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Archived News
17th June 2003
Opposition leader to remain in custody until bail hearing
Mugabe keeps Tsvangirai behind bars
Hunger strikers urge Mbeki to use his clout
Libyan plane forced to land for violating Kenyan airspace
I've moved...
A milestone?
Tsvangirai applauded as he appears on treason charge
Zim slammed for Tsvangirai's shoddy treatment
Expelled journalist's wife forced to flee Zimbabwe
SA does an about-turn on invite to Zimbabwe minister
Zimbabweans flock to Moz
200 litres fuel fetch half-a-mln
Bout connection
Zimbabwe activist's week in hiding
MDC leader Tsvangirai spends seventh night behind bars
Mugabe threatens to expel Britain's envoy
High and dry Zimbabwe sells oil pipeline
Illegal fuel dealers prey on desperate motorists
Zanu PF youths detained in Kenya
Tough media bills passed
Africa still needs food
Decision on bail for Zimbabwe opposition leader put off
Our man in Zimbabwe shrugs off Mugabe slur
Mugabe putting millions in aid at risk
Malnutrition threatens Zimbabwe children
Deported Libyan 'spy' expected back in Zim
Quiet diplomacy blown away
SA seeks Tsvangirai's release
Courtroom stunned as Tsvangirai kept in jail
Tsvangirai shackled in 'horrendous' prison
Mugabe 'cannot pay his security forces'
Wads of cash outlawed in Zimbabwe
Cosatu lambasts Zim
Zimbabwe bans public strikes
Tsvangirai creates a poser for his party
Minister admits land policy gave her a farm
Corruption dogs Zimbabweans
Mugabe backs Mnangagwa
Mbeki fuels new hope of early exit for Mugabe
Tsvangirai waits in jail for bail hearing
Campaign questions Zimbabwe hangings
Zimbabwe judge broke into white homestead
Cuddly human rights violator
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From IRIN (UN), 10 June
Opposition leader to remain in custody until bail hearing
Johannesburg - Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change, (MDC) will remain in custody while he waits to apply for bail in the latest round of treason charges levelled at him. Tsvangirai was arrested twice last week - on Monday for alleged contempt of court for refusing to call off a week of anti-government protests, and again on Friday on a second charge of treason stemming from his role in the protests. His lawyer Innocent Chagonda told IRIN that Tsvangirai appeared in the Harare Magistrate's Court on Tuesday for an initial remand until 10 July, but as the court did not have jurisdiction in treason cases, he had to wait until Wednesday to apply for bail. The party's secretary-general, Welshman Ncube, arrested on Monday, was released without charge on Tuesday. Since the start of last week's MDC-led protests and stayaways, the police have either arrested or briefly detained several top MDC leaders across the country.
Chris Maroleng, a researcher at South Africa's Institute for Security Studies told IRIN: "It is not clear how the MDC will survive the court battles. The decapitation of the head of the MDC is an attempt at making them dysfunctional." He said that although the party's leadership was drawn from "a broad church" and power could be transferred to junior members, the continued arrests would have a psychological effect. "It will test the capacity of the party's leadership and unity. Will there be leadership challenges because of the power vacuum, or will it unify the party in its goal to see [President Robert] Mugabe removed?" Maroleng said. He added that the arrests could also create a rallying point for the MDC, and could be an indication of Zanu PF's future strategy and further crackdowns. The arrests also put a question mark over unconfirmed reports - denied by both sides - that talks between the MDC and Zanu PF could start again. "Who talks in such circumstances?" asked Maroleng. "There is a need for a semblance of stability to return, to allow the two parties to come together."
The mayor of Bulawayo, Japhet Ndabeni Ncube, the MP for Masvingo Central, Silas Mangono, a member of the MDC national executive, Jobert Mudzumwe, the chairman for MDC Bulawayo Province, Abraham Mdlonga, and Milton Gwetu, MP for Mpopoma, were among those also detained last week. Tsvangirai, Ncube and MDC MP Renson Gasela are in the middle of a treason trial relating to their alleged plans to "eliminate" Mugabe ahead of last year's presidential elections. In a further crackdown on the opposition, news reports said that businesses who closed during last week's protests were being investigated and faced losing their licences for supporting the MDC.
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From The Star (SA), 11 June
Mugabe keeps Tsvangirai behind bars
By Brian Latham
Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has spent a fifth night in police cells after his bail application was postponed to Wednesday. But the authorities released Movement for Democratic Change secretary-general Welshman Ncube, who was being held in cells after he too was charged with treason on Monday. It was not clear at the time of going to press whether charges against Ncube, a softly-spoken law professor, had been dropped. Both moves followed a day dogged by confusion that saw Tsvangirai appear in Harare's Rotten Row magistrate's court in the morning. He was remanded until July 10 by a Harare magistrate, but was supposed to attend a bail hearing in the High Court on Tuesday afternoon. Wearing a tracksuit top, a relaxed-looking Tsvangirai stood in the dock flanked by six prison officers. He had arrived in the back of a police vehicle under heavy armed escort only minutes before. Scores of riot cops wielding AK-47s and - backed by two Israeli-supplied water cannons - surrounded the courthouse in downtown Harare. Watched by hundreds of MDC supporters, Tsvangirai's escort rushed him into the bowels of the court before the remand hearing began.
Lawyers were unable to say why the opposition leader's bail hearing, scheduled for 3.30pm on Tuesday, was postponed. Nor were they certain whether police had dropped charges against Ncube. "Ncube has been released but I don't know whether the charges have been dropped," MDC lawyer Innocent Chagonda said. Both opposition leaders had been charged with treason following last week's mass action, described by the state-controlled press as "a flop". At the weekend, MDC vice-president Gibson Sibanda warned the government to release Tsvangirai immediately or face "a long winter of sustained but peaceful protest". But on Tuesday the state-controlled press slammed Sibanda, alleging he had called for violent protests. The Zimbabwean government is to take over six firms which closed their doors in support of last week's mass action, Industry Minister Francis Nhema said on Tuesday. Their operating licences are to be cancelled, and expatriate staff will have their work permits revoked and will face deportation. Nhema threatened to give the firms - which were not identified - to "loyal and patriotic" new owners. Eight other firms that were investigated during the stayaway had managed to give "reasonable excuses" for not having opened.
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From The Star (SA), 11 June
Hunger strikers urge Mbeki to use his clout
By Basildon Peta and Benjamin Thompson
A group of exiled Zimbabweans, including women and children, have gone on a hunger strike near President Thabo Mbeki's offices at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. They have sworn to remain there until he uses his leverage on President Robert Mugabe to have opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai released from jail. Tsvangirai is in custody on treason charges. A bail application was due to be heard in the High Court on Wednesday. The demonstrators, who have delivered a petition to Mbeki's office, said they feared for Tsvangirai's life. "Several opponents of the Zimbabwean government were killed in jail and others died shortly after leaving prison," said Zanele Bhebhe. A spokesperson for the protesters said an official from Mbeki's office had asked them to discontinue the strike. "We will not leave until Mbeki helps to secure Tsvangirai's release," he vowed.
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From The East African Standard (Kenya), 11 June
Libyan plane forced to land for violating Kenyan airspace
By Xavier Lugaga
Fifty-seven Zimbabwean nationals have been detained at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport since Sunday after their plane violated Kenyan airspace. The Zimbabweans were flying to Tripoli in Libya from Harare when their Libyan plane was intercepted and forced to land. And the pilots flying the Russian-made Ilyusin plane were charged in court yesterday and fined Sh82,000 for overflying the Kenyan airspace without authority. Zimbabwe's Deputy High commissioner Mr N Mawema confirmed that his countrymen have been detained. He said the mission was doing everything possible to "normalise the situation". Mawema defended the passengers, saying they are not at fault. "It is the pilots who are at fault for attempting to illegally overfly Kenyan airspace. And they have been charged appropriately," he said. Mawema said the plane, which is VIP-configured complete with conference facilities, had been chartered to fly his countrymen to Libya for "official business". He said his countrymen's documents had been confiscated by the Kenyan Immigration Department officials, "and once they are released and the plane cleared they shall proceed to their destination". Sources at Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said the Libyan plane had been cleared to overfly the Kenyan airspace on Friday but it never did. "The plane then came in on Sunday unannounced and without declaring on its manifest that it was carrying passengers," aviation sources said. The sources added that it was after a physical inspection of the aircraft that it was established that it was carrying passengers. The sources said that immigration officers are investigating the matter in conjunction with the security apparatus.
The incident comes at a time when Zimbabwe is engulfed in a major political crisis pitting the ruling party Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic change (MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai. Recently the country was hit by a national strike called by Tsvangirai who is facing treason charges for inciting his countrymen to abandon work and take to the streets. Tsvangirai and two senior MDC colleagues are on trial for treason in connection with an alleged plot on President Robert Mugabe's life. The pilots were fined for landing in Kenya without making a fresh application of clearance after the expiry of their certificate. Niktor Konkin and Yurii Zlenko - pilot and co-pilot respectively - had been cleared to land on June 6 at JKIA but landed on June 8. They were fined on their own plea of guilty by Nairobi Chief Magistrate, Mr Aggrey Muchelule. In default, they will each be jailed for 15 months. They failed to adhere to the conditions in the clearance certificate on June 6 which contravened regulations of Civil Aviation (licensing of air services). They further admitted the second charge of giving false information on the same day at JKIA. The duo, having applied and obtained clearance to land at JKIA, indicated in the application that the aircraft, 5A-DRK make IL-62 M, had no passengers while it had 57 people on board. In the first charge they were fined each Sh40,000 while on the second count they were fined Sh1,000. In mitigation, their lawyer John Njongoro prayed for leniency, saying they had admitted the charges. He further told Muchelule that the 57 passengers they had ferried were still at JKIA.
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From ZWNEWS, 11 June
I've moved...
Every year, the Sunday Times publishes a list of the wealthiest people living in Britain. Each year, we have watched the steady climb up the ranks of John Bredenkamp, the controversial Zimbabwean businessman. In 2001, he was 48th. The following year, 33rd. This year, we went straight to the Sunday Times colour supplement and worked our way down from the top - guessing that that would be quickest. 1000 names later, his name still escaped us. So we went to the Sunday Times website, but the search facility yielded the result "Nothing Found". What could have happened? Had he moved to healthier climes? Had he lost his fortune? Had his lawyers been at work to keep him out of the limelight?
Mr Bredenkamp has generously sent us an explanation:
"I notice that in your website comment dated 27th April 2003 you speculate on the reasons for my disappearance from the list of Britain's wealthiest people. You should be aware that the reason for my not appearing on that list is somewhat self evident i.e. my present residence is no longer in the UK and I am not a UK citizen. The focus of my business activities at the present time is primarily Southern Africa. The fact that I travel to the UK from time to time does not qualify me as a British citizen, nor does it render me British-based, and accordingly I do not qualify for inclusion in the British Rich List. I trust this explanation will assist."
John Arnold Bredenkamp
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From ZWNEWS, 10 June
A milestone?
By Michael Hartnack
The detention of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on fresh charges of treason on Friday was an act of sheer cock-a-hoop bravado by Robert Mugabe's regime. By arresting Tsvangirai - for inciting peaceful protest marches which were, in any case, violently dispersed before groups of more than a few hundred could gather - Mugabe has dared the international community, particularly the West, to show what it can do to stop him doing whatever he likes. Not much, he no doubt believes, while he has the sympathy and support of South Africa.
During last week's 5-day stayaway called by Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, the state and the ruling Zanu PF party spared no effort to intimidate and repress. Self styled "war veterans" and youth militia, grouped on every street corner and in every shopping centre, summoned truckloads of uniformed reinforcements whenever they saw three or four people together. One man was beaten up on the steps of Meikles Hotel in Harare where the militants arrived declaring: " We've come to get the British." Security guards managed to slam the doors in their faces. Passers-by in Harare city centre were made to lie on the pavement and then whipped, as were University of Zimbabwe students on campus. Scores were seriously injured, and it is amazing that only two people were confirmed killed. More than 800 people were abducted or detained. In Bulawayo, women taking food to those in cells were themselves seized and held incommunicado. "If you are supporting these people then you must go inside with them," a drunken CIO agent shouted at lawyers seeking access. "Don't you know I have power to make you disappear?" The Association of Doctors for Human Rights expressed outrage when riot police invaded a private clinic and took away several of the 70 injured people receiving treatment.
Speaking at a state funeral on Saturday, Mugabe threatened to expel British and American diplomats. Having spurned innumerable court orders in the past 23 years, particularly those relating to vote rigging, state sponsored terror, release of abductees, and most recently the expulsion of American journalist Andrew Meldrum, Mugabe went into a fit of self-righteous rage over the "illegality" of the June 2 - 6 campaign for his resignation. Illegal, he maintains, because a recently appointed judge and recipient of a seized white-owned farm had granted an injunction against the MDC. "This week we have witnessed the MDC pandering to foreign interests, repeatedly trying to create scenes here in the interests of the West through so called 'Mass Action'," Mugabe said at Heroes' Acre. ". I hope the British and United States embassies realise that, as they sponsor the MDC to instigate it, they are doing it in order to achieve an illegal objective, they are acting illegally on our soil. And I warn (that) their instigation cannot be tolerated forever by my government." Britain and America, he did not mention, are by far the largest source of famine relief funds. There was also, of course, no mention of the up to eight million people facing starvation.
Most observers believe the five-day protest was a victory "on points" for the MDC although in the face of armed troops, tanks, helicopter gunships, and thugs who are simply above the law, the party was never able to get mass street protests. However, the accompanying work stayaway succeeded in bringing what is left of the economy to a standstill. Emmerson Mnangagwa, parliamentary speaker, administrative head of Zanu PF, and would-be heir to Mugabe, cancelled a briefing session with European Union ambassadors last week in an apparent fit of political nerves. The regime was clearly scared, said one EU ambassador, although the MDC has failed to muster the necessary 10 000 - 15 000 "critical mass" in marches that might have intimidated the security forces into standing aside. Economist Anthony Hawkins said that while there was no sign of any solution "the government is worse off, the momentum is with the opposition." Mugabe's lieutenants "must be beginning to ask 'where is this guy leading us?' . From an economic viewpoint one cannot see it lasting more than six months, maximum a year," he added.
Shortly before his arrest, Tsvangirai told a press conference the stayaway had "sapped the morale and confidence of the Mugabe dictatorship.'' The mass action had succeeded in showing that Mugabe was "not in charge of the country but marshalling the forces of repression. His power now lies completely with a coterie of his bootlickers," said the veteran trade unionist. During the strike more stories appeared in South African newspaper on the lines of those planted over the past three years by Mnangagwa's business associate Matumwa Mawere. The reports said the "incorrigible" and "politically immature" Tsvangirai had blundered by refusing to join a coalition with Zanu PF as the junior partner, or to identify himself with Zanu PF "on the land issue which runs so deep among Zimbabweans". Tsvangirai is aware this is all double speak for accepting and endorsing the criminally corrupt pattern of patronage built up over the 23 years since independence, and condoning the long legacy human rights abuses as the price for co-option into Mugabe's privileged elite. He knows power gained through that route would be valueless, since it can never lead to political or economic reform. South African newspapers suggest that President Thabo Mbeki fears the MDC because of the precedent it would set if a union-based opposition ousted a "liberation movement". But Zimbabweans, Western embassies and, supremely, South Africa's rulers, need to reflect that Zimbabwe is approaching a point when people will despair of peaceful change. The five-day protest may have been a milestone on the journey to a civil war that will pit bootlicker against bootlicker as civil society collapses and, its leaders flee abroad, and only Mugabe's warlords remain to dispute the wreckage.
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From The Times (UK), 12 June
Tsvangirai applauded as he appears on treason charge
From Michael Hartnack in Harare
Manacled and dressed in a stained prison uniform with khaki shorts, Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean Opposition leader, appeared in court yesterday for a bail application. His escort of heavily armed paramilitaries stared and giggled at the former trade union leader as he hobbled along in his leg irons, but, in a show of respect, the crowded public and press benches stood in silence as he was taken into the dock. His spirit evidently unbroken, he ignored flanking prison warders, turned to his grim-faced supporters and quipped: "This isn't a funeral." After George Bizos, a South African QC, made an angry protest, Judge Susan Mavangira adjourned the court for Mr Tsvangirai, 51, to change. When he returned in a grey suit and blue shirt, the public benches stood again and burst into spontaneous applause. "You will get me sent back to jail," a laughing Mr Tsvangirai remonstrated. Eric Matinenga, one of the defence team, said that Mr Tsvangirai had the right to come to court in his own clothes, "but they prefer you to come in your prison garb to dehumanise and belittle you as much as they can". Morgen Nemadire, for the prosecution, told the judge: "It doesn't seem to be a matter of consequence to us whether he appears in pyjamas or a T-shirt."
Mr Tsvangirai was in court seeking bail after his detention last Friday on fresh charges of high treason. They arise from the five-day "mass action" called by his Movement for Democratic Change to demand an end to President Mugabe's 23-year rule. Two people were killed, scores suffered injuries from whippings and beatings and as many as 700 people were detained or abducted as Mr Mugabe deployed troops, tanks and helicopter gunships to break up the protest. Mr Tsvangirai was already on bail while his trial on previous treason charges - over an alleged plot to assassinate Mr Mugabe - dragged into its fifth month. Mr Bizos said that the latest treason charge, which carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe, appeared to be based on misinterpretation by the state media of statements that Mr Tsvangirai had made calling for the peaceful assertion of the people's rights. The judge said that she would give her ruling on bail today. Mr Tsvangirai was taken back to prison to spend his sixth night in custody.
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From The Star (SA), 12 June
Zim slammed for Tsvangirai's shoddy treatment
By Brian Latham and Basildon Peta
Harare - Shackled in leg irons and handcuffs, Morgan Tsvangirai was brought into court visibly shivering from cold. Despite the winter weather, he was wearing only scant prison-issue khaki shorts, a short-sleeved shirt and loose sandals. But after complaints on Wednesday by defence counsel George Bizos, Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader was allowed to change into a suit. On Wednesday, Tsvangirai spent his sixth night in a cell and his second in Harare's grim Remand Prison, after a bail hearing on a second count of treason was adjourned until Thursday. "Where I conduct my practice, people attend appeals clothed as citizens. I submit that to deal with Morgan Tsvangirai this way is a deliberate violation of his dignity. We, his legal representatives, will not want to be party to proceedings with such indignity imposed on an unconvicted person," South African advocate Bizos said. State prosecutor Morgen Nemandire said the state did not mind if Tsvangirai was bought to court in his pyjamas or a T-shirt. But Justice Mavangira ordered prison officials to allow the MDC leader to wear civilian clothes in court in future.
After Tsvangirai had changed, Bizos argued that the case was political. "Treason was not on the mind of Zimbabwe's police commissioner or the security minister when their attempts to silence Tsvangirai and the MDC first failed. "Then someone thought it would be a wonderful idea to charge Tsvangirai and MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube with treason. They thought: 'That's a serious charge. We'll charge them, we'll arrest them and we'll oppose bail and gain time.' The inference is inescapable," Bizos told the court. Before being charged with treason, the state had made an attempt to harden bail conditions against Tsvangirai, but the plea was turned down by Zimbabwean Judge President Paddington Garwe. Bizos said that nowhere in the state's allegations would the judge find direct quotes from Tsvangirai calling for violence. "We will show how thin this new case of treason really is. We will demonstrate that the state picked bits from newspapers."
Several Zimbabwean business people say they have been quizzed by agents from President Robert Mugabe's dreaded spy agency on why they took part in a week-long strike. The business owners said on Wednesday that they feared for the worst after Industry and International Trade Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi announced this week that six companies would be shut down for taking part in the strike organised by the MDC. He said expatriate workers in these companies would be deported, but did not name the companies. Mumbengegwi said companies that were shut down would be given to "loyal" Zimbabweans to operate. Analysts said Zimbabwean businesspeople should take the threats to be shut down very seriously. "They are likely to select some companies and shut them down, and make them an example of how companies that don't co-operate with calls to ignore the opposition will be treated in future," said University of Zimbabwe political scientist John Makumbe.
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From The Guardian (UK), 12 June
Expelled journalist's wife forced to flee Zimbabwe
Ewen MacAskill
Dolores Cortes Meldrum, the wife of the Guardian journalist Andrew Meldrum, who was illegally expelled from Zimbabwe last month, fled the country yesterday fearing she would face the same fate as her husband. She is due to arrive in London today. The Zimbabwe immigration service this week revoked her residency permit and served a notice declaring her to be a prohibited person. Guardian lawyers protested, saying she had been issued with a residency permit independently from her husband and it was unlawful to deport her because of him. She was given an ultimatum to appear at the offices of the Zimbabwe immigration service yesterday afternoon, but pre-empted any punitive measures by the service by taking a flight to Johannesburg. Meldrum, who is now in London after reporting from Zimbabwe for 23 years, was illegally manhandled out of the country by police and security agents on May 16, in spite of three court orders prohibiting his expulsion.
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From The Cape Times (SA), 12 June
SA does an about-turn on invite to Zimbabwe minister
Zimbabwe's Science Minister Olivia Muchena flew back to Harare on Tuesday after the South African government did an about-turn on its invitation to her to participate in a Commonwealth conference despite that country's suspension from the council of the world body. Amid a storm of controversy over Muchena's presence at the 21st meeting of the Commonwealth Science Council in Johannesburg, Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Minister Ben Ngubane instructed the Commonwealth Secretariat to withdraw Muchena's invitation. Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said last night Muchena had flown out of the country on Tuesday night after her invitation was withdrawn. The invitation for Muchena to participate in the council, of which South Africa - represented by Ngubane - is currently chair, had been "erroneously issued" by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the department of foreign affairs said yesterday. Muchena said earlier Zimbabwe considered the suspension null and void and that it was Zimbabwe's view that the suspension had ended on March 19.
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From News24 (SA), 11 June
Zimbabweans flock to Moz
Maputo - Scores of Zimbabweans facing serious commodity shortages at home have been streaming into neighbouring Mozambique to buy fuel and other provisions, a provincial governor said on Wednesday. Zimbabwe, a landlocked southern African country, has been experiencing severe economic hardships and political tensions. There are shortages of fuel and basic commodities, as well as foreign currency. "We have seen many Zimbabweans coming to buy fuel and other supplies in our province in recent weeks given the deteriorating situation in that neighbouring state," the governor of Mozambique's Manica province, Soares Nhaca said. He said the extra demand for fuel by Zimbabweans had caused a shortage locally in Manica province, but the problem would be resolved. Mozambique, which is a coastal country, imports its fuel supplies from the Middle East. Unlike Zimbabwe it has the hard cash to pay its bills. Mozambique's state daily Noticias last week quoted a local government official as saying Zimbabweans were looting fuel in Manica province, but this was dismissed by Nhaca. "The Zimbabweans have made normal purchases that any driver would make and there has not been anything extraordinary," he said. The economic situation in Zimbabwe has worsened in recent months, with the annual rate of inflation now officially reported to be at 269%.
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From The Financial Gazette, 12 June
200 litres fuel fetch half-a-mln
Staff Reporter
Bulawayo - Illegal fuel dealers are making a beeline to neighbouring Botswana to import petrol and diesel for resale here to desperate industrialists, business executives and other motorists, demanding as much as $500 000 for a 200-litre drum as the fuel crisis continues to dog Zimbabwe. Investigations by this newspaper this week showed that the petrol dealers cross through the Plumtree border post, about 100 kilometres from Bulawayo, to buy the fuel mostly from Ramakwebane, Francistown and the capital Gaborone, taking advantage of the government's latest relaxation of fuel importation regulations. Private individuals are now allowed by law to import 500 litres of either petrol or diesel duty free once a month or in a space of thirty days. A 20-litre gallon of either petrol or diesel is flogged in the streets here for as much as Z$45 000 compared to the official price of Z$9 000 at most filling stations. A dealer with 500 litres of either product imported from Botswana can fetch over $1.2 million for a product purchased for 1 200 pula at a foreign currency black market rate of $325 against the Pula. In Botswana, fuel costs 1 200 Pula (about Z$13 440 on the official rate of 11.2 against the Pula) to buy 500 litres fuel, the maximum allowed into Zimbabwe free of duty provided the importer is doing so for private use at P 2. 40 a litre.
A customs official, speaking by telephone from Plumtree border post, said there had been a noticeable surge in the importation of fuel from Botswana into Zimbabwe mostly by locals since the government relaxed the fuel import regulations. "They (locals) are taking advantage of the 1 206 Pula allowance a month they are given when visiting Botswana (to buy fuel or groceries). We don't charge them duty if they don't import more than 500 litres in a space of thirty days or bring in groceries not more than Pula 1 206 a month. If they import more than 500 litres we (customs) impound the extra litres," said the customs official. "The fuel has to be for private use and imported by the owner in his private car. If they need more than 500 litres, a fuel import licence is needed from NOCZIM." NOCZIM, the country's fuel procurement agency, is presently saddled with huge dents running to several billions of dollars. Zimbabwe, which has been in the throes of a fuel crisis for the past three years because of foreign currency shortages blamed on a decline in exports, needs about US$40 million (Z$32,96 billion) monthly for 67 megalitres of fuel. The rush to bring in fuel imports in small containers by gold-diggers for resale in the parallel market comes amid wild speculation of a new fresh round of fuel increases expected to be announced by the government anytime from now.
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From SW Radio Africa, 11 June
Bout connection
A Russian-made plane carrying 57 Zimbabwean passengers from Harare to Libya was forced to land in Nairobi, after illegally flying into Kenyan air space. The two Ukrainian pilots initially lied about the cargo of the plane and said there were no passengers on board. It later transpired that all 57 passengers were Zimbabwean males between the ages of 18 and 24, and it is alleged that none of them were carrying travel documents. After paying a fine, the pilots and the passengers have been allowed to proceed. The story first came to light in the Kenyan paper, the East African Standard. According to our own research, the plane, has at various times been registered to Cen Sad, a company based in Tripoli, Libya and Centrafricain Air which is connected to Ukrainian Victor Bout. Media reports have repeatedly linked Bout with arms dealing and trade in so called "blood diamonds". It is unclear who owns the plane at present.
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From BBC News, 11 June
Zimbabwe activist's week in hiding
Last week, as Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change called for protests to bring down the government of Robert Mugabe, student activist Tinashe Chimedza became convinced that the security services were looking for him. Fearing he would be tortured if he was caught, he went into hiding and has been moving from place to place. After a week on the run, he spoke to BBC News Online. "I was responsible, with other guys, for setting up MDC student action committees at universities. The police and the [security services] knew me," he said. He addressed a rally at the University of Zimbabwe on 2 June, at the beginning of a planned week of protests to demand Mr Mugabe's resignation. "The police started picking people up and interrogating them. They had a list, and my name was at the top of it," he said. MDC members of parliament and student activists were arrested by the army, Mr Chimedza said. "The military told them they were looking for me," he said. Following a similar tip from the Zimbabwe Daily News, he decided on 5 June to go into hiding. "This was not the first time the police have come looking for me. I was afraid that if I am arrested, I will be tortured by the police," he said. "I had no option but to go underground."
He says he has been staying with various friends, moving from place to place every night or two. But, he says, he has managed to continue working while on the run. "For the past two or three days the students' law council has been compiling affidavits of people who have been beaten, and sending them to human rights groups including Amnesty International," he told BBC News Online. Mr Chimedza has been helping with the dossiers, which, he says, include details of when and how students were assaulted and photographs. But such work is not what he specialises in, which is trying to link activists with the MDC. "I am not able to work at the level I want to because I am so restricted. When I am in hiding, I do more administrative work - more paperwork," he said with a laugh. He said he was not disheartened by the failure of last week's protests to bring down Mr Mugabe. "It's a process," he said, adding that the demonstrations were the first in Zimbabwean history specifically to call for the resignation of the government. "Of course the government was able to put down some of the marches," he said. "But now people know what type of machinery the government has - tanks, water cannons. They won't be intimidated next time," he said. "The MDC has broken the taboo that there is no party that can challenge Zanu PF," he said. "This is the beginning of the struggle."
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From The Mercury (SA), 13 June
MDC leader Tsvangirai spends seventh night behind bars
By Brian Latham
Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai spent his seventh night in custody as a bail hearing for his second treason charge dragged on yesterday. The MDC leader's defence lawyers finally completed argument for bail in the afternoon, and prosecutors will present their reasons for refusing bail today. Defence lawyer George Bizos told judge Susan Mavangira yesterday that the state had altered the facts between charging Tsvangirai and bringing him to a lower court on Monday. He also said Tsvangirai's arrest last week on a treason charge was a further attempt to silence the opposition leader. "We've submitted there were two previous attempts made to impose conditions which would have gagged him," said Bizos. "The State cannot play fast and loose. They must know they cannot change the facts," said Bizos, showing the judge where the word "remove" was changed to "overthrow" on State documents. "How can you place any credence on these contradictory statements?" Bizos asked. The defence attorney also pointed out several references in state documents to "unknown MDC youths" committing acts of violence during previous strikes this year. "If they are unknown MDC youths, how does the state know they were from the MDC?" asked Bizos, arguing that his client could not be held responsible for the acts of others.
Bizos showed Mavangira a videotape that he said proved his client called for peaceful protest against President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front government. "This tape shows a rally held on May 24 at which the state alleges Tsvangirai called on people to 'remove the government through violent mass action'." "I'm informed the alleged words calling for violent mass action appear nowhere on the tape. On the contrary, the crowd is urged to behave in a peaceful, disciplined manner. The tape is a piece of evidence which, contrary to some of the tapes we've heard in the main trial, is very clear," said Bizos. In his closing argument, Bizos told the court: "We in Southern Africa have had bitter experience of detention without trial and a judgement refusing bail is tantamount to putting him in prison on political charges on the assumption he may commit further offences when the one he has been charged with has not been proved. "Happily in Southern Africa detention without trial has been taken off the statute books, it being accepted that no one should be punished without due process. Refusing bail would amount to this: that a person only has to be charged with a political crime. "He makes a speech and before he's convicted on that charge, the whim of a police officer can mean he's charged with another offence and denied bail. It would start a downward trend of the court's power to grant bail. It's too convenient a tool not to be used against political opponents if you can keep them in jail on unproven allegations," said Bizos.
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 13 June
Mugabe threatens to expel Britain's envoy
Harare - President Robert Mugabe threatened last night to expel the British High Commissioner, Sir Brian Donnelly, from Zimbabwe after accusing Britain of supporting the outlawed general strike called by the opposition last week. Mr Mugabe launched an anti-British, anti-white tirade, in which he said the British Government and "decadent, racist whites" had helped the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to organise a mass action against the regime. The MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, faces a month in jail after he was refused bail this week after his arrest on treason charges for organising the protests. Mr Mugabe told supporters at a rally: "We know that the British have been behind it. They are giving them money, we know that. That's why I warn Donnelly, if he continues doing it, we will kick him out of this country." He also accused the few hundred remaining white farmers, warning them that if they continued to support the MDC they too would be stripped of their land. "Businesses which supported the MDC stayaway will be given to workers," he said in a speech broadcast on state television.
Sir Brian, 58, has been continuously harangued by Mr Mugabe, other leaders of the ruling Zanu PF party and the state-controlled media since he arrived in Harare two years ago. Mr Mugabe regularly hurled abuse at Sir Brian's predecessor, Peter Longworth, whom he referred to as "Mr British Empire". Yesterday was the first time Mr Mugabe has threatened Britain's most senior diplomat in the country with expulsion. Political analysts said the threat was to be taken seriously. A Foreign Office spokesman said last night it was aware of the "suggestion" that the High Commission was supporting illegal opposition activities. "The High Commission does not and would not support any illegal activity," the spokesman added. "We do, however, support the principles of democracy and the right of the citizens of Zimbabwe to demonstrate and express their views peacefully." Last week Mr Mugabe's regime issued threats against the British High Commission and the US embassy, railing at their "support" for the opposition. But his comments last night will deepen tensions between London and Harare and his government risks further isolation.The threat to Sir Brian comes amid spreading famine, unemployment and hyperinflation.
It emerged yesterday that Zimbabwean police will now view holding large amounts of cash as a crime. With prices rising by the day, people take extra bags to supermarkets to carry their Zimbabwe dollar notes. After filling up their cars, drivers routinely hand over more than 4,000 individual notes, bound into heavy bundles resembling bricks. The pressure created by inflation of 270 per cent has caused a national shortage of banknotes, paralysing the shattered economy. The highest denomination note - of 500 dollars - is worth barely 16p and is virtually unobtainable.
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From The Star (SA), 13 June
High and dry Zimbabwe sells oil pipeline
By Basildon Peta and Brian Latham
Zimbabwe has mortgaged its key fuel facilities to Libya in a desperate attempt to get fuel, which has run out completely. Senior oil industry officials said Zimbabwe had mortgaged its key pipeline and storage facilities to Libyan oil company Tamoil under a fresh asset management arrangement aimed at settling its debt and securing fresh fuel supplies from Libya. Tamoil had stopped fuel supplies to Zimbabwe after the state-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim) accumulated a $67-million debt. The officials said Tamoil was expected to start pumping fuel into Zimbabwe's holding tanks at Mozambique's Beira port at the end of this month, giving a significant reprieve to President Robert Mugabe's administration, which is battling its worst-ever economic crisis. A ministry of energy and power development official confirmed that an agreement had been sealed between Noczim's financial advisers, the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe and Tamoil. He would not divulge any details. However, it is understood that, to reduce Noczim's indebtedness to Tamoil's bankers - Libya Arab Foreign Bank - the government will give Tamoil a shareholding of between 15 percent and 25 percent in state companies owning storage facilities in the Mabvuku, Msasa and Feruka depots, the Feruka-Masasa pipeline from Mozambique and an oil blending plant. Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is said to have wanted Zimbabwe's oil facilities as part of his plans to supply fuel to other southern and central Africa countries. The oil pipeline from Beira has been his prime target. The pipeline is a critical national asset as Zimbabwe does not have the capacity to meet all its requirements by road or rail. Although no official confirmation could be obtained of the value of the assets, it is understood that Tamoil will take more than $100-million.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 13 June
Illegal fuel dealers prey on desperate motorists
Blessing Zulu
The government appears to have tacitly adopted a "do-nothing" policy in the fuel sector as the recently announced agreement with the Libyans is still far from a done deal, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt. The Independent heard this week that the deal depended largely on the government crafting a plan that would enable it to pay off its debt and then pay for new supplies. "That stage has not been reached and there is still wrangling over the transfer of assets to the Libyans," a fuel industry source said this week. President Robert Mugabe announced last year that the government would stop importing fuel for private players. The government has not announced any policy since then but insists that the fuel sector is strategic and has to be regulated. On the ground the government has allowed the black market to flourish with private dealers bringing in fuel. The absence of policy has resulted in a multiple-tier pricing regime in which dealers charge according to demand. There are the gazetted prices where petrol costs $450 a litre and diesel $200 for fuel sourced from Noczim. On the other hand, there is fuel from dealers who set their own prices. This can be as much as US 60c a litre or its equivalent. There is also a third tier on the black market where fuel sourced from garages at the gazetted price is re-sold in containers of various sizes at between $2 000 and $2 500 a litre.
Industry sources this week said 70% of Zimbabwe's fleet was running on fuel sourced at prices above the gazetted tariff. The sources said the government was expected to make a policy decision next week to normalise the situation. They said the three months of chaos in the industry worked well for the government. "Trade on the black market has conditioned motorists to buying expensive fuel," said a fuel marketer. "If the government increases the price now to say $1 000 a litre, it will not hurt the motorist much since he has been buying the fuel at well over that price," he said. He said the government was aware of the policy error it made in March when it increased the price of fuel without addressing the supply side. "The government will only make a price adjustment after it has put in place deals that will bring in meaningful volumes. It is foolish to increase the price of a commodity that is not available," he said. However, police this week maintained that selling fuel above the gazetted price was still illegal.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 13 June
Zanu PF youths detained in Kenya
Augustine Mukaro
Zimbabwean aircraft passengers who were detained in Kenya this week were Zanu PF youths going to Libya for training, it has emerged. Sources in Zanu PF said the 57 passengers were drawn from Zanu PF youth structures throughout the country and were heading for the north African country's capital Tripoli for a training programme. Information officials at the ruling party's headquarters yesterday confirmed that the delegation was made up of provincial youth leadership going to learn about youth activities in Libya. "It's an ongoing inter-party exchange programme," a Zanu PF information official said. "Youth leadership from all our 10 provinces would learn the youth activities in Libya and that would be disseminated to our youths here." Libya has compulsory national youth service, including ideological tutoring. Press reports on Wednesday said the Zimbabwean nationals aboard a Russian-made Ilyushin plane, flown by two Libyan pilots, were detained for allegedly overflying Kenyan airspace without authority. The passengers were detained at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for three days after the plane was intercepted by Kenya's airforce. Zanu PF officials said there was nothing wrong with Zimbabwe sending a delegation to Libya to acquire skills on self-reliance and patriotism. "The Women's League sent their delegation to explore business opportunities earlier on and this is actually the second delegation and there is nothing wrong with it," the official said. These developments come amid reports that Zanu PF militias hired to thwart the Movement for Democratic Change-led mass protests last week could have cost the ruling party as much as $60 million in payments. The over 2 000 militiamen who camped at the Zanu PF headquarters building for the whole of last week are thought to have been paid $30 000 each on Saturday after their success in blocking MDC marches. Zanu PF secretary for information Nathan Shamuyarira however denied that his party paid the youths. The militias were bused from Mashonaland Central and East to help the uniformed forces to stop mass protests intended at forcing President Mugabe from office.
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From IRIN (UN), 12 June
Tough media bills passed
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's parliament on Wednesday passed two media bills which the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) described as the "last nails in the coffin" of press freedom. "The struggle is now quite difficult for us," MISA-Zimbabwe director Sarah Chiumbu told IRIN after the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Amendment Bill and the Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill passed through parliament. Amendments were needed to the original Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) after a parliamentary committee ruled last year that aspects of the law were unconstitutional. However, according to MISA, the amendments introduced by the Department of Information and Publicity in the Office of the President actually served to toughen AIPPA. The act introduces a system of licensing of the mass media and journalists through a Media Commission whose board is appointed by the minister of state for information. The registration of media houses and journalists operating in Zimbabwe is mandatory, but is also at the discretion of the commission and, ultimately, the minister. Minister of state for information, Jonathan Moyo, has argued that AIPPA would serve Zimbabwe's national interests rather than that of Western governments.
However, a MISA report alleged: "The act has one purpose, and that is protecting the institution of the government from scrutiny, by prohibiting and heavily penalising public/media inquiry and scrutiny into its affairs and, in addition, by an unrestrained control over journalists and media companies." The definitions of "a journalist" and "mass media" are very broad under the amendment. "A journalist is defined as anyone who disseminates information for public consumption, and the definition of the mass media is expanded to include even a church newsletter," MISA information officer Rashweat Mukundu explained. "The commission has the power to order journalists to appear before it to answer charges of misconduct. But we have courts of law for that - it shouldn't be a commission appointed by a minister," Rashweat said. "MISA believes in a self-regulated, independent media council," he added.
The Broadcasting Services Amendment Bill, passed on Wednesday, introduced minor changes to the Broadcasting Service Act of 2001, which has also been heavily criticised by MISA and human rights groups for its restrictions on independent radio and television. "Radio is the only source of information some people have. Theoretically the law allows us to start radio stations, but in reality it's all in the hands of the minister," Rashweat said. This month the Supreme Court put aside a judgement in the case of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, owners of the country's only private daily, the Daily News, which challenged the constitutionality of the AIPPA registration process. Judgement is still reserved in an eight-month-old case of the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe, who have also challenged AIPPA. "The only thing left to us are legal challenges, but the legal route is not giving us any reprieve at the moment," said Chiumbu.
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From News24 (SA), 12 June
Africa still needs food
Justin Brown
Johannesburg - Southern Africa still requires substantial food aid despite the fact that more food was produced in the region than during last year's severe food crisis, according to reports released on Thursday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP). This was the finding of joint FAO/WFP assessment missions announced on Thursday at a meeting of United Nations (UN) agencies, government representatives, SADC, donors, and non-governmental organistions (NGOs) examining the humanitarian assistance needs in southern Africa. The missions covered Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Zambia. The assessment found that southern Africa is facing a regional food deficit of 2.2 million tons, half of which is in Zimbabwe, in the current 2003/04 marketing year. "Over the next year, the six southern African countries will need to import nearly 2.5 million tons of food to meet their minimum food needs," the WFP said. "Zimbabwe will need to import almost 1.3 million tons of food, either commercially or through food aid, to meet the minimum food needs of its people," the aid organisation said.
As a whole, the region has produced enough food to meet more than two-thirds of its food requirements, with the general food security situation improving regionally helped by the increased production in Zambia and Malawi, the WFP said. Production, however, has been uneven, with Zimbabwe producing barely enough to meet 30% of its needs. Zimbabwe faces acute food shortages with some 5.5 million people in need of food aid, the WFP said. Food production in Zimbabwe has fallen by more than 50%, measured against a five-year average, due mostly to the current social, economic and political situation and the effects of drought. The situation was compounded by the marked reduction of the large-scale farm sector, which produced only about one-tenth of their 1990s output. In Mozambique, food production surged in the north of the country, but parts of the south and central region continue to face serious food shortages affecting 949 000 people in 40 districts. Some areas in Swaziland and Lesotho also continue to face shortages.
Food surpluses in South Africa far exceed this amount and some cross border trade among other countries will continue to take place. In addition, for the region to resume agricultural growth, increased and carefully targeted support will be needed for the agriculture sectors of the six countries. Cereal production has increased from 5.4 million tons in 2001/02 to 6.4 million tons this year across the region. However, the key issues remain physical and economic access to food for certain segments of the population. In Lesotho, the overall situation has improved because of better production and commercial import capacity. In Malawi, crop production has improved significantly since the widespread food shortages in 2002. Malawi has managed to produce or has in reserve this year about 2.3 million tons of cereals, leaving a national shortfall of only 90 000 tons. Swaziland's food security has improved slightly over the last year, but the country has had its third consecutive poor harvest and will again require food aid this year. Food production in Swaziland remains 30% below the five-year average. In Zambia, cereal production is estimated at 1.16 million tons, almost double the output of 2002.
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From The New York Times, 13 June
Decision on bail for Zimbabwe opposition leader put off
By Lydia Polgreen
Johannesburg - A judge in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, today postponed ruling on a bail request in the trial of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the country's opposition party. Mr. Tsvangirai is charged with treason, for which he could be sentenced to death if convicted. Opposition leaders are promising mass demonstrations if the judge does not grant bail, while the government of President Robert Mugabe has said it will clamp down hard on any sign of unrest. At the hearing a prosecutor drew snickers from a packed, mostly pro-opposition courtroom when he argued that Mr. Tsvangirai, 51, had committed treason simply by thinking about overthrowing the president. "To contemplate, even while sitting down, can be to commit treason, which is why there is no such thing as attempted treason," the prosecutor, Morgen Nemadire, told High Court Judge Susan Mavangira. Mr. Nemadire argued that Mr. Tsvangirai, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, had broken laws requiring permission to hold demonstrations, and that he would continue to do so if released. Mr. Tsvangirai's lawyer, George Bizos, argued that for the government to continue holding his client, who had already spent seven days in jail, would amount to political imprisonment.
Mr. Tsvangirai, who received a million votes last year in narrowly losing a disputed election to Mr. Mugabe, 79, has emerged as the most potent threat to the president's 23-year rule. Human rights groups and foreign countries including the United States have charged that the election was pervaded with fraud and intimidation. Mr. Tsvangirai was arrested on June 6 after calling for a week of demonstrations and work stoppages intended to press Mr. Mugabe to step down. The government declared the strikes illegal and vowed to arrest those who marched or failed to go to work. Masses of police officers and soldiers swept through the streets of Harare and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city, frightening away many protesters and killing at least one person, opposition organizers said. Nonetheless, businesses across the nation closed, though whether in protest or out of caution is unclear. Speaking on Thursday at a ceremony marking the opening of a new irrigation system in a rural area east of Harare, Mr. Mugabe said any future protests would draw a harsh response."We hope they have learned their lesson," Mr. Mugabe said, referring to the members of the Movement for Democratic Change. "If they haven't, they will learn it the hard way."
Mr. Mugabe has staked his popularity in recent years on a plan to redistribute land to black farmers from whites, who have owned most of the best land since before Zimbabwe's independence from Britain. The program has been marked by violent clashes between white farmers and the independence war veterans and other Mugabe supporters who sought to take land by force. The judge said she would not rule on Mr. Tsvangirai's motion to be released on bail until next week. If he is not allowed bail, mass demonstrations are inevitable, said Nelson Chamisa, the opposition party's national youth leader. "If he is denied bail, that means that people have been denied their right to be heard," Mr. Chamisa said. "It shows beyond a reasonable doubt that there is no recourse to justice on the path we are traveling. We will have to make sure we engage in lawful protest."
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 14 June
Our man in Zimbabwe shrugs off Mugabe slur
Harare/London - For months, Britain's High Commission in Harare has been churning out weary denials about "plots" being hatched by the High Commissioner, Sir Brian Donnelly. Yesterday, it tried again to dampen the flames after President Robert Mugabe made further inflammatory allegations and threatened to expel the British envoy. The High Commission said Sir Brian had no role in "funding or organising" last week's general strike, contrary to Mr Mugabe's allegations at a party rally. Sir Brian, branded a "super spy" by Zimbabwe's state media, is routinely accused of plotting Mr Mugabe's violent overthrow. Over the past two years, increasingly fevered reports have pictured him as planning a British invasion, burning down white-owned farms to discredit the regime and trying to starve Mr Mugabe's supporters. Sir Brian, knighted in the New Year honours list, appears to shrug it off. Some white farmers believe that he has given them short shrift. He infuriated many when he pointed out that Britain has no obligation to pay compensation for Mr Mugabe's land seizures.
Diplomats in Harare sympathise with Sir Brian's predicament and view him with genuine respect. He is a "steady pair of hands" in a "very unusual posting", said one. Before arriving in Zimbabwe in July 2001, Sir Brian was British ambassador in Yugoslavia and witnessed the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic. To The Herald, Zimbabwe's official daily, this was proof that he was "brought to Zimbabwe to do a Milosevic to President Mugabe". During his two years of service in Mr Mugabe's shambolic domain, our man in Harare has put up with some of the most implausible allegations endured by a British envoy. Barely six weeks after his arrival, he was blamed for a vicious outbreak of rural anarchy: in August 2001, mobs from the ruling Zanu PF party raided and looted 30 white-owned farms in Mhangura, north of Harare, burning three to the ground. This was all Sir Brian's fault, said The Herald. He "stage-managed the looting" in order to spread a "false impression of mass victimisation of whites". By early 2002, Sir Brian was apparently becoming more aggressive. In February, the Sunday Mail, an official weekly, reported that he was organising "military training" in Britain for "thousands of Zimbabweans". This force would be used to devastating effect. The Herald predicted "waves of violence" from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. The paper added: "Mr Brian Donnelly is masterminding the plan."
But it was Zimbabwe's presidential election last March which brought accusations to fever pitch. Sir Brian's office issued one statement after another: No, Sir Brian was not sponsoring an "insurgency in Matabeleland"; no, he was not planning a "major military offensive"; no, he had not ordered Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, to "appoint a white man as his deputy". By last June, The Herald said the regime had lost patience with Sir Brian. It called him a "high profile intelligence officer" and announced that he was under "24-hour surveillance". The regime appeared not to have noticed that Sir Brian was on holiday in Britain at the time. His office churned out another denial. One month later The Herald claimed that Sir Brian had hosted more clandestine meetings to overthrow Mr Mugabe during a "flurry of activity" at the High Commission. The paper had not noticed that the Queen's Golden Jubilee had coincided with the "flurry" and the High Commission was closed. Undeterred, the paper claimed that Sir Brian was "interfering with the distribution of food aid" and was ordering aid agencies to "sideline Zanu PF supporters in favour of MDC followers". In fact, Britain provided £80 million of humanitarian aid to help Zimbabwe to survive a desperate food shortage largely caused by Mr Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms. Sir Brian has also endured physical thuggery. Three months ago, he was forced to cancel the opening of a British-funded water project because Zanu PF thugs, allowed to run wild by the police, prevented him from officiating. While it vilifies Sir Brian, the regime is also proffering the begging bowl for British aid. The World Food Programme says Zimbabwe's food production has dropped by about 50 per cent on last year. Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia all increased food production in the last season but Zimbabwe produced only 30 per cent of its needs. Britain's pilloried High Commissioner will be handing out yet more assistance to Zimbabwe's much-abused people.
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From The Times (UK), 14 June
Mugabe putting millions in aid at risk
From Michael Hartnack in Harare
Zimbabwe risks losing millions of pounds in humanitarian aid after President Mugabe threatened to expel British and American diplomats from Harare. Mr Mugabe has accused Britain and America of fomenting social unrest in an attempt to win support for opponents to his 23-year rule. In his latest outburst, Mr Mugabe, 79, accused Sir Brian Donnelly, the British High Commissioner, of helping the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to mount a national strike earlier this month to press demands for fresh presidential elections. "If he continues doing it we will kick him out of this country," Mr Mugabe said. Mr Mugabe last week accused the US and British embassies of "acting illegally on our soil" by instigating the protests, "and I warn their instigation cannot be tolerated forever by my Government". At the same time Zimbabwe has renewed its appeal for an increase in humanitarian aid to alleviate a famine which, UN agencies say, threatens to engulf up to 8 million people. But sources said yesterday that the withdrawal of official British and American representatives would put at risk existing humanitarian aid programmes worth more than £150 million. Sources said that America may rapidly scale down representation in Harare in protest at abuses of human rights and at the re-arrest on new treason charges of Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader.
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From The Washington Post, 13 June
Malnutrition threatens Zimbabwe children
Dina Kraft, Associated Press
Johannesburg - Children are dying of hunger in Zimbabwe and many others will die if emergency action is not taken soon, U.N. officials said Friday. A survey children under six years old by the United Nations agency for children, UNICEF, found high levels of severe malnutrition in several areas, especially in larger cities. "Children are dying and if we don't ratchet up our response many more children will become malnourished, and many of those who are already malnourished will die," said Gerry Dyer, the head of UNICEF's regional office in Johannesburg. The survey, which studied 50,000 children, was the largest of its kind in Zimbabwe. UNICEF declined to give any precise figures for the number of children who have died or who are severely malnourished. However, it said in Harare, for example, malnutrition rates have doubled since 1999. "It's clear that in one quarter of the districts we have alarming rates of malnutrition. The response has to be (properly) met by the international community," Dyer said.
Zimbabwe's once impressive agricultural production helped feed all of southern Africa. But food production has been wrecked by erratic rains and the state's often violent seizure of most white-owned commercial farms. Vast tracts of farmland either lie fallow or have been carved into subsistence plots. The region has faced a food crisis in the past year but while the situation in most neighboring countries is stabilizing, in Zimbabwe, the crisis remains acute. Opposition groups and human rights activists say that the government of embattled President Robert Mugabe is using food as a political weapon in a country where over half the people are at risk of starvation. The food crisis in Zimbabwe, as elsewhere in the region, has been compounded by the AIDS pandemic. Some 2.3 million of Zimbabwe's 12 million people are HIV-positive, and about 10 percent of those infected are children under the age of five. Without proper nutrition, HIV infected children are at even greater risk of death.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 13 June
Deported Libyan 'spy' expected back in Zim
Charlene Ambali
Former Libyan diplomat Yousef Murgham, who was feared dead after his deportation from Zimbabwe last year, is alive and well, his lawyer Jonathan Samkange said this week. Last week the High Court confirmed a provisional order granted last year which ruled that Murgham's deportation was illegal and that the government should repatriate him to Zimbabwe. The state did not challenge the provisional order and a confirmation ruling was made in default last Wednesday. Samkange this week said Murgham was currently in Libya and would be heading back to Zimbabwe. "Murgham is in Libya and would be coming back," said Samkange. He said the Department of Immigration was agreeable to Murgham's return to Zimbabwe. At the beginning of the year his family, which is still in Zimbabwe, said it had lost touch with him since his deportation and feared him to be dead.
The Department of Immigration in August is alleged to have breached the law by deporting him to Egypt instead of handing him over to officials in Libya. Murgham was deported after the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) declared that he was a security threat to Zimbabwe. The CIO, reports said, accused Murgham of working with British intelligence and the Movement for Democratic Change and alleged that he was thwarting government efforts to procure fuel from Libya. In his defence against the deportation, Murgham wrote a letter on April 16, 2002 to President Mugabe claiming that he had helped the ruling party to campaign in the 1990 presidential election. He said he had arranged for a meeting between Mugabe and Nathan Shamuyarira, Zanu PF's secretary for information, and a Libyan official, Mussa Kosa. The meeting resulted in Libya contributing US$100 000 towards Zanu PF's presidential election campaign in 1990. Murgham came to work in Zimbabwe as a counsellor at the Libyan embassy. He resigned in 1993 but remained in the country.
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Comment from The Financial Mail (SA), 13 June
Quiet diplomacy blown away
By Tony Hawkins, Harare
In one television interview at the weekend, President Robert Mugabe effectively buried months of speculation that he is ready to retire. In truculent mood, Mugabe said it would be "nonsense for me to resign a year after my election", adding that the opposition's (successful) national stayaway, but (failed) mass protest "was just some drama for the G8", which had "failed to impress anybody". It was much more than that. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and its allies again demonstrated their ability to close down the economy at a cost of at least 1% of GDP. But in the face of overwhelming force - army, air force, police, war veterans, youth militia, helicopters, tanks, water cannon, even the courts - the opposition had no chance. Far from moving towards dialogue and moderation, Mugabe used the week of protest to send two signals:
He is going nowhere - Pretoria-inspired talk of dignified retirement and a transitional government has, for the time being, been put to rest; and
He is past caring what the international community or his neighbours think. Though last month he promised three visiting African leaders - presidents Thabo Mbeki of SA, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Bakili Muluzi of Malawi - that he would hold talks with the opposition MDC, his strategy since then has been to destroy it.
The arrest of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai on a second treason charge shows also that he has no interest in dialogue with the opposition. The beatings of alleged protestors and MDC supporters in Harare's high-density townships and the arrest of several hundred people suggest, too, that he no longer cares that he has lost the "hearts and minds" battle. As he made clear in the TV interview, he was elected president in March 2002 and he intends to stay in office and exercise power. The tactics are not unlike those used to emasculate Joshua Nkomo and the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (Zapu) 20 years ago. By imprisoning Tsvangirai (if the government can get a treason conviction) the president might find a more pliable MDC leader with whom he could do business. The greater the repression and intimidation, Mugabe seems to believe, the stronger the probability that the MDC will crack.
But this is fanciful. If anything, last week's trial of strength and the government's violent reaction have hardened the opposition's resolve. And unlike the early 1980s, when Mugabe was viewed internationally as a pragmatic moderate, he is now seen as a played-out tyrant who has passed his sell-by date. Above all, the economy is in free fall and his threats to take action against businessmen and workers who supported the "illegal" strike underline the one simple reality: that without regime change, there will be no economic turnaround in Zimbabwe. Emphasising this, the IMF suspended Zimbabwe's membership last Friday. Pretoria cannot be happy with this turn of events. If the Mugabe government gets a conviction against Tsvangirai, the central plank of Mbeki's quiet diplomacy strategy will have been blown away. The longer the standoff continues, the worse it will be for everyone, including SA and the region. The sole winners are the crony capitalists in Zimbabwe who are making hay as the economy declines. Mugabe may have won half a battle. But there is still no light at the end of the tunnel - merely more economic decline, more unrest, more international pressure, leading eventually to his exit. But "eventually" looks to be some time away.
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From The Daily News, 14 June
SA seeks Tsvangirai's release
By Sydney Masamvu, Assistant Editor
The South African government has approached Harare about releasing Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and about the resumption of dialogue between the country's main political parties, diplomats told the Daily News this week. They said Western countries were also pressing South Africa to use its influence to ensure that Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe's main opposition party, was not detained for much longer. Tsvangirai, who is already charged with treason for allegedly plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe, was arrested last Friday at the end of the five-day anti-government protests called by his party. He is facing fresh treason charges for allegedly making statements calling for the unconstitutional removal of Mugabe and is in remand prison pending a ruling on his application for bail.
The diplomatic sources said Malawi, Nigeria and South Africa, which are attempting to facilitate dialogue between the MDC and Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party, were keen to secure Tsvangirai's release. They told the Daily News that South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma had a telephone conversation with Mugabe on Monday morning, during which Tsvangirai's arrest and continued detention were brought up. South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Zuma also had a telephone conversation with her Zimbabwean counterpart, Stan Mudenge, on the same issue, the diplomats claimed. The sources said Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo had also discussed Tsvangirai's detention with Zimbabwean government officials. "There was contact between the South African Vice-President, Jacob Zuma, and President Robert Mugabe, which centred on Tsvangirai's arrest," one diplomat told the Daily News. Zuma was Acting President on Monday while South African President Thabo Mbeki was on a visit to Switzerland. The diplomat added: "In the same breath, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Zuma also had a conversation with Stan Mudenge on the same issue."
However, South African Foreign Affairs spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said he was not aware of any contact between Zuma and Mudenge because the South African minister was in Congo-Brazzaville this week. He said: "I am not aware if any contact has been made with the Zimbabwean government over Tsvangirai's arrest. In any case, even if any contact had been made, we would not divulge such information." Meanwhile, Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo also said he was not aware of any communication between the South African government and Harare because he was also in Switzerland this week. He however said the South African president was closely monitoring the situation in Zimbabwe. "I am not aware if any contacts have been made regarding the MDC leader's arrest. I have been with the president in Switzerland for the past five days," he said. Khumalo added: "What I know is that the presidency, through our mission in Zimbabwe, is fully briefed and has been kept fully informed of the developments taking place regarding the issue of Morgan Tsvangirai's arrest. The issue is being closely monitored."
Western diplomats this week told the Daily News that their governments were closely monitoring the situation in Zimbabwe and were trying to work with the region to put pressure on Harare to reconsider Tsvangirai's detention. The diplomats said Western governments feared that the MDC leader's continued incarceration could affect attempts to broker talks between his party and Zanu PF. Negotiations between the two parties broke down last year in May when the MDC filed an application with the High Court contesting Mugabe's re-election the previous March. Commentators say dialogue between the MDC and Zanu PF could begin a process that could lead to the resolution of the country's political stalemate and worsening economic crisis.
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From The Weekend Argus (SA), 14 June
Courtroom stunned as Tsvangirai kept in jail
By Brian Latham
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's hopes of spending the weekend out of jail were dashed on Friday when a High Court judge in Harare said she needed more time to consider his bail application. Judge Susan Mavangira's ruling left the packed courtroom stunned. Just minutes after veteran South African advocate George Bizos made an impassioned plea for the Movement for Democratic Change leader's immediate release on bail, Mavangira quietly said she needed more time to consider the case and would call defence and state lawyers when she was ready to make her decision. "That could be next week," she told the shocked court. But that wasn't the only time people in the normally hushed confines of Harare's old colonial High Court were left gasping on Friday. Earlier in the day state prosecutor Morgen Nemandire argued that violence was not necessary to commit what he called "high treason". "It's not a question of personally or physically participating in a violent or physical manner," he said. "Merely postulating or contemplating can be to commit treason, which is why there is no such thing as attempted treason." The statement led one MDC supporter to remark, during an adjournment in the morning: "If that's the case we all commit treason when we wake up in the morning."
The judge's decision left defence lawyers Bizos and his Zimbabwean advocates Eric Matinenga and Chris Andersen crestfallen as they watched Mavangira leave the courtroom. Earlier Bizos argued that bail conditions forced on Tsvangirai for his first treason charge in February should not be changed. Tsvangirai was made to pay Z$3-million, surrender his passport and report to the police twice a week. "Mr Tsvangirai should remain on bail on conditions already existing, coupled with the extra condition that he should not encourage the use of violence, which is something he has not done, something he has discouraged time and time again, but we offer it to allay the unfounded fears of the state, which after all is the one they fear and which caused his arrest and detention," said Bizos. MDC spokesman Paul Nyathi expressed the opposition's concern on Friday. "The MDC is dismayed at the slow wheels of justice. It's now getting to the end of the week and the MDC president will now certainly spend at least the weekend in custody without judgment being made. "We appeal to the people of Zimbabwe to remain calm and focused in the face of this provocation, knowing that one day soon Zimbabweans will regain the right to select a government of their choice."
If Tsvangirai is not released soon, Zimbabwe could see renewed mass action. Last Sunday MDC vice president Gibson Sibanda warned President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF government it would face a "long winter of intense but peaceful protest" if Tsvangirai was not released immediately. During the week, Zimbabwe's director of public prosecutions admitted in court that stay-aways were not illegal, paving the way for increased pressure on Zanu PF to return to the negotiating table.
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 15 June
Tsvangirai shackled in 'horrendous' prison
Sunday Times Foreign Desk
Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who has been in detention on treason charges for more than a week, is being kept in "horrendous conditions" at Harare's infamous remand jail, said a colleague. The spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change, Paul Themba Nyathi, claimed that Tsvangirai was being kept in terrible conditions at the remand custody centre, held in handcuffs, leg irons and prison clothes. This is the same jail where former opposition spokesman Learnmore Jongwe died last year while awaiting trial for allegedly murdering his wife during a domestic dispute. "The conditions that Tsvangirai is being kept in are horrible, as is characteristic of custody conditions in prisons and jails all over Zimbabwe," he said. "They are really horrendous, extremely bad. They are inhumane, just like the conditions under which the colonial regime kept nationalist leaders and democratic activists." Tsvangirai remained in custody when on Friday High Court judge Susan Mavangira postponed his bail application to this week.
The MDC leader is facing new treason charges stemming from the recent mass action that paralysed the country for a week. The current treason charge is his fourth. Two emanated from "subversive statements" made at rallies, while the other stemmed from allegations that Tsvangirai plotted to kill Mugabe last year. Zimbabwe's prison conditions have been widely described as dreadful by former prisoners and human- rights activists. A report tabled last week by a parliamentary portfolio committee that toured local prisons at the beginning of the year said prison conditions were appalling. The report said prisoners complained of severe beatings by prison guards, and cited one instance in which a prisoner died, allegedly as a result of beatings. The prisons visited were also overcrowded. When asked to comment, the officer-in-charge at Harare remand prison, Vee Machingauta, said Tsvangirai was being kept "just like others" in prison. "There is no problem at all," he said. "Things are very normal . . . He is okay. Those are exaggerations." However, Tsvangirai's wife, Susan, who has visited her husband in detention, has expressed dismay at the conditions under which her husband is being held. "I am personally fearful about his security at remand prison, because the place is open to abuse by authorities," she said.
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From The Sunday Telegraph (UK), 15 June
Mugabe 'cannot pay his security forces'
By David Harrison in Harare
Zimbabwe's security forces, the front-line enforcers of President Robert Mugabe's brutal regime, are being paid only a fraction of their salaries as the country's economic crisis deepens. Many soldiers and police officers, whose loyalty has traditionally been bought with high pay and other perks, are receiving less than half of their wages because there is not enough money in the Treasury coffers, according to serving police officers. The pay cuts are threatening to undermine the forces' morale and, crucially, their loyalty to Mr Mugabe. Opponents say that Mr Mugabe continues in power only because critics of the regime risk violence, jail and death at the hands of his ruthless state security forces, including the feared Central Intelligence Organisation. Last week, with the help of an intermediary, The Telegraph met two policemen in the capital, Harare, who were prepared to speak out, on condition of anonymity. One officer, in his mid-thirties, said: "Recently I have been paid only a small part of my salary and it is making life very difficult. I have a wife and children. How am I supposed to feed them if am not being paid properly?" The other, a slightly older man, said: "If you were in the security forces you always knew that you would be rewarded well because you were protecting the regime. But that is not happening now and many police officers are suffering, and soldiers too. It makes us wonder why we do it."
The Government denied that security officers were not receiving their full salaries and said that all civil servants would receive pay rises from July 1. The police officers were adamant, however, that they were not being paid in full and said that the cuts were causing "deep resentment". Members of the ruling Zanu PF's 40,000-strong youth militia threatened to revolt last year because they had not been paid, but a rebellion by experienced security officers would pose a serious threat to Mr Mugabe's rule - and possibly his life. The pay cuts will hit particularly hard because they come at a time when prices in the shops are soaring - Zimbabwe's inflation is just under 300 per cent - and there are serious shortages of basic foods, petrol and medicines in the worst economic crisis since independence from Britain was won in 1980. David Coltart, an MP for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said that if Mr Mugabe was unable to pay the police and army it would be "a devastating blow" to the regime. "Without the military, Mugabe is nothing," he said. One Zimbabwean opposition MP said that Mr Mugabe would "simply print millions of banknotes" to pay his security forces, even though this would send inflation soaring even higher. There is an another problem: the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar means that it now costs 700 dollars (50p) to produce a note for 500 (36p). The banknotes are printed by a government-owned company in Harare. Last week, it was frantically churning out notes to meet increased demand because of inflation and last week's strikes. The $500 note - Zimbabwe's highest denomination note, which was worth £500 just after independence in 1980 - is now not enough to buy a bottle of beer.
Protesters said they were very concerned about the arrest of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC who called last week's protests as a "final push" against Mr Mugabe. Mr Tsvangirai, 51, is in custody on charges of treason for plotting to use illegal means to overthrow the government. His lawyer, George Bizos, who represented Nelson Mandela in his treason trial 40 years ago, said: "By keeping political opponents silent, the country's difficulties will not be solved." Last week, Mr Mugabe threatened to expel Brian Donnelly, the British High Commissioner in Harare, for "interfering in Zimbabwe's affairs by helping the MDC to organise its demonstrations". A spokesman for Mr Donnelly denied any role in organising the protests. Western diplomats saw the warning as Mr Mugabe's latest attempt to blame his troubles on the former colonial power.
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 15 June
Wads of cash outlawed in Zimbabwe
Zimbabweans struggling with hyperinflation and grubby wads of worthless banknotes learnt this week that police will now view holding large stashes of cash as a crime. With prices rising by the day, people visit shops with extra bags to carry Zimbabwe dollar bills. After filling up their cars, drivers routinely hand over more than 4 000 individual notes, bound into heavy bundles. The pressure created by inflation of 270% has caused a national shortage of banknotes, paralysing the shattered economy. The highest denomination bill - Z500 - is worth barely R2.50 and is virtually unobtainable. The lack of cash follows a long list of other shortages. Supermarket shelves are empty of sugar, cooking oil, flour, margarine and mealie meal, the staple food. Fuel shortages have crippled the economy since 2000. President Robert Mugabe routinely reacts to shortages by blaming the opposition and promising tough measures against his "nefarious enemies". Thursday's edition of the Herald warned of "sterner measures against individuals or organisations found with huge stakes [sic] of banknotes".
David Chapfika, an MP from the ruling Zanu PF party and chairman of parliament's finance committee, told the paper: "Zimbabwe has a sophisticated banking structure...and there is no need for anyone to be carrying huge stakes of money." He claimed that all money in Zimbabwe belonged to the government. Police have begun raiding companies and stopping people at roadblocks, searching for what they describe as "unusual" amounts of cash. At Gauntlett Security Services in Harare, they threatened to confiscate between 40 and 50 million Zimbabwe dollars (R200 000 to R250 000). Peter Harris, the director, said: "We called our lawyer, who sent the police packing. There is no law stopping people holding onto their money." The official hunt for stocks of money is illegal, Adrian de Bourbon, an advocate, said: "There is no law in Zimbabwe which makes it a criminal offence for people to hold cash, unless it is to be used for illegal purposes." Most banks are limiting cash withdrawals to a maximum of Z50 000 (about R250). They regularly hand it over in Z20 bills, forcing customers to stagger out with 2 500 banknotes. Officially, R1 is worth Z101. The free market real exchange rate is above Z250 to R1. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Zimbabwe will have the highest inflation rate in the world this year. - The Telegraph, London.
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From News24 (SA), 13 June
Cosatu lambasts Zim
Johannesburg - The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) lambasted Zimbabwe on Friday for its treatment of opposition party members. "Cosatu condemns the Zimbabwe government's continued arrest and re-arrest of leaders of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)," said Patrick Craven, acting spokesperson for the labour organisation. "This attempt to humiliate Morgan Tsvangirai and other MDC leaders will solve nothing. Instead we urge the government to treat the opposition as partners in negotiations to reach a settlement of the country's severe political and economic crisis." He said Cosatu's executive committee resolved on May 29 to support the call by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) for an interim government and the drafting of a new constitution on the basis of which fresh elections should be conducted. The executive further resolved to support the call by the international community for free political activity, the repeal of the "draconian" laws that limit freedom of speech and free political activity and the restoration of the rule of law.
"The Zimbabwe government should learn from the history of apartheid South Africa, where the white minority government repeatedly used arrests, trials, torture and the abuse of human rights to remain in power, but were forced in the end to reach a negotiated settlement with the ANC and its allies," said Craven He said the MDC, which has support from organised labour, would have to play a role in any negotiations on a settlement in Zimbabwe, and so urged the Zimbabwean government to swallow its pride, release all political prisoners and open up talks with all parties and civil society organisations, as proposed by the ZCTU. "We welcome the statement by President Thabo Mbeki at the World Economic Forum - that membership of the African Union will bind governments to a code of good governance. We urge him to bring pressure to bear on the government of Zimbabwe to apply the principles of good governance in that country and to end the abuse of human rights," said Craven.
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From BBC News, 16 June
Zimbabwe bans public strikes
The Zimbabwean Government has banned strikes in many parts of the public sector following five days of protests by the country's opposition. The new legislation will prevent doctors, nurses, employees of the state power utility, firefighters and transport and communications industry workers from striking as they are what the law defines as "essential services". Employees of state radio and television are also forbidden to strike. Labour Minister July Moyo has also been given powers to declare any other sectors an essential service if a strike "persists to the point that the lives, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population is endangered". There are no specified penalties, but lawyers and union leaders said that strike-breakers could face prison sentences of up to five years. "It is a desperate measure which will not change anything, because if workers feel that their grievances are not being addressed they will always turn to the streets despite the laws," said Collin Gwiyo, deputy secretary general of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. The move follows a crackdown by President Robert Mugabe on a week-long protest called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)as part of a "final push" to topple the embattled Zimbabwean leader. The marches were ruthlessly broken up by the police and army, but a general strike was widely observed. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested on Friday, and remains in custody charged with treason. Mr Mugabe has remained unswayed by criticism of his government's treatment of the opposition. "We hope they have learnt their lesson. If they haven't, they will learn it the hard way," he was quoted as saying in the state-run Herald newspaper on Friday.
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Comment from The Mercury (SA), 16 June
Tsvangirai creates a poser for his party
Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change is in a dilemma about how to react to the continued detention of its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. MDC leaders had considered embarking on another strike to demand Tsvangirai's release, but opted to heed the advise of his lawyers - led by George Bizos - to refrain from threatening any form of protest until the high court rules on Tsvangirai's bail application. He is being held on a second charge of treason. But militant members of the party are insisting that the MDC should call for a national strike, similar to the one that shut down Zimbabwe for a week, unless Tsvangirai is released. "It is a very tricky situation. If we embark on some sort of action, there is the danger that we might aggravate the situation against Tsvangirai and our party. If we do not do anything, we are disappointing many of our supporters and sending a signal of capitulation to Mugabe," said a top MDC official. After a series of meetings this week, the MDC national executive committee decided to wait for the outcome of tomorrow's proceedings in court before deciding on their next move. "If they don't give him bail, then it means the hawks in the party may carry the day after all. The hawks want immediate action now, either in the form of another job stayaway or some other action," said another official.
MDC deputy president Gibson Sibanda, who had earlier threatened mass action unless Tsvangirai was released, issued a guarded statement at the end of the national executive meeting on Thursday urging Zimbabweans to remain calm in the face of provocation. "We maintain that our president and members of MDC arrested by the state agents are innocent. The arrests are nothing more than harassment and intimidation of the MDC," the statement said. "We urge all Zimbabweans to remain calm in the face of repeated attempts to provoke them so as to get a pretext to crush their resolve through violence. We should remain focused on our objectives and calculated in our actions." Tsvangirai is spending his second weekend in jail after a high court judge said she needed time to consider his bail application. Judge Susan Mavangira adjourned the case to today after hearing arguments by Tsvangirai's lawyers asking the court to release him on bail. The state has opposed bail and wants Tsvangirai to be kept in custody for a month before it proceeds with the new treason trial. Tsvangirai was arrested 10 days ago and charged with treason for calling a hugely successful national strike which shut down Zimbabwe for five days. The state charged him with treason for allegedly calling for the overthrow of President Mugabe during the strike, dubbed "the final push".
The opposition leader faced humiliation this week, being brought to court dressed in khaki prison garb and wearing handcuffs and leg irons. Many legal analysts have described Tsvangirai's arrest as unreasonable. When he was arrested over the first treason charge against him, in which he was accused of plotting to kill Mugabe, he did not spend a night in custody. The police recorded a warning and caution statement and released him later the same day despite the seriousness of the allegation. Analysts said his continued imprisonment over a demonstration, which was within his rights to call, was vindictive. Mavangira, the judge hearing the matter, has shown no urgency in dealing with the case. She was promoted from the attorney-general's office to the bench last year at the height of Mugabe's campaign of weeding independent judges out of the judiciary and replacing them with cronies. Legal analysts said they saw no reasonable justification why Mavangira needed a whole weekend to decide on a mere bail application. "She is not dealing with the substantive aspect of the case and I see no reason why she cannot make a decision on bail on such a straight- forward matter," said a lawyer who preferred anonymity because he appears before high court judges. Another lawyer said that Tsvangirai's release on bail was by no means guaranteed. "It will not be surprising if the judge agrees with the decision of the lower court that Tsvangirai be jailed for a month until the next hearing," he said. "It will also not be surprising if the judge does not even decide on the matter, saying she still needs more time to make a decision."
Mugabe has been making repeated statements about the case during his current tour of rural areas in Zimbabwe. He has vowed repeatedly to "teach Tsvangirai a lesson". Mugabe said his government would crack down harder against the MDC if the party continued to defy his government. "We hope they have learnt their lesson. If they haven't they will learn it the hard way ... the harder way," he was quoted as saying in Friday's state-run Herald newspaper. Tsvangirai and two other senior MDC officials are currently standing trial on a separate charge of treason arising from the alleged plot to kill Mugabe. Tsvangirai has now made history by becoming the first Zimbabwean to be slapped with double treason charges. Even during the struggle against white minority rule, successive governments of Rhodesia never charged a single nationalist leader with multiple treason charges.
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From The Sunday Independent (SA), 15 June
Minister admits land policy gave her a farm
Olivia Muchena, the Zimbabwean cabinet minister whose ban-busting invitation to a Commonwealth science conference in South Africa was withdrawn after being exposed by The Sunday Independent last week, has confirmed she got a farm under Zimbabwe's land grab policies. "I got a farm and perhaps was one of the last few leaders to get a farm, only last year in November, through the appropriate procedures." These procedures, she said, were that after people from overcrowded communal lands had been settled on confiscated commercial farms, people with skills and access to resources were next on the list. As an author on indigenous trees and a former lecturer in agriculture at the University of Zimbabwe, "technically, I qualify". The science and technology development minister is a Sunday Independent reader - if perhaps a reluctant one. "I want to say I read the Independent and the way it portrayed me was totally false," the former agriculture minister complained this week. She returned to Zimbabwe on Tuesday when South Africa did an about turn on her invitation, which was in contravention of the Commonwealth's suspension of Zimbabwe.
Muchena seemed determined to view her invitation to a few days of hobnobbing with world-acclaimed scientists and engineers at the Commonwealth Science Council meeting in Sandton as a slap in the face for the Commonwealth. "Zimbabwe's position is that we are not suspended. We have not been suspended since two out of the troika [Nigeria, South Africa and Australia] voted against it in March," she told a press conference in the presence of Ben Ngubane, South Africa's science minister who had invited her to the conference. She also told reporters that she would send a deputy to any Commonwealth events off limits to ministers. The next day the department of foreign affairs overruled the department of arts, culture, science and technology and had her invitation withdrawn, calling it "erroneous". She attended the Commonwealth Science Council as a Southern African Development Community representative. Now the Commonwealth Science Council has decided that for as long as Zimbabwe is suspended, Malawi will have to represent the southern African region. Ngubane, who is the head of the Commonwealth Science Council until the end of the year, was clearly taken aback by the amount of attention focused on his Zimbabwean counterpart. "You know, the issue of politics may be there but here we are dealing with the needs of the region," he told a Sandton Sun press conference. "We have invited Angola and they're not even a member of the Commonwealth and so please, let us not be sidetracked into other difficulties."
Asked about The Sunday Independent's report that she had jumped the land queue to get a farm, Muchena said in an interview: "All of those words were put into the mouths of war veterans." Why, then, did war veteran leader Joseph Chinotimba stand up at a Zanu PF rally last year and accuse her of stealing the commercial farm? "In a revolution like we had, there are bound to be some wayward things happening but they are the exception rather than the rule." Muchena also took issue with this Sunday Independent's coverage of the Zimbabwe high court order to vacate her legislature seat two years ago in favour of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), due to widespread electoral fraud. "What the paper did not tell you was that the results in my constituency were 19 220 in favour of me and Zanu F and only 1 777 in favour of MDC," said Muchena. "And four days after the judge made that judgment, he resigned because of the public outcry," she noted, confirming that she has taken the case on appeal to the Zimbabwe supreme court. Two years later, the court has yet to set a date for her hearing. The MP for Mutoko South denied allegations that she had had MDC members abducted and brought to her Zanu F campaign rallies in handcuffs, stating "that is utterly false. It did not happen".
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 15 June
Corruption dogs Zimbabweans
By Caiphas Chimhete
After spending five consecutive days pushing his car from one service station to the other in the vain hope of securing scarce petrol,Taurai Chikosha of Harare, finally decided to do what has become the "in thing" in Zimbabwe: he bribed the fuel attendants. Chikosha says he gathered courage and lured one of the fuel attendants at a Harare garage to a secluded spot where he handed him a bundle of notes before asking for a "favour" in a hushed tone. As if this was a lawful transaction, the attendant openly counted the notes and shoved them into his pocket before telling him to come back at night to fill up his car. That night Chikosha smiled as he drove his vehicle away from the garage with a full tank, unconcerned about the $2 000 a litre that he had to pay for the fuel although the government controlled pump price of the commodity is $450 a litre. This encounter was a reflection of what has become of Zimbabwe today; almost everyone without the "right connections" is forced into corrupt dealings in order to make ends meet under the current economic hardships.
Only a few years ago, corruption was viewed as an evil mainly prevalent in government departments and parastatals where the exposure of shady deals linked to programmes such as the VIP Housing Scheme and the War Victims Compensation Fund made newspaper headlines. Senior civil servants and Zanu PF officials appeared before the courts charged with looting the housing scheme and fund, among other recorded corrupt practices. Corruption was also evident in the private sector evidenced by widespread reports of incidents in which high ranking company executives and government officials enriched themselves through kickbacks and other underhand methods at the expense of the majority. Not to mention the looting and the degrading scramble for, land by Zanu PF and its war veterans and supporters during the last three years. But as hardships, spawned by the government's inept management of the economy and the chaotic land reform programme that has worsened the country's food crisis and poverty, corruption-like the octopus-has spread its tentacles to all levels of society, tainting even the lowly bus terminus touts who now demand hefty bribes for their efforts. Corruption, say observers, has become intrinsic to the Zimbabwean way of doing things that it is now accepted as the norm rather than the exception. "Corrupt deals are now an integral part of doing business to most Zimbabweans struggling to survive under a very difficult economic environment," observed one Harare resident who preferred not to be named. Many Zimbabweans, including senior government officials and top company executives, now casually indulge in corrupt activities amassing wealth at a time when the gap between the rich and the poor is growing by the day. Analysts say this worrying trend of both low and high profile corruption is set to deepen as the country continues its slide into socio, economic and political chaos, compounded by a culture of non-accountability inherent in the Zanu PF government.
Already Zimbabwe now finds itself ranked among the most corrupt nations of the world. Out of the 102 countries surveyed last year by the Berlin-based Transparency International which measures the extent of corruption in the world, Zimbabwe was ranked 76, beating traditionally corruption-ridden Nigeria which is number 101 on the 2003 international corruption index . A more recent survey by the World Economic Forum lists Zimbabwe as the one of the most corrupt nations in Southern Africa. Andrew Nongogo, the executive director of Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) said corruption was set to worsen as Zimbabwe's economic and political fabric continued to disintegrate. "The more the current crisis deepens, the more the opportunities to engage in corrupt deals avail themselves. Corruption is very big - the money runs into billions of dollars a year and some big fish are benefiting," said Nongongo. Mugabe has publicly admitted the prevalence of corruption in most government departments and parastatals, singling out the loss-making Noczim as the chief culprit, but has done little to curb the practice. Findings of commissions of inquiry that have exposed corruption in high places have all but remained under lock and key, ensuring that the culp rits remain beyond the wrath of the law. An attempt by former minister Simba Makoni to rid the society of corruption by rewarding whistle blowers failed to bear fruit because few people were forthcoming with information. The National Economic Consultative Forum' anti-corruption task force set up two years ago to check on corruption has also remained largely ineffective, due to the absence of a specialised unit with the capacity to thoroughly investigate cases of corruption.
Analysts said Mugabe's regime had never been keen on combating corruption as evidenced by its reluctance to ratify international treaties aimed at putting a stop to the vice. They said the Zanu PF government lacks the political will to combat corruption, a phenomenon that seriously threatens to destroy Zimbabwe's already crumbling economy. They cite the country's failure to ratify the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol against Corruption, which, among other things, seeks to promote and strengthen mechanisms to eradicate corruption in the region. Only four countries - Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius and South Africa-have ratified the SADC protocol which can be operational if it is ratified by at least two-thirds of the members. "It is typical of most African countries - they are hesitant because when a country ratifies an international law it has to attune its domestic laws to the global framework and then abide by that," said Nongogo. Next month, Mugabe is expected to join other African leaders in Mozambican capital, Maputo, where they are expected to sign the African Union Draft Convention against Corruption, yet another bold attempt to fight the problem nagging the continent. Analysts say it is highly unlikely that Zimbabwe will ratify that treaty as well.
University of Zimbabwe lecturer, Heneri Dzinotyiwei says corruption continues to present one of the biggest threats to the country's economy, characterised by spiralling inflation, shortages of fuel, foreign currency and basic food commodities. Dzinotyiwei, who is also chairman of the Zimbabwe Integrated Programme (ZIP) said the economic meltdown has reduced the country to a "corrupt nation" where almost everyone is engaged in some illegal deals in order to make ends meet. "The government is not making any inroads as far combating corruption is concerned. It is more worried about its political survival at the moment than anything else while everyone else is looting at the slightest opportunity," said Dzinotyiwei, adding that combating corruption required the participation of both the private and public sector. Zimbabwe is yet to establish a fully pledged Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) that would thoroughly investigate cases of corruption that are prejudicing the country of billions of dollars every year. Up to now investigations have not been launched into allegations that senior army officers, including army commander General Vitalis Zvinavashe and Speaker of Parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, looted diamonds in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Zimbabwean soldiers fought on the side of the Kinshasa government against Ugandan/Rwandan-backed rebels.
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From The Daily News, 17 June
Mugabe backs Mnangagwa
Sydney Masamvu
President Robert Mugabe is believed to have told his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki that he is considering stepping down in the next 12 months and that he wants Speaker of Parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to take over from him, it w |
