on the plight of white farmers also helps the regime’s liberation rhetoric reinforcing the erroneous but widespread belief in Africa that the West is concerned about Zimbabwe only because white property interests have been harmed. A new report from the International Crisis Group, Zimbabwe: The Politics of National Liberation and International Division, a copy of which is attached, says that the split between broadly Africa and the West has paralysed international efforts to help break the political impasse in Zimbabwe before it results in widespread deadly violence or possible state collapse. This has damaged perceptions of Africa and weakens the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU). The report seeks to emphasise the very real problems in Zimbabwe including the risks to southern African stability and rising humanitarian costs of the crisis. Zimbabwean human rights groups are now reporting torture rates that are among the highest in the world while government policies have turned a drought into a food emergency, and the regime is blatantly using food as a political weapon against opposition supporters. One Zanu PF official is quoted in the report, saying "We would be better off with only six million people, with our own people. We don’t want all these extra people". Malnutrition rates are rising sharply and more than 6.7 million Zimbabweans are expected to need food aid by the end of the year.
John Prendergast, Co-Director of ICG’s Africa Program, said: "The policy division between the West and Africa has emboldened the ruling party and undermined the international response to the crisis in Zimbabwe. The skewed emphasis by much of the international media on the plight of the white farmers has also given Mugabe's revolutionary rhetoric greater resonance in many African quarters, rather than putting a spotlight on the egregious human rights abuses, the dismantling of democratic institutions, the use of food as a weapon, the destruction of the rule of law and the lack of security for private investment". Among the measures recommended by ICG are targeted sanctions that are better enforced and extended beyond Zanu PF’s leadership to include the regime’s commercial supporters and bankers and family members, particularly those studying in the West. The report also details a much more nuanced two-track diplomatic strategy for the United States and the European Union of strong and public actions to isolate the regime while quietly engaging with and applying back-stage pressure on key African states and SADC to encourage more resolute action.
From ZWNEWS: If you would like a copy of this latest ICG report, please let us know. It will be sent as a Word attachment to an email message - total size 195 Kb, or approximately four times the size of the average daily ZWNEWS.
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From The Daily News, 17 October
Victim of Zanu PF shooting arrested
From Chris Gande in Bulawayo
Darlington Kadengu, an MDC member, was yesterday arrested by the police after he had been shot and seriously wounded, allegedly by Andrew Langa, the Zanu PF candidate for the Insiza parliamentary by-election. Professor Welshman Ncube, the MDC secretary-general, said the police in Filabusi arrested Kadengu together with 12 other MDC members after the shooting. Ncube said he was concerned that Kadengu was being detained and yet he had a bullet lodged in his back, near the spinal cord. The 13 MDC members were still in police custody by late yesterday afternoon and were expected to appear in court today. Kadengu was briefly taken to Filabusi Hospital where he was treated and sent back to the police cells. Superintendent Wayne Bvudzijena, the police spokesman, as is his habit concerning The Daily News, refused to comment when contacted yesterday. Langa, who was not arrested, could not be reached for comment yesterday. He was attending a Zanu PF rally at which the Minister of State for Information and Publicity, Professor Jonathan Moyo, and Elliot Manyika, the Minister of Youth, Gender and Employment Creation, were key speakers.
The shooting is reported to have occurred after the MDC members were ambushed by a group of armed men, who robbed them of more than $5 million in election campaign funds, 1 000 party T-shirts and other campaign material. Maxwell Zimuto, the MDC national information officer, who was in the travelling group, said they left Bulawayo on Tuesday at around 9pm. "As we were approaching Filabusi, the driver of our car told us he had noticed a vehicle following us. We told him to accelerate, but the car behind us did the same," Zimuto said. When their car eventually stopped, the truck trailing them also stopped and four men jumped out, threatening to shoot them. The assailants then allegedly took out all the campaign material, including the money, from the MDC car and loaded it into their own vehicle. They then sped off. Zimuto said the MDC team proceeded to Filabusi and went to Langas home to find out whether he could assist them recover their property. Langa allegedly fired a gun at the group and they fled to the police station. As they were making a report to the officer-in-charge, an Inspector Shoko, Langa turned up brandishing a revolver. He allegedly fired at the group, hitting Kadengu below the armpit. Their cars’ tyres were deflated and the vehicles were still at the police station yesterday. Mkandla, the MDC district chairman, said the police had initially told him that they were keeping the group in custody for their own safety. "The police later changed and said they had been given instructions to keep them in custody and to charge them," he said. Gibson Sibanda, the MDC vice-president, who was at Filabusi yesterday, said: "This is a desperate effort by Zanu PF and clearly shows how a dictator is using every trick, including violence, to cling onto power." Siyabonga Ncube, the MDC candidate, described the incident as an act of evil. He said it was shocking that the police could arrest the victims of the shooting and leave the perpetrator free. The by-election is set for 26 and 27 October.
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From The Financial Gazette, 17 October
Mudede ordered to move ballot papers to Harare
Staff Reporter
The High Court in Harare yesterday ordered Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede to move to Harare all ballot papers used in the disputed March presidential elections for safe keeping. Justice Lavender Makoni ruled that Mudede and his subordinates should make arrangements to move all the ballot papers from the country's 120 constituencies to one place but still keep them separate. This follows an urgent court application last week by Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), for an order seeking the safe keeping of the ballot papers, which he could use in his election petition against President Robert Mugabe to prove allegations of massive electoral fraud. "It is ordered that all constituency registrars in Zimbabwe shall preserve in separate sealed packets all counted and rejected ballot papers, together with counterfoils and voters' rolls used in all polling stations in Zimbabwe during the said presidential election held on March 9-11 2002," Justice Makoni's interim order said. "And the respondent (Mudede) shall ensure that the said constituency registrars shall transmit the same (ballots papers) to him forthwith for him to hold in his safe custody."
Last month Mudede failed to get court permission to destroy the ballot papers when he wanted to use the same boxes in the local government elections held late last month. The court only allowed him to use the boxes but not to tamper with the March ballots. Fearing that the papers could be tampered with since they were no longer in sealed boxes, Tsvangirai applied to the court for an order that compels Mudede to bring the papers to one secure place. Yesterday's ruling, which Mudede might challenge, means that he will have to move the ballot papers to a safe place where they cannot be tampered with. Mudede had argued that because of logistical and financial constraints, it would be difficult to move the ballot papers to one place as demanded by the opposition leader. The MDC argued that it was prepared to help the registrar-general keep the voting materials safely and help ease the reported logistical and financial constraints. Tsvangirai is challenging Mugabe's re-election, citing massive rigging by government and ruling Zanu PF officials and widespread violence and intimidation against his followers by Zanu PF militia, war veterans and party members in the run-up to the vote.
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From BBC News, 16 October
Asylum seeker's death fears
Following the announcement the first dedicated asylum appeals centre in Wales will open in Newport at a cost of £3m, BBC News Online spoke to Ronald Gwenzi who is fighting a decision not to grant him asylum in the UK. Mr Gwenzi, 23, fled Zimbabwe after he claims he was kidnapped, tortured and threatened with his life for supporting the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). He blames supporters of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's party, Zanu PF, for the attacks, and fears he will be murdered if he returns to his homeland. Currently, Mr Gwenzi is living in Swansea while he waits for his appeal hearing at the end of October. Mr Gwenzi arrived in a UK airport last December where he was stopped by immigration officials. His claim for asylum was refused, but he said he was desperate to stay in this country because he feared for his life. "It all started in 1999 when I became involved with the MDC, the opposition party," said Mr Gwenzi, who lived in Bulawayo, in the south west of the country. "I helped with the security at the political rallies - making sure the area was safe. The political tensions at the time were growing worse and there was fighting. People were being kidnapped, tortured and murdered by war veterans that supported Robert Mugabe's party. I began having some serious difficulties because of my involvement with the MDC," he said. Mr Gwenzi claimed that, following threats, he was kidnapped and beaten. "I was stopped in the middle of the road by a woman asking for help. I found myself surrounded by about 20 men. I was beaten and taken to a room. They beat me during the four days I was there," he said.
Following his ordeal, Mr Gwenzi, who was training to be an accountant, gave up his political activity. But within months he returned to politics, despite threats on his life. "One night when I was walking home, I was hit over the head with an iron bar," he said. Mr Gwenzi lost consciousness and said that when he came around, he again discovered he had been kidnapped. "They started to threaten me and I thought they were going to kill me." After being beaten, Mr Gwenzi was dumped in the bush. Over the next year, he concentrated on his studies, avoiding politics. However, by 2001, elections were being held and Mr Gwenzi returned to politics and claimed he was again targeted, beaten and threatened with death. "I was terrified - I thought I was going to die. I knew I had to escape the country or I would lose my life," he said. Supported by his employer, who paid for a flight to the UK and gave him money, Mr Gwenzi thought he would be able to settle and find work here. But his application for asylum was refused and his appeal against the decision will be heard on 30 October. "I hope that my appeal is successful. Things have been very bad for me and my family. I don't know what I will do if I am not successful. I am very afraid," he added.
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From IRIN (UN), 18 October
WFP suspends food aid in Insiza district
Johannesburg - The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday it had suspended food aid distribution in Insiza district in Zimbabwe's Matabeleland South province "until further notice", following the seizure of food by ruling Zanu PF activists and its partisan redistribution. The food agency said that Zanu PF activists in Senale centre in Insiza district on Thursday "intimidated" staff of the local implementing NGO, Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP), and seized 3 mt of food which they "distributed in an unauthorised manner". The Zanu PF supporters were campaigning ahead of a by-election due in the area next month. "Relief food distributions are not the place for any kind of political activity. WFP will only distribute its food on the basis of need and without regard to partisan affiliations," WFP Zimbabwe Representative Kevin Farrell said. This has been the first time WFP has had to raise the alarm over the politicisation of food aid, and the agency said it was seeking urgent assurances from the authorities that a similar incident would not happen again. The food seized was the monthly ration for 6,780 people in two wards in the district.
WFP's suspension of distribution coincided with the announcement that the European Commission had donated US $60 million for the food agency's Southern Africa appeal, and half of the amount would be spent on the relief programme in Zimbabwe. WFP said it would be targeting four million hungry people in the country. Meanwhile, Save the Children Fund (SCF) said on Friday it was continuing talks with the government over their suspension as a registered food distribution NGO in Binga and Chimanimani districts in the drought-prone Zambezi valley. Director Chris McIvor told IRIN that SCF had presented the authorities with the requested paperwork regarding their registration and activities on Thursday, and he was "reasonably hopeful" the suspension, announced last week, would be lifted. SCF was "gearing up" to feed 125,000 people in the two districts by November/December, McIvor said. News reports said Oxfam, another British NGO, had also been suspended from distributing food by the government.
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From The Daily News, 18 October
MDC claims Zanu PF using food to woo voters
From Our Correspondent
Gibson Sibanda, the MDC vice-president, and several senior party officials, said they were shocked on Wednesday to find bags of maize stacked at a community hall, the venue of their campaign rally in Insiza. In what has apparently become Zanu PF's election campaign tool, the ruling party has stepped up its food-for-votes strategy in Insiza. Insiza voters go to the polls on 26 and 27 October to elect a new Member of Parliament. The MDC was on Wednesday forced to cancel its campaign rally after an incident in which the Zanu PF candidate, Andrew Langa, allegedly shot an MDC supporter in front of the officer-in-charge of Insiza Police Station, Inspector Shoko, at the police station. So far, there have been no reports of Langa's arrest for the shooting. The MDC candidate is Siyabonga Ncube. The Insiza seat, won by the MDC in 2000, became vacant after the death of the MP, George Joe Ndlovu, in what his relatives said were suspicious circumstances.
Zanu PF allegedly piled up the bags of maize at the venue of the MDC rally on Tuesday night. Sibanda said Zanu PF was "unashamedly" using food to garner votes ahead of the Insiza by-election. "There can be no better evidence of the food-for-votes tactic than this," he said, pointing to the stacks of maize bags. A few metres away from the community hall dozens of people were queuing for maize from a Grain Marketing Board truck. The distribution had apparently been timed to coincide with the start of the rally. Filabusi is also swarming with hundreds of so-called Green Bombers, Zanu PF youths in their familiar green military fatigues. Zanu PF has said that Insiza constituency is the key to its political strategy because winning it would create the positive impression that the party had "regained" Matabelaland which it virtually lost to the MDC in 2000. This triumph would follow the party's "victory" in the province in last month's rural district elections.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 18 October
Botswana demands payment for fuel
The Botswana government has stepped up efforts to recover payment for a 20 million-litre fuel credit line it extended to President Robert Mugabe's government in March 2000. A senior Zimbabwe government official this week said correspondence from Botswana has been "pouring in" since the report in the Zimbabwe Independent two months ago that Gaborone was exerting pressure on Harare to service the debt. "We have been receiving lots of inquiries on the issue from Botswana but I can't say more than that," said the official. He said the Botswana government has used every platform available to raise the issue with Harare, especially with the Foreign Affairs department during regional gatherings. The latest was at the Angola Sadc heads of state summit where Foreign Affairs minister Stan Mudenge had talks with his Botswana counterpart Mompati Merafhe and trade minister Jacob Nkate. This follows reports that the Festus Mogae government was faced with a protest from the parliamentary finance committee led by Duke Lefokgo and some radical MPs who accuse their president of splashing public resources without consultation. Other MPs said to be pushing for a tougher line are Tshelamg Mafifi, Lesego Motsumi and Kenneth Goma.
Mogae's government extended the facility in what was seen as a solidarity gesture after it began losing fuel to Zimbabweans who were regularly crossing into that country to buy the commodity in bulk. Zimbabwe received 10 million litres of diesel fuel, five million litres of petrol and five million litres of aviation fuel from Botswana following an acute three-month fuel shortage which saw the country nearly grind to a halt. Both Mines and Energy minister Edward Chindori-Chininga and Noczim managing director Webster Muriritirwi have steadfastly refused to respond on the issue saying only the Foreign Affairs department could comment on foreign trade agreements. Mugabe's government has been hard hit by an acute shortage of foreign currency leading to its failure to service its foreign debts. Of late, Gaborone has become uncomfortable with Mugabe's policies. Recently the ruling Botswana Democratic Party rapped Mugabe's agrarian programme, saying it had negatively impacted on Botswana's tourism industry. Senior secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Willard Chiwewe this week said he was not in a position to comment on the issue.
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From The Daily News, 18 October
Plans to declare Todd national hero shot down
Staff Reporter
Close associates of the late Sir Garfield Todd, who died in Bulawayo last week, say they are alarmed the government plans to declare him a national hero. Last night, a close associate of the former prime minister of Southern Rhodesia said it would be "inappropriate" if hero status was under consideration for Sir Garfield. He said: "Overtures have been made to Todd's daughter, Judith, and she hopes the government will not make the mistake of trying to confer hero status on her father. She is busy with a committee preparing for next week's memorial services in Harare and Bulawayo, and his
funeral at Dadaya on 27 October." Judith was not available for comment last night. But both Vice-President Simon Muzenda and the ruling party's secretary for information and publicity, Dr Nathan Shamuyarira, spoke highly of the contribution Sir Garfield made to this country, its education and the cause of black Zimbabweans. Todd, who succumbed to a massive stroke at 94, will be buried next to his wife, Grace, who died last year. He was detained twice by the Rhodesian regime, and restricted to his ranch, while his daughter, Judith, after being force-fed during her six weeks' detention in Marondera police cells, was forced into exile for seven years.
"Sir Garfield Todd made his position clear, in the last years of his life. He had been appalled at the ruling Zanu PF's suppression of democracy, the erosion of civil liberties, assassinations of opposition officials and supporters, arrests and torture, and the climate of fear which had spread through the country," the well placed source said. The Daily News last night learnt that his only relative in Zimbabwe, Judith, is hoping she is not placed in the "embarrassing" position of rebutting "well-meaning" people who believe her father should be a hero. "She would not consider it, as she knows it would have been against his wishes", said the well placed source. New Zealand-born Sir Garfield was refused permission to vote in the March presidential election, and Judith, born in Zimbabwe, had to go to court repeatedly to get a passport, which is only valid for a year. Next Monday, Tobaiwa Mudede, the registrar-general will appeal to the Supreme Court against the High Court judgment awarding the return of Judith Todd's citizenship and passport.
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From The Financial Gazette, 17 October
Jokonya for top CIO job?
By Sydney Masamvu Political Editor
Veteran Zimbabwean diplomat Tichaona Jokonya this week emerged as the leading contender for the top job at the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), the country's premier spy agency. The CIO's deputy director-general, retired brigadier Happyton Bonyongwe, is also in the running for the post for which outsiders are being considered to try to overhaul an agency long torn by factionalism and is seen lacking professionalism and discipline. Fears have also been raised that most of the spy agency's senior officers are involved in shady deals and are also being used by influential ruling Zanu PF politicians against their rivals. The post of CIO director-general became vacant when Elisha Muzonzini was recently re-assigned to head Zimbabwe's embassy in Kenya in a move insiders see as a demotion. It was not possible yesterday to establish why Muzonzoni, a former high-ranking officer in the army, had been relegated to a diplomatic posting. State Security Minister Nicholas Goche, who runs the CIO, was said to be out of his Harare office and therefore not contactable. But sources say ruling party politicians have been lobbying in the past two weeks to have their "own men" placed at the helm of the CIO, which won acclaim for its work against South Africa's destabilisation efforts of neighbouring black nations in the 1980s but is notorious for gross human rights violations back home. Zanu PF insiders say attempts are being made to entice Jokonya, until two weeks ago Zimbabwe's ambassador at the United Nations, to take up the top job at the spy agency. Jokonya, who is retiring, is said to have indicated in private that he wants to lecture at the University of Zimbabwe after retiring from government service. "Contacts are being made at a high level to convince Jokonya to take up the job," a Zanu PF member of its supreme Politburo organ told the Financial Gazette this week. "In the coming days, we will see how it shapes up, but his name is being actively considered. If we fail to convince him to take up the job, then Bonyongwe will be elevated. But he (Jokonya) has emerged as the favourite."
Jokonya has for the past 10 years been Zimbabwe's permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva and New York. Before his UN appointments, he was the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Zimbabwe's permanent representative to the then Organisation of African Unity between 1983 and 1988. Jokonya comes from Chikomba in Mashonaland East, home to several officials with a grip on the reins of Zimbabwe's government. These include President Robert Mugabe's wife Grace, influential chief Cabinet secretary Charles Utete and retired army general Solomon Mujuru. Mujuru masterminded the appointments of former army officers Muzonzini and Bonyongwe to the CIO several years ago. Sources say President Mugabe is keen to place a mature individual at the helm of the CIO to instil discipline and boost the spy agency's effectiveness. The head of the agency is appointed by Mugabe and reports directly to him, although at times he goes through the minister of security, a post presently held by Goche. According to the sources, the CIO has lately been blamed for failing to produce incisive reports on the operations of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and Western diplomats based in Zimbabwe. Intelligence sources say Mugabe has been worried about the inconsistencies in some reports issued by the spy agency, which have led to suspicion of possible infiltration by the opposition and foreign spy networks.
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Comment from The Toronto Star (Canada), 18 October
Zimbabwe's forgotten struggle
Gordon Barthos
Matthew Ngwenya was battling for his life yesterday. He's a member of Zimbabwe's courageous Movement for Democratic Change, the only real opposition to President Robert Mugabe's violent, corrupt, isolated regime. Ngwenya was elected to the Kamativi town council in last month's municipal elections. That sent Mugabe's men into a "vicious" fury, according to local press reports. They rampaged through the town on Saturday and beat Ngwenya senseless, crushing his skull and breaking an arm. They stabbed his wife and left her for dead. They beat a woman eight months pregnant with iron bars. And they chased injured people into the surrounding hills. Police couldn't even begin to assess the damage. This is what daily life is like for Zimbabwe's embattled democrats, as Canada and other Commonwealth countries look the other way and the media focus on "hotter" stories.
Seven months ago, Mugabe effectively stole the presidential election from MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai in what was widely seen as a fraudulent vote. Since then Mugabe has tightened his 22-year grip on the nation of 12 million, driving white farmers from their holdings, and harassing judges, the media, opposition figures - even charities - as the economy crumbles and 6 million go hungry. This past week Tsvangirai decried Mugabe's "state-sponsored terror" and begged the United Nations to investigate "the carnage, the violence and the human rights abuses" that have taken place. Mugabe, meanwhile, has been ranting that foreign embassies, the private media, trade unions, banks, companies and even drought relief agencies have made themselves enemies of the state. How? He claims they support his opponents. Where are important African leaders as all this goes on? South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo are still preaching "engagement" with the Mugabe regime. They're embarrassed by Mugabe's violence, but still regard him as a freedom fighter. Since the fraudulent vote, they have rejected any suggestion that Zimbabwe be expelled from the 54-nation Commonwealth. Officially Zimbabwe is merely suspended for a year. Mugabe isn't welcome at summits, but other contacts continue. Has this gentle approach worked? No. Things have gone from bad to worse. During the municipal elections last month, MDC candidate Nikoniari Chabvamudeve was hacked to pieces, to intimidate others. Scores of MDC candidates promptly withdrew, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum reports. No fewer than 37 other MDC supporters have been murdered this year. And the forum cites 1,000 cases of police torture. Anyone who defies the regime is a target.
On Sunday, Australian Prime Minister John Howard broke with the Commonwealth herd and took stronger, though still largely symbolic, action. He formally banned Mugabe and 76 of his ministers and officials from setting foot in his country. He froze their Australian assets. And he suspended other contacts. "Democracy has been trashed by President Mugabe," explained Australia's foreign minister Alexander Downer. "Human rights egregiously abused, people harassed, driven off farms without compensation. It is a situation I think all Australians feel strongly about." Canadians, too. Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government has made it clear that Mugabe and his cronies aren't welcome here. But Ottawa's sanctions are less sweeping than Australia's. Our criticism is muted. We are reluctant to demand that Africa's leaders lean on the regime.
That is a cop-out, as people like Matthew Ngwenya and Nikoniari Chabvamudeve are attacked and left for dead. It is a betrayal of other Zimbabwean democrats who are terrorized daily. Linos Mushonga, a Harare city councillor and MDC member, just this week said he was beaten and tortured by police who gave him electric shocks that sent him into convulsions. Medical reports confirm injuries consistent with his story. "If the police can do this to me, a city councillor, then who is safe?" he told The Guardian newspaper. "The international community is letting us down." Tongesai Goremucheche, an MDC supporter, was attacked by thugs wielding sticks, iron bars and broken bottles during the local elections. Gift Dhliwayo, a traditional healer and MDC sympathizer, had his home torn apart and burned. John Hwenhira and his wife were beaten and left for dead. Keiphas Madzorera was beaten with an iron bar, and stabbed. There isn't space in this column to catalogue the suffering. Yet Zimbabwe's democrats struggle on, risking everything to rescue their nation from autocracy, violence and corruption. They deserve more than a passing bleat of concern.
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From The Daily News, 18 October
250 000 farm workers jobless after land grab
About 250 000 farm workers are unemployed since the onset of the land reform programme, according to research conducted by the Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe (FCTZ). The FCTZ said in its Budiriro Mumapurazi newsletter for September that about 50 percent of the farm workers had become redundant as their employers wound up their businesses, following the acquisition of their farms by the government. Before the launch of the fast-track resettlement programme in 2000, about 500 000 workers were employed by commercial farmers. Close to two million people are direct dependants of the farm worker community. About 94 percent of commercial farmers have been issued with eviction notices. While some commercial farmers who have left the country have retrenched all their workers, those who have decided to stay have reduced their workforce. For example, one Beatrice farmer, whose name cannot be revealed for fear of victimisation, had about 650 workers three years ago. The farmer, whose only farm has been listed, has retained 65 workers on his farm, to look after his dairy cattle. The farmer has also been ordered by so-called war veterans to stop growing yellow maize and tobacco, crops on which some of the workers were engaged. Asked about the whereabouts of some of the farm workers who had left Beatrice Farm, a farm worker who declined to be named said: "Some of the workers have left for the rural areas, while others are living on neighbouring farms where they have occupied farms. Some of them are homeless."
The FCTZ report reveals that farm worker livelihood has deteriorated and there is increased vulnerability among them. The study, conducted in Mashonaland West, East and Central as well as Manicaland, was aimed at assessing the impact of the land reform programme on farm worker livelihood. The research used 235 farms, representing about 10 percent of all farms, identified as the worst affected in the four provinces. The report says: "The affected farm workers are in urgent need of assistance, the main priority being food, so as to avert massive starvation." "The staple food situation on all farms surveyed was found to be very critical." Although on those farms operating near normal or which had scaled down significantly, the farmers were said to be assisting farm workers with subsidised supplies, but these were not adequate to meet their requirements, the FCTZ said. The FCTZ also said the unemployed farm workers were in dire need of food aid because they no longer had any source of income with which to sustain themselves. Some farmers were providing subsidised maize for the workers before the onset of the land reform programme but these had since stopped, particularly in cases where the farmer had moved out. About 30 percent of the 2 900 farmers issued with eviction notices have left the country to explore farming opportunities in countries such as Zambia, Mozambique, Uganda, Botswana, New Zealand, Canada and Australia. The study revealed that the situation in Mashonaland East was generally confrontational between farm workers and the new settlers. Over 90 percent of the farms in Chikomba district were said to have stopped operations while about 80 percent of farms in Wedza were also not operational. Marondera and Seke had over 50 percent and Goromonzi is the least affected, with 20 percent of farms in this category. "In Mashonaland Central, however, nearly 80 percent of farm workers have continued to stay on farms. The situation on the ground in Mazowe, Shamva and Guruve districts was found to be very tense, with most farmers having left and settlers having moved in," says the report. The FCTZ said settlers were becoming increasingly impatient with the farm workers' continued presence long after the farmers who employed them had left, and were now threatening the farm workers with eviction.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 18 October
Another blow to Mugabe in Luanda
Mthulisi Mathuthu
In what analysts see as a further shot across President Mugabe's bows, it has emerged that the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), led by Botswana, suspended the signing of a Mutual Defence Pact proposing military intervention in conflict resolution at the just-ended Luanda summit in Angola. Sources said Botswana objected to a provision in the pact making it mandatory for Sadc member states to intervene militarily in the event of one of its members being attacked, leading to the suspension of the signing of the pact. Diplomats this week said this was a blow to Mugabe, accused of trying to smuggle an adventurist licence through the backdoor. In August 1998, he persuaded Angola and Namibia to join him in intervening in the Democratic Republic of Congo under the banner of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security. Sources said this was a setback for Zimbabwean foreign policy as Gaborone had adopted South Africa's position in favouring dialogue and regional consensus, rather than military action, as the best means of settling internal disputes. President Festus Mogae is reported to have steadfastly refused to sign the pact protesting that the provision was calculated to undermine individual countries' sovereignty and their right to make independent decisions.
Diplomats told the Zimbabwe Independent this week that the leaders had also sidelined Mugabe within the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security by re-electing Mozambique's Joaquim Chissano for another one-year term. This, they said was part of a wider plan to deny the Zimbabwean ruler the opportunity of holding any key positions within Sadc for fear of compromising the region's relations with international bodies. In a move to appease the European Union, which is increasingly concerned at Mugabe's behaviour, the leaders have already successfully barred Mugabe from taking over as the Sadc deputy chair. Botswana was also driven by fear that Namibia, as an ally of Mugabe, would be allowed to hold on to disputed territory in the Caprivi Strip which is a bone of contention between Gaborone and Windhoek. The Organ on Politics, Defence and Security has been operating in a vacuum since South Africa's refusal to sign its 1996 protocol citing fears that it would give the then organ chair, Mugabe, too many powers. During his tenure as the ad hoc chair, Mugabe was accused of abusing the organ to fulfil regional 'Napoleonic ambitions'. This led to a standoff between Harare and Pretoria until last year when Chissano took over as the chair in a bid by the leaders to prise the organ from Mugabe. Only last month, the Sadc troika, comprising Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Tanzania, met in Harare to spruce up a document setting up the defence pact.
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From The Daily News, 18 October
Justice minister accused of protecting Mnangagwa over damning report
Pedzisai Ruhanya
Patrick Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs is sitting on a report on his predecessor, Emmerson Mnangagwa's conduct, following his illegal release of a hard-core armed robber, George Tanyanyiwa Chikanga. The report is the result of a probe ordered by the High Court last year. Three weeks after the Attorney-General, Andrew Chigovera, said he had submitted his report to Chinamasa on how Mnangagwa released Chikanga, the minister has still not commented on the contents. Since last week, Chinamasa has been promising to comment on the results of the investigations after he acknowledged he had seen the report but, because of his busy schedule, had not read it. Last week on Thursday he promised to make public the report on Monday this week but when contacted on that day, Chinamasa promised to call The Daily News after he had read the report. In November last year, retired Justice David Bartlett ruled that Mnangagwa unlawfully released Chikanga in March 2000. Mnangagwa is the Speaker of Parliament and the Zanu PF secretary for administration. Chigovera said then: "I have completed that report and handed it to the ministry and it is up to the ministry to see what it can do with it. I will not comment on the details of the report until I hear from the minister."
Bartlett said Chigovera should investigate all the files related to the release of prisoners during Mnangagwa's tenure, to establish whether such releases were handled properly. In his affidavit during Chikanga's trial, Mnangagwa admitted Chikanga's release was an error but attributed the anomaly to his then permanent secretary, Augustine Chikumira, who died in January last year, and his personal assistant, a Mr Nyathi, also deceased. In his ruling, Bartlett said he had a high regard for Chikumira and from the evidence, was satisfied he was not linked to Chikanga's release. During the trial, Bartlett established that Chikanga was previously convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison on a number of counts of armed robbery but only served nine years. The court then heard that Chikanga was released early because he was purportedly suffering from hypertension. But a medical examination ordered by Bartlett showed that Chikanga did not suffer from hypertension. He was redetained and is still to be tried in another matter involving a $7 million armed robbery.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 18 October
Governors on payroll despite expiry of tenure
Mthulisi Maththu/Blessing Zulu
The government is paying full salaries and benefits to six governors and resident ministers whose terms of office expired over four months ago. A government source told the Zimbabwe Independent this week that governors Obert Mpofu, Stephen Nkomo of Matabeleland North and South, Oppah Muchinguri of Manicaland, Josiah Hungwe of Masvingo, Peter Chanetsa of Mashonaland West, and David Karimanzira of Mashonaland East had been illegally occupying office when their terms expired in June. "Most should have had their terms extended in June to justify their continuing in service," said a source. Mpofu was due for renewal in August. The governors this week refused to comment on the issue, referring all questions to the Office of the President and to the cabinet. Both Hungwe and Chanetsa said they couldn't remember when they were appointed, that only the president knew. "My friend, I don't know what you are talking about because my duty is to work," said Chanetsa yesterday. "The president is the one who knows what he is doing. Why not ask him?" Hungwe said: "I didn't appoint myself so I do not see why you are asking me that question." Mpofu switched off his phone when the question was put to him while the other governors were not reachable.
Constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku, said while the appointment of the governors was the president's constitutional right, he still had to announce the appointment or extension of office of his appointees. "The president has to issue a Government Gazette to announce the extension of a governor's term or the appointment of another. If that doesn't happen, then the whole thing becomes illegal," Madhuku said. According to the Provincial Districts Act, a governor's term should not exceed two years. The secretary for the president and the cabinet, Charles Utete, was said to be out of his office until next Monday. A governor earns an annual salary of $1,12 million with an annual general allowance of $56 004 and a housing allowance of $142 104. Governors in Zimbabwe are generally seen as part of President Mugabe's patronage network as they have few individual powers to run their provinces.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 19 October
Zimbabwe police arrest the nude 'ghost' thief
Harare A thief who disguised himself as a ghost using ash and grease and robbed foreigners at a prime tourist site in southern Zimbabwe has been arrested, the Herald newspaper reported Saturday. The thief, who worked naked, his body daubed with ash, took goods and money worth 20-million Zimbabwe dollars ($360 000) over a four-year period from tourists to the Great Zimbabwe monument, an ancient stone-walled citadel. "Some tourists even formulated theories that the 'ghost' was the godfather of the monuments, angry with the constant visit of foreigners," the paper said. Police ended the bogus bogeyman's lucrative spree last week when they raided his home in Masvingo, 292 kilometres south of Harare, the Herald reported.
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From The Sunday Times (UK), 20 October
Sainsbury’s supplied by Mugabe aide
Adam Nathan and David Leppard
Sainsbury’s supermarkets have sold thousands of pounds worth of vegetables from a Zimbabwean farm seized from its white owner by the wife of Robert Mugabe’s army chief. The company admitted that it bought large quantities of sugar-snap peas and mangetout from Jocelyn Chiwenga between June and September. Chiwenga is a senior figure in Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party. Her husband, Lieutenant-General Constantine Chiwenga, the commander of the Zimbabwean army, is on the trade sanctions lists of the European Union and Bank of England. British companies may not deal with him, but his wife is not affected by the sanctions. The vegetable business is in her name. In April the couple occupied 600 acres of Shepherd Hall farm, 20 miles outside Harare, the capital. Witnesses said Jocelyn Chiwenga was with "several men carrying AK-47 rifles". Roger Staunton, the farm’s owner for 20 years, told of his terror during the seizure. When Staunton, whose family farmed the land for more than 100 years, offered a handshake, Chiwenga allegedly said she had "no intention of shaking hands with a white pig." Staunton, who is now seriously ill in South Africa with a heart condition, claimed Chiwenga ordered a guard to "kill the white bastards". He cocked his weapon but did not fire. A month after the takeover Hortico, Sainsbury’s Zimbabwean supplier, signed a deal worth more than £500,000 to buy Chiwenga’s produce. The company packed and labelled it as Sainsbury’s own brand, with the supermarket’s consent, before exporting it to Britain. Sainsbury’s stopped buying the produce only last month, when Chiwenga was ordered by the Zimbabwean high court to stop selling the farm’s crops because it had been illegally occupied. A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said: "We had been reassured the farmer had been compensated. We are shocked to find this wasn’t the case and confirm that we are no longer sourcing produce from this farm."
Last week Chiwenga, listed as "Grower 881" in Sainsbury’s records, was happy to talk about British sales of her produce. She said: "There is so much money to make because a lot of what you buy at Sainsbury’s is from Zimbabwe." Chiwenga said she had sold to Britain more than 23 tons of peas, grown on land she claimed had been neglected by Staunton. She admitted that she had made a verbal agreement to compensate him for some infrastructure and crops, but not for the land. She denied making any threats or racist comments. "I am sorry that the whites and the blacks are killing each other but we only have thick whites who do not want to share their land," she said. Staunton said the Chiwengas gave him five days to leave and took over the entire farm and its assets - including buildings, trucks, irrigation equipment and a major rose and greenhouse project - worth £13m at official exchange rates. He claims she illegally sold his greenhouse vegetables and roses for about £1m. Staunton said the Chiwengas first said they would compensate him fully and pressured him to agree not to take them to court or go to the press. Staunton said that after the intimidation of the occupation, "I considered myself lucky=94 to have been offered compensation." Later, however, he said the Chiwengas "told me they were not going to compensate me as I had made enough profits over the years". Staunton said he reported the seizure to Zimbabwe’s vice-president, Joseph Msika, who is in charge of the regime’s "land redistribution programme". When Chiwenga heard of this she told the farmer that Msika could not remove them. According to Staunton, she told him that "next time she would see me, I could be in a coffin".
After the takeover, Chiwenga agreed with Hortico, a respected firm with long links to British supermarkets, to sell her produce, along with that from other farms, to Britain. A senior Hortico source said: "The policy is to get as many farms into growing and export as soon as possible." Hortico, which claims to supply half the snap peas and mangetout sold by Sainsbury’s, said that given the number of farms confiscated from whites, it was inevitable they would have to do business with some of them. The company said it would review its contract with Chiwenga at the end of this year.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 20 October
MDC activist dies
By Loughty Dube
Bulawayo - A Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) activist, Nkosana Phiri, who was seriously injured by Zanu PF youth militia and war veterans determined to prevent opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, from holding a rally at White City Stadium in January, died of the wounds last Sunday. Phiri becomes the second opposition activist to succumb to wounds sustained in the same attack. Another party activist, Mthokozisi Ncube, died a few days after being attacked by the marauding Zanu PF militia. The two were part of a group of MDC activists that were trapped by Zanu PF supporters camped outside White City Stadium after a squabble between the two political parties over the control of the venue. Both President Mugabe and Tsvangirai were scheduled to address rallies on the same day at the stadium. The trapped MDC activists had camped overnight inside the stadium without realising Zanu PF militia and war veterans were also in the stadium. Phiri and his colleagues were attacked with sticks and fists by the Zanu PF youths. Ncube died a few days later while Phiri and two other activists survived the attack with serious bodily injuries. Phiri, who had been in and out of hospital, died at Thorngrove Hospital where he was being treated for persistent internal bleeding from chest wounds. MDC information officer for Bulawayo province, Victor Moyo, confirmed Phiri's death saying he was buried at West Park cemetery in Bulawayo on Tuesday.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 18 October
MDC war veterans' pensions stopped
Staff writers
War veterans who have joined the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have had their ex-combatants' pension benefits terminated by the Robert Mugabe regime, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt. The move is meant to send a warning to disaffected members of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association that they should not join the MDC. Despite official propaganda, the MDC has attracted thousands of war veterans to its ranks since its inception three years ago. War veterans who took influential posts in the party include MPs Giles Mutsekwa, shadow minister of defence, Fletcher Dulini-Ncube, and Mzila Moses Ncube. Other prominent names include Dr Tichaona Mudzingwa, the secretary for security and defence, and Chitungwiza executive mayor Misheck Shoko. War veterans interviewed by the Independent confirmed that once it was established that they had joined the opposition party, government hastened to terminate their monthly pension.
Mutsekwa confirmed the termination of the benefits for war veterans who had joined the opposition. "About 20 war veterans came to me complaining that their benefits had been terminated," said Mutsekwa. "War veterans are being victimised openly by Zanu PF and the party is not even ashamed to do this and boasts about it. The compensation they are getting is a social welfare arrangement and it has got nothing to do with Zanu PF as a party." While other war veterans were not willing to go on the record for fear of victimisation, Raphinos Madzokere said he wanted to take the government to court over the issue. Madzokere, an MDC candidate in the council elections in Murehwa South and his wife Francisca, lost property worth millions of dollars destroyed by Zanu PF supporters and were forced to flee. "My benefits which I am supposed to enjoy as a war veteran were cut as soon as it was known that I am an MDC supporter," a visibly angry Madzokere said. "I'm now staying in a single room with all my five children. I am certainly taking this case to the High Court and demonstrate to my colleagues who are in a similar position that they should stand for their rights. I was even denied a piece of land by this evil party."
Dulini-Ncube said he had not received anything in the form of compensation from the government. "I was arrested by the Ian Smith regime and I was tortured," said Dulini-Ncube. "I was examined by a doctor to determine the extent of my injuries and he certified my forms which I submitted but to date nothing has come out of it. The only thing I got from this government is harassment." War veterans' chairman Patrick Nyaruwata said he was aware of the problem and urged all affected to report to his office. "We urge all those affected to come to our offices so that we can assist them. It is not a policy that our association supports and we are willing to assist them," said Nyaruwata. The MDC not only attracts war veterans but also has in its ranks police officers, prison officials, army personnel and teachers, many of whom have been victimised or even dismissed once it became known they were supporters of the MDC.
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From The New York Times/ Reuters, 19 October
EU to move meeting so Mugabe can attend
The European Union has accepted Mozambique's offer to act as host to a Union meeting on aid to a group of southern African countries, which would enable President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe to attend. The Union countries, along with the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, have all banned entry to Mr. Mugabe, left, in protest against what they see as his fraudulent electoral victory in March. The meeting, planned for next month, had been scheduled to take place in Copenhagen.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 20 October
Teachers not fired PTUZ
By Eupha Mahenga
The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) says contrary to media reports, the government has not dismissed teachers who took part in the strike last week. PTUZ national coordinator, Innocent Sibanda, told The Standard on Friday that not even a single teacher had been served with dismissal letters. "As it stands now, no-one has been served with dismissal letters. We just heard press reports that over 600 teachers had been fired but nothing to that effect has been done by the ministry. The ministry has not in any way communicated to us concerning the issue," said Sibanda. Apart from failure by the ministry to notify either the teachers or the association, Sibanda said the move was a gimmick meant to cow teachers who wanted to protest against their poor working conditions. He added that the ministry, led by Aeneas Chigwedere, embarked on various tactics designed to intimidate the striking teachers. For example, he said, the ministry had sent ED 92 forms to schools like Churchill and Zengeza 2 High, among others, two days after the strike began. The forms are filled by the headmaster when a teacher fails to turn up for work for 14 continuous days without any valid explanation, and they normally lead to cessation of one's salary. "We don't know what the ministry wanted to achieve when they sent the forms to be signed by everyone when they are only signed by the headmaster in the event that a teacher's whereabouts are unknown for two weeks," said Sibanda. He said the move was likely to cause confusion in the teaching fraternity thereby disrupting the strike. When Zimta was contacted for comment, its secretary-general, Peter Mabhande, professed ignorance over the issue. "I am not aware of any new developments. I don't even know why that would happen," said Mabhande.
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Comment from The Zimbabwe Standard, 20 October
Minus two hours
Over the top by Brian Latham
Farmers in the western provinces of a troubled central African country have been given minus two hours to leave their family homes. Speaking to Over The Top, the farmers complained that policemen arrived at their homes at 6pm last Tuesday and told them to remove themselves by 4pm - the same day. The farmers and the organisations representing them said the move was illogical, but a police spokesman disputed this. The spokesman, speaking on condition that he was not quoted, said: "Actually it's entirely logical. The eviction orders said the farmers should leave by 4pm, but unfortunately, the officers got lost after visiting a certain drinking establishment between the station and the farms. This was not their fault." When asked how it could be logical to give farmers minus two hours to leave their family homes, the police spokesman said it had been the intention to give them plus two hours notice. He apologised for the time discrepancy, but assured OTT that it was entirely legal and within the bounds of the rule of law. Asked whether even plus two hours was sufficient time to expect a family to remove a lifetime's worth of possessions, the police spokesman said: "Oh, absolutely. We are in a great hurry to dispossess farmers of their livelihoods so that we can increase the number of people on food aid from six and a half million to 12 and a half million. The success of the land reform programme depends on all citizens of the troubled central African country being fed by foreign powers." Analysts pointed out that the statement proved that the troubled central African country's government had never intended to produce food on farms stolen from farmers. Indeed, they said, the fact that the much touted winter maize project had managed to produce one day's food for the nation (providing every family ate just one meal a day) reinforced this. Actually, said the analysts, it has always been the intention of the troubled central African nation's planners to be fed by western imperialist powers. "This is how they plan to receive restitution for the evils of colonialism," said one analyst.
Meanwhile, in the same province, peasant farmers said the commercial farmers who had received minus two hours notice were the lucky ones. Following the unusual practice of exercising their democratic right by voting for the opposition, all they had received was several cracks to the head, a few burnt homes, an arson attack on a goat shed and a wounded party activist. The wounded activist was allegedly shot by a crazed Zany party candidate who escaped unharmed - though the wounded More Drink Coming activist was arrested because it is a crime to get in the way of bullets fired by the ruling Zany party. Still, police could not explain why farm evictions were continuing despite a court order suspending all evictions. Nor could they explain how a member of the opposition came to suffer a bullet wound under their very noses. "Both the court order and the bullet wound are obviously mistakes or accidents," said an unnamed policeman. "Besides, the most equal of all comrades recently said court orders need be obeyed only if they suit him - and we very much doubt this one suits him." Both commercial and peasant farmers told OTT that it was highly unlikely they would ever support the Zany party again, while most citizens of the troubled central African country said they were too weak with hunger to support anyone except the imperialist powers providing the food. They said the next president of the troubled central African country was likely to be either Mr Blair or Mr Bush.
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From The Independent (UK), 22 October
UN exposes continuing plunder of Congo
By Basildon Peta Southern Africa Correspondent
Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Uganda are still plundering the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) despite withdrawing their armies from the vast central African state, according to a United Nations report unveiled yesterday. They are doing it through corrupt DRC government officials and criminal cartels set up to perpetuate the pillaging started by their armies. In its report to the UN Security Council, the panel named 54 people, including senior military and political officials in Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and the DRC itself, as leaders of new "elite networks" exploiting the country's minerals, timber and wildlife. The DRC is rich in gold, diamonds, cobalt, copper and coltan, which is used in mobile phones. Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Speaker of Zimbabwe's Parliament and President Robert Mugabe's preferred successor, was named in the report as the key strategist for the Zimbabwean branch of the elite network. Mr Mnangagwa was accused, in an investigative report in the Spanish newspaper El Pais three weeks ago, of facilitating the smuggling of diamonds from the DRC via Harare International Airport to their final destinations. He denied the allegations.
Other senior figures named in the UN report include the Rwandan army chief-of-staff, James Kabarebe, the DRC Minister of the Presidency Augustin Katumba Mwanke, and the Ugandan army chief-of-staff Major General James Kazini. The report said: "The looting that was previously conducted by the armies themselves has been replaced by organised systems of embezzlement, tax fraud, extortion, the use of stock options as kickbacks and diversion of state funds." The panel called on the UN to impose financial restrictions on 29 companies and 54 individuals allegedly involved in the pillaging. Most are in Africa but the list includes four Belgian diamond firms and the Belgian Groupe George Forrest mining operation, which is in partnership with the OM Group, based in Ohio. In areas under DRC government control, Congolese officials colluded with Zimbabwe to transfer at least £3.2bn worth of assets from state mining companies to private firms over the past three years, without compensation, the report said.
The UN experts also accused a Zimbabwean businessman of procuring military equipment from British Aerospace in violation of European sanctions. They named John Bredenkamp as a key investor in a service company, which represents British Aerospace, Dornier of France and Agusta of Italy in Africa. The report alleged he offered to mediate sales of British Aerospace military equipment to Congo. But the panel said he procured aircraft parts for Zimbabwe's military, which was propping up the Kinshasa government. There is no suggestion that British Aerospace, Dornier or Agusta knew that parts were going to Zimbabwe. A separate part of the report also names 85 multinationals in South Africa, Europe and the United States that have allegedly contravened guidelines on conflict zones set down by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. These include Anglo American, Barclays Bank, Bayer A G, De Beers diamond company and the Cabot Corp. The Security Council will discuss the report on Thursday.
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From BBC News, 21 October
Sanctions urged for Congo plunderers
A United Nations panel has called on the Security Council to impose financial sanctions against companies and individuals who plunder the Democratic Republic of Congo's wealth. In the report, the five-member panel details how the Rwandan Government and army, the Ugandan army, and Congolese and Zimbabwean Government officials plan to continue to exploit the DR Congo's resources. The central African nation is rich in gold, diamonds, cobalt, copper and coltan, which is used in mobile phones, and medicinal barks. The scramble for those resources has helped fuel a four-year war in which two million people have died. The Council is set to debate the report on Thursday 24 October. More than 27,000 foreign soldiers, including at least 20,000 Rwandans, have now left the country, the UN said last week, but fighting is continuing in the east of the country between the rebels of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) and the Mai-Mai militia, which Rwanda accuses of being supported by the Congolese government. Most of the 29 companies named are African but the list includes four Belgian diamond firms and the Belgian Groupe George Forrest mining group, which has a joint venture with the US-based OM Group. The panel recommended 54 individuals face travel bans, a freeze on their personal assets and the same financial restrictions as the businesses.
Prominent among the individuals named is the Ukranian born arms trader, Victor Bout, who was once described by UK minister Peter Hain as a "merchant of death". The plunder continues, despite the withdrawal of foreign troops, by "elite networks" running a self-financing war economy on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the report said. "The elite networks derive financial benefit through a variety of criminal activities, including theft, embezzlement, diversion of public funds, undervaluation of goods, smuggling, false invoicing, non-payment of taxes, kickback to public officials and bribery," it said.
Several senior political and military figures are named from African countries including:
Rwandan army Chief of Staff James Kabarebe
DR Congo Minister of the Presidency Augustin Katumba Mwanke
Ugandan army Chief of Staff Major General James Kazini
Zimbabwe Parliament Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa
The report also names 85 multi-nationals in South Africa, Europe and the US for violating the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ethical guidelines on conflict zones. These include the world's largest gem and mining firms, such as Anglo American, Barclays Bank, Bayer and De Beers diamond company among others.
While Rwanda, with the largest force, has withdrawn troops, it has left soldiers behind to operate the "Congo Desk of the Rwandan Patriotic Army," which in 1999 contributed $320m or 80% of the Rwandan military budget, the panel said. Congolese and Zimbabwean government and military officials have transferred the ownership of at least $5bn in assets from the state mining sector to private companies "with no compensation or benefit for the state treasury", it said. Zimbabwean officials claim their contracts are legal payment for troops, which support the Kinshasa government. The Ugandan army is accused of provoking ethnic fighting in eastern Congo and of training militias to control "directly and discreetly" trade and tax collection. The panel suggested that these individuals and companies be given a four to five month "grace period" before the restrictions begin. It also said an embargo or moratorium on the export of Congolese minerals and resources was impractical. No companies or individuals named in the report have responded so far.
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From BBC News, 21 October
Key figures on UN list
BBC News Online profiles some of the 54 people linked by a United Nations commissioned report to the exploitation of natural resources during the four-year war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Emmerson Mnangagwa
Zimbabwe's parliamentary speaker and number four in the hierarchy of the ruling party, Zanu-PF. He is seen by many as President Robert Mugabe's preferred choice to succeed him. Was in charge of Zimbabwe's secret service during the "Matabeleland massacres" in the early 1980s, when thousands of Mr Mugabe's opponents were killed. He retains close links to the security forces.
James Kabarebe
Rwanda's army chief of staff is an ethnic Tutsi who helped Rwandan President Paul Kagame mastermind the overthrow of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. His involvement in DR Congo began in 1996, when Rwanda and Uganda backed Laurent Kabila's march against the late dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko. When Mr Kabila took power, Mr Kabarebe was named as chief of staff of the Congolese army. But in 1998, Rwanda no longer backed Mr Kabila and tried to remove him. Mr Kabarebe left Kinshasa and was put in charge of the Rwandan army's operations in DR Congo. Despite persistent accusations of his involvement in plundering DR Congo's resources, he was promoted to army chief of staff.
James Kazini
Uganda army chief of staff, with a similar career path to his long-time rival, James Kabarebe. Despite being accused of looting DR Congo's resources, while in charge of Uganda's operations there, was promoted to army chief of staff. Rwanda blamed him for the clashes between Rwandan and Ugandan forces in the Congolese city of Kisangani in 1999. Has denied the looting allegations but admitted helped Ugandan businesses profit from the war in DR Congo. Also admitted defying orders from President Yoweri Museveni during the Congolese war. The United Nations says he is close to Mr Museveni's half-brother,Major General Salim Saleh, also accused of looting DR Congo's resources.
Katumba Mwanke
One of the most powerful ministers in DR Congo and a key negotiator in the various peace talks held this year. Originally from DR Congo's mineral-rich Katanga province. Named as Governor of Katanga in 1998, by former President Laurent Kabila, who also came from Katanga. Most of DR Congo's diamond mines are in Katanga.
Victor Bout
A Ukrainian-born arms dealer. Belgium issued a warrant for his arrest earlier this year, for allegedly selling weapons to the al-Qaeda network. The United Nations has also accused him of breaking arms embargoes on Angola's Unita rebels and Liberia's President Charles Taylor. British Minister for Europe, Peter Hain, called Mr Bout a "merchant of death".
Other key figures named are: Zimbabwean Businessman John Bredenkamp; DR Congo Minister Mwenze Kongolo; Retired Zimbabwean General Sibusio Moyo; Retired Ugandan General Salim Saleh; Zimbabwean General Vitalis Zvinavashe; Director of DR Congo's National Intelligence Didier Kazadi Nyembwe; DR Congo's ambassador to Zimbabwe Mwana Mawapanga; Ugandan Colonel Dan Munyuza; Ugandan military intelligence chief Nobel Mayombo.
From ZWNEWS: Part of the UN report reads:
"Towards the end of its mandate, the Panel received a copy of a memorandum dated August 2002 from the Defence Minister, Sidney Sekeramayi, to President Robert Mugabe, proposing that a joint Zimbabwe-Democratic Republic of the Congo company be set up in Mauritius to disguise the continuing economic interests of ZDF in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The memorandum states: "Your Excellency would be aware of the wave of negative publicity and criticism that the DRC-Zimbabwe joint ventures have attracted, which tends to inform the current United Nations Panel investigations into our commercial activities." It also refers to plans to set up a private Zimbabwean military company to guard Zimbabwe’s economic investments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after the planned withdrawal of ZDF troops. It states that this company was formed to operate alongside a new military company owned by the Democratic Republic of the Congo."
If you would like a copy of this report, please let us know. It will be sent as a Word attachment to an email message - total size 388 Kb, or approximately 7 times the size of the average daily ZWNEWS.
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From News24 (SA), 21 October
Striking teachers' leader freed
Harare - A Zimbabwe magistrate's court on Monday released the leader of a teachers' union that has called for its members to go on strike for better pay, resulting in 627 teachers losing their jobs. A magistrate said the court's decision to release Raymond Majongwe, secretary general of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) was made "in the interests of justice". Majongwe was arrested last week, the second time in less than a fortnight. Police alleged he went around schools in Harare urging teachers who wanted to work to join the strike. But on Friday the attorney general's office declined to prosecute Majongwe as it said no offence had been committed. Police changed their charge to one of behaviour conducive "to riot, disorder or intolerance", and Majongwe was kept in jail over the weekend. He is due to appear in court on Friday facing charges of "invading the rights of others". Those charges, under Zimbabwe's Public Order and Security Act (PODSA), stem from his earlier arrest. Last week the government said it would dismiss 627 teachers with immediate effect for allegedly backing the PTUZ strike, which was declared illegal.The PTUZ is demanding a 100% salary increase backdated to January, and a 100% cost of living adjustment backdated to June. A high school teacher in Zimbabwe takes home Z$20 000 a month, much less that other civil servants.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 22 October
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