Zimbabwe Information Centre

From Michael Hartnack in Harare
Zimbabwe's opposition claimed almost total success for its national stay-away from work yesterday, despite President Mugabe's threat to seize businesses that failed to open and to deport expatriates who sent workers home. Several thousand self-styled guerrilla war veterans fanned out from the ruling Zanu PF party headquarters to break up any gathering that might turn into a march against the 23-year rule of Mr Mugabe, 79. In the poor black townships, helicopter gunships and tanks were deployed alongside army patrols to prevent "mass action" called by Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). In the predominantly black middle-class Warren Hills suburb on Harare's western outskirts, schoolchildren were caught in a bombardment of teargas shells unleashed by jumpy police units, underlining the danger of bloodshed in a volatile situation. "Choked children were running all over the place in the resultant chaos," an MDC spokesman said. In the Midlands town of Kwekwe, ruling party militants were said to be systematically evicting suspected opposition supporters from their homes, a tactic of Mr Mugabe's youth brigades at elections since independence in 1980. It is mid-winter, with sub-zero night temperatures.
Both sides traded accusations of killings, which could not be independently verified. State radio claimed an unnamed man was stoned to death by the MDC on Monday for trying to go to work. The MDC backtracked on allegations that two of its supporters were shot dead in Harare on Monday, giving details of only one, wounded in the foot. Guests confirmed that on Monday Zanu PF militants beat up a man on the steps of the five-star Meikles Hotel after failing to force their way in, vowing: "We've come to get the British." The Government continues to claim that the five-day opposition protest has been manipulated by Britain to frustrate Mr Mugabe's "fast track" seizure of 5,000 white farms. Amid the tension, hilarity rippled through Harare's diplomatic community when a cartoon in the state-controlled Herald purported to depict Sophie Honey, 30, a second secretary at the British High Commission, "running the show" for the MDC. Previous cartoons have vilified Sir Brian Donnelly, the High Commissioner, and his wife, Julia. Near the Meikles, black passers-by were forced to lie on the pavement on Monday, then whipped and kicked. So were students at the University of Zimbabwe campus. The MDC has warned the 30,000 white community to stay out of sight.
Mr Tsvangirai, who went to the High Court for a further day of hearings in his treason trial, vowed to press on with the action. He said: "By the end of the week Zimbabweans will have driven the message home to Mugabe that they are fed up with the state of affairs in this country." Joseph Musakwa, for the prosecution, said that the state had been magnanimous not to cancel bail after Mr Tsvangirai was briefly detained on Monday. Judge Paddington Garwe may rule today on pleas to tighten bail conditions, banning Mr Tsvangirai from directing the strike or making "inflammatory" statements. George Bizos, QC, for the defence, protested that this was "an inadmissible way to gag" the veteran union leader. The MDC said that at least 45 more of its officials had been rounded up since 154 were arrested on Monday, in a crackdown by security police.

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From Associated Press, 3 June

Strike idles Zimbabwe as opposition tries to oust the president

Harare - A general strike shut down much of Zimbabwe's battered economy today, but security forces prevented efforts to organize large street protests against President Robert Mugabe. Most banks, shops and other businesses remained closed across Zimbabwe on the second day of a weeklong show of antigovernment sentiment by an increasingly defiant opposition. The opposition said it hoped the strike and weeklong protest would be a "final push" to force Mr. Mugabe to step down after 23 years in office. Security forces reacted swiftly to crush street demonstrations, using rubber clubs, rifle butts, water cannons, tear gas and warning shots with live ammunition to disperse crowds. Rather than risk confrontation with troops and the police, many Zimbabweans stayed home. The general strike halted commerce in major cities, putting more pressure on a national economy near collapse. The opposition blames Mr. Mugabe for sinking the country into political and economic ruin. There are shortages of food, medicine, fuel and currency. Annual inflation is at 269 percent. Widespread starvation has been avoided only with international aid. Economic hardship adds to the growing dissent in a country where ordinary people struggle to survive while the ruling elite live lavishly. Agriculture, the biggest sector of the economy, has ground to a near standstill since Mr. Mugabe's land reform program was completed last year. The majority of white-owned commercial farmland was seized ostensibly for redistribution to landless blacks. Many of the prime farms, however, have gone to Mugabe confidants, and the farms that have been given over to black farmers have largely been divided into tiny subplots.
Today, downtown Harare, the capital, was as quiet as a Sunday because of the strike, while 90 percent of the businesses in Bulawayo, the second-largest city, closed, said Douglas Mwonzora of the Monitors of the National Constitutional Assembly, an alliance of civic and reform groups. Provincial towns, which are opposition strongholds, reported that 70 percent of businesses closed for the strike, Mr. Mwonzora said. Authorities arrested at least 154 people, including opposition activists and at least six lawmakers, across the country on Monday, said a police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena. The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, was among those arrested, but he was later released. The government of neighboring South Africa issued a muted response to the violence and protests. "More than ever before, the South African government remains convinced that there is no substitute for dialogue" between the governing party and the opposition, said a statement from the South African Foreign Ministry. The South African leaders have been reluctant to denounce Mr. Mugabe, who supported their anti- apartheid struggle. The increasingly unpopular Mr. Mugabe pushed the passage of severe new security laws last year allowing the government to ban public gatherings. The police fired tear gas today as people gathered in the western Harare township of Warren Park, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said. No injuries were reported. On Monday, scores of demonstrators were forced to lie on sidewalks or the ground while the police or soldiers beat and kicked them.

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From The Daily News, 4 June

Zanu PF busses in 2 000 to foil protests in Harare

By Farai Mutsaka, Chief Reporter
Zanu PF has bussed about 2 000 of its supporters into Harare to assist in putting down anti-government protests organised by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), ruling party officials said yesterday. The ruling party supporters, brought into the capital city over the weekend, were brought in from rural areas close to Harare, the officials said. They were yesterday camped at the Zanu PF headquarters and have, together with recruits from the controversial national youth service training programme, been assisting State security agents to deal with street demonstrations organised by the MDC. Several Harare residents and Daily News vendors yesterday complained of severe beatings and harassment by some of the rural Zanu PF supporters. They are said to have seized and destroying copies of The Daily News, accused of supporting the MDC mass action.
Zanu PF secretary for information and publicity, Nathan Shamuyarira, said the youths had been employed to ensure peace during the mass action, which ends on Friday. "We brought them to protect the party's property from being destroyed by the MDC and to protect the people. We knew that the people would be attacked by MDC thugs, who were given money by the British to harass innocent Zimbabweans," Shamuyarira said yesterday. The MDC denies that its supporters are planning to cause violence during the mass action. A Harare resident, Tapiwa Nechipote, said he lost two teeth when he was beaten up by ruling party supporters this week. "They asked me why I was reading opposition newspapers and before I could answer, they were all over me. They were so shabbily dressed that I wondered where they could have come from."
Shamuyarira would not say from which areas the youths had come, but a ZANU PF official said most of the supporters were bussed in from Bindura, Guruve and Chinhoyi, while others came from Marondera East constituency. The gang was organised into units that were assigned "areas that they would cover" for the day and were unleashed into central Harare early every morning, ruling party officials said. A former high-ranking army officer who is now a ruling party official is in charge of the gang, they added. Asked why Zanu PF had to use untrained supporters to ensure peace and order, Shamuyarira said the police might have failed to handle the situation. "The police will be protecting the people and we needed people who could help them. There is nothing wrong with that. Unlike the MDC youths, these people are not paid at all. They are just voluntary party organisers. If the MDC is going to use their youths to attack people, then we also need our own youths to protect people," he said.

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From Business Day (SA), 4 June

Group hiding at school flee tear gas

Dumisani Muleya and Sarah Hudelston
Harare - Zimbabwean police fired tear gas into classrooms to flush out a frightened group of people seeking refuge at Warren Park Primary School in Harare yesterday morning. Police descended on the group queuing to buy newspapers, who fled to hide in the school. Witnesses said choking children and adults ran into the road to escape the tear gas. Late yesterday police and troops were patrolling Harare on the second day of a national strike against President Robert Mugabe as the Group of Eight nations called for calm, the European Union urged Zimbabweans to abstain from violence and the United Nations urged the state to respect the right to protest. Throughout Zimbabwe businesses were closed and armed police and troops manned roadblocks. As the five-day mass action campaign, called by opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and several unions, continued most cities and towns were almost paralysed. Harare was hit worst. Only government offices were open.
More than 150 MDC officials and supporters have been arrested. Yesterday morning the MDC's central office in Harare said a group of 30 arrested in Masvingo on Monday were being denied access to lawyers and food. The MDC mayor of Masvingo, Engineer Chaimiti, said late yesterday that only four of those arrested had been charged and were to appear in court. The MDC said that in Kwekwe the police chief ordered the eviction of all MDC supporters from the municipal area. Police denied this, saying they were following a court order banning protest. In Gweru, where 46 were arrested. Lawyer Reginald Chidawanyika said: "It is most frustrating. Most of my clients are being forced to pay admission of guilt fines even before they have been charged." Human rights publication Sokwanele Enough is Enough said in its internet newsletter that police and intelligence officers were visiting businessmen at their homes around the country, and threatening them with steps like cancellation of licences after they closed their businesses.
The MDC said 2500 Zanu PF militia were camping in the grounds of Zanu PF headquarters in Harare. They were moving around Harare, "harassing people in the streets. It seems they are working together with the police." Attempts to contact police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena yesterday were unsuccessful. Economist John Robertson said mass action would harm the economy, but political stalemate was the real problem. "Very little, if any, production is taking place. The economy can't recover lost production, and that means it will succumb to further implosion." Economists said mass action combined with fuel and electricity shortages would force many firms to close, reduce operations or retrench in the short to medium term. Unemployment and poverty would worsen.

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From ZWNEWS, 4 June

Students hospitalised

Some 20 University of Zimbabwe students were hospitalised Monday, badly injured by police. Riot police also did considerable damage to the university hostels, kicking and smashing open any locked doors, a witness said. Police burst into a property owned by the Catholic church near the university campus and dragged away six students who had sought asylum there. At a religious service Monday evening, students described the police brutality. Several women students said riot police trampled on their feet and beat them around the head. One young woman was kicked in the head. Also on Monday, witnesses on the campus said riot police tied together by their hands eight students, and marched them up a road inside the campus, beating them viciously with batons. Witnesses saw a student being kicked by police and individual students being marched by police along the same road toward an entrance on Mount Pleasant Drive. Earlier on Monday, students preparing to march to the city centre were dispersed with the help of an army helicopter, which hovered above the campus. Three students were seen being beaten in front of the University's Great Hall, in front of which was parked one of the Israeli-made crowd-control vehicles purchased last year by the riot police. Riot police have in the past violently suppressed student protests at the campus in the Harare suburb of Mount Pleasant.

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From The Daily News, 4 June

Another 162 arrested as stayaway continues

Staff Reporter
At least 162 people were arrested around the country yesterday as State security agents maintained a heavy presence in Zimbabwe's urban areas because of a week-long mass action called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Tuesday's arrests brought the number of detentions since the mass action started on Monday to more than 277, MDC officials and lawyers said yesterday. They said 35 people were arrested in Gweru yesterday, five in Chinhoyi and 15 in Kwekwe. Another 11 were detained early yesterday morning as they attempted to start demonstrations in Harare's high-density suburb of Budiriro. About 380 people have been arrested in Harare and Chitungwiza since Monday, 150 of whom have been released. In Mutare, 45 people were arrested yesterday, while 50 were detained in Goromonzi. The police yesterday also detained the MDC's Mashonaland West provincial chairman, Silas Matamisa. In Mutare, police descended on Mutare North legislator Giles Mutsekwa's residence at around 4am, but the MDC member of Parliament refused to see them. They demanded that he report to a local police station. The MDC's Manicaland provincial chairman, Timothy Mubhawu, who was reported missing on Monday, was also among those arrested this week. MDC spokesman for Manicaland, Pishayi Muchauraya, told The Daily News: "The police have launched a door-to-door manhunt for known MDC supporters and they are harassing their families. The situation is bad, but we are trying to regroup," said Muchauraya. MDC legislators Tendai Biti and Tichaona Munyanyi, who were arrested on Monday, were still in custody yesterday.
Armed State security agents maintained a heavy presence on the streets of most city centres and high-density areas around the country. Most shops and banks around the country remained closed, while the army and police patrolled streets and maintained roadblocks on roads leading into city centres. In Kadoma and Harare's Southerton area, shop-owners were allegedly forced to open their premises by recruits of the controversial national youth service programme. In Harare's Glen View suburb, where the police on Monday thwarted an attempt by about 15 000 protesters to march into the city centre, MP Paul Madzore said the local MDC leadership in Budiriro, Glen View, Glen Norah and Highfield was holding meetings to organise more marches. "After our attempt to march into the city was stopped yesterday (Monday), we are holding a meeting to reorganise ourselves and to pick up from where we left off. Our people are really determined," he said. Most schools in Glen View and other Harare suburbs were open but schoolchildren could be seen playing outside as most teachers had not reported for duty.
In central Harare, Zanu PF supporters believed to have been bussed into the capital city from surrounding rural areas roamed the streets and harassed newspaper vendors selling copies of The Daily News. Some copies of the newspaper were torn or burnt. A group of ruling party supporters was however forced to flee in Harare's First Street when angry members of the public intending to buy the newspaper threatened to beat them up. While the situation remained calm in Chitungwiza, police at Makoni shopping centre were yesterday reported to be dispersing people at the shops and patrolling the streets. There was no activity at the Chitungwiza Town Centre, while few companies were open. In the Midlands, the situation remained tense as soldiers and the police intensified their street patrols. Security agents were deployed at strategic government buildings, while large retail shops and banks remained closed. Six Daily News vendors were assaulted by youths in Kwekwe and 195 copies of the newspaper seized. The youths carried the newspapers, valued at around $29 250, to the ZANU PF offices in Kwekwe and destroyed them. In Bulawayo, two cars were burnt when demonstrators turned violent, while in Masvingo, most shops and major businesses were closed yesterday morning. The main bus terminus at Mucheke was virtually deserted. In Mucheke, however, shops were forced to open by soldiers and the police.

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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 4 June

Arrests continue while Tsvangirai fights 'gag' order

Harare - Zimbabwe's security forces continued yesterday to arrest and beat up members of the opposition following Monday's protest marches as Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, fought a "gag" order in the High Court. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said at least 200 people were in police cells in Harare alone, including six opposition MPs and four members of the MDC's national executive. A further 106 opposition supporters are known to be held in police cells in other parts of the country. A general strike aimed at driving President Robert Mugabe out of office continued yesterday and there were isolated protests around the country. There were reports that tear gas was fired into a crowd of children in a school in a poor area west of Harare. The state has asked the High Court to ban Mr Tsvangirai and his colleagues Welshman Ncube and Renson Gasela, who are out on bail, from making any statements which are "inflammatory" or "incite public disorder" while they are on trial for treason. The order would mean the men would forfeit their freedom if they speak out.
Representing the three men, George Bizos, who defended Nelson Mandela 50 years ago, compared the order being sought as similar to one thrown out by a South African court during the worst of the apartheid years. "This is not the first time where courts have been approached by a political party in order to gain an advantage on a political opponent," Mr Bizos told Judge Paddington Garwe. It was better if judges "remained aloof from politics", especially in a "divided society". Mr Bizos told Judge Garwe, Zimbabwe's second most important judicial officer, that even under apartheid in 1972 South African judges threw out a similar case brought against the bail conditions of Geoffrey Budlender, a student activist in Cape Town. They decided, in "troubled times in South Africa", that an alteration to the student's bail conditions to prevent him from attending or inciting political unrest would be a "curtailment of his freedom and his rights as a citizen". Mr Bizos, without ever referring directly to the protests and repression around Zimbabwe, said the right of people to protest was enshrined in the constitution. But Joseph Musakwa, prosecuting, accused Mr Tsvangirai of "demonising" Mr Mugabe and making inflammatory public statements which led to this week's protests and strike. "This actually borders on treason and is conduct we want restricted," he said. Mr Tsvangirai and his co-accused are charged with plotting to assassinate Mr Mugabe before last year's disputed presidential elections. They deny the charges and say they were set up by a "crooked" Canadian businessman, Ari Ben Menashe, whom they hired to lobby for them in North America but who was already working for the Zimbabwe government. The hearing on the "gag" order continues.

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From The Daily News, 5 June

MDC official killed

By Farai Mutsaka, Chief Reporter
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claimed last night that one of its officials in Harare, Tichaona Kaguru, had died after being allegedly abducted and tortured by government security agents in a crackdown on opposition supporters. Kaguru's death, which was not confirmed by either the police or the army, would be the second of an MDC follower in the week-long mass stayaway called by the opposition party from Monday this week. This reporter visited Kaguru's home late yesterday in Mbare, at Number 17A, 23rd Street, in the so-called Joburg Lines, where dozens of people mourned his death. Kaguru's brother, Kunaka, said his family was yet to ascertain the whereabouts of the body of Kaguru, who was said to have been aged 33 when he died on Tuesday. "We will start looking for the body later today when all the relatives will have arrived. But we are dismayed by the behaviour of the army," he told The Daily News. Sydney Mazaranhanga, a Harare City councillor, who said he was allegedly abducted together with Kaguru, said Kaguru died at Chikurubi Police Camp, where nurses manning the camp hospital refused to attend to him. "The death was confirmed by a (Harare) city council ambulance crew whom we had called after the nurses at Chikurubi refused to attend to us because we were civilians," Mazaranhanga said. There was no comment from either the police or the army up to late last night on the reported death.
But Mazaranhanga said a group of 40 armed soldiers and police officers from Mbare descended on his Mbare home, where he was with Kaguru, on Tuesday. The security agents accused the two of leading MDC demonstrations in Mbare and began assaulting them with sjamboks and batons. They then allegedly bundled them into an army truck, where the beatings continued. Mazaranhanga said the police later dumped the two near Chikurubi, where he said they were told to find their own way back to Mbare. After being beaten up again and being made to roll in sewerage waste, Mazaranhanga said he discovered that Kaguru could no longer walk. Mazaranhanga said he then had to look for a truck from Circle Cement, a company nearby, to ferry Kaguru to hospital. Escorted by two police officers who were manning a roadblock in Chikurubi, Mazaranhanga said he took Kaguru to Chikurubi Police Camp hospital for treatment. But nurses at the hospital refused to attend to Kaguru, saying that health facilities there were not for civilians."I then called for a council ambulance, but when it took long to come, I then contacted MARS (another ambulance firm). But the council ambulance arrived first and the crew pronounced Kaguru dead. I then waited for the MARS ambulance which took me to Parirenyatwa Hospital while the police said they would ferry Kaguru's body to the mortuary," he said.
On Monday this week, at the start of the MDC-inspired rolling mass action intended to press President Robert Mugabe to resign or to resolve the country's economic crisis, an unknown Mbare protester was reportedly battered to death in a clash with security forces in central Harare. Police, who refuse to speak to The Daily News, have not confirmed this death. Instead, they have reported a separate death of another Mbare man who they said was killed by rampaging MDC supporters on Monday. As the opposition party's mass action entered its third day yesterday, the MDC unveiled a road map of its action which it said would see thousands of demonstrators marching in various urban centres countrywide tomorrow. Earlier attempts by the MDC to embark on street protests were crushed by thousands of heavily armed troops and police who sealed city centres off from high-density suburbs, where the majority of poor Zimbabweans live. The security forces were aided by militia from the government's national youth training service and ruling Zanu PF youths bussed into towns from semi-urban and rural areas. The security forces have arrested more than 300 MDC followers since the mass action began, triggering a welter of condemnation from the MDC, Zimbabwean human rights groups, the European Union and the summit of the Group of Eight industrialised leaders who met in France earlier this week. Hundreds of other would-be protesters have been publicly assaulted and tear-gassed by the security forces who say the mass action is aimed at toppling a democratically elected government.
This reporter and other witnesses yesterday saw dozens of security force members besieging Harare's Avenues Clinic, where some MDC supporters are receiving treatment after being beaten up. Chris Caridade, the managing director of Pensao Nightclub in Harare, said yesterday armed soldiers beat up patrons at his outlet before grabbing $250 000 from the takings. "They took away $250 000 from my till and they beat up my patrons," he said. At Cresta Oasis Hotel, the soldiers allegedly beat up residents and guests, while Paul Munhanga, a Glen View resident, said security agents had robbed him of $25 000 cash, a mobile phone, maize-meal and a 20kg bag of beans when they swooped on his home. But the MDC appeared unmoved yesterday by the reports of the security clampdown, telling its supporters to rise "in their millions" in protest against Mugabe's alleged mismanagement of the country. It urged its supporters to march to several rallying points in their respective towns and cities. The party said those in Harare should converge at Africa Unity Square while in Chitungwiza they should assemble at Makoni Shopping Centre, the Town Centre and Huruyadzo shopping centre. The supporters were urged to march to the City Hall in Bulawayo, to the Meikles Park in Mutare, the civic centre in Masvingo, the civic gardens in Gweru, and the city centre in Kwekwe. For other towns and cities, the MDC said its supporters would converge at the nearest town centres.
In Bulawayo, a magistrate will tomorrow rule on a bail application by Member of Parliament for Mpopoma, Milton Gwetu, and on a 13-year-old boy accused of planning this week's mass action. Gwetu and MDC provincial officials, Abraham Mdlongwa and Gertrude Mthombeni, are accused of stitching together the logistics of the mass demonstrations. Kossam Ncube, a Bulawayo lawyer representing MDC supporters arrested during the mass action, was yesterday reported to have been threatened with arrest after he went to Western Commonage Police Station to inquire on their whereabouts. The police and army in the city continued to force banks and shops to open and several managers, including Tigere Muzenda, the manager of Trust Bank, were arrested after refusing to open for business. Workers at the bank said Muzenda had told the State security agents that he could not open the bank because bank tellers did not turn up for work. In Masvingo, Runyararo Primary School was closed yesterday when four unknown people allegedly armed with sjamboks and a gun stormed into classrooms beating up teachers and schoolchildren. At least five children were injured in the incident. The Daily News crew witnessed the chaos at the school after pupils refused to go back for lessons even after police intervention. The deputy police Officer Commanding Masvingo district, Todd Jangara, pleaded unsuccessfully with the pupils to return to their classrooms after their teachers had fled. In Mutare, most businesses and banks were open yesterday after the police and soldiers allegedly forced them to do so or risk having their operating licences withdrawn.

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From The Star (SA), 5 June

Mugabe 'introduces door-to-door repression'

By Basildon Peta and Brian Latham
Harare/Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's main opposition party says President Robert Mugabe's security agents have stormed a private hospital and abducted several injured opposition supporters. It also says soldiers have beaten an opposition supporter to death as repression intensifies in Zimbabwe. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said it was now fearing even more violence after information that Mugabe had ordered soldiers to move from door to door in overcrowded townships and beat anyone who failed to report for work from today. Allegations are being made that the ruling Zanu PF party decided on the action at a politburo meeting on Wednesday. Some businessmen said their frightened colleagues had started reopening, and a section of the industrial areas in Harare had started operating yesterday afternoon, albeit with skeleton staff. MDC shadow justice minister and MP for Bulawayo South, David Coltart, said the strike was holding in Zimbabwe's second city. "It wavered this morning, but has strengthened again. It's pretty well rock-solid now, with more city centre businesses closing all the time," he said, adding that Bulawayo's industrial sites were locked down and closed "pretty much 9 to 5".
The MDC called the week-long protest to urge Mugabe either to resign or to negotiate a settlement of the crisis gripping the country. It said 500 of its supporters has been arrested so far. The MDC said a supporter, Tichaona Kaguru, died in hospital on Wednesday after being tortured and assaulted by soldiers putting down the protests. Unconfirmed government media reports said a ruling-party supporter had been stoned to death in Harare on Monday. A police spokesperson said he had not received any report on the death of the opposition supporter or on the incident at the clinic. But eyewitnesses said there was pandemonium at the Avenues Clinic, the largest private clinic treating opposition supporters injured in the anti-Mugabe demonstrations. They said uniformed police officers stormed the clinic and asked people in the outpatients ward and others standing near the reception area to lie down. They said many had been beaten, and police officers also stormed private wards at the hospital and harassed patients. MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi said the Avenues Clinic was targeted because it was handling opposition supporters. The MDC refrains from sending its supporters to state hospitals and clinics because of fears they could be killed there.
Teachers at the small, private junior school of Lilfordia, about 50km from Harare, said so-called war veterans invaded the school yesterday. "Last week we gave parents the choice of sending their children to school or not, because of the possibility of violence and the heavy military presence," said a teacher, who asked not to be named. "They opted not to, though we kept the school open and all staff were here. Today the war vets came in and said they were taking it over. Right now they're sitting in the car park with all the staff, who are being made to chant Zanu PF slogans."Sapa-AP reports that the Zimbabwean government has accused Western governments of hypocrisy, alleging they were supporting acts of "hooliganism" by the opposition while criticising the government for trying to enforce the law. Foreign Affairs Minister Stan Mudenge told 65 foreign diplomats based in Zimbabwe that the authorities had been justified in using force to quash anti-government marches, insisting the protests were illegal. Mudenge said the MDC had "wilfully decided to ignore" a court order to ban the planned five-day mass strike and street demonstrations.

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From The Daily News, 5 June

Stawaways not illegal

Court Reporter
The State yesterday conceded that there was no law in Zimbabwe that makes mass stayaways illegal. The concession was made in the High Court by Joseph Musakwa, the Director of Public Prosecutions. He said Home Affairs Minister, Kembo Mohadi, should therefore not have referred to "illegal stayaways" in an application in which the State is seeking to prevent Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai from making statements that would "incite the public to engage in unlawful activities and illegal demonstrations". "There is no law that prohibits stayaways. It was an error on the part of Mohadi to refer to illegal stayaways," Musakwa said. His statement was in response to defence advocate Chris Andersen's observation that mass action could not be regularised. "There is nothing in law that deals with mass stayaways," Andersen had said. Musakwa also concurred with Andersen that the definition of "public demonstrations" as it related to spontaneous demonstrations was wide. Andersen said it was impossible to notify the police of a spontaneous demonstration, arguing that the court must disregard the aspect of spontaneity. Under the Public Order and Security Act, the police must be informed of proposed public gatherings.
The State is asking the High Court to tighten bail conditions for Tsvangirai, who is charged with plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe before last year's presidential poll. The MDC has called for a five-day mass action that began on Monday, and which is aimed at pressing Mugabe to agree to negotiate to resolve Zimbabwe's economic and political crises. High Court judge Paddington Garwe will tomorrow rule on the State's application. He said he wanted time to consider the arguments presented by the State and the defence counsel. "Having heard the various submissions from both sides, I have to stand down this matter and the court will adjourn until Friday at 10am to consider them. I would want to benefit from the relevant information cited by the State and the defence counsel," he said. Garwe said the lawyers cited several cases that he wanted to consider.
Tsvangirai is charged with treason along with MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube and the party's shadow minister of agriculture, Renson Gasela. The three have denied plotting to assassinate Mugabe and overthrow his government. Musakwa told the court: "We seek from this court an order for the accused persons to refrain from unlawful conduct and we are not at all seeking to erode their rights to freedom of expression." But Anderson said the court must consider the consequences of permitting such an order. "The provisions are so wide and imprecise that they cannot survive the conditions of bail in general," Anderson said. "Enforcing such a provision encourages arbitrary arrests and prosecution."

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From VOA News, 4 June

African-American groups condemn Zimbabwe's Mugabe

David Gollust
Some prominent African-American political activists have made public a letter sent to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe condemning political repression by his government, and calling for "unconditional dialogue" on a transition to more broadly-supported leadership in Harare. The open letter is signed by leaders of eight African-American trade union organizations and Africa policy groups, and it reflects what its authors say is growing apprehension in the U.S. black community about the course of events in Zimbabwe. The document, made available to the news media Wednesday, cites what are termed "the increasing intolerant, repressive and violent" policies of the Mugabe government and the "devastating consequences" of those policies, including widespread poverty and famine. Mr. Mugabe is urged to take "extraordinary steps" to end the country's crisis by opening an "unconditional dialogue" with the opposition aimed at an "effective process for a transition to a more broadly-supported government that upholds the democratic rights of all." It also calls on him to seek the diplomatic intervention of concerned African countries and institutions including the African Union in mediating the conflict.
A signatory and spokesman for the group, Bill Fletcher, president of the Washington-based TransAfrica Forum, says the criticism of Mr. Mugabe was made with mixed feelings, since the Zimbabwean leader is remembered as a hero by many for his leading role in ending minority white rule in what was then Rhodesia in the 1970s. But he told VOA there is worry in the African-American community now that the confrontation between Mr. Mugabe and his opponents might soon degenerate into an armed conflict that would be a disaster for the region and beyond. "It appears that President Mugabe is more interested in holding onto power than he is in bringing about, or bringing Zimbabwe back from the precipice where it currently stands, a precipice which means one more step and the country may find itself in armed conflict," he said. "And so, yes, we feel that the time has come for the president of Zimbabwe to step forward, recognize that he has made very important contributions, but that a new leadership must emerge that draws from the best elements of the ZANU-PF (ruling party] and the best elements of the MDC [main opposition party] as well as other forces that are there on the ground."
Though the Bush administration has also been a persistent critic of the Mugabe government, Mr. Fletcher distanced himself and the letter's other signatories from the policies of both the U.S. and British governments, which he said have been "disingenuous" in their seemingly exclusive critical focus on Zimbabwe. "There are countless other situations on the continent of Africa alone where there are undemocratic practices being undertaken where there's been silence from both of these governments," he said. "And it therefore appears to most people that the interest was piqued by the land seizures, and specifically because the land seizures were of white farm owners. Now while TransAfrica Forum disagrees with President Mugabe on the way the land seizures took place, we don't disagree that land redistribution needed to take place. In fact we would suggest that it needed to take place years ago." Mr. Fletcher said his group was fearful that in the wake the Iraq war, the major powers might try to force "regime change" on Zimbabwe, but said outside intervention or destabilizing tactics would be neither necessary nor helpful. He said he and his associates went public with the criticism of Mr. Mugabe after a number of unproductive meetings with representatives of his government.

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Open letter to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe

3 June, 2003

Dear President Mugabe,
We are writing today to implore you to seek a peaceful and just solution to your country's escalating national crisis. Those signed below are Americans of Africa descent - many of them representing major organizations of civil society in the United States - who have worked for decades to support the liberation movements of Africa and the governments that followed independence which promoted and protected the interests of all of their nation's people. We form part of an honorable tradition of progressive solidarity with the struggles for decolonization, and against apartheid and imperialism in Africa. We have strong historical ties to the liberation movements in Zimbabwe, which included material and political support, as well as opposition to U.S. government policies that supported white minority rule. In independent Zimbabwe we have sought to maintain progressive ties with the political party and government that arose from the freedom struggle. At the same time our progressive ties have grown with institutions of civil society, especially the labor movement, women's organizations, faith communities, human rights organizations, students, the independent media and progressive intellectuals. In Zimbabwe today, all of our relations and our deep empathy and nderstanding of events there require that we stand in solidarity with those feeling the pain and suffering caused by the abuse of their rights, violence and intolerance, economic deprivation and hunger, and landlessness and discrimination.
We do not need to recount here the details of the increasing intolerant, repressive and violent policies of your government over the past 3 years, nor the devastating consequences of those policies. The use of repressive legislation does not, in our respectful view, render such actions justifiable or moral, because of their presumed "legality". We represent a long tradition of opposition to unjust laws. We have previously expressed to your representative in Washington, DC, our humanitarian concerns about the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Zimbabwe as well as that of the famine triggered by the recent southern African drought and exacerbated by the economic policies and food distribution practices of your government. We have shared our concerns that land redistribution in Zimbabwe be used to fight the poverty of the majority and not to promote the narrow interests of another minority. But most of all, we have communicated clearly that we view the political repression underway in Zimbabwe as intolerable and in complete contradiction of the values and principles that were both the foundation of your liberation struggle and of our solidarity with that struggle.
Today, Mr. President we call upon yourself and those among the ruling party who truly value democracy, and wish to protect the future of all of Zimbabwe's citizens to take extraordinary steps to end your country's political crisis and place it upon a path toward peace. We ask that you initiate an unconditional dialogue with the political opposition in Zimbabwe and representatives of civil society aimed at ending this impasse. We call upon you to seek the diplomatic intervention of appropriately concerned African states and institutions, particularly South Africa and Nigeria, and SADC and the African Union, to assist in the mediation of Zimbabwe's civil conflict. Mr. President, the non-violent civil disobedience that is growing in your country - such as that which took place on Mother's day in Bulawayo - is increasingly met with police brutality and excessive force. Such trends in the abuse of human rights are not only unacceptable, they are threats to your country's stability and they are undermining the economic and political development your people desire and deserve. We believe that a peaceful solution is possible for Zimbabwe if you find a way to work with others in and outside of your government to create an effective process for a transition to a more broadly supported government upholding the democratic rights of all.
Sincerely yours in struggle,
William Lucy, President, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; Willie Baker, Executive Vice President, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; Salih Booker, Executive Director, Africa Action; Bill Fletcher, Jr., President, TransAfrica Forum; Horace G. Dawson Jr., Director Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center, Howard University; Patricia Ann Ford, Executive Vice President, Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Julianne Malveaux, TransAfrica Forum Board Member; Rev Justus Y. Reeves, Executive Director Missions Ministry, Progressive National Baptist Convention; Coordinating Committee, Black Radical Congress.

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From DPA, 5 June

Zimbabwean opposition push street protests despite police force

Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) called Thursday on Zimbabweans to stage mass street protests Friday against President Robert Mugabe's regime, despite a week of strong-armed resistance from pro-government troops. A five day "mass action"', organized by the MDC to topple Mugabe's 23 year rule, has so far failed, in the face of massive security, to "bring millions onto the streets", as envisaged by MDC leader and veteran trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai. An associated nationwide stay-away has, however, been largely successful although many businesses were forced to open briefly after officials threatened to have the businesses seized, and given to "patriotic" Zimbabweans, or to deport expatriate staff. At least one MDC supporter has died of torture and assault injuries, 70 have been injured and 300 detained or abducted in a country-wide crackdown by police and armed troops. There has been no independent confirmation of a claim by the government that it uncovered an arms cache, alleged to belong to the MDC, containing a large quantity of detonators, explosives and home made weaponry. State media claimed three suspects had been arrested and charged in connection with the arms find, said to have been discovered in Chitungwiza, a township in Harare's southern outskirts, after a "tip off". Medical sources said more than 70 people had been treated for serious assault injuries at Harare's private Avenues clinic before riot police and security agents raided its casualty department Wednesday and took away at least two patients, in an apparent bid to stop them talking to the press. Bulawayo's Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube plans to hold an interdenominational service "for justice and peace" at his cathedral in the city Friday afternoon.
The MDC is calling on supporters to make a final effort to march on towns and city centres to press for 79-year-old Mugabe's resignation, fresh presidential elections and sweeping reforms. Some eight million Zimbabweans are currently facing starvation, according to UN agencies, inflation is running at 269 per cent and commercial agriculture has collapsed following the seizure of 5,000 white owned farms. "We are winning against the dictator - tomorrow Friday June 6 is D Day!" said MDC advertisements in the independent media. "Rise up in your millions to demonstrate publicly your utmost disapproval of this violent dictatorship. The regime is determined to maintain its dictatorship at all costs ... Now the time has come for you to defend yourself." It said "merchants of violence" had been bussed into urban centres to terrorise the opposition but people must claim their democratic rights. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior European Union diplomat said the MDC needed to muster crowds of 10,000 to 15,000 to intimidate security forces. The independently-owned Daily News warned Thursday that Mugabe's security forces were likely to launch a widespread campaign of victimization in the wake of the stayaway. "The government has run out of options beyond brute military force," said an editorial. "Many MDC supporters in vulnerable rural areas and high density suburbs in cities can testify they have only reaped bitter retribution from government supporters after each stay-away," it said.

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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 6 June

Govt lashes out as protests spread

Staff writers
Arbitrary arrests, assaults, torture, and general intimidation of the public have characterised government's response to this week's mass action, reports yesterday revealed. But the Movement for Democratic Change which is spearheading the protests said it was "winning against the dictator". It has called on its supporters to "rise up in your millions" today, the last day of the nationwide mass action, designated "D-Day". Legal umbrella group Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights reported the detention of individuals by police without adequate suspicion of an offence, cases of torture and other mistreatment of detainees, squalid conditions in police cells, and a refusal to cooperate with lawyers representing those detained. "The conditions are shocking and inhuman which violate the constitution and international instruments that the government has signed and ratified," the legal group said. By yesterday two people had been confirmed dead while more than 500 had been arrested since Monday. Hundreds of others have been injured. People seeking assistance at the Avenues Clinic complained of police harassment on Wednesday and yesterday. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena yesterday confirmed that two people had died in the crackdown.
Amon Nyadongo (41) of Mbare was stoned to death on Monday near Gwanzura stadium in Highfield as uniformed forces clashed with protesters. An MDC official, Tichaona Kaguru, died after being allegedly abducted and tortured by government security agents. Kaguru was allegedly abducted by 40 armed soldiers together with Harare City councillor Sydney Mazaranhanga before he was assaulted and left to die at a police clinic in Chikurubi. The sweeping attacks and arrests targeted MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, senior party officials, MPs and supporters. In Harare's city centre Zanu PF's rag-tag army of youths - some of them barefoot - terrorised people at random and tore up copies of independent newspapers. There were reports of youths robbing pedestrians of cellphones and cash. Police were seen on Tuesday giving youths who had torn up papers a lecture before letting them go. Security forces tried to prevent those injured from receiving treatment. On Wednesday, they stormed Avenues Clinic where many victims had been admitted and abducted one person. Over 58 people had been treated, hospital staff reported. The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights condemned police and army violence against civilians. "We are concerned that the heavy presence and intimidating behaviour of the uniformed forces in hospital premises will prevent patients from accessing treatment," it said.
In Gweru lawyers representing arrested MDC supporters were harassed by the police while patrons at Portugal Restaurant along Samora Machel Avenue in Harare were beaten up by soldiers on Tuesday night. The following night soldiers were reported as moving from house to house in Chitungwiza and Highfield beating up residents suspected of being linked to the opposition. The security forces used teargas, baton sticks and in some cases live bullets during their crackdown on opposition demonstrators earlier this week. Highfield and Glen View residents and university students were attacked and beaten by riot police and the army. Crisis in Zimbabwe, a coalition of civic groups, said it was concerned about the violent suppression of the mass action. "Across the country, students, pro-democracy activists, and those suspected of organising or supporting the mass action have been targeted for arrest and have been subjected to police brutality," it said. Foreign Affairs minister Stan Mudenge on Wednesday summoned diplomats based in Harare to a meeting at the President's Office where he defended the use of force to suppress peaceful mass action. Some senior diplomats who attended the meeting expressed concern at the repressive tactics of government. Australian High Commissioner Jonathan Brown told the meeting that "the people of Zimbabwe have a right to peaceful protest and this should be respected". The Japanese ambassador, Tsuneshige Iiyama, said freedom of association was important in democratic systems. French ambassador Didier Ferrand rejected Mudenge's claims that Paris used coercion and banned protests during this week's G8 summit at Evian. In an aside, German ambassador Peter Schmidt said in his country people did not need police approval to demonstrate.

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From The Daily News, 6 June

Mbare mourners attacked

Staff Reporter
Suspected ruling Zanu PF supporters in Harare's Mbare high-density suburb allegedly went on the rampage yesterday attacking and injuring mourners who had gathered for the funeral wake of Tichaona Kaguru, an opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) official allegedly murdered earlier this week by State security agents. The late Kaguru, who was a member of the MDC's Mbare district executive committee, was on Tuesday night allegedly abducted together with a Mbare councillor, Sydney Mazaranhanga, by security agents who brutally assaulted them before dumping them at Chikurubi Prison camp. He later died at the prison's hospital, where nurses had reportedly refused to treat him. Mazaranhanga survived the attack. Kaguru's brother, Kunaka, said a group of about 50 suspected Zanu PF supporters yesterday afternoon stormed the Kaguru home and randomly attacked people gathered there to console the family. Kunaka told The Daily News: "We were just about to have our lunch when they arrived. They ordered everyone to lie down and began stoning us. They then moved into the house and assaulted us with bricks, stones and sticks. People fled in different directions while others were injured in the melee. I have never before seen any sane people attacking mourners, all in a bid to please their political paymasters." Kunaka said they had reported the attack to Mbare police.
However, the police yesterday refused to speak to this newspaper about the attack on the Mbare mourners. Kunaka said the people who attacked his family belonged to a Zanu PF vigilante group called Chipangano, accused of terrorising supporters of the MDC in Mbare. Zanu PF denies links to the terror group. Members of Chipangano stormed the Kaguru home soon after MDC legislator for Mbare, Tichaona Munyanyi, had left the home. They demanded to know why Munyanyi had visited the family. Kunaka, who incurred injuries to the head during the attack and was treated at the Avenues clinic, said the family was by late yesterday afternoon still trying to locate the late Kaguru's widow, Nyarai, who had not been seen after escaping the attackers through the window. Kaguru's mother-in-law, Winnet Dzumbunu, also sustained injuries during the attack.
Meanwhile an official of the Harare municipality's Fire and Ambulance Department yesterday confirmed Kaguru's death. "Yes we are the ones who confirmed him dead. We received a call to attend to him and Councillor Mazaranhanga but we arrived there (at Chikurubi) 20 minutes after the call," the official said. "We assess the patients before we ferry them but there was no response from Kaguru. There was no heartbeat so we handed him over to the police," the department said in response to queries from this newspaper. The police had refused to confirm or deny whether the MDC official was dead or not. The Zimbabwe Defence Forces, some of whose men allegedly took part in the murder of Kaguru, would also not speak on the matter, referring all questions to the police whom they said were commanding the operation to quell mass demonstrations called by the MDC this week. But Kunaka said the police had finally told the family that the body of their deceased relative was now being kept at mortuary at the government's Parirenyatwa Hospital.

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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 6 June

Mugabe thugs search hospital for victims

Harare - In his upstairs hospital room, Gladmore Matika heard the noise of Zimbabwe's security forces rampaging through the building. "I was worried they would come for me, but they left me alone," said the 20-year-old who hopes to travel to Britain soon, take A-levels and train as a doctor. The soldiers raided the hospital looking for those they had injured during a week of violence and to try to stop journalists from photographing their handiwork. Zimbabwe's Association of Doctors for Human Rights said yesterday: "At least one injured patient was forcibly abducted by uniformed police from a hospital casualty waiting area in Harare, without receiving medical attention." On Monday, hours before the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's week-long strike against the brutal dictatorship of Robert Mugabe began, eight soldiers dragged Mr Matika from his bed at home and systematically beat him. "The soldiers, in camouflage, picked me up, shouted that I wanted to remove Mugabe, and then pushed their rifle butts into one side of my body," he said. When the thugs had finished he had two broken ribs, a broken arm, extensive injuries inside his mouth, and deep bruising. His three brothers escaped attack by hiding in wardrobes in the middle-class family's home in the Highfields township, close to the city centre.
The soldiers flung Mr Matika and the family's gardener into an army truck filled with more than 100 other groaning youths, and took them to the Machipisa police station on the outskirts of the city. "They made us sing the Zanu PF song," Mr Matika said. "But I don't know it. I couldn't sit because I was in too much pain and they only let me lie down after I collapsed." Twelve hours later his parents found him, paid an "admission of guilt" fee of 75 pence, and took him to hospital. "I do not know why they came for me. I am not anything in the MDC,' Mr Matika said. Four days later he can barely move, surrounded by his family, including his mother, Jane, 48, sporting a swollen face from when she begged the soldiers to spare her son. A doctor, who worked in casualty this week, said about 80 injured people were treated in the first three days. "This week we have seen worse soft tissue injuries than ever before," he added. "The beatings must have been very vicious. We have also seen many orthopaedic injuries."
Tendai Biti, a member of parliament and leading Harare lawyer, was released on �2.50 bail on Wednesday night after being picked up at a demonstration on Monday. Like all opposition MPs, Mr Biti is a veteran of Harare's filthy police cells. "I was arrested with five others," he said yesterday. "We were the only ones out of 97 people I saw in those terrible cells who had not been beaten up. Many were limping and whimpering in pain. "None of them will lay charges against the police. They are so relieved to be out of that place that they don't want to go to the trouble." The arrests continued yesterday, with scores of people being picked up throughout the country. On Wednesday, Tichaona Kaguru, an official of the MDC in Harare, died after allegedly being abducted and tortured by members of the security forces. Mr Biti said the MDC had gained a great deal of experience from this week's mass action. "He added: We also now know for certain that the state has to rely on fascism and violence to stay in power. That is all they have got." Mr Biti will be at a demonstration in African Unity Square today. "There will be more arrests, more beatings," he said wearily.

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From News24 (SA), 4 June

Radio journos arrested

Harare - Two journalists from a pirate radio station were arrested in Zimbabwe this week in a crackdown by security forces against opposition-led mass action, the government and a media watchdog said on Wednesday. "Two journalists working for a pirate radio station were arrested during a raid on their offices," Foreign Affairs Minister Stan Mudenge said in a security update he gave to Harare-based foreign diplomats in Harare. Shorai Katiwa and Martin Chimenya of the Voice of the People (VOP) were "detained, interrogated, beaten and had their mobile phones and recorders confiscated" by youths and war veterans from the ruling Zanu PF party, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) confirmed in a statement. The watchdog said they were later taken to the police for further interrogation and released after police found nothing "suspicious" in their computer files. Netherlands-based VOP broadcasts into Zimbabwe on shortwave. Its offices were firebombed in August last year. The three-year-old shortwave radio station is one of only two broadcasters which have managed to circumvent Zimbabwe's repressive media laws by using transmitters outside the country to carry their programmes on shortwave. Most of VOP's programming is in Zimbabwe's two local languages, Shona and Ndebele, placing it among the few independent media that can reach the large rural population who have no access to urban newspapers.

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From ZWNEWS, 6 June

Leader of English Catholics urges special prayers for Zimbabwe

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, has urged special prayers for Zimbabwe this week as Robert Mugabe's regime attempts through a brutal crackdown to suppress a nationwide protest against his rule. "As the protests continue we pray that they remain peaceful and call on the Zimbabwe government to show dignity, restraint and respect for the people and for democracy,'' the Cardinal said in a statement. His asked churches in the Diocese of Westminster, of which he is archbishop, to pray this week for peace and justice in Zimbabwe. The people of Zimbabwe are likely to be included in the bidding prayers at most Masses this Sunday in the huge diocese covering London and some surrounding districts. The Cardinal's appeal follows a visit by Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, the most outspoken church leader against the human rights violations of the regime, to Britain and the United States. The British visit aroused controversy because there was no publicity and the archbishop, who has won international acclaim for his courage, was not available for media interviews. After critical reports in The Spectator, a conservative weekly, and London-based Catholic Herald, the archbishop issued a statement in Bulawayo saying the visit had been productive, and the bishops of England and Wales had been "concerned that my position as mediator and peacemaker would not be compromised in any way."
In an editorial last week, The Catholic Herald urged the bishops of England and Wales to speak out against the Mugabe regime. The Catholic Church has long played an important role in Zimbabwe and many Catholics have been dismayed at the failure of the bishops in Britain to take a public stand - not least because Mugabe himself professes to be a Catholic. In addition, the stance of Archbishop Ncube has been in sharp contrast to that of the late Archbishop of Mashonaland Patrick Chakaipa who was a longtime apologist for Mugabe. After Archbishop Chakaipa died recently, the Mugabe regime sought to have him declared a national hero. There are, however, signs of growing criticism from Catholic leaders. In a carefully worded Lenten pastoral letter in March, the Catholic bishops of Zimbabwe urged the re-establishment of "an environment of peace and justice which encourages full participation of all citizens in the affairs of their nation." Pope John Paul II criticised the seizure of commercial farms when Zimbabwe's new ambassador to the Vatican presented his credentials. Today, Archbishop Ncube and other Christian leaders are due to speak at a service for justice and peace at St. Mary's Catholic Cathedral in Bulawayo. Police and supporters of Mugabe's Zanu PF party have in the past broken up prayer meetings - most recently those before the protest last week. On Wednesday, police and Zanu PF militia rampaged through a Harare hospital, attacking and arresting wounded protesters.

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From Reuters, 6 June

Tsvangirai arrested on new charge of treason

By Stella Mapenzauswa and Cris Chinaka
Harare - Police arrested Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday and charged him with treason as anti-government protests faltered in the face of a massive show of force by President Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was arrested after a news conference in which he vowed to press ahead with protests against Mugabe, whom he accuses of being an illegitimate and increasingly incompetent leader. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said Tsvangirai was being charged with treason in connection with a series of statements since the disputed March 2002 elections that allegedly incited his supporters to seek Mugabe's overthrow. "We picked him up in connection with the many statements he has been making since the presidential elections," Bvudzijena said. Tsvangirai, who urged Zimbabweans to turn out "in their millions" this week to express their dissatisfaction with Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF party, has launched a legal challenge to Mugabe's 2002 election in polls widely decried as fraudulent. Lawyer Innocent Chagonda said Tsvangirai - who is already on trial for treason in connection with an alleged plot on Mugabe's life - would be held until Saturday when he was due to appear before a magistrate. "There is absolutely no basis for the arrest," Chagonda told CNN, adding that Tsvangirai would deny seeking Mugabe's ouster. "The purpose of organising these stayaways and demonstrations was to put pressure on Mugabe and the Zanu PF government to come to the negotiating table with MDC for the purpose of finding a solution to the crisis that has gripped this country," he said. The opposition accuses Mugabe's government of political repression and mismanagement that has left the country's economy in tatters. Tsvangirai was briefly detained on Monday, and government lawyers are now seeking a court order to ban him from making "inflammatory" comments or inciting the public.
On Friday, the last day of a five-day campaign of MDC protests which the government has declared illegal, thousands of young men wearing white T-shirts emblazoned with the words "No to Mass Action" flooded central Harare, apparently to discourage any attempts by MDC protesters to take to the streets. In outlying townships, more young militia members patrolled the streets singing the praises of Zanu PF. Elsewhere in the country, police stopped a handful of people who tried to march in the country's second city of Bulawayo, while another planned MDC protest in southern Masvingo province was reported to have collapsed in the face of heavy security. "There are soldiers, police, paramilitary police and Zanu PF youth brigades everywhere," said Douglas Mwonzora, speaking for the pressure group National Constitutional Assembly. In his news conference, Tsvangirai conceded the bruising response to the protest drive - which began on Monday when riot police used tear gas and rifle butts to disperse protests in several places around the country - had made MDC supporters reluctant to stage open demonstrations. But he described the week-long drive as an overwhelming success and said the opposition would continue the protests. "From now onwards we will embark on rolling mass action at strategic times of our choice and without any warning to the dictatorship," he said. Mugabe, now 79 and in power since independence from Britain in 1980, says he is being targeted by Western powers and their local proxies angry over his policy of seizing white-owned farms for redistribution to landless blacks.

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From The Times (UK), 7 June

Tsvangirai faces new treason charges

From Michael Hartnack in Harare
Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean opposition leader, was charged with the capital offence of high treason for the second time yesterday. He was detained at his home minutes after pledging to intensify a programme of civil disobedience against President Mugabe. Wayne Bvudzijena, the police assistant commissioner, said: "He is being charged with treason for the many statements he has been making to his supporters calling for the violent removal of the President." Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is already on bail while a four-month treason trial drags on, arising from allegations that he plotted Mr Mugabe's assassination with Ari ben Menashe, a Canadian lobbyist. In five days of protest this week at least two people have been killed, 300 detained or abducted and scores injured. Paramilitary riot police and youth militia, backed by armed troops, helicopter gunships and tanks, quashed all MDC attempts to gather for marches demanding the resignation of Mr Mugabe, 79. The country ground to a halt under a nationwide strike that eased only when police and pro-government militants visited businesses, threatening impending seizures and deportation of expatriate staff.
In Harare ruling party supporters wearing "No to mass action" shirts gathered on every street corner. Human rights activists said they were outraged at the invasion of a clinic by security police and the seizure of patients awaiting treatment for injuries inflicted by pro-government forces. Shortly before his arrest, Mr Tsvangirai had told a press conference that the Opposition's programme of "mass action", which has been banned by a High Court injunction, would continue with greater intensity. He said that the strike had sapped the morale and confidence of the Mugabe dictatorship and had shown that it was not in charge of the country but was marshalling the forces of repression. "His power now lies completely ... with a coterie of his bootlickers." Mr Mugabe seemed unruffled by the latest protests. Speaking at a rally in Mamini, northwest of Harare, he declared: "We were expected to quake and shake with fear at this threat from this pathetic puppet who regards the British as his masters and God. It is very stupid and naive to think that we would just stand by and watch." In the second city of Bulawayo, hundreds of worshippers of all faiths defied a police cordon to attend a service for justice and peace conducted by Archbishop Pius Ncube.
A leading Western envoy pointed out that Emmerson Mnangagwa, Speaker of the parliament, administrative head of the ruling Zanu PF party and front-runner to succeed Mr Mugabe, had cancelled a planned briefing session with diplomats this week. "If he had been confident, he would not have done that," the envoy said. The Government was obviously "scared", although in the face of troops, tanks and helicopters, the MDC had failed to muster the necessary "critical mass" of between 10,000 and 15,000 in marches that might have intimidated the security forces. A former head of the Central Intelligence Organisation during the 1982-87 Matabeleland atrocities, Mr Mnangagwa is seen as a successor who would safeguard Mr Mugabe's retirement from human rights inquiries. Professor Anthony Hawkins, the country's leading economist, said: "It is hard to quantify the effect of the stayaway. The momentum is with the Opposition." He believed that Mr Mugabe's lieutenants "must be beginning to ask: 'Where is this guy leading us?"

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From The Guardian (UK), 7 June

Zimbabwe slips deeper into chaos as cracks in regime show

By Rory Carroll in Harare
She said her name was Dora and she had come for the revolution. Jaw clenched, staring straight ahead, she gripped her handbag and sat on the bench in downtown Harare, willing herself to stay. Africa Unity Square was the assembly point for what the opposition called D-Day, the climax to a week of protests against Robert Mugabe's regime. Dora arrived yesterday just before the appointed time, 10am, and realised she was on her own. But not alone. From different corners of the square hundreds of youths in white T-shirts - militia from the ruling Zanu PF party - streamed into what was supposed to be the crucible of the revolution. Around the city roved at least 2,000 militia, backed up by police and army units, even helicopters, in an unprecedented show of strength. This was President Mugabe pulling out all the stops, for he sensed this week of general strikes and street demonstrations was perhaps the gravest threat to his 23-year rule. Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, was yesterday arrested for the second time since Monday and charged with treason, which carries a possible death sentence. He is already on trial on a separate treason charge.
The opposition ran full-page adverts in yesterday's independent Daily News: "We are winning against the dictator! This is the moment you have been waiting for. Protest peacefully - march for your freedom." They called for millions to turn out. But, unlike economics, the government does repression rather well: it declared the protests illegal, stopped people entering cities and those who did make it to the assembly points were too intimidated to do anything. Dora was an exception. In her early 30s, dressed in a business suit, she was about the only person in Africa Unity Square without a white T-shirt saying "No to mass action". She was visibly nervous but the voice was steady: "I came because it is my duty to be here. It is time to make a stand." The interview ended when seven militants surrounded me and demanded to know which newspaper I was holding. "It's the Daily News," shouted one, and another raised a stick. When they saw it was not, they stepped back and smiled. "My friend, you're OK now." In fact it was the Zimbabwe Independent, a Mugabe critic, and the splash headline said "Govt lashes out as protests spread". To be beaten for possessing one paper and not the other made no sense, but then little does in today's Zimbabwe.
What consistency the Mugabe regime had - reward friends and punish real or perceived opponents - seems to be unravelling as the crisis bites. Anecdotal evidence suggests the chain of command is fraying. This week Zanu PF militants invaded a privately run school outside Harare, forced staff to sing and dance in praise of the regime and slaughtered one of their goats. Two of the pupils are children of the president's sister, Sabina Mugabe, and when told she "hit the roof", said one teacher, but the militants continued harrassing. Police told Duke De Coudray, the owner of a hardware store, that he would be charged with treason for not opening his store in support of the general strike, but Zanu PF members said they would attack if he did open. Yesterday's show of force ensured that D-Day passed without deliverance for the opposition but analysts said the level of repression was unsustainable. Most of the time the helicopters cannot fly for want of fuel and salaries are running out for the men with guns and clubs. A police unit which raided the University of Zimbabwe stole not only the students' mobile phones and jackets, but biscuits and bread, which they devoured on the spot. "They seemed starving. It was amazing," said one student.
Three years after government-sponsored farm seizures started devastating the agriculture-led economy, rock bottom seems in sight. To add to the mile-long queues for scarce petrol now there are queues outside banks for scarce cash - the central bank cannot afford ink for banknotes, among other things. Annual inflation is 269%. After a series of one-day stoppages the main opposition group, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had called for a "final push" this week, with five days of strikes and demonstrations to force Mr Mugabe's resignation. The security forces crushed the protests by detaining MDC leaders and beating hundreds of activists. At least one, Tichona Kaguru, 33, died from his injuries, and dozens more were beaten again while being treated at Harare's Avenues clinic. The more traditional tactic of beating people at home under cover of night continued, said the MDC, which published graphic pictures of bruised and broken limbs. About 3,000 students who tried to march from Harare's university were dispersed by teargas and live rounds fired over their heads.
Before his arrest Mr Tsvangirai voiced defiance: "From now onwards we will embark on rolling mass action at strategic times of our choice and without any warning to the dictatorship. More action is certainly on the way." The crackdown succeeded in crushing demonstrations but not the strike, one of the deepest and longest in African history, which turned cities into ghost towns. It was a message to the Zanu PF factions plotting to succeed Mr Mugabe to hasten the 79-year-old's exit. Speaking from a new safe house Roy Bennett, an outspoken MDC MP, claimed victory. "We showed who has the power in the country, who rules. To be able to shut down major cities for five days shows where the power lies. "The damage to the economy was massive and weakened the ruling party's position and should force them to the negotiating table." By the time Mr Bennett and his wife made it to Africa Unity Square, Dora had gone and they were the only MDC representatives. "The scale of the security intimidated people," he said.

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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 7 June

Mugabe's brutal regime approaches a bloody conclusion

By Tim Butcher in the townships of western Bulawayo
By moving so violently against peaceful demonstrators in Zimbabwe this week, Robert Mugabe has made sure the endgame of his regime will be bloody and brutal. This was the message from the townships of Bulawayo and the hinterland of Matabeleland where hatred of Mr Mugabe runs almost but not quite deep enough for people to take on his police, army and security forces. "Non-violence is no longer an option in this country," Vusa Kunene, a well-educated but under-employed carpenter, explained in a friend's crowded shack in the township of Tshabalala. "They had made sure of that now but here it is not like other countries where they use water cannon on you if you take to the streets. Here the police just beat you and beat you. There is nothing to stop them from killing you and I am scared." He was not exaggerating but his fear explained why millions in Zimbabwe heeded the opposition call for a week-long general strike but few followed the call for street protests and marches. At this stage in the Zimbabwe crisis, the fear of brutality by security forces outweighs the general hatred of the regime. It is a situation that many in the opposition Movement for Democratic Change think will be reversed soon.
Bulawayo's tree-lined avenues, carefully laid out in colonial times to be wide enough to allow an oxcart to turn round, were patrolled all week by riot police and armed soldiers peeping out from under steel helmets.Their camouflaged jackets helped to conceal them against the trunks of the jacaranda trees but the gun metal grey of their assault rifle barrels stood out rudely among the mothers pushing prams and hawkers selling newspapers. An army helicopter clattered noisily overhead, a clumsy display of force by the regime, and an assortment of trucks and other security vehicles were parked at strategic junctions.Pre-emptive strikes by the security forces had already filled the holding cells of Bulawayo's central police station to overflowing with sympathisers loyal to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Defence lawyers told of how they were beaten up by the police as they asked to interview clients. So many people were taken prisoner in overnight swoops that temporary holding cells had to be set up at the Stops Camp, once an officers' club during colonial times but now a notorious torture centre.
Police checkpoints were set up on all approach roads to Tshabalala and other western townships which have been turned by overcrowded conditions and miserable job prospects into breeding grounds for the Movement's support and hatred of Mr Mugabe. Vehicles were stopped, passengers searched and ID documents demanded in a police crackdown not dissimilar to the worst excesses of the security forces under white rule. Vusa and his neighbours dared not venture from their homes after sunset following swoops at night by armed police. In the city centre, riot police played cat and mouse with suspected Opposition loyalists. Whenever a group of more than a dozen or so assembled at a street corner, police would appear in large numbers only for the "disaffected youth" to disperse. "I support the stayaway but the ruling party makes it difficult because they are linked with many employers," said Baillie Nkomo, 21, from the townships. "They threaten to take your job away if you do not turn up to work at some state-owned firms." The week-long stayaway marked a significant change of tactic for the Opposition which spent three years challenging Mr Mugabe's regime through the courts. "We found he was foiling us at every turn," said David Coltart, the movement's shadow justice minister. "Violence is not what we are encouraging but the time has come for the people to show, through mass action, what they feel of a brutal regime that ignores every aspect of the rule of law."

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From News24 (SA), 6 June

Video of photographer attack

London - Amateur video from Zimbabwe broadcast in Britain on Friday showed a man armed with a bayonet threatening to set fire to a car if the camerawoman refused to hand over her camera during clashes between protesters and security forces earlier this week. Laurinda Whitehead refused to give up the camera, and said she and a companion raced around Zimbabwe's capital Harare for 20 minutes before they were able to shake off their attacker. The video, shown on Sky News, was shot on Monday as students at Zimbabwe University, gathering for a protest march, were dispersed with tear gas. Some were seen being beaten by soldiers. The video footage shows a man clambering on to the back of the car Whitehead was traveling in, saying, "I want the camera." Whitehead is then heard screaming: "He's getting matches. Hurry up" Hurry up, for Christ's sake!" The male driver is then heard shouting: "Help me, get this man off here, he's trying to burn my car. Help!" Opposition efforts to lead street demonstrations this week in a bid to force the increasingly dictatorial President Robert Mugabe out of office have met with a swift and violent crackdown by authorities. While a general strike has taken hold across the country, planned demonstrations have been foiled by ruling party militias, riot police and soldiers using tear gas, rifle butts, batons, and the firing of live warning shots to disperse protesters. The opposition blames Mugabe for sinking the country into political and economic ruin. There are shortages of food, medicine, fuel, and currency, and annual inflation is at 269%. Widespread starvation has been avoided only with international aid.

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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 6 June

Tsvangirai's bail hearing postponed

Harare - The High Court in the Zimbabwe capital Harare on Friday postponed until next week its ruling on whether to tighten the bail conditions on opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, court officials said. President Robert Mugabe's government had applied to the court for an order to prevent Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and two other senior party officials from calling for mass anti-government action. Tsvangirai, his party's secretary general Welshman Ncube and top MDC official, Renson Gasela, are all facing a separate trial of treason. The court had been expected to rule on the application on Friday, but High Court judges were attending the funeral of a fellow judge, court officials said. The ruling is now expected to be delivered on Monday. Tsvangirai's lawyers, including South African George Bizos, argued that the state's application amounted to a gagging order. They say their clients have a constitutional right to freedom of expression and assembly. The government wants to avoid a repeat of the MDC's latest protest action, dubbed the "final push", which has seen most shops and businesses in the capital shut since Monday.

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From Associated Press, 7 June

IMF Zimbabwe ban

Relations between Zimbabwe and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reached a new low with the Fund's decision to suspend its membership rights. "As a result of today's decision, Zimbabwe can no longer appoint a Governor or Alternate Governor to the IMF, participate in the election of an Executive Director for its Board, or cast its vote in decisions on IMF policy or country matters," the IMF said in a statement. The IMF painted a grim picture of Zimbabwe's economic climate over the past four years, noting a one-third drop in output and inflation of 270 per cent. Further, the IMF said Zimbabwe had been in continuous arrears to the IMF since February 2001. As of end-May 2003, Zimbabwe's arrears to the IMF amounted to about $US233 million, or about 47 per cent of its membership quota at the IMF. The IMF said it would review the decision in six months.

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From Reuters, 7 June

Zimbabwe treason hearing postponed to Monday

By Stella Mapenzauswa
Harare - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was held in police custody on Saturday after a court hearing for a newly recorded treason charge was postponed until Monday, his lawyers said. Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was arrested on Friday after a week of protests against President Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe has been hit by economic decay, food and fuel shortages, and political turmoil. Lawyers told reporters outside Harare magistrates court that the MDC leader's court hearing had been postponed until Monday, when he is also due to appear in the High Court for a trial relating to separate treason charges alleging that he plotted to assassinate Mugabe in 2001. "As of now Mr. Tsvangirai is being taken back to the police station. He is still in the hands of police. They are entitled at law to hold him up to 48 hours before bringing him to court and the 48 hours is not yet expired," said Tsvangirai lawyer Innocent Chagonda. State lawyers did not say whether Tsvangirai would be held over the weekend, and it was not clear what would happen to the MDC leader between the expiry of the 48-hour period on Sunday evening, and the scheduled Monday court hearing. State lawyer Stephen Musona said Saturday's hearing had been postponed because the court was not suitably equipped to record proceedings, a measure requested by the defense.
Tsvangirai accuses Mugabe of being an illegitimate and increasingly incompetent leader who has ruined the economy, and has launched a legal challenge to Mugabe's 2002 election in polls widely decried as fraudulent. Chagonda said the state's charges alleged that Tsvangirai urged MDC supporters to take to the streets to oust Mugabe's government, and added that the MDC leader had denied the allegations. "They have made bold allegations, unsubstantiated by any facts. No quotation has been quoted, attributable to the accused, urging the people to take to the streets for the purposes of removing the government," Chagonda said. He added that the defense would apply to the court for Tsvangirai's release at the next hearing, but said he had heard bail would be opposed by the state. On Friday, 79-year-old Mugabe dismissed what he described as Tsvangirai's threat of street protests to run him out of office as "stupid and naive." State security forces clamped down on the demonstrations, which faltered toward the end of the week in the face of tear gas, alleged beatings and gangs of pro-government youths roving the streets.

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From The Daily News, 7 June

Police arrest 800 in massive crackdown

Staff Reporters
State security agents have since Monday this week arrested more than 800 people across the country in a ruthless attempt to crush opposition protests. The clampdown has drawn strong criticism from the United States of America and other countries. By the end of the day yesterday, the last day of week-long mass protests that shut down Zimbabwe, police had arrested 814 people they accused of participating in the mass demonstrations and job stayaways called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). By the time of going to print last night 145 people had been released from police custody after being made to pay admission of guilt fines ranging between $3 000 and $5 000. But the number of those still being held by the law enforcement agency could not be ascertained. Many of those released by the police complained of being beaten and tortured by police officers to force them to admit they had contravened the law. The police could not be reached for comment on the allegations of torture and ill-treatment raised by the MDC supporters. But several people, including some who were not participating in the mass demonstrations were severely assaulted and injured by heavily armed police officers and soldiers who descended on residential areas in Harare and other cities in a bid to stifle the opposition protests. The Daily News saw several of the victims of alleged police and army brutality at Harare's Avenues Clinic where they were receiving treatment for injuries incurred during the beatings. The police yesterday confirmed that two people had died in the disturbances and said they were investigating the death of one of the two people who the MDC claims died after being assaulted by members of the army.
US State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker this week condemned Harare's use of strong arm tactics to crush the protests by its citizens. Reeker said in Press statement: "The United States strongly condemns the Zimbabwean government's suppression of its citizens' efforts to protest peacefully against a collapsing economy and a deteriorating human rights situation. While the opposition's calls for a work stoppage succeeded in closing most shops and businesses, its efforts to organise peaceful marches were broken up with teargas and beatings." The US official called for dialogue between the MDC and Zanu PF to break a grinding economic and political crisis gripping Zimbabwe. He said: "Political forces, including the ruling Zanu PF and the opposition MDC must enter into unconditional dialogue on an urgent basis to address the political and economic crisis afflicting the nation." Britain and the European Union have also condemned the government's use of strong arm tactics to break the opposition protests and urged the MDC and Zanu PF to negotiate a solution to the country's problems. The MDC said the mass demonstrations were meant to force President Robert Mugabe to resign or agree to negotiate with the opposition party a solution to Zimbabwe's crisis. Reeker called on African states to exert pressure on the stakeholders in Zimbabwe to peacefully resolve the crisis in the country. He also said Mugabe should allow peaceful protests, stop human rights abuses, reverse disastrous economic policies, and restore the rule of law.
Reeker spoke as police in Harare yesterday arrested MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai on fresh charges of treason. Tsvangirai is already facing trial for treason over allegations he and two other senior officials of his party plotted to assassinate Mugabe last year. Other senior MDC officials picked by the police in the last five days include the party's legislator for St Mary's constituency Job Sikhala, Bulawayo Mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube and Harare East Member of Parliament Tendai Biti. In Bulawayo and Masvingo the police also arrested senior MDC officials among them Esaph Mdlongwa, Silas Mangono, Tichaona Munyanyi and Milton Gwetu all of them legislators for the opposition party. Nearly all of the MDC senior officials had by yesterday been released from police custody. Biti, Munyanyi and four MDC supporters were granted bail ranging between $15 000 and $20 000 each by a Harare magistrate. In Bulawayo, magistrate John Masimba yesterday granted Gwetu a $100 000 bail but denied bail to provincial chairman, Abraham Mdlongwa and national executive member, Gertrude Mthombeni. Sikhala was released without any charges being pressed. The outspoken MP yesterday said, "Most of the arrested people were severely assaulted to the extent that they will limp for life due to the injuries they sustained." Some of the lawyers representing some of the arrested people said most of their clients were being held illegally following the expiry of the 48 hours allowed by law to keep suspects before they appear in court. Following the alleged brutal assaults by the State security agents, the MDC on Thursday said about 400 people had received medical treatment since Tuesday for injuries. At least 10 people have been hospitalised, with three of them reported to be in critical condition.

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From SABC News, 8 June

Mugabe says Britain, US instigated Zimbabwe protests

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean president, has accused Britain and the United States of instigating a protest drive to topple his government, as police held main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on a new treason charge. Police arrested Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), on Friday after a week of opposition-led protests against Mugabe, whom critics blame for Zimbabwe's economic decay, food and fuel shortages, and political turmoil. Yesterday, Mugabe said former colonial power Britain and the United States were behind the protests and hinted his government would retaliate. "The actions are blatantly illegal in that they are aimed at an unconstitutional removal of the country's head of state," he told mourners at the state funeral of the widow of late Zimbabwean nationalist Joshua Nkomo. "I hope...the British and the United States embassies realise that as they sponsor the MDC and instigate it, they are doing so in order to achieve an illegal objective...and I warn their instigation cannot be tolerated forever by my government." Innocent Chagonda, Tsvangirai's lawyer told reporters the MDC leader's court hearing had been postponed to tomorrow, when he is also due to appear in the High Court for a trial on separate, earlier treason charges of plotting to kill Mugabe in 2001. Stephen Musona, State lawyer, said the hearing was delayed because the court was not equipped to record the proceedings, a measure requested by the defence. State television said police were still looking for Welshman Ncube, MDC Secretary General, in connection with the same charges. Tsvangirai has launched a legal challenge to Mugabe's victory in 2002 polls both the opposition and several Western countries decried as fraudulent.

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From The Observer (UK), 8 June

Mugabe buys time in grim endgame

Rory Carroll in Harare reports on the president's mix of charm and terror
Resorting to a surreal mix of charm, bluff and terror, President Robert Mugabe is fighting this weekend to buy himself time to save his regime. An attempt to overhaul his image, inject cash and petrol into the economy and decapitate the opposition is under the way. The Zimbabwean government openly admits that the strategy is unsustainable but Mugabe is hoping to buy time for a controlled exit from power. A five-day general strike last week brought cities to a standstill and prompted an unprecedented security crackdown. Charm is not something the aloof 79-year-old is known for, but a propaganda drive is attempting to shore up support among loyalists in the country and sympathisers in South Africa. At a rare public appearance last week in Mamini, north-west of Harare, he voiced defiance and again played the neo-colonial card which resonates with many Africans outside Zimbabwe. Tonight South African television viewers will be treated to a softer, gentler Mugabe who, dressed in a smart suit, explains the hard choices faced by a democratically-elected government in a troubled land. 'It is sad when we are forced as [a] government to have to use tear gas against our own youth who are being misled. But we have to do it in the interest of peace. But we don't want to make our people suffer, Mugabe told SABC television. 'We suffered enough during colonial times and [now] we want our people to be free, express their free views and feel that the country belongs to them, that they have a stake.'
South Africa's national broadcaster was a shrewd choice for this rare interview as Pretoria, the region's dominant economy, has more leverage over Harare than London or Washington. President Thabo Mbeki has not used that leverage, partially because many black South Africans admire Mugabe for redressing colonial injustice. Harare's second prong is an emergency fix for an economy in freefall. The government needs cash to pay salaries - not least for the police, soldiers and militia - and fuel. The Finance Minister, Herbert Murerwa, last week unveiled an astonishing plan: tap revenue from Zimbabweans living abroad. 'Government is holding discussions with interested parties for purposes of mobilising foreign currency from Zimbabweans in the diaspora,' he said. That many emigrants left because of Mugabe's ruinous rule did not seem to dent his confidence. 'Indications are that a minimum of $1 million can be collected on a weekly basis.' Local media also reported that the state-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe has resumed talks with the Libyan group Tamoil for a new deal to import oil. A barter deal broke down last year when Zimbabwe could not supply enough beef, sugar and tobacco. Mugabe is considering mortgaging national assets to get the oil, a desperate measure reminiscent of the government of the Central African Republic, which, shortly before being ousted in a coup last year, allegedly granted Libya a 99-year monopoly on mineral reserves. Murerwa admitted: 'We have virtually moved to the practice of crisis management in place of sustainable planning for development.'
Mugabe wants the time and leverage for a smooth transfer of power which will protect him in retirement from the sort of travails visited on the likes of Pinochet, Honecker and Milosevic. Rival factions within the ruling Zanu PF party are angling for succession and Mugabe allegedly wants to cut a deal - immunity from prosecution for atrocities committed during his 23-rule, among other things - with the eventual winner. The gravest danger is that the successor will turn out to be Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, who has not accepted losing last year's rigged presidential election. After a series of one-day general strikes the MDC called last week for a 'final push', a five-day set of strikes and street protests to topple the president. The stayaway turned cities into ghost towns, a telling show of support, but the police, army and Zanu PF militia swept demonstrations from the streets, with 814 arrested. Many had bruises and broken limbs to accompany tales of torture, with at least one confirmed death. It was also alleged that MDC activists stoned to death a man suspected of belonging to Zanu PF. Mugabe is also harassing opposition leaders. Tsvangirai, already facing trial for treason, was arrested twice last week and on Friday was charged for a second time with treason, allegedly for inciting Mugabe's overthrow during last year's elections. Other senior MDC officials arrested include Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube, the mayor of Bulawayo, and Tendai Biti, a Harare MP. For analysts the cliche of choice is endgame, and this must surely be the regime's final phase, but it could last weeks, months, years. Zimbabwe is locked in a grim stalemate: the opposition has widespread support but cannot muster the sort of protests which toppled Slobodan Milosevic. The president can crush dissent but not control events, so he plays for time, a game he does well.

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From The Daily News, 7 June

Be ruthless with NGOs, Chombo instructs rural district councils

Own correspondent
Ignatius Chombo, the Local Government, Public Works and National Housing minister yesterday told rural district councils in the country to "deal ruthlessly" with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) he accused of working against the ruling Zanu PF party. Addressing the fourth biennial congress of the Association of Rural District Councils of Zimbabwe in Masvingo yesterday, Chombo said he was highly critical of some of the NGOs which he said abandoned their business to engage in politics. Chombo did not name the NGOs nor divulge how the councillors were supposed to ruthlessly deal with them. "I am highly critical of some of these NGOs which come with their aid with conditions attached. It is better not to give people maize than to give us maize with labels telling telling us who to vote for," Chombo said. "These NGOs come and confuse our Zanu PF councillors. Please deal with them ruthlessly and then tell us how you will have dealt with them." Chombo also criticised the councillors for not ensuring that money provided by the government for drought relief programmes reached the intended beneficiaries on time. He said: "Some money released in January this year is still stashed in rural district accounts. Why do you keep the money while people are starving?" The congress was attended by rural district councils drawn from eight provinces of the country. The congress was told that this year only $350 million was allocated to 32 rural district councils for water and sanitation programmes while $250 million was released for sewerage reticulation system.

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Comment from The Mail & Guardian (SA), 6 June

A regime clinging to power by force

Iden Wetherell
Harare - The report on this week's mass action in Zimbabwe must be a mixed one. The street protests envisaged were thwarted by riot police swinging batons and firing teargas. State violence was the deciding factor. But the five-day stayaway was incontrovertibly the most successful to date. If the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is unable to assemble its supporters in town centres, its leadership is at least able to call a successful strike whenever it likes. No amount of threats by ministers - becoming more fevered by the day - could get people to work. Morgan Tsvangirai now only has to blow his whistle and the nation downs tools. Nobody was impressed by over-heated charges of "illegal" or "unconstitutional" action and no business was persuaded to open by the prospect of Trade and Industry Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi taking over. After all, how successful has the Zimbabwean government been in running any other business it has turned its hand to?
At the end of the week the impression that remained was one of a desperately insecure regime using every means at its disposal - including threats against people sending SMS text messages - to get the country back to work. By Thursday a few banks and businesses had been prevailed upon, after visits by the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and Zanu PF gangs, to reopen. The reality, which the world was able to observe this week, was of a regime that is only able to survive by brute force. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights says that a significant number of arrests and detentions have been arbitrary, and that there are credible reports of torture, assault, violence, and general intimidation of people by the state machinery. None of this suggests normality. As one economist has noted, the problem of a dysfunctional economy and a government bereft of workable policies will still be there next week. Nothing will have changed in terms of President Robert Mugabe's prospects. He is still a prisoner of events in State House and losing support by the day. What is the point of a "big man" in politics if he can't deliver a single benefit to the people he rules? Land has proved a barren gift.
Meanwhile, the MDC will have to regard the events of this week as a test-run. In other countries where mass action has succeeded it has progressed by steps. There is no initial big bang. Just a series of increasingly louder eruptions. The three-day stayaway - shorter and sharper - may be more effective than five. By their treatment of township residents and students this week the police will have added several thousand hardened adherents to the MDC's ranks. By treating the public as "the enemy" and arbitrarily abridging their freedoms to assemble and express themselves, the authorities have alienated many otherwise uncommitted citizens. Zanu PF's only supporters are gangs of militiamen imported from smaller centres. The way in which the police indulged their depredations, including the tearing up of independent newspapers, provided evidence, if it were needed, of selective application of the law. Those loudly pronouncing the loyalty of the police and armed forces to the regime ahead of the stayaway may care to reflect on the problems posed by a disaffected majority who no longer see the security agencies as professional upholders of the law. Cracking heads may succeed in the first instance in stabilising a situation. It rarely succeeds in the long term. Mugabe and his minions are increasingly living in a foreign country, one over which they have no authority.
As for the opposition, it will emerge from this week's baptism of fire with its moral authority enhanced. People naturally sympathise with victims of state brutality, especially those espousing democratic freedoms and the right to a better life. As the influential African-American community lobby in its letter to Mugabe said this week, "the non-violent civil disobedience that is growing in your country - such as that which took place on Mother's Day in Bulawayo - is increasingly met with police brutality and excessive force. Such trends in the abuse of human rights are not only unacceptable, they are threats to your country's stability and they are undermining the economic and political development your people desire and deserve." They urged Mugabe to find a way to work with others "to create an effective process for a transition to a more broadly supported government upholding the democratic rights of all". Meanwhile, having benefited from the lessons of this week, the MDC must consider its options. Where do they go from here? Popular anger against Zanu PF-made hardships will not dissipate. And while negotiation is always a preferred route, it is not incompatible with mass action.
In his letter from Birmingham jail, the Reverend Martin Luther King had this advice for his followers: "You may well ask: 'Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc? Isn't negotiation a better path?' You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Non-violent direct action seeks to establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatise the issue that it can no longer be ignored." We are all agreed that by its campaign this week the MDC has drawn the attention of the country and the world to the connection between brutal misrule and economic collapse. That is the issue successfully dramatised by its followers in the teeth of repression and which can "no longer be ignored", not even by the delusionist in State House.
Iden Wetherell is the editor of the Zimbabwe Independent

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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 9 June

I still want to fight and I shan't resign, declares Mugabe</