|
Archived News
16th September 2003
War vet, minister clash
Zim: Britain must pay up
UNDP in bid to bridge Zanu PF/MDC divide
Breakaway splits Zimbabe white farmers' union
Botswana erects 300-mile electrified fence to keep cattle (and Zimbabweans) out
Fax on urban polls lands man in court
Kwekwe
C-SAFE finds 'high vulnerability' in resettled areas
Zim man climbs in coffin to get fuel
Man forced to drink officer's urine
Zimbabweans swamp SA visa office in Harare
Switch off power to Zim, Eskom asked
Land scandal unfolds
1 500 single-farm owners lost land to reforms JAG
Aid distributions done on basis of need only, UN Coordinator
Third World rallies around Zim
EU measures against Zimbabwe hurtless to commoners
Zimbabwe continues to muzzle media
Zimbabwe fuel - Backdoor price control
Zimbabwe private daily shut down
Mugabe closes critical paper
EU seeks Zimbabwe dialogue, no change on sanctions
Mugabe's missing 11m ha
Chefs play tribal card in banks swoop
Obasanjo wants Zim off Abuja agenda
Zimbabwe's independent paper CEO charged
Shut newspaper to appeal in court
Zimbabwe media, Commonwealth slam newspaper closure
German NGO severs ties with government
Bickering over exchange rate plugs fuel imports
Mbeki, Obasanjo challenged to help muzzled paper
Mugabe snubbed for summit
Zim crisis deepens as top newspaper banned
Zanu PF polls to 'indicate new leader'
Zimbabwe treason trial postponed to October 28
EU denies harming Zimbabwean population
ANZ officials submitted registration and application forms
Commonwealth urged to reverse Zimbabwe CHOGM decision
Daily News closure remains indefinite
Editor quits as Zimbabwe paper fights for survival
Nigeria delivers summit ultimatum to Mugabe
Officials defy Mugabe's ultimatum, hang onto farms
Top
From The Daily News, 9 September
War vet, minister clash
By Fanuel Jongwe, Court Reporter
War veterans’ leader Mike Moyo last week obtained a court order barring Mines Minister Edward Chindori-Chininga from a farm in Banket, which Moyo says Chindori-Chininga wants to grab from him to add on to two other farms the minister already has in Mazowe district. In an application for a peace order against Chindori-Chininga at the magistrates’ court in Chinhoyi, 110 km north-west of Harare, Moyo accused the Mines Minister, his brother Victor and their four workers of "threatening my peace and that of my workers" at Nkodzwi Farm. Moyo, who is the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association’s national secretary for security, told the court that he had letters from the government offering him Nkodzwi Farm, which he says was allocated to him by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement. Chindori-Chininga, Victor and their workers identified in court papers as Brian, Munyaradzi, Whyson and Fidelis, were cited as respondents in the court application and were given up to 14 October to show cause why magistrate Wilfred Chipato should not grant a final order.
"What surprises me is that the first respondent, who is a Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe, is actually instigating the violence," said Moyo, who was represented by Nicholas Chikono of Mhiribidi, Ngarava and Moyo law firm. "He brings his people from his other farms to intimidate me and my workers. The Minister has two farms in Mazowe. He now needs one allocated to me. The policy in this country is one man one farm. I have no other farm besides the one in issue." At the end of July this year, President Robert Mugabe ordered ruling Zanu PF party leaders with more than one farm to surrender them within two weeks. But to date no Cabinet minister has publicly surrendered the extra farms, although most senior government officials are known to have grabbed several prime farms for themselves, their wives and children under the guise of the government’s chaotic land reform programme. Under the controversial and often violent land reform programme that has also reduced hunger-stricken Zimbabwe’s capacity to produce food for the country, the government seized 90 percent of white-owned private farms for ostensible redistribution to landless blacks. But most of the best farmland ended up in the hands of Zanu PF heavyweights, top government officials and their hangers-on. Mugabe issued the order to surrender farms after reading a preliminary report prepared by the Presidential Land Review Committee. The report revealed that several top Zanu PF officials had multiple farms.
Moyo said in his affidavit to the magistrates’ court, the minister and his brother had brought 300 head of cattle to Nkodzwi Farm while he was paying other farmers to keep his own cattle for him. He said: "The honourable minister is now fabricating false charges against my employees," said the war veterans’ security chief. "Quite clearly this is a way of getting at me. He claims that my guards and workers stoned his car and four of my workers are on bail on frivolous and vexatious allegations. The crucial question is: what is an honourable member of the Cabinet doing at my farm? Why does he frequent my farm instead of doing (sic) progress at his own farms? I am a fellow Zimbabwean, a war veteran who deserves to be given land. I have an obligation to put the farm to use to help alleviate poverty in the country. This cannot be achieved if the respondents continue to harass me and my workers. It seems he is taking advantage of his position to harass me and my workers." The war veterans’ leader said the minister’s brother, Victor, had taken over the farmhouse, a move he said "was a way of provoking me so that we behave violently and they will have us arrested". It was not possible by the time of going to print last night to ascertain from Chindori-Chininga whether he or his lawyers had yet filed papers challenging the peace order granted by the court last week.
Top
From News24 (SA), 9 September
Zim: Britain must pay up
Harare - Zimbabwe has asked international groupings to intervene and try to convince former colonial power Britain to pay compensation to white farmers who have lost their land under land reforms, the Ziana state news agency said on Tuesday. The appeal was made late Monday by Zimbabwe's speaker of parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, as he addressed a group of visiting lawmakers from the African, Carribean and Pacific (ACP) grouping, which includes some of the world's poorest nations. "I call upon you, our brothers and sisters from the ACP, to encourage the EU to play a mediatory role in encouraging Britain to comply with its obligation to compensate white commercial farmers in the spirit of the Lancaster House Agreement," Mnangagwa was quoted as saying, referring to the 1979 peace pact signed in London ending Zimbabwe's guerrilla war of independence.
Zimbabwe has accused British Prime Minister Tony Blair of reneging on certain agreements made by his predecessors, Margaret Thatcher and John Major, on compensation for land reform in Zimbabwe. Under a controversial land reform programme that was accelerated in 2000, the government of President Robert Mugabe has seized land from white commercial farmers and redistributed it to landless black Zimbabweans. The land seizures have been marred by violence, with would-be black settlers sometimes invading white-owned farms. Britain has said it will only support land reforms that it believes to be fair and transparent and has tied the compensation pay-outs to the restoration of the rule of law in Zimbabwe and an end to violent land seizures. Mngangagwa said the land issue in the southern African country was "essentially a bilateral dispute between Zimbabwe and Britain". "However, we are saddened by the fact that Britain is mobilising international opinion against Zimbabwe in a purely bilateral dispute," he said. Britain has led an international outcry against Mugabe's government over the land reforms, which have seen about 4 000 white farmers evicted from their land over the past three years. And in March last year, the 15-nation EU imposed a travel ban on President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle in protest at rights abuses and claims of vote fraud during the March 2002 presidential elections.
Top
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 5 September
UNDP in bid to bridge Zanu PF/MDC divide
Itai Dzamara
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and local church leaders are making efforts to promote talks between the ruling Zanu PF and opposition MDC MPs, it was established this week. Information at hand shows that the UNDP has held several workshops for clergymen aimed at finding ways of bringing the two parties' legislators together for dialogue. The church leaders, who were recently involved in efforts to bring Zanu PF and the MDC together for talks, would lead discussions between the two parties' MPs. Representatives from the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ). and the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) are participating in the conflict-resolution training programmes supervised by the UNDP. Bishop Trevor Manhanga, the head of EFZ, confirmed yesterday that clergymen were being trained in conflict-resolution. "Indeed, a number of our pastors are participating in the training programmes organised by the UNDP. There was also another programme held in Cape Town recently where we participated," Manhanga said. "This is coming at a time when we are in the midst of seeking solutions to the broader national political crisis. The UNDP effort would contribute towards the broader initiative." ZCBC head Bishop Patrick Mutume said the UNDP was training church leaders in handling political conflicts with the Zimbabwean issue in focus.
Sources in the UNDP said parliament, which has representatives of both parties, could play a key role in brokering a deal to end the crippling political crisis. "Contrary to what most people have been made to believe that the solution lies with President Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the UNDP believes the focus must be broader," said a UNDP official. "The workshop for MPs held last month was a huge success in that both sides agreed to negotiate for a settlement at parliamentary level." The UNDP is hard-pressed to secure a political deal in Zimbabwe before going to the donor community requesting humanitarian assistance desperately needed by Harare to get out of this crisis. Sources said that time was running out for the UNDP in Harare to deliver something tangible before the donors' conference in New York next month. Harare has submitted requests for 600 000 tonnes of food aid, a large consignment of medicines, as well as $885 billion for the revival of the agricultural sector. The donor community, predominantly made up of Western countries, is reported to have expressed reluctance to bail out Harare due to the political stalemate.
Top
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 10 September
Breakaway splits Zimbabe white farmers' union
Harare - Zimbabwe's white farmers' union, which has represented the victims of Robert Mugabe's land seizure programme, suffered its first major split after a breakaway faction left the group. Members of the Commercial Farmers' Union in the southern area of Matabeleland pulled out, complaining that the union was refusing to confront the government over land seizures. The split comes less than a month after a new executive was elected to run the group. In a statement in Bulawayo, Gavin Conolly, Matabeleland Commercial Farmers' Union president, said: "We do not believe the current leadership will faithfully, without fear or favour, represent us." Mr Conolly said they would like the CFU to adopt a more active strategy in defending the rights of all farmers, including those who have already lost their farms. At least 90 per cent of commercial farms have already been targeted by the government, leaving only 600 white farmers fully operational. Some farmers who spoke to The Telegraph also expressed disquiet about what they claimed were the new CFU leadership's "political connections". Commercial farmers have borne the brunt of President Mugabe's controversial programme of seizing white-owned land in the name of landless peasants. The Matabeleland farmers' mutiny has resulted in at least 250 CFU members refusing to be bound by any statements or actions undertaken by the national leadership and they have ceased paying fees to the organisation. Doug Taylor-Freeme, the CFU president, dismissed the breakaway as insignificant in terms of numbers and dismissed their expectations as unrealistic. "As president of the CFU I must be able to communicate with all stakeholders and I believe the majority of our members favour a more balanced approach in our dealings with government." Responding to questions about his political connections, Mr Taylor-Freeme said: "It is ridiculous that I, as the leader of a farming organisation, should be criticised because I am still able to continue farming in this uncertain environment."
Top
From The Guardian (UK), 10 September
Botswana erects 300-mile electrified fence to keep cattle (and Zimbabweans) out
Rory Carroll in Johannesburg
Botswana has started erecting a 300-mile electric fence on part of its border with Zimbabwe to stop an influx of humans and livestock, dismaying Zimbabwean officials who claim that southern Africa is building its version of the Israeli security wall. Almost 8ft high, it will snake through scrubland which acts as a crossing point for refugees and illegal immigrants fleeing economic and political hardships under Robert Mugabe. Some 100 miles of fence has been erected so far, with some sections already electrified. Botswana hopes to finish construction this year, when immigration officers reinforced by police and army units will patrol the barrier. Zimbabwean immigrants have torn down parts of the fence and their government has condemned the structure as an affront to human rights which mimics the Israeli attempt to box Palestinians into the West Bank and Gaza strip.
Botswana defended the move yesterday as a legitimate response to the threat posed by diseased cattle and unemployed humans who have illegally crossed the frontier in record numbers since 2000. Though occupying a larger area, Botswana's population of 1.7 million feels tiny and vulnerable compared to its neighbour's 11.8 million. The arrival of some 60,000 Zimbabweans has stirred resentment and fuelled claims that many are criminals and spongers. Authorities in the capital, Gaborone, said it was the biggest immigration problem since independence from Britain in 1966 and that 2,500 people were being repatriated each month. In the latest apparent sign of being "swamped", mass graves were needed for the "hordes" of unclaimed corpses of illegal immigrants clogging the mortuaries, said Sylvia Muzila, the district commissioner of Francistown, Botswana's second-largest city.
Alfred Dube, Botswana's representative at the UN, told the news agency AFP: "We are concerned about what is going on [in Zimbabwe]. It is very unfortunate that we have our houses being burgled every day and our children being harassed. We understand why our people are saying that Zimbabweans must go." Residents of Tlokweng, a small village outside Gaborone, turned vigilantes and tried to expel Zimbabweans, derogatively referred to as makwerekwere (foreigners), after blaming them for a spate of robberies and burglaries. Accusing their hosts of xenophobia, Zimbabweans said they came in search of sanctuary and work, not for trouble. Construction of the fence started frontier earlier this year. When finished it will stretch from Maitengwe, a village north of Francistown, to Mabata, a camp south of Tuli.
Ties between Gaborone and the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, soured by President Festus Mogae's criticicism of Mr Mugabe's controversial policies, have worsened as a result of the fence. Zimbabwe's high commissioner in Gaborone, Phelekeza Mphoko, accused Botswana of creating a new Gaza strip. "People will continue to destroy the fence because it has divided families on either side of the border," he told the Botswana Gazette. Officially the fence is to stop cattle infected with foot and mouth disease. Two outbreaks in two years which hit Botswana's lucrative beef exports to the European Union were sourced to Zimbabwe. Jobs were lost and thousands of cattle slaughtered. Privately, government officials admit the fence is also intended to deter humans. But Mompati Merafhe, the foreign minister, said there was no attempt to seal the border. "I cannot understand people who say we are trying to close the border with Zimbabwe while we are encouraging Zimbabwean to use the gazetted points of entry. We have more border posts with Zimbabwe than with any other country. "The construction of the fence must continue and it will continue. We have to go ahead with the fence and when need be, we will open some more border posts."
Top
From The Daily News, 9 September
Fax on urban polls lands man in court
By Obert Matahwa, Court Reporter
A Chitungwiza man, who was arrested in a Harare public phone shop as he attempted to fax to a friend, a personal letter and a newspaper cutting chronicling cases of violence in the run-up to last month’s urban council elections, appeared in court yesterday charged with breaching the state’s draconian Public Order and Security Act (POSA). Martin Mukaro, 35, was arrested on Friday while he was faxing the documents at a phone shop at Manica House in central Harare. The building once housed the ruling Zanu PF party’s headquarters before they moved to the new premises along Rotten Row. Harare magistrate Memory Chigwaza remanded Mukaro on $10 000 bail to 8 October. According to the state, Mukaro was standing next to a fax machine when a man who had been peeping at his personal documents, alerted the police about the alleged offending documents. The police immediately pounced on Mukaro seizing his documents before arresting and throwing him into cells where he was detained until freed by the court on bail yesterday.
According to the state, Mukaro on Friday last week wrote a letter to Felix Mazava, a Zimbabwean living in London, chronicling the violence that accompanied urban council and mayoral elections held on 30 and 31 August. Mukaro allegedly wrote in his letter that Zanu PF supporters perpetrated violence to force a win in the Kwekwe mayoral election. The State further alleges that Mukaro wrote in the letter that some houses were burnt down and that the police had not taken action against the perpetrators, fearing a backlash from ruling party supporters and militants. The newsclip Mukaro allegedly wanted to fax to his friend was from the 31 August issue of the Daily News on Sunday headlined: "MP beaten up as poll begins". Harare lawyer Shepherd Mushonga, who is representing Mukaro, unsuccessfully applied for refusal of remand for his client, arguing that there was nothing unusual in what Mukaro did because the newspaper, which published the story Mukaro wanted to send to Britain, was a public document that was also available on the internet.
Section 15 (1) (c) of POSA makes it an offence for "making any communication or publishing to any person a statement which is wholly or materially false and undermining public confidence in a law enforcement agency, prison service or defence forces of Zimbabwe". More than 500 Zimbabweans, most of them supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, have been arrested and/or prosecuted for allegedly undermining the Office of President since the enactment of the repressive POSA early last year. And about 10 opposition legislators have also fallen victim to the law. But the state has lost several cases that have been referred to the courts because most of the provisions of the Communist-style law have been ruled vague and generalised by the courts.
Top
From ZWNEWS, 11 September
Kwekwe
The Daily News recently reported that a man had been arrested and charged under the Public Order and Security Act for faxing a letter and other documents to a friend in the UK in which he discussed the conduct of the recent elections in Kwekwe. What follows is the opposition record of what happened during the polling days in Kwekwe.
Friday 29 August
An MDC election agent, the Honourable MP Blessing Chebundo, was attacked in his vehicle at Thulani village polling station at about 21:00 hrs. He had gone there to deploy polling agents. The group of attackers numbered +/-30.The vehicle sustained dents on the body. A report was made to Kwekwe Central Police Station.
Saturday 30 August: First polling day
Voting went on peacefully inside the polling stations. However, outside the polling stations, there were many groups of Zanu PF youths who were manning roadblocks on all pathways leading to the polling stations. They were vetting all intending voters and turning away those perceived not to be Zanu PF supporters before getting to the polling stations. Youths were being turned away on Saturday purportedly because any youth who tried to vote on Saturday was not a Zanu PF youth. Zanu had agreed youths would only vote on Sunday. The following stations were the most affected: Amaveni: all three wards 7, 8, & 9; Mbizo 3 Play Centre: ward 5; Emtonjeni Primary School. Ward 3; Section 7 Play Centre ward 2; Dambuzo Primary School: ward 4; Chana Primary School: ward 11. Numerous phone calls were received from the public who had been denied passage to the polling stations throughout the voting period. Some potential voters were pulled out of the voting queues for being identified as MDC supporters. Reports were made to the police officers manning the stations but nothing was done as the police officers were unarmed, and they seemed very afraid of the Youths, and unwilling to do anything about them. The feeling was that the officers were under instruction not to disrupt the activities of those youths.
At Emtonjeni Primary school, at 09:15 hrs, Zanu PF youths manhandled Mrs. Linda Mutamba and many other ladies as they walked into the school yard to vote. Election Agent M.P. Blessing Chebundo appealed to Sgt. Makoni to intervene. Only Linda finally voted out of that group of ladies. The others complied with Zanu PF youths orders to leave. District Registrar Mr. Nhliziyo was called in and he came with a senior ESC. lady officer and they only recorded the incident. At Chana Primary School Mrs. Elizabeth Shawabaya had her identity card confiscated by Zanu PF youths so she could not vote. A report was made to the ZRP Post at Mbizo 16. Nothing was done despite the fact that the group of Zanu PF youths was still there. She could not vote. The same thing happened to Maxwell Machona and many others whose identities we could not establish. Groups of Zanu PF youths sat outside Amaveni Hall & St. Martins Primary School and demanded that all people going in to vote should bring back serial numbers of their ballot papers. These would purportedly be used to track down those who voted for the opposition MDC. Many voters complied with the order, fearing for their lives.
Mr Marongwe, a councillorship candidate, had his house stoned at +/-08:30 and the roof was badly damaged. Eight asbestos sheets will need replacement. His neighbour’s house was caught in the cross fire and will need three asbestos sheets replaced. Marongwe’s two windowpanes and glass door were shattered. Police did not apprehend the culprits, but instead arrested an MDC youth named Makiwa Muchengeti for trying to apprehend one of the attackers. He was fined $5000.00. At 10:00 hrs. the mayoral candidate’s election agent in the company of his personal assistant Fanuel Murapata, three polling agents and ward 3 councillorship candidate Nelson Zhou were attacked with stones by Zanu PF youths as they drove off section 7 polling station. They were forced to retreat back into the polling station for refuge, and were kept hostage for thirty minutes until chief inspector Muchemedzi arrived and pleaded with the youths for a safe passage of the team. Instead of arresting the youths, the officer pleaded with people who were committing a crime. The youths were left to roam freely and decide who goes in and out of the polling stations. Mrs. Pauline Sithole, wife of ward 5 councillorship candidate, was attacked with metal objects and sustained scalp and leg injuries. She was sutured at Kwekwe General Hospital. Emmanuel Mavhima was severely assaulted as he left Kushinga Primary Polling station after voting. The crime was "voting on the wrong day for youths", which to them meant he was an MDC supporter. He sustained injuries of the scalp and was bleeding profusely when he was picked up by our MP’s vehicle and taken to the local clinic. He was then transferred to Kwekwe General Hospital for suturing and further management. Sunday 31 August: Second polling day
The Saturday trend of barricading roads by Zanu PF youths continued unabated at all the aforementioned stations. As mayoral candidate Dr Madzorera and election agent B. Chebundo with five others in the pick up truck were leaving Chana Primary School, they were attacked viciously by a mob of Zanu PF youths. The vehicle, a Mazda B160 truck Reg. No. 610-098Z belonging to Dr. Madzorera was badly damaged. The windscreen was shattered and the car’s body will need panel beating. All these incidents were reported to the ZRP At Kwekwe Central and Amaveni. Further reports and serious appeal were made with the senior police officers, namely Chief Supt Masuka, Supt. Lizzy Timuri, and Assistant Commissioner Ncube to address the prevailing hostile situation during the election period. The situation however worsened, with the mayoral candidate and his election agent failing to access the polling stations on day two of voting. These issues were also taken up with the ward registrar Mr. Masunda, the district registrar Mr. Nhliziyo, and senior members of the ESC, including their leader Mr. Joyce Mbudzi. We made it clear to them that we were continuing with the election process under protest because the ground was not level. The general attitude of the police, as expressed by chief supt. Masuka and also by assistant commissioner Ncube, was that the police were not interested in dealing with thugs operating outside the 100 metre radius of the polling stations because it was election time. They refused to deploy more officers to deal with the disruptive elements that we persistently complained about. As we could not access the polling stations we could not bring
After announcement of the results
Zanu PF terrorism persisted last night after results were announced. So far we have reports of three houses in Amaveni and one house in Mbizo that were attacked during the night: Mr. Marongwe’s house was attacked again last night. The attackers came in a pick-up truck whose driver was only identified as "Mr. Mhara". An additional asbestos sheet was broken. Mai Tandi’s house, W493, was stoned. Three windows + three asbestos sheets were shattered; headboard and T.V. set were damaged. This happened at +/-20:00 hrs. The attackers came in a pickup truck written Birdale electrical and driven by Mr. Chivayavaya. The truck belongs to councillor Madzoke. House W491 belonging to Mai Mara was stoned. 4 asbestos sheets plus 6 windowpanes were shattered. An elderly stroke patient who was in the house could not escape the missiles and was hit by one of the rocks. We don’t know the extent of the injuries. House W480 belonging to Mai Makwavarara was stoned. Five asbestos sheets shattered. House 561 belonging to Mai Ushe was attacked. Four windows and a French door were broken.
Top
From IRIN (UN), 10 September
C-SAFE finds 'high vulnerability' in resettled areas
Johannesburg - Less than one in every 10 families living in newly resettled areas in Zimbabwe has received food aid, the Consortium for Southern Africa's Food Emergency (C-SAFE) has found in its latest baseline survey. C-SAFE said in areas where the consortium operated, vulnerability was "very high" and over 60 percent of the 1,625 households surveyed since March 2003 were in "at least one vulnerability category". The survey, conducted in Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe, found that rural households had suffered the brunt of the ongoing food crisis, with 80 percent of households classified as "asset poor" or "very poor". C-SAFE noted that while poverty was a significant contributory factor in exacerbating the impact current food shortages were having on rural families, many households were without items which could be sold in exchange for food or to deal with emergencies. It is estimated that in Zimbabwe the standard value of assets owned per household averages Z$194 000. "Asset values are significantly lower in newly resettled areas, as opposed to communal and old resettled areas," the survey said.
While less than a third of male-headed households in the sample population could be classified as "asset poor", the figure increased markedly in families headed by women. Households often also had to cope with the added responsibility of caring for orphaned children and 30 percent of homes survey were currently hosting an average of two orphans, C-SAFE found. In some areas parents had been forced to remove their children from school, most of them citing "the high cost of education" as the main reason. School-aged children living in households with a chronically ill family member dropped out of school at a significantly higher rate. Ongoing drought conditions meant that almost 40 percent of all households had cultivated less land than in the previous season. C-SAFE noted that access to agricultural inputs varied from district to district, with over 90 percent of households in Gutu, in the south, reporting insufficient access. The survey found also found that 18 percent of families were engaged in "on-farm" labour to access cereals. Gifts and remittances, an important alternative source of cereals, were being contributed to almost a quarter of all households. Half of all households reported borrowing food, borrowing money to buy food, or buying food on credit during the last 30 days. "Over three-quarters of households are reducing the number of meals they eat every day. A large percent of households skip entire days of eating at least one to two times per week," C-SAFE said.
Top
From SAPA, 10 September
Zim man climbs in coffin to get fuel
Harare - Police have arrested three men after one of them lay down inside a coffin and feigned death in an attempt to bluff a service station into being allowed to sell them fuel reserved for funeral services. The state-run daily Herald newspaper said that the ruse came unstuck when service station owner Mike Bensen opened the lid of the coffin in the back of a pick-up truck and found a man inside, breathing. Bensen told the Herald funeral parties were always accompanied by women. "I became very suspicious when there were only these three young men," he said. "I then demanded they open the coffin, and saw the suspect lying inside, pretending as if he was dead." Jeffrey Chivhima, 25, who lay in the coffin, and two of his colleagues were each fined 3,000 Zimbabwe dollars (around R4.12), the Herald said. A fourth man with them escaped. It was the latest survival strategy in Zimbabwe's bizarre world of black market economics where cheap fuel bought under the rigidly controlled state system more than doubles your money when you sell it illegally on the street. Fuel has been critically short for nearly four years after the country's foreign currency reserves dried up as a result of what economists say was two decades of perennial misrule under President Robert Mugabe. A tiny percentage of the country's hundreds of service stations sell fuel at state-regulated prices of just over 1,000 Zimbabwe dollars (around R1.35) but only on production of official documentation. Ordinary motorists get their fuel on the black market at about Zimbabwe dollars 2,300 (R3.15). Fuel company officials say most of the fuel bought through official channels finds its way into the black market.
Regulations allow funeral parties to be issued with fuel, but only if they produce a burial order. Accustomed to widespread abuse of the system, most service stations insist at least on seeing a coffin as well. The Herald said Chivhima and his friends managed to obtain a burial order from the registrar of births and deaths in Harare and then bought a wooden coffin. He climbed inside the box to lend it weight, not expecting anyone to peer inside. Bensen said that in the last three weeks he had foiled more than 10 attempts to obtain fuel with either forged burial orders or empty coffins. "In one of the incidents, a group of women came with a huge doll inside a coffin," he said. Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka said that over the weekend three people were arrested in Harare when they were found with five fake burial orders. "We will leave no stone unturned in bringing to book all those found committing such offences," he said. In July, a Harare hospital mortician and his assistant were convicted of "violating a dead body" when they lent the corpse of an infant to a black-market fuel dealer so he could put it in a coffin and claim fuel. Economic collapse, marked by inflation now at 400 percent and a currency whose value halves every couple of months, as well as famine and one of the highest incidences of HIV/Aids in the world, has plunged ordinary Zimbabweans into poverty in the short space of four years.
Top
From The Daily News, 10 September
Man forced to drink officer's urine
Staff Reporter
A Chipinge man, who claims he was forced to drink a police sergeant's urine during a torture session, is suing the police officer for $30 million in damages, the Daily News learnt yesterday. Nehemia Charamba, a bread vendor, is suing the policeman, who was identified only as Sergeant Nasho, for allegedly forcing him last week to drink the urine in exchange for freedom. Charamba, who is suing Nasho in his personal capacity, is also suing Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, under whose ministry the police falls. Mutare human rights lawyer Arnold Tsunga, who is representing Charamba, told the Daily News: "I have been consulted by Mr Charamba and yes, papers are ready to sue Nasho for torturing my client. But we are still working on the quantification of damages against the minister . . . who has a primary responsibility to ensure that the police comply with the law and uphold the highest standards of professionalism in their policing duties."
According to Tsunga, Nasho led a team of four four policemen in torturing Charamba last week at Chimanimani Police Station after they found him in possession of a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) membership card. He said the policemen tortured his client for the whole night last Saturday, only releasing him after he had drank Nasho's urine. Tsunga said: "This torture session was led by the notorious Sgt Nasho and continued throughout Saturday night (29 August 2003), and resulted in Mr Charamba suffering a broken tooth, a seriously damaged elbow and extensive bruising to his whole body, in particular to his face and head. During the torture Mr Charamba was forced to drink Sgt Nasho's urine." Tsunga said Charamba had initially gone to the police station to report a case in which a group of police constables had forcibly taken six loaves of bread from him at Mutsvangwa business centre in Chimanimani. He said the policemen had first accused Charamba of being an illegal vendor before seizing his bread.
However, the tables were turned against Charamba at the police station, with police officers accusing him of being an MDC activist. "Sgt Nasho began interrogating Mr Charamba. In the process, Mr Charamba was found 'guilty' of being an MDC activist. Nasho urinated into a cup and forced Mr Charamba to drink it if he wanted his freedom. In the process, he found $40 000 on Mr Charamba, which he took away without explanation," the court papers read in part. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena yesterday said he was not aware of the incident. "I am not aware of the incident but if they are suing the police then the officers will respond once they receive the papers," said Bvudzijena yesterday. It was not possible to get a comment from Mohadi as he was said to be attending meetings. Nasho could also not be reached for comment on the allegations levelled against him. Tsunga said: "Police officers in the Chimanimani/Chipinge district have become 'famous' for their zeal to persecute people they suspect of supporting the opposition. This lawsuit is meant to stop impunity which is breeding lawlessness among law enforcement agents. This action is targeted at overzealous policemen who are taking it upon themselves to trample on the rights of innocent Zimbabweans."
Top
From SABC News, 10 September
Zimbabweans swamp SA visa office in Harare
The South African visa office in Harare is being swamped by thousands of Zimbabweans jostling in line to apply for travel permits. Many are sleeping outside the building following relaxed visa restrictions. Riot police have had to be called to quell pushing in the line. Hundreds of people have also spent nights outside the British visa office in Harare. Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980, with record inflation of 400%. Soaring unemployment and an acute shortages of hard currency, local money, food, petrol, medicine and other imports have crippled the economy.
Top
From The Star (SA), 10 September
Switch off power to Zim, Eskom asked
By Basildon Peta
Zimbabwean exiles have demonstrated outside the Eskom headquarters in Johannesburg. They were protesting against what they said was the use of power from Eskom to torture government opponents in Zimbabwean jails. They petitioned the power company to discontinue electricity supplies to Zimbabwe. The main roads leading to the Eskom head office were closed and the protesters delivered their petition to Eskom spokesperson Fani Zulu under heavy police guard. They sang and chanted slogans criticising the Zimbabwean government and displayed placards condemning what they called South Africa's inaction on Zimbabwe. Jairosi Tamu told Zulu on behalf of the protesters that Zimbabweans were tired of Eskom's continued support for Zimbabwe even though Zimbabwe was failing to pay for electricity supplies. "We are saying enough is enough. We think it is not your deliberate intention to have your electricity killing and torturing the masses of Zimbabwe. So we are saying for now if you can switch off your switches (to Zimbabwe) it will help to restore normality and democracy in Zimbabwe." Tamu said Eskom had "the capacity, the power, the strength" to help achieve democracy in Zimbabwe in this way. Zulu told the protesters that he was accepting the petition on behalf of the Eskom board of directors to whom the petition was addressed but could not respond to their demands immediately. "Let me commit myself to bringing it (the petition) to the board of Eskom. After applying ourselves to the contents of the memorandum, we will give you feedback," he said.
Top
From The Financial Gazette, 11 September
Land scandal unfolds
Njabulo Ncube, Bulawayo Bureau
Daggers are reportedly drawn in Matabeleland North where investigations into multiple farm ownership have been completed as the government moves to pacify a restive populace and assuage the general perception that the controversial land reform has been a disaster, benefiting mostly the ruling clique and their cronies. The province's multiple allocation list seen by this paper yesterday in Bulawayo make for some pretty dismal reading and provides an insight into how influential ZANU PF and government officials abused their positions to seize farms under the controversial land reform programme. The list was compiled by the Joint Operations Committee on Land in the province. The list, which is a sad reflection on the level of corruption in the high echelons of the ruling Zanu PF and a microcosm of the extent of the rot nationally, indicates that Kembo Mohadi, the Minister of Home Affairs, has five farms, three in Matabeleland South, one in Matabeleland North and the last one in Masvingo. Professor Jonathan Moyo, the Minister of Information and Publicity in the Office of the President and Cabinet, has a farm known as Dete Valley in the province and another in Mashonaland Central. He is also said to have recently acquired another one at Sub-division 10 Mguza Block. Matabeleland North Zanu PF Central Committee member, Alexious Chiyasa, owns two farms known as Antoinette and Chiwara while John Nkomo, the ruling party's national chairman and Minister of Special Affairs, also has two farms, one at CSC Mguza Block and another in Filabusi in Matabeleland South. Clifford Sibanda, the Zanu PF Matabeleland North secretary also acquired two farms in Inyathi district and at Sikumi, Hwange while co-Vice President Joseph Msika has one farm at CSC Mguza Block and another in Chiweshe. Jacob Mudenda, the Zanu PF chairman for Matabeleland North and central committee member, has one farm at Sikumi and another one known as Nyathi Safari in the Matetsi hunting area. Thoko Mathuthu, a Zanu PF politburo member, also has two farms in Hwange.
Matabeleland North Provincial Administrator Livingstone Mashengele, who doubles up as the chairman of the Joint Operation Committee on land, is tomorrow expected to interview more than 52 multiple farm owners in the province. Although he confirmed this, Mashengele said government ministers, Zanu PF politburo and central committee members were not in his area of jurisdiction. "I have been told that ministers, politburo and central committee members with more than one farm in the province and other provinces have to report to the President when surrendering their extra farms. So I cannot comment on these people, it is not my area of jurisdiction. What I can tell you is that my committee is going to interview more than 50 people who appear on a list that we have prepared. It is at this meeting that they will decide which farm to keep or let go." This has sparked fears that the government could have a change of heart and decide not to press ahead with the exposure as the implications of the investigations sink in. It remains to be seen whether the government would expose all the multiple farm owners irrespective of their positions in government and the ruling party. "It is also after the meeting and interviews on Friday that I will be in a position to know who has taken what and handed over what," said the chairman of the Joint Operation Committee on Land which comprises the police, army and Lands and Resettlement as well as Local Government officials.
The land reform process has already run into a wall of negative sentiment internationally and locally. And by taking a scythe at the illegal multiple farm ownership which has added strain on the credibility of the controversial land reform, the government, balancing on a political knife edge against a backcloth of a collapsing economy, is trying to endear itself to a sceptical public that has long dismissed the land reform as nothing more than a gravy-train. After the initial euphoria that characterised the initial wave of violent farm seizures that sparked off a political storm, the mood, especially among the landless peasants who were meant to be the beneficiaries, has now lapsed into scepticism amid sleaze allegations that have provoked a sharp intake of breath even among the government's long standing sympathisers and supporters. The sleaze allegations where the ruling Zanu PF heavyweights have been accused of acquiring several farms per individual at the expense of the landless peasants and which also contravened the government's stated stipulation of one farm per person, for a long time provoked a muted response from the government. Government officials tried to explain this away by saying that the law of the unintended took hold when senior politicians in Zanu PF helped themselves to multiple farms. It is however widely believed that the authorities' deafening silence over allegations of corruption in the land reform process suggested a tacit approval of the rot. It was only in the second quarter of this year that President Robert Mugabe, probably realising that the pendulum had swung to far the other way, belatedly appointed former senior civil servant Charles Utete to head the Presidential Land Review Committee to investigate cases of multiple farm ownership. The national findings of this committee are expected any time soon.
Top
From The Daily News, 11 September
1 500 single-farm owners lost land to reforms JAG
Staff Reporter
Commercial farmers’ pressure group Justice for Agriculture (JAG) yesterday said the government had seized a total of nearly 1 500 farms from their white owners, who each owned only one farm, in open disregard of the government’s stated "one man one farm" policy. JAG director Hart Wynand told the Daily News yesterday that the government had "serious hypocrites" who thrived on deception and corruption to hoodwink Zimbabweans and the international community. Wynand said: "Out of the 4 000 white commercial farmers, about 1 480 farmers who have only got one farm have had them listed for compulsory acquisition and have lost their farms. There are another 1 200 farms, constituting 30 percent of farmers, that have not been listed but have been forced out of their farms since January because of the continued breakdown in the rule of law." Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Joseph Made was unavailable for comment. His secretary said the minister was out of the office. But President Robert Mugabe and Made himself have in the past told Zimbabweans and the international community that the government would not take land from white farmers who owned only one farm.
The state also insisted that in the case of white farmers who owned land close to communal lands, they would be allocated alternative farms if their land was taken by the government for redistribution to landless communal farmers. But a commission, appointed by Mugabe to probe the chaotic and often violent land reform programme, showed that top ruling Zanu PF and government officials had grabbed several of the best farms for themselves. Mugabe has ordered his lieutenants to return the excess land they seized. None of the government and ruling party officials has publicly surrendered land but state-controlled newspapers reported this week that 30 000 hectares had been returned to the government. Wynand said the government had only used the one man one farm policy as a convenient excuse to parry off criticism against its controversial land redistribution scheme.
Top
From IRIN, 11 September
Aid distributions done on basis of need only, UN Coordinator
Johannesburg - Relief assistance in Zimbabwe will be directed solely by the needs of the vulnerable, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Harare, J Victor Angelo, said in a statement. This follows news reports that a new government policy could interfere with the distribution of relief food in the country, where over 5 million people will require food aid this year. "The government issued, on 14 August 2003, a policy paper on the operations of NGOs, with the intention to improve on the shortcomings which were experienced in the humanitarian and recovery programmes in 2002/03. The government has assured the UN that the new policy will not interfere with humanitarian operations over the coming year," Angelo said in a statement released on Wednesday. He pointed out that prior to the new coordinated appeal for aid in 2003/04, "a defining meeting was held last week between the government and a UN delegation. Both government and the UN concurred that the design and the implementation of humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe will correspond with internationally accepted and endorsed charters and conventions, in order to ensure that the assistance is credible, inclusive and transparent".
With regard to the distribution of aid, priority would be given to the most vulnerable, and NGOs "in partnership with communities and their local structures, will be responsible for the selection of beneficiaries". It was agreed that "all parties will recognise the neutrality and impartiality of humanitarian assistance". "The government of Zimbabwe is responsible for creating conditions conducive to the safe and secure implementation of humanitarian activities and the protection of humanitarian staff throughout the country. This includes the security of all humanitarian personnel (national and international), as well as assets belonging to humanitarian agencies," Angelo stressed. He added that he would continue to have "consultations on strengthening appropriate monitoring of humanitarian assistance across the country". "In order to ensure efficient and equitable distribution of relief items, distributions will be carried out by humanitarian agencies and organisations, in line with provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the government and WFP (World Food Programme), and other relevant MOUs signed with implementing partners," Angelo concluded.
Top
From News24 (SA), 11 September
Third World rallies around Zim
Harare - Lawmakers from the world's poorest nations have vowed to resist fresh attempts by the European Union (EU) to bar Zimbabwe from taking part in a forthcoming meeting of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) and EU nations, a newspaper said Thursday. Parliamentarians from the 15-member EU and 77-strong ACP are due to meet next month in Italy for routine talks on issues of cooperation. "We are confident that the meeting in Rome will take place with all the 77 (ACP) members, and Zimbabwe will be included," Adrien Houngbedji, Benin's parliamentary speaker and co-president of the ACP-EU parliamentary assembly was quoted as saying in the state-run Herald newspaper. The EU last year imposed travel restrictions on 72 of Zimbabwe's top government and ruling party officials, including President Robert Mugabe, accusing them of human rights abuses and electoral fraud.
In November last year ACP lawmakers abandoned talks with the EU after European parliamentarians refused to allow two black-listed Zimbabwean ministers to enter their Brussels premises. The EU in February postponed a summit with African leaders which was due to take place in April in Lisbon because it failed to win a guarantee that Mugabe - who is barred from entering EU territory - would stay away. Most European countries had said they would boycott the summit if Mugabe was invited. African nations meanwhile indicated they would stay away unless Zimbabwe was included. Portugal wants to host the summit next year. Houngbedji, who is in Zimbabwe at the head of an ACP delegation seeking to mend relations between the Zimbabwe and EU, said his team was also in the country to express its suport for Zimbabwe. The team held talks with Mugabe, ruling Zanu PF officials and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leadership.
Top
From The Guardian (Tanzania), 12 September
EU measures against Zimbabwe hurtless to commoners
By Guardian Reporter
The European Union (EU) has said the steps and measures it has taken against Zimbabwe policies on land issues and democracy do not hurt common Zimbabweans. A statement issued by the Italian embassy in its capacity as the diplomatic mission that represents EU Presidency in the country said that the EU was not imposing economic or trade sanctions on Zimbabwe. The statement is a response to recent statements made by Zimbabwean officials on the occasion of the recent SADC Summit held in Dar es Salaam. According to the Zimbabwe government official’s statements, the so-called sanctions imposed on their country by the EU have accelerated the economic crisis and brought about suffering to the central African country population. But the EU says it shares the opinion expressed by a number of international organisations whereby the main cause of the serious social and economic crisis, which Zimbabwe is experiencing, should be sought in appropriate economic policies.
The statement says that the measures adopted by the EU, as a result of the breakdown of the rule of law and human rights abuses, include freezing of personal assets of senior members of government and other high-ranking officials, the prevention of the same to travel to EU member states and the embargo on the sale of arms. "None of these measures could affect or cause any hardship to the Zimbabwean population," the statement declares. The EU contends that the suspension or re-orientation of certain financial and development co-operation programmes with the government of Zimbabwe is mainly due to the fact that it has not complied with the provisions of the pertinent bilateral agreements and to the political and economic environment. "The EU and its member states are deeply concerned with the economic and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe," the statement adds.
Consequently, the humanitarian assistance given to the people of Zimbabwe by the EU and its member states has continued and has, in the last two years, amounted to Euro300m. In addition, the EU and member states fund programmes in direct support of the people of Zimbabwe in poverty alleviation, education, health, infrastructure, human rights and democratisation, the statement says. "The EU remains committed to engaging the Government of Zimbabwe in a comprehensive dialogue on the present difficulties being experienced in the country with the aim of restoring political, social and economic stability," concludes the statement.
Top
From VOA News, 11 September
Zimbabwe continues to muzzle media
Tendai Maphosa
Harare - The Zimbabwe Supreme Court has ruled the country's only independent paper, The Daily News must apply for registration under the strict Access to Information and Privacy Act before it can challenge the law as unconstitutional. The act is widely seen as an attempt by the government to muzzle the media. The ruling means that, to stay in business, Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, the publishers of the independent Daily News must apply for a license to the commission whose members are appointed by the Minister of Information. The Daily News has published without a license in defiance of the 2002 law. The newspaper appealed to the Supreme Court against registration because it maintains some sections of the Act are unconstitutional. It listed among the objectionable provisions those sections requiring publishers to submit a detailed business plan, balance sheet, cash-flow projection for the next five years, and the resumes and political affiliation of the company's directors and managers. But the Supreme Court ruled that the newspaper is operating illegally and must register first before challenging the law in the courts. A lawyer for the publisher, Gugulethu Moyo, said her company would comply with the ruling and then re-file its lawsuit. "We acted on the belief that the constitution of Zimbabwe is the supreme law of the country and that all other legislation is subordinate to it," he said. "On that basis we went to the Supreme Court to challenge what we found objectionable about AIPPA [the Act] and what we believe to be an infringement of some of our constitutional rights as freedom of expression and freedom of association." The Daily News, which started publishing in 1999 has become the most widely read newspaper in Zimbabwe.
Top
Comment from The Financial Mail (SA), 5 September
Zimbabwe fuel - Backdoor price control
By Tony Hawkins
Harare - For the first time in months, fuel - and queues - have returned to filling stations in Zimbabwe, though for how long is unclear. After procrastinating for months, the Zimbabwe cabinet finally agreed to partial deregulation with a multi-tier fuel pricing policy. The state-owned National Oil Co (NocZim) will continue to sell petrol and diesel at existing, highly subsidised, prices to "strategic" users, like parastatals and public transport, including taxis and farmers. Everyone else is expected to buy fuel from private-sector suppliers - multinationals and indigenous firms - who will source their own foreign currency and sell fuel at a new "official" price of Z$1 170/litre for petrol and Z$1 070 for diesel. These new prices, though 160% above the previous official prices, are well below the black market level of around Z$1 800/litre.
Fuel importers say their ability to supply at the new price depends on their being able to source foreign exchange at Z$3 000/US$ - not much more than half the parallel market rate of Z$5 500-Z$6 000. "We are not party to this agreement," says one fuel company executive. "It simply does not make business sense for us to import fuel and sell at a loss." With a parallel market rate of Z$5 500, fuel importers need a pump price of Z$1 850-Z$1 950/litre. Petroleum Marketers Association chairman Masimba Kambarami says: "We will be talking to the banks soon to get a reasonable rate of exchange." But banks say this is out of the question. "We cannot buy forex at Z$550 to the US dollar and sell it at a lower price," says one banker. All of which means that government's much-touted deregulation is no more than partial, since once again the authorities are trying to maintain control over fuel prices through the back door, this time using foreign currency controls. Importers warn that the return of fuel to the filling stations could be short- lived unless the authorities really deregulate the price.
Government's response has been to turn up the heat on the banks in an attempt to curb the parallel market rate, which has doubled from Z$2 800 to Z$5 500/US$ in the past six weeks. Last week, National Merchant Bank, listed on the London and Harare stock markets, lost its foreign currency dealing licence for a year. It is accused of exchange control violations in its dealings in the parallel market. Other commercial banks and one merchant bank are under investigation for similar offences and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is obviously hoping that by turning the screws on the banks it will stabilise and even strengthen the parallel market rate. If it cannot, government will either have to deregulate the fuel price altogether or see yet another of its fuel supply schemes collapse.
Meanwhile, efforts by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to force President Robert Mugabe to the negotiating table received a setback when the ruling Zanu-PF party used muscle and intimidation to retain control of local authorities in the smaller towns and rural areas in last week's local elections. The turnout in both the local elections and the by-election for the MDC-held Harare Central seat was low. In Harare Central only 11% of voters cast their ballots, leaving the MDC winners with two-thirds of the vote. Earlier, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had given the government until October 1 to resume talks or face new protests. But the low poll turnout and government's capacity to stifle opposition activity, thereby ensuring that the MDC has no chance at the polls except in the big cities, once again underlines the need for Pretoria to force Mugabe to talk. But after last month's hero's welcome for Mugabe at the Southern African Development Community summit in Tanzania and the SADC's call for sanctions against Zimbabwe to be lifted, this seems unlikely.
Top
From BBC News, 12 September
Zimbabwe private daily shut down
Police in Zimbabwe have shut down the offices of the country's only private newspaper, the Daily News, a day after a court ruled that it was operating illegally. One of newspaper's publishers, Francis Mdlongwa, said that staff had been ordered out of the building in the capital, Harare, and the paper closed. Correspondents say it is not clear if the closure of the Daily News - which is highly critical of President Robert Mugabe - is intended to be permanent. On Thursday, Zimbabwe's Supreme Court said that the newspaper was operating illegally because it had refused to register with the state Media and the Information Commission (MIC), as required by the county's tough media law. The court issued its ruling after the Daily News challenged a section of the law, arguing that such a requirement was unconstitutional. The controversial law - the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act - was signed by President Mugabe last year. About 20 police officers - some armed with rifles - arrived at the Daily News' office in central Harare on Friday evening, one of newspaper's reporters told AFP news agency. He said the police then went into the building and started ordering everyone out. The police also took away the newspaper's editor Nqobile Nyathi and the operations manager but later released them without making charges.
"The situation is that right now, we have been closed down," Mr Mdlongwa was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency. "This is an unprecedented attack on press freedom because after the court decision... we had made clear that we were going to comply with the law and register," he added. In January, Zimbabwe's Information Minister Jonathan Moyo accused the Daily News of deliberately flouting a properly constituted law and therefore being disrespectful to the judiciary and the parliament. But the publishers of the Daily News - the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) - said the MIC had refused to accredit the journalists working for the newspaper. During the anti-government protests in June 2003 the newspaper said it was time for the opposition leadership in Zimbabwe to directly send a message to the army and the police urging them to disobey what it described as an illegitimate government. More than a dozen journalists have been charged under the media law, which President Mugabe signed soon after his re-election in 2002. Among them were several Daily News reporters and correspondent for Britain's Guardian newspaper who was later deported.
Top
From The Times (UK), 13 September
Mugabe closes critical paper
From Jan Raath in Harare
The Zimbabwean Government closed the country’s most popular newspaper, the independent Daily News, last night, a day after the government-appointed Supreme Court had ruled that the tabloid was "illegal". Plainclothes security police, accompanied by about 20 paramilitary police armed with automatic rifles, burst into the newspaper’s offices in central Harare at about 5pm and ordered all staff to leave. Nqobile Nyathi, the Editor, and Simon Ngena, the production manager, were arrested and taken to Harare central police station. They were released later. Andrew Makoni, a lawyer who went to see the men at the police station, said that a senior officer of the notorious police "Law and Order" section had told him: "The newspaper is banned." Staff at the newspaper said that police produced no warrant or documentation. "They just said: ‘Switch off your computers, leave everything and disappear,’" Darlington Majonga, a sub-editor, said. It is the first time that a newspaper in Zimbabwe has been banned since the mid-Sixties, when the former white minority Rhodesian government outlawed a pro-black nationalist newspaper, also called the Daily News. The modern Daily News’s constant exposure of state lawlessness, corruption and violent repression has been a thorn in the regime’s side since it was founded in 1999. It has been the target of two bombings and has endured the frequent arrest of its editors, journalists and other staff. Many of its staff have been assaulted and copies of the paper are regularly burnt in public by the ruling party’s militias.
Top
From Reuters AlertNet, 12 September
EU seeks Zimbabwe dialogue, no change on sanctions
Johannesburg - The European Union called on Friday for "comprehensive dialogue" to end Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis but signalled it was not ready to drop sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government. Last year the EU froze personal assets of senior officials and prevented them going to EU countries in response to what it called a breakdown of law and order and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Brussels has also slapped an arms embargo on Harare. Southern African leaders called last month for an end to the measures, but in its first public response to their appeal the EU indicated it was not ready to lift sanctions at present. "The suspension or re-orientation of certain financial and development cooperation programmes with the government of Zimbabwe is mainly due to the fact that it has not complied with the provisions of pertinent bilateral agreements and to the political and economic environment which is not conducive to development cooperation with government structures," it said.
The statement, issued in Harare, said the EU shared the opinion of a number of international organisations that linked the Zimbabwe crisis to "inappropriate economic policies, the manner in which land reform has been carried out, the drought and the HIV/AIDS pandemic". The controversial handing of white-owned farms to mainly landless black peasants and Mugabe's disputed re-election sparked the row between Zimbabwe and the EU last year. The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is contesting Mugabe's victory in court. Meanwhile, regional leaders and church groups have so far tried without much success to bring Mugabe and the MDC to the negotiating table. Leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting last month in Tanzania called on Brussels to lift the sanctions, saying they hurt ordinary people and failed to fix Zimbabwe's problems. "The EU remains committed to engaging the government of Zimbabwe in a comprehensive dialogue on the present difficulties being experienced in the country with the aim of restoring political, social and economic stability," the EU said. There was no immediate reaction from the Harare government.
Top
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 12 September
Mugabe's missing 11m ha
Itai Dzamara
Despite persistent claims by government that it has resettled 300 000 families under the land reform A1 model, the Presidential Land Review Committee's report submitted yesterday revealed that less than half that number of families have in fact been resettled. Sources privy to the report, which President Robert Mugabe officially received from chairman of the committee Charles Utete at State House yesterday, said it exposed as false the claim that 300 000 families had been resettled. Only about 130 000 families have been allocated land, it reveals. The report also says government and Zanu PF officials have in many cases seized several farms each whilst depriving ordinary people of land. Resettlement figures were exaggerated to justify the grabbing of large tracts of land, much of which is currently lying idle. Of the 11 million hectares of land acquired by the government for resettlement, less than four million hectares have been allocated to peasants, sources said. "The report identified that about 130 000 families were resettled under the fast track scheme," said a source. "It further identified the process whereby government and ruling party officials helped themselves to farms whilst figures were inflated of families that were resettled."
In his first response to the report recently, Mugabe gave his officials a two-week ultimatum to surrender extra farms and remain with one each. Special Affairs Minister John Nkomo, who also reportedly has more than one farm, has said some officials were now surrendering surplus farms. "These figures were being compiled starting from the district level up to the provincial level," another source said. "It was therefore easy to claim a certain number of families as having been resettled on a number of farms, including those taken over by chefs." Since August last year, when government claimed to have concluded the violence-ridden fast track scheme, there have been queries over figures provided for resettled families. Sources said that one of the focal points of the Utete team was to verify the figures, hence the discovery of the inflating of figures as well as multiple farm ownership by chefs. The Presidential Land Review report is understood to have recommended government revisit the fast track scheme, recover looted farms and allocate them to deserving peasants in order to establish some respectability in the agrarian reform programme. The area of productivity was also highlighted in the report, with the low uptake of land by beneficiaries seen as perpetuating the food deficit in the country.
Top
From The Financial Gazette, 11 September
Chefs play tribal card in banks swoop
Staff Reporter
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's (RBZ) clampdown on illegal trade in foreign currency took a fresh political twist this week amid accusations by senior ZANU PF officials that the institution was being excessively heavy-handed on banks pioneered by executives from Manicaland. Industry players told The Financial Gazette that the tribal twist to the ongoing swoop on local banks accused of violating the Exchange Control Act had caused panic and fear among RBZ employees who fear losing their jobs should the muted restructuring of the institution takes off. Top Zanu PF politicians from Manicaland (names supplied) rolled up their sleeves last week after the RBZ suspended the Julius Makoni-led NMB Bank from trading in foreign currency for 12 months. The NMB Bank boss is a descendant of the Makoni dynasty in Manicaland. While Paddy Zhanda, the bank's chairman is from Mashonaland, but party insiders said he has lost his political clout within Zanu PF.The bank, which is said to have ignored warning letters signed by acting RBZ governor Charles Chikaura about the alleged contravention of exchange control regulations, denied the charge. At least six other banks escaped with fines for contravening the same regulations.
"The issue is getting out of hand. The question being asked is why the RBZ seems to be interested in a few banks and yet by its own admission, almost all the banks are participating on the black market? This is where the tribal element has come in," said the source. The tribal card was also influenced by indications that the net was fast closing in on high-flyers in the banking sector - Trust Bank Corporation and Interfin Merchant Bank - which notched $15.1 billion and $12.7 billion in half-year after-tax profit in June this year. Trust Bank is chaired by former government minister Tichaendepi Masaya and managed by William Nyemba. Both Masaya and Nyemba come from the Eastern Highlands in Manicaland. Interfin Merchant Bank's top three executives, namely Timothy Chiganze (chairman), Jerry Tsodzai (chief executive officer) and Farai Rwodzi (deputy chief executive officer) are also from Manicaland. Chikaura could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press. This is the first time that tribe has been used to cow the RBZ whose only documented criticism has been the inconsistent application of policies and lethargy in responding to debacles such as the collapse of the United Merchant Bank and First National Building Society. The RBZ has been tightening screws on banks in response to findings of an external audit completed by the last quarter of last year. Sources said the audit unearthed rampant violation of Exchange Control Regulations by several banking institutions.
Top
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 12 September
Obasanjo wants Zim off Abuja agenda
Dumisani Muleya
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is working frantically to ensure the potentially damaging issue of Zimbabwe doesn't scupper the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Abuja in December. Diplomatic sources yesterday said Obasanjo had been making strenuous efforts to keep Zimbabwe, currently suspended from the Commonwealth due to electoral fraud, off the Chogm agenda. The sources said Obasanjo wanted to prevent a major "Zimbabwe row in his backyard" that could split the 54-member grouping along political or regional lines. This comes against a background of reports of further deterioration in the situation on the ground in Zimbabwe. Political violence and repression remain pervasive while economic implosion deepens, recent surveys submitted to Commonwealth leaders and diplomats point out. A report by regional church leaders released last Friday revealed that Zanu PF youth brigades were still perpetrating acts of violence across the country. Representatives of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum this week told Commonwealth high commissioners in London that there has been no change - except for the worse - in the country.
However, it is understood Obasanjo is planning to bury the Zimbabwe issue which threatens to create wide fissures in the normally tranquil edifice of Commonwealth consensus. "The Nigerians are working very hard to ensure that Zimbabwe does not become the main issue at Abuja," a well-placed source said. "All contacts by Obasanjo and his officials are geared mostly to ensuring that there are no contentious issues on the table." Sources said Obasanjo, who sits on the Commonwealth troika on Zimbabwe with South African President Thabo Mbeki and Australian Prime Minister John Howard, has ordered his foreign ministry, which is preparing the groundwork for Chogm, to prevent Zimbabwe becoming the main bone of contention in Abuja. Mbeki is supporting the Nigerian leader's efforts. "Obasanjo has instructed his foreign ministry to ensure that by the time Abuja comes there will already have been such progress in dealing with the matter that it will not be an issue," the source said. "He believes the Zimbabwe issue could wreck 'his' conference. There may be some noise about the issue right now but I can tell you, and I know this, the Nigerians want Zimbabwe to vanish from the agenda." Efforts to get comment from Nigerian High Commissioner Wilberforce Juta were unsuccessful.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth on March 19 last year following fraud and political violence in President Robert Mugabe's disputed re-election. Harare is, however, trying to get the ban lifted in Abuja. That will require the ruling party to make progress in its talks with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. During its suspension, Zimbabwe was asked to address the club's various concerns. These include political dialogue and reconciliation; electoral law reforms and other fundamental legislative changes; promotion, in collaboration with the UNDP, of an organised land reform exercise; human rights issues and the economic crisis. But as Commonwealth secretary-general Don McKinnon's report states, and the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum reinforces in its report released this week, Harare is in clear breach of the Commonwealth's Harare Declaration, the Millbrook Commonwealth Action Programme on the Harare Declaration and the Abuja Agreement signed in Nigeria on September 6 2001 in a bid to end the local crisis.
"The evidence available at present indicates that Zimbabwe remains divergent to the Common-wealth goal of 'promoting democracy and good governance, human rights and the rule of law, gender equality and sustainable economic and social development'," the forum's report says. It said Harare has also failed to comply with the Marlborough House Statement on Zimbabwe, through which the country was suspended, and the Zimbabwe Mid-Term Review Statement issued by the troika in Abuja on September 23 last year. "Electoral processes in Zimbabwe continue to be conducted in an environment in which citizens are unable to participate freely," the report says. "They are persistently subjected to violence, intimidation and coercion. High levels of human rights violations continue to prevail." It went further: "There has been continued disregard for the rule of law and manipulation of the judiciary that has compromised equal access to justice. This has been accompanied by the establishment of a culture of impunity presided over by a seemingly partisan police force." On the economy, it said: "Economic decline has accelerated as a result of mismanagement, coupled with engagement in an unsustainable land reform programme that has only served to aggravate food insecurity in the country."
Top
From VOA News, 13 September
Zimbabwe's independent paper CEO charged
Tendai Maphosa
Harare - Authorities in Zimbabwe have charged the chief executive officer of The Daily News newspaper of operating an illegal company. One day after the police ordered Zimbabwe's only independent daily to stop operating, Sam Siphepha Nkomo reported to the police, where he was formally charged with operating an unregistered publishing house. Mr. Nkomo was released, after recording a statement, but ordered to appear in court Monday. The charges stem from Thursday's Supreme Court ruling, which said The Daily News was operating illegally because it had not registered under the controversial Access to Information and Privacy Act. The company argued that some sections of the Act violated press freedom and were unconstitutional, but said it would comply with the court ruling. However, armed police moved into the paper's offices on Friday, and ordered all staffers out. Police guarded the building Saturday, allowing staff members inside only to collect personal belongings. It is not clear when the paper will be allowed to publish.
The Daily News had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Zimbabwe. As the country's only independent daily newspaper, it also frequently published criticisms of President Robert Mugabe. The paper's printing presses were blown up early in 2001, after the Information Ministry called it "a threat to national security." The decision to shut The Daily News down has been widely condemned by media organizations in Zimbabwe as an attack on press freedom. The local branch of the Media Institute of Southern Africa said the closing down of the paper "robs the country of one of its few alternative voices." But the chairman of the Media Information Commission, Tafataona Mahoso, dismissed the complaints. He told the Reuters news agency that "there is freedom of press in Zimbabwe, but no freedom to act as an outlaw."
Top
From The Sunday Times (SA), 14 September
Shut newspaper to appeal in court
Andrew Donaldson
Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News, will this week approach the Supreme Court in a bid to resume publishing after police shut it down at the weekend for operating illegally. The newspaper was not on sale yesterday after armed riot police and detectives on Friday ordered staff from their offices and halted production of the Saturday edition. Daily News editor-in-chief Francis Mdlongwa told the Sunday Times that some senior management executives were allowed to return to the offices yesterday afternoon to collect documents with information on employees - including details of political affiliation - in order to meet government registration compliances. "Journalists are still barred from the building," Mdlongwa said. The police action followed a court ruling on Thursday that the newspaper, which is critical of President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF government, was operating in "defiance of the law". It had challenged the constitutionality of registering with the state Media and Information Commission (MIC), as required under tough new laws governing the press.
But, added Mdlongwa, while the Daily News would now have to register if it was to continue business, there was some concern that the MIC had already "taken a position" not to approve the newspaper's registration. Mdlongwa referred to comments in the state-controlled Herald newspaper by MIC boss Tafataona Mahoso , who welcomed the police closure of the paper, saying it was their duty to act against "outlaws". "Mahosa said that if we were to approach the commission, we would be doing so with 'dirty hands'," Mdlongwa said. It was unclear how long the Daily News would be off the streets, but one of the paper's executives told AFP that the registration process could take months. However, Mdlongwa said they would be approaching the courts, either tomorrow or on Tuesday, in a bid to resume publishing while the MIC processed their registration. A recent survey showed that 1.5 million Zimbabweans read the paper every day, while the Herald was said to have a daily readership of 1.1 million. It is the first time since 1964 - when the then-Rhodesian government banned a black nationalist publication, the African Daily News - that a paper has been shut down by the country's authorities.
Top
From Reuters AlertNet, 13 September
Zimbabwe media, Commonwealth slam newspaper closure
By Cris Chinaka
Harare - Media groups on Saturday condemned Zimbabwe's government for shutting down the country's only private daily newspaper, calling it a crude attempt to silence critics amid a deepening economic and political crisis. The 54-nation Commonwealth also criticised the decision and warned it could lead to tougher action against President Robert Mugabe's government. Police shut down operations at the Daily News on Friday night, a day after the Supreme Court ruled that the newspaper group was operating illegally. Francis Mdlongwa, editor-in-chief of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) which publishes the Daily News and its sister Daily News on Sunday, said police descended on the newspapers' offices in central Harare and ordered staff out. On Saturday, the Zimbabwe chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) said the shutdown of the Daily News had robbed Zimbabwe of one of its leading sources of information, and should be seen as a "severe assault on media freedom". "The closure robs the country of one of the few alternative voices in an increasingly restricted space where Zimbabweans can freely express themselves," MISA said in a statement.
A Commonwealth spokesman in London said the issue would be discussed at a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Abuja, Nigeria, in December. "It is a major attack on the freedom of the press," he said. The Zimbabwe National Editors Forum, grouping editors of some private newspapers, said the closure of the Daily News was a sign of desperation by a government battling a severe economic crisis manifesting itself in serious food, fuel shortages and record world inflation at 400 percent. "This is a crude attempt to silence an inconvenient voice. (But) No amount of heavy-handed repression by a desperately insecure government will disguise the trail of criminal misrule which the Daily News, together with other independent newspapers, has done so much to expose," ZINEF said.
But Media and Information Commission chairman Tafataona Mahoso dismissed suggestions that the closure of the Daily News was a vindictive move against a newspaper regarded by Mugabe's government as a mouthpiece of the opposition. "There is freedom of the press here, but there is no freedom to act as an outlaw," he said. "We registered almost all the other private newpspers which applied, but these people chose to play to the gallery, and now want to play foul because the law has caught up with them." The Daily News had been operating without a licence in defiance of the "Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act" passed soon after Mugabe's controversial re-election in 2002. The newspaper had indicated, however, that it was going to apply for registration. Zimbabwe was suspended from the decision-making bodies of the Commonwealth, a group of mainly former British colonies, for a year after the election.
Top
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 12 September
German NGO severs ties with government
Blessing Zulu
Zimbabwe-Network, a German-based non-governmental organisation which supported the country's liberation movements during the struggle for Independence, has cut ties with government to protest human rights abuses. A spokesman for the NGO, Rosini Fiedler Conradi, told the Zimbabwe Independent that his organisation was appalled by political and economic developments in country. "We were in a crisis at first as we did not know how to react to the developments in Zimbabwe following reports of gross human rights abuses," Conradi said. "Our members went to Zimbabwe at the height of the political crisis in 2000 and 2001 and this made the picture clearer. The government, it emerged, did not adhere to the principles of democracy and human rights." Zimbabwe-Network assisted both Zanu PF and PF-Zapu during the liberation war against colonial rule. The network raised money and acquired ammunition for freedom fighters, trained teachers at refugee camps outside the country and provided logistical support. The group also assisted in reconstruction and economic recovery after Independence. It helped ex-combatants set up self-help projects. Conradi said the group had since stopped supporting Zimbabwe with any form of aid due to the prevailing repression and human rights abuses.
Meanwhile, former Zimbabwe-German Trade Association president Werner Seidel has blamed the chaotic land reform programme for the country's economic decline. "The grabbing of land, even the land that had been purchased after Independence, will scare away potential investors," Seidel said. "The message that the government is sending to potential investors is that their property rights are not guaranteed. It will be very difficult to convince anyone to invest in such an insecure environment." Seidel said German investors and local farmers had engaged him to reason with President Robert Mugabe when he was in Berlin a few years ago on the need to resolve the land imbalances peacefully. "I told the president that land reform was necessary but it had to be resolved amicably," he said. "There were many farmers who were willing to surrender their farms but the president did not want to commit himself." Zimbabwe is in its fourth year of economic recession. Social instability as a result of unemployment of around 70%, and inflation of nearly 400% are playing havoc in the country. Nearly six million Zimbabweans will need food assistance before the next harvest season because of a marked decline in agricultural productivity blamed chiefly on the government's arbitrary seizure of white commercial farms. Government blames the country's enemies led by the UK and the US, the opposition MDC and drought.
Top
From The Financial Gazette, 11 September
Bickering over exchange rate plugs fuel imports
Staff Reporter
Despite the partial de-regulation of the fuel industry, the supply situation has remained critical because of last-minute glitches in stitching a financial package worth at least US$30 million (Z$24.72 billion) every month. Industry players told The Financial Gazette this week that members of the Petroleum Marketers' Association (PMA) who scored a major victory late last month when the government agreed to de-regulate the procurement of fuel, face another uphill task in getting financial institutions to bankroll supplies. Banks, which had pledged to secure monthly allocations of US$30 million in tranches of US$10 million, had not made headway in getting the central bank to agree on the exchange rate to apply on the arrangement. The banking sector, now under increased scrutiny from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), the police and the spy agency - the Central Intelligence Organisation - said the deal could only be bankable if exchange rate is moved from Z$824 to the United States dollar to about Z$3 000 to the same unit.
PMA chairman Masimba Kambarami said the association was waiting for banks to tie up the financing aspect, adding that supplies would not improve overnight. Kambarami said: "Supplies will improve gradually, but as for now, banks are finalising the syndication and once that is done, everything would be okay." An official with the Bankers' Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) told The Financial Gazette this week that banks cannot unilaterally determine the exchange rate on the deal without the full backing of the RBZ, which has already suspended NMB Bank for flouting exchange control regulations. "Everyone is afraid of losing foreign currency trading licences like what has happened to NMB," said the BAZ official. The BAZ official said the syndication of the funding arrangement was meant to closely coordinate the Zimbabwe dollar funding for this prog-ramme. The foreign currency would be sourced from exporting companies.
While PMA members are agreed that individual members can approach banks of their choice, the association is concerned that the difference in funding structures for banks could lead to the fuel having different cost structures. The announcement of new pump prices for private fuel procurers would also erode the viability of most companies particularly the indigenous oil companies. On August 28, Amos Midzi, the Minister of Energy and Power Development, increased the price of fuel for private importers from $450 for a litre of petrol to $1 170 with diesel going up 430 percent from $200 per litre to $1 060. Public institutions such as public hospitals will, however, continue to receive fuel from the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe. Despite the new prices, the fuel supply situation has remained critical in all major cities and towns. The product is only available on the black market and at few service stations that are importing fuel on behalf of clients. Only a few multinational companies have so far brought in fuel imports at the new price. Zimbabwe has been going through a severe fuel crisis because of the shortage of foreign currency caused by poor export performance and the lack of donor support. Zimbabwe needs at least US$40 million per month to import fuel. The shortage has disrupted activities in industry, commerce and agriculture.
Top
From The Cape Times, 15 September
Mbeki, Obasanjo challenged to help muzzled paper
By Basildon Peta
Johannesburg: If the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act had been repealed or drastically revised in Zimbabwe, as President Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria leader Olusegun Obasanjo had promised earlier this year, the Daily News would not have been closed. This was said yesterday by publisher Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe. An international outcry has erupted at the forced police closure of the paper at the weekend. Mbeki and Obasanjo have been challenged to intervene. In his letter to Australian Prime Minister John Howard earlier this year explaining why Zimbabwe should be re-admitted into the Commonwealth, Obasanjo said Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe had undertaken to repeal or revise all draconian laws. Obasanjo said then he and Mbeki were of the view that Mugabe should be encouraged to implement more reforms by having the Commonwealth sanctions lifted. The letter was reproduced in the state press in Zimbabwe by Mugabe's government which saw it as major score against Howard. Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma repeatedly said the Zimbabwean government had undertaken to review draconian security and media laws.
ANZ chief executive Sipepa Nkomo said since Mugabe had not fulfilled the promises he had been quoted as having given to Mbeki and Obasanjo, it was crucial that the two influential leaders intervene and help the Daily News resume publishing while it tries to register. "Our offices have been sealed, we can't do anything. We can't gain access to the documents we are required to submit to apply for the registration as ordered by the court," said Nkomo. "President Mbeki must intervene and tell this government to stop these abuses." Daily News editor-in-chief Francis Mdlongwa said the actions by the Zimbabwe authorities proved they would stop at nothing to close the Daily News. Various journalistic organisations from Africa attending a meeting of the Southern Africa Journalists Association (SAJA) in Cape Town on Saturday said the Access to Information and Privacy Act, requiring journalists and media organisations to register with a government-appointed media commission, had no place in any civilised and democratic society. The meeting called for international pressure on the Zimbabwe government to repeal the act forthwith.
The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the largest representative body of journalists in the world, said it was outraged by the actions of the Zimbabwe police in sealing the offices of the Daily News and restricting entry to the newspaper's premises. It dismissed the closure of the Daily News as a despicable act. IFJ general secretary Aidan White said the Zimbabwe government must stop police harassment of Daily News staff and allow the newspaper to continue with the process of seeking registration as ordered by the Supreme Court. There was no way the newspaper could register while staff members were being denied access to the necessary documents in their offices. But the IFJ vehemently emphasised that it was against any law that requires journalists and media organisations to operate under registration from a government-appointed media commission. SAJA President Martin Musunka, who is also general secretary of the Zambia Union of Journalists, said in Cape Town the act was a concerted effort by the Zimbabwean authorities to silence independent voices in the country. "The closure of the Daily News is the inevitable consequence of an intolerable campaign against independent journalism in Zimbabwe," he said. "The closure of this newspaper is not a matter of law but a political act." South Africa's NNP added its voice to the condemnation yesterday, saying the closing of Zimbabwe's only independent newspaper was yet another human rights violation. NNP media director Carol Johnson said in a statement that freedom of speech was a fundamental right.
Top
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 14 September
Mugabe snubbed for summit
Sydney - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe will not be invited to attend this year's Commonwealth summit in Nigeria, a spokesperson for Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Monday. The decision followed pressure from Australia. Quoting Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon and the Nigerian government, the spokesperson said Mugabe would not be invited to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, to be held in the Nigerian capital Abuja in December. Some African countries, led by South African President Thabo Mbeki, have been urging the Commonwealth to relax its sanctions on Zimbabwe. "I can confirm that the Commonwealth secretary general and the Nigerian government have confirmed that President Mugabe will not be invited to the meeting in Nigeria in December. The prime minister had opposed inviting Mugabe so this decision is welcome," the spokesperson said. "We consider that in the absence of any progress in addressing the concerns which led to its suspension from the councils of the Commonwealth, Zimbabwe's suspension should stand." Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth last year after Mugabe was reelected in its presidential elections. International observers concluded that the voting had been rigged, in line with statements by opposition parties. Mugabe's increasingly hardline policies have sparked international outrage and concern over deteriorating human rights and economic conditions. Mugabe has been in power in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980.
Top
From The Sunday Independent (SA), 14 September
Zim crisis deepens as top newspaper banned
By Brian Latham, Basildon Peta and Edwin Naidu
The crisis in Zimbabwe has deepened even further, with police closing down the country's top-selling newspaper and negotiations between Zanu PF and the opposition being put on ice as a power struggle rages within the ruling party about who will succeed President Robert Mugabe. In a move that has sparked outrage, armed police at the weekend moved in on the nation's only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News, blockading the publication's Harare offices, evicting staff and preventing its publication. The paper, the top-selling daily in the country, has maintained a fiercely independent line and been a strong critic of the Zimbabwe regime in recent years. The heavy-handed move follows a Supreme Court ruling this week ordering the paper to register under the country's much criticised Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa). About 20 police, some armed with AK-47 assault rifles, ordered Daily News staff to leave the premises on Friday night. And on Saturday morning police barred the doors, refusing access to editorial staff. The paper's editor, Francis Mdlongwa, described the closure as "an unprecedented attack on press freedom in Zimbabwe". "We made it clear we would comply with the Supreme Court ruling instructing us to register," he said.
On Thursday, Zimbabwe's controversial Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku blocked an application made by Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) challenging the constitutionality of Aippa. ANZ had said Aippa was "blatantly unconstitutional" and challenged the act and the need to register under what it saw as unconstitutional laws. Chidyausiku, who has been frequently accused of overtly supporting the ruling Zanu PF party, said: "This is a court of law and as such cannot condone the applicant's open defiance of the law. Citizens are obliged to obey the law and argue afterwards. All the applicant is required to do is submit itself to the law and approach this court with clean hands on the same papers." Gugulethu Moyo, a lawyer acting for ANZ, described Chidyausiku's decision as "a sad day for Zimbabwe". She said ANZ would apply for registration under the Act and immediately challenge Aippa's constitutionality in the courts. She said that ANZ still objected to several clauses under Aippa. "They require our profit and loss balance sheet and cash flow projections for the next five years," she said. "In addition, we must submit the curriculum vitaes of all ANZ managers and disclose the political affiliations of ANZ directors."
There have been two unexplained explosions at the Daily News, one of which destroyed its printing presses in 2001. Zimbabwe's authorities have used both Aippa and the equally controversial Public Order and Security Act to clamp down on reporters in recent years. Several foreign correspondents have been deported under draconian laws put in place by the Mugabe regime. Asked to comment on the closure of the Daily News, Ronnie Mamoepa, the spokesperson for Nkosazana Zuma, the foreign affairs minister, said the South African government's approach to media freedom was guided by the constitution: "We believe in freedom of the press." Patricia de Lille, the leader of the Independent Democrats, said the closure of the newspaper showed a breakdown in democracy as all state organs were controlled by the ruling party. "It is very sad for Zimbabwe but we're not shocked by the events." She said leaders in the South African Development Community should speak out against the human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Mathatha Tsedu, the chairperson of the African Editors Forum, said the closure of the newspaper was a setback for attempts by many people to restore normality to Zimbabwe. Jody Kollapen, the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, said human rights was a defining feature in the formation of the African Union. "The situation in Zimbabwe threatens the human rights pillar upon which the AU was founded," he said. Kollapen said that the AU, unlike its predecessor the OAU, made provision for interference by member states when human rights are trampled on. "Zimbabwe affects us all as Africans," he said.
The effective banning of the Daily News came as formal talks to resolve the country's crippling economic and political crises have ground to a halt. "An internal struggle within Zanu PF is stalling progress. There is no cohesion," said a top politician close to the informal talks between Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). "Each faction within Zanu PF wants to take responsibility over any transitional agreement." He said the power struggle was making it difficult to reach a consensus position within Zanu-PF for formal negotiations. Patrick Chinamasa, the justice minister, who has been touted as a possible successor to Mugabe, has met Welshman Ncube, the MDC secretary-general, for informal talks several times. But top people within Zanu PF are sabotaging progress because they believe their own interests are not being catered for, the sources said. Many top Zanu PF politicians want the succession question within Zanu PF settled before any deal with the MDC is reached. That means waiting to see whether Mugabe steps down and is succeeded as leader of Zanu PF at the party's congress in December, as widely reported. "Unless Mugabe sets in place a specific mechanism of dealing with this issue, then progress will remain very slow," one source said. Frustrated with the slow movement of dialogue, the MDC has compiled a dossier of rights abuses in Zimbabwe that it will use to encourage Commonwealth leaders not to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe when they meet in Abuja in December. The United Nations is trying to push the talks for fear that if no progress is made, it will be very difficult for it to raise donor relief support for Zimbabwe this year. Zimbabwe has submitted requests for 600 000 tons of food aid, a large consignment of medicines and billions of rands to help equip resettled peasants.
Top
From The Sunday Times (SA), 14 September
Zanu PF polls to 'indicate new leader'
Dingilizwe Ntuli
A round of Zanu PF district and provincial elections at the end of the month will give Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's potential successor an opportunity to consolidate his position. Zanu PF will be holding district and provincial elections from the end of this month to revamp its structures ahead of its final conference in December, and before next year's crucial congress where a new leader is likely to emerge. The congress is held once every five years and elects a new leadership, while the conference is an annual non-voting gathering. Parliamentary Speaker Emerson Mnangagwa, Special Affairs Minister and Zanu-PF national chairman John Nkomo, Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi and former finance minister Simba Makoni are known to want Mugabe's job. Mugabe is widely believed to prefer Mnangagwa as his successor. As the party's administration chief, Mnangagwa has the opportunity to influence the election of supporters who will back him in the leadership race at next year's congress.
Zanu PF's head of international affairs, Didymus Mutasa, said his party's elections had nothing to do with positioning anyone in the succession line . Zanu PF's constitution stated that all district and provincial structures be dissolved and elections for new office bearers be held one year before the congress, he said. Political commentator and head of the National Constitutional Assembly, Lovemore Madhuku, said while speculation was high that Mugabe would stand down in December, the revamping of party structures indicated otherwise. "Although Mugabe has called for open talks on succession, there will be no such discussion at the December conference. The earliest we can expect Mugabe to go is after the 2005 elections. "These Zanu PF elections are meant to revamp the party and point the way to a chosen successor."
Top
From Reuters AlertNet, 14 September
Zimbabwe treason trial postponed to October 28
Harare - The resumption of the treason trial of Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, accused of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe, has been postponed from Monday to October 28, his lawyer said on Sunday. Tsvangirai, who heads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has been on trial since February with two senior party officials. If convicted, the 51-year-old former trade unionist could face the death sentence. Treason charges against his colleagues were dropped by the High Court last month. But the court rejected the defence's application to also dismiss charges against Tsvangirai, saying the prosecution had put up a strong prima facie case. The court has been on a summer break of more than a month. The case had been scheduled to start on Monday, September 15 but on Sunday, one of Tsvangirai's defence lawyers, Eric Matinenga, told Reuters it had been postponed due to "administrative issues" and would only resume on October 28.
Tsvangirai, who has emerged in the last three years as the greatest threat to Mugabe's rule, says the assassination charges are an attempt to crush his political challenge. He faces an additional treason charge after he tried to organise street protests against Mugabe in June which the government said constituted an attempted coup d'etat. He is free on bail on both charges but cannot travel abroad. The MDC leader has mounted a court challenge against Mugabe's victory in last year's elections, which the opposition and Western governments condemned as fraudulent. Mugabe, sole ruler since the former Rhodesia gained independence from Britain in 1980, maintains he won fairly and accuses Western powers of forcing the economy into its worst crisis since independence as part of a plan to impose Tsvangirai as leader.
Top
From Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, 14 September
EU denies harming Zimbabwean population
Maputo - The European Union has denied that its targeted sanctions against Zimbabwean leaders can possibly have caused suffering to the Zimbabwean population. The claim that EU sanctions worsen the Zimbabwean economic crisis and damage the Zimbabwean people comes from Zimbabwean officials and has been echoed in some of the Zimbabwean press. An EU statement received by AIM roundly denies such allegations and points out that the EU is not imposing any economic or commercial sanctions against Zimbabwe. "The measures adopted by the EU", it says, "as a result of the collapse of the rule of law, and the violations of human rights, are the freezing of assets of the main members of the government and of other high ranking officials, a ban on them traveling to EU member states and an arms embargo". "None of these measures", the statement points out, "can affect or cause difficulties to the population of Zimbabwe". Certain financial and development cooperation programmes with the Zimbabwean government have been suspended, the statement adds, "mainly because the government has not respected the provisions of the pertinent bilateral agreements, and because of the political and economic environment which is not conducive to development cooperation with government structures". Humanitarian aid continues to flow from Europe to Zimbabwe, and the EU statement puts this aid at 300 million euros (about 330 million US dollars) over the past two years. "Apart from this", it adds, "the EU and its member-states are financing programmes of direct support to the population of Zimbabwe in poverty reduction, education, health, infrastructures, human rights and democratisation". The statement concludes with the claim that the EU remains committed to holding "a wide ranging dialogue with the government of Zimbabwe on the current difficulties facing the country, in order to restore political, social and economic stability".
Top
From The Daily News (internet edition), 16 September
ANZ officials submitted registration and application forms
Staff Reporter
Senior officials from Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, publishers of The Daily News and the Daily News On Sunday, whose newspapers were shut down last week by the government, yesterday submitted registration and application forms to the government-appointed Media and Information Commission in Harare to enable them to resume operations. The company was represented by its legal advisor, Gugulethu Moyo, operations director, Innocent Kurwa and finance director, Brian Mutsau. Speaking after submitting the application forms, Moyo said: "We paid a registration fee of $500 000 and an application fee of $20 000." The Zimbabwe Supreme Court ruled on Thursday last week that it would not hear an ANZ application on the constitutionality of the section relating to registration which makes it mandatory for media houses to register with the commission. The Supreme Court ruled that the company should first comply with the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act before its application could be heard.
Friday evening, armed riot police and intelligence offic |
