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Archived News
1st March 2005
SA can play key role in pressurising Zimbabwe, US insists
Soldiers attacked MDC officials
Zim govt gets more arms from China
Zimbabwe sets up electoral court ahead of polls
Charles Taylor cronies seek Harare asylum
Zimbabwe shifts the posts
Agriculture doctorate for Mugabe, 81, as Zimbabwe's farms go to seed
More radio, more news
Zimbabwean commander fined for civilian shootings
SA issues warrant of arrest for Rautenbach
MDC candidate, supporters arrested
SADC's credibility in the balance
Dutch customs seizes elephant parts
How soon we have forgotten
Zimbabwe's election needs 'a miracle', says Cosatu
SACC to support protests against Zimbabwean elections
Political violence flares ahead of election
Zim might deregister NGOs
US not threatening to invade Zim: ambassador
Moyo is thick-headed - Mugabe
Research foundation takes on Jonathan Moyo
With xenephobia rising, electrified border fence hailed
Jail fears prompted journalists' flight
SADC inaction on Zimbabwe places aid at risk - US
Top MDC officials arrested in crackdown
SADC to deploy observers for Zimbabwe elections
Moyo loyalist editor fired from Chronicle
SADC nominates candidates for top ADB, WTO posts
A troubled reunion
Zim media laws claim another independent newspaper
Out of a job, but Moyo's living the high life
Man in court for insulting Mugabe
Mugabe henchmen on the warpath
Mugabe declares Moyo enemy Number One
Last-ditch battle for white Zim farmers
SA observer teams off to Zimbabwe
Cosatu's Zimbabwe blockade gains momentum
Terror in Mutare as Zanu PF thugs demand cards
Mnangagwa is now a born again Christian
Central bank fails to allocate forex to 93 percent of bids
Mbeki 'would be booed' in Zim
Moyo given 48 hours to vacate villa
Southern Times off to slow start
State broadcaster to flight MDC adverts
MDC man wants out
SADC observers to Zim soon
West Africa wins again, with twist
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From Business Day (SA), 23 February
SA can play key role in pressurising Zimbabwe, US insists
International Affairs Editor
The US stood its ground yesterday over its criticism of Zimbabwe, urging SA to exert more pressure on Harare to ensure that it adheres to the region's electoral guidelines. The implicit criticism of President Thabo Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" approach to Zimbabwe follows a stinging attack by the South African president on US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labelling Zimbabwe as one of the world's six "outposts of tyranny". The US statement follows a meeting yesterday between US ambassador to SA, Jendayi Frazer, and Mbeki yesterday, although the embassy said the meeting had been scheduled well before Mbeki's remarks, made in an interview with the Financial Times. "As a regional leader and as a democratic nation, SA can play a key role in putting pressure on the Mugabe regime to adhere to the spirit as well as the letter of the electoral principles established unanimously last August by the Southern African Development Community (SADC)," an embassy official said last night. US embassy spokeswoman Judy Moon said that the Financial Times interview had been discussed briefly, however. Mbeki had said in the interview that putting Zimbabwe alongside Burma, Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Belarus as an "outpost of tyranny" was "an exaggeration", and that SA's government would continue with its current strategy.
The US statement indicated a degree of frustration over SA's policy of restraint towards Zimbabwe and the lack of progress towards resolving the crisis in that country. It also amounts to a warning of strong expectations that the region uphold the SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic elections. "We welcome SA's engagement on Zimbabwe and we believe that President Mbeki shares our hope to see Zimbabwe restore democratic principles and practice," said Moon. The statement comes after signs that SA played a major role in persuading a legal SADC task team not to visit Zimbabwe ahead of the March 31 polls to examine whether SADC's guidelines were in fact being followed. Following that move, SADC's intentions in respect of Zimbabwe should become clearer towards the end of the week when a number of SADC foreign ministers meet in Mauritius. Further clarification of how SADC intends to uphold its guidelines is expected at the weekend when electoral experts from the region meet to discuss the guidelines in Maseru, Lesotho.
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From I-Net Bridge (SA), 22 February
Soldiers attacked MDC officials
Zimbabwe's official opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says that a group of soldiers have attacked MDC officials who were coming from Masvingo where the MDC had launched its election campaign for the 2005 general elections. The parliamentary elections are to be held on March 31. Spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said: "The MDC officials were at Wengezi business centre in Manicaland when a group of about 50 soldiers disembarked from two army trucks and about 20 of the soldiers started assaulting the MDC members. Among the MDC officials were three candidates for the 2005 general election namely Pishai Muchauraya the candidate for Makoni East, Edwin Maupa candidate for Mutasa South and Gabriel Chiwara the candidate for Makoni West." Nyathi said: "The soldiers assaulted Chiwara and his election agent Josphat Munhumumwe accusing the two of selling the country to the British. Chiwara and Munhumumwe sustained injuries all over their bodies as they were kicked and beaten with booted feet and fists by the furious members of the army. Chiwara also sustained a deep cut above the eye," he said. The two were taken to Mutare General Hospital where they received treatment and were later released. The matter was reported to Mutare rural police station and docket number RRB 0412126 was opened but to date no arrests had been made, Nyathi reported.
"The MDC is seriously concerned about this incident as it comes hardly a week after another group of members of the army assaulted and injured several MDC members in Nyanga. Both attacks were completely unprovoked. The MDC believes that these attacks are being carried out by members of the (ruling) Zanu PF youth militia who have been drafted into the army in recent months. Only brain- washed young people would carry out these barbaric acts with such passion. We urge all members of the professional army to encourage the unruly elements among them to desist from their activities as they continue to tarnish the name of the professional force. "In a related incident of violence, an MDC youth activist Thembekile Moyo 29, was badly injured in the leg last night (Monday night) after being struck by a stone while putting up posters for the MDC Insiza candidate Siyabonga Malandu Ncube", he said. Moyo - who was with Malandu and a group of MDC youths - was struck after having been waylaid by the Zanu PF group in the dark. Moyo was struck in the leg and sustained a suspected fractured leg. The MDC claims that the Zanu-PF group was led by Spare Sithole who is the election agent for the Zanu PF candidate for Insiza, Andrew Langa. The incident was reported to police officer-in-charge, Inspector Edmund Shoko, who quickly deployed a group of police officers to the scene. On arrival at Filabusi centre, they found Langa's brothers Ben and Sindiso with a group of Zanu PF supporters allegedly pulling down the MDC posters. The group ran away but Sindiso Langa and one member of the militia were apprehended, Nyathi reported.
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From Zim Online (SA), 22 February
Zim govt gets more arms from China
Harare - President Robert Mugabe's government has taken delivery of a new consignment of arms from China, six weeks before the crunch March 31 parliamentary elections. The Mugage government has resorted to China and other Asian and Middle Eastern countries for arms after the European Union slapped it with an arms embargo in 2000 over human rights abuses. Zim Online is authoritatively informed that a new consignment which includes assault rifles, military vehicles and other support material, has been secretly shipped into Harare via the Mozambican port of Beira. Army sources said the government was due to receive more than one hundred Dongfeng vehicles before the election. The Dongfeng vehicle is a Chinese innovation on sale in Europe as well. Army drivers have been taking lessons on a few trial Dongfeng vehicles already in Harare. "Our army has received the equipment as part of a deal to fully equip it ahead of the March parliamentary elections," said a source within the army's procurement unit at the defence headquarters in Harare. He said Mugabe was not taking any chances and would want the army to be fully equipped ahead of the parliamentary elections just in case he needs it to keep him in power.
Zimababwe Defence Forces commanders have repeatedly vowed not to allow anyone who did not fight in Zimbabwe's 1970s liberation war to take power. They have virtually implied that they would stage a coup if Morgan Tsvangirai, who did not fight in the liberation war, wins elections. Most of the army's equipment had become worn down after it was used in the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The government could not properly restore it after the EU imposed arms sanctions. The government is now replacing it with new Chinese equipment. To keep the army on his side, President Mugabe has awarded soldiers substantial salary and allowance increases. Officers in the army have also been given a larger slice of seized white farmlands. The exact amount spend on the latest arms consignment could not be established but it is believed to run into several billions of Zimbabwe dollars. The Zimbabwe National Army's public relations directorate refused to confirm nor deny the latest shipment saying such information was confidential. Asked for comment, Defence minister, Sydney Sekeremayi, said he did not discuss military issues with the media. "I'm sorry I do not discuss military issues with the media and over the phone," he said, before slamming his phone.
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From Reuters, 22 February
Zimbabwe sets up electoral court ahead of polls
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's government has set up an electoral court to handle legal matters arising from a general election due next month, the official Herald newspaper said on Tuesday. The government has made reforms it says will ensure a free poll on March 31, but critics - including the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - say the rules are still skewed in favour of Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party. Zimbabwe's top judge, Godfrey Chidyausiku, appointed High Court judges Tendayi Uchena, Maphios Cheda and Nicholas Ndou to the new court to hear election petitions, the Herald reported. "The Electoral Court is now in place and the administrative machinery is also in place. We are now ready to deal with election matters," the paper quoted the court's registrar as saying. Court officials were not immediately reachable for comment. The MDC, running in this year's polls under protest, has complained that courts dragged their feet over most legal challenges it launched against Zanu PF victories in 2000 parliamentary elections and a presidential vote two years later. The ruling party insists it won fairly. Critics say Mugabe has failed to deliver on international demands for wide-ranging democratic electoral reforms, and has put in place a set of cosmetic measures designed to extend his Zanu PF party's 25-year grip on power. Mugabe dismisses the charges, and says the West, led by former colonial ruler Britain, is bent on forcing him from power over his controversial seizure of white-owned farms for landless blacks.
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From Zim Online (SA), 22 February
Charles Taylor cronies seek Harare asylum
Harare - About 100 Liberians, all kinsmen of ousted former strongman, Charles Taylor, have found a new home in Zimbabwe. They are living lavishly in Harare's Avenues area and in uptown suburbs stoking speculation that Taylor and his close associates and family members looted Liberia's wealth before leaving their impoverished country. The Liberians left their motherland after Taylor was forced out of Monrovia to pave way for peace in the West African country. While Taylor was offered sanctuary in neighbouring Nigeria as part of the peace deal, his kinsmen left for various destinations. Most have now found their way to Zimbabwe where they are now seeking political asylum. The international community forced Taylor to step down and settle in exile to facilitate a peace deal between government forces and armed rebels known as the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). Taylor was also indicted by a United Nations backed International War Crimes' Tribunal for atrocities that were perpetrated in Sierra Leone in the early 1990's by the late Fodday Sankoh's notorious rebel group which enjoyed support from Monrovia. He remains a free man because conditions of the Liberian peace deal signed to end the civil war do not permit anyone to arrest or harass him as long as he is in Nigeria and has not interfered in the internal politics of the country he ruled since 1991. The peace deal appears to be holding a year since it was signed.
Taylor's close family members were also allowed free passage from Liberia as part of the deal. The lavish lifestyles of Taylor's kinsmen in Harare have raised eyebrows. Several of them have suddenly started flourishing business enterprises around Harare and are often seen driving posh vehicles even before many of them have been granted refugees' status by authorities. Many have not yet appeared before the refugees' vetting committee, which comprises officials from the security organs, social welfare department and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). "What surprises me is that these Liberians can afford to buy posh cars even though they have not yet been given refugees' status," said one refugee close to one of Taylor's relatives seeking asylum in Zimbabwe. "They are staying in expensive flats and living large." The Liberians reportedly refused to stay at the Waterfalls Transit Centre where asylum seekers awaiting refugees' status normally stay preferring to stay on their own in upmarket places around the Avenues area. Asylum seekers normally prefer to stay at the transit centre where they are given basics such as accommodation, food, medical help, clothing, blankets and security.
Officials at the Harare offices of the UNHCR said they did not wish anybody to write about the presence of Taylor's kinsmen in Zimbabwe as this could endanger them Isaac Mukaro, the Zimbabwean government commissioner for refugees in Harare, was said to be on leave and could not be reached for comment. However, a senior official from his office confirmed the presence of the Liberians saying: "Some of them have appeared before the vetting committee but the majority have not. Those who have appeared before the committee have been given refuge status." The official added: "Very few asylum seekers, including from other countries, have been denied status." He declined to give figures of those who have been granted status and those turned down. "We do not give away these figures just like that, he said. Zimbabwe is also home to former Ethiopian dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam, who fled Addis Ababa as rebels led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi closed in on Addis Abbaba in 1991. Mengistu and his family are living luxuriously in Harare's upmarket Gunhill area at the expense of Zimbabwean taxpayers.
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From BBC News, 22 February
Zimbabwe shifts the posts
Steve Vickers
An inspection team in Zimbabwe has discovered that the goalposts at most of the country's football stadiums have incorrect dimensions. With the new season starting next month, some grounds risk bans after officials unearthed some alarming errors. At Maglas stadium in the town of Zvishavane, the crossbar at the southern end was found to be 10 centimetres too low. The posts at that end had sunk further into the ground each rainy season. All five stadiums visited so far by referees and officials from the Premier Soccer League (PSL) have been declared unfit for top-flight football. The grounds all have wrong-sized goalposts, and some of them also require building renovations. "We're trying to bring professionalism to football and we need to take some bold decisions," said PSL secretary Chris Sambo. When the posts were measured at Barbourfields stadium in Bulawayo, one goal was found to be 10cm too wide and the other too big by a gaping 14cm. In other words, if a goal is scored there with the ball going in off the post, it really shouldn't count at all. "We measured the posts at Barbourfields towards the end of last year and decided to allow them to continue up to the end of the season," said Zimbabwe Soccer Referees Association chairman Gladmore Muzambi. "But they must be adjusted before the start of this season." Stadiums in Harare will be checked this coming weekend, but there has already been one extremely disturbing error in the capital. The crossbar at the National Sports Stadium, the venue of most of the national team's matches, was 10cm too low ever since the stadium's construction in the early 1980s. The error was discovered after a World Cup qualifier last June, when the visiting Algerians queried the dimensions, and has now been corrected. "The distance was wrongly measured from the outside of the bar to the ground, rather than the inside," explained Muzambi. If the bar had been the correct height, some international matches would certainly have had different results. According to Fifa regulations, goalposts should be 7.32 metres wide and 2.44 metres high. When the league gets underway next month, the goalposts will quite literally have been shifted in Zimbabwean football.
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From Business Day (SA), 23 February
Agriculture doctorate for Mugabe, 81, as Zimbabwe's farms go to seed
Harare Correspondent
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who turned 81 on Monday, has received a rare birthday present - an honorary doctorate in agriculture. This came at a time when Mugabe, the oldest sitting president in Africa, is being accused of ruining the country's once-vibrant agriculture through a haphazard land reform programme. Mugabe was conferred the doctorate by the Zimbabwe Open University. He already has seven studied-for degrees and about a dozen honorary ones. The university said it honoured him for his "outstanding contribution to the land reform programme". Mugabe has been accused of destroying Zimbabwe's agriculture, the mainstay of the economy, through his chaotic land reform redistribution exercise, which began in 2000. Thousands of white-owned farms were seized, worsening the country's economic crisis. The country's grain deficit, attributed to the land reform programme and droughts, has caused widespread starvation. Relief organisations say up to 6-million Zimbabweans, about half the country's population, would need food aid this year. However, Mugabe also got an unwelcome present from the European Union, which extended targeted sanctions imposed on him and his cronies in 2002.
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From ZWNEWS, 23 February
More radio, more news
Starting today, SW Radio Africa will also be broadcasting to Zimbabwe on medium wave. The extra broadcasts will be from 5am to 7am Zimbabwe time very morning, on 1197 kHz. The morning broadcasts will also be available on short wave, at 3230 kHz in the 75m band. The evening broadcasts remain unchanged at 6145 kHz in the 49m band, between 6pm and 9pm Zimbabwe time. The broadcasts can also be heard on the internet at www.swradioafrica.com.
A new weekly email-based newsletter is now also available from the Zimbabwe Solidarity and Consultation Forum. The ZSCF is a network of South African progressive civil society organisation working for human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe. The network includes trade unions, churches, women groups, youth movements and human rights organisations. For more information on the Zimbabwe Solidarity Newsletter, which is distributed free of charge, contact solidarity4zim@highveldmail.co.za .
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From AFP, 23 February
Zimbabwean commander fined for civilian shootings
Harare - A Zimbabwe military court on Feb. 23 fined a platoon commander two million dollars ($322.50) after one of his subordinates accidentally shot 14 spectators during a mock battle at a fair last September. In addition to the fine, court martial president Rodney Munyanduki sent Lieutenant Stanley Mugombe, who pleaded guilty, for re-training. Munyanduki said Mugombe would not be promoted for the next three years but did not give details of the judgment. Three people were seriously injured while the others have since recovered from shrapnel wounds in what the prosecution said was the first accident of its kind in Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980. The accident happened at an agricultural show in Marondera, 65 kilometers (40 miles) east of Harare, when live ammunition was used during a mock battle, but details of the incident remain sketchy. Another soldier who also pleaded guilty will be sentenced this week, while the other five have pleaded not guilty and will be tried later. Mugombe, 29, who was in charge of the group, pleaded guilty to charges of breaching the defense law by "failing to carry out necessary safety precautions". One of the victims had a bullet lodged in his groin, another is still in hospital nursing a broken leg while a third is limping as a result of a leg injury. Pleading with the court for a lenient sentence, Mugombe's lawyer said he was leading soldiers handpicked from various camps and had "very little control over the soldier who fired live shots. "The young lieutenant (Mugombe) is a victim of circumstances who had no control over the situation that prevailed at the time," the lawyer said. "He had no control over the movement of live ammunition where it was not required," he added. The lawyer said the soldier who opened fire "was ill-trained," adding that it was the responsibility of the army to ensure that "soldiers should be trained to be on their guard every time."
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From The Financial Gazette, 24 February
SA issues warrant of arrest for Rautenbach
Felix Njini
South Africa's crack investigation unit, the Scorpions, last week issued an international warrant of arrest for maverick Zimbabwean businessman Billy Rautenbach - wanted across the Limpopo on allegations of fraud involving billions of dollars. The controversial businessman, with extensive interests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is alleged to have committed various crimes including fraud relating to the conduct of his Hyundai motor vehicle importation business when he was still head of Hyundai SA. Reports from South Africa say the Supreme Court of appeal last week reinstated a restraint order by the Scorpions on Rautenbach's house, six flats in Sandhurst, farms in Kwazulu-Natal and the Western Cape, a Falcon jet and a Bell Ranger helicopter. The National Directorate of Public Prosecutions' Asset Forfeiture Unit has been pressing the highest courts in that country for a final restraint order to seize the property, worth around R60 million.
Rautenbach however, told The Financial Gazette this week that some influential business people were out to get him and accused the Scorpions of being used "in pursuit of personal vendettas". He said: "Their case is weak ... they have failed to prove a thing against me for the past five years." The Scorpions have been battling to nab Rautenbach, who left South Africa five years ago. Sources said Pretoria might approach the Zimbabwean authorities to extradite Rautenbach, whose mining activities in the DRC upset the status quo in that country, resulting in a blaze of negative publicity in the media. Rautenbach has in the past been linked to the government, and Zanu PF in particular, although the businessman professed to have no influence in Zimbabwean politics. The businessman, who headed a joint venture cobalt-mining company and was chief executive of Gecamines from November 1998 to March 2000, said his problems emanated from his business involvement in the DRC. His company, Ridgepointe International, clinched mining rights to Gecamines concessions at Shinkolobwe, which include substantial deposits of copper and cobalt.
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From The Daily Mirror, 24 February
MDC candidate, supporters arrested
Daily Mirror reporter
MDC candidate for Shamva in next month's parliamentary election, Godfrey Chimombe and five supporters were arrested on Tuesday while putting campaign posters at Madziva Market in Shamva - Mashonaland Central. Provincial police spokesperson Assistant Michael Munyikwa confirmed the arrests saying the suspects would be charged for contravening provisions of the Public Order and Security Act. He said the six putting up campaign posters at Madziva Market, a property of the council, without notifying the police or the local authority itself. "They did not notify the police that they wanted to put up their campaign materials and will be charged under POSA," Munyikwa said.The six accused persons were still in police custody yesterday awaiting arraignment in court. Chimombe would fight it out with Zanu PF candidate and also state security minister Nicholas Goche for the ticket to represent Shamva constituency in Parliament. The MDC's Mashonaland Central chairman Tapera Macheka said their candidate and supporters were denied access to food in police custody. "The police have arrested our candidate for putting up his campaign posters. The candidate and other five youths are still being held in police custody where I understand they are being denied access to food. We are going to consult our lawyer to intervene because our followers are now afraid of intimidation," Macheka said. The opposition recently expressed concern over the way its supporters were being treated in the province. The party claimed that it was being denied the right to campaign freely.
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Comment from The Cape Times (SA), 23 February
SADC's credibility in the balance
Much is at stake as election looms in Zimbabwe
By Allister Sparks
The Zimbabwe elections are fast becoming a test not so much of President Robert Mugabe's credibility, which is blown anyway, but of the Southern African Development Community's. The 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) expended a great deal of energy six months ago drafting its guidelines for free and fair elections at a summit in Mauritius, an excellent document that won worldwide acclaim. Yet now the SADC is showing a painful lack of political will to apply it to Zimbabwe's election. The organisation has all the teeth it needs to enforce compliance. The guidelines are embedded in the 1992 SADC Treaty and are binding on member countries. Sanctions can be applied against a member country which violates the guidelines or "implements policies which undermine the principles and objectives of SADC". Zimbabwe has done both, yet SADC remains silent and Mugabe continues to treat the guidelines with contempt.
One can appreciate that the regional organisation doesn't want to rush in to a member country with a heavy hand, but a little real pressure - such as a stern warning that unless the guidelines are complied with the SADC observer team will have to declare the elections illegitimate - would surely have brought Mugabe to heel. He may not give a damn about condemnation from Tony Blair, George Bush or the European Union, but he certainly wouldn't want to be censured by his fellow Africans. Of course any such warning would have to carry a credible threat of implementation, which is where the SADC falls down. Mugabe counts on his regional partners not having the stomach to act against him and so he leads them a merry dance. In the end it is the SADC more than Mugabe that will pay the price in terms of lost credibility in the developed world, where it has an important role to play in negotiating a better deal for the struggling nations of Africa.
The Mbeki doctrine of delivering good governance in Africa in exchange for better trading opportunities in the developed world will be the prime victim. Incredibly, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma told a media briefing in Cape Town last week that she believed enough was being done to ensure that the March 31 elections would be free and fair. By contrast, that much more down-to-earth individual, Cosatu's Zwelinzima Vavi, told a private briefing he thought it was already too late to save the election process, that the political dice were so irretrievably loaded against the opposition that with only five weeks to go the election could not possibly be free and fair. This week the SA Communist Party's Blade Nzimande said much the same. Dlamini-Zuma said her optimism was based on the fact that Mugabe had called for a violence-free election, while the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, had said the level of political violence in Zimbabwe had declined. In similar vein, President Thabo Mbeki spoke positively during a radio interview on February 14 about the appointment of an independent electoral commission in Zimbabwe, and expressed confidence that a SADC observer team would soon be invited to Zimbabwe, as required by the SADC guidelines.
There are gaping holes in all these assertions. Mugabe's call for a peaceful election is meaningless, since it is his government that instigated the violent repression of the opposition that has been ongoing for years. And while Tsvangirai did indeed say the level of violence had declined somewhat, it is still continuing at an unacceptable level. According to independent sources inside the country, the Zanu PF youth militia is still active everywhere, intimidating opposition supporters, while the government is blatantly using food distribution in the starving rural areas to secure support for the ruling party. Free electioneering is impossible. Under the notorious Public Order and Security Act, the MDC must apply to the police for permission to hold meetings, and these are frequently turned down. Last week the police arrested the MDC's election director, Ian Makone, for organising a meeting of party candidates to prepare for last Friday's nomination court procedures, while in Bulawayo a team of door-to-door canvassers were arrested while trying to check out the chaotic voters roll.
Nor does the opposition have fair access to the state-owned media, as the SADC guidelines require. Last Sunday state television gave the MDC airtime for the first time, with a four-minute report on its campaign launch - promptly followed by a two-hour interview with Mugabe. Meanwhile, the state-owned newspapers are routinely refusing to accept paid MDC election advertisements while publishing reams of free Zanu PF propaganda. The country's most important independent newspaper, the Daily News, remains banned. The Zimbabwe Supreme Court was supposed to deliver judgment on an appeal against the banning order on February 7, and rumour has it the judgment is in the paper's favour - but nothing has yet appeared. Even the foreign media has been effectively disabled. Last week three foreign journalists operating in Zimbabwe, Jan Raath, Angus Shaw and Brian Latham, all fled the country after being subjected to heavy-handed police raids and the seizure of their computers and other essential equipment.
As for the so-called independent electoral commission, it is nothing of the sort. The opposition was presented with a shortlist of candidates, none of whom were acceptable to them. As one MDC leader put it: "All we could do was choose the least bad." To cap that, Mugabe appointed as chairman a judge who was one of his most controversial appointees to the bench. Moreover, this new electoral commission is itself not the supreme body in charge of the election. It is subordinate to another body, the Electoral Supervisory Commission, made up entirely of staunch Zanu PF loyalists. Most critical of all, however, is the absence of any observer teams to take note of these delinquencies and to pressurise the Mugabe government into complying with the SADC guidelines. In terms of those guidelines the Zimbabwe government should have invited the SADC to send an observer team 90 days, or three months, before polling day. In fact the invitation only went out last Saturday, with polling day only five weeks away. Worse still, the Zimbabwe government refused entry to a team of lawyers from the SADC organ on politics, defence and security (chaired by South Africa), whose task was to inspect the electoral legislation and assess conditions in the country ahead of the election.
The reason for all this obfuscation is obvious. The critical rigging is being done in advance and the regime wants no observers around to see what is happening. No doubt it will allow some selected observer teams in once the nefarious work is done. Will these observers then ignore what occurred before their arrival and blandly proclaim the election to have been free and fair? That is obviously what the Mugabe regime is counting on them doing. It will be a travesty if they play ball. As for the SADC, any such connivance would be a monumental blunder. Its reputation is far more important to this region than any futile attempt to save face for Mugabe. It must speak up and show that it has the courage of its own principles.
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From Associated Press, 23 February
Dutch customs seizes elephant parts
Amsterdam - Dutch customs police have seized a shipment of African elephant body parts, including 22 feet, eight tusks, eight ears, three tails, a skull and an entire hide, officials said Wednesday. The cargo, originating in Zimbabwe and bound for Germany, was halted at Schiphol airport in October without proper licenses. The find was announced this week following an investigation and will be permanently confiscated, spokeswoman Anita Douven said. African elephants are an endangered species and can only be shipped with special licenses, but activists noted that illegal trade in animal parts is a huge industry. "This is unusual - that there would be such a large find - but trade in ivory is sadly not at all rare," Rosa Hill of the International Fund for Animal Welfare said. The parts may have been intended for a collector who planned to use them as part of an exhibit, she said. Elephant feet are also used to make footstools as a "gruesome collectible" and elephant skin purses are sold at open air markets in London and other cities, she said. The parts were intended for buyers in Spain, Portugal and the Czech Republic, police said. No arrests have been made, though German authorities are still investigating. "It's pretty disgusting," Douven said. "We hope the publicity will discourage people from doing this. At least the dealers have lost their money." She said the parts would likely be destroyed.
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Comment from Business Day (SA), 24 February
How soon we have forgotten
Bryan Rostron
Jan Raath, the Times's long-serving correspondent in Harare, slipped out of Zimbabwe last week after a belligerent campaign of intimidation and a warning that he was about to be arrested on trumped-up charges. He is the third reporter to flee Zimbabwe in one week. It is tempting to say this looks like an orchestrated campaign to clear all remaining independent journalists out of Zimbabwe before the looming election. But having listened to several African National Congress leaders recently, I now realise that this (as BJ Vorster and PW Botha used to insist so vehemently) would probably constitute unwarranted interference in the affairs of another sovereign state - as would be my initial reaction that this was also hideously reminiscent of the treatment in SA, not so long ago, of obstinate journalists. But last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma cleared up such misunderstandings when she announced that prospects for a fair election in Zimbabwe looked rosy and lambasted the Congress of South African Trade Unions for talking of a union blockade of Zimbabwe.
On this basis, I now see that many of my actions during the years of apartheid were clearly impudent, meddlesome and wrong - especially my participation in a British National Union of Journalists committee that funnelled money, surreptitiously, to help alternative newspapers in SA. But I'm not the worst offender. One exile friend launched a huge (and successful) campaign in the 1980s for the release of a leading black South African trade unionist. More heinous, from Dlamini-Zuma's point of view, was a blockade by British dockers, who refused to unload South African goods, in support of the antiapartheid struggle. All this - mea culpa - I supported. Oh, the hours spent arguing against the Margaret Thatcher-Ronald Reagan theory of "constructive engagement", the column inches penned to expose the financial links of those who espoused a policy of noninterference and quiet diplomacy . under the deluded impression that this would indicate that their view was dictated more, perhaps, by profit than hope of change. Thatcher's husband Denis, of course, was one of the most effective advocates of sporting ties and golf course diplomacy (nothing to do, of course, with his profitable business interests in SA, including a company that paid notoriously low wages). And who can forget Thatcher's performance in 1985 when she fought alone against a concerted Commonwealth conference attempt to impose sanctions on SA? At the end she emerged to face the television cameras, holding her thumb and forefinger up, barely apart. "I only gave way that much," she crowed. "You see, almost nothing!" President Robert Mugabe at the time called her "an ally of apartheid". Thatcher continued to claim that "quiet diplomacy" brought results. Her biographer, Hugo Young, wrote: "For a leader who prided herself on her hard-headed realism and attention to facts, this was a suggestive venture into the realm of illusion."
This illusion was shared by many powerful businessmen in the west. Some even played golf with Vorster. William Luke, for example, the influential chairman of the UK-SA Trade Association, was such a frequent visitor to cabinet ministers in Pretoria that he remarked in a 1973 interview: "Since I know them, lunch with them and sometimes joke with them, I believe I can quietly influence them." This was always the official policy of Britain's Conservative Party. Tory MPs, as if programmed, would repeat the catchphrase "quiet diplomacy" every time I made a point of interviewing them after a (usually Pretoria-funded) trip to SA. As the situation deteriorated under apartheid, arguments for "quiet diplomacy" became more strident. In 1983, with 453 people detained for political reasons, only three Tory MPs came to SA at the expense of the government or its front organisations. By 1986, with nearly 30000 political detentions and 955 people killed in unrest, 21 Tory MPs trooped out to SA, all returning with the mantra: "Quiet diplomacy is working." Of course, they saw only what they were shown; and they chose to delude themselves that they could gain a full, independent overview while on an officially funded, closely monitored junket. Visits to boardrooms, a few jolly banquets, a tour of a carefully selected "model" project . plus whispered assurances from cabinet ministers and top businessmen: "Just be patient, can't give away secrets, but - trust me - change is just around the corner." It worked, year after deteriorating year.
There's a joke, among reporters who cover the royal family in Britain, that the reason Prince Charles is so odd is that his main job is opening institutions - a new wing for an old Victorian hospital, say. He tends to be led down the one corridor that has been freshly painted, and so suffers lead poisoning by regularly breathing in drying paint. Being shown one smart corridor while all else around is collapsing is the hazard faced by all who go on official tours. It is hard to believe that those foreign dignitaries who fell for such illusions when escorted round apartheid SA were not willing, self-deluding dupes. Yet how soon we - and Dlamini-Zuma - forget. There is a remarkable similarity in the contempt that tyrannical regimes display for their own people: "They've got nothing to complain about, the people are perfectly happy - some are just being whipped up by cynical outside agitators." How often we heard this from Vorster and Botha. It has become Mugabe's mantra, too. In Black and Gold, his book on business and apartheid, the late Anthony Sampson detailed SA's attempts in 1970 to buy arms from the new Tory government in Britain. "As Harold Wilson pointed out," wrote Sampson, "what Pretoria now wanted was not so much the weapons as a 'certificate of respectability', or 'to get pregnant' (as the Pentagon elegantly put it) by the western powers, to commit them to their support." This, exactly, is what Mugabe now seeks: to "get pregnant" by our democratic government, which would lend his regime a "certificate of respectability". So when journalists are hounded out of Zimbabwe weeks before an election, it is time to say unambiguously: that's exactly how our tyrants used to behave here in SA.
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From The Cape Times (SA), 25 February
Zimbabwe's election needs 'a miracle', says Cosatu
By Eleanor Momberg
Pretoria - It would take a miracle to save the credibility of the general election to be held in Zimbabwe next month, Cosatu secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi said yesterday. "I honestly don't see how you can hold free and fair elections under these conditions in Zimbabwe," he told delegates attending the third Zimbabwe Solidarity Conference here. Vavi said to level the playing field between the ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition, draconian legislation such as the Public Order and Security Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act needed to be amended or scrapped. It was of concern that there was no talk five weeks before the election about this, he said, questioning how free and fair elections could be held when these laws, which gave the police and military such extensive powers, still existed. What was needed, he said, was the appointment of a proper Electoral Commission that abided by the Southern African Development Community's protocols, and not the "cosmetic steps" taken by the Zimbabwe government to "pull the wool over SADC's eyes". In addition, the chaotic voter's roll needed to be sorted out and all interested parties should be given free access to it.
Cosatu, he pointed out, had earlier said SADC observers should visit Zimbabwe at least three months before the ballot to ensure the conditions on the ground were conducive to free and fair elections. With only five weeks to go before Zimbabweans go to the polls, no SADC observers had visited Zimbabwe and were still waiting for an invitation to do so. Vavi also questioned how the populace could be expected to vote when 37 constituencies were still under dispute following the 2000 general election. Because of the present situation under the existing legislation Vavi said he knew "exactly who" was going to win the vote. There had to be an acceptance and recognition that the crisis would still exist after the elections. Beyond March 31 Zimbabweans would either leave the country in droves or resort to violence. "We all have a responsibility to realise that possibility. We must get more voices to say Zimbabwe must be saved before the elections and after March 31." The Zimbabwe government, he said, needed to abide by the rule of law, take responsibility for its action, resume dialogue and end all actions and prohibitions against trade unionists. Cosatu would be picketing outside the Zimbabwe High Commission in Pretoria on March 9. This picket would be preceded by a march to present a memorandum of demands. On March 16 Cosatu would march to Beit Bridge border post, and hold a candlelight vigil on the night of March 30 and 31, he said.
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From SABC News, 25 February
SACC to support protests against Zimbabwean elections
The South African Council of Churches (SACC) is to support protests against next month's elections in Zimbabwe. Initiated by Cosatu, the protests will run from the March 09 until March 30 and will be held in Pretoria and the border town of Musina, as well as at the Beitbridge border post. This announcement was made by Rubin Phillip, the Anglican bishop of KwaZulu-Natal, at a Zimbabwe solidarity and consultative forum in Pretoria. Also present at the forum were representatives of Cosatu, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the SACP, SA Students Congress, the SA Non-governmental Organisations Coalition and the Crisis Zimbabwe Coalition. The forum is to apply for accreditation to attend the election as observers on March 31. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's government has confirmed that it is considering the de-registration of some 30 non-governmental organisations. The organisations are accused of allegedly misusing millions received from foreign donors. Paul Mangwana, the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister says some R500 million is unaccounted for.
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From Zim Online (SA), 25 February
Political violence flares ahead of election
Norton - Suspected ruling Zanu PF party militants yesterday waylaid and severely beat up an opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party campaign team in the small town of Norton, 40km west of Harare, as political violence steadily increases across the country ahead of a key election next month. The 11 MDC activists were putting up campaign posters at Reinham school in the town when the suspected Zanu PF militants pounced on them. The militants also confiscated the posters and party regalia the opposition supporters were wearing and burnt the material. Norton falls under the Manyame constituency in which President Robert Mugabe's nephew Patrick Zhuwawo is standing against the MDC's Hilda Mafudze in the March 31 poll. Zanu PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira could not be reached for comment on the incident yesterday. Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena was also unreachable on his phone when Zim Online tried to contact him. But Mafudze yesterday said she had reported the attack against her campaign team to police in Norton. "This cannot be a free and fair election. How can the whole process be fair when one's campaign team is beaten up and their regalia burnt by these thugs who belong to a party which claims it supports a free and fair poll?" Mafudze said. Yesterday's incident follows a similar attack last Sunday by members of the Zimbabwe National Army on MDC members at Wengezi rural business centre in Manicaland province. The MDC members, who included three of the party's candidates in the March poll, were beaten up by the soldiers who were in uniform, while returning home from the official launch of the party's campaign in Masvingo. Increasing reports of attacks by state security agents and suspected Zanu PF militants against MDC supporters put into serious question promises by Mugabe and his government to ensure a violence free and democratic election next month.
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From News24 (SA), 24 February
Zim might deregister NGOs
Harare - Zimbabwe is considering the deregistration of about 30 non-governmental organisations which it said allegedly misused millions of dollars received from foreign donors last year, a cabinet minister said on Thursday. "We have written to them several times to give us the information on how the money was spent... without success and we are in the process of drafting a final letter before we take action," Paul Mangwana told the New Ziana news agency. He said about $87m were unaccounted for. "We may take drastic steps against them and this includes suspending their registration if they fail to account for the money they received," the minister said. Mangwana said the money was part of $210m the government requested from foreign aid agencies for community projects and food aid. But the unnamed foreign donors chose to disburse the aid money through non-governmental organisations. "We were surprised to be told by donors when we asked them about their response to our request, that $87 was made available through NGOs," Mangwana said. Zimbabwe's parliament last year passed a controversial bill now awaiting President Robert Mugabe's assent, which compels NGOs to register and subject themselves to scrutiny by the government. The bill also prohibits Zimbabwean NGOs from receiving donations from abroad.
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From SABC News, 25 February
US not threatening to invade Zim: ambassador
The United States did not threaten to invade Zimbabwe when it labelled Robert Mugabe's regime an "outpost of tyranny", Jendayi Frazer, the US ambassador to South Africa, said in Johannesburg yesterday. In last month's speech to the US Congress, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, named Zimbabwe alongside Iran, Cuba, Myanmar, North Korea and Belarus as outposts of tyranny. However yesterday Frazer said: "We do not seek to install a US-style democracy in Zimbabwe or anywhere else for that matter. The United States has no fight, no right, no desire and no intention to impose our form of government on anyone else." The ambassador was speaking at an address on US foreign policy in Africa at the SA Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg yesterday. She said Rice's comments on Zimbabwe were "not to threaten an invasion". Rice's comments were "a statement of fact" about the way in which Mugabe's government treated its people, she said."The United States will continue to stand with the people of Zimbabwe in their struggle to return democracy to their country."
The placing of Zimbabwe on Washington's list of six renegade countries has drawn criticism from President Thabo Mbeki, who said Rice's comments discredited her country's proclaimed policy of promoting political freedom around the world. "I think it's an exaggeration," Mbeki said in this week's interview with London's Financial Times. "I think that whatever (the US) government wants to do with regard to that list of six countries, or however many, I think it's really somewhat discredited," Mbeki said. Frazer said Mbeki's views, which he explained to Frazer immediately after making them, was that "Zimbabwe is not a tyranny like the other countries in the category". "We would not agree with that. We think that Zimbabwe and the Zanu PF government have created a repressive environment in which there is no level playing field. From the lead-up to the 2002 election through to today, the opposition cannot operate freely, they still have laws ... that would not allow people to have freedom of assembly. We would call it an environment of tyranny and repression. We will agree to disagree," Frazer said. The US supported governments that answered to their citizens and respected basic, fundamental human rights, she said. "Where we see human rights abuses, we will say so publicly. We will speak out and we will speak out loudly."
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From News24 (SA), 24 February
Moyo is thick-headed - Mugabe
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has branded his former protege Jonathan Moyo, who appeared untouchable during his tenure as information minister, as "thick-headed" for defying the ruling party ahead of key polls next month. Mugabe said on state television late on Wednesday that he had tried to persuade the out-of-favour Moyo to change his mind about running as an independent candidate in next month's crucial parliamentary elections, without any success. He said Moyo "was adamant, he is thick-headed, we are very sorry but the party has rules and rules must be followed. He remains ousted from the party," said Mugabe. Mugabe said people would do well to remember that "if you defy, remember the party is bigger than you, you will be pushed aside like a person of no importance." Moyo, 48, got the sack on Saturday after he decided to run in the March 31 parliamentary vote as an independent candidate, defying the ruling Zanu PF party which had barred him from standing in the ballot. His dismissal at the weekend capped a nearly six-year meteoric rise for Moyo, who went from being one of Mugabe's harshest critics to his loudest cheerleader. Critics labelled him "Mugabe's Goebbels", referring to the Nazi propagandist. Moyo made his mark as the architect of the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act passed into law in 2002, barring foreign journalists from working in Zimbabwe for long periods and tightening controls on domestic media. Two independent newspapers have been shut down and several journalists arrested under the law crafted ahead of a parliamentary election in 2000 which the opposition and many foreign observers charge was marred by fraud. His argument for the tough media law was that it was necessary to protect Zimbabwe from foreign journalists whom he viewed as pawns of Western countries like Britain and the United States which have harshly criticised the Mugabe regime.
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From Zim Online (SA), 25 February
Research foundation takes on Jonathan Moyo
Harare - The United States Ford Foundation has filed a court application challenging a bid by dismissed information minister Jonathan Moyo to have a civil suit against him for embezzling donor funds dismissed. The former information minister filed an appeal in Kenya's Court of Appeal arguing that the High Court of Kenya did not have the jurisdiction to hear the case. But in its application, the foundation has urged the Court of Appeal to throw out Moyo's appeal because it does not comply with court rules. "The Ford Foundation has filed an application to dismiss Mr Moyo's appeal for lack of compliance under the Court of Appeal rules," the foundation's lawyers told Zim Online. The lawyers refused to divulge further details on the matter, which is still to be set down for hearing, saying it would be improper to do so when the matter was still before the courts. The foundation accuses Moyo, who it employed as a programme officer between 1993 and 1997, of embezzling US$108 000 which he allegedly secretly transferred into a South African-based trust called Talunoza, named after his four children. Moyo is alleged to have used part of the funds to buy a mansion in Johannesburg which was later sold after he failed to pay R1 million in rate arrears. Moyo, a brilliant political science professor who swapped the university chair for politics, was fired from the government last week after he sought to stand as an independent candidate in the March general election. This is not the first time Moyo has been dragged to the courts over the alleged abuse of donor funds. In 2000, South Africa's Witwatersrand University instituted legal proceedings against Moyo over breach of contract after running off with thousands of rands in research money. The university later dropped its claim against Moyo.
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From IRIN (UN), 23 February
With xenephobia rising, electrified border fence hailed
Changate - The word "Zimbabwean" gets Motswana traditional leader Jackson Ofentse hot under the collar. "Please don't ever mention to me the criminals from across the border," he told IRIN. His village of Changate in northern Botswana is only 5 km from the frontier, and he has nothing good to say about his neighbours. "Our women can no longer gather firewood in the bush for fear of being raped; our houses are not safe any more, and even our livestock find their way across the border," he complained. Ofentse is looking forward to the day when the Botswana government flicks the switch on a four-metre high electrified border fence that snakes across the scrubland, ostensibly to control the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) from Zimbabwe. Two outbreaks of FMD in two years, which hit Botswana's lucrative beef exports to the European Union, were sourced to Zimbabwe. Jobs were lost and thousands of cattle slaughtered. While the 500-km long fence officially aims to block the mixing of herds on common pasture, Ofentse and many other Batswana hope it will also keep out the thousands of Zimbabweans escaping poverty at home, who sneak cross the border looking for work in more prosperous Botswana. An estimated 36,000 illegal migrants were deported last year alone and, with xenophobia now firmly on the rise, Zimbabweans have become the target of a growing vigilante movement.
The solar-powered fence, which will deliver a nasty but not fatal 220-volt shock, is due to become operational in June, and will be patrolled 24 hours a day by the security forces. A survey by the Southern African Migration Project found that a majority of Batswana supported its construction. The villagers of Changate, 140 km northeast of Botswana's second city Francistown, may feel more secure behind the new barrier, but they have lost the perks of proximity to Zimbabwe. Gone are the cheap shopping trips across the border, and easy access to relatives on the Zimbabwean side. "We had relied on labour from Zimbabwe for a long time. It was also nearer to travel to Plumtree in Zimbabwe to do your shopping than travel to Francistown," explained local journalist Khumbulani Kholi. Residents in the border villages used to buy cheap Zimbabwean livestock, and enjoyed an easy supply of fruit and vegetables. "When I was growing up, my brothers even went across the border to have a drink in the Nswazi village [in Zimbabwe]," said Kholi. Now, getting to Zimbabwe entails a two-hour walk to the nearest border post at Maitengwe, and for those who don't have passports, a 140-km journey to the immigration office in Tutume. "We don't hate Zimbabweans here," said Kholi. "We are only tired of elements that come to steal from us."
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From IWPR, 23 February
Jail fears prompted journalists' flight
Correspondent says he and two of his colleagues had no option but to flee the country
By Brian Latham in London
Valentine's Day, February 14, saw yet another setback for journalists in Zimbabwe. Police from the country's feared Law and Order Section raided the office used by Associated Press freelancer Angus Shaw, Jan Raath a stringer for the Times of London and me, the freelance correspondent for Bloomberg News in New York. The police conducted two searches over two days without warrants. Hard drives were removed from computers and unencrypted without permission. In the constant company of officers, we weren't even allowed to visit the lavatory without supervision. The office, in Harare's downtown Avenues District, had been used by journalists for decades. Its location has never been a secret to anyone and it was widely known among journalists as the old gentlemen's news cooperative because, uniquely these days, it was shared by competing agencies. Our lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, a brave protector of the press over the years, received information that Zimbabwe's police were going to pursue charges against us at all cost. Independently of Beatrice, we were also tipped off by sources in the country's ruling Zanu PF party who said the authorities were going to jail us.
The police eventually left the office on Monday evening, saying they would either come to our homes or summons us by phone to Harare Central Police Station. After about six hours of endless questioning and not-so-veiled threats, we jointly decided we had no option but to flee. Earlier in the day, the police, who refused to give their names, had told Beatrice Mtetwa they did not need information to search our offices or question us. "First we find suspects, then we get information from the suspects," they said, laughing when Mtetwa said it was supposed to be the other way around. Leaving the country was fraught with potential difficulties. Harare International Airport, guarded heavily by police and state security agents from the Central Intelligence Organisation, was ruled out. Instead we left by road, separately and heading for different borders at different times. We left behind us our homes, our country, our friends and our families, losing everything in a flight for freedom in strange, new countries. The future has never seemed more uncertain. As for the people who helped us escape, they cannot be named and their help cannot be written about. To do so would invite the certain wrath of the authorities, incarceration, beating and possibly worse. If journalists have a tough time in Zimbabwe, so too do ordinary people who have seen their fathers tortured, their wives and daughters raped and their homes burned to the ground by President Robert Mugabe's notorious Green Bomber militias.
Our departure came just six weeks before a general election set for March 31 that will see the ruling Zanu PF pit itself against the Movement for Democratic Change. The poll has already been dubbed "the free and fear" election by residents of Harare's overwhelmingly MDC controlled townships. With the effective closure of the Associated Press, Bloomberg, DPA and Times bureaus, Zimbabwe's already embattled foreign correspondents association has seen its numbers fall catastrophically. Only the tiny Reuters and AFP bureaus remain to cover an election in a country the size of California. The Zanu PF-controlled government has already made it clear that "unfriendly western nations" will be barred from sending observers and monitors. Still, many say our forced departure was to be expected. We follow in the footsteps of others evicted even more forcefully. Long-standing old Africa hands like Andrew Meldrum of the Guardian was deported, illegally and literally by the scruff of his neck, for no apparent reason. Others like David Blair of the Telegraph saw applications for their work permits refused for no given reason.
Our predecessors, though, had all been born abroad. Angus Shaw and I were born Zimbabweans. We were educated and brought up there and had lived almost our entire lives in the country. Meanwhile Jan Raath, born in neighbouring South Africa, had made Zimbabwe his home over 30 years ago and remains a Zimbabwean citizen. But birthright and citizenship counted for little on Valentine's Day 2005. Others have asked why we did not remain to fight the system, why we fled. The truth is that we could not fight. During the last five years of political upheaval in Zimbabwe, all three of us have witnessed brutality the country has not seen since the 1970s bush war that ravaged then-Rhodesia. For the lonely individual, the massed Zanu PF forces of militias, police, spy agencies, informers and soldiers is unbeatable. We had to escape because the option was a disease ridden prison cell, possible torture and almost certain beating and humiliation. Uppermost in my mind was the almost nine-month incarceration of Mugabe's own finance minister, Chris Kureneri. He has been charged, but not tried for, the very same "economic crimes" the police levelled at us. If Mugabe is prepared to let his own minister rot in prison, what might he charge us with - spying, working as "illegal journalists", publishing information likely to be prejudicial to the security of the state and economic crimes before us?
Brian Latham has for the time being sought refuge in London
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From Business Day (SA), 25 February
SADC inaction on Zimbabwe places aid at risk - US
International Affairs Editor
US ambassador to SA Jendayi Frazer last night said inaction of Southern African Development Community (SADC) members over Zimbabwe - compared with efforts by Togo's neighbours - was putting future aid increases from the world's only superpower at risk. In an address at the South African Institute of International Affairs Frazer said that because "Zimbabwe clearly stands out" it was difficult to those in the US government who favoured more aid to Africa to argue the case in Washington. US statements on Zimbabwe have become more strident since US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice grouped the country among six that she categorised as "outposts of tyranny". Earlier this week Frazer said the SADC should see to it that pressure was brought on Zimbabwe to ensure that it adhered to the regions guidelines on democratic elections. Frazer last night said there was "a marked difference" in how the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) had dealt with the situation in Togo and how SADC members were responding to Zimbabwe. Last week other members of the west African regional grouping imposed sanctions on Togo, which included the country's suspension from membership of Ecowas, the recall of ambassadors, a travel ban on Togolese leaders and an arms embargo. The imposition of sanctions came after Ecowas said that the change in Togo's constitution to appoint Faure Gnassingbe was akin to a coup d'etat. Frazer said the US had committed to make available half its doubled aid programme to Africa. At the time the US made this commitment at the 2001 United Nations Financing for Development Conference in Mexico, some African governments had argued that they were unable to deal with the Zimbabwe issue because the mechanisms, particularly the Nepad peer review mechanism, were not in place.
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From Zim Online (SA), 26 February
Top MDC officials arrested in crackdown
Harare - Two senior Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party officials were last Thursday night arrested by police as state security agents and Zanu PF party militants this week intensified an onslaught on the opposition after weeks of relative peace ahead of next month's election. MDC candidate for Bindura constituency Joel Mugariri and the opposition party's chairman for Mashonaland Central province, Tapera Macheka, were released late yesterday afternoon after being arrested while putting up campaign posters on buildings owned by the Bindura city council without permission from the local authority. Under new electoral regulations, political parties and their candidates must first seek permission from owners before pasting up posters and other campaign material on buildings and other property. "The two, with other MDC supporters were putting up campaign posters when the police pounced on them demanding to know whether they had permission from the Bindura council to put up the posters," MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said. The MDC official said the March election will not be free or fair if the government did not immediately end the harassment of the opposition party's candidates and supporters. Mugariri and Macheka join a rapidly growing list of MDC supporters and election candidates who have been either arrested and later released by the police or severely assaulted by soldiers and Zanu PF militias since the opposition began in earnest its campaign for the March 31 poll last Sunday.
On the day the two MDC officials were picked up by the police, Zanu PF militants in Norton town confiscated and burnt campaign material and posters belonging to the opposition party's candidate for Manyame constituency, Hilda Mafudze. Mafudze is contesting against President Mugabe's nephew, Patrick Zhuwawo. The ZANU PF youths have not yet been arrested even though there are witnesses who saw them attack Mafudze's campaign team. Earlier in the week on Wednesday, MDC candidate for Shamva constituency, Godfrey Chimombe and two MDC youths, Mika Jack Jumbe and Cleopas Muchenje were arrested by the police also for putting up posters on buildings without the owners' permission. On Tuesday, police summoned MDC deputy secretary general Gift Chimanikire and Goodrich Chimbaira, who are representing the opposition party in Mbare and Zengeza constituencies respectively, for questioning at Harare Central police station.
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From Business Day (SA), 25 February
SADC to deploy observers for Zimbabwe elections
Zimbabwe has belatedly invited the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to send observers to monitor its March parliamentary poll, seen as a key test of new SADC electoral guidelines. The 13-member regional group, which includes Zimbabwe, received a letter of invitation this week. Under the SADC guidelines, the invitation should have been extended 90 days before the March 31 elections. "It is not too late and we will work very fast to get the observers there," Dr Prega Ramsamy told a news conference at the end of a SADC council of ministers meeting. Political analysts say the elections will be a test of the electoral guidelines and principles adopted by SADC last August to ensure member states adhere to free and fair elections. Analysts say SADC is showing a lack of political will to apply the guidelines - which Zimbabwe's opposition says the ruling party has repeatedly violated - opting for quiet diplomacy in place of open criticism. Ramsamy said he expected at least 13 observers from SADC states to be sent but gave no date for their deployment.
Critics say Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has hobbled the opposition in a bid to hang onto power and plunged the country into political and economic turmoil through a policy of land distribution using intimidation and violence. The elections are taking place amid new accusations by the main opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), that the political playing field has already been tilted in favour of Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party. "I won't make any value judgement on whether guidelines are being adhered to. I have not heard anything about these allegations," Ramsamy said. Zimbabwe has invited 23 African countries, five Asian, three from the Americas, and from Europe only Russia, to observe the election. Although regional leaders like South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki have expressed concern about the delay in inviting SADC, Ramsamy said there was still plenty of time to get an accurate picture in the run-up to the polls. The teams will be deployed in areas where they believe there may be tension between the ruling party and opposition. The MDC has accused Mugabe of ignoring electoral guidelines which include political tolerance, human and civil rights, equal access for all parties to state media, non-discriminatory voter registration, an accessible voter roll and impartial electoral bodies. SADC member states are Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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From The Daily News Online Edition, 25 February
Moyo loyalist editor fired from Chronicle
Johannesburg - The editor of Chronicle, Stephen Ndlovu, has been fired in what is seen as the beginning of a purge of journalists in Zimbabwe's state-controlled media who are seen as loyal to the dismissed former Information Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo. In a terse statement issued today, the board and management of Zimbabwe Newspapers (1980) Limited said it had reached a mutual agreement for the immediate termination of employment of the Bulawayo-based newspaper's editor. Chronicle's Deputy Editor, Paul Mambo, will take charge in an acting capacity while a replacement is sought. Ndlovu's departure was widely expected as he was one of Moyo's blue-eyed boys, readily availing his newspaper for use as a propaganda tool by Moyo in his personal battles against top members of the ruling Zanu PF party. Moyo was sacked by President Mugabe last week from his post of Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the Office of the President, after he broke ranks with the party by filing papers to contest the March 31 elections as an independent.
Ndlovu had earned government hostility by defiantly allowing the second largest operating daily paper in the country to continue being used as the disgraced minister's mouthpiece, even long after it was clear that Moyo's political career was dead. The paper was knicknamed "The Tsholotsho News" as Ndlovu heaped massive publicity on the professor's efforts to woo voters in his Tsholotsho home area. This was done through frequent donations of millions of dollars worth of computers and equipment to schools and medical institutions in the constituency. Moyo's face became instantly recognisable on the front pages of the Chronicle, where it pushed even President Robert Mugabe himself aside in level of prominence. It was at one of these donation-giving ceremonies at remote Danyane Secondary School that Moyo's political career began to unravel after its meterioric rise. Moyo was accused of leading a plot that would have thwarted Mugabe's plans to appoint Joyce Mujuru as the country's first female vice president.
Under Ndlovu, Chronicle led a spirited defence of Moyo's actions at Tsholotsho, as the world crashed around him leading to Zanu PF party booting the former anti-Mugabe critic turned chief propagandist out of its central committee and politburo. In one classic case, while Moyo was being hauled before the politburo to answer charges over the Tsholotsho affair, the Chronicle devoted an entire front page to three stories in which Moyo made blistering attacks on his opponents. Mugabe was reported as not having been amused. Senior government leaders, such as Vice President Joseph Msika and national chairman John Nkomo, were denied space to defend themselves against Moyo's vitriolic attacks in the state-controlled media. They had to endure the humiliation of resorting to the same hated independent press in order to get their side of the story heard. Ndlovu's dismissal could signal the start of more changes at Zimpapers, particularly at the flagship Herald daily newspaper.
It comes in the wake of reports that George Charamba, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, has launched a crusade to undo the legacy of Jonathan Moyo, starting with sweeping changes at the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, which runs radio and television. When Moyo came to power as media czar, he fired dozens of seasoned staff members from government-controlled newspapers and the electronic media. He replaced them with a team of inexperienced youngsters he was able to bully and dictate to at will. Moyo championed draconian media laws that saw the country's most popular newspaper, The Daily News, bann,ed from publishing in 2003, pending a Supreme Court case whose judgment has yet to be delivered. Ironically, Moyo will now have to turn to the same private press that he persecuted so much in order to continue his fight, which includes a Z$2 billion libel lawsuit , against Zanu PF.
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From SABC News, 26 February
SADC nominates candidates for top ADB, WTO posts
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has proposed candidates to lead the African Development Bank and the World Trade Organisation. South Africa's department of foreign affairs said today that the SADC council of ministers, meeting in Grand Baie, Mauritius, had proposed Simba Makoni, the former Zimbabwean finance minister, as SADC's candidate for the presidency of the African Development Bank. The meeting also proposed Mauritian foreign minister Jaya Krishna Cuttarjee as SADC's candidate for director-general of the World Trade Organisation. Makoni, who had a nine-and-a-half year career at the helm of SADC between 1984 and 1993 as executive secretary, dropped out of President Robert Mugabe's Cabinet in 2002. The SADC council of ministers meeting in Mauritius - held on Thursday and yesterday - also received a number of reports on activities of the New Partnership for Africa's Development from the Nepad secretariat. Trade with the European Union, and harmonising of trade agreements, was also discussed. The council was also briefed on a SADC-EU ministerial meeting in October 2004 on SADC guidelines on elections, regional conflict in Africa, and Nepad. South Africa was represented at the meeting by Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa and Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad.
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From IWPR, 23 February
A troubled reunion
Ex-teacher returns to his former school to find hope replaced by fear and suspicion
By Jim Moffatt in Zvimba
I have just returned to the rural Zimbabwean secondary school where I spent a year teaching twelve years ago before going to university in Britain. I am shocked by the degree to which the optimism of the past has been overridden by fear. The school, when I first arrived as a teenager in 1993, was in a poor village. There was no electricity and no running water. This, near the small town where President Robert Mugabe was born and had built himself a small palace. Mugabe's younger sister, Sabina, was the local MP for the ruling Zanu PF party. Although few of the children had shoes and one book had to be shared between three of them, there was an overriding sense of optimism. Zimbabwe at the time was the bread basket of southern Africa and the talk was of improvement. I was sad to leave. I had made good friends and had fallen in love with Africa and the way of life. As I followed the news in Britain from Zimbabwe, I often wondered what had happened to my school and my friends living there.
At last the opportunity came to return. I noticed the change as soon as I headed up the familiar old red dirt track towards the school. Where before the people in the homesteads waved and smiled, now they just stared sullenly and suspiciously. I stopped first at the house of the bottle store owner, a good friend in the old days. He was pleased to see me but was plainly uneasy and uncomfortable. When I asked if I could stay with him he looked unhappy and said it was impossible since his sons were about to visit him. I went to see Tafadzwa, an ex-pupil who was now subsistence farming on his family plot. Times are hard, he said - no jobs, little money and everyone is hungry. In the past the villagers grew maize for themselves and sold excess to the government Grain Marketing Board, GMB. These sales provided money for school fees, transport and grain out of season. But now the GMB had no money, so there was no cash income.
We touched on politics and why things were getting worse, but he put his finger to his lips and said, "We mustn't talk about such things. This area is politically sensitive." It was a clear reference to the absolute power Zanu PF wields in the area through the chiefs, police and youth militia, a violent outfit totally loyal to Mugabe and reminiscent of Hitler's Brownshirts, but in their case dressed in bottle green uniforms. I suggested we head over to the school, as I had bought some footballs for the pupils. Tafadzwa said that I should also give one to the "boys who are camping around", the local youth militia unit who have the fearsome name the Green Bombers. He was also keen that I meet the Green Bombers' leader - "just so there will be no trouble". As we approached the school, we saw a group of men moving in our direction. Tafadzwa became agitated and said that the leader was coming. He quickly showed me how to make the Zanu PF fist salute. Soon we found ourselves surrounded by five men carrying clubs.
The leader introduced his squad - himself, the secretary carrying a notebook, and three security men smoking marijuana. I explained who I was, that I had taught at the school and that we had come to donate footballs, one of which I would be delighted to offer to the Green Bombers. The leader said it was compulsory for me to report to the local chairman of Zanu PF. We went to see him via the school. The library that we had installed was now just empty shelves. The science block, which was beginning to be built when I left, was still a pile of bricks. Past the school we arrived at a homestead where about twenty young men were sitting around drinking locally brewed maize beer. On seeing me everything stopped and the Zanu PF chairman led the men towards me. Tafadzwa gave the fist salute and started chanting in Shona the Zanu PF slogan - "unity, togetherness". The Zanu PF chairman stared hard at me and, just for safety, I found myself also punching the air and chanting the slogan. He relaxed, offered me some beer and thanked me for the footballs.
I saw Nkani, who was captain of the school football team I had coached. He was now one of the Zanu PF chairman's gang. He said he had been a miner for a while after he left school, but that he had injured his leg and returned to the village. "It is good that you have met the chairman, as now it means there will be no trouble," he told me. I asked what he did these days, and he laughed, saying he was "just around, helping out with the guys because there is no work no jobs". Keen to get away from the chairman's understated menace, I went with Tafadzwa to find someone from the primary school to hand over its share of the footballs I had brought. We met one of the teachers, Mr Marufu, who I had known well. I asked him what the Green Bombers did in the community. "As long as you kept quiet and have your party card then things are OK," he said. Looking embarrassed as he showed me his Zanu PF card, he added softly, "Things have changed since you were last here." There followed one of the most unusual football matches I have ever played in. Both teams, other than Tafadzwa and me, were made up of Green Bomber youths. The guys were physical, boisterous - they all had the swagger of men who were used to a certain respect. My team won 4-1. Afterwards, we headed to the bottle store where it was suggested I make a donation towards "refreshments". I talked more with Nkani, who admitted, "Things are bad, but the problem lies with the West which is making it difficult for Zimbabweans." I saw others whom I had known, but in the presence of the Green Bombers they were muted and watchful.
I sensed danger to myself and to Tafadzwa and his family if I prolonged my visit. The prevailing fear was tangible. It was clear also that Zanu PF and the Green Bombers have a total grip on the rural community that will translate into votes for the rulers in the parliamentary election on March 31. Everywhere else I went the situation was equally grim. In the towns, fuel shortages, power failures, water cuts and downed telephone lines make daily life trying and business tough. Banks are being closed down because directors have fraudulently spent their depositors' money. Things will clearly have to get worse before they can get better. In the meantime, the people just keep quiet and wait for change. One old man in my once happy village gripped my arm and said, "We have become like turtles, just hiding in our shells until it is safe to come out again."
Jim Moffat is no longer a teacher. He now works in marketing in Paris
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 27 February
Zim media laws claim another independent newspaper
Harare - An recently established independent paper in Zimbabwe, the Weekly Times, has been shut down for allegedly violating the country's tough media laws, its owner, Godfrey Ncube, said on Saturday. The paper, the fourth to be closed in the Southern African country since the enactment of the media laws in 2002, was shut down after publishing just eight editions, and just a month ahead of crunch national elections. "We got a letter yesterday [Friday] from the Media and Information Commission [MIC] saying our licence has been cancelled for one year," Ncube said in a telephone interview from the second-largest city of Bulawayo. The Bulawayo-based weekly first hit the newsstands on January 2 this year. The MIC chairperson, Tafataona Mahoso, in comments published by the state-run Herald, said the paper had been closed for misrepresentation of and failure to disclose certain facts it pledged when the registration licence was issued in September last year. Mahoso said the publisher had promised to focus his editorial content on "developmental journalism" and social issues. "The commission regrets to report that all this was a hoax," said Mahoso, alleging that the paper had turned out to be preoccupied with sensational and partisan political advocacy. "It therefore announces, unfortunately, the cancellation for one year of the publishing licence for Mthwakazi Publishing House, publishers of the Weekly Times," he said. "Media services are required to stick to the types of publications they register because it is illegal for them to pick up someone else's unregistered objects and projects for whatever reward," Mahoso said.
Ncube, who plans to challenge the closure in court, said he believes the paper was closed down for political reasons. "There is no basis for closing us down. We feel it's a political move; it's got nothing to do with the law," said Ncube, alleging he had been accused of close ties to opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Welshman Ncube and an outspoken critic of Mugabe, Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube. He said his paper has also been falsely accused of being linked to an anti-government website bearing a similar name to his publishing house. Under Zimbabwe's media laws, drafted by the former Information minister Jonathan Moyo, whom Mugabe sacked a week ago, three other newspapers were closed down for various offences. The Daily News and its sister paper, The Daily News on Sunday, were forcibly closed in September 2003, while the weekly Tribune was shut down in June last year. Scores of journalists have been arrested under the same laws.
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From The Sunday Argus (SA), 27 February
Out of a job, but Moyo's living the high life
He's down, but Mugabe's former information minister isn't out - he may even have found someone to foot all his bills
The question on every political speculator's lips right now is; who is backing Jonathan Moyo's lifestyle? Who is his controller? Last week, Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe sacked his once ultra-powerful information minister for daring to announce his candidacy as an independent for the March 31 parliamentary elections. That was after Mugabe had ensured the ruling Zanu PF party did not nominate him as a candidate. His abrupt departure from cabinet deprived Moyo at one stroke of a free government house, cellphone, car, fuel, DStv subscription, air travel between Harare and Bulawayo, and access to limitless funds from the president's office. Yet there has been no noticeable decline in his extravagant lifestyle. The ministry of information falls within Mugabe's office which apparently has a "black hole" of a budget as the feared Central Intelligence Organisation is also funded from this vast, and largely unaudited allocation.
Political pundits here suspect that outgoing Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa is Moyo's financial and political backer. After all Moyo's fall from Mugabe's grace began late last year when he called a meeting of Zanu PF bigwigs to oppose Mugabe's appointment of Joyce Majuru - rather than Mnangagwa - as vice-president and therefore, very likely, his anointed successor. Mnangagwa's cellphone was switched on but went unanswered most of Friday. He is on the campaign trail trying to win back the parliamentary seat he lost to the Movement for Democratic Change in 2000, which forced Mugabe to rescue him from political oblivion by appointing him Speaker. Although Moyo has departed as Zimbabwe's most unpopular member of the cabinet, his former ministry carries on with its devilish work, as the authoritarian law he created, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, is still being used against the media. His minions at the Media and Information Commission are still hounding journalists.
In Moyo's office, George Charamba, permanent secretary to the information ministry has been flexing his muscles. He and Moyo fell out a couple of years ago, and insiders speculate he is very busy doing an audit on expenditure within the information ministry over the past five years of Moyo's tenure. He is said to be examining especially closely the local and foreign currency costs of setting up and launching Moyo's local band, Pax Afro, at the Victoria Falls at a glittering function, last year. Then there were the costs of staging and running live satellite links for Moyo's "solidarity" concerts in Mozambique. And the many dinners at the attractive and expensive restaurant in Harare's northern suburbs where Moyo hosted a wide variety of local dignitaries and foreign visitors. Trans Media is a company conceived of by Moyo, shortly after he became information minister. It is wholly owned by the president's office and generates about R10 million a year from commissions from DStv Africa, and satellite uplinks from Harare. It paid for the aircraft Moyo hired last November for the fateful meeting he arranged in Tsholotsho - the Matabeleland constituency he will contest on March 31 - where he is accused of plotting with six provincial chairmen, and others, to back Mnangagwa to fill the empty vice-president's post.
Though Moyo had directly opposed his boss, Mugabe appeared reluctant at first to punish his wayward information minister. He liked Moyo. He knew that in his largely inept and moribund cabinet, Moyo was the most hard working. He had sold a propaganda message to Mugabe's supporters - inside the country and in Africa and abroad - blaming British and other "neo-colonial" forces for Zimbabwe's economic ills. Tony Blair and Co had turned on Zimbabwe not because of its destruction of the rule of law, but because it was reversing British colonialism by taking back the farmland "stolen" from Zimbabweans by white British settlers, Moyo proclaimed over and over again. As late as the Zanu PF congress last December, even after the fateful Tsholotsho meeting, Mugabe acknowledged indirectly that Moyo had done a good job. But the pressure from within Zanu PF - where Moyo had made many enemies - was too heavy, and these enemies forced Moyo's expulsion from the politburo. He therefore lost his seat on the Central Committee and was no longer eligible to stand for the party in next month's general election.
"Jonathan is too American. He is not one of us. He has no background in the party, because he is too American," is the refrain from many members of Zanu PF's inner circle. Moyo was indeed the outsider. No veteran of the liberation struggle he; until Mugabe drafted him into government, Moyo was an academic who had led a privileged life, compared to most Zimbabweans. His tertiary education had been paid for in the United States. He was among the creme de la creme of upcoming African academics, even if his performance at the University of Zimbabwe, before he left for Kenya to join the Ford Foundation nearly 10 years ago, was patchy and caused the same sort of tensions among his professional colleagues as his political behaviour did in the cabinet. He then worked briefly at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
It is a well-entrenched - but true - part of the Moyo legend that as an academic he was among the sharpest critics of Mugabe's policies, including Mugabe's persistent efforts to establish a de-facto one party state. His abrupt metamorphosis into Mugabe's most strident mouthpiece widely branded him as a brazen opportunist. The swiftness of the transformation surprised almost everyone who knew him. In 1999, from Wits, he was appointed spokesman for the Constitutional Commission which Mugabe had set up to try to channel and divert the demands of civil society for a more democratic constitution. Moyo had actually been brought in to provide some balance to the largely pro-Mugabe commissioners, according to inside sources. But upon arrival, he immediately unfurled his new colours. As a result Mugabe drafted him into the cabinet in 2000. Now he is back where he was in 1999, as a Mugabe critic, boasting that if it were not for his efforts, Mugabe's government would have imploded long ago. He still embraces Zanu PF thinking though - that Zimbabwe's "sovereignty" (whatever that may be) is under threat from journalists, Cosatu, non-government organisations, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Americans, the British, Scandinavians etc.
And he will no doubt persuade many voters of Tsholotsho that he is a better defender of Zimbabwe against these enemies than Zanu PF is. Despite his spectacular flip-flop, he is popular in Tsholotsho, and can draw a crowd even in Bulawayo, and not just because he has been smart in pumping government money into the constituency - almost as if he knew that he might one day have to come back here as a candidate on his own and try to rebuild his career from the grassroots up. Moyo can and certainly will deploy his considerable propaganda skills to take credit for the new government grain silo, a stretch of wider public road - and other improvements to the wretchedly poor Tsholotsho village. He handed over blankets in winter and computers to schools in summer in an area from which more people have fled to South Africa to escape economic misery than any other part of Zimbabwe. Apart from the patronage, he is also now seen as a hero by many ordinary people in Matabeleland - who evidently lack a sense of irony - because he showed Zanu PF two fingers. Jonathan Moyo could very well win the Tsholotsho seat, according to many real and would-be political analysts, even though the MDC insists that he will split the Zanu PF vote and help the MDC retain the seat in won in 2000.
Yet observers say the sitting MP, Mtoliki Sibanda is not one of the MDC's brighter lights. He has hardly said a word in parliament and has done little for his constituency, either materially or in the hand-shaking department. He won the primary election again this year mostly because he had no coherent opposition. The Zanu PF candidate, Musa Ncube, is neither an orator nor popular and her education level is low. Moyo on the other hand - like him or loathe him - has a presence, is fluent and quick-witted. If only for entertainment value, the Tsholotsho election should be one of the ones to watch on the way to March 31. If he wins Tsholotsho, many people speculate Mugabe will bring him back into the cabinet as his choices are sorely limited by the poor quality of candidates in Zanu PF. And if not - especially if it is true that Mnangagwa is his godfather - he may bide his time, plotting to come back in from the cold after the 81-year-old Mugabe has shuffled off. It's a little too early to pronounce the great survivor politically dead.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 27 February
Man in court for insulting Mugabe
By our own staff
An Epworth man has been dragged to court for allegedly insulting President Robert Mugabe. Kapikinyu Murewa (63) appeared at Harare Magistrates' Court last week facing charges of contravening Section 16 of the notorious Public Order and Security Act (Posa). He allegedly made the remarks while traveling on a commuter bus from his home to the city centre last month. It is the State's case that Murewa was drinking some undiluted brandy with three other passengers on their way to town when one of them asked him why he was taking the spirit because he was already drunk. Murewa allegedly replied that it was because he smoked mbanje. The same passenger then reportedly warned Murewa that it was a crime to smoke mbanje. Murewa allegedly replied: "Mbanje dzinoshamisa chii? Kana President Mugabe anoputa mbanje." (There is nothing unusual about smoking mbanje. Even the President smokes it). However, one David Shangura, who identified himself as a soldier, reported the matter to police at Harare Central station. It is a crime under POSA to "undermine the authority or insult the President". One can be fined up to $400 000 or be imprisoned for a period not exceeding one year or both. Appearing before Magistrate Omega Mugumbate on Monday, Murewa pleaded not guilty, arguing in his defence that he does not even recall uttering the words, as he was drunk.
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From IWPR, 25 February
Mugabe henchmen on the warpath
Zanu PF youth militias and activists launch campaign of beatings and threats
By Dzikamayi Chiyausiku in Rusape
Violence and massive intimidation are wreaking havoc in Zimbabwe's rural areas as the ruling party's and opposition's campaigns gather momentum ahead of Zimbabwe's fifth parliamentary election on March 31. Zanu PF youth militias, President Robert Mugabe's much feared stormtroopers, known among the population as the Green Bombers, are currently behaving with such menace in the Makoni West constituency that many villagers have fled their homes. Makoni West is a marginal constituency on the outskirts of Rusape, 135 kilometres southeast of Harare. The sitting Zanu PF MP has been replaced by Zimbabwe's highly unpopular Minister of Agriculture Joseph Made, who is opposed by Remus Makuwaza, for the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, and Tendai Chekera of the small regional party Zanu-Ndonga. Villagers also allege they have been threatened with eviction from their recently acquired farms - taken over in Mugabe's move against white commercial farmer - if they do not vote for ruling party.
Matthew Ngoroma, 38, told IWPR that he fled his home after "some people told me I would pay the price for supporting MDC". He said four men in Zanu PF campaign shirts visited him three weeks ago and threatened to burn down his house. "They said they would torch my house if I continued selling MDC cards," said Ngoroma, who has moved his family to a place near Rusape town. "I am not alone. There are others who have been beaten, threatened and intimidated. It's a terror campaign." Other villagers perceived to be MDC supporters have been denied food aid, fertiliser and maize seed being distributed by government officials loyal to Zanu PF. "You have to be a Zanu PF supporter to get fertiliser, seed and food," said another villager, Susan Rugoyi. "We have to show Zanu PF cards in order to get a pack of maize meal being distributed by Zanu PF officials as food aid." The chiefs and village heads have also been roped into Zanu PF campaign teams. Villagers said the chiefs are forcing their subjects to attend Zanu PF rallies. Meanwhile, the chiefs are banning opposition rallies in their areas while threatening to evict opposition supporters. "We do have several cases of political violence that we are investigating," said a senior police officer who declined to be named. "But it would be unfair to say categorically say that these violent incidents are being perpetrated by Zanu PF. What if they are just rogue elements abusing Zanu PF regalia?"
The violence is not just isolated incidents. It is on a national scale. Fifty soldiers assaulted three MDC candidates returning from the launch of the party's election campaign in Masvingo in the southeast on February 20. MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said, "The soldiers first assaulted Gabriel Chiwara, our candidate for Makoni West, and his election candidate, Josphat Munhumumwe, accusing them of selling the country to the British. "They were kicked and punched and sustained injuries all over their bodies. They were taken to hospital for treatment and later released. The assault was reported to the police, but no arrests have been made." Nyathi said the MDC was particularly concerned about this assault because it repeated a pattern of army violence against the opposition in places many hundreds of kilometres apart. MDC candidate for Mutare West, Gabriel Chiwara, who is trying to topple Transport Minister Christopher Mushohwe in a constituency 250 km southeast of Harare, was assaulted by soldiers together with his campaign manager. Reports are also coming in of violence by soldiers, Green Bombers and Zanu PF activists against MDC candidates in the south of the country in Gwanda and Beitbridge constituencies.
In Norton, 40 km west of Harare, a stronghold of Zanu PF MP Sabina Mugabe, the president's sister, ruling party supporters waylaid and severely beat an eleven-strong MDC campaign team who were putting up party posters. The posters and party regalia the MDC activists were wearing were confiscated and burned. Hilda Mafudze, the MDC candidate for Manyame constituency, neighbouring Norton, said, "This cannot be a free and fair election. How can the whole process be fair when one's campaign team is beaten up and their regalia burnt by these thugs who belong to a party which claims it supports a free and fair election?" Wellington Chibebe, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, said, "We want to state very clearly that as much as the politicians are saying the elections will be violence-free, the reality on the ground is that ordinary men, women and children are going to be subject to untold violence." Reginald Matchaba-Hove, chairman of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, ZESN, a group of 40 civic organisations supporting democratic elections, said, "For many opposition supporters, fear of violence means they would rather not go to vote than vote and face the recriminations. The penalty for voting for the opposition can be expulsion from the village, physical violence, withdrawal from the local food aid registers, or all of them combined. Past experience has taught them that such threats are eventually carried out, and they fear a repeat of 2000 and 2002 [legislative and presidential elections marred by widespread violence and intimidation]."
Rural areas in Zimbabwe's majority ethnic Shona regions have traditionally voted Zanu PF, with the chiefs, who maintain government food registers, beneficiaries and loyal supporters of the ruling party. According to southern Africa's Famine Early Warning System Network, five million Zimbabweans, nearly half the population, are in need of food aid. President Mugabe, in an interview on Zanu PF-controlled state television, said he wanted this election campaign to be peaceful. His interior minister, Kembo Mohadi, said organisations alleging violence and human rights abuses were "subversives who are western-funded". Responding to the allegations that chiefs are forcing their people to attend Zanu PF rallies and vote for Mugabe's party, Mohadi said, "Ours is a peaceful party. Our people hold their chiefs in high regard and, naturally, get worried when such accusations are made against them. We cannot deny our people the right to choose their own leaders when we fought so hard [in the 1970s liberation war] to bring them human rights, freedom and social justice." Inspector Wayne Bvudzijena, Zimbabwe's national police spokesman, said the national force had not received any reports of violence or intimidation by political parties. "I am surprised to hear these reports," he said. "But I can assure you that the campaign remains peaceful."
Dzikamayi Chiyausiku is the pseudonym of an IWPR contributor in Zimbabwe
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From Zim Online (SA), 28 February
Mugabe declares Moyo enemy Number One
Harare - President Robert Mugabe has declared his former propaganda chief, Jonathan Moyo, number one enemy and ordered his ruling Zanu PF party to deploy whatever "resources and strategies" necessary to ensure Moyo loses next month's election, sources told ZimOnline last night. Moyo, who was last week dismissed by Mugabe as information minister, is standing as an independent candidate in his rural home Tsholotsho constituency. The Tsholotsho seat is currently held by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party. Zanu PF insiders said Mugabe described Moyo as an "ungrateful and greedy power monger" during a meeting of the party's inner politburo cabinet last week. Mugabe, who resisted pressure from the politburo to dismiss Moyo much earlier, is said to have then ordered Zanu PF political commissar Elliot Manyika to ensure that Moyo's bid for the Tsholotsho parliamentary seat fails. "The President said Moyo had transformed himself from a hard-working cadre to a top ranking enemy whose failure should be guaranteed," said one Zanu PF official who attended the meeting. The official, who did not want to be named, said Mugabe also vowed to make sure Moyo does not benefit from mileage he got during his stint in Zanu PF and the government. He said: "The President was clearly agitated by Moyo. It must be because he alone stood by Moyo when other senior party officials wanted him booted out. He feels hard done and he did little to conceal that during the meeting. He made it clear that Moyo should not set foot at Parliament again." Neither Moyo nor Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba could be reached for comment on the matter last night. Manyika would not deny or confirm whether he was under special orders from Mugabe to ensure Moyo was defeated. But the Zanu PF commissar said the party was not only pushing to win all the 120 constituencies up for grabs on March 31, but will also use the poll to put "Jonathan Moyo in his real place." "We are determined to win not only in Tsholotsho but in all the 120 seats. Of course we will also show Jonathan Moyo his real place. He is a nonentity and we will leave him with no illusion about that," said Manyika. Once one of Mugabe's closest and most powerful lieutenants, Moyo fell out with the President after secretly attempting to block the appointment of Joyce Mujuru as second vice-president of Zanu PF and Zimbabwe.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 28 February
Last-ditch battle for white Zim farmers
Fanuel Jongwe
Harare - Five years after Zimbabwe launched a controversial land-grab programme to redress colonial imbalances, thousands of white farmers have mounted a last-ditch battle to fight a state bid to have them legally endorsed. "We are fighting an attempt to legitimise an illegal process," said Mike Clark, an official of the Commercial Farmers' Union. "The government wants the court to confirm the land seizures as legal but we will fight. Even if we don't get justice now, it will be recorded in history and we will pursue the matter when we have an independent judiciary," said Clark. Zimbabwe's administrative court is currently sifting through more than 5 000 land cases, which it started hearing last month. President Robert Mugabe's government embarked on its land-redistribution programme in February 2000, compulsorily taking away prime farmland owned by about 4 500 white farmers to give it to the landless black majority.
Before the land invasions, about 70% of the most fertile and in the country was owned by white farmers who were mainly descendants of British settlers. The white commercial farmers mostly grew tobacco, the Southern African country's main cash crop, and had not been targeted by the government of Mugabe, who took over the reins of the country after leading it to independence from Britain in 1980. But on February 12 and 13 2000, a proposed constitutional amendment to beef up the powers of the president to allow him to expropriate land was shot down in a referendum. However, about two weeks later, the head of state -- smarting under the first big setback in his post-independence career - let his supporters, led by veterans of the independence war, attack and take over white-owned farms. About 10 farmers died in the initial stages and their black workers were chased out of the properties after being branded as their slaves. This sparked an exodus with white farmers leaving for nearby Zambia and Mozambique, and a handful even going to faraway Nigeria to rebuild their lives.
The policy has been partly blamed for the collapse of Zimbabwe's once-model economy and it is now a far cry from its heyday, when it was referred to as the bread-basket of the region. The new beneficiaries often do not know the rudiments of farming and critics allege that prime farmland has been expropriated by Mugabe's cronies and ruling-party bigwigs. The Zimbabwean government plans to clear 5 089 cases pending at the courts by the end of this year, according to the head of its civil division, Loyce Matanda-Moyo. A lawyer representing 60 farmers in the protracted land saga said the future of the evicted farmers hinges on the judgements of the ongoing cases. "In terms of the law, the government cannot acquire the land without confirmation from the administrative court, so they [the government] are now making frantic efforts to get the confirmations ahead of the election," lawyer Rodney Makausi said, referring to upcoming legislative polls on March 31. "If the court confirms the [farm] acquisitions, the farmers lose their right to return to their properties."
Zimbabwe evicted about 4 000 white commercial farmers, which set off a flurry of legal battles, some of which are still continuing. "Some of us have got court orders to say we can continue farming but the government has disregarded those court orders," said Clark. "We have done nothing wrong but we are all being punished for the actions of a few individuals who got involved in politics." Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF party has accused white commercial farmers of bankrolling the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which has posed the stiffest challenge to Mugabe's 25-year stranglehold on power. C |
