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Archived News
4th November 2003
From Sunday 26 October, SW Radio Africa will be changing back to their summer frequency of 6154KHz in the 49m band.
Namibian Human Rights group calls for UN action on Zimbabwe
First day of MDC challenge to 2002 elections
Daily News hearing delayed without reason
Zimbabwe nurses join doctors' strike
Where in the world is Bobby?
Mugabe 'was not flown to SA for medical treatment'
Food poisoning floored Mugabe
Different state, same oppression
Exposing the plunderers
Court remands Zim media chiefs
Zim paper plans to be back within weeks
Zim students clash with police
Zimbabwe dispatches army, prison doctors to replace striking hospital staff
On the run from Mugabe
Zim nurses' 7 000% pay plea heeded
Hospitals hard hit by strike
Tekere roped into succession battle
Chaos rocks govt-funded farming
Propaganda blitz futile
Zim's nurses at work but doctors stay away
Zimbabwe gov't agrees to negotiate with striking doctors
Doctors victims of eroding incomes
Court to decide legality of 2002 Zimbabwe presidential elections
Situation of farm workers worsened
In Zimbabwe, Jews carry on after fire destroys biggest shul
CHOGM: Nigeria consults over Zimbabwe's suspension
Mugabe plans 'sweeping reforms'
Mugabe's wife builds up the family palace
MDC hires Danish electoral expert
Zimbabwe set to review election
Commission questions licence
Long road to freedom for Daily News
Opposition official abducted
Zimbabwe banks accept currency controls in Mugabe 'restructuring'
Tough new visa requirements for Zimbabweans
An inauspicious start
Was Zimbabwe's election fair?
MDC candidates assaulted by Zanu PF vigilantes
Chanetsa in SA for treatment
CHOGM: Obasanjo lobbies for Mugabe's participation
Man eats snake
Zimbabwe named in Colombian arms deal.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 28 October
Daily News hearing delayed without reason
Susan Njanji
Harare - The publisher and three directors of The Daily News, the independent Zimbabwean newspaper highly critical of President Robert Mugabe's government, were to appear in court on Tuesday after being arrested for publishing without a licence. A company lawyer, Gugulethu Moyo, said the four, who spent the night in police holding cells after their arrest on Monday, were due in a magistrate's court on Tuesday morning. But the hearing was delayed for no stated reason, and Moyo speculated that the police were merely seeking to punish the owners of the country's only private daily newspaper. "The police are detaining people not because they require time with them for any investigations, but it seems they intend to punish them before they have actually been convicted of any crime, and it's very disappointing," Moyo told reporters outside the courtroom. "Quite clearly people are being denied access to justice," she said.
The charges against the paper's owners - who include the paper's publisher, Samuel Nkomo - follow the short-lived return to the newsstands on Saturday of The Daily News, six weeks after it was shut down by the authorities. The reappearance of the popular newspaper followed a court ruling on Friday that a state-appointed media commission had been wrong to deny the paper a licence when it applied for one in September. It ordered the paper to be licensed by November 30. Police, insisting that the newspaper cannot publish until it actually has a certificate, on Saturday shut down the paper's city offices for the second time in as many months, and briefly detained 18 staff members. Under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act signed into law by Mugabe in March last year, just days after his disputed re-election, all publications and journalists must be licensed. The Supreme Court had ruled in September that The Daily News - which was contesting the constitutionality of the Act - was operating illegally and should register under the new law.
Moyo said that police had recorded statements from the directors and there was no need to detain them any longer. If their hearing does not take place in the afternoon, Moyo said they would seek a High Court order for their release. An urgent application was made on Monday, but no judge was available to hear it. One of the paper's directors, Washington Sansole, arrested in Zimbabwe's second largest city, Bulawayo, on Sunday, was released on Monday on a High Court order. Lawyers on Tuesday were denied access to the directors. If convicted under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, The Daily News's directors face a maximum fine of Z$300 000 Zimbabwe dollars (about R2 500) or a two-year prison sentence. The other three directors are Rachel Kupara, Michael Mattinson and Brian Mutsau. The Daily News was established in 1999 as an alternative to its main rivals -- the state-run Herald and Chronicle dailies.
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From VOA News, 28 October
Zimbabwe nurses join doctors' strike
Nurses at Zimbabwe's largest state-run hospitals have walked off the job, joining doctors in a strike for higher wages. Nurses say the government has not yet responded to their pay proposals from last year. The striking nurses are quoted by the state-run Herald newspaper Tuesday as saying they will not go back to work until they hear from the government. They made the decision to strike on Monday. The Herald reports the nurses are paid the equivalent of US$170-270 per month at the official exchange rate. But the salaries are worth about seven times less at the black market rate for the Zimbabwean dollar at which most goods are priced. Junior and mid-level doctors in Zimbabwe also complain the government has ignored requests to review their wages. They say they will continue their strike until their demands for a large pay increase are met. It is not clear what impact the work stoppage is having on medical services in Zimbabwe. But one senior doctor told VOA on condition of anonymity that only a skeleton staff and student nurses are working at one of the country's leading hospitals. The doctor also says the emergency section of the hospital was closed, and patients who can afford it are going to private hospitals. The Herald report says the combined strike has paralyzed operations at hospitals in Harare, Mpilo and Bulawayo. Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis in more than 20 years, with soaring inflation and chronic shortages of fuel and cash.
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From The Star (SA), 28 October
Where in the world is Bobby?
Searching for Uncle Bob. Where is the President of Zimbabwe? According to media reports in South Africa, Mugabe is in a ward in a hospital in Gauteng, convalescing after a stroke. According to the Zimbabwean government, their president is at work in Harare, where he chaired a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning. However, no one could confirm that they had actually seen the president. Zimbabwe and South Africa are both buzzing with speculation that 79-year-old Mugabe has fallen seriously ill - possibly suffering a mild stroke - and is being treated in a South African hospital. Some South African media confidently reported the speculation on Tuesday. Beeld reported on Tuesday morning: "President Robert Mugabe has been admitted to a South African hospital for urgent medical treatment. It is believed that he might have suffered a stroke, reliable sources in Zimbabwe said on Monday." Mugabe reportedly attended the wedding of one of his cousins in his hometown Mhondoro about 45km west of Harare on Saturday, the newspaper said. It was here that he collapsed, and he hurt himself when he fell down, Beeld reported.
702 Talk Radio reported on Monday that Mugabe was in South Africa for treatment, reports Sapa. A reporter at 702 said that the story originated from a source, and that it was not known at which hospital Mugabe was supposed to be. Foreign affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa told Sapa on Monday night: "At this stage we have no knowledge of this development. In our interaction with the Zimbabwean authorities, they denied any knowledge thereof." In Harare, the speculation seems to be fuelled by the fact that Mugabe has not been seen in public for some time. However senior South African government officials on Tuesday again denied knowledge that Mugabe was here and Zimbabwe's High Commissioner to South Africa, Simon Moyo, said the reports were "absolute hogwash".
On Tuesday morning, Independent Foreign Service correspondent Brian Latham said from Harare that the regular, weekly Zimbabwean cabinet meeting was due to start at 10.30 am. Reporters would monitor it to see if Mugabe appeared. Phoning back just after 10.30am, Latham said he had seen Mugabe's motorcade arrive outside the offices in central Harare where the meeting would be held. Unfortunately his view was restricted and he had not been able to see who got out of the vehicles. Soon after this, Sapa reported that Zimbabwe High Commissioner Moyo said Mugabe was in good health and was chairing the cabinet meeting in Harare on Tuesday morning. Media reports that the president was admitted to a South African hospital for medical treatment were nothing but "wishful thinking", he told Sapa in Pretoria. "He (Mugabe) is chairing a cabinet meeting as we speak," Moyo said. "There is nothing wrong with his health." Asked where he got this information from, the high commissioner said: "I am his representative here. I am in touch with home every minute".
On Tuesday morning, Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad, deputy director for Africa in the department of foreign affairs Kingsley Mamabolo, presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo and defence ministry spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi all said they did not know of Mugabe being in a South African hospital. Mkhwanazi said Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota also knew nothing about the reports. He said he had spoken to Lekota on Monday when the reports first surfaced. The speculation in Harare was that Mugabe was being treated in a South African military hospital but on Tuesday Major Niko Allie, spokesperson for South African Military Health Services, said Mugabe was not being treated in any military hospital in South Africa. Some observers believe speculation may have been prompted by the fact that former Zimbabwean cabinet minister Edison Zvobgo, who is still a member of the ruling Zanu PF central committee member but now sidelined by Mugabe, is seriously ill in a hospital in Cape Town.
The Star's reporters checked airports and hospitals to see if they could find any trace of Mugabe in South Africa on Tuesday morning. Asked if had flown in on Monday, airport spokespeople said:
Wonderboom: No, he would not have flown here because we have no international status. Waterkloof: Please contact foreign affairs Lanseria Airport: If he did, I'm not at liberty to say that. We have no record of him arriving. SAA: The only way of knowing that is if that person is given VIP status. Unless someone recognises him and by chance lets us know. By aviation law, we are not supposed to disclose the names of people. Acsa at Johannesburg Airport: It's not in our place to say who is in the country. Normally this is dealt with by Foreign Affairs.
Asked if President Mugabe had been admitted, media relations officers at hospitals said:
Milpark Hospital (Johannesburg): No. Even if he is here, we are not at liberty to say that. Sandton Medi-clinic (Johannesburg): No. Garden City Clinic (Johannesburg): No. Sunninghill Hospital (Johannesburg): No. Casternhof (Midrand): No. Jacaranda (Pta): No. Krugersdorp Private Hospital: No. Linksfield Park Clinic (Johannesburg): No. Olivedale Clinic (Johannesburg): No. Park Lane Clinic (Johannesburg): No. Rosebank Clinic (Johannesburg): No. Unitas Hospital (Pretoria): No. Constantia Bay (Cape Town): No.
Media have been reporting on Mugabe's alleged advancing "frailty" for years.
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From The Star (SA), 29 October
Mugabe 'was not flown to SA for medical treatment'
By Basildon Peta and Peter Fabricius
President Robert Mugabe did suffer a minor stroke recently but was treated in Zimbabwe and not South Africa. Senior Zimbabwean officials yesterday dismissed widespread speculation and media reports yesterday that the 79-year-old leader had been surreptitiously flown to SA for emergency treatment. Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said the SA government had been notified that Mugabe was chairing the regular Tuesday cabinet meeting in Harare yesterday. He said the government had no knowledge of Mugabe having been to SA for treatment. Zimbabwe's high commissioner to SA, Simon Moyo, said the reports were "absolute hogwash" and that Mugabe was chairing cabinet. Independent Newspapers' correspondent in Harare, Brian Latham, confirmed that Mugabe's motorcade had arrived at his central Harare presidential offices yesterday, presumably for the cabinet meeting. But Latham did not actually see Mugabe, and in Harare his absence from public engagements for some time is fuelling speculation that he is ill.
Pahad could not completely rule out the possibility that Mugabe might have entered the country without informing the government and then returned to Harare for the cabinet meeting. He said that under the rules of international protocol, Mugabe need only have informed the government of a visit if he wanted VIP treatment in South Africa. According to some media reports, Mugabe was collected by a South African military aircraft from Harare and flown to Pretoria for treatment on Monday. Defence spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said he did not know if Mugabe had been in South Africa but other defence officials denied he had been treated in any South African military hospital. The Star contacted most of the major civilian hospitals in Gauteng, which denied Mugabe had been treated there.
Top sources in Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party and his spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), said Mugabe had suffered a minor stroke but was treated by Chinese doctors in Harare and had recovered. One source said: "If you only knew the president's paranoia over white 'Rhodies' in South Africa, you would not even imagine he might want to spend a night in a hospital there." Sources say he does not trust South African military hospitals. The Zanu PF and CIO sources said Mugabe regularly showed signs of stress and symptoms of epileptic fits, which caused him to collapse often. The latest incident was as late as Saturday after he attended a relative's wedding in southern Zimbabwe. "I don't think anyone, perhaps with the exception of his wife, can specify his exact medical problem, because I don't believe he shows his medical records to anyone. But he often shows signs that he is not well," said a senior official of Zanu PF, who preferred anonymity.
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From News24 (SA), 28 October
Food poisoning floored Mugabe
Erika Gibson
Pretoria - The setback Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, suffered to his health over the weekend was apparently not as serious as was initially believed. After initial reports that he possibly had a stroke, the latest information indicates that he might have contracted food poisoning at a wedding function over the weekend. The food poisoning caused severe vomiting and he collapsed. He hit his head in the fall and sustained a concussion. A source said that there were grave concerns over his condition initially and he was flown to a Johannesburg clinic for medical evaluation and/or treatment. He apparently left for Zimbabwe again on Sunday evening or Monday morning. It is not known what his current condition is. The London Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday that riot police and members of the youth brigade were being deployed in Harare. Another source alleged that a wing in Parirenyatawa Hospital in Harare had been closed off for Mugabe's personal use. However, a businessman from Harare, who did not want to be named, said there were no signs of an increased military presence in the city.
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Comment from The Mail & Guardian (SA), 27 October
Different state, same oppression
Gugulethu Moyo
In an astounding political volte-face, some of Zimbabwe’s former freedom fighters have eagerly assumed the mantle of their former oppressor, The Rhodesian Front, and now shackle the citizens of the free and sovereign Zimbabwe by the very method of the first oppressor. The law and spirit of repression that were the seal of the morally repugnant Rhodesian Front of Ian Smith have resurfaced in Zimbabwe under the seal of the Zanu PF government of this day. Five weeks ago the Zanu PF government shut down the nation’s most popular daily newspaper, The Daily News, by way of a legal instrument that compelled all newspaper publishers to register with a state-appointed regulatory authority before they were legally entitled to publish newspapers.
In a court affidavit deposed to on January 27 this year, the Zimbabwean Minister of State for Information and Publicity, Jonathan Moyo, said in defence of the government’s position: "This publication presents clear testimony to the threat Zimbabwe’s sovereignty faces. Government is obliged to defend itself from this subversion. Necessarily there is an obligation on the part of government to weed out subversion whenever it masquerades in our midst as free press." The minister’s statements bear a chilling resemblance to those made by Rhodesian Front law and order minister Desmond Lardner-Burke in 1964, when he proclaimed the then most popular African daily - ironically also titled The Daily News - a prohibited publication in terms of the Rhodesian Law and Order Maintenance Act. According to Lardner-Burke, the ban was necessitated by the fact that the Rhodesian government could not "permit the much-prized ideal of press freedom to be used for spreading subversion".
In the months preceding the ban of the popular daily, the Rhodesian Front government had displayed the kind of unbridled hostility towards a free press that is displayed by the Zanu PF government today. It attempted to introduce stringent legal controls on the media, varying from compulsory licensing of newspaper publishers, editors and journalists to a government-controlled press council with wide powers to intervene in the activities of the press. Journalists working in Rhodesia were frequently harassed by the state, arrested, detained and charged with contraventions of draconian national security laws. The treatment of foreign journalists by the Rhodesian Front finds alarming parallels in the actions of the Zanu PF government. In Rhodesia, most foreign journalists were denied work permits. Of the few who were briefly allowed to remain working in the country, at least two were eventually deported after being acquitted of criminal offences against the state. Similarly, in today’s Zimbabwe, foreign journalist Andrew Meldrum was deported from Zimbabwe after he had been acquitted, months before, on a criminal charge relating to his journalistic practice. All other foreign journalists have been denied permits to work in Zimbabwe.
Government attacks on the private press are frequent. The latest attack came only 10 days ago, when Jonathan Moyo described two weekly publications as "running dogs of imperialism". This attack was accompanied by a further warning in the wake of the closure of The Daily News that these newspapers would be "next". More than 50 local journalists await prosecution on a number of journalistic offences ranging from engaging in conduct likely to cause alarm and despondency to offences such as publishing stories that "denigrate the authority of the president" or the "uniformed forces". Predictably, similar offences also existed in the Rhodesian days. They were removed from the statute books of independent Zimbabwe at the insistence of our liberation heroes, who had found them to be so morally repugnant that they had been willing to take up arms and risk life and limb to secure the freedom of the Zimbabwean people. Two decades later the same liberation war heroes have been returned the laws now cloaked in Zimbabwean titles such as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Public Order and Security Act of 2002. The Zimbabwean government would have its people believe that "white people" or the British are the sole cause of Zimbabwe’s problems. "Remove them from the scene and the root cause of our problems is abolished forever." This is not the truth, of course. The more likely truth is that tyranny, of the kind that Zanu-PF displays now, is the sole cause of humankind’s problems.
Gugulethu Moyo is the legal adviser to The Daily News
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From Radio Netherlands, 28 October
Exposing the plunderers
By Ann-Marie Michel and Theo Tamis
It was supposed to name and shame, but a long-awaited UN report on plundering in the Democratic Republic of Congo could end up permanently under wraps. The UN Security Council is expected to censor parts dealing with governments and multinational firms that profited from Congo's mineral resources. The United Nations fears the release of all its findings could wreck the fragile peace process. But keeping them secret will make it harder to bring those responsible to book. The Security Council faces a devilish dilemma. On Thursday, it will decide whether to release a controversial chapter of the latest UN report on the multinational plunder of the Democratic Republic of Congo's vast mineral resources. The odds are that the chapter will not be released for fear of jeopardising the peace accord signed in July. Under this accord, former rebel groups have joined a transitional government tasked with preparing elections within two years. The set-up has proven to be extremely fragile, with regular flare-ups of fighting and ethnic massacres in the northeast threatening to reignite the wider civil war that began in 1998 and claimed an estimated three million lives, mostly through disease and starvation.
At issue, then and now, is the scramble to exploit the DRC's vast mineral wealth, which includes gold, diamonds, cobalt, copper and coltan. UN reports on the plunder, released since 2001, have consistently and squarely put the blame on the country's neighbours as well as on sections of the Kinshasa government. Releasing more details on their involvement could blow up the entire peace process, says analyst Hermann Hanekom, a former South African ambassador to Kinshasa. "Although countries have been named such as Uganda, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Burundi and Congo itself, it is not in fact those countries that benefited from the plundering of the DRC's natural resources, but a very small select group of individuals. These individuals that are under suspect are those who today within the DRC fill very responsible posts within the transitional government. If they are exposed, I think the fear is that lesser leadership figures of government as well as the rebel movement might come into revolt against these people being there, because they missed out on the profits, with the subsequent result that it is possible that the rebellion could resume again."
Keeping the controversial findings under wraps presents other problems. Critics could say the UN is simply giving in to fear or that it's allowing the peace process itself to become tainted if the main culprits remain scot-free in their high places. In the end, the UN will have to release the sensitive details, says Mr Hanekom. "The plundering of the DRC has now apparently stopped. But I suspect these people have small militia bands now doing the dirty work for them. And from what I have read regarding these United Nations reports, it almost appears to me that human rights is playing a more prominent role that the plundering of the country itself. Accusations have been made that the exploiters have been making use of what one can call virtually slave labour to exploit these minerals to their benefit. I therefore think that the Security Council will sooner or later find itself under tremendous pressure to release those parts and those reports that it is withholding at the moment."
In the meantime, Mr Hanekom expects the Council to act on at least two of the key recommendations contained in the report. These include the monitoring of human rights at MIBA and other state mineral industries in the DRC as well as the flow of arms. "There is a weapons embargo in place and I think it is very important that perhaps the reports dealing with arms that went into that part of Africa, that should be very much exposed, because without arms, one can say that the mischievous people will have no power to do what they are currently doing and have done in the past." In this light, Mr Hanekom believes, the UN report will have an impact even though it may not be fully made public. "I think if the report is exposed to a degree of let´s say 65 or 70 percent, it will have sufficient teeth to send out a very strong warning."
From ZWNEWS: If you would like to read the final report of the UN Panel of Experts on the plunder of the Congo, please let us know. It will be sent as a Word attachment to an email message - approximately four times the size of the average daily ZWNEWS.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 29 October
Court remands Zim media chiefs
Harare - A Zimbabwean magistrate's court on Wednesday placed four directors of the independent newspaper The Daily News on remand, quashing a defence bid to have the charges against them dropped. The four are facing charges of contempt of court and publishing the newspaper, a harsh critic of the government of President Robert Mugabe, without a licence. Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe ordered them each to pay bail of Z$50 000 Zimbabwe dollars and return to court on November 13. The magistrate placed them on remand to allow himself time to study a ruling on a similar matter involving another of the paper's directors, who was freed by the High Court in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, on Monday. Defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa had pointed to the Bulawayo court's finding that no grounds existed to place Washington Sansole, who had been arrested on Saturday, on remand. Mtetwa said the facts surrounding Sansole's case were similar, and argued against applying the law selectively for the others. "It will clearly be discriminatory. The Constitution provides against selective application of the law," Mtetwa said.
The four - Samuel Nkomo, Rachel Kupara, Brian Mutsau and Stuart Mattinson - were locked up in police cells for two days and two nights. "Clearly the intention is to lock up the accused not because they committed any offence but [because] someone has to be punished," Mtetwa said. "There is nothing that justifies the accused having been placed in custody for two nights," she said. Elizabeth Mwatse-Simowah argued on behalf of the state that the four acted in contempt when they proceeded to publish Saturday against a Supreme Court ruling that they should get registered first. The charges follow the short-lived return to the newsstands on Saturday of The Daily News, six weeks after it was shut down by the authorities. The reappearance of the popular newspaper followed a court ruling on Friday that a state-appointed media commission had wrongly denied the paper a licence when it applied for one in September. It ordered the paper to be licensed by November 30.
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From The Star (SA), 29 October
Zim paper plans to be back within weeks
Zimbabwe's only privately owned daily newspaper is continuing its fight against government efforts to shut it down. According to Strive Masiyiwa, who heads the board of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, they expect to resume publication "in a matter of weeks". He said in Johannesburg yesterday that he had expected police to target the Daily News after it put out its first edition in six weeks on Saturday. "We knew very, very clearly, and this went a great way to confirming, that the government was determined to keep the paper off the streets at any costs," said Masiyiwa, who is based in Johannesburg. "I have every reason to believe that Zimbabweans will see the paper back on the streets in a matter of weeks." Police swooped on the Daily News offices in Harare and detained 18 staff on Saturday, hours after the newspaper put out a comeback edition. This followed a court ruling which said it should be granted a new publishing licence. Five members of the board of directors have since been charged with violating Zimbabwe's strict media laws - although their lawyers say Friday's decision by the Harare Administrative Court was sufficient legal grounds to resume operations. Masiyiwa, a Zimbabwean entrepreneur who also chairs South African-based Econet Wireless International, said the police action showed President Robert Mugabe's government was determined to use new media regulations to strangle key elements of the country's press.
The law, enacted after Mugabe's re-election as president last year, requires newspapers to apply for licences and threatens stiff penalties if they do not. Government officials say the law is meant to instil professionalism in Zimbabwe's media, but critics say it is an attempt to silence Mugabe's opponents as the country sinks into a deepening economic and political crisis. Masiyiwa said the Daily News - with a daily circulation of more than 100 000 copies - was one of the country's most popular and outspoken newspapers and had always been the government's target. "From the day the legislation was mooted, we had no doubt in our minds that it had been designed to get rid of the Daily News." Masiyiwa said there were no plans to lay off staff, and the newspaper still hoped to provide independent coverage of several major political court cases, including an opposition challenge to the legality of Mugabe's 2002 election victory. "I think the election petition has a major part in the timing of the ban, no question or doubt about it," Masiyiwa said. Meanwhile, the newspaper's lawyers would go on the attack - filing contempt-of-court charges against individual members of the government media commission and the police. "You have to be on the offensive in terms of what you are doing legally," he said, adding that the newspaper would not be cowed by the police or by legal moves against it.
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From News24 (SA), 29 October
Zim students clash with police
Harare - Zimbabwe's main university said on Wednesday it had suspended several students who led demonstrations that turned into riots, causing damage to campus buildings, shops and a bank. Riot police fired tear gas at the protesting students during the demonstrations on Tuesday and beat them, said Jonga Tutsirayi, a member of a students' union. The vice chancellor's car was damaged and another car was burnt to "ashes", according to a statement from the University of Zimbabwe. "Students were protesting peacefully when riot police came and started firing teargas and beating up students. Otherwise there was no violence," said Tutsirayi. Tutsirayi said the students were demonstrating against delays in the release of their grants, which they said have not been paid out since the semester began in mid September. He said some students who did not reside at campus in a plush suburb of Mount Pleasant in Harare, have not attended lectures because they do not have money for transport. The students are also demanding more money. Each student receives Z$300 000 in grants per year. "The money has not been released on time and the students want a review," he said. Tutsirayi said he understood some 23 students had been arrested following the clashes and that they had paid a fine. Public demonstrations are illegal in Zimbabwe unless cleared by the police. Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed the disturbances that had taken place at campus, but said he was not aware of the arrests.
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From Associated Press, 29 October
Zimbabwe dispatches army, prison doctors to replace striking hospital staff
By Michael Hartnack
Harare - Zimbabwe's health minister on Wednesday dispatched police, army and prison doctors to replace striking health care workers at government hospitals. The move came as President Robert Mugabe dispelled persistent rumors that he is in poor health with a public appearance to welcome delegates from 69 international organizations to the northwestern resort town of Victoria Falls for a conference on monuments and heritage sites. About 500 doctors walked out Friday demanding pay raises of up to 8,000 percent to keep pace with rampant inflation, officially running at about 455.6 percent. They have since been joined by some 20,000 nurses. The only doctors currently providing services at state hospitals are foreigners brought in to assist under long-standing agreements with Cuba and other countries. The state-owned Herald newspaper reported Wednesday that one doctor at Harare's main hospital had to attend to casualties from four road accidents assisted only by student nurses. Some outpatients had been turned away, the paper said. Health Minister David Parirenyatwa told state radio that medical personnel from the armed forces, police and prisons would ease pressure on the hospitals and "prevent further loss of life." He did not specify how many, if any, patients had died as a result of the work stoppage. This is the second time the country's health care professionals have gone on strike this year. Doctors interrupted services at state hospitals intermittently in June.
Meanwhile, Mugabe told delegates at the International Conference on Monuments and Sites gathering that land was Zimbabwe's greatest heritage and had been reclaimed for the country's black farmers, state radio reported. Mugabe's often-violent land reform program has seen 5,000 white-owned farms confiscated for redistribution to blacks. The program has crippled Zimbabwe's agriculture-based economy, with the country now facing 70 percent unemployment and acute shortages of food, gasoline and medicine. When students at the University of Zimbabwe were told they would not be receiving overdue living allowances, it sparked a riot Tuesday on campus in Harare's Mount Pleasant suburb. Some 12,000 students stoned the acting vice chancellor's car and looted a grocery store. Police dispersed the protesters. Mugabe's Wednesday appearance came after a flurry of rumors that he had collapsed and been admitted to a hospital in neighboring South Africa for treatment. Government press secretary George Charamba insisted Mugabe was in good health and accused western diplomats of trying to "destabilize" the country.
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From The Scotsman (UK), 30 October
On the run from Mugabe
Louisa Pearson
An air of calm surrounds Sandra Nyaira. Sitting in Edinburgh’s Apex Hotel and proudly sporting an Africawoman T-shirt, she betrays no trace of anxiety about the fact that the visa which allows her to remain in Britain runs out today. Should she return to her native Zimbabwe, the chances are, she’ll be arrested. Nyaira’s crime is to exert a right that we in Scotland take for granted - freedom of speech. As a journalist on the country’s one independent newspaper, the Daily News, her work exposing corruption within the government put her directly in President Robert Mugabe regime’s line of fire. Having spent the last year on study leave in London, Nyaira had hoped to return to her role as political editor at the Daily News. But two days ago several of her colleagues were arrested as the government once more attempted to silence any dissenting voices. Add to this conflicting reports of the state of Mugabe’s health, a general strike by health workers and you have a country that is showing no signs of stability. Despite having been in the eye of the storm, Nyaira is determined to return.
The fortunes of Zimbabwe have been played out on the world stage since it won independence in 1980. Home to dramatic landscapes, not least Victoria Falls, the country was long seen as the bread basket of southern Africa, as a major food producer and the world’s third biggest source of tobacco. But the former Rhodesia has also witnessed much conflict dating back to the white settlers who dispossessed the resident population through to the recent seizure of white-owned agricultural land. This controversial land reform programme has resulted in food shortages that, combined with drought, has left millions at risk of famine. The 23 years of rule under Mugabe has seen the economy decimated and witnessed a stream of human rights violations as well as one of the world’s highest rates of HIV/AIDS infection. As Nyaira says, "You don’t get a good story from Zimbabwe, you really don’t, it’s all negative." Having hit rock bottom, Nyaira and others like her, are determined to do whatever it takes to return their country to a state they can be proud of.
Last year, Nyaira received a Courage in Journalism award from the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF). In a statement, the Foundation said: "She works amid almost daily harassment in a country with one of the worst press freedom records in the world." It’s fair to say that the 29-year-old has experienced the sharp end of journalism. Which is perhaps surprising considering she fell into the profession almost by accident. "The thing about being an African girl is you are not expected to speak out about any ills you see around you in society," she says. "You are supposed to be submissive, you are supposed to listen to what your elders say." Having spent so many years hiding her feelings, it seems there was a lot of expression waiting to come out. On one occasion, Nyaira was made to stay at home for an extra mathematics lesson while her fellow students went to a careers open day. They came back with vivid tales about the journalism stand, notably their experiences of trying out radio and television broadcasting for the first time. In a nutshell, Nyaira says: "I fell in love with the studio, before I even saw it." On leaving high school, Nyaira was accepted for a two-year course in print journalism and by 1995 she was working on a community newspaper.
Officially, almost all of Zimbabwe’s media comes under state control. This includes Zimbabwe Inter-News Agency (Ziana), the national news agency, but when Nyaira joined the organisation in 1996, she was surprised at the level of freedom afforded to reporters. She says her editor, Henry Muradzikwa, never interfered in their work and as a result they quickly became a prime source of news for outside agencies, revealing the inside story of Zimbabwe’ s economic and political situation. When the government realised what was going on, Muradzikwa lost his job and Ziana was dismantled, to be replaced by a much more tightly controlled agency, in effect a gatekeeper to safeguard information. This played a part in Nyaira’s decision to leave the employ of the state media. "They thought it was being too critical but we were just writing what was happening in the country. I guess that’s where I really got this thing about working in the independent media." When Nyaira talks about the early days of the Daily News, she lights up. "It was beautiful. I still feel this big sense of loss about what has happened, because I was there before the paper went onto the streets." For the pioneering journalists, it wasn’t easy - they sometimes had to go without salaries, but they were driven by the belief that Zimbabweans need an independent voice. "We were so united, saying we should carry this paper to greater heights and boy did we do it," she says. "So many people were buying the paper, getting international and local information, it was a good feeling." Establishing the paper in 1999 was a considerable achievement, but it seems none of those involved expected the level of hostility they were soon to experience. From it’s launch, the Daily News was consistently critical of Mugabe and his ruling party, Zanu PF.
Nyaira says the first form of resistance from the government came by putting pressure on advertisers. It wasn’t long before a concerted campaign of more direct action began. The newspaper’s offices were petrol-bombed, vendors received beatings and then in April 2001, Nyaira and two of her colleagues were arrested and charged with "criminal defamation". The cause was what Nyaira describes as a "big story" she had broken. She had uncovered and verified information about a company contracted by the Zimbabwe government to build a new terminal at Harare International Airport. It seems that the tender had been eased along by a number of substantial donations to officials within the government and a letter suggested that Mugabe was aware of the corruption. The state media instantly hit back by attacking Nyaira, branding her a liar who was being used by British Imperialists and who was trying to destroy the president. "You can imagine your mother is at home and listening to those stories and she wants you to get out of it as soon as possible," she says, "but you don’t want to get out of it because that’s what you know how to do best, and it is what you love."
Although frightened for what might happen next, Nyaira remained defiant. She describes the government’s aggression as a process of trying to make journalists censor themselves, because they are scared of the consequences. Despite this, she remained dedicated to writing the truth for the long-term good of the country. "The human rights situation is appalling and it was the Daily News which was exposing the government for what they really were - their lack of spending, their archaic laws, the policies that have made sure that Zimbabwe falls deeper into oblivion. It will be difficult for us to get out of that." As the pressure grew for Nyaira, a colleague suggested she apply for the British Council’s Chevening scholarship scheme, which facilitates study overseas. She was accepted and a year ago enrolled at City University, London, to study for a Masters in International Journalism. Watching events unfold from afar has proved a painful process. She describes the experience of opening the newspapers each day to find yet more bad press about Zimbabwe as an embarrassment. "You wake up in the morning, someone has been killed. You wake up in the morning, someone has been tortured. You wake up in the morning, someone’s house has been burnt because of politics, because of intolerance, because we don’t want to tolerate others." She regrets the polarisation that has emerged within the Zimbabwean media itself, whereby some of her fellow journalists celebrated the demise of the Daily News. "You have a society that is working against itself," says Nyaira.
The current crisis at the Daily News arose after a court ruled that the government was wrong to refuse the newspaper a licence. The paper went back on sale but several directors were promptly arrested and the offices closed. As the legal wrangling continues, Nyaira has spoken to colleagues who have told her that they have to don disguises to move around freely. Those arrested have also told her that her name is included on the government’s "wanted" list, meaning that if she was to return, she would most likely face arrest. However, Nyaira points out that although she is on study leave, she is also still on the payroll of the Daily News. She would be back at work now if current events hadn’t made it seem wiser to delay. "I am hoping and praying that something will happen. But without the paper I have no protection, I have no-one to fight for me," she says. While she waits to hear if her visa can be extended, Nyaira says the one thing she won’t do is apply for political asylum. She believes that Zimbabwe needs its young journalists to use their skills to the benefit of their own nation. "Seeking political asylum is saying to Robert Mugabe ‘look you’ve won’. He must not win at the end of the day, the people of Zimbabwe must be the ultimate winners."
To secure that victory, Nyaira is prepared to do whatever it takes. "There comes a time in life when going to jail must become an honourable thing. Because we are fighting for democracy and when that independence eventually comes, we must be proud of it and say we really fought for it and we did it together. So that’s what I feel right now. I know I’m going to go back, even if they arrest me." Until that time comes, Nyaira has been putting her energy into writing for Africawoman, a publication comprising African women journalists from nine different countries. She describes it as a source of salvation as it gives her a platform to write about what is happening to people at grassroots level in Zimbabwe. Her visit to Edinburgh has involved protesting at the Education Ministers Commonwealth Conference to try and ensure that African development funds are not diverted to fund the reconstruction of Iraq, while also highlighting the need for Zimbabwe’s own budget to prioritise social services above war. Nyaira is also soon to launch and run Africawoman’s new human rights project, which will target issues such as lack of access to education, especially for girls, access to resources and basic amenities.
Nyaira makes it clear that she considers it essential that the international community does not forget about her homeland. "At the moment there’s a fatigue on issues that are affecting Zimbabwe. We are saying that if you grow weary, if you get tired then the people of Zimbabwe will be slaughtered, because no-one is speaking for them." She describes Zimbabwe as being in an abyss, but despite the damage that has been done, she is optimistic that recovery is possible. "We need to start thinking about the post-Mugabe era, what’s going to happen, what do we need to do. I know people are prepared to work for their country so that it is brought back into the limelight to being a country where people want to visit." If her countrymen share even some of Nyaira’s determination, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for Zimbabwe.
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From The Star (SA), 31 October
Zim nurses' 7 000% pay plea heeded
Harare - Hundreds of nurses at Zimbabwe's state hospitals have called off a strike after the government promised to address their demands for steep pay increases. The government said yesterday it would respond to the nurses' demand for a 7 000% increase within one week. "We urge all our members on collective job action to go back to work ... while we await a response from the (health) minister," the head of the Zimbabwe Nurses Association, Oslina Tagutanazvo, said. Nurses in Zimbabwe earn a minimum gross monthly pay of 138 446 Zimbabwe dollars (about R1 200), which is barely enough to buy a month's basic groceries for an average Zimbabwean family of about five. On the parallel market rate, the nurses' salary is equivalent to less than US$25 (about R170) a month. The nurses went on strike on Monday, following doctors who have been away from work since last week demanding an 80-fold pay hike from their gross monthly salary of 378 000 Zimbabwe dollars. On Tuesday, the government deployed military doctors and nurses to the affected hospitals to reinforce consultant medical staff it had brought in from Cuba and the Democratic Republic of Congo to tend to patients.
Meanwhile Koichiro Matsuura, head of the UN cultural organisation Unesco, has expressed concern over the fate of Zimbabwe's Daily News, a harsh critic of the government of President Robert Mugabe. "Muzzling the press cripples a country's development and prosperity. Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are the driving forces behind democratic processes," Matsuura said yesterday. Launched in 1999, the Daily News, Zimbabwe's most popular daily, was shut down six weeks ago by police for operating without a licence. It returned to the newsstands on Saturday after a court ruling in its favour, only to be shut down again facing new charges of contempt of court. The newspaper's founder and former editor-in-chief, Geoffrey Nyarota, received the Unesco World Press Freedom Prize last year. The Administrative Court found that a government-appointed media commission had wrongly denied the paper a licence in September. The court ordered the commission to give the paper the proper permits by November 30. "I praise the October 24 ruling handed down by the Administrative Court of Zimbabwe and can only regret that it was followed by more charges and arrests," Matsuura said, referring to the detention of 18 staffers and charges brought against several news directors. Since it began publishing in 1999, many Daily News reporters and editors have been arrested, and its offices and printing presses have been bombed.
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From IRIN (UN), 30 October
Hospitals hard hit by strike
Harare - Mbulawa Shiri grimaced on Thursday as he lay on a hospital bed at Parirenyatwa Hospital, Zimbabwe's largest referral health facility. He was involved in a car accident on Sunday and thinks he broke both his legs. He did not know for sure, because a strike by doctors meant he had not been attended to and his relatives were frantically trying to raise Z$2 million (US $2,400 at the official rate, US $400 on the black market) to send him to a private hospital. Zimbabwe's doctors went on strike on Thursday last week, demanding salaries of Z$30 million a month (US $36,000 at the official rate and $6,000 at the black market rate) - a colossal increase from their current Z$4 million to Z$5 million (US $6,000/US $1,000) a year. The doctors argue that such a hike was needed to keep pace with inflation in a country where the black market sets the real cost of living. On Monday the doctors were joined on strike by nurses, who demanded a review of their salaries. They were left out of a recently concluded Public Service Commission job evaluation exercise which sought to match professionals’ salaries with their qualifications, work load and experience. Nurses earn between Z$260,000 to Z$800,000 a month depending on their posts.
Hospitals Doctors Association president Phibion Manyanga, who spent the whole of Tuesday locked in a meeting with health minister David Parirenyatwa, said the health professionals were ready to return to work, but only if they received a written government assurance that they would be awarded the salary rise. This is at least the third time this year doctors have gone on strike over pay. Parirenyatwa reportedly said the government could not afford the "unrealistic, black market salaries" demanded by the medical staff, and responded to the strike on Wednesday by ordering doctors and nurses from the uniformed service into the public hospitals. "We are certainly putting up emergency measures in place to take care of the situation. This is our country and these are our people who are suffering," Parirenyatwa told the Bulawayo Chronicle.
However, a nurse at Parirenyatwa Hospital, who asked not to be named, told IRIN that the presence of military medical personnel had made little impact. "The armed forces, like the government, does not have a full complement of medical teams and we have seen only one or two nurses from the army," said the nurse. "The only people who have been of assistance are student nurses and senior nursing staff who are not allowed to go on strike. Spanish-speaking Cuban doctors and their French-speaking counterparts from the Democratic Republic of Congo are also battling to attend to the few emergency cases which are being admitted," she added. Public relations manager at Parirenyatwa Hospital, Jane Dadzi, confirmed that only senior nursing students and nurse aides were attending to patients. "We have one doctor at the casualty department who is attending to emergency cases. Some people visiting the outpatients department are being turned away as they all cannot be attended to by the staff present because of the strike by doctors and nurses," she told the state-controlled Herald newspaper. Zimbabwe's health service, once among the best in the region, has been laid low by the country's deep economic crisis, which has robbed it of adequate funding and experienced personnel.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 31 October
Tekere roped into succession battle
Dumisani Muleya
Manicaland political heavyweights have roped in former Zanu PF secretary-general and political firebrand Edgar Tekere to beef up their bid for President Robert Mugabe's post ahead of the party's Masvingo conference in December. Manicaland's provincial executive committee has been working flat out to recruit Tekere to bolster its efforts to provide an heir to Mugabe from the region. Their focus is on both the presidency and vice-presidency. Although Tekere is not himself expected to stand, his experience and pulling power could prove crucial. Former Finance minister Simba Makoni, Zanu PF secretary for external affairs Didymus Mutasa, and provincial governor Oppah Muchinguri are all being touted as Manicaland's candidates for high office. Makoni is earmarked for president, while both Mutasa and Muchinguri have set their eyes on the vice-presidency if Makoni fails. They have the support of regional bigwigs like Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs Patrick Chinamasa and MPs Kenneth Manyonda and Saviour Kasukuwere, who is close to Tekere. Efforts to recruit Tekere have been underway for some time. A delegation led by provincial party chair Mark Madiro, which included Victoria Chitepo, Munacho Mutezo, Shadreck Chipanga, Freddy Kanzama, and Robert Gumbo, met Tekere in Mutare on May 30 to officially invite him back. Follow-up meetings have been held since.
It is understood Zanu PF heavyweights like Nathan Shamuyarira were initially opposed to Tekere's return arguing he was a renegade. But they later changed their minds after being reminded that there were a number of one-time defectors in the party. Tekere told the Zimbabwe Independent this week he was keen to bounce back into Zanu PF which he described as "my party". Although Mutasa last week announced Tekere had been readmitted, the volatile maverick said it was not yet official. "I want to go back to my party. I say my party because I was one of the founder members of Zanu PF. The party was formed in Gweru where other nationalists and I had created a solid powerbase. Its first congress was held in Munhumutapa Hall in Gweru and I eventually became its chairman in the area," Tekere said. "Zanu PF flows in my blood and it's my natural home." On the Masvingo conference that could provide fireworks over the Mugabe succession, Tekere said he was waiting for the opportune moment to start being actively involved. "After consulting, being properly briefed, reorienting or, if you like, rehabilitating myself, I will plunge headlong into those issues," he said. "These are matters I would like to participate in at meetings, behind the scenes and everywhere."
Zanu PF cliques are meanwhile busy consolidating their positions ahead of the ruling party's Masvingo conference to catapult their chosen candidates to power. Zanu PF chair John Nkomo, secretary for administration Emmerson Mnangagwa, and Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi are said to be working with select coteries of followers ahead of the conference. Members of the recently disbanded succession committee are also said to be working on the issue, although less openly. While the succession issue may be successfully suppressed on the official agenda its looming presence will be seen in stances taken and resolutions adopted. Former army commander General Solomon Mujuru, retired Air Marshal Josiah Tungamirai and politburo heavyweight Dumiso Dabengwa are said to be working together. The three want to block Mnangagwa's rise to power. Mnangagwa is considered Mugabe's anointed successor. Reports of intensifying power struggles in Zanu PF come as South African President Thabo Mbeki's office maintained there would be a solution to the current Zimbabwe crisis by June next year, the deadline set by Mbeki. Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo said this week: "We don't see any reason why the June deadline cannot be met."
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 31 October
Chaos rocks govt-funded farming
Loughty Dube
A report presented by a parliamentary portfolio committee has said the government has nothing to show for agricultural projects funded from the last budget allocation. The committee on Agriculture, Water Development, Rural Resources and Resettlement said it did not understand why those aspects of the land reform programme that were funded by the current budget had not yielded results. The report, presented during a 2004 pre-budget seminar by the portfolio committee chairman, Daniel Mackenzie Ncube (Zanu PF, Zhombe), said there was chaos on the land. He said even in the event of good rains, inadequate preparations would hamper any prospects of a bumper harvest in the country. He said the portfolio committee found that there was confusion in seed provision and distribution by the government. It cited as impediments lack of agricultural inputs, delays in announcing producer prices, inconsistent fertiliser supply and the dual foreign currency regime currently in place.
The report was part of a wider report the lands and agriculture committee compiled from fact-finding visits to resettled farms in all the country's nine administrative districts since January this year. Ncube told MPs in Bulawayo last week that some of the agricultural inputs meant for A1 farmers did not reach the intended beneficiaries from Harare where all the resources are dispatched from. "Apart from the erratic distribution system of agricultural inputs, the major complaint from farmers on resettled farms was that the resources were centralised in Harare and therefore did not cascade downwards to reach the targeted beneficiaries, A1 farmers," Ncube said. Government allocated $12,5 billion in the 2003 budget for the supply of agricultural inputs and a further $45 billion in the supplementary budget. The report stated that the seed distribution programme to resettled farmers was a disaster as it did not take into account the country's ecological make up. "Seed distribution did not seem to take into account the ecological disparities of the provinces and hence in some cases seed varieties were distributed to areas where they were not suitable," Ncube said.
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Comment from The Financial Gazette, 30 october
Propaganda blitz futile
Before being booted out of power in multi-party elections in 1994, Malawian dictator, Hastings Kamuzu Banda, attended a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in an Asian country. Banda, who was in his 90s, had been ailing for sometime and because Malawi was a closed society at that time, no official information had been released to the press pertaining to the state of his health. As a result, there were all sorts of rumours, including that the autocrat had died. Consequently, when he showed up at the NAM summit, his mere presence was a big news story in its own right. I remember watching a news clip on television in which a reporter commented rather uncharitably that while the rest of the delegates were grappling with important issues, the Malawian nonagenarian’s main objectives was to prove that he was still alive!
The report was accompanied by film footage showing the tiny, stooped figure of Banda leaning heavily on a cane, seeming unsure where he was and why he was there. What a shame, I thought at the time, that by clinging to power into his dotage, the only impact Banda could make on the international stage was merely to be present at the venue of a conference. Sad to say, six years after the Malawian strongman’s death, the absurd and aimless quality of his irrelevance to international discourse now applies to my own country. Apart from the serious issues that have earned Zimbabwe the embarrassing distinction of being a Pariah state, the country is also now best know for its belligerent, unremitting propaganda which is characterised by torrents of denunciations, threats and declarations of invincibility. These usually reach a crescendo in the build-up to important intentional gatherings such as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Abuja in December, from which Zimbabwe has been barred.
Don’t get me wrong. The point I am trying to make is not that Zimbabwe has no right to present its case and be judged accordingly. I am merely arguing that the thrust of its propaganda campaign should involve the communication of facts and opinions that are credible and realistic enough to enable, as John Milton once said, "the truth to emerge in the market place of ideas." Novelist and essayist, Aldous Huxley in Propaganda in a Democratic Society highlighted the power in all human beings to respond to reason and truth, not subterfuge and contrivance. The problem I have with the propaganda offensive mounted on behalf of this country by Jonathan Moyo is that it is limited to harping on entirely irrelevant themes, such as the machinations of the West and Zimbabwe’s sovereignty.
If past experience is anything to go by, we should get ready to cringe in embarrassment in the coming weeks as we are bombarded with boasts on what countries support Zimbabwe, which racists are plotting against it and why in spite of what everybody else says, the government of Zimbabwe is right to adopt its stubborn stance. That most self-evident fact, this country’s sovereignty, will be advertised ad nauseum as though it were something unique. The Vatican, with a total area of 108.7 acres and the principality of Monaco, which measures 0.75 square miles, are two of the smallest states in existence. Yet both are confident enough of their moral standing in the world to submit to international scrutiny (even the Pope is criticised) without ducking behind the smokescreen of sovereignty. Zimbabwe is not in trouble because anyone is questioning its sovereignty but because of serious issues for which its own citizens and the international community demand answers.
These include human rights abuses, lawlessness, lack of democracy, muzzling of the press and suppression of dissent. The country’s propaganda machinery should throw some light on what improvements have been made in these critical areas instead of bombarding us with inane slogans like "Howard the Coward" or any of the tired anti-Tony Blair barbs. Former United States Senator William Fulbright has been quoted as saying, "There is something basically unwise and undemocratic about a system which taxes the public to finance a propaganda campaign aimed at persuading the same tax payers that they must spend more tax dollars to subvert their independent judgement." I personally question the expenditure of billions of dollars on Moyo’s ill-conceived and crude propaganda initiatives which, if anything, achieve only the very opposite of the normally intended objectives.
Moyo’s undiplomatic language and penchant for threatening litigation when he should provide information, hardly make him the best candidate to act as the human face of this beleaguered government. The "command" type of propaganda which relies entirely on the numbing repetition of epithets and furious denigrations of "imperialists" and any other perceived "enemies of the state" was used in Mao’s China more than 50 years ago. It relied for its success mainly on China’s isolation and the inability of its people to access alternative sources of information to enable them to form their own worldview. I find it incredible that our so-called propaganda experts still expect such archaic methods to work in the age of the Internet, instantaneous satellite communication and increased and faster international travel. It makes even less sense under these circumstances to continue to throttle local television screens and blight the pages of state-controlled newspapers with this outmoded dogma. Such an approach can only serve to unwittingly highlight the fact that by being only concerned with its own self-preservation and survival, the government has become unresponsive and irrelevant to the needs and aspirations of its own people - just as Hastings Banda was at that NAM summit referred to above.
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From IOL (SA), 31 October
Zim's nurses at work but doctors stay away
Harare- Thousands of striking nurses returned to Zimbabwe's understaffed and ill-equipped state hospitals on Friday after the government promised to review their salaries. But about 500 doctors pressed on with a crippling weeklong work-stoppage, demanding pay hikes of up to 8 000 percent to keep pace with rampant inflation. Their representatives were expected to meet with the government for a third straight day of negotiations on Friday. The government has promised to review the salaries of some 20 000 state nurses by November 7. They currently earn as little as Z$138 446 (about S$27 or R210) a month. Long lines have formed at government hospitals, and the state-run Herald newspaper has reported that non-emergency patients are being turned away. Health Minister David Parirenyatwa on Wednesday dispatched police, army and prison doctors to replace striking medical staff. Before that, the only doctors providing services at state hospitals were foreigners brought in to assist under long-standing agreements with Cuba and other countries. This is the second time health care professionals have gone on strike this year. Doctors interrupted services at state hospitals intermittently in June.
Zimbabwe faces its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980, with 70 percent unemployment and acute shortages of fuel, food and medicines. Official inflation is running at about 455,6 percent, and hospitals have been forced to temporarily close some wards due to shortages of food, drugs and other supplies. An often violent government program to confiscate white-owned farms for distribution to blacks has crippled the country's agriculture-based economy. President Robert Mugabe's government has also stepped up a crackdown on the country's political opposition and independent media. Andrew Zhakata, a Zimbabwean journalist based in Pretoria, was detained on Wednesday on allegations of having entered the country illegally to report on the hospital strike, police said. "He has been sneaking in and out of the country to get stories for his paper without being discovered," police spokesperson Trust Ndlovu said on Friday. Police spotted him trying to interview a nurse in the southern border town of Beitbridge, he said. The arrested him when he could not produce accreditation issued under tough new media laws.
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From VOA News, 31 October
Zimbabwe gov't agrees to negotiate with striking doctors
Tendai Maphosa
Harare - The government of Zimbabwe, in a conciliatory gesture, has agreed to talk to striking junior and mid-level doctors in an effort to resolve the doctors' grievance over pay. Up to now, the government has refused to talk to the striking doctors until they go back to work. It maintained that, as essential workers, the doctors had no right to strike. The government changed its mind on Friday, and said it would negotiate with the doctors, but did not set a time for the talks. The doctors went on strike last week after a number of attempts to get their salaries increased failed. Junior doctors are paid the equivalent of $460 per month, while their mid-level counterparts get $580. They are demanding a pay hike of at least 10,000 percent. A spokesman for the striking doctors, Dr. Phibion Manyanga, said they will go into the negotiations with an open mind, but won't go back to work until an agreement has been reached. He said that more than three-quarters of the 800 or so doctors in the public sector are on strike, but more are joining in. "The numbers are really varying, because there are some who were attending to emergencies who have since resolved to join the strike because they are being overworked," said Dr. Manyanga. "They thought, when they were working, the government would address [the salary dispute] urgently."
Nurses, who struck on Monday, have since then returned to work. The Independent, a Zimbabwean weekly newspaper, reported that the nurses agreed to an 800 percent pay raise. To alleviate the health crisis, the government has sent army doctors to the hospitals, but Dr. Manyanga said that did not help much. He describes the situation in public hospitals as a shambles. "Sometimes the patient just dies on your hands because you don't have the necessary equipment, you don't have the necessary drugs," he said. Zimbabwe's health care system, once considered among the best in sub-Saharan Africa, is collapsing because of a severe shortage of money for medical equipment and essential drugs. Most of Zimbabwe's doctors, nurses and other health professionals are leaving Zimbabwe for countries offering better pay.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 30 October
Doctors victims of eroding incomes
Blessing Zulu
Failure by the government to adopt workable economic policies has now come to haunt the nation resulting in a brain drain and rolling industrial action in the health sector. This week the country's major hospitals were dealt a blow when junior and middle-level doctors and nurses withdrew their labour demanding salaries of up to $30 million a month. The strike has paralysed operations in Harare, and in Bulawayo and Masvingo. Nurses went back to work yesterday after receiving promises their grievances would be looked into. Hospital Doctors Association president Phebion Manyanga said junior doctors currently earn $378 797 a month and middle-level doctors $478 407. Zimbabwe has suffered a mass exodus of doctors and nurses, particularly to Britain, Canada, the US and lately Australia. Regional countries such as South Africa and Botswana have also benefited from the crisis in Zimbabwe.
A Zimbabwean medical doctor working in South Africa said political stability and a strong currency made the country more attractive. "Although doctors regard public hospital salaries as low (new entrants are paid R9 500 a month), they are better compared to the instability back home," the doctor said. The South African government has tried to encourage doctors to serve in rural areas and at state institutions - after their two years' compulsory community service - by awarding them state bursaries and grants, which they then "pay back" by serving at government hospitals. Zimbabwean doctors are in demand in South Africa as doctors in that country are also leaving for Western countries. The government of Zimbabwe on the other hand has failed to give incentives to doctors who work in the rural areas and this has worsened the situation.
The government is currently offering doctors $6 million as a car loan. This has, however, been eroded by inflation as prices of cars have continued to skyrocket. That loan can only buy a 10-year old Mazda 323. In Botswana junior doctors are paid close to 7 000 pula a month and their allowances are also said to be much better than in this country. Some doctors are now going on locum to neighbouring countries. "Most of us are only surviving because of locums at private hospitals," one doctor said. Zimbabwe is in its fourth year of recession and inflation is around 455%. Economists have already predicted it will pass the 700% mark before year-end, thus further eroding incomes.
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From VOA News, 31 October
Court to decide legality of 2002 Zimbabwe presidential elections
Tendai Maphosa
Harare - The much delayed legal challenge to the 2002 Zimbabwe presidential election is scheduled to begin Monday in the High Court in Harare. President Robert Mugabe was returned to power in March 2002 in an election many observers categorized as neither free nor fair. Among other problems, they cited widespread violence, intimidation and vote-rigging. Mr. Mugabe's challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC, immediately announced his intention to contest the result. The election was held at the end of two tumultuous years of political change in Zimbabwe, which began with the formation of the MDC in 1999. It was the first significant opposition party since Zimbabwe's independence. Less than a year later, in February, 2000, the MDC was part of a coalition that successfully campaigned against a government-sponsored constitution, which the voters rejected. In June of the same year, the party won 57 of the 120 contested seats in parliament, after a bloody election campaign, during which the ruling party declared certain parts of the country 'no-go' areas for the opposition. Two years later, the party expected growing popular discontent to catapult its leader to the presidency and oust Mr. Mugabe. But that did not happen in the disputed election.
It has taken 18 months for the opposition's challenge to come to court. Constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku says the electoral law, under which elections are held in Zimbabwe, is not specific on the timeframe in which the courts should hear challenges of election results. "The electoral act says you must bring your petition within 30 days of the announcement of the result and that then, a petition must be expeditiously heard," he said. "But thereafter, there is no specified time limit within which an election petition must be heard. But the courts have said that election petitions should be heard as quickly as possible, which would mean that if you go beyond a year without hearing a petition, that is already contrary to general principles of the law." Even so, Mr. Madhuku said, this particular challenge has come to court much more quickly than some of the challenges arising from the year 2000 parliamentary elections. He said at least half of the more than 30 challenges lodged by the MDC against the results of that election remain outstanding.
The challenge of the presidential election results angered Mr. Mugabe and his Zanu PF party so much that, last year, they withdrew from the talks aimed at resolving the country's political and economic logjam. Earlier this year, the president said talks would only resume, if the opposition withdrew its challenge. "I am president of the country. I have legitimacy from the election and from the process that swore me [in] as president of the country," said Mr. Mugabe. "The MDC has said, 'we don't recognize you.' Does the MDC now say they recognize me? If they do, well, that means the action in the courts has got to be withdrawn, and we start talking, and I talk to them, knowing that they now recognize [me], and we can move ahead."
Conditions have changed somewhat since Mr. Mugabe made his statement. In part at the urging of South African President Thabo Mbeki, low-level talks have resumed between the two Zimbabwean political parties. Mr. Mugabe has also recently softened his hard-line rhetoric against the opposition. But the opposition party says it will only suspend and not withdraw its election challenge, and only if serious talks get underway. There are some factors that could push the dispute toward some sort of resolution. President Mugabe, 79, has more than four years remaining in his term. He has hinted he might be willing to step down, but analysts believe he is not likely to do that under the current constitution, which would require elections within 90 days. The opposition might also need more than 90 days to prepare for elections.
Meanwhile, the government is pursuing two treason charges against Mr. Tsvangirai, which he would like dropped. So insiders say there is at least some hope the two sides could negotiate a settlement that would involve Mr. Mugabe's retirement, with a guarantee his party could remain in power for some limited period, to be followed by new elections, along with the dropping of the charges against Mr. Tsvangirai. But so far, that is all just talk. University of Zimbabwe lecturer and political analyst Brian Raftopoulos says he does not expect significant progress toward solving the country's political deadlock any time soon. "I think Zanu PF are in a dilemma," he said. "On the one hand, they have given [South African] President Mbeki - at least President Mugabe has - the assurance that something would move, in terms of the dialogue, by the end of the year. I think, at this stage, they are likely to drag out the question of dialogue and to use the excuse of the upcoming trial as the reason why the discussions are not moving forward."
So, the opposition's challenge goes before the High Court on Monday. Some observers, including constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku, say it is not likely the court will actually annul the election and order a re-run, if only because, they say, the High Court bench is now stacked in favor of the ruling party. "I don't think that there is anyone in the MDC leadership who actually dreams that they will win that case," said Mr. Madhuku. "If there is anyone there who thinks they will win the case, then they are not suitable to be in charge of a political party that must operate on the basis of what is possible and what is not possible." But MDC Spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi says his party has put together 167 pages of what he calls devastating revelations of electoral misconduct that would be difficult for any judge to ignore. He says, whatever the outcome, the hearings will expose the way the elections were conducted.
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From IRIN (UN), 31 October
Situation of farm workers worsened
Johannesburg - The situation of Zimbabwe's women farm workers, always one of the most exploited sectors of the workforce, has been worsened by the current land reform programme, said a study prepared by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition. The country's female farm workers are mostly casual labourers - only 10 percent are permanently employed in commercial farming. Because they were seen as part of a male-headed household, their rights were often ignored, the study found. They were not given leave or bonuses and earned very low wages, often having to supplement their income through other activities, such as beer brewing and prostitution. Like their male colleagues, they were able to access only small pieces of land for their own use. Women who were the descendants of migrant workers from neighbouring countries battled to get their own identity documents: precious credentials that entitled them and their children to social services.
Before the land reform programme began in 2001, up to 350,000 farm workers were employed on commercial farms owned by about 4,500 white farmers. Their dependants numbered around 2 million - more than 20 percent of the national population. By the beginning of 2003, only about 100,000 farm workers were still employed on the farms. According to the pro-democracy coalition, more than half the permanent female workers and about 42 percent of the seasonal female farm workers had lost their jobs. Of the meagre five percent of land allocated to farm workers, women appeared to have received less than 20 percent. The casual labour status of the women meant they were not entitled to the few severance packages available, no longer had access to the schools and clinics provided on the farms, and also found themselves without food.
"Most of the women would have lived on the farms as part of a household and when the farmers were evicted, most of the workforce also had to leave," Lloyd Sachikonye, researcher at Zimbabwe's Institute of Development Studies told IRIN on Friday. "Some farm workers are staying, based on agreements with the new owners, but their terms of employment have changed and preference is given to men." To cope, said Sachikonye, some women have engaged in informal activities like selling second hand clothes when they can get them, buying and selling vegetables and joining men in illegal, and dangerous, gold panning. "Others have moved to squatter camps and are leading a precarious kind of existence with no access to education, health facilities and food. It's a big problem," Sachikonye said. There were also more households headed by women who were single, divorcees, separated from their partners, or widowed through HIV/AIDS, he added. "Even the Utete report [the government's audit of the land reform process] does not devote sufficient attention to farm workers, let alone female farm workers. Only NGOs have been interested." The coalition warned that "malnutrition is still increasing among farm workers' children on farms and in informal settlements and, as usual, it is the mothers who have to find ways to cope."
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From JTA (US), 30 October
In Zimbabwe, Jews carry on after fire destroys biggest shul
By Moira Schneider
Cape Town - Anti-Semitism doesn’t appear to have played a factor in the burning of a Zimbabwean synagogue the day before Yom Kippur - but the same can’t be said for a letter that followed the blaze. Barely a week after the Oct. 4 fire, which completely destroyed the 90-year-old landmark in the city of Bulawayo except for its foyer and facade, a controversial letter written under the pseudonym "Busybody" appeared in the Bulawayo Chronicle. In it, the writer asks "what really was in the Jewish church" that day, opining that it was not "just a beautiful carpet that went up in smoke. A normal church building would have nothing except the alter (sic), a few effigies of Jesus and perhaps the church library and furniture, but not this one it seems." One theory, he writes, was that "church members" were keeping foreign currency and millions of dollars in local currency there to "cushion themselves against the cash shortages" that Zimbabwe is experiencing. The writer also said the synagogue members were keeping their passports there, as well as "Jewish mementoes" that they intended on "repatriating" to Jerusalem and archives that were "guarded by the Israeli army day and night."
And then he delivers his coup de grace. "Several, and so Busybody understands, had found a ‘safe’ place to keep their hoarded fuel," at a time that Zimbabwe is suffering from food and fuel shortages, with people queuing for days at gas stations. "Sources say it was that fuel that might have triggered the fire." Former Bulawayo resident Abe Abrahamson told JTA that Jews who congregated at the site of the destroyed synagogue on the day of the fire wept and recited Kaddish. In his letter, the letter writer latches onto this fact in support of his theory, saying that whatever was being kept there must have been "very big, judging by the amount of emotion, dejection and desperation on the faces of the victims that fateful Saturday." Alan Feigenbaum, president of the 110-year-old Bulawayo Hebrew Congregation - the country’s oldest synagogue and, in its heyday, the largest in Zimbabwe - said that despite the publication of the letter and the anti-white sentiment rampant in the country, the community did not feel threatened as Jews. "We are not having any real major problems in that way," he said. He said the community had been "devastated" by the fire, "but we’ll carry on and see how to reorganize our lives, and we will have services on a regular basis."
Despite the dwindling number of Jews in the country - down to 600 from a peak of 8,500 in the 1960s - the community had engaged a rabbi from Israel in time for the High Holidays. The Jewish exodus has come amid a time of turbulence and upheaval in Zimbabwe, which is ruled by the mercurial Robert Mugabe. Over the past several years, black "war veterans" have invaded white-owned farms across the country and turned out their owners. Hundreds of thousands of black farm workers and their families also have been thrown out of their homes. The country’s economy has deteriorated into massive unemployment and runaway inflation, and over 80 percent of the black population now lives below the poverty line. A long-standing drought has exacerbated the risk of hunger.
For now, the 159-strong Bulawayo congregation is holding services in the Sinai Jewish Community Center, using prayer books and prayer shawls sent from communities in Cape Town and Johannesburg - some of which arrived in time for Yom Kippur services the day after the fire. "They are coping very well and are quite satisfied with using the Sinai for their immediate needs.
From there, I don’t know," Feigenbaum said. Ignoring the warnings of firefighters, congregants Rodney Lepar and Raymond Roth braved the flames and managed to save all the Torah scrolls, as well as a 350-year-old curtain that covers the Holy Ark. Lepar, 51, who has lived in Bulawayo all his life, said he too had been "devastated" by the fire. "Part of our lives and our history has just gone. The wonderful memories are there, though," he said. "I was heart-sore to see the shul go up in smoke." In a poignant twist, Leizer Abrahamson, 104, recited from the Torah - as he does at most services - at what proved to be the last service held at the shul.
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From This Day (Nigeria), 1 November
CHOGM: Nigeria consults over Zimbabwe's suspension
From Iyefu Adoba in Abuja
As preparations towards the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, CHOGM, moves into top gear, members of the Task Force yesterday in Abuja again stated that high level consultations are going on concerning the suspension of Zimbabwe and Pakistan from the Commonwealth with President Olusegun Obasanjo actively participating in the discussions. Speaking with journalists, the Director of International Organisations of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Ambassador Olusegun Akinsanya said although the two countries remain uninvited to the 5-8 December meeting for the time being, President Obasanjo is engaged in consultations over Zimbabwe's case. Akinsanya also confirmed that the Queen Elizabeth of England would pay a state visit to the country in addition to her participation at the meeting as the head of the Commonwealth. A state banquet is also planned in her honour, while she will also perform her traditional role of declaring the meeting open. According to Akinsanya, the Australian Prime Minister is also expected to pay a reciprocal short state visit to Nigeria before the actual meeting. President Olusegun Obasanjo had similarly visited Canberra, before attending the 2002 CHOGM in Coolum.
Also allying fears about the safety of the visitors to Nigeria, Akinsanya said it was only natural after the 9/11 attacks for people to lay emphasis on security arrangements. However, he assured that the meeting would be safe with the necessary security arrangements being put in place and he said accordingly that people would be cordoned off from the main meeting place, except for designated areas where journalists will be allowed to mix with some heads of government. He also said as part of the security arrangements, a host photographer would be selected to take photographs which would be distributed to his colleagues from other media houses. Ahead of the meeting proper in December, a meeting of the committee as a whole is slated for November 11 to be chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Ambassador Daniel Hart. This will determine functional cooperation and economic issues, while the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Mr. Don Mckinnon will chair another meeting to discuss the agenda of the meeting at Marlborough House, the headquarters of the Commonwealth in London.
On the benefits accruing to Nigeria for hosting the meeting Akinsanya said they were enormous and he observed that Nigeria has come full circle from her suspension in 1995 to the speedy full integration into the councils after the lifting of the suspension and the subsequent unanimous endorsement to host the 2003 meeting adding that this was a clear indication that Nigeria has shaken off the stigma of a pariah state. Listing some of the tangible benefits for hosting the meeting to include the completion of some abandoned property in the nations capital, he added that the development of hotels in the city would also serve as a boost to the development of tourism in the country. The meeting he said will also serve as an opportunity for Nigerians to interact with people from some of the world's oldest democracies and he expressed optimism that such interaction would leave lasting impacts on the minds of Nigerians about political behaviour. Nigeria was the first country to be suspended from the Commonwealth by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, (CMAG), after its establishment in 1995. Sierra Leone followed with its suspension in 1997, while Pakistan was suspended in 1999 after a military coup in that country and Fiji in 2000. Although the suspensions of Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Fiji were lifted following the restoration of elected governments in the three countries, Zimbabwe was suspended in 2002 after its presidential elections were described as highly marred with violence and intimidation.
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From BBC News, 1 October
Mugabe plans 'sweeping reforms'
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe plans to overhaul his cabinet and the central bank in an attempt to rescue the economy, state-run media has said. Mr Mugabe has said he is worried by the dominance of the black market, the official Herald newspaper reported. A former BBC Harare correspondent says the remarks are an acknowledgement of the hardships suffered by millions. Aid agencies estimate more than a third of the population will be unable to feed themselves by the end of the year. Mr Mugabe told a meeting of his ruling Zanu PF party that restructuring of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe would begin next week "to make it much more of a developmental institution that protects the national interest," the paper reported. Other government bodies, including the cabinet, would also face reforms, the report said. Zimbabwe is struggling to cope with an annual rate of inflation of more than 450%, along with shortages of most essential goods. On the black market, foreign currency, fuel, and basic goods are selling at much higher levels than those set by the government.
Mr Mugabe said the black market trade threatened to replace the formal business sector, destabilising society and derailing his land redistribution programme. "The (black market) is run and supported by a mercenary breed of wily and selfish merchants, a breed that neither sows nor sweats, but harvests millions from base speculative activities that have spawned so much grief and ruin for honest citizens," the Herald quoted Mr Mugabe as telling his party. At the root of the problem lies the collapse of the Zimbabwean dollar. The BBC's former Harare correspondent, Grant Ferrett, says the currency crisis was triggered, in part, by the wave of illegal invasions of white-owned farms which began three years ago. Few people in Zimbabwe expect any real reform, our correspondent says. President Mugabe gave no timetable for reshuffling the cabinet and little detail of his planned changes. There was speculation in September that Mr Mugabe was planning a rare reshuffle of his cabinet after some ministers were accused of taking more than one farm under the land reform programme. Mr Mugabe says he is addressing imbalances in land ownership due to racist colonial-era laws.
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From The Sunday Times (UK), 2 November
Mugabe's wife builds up the family palace
Alex Todorovic and Tom Walker
The master bedroom is the size of a Victorian semi and her ladyship’s quarters could easily accommodate a badminton court. A lavish palace built by Zimbabwe’s first family is developing on a scale beyond the dreams of most of the country’s impoverished population. As the African nation sinks into bankruptcy, President Robert Mugabe’s free-spending young wife Grace is taking an increasingly megalomaniacal hold of their new home on the outskirts of the capital, Harare, overseeing everything from taps to chandeliers. Last month the former secretary flew to Belgrade to harangue Energoprojekt, the Serbian architects, and change the specifications, pushing the cost of the building past £10m. Energoprojekt, the Belgrade-based builder of the palace, is said to be growing frustrated by the constant meddling. Grace Mugabe, 38 - whose spending habits rival those of Imelda Marcos, the former Philippine first lady - had altered the sizes of the bedrooms. Satisfied with the details of her husband’s 1,200 sq ft and her own 1,000 sq ft room, she has turned her attention to the fittings for the 440 sq ft bathroom, lined in Italian tiles and with sunken baths and Jacuzzis. She has also supervised the decorating of the three bedrooms for their children, a large breakfast room with expansive windows, a study and a generous family room.
The alterations are leading to frantic activity in the Zimbabwean capital’s leafy eastern suburb of Borrowdale. "There are lots of workmen," said one Harare businessman. "They’re finishing rather than building now. It’s down to how many chandeliers she wants in the lounge and things like that." On the ground floor she is fitting a gym, sauna, library, bar and billiard room, as well as a reception hall, and a 1,000sq ft kitchen with pantry. Mugabe, 79 - who promised yesterday to introduce "sweeping reforms" to tackle the economic crisis - chose Energoprojekt, then a state Yugoslav concern, for the palace project in 1997. He had fond memories of Tito’s Yugoslavia and earlier in his presidency had commissioned the company to build the Sheraton hotel in Harare, used to host the 1986 summit of non-aligned leaders. Energoprojekt also erected the concrete skyscraper headquarters of Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party. The ailing president’s only real input, however, has been an insistence on three Chinese pagoda-style roofs, layered with burgundy tiles, that cover the main semi-circular body of the house and its two wings. Everything else is the work of Grace, his second wife.
Many of the palace’s expensive fittings are imported from Italy, like those in the homes of Belgrade’s former elite. Energoprojekt, now privatised, has been reluctant to talk about the project but a large Yugoslav expatriate community and their relatives in Belgrade have leaked details. Mugabe is said to pay Energoprojekt’s local director only when he has spare cash, accounting for the building’s stuttering progress. The few outsiders who have seen the building, which is closely guarded and surrounded by razor wire, say it resembles a Malibu beach home with large sheet windows and oriental touches. Square columns and an arcade ring its periphery. The couple in the meantime continue to live in State House in central Harare, where the passing road is sealed off by the military from 6pm to 8am. Grace has also acquired several former white-owned farms, and invested heavily in another mansion, dubbed Gracelands, also in Borrowdale. Its sale, allegedly to Libya’s Colonel Gadaffi, generated profits that funded another villa, 100 miles south of Harare at Chivhu. However, work stopped after a storm of negative publicity.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 24 October
MDC hires Danish electoral expert
Dumisani Muleya
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai has hired a prominent Danish electoral expert to bolster his legal team challenging President Robert Mugabe's disputed re-election last year. Tsvangirai enlisted the services of Professor Jorgen Elklit, a renowned elections expert and political scientist, to reinforce his legal heads of argument in the court petition which opens in the High Court on November 3. Elklit, a professor of politics at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, has vast experience in electoral issues. He has dealt with electoral matters in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho, 15 Asian countries - in particular China and Nepal - and across Europe, including Bosnia-Herzegovina and Latvia. In 1993 he served on a panel appointed by South Africa's Goldstone Commission to probe acts of violence and intimidation in the country's first multi-racial elections in 1994. He also worked as one of five international members on the Independent Electoral Commission in 1994. Last year President Thabo Mbeki appointed him to the Electoral Task Team established by cabinet to evaluate the need to reform the country's electoral system.
Elklit has written a detailed document assessing the conduct of Zimbabwe's controversial presidential poll in March last year. The document, drafted on October 2, is part of Tsvangirai's legal heads of argument prepared by his team of lawyers that include veteran South African lawyer, Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett, and local Advocates Adrian de Bourbon and Happius Zhou. The lawyers filed the heads of argument with the High Court on October 13. Elklit concludes that Mugabe's re-election was clearly not free and fair. He cites blatant manipulation of electoral laws, biased administration of the polls, political violence and intimidation among a range of irregularities. "The various irregularities and mistakes and the non-compliance with fundamentals of the Electoral Act undoubtedly had serious material consequences, which most certainly affected the result of the election," he said.
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From The Washington Times, 3 November
Zimbabwe set to review election
By Geoff Hill
Johannesburg - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said yesterday his party will "seek justice" when a long-awaited challenge to last year's presidential election gets under way in his nation's High Court today. President Robert Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, claimed victory in the election, but many countries, including the United States, have refused to recognize the result, citing fraud, vote-rigging and widespread intimidation. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change, led by Mr. Tsvangirai, announced the court challenge as soon as the results were declared in April 2002 and has accused the government of delaying the case. Mr. Tsvangirai said in a telephone interview yesterday that his party was determined to show the world that the election had been neither free nor fair. "We are going to present the facts, and that's all we really need to do," he said. "Our objective is to seek justice for the people of Zimbabwe, and this is something we believe in." Opposition spokesman Paul Temba Nyathi says his party has put together 167 pages of "devastating revelations of electoral misconduct."
The Zimbabwean Constitution says only the parliament can establish rules for an election, but in the weeks before the vote, Mr. Mugabe used his sweeping presidential powers to decree changes to the electoral act that disenfranchised many of the 2 million Zimbabweans who live and work in South Africa, most of whom support the opposition MDC. Mr. Nyathi said that if the opposition wins on this point alone, the entire election could be declared null and void. The MDC also plans to present evidence that the police, army and the Central Intelligence Organization - a spy agency that operates from the president's office - beat and tortured thousands of voters in the months leading up to the election. Attorneys for Mr. Mugabe's government said they were ready to oppose "each and every argument presented to the court" but declined to give details. Foreign observers who covered the election said ballot boxes had been stuffed in transit from rural constituencies to urban counting centers. In one constituency, more than 42,000 votes were recorded, yet, according to the government's own population census, the region had fewer than 20,000 people of voting age.
Under Mr. Mugabe's economic policies, including a coercive land-redistribution program, the local currency unit has fallen from 58 to the U.S. dollar three years ago to a current rate of 6,000 to $1. The United Nations estimates that 70 percent of the country's 12 million people live under conditions of famine. Despite several South African initiatives to encourage Mr. Mugabe, 79, to either step down or enter negotiations with Mr. Tsvangirai, little progress has been made. Observers in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, see little chance that the High Court will side with the opposition, whatever the evidence. All the judges on the court have been appointed by Mr. Mugabe.
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From News24 (SA), 2 November
Commission questions licence
Harare - Zimbabwe's state-appointed media commission has challenged a court ruling ordering it to grant the popular Daily News a licence, the state-run Sunday Mail reported. The Daily News, a harsh critic of President Robert Mugabe, was shut down for a second time a week ago and several of its staff and directors were arrested after it briefly reappeared on the newsstands. The paper made a comeback a day after a court ruled that the Media and Information Commission (MIC) was wrong not to grant it an operating licence, and ordered it to do so by November 30. But the MIC on Friday filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, effectively suspending the lower court's order, the Sunday Mail said. The MIC, Tafataona Mahoso, had earlier indicated that the body would appeal the order. The Daily News, founded four years ago, has quickly become the country's most popular daily and offered an alternative voice to the two state-controlled dailies - The Chronicle and The Herald. It was first shut down by armed police in September after the Supreme Court ruled it was operating illegally because it did not have a licence. The paper then applied for a licence, but was turned down by the MIC. The Daily News has a history of clashes with the government, which accuses it of being a front for Western interests. Since its founding, several of its reporters and photographers have been arrested, including prominent former editor and founder Geoff Nyarota. It has also suffered two unexplained explosions - one at the paper's offices and one at its printing presses. The Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday employ around 300 full-time staff, and around 1,000 vendors sell the paper.
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From Business Day (SA), 3 November
Long road to freedom for Daily News
Harare - Zimbabwe's popular Daily News, a harsh critic of President Robert Mugabe, faces a long legal ordeal before it can hope to return to newsstands in the southern African country, the paper's legal adviser has said. Gugulethu Moyo made the comment after the state-run Sunday Mail reported that the Media and Information Commission (MIC) would challenge last week's ruling by a court that the paper had to be licensed by November 30. With the MIC appeal to the Supreme Court, the order in favour of registering the paper, and ultimately seeing it back on newsstands, is suspended. "It wasn't altogether unexpected. It was within their rights to appeal," Moyo told AFP. "We will spend a lot of time in court, but what has it done for the human rights situation in Zimbabwe or for the right to freedom of expression?" she asked. "The bottom line is that Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper has been shut down."
The challenge by the MIC to the country's top court is the latest twist in a battle between the Daily News and the MIC that began on September 11, when the same court ruled the paper was operating illegally by not being registered. Under the country's tough Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), all journalists and newspapers must be registered. The Daily News had challenged the constitutionality of the law, which was introduced by Mugabe's government soon after his disputed re-election last year. Armed police forcibly closed the paper a day after the Supreme Court ruling, and when the Daily News tried to register with the MIC its application was turned down. Last week's court order that the paper be given an operating licence was greeted as a victory for the embattled daily newspaper, whose proprietors took it as a green light to carry on publishing.
The euphoria was shortlived. Within hours of publishing a comeback edition, snatched up by an enthusiastic public, police again shut down the paper's offices and arrested more than a dozen staff members. They said they took the action because the newspaper still did not have a licence to publish. It was unclear yesterday how long the latest round of legal wrangling would take. Commentators have regularly accused the Supreme Court of denying justice through long delays. But one legal expert who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said the matter could be set down "fairly soon". The Daily News, founded four years ago, has quickly become the country's most popular daily, offering an alternative voice to the two state-controlled dailies - The Chronicle and The Herald. It has a history of clashes with the government, which accuses it of being a front for Western interests. Since its founding, several of its reporters and photographers have been arrested, including prominent former editor and founder Geoff Nyarota. The paper has also suffered two unexplained explosions - one at the paper's offices and one at its printing presses. The Daily News and the Daily News on Sunday employ around 300 full-time staff, and around 1,000 vendors sell the paper.
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From ZWNEWS, 3 November
Opposition official abducted
Gift Konjana, an official for the MDC in Mashonaland West province, was abducted in Harare on Friday, the opposition party reported at the weekend. Konjana, and Rodgers Chimatira, an MDC candidate for an urban council seat in Chinhoyi, had travelled to Harare for medical treatment after being assaulted by Zanu PF youth at the nomination court for the election which sat in Chinhoyi on Tuesday last week. The two were travelling on a commuter omnibus to Greencroft shopping centre on their return journey to Chinhoyi. When they alighted, they were set upon by youths at the shopping centre, and forced into a nearby hair salon. They had been identified on the bus when Konjana answered his mobile phone to take a call from the opposition head office, the party said. Chimatira escaped, and reported the incident at Mabelreign police station, but the officer on duty declined to attend, saying he lacked transport. On returning to the shopping centre, Chimatira was again confronted by the youths, and was only saved from a further attack by an army officer who told the youths that Chimatira was his brother. Konjana was finally located on Sunday at Marlborough police station in Harare. He had been badly beaten. His lawyer managed to secure his transfer to Parirenyatwa Hospital, but the ongoing doctors' strike meant he could not receive treatment for his injuries, and he was returned to Marlborough police station. He is expected to be transferred to Harare Central today. Konjana has not been charged with any offence.
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From The Financial Times (UK), 3 November
Zimbabwe banks accept currency controls in Mugabe 'restructuring'
By Tony Hawkins in Harare
Zimbabwe's banks and businesses are resigned to the imposition of new foreign currency controls following a pledge by President Robert Mugabe to "restructure" the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Speaking behind closed doors at a meeting on Friday of the ruling Zanu-PF party's central committee, Mr Mugabe said the process of restructuring the central bank would start this week. Other institutions, including the cabinet, would follow. He promised to make the bank "much more of a development institution that protects the national interest". The president's announcement followed the appointment of a taskforce of nine cabinet ministers to resolve the country's foreign currency crisis. The taskforce called for "whistleblowers" to report those who were "starving the country of foreign currency". Bankers and businessmen believe that the taskforce and the promised restructuring of the central bank will lead to new controls on the foreign currency market and on the banks. Economists say the Ministry of Finance's attempts to review the overvalued exchange rate have been rebuffed by the president.
Mr Mugabe is adamant that devaluation is no solution and that the foreign currency crisis will be overcome by tightening controls. The official rate of the Zimbabwe dollar is Z$824 to the US dollar, but in the parallel market the currency is traded at around Z$6,000. Last month, the Chamber of Mines warned that its members needed an exchange rate of Z$3,970 to maintain viability, and tobacco growers are demanding either devaluation or a special subsidy. The president also wants to force banks to cut their prime lending rates. Last week, some banks raised their lending rates to 160 per cent, which means they have doubled in the last six months. But with inflation running at 455 per cent and forecast to exceed 600 per cent by Christmas, lending rates remain massively negative in real terms.
A senior banker, who asked not to be named, said restructuring the central bank was unlikely to mean much more than "replacing seasoned professionals with party functionaries. "The president is right to say the current policies are not working, but imposing artificially low interest rates and maintaining overvalued exchange rates is no solution either," he said. Official balance of payments forecasts predict a current account deficit in 2003 of US$1.1bn and an overall deficit of almost US$1.5bn - approximately 25 per cent of gross domestic product. Since the crisis started in 1999 exports have fallen by more than a third while imports have increased, largely due to the need to import food, partly caused by the government's as yet unsuccessful fast-track land resettlement programme. Foreign currency is extremely short just as farmers are planting their 2004 crops, resulting in serious shortages of seed, fuel, fertiliser and chemicals. Foreign currency payments arrears are estimated at US$3bn or about half of GDP.
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From The Sunday Independent (SA), 2 November
Tough new visa requirements for Zimbabweans
By Liz Clarke
Zimbabweans wanting to visit South Africans have to meet tough new visa requirements. It is believed that the measures are to stem the tide of illegal immigrants entering the country in the wake of growing economic turmoil and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Now, according to an advisory issued by the South African high commission in Zimbabwe, holiday visas can be obtained only if funds equivalent to a minimum of R1 000 are endorsed on the passport with the name of the bank where the currency was issued. However, a shortage of South African r |
