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Archived News
4th January 2005
Zim arrests controversial lawmaker
Final nail in Moyo coffin
EU to cut aid if Mugabe signs NGO law
Third charged for insulting Mugabe
Home Office tells 'foolhardy' asylum seekers: 'It's your own fault you've been persecuted'
Family pays dearly for supporting MDC
Mugabe takes Asian holiday
Mugabe allies charged in Zimbabwe spy case
Top Zanu PF official accused of espionage detained at military camp
Bennett's lawyer complains over inhuman treatment
Unfair trial of Roy Bennett, MP
The woeful state of Zimbabwe's banks
Government official forces church to cancel Christmas donation
Jonathan Moyo to resign as Mugabe's propaganda chief
Moyo resigns
Soldiers invade Mahofa farm
MDC: No decision on poll
Zimbabwe's fight for a free voice
Moyo has not resigned
Herald, Chronicle censured over Moyo story
Uncertainty over Moyo's fate
Government militias deny opposition supporters food
Spy probe set to net more chefs
Zim ruling party shuns big names
Government accuses EU of seeking to oust it from power
Kunonga picks up more problems
Man gets suspended sentence for bad-mouthing Mugabe
Tension grips banking sector - ... ZABG fails to take off
Executives at collapsed bank blatantly lied
A few sparks amid the gloom
Bvute is Zimbabwe Cricket's new managing director
Zanu PF spy suspects want to alter guilty plea
More trouble for Mugabe's embattled propaganda chief
Mudenge kicked out of farm
Zanu PF chairmen get 5-year ban each
A gloomy election countdown begins
VP Mujuru dismisses rumour on trousers
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From AFP, 28 December
Zim arrests controversial lawmaker
Zimbabwean police have arrested a controversial Zanu-PF lawmaker for allegedly fomenting political violence, a police spokesperson said on Tuesday. Kindness Paradza was detained over clashes that broke out between his supporters and those of Mugabe's nephew who is vying for Paradza's seat in parliamentary elections due in March. "He was arrested on Sunday and is due to appear in court today on charges of public violence," police spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka told AFP. Paradza, a former journalist and newspaper owner, was nearly expelled from the governing Zanu PF party earlier this year after he was accused of seeking funds for his weekly, the Tribune, from Britain. Paradza denied the allegation, saying he had gone to Britain earlier this year to examine the possibility of marketing the Tribune there. The state-run Herald on Tuesday said police picked up the parliamentarian "following a spate of intra-party politial violence in (northern) Makonde district". "The skirmishes involved youths backing Paradza and those aligned to Leo Mugabe, who are both vying to represent Zanu PF in Makonde in next year's general elections scheduled for March," said the Herald. Paradza is expected to appear in court in the northwestern town of Chinhoyi with two other supporters. His anti-establishment newspaper was shut down by the government in June this year for allegedly breaching a controversial media law. He allegedly failed to notify a media commission of changes in ownership of the paper which he took over early thus year.
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From The Daily Mirror, 29 December
Final nail in Moyo coffin
Daily Mirror reporter
Zanu PF has put the final nail in the coffin of Information Minister Jonathan Moyo's political career after it set new guidelines, which disqualify the rabid critic of the private media from contesting in the party's primary elections to select candidates for next year's parliamentary elections. Moyo does not feature in any of the party's structures from where candidates for the January 15 primary elections will be picked. According to new guidelines announced yesterday, only those in the central committee, national consultative assembly and provincial executives are eligible for elections.President Robert Mugabe has since said he would not appoint anyone into his Cabinet who has not been elected by the people. The junior minister 's political fortunes have been waning after his name was deleted by the presidium from the list of central committee nominees from Matabeleland North, before he was subsequently dropped from the Politburo at the December 1 to 5 party congress. His crime was the convening of the unsanctioned Tsholotsho meeting that attempted to scuttle the ascendancy of Joyce Mujuru into the party's presidium, in favour of Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa has since distanced himself from the plot, which would also have seen the removal of party vice-president Joseph Msika and chairman John Nkomo in favour of former women's league boss Thenjiwe Lesabe and legal secretary Patrick Chinamasa, respectively. Lesabe has since been relegated to a committee member in the politburo, while Chinamasa tumbled from the party's highest decision-making body outside congress. Although Moyo had become popular in his "home" constituency of Tsholotsho, which he had literally developed overnight, upgrading roads and providing public lighting, the meeting he held there with six provincial leaders and other "mini-heavies" from around the country has left him in a delicate situation. The party has since suspended the six provincial chairmen and war veterans' leader, Jabulani Sibanda, which renders them ineligible to contest the primary polls.The six are: Masvingo chairman, Daniel Shumba, Manicaland's Mike Madiro, Midlands' July Moyo, Matabeleland North's Jacob Mudenda, Lloyd Siyoka of Matabeleland South and Themba Ncube of Bulawayo.
Eccentric war veterans' leader Joseph Chinotimba and former home affairs deputy minister Mabel Chinomona are also likely to be affected by the entry rules since they face disciplinary problems in their home provinces in the aftermath of the Tsholotsho meeting. Chinomona has a pending case before the party's national disciplinary committee, while the ruling party Harare provincial executive passed a vote of no-confidence in Chinotimba and former Harare mayor Tony Gara for their various roles in the unsanctioned meeting. A number of other Zanu PF young "Turks" are also likely to be sidelined as a result of the party's new guidelines, as the party rids itself of people perceived to be bent on destroying it from within. Zanu PF political commissar, Elliot Manyika yesterday said only provincial executive, national consultative and central committee members would be eligible to stand in the primaries, while outgoing parliamentarians who did not meet the set criteria and had no disciplinary cases against them are also in for possible re-election.
"Provincial executive members, national consultative members and central committee members are the only party members eligible to stand as party candidates in the 120 constituencies countrywide," Manyika said, adding that interested members should submit their CVs through their district coordinating committees by this coming Sunday. He added: "Outgoing Members of Parliament who do not meet the above criteria and have no disciplinary cases against them are eligible as well." However, the waiver does not count for Moyo, who was only in Parliament by virtue of having been appointed by President Mugabe as a non-constituency Member of Parliament. Manyika last night said the waiver only related to "elected" MPs. Makonde MP Kindness Paradza, also finds himself in a precarious position since he has a case pending before the party's national disciplinary committee for allegedly disrespecting party structures and the office of the President. While Zanu PF's secretary for information and publicity, Nathan Shamuyarira, has said Paradza has been cleared of the charges, the party's provincial chairman for Mashonaland West, Phillip Chiyangwa, before his disappearance, insisted Paradza was still on suspension.
Political observers said there was no love lost between the erstwhile friends - Paradza and Chiyangwa. Paradza was arrested on Monday for allegedly inciting violence in his constituency against Leo Mugabe's supporters, and was released on free bail yesterday. Mugabe is the provincial secretary for information and publicity for troubled Mashonaland West province. Manyika added that all provinces would be required to set aside a third of their constituencies for women, in line with the party's constitution as adopted during the party's congress early this month. Card-carrying members who could not hold positions in the party because of their employment in the civil service would only be allowed to contest the primaries after a waiver by the party's national elections directorate. This exemption is likely to favour outgoing Zimbabwe Tourism Authority chief executive officer Tichaona Jokonya, who is reportedly eyeing Chikomba constituency in Mashonaland East. Jokonya, a former ambassador to Ethiopia, is also Zimbabwe's former permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva and in New York. Prospective candidates will be vetted in their respective provinces before their names are submitted to the national elections directorate for further vetting. The party has also directed that the primary elections be held in one day throughout the country, possibly to minimize rigging.
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From Zim Online (SA), 29 December
EU to cut aid if Mugabe signs NGO law
Harare - The European Union will reduce all aid, including humanitarian assistance, to Zimbabwe if the southern African nation's draft non-governmental organisations (NGO) Bill was made in to effective law. The Bill, which prohibits NGOs from receiving foreign funding for human rights work and imposes several other severe restrictions on civic society, was passed by Parliament two weeks ago but must be signed by President Robert Mugabe to become effective law. In a statement the EU president said the new legislation will curtail its ability to give humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe which in the past it has given through NGOs. The statement read in part, "the NGO Bill is bound to circumscribe the work of NGOs in the field of governance and could have a significant negative impact on the forthcoming elections in Zimbabwe. (The EU) also regrets the impact that the Bill will have on other areas, notably social, health, and humanitarian programmes. If the bill is implemented immediately, the EU's ability to provide assistance to Zimbabwe will be significantly affected". Brussels has already withheld a EU7.5 million grant to Harare for HIV/AIDS programmes until NGOs through which the funds will be disbursed are registered under the tough new law. The EU stance appears to confirm earlier warnings by civic society experts that the government's new NGO law will scare away potential foreign donors besides forcing at least half of civic organisations in the country to close down. Mugabe and his government say the new law is necessary to rein in some NGOs they accuse of hiding behind humanitarian work while plotting to topple them from power.
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From AFP, 29 December
Third charged for insulting Mugabe
A 72-year-old businessman became the third Zimbabwean to be convicted in just under two months of allegedly denigrating veteran President Robert Mugabe, local media reported on Wednesday. In an attempt to explain to his workers why he failed to either host a Christmas party for them or pay annual bonuses, Jason Gambitzs blamed Mugabe for his financial woes. "President Mugabe has printed useless money, he is disrupting my business," he reportedly told them. "Your Mugabe is chasing away tourists who are supposed to bring in money, so where do you think I will get the cash from?" Gambitzs allegedly told the workers earlier this month, according to the state-run Herald and independent Daily Mirror. Zimbabwe has been beset for years by an economic and political crisis, which critics partly blame on Mugabe's controversial land redistribution policy in which white-owned farms were seized and handed over to landless blacks. Gambitzs who pleaded guilty to charges under the country's tough Public Order and Security Act (POSA), had also accused Mugabe of keeping a money printing machine. "Mugabe has his own money printing machine which he uses to print money, keeping it for himself," Gambitzs was quoted allegedly telling his workers. "You are being led by a person who is capitalising on everything, why can't we remove him from power," Gambitzs said. Prosecution said the utterances risked causing hatred, contempt or ridicule of Mugabe and his office. Gambitzs, who is yet to be sentenced, is the third Zimbabwean in less than two months to be charged with insulting Mugabe. Another Harare man spent Christmas in jail for calling Mugabe "thick-headed" after a magistrate ordered that he be kept in custody early this month. Last month a man was arrested for labelling Mugabe a "dictator who rules by the sword".
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From The Sunday Herald (UK), 26 December
Home Office tells 'foolhardy' asylum seekers: 'It's your own fault you've been persecuted'
By Jenifer Johnston and John Paul Breslin
British immigration officials told an asylum seeker from Zimbabwe that he had only himself to blame for threats against his life because he had been foolish enough to pro test against Robert Mugabe's regime. The Home Office last night admitted the officials had acted ''inappropriately'' and promised an investigation. The asylum seeker - who wishes to remain anonymous - received a letter written by a Home Office civil servant in September, explaining why he could not stay in the UK. The letter acknowledged that Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party "indiscriminately rape, torture and murder people perceived to oppose their beliefs .'' It added: "Zanu PF routinely commits atrocities with ease and without the threat of repercussions," but went on to blame the refugee for having to flee the country because he had been "foolhardy enough" to oppose the regime, which has been condemned by governments around the world. The letter also said: "Serious reservations are expressed in relation to the truthfulness of your account. Although their violent actions are not condoned, their motives are understandable in as much as you would have been seen to ridicule them [Zanu PF], which as the ruling party would not be acceptable." The Home Office has now promised to review the case, saying the letter was "certainly not representative of either the Home Office position or the quality standards expected." An official from the Foreign Office, which has been involved in intricate and delicate negotiations with Zimbabwe through the EU, told the Sunday Herald he found the letter "appalling." The refugee is understood to have fled Zimbabwe after supporting the MDC opposition party, and is seeking asylum in the UK as he fears for his life if he is repatriated.
The Home Office rejects 90% of initial applications, although almost one-fifth of those succeed on appeal. The letter came to light as part of a dossier of "bizarre" refusal letters, sent by the Home Office to asylum seekers, which was compiled by the Immigration Advisory Service (IAS), the UK's largest advocacy group for refugees. The IAS also highlighted the case of a Somalian woman who was refused asylum on the basis that she failed to disclose a traumatic gang rape and her resulting injuries when initially questioned. The Home Office refusal letter says it was "incredible" of the woman not to mention the rape, an assertion which goes against the Home Office's own internal guidance on how to deal with victims of sexual assault, which acknowledges that "feelings of guilt, shame, and family dishonour" make discussing rape difficult. Another letter, written to an Egyptian refugee on September 9, asserts that, since killing is against the Christian faith, he could not have been subjected to threats from his wife's Christian family, from whom he was fleeing after they threatened to kill him and his wife.
Chris Yeo of the IAS told the Sunday Herald: "We are appalled by the reasoning used to refuse asylum in these cases. "In recent months we have noticed a definite falling-off in the standards of refusal letters, with Home Office caseworkers using very odd reasoning to stop asylum claims, clearly in some cases working from out-of-date information," he said. Yeo claimed the Home Off ice has several serious problems in the way it handles complex cases. "The case workers are among the lowest-paid civil servants in Europe," he said, "and there is a desperate need for the Home Office to employ staff with specialised knowledge to handle these claims better." Sally Daghlian, director of the Scottish Refugee Council, said: "All agencies are very concerned about Home Office decision-making, and letters like this are sadly fairly typical. Where there is a risk of someone being returned to a country like Zimbabwe to face persecution, there must be a far higher duty of care." Tony Hughes, a solicitor with the Scottish IAS, told the Sunday Herald he was concerned with the quality of the Home Office responses. "As far as I am aware," he said, "these civil servants work from a template, cutting and pasting information, and [the letters] do not always seem to be written by someone familiar with the law. Workers without proper training are refusing applications while unaware of the issues in the country of origin."
Home Office officials use information from an internal body, the Country Information and Policy Unit (CIPU), to make decisions about asylum cases. In February Amnesty International severely criticised the CIPU for using out-of-date information in their reports, and the Home Office for "unreasonable, failing decision making." An Amnesty spokesman told the Sunday Herald: "Getting an asylum decision wrong is not like a clerical error on a tax bill or parking fine ... These are life-or-death decisions and the Home Office is getting one in five of them wrong." In addition, the Home Office has taken on independent advisers from the London office of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNCHR) because of concerns the UNCHR raised about the training given to civil servants dealing with asylum cases. A UNCHR spokeswoman told the Sunday Herald that the agency was clear that levels of violence in Zimbabwe are such that any repatriation of refugees should be suspended. A Home Office spokes woman told the Sunday Herald that, as well as reviewing the case of the Zimbabwean refugee, the department "encourages asylum stakeholders to draw our attention to any decisions which they consider to be of poor quality".
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From The Daily Mirror, 29 December
Family pays dearly for supporting MDC
Tinofa Karonga
A family in Uzumba-Maramba-Pfungwe (UMP) District in Mashonaland East paid dearly for allegedly supporting the opposition MDC, when it was banished from the area by Chief Tedius Matambanashe and war veterans a fortnight ago. Assistant Inspector Dickson Muza of UMP Police confirmed to The Daily Mirror yesterday that they had received a report that a family of eight, under the guardianship of Reginald Marongedza, was evicted from its homestead and banished from the area. Relatives had told Chief Matambanashe and war veterans that they were die-hard supporters of the MDC.Muza also said the family was alleged to have been in possession of MDC membership cards and party T-shirts. "The police received the report of the banishment and launched an investigation to establish whether it was true that the family was evicted on allegations of supporting the opposition party. The police failed to get ample evidence to show that they were members of the opposition, but we are still investigating the matter," Muza said. Last week, Marongedza (29) adamantly denied being a member or supporter of the MDC. He alleged that jealous relatives had sold him out in order for them to take over a piece of land that was left in his custody by his late parents. "I don't support the MDC. I don't even know their slogans, but I was labelled an MDC supporter. They have taken my land and my livestock are being kept at a friend's home. It is only jealousy because I occupy a very big piece of fertile land and own many beasts. The matter is being handled by the district council," Marongedza said. The chief executive officer of the UMP Rural District Council, Edward Manyani, said they would deal with the matter as soon as possible. "We received the report and together with the police we are going to settle the dispute. Every person has the right to belong to a party of his or her own choice, though Uzumba is a no-go area for the opposition," Manyani said. The chief could not be contacted for comment.
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From News24 (SA), 28 December
Mugabe takes Asian holiday
Harare - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has taken his family on a month-long annual holiday to Malaysia despite the loss of life caused by Sunday's disastrous tsunami wave, which devastated resorts there and along the coasts of many nations bordering the Indian Ocean. State radio reported on Tuesday the 80-year-old head of state and his delegation were seen off at Harare airport by vice-presidents Joseph Msika and Joyce Mujuru and members of his elite policy-making body, the Politburo. Mugabe, who formed a close friendship with former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamed, has vowed to develop economic, political and tourism ties with Asia to replace those lost with the West over his controversial human rights record. Fresh parliamentary elections are scheduled for Zimbabwe in March, from which western observers have been banned, and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change is considering a boycott. Meanwhile, food shortages are already reported in outlying rural areas, with stocks reported far below the "bumper" 2.4m tonne grain harvest Mugabe has repeatedly claimed. Plantings for the 2004-2005 season were said by a cabinet committee to be a mere 8.2 percent of the 4m-hectare target due to shortage of tractors and other vital inputs. Since Mugabe lost a crucial constitutional referendum in February 2000, he has seized 5 000 white-owned commercial farms, leading to a dramatic crash in production. Critics led by Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo accuse him of using food as a political weapon to secure election victory.
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From Reuters, 30 December
Mugabe allies charged in Zimbabwe spy case
Harare - Zimbabwean authorities have charged four men including senior figures from President Robert Mugabe's party with selling state secrets to foreign agents, the official Herald newspaper has reported. The report on Thursday ended an official silence on the arrest of flamboyant businessman Philip Chiyangwa, a senior member of Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party, which local private media first reported nearly two weeks ago. The Herald said Chiyangwa appeared in court on Wednesday charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act. Zimbabwe's new ambassador to neighbouring Mozambique Godfrey Dzvairo, Zanu PF external affairs director Itai Marchi and Tendai Matambanadzo, an official at a local commercial bank, also appeared on the same charges, it said. Wednesday's court proceedings were closed to media and the public. The men's lawyers were not immediately reachable for comment on Thursday, when the four were due back in court. Chiyangwa, a Zanu PF legislator and the party's chairman in Mashonaland West province, was arrested in January 2004 on charges that he had interfered with a fraud probe and threatened a policeman investigating the case. Chiyangwa was later cleared of the charges, which his lawyers said were linked to feuding within the ruling party over who should succeed Mugabe, expected to retire in 2008. The succession row has seen the suspension of seven top Zanu PF officials. They are accused by the party of convening a secret meeting to push for Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa's candidacy for the post of party vice-president, seen as a stepping stone to the top job. The party post subsequently went to liberation war veteran Joyce Mujuru, whom Mugabe went on to appoint for a similar job in government.
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From Zim Online (SA), 30 December
Top Zanu PF official accused of espionage detained at military camp
Harare - Ruling Zanu PF party provincial chairman and top businessman, Philip Chiyangwa, arrested by state secret agents two weeks ago allegedly for espionage is now being detained at a military camp just outside Harare. Intelligence sources told Zim Online that Chiyangwa was now being held at One Commando Regiment Barracks along Airport road after spending more than a week at the secret service Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)'s torture chambers at Goromonzi, less than 80 km east of Harare. The camp, which is the headquarters of Zimbabwe's elite One Commando brigade, is also the location of the military's torture chambers. Two independent journalists, Ray Choto and the late Mark Chavhunduka, were severely tortured there about six years ago after publishing a story claiming that some top commanders had been arrested for plotting a coup. The body of the late Congolese President Laurent Desire Kabila was also kept at the same camp for several weeks after his assassination three years ago, while Harare and Kinshasa claimed he was still alive.
"He (Chiyangwa) is now a guest of the military at One Commando barracks. From there we expect him to be brought to court between now and next week," said one source, speaking anonymously. According to the source Chiyangwa, accused over espionage together with a coterie of senior Zanu PF officials and other individuals linked to the party, may not have been the ring leader of a group that is alleged to have supplied intelligence information to British and Israeli spies. Zimbabwe's ambassador to Mozambique, Godfrey Dzvairo; Zanu PF deputy security officer Kenny Karidza, party external affairs director Itai Marchi and banking executive Tendai Matambanadzo are also being detained by the CIO over the same espionage charges. "From what has been deduced from interrogations so far indications are that although he might be the most prominent of the group but he was probably not the leader," the source said. The other four people accused with Chiyangwa appeared in court on Christmas eve but the Press and relatives of the accused were barred from the hearing.
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From The Daily Mirror, 30 December
Bennett's lawyer complains over inhuman treatment
Clemence Manyukwe
Jailed Chimanimani Member of Parliament (MP) Roy Bennett's lawyer has written to prison authorities voicing concern over alleged inhuman treatment her client is being subjected to at Mutoko Prison, where the legislator is serving a one-year sentence. Harare lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, of Kantor and Immerman law firm, complained that when she visited the prison, she opted not to see Bennett as the lawmaker was dressed in prison garb which exposed his body. "I was unable to visit Mr Bennett because. he has been issued with prison garb that exposes his buttocks and private parts. As a female lawyer you can understand my difficulty in visiting him both from a cultural and humanitarian perspective," read part of Mtetwa's letter, which is contained in a Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLFH) press statement calling for an urgent resolution of the legislator's matter. Bennett is serving time in prison after a Parliamentary Privileges Committee found him in contempt of Parliament for the May 18 incident in which he assaulted the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa, who is also the Leader of the House, during a debate on the Stock Theft Bill.
Zimbabwe Prisons Service spokesperson, Elizabeth Banda, could not comment on Mtetwa's letter yesterday, saying she was on leave. However, apart from Mtetwa's concerns, in its statement, the ZLHR complained over delays by the High Court to deliver judgment in Bennett's case that was heard as an urgent matter last month. "On the 1st of November an urgent application was heard by the High Court seeking the release of Hon Bennett pending the determination of the appeal and review as lodged with the High Court. Notwithstanding, the fact that the Speaker of Parliament issued another certificate purportedly ousting the jurisdiction of the court, the matter was heard on the 9th of November 2004, on an urgent basis. Judgment was reserved and to-date the judgment remains with no cogent reason for such a delay has been proffered," added the statement from the legal practitioners' body, which is led by Arnold Tsunga. Notwithstanding the court's throwing out the Parliamentary Speaker's second certificate, the court obliged with his first one on October 26 not to hear the case, arguing that it was also being heard in the House.
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From Amnesty International, 24 December
Unfair trial of Roy Bennett, MP
In December 2004 Amnesty International communicated to the government of Zimbabwe the organisation's serious concern about the proceedings which led to the conviction and sentence of Roy Bennett, Member of Parliament (MP) for Chimanimani, following an incident on 18 May 2004. Roy Bennett is alleged to have pushed the Minister for Justice, Parliamentary and Legal Affairs, the Hon. Patrick Chinamasa, to the floor during a heated exchange between the two of them in parliament. Minister Chinamasa is alleged to have verbally abused Roy Bennett who was then challenged by the Anti-Monopolies and Anti-Corruption Programme Minister, the Hon. Didymus Mutasa, who reportedly kicked him. Roy Bennett was expelled from the chamber.
Under Zimbabwe's Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act (as amended 1991), parliament is empowered to sit as a court and to award and execute punishments for specific offences which are listed under the Act. Assaulting a Member of Parliament within the precincts of parliament is one such offence. In the case of Roy Bennett, parliament tasked a five-person parliamentary committee, known as the 'Privileges Committee', to review the conduct of Roy Bennett and make a recommendation to parliament in terms of the powers vested in parliament under the Act. The committee was made up of two MPs from the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) - two MPs from the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and an unelected Chief appointed to parliament by President Mugabe. All members of the 'Privileges Committee' were present in parliament during the incident on 18 May. The Hon. Paul Mangwana, the member who proposed its establishment, chaired the committee.
Proceedings before the committee included an opportunity for Roy Bennett to account for his conduct and present evidence. The Hon. Minister Chinamasa and the Hon. Minister Mutasa were also called to give evidence to the committee, although the committee was not tasked with any investigation into their conduct on 18 May. Roy Bennett was permitted to have legal advice during the proceedings, although no cross-examination of witnesses was permitted. The committee recommended a sentence of 15 months' imprisonment with hard labour, with three months to be suspended, subject to good behaviour. On 28 October parliament voted to accept the committee's recommendation. In both the committee and parliament voting was split along party lines. Under the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act there is no provision or mechanism for appeal against sentences passed by parliament. Roy Bennett was taken into custody on 28 October, and is now detained at Mutoko prison.
Amnesty International has raised the following concerns about the procedures used to convict and sentence Roy Bennett:
The lack of independence and impartiality: Article 18 of the Zimbabwe Constitution, as well as Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to both of which Zimbabwe is party, guarantee everyone the right to a fair hearing by a competent and impartial tribunal established by law. The right to trial by an independent and impartial tribunal is so basic that the UN Human Rights Committee has stated that it "is an absolute right that may suffer no exception". See Gonzelez del Rio v. Peru (263/1987). Report of the Human Rights Committee to the General Assembly, vol. II, (A/48/40), 1993. The primary institutional guarantee of a fair trial is that decisions will not be made by political institutions but by competent, independent and impartial tribunals established by law. The independence of tribunals is rooted in the separation of powers in a democratic society. Different organs of the state have exclusive and specific responsibilities. In so far as the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act allows for parliament to act as a court, it is inconsistent and incompatible with the basic tenets of fair trial.
A body sitting as a court or tribunal must be impartial. The principle of impartiality, which applies to each individual case, demands that each of the decision-makers, whether they are professional or lay judges, be unbiased. Actual impartiality and the appearance of impartiality are both fundamental for maintaining respect for the administration of justice. An impartial tribunal requires that judges and jurors have no interest or stake in a particular case and do not have pre-formed opinions about it. In the procedures used to judge and sentence Roy Bennett, the five-person committee was weighted in favour of Zanu PF, comprising two members of Zanu PF and a Chief appointed to parliament by President Mugabe, and two members of Roy Bennett's party, the MDC. The committee recommended a sentence and this recommendation was then voted on in parliament where Zanu PF holds the majority of seats. The injured party, the Hon. Minister Chinamasa, was amongst those who voted in favour of the recommendation on sentencing. Amnesty International does not believe that either the parliamentary committee as constituted or the proceedings for the adoption of its recommendations were impartial, particularly in view of the deeply polarized nature of Zimbabwean society. The very fact of the aggrieved party voting in the punishment of the accused is contrary to the principles of disinterested administration of justice.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights found that the creation of a special tribunal consisting of one judge and four members of the armed forces, with exclusive power to decide, judge and sentence in cases of civil disturbance, violated Article 7(1)(d) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. The African Commission stated: "[r]egardless of the character of the individual members of such tribunals, its composition alone creates the appearance, if not the actual lack of impartiality". The Constitutional Rights Project (in respect of Zamani Lakwot and six others) v. Nigeria, (87/93), 8th Annual Activity Report of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, 1994-1995, ACHPR/RPT/8th/Rev.I at 14, para. 10.
Disproportionate nature of the punishment: International standards in respect of sentencing clearly prescribe that any punishment imposed upon conviction following a fair trial must be proportionate to the gravity of the crime and the circumstances of the offender. Report of the 8th UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders, UN Doc. A/Conf.144/28, rev.1 (91.IV.2), Res. 1(a), 5(c), 1990. Courts may not impose a heavier penalty than the one that applied when the crime was committed. Article 15 (1) ICCPR. In the case of Roy Bennett the procedures used did not conform to the standards for a fair trial. Furthermore legal experts in Zimbabwe have pointed out that the sentence for common assault (which is the offence with which Roy Bennett would most likely have been charged had the matter been brought before a criminal court) would attract a far less severe sentence. In many such cases only a fine is imposed. Even if a more serious assault charge were brought against Roy Bennett it would not have attracted such a severe penalty.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 30 December
The woeful state of Zimbabwe's banks
This year has been the annus horribilis for Zimbabwe's financial sector which has suffered its worst crisis that left thousands without access to their salaries and savings in banks forcibly closed by authorities. December 31 last year saw the arrest of two directors of an asset management company for a 61-billion Zimbabwean fraud, followed by the closure of their company by the central bank. The year 2004 saw the arrest of dozens of high-profile bankers and the flight into "exile" of several others facing various financial charges, including spiriting out desperately needed foreign exchange overseas. After the January closure of ENG asset management firm, more banks and financial institutions fell like a house of cards. By Christmas Day this year, the Reserve Bank had shut down seven banks, three of them listed on the stock exchange, and placed them under the control of independent regulators, but several others face an uncertain future. The collapsed banks had all been locally-owned, recently established as part of government efforts to fight the monopoly hitherto enjoyed by international banks.
The financial sector has been blamed for plunging the country into its worst economic crisis in living memory. The central bank has warned that it will step up efforts to "smoke out errant bankers". Central bank governor Gideon Gono said the house-cleaning exercise in the banking sector "has helped a great deal to avoid a system-wide collapse of our financial sector". In frantic efforts to mend the country's sickly economy and salvage the banking sector once touted as the country's success story, the central bank introduced a troubled bank fund to help with liquidity support while proposing mergers of ailing banks. But both the proposed mergers and the rescue package have failed to stop banks from falling into curatorship. The first 'successfully' merged group, CFX, became the latest casualty, closing days before Christmas, barely two months after the deal was concluded. The government now plans to bring the troubled banks together under the umbrella of the Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group, modeled on the lines of South Africa's Absa and to start operating in the New Year.
As the year draws to a close, speculation is rife on which banks will survive the purge and which of the less than half a dozen locally-owned banks still operating will go under. Zimbabwe's financial woes stretch back for several years when international lenders pulled out due to disagreements with President Robert Mugabe's government. The troubles worsened over the last three years with inflation trebling to 600% at the start of the year, poverty levels doubling and the economy contracting 30%, with unemployment up to a record 70%. Inflation has over the past 11 months fallen from 622% to 149% last month but remained one of the highest in the world.
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From Zim Online (SA), 30 December
Government official forces church to cancel Christmas donation
Matabeleland South - An insistence on observing political protocol saw orphans and poor villagers at Insiza here in Matabeleland South province lose out on a chance to get some food and clothes to brighten their Christmas. A ceremony to hand over the gifts sourced from well-wishers by the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe was cancelled at the last minute after the local ruling Zanu PF party Member of Parliament (MP), Andrew Langa, declared nothing be given to the needy villagers unless he was there. The church had planned to give out books, medicines, crop seeds and mealie-meal to the needy here two days before Christmas. It is now holding back the gifts until it can arrange a date convenient to Langa when he can be present to allow the handing over of the goods. Church social worker Sheba Dube, told ZimOnline, "we had to call off the event because at the last minute we got a message that the MP (Langa) said that nothing should be distributed unless he was there." She said the church had also planned to host a Christmas party for orphans in this impoverished district soon after handing over the gifts but that also was cancelled thanks to Langa. "We were planning to have a Christmas party for the orphans because some of them were not going to be able to have a party like everybody else," Dube said. Hundreds of villagers and orphans who had turned up for the Christmas party and to receive gifts had to return home hungry and empty handed, according to Dube. The cancelled gift ceremony is not the first setback for the church's philanthropic attempt in Insiza. Two months ago the church tried to hand over books and medicines to a local traditional chief. But the chief declined to receive the goods saying the church should have gone through the government district administrator. The church was only able to give out the goods after the administrator had given permission that it could do so. Langa, who is also government deputy Minister for Transport and Communications, could not be reached for comment.
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From Zim Online (SA), 31 December
Jonathan Moyo to resign as Mugabe's propaganda chief
Johannesburg - President Robert Mugabe's acerbic Information Minister and propaganda chief, Jonathan Moyo, has left the country and is expected to post his resignation letter from abroad, government sources told Zim Online last night. Moyo, among Mugabe's most powerful confidantes, until the two fell out three weeks ago when he tried to block plans by Mugabe to appoint Joyce Mujuru as ruling Zanu PF party and state second Vice-President left Zimbabwe for Kenya on Tuesday this week. He was said to have left Nairobi yesterday for the Middle East as rumour spread across Harare suggesting he had already submitted his letter of resignation to Mujuru, who is acting President while Mugabe is away on leave in Malaysia. But well-placed sources last night said Moyo was expected to follow former Industry Minister, Nkosana Moyo, who faxed his resignation letter from South Africa after disagreeing with colleagues in Cabinet over the direction of the economy. "It is true that he is out of the country and we expect him to do a Nkosana Moyo," said a senior member of Zanu PF's inner politburo cabinet, who did not want to be named. Moyo himself was unreachable while his permanent secretary at the Information Ministry and Mugabe spokesman, George Charamba, could also not be reached for comment on the matter.
Zanu PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira confirmed that Moyo was out of the country but dismissed as mere rumour suggestions that he had already left the government. "He is out of the country, but it is just rumour that he has resigned," said Shamuyarira. He would not be drawn further on the matter. According to sources Moyo wants to leave Zanu PF and government after his rivals in the party successfully pushed for new criteria for candidates wishing to represent the party in next year's election, which disqualifies Moyo from standing in his Tsholotsho home constituency. Under the new requirements prospective candidates must be members of Zanu PF's provincial and district leadership structures. Moyo, who was once one of Zanu PF's bitterest critics before he changed sides in 1999 to become its most overzealous defender, is not in the party structures. He also felt "very humiliated" after he was publicly rebuked by Mugabe and dismissed from Zanu PF's central committee and politburo for organising a meeting in Tsholotsho to plot scuttling Mujuru's nomination as party vice-president, sources said. A an undoubted defender of democracy and the free Press before his turnaround, Moyo will forever be remembered for crafting Zimbabwe's harshest ever media laws under which hundreds of journalists were jailed and three newspapers including the country's only independent and biggest circulating daily paper, the Daily News, shut down in the last two years.
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From The Financial Gazette, 31 December
Moyo resigns
Nelson Banya
The mercurial Minister of Information and Publicity, Jonathan Moyo, who has of late been balancing on a political knife-edge, has resigned from President Robert Mugabe's government. Impeccable sources told The Financial Gazette that Moyo, who was largely expected to be axed by President Mugabe, tendered his resignation to Acting President Joyce Mujuru on Tuesday, following a sharp twist in his political fortunes. Speculation was rife that the government spin doctor, whose political fortunes are on the wane, has been offered a job in Namibia in an unspecified capacity, although this could not be independently verified. However, the sources indicated that Mujuru had refused to accept the resignation, saying Moyo should wait for President Mugabe's return from his vacation in the Far East. "Moyo tendered his resignation on Tuesday to the Acting President, who declined it, saying she had not appointed him in the first place, so he should wait for the President's return," one source said.
The sources indicated that Moyo cited frustration with developments following the fateful Tsholotsho meeting of November 18 convened by him and attended by several ruling party leaders, where a plot was allegedly hatched to stymie Mujuru's nomination for the Zanu PF vice-presidency. Moyo, whose stock had risen significantly within Zanu PF and government circles mainly due to his vice-like grip on the state-controlled media, suffered a massive reversal of fortunes in the wake of the Tsholotshlo debacle. President Mugabe, miffed by an unprecedented act of defiance within the party he has led across three decades, blocked Moyo's central committee nomination and dropped him from the Zanu PF politburo. His aspirations for the Tsholotsho constituency seat, which he has actively pursued for two years, were dealt a body blow this week when Zanu PF announced new rules which will effectively bar newcomers in the party, such as Moyo, from contesting in primary elections scheduled for January 15.
Formerly an arch-critic of President Mugabe and his Zanu PF government, Moyo made a sensational about-turn in 1999 when he spearheaded the government's doomed constitutional reforms. He became the Zanu PF spokesman ahead of the watershed 2000 parliamentary election in which the ruling party faced stiff competition from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Moyo, an academic who has a penchant for witticism and ruthless wordplay against his perceived antagonists, was rewarded with a Cabinet post by Presdient Mugabe in 2000 and was retained in subsequent reshuffles. An erstwhile proponent of press freedom, Moyo waged a war of attrition against the independent media, masterminding the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and the Broadcasting Services Act, through which three newspapers and a broadcasting house were forced out of business. Several journalists have also been arrested under the draconian media laws that have drawn widespread condemnation.
Moyo was also at the forefront of many of the Zanu PF government's battles with the opposition, effectively using the public media in a relentless propaganda crusade meant to discredit the opposition. He also founded a series of partisan musical galas to commemorate various national days, while he sought to introduce a system of patronage in the music industry, principally through his much-maligned local content policy. The hyperactive Moyo - known to work long hours - was widely perceived to have emerged as President Mugabe's trusted strategist and confidante, until he miscalculated and, through the now infamous Tsholotsho Declaration, second-guessed Mugabe' s choice for the vice-presidency - Mujuru. As pressure mounted following the Tsholotsho meeting, Moyo - who earned a politburo reprimand for his troubles - sought, unsuccessfully, to redeem himself. "I have been a victim of that (misrepresentation) too many times and my heart bleeds because of that and the fact that the same has devastated my family, especially my two young children who are at a loss as to what is happening," Moyo wrote in a report he prepared for the politburo, as repercussions were being visited on perceived Tsholotsho conspirators.
In the report, Moyo also sought to shed personal liability for the closure of the country's biggest circulating independent daily, The Daily News. "Today The Daily News is off the streets as a result of violation of laws that we have collectively enacted yet the truth is that some comrades here have conveniently distanced themselves from those laws and now I am personally held liable for the demise of The Daily News." Moyo has had highly publicised run-ins with senior Zanu PF politicians, some of whom were ridiculed in columns in the government press, widely believed to be penned by the minister, himself a previous author of acidic anti-government columns in the independent press. Vice-President Joseph Msika, Zanu PF spokesperson Nathan Shamuyarira and national chairman John Nkomo all came out second-best after clashes with the information minister at the height of his power. Moyo 's resignation would earn him a place among the few personalities to resign from Presdient Mugabe's government. Former finance and industry ministers Simba Makoni and Nkosana Moyo, respectively, quit on ethical grounds after sharp differences with hawks in Presdient Mugabe's Cabinet, while Edmund Garwe and Enos Chikowore were hounded out of office by scandals.
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From The Daily Mirror, 31 December
Soldiers invade Mahofa farm
Clemence Manyukwe
Soldiers have camped on a farm in Gondwe, Gutu, belonging to the Deputy Minister of Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation, Shuvai Mahofa, on allegations that she acquired more than one farm in direct violation of the government's one-person-one-farm policy. The armed forces have since reportedly barred the Gutu South legislator from entering or carrying out any activities on the property. Yesterday, Mahofa, a member of the ruling party's central committee who was dropped from the Politburo amid speculation that she participated in the unsanctioned Tsholotsho meeting, confirmed to The Daily Mirror that the military had cordoned off her property. However, she denied the property being a farm, but simply a homestead. The legislator claimed she legally occupied the property in 1993, way before she acquired a farm last year. "The soldiers are not on a farm, it's a homestead. I got a lease for it in 1993 under the first phase of the government's resettlement scheme. I occupied it when I did not have a farm, but when I got one I was in the process of moving out. Before I had taken out all my things, I was surprised to see soldiers barring me from entering the property, saying I am a multiple farm owner," Mahofa said. She added: "Some people are saying I have five farms, but I only have one. I am only a woman, this is politics; it's a dirty game. We are now approaching election time."
Efforts to get comment from army spokesperson Ben Ncube proved fruitless on Wednesday and yesterday, but the person who answered the phone requested that questions be put in writing, which was done on Wednesday. But by the time of going to print yesterday, there was no reply from the army regarding the occupation of the property. The army's blockade of the property becomes the first such reported incident in Masvingo province. Similar action has been carried out in Mashonaland West against land grabbers where the police camped at a farms allegedly belonging to Local Government Minister Ignatious Chombo and former Mashonaland West governor Peter Chanetsa. In July, the media reported that President Robert Mugabe had taken it upon himself to deal with multiple farm owners and make them accountable for their actions, but cautiously, for fear of a fierce political backlash. Zanu PF national chairman John Nkomo was tasked to draw up a list of the offenders to return the swathes of land to the State. But the move fell on deaf ears, as senior party and government officials ignored the withdrawal letters from Nkomo's office. Nkomo had written withdrawal letters to Chombo, Agricultural and Rural Development Minister Joseph Made, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, to surrender excess land for redistribution to the landless people.
The repossession of extra land was prompted by an audit report by former Cabinet chief secretary, Charles Utete, which exposed shocking levels of gluttony by senior ruling party and government officials. Moyo, currently balancing on a political knife-edge for reportedly convening the Tsholotsho indaba with a view to allegedly topple President Mugabe's lieutenants in the ruling party's presidium, took Nkomo head-on in the public media, arguing about the meaning of multiple farm ownership. As Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Moyo took advantage of the public media he controlled to demonise Nkomo and officials in his ministry. President Mugabe was to summon the culprits, but sources say that was not done and instead once again empowered Nkomo to deal with the issue of the land grabbers decisively. When President Mugabe reiterated his sentiments to deal with the multiple farm owners, Nkomo's office was reportedly inundated with calls from a number of senior government and Zanu PF officials on how to get rid of the extra properties.
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From News24 (SA), 31 December
MDC: No decision on poll
Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition Movement For Democratic Change has denied press reports that it will take part in parliamentary elections set for March next year. MDC spokesperson Paul Themba-Nyathi told a Sapa correspondent: "Reports in the Financial Gazette that we have already decided to take part are false". He accused the paper of trying to pre-empt or encourage an outcome. "No decision has been made. So, eight of our provinces have submitted reports on the matter and we are still waiting for four more. The party's national executive will then meet mid-January and make a final decision." The MDC said in September it would boycott the March poll unless the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front party rescinded harsh press and public order laws and complied with Southern African Development Community "norms and procedures on elections". The opposition says there has been no indication that Zanu PF will meet its demands.
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From BBC News, 31 December
Zimbabwe's fight for a free voice
By Alistair Leithead
In a couple of months Zimbabwe will go to the polls in an atmosphere of fear and repression that has driven the simple spreading of information underground. The independent press has been silenced, people are fed a diet of state-controlled TV and radio, and the opposition party has no way of getting its message out. Even entering the country illegally as a BBC journalist could be punished by two years in prison. It is up to organisations like Sokwanele, which means "enough", to get out whatever information it can - and even just to tell people there is an alternative voice. "Our major objective is to make people aware of what is really happening," one of the group's leaders told me. "You know in Zimbabwe people are not being told the correct information - they are being fed with wrong information." After months of discussion and careful vetting, we were finally allowed to go along to one of their meetings. It was in a township outside Bulawayo and in the darkness we quickly darted inside the small house where a handful of Sokwanele, or Zvakwana, members were sitting.
On the agenda was news of other members being arrested - something that put the whole group on edge as they glanced across at the white man sitting in the corner of the room listening. If anyone saw me entering the house they could raise the alarm - such is the culture of fear, and of informants, that exists in Zimbabwe. A white man entering a township house could bring the police round and result in arrest and being held, perhaps for days, for questioning. In the meeting they talked about the colour of paint they use to daub anti-government slogans around Bulawayo, and the best way to distribute leaflets at night. They are not plotting a coup, or gun running, just handing out articles from newspapers and the internet to let people know what the alternative voice is saying. But as the leader of the group explained, the penalties are severe - they could be shot on the spot for handing out information you could find in any internet cafe. "We have had enough," he told me, "we have had enough." "You know this government is just trying to keep a grip on power for too long. The country is now ruined. We see that there is no-one in this country who is going to liberate it - we better do it ourselves. Even if it is high risk, there is nothing we can do."
The state TV and radio stations rely on propaganda - showing ample food supplies and happy people dancing on the land. But things are not as they seem. A year ago the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) was feeding 6.5 million people. Now it is down to just one million after the government cancelled this year's official food and crop assessment mid-way through. The harvest was sufficient, they said, and the WFP's aid was not needed. The Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, says this just is not true. "The food situation is very bad because the government of Zimbabwe told lies, refusing the WFP to feed the people and saying we have enough harvest this year," he said. "As a matter of fact they have only 700,000 metric tons and they claim to have 2.4 million metric tons of grain." Grain has been imported from South Africa, appearing to back up the claim of shortage. Archbishop Ncube puts the blame on politics. "All they are focused on right now is the elections in March next year and they want to win those at all costs, by hook and by crook, by starvation, by beating up people, through the youth militia - by every possible evil means," he said. "The government has a plan to starve people so as to arm-twist them to vote for it."
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has enjoyed a great deal of support but lost the last presidential election and failed to get a majority in parliament. In the next few weeks they will have to decide whether or not even to contest the elections. The Zimbabwean government signed up to African rules for free and fair elections. Transparent ballot boxes have been promised, along with a new electoral commission - but opposition MP Moses Mzila says it means nothing. "They have been threatening people that this time if you vote MDC we will be able to see through the ballot box who you are voting for - we'll know you voted MDC and we'll beat you up," he said. "The voters' roll is in a shambles. It has thousands and thousands of names of deceased persons and yet there are thousands or millions of people who are supposed to be on the voters' roll and are not on it." Even if the rules are changed, there is a feeling the MDC will struggle to win the support of the people. Archbishop Ncube explained his interpretation of the problem. "For one thing we just don't seem to have a leader of a calibre that can give people the courage to stand up for their rights even if it means being shot. We don't have a Mandela, we don't have a Gandhi." And at the Zanu-PF ruling party congress in December there seemed to be no sign of weakening. The party may have its divisions, but President Robert Mugabe is still firmly in charge. Elections or no elections, those who want change must wait for Mr Mugabe.
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From The Herald, 1 January
Moyo has not resigned
Herald Reporter
The Minister of Information and Publicity in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Professor Jonathan Moyo, has not resigned from Government contrary to claims in yesterday's Financial Gazette. In a statement yesterday, the Department of Information and Publicity said Acting President Joyce Mujuru had not received any resignation letter from Prof Moyo, who is on holiday. "The Department of Information and Publicity in the Office of the President and Cabinet wishes all concerned to know that contrary to reports carried in today's (yesterday's) issue of the Financial Gazette, the Acting President, Comrade Joyce Teurai Ropa Mujuru, has not received any resignation letter from Professor Jonathan Moyo, the Minister of State responsible for Information and Publicity. The Honourable Minister is away on holiday and is expected to resume his State duties by the second week of January," the Department said. The Financial Gazette reported that Prof Moyo had allegedly tendered his resignation letter to Acting President Cde Mujuru on Tuesday "following a sharp twist in his political fortunes". It further alleged that Cde Mujuru had refused to accept the resignation letter and allegedly told Prof Moyo to wait and hand over the letter to President Mugabe upon his return from vacation in the Far East. The weekly newspaper was quoting unnamed sources.
Prof Moyo has since instructed his lawyers Muzangaza, Mandaza and Tomana to institute legal action against the Financial Gazette over the false story. He has also lodged a complaint with the Media and Information Commission over the fictitious story. According to Section 89 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, a journalist is deemed to have abused his or her journalistic privilege and committed an offence if he or she falsifies or fabricates information, spreads rumours, falsehoods or causes alarm and despondency under the guise of authentic reports. Any person who contravenes this section is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding $100 000 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years. Sources told our Bulawayo correspondent that the story was a "desperate" attempt by Prof Moyo's detractors to confuse the nation and was a clear indication of the involvement of "imperialist forces" in a ploy meant to confuse the nation ahead of the watershed 2005 elections. "Actually, Prof Moyo has taken a well-deserved holiday with his family in Kenya," the sources said. They said it was misguided and unfortunate for the Financial Gazette to drag the good name of Acting President Mujuru into the dirty fight to bring down Prof Moyo.
The latest onslaught against Prof Moyo is the culmination of a concerted private media campaign to discredit the minister ahead of the 2005 general elections. Trouble for Prof Moyo started after a speech and prize-giving day ceremony at Dinyane Secondary School in Tsholotsho attended by several senior Government and Zanu PF officials. It is alleged that the meeting came up with a so-called "Tsholotsho Declaration", which sought to scupper the election of Cde Mujuru to the post of Vice-President at the Fourth Zanu PF N ational People's Congress. Six party provincial chairpersons were suspended for attending the meeting while other senior officials linked to the meeting have been censured. Prof Moyo was reprimanded by the Politburo for "convening" the meeting and his name was removed from a list of Central Committee members nominated by Tsholotsho district. He was replaced by Bulawayo Metropolitan Governor Cde Cain Mathema even though he had beaten him by 73 votes to 23 in elections conducted at the Tsholotsho Roman Catholic Church on November 18. Prof Moyo was also left out of the Politburo and his place taken by Mashonaland Central Governor Cde Ephraim Masawi, who assumed the position of Deputy Secretary for Information and Publicity. Sources said the nation needed to be vigilant and guard against divisive forces now out to confuse ruling party supporters barely three months from the elections, scheduled for March.
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From The Sunday Mail, 2 January
Herald, Chronicle censured over Moyo story
Sunday Mail Reporter
The Office of the President and Cabinet has said The Herald and The Chronicle newspapers went "overboard" in their respective lead stories yesterday in which they sought to correct a false story on the alleged resignation from the Government of the Minister of Information and Publicity in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Professor Jonathan Moyo. The newspapers, refuting an earlier story published by the Financial Gazette alleging that Prof Moyo had resigned from Government, quoted unnamed sources as saying the article was part of a continuing campaign by the minister's political detractors to "bring him down". This, the papers said, followed his censure by the Zanu PF Presidency and Politburo over a meeting he convened in Tsholotsho in November allegedly to plot party leadership changes. The Financial Gazette carried a false story in its Friday edition that Prof Moyo had resigned from Government earlier in the week over the fallout from the Tsholotsho meeting. In their stories, The Chronicle and The Herald recounted the minister's censure, including his removal from the ruling party's Central Committee and Politburo, in spite of his nomination by Tsholotsho district, and said attempts were under way to sow divisions in Zanu PF ahead of parliamentary elections due in March. They said imperialist forces might have joined the fray to sow division and cause confusion in the ruling party in the run-up to the election.
In a statement yesterday, the Permanent Secretary in the Department of Information and Publicity, who is also the Press Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Cde George Charamba, said the two papers' stories refuting the alleged resignation were disrespectful to the Presidency and the Zanu PF Politburo. Cde Charamba said: "Today's (yesterday's) lead story run in both The Herald and The Chronicle, seeking to correct an earlier story published by the Financial Gazette falsely alleging resignation from Government of Minister Moyo, is untoward and disrespectful of the Presidency and the Politburo of the ruling Zanu PF party. As has already been indicated in a Government statement, released yesterday (Friday), the Honourable Minister remains in Government employ and has not resigned. Outside Government, he was, alongside other officials, reprimanded and sanctioned by his party for some offences the same party made public and were covered extensively by the national media, including The Herald and The Chronicle. To date, the minister himself has not registered any public rejection of the disciplinary action meted out against him by his party, and on the basis of which sentiments expressed in the article might have been justified," said Cde Charamba.
"What the editors have done in the story amounts to being aggrieved on behalf of a private party member. This is untoward, partisan and quite overboard given that the matter is between a party and its member who, in the present circumstances, can only be assumed to have submitted himself to his party's actions of censure and sanction. The report itself is a straight story falling outside an editorial comment, and based solely on unnamed sources. It thus, amounts to unwarranted editorialising, itself quite unprofessional," said Cde Charamba. "Until Professor Moyo, strictly as a member of his party, expressed public dissatisfaction with decisions of his party, newspapers had no right or reason to invent a grievance for him." Cde Charamba said appointments to the Politburo were made by the party's presidency, with no position permanently belonging to any one individual as was inferred by the reports. "Overall, therefore, the piece smacked of zealous advocacy made all the more odd by the fact that it appeared in two leading national newspapers which should be better informed about party and Government matters," said Cde Charamba.
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From IRIN (UN), 1 January
Uncertainty over Moyo's fate
Harare - The Zimbabwe government has denied media reports that controversial information minister Jonathan Moyo has tendered his resignation to acting president Joyce Mujuru. Moyo allegedly sent his resignation by fax from Kenya, where he is on holiday, but Mujuru reportedly refused to accept it, referring the matter to President Robert Mugabe who is on vacation in Malaysia. "I don't know anything about the alleged resignation. All I know is that he is in Kenya on holiday and he has not resigned," secretary in the ministry of information, George Charamba, told IRIN on Friday. However, senior official sources confirmed the story, and said Moyo's decision to quit was linked to his removal from the ruling Zanu PF's powerful Soviet-style politburo and central committee. Moyo's political fortunes started to wane in December after he organised a meeting of key party members in his rural home of Tsholotsho ahead of Zanu PF's congress, allegedly aimed at thwarting Mugabe's candidate for the post of vice-president, Mujuru. He had also openly clashed with the ruling party's old guard, among them first vice-president Joseph Msika, and attacked them through the state media over which he had control.
During his term in office Moyo was the author of the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), and the Broadcasting Services Act. AIPPA resulted in the closure of the popular newspaper, The Daily News, and its sister publication, The Daily News on Sunday, at the beginning of 2004. The privately owned The Tribune newspaper was also shut down, and the independent television station, Joy TV. The chairman of the workers committee for The Daily News, Columbus Mavhunga, said the resignation of Moyo would not be enough to improve the climate under which the independent media labours. "For us as journalists, the only positive development would be to repeal the legislation that stifles the operations of journalists," Mavhunga told IRIN. Moyo's misfortunes coincide with those of colourful business man and high-profile Zanu PF member, Philip Chiyangwa, who was also opposed to Mugabe's choice of vice president. Chiyangwa and four senior ruling party officials, including Zimbabwe's ambassador to Mozambique, have been in solitary confinement for two weeks on charges of spying for "foreign powers". They allegedly provided confidential Zanu PF information to spy masters based in South Africa.
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From Zim Online (SA), 2 January
Government militias deny opposition supporters food
Kariba - Government trained youth militias helping the state's Grain Marketing Board (GMB) distribute food at this resort town here are demanding hungry people to produce ruling Zanu PF party membership cards before they can get food, Zim Online has learnt. The youths, trained under the government's national youth service training programme, were seconded to the GMB to help the parastatal distribute cheaper priced maize to starving people in this town along Zimbabwe's border with Zambia. But residents said the youths - in the past accused by churches and human rights organisations of terrorising opposition supporters - vet people wishing to get food with known Zanu PF supporters allowed easy access to the state-provided maize. Anyone else must produce a membership card of the ruling party before they can get food. "I have queued for mealie meal for the last four days without success as each day the youths insist that only Zanu PF members get mealie-meal and they also dictate who else should get the commodity," said a father of six, who confessed being a member of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party. He did not want to be named. Ratidzo Chaora of Nyamhunga suburb in the town said she did not have food for her family of six because the youths had prevented her from getting the staple maize when she went to the GMB deport. But a senior GMB official denied the youths were insisting on people producing Zanu PF membership cards before they receive maize. He said the parastatal's policy was to give food to all hungry people regardless of political affiliation. The MDC accuses the government of denying food to its supporters as punishment for backing the opposition party. The government denies the charge. More than three million Zimbabweans need food aid between now and the next harvest around March despite earlier claims by President Robert Mugabe that Zimbabwe had produced enough to feed itself.
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From The Sunday Mail, 2 January
Spy probe set to net more chefs
News Editor Farai Dzirutwe
Zimbabwean security agencies are closing in on more senior Government and Zanu PF officials suspected of complicity in the sensational espionage case involving businessman and politician Philip Chiyangwa who last week appeared in court with three others, facing charges of selling State secrets to foreign powers. Sources told The Sunday Mail last week that more top functionaries, including at least two Cabinet ministers and a legislator, were likely to be quizzed by local counter-intelligence officials following revelations that they might have passed State secrets to hostile foreign intelligence organisations over the past few years. The spies had worked in collusion with some Zimbabweans stationed at various embassies in Western capitals and the region, the sources said. It is believed that the spies would compile detailed information on high-level Government and Zanu PF meetings and dispatch it electronically to their contacts at some Zimbabwean foreign missions who would in turn pass it on to hostile intelligence agencies. The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which is based in Langley, Virginia, and the United Kingdom's security service, the M15, are suspected to be among the recipients of classified information from top Zimbabwean officials.
The officials would receive handsome payments in foreign currency from the enemy agencies. Some of the defrayals are suspected to have been deposited into the highly secretive Swiss banks from where the local officials would access them through third parties to conceal the subversive deals from Zimbabwean intelligence. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs employee stationed at the Zimbabwe Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Erasmus Moyo, is believed to have been an integral part of the spy ring busted by local intelligence a few weeks ago. "Exhaustive investigations are in progress to net all the people who have been compromising national security by selling classified information to foreign powers, some of whom have publicly declared that they want to remove the Government in Zimbabwe. There are going to be a few surprises," said one source. Moyo has since disappeared in Europe after he was summoned back home following the exposure of the ring by authorities in Harare. His whereabouts are still unknown amid reports that he could have sought protection from his foreign handlers. Government sources said Moyo was accompanied to the airport by other staffers at the Zimbabwean Mission in Geneva, went through the check-in point but did not board the plane. According to the sources, Moyo apparently hid somewhere in the air terminal and told officials that he had cancelled his flight.
The Sunday Mail understands that the highly respected Zimbabwean security agencies began probing some senior Government officials early last year after suspicions that some of them could have been serving foreign interests. Sources said when jailed Finance Minister Chris Kuruneri was found in possession of a Canadian passport after his arrest on charges of externalising foreign currency in April 2004, security agents sprang into action to establish if there were more officials holding foreign passports. This was because leading intelligence organisations in the world were known to provide secret travel documents to their spies for easy escape when they were unmasked. What particularly perturbed the country's security chiefs was that a Cabinet minister, who regularly attended very confidential meetings, was holding the passport of a country fiercely opposed to the policies of the Zimbabwean Government. Kuruneri, though, has not been charged with spying but remains in remand prison pending the conclusion of his externalisation case. He is also facing another charge of breaching the Citizenship Act.
While the disappearance of Moyo in Europe was adding a new twist to the most sensational spy case since apartheid agents Kevin Woods, Phillip Conjwayo, Michael Smith and Barry Bawden were arrested in 1988, Chiyangwa and his three suspected accomplices were being charged with contravening the Official Secrets Act. Chiyangwa, the Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial chairman and Member of Parliament for Chinhoyi, and his co-accused Godfrey Dzvairo (Zimbabwe's ambassador-designate to Mozambique), Itai Marchi (Zanu PF director for external affairs) and Tendai Matambanadzo (former Metropolitan Bank company secretary) appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Peter Kumbawa facing charges under the Act. The showy Chiyangwa, who also presides over a diversified business empire, was remanded in custody to January 14 after Mr Kumbawa ruled that he had a case to answer. Ironically, Chiyangwa runs a company known as CIA Marketing. Dzvairo, Matambanadzo and Marchi were remanded in custody to tomorrow when they are expected to have their pleas altered after reportedly pleading guilty when they first appeared in court on December 24. Another suspect, Kenneth Karidza (Zanu PF deputy security chief) is expected to appear in court on January 7. Details of the court proceedings have been sketchy as they are being held in camera for security reasons.
Chiyangwa is believed to have been the first suspect to be arrested on December 15 and was held incommunicado until his first court appearance on Christmas eve. The other four were later picked up and held under the same conditions as security agents cast their net wider. Karidza, who also doubles up as a music promoter, failed to bring in France-based Congolese rhumba star Koffi Olomide for a scheduled concert on December 17 after he was arrested. Karidza was allegedly found in possession of national security documents when he was arrested. Dzvairo, a career diplomat, was the Consular-General at Zimbabwe's embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, before being appointed ambassador to Mozambique by President Mugabe early last month. He, however, had hardly opened the door to his new office in Maputo when State security agents pounced on him. If convicted, the accused face up to 20 years in prison, a fine or both imprisonment or such a fine as provided under Section 4 of the Official Secrets Act. It is understood that more top officials may soon be picked up for having played various roles in the supply of classified information to hostile countries and organisations in exchange for money. Police have so far declined to give details on the ongoing probe while the Central Intelligence Organisation and the parent Ministry of State Security do not normally comment on national security issues.
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From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 3 January
Zim ruling party shuns big names
Just three months before parliamentary polls set for March, Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF has slashed several "prominent names" from contesting important party primary elections. Information Minister and President Robert Mugabe's chief spin doctor Jonathan Moyo is one of three ministers prohibited from contesting the primaries. Moyo, who fell from grace last month after calling an unauthorised meeting, is reported to have tried to resign last week. Also dropped was Justice Minister and fierce Mugabe loyalist Patrick Chinamasa. He attended the meeting organised by Moyo, but is reported to have apologised to Mugabe. Finance Minister Chris Kureneri, currently in remand prison where he is facing charges of illegally "externalising foreign currency", was also dropped from the primaries.
Zanu PF has also said a flamboyant businessman and MP for the northern town of Chinhoyi, Phillip Chiyangwa, will be barred. Instead, he must leave room for a new "quota for women" to be introduced by the party. Chiyangwa dropped from public sight four weeks ago after he was reportedly snatched by Zimbabwe's notorious Central Intelligence Organisation and held at the infamous Goromonzi torture farm. He reappeared last week in a Harare Magistrate's Court to face charges of spying and leaking secrets to an unnamed foreign power. The flashily dressed MP, who boasts of owning more than 500 suits, seemed to have his fate sealed on Monday when the state-controlled Herald carried a cartoon of Chiyangwa sitting on a prison bed saying: "Which khaki shall I wear today?"
Also dropped from Zanu PF's list of primary election candidates are war veterans' leader and self-appointed head of farm invasions Joseph Chinotimba. Chinotimba, who denied attending the "unauthorised meeting" in Zimbabwe's western Tsholotsho district, has made repeated unsuccessful attempts to garner support in opposition-held Harare townships. Zanu PF has also banned former lawmaker Tony Gara from contesting the primaries. Gara once compared Mugabe to "the son of God", causing an outcry in the country. The calling of Zanu PF primaries follows in the wake of the announcement of new constituency boundaries last month. Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has cried foul over the new boundaries, pointing out that two constituencies in MDC-held Harare and Bulawayo have been taken from them, while three constituencies have been added to traditionally held Zanu PF provinces. Primaries are held before parliamentary polls and allow party members to select their prospective MPs.
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From Zim Online (SA), 3 January
Government accuses EU of seeking to oust it from power
Harare - Zimbabwe's foreign ministry at the weekend accused the European Union of working through non-governmental organisations to topple it from power. Reacting to a statement by European Union (EU) president, Spain, that the powerful bloc would be forced to reduce aid to Zimbabwe once a new law restricting NGOs in the country became effective, the ministry accused the EU of being used by Britain in its bid to effect "regime change" in Harare. "(The statement by Spain) is yet another demonstration of the extent to which the EU is being co-opted into the United Kingdom government's project of regime change in Zimbabwe," the ministry said in a statement. The EU said it would be forced to cut aid to Zimbabwe if NGOs in the country through which it has been channelling mostly humanitarian assistance were forced to close down under the new law. The Harare administration which routinely accuses London of wanting to remove it from power said the new law was only targeted at NGOs that were working for regime change in Zimbabwe. Under the controversial new law now awaiting President Robert Mugabe's signature to become effective, NGOs will be barred from carrying out voter education while civic bodies focusing on human rights work will be prohibited from receiving foreign funding.
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From The Daily Mirror, 3 January
Kunonga picks up more problems
Daily Mirror reporter
Angry parishioners yesterday disrupted a church service at the Anglican Church's St Francis of Assisi parish in Glen Norah, Harare, following the suspension of their priest, Paul Gwese, allegedly for granting MDC legislator Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, a platform in the church. Misihairabwi-Mushonga, who is the Member of Parliament for Glen Norah constituency, donated $1.5 million to the parish during Thanksgiving early last month. Parishioners walked out of the church as the stand-in priest, Harry Rinashe, walked up to the altar led by sub-deacons. Only Gwese's wife and the sub-deacons helping Rinashe conduct the service stayed behind, while the other parishioners milled around outside the church. However, they could not take it any more as Rinashe continued to preach to an empty church and moved in to disrupt the service, questioning Gwese's suspension and the alleged confiscation of the parish's car keys by the church's Harare Diocese leader, Bishop Norbert Kunonga. Rinashe, who is the Harare Diocese's vicar-general, is based in neighbouring Glen View.
Soon after the service was disrupted, some members of the parish left for Kunonga's home, where they intended to present a list of grievances. Back at the church, the remaining parishioners locked Rinashe inside the church grounds, demanding that he surrenders the parish's car keys, which had been given to him by Kunonga for safekeeping. Parishioners alleged that problems for Gwese started on December 12 when Misihairabwi-Mushonga attended a service at the church, a move, which did not go down well with some members believed to be aligned to the ruling Zanu PF. The matter was reported to Kunonga, who suspended Gwese 10 days later. It is alleged that Kunonga, widely regarded a Zanu PF supporter, went on to confiscate the parish's vehicle keys, arguing that the suspended priest should not use the vehicle. The confiscation of the vehicle keys further incensed the parishioners, who had contributed towards its purchase. Asked why they had locked the gates, church warden Bernard Nengomasha said: "We want Rinashe to release the car keys they confiscated from our priest. We are still paying for that vehicle and we have not yet formally informed them that St Francis' church purchased a vehicle for its priest. We are also waiting for Kunonga to come and address us."
Nengomasha condemned the bishop for failing to follow church protocol in handling the issue. He said he made a one man ruling without even verifying the authenticity of the allegations against Gwese. The parishioners only dispersed later during the day after a diocesan registrar only identified as Mutizwa promised to take their grievances to Kunonga. Rinashe remained adamant that he would not surrender the car keys because that would be in breach of church protocol. However, he allowed the car's engine to run for a while after the parishioners expressed fear that if it was left idle for a long time, it would cease. The car is parked at the parish, but Gwese cannot touch it. Tapiwa Sakarombe, one of the demonstrating parishioners said: "Since the suspension of the priest, people started boycotting church services. We failed to host an all-night prayer as is the norm every Christmas eve. On Wednesday, at least 13 people attended mass, yet in normal circumstances the church is full." She added that of those who were attending mass, few were taking Holy Communion.
Last Thursday, a group of parishioners went to Kunonga's house, but were denied entry by a woman who spoke to them through the intercom and threatened to call the police. Misihairabwi-Mushonga could not be reached as a family member said she was out of the country, and was expected to be back this week. Rinashe refused to comment. He only said: "I am not allowed to comment." Gwese was also not available for comment. This is not the first time that Kunonga has had problems with members of his church since he moved to Harare from Mutare more than two years ago. He has had problems with parishioners who worship at the St Mary's Anglican Cathedral in the city and at the Highfield and Mufakose parishes.
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From SABC News, 1 January
Man gets suspended sentence for bad-mouthing Mugabe
The New Year has not brought much good luck to a Zimbabwean businessman. He was given a suspended jail sentence for bad-mouthing Robert Mugabe, the president of that country. Jason Gambatz (70) is a bitter man. After keeping his factory open the whole year while many businesses were shutting down, he got his workers back up when he refused to host a traditional Christmas party and pay the 13th cheque. His explanation to workers that Mugabe is mismanaging the economy, and in his words "printing useless money and disrupting business" is what took him to court. Gambatz is too afraid to say a word, lest more trouble. He is the third person in just under two months to be sentenced for the same thing and this has raised new concerns over freedom of speech. Sternford Moyo, the vice president of the Southern African Developing Community's (SADC) Lawyers' Association, says this is a festive season to remember for Gambatz. "For Jason, this will remain a festive season to remember. The man he would love to hate President Robert Mugabe is enjoying his Christmas and New Year in the Far East far removed from his personal ordeal in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital." Mavis Chidzonga, a member of Zanu PF, has meanwhile come out in defense of the law against speaking ill about the president, saying insults or denigrations of the head of state do not pay. Mugabe, she added, has always been a tolerant man, but people tend to take their rights too far.
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From The Daily Mirror, 3 January
Tension grips banking sector - ... ZABG fails to take off
Shame Makoshori
The Zimbabwe Allied Bankers Workers Union (ZIBAWU) says the banking industry has been hit by high tension and deep uncertainty ahead of the anticipated entrance of the $2 trillion Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group (ZABG), whose launch has been postponed to next month. Originally pencilled to start operating today, the ZABG failed to kick off with acting Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Charity Dhliwayo on Saturday initially saying that authorities were still polishing up their work before the launch of the bank sometime this month. However, yesterday it was further reported that ZABG would in fact open in February since central bank officials were still working on various modalities that would guide the new financial behemoth. Banking sector sources said there were several unforeseen technicalities that the central bank had failed to factor into ZABG's operations. "One of the reasons behind the postponement of the opening is the issue of remuneration for senior management. The salary, benefits and allowances of one manager at one bank are obviously different from the remuneration of the same manager at another bank. So the need to rationalise these disparities has caused a delay," banking sector sources said. The sources added that another setback was the problem of whether corporate companies and even individuals would be allowed to withdraw their entire funds when the bank opens, a development that could cripple the operations of the new bank.
ZABG has been greeted with immense government support as legislative proposals, that came up with the Troubled Financial Institutions (Resolution) Bill were promptly tabled before parliament. But observers said the Bill has emerged as a stumbling block for the launch of ZABG as President Robert Mugabe, who is on vacation in the Far East, has not signed it into law. Last Friday, banking and legal circles expected the bill to be signed by the President in the Government Gazette, but that was not the case. They said the RBZ was also battling to come up with proper integration strategies, as the ZABG is set to incorporate at least five troubled financial players that were at various levels of capitalisation. At least 300 bank employees were thrown onto the streets after the eight financial institutions were slapped with curatorship due to acute cash flow crunches invoked by massive financial mismanagement and speculation.
In an interview, Zibawu secretary general, Colleen Gwiyo, on Friday said the union was worried by the central bank's attitude towards the welfare of workers throughout the year-long financial sector crisis. He said the bulk of the RBZ's decisions had ignored input from workers. "There is high tension, the future of bank employees is uncertain, we have never been approached. "ZABG is a mysterious baby that we cannot foretell whether it is for the benefit of workers or not, we do not know if it will accommodate all the affected workers, no one is talking to us. "The RBZ is being one-sided in its dealing with this issue, no input from us has been considered but they are just imposing laws to throw more workers out of employment. "That is very unkind of the RBZ," Gwiyo said. While the RBZ's prompt intervention to save the financial sector was greeted with enthusiasm, it has proved costly to both the workers and account holders. Some account holders were until Friday last week desperately jostling to access billions of dollars in savings trapped in CFX Bank branches around the country. Gwiyo added that his organisation would soon confront RBZ governor Gideon Gono to register its disappointment in the manner in which he has handled the troubled financial institutions.
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From Zim Online (SA), 31 December
Executives at collapsed bank blatantly lied
Harare - Executives at the collapsed CFX Bank Limited fraudulently misrepresented the bank's financial condition, openly lying to regulatory authorities that the bank netted a Z$9 billion profit when it actually posted a $115 billion loss in the 10 months ending October 2004. According to a confidential report by a Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) team probing the bank managing director Garainesu Shoko, Finance director Onias Ndlovu and three other top executives "fraudulently manipulated" management accounts by overstating interest income and understating interest expenses. The RBZ report dated December 26, 2004 also alleges that CFX's balance sheet showed a fictitious asset of $49 billion which the central bank claims was raised through illegal foreign dealings. The report reads in part, "the manipulated management accounts reflected an accumulated profit of $9 billion instead of the accumulated losses of $115 billion. This profit was derived by deliberately overstating interest income while understating interest expenses --- a review of the system generated balance sheet shows a fictitious asset of $49 billion." CFX collapsed two weeks ago under a liquidity crunch that saw the ban unable to pay depositors their money or even pay its own workers' salaries. The bank is now under the management of a curator appointed by the RBZ. At least nine banks and financial have collapsed in Zimbabwe in the last 12 months because of mismanagement and downright theft of depositors money by top management to finance lavish lifestyles.
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From cricinfo, 3 January
A few sparks amid the gloom
Martin Williamson
Zimbabwe cricket was rarely out of the headlines in 2004, but sadly for all the wrong reasons. But a year which had at times threatened Zimbabwe's very future on the international stage ended with signs that the future might not be all gloomy. But as with so much in Zimbabwe, the shoots could so easily be crushed. The year was dominated by the Heath Streak affair. What at first seemed to be a little local difficulty between Streak and some of the national selectors rapidly escalated into something far more serious - a schism between the old guard and the new. The row was about cricket but was a battle repeated across so many walks of life under the government of Robert Mugabe. The affair rumbled on throughout the summer, with both sides growing increasingly polarised and accustations flying here, there and everywhere. By the time the ICC sat to hear both sides' arguments, most people were heartily sick of the whole situation. In the end there were no winners. Streak and his fellow rebels lost their fight, undermined by public indifference, some PR for their own goals, and the desire of the ICC to wash over the whole affair and get on with the game. A few atrikers drifted back, others emigrated, and one or two, including Streak himself, stayed to fight bigger battles.
The Zimbabwe Cricket Union claimed victory, but it was at best pyrrhic, and several of its leading officials emerged with reputations severely tarnished. In October it reinvented itself as Zimbabwe Cricket, with a logo allegedly designed by chairman Peter Chingoka's wife but seemingly knocked up by one of his pre-school nephews. The massive - and expensive - rebranding exercise was aimed at drawing a line under the old regime. But it was a disastrous own goal, attracting the anger of many stakeholders of all colours and political persuasions, and the year ended with civil war looming and the Logan Cup, Zimbabwe's domestic competition, facing a series of boycotts. But there were reasons to be cheerful. The youngsters thrown into the lion's den by the strike initially looked like rabbits caught in car headlights, but despite some heavy defeats, they started to show that they might be up to the task and that there was some real talent. In the Under-19 World Cup, Zimbabwe's youngsters hinted at what the future might hold when they skittled Australia for 73, Tinashe Panyangara taking 6 for 31, to eliminate the favourites from the main competition.
And away from the international spotlight, those few journalists who were eventually allowed into the country to report on the England tour - and the government's attempt to ban a random selection of scribes showed up the ZCU's claims to be apolitical for the joke many always suspected - sent back stories of the ability on show at some of the country's clubs and schools. On the field, Zimbabwe were probably overtaken in Tests and one-dayers by Bangladesh - January's series will confirm each country's standings - and ended the year as cricket's whipping boys. Even without the defection of 15 players - the reality was that only half a dozen of them were losses to the national side - Zimbabwe faced growing difficulties on the field. The year began with drubbing after drubbing in Australia's VB Series, and went downhill from there. Admittedly, the home Test series against Bangladesh was won 1-0, but it was a struggle, as was the subsequent one-day series which Zimbabwe edged 2-1 (giving them their only two wins from 25 ODIs during 2004). After the strike, the results took on an even more distorted feel, and rarely can a series have been as unappetising and one-sided as the one against Sri Lanka which followed.
Australia's visit in April and May was overshadowed by political argument and a growing feeling among the tourists that they didn't want to be there. The one-day series was won by Australia 0-3 - they barely broke sweat - and, mercifully for cricket as whole, the subsequent Test series was postponed at the 11th hour. By the time Zimbabwe resumed their international commitments, against England in November, they were developing a hardened shell. The inexperience was still all too evident and will undermine Zimbabwe's best efforts for some time. But the side will get better, given time, encouragement, and investment. The hope for 2005 is that the ZCU's leadership stops pursing its own agenda and starts working for the good of the game in Zimbabwe. Don't hold your breath.
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From cricinfo, 3 January
Bvute is Zimbabwe Cricket's new managing director
Zimbabwe Cricket has appointed Ozias Bvute as their new managing director. He takes the post with immediate effect. Bvute, who has degree in banking and finance from Pune University in India, has been the acting managing director since Vince Hogg resigned last August for personal reasons. In 2001 he joined the board of directors of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union, as it was then, and was placed in charge of the policy relating to the advancement of black players, and later, of marketing. Peter Chingoka, the ZC chairman explained the thinking behind the appointment: "With a substantive managing director at the helm, we will now all focus on our specific tasks and intensify efforts to make ZC a leading player in the global sports and entertainment industry." Chingoka was on the four-man panel that made the appointment, along with Justice Ahmed Ebrahim, Stan Staddon, who is the chairman of the human resources committee, and Clive Barnes. The announcement will not be universally welcomed. Bvute is widely recognised as being one of the senior board members criticised by the ICC hearing into allegations of racism against the ZCU. He has also been identified by opponents as being one of the leading figures behind the increasing politicisation of the board.
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From Zim Online (SA), 4 January
Zanu PF spy suspects want to alter guilty plea
Harare - Defence lawyers today resume an application at the magistrates' court to have four ruling Zanu PF officials accused of espionage permitted to alter their initial guilty plea. Zimbabwe's ambassador designate to Mozambique Godfrey Dvairo, Zanu PF deputy security officer Kenny Karidza, party external affairs director Itai Marchi and bank executive Tendai Matambanadzo pleaded guilty to charges that they sold intelligence information to foreign agents. But the four men, who were charged together with Zanu PF chairman for Mashonanaland West province, Philip Chiyangwa, now want to plead not guilty. The hearing, which began last week and continued yesterday, is being held in camera with even close relatives barred from court. Harare lawyers Canaan Dube and Selby Hwacha, who are representing the four men yesterday made submissions to court before magistrate Peter Kumbawa adjourned proceedings to today. The five men, who are being charged under the Official Secrets Act, face up to 20 years in jail if convicted of spying for foreign agents.
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From Zim Online (SA), 4 January
More trouble for Mugabe's embattled propaganda chief
Harare - Pressure continued to mount on President Robert Mugabe's out of favour propaganda chief, Jonathan Moyo, with police forcibly evicting his close relative from a farm he ceded to her. Heavily armed police have since last week camped on the wildlife-rich Dete Valley Lot 2 farm in Matabeleland North province preventing Jackie Meyers, who owns the farm and is a cousin to Moyo, from entering the property saying she acquired it improperly. The farm, formerly owned by a white wildlife operator, was initially given to Moyo by the government at the height of its chaotic land reforms in 2001. But, Moyo, who is state information minister, gave over the farm to Meyers last year after the media ran stories naming him among several senior government officials who grabbed more than one farm each against the state's one-man-one-farm policy. Confirming the repossession of the farm from Meyers, Matabeleland North governor, Obert Mpofu, said: "The government is taking all the farms that were wrongly acquired but I cannot comment any further as I am on leave."
The eviction of Moyo's relative from Dete Valley comes as the ruling Zanu PF party at the weekend blocked the government's chief spin-doctor from representing it in March's general election. The party instead chose two little-known women, Josephine Moyo (not related to Jonathan) and Similo Dube, to contest in an internal primary election to choose its candidate for Tsholotsho, the constituency Moyo had openly said he wanted to represent in the March poll. Once one of Mugabe's most influential confidantes, Moyo fell from grace three weeks ago after secretly attempting to thwart plans by Mugabe to have Joyce Mujuru appointed second vice-president of Zanu PF. Moyo was dismissed by Mugabe from Zanu PF's central committee and its inner politburo cabinet while six out of 10 party chairmen who had worked with him to block Mujuru from being appointed party and subsequently state vice-president were suspended for four months. Senior members of Zanu PF's politburo indicated to ZimOnline last week that the embattled Moyo, who is on holiday in Kenya, was contemplating resigning from the party from there. But the information ministry immediately denied such claims insisting Moyo had no plans to quit Zanu PF or the government. Moyo could not be reached for comment on his latest setbacks while Meyers refused to answer and switched off her mobile phone when Zim Online inquired about her eviction and presence of armed police at her farm.
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From The Daily Mirror, 4 January
Mudenge kicked out of farm
Clemence Manyukwe
Foreign Affairs Minister Stan Mudenge and Deputy Minister of Water Resources and Infrastructure Tinos Rusere, have become the latest high-ranking Zanu PF politicians to lose farms, with the police moving onto their properties in Chartsworth, Masvingo, on allegations that the two are multiple farm owners. The two join Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, Youths Deputy Minister Shuvai Mahofa and former Mashonaland West Provincial Governor Peter Chanetsa, who have lost farms as the government implements its one-man-one-farm policy. About three months ago, a farm which had earlier been allocated to the secretary for Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation, Thompson Tsodzo, was gazetted for acquisition by the lands ministry. However, Tsodzo claimed that he had surrendered the property when he had acquired another farm. In separate interviews with The Daily Mirror, both Mudenge and Rusere confirmed that the government was repossessing the farms on allegations that they owned them. Mudenge said the Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement had recently written to him notifying him that they were taking over the farm in question. He said he replied to the letter notifying the ministry that he had no interest in the property. Mudenge said: "They were saying I owned the farm, but I wrote to Minister Nkomo (The Minister of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement) telling him that the property does not belong to me. I never applied for that farm. I was said to be the owner, and I don't know where they got that from."
Rusere said the farm in question, Victoria, belonged to his son, Cosmas. He said people who saw him visiting his son at the farm could have falsely informed the lands ministry that he owned the property. "The farm they are taking belongs to my son. It's not mine. I always visit him and they might have concluded that it is mine," Rusere said. Until recently, Rusere was the ruling party's acting provincial chairperson for Masvingo, a post he relinquished when he was appointed to Zanu PF's central committee at the party's congress last month. The police reportedly moved onto Mudenge and Rusere farms last week and ordered that farming activities at the properties should stop forthwith. Nkomo yesterday refused to comment on the matter, saying he was busy. A special lands team dealing with illegal occupation of land, has been established in Nkomo's ministry and is headed by top civil servant Willard Chiwewe. Deputy Police Commissioner Godwin Matanga is responsible for the eviction of the illegal occupants. Matanga and his team have so far been to Mashonaland West and Matabeleland, where some settlers have been forcibly removed, while their shacks have been burnt down.
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From The Herald, 4 January
Zanu PF chairmen get 5-year ban each
From Bulawayo Bureau
The ruling Zanu PF has extended the suspension of its six provincial chairpersons who took part in the unsanctioned Tsholotsho meeting from six months to five years. This means the six would be barred from holding party positions for the next five years following a disciplinary hearing into their conduct. Zanu PF National Chairman Cde John Nkomo yesterday confirmed that the affected provinces were last week notified about the outcome of the hearing conducted by the party's National Disciplinary Committee. The six were initially suspended for six months in November last year pending a hearing by the National Disciplinary Committee into their cases. Cde Nkomo said the National Disciplinary Committee had confirmed the six-month suspensions and extended them to five years. "I can confirm that the six chairpersons have been further suspended for a further five years following disciplinary hearings into their conduct," Cde Nkomo said. He said the six chairpersons were afforded an opportunity to defend themselves, but the committee found them guilty for their actions.
According to a letter read on Sunday before the Bulawayo Provincial Co-ordinating Committee which accepted curriculum vitaes from cadres who intend to represent the party in the March parliamentary elections, the six were suspended from holding party positions for the next five years. Zanu PF Bulawayo provincial spokesman Cde Mkhululi Dube confirmed that the executive was in possession of the letter, which specified that the former Bulawayo chairman Cde Themba Ncube, who was among the chairpersons who attended the Tsholotsho meeting, would within that time, remain an ordinary member of the party. Cde Dube said the letter stated that Cde Ncube had been suspended for five years, but was free to remain an ordinary party member. "The letter that we read at the meeting was from the National Chairman's Office and it states that the suspension is with effect from 20 November." The measure effectively made the suspended chairpersons ineligible for the forthcoming Zanu-PF primary elections scheduled for January 15.
The affected chairpersons are Cdes Lloyd Siyoka (Matabeleland South), Jacob Mudenda (Matabeleland North), Ncube (Bulawayo), July Moyo (Midlands), Mike Madiro (Manicaland) and Daniel Shumba (Masvingo). The chairpersons were initially suspended for six months pending the disciplinary hearings when the party was preparing for its Fourth National People's Congress. Several senior party members have also been punished by their provinces for taking part in the Tsholotsho meeting. The Tsholotsho District Co-ordinating Committee chairman, Cde Believe Gaule, and his Binga counterpart, Cde Eddie Gagonde, were informed at a meeting of the Matabeleland North Provincial Co-ordinating Committee that they had been suspended for also taking part in the Tsholotsho meeting. The two were barred from participating at the meeting and were told to wait for a disciplinary hearing to clear their names.
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From IPS, 3 January
A gloomy election countdown begins</ |
