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Archived News
13th April 2004
Tsvangirai weekly statement, March 30, 2004
Tsvangirai weekly message, April 6, 2004
Fugitive Zanu PF directors sell assets
Zimbabwe's Zanu PF tries to remove corruption from its ranks
Zim arrest of suspected killer of MDC member
Zimbabwe's Trust Bank likely to end up as part of the Old Mutual stable
Zimbabwe building society allowed to reopen
Zim criminals give police tough time
Diesel crisis hits commercial freight sector
Moyo challenged to take paternity test
New turn in Zim judge's trial
Byo's death toll shoots up to 63
Zim poll violence 'worrying'
This man has been called Zimbabwe's Che Guevara. Did Mugabe have him murdered?
Knives out for Mnangagwa
Reprieve for ZESA
Zimbabwe banks could be prosecuted for breaking currency exchange laws
Zimbabwe probes charges of assault on 'mercenaries'
Rains raise hope for improved harvest
Streak's rebels set quit deadline
Attack on Charleswood
Player boycott looms in support of Streak
Zimbabwe discord may undermine England tour
Zanu PF firms probe opens can of worms
Lost in Jingle-land
Police hunt Zvakwana
General grabs Charleswood
Zimbabwe tour is on
Zimbabwe in crisis over race
The Zimbabwe crisis
Zim raiders clean up at Two Oceans
Zimbabwe police hunt fleeing tycoons in UK
Army defies court order over farm
Moyo's accuser goes missing
SABC journalist arrested at Zimbabwe border post for illegal entry
'Mercenaries': No extra food
Zimbabwe row 'not racial'
ICC will distance itself from new Zimbabwe crisis
Another Zanu PF company director on the run
Britain 'a haven for criminals' fleeing Zimbabwe
RBZ $72 million extortion tip of iceberg
Black dairy farmers opt for crop production
Zimbabwe rebels adopt high-risk strategy
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From The Herald, 7 April
Fugitive Zanu PF directors sell assets
Herald Reporter
The three fugitive directors of Zanu-PF companies who fled to Britain last week have started selling their properties and assets in Zimbabwe, it has been learnt. The two Josh brothers - Jayant and Manharlal Chunibal - and Dipak Pandya left Harare hurriedly after the Zanu PF Politburo set up a committee to probe companies that are linked to or owned by the ruling party. The companies being probed include Zidco Holdings, M&S Syndicate, First Banking Corporation, Treger Holdings, Ottawa, Catercraft and Zidlee Enterprises. Well-placed sources said the three fugitive directors, who all hold British passports, had reportedly started selling their properties and assets in Zimbabwe in what observers say is the first sign that they do not intend to come back and were running away from what they feared to be the consequence of the law arising from the ongoing investigations. Business sources said that the trio had over the years accumulated numerous properties across the country, including mansions and office buildings, and held shares in a number of listed and non-listed companies, including those owned by or with links to Zanu PF. There were also reports that they had made attempts to withdraw large sums of money from various accounts that they controlled. Sources close to the probe said that there was prima facie evidence of misappropriation of funds from companies owned by or with links to Zanu PF by the trio. The investigating committee that was appointed by the Zanu PF Politburo on Wednesday last week is being led by the party’s secretary for finance, Cde David Karimanzira, who is also the Resident Minister and Governor for Mashonaland East, and includes retired army commander General Solomon Mujuru, former Minister of Finance and Economic Development Dr Simba Makoni, Matabeleland North Governor Cde Obert Mpofu and the party’s deputy secretary for transport and welfare, Cde Thoko Mathuthu. The investigations, which started last week, were looking into the companies ’ financial operations, directorships and shareholding structures, business performance and benefits to the party and its membership over the last five years.
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From VOA News, 6 April
Zimbabwe's Zanu PF tries to remove corruption from its ranks
Harare - Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF party has opened an inquiry into its vast business holdings as part of what it says is a wider drive to stamp out corruption. The inquiry has sent a shockwave through the business community, and prompted the departure of a number of prominent business people from the country. According to the state-controlled Herald newspaper, the most prominent people close to Zanu PF to leave the country in the last week are members of the wealthy Joshi family. Linked to the ruling party since even before independence, the Joshi family has helped Zanu PF in acquiring interests in many top companies. Zanu PF's records show the party derives more than half of its declared income from dividends from its business holdings. Since independence in 1980, Zanu PF has become a major business force in Zimbabwe. Head of the party's finances is Emmerson Mnangagwa, a man until recently tipped as President Robert Mugabe's most likely successor. The party's April 1 announcement that a committee to investigate the party's finances was first seen as a joke. But when the committee began its work behind closed doors, it sent a shockwave throughout the business community, and several leading businessmen left the country. Added to the community's apprehension is Zimbabwe's new anti-corruption decree, which allows for detention without trial, and without any initial evidence of wrongdoing. The government says the investigation is part of its drive to stamp out corruption, but political observers and the opposition are skeptical. Paul Themba Nyathi, a veteran politician who fought for Zimbabwe's independence and is now spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said the probe is a sign of possible struggle within Zanu PF over who will succeed Mr. Mugabe. Mr. Mugabe has repeatedly said he will not leave his party's leadership post while Zanu PF is in turmoil. Mr. Nyathi said the financial probe appeared to be part of the ruling party's effort to clean up its image among the increasingly impoverished Zimbabweans ahead of parliamentary elections in March 2005. Members of Zanu PF's clean up committee were not available for comment Tuesday. The committee's proceedings are not public and it is not clear whether the results of the probe will be released.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 6 April
Zim arrest of suspected killer of MDC member
Harare - Zimbabwe police have arrested a man in connection with last month's slaying of an opposition member during a tension-filled by-election that was won by the ruling party, a police spokesperson said on Tuesday. Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said a 43-year-old man was arrested near the capital, Harare, on Monday over the fatal March 28 shooting of Francis Chinozvinya of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). "He [the suspect] has been charged with murder," said Bvudzijena, adding that a pistol was recovered from the man, who is likely to appear in court on Wednesday. However, Bvudzijena could not say whether the suspect, whose name he could not reveal, is a member of President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF. Chinozvinya was shot and killed when Zanu-PF activists stormed his party's campaign centre during a by-election in Chitungwiza, 25km south of Harare, according to the MDC. The area is a traditional stronghold of the MDC.
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From Business Day (SA), 6 April
Zimbabwe's Trust Bank likely to end up as part of the Old Mutual stable
Financial Services Editor
International financial services group Old Mutual is being touted as a likely partner for at least one of Zimbabwe's ailing, locally owned banks. Reports last weekend speculated that Old Mutual and its Nedcor subsidiary could be close to concluding a deal with Zimbabwe's Trust Bank. Some analysts say it would make more sense for Old Mutual to strike a deal than for Nedcor to do so. Nedcor, whose CEO Tom Boardman has as his main task reviving the bank's domestic fortunes, is unlikely to commit any capital to Zimbabwe due to the sensitivity of its capital situation. Old Mutual is a different story. It sits with surplus cash in Zimbabwe, which analysts believe is probably invested in treasuries. With treasuries yielding less than inflation, the London-listed insurance group would probably be keen to move its money into a higher yielding investment. Such a move would also make sense for the group, as there are a number of Old Mutual policyholders in Zimbabwe. It is unlikely to commit any South African capital to Zimbabwe, however. Trust Bank is one of five banks that have been baled out by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's Troubled Banks Fund. Of a total bail-out package of about Z$400bn for the five banks, Trust Bank took over half. Because of the number of institutional investors invested in Trust Bank, the central bank chose to prop it up rather than close it down.
The central bank is now trying to find partners for Trust Bank and the other troubled banks as it tries to rebuild Zimbabwe's banking system. As one of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange's largest investors, a number of the banks are lining up at Old Mutual's door. Old Mutual is estimated to own about 6% of Trust Holdings through its subsidiary companies. But banking is not among its core businesses, and analysts say it would likely be a short-term strategy if it were to buy a stake in Trust Bank. One scenario would be to onsell the bank to Nedbank. JP Morgan's banks analysts Jacques Badenhorst says it would be surprising if Nedcor were to take up a stake in Trust Bank now, as it has so many of its own domestic issues to sort out. Nedcor cannot afford to fall too far behind other South African banks regarding expansion into Africa. Nedcor's only known asset there is a roughly 30% stake in the Merchant Bank of Central Africa. The International Monetary Fund said last week that Zimbabwe's real gross domestic product has contracted by about 30% over the past five years, while inflation doubled each of the last three years to reach 600% at the end of last year.
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From Business Day (SA), 6 April
Zimbabwe building society allowed to reopen
Harare Correspondent
Financial institution Intermarket Building Society, shut down during Zimbabwe's anticorruption crackdown over the past month, will reopen today for savings and mortgage business only, the central bank said. The Zimbabwe Reserve Bank, which closed three banks and a number of other financial services companies, said it would allow the building society to reopen in line with recommendations from curator Ngoni Kudenga. The central bank said Intermarket Building Society would have to stick to its core activities after reopening. The institutions that were shut down were accused of, among other things, straying into irregular speculative activities. This was said to have been partly responsible for the problems besetting the banking sector. Banks were accused of taking depositors' funds and investing them in the stock and property markets with disastrous consequences for their liquidity positions. The central bank said although Intermarket Building Society would reopen, money market deposits in the form of instruments such as negotiable certificates of deposits and savings certificates of deposits remained frozen until further notice. The building society was recently closed, together with Intermarket Discount House and Intermarket Banking Corporation, which are part of one of the largest locally owned companies, Intermarket Holdings. The founder and largest shareholder of Intermarket Holdings, Nicholas Vingirai, has reportedly fled Zimbabwe to avoid arrest for exporting foreign currency and unethical business practices.
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From Mmegi (Botswana), 6 April
Zim criminals give police tough time
Ryder Gabathuse, Staff Writer
Francistown - The Botswana police are concerned about the continued involvement of Zimbabweans in criminal activities. Detective Superintendent Aldrin Ntshitang of Central Police in Francistown told Mmegi yesterday that there was no doubt that criminals emanating from neighbouring Zimbabwe were giving them a tough time. "We have had several cases of break-ins which are still pending before us and we have reason to believe that they involve Zimbabweans," said Ntshitang. He was however, elated that the Zimbabwe Republic Police were assisting the Botswana police. "We have had several cases in which our Zimbabwean counterparts have made recovery of goods in Zimbabwe that were stolen from this country and in turn we have led complainants across the border to identify stolen goods," he explained. Ntshitang told Mmegi that the latest case of office break-in and theft, which involved about four Zimbabweans, is a case in point. He said a local firm had on Monday this week reported a case of office break-in and theft in which goods valued at about P14,000 were stolen. The goods include a personal computer, a fax machine and a folder bag. The thugs are alleged to have gained entry into the building by forcing open the sliding door of the office of Supplies Lubricant in the Light Industrial Site.
As lady luck would have it, police mobile patrol nabbed two Zimbabweans along the Francistown-Matsiloje road and on searching the motor vehicle they were using, the items reported to have been stolen were found in their possession. "We arrested two Zimbabwean men after two of them escaped police arrest," said Ntshitang. The ages of the arrested suspects range between 23 and 24. The suspects have valid Zimbabwean passports and according to the police, they are regular visitors to the country as indicated by the immigration stamps on their passports. "We suspect that these men are regular criminals who have continuously evaded police arrest. We are lucky to have caught up with them, as our patrol team found them still arguing over something." Ntshitang indicated that it is normally hard to arrest Zimbabweans. The police stated that the duo who were arrested claimed they were not responsible for the theft of the stolen goods but that they were only transporting them. "The suspects are still in police custody pending further investigations. We have reasons to link these men to the office break-in case reported on Monday this week." Alternatively, the duo is likely to face a charge of possession of suspected stolen property if we fail to connect them to the case."
Ntshitang stressed that the police are in most cases able to recover goods stolen from properties broken into. "Where goods have immediately found their way across the border into neighbouring Zimbabwe, it isn’t always easy to recover them. For goods stolen and held locally, we always get a lead on their whereabouts." Ntshitang indicated that criminals from Zimbabwe are treated just like other criminals. "There is no special treatment reserved for Zimbabwean criminals and for the local ones. Our responsibility is to investigate and establish the truth about a given crime and we deal with each case based on its merit," Ntshitang declared. The Zimbabwean government owned Chronicle newspaper, recently called on their government and its Parliament to take action against Botswana for ill-treating Zimbabweans.
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From IRIN (UN), 6 April
Diesel crisis hits commercial freight sector
Bulawayo - Standing beside his heavily laden haulage truck, Agrippa Lusaba lifted a 20-litre jerry can to the lights of oncoming traffic in a what has become a familiar sign in fuel-scarce Zimbabwe. While petrol-engine cars with empty tanks have become a common sight along the roads, for the first time the country is facing an acute shortage of diesel, which means long-distance truckers like Lusaba are feeling the pinch. "I am delivering coal from Wankie Colliery Company to some tobacco producers in Manicaland. I should have delivered the load exactly two hours ago, but here I am, about 500 km from my destination. The tank is empty, and this load is stuck with me until I get fuel," he told IRIN, 80 km north of Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo. Last week the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) announced it was suspending its services between Bulawayo and Harare, Victoria Falls and Chiredzi, due to the worsening shortage of diesel. "We are unable to run the regular inter-city passenger train services because of the shortage of diesel. It's a pressing moment for the NRZ, because it comes just as government has ordered that we prioritise the movement of coal to the tobacco curing kilns in the producer areas. So the little diesel we are getting goes to such priority projects," said a ticket officer at the main Bulawayo station. Stranded passengers could be seen milling around the departure area with their luggage, pondering where to go next. Railway transport remains the cheapest mode of travel in Zimbabwe.
The shortage of diesel has reportedly forced some commercial freight companies to ground their fleets. "We have pulled a number of our trucks off the road because there is no diesel, especially in areas around Bulawayo. Harare [the capital] is better because black market diesel is available. Bulawayo does not even have it on the black market," said Thulani Mbambo, a fleet manager with Zim-Zone Carriers, one of Bulawayo's leading cross-border trucking firms. "We have sister companies across the region but we cannot import fuel using their accounts anymore, for fear of contravening the foreign exchange rules. Besides, no foreign company is willing to guarantee a credit payable in Zimbabwe because of the economic uncertainties," said Mbambo. Other commercial freight managers contacted by IRIN said the shortage of diesel was most severe in areas around Bulawayo, which have relied on railway-fed fuel deliveries. Although in short supply, petrol is still available, but opposition economic analyst Eddie Cross said the fuel crisis was likely to worsen. "This crisis is a result of fear generated by the new foreign currency regulations. Fuel importers are now afraid of bringing in large quantities, as that would mean using large amounts of foreign currency at a time when the RBZ [Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe] is investigating and fining a number of companies over transactions in foreign currency. They have adopted a wait-and-see attitude, which may last until the crackdown is over," said Cross. "The shortage might even lead to an increase in public transport and road freight costs, as operators are sourcing fuel at black market prices," said Cross. An official of the Zimbabwe Rural Transport Organisation confirmed that bus companies had applied to the ministry of transport for an increase in bus fares to cover cost increases.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 8 April
Moyo challenged to take paternity test
Staff Writer
Women's organisations and human rights groups have deplored the arrest of a woman who claims she had a son with Information minister Jonathan Moyo and have challenged the minister to take a paternity test to prove that he was not the real father of the child. The civic groups this week challenged Moyo to go for a DNA test that would prove whether he is the father or not of the 22-year old man, Ntuthuko Mwendini, who a Kadoma woman, Irene Ali, claims was fathered by Moyo in the early 1980s. Moyo has denied the claim pointing out he was in the United States at the time. The civic groups accused the police of overzealousness and of being used to advance the interests of Moyo in a case where recognised channels of solving the matter were available. "The police had no right to arrest the woman and the question that needs to be answered is would this woman have been arrested if the man involved was not a minister?" said Qonda Moyo, Co-ordinator of the Federation of African Media Women Zimbabwe (FAMWZ). She said the minister should have been asked to take a paternity test that would prove he was not the father of the child. "Even if the test proved that Moyo was not the father of the child, I do not see under which laws the woman could have been arrested," said Qonda Moyo. "What Moyo can only do in those circumstances is to sue for defamation if he feels that the allegations raised have injured his reputation," she said. Ali was arrested on Saturday and is facing charges of criminal defamation arising from allegations she made against Moyo. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights executive director Arnold Tsunga said police jumped the gun on the matter. "The police jumped the gun by arresting the woman and this sends a wrong message to the community," he said. "What the police have done says you cannot make such claims against ministers and powerful politicians and we are saying that is wrong."
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From News24 (SA), 7 April
New turn in Zim judge's trial
Harare - Lawyers for a Zimbabwean judge being investigated for misconduct asked Harare High Court on Wednesday to stop a hearing by a special international tribunal, arguing it was unconstitutionally appointed. President Robert Mugabe had sworn in the three-man tribunal, comprising judges from Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, to hear the case of Judge Benjamin Paradza, accused of trying to influence his colleagues presiding in the case of a business colleague. Defence lawyer Jonathan Samkange said the tribunal was unconstitutionally appointed. He said the defence had made an application before a High Court judge to have the hearing, which began on Monday, halted. "We're simply asking them (the High Court) to stop the proceedings so that we can go to the Supreme Court to challenge the composition of the tribunal," he said outside the court. The judge is due to make a ruling on Thursday, Samkange added. Judge Paradza was arrested early last year after he allegedly tried to influence the bail conditions of his safari hunting business partner, Russell Labuschagne, charged with murder. Paradza apparently told a fellow judge involved in Labuschagne's case that he stood to lose money if his associate could not travel to Europe. Paradza's arrest drew international condemnation. Samkange said Mugabe had not personally selected the tribunal, as required by the constitution. Instead, the judges had been nominated in their own countries by judicial authorities, he said. "The president should have used his discretion in terms of the constitution" to choose the judges, Samkange noted. Paradza was the second judge to be arrested in Zimbabwe in recent years. Commentators say his arrest may have been politically motivated. Paradza has made judgments in the past that may have been perceived as favourable to the opposition and white farmers, who are also perceived to be government opponents.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 8 April
Byo's death toll shoots up to 63
Loughty Dube
The number of people who have succumbed to hunger in Bulawayo has shot up to 63 in the month of March alone. The new figure is a sharp increase from a conservative 27 people who died from hunger in February. Bulawayo Health Services director, Zanele Hwalima, explained that poverty, food shortages and inability to access nutrients contributed to malnutrition and the subsequent deaths. The worst-hit age group are those under four, where a total of 48 children died due to malnutrition compared to 20 the previous month. According to figures from the City Health department, a total of five children in the five to 14 age group died of malnutrition while three people between the 20 to 49 age group also succumbed to hunger. Three adults in the 50 to 59 category also died of malnutrition while another four elderly people in the 70-plus age group died. These are not the first deaths in the city due to malnutrition. Late last year, 43 people died in Bulawayo while a further 27 deaths were recorded earlier this year. The majority of Zimbabweans in rural areas survive on food handouts from international food agencies while people in urban areas have been left out of major feeding programmes. A survey conducted by the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee late last year indicated that a large number of people in the urban areas were in dire need of food aid.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 7 April
Zim poll violence 'worrying'
Dumisani Muleya
Zimbabwe’s blood-soaked parliamentary by-election last weekend, won by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF amid accusations of violence and bribery, could be a harbinger of things to come during next year’s general election. Analysts said the election, which was also marred by coercion and the inducement of people to vote through "gifts" or "donations", proved Mugabe’s regime was still rigidly determined to cling to power by fair means or foul. Voters were allegedly bribed with, among other things, free medication. A number of voters who reportedly requested help from polling officers to cast their ballots, claiming to be either illiterate, sick or suffering from "blurred vision" or "unsteady hands", were allegedly part of the Zanu PF strategy to ensure they voted as instructed. An opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporter, Francis Chinozvinya, was shot and killed on Sunday, allegedly by a senior Zanu PF official and minister. The Zanu PF candidate in the by-election, Chris Chigumba, won the poll by 8 447 votes compared with 6 706 votes for the MDC candidate, James Makore. Zanu PF spokesperson Nathan Shamuyarira said the result heralded the end of the MDC. "It signals the end of the MDC’s dominance in urban areas. It’s a turning point in the political system in this country," he said. "We are now ready to challenge the MDC and romp to victory in the 2005 general election."
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the poll showed that elections remain a "bloody affair" in Zimbabwe. "We condemn the continuous descent into thuggery, lawlessness and mayhem in the general body politic in Zimbabwe," he said. "Elections, which should reflect the exercise of our sovereignty in the selection of our leaders, should never become open season for murder, torture, beatings and violence." Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe should revamp its electoral system to ensure legitimate polls. The MDC has produced a list of 15 electoral reform demands that include the need for independent electoral agencies and equal access to the public media. Mugabe currently appoints members of election agencies such as the Electoral Supervisory Commission, the Election Directorate and the Delimitation Commission. A flood of condemnation followed the by-election. University of Zimbabwe political scientist John Makumbe said the Zengeza by-election was a precursor of things to come in the general election, scheduled for March next year. "It means next year’s election will be characterised by bloodshed unless there are dramatic changes in the electoral system and political climate," Makumbe said. "The by-election also proved that Zanu PF has now really perfected the art of electoral fraud." Makumbe said that without a fundamental overhaul of the electoral system Zimbabwe would continue to hold fraudulent elections that subvert the popular will and produce illegitimate regimes. "Unless there are radical reforms to the Electoral Act and the management of elections in this country, it would be futile for any opposition to think it can win," he said.
In its reaction local election monitoring body, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), said Zanu PF secured its victory through coercion by youth militias. ZESN head Reginald Matchaba-Hove said the poll was badly marred by widespread irregularities and intimidation. "Free and fair elections can only take place in a tolerant political environment," he said. "It is also worrisome that lawenforcement agents are mentioned among the perpetrators of violence." ZESN said Zanu PF was accused of paying Z$10 000 each to thousands of people in exchange for votes. Crisis in Zimbabwe, a coalition of civic groups, slammed the entrenched culture of electoral violence, saying it was "perturbed by the continued killing of innocent citizens during election times." The United States State Department condemned "violence, intimidation, and irregularities" during the by-election.
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From The New Statesman (UK), 8 April
This man has been called Zimbabwe's Che Guevara. Did Mugabe have him murdered?
Mark Olden
In a divided land, Josiah Tongogara is a hero claimed by both sides. Mark Olden traces an inspirational life and mysterious death
You have probably never heard of Josiah Magama Tongogara, but he is Zimbabwe's Che Guevara, a liberation icon with streets named after him in almost every town in the country. Tall, bearded and charismatic, it was he who, as commander of the guerrilla army Zanla, towered over the Lancaster House conference that led to Zimbabwe's independence and the end of white minority rule. Many expected him to be the first president of the free Zimbabwe, with Robert Mugabe, head of Zanla's political wing, Zanu, as prime minister. But six days after the Lancaster House agreement was signed, Mugabe, on the Voice of Zimbabwe radio station, conveyed "an extremely sad message" to "all the fighting people of Zimbabwe": the 41-year-old Tongogara was dead, killed in a car accident in Mozambique on Christmas Day 1979. Two questions have haunted Zimbabwe ever since. How different would the nation have been had Tongogara lived? And did Mugabe have him murdered?
As a child, Tongogara worked on the farm owned by the parents of Ian Smith, Rhodesia's last prime minister and the man whose racist regime he took up arms against. When he couldn't get a secondary school place, he left for neighbouring Zambia, where he later abandoned his job as bar manager at a white amateur dramatics club to join the struggle. His people's need for "land, land, education, land" was what drove him, he said in his last interview. In 1966, he led a group to China for military training. Zanla's first Rhodesian prisoner of war, Gerald Hawksworth, said after he was released that Tongogara was always smiling, referred to him as "Comrade Hawksworth" and plied him with cigarettes during his captivity. He was fighting the system, he told Hawksworth, not a racial war.
In Harare last month, I met Wilfred Mhanda, a former high-ranking Zanla commander who knew Tongogara and who today heads the Zimbabwe Liberators' Platform (ZLP), a group of ex-guerrillas who claim that the struggle's ideals have been betrayed. Tongogara, he says, was "a very strong charismatic leader" and "the epitome of a freedom fighter, with all the recruits aspiring to be like him. You felt safe and secure under his command. He believed in the empowerment of his junior officers, and allowed them to implement policy as they saw fit." He was also highly ambitious. "By the eve of independence, he'd manoeuvred himself into a very powerful strategic position, where he could say: 'This is what the fighters want' to the Zanu leadership and 'This is what the leadership want' to the fighters. He had the best of both worlds and took advantage of it." At Lancaster House, Tongogara was a crucial "moderating" force, according to Lord Carrington, the then British foreign secretary, who chaired the talks. On the first day of the conference, he surprised Ian Smith by revealing how Smith's mother gave him sweets on their family farm as a child. "If I get home and the old lady is still alive that would be one of the greatest things for me - to say hello, ask her about the sweets and whether she has still got some for me," he later told an interviewer. And at a press conference when the taciturn Mugabe started telling Carrington to "go to hell", Tongogara reached over and calmed his diminutive colleague down.
By then, Tongogara was openly favouring unity between Zanu and Zimbabwe's other nationalist movement, Joshua Nkomo's Zapu. He reportedly had private meetings with Nkomo during the conference. But Mugabe was opposed. "[Mugabe] referred to unity with Zapu as sharing the spoils with those who had not shouldered the burden of fighting," says Mhanda. As Lancaster House concluded, Tongo-gara returned to Mozambique, where Zanla was based, to inform his soldiers of the ceasefire. Margaret Dongo was among them. At 15, she had crossed into Mozambique to join the guerrillas, adopting the chimurenga (liberation war) name of Tichaona Muhondo ("prepared to face trouble"). Once a ruling Zanu-PF MP, she later became disillusioned with the party. Now she is president of the small opposition Zimbabwe Union of Democrats and a thorn in the sides of her erstwhile comrades. "Tongogara was principled," she says. "He was unwavering in knowing what he was fighting for and could not easily be driven into corruption. I believed in him." Dongo was one of the last people to see him alive. "We were 18 girls who were having a function and he came to say a few words to bless the occasion." But did Tongogara die as Mugabe claimed? There are several mysteries. He actually died on 26 December, not 25 December. His body took two days to reach a mortuary. And though Zanu released an undertaker's statement saying his injuries were consistent with a road accident, no autopsy results or pictures have ever been released.
The CIA and US State Department reports from the time, which I obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, add to the doubts. "There will inevitably be speculation that Tongogara was killed either by enemies within Zanu or by the Rhodesian security forces," states the CIA intelligence briefing of 28 December. "In addition to [Tongogara's] military command, he was a political force behind the scenes and a potential political rival to Mugabe because of his ambition, popularity and decisive style." On the same day, the US embassy in Zambia reported: "Almost no one in Lusaka accepts Mugabe's assurance that Tongogara died accidentally. When the ambassador told the Soviet ambassador the news . . . yesterday evening, the surprised Soviet immediately charged 'inside job'. His capsule reaction parallels the opinions of the great majority of the diplomatic corps." Ian Smith, admittedly hardly an impartial source, also insisted in his memoirs that Tongogara's "own people" killed him, and that he had disclosed at Lancaster House that Tongogara was under threat. "I made a point of discussing his death with our police commissioner and head of special branch, and both assured me that Tongogara had been assassinated," Smith wrote. Then there are the claims that surfaced in the Zimbabwean magazine Moto a few years ago. Four of Tongogara's former bodyguards had died in suspicious circumstances since independence, it alleged. One was said to have been hit by a car outside a Harare hotel after telling friends that when he retired from the army he would "sell the BBC the true story of Tongogara's death".
One woman professes to know the truth: Oppah Muchinguri, a former cabinet minister in Mugabe's government, whose close relationship with him - and fractious relationship with his wife Grace - has long been the subject of local rumour. She was a 21-year-old Zanu secretary when Tongogara died, and it was only years later that she announced - not entirely convincingly - that she'd been in the car with him when it had crashed into the back of a truck. I called her. "I don't give interviews to UK journalists," she said. "Tongogara is a Zimbabwean and as a Zimbabwean I am not interested in colonialists." Then she hung up. But while the facts of Tongogara's death remain obscure, its meaning in present-day Zimbabwe is clear, with both the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and ruling Zanu PF claiming his legacy, and legitimacy, for themselves. Three years ago a report claimed that Mugabe believed he was being haunted in his presidential home by an angry Tongogara, who berated him for destroying the revolution. As in Macbeth, the popular (in Tongogara's case, future) king had been supplanted by his killer, who became steeped in greater bloodshed as he rose to power, and was now haunted by the ghost of his deeds. Mugabe, it was said, had even taken to having a place laid for Tongogara at his dinner table.
In the poor township of Mabvuku East, ten miles from Harare and surrounded by lush countryside dotted with spectacular granite rocks, they sing: "Tongogara is dead/Don't cry/You killed him." Tonde, a local MDC activist who has been arrested 19 times and tortured three times, says: "We call Mabvuku a liberated zone because we've got networks in every corner. As soon as the police arrive, the people inform us and we can move." Liberated zones were part of Tongogara's strategy. "He was the true leader," says Tonde. "The current ones are thieves." Meanwhile, almost every hour on ZBC, the government-owned, propaganda-swamped television station, a different story is being pumped out under the slogan: "The land is our prosperity." Footage of Zimbabwe's great heroes, Mugabe and Tongogara, is intercut with joyful people dancing on their newly acquired land and pictures of the country's enemies, Tony Blair and the MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The message is that Zanu-PF is the true custodian of Zimbabwe's sovereignty and revolution. Churchill High School in Harare was recently renamed Josiah Tongogara High. War veterans who invaded a farm on the edge of Harare renamed it Tongogara. Maybe Tongogara was not quite the paragon that many now believe: as Mhanda acknowledges, he was ruthless at settling internal disputes. But he is a symbol for both sides in Zimbabwe's struggle. "We got hold of political power," says Mhanda. "But we failed to transform the instruments of power to serve the people rather than the elite."
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From The Financial Gazette, 8 April
Knives out for Mnangagwa
Hama Saburi, Brian Mangwende and Thomas Madondoro
Emmerson Mnangagwa, long considered President Robert Mugabe's heir-apparent, is balancing on a precarious political knife-edge because the twisty anti-graft crusade on Zanu PF investments is by all intents and purposes focused on him as the immediate past finance chief for the party. Zimbabweans this week indulged in an orgy of speculation about the Speaker of Parliament's political future after it emerged that the probe into Zanu PF's complex and secretive investments was an extension of the war of attrition in the ruling party's high echelons jockeying to succeed President Mugabe. It has been suggested but not yet denied that President Mugabe could be seeing out his last term in office. This has been given credence by some senior party officials who have claimed that the President, clutching at straws to save his faltering political life, would announce his retirement plans in December this year. President Mugabe himself has however in the past hinted at a distant departure date.
Zanu PF insiders, who were unanimous that the timing of the investigations was puzzling and curious, predicted tough times ahead for Mnangagwa. They said the shrewd political schemer, widely seen as the unshakeable, quiet man of Zanu PF politics, could emerge bruised from the belated investigations. Zanu PF's investments have never been subjected to public scrutiny. Issues concerning the party's businesses have always been confined to some dark room at its headquarters in Harare. Even after the promulgation of the Political Parties Finance Act under which political parties that win five percent of the vote are financed from public funds, Zanu PF's investments remained a subject of conjecture. Despite calls for these investments to be made public, it was always considered a political hot potato. Some senior party officials claim that they have not been privy to the party's investments. Attempts at Zanu PF congresses to get those responsible for the party businesses to divulge the accounts of investment had always failed though the Speaker of Parliament at one point revealed in 1992 that Zanu PF's assets were worth $486 million.
"A lot is said by the unsaid," said a senior party official. "The truth is that this whole thing boils down to the succession issue. And, as you know, Mnangagwa has always been seen as the front runner. Don't forget that this is Zanu PF, a party known for trumping up charges against its own." Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said it was an open secret within the ruling party that knives were being sharpened against Mnangagwa, the feared Zanu PF secretary for administration. Even though charges of imprudent deals at the party's companies were still based on anecdotal evidence, Mnangagwa's opponents were determined to bury his political career through the probe. They are hoping to find something that will stick. High ranking sources within Zanu PF's supreme decision-making politburo said the exertion on Mnangagwa's controversial political career could be the most fierce battle the Speaker of Parliament, who once claimed to be "as soft as wool", may fight ahead of the crucial Zanu PF congress slated for December where a new leadership would be ushered into office. Although he is known as an extraordinary politician who has in the past weathered many political storms, his nerves could be jangled by the machinations intertwined to the sensitive succession issue.
This could however hinge on the support Mnangagwa enjoys from the powers-that-be in the party. Mnangagwa is said to be a long-time associate and confidante of President Mugabe. But his current trials and tribulations would seem to suggest that the political backing he enjoyed in the past might have evaporated and the political vultures that have been circling are now pouncing."This time, his opponents are determined to soil his image," said a politburo member who declined to be named. Up until now, Mnangagwa had been tipped to step into the 80-year-old Zanu PF leader's shoes but could as well be pipped to the big one by Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, John Nkomo, the Minister for Special Affairs in the President's Office, Former Finance Minister Simba Makoni and Vice President Joseph Msika. The sources queried why the Governor for Mashonaland East and Zanu PF's secretary for finance, David Karimanzira, who is also a signatory to party cheques, was appointed to head the five-member probe team yet he was in charge of the ruling party's purse. Karimanzira's appointment as chair of the committee has also raised eyebrows as to whether Mnangagwa, the previous secretary for finance until four years ago, had properly handed over all financial responsibilities to the incumbent. Karimanzira remained tight-lipped on the matter when contacted for comment this week. He refused to shed light on when investigations would commence and the terms of reference of the committee. When pressed to divulge the period they would cover, how it was possible for him to investigate companies under his portfolio and concerns that the probe was aimed at certain individuals, Karimanzira said the investigations were not supposed to be made public. "We are not going to be discussing that issue. It is party business. I did not choose myself to chair the committee investigating our companies so it is not true that I will be investigating myself," said Karimanzira.
The selection of retired army general and Zanu PF kingmaker, Solomon Mujuru, who reportedly had a fallout with Mnangagwa over the former army chief's failed ZIMASCO deal, has also raised a stink as fears are mounting that the scale could tilt heavily against the Speaker of Parliament. Other members of the team, which received the backing of the central committee at its emergency meeting last Friday, include Makoni, Matabeleland North Governor Obert Mpofu and the party's deputy secretary for transport and welfare, Thoko Mathuthu. Newly appointed Minister of State responsible for Anti-Corruption and Monopolies, Didymus Mutasa, who was languishing in obscurity until President Mugabe brought him to the fore during this February's Cabinet reshuffle, said there was nothing amiss in appointing Karimanzira to chair the committee as it was not his department that was under probe. "All is above board," Mutasa said. "It's not Karimanzira's department that is under probe but Zanu PF's various companies. Karimanzira was merely a receiver of the money generated. The companies are under probe, not the party's finance department. These companies have different directors who should come forward and tell us how they were or are conducting their businesses." As the probe gained momentum, two directors of Zanu PF's companies - Jayant Joshi and Manharlal Chuniba - fled the country earlier this week after news that the net was closing in on them. Their departure could scuttle efforts by the investigating committee to unlock the intricacies surrounding operations of the companies. Zanu PF's investments are largely housed under two investments wings, M & S Syndicate set up even before independence in 1980, and Zidco Holdings (of which M & S holds a 55 percent stake). The Zidco board comprises Joshi, Mnangagwa, Jayant's brother Manoo, Sekeramayi and Dipak Padya who is the current finance director and a non-executive chairman of First Banking Corporation.
Sources said Mnangangwa could be hauled before the committee soon and would be taken to task over investments made in recent months, a clear sign that the party's finances could be in shambles at a critical time when the 2005 parliamentary elections are just around the corner. Concerns have been raised within Zanu PF's ranks that the ruling party's investments have been privy to a privileged few, triggering fears that the party could fail to raise funds to campaign for the crucial 2005 parliamentary plebiscite. Through Zidco and M & S, the party has a vast range of interests including Treger Holdings, producers of building materials and hardware, Ottawa, a property management company, Catercraft, which runs the catering at Harare International Airport and also services all domestic and international flights out of Harare and Zidlee Enterprises, which controls the duty-free shops at Beitbridge, Harare City and Harare Airport. Zanu PF has also invested in the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-listed First Banking Corporation, where it still has to pay for its shares, now valued at about $8 billion. As a public company, First Bank could be spared the investigations although the issue of the non-payment of the shares could come up. Zanu PF is also a major shareholder in SARE with an 18 percent stake.
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From The Financial Gazette, 8 April
Reprieve for ZESA
Staff Reporter
The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has secured a nine-month energy supply contract with South Africa's energy supplier Eskom, averting the threat of a national power blackout. The power utility has also extended contracts with HCB of Mozambique and SNEL of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Eskom, HCB and Snell, which in the past have thrown a lifeline to the debt-ridden parastatal, were demanding that ZESA fully repay current debts before any new deal could be signed. A spokesperson for ZESA, Shepherd Mandizvidza, confirmed that power supply contracts had been restored, adding steps were under way to reduce the parastatal's indebtedness to Eskom, a prerequisite for the resumption of supplies. "Electricity supply contracts with Eskom of South Africa have been renewed for the supplies spanning nine months on a forward purchase agreement basis. ZESA is also making monthly payments of US$1.5 million towards the liquidation of arrears," Mandizvidza said. "The 250 MW contract with HCB has been restored and the power utility will make a down payment, which is required by the end of April, to operationalise the new contract," he said.
ZESA owes HCB a massive US$30 million for power supplies and HCB has been refusing to renew its contact with ZESA until the debt was fully repaid. HCB has been supplying ZESA with 250 MW under the expired contract. Mandizvidza said the local utility had a new contract with SNEL for the supply of 150 MW. However, ZESA is on record as saying that power supply imports from the DRC were very "unreliable", with ZESA receiving, at most, 50 MW or nothing at all. Mandizvidza said coal supplies to ZESA's thermal power station had improved by 60 percent, which was the total requirement. ZESA generates 68 percent of total national power requirements through Kariba South Power Station (750 MW) and Hwange Power Station (920 MW), with the balance of 32 percent being met through imports. Local generation has been impaired by inadequate coal supplies to Hwange Power Station, resulting in the power station generating only 480 MW at a time when imports have fallen to 60 percent. This has caused the power utility to import over 35 percent of electricity. According to the Zimbabwe Power Company, Zimbabwe's peak electricity demand is projected to have increased to over 2 600 MW this year from 2 000 MW last year. The local power utility requires US$17 million every month to meet electricity imports obligations, service debts and buy spares for refurbishment. To help ZESA raise the much-needed foreign currency, the utility's exporting customers are now being billed in hard currency, a development which has generated angry responses from industry.
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From VOA News, 8 April
Zimbabwe banks could be prosecuted for breaking currency exchange laws
Commercial bankers in Zimbabwe breathed a little easier when they found out that the Central Bank has granted them an amnesty for breaking currency exchange rules, something the bankers have been doing for years. But the banks are not immune from prosecution. It was not until the Zimbabwe police announced they were going to prosecute three banks, including the largest one, with currency law violation that executives of those banks found out that there is an amnesty in place for bank managers. The banks are being accused of violating the currency exchange laws by giving their foreign currency account holders much higher exchange rates than the official rate. The banks have been doing this since 2000 when the central bank fixed the official rate at 55 Zimbabwe dollars to one U.S. dollar. The exchange rate on the streets at that time was about 20 times more than that, and grew to more than 5,000 Zimbabwe dollars for one U.S. dollar, and that is roughly the rate the banks gave their clients holding foreign currency accounts.
Among those who availed themselves of this unofficial practice are the state electricity supply company, the fuel procurement organization, and the state-run grain marketing board. Last December the newly appointed central banker, Gideon Gono, himself a former commercial banker, cracked down on currency speculators and tightened Zimbabwe's monetary policy. A dozen top bankers fled Zimbabwe for fear of prosecution. The news of the amnesty, which has apparently been in place for about three months, was published in a weekly newspaper Thursday and confirmed by several commercial bankers. It applies retroactively to bank managers, but not to the banks themselves. Some commercial bankers welcomed the announcement, saying this might bring stability into the financial sector. Others have said they will withhold their judgment until they see whether the police will go ahead with the prosecution of commercial banks. Meanwhile, the central bank has told commercial banks that, amnesty or not, they are not immune from prosecution for violating the currency exchange laws.
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From Reuters, 8 April
Zimbabwe probes charges of assault on 'mercenaries'
Harare - Zimbabwe said on Thursday it had ordered a probe into accusations by some of the 70 suspected mercenaries it is holding that they were assaulted by prison officials. The suspected mercenaries - from South Africa, Angola, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo and one from Zimbabwe - were arrested last month after their U.S.-registered Boeing 727 plane landed in Harare and was seized by Zimbabwean authorities. The men say they were heading to Congo to guard mines. Zimbabwe says they were on a mission to oust Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, and has charged them with conspiracy to overthrow his government. Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Zimbabwe was investigating accusations that prison officers had assaulted 18 of the suspects with baton sticks for no apparent reason during a routine search of detainees more than a week ago. Chinamasa said the government wanted to establish the facts behind the assault charges made by the detained men's Zimbabwean lawyer Jonathan Samkange. "A board of inquiry has been set up," Chinamasa said. Chinamasa said the probe would also try to clarify how Samkange managed to interview the 18 suspected mercenaries 25 minutes after the assault were said to have taken place, and why the officer in charge was not informed of the matter by his subordinates. Samkange said on Thursday he would cooperate with the board, but was happy the government had set up an inquiry. Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's third largest oil producer, says it has arrested another 20 men it says were part of a plot funded by foreign powers and multinational firms to put in power an exiled opposition politician living in Spain.
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From IRIN (UN), 8 April
Rains raise hope for improved harvest
Bulawayo - Recent rains across most of southwestern Zimbabwe have raised hopes for an improved harvest among small-scale farmers in the drought-prone Matabeleland region. In interviews around Gwanda and Bulawayo, resettled and communal farmers told IRIN the latest rains had revived most of the crop, and expressed the hope that they were heading for a better season. "This is the first time we have had so much rain in three years. Most of the early planted crop was scorched out by the sun, but the later crop has survived, and that is where our hopes are," said communal farmer Misheck Nare. Other small-scale farmers echoed the same sentiments. A thriving crop of maize, sorghum and millet could be seen in most parts of Matabeleland North and South provinces. Although the majority of farmers predicted that their harvests would take them through to the next planting season, agricultural analysts said the overall population would still need food aid. "This could be the first significant harvest in three years, but it does not mean getting rid of donor food aid. It can mean a temporary reduction in maize supplies, but the other commodities will remain in short supply. We should be careful not to claim big harvests when we have not seen the actual quantities," said Renson Gasela, shadow minister of agriculture for the Movement for Democratic Change. He added that since the rains had been limited to the southern area of Zimbabwe, no national forecast of harvests could be made. Gasela pointed out that most people had not received quality seed for planting. "Even those that did [get seeds] still face a crisis due to the shortage of draught power, and that certainly affects the quality and quantity of the harvest," he said.
Edward Mkhosi, an agricultural expert and member of the parliamentary portfolio committee on agriculture, echoed the same sentiments. "We can only feel secure if we get good harvests now and in winter. The problem is that most of the current crop will go to direct consumption, since family grain reserves are empty. As a result there will be nothing going to storage." The beginning of the current planting season was dogged by a shortage of maize and other cereal seeds, fertiliser and draught power, leading to fears of a third consecutive poor harvest. The United Nations has estimated that five million Zimbabweans are expected to be dependent on food aid and other social safety schemes over the coming months, and has called on donors to provide additional funds to support humanitarian efforts through to the end of 2004. There has been no official comment or harvest projections from the ministry of lands, agriculture and rural resources. A World Food Programme and Food and Agriculture Organisation assessment survey is due to take place next month, and a report on the state of Zimbabwe's food security will probably be available in June.
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From The Guardian (UK), 9 April
Streak's rebels set quit deadline
Telford Vice in Durban
Zimbabwe's senior players have given their board a deadline of next Wednesday to meet their demands or face mass resignation. Meetings were being held last night between a players' delegation consisting of the former captain Heath Streak, Grant Flower, Andy Blignaut and their lawyer and Zimbabwe Cricket Union officials. The meetings were hastily arranged after 11 contracted players threatened to resign yesterday morning. If they carry out their threat England could find themselves facing a second-string Test side if their controversial tour to Zimbabwe takes place in October. "We've given the delegation a mandate of 4pm on Wednesday, and if they don't come up with the goods we're out of here," a senior player said from Harare last night. The player did not hold out much hope for the success of the negotiations. "I don't think we're going to get anywhere with them," he said. "There is no future for Zimbabwe cricket." The players' major concern is the lack of top-level playing experience among the national selectors, but Tatenda Taibu's elevation to the captaincy in the place of Heath Streak has become another stumbling block. "There are quite a few guys who don't want to play under Tatenda Taibu, and it's not a racial issue," the player said. "It's because he is 20 years old and he's still trying to make it in international cricket. We've asked them to reverse the captaincy situation back to Streak, and they have said they won't. If that's the case, there are a few of us who are going to leave purely on that basis."
The ZCU said Streak issued the board with an ultimatum that he would resign if the selection panel was not restructured, a claim Streak's father has denied. "At the board meeting on Friday, [board members] Max Ebrahim and Ozias Bvute were basically out of their trees," the player said. "They shouted down [the ZCU chairman] Peter Chingoka when he tried to say they should discuss Heath's concerns." Sri Lanka's selectors, meanwhile, have named three uncapped players in their 16-member squad for this month's limited-overs series against Zimbabwe. The Sri Lankan squad will leave on April 15 for Zimbabwe, where they will play five limited-overs matches followed by two Tests. The squad includes the all-rounder Farveez Mahroof, who led Sri Lanka in this year's Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh. Dilhara Fernando, who has recovered from a spinal injury, returns to the squad to bolster the fast bowling department, which also includes the left-arm quick bowlers Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa, as well as the right-arm seamer Nuwan Kulasekera. Fernando has played only one international match since his injury last April, the final home Test match against England in December. The first match of the series against the Zimbabweans begins in Bulawayo on April 20.
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From SW Radio Africa, 9 April
Attack on Charleswood
Armed soldiers and police descended on MP Roy Bennett's farm in Chimanimani early Friday morning and forcefully evicted all the farm workers and their families. Defying court orders that protect Charleswood Estate from acquisition, soldiers with AK 47s and police units with dogs and baton sticks began arriving last night, and truckloads more arrived at about 6:00am. They forced hundreds of men, women and children out of their homes and told them to gather by the gates to the farm without any of their property. Several people were assaulted during the chaos that followed. A roadblock has been set up to prevent anyone from entering the area, and all vehicles at Charleswood have been impounded. It is not known where the families are supposed to go, and what is to happen to the much sought after farm, but the soldiers allegedly announced that Charleswood now belonged to Mike Nyambuya, the governor of Manicaland. Nyambuya, along with local government minister Ignatius Chombo, announced 2 weeks ago at the inauguration of chief Chikukwa, that there was soon going to be a final assault on Charleswood. They openly told the gathered villagers that Roy Bennett would then not qualify for re-election as MP for Chimanimani if he did not live there.
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From AFP, 10 April
Player boycott looms in support of Streak
The possibility of a player boycott in support of deposed Zimbabwe national cricket captain Heath Streak grew when several senior cricketers failed to show up for a first class domestic fixture in the central town of Kwekwe. They were due to play for Mashonaland against Midlands in a Logan Cup fixture. This is the premier domestic competition and always features Test cricketers as Mashonaland is the biggest and the strongest province. Zimbabwe Cricket Union chief executive Vincent Hogg confirmed "three or four" didn't turn up and his interpretation was that "this might mean a boycott." He added: "Whatever it means, we shall still field a strong side against Sri Lanka when they begin their tour here next month." Efforts to reach any member of the Mashonaland team or an official at Kwekwe proved fruitless. Several telephone messages were not returned. The extend of "player-power" in support of Streak will become clearer on Tuesday when senior batsman Grant Flower and fast bowler Andy Blignaut are due to revert to the ZCU following a lengthy meeting with Hogg and chairman Peter Chingoka on Thursday and after consulting with colleagues about a possible joint protest. They had sat by Streak and lawyer Chris Ventura for five and a half hours while efforts to solve the impasse over Streak's removal as captain proved impossible.
Streak is determined to get the captaincy back and said he may take legal action to achieve that. Meanwhile his replacement Tatenda Taibu might have to make his captaincy debut against Sri Lanka in Bulawayo next week with a make-shift side at his disposal. Just before driving home to his farm and ranch earlier Friday, Streak made it clear that he did not at any time encourage the support base that has gathered around him. "It was not my intention to cause any possible exodus of players" he said. At a news conference called by Peter Chingoka Friday, the ZCU chairman emphasised the directors' determination to stick to their original decision to accept what he called Streak's retirement from all forms of cricket in Zimbabwe. Streak says he did not retire, nor resign. He was simply ejected from the job, he believes, because of objections he made over selection policy and selection panel personnel. At the root of the stand-off is the fact that there was no letter from Streak complaining about selection policy and personnel, just a conversation with Hogg, which the chief executive reported to the board as "an ultimatum." Chingoka referred to the ZCU directors' offer to Streak that he can continue as a player. Streak said he is giving that his consideration. But if he takes up the offer, this will not detract from possible legal action over the captaincy, he emphasised. Streak is due to take up a ten weeks contract with English county side Warwickshire in mid-June.
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 10 April
Zimbabwe discord may undermine England tour
Cricket in Zimbabwe was in near-collapse yesterday after a member of the Zimbabwean Cricket Union claimed that he had sacked a group of up to 10 white players - a move which could eliminate any white presence from the national team and help England's chances of withdrawing smoothly from their autumn tour. Deposed captain Heath Streak, whose departure has sparked the crisis, called for the International Cricket Council to "come here and investigate the grave situation at all levels of the game". Streak's supporters, who have asked not to be named, thought they had been given permission by ZCU managing director Vince Hogg to miss this weekend's provincial fixtures. But yesterday they received messages from Ozias Bvute - the ZCU board member in charge of racial quotas - which said he was firing them for not turning up. A row which began over the composition of Zimbabwe's five-man selection panel appears to have split along racial lines. Unless the divisions can be healed next week Zimbabwe could lose some international fixtures. And England's reluctance to fulfil their scheduled tour in October could become less controversial. The ICC had threatened fines and suspensions for any team who renege on their commitments, but even hardline chief executive Malcolm Speed might struggle to hold the line in such circumstances.
ZCU chairman Peter Chingoka said yesterday the board were "willing to restore [Streak] as a player only", endorsing 20-year-old wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu as Zimbabwe's captain. Streak said he had no objections to playing under Taibu, but added: "Unless my demands are met, and they include the selection process, accountability of the board, and administration of the ZCU, I will not play for Zimbabwe again." The crisis began last Friday with Streak's ultimatum to the board , in which he demanded that all Zimbabwean selectors should have personal experience of first-class cricket, and that none should hold conflicting interests as commentators or ZCU directors. As Streak's conditions would have meant the removal of a black selector who had no first-class experience, as well as an Asian television commentator, the state-run Herald newspaper labelled him a racist. Chingoka and Hogg are keen to keep racial issues out of Zimbabwean cricket, but not everybody on the ZCU feels the same way. Hogg confirmed yesterday that following lengthy negotiations with Streak and a group of players on Thursday, he had given them permission not to play in provincial fixtures over Easter. "I was overruled by the board," he said. Streak and about 10 of Zimbabwe's players are due to discuss the crisis and meet with the ZCU on Tuesday.
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From The Financial Gazette, 8 April
Zanu PF firms probe opens can of worms
Nelson Banya
Has Zanu PF, that gargantuan political party constantly accused by its critics of assimilating its adversaries, taken too big a bite this time around? News that the ruling party's supreme policy-making body, the Soviet-style politburo, had set up a five-member team to probe Zanu PF's myriad of mysterious business interests was met with a mixture of apprehension and scepticism, depending on where one stood in the evolving Zimbabwean political conundrum. The interest was further heightened by weekend reports that the esoteric Joshi brothers, Jayant and Manharlal, who were heavily involved in the running of the Zanu PF empire, had fled the country. However, what has attracted the interest of many political analysts and neutrals alike is where the spool will end.
Some analysts contend that the move to probe the firms could yet undo Zanu PF by opening up a can of worms. The party under whose stewardship the economy has collapsed into a recessionary heap could, observers said, score the proverbial own goal. They pointed out that the firms were under the direct control of Zanu PF heavyweights within President Robert Mugabe's inner circle and that any impropriety the probe would unearth was likely to cause no small degree of discomfort within the party. The investigations into Zanu PF's secretive investments straddling the whole economy could, therefore, be a litmus test of the government's sincerity and commitment to end the all-pervading corruption afflicting Zimbabwe. It is widely believed that it is the ruling Zanu PF clique that pushed the envelope too far, although evidence to this is till sparse and anecdotal. However, it remains to be seen how the party, blamed for nurturing a political patronage system which has spawned the deep-seated corruption, will pursue the anti-graft crusade to its full expression.
President Mugabe, whose political star is on the wane, has vowed to deal with everyone implicated in corrupt practices irrespective of political party affiliation or social status. But this has been dismissed as a campaign gimmick to bolster the ruling party's faltering fortunes ahead of the 2005 parliamentary election. Prominent academic and chairman of Transparency International's Zimbabwe chapter John Makumbe said the move was "an attempt by Zanu PF to clean up its house", but added that the party's companies were just a part of the corruption. "The centre of corruption is Zanu PF. It is interesting to note that the party was looting its own businesses. The rot is widespread and this is just the surface. The three managers who have fled are just a tip of the iceberg. We also wait to see if the probe will extend to parastatals," Makumbe said.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) legislator and the party's shadow minister for finance and economic development, Tendai Biti, said the probe was a dimension of the succession struggles within the ruling party. "Any shareholder has the right to probe their own company, but there is a bigger picture to this. There is a succession struggle and every missile is being thrown around. It is dog eat dog. It is like in a Kenyan marathon where everyone else in the field gangs up against the pacesetter before dealing with everybody else. There is a top dog in Zanu PF who has dared show himself as such and they are gunning for him," Biti said. However, Makumbe disagreed with the notion that the company probe was a spin-off of the succession issue, which has heated up in recent months after President Mugabe, in an unprecedented move, encouraged open debate on succession, a hitherto sacred subject within his party. "That is not true. This has nothing to do with succession. What Zanu PF is trying to do is to hoodwink the public and the international community. It is all about the elections. It is not even about the economy because they cannot resuscitate the economy by selectively tackling corruption. They have to go the whole way and, in that case, no one will be left unscathed," Makumbe said.
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Comment from The Mail & Guardian (SA), 8 April
Lost in Jingle-land
Everjoice J Win
Rhodesia. The Seventies. "This is the Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation. Combined operations headquarters reports that 15 terrorists were killed in Muzarabani. In Rushinga 11 more terrorists were killed this evening." The news on radio was always about "terrorists" killed or captured. This is the abiding memory of the media in my childhood. Fast-forward to Zimbabwe in the early 21st century at my parent’s home in Gweru. I don’t have a watch, and I need to know the time, so I turn on the radio. I could be turning back the clock because the broadcaster is now as biased as it was during the colonial era! Any of the four Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation stations will do. At 27 minutes past, or three minutes to every hour, Sendekera will play.
This land/soil that you see is what is called Zimbabwe. The land is now ours. We are happy. It gives us pride. Let ‘them’ be upset. ‘They’ are mad. If it rains this year we shall fill our granaries … Sendekera… Sendekera, son of the soil, our land is our prosperity.
All day long, Sendekera hums in your head. It is played every 30 minutes on all four radio stations. It is mandatory to play it and, by extension, to listen to it. Two days of going to bed at 8.05pm is enough to drive anyone crazy. What else can one do in Gweru after the news headlines? Usually nothing important happens, if we don’t count which high- ranking official has died or got married. The past few weeks have been an exception. First it was the denials and then trashing of the BBC documentary on the Green Bombers. Then it was the arrest of the alleged mercenaries at Harare airport. For more than two weeks ZBC/TV has been filled with strident denials from government officials and the youths themselves. One young woman, in an attempt to show that they were not violated during the training, nor taught terror tactics, boldly told the nation: "I learnt a lot, [during National Youth Service Training]. Now, when I am told turn left, I can turn left. And when they say turn right, I can turn right." And we thought people learnt this stuff in Grade 0. This was on a programme called News Hour, which starts with the supposedly rousing Sendekera jingle.
News content is a mixture of fact, fiction and outright propaganda. There is no pretence at sophistication and everything comes back to that old bogey - colonialism. The state broadcaster’s take on the mercenary drama unfolding in Zimbabwe, for example, goes like this: "The mercenaries plotted to topple the government of the sovereign nation of Equatorial Guinea, whose President Obiang has fallen out of favour with the Western imperialist powers, led by America and Britain who are against his stance on his country’s oil, just like President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who has had a similar problem with these imperialist governments over land." All of this in one breathless sentence! Anti-government sentiments are not allowed anywhere near our broadcaster. There is no debate of fundamental issues. The Broadcasting Services Act gives the minister of information and his hand-picked Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe the power to issue licences to other broadcasters. Nobody has received such a licence to date, and ZBC/TV has a monopoly of the airwaves. Radio content must now be 100% local. On the few occasions when listeners get on to phone-in programmes to criticise the regime, they are switched off.
Gone from the airwaves and from our television screens are programmes that civil society groups (now seen as anti-government) used to produce. These ranged from HIV/Aids awareness to opportunities for the public to participate on national issues. The regime will argue that 100% local content is about patriotism and it’s about promoting local artists and local values. These values are, of course, only for those who can’t afford alternatives, the poor black majority. Those of us in a higher income bracket or with the right connections, don’t have to be subjected to Sendekera. By the flick of our remotes we can watch SABC Africa, BBC or Movie Magic, and we listen to our compact disk collections. No government official worth his salt will invite friends round to watch soccer on ZBC on Sunday afternoon. It’s English football or South African. The Third Chimurenga is fought by poor patriots. The fruits are enjoyed by those with political power.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 8 April
Police hunt Zvakwana
Itai Dzamara
Police have launched a massive hunt to locate Zvakwana, a pro-democracy group that is calling for the removal from power of President Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwe Independent heard this week. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena yesterday said they were worried about the activities of Zvakwana. "I can't speak about the hunt for them off hand. I will have to confirm," said Bvudzijena. "These people (Zvakwana), whoever they are, have been hiding and spreading material and literature aimed at inciting members of the public to lawlessness. We would be interested in talking to them." Sources revealed that a team of senior investigators from the Criminal Investigation Department's Law and Order section was assigned to track down Zvakwana in January. The team has however failed to establish the whereabouts of the group despite having raided opposition party offices as well as interrogating civil society members. There has been political pressure on the investigating team to produce results, sources said. Zvakwana last month released a 14-track music CD with songs critical of Mugabe and his government. Police raided Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and National Constitutional Assembly offices in Harare and Bulawayo in February in the hope of tracing the group's roots. MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi yesterday said his party was not linked to Zvakwana but supported its calls for political change. "We are not linked to Zvakwana. But to the extent that the group fights for political change, democracy and human rights, we share the same values and we support its efforts," Nyathi said. "Police have raided our offices hunting for Zvakwana because they believe that any group that advocates change and democracy is linked to the MDC." Zvakwana or Sokwanele, meaning "it's enough" in Shona and Ndebele respectively, has been distributing pamphlets across the country with anti-Mugabe messages. Graffiti such as "Mugabe Zvakwana - It's Enough" or "Zvakwana to human rights abuses" now dominate bus termini and walls in towns and cities. A Zvakwana monthly news-letter circulates in Zimbabwe inaddition to a website (www.zvakwana.com).
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From SW Radio Africa, 10 April
General grabs Charleswood
Roy Bennett's Charleswood Estate, illegally taken over by military on Friday, now has a new management. The six previous managers have been sacked and the workers have been given short-term contracts (on less pay) to continue working on the estate. Major General Mike Nyambuya has taken over the farm and has appointed a new manager, Major Masebeya, who is currently living in Roy Bennett's farmhouse.
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From The Independent on Sunday (UK), 11 April
Zimbabwe tour is on
England in about turn over controversial trip after ICC threat of crippling ban
By Stephen Brenkley in Antigua
England intend to make their controversial cricket tour of Zimbabwe later this year. The dramatic about-turn, after months of hints that cancellation was imminent, has been prompted by the International Cricket Council's explicit threat of a suspension that would financially cripple the English professional game. David Morgan, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, said that the trip was likely to proceed as planned in October. "The only way that I can see us not fulfilling the tour is either because of government directive or because of safety and security, and let me emphasise we don't see them as being issues at the moment," he said. The reason for the move is simple. If England boycott the tour, they face ruin. The prospect has been raised for the first time of England's suspension for the summer of next year, when the Ashes series is due to take place. Suspension would cost millions of pounds, bring the ECB to their knees financially and disrupt the international programme for years. However, England may still have trouble in persuading some of their players to go to Zimbabwe, and will allow individuals to make up their own minds.
If the ECB's change of heart is understandable, given the implacable stance taken by the ICC and all the nine full member countries, it is at odds with their carefully managed but unofficial policy so far. The issue has been lent further pungency by the cricketing crisis in Zimbabwe caused by a rift between the players and their ruling body. Many senior team members, angry about perceived political interference in selection and the sacking of their captain, Heath Streak, have threatened to quit. They have given the Zimbabwe Cricket Union until Wednesday to meet their demands. It is, at the least, embarrassing for the ICC, who have supported Zimbabwean cricket throughout and who resist any suggestion that there should be a political or moral element in deciding where cricket should be played. England's management board meet next week but will not formally decide until May after another meeting with the Government, who have expressed disapproval. The ECB feel they have been put in an impossible position after their proposal to the ICC that they were a special case was rejected. Morgan, a thoughtful and diplomatic negotiator, is aware of the opprobrium likely to be heaped on English cricket at home if they tour. "I do accept that if we decide to go there would be a great deal of pressure and demonstration," he said. "But I think we have to do what's right, and once the decision is taken we would seek to stay with it. I think that if our decision is to go it would be for very good reasons."
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Comment from The Sunday Telegraph (UK), 11 April
Zimbabwe in crisis over race
By Neil Manthorp
Zimbabwe's national cricket team may very soon contain no white players at all. Radical, anti-white invective is running more deeply than ever before in a sport that has become poisoned beyond antidote by politics, and the politics of fear. English sportsmen take free speech and personal freedom for granted. Most Englishmen of any disposition do. In Zimbabwe, however, one of the national selectors comes from a Harare club that survives through the terror it creates. He has never played cricket, but is an active supporter of Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party. His name is Steve Mangongo. At his Takashinga club, players wear Zanu PF t-shirts at nets. It was this club that instantly banned Henry Olonga for life after his World Cup protest with Andy Flower last year. The convenor of the national selectors is Max Ebrahim, son of Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, who has voiced his disapproval of the government's ways, and has served the ICC as a match referee and judicial representative. Max, however, has inherited none of his father's values and is happy to be led down the road of racial division by Mangongo and the man who appears to hold more power than anyone at the moment, Ozias Bvute.
Bvute was appointed to the executive board as a result of racial power 'balancing' yet his mission appears to rid Zimbabwean cricket of anybody and everybody white, hence the removal of Streak last week in a classic 'ambush' and the sacking of 10 white, nationally contracted players on Friday. The players were given permission to skip this weekend's first-class Logan Cup matches but Bvute overruled that decision and declared the players fired when they failed to play. Bvute is in charge of implementing Zimbabwe's annually increasing quota system. This year there have to be six black players on the field at both Test and one-day level. In a move that would not have been out of place in apartheid South Africa, Bvute has declared that Deon Ebrahim, of Asian decent and previously included in quota numbers, would now be regarded as white. In Zimbabwe the national selectors' powers do not stop with the national team. They also select squads for the provincial teams, Mashonaland, Matabeleland, Manicaland and Midlands, so they can effectively boost and terminate the careers of every player in the country - and frequently do so on politically motivated whims. It has resulted in the creation of a non-merit culture. No wonder Streak asked for a review of the selection processes.
Financial irregularities have long been a part of the game in Zimbabwe with the players suffering more and more. Personal allowances during tours, as prescribed by the ICC, have been paid in largely worthless local currency while the major funds are spirited away to pay for extravagances that would shame any country in the world. The entire board, with partners, travelled to Australia last year during the triangular series that, happily, coincided with the Rugby World Cup. Many players, meanwhile, were struggling to get by and those at home were told there was no money for the national league. No wonder Streak, the sacked former captain, also asked for full accountability from the ZCU's administrators. And how frustrating for the ICC's chief executive, Malcolm Speed, that he could not say anything during or after his visit to the country last week. The Zimbabwe issue is simply too sensitive in world cricket and if Speed were to admit there were problems within cricket, as well as the rest of the country, he could be seen as giving England the choice not to tour in November. The ramifications of that could be catastrophic. Lowly Kenya, however, can be happily rapped over the knuckles and told to put their house in order. The corruption that has characterised the Zimbabwean nation for so long has been spreading as surely as unchecked cancer, and now cricket, which cleverly disguised its condition for so long with brave and wholehearted performances on the field, is sick to the core too.
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Comment from cricinfo, 10 April
The Zimbabwe crisis
The real danger lurks in the shadows
Martin Williamson
The crumbling façade of independence and reason the Zimbabwe Cricket Union has tried to maintain against a backdrop of social disintegration in the country finally collapsed on Friday. The final semblance of normality was wiped away with the revelation that Vince Hogg, the board's chief executive, had been overruled on a key matter by Ozais Bvute, the man charged with implementing racial quotas in team selections. Bvute's formal role within the ZCU is vague, but it is his presence, and that of one or two others with dubious cricketing backgrounds, which sparked the showdown between Heath Streak and the board. Streak made clear his objection to non-cricketing individuals being involved in selection, and comments he made to Hogg on this subject triggered the chain of events which led to the board replacing him with Tatenda Taibu. The government-controlled Herald immediately branded Streak a racist. That was utterly predictable, as anyone who has opposed any part of Robert Mugabe's regime is tarred with the same brush. But those who know Streak also know that the accusation is risible.
The subsequent meeting between the ZCU and a group of players who are all, incidently, white - was nothing to do with Streak, although he attended, as did Hogg and Bvute. With the ZCU refusing to contemplate Streak's reinstatement given that its political faction had ousted him, it was never a possibility stalemate ensured. Hogg realised that the loss of up to a dozen leading players would cripple the already disintegrating Zimbabwe side there are only about 70 first-class players in the country all told and so gave the dissenters the weekend off to consider how the situation might be resolved. But Bvute immediately overruled him and seized on the chance to strike - when the dissenters didn't appear to play for their sides in the weekend's Logan Cup matches, he banned them all. It was opportunist, and as unsubtle an implementation of the government's will as it is possible to have. So isolated, and so out of touch with reality, is the Mugabe regime that it probably believes that Zimbabwean cricket can lose almost all its white cricketers and emerge stronger. It is in for a frighteningly rude awakening.
What is emerging is that Bvute is perhaps the most powerful figure within the ZCU. His appointment was made by the ruling Zanu PF party, and local observers say that he is charged with ensuring 'political loyalty' to Mugabe. Last year, Mugabe's position of the ZCU's patron came up for re-election. It was assumed that he would be returned unopposed. But a ZCU member suggested that the matter should be discussed. "If the member knows what's good for his health," Bvute warned, "he will desist from asking such questions." So much for being apolitical. Bvute is also the man who personally threw Henry Olonga off the team bus following his black-armband protest in the World Cup, and he also demanded that Olonga stop wearing any official Zimbabwe team kit. He was also involved in the attempts to drop Andy Flower from the side, a move thwarted by another threatened strike by several of the side. One former player is quoted as saying that Bvute "constantly tells team members that he has been to [information minister] Jonathan Moyo's office and been talking to him about cricket issues. If that's not being involved in politics in Zimbabwe today, nothing is."
Peter Chingoka, the ZCU's chairman, who has consistently maintained the line that the board is independent and is widely considered to be a good man, is also becoming marginalised. An insider at Friday's meeting said that Bvute and Max Ebrahim (another selector) repeatedly shouted Chingoka down when he tried to raise the subject of Streak's concerns. Ebrahim is believed to be a supporter of Mugabe, and his father, Ahmed, headed the task force which cleansed the side of dissidents. Chingoka is shrewd enough to realise that in a dictatorship, you don't upset people with the ear of the leadership, and that you have to make compromises to survive. Another insider said that the board had gradually isolated and removed people who were genuinely apolitical, with the result that while it was until recently independent, in recent months it had become "dominated by politics". Chillingly, the insider added: ""I think the ZCU should be renamed the Zanu PF cricket union. There are certain individuals who are using the way the country's being run as a blueprint for the ZCU."
In ten days time Chingoka is due at Lord's to discuss this autumn's proposed tour of Zimbabwe by England Bvute is also in the delegation but it is hard to see how he can seriously hold those talks when his position and that of his chief executive are clearly utterly irrelevant. The England & Wales Cricket Board must be eyeing the situation as its Get Out Of Jail Free card. These developments should also be worrying the International Cricket Council. To date, it has repeatedly put the self-interest of certain factions within it ahead of any semblance of morality. Even Malcolm Speed, its hardline chief executive, might struggle to maintain its stance if the ZCU carries on as it has in the last ten days. Those with hidden agendas will probably try to play a combination of the race and colonial cards. But those now look convenient and too irrelevant. In yesterday's Times, Simon Barnes eloquently argued why the Zimbabwe situation cannot be ignored. "The contention that the Government of Zimbabwe is worthy of cricket's support is unacceptable," he wrote. "The contention that cricket should not concern itself with politics is impossible. In other words, there are only two possible ethical arguments for the ICC's support of Zimbabwe and neither stands up."
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From SAPA, 10 April
Zim raiders clean up at Two Oceans
The Zimbabwean raiders from across the Limpopo cleaned up at the Two Oceans in Cape Town on Saturday with Ashanti Gold miner Marco Mambo (Harmony) claiming the 56km and R100.000 first prize in 3hrs 07min 40sec in cold rain. Mambo ran a superbly-judged race to claim the fourth fastest time in the race’s history in wet conditions around the Cape Peninsula on Saturday. Defending champion Mluleki Nobanda (Mr Price) tried to catch Mambo after he broke away over Chapman’s Peak at about 38km, but the Zimbabwean proved too strong over the Constantia Nek climb and he held his lead to the finish. In the half marathon the Zimbabwean dominance continued when Elijah Muntandiro (Liberty Nike) won in 64:02 ahead of current national steeple-chase champion, Enoch Skosana (HAC) who clocked 64:23. Ronelle Thomas (Liberty Nike) won the women’s race, going away in 76:46, she was followed by Beata Naigambo from Namibia in 77:57. But Mambo was the man in the spotlight, beating one of the most powerful fields ever gathered to make himself an instant Zim Dollar Millionaire.
Although rainy, the conditions were good for the runners and a large lead pack only started falling apart on the descent down Chapman’s Peak at 38km - the scenic drive had been opened to the race for the first time in four years while it was being reconstructed because of rock falls. The result could have been quite different had defending champion Nobanda made his bid for glory far earlier in the race. "I think I started to move too late" said Nobanda. "The next thing I knew coming down Chapmans was that the leaders where one and a half kilometres ahead. I made my big push on Constantia Neck but it wasn’t enough, although I am still happy with my second place and the R75,000 prize". Following up on his prediction of winning both the Two Oceans and Comrades in one year - which will now not happen - Nobanda confirmed he would tackle the KZN 87km classic for the first time on June 16. "Yes I will run in June, I will start preparing right now".
For Mambo it was a perfectly timed race. He made his move when his challengers thought they would haul him in over the Nek. "I tried to push hard on the last hill, so he would not catch me in the closing stages," the quietly-spoken Zimbabwean said. "I was happy with my form. My training went well in the training camp organised by my club and run by Nick Bester." Russia’s Yelena Nurgalieva (Premier) won the women’s race in 3:37:51 from her twin sister Olesya Nurgalieva (3:38:15) in a carbon-copy of the manner in which they dominated the Comrades Marathon last year. "I love running in South Africa," said Yelena. "The country is beautiful and the people give one energy along the route." She said that at one stage she was concerned at the challenge from Gladys Lukhwareni of Helderberg who showed extraordinary potential when she ran the entire 56km bare-foot. "I had to surge to break her challenge, and so did my sister," she said. Lukhwareni (HAC) finished third in 3:38:56, followed by Simona Staicu (Mr Price) 3:40:52 and Farwa Mentoor (HAC) in 3:45:51. Former champion Angelina Sephooa finished sixth.
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From The Cape Times (SA), 12 April
Zimbabwe police hunt fleeing tycoons in UK
Harare: Zimbabwean police commissioner Augustine Chihuri says he has sent senior officers to Britain to hunt down prominent bankers and businessmen who fled President Robert Mugabe's blitz on white collar crime - which critics say is a smokescreen for a political witchhunt. Chihuri said he had formally asked Interpol for the extradition of four prominent Zimbabwean bankers and three members of the country's wealthiest Asian family, the Joshis. The Joshis were until recently closely associated with top members of Mugabe's politburo on the boards of ruling Zanu PF party companies. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change claims "selective justice" is being applied, with the government targeting associates of rival factions in the race to succeed Mugabe, 80. "Internationally, Britain is becoming the only country which is establishing itself as a safe haven for our local criminals," Chihuri told the government-run Sunday Mail. "They (the British) are creating lame excuses for not wanting to co-operate and facilitate the return of the criminals," said Chihuri, adding that he had also sent officers to South Africa to investigate the hijacking of trucks containing billions of dollars of platinum and nickel on its way to refineries.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 11 April
Army defies court order over farm
By Caiphas Chimhete
The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), the police and some members of the State security service on Friday sealed off Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP Roy Bennet's Charleswood Estate in Chimanimani despite a recent High Court provisional order barring them from interfering with operations at the farm. Bennet's lawyer Arnold Tsunga told The Standard that the security agents had cordoned off the estate and were stopping people - including farm workers - from entering or leaving the coffee-producing farm. Tsunga said the presence of the army and police had thrown farming operations at the once prosperous farm into total disarray. "They came in trucks this morning (Friday) and sealed off the farm. At the moment no one is leaving or entering. Surprisingly, there is a provisional order granted by Justice Karwi barring them from interfering with the operations at the farm," said Tsunga, who is also the executive director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR). The provisional order, which was granted by Justice Karwi in February, was served on the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the ZNA and the Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (Arda). According to Tsunga the order was granted by consent when all the parties were represented. "Such conduct undermines the independence of the judiciary and the administration of justice. It also fosters a culture of lawlessness in the country," noted Tsunga. He added: "We are getting increasingly worried by the wanton disregard of court orders by the authorities who have the responsibility to enforce them. There is no way we can revive the economy in the current environment of extreme anarchy." Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena would not be reached for a comment.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 11 April
Moyo's accuser goes missing
By Our own Staff
Woman who claimed affair with Information Minister vanishes
A week after she was arrested by police for claiming Jonathan Moyo was the father of her 22-year-old son, the whereabouts of 41-year-old Irene Ali of Kadoma, remains unknown. Her son, Isaac Ntuthuko Mwedini, whom she alleged was the product of an affair with Jonathan Moyo, the Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the President's Office has also gone underground, investigations by The Standard have revealed. A news-crew from The Standard went to Kadoma hoping to interview Ali on her claims but found a funereal atmosphere at her house in the dirt-poor Rimuka high-density suburb. After spending the best part of the day searching for Ali's house, the news-crew finally arrived at about 5 pm at the ramshackle that is home to the woman who made the startling claim on Moyo. Ali's fear stricken family lives in a run-down house which it shares with other families in the residential area and poverty is in stark evidence everywhere with their few belongings piled in one of the two rooms they occupy. Police picked Ali on Sunday after the story concerning Moyo's alleged son, born out of wedlock, surfaced last week, her family told The Standard.
Isaac Ntuthuko Mwedini, who is said to have been assisted by a "senior government official" to track down Moyo at his rural home in Tsholotsho, is also missing. Mwedini's story was corroborated by his mother Irene who told the Bulawayo based Chronicle newspaper that she fell pregnant two months after dating Moyo in 1981, then living at Gobo Army Barracks in Silobela, near Kwekwe. Moyo has rejected the claims, saying he was in the US at the time. After the story appeared, police picked up Irene Ali on criminal defamation charges. Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena was quoted by The Herald saying: "We picked up Ali who is now facing criminal defamation charges but we are still questioning her. We are also looking for her son whom we want to question as part of our investigations into the matter." That was the last time her family knew of the whereabouts of their mother.
With tears welling in their eyes, Ali's eldest child - Silisiwe, 26 - and 12-year-old son Polite appealed to the authorities to return their mother. "I don't understand what is going on but I just wish my mother would be returned to us. All I can say to those who know where my mother is, is that please bring her back," said the 12-year-old boy. Silisiwe, who seemed not keen to talk about the issue, refused to say anything on the paternity row that has rocked the family. "I don't know anything; the best person to talk to is my mother. All I can say is I hope she is safe where-ever she is," said Silisiwe. On the whereabouts of their brother, Isaac Ntuthuko Mwedini, the two said they did not know where he was. When asked if she knew her father and that of her siblings, Silisiwe refused to talk. "I have never asked my mother who our father is - the best person to ask is my mother," she said. The interview was conducted in one of the two rooms that the family is renting. Silisiwe, a worker at a nearby farm, said she did not have adequate financial resources to assist her mother to fight the case. "We can hardly survive and we do not have any money to spare to help free her," said a visibly distraught Silisiwe. The complexity of the case appears to have affected her so much that she was only prepared to speak to The Standard for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, women's rights' organisations have expressed outrage over the manner Irene was treated after claiming that Moyo had fathered her son. The co-ordinator of the Federation of African Media Women Zimbabwe, Qonda Moyo said: "The police had no right to arrest the woman and the question that needs to be answered is: would this woman have been arrested if the man involved was not a Minister?" Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Executive Director Arnold Tsunga said the police "jumped the gun". "What the police have done means you cannot make such claims against ministers and powerful politicians and we are saying that is wrong," said Tsunga. Contacted for comment, police spokesman Inspector Andrew Phiri said: "I don't know anything about that case. Why don't you check with Bvudzijena." Bvudzijena was not reachable on his cellphone.
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From The Cape Times (SA), 12 April
SABC journalist arrested at Zimbabwe border post for illegal entry
Thohouyadou - An SABC journalist, Shandukani Mathagu, was arrested in Zimbabwe on Saturday, the SABC confirmed yesterday. Mathagu was held on the Zimbabwean side of the Beit Bridge border post for allegedly not having a passport and entering Zimbabwe illegally. According to Manas Tshungu, head of SABC's Limpopo news service, Mathagu had been writing a story about the long queues of trucks on the South African side of the Beit Bridge border post. Tshungu said a South African customs official had told Mathagu that the cause of the trucks' delay was on the Zimbabwean side of the border and had invited the journalist to accompany him into Zimbabwe. The official had reportedly assured Mathagu that he could cross into Zimbabwe without a passport as long as he was accompanied by a South African official. The Zimbabwean police had different views, Tshungu said, and arrested the journalist. After supplying Zimbabwean authorities with his passport, Mathagu was released, Tshungu said. A spokesman for South Africa's Department of Foreign Affairs, Ronnie Mamoepa, confirmed the incident. Trucking queues have presented problems at Beit Bridge in the past. In late 2002 trucks spent more than a week queueing in temperatures of above 40ûC. Some were carrying hazardous chemicals. The jam was the result of construction work on the Zimbabwe side of the border being delayed as plant equipment was not being properly supplied with diesel because of the fuel crisis in Zimbabwe. Trucks caught in the jam had been bound for many Southern African Development Community countries.
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From News24 (SA), 11 April
'Mercenaries': No extra food
Harare - Zimbabwean police and prison authorities have barred those awaiting trial in Chikurubi maximum security prison outside Harare from having food brought to them from outside. A statement released to state broadcasting said the ban was with immediate effect and was imposed "for security reasons". It was imposed a day after 70 suspected coup plotters, arrested at Harare International Airport last month, complained they had been beaten by guards. The authorities did not deny the assault, but said they would investigate how a lawyer for the 70, alleged to have been on their way to Equatorial Guinea, was able to hear about the alleged incident within an hour of its occurrence. Last week the 70 were also refused permission to see representatives of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who went to the prison to gather evidence of involvement of opposition leader Severo Moto, who is in exile in Spain. Jonathan Samkange, who is representing the 70 alleged mercenaries, said he brought food to the prison on Friday as a planned "Easter treat". It included roast chicken and fresh fruit, following complaints the prisoners made to magistrates about bad food and prevalence of lice. "On a daily basis we have been bringing them food to supplement what they are getting. I was told at the gate that inmates were no longer allowed to get food from outside for security reasons. I do not know what security they are talking about," said Samkange. A police spokesperson refused to comment on the security concerns that prompted the ban. The detained men include South Africans, Namibians and Angolans. They allege they were on their way to undertake mine security duties in the Democratic Republic of Congo when their Boeing 727 aircraft was seized on landing at Harare.
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 12 April
Zimbabwe row 'not racial'
Harare - The white members of the Zimbabwe team want two new selectors to join the panel to choose the national squad, both of them black. This emerged yesterday as one of the key issues of dispute with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union which led to Heath Streak being forced out of the captaincy. Streak has said he would not play for Zimbabwe unless various concerns were addressed, the most prominent surrounding the selection panel. A source close to the players said: "This is all going to be interpreted by some as racism by white players. This is not the case. They want two members of the selection panel to be replaced by Ethan Dube and Mpumelelo Mbangwa, both blacks with considerable international experience." The Zimbabwe squad's unhappiness with two of the four selectors is founded on allegations of regular non-appearance at key games, and "irrational" decisions. Up to 12 of Zimbabwe's top players, all whites, are considering leaving the team even though most have no jobs to go to, and several are homeless since their farmer parents were illegally dispossessed of their land. Ten members of the side were dismissed on Friday when they failed to turn up for provincial fixtures despite having had their absence sanctioned by Vince Hogg, managing director of the ZCU. He was overruled by the ZCU board.
On a brighter note for Zimbabwe cricket, a threat of suspension has apparently forced the England and Wales Cricket Board to put aside their misgivings about touring in October. David Morgan, the ECB chairman, has said that any thoughts of England withdrawing had been scrapped under International Cricket Council pressure. "The only way that I can see us not fulfilling the tour is either because of government directive or because of safety and security reasons," he said. "We don't see them as issues at the moment. England refused to play in Zimbabwe during last year's World Cup because of security concerns. However, last month the ICC warned England they faced a suspension from international cricket and a $2 million fine if they failed to fulfil their obligations. Morgan added: "The consequences of us not fulfilling the commitment would be immense. I am certain that the ECB must not take a political or moral stance, it is for Government to do that."
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From The Times, 12 April
ICC will distance itself from new Zimbabwe crisis
By Richard Hobson
Pressure is growing on the ICC to save Zimbabwe cricket from the crippling impact of interference by the Mugabe government after the thin cloak of independence was finally whipped away over the weekend. Heath Streak, removed as captain last week, has appealed to the governing body to "come and investigate the grave situation at all levels of the game". With ten contracted white players sacked by Ozias Bvute, the man charged with enforcing a quota system, the sport is in crisis just eight days before Zimbabwe are due to entertain Sri Lanka in a one-day international at Bulawayo. At present, it looks as though they might field a virtual second XI of non-white players. An argument that began when Streak sought changes to ensure that all of the selection panel have experience of first-class cricket has escalated to an extent that ought to alarm the ICC. Forthcoming Test series pitting a politically-correct Zimbabwe team against Sri Lanka and Australia would make a mockery of the game. Talks between players and the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) are scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday but Vince Hogg, the chief executive, has already been outflanked by Bvute, a supporter of the Zanu PF party who is known to be close to Jonathan Moyo, the interior minister. Mugabe himself was re-elected as patron of the ZCU last year.
Bvute acted unilaterally when the players, who are backing Streak, missed domestic commitments at the weekend. They had been given permission to opt out by Hogg as attempts continued to broker a settlement. Streak has said that he will withdraw his threat to retire, but that is understood to be on the basis that his wishes over selection are approved. There seems little prospect of an about-turn. As captain, Streak was subjected to heavy criticism among those who saw him as a naive stooge of Mugabe rule. The family farm was among those reclaimed as part of the land nationalisation policy that has contributed towards economic collapse. Now he finds himself a pariah, described as "racist" by the state-run Herald newspaper. Streak has finally concluded that those within the ZCU who are motivated by cricket rather than politics need urgent help. "These issues keep coming to the surface a |
