|
Archived News
6th July 2004
Scepticism over electoral reforms
Zanu PF heavies at war...as the ghost of succession re-emerges
'MDC relations with Britain amount to treason'
It's prying time again
ZCU's 'acting chairman' hijacks Matabeleland AGM
South African court frees Mawere
Zim election reform 'cosmetic'
Mbeki smokes peace pipe with MDC chief
Hungry for Zimbabwe's land
New Sunday paper in legal battle
Zanu PF heavies gun for Sibanda’s ouster
'No bail' bill passed in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe opposition accused of treason
Zimbabwe crisis talks moving too slowly
Mawere to be specified - govt to take over tycoon's assets
Villagers at war with Mohadi
England set to tour Zimbabwe
Thugs attack Zimbabwean opposition rally with axes
Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai escapes 'assassination' - party
US warns against Zimbabwe
Torture victim sues Zimbabwe govt
The artful codger
Zimbabwe media loses its voice
Domestics fleeced Zim's top banker - but he didn't even notice illicit forex going missing
Mugabe faces election pressure
Hippo Pools resort under threat
Harare forfeits billions in Munich aid
Book review: Where We Have Hope
AU slams abuses in Zimbabwe
Mugabe slams door on negotiations
Daggers drawn for Byo Zanu PF polls
Sibanda set to bounce back
Black rhinos face extinction in Zimbabwe as Mugabe seizes game parks for hunting
Government secretly pleads with World Bank
Damning report on Harare kept secret
Zanu PF elects provincial executive
Time to try some noisy diplomacy
Setting new roots in Zambia
Top
From IRIN (UN), 28 June
Scepticism over electoral reforms
Johannesburg - Zimbabwean civil society has responded with scepticism to electoral reforms proposed by the government ahead of the general elections next year. According to the official Herald newspaper, President Robert Mugabe's government has accepted the election guidelines drawn up by the South African Development Community (SADC), which recommend that voting take place in a single day, under the supervision of a new "independent" electoral commission. The proposed new Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will be "independent of government" and replace the current supervisors, including the Registrar General and the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC), the newspaper reported. Mugabe will select five of the seven ZEC candidates proposed by parliament. The current ESC members are also appointed by Mugabe, who heads the ruling Zanu PF. "I am sceptical about the changes - how independent can the new commission [ZEC] be, when its chair is going to be appointed by the leader of a political party? In fact, the new commission will be less independent than some of its counterparts in the region," commented John Makumbe, a political analyst and chairman of the local chapter of the anticorruption NGO, Transparency International.
Zanu PF's head of information, Nathan Shamuyarira, told IRIN that all the candidates nominated to sit on the commission, including its chairperson, would be proposed by parliament and not by the president. "The entire electoral process will [then] be handled by the new commission - we will have nothing to do with it," Shamuyarira said. He added that all the votes cast on election day would be counted at each polling booth and sent to the commission, which would handle the results and release them. Transparent ballot boxes are also to be used to prevent irregularities. Brian Kagoro, chief executive of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a group of NGOs, described the electoral changes as "cosmetic." Rather than changing the content of electoral law, he said, efforts should be made to change the conditions under which electioneering took place. This could be achieved through the "opening up of democratic space, which allows civil society to operate freely", he said. Makumbe welcomed the fact that voting would now take place within a day, and that the new commission, to be funded by parliament, would be accountable to parliament. The new guidelines are expected to be sanctioned by SADC at its regional summit in August. The Commonwealth, among other bodies, described Zimbabwe's June 2000 parliamentary and March 2002 presidential elections as not being free or fair, citing widespread intimidation and alleged vote rigging.
Top
From The Daily Mirror, 29 June
Zanu PF heavies at war...as the ghost of succession re-emerges
Daily Mirror Reporter
Top level infighting within Zanu PF is intensifying ahead of next year’s parliamentary elections, thereby posing a real danger to the ruling party’s political campaign programme. In the latest development Zanu PF national commissar, Elliot Manyika, who is also a cabinet minister without portfolio, has come under intense criticism from former Bulawayo provincial party chairman and leader of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), Jabulani Sibanda for allegedly manipulating the province’s structures to suit a number of his cronies. The firebrand Sibanda told the Daily Mirror in Bulawayo that Manyika’s actions were bound to throw the party into turmoil, thereby derailing Zanu PF’s campaign strategies for next year’s general elections that are set for March. Sibanda accused Manyika of fuelling factional fighting in the province by allegedly manipulating the party’s constitution and electoral processes. The ruling party’s Bulawayo province has been hit by a fresh wave of infighting that has become a thorn in the flesh of the party’s central committee and the politburo. Sibanda’s statements stem from a directive by the national commissar that the province should hold a re-run of all District Coordinating Committees (DCC) elections as soon as possible. Manyika justified the move, saying it would enable the party to properly structure itself ahead of the elections in which the real contest is expected to be between Zanu PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The current District Coordinating Committees office bearers were elected in December last year. Said Sibanda: "This confusion by Manyika cannot be accepted, we cannot have a political commissar who stoops to the extent of ordering elections after every six months in order to save the interests of a few members of the party." He however would not name the individuals whom he claimed would benefit from a re-run of the elections. "I feel that these districts are right in defying the directive as we cannot have money being used to buy votes for certain individuals. Manyika is destroying the party," said Sibanda.
Manyika, who was supposed to monitor the elections in DCC 4 which covers Tshabalala, failed to turn up and instead sent one Takavarasha to stand in for him. The elections also fell through because of serious disagreements between the two factions reportedly led by politburo member, Dumiso Dabengwa and Sibanda, respectively, as supporters of the two factions failed to agree on a number of issues. "The problem is that most of the DCC members in the province come from Sibanda’s camp and the re-run is perceived as an effort to protect the other faction that is mostly made up of politburo and central committee members," said one source privy to the goings-on. Factional fighting in the province has already attracted the ire of President Robert Mugabe who two weeks ago told the provincial leadership in the city that he was not happy with the state of affairs prevailing there. The Dabengwa camp accuses Sibanda of insubordination and intolerance. Even though Manyika could not be reached for comment, an irate Dabengwa told the Daily Mirror that he did not recognise Sibanda as a member of the party anymore since he had been suspended from taking part in any provincial business pending the outcome of his case by the politburo. "Those that are in the know would remember that Sibanda was suspended from taking part in anything that has to do with the party by the provincial disciplinary committee. It is disturbing that those who want to use him to further their political agendas are still trying to force an outcast back into the party, and that is a great tragedy in the making as the genuine party supporters of the party have warned they will not take such things lying down," said Dabengwa. He said it was surprising that Sibanda could suddenly burst onto the scene and claim that he wanted to change the course of things yet there were people who laboured, even in difficult circumstances, to take the party to what it is now. The confusion created by Sibanda in the province is so severe that yesterday, some youths went on to stab each other because of these so-called elections. He is a young man and he should be given the right direction, otherwise he risks running the party into a lion’s den," said Dabengwa.
But the plot thickened further when another high-ranking central committee member of Zanu PF based in Bulawayo, who the Sibanda faction describes as belonging to the "rusty old guard", revealed that the war veterans’ leader was a front for a named senior politician with ambitions to succeed President Mugabe as party leader when he retires. Media reports indicate that Sibanda is aligned to Speaker of Parliament, Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is also Zanu PF national secretary for administration. The ruling party’s in formation chief, Nathan Shamuyarira early this year revealed that Mnangagwa and the party’s national chairman, John Nkomo, were leading the succession race. The party big wig, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "The directionless young man (Sibanda) is being used by people with their own agendas, especially those fighting to win the succession race, to bring confusion into the party. "They want to use Sibanda to destroy the province (of Matabeleland) but we have made it clear that we are well aware of what they are doing," said the central committee, who is a former cabinet minister.
Top
From AFP, 30 June
'MDC relations with Britain amount to treason'
Heated debate erupted in Zimbabwe's parliament Tuesday when the ruling party said opposition lawmakers should be probed for treason for allegedly working with former colonial power Britain. President Robert Mugabe's ruling party lawmakers last week said they wanted to investigate a recent statement by British Prime Minister Tony Blair that his government was working with Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). "I call for the MDC, and all members of the MDC, to be investigated, and if possible be charged with treason and suspended from parliament," Phillip Chiyangwa of the ruling Zanu PF told parliament. He accused the MDC of working "in concert with foreign and dangerous powers - (including) Britain." The debate came after Information Minister Jonathan Moyo last week revealed in parliament that Blair had told the British House of Commons that his government was working "closely with the MDC on the measures that we should take in respect of Zimbabwe." The ruling party said this was evidence that the MDC is a front for Britain, which it consistently accuses of wanting to oust the Mugabe government. Britain, along with the United States and the European Union, have imposed targeted travel and financial restrictions on Mugabe and dozens of his close associates for alleged human rights abuses. Opposition lawmaker Tendai Biti, defending his party, has said the ruling party has only itself to blame for its "self-imposed sanctions through misgovernance and misrule". Zimbabwe remains deeply politically divided and international efforts to broker conciliatory talks between the two sides have failed.
Top
From The Financial Mail (SA), 18 June
It's prying time again
By Vincent Kahiya
The Internet poses an insurmountable threat to authoritarian rule. And Zimbabwe, now in totalitarian mode, has not disguised its intentions to control information spawned by the electronic and print media. Since initiating the "land reform" programme, President Robert Mugabe's government has gone on a propaganda drive to sell the move as the best thing that has happened in Africa, and Mugabe as an icon of black empowerment. The mantras have, however, been countered by an active free press and, increasingly, by cybertechnology, which has managed to capture the story of Zimbabwe and disseminate it throughout the world. The best way to deal with this, government believes, is to control that key communication resource. But this could turn out to be futile. China, which has over the past five years seen exponential growth in the use of the Internet, has taken a proactive approach to control: its government has become dominant in developing the medium, which it puts to good use. But Zimbabwe has failed to get a grip on the Internet as a tool of governance and control. The official government web page, www.zim.gov.zw, is dysfunctional, while Zanu-PF's website, www.zanupfpub.co.zw, is not up to date. Media legislation since 2000 has been designed to control the apparatus of dissemination and quality of information. The state has also tried to pry into all forms of private mail through the Post & Telecommunication Services Act. The provision in the act that enabled government to force Internet service providers (ISPs) to divulge details of private mail was declared unconstitutional by the s upreme c ourt in March. There has recently been another attempt to control e-mail through the state-owned telephony company, which is seeking to amend its agreement with ISPs to make them reveal the source of material deemed to be politically offensive. The ISPs have resisted the move. Experts believe government's attempts are bound to fail because the state does not have the capacity to pry into e-mail. IT experts have said domain names .co.zw, .org.zw and .ac.zw are the only ones that government can interfere with. They say all e-mails with foreign domains such as .net, .com, .co.za and .co.uk cannot be accessed because the e-mail servers are either in Johannesburg, Los Angeles, New York or London and are owned by big corporations such as Yahoo or Hotmail.
Top
From cricinfo, 29 June
ZCU's 'acting chairman' hijacks Matabeleland AGM
A special correspondent
The annual general meeting of the Matabeleland Cricket Association at the Queens Sports Club on Saturday ended in chaos when an official of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union tried to hijack proceedings. The problems arose when Vumindaba Moyo, who was challenging Ahmet Esat for the post of Matabeleland chairman, declared that a new black club Emakhandeni whose application for affiliation had only just been received, should be allowed to vote. At that point Mukuhlani, the Mashonaland chairman, who was at the meeting as an observer, stood up to support Esat. "I am here as the acting ZCU chairman," Mukuhlani is reported to have shouted, banging his fist on the table. "Whatever I say is binding … when I am talking I demand respect." Esat is seen locally as weak, as he was a member of the ZCU board which made the decision to fire the 15 senior players led by Matabeleland's Heath Streak. The clubs also felt that Esat failed to speak for the province at ZCU board meetings and was overshadowed by Tavengwa Mukuhlani, Max Ebrahim and Ozais Bvute (Bvute attended the meeting but kept unusually silent). So the clubs supported Moyo as they felt he would speak for, and stand up for, the province.
Mukuhlani had no right to speak at a meeting which he was attending as an observer. It is also unclear under what authority he was claiming to be acting chairman of the ZCU. He was accompanied by Givemore Makoni, the Matabeleland provincial general manager, who also had no right to be involved in procedings. But his intervention triggered ugly scenes as Moyo and his supporters began hurling insults at Esat and Mukuhlani before storming out of the meeting. "This is not a ZCU meeting, you cannot come here and tell us what to do," yelled a clearly angry Moyo. Eventually, Dennis Streak, who was chairman of the AGM, restored some sort of order and the elections went ahead, but all the blacks who were nominated for the posts refused to stand. Esat was re-elected unopposed while Stanley Staddon was elected as vice-chairman. The results mean that none of the members of the board are black, and Matabeleland, the second most powerful province after Mashonaland, has still not had a black chairman. The result might not stand for too long as Moyo is understood to be gathering support from the Matabeleland clubs with a view to forcing a motion of no confidence in the Esat-led board at an Emergency General Meeting.
Comment
by Martin Williamson
The farcical events provide more proof, were any needed, that the ZCU and its officials have little time for the niceties of procedure or the democratic process. It also yet again highlights that the dispute destroying Zimbabwe cricket is not, and never has been, racial. It is about the domination and elimination of all opposition to the government-backed board, and, as in this case, instrumental to that is the silencing of dissent, whether it be from black, white or Asian. The Matabeleland Cricket Association tried to assert its right to chose a representative who would not meekly submit to the bullying tactics of certain board members, and those in power again showed they have no time for democracy or free speech.
Top
From The Herald, 1 July
South African court frees Mawere
Herald Reporter
A South African magistrate yesterday freed Zimbabwean businessman Mutumwa Mawere and ordered the Zimbabwean law enforcement agents who were trying to have him brought back to Zimbabwe to face trial to follow proper extradition channels. Mawere appeared in a Pretoria court yesterday for a ruling on a request by the Zimbabwean police to have the extradition hearing postponed pending further investigations. The Randsburg magistrate, however, ruled that the court was unable to give the Zimbabwean police, represented by South African lawyer Mr Paul Schutte, another month to carry out investigations as they had last month promised they would be ready for the extradition hearing by Tuesday this week. The magistrate ordered that Mawere be reimbursed the R50 000 he paid as bail and that his Zimbabwean and South African passports be returned to him. There are fears that Mawere could now skip that country as he is now in possession of his travel documents. Sources in South Africa said according to South African laws, the police have to gather substantive evidence on the allegations a person is facing before they file extradition papers. Zimbabwean police have, however, alleged that they were not getting enough support in terms of legal advice from officials at the Attorney General’s Office here while the South African authorities took their time to process the extradition papers. The South African Justice Ministry is alleged to have authorised the Zimbabwean police to be assisted by their legal officer, Mr Schutte, on June 21. Acting Attorney General Mr Bharat Patel said the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr Joseph Musakwa, was supposed to have joined the Zimbabwean police in South Africa ahead of the hearing to assist them.
Yesterday Mr Patel said according to the South African laws, it was appropriate that the Zimbabwean police be represented in court by a law officer from that country. "Of course, we can come in on the advice part and when I spoke with Mr Musakwa on going to assist the police in South Africa, he said it was not clear what they wanted him to do there," Mr Patel said. Mr Musakwa said someone from the AG’s Office still has to be in South Africa. "It was not like someone had to go just like that. There were investigations that needed to be done here before someone went there. What was I supposed to have gone to do there when we had already sent the extradition papers to South African authorities in May? Was I supposed to go and confront the South African Minister of Justice on why he was sitting on the papers?" Mr Musakwa asked. He said the reason why the extradition had not succeeded was because the relevant South African officials delayed authorisation. "It is not a legal requirement for us to be there, but as we speak we are doing something about it."
The AG’s Office sent the extradition documents which had to go through Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to South Africa Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, who would, in turn, hand them over to the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The papers would then be forwarded to the Ministry of Justice for passing on to the courts. It is alleged the cumbersome procedure is to protect citizens from falling victim to either political hate or any personal vendettas that might result in law enforcement agents from other countries to sometimes fabricate allegations and seek extradition. Zimbabwean police sources in South Africa said in the past when seeking the extradition of fugitive criminals from South Africa, they did not go through such channels. The detectives are also optimistic that they will soon get clearance from the South African Justice Minister to search Mawere’s offices for evidence. However, they felt let down by yesterday’s ruling, saying they had communicated well with the South African police of their intentions to help them extradite Mawere. But, they said, it seemed some officials backtracked. "We have been waiting for the extradition papers to be fast-tracked and have made clear arrangements with responsible officials here, but you cannot push things when you are in a foreign country," one of the detectives said. South African police arrested Mawere after he was declared wanted by the Zimbabwean police in May. Following his arrest, Mawere said he held a South African passport and is a permanent resident of that country. Mawere is wanted in Zimbabwe to answer to fraud charges involving $300 billion. Mawere ’s company, Southern Asbestos Sales, is also accused of defrauding the Zimbabwean Government of undisclosed billions of dollars, which the company was obligated to forward here. He is also accused of undercharging and undervaluing the asbestos he exported from Zimbabwe and did not declare the foreign currency to the Reserve Bank as required by the laws of Zimbabwe.
Top
From News24 (SA), 30 June
Zim election reform 'cosmetic'
Harare - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai criticised government-proposed electoral reforms on Wednesday, calling them cosmetic measures aimed at deceiving voters and poll observers. The proposals - including transparent ballot boxes and an independent election commission to supervise voting - were "still miles away from our needs," Tsvangirai said. President Robert Mugabe's 26-member politburo, his party's top policy-making body, agreed last week to adopt election reforms before March 2005 general elections, state media reported. Under the proposed reforms, next year's polls would be held on one day, instead of over two or three days as in the past. The number of polling stations would be increased, and verification of ballots would take place at polling stations. The proposals meet some opposition demands, but fall far short of guaranteeing a free and fair poll, Tsvangirai said. The state media said on Saturday the proposals were necessary because of "the intrusive behaviour of the US and (European Union), who often declare elections not free and fair when the results are not in their political interest."
Mugabe vowed last week not to allow Western observers to monitor future elections, saying: "We will not allow the erstwhile imperialists to judge our elections. We ask our friends to judge us." International observers rejected the June 2000 parliamentary and March 2002 presidential elections, citing widespread intimidation and vote rigging. Mugabe, 80, claimed victory in both polls. Tsvangirai said in a statement the country's electoral process remained flawed and left an atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust among voters. "Let us not deceive ourselves that internal and external recognition and legitimacy can be achieved through half-baked and cosmetic measures designed to deceive the people," Tsvangirai said. "Unless someone has something to hide, genuine elections are open to observation and endorsement by all interested persons or parties regardless of their country of origin. Players must never choose their own referees," he said. Tsvangirai said no reforms were proposed to sweeping media and security laws that severely curtailed rights to free expression and free assembly necessary for fair campaigning. "No free and fair election is possible when political activity and democratic space are at a premium," Tsvangirai said.
Top
From Business Day (SA), 1 July
Mbeki smokes peace pipe with MDC chief
Harare Correspondent
President Thabo Mbeki met Zimbabwean opposition leaders in Pretoria last Sunday to assess progress in efforts to resolve the current political and economic crisis in that country. The meeting was seen as a last-ditch attempt by Mbeki to make good on his promise that the main protagonists in the Zimbabwean political dispute would have come to a settlement by the end of this month. Sources close to the talks said Mbeki met a delegation from Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by the party's secretary-general, Welshman Ncube. It is understood that, among other things, he discussed the electoral reforms proposals released by Zanu PF last Friday. The reforms, which formed part of electoral guidelines recommended to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe by the Southern Africa Development Community, include limiting the voting period to one day. They also allowed for the establishment of a new Zimbabwe Electoral Supervisory Commission, whose members were recommended by parliament and appointed by Mugabe. Reforms also included the use of transparent ballot boxes and the counting of votes and announcing results at the voting stations. The MDC is said to have told Mbeki that while the envisaged reforms were a step in the right direction, they were "woefully" inadequate to improve the hostile political climate for the general election next March. The MDC indicated to Mbeki that a "conducive political environment" for polls was needed, in addition to a new legal electoral framework which the government was proposing. Ncube's delegation is said to have highlighted the need to repeal other repressive laws, disband Zanu PF militias, stop violence and intimidation and allow foreign election observers to monitor the elections. Although no date for the meeting was given, Mbeki is now expected to meet the Zanu PF team, led by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and inform them about the MDC's concerns. Mbeki, who visited Harare last December to meet Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, had been pushing Zanu PF and the MDC to find a negotiated settlement to the current crisis in Zimbabwe.
Top
From BBC News, 30 June
Hungry for Zimbabwe's land
By Alastair Leithead
The radio crackles in the small office in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, as the few white farmers still left on the land keep in touch. The government's four-year land redistribution programme to undo "colonial wrongs" by giving white-owned land to black Zimbabweans has led to violence and death. White farmers are still being forced from their land, and the threats from war veterans and squatters are real, farmers say. "They've told some of my workers that if I don't move out they will kill one of my family, or burn the homesteads down," one farmer explained through tears of anger and frustration. He is bitter and angry after two years of battling to keep his land. His vegetables supply some government departments and ministers, but this is not enough to protect him from losing his farm without compensation. "Once you leave your property you'll never go back, because they will take it over completely. Perhaps it is a racial thing - they don't like some of us whites, or all of us whites. They want what we have," he says. "My mind changes 10 times a day - sometimes I think we should surrender and get the hell out for my family's sake, but then I'm from Scottish descent and have Scottish blood in me - I do not surrender."
Driving around areas that were huge commercial farms, it is obvious the impact the reform has been having. Small holdings have been set up by the road, but the wicker silos of maize are only a half or a third full - and the harvest has just been collected. Maize is still being planted and grown, but a farmer explained to me it is the wrong season and is too cold; all the effort will yield nothing. The plight of the white farmers is a story often told, but the plight of the black farm workers whose livelihoods depended on the commercial farms are the true sufferers. "Most of the farm workers are now out of a job and are in such a bad situation now. This is where we got our money to feed our children and get them educated," said a black farm manager, who asked not to be identified. There should have been a system of distributing the land, but the way it was done was totally wrong. I worked my whole life thinking things will turn better at the end, but I'll just die poor as I am," he said.
People are already suffering from this lack of food. I was taken to a derelict block of flats where a small group of children sang as they waited for lunch, their only meal of the day. A charity feeding programme has been set up there to help people who are desperately short of food, in a country which used to export maize to the rest of southern Africa. The project leader did not want her organisation named for fear the government will close them down. "It shows them up. It shows the rest of the world they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing which is caring for their people. The private agencies are having to come in and do that," she said. "Children are dying from starvation. We had children fainting and not able to even walk to get food as they were too weak. This country has been brought to its knees and it is slowly dying. All we are doing is holding our finger in the dam trying to stop the final disaster - but it's coming." State television, however, shows happy Zimbabweans reaping record harvests, as the government boasts that there is more maize than the country needs. The United Nation's World Food Programme was recently banned from completing its crop assessment, but independent surveys say the country has only half of what it needs.
"They have a plan here to starve people to death for political ends - to get everyone aligned to their party at all costs, which is absolutely diabolical and vicious," says the Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, an outspoken critic of the government. "I'm very, very concerned as the government is telling lies, saying there is enough food and already babies are dying. We have statistics from the city council that 50 to 60 have died already of malnutrition. I'm really scared that people will die by their thousands unless this matter of food is opened up." There is evidence the ruling party has been using food aid as a political weapon. Last month there was a by-election in Lupane north of Bulawayo, which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change lost, even though it is in the party's heartland. "The people of Lupane were told if they didn't vote for Zanu PF, no food aid would be forthcoming. That had the effect of deterring some 5,000 people who would have voted for us, like women with young children or vulnerable groups," said David Coltart, the MDC's shadow justice minister. The crops have just been harvested, and there is more maize around now than there will be next March, when the parliamentary elections are due to be held. The fear is that political manipulation of food aid will be used on a much bigger scale.
Top
From The Namibian, 30 June
New Sunday paper in legal battle
Petros Kuteeue
Windhoek - A planned regional newspaper, to be called the New Sunday Times, by Namibian and Zimbabwean state media houses looks to have hit a snag. South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper has taken legal steps to block the use of its name, while the publishers seem to be unsure of whether the new publication will be on the streets tomorrow, as originally planned. Three months ago, New Era Publication Corporation and Zimbabwe's Zimpapers signed a co-operation agreement to pave the way for a regional newspaper to "counter the threat of the global media to African values". Reports coming from South Africa indicate that attorneys acting for the Sunday Times have written to New Era and Zimpapers, warning them that any use of the name New Sunday Times would constitute an infringement of the Sunday Times's rights to the well-known trademark. The head of Namibia's Government-owned New Era newspaper, Protasius Ndauendapo, on Monday confirmed to The Namibian that he had received a letter from the Sunday Times' lawyers a month ago. "They (the Sunday Times lawyers) just brought to our attention that their client was claiming ownership of the name... and that we should not use the name," he said. Ndauendapo was then quick to state that he did not want to comment further on the issue. "Our lawyers have responded. But it is difficult to say anything now." He was also reluctant to offer comment on whether the first edition of the New Sunday Times would be on the street on July 1 as planned. "You see technically July 1 is a Thursday, but this is a Sunday newspaper... so I can't comment on that now," the New Era boss declared. Plans to launch the regional publication by Namibia and Zimbabwe have already raised a few eyebrows in the region with critics in some neighbouring countries describing it as a "Mugabe [Zimbabwe's President Robert] and Nujoma [Namibia's President Sam] propaganda tool". The Assistant Editor of Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper, Moses Magadza, will edit the New Sunday Times, assisted by a staff member from New Era. During its initial stages the new newspaper will depend on articles from New Era and Zimpapers, but it is ultimately expected to be independent.
Top
From The Daily Mirror, 1 July
Zanu PF heavies gun for Sibanda’s ouster
Daily Mirror reporter
As the ruling Zanu PF moves to clean its house ahead of next year’s general election, calls have emerged from some of its Bulawayo heavies for the expulsion of the party’s former provincial chairman, Jabulani Sibanda. The latter, who is also the current national chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), stands accused of bringing confusion into the party. According to the heavies (names supplied), Sibanda had thrown the party into turmoil through his actions and activities in the province where he is alleged to be calling the shots at the expense of other senior party officials. They also contend that Sibanda had mobilised groups of youths that went around the city terrorising all those he viewed as his enemies and opponents. "As pointed out earlier on, this young man lacks direction and he is bound to throw the party into a very dangerous situation such that we might fail to make any meaningful impact in next year’s election. It is an open secret the party is fighting tooth and nail to retain the seats that we lost in 2000, and this can only be achieved if there is order within the party," said one senior official and central committee member. He added that with the confusion and problems that have rocked the party, all the plans might not be achieved as the electorate would not support a party engulfed in confusion. The senior party official also told this paper that according to the provincial leadership, Sibanda had ceased to be a party member as he was suspended last year for gross insurbodination and lack of respect for the party’s top brass.
According to the official, the provincial leadership wrote to the central committee last year where it recommended that Sibanda be expelled from the party as he had been found to be a cancer that the province had failed to effectively deal with. "We wrote (to the central committee) and recommended that they expel the young man (Sibanda) because he had proved to be the one bringing confusion into the party. There was no way that we could let him continue to be with us as he had proved that he is not one of us," the official said. The Daily Mirror was told that at one time, Sibanda organised a demonstration in Bulawayo where party stalwarts Dumiso Dabengwa (former home affairs minister), Sikhanyiso Ndlovu (former higher education deputy minister), Vice President Joseph Msika, and politburo and women’s league member, Thenjiwe Lesabe were denigrated by Sibanda’s supporters. The supporters are alleged to have also sung songs that were against a food task force led by Sikhanyiso Ndlovu in Bulawayo, set up by the president to monitor food prices at the height of the food shortages that visited the country last year. Sibanda also stood accused of abusing the party’s vehicles in the province. He is alleged to have used the party’s vehicles for his own personal business, a situation that resulted in one of the vehicles being damaged in an accident. A lot of other allegations were heaped on Sibanda at the time, leading the provincial leadership to write to the central committee and the politburo recommending Sibanda’s expulsion from the party.
Another senior official from the party’s Bulawayo province said there was worry in the party that Sibanda’s expulsion had taken longer than expected when other errant party members before him had received swift dismissals. He made mention of Kindness Paradza, Zanu PF’s legislator for Makonde and another pending case of Walter Mzembi, who are all accused of bringing chaos into the ruling party. "This shows that the problems that have accumulated in Bulawayo are not created by Sibanda alone, but that he is being used by some other influential people out to further their own political agenda. They know that once Sibanda is ejected from the party, they do not have the Matabeleland vote in the succession issue. But we are aware of all this and I can assure you that nothing of that sort is going to happen, as we will not rest until he is thrown out. If it means that we are to approach the President, then let it be," the official said. It was also alleged that after Sibanda had been suspended, the provincial leadership impounded the vehicle that he was using, only for him to be seen thereafter, driving a new spacious four-wheel drive vehicle. The official said that the party, upon underground investigations, discovered that the vehicle that Sibanda drove at the time, had been purchased for him by a high-ranking government official who also financed his activities in the city centre. "This concretised our concern that Sibanda was not alone in his disturbances of the activities in the party and that we were fighting a battle that we are bound to lose. It also dawned upon us that the man who bought the car that Sibanda was using could be behind the delay in the execution of the necessary justice the party always talks about." Sibanda was not accessible for comment last night.
Top
From BBC News, 1 July
'No bail' bill passed in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's parliament has passed a bill that allows suspects to be held for up to 21 days without bail, despite opposition resistance. It makes permanent a temporary presidential decree issued in February, which the government says is necessary to root out corruption. Currently those arrested for corruption or violating security laws can only be detained for 48 hours. An opposition spokesman called it the final nail in the coffin of democracy. "We know it will be used against the opposition," Paul Themba Nyathi from the Movement for Democratic Change told BBC News Online. "What is to stop the government arresting us 10 days before election nomination day, charging us with illegal foreign exchange dealings and locking us up until after nominations have ended?" But Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has defended the new Criminal Procedure and Evidence Bill. "My legal conscience is clear - this bill is going to be a roll call for those who are for corruption, and for those who are against corruption," he told parliament. The new regulations form part of the government's anti-corruption drive, and they argue that financial crimes such as money-laundering and foreign exchange dealing need more time to be investigated. A wealthy businessman and senior figure in the ruling Zanu PF party, James Makamba, has already fallen victim to the law, accused of illegal foreign exchange dealings. The bill will now be presented to President Robert Mugabe, who is expected to sign it into law. Parliamentary elections are due to be held in March next year.
Top
From VOA News, 1 July
Zimbabwe opposition accused of treason
Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF has won a motion in parliament to investigate what it claims is treason by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Zanu PF accuses the opposition party of conspiring with Britain to overthrow President Robert Mugabe's government. Zanu PF legislators say the opposition is conspiring with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to unseat President Mugabe. The accusation is based on a statement Mr. Blair made to parliament in London last week that he was consulting with the Movement for Democratic Change and regional African leaders to put pressure for change on the Mugabe regime, because, "there is no salvation for the people of Zimbabwe until that regime is changed." The MDC has been accused of drawing financial and political support from London ever since it was formed five years ago. Britain denies financing the MDC, but it has regularly and publicly expressed support for the party's view of democracy. Britain has also decried what it sees as the disappearance of the rule of law in Zimbabwe.
In the rowdy debate in parliament Wednesday, the MDC was accused of conspiring with the British to destroy the economy and of calling for sanctions against the Mugabe government. The only sanction in place is a travel ban on the ruling party elite to Europe and the United States. Some Zanu PF legislators called for the MDC to be banned ahead of next year's parliamentary elections. In rebuttal, MDC lawmakers argued they maintained contact with many African and Western governments and that Zanu PF members themselves had close contact with Britain over more than 20 years. Spokesman for the MDC, Paul Themba Nyathi, dismissed the parliamentary motion to investigate his party as childish but, along with other members of the party, expressed concern that the parliamentary motion may serve as a precursor for a clampdown on the opposition. MDC's Legal Secretary David Coltart said the parliamentary motion is unprecedented and has no legal basis. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai himself is under indictment for treason for having allegedly plotted to assassinate President Mugabe. He has denied the charges. The British Embassy in Harare declined to comment on the parliamentary debate.
Top
From AFP, 2 July
Zimbabwe crisis talks moving too slowly
President Thabo Mbeki believes talks on Zimbabwe's political crisis are moving too slowly, his spokesman said following a weekend meeting with senior Zimbabwe opposition officials. Mbeki met in Pretoria on Sunday with senior members of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change just days ahead of an end of June deadline set by the South African president for a political solution to the crisis. Mbeki is pressing President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF to enter into negotiations with the opposition to address demands for political reform. "The meeting is part of the president's desire to get a sense of both sides of the issue," said presidential spokesman Bheki Khumalo. "He believes the informal talks between Zanu PF and the MDC are moving too slowly. He is continuing his efforts to find a solution that would assist the people of Zimbabwe," said Khumalo. Zimbabwe has been reeling since Mugabe's re-election in 2002, which the opposition charges was rigged, and a series of economic policies including land reform that have sent inflation soaring and left millions in the country, once southern Africa's breadbasket, in need of food aid. Mugabe has steadfastly ruled out talks with the opposition, charging that the MDC is a front for Western countries bent on driving him from office.
Mbeki met for more than an hour with MDC Vice President Gibson Sibanda and the party's secretary general Welshman Ncube among others in the delegation from Harare who travelled to Pretoria at the president's request. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is unable to travel outside Zimbabwe after his passport was confiscated when he was charged with treason in 2002. The meeting was held after Mbeki's government came in for sharp criticism from opposition parties in South Africa and human rights groups for failing to confront Mugabe on the crisis in his country. Despite the clamour, many in the ANC see Mugabe as a hero of the liberation struggle on the continent who has simply fallen out of favour with the United States and Britain. Mbeki's aides last year said a solution to the Zimbabwe crisis could be reached by the end of June and the president assured visiting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in January that the ruling party and the opposition were engaged in talks.
Top
From The Financial Gazette, 1 July
Mawere to be specified - govt to take over tycoon's assets
Hama Saburi
The government, whose financial support for the businesses owned by the now much-maligned Mutumwa Mawere has sparked off controversy, is mulling plans to specify the beleaguered business mogul as a precursor to taking over some of his assets. Highly placed government sources this week revealed that "the highest office", which is reportedly ruing backing Mawere during his empire's formative years, has since okayed the imminent specification. The mercurial Mawere, an astute if controversial businessman, is based in South Africa from where the government wants him extradited for allegedly violating the country's exchange control regulations. They said the Justice Ministry would be going through the requisite formalities anytime soon which could culminate in the publication of a notice in the government gazette. A specified person is only allowed to use a limited amount of money per day. Apart from having restricted movements, the affected person can only access such limited resources if granted permission by the person authorised to grant such permission according to the law. Mawere's specification could bring to six the number of high profile Zimbabwean business executives who have been specified in recent months for various economic crimes. In May this year, an extraordinary government gazette announced the specification of Zanu PF central committee member, James Makamba, Cecil Muderede, Gilbert Muponda, Nyasha Watyoka and Jabulani Manyanga. Muponda is believed to have skipped the country together with his lawyer, Oscar Ziweni. Although the sources would not say which of the Mawere-owned companies were targeted for takeover by the government, inside sources at Africa Resources Limited (ARL) who spoke on condition of anonymity said the government was aggressively pushing to take over the struggling Shabanie & Mashaba Mines (SMM). ARL is Mawere's investment vehicle through which he owns the asbestos mines. The idea to take over the mines was mooted after the outspoken Mawere fell out with influential ruling ZANU PF officials. According to the sources, it was tabled before Cabinet some three weeks ago.
They said the government would advance the asbestos producer, currently saddled with a crippling cash crunch, with $60 billion. This would bring the total amount SMM owes government to about $80 billion, paving the way for a government takeover through a debt-equity swap. A senior Zanu PF official is said to have already communicated the government's intention to members of the workers' committee when he addressed them at the mine a couple of weeks. The mines are some of Mawere's investments that had previously benefited directly from government financial support. Mawere's ARL, which is said to be registered in the Virgin Islands, United States, got a US$60 million government guarantee in 1998 when it acquired SMM. In December 2000, SMM was also granted a US$60 million five-year pre-export finance facility supported by a Memorandum of Deposit arrangement through the Reserve Bank, which will expire on January 31 2007. This support, which of late has aroused even greater controversy, is now a subject of police investigations. While government has occasionally doled out large chunks of public funds to troubled state-owned companies, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for privately owned companies to get financial backing from the government. In addition to the unusual government financial support, Mawere was subsequently granted a seven-year privilege to market the lucrative asbestos fibre without going through the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe. The privilege was, however, later cancelled in March this year under unclear circumstances. The targeted mines are the ones that Mawere, who until his brush with the law had assumed an unrivalled profile, acquired in 1996 without immediately paying a single dime under what was called financial engineering.
While his deal-making dexterity was hailed in some circles, sceptics did not give him credit for the acquisition of the mines from their previous owners, T and N. This was during the time when some politically well-connected businessmen would literally hold guns to company owners' heads to force them to sell their businesses under the guise of black economic empowerment. Instead, the sceptics attributed Mawere's perceived business success to sufficient political backing from a key member of the ruling Zanu PF to whom he is said to be related maternally. They have since fallen out with the politician. Mawere is facing possible extradition to Zimbabwe on allegations of fraud involving $300 billion and for contravening some sections under the Exchange Control Act. He was due to appear before a Randburg magistrates court yesterday for his extradition hearing. Through his ARL, Mawere has invested into UKI Limited, African Associated Mines, SMM, Steelnet, Turnall, General Beltings, FSI Holdings, First Banking Corporation and ZimRe Holdings among others.
Top
From The Daily Mirror, 2 July
Villagers at war with Mohadi
Pamenus Tuso
Villagers resettled at Lot 10 in Jopembe block of Beitbridge under the A1 resettlement model have vowed to defy a High Court order to vacate the farm over which Home Affairs minister, Kembo Mohadi claims ownership. Last month Justice Maphios Cheda, sitting in Bulawayo, ordered the eviction of the 48 settlers, who also claim ownership to the farm. The villagers, who were allocated land on the sprawling farm in 2000, told the Daily Mirror recently that they would not leave the farm despite the interim High Court order. "We will not accept a situation where a person uses his or her ministerial influence to displace 48 families. We were properly allocated land at the farm and he, Mohadi, is fully aware of the situation," said one of the affected settlers. The settlers accused Mohadi of using his ministerial post to grab the 3 000 hectare plot which has got vast citrus fruits left by the farm’s previous owner, one Wheeler. The settlers, who have since sought political intervention from the Zimbabwe National War Veterans’ Association (ZNWVA) and the ruling party, also accused the minister of circumventing government’s one man one farm policy by registering farms in relatives’ names.
Contacted for comment, Mohadi said he was not aware that the settlers on the farm were defying the court for them to vacate it. "I am not aware of any defiance of a court order and my lawyers have not advised me of such a situation. I will check on that," said Mohadi. Mohadi rears cattle on the farm. The minister, alongside the late provincial governor for Matabeleland South, Steven Nkomo and the then district administrator for Beitbridge, one Mbedzi, were also the first people to be allocated land at Bea Range but the minister reportedly swapped the land with one Pickson Mudawu under unclear circumstances. In July last year, settlers illegally occupying Induba farm in Bubi, owned by businessman and publisher, Ibbo Mandaza, and a consortium of other businesspersons defied a high court eviction order that was served to them by Bulawayo deputy sheriff on July 3. During the aborted eviction, the war veterans and the settlers impounded a truck belonging to the deputy sheriff and severely assaulted the farm’s workers before looting property in full view of police details from the nearby Inyathi police. Mandaza says he has already lost millions of dollars worth of property at the farm. Mohadi’s lawyer, Mthombeni, Mukwesha and Associates recently told a weekly paper that he was "already working with the deputy sheriff because we have also obtained an eviction order."
Top
From cricinfo, 1 July
England set to tour Zimbabwe
Wisden Cricinfo staff
England's controversial Test tour of Zimbabwe has been officially deferred, although the ECB has agreed to undertake an extended one-day tour of the country there later this year. The announcement came today at the conclusion of the ICC's annual meeting at Lord's, and draws a line under a saga that has dogged cricket's authorities ever since last year's World Cup. "The ECB announced yesterday that they will be going," said Ehsan Mani, the ICC's president. "They will be prepared to play more matches than originally arranged, which is very encouraging." The original plan had been for England to play four one-day matches, but now, in a bid to keep the flame of Zimbabwe cricket flickering, they may agree to play five. Pakistan's Test tour, scheduled for November, has also been postponed, although they too will be fulfilling their one-day programme, and Zimbabwe will also be attending this year's Champions' Trophy, which takes place in England in September. And, as fate would have it, their campaign will be launched with a match against England at Edgbaston on September 10.
"I am pleased that the ICC board has accepted the recommendations of the sub-committee in relation to Zimbabwe's playing future," said Mr Mani. "The board has acted to protect the integrity of Test cricket and Zimbabwe will not play this version of the game for the remainder of 2004. "But the team will continue to play one-day cricket, which is an important pathway in providing players with the skills and exposure to perform at the international level. By providing this opportunity, the ICC is ensuring that cricket in Zimbabwe is given every chance to survive." Zimbabwe are scheduled to resume their Test status in January 2005, when Bangladesh return for another visit, but in the mean time, India and South Africa have both agreed to A tours in July and August. It was a development that pleased Peter Chingoka, the chairman of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union. "We are happy with the programme agreed on in Dubai," he said. "[It will] give our young team some much-needed exposure to first-class cricket." The ZCU is currently working on the schedule of the South African tour, which begins in a week's time, and is also exploring areas of support and assistance from the boards of the other Test-playing countries.
The ICC, however, is still monitoring the dispute between the ZCU and its players, and has given the two parties 14 days in which to agree to an arbitration process. "We recognise that this is a Zimbabwean dispute and our clear preference is to have it resolved in Zimbabwe by Zimbabweans," said Mr Mani. "If there is no agreement on the process, Percy Sonn and I will make a final decision on application of the ICC's Disputes Resolution Process after this 14-day period." Sonn, the former president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, was named at the meeting as the ICC's new vice-president, and will take over the top job from Mani next year. Mani, however, was aware that the path to a resolution was unlikely to be smooth, with allegations of racism against the ZCU adding an extra element to the proceedings. "The ZCU is firmly of the view that this system has no jurisdiction," he admitted, "but the ICC's legal advice is clear in saying that it does. It has been agreed that an eminent person or persons will investigate the allegations of racism, and the ICC will now approach these candidates. An announcement will follow in due course." Other business on the agenda this week included the proposed relocation of the ICC's headquarters from London. Two of the venues under discussion were Dubai and Malaysia, although no decision has yet been taken, after a late submission from the British government. In addition, the ICC confirmed that all matches in the forthcoming Asia Cup would be accorded full one-day international status, and three new affiliate members were unveiled. The admittance of China, Mexico and the Isle of Man takes the ICC's global membership to 92.
Top
From The Guardian (UK), 3 July
Thugs attack Zimbabwean opposition rally with axes
Rory Carroll in Johannesburg
Thugs suspected of being loyal to the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, yesterday attacked an opposition party rally with clubs, axes and stones, in an attempt to assassinate the party's leader. Morgan Tsvangirai was addressing supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change at Mvurwi, a town north of the capital, Harare, when some 200 men waded into the crowd, striking men, women and children, said a party spokesman. Hospitals and police could not be reached immediately for confirmation that several people were injured, including a driver who was reportedly smashed in the face with a rock, and a woman hit on the head with a brick, who fell over with a child strapped to her back. Neither Mr Tsvangirai nor any senior MDC members were injured, but the party president considered the incident an attempt on his life, said the spokesman, William Bango. The incident broke a period of relative calm and seemed designed to intimidate the opposition in the run-up to a general election due next year, said analysts. They doubted whether the intent was to kill Mr Tsvangirai.
The former trade union leader is locked in a bitter struggle to oust Mr Mugabe, whom he accuses of rigging elections since 2000. Since the economy started crumbling four years ago, the ruling Zanu PF party has used violence and intimidation, including rape and murder, to cow the opposition. Yesterday's rally was a rare MDC foray into the ruling party's heartland of Mashonaland Central, in effect a no-go area, and a test of how far the opposition could exploit the recent absence of violence to galvanise its demoralised supporters. Mr Bango said the answer came shortly after 2pm when a convoy of vehicles disgorged men wielding axes, clubs and stones. After damaging parked MDC vehicles and injuring drivers, the men moved into an open-air garage where 500 supporters were gathered. There was no immediate response from Zanu PF, which often accuses the opposition of instigating violence. With the ruling party's near total dominance of the public and private media, most Zimbabweans are unlikely to hear about the incident. In February, suspected Mugabe loyalists attacked Mr Tsvangirai and his wife at a rural town south of Harare, but the couple escaped unhurt. Several years ago some men beat him up badly, and allegedly tried to throw him out of an office window, but fled after being disturbed.
Top
From Reuters, 2 July
Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai escapes 'assassination' - party
Harare - Axe-wielding assailants attacked a gathering where Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was speaking on Friday, in what his aide called a failed bid to eliminate President Robert Mugabe's strongest critic. Tsvangirai was addressing a provincial gathering when attackers from the ruling Zanu PF party arrived in a convoy of vehicles, his spokesman William Bango said. There was no immediate independent account of the event and no police comment was available. "They attacked our meeting. This was a clear assassination attempt on our president," Bango said. "Mr Tsvangirai is unhurt but Mr Tsvangirai also feels and believes that this is the beginning of a violent campaign for next year's parliamentary election." His Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is locked in an often violent power struggle with Zanu PF, through which Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. Chief police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena and his two deputies were unavailable in Harare. Bango said some people were hurt in a stampede as they tried to flee the attack in Mvurwi, a small farming town 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Harare, which came just after police marshalling the event had departed.
In a separate statement MDC spokesman Paul Themba-Nyathi alleged Zanu PF "militia" had also damaged some party vehicles. Themba-Nyathi said the courage of the MDC youth in confronting their attackers had saved MDC leaders from a situation that "could easily have been tragic." "The MDC condemns this unprovoked thuggery. It brings to serious question Zanu PF's seriousness about creating conditions for free and fair elections,'' Themba-Nyathi said. Tsvangirai, 52, is accused of plotting to kill Mugabe and seize power ahead of 2002 presidential polls. He denies the charges. His year-long trial ended in February and a verdict from the judge and two assessors is expected later this year. He faces a possible death penalty. The MDC - which disputes the validity of Mugabe's latest re-election - has hinted it might boycott parliamentary elections in March because of what it calls unfair electoral laws. The MDC says dozens of supporters were killed by Zanu PF militants ahead of general parliamentary elections in 2000 and ahead of the 2002 presidential poll, and that its leaders and activists are routinely arrested as part of a government program to destroy the opposition.
In February Tsvangirai said youth militia loyal to Mugabe had thrown stones at his car while he was on his way to his rural home, but no one was hurt. Mugabe, 80, has predicted his opponent, a fiery trade unionist under whom the workers' movement split from Zanu PF in 1988, will fade into obscurity after the poll. The five-year-old MDC has drawn most support from city people who blame Mugabe for Zimbabwe's worst economic crisis since independence. It occupies a third of the seats in the 150-member parliament. Mugabe, whose current term as president lasts until 2008, denies charges from critics that he has mismanaged the economy and instead blames opponents for sabotage in an attempt to punish him for seizing white-owned farms for landless blacks. South African President Thabo Mbeki has acknowledged his policy of quiet diplomacy has so far failed to resolve a political crisis which has seen Zimbabwe walk out of the Commonwealth of mainly former British colonies.
Top
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 3 July
US warns against Zimbabwe
Washington - The United States warned its citizens on Friday of the risk of travel to crisis-ridden Zimbabwe. "Zimbabwe continues to be in the midst of political, economic and humanitarian crises with serious implications for the security situation in the country," the US State Department said in a travel warning. "The Department of State warns US citizens of the risks of travel to Zimbabwe," the advisory said, urging them "to take those measures they deem appropriate to ensure their well-being". Zimbabwe has been reeling since Robert Mugabe's re-election in 2002, which the opposition charges was rigged, and a series of economic policies including land reform that have sent inflation soaring and left millions in the country, once Southern Africa's breadbasket, in need of food aid. Mugabe has steadfastly ruled out talks with the opposition, charging that it was a front for Western countries bent on driving him from office. The State Department statement warned that Zimbabwe's humanitarian crisis is expected to worsen in coming months and may lead to possible large-scale migration of Zimbabweans to urban or border areas, with further disruption and an increase in crime and instability. It advised Americans to avoid commercial farms, especially those occupied by settlers or so-called "war veterans", who are typically young government supporters acting allegedly with impunity outside the law. In 2002, US embassy staff members were detained and one was beaten by war veterans on a farm near Harare.
Top
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 2 July
Torture victim sues Zimbabwe govt
Gift Phiri
Human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba has taken the Zimbabwean government to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights to answer charges of torture by state security agents while representing an opposition legislator. Shumba, through his legal counsel, David Padilla, brought the action against President Robert Mugabe's regime claiming he was kidnapped, tortured and made to swear allegiance to Mugabe by Zimbabwean security agents while representing MDC St Mary's MP Job Sikhala in January last year. In his papers, Shumba said he had sought legal relief through a number of channels in Zimbabwe - all in vain. "Considering the fact that Shumba is no longer in the country where the remedies would be sought and that he fled the country against his will after being tortured and his life threatened, it is the complainant's submission that remedies cannot be pursued without impediment and hence are not available," said Padilla in papers lodged with the secretary of the commission, Germain Baricako.
Shumba was arrested while taking instructions from his client for legal representation in a matter where Sikhala was being charged with attempting to overthrow the government. According to the papers submitted to the commission, riot police raided the room where the meeting was taking place and confiscated Shumba's practising certificate, diary, files, documents as well as his mobile phone. He further alleges that he was slapped across the face several times and kicked with booted feet by a number of officers. "At around midday he was removed from the cell, a hood placed over his head and thereafter he was driven for about an hour to an unknown location where he was led down what seemed like a tunnel that led to a room underground," the papers said. "The hood was removed and he was stripped naked. With his hands in handcuffs and feet bound in a foetal position, a plank was thrust between his legs and arms. Thereafter some of about 15 interrogators began to assault him with booted feet and gave him the option of 'telling the truth or dying a slow and painful death'."
The legal papers allege that he was intermittently electrocuted and was forced to take a substance that made him lose control of his body functions. "At 7:00 pm he was unbound and forced to write several documents under dictation by the interrogators in which he implicated himself and several senior MDC members in subversive activities," the papers state. "He was forced to agree to work for the Central Intelligence Organisation, to swear allegiance to President Robert Mugabe and to promise that he would not disclose what had happened to him to the independent press or the courts." Shumba was only set free after his lawyers won a High Court injunction ordering his release after several attempts to gain access to him had been thwarted. Central to Shumba's case is a provision of the African Charter on Human Rights which guarantees that every human being is entitled to respect for his life and the integrity of his person. "The electrocuting of the complainant and applying of chemical substance into his body is manifestly in direct contravention of the right to personal integrity as guaranteed in Article 4 of the Charter," said Padilla. "By subjecting the complainant to conditions of physical and mental harm with such practices as electrocution, beating and denial of food and water, the respondent subjected the applicant to torture or otherwise cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in contravention of the provisions of Article 5 of the Charter," he said. The case is set to be heard during the next session of the commission.
Top
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 2 July
The artful codger
Vincent Kahiya
As African heads of state gather in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa next week for the African Union summit, Zimbabwe is not likely to be high on the agenda. This is despite the fact that at last year’s AU summit President Thabo Mbeki - considered a key broker in the quest to resolve Zimbabwe’s political malaise - told the world that there would be settlement in the country by June this year. But, by the eve of the recent Group of Eight (G8) economic powers summit, Mbeki sounded less optimistic: "In my view, they are moving too slowly. That’s my view," he is reported to have commented. "Moving too slowly" is an understatement. Mbeki was expected to bring Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to the table for formal negotiations. To date, Zanu PF and the MDC have failed to find enough common ground for official talks. For more than a year Mbeki’s office has told critics that there are talks, or talks about talks, going on. In reality that has turned out to be empty talk. Last year, after meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mbeki told the press that Zimbabwe would amend its security laws. This has proved to be a myth. Mozambican President and AU chairperson Joachim Chissano told the World Economic Forum in Durban last June that African leaders’ engagement with Zimbabwe had resulted in President Robert Mugabe agreeing to repeal oppressive laws against the media and the opposition - another myth. Zimbabwean Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa was quoted in the media on Thursday as saying the draconian Public Order and Security Act (Posa) is "the only tool that we have to fight lawlessness by those who want to remove a legitimately elected government". The Zimbabwean government has also used the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act to close newspapers - the Daily News, the Daily News on Sunday and recently The Tribune. Freedom of assembly and political mobilisation is still limited thanks to the police’s selective and often erroneous application of Posa.
Human rights groups in Zimbabwe have sent a communication to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights detailing the subjugation of democratic principles. The final report of the commission is expected to be tabled in Addis Ababa next week - albeit with little expectation of an indictment of Zimbabwe by the AU. The expropriation of commercial farmland has continued, with long lists of properties to be acquired published in state papers every Friday. Large tracks of land that have already been acquired have remained fallow because the new farmers cannot raise money to till the land and grow crops. The Zimbabwean government has promised to protect the property rights of South Africans farming in Zimbabwe. However, the situation on the ground says otherwise. Sugar plantations in the south-eastern lowveld - in which South African investors have interests - are current targets of expropriation. Die-hard optimists will point to announcements by Chinamasa last weekend that the government will amend its electoral system for the better as evidence of Mugabe’s reform and a step towards a political settlement in the country. Zimbabwe announced last weekend that its electoral laws should now conform to Southern African Development Community norms and standards. There are plans to appoint an independent electoral commission to run the polls. The new Zimbabwe Electoral Commission will replace current poll supervisors, including the registrar general and the Electoral Supervisory Commission. There are proposals to replace wooden ballot boxes with transparent ones and to ensure that polling takes place on one day. The planned changes dovetail with some of the demands made by the MDC regarding the conduct of the electoral process.
However, MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube had serious reservations about the proposed electoral reforms. "The MDC believes that in order to have an independent electoral commission the method of appointment must be a subject of negotiation by all stakeholders, including civil society, the MDC and Zanu PF," he said. "Consequently the MDC is opposed to the appointment system, which might lead to a commission that is completely subservient to Zanu PF like the Media and Information Commission led by Tafataona Mahoso." Zanu PF spokesman Nathan Sha-muyarira said the changes are good because "the entire electoral process will be handled by the new commission - we will have nothing to do with it". Rights groups contended that Mugabe still retains other instruments that could sway the 2005 election in his favour. One question remains to be asked - despite all these blemishes, will Mugabe get a standing ovation in Addis Ababa?
Top
From BBC News, 3 July
Zimbabwe media loses its voice
By Alastair Leithead
Driving through Zimbabwe listening to the radio, or watching television in the evenings, all you see or hear is Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, the state controlled media. Unless you have access to short wave radio or can afford satellite TV, which few people can, you only get one side of the story, and that is the government's. Combine that with the way the independent press has been silenced and you realise the government is only telling the people what it wants them to hear. There really is not a voice for opposition or criticism in the country. "Sometimes they just completely invent stories," said Andrew Moyse, who runs the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, an independent organisation based in the capital Harare. "During the run-up to the presidential election they claimed for weeks that there were anthrax attacks against ruling party officials and they were all utterly fictitious. In fact it ceases to become journalism, it's just fiction writing - propaganda fiction writing."
The project monitors the news content of the private and government-controlled media. One of the workers said that the presenters of the news programmes hardly believe in what they are saying. "They will tell you there is no choice as a journalist as there is just nowhere to work and times are hard - so in the end they just take their salary and lie," he said. There are many state controlled papers, but few independent voices left. What used to be the biggest selling daily in the country - The Daily News - was closed down last year along with the Daily News on Sunday, under the government's controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Its editor William Saidi believes the main aim of the act was to destroy his newspaper. "The Daily News had overtaken the government's newspaper The Herald in circulation and was accused of influencing the elections in 2002, so as some form of punishment the government decided they would ban the Daily News. There are people who come up to me in the street and ask: 'When is our paper coming back' - there is a now huge gap in information," he added.
This gap makes life very difficult for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which cannot get its message out to the people. State media does not report its viewpoint or its criticism of the government. "Freedom of expression is limited to a few weekly newspapers read by a tiny fraction of the population with perhaps circulation of 200,000," says John Robertson an independent economist based in the capital Harare. "The government knows that it has the votes wrapped up because it can get to them with radio and television and it has absolutely prohibited any form of opposition in that territory." Parliamentary elections are next March - and unless changes are made soon, the media will be a weapon in the hands of the ruling party.
Top
From The Sunday Times (SA), 4 July
Domestics fleeced Zim's top banker - but he didn't even notice illicit forex going missing
Sunday Times Foreign Desk
Two domestic workers employed by Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank governor went on a wild spending spree, apparently using foreign currency he had stashed away. A police docket states that Inetty Nyakonda, 42, and Rudo Nemutenzi, 21, stole tens of thousands of US dollars, British pounds and Zimbabwe dollars from Gideon Gono between 1999 and 2002. But, the docket says, Gono did not know his money had been stolen. Under Zimbabwe's Exchange Control Act, it is illegal to keep foreign currency at home. The women were arrested after police received an anonymous tip-off in November 2002. But charges against them were withdrawn when Gono recovered some of the money - and sold one of the women's properties. Gono - who spearheads the country's economic recovery efforts and an anti-corruption crackdown - was chief executive of the former Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (now Jewel Bank) at the time. The Sunday Times recently reported that Gono had secured foreign currency to fund President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace's trips abroad while he worked at the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe. In one case, Gono allegedly authorised an order to raise US$100 000 for Grace Mugabe on January 11 2002. His former bank was also implicated in allowing Finance Minister Chris Kuruneri, who is now in jail, to move R5.2-million illegally to South Africa to build a mansion in Llandudno, Cape Town, and buy other properties. Gono gave banks amnesty for illegal foreign currency deals done before December 1 last year, before he took office. But a police report - titled CR 155/11/02 - shows that Gono did not only illegally procure money for Zimbabwe's ruling elite. In contravention of foreign exchange controls, he also stashed foreign currency - apparently bought on the black market - in his bedroom drawers at his opulent home in Borrowdale, Harare.
According to the police docket, Nyakonda and Nemutenzi stole from Gono for years, but he was unaware of it until the police received a tip-off about their spending spree. Both women admitted to stealing money, including foreign currency, the docket said. Foreign currency was found in Nyakondo's handbag. The police report states that Nyakonda stole US$3 000, £520 and Z$102 830 in December 2001 from Gono's home. It also states that Nemutenzi "stole US$500 and a lot of Zimbabwean dollars [Z$1.6--million]". Nyakonda allegedly used the money to buy two residential stands in Kuwadzana, a high-density suburb in Harare, and a video recorder. She paid a deposit of Z$140 000 for one of the stands and Z$115 000 for the other. She paid Z$300 000 later. Nemutenzi allegedly used the money to build a house at her rural home in Murehwa. She also bought a double bed, a three-CD changer, a 55cm colour television, a video recorder, a black metal TV stand, velvet sofas, a coffee table with four stools, a solar panel with a 24V battery and electrical accessories, and two cellphones. An affidavit by Gono - stamped by the police on May 2 2003 - confirms the thefts. A statement by Gono's wife, Helen, says money and household goods had gone "missing" from 1999 to 2002, but "'I did not report it, because I had no evidence. Then on 4 November 2002 we were told by the police who had phoned my husband that our employees were stealing." After the domestic workers were arrested, Gono insisted on selling the property to recover his money - which is against the law because the women had not been convicted. Gono withdrew the charges after the money was recovered, making it difficult for courts to try the case. Repeated efforts to get comment from Gono failed.
Top
From The Sunday Times (SA), 4 July
Mugabe faces election pressure
Sunday Times Foreign Desk
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has approved sweeping electoral reforms because of pressure from his neighbours. Diplomatic sources said regional leaders forced Mugabe to usher in the reforms to avoid embarrassment at next month's key Southern African Development Community summit in Mauritius, where a "SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections" draft will be adopted. The draft encourages SADC member states to "establish impartial, all-inclusive, competent and accountable national electoral bodies staffed by qualified personnel, as well as competent legal entities including effective constitutional courts to arbitrate in the event of disputes arising from the conduct of elections". It also says they must "safeguard human and civil liberties of all citizens, including freedom of movement, assembly, association, expression and campaigning". SADC member states are further encouraged to "take necessary measures and precautions to prevent the perpetration of fraud, rigging, or any other illegal practices throughout the whole electoral process". President Thabo Mbeki has also been pushing for the reforms in a bid to salvage his eroded credibility after he promised Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis would be resolved by June. Mbeki met with Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leaders last Sunday to chart the way forward ahead of the elapse of his deadline on Wednesday.
Succumbing to pressure, Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF two weeks ago approved sweeping reforms to revamp the country's archaic electoral system. Consultations on the draft had been under way for some time. Zimbabwe is the only SADC country where electoral officials are all appointed by Mugabe. Official sources said Mugabe agreed to the SADC draft to avoid censure at the summit. Zimbabwe has in recent years been the focus of SADC attention. There has been increasing pressure at home and abroad for Mugabe to modify the electoral system. The MDC has been demanding changes through public campaigns and private talks with Zanu PF. The reforms will result in the introduction of an independent electoral commission, voting over one day instead of two, the use of transparent ballot boxes in place of wooden ones, and the counting of votes at polling centres. Although the reforms were welcomed, analysts warned they would not level the playing field unless the poisoned political climate was addressed. Suspected Zanu PF militants disrupted opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's rally at Mvurwi in Mashonaland Central Province on Friday. The MDC said the militants used "stones, knobkerries and axes" to attack Tsvangirai and other party leaders.
Top
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 2 July
Hippo Pools resort under threat
Munyaradzi Wasosa
The security of workers and wildlife at Hippo Pools Wilderness Camp is under serious threat from poachers and suspected Zanu PF activists who are wreaking havoc in the camp, allegedly working in cahoots with National Parks employees, the Zimbabwe Independent heard last week. Hippo Pools Wilderness Camp is in the Shamva/Mazowe area in Mashonaland Central. In an interview, Iain Jarvis, the executive director of Harare-based Wilderness Africa Trust (WAT) and owner of the Hippo Pools project, said unidentified people armed with rifles visited the camp a fortnight ago and fired several shots. "Workers at the camp told me that people engaged in hunting, together with the usual National Parks personnel, had been to the camp, where they fired several rifle shots on June 15," Jarvis said. The National Parks and Wildlife Authority leases the no-hunting 10 000-hectare camp to Jarvis. The camp is part of the 74 000- hectare Mufurudzi Safari Area under National Parks management. Jarvis alleges that Cloud Masaraure, a Mufurudzi game warden, is using Zanu PF youths and local poachers to intimidate camp workers and tourists who visit the camp. "Masaraure is definitely behind all this, and has for some time been disrupting tourism activities at the camp using Zanu PF youths," Jarvis said. In October 2003, Zanu PF youths from Shamva invaded the camp, forcing tourists to flee in the middle of the night. A source privy to the goings-on in the area told this paper that in May, a group of Zanu PF youths hired a truck from neighbouring Natural Stone mine intending to launch a fresh raid on the camp. "The truck was barred from proceeding to the camp in Shamva by locals who sympathised with the Hippo Pools project," the source said.
Jarvis' lawyers, Honey & Blanckenberg, on June 2 wrote Masaraure a letter warning him to desist from his activities. "We have been instructed that at your insistence and request, you are organising members of Zanu PF to carry out yet another invasion at the Hippo Pools Wilderness Camp," the letter said. "If such actions are carried out, we will hold you personally responsible and institute proceedings for damages in your individual capacity." Jarvis said Masaraure was using the youths to destroy no-hunting signs erected around the camp. Masaraure's activities began in 2003. On November 5 2003, Jarvis wrote a letter to former National Parks director-general Vitalis Chadenga, alleging Masaraure was using Zanu PF youths to occupy the resort. "So far, we have had four incidents whereby Masaraure has brought in local political people to help him solve his problems in Mufurudzi," Jarvis said. "I confirmed that Masaraure transported Zanu PF youths in a National Parks vehicle and used them to terrorise people who had to go into hiding."This paper has in its possession a copy of a letter written to National Parks and Wildlife Authority director-general, Dr Morris Mtsambiwa, by the Zimbabwe Association of Tourist and Safari Operators (Zatso) dated June 10. "As you may well know, there was recently an indication that the invaders were trying to make another effort to claim the Hippo Pools area, but the invasion did not take place," Zatso said. Mtsambiwa could not be reached for comment. The Independent was told that he was attending a series of meetings this week.
Top
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 2 July
Harare forfeits billions in Munich aid
Augustine Mukaro, recently in Germany
Equipment worth billions of dollars destined for Zimbabwe lies idle in Munich after the German city suspended its cooperation with Harare last year. The Zimbabwe Independent can reveal that Harare's former twin city, Munich, had sourced hospital and other medical equipment, computers, water treatment equipment and refuse removal vehicle spare parts but could not send the much-needed consignment after Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo suspended popularly-elected Harare mayor Elias Mudzuri and virtually took over the running of the city. Mudzuri was subsequently dismissed in April this year. In an interview with the Independent last week, Munich mayor Hep Monatzeder's personal assistant Renate Hechenberger said cooperation would remain frozen until the political situation in Harare improves. "Cooperation with Harare remains frozen until someone democratically-elected by the people of Harare takes over the mayoral office," Hechenberger said. She said Munich had resolved to suspend links for as long as there was no popularly-elected contact person trusted by the people of Harare. "We initially didn't want to stop our cooperation with Harare because of the positive response we got from the citizens of Germany following an appeal by Harare residents. But because of the government of Zimbabwe's continued interference and subsequent dismissal of the mayor we had no option. We are however still receiving donations from well-wishers but these will not be shipped to Harare until democracy prevails in the city."
Hechenberger said when Mudzuri was in office he launched an appeal to Munich for donations to overhaul clinics, the refuse collection system and water treatment of the city of Harare. "A delegation from Munich visited Harare to assess the need. When the appeal was beginning to pay dividends, the mayor was suspended," she said. She said the city of Munich was holding back water treatment machine spare parts, refuse removal vehicle spares, computers and medical equipment all donated by private companies. "We hope to resume our cooperation with Harare as soon the powers to run the city affairs are returned to the electorate. In the meantime we are strengthening our links with private and civic groups that are working for the development of the local authority," Hechenberger said. Prior to the freezing of cooperation projects between the two cities, Munich was helping Harare with technical know-how and exchange programmes in the fields of water supply, waste management, health care and data processing. Mudzuri had signed an agreement on the cooperation.
Top
From ZWNEWS, 4 July
Book review: Where We Have Hope
Hiding behind a car, his head bleeding, as a terrifying armed band of Robert Mugabe supporters clubbed and stoned people taking part in a peace march in central Harare four years ago, journalist Andrew Meldrum wondered what had happened to the Zimbabwe that promised freedom and liberation. It was something that Meldrum, who was seized by police, driven to Harare airport and illegally expelled in May 2003, had cause to ponder often in 23 years of reporting in Zimbabwe. His book, "Where We Have Hope," is, however, far more than a chronicle of disillusion by an idealistic white American who arrived in the country a few months after independence in 1980. It is a compelling first hand account, part personal, part political history, of what went wrong: the sheer cruelty and brutality that has enabled Mugabe to cling to power; the politicisation of the police, military and top judiciary; the strangling of press freedom; the corruption; the attacks on whites, gays, church leaders or whoever to try to bolster waning support; the rigged and violent elections; South African protection of Mugabe; and, through it all, the enduring courage and dignity of many Zimbabweans as their hopes for change were dashed by an ever-more repressive regime.
Two points stand out. First, how much worse it is now than it was even after Mugabe started seizing white-owned farms in 2000 in response to losing a constitutional referendum. For example, Meldrum describes crowds of opposition Movement for Democratic Change supporters booing and jeering Mugabe as he arrived at Parliament after claiming election victory (any public gathering now forbidden without police permission); a news conference marked by tough questions from foreign correspondents (all now expelled); and, a bit earlier in 1999, an unprecedented letter to Mugabe from senior judges (all now removed) urging his government to uphold the rule of law and obey court orders. Second, Meldrum’s unshakeable belief that democracy, respect for human rights, a free press and sound economic management will be restored in Zimbabwe under a new government. But when and at what cost? "I cannot say," concludes Meldrum, correspondent for Britain’s Guardian newspaper and now based in South Africa. "It is not known how many Zimbabweans will be beaten, tortured and killed in the struggle to regain their freedoms. But I am absolutely sure that the country will return to its democratic ideals … The Zimbabwean electorate will emerge from the struggle strengthened and considerably wiser.
Meldrum, a hands on reporter, combines political and economic analysis with memorable human stories. During the killings in Matabeleland by Mugabe’s 5th Brigade in the 1980s, Meldrum went to see for himself. At a mission hospital he and three other journalists were saved from detection by troops when a brave doctor hid them in a cupboard. On the day of the Harare peace march, with Mugabe’s men screaming "Hondo, Hondo," (War, War), Meldrum was rescued by a young black computer programmer. "They were attacking all the whites. I saw they were coming back so that is why I helped you," the man said, driving Meldrum from the melee. "We have all got to fight this." Violence and human rights abuses in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe are so widespread that the words can sound threadbare. Meldrum’s descriptions, however, of individual victims and attacks are truly shocking. James Zhou lying face down in Zvishavane hospital before the June 2000 parliamentary elections. With his brother, Finos, MDC candidate for remote Mberengwa West, James had been abducted by the war veteran terrorising the inaccessible area, Biggie Chitoro. Finos was tortured and died. James survived with two gaping bloody craters where his buttocks should have been. "He had burns, cuts and bruises everywhere on his body, but his backside had been completely flayed off."
There’s the big-spending Grace Mugabe at a Zanu PF election rally, viewing the crowd with contempt as she played with her gold sunglasses; grinning policemen waving to the killers of white farmer Martin Olds as they drove away; Mugabe in an early interview - "stiff, starchy and distant at all times." Meldrum sees Mugabe and his immediate predecessor, Ian Smith, the country’s last white leader, as "two sides of the same coin," both using "similar political cunning and brutality to maintain their rule." Smith now justifying all the wrongs of his rule by pointing to Mugabe, and Mugabe justifying his violent rule by citing Smith, and saying he is just ridding Zimbabwe of Rhodesia’s past. This book, with its depiction of the heroism of doctors, teachers, trade unionists, housewives, lawyers and many others who refuse to accept Mugabe’s repression, makes it difficult to avoid a sense of hope. It also makes it impossible to escape a sense of dread as Mugabe gears up to claim another victory in parliamentary elections scheduled next year.
Where We Have Hope. By Andrew Meldrum. Published by John Murray
Top
From The Sunday Independent (SA), 4 July
AU slams abuses in Zimbabwe
Beauregard Tromp
Addis Ababa - The African Union has lambasted President Robert Mugabe's government for flagrant human rights abuses. It is Africa's most damning condemnation of Zimbabwe yet. A report adopted by the AU executive council on Saturday slams the government for the arrests and torture of opposition members of parliament and human rights lawyers, the arrests of journalists, the stifling of freedom of expression and clampdowns on other civil liberties. This is the harshest criticism Mugabe has had to bear from his continental peers. The report was adopted on Saturday by the AU's executive council, which comprises foreign ministers of the 53 member states, despite strong opposition from Zimbabwe. It was compiled by the AU's African Commission on Human and People's Rights, which sent a mission to Zimbabwe from June 24 to 28 2002, shortly after the presidential elections. The report was apparently not submitted to the AU's 2003 summit because it had not been translated into French. It will now be considered by the AU's annual summit of heads of state and government that begins in Addis Ababa on Tuesday.
After speaking to victims of political violence and other victims of torture in Zimbabwe, the mission said that "at the very least" human rights violations and arbitrary arrests had occurred. It was particularly alarmed by the arrest of Stenford Moyo, the president of the Law Society in Zimbabwe. "The mission is prepared and able to rule that the government cannot wash its hands from responsibility for all these happenings," read the report. "It is evident that a highly charged atmosphere has been prevailing, many land activists undertook their illegal actions in the expectation that government was understanding and that police would not act against them. Government did not act soon enough and firmly enough against those guilty of gross criminal acts. By its statements and political rhetoric, and by its failure at critical moments to uphold the rule of law, the government failed to chart a path that signalled a commitment to the rule of law," the report said. The mission was not able to find definitively that the human rights violations were part of an orchestrated plan by the Zanu PF government. But the report said the Zimbabwean state did acknowledge to the observers that "excesses did occur".
Stan Mudenge, the Zimbabwean foreign minister, protested vehemently against the adoption of the report at the meeting on Saturday, stating that the Zimbabwean government had not been given an opportunity to review and respond to the report. But Oluyemi Adeniji, the chairperson of the AU executive council, and Oluyemi Adeniji, Nigeria's foreign minister, disagreed and allowed the report to stand, with the minister's objections noted. The report recommended that Zimbabwe needed mediators to help it "withdraw from the precipice". It suggested that religious organisations were best suited to this task and further suggested that "the media needs to be freed from the shackles of control to voice opinions and reflect societal beliefs freely". The report also called for a repeal of draconian laws and asked the government to abide by the judgments of the supreme court, which should be free of political pressure. The report said the whole the mission found Zimbabwean society to be highly polarised. "The land question is not in itself the cause of division. It appears that at the heart is a society in search of the means for change and divided about how best to achieve change after two decades of dominance by a political party that carried the hopes and aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe through the liberation struggle into independence," the report said.
Top
From the Mail & Guardian (SA), 5 July
Mugabe slams door on negotiations
Harare - President Robert Mugabe ruled out any new talks with Zimbabwe's opposition on the country's economic and political crisis, citing its alleged ties with Britain, the former colonial power, the state Sunday Mail reported. Addressing a ruling party assembly, Mugabe alleged the Movement for Democratic Change was taking orders from British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his government. Southern African countries that have called for the resumption of dialogue with the opposition "should have realised by now the MDC is an agent of Mr Blair," Mugabe was quoted as saying. "We cannot have serious discussions with the MDC as they don't have any authority to decide. They still have to report to their masters in Europe," Mugabe said on Saturday, according to the newspaper. He said Blair had acknowledged in the British Parliament last week that Britain was trying to help bring about "regime change" in Zimbabwe, the newspaper reported. "If there are any talks that need to be done, they have to be between the British and the Zimbabwean governments," Mugabe was quoted as saying.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has been trying to broker new talks in Zimbabwe after a first round collapsed after disputed presidential elections in 2002. Mbeki had predicted new talks on an internal political deal would be completed by June this year. No formal talks have taken place since the first round collapsed when Mugabe demanded the opposition recognise his disputed victory in the presidential polls. Opposition leaders and independent observers say Mugabe, the only ruler since independence in 1980, used intimidation and vote rigging to win re-election and continue his authoritarian rule. The opposition refused to drop a court challenge on the poll results. Neighbouring South Africa's policy of "quiet diplomacy" toward Zimbabwe has drawn domestic and international criticism. Zimbabwe faces its worst political and economic crisis since independence from Britain, with soaring inflation and acute shortages of food, fuel, medicine and essential goods. Mugabe has also intensified a crackdown on dissent, arresting opposition and labour leaders and shutting down the country's only independent daily newspaper.
Top
From The Zimbabwe Standard, 5 July
Daggers drawn for Byo Zanu PF polls
By Loughty Dube
Bulawayo - Zanu PF political heavyweights here are set to clash again today in elections to choose the party’s provincial executive, a few days after district co-ordinating committee (DCC) polls were aborted. Elections for the province’s DCC failed to take place last week after two factions - allegedly owing allegiance to former provincial chairman and war veterans’ national leader, Jabulani Sibanda, and another Politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa - clashed. However, tensions have risen ahead of this weekend’s polls after Sibanda announced that he would once again stand for the provincial chairman ’s post in today’s elections. Other candidates include Elliot Ndlovu and Abu Basuthu, both said to enjoy the support of senior Zanu PF Politburo members in the Matabeleland provinces who are opposed to Sibanda. "The elections are definitely going on because the party wants the national restructuring process to be completed as a matter of urgency," said Zanu PF deputy national commissar, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu. Questioned how the provincial elections would take place when DCC polls have not been completed, Ndlovu said Zanu PF had a criteria to ensure that the elections go ahead uninterrupted. "Despite last weekend’s setback this weekend’s elections would go ahead," Ndlovu stressed.
The Standard understands that the elections might be stormy because some senior party leaders had once again brought up the issue of Sibanda’s eligibility to contest elections while under suspension. Sibanda was suspended from Zanu PF last year on 14 counts of misconduct that included lack of respect of the local leadership and running the party without following laid down procedures. "As far as I am concerned he (Sibanda) was thrown out of the party on the recommendations of Bulawayo province and a disciplinary committee chaired by Manyika found him guilty of 11 of the 14 charges that were being levelled against him," Ndlovu said. He said he was not aware of any decision passed to lift the suspension on Sibanda, thereby allowing him to contest today’s elections. The war veterans’ leader fell out of favour with senior party leaders in Matabeleland after accusations that he was backing Emmerson Mnangagwa in the succession issue in a province believed to be heavily campaigning for the Zanu PF national chairman John Nkomo.
Party sources said senior members feared Sibanda, being an influential person in all the three Matabeleland provinces because of his position as the national chairman of the veterans’ association, which has better grassroot support, would influence the Matabeleland vote. If Sibanda wins the chairmanship post, the sources said, some senior politicians feared Mnangagwa would have an upper-hand in the region when it comes to choosing President Robert Mugabe’s successor. Sibanda later told The Standard that he was not backing Mnangagwa for any post. Zanu PF national commissar, Elliot Manyika, and his team that includes Nicholas Goche, Patrick Chinamasa and John Nkomo, is expected to supervise the weekend elections. Ironically, this is the same team that formed the core of the disciplinary committee that suspended Sibanda from the party last year.
Top
From The Sunday Mirror, 4 July
Sibanda set to bounce back
Nkululeko Sibanda
War Veterans national chairman, Jabulani Sibanda, is set to bounce back as Zanu PF Bulawayo province chairman amid revelations that he stood, as of last Friday, unopposed for the post in elections set for today. In an interview, provincial secretary for information and publicity, Mkhululi Dube said his department, which oversees the endorsement of candidates for elections, had only received only Sibanda’s application. Said Dube: "Nominations and supporting letters were sent out to all those that intended to contest the chairman’s post and all the other posts that are to be contested for on Sunday (today). "As I am speaking now, my department has not received papers from any other candidate except Sibanda. If things continue to be as they are, he (Sibanda) will become the eventual winner and automatic representative of the party." Dube added that there were other candidates that had expressed interest in the post who were yet to make up their minds as to whether they should submit their papers or not. Named as possible candidates were Dickson Basuthu, Elliot Ndlovu, and one Baleni, among others.
Asked on the candidature of the sitting chairman, Silas Dlomo, Dube said he was not aware whether Dlomo would contest the election, as he had not submitted his papers to his (Dube’s) office. Dube also revealed that elections for the posts of vice-chairman, secretary and committee members would also be held on the same day, thereby ushering in a new executive for the province. "I was with the national commissar, Elliot Manyika yesterday (Thursday) and we were preparing for the elections. Those "renegades" that say the elections should not go ahead will be shamed as we are going to hold the elections and hold them in a peaceful manner," Dube said. The elections have been mired in serious confusion with some members of the party in Bulawayo arguing that Sibanda was not a member of the party in the province following his suspension last year.
However, in a prior interview on Thursday, Sibanda said there was no way anyone would push him out of the party. "I am a Zimbabwean who is entitled to join the party of his choice and as such, I chose to belong to Zanu PF. I am the only person who can remove Zanu PF from my soul, body, and mind, and anyone trying to squeeze the party out of me or me out of the party, is doing nothing but just wasting his precious time," said Sibanda. He also charged that all the allegations that were heaped on him by the provincial leadership were malicious rumours aimed at tarnishing his image and make him appear as a confused person. "Those that say I organised a demonstration against the party leadership, which is their major borne of contention, should ask themselves where then the demonstrators are. "I can tell you that the demonstrators were genuine people with a genuine concern and if they are party supporters, then the party structures should deal with them in an appropriate manner. They are not ghosts, but real people and I do not see any reason why the said stalwarts can first eject these people but rush to want to have me ejected out of the party," said Sibanda.
Top
From The Independent (UK), 5 June
Black rhinos face extinction in Zimbabwe as Mugabe seizes game parks for hunting
By Basildon Peta
The black rhino is a species that has returned from the brink. After falling by 96 per cent in the 20 years to 1992, its population began to grow again thanks to the efforts of conservationists. Now it is returning to the plains across Africa. Except in Zimbabwe. Under pressure from rampant poaching and human settlement on game reserves seized by Robert Mugabe's regime, the animal is vanishing from the grasslands where it once prospered. As the government considers a new law to nationalise the remaining private game parks, which hold most of the rhinos still in Zimbabwe, conservationists fear the country's population is now only a few months away from extinction. Under the new law, which is being considered by Mr Mugabe's cabinet, the state would seize all remaining game parks owned by whites. Mr Mugabe's ministers have already allocated themselves lucrative land on which to operate hunting safaris. Until Mr Mugabe started his seizure of farms in 2000, Zimbabwe had the single largest concentration of rhinos in the world with more than 500 in its national and private game parks. More than half of these have been lost to poaching in the past two years alone and only about 200 remain, said Johnny Rodrigues, the head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force, a wildlife advocacy group. "If they seize the remaining private game parks, the VIPs will move in and shoot all the remaining rhinos," Mr Rodrigues said. The term VIP is regularly used in Zimbabwe to refer to those close to the President. "A single rhino horn fetches £60,000 in China and that's a good enough incentive for them to destroy the few that are left." Mugabe loyalists who have allocated themselves hunting concessions around national parks have already profited by allowing South African hunters to go after quarry without following conservation rules. The plight of the black rhino in Zimbabwe stands in sharp contrast to its success in the rest of Africa, where good conservation practices have put the giant mammal on the road to recovery. The World Conservation Union estimates that the number of black rhinos in Africa is around 3,600, a rise of 500 over the past two years.
"The situation is really distressing," said Mr Rodrigues. Rhinos would be wiped out in the country unless drastic measures were taken, he said. Private parks no longer offer protection for animals, as they are being invaded and occupied by supporters of the regime. Those who invade the private game parks to poach animals do so with impunity. Law enforcement officers and rangers from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management ignore them. In several national parks, various species of animals had already been wiped out, Mr Rodrigues said. One game park owner, who requested anonymity, said that the plan to nationalise the remaining private game parks would mark the end of Zimbabwe as a recognised wildlife haven. "I spend at least US$400,000 to maintain my game park with little in return every month. Since the government doesn't have money to invest and maintain these parks, Mugabe's supporters will just move in and kill after nationalisation." The African wild dog was also close to extinction in some parts of Zimbabwe while the elephant population had been falling dramatically, said the park owner. "In Gonarezhou, cattle outnumber elephants. Boundary fences have been destroyed and used to set up snares. It's a disaster." Gonarezhou once had Zimbabwe's largest elephant population. That was before massive poaching started with the advent of Mugabe's land-seizure policy in 2000. Some of the elephants have been moved to South Africa. Mr Rodrigues accused "the VIPs" of charging unscrupulous hunters for the right to come to their land and shoot animals, thereby contributing to the decimation of the wildlife resources. "As I speak to you now, I am in an area where we found 40 legs of elephants that were randomly killed," he said. "The [hunters] come in, pay the VIPs US dollars and shoot anything they want. It's appalling," he said. On the other hand, destitute villagers snare animals for food. In a statement recently, the Zimbabwe Conservatio |
