Zimbabwe could be heading for a new wave of violence, a minister in the country's unity government has warned.
Sekai Holland, a member of the former opposition MDC, told the BBC opponents of the power-sharing government were drawing up assassination lists.
She said she believed the worst violence was being planned to coincide with elections due in 18 months.
Her comments echo earlier claims by PM Morgan Tsvangirai of ongoing political intimidation and abuses in Zimbabwe.
Ms Holland, Zimbabwe's Minister for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, told the BBC that she and other members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), including fellow ministers, were receiving threatening phone calls every day.
They had been told that hardline members of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party are adding their names to a lengthening assassination list.
"We are told that they do have a list of people that they will kill," she said.
"No-one feels safe in Zimbabwe, no-one - and I mean no-one. We haven't reached a ceasefire. We are still at a point where people have their guns cocked."
Ms Holland is a senior member of the MDC and was badly beaten by Zanu-PF supporters two years ago.
Fear continues
Ms Holland also claimed that 39,000 militiamen "working inside the civil service and outside" were being paid a wage of $100 (£62) a day to beat up MDC supporters, in the event of an election.
This, she said, meant that violence in the next elections could be even worse than in 2008, when some 200 people were killed and thousands injured.
Last month Mr Tsvangirai, the prime minister and leader of the MDC, criticised the speed of political change in Zimbabwe.
He said that although the MDC was in government, it had not succeeded in restoring the rule of law and warned his party that Zimbabweans remained hungry and afraid of political persecution.
But Mr Tsvangirai, currently on a tour of Europe seeking financial aid, has insisted that the government would stabilise the situation in Zimbabwe.
He said it was "a work in progress", but that the "period of acrimony" between him and Mr Mugabe was "over".
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Mugabe refuses to disband notorious JOC
http://www.nehandaradio.com
By Denford Magora
Zimbabwe's dictator, Robert Mugabe and his security chiefs have refused to
disband JOC (the Joint Operations Command, which was at the forefront of
strategising Mugabe's retention of power in the chaotic aftermath of the
March elections in 2008).
Instead, JOC still sits regularly, thumbing its nose at the Inclusive
Government. The meetings, some of which I have reported here before, are
mainly held in two places: at State House, which Mugabe now uses as his
preferred office after moving his family to his mansion in Helensvale,
Borrowdale, a minute's drive from Gideon Gono's house, just off Carrick
Creagh Road) or at the house in Highlands that I have mentioned here before.
The Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and
Mutambara commits to the creation of a National Security Council, on which
Tsvangirai is guaranteed a seat.
The Service Chiefs and Mugabe have simply ensured that the Security Council
never meets.
The MDC-T made the mistake of assuming that the creation of a National
Security Council meant the disbanding of JOC.
The agreement says nothing about disbanding JOC. Based on this, the Service
Chiefs and Mugabe have said the continued meetings of JOC are legal and not
in violation of the agreement. Technically, they are correct. The letter of
the agreement certainly indicates this. But only if you are being legalistic
and insincere.
The spirit of the same agreement, however, suggests that the body should not
even be meeting anymore.
Meantime, the MDC-T has been reduced to demanding that the National Security
Council meets "without further delay".
They bemoaned the failure by the Council to meet in their Resolution this
past Sunday, the one in which they said they had referred the matter to
SADC. (Another cock-up I shall be discussing in detail in a later posting
this evening).
I also know for a fact that the Prime Minister "invited" the Service Chiefs
to have a cup with them for familiarisation purposes and got back the
following response (within the day):
"We don't report to a Prime Minister. Send your request through our
Commander-in Chief (President Mugabe)."
It is not known whether Tsvangirai put his request to Mugabe in their
one-on-one Monday meetings, but the fact that he has failed to meet the
Service Chiefs to date says a lot.
As I told you around the time Tsvangirai was sworn in (and I was told that I
was dreaming and was wrong, the tide had turned etc), Mugabe was clear from
the outset that Tsvangirai had to be kept as far away from the Defence
Forces as possible.
The Prime Minister, who keeps telling us about hardliners and how Mugabe is
such a dandy chap, needs to look no further than Mugabe to find the gang
leader of these "residual elements".
So far, he is insisting that he needs Mugabe in order to give Zimbabweans a
solution.
Denford Magora is also the spokesman for the Mavambo Movement led by
President Dr. Simba Makoni, who ran for President last year. His blog can be
accessed on http://denfordmagora.blogspot.com/
By Denford Magora
Zimbabwe's dictator, Robert Mugabe and his security chiefs have refused to
disband JOC (the Joint Operations Command, which was at the forefront of
strategising Mugabe's retention of power in the chaotic aftermath of the
March elections in 2008).
Instead, JOC still sits regularly, thumbing its nose at the Inclusive
Government. The meetings, some of which I have reported here before, are
mainly held in two places: at State House, which Mugabe now uses as his
preferred office after moving his family to his mansion in Helensvale,
Borrowdale, a minute's drive from Gideon Gono's house, just off Carrick
Creagh Road) or at the house in Highlands that I have mentioned here before.
The Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and
Mutambara commits to the creation of a National Security Council, on which
Tsvangirai is guaranteed a seat.
The Service Chiefs and Mugabe have simply ensured that the Security Council
never meets.
The MDC-T made the mistake of assuming that the creation of a National
Security Council meant the disbanding of JOC.
The agreement says nothing about disbanding JOC. Based on this, the Service
Chiefs and Mugabe have said the continued meetings of JOC are legal and not
in violation of the agreement. Technically, they are correct. The letter of
the agreement certainly indicates this. But only if you are being legalistic
and insincere.
The spirit of the same agreement, however, suggests that the body should not
even be meeting anymore.
Meantime, the MDC-T has been reduced to demanding that the National Security
Council meets "without further delay".
They bemoaned the failure by the Council to meet in their Resolution this
past Sunday, the one in which they said they had referred the matter to
SADC. (Another cock-up I shall be discussing in detail in a later posting
this evening).
I also know for a fact that the Prime Minister "invited" the Service Chiefs
to have a cup with them for familiarisation purposes and got back the
following response (within the day):
"We don't report to a Prime Minister. Send your request through our
Commander-in Chief (President Mugabe)."
It is not known whether Tsvangirai put his request to Mugabe in their
one-on-one Monday meetings, but the fact that he has failed to meet the
Service Chiefs to date says a lot.
As I told you around the time Tsvangirai was sworn in (and I was told that I
was dreaming and was wrong, the tide had turned etc), Mugabe was clear from
the outset that Tsvangirai had to be kept as far away from the Defence
Forces as possible.
The Prime Minister, who keeps telling us about hardliners and how Mugabe is
such a dandy chap, needs to look no further than Mugabe to find the gang
leader of these "residual elements".
So far, he is insisting that he needs Mugabe in order to give Zimbabweans a
solution.
Denford Magora is also the spokesman for the Mavambo Movement led by
President Dr. Simba Makoni, who ran for President last year. His blog can be
accessed on http://denfordmagora.blogspot.com/
Monday, May 25, 2009
Inmates dying like flies in Zim's prisons
Harare - Six people were found dead in their filthy cells at
Zimbabwe's Chikurubi maximum security prison on Monday.
About the same number died over the weekend.
Another 100 bodies, many mutilated by rats, are stacked up in the
mortuary and will be unclaimed and buried as paupers in prison grounds.
'It was a nightmare'
Over the past year, more than 700 prisoners died in the prison about
20km east of here.
"It's the same at the rest of the prisons around the country," an
off-duty warder from Chikurubi said on Monday.
Continues Below ↓
"We often find six died at a time, mostly of pellagra. A lot have
Aids, but die quickly because they don't have enough food.
"Three days ago, for the first time, Assistant Commissioner Chikature
from the regional office came to have a look because the ICRC,
(International Committee of the Red Cross) is working here.
"ICRC put in a borehole two months ago, so at least we have clean
water now and more food."
The ICRC in Zimbabwe has been working quietly within the prisons since
the inclusive government was sworn in.
At the height of the crisis, between November and January, 327 deaths
were officially recorded at Chikurubi.
The jail, with an average of 30 inmates each for cells designed for
10, is among the most congested of the country's 42 prisons, with a national
population of about 24 000 inmates - many on remand.
In Bulawayo last year, an open cell at Grey's Prison was turned into
an infirmary because so many inmates became ill.
"It was a nightmare," a former short-term detainee said.
"A kid who stole five mangos was in for five months, another guy
accused of stealing washing was there for 21 months. They were starving."
Retired Major-General Paradzai Zimondi was appointed commissioner of
prisons 10 years ago and is in President Robert Mugabe's inner circle.
"He has never been to see what is going on in Chikurubi" the warder
said. "He doesn't care."
The Central Prisons Department said no one was available to talk to
the media.
Zimbabwe's Chikurubi maximum security prison on Monday.
About the same number died over the weekend.
Another 100 bodies, many mutilated by rats, are stacked up in the
mortuary and will be unclaimed and buried as paupers in prison grounds.
'It was a nightmare'
Over the past year, more than 700 prisoners died in the prison about
20km east of here.
"It's the same at the rest of the prisons around the country," an
off-duty warder from Chikurubi said on Monday.
Continues Below ↓
"We often find six died at a time, mostly of pellagra. A lot have
Aids, but die quickly because they don't have enough food.
"Three days ago, for the first time, Assistant Commissioner Chikature
from the regional office came to have a look because the ICRC,
(International Committee of the Red Cross) is working here.
"ICRC put in a borehole two months ago, so at least we have clean
water now and more food."
The ICRC in Zimbabwe has been working quietly within the prisons since
the inclusive government was sworn in.
At the height of the crisis, between November and January, 327 deaths
were officially recorded at Chikurubi.
The jail, with an average of 30 inmates each for cells designed for
10, is among the most congested of the country's 42 prisons, with a national
population of about 24 000 inmates - many on remand.
In Bulawayo last year, an open cell at Grey's Prison was turned into
an infirmary because so many inmates became ill.
"It was a nightmare," a former short-term detainee said.
"A kid who stole five mangos was in for five months, another guy
accused of stealing washing was there for 21 months. They were starving."
Retired Major-General Paradzai Zimondi was appointed commissioner of
prisons 10 years ago and is in President Robert Mugabe's inner circle.
"He has never been to see what is going on in Chikurubi" the warder
said. "He doesn't care."
The Central Prisons Department said no one was available to talk to
the media.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Mugabe is still the boss
In small and big ways, the Zimbabwean leader shows he remains in charge.
HARARE — The prime minister of Zimbabwe is unable to receive visitors because President Robert Mugabe’s security officers bar their entry to his office building.
This recent incident illustrates the sort of obstacles Morgan Tsvangirai faces daily.
Senior members of a leading civic organization, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), were blocked from meeting Prime Minister Tsvangirai by Mugabe’s security agents. The president and prime minister share offices in the same building. The NCA delegation had been due to discuss issues of constitutional reform with Tsvangirai, who is one of three principal party leaders heading the government of national unity.
Only the intervention of Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe eventually secured the group's entry.
Last week a vehicle in Tsvangirai's convoy was denied entry to Mugabe's official residence, where a state dinner was being held for a visiting North Korean delegation. Tsvangirai drove off saying he had better things to do after guards at State House refused to admit a vehicle in his convoy.
Of course, the entire visit of the North Koreans was controversial. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) enjoys widespread support in southern Zimbabwe, known as Matabeleland, where Mugabe unleashed the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade in a campaign of political retribution in which an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 people were killed in the mid-1980s.
To welcome the North Koreans last week Mugabe praised their support for Zimbabwe and congratulated them on their rocket launch that caused international tension earlier this year.
Mugabe's speech was, by any standard, provocative and designed to show Tsvangirai who is boss. Mugabe was, at the same time, rebuking the MDC’s international allies, who are looking to Tsvangirai to restore productive relations with Zimbabwe.
These incidents may be dismissed as trivial, but they are examples of how Robert Mugabe is letting everyone know that he is still running the show in Zimbabwe. It is not just in petty security access situations. Mugabe is also calling the shots to jail his critics for lengthy periods on flimsy charges. He is also continuing to harass the small but lively independent press.
From the very start of the power-sharing government, which brought Tsvangirai and his MDC party into a coalition government, critics warned that Mugabe would not cooperate and would tarnish Tsvangirai's reputation by continuing repressive actions. That is exactly what is happening, especially regarding the rule of law and the press. Mugabe is using his control of the judiciary to jail government critics on spurious charges and to press similarly weak charges against the press.
Mugabe is demonstrating just how obstructive he can be by refusing to remove the loyalist Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and the equally dedicated Attorney General Johannes Tomana. Those officials protected by him are in no doubt about whose orders they must follow.
Responding to questions in parliament last week, the co-minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa revealed that Tomana, not the police, ordered the arrests of two journalists from an independent newspaper. The newspaper had published the names of police and intelligence officers responsible for the abduction and torture of opposition activists last year. The names appeared in court papers and were therefore matters of public record — so there should be no problem in printing them in a newspaper.
Tomana’s office also has refused to grant bail to detainees who have been ordered free by the courts. In nearly every case involving charges against government critics, the state has challenged court rulings to keep people imprisoned for another week, or more, while the government's appeal to their release is heard. A judge only last week sharply criticized the state for opposing bail in the case of three activists when its legal grounds for doing so were weak.
Meanwhile, media defense organizations have slammed the recent arrest of journalists.
“Zimbabwean journalists continue to be the victims of police brutality and judicial abuses,” said Reporters Without Borders. “By arresting journalists arbitrarily and then conditioning their release on the payment of bail, the police and courts are subjecting the media to a systematic extortion racket. We again appeal to the authorities to stop these practices.”
Mugabe’s grip on the levers of power has placed the MDC in an invidious position. In a bid to placate the prickly Mugabe, Tsvangirai has campaigned for the West to lift sanctions. Although Tsvangirai has also called for an end to criticism of Mugabe, he has been forthright as to where Zimbabwe's problems lie.
“The continued violations of the rule of law and the Global Political Agreement (which created the power-sharing government) prevent the inflows of development aid, obstructing the legislative agenda, and risk keeping Zimbabwe mired in poverty,” he said recently. “What continues to plague Zimbabwe can best be described as a reluctance to accept the reality of the changes taking place within the country.”
Western donors have made it clear that before they untie their purse strings the new government must end arbitrary arrests and allow a free media.
At a recent conference call to chart a path to media reform, government publicists called for sanctions to be lifted, but they made no mention of the need to stop state arrests of independent journalists, to allow the return of exiled journalists, or to end state controls over the media.
The MDC, frustrated by Mugabe’s persistent stonewalling, has sought the intervention of the regional organization, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which is the guarantor of the Zimbabwe settlement.
Tsvangirai, in a remarkable display of self-criticism, said over the weekend he “totally agreed with the decision because they (his party) feel we have been dragging our feet in solving the outstanding issues.”
Tsvangirai specifically mentioned the “unexplained arrests.”
The MDC's move to bring SADC back into the fray is an admission of the failure to gain cooperation with Mugabe and his party, Zanu-PF.
Meanwhile, civil society and much of the independent media will be biting its collective tongue. It is tempting, but would not be helpful, to say “told you so."
HARARE — The prime minister of Zimbabwe is unable to receive visitors because President Robert Mugabe’s security officers bar their entry to his office building.
This recent incident illustrates the sort of obstacles Morgan Tsvangirai faces daily.
Senior members of a leading civic organization, the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), were blocked from meeting Prime Minister Tsvangirai by Mugabe’s security agents. The president and prime minister share offices in the same building. The NCA delegation had been due to discuss issues of constitutional reform with Tsvangirai, who is one of three principal party leaders heading the government of national unity.
Only the intervention of Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe eventually secured the group's entry.
Last week a vehicle in Tsvangirai's convoy was denied entry to Mugabe's official residence, where a state dinner was being held for a visiting North Korean delegation. Tsvangirai drove off saying he had better things to do after guards at State House refused to admit a vehicle in his convoy.
Of course, the entire visit of the North Koreans was controversial. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) enjoys widespread support in southern Zimbabwe, known as Matabeleland, where Mugabe unleashed the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade in a campaign of political retribution in which an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 people were killed in the mid-1980s.
To welcome the North Koreans last week Mugabe praised their support for Zimbabwe and congratulated them on their rocket launch that caused international tension earlier this year.
Mugabe's speech was, by any standard, provocative and designed to show Tsvangirai who is boss. Mugabe was, at the same time, rebuking the MDC’s international allies, who are looking to Tsvangirai to restore productive relations with Zimbabwe.
These incidents may be dismissed as trivial, but they are examples of how Robert Mugabe is letting everyone know that he is still running the show in Zimbabwe. It is not just in petty security access situations. Mugabe is also calling the shots to jail his critics for lengthy periods on flimsy charges. He is also continuing to harass the small but lively independent press.
From the very start of the power-sharing government, which brought Tsvangirai and his MDC party into a coalition government, critics warned that Mugabe would not cooperate and would tarnish Tsvangirai's reputation by continuing repressive actions. That is exactly what is happening, especially regarding the rule of law and the press. Mugabe is using his control of the judiciary to jail government critics on spurious charges and to press similarly weak charges against the press.
Mugabe is demonstrating just how obstructive he can be by refusing to remove the loyalist Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and the equally dedicated Attorney General Johannes Tomana. Those officials protected by him are in no doubt about whose orders they must follow.
Responding to questions in parliament last week, the co-minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa revealed that Tomana, not the police, ordered the arrests of two journalists from an independent newspaper. The newspaper had published the names of police and intelligence officers responsible for the abduction and torture of opposition activists last year. The names appeared in court papers and were therefore matters of public record — so there should be no problem in printing them in a newspaper.
Tomana’s office also has refused to grant bail to detainees who have been ordered free by the courts. In nearly every case involving charges against government critics, the state has challenged court rulings to keep people imprisoned for another week, or more, while the government's appeal to their release is heard. A judge only last week sharply criticized the state for opposing bail in the case of three activists when its legal grounds for doing so were weak.
Meanwhile, media defense organizations have slammed the recent arrest of journalists.
“Zimbabwean journalists continue to be the victims of police brutality and judicial abuses,” said Reporters Without Borders. “By arresting journalists arbitrarily and then conditioning their release on the payment of bail, the police and courts are subjecting the media to a systematic extortion racket. We again appeal to the authorities to stop these practices.”
Mugabe’s grip on the levers of power has placed the MDC in an invidious position. In a bid to placate the prickly Mugabe, Tsvangirai has campaigned for the West to lift sanctions. Although Tsvangirai has also called for an end to criticism of Mugabe, he has been forthright as to where Zimbabwe's problems lie.
“The continued violations of the rule of law and the Global Political Agreement (which created the power-sharing government) prevent the inflows of development aid, obstructing the legislative agenda, and risk keeping Zimbabwe mired in poverty,” he said recently. “What continues to plague Zimbabwe can best be described as a reluctance to accept the reality of the changes taking place within the country.”
Western donors have made it clear that before they untie their purse strings the new government must end arbitrary arrests and allow a free media.
At a recent conference call to chart a path to media reform, government publicists called for sanctions to be lifted, but they made no mention of the need to stop state arrests of independent journalists, to allow the return of exiled journalists, or to end state controls over the media.
The MDC, frustrated by Mugabe’s persistent stonewalling, has sought the intervention of the regional organization, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which is the guarantor of the Zimbabwe settlement.
Tsvangirai, in a remarkable display of self-criticism, said over the weekend he “totally agreed with the decision because they (his party) feel we have been dragging our feet in solving the outstanding issues.”
Tsvangirai specifically mentioned the “unexplained arrests.”
The MDC's move to bring SADC back into the fray is an admission of the failure to gain cooperation with Mugabe and his party, Zanu-PF.
Meanwhile, civil society and much of the independent media will be biting its collective tongue. It is tempting, but would not be helpful, to say “told you so."
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Newspaper editors released on bail
Zimbabwe Independent editors, Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimakure, were
released on US$200 bail after appearing in court on Tuesday, a day after
they were arrested for publishing a story that quoted from a court document.
They are facing charges of publishing or communicating a statement 'wholly
or with the intention of undermining public confidence in law enforcement
agents.'
The newspaper published a story last week entitled: CIO, police role in
activists' abduction revealed, which named some police officers and Central
Intelligence officials who were allegedly involved in the abduction of MDC
and rights activists last year. They reported that these names had been
revealed following the formal notices of indictment for trial of some of the
activists this past week. The court documents also revealed that the
activists were either in the custody of the CIO or police during the period
they were reported missing.
However the police claim the law enforcement agents named by the newspaper
were in actual fact summoned as witnesses by the State.
Magistrate Catherine Chimhanda remanded the editors to 28th May and ordered
them to report once a week to the Police Law and Order Section in Harare.
released on US$200 bail after appearing in court on Tuesday, a day after
they were arrested for publishing a story that quoted from a court document.
They are facing charges of publishing or communicating a statement 'wholly
or with the intention of undermining public confidence in law enforcement
agents.'
The newspaper published a story last week entitled: CIO, police role in
activists' abduction revealed, which named some police officers and Central
Intelligence officials who were allegedly involved in the abduction of MDC
and rights activists last year. They reported that these names had been
revealed following the formal notices of indictment for trial of some of the
activists this past week. The court documents also revealed that the
activists were either in the custody of the CIO or police during the period
they were reported missing.
However the police claim the law enforcement agents named by the newspaper
were in actual fact summoned as witnesses by the State.
Magistrate Catherine Chimhanda remanded the editors to 28th May and ordered
them to report once a week to the Police Law and Order Section in Harare.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Lawyers protest re-arrest of MDC activists
HARARE - Lawyers representing two members of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's MDC party re-arrested last week despite being granted bail by
the High Court have requested the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) to seek
explanation from the government over the matter.
Kisimusi Dhlamini and Gandhi Mudzingwa, the two MDC activists who are
facing what the party says are trumped up charges of banditry and terrorism,
are presently under prison guard at a private hospital while their
co-accused freelance journalist Andrison Manyere is reportedly on the run
after police launched a manhunt for him.
"We write to bring to you this serious violation of our client's
freedoms," Alec Muchadehama, the lawyer representing the MDC activists wrote
to the LSZ.
"We write to request that you seriously look into this matter and get
explanations from the Ministries of Justice and Home affairs, the Attorney
General's Office and their officers in regard to their conduct or
misconduct.
"We also write to request that you register our concern as lawyers in
regard to how our clients have been mistreated from the time of their
initial kidnapping," Muchadehama wrote.
It was not possible to establish immediately what steps, if any, the
LSZ would take regarding the matter.
Mudzingwa, Dhalmini and Manyere were granted on April 17. The two MDC
activists were admitted to Avenues Clinic in Harare for treatment to
injuries they incurred while being tortured by their captors. Manyere, who
was also tortured, was not admitted at the clinic.
Three days after their release on bail, Mudzingwa and Dhalmini were
re-arrested by police without any due process being followed, according to
their lawyers.
Mudzingwa, Dhalmini and Manyere were among more than 30 MDC activists
and human rights defenders abducted by state secret police between October
and December 2008.
More than 20 of the abductees have been accounted for and produced in
court where they have been charged with plotting to topple Mugabe or
engaging in acts of banditry.
The whereabouts of another seven activists are unknown, raising fears
they may have died at the hands of their captors who have been accused of
severely torturing their victims.
Tsvangirai's MDC party re-arrested last week despite being granted bail by
the High Court have requested the Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) to seek
explanation from the government over the matter.
Kisimusi Dhlamini and Gandhi Mudzingwa, the two MDC activists who are
facing what the party says are trumped up charges of banditry and terrorism,
are presently under prison guard at a private hospital while their
co-accused freelance journalist Andrison Manyere is reportedly on the run
after police launched a manhunt for him.
"We write to bring to you this serious violation of our client's
freedoms," Alec Muchadehama, the lawyer representing the MDC activists wrote
to the LSZ.
"We write to request that you seriously look into this matter and get
explanations from the Ministries of Justice and Home affairs, the Attorney
General's Office and their officers in regard to their conduct or
misconduct.
"We also write to request that you register our concern as lawyers in
regard to how our clients have been mistreated from the time of their
initial kidnapping," Muchadehama wrote.
It was not possible to establish immediately what steps, if any, the
LSZ would take regarding the matter.
Mudzingwa, Dhalmini and Manyere were granted on April 17. The two MDC
activists were admitted to Avenues Clinic in Harare for treatment to
injuries they incurred while being tortured by their captors. Manyere, who
was also tortured, was not admitted at the clinic.
Three days after their release on bail, Mudzingwa and Dhalmini were
re-arrested by police without any due process being followed, according to
their lawyers.
Mudzingwa, Dhalmini and Manyere were among more than 30 MDC activists
and human rights defenders abducted by state secret police between October
and December 2008.
More than 20 of the abductees have been accounted for and produced in
court where they have been charged with plotting to topple Mugabe or
engaging in acts of banditry.
The whereabouts of another seven activists are unknown, raising fears
they may have died at the hands of their captors who have been accused of
severely torturing their victims.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Zimbabwe assets face seizure after tribunal rules for farmers
Air Zimbabwe's passenger jets could be seized at Gatwick airport after an
international tribunal ruled that the country's assets could be confiscated
and sold in order to compensate farmers whose land has been seized.
The decision by the Washington-based International Centre for the Settlement
of Investment Disputes (ICSID) came after a six-year legal battle between a
group of Dutch farmers and President Robert Mugabe's government.
It finally ruled last week that Mr Mugabe's government had broken a
bilateral investment treaty with the Netherlands and awarded the group more
than £14 million in compensation.
The ICSID is part of the World Bank and the judgment can be enforced by
seizing Zimbabwean state assets - such as Air Zimbabwe's aircraft - in any
of its more than 100 member countries, which include both Britain and
America. Embassy buildings, though, are excluded from seizure under the
Vienna conventions.
At a hearing in Paris, which was closed to both the public and media,
Zimbabwean officials defended the eviction of more than 4,000 farmers saying
the best agricultural land was taken by white "settlers", mostly British,
during the colonial era.
One of the farmers, Ben Funnekotter, 49, born of Dutch parents in Zimbabwe
and who now lives in Australia, was one of the first forced off by Mr
Mugabe's thugs in 2000.
"We need to see if the award will be paid," he said. "If it is not, then I
will start proceedings to impound any assets belonging to the Zimbabwe
government."
Matthew Coleman, a British lawyer who represented the farmers in Paris,
said: "We hope this encourages others to come forward and bring claims under
the bilateral investment treaties."
international tribunal ruled that the country's assets could be confiscated
and sold in order to compensate farmers whose land has been seized.
The decision by the Washington-based International Centre for the Settlement
of Investment Disputes (ICSID) came after a six-year legal battle between a
group of Dutch farmers and President Robert Mugabe's government.
It finally ruled last week that Mr Mugabe's government had broken a
bilateral investment treaty with the Netherlands and awarded the group more
than £14 million in compensation.
The ICSID is part of the World Bank and the judgment can be enforced by
seizing Zimbabwean state assets - such as Air Zimbabwe's aircraft - in any
of its more than 100 member countries, which include both Britain and
America. Embassy buildings, though, are excluded from seizure under the
Vienna conventions.
At a hearing in Paris, which was closed to both the public and media,
Zimbabwean officials defended the eviction of more than 4,000 farmers saying
the best agricultural land was taken by white "settlers", mostly British,
during the colonial era.
One of the farmers, Ben Funnekotter, 49, born of Dutch parents in Zimbabwe
and who now lives in Australia, was one of the first forced off by Mr
Mugabe's thugs in 2000.
"We need to see if the award will be paid," he said. "If it is not, then I
will start proceedings to impound any assets belonging to the Zimbabwe
government."
Matthew Coleman, a British lawyer who represented the farmers in Paris,
said: "We hope this encourages others to come forward and bring claims under
the bilateral investment treaties."
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Police detain white commercial farmer
HARARE - Zimbabwean police on Tuesday detained a white commercial farmer --
who is embroiled in a farm ownership wrangle with a high ranking government
official - allegedly for disorderly conduct.
Peter Etheredge, who owns Stockdale Farm in the south western farming town
of Chegutu that Zimbabwe's Speaker of Parliament Edna Madzongwe wants to
take over, was detained by police in the morning.
Two of his employees were shot and injured allegedly by police guarding the
farm on behalf of Madzongwe. They were taken to the Avenues Clinic in the
capital.
A lawyer who was in Chegutu confirmed that Etheredge was detained at Chegutu
police station. "He has been detained for disorderly conduct," said the
lawyer who did not want her name to be published.
"What is surprising is that that the police are saying it's disorderly
conduct but no one is elaborating as to what actually happened. Two of his
employees have been taken to Harare after they had been shot in the
morning," the lawyer added.
Another farmer at the scene also confirmed the detention of Etheredge. "He
has been detained by the police since morning, and we have not been told
what is the problem or what the police intend to charge him with," said the
farmer.
"We are completely in the dark, but two of his workers have been shot, one
through the knee and another somewhere in the leg."
No comment could be obtained from the police last night.
Violence has intensified on farms across Zimbabwe in recent weeks, with farm
invaders attacking workers and owners, effectively paralysing operations on
farms.
Commercial farmers' organisations say invaders have since February raided at
least 100 of the about 300 remaining white-owned commercial farms, a
development that has intensified doubts over whether the unity government
will withstand attempts by ZANU PF hardliners to sabotage it.
The International Monetary Fund and Western countries have - on top of other
conditions - made it clear that hey would not consider giving aid to the
Harare government while farm invasion continue.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday appointed a team of senior
government ministers to probe continuing violence on the country's few
remaining white-owned commercial farms.
The team that visited selected farms was led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara and included joint-Home Affairs Ministers Kembo Mohadi and Giles
Mutsekwa, Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, Lands Minister Hebert Murerwa
and Minister of State in Tsvangirai's office Gorden Moyo.
Zimbabwe, also grappling with its worst ever economic crisis, has since 2000
when land reforms began, relied on food imports and handouts from
international food agencies mainly due to failure by resettled black
peasants to maintain production on former white farms.
Poor performance in the mainstay agricultural sector has also had far
reaching consequences as hundreds of thousands of people have lost jobs
while the manufacturing sector, starved of inputs from the sector, is
operating at around 10 percent of capacity
who is embroiled in a farm ownership wrangle with a high ranking government
official - allegedly for disorderly conduct.
Peter Etheredge, who owns Stockdale Farm in the south western farming town
of Chegutu that Zimbabwe's Speaker of Parliament Edna Madzongwe wants to
take over, was detained by police in the morning.
Two of his employees were shot and injured allegedly by police guarding the
farm on behalf of Madzongwe. They were taken to the Avenues Clinic in the
capital.
A lawyer who was in Chegutu confirmed that Etheredge was detained at Chegutu
police station. "He has been detained for disorderly conduct," said the
lawyer who did not want her name to be published.
"What is surprising is that that the police are saying it's disorderly
conduct but no one is elaborating as to what actually happened. Two of his
employees have been taken to Harare after they had been shot in the
morning," the lawyer added.
Another farmer at the scene also confirmed the detention of Etheredge. "He
has been detained by the police since morning, and we have not been told
what is the problem or what the police intend to charge him with," said the
farmer.
"We are completely in the dark, but two of his workers have been shot, one
through the knee and another somewhere in the leg."
No comment could be obtained from the police last night.
Violence has intensified on farms across Zimbabwe in recent weeks, with farm
invaders attacking workers and owners, effectively paralysing operations on
farms.
Commercial farmers' organisations say invaders have since February raided at
least 100 of the about 300 remaining white-owned commercial farms, a
development that has intensified doubts over whether the unity government
will withstand attempts by ZANU PF hardliners to sabotage it.
The International Monetary Fund and Western countries have - on top of other
conditions - made it clear that hey would not consider giving aid to the
Harare government while farm invasion continue.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday appointed a team of senior
government ministers to probe continuing violence on the country's few
remaining white-owned commercial farms.
The team that visited selected farms was led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur
Mutambara and included joint-Home Affairs Ministers Kembo Mohadi and Giles
Mutsekwa, Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, Lands Minister Hebert Murerwa
and Minister of State in Tsvangirai's office Gorden Moyo.
Zimbabwe, also grappling with its worst ever economic crisis, has since 2000
when land reforms began, relied on food imports and handouts from
international food agencies mainly due to failure by resettled black
peasants to maintain production on former white farms.
Poor performance in the mainstay agricultural sector has also had far
reaching consequences as hundreds of thousands of people have lost jobs
while the manufacturing sector, starved of inputs from the sector, is
operating at around 10 percent of capacity
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
ZANU PF functionaries still dominate Zim media: Report
HARARE - Officials linked to President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party
and central bank chief Gideon Gono still enjoy unfettered publicity from the
country's public media two months after formation of an inclusive
government, a media monitoring organisation has said.
In its weekly media report, the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe
(MMPZ) said people "linked to ZANU PF" continued to indulge in "abuse of
public media", citing the Herald's recent reproduction of comments made by
Gono during the era when ZANU PF used to rule the country alone.
"Nothing more clearly illustrates the continued abuse of public media
by senior government officials linked to ZANU PF than the Herald's coverage
of the Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono's address to parliamentarians
during which he defended his quasi-fiscal policies that were partly to blame
for the country's economic collapse," MMPZ said.
"Instead of critically examining his statements, the paper (Herald)
published stories between Friday April 3 and Wednesday April 8 2009 merely
regurgitating his justification of discredited activities during ZANU PF
government reign."
The media body said although the daily supinely reported Gono as
having dismissed private media reports that he had run a parallel government
prior to the formation of the inclusive government on February 11, there was
no attempt to unmask Gono's statements of dishonesty when he diverted funds
meant to assist the Global Fund.
"There was no attempt to relate dishonest statements to documented
evidence of his abuse of money from Global Fund and his raids on foreign
currency accounts belonging to exporters and NGOs among other irregular
activities," MMPZ said.
"Neither did the paper seek independent corroboration of merely
executing his mandate as stipulated by law governing operations of the
central bank."
The problem was not confined to the Herald alone, MMPZ said as this
also spilled over to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation's (ZBC) SpotFM
which changed its mid-morning programming to accommodate the live broadcast
of Gono's more than one-and-half-hour long address, which it repeated the
same evening.
"It is such blatant abuse of the public media that vindicates calls
for urgent media law reforms that would help Zimbabweans to reclaim public
media so as to ensure that they fully adhere to their mandate of serving the
interests of all citizens."
Zimbabwe's power-sharing government early this month undertook to open
up the media to more players within the next 100 days, agreeing to reform
Zimbabwe's restrictive media regulatory environment so as to ensure press
freedom.
State Minister Gorden Moyo told reporters after a ministerial retreat
in Victoria Falls that government had "resolved that the media laws be
reformed and that space be provided for more players".
"We are expecting that we will have a new media commission which will
oversee serious steps toward freeing the airwaves in terms of licensing TV
and radio stations and allowing other players from outside to come and
broadcast from Zimbabwe," said Moyo.
Government-controlled newspapers are the biggest and most dominant in
Zimbabwe after Mugabe's government banned four privately owned newspapers
including the Daily News, which was the largest circulating daily at its
forced closure in 2003.
There are no independent broadcasters in Zimbabwe. The state-owned ZBC
runs the country's only television and radio stations, all tightly
controlled by government, which has the final say on senior editorial and
managerial appointments.
The southern African country has some of the toughest media laws in
the world. For example, the government's Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) requires journalists to obtain licences
from the government's Media and Information Commission in order to practise
in Zimbabwe.
The commission can withdraw licences from journalists who fail to
conform. Journalists caught practising without a licence are liable to a
two-year jail term under AIPPA.
Besides journalists being required to obtain licences, newspaper
companies are also required to register with the state commission with those
failing to do so facing closure and seizure of their equipment by the
police.
Former opposition leader and now Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
Mugabe formed a power sharing government in February to rescue Zimbabwe's
ruined economy and work to end a humanitarian crisis manifested in deepening
poverty and disease.
Article 19 of the power-sharing agreement signed in September by
Zimbabwe's major political parties acknowledges the need for a free and
diverse media environment.
and central bank chief Gideon Gono still enjoy unfettered publicity from the
country's public media two months after formation of an inclusive
government, a media monitoring organisation has said.
In its weekly media report, the Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe
(MMPZ) said people "linked to ZANU PF" continued to indulge in "abuse of
public media", citing the Herald's recent reproduction of comments made by
Gono during the era when ZANU PF used to rule the country alone.
"Nothing more clearly illustrates the continued abuse of public media
by senior government officials linked to ZANU PF than the Herald's coverage
of the Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono's address to parliamentarians
during which he defended his quasi-fiscal policies that were partly to blame
for the country's economic collapse," MMPZ said.
"Instead of critically examining his statements, the paper (Herald)
published stories between Friday April 3 and Wednesday April 8 2009 merely
regurgitating his justification of discredited activities during ZANU PF
government reign."
The media body said although the daily supinely reported Gono as
having dismissed private media reports that he had run a parallel government
prior to the formation of the inclusive government on February 11, there was
no attempt to unmask Gono's statements of dishonesty when he diverted funds
meant to assist the Global Fund.
"There was no attempt to relate dishonest statements to documented
evidence of his abuse of money from Global Fund and his raids on foreign
currency accounts belonging to exporters and NGOs among other irregular
activities," MMPZ said.
"Neither did the paper seek independent corroboration of merely
executing his mandate as stipulated by law governing operations of the
central bank."
The problem was not confined to the Herald alone, MMPZ said as this
also spilled over to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation's (ZBC) SpotFM
which changed its mid-morning programming to accommodate the live broadcast
of Gono's more than one-and-half-hour long address, which it repeated the
same evening.
"It is such blatant abuse of the public media that vindicates calls
for urgent media law reforms that would help Zimbabweans to reclaim public
media so as to ensure that they fully adhere to their mandate of serving the
interests of all citizens."
Zimbabwe's power-sharing government early this month undertook to open
up the media to more players within the next 100 days, agreeing to reform
Zimbabwe's restrictive media regulatory environment so as to ensure press
freedom.
State Minister Gorden Moyo told reporters after a ministerial retreat
in Victoria Falls that government had "resolved that the media laws be
reformed and that space be provided for more players".
"We are expecting that we will have a new media commission which will
oversee serious steps toward freeing the airwaves in terms of licensing TV
and radio stations and allowing other players from outside to come and
broadcast from Zimbabwe," said Moyo.
Government-controlled newspapers are the biggest and most dominant in
Zimbabwe after Mugabe's government banned four privately owned newspapers
including the Daily News, which was the largest circulating daily at its
forced closure in 2003.
There are no independent broadcasters in Zimbabwe. The state-owned ZBC
runs the country's only television and radio stations, all tightly
controlled by government, which has the final say on senior editorial and
managerial appointments.
The southern African country has some of the toughest media laws in
the world. For example, the government's Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) requires journalists to obtain licences
from the government's Media and Information Commission in order to practise
in Zimbabwe.
The commission can withdraw licences from journalists who fail to
conform. Journalists caught practising without a licence are liable to a
two-year jail term under AIPPA.
Besides journalists being required to obtain licences, newspaper
companies are also required to register with the state commission with those
failing to do so facing closure and seizure of their equipment by the
police.
Former opposition leader and now Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and
Mugabe formed a power sharing government in February to rescue Zimbabwe's
ruined economy and work to end a humanitarian crisis manifested in deepening
poverty and disease.
Article 19 of the power-sharing agreement signed in September by
Zimbabwe's major political parties acknowledges the need for a free and
diverse media environment.
Monday, April 20, 2009
ZANU -PF determined to continue looting
The recent demotion of ICT Minister Hon. Nelson Chamisa by the ZANU PF
leader Mr Robert Mugabe only serves to confirm how insincere ZANU-PF remains
about genuine partnership with the opposition.
ZANU PF has a defined plan to weaken and decimate the opposition ahead of
elections . It is clear that ZANU believes MDC should be a junior partner in
the power-sharing arrangement despite the fact that MDC won the election and
should be the ruling party whilst ZANU PF should be recovering as a
opposition party.
The whole GNU concept was ill-conceived from the start. This has been
worsened by the general view that those who do not support the GNU are not
patriotic.
The reported transformation of the Joint Operations Command into the Social
Revolutionary Council only saves to highlight how ZANU is slowly re-branding
its notorious units.
These units have their habits and ways of committing evil acts against
anyone who tries to challenge them.
It is clear ZANU PF does not support the proposed Media reforms and access
to information which Hon Chamisa was spear heading. These are the key
reforms that Zimbabwe needs for the "sanctions" to be lifted.
By demoting Hon Chamisa Mr Mugabe is making it clear he doesn't care about
sanctions or the welfare of Zimbabweans who desperately need International
support and assistance .
What is clear is ZANU is determined to hold on to National Assets such as
Net-one which are being looted left ,right and centre. The introduction of
Hon Chamisa presented a road block for the looting gravy train.
Just like its exclusive access to the Diamond mines in Chiadzwa ,ZANU PF
remains focused on denying MDC any access to resources or power. This
explains why the state Media continue to take a dim view on all activities
of the MDC.
According to ZANU PF when they lose election power has to be shared but when
ZANU "won" past elections there was never a suggestion that power should be
shared.
This trend is totally disturbing as it goes against the whole concept of
having elections in the first place.
The parties should simply sit and dived power without wasting time
,resources and killing opposition activists just to proceed to divide power
between election losers and winners .
The MDC clearly was duped ,intimidated and forced into a Government meant to
legitimize an illegal government that has committed serious crimes against
humanity.
After losing an election and then proceed to commit mass murder ,rape,
torture against Zimbabweans ZANU PF does not deserve to be rewarded or
legitimized by being accommodated in some fancy Government structure as a
senior partner in that Government.
It is clear ZANU is determined to use all tricks and tactics to frustrate
and impede Zimbabwe's recovery. The recent press reports of the Reserve Bank
dishing out Quasi Fiscal Activities left over vehicles to Mps is just but
one clear sign that Zimbabwe remains in the woods.
The MPS are being silenced through such perks which are still dripping with
blood from crimes against humanity.
The very same vehicles are the "unmarked vehicles" that were used through
out the country to abduct, torture and murder opposition and human rights
activists.
And now Members of Parliament are being rewarded with such tainted vehicles
used to commit such horrible crimes against innocent Zimbabweans?
How can then the MPs be expected to question the source of the vehicles or
what the vehicles were used for in the past?
MDC is categorically being dismantled and weakened much to the disadvantage
of Zimbabweans who have all their faith in MDC as an agent of change.
The two MDC Ministers from who much was expected are slowly being entangled
in a massive web resembling a circus. Finance Minister Biti was widely
expected to be a new broom at the Ministry of Finance , but he is unlikely
to deliver much as long as the International Community withholds support.
Given that the removal of the Reserve Bank Governor has been made a
condition precedent for any resumption of Aid means Minister Biti will find
it hard to achieve the 100 day plan goals.
The Reserve Bank Governor has made it clear that he is borrowing his
Principal's favorite song - handiende.
Now if you have individuals who are willing to hold the nation at ransom
just to remain in office it doesn't take much to figure that such people
cant be taken as serious partners with a genuine will to see the country
recover.
The recent documentary on Prisons conditions show how ZANU PF has committed
crimes against humanity. The evidence is undeniable .
According to Wikipedia Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are
particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on
human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human
beings.
They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a
government policy (although the perpetrators need not identify themselves
with this policy) or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned
by a government or a de facto authority.
Murder, extermination, torture, rape, political, racial, or religious
persecution and other inhumane acts reach the threshold of crimes against
humanity only if they are part of a widespread or systematic practice .
The conditions in Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe's Prisons clearly show how fellow
human beings are degraded, abused and humiliated in a scale that's clearly a
crime against humanity .
When you have partners who are prepared to do things such as keeping fellow
human beings under such conditions and come out to deny or support it its
clear such a Government can not be progressive.
As such MDC may need to re-think its partnership with ZANU-PF since
Governments operate on the doctrine of share responsibility and
accountability.
Some of these crimes against humanity need to isolated and be clearly linked
to those who committed them .
It is clear that the MDC needs to remain alert to the various schemes and
tactics that are being employed to weaken it.
Ministers Biti and Chamisa were particularly expected to deliver a lot on
behalf of the MDC and as elections draw closer it may be harder for them to
show any real progress due to the traps and snares prepared for them in
ZANU-PF bid to tarnish MDC reputation and image .
Zimbabwe needs a ruling party and an opposition ,not de-facto one party
state.
leader Mr Robert Mugabe only serves to confirm how insincere ZANU-PF remains
about genuine partnership with the opposition.
ZANU PF has a defined plan to weaken and decimate the opposition ahead of
elections . It is clear that ZANU believes MDC should be a junior partner in
the power-sharing arrangement despite the fact that MDC won the election and
should be the ruling party whilst ZANU PF should be recovering as a
opposition party.
The whole GNU concept was ill-conceived from the start. This has been
worsened by the general view that those who do not support the GNU are not
patriotic.
The reported transformation of the Joint Operations Command into the Social
Revolutionary Council only saves to highlight how ZANU is slowly re-branding
its notorious units.
These units have their habits and ways of committing evil acts against
anyone who tries to challenge them.
It is clear ZANU PF does not support the proposed Media reforms and access
to information which Hon Chamisa was spear heading. These are the key
reforms that Zimbabwe needs for the "sanctions" to be lifted.
By demoting Hon Chamisa Mr Mugabe is making it clear he doesn't care about
sanctions or the welfare of Zimbabweans who desperately need International
support and assistance .
What is clear is ZANU is determined to hold on to National Assets such as
Net-one which are being looted left ,right and centre. The introduction of
Hon Chamisa presented a road block for the looting gravy train.
Just like its exclusive access to the Diamond mines in Chiadzwa ,ZANU PF
remains focused on denying MDC any access to resources or power. This
explains why the state Media continue to take a dim view on all activities
of the MDC.
According to ZANU PF when they lose election power has to be shared but when
ZANU "won" past elections there was never a suggestion that power should be
shared.
This trend is totally disturbing as it goes against the whole concept of
having elections in the first place.
The parties should simply sit and dived power without wasting time
,resources and killing opposition activists just to proceed to divide power
between election losers and winners .
The MDC clearly was duped ,intimidated and forced into a Government meant to
legitimize an illegal government that has committed serious crimes against
humanity.
After losing an election and then proceed to commit mass murder ,rape,
torture against Zimbabweans ZANU PF does not deserve to be rewarded or
legitimized by being accommodated in some fancy Government structure as a
senior partner in that Government.
It is clear ZANU is determined to use all tricks and tactics to frustrate
and impede Zimbabwe's recovery. The recent press reports of the Reserve Bank
dishing out Quasi Fiscal Activities left over vehicles to Mps is just but
one clear sign that Zimbabwe remains in the woods.
The MPS are being silenced through such perks which are still dripping with
blood from crimes against humanity.
The very same vehicles are the "unmarked vehicles" that were used through
out the country to abduct, torture and murder opposition and human rights
activists.
And now Members of Parliament are being rewarded with such tainted vehicles
used to commit such horrible crimes against innocent Zimbabweans?
How can then the MPs be expected to question the source of the vehicles or
what the vehicles were used for in the past?
MDC is categorically being dismantled and weakened much to the disadvantage
of Zimbabweans who have all their faith in MDC as an agent of change.
The two MDC Ministers from who much was expected are slowly being entangled
in a massive web resembling a circus. Finance Minister Biti was widely
expected to be a new broom at the Ministry of Finance , but he is unlikely
to deliver much as long as the International Community withholds support.
Given that the removal of the Reserve Bank Governor has been made a
condition precedent for any resumption of Aid means Minister Biti will find
it hard to achieve the 100 day plan goals.
The Reserve Bank Governor has made it clear that he is borrowing his
Principal's favorite song - handiende.
Now if you have individuals who are willing to hold the nation at ransom
just to remain in office it doesn't take much to figure that such people
cant be taken as serious partners with a genuine will to see the country
recover.
The recent documentary on Prisons conditions show how ZANU PF has committed
crimes against humanity. The evidence is undeniable .
According to Wikipedia Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are
particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on
human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human
beings.
They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a
government policy (although the perpetrators need not identify themselves
with this policy) or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned
by a government or a de facto authority.
Murder, extermination, torture, rape, political, racial, or religious
persecution and other inhumane acts reach the threshold of crimes against
humanity only if they are part of a widespread or systematic practice .
The conditions in Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe's Prisons clearly show how fellow
human beings are degraded, abused and humiliated in a scale that's clearly a
crime against humanity .
When you have partners who are prepared to do things such as keeping fellow
human beings under such conditions and come out to deny or support it its
clear such a Government can not be progressive.
As such MDC may need to re-think its partnership with ZANU-PF since
Governments operate on the doctrine of share responsibility and
accountability.
Some of these crimes against humanity need to isolated and be clearly linked
to those who committed them .
It is clear that the MDC needs to remain alert to the various schemes and
tactics that are being employed to weaken it.
Ministers Biti and Chamisa were particularly expected to deliver a lot on
behalf of the MDC and as elections draw closer it may be harder for them to
show any real progress due to the traps and snares prepared for them in
ZANU-PF bid to tarnish MDC reputation and image .
Zimbabwe needs a ruling party and an opposition ,not de-facto one party
state.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Hardline ZANU-PF Ministers Form Oppositional Group
By Blessing Zulu
Zimbabwean cabinet ministers belonging to President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and former members of the Joint Operations Command of security agency chiefs are said to have joined forces in a shadowy group calling itself the Social Revolutionary Council designed to frustrate the aims of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, political sources say.
Members of the group are said to include Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono and the commanders of the army and air force, government and party sources said.
Mnangagwa, considered a potential successor to Mr. Mugabe as ZANU-PF chief and as that party's next presidential contender, declined to comment, as did Mutasa.
The Joint Operations Command, commonly referred to as the JOC, was said to have exerted significant influence over President Mugabe following his defeat by Mr. Tsvangirai in the first round of presidential voting on March 29, 2008, and to have coordinated the deadly wave of political violence that preceded the presidential runoff ballot on June 27. Mr. Tsvangirai withdrew from that runoff in protest of the violence against his supporters.
The Social Revolutionary Council is said to be behind the recent wave of invasions of white-owned commercial farms and the continued detention and harassment of officials and activists of Mr. Tsvangirai's formation of the Movement for Democratic Change.
Confirming there remain divisions within the unity government, President Mugabe this week said farm takeovers should continue, adding that elections could be held in two years.
Government and political sources said the members of the group lobbied Mr. Mugabe not to swear deputy agriculture minister-designate Roy Bennett into office.
The sources said Bennett’s son Charles has also been targeted by the group, which urged the police to arrest him for driving his father Feb. 13 to the airport outside Harare where he was arrested on weapons and security charges dating to 2006.
Sources in Tsvangirai's MDC formation central banker Gono tried to influence lawmakers from the majority party by offering them luxury vehicles. They said Tsvangirai Thursday ordered MDC MPs not to accept such vehicles following an incident in which MPs booed Deputy Prime Minister Thokozane Khupe when she urged them to turn down Gono's offer.
MDC sources said Tsvangirai has already sent a letter to Mr. Mugabe urging him to swear in Bennett and resolve issues still outstanding eight weeks after the government's launch.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti, secretary general of Tsvangirai’s MDC formation, told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that residual hardline elements in ZANU-PF have stirring up controversy over Bennett, who is free on bail and still facing charges.
Pretoria-based political analyst Sydney Masamvu of the International Crisis Group said some elements in ZANU-PF are not comfortable with the new political dispensation in Harare. -VOA.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
No Respite in Political Violence
VICTIMS of the unrelenting political violence in remote parts of the country are increasingly becoming desperate with many considering relocating to neighbouring countries, investigations revealed last week.
Some still sleep in the bush for fear of arson attacks while others are contemplating moving to safer areas.
The victims, mostly supporters of the mainstream Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations, accuse the police of turning a blind eye as Zanu PF militia and war veterans continue to terrorise them.They feel let down by the government of national unity (GNU), saying it is a marriage of convenience between President Robert Mugabe and the two MDC leaders — Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister, Professor Arthur Mutambara.
The violence and intimidation is reportedly prevalent in remote parts of Mashonaland, which was once considered Mugabe’s undisputed stronghold.
Scores of MDC supporters in Muzarabani said they were contemplating moving to Mozambique in order to flee political victimisation by Zanu PF militia and war veterans who were spurning the hand of reconciliation.
Victims who spoke to The Standard last week said they had been left with no choice but to relocate to neighbouring Mozambique.
Many have already made contacts with their friends, relatives and traditional chiefs across the border, who they said had shown sympathy and willingness to accommodate them.
Wellington Gweru, who was the MDC-T candidate for Ward 18 in Muzarabani during last year’s harmonised elections, is one such forlorn victim.
“I have seen many of my friends dying,” Gweru said. “I can’t wait to be the next victim. The police and traditional leaders here appear to be powerless.”
Suspected Zanu PF militia, war veterans and state security agents reportedly murdered over 200 MDC supporters in the most violent campaign since the country’s Independence in 1980.
Over 200 000 others were internally displaced.
Earlier this month, Zanu PF officials confiscated agricultural implements that MDC supporters received under the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s mechanisation programme claiming the recipients belonged to the “wrong” party.
Implements they seized included ox-drawn ploughs, knapsack sprayers, cultivators, scotch carts as well as fertiliser and seeds.
The aggressors are reportedly threatening to burn down all houses belonging to MDC supporters that had been rebuilt after they were torched last year.
“What they want is for us to flee the area so that we will not reclaim the implements and our livestock they are looting,” Gweru said.
Gweru accused Zanu PF district party chairman Avozhi Chibhedebhede and councillor Godfrey Katsiru - who were also named as aggressors during last year’s elections - of spearheading the current wave of violence and intimidation in Muzarabani.
Neither Chibhedebhede nor Katsiru were immediately contactable to comment on the allegations.
In Mutoko in Mashonaland East Zanu PF militias are still refusing to extend the hand of reconciliation, tolerance and co-existence after years of political violence.
MDC supporters in Mutoko said they were being threatened for demanding back property confiscated by war veterans and Zanu PF supporters.
During last year’s election MDC supporters were ordered to surrender their livestock and other possessions to traditional chiefs and Zanu PF militia as punishment for supporting an opposition party.
“Life in Mutoko has become as nightmarish as it was it June 2008,” said one MDC supporter, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution.
The police, he said, appear to be still getting instructions from the local Zanu PF leadership.
Out of desperation MDC supporters have also started retaliating.
Several MDC activists were arrested recently after they allegedly burnt down homes of Zanu PF supporters in retaliation.
Zanu PF was quick in assisting those whose homes were burnt. They were given packs of food, blankets and other household goods.
In another act of violence, thousands of rural teachers were at the beginning of the school term chased away from their schools by war veterans who accused them of supporting the MDC.
Political analysts attribute the continued violence to ideological hardliners in Zanu PF who are determined to stop the “dilution of the revolution” through the unity government.
“There are those who are totally against the GNU and are doing everything they can to discredit it,” said University of Zimbabwe political analyst Eldred Masunungure.
“It’s residual resistance. It’s like telling a drug addict to stop taking drugs. It won’t be instant.”
Masunungure also believes the message of peaceful co-existence has not reached some remote parts of the country.
“The message has not percolated into the periphery of the country,” he said. “It takes time to get there and be accepted as an authentic message from their leaders.”
It is feared that the message by Zanu PF to its supporters that they should prepare for the next election could stoke violence.
Masunungure said politicians should preach the message of national healing before talking about elections.
Commenting on the resurgence of political violence the co-Minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa warned that perpetrators risked being arrested regardless of their political affiliation.
“I know for sure that there are still some pockets of violence being perpetrated by either side of the divide, but I want to assure you that the offenders will be arrested regardless of political affiliation,” said Mutsekwa, who co-chairs the ministry with Kembo Mohadi. of Zanu PF.
Some still sleep in the bush for fear of arson attacks while others are contemplating moving to safer areas.
The victims, mostly supporters of the mainstream Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations, accuse the police of turning a blind eye as Zanu PF militia and war veterans continue to terrorise them.They feel let down by the government of national unity (GNU), saying it is a marriage of convenience between President Robert Mugabe and the two MDC leaders — Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister, Professor Arthur Mutambara.
The violence and intimidation is reportedly prevalent in remote parts of Mashonaland, which was once considered Mugabe’s undisputed stronghold.
Scores of MDC supporters in Muzarabani said they were contemplating moving to Mozambique in order to flee political victimisation by Zanu PF militia and war veterans who were spurning the hand of reconciliation.
Victims who spoke to The Standard last week said they had been left with no choice but to relocate to neighbouring Mozambique.
Many have already made contacts with their friends, relatives and traditional chiefs across the border, who they said had shown sympathy and willingness to accommodate them.
Wellington Gweru, who was the MDC-T candidate for Ward 18 in Muzarabani during last year’s harmonised elections, is one such forlorn victim.
“I have seen many of my friends dying,” Gweru said. “I can’t wait to be the next victim. The police and traditional leaders here appear to be powerless.”
Suspected Zanu PF militia, war veterans and state security agents reportedly murdered over 200 MDC supporters in the most violent campaign since the country’s Independence in 1980.
Over 200 000 others were internally displaced.
Earlier this month, Zanu PF officials confiscated agricultural implements that MDC supporters received under the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)’s mechanisation programme claiming the recipients belonged to the “wrong” party.
Implements they seized included ox-drawn ploughs, knapsack sprayers, cultivators, scotch carts as well as fertiliser and seeds.
The aggressors are reportedly threatening to burn down all houses belonging to MDC supporters that had been rebuilt after they were torched last year.
“What they want is for us to flee the area so that we will not reclaim the implements and our livestock they are looting,” Gweru said.
Gweru accused Zanu PF district party chairman Avozhi Chibhedebhede and councillor Godfrey Katsiru - who were also named as aggressors during last year’s elections - of spearheading the current wave of violence and intimidation in Muzarabani.
Neither Chibhedebhede nor Katsiru were immediately contactable to comment on the allegations.
In Mutoko in Mashonaland East Zanu PF militias are still refusing to extend the hand of reconciliation, tolerance and co-existence after years of political violence.
MDC supporters in Mutoko said they were being threatened for demanding back property confiscated by war veterans and Zanu PF supporters.
During last year’s election MDC supporters were ordered to surrender their livestock and other possessions to traditional chiefs and Zanu PF militia as punishment for supporting an opposition party.
“Life in Mutoko has become as nightmarish as it was it June 2008,” said one MDC supporter, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution.
The police, he said, appear to be still getting instructions from the local Zanu PF leadership.
Out of desperation MDC supporters have also started retaliating.
Several MDC activists were arrested recently after they allegedly burnt down homes of Zanu PF supporters in retaliation.
Zanu PF was quick in assisting those whose homes were burnt. They were given packs of food, blankets and other household goods.
In another act of violence, thousands of rural teachers were at the beginning of the school term chased away from their schools by war veterans who accused them of supporting the MDC.
Political analysts attribute the continued violence to ideological hardliners in Zanu PF who are determined to stop the “dilution of the revolution” through the unity government.
“There are those who are totally against the GNU and are doing everything they can to discredit it,” said University of Zimbabwe political analyst Eldred Masunungure.
“It’s residual resistance. It’s like telling a drug addict to stop taking drugs. It won’t be instant.”
Masunungure also believes the message of peaceful co-existence has not reached some remote parts of the country.
“The message has not percolated into the periphery of the country,” he said. “It takes time to get there and be accepted as an authentic message from their leaders.”
It is feared that the message by Zanu PF to its supporters that they should prepare for the next election could stoke violence.
Masunungure said politicians should preach the message of national healing before talking about elections.
Commenting on the resurgence of political violence the co-Minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa warned that perpetrators risked being arrested regardless of their political affiliation.
“I know for sure that there are still some pockets of violence being perpetrated by either side of the divide, but I want to assure you that the offenders will be arrested regardless of political affiliation,” said Mutsekwa, who co-chairs the ministry with Kembo Mohadi. of Zanu PF.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
EU says too early to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe
The European Union said Thursday that it is too early to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe and that President Robert Mugabe first had to prove that he would hand down all necessary powers to the government.
"We are looking at the situation very carefully, watching developments," Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, told reporters at a summit in Brussels.
"We shall see whether the distribution of power operates, if President Mugabe places substantial powers in the hands of democratically elected ministers," he said.
The EU would then, he said, "be able to look at the sanctions and will be able to lift them, but we can't do that immediately. Foremost they have to prove that they are going to stick to the rules."
In Harare earlier Thursday, Mugabe called for foreign aid to revive his nation's shattered economy and urged the United States and the EU to end "cruel" sanctions on his inner circle.
Mugabe issued the appeal at the launch of a new economic recovery plan prepared by the month-old unity government.
The European Union and the United States maintain a travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe and his inner circle in protest at controversial elections and alleged human rights abuses by his government.
Although his long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai became prime minister in a unity government last month, Western countries want to maintain the sanctions until the 85-year-old leader proves he is ready to reform.
Zimbabwe's once-dynamic economy has been crushed by world-record hyperinflation and the collapse of farming, mining and manufacturing.
Meanwhile the United States will continue its sanctions against Zimbabwe before the African country shows "respect for human rights and the rule of law," State Department Robert Wood said on Thursday.
"We have not yet seen sufficient evidence from the government of Zimbabwe that they are firmly and irrevocably on a path to inclusive and effective governance, and as well as respect for human rights and the rule of law," State Department Robert Wood told a news briefing.
"So that government has a long way to go before we will consider ... easing sanctions with that government," Wood said. "We're not in any kind of discussion with ... the government of Zimbabwe on removing our targeted sanctions."
Wood made the remarks after Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Thursday called for international aid for his country's economic recovery and lifting of sanctions.
Mugabe, who has been leading Zimbabwe since its 1980 independence from Britain, blames sanctions by the United States and its Western allies for Zimbabwe's economic collapse.
Relations between the United States and Zimbabwe have soured in recent years, with former U.S. President George W. Bush and his administration accusing Mugabe's government of rigging parliamentary and presidential elections since 2000.
Mugabe in call for an end to "cruel, inhumane sanctions"
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Thursday called for foreign aid to revive his nation's shattered economy and urged Washington and Brussels to end "cruel" sanctions on his inner circle.
"I on behalf of the inclusive government and the people of Zimbabwe say, friends of Zimbabwe please come to our aid," Mugabe said at the launch of a new economic recovery plan prepared by the month-old unity government.
"To the European Union and the United States, I appeal for the removal of your sanctions which are inhumane, cruel and unwarranted."
"We also wish to appeal to all those countries which wish us to succeed to support our national endeavour to turn around our economy," he added.
The European Union and the United States maintain a travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe and his inner circle in protest at controversial elections and alleged human rights abuses by his government.
Although his long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai became prime minister in a unity government last month, western countries say they will maintain the sanctions until the 85-year-old leader proves he is ready to reform.
Zimbabwe's once-dynamic economy has been crushed by world-record hyperinflation and the collapse of farming, mining and manufacturing.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti, Tsvangirai's top aide, slashed the government budget by nearly half on Wednesday, saying that revenues would be 43 percent lower than predicted just two months ago.
Tsvangirai has asked neighbouring countries for two billion dollars to help jump-start the economy, but has said that a total of five billion dollars would be needed to put the country back on track.
Mugabe did not say how much aid Zimbabwe wanted, as he launched the Short-term Emergency Recovery Progamme (STERP) in a ceremony at a Harare hotel.
"The successful implementation of STERP will indeed require a substantial amount of resources... We hope these will be forthcoming," he said.
Mugabe said that Zimbabwe needed to move away from "divisive and distractive activities and devote ourselves to a constructive and beneficial socio-economic reconstruction programme."
The wide-ranging scheme calls for reviving agriculture, which has been devastated following Mugabe's chaotic land reform programme, as well as mining, manufacturing and tourism.
Mugabe said the programme would involve lifting price controls, which have been blamed for undermining manufacturing as the president tried unsuccessfully to battle inflation by mandating prices below the cost of production.
"We thus envisage a giant step towards economic stabilisation," Mugabe said at the ceremony attended by Biti and other officials from Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The economic blueprint said that the government would stop measuring inflation in Zimbabwe dollars and use foreign currency instead. No inflation estimate has been published since the last figure of 239 million percent in July.
The local currency, which was being printed in larger denominations every few weeks, has now disappeared from the streets since dollars and rands were legalised in January.
The document said that the switch to foreign currency could bring inflation down to 10 percent by the end of the year.
African Development Bank chief economist Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa, who attended the presentation, said that the document "showed an attempt to project a unity of purpose" by the new government.
"The five billion dollar bail-out might sound like a lot of money, but it is the right amount for a for a country like Zimbabwe," he said.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Mugabe calls for peace as the police continue persecution of MDC officials
While Robert Mugabe called for an end to political violence at the burial of Rtd. Gen. Vitalis Zvinavashe at Heroes Acre today, pro-ZANU-PF police elements arrested Admire Mukorera, an MDC official and Deputy Mayor of the City of Mutare.
In a case of either acute amnesia or hypocrisy, Mugabe told mourners at the Heroes Acre that: "Zimbabwe is ours together, the land is ours. Why should we continue fighting each other?"
This is the same Mugabe who less than a year ago condoned ZANU-PF militia violence across the country that left almost 200 MDC activists and supporters dead.
In a spirit of unity, MDC officials, led by PM Tsvangirai attended the burial of Zvinavashe, the former MP for Gutu who was declared a National Hero by the ZANU-PF Politburo this week. He died Monday and was 63.
Mugabe had in the past used the burial of ZANU-PF cadres to attack the west, the MDC, and other perceived enemies of ZANU-PF.
The Harare Tribune heard that MDC officials attended the event with trepidation, thinking that Mugabe might launch new attacks on his list of enemies and derail efforts to get funding from the West.
Instead of attacking the West, Mugabe merely called on the MDC to work together with ZANU-PF to make sure that Britain and other countries lift targeted sanctions imposed on ZANU-PF leaders.
"We should refuse the sanctions. We should tell them to remove the sanctions so that we improve the lives of our people," Mugabe said. The issue of "illegal" sanctions, as ZANU-PF cronies call them, has become Mugabe's ralling call in recent weeks.
Western nations said they will lift sanctions after they had been convinced that ZANU-PF cronies, who promoted human rights abuses over the years, are committed to peace.
Despite Mugabe's call for peace, ZANU-PF militia units went on the rampage out in Buhera District, Manicaland Province, where several houses belonging to MDC supporters were burnt to the ground in renewed political violence.
According to eyewitnesses, the victims of political violence reported the names of the ZANU-PF militia members involved in political violence, but the pro-ZANU-PF police has refused to arrest them.
Instead, the police Saturday chose to arrest victims of political violence, including the Deputy Mayor of Mutare.
"They said his vehicle was used during political disturbances in Buhera but they did not give details," Pishayi Muchauraya, an MDC official in Manicaland Province, said of Mukorera's arrest.
"He is detained at Mutare central police station but they plan to take him to Buhera. When we went to see him he had not been charged."
Lawyer Trust Maanda confirmed Mukorera was detained in Mutare.
"Initially they had said they were not going to charge him and that they only wanted to record statements from him as a witness in connection with some incidents in Buhera," Maanda said.
"Later they said they were locking him up and that they were going to charge him. But for what? I don't know."
There has been several reports of political violence across the country in recent weeks. Several people have been injured, lost their homes and property in the new politically motivated violence.
In a case of either acute amnesia or hypocrisy, Mugabe told mourners at the Heroes Acre that: "Zimbabwe is ours together, the land is ours. Why should we continue fighting each other?"
This is the same Mugabe who less than a year ago condoned ZANU-PF militia violence across the country that left almost 200 MDC activists and supporters dead.
In a spirit of unity, MDC officials, led by PM Tsvangirai attended the burial of Zvinavashe, the former MP for Gutu who was declared a National Hero by the ZANU-PF Politburo this week. He died Monday and was 63.
Mugabe had in the past used the burial of ZANU-PF cadres to attack the west, the MDC, and other perceived enemies of ZANU-PF.
The Harare Tribune heard that MDC officials attended the event with trepidation, thinking that Mugabe might launch new attacks on his list of enemies and derail efforts to get funding from the West.
Instead of attacking the West, Mugabe merely called on the MDC to work together with ZANU-PF to make sure that Britain and other countries lift targeted sanctions imposed on ZANU-PF leaders.
"We should refuse the sanctions. We should tell them to remove the sanctions so that we improve the lives of our people," Mugabe said. The issue of "illegal" sanctions, as ZANU-PF cronies call them, has become Mugabe's ralling call in recent weeks.
Western nations said they will lift sanctions after they had been convinced that ZANU-PF cronies, who promoted human rights abuses over the years, are committed to peace.
Despite Mugabe's call for peace, ZANU-PF militia units went on the rampage out in Buhera District, Manicaland Province, where several houses belonging to MDC supporters were burnt to the ground in renewed political violence.
According to eyewitnesses, the victims of political violence reported the names of the ZANU-PF militia members involved in political violence, but the pro-ZANU-PF police has refused to arrest them.
Instead, the police Saturday chose to arrest victims of political violence, including the Deputy Mayor of Mutare.
"They said his vehicle was used during political disturbances in Buhera but they did not give details," Pishayi Muchauraya, an MDC official in Manicaland Province, said of Mukorera's arrest.
"He is detained at Mutare central police station but they plan to take him to Buhera. When we went to see him he had not been charged."
Lawyer Trust Maanda confirmed Mukorera was detained in Mutare.
"Initially they had said they were not going to charge him and that they only wanted to record statements from him as a witness in connection with some incidents in Buhera," Maanda said.
"Later they said they were locking him up and that they were going to charge him. But for what? I don't know."
There has been several reports of political violence across the country in recent weeks. Several people have been injured, lost their homes and property in the new politically motivated violence.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Following is an Editorial Reflecting the Views of the US Government
The Zimbabwean government's poor record on human rights deteriorated even
more last year, amid the turmoil surrounding the national elections and the
Mugabe regime's campaign to maintain its grip on the troubled nation.
The ZANU-PF party's control and manipulation of the political process
through violence, intimidation and corruption denied the people of
Zimbabwe's right for democratic rule. Unlawful killings and politically
motivated abductions increased. State-sponsored violence against activists
and opponents at times seemed to rage unchecked. Harassment of humanitarian
aid workers interfered with the delivery of desperately needed assistance as
hunger and disease spread through the country.
Every year, the United States Department of State assesses the human rights
conditions in hundreds of countries, in an effort to inform U.S.
policymaking and promote the values of personal and political freedom. In
focusing on human rights abuses, the study also strives to spark action to
end them.
In January, President Robert Mugabe ceded some power by accepting Morgan
Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change, the MDC, as Zimbabwe's
prime minister in an inclusive government. While the flagrant killings and
beatings by security forces and regime loyalists have by and large stopped,
many MDC supporters and human rights activists remain in jail. The February
13 arrest of Roy Bennett, a senior MDC official named to serve as deputy
agriculture minister also raises doubts about Mugabe's intentions and
interest in true reform.
All nations have international obligations to respect the universal human
rights and freedoms of their citizens and it is the responsibility of others
to speak out when they believe those obligations are not being fulfilled.
more last year, amid the turmoil surrounding the national elections and the
Mugabe regime's campaign to maintain its grip on the troubled nation.
The ZANU-PF party's control and manipulation of the political process
through violence, intimidation and corruption denied the people of
Zimbabwe's right for democratic rule. Unlawful killings and politically
motivated abductions increased. State-sponsored violence against activists
and opponents at times seemed to rage unchecked. Harassment of humanitarian
aid workers interfered with the delivery of desperately needed assistance as
hunger and disease spread through the country.
Every year, the United States Department of State assesses the human rights
conditions in hundreds of countries, in an effort to inform U.S.
policymaking and promote the values of personal and political freedom. In
focusing on human rights abuses, the study also strives to spark action to
end them.
In January, President Robert Mugabe ceded some power by accepting Morgan
Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change, the MDC, as Zimbabwe's
prime minister in an inclusive government. While the flagrant killings and
beatings by security forces and regime loyalists have by and large stopped,
many MDC supporters and human rights activists remain in jail. The February
13 arrest of Roy Bennett, a senior MDC official named to serve as deputy
agriculture minister also raises doubts about Mugabe's intentions and
interest in true reform.
All nations have international obligations to respect the universal human
rights and freedoms of their citizens and it is the responsibility of others
to speak out when they believe those obligations are not being fulfilled.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Obama Extends Sanctions on Zimbabwe, Says Crisis Unresolved
By Paul Tighe and Brian Latham
March 5 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama extended U.S. sanctions on Zimbabwe for a year, saying the challenge to democracy under President Robert Mugabe is continuing.
Actions and policies of government members have undermined Zimbabwe’s democratic processes and the crisis “has not been resolved,” Obama said in a message to Congress, according to the White House.
The U.S. imposed sanctions in 2003 and extended measures that include the freezing of government assets in 2005 and last year, Obama said in a statement yesterday.
Zimbabwe, ruled by Mugabe since 1980, has seen its economy collapse, resulting in at least 6.9 million people, or more than half of the population, needing emergency food aid, the United Nations says. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai took office as prime minister after his Movement for Democratic Change party joined Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party in a power-sharing government Feb. 13.
The actions of Mugabe’s government “have contributed to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Zimbabwe, to politically motivated violence and intimidation, and to political and economic instability in the southern African region,” Obama said in his statement.
Cholera Epidemic
Zimbabwe’s health system is also collapsing amid a cholera epidemic that the World Health Organization says has killed 3,936 people and infected 85,149 by the start of this month. Doctors, nurses and other health workers are quitting because they aren’t being paid, Doctors Without Borders said last month.
Mugabe, 85, extended his rule when Tsvangirai declined to take part in a run-off presidential election last June. The MDC won a parliamentary majority in elections a year ago.
Tsvangirai, in his inaugural address to Parliament in Harare yesterday, called for an end to “brutal suppression” to allow the country to gain access to international aid.
“Brutal suppression, wanton arrests and political persecution impede our ability to rebuild our economy,” he said. “I therefore urge the international community to recognize our efforts and to note progress in this regard, and to match our progress by moving toward the removal of restrictive measures.”
The power-sharing arrangement with Zanu-PF is being threatened by the continued detention of senior MDC officials, Tsvangirai’s party says.
The prime minister said the new government will form a National Economic Council that will include private business and civil society and will take steps to revitalize the mining industry and stop the “wanton disruption” to productive farming. He also promised that security laws will be amended.
To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net; Brian Latham via the Johannesburg bureau at abolleurs@bloomberg.net.
March 5 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama extended U.S. sanctions on Zimbabwe for a year, saying the challenge to democracy under President Robert Mugabe is continuing.
Actions and policies of government members have undermined Zimbabwe’s democratic processes and the crisis “has not been resolved,” Obama said in a message to Congress, according to the White House.
The U.S. imposed sanctions in 2003 and extended measures that include the freezing of government assets in 2005 and last year, Obama said in a statement yesterday.
Zimbabwe, ruled by Mugabe since 1980, has seen its economy collapse, resulting in at least 6.9 million people, or more than half of the population, needing emergency food aid, the United Nations says. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai took office as prime minister after his Movement for Democratic Change party joined Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party in a power-sharing government Feb. 13.
The actions of Mugabe’s government “have contributed to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Zimbabwe, to politically motivated violence and intimidation, and to political and economic instability in the southern African region,” Obama said in his statement.
Cholera Epidemic
Zimbabwe’s health system is also collapsing amid a cholera epidemic that the World Health Organization says has killed 3,936 people and infected 85,149 by the start of this month. Doctors, nurses and other health workers are quitting because they aren’t being paid, Doctors Without Borders said last month.
Mugabe, 85, extended his rule when Tsvangirai declined to take part in a run-off presidential election last June. The MDC won a parliamentary majority in elections a year ago.
Tsvangirai, in his inaugural address to Parliament in Harare yesterday, called for an end to “brutal suppression” to allow the country to gain access to international aid.
“Brutal suppression, wanton arrests and political persecution impede our ability to rebuild our economy,” he said. “I therefore urge the international community to recognize our efforts and to note progress in this regard, and to match our progress by moving toward the removal of restrictive measures.”
The power-sharing arrangement with Zanu-PF is being threatened by the continued detention of senior MDC officials, Tsvangirai’s party says.
The prime minister said the new government will form a National Economic Council that will include private business and civil society and will take steps to revitalize the mining industry and stop the “wanton disruption” to productive farming. He also promised that security laws will be amended.
To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net; Brian Latham via the Johannesburg bureau at abolleurs@bloomberg.net.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Tsvangirai pressure pays off as Mukoko & 12 others granted bail
Former ZBC TV anchor Jestina Mukoko and 12 other political prisoners were finally granted bail on Monday following a meeting between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at Zimbabwe House in the morning. Mukoko had spent 3 months in custody since her December abduction while the others were approaching their 5th month locked up.
Despite claims by Mugabe that only the courts would deal with the issue concerning the detainees, it was clear Monday a political deal had secured their release. Defence lawyers quietly admitted to journalists that their clients would not have tasted their freedom had it not been for Tsvangirai’s pressure on Monday.
Granted bail was: Concillia Chinanzavana, Manuel Chinanzvavana, Fidelis Chiramba, Violet Mupfuranhewe, Colin Mutemagawu, Pieta Kaseke, Audrice Mbudzana, Broderick Takawira, Zacharia Nkomo, Chinoto Zulu, Regis Mujeyi, Mapfumo Gautsa and Jestina Mukoko.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Roy Bennett, photo-journalist Shadreck Anderson Manyere, MDC security chief Chris Dlamini, and Tsvangirai’s former aide Gandhi Mudzingwa remain locked up with pending bail applications. Bennett was granted bail last week only for the Attorney General Johannes Tomana to abuse the appeal process and delay his release.
Mukoko remains in hospital and is said to have told reporters, “Thank God I am free. I will be able to see my family and go home, if I am cleared, medically.” Defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama said of the 16 people who applied for bail, 13 were granted bail. The 3 others, Mudzingwa, Dlamini and Manyere are still appealing for bail. Out of the 13 granted bail only 7 are free with the remaining 6 failing to meet the prohibitive bail conditions.
Over 30 opposition and civil society activists were abducted and kept in custody over trumped up banditry and terrorism charges. Critics dismissed the charges as politically motivated.
Despite claims by Mugabe that only the courts would deal with the issue concerning the detainees, it was clear Monday a political deal had secured their release. Defence lawyers quietly admitted to journalists that their clients would not have tasted their freedom had it not been for Tsvangirai’s pressure on Monday.
Granted bail was: Concillia Chinanzavana, Manuel Chinanzvavana, Fidelis Chiramba, Violet Mupfuranhewe, Colin Mutemagawu, Pieta Kaseke, Audrice Mbudzana, Broderick Takawira, Zacharia Nkomo, Chinoto Zulu, Regis Mujeyi, Mapfumo Gautsa and Jestina Mukoko.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Roy Bennett, photo-journalist Shadreck Anderson Manyere, MDC security chief Chris Dlamini, and Tsvangirai’s former aide Gandhi Mudzingwa remain locked up with pending bail applications. Bennett was granted bail last week only for the Attorney General Johannes Tomana to abuse the appeal process and delay his release.
Mukoko remains in hospital and is said to have told reporters, “Thank God I am free. I will be able to see my family and go home, if I am cleared, medically.” Defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama said of the 16 people who applied for bail, 13 were granted bail. The 3 others, Mudzingwa, Dlamini and Manyere are still appealing for bail. Out of the 13 granted bail only 7 are free with the remaining 6 failing to meet the prohibitive bail conditions.
Over 30 opposition and civil society activists were abducted and kept in custody over trumped up banditry and terrorism charges. Critics dismissed the charges as politically motivated.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Morgan Tsvangirai drank from the poisoned chalice
Morgan Tsvangirai drank from the poisoned chalice, knowing that it was poisoned. He was sworn in as prime minister of Zimbabwe, in a government that is still controlled by his deadly enemy, President Robert Mugabe. He must know that his chances of success, even of political survival, are close to nil.
"We are not joining Mugabe," he said bravely.
"This is part of a transitional relationship, negotiated. Mr Mugabe
has executive authority. I have executive authority."
But Mugabe has exclusive control over the army and the police, which are regularly used to harass, imprison and torture Tsvangirai's colleagues and supporters. He also controls the courts, through the justice ministry.
What Tsvangirai got was the Finance ministry (although Mugabe's man still controls the central bank) and the various social affairs ministries.
In effect, he can go looking for foreign aid, try to fix the broken
economy, and bring suffering Zimbabweans what help he can, but Mugabe's people still run the key ministries that have real power over people's lives.
Few Zimbabweans foresaw this outcome when the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) unexpectedly won a majority in parliament and Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe in the election last March.
It was an accident that only happened because Zanu, the overconfident ruling party, was less thorough than usual in intimidating the voters and rigging the count, but the apparent defeat of Mugabe's 30-year-old regime awakened hope in the hearts of despairing Zimbabweans.
The hope was premature. The regime declared that Tsvangirai's majority
was not big enough to avoid a second round of voting, and then launched a campaign of violence against MDC officials and supporters that killed over 200 people and injured thousands.]
Shortly before the second vote, Tsvangirai withdrew from the race to save MDC voters from a bloodbath on Election Day, and Mugabe was "re-elected" without opposition as the president of Zimbabwe.
That wasn't the end of it, because Mugabe's brutal, corrupt regime has not just ruined the Zimbabwean economy; it is dragging the whole southern African region down.
Unemployment in Zimbabwe is 94%, the currency is so worthless that even street traders will only accept foreign currency, cholera is raging across the country, and average life expectancy is now the lowest in the world.
About one-third of Zimbabwe's 12 million people have fled to South Africa in search of work (and dozens were murdered there last year by resentful South Africans who believed that they were taking South African jobs). In a region that is relatively prosperous and well-governed by African standards, Zimbabwe sticks out like a sore thumb and that is a problem for the neighbours.
Foreign investors are famously ignorant about the distant places they invest in, and easily panic if something bad seems to be happening in the vicinity.
The other members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), the 14-country regional organisation, had to do something about the catastrophe of Zimbabwe because they were all at risk of being tarred with the same brush by those ignorant foreigners.
So Sadc intervened - sort of.
Their intention was to force some sort of deal that ended the mess in Zimbabwe, but they had no real plan - and they were in awe of Mugabe's history as one of main heroes in the liberation struggle a generation ago. South Africa's then-president Thabo Mbeki was particularly determined to ensure that the old man (Mugabe will be 85 this week) be treated with respect, even though he is a tyrant.
So Sadc, rather than supporting Tsvangirai's complaint that Mugabe had stolen the election, forced him last August to accept a "national unity" government in which he would inevitably be the junior partner.
Tsvangirai did not even get agreement on which ministries the MDC would receive, although it was obvious that Mugabe would never willingly surrender control of his main instruments of repression, the army and the
police.
The last six months have been filled with futile wrangling as
Tsvangirai tried to wrest those ministries away from Mugabe, while the country sank ever deeper into poverty, hunger and disease. Now he has joined the government anyway, although Mugabe's thugs were still arresting and torturing senior MDC members even last week.
Tsvangirai's vision for how this might succeed, insofar as he has one, seems to be that his presence in the government will unleash a flood of foreign aid that will rescue Zimbabweans from their desperate plight. Then his grateful fellow-citizens will vote for him in such overwhelming numbers in the election that Sadc has mandated for two years hence that even Mugabe's vote-counters cannot invalidate it.
It isn't going to happen. Western aid donors have been giving Zimbabwe nothing except food relief (two-thirds of the population depends on foreign food aid) because they assume that Mugabe's cronies will steal anything else - and they see no reason to change their minds.
As Tsvangirai was being sworn in, Britain took the highly unusual step of placing an ad in the Zimbabwe press spelling out that fact: "It is unlikely that any government involving Mugabe will inspire donor confidence and attract the support it so badly needs."
But if the aid doesn't flow, Tsvangirai will have nothing to show for his desperate gamble. Game, set and match to Mugabe. Pity about Zimbabwe.
"We are not joining Mugabe," he said bravely.
"This is part of a transitional relationship, negotiated. Mr Mugabe
has executive authority. I have executive authority."
But Mugabe has exclusive control over the army and the police, which are regularly used to harass, imprison and torture Tsvangirai's colleagues and supporters. He also controls the courts, through the justice ministry.
What Tsvangirai got was the Finance ministry (although Mugabe's man still controls the central bank) and the various social affairs ministries.
In effect, he can go looking for foreign aid, try to fix the broken
economy, and bring suffering Zimbabweans what help he can, but Mugabe's people still run the key ministries that have real power over people's lives.
Few Zimbabweans foresaw this outcome when the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) unexpectedly won a majority in parliament and Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe in the election last March.
It was an accident that only happened because Zanu, the overconfident ruling party, was less thorough than usual in intimidating the voters and rigging the count, but the apparent defeat of Mugabe's 30-year-old regime awakened hope in the hearts of despairing Zimbabweans.
The hope was premature. The regime declared that Tsvangirai's majority
was not big enough to avoid a second round of voting, and then launched a campaign of violence against MDC officials and supporters that killed over 200 people and injured thousands.]
Shortly before the second vote, Tsvangirai withdrew from the race to save MDC voters from a bloodbath on Election Day, and Mugabe was "re-elected" without opposition as the president of Zimbabwe.
That wasn't the end of it, because Mugabe's brutal, corrupt regime has not just ruined the Zimbabwean economy; it is dragging the whole southern African region down.
Unemployment in Zimbabwe is 94%, the currency is so worthless that even street traders will only accept foreign currency, cholera is raging across the country, and average life expectancy is now the lowest in the world.
About one-third of Zimbabwe's 12 million people have fled to South Africa in search of work (and dozens were murdered there last year by resentful South Africans who believed that they were taking South African jobs). In a region that is relatively prosperous and well-governed by African standards, Zimbabwe sticks out like a sore thumb and that is a problem for the neighbours.
Foreign investors are famously ignorant about the distant places they invest in, and easily panic if something bad seems to be happening in the vicinity.
The other members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), the 14-country regional organisation, had to do something about the catastrophe of Zimbabwe because they were all at risk of being tarred with the same brush by those ignorant foreigners.
So Sadc intervened - sort of.
Their intention was to force some sort of deal that ended the mess in Zimbabwe, but they had no real plan - and they were in awe of Mugabe's history as one of main heroes in the liberation struggle a generation ago. South Africa's then-president Thabo Mbeki was particularly determined to ensure that the old man (Mugabe will be 85 this week) be treated with respect, even though he is a tyrant.
So Sadc, rather than supporting Tsvangirai's complaint that Mugabe had stolen the election, forced him last August to accept a "national unity" government in which he would inevitably be the junior partner.
Tsvangirai did not even get agreement on which ministries the MDC would receive, although it was obvious that Mugabe would never willingly surrender control of his main instruments of repression, the army and the
police.
The last six months have been filled with futile wrangling as
Tsvangirai tried to wrest those ministries away from Mugabe, while the country sank ever deeper into poverty, hunger and disease. Now he has joined the government anyway, although Mugabe's thugs were still arresting and torturing senior MDC members even last week.
Tsvangirai's vision for how this might succeed, insofar as he has one, seems to be that his presence in the government will unleash a flood of foreign aid that will rescue Zimbabweans from their desperate plight. Then his grateful fellow-citizens will vote for him in such overwhelming numbers in the election that Sadc has mandated for two years hence that even Mugabe's vote-counters cannot invalidate it.
It isn't going to happen. Western aid donors have been giving Zimbabwe nothing except food relief (two-thirds of the population depends on foreign food aid) because they assume that Mugabe's cronies will steal anything else - and they see no reason to change their minds.
As Tsvangirai was being sworn in, Britain took the highly unusual step of placing an ad in the Zimbabwe press spelling out that fact: "It is unlikely that any government involving Mugabe will inspire donor confidence and attract the support it so badly needs."
But if the aid doesn't flow, Tsvangirai will have nothing to show for his desperate gamble. Game, set and match to Mugabe. Pity about Zimbabwe.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Mugabe in new crackdown on MDC
Roy Bennett, who was warned not to come back to Zimbabwe unless he wanted the CIO to torture him, was arrested Friday in Harare shortly before he was to be sworn in as part of a new government of national unity, his Movement for Democratic Change party said.
"Roy Bennett, MDC treasurer general and deputy minister of agriculture designate has just been arrested by state agents," the party said in a statement. Bennett, who had lived in exile for the last five years in South Africa, was arrested despite Prime Minister Tsvangirai's pledge that in the new Zimbabwe nobody would be persecuted.
"Roy was arrested about 15 minutes ago at Charles Prince airport, on the outskirts of Harare," Ian Makone, chief secretary in the office of Prime Minister and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said. Bennett, sources in the intelligence services tell the Harare Tribune, was arrested by CIO agents working with plain clothes police officers.
The MDC said that he was arrested by police from the force's notorious Law and Order section, which deals with political crimes.
"We understand that they are taking him to Marondera, where there is notorious torture and interrogation base," the party said.
Before fleeing to South Africa, Bennett had been accused by the ZANU-PF govt. for plotting to overthrow Mugabe from office. Sources say ZANU-PF will revive the case against Bennett. If found guilt, Bennett faces the death penalty.
Bennett's arrests casts doubt on the viability of the inclusive government and sends a clear warning to those Zimbabweans living in exile who fled political persecution by state agents.
Western powers who have refused to lift sanctions will now feel vindicated, for it seems they were right to suspect that Mugabe will never change his tactics of trying to eliminate his opponents.
Bennett's arrest comes in the face of Mugabe's refusal to release all political prisoners still held in prisons across the country on suspicion of trying to overthrow Mugabe.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Mukoko transferred from remand prison to Avenues Clinic
Detained Zimbabwe Peace Project director Jestina Mukoko has been released into the custody of the Avenues Clinic for medical attention in compliance with Harare Magistrate Gloria Takundwa’s ruling on 11 February 2009.
This order was granted following an application by defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama that Mukoko was in dire need of medical attention and that there already existed four different court orders to that effect which had not been complied with.
Meanwhile, another ruling before the same court to determine whether the human rights activist and former news anchor with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation warrants her continued detention at the Avenues Clinic is scheduled for 13 February 2009.
This order was granted following an application by defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama that Mukoko was in dire need of medical attention and that there already existed four different court orders to that effect which had not been complied with.
Meanwhile, another ruling before the same court to determine whether the human rights activist and former news anchor with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation warrants her continued detention at the Avenues Clinic is scheduled for 13 February 2009.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
State told to release rights activist to hospital
State told to release rights activist to hospital
A Zimbabwean magistrate on Thursday ordered prison officials
to take detained human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko and opposition
activist Fidelis Chiramba to a Harare hospital for medical examination.
Magistrate Gloria Takundwa issued the directive after defence lawyer
Alec Muchadehama asked her to use her powers to ensure the two received
treatment at the Avenues private clinic, one of a few working hospitals in
Harare.
Takundwa ordered prison officials to immediately release Mukoko and
Chiramba to the hospital while she also asked the state to appoint its own
team of doctors to examine the two.
She said requested defence lawyers and the state to submit reports to
her in order to enable her to make a ruling on whether the two activists
should be kept at the hospital or returned to jail.
The two's health is said to have seriously deteriorated while in jail
where prison officials have kept them despite numerous orders to release
them so they could receive proper treatment.
Mukoko, a former state broadcaster and now director of human rights
organisation Zimbabwe Peace Project, and Chiramba are among a group of
rights activists and opposition MDC members accused of attempting to recruit
people for military training in neighbouring Botswana to overthrow Mugabe.
The accused were all kidnapped from different places last year and
held incommunicado for several weeks during which their lawyers say they
were severely tortured by state agents in a bid to force them to admit to
the charges of banditry.
A Zimbabwean magistrate on Thursday ordered prison officials
to take detained human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko and opposition
activist Fidelis Chiramba to a Harare hospital for medical examination.
Magistrate Gloria Takundwa issued the directive after defence lawyer
Alec Muchadehama asked her to use her powers to ensure the two received
treatment at the Avenues private clinic, one of a few working hospitals in
Harare.
Takundwa ordered prison officials to immediately release Mukoko and
Chiramba to the hospital while she also asked the state to appoint its own
team of doctors to examine the two.
She said requested defence lawyers and the state to submit reports to
her in order to enable her to make a ruling on whether the two activists
should be kept at the hospital or returned to jail.
The two's health is said to have seriously deteriorated while in jail
where prison officials have kept them despite numerous orders to release
them so they could receive proper treatment.
Mukoko, a former state broadcaster and now director of human rights
organisation Zimbabwe Peace Project, and Chiramba are among a group of
rights activists and opposition MDC members accused of attempting to recruit
people for military training in neighbouring Botswana to overthrow Mugabe.
The accused were all kidnapped from different places last year and
held incommunicado for several weeks during which their lawyers say they
were severely tortured by state agents in a bid to force them to admit to
the charges of banditry.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
HAIL TO THOSE IN THE TRENCHES, FIGHTING THE DICTATORSHIP!
By Reuben Kachisi
As Zanu PF continues on its destructive path, human rights defenders are getting more and more radicalized. That's the level of spiritual maturity and moral maturity by the sacrificial Zimbabwean human rights defender who does not give up on the Socratic attempt to interrogate the mendacity, duplicity and hypocrisy of African leadership, but is rooted in something deep. It's rooted in an attempt to keep track of the humanity of the very people who have dehumanized you. Use that as the standard of responding to pre-independence disposition in light of events in Zimbabwe for the last 10 years. Subject to random and unjustified violence, unsafe, unprotected and hated for whom they were.
We need to talk publicly about the courage to love. Love becomes a form of exigency. It helps break down the barriers, the wall of demarcation. So even the rage of the hapless Zimbabweans, the fury and the righteous indignation of even to look at the Zanu PF dictatorship in the face and all its dimensions and still persist the language of love, and still help Mugabe’s supporters to recognize that it's not all of them and it's not genetic.
A nation that was once the jewel of Africa is now in a cataclysmic downward spiral and shockingly still maintains this plutocratic and oligarchy in its structures and finds itself in the same bubble of guilt as those who to some degree still maintain a pigmentocratic hierarchy in their socio-political and economic polices. The most vulnerable are the children. And who is most connected to the children? It’s the poor women. Where is the discourse? Where is the outrage, where is the indignation by the so-called Pan-Africanists? Or is it the sleepwalking that has become normative? No repression lasts forever. Chickens do come home to roost, you reap what you sow and reality will come back to you. Hail to those in the trenches fighting the dictatorship!
Monday, January 26, 2009
China MP calls for Bona Mugabe's deportation
China MP calls for Bona Mugabe's deportation
http://www.zimbabwemetro.com
Local News
January 26, 2009 | By Metro Staff Writer
Emily Lau, a Chinese Member of Parliament , on Sunday called for the
deportaion of Robert Mugabe's daughter Bona Mugabe at the University of Hong
Kong, and said her father's regime is "obnoxious".
Bona Mugabe, 20, enrolled under an alias at the University of Hong Kong in
the autumn.
Australia last year deported eight students whose parents were senior
members of the Mugabe regime, saying it wanted to prevent those involved in
human rights abuses giving their children education denied to ordinary
Zimbabweans. The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions
on Mugabe's ruling clique, including asset freezes and travel bans.
Asked about Miss Mugabe's admission, a University of Hong Kong spokesman
said: "We believe that education should be above politics and young people
should not be denied the right to education because of their family
background or what their parents have done."
A university official, who asked not to be named, said most students were
unaware of the presence of Miss Mugabe, who has gone to Zimbabwe for the
Chinese New Year holiday.
When she returns to Hong Kong, the university would "keep a watchful eye
more from a student life perspective", the official said. However, the
source added: "We are aware of the impact and significance of this. After
all, he is a dictator, no one will deny this - but education, frankly, is
above politics."
Law Yuk Kai, director of Human Rights Monitor in Hong Kong, said: "A child
who has not done anything wrong should not be asked to take the burden of
the wrongs of their parents - and in accordance with international human
rights, the interests of the child should be our first principle."
But he added: "If the money she is spending was siphoned off the ordinary
people, there is a problem. Just like other members of the international
community, Hong Kong should do its part in imposing sanctions."
http://www.zimbabwemetro.com
Local News
January 26, 2009 | By Metro Staff Writer
Emily Lau, a Chinese Member of Parliament , on Sunday called for the
deportaion of Robert Mugabe's daughter Bona Mugabe at the University of Hong
Kong, and said her father's regime is "obnoxious".
Bona Mugabe, 20, enrolled under an alias at the University of Hong Kong in
the autumn.
Australia last year deported eight students whose parents were senior
members of the Mugabe regime, saying it wanted to prevent those involved in
human rights abuses giving their children education denied to ordinary
Zimbabweans. The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions
on Mugabe's ruling clique, including asset freezes and travel bans.
Asked about Miss Mugabe's admission, a University of Hong Kong spokesman
said: "We believe that education should be above politics and young people
should not be denied the right to education because of their family
background or what their parents have done."
A university official, who asked not to be named, said most students were
unaware of the presence of Miss Mugabe, who has gone to Zimbabwe for the
Chinese New Year holiday.
When she returns to Hong Kong, the university would "keep a watchful eye
more from a student life perspective", the official said. However, the
source added: "We are aware of the impact and significance of this. After
all, he is a dictator, no one will deny this - but education, frankly, is
above politics."
Law Yuk Kai, director of Human Rights Monitor in Hong Kong, said: "A child
who has not done anything wrong should not be asked to take the burden of
the wrongs of their parents - and in accordance with international human
rights, the interests of the child should be our first principle."
But he added: "If the money she is spending was siphoned off the ordinary
people, there is a problem. Just like other members of the international
community, Hong Kong should do its part in imposing sanctions."
Sunday, January 18, 2009
AU Challenged Over Zim Rights Abuses
AU Challenged Over Zim Rights Abuses
HUMAN rights campaigners have challenged the African Union to denounce
the persecution of government critics in Zimbabwe when leaders converge for
the annual summit in Addis Ababa next week.
They said the AU's silence and lack of vision on the crisis in
Zimbabwe, particularly the current crackdown on dissenting voices, was
"baffling".
African leaders meet in the Ethiopian capital from January 26 to
February 3 for the organisation's 12th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of
Heads of State and Government, 17th Ordinary Session of the Permanent
Representatives Committee (PRC), and the 14th Ordinary Session of the
Executive Council (EC).
But there's growing scepticism that not much could come out of the
meeting regarding the crisis in Zimbabwe, as the AU has in the past
"squandered numerous opportunities" to resolve it.
Amnesty International said the AU should publicly denounce the
persecution of government critics by state security agents, and deploy human
rights monitors to investigate all allegations of human rights abuses.
The group's deputy Africa programme director, Veronique Aubert, said:
"The AU needs to make a strong statement that this is unacceptable to
African leadership".
"African leaders have squandered numerous opportunities to end the
persecution of government critics in Zimbabwe," said Aubert.
"They (African leaders) continue to be deaf to cries for help and
have chosen to be unmoved by ongoing evidence of human suffering in the
country.
"The silence of African leaders and their failure to condemn the
government's blatant disregard for human rights has significantly
contributed to the prolonging of the Zimbabwean human rights crisis."
Among other things, Aubert said, the AU - which alongside the
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) guaranteed a power-sharing
agreement between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations on September 15 2008 -
should deploy human rights monitors to Zimbabwe.
Aubert said Zimbabwean authorities were "clearly committing grave
human rights violations in an attempt to silence critics and political
opponents".
"The AU should immediately call for an end to human rights violations
by the security forces and decide to deploy human rights monitors," Aubert
said.
Human rights researcher Simeon Mawanza said the Summit "presents a
crucial opportunity for African leaders to speak out and show solidarity
with the people of Zimbabwe, rather than just with the leaders".
Activists are expected to converge in Addis Ababa, where they will
picket in an attempt to pressure Africa to express outrage at the torture of
human rights defenders.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
HUMAN rights campaigners have challenged the African Union to denounce
the persecution of government critics in Zimbabwe when leaders converge for
the annual summit in Addis Ababa next week.
They said the AU's silence and lack of vision on the crisis in
Zimbabwe, particularly the current crackdown on dissenting voices, was
"baffling".
African leaders meet in the Ethiopian capital from January 26 to
February 3 for the organisation's 12th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of
Heads of State and Government, 17th Ordinary Session of the Permanent
Representatives Committee (PRC), and the 14th Ordinary Session of the
Executive Council (EC).
But there's growing scepticism that not much could come out of the
meeting regarding the crisis in Zimbabwe, as the AU has in the past
"squandered numerous opportunities" to resolve it.
Amnesty International said the AU should publicly denounce the
persecution of government critics by state security agents, and deploy human
rights monitors to investigate all allegations of human rights abuses.
The group's deputy Africa programme director, Veronique Aubert, said:
"The AU needs to make a strong statement that this is unacceptable to
African leadership".
"African leaders have squandered numerous opportunities to end the
persecution of government critics in Zimbabwe," said Aubert.
"They (African leaders) continue to be deaf to cries for help and
have chosen to be unmoved by ongoing evidence of human suffering in the
country.
"The silence of African leaders and their failure to condemn the
government's blatant disregard for human rights has significantly
contributed to the prolonging of the Zimbabwean human rights crisis."
Among other things, Aubert said, the AU - which alongside the
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) guaranteed a power-sharing
agreement between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations on September 15 2008 -
should deploy human rights monitors to Zimbabwe.
Aubert said Zimbabwean authorities were "clearly committing grave
human rights violations in an attempt to silence critics and political
opponents".
"The AU should immediately call for an end to human rights violations
by the security forces and decide to deploy human rights monitors," Aubert
said.
Human rights researcher Simeon Mawanza said the Summit "presents a
crucial opportunity for African leaders to speak out and show solidarity
with the people of Zimbabwe, rather than just with the leaders".
Activists are expected to converge in Addis Ababa, where they will
picket in an attempt to pressure Africa to express outrage at the torture of
human rights defenders.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
Friday, January 16, 2009
Activist tells court of beatings in custody
Detained Zimbabwean rights activist Jestina Mukoko testified
in court on Thursday for the first time since authorities seized her six
weeks ago, sobbing as she detailed the abuses she suffered in custody.
Mukoko was taken from her home on December 3 by a dozen armed men who
claimed to be police, according to fellow activists.
She was not seen again for three weeks, when she first appeared in
court on charges of recruiting people for military training to topple
President Robert Mugabe's government.
She testified in a magistrate court to ask a judge to allow her to
appeal to the Constitutional Court, where her lawyers will seek to have the
charges dropped.
In her emotional testimony, the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project
(ZPP) denied any knowledge of a plot against Mugabe and said she was not
involved with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
"I work for a non-profit organisation, and I am not involved in any
political activity.
"I repeatedly told the interrogators that I'm not a member of the MDC.
I'm a human rights activist, currently employed by ZPP. The objectives of
ZPP do not talk about toppling the government.
"On the day I was taken from my home, everyone was there - my
mother-in-law, my brother, other family members. I felt they must have
thought I was dead," she said, breaking into tears.
While under interrogation, she said security agents had beaten her on
the soles of her feet because she could not remember the name of a police
officer who once visited her office.
"I was assaulted under my feet because I had forgotten his name," she
said.
"The experience was frightening. I would not wish it upon anyone."
Prosecutors argued that the abuse was not committed by police, but by
state security agents who took her from her home.
They said she was only taken into police custody on December 22, and
that she could not base her appeal on abuses committed in the secret
detention facility where the agents kept her for nearly three weeks.
She is among 32 activists abducted under similar circumstances in
separate incidents since October, according to Human Rights Watch.
The MDC says 11 more of its members are missing, while two top party
officials appeared in court Wednesday on charges of trying to assassinate
the head of the air force.
in court on Thursday for the first time since authorities seized her six
weeks ago, sobbing as she detailed the abuses she suffered in custody.
Mukoko was taken from her home on December 3 by a dozen armed men who
claimed to be police, according to fellow activists.
She was not seen again for three weeks, when she first appeared in
court on charges of recruiting people for military training to topple
President Robert Mugabe's government.
She testified in a magistrate court to ask a judge to allow her to
appeal to the Constitutional Court, where her lawyers will seek to have the
charges dropped.
In her emotional testimony, the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project
(ZPP) denied any knowledge of a plot against Mugabe and said she was not
involved with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
"I work for a non-profit organisation, and I am not involved in any
political activity.
"I repeatedly told the interrogators that I'm not a member of the MDC.
I'm a human rights activist, currently employed by ZPP. The objectives of
ZPP do not talk about toppling the government.
"On the day I was taken from my home, everyone was there - my
mother-in-law, my brother, other family members. I felt they must have
thought I was dead," she said, breaking into tears.
While under interrogation, she said security agents had beaten her on
the soles of her feet because she could not remember the name of a police
officer who once visited her office.
"I was assaulted under my feet because I had forgotten his name," she
said.
"The experience was frightening. I would not wish it upon anyone."
Prosecutors argued that the abuse was not committed by police, but by
state security agents who took her from her home.
They said she was only taken into police custody on December 22, and
that she could not base her appeal on abuses committed in the secret
detention facility where the agents kept her for nearly three weeks.
She is among 32 activists abducted under similar circumstances in
separate incidents since October, according to Human Rights Watch.
The MDC says 11 more of its members are missing, while two top party
officials appeared in court Wednesday on charges of trying to assassinate
the head of the air force.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Brutality at its crest
Two year old Nigel Mutemagau (previously identified as Nigel Mupfuranhehwe, but that is his mother's maiden name) is being kept in solitary confinement in Zimbabwe’s most notorious prison, the Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison. Nigel was abducted together with his mother and father nearly three months ago by the CIO.
In her affidavit Nigel's mother, revealed that the abductors did not have mercy for babies.
“I was given some rules with regard to the child. I was told that the child was only going to be allowed to go to the toilet. He was not allowed to cry for food as his father was not buying the food. At times when my child cried from hunger, one of the officers would beat him up using a fan belt.”
"They roped a brick to my testicles"
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) — An opposition activist abducted by Zimbabwean security forces last month recalled Tuesday spending long nights listening to the screams of other detainees being tortured.
"During the night, I heard some people being tortured," Bothwell Pasipamire told AFP in an interview. "They were crying in pain."
The 30-year-old private security guard said he managed to escape President Robert Mugabe's forces and flee to South Africa, but only after he was forced to make a false confession that he had undergone military training in Botswana in a bid to topple the government.
In March 2008, the father of two was elected a local councillor in the town of Kadoma, 140 kilometres (85 miles) southwest of Harare, on the ticket of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
In those polls, his party wrested control of parliament away from Mugabe for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, inspiring confidence in Pasipamire. "I was getting to the council with confidence," he said. "I wanted to make sure everything in the council was in order."
As a member of MDC since its creation in 1999, Pasipamire said he was used to insults and threats from Mugabe's supporters. But things turned for the worse after Mugabe's defeat. In June, before a presidential runoff boycotted by MDC amid spiralling political violence, he was arrested and charged with public violence.
"In police custody, I was beaten by the police. I was assaulted. But in June it was better than in December," he said. On the night of December 13, he was awoken by a loud noise at his door. "Two men confronted me, one put a gun to my neck," he said.
They forced him into a pick-up and took him to an old farm where he was soon subjected to a violent interrogation by soldiers. "They accused me of being trained in Botswana in guerrilla tactics in order to topple Mugabe's government," he said. "They ordered me to say 'Yes I do this, yes I did that'."
"Since I was under torture, there was nothing I could do. As soon as I said No, they assaulted me. "In the room, there was a small brick. They roped the brick to my testicles and ordered me to lift it," he said. During the night, his guards woke him with water hoses. Later he said he heard the screams of people being tortured and beaten.
"I cannot properly tell you how terrible it is to be cold, wet, unable to sleep and surrounded by the sounds of men crying in pain. This was the worst torture of all, and it will be with me all my life," he said. Pasipamire thought he had been abducted because he was active on the local council, but the next morning he learned the truth.
Set before a camera, about 30 men were forced to pretend to beat a soldier. Then he had to stage a fake interview admitting to undergoing training in a Western-financed camp. After three days, he was told that he was going to be transferred.
"I was convinced that these people would kill me, before they put my interview on TV, otherwise I was sure to tell someone that it was a lie," he said. Once on the road, his convoy stopped in Harare, where government information agents told him to run.
"Some told me, 'it is a chance for you to escape. If you fail to escape, they will kill you'," he said, declining to give details for fear of compromising his saviours. "I am confident that change is going to prevail in Zimbabwe," he told AFP. "Now, people are facing economic hardships so the situation is going to force Mugabe to step down."
But he said he would not return home yet, for fear Mugabe would have him killed to keep him quiet. Police in Zimbabwe told AFP that they had no knowledge of Pasipamire's case.
The MDC says that about 40 of its supporters, including Bothwell Pasipamire, have been abducted since late October. The government finally admitted in December to holding 30 of them, but 11 are still missing, the party says.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Abducted MDC supporters still missing
By Moses Muchemwa
The 11 MDC supporters who were abducted by state security agents are still missing despite frantic efforts to locate them.
The party said efforts by relatives and lawyers could not yield positive results as the whereabouts of the abducted activists remain unknown.
The missing opposition members were abducted in December last year by gunmen.
According to the MDC’s information and publicity office, the 11 were part of over 40 MDC activists including a two year old child who were abducted by armed gunmen across the country since 29 October 2008.
”The other activists have since been brought to court on trumped up charges of training in banditry and bombing state buildings. Those brought to court have since told the courts that they were severely tortured while in illegal custody in order for them to confess to these false allegations. Other three employees of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) including its director, Jestina Mukoko and a freelance journalist are facing similar charges and are in remand prison, said the MDC.
The MDC named the missing members: Llyod Tarumbwa, Terry Musona, Fanwell Tembo, Larry Gaka and Gwenzi Kahiya.
The others are; Charles Muza, Ephraim Mabeka and Edmore Vangirayi who were abducted on 10 December 2008 in Gokwe, Midlands province, while Graham Matehwa was abducted on 17 December 2008 in Makoni South, Manicaland province and Peter Munyanyi in Gutu South in Masvingo province on 13 December 2008.
The MDC expressed deep concern over abductions of its members. The party has since sought the support of the SADC, AU and the United Nations to have the incarcerated members released.
The country’s main opposition warned that the abductions of its members and civic society activists, threatened the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by the three major political parties on 15 September 2008.
The 11 MDC supporters who were abducted by state security agents are still missing despite frantic efforts to locate them.
The party said efforts by relatives and lawyers could not yield positive results as the whereabouts of the abducted activists remain unknown.
The missing opposition members were abducted in December last year by gunmen.
According to the MDC’s information and publicity office, the 11 were part of over 40 MDC activists including a two year old child who were abducted by armed gunmen across the country since 29 October 2008.
”The other activists have since been brought to court on trumped up charges of training in banditry and bombing state buildings. Those brought to court have since told the courts that they were severely tortured while in illegal custody in order for them to confess to these false allegations. Other three employees of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) including its director, Jestina Mukoko and a freelance journalist are facing similar charges and are in remand prison, said the MDC.
The MDC named the missing members: Llyod Tarumbwa, Terry Musona, Fanwell Tembo, Larry Gaka and Gwenzi Kahiya.
The others are; Charles Muza, Ephraim Mabeka and Edmore Vangirayi who were abducted on 10 December 2008 in Gokwe, Midlands province, while Graham Matehwa was abducted on 17 December 2008 in Makoni South, Manicaland province and Peter Munyanyi in Gutu South in Masvingo province on 13 December 2008.
The MDC expressed deep concern over abductions of its members. The party has since sought the support of the SADC, AU and the United Nations to have the incarcerated members released.
The country’s main opposition warned that the abductions of its members and civic society activists, threatened the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by the three major political parties on 15 September 2008.
Security forces on high alert amid fears of an MDC coup
Zimbabwe placed its security forces on high alert, increasing the number of roadblocks and patrols in cities across the country, to prevent the opposition Movement for Democratic Change from staging a coup, the government said.
The military and police are searching for weapons and “suspicious” people who may be preparing for war, deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said today in a telephone interview from Harare, the capital.
“The opposition is recruiting youths to use as bandits to destabilize our country and topple the government,” he said.
Zimbabwe has been in political deadlock since September, when President Robert Mugabe, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, head of an MDC splinter group, agreed to share power. The enactment of the accord stalled amid disagreement over who would control key ministries. The MDC won control of Zimbabwe’s parliament in March elections, while Mugabe extended his 28-year rule of the country in a June vote when Tsvangirai withdrew, citing intimidation of his supporters.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa dismissed the government’s allegation that his party is trying to destabilize the country.
“The fact that they’ve suddenly increased their presence in a show of might means they believe their own absurd propaganda about bandits,” he said by phone from Harare. “There are no bandits. Why would the MDC, which contols parliament and thus government, want to destabilize itself?
Harare was today “inundated” with armed riot police, residents said.
Unity Square
“There are hundreds of police gathered around Africa Unity Square and patrolling the streets today,” Ephraim Jakaya, a street vendor, said by phone from the city. Africa Unity Square, in the center of Harare, has been used as a starting point for protests in the capital.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena confirmed the deployment of additional police officers and riot police.
“All our departments are on high alert as there are elements within the Movement for Democratic Change who are bent on destabilizing the country,” Bvudzijena said. “We will come down very heavily on anyone found carrying weapons.”
At least 17 MDC officials and human rights activists have been charged with offenses ranging from terrorism to recruiting insurgents for military training since Dec. 24. They form a group of as many as 42 people the MDC says have been kidnapped by state agents as Mugabe cracks down on dissent in Zimbabwe.
Abducted MDC councillor sexually abused by army officer
By Violet Gonda
Bothwell Pasipamire, the elected MDC councillor from Kadoma who was abducted from his home at gunpoint on December 13th, has revealed shocking details of the torture he was put through at the hands of state agents before managing to escape. He was abducted a week after civic leader Jestina Mukoko was kidnapped from her home in Norton. Several other civic and political activists, plus a two year old baby, were abducted in the last few months of 2008.
Pasipamire becomes the first victim of the current abductions to escape and openly expose the nature of the brutal crackdown.
The councillor was smuggled to South Africa and held a press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday where he gave a detailed statement about his ordeal, which included sexual abuse by an army warrant officer who introduced himself as Mabhunu.
The MDC councillor was taken to a torture base at a farm near Goromonzi in Mashonaland East province, where some of the other activists who were missing were facing the same ordeal.
Bothwell Pasipamire
Over 40 political detainees are facing charges of recruiting “bandits” to overthrow the government. However all the victims deny the allegations. They say they were all tortured into making guilty statements.
At least 11 are still missing.
Bothwell Pasipamire said he miraculously escaped with the help of ‘insiders’. Narrating his ordeal he said members of the Central Intelligence Organisation had compiled a dossier of information, including photographs of him taken at the Council Chambers in Kadoma. He was accused of being too vocal in Chambers and was “a problem to ZANU-PF in the district”.
Pasipamire gave a harrowing account of the nature of the torture, including sexual abuse by army officer Mabhunu
In a written testimony Pasipamire said: “There was a steel table in the room with a hole in the middle. I was told to take off my shoes and slip headfirst into the hole. My hands were cuffed behind me and Mabhunu started beating the soles of my feet.”
He was bombarded with questions about alleged attacks on trains and the interrogators wanted to know the ‘MDC’ people responsible. When he couldn’t respond he was told to strip and remove all his clothes, including his underpants.
“I was then told to lie on the table and he (Mabhunu) began playing with my private parts. It seemed he was trying to embarrass me in front of the other two who were still in the room. He would fondle me like a lover, and then suddenly squeeze my testicles so that I cried out in pain. There followed some humiliating abuse, which I do not wish to talk about except to a doctor.”
The Kadoma councillor told SW Radio Africa other abducted activists were forced to ‘play-act’ the beating of soldiers in front of a film crew, suspected to be from the ZBC, to corroborate the fact that they were killing soldiers.
It is believed the soldiers were those arrested after taking part in cash riots in Harare in December. “A young soldier in camouflage uniform was brought to stand in front of us. I remember thinking that he looked more scared that I was and I think he had been abused or threatened, though there were no marks on his face. We were made to pretend we were beating and kicking him and he rolled on the ground crying. The film crew covered it all.”
Pasipamire was given a scripted question & answer interview in which he had to admit that he was trained in Botswana and had re-entered Zimbabwe with other guerrillas to kill soldiers. This ‘interview’ was recorded.
He alleges that the abducted activists were also made to say they were funded by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who got the money from Andrew Pocock the UK Ambassador and James McGee the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe. He said he was told to say on camera that the money was paid by the US and the UK through President Ian Khama of Botswana.
The MDC official said he was locked up in a room where he heard “other men being tortured nearby. It was terrible to hear people screaming and crying. There was only one blanket in the room and I held it around my head to keep out the sound. Late that night, some officials opened my door, and when I came out, I saw other men like myself standing in front of other doors and rooms where they had been kept. A hose was turned on and we were all sprayed and then our rooms were sprayed, including my blanket.”
“Late into the night, there were still the screams of people being tortured and beaten. I cannot properly tell you how terrible it is to be cold, wet, unable to sleep and surrounded by the sounds of men crying in pain. This was the worst torture of all and it will be with me all my life.”
Such was the level of abuse that the councillor said by the following day he was ready to ‘to cooperate’ in order to survive.
It is believed the female victims who had also been abducted were being kept at the same place near Goromonzi, as he heard the CIO’s referring to them, but he never saw them himself.
Pasipamire said he was held for three days and was repeatedly sprayed with cold water. By the third night he was so cold and depressed that he thought of hanging himself with the wet blanket. He said he was injected twice on the fourth day, although he was not told what was being injected.
“I was not given food that day and in the evening I was driven to Harare. No one gave me any information on where I was going or why, but I had a feeling that they were planning to kill me. At this time, I cannot reveal any details of my escape because it will be a danger to the people who helped me. There are some inside ZANU-PF and CIO who do not believe in what they are doing.”
Bothwell Pasipamire, the elected MDC councillor from Kadoma who was abducted from his home at gunpoint on December 13th, has revealed shocking details of the torture he was put through at the hands of state agents before managing to escape. He was abducted a week after civic leader Jestina Mukoko was kidnapped from her home in Norton. Several other civic and political activists, plus a two year old baby, were abducted in the last few months of 2008.
Pasipamire becomes the first victim of the current abductions to escape and openly expose the nature of the brutal crackdown.
The councillor was smuggled to South Africa and held a press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday where he gave a detailed statement about his ordeal, which included sexual abuse by an army warrant officer who introduced himself as Mabhunu.
The MDC councillor was taken to a torture base at a farm near Goromonzi in Mashonaland East province, where some of the other activists who were missing were facing the same ordeal.
Bothwell Pasipamire
Over 40 political detainees are facing charges of recruiting “bandits” to overthrow the government. However all the victims deny the allegations. They say they were all tortured into making guilty statements.
At least 11 are still missing.
Bothwell Pasipamire said he miraculously escaped with the help of ‘insiders’. Narrating his ordeal he said members of the Central Intelligence Organisation had compiled a dossier of information, including photographs of him taken at the Council Chambers in Kadoma. He was accused of being too vocal in Chambers and was “a problem to ZANU-PF in the district”.
Pasipamire gave a harrowing account of the nature of the torture, including sexual abuse by army officer Mabhunu
In a written testimony Pasipamire said: “There was a steel table in the room with a hole in the middle. I was told to take off my shoes and slip headfirst into the hole. My hands were cuffed behind me and Mabhunu started beating the soles of my feet.”
He was bombarded with questions about alleged attacks on trains and the interrogators wanted to know the ‘MDC’ people responsible. When he couldn’t respond he was told to strip and remove all his clothes, including his underpants.
“I was then told to lie on the table and he (Mabhunu) began playing with my private parts. It seemed he was trying to embarrass me in front of the other two who were still in the room. He would fondle me like a lover, and then suddenly squeeze my testicles so that I cried out in pain. There followed some humiliating abuse, which I do not wish to talk about except to a doctor.”
The Kadoma councillor told SW Radio Africa other abducted activists were forced to ‘play-act’ the beating of soldiers in front of a film crew, suspected to be from the ZBC, to corroborate the fact that they were killing soldiers.
It is believed the soldiers were those arrested after taking part in cash riots in Harare in December. “A young soldier in camouflage uniform was brought to stand in front of us. I remember thinking that he looked more scared that I was and I think he had been abused or threatened, though there were no marks on his face. We were made to pretend we were beating and kicking him and he rolled on the ground crying. The film crew covered it all.”
Pasipamire was given a scripted question & answer interview in which he had to admit that he was trained in Botswana and had re-entered Zimbabwe with other guerrillas to kill soldiers. This ‘interview’ was recorded.
He alleges that the abducted activists were also made to say they were funded by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who got the money from Andrew Pocock the UK Ambassador and James McGee the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe. He said he was told to say on camera that the money was paid by the US and the UK through President Ian Khama of Botswana.
The MDC official said he was locked up in a room where he heard “other men being tortured nearby. It was terrible to hear people screaming and crying. There was only one blanket in the room and I held it around my head to keep out the sound. Late that night, some officials opened my door, and when I came out, I saw other men like myself standing in front of other doors and rooms where they had been kept. A hose was turned on and we were all sprayed and then our rooms were sprayed, including my blanket.”
“Late into the night, there were still the screams of people being tortured and beaten. I cannot properly tell you how terrible it is to be cold, wet, unable to sleep and surrounded by the sounds of men crying in pain. This was the worst torture of all and it will be with me all my life.”
Such was the level of abuse that the councillor said by the following day he was ready to ‘to cooperate’ in order to survive.
It is believed the female victims who had also been abducted were being kept at the same place near Goromonzi, as he heard the CIO’s referring to them, but he never saw them himself.
Pasipamire said he was held for three days and was repeatedly sprayed with cold water. By the third night he was so cold and depressed that he thought of hanging himself with the wet blanket. He said he was injected twice on the fourth day, although he was not told what was being injected.
“I was not given food that day and in the evening I was driven to Harare. No one gave me any information on where I was going or why, but I had a feeling that they were planning to kill me. At this time, I cannot reveal any details of my escape because it will be a danger to the people who helped me. There are some inside ZANU-PF and CIO who do not believe in what they are doing.”
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