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Archived News
1st April 2003
Mugabe 'steps up crackdown'
Zimbabwe opposition vows more mass action if democracy not restored
Treason trial hits fiscus
Zimbabwe MP describes eight-hour police torture
Tsvangirai trial witness told to surrender equipment
Mugabe seizes the chance to attack his rivals
MDC MP accuses Mbeki of turning a blind eye to rights abuses
Police in bid to flush out suspected MDC officers
Air Zimbabwe loses billions in French deal
Zanu PF, MDC square off in by-elections test
Plot to rig poll exposed
Mudede still defying court order
Bennet's workers brutally assaulted
Opposition urges Zimbabwe troops to disobey orders to crush political protests
Zimbabwe opposition reported to be targets of violence
Tsvangirai treason trial adjourned to 12 May
Mugabe opponent faces arrest
Government warns MDC
Mugabe troops 'torture hundreds'
Government rebuffs Mbeki over POSA
Zimbabwe's electrical authority reduces power transmissions
Award for Mugabe's spin doctor
Zimbabwe bleeds
Chaos marks first day of by-elections
Mugabe defends his govt
Report slams fresh abuses in Zimbabwe
Savage beatings for Mugabe opponents
Government freezes Air Zim deal
Menace of mob turns elections into farce
Mugabe supporters shoot at opposition
Violence mars polls
Zimbabwe opposition defiant after vote
Mbeki is sticking his neck out by taking on the Commonwealth
Crimes against humanity and the transition
Mugabe's opposition celebrates poll wins
Mugabe's home surrounded as deadline looms
Gibson Sibanda arrested
Mugabe's foes brace for 'the last push'
MDC wins two by-elections, police step up security
MDC trio's application for bail relaxation fails
Zimbabwe saga threatens Nepad
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From CNN, 25 March
Mugabe 'steps up crackdown'
Harare - Rights groups said on Tuesday Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe had stepped up a crackdown on the opposition, but analysts said the intimidation and arrests were unlikely to prevent new protests against his rule. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) say police have detained about 500 MDC members after a two-day strike last week shut factories and sparked violence in one of the biggest protests since Mugabe came to power 23 years ago. A Zimbabwean human rights group said on Tuesday it was getting daily reports of assaults and torture of MDC members in what it said was an intensified campaign of intimidation by militant supporters of Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party. "We have been getting reports of about 60 cases of violence a day in the last couple of days, and in our view that is really massive," said Brian Kagoro, co-ordinator of Crisis in Zimbabwe. "The picture we are getting is that Zanu PF is on a new and very big drive against the MDC," he added. Political analyst Masipula Sithole said Zanu PF's latest campaign was aimed at preventing the MDC from calling another "mass action" against the government. "That is the definitely the aim, but I don't think it is going to work," Sithole told Reuters. "The level of anger against the government is so high that it is not possible to crush it through intimidation," he added.
The MDC last week warned Mugabe to concede to fresh elections or face more protests. Mugabe won re-election in controversial polls last year condemned as fraudulent by the MDC and some Western governments which have slapped sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle. The country is facing its worst economic crisis in more than two decades, with record high unemployment, inflation and shortages of fuel, foreign exchange and food. Mugabe dismissed the MDC ultimatum, saying he would not listen to "pathetic puppets" of the West. He also ordered security forces to crack down on those using violence against the government, accusing the MDC of employing mob aggression under the guise of defending human rights. A senior Western diplomat based in Harare said on Tuesday the government's drive against its opponents would likely bring it under more international pressure. "I think what we are seeing are acts of frustration...but I think the costs are going to be higher on the government side - the opposition can only get more determined to confront them and the pressure from the international community can only rise," said the diplomat who declined to be named. "The government is certainly mistaken if its view is that nobody is watching Zimbabwe because of Iraq," he added, referring to the U.S.-led war against Iraq. On Monday, the United States condemned the government's actions, saying it was directly attributable to Mugabe's speech last Friday in which he said he could be a 'black Hitler tenfold' in crushing his opponents. The State Department called on Harare to "cease its campaign of violent repression" and to bring to justice the perpetrators of "these serious and widespread human rights abuses." Mugabe, 79, in power since the former Rhodesia gained independence from Britain in 1980, last week accused the United States, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands of sponsoring the MDC protests.
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From VOA News, 25 March
Zimbabwe opposition vows more mass action if democracy not restored
Harare - The head of Zimbabwe's opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, said his party plans to resume mass action at the end of the month if its demands for democracy are not met. The warning by Morgan Tsvangirai follows a government crackdown after a two-day strike last week paralyzed Zimbabwe's two largest cities. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the level of repression in Zimbabwe is unacceptable. Hundreds of people were arrested after last week's strike and many other people were severely beaten. Most of the attacks took place in the working-class suburbs around Harare. In interviews with the media and human rights workers, many of those who were beaten said government soldiers were responsible for the attacks. The Movement for Democratic Change has given the government until March 31 to meet its demands for greater political freedom. It is calling for, among other things, a return to the rule of law and lifting of repressive security legislation. If there is no response from the government by the end of the month, Mr. Tsvangirai says the opposition will call for more mass action. But the MDC leader also held out an olive branch. He said his party is willing to enter into talks with the government to discuss how to solve Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis. Last year, in an effort to ease tensions in Zimbabwe, officials in Nigeria and South Africa arranged talks between the ruling Zanu PF and the Movement for Democratic Change. But just before the talks were to take place, Zanu PF said it was not going to participate. Government rhetoric against the opposition has recently intensified. Following last week's strike, President Mugabe called the MDC a terrorist organization and vowed that it would be crushed.
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From The Daily News, 26 March
Treason trial hits fiscus
By Fanuel Jongwe Court Reporter
The on-going treason trial of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and two senior party officials, has "greatly affected" this year's budget through expenses incurred for the upkeep of international witnesses, the High Court heard yesterday. "Resources have been stretched," Joseph Musakwa, the Director of Public Prosecution in the Attorney-General's Office, said yesterday. He was opposing an application by the defence to compel the State to bring equipment used by a Canadian private investigator to video-tape a meeting between Tsvangirai and officials from Dickens and Madson, a political consultancy firm based in Montreal, Canada. At the meeting, Tsvangirai allegedly requested Dickens and Madson, to assist the MDC assassinate President Mugabe and depose the Zanu PF government. "I am aware that witnesses' expenses for the current financial year have been greatly affected by this case," Musakwa said. "It would not be fair to order that the expenses be met by the State. We are not the ones who have requested the equipment."
Defence lawyer Chris Andersen shot down Musakwa's explanation accusing the State of being extravagant. He charged that the State was treating witnesses in the on-going trial to first-class indulgence "unprecedented in the country's legal history". "The State paid first class airfares for one of the witnesses and two business class fares," Andersen said. He said the witnesses were booked into first-class hotel suites. "The same State now says it does not have enough money to bring equipment to ensure the fair trial of the accused persons who are facing serious charges." Andersen said the defence required the equipment to test the evidence of Bernard Schober, the private investigator and security consultant who installed the video equipment. He said the State should bear the costs of bringing the equipment - two cameras, a microphone, video cassette recorder and monitor to Harare. He said this should be done even if it meant withdrawing some of the money one of the witnesses said he was entitled to. Judge president Paddington Garwe is expected to deliver his ruling today on the defence's application.
Schober said on Monday he was charging the government US$1 000 ($55 000 at the official exchange rate, but $1,5 million on the parallel market) a day for the duration of his stay while he testifies in the trial. The amount excludes travel, food and accommodation expenses. Schober said yesterday that the video-tape of the meeting at Dickens and Madson was clear and audible and that it was the best he could produce in the circumstances. Dickens and Madson is headed by Ari Ben-Menashe, the State's key witness. He said he had not pre-judged the case and said his coming to Zimbabwe was a revelation. "I have no idea who is right or wrong in this situation. I don't live here," Schober said. "No one among my friends and family wanted me to come here because of things that are said about this country. They thought this country was in total turmoil but I am surprised the people I meet are kind and friendly."
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From The Independent (UK), 26 March
Zimbabwe MP describes eight-hour police torture
By Basildon Peta, Southern Africa Correspondent
Job Sikhala was called the "roaring lion" because of his powerful oratory. He helped establish the Movement for Democratic Change as the most serious challenge to President Robert Mugabe since Zimbabwe gained its independence from Britain in 1980. At political rallies, he roared the MDC's slogans and the crowd would roar back. He was the warm-up act for the party's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. His name on the posters would guarantee a full house at MDC rallies. But Mr Sikhala, 30, an MP and senior member of the party's executive committee, is now a shadow of his former self. After being tortured by Mr Mugabe's police, he says his life will never be the same again. Speaking about his ordeal for the first time yesterday in the Johannesburg clinic where he is now getting specialist treatment, Mr Sikhala warned that while the world focuses on Iraq, President Mugabe is intensifying his reign of terror. An unprecedented crackdown has been launched against the opposition, with more than 500 people jailed since Sunday.
Mr Sikhala described how police raided his home in the Harare suburb of St Mary's two months ago and assaulted everyone present, including his wife who had just given birth. They took him to Harare Central Police Station and accused him of plotting to overthrow President Mugabe. The allegations were later dropped in court. After being kept overnight in a police cell, he was taken to an unknown location where he was subjected to eight uninterrupted hours of torture. He says he was thrown into a dirty room with blood splattered all over the walls. He too would lose much of his blood there, he was told. Two men took turns to beat the soles of his feet with wooden planks. "They then applied electric shocks to my genitals and tongue," Mr Sikhala said yesterday. "The more I cried, the more they inflicted the pain, saying I had not cried enough. They would at times apply the electric shocks to my genitals, tongue, toes and fingers at the same time." His torturers urinated on him as he lay on the floor. "At that moment I urinated myself also," he said. They then forced him to drink all the urine to dry the floor, he said. He was also forced to drink what he thinks was a poison.
He heard his torturers talking about drowning him in a reservoir. They drove him back to Harare Central Police Station, where he was charged with plotting against the state. As soon as he was released, supporters took him away for hospital treatment. Now he suffers from persistent headaches, nightmares and hallucinations and severe forgetfulness. Taurayi Magaya, 33, a district chairman of the MDC, was arrested on the same night as Mr Sikhala and was subjected to the same torture for a similar eight-hour period. "I now feel like a mad man," he said. "At night I run from my home under the influence of nightmares." He says he suffers from severe stomach pains, after drinking "strange" liquids under torture, as well as "permanent headaches". The third torture victim at the clinic would not be interviewed because he does not want to remember his trauma. But all three consider themselves lucky - because of their political status they could get treatment. But ordinary party members in remote rural areas had no such help, they warned.
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From The Financial Gazette, 27 March
Tsvangirai trial witness told to surrender equipment
Staff Reporter
The High Court yesterday issued an order compelling a state witness in the treason trail of three opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leaders to surrender equipment used to secretly videotape a meeting at which the MDC officials allegedly plotted to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. Justice Paddington Garwe ordered Bernard Schober to hand the equipment over to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for testing. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, secretary-general Welshman Ncube and shadow minister for agriculture Renson Gasela are alleged to have met in Canada with representatives of Dickens and Madson, a Canadian political consultancy they allegedly attempted to hire to assassinate Mugabe. Schober was hired by the consultancy to videotape the meeting. Justice Garwe said Schober had to surrender his equipment to the Canadian police so that experts could determine the authenticity of the video tape produced at the meeting, which is the state's evidence in chief. The judge said the video equipment had to be submitted to the RCMP for safe keeping until an independent team of experts could test the quality of its pictures and determine whether they were similar to those in the video tape. The independent panel will comprise experts chosen by the state and the defence and will make video recordings at Dickens and Madson's Montreal offices to enable the court to compare the quality of the tapes produced and the state's evidence in chief. The recordings, which will be done under the supervision of the RCMP, will be undertaken first with the ventilation system on and then switched off, after which the two resulting tapes will be forwarded to the High Court in Harare. Defence lawyers earlier this week insisted that the equipment be shipped to Zimbabwe but yesterday agreed that it could be tested in Canada. They however warned that they could still demand that the equipment be brought to Harare if they were not satisfied with the tests. The court yesterday afternoon excused Schober, a Canadian private investigator and security consultant, from the witness stand but said that he could be recalled for further cross-examination after his video recording equipment had been tested. The trial continues today with the cross-examination of police chief superintendent Moses Magandi, who last year travelled to Canada with the deputy director general of the Central Intelligence Organisation, Happyton Bonyongwe, to undertake the initial investigations into the treason charges.
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From The Times (UK), 27 March
Mugabe seizes the chance to attack his rivals
From Michael Dynes in Johannesburg
The war with Iraq is being ruthlessly exploited by President Mugabe to unleash an unprecedented assault against his critics in Zimbabwe, opposition groups said yesterday. The number of arrests, detentions and beatings faced by opposition supporters "is higher now than at any time since the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) launched its campaign to remove him from office three years ago", David Coltart, the MDC's justice spokesman, said. "There is no doubt that Mugabe is exploiting the fact that the world's attention is focused on Iraq," Mr Coltart said. "Over the past week he has acted with complete impunity against his critics, with some of the worst atrocities taking place while everyone's attention is focused on the war in Iraq." More than 500 opposition officials and supporters have been arrested and detained after last week's two-day national strike, which shut down factories, brought cities to a standstill and triggered widespread violence in the biggest protests since Mr Mugabe came to power 23 years ago. As many as 1,000 opposition supporters have been driven out of their homes in the upsurge in government-sanctioned violence. More than 250 people have been admitted to hospital, many with broken bones. Crisis in Zimbabwe, a local human rights group, has said that it is getting daily reports of arrests, assaults and torture of MDC supporters in what it said was an intensified campaign of intimidation by militant supporters of Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu (PF) party.
Richard Boucher, the US State Department spokesman, accused the Zimbabwean Government this week of embarking on "a massive retribution campaign against opposition officials, supporters and other critics" of the Harare regime. The new wave of violence had been triggered by comments in which Mr Mugabe likened himself to Adolf Hitler and gave warning that he would not hesitate to act like a "black Hitler" when it came to crushing his domestic opponents, Mr Boucher said. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC, who is on trial for plotting to assassinate Mr Mugabe, has given the Government until Tuesday to halt the crackdown against his political opponents, repeal harsh media and security laws and move towards fresh elections, or face a new round of mass protests against his rule. Dismissing the MDC's ultimatum, Mr Mugabe said that he had no intention of listening to the "pathetic puppets" of the West and accused the United States, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands of sponsoring the MDC's protests against his rule.
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From Business Day (SA), 27 March
MDC MP accuses Mbeki of turning a blind eye to rights abuses
Young opposition MP recovering from alleged torture appeals to SA to speak out
International Affairs Editor
An MP from Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has accused SA President Thabo Mbeki of "pretending that he does not know what's happening in Zimbabwe". The MP, Job Sikhala, is in SA for psychotherapy to help him overcome the trauma from what he says was an eight-hour torture session at the hands of the Zimbabwean police and Central Intelligence Organisation in January. Last week, the Zimbabwe government launched a massive crackdown on the opposition in the wake of a two-day national strike organised by the MDC. Rights group Amnesty International has said about 500 people have been arrested in the crackdown and many tortured. Yesterday, Mbeki said SA had told the Zimbabwe government that it did not agree with actions which deprived people of the right to peaceful protest. This falls short of the strong condemnation earlier this week by the US of the "unprecedented violence" carried out by the Zimbabwe government against domestic opponents. So far there has been silence on the matter from the UK and the European Union. While the top British foreign office official on SA may comment on Zimbabwe next week on a visit to SA, the UK is maintaining a low profile on Zimbabwe to avoid accusations by some African countries that it is being unhelpful. As a multilateral organisation, the EU has to develop consensus for a response of this significance.
Sikhala said the MDC only wanted SA to speak out about what was happening in Zimbabwe, and knew that it was unrealistic to appeal for sanctions in view of SA's policy of quiet diplomacy. Last week's strike marked a significant turning point in Zimbabwe, Sikhala said, but it was likely to be a long time before President Robert Mugabe left office. He said the nationwide mass action marked the "beginning of a new era" and that "strikes would continue in an unprecedented manner". Sikhala said that during the crackdown launched last week, police had ransacked many homes in his constituency of St Mary's, in Chitungwiza, about 30km from Harare. He said he fully expected Mugabe to "intensify repression as he is a predictable dictator". In a speech over the weekend in which he threatened repression against the opposition, Mugabe declared himself the Hitler of our time. "If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold. Ten times, that is what we stand for," he said. Sikhala, who at the age of 30 is the youngest Zimbabwean MP, has been arrested 17 times. This year he was charged with trying to overthrow the government, but the charge was dropped. In January, he and his colleagues, including his lawyer, were all tortured in a similar manner. This included beating of the soles of the feet with wooden planks, and electric shocks administered through the toes, ears, tongue and private parts. At one point, Sikhala said, a policeman urinated on him, while repeating the phrase, "this is humiliation".
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe said yesterday it would pay growers of maize more than four times what it paid them last year, in a bid to provide incentives to grow the basic food and ensure it is affordable to consumers. Lands and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made said the price the government would pay to farmers would go up from Z28000 to Z130000 a tonne. Wheat will be bought at Z150000 a tonne, an increase of 114%. The government is the sole buyer of wheat and maize from growers. The price rises represent a huge state subsidy on the foods. The new prices are expected to cushion particularly new black farmers resettled on land seized from white farmers under the controversial land reform programme.
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From The Financial Gazette, 27 March
Police in bid to flush out suspected MDC officers
Staff Reporter
Members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) this week said the ZRP's intelligence unit, the Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI), was believed to have initiated an exercise to flush out security agents suspected of leaking information to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) during last week's stayaway. The ZRP sources said the investigation was prompted by suspicions that the MDC had infiltrated the police force and that several middle and senior-ranking officers had given information to the opposition party about the strategies the ZRP had for dealing with the mass action. "What raised alarm bells were suspicions that someone leaked vital security information to the MDC," said a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The MDC seemed aware of the police security plans well before the mass action. It has come to light that they knew about this information as well as the areas where we were incapacitated and this helped them plan ahead." He added: "What has caused people (within the ZRP) to panic most is that the MDC is planning another mass action, which we hear would involve a march to State House. With the way the force has been infiltrated, the police won't be able to strategise effectively."
Police spokesman Andrew Phiri said he was not aware of any investigation by the PISI. "To be quite frank, I am completely in the dark over the issue you are talking about. I am not aware such a thing is taking place." But members of the ZRP said the PISI investigation was supposed to identify MDC sympathisers and either remove them from the force or transfer them to remote stations. They said many officers were afraid that the exercise could be used to settle personal scores. "People are just back-biting each other and the whole thing has been turned into a rumour mongering exercise where the latest "MDC sympathisers" are named and targeted for reprisals," a police officer said. "This is not an entirely new exercise. They did it in 2000 when they victimised anyone they suspected of sympathising with the MDC. It's only that this time it might be done on a higher scale," he added. Several senior police officers were forcibly transferred to remote stations while others were forced to resign in 2000 as the police swooped on officers perceived to be anti-the ruling Zanu PF. Other high-ranking officers opted to resign after being deployed to the Commissioner's Pool, an obscure desk created at the Police General Police Headquarters. Most officers transferred to the pool complained that they were being victimised for failing to support the ruling party during the 2000 parliamentary elections and by-elections that followed a year later.
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From The Daily News, 27 March
Air Zimbabwe loses billions in French deal
By Precious Shumba
Cash-strapped Air Zimbabwe has been prejudiced of billions of dollars in scarce foreign currency as it forges ahead with its plans to acquire two 50-seater aircraft from Air Littoral Industrie SA of France. The money has been lost through the payment of bonus fees to intermediaries, travel allowances and kick-backs to management. Sources familiar with the contract strongly feel that the airline's management has to be investigated for illegal foreign currency dealings as a matter of urgency or the airline could collapse. Documents made available to this reporter show that Air Zimbabwe entered into an agreement with two organisations to act on its behalf in order to hire two ATR 42-500 MSN 484 aircraft. The aircraft will service central and southern African routes. The lease agreement is subordinate to, and consistent with the terms of a sub-lease agreement between Maela Finance BV of Canada and Air Littoral as sub-lessee as per agreement struck on 28 June 1996. Aviation experts described the agreement as a "contract within a contract". Air Zimbabwe will pay Air Littoral US$147 000 (Z$8 million) for each of the planes every month for the next three years.
Efforts to get a copy of the memorandum of understanding between the airline and the French company on Monday failed. But sources said the management had committed the airline for the next three years and millions in scarce foreign currency will be paid to the French in travel allowances, monthly rentals and maintenance work. Rambai Chingwena, the airline's managing director, refused to discuss the deal saying it was premature for him to disclose it. He said: "It (comment) will come at the appropriate time. It's at a stage not for public disclosure." An e-mail to Chingwena by Lionel Sineux, the head of fleet management at Air Littoral Industries dated 12 March, shows that Air Zimbabwe has already paid US$357 881,09 (Z$286 304 872) as part of US$450 000 (Z$360 million) security deposit before the plane is delivered. A source said: "This ATR business has been Chingwena's preserve. He has flown outside Zimbabwe on several occasions and claims large amounts in foreign currency. The airline has lost substantial amounts through this secretive deal. The money that Cornwell Muleya, an aviation consultant and the former acting general manager for Air Botswana was paid, should have been used to rehabilitate the British Aerospace 146 which has been lying idle in the hangar since 1999. The money should have been paid directly to Air Littoral Industrie without engaging private individuals and consultants. The delegation that travelled to France should have done that in the first place than wait to lose millions in foreign currency. Air Zimbabwe paid for Muleya's travels at US$350 each day he travelled on Air Littoral business."
Another US$170 000 (Z$136 million) was paid as commitment fee . An additional US$102 086 was paid but Sineux was unsure what that amount was for, saying he only knew that that transaction was initiated by the Commercial Bank of Frankfurt (CBF). The contract was signed despite resistance from government and advice from Air Botswana which once dealt with Air Littoral. Air Zimbabwe first entered into an agreement to engage Muleya as their consultant, to source the planes .Muleya wrote to Dennis Maravanyika, Air Zimbabwe's former senior marketing manager, on 17 October 2002 expressing his satisfaction with the contract. Muleya was said to have been paid US$25 000 (Z$20 million) as success fee for each of the ATR planes and will receive an additional US$10 000 (Z$8 million) as bonus fee for each of the planes once the aircraft are delivered to Harare. This money is meant to thank Muleya for not exceeding the target rental of US$100 000 which Air Zimbabwe was prepared to pay for the aircraft. The aircraft were sourced at a rental of US$90 000 each. Sources said since the memorandum of understanding between Air Zimbabwe and Air Littoral was signed about four months ago, Chingwena has undertaken several business trips to London, France and Canada, pursuing the deal and claiming millions of dollars in foreign currency.
For example, Chingwena last Wednesday travelled from Harare on the pretext that he was going to Montpellier in France to seal the deal with Air Littoral but instead stayed in London because his visa to France was invalid. He later proceeded to Canada on unspecified business. He will return on 6 April. According to sources who travelled to France last week, Chingwena received US$10 800 (Z$8 6 40 000) at the rate of US$600 daily allowance. Five senior managers who travelled to Montpellier returned to Harare last Sunday. Each was paid a daily allowance of US$350 for the one week they stayed in France although Air Littoral paid for their accommodation and flight expenses. Meanwhile, when Muleya's relationship with Air Zimbabwe reportedly soured, Air Zimbabwe approached Beaumont and Son of the United Kingdom to assist them complete the Air Littoral deal.
Patsy Barnes of Beaumont and Son, according to documents at hand, faxed Air Zimbabwe on 18 March, acknowledging receipt of the airline's accounts and a copy of the memorandum of agreement. Chingwena immediately faxed Cathy Oatridge at their London office concerning the legal fees. He said: "Please can payment be made immediately to Beaumont and Son in terms of the attached." He directed that the money be deposited in the Beaumont and Son Sterling client account 0996602 sort code 18 00 02T on the same day. On 19 March, James Edmunds, a partner in Beaumont and Son, wrote to Air Zimbabwe confirming Chingwena's flight schedule and said he was looking forward to meeting him in France. Air Zimbabwe workers said the swift manner in which Chingwena responded to the request to deposit the $44 million in foreign currency into the Beaumont and Son account, had shocked them. The same management has refused to release foreign currency to carry out modifications on three Boeing 737 planes. The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe has reportedly threatened to ground the planes by 31 March unless the modifications were carried out.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 27 March
Zanu PF, MDC square off in by-elections test
Residents in two low income suburbs of the Zimbabwe capital are due to vote in weekend by-elections, amid rising tensions between President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The run-up to the vote has been marred by increasing violence and political tension between the main rival parties contesting the polls, with Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF vowing to wrest the seats from the MDC. By-elections were called in Kuwadzana following the death last year of MDC's member of parliament, Learnmore Jongwe, who died in jail while awaiting trial for the murder of his wife. In Highfield, where Mugabe has a house and casts his ballot in elections, the seat became vacant after the MDC expelled lawmaker Munyaradzi Gwisai from the party over ideological and policy differences. The MDC won all the parliamentary seats in Zimbabwe's major cities and towns in the 2000 legislative polls. Typical of by-elections in Zimbabwe in recent years, the upcoming Kuwadzana and Highfield elections have sparked another round of beatings, intimidation and arrests, mainly of opposition members, including lawmakers. The MDC says hundreds of its supporters have been assaulted. Some of them, bearing the signs of brutal assaults, have been paraded at press conferences. The attacks on its members have been conducted by men dressed in military uniform, the MDC has said. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai this week blamed the attacks on Zanu PF militias who had dressed up as soldiers. A small opposition party, the National Alliance for Good Governance (NAGG) which is participating in the by-elections, has also alleged its members have been harassed and intimidated. Rabson Maserema, spokesman for NAGG, said a number of the party's members had been victims of harassment and intimidation by Zanu PF militias who raided their homes at night. He warned that if his members continued to be harassed they would be "obliged to retaliate... to defend ourselves".
The MDC has posed the strongest challenge yet to Mugabe's 23-year rule, winning 57 of the 120 contested seats during the June 2000 parliamentary elections. Earlier by-elections in at least seven constituencies in the past two years have ended in victories for Zanu PF after violent campaigns. The MDC has warned that if there are signs of electoral irregularities in the weekend polls, it could ignite a violent backlash. The party claimed Thursday that thousands of people from outside the constituencies had been irregularly registered to vote in the upcoming polls. The announcement of the results of the two votes is expected to coincide with the expiration of a deadline by the opposition to Mugabe's government to meet certain demands. The MDC gave the government a deadline of March 31 to reply to a 15-point list of demands it has drawn up to try to resolve the country's economic, political and social crises. Among the demands is a call for an end to state-sponsored violence. "Repression has never restrained people from acting. If at all, it has put people in a more determined position to confront this regime," said MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. "No amount of beatings or thuggery is going to discourage people from engaging in an agenda that will see this regime out," he told reporters this week. Faced with a crumbling economy, famine and rising poverty, Mugabe has banked his party's political future on his controversial land reform scheme, which seeks to redress colonial-era inequities by resettling black farmers on white-owned land.
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From The Daily News, 28 March
Plot to rig poll exposed
By Ray Matikinye, Features Editor
The opposition MDC says it has unearthed elaborate plans by Zanu PF for massive rigging of the weekend by-elections in Highfield and Kuwadzana. Remus Makuwaza, the MDC director of elections, told a Press conference in Harare yesterday that the rigging plans were with the connivance of the Registrar-General, Tobaiwa Mudede, and other State agents. Makuwaza said more than 19 000 suspected "ghost" voters not resident in the two constituencies had been added to the voters' roll. He showed journalists the list of the dubious voters. The High Court ordered Mudede to release the voters' roll to the MDC within 48 hours last Friday after a protracted wrangle. "We knew that was the reason for his delay in giving us the voters' roll. We are not sure whether what we got was the final roll or that there could be another supplementary voters' roll to facilitate rigging which we were not given," Makuwaza said. "According to a basic analysis of the voters ' roll, there are more than 8 000 voters in Kuwadzana and 11 000 others registered in Highfield who are not necessarily resident in these constituencies. The samples are not exhaustive. We have discovered that on the voters' roll there are a number of instances where two different names share the same national ID number." The MDC candidate for Highfield, Tachiveyi Mungofa, said Zanu PF had started bussing in people to within the confines of the constituency. "More than 4 000 people are being fed at an open space in the constituency, ready for the weekend poll," he claimed.
A sample extracted from the voters' roll for Kuwadzana by this newspaper shows a majority of newly registered voters with alien surnames, raising suspicion that these could be ghost voters from grabbed commercial farms, the majority of whose labour was from Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. There are names and surnames such as Akulukaya, Arimoso, Bilimonti, Bollie, Abinal, Asavetwa, Ajala, Bitoni and others who form the bulk of the suspect voters on the roll. The MDC did its own audit of the voters' roll and visited residences where they discovered some of the people listed under addresses in Kuwadzana were either unknown to the occupants or had never been at those addresses. Makuwaza said his party was aware Zanu PF would flood the constituencies with scarce basic commodities such as sugar, maize-meal and cooking oil packaged in containers soaked in indelible ink to disqualify genuine voters. "We are aware that State agents plan to taint doors and water taps with the indelible ink in those areas which are known MDC strongholds in order to disqualify our voters," he said. Makuwaza said Zanu PF would deliberately slow down the voting process in known MDC strongholds to give itself unfair advantage. The MDC spokesman, Paul Themba-Nyathi, said his party would continue to take part in elections even in the face of such evidence because the alternative would be "ghastly to contemplate". "We contest because the people have vested their trust in democracy. We want to teach them that change comes through democratic means and processes." Seven candidates are contesting for the Highfield seat with four battling for Kuwadzana.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 28 March
Mudede still defying court order
Vincent Kahiya
Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede has continued to block the transfer of election materials for the last presidential election to Harare for safe keeping despite a High Court order to do so. The election materials are currently scattered across the country as Mudede remains defiant and in breach of Section 78 of the Electoral Act. Mudede has appealed against the judgement delaying the transfer of the materials to the capital. Civic groups believe the RG's refusal to move the materials leaves them liable to interference. Mudede's attempt to destroy the election materials last September on the pretext that he needed the ballot boxes for local government elections was blocked by the High Court after opposition from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The MDC argued that destruction of the papers would be prejudicial to their petition challenging the result of the March 2002 presidential poll. Justice Anele Matika ruled that Mudede could use the boxes but said he should not destroy the papers. The petition is scheduled to be heard next month but MDC lawyers would like the election materials brought to the capital prior to the hearing. According to Section 78 of the Electoral Act constituency registrars should enclose in separate sealed packets counted and rejected ballot papers as soon as possible after polling. The materials should then be transmitted to Harare. This has not happened and the materials have remained in the provinces, most of which are in ballot boxes stored at schools and at rural district offices which sometimes double up as Zanu PF offices. Observers this week said there was a high likelihood that the materials might fall into the hands of the militia. Last November Mudede filed an application in the High Court saying his office did not have the resources to move the materials. Justice Anne Marie Gowora dismissed the application saying the transfer of the materials was a general function of the RG's office and should be carried out.
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From The Daily News, 28 March
Bennet's workers brutally assaulted
By Brian Mangwende, Chief Reporter
About 1 000 farm workers, including women and children, at opposition Member of Parliament Roy Bennet's Charleswood Estate in Chimanimani sustained serious injuries in beatings before being forced off the property by the police. On Wednesday and Thursday, the workers were bundled into police trucks and dumped by the roadside, 11km from the farm. The attack comes about a week after State security agents allegedly assaulted Bennet's workers on a farm he is leasing in Ruwa on suspicion they had participated in the two-day mass stayaway called for by the MDC last week. Bennet said: "The people were dumped at Pombo Supermarket about 11km from the farm. The police, led by an Inspector Chogugudza of Chimanimani, went to my farm and beat up all the workers indiscriminately. They sustained various injuries and have nowhere to go. Their belongings were thrown into trucks and dumped at the supermarket. The situation is awful. It's just terrible what is happening there. All farming activities have effectively ceased." The legislator grows coffee on the estate. Yesterday, the Chimanimani MP said soldiers and the police returned to his farm to make sure that everyone had left the property. Those found there were assaulted and forced to flee, he said. Last week, a man was beaten to death in Harare and several others, including MPs and the MDC's provincial leaderships, were either arrested or beaten up by State security agents in a suspected retribution campaign following the mass stayaway. Bennet identified the deceased as Steven Tonera, his former worker, who was living on his Ruwa farm. Isobel Gardiner, the wife of Bennet's farm manager, Norman, was severely assaulted on the buttocks and back. Meanwhile, hundreds of residents in Harare have either been beaten up or arrested by State security agents. Reports of assaults are also coming in from other towns and cities. Since last week's mass action, The Daily News offices have been inundated by people who were beaten up by the State agents.
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From Associated Press, 27 March
Opposition urges Zimbabwe troops to disobey orders to crush political protests
By Angus Shaw
Harare - Zimbabwe opposition officials urged troops and police to disobey what they said are political orders to crush any show of dissent against the government. "`The time has now come for the security forces to make that historic choice of either being with the people or against them," the Movement for Democratic Change said in a statement. The opposition call followed a wave of intense violence against its officials and supporters who took part in a two-day anti-government strike last week. Independent human rights monitors said at least 250 people were treated for a variety of injuries from sexual assaults and beatings following a brutal post-strike crackdown against the opposition. Hundreds of others were arrested or driven from their homes, they said. Witnesses and victims said much of the violence was carried out by ruling party militias wearing police or military uniforms, transported in military trucks. Soldiers have been ordered to patrol opposition strongholds and in some areas have imposed curfews, shutting down bars and shops. The opposition said nonpartisan troops had nothing to fear under any new government, but warned that those who had been perpetrators of violence against ordinary Zimbabweans for expressing their democratic rights would be arrested, tried and jailed. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher on Monday condemned the retribution campaign and what he called unprecedented violence sponsored by the government's security forces following the strike. The Herald, a main government mouthpiece, reported Wednesday that the police confirmed the arrests of about 200 people. Police and army officials denied the allegations of assault and torture. The opposition has meanwhile threatened further protests.
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From The New York Times, 27 March
Zimbabwe opposition reported to be targets of violence
By Ginger Thompson
Johannesburg - In the days after a crippling strike by opponents of President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, the government there has struck back with a wave of violence and intimidation that has brought condemnation from governments and human rights groups around the world. Human rights workers and diplomats say that with the world's attention focused on war in Iraq, Mr. Mugabe has unleashed Zimbabwe's armed forces and militia against his own people, even as the country prepares for two important parliamentary elections on Sunday. Internet reports from Harare describe hospital wards full of people suffering from severe burns and broken fingers and toes. Photographs show men and women with swollen lash marks across their backs and chests. Opposition leaders report that more than 1,000 people have fled their homes and that more than 500 people have been arrested. The police confirmed that they had arrested hundreds, adding that those detained had incited violence. Some of them, the police said, burned buses and cars. The police officials denied accusations of brutality. Human rights groups, however, say most of those arrested are leaders and supporters of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change. The prisoners, human rights officials say, are often beaten and detained in their homes.
The deepening tensions followed a two-day strike by the opposition that halted most business and industry in Zimbabwe. The action was considered the largest public protest against Mr. Mugabe, 79, since he was re-elected last year in a contest that was marred by charges of fraud and intimidation. Political analysts and opposition leaders issued forecasts for more political storms ahead. In a speech last Friday, Mr. Mugabe boasted that he could be a "black Hitler, tenfold." The State Department has called on the Zimbabwe government to "cease its campaign of violent repression," and to bring to justice the perpetrators of "serious and widespread human rights abuses." South African leaders, long advocates of what they call "quiet diplomacy" with Zimbabwe, began on Wednesday to turn up the volume, with expressions of concern by President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa to Parliament. A South African diplomat in Harare said President Mbeki had ordered them to "get to the bottom of the accusations and report back." Amnesty International, in a report on Friday, issued a warning that said: "The alarming escalation in political violence is a clear indication that the Zimbabwe authorities are determined to suppress dissent by any means necessary, regardless of the terrible consequences. We look upon the next 10 days with fear."
On Sunday, voters in two important townships currently controlled by the opposition are supposed to go to the polls to elect new representatives to the Zimbabwean Parliament. In a news conference today in Harare, opposition leaders showed reporters copies of the government's voter rolls, and said that dozens of people on the lists did not exist. Government officials dismissed those charges. Monday will mark the deadline set by the opposition for Mr. Mugabe to accept and begin addressing a list of 15 demands, including disbanding government militias, restoring freedom of the press and releasing all political prisoners. Mr. Mugabe, who has governed Zimbabwe since the end of white-minority rule more than 20 years ago, played down the impact of the strike and dismissed his opponents' demands, saying he would not obey "pathetic puppets" of the West. He also ordered security forces to crack down on those using violence against the government, accusing the opposition of employing mob aggression under the guise of defending human rights.
The opposition, emboldened by the success of its two-day strike, has promised "mass action," against Mr. Mugabe. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, said the violence by soldiers and militia had deepened the country's "crisis of governance." "No amount of brutality and arrests will discourage people from engaging in an agenda they have determined whose time has come," said Mr. Tsvangirai, who is currently on trial on charges of treason. "The more the repression the more it will rebound." In a full-page newspaper advertisement today, his party issued a call to the armed forces, urging them to serve the people, not the president. "To us in the M.D.C., the uniforms of the army should be a symbol of national pride, evoking a sense of security rather than terror," read the political ad. "The M.D.C. says no to any attempt to pit the heavily armed security forces against defenceless people." Perhaps the most devastating impact of Zimbabwe's political conflict has been on its economy, marked by an inflation rate now at more than 150 percent, with unemployment at 70 percent, severe shortages of gasoline and more than 60 percent of its population - estimated at 11.6 million - in need of food aid.
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From The Daily News, 28 March
Tsvangirai treason trial adjourned to 12 May
Court Reporter
Judge president Paddington Garwe yesterday adjourned to 12 May, the treason trial of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and two senior party officials which is expected to complete its seventh-week today. Meanwhile, Garwe is expected to deliver a ruling on Monday on an application to have the suspects' bail conditions wavered during the adjournment. In addition, defence lawyers want the judge to order the release of Welshman Ncube's passport. Ncube, one of three accused persons, wants to travel to Canada to brief an attorney in preparation for the defence case. The Canadian attorney is supposed to witness test runs for the equipment used to film a meeting between Tsvangirai and officials from Dickens and Madson, a Canadian-based political consultancy. Advocate George Bizos submitted that it was unlikely that Tsvangirai and his co-accused would abscond, given their standing in Zimbabwe as "leaders of a political party which represents a considerable part of the Zimbabwe population." Joseph Musakwa, the Deputy Director of Public Prosecution in the Attorney-General's Office, opposed the applications arguing that the accused persons were suspected to have committed "a very serious crime'' and that their bail conditions were mutually agreed on. Defence lawyers charged during cross-examination that, a pair sent to collect evidence of an alleged plot to assassinate President Mugabe, may have sneaked into Canada without informing their counterparts in that country as required by international regulations. Chief Superintendent Moses Mugadza, of the police operations section, refused to say whether he and Retired Brigadier Happyton Bonyongwe, the then deputy director-general of the CIO, paid a courtesy call on their counterparts in Montreal when they went to collect what Mugadza described as "information which could lead to police investigation." He admitted Ari Ben-Menashe bungled by facilitating the airing of a video-tape on which the State is basing its case. The video showing alleged details of a plot to assassinate President Mugabe and overthrow the Zanu PF government was aired on ZBC television and on Australia's SBS television network ahead of last year's presidential election.
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From BBC News, 29 March
Mugabe opponent faces arrest
The government in Zimbabwe has asked for the arrest of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on charges of causing civil unrest. Mr Tsvangirai is currently on trial for plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe - a charge he denies - but is currently on bail. The call for his detention comes just over a week after a massive two-day general strike aimed at ousting Mr Mugabe, who was re-elected last year in a vote deemed fraudulent by many outside observers. A spokesman for Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party vowed that the opposition, which is fighting two key by-elections this weekend, would not be crushed. Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi accused Mr Tsvangirai of using his freedom to incite violence against the government and he urged the judiciary to withdraw his bail and hold him in custody. "The courts must be aware that while Morgan Tsvangirai is being tried for treason, he is taking advantage of being out of custody to orchestrate acts of violence," he said in a press statement. "We urge the judicial system to review this position so that he is tried while in custody." If convicted of the assassination plot, the MDC leader faces the death penalty.
MDC spokesman Paul Themba-Nyathi said his party's leaders were used to government threats. "This government has been threatening the MDC leadership for years now and we are not frightened," he told Reuters news agency. "We are pursuing a popular cause and they cannot crush that." The MDC accuses Mr Mugabe's ruling party, Zanu-PF, of planning to rig the two by-elections in Harare. On Friday, the European Union condemned "unprecedented government-sponsored violence" against the opposition in Zimbabwe. The EU accused President Robert Mugabe's government of arbitrarily detaining and torturing hundreds of opponents. It also said the Zimbabwean people had a constitutional right to protest peacefully and called on the government to respect that right. The statement, made at a meeting in Greece, followed the nationwide anti-government protest on 18-19 March, which Morgan Tsvangirai has described as a resounding success. Mr Tsvangirai has called for further peaceful mass action against the Mugabe government if opposition demands for law and order are not met by Monday. "There can be no compromise or surrender," he told foreign diplomats in Harare on Friday. "Mugabe must unconditionally yield or face decisive mass action from the people."
Up to 19,000 extra voters have been registered for the Harare by-elections, the opposition reports, and food stained with indelible ink is allegedly due to be distributed to prevent locals from voting. In order to prevent people voting more than once, voters dip their finger in indelible ink when they cast their ballots - anyone with indelible ink already on their hands will not be allowed to vote. "We are aware that state agents plan to taint doors and water taps with the indelible ink in those areas which are known MDC strongholds in order to disqualify our voters," said MDC elections director Remus Makuwaza. Joseph Chinotimba - a leading figure in the violent occupation of white-owned farms since 2000 - is contesting Harare's Highfield seat. The MDC Highfield MP was expelled from the party for indiscipline while the other seat, Kuwadzana, became vacant following the death in police custody of MDC MP Learnmore Jongwe.
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From News24 (SA), 28 March
Government warns MDC
Harare - The Zimbabwe government on Friday warned that it will deal severely with the opposition if it carries out a threat to march on President Robert Mugabe's residence next week as part of mass action protests. Last week, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party gave the government until March 31 to address demands which include the restoration of law and order and an end to alleged state-sponsored violence. If the government failed to meet the demands, the MDC said it will march on the State House. Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, said the government took the opposition threats "very seriously". But he "sternly warned those who would like to cause unrest and civil commotion in this country under the guise of freedom of expression and democracy that they will be dealt with severely". "We will not allow anybody going to State House or any government building. People must eat and learn to fill their stomachs where they are without dreaming or sometimes being illusionary or sleepwalking," said police commissioner Augustine Chihuri. "Members of the opposition now advocating for a resurgence of political violence should know that no kid gloves will be used in future," Mohadi said, calling for MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who faces treason charges, to be tried while in police custody. "The courts must be aware that while Morgan Tsvangirai is being tried for treason, he is taking advantage of being out of custody to orchestrate acts of violence. We urge the judicial system to review this position so that he is tried while in custody," Mohadi said.
Tsvangirai was arrested last year for plotting to assassinate Mugabe and has been out of custody since then. The trial of Tsvangirai along with two other party officials has been under way since February 3, 2003. Based on evidence supplied by a Canadian based political consultant, Tsvangirai is accused of having planned to kill Mugabe ahead of last year's presidential elections. But Tsvangirai said he was trapped by the Zimbabwe government. On Friday, Tsvangirai repeated his call for peaceful mass action against Mugabe's government if the opposition's demands for law and order are not met by Monday. "There can be no compromise or surrender. Mugabe must unconditionally yield or face decisive mass action from the people," he told some 40 diplomats in the capital. Political tensions are running high in the southern African country ahead of by-elections this weekend in two Harare suburbs, both opposition strongholds, and in the aftermath of an anti-government mass strike held last week. The opposition says at least 400 of its members have been arrested and assaulted and tortured by the security forces, but the police says it is holding only 320 MDC supporters and denies ill-treating any. The police commissioner said allegations of brutality were "pure propaganda". "This talk of brutality... is not substantiated. The police in this country have a good human rights record, they are well trained in human rights, they are well behaved and quite professional," said Chihuri. The European Union on Friday voiced concern over the arrests of the opposition supporters, "many of whom have suffered ill-treatment and even torture by security forces". The United States this week accused Zimbabwe's government of unleashing a new wave of violence against the opposition, which it said was incited when Mugabe compared himself to Adolf Hitler.
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From The Guardian (UK), 29 March
Mugabe troops 'torture hundreds'
Andrew Meldrum in Harare
An unprecedented explosion of state-sponsored violence broke out amid charges of massive vote-rigging before voting begins today in two crucial parliamentary byelections. Hundreds of tortured and severely injured supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) flooded Harare's hospitals this week. They told of vicious beatings, electric shocks and cigarette burns inflicted by uniformed army officers and other supporters of President Robert Mugabe. Two women charged they were raped by army men using the barrels of their rifles. Doctors confirm serious injuries consistent with the accounts of torture. At least one man has died and 500 others have been injured, according to the MDC. The government denies the charges. "Two armoured trucks came at about 1am and about 20 soldiers in uniforms broke into our house," said Margaret Kulinji, 32, an MDC official. "They started beating my mother, an old woman who doesn't know anything about politics. They beat me with the cord of my iron. They forced my mother's legs open and sexually abused her with an AK-47 rifle. They burned me with cigarettes. It was terrible." Mrs Kulinji, her mother and her brother are all recuperating in hospital. Mrs Kulinji said her mother, who was visibly distressed, was depressed and talked of suicide. Doctors in casualty wards said they have never seen such severe injuries. "Victims show similar injuries: fractures, deep lacerations, severe bruising. They give similar accounts of soldiers inflicting the violence. They picked out local leaders of the MDC. This is a new human rights emergency," said one doctor.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 28 March
Government rebuffs Mbeki over POSA
Vincent Kahiya
In a major rebuff to South African President Thabo Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy", the government says it will not under any circumstances amend the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) which it needs as its chief weapon to fight the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. After two months of speculation, mainly spawned by comments from Mbeki that Zimbabwean security legislation would be relaxed, Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa on Wednesday said POSA would not be amended as it was serving a key purpose. "We came up with POSA after a realisation that the country was under siege," he said. "We cannot amend POSA when we are under an onslaught from institutions which are causing mayhem and anarchy in the country. We cannot loosen up and let the MDC and other puppets of the United States and Britain run around bombing bridges and shops. POSA was the answer to this because we have to protect our democratic space and sovereignty." Mbeki has made a number of statements suggesting Zimbabwe would amend POSA and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the last as recently as this week. "We have agreed with the government of Zimbabwe that they should attend to the pieces of legislation that are said to offend human rights (and) the press," he told African clerics meeting in Midrand on Monday. Mbeki has been hawking the undertaking he said he got from Zimbabwe around the Commonwealth to advance the claim that Mugabe was on the path to reform. He first made the claim on amendments to security and press laws when he met British Prime Minister Tony Blair at his country home, Chequers, early last month. He told Blair South African cabinet ministers who had visited Harare learnt of Mugabe's plans to ease political restrictions. Chinamasa dismissed Mbeki's assertion that there was any such agreement. "I am not aware of anyone in my government having made such an undertaking. Anyone suggesting that we are going to amend POSA is not serious. How can we loosen up and relax when we are under siege? Get it from me, POSA will not be amended. We are not doing that and we make no apologies about it," said Chinamasa. The government has used POSA to stifle civic activism by banning marches and public meetings. It also makes ridiculing the president or bringing him into contempt an offence punishable by jail. Lawyers regard the legislation as in conflict with constitutional provisions on freedom of speech and assembly.
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From VOA News, 28 March
Zimbabwe's electrical authority reduces power transmissions
Harare - Zimbabwe's electrical authority says it has to reduce power transmissions because it no longer has enough foreign currency to pay for imported electricity. The power cuts are a further blow to Zimbabwe's struggling economy. Officials of Zimbabwe's electrical authority say they will shortly have to make power cuts that will further affect the country's plummeting economy. Zimbabwe has in recent years been importing increasing volumes of electricity from Mozambique and South Africa, and suppliers in these countries are now demanding payment. South Africa's electricity supplier has extended its credit to Zimbabwe far beyond its normal tolerance. Zimbabwe's own electrical resources have been undermined over the last two years by breakdowns at the main coal powered generators. Few companies in Zimbabwe are working at full capacity. Business leaders say those that remain open are working at about half to two-thirds of normal capacity, and power cuts will further reduce their viability. Evidence of the Zimbabwe's economic crisis is visible everywhere. Few vehicles are on the road this week because there is almost no fuel in Zimbabwe. As with electricity, the government cannot import any fuel because it doesn't have any reserves of foreign currency.
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From BBC News, 28 March
Award for Mugabe's spin doctor
Zimbabwe's Information Minister Jonathan Moyo has been given an award for introducing draconian press legislation. Known as the Golden Raspberry, the British-based international press watchdog, Index on Censorship, said he was given his award for "services to censorship". Mr Moyo is behind the controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act which has resulted in the arrest and detention of scores of journalists working for the independent press. The act also prevents independent journalists from working without a licence. Some foreign reporters including those from the BBC, have either been deported or banned from working in Zimbabwe. According to the local press, Mr Moyo has not been available to comment on his award. But the secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, Luke Tamborinyoka told the Daily News newspaper: "We hope this eminent media terrorist will marvel and be proud of his award." Mr Moyo was formerly a severe government critic, but now acts vigorously against journalists who are critical of Zimbabwe's Government and President Robert Mugabe. Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki was also nominated in the Golden Raspberry category. Mr Moyo's award comes amidst mounting tension in Harare ahead of two by-elections this weekend in seats the opposition Movement for Democratic Change won easily in June 2000 elections. The deadline for further unspecified opposition action, after a successful two day strike last week, is also looming.
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Comment from The Daily Telegraph, 27 March
Zimbabwe bleeds
The opening of the second Gulf war has totally overshadowed a new phase of the struggle in Zimbabwe between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition. On March 18 and 19, the country was paralysed by a strike called by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the largest protest since Mr Mugabe was re-elected for a six-year term in 2002. Unfortunately, the stoppage was marred by a few instances of violence which gave the government the pretext, if it needed any, to arrest more than 500 people, many of whom are being held without charge and denied food and access to lawyers. Others were subjected to random attacks by the army. Zwakwana, the human rights monitoring group, said that hospitals in Harare had treated at least 250 people for broken bones, bruising and sexual assault after they had been beaten with wire whips, iron bars, electrical cords and rifle butts. The harrowing experience of one victim, Patricia Mukonda, a secretary at MDC headquarters, was described in yesterday's paper by Peta Thornycroft, our Harare correspondent.
The confrontation between ruler and the majority of the population seems set to worsen. Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, has given Mr Mugabe till Monday of next week to respond to 15 proposals for easing repression. Mr Mugabe offers no sign of being willing to compromise. At the state funeral of one of his cabinet ministers, he described himself as a latter-day Hitler, a characterisation that shows he has become wholly oblivious to outside opinion. Mr Tsvangirai, who is on trial for treason, has not specified what further mass action will follow the president's failure to meet the deadline. But the opposition, starving and battered, appears to be edging towards violent insurrection, however pathetic that might be against the might of the security forces. Amnesty International has described the arrests since the strike as "a new and dangerous phase of repression".
The main reason for Mr Mugabe's indifference to the rest of the world stems from the extraordinary indulgence of fellow African leaders. Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, claims that things are getting better and was angry at the Commonwealth's decision last week to extend Zimbabwe's suspension from its councils. After allowing France to invite Mr Mugabe to attend a Franco-African summit in Paris, the European Union has renewed sanctions against the president and his henchmen. The United States has taken similar steps. But with the cushion of African condonation, if not outright approval, the president can ignore Western opinion. Savage repression and economic collapse in Zimbabwe have sullied the image of Africa, a continent for which Mr Mbeki has promised a renaissance. Yet ties between men who have struggled for liberation, whether from apartheid or colonial rule, evidently count for more than the actual needs of their peoples. The tragedy of Zimbabwe has wide repercussions.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 30 March
Chaos marks first day of by-elections
By Our Own Staff
There was chaos at most polling stations in the Highfield and Kuwadzana by-elections on the first day of polling yesterday, as Zanu PF supporters ran amok trying to intimidate voters and to influence the poll result. Hordes of Zanu PF supporters in both constituencies held gatherings near polling stations, in most cases less than the stipulated 100 metres away from the polling booths, where some of them beat drums and sang revolutionary songs denouncing the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). At these polling stations, voters were being invited by Zanu PF to register for scarce food commodities such as mealie meal which could be seen piled up near by, a tactic used by the ruling party's candidates to lure votes throughout the campaign period. In one street near Mhofu School in Highfield, Zanu PF supporters virtually sealed off both ends of the road, with about 1 000 lining up to receive mealie meal from a huge truck. Long ropes with the posters of Zanu PF's bearded illiterate candidate, Joseph Chinotimba could be seen blocking the street.
The Standard crew covering the by-election in Highfield was yesterday harassed by a mob of Zanu PF youths who accused them of being MDC activists. Reporter Itai Dzamara, was held hostage for about an hour at the Zanu PF base near Mhofu Primary School in Highfield until he had verified with the command centre at Cyril Jennings Hall that he was a bona fide journalist, registered to cover the elections. Zanu PF supporters also held gatherings near polling stations at Mhuriimwe High School, Mbizi Primary School, Mhizha Primary School and Mhofu Primary School-all in Highfield. The ruling party's supporters checked the identity of all vehicles moving around the suburb and when they discovered The Standard vehicle, it was chased all over Highfield, sometimes by youths in trucks, and pelted with missiles whenever it was spotted. Youth and Zanu PF supporters were also gathered at the house of Chinotimba's election manager, Dorcas Manyonda, where they were being fed and given bags of mealie meal. However, polling officials in both constituencies described the voter turnout at the start of the polling days as "very high". Jabulani Mbambo, the constituency registrar for Highfield, yesterday said: "The turn out is very high. But we are still compiling the figures. When we opened, queues had already formed and voters have continued to trickle in to cast their vote."
Meanwhile, police officers yesterday watched helplessly as the ruling party's supporters held their gatherings very close to the polling stations. It was quite apparent that Zanu PF supporters had the freedom to behave in any manner they wanted to. At the Kuwadzana 3 Primary School polling station, voters were made to line up according to gender and some people said this could have been an attempt to disenfranchise the male voters who are mostly MDC. Anorld Mhini said: "The women are obviously getting favours. We have been waiting here for over two hours and yet the female voters are barely 30 minutes in the queue." David Mutasa of Zanu PF' squares up with the MDC's national youth leader Nelson Chamisa in the by-election for Kuwadzana. In Highfield, war veterans' leader and former Harare municipal security guard Chinotimba, is pitted against the MDC's Pearson Mungofa, independent candidate Egypt Dzinemunhenzva and former legislator and self confessed socialist, Munyaradzi Gwisai. The MDC won all the parliamentary seats in Zimbabwe's major cities and towns in the 2000 legislative polls and has warned that any signs of electoral irregularities in the weekend polls could ignite a violent backlash. The party claimed on Thursday that thousands of people from outside the constituencies had been irregularly registered to vote in the upcoming polls.
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From News24 (SA), 29 March
Mugabe defends his govt
Harare - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe defended himself on Saturday against international outrage over his violent crackdown on the opposition in his country. "It is now time for law and order to have the upper hand, and we will not seek the approval of outsiders to enforce law and order in our country," he was quoted as saying in the state-controlled daily Herald. Mugabe's remarks to a meeting of his central committee on Friday came amid massive condemnation over what human rights organisations described as "the worst campaign of violence yet seen - short of mass killings - against civilians by the country's security forces". "After all, some of the foreigners have been aiding and abetting the creation of instability and disorder here, and are thus part of the lawlessness we have witnessed," he reportedly said. Mugabe's remarks were also seen as a rebuff to President Thabo Mbeki, who earlier this week said Pretoria had told the Zimbabwe government that "we would not agree with actions that deny the right of Zimbabweans to protest peacefully, democratically".
Reports by doctors and civil rights bodies revealed that at least 250 people had to be treated in hospital in the last week for severe injuries inflicted by soldiers rounding up supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The clampdown followed last week's massive support for a two-day national stayaway called by the MDC to protest against the collapse of the rule of law that has brought the country into its worst ever political and economic crisis. The MDC has given Mugabe until Monday to respond to an ultimatum to restore the rule of law or face peaceful mass demonstrations to remove him. On Friday, Zimbabwe's justice minister Patrick Chinamasa also dismissed repeated statements by Mbeki that the government had agreed to amend what has been described as draconian security laws that violated constitutional rights. He said the government would not change the Public Order and Security Act (Posa), used by the regime to quash virtually any form of public criticism of, or demonstrations against Mugabe.
"We cannot amend Posa when we are under an onslaught from institutions which are causing mayhem and anarchy in the country," Chinamasa was quoted as saying in the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent. "We cannot loosen up and let the MDC and other puppets of the United States and Britain run around bombing bridges and shops. "Get it from me, Posa will not be amended. We are not doing that and we make no apologies." Also on Saturday, Mugabe attacked the "white" member of the Commonwealth troika consisting of South Africa, Nigeria and Australia over the organisation's decision to extend Zimbabwe's year-long suspension from the body until December. "The racial high-handedness of the white commonwealth has once again been demonstrated against Zimbabwe by racist Australian prime minister (John) Howard and his New Zealander neighbour (Don) McKinnon (the secretary-general) who singly is acting in a manner that threatens to wreck our Commonwealth," he said.
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From The Observer (UK), 30 March
Report slams fresh abuses in Zimbabwe
State violence reaches new pitch
Andrew Meldrum in Harare
A hard-hitting report by the Commonwealth Secretariat stating conclusively that the Zimbabwe government has maintained state-sponsored human rights abuses is to be delivered to all member heads of government this week, The Observer has learned. It could lead to moves to have Zimbabwe expelled from the Commonwealth. The report comes as state violence against the opposition reached a new pitch after inflammatory speeches by President Robert Mugabe. Voting began yesterday in two key parliamentary by-elections in Harare amid charges of violence and massive rigging of the voters' roll. Drawing on eyewitness accounts from sources in Zimbabwe, the Commonwealth report asserts that Mugabe's government has not taken any steps to stop state violence against civilians or to curb repression of the press and the judiciary. The report maintains that Zimbabwe's year-old suspension from the Commonwealth Council of Ministers should not be lifted as long as the group's democratic principles are so violated by the Mugabe government. 'Because the Zimbabwe government has failed even to attempt to address the concerns set out by the Commonwealth last year, the secretariat report argues there is no option but to maintain the suspension,' said an international affairs expert who read the document.
The report is a strenuous effort by Commonwealth secretary-general Don McKinnon to prevent the 54-nation club from dividing along racial lines over Zimbabwe. Mugabe and South African president Thabo Mbeki are urging all African, Asian and Caribbean nations to oppose the secretariat and lift Zimbabwe's suspension. Mbeki is reportedly furious that McKinnon outflanked him this month by garnering a consensus that Zimbabwe's suspension should be maintained until the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is held in Nigeria in December. Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo had attempted to re-admit Zimbabwe and present the Commonwealth with a fait accompli by cancelling a meeting of the three-member committee charged with determining what to do about the suspension. The two African leaders refused to meet with the third troika leader, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, saying they felt the situation in Zimbabwe had improved so much that it should automatically be readmitted.
But McKinnon said if the troika did not meet, the two Africans were not authorised to lift Zimbabwe's suspension. McKinnon lobbied Commonwealth heads of government and won a majority supporting the decision to maintain Zimbabwe's suspension until the December meeting. South Africa and Nigeria grudgingly agreed with the secretariat's position. But last week South African officials said they were against maintaining Zimbabwe's suspension. South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma went so far as to say that no African country or Third World member of the Commonwealth would support the secretariat. McKinnon has been aided by the growing numbers of documented accounts of beatings, torture, rapes and killings committed by Mugabe's forces against suspected supporters of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Repression of the press has continued with journalists and photographers being arrested and assaulted. Government action against an independent judiciary was highlighted last month when High Court judge Benjamin Paradza was jailed after making decisions that did not please the government. The new Kenyan government and the Ghanaian government are understood to have refused blindly to back Mugabe. Caribbean Commonwealth members reportedly refused to back Mugabe because they were appalled by the treatment of Henry Olonga, Zimbabwe's first black cricketer, who had to go into hiding after wearing a black armband to protest 'the death of democracy in Zimbabwe' during the World Cup. The affable McKinnon is also understood to have the support of key Asian members.
The damning report will shore up McKinnon's consensus in the face of Mbeki's efforts to dismantle it. It will be supported by a report on fresh state violence to be released this week by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a group representing 350 civic organisations. Crisis director Brian Raftopoulos said: 'We urgently need the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group to send a delegation of eminent persons, such as Archbishop Tutu and Nelson Mandela, here.' State violence against the opposition reached a crescendo last week, says the report, with more than 250 men, women and children hospitalised after beatings, electric shocks, cigarette burns and rapes by rifle barrels. Diplomats from South Africa, Nigeria and other Commonwealth members visited hospitals and saw entire families recovering from beatings and torture. Mugabe appears to accept that international condemnation is inevitable in his single-minded pursuit to cling to power. In the past week he suggested he would be 'Hitler tenfold' if that was needed to maintain his policies.
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From The Sunday Times (UK), 30 March
Savage beatings for Mugabe opponents
Geoff Hill, Johannesburg and Peter Conradi
For a moment, when soldiers armed with whips, metal bars and cables burst into the Zimbabwean farm that Isabel Gardner and her husband Norman manage on behalf of an opposition MP, she was convinced she was going to die. "They cocked their weapons and we thought, 'This is it, we're going to be slaughtered'," said Gardner, who like her husband is in her sixties. "They said the police have no power, we have the power, we are the power." It was then the soldiers ordered her and fellow farm workers to roll onto the ground and started to beat them. "The one black woman lying next to me just said, 'You must roll, you must roll'," she said. "But they would follow us, and then we had to roll back and they would follow us again. That was a beating from hell. I didn't think they were going to stop." The attack on Gardner, who last week was recovering from horrific bruising, was not an isolated incident. Human rights groups and Zimbabwean opposition politicians have reported a rise in arrests and violence by soldiers and war veterans loyal to President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party. The incidents, part of a crackdown after a two-day strike, appeared to be a campaign to cow the opposition ahead of critical by-elections in the capital Harare yesterday. There were continuing claims of intimidation as people queued from early morning to vote in the Kuwadzana and Highfield constituencies, both bases of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Mugabe, 79, won re-election for another six-year term as president in controversial polls last March that were attacked as fraudulent by the MDC and the British and other western governments. The European Union said last week it was concerned by a wave of arbitrary arrests of hundreds of opposition supporters, many of whom it said had been mistreated and even tortured.
It has also emerged that boys of 15 are being raped at youth-training centres in what appears part of the government's plans to crush dissent. The Sunday Times has interviewed 52 male Zimbabweans who have fled to South Africa after claiming to have been tortured; of them, 38 said they had been raped or forced to engage in anal sex with other victims. One man, who refused to take part had his eardrums punctured. One such victim was Patrick Ndhlovu, 23, who worked as assistant to an MDC MP. He was called in for questioning by Mugabe's Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) at a camp in the south of Zimbabwe where his head was repeatedly pushed into a bucket of water. "They kept asking me to recite the local MDC membership list, which has thousands of people on it," Ndhlovu said. "But as soon as I tried to say some names, they would drown me again. Finally, they threw me into a corner and said they were going to dinner, but that if I was hungry I should drink more water." Late that night, one CIO officer returned with two men from the youth militia loyal to Zanu PF. They both raped him. "When it was over they put me in handcuffs and chains and left me without my clothes," Ndhlovu said. "I stayed in the room for four days. Finally some other militia came and undid my chains and told me to put on my clothes and leave." Ndhlovu fled across the border to South Africa and now shares a room in Johannesburg with four other victims who endured similar treatment. Sodomy is illegal in Zimbabwe and Mugabe has referred to homosexuals as "pigs". Sekai Holland, the MDC's secretary for international affairs, said this showed the use of male rape as a weapon. "This is not casual sex," she said. "It is a concerted campaign to terrorise our members. Even one of our MPs was raped by 10 men. We are trying to counsel him to go public about the attack." Her concerns were echoed by a doctor in Johannesburg providing free medical treatment to 14 of the exiles. The man asked not to be named for fear that publicity would deter others from seeking his help. "In their culture rape is worse that death and all my patients are being treated for depression and mental trauma," the doctor said. "In my 35 years as a doctor, I have never seen such brutality." More than 2m black Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa. It is believed that as many as 2000 a day are crossing the border.
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From The Daily News, 29 March
Government freezes Air Zim deal
By Precious Shumba
The government has reportedly ordered Air Zimbabwe to terminate its deal to hire two ATR42-500 aircraft from Air Littoral Industrie SA of France because it is too expensive to sustain. Air Zimbabwe management spent Thursday afternoon holding meetings with senior officials at the Ministry of Transport and Communication, where it was concluded that the deal should be stopped. Christian Katsande, the permanent secretary in the ministry, reportedly told the management to find ways to pull out from the deal and ask the French company to return the money that Air Zimbabwe paid in foreign currency as a commitment fee and security deposit. In a statement yesterday, David Mwenga, Air Zimbabwe's spokesman, said the airline was looking for two commuter aircraft on lease to accommodate appropriate traffic levels on domestic and regional routes. Mwenga said the national carrier currently operated two long-haul Boeing 767s and three short-to-medium-haul Boeing 737 aircraft. Mwenga said: "Following the visit to Air Littoral Industrie by Air Zimbabwe's negotiating team, and the failure to secure an agreement on lower engineering maintenance support costs by the French company, the team has recommended to the shareholder that the deal be shelved."
He said Air Zimbabwe would be claiming back from Air Littoral Industries US$630 000 (Z$504 million) as deposit and commitment fee. He said although the airline's management had been working on the lease plan for some time, it had to accelerate the pace of search and possible acquisition due to increased expenditure. He said that was why the airline contracted Cornwell Muleya, Air Botswana's former chief executive officer, late last year, and aviation maintenance legal experts, Beaumont and Son of the United Kingdom, last month, to assist with negotiations for the lease and maintenance agreements with Air Littoral Industrie. He said the airline continues to explore alternative arrangements with appropriate commuter aircraft suppliers to improve its viability. Mwenga said since last year the airline had carried out extensive studies of various types of suitable commuter aircraft, which included ATR 42-500, ATR 42-300, the ERF, Fokker 50s and the Canadian DASH types, but eventually settled for the ATR 42-500 as the most ideal. He said Air Zimbabwe was obliged to send its management and legal advisers to France to inspect the aircraft and negotiate the maintenance agreement.
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 31 March
Menace of mob turns elections into farce
Harare - Thousands of Zimbabwean voters stayed away from by-elections in two opposition-held constituencies yesterday after a sustained campaign of intimidation and violence by supporters of President Robert Mugabe. The low turnout opened the way for the ruling Zanu-PF party to claim victory in Kuwadzana and Highfields, both in Harare, although the opposition Movement for Democratic Change previously took more than 80 per cent of the vote in both seats. Political analysts predict "unprecedented" unrest if the results, due to be announced today, declare the MDC to have lost. Drunken ruling party youths patrolled dusty tracks near polling booths on the outskirts of Harare during the vote. Stones were hurled at a senior African envoy and western and Botswanan diplomats were forced by a mob to leave their observation post at a school polling station. Mr Mugabe and his wife, Grace, are registered voters in Highfields, a historic township where Southern Rhodesia's first black political parties were founded more than 40 years ago. Militia chased all opposition supporters away from the polling station area before they cast their ballots. In Kuwadzana, the MDC candidate, Nelson Chamisa, 24, said two activists were arrested, and an election official, Charity Mutukamira, 27, was kidnapped on the eve of the weekend poll. At least 6,000 new voters had been registered, he said. "They are not from Kuwadzana, they come from other parts of the province. We will have to see how many of them voted illegally."
A western diplomat trying to observe the voting in the face of threats and racial insults from ruling party youths described the poll in Highfields as a "farce". "The police watched, and then advised us to go," he said. Diplomats and journalists saw lorries filled with ruling party supporters patrolling the two townships. An African diplomat said he saw "disturbing" incidents during polling, adding that the elections were marred by the presence of mobs close to polling booths. "They accused me of working for whites, but I explained who I was, then it was all right. I would not like to see us have elections like this at home," he said. Zanu PF officials were not available for comment yesterday, but the state-controlled Sunday Mail, flying in the face of facts on the ground, reported a "massive" voter turnout. The Zanu-PF candidate for Highfields is James Chinotimba, who led attacks on several courts and foreign-owned companies nearly two years ago. The MDC expelled its MP for Highfields late last year for insubordination. The Kuwadzana seat became vacant when its MP, Learnmore Jongwe, committed suicide while on remand in prison where he was awaiting trial accused of murdering his wife.
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From The Independent (UK), 31 March
Mugabe supporters shoot at opposition
By Stella Mapenzauswa in Harare
Zimbabwe's opposition accused backers of President Robert Mugabe of firing shots at its supporters on Sunday during voting in two key parliamentary by-elections. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said no one was injured by the gun shots. It blamed the violence on guerrilla war veterans who support Mugabe. Nelson Chamisa, the MDC's candidate for the Harare constituency of Kuwadzana, said: "It was chaotic, some war veterans started firing guns. A bullet narrowly missed one of our guys." But police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he had not received any reports about the gun shots. "The MDC alleged that the government had handed out AK rifles to war veterans, but I will check it out," he said. Mugabe's Zanu PF party, which holds none of Harare's 19 parliamentary seats, wants to erode the MDC's urban power base by capturing the capital's Kuwadzana and Highfield constituencies in the by-elections. Results are expected on Monday from voting in the by-elections on Saturday and Sunday. The by-elections took place against a background of a new crackdown on the opposition after a two-day strike this month that was one of the biggest protests in years against Mugabe's rule. Mugabe, 79, won re-election for another six-year term as president in polls last March criticised as fraudulent by both the MDC and some Western governments.
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From The Daily News, 31 March
Violence mars polls
By Brian Mangwende and Lawrence Paganga
Violence and intimidation by suspected ruling Zanu PF activists and war veterans marred the two-day parliamentary by-elections in Kuwadzana and Highfield constituencies which ended yesterday. Late in the afternoon yesterday, in Kuwadzana 7, 5 and Kuwadzana Extension, suspected Zanu PF supporters were seen moving in the streets ordering people to stop going to vote - well before the 7pm deadline stipulated by the law. At Kuwadzana 2 shopping centre, suspected Zanu PF supporters fired warning shots after they were confronted by opposition MDC youths over allegations of intimidating voters at some polling stations. Fungayi Ngoya of Kuwadzana 5 said suspected Zanu PF supporters came to his house and threatened to assault him if their party lost the election. This was after he closed his doors when they passed by singing and intimidating people. In Highfield, most polling stations were deserted by 6pm, but The Daily News witnessed truckloads of Zanu PF supporters moving from one polling station to another chanting their party's songs outside the voting centres, creating an intimidatory atmosphere for voters. This was done in full view of the police who did not act. Wayne Bvudzijena, the police spokesman, switched off his cellphone when contacted for comment on the disturbances. On Saturday, a Daily News crew witnessed in both constituencies suspected Zanu PF activists taking down names and addresses of voters before and after they cast their ballots. Zanu PF and MDC election agents were present at all polling stations, while it was not clear yesterday why the other contesting parties failed to field agents. Thomas Bvuma, the Electoral Supervisory Commission spokesperson, said: "Voting proceeded smoothly at polling stations in Kuwadzana and Highfield. There were no major incidents of violence or intimidation.
Voter turnout was high. Queues kept growing during the morning, but stabilised around 1pm." At a polling station at Kuwadzana 2 Primary School, Zanu PF women's league members chanted their party's songs within the 100m radius, while at Mhofu Primary School in Highfield, banners of Joseph Chinotimba, Zanu PF's candidate, were pasted within 100m of the polling station - in clear breach of the law. But the police failed to act. Pearson Mungofa stood for the MDC. In Kuwadzana, Nelson Chamisa of the MDC battled it out with Zanu PF's David Mutasa. In Highfield, most queues were dominated by women. The queues there were split into two - one for women only and the other for men. But in Kuwadzana at most polling stations, the queues were mixed. Eric Murayi, the MDC election manager, and four other MDC members were yesterday attacked by suspected Zanu PF supporters outside Kudzanayi Primary School in Highfield. Murayi said the attack happened in full view of the police who were manning the polling station but they took no action. The Zanu PF supporters allegedly damaged the vehicle in which the MDC members were travelling in and looted food meant for the MDC polling agents. The officers at Machipisa Police Station said they had not received any report about the attack. Luwiza Pfidze, the deputy constituency registrar for Highfield, said a total of 14 991 people had cast their votes by 2pm yesterday.In Kuwadzana, 16 371 people out of 46 194 registered voters had done so by 2pm. Willard Saenda, the Kuwadzana constituency registrar, said 837 people were turned away for not appearing on the voters' roll or not having identity cards.
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From BBC News, 30 March
Zimbabwe opposition defiant after vote
The opposition in Zimbabwe has issued a strong statement against the government as polling closed in two parliamentary by-elections in Harare. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, said events had come to "the countdown to the final reckoning". And he said the country could soon expect a "final push for freedom". The MDC has alleged widespread intimidation and ballot-rigging in the by-elections. Mr Tsvangirai has given the government until midnight on Monday to meet his demands over human-rights abuses and democracy, or face mass action. Two days of general strikes a fortnight ago brought the capital and other urban centres to a halt in a huge show of support for the opposition. A crackdown on MDC members followed, with many people being arrested, and there were widespread reports of the beating and torture of opposition supporters. The MDC accuses President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party of trying to rig the two by-elections, which the opposition won overwhelmingly at the last general election. But police said they had received no reports of violence and the election authorities insisted there were no irregularities. Results are expected on Monday. An opposition politician, Trudy Stevenson, who tried to visit some polling stations in Kuwadzana constituency, said it was a "very, very tense situation". "They were obviously stopping anyone they didn't like from coming near," she said. But Thomas Bvuma, from the Electoral Supervisory Commission, said polling had gone well. Hundreds of Zanu PF supporters lined the streets to cheer Mr Mugabe as he arrived to vote in his Highfield constituency on Saturday. The run-up to the polls had already seen tensions rising following the anti-government strike last week. Zanu PF and the MDC exchanged allegations of violence during campaigning which human rights groups say left hundreds of people injured. On Friday, the European Union condemned "unprecedented government-sponsored violence" against the opposition in Zimbabwe. It said the Zimbabwean people had a constitutional right to protest peacefully and called on the government to respect that right.
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Comment from The Sunday Times (SA), 30 March
Mbeki is sticking his neck out by taking on the Commonwealth
Ranjeni Munusamy, Johannesburg
Last Wednesday night, as the US trained its missiles on Iraq, senior South African Foreign Affairs officials were engaged in all-night talks. The classified discussions were not about the war, as was the case in numerous capitals around the world that night. Instead, the topic was Zimbabwe. The talks were prompted by last week's announcement by the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Don McKinnon, that Zimbabwe's one-year suspension from the 54-nation group was to be extended by 10 months. Zimbabwe was suspended after its flawed presidential election. Since the extension was announced, diplomats from some Commonwealth countries have allegedly reported to their South African counterparts that the process leading up to it was less than honest. There have been claims that some heads of government - whom McKinnon consulted about what the Commonwealth should do next about Zimbabwe - were misled into believing that President Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo would go along with the extension if that was the wish of the majority of leaders. McKinnon had consulted the other Commonwealth leaders due to the discord on the issue between Mbeki, Obasanjo and Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who make up the Commonwealth troika. The two African leaders have consistently opposed Howard's attempts to impose harsher penalties on Zimbabwe. At a meeting of diplomatic representatives of Commonwealth countries in London last Monday, where McKinnon reported the contents of his statement, South Africa's High Commissioner, Lindiwe Mabuza, unleashed a barrage of questions on how the decision to extend the suspension of Zimbabwe was arrived at. That she was not convinced by McKinnon's explanation - that it was "the broad view" of the majority of countries - was clear when she released a media statement on Thursday, following the late night-consultations with her Foreign Affairs bosses. In the statement she asked "precisely which countries were consulted and what positions they communicated to the secretary-general".
Mabuza argued that the 10 African countries represented in the Commonwealth as well as those with membership of the Non-Aligned Movement would not have supported the move to further malign Zimbabwe. She said this meant there could not have been consensus among the Commonwealth nations and hence the view of the troika majority should prevail. "Otherwise there is no consistency and the outcome is a consequence of a political and procedural travesty," Mabuza raged. Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad went further to say that South Africa wanted a review of the decision. South Africa seems confident that Africa and other developing nations are willing to back Zimbabwe to the hilt, as South Africa does. But no other nation, in Africa or elsewhere, has condemned the decision. Commonwealth officials say some African leaders have called for stronger action against Zimbabwe but didn't want this made public. And while the South Africans have been foaming at the mouth, Obasanjo's reaction has been instructional. His London representative said that while the Nigerian government's preference was to have Zimbabwe's suspension lifted, it was in the interest of the Commonwealth to work together to move the situation forward. Obasanjo, it seems, is ready to move on. With a fast-approaching presidential election and a large Muslim population getting progressively agitated about the war in Iraq, he clearly has bigger fish to fry. Not so with Mbeki. For some reason, the South African government thinks that it is worth questioning the integrity of the Commonwealth and waging a lone war on Zimbabwe's behalf. This is in spite of the fact that President Robert Mugabe has thumbed his nose at Mbeki at every opportunity, betraying his trust by leaking the contents of private discussions and reneging on undertakings to reform.
That 80% of the workforce responded to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change's stayaway campaign last week makes it clear that the vast majority of Zimbabweans are fed up with the political and economic abyss. Even with the MDC's political deficiencies, the stayaway showed ordinary people's frustration with poverty, hunger, joblessness and the deterioration of living standards. Mbeki said in Parliament this week that he would deal with Zimbabwe in a manner that sought to "produce results". "We're not going to deal with it in a manner that makes good headlines," he said. South Africa would therefore do its best to help jump-start the stalled reconciliation talks between Zanu PF and the MDC, Mbeki said. At some point, South Africa needs to come up with a plan B. It has a standard formula when it comes to resolving conflict situations: bring everyone around the negotiating table and hope for the best. This worked for South Africa and, to an extent, in the Great Lakes. But it won't necessarily do so in Zimbabwe.
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Comment from The Zimbabwe Independent, 28 March
Crimes against humanity and the transition
Tony Reeler
As Zimbabwe moves inexorably into greater and greater crisis, the prospect of a negotiated transition moves higher up the agenda of possible solutions. There seems little consensus on the way forward however. The Nigerian president favours the retirement of Robert Mugabe, but also wants the MDC to drop their petition on the presidential election to remove a potential obstacle to the transition, or is this to remove a source of embarrassment for the African nations that validated a palpably fraudulent election? There are indications that the South African government favours a government of national unity, probably with the support of the Southern African business community. On the other hand, the US and the EU have raised the pressure with increased personal sanctions, and the US has now decided that it will raise the matter at the forthcoming Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva. The International Bar Association believes that Robert Mugabe and his henchmen should be tried for crimes against humanity.
The question about whether the violence in Zimbabwe would conform to international definitions of crimes against humanity presupposes two problems. The first is whether the evidence establishes that the violence indicates crimes against humanity, and the second problem is whether the definition is jurisdictionally relevant. Essentially, the regime's position has been to minimise the scale of the violence, to attack those documenting it as prejudiced and politically partisan, and to continually argue that all current wrongs in Zimbabwe stem from the land problem. Furthermore, the Mugabe regime would also argue that there have been relatively few deaths - as compared to many other countries - and this too presupposes that there have not been gross human rights violations on a large-scale. Against this view, the countervailing evidence is rather dramatic, and is summarised from a very large number of reports from local Zimbabwean human rights groups, international human rights bodies, and even governments. The following is common cause:
All reports show that the violence has been disproportionately one-sided, and against the MDC and other groups not supporting Zanu PF;
All reports show that the violence attributed to Zanu PF is different to the violence attributed to the other groups, both in the scale and in the nature;
The violence attributed to Zanu PF shows evidence of systematic torture, abductions, disappearances, summary executions and extra-judicial killings, and this is very rarely the case with violence attributed to other groups such as the MDC;
The systematic torture shows a strong associations with officials of the state - members of parliament, the police, the CIO, and other officials - as well as an association with groups closely affiliated to the Zanu PF party - war veterans, youth militia, Zanu PF youths, Zanu PF supporters, Zanu PF party officials, etc;
The evidence shows that plausible allegations can be made for the involvement of senior party and government leaders, and there are many statements from victims implicating such persons.
The evidence suggests that a strong case can be made for a planned strategy using militia. Firstly, the war veterans were deployed to manage the farm invasions and the parliamentary election and, secondly, a youth militia cadre was developed and deployed initially for the presidential election, but subsequently deployed all around the country. The evidence available shows a very strong association between the youth militia and torture, and it is not contested that there are training camps for the youth militia nor that government funds have been allocated to such training. According to the developing international legal position on crimes against humanity, as well as other gross human rights violations such as torture, there shall never be impunity for such crimes and there shall be universal jurisdiction over such crimes. In practice, this is not so simple, but the basic assumptions are relatively straightforward: that there are a class of crimes that concern all nations and peoples, and these crimes are so horrible that they strike at the heart of humanity and civilisation. Hence they concern us all and cannot be only an issue for the sovereign nation in which the crimes occurred. This was the case for apartheid, for example.
In practice, there are both definitional and jurisdictional problems. However, the Pinochet judgements have helped with both. First, it is clear from the UK Law Lords that the modern meaning of crimes against humanity is that such crimes offend against all peoples and cannot be seen as merely domestic matters. As Lord Millet stated: "Since the Second World War states have recognised that not all criminal conduct can be left to be dealt with as a domestic matter by the laws and the courts of the territories in which such conduct occurs. There are some categories of crime of such gravity that they shock the consciousness of mankind and cannot be tolerated by the international community." There are strong prima facie grounds for believing that the Mugabe regime's perpetration of gross human rights violations must "shock the consciousness of mankind", and also strong prima facie grounds for believing that these crimes have involved "the concerted conduct of many and liable to involve the complicity of the officials of the state in which they occur, if not of the state itself". Furthermore, as the Law Lords pointed out, these human rights violations are not considered to be part of the normal practice of governments and leaders of states. The effect of the Pinochet decisions was to quite clearly limit the immunity that could be claimed by a government or a head of state.
The notion of immunity is clearly more complicated than this, but the overall conclusion of the Law Lords was to point out that heads of state, and their minions, could not commit crimes against humanity; to conclude otherwise was to mock international law. And lest we think that the Zanu PF view that the small number of deaths mitigates against any view that there have been crimes against humanity, the Law Lords also pointed out that torture would comprise a crime against humanity if perpetrated as part of a systematic campaign or policy. This is clearly the intent of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, as well the Rome Statute; it is not merely deaths on a large-scale that comprise genocide, or crimes against humanity, it is the systematic perpetration of any of a number of cruel and inhuman practices that constitute crimes against humanity. This is the conclusion to be drawn from the evidence in re |
