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Archived News
31st May 2005
1 million face eviction in Zimbabwe
Tension at knife-edge in Harare suburb
Mudede gives up 2002 ballot boxes
Zim to fix private school fees
Zimbabwe demand boosts S.Africa maize prices
Leaving behind Zimbabwe's land
Harare still clinging on to suspected mercenary
Harare police arrest 10 000
Crackdown spreads
Human rights lawyers sue Harare, police over crackdown
Former opposition MP fights for freedom at Supreme Court
Gono warns foreigners on forex deals
Zimbabwe’s central bank funds fuel for two weeks
Widow lives in bush after politically motivated eviction
Thousands more held in Zimbabwe
Zim deploys 3 000 riot police to destroy homes
Riots spread to poor Harare suburb
Is ‘clean-up’ punishment?
Political ‘meddling’ keeps Bennett in jail
Bob plans R3m bash
Police to use live ammo, army rolls into suburbs
Zimbabwe police destroying illegal settlements
Out for the Count: Democracy in Zimbabwe
Top Zim official sentenced in election fraud case
Zimbabwe army sent to quell urban uprising
Harare calm after food price increases
Zim wants easier land grabs
Zimbabwe says nearly three million are in need of food aid
Justice does flip-flop in jailed MP's appeal
CIO agent shoots self
Zim govt makes 'sinister move' against labour
Mugabe's war against the poor
Residents plead for weapons to fight Mugabe
Desperation on the streets
Mujuru to replace Mugabe
Zimbabwe set to launch a total state land seizure
Killing Zimbabwe’s golden goose
The burning continues
Livelihoods and shelter go up in flames
Soldiers burn evicted residents' property, police ransank suburb
Zimbabwean police arrest US cameraman
Zim judge frees accused in Mugabe case
Zanu PF to introduce 65-member Senate
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From Associated Press, 24 May
1 million face eviction in Zimbabwe
Harare - More than a million urban poor face eviction into the midwinter cold as the government vows to clean up Harare by demolishing squatter shacks. The announcement of "Operation Marambatsvina," which means "drive out rubbish," follows a four-day blitz in which police arrested about 10,000 vendors and flea market traders in the capital, a stronghold of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party. Paul Themba-Nyathi, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, accused the governing Zanu PF party of trying to provoke confrontations so it could declare a state of emergency before the current economic collapse led to riots. The campaign against vendors has sparked clashes between traders and police and unrest has been reported elsewhere. "They are now going for broke," Themba-Nyathi said. "It is obvious these are all punitive measures aimed at urban people who voted against Zanu PF." In the Harare cleanup campaign, the government set a June 20 deadline for demolishing unauthorized buildings unless the residents appeal and receive a grace period.
"The attitude of the members of the public as well as some city officials has led to the point whereby Harare has lost its glow. We are determined to get it back," said government-appointed Mayor Sekesai Makwavara in a statement announcing the deadline. She said "Operation Marambatsvina" would see the demolition of all "illegal structures." Lovemore Madhuku, a university teacher who leads an umbrella group of bodies seeking radical reform, the National Constitutional Assembly, warned the demolitions might ignite public anger on a scale unseen since 1980 independence, when President Robert Mugabe, now 81, gained power. "I think now people are really going to react," he said. The ultimatum revives memories of the 1985 elections when Zanu PF mobs, reacting to comments by Mugabe, expelled thousands of families suspected of supporting the opposition out of their township homes until they bought ruling party cards. An unknown number of people were killed while police refused to intervene. Township resident Petros Nyoni said the mood in Harare's sprawling "high density suburbs" was tense Tuesday, with workers angry at a police crackdown on the commuter minibuses that are the mainstay of the transport system. Hundreds of the taxis have been grounded by lack of fuel at filling stations while many more have been impounded at roadblocks for alleged unservicability. "There is a very big crisis. People are so desperate they are jumping through (minibus) windows or onto the roof carriers," he said.
After seven years of unprecedented economic decline, 80 percent of the work force is unemployed and 4 million of Zimbabwe's 16 million people have emigrated. Agriculture, once the mainstay, has been hard hit by Mugabe's seizure of 5,000 white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks. The government last week announced a 45 percent devaluation of the Zimbabwean currency against the U.S. dollar, a ban on luxury imports and heavy subsidies for agriculture and exporters. Michael Davies, chairman of the Combined Harare Residents Association, said more than half of the capital's population of 2 million to 3 million people live in housing marked for demolition. He said in some cases rents from the buildings were the only means of survival for elderly owners. Many of the houses marked for demolition date from the 1970s when the white Rhodesian authorities stopped enforcing hated "influx control" laws to allow fugitives from rural fighting into towns. "They (Zanu PF) are trying to remake the city in their image by trying to drive people out, depriving them of their livelihoods and homes, back to the communal areas where Zanu PF is better able to control social unrest, Davies said. "There is very little we can do. The country is in the grip of a dictatorship. A clique has seized the state through lawlessness, and this rogue regime doesn't give a damn for legal niceties," Davies said.
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From Zim Online (SA), 25 May
Tension at knife-edge in Harare suburb
Harare - Heavily armed police last night patrolled the streets of Harare’s Glen Norah suburb where tensions were at knife edge after the police earlier destroyed flea market stalls and other informal businesses in the low-income suburb. Earlier in the evening, Member of Parliament for the area, Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga, had to rush to the suburb to persuade irate residents from attacking the police officers for destroying their livelihoods. Misihairabwi Mushonga, who said the police descended on the suburb and started destroying flea markets, tuck shops and backyard salons without first giving eviction notices to occupants, indicated she might organise residents to sue for compensation. Most of the informal industries destroyed yesterday were set up at the various premises with the approval of the city council, which has also been billing them for such services as water supply and refuse collection. The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has also billed the informal businesses for electricity. "There is a realistic chance of suing for compensation because, for instance, the city council has been collecting rent while ZESA has been sending bills for electricity to these informal traders now deemed illegal. There are no eviction orders that have been sent out to a single affected person," Misihairabwi-Mushonga, said. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change party legislator said about 400 residents of the suburb had their businesses destroyed yesterday.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena could not be reached for comment on the matter last night. But the police have said the vicious crackdown against informal traders will continue in Harare and spread to other cities until all urban centres were rid of all illegal dealers and perceived delinquents. Residents told Zim Online reporters, who toured the suburb last night, that when the police arrived earlier in the day, they beat up "everyone who was not able to run away" and destroyed any structure, business or residential, which they deemed illegal. An inconsolable Mavis Cheni, whose market stall was destroyed and goods seized by the police, said: "It appears the government gets so much enjoyment from our suffering...and that the city council had promised to give us notice before any action is taken against our businesses just makes this whole thing more painful." She was referring to reports carried by the state-owned Herald newspaper yesterday quoting Harare Town Clerk Nomutsa Chideya promising to write to residents giving them a three-month notice to move their businesses elsewhere or apply to authorities to have them legalised. The government blames informal traders for fuelling the black market and say the police-led "clean-up" exercise is meant to bring back law and order in cities and towns as well as to smash the thriving but illegal black market for foreign currency, food or any other useful commodity.
Signalling intensification of the crackdown, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono last week called for more jails to be built to house illegal forex dealers caught up in the ongoing police raids against informal traders. But government sources the crackdown is nothing but a "shameless ploy" to close down informal traders to protect Chinese retailers who complained to President Robert Mugabe that their businesses faced collapse because of stiff competition from flea market traders. Responding to courtship by Mugabe himself to invest in Zimbabwe, Chinese businessmen have set up shop literally at every street corner in Harare and other cities selling cheaper quality clothes, shoes and electrical goods. But the Asian businessmen have to contend with the flea market traders who sell equally cheap goods imported mainly from South Africa. Indications last night were that the police will today widen their operation to include most of Harare’s poor southern suburbs such as Kambuzuma, Mufakose, Glen View and Budiriro.
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From The Daily Mirror, 25 May
Mudede gives up 2002 ballot boxes
Clemence Manyukwe
The Registrar General, Tobaiwa Mudede, yesterday finally gave in to High Court demands to surrender ballot boxes used in the 2002 Presidential Elections for use in the MDC’s petition against President Robert Mugabe’s victory. Mudede’s capitulation came less than a week after High Court judge, Yunus Omerjee reserved judgment in an application by the MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai to have the Registrar General jailed for five years for contempt of court after failing to comply with seven orders to release the boxes. The first order to have the ballot boxes surrendered was issued in September 2002. Charles Nyatanga, the Master of the High Court who also doubles as the Registrar of the Electoral Court, yesterday confirmed Mudede’ s compliance with the High Court orders. "The ballot boxes started arriving today (yesterday) at 10 am, and they are very secure. We have received boxes for 17 constituencies in Harare and they are being kept in one of the courtrooms. We are just receiving them as they arrive and we are expecting more," Nyatanga said. On whether the submission of the boxes would have any bearing on the contempt case, Nyatanga said: "I have no idea. Tsvangirai’s lawyer, Bryant Elliot of Coghlan Welsh and Guest law firm yesterday told The Daily Mirror that Mudede was still in contempt of court despite surrendering ballots. "He (Mudede) is still in contempt of court. He should have brought them a long time ago. You must be aware that we have also made an application to inspect all the voting material once they have been brought to court," said Elliot.
Part of the application submitted to the court by Tsvangirai’s lawyers read in part: "It is respectfully submitted that the respondent’s failure to comply with the order of this honourable court constitutes contempt of court, for which . . . respondent (Mudede) must personally be committed to gaol and for which a fine must be imposed on him in his official capacity." Efforts to get a comment from the Registrar General were fruitless at the time of going to press yesterday. The MDC intends to use the ballots to prove that President Mugabe did not win the 2002 presidential polls that were characterised by violence. President Mugabe beat Morgan Tsvangirai by slightly over 400 000 votes in the hotly disputed poll. In his petition, Tsvangirai contends that an examination of the ballot papers would show that President Mugabe cheated his way into State House in an election whose outcome he described as " daylight robbery." However, in defence of Mudede in the contempt of court charges, State lawyers contended that the Registrar General had failed to comply as a result of economic hardships. They however said they appreciated the importance of obeying court orders.
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From News24 (SA), 24 May
Zim to fix private school fees
Harare - The Zimbabwean government has published a bill that would allow the government to set fees for private schools, a state-run newspaper reported on Tuesday. The Education Amendment Bill is expected to be debated when parliament resumes next month, the state-controlled Herald said. Last year, 46 of the country's private schools were forced to close temporarily by the government for hiking school fees without permission, but this year a court ruled the schools were allowed to hike their fares without consulting the government. However, the new bill would give the ministry of education the authority to fix school fees "after considering an application from the school concerned," the Herald said. Schools which defied the fee stipulations would be fined. Private schools have defended charging high fees, saying they are the only way the institutions can remain viable in Zimbabwe where inflation is over 129%.
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From Reuters, 24 May
Zimbabwe demand boosts S.Africa maize prices
Johannesburg - South African maize prices rose with world levels on Tuesday as a jump in exports on Zimbabwean demand provided a positive glimmer for a market weighed down by bearish fundamentals, dealers said. The July white maize contract ended 6.80 rand firmer at 583.80 rand per tonne, while yellow maize finished 5.2 higher at 615.20. "It's a stronger world price that supported our price. Our price didn't move up as much as it should have but that's because we have a very large carry-over," said one trader. Figures released by the South African Grain Information Services (SAGIS) on Tuesday showed exports more than doubled last week to 55,933 tonnes. But traders said the news had been anticipated by the market after the World Food Programme (WFP) and Malawi said they would source large amounts of maize from South Africa, taking advantage of prices that have nearly halved since November. Malawi said earlier this month it would buy 250,000 tonnes of local maize and one trader said it had already invited tenders for 29,000 tonnes. "It's positive, yes, but I would not say (prices are) moving on export figures because we need to maintain that in order to have a sane price level," said a dealer at a major trading house. "I think maybe people were even expecting a bit more than that." More than 46,000 tonnes of the latest export total went to Zimbabwe, where a slowdown in production is partly blamed on President Robert Mugabe's controversial land seizures and partly on this year's drought. Zimbabwe officials have said the country will need to import 1.2 million tonnes of maize this year to feed its people. South African maize prices have plummeted from around 1,000 rand a tonne in November as a strong currency and high prices deterred foreign buyers and added to near-record stocks. The rand's depreciation by around 13 percent this year against the dollar and a drop in maize prices have boosted exports and sparked a mild maize rally in recent weeks.
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From BBC News, 24 May
Leaving behind Zimbabwe's land
By Grant Ferrett
For Lewis, a softly-spoken commercial farmer living west of Harare, it's the $100m question - will he still be able to farm in Zimbabwe in five years' time? Now five years into the government's land redistribution programme, he says is taking things year by year. "I feel sometimes that maybe I should stop at the end of the next season. Let's wait and see." Reflecting his mood of caution, Lewis has cut back by a quarter the production of his main money earner, tobacco. He also finds he's distracted from running his own business by requests for help from his new farming neighbours. Hundreds of people have been resettled on the farms surrounding Lewis, most of them illegally. They often have little business knowledge of farming and few assets. Lewis lends tractors, ploughs fields and even provides basic lessons in agronomy. But in spite of all the assistance he provides, Lewis thinks some of his neighbours want to bring him down. "It's just pure jealousy," he sighs. "They see what I have on the farm and wonder why I have it and they don't. But I've been in many difficult situations and I've learned to put on a thick skin." Instead of being harassed, Lewis could reasonably expect to be a role model for the Zimbabwean authorities. That is because Lewis is a highly successful black commercial farmer. When I first interviewed him more than five years ago, he explained how he hoped to set an example for other would-be farmers. "I need to live an exemplary farming life," he told me. Now he's considering leaving farming altogether. He's not only worried for his business, but for his personal safety. In March, during the parliamentary election campaign, he was forced to attend rallies in support of President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party. As someone who bought his farm long before the government began seizing white-owned land without paying compensation, Lewis thinks he is viewed with suspicion. Five years ago I interviewed him at home on the veranda of his large farmhouse. This time he preferred to meet in the anonymity of a parked car in the suburbs of Harare. Lewis is not his real name.
One of his former neighbours, John, who also didn't want to be identified, moved into Harare three years ago after being forced off his farm. "My grandfather built our home in 1921. Then, one weekend, the police gave us 48 hours to get off. "They had no paperwork. It was mind-numbing. But a threat's a threat. On the back of six or seven farmers being shot in the previous months, we decided to leave." In spite of the upheaval, John still believes there's a future for him and other white ex-farmers in Zimbabwe. "My feeling is that if you keep your nose clean and decide that as a white man in Africa you're here to make money and provide development, then you'll be able to stay. But if you get involved in politics - then no - your days are numbered." Another former neighbour, Rob, has joined the exodus of millions of Zimbabweans who've left the country over the past five years. He and his wife and four children have moved to the thriving coastal town of Mackay in Queensland, Australia. They have a large house close to the beach and are particularly pleased that in contrast to the electrified fences and security alarms of their previous home Zimbabwe; in Australia they can leave all their doors unlocked."When you see what we've got here and the friends we've made, there's no way I'd go back to that nonsense in Zimbabwe," says Rob. His wife, Anna, agrees. "It was just the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen next. Here the biggest worry is whether the washing will be dry." Back in Zimbabwe, on the day I spoke to Lewis he was arranging to meet his daughter, who is now studying in Australia. Lewis suspects that even if he is able to carry on farming in Zimbabwe, there's no future in the country for his daughter. He recently employed an armed guard to protect his cattle after six of his herd were stolen in a single night. "Land reform was necessary, but not in the way it has been done," he says. "I wasn't an economic decision, it was a political one."
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From Zim Online (SA), 25 May
Harare still clinging on to suspected mercenary
Harare - Zimbabwean authorities are still holding on to one of the 62 alleged South African mercenaries nearly two weeks after releasing the rest of the group. Harare lawyer Jonathan Samkange, who represented the suspected "dogs of war", yesterday said he was not sure why his client, Malan Moyo, was still being held at the notorious Chikurubi prison just outside the capital city. Samkange said he was planning to meet with prison and immigration authorities to establish why they were still clinging on to Moyo. But the lawyer told Zim Online at the time of the release and deportation of the other 61 men to South Africa that authorities in Harare were holding on to Moyo saying he was a Zimbabwean citizen. Neither Zimbabwe Prison Service Commissioner Paradzai Zimondi nor Chief Immigration Officer Elasto Mugwadi could be reached for comment on the matter yesterday. Moyo holds a South African passport and lives in that country with his family but sources yesterday said he is originally from Zimbabwe. Soon after the release of the alleged mercenaries, South African ambassador to Zimbabwe Jerry Ndou indicated to the Press that Moyo might have been left behind because he was too sick to travel. The suspected South African mercenaries were arrested at Harare International Airport last year after touching down to refuel and pick weapons which they said they wanted to use to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But Zimbabwean authorities say the men wanted the arms to topple Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. They were found guilty of violating immigration and aviation laws and sentenced to 12 months in prison each while their leader Briton, Simon Mann was sentenced to seven years in jail.
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From Business Day (SA), 26 May
Harare police arrest 10 000
Harare Correspondent
Zimbabwean security forces yesterday stepped up their crackdown on informal traders and vendors, triggering fierce clashes with residents of some poor Harare townships. Heavily armed police intensified their campaign across Harare, destroying informal trading stalls, tuck-shop tables and shebeens. The raid, which has so far netted more than 10 000 impoverished city residents, has left trail of destruction its wake. Police continued yesterday to seize more foreign currency and a variety of merchandise from black market dealers selling fuel and other basic commodities, including salt, washing powder and soap. The police swoop - code-named "Operation Restore Order" - has netted 10 114 people and resulted in the razing of 63 "illegal structures". People who live in shacks have been given a three-month ultimatum, which expires on July 31, to demolish their structures and move away. Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo said yesterday that after the deadline expired police would move in and knock down the makeshift structures themselves. More than a million people are expected to be rendered homeless by the move. The chairperson of the Harare Commission, which is running the city’s affairs, Sekesai Makwavarara, said that the crackdown would be widened to cover other areas. These included such areas as "vandalism of property, commuter ranks, prostitution, and illegal cultivation". Harare metropolitan resident minister David Karimanzira said the clampdown would be extended to farms on Harare’s outskirts to eliminate "illegal residential houses" in those areas. Resistance to the forced removals has increased over the past few days. Yesterday clashes escalated between the security forces and residents, particularly at Glen Norah’s Mkomva shopping centre. Policemen were attacked by angry residents at Chitungwiza at the weekend. The Combined Harare Residents Association has slammed the campaign, saying that it was designed to divert public attention away from the government’s economic failures.
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From SW Radio Africa, 25May
Crackdown spreads
The so-called operation 'murambatsvina' spread to the small mining town of Kadoma with gold panners being severely assaulted by police support unit details in the surrounding mines. Vendors in the market areas were not spared either. With the main employer, David Whitehead Textiles scaling down operations, most people in the city rely on gold panning. The crackdowns have brought untold suffering to the residents as even shops in the town struggle for customers who have money to spend. The 'black boots', as the police support unit are called, launched raid after raid in Kadoma's small scale mines. They confiscated grains of gold from struggling panners who in most cases spend months digging up the up the precious gold from either disused mines or surrounding rivers. Last week a senior police officer in Kadoma shot a gold dealer in unclear circumstances. The state media completely ignored the incident. The panner, Saul Marata, is currently struggling for his life in an intensive care unit in Harare. Its also reported that the government has withdrawn gold buying licences in an effort to stem the smuggling of the commodity outside the country. The move has further plunged Kadoma into despair. The MP for the area, Editor Matamisa, compared their poverty levels to that of a mouse.
The government's campaign against street and market vendors has also spread to the outer areas of Nyazura, Rusape and Odzi. Uniformed police units have destroyed flea markets and confiscated goods in these areas over the last couple of days. A traditional leader in Odzi told us those who are resisting are being assaulted further. He said the units are organised, with some chefs looking out for anyone taking pictures while the others take apart the structures and even burn some of them. Locals report that all sorts of goods are being taken by the police and they were not told what will happen with them. The chief also reported to us that there was plenty of food in Nyazura and Rusape just before the elections. On Sunday in Bulawayo, police swooped on vendors and alleged foreign currency dealers at the 4th street business market. The area, which is dominated by members of the apostolic sect (mapostori), was a sea of chaos as people scurried away while police confiscated their wares. Those arrested were made to pay 25 000 dollar fines but surprisingly, the police still held on to their goods. Authorities say they are trying to clamp down on illegal foreign currency deals and people hoarding basic commodities. Our correspondent in the city reports that despite this claim, innocent people are suffering in the chaos. Individuals are losing goods worth anything between 50 and 100 million dollars and in most cases these constitute their entire life savings. Police are also alleged to be selling the confiscated goods amongst themselves instead of the official police auctions.
After several days of being bullied by the police who are destroying vending stalls in the cities, most residents in the surburbs of Glen View, St Mary's, Mbare and few others started fighting back today. Glenview especially was a war zone today. Tear gas filled the air as police fought running battles with angry residents and vendors who hurled stones and burnt tyres on the roads. A government operated Zupco bus was also burnt down, while the council offices and a TM supermarket near Budiriro were stoned. With the day being a holiday, school children are said to have joined in the melle as riot police reinforcements poured into the surburb. The MP for the area, Paul Madzore says he counted three riot trucks packed with police sprinting into his constituency. He accused the government of playing a dangerous game with peoples' lives and warned that the violence might spiral out of control if they continued their ill-conceived raids on the vendors.
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From Zim Online (SA), 26 May
Human rights lawyers sue Harare, police over crackdown
Harare - Zimbabwe’s biggest association of human rights lawyers yesterday said it was taking legal action against Harare city and police authorities for committing gross human rights violations during the ongoing crackdown against informal traders in and outside the capital city. In a statement, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said it was "finalising" preparing papers to be filed at court against the state-appointed commission running Harare and the police for what it said was a dismaying and heavy handed campaign against defenseless residents. The group’s statement reads in part: "ZLHR is finalising legal proceedings, which shall shortly be instituted against all parties complicit in the continuing violations on behalf of the affected individuals and families, and will not hesitate to act in protecting the economic and social rights of Zimbabwean citizens, which responsibility has been abandoned by their state protectors." The ZLHR spoke as police widened the "clean-up" operation to most of Harare’s low-income suburbs in the south of the city destroying several millions of dollars worth of property in the suburbs of Glen View and Budiriro where they burnt down and demolished roadside household furniture making informal industries. Over 10 000 mostly unemployed Zimbabweans trying to eke out a living through informal trade have been arrested and property and goods worth hundreds of millions of dollars destroyed since the operation began last week.
With unemployment at 70 percent, the majority of Zimbabweans now survive on informal trading with even those still with a formal job being forced to engage in petty and informal trading to supplement their inflation-eroded wages. Inflation is pegged at 129.1 percent. Combined Harare Residents Association chairman Michael Davies says more than half of the city’s estimated three million residents live in makeshift housing which the city authorities and police have declared illegal and are demolishing. The authorities say the clean-up is aimed at ridding the city of criminals and foreign currency market operators masquerading as informal traders. But the ZLHR said the move was illegal and a gross violation of human rights particularly because the city and police authorities were acting without any court order empowering them to evict the informal traders. Most of the traders forcibly evicted by the police were licenced to operate at their various premises by the city council which also billed them for such services as water supply and refuse collection. The ZLHR said: "These acts by the ZRP and municipal police are clearly and manifestly illegal as they had no lawful order to evict mostly licensed flea market operators and tuck shop owners."
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has accused President Robert Mugabe of setting the police against residents in opposition urban strongholds in a bid to provoke conditions that could enable him to declare a State of Emergency and rule by decree. Intelligence sources also told Zim Online earlier this week that the army and police have been put on full alert amid fears by the government of a possible spontaneous uprising by irate residents. Earlier in the week on Tuesday, only timeous intervention by Member of Parliament for Glen Norah suburb averted violent clashes between the police and residents of the suburb who had ganged up to retaliate after their flea market stalls and other informal businesses were destroyed.
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From Zim Online (SA), 26 May
Former opposition MP fights for freedom at Supreme Court
Harare - Jailed opposition activist and former parliamentarian Roy Bennett will today ask the Supreme Court to free him on the grounds that he was unfairly imprisoned by Parliament. Bennett, jailed for 15 months for violently shoving Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa during debate in the House last May, will also tell the country’s highest court of law that the jail term imposed on him was unreasonable and grossly disproportionate to the offence committed. Former parliamentary speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa is listed as first respondent while members of the last parliamentary privileges committee who recommended Bennett’s incarceration are also cited as respondents. The committee was made up of three members of the ruling Zanu PF party and two members of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to which Bennett belongs. South African advocate Jeremy Gauntlett and senior Zimbabwean advocate Adrian de Bourbon, representing Bennett argue in papers filed at court: "We submit that the enquiry into attitude and performance of the Committee must proceed on the basis that a majority of the Committee members were members or strong supporters of Zanu PF, the applicant’s political opponents. For a hearing to be impartial the tribunal conducting the hearing must not be biased . . . in most circumstances, a prison term of 15 months with labour would be grossly excessive for such a crime. Indeed the severity of the sentence strongly suggests that it was retributive - indeed, vindictive in nature."
Bennett, a white commercial farmer who embarrassed President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party by winning the rural Chimanimani parliamentary seat in the 2000 general election, is the first Zimbabwean ever to be sent to jail outside the court system. He has been held at the rural Mutoko prison where the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) say he was subjected to harassment and assault by prison guards. Bennett was a few weeks ago moved to the notorious Chikurubi prison, near Harare, where the ZLHR says he has again been targeted for harassment by prison authorities who at times deny him food and water. The lawyers group last week petitioned the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to intervene and persuade the Zimbabwe government to stop persecuting Bennett. The former parliamentarian has lost a quarter of his weight mostly due to denial of food and general ill-treatment and there were fears he might develop more serious health problems if he continues to be subjected to further harassment. Bennett, in jail since October 2004, might however be released next month if the state remits a third of his sentence as is normally done for all well-behaved prisoners.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 24 May
Gono warns foreigners on forex deals
Kumbirai Mafunda
Exasperated central bank Governor Gideon Gono on Thursday lashed out at foreign nationals in Zimbabwe accusing them of aggravating the illegal trade in foreign currency that has now ballooned. As Zimbabwe's six-year-old hard currency crunch bites, Gono took the podium to shift the blame game from banks, individuals and the tourism industry to foreigners living in Zimbabwe whom he accused of abusing the government's hospitality by engaging in illegal foreign exchange transactions that threaten his economic turnaround programme. "Some of the purveyors of this trade are non Zimbabweans who have come all the way from their mother countries in the region, some from West Africa, South East Asia, and beyond, under the banner of the friendly relations existing and being forged between Zimbabwe and their countries," said Gono. "We cannot, and will not, allow any shadow forces to interfere with, or derail our turnaround programme, which we are putting back on the rails with immediate effect," Gono declared in a sermon that lasted nearly three hours.
Gono's furious outburst came a day after police intensified a crackdown on foreign immigrants by invading flea markets and confiscating goods and wares, ostensibly in search of hard cash. Dwindling supplies of hard money in the central bank's coffers, official sources said, precipitated the crackdown. Foreigners of Asian and West African origin have cornered Harare's CBD putting most Zimbabwean traders out of business. Some of the foreigners have opted to pay their rentals in hard currency pushing locals to the outskirts of the city. Zimbabwe has adopted the so-called "Look East" policy under which the government is awarding multi-billion tenders and investment projects to friendly countries such as China and Malaysia ahead of Westerners. President Robert Mugabe argues that Washington and London have ulterior motives such as trying to effect a regime change, a charge both deny.
Apart from the illegal dealings that the Nigerians and Chinese nationals are allegedly committing, Zimbabweans also condemn their cheap quality products, which have flooded the local market and have driven local traders and businessmen out of business. Gono warned that law enforcement agents would ruthlessly deal with the foreigners. "Our dream is to see those foreign national joining Zimbabweans and being given picks and holes to till the land for the damage they are causing to our economy," said the RBZ chief, tongue-in-cheek. The central bank has come under fire from government officials for failing to clamp down on a thriving black market for foreign currency where the Zimbabwe dollar is trading at up to $26 000 to the American greenback compared to an official rate of $9000. But economists say the blame game and the seizures cannot bring in enough foreign currency to alleviate the fuel, food and electricity crisis. "Gono is running a police State from the Reserve Bank. The crackdown and intimidation is a clampdown on individual freedoms," said Eddie Cross, economic advisor for the opposition MDC.
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From Business Day (SA), 26 May
Zimbabwe’s central bank funds fuel for two weeks
Harare Correspondent
Zimbabwe’s central bank has provided $18,5m for fuel procurement, amid worsening petrol shortages that are crippling the country’s economy. The central bank said yesterday it had disbursed the hard currency to state-run petroleum procurement agency, National Oil Company of Zimbabwe, to import fuel. However, the money is only enough to import less than two weeks’ supply. Zimbabwe needs $40m a month to import fuel. The state oil agency received $8,5m last Friday, $5m on Monday and $5m on Tuesday. Zimbabwe recently received $15m from SA’s First National Bank, arranged through the Absa-owned Jewel Bank in Harare, but the country remained dry. Central bank governor Gideon Gono, who recently claimed the fuel crisis would be over by the middle of this month, said the money would "see a significant improvement in fuel supplies".
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From The Daily Mirror, 26 May
Widow lives in bush after politically motivated eviction
Daily Mirror reporter
A widow from Sebatwe Resettlement area in Manicaland, Gaudencia Nyahotsi, was reportedly evicted from her A1 farm in February this year by suspected Zanu PF supporters after her son was seen in MDC regalia during the countdown to the March general elections. The MDC losing candidate for Mutasa North where the resettlement area falls under, Evelyn Masaiti, said suspected Zanu PF supporters forcibly removed Nyahotsi and her family from their home. She said Nyahotsi and her siblings have been living in the open since the eviction as punishment that her son Munyaradzi Mafondokoto sympathised with the opposition party. "I went there myself and saw her at a bushy area. Her property was destroyed during the rain season and since then they (Zanu PF supporters) have been threatening her son with death. She is living in conditions unsuitable for human habitation," she said. According to Nyahotsi, the ruling party supporters led by a councillor (name supplied) met twice on February 4 and agreed to evict the poor family because Munyaradzi was putting on MDC T-shirts. A woman who attended the "meetings" but asked to remain anonymous said: "Two meetings took place in the area and it was agreed that Nyahotsi should be evicted from the area. As we are speaking, her property has been destroyed by rain since she was evicted during the rain season."
Although Zanu PF Manicaland province acting chairperson Shadreck Chipanga said he was unaware of the incident, he quickly pointed out that Nyahotsi’s case might be peddled by people out to tarnish the image of the ruling party. "I am not aware of such an incident and for your own information there are people who want to tarnish the ruling party’s image for their selfish gains. However, we will take the matter seriously and I will send people to the area because Zanu PF is not associated with such deeds," he said. Since their eviction in February, the Nyahotsi family settled at a bushy area in Mangosho farm near London Stores before Masaiti found them accommodation in Mutare. The former MP, who played the role of a philanthropist, declined to give the exact place where the family now resided citing security concerns. Masaiti said the ruling party was now on a "retribution exercise to root out" suspected MDC supporters. "We found accommodation for the family somewhere in Mutare, but I can’t give you the location because of her safety. It’s a fact that the ruling party is intimidating our supporters and punishing them out for voting for the opposition," she said.
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From BBC News, 26 May
Thousands more held in Zimbabwe
By Nick Miles
Johannesburg - Zimbabwean police have arrested another 7,000 people as part of a countrywide campaign against illegal traders. State radio said the arrests were made in the town of Gweru in the centre of the country. It brings the number of people arrested in Zimbabwe over the last week to more than 17,000. Zimbabwe state radio said the people were arrested for hoarding scarce goods like maize, dealing in foreign currency and gold panning. The town of Gweru lies in a rich mining belt and thousands of unemployed people have moved there in recent years to eke out a living looking for gold. Some of the people arrested have paid fines; others have been taken to court. There have been large numbers of police on the streets of Gweru and 1,000 extra officers are patrolling the capital, Harare, to prevent any violent reaction to the arrests. On Wednesday, when the police burnt an informal market in the Harare suburb of Glen View, street traders threw stones at the police and then looted several shops. Despite the tensions, the police say the arrests will continue. The government says it wants to stop the damage the black market is doing to the economy, namely stoking an already high rate of inflation. But more than 80% of the people in Zimbabwe are jobless and for the majority of the population, the informal economy is the only way of making a living.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 27 May
Zim deploys 3 000 riot police to destroy homes
Harare - The Zimbabwean government has deployed 3 000 paramilitary police as it begins an operation to demolish illegal settlements around Harare, state television reported on Thursday. The television news showed a parade of hundreds of officers in full riot gear preparing to be deployed to demolish 25 illegal settlements in and around the capital. Footage showed a bulldozer demolishing a house in one illegal housing settlement -- Nyadzonia Housing Co-operative -- whose owner "chose to ignore the warnings", the television said. A police officer urged people living in illegal settlements to pack up and leave before police demolition squads arrived. "We would encourage everybody to pack their own property, their clothing, their furniture before the police arrive," he said. It is the latest in a campaign dubbed Operation Restore Order, which was launched last week to crackdown on illegal activities in the southern African country. So far, 17 000 people have been arrested countrywide. Those arrested have been fined or taken to court for offences that include illegally dealing in foreign currency, hoarding of basic commodities and selling scarce goods on the black market. Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) lawmaker Trudy Stevenson said three truckloads of riot police had arrived in part of her constituency in Harare North on Thursday evening and started to demolish houses in the informal settlement of Hatcliffe Extension. "They [the police] are just razing everything," she said. "They're telling people to move off." She said there were 10 000 to 12 000 people living in the informal settlement. "That's a lot of people without shelter," she said. It was not immediately clear how many people risked being made homeless by the imminent destruction of illegal housing. Official statistics put Harare's population at 1,8-million, but the Combined Harare Residents Association said the figure is much higher. Those residents who lose houses and have nowhere to go will be taken to a holding farm outside Harare, the television said.
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From Zim Online (SA), 27 May
Riots spread to poor Harare suburb
Harare - More than 10 people were injured yesterday as riots against the government’s campaign against informal traders spread to the low income suburb of Mbare in Harare. Harare has been on a knife-edge in the past week as public anger at the government’s harsh eviction of informal traders in the city and general economic hardships swells. Yesterday afternoon, anti-riot police stormed Mbare destroying structures used by informal traders. The move sparked a violent response from the informal traders who quickly ganged up against the police and overpowered them. The residents also barricaded streets with boulders and fought running battles with the anti-riot police in protest against the "clean up" campaign which began a week ago. But the protests were later violently put down after the riot police called for reinforcements. On Wednesday, the police also fought running battles in Glen View with informal traders after destroying their structures. "This has been my source of livelihood, the government and the council have no hearts. Instead of promoting employment, they are destroying genuine efforts being made to eke an honest living," said Marlvern Ushe, a resident of the suburb who sustained a gush on his head during the disturbances. Contacted for comment, Harare council spokesman Leslie Gwindi said: "We embarked on the exercise to clean up the city and we will not stop at anything until we have achieved our goal. Police spokesman Wayne Bvunzijena, could not be reached for comment while his deputy, Oliver Mandipaka, refused to comment until he had been briefed by officers on the ground.
The government, blamed by many for Zimbabwe’s severe economic crisis, began the evictions a week ago blaming the informal traders for stoking an illegal but thriving black market which is now the source of nearly every basic commodity in the country from food, fuel, foreign currency to birth control pills. The campaign has since moved from Harare’s central business district to the high density suburbs where the police are destroying all illegal shacks and make-shift structures used by the informal traders. The government says it wants to "clean up the city" but the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party accuses the government of seeking to shield Chinese businesses that are facing stiff competition from the informal traders. The MDC also says the government wants to provoke a violent response from the people so it could declare a "state of emergency" and rule by decree. Critics blame Zimbabwe’s crisis on President Robert Mugabe's chaotic land reforms which they say destablised the key commercial farming sector, leading to food shortages and sharp drops in both foreign investment and tourism. Mugabe denies his land reforms are to blame for Zimbabwe’s crisis and instead accuses Britain and other Western countries of ganging up to sabotage the southern African nation’s economy to punish his government for seizing land from whites for redistribution to landless blacks.
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From The Daily Mirror, 27 May
Is ‘clean-up’ punishment?
Phillip Chidavaenzi
Pictures captured on television of tuck shops and makeshift buildings set ablaze in Glen View by trigger-happy police, and angry victims of Harare’s "clean-up" campaign fighting back in anger as they fought running battles with the police and barricaded Willowvale Road in protest, denoted the climax of Harare’s clean-up campaign. When the authorities in Harare, with the backing of the police, launched an unprecedented clean-up campaign presumably meant to restore order in the former "Sunshine City" residents at first welcomed the manoeuvre, until it assumed a sinister dimension that has led people to revise the true motive behind the campaign. Of late, there has been widespread speculation in Harare that the government was hitting back at the city’s residents, who voted overwhelmingly for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the March 31 polls, during which the opposition party swept clean all, but one of the city’s 18 constituencies. The Zanu PF government, snubbed by the urban electorate, had never taken kindly to its rejection by the people of Harare, hit hard by the economic meltdown attributed to failed economic policies, among other issues. Although the authorities insisted the campaign was meant to rid the city of what they described as a culture of illegality, allegedly spawned by vendors, commuter omnibus operators, vagrants, touts and children living in the streets, the joint operation dubbed "Restore Order" and "Murambatsvina", has left thousands of people marooned. Their dwellings and businesses (from which they eked out a living) have been torched by police.
Analysts who spoke to The Daily Mirror said if this was a genuine clean-up, then measures would have been put in place that those who were running legal businesses through orthodox means were not swept away by the tide together with some criminal elements. Harare Metropolitan governor David Karimanzira laughed off at assertions that the clean up exercise was retribution against urbanites perceived as MDC supporters. He said the exercise had not only affected MDC sympathisers but also of Zanu PF and other political parties. "As I speak to you right now there are scores of people at the Harare Zanu PF provincial offices affected by the clean-up exercise. There is no retribution. We are simply trying to clean up the city," Karimanzira said. He said a committee of stakeholders coordinated by his office had since been set up to assist those who have been affected by the operation. "Let us not politicise issues here. Is it not clear that our capital city had become an eyesore? A committee under my office will soon find alternative places for the informal sector to operate from and land will be allocated to genuine house seekers," added Karimanzira. The committee, he said, was made up of various social ministries and other stakeholders. But in a telling response to that argument, Harare’s spokesman, Leslie Gwindi, indicated they could not care less, saying: "And we will not look for other places for them (victims) because how did they come to be where they are staying now? Were they legally settled or not? That is a multi-million dollar question one should ask himself or herself."
The Minister of Small to Medium Enterprises Development, Sithembiso Nyoni, said the clean up exercise was meant to weed out crime and corruption within the informal sector. "My ministry is concerned about what is currently happening in the informal sector. There is a lot of criminal activities and dirty deals happening in this sector," Nyoni told a breakfast meeting in Bulawayo this week. "As government we cannot just watch those things happening. We have a mandate to bring order in the sector," she said. The minister urged all small to medium business operators to register their business and premises to avoid being found otherwise. Although people welcomed the campaign in its initial stages, its effectiveness which shows an element of cruelty has since replaced the praises with shocked disbelief as the police descended upon residential areas where they burnt people’s houses, which they said had been constructed illegally. Analysts highlighted the fact that the police actions smacked of criminalising the informal sector, which had become a significant player in employment creation as the formal sector continues to shrink.
In a speech to mark Africa Day commemorations last week, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai described the clampdown on the informal sector as part of a wider plan of retribution. "Government’s claim that such action is in the public interest is disingenuous. Street vendors are not sabotaging the economy; it is the government, which is sabotaging the economy through mismanagement and corruption. Teachers, doctors, nurses, factory workers and people from all walks of life have been forced into becoming street vendors as it has become the only means of survival," he said. The opposition leader, whose party enjoys popular support, added that the vendors now being punished for trying to feed their families and for being suspected of having the temerity to express their own political preferences, adding that the whole act was unforgivable. He said: "A government that destroys the properties of people who are trying to make an honest living, is evil. It is people-insensitive. Millions of Zimbabweans have been made poor and jobless by this regime. "The people have sought ways to provide for their families. Not only have flea markets and tuckshops been destroyed the people’s belongings have been stolen by the government. The government did not even have the heart to give people a notice period to salvage their belongings; it ploughed through their properties and looted their goods. That is unforgivable."
In a related development, the Zimbabwe Human Rights Lawyers Association (ZHLA) said it was going to pursue legal action against the commission running the city’s affairs and the police authorities for the crackdown. The association said in a statement it was putting together papers to be filed at the court, adding that the clampdown on defenceless residents was heavy-handed. "ZLHR is finalising legal proceedings, which shall shortly be instituted against all parties complicit in the continuing violations on behalf of the affected individuals and families, and will not hesitate to act in protecting the economic and social rights of Zimbabwean citizens, which responsibility has been abandoned by their state protectors," said the human rights body. The ZLHR said the move was illegal and a gross violation of human rights, particularly because the city and police authorities were acting without any court order empowering them to evict the informal traders. Most of the traders forcibly evicted by the police were licenced to operate at their various premises by the city council, which also billed them for such services as water supply and refuse collection. The ZLHR said the police and their municipal counterparts’ acts were "clearly and manifestly illegal" because the authorities did not have a lawful order to evict mostly licensed flea market operators and tuck- shop owners.
There were reports early this week that the army and police had been put on full alert amid fears of a possible uprising by a restless population. With unemployment at 70 percent, the majority of Zimbabweans now survive on informal trading with even those still with a formal job being forced to engage in petty and informal trading to supplement their inflation-eroded wages. Inflation is pegged at 129.1 percent. Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) was recently quoted saying over half of the city’s estimated three million residents live in makeshift housing. While many people admitted that the attempts to restore the city’s glory were overdue, it is the crude, Mafia-style in which it has been implemented that has sent shockwaves across the city and in the process, forcing people to look for answers other than those provided by the authorities.The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), which represents the bulk of the country’s workforce, described the blitzkrieg as treacherous and ill-timed, smacking of arrogance. Secretary general Wellington Chibebe said the exercise was conducted in "a brutal and vindictive warlike manner; the traders had their merchandise confiscated and their stalls razed to the ground in a very insensitive manner".
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From Business Day (SA), 27 May
Political ‘meddling’ keeps Bennett in jail
Harare Correspondent
After a dramatic twist earlier in the day, Zimbabwe’s supreme court reserved judgment yesterday on jailed former opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) MP Roy Bennett’s challenge against his continued detention. The highest court of appeal’s bench, comprising Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, justices Wilson Sandura, Misheck Cheda, Luke Malaba and Elizabeth Gwaunza, said a ruling would be delivered "in due course". Earlier in the day attorney-general Sobusa Gula-Ndebele - government’s chief legal adviser - made an about-face before the court, withdrawing a concession submitted hours before that the one-year jail sentence passed on Bennett for shoving the justice minister was excessive. Bennett’s legal team - consisting of South African attorney Jeremy Gauntlett and prominent Zimbabwean lawyers Adrian de Bourbon and human rights lawyer Beatrice Mthethwa - argued that parliament had exceeded its powers in jailing the former MP. "The court reserved judgment after the case was argued," Mthethwa said. "This was after the attorney general had conceded the issue was not well handled by parliament. However, in the afternoon we were later informed that the case would go for a hearing." Government sources said Gula-Ndebele had wanted Bennett, incarcerated in appalling conditions at the notorious Chikurubi maximum security prison, to be released immediately, but "politicians interfered with the case".
Bennett’s lawyers said parliament’s privileges and powers had been "exercised in conflict with the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed by the constitution". The attorneys said the "court can and must interfere where parliament has improperly exercised that (parliamentary) privilege and has acted mala fide or capriciously and in defiance of the constitutionally inherent rights of an MP". Bennett was jailed for an effective one year with hard labour for shoving to the floor Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa during a heated parliamentary debate in which the minister accused Bennett’s family of being thieves. A committee dominated by President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF MPs recommended a 15-month detention, but three months were later suspended. Bennett was barred by the electoral court from contesting the disputed March 31 general election controversially won by Zanu PF. His wife Heather stood and lost, although she is challenging the result, citing vote rigging. The court initially ordered that Bennett be released to contest the election, but reversed its decision after Mugabe described its decision as an "act of madness". The MDC criticised Bennett’s detention, saying it was influenced by blatant political bias. Meanwhile, the British parliament said it was "gravely concerned by the appalling conditions under which Mr Bennett, until recently an MP, is being held".
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 27 May
Bob plans R3m bash
President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace will splash out close to R3-million on a 10th wedding anniversary party at their rural home in Kutama, about 60km west of Harare. Several Southern African regional leaders are expected to attend, including best man at the wedding, former Mozambican president Joachim Chissano. Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba, his Tanzanian counterpart Benjamin Mkapa and former South African president Nelson Mandela and his wife Graca Machel have also cracked invites. "It’s not expected that President Thabo Mbeki will come, but an ANC delegation will," a government source told the Mail & Guardian. "A lot of money will be needed for the flights, hotel accommodation, food and hosting the event at Kutama. But the costs could be cut down by many companies donating in cash and kind, with farmers supplying beef and vegetables as usual and national breweries providing beer. It will be classy, royal-like," the source said, "Mugabe will be driven from a church service in an open Rolls Royce with horses in front. That’s how they want it." The party will be preceded by a family trip to the Middle East. Grace is 40 years younger than her 81-year-old husband, with whom she has three children.
Plans for the lavish celebration in August were revealed to the M&G this week as evidence emerged that Zimbabwe was sliding further into an economic recession. Emotions are running high in Harare, with commuters having to trudge 10km to and from work in chilly conditions as a fuel crisis grips the country. In a move seen as provocative, riot police this week demolished business kiosks and market-place stalls of informal traders in Harare and surrounding townships. By June 20, the police said, "all unauthorised buildings and market places would have been destroyed". Residents watched in anguish as police swooped on and arrested more than 9 500 people as part of Operation Murambatsvina, which began last week. The police said the vendors were operating at undesignated points, violating the city’s by-laws. In Glen Norah township, police on Wednesday razed tuck-shops to the ground and burned carpenters’ stalls alongside roads leading into the opposition stronghold. Glen Norah residents, who have declared the constituency a no-go area for the police, reacted by barricading roads leading into the township.
"This is shocking, it has never happened before. The government is trying to get an excuse for declaring a state of emergency because they realise the economy is receding into a disaster," said Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga, the Movement for Democratic Change MP for the area. "They want people to riot, and they will get that. The whole thing is political. Mugabe is simply saying you voted for the opposition and this is what you’ll get." Constitutional reform pressure group chairperson Dr Lovemore Madhuku slammed the crackdown as "a recipe for an uprising" but felt that "Zimbabweans in general have no disposition towards a spontaneous revolt". He cautioned however that: "These are purely bread and butter issues and you have the police demolishing tuck shops and market stalls, it’s being insensitive." Many companies have shut down because of the economic slump and unemployment levels have risen to about 80%. A fuel crisis that has caused the public transportation system to grind to a halt means people are starting work four hours late and getting home at about midnight. The urban folk are becoming increasingly restless. "We are having a situation in which residents are now attacking the police," said Misihairambwi-Mushonga. "The situation is degenerating into total chaos and people are angry." But the blissfully happy Mugabe couple is going ahead with the party plans. Mugabe, though not showing any signs of frailty and fatigue, has, on the advice of his doctors, in the past three weeks, been cutting down on public engagements. A family relative, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the M&G that: "Gushungo’s [Mugabe clan name] bones are like teak. They have a reputation for living long. His [Mugabe] mother Bona lived until she was 100 years old."
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From Zim Online (SA), 28 May
Police to use live ammo, army rolls into suburbs
Harare - Armoured troop carriers yesterday patrolled several Harare suburbs as the army was summoned to help suppress swelling public anger against an ongoing government onslaught against informal traders and homeless people. As soldiers descended on suburbs such as Glen Norah, Glen View and Mbare, where police fought running battles with informal traders in the last week, sources told Zim Online that the police - who have led the evictions - were under orders to use live ammunition against civilians attempting to resist. It could not be established whether the army was also under instruction to shoot at civilians with live ammunition. According to the sources, Harare police commander Edmore Veterai, on Thursday told about 2 000 police officers at Morris police depot in the city that they should not fear shooting with live ammunition at people resisting eviction because the campaign against informal traders had the blessings of President Robert Mugabe. Veterai, who was addressing the policemen before dispatching them on the so-called "clean-up" campaign, is said to have told the officers: "Why are you letting the people toss you around when you are the police? From tomorrow, I need reports on my desk saying that we have shot people. The President (Mugabe) has given his full support for this operation so there is nothing to fear. You should treat this operation as a war. Those people fighting back need to be taught bitter lessons because that is the only way to avoid further confrontation."
Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, who oversees urban councils, said security forces were out to restore order and would crush any attempted hooliganism or resistance by residents. He said: "We are simply restoring order. Yes we expected some resistance but the security forces are on hand to crush any hooliganism. It is these people who have been making the country ungovernable by their criminal activities actually." But police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka denied that the army had been called in to help clamp down on rising public anger in the suburbs. "That (army involvement) is an absolute lie. The army only comes when the situation gets out of hand. As things stand there is absolutely nothing which warrants us to call in the army. We are moving on with the exercise until the city is clean," Mandipaka said before switching off his phone. It was not possible to ascertain from Mandipaka whether the police were under orders to use live ammunition. However, a Zim Online news crew that toured Glen Norah saw armoured cars carrying heavily armed soldiers patrolling the suburb, where hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods were destroyed when the police set fire to informal household furniture-making shops in the area. In Glen View suburb, adjacent to Glen Norah, residents said the soldiers did not harass anyone but claimed that the armed troops had threatened them with unspecified action if goods looted from shops during riots there earlier this week were not returned. "The soldiers were not beating up people as they used to do in the past, but their presence was intimidating enough…they also said they will be coming back to deal with us if goods which were stolen from OK supermarket were not returned," said one resident, who did not want to be named.
Meanwhile, the police yesterday widened the crackdown against informal traders and homeless people to include squatter settlements on Harare’s borders. Police razed to the ground hundreds of homes at White Cliff Farm, about 20 km west of Harare, where pro-ruling Zanu PF party veterans of Zimbabwe’s 1970’s independence war illegally settled at the height of farm invasions. About 10 000 residents including war veterans and their families watched in shock offering no resistance to the police who were armed to the teeth. The police also dismantled dwellings in Hatcliff extension when more than 20 000 families lived after being placed there by the government in the 90s. At the old Epworth squatter camp established years before independence in 1980, police fought running battles with mostly youths from the area trying to stop the police from demolishing homes there. At least six people were seriously injured in the clashes that were still ongoing by late last night. More than 18 000 people have been arrested so far in the clean-up operation which is also being carried out in other cities across the country.
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From The Associated Press, 27 May
Zimbabwe police destroying illegal settlements
Harare - Police set fire to some shacks and destroyed others with bulldozers or sledge hammers in squatter camps around the country, leaving thousands of poor people homeless Friday in what the government calls a campaign to clean up cities. Residents of some townships rioted Thursday night when police moved in after dark and began burning their homes. All the demolished shacks were in areas that voted for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party in March 31 parliamentary elections. President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party claimed a disputed victory in the vote. State radio said Friday that Mr. Mugabe, in his first comment on the crackdown on urban poor and street vendors, told the governing party's central committee that "genuine players in the small and medium enterprise sector would be resettled in new and clean sites that befit major cities." Women of Zimbabwe Arise called Friday for a day of peaceful protest against the demolition campaign on June 18. The group also urged Zimbabwean exiles to picket Zimbabwean embassies abroad. "Widowed mothers, grandmothers and youth have been affected by this mindless clampdown," said group spokeswoman Jenni Williams. By calling for the protest, she risks being charged under new security laws that make it an offence to attempt to "coerce" the government. Conviction under terms of the law can mean 20 years in prison.
Besides demolishing or burning shacks in townships surrounding Harare, police also raided informal settlements around the country. State radio said police set fire to the oldest squatter settlement in the southern city of Masvingo. Trudi Stevenson, an opposition legislator for northern Harare, said 500 to 700 houses in the Hatcliffe township in her district had been razed. "The place looks like a bombed site. It was a major military operation," she said. Hatcliffe resident Emmanuel Chiroto said homeowners there had been allocated plots by Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo in 2002 and had lease agreements. The World Bank and USAID provided water and other services. The demolition raids were launched Thursday night although the government said earlier that it would not begin the destruction of informal settlements until July. The government has not explained why it began the demolitions immediately. "We really do not know where they (police) are striking next," Lovemore Muchingedzi, an opposition Movement for Democratic Change party worker, said Friday in Glen Norah, a township on the southern edge of Harare where witnesses said riots broke out overnight as police arrested street vendors and burned their kiosks. "Police went around beating up anyone they came across. They made sure there was no electricity in the area and under cover of darkness they were beating everyone up," said Mr. Muchingedzi, who said the area had quieted by daybreak.
Elsewhere, police used gasoline and torches to destroy shacks, and state radio said desperately poor residents hurriedly tore down their own shacks, taking away building materials they had bought with their life savings. Mr. Stevenson said people from the Hatcliffe squatter called her when three truckloads of armed police arrived late Thursday night. "They told me they were burning everything but I better not come as I might get shot in the darkness," she said. Police are under orders to destroy "illegal dwellings" and vendors' shacks as part of a campaign to clean up the city. About half of the city's urban poor live in the shacks. About 10,000 street vendors have been arrested since the crackdown began eight days ago. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai alleges the blitz, called Operation Marambatsvina - "drive out trash" - is aimed at provoking unrest, forcing urban opposition voters to return to the countryside and justifying a declaration of a state of emergency. A state of emergency would give the government of Mr. Mugabe, 81, unlimited powers of search, seizure, detention and censorship as the country goes into a food crisis with up to four million people needing food aid. James Morris, head of the World Food Program and representative of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is due in the country next week to discuss the relief effort with Mr. Mugabe, who has been in power since independence in 1980. Before the parliamentary elections, Mr. Mugabe refused assistance, saying the country had had a "bumper harvest." His Zanu PF party was alleged to have controlled food deliveries to influence the vote. State radio said the roundup of street traders and demolition of "informal housing" was discussed at a meeting Thursday of Mr. Mugabe's 40-member policy-making body, the Politburo.
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From The IBA, 23 May
Out for the Count: Democracy in Zimbabwe
Hunched forward and leaning heavily on a walking stick, the old woman shuffles to a seat with the help of Archbishop Pius Ncube. She lowers herself on to a chair and begins to speak, ignoring the microphone lying on the table infront of her. ‘Yes, there is much hunger here,’ she says in Ndebele. ‘There is also much conflict between the open palm and the clenched fist. Us we joined the open palm. But now the fist people say, if we don’t join them, we’ll get no food.’ The scene is from a video produced by the Solidarity Peace Trust, a group of church leaders committed to human rights and democracy in southern Africa and chaired by Ncube, Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, and Rubin Phillip, Anglican Bishop of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The video and a report of the same name, Out for the Count: Democracy in Zimbabwe, which documents fact-finding and observer missions of two groups of religious and civil society leaders to Zimbabwe for its parliamentary elections in March, were launched in Johannesburg on 18 May, two days before Ncube was named the winner of this year’s Robert Burns Humanitarian Award, Scotland’s version of the Nobel Peace Prize.
While the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Zimbabwean government before, during and following the elections have been widely reported, the video provides a compelling degree of authenticity: the voices and faces of people directly affected by political intimidation, hunger and oppression. It is one thing to read about human rights violations, it is another to see and hear victims recount their personal experiences in their own words. What makes these accounts particularly effective is how they are juxtaposed with on-camera comments from government officials. This juxtapositioning of the two sides is often startling. In one scene, for instance, the Zimbabwean Minister of Finance dismisses questions from a South African journalist about the politicisation of food distribution and the severe food shortages in Zimbabwe as ‘sheer propaganda’. In subsequent shots, several ordinary Zimbabweans recount how they are denied maize meal from the government-alligned Grain Marketing Board in rural areas, the sole source of the staple food because of supposed allegiance to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the ‘open palm’ of the old woman’s testimony.
Several people went on camera to describe how they were told they would not get food unless they attended rallies of the ruling Zanu PF before the elections or were denied maize meal after the elections, accused of having voted for the MDC. Several interviewees echoed what one man said: ‘When the food comes what they say is: "You cannot get any food unless and until you join the Zanu PF. We are going to sort you. "’ The report complements the video with accounts from members of the South African ecumenical monitors as well as the fact-finding missions. They each described wide-spread hunger and fear of political intimidation and harassment. Reverend Gugu E. Shelembe describes her conversation with a woman community leader. ‘She told me, "Life in Zimbabwe is hell. " (...) She said, "There is no violence, but a lot of fear is already in us. " She went on to relate how traditional leaders are being bribed [with] cars and money to make sure that people in their clans vote for Zanu PF.’ Reports such as these make a mockery of statements made on television, and included in the video, by leaders of the South African and Southern African Development Community observer missions that the elections were free and fair, and by Zimbabwean ministers and President Mugabe himself that allegations of food shortages are mere propaganda. Ironically, on the day of the release of Out for the Count, the media reported that Mugabe had tentatively agreed to accept food aid as long as no political conditions are attached to it.
One of the members of the ecumenical observer team, Virginia Zwane, fell victim to harassment by Zanu PF youth members while on a bus to Harare from Marondera during the elections. The youth militia boarded the bus and forced passengers to chant Zanu PF slogans. As a South African, Ms Zwane does not speak Shona and told militia members so when asked why she wasn’t chanting the slogans. She was sexually harassed and pushed by members of the youth militia who searched her purse for South African Rands and stole one of her rings. Despite her cries for help, the passengers were too terrified to assist her. The Solidarity Peace Trust makes a number of recommendations in its report, including: a repeal of the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Public Order and Security Act and a shelving of the proposed NGO Bill; an overhaul of the system of registration of voters and a transparent redrawing of constituency boundaries; the prosecution of people who have threatened voters or who threatened to withhold food. The Trust also calls on the Electoral Court to ‘hear and rule timeously’ on the MDC’s challenge of election results in 13 constituencies.
In 30 constituencies discrepancies were found between the number of votes announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the final tallies. In one almost comical scene in the video, the broadcast of election results on Zimbabwe’s state television was included. Just to give one example: a ZEC official announces the results for Manyame constituency. The figure for total votes cast 14,812 is flashed on the screen. Above it, the votes won by the Zanu PF-PF candidate: 15,448. And finally the votes won by the MDC candidate: 8312. The votes won by the two candidates combined exceeds the official number of votes cast by almost 9000 ballots. It is obvious that the votes do not tally up and yet the ZEC has to date not explained these anomalies. The media has continuously reported on the distribution of food along party lines, on the high levels of fear, as well as on the repressive laws which have strangled the independent media and made it impossible for the opposition to stage even peaceful demonstrations. And yet, to read the accounts of the members of the fact-finding team and, in particular, to see the interviews with ordinary people is to understand how deeply rooted the fear of the security forces is in the average Zimbabwean and how entrenched the politicisation of food distribution has become. Testimonies, such as this one from Selina Siwela in the video, make turning away from the dire situation in Zimbabwe impossible. ‘They told me I will never be allowed to buy food from the headman’s scheme because I can’t get it into my head and I support the MDC. (...) They say I’ll never buy food for the rest of my life. But why can’t I buy food? How will I feed the children? Now my name is on the top of the list. Selina Siwela no more food.’
From ZWNEWS: If you would like to read Out for the Count - the report referred to above - please let us know. It will be sent as a Word attachment, approximately ten times the size of the average daily ZWNEWS.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 27 May
Top Zim official sentenced in election fraud case
Harare - A Zimbabwe court on Friday sentenced the country's registrar general to a two-month suspended jail term for defying a series of court orders to surrender ballot boxes used in disputed presidential elections held two years ago. Tobaiwa Mudede was sentenced to two months in jail by Justice Yunus Omerjee, and fined Z$5-million (R3 690) for failing to obey court orders issued over the past two years. However, the judge suspended the prison sentence for 10 days "on condition that [Mudede] complies with the order of this honourable court". Mudede appeared on Friday to have capit ulated to the court demands, with government lorries seen outside the High Court offloading ballot boxes from the 2002 polls. They are being stored at a room at the court. Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is challenging President Robert Mugabe's victory in presidential elections held in March 2002, which Tsvangirai lost by about 400 000 votes. The opposition leader claims the vote was rigged, and his lawyers have been battling to have the ballot boxes and packets containing the papers delivered to the court so they can investigate them. Mudede, whom the MDC accuses of being a Mugabe loyalist responsible for rigging three consecutive elections, denies he was deliberately defying the court orders and said his office did not have the resources to comply.
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From The Sunday Indpendent (SA), 29 May
Zimbabwe army sent to quell urban uprising
By Basildon Peta
President Robert Mugabe's government deployed the Zimbabwe National Army this week to help police repel attacks from urban residents angered by its aggressive campaign to flatten shacks and evict hawkers from the cities. Critics see this campaign as a manoeuvre to win back the cities from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, just as Mugabe's violent invasion of the farms in 2000 ensured his ruling Zanu-PF party's control of the countryside. Riots have broken out mainly in high density areas of Harare since Thursday after more than 3 000 paramilitary police used bulldozers and sledgehammers to destroy informal settlements - leaving tens of thousands homeless - and arrested nearly 20 000 hawkers. They destroyed makeshift backyard shacks built and erected by homeowners to rent out to desperate home-seekers and raise cash for survival in a collapsing economy. This followed the destruction of flea-market stalls owned by hawkers, many of whom have been retrenched from their jobs and are battling to make a living. Mugabe on Friday justified the current campaign by saying it was intended to clean up cities and destroy informal settlements that had become "havens for crime". His government accuses the hawkers of running the black market in foreign currency and other commodities in short supply.
Wellington Chibebe, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions secretary-general, Lovemore Madhuku, the National Constitutional Assembly chairperson, and Tafadzwa Mugabe of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights maintained that the government was retaliating against the cities for supporting the MDC in the March elections. They said he wanted to cow the urban electorate as he had their country cousins in the 2000 parliamentary elections when he unleashed thousands of thugs onto mainly white-owned farms. Mugabe lost all seats in the main urban areas in both elections. With executive mayoral elections looming later this year, critics say he is laying the foundations for his party to win these elections by force. As the urban clean-up intensified, angry residents began retaliations against the police. Police then called in the army. The number of casualties on both sides is unknown. Residents interviewed telephonically from Harare's townships of Glen View and Budiriro, key opposition strongholds, said army armoured vehicles had been deployed in the townships late on Friday night and uniformed soldiers were ordering people not to confront the police. "It's like we are in another Kosovo or in the Palestinian territories," said Amos Runda, a Glen View businessman. "I lived through Ian Smith's brutality but I must say it never reached these proportions in our black townships."
Residents of Budiriro said soldiers were not directly attacking people but providing cover for police while they set fire to backyard shacks and pulled down shacks housing home industries. A senior Zimbabwe government source said a decision had been made to deploy the army during the night to help the overstretched police. Tafadzwa Mugabe said the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights was filing court petitions on behalf of residents to stop the campaign. The campaign has been most intense in Harare, Masvingo and Gweru. It was due to be extended to all cities over the weekend. The leadership of the MDC and civic groups have drawn criticism for ignoring calls to exploit the groundswell of anger and lead a mass uprising against the Zimbabwe government.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 29 May
Harare calm after food price increases
Michael Hartnack
Harare - Major increases in the price of the staple diet of bread and maize meal went into effect on Saturday in Harare, but the Zimbabwean capital was reported quiet after a weeklong blitz on street traders and shack dwellers that saw ten of thousands arrested or left homeless in the midwinter cold. State radio announced that the price of maize meal would increase, effective immediately, to Z$19 000 for a 10kg bag, while the price of a standard loaf of bread would increase by 29% to Z$4 500. Similar price rises in 1998 triggered riots in which at least seven people died after President Robert Mugabe deployed troops backed by tanks and helicopters to townships. Saturday's price hikes were accepted with apparent resignation in Harare, where residents had fought running battles with police last week as paramilitary squads torched and bulldozed roadside kiosks, known as tuck shops, and hundreds of homes. "Things are really calm now," said Lovemore Machingedzi, an official of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the capital's southern suburbs, which bore the brunt of the unrest of the past few days. Machingedzi warned, however, of an explosive mood among former guerrillas, powerful supporters of Mugabe's government over the past five years who face the demolition of settlements they established after seizing white-owned farms with official encouragement. "My understanding is that the situation where they are is very, very tense because they thought they could do what they want," he said.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai accused Mugabe of launching what was described as a nationwide "clean-up campaign" to punish the urban poor for voting against his ruling Zanu PF in March 31 parliamentary elections, and to deter protests as economic catastrophe looms. At a meeting of his ruling-party central committee on Friday, Mugabe publicly backed the crackdown on street traders and shack dwellers, officially code named "Operation Murambatsvina" or "Operation Drive Out Trash". "Our towns and cities, including the capital, had become havens for illicit and criminal practices which just could not be allowed to go on," he said. His government has blamed speculators, black-market dealers and alleged Western economic sanctions for the current crisis. He promised compensation for those who had "wrongly suffered damage". Many arrested traders had vending licences, while those left homeless had official lease agreements for sites developed with World Bank and United States aid. One such project was in Harare's northern Hatcliffe area, where opposition legislator Trudi Stevenson said on Saturday that 500 evicted families have been left shivering in winter frosts. "We need plastic for shelter and some food packs," she said in an appeal. Zimbabwean relief organisations said the task is "nationwide, too big for them", while the International Committee of the Red Cross "reports they only deal with war situations", she said.
Mugabe appeared at the party meeting despite recent reports in independent newspapers saying the 81-year-old leader is in ill health, including a serious heart condition. After predicting a "bumper" 2,5-million-tonne maize harvest and scorning aid offers, Mugabe now admits the country urgently needs more than 1,2-million tonnes to save four million Zimbabweans from famine. His fiercest critic, Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, has accused Mugabe of using access to food to intimidate rural voters, while the MDC alleges a plan to drive the urban poor back to the countryside, "where they can be more easily controlled". James Morris, head of the World Food Programme and personal emissary of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, is due in Harare on June 1 for talks on the humanitarian crisis with Mugabe.
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From News24 (SA), 28 May
Zim wants easier land grabs
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Friday that his party is considering amending the country's constitution to make it easier for the government to take over land owned by the country's former white farmers. He told a meeting of his ruling Zanu PF that the government's controversial five-year-old land reform lacked finality. nder the land reform, thousands of white-owned farms were seized for redistribution to new black farmers. "There are a few other areas of our constitution which we need to consider for amendment," Mugabe told senior party officials in comments broadcast on state television news. "These include that area that relates to land acquisition and land resettlement." "That process [of acquiring land and handing it over to new black farmers] should have finality," he said. It was not immediately clear what amendments the veteran leader had in mind, but in an apparent reference to the numerous court objections lodged by the former white landowners to the "compulsory acquisition" of their farms, Mugabe accused them of employing "delaying tactics". Earlier this year, state media reported that the courts have to clear more than 5 000 challenges to the government's land takeovers.
Despite the court objections, only a few hundred or so white commercial farmers are still on their farms. Since 2000, Mugabe's government has taken over 5 890 farms measuring 7.8 million hectares for redistribution to black farmers. Mugabe also expressed regret on Friday at some of the damage caused by a police operation to stamp out illegal activities in the country's towns and cities. In Harare, the operation, dubbed Restore Order, has mainly been aimed at street vendors and flea market operators whom the government accuses of lowering the image of the capital as well as dealing on the black market. Market stalls in Harare have been torched by the police and ramshackle settlements on the outskirts of the city have been flattened. "Whilst we regret any damage that was done to places that did not need to be damaged, we are full of praise for the action the police have taken," Mugabe said.
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From DPA, 27 May
Zimbabwe says nearly three million are in need of food aid
Harare - Zimbabwe's government has revised initial estimates of those in need of food aid upwards to nearly three million, but says the figure could be higher, a newspaper report said Friday. The state-controlled Herald quoted Sydney Mhishi, a director in the ministry of social welfare, as saying 2.8 million people had been identified as needing food aid this year. The government has set aside 100 billion Zimbabwe dollars (11 million U.S. dollars) to buy food, Mhishi said. "The number of people needing assistance is expected to rise from last year's figures due to the fact that this year has been another abnormal one in terms of rainfall," he said. Mhishi said that the government did not have "actual statistics" for people requiring food aid as teams were still gathering the information. The Herald reported him as saying demand was increasing by the day. Aid agencies say at least five million out of Zimbabwe's 11.6 million people will require food aid this year. James Morris, the head of the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) is due in Zimbabwe next week to assess the country's food aid requirements. President Robert Mugabe's government, keen to stem criticism of its controversial land reform programme that aid agencies say is partly to blame for recurrent food shortages in the country, previously said just 1.5 million people needed food aid this year. The government blames food shortages on crop failures caused by erratic rainfall.
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From The Sunday Independent (SA), 29 May
Justice does flip-flop in jailed MP's appeal
By Basildon Peta
There was drama in Zimbabwe's supreme court this week when the country's most persecuted opposition parliamentarian, Roy Bennett, almost won his freedom in court only to lose it two hours later when state lawyers did a lunchbreak flip-flop. Bennett's tantalising brush with freedom came on Thursday morning when top South African advocate Jeremy Gauntlett forcefully argued before a five-member supreme court bench, sitting as a constitutional court, that parliament had wholly abused its powers by jailing Bennett for 12 months with hard labour last year for shoving Patrick Chinamasa, the justice minister, in the assembly during a heated debate. Bennett lost his temper when Chinamasa accused his ancestors of being "thieves" and "murderers". The sentence was not only disproportionate, it was determined by a partisan parliamentary committee dominated by members of the ruling Zanu PF who could not have afforded Bennett a fair hearing, Gauntlett argued. Despite being the complainant in the matter, Zanu PF had assumed the roles of "charging, investigating, convicting and sentencing" Bennett. This was not only against the rules of natural justice but "transcended the realms of the absurd", Gauntlett said, adding that the punishment was inhumane and degrading. Gauntlett argued that the court should agree that Bennett's sentence had been excessive and, as he had already been in prison since October, he should be released. The other issues could be determined later. Bennett's stay in prison then almost came to an end when state lawyer Rumbidzai Gatsi, from the attorney-general's office, agreed with Gauntlett that Bennett's sentence had been excessive. Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku then adjourned the court for a lunchbreak.
After lunch Gatsi did her flip-flop. "I have been instructed to withdraw my earlier concession," she said. "I would like to submit that the sentence that was passed was appropriate. The assault was on a government minister who was also the head of his party in parliament." Chidyausiku quizzed Gatsi about who had asked her to change her mind and she said it was the director of the civil division in the attorney-general's office, Loyce Matanda-Moyo. Gauntlett objected, saying that the concession had been made "by a trained [legal] mind who is the legal officer of the state and should therefore be upheld". But Chidyausiku accepted the withdrawal, so Bennett must remain in jail while the merits of the case are heard. The flip-flop was a hard blow to Bennett's family and friends, who are growing increasingly anxious about his health. He is a shadow of his former stocky self; bearded, dishevelled and half his former weight. His lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, said Bennett's inhumane treatment was getting worse now that he had been moved into Harare's Chikurubi Maximum Prison from a rural prison in Mutoko, 200km east of Harare. "They won't allow him access to a doctor to check his poor health. It's not good at all considering that conditions at Chikurubi are far worse than at any other jail in Zimbabwe," Mtetwa said in an interview. The court hearing has now been completed and so Bennett's lawyers and family are waiting to see whether Chidyausiku reaches his own verdict on the merits of the case before Bennett has served out his term. The sentence officially expires in October, although he could be released in July for good behaviour.
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From The Zimbabwe Standard, 29 May
CIO agent shoots self
By our own staff
A senior Central Intelligence Organisation officer who shot himself to death in Harare more than a fortnight ago might have been implicated in the on-going spy saga that has sucked in some prominent Zimbabweans including diplomats and ruling Zanu PF officials, The Standard has learnt. Investigations by this newspaper have revealed that Elisha Muyemeki, a senior CIO officer, who shot himself at his home in Mandara, Harare, two weeks ago, was being investigated over possible links with a South African spymaster being interrogated by Zimbabwean authorities. Muyemeki is believed to have shot himself with his service revolver, at his home, after he had been left alone on the premises. Zimbabwe was in December rocked by allegations that a senior South African spymaster had successfully recruited top government and Zanu PF officials to spy for Pretoria. Sources in local intelligence services last week said Muyemeki, who was under surveillance, was recently demoted from his post for making what they said was "an elementary mistake" of not informing his CIO seniors that he had been approached by the South Africans to spy for them. "He made an elementary mistake of not informing his seniors when he was approached by the spies and for that reason he had been going through a very tough time. I think he noticed that there were some possible leads that would lead to his incrimination," said one source. A family member last week confirmed that Muyemeki had shot himself but could not give any more details. "He just shot himself," said the family member, adding that she could not give out any further details.
The Minister of State Security Didymus Mutasa declined to comment on the incident, referring all questions to the police and Muyemeki's family. "Go and ask those questions to the police and they will tell you what happened. You can also go and ask the family members they are better positioned to comment," Mutasa said before switching off his mobile phone. Police spokesperson Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka said he was very busy and could not give a comment. "I am very busy today with the operation (Operation Restore Order) and it's very difficult for me to get information. Try next week," Mandipaka said. Long-serving Zimbabwe diplomat Godfrey Dzvairo was early this year sentenced to six years in jail, while Tendai Matambanadzo, a banker, and Itai Marchi, a Zanu-PF director, were each sentenced to five years, after they were convicted of breaching the Official Secrets Act. The sentence came after the CIO trapped a senior South African intelligence officer at Victoria Falls in December. The South African is suspected of running a spy ring in Zimbabwe that involved the likes of Dzvairo, Matambanadzo, Marchi and others. Sources said the spymaster might have implicated Muyemeki - a former journalist in then Ministry of Information, Posts and Telecommunications - after intense interrogation by Zimbabwean authorities. Dzvairo, Marchi and Matambanadzo had pleaded guilty to the charges at their first court appearance on 24 December, but later sought unsuccessfully to change their pleas on the grounds that their confessions had been extracted under duress. The trial of another suspect, Kenny Karidza, is still before the courts.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 26 May
Zim govt makes 'sinister move' against labour
Johannesburg - The Zimbabwean government is trying to quash the local trade union movement and send its own representatives to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conference in June, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said on Thursday. "The government is using a variety of ways to destabilise and paralyse the most important independent force in civil society," ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe said. Speaking to reporters in Johannesburg, Chibebe said Zimbabwe is putting pressure on two ZCTU members to attend next month's ILO conference in Geneva, Switzerland. "The minister of labour is trying to coerce the ZCTU second vice-president, Elias Mlotshwa, to attend the conference ... and Edmund Ruzivethe, third vice-president ... against the usual labour delegation, which normally consists of Lovemore Matombo and myself," Chibebe said. Matombo is the president of the ZCTU. Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi said Ruzivethe is a known government sympathiser. "This is a sinister move from the government, who want to get an opportunity for a public-relations platform at the conference without any major input from the labour delegation from Zimbabwe," Chibebe added.
He said he does not think the international labour movement will accept the Zimbabwe government's manoeuvring. "I'm quite certain the unions of the world will not allow it," he said, explaining ILO delegates have to be appointed by genuine, representative union structures. Chibebe said police raided the ZCTU offices in Harare on May 13, with a search warrant indicating they were looking for documents relating to foreign currency transactions and fraud allegations. "This is part and parcel of the orchestrated move to harass and intimidate the ZCTU, and a continuation of the ploy to remove the current ZCTU leadership on flimsy reasons ahead of the ILO meeting." he said. In April, a ZCTU general council meeting in Bulawayo was disrupted by people calling themselves "concerned affiliates of the ZCTU", Chibebe said. Chibebe said it appears these disruptions and other internal struggles within the ZCTU were state-sponsored. "The problematic child is the labour movement, which is where the MDC [the opposition Movement for Democratic Change] is known to have come from, so they [the government] have to deal a blow to the labour movement," he said.
Although the Zimbabwe government is trying various means to get a foot in the door at the ILO conference, Chibebe said it will not succeed. "The political darlings of the government ... can go to the conference ... as long as they don't speak on behalf of the workers, we are not worried." Should Matombo and Chibebe's passports be confiscated and the two locked up in jail, they will still attend the labour gathering. "We have other, alternative means of showing our faces at the conference. "There is a 90% chance we'll be [there] whether or not the government is successful in taking its excess baggage to the conference," he said, referring to the government's attempts to send its own representatives to Geneva. Previously, the Zimbabwe government has accused the ZCTU of being an agent of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government. "Chibebe has been a regular feature at the British Labour Party annual conferences and has used the platform to call for ... international isolation of the country and the illegal removal of the legitimate government," Minister of Justice Patrick Chinamasa said in a statement in March.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 30 May
Mugabe's war against the poor
Michael Hartnack
Harare - Zimbabwean church representatives on Sunday denounced the week-long crackdown against street traders and shack dwellers, while police continued arrests and demolition work. In the capital's crowded southern townships, residents were reportedly putting boulders across roads to hinder access. But no fresh incidents of stone throwing were reported after residents last week fought running battles with security forces, who pulled down slums and made thousands of people homeless in the midwinter cold. In a statement, the National Pastors Conference, representing over 100 Christian ministers, demanded President Robert Mugabe's government "engage in a war against poverty and not against the poor". They accused the authorities of "displaying lack of compassion in the face of human suffering and misery", with police squads singing "the destroyers have arrived" as they blitzed urban settlements that allegedly lacked planning permission. The Roman Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, the Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa and university lecturers joined the condemnation.
Opposition lawmaker Trudi Stevenson said police had moved into other sections of the Hatcliffe township in her northern Harare constituency, where 500 families have already been made homeless despite having lease agreements issued in 2002 by Housing Minister Ignatius Chombo. Residents are not resisting but are attempting to salvage building materials, furniture and belongings, fearing bulldozers would move in. "They [the police] go in with this massive force of 3 000, and if you are only 300 or 500 people or so, without weapons, and they are armed, you cannot resist," she said. "In the closer knit high density areas people are resisting, but police have now been deployed there." The National Pastors Conference accused the government of "randomly destroying sources of livelihood for the urban poor" who were encouraged to begin street trading by the economic liberalisation policy Mugabe adopted in 1991. "Are we now to believe that these people were misled by the same sitting government that has now mercilessly turned against them?" asked the pastors. Current 80% unemployment among Zimbabwe's 11,6-million people, shortages of all basic commodities and rampant hyper-inflation are dehumanising and compromising human dignity, they said. "We need informed policy action, not police action, in order to make life bearable for the poor."
The privately owned Sunday Standard reported that the southern Glen View township "resembled a graveyard" after weeklong battles between armed police and street traders, roadside kiosk and workshop owners, and shack dwellers whose homes and businesses were torched or bulldozed. The national council of the opposition Moverment for Democratic Change met at the weekend and "resolved to defend the rights of the people". A formal statement and announcement of court action is expected on Monday. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has accused Mugabe (81) of aiming to break the spirit of Zimbabweans ahead of imminent economic collapse, and drive the urban poor back into the rural areas where they can be controlled by denial of access to food. Over the weekend, the price of maize meal, the staple of Zimbabweans' diet, was increased by 51% and bread prices by 29%. Nationwide food riots in 1998 claimed seven lives after Mugabe deployed troops, backed by tanks and helicopters. The government mouthpiece, The Sunday Mail, defended the action. "The fact that the president has thrown his weight behind the clean-up must mean it is a well thought out programme," the newspaper said in an editorial. World Food Programme Director James Morris is scheduled to arrive this week for talks with Mugabe on the humanitarian crisis, but was warned there must be "no political conditionality". The country urgently needs to import 1,2-million metric tonnes of maize to avert the threat of famine to four million people.
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From Zim Online (SA), 30 May
Residents plead for weapons to fight Mugabe
Mutare - Residents in Zimbabwe’s eastern Mutare city - driven to desperation after their informal businesses were destroyed by the government pleaded for weapons at the weekend to wage war against the government because they were just "fed up." Several hundreds of residents, who attended a meeting held at Sakubva Beit Hall in the working class suburb of Sakubva in the city, told local Member of Parliament, Innocent Gonese, to source guns for them to fight the government. Even the presence of the police at the meeting did not deter the irate residents with several standing up to openly declare they would rather die trying to "remove President Robert Mugabe from power" because they had nothing to live for after their only source of livelihood was destroyed in the ongoing controversial campaign by the government to clean up cities. "We want you to provide us with guns because we are fed up," a middle aged man rose from the crowd to declare boldly. With the angry crowd urging him on, the man continued: "This government has no respect for the people. Our houses have been destroyed, our businesses have also gone. We have nothing to live for. We are prepared to die removing Mugabe. We don’ t want to hear all this talk of going to court (to sue for compensation from the state)."
Gonese, a lawyer and a senior member of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, had trouble trying to calm down the residents who wanted him to say whether his party was prepared to lead an armed resistance against the government. "Going to the bush (to wage a guerrilla war against Mugabe) is not the solution," the legislator tried to explain. "Of course we have a wicked government but we should seek legal recourse. That is the best solution," he said. More than 18 000 people have been arrested and goods worth several hundreds of millions of dollars destroyed in a crackdown against informal traders and homeless people that began in Harare two weeks ago and has now been widened to include other cities and towns. The government says the campaign is meant to rid cities of filthy and crime particularly the illegal black market which it says was thriving among informal traders. But MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai accuses Mugabe of unleashing the police against residents in urban centres, all of them strongholds of the opposition, to punish voters there for backing the MDC in last March’s disputed general election. The opposition leader has also accused Mugabe of wanting to provoke spontaneous and violent reactions by residents so he could find a pretext to declare a State of Emergency and rule by decree.
With tension rising across the country especially in Harare where some residents fought running battles with the police, Mugabe last Friday openly declared he was behind the crackdown against informal traders and homeless people. As Mugabe spoke, armoured cars and heavily armed soldiers rolled into several suburbs in Harare last Friday to help suppress swelling anger against the clean-up operation. The vast majority of Zimbabweans survive on informal trading while most of those still holding on to formal jobs must also engage in informal trading to boost up inflation-eroded incomes. Zimbabwe’s inflation is pegged at 129.1 percent while unemployment is about 70 percent. In nearly every city, authorities say at least a quarter of residents stay in illegal woode |
