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Archived News
15th March 2005
Zimbabwe threatens aid agencies
Zimbabwe warns Cosatu against border poll protest
Zim govt slams new paper
Women protesters arrested again
Mugabe bans observers from SADC neighbours
Zim AG stymies early release of alleged mercenaries
Why South Africa does not criticise Mugabe
Zimbabwe bans all labour unions as poll observers
Zimbabwean government not Inviting EISA observers
SA dodge action on Zim observer ban
ANC team arrives to observe Zimbabwe polls
SA churches slam Zim
Harare election blog I: Invisible poll
Wind of change blows through Mugabe heartland
Legal fraternity disputes appeal in mercenary case
SADC forum 'has no standing' to observe elections
No place for minority views in MPs report on Zimbabwe poll
Police ban Zimbabwe border blockade
Cosatu to challenge police decision
Zanu PF candidate threatens voters with starvation
Zim widens crackdown on NGOs
Army major to vet journalists
Zim jailed MP remains in jail
MDC lorry hijacked
Jamming
Former ally accuses Mugabe's party of intimidation
Cosatu members picket at Zim border
Harare pleads with trade union leaders
MDC supporters protest against ANC's quiet diplomacy
Zimbabwe elections body to double polling stations
Observer registration costs restrict monitoring of Zimbabwe election
Threat to burn houses of MDC supporters
UNDP clashes with donors over NGO funds
Jamming: change of plan
Protesters come out in Mugabe election 'truce'
Church building torched in Marondera violence
Concerts, marches at Zim border
Police detain MDC supporters as campaign rallies intensify
Zanu PF, MDC step up campaign rallies
Too late to do any good, MDC says of observers
Still Jamming
SA 'ignorant' about situation in Zim
Zim court scraps ban on paper
3 000 mass up at Musina for protest concert
Mozambique bans protests against Harare
Jonathan Moyo moves out of government house
Finale or overture for Mugabe?
And Still Jamming
Zimbabwe newspaper refused permission to publish
Rival Zimbabwe parties pump up the volume
Harare jamming radio broadcasts from London
SACC waiting for Zim's OK
Concern over absence of SADC and EISA teams at poll
Soldiers beat up MDC supporters, rallies barred
Politics of food
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From BBC News, 8 March
Zimbabwe threatens aid agencies
Zimbabwe's government is threatening 30 non-governmental organisations with prosecution if they do not properly account for $88m by Friday. State-controlled media cites unnamed sources as saying there are fears that some funds have been channelled to the opposition or sold on the black market. The money concerned was raised in 2003 after an appeal for food assistance. The government has repeatedly accused NGOs of interfering in national affairs and supporting the opposition. Last year, a law was passed introducing a licence for all NGOs. Foreign human rights groups were also banned from working in Zimbabwe. The list of NGOs published by the state-controlled Herald newspaper includes well-known international agencies such as Save the Children, World Vision and Care. A director of one of the NGOs, who did not want to be named, told the BBC that they were trying to find out what exactly the government needed to know so they could comply. The director said all the NGOs had specific objectives, mainly in the health sector, and it was highly unlikely that any of them had done anything untoward. The NGOs are being threatened with existing legislation, but the Zimbabwean government is preparing to promulgate a new law which will impose much greater restrictions on their activities.
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From Business Day (SA), 9 March
Zimbabwe warns Cosatu against border poll protest
Deputy Political Editor
Zimbabwean Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi has warned the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) that neither Zimbabwe nor the South African government would allow its planned protests at Beitbridge to disrupt trade between the countries. In a move apparently aimed at putting pressure on government to discourage Cosatu from going ahead with its border blockade, Mohadi said the labour federation would be "treading on dangerous ground" if it went ahead with its protests against the Zimbabwean government. Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has vowed that the protests, for which government's permission has been obtained, will go ahead and target Beitbridge and the Zimbabwean high commission's offices in Pretoria twice a week for the next three weeks. He said Cosatu received permits to protest at both areas on Wednesdays and Fridays respectively, starting with Pretoria today, followed by a border blockade on March 11, March 18 and culminating with an all-night vigil on the eve of Zimbabwe's poll. Cosatu decided to go ahead with plans to blockade the Beitbridge border in protest against the violations of human and labour rights after the government of President Robert Mugabe twice kicked its fact-finding mission out of the country. A Democratic Alliance fact- finding mission, led by deputy leader Joe Seremane, was also turfed out of Zimbabwe recently. Cosatu's planned demonstrations are also in defiance of Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who has warned that government will not tolerate such disruptive activities.
The federation accused her of trying to discourage South Africans workers from engaging in acts of solidarity in a bid to defend workers rights in the region. Unions have emphasised that SA owed its liberation to similar actions undertaken by millions of the working class people around Africa and the world who paraded and picketed against the apartheid regime. Vavi reminded Dlamini-Zuma that she was not so long ago involved in similar "border pickets and blockades against the apartheid government". Cosatu has also lashed out at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) secretariat for failing "stand up" to Mugabe. The federation was commenting on Zimbabwe's failure to allow a SADC team of assessors to come into the country to investigate whether Harare had complied with the body's election guidelines. The team was expected to get there at least 90 days before the elections. The SADC team has run out of time and critics have argued that it could no longer make a positive impact in getting Zimbabwe to correct whatever was necessary to ensure that the political climate was conducive to free and fair elections. According to Cosatu, the focus on Zimbabwe was prompted by the outcry from Zimbabwean workers who lobbied the federation to undertake protest action in solidarity with struggling, harassed and persecuted workers' leadership. They are not allowed to assembly freely and to organise for a political party of their choice.
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From News24 (A), 7 March
Zim govt slams new paper
Johannesburg - The chairman of Zimbabwe's media commission, which has shut down four independent newspapers in two years, lashed out on Monday at the publication of a new weekly newspaper published in Britain, but distributed in Zimbabwe. The state-controlled Herald Newspaper, the only daily allowed to publish in Zimbabwe, said Monday that the new weekly, The Zimbabwean, was "a propaganda tool" for the former colonial power Britain. It quoted Tafataona Mahoso, the head of Zimbabwe's media commission, with threatening to take unspecified action against the new newspaper. It is free from government censorship and highly critical of the government of President Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe has passed draconian media laws that prohibit any journalists from working without a government license. The law also makes it illegal for a newspaper to publish without a licence. The government has used the law to close four independent newspapers and to arrest and harass independent and foreign journalists for writing stories critical of the government. The news tabloid, which is distributed mainly to Zimbabweans living in Britain and South Africa, was launched last month by veteran Zimbabwe journalist and publisher Wilf Mbanga. Thousands of copies of the newspaper are distributed in Zimbabwe.
Last week's edition featured a front-page advertisement placed by the British parliament congratulating Mbanga for the outspoken weekly. It said the house of commons welcomed the launch of the paper and said it would "provide Zimbabweans living abroad and the general public with the opportunity to read views and news about Zimbabwe free from official censorship". Mahoso said the ad showed the British parliament was pursuing an imperialist plot against Zimbabwe. He also claimed the paper was being funded by organisations with an anti-Zimbabwe agenda. Mbanga has denied the accusations, saying he sank his life's savings into the paper. Mugabe's government has repeatedly claimed it is the target of a plot financed by Britain and the United States that seeks to oust Mugabe and his ruling-party. Because it is published outside the country, the Zimbabwean escapes most of the restrictions placed on newspapers inside the country by the laws that ended free press in Zimbabwe. Last week, Zimbabwe's media commission ordered the closure of the recently launched Weekly Times, an independent newspaper, because it said the publication violated its licence by engaging in "partisan political advocacy". The closure came barely two weeks after three freelance correspondents for the Times of London, The Associated Press and Bloomberg news agency were hounded out of the country by officials who accused them of spying and working illegally as journalists.
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From Zim Online (SA), 9 March
Women protesters arrested again
Bulawayo - Police yesterday arrested 10 members of the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) activist group who had gathered in the city for a demonstration to mark the International Women's Day. The women, including a one-year old child taken in with its mother, were still in custody by last night. WOZA official Magodonga Mahlangu told ZimOnline that the women were likely to be brought to court today. "They are likely to appear in court tomorrow," said Mahlangu. "The police have absolutely no respect for women and we are saying we will never relent in our fight for the emancipation of women by (President Robert) Mugabe and his regime," she added. The women were picked up when the police descended on St Patrick's church in the city from where the WOZA members planned to start their march. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena could not be reached for comment on the matter last night.
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From The Cape Times (SA), 9 March
Mugabe bans observers from SADC neighbours
By Basildon Peta
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's main opposition and civic groups have expressed outrage at a decision by President Robert Mugabe's government to bar the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum from observing the March 31 parliamentary elections. The Zimbabwe Crisis Coalition (ZCC), one of Zimbabwe's largest civic groups, said the decision to bar the forum proved that the outcome of the elections was a "set table, a set menu and a set dessert". Political analyst and chairman of the ZCC Brian Kagoro said there was no intention whatsoever by the Mugabe regime to hold free and fair elections and anyone who might express a contrary view was being excluded. Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad has said South Africa will nevertheless participate in four observer missions to Zimbabwe: a 20-member South African parliamentary observer mission; a 50-strong SADC observer mission - to be deployed in Zimbabwe from March 15 - led by Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and comprising 10 South African delegates; a national delegation led by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana; and a group of African National Congress observers who have yet to be nominated.
The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said Mugabe's decision meant that he viewed Zimbabwe's election as a wedding to which he could invite only his friends and exclude others. "Perhaps Mugabe needs to be reminded that a national election is not a wedding. An election is an important event and you need to invite both friends and those who may not agree with you," said MDC shadow foreign minister Priscilla Misihairabwi. The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) said it was outraged by the decision to exclude the forum. Although it was opposed to the whole March 31 election which it considered a "sham exercise" being conducted under an undemocratic constitution, the NCA said it saw no rationale for excluding a bona fide African body well regarded around the region. The forum, made up of parliamentarians of all SADC states including Zimbabwe, has traditionally observed elections in SADC countries. It observed Zimbabwe's 2002 presidential plebiscite but, unlike other African observer missions, produced a scathing report condemning violence and other malpractices during the poll, dismissed by European observers as rigged. This is seen as the reason for its being excluded.
Zimbabwe has sent invitations to other bodies asking them to oversee the poll. Its ministry of foreign affairs confirmed for the first time yesterday that the forum had not been invited. Pavelyn Musaka, the foreign ministry spokesman, told ZimOnline that the parliamentary forum would not be allowed to witness the election but declined to give reasons. The secretary-general of the SADC parliamentary forum, Kasuku Mutukwa, said last night the forum had not received any official communication from the Zimbabwean authorities. The ANC has reportedly expressed surprise at the decision to exclude the forum. It is understood the forum is making presentations to regional leaders to appeal to Mugabe on its behalf so it can be allowed in.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 9 March
Zim AG stymies early release of alleged mercenaries
Johannesburg - The Zimbabwean Attorney General has filed an appeal against the early release of 62 alleged South African mercenaries, South African Broadcasting Corporation radio news reported on Tuesday night. The Zimbabwean High Court last week reduced their sentences by four months, meaning that they could be released immediately. The Attorney-General, however, asked his country's Supreme Court to overturn the High Court decision. He told the SABC that the suspension of a sentence for early release of a prisoner only applied to Zimbabwean citizens. That legal provision was "superfluous" for foreigners, because they were not controlled by Zimbabwe. The men were expected to be released and bussed back to South Africa on either Monday or Tuesday. By late on Tuesday afternoon there was no sign of them at the Beit Bridge border post where their attorney Alwyn Griebenow, and a small contingent of journalists were waiting. Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa knew nothing about the new twist in the saga. "I spoke to our ambassador in Zimbabwe and he has not been officially informed of this," said Mamoepa.
Seventy men were originally arrested in March last year in connection with an alleged coup d'etat in Equatorial Guinea. Two were acquitted, two more freed for medical reasons, and one died in jail. Of the remaining 65, 62 would have been free to come home. Two pilots and alleged coup leader Simon Mann will have to remain in Zimbabwe to serve the remainder of their longer sentences, according to Griebenow. The pilots got 16 month sentences, and Mann was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, which was later reduced to four years. The group was arrested at Harare International airport when they apparently landed to refuel and pick up military equipment. They were all travelling on South African passports. Zimbabwean authorities said they were on their way to join 15 other suspected mercenaries - including eight South Africans - arrested in Equatorial Guinea around the same time. They were accused of planning to overthrow Equatorial Guinea's leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema. The men denied the charges, claiming they were on their way to the Democratic Republic of Congo to guard mines. They were convicted of breaching Zimbabwe's aviation, immigration, firearms and security laws. British businessman Mark Thatcher, accused of partly financing the alleged coup plot, was fined R3-million in January after pleading guilty to contravening South African anti-mercenary laws.
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From BBC News, 9 March
Why South Africa does not criticise Mugabe
By Joseph Winter
South Africa is seen as the key international player in efforts to find a way out of Zimbabwe's political impasse, but in the run-up to parliamentary elections it is coming under increased pressure from all sides. South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki last week shocked Zimbabwe's opposition by saying the elections would be free and fair. But trade union federation Cosatu, an ally of the ANC government, is on Wednesday organising a protest outside Zimbabwe's High Commission, arguing that the elections will be flawed. Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has long accused Mr Mbeki of being too soft on President Robert Mugabe through his policy of "quiet diplomacy", and has urged him to get tough. And the Zimbabwe government has not made life easy for South Africa by accusing it of spying. Three prominent Zimbabweans, including two senior officials of Mr Mugabe's Zanu PF party, were jailed last month after being convicted of passing intelligence to a South African secret agent. Last year, US President George W Bush said Mr Mbeki was the "point man" on Zimbabwe, and so his verdict on the elections will be studied closely. But the MDC says that by declaring the results in advance, Mr Mbeki has lost an opportunity to keep the pressure on Zimbabwe during the election campaign.
Political analyst Brian Raftopoulos from the University of Zimbabwe says that Zimbabwe was always confident that its neighbours would not criticise the conduct of its elections whatever happened - and this was why it felt able to arrest the spies. Indeed, South African observers gave a clean bill of health to the 2000 and 2002 elections, which most other monitors said were marred by widespread violence and fraud. South Africa's refusal to publicly criticise Mr Mugabe has often been explained as solidarity stemming from a common struggle against white minority rule. But Chris Maroleng, from South Africa's Institute of Security Studies, says that is too simplistic, because the ANC and Zanu PF were never allies during the struggle against colonialism; each backed rival parties in the other country. Cosatu, an ally of the ANC government, has been a vocal critic of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Two of its delegations to Zimbabwe have been sent back home and it says it will blockade Messina, the main crossing point from South Africa, during the elections. "South Africa has had to tread a very careful path around the minefield of being portrayed as a Western puppet by Mugabe," he told the BBC News website. South Africa has always believed that its national interest lies in avoiding civil war in Zimbabwe, which would lead to the steady flow of economic refugees across the River Limpopo becoming a political flood. Mr Maroleng says the Zimbabwean spies belonged to a faction within Zanu PF, favoured by South Africa, which has recently lost ground in the battle for control of the party. The newly dominant group, led by retired General Solomon Mujuru, views South Africa with suspicion, he says.
So will the elections be free and fair? The MDC says that recent changes to comply with new regional electoral guidelines are superficial. For example, to satisfy the "fair access to state media" clause, the MDC is now allowed to pay enormous fees to air short campaign adverts on state television, while news broadcasts fawn over Zanu PF rallies and ignore the opposition. Police continue to turn a blind eye to election violence perpetrated by the ruling party and refuse the opposition permission to hold rallies, the MDC says. Mr Mugabe has always denied rigging previous elections and says the opposition cries foul to mask its lack of popular support. On this point, Mr Maroleng agrees with the MDC. "It is quite clear that Zimbabwe has not adhered to the SADC [Southern African Development Community] protocols." But he, too, does not expect any public criticism, because of regional realpolitik and a hope that the polls will offer a way forward. He sees the most likely outcome of the election as being an overwhelming Zanu PF victory, which "unfortunately" offers the most optimistic scenario for Zimbabwe's future. This is why South Africa is reluctant to criticise Mr Mugabe's handling of the election.
The Mujuru faction is more pragmatic and moderate than the deposed group led by Parliamentary Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa, he says. With a two-thirds majority in parliament, this group would move to change the constitution and create an executive prime minister, with President Mugabe taking a more ceremonial role as "father of the nation". Taking advantage of this relatively fresh start, this new prime minister might then be able to form a government of national unity with the MDC and change economic policies, attracting a return of donor funding and starting to turn round the economy. An MDC victory, which appears unlikely given the way the rules favour Zanu PF, would only lead to more of the same, damaging stand-off the country has experienced for the past five years, he says. An MDC parliament would not be able or willing to work with a Zanu PF government and the pro-Mugabe army might even be tempted to stage a coup. Similar scenarios, relying on a moderate Zanu PF faction, have been painted in the past and have not come to pass on the ground. South African efforts to set up direct talks between the parties and possibly work together to solve Zimbabwe's economic problems came to naught. But if Mr Maroleng's predictions do come true, South Africa will be able to feel that its policy of "quiet diplomacy" has been vindicated, whatever the feelings of Zimbabwe's hard-pressed opposition activists. If not, Zimbabweans will probably have to get used to the idea that their current hardships are likely to last until 2008, when presidential elections are due.
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From The Cape Times (SA), 10 March
Zimbabwe bans all labour unions as poll observers
By Basildon Peta
Johannesburg: President Robert Mugabe's government has banned all southern African labour federations from observing the coming elections because they wanted to include Cosatu members in their delegation. The regional trade union bodies had applied to Zimbabwe authorities for permission to send an observer mission under the regional umbrella body, the Southern African Trade Union Co-ordination Council (SATUCC), but Cosatu deputy president Joe Nkosi said yesterday they had been turned down. He was attending a picket of about 100 Cosatu members at the Zimbabwean embassy offices in Pretoria. Protesters carried placards saying: "An injury to ZCTU (Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions) is an injury to Cosatu." "We have been denied the permission by the government of Zimbabwe. They have said they will not allow SATUCC because it planned to involve Cosatu members," he said. "But we are saying... we are an affiliate of SATUCC and they have no right to determine who a bona fide independent body selects to represent it." Cosatu plans to demonstrate through the night on the Zimbabwe/South Africa Beit Bridge border post during the March 31 elections. Nkosi differed with President Thabo Mbeki's recent statement that he did not see anything that would militate against the parliamentary elections being free and fair. "There will be no free and fair elections in Zimbabwe as far as we are concerned as Cosatu," said Nkosi.
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From AIM (Mozambique), 9 March
Zimbabwean government not Inviting EISA observers
Maputo - The Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) is ready to deploy 40 observers to witness the forthcoming Zimbabwean parliamentary election, but has so far received no invitation from the Zimbabwean authorities, according to the EISA executive director, Denis Kadima. Speaking on Tuesday in Maputo, on the second day of a post-election workshop organised by EISA, Kadima expressed his surprise at the Zimbabwean government's attempt to make money out of those few election observers it is allowing in. He said that observers are being charged 100 US dollars each, and journalists 150 dollars each. The chances of EISA receiving an invitation from Zimbabwe at this late stage must be regarded as minimal. Among those bodies that normally observe elections in the region, but whom the Zimbabwean authorities have refused to invite are the SADC Parliamentary Forum, the European Union and the Commonwealth. "If you have nothing to hide, then you should allow free movement of observers", declared Kadima.
Kadima gave the workshop a comparative survey of the electoral commissions in the region. In the case of Zimbabwe, the electoral body is entirely government appointed, while the five members of the Zambian commission are appointed by the president - Kadima noted that it was problematic to give the president, who may well himself be a candidate, such power over elections. In Botswana, the electoral commission chairperson is a high court judge, appointed by the Judicial Services Commission. The seven member commission must include another legal practitioner, and five others selected by an all party conference. The South African commission is radically different, in that members are recruited through public advertisement. Vacancies are announced, and candidates are invited to apply. An independent selection body (formed by the Human Rights Commission, the Constitutional Court, the Commission on Gender Equality, and the Public Protector), after hearings of the candidates conducted in public, draws up a shortlist, submitted to the President, who appoints four of them. The fifth must be a judge. Kadima said this had resulted in an independent election commission, that broadly reflected the racial, ethnic and religious composition of South Africa, and was widely respected.
Mozambique, however, has an election commission that is independent in name only, since 18 of its 19 members were directly appointed by the main political parties - 10 by the ruling Frelimo Party and eight by the former rebel movement Renamo. Kadima noted that there has been no continuity in the Mozambican commissions. In ten years the National Elections Commission (CNE) has changed composition four times, with four different chairpersons. The result was a lack of institutional memory. And, with the exception of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique had the largest election commission in the SADC region, with 19 members. Kadima suggested it was time to set up a permanent, professional CNE, an idea that most of the Mozambican participants in the workshop agreed with.
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From The Cape Times (SA), 10 March
SA dodge action on Zim observer ban
By Angela Quintal
South Africa had been placed in a "difficult situation" because of Zimbabwe's decision to bar the Southern African Development Community (SADC) parliamentary forum from observing the election, foreign affairs director-general Ayanda Ntsaluba said on Wednesday. However, there was not much Pretoria could do about it, he said. Asked what the foreign ministry's view was on the issue, Ntsaluba said: "I haven't spoken to my bosses about this. I really don't know how to respond. It's obviously a difficult situation, but I don't think there is much we can do." Ntsaluba, who is attending an officials meeting of the India, Brazil and South Africa forum, said he was not officially aware of the decision not to invite the SADC parliamentary forum and had only read about in Wednesday's press. However, he said he did not necessarily believe that the more observers there were on the ground the better. South Africa wanted a situation in which observers would be able to arrive at a "fair, objective, determination of the outcome of the election", Ntsaluba said.
Ordinarily there would have been nothing wrong with the view that Zimbabwe, having invited SADC as an institution to observe the March 31 poll, would not see the need to invite its regional parliamentary forum as well. However, against the backdrop that the SADC parliamentary forum was the only African observer mission in the 2002 presidential election not to declare the poll free and fair, "I think everyone will be cynical about it", Ntsaluba said. "That is why it is a difficult situation." South Africans are participating in several missions, including the SADC observer mission, headed by Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, the South African parliamentary mission, headed by African National Congress chief whip Mbulelo Goniwe, a South African government mission, headed by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana, as well as the ANC's observer team.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean ambassador to South Africa was scathing about a protest by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) outside his embassy in Pretoria on Wednesday, saying he pitied the protesters. "I hesitate to give an iota of dignity to these misguided malcontents," Simon Khaya Moyo said after a group of about 100 Cosatu members picketed outside the embassy. They were protesting against human rights abuses in the neighbouring country, and asking that a fact-finding mission be sent to investigate the running of elections on March 31. Moyo denied that worker rights were being undermined in Zimbabwe. "What basic rights of workers are being undermined?" he asked. He called the protest a "damp squib" and said Cosatu was acting like an unelected government, and did not want to answer to anybody.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 10 March
ANC team arrives to observe Zimbabwe polls
Harare - Five members of South Africa's governing African National Congress party have arrived in Harare, the first group of foreign observers in Zimbabwe to monitor the March 31 vote, an electoral official said on Wednesday. "Indeed the South Africans are the first ones to arrive of those coming from outside the country," said Tarisai Manzonzo, spokesperson for the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC). Otherwise, there are other foreigners we have already accredited, the members of foreign diplomatic missions based in Zimbabwe," he said. The South Africans are from the African National Congress (ANC), a partner of the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), which on Tuesday launched the first in a series of planned protests to highlight appeals for democracy in elections in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe, under close scrutiny in the region to measure whether it will hold free and fair elections, has invited 45 foreign observer teams for the parliamentary polls. Harare has been under pressure to allow foreign observers to monitor the March 31 parliamentary polls, which will be closely watched as a test of President Robert Mugabe's government's pledge to hold a free and transparent vote. The government has meanwhile dismissed reports that it has deliberately not invited the South Africa Development Community (SADC) parliamentary forum. It said Zimbabwe has extented an invitation to SADC and that included all SADC bodies. "[The] SADC parliamentary forum cannot merit an invitation on its own as if it's a sovereign entity," said George Charamba, the goverment's secretary for information.
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From News24 (SA), 9 March
SA churches slam Zim
Cape Town - South African religious leaders, including Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, urged churches to mobilise public opinion against repression in Zimbabwe on Wednesday. "The deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe is not likely to be resolved by the March 31 election, regardless of its outcome," said a statement issued by the South African Council of Churches. Warning of a "prolonged crisis", the church group said churches must "mobilise public opinion, especially against human rights abuses inflicted on Zimbabwe's people". The statement was issued shortly before a delegation led by Russel Botman, president of the church council, met to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe with Tutu and to offer him support over his recent clashes with the South African government.
Tutu fell out publicly with President Thabo Mbeki last year after saying the government must speed up efforts to alleviate poverty and allow more open criticism within the ruling African National Congress. Last month the retired archbishop criticised government policies to integrate more black and mixed-race players in formerly white-dominated sports, prompting one senior ANC lawmaker to call his remarks "treasonous". But as he stood outside his modest office in Cape Town, the anti-apartheid veteran was in a conciliatory mood and said he planned to meet Mbeki soon. "One of the most important things is that we have to ensure that there is space for everyone to express their point of view," Tutu said. "I think we are experiencing the growing pains of democracy ... with the flexing of muscles." Tutu said he was in agreement with the Council of Churches' statement on Zimbabwe. "I think it's a good statement," he said, refusing to be drawn further.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government last month slammed Tutu as an instrument of white racists after he said that Zimbabwe made a mockery of African democracy. The church leaders gave their backing to South Africa's trade union movement Cosatu which on Wednesday staged token protests outside Zimbabwe's embassy in the Pretoria. Cosatu deputy president Joe Nkosi said the election should be postponed as it would not be free and fair "under the current legislation," which has imposed sweeping restrictions on the independent media and on the opposition movement. Asked to give the Zimbabwean government a mark out of 10 for its progress toward achieving democratic elections, Nkosi gave it zero. "They do not even qualify for a mark. There is duplication of names on the voters roll. The political climate is not right for free and fair elections," Nkosi said according to the South African Press Association, SAPA. He said Cosatu wanted the Zimbabwean people to be liberated from oppression just as South Africans had been. Zimbabwe authorities earlier this year kicked out a Cosatu fact-finding delegation.
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From BBC News, 10 March
Harare election blog I: Invisible poll
In the run-up to Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections on 31 March, 22-year-old receptionist Lucy Gomo (not her real name) is keeping a diary about life in Harare.
Wednesday 9 March: Election campaigning here in Harare is surprisingly quiet at the moment. There are just a few posters up around town, but people just don't seem interested. Politics is not discussed amongst my colleagues at work; on the commuter buses or amongst my friends. The only real sign of campaigning I've seen was last weekend when I travelled to Kwekwe (180km south-west of Harare). There I saw some people singing and wearing T-shirts supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). My family live in Kwekwe and I try to visit them once a month, which can sometimes be difficult with rising prices - a return bus ticket to Kwekwe costs $80,000 Zimbabwean dollars (US$15). If I've overspent, I don't go. With the minimum wage currently set at Z$800,000 ($145), most people complain about not earning enough. Grocery prices went up again this month, but my salary hasn't gone up. Supermarket shortages come and go, which can make shopping not only expensive but frustrating. A few weeks ago sugar and maize meal were only available in smaller quantity packs. For example, there were no 10kg or 20kg packs of maize meal, only 5kg bags. When I went shopping last week, the larger bags were back on the shelves, but I couldn't find the bleach I normally buy. I looked in different supermarket chains, but I couldn't find it anywhere. It's been very hot here in Harare and it hasn't rained for a while, which is depressing people. Those with smallholdings in the rural areas are worried about their maize crops. One of the guys at work told me he had nothing to bring back from his plot because the rains had been bad.
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From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 10 March
Wind of change blows through Mugabe heartland
Crowds gather from far and wide to hear Zimbabwe's embattled opposition leader. They had walked for miles, barefoot and hungry, across the remote plains of rural Zimbabwe where President Robert Mugabe's dominance was once unquestioned. Yet this ragged crowd of 1,500 people had not gathered to cheer Mr Mugabe or any other figure from his Zanu PF party but to hear Morgan Tsvangirai, the embattled leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Defying years of violence and intimidation, Mr Tsvangirai is taking his campaign for the parliamentary elections due on March 31 into Mr Mugabe's rural heartland. Yesterday's MDC rally in the shadow of Mount Devedzo, 140 miles south-east of Harare, would once have been impossible. This area supported Mr Mugabe during the guerrilla war against white Rhodesia in the 1970s and its votes have sustained him in every election held in independent Zimbabwe. But the crowd's enthusiasm for Mr Tsvangirai demonstrated that the President can no longer assume their automatic support. "Morgan, we are hungry", they sang as the opposition leader rose to speak. "Here as everywhere else we can see there are no crops and the land is not being used," he said. "We know people are hungry."
The plains around Mount Devedzo provide visible evidence of the cost of Mr Mugabe's policies. This fertile area, known as Hwedza, holds some of the best farming land in Africa. Yet the fields are empty of crops and choked with weeds. All the white-owned farms have been seized and largely abandoned by their new owners. The land seizures have also emptied the countryside of people. Tens of thousands of black labourers once worked the white-owned farms around Hwedza. They lost their homes and jobs when their employers were dispossessed. Now they are among the countless thousands of Zimbabweans uprooted and displaced by the country's economic collapse. The hardship has bred a renewed sense of defiance. "Zanu PF still come door to door to threaten that we will be kicked out of our house if we don't vote for them but we don't care now and we teach our parents not to fear," said Batsirai Muzondo, 24, who had walked eight miles to see Mr Tsvangirai. This was Mr Tsvangirai's 19th rally in rural constituencies since Feb 25. He plans to address another 31 before polling day.
For the first time since the founding of his party more than five years ago, he finds himself leading a political campaign that seems almost normal. The violence that peaked before the disputed presidential polls of 2002 has subsided. There is less of the brutal intimidation that formed a central part of Zanu PF's electioneering manual. For the first time, Mr Tsvangirai has been able to move beyond the cities where his support is strongest and campaign in rural areas. Why the regime has allowed this to happen is a question that mystifies the MDC. It appears that Mr Mugabe is supremely confident that he will win the election despite the fact that Zanu PF's leading figures are incompetent, apathetic and obsessed with infighting. There could be a sinister explanation for his confidence. For the first time, the polling stations will be run by the army and police who are loyal to him. Moreover, the authorities have placed a new hurdle in the way of independent observers. Each will have to pay the government a £10 fee to monitor a polling station.
Fielding observers at every one would cost between £60,000 and £90,000. The MDC does not have the money, so most polling stations will lack any independent scrutiny. "No one will see the rigging," said one member of the MDC leadership. He predicted that each polling station would be "overwhelmed by soldiers drafted to run the elections". Most of the MDC leadership does not grasp the possible consequences of this. As in previous contests, they are filled with optimism that may prove to be hopelessly naive. Yet the anger that Mr Tsvangirai's audience felt towards the regime was palpable. "We have no textbooks, teachers are not qualified, and I will never get a job if Zanu PF stays in power," said Noel Jaya, 19. "My parents now see that Zanu PF cannot give us a better life."
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From SABC News, 10 March
Legal fraternity disputes appeal in mercenary case
Legal experts in South Africa are dismissing Zimbabwe's assertion that foreign nationals jailed in that country are not entitled to reduction of their prison sentences. This follows the appeal filed by the Zimbabwean attorney-general against the ruling of that country's High Court to reduce the sentences of the alleged South African mercenaries languishing in Harare's Chikurubi prison. The attorney-general says the reduction of prison sentences is an exclusive privilege of the Zimbabwean criminals. Last week the Zimbabwean High Court made a ruling that effectively reduced the prison sentences of the 62 alleged South African mercenaries jailed in that country by four months. They were convicted for breaching Zimbabwe's aviation, immigration, firearms and security laws. This after they were arrested at the Harare International airport upon their landing to allegedly pick up military equipment. They were later linked to a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea allegedly financed by Mark Thatcher, a British businessman. The High Court ruling meant that the men who were serving a one-year term would now only have to serve eight months. It also provided the prisoners with a one-third remission of their sentence for good behaviour in prison. Coupled with this reduction, all the men except two pilots who received longer prison terms - were to be released immediately.
But a week went by with them still languishing in the Chikurubi prison with no clarity for the delay. It has now emerged that in fact they are still going to be behind bars for some time as Sobuza Gule-Ndebele, the Zimbabwean attorney-general is opposing their release. Gule Ndebele says their High Court got it all wrong when it reduced the prison sentences of these alleged South African mercenaries because as foreigners they are not entitled to that privilege. Legal experts in the country however are dismissing the Attorney General's claim that legislation dealing with criminals in Zimbabwe makes a distinction on who should have their sentences reduced, between local and foreign nationals. Shadrack Gutto of the African Rennaisance Centre at Unisa and Gail Wanneburg of the South African Institute of International Affairs, says the reduction of prison sentences is an international phenomenon that cuts across national jurisdictions. Wanneburg says the Zimbabwean High Court could not have deliberately ignored this distinction if it existed, when it made the ruling to reduce the sentences of the South African prisoners.
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From Sapa, 11 March
SADC forum 'has no standing' to observe elections
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) parliamentary forum was not an official structure and had no standing to observe elections, the government said. Reacting to media inquiries about Zimbabwe's refusal to invite the forum to observe the month-end poll, the foreign affairs department said it wished to place on record that the forum was not an official structure of the SADC. "The SADC parliamentary forum therefore has no locus standi (legal standing) in terms of official SADC structures," said spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa. "As far as the government is concerned, Zimbabwe has invited the national parliaments of SADC member states, which will allow for report backs to sovereign national parliaments post (after) the elections. On the other hand, the SADC parliamentary forum would have no fora to report back on its findings to." Mamoepa said the official SADC observer mission, led by South Africa's home affairs minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, was due to leave for Harare next Tuesday. "The primary responsibility for the creation of a climate for free and fair elections rests with the people of Zimbabwe, acting through their independent electoral commission," he added. "As SADC, our responsibility is to assist the people of Zimbabwe in their endeavour to create a climate for free and fair elections." On Wednesday, foreign affairs director-general Ayanda Ntsaluba described the refusal to invite the forum as a "difficult situation". The SADC parliamentary forum was the only African observer mission not to declare the March 2002 Zimbabwean presidential poll free and fair. Ntsaluba said he was aware and so were others, that the parliamentary forum had not been complimentary about the outcome of the last election. He could see why Zimbabwe's latest decision would be greeted with "cynicism".
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From Business Day (SA), 11 March
No place for minority views in MPs report on Zimbabwe poll
Parliamentary Editor
Cape Town - The African National Congress (ANC) has broadly indicated that minority views will not be included in the report of the parliamentary observer mission leaving for Zimbabwe on Monday. Mbulelo Goniwe, ANC chief whip in the National Assembly, said yesterday views not backed by the majority would be left out of the report. Goniwe was briefing the media on the 20-member observer mission that will monitor Zimbabwe's elections on March 31. The mission is dominated by the ANC, which has 12 members, with the other eight spread among opposition parties. Previous observer missions to Zimbabwe by South African MPs were split down the middle. The Democratic Alliance (DA) complained of widespread electoral abuses while the ANC did not. Goniwe said: "There is a mission out there. It is a parliamentary mission and we will by consensus arrive at the conclusion. Of course, this thing has plagued us in the past and we have to confront it. You may have a view but if that view is not supported by the majority then it should fall off."
Goniwe insisted, however, that the ANC component of the mission had not prejudged the Zimbabwean election in favour of the ruling Zanu PF. He said he hoped that none of the observers would go to Zimbabwe determined to prove that the election would be flawed. "We are going as a parliamentary delegation. People have certain perceptions and biases and, I think, we appreciate the principle of democracy. "The essence of a free and fair election should not be subjugated to personal bias. The mission by this institution is a mission that must pronounce in line with the integrity of this institution, which is a democratic one." Goniwe said President Thabo Mbeki had not prejudged the outcome of the election. He said: "The president is not suggesting that the outcome is already free and fair. He is referring to the work the government (of Zimbabwe) has done. "He is saying that he is confident that the contribution made can help."
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From Business Day (SA), 11 March
Police ban Zimbabwe border blockade
South African police said they would arrest members of the country's largest labour federation if they blockaded the border with Zimbabwe next Friday to press for democratic reform in the neighbouring country. Superintendent Ronel Otto said that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) was going back on its word at the last minute. "During a meeting with us yesterday, they agreed they will picket and not blockade the border at Beit Bridge," she said. "Should they attempt to march, we will definitely arrest them," she said, adding: "Beit Bridge is a national road, its not a road you can block, it's a way into Africa." The union federation said it was holding talks with police, border and revenue officials to obtain permission to hold the protest at Beit Bridge and rejected a compromise that the protesters remain 100 metres from the border. "If the police still insist on unreasonable conditions, we shall seek a court order to establish our right to demonstrate," said Cosatu.
Tasneem Carrim, a spokeswoman for the South African Revenue Service, echoed the police, saying while they respected the union's right to demonstrate, they could not allow the border to be blocked. "Our concern is really that the border post is not blockaded as this will interfere with our mandate to protect the South African economy," she said. "We want to ensure that goods pass as easy as possible and that emergency vehicles, trucks carrying food and hazardous substances pass through unimpeded." The protest on Friday at Beit Bridge would be the first of three planned demonstrations at the border that is to culminate with an all-night vigil on the eve of the Zimbabwean parliamentary elections on March 31. A first protest held Wednesday at the Zimbabwe high commission in Pretoria was marred by poor turnout with fewer than 100 participants. Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma last month warned that a blockade of the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa would be illegal.
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From Business Day (SA), 11 March
Cosatu to challenge police decision
The Congress of SA Trade Unions will go to the Pretoria High Court to contest two conditions imposed on the federation's picket at the Beit Bridge border post, Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said. Yesterday, the police granted Cosatu permission to picket at the Beit Bridge post on the border with Zimbabwe on condition that not more than 200 people take part in the picket, and the picket should be held 200m away from the border post. Cosatu applied for permission to picket, but later changed the application to include a march, the police said. Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said: "We think that both of those conditions are unacceptable, and worse of all, are illegal. "We are going to the Pretoria High Court this morning to challenge them. There will certainly be far more than 200 people in the picket," he told SAFM this morning. "We think it's creating a very dangerous precedent," said Patrick Craven, Cosatu's spokesman.
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From Zim Online (SA), 11 March
Zanu PF candidate threatens voters with starvation
Bulawayo - A ruling Zanu PF candidate, Sihle Thebe, yesterday told residents in Makokoba constituency here that they would be denied food if they voted for the opposition in the upcoming general election. Thebe told the residents in the presence of Zanu PF and state second Vice-President Joyce Mujuru that the ruling party controls the government's Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and will order the food utility to freeze supplies to them if they backed the opposition. Speaking in the vernacular Ndebele language, Thebe, who battles it out for the Makokoba seat against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)'s Thokozani Khupe, said: "The ruling party is in charge and you should be warned that you will not receive any grain from the GMB if you vote for the MDC. They are a puppet party that has no people of Zimbabwe at heart and surely they don't deserve your vote. Please...please never vote for the MDC." Mujuru, who also spoke at the meeting attended by about 200 people, did not order Thebe to withdraw her open threats to voters. But the vice-president herself did not threaten the residents and instead attempted to win them over by flaunting Zanu PF's policy to empower women which saw her being appointed to the third most powerful post in the party and government. The GMB is the only entity permitted by law to buy maize from farmers for re-sale and is also in charge of state food relief operations. The MDC accuses Zanu PF and the government of denying food to its supporters as punishment for backing the opposition party. The ruling party and the government deny the charge.
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From News24 (SA), 10 March
Zim widens crackdown on NGOs
Harare - Zimbabwe has widened a probe into the operations of non-governmental organisations, many of which face closure under a new law, saying they will have to submit regular audits to the state, a state-run daily said on Thursday. "All non-governmental organisations will now be required to account for the money that they received from donors," The Herald quoted Labour and Social Welfare Minister Paul Mangwana as saying. "This is simply what we are asking them to do. We are not fighting them. We simply want to promote a culture of transparency and accountability." The Herald said all ministries had been ordered with "immediate effect" to "submit lists of NGOs that they were working with." The government had earlier said it would probe only 30 NGOs that allegedly failed to account how $88.7m they received in international aid in the wake of a crippling food shortage in 2003 had been used.
The Zimbabwean parliament last year passed the NGO bill that will require NGOs to submit to government scrutiny and ban foreign funding for organisations involved in governance programmes. The law has yet to be signed by President Robert Mugabe. The Zimbabwe government said the controversial bill was a response to the proliferation of NGOs it alleged were being used by foreign powers as conduits for channelling funds to the country's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party. Mangwana said any NGO which failed to account how it had used funds in humanitarian aid would be prosecuted. He said his ministry had set up a committee to randomly pick NGOs and ask them to account for the money they received between 2003 and 2004. Jonah Mudehwe, director of the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations, an umbrella body of NGOs, "the government is trying to build a case against NGOs." "This has to be linked to the NGO bill. We are still trying to find out what the justification is and what the government's motive is."
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From Zim Online (SA), 11 March
Army major to vet journalists
Harare - A serving Zimbabwe army major has been tasked to vet foreign journalists wishing to cover the country's March 31 general election, ZimOnline has established. Major Anyway Mutambudzi, who is operating from the first floor of President Robert Mugabe's Munhumutapa Building offices, is being assisted by three other soldiers whose names could not be immediately established. Mutambudzi confirmed yesterday that he was handling accreditation of foreign journalists wanting to report on the parliamentary election and said his team will be issuing a "statement soon" regarding the registration of foreign correspondents for the poll. "I am handling the matter (accreditation of foreign journalists) but my team is not yet in a position to tell you who has been accredited and who has not. But we will be issuing out a statement regarding accreditation of foreign journalists soon," Mutambudzi said. The soldier however refused to discuss further details about his new assignment or whether he was on leave from the army or he had left it to join the Ministry of Information and Publicity. "Are you a foreign journalist, why should I talk to you?" Mutambudzi angrily retorted to further questions over the phone. Information and Publicity permanent secretary and Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, could not be reached for comment on the matter yesterday.
Foreign journalists were last month told to direct applications for accreditation to Charamba who has taken over control of the media since former state propaganda chief Jonathan Moyo was fired last month. Mutambudzi is however not new at the information ministry. He was involved in the clearing of foreign journalists to cover the England cricket team's tour of Zimbabwe last November and he spent most of last month working with the ruling Zanu PF party's publicity office. Sources at the ministry, which is also housed at Munhumutapa, said Mutambudzi and his soldier assistants took over accreditation of foreign journalists last week. "The soldiers have been vetting foreign journalists since last week," said one source, who spoke anonymously for fear of victimisation. He added: "In fact, as of now only Charamba, and the soldiers, are privy to the requirements for foreign journalists to be accredited and on what grounds such accreditation might be refused." According to the sources, the accreditation of local journalists will however remain in the hands of the state's Media and Information Commission.
Mutambudzi is among a long list of other serving and former members of Zimbabwe's armed forces appointed to take charge of electoral bodies and institutions of government directly or indirectly involved in the running of elections in the country. Chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) established earlier this year to take overall charge of all elections in the country, George Chiweshe, is a former senior army officer. Before his appointment to the ZEC, he headed the Delimitation Commission that redrew the country's voting constituencies, chopping off three constituencies from opposition strongholds and awarding them to areas where the government enjoys more support. Chiweshe was appointed to the High Court bench after the government purged independent judges. Attorney-General Sobuza Gula Ndebele, who among other key functions is critical in ensuring cases of political violence are dealt with, is a former army intelligence officer. A former army brigadier Kennedy Zimondi, is the chief elections officer of the Electoral Supervisory Commission, which monitors the ZEC to ensure the body conducts elections in a free and fair manner. The chief executive officer of the state's Grain Marketing Board (GMB) Samuel Muvhuti is a former army colonel. The GMB, which handles food relief, is accused of denying Movement for Democratic Change party supporters food as punishment for supporting the opposition party. The parastatal denies the charge.
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From News24 (SA), 10 March
Zim jailed MP remains in jail
Harare - Jailed Zimbabwean opposition lawmaker Roy Bennett lost a court bid on Thursday to win his release on the eve of this month's parliamentary elections. Bennett, one of three white Zimbabweans who hold seats in parliament, is serving a one-year prison term for shoving the justice minister during a heated debate in parliament in May last year. In an urgent application filed by his lawyer before the Harare high court, Bennett argued that "the sentence can only remain valid during the life of the current parliament which ends on March 30". President Robert Mugabe ordered the dissolution of parliament on March 30, on the eve of parliamentary elections that will see the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) face off with the ruling Zanu PF party. Bennett's lawyers also argued that the commercial farmer and leading MDC member was eligible for a reduced sentence for good behaviour. But High Court Judge Bharat Patel dismissed both arguments, saying Bennett "may be granted but is not entitled, as of right, to one third of remission of his sentence." The section of the law he was charged under did not provide for the termination of his prison term upon dissolution of parliament, Patel said. Bennett's wife Heather is to represent her husband on the MDC ticket in his constituency of Chimanimani in eastern Zimbabwe for the March 31 vote. Bennett's fellow members of parliament sentenced him to one-year in prison in May after he lost his temper during a debate and pushed Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to the floor. The brawl broke out after Chinamasa said Bennett's ancestors were "thieves" who had stolen land as settlers. Fifty-three members in the parliament dominated by the ruling party voted for a jail term while 52 voted against. Under Zimbabwean law, parliament has the authority to sit as a court and impose penalties.
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From The Daily Mirror, 11 March
MDC lorry hijacked
Daily Mirror reporter
A truck ferrying MDC campaign material for Chimanimani Constituency was allegedly hijacked just outside Marondera on Wednesday night. Police in Marondera confirmed yesterday that the truck, a Mazda T35 (registration number 690-110T), which was carrying campaign material worth over $50 million for the party's candidate, Heather Bennett, was hijacked 10 km before the town from Harare. Bennett did not rule out political motive for the theft, while Zanu PF viewed the incident as mere theft. The officer in charge of Marondera Central Police, an Inspector Rukunda, yesterday confirmed the incident, but could not provide The Daily Mirror with more details. "The incident happened at night and Dema ( Chitungwiza) police are dealing with the matter. Call the CID officers handling it, they will be in a better position to tell you if there is anyone arrested so far. The vehicle was a Mazda T35," Rukunda said. Efforts to contact the CID at Dema Police Station were fruitless at the time of going to print last night.
In an interview, Heather said the stolen truck was carrying her entire election campaign material, which included over 300 T-shirts, java cloths and doeks as well as mealie-meal destined for Chimanimani. "The incident was reported to Marondera Police and I think Chitungwiza police are the ones carrying out the investigations," said Heather. Narrating the incident, Roy Bennett's wife said her driver - Davis Mabika - was forced off the road by unidentified four men who were in an unmarked vehicle. She added that the men abducted Mabika and drove him away from the main road before dumping him and making off with the truck. "We are concerned that there may be a political motive behind this attack and we call upon the police to do their utmost to ensure the vehicle and election material are recovered as soon as possible," she said. She added that despite the blow, the incident would not diminish her chances of winning in Chimanimani against Zanu PF candidate Samuel Undenge.
Zanu PF political commissar Elliot Manyika said of the incident: " We must not link every theft to the elections. Did the thieves know that the truck had campaign materials? Zanu PF was not involved, we are not that desperate." Meanwhile, High Court judge, Justice Bharat Patel yesterday threw out an application for early release from prison by Heather's husband Roy. The legislator was seeking to be released from prison when Parliament is dissolved on March 30. Bennett was jailed for a year on October 28 by Parliament for assaulting justice minister Patrick Chinamasa in the house while debating the Stock Theft Amendment Bill.
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From SW Radio Africa, 11 March
Jamming
There's someone out there who is frightened of our broadcasts. It appears our signal is being deliberately jammed. We're having to move to our winter frequency and you can find us on 4880 kHz in the 60 metre band. Don't forget we are also broadcasting on medium wave in the mornings between 5 and 7 am. The medium wave broadcast is better in the south of the country, but we are still working on improving the signal for those in the north. Keep trying. Our medium wave frequency is 1197 kHz .
So these are the frequencies to keep trying if you are having trouble receiving us:
6 - 9 pm Zimbabwe time 4880Khz in the 60 metre band, but also try 6145 kHz in the 49 metre band.
5 - 7am Zimbabwe time medium wave on 1197 kHz and shortwave on 3230 kHz in the 75 metre band.
We're not going away but attempts are being made to make it harder for you to hear us. Don't give up - keep trying - we will be broadcasting every night and every morning.
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From SABC News, 12 March
Former ally accuses Mugabe's party of intimidation
A controversial former minister sacked by president Robert Mugabe after opting to stand as an independent in this month's general election has accused the ruling party of using threats to garner votes. Jonathan Moyo, the former information minister, has become the most visible symbol of cracks within Mugabe's Zanu PF, which have taken on ethnic overtones. Analysts say these cracks leave the party weaker against the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) at the March 31 poll. Moyo said late yesterday Zanu PF officials were intimidating people in his rural constituency of Tsholotsho by suggesting that failing to vote for the party could evoke a reprisal similar to a 1980s government crackdown that rights groups say left 20 000 civilians dead. That crackdown in the minority Ndebele-speaking Matabeleland region, which includes Tsholotsho, fuelled ethnic tensions with Mugabe's majority Shona group which only ended with a 1987 pact which saw the two regions' political parties merge into Zanu PF.
"What is of concern is what is being said by some of the campaign groups representing Zanu PF. (They) have been threatening the people, that ... if you don't vote for the party you will not be given drought relief," Moyo told reporters during a campaign tour in drought-prone Tsholotsho, 110km northeast of Bulawayo. "(The officials are saying) if you don't vote for the party you may even provoke ... Gukurahundi days," Moyo added in reference to the 1980s crackdown. Zanu PF officials were not immediately available for comment. Moyo, who as information minister spearheaded Zanu PF's propaganda campaign in a diplomatic war of words with the west, lost favour with Mugabe after convening a secret meeting the party says plotted to push a favoured candidate to the post of Zanu PF and government co-vice president. The post, which eventually went to Joyce Mujuru, is seen as a step to succeeding Mugabe (81) who is widely expected to retire when his present term ends in 2008.
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From Sapa, 11March
Cosatu members picket at Zim border
About 200 members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) were picketing at the Beit Bridge post on the border with Zimbabwe by Friday afternoon. "Some are already here, more are still coming. We expect 500 protesters here. We are standing 200m from the border," said Cosatu's Limpopo provincial secretary, Jan Tsiane. In the background of a telephone interview, singing and chanting could be heard, which Tsiane explained were "songs which are all about solidarity". He said picketers were carrying placards with slogans such as "All in solidarity of the Zimbabwean people". Cosatu planned the picket in solidarity with Zimbabwean workers, and against the alleged curtailment of their rights by that country's government. Tsiane said the protesters would picket until around 2pm. "We are sending a message that we are in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe," said Tsiane. "This is not only a peaceful demonstration, but a lawful one," he said. Craven said most of the people expected to take part in the picket would be from near Musina. Only a few would be from outside the area.
On Friday morning, the number of pickets was increased to 500 after an agreement was reached between Cosatu and the Musina Local Municipality in the Pretoria High Court. But the court ruled that the other limitations imposed by the municipality still stand. They must be held at least 200m from the border post. On Thursday night, Cosatu was granted permission by the South African Police Service to hold the picket. Limpopo police said on Thursday Cosatu had only applied for permission to picket and had later changed their application to include a march. "They were given permission to picket, but not to march," said Superintendent Mohale Ramatseba. "We can't allow them to march when they've applied at such a late stage." One of the reasons Ramatseba gave was that traffic on the N1 highway through the border post would be disrupted by the march. On Wednesday, a group of Cosatu members protested outside the Zimbabwean embassy in Pretoria. They were protesting against human rights abuses and asking that a fact-finding mission be sent to investigate the running of elections on March 31.
Cosatu plans to continue picketing the embassy in the run up to the March 31 election, spokesperson Patrick Craven said. The protests would culminate in a vigil at Beit Bridge on the night before Zimbabweans go to the polls. In February, Zwelinzima Vavi, Cosatu's general secretary and president of the Southern Africa Trade Union Coordination Council was stopped from entering Zimbabwe, along with a Cosatu delegation. Also in February, two South African trade unionists were deported from Zimbabwe, shortly after arriving at Harare International Airport. Zimbabwean Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) secretary-general Wellington Chibebe said at the time that Bobby Marie and Vihemina. Prout were deported after failing to produce "security clearance letters from the ministry of labour". He said the two travelled to Zimbabwe at the instruction of the Southern Africa Trade Union Coordination Council. They were discuss the establishment of a trade union school in Zimbabwe with the ZCTU. The school was supposed to start in May 2005, he said.
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From Zim Online (SA), 12 March
Harare pleads with trade union leaders
Harare - The government has quietly approached Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) leaders to persuade South African labour leaders to abandon protests against repression and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, Zim Online has learnt. In a two-pronged approach that also includes clandestine moves to topple the ZCTU leadership, the government has sent emissaries to the labour union asking it to use its friendly ties with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to convince it to stop criticism and protests against Harare. ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibhebhe yesterday said: "We have been approached on several occasions by government agents and emissaries. They want us to use our close ties with Cosatu to stop the blockade. But we have insisted that there is nothing we can do about it because this is an issue of sovereignty and the government certainly knows more about sovereignty more than anyone else. Cosatu is a sovereign body in a sovereign country and we cannot intervene, that's what we have told them." Cosatu has broken from President Thabo Mbeki and his African National Congress (ANC) party's "quiet diplomacy" towards Harare to lead open criticism against President Robert Mugabe and his government. The labour union and the ANC are in a tripartite ruling alliance that also includes the South African Communist Party. Cosatu yesterday picketed Zimbabwe's lifeline Beitbridge border post with South Africa to press for an end to human rights abuses by Mugabe and a free and fair election on March 31. Sources said Harare was afraid continued protests by Cosatu highlighting repression in Zimbabwe could put a damper on efforts to present the March poll as having been free and fair. As well as approaching the ZCTU, Mugabe and his government have also asked Pretoria to intervene and help stop more protests by Cosatu. Zimbabwe Labour Minister Paul Mangwana confirmed that Harare had sought help from Pretoria. He said: "We have a common labour forum and there was nothing wrong with asking them to intervene because Cosatu's actions are meant to harm good relations between us. South Africa is equally worried about Cosatu's behaviour and everyone's intention is for sanity to prevail."
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From SABC News, 11 March
MDC supporters protest against ANC's quiet diplomacy
A group of about 100 supporters of the Zimbabwean Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have protested outside the ANC headquarters in Johannesburg against the party's policy on Zimbabwe. The group says the ANC is silent about the crisis of democracy in Zimbabwe. Carrying placards denouncing Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, and warning against the free and fairness of the forthcoming elections in their country, the protesters chanted at the entrance of Luthuli House. Tawanda Spicer, a spokesperson for the MDC's Action Support Group, called on the ANC to ensure the full implementation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) guidelines on free and fair elections in Zimbabwe. The group also demanded that all Zimbabweans in the Diaspora be allowed to participate in the forthcoming election in their country. The ANC leadership was not available to take the protesters' petition. Instead it was accepted by the ruling party's security personnel. Spicer described this as a bit off-hand.
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From Reuters, 11 March
Zimbabwe elections body to double polling stations
Harare - Zimbabwe will double the number of polling stations in parliamentary elections at the end of this month to enable people to vote in a single day, the electoral commission said on Friday. The move appeared designed to meet objections by the opposition and by electoral observers that the previous practice of voting over two days presented opportunities for overnight tampering with ballot boxes. Political analysts say the March 31 elections are almost certain to return President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party, blamed by opponents and Western countries for a political and economic crisis that has ruined the once prosperous country. Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairman, High Court judge George Chiweshe, told a news conference his organisation was confident it would run a free and fair poll. Although this year's campaign has been free of the violence that accompanied the last parliamentary poll five years ago and the 2002 presidential elections, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says laws governing the vote favour Zanu PF. Mugabe has 30 seats reserved for presidential appointees and traditional chiefs aligned to his party, and his government only eased the MDC's access to key rural areas in the last three months to campaign for the 120 seats up for grabs.
The MDC charges that Zanu PF rigged the last parliamentary and presidential elections to steal victory, a view supported by many Western observers. Mugabe denies the charge as well as suggestions that he has failed to meet international demands for wide-ranging electoral reforms, limiting himself to cosmetic measures designed to keep his party in power. Recent electoral reforms include the use of transparent ballot boxes, single-day voting and ballot-counting at the polling stations immediately after the close of polls. Chiweshe said the electoral commission planned to set up over 8,200 polling stations - about double the number used in the last parliamentary elections. "We have created the capacity for voting in one day. We have doubled the number of polling stations," he said. "The commission shall do everything in its power to ensure that the forthcoming elections are conducted freely, fairly and efficiently and in a transparent manner," he said.
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From VOA News, 11 March
Observer registration costs restrict monitoring of Zimbabwe election
A non-governmental election monitoring group says up to one-third of Zimbabwe's polling stations may not have any independent observers during the March 31 general election. Each observer has to be registered and the costs of accreditation have limited the number of trained observers for the poll. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network says it cannot afford the fee the government charges for registering observers, to ensure that every polling place has an independent monitor. The registration fee, the equivalent of about $16 (U.S.), is approximately Zimbabwe's minimum monthly wage. A spokeswoman for the network, who asked not to be named, says the total cost to accredit observers will come to $100,000 and other expenses will include deployment, training and communications. The non-governmental organization says that as a result, it will only be able to field a maximum of 6,500 independent observers to monitor the approximately 30,000 ballot boxes nationwide. The spokeswoman says the Ministry of Justice has not yet responded to applications for the observers' accreditation although they have to be in the field, including many remote and barely accessible areas in just 20 days. Welshman Ncube, secretary-general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change says electoral regulations allow each political party only one election agent inside each polling station to monitor at least three lines of voters and then the counting of the ballots. He says it is impossible to monitor so much data and procedures with only one person. The use of cellular phones and any other radio communication in the vicinity of polling stations has been banned for this election. Foreign observers from Africa have to pay $100, if they are accepted and accredited. Observers from nations outside of Africa are charged $300. The location and numbers of polling stations are only expected to be revealed the night before voting, and there is no rule that sites be in the same places they were in previous elections.
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From The Daily News Online Edition, 11 March
Threat to burn houses of MDC supporters
Goromonzi - Two Zanu PF officials in Shumba ward of Domboshava this week publicly told a party meeting here that they will beat up people and burn houses and property belonging to all suspected MDC supporters in the area if the ruling party loses the parliamentary polls later this month. The threats were made despite pledges by Zanu PF and President Robert Mugabe that the ruling party would desist from violence and intimidation ahead of the parliamentary election on March 31. The meeting was held in this part of Goromonzi District on Monday and the threats were made to about 100 people from four villages in Shumba ward. The councillor for Shumba ward, Gibson Chiwara, and the Zanu PF local youth chairman identified only as Mapurani also told four headmen who were present at the meeting that they should compile a list of all suspected MDC supporters, so that the two officials would make sure they were not allowed to vote on polling day. "We were asked to compile the names. We were also told that each headman should have a list outside the polling station and to confirm all suspected MDC supporters so that they would not be allowed to vote," said one of the headmen, who refused to be identified for fear of victimisation. Shumba ward is the home area of the MDC candidate for Goromonzi, Claudious Marimo, and is a stronghold of the opposition party. The four headmen who attended the meeting are in charge of Tamborinyoka, Marimo, Banga and Pasimamire villages. The two Zanu PF officials reportedly accused all villagers from Tamborinyoka village of being MDC supporters and of being influenced by Luke Tamborinyoka, a prominent Zimbabwean journalist and former news editor of The Daily News, who comes from the area. Tamborinyoka's sister was also openly told that their homestead would be burnt because they supported the MDC and the family has a journalist who has a history of undermining Zanu PF and the government by working for anti-government newspapers.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 11 March
UNDP clashes with donors over NGO funds
Staff Writer
A clash is looming between donors and the United Nations Development Programme over humanitarian funds which government accuses local NGOs of mishandling. This week the government said NGOs were failing to account for US$88 million donated under the Consolidated Appeal Process (CAP), a humanitarian effort co-ordinated by the UNDP. The government has since written to local NGOs giving them until today to account for the funds or risk prosecution and deregistration. The Zimbabwe Independent however heard yesterday that the funds in question were not part of the CAP but monies mobilised by the NGOs for their own projects. Donors with offices in Harare yesterday chided the UNDP office for getting involved in the issue, saying the funds were not part of its humanitarian appeal. It has also emerged that some of the NGOs which government accuses of abusing donor funds are not involved humanitarian issues. One such NGO is Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa. A meeting has been scheduled for today between donors, NGOs and the UNDP to sort out the problems.
We can reveal that in 2003 government sent an appeal to the UNDP for assistance to avert a humanitarian crisis caused by poor harvests. The UNDP is said to have failed to convince donors to support that effort as differences between Mugabe's government and the West sharpened. Donors at the time voiced concern over the implementation of the land reform and the democratic deficit in the country. Donors who were willing to help however decided to channel funds directly to NGOs and not through the UNDP office. NGOs with running projects signed programme agreements with donors, some running up to 2007. UN sources yesterday said in January 2004 government approached the UNDP requesting renewal of the June 2003 CAP and to ask for more support. Government in July made a follow-up on its request to have the appeal renewed. The then resident representative Victor Angelo informed government that the donor community would only avail aid through NGOs already operating in the country. He allegedly submitted a list of NGOs that were going to benefit, giving a breakdown of the money they would receive. Government now alleges the money could have been used to sponsor political activities instead of the intended humanitarian causes.
Acting UNDP resident representative Benard Mokam last night said current government efforts should not send the wrong signal to donors. "It is unfortunate that we are now in this situation where donors feels that they are being probed," said Mokam. "If the government is looking for information to enable it to do an assessment and see how it can complement, then there is no problem. If it is going to be used to scrutnise and control then it is sending the wrong signal," said Mokam. The donors this week said it was "most irregular" for the UNDP to claim that they could not account for funds under the CAP. "This is most irregular because the NGOs, who were our co-operating partners, accounted for the money to us, not to the UNDP. We had no deal with the UNDP. The fact that we informed them of what we were doing with NGOs does not make them owners of the process," the donors said. The government is expected to send its appeal for humanitarian assistance to the UNDP next month. This, diplomats in Harare said, was likely to get a lukewarm reception from donors because of the current controversy. The government, NGOs allege, would like to use the spat to stop President Mugabe 's signing of the NGO Act which was passed in December. The Act, among other issues, makes it illegal for NGOs involved in issues of governance and voter education to receive foreign funding. It also empowers government to peruse the accounts of NGOs and monitor their sources of finance.
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From SW Radio Africa, 12 March
Jamming: change of plan
We are still being deliberately jammed - which obviously means that we're doing a good job! Please bear with us while we try to overcome this problem. We now have a new broadcast schedule:
Evening broadcasts
For the full three hours of evening broadcasts (6pm to 9pm Zimbabwe time) we will be on 3230 kHz in the 90 metre band.
For the first hour of evening broadcasts we will also be on 6145 kHz in the 49 metre band.
And for the first hour of the evening broadcasts we will also be on 11845 kHz in the 25m band.
Yes. We're broadcasting on 3 frequencies for the first hour each evening.
Morning broadcasts
Don't forget the short-wave and medium-wave broadcasts between 5 am and 7 am Zimbabwe time each the morning. These are the frequencies to try:
Medium wave: 1197Khz
Shortwave: 3230Khz in the 90 metre band
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From The Sunday Times (UK), 13 March
Protesters come out in Mugabe election 'truce'
Anne Wayne
Marondera - "CHINJA!" The demand for "change" roared out from hundreds of hoarse throats at the first opposition rally ever held in Marondera, a small town 45 miles east of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. On the other side of the road, a silent crowd stared fearfully from behind a police line, afraid of declaring their loyalty to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), whose supporters are often beaten, raped and killed. The rally would nevertheless have been unthinkable four years ago, when Zimbabwe's last parliamentary elections were held amid a wave of murders, widespread torture and the hounding of thousands of farmers from their land. "Now the government wants credibility, they want to be seen as legitimate," said Ian Kay, who is standing for the MDC on March 31, election day. He hopes to unseat Sydney Sekeramayi, the defence minister known as "the cruel one". "There is lots of international pressure to make this seem like a free and fair election, although intimidation is still going on," he said. The opposition is keen to capture the seat, which it lost by just 63 votes last time despite widespread intimidation and allegations of vote-rigging on behalf of President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party.
Many MDC supporters are wary not so much of what will happen in the run-up to the election but of the retribution they may suffer afterwards. "There has been no violence yet, but Zanu are warning people," confided one man sporting an MDC T-shirt. "They say, 'We will not beat you now, because the observers are here. But watch what happens after the elections. We will get you when they have gone'." Despite a torrential downpour, 600 singing and dancing supporters turned out to hear Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader. It was one of several rallies that his party has held in recent weeks in rural areas such as Marondera, traditionally a Zanu PF stronghold. Nobody knows the risks better than Mercy, 33, who has been arrested, raped twice and seen her children beaten to the ground in front of her. Yet she was there with an MDC scarf around her head. "Those people over there remember the beatings of the last years," she explains, gesturing to the silent crowd. "But I am not afraid any more. They have done their worst to me and I have survived." After the speakers left she peeled off her scarf before setting off home. "I told my neighbours I was going to the hospital," she admitted. Despite the T-shirts, the longed-for chinja is still just a hope.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 13 March
Church building torched in Marondera violence
By Emmanuel Mungoshi
Marondera - Despite official denials, political violence continued in the early hours of Saturday last week, when a building at the United Methodist Church, was torched by suspected Zanu PF supporters. Ian Kay, the MDC candidate for Marondera East, provided assistance when the building was constructed. Kay is challenging the Minister of Defence, Sydney Sekeramayi, on 31 March in the battle to represent the constituency in Parliament. Residents from Mupazviriho village alleged that Zanu PF supporters were not happy that locals were worshiping at a church built with the assistance of an MDC official and particularly a white one. In addition, the villagers said the church's links to retired Bishop Abel Muzorewa was being used by Zanu PF supporters as an excuse to harass the church congregation. Muzorewa is a retired Bishop of the United Methodist Church and was a political foe of President Robert Mugabe, particularly during the first decade of independence. He led the United African National Congress (UANC). A house used as a kitchen by the head of the congregation, Pastor Nyasha Kazembe, had its roof gutted by fire. Kazembe, who was away on business has not returned to his flock amid reports that he now fears for his life. Munorwei Mubvuma, an eyewitness, said the church had on numerous occasions been linked to the opposition MDC because of the assistance it received from Kay. He said on Saturday last week, Pastor Kazembe asked him to guard the church in his absence. In the early hours of Sunday morning, he heard voices, calling for the priest to come out. He did not respond as he did not recognise the voices outside. He only went outside to investigate after he saw the kitchen on fire. A few yards from the church, a house belonging to, Isaac Mupazviriho, also caught fire." Rosemary Katutu, who was sleeping in the second house told The Standard that she was fast asleep when the house was torched. "The three of us managed to salvage a few belongings before the roof collapsed,"she said.
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From Sapa, 13 March
Concerts, marches at Zim border
Protesters gathered at the South African and Zambian border posts with Zimbabwe on Saturday for concerts, marches, and protests against treatment of people in that country. The streets of Musina were filled with thousands of toyi-toying marchers on Saturday afternoon, said Hassen Lorgat, spokesperson for the South African National Non-Governmental Organisation Coalition (Sangoco). "Black people in southern Africa are taking a stand against people who are against liberation," he said from the scene. The marchers planned to head back to the Skoonplaas stadium for a concert and all-night vigil. "Symbolic" marching was also taking place at the Victoria Falls border post in Zambia, said David Kalete, Civicus, and the international citizen alliance organisation. Speaking to Sapa from the scene, Kalete said authorities had restricted the march to less than 200 people, but the concert grounds in nearby Livingstone were "extremely crowded". "There are thousands of people gathered there." The events, organised by civil society groups in both countries, were supposed to have been mirrored by events in Zimbabwe and Mozambique, but the governments of those countries refused permission, said Kalete. The protesters were uncowed, however. "It is essentially a positive vibe for democracy, against violence and intimidation. We hope that this vibe will spread throughout the subregion," said Lorgat. Saturday's proceedings were to protest against the "abuse of fundamental rights and closure of civic space" in Zimbabwe, the press statement said. Local musicians, poets and gospel singers were on the programme at both concerts, after which there would be an overnight vigil. Sangoco supports the Congress of SA Trade Unions, which staged the first of a number of similar protests at the Beit Bridge border post last week. This event, however, only gathered a few hundred participants. South Africa's side of the event was organised by Amnesty International, Sangoco, Civicus, and other civic bodies.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 13 March
Police detain MDC supporters as campaign rallies intensify
By our own staff
Hilda Mafudze, the MDC candidate for Manyame, last night reported that nearly 50 MDC supporters were detained by police after being beaten up by war veterans at Tongogara Park. Tongogara Park is home to illegally settled war veterans and soldiers, and Mafudze told The Standard last night that more than thirty MDC supporters were at Marimba Police Station while another 20 were taken to hospital. "The so-called war veterans said Tongogara Park was a no- go area," Mafudze said. President Mugabe held a rally at nearby Kuwadzana. In Chinhoyi more than 3 000 people thronged Orange Groove motel for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) campaign rally where the party president, Morgan Tsvangirai, addressed supporters. The rally was held at the motel after they were frustrated from using Chinhoyi Stadium. "For us to be in power everyone has to vote so that we get as many members in parliament as possible to fight the undemocratic laws like the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Every time Mugabe holds a rally, he alleges that I work with Tony Blair and George W Bush but he forgets that he is the one using a British constitution. It is high time that Zimbabweans came up with our own constitution and that is only possible through change." From Chinhoyi Tsvangirai travelled to Chegutu where he addressed more than 15 000 supporters. Nelson Chamisa the Member of Parliament for Kuwadzana, who also addressed party members, blasted the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings for distorting MDC news whenever they covered the opposition party's rallies.
President Mugabe held another rally at Zengeza Four High School in Chitungwiza that was attended mainly by school children, Zanu PF women's league members and youth. He donated 50 computers that will be distributed to five schools. The secondary schools that received the donations are: St Mary's; Zengeza High 1; Zengeza High 4; Seke High 1; and Seke 5. Mugabe concentrated on British Prime Minister, Blair and Tsvangirai whom he branded "a witch". He said the government had deliberately left out western election observers and invited pro-Zanu PF Americans Coltrane Chimurenga and Sister Viola Plummer - known for being Zanu PF praise singers. "We did not invite the whites, with their white faces to observe our elections. "Instead we invited our friends from America to observe the elections for us," Mugabe said. He confirmed that Zanu PF was going through several crises characterised by in-fighting, factionalism and misunderstandings. The rally was also attended by Zanu PF candidates from Chitungwiza, among them Christopher Chigumba, and Sabina Mangwende from Glen View.
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From The Zimbabwe Independent, 11 March
Zanu PF, MDC step up campaign rallies
Gift Phiri
As soon as she was in the stadium, Merjury Banda reached into her bag, pulled out a T-shirt with the open-palm symbol of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and slipped it over her head. "I am afraid," she said. "If the Zanu PF people catch me wearing this, I am in trouble. We are not free." On Friday night, gangs of ruling party youths had been covering the townships around Mbare, telling people that if they went to the stadium next to Stodart Hall in the morning, there would be war. Saturday saw MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai holding one of his biggest rallies for his party's campaign for the parliamentary election on March 31 and, outside the poor suburb, vehicles queued for 800 metres at a roadblock as police searched them painstakingly and demanded drivers' identity cards. For those in the crowd of at least 12 000 people in the stadium, reaching it had been an act of bravery. When Tsvangirai appeared, the exultant roar of "chinja!" (change) that greeted him was an outpouring of desire for an end to the dread, hunger and poverty, all blamed on President Mugabe's government. The stadium was covered with MDC flags emblazoned with the party slogan, "A new Zimbabwe, a new beginning."Tsvangirai spoke of the restoration of the rule of law, followed by "a new constitution to re-establish the dignity of parliament, the judiciary and clearly respect the separation of powers".There were no extravagant promises, but warnings of violence, especially from Mugabe's militias after the election. Almost all those present had walked from the surrounding townships.
The same day about five kilometres away, dozens of government trucks dragooned perhaps 8 000 people to Mugabe's rally at Kwayedza High School in Highfield. It was a quasi-military operation in which the party and security force personnel controlling it exuded menace. The Zanu PF campaign was punctuated by racist rhetoric, flags, posters and menacing men with automatic weapons. By the time President Mugabe arrived at the Kwayedza High School, the ruling Zanu PF party's slick campaign machine had produced a crowd of about 8 000 at the dilapidated school where Mugabe donated 10 computers. "Pasi nechamatama," (Down with the chubby-cheeked one)," they chanted in a derogatory reference to Tsvangirai. The night before, the suburb was awash with the Zanu PF advance team. Government lorries constantly disgorged people, many of them in new white Zanu PF campaign T-shirts. Nearly every home, shop and school within Highfield was deserted. School children cheered when the 20-vehicle motorcade arrived. But soon afterwards, the holiday atmosphere evaporated. The area was suddenly swamped by soldiers, secret police, and aides who scurried around Mugabe as he made a perfunctory tour, wearing a Zanu PF baseball cap. "In the last three years, Zanu PF has died," a veteran Zimbabwean journalist accompanying this reporter said. "They have nothing but force left." The contrast with Mbare was glaring. The atmosphere at the opposition's rally was happy and relaxed, the crowd's responses spontaneous. When Mugabe speaks, it is to promise free seed and fertiliser, as much seized white-owned land as anyone wants and higher wages. He delivers bizarre denunciations of British plots to overthrow him and hurls clumsy abuse against Tsvangirai, calling him "Tsvangison", the "black man who masquerades as a white".
At the weekend Mugabe was at it again, threatening to punish gay groups and saying Britain was angry with him for his stance against homosexuality. British Prime Minister Tony Blair should "expose" his cabinet as full of gays before criticising Zimbabwe, Mugabe said at a rally in one of the rural districts where he donated computers. With only 20 days before the election on March 31 and the state media pumping out his simple campaign message for months, Mugabe has not stopped repeating it anyway. The country's parlous economy is the result of the "state of war" with Britain, which is using Tsvangirai to take land belonging to black people away from them, he says. "Whatever Blair tries to do, we will not back off," he has declared. The call he has been making lately for peaceful elections gets an airing, two sentences of it in English, for the apparent benefit of the two white reporters present. "We don't condone violence, but I am not saying that you should fold your arms if you are provoked. You must stand your ground. But please, you should not go assaulting people anywhere."
This call was met with loud guffaws from the crowd of tough-looking, well-dressed men sitting near the podium. The presence in the front row of Elliot Manyika, the Zanu PF secretary for commissariat, sends a chilling message. He is dressed in the stiff, new uniform of the national service, the brutal militia whose members are conducting the final phase of voter-orientation before the election. The new vernacular songs just taught to the crowd contradict Mugabe's appeal. "Zanu is lethal, Zanu bites," goes one; another, "Tsvangirai, you will get a beating from the comrades." The programme, repeated almost identically in each election campaign since independence in 1980, has the effect of conferring a sense of invincibility on Mugabe, and undermines any hope that Zimbabweans will be able to rise above the violence and repression inflicted by him. The MDC cannot match the resources of Zanu PF, which has no qualms about plundering the state coffers, as well as using almost every branch of the civil service and security forces to ensure its continued rule. A rally that Tsvangirai was to have held two weeks ago in the western city of Bulawayo had to be abandoned when ruling party youths took over the stadium the night before and police refused to remove them.
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From The Sunday Times (SA), 13 March
Too late to do any good, MDC says of observers
'Futile' SA missions have missed poll's 'perversions'
Charmeela Bhagowat and Brendan Boyle
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says South African election observers deployed to Zimbabwe are too late to "observe the perversions which have been taking place". Speaking to the Sunday Times from the campaign trail in Matabeleland yesterday, Welshman Ncube, the secretary-general of the Zimbabwean opposition party, said his party had already conveyed this message to a five-member African National Congress observer team it met on Friday. "This is an exercise in futility because they arrive to observe a very contested election only two weeks before it happens, and they will not get the full opportunity to observe the perversions which have been taking place" Ncube said. He said the extent to which the observer teams' conclusions could be trusted was limited. "At the end of the day it must be very clear that the delegations who have been invited have all been hand-picked by close friends of the Mugabe regime, and as such ... they will only come out with one verdict." He accused the South African government of "aiding and abetting" the Mugabe regime. "This week the South African government issued a statement through its spokesman repudiating the SADC [Southern African Development Community] Parliamentary Forum and making the novel claim that the forum is not an official SADC structure. This demonstrates the extent to which the Mbeki government is prepared to go in aiding and abetting the Mugabe regime" said Ncube. He was referring to a communiqué released by the South African Foreign Affairs Ministry after it became apparent that Zimbabwe had not invited the forum to observe the elections.
Meanwhile, SA's parliamentary mission to observe the election is due to arrive tomorrow. The head of the observer mission, Mbulelo Goniwe, has promised that his team's work would be thorough and non-partisan. He said that he would expect all members of the ANC-dominated multiparty team to support a majority report on the outcome of the poll. Goniwe, who is chief whip of the ANC, said Parliament's 20-member delegation would speak to all sides, including labour unions and civil society groups, during their observation of the campaign, the election and the vote count. Goniwe told a news conference this week that he expected to be able to go anywhere in Zimbabwe at any time, particularly in response to complaints by election participants, and to be able to speak to anyone. He pledged also that the ANC, which has nominated 12 of the mission members, would not try to screen the election from opposition scrutiny. "I would want to avoid the perception that we have deployed in a partisan way. It is precisely in those areas where you suspect that there might be problems that you go out of your way to ensure that it is not just the ANC that is deployed there."
But he said the parliamentary observer mission would produce a single report based on the majority view of the team - and hinted that he would try to suppress a minority report if the panel was split. Douglas Gibson, international affairs spokesman for the Democratic Alliance, said Goniwe would not be able to prevent the publication of dissenting views. "There is great suspicion in SA and in Zimbabwe that the ANC will bend over backwards to issue a favourable report," he said. Independent Democrats delegate Vincent Gore said he would not form any opinion until he had spoken to representatives of all views inside Zimbabwe. Goniwe said he did not believe that President Thabo Mbeki had prejudged the outcome of the election when he said recently that he did not expect anyone to do anything to prevent a free and fair election. "If you go with the view that these elections are already free and fair, why then would you even go? "I would say the President ... refers to the work that this government has done, the resources that it has put in to really assist that country to hold credible free and fair elections," Goniwe said.
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From SW Radio Africa, 12 March
Still Jamming
We are still being deliberately jammed - which obviously means that we're doing a good job! Please bear with us while we try to overcome this problem. We now have a new broadcast schedule:
Evening broadcasts
For the full three hours of evening broadcasts (6pm to 9pm Zimbabwe time) we will be on 3230 kHz in the 90 metre band.
For the first hour of evening broadcasts we will also be on 6145 kHz in the 49 metre band. And for the first hour of the evening broadcasts we will also be on 11845 kHz in the 25m band. Yes. We're broadcasting on 3 frequencies for the first hour each evening.
Morning broadcasts
Don't forget the short-wave and medium-wave broadcasts between 5 am and 7 am Zimbabwe time each the morning. These are the frequencies to try:
Medium wave: 1197Khz
Shortwave: 3230Khz in the 90 metre band
Top
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 14 March
SA 'ignorant' about situation in Zim
Johannesburg - The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe said on Sunday it was increasingly perplexed by claims by the South African government that the elections in Zimbabwe will be free and fair. MDC Secretary General Welshman Ncube said in a statement that the MDC did not understand the South African government's "ignorance" about the situation in Zimbabwe. "At present it is clear to each and every objective observer that conditions for a free and fair election do not exist in Zimbabwe. There is therefore nothing whatsoever to suggest that the elections will be free and fair, or indeed legitimate," Ncube said. "The electoral environment is actually worse than it was during the March 2002 presidential elections." Contrary to the view propagated by the South African government, their counterparts in Harare are not taking any meaningful steps to ensure the elections will be free and fair, he said. "The voters' roll is in a shambles, violence and intimidation remain prevalent, equal access to the state media is a myth and the elections will be managed and run by the same biased electoral bodies which have manipulated the electoral process to the political advantage of the ruling party in previous elections." He said the much trumpeted new electoral commission had no direct role to play in the March 31 election. "It was established far too late to have any meaningful influence on the process. More importantly, anything it do |
