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Archived News
25th May 2004
Zimbabwe opposition MP in parliament scuffle
Moyo for president?
The never-ending war of Robert Gabriel Mugabe
Zimbabwe's Test future in doubt as ICC hardens its stance
Two journalists arrested in Zimbabwe
Bennett banned from Manicaland
No desire to change, says Mullin
Makoni for finance post?
Cotton replaces tobacco as top forex earner
Zimbabwe select five rebels ahead of ICC vote
Baying for MP Bennett’s blood
Zanu PF demo turns violent
In context...
Sentenced to silence
Commentators on tricky wicket in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe facing race to preserve Test status
Police arrest Zim editor again
UNDP wasn't stopped from assessing food situation: Made
Msika fights on
New US envoy faces bumpy landing
ICC chief welcomes Zimbabwe decision
Zim rebels are fired again
South Africa unwilling to host second-string Zimbabwe
Former GMB boss in forex externalisation scam
Mbeki still has no plan for Mugabe
Chefs ignore order to give up extra farms
A test of integrity
Mugabe: we're no worse than Prescott
Mugabe says he will refuse food aid
Zimbabwe arrests top businessmen for 'externalising foreign currency'
Cells for saboteurs
Mugabe forks out in new bid to impress chiefs
Kondozi debacle hits banks
Zim deadline is not set in stone - Pahad
Behind the smokescreen of talks
Profile: Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Prosecute Reward Marufu — AG
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From Reuters, 18 May
Zimbabwe opposition MP in parliament scuffle
By Stella Mapenzauswa
Harare - A white Zimbabwean opposition legislator was ejected from parliament on Tuesday after he knocked down a member of President Robert Mugabe's ruling party who made reference to the seizure of his farm, officials said. Zanu PF chief whip Joram Gumbo said parliament would set up a committee to look into the incident involving Roy Bennett of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Zanu PF member Patrick Chinamasa. "We are members of parliament from two different parties and we definitely don't agree on issues but we cannot go to the extent of fighting each other in the house," Gumbo said, adding Bennett could be suspended from the house or fined if found guilty of contempt. MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said his party regretted the incident but that Bennett had responded to extreme provocation over the loss of his farm. "You need to have been in parliament to understand the magnitude of provocation that Bennett was subjected to. He has won something like four High Court decisions but Zanu PF has ignored those court decisions and proceeded to take away his farm," Nyathi said. "He gets no protection from parliament, he gets no protection from the courts of law. So of course one understands that kind of reaction though of course it's totally unfortunate."
The MDC and several Western countries have criticised Zimbabwe's seizure of white-owned farms, but the ruling party says they are necessary to redress the ownership imbalances created by Britain's 1890's colonisation of the southern African state. Tuesday's incident came a day after Zanu PF wrestled away an MDC seat after a weekend by-election, boosting its presence in the 150-strong legislature to 97 against 52 for the MDC and one for a smaller party. The victory in the northwestern district of Lupane is a psychological boost for the ruling party ahead of next year's general polls. The MDC, which came close to winning nearly half the 120 contested seats in 2000 parliamentary polls, has since yielded five in a series of by-elections, amid charges of an uneven playing field. The opposition and other government critics say deeply rooted flaws in existing electoral laws make it impossible to hold free and fair polls in Zimbabwe, and have helped Mugabe to tighten his 24-year grip on power. Mugabe denies opposition charges that his misrule has brought a once thriving economy to its knees, and in turn blames the crisis on sabotage by local and foreign opponents of his land reforms.
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From The Daily Mirror, 19 May
Moyo for president?
Daily Mirror Reporter
Information and publicity minister, Jonathan Moyo says he refused the British Sky News crew an interview with President Robert Mugabe merely "to prove to whoever they were working for that we are the authority and fully in charge and not that we did not want them to meet the President". Ironically, the Sky News crew had been invited into the country by Zanu PF through its information and publicity chief, Nathan Shamuyarira. Moyo’s department, which was engaged in a covert tug-of-war with Shamuyarira over the accreditation of the Sky News crew, arranged an alternative regional media deal with the East African Standard and KTN of Kenya. Journalists from the two foreign media houses were granted an interview with President Mugabe by Moyo ahead of the Sky News crew which, ironically, was at the same time told to pack and leave the country. The Herald, one of the titles under Moyo ’s control, consistently claimed the British crew was in the country at the behest of Ugandan national, David Nyekorach-Matsanga and not Zanu PF. Matsanga assisted the ruling party to broker the Sky News deal and is also seen as close to Speaker of Parliament and ruling party secretary for administration, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
However, after a series of such claims by the newspaper, Shamuyarira on Thursday issued a statement correcting the Herald’s erroneous reports. "The Sky News team that has been filming in Zimbabwe in the last ten days was invited to come to Zimbabwe by Zanu PF. The statement given to your readers that they were invited by someone else is not correct," Shamuyarira said in the statement. Curiously, the Herald, which also received Shamuyarira’s statement, did not publish it. Confidential sources claimed the real reason behind Moyo’s open aversion to the Sky News deal has to do with the ruling party’s succession politics. According to the sources, Moyo suspected that Shamuyarira intended to use the Sky News documentaries to advance the profile of lands and land resettlement minister and Zanu PF chairman, John Nkomo as a leading contender in the succession race. Moyo, the sources said, also suspected that Matsanga was interested in having Mnangagwa receive positive profiling, thus selling him as an acceptable candidate to succeed President Mugabe. Hence the Kenyan deal, added the sources, which was meant to pull the rug from under Shamuyarira’s feet and render the Sky News deal immobile. Party outsiders at the weekend raised questions as to whether the frustration of Shamuyarira’s Sky News initiative and the fruition of Moyo’s Kenyan deal also reflected the former’s decline and the latter’s rise in the ruling party’s politics.
However, Shamuyarira, who maintained in his statement last week that Sky News would complete its work, revealed last night that Sky News had broadcast positive interviews with leading government officials and that the interviews had been beamed to the British audience throughout yesterday. "The documentaries are really good. They flighted interviews with (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon) Gono, Mnangagwa, Nkomo, and they were fair and balanced," Shamuyarira said. "What is important is that the voice of Zimbabwe is being heard by the British public. They are giving positive stories to the British public because they don’t see that; they only see the negative picture and do not know that land reform has gone well, the economy is recovering, or that democracy is working in Zimbabwe," Shamuyarira added. Asked to comment on Moyo’s statement to the East African Standard journalists, Shamuyarira said: "Ask the Minister of Information, I don’t want to reply for him." Moyo has been on a regional media offensive, touring Zambia, Namibia and Mozambique in recent weeks. He has set up, in conjunction with Namibia’s New Era, a regional newspaper named The New Sunday Times. Sources alleged Moyo was using the media in the region to create a platform for himself in the region.
Interestingly, the East African Standard attempted an analysis of Zimbabwe’s succession politics in which they identified Moyo as the leading contender to succeed President Mugabe. "Analysts in Zimbabwe view Tourism (sic) and Information minister Prof. Jonathan Moyo as the favourite to succeed Mugabe. Of the cabinet ministers, he is the closest to the President and the most powerful," the paper wrote. But an analysis by the South African Sunday Times last year had this to say about Moyo and succession: "Anyone suggesting Moyo as a serious presidential candidate and there have been several such suggestions in recent weeks doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Mugabe’s spin doctor and one-time Wits University academic is considered an infant in the realpolitik of Harare. Observers have even suggested that Moyo will have reached his sell-by date the moment Mugabe leaves office. Despite his high profile, particularly outside the country, Moyo’s only contribution to date has been to serve as Mugabe’s flak catcher and he will remain useful only as long as he fills the role of Zanu PF punchbag".
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From e-africa (SA), May
The never-ending war of Robert Gabriel Mugabe
Continued from yesterday...
The death penalty, meanwhile, was reinstated and Rhodesian security legislation preserved. A state of emergency allowed for detention without trial. A few months of relative post-independence press freedom ended as editors were sacked one after another and journalists were deported. By 1987, Mugabe had crushed and consumed all opposition and changed the constitution to make himself executive president with expanded and consolidated powers. Corruption had spread through the ranks of Zanu PF, despite a Leadership Code forbidding wealth accumulation, and some of the best and brightest from the liberation struggle began leaving the country. As the flames of democracy were snuffed out, the West, and particularly the former colonial power, Britain, watched silently. 'We had freedom, briefly, in 1980, at independence, but instead of expanding, it diminished, until today we have virtually no space at all,' said political analyst Brian Raftopoulos at a small public meeting in late April. Frustrated by eroding press freedoms, Bango set off to help launch a feisty independent newspaper in 1999. In its brief four-year life, the Daily News was bombed and banned and ultimately shut down by the state. Now Bango works as a personal assistant to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. 'Democracy can be difficult for people involved in a liberation struggle,' he said.' Because of the way we lived at that time and the suspicions of the time, challenges to the leadership even long after the war ended are used to present our problems as an extension of the war. We still use all the slogans. The struggle continues. "A luta continua" doesn't allow us to recognise that peace is possible. We see enemies all over the place, and we are made to believe we are permanently under attack.'
Nyamubaya now lives in a small town 60 kms southeast of Harare. 'We never demobilised,' she lamented. Unlike South Africa's African National Congress, which was a consensus-oriented movement that incorporated an armed component firmly under its central command structures as a means to force the enemy to the table, Zanu PF was by nature a guerrilla movement that saw warfare as the primary means of achieving its objectives. Consequently, while democratic nationalism was its stated ideal, democracy was never its culture. 'It was always going to be difficult to move from the commandist political culture of the time to one of consultation and accountability,' said Paul Themba-Nyathi, a member of Zapu's military wing who spent the last three years of the liberation war in prison. Now spokesman for the opposition MDC, Themba-Nyathi worked in the early years of independence on the only serious project to rehabilitate and reintegrate former guerrillas into a changing society where education - which few had - was the new requirement for survival. 'The guerrilla forces tended to be very secretive and any discourse was difficult,' he said. 'It was easier for us than for those in Zanla [Zanu PF's military wing] because we were not only a guerrilla force. We had a political leadership which encouraged space for discourse. In the case of the Zanu PF leadership and its reliance almost totally on its guerrilla forces, a culture of tolerance and political pluralism did not develop. After independence, 'when corruption began … those that had power protected their gains at all costs, and the combination of corruption and a commandist culture is a lethal combination.'
Despite Mugabe's relentless pursuit in building a one-party state in the early years of independence, he did allow spectacular developments in the ministries of education and health. Renowned educationalist Heather Benoyi, now developing education strategies in Sudan and other troubled regions of Africa, remembers the first years of independence with affection. 'We were so motivated to redress the imbalances, we were caught up in the joy of liberation, and worked night and day,' she said. "We developed the new curriculum and produced cost-effective books in what we believed was going to be an egalitarian society. Our minister, Dzingai Mutumbuka, and later Fay Chung, came directly from the liberation struggle, and at least in education, in the early years, we managed very well.' But by as early as March 1981, the signs of internal rot were already apparent. Addressing a group of Jesuits on the 13th of that month, Chung lamented the continuation of war-time practices in government. Related in Norma Kriger's study Guerrilla Veterans in Post-War Zimbabwe, Chung said her colleagues often displayed an attitude of entitlement and impunity. 'If refugee children had no school,' for example, 'why couldn't the ministry of education just take a "white" school and give it to them?' The mentality of 'requisitioning without rendering any account' would emerge repeatedly in Mugabe's government. Mutumbuka and Chung ultimately left, disillusioned, to work overseas.
Zanu PF's past turned out to be Zimbabwe's prologue. Wilfred Mhanda is the most senior war veteran ever to turn his back on the movement he served. During the struggle, when it was based in Mozambique, he said, Zanla was unanswerable to any code of law. 'We were a state within a state,' he said. 'There was no democracy, especially in the latter stages when we absorbed a culture of intolerance. We had a special extra-legal status. The corruption started there. Drugs, money - anything that could be stolen, was stolen. There was never any internal democracy in Zanla.' At one point during the war, a group of Zanla soldiers tried to incorporate democratic reforms into the movement. 'Their attempt to create a political forum held great potential to reduce indiscipline,' observed Nhongo-Simbanegavi. 'Yet the old leadership of Zanu descended heavily on these attempts and crushed them indiscriminately. Indoctrination replaced free thinking … and most efforts were devoted to weeding out those who had supported the (Marxist) workers.'
That commandist, top-down culture still pervades Zanu PF. Within the Central Intelligence Organisation, the shadowy and intimidating government cell that monitors any and all potential threats to Mugabe's monopoly on power, the odd member willing to speak secretly with journalists say that as much effort goes into spying on Zanu PF leaders as it does on civil society and the opposition. 'Out of the liberation struggle we had soldiers used to following commands and unable to manage within a democracy, so we had this culture of intolerance,' said Lovemore Matomba, president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. 'They failed to accept that things do change and that a set of standards was necessary - that divergence of views and values needed to be accepted and tolerated.' Mugabe's exploitation of the land issue during the past four years was clearly tactical. The MDC was only four months old when it handed Mugabe his first defeat, and its base of support was significant. Tsvangirai had been secretary-general of the congress of trade unions. The agricultural sector - importantly, blacks as well as whites - supported the new party. Mugabe understood the threat. 'A key concern for authoritarianism is where does the support of the peasants lie,' said Moeletsi Mbeki, a political observer in South Africa. 'Mugabe's primary purpose in land reform was to destroy the base of farm workers - to disenfranchise that bloc.'
Mugabe roused the dormant liberation war structures, mobilising a small and disgruntled constituency - the bona fide war veterans he had neglected for the better part of two decades - around the emotionally volatile issue. Two decades after independence, how many could recall the true ideals of the struggle? Most of the population today is 'free born.' Even some of Mugabe's most trusted contemporary aides played little or no part in the fight against colonialism. Within days, some 2,000 war vets and a growing cadre of agitated 'free borns' - youths born after independence - began taking 11 million hectares of white-owned commercial farmland by force, motivated by Mugabe to 'finish' the revolution. 'The war veterans who responded to the call had been left out of the economy,' Bango said. 'You could see them selling razor blades at the railway station in Harare. They had little education before they went to war and little opportunity to catch up afterwards. So when land was offered, they went.'
The third Chimurenga - the current land campaign, as it is called by the government in revolutionary terms - has been far more successful in driving the declared enemy, whites, off the land than were formal hostilities two decades earlier. In the effort, Zanu PF marshaled the police, the army, the courts, parliament, and the state media to silence dissent, terrorise the population and stave off the emergence of the first post-liberation social democratic party in southern Africa. Speaking with the Canadian academic Richard Saunders in the 1990s, Reg Matchaba-Hove, the former chairman of ZimRights, a human rights organisation, said: 'In the early years of independence there was that euphoria, and I think we allowed the leadership to do as they pleased. We gave them the benefit of the doubt and we thought if they made mistakes they were minor mistakes; after all, we had peace, stability and independence.' Today, the price of that complicity is clear. Ironically, there are now more Zimbabweans in exile - even taking into consideration population growth - than at independence, when the UN High Commissioner for Refugees repatriated a triumphant, joyful 1.2 million home.
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From The Times (UK), 19 May
Zimbabwe's Test future in doubt as ICC hardens its stance
By Owen Slot, Chief Sports Reporter
Zimbabwe's Test status was in the balance last night when the ICC issued a call for an emergency vote among its members to decide whether to cancel the forthcoming Test matches between Zimbabwe and Australia. It was only two days ago that Ehsan Mani, the ICC President, said that Zimbabwe would not be stripped of their Test status. However, due to the belligerence of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU), the ICC has effectively shelved its attempt to negotiate an end to the Zimbabwe problem and decided to exercise its authority instead. The two-match Test series is scheduled to start on Saturday. The ICC’s teleconference vote will take place the day before. Seven out of the ten member countries would have to vote for the motion for the matches to be stripped of Test status. The vote will not decide Zimbabwe ’s long-term Test status. However, were the vote to go against Zimbabwe, it could set a precedent that could keep them out of Test cricket until their house is set in order.
Until recently, it had seemed that the body of ICC opinion was firmly against taking any action against Zimbabwe. However, the weight of evidence from their thrashing in the recent series against Sri Lanka raises questions over the integrity of Test matches involving Zimbabwe. The ICC has ducked any invitation to involve itself in the policies of Zimbabwe or its cricket union, but it is now that the international game is suffering from a lack of integrity that its laws allow it to exercise its authority. It is believed that India, South Africa and Pakistan, traditionally strong supporters of Zimbabwe within the ICC, have lost patience and are adopting a harder line and that the vote could thus go against the Zimbabweans. The ZCU’s refusal to soften its stance finally forced the ICC to take action last night. It had not helped itself either by treating Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, with the sort of disdain that it had reserved for its rebel cricketers. Speed had flown to Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, on Monday morning after the ZCU had finally agreed the terms on which it would meet him. However, a day and a half later, Speed was flying back again, having been snubbed.
"The board refused to see him," Brendan McClements, the ICC corporate affairs manager, said yesterday. "They unilaterally revoked their earlier decision to meet with him." Yesterday morning, Speed had met a representative group of the 15 rebel players, a cordial meeting in which they were delighted to take the opportunity to share their manifold grievances. Thereafter, Speed was refused similar access to the ZCU. He did meet with Peter Chingoka and Vince Hogg, the ZCU chairman and managing director respectively, but it was made clear that this meeting was only on an informal basis. Speed did, however, manage to convey the news that the ICC had exhausted its reserves of patience. By the late afternoon, the ZCU board was back in a hastily convened session in the knowledge that, unless the state of Zimbabwean cricket was improved considerably and immediately, the ICC would take a vote on the forthcoming Test series. Yet still the ZCU board dug in its heels and refused to budge. When this information was conveyed yesterday evening, the ICC already had its statement prepared announcing the Friday vote.
The ICC statement noted that the ZCU had been offered the option of deferring the Test matches and refused and that "several weeks of concerted behind-the-scenes discussions" had failed. Mani also said that "the decision by the ZCU to withdraw its invitation to Malcolm Speed was unfortunate". As if any further evidence was required to prove that a Zimbabwe-Australia series will be a farce, the Australians provided it in their match against the Zimbabwe A team in Harare yesterday when, having dismissed the Zimbabweans for 151, they reached 448 for nine. The Australia players yesterday had no idea whether, in the forthcoming weeks, they would be playing Test cricket, extra one-day internationals or simply going home. One option presented to the ZCU was to transform their two Tests into a one-day series, but this they again rejected. Even if the ZCU does now offer an extended one-day series, Australia do not have their one-day team at hand. As the ICC delegates were trying and failing to broker peace, an MP in Harare, Victor Chitongo, was yesterday giving an example of what they were up against by advocating the opposite extreme. Chitongo said that, because the former Zimbabwe team tended to be on the losing side anyway, the present state of affairs was no different. "Sports is about winning and losing with dignity," he said. "These racists (the rebels) must be exposed and be done away with once and for all."
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 20 May
Two journalists arrested in Zimbabwe
Harare - The editor of Zimbabwe's independent Sunday paper and a reporter were briefly arrested on Wednesday under the country's security laws for a story deemed to endanger public safety, the newspaper said. Bornwell Chakaodza, the editor of The Standard, was arrested along with reporter Valentine Maponga over a story the paper published on Sunday in which family members of a slain mining boss blamed government officials for the death. "He was arrested under Posa [Public Order and Security Act] for allegedly... endangering public safety over our story about the Bindura nickel mine boss who was killed last week," said assistant editor David Masunda. The Standard carried a story quoting family members of Leonard Chimimba, chief executive officer of the giant nickel mine who was gunned down outside his house by unknown assailants, implicating senior government officials. The family alleged that some "so-called big guns" had plotted the murder of Chimimba. At the time of his death he was said to have been helping police and other investigators probing the disappearance of truckloads of nickel worth millions of dollars. Several nickel-laden trucks went missing in South Africa on separate occasions last year. "From their [the state's] point of view, the story implied that it is a government of murderers and they are saying when people have the impression that it is a government of murderers, you are endangering public safety," said Chakaodza by phone from the police station. Chakaodza said the police told them they could go home after they had made their statements and that the police would contact them again on Thursday. The law they allegedly violated makes it an offence to publish false statements prejudicial to the state. If convicted the two face a maximum five-year prison term or a fine not more than 100 000 Zimbabwean dollars.
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From The Daily Mirror, 20 May
Bennett banned from Manicaland
Daily Mirror Reporters
Roy Bennett, the MP for Chimanimani no longer qualifies to set foot in Manicaland province because of his recent conduct in parliament, Mike Madiro, Zanu PF’s Manicaland provincial chairman has declared. Madiro said this yesterday while addressing thousands of ruling party supporters in Mutare, who had converged to express outrage over Bennett’s assault in parliament of the august House’s leader, Patrick Chinamasa. "Bennett has openly declared war against the province under which his constituency falls. As such we are going to retaliate by all possible means as a province. We no longer want him in the province and he should never dare risk his life by coming here. It is still a fact that Bennett is still colonially minded and still believes he can treat blacks the same way his fellow whites ill-treated our forefathers," Madiro said. The opposition MP pounced on Chinamasa when the latter had referred to him as "an inheritor of looted wealth" and added that he "owned the whole of Chimanimani." Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust (ZIMCET) has described Bennett’s behaviour as "barbaric unbecoming behaviour." "Experience has shown that violence does not solve disputes, rather it tends to exacerbate it. ZIMCET does not believe that there is anything that can not be solved through dialogue and therefore the actions of the MP are condemned in the strongest terms,’ said the group’s executive director, David Chimhini. Also reacting to the incident, the MDC has blamed both Bennett and Chinamasa for the parliamentary drama adding that both MPs "must be held accountable.’ The party’s spokesperson, Paul Themba Nyathi said "whilst the actions of Bennett are not to be condoned neither should the "abusive, demeaning, hurtful, wicked, barbaric and provocative racial and personal slurs and insults hurled at Bennett by the Minister."
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From Business Day (SA), 20 May
No desire to change, says Mullin
International Affair Editor
Britain has given strong hints that it is trying to persuade the South African government to take tougher measures against Zimbabwe to bring about change. Speaking on a two-day visit to SA yesterday, UK Minister for Africa Chris Mullin was sceptical about the prospects for talks, saying he saw no desire by the ruling Zanu PF party to allow change. Calling Zimbabwe's latest crop forecasts "fantasy", he warned that many innocent people could face hunger if Harare turned down food aid. Mullin, who became minister for Africa last year, said he recognised that SA had been doing its best to encourage talks between the ruling Zanu PF party and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, but "Mugabe is a difficult customer". "I don't see any signs that the Zimbabwe government is seriously interested in democracy and a return to the rule of law," Mullin said. Mullin said it was up to SA whether or not it wanted to impose "smart" sanctions of the sort that target Zimbabwe's ruling elite and which the European Union (EU) and the US have imposed. "Smart sanctions are what have been imposed by the EU and the Americans and it's open for others to do the same if they see fit," he said. "If I do urge them to do the same it will not be on a radio programme or through the media, it will be in private."
Mullin also warned that the possibility of Zimbabwe rejecting food aid "could result in hunger for many Zimbabweans". The forecasts came after a United Nations (UN) assessment mission was ordered to halt its work, raising speculation that Harare may bar food aid and use food as a political weapon in the run-up to parliamentary elections due in March next year. Mullin said he hoped that the UN's World Food Programme would be able to continue distributing food in Zimbabwe. Mullin's visit to SA and Mozambique comes during a period of intense preparatory work for next month's Group of Eight (G-8) summit in the US, at which African matters will be discussed. The UK is set to try and play an increasingly influential role in African affairs when it chairs the G-8 summit and in its upcoming presidency of the EU. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said the Commission for Africa, which he established and on which a number of African leaders sit, including Finance Minister Trevor Manuel, will influence the UK's African agenda. On this trip Mullin held talks with Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad on a range of issues. In other remarks yesterday, Mullin said the UK considered the situation in the Darfur region of the western Sudan as possibly the most serious of the world's humanitarian crises. He said the UK had told the Sudanese government it wanted access for humanitarian agencies to the region, the disarming of the militias, and wanted observers there as soon as possible.
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From The Financial Gazette, 20 May
Makoni for finance post?
Impeccable Zanu PF sources this week said that the former executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community would be appointed to the key post following the arrest of the incumbent, Chris Kuruneri, on allegations of contravening the country's exchange control regulations. The Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Herbert Murerwa, who has had previous spells at the sensitive portfolio which has a precarious tenure, replaced Kuruneri in an acting capacity. The sources said with President Robert Mugabe no longer spoilt for choice, Makoni, the comeback-kid of Zimbabwean politics, was the most credible choice whose vision would dovetail with the government's thrust to put a fresh heart into the stricken economy. Retired Army General Solomon Mujuru, widely seen as the Zanu PF kingmaker and whose opinion is reportedly considered "very" valuable in the ruling party, refused to comment on what the sources said was Makoni's imminent appointment. However, since Makoni is not a Member of Parliament, his appointment could meet with some legal bottlenecks because President Mugabe has already appointed the requisite non-constituency MPs. The sources, who claimed President Mugabe "was keen on recalling Makoni", said that there were possible scenarios through which Makoni, a compelling public speaker, could be brought back to the Cabinet. President Mugabe was likely to drop the beleaguered Kuruneri as minister. He would then be replaced as MP by one of the incumbent non-constituency members of Parliament who would contest the Mazowe West seat. This would pave the way for Makoni. President Mugabe has the prerogative to appoint 10 chiefs, eight governors and 12 non-constituency MPs.
If appointed as minister, Makoni can only sit in the House for 90 days, after which he is supposed to be appointed a non-constituency MP. Before he is appointed a non-constituency MP, he can only speak but would have no vote in the House. But if Parliament was dissolved before Makoni's three months expire, the sources said, he would remain minister until a new Parliament is elected. Parliament, the sources said, was likely to be dissolved between November and December ahead of the crucial 2005 election. Makoni, an academic who is understood to enjoy the confidence of President Mugabe, was axed from the government in September 2002 amid speculation that a powerful clique from Mashonaland West province was baying for his blood because of differences over key fiscal and monetary policy issues. Makoni believed that he should bring about key policy changes rather than just a change in emphasis, a strategy vehemently opposed by some members of the ruling party's politburo. This clique of Zanu PF political vultures that had been circling finally pounced and instigated his ouster after Makoni became a scapegoat for the exchange rate mayhem and devaluation-induced sensitive price increases. This abruptly brought to an end one of the most remarkable careers in the country's civil service. Although he faced a crisis of confidence from a section of influential party members, Zanu PF views on Makoni however remained starkly divided, the sources said. They said even the "Presidency was convinced that Makoni should stay because of his pragmatic approach. However at the end of the day it was those who did not agree with Makoni that prevailed. But the President only allowed Makoni to go because he has a duty to uphold the constitution of the party which requires him not to dictate to his politburo colleagues. As you know, most of the Cabinet is also mostly made up of members of the politburo," said a Zanu PF member who did not want to be named.
President Mugabe had previously voiced his opposition to the devaluation of the dollar saying: "Devaluation is sinister and can only be advocated by our saboteurs and enemies of this government. Support for the productive sector, especially in agriculture, mining and tourism, coupled with effective management and control of our financial resources, will be the priority of my government. Devaluation is thus dead." Circumstances have taken a radical turn since Makoni's exit, with new central bank governor Gideon Gono effectively devaluing the currency through the introduction of managed foreign currency auctions. The dollar, which was pegged by the government at $824 to the United States dollar in February 2003 is now trading at about $5 200 against greenback at the auction rates. The current auction rate also being used as the benchmark for other transactions, such as the calculation of customs rates and remittances by non-resident Zimbabweans. The RBZ has also liberalised foreign currency transactions at banks, a practice that was virtually criminalised under the stringent foreign currency rules.
"We saw it coming when he (Makoni) was appointed to probe party companies," a party source said. "One is not appointed to such a task if he is not trusted. Maybe there has been a change of heart on the part of his detractors or they are running scared that he may expose them, hence they are pushing for his reinstatement. He has worked well, before, but the reason some party individuals were against him is that they were benefiting from the collapse of the economy." Zanu PF's supreme decision making body, the Politburo, as part of its anti corruption crusade, appointed a five member high-powered team to probe financial operations of all its companies. The team led by Mashonaland East Governor and Resident Minister David Karimanzira also includes Obert Mpofu, Bulawayo Governor and Resident Minister, Solomon Mujuru, Zanu PF's kingmaker and former army commander, Thoko Mathuthu, the deputy secretary for transport and welfare and Makoni. Another party source said: "The Gono and Makoni combination would be explosive and the right way forward if we had to rid our economy of corrupt elements. I also heard about the idea about two weeks ago, but brushed it aside. But now it seems to have taken root and believe you me there's no smoke without fire. It was inevitable that one day Makoni would either bounce back or be considered to bounce back. He has held our economy in high esteem in the past. He is the right man for the job."
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From IRIN (UN), 18 May
Cotton replaces tobacco as top forex earner
Johannesburg - Cotton has replaced tobacco as Zimbabwe's top foreign exchange earner, with exports expected to bring in between US $120 and $150 million this year, according to the Zimbabwe Commercial Cotton Growers' Association. But cotton farmers are unlikely to benefit because buyers, hit by the sliding value of the Zimbabwean currency against the US dollar, "are offering a price lower than the cost of production", Michele Bragge, a spokeswoman for the association, told IRIN. About 80 percent of Zimbabwe's cotton is grown on small-scale farms, which were largely unaffected by the government's land reform programme. The country is set to produce 300,000 mt of seed cotton this year, up from 250,000 mt last year. Annual domestic cotton consumption is 30,000 mt. Cotton buyers have offered farmers Z$1,800 per kg, "while the cost of production is at least Z$2,000 per kg", said Bragge. If the farmers did not get that price, production was expected to slump next year, she noted. Bragge said cotton producers were "hoping to get financial support for the difference from the government", and the official newspaper Herald reported on Tuesday that the government "is adamant that it may be forced to buy all the cotton from farmers if merchants fail to come up with a lucrative producer price for this marketing season". Historically, Zimbabwe has been the world's second-largest tobacco exporter, earning as much as US $400 million in good seasons. But production began to fall three years ago after the government's controversial land reforms. Rodney Ambrose, a director of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA), told IRIN, "Our production of unmanufactured tobacco has dropped tremendously in the past three years, from 237,000 metric tonnes in 2000 to 82,000 metric tonnes last year". According to the ZTA, production was expected to slump to 60,000 mt this year. Ambrose linked the drop in production to the loss of commercial tobacco-growing farms as a result of the land reform programme. "We lost about 45,000 hectares of land under tobacco cultivation, which resulted in a loss of 150,000 metric tonnes of tobacco," he explained. "Cotton is easier to grow, while tobacco is more capital intensive," Bragge commented.
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From The Times (UK), 20 May
Zimbabwe select five rebels ahead of ICC vote
By Owen Slot, Chief Sports Reporter
Five of the rebel Zimbabwe cricketers were yesterday selected for the squad to play in the first Test match against Australia that starts in Harare on Saturday, despite having previously informed the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) that they were unavailable for selection. The crisis in Zimbabwean cricket has reached such a low that the ICC will vote tomorrow on whether to strip the two-match series of its Test status. The ZCU appears to have selected the five rebels - Heath Streak, Stuart Carlisle, Andy Blignaut, Trevor Gripper and Raymond Price - as a last-ditch attempt to win favour with the ICC voters. The players were particularly surprised to be informed of their selection, late in the afternoon, because some five hours earlier, a players’ representative had already informed the ZCU that none of them were available to play. For the sake of goodwill and in the hope of resolving the dispute, the players did announce that will go back to practice and make themselves available for the subsequent one-dayers against Australia. "But they don’t feel they are physically or mentally fit enough to play in the Test matches," Chris Venturas, their lawyer, said.
Tomorrow’s ICC vote has clearly given the players the upper hand in their long dispute with their employers. A Zimbabwe team with the five white players would be considerably stronger and may have helped to persuade the ICC to spare the ZCU and retain the Test status of the two matches. However, by staying entrenched, the players leave the ZCU with its hopelessly weakened team and it is this which may persuade the ICC to vote against it. It would ultimately work in the rebel players’ favour to have the ZCU thus disgraced as this might advance their ultimate cause, which is to bring change to the administration of their union. Their decision yesterday was by no means a solely political one. In a meeting yesterday, they put politics aside momentarily and genuinely discussed whether, after the six weeks of dispute, they felt physically capable of handling a Test series with Australia. Only two players said they thought they could get themselves in shape, and that was only for the second Test. Meanwhile, Geoff Marsh, the Zimbabwe coach, voiced doubts over how much longer his makeshift national side could keep suffering such thrashings as those just handed out by Sri Lanka. "They’re getting a pasting out there," he said, "and I don’t know what effect that will have on these young players."
It is now seems highly likely that, should the ICC’s vote tomorrow go against them, they will simply pack up and go home. "The Australian cricket team has gone to Zimbabwe to play Test and one-day cricket," James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s chief executive, said yesterday. "If we’re not going to play that, then I’m not sure whether it is appropriate for us to be there." Henry Olonga, the most famous of Zimbabwe cricket’s growing band of dissidents, yesterday encouraged the ICC to vote against Zimbabwe tomorrow. "It’s taken a long time for the ICC to come on board," he said. "But it didn’t need to come to this, and it’s very sad it’s taken this long. The damage probably has been done already. A number of players have already gone, and Zimbabwe cricket may be damaged for good. Having said that, I’d imagine that if the ICC is to avoid a farce, and if the ICC is going to have any credibility, they’re going to call this tour off. Any reasonable, intelligent person will know that this tour shouldn’t carry on."
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From The Daily Mirror, 21 May
Baying for MP Bennett’s blood
Zvamaida Murwira
IN an outburst of anger spilling out of acrimonious parliamentary events following MDC legislator, Roy Bennett’s assault on two cabinet ministers, Zanu PF supporters yesterday demonstrated at Parliament Building and at the opposition’s Harvest House headquarters. Hundreds of the ruling party supporters were ferried to the points of the demonstrations in trucks, chanting anti-Bennett songs. The demonstration, in which some property at Harvest House was destroyed, was meant to register the party’s anger against Bennett who on Tuesday assaulted Zanu PF legislators Patrick Chinamasa and Didymus Mutasa in parliament. It could not be established whether police clearance had been obtained prior to the protests, in accordance with the Public Order and Security Act (POSA). Chinamasa is the leader of the House as well as the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, while Mutasa is the Minister in charge of the Anti-Corruption and Anti-Monopolies portfolio. The demonstration started just after 1400 hours, when parliament was about to sit. The eastern entrance to parliament along Nelson Mandela was blocked as the demonstrators waited for MDC MPs, particularly Bennett, and harassed ordinary motorists in the process.
The few MDC MPs who attended the parliamentary session yesterday had to use the western entrance along Kwame Nkrumah Avenue. Senior Zanu PF and government officials, among them Amos Midzi, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development and Zanu PF chairman for Harare province, and Witness Mangwende, the resident minister for Harare metropolitan province, addressed the demonstrators. Mangwende said Bennett should never set his foot in Harare province, while there were also calls for him to leave the country, even though the legislator, who is a former staunch member of Zanu PF, insisted on Wednesday that Zimbabwe is his home. Said Mangwende: "Bennett akabvumidzwa sei kubuda apa musi wacho? Uye ndanzwa kuti nezuro anga ari pano paparliament, akabvumidzwa sei? Isu hatichada kumuona muHarare province kubvira nhasi,"(How is it that Bennett was allowed to leave parliament on the day (when he assaulted the ministers)? Why was he allowed to attend parliament yesterday? Forthwith, we don’t want to see him in Harare province.)" The crowd waved banners that read: "Bennett must live parliament & our country", "Zimbabwe can do without Bennett", "We condemn disrespect of parliament," "Bennett’s head now", "Expel Parliament Malcontents" and "MDC now dead and buried".
The demonstrators later went to Harvest House, with police escort, where they went on the rampage and destroyed screen doors and windows at the opposition party’s offices. The rowdy crowd sporadically harassed motorists, especially whites who were either driving or walking. Government ministers and Zanu PF MPs waved their fists at the demonstrators as they disembarked from their respective cars when they arrived for the afternoon session, in a gesture of solidarity. MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said what was more disturbing was that police had actually escorted the crowd but did nothing. "It’s absolutely appalling that police actually escorted the crowd which later stoned our offices, and that no arrests have been made," said Nyathi. "What is more disturbing is that police searched our offices claiming that some of the people who had stoned our offices had been kidnapped by our supporters, what an insult!" No comment could be obtained from police as chief police spokesman, Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena was said to be in hospital. His junior, Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka declined to comment saying he had not obtained a report relating to the protest. A parliamentary committee has already been set up to look into the conduct of Bennett but the leader of the opposition in parliament, Gibson Sibanda said Bennett’s conduct was a personal reaction and did not reflect the thinking of the MDC. He, however, said Chinamasa’s remarks were in bad taste, when he accused Bennett’s forefathers of being murderers and thieves.
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From News24 (SA), 20 May
Zanu PF demo turns violent
Harare - Ruling-party militants smashed windows and attacked a man at an opposition office as a demonstration turned violent on THursday, said opposition officials. The demonstration came after a brawl in the Zimbabwe parliament against an MP who traded blows with two government ministers. About 400 Zanu-PF protesters gathered outside parliament to demand that Movement for Democratic Change representative Roy Bennett be expelled from both the house and the country. During a debate on Tuesday, Bennett pushed the justice and anti-corruption ministers to the floor in response to racial taunts. One minister told him he would never set foot in his southeastern Chimanimani constituency again. Independent journalists were chased away when they tried to hear two other ministers address the crowd on Thursday. White passers-by fled as the protesters then marched to the MDC party offices, accompanied by riot police. MDC spokesperson Paul Themba-Nyathi said the police initially stood by as the protesters smashed windows, tore down a metal grill and wrecked the reception area. They later sealed the building and conducted a search, claiming the MDC had abducted four protesters, said Themba-Nyathi. He said he saw a middle-aged man punched, beaten to the ground and kicked by the protesters. The British embassy was among a number of diplomatic missions that allowed staff to go home early because of the protest, said spokesperson Sophie Honey. Police assistant commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena was "not feeling well" and unable to take calls, according to a woman who answered his phone. She did not give her name. State-run radio, which speaks for the government, maintained the protest was peaceful. Zimbabwe authorities have recently stepped up a crackdown on dissent, arresting opposition leaders and closing down the country's only independent daily newspaper.
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Comment from ZWNEWS, 21 May 2004
In context...
Listeners to the VOA Studio 7 broadcast were yesterday treated to another bravura performance by Didymus Mutasa - the honourable minister of corruption, and he of the infamous "let them starve" speech. The subject was the recent parliamentary fracas which started with Roy Bennett - an opposition MP - losing his temper, and finished with two honourable ministers - Mutasa, and his colleague Patrick Chinamasa - flat on the floor. The most immediate context of the broadcast was the Zanu rent-a-mob which had just finished attacking the Harare offices of the opposition party, injuring at least one person, after baying for Bennett's head outside parliament - egged on by two other honourable ministers, Amos Midzi and Witness Mangwende. Bennett, Mutasa informed us, was "mad member of parliament charging at everybody he found". Pressed by the interviewer that Bennett may have been provoked by Chinamasa calling him a cattle thief, Mutasa's response was: "What's wrong with that? That's what politics is all about, and you don't get into politics to be easily provoked, and then to take such terrible action and turn mad. We deplore that very, very strongly."
Let's put that "terrible action" into context. This is how Hansard's rather sanitised account reports what Chinamasa said: "He forgets that his forefathers were thieves. And he forgets that what he owns - the whole of Chimanimani - was not because of his intelligence but was a legacy...That is an inheritance of stolen wealth accumulated over a century-and-a-half. I want to warn him that we have taken over Charleswood Farm, and he must not set foot again on that ground." "Bennett - I hope you are listening. Your forefathers were thieves whether they came here in 1890 or stayed in England." Insulting enough, when one considers that Bennett bought Charleswood Farm in 1983, with a certificate of No Present Interest from the government, and only bought the farm after consultation with the local traditional leaders, who consented to his purchase. The property comprises 7000 acres, of which 300 are arable and the remainder mountainside. Hardly the whole of Chimanimani. Charleswood is designated an Export Processing Zone - it exported coffee - and there is a tourist lodge on the land built with South African foreign investment. Both these businesses generated employment and foreign currency.
To put this in context, Mutasa has spent the last few months investigating his honourable party colleagues, caught with their fingers in the foreign currency till. Chinamasa's ministry has been chasing a handful of them through the courts. They, and their party, have no grounds to call Bennett a thief. To give even more context, what Hansard fails to report is that Chinamasa called Bennett "mabhunu". The word in literal terms means white man, and is derived from the Afrikaans word for farmer. But it is also a racist term of abuse, equivalent in its meaning, in reverse, to the k-word or the n-word. And this is not the only provocation which Bennett has received. Charleswood Farm was first invaded on 19 May 2000, in the run-up to the general election in which Bennett, a "mabhunu" in an overwhelming black constituency, was elected to parliament. In the violence, Mrs Bennett, pregnant at the time, was kidnapped. Four days later, the foetal heartbeat stopped, and the baby later miscarried. For four years, the CIO and the army have run riot in the area, lead by Joseph Mwale, an outstanding Zanu thug. In the process, one Charleswood employee has been murdered, two raped, and over 200 beaten senseless. For four years, Bennett has fought the violence through the courts. He has won no less than six court orders confirming his ownership of Charleswood, and his and his employees' right to be left in peace. The last two of the court decisions were made "with consent" i.e. the Attorney General's office did not contest them.
In the face of four years of attacks, Bennett finally lost his self-restraint. He did not rape or kill or beat anyone senseless. Yet Mutasa yesterday blatantly licensed mob violence against him. "We are just letting the events unfold in the country," Mutasa said. "If people go violent against Bennett and if he gets hurt in the process, it is his own outlook. That is what he has been inviting, and he's going to have it." Many millions of Zimbabweans have similarly endured what has been thrown at them by their own government - loss of livelihood, loss of home, loss of dignity, loss of loved ones. By Mutasa's twisted logic, there are an awful lot of people who have "brought things upon themselves". One more piece of contextual background. Readers of a certain age may dimly recall a previous honourable minister in a previous regime. Like Mutasa, P K van der Byl liked to cultivate his image as the blunt-talking hard man in a party he regarded as full of wimps. Like Chinamasa, van der Byl's highly polished self-regard was once ever present. Who remembers van der Byl now? The honourable ministers should not forget.
From ZWNEWS: If you would like to read the transcript of Mutasa's VOA interview, please let us know. It will be sent as a Word attachment, approximately half the size of the average daily ZWNEWS.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 20 May
Sentenced to silence
David Masunda
In the latest attack on the beleaguered Zimbabwean press, the editor of the independent newspaper The Standard and a reporter were arrested by police this week for a story on the murder of a mining magnate. The Standard’s editor, Bornwell Chakaodza, and reporter Valentine Maponga had been held at Harare Central Police Station for four hours on Wednesday and were being led to the cells when police suddenly summoned them back to be warned, cautioned and released. A senior officer warned that police would move "by way of a summons" if they still felt there were grounds to prosecute the two, who can be arrested again at any time. The story, written by Maponga, was based on an interview with the brother of slain mining boss Leonard Chimimba, who said the family felt his death had not been accidental but was an assassination ordered by government officials. The journalists were picked up under the Public Order and Security Act and initially charged under Section 15, which covers publishing or communicating a false statement prejudicial to the state.
Zimbabwe’s small but vibrant in-dependent media are under siege as Zanu PF tightens its grip on what it considers dissenting voices, which have to be silenced before next year’s general election. "Since the closure of the Daily News, the government’s attention has turned to the remaining independent newspapers," said Rashweat Mukundu of the private Media Institute of Southern Africa-Zimbabwe Chapter (Misa-Zimbabwe). "As we get towards the election, there is certainly going to be an escalation [of the campaign] against the private media." Two weeks ago The Standard’s senior reporter, Savious Kwinika, was brutally assaulted in Bulawayo by people he believes were Zanu PF members. He was returning from a rally organised by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in Lupane, about 180km from Bulawayo. Late last year Tafataona Mahoso, the head of the government-appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC) tried to whip up public sentiment against The Standard and its sister publication, the Zimbabwe Independent, accusing them of demonising the state.
When The Standard recently interviewed Zimbabwean Vice-President Joseph Msika, who said he was trying to stop the confiscation of a lucrative private commercial farm by certain government ministers, Information Minister Jonathan Moyo accused the paper of "spreading lies". According to Misa-Zimbabwe, the country has, since 2000, topped the list as the most repressive country in the SADC region. Misa recorded 360 "alerts" from Zimbabwe between 2000 and last year alone. Alerts are sent by journalists and media organisations when they have been attacked or are under threat. Alerts from Zimbabwe constituted 54% of the total received from 10 other countries in the region last year. Misa-Zimbabwe itself has not been spared. It is currently in court fighting off state orders that it be registered by the MIC.
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From The Australian, 20 May
Commentators on tricky wicket in Zimbabwe
By Peter Lalor and Gavin du Venage
Dean Jones and Bruce Yardley might be advised to keep in mind the fate of Mpumelelo "Pommie" Mbangwa when commentating on the Australia v Zimbabwe cricket series. The local commentator made the mistake of criticising the team's racial selection policy on air. Within minutes a furious Ozias Bvute, board member of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, stormed into the box and sacked him on the spot. Later in the day Bvute showed his political muscle in a fist fight with one of the selectors over the same issue. Zimbabwean sources say Bvute, who seems to run the ZCU despite being only a board member, is a political henchman for Minister of State for Information and Publicity, Jonathon Mayo. Mbangwa was reinstated, but the unsavoury incident reflects yet another layer of political farce surrounding the Zimbabwe team and international cricket. If the tests proceed, Yardley and Jones will call the matches, which will be shown on Fox 2 in Australia, but like all commentators they are in the uncomfortable position of being paid by the highly politicised ZCU.
Harare based John Makumbe, chairman of the Zimbabwean chapter of Transparency International, warns that any Australian sports correspondents who accompany the tour will face the same difficulties as colleagues covering the current Sri Lankan test series. Three journalists were refused entry into the country and those who received accreditation did so at a cost of $US600 each. "They should not come because it will be a total farce, to watch schoolboys play cricket and report as if everything is normal," says Makumbe. Australian journalists were forced on arrival to pay the same "accreditation processing fee" which apparently allows them into the country with the blessing of the Orwellian ministry - it is presumed they can be expelled at any time. Cricket Australia said yesterday it had asked for the fee to be reconsidered as it was not part of the memorandum of understanding between the two bodies. Travelling journalists have not been told of any restrictions in what they can write. However, a black Zimbabwean journalist, Mehluli Sibanda recently made the mistake of criticising the selection policy in Zimbabwe. "Since that article came out I have been receiving threatening calls on my mobile from a ZCU board member and I am convinced that he is making these threats on behalf of some people," Sibanda wrote in The Observer. "He threatened me with unspecified action and also threatened to report me to the Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the office of the president and cabinet, Jonathan Mayo, that I am siding with a white man."
Observers in the country described the television commentary during the Sri Lanka series as "an embarrassing joke" and "pathetic pandering to the local cricket board". The cricket expert, who did not want to be named, said commentators ignored what they were seeing - one-sided farce between a B team and Sri Lanka - and were constantly enthusiastic about the local team. At a cocktail party last Sunday the commentators, including Yardley, a former Australian spinner, were presented with ties and praised by the ZCU. Jones, who left Australia this morning to join Yardley, confirmed his contract with the ZCU banned any commentary on politics but he said he believed he was free to say what he like about cricket. "In my contract I am not allowed to say anything about the country itself but about cricket matters I have carte blanche," Jones said. The former cricketer says he believes he can speak about the players strike which has seen 15 of the top white players excluded from the team because of a race-based selection policy. Jones is an outspoken character who rarely hesitates to say what he believes and told The Australian he had checked his position with the cricket producers. "We just have to be careful what we say about [Zimbabwean President Robert] Mugabe. I've got no big deal about it, I'm just there to watch the cricket and I don't give a rat's arse what he does about his country." Jones said he would not have taken the job if he was to be restricted in what he could say about the cricket. He may find that picking the line between politics and cricket in the country is more difficult than picking a Murali doosra.
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From The Times (UK), 21 May
Zimbabwe facing race to preserve Test status
By Owen Slot, Chief Sports Reporter
A frantic last-ditch round of negotiations today will attempt to prevent the ICC voting on the motion that Zimbabwe’s two-match series against Australia, due to start tomorrow, be stripped of its Test status. If the ICC does hold a vote, the result is likely to go against Zimbabwe. Malcolm Speed, the ICC chief executive, said yesterday that he and Ehsan Mani, the ICC president, would be counselling in favour of the motion. However, if the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) can solve its considerable problems before 12.30pm today, when the ICC’s teleconference commences, then its blushes will be spared. Its basic requirement is to persuade the "rebel" players to return to the crease. After yet more incompetent and inconsequential stabs at peace-making yesterday, the players’ strike was still firmly in place. However, diplomacy was continuing last night. It was reported from India yesterday that Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the Indian cricket board, had been called in to resolve the impasse. Dalmiya has a large power base in the politics of international cricket and he is also a friend of Peter Chingoka, the ZCU chairman. Perhaps even more notable will be the statement that the ZCU is to release this morning. This statement is said to be "ground-breaking".
For the rebel players, however, yesterday merely provided further evidence of why they have lost faith in their employers. On Wednesday, a ZCU board member made an official offer to the players, promising that if they returned "unconditionally", the ZCU would drop all litigation against them. The players responded that afternoon by returning to nets. However, they were then informed yesterday that no such deal was in place. Furthermore, they were threatened with legal damages of US$270,000 (about £152,000), which is the loss of revenue that the ZCU is facing. Yesterday’s nets were cancelled. If the ICC does vote today, seven of the ten votes would have to go against Zimbabwe for the motion to be carried. Zimbabwe has its own vote and therefore needs only three friends. The grounds for removing Test status are that Zimbabwe can no longer field a competitive team, in which case Bangladesh would be unlikely to back the motion because it would leave themselves similarly exposed. Who else would support them? Traditionally, South Africa and the Asian voters, led by Dalmiya, have been strong supporters. However, it is believed that reserves of sympathy have run dry. To strip the matches of Test status may finally force the necessary change to the administration of the game in Zimbabwe. However, the loss of revenue would be huge and the ICC wants to be nurturing the sport in what is a relatively new Test-status country. Removing Test status would clearly have the opposite effect. In the long term, it is probably the only option.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 21 May
Police arrest Zim editor again
Harare - Zimbabwe police on Friday arrested Bornwell Chakaodza, editor of the independent weekly Standard newspaper, and one of his reporters, for the second time in three days, his staff said. "They came to his house at 7am. and took him to the police station," said David Masunda, deputy editor of the Standard. Reporter Valentine Maponga was picked up from his home at about 5am, he said. The two were arrested on Wednesday, but released after about eight hours, after being charged under the Public Order and Security Act with "publishing false information likely to endanger public safety." Police could not be reached for comment. The charge refers to a report in the Standard on Sunday, which quoted relatives of a senior mining company executive, who was shot dead last week, as saying that "top government officials" were behind the killings. "This morning's arrests were over the same business," Masunda said. It was the seventh time in two years that Chakaodza (49) has been arrested. Since 2000 when President Robert Mugabe's government launched a wave of new repression against his critics, the country's independent press has been under attack from the state with scores of newspaper editors, reporters, executives and even vendors arrested, although not one has ended in a successful prosecution. Journalists have also been harassed, assaulted and tortured, and many are followed by state agents and have their telephones tapped. There is almost a total ban on visiting foreign journalists and six locally-based foreign correspondents have been expelled since 2001. The country's top selling daily paper, the independent Daily News was bombed twice and then banned in September last year.
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From The Herald, 21 May
UNDP wasn't stopped from assessing food situation: Made
Harare - Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Cde Joseph Made yesterday dismissed reports alleging that Government had stopped a United Nations Development Programme team from assessing the food situation in the country. "Those who are saying that the team was withdrawn from the field should provide the evidence if they have it and I would like to be shown that evidence," he said. Cde Made said this in response to a question by Harare South MP Mr Gabriel Chaibva (MDC), who wanted to know why the Government had stopped the UNDP team from assessing the food situation if claims by the State that there was enough food were true. "I would like to emphasise that it is the member country which conducts the food field assessment and then gives its crop assessment and Zimbabwe has given its final crop assessment figures," he said. The Government, Cde Made said, had already made it clear that there would be enough food for the country this season. Cde Made said the Government would never go back on the land reform programme as this was being done lawfully. He said this in response to a question by Mabvuku MP Mr Justin Mutendadzamera (MDC) who had asked why the Government had acquired farms such as Kondozi Farm in Odzi in Manicaland province. Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa also dismissed reports alleging that some Zimbabweans were dying of starvation. "It is a lie that some Zimbabweans are dying of starvation and we have not been shown one Zimbabwean who has died out of starvation," he said. The minister said this in response to a question by Mufakose MP Ms Paurina Mpariwa (MDC) who had asked why the Government had stopped the donor community from assessing the food situation and alleged that some people were starving to death.
Cde Chinamasa said it was clear that there were some organisations and individuals that had been thriving on food aid and wanted to continue ripping. "It is a lie that Zimbabweans are starving and the lie is intended to please their masters. When the need for food aid arises again in the future, we will engage those organisations," he said. Zimbabwe is expected to produce 2,8 million tonnes of maize this season of which 1,2 millions are expected to be delivered to the Grain Marketing Board. Cde Chinamasa said there were currently about 5,6 million voters on the voter's roll and the on-going voter registration exercise was meant to cater for those who had not registered before. He said this in response to a question by Kuwadzana MP Mr Nelson Chamisa (MDC), who had asked the minister to clarify the position in regard to the voter registration. Cde Chinamasa dispelled rumours alleging that the Delimitation Commission had been appointed, saying it would only be appointed when there are major transfers of prospective voters from one constituency to another. The minister said the resident ministers who had been appointed in Harare and Bulawayo would deal with governance issues such as drought relief and social services while the city councils would concentrate on service delivery. "A city council has to work with the Government of the day not like a misguided missile. We do not have problems with the Bulawayo City Council but with the Harare City Council because it thinks it is the Government of the day," Cde Chinamasa said. He said this in response to a question by Nyanga MP Mr Leonard Chirowamhangu who had asked why the Government had appointed resident ministers for Harare and Bulawayo.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 21 May
Msika fights on
Itai Dzamara
Vice-president Joseph Msika has described as "immoral little boys" government and Zanu PF officials advocating the violent seizure of productive horticultural farms across the country. Msika, who is the chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Land Reform, denied allegations that he was losing out to ambitious ministers on the land issue. In an interview with the Zimbabwe Independent this week, Msika said he decided to drop the contentious issue of Kondozi Farm in Odzi after consulting with President Mugabe. He said there were reasons, which he wouldn't disclose, that had made him abandon the Kondozi issue. He said he was still on top of the situation in government and Zanu PF on the land issue and other policy matters. "I haven't lost to anyone," said Msika. "How could I lose to those immoral little boys?" he asked, referring to government officials who supported the use of the army and police to evict the owner of Kondozi Farm and his workers last month to pave way for the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda). Information minister Jonathan Moyo openly backed the seizure of Kondozi and declared there was no going back. Agriculture minister Joseph Made and Transport minister Chris Mushowe also backed the use of the police and army to evict Kondozi owners and farm workers.
"I don't want to comment on Jonathan Moyo's actions. I can't waste time on that," Msika said. "There are other reasons why I chose to keep quiet over Kondozi but I won't disclose them. This is how those little boys found some stone to stand on," he said. "But it was after meeting with the president and agreeing on matters of principle. He (Mugabe) shares the same position with me regarding the land issue. I am still in control and effectively still represent my position. Arda has a farm next to Kondozi and there was no reason at all to forcibly take over this one." The tough-talking Msika said he would fight anyone who dares set foot on productive horticultural concerns, saying these were vital to the nation's livelihood. "My position, which is not personal but based on policy, is that we should not disturb sugarcane estates, citrus estates and other horticultural concerns in the Lowveld and Highlands," he said. "These are large industries earning the country a lot of foreign currency. But they should not remain exclusive to a few individuals or whites only. More people must be included in the ownership of the concerns but not through violent and barbaric ways," Msika said. "Personally as the chairman of the land taskforce I wouldn't accept having the army and police descending on farms to forcibly evict owners, farm workers or peasants. Such actions cast a bad image on the land issue that has been a success generally."
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 21 May
New US envoy faces bumpy landing
Dumisani Muleya/Gift Phiri
The United States has appointed Christopher Dell as its new ambassador to Zimbabwe amid fears in the diplomatic community that incoming Western ambassadors might have difficulty securing their "agreements" - permission from their hosts to commence duties. The White House said Dell - an experienced career diplomat who has previously served in two African countries - will soon assume his new role in Harare, replacing Joseph Sullivan who has already left. Dell is a career foreign service officer and currently serves as chief of mission in Luanda, Angola. He previously served as the designated chief of mission in Pristina, Kosovo, and held earlier postings in Bulgaria and Mozambique. Several Western countries including Britain, Germany, Australia and Spain are expected to soon post new ambassadors to Zimbabwe. However, diplomatic sources say the new ambassadors could face a hostile reception from President Robert Mugabe’s government as a result of the political stand-off between Harare and Western capitals. The sources said when a new ambassador is nominated the host country must issue an "agreement" before the foreign diplomat can start official duties. In Zimbabwe Western representatives could be forced to wait for a long time before Mugabe accepts presentation of their credentials as a result of bilateral disputes. Harare is said to be still fuming, for instance, over Kumbirai Kangai’s treatment by British immigration officials when he transited London earlier this year.
Zimbabwe has been locked in political disputes over systematic repression and autocratic policies with the United States and European Union states, as well as countries in the Asia-Pacific region. This has often forced Western ambassadors to square off against authorities in Harare. British ambassador Brian Donnelly, who is due to leave next month, has borne the brunt of government hostility towards the West. Despite official threats and abuse by the state media, Donnelly has remained defiant. In the latest edition of Britain-Zimbabwe magazine, Donnelly said his country still shared "a common appreciation that in a number of key areas - political intimidation and violence, democracy and human rights, freedom of expression, justice and land reform - the situation in Zimbabwe has appreciably worsened". Only a few countries in the EU appear to have less serious problems with Zimbabwe at a diplomatic level. France, whose ambassador Didier Ferrand left recently, did not have any hitches in securing an agreement for its new top diplomat, Michel Rambaud.
Meanwhile, press reports in Ethiopia say an estate agency has taken the Zimbabwean diplomatic mission in Addis Ababa to court for failing to pay rent. The Daily Monitor this week said the state-owned Agency for the Administration of Rented Houses has sued the Zimbabwean embassy in absentia at the Federal First Instance court in Addis Ababa last week and won. The paper said despite the mission’s diplomatic immunity the housing agency put up a charge against the embassy claiming default of rent payments. The agency is understood to be owed 14 880 birr (Z$9,2 million) by the Zimbabwean embassy and has also complained about damage to its property. The agency has been frantically trying to engage Zimbabwean ambassador to Ethiopia Andrew Mtetwa. Foreign Affairs spokesperson Pavelyn Musaka said she was unaware of the issue. "This is news to me," she said. "I will check with the mission there. But we have been sending them reimbursements and we thought the mission was up to date with their payments."
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From The Guardian (UK), 21 May
ICC chief welcomes Zimbabwe decision
'This was a solution the ICC was seeking all along'
Staff and agencies
International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed has welcomed Zimbabwe's decision to postpone their forthcoming Test series against Australia. The Zimbabwe Cricket Union agreed to the ICC's suggestion to delay the two-match series, which was due to get under way tomorrow. The decision came this morning, just two hours before an ICC board meeting by teleconference to debate whether the games should be stripped of Test status, following the ZCU's ongoing dispute with 15 white rebel cricketers. "This was a solution the ICC was seeking all along," said Speed. "There is no decision as yet as to when these matches will take place - they have been deferred indefinitely." ICC president Ehsan Mani also welcomed the postponement of the Tests. "This course of action was first suggested by the ICC two weeks ago and protects the integrity of Test cricket," he said. "Over recent days all ICC full members have worked hard behind the scenes to help find a resolution and their work is appreciated." Three one-day internationals, originally scheduled to follow the Tests, will still take place, and have been brought forward to May 25, 27 and 29.
However, Cricket Australia's chief executive James Sutherland said Australia were unlikely to be able to re-arrange the Tests for at least four years. "Cricket Australia is currently organising for the Test players to either return home, or return to England where they can fulfil their county cricket commitments," he said. "Those players who were selected for the one-day series against Zimbabwe will remain in Zimbabwe. Cricket Australia has informed the ZCU that the Australian team is heavily committed over the next four years, and it is extremely unlikely that we will be able to play the two Test matches within this time frame." Disquiet about whether the weakened Zimbabwe team was worthy of Test status reached fever pitch on Monday when Sri Lanka thumped the Africans by an innings and 254 runs in Bulawayo in the second Test. The tourists had declared on 713 for three with Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara making personal Test bests of 249 and 270 respectively. With one-day world champions Australia also considered the masters of the five-day format it was predicted that the matches could quickly degenerate into a farce.
Quite apart from the sporting issues, political relations between Canberra and Harare are very poor with the Australian government fiercely critical of the Mugabe regime. With England due to tour Zimbabwe this autumn, there could still be further repercussions for the world game. On Monday there was even talk of suspending Zimbabwe from the ICC but Mani had played down that suggestion. Yesterday Ramiz Raja, chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) who are due to tour Pakistan in September and October, had called for the Test matches to be scrapped. He said: "Our stand is very clear. Instead of having an unofficial, meaningless series it is better if Australia return home. We can't have such a bad advertisement for Test cricket. It is serving no purpose for anyone. We are concerned. And we would like to see the ICC play a more pro-active role in resolving this crisis because it is damaging for international cricket."
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From News24 (SA), 21 May
Zim rebels are fired again
Harare - The two-Test series between Australia and Zimbabwe was cancelled on Friday morning ahead of what could have been a damaging teleconference vote by the International Cricket Council on the status of the matches. In a related move, Zimbabwe's 15 dissident players were fired again, despite reports that at least five of the rebels had agreed to return for the limited-overs series. Zimbabwe Cricket Union chief Peter Chingoka met with Cricket Australia representative Malcolm Brown in a Harare hotel on Friday and later confirmed the series had been cancelled. The tests cannot be rearranged for at least four years, Cricket Australia chairman Bob Merriman told a media conference at the hotel where the squad is staying. "We have reached an agreement with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union to postpone the Tests to a date to be fixed," Merriman said. "The ICC has been notified and we expect that will go before their executive board next month." Merriman added: "We are naturally disappointed with this outcome concerning the Tests and so are all the players." The limited-overs squad will remain in Zimbabwe for three one-day internationals - all in Harare - on May 25, 27 and 29. Cricket Australia said Test players Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Justin Langer and Simon Katich would leave Zimbabwe as soon as possible. Limited-overs specialists Ian Harvey, Michael Clark, Andrew Symonds and Shane Watson are to join the one-day squad. The Australians were due to practice on Friday, but cancelled that in favour of a round of golf. "They also have the weekend off, making three days clear," said Jonathan Rose, spokesperson for the Australian camp. "Some of the guys may take the weekend somewhere outside Harare. It's up to them. They'll practise on Monday ahead of the first international the following day."
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From cricinfo, 22 May
South Africa unwilling to host second-string Zimbabwe
Wisden Cricinfo staff
Within a day of the scrapping of Zimbabwe's Test series against Australia comes the news that South Africa might not be willing to play them either. The South Africans are scheduled to play three one-dayers and two Tests at home in February 2005, but Ray Mali, the president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, stated that they wouldn't host a second-string Zimbabwe team. Agreeing with the decision to postpone the Australian series, Mali said: "We would not like to play against a very inferior Zimbabwe team and so we will be doing everything possible to assist them in the development of a top-class side." Talking to Reuters, Mali stressed that the South African board would continue to work with the ZCU in an effort to resolve the crisis in Zimbabwe. "I have spent the last two weeks talking to the Zimbabwe Cricket Union as the representative of our board and things have turned out the way we wanted. But no cricket board can be held to ransom and the issue with the rebel players must be resolved quickly." Zimbabwe have played five Tests against South Africa so far, but only one of them was an overseas game, at Bloemfontein in 1999-2000, when a full-strength Zimbabwean team inclusive of the Flower brothers, Murray Goodwin and Neil Johnson were thrashed by an innings and 13 runs. If the tour to South Africa does happen, the plight of Tatenda Taibu and co. would, one suspects, be much worse.
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From The Sunday Mirror, 23 May 2004
Former GMB boss in forex externalisation scam
Clemence Manyukwe
Suspended Grain Marketing Board (GMB) chief executive officer, Martin Muchero is facing allegations of externalizing more than 30 million rands in hard currency during his tenure at the parastatal, it has been learnt. The Sunday Mirror can reveal that the money is stashed in a South African, but GMB registered bank account, with Muchero being the sole signatory. The issue of the forex is understood to have been reported by a staff member in the grain utility’s loss control section to Marlborough police sometime this month, leading to it being handed to the CID fraud squad for investigation. According to well placed sources, the decision to pass the matter to law enforcement agents was arrived at after Muchero refused to give the power of attorney, effectively ruling out anyone else from having access to the account. When contacted for a comment, Muchero conceded the existence of the account, but said, "it no longer has any penny." He said as the sole signatory to the account he did not care whether those at GMB knew or not that the account was empty, saying he would only hand it over when all his cases are over. Muchero added that the account had been opened in 1998 with the approval of the GMB board and the Reserve Bank adding that the money had been transferred from Trust Bank.
Muchero has been on suspension since 2000 after the levelling of several allegations of "fraudulent" activities against him. The allegations include flouting of tender procedures, allocating a GMB vehicle to his wife and using the parastatal’s funds to purchase furniture for his house without the board’s approval. Although the suspended CEO was cleared in 2002 by High court judge Charles Hungwe in a criminal case he was facing together with the then Agriculture Minister, Kumbirai Kangai, Muchero still has other pending cases before the courts concerning GMB. His lawyer, Jonathan Samkange blamed the GMB credit control manager, Wilson Ncube, for his client ’s woes. "Ncube is being overzealous and we know he is trying to please someone. He should have first brought the case to a (GMB) tribunal. There is a danger of going to a policeman who does not know what he is doing and my client will end up being picked," said Samkange.
Efforts to get comments from GMB board chairman Enoch Kamushinda were futile as he was said to "in a long meeting" by his secretary at Metropolitan Bank. The acting GMB CEO, Samuel Mubvute refused to comment saying it would be "unethical" for him to do so because Muchero was his predecessor, and it would be seen as a "smear campaign" aimed at "character assassination." Muchero was appointed GMB managing director in 1996 by former Agriculture Minister Dennis Norman. He became CEO upon the creation of the post, holding it up to the time of his suspension. Police spokesperson, Wayne Bvudzijena could not shed more light into the matter as the woman who answered his phone said he was not feeling well. Discernible signs of economic recovery emerged following government’s prioritising of the fight against corruption. Two of the most prominent victims of the drive, James Makamba and Christopher Kuruneri are languishing behind bars facing allegations of externalising foreign currency.
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 23 May
Mbeki still has no plan for Mugabe
Sunday Times Foreign Desk
With weeks to go before President Thabo Mbeki's self-imposed June deadline to bring about political change in Zimbabwe, his office has conceded that a resolution is still not in sight. Mbeki - engaged in "silent diplomacy" since 2000 to unravel a crisis that has also damaged the economies of Zimbabwe's neighbours - promised in June last year that there would be a "solution to the Zimbabwe crisis in a year's time". He reiterated in talks a month later with US President George W Bush that President Robert Mugabe would indicate by last December that he was going to retire and that elections would be held by June. His comments came at a time of mounting international pressure on South Africa to adopt compelling but measured methods to force Mugabe to tackle his country's problems. But on Friday, Mbeki's spokesman Bheki Khumalo conceded the deadline on the Zimbabwe issue was rapidly slipping away and was unlikely to be met. "If the deadline is not met it will still be up to Zimbabweans to resolve their own problems and the President has said that he would like to work with all political parties there to find a solution. It took years to resolve the problems in the Congo. These issues need patience and I think that should be the approach in Zimbabwe." Indications on the ground in Zimbabwe also point to a solution not being found by June. After informal talks last year, Mugabe's Zanu PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change are now again worlds apart on issues and political agendas. However, the head of Zanu PF's talks delegation, Patrick Chinamasa, last week tried to revive hope in talks by claiming that "informal dialogue is taking place". But the leader of the MDC's negotiating team, Welshman Ncube, said: "I'm not aware of any dialogue taking place now. I can't even remember when we last met because it's a long time ago." Hostilities have been resurfacing between the two parties due to Mugabe's insistence that the opposition must first cut its "umbilical cord" to Western countries before talks can proceed. The situation was worsened this week by the flooring in parliament of two Zanu PF ministers, Chinamasa and Didymus Mutasa, by MDC MP Roy Bennett during a heated debate. Zanu PF has seized the opportunity to go on a revenge mission against the MDC and political repression is set to escalate.
Meanwhile, the two parties are engaged in low-intensity electioneering ahead of next year's general election. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai said this week: "Our preparations for 2005 are in full swing. Never before has our entire nation been so ready for a showdown with Zanu PF. We have... a programme that will deliver change and ensure a legitimate MDC victory. "The programme is structured in a way that would enable us to intensify pressure on the regime to accede to our demands for the... conditions necessary for... genuine, democratic elections." Mugabe said last week he would retire in 2008. "I want to retire from politics. I have had enough," Mugabe told Kenyan journalists. "I am also a writer and would like to concentrate on writing after this term of office is over." Zanu PF is absorbed in infighting over the issue of its leader's succession. Mugabe said last week his lieutenants were fighting over his job. He said his party functionaries were even going to witch doctors to seek charms to become president. Since the emergence of the MDC in 1999 and the beginning of ongoing violent land invasions in 2000, Zimbabwe has been on a precipitous decline. The country has been a cauldron of sustained political violence and is facing economic collapse. Zanu PF was accused of winning the 2000 parliamentary election through a campaign of violence and intimidation, and of rigging the 2002 presidential election. The economy has been tumbling and the country's agriculture is in ruins. Inflation has peaked at 600%, unemployment is at 75% and poverty at 80%. Company closures have been rife and this has fuelled joblessness and political instability. Shortages of foreign currency, fuel, power, basic commodities and food have become commonplace. Mugabe has reacted to popular discontent and challenge against his despotic rule - largely caused by his leadership and policy failures - with intensified repression and defiance of the international community.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 21 May
Chefs ignore order to give up extra farms
Gift Phiri
Several government ministers and senior military officers accused of grabbing farms in violation of the government's "one man, one farm" rule have still not handed the extra properties back to the state, almost a year after the expiry of an ultimatum issued by President Robert Mugabe, the latest land audit has revealed. A five-member Presidential Land Resettlement Committee appointed by Mugabe in January has completed its land allocation audit and has once again unearthed widespread evidence of corrupt allocations and the use of violence by senior politicians and military officers to evict landless smallholder farmers, the very people Mugabe claimed the land reform policy sought to help. The Zimbabwe Independent understands that the confidential audit has also revealed that the land policy has not only precipitated a catastrophic reduction in crop production, but has financially benefited the elite of Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF. Reports of abuses uncovered by successive groups of auditors since February last year have embarrassed Mugabe, who has staked his domestic reputation on the speedy transfer of land to Zimbabwe's more than two million landless farmers. Stung by the series of damaging revelations, Mugabe last year gave his lieutenants up to June 30 to surrender their supplementary properties and remain with one farm each. But up to now only one Zanu PF official, Matabeleland north governor Obert Mpofu, is understood to have relinquished his extra properties. The latest land audit team is expected to present its findings to the Ministry of Special Affairs responsible for Land, Land Reform and Resettlement, which is expected to subsequently present the report to Mugabe. Officials on the committee confirmed the latest developments.
"The committee has finalised its audit process and a report has been compiled," said Willard Chiwewe, a senior secretary in the President's Office who is heading the taskforce. "We will hand over the report to the ministers in the land task force who will consider what we have found out. After that, the report will be handed over to President Mugabe." The five-member committee was set up to beef up another team led by Special Affairs minister John Nkomo in the clean up effort. Chiwewe said one of the key recommendations of the audit was that ruling party officials who had multiple farms should have the extra properties forfeited to the state. "One of the key findings of the report is that those with multiple land ownership should be served with withdrawal letters of the farms," he said. "The Ministry of Agriculture would have to send those letters to those people with multiple land ownership. That would happen I am sure, I do not see any problem at all." The team was tasked to look into the chaotic handling of the land reform programme and came up with recommendations that would see the creation of a permanent office that deals with land reform. Like the Utete Committee before it, the team said that areas that were protected under bilateral trade agreements, forestry estates or which had Export Processing Zone (EPZ) licences be exempted from compulsory acquisition. An audit, carried out last year by former secretary to the cabinet, Charles Utete, to investigate matters relating to an earlier land audit by Flora Bhuka, the Minister of State in Vice-President Joseph Msika's office, revealed that some of the violations of the land reform policy were committed by Mugabe's closest political allies. About 13 cabinet ministers and four provincial governors were named as having violated the "one man, one farm policy". Since the Utete Report was published, a number of EPZ farms have been invaded, which has resulted in the destruction of property and looting of assets. National Parks and conservancies also remain occupied.
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From The Age (Australia), 23 May 2004
A test of integrity
Cancellation of the Zimbabwe cricket Tests offers only a small fig-leaf to cover a large embarrassment, writes Gideon Haigh.
George Bernard Shaw once said that an Englishman thought he was moral when he was simply feeling uncomfortable. The same, increasingly, seems to apply to our sportsmen and sporting administrators. How else to explain how a team of Australian cricketers, queasily conscious of the dubiousness of the honour, are guests of Robert Mugabe. Sport has hardly been declared morality-free. We have furious, foam-flecked debates about matters that it would be flattery to call trivial: whether James Hird should have dissed an umpire, whether Sam Newman should be permitted in public without taking his medication. We nonetheless stumbled into Zimbabwe claiming heavy hearts and admitting utter confusion, while still mouthing the piety that "it's only a game of cricket" - to quote Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist's baffled column in The Age last week is perhaps the most telling artefact of this sorry affair, having recourse in discussion of Zimbabwe's plight to phrases such as "alleged heartache" and "reported suffering"; one awaits references to "apparent bombings" in Iraq and "rumoured detention" of asylum seekers. Zimbabwe's 11th-hour cancellation of the two-Test series provides only a very small fig-leaf to cover a very large embarrassment. It should be clear that our cricketers found themselves in Harare not because they particularly wanted to be, or to further cricket's good name, or even because they were expecting a good game - quite the contrary, because the internal exile of the country's (mainly white) first XI has left a ragged (mainly black) second XI in its place, a catchweight contest had been expected. Instead, they were there because of the consequences of their not going. Swingeing fines and a costly suspension awaited those member countries of the International Cricket Council breaching contractual undertakings to tour others; time will tell how it deals with those who rescind invitations. Cricket Australia described the exercise as "a box we have to tick". Boxes are an important cricket accessory, but not usually in this respect. It was a dismal auspice for a cricket tour.
This being Australia, from where the rest of the world is viewed as through the wrong end of a telescope, there has been precious little information about Zimbabwe's benightedness as a nation. Free speech and fair elections are things of the past there; dissent is ruthlessly crushed by means from expropriation to execution. By every conventional measure, the country is sliding backwards. Life expectancy is lower than in 1960. Two-thirds of its population is on the brink of famine or "food-insecure", despite three-quarters of the country's grain already coming from the World Food Program. About three million of its people have fled, mostly to South Africa. The economy has contracted for four consecutive years. Inflation runs into hundreds of per cent, unemployment is at about 50 per cent. Nor are these acts of God; they are acts of Mugabe's corrupt, despotic and increasingly desperate regime in no more than a handful of years. It was reasonably pointed out that we play sport against countries that are not exactly democratic fashion plates. What made this tour farcical, however, was the way Mugabe's Zanu PF party has so unceremoniously wrested control of the Zimbabwean Cricket Union in the past few years, populating it with cronies, politicising its management and selection processes, and turning it into a vehicle for propaganda and personal aggrandisement. Zimbabwe cricket's travails have hardly been secret. Since 2000, 20 leading players have left Zimbabwe prematurely, including Neil Johnson, Murray Goodwin, Andy Flower and Henry Olonga. The rest, courageously, held their peace until their captain, Heath Streak, made a private protest about various recent selections that on April 2 earned him the sack; they were then sacked for supporting him. This was depicted to the world as a matter of race, which has a way of making liberal consciences quail. But what Zanu PF has wrought in Zimbabwe cricket has been only marginally about the empowerment of black countrymen, or toppling a final graven idol of colonialism.
As with so much of the Mugabe "revolution", it has been about party apparatchiks seeking stature and another exchequer to raid amid encircling chaos. Remarkably, 12 members of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and their partners managed to visit Australia during Zimbabwe's tour last season, all expenses defrayed - remarkably because the union struggles to keep a viable first-class cricket structure going in Zimbabwe. We should not only never have set foot in Zimbabwe; we should never have come close. Such debate as there was about the advisability of Australia's tour, alas, was crushingly disappointing. Apologists ran the tired line that politics and sport should not mix; like it or not, they do, time and again, and it is the cricket union that has in this instance done the mixing. A counter-argument was that cheap runs and easy wickets on offer endangered the sanctity of cricket statistics, as though recalcitrant scorers might ignite an auto-da-fe fuelled by Wisdens. It is strange to recall that cricket was once supersaturated with morality - sometimes to the point of nausea. These days, professional athletes are not expected to think about anything more than their sport, or at a pinch distinguish between sunglass sponsors or choose which nightclub to patronise. "The bottom line for me is that we are cricketers," wrote Ricky Ponting in his most recent book. "Our job is to play cricket." Curiously, when it suits them, athletes love cloaking themselves in the flag, proclaiming the patriotic pride they derive from representing their countries - and we love it when they do. Hundreds of millions of Indians and Pakistanis who revelled in their countries' recent Test series did not think they were watching 22 men doing their jobs. If Zimbabwe cricket were merely a place of work, Zanu PF would never have coveted its control. Professional athletes should be careful about drawing too much attention to that "bottom line", lest they be taken at their word.
For here lies, for sport, perhaps this fiasco's most troubling dimension: not merely that moral arguments no longer have traction, but that they seem to have been supplanted by commercial considerations. For the past seven weeks, the International Cricket Council has kept an incriminating silence, save for one ill-aimed volley from president Ehsan Mani on 7 May: "If the rebels believe that walking out will result in other countries interfering in Zimbabwean cricket, I think that they have been very badly advised." A strange world this when players sacked and expelled become "rebels" who are "walking out". Then, on 18 May, after the cricket union had refused to meet his chief executive, Mani foreshadowed the meeting of the International Cricket Council's executive board, whose threat to the tour's standing finally precipitated its cancellation. "It's up to the directors to determine if these matches should have Test status or not and to exercise their judgement as to what course of action best protects the integrity of the international game," he said.V.V.S. Laxman could not have executed a glide more effortless. One moment the ICC could not be "interfering in Zimbabwean cricket"; the next it had to protect "the integrity of the international game". For "integrity", though, read "value of the franchise". In June 2000, the council signed a seven-year, $US550 million deal for the broadcasting of international cricket with Global Cricket Corporation, now an arm of News Corporation. But Test matches in which teams declare at 3-713 - as Sri Lanka recently did against the new Zimbabwe - and one-day matches in which teams are routed for 35 - as the new Zimbabwe was recently against Sri Lanka - scarcely enrich cricket's commercial cachet. It's unlikely Rupert Murdoch himself has been on the phone; more probably - like so many editors - the ICC has simply uncannily anticipated his concerns. This is what happens when it becomes too vexing to distinguish right from wrong, being moral from feeling uncomfortable: money makes the decision for you.
Gideon Haigh is a writer and freelance journalist. He has written several books about cricket, including The Big Ship: Warwick Armstrong and The Making of Modern Cricket.
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From The Times, (UK), 24 May
Mugabe: we're no worse than Prescott
By Stuart Ramsay
A correspondent asks the leader of Zimbabwe about violence, poverty and corruption
Zimbabwe government supporters who beat up dissenters are no worse than John Prescott, President Mugabe has said. In his first interview with a British news organisation for four years, Mr Mugabe told Sky News that Tony Blair considers himself "superhuman" but is not, that the World Food Programme is trying to foist food on Zimbabwe that it does not need, and that his Government’s drive to seize white farms and give them to black Zimbabweans is "going to reinvigorate the economy". The interview took 15 months to secure and was conducted in the elegant surroundings of State House. Looking urbane, relaxed but showing the effects of age, the 80-year-old President answered questions on the issues that have led to his regime being described around the world as inept, racist and corrupt. His answers were charged with hostility towards Mr Blair. "I don’t know how Britain came by him. You can see some of the mad things he has done and the world is now in turmoil," Mr Mugabe said. He insisted that his Government wanted dialogue with Britain but that Mr Blair "won’t have it because he doesn’t want to talk to us. We are inferior. He is superhuman. No, and he won’t be drawn into discussions with us."
Mr Blair still considered Zimbabwe a colony, he said. The Prime Minister’s recent meeting with Colonel Gaddafi of Libya was "not just to get Libyan oil but also to get Libya to desist from assisting us". The controversy over England’s autumn tour to Zimbabwe was Mr Blair using "the cricket bat as a weapon against Mugabe". But Mr Mugabe gave no ground when asked about the many charges levelled against his own regime. Questioned about the violent suppression of political opponents by supporters of his ruling Zanu PF party, he suggested that such incidents were no worse than the action of Mr Prescott in hitting a protester during the 2001 general election campaign. "The Deputy Prime Minister beats a person, boxes a person and that person falls down," he said, holding his balled fist in the air. "(You mean) that is more acceptable than the violence of a small group that might just be mistaken in its own belief that violence will work?" He admitted only to "hitches" in the 2002 general election, which international observers said was stolen. "We say the election was fair. We say all the African groups pronounced the election fair." He denied recent reports that Zanu PF had set up training camps to teach young Zimbabweans brutal methods of suppression. The camps were a programme of National Service, he said. The allegations came from "people who do not want us to train the youth, who fear that perhaps we are training the youth to be nationalistic, to respect their own culture and the African personality".
He also denied that Zimbabwe faced mass starvation, despite mounting evidence to the contrary and dire warnings from international aid agencies. "We will have enough food for the country and with a surplus," he insisted. He had expelled the World Food Programme this month because its assistance "should go to hungrier people, hungrier countries than ourselves . . . Why foist this food upon us? We don’t want to be choked. We have enough." Despite crippling debts, 600 per cent inflation, and a 40 per cent economic contraction between 1999 and 2003, Mr Mugabe likewise insisted that the economy was "now improving - it is getting out of that mess". He admitted that there were corrupt individuals in his party, but when asked if he himself was corrupt replied: "Oh come on, come on, come on." The mansion, said to cost £14 million, being built for him on the edge of Harare, was a present from Zanu PF, he said. Malaysia was donating the timber and China, another friendly nation, the roofing materials. Mr Mugabe said that he would stay in office "as long as the people want me to stay", and had no successor in mind. However, he doubted that he would stand again. Mr Mugabe was apparently persuaded to grant the interview by senior members of Zanu PF, concerned about the image of their country and their party in the outside world. They still believed that the country could be turned around, and that one of their best assets was the President, when allowed to talk at length.
Stuart Ramsay is Africa Correspondent of Sky News
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From The Guardian (UK), 24 May
Mugabe says he will refuse food aid
Andrew Meldrum in Pretoria
The Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, angrily denies that his country needs food aid and rejected charges that his government inflicts human rights abuses in an interview with Sky News released today. In the interview, the first Mr Mugabe has given to British media for several years, the leader clung to his position that the Blair government is responsible for whatever problems his country is facing. He also attacked Bishop Desmond Tutu and Bulawayo's Archbishop Pius Ncube as "unholy men". Critics in Zimbabwe say the interview exposes Mr Mugabe as a leader out of touch with the reality of his country. Mr Mugabe said his government would not accept international food aid in the coming year. "We are not hungry. It should go to hungrier people, hungrier countries than ourselves," he said. "Why foist this food upon us? We don't want to be choked, we have enough." He said Zimbabwe would produce 2.3m tonnes of maize this year, though independent and international food monitors have dismissed the figures as fantasy and completely unrealistic. They warn of widespread famine if Mr Mugabe does not permit international aid. Mr Mugabe rejected charges that torture, rape and terror are being inflicted by his youth militia on the opposition and the wider population. "These are the allegations being made by people who do not want us to train the youth, who fear perhaps we are training the youth to be nationalistic, to respect their own culture and respect the African personality," he said.
He denied documented reports of systematic human rights abuse by police and other groups, suggesting that any violence came from over-zealous supporters of his Zanu PF party. "We have millions of supporters in the country but you also get small groups naturally that act in order to demonstrate that they are strong in particular areas especially when they are provoked and in the majority of cases because of the provocation of MDC." Mr Mugabe's assertions fly in the face of several reports by human rights groups which state that police and groups allied to his party are responsible for more than 90% of the political violence in the country. When confronted with the criticism of the retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu that Mr Mugabe now resembles a caricature of an African dictator, he dismissed the Nobel peace prizewinner as "an angry, evil and embittered little bishop". Mr Mugabe said the archbishop "was a frightened man during the apartheid era and the little he did was perhaps just to criticise in an innocent way. When called upon to do something that would distinguish him as supporter of the ANC, he didn't." He also turned on the Catholic Archbishop of Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, who has claimed that 10,000 Zimbabweans in his Matabeleland region died of hunger-related causes last year. "That's another Tutu, the bishop, an unholy man, he thinks he is holy and telling lies all the day, every day," said Mr Mugabe. "Oh come on, 10,000 people, where did they die? Even show me a single person who died of hunger." Some Zimbabweans said the interview demonstrated that Mr Mugabe has lost touch. "He is delusional about food production, in denial about violence, and abusive about Desmond Tutu, Pius Ncube and other critics," said Iden Wetherell, editor of the Zimbabwe Independent. "This is self-evidently a leader who has lost direction. All he can do is shake his fists at a world he no longer understands." Mr Mugabe repeated the assertion that he intends to serve out his current term, which lasts until 2008, when he will be 86. He said he has no successor in mind.
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From VOA News, 23 May
Zimbabwe arrests top businessmen for 'externalising foreign currency'
At least 20 of Zimbabwe's top business people have been arrested and jailed during the past two weeks, accused of breaking foreign currency rules. The latest 13 business executives put behind bars are from one of Zimbabwe's largest manufacturing conglomerates, Treger Group of Companies, in which the ruling Zanu PF party is a major shareholder. Police say several more of the company's senior executives are out of the country, and will be arrested if they return. The previous weekend, chief executives of at least three leading companies, one a major supplier to the mining industry, also spent three nights in police cells. They were taken to court and charged with what is called externalizing foreign currency. They were then released and wil |
