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Archived News
25th March 2003
Zimbabwe protest fuelled by hunger and desperation
Dozens of activists jailed in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe pressured by youth bulge
Treason trial: Videotape clear and audible, witness tells court
Land Report
National strike paralyses economy for second day in Zimbabwe
Mugabe critics spurred on by strike
MDC gives Mugabe two-week ultimatum
130 arrested on second day of mass action
Whereabouts of arrested ANZ staffers not known
Explosions in Zimbabwe as strikes cripple economy
Court stops minister's bid to seize property
Troops attack farm, kill one
Soldiers run amok
Mozambique threatens to cut off power supplies
Zim faces power blackout
Air vice-marshal tells of Menashe's inaudible tape
Mass arrests signal new and dangerous phase of repression
Zimbabwe's Mugabe accuses west of funding violence, terrorism
Harare's mayor receives death threats
Over 500 demonstrators march in Johannesburg
Israeli-made vehicles on alert during mass action
Witness concedes to defence
Wife of Mugabe's army chief said: 'That woman's trouble, beat her'
President renews vow against opposition
Decision on Zimbabwe vexes Pretoria
Forex rate scuttles Libyan fuel deal
Why are we backing regime change in Baghdad but not in Harare?
Zimbabwe doctors treat 250 after alleged gov't reprisals
400 MDC members arrested
Soldiers beat up nightclub patrons
Soldiers beat farm workers
Villagers starve as aid officials squabble
OHYCAEI: the secret code to Mbeki's Zim policy
Seized land is earmarked for Mugabe family, farmers say
Witness defends quality of tape
Ben-Menashe witness gets US $1 000 per day
Opposition, rights groups cite attacks by cops, militia after Zimbabwe strike
Eyewitness: Zimbabwe torture victim
The burden of proof
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From The Times (UK), 19 March
Zimbabwe protest fuelled by hunger and desperation
From Michael Dynes in Johannesburg
The people of Zimbabwe yesterday began the largest anti-government protest since President Mugabe was declared to have won last year's election. Protesters enraged by nationwide food shortages triggered by the Government' s illegal and violent land seizures, and the continued repression of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), shut down businesses and disrupted public transport across the country. Police fired tear gas grenades in the Harare township of Mabvuku after protesters tried to block streets around a bus station. Demonstrators also built street barricades of rocks and wood in a bid to disrupt traffic travelling between the city's townships and suburbs. MDC leaders called for two days of national protests to demand an end to state repression, economic mismanagement and government corruption which they say has left half the country's 13 million people facing acute food shortages and the threat of widespread starvation. "We can only take so much and no more," one opposition newspaper advertisement said. "When a people lose their dignity through despair, injustice, hunger and oppression, they have to resort to desperate measures to survive." Businesses and banks also closed across the country as the two-day stay-away, the largest since Mr Mugabe's return to power last March, gathered momentum. Zimbabwe is enduring its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1980, with huge shortages of food, fuel and essential imports.
As police struggled to bring the protests under control, it emerged that South Africa and Nigeria only reluctantly agreed to Zimbabwe's continued suspension from the Commonwealth, a month after calling for the penalty to be lifted. Don McKinnon, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, said that a majority of the organisation's 54 members backed Zimbabwe's continued suspension, originally imposed in protest at alleged election-rigging and the seizure of white-owned farms. The Commonwealth's decision, announced on Sunday, bars Zimbabwe from participating in the organisation's councils for a further ten months until the next Commonwealth heads of government summit in Abuja in December. President Mbeki of South Africa and President Obasanjo of Nigeria earlier astounded the international community after insisting that Zimbabwe had made sufficient progress in re-establishing democracy and the rule of law to justify its year-long Commonwealth suspension being lifted. Reports of the arrest, harassment and torture of opposition supporters have been an almost daily occurrence since the disputed election, with the ruling Zanu PF party determined to reverse opposition gains in urban strongholds.
South Africa and Nigeria re-affirmed their belief over the weekend that Zimbabwe had made enough progress to be readmitted but accepted that they were not in a majority, Mr McKinnon said. "They recognised that the overall view was to have the suspension extended." Mr McKinnon said he had canvassed the views of almost every Commonwealth leader. "There are very mixed feelings about the issue," Mr McKinnon said. "This is one of the most difficult situations we have ever had to face in the Commonwealth," he added. However, "the clear majority view was for the suspension to remain until leaders could assess the situation again in December. They would like to see more progress in Zimbabwe, particularly in terms of reconciliation." He said it was the best compromise on an issue which threatened to divide the Commonwealth on racial lines.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 19 March
Dozens of activists jailed in Zimbabwe
Dozens of opposition supporters were arrested across Zimbabwe on Tuesday as the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) launched its most widely followed protest against President Robert Mugabe's government for years, the opposition said. At least 63 people, including two MDC lawmakers, were arrested, according to police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena, who said there had been "stoning of passing motor vehicles and barricading of roads, besides petrol-bombing targets". Buses were stoned in several poor suburbs of the capital Harare, and shops and businesses remained closed in the city and several other towns as MDC supporters heeded the party's call for a nationwide strike. Bvudzijena maintained the mass action, which police had declared illegal, had been a "total failure". The state Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) concurred, saying it had been "business as usual" around the country. But the claims were contradicted by MDC representative Paul Themba Nyathi, who said "thousands" of Zimbabweans had heeded his party's call and stayed away from work. By late on Tuesday afternoon, central Harare's streets were nearly empty, with the few businesses that had opened in the morning closing early for the day. The MDC said the mass action had also been widely followed in the country's second city of Bulawayo and in the eastern border town of Mutare. Two MDC legislators were arrested in central and southern Zimbabwe, Nyathi said. He also alleged that four MDC activists had been abducted in the northern farming town of Bindura. An AFP correspondent in Bulawayo reported seeing police disperse groups of commuters waiting for public transport in the Renkini bus terminal. Most businesses in the city, including banks, remained closed. Previous mass anti-government movements organised by civic groups in the southern African country have failed to get off the ground, but Tuesday's stay-away appeared to have been widely followed.
As tensions flared, a bus from a parastatal firm was petrol-bombed near the slum township of Epworth on the outskirts of Harare. Two policemen were reportedly injured in the attack. A Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) van was stoned in the Harare suburb of Glen View and rocks were also hurled at at least three mini-buses in the working class suburb of Mabvuku, east of the capital, an eyewitness said. Police had to fire teargas in Rugare township to disperse youths who were setting up barricades on the main roads leading out of the suburb. The MDC had called for peaceful mass "action for national survival" to protest at Zimbabwe's deepening socio-political and economic crisis. The action was to start on Tuesday and end on Wednesday. "The majority of Zimbabweans are wallowing in poverty. More than eight million people ... are staring death in the eyes," the MDC said in press advertisements at the weekend. "When people lose their dignity through despair, injustice, hunger and oppression, they have to resort to desperate measures to survive," it added. Mugabe's government has linked the stayaway to the extension of Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth. "The planned opposition mass action has been calculated to coincide with Wednesday's Commonwealth report on Zimbabwe's suspension from the councils of the 54-member grouping and America's push to have Zimbabwe condemned for alleged human rights abuses," the state-run Herald newspaper said. Pro-government commentators have blamed former colonial power Britain for being behind the mass protests, in a bid to increase hardship for Zimbabweans.
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From The Christian Science Monitor, 19 March
Zimbabwe pressured by youth bulge
Young people lent ardent support to Tuesday's demonstrations in Harare
By Nicole Itano
Bulawayo - Heeding a call from Zimbabwe's beleaguered opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), protesters shut down much of Harare Tuesday in the largest expression of public discontent since tumultuous presidential elections one year ago this week. Opposition supporters in the capital city threw up makeshift barricades, burned at least one bus, and shut down shops and factories. At the same time, police helicopters swooped overhead, and heavily armed riot police tear-gassed crowds in at least six places around Harare. The demonstrations against the government of President Robert Mugabe, who denies MDC charges that he stole last year's election, are a sign of new life for the opposition, which has faced increasing criticism for failing to take strong action. They also highlight the urgency many Zimbabweans feel for change. With more than half the country under the age of 18 and employment opportunities bleak, young people often dream of a better future outside Zimbabwe. But the size of yesterday's demonstrations indicate that many here are willing to try to change things from the inside. "People have heeded this call because 70 percent of the population is unemployed. They have heeded this call because of the heightened oppression...." says MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi. "We decided that it was time for the people of Zimbabwe to make their voices heard." Mr. Nyathi estimates that 80 percent of businesses in Harare have been closed due to the strike and that at least 100 people have been arrested and 20 injured. Many of the strike's most ardent supporters are people like Moses Chamanga, an unemployed former student who handed out fliers in Harare today in support of the mass action.
Many in Mr. Chamanga's generation, known as the "born-frees" because they were born after Zimbabwe's independence, blame the government for the country's current economic troubles, and place less value on the freedom-fighting credentials of the current leadership. They are more Western, urban, and better-educated than their parents. And because they now comprise well over half the country's population, largely due to the decimation of older generations from AIDS, their voices are becoming an increasingly important force. "This is a generation that says, 'Don't teach us about the struggle, talk to us about the present and where we are going,' " explains Masipula Sithole, director of the University of Zimbabwe's Mass Public Opinion Institute. "I look to the young people rather than the generation past. They're already beginning to change things." Zimbabwe is one of the youngest countries on the world's youngest continent. This seismic demographic shift is most evident in cities like Bulawayo and Harare, to which many young people have flocked in recent years in search of work. Young people tend to bear the brunt of Zimbabwe's high unemployment and deteriorating economy. Economists say that annual inflation hovers around 220 percent and could top 350 percent by year's end. Surges in youth populations have overwhelmed schools and other public services, taxing already overstretched government budgets. And when young people begin to flood the job market, as they have here, the economy is simply not large enough to accommodate them all. Although economists say the decline here began as long ago as a decade, Zimbabwe's economy has been in a two-year-long tailspin brought on by the government's chaotic land reform program and strict economic controls. Instead of the ABCs, people here are talking about the "Three Fs:" no food, no fuel, no foreign currency.
The urge to leave is pervasive among the country's more educated youth. Many dream of going to school in America or finding jobs in England. "The whole situation for young people in Zimbabwe doesn't give you much hope," says a 25-year-old architecture graduate named Lesley, who can count only a handful of college friends who have stayed. "If you have the money, then the first thing you think of is how to leave." A recent study of Zimbabwe's youth conducted by Professor Sithole and the Mass Public Opinion Institute indicates that 75 percent of young Zimbabweans, from primary school age to 25, would like to leave. The results cut across gender and education levels and hold true for both urban and rural youth. The government is aware of the strength young Zimbabweans wield and has pressed many into National Youth Service, pro-ruling party militias nicknamed the "green bombers" for the uniforms they wear. The bombers, who receive food, clothing, and housing from the government, are said to commit rape and torture against urban communities believed to be pro-opposition, a claim they deny. The government has vowed to crack down on today's MDC demonstrations, which they call illegal. Protests were expected to continue today. Professor Sithole says many young people will stay to fight or return if they see the possibility for change. "We were less willing in the beginning to become involved," he says of his generation and the liberation struggle. "But eventually we became involved. The born-frees will come back."
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From The Herald, 19 March
Treason trial: Videotape clear and audible, witness tells court
Court Reporter
The treason trial of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and two other senior party officials continued yesterday with a witness asserting that a videotape on the alleged plot to assassinate President Mugabe is clear and audible. Under cross-examination by Advocate Chris Andersen, Ms Tara Thomas disagreed with the defence that a substantial portion of the tape could not be heard. Tsvangirai, MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube and Gweru Rural MP Renson Gasela are on trial for plotting to assassinate President Mugabe. Adv Andersen suggested to Ms Thomas that because of the videotape's poor visual and sound quality, nothing meaningful could be made out of it. "Yes it is not up to standard but I could hear the majority of what had been said," said Ms Thomas. She also said that if the volume was increased it was obvious that the conversation could be clearly heard. It was also suggested to Ms Thomas that the video tape was doctored therefore it did not reflect what exactly transpired at the meeting discussing the elimination of President Mugabe. "If there has been interference, it makes it even more difficult to make out the context of the discussion?" asked Adv Andersen. "I don't really know," said Ms Thomas, before the defence accused her of being protective of Mr Ari Ben-Menashe. Ms Thomas, Adv Andersen said, was defensive of her boss to the extent of being economic with the truth. In addition, he said the evidence of the two was in conflict. Ms Thomas was asked to explain to the court her role in the plot to assassinate President Mugabe that took place in Montreal Canada. She said she was merely listening to the conversation and writing down things which had nothing to do with the meeting.
The court was shown the video tape to observe the body language of the people involved in the discussion alleging the conspiracy to murder President Mugabe. But Adv Andersen said the body language of Tsvangirai, Mr Ari Ben-Menashe and two others as shown in the video tape, were generally relaxed and did not suggest that a crime was being committed. "The body language is inconsistent with a conspiracy to murder," said Adv Andersen. The defence further asked Ms Thomas why she embarked on a meaningless and nonsensical exercise instead of writing notes in the meeting. In her response, Ms Thomas said she was merely scribbling down something to keep herself occupied. Asked if she had read the transcript before she came to court to give evidence, Ms Thomas admitted reading it in conjunction with the video tape at least three times. She, however, denied having read the transcript together with Mr Ben-Menashe as suggested by Adv Andersen. Ms Thomas was also asked questions pertaining to the characters of Mr Ben-Menashe and Mr Alexander Legault. Mr Legault is a business partner of Mr Ben-Menashe, the president of Dickens and Madson. Tsvangirai, Ncube and Gasela deny the charges against them claiming the Government set them up. They face a possible death penalty if convicted. The trial continues today before Judge President Justice Paddington Garwe and assessors Major Misheck Nyandoro and Mr Joseph Dangarembizi.
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From ZWNEWS, 19 March
Land Report
As I was going up the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
I wish, I wish he'd stay away
"There is no such report, and whatever report there is, is merely an invention of the enemies of the State. It was an act of mischief on your part to have reproduced that story, for there was definitely no report to leak since it does not exist" - senior government official quoted in The Sunday Mirror. "We don't know anything about that report. We only read about it in the newspapers" - Rural Resettlement director Edward Samuriwo quoted in The Tribune.
Selling of land allocations, Zanu PF infighting over who gets what, 'hired thug' wars over disputed properties, forced ousting of resettled farmers, gazetting of hotels as farmland, multiple land grabbing: all detailed in the addendum to the national land audit interim report, commissioned by the government itself. No crimes, of course; merely "anomalies" and "policy violations". If you would like to read a copy of the confidential addendum to the land audit, please let us know. It will be sent as a Word attachment to an email message - total size 60 Kb, or just a little bigger than the average daily ZWNEWS.
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From Associated Press, 19 March
National strike paralyses economy for second day in Zimbabwe
Angus Shaw
A national strike called to protest Zimbabwe's increasingly authoritarian government shut down businesses and disrupted transportation services across the country for a second day Wednesday. After violence in Harare a day earlier, police reinforcements were deployed in Bulawayo, the second largest city, where shops and banks were closed, state radio reported. Factory owners in Harare reported fewer workers showing up at their jobs Wednesday. "Those who have made it say the buses are harder to get today. Some have walked to work," said Amos Chimedza, a furniture factory supervisor in the Southerton industrial district. He said with about 60 percent absenteeism, many businesses sent workers home and closed their gates. "We can't operate like this. It's as quiet as a Sunday around here," said Chimedza. The government has yet to comment on the strike action.
The two-day strike, which began Tuesday, and a series of demonstrations in outlying townships were called by the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change to protest alleged government repression and acute shortages of food and gasoline. In clandestinely distributed flyers, the opposition called for peaceful protests carried out with "utmost discipline". "People must demand change through action if we are to survive in these trying times," the flyers said. Two buses and a truck were torched by rioters in Harare Tuesday, police said. Officers fired tear gas in eastern Harare, where gangs of youths hurled stones at passing cars and attempted to block streets surrounding a bus station. A van of the state Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp. was damaged in a stoning attack and a bakery truck was intercepted and looted. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said detectives were investigating what he described as "ringleaders who are paying youths to participate in illegal activities."
Army units were deployed in some neighborhoods of Harare. They imposed an informal curfew in one district, telling people to keep off the streets. The response to the call for "mass action" was the largest since President Robert Mugabe was re-elected last year. The election was denounced by the opposition after international observers reported intimidation and vote rigging. The opposition hoped the action would paralyze the economy and force Mugabe to step down ahead of new internationally supervised elections, said spokesman, Paul Themba Nyathi Instability began to spread in Zimbabwe three years ago after the government launched an often violent campaign to confiscate 95 percent of white-owned farmland as part of its land reform program.
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From The Guardian (UK), 20 March
Mugabe critics spurred on by strike
Andrew Meldrum in Harare
After a two-day anti-government strike, Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change yesterday vowed to escalate "mass action" to force President Mugabe's government to reform or leave office. The national strike was the biggest protest for more than two years against Robert Mugabe's 23-year rule, shutting factories, shops, banks and other businesses in protest at alleged human rights abuses and the economic decline. More than 400 opposition figures, including a member of parliament, were arrested over the two days, said civic groups. Police would not confirm the number of arrests, but said that "mysterious explosions" near the city of Kadoma had damaged a supermarket, three shops, a bar and a bridge. "Thirty-three people were arrested in Kadoma, including Austin Mupandawana, the MDC member of parliament," the police said.
Re-invigorated by the strike, the opposition MDC issued the Mugabe government with a list of 15 demands to restore democratic rights by March 31 or face "popular mass action to regain the people's liberties, freedoms and dignity". Critics accuse Mr Mugabe's regime of human rights abuses, rigging his re-election, and causing mass hunger by seizing the white minority's farms. Two-thirds of Zimbabwe's 12 million people are threatened with starvation, according to government figures. "Over the past two days the people of Zimbabwe in their millions bravely demonstrated that they are no longer willing to live under tyranny and poverty," said Paul Themba Nyathi, an MDC spokesman. "The violence, the torture, murder and all other brutalities can no longer stop the people's desire to be free."
Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC president, now standing trial for treason, thanked the people for backing the call for a strike: "You have demonstrated beyond any doubt to the regime that we, the people of Zimbabwe, have no fear and will take concrete steps to reclaim our power. "This regime is nervous. Their bags are now packed as they realise who has the power. We have to prepare for the final push and they will run ... We should prepare for the final onslaught for a people's victory." Brian Raftopoulos, chairman of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, said civic groups fully supported the demand for the Mugabe government to step down. The Commonwealth, meanwhile, has extended Zimbabwe's year-long suspension until December when the 54-nation group meets in Nigeria. The suspension, due to have expired yesterday, highlights Mr Mugabe's failure to split the Commonwealth on race lines.
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From The Financial Gazette, 20 March
MDC gives Mugabe two-week ultimatum
By Sydney Masamvu Assistant Editor
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)'s mass action will resume in two weeks with marches to President Robert Mugabe's Munhumutapa building offices and his official residence, State House, if the opposition party's demands for a negotiated political settlement are not met, it was learnt yesterday. MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai told the Financial Gazette that his party's national executive would meet on Sunday to review the mass action and decide how to proceed. The protests, called to pressure Mugabe to recognise and tackle Zimbabwe's worsening political and economic crisis, this week took the form of a national job stayaway on Tuesday and yesterday. Most businesses remained closed during the two days, with many employees staying away from work. Tsvangirai said a letter containing several demands to be met by the government by March 31 would be presented to Mugabe tomorrow. Failure to meet the demands within the next two weeks would result in the escalation of mass protests, the MDC leader said. He told the Financial Gazette: "The initial phase has been completed and the next stage will proceed on another level, which will be decided by the executive over the weekend and in line with responses on demands which we want addressed as a party." Issues that will be raised in the letter include the legitimacy of Mugabe's government, which the opposition party says is only in power because the ruling ZANU PF rigged last March's presidential election. The MDC's demands also include the restoration of the rule of law, the depoliticisation of the police force and the army, which are accused of serving ruling party instead of national interests. The opposition party also wants the disbanding of militias that critics say are being trained by the government under the guise of the national service programme and being used against MDC supporters and members of the public. Repeal of the Public Order and Security Act, legalising demonstrations and political gatherings presently outlawed by the legislation, are also among the MDC's demands, which also include an end to political violence.
Tsvangirai would not say what form the next stage of the mass action would take if Mugabe did not accede to his party's demands. However, senior officials within the MDC said this week's mass action, during which workers were asked to stay away from work, was a "test run" to gauge the mood of the nation. They said the mass action would take a different form if the party's demands were not met. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the next phase of the action would see street protests and marches around the country. Participants in the protests would be organised to march to Mugabe's Munhumutapa building offices and his official residence at State House, the officials told the Financial Gazette. "We have our demands and are ready to move a gear up and the message will, without any doubt, be put across forcefully to Mugabe on his own doorstep if nothing is done to address our concerns," a senior MDC official said. "What we were doing in the first two days was a test run, it was a stayaway, but we are moving into phase two of the action, which will see us at Munhumutapa building and State House," he added. A team involved in working out the logistics of the mass action was already in the process of mobilising party supporters for the marches, the official said.
Political commentators said Mugabe was unlikely to bow down to the MDC, the strongest opposition he has faced since he came to power in 1980. Mugabe has dismissed the MDC as "puppets" of Zimbabwe's former colonial master Britain and as unfit to run the country. The commentators said the government might increase its crackdown against the MDC in the next two weeks to pre-empt street protests, which they said were likely to be hampered by heavy police presence.
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From The Financial Gazette, 20 March
130 arrested on second day of mass action
Staff Reporter
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) arrested 130 more protesters on the second day of opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) mass protests, with police sources saying they had been instructed to use minimal force so as not to provoke uncontrollable public violence. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said most of the arrests yesterday were carried out in high-density suburbs around the country, where protesters burnt vehicles. Another 63 protesters was arrested on Tuesday, the first day of the stayaway, during which most businesses remained closed and workers stayed at home in response to the MDC's call for mass action to press for a resolution of Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis. Bvudzijena said 12 vehicles, including cars and buses, were attacked or petrol-bombed by members of the public yesterday in Mutare, Kadoma, Bulawayo and Harare. Tensions were high in Mutare's Sakubva suburb, where several cars, including delivery vehicles, were stoned in the early hours of yesterday morning. Skirmishes were also reported during the afternoon in Mutare, while the Harare-Mutare passenger train was delayed after several people blocked the railway line at the Feruka-Cadec rail crossing with heavy stones.
Heavily armed soldiers and anti-riot police yesterday maintained a heavy presence in the high-density areas of the country's major cities, most of whose citizens spent Tuesday and Wednesday at home. There were no serious clashes reported between the police and members of the public during the two days of the mass action. The police had early this week vowed to deal ruthlessly with any violence sparked by the protests, the MDC's first serious challenge to the government since President Robert Mugabe's controversial re-election last March. But police sources told the Financial Gazette that they had been instructed not to use "too much force" that could provoke protesters because of fears that this could incite the public into an uncontrollable violent reaction. Meanwhile, many teachers and other civil servants, whose payday was on Tuesday, were unable to withdraw their salaries from commercial banks and building societies because several financial institutions did not open during the stayaway. Although some banks opened for business on Tuesday, most financial institutions remained closed yesterday. Many Harare residents were also unable to use automated teller machines (ATMs), which had run out of cash by yesterday. "I had anticipated that the mass stayaway would have subsided by today, but it seems things just got worse," a Harare teacher said yesterday. "Now I am not sure how I will get back home because I had thought I would withdraw my salary. I have tried all the ATMs and they are not working," the civil servant added. Despite assurances by the government that its offices would remain open during the mass action, there was little activity at most state facilities visited by the Financial Gazette this week. There were few people at the Registrar-General's Office in Harare, where long queues for passports, birth certificates, identity cards and other document are a daily sight. However, the High Court, where three senior MDC officials are on trial for treason, appeared to be operating normally.
"The people have spoken in a fashion that only a fool can ignore," said Peter Bazuzi of Mutare about the response to the mass action. "This should be one of the steps in a protracted battle to remove the shackles of political oppression and economic mayhem at the hands of ZANU PF. A revolution at this moment is in the making," he added. Most members of the public interviewed by this newspaper said they were ready for a more serious confrontation that would force Mugabe's government out of power. "I am ready for anything now. I was afraid that people would not listen to the call for action but they did, and I am now confident the people are ready for any action that would remove Mugabe," said Frank Matapi of Kuwadzana. He added: "We have nothing to lose now. Even though I go to work, the money I earn at the end of the month is not enough to sustain me for a week. So it's better to confront the evil that has caused our misery now and then we can start rebuilding."
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From The Daily News, 20 March
Whereabouts of arrested ANZ staffers not known
By Columbus Mavhunga
The whereabouts of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ) Corporate Affairs Director, Gugulethu Moyo, and Daily News photographer, Philimon Bulawayo, were unknown last night following their arrest on Tuesday morning. They were last seen yesterday afternoon at the Harare Central Police Station. Moyo and Bulawayo who were assaulted at Glen View Police Station, were denied medical treatment on Tuesday. Last night the two could not be located as lawyer Kay Ncube made frantic efforts to secure their release. Moyo was arrested at Glen View Police Station when she tried to have Bulawayo released after his arrest while covering the mass action in Budiriro. The two were severely assaulted by Jocelyn Chiwenga, the wife of army commander, Lieutenant-General Constantine Chiwenga, and Kelvin Chadenyika, at the police station. Sources yesterday said Chadenyika is a messenger at Zimsafe (Private) Limited, a company owned by Jocelyn. The ANZ lawyer and the photographer were later moved to Harare Central Police Station. Ncube yesterday made frantic but fruitless efforts to have the two released or taken to Parirenyatwa Hospital for treatment. He said last night: "We are likely to have the matter heard before Justice George Smith as an urgent matter. We can't locate Moyo and Bulawayo and we can't tell whether they were eventually taken for medical treatment." Earlier in the day, Moyo, speaking from the cells on her mobile said Mrs Chiwenga had "visited" them in the morning: "She wanted to check whether we are still here for sure. It seems we will not be going anywhere. "We are in great pain because we have not been taken to a hospital for treatment. "It seems the circumstances under which we were arrested are not clear to the police and they want to investigate that. But the police must first investigate before they arrest people." Efforts to get comment from the police were fruitless yesterday.
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From Ananova (UK), 19 March
Explosions in Zimbabwe as strikes cripple economy
Police in Zimbabwe say there have been a series of explosions in the town of Kadom as a national strike shut down businesses for a second day. Thirty-three people, including an opposition politician, have been arrested in connection with the blasts outside food shops. Explosives have also been found on a road bridge, near the town but they have been disabled by bomb disposal experts. The strike has been called by opposition party Movement for Democratic Change, in protest at Robert Mugabe's government. Spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi, dismissed police claims the opposition is responsible for the explosions, saying: "Our protests have been peaceful. If there were explosives they must have come from government sources." The opposition is scheduled to release a statement on whether to continue the protests for a third day. Army units have been deployed in some neighborhoods of Harare and imposed an informal curfew in one district, telling people to keep off the streets. Police reinforcements were deployed in Bulawayo, the second largest city in the country, where shops and banks were closed. Major supermarkets and many other stores in Bulawayo did not open because people did not show up for work, store owners said. Factory owners in the capital, Harare, have reported fewer workers showing up. The government has yet to comment on the strike action, which began on Tuesday to protest about government repression and acute shortages of food and gasoline.
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From The Daily News, 19 March
Court stops minister's bid to seize property
From Chris Gande in Bulawayo
The High Court in Bulawayo has ordered Abednico Ncube, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, not to enter Todd's Hotel and Guest House, which he tried to seize in the guise of the land reform programme. Justice Nicholas Ndou, granting the provisional order, said Ncube must not enter the premises or contact the applicant's workers whether in his personal capacity or through an agent. Kingworthy Investment, which owns the property, made the court application following what the company cited as constant harassment by Ncube. Ncube tried to take over the hotel, petrol service station and guest house including the land where the property is located. His argument was that the property was on a piece of designated land. When Kingworthy refused to hand over the property, Ncube ordered them to pay a monthly rental of $50 000 to him. Ncube's lawyers wrote a letter to Kingsworthy Investment advising them that they should vacate the property. Ncube was listed as the first respondent, and Joseph Made, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, as the second respondent. Attached to the court application was an affidavit that contains details of the alleged harassment of the property's owner and workers. The affidavit said three people claiming to be war veterans sent by Ncube, went to the hotel on 13 September, and gave the staff an order to vacate the premises by 30 September. The notice required the respondents to state why the interdict should not be served against Ncube, the first respondent.
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From News24 (SA), 20 March
Troops attack farm, kill one
Harare - A Zimbabwean farm worker died and scores of others were injured allegedly at the hands of troops who attacked a farm leased by a opposition lawmaker, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Thursday. MDC spokesperson Paul Temba Nyathi told reporters that Steven Tonera, an employee at a farm run by MDC parliamentarian Roy Bennett, "was murdered by state agents". The alleged attack came in the wake of a two-day national strike called by the MDC to protest against the deepening socio-economic and political crises in the country. Nyathi said Tonera was abducted from the farm on Tuesday night and accused of burning a bus during the two day anti-government mass action. Bennett and Nyathi said three truckloads of troops descended on the farm and assaulted workers and their families. "They went on a rampage indiscriminately assaulting men, women and children that they came across at the farm," said Nyathi. "I estimate between 80 and 100 people were beaten," Bennett told AFP in a separate interview. "Thirty people have been seriously beaten and we are busy right now getting them on to ambulances," Bennett said from his mobile phone earlier.
Five of the wounded were present at the news conference and showed their fresh wounds. The farm, situated in Ruwa farming district, east of the capital is located about 15km from the poor township of Epworth where a bus carrying policemen was petrol-bombed on Tuesday. The farm labourers said the soldiers accused them being opposition members behind the two day national strike against President Robert Mugabe's government. The strike action called by the MDC shut down most of the country Tuesday and Wednesday. A military official said it was difficult for him to comment on the allegations without specific identification to enable him to investigate. Police said if no formal report had been made to them about the incident, it would be difficult to comment on the incident. At least 200 people have been arrested, among them three opposition deputies following the mass work stoppage on Tuesday and Wednesday. "We are not surprised that the state is behaving in the way it is, this is because of the successful two-day stayaway," said Nyathi.
From ZWNEWS: If you wish to see photographic evidence of what happened yesterday in Ruwa, please let us know. The document will be sent as a .jpg attachment to an email message - total size 125 Kb, or approximately 2 1/2 times the size of the average daily ZWNEWS.
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From The Daily News, 21 March
Soldiers run amok
By Brian Mangwende, Chief Reporter
A man was beaten to death in Harare, and several others, including the Member of Parliament for Mutare North, were either beaten up or arrested as State agents cracked down on people suspected to have taken part in the recent two-day stayaway. The largely-heeded mass action was called by the opposition MDC. Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agents in Harare allegedly beat to death a former worker on Roy Bennet's farm in Ruwa after they accused him of taking part in the burning of a bus belonging to the State-owned Zimbabwe United Passenger Company on Tuesday. The bus was petrol-bombed along the Chiremba Road when the nationwide mass action turned violent. Bennet, the MP for Chimanimani (MDC), identified the deceased as Steven Tonera. "CIO operatives went to the farm in Ruwa and rounded up all the workers and beat them up. Tonera was beaten to death. There is chaos on the farm. More than 80 workers have been severely assaulted by the police and soldiers. So many have been injured and ambulances were busy ferrying people to various hospitals and clinics. The situation is terrible." Bennet said Tonera had stopped working for him, but lived on the farm. He said women and children were not spared. A source said three members of the CIO picked up Tonera and his two friends, Tagarira and Tonderai Murimba, at Muza shopping centre in Epworth on Tuesday and took them away. "The three were seriously beaten up and Tonera died outside the police station there," the source said. Asked why he came to the conclusion that the men were CIO agents, the source said: "I spoke to Tonderai and Tagarira and they told me so. I have no reason to doubt them, especially after what they had gone through. "Yesterday, soldiers beat up Tonderai and broke his toes. They tortured him. It's just terrible." Isobel Gardiner, the wife of Bennet's farm manager, Norman, was severely assaulted on the buttocks and back. She was admitted at the Avenues Clinic in Harare.
Meanwhile, soldiers, ruling Zanu PF party youths and the police in Harare yesterday went on a retribution exercise assaulting innocent civilians whom they suspected took part in the two-day mass action. About 20 severely beaten up people came to The Daily News offices yesterday to relate their ordeal, while Brighton Matimba, the MDC's welfare officer, said he had received at least 83 reports in Harare alone about their members being assaulted at home or on the streets. Asani Matola, a CAPS United and former national soccer team player, was not spared. The defender said he was assaulted in Kuwadzana by a group of soldiers immediately after he disembarked from a bus. "A group of soldiers approached me and four other people and started assaulting us without asking us any questions," Matola said. "We were ordered to lie on the tarmac and accused of supporting the mass action. There was nowhere to run. It was unbelievable. I have to skip the game against Wankie on Saturday." Matola sustained a swollen lip and bruises on his legs and arms. Another victim, Itayi Tinarwo, said he was followed by a group of youths wearing Zanu PF T-shirts after he had just parted from his brother in Kuwadzana 5. "Riot police fired tear-gas canisters in the air and people scurried in all directions for safety," he said. "I do not know why they did that because the area was peaceful. The youths cornered me and beat me up badly." Tinarwo lost five teeth during the attack. Another victim from Budiriro 3, who refused to be named, said the police dragged him from the bathroom and battered him. "After they assaulted me, they turned on my neighbour and beat her up in front of her husband," he said. "The beating was so severe that her underwear was torn to pieces." In most high-density suburbs, including Glen View, Epworth, Highfield and Mufakose, the police, army and CIO agents went on the rampage assaulting people indiscriminately. In Masvingo, about 10 people were injured on Wednesday, some of them seriously, when heavily armed soldiers pounced on them. An unofficial curfew was imposed in the city. In Mutare, eight MDC members, including Giles Mutsekwa, the MP for Mutare and shadow minister for defence, were arrested. In Gweru, 18 MDC supporters were arrested on Wednesday. They are expected to appear in court soon. In Bulawayo, four people were reportedly arrested in Makokoba after they were found reading pamphlets calling for the mass action.
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From The Financial Gazette, 20 March
Mozambique threatens to cut off power supplies
MacDonald Dzirutwe, Business News Editor
Harare - Mozambican power utility Hydro Cahora Bassa (HCB), the country's major regional power supplier, is believed to have given the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) until Saturday to pay debt arrears of more than US$6 million or face termination of supplies, according to senior ZESA officials. It was not possible to ascertain this week how much ZESA owed the Mozambican power supplier, but officials said Zimbabwe's electricity utility was trying to raise foreign currency to pay the arrears and avert the impending power cut. They said the parastatal had approached the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe for foreign currency but without success. ZESA benefits from the 50 percent of exporters' proceeds that is remitted to the central bank, but hard cash inflows have been low since the introduction of tough new exchange control measures last November. Foreign exchange dealers say the introduction of new export incentives last month has not improved inflows. "We have been given until the weekend to pay the US$6 million and as we speak, we are running around to see where we can get the money," a senior official at ZESA told the Financial Gazette. "They (HCB) have said they will cut electricity to Zimbabwe and we are under no illusion that they won't do this, but we hope it will not happen," he added.
It was not possible this week to secure comment from HCB on the matter. ZESA management services officer Daniel Maviva this week would neither confirm nor deny that the power utility had received an ultimatum from HCB. Instead, he said the parastatal was meeting with various stakeholders to mobilise assistance in raising foreign currency. "ZESA is currently meeting with various stakeholders to mobilise their support in raising foreign currency to meet its critical obligations such as power import arrears," he said. Zimbabwe, which imports about 34.6 percent of its electricity needs from regional suppliers, receives most of its power imports from HCB, which supplies the country with 3 198.89 gigawatts of electricity an hour. The Mozambican power supplier accounts for more than 26 percent of imported electricity, with the rest coming from ESKOM of South Africa, SNEL of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and ZESCO of Zambia. Officials who are part of a technical committee of the government-business-labour Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) said they had been made aware of ZESA's problem two weeks ago and industry had pledged to lobby the government to come to ZESA's rescue. The officials also urged the government to support ZESA in concluding a bilateral agreement it is negotiating with SNEL, which would give the Zimbabwean power company the right of first access to DRC electricity.
Electricity from the DRC is the cheapest in southern Africa, while HCB's supplies are the most expensive. "ZESA has, through the TNF, notified industry that they have been given until March 22 to pay up the outstanding arrears and the impact of such a failure," a member of the TNF technical committee said. "The problem is that there are no foreign currency resources but we believe that the government should actively support ZESA to sign a bilateral agreement with SNEL, under which we will have the first right of access to DRC power, which is cheaper than HCB," the TNF technical committee member said. Industrialists said the suspension of supplies by HCB might result in ZESA failing to meet domestic demand and resorting to load-shedding to conserve its reserves. They said the power utility might be forced to reduce power to household consumers during the day and industries during off-peak hours, although this would have to be done without affecting companies with 24-hour shifts. The industrialists said household consumers, already hard hit by shortages of food, fuel and other commodities, were likely to be the most affected by any load-shedding.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 21 March
Zim faces power blackout
Augustine Mukaro
Zimbabwe faces a prolonged power blackout after South African utility Eskom joined its Mozambican counterpart Cahora Bassa in threatening to halt electricity supplies to Zimbabwe over payment arrears. Documents obtained by the Zimbabwe Independent show the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) is facing a major crisis that requires urgent attention if the country is to avoid being cut off. The documents reveal that government has failed to allocate the foreign currency for power imports. The regional power companies are threatening to switch-off the country as early as this weekend over a US$6 million debt. Zesa says if government does not immediately provide hard currency, it will have to resort to stringent survival measures. This could include the introduction of drastic load-shedding as local generation capacity has been reduced due to breakdowns at Kariba and coal shortages at the Hwange Thermal Power Station. Zesa has asked exporting companies to pay for electricity bills in foreign currency to deal with growing debt. Economists said this was unworkable as past attempts had failed. Zesa executive chairman Sydney Gata, in a memo to customers dated March 12, said the power utility required US$17 million monthly to import electricity. Last year's monthly allocations from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe averaged US$2,12 million and there have been no allocations this year. South African and Mozambican power companies are demanding by tomorrow down payment of US$6,4 million from Zesa in part settlement of a combined debt of US$150 million. SA's Eskom and Mozambique's Cahora Bassa said the debt repayment should be "accompanied by a convincing and credible future payment plan". Gata said Zesa was disappointed that local industry was reluctant to adopt its proposal which would help not only to raise foreign currency but also be acceptable to regional power utilities.
Last month Zesa sent electricity bills in foreign currency to exporters and miners but industry is yet to accept the new arrangement. Zesa has proposed a tariff regime of US$3,8c/kWh or a discounted rate of US$3,5c/kWh for exporters willing to forward-purchase electricity. Exporters also have the option to pay in local currency but at a premium rate of $60,75/kWh. "It is therefore envisaged that if all customers participate in this initiative, Zesa will be able to raise US$6,67 million per month which, though not sufficient, will go some way in Zesa's critical needs and currency emergency obligations," said Gata. Last year Zesa's plan to bill exporters in foreign currency failed as exporters were not prepared to surrender their forex at the official rate of US$1 to $55 when they sourced the greenback at the parallel rate of US$1 to $1 250. Despite the new incentives for exporters who now have a preferential rate of US$1 to $824, most exporters still source forex at the parallel rate of US$1 to $1 400. Gata conceded that Zesa could be disconnected by tomorrow if it fails to pay the demanded amounts and provide a future payment plan. "Eskom has already classified Zesa as an interruptible customer and are now demanding advance payment for supply. The 25% discount on the import tariff from Eskom to Zesa has been lost and arrears continue to grow and incur an interest penalty of 24% per annum," he said. Cahora Bassa is demanding an immediate payment of US$5 million while Eskom wants R11,2 million. This adds up to US$6,4 million. "We shall advise that under current circumstances of non-payment by Zesa, we shall reduce your power level to zero Mega Watts from 22nd of March 2003," reads part of the letter from Cahora Bassa.
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From The Daily News, 21 March
Air vice-marshal tells of Menashe's inaudible tape
Court Reporter
Ari Ben-Menashe attempted to sell military aircraft to the Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) two years ago before he contacted a senior air force official with claims of a plot by top MDC leaders to assassinate President Mugabe, the High Court heard yesterday. Testifying in the treason trial of MDC president, Morgan Tsvangirai, and two party officials, Air Vice-Marshal Robert Mhlanga, said he got to know Ben-Menashe when he approached the AFZ, ostensibly to sell an array of military aircraft. "He was selling a whole array of aircraft ranging from transport aircraft, helicopters and fighter planes," Mhlanga said, under cross-examination by defence counsel Advocate Eric Matinenga. Ben-Menashe was the key prosecution witness in the ongoing trial. He said at the time he met Mhlanga, he was president of Carlington Sales, a commodity company. He showed senior AFZ officials brochures showing samples and performance specifications of the aircraft he said he was selling and spent a week in Harare trying to persuade the government to buy the aeroplanes, Mhlanga said. Ben-Menashe allegedly spoke highly of his business acumen and "made a lot of mention of his career in the Israeli secret service - Mossad. He even had a book which he wrote about his career, to prove the authenticity of what he was saying", the court heard. Mhlanga said the deal failed as the AFZ did not need aircraft which Ben-Menashe claimed he could source from Russia and other countries in the former Eastern bloc. He said Ben-Menashe telephoned him two or three times later following up on the failed deal.
Some time in November 2001, Ben-Menashe telephoned again - this time with a tip-off on an alleged plot by the MDC to assassinate Mugabe and stage a military coup, Mhlanga said. "I became inquisitive and asked whether this had anything to do with the aircraft and he said he had information pertaining to a plot to assassinate the President," Mhlanga said. "He said the plot was being orchestrated by the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, and some of his officials." The Canadian-based political consultant allegedly flew to Zimbabwe three days later armed with a miniature cassette tape, a mini-diskette and a transcript of proceedings of a meeting in London where Tsvangirai allegedly requested Ben-Menashe's consultancy to assist in the conspiracy, the court heard. "He played the cassette on a recorder and, I must admit, I did not make head or tail of the contents of the cassette. When I looked at the transcript there was quite a lot of information I could not make head or tail of. I could hear voices - his (Ben-Menashe's) voice and Tsvangirai's voice but I could not make a statement out of it." The trial continues today.
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From Amnesty International, 21 March
Mass arrests signal new and dangerous phase of repression
Harare - Amnesty International is deeply concerned by the increasing scale of arbitrary detentions and for the safety of several hundred people including officials and supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) taken into custody in Zimbabwe since 18 March 2003. Although some of those arrested have been released, many remain in detention, whilst the whereabouts of others remain unknown. At least one person, Steven Tonera, a farmworker in Manicaland province has been killed, allegedly as a result of being beaten by state agents. "What we are witnessing is much more than the government's usual tactic of raising the level of violence in the run-up to elections. This is an explosive situation where there seem to be no limits to how far the government will go to suppress opposition and maintain its hold on power", Amnesty International said. This latest wave of violence seems a reaction to an MDC-organised stay-away on 18-19 March and is an attempt by the government and its supporters to intimidate supporters of the MDC and other government critics prior to two by-elections due on 29-30 March.
In one incident, on 18 March, a group of soldiers and state agents beat and tortured three workers on the farm of Roy Bennet, MDC MP for Chimanimani. The three men were forced to lie on their stomachs on the ground and beaten with batons, sjamboks (whips) and pieces of wire. Their fingers and toes were also broken. As a result of the beatings and torture, one of the workers Steve Tonera died. The three men were accused of being MDC supporters and of burning a bus. On 20 March, a convoy of three trucks carrying up to 60 soldiers of the Zimbabwe National Army came back to the farm and severely assaulted up to 70 people. On 19 March up to 60 MDC activists were arrested in Harare including: Silas Mangono, MDC MP for Masvingo Central, Giles Mutsekewa, MDC MP for Mutare North and Austin Mupandawana, MDC MP for Kadoma Central. Silas Mangono was released on 20 March but Giles Mutsekewa, Austin Mupandawana and other MDC activists remain in police custody.
On 18 March, a photographer for the Daily News newspaper, Philimon Bulawayo was arrested by police while covering a stay-away coordinated by the MDC in Budiriro, Harare. Gugulethu Moyo a lawyer and Corporate Affairs Director for Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe was also arrested when she tried to secure his release from Glen View police station. At the station, the two were reportedly severely beaten by the wife of an army commander and a male colleague, while the police stood by and watched. On 19 March, they were moved to Harare Police Station. Although they had been severely beaten, they were not allowed access to medical treatment and were released without charge on 20 March. "The alarming escalation in political violence is a clear indication that the Zimbabwe authorities are determined to suppress dissent by whatever means necessary, regardless of the terrible consequences. We look upon the next ten days with fear: the expectation is of further violent reaction to organised protests by the MDC and civil society" the organization said. Amnesty International is calling on the Zimbabwe authorities to put an immediate end to the human rights violations and politically motivated violence occurring in the country, to bring to jus tice those involved in these abuses and ensure that the police conduct their duties with complete impartiality.
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From AFP, 21 March
Zimbabwe's Mugabe accuses west of funding violence, terrorism
By Ryan Truscott and Susan Njanji
Harare - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Friday accused the West of funding "violence and terrorism" in the country two days after a crippling strike called by the opposition received widespread support. Mugabe was reacting for the first time to the two-day mass strike organised by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) against alleged misgovernance. Although the MDC called for a peaceful stayaway, the two-day strike was marked by acts of violence including the stoning and burning of vehicles. The Zimbabwean leader blamed misguided youths in the country, as well as "traitors and enemies" for supporting and funding the action, which saw most urban centres shut down. "The money used to organise the pretended stayaway, to pay our youths to self-destruct, to turn them into career purveyors of violence, came from the so-called democracies of the West," said Mugabe. He named Britain, the United States, Germany and Holland as some of the Western countries bankrolling "the violence that is meted out amongst our people."
The Zimbabwean leader was speaking at the funeral of Education Minister Swithun Mombeshora, who died suddenly at his home on Monday and was declared a national hero. He warned that law enforcing agents would "react and react promptly and with vigour" against those perpetrating violence. The opposition says the widely followed stayaway was a show of confidence by the nation in its ability to confront the government. They warned it was a foretaste of things to come. The party presented an ultimatum to the government to sort out 15 points to do with democratic and civil rights by the end of the month or face further action. But Mugabe Friday scoffed at the ultimatum, saying opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai could not equal him physically or intellectually. "They think only of violence, stayaways - and what policies do they have for the development of this country?" asked Mugabe. "We are yet to see their constructive thinking." The opposition reports that more than 200 MDC members, including opposition parliamentarians were arrested for supporting the stayaway. The party also claimed that soldiers descended on a farm run by an opposition lawmaker just east of the capital on Tuesday and assaulted dozens of farm workers accused of burning a bus on the outskirts of Harare. One farm worker was abducted and killed, the opposition has alleged. In a separate event a photojournalist with the country's private Daily News newspaper, as well as his lawyer, were arrested on Tuesday and allegedly assaulted while in police custody.
The crowds who thronged the national shrine to witness Friday's burial cheered loudly when Mugabe said he had been labelled a "Hitler" by the British press, but would bear the label of the German dictator if it meant securing justice for his people. "This Hitler has only one objective: justice for his people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people and their rights over their resources," he said. "If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold." Most Western countries have criticised Mugabe's government for its controversial land reform programme launched three years ago that has seen most white-owned land seized for redistribution among new black farmers. Critics, who include Zimbabwe's opposition, say the programme has contributed to chronic food shortages in the country, and is fraught with inconsistencies. In return the Zimbabwe government accuses Western countries, especially former colonial power Britain in league with its local "puppets", of trying to undermine Zimbabwe's sovereignty. The government insists its land reform programme is aimed at righting colonial-era inequities and empowering the black majority.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 21 March
Harare's mayor receives death threats
Harare - The mayor of the opposition-controlled capital city municipal council said he had to flee a state funeral on Friday after being threatened with death. Harare Mayor Elias Mudzuri said he was attending the funeral of Higher Education Minister, Swithin Mombeshora, when he was set upon by about 200 ruling party militants. They jeered at him, seized the keys and documentation of his mayoral limousine and threatened kill him and torch the car. They took his driver hostage and refused to return the keys. "When I went to talk to these people to let my driver go he was very shaken up and they threatened to kill me," Mudzuri said. "The police did nothing to help," he said. Mudzuri rode back to his offices in a city council truck and the driver was eventually allowed to leave in the limousine. President Robert Mugabe officiated at the funeral at Heroes' Acre, a national shrine for politicians and fighters in the guerrilla war that led to independence from British rule in 1980. Mombeshora (58) died of suspected heart disease on Tuesday and was declared a national hero at his state-funded funeral. Mudzuri was not invited to the funeral but attended because the Harare mayor was traditionally an honored guest at state funerals in the city. He was elected to head the Harare council in city polls last year. In January, he was detained by police for two nights for allegedly holding a political meeting declared illegal under the nation's stringent security laws. Mudzuri, who was not charged, said the meeting was held to hear city taxpayers' grievances on municipal services hit by acute fuel, food and other shortages of imports, including medication for city health facilities.
Government opponents accused police and army units on Friday of continuing retaliation against participants of a crippling national strike that shut down most of the economy on Tuesday and Wednesday. The strike was called by the opposition to protest alleged repression by Mugabe's administration and food and gasoline shortages. Opposition lawmaker Roy Bennett said state agents and army troops stormed his farm outside Harare on Thursday and killed a striker accused of rioting. He said they also used whips and riot sticks to beat 30 of his workers. Opposition representative Paul Themba Nyathi said troops, police and ruling party militia raided the homes of several opposition party activists, who allegedly helped arrange the strike. Civic and human rights groups said some 400 people were arrested during the strike and in its aftermath. Police put the figure at 180. The protest was the largest since Mugabe's 2002 re-election for another six-year term. Observers said the elections were marred by intimidation and vote-rigging.
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From SAPA, 21 March
Over 500 demonstrators march in Johannesburg
Johannesburg - Over 500 Zimbabweans took to the streets in Johannesburg on Friday to demonstrate against President Robert Mugabe and human rights violations perpetrated by his government. The group gathered in central Johannesburg's Joubert Park before embarking on a 20 kilometre march to Sandton. Bearing placard, they chanted slogans denouncing South Africa's policy of quite diplomacy towards its northern neighbour along the way. The placards read "Zimbabwe is dying", "Quite diplomacy failed", "Away with Mugabe" and "Bush give Mugabe 48 hours". Some of the marchers wore black arm-bands and carried coffins to symbolise the death of democracy that country. "More than 200 people have died at the hand of the police, army and militia groups sponsored by ruling party Zanu PF ever since Mugabe stole the election early last year," said Jairos Tama of the Concerned Zimbabweans Abroad --a body which organised the protest. "Millions of Zimbabweans are starving and most of them have a friend or family member who has been beaten up or tortured." Zimbabwe has been in the grip of political and economic turmoil since the government lost a Constitutional referendum in early 2000. In reprisal it launched a controversial land reform programme that has effectively seen the country's white farmers dispossessed and a crack down on all political opposition. Friday's march coincided with South Africa's commemoration of Human Rights Day, on which it remembered the at least 69 people killed on March 21, 1960, when police opened fire on a crowd who had gathered outside the Sharpeville police station to protest pass laws imposed on blacks by the apartheid government. "But does the present South African government believe that human rights should only be enjoyed as far as the country's borders," Tama asked. He also blamed the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for letting Mugabe off the hook for human rights violations. "In fairness to President Thabo Mbeki, SADC countries have left the Zimbabwe problem to South Africa and Nigeria," he said. "SADC must push for free elections before thousands more people die of famine and state-sponsored violence."
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 21 March
Israeli-made vehicles on alert during mass action
Loughty Dube
The Zimbabwe Republic Police's new crowd control equipment rolled into action this week as government prepared for any eventuality during the two-day stayaway. The Israeli-made armoured vehicles armed with water cannons were sighted in Chitungwiza on Tuesday and were still parked at Chitungwiza police station on Wednesday morning. Last year the police vehemently denied having purchased the vehicles when the Standard broke the story. Farai Mutsaka, a reporter with the Standard, was arrested and charged with "abuse of journalistic privilege" and publishing "false news" for writing that the police had bought the equipment. However, Israeli company Beit-Alfa Trailer Company (Bat) confirmed after the publication of the story that its Jet Pulse Water Cannon System was currently in "active use" in Zimbabwe. The crowd control vehicles were however not called into action this week as they are only effective in controlling large crowds.
On Tuesday two Zimbabwe national army armoured vehicles with mounted machine-guns patrolled Chitungwiza, Mufakose and Kuwadzana. Police who have complained of lack of manpower, maintained a heavy presence in the high-density areas with some of them wielding new whips which were liberally tested on the public. Meanwhile, riot police and the army took turns to assault Bulawayo residents in unprovoked attacks in the city's populous high-density suburbs of Makokoba and Mpopoma during the two-day mass stayaway. Two truck-loads of riot police, some heavily armed with AK 47 rifles, sent vendors and commuters fleeing in all directions at the Renkini bus terminus as they indiscriminately attacked any grouping of more than three people. The riot police travelling in armoured trucks brought business at the terminus to a standstill as they descended on anyone in sight. They beat up commuters with baton sticks while some people were booted. Across the city in Mpopoma armed soldiers patrolled the township where they randomly attacked residents. A news crew from the Zimbabwe Independent touring the townships on Wednesday witnessed soldiers assaulting a group of youths they found seated outside a shopping complex in Mpopoma. Police spokesman for Bulawayo Smile Dube said he had not received any reports of police assaults on civilians. "It is not the business of the police to go about beating up innocent civilians but if there are any aggrieved people they should come forward and report the allegations at any police station in the city and the cases will be investigated," said Dube.
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From The Daily News, 22 March
Witness concedes to defence
Court Reporter
A state witness in the ongoing treason trial of three MDC leaders conceded yesterday Ari Ben-Menashe, the key prosecution witness, took abnormally long to report the alleged plot by the opposition party's leaders to assassinate President Mugabe. Air Vice-Marshal Robert Mhlanga, of the Airforce of Zimbabwe, told the High Court, during cross-examination by defence lawyer Advocate Eric Matinenga, that the space of time between the meeting where Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC president, allegedly announced the plot and the day he reported the conspiracy was "not appropriate" in the circumstances. Tsvangirai met Ben-Menashe and his colleagues in London on 22 October and 3 November 2001. Ben-Menashe telephoned Mhlanga on 20 November 2001 with claims of a plot by Tsvangirai and two other top MDC officials to kill Mugabe and depose the Zanu PF government. Matinenga queried why Ben-Menashe would take that long to report "a matter of such a serious nature". Ben-Menashe got in contact with Mhlanga three months earlier, ostensibly selling military aircraft. Mhlanga said Ben-Menashe offered to bring evidence three days after he telephoned from his Canada base reporting the conspiracy which, he said, involved the MDC and unnamed ex-Rhodesian soldiers. The evidence Ben-Menashe had promised turned out to be a miniature cassette, a diskette and a transcript which Mhlanga said was so poor he could not decipher. "I could not make head or tail of the discussion on the tape," Mhlanga said. "The transcript, I just browsed through. What I relied on was what he was saying, as opposed to the tape and the document. I did not get any wiser from the two documents." Asked by assessor Misheck Nyandoro how he was able to pick out Tsvangirai's voice from the audio-tape, Mhlanga said: "I would like to believe Mr Tsvangirai is a prominent politician. You can recognise his voice when he is talking with a minimum margin of error." Nyandoro asked Mhlanga whether he did not suspect the assassination plot was "another commodity" Ben-Menashe was trying to sell, to which the airforce official said he had no reason to doubt Ben-Menashe's story. Tsvangirai, Welshman Ncube, the MDC secretary-general, and Renson Gasela, the party's shadow minister of agriculture, have pleaded not guilty. The trial continues on Monday.
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From The Observer (UK), 23 March
Wife of Mugabe's army chief said: 'That woman's trouble, beat her'
When lawyer Gugu Moyo went to a police station she was hit with batons and thrown in a cell. Andrew Meldrum reports from Harare on a new outbreak of official brutality
It was a trip that had become almost routine. As a lawyer, Gugulethu Moyo was accustomed to visiting Harare police stations, but last Tuesday she walked into a nightmare when she attempted to secure the release of a photographer arrested while covering Zimbabwe's two-day national strike. A well-known legal practitioner and a director of the company that owns the Daily News, Zimbabwe's largest-selling newspaper, Gugu, as she is known, is well liked in media circles and has a reputation as a sharp dresser with an even sharper mind. But last week she became a high-profile symbol of how Zimbabwe's rule of law is being subverted by President Robert Mugabe and his cronies in the ruling Zanu PF party. The 28-year-old lawyer endured vicious beatings and two nights behind bars on the whim of the wife of Zimbabwe's army commander.
'It was the first day of the national strike. I went into the police station and saw scores of prisoners lying on the ground and being forced to roll in the mud while police officers beat their feet,' Moyo told The Observer. 'Police said they did not have our photographer, Philimon Bulawayo, but I saw him in the cells, so I waited to see what charges would be pressed. Two trucks drove up with riot police and an army Range Rover pulled up. A woman came in speaking on a cellphone. She said, "We must deploy more forces and beat them up!" My cellphone rang and I began speaking and she shouted: "Who is that woman on the phone?" 'I said I worked for Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe and she went wild. She shouted at me: "So what if you are a lawyer? Your paper wants to encourage anarchy in this country. You want to represent our enemies". A man with her grabbed me and hit me. She twisted my arm and started slapping me on the face. It is hard to remember the sequence, but they kept hitting and shouting at me. She said: "I am Jocelyn Chiwenga, the wife of the army commander. Your paper says there is no rule of law in Zimbabwe. Well, I will show you the rule of law".' Moyo said she was dragged outside and pushed so hard she fell, hitting her head on a rock. They beat her feet as they interrogated her, accusing her of working for the British Government. 'She said "You must be scared of me" and, foolishly, I said no. This enraged her. She said that since I am Ndebele, they would do to me what the army did in Matabeleland in the 1980s.' That reference to the massacres, when the army was blamed for 20,000 civilian deaths, terrified Moyo. 'She said she was powerful and would kill me. She said she would shoot me. She said she was very rich with lots of cars. The man punched me in the eye and she kept hitting me. Policemen folded their arms and watched.'
Moyo was held in the cells. 'There were more than 100 people there who were arrested,' she said. 'A 13-year-old boy sat with me. He was very frightened.' After some hours Moyo was sent to Harare Central jail. 'As I got on the truck with about 30 other prisoners, Mrs Chiwenga shouted to the police: "That woman is trouble, beat her!" Five men beat my back, my legs, everywhere with their truncheons. It was so painful I started screaming.' At Harare Central, officers knew Moyo from her professional work but they kept her imprisoned for two nights, refusing her access to legal or medical help. 'The cells were full so I had to stand, which was okay because my backside was so bruised I could not lie down. There were so many people who were arrested. Most were under 18 and most had been beaten. Many had serious injuries.' Eventually, Moyo was released without charges. The bruises on her face have gone down, but she still has trouble walking. A graduate of the University of Zimbabwe who did a post-graduate degree at Oxford, she is normally unflappable, but she was clearly shaken by the ordeal. 'What kept me going throughout all of that was the thought that on Monday morning Mrs Chiwenga will have charges of assault on her desk,' said Moyo from her Harare office. 'It is galling that a civilian can command the entire police force. My family is frightened that she will come after me again.'
Jocelyn Chiwenga is well known in Zimbabwe. Aided by soldiers, she seized a white-owned farm last year. 'I have not tasted white blood since Zimbabwe's independence, and I miss it,' she allegedly said as soldiers aimed guns at the farmer. Sam Sipepa Nkomo, chairman of the Daily News group, said the company would sue police for the assault and wrongful detention of Moyo and the photographer, who was also beaten. Moyo's ordeal is one of hundreds of arrests and beatings following the national strike called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which shut down Zimbabwe last Tuesday and Wednesday. The past few days have seen scores of Zimbabweans taken to hospital with injuries inflicted by soldiers and police. The MDC, galvanised by the success of the strike, issued an ultimatum to the Mugabe government: restore democratic rights and freedoms by 31 March or face a popular uprising that will force the government out. The situation alarmed Amnesty International, which said this weekend: 'This is an explosive situation where there seem to be no limits to how far the government will go to suppress opposition and maintain its hold on power.' On 18 March soldiers tortured three workers on the farm of Roy Bennett, MDC MP for Chimanimani. The three men were forced to lie on their stomachs on the ground and were hit with batons, sjamboks (whips) and wire, according to survivors. Their fingers and toes were broken. One of the workers, Steven Tonera, died, said Bennett.The three men were accused of being MDC supporters. On Thursday and again on Friday, truckloads of soldiers came back to the farm and severely assaulted up to 70 people, said Bennett. Human rights workers were busy yesterday providing medical treatment to the injured. These latest accounts of human rights abuses should make it more difficult for the Commonwealth to lift its suspension of Zimbabwe. It is to be maintained until December, when it will be considered by the heads of government meeting in Nigeria. But now South Africa and Nigeria are understood to be lobbying other Commonwealth members to lift the suspension, asserting that the situation in Zimbabwe is improving, that the rule of law has been restored, that repression of the press has been lifted, and political life has returned to normal. Moyo's experience would suggest otherwise.
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From AFP, 23 March
President renews vow against opposition
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe yesterday vowed "greater action" against the main opposition party, which he accuses of wanting to overthrow his government. Mr. Mugabe slammed the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and its work stoppage this week, declaring that from now on there would be "greater vigor, greater vigilance and greater action by my government." His comments came as a farmers group said soldiers had beaten nearly 30 farm workers, and the MDC said hundreds of its supporters were abducted in night raids by military agents. Rights groups say there has been increased repression of perceived opposition supporters since a widely followed work stoppage earlier this week closed down urban areas. In comments carried by state television, Mr. Mugabe told hundreds of youths from his ruling Zanu PF, "We shall not treat them with soft gloves anymore." The stoppage, which was organized to protest purported misgovernance, has aroused the ire of Mr. Mugabe and his government. They blame the MDC for violence during the strike, in which several vehicles were stoned and burned.
Mr. Mugabe said the stoppage was a "flop." "They can't tell the world that they succeeded, because their target was to overthrow our government," he told cheering supporters at his party's headquarters in Harare. And he said black MDC supporters were really whites. "Yes, you wear our skin, but below that skin, you are white." Mr. Mugabe's government regularly accuses the MDC of being a front for white interests and former colonial power Britain. "We want peace, peace, peace and stability," he said. Meanwhile, the farmers' group Justice for Agriculture (JAG) said that on Friday soldiers assaulted workers on a farm next to the one leased by opposition legislator Roy Bennett, near the town of Ruwa. Twenty-eight workers had to be hospitalized after the attack, the group said. A police spokesman contacted by AFP was not able to confirm the attack. "The uniformed military ... came in and beat the workers," JAG said in a statement. Earlier this week, soldiers were reported to have attacked workers on a farm leased by Mr. Bennett in Ruwa, outside Harare. Opposition spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said, "Hundreds of our officials and supporters have been abducted from their homes during the night and tortured in Zanu PF torture camps" in the past 24 hours. Human rights group Amnesty International said in a statement that it was concerned by a "new and dangerous phase of repression" in the southern African country.
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 23 March
Decision on Zimbabwe vexes Pretoria
Ranjeni Munusamy
A diplomatic row has broken out between South Africa and the Commonwealth over an announcement this week that Zimbabwe is to remain suspended from the 54-nation group until December this year. The government wants Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon to substantiate his claim that the three members of the Commonwealth troika - Australia, Nigeria and South Africa - "concluded that the most appropriate approach" was to extend Zimbabwe's suspension. Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said President Thabo Mbeki never agreed to this. He said Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo had also distanced himself from the decision. Pahad said McKinnon should explain to the troika on what basis the decision was made and by whom. McKinnon said in a statement on Sunday that the troika asked him to consult with other Commonwealth governments on the issue. He said "the broadly held view" among Commonwealth member states was that the suspension should remain in force until the leaders hold their biennial summit in Nigeria in December. SA's High Commissioner in London, Lindiwe Mabuza, said it was "important for us all to know precisely which countries were consulted and what positions they communicated". She argued that African and Non-Aligned Movement states would not have supported such a decision. McKinnon is claiming that Mbeki and Obasanjo agreed to go with the majority view when he spoke to them last weekend. Commonwealth spokesman Joel Kibazo said McKinnon had not been asked to explain the decision but was willing to do so.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 21 March
Forex rate scuttles Libyan fuel deal
Dumisani Muleya
Zimbabwe's officially pegged exchange rate regime is undermining its efforts to revive the erratic US$360 million fuel deal with Libya, it has emerged. Well-placed sources said Libya's Tamoil Trading Ltd was resisting government attempts to railroad it into renewing the deal using the rigid exchange rate system insulated against market forces. The Zimbabwe Independent also learnt this week the currency swap deal between the government and Anglo American Corporation had collapsed after Noczim decided there were no advantages in the arrangement. In January Anglo availed US$35 million to government at the parallel rate of US$1 to $1 350. Noczim recently decided to terminate the arrangement arguing the company could source forex at that rate from any local bank. It is understood that the current negotiations with Tamoil started before the recent devaluation - which government describes as "sectoral devaluation" - and have hit a snag. Zimbabwe officially has a dual exchange rate regime. The exchange rate for any business transactions other than those of government is US$1 to $824. Government continues to do business at the unrealistic rate of US$1 to $55. Libyan ambassador to Harare Mahmoud Azzabi confirmed yesterday that the exchange rate issue was now at the centre of ongoing negotiations. "We are still in the negotiating process," Azzabi said. "The exchange rate has changed and therefore this needs to be revisited." Azzabi said his country's embassy was only playing "the role of facilitator" between Noczim and Tamoil. He said the details of the refreshed deal could only be obtained from the parties directly involved in the negotiations. Energy and Power Development minister Amos Midzi yesterday said he could not comment on the issue.
Apart from the exchange rate issue, Noczim and Tamoil have failed to agree on the actual value of the former's assets. At least three high-level meetings have been held between the two companies to iron out differences. In January, Noczim tasked banker and chief government negotiator Gideon Gono to do an audit of the Noczim assets, which include storage and pumping facilities. The Libyans want to acquire Noczim assets in lieu of debt and shareholding in the local fuel procurement agency. Before the Libyan fuel deal was put on ice due to non-payment, the agreed exchange rate was US$1 to $300. By December last year, the exchange rate for fuel procurement from Libya had been adjusted to US$1 to $455,96. At that rate, Zimbabwe currently owes Libya US$48,3 million. Zimbabwe, which has been battling with a major fuel crisis since 1999 as a result of foreign currency shortages, has been trying to source fuel from Sudan, Angola, and Iran. But these countries have been unwilling to do business with such a bad debtor. An Iranian government official told the Independent last week that those who want to import fuel from his country should have "adequate financial resources and be creditworthy".
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Comment from The Spectator (UK), 22 March
Why are we backing regime change in Baghdad but not in Harare?
By Rod Liddle
At the British High Commission in Harare, the going rate for a visa to get the hell out of that indiscriminately violent asylum whose government we helped to install is 79,200 Zimbabwe dollars. That's not far short of £1,000. The official rate for a British visa across the rest of the world - i.e., similarly awful, despotic, lawless yet totalitarian, economically suicidal basket cases like Sierra Leone, Somalia and, yes, Iraq - is rather less than this. It is £36. How come the somewhat glaring discrepancy? Simple. The British government uses the illegal black-market exchange rate in Zimbabwe, of Z$2,200 to the pound, as opposed to the official exchange rate of Z$85 to the pound. Still, you have to say, this little bit of financial and political chicanery is doing the job. It's keeping Zimbabwean blacks out of Britain, which was, presumably, the intention. If you're black and Zimbabwean and not unemployed, or under house arrest or in prison or on the run, then you just might earn £1,000 within a few years, if you're very lucky. Maybe, if you skimped on the luxuries and put aside £50 per year for the visa, then you'd arrive at Heathrow by the time Clare Short actually does resign over something. Round about 2025. If you're white, you might be able to scrape the money together a bit more quickly, white Zimbabweans being altogether more affluent - which is not to diminish the hell that they 've been through. Thing is, if you're black, it's different. It's a lot worse and, paradoxically, you have more to lose. And so we have a situation where our arms are opened to the Muslim madmen of the Maghreb, Algerian nutters laden with ricin, whacko Yemenis, estranged Egyptians, and very angry Afghans, Romanians and Albanians who will be happy to wash your car windows at a set of traffic lights or, failing that, nick your car. But persecuted and committed democrats from a country which we owned and then meddled in and of which we have now, apparently, washed our hands can go hang. Metaphorically, of course. But unfortunately, literally also.
You may remember the name Henry Khaaba Olonga. Henry is the Zambian-born but naturalised Zimbabwean fast bowler, the first black man to play for his adopted country. He's an OK cricketer, Henry, good enough at least to play the game at World Cup standard, which in fact is what he was doing earlier this month. Henry and his team-mate Andy Flower, a white man, did a brilliant and very brave thing in the World Cup. They played their first game wearing black armbands to signify the death of democracy in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean government went berserk; the two were told to drop the stunt for the next game, which, obediently enough, they did. They wore white armbands instead. Andy Flower, the best cricketer Zimbabwe has ever had, later reluctantly resigned from the side under pressure. He was 34 and had enjoyed, as they say, a good innings. But it was brave of him to make that stand, and pretty rare in the selfish, monomaniacal world of professional sport. For Henry things were even worse. He was dropped to twelfth man in the next match. Then he was sacked by the Takashinga Cricket Club, which was the club side for which he played and through which he earned his living. Then the death threats started, mainly via email. Henry was told to clear off. Get out of the country. Come back and you'll be tried and hanged for treason. Or maybe just shot. So Henry, sensibly, left and made his way surreptitiously to South Africa, which is where he is now.
Did he get a hero's welcome in the democratic republic of South Africa? Did he hell. The African National Congress has just described him as being `deluded' and `insulting'. This is because Henry is staying in hiding in South Africa, not entirely trusting the government there to keep his whereabouts a secret from the barking mad Mugabe. He thinks the ANC is apt to act as an apologist for Zanu from time to time. Surely not. Anyway, the South Africans don't want him either. Henry's dad, Dr. John Olonga, who lives in Bulawayo, doesn't know if he'll ever seen his son again. I spoke to him this week, just after he'd received a call from Henry. The phone rang; it was his son calling from a secret number. They spoke briefly and then he was gone. `He's never coming back to Zimbabwe. It's just become too dangerous for him,' said Dr. Olonga. `The threats started and then they became cumulative. It was the progressive effect of the threats which drove him away. You know,' he adds, `I wouldn't have had the courage to do what my son did. I really wouldn't have had the courage.' Dr. Olonga might start to worry about his own safety soon. `The difference is,' he says, `I'm not a citizen like Henry is. I'll stay here and keep working until someone tells me to get out and then, I suppose, I'll get out.' Imagine it. A month or so ago Henry Olonga was a cricketer at the very top of his profession. One act of bravery and defiance later and he is deprived of his means of earning a living, effectively deprived of his home, penniless, on the run, unwanted. Let's hope he comes here and let's hope, even more, that when he does, he is given a hero's welcome.
If you were to compile a roster of countries that require what the Americans have taken to calling a `regime change', where would Zimbabwe come on your list? First? Second? In what sense, you might well ask, is Mugabe possibly less despotic, less deranged and less of a threat to his own people than Saddam Hussein? Has he not wreaked more havoc, murdered as many people, and wrecked his country into the bargain? And do we not, for good, recent historical reasons, have a rather greater obligation to deal with Zimbabwe than with Iraq? I suppose he has no oil, big Bob, nor has he enraged and humiliated the father of the current President of the United States, so far as I am aware. Mugabe has been offered succour by the French, I suppose - so there are some international, geopolitical similarities. But we seem disinclined to do anything about Zimbabwe, except to whinny impotently from the sidelines and then, when nobody's looking, make it as difficult as possible for the country's beleaguered black citizens to make their way to Britain. We cheer Henry Olonga and Andy Flower for their acts of bravery and then, a month or so later, put them out of our minds. As the tanks line up on the northern Kuwaiti border, it's this, rather than unconditional pacifism, which makes me wonder if we're doing the right thing; if we have our priorities right. Who will sort out Zimbabwe? And when?
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From VOA News, 23 March
Zimbabwe doctors treat 250 after alleged gov't reprisals
Many people were being treated in a private clinic in Harare, claiming they are victims of reprisals by government forces for last week's general strike called by the opposition. More than 250 injured people have been treated since Friday at one hospital alone. The scene in the emergency room of a private hospital in Central Harare is shocking. One woman, Sonia Kulinjiwas, was bent over double in pain. She said she was sexually assaulted with the butt of a rifle early Sunday at her home in Mabvuku, east of Harare. Down the corridor, her daughter Margaret, a mother of two, was in too much pain to speak. A white woman lying on a stretcher said she was attacked late Saturday in an upmarket suburb, by five men wearing Zimbabwe National Army uniforms. The woman, Sharon Nel, said she was stripped naked, beaten and thrown around. Speaking with difficulty, Mrs. Nel said her attackers said they were going to rape her, but she shouted at them that she is infected with HIV/AIDS, and they decided not to.
A doctor in the emergency services department at the hospital, who asked not to be named, said at least 250 people have been treated since Friday. The doctor said most of the injuries were broken bones, but the hospital was too busy to provide statistics. The doctor said several of those treated had had their fingers and toes broken, and one man was admitted because both his legs were broken. The surge in violence allegedly committed by government operatives follows sharp criticism of the opposition by President Robert Mugabe on Friday. The president called the opposition a terrorist organization, and that it would be crushed. He said the two-day general strike last week organized by the opposition was aimed at overthrowing his government. He vowed there would be greater action by the government and that the opposition would no longer be treated with what he called soft gloves. Police say they do not know how many people are in detention after the strike, but human rights lawyers say many people are missing, and many others have been held without being brought to court within 48 hours as required.
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From News24 (SA), 23 March
400 MDC members arrested
Harare - Police in Zimbabwe have arrested about 400 opposition members since a widely followed controversial two-day opposition-led strike this week. Police spokesperson Bothwell Mugariri said most of those arrested had been charged with malicious injury to property and are still in custody. Buses were stoned and burnt, roads barricaded, supermarkets torched and a ruling party office fire-bombed during and after a two-day strike called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). "The majority of the 400 have appeared in court and have been remanded in custody," Mugariri said. State radio however later put the number of those arrested at only 200 and said that many were top party officials. Meanwhile the MDC has stepped up allegations of state-sponsored violence against its members. MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi said that several MDC members in Harare's low income suburbs of Mabvuku and Mufakose had been attacked this weekend by ruling party supporters. "Apart from assaulting our members, these criminals looted cash and goods from the victims' homes," Themba Nyathi said. Police have not confirmed the attacks. Rights groups say there has been a surge of retaliatory violence this week against the opposition and rights activists. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai visited the victims of the violence in hospital. President Robert Mugabe on Saturday vowed his government would take "greater action" against the opposition, whom he accused of trying to overthrow the government. The strike on Tuesday and Wednesday was called to protest alleged bad governance and the MDC has presented the government with a list of demands it wants addressed by the end of the month. Tensions are rising in Harare ahead of two key by-elections next weekend.
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From The Daily News, 24 March
Soldiers beat up nightclub patrons
Staff Reporters
Christopher Caridade, the managing director of Portugal Restaurant in Harare, last Friday threatened to close down his outlet after soldiers allegedly beat up patrons. He claimed he lost about $300 000 cash during the attack. "Soldiers came in an army tank at around 2am on Friday and beat up vendors before they came into the club," a visibly shaken Caridade said. "The reasons for the assaults were unclear." Soldiers countrywide have reportedly run amok beating up people they believe participated in the recent two-day mass action called for by the opposition MDC. Ruling Zanu PF youths in Glen View and Highfield allegedly set on fire houses belonging to MDC members. Among those assaulted are Rabson Tengera, of Mbare, Never Mubayiwa, Johannes Mwerenga, Steven Muunganirwa and Mary Manadangu of St Mary's. Lieutenant-Colonel Chinoingira, the army spokesman, said: "I prefer questions in writing. But are we in a war where soldiers would do what you are saying? We have not received such reports." Meanwhile, Caridade said: "I am now seriously considering closing this restaurant because I do not understand how revellers can be assaulted at a legal outlet." An unidentified woman, suspected to have broken her arm during the pandemonium, was rushed to Parirenyatwa Hospital. Anderson Robson, a patron, said: "There were about 15 uniformed soldiers who beat up people. One of them beat me up with a metal wire." About 18 employees sustained serious injuries, Caridade said.
The soldiers allegedly looted beer after assaulting patrons. In Mutare, mystery still surrounds the whereabouts of Pishai Muchauraya, the MDC provincial spokesman, Patrick Chitaka, chairman of Mutare North, and Maiphos Tenga, the co-ordinator for Mutare North, who were arrested last Wednesday. Giles Mutsekwa, the MP for Mutare North and the MDC's shadow minister of defence, was arrested on Tuesday in Mutare and is still being detained at Marange police post. Edmund Maingire, the provincial police spokesman, said: "Go and tell those who have given you that information that if they want to locate their leaders they should go to police stations and not to The Daily News offices. They won't find their people if they use The Daily News." Meanwhile, Stanley Karombo, a freelance journalist, arrested on Wednesday is expected to appear in court soon.
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From News24 (SA), 22 March
Soldiers beat farm workers
Harare - A Zimbabwe farmers' group claimed Saturday that soldiers have beaten up nearly 30 workers on a farm outside Harare in the second such attack in the past week. The Justice for Agriculture (JAG) group said soldiers on Friday descended on the farm next to the one leased by opposition legislator Roy Bennett, near the town of Ruwa. Twenty-eight workers had to be hospitalised after the attack, the group said. A police spokesperson was unable to confirm the attack. "The uniformed military... came in and beat the workers," JAG said in a statement. Earlier soldiers allegedly attacked workers on a farm leased by Bennett in Ruwa, outside Harare. The independent Daily News on Saturday carried a photograph of the badly-beaten wife of Bennett's farm manager. The reports came as the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claimed that "hundreds" of its officials and supporters had been abducted from their homes in night raids by "military agents". "In the past 24 hours, hundreds of our officials and supporters have been abducted from their homes during the night and tortured in (ruling party) Zanu PF torture camps," MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi said. Rights group Amnesty International meanwhile said it was concerned by a "new and dangerous phase of repression" in the politically-divided southern African country. It said the violence was a reaction to a widely-followed job stayaway, called by the opposition to protest against President Robert Mugabe's government. The group cited widespread arrests during and after the stayaway, as well as the alleged abduction of four MDC activists in Bindura, northern Zimbabwe. "The alarming escalation in political violence is a clear indication that the Zimbabwe authorities are determined to suppress dissent by whatever means necessary," Amnesty International said in a statement released on Friday. Mugabe's government, however, has blamed the MDC for violence during the strike, when several vehicles were stoned and burnt. Ruling party offices were bombed on Friday in the northern town of Chinhoyi in what officials said was a political attack.
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From The Daily News, 24 March
Villagers starve as aid officials squabble
From Chris Gande in Bulawayo
More than 30 tonnes of Red Cross Society food meant for starving Nkayi villagers is lying idle following a row between the leaders and volunteers of the international humanitarian organisation. The food from overseas donors was for people living with Aids, the aged and orphans. It is being kept at Nkayi Hospital. Volunteers said last week that the Red Cross in Matabeleland North had been heavily politicised, at the expense of starving villagers. The development came amid revelations that several tonnes of food donated to the Red Cross by international well-wishers had vanished. The volunteers are accusing Red Cross management of imposing an executive committee which they said did not have the interests of the people at heart. The organisation, which was supposed to have helped in last month's Dete train disaster in which 50 people died, was nowhere to be seen. The volunteers accused the programmes officer, Scott Busenga Mpofu, of not releasing the keys of an ambulance and another vehicle, making it difficult for the volunteers to respond to disasters. They said with the threat of a cyclone, which has already hit some parts of the country, it was imperative that the society be prepared to help people. Differences within the organisation began when the volunteers passed a vote of no confidence in an interim committee headed by the former Nkayi Member of Parliament, John Maluzo. An interim committee was then chosen, but the late Red Cross Society of Zimbabwe president Swithun Mombeshora allegedly refused to recognise it. Some volunteers said after a stormy meeting to resolve the issue they were harassed by State security agents. The volunteers have said they want elections to choose a new executive. If there were no such elections, then they would present their grievances to the International Red Cross headquarters in Geneva. The volunteers called for investigations into the disappearance of food aid.
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Comment from The Star (SA), 21 March
OHYCAEI: the secret code to Mbeki's Zim policy
Peter Fabricius
President Mbeki seems to be using the fog of war in Iraq to conceal a tactical attempt to have his cake and eat it on Zimbabwe. (If you will pardon the mixed metaphor.) Mbeki is a member of the Commonwealth troika, a committee of heads of government mandated by the Commonwealth summit last year to deal with Zimbabwe. The other members are Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Last March the troika suspended Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth for a year after Commonwealth observers deemed that the presidential elections had been rigged. The summit's mandate included an instruction to the troika to reconsider Zimbabwe's suspension when it expired this week. But Mbeki and Obasanjo decided recently that the troika need not meet again because President Robert Mugabe had done enough to merit readmission to the Commonwealth. Howard strongly disagreed and instructed Commonwealth secretary-general Don McKinnon to ask the Commonwealth leaders directly what to do. Last Sunday, McKinnon announced that the majority of the leaders believed Zimbabwe should remain suspended until December at the next summit. McKinnon, significantly, said the troika had agreed with him that this was the right course of action.
But since Sunday night, Mbeki himself has said nothing publicly to confirm or deny McKinnon's statement. His aides, however, have been saying off the record that he did not agree that Zimbabwe should remain suspended. They have also referred journalists to the SA High Commission in London for on-the-record comment. On Wednesday, SA's deputy high commissioner in London, Sisa Ncwana, said: "As far as we are concerned, Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth expired today (Wednesday) ... we are not part of any decision to extend the sanctions ..." After three days of being given the run-around by Mbeki's spin-doctors, the penny finally dropped. Distracted by Iraq, journalists have become victims of Operation Have Your Cake and Eat It (OHYCAEI) - my title, not their's. The aim was apparently to dissociate SA from the decision to keep Zimbabwe out in the cold - while not too obviously telling McKinnon that he was a liar. The method was to try to isolate Mbeki from his own government conceptually: the SA government could go public denying McKinnon while Mbeki would refrain from doing so explicitly to avoid contradicting himself.
Some people cannot understand that multilateralism does require contortions. When a country joins a multinational organisation like the Commonwealth, its interests obviously don't always coincide with the group consensus. The elegant way of dealing with that dilemma is to compromise; to accept that your preferred national view cannot always prevail and to adapt it a bit, in order to present a consistent position. Or simply to agree to disagree. Mbeki could stand up and say: "Look, I don't think Zimbabwe should remain suspended, but that is the view of the majority, so I will go along with it." But he seems to have chosen instead to try to maintain two contradictory positions simultaneously, without acknowledging the contradiction. As South Africa's president he continues to suggest, through off-the-record remarks from his spin-doctors and on-the-record remarks from junior officials, that he has not agreed to the continued suspension of Zimbabwe. That plays well in Harare where the ruling party's mouthpiece, the Herald, carried Ncwana's remarks prominently this week. But as a member of the troika - in private conversations with McKinnon - Mbeki seems to have gone along with the Commonwealth position to keep Mugabe out. If my hunch about OHYCAEI is right, this is dishonest and clumsy diplomacy. Mbeki is implicitly calling McKinnon a liar but I suspect it is his own credibility and that of his government that will eventually suffer the most damage.
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From The Independent on Sunday (UK), 23 March
Seized land is earmarked for Mugabe family, farmers say
'War veterans' abandoned by government
By Tom de Castella in Norton, Zimbabwe
The image went round the world: the body of Terry Ford, a white farmer killed by Zimbabwe's notorious "war veterans", being guarded by his Jack Russell terrier. For many the sight symbolised the country's descent into tyranny under Robert Mugabe. That was a year ago. Now Gowrie, the 840-hectare farm at Norton, 25 miles west of Harare, is a scene of desolation - fields mostly lying fallow or overgrown with weeds, the farmhouse an empty shell, stripped of anything that can be sold for money or food. Only 16 people remain where 45 were once employed, growing maize, tobacco and soya as well as keeping cattle and sheep. When I visited Gowrie, posing as an aid worker, Mike Silas Bressing, a "war veteran" acting as spokesman, told me: "We are hungry. We have mealie [maize] meal for 10 days, then nothing. We have no sugar or cooking oil. We have planted 20 hectares of maize and eight hectares of potatoes and broccoli, but the harvest is not till the end of May or June."
What has happened at Gowrie is being repeated all over Zimbabwe. White commercial farmers and their black workers are driven off, to be replaced by people with few agricultural skills. The result is starvat |
