VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
09 April
2007
The Zimbabwean government's ongoing crackdown on the
opposition did not
abate over the Easter holiday as security agents invaded
the home of
opposition activist Philip Katsande early Saturday and shot him
three times
in the arms and chest.
Katsande, provincial executive for
Harare Province for the Movement for
Democratic Change faction led by Morgan
Tsvangirai, was listed in critical
condition at the state-run Parirenyatwa
Hospital in Harare where he was
under police guard.
He was hit by
bullets fired by security agents into a ceiling space where he
had hidden
when they forced their way into his home, opposition sources
said.
Another Tsvangirai faction activist, Solomon Madzore, secretary
general of
the MDC faction's national youth assembly, was abducted at
gunpoint in the
capital on Sunday morning. He was beaten and later located
at the Stoddart
Police Station in the Mbare suburb of Harare where he is
alleged to have
been beaten again before being transferred Monday afternoon
to Harare
Central Police Station.
His lawyer, Tafadzwa Mugabe of the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, went
to Harare Central but was not
allowed to see his client.
To date the official crackdown has focused on
opposition activists in urban
centers, but now is said to be targeting
officials and members of the MDC in
rural areas.
Torture centers are
said to have been established in the rural constituency
of Seke in
Mashonaland East Province, where uniformed forces and Zanu PF
militia
members are said to be routinely brutalizing civilians. Villagers
told a VOA
reporter that they are living in fear, forcing some of them to
flee into
towns and cities.
Spokesman Nelson Chamisa of the Tsvangirai MDC faction
told reporter Jonga
Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that his party
believes the
government wants to instill fear in the opposition well before
the 2008
elections.
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
09 April 2007 12:38
Zimbabwe's government on Monday shrugged off an appeal by the
country's
Roman Catholic bishops for democratic reform while an opposition
activist
lay in critical condition in hospital after being shot, reportedly
by
police.
Reacting to a pastoral letter from the Zimbabwe
Catholic
Bishops' Conference pasted on church doors on Easter Sunday,
Information
Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said he "respected their opinion",
South African
public radio reported.
Zimbabwe is a
democracy, he insisted, adding that the bishops,
who warned of a "mass
uprising" in the absence of democratic reforms, are
"free to say what they
like".
Worshippers crowded around church notice boards after
Mass on
Easter Sunday to read the pastoral letter entitled "God hears the
cries of
the oppressed", which lamented state "arrests, detentions, banning
orders,
beatings and torture" and "vote-rigging".
"Oppression is sin," the bishops warned President Robert Mugabe,
himself a
Catholic, adding: "In order to avoid bloodshed and a mass
uprising, the
nation needs a new people-driven constitution" under which to
hold "free and
fair elections".
Meanwhile, an activist with the opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) who was reportedly shot by police in
Harare in an
ongoing crackdown on the party was in critical condition in
hospital on
Monday, a party spokesperson said.
"It's a
very critical condition. He still has that bullet that
has not been taken
out," party spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said in reference
to a bullet lodged
in Philip Katsande's chest.
Efforts were under way at party
level to have him moved to a
private clinic from Harare's Parirenyatwa
Hospital, where he was under
police guard.
Police raided
Katsande's home late on Thursday, shooting him
three times, once in the
chest and twice in the hands, according to the MDC.
An MDC
activist was shot dead and several others, including
party leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, were detained and beaten by police following
an aborted
opposition prayer rally in mid-March.
Police say they are
hunting for suspects behind a string of
petrol-bomb attacks on police
stations and other targets that have left
several injured since the March
crackdown. They blame the MDC for the
attacks, but the party rejects the
charges.
The attack on Katsande comes days after the badly
beaten body of
an abducted television cameraman, Edward Chikomba, was found
on the
outskirts of Harare, in a killing some suspect was linked to his
work.
Chikomba allegedly leaked footage to foreign media of a
badly
assaulted Tsvangirai after his release from police custody last month
--
images that provoked a torrent of international condemnation of the
Mugabe
regime. -- Sapa-dpa
IOL
April 09
2007 at 12:11PM
Harare - A Zimbabwean opposition activist who was
shot and injured by
police during a raid on his home last week was in a
critical condition on
Monday at a state-run hospital, a party spokesperson
said.
Lawyers for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) are
trying to
have the activist, Philip Katsande, referred to a private clinic,
party
spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa in an
interview.
"It's a very critical condition. He still has that
bullet that has not
been taken out," Chamisa said in reference to a bullet
lodged in Katsande's
chest.
Police raided the home of Katsande
late on Thursday, shooting him
three times, once in the chest and twice in
the hands, according to the
party. He is currently under police guard at
Harare's Parirenyatwa Hospital.
Police say they are
hunting for suspects behind a string of petrol
bomb attacks on police
stations and other targets over the past month that
have left several
injured.
They blame the MDC for the attacks, but the party denies
the charges.
"It has become the character and nature of this
government and police
to just target opposition activists and those who hold
contrary views and
opinions to them," Chamisa said. - Sapa-DPA
Zim Online
Tuesday 10 April
2007
By Grace Kwinje
"I will go before the King,
even though it is against the law. And if I
perish. I perish" . Esther
4:16
HARARE - 'What sort of woman are you Grace Kwinjeh?' 'Who do you
think you
are?' 'What are you trying to prove?'
Questions asked by
more than five baton stick wielding riot police officers
as they beat me up
on that fateful day at Machipisa Police Station in Harare
on the 11th of
March.
This was round one out of many.
Yet it was about the woman
in me. It was about me as a woman and what I
stand for or
represent.
Each blow epitomised what they feared and hated in my defiance
against them.
This translated into the most brutal assault or dare I say
attempted murder
on me, on my person, my being; that woman in me.
I
did not respond I stood still and took each blow as it came. I did not
cry.
I did not beg for mercy. None of the comrades present on that day cried
or
begged for mercy, none denounced the party or tried to negotiate
themselves
out of this horror of horrors that will never be erased from our
memories.
Neither will the physical or emotional scars ever heal. No
amount of therapy
can heal what we went through on that day.
Sekai
Holland a 64 year old grandmother was called a 'whore', 'Blair's whore'
to
be precise. 'No I cannot be Blair's whore he is my son' she said. How
dare
she respond thus?
Associate herself with the defiled Tony Blair? And so
Sekai was danced on,
interestingly by another woman. 'Iri hure raBlair
rinoda varungu,'
translates to 'this Blair whore loves white
men'.
Sekai married for 40 years to an Australian was severely assaulted
several
times. She broke a leg an arm and three ribs. Why because as a
journalist
she made the double 'choices' of marrying a white man and
belonging to the
opposition; for that she had to suffer.
She had to
be punished for going against the 'norm', the 'expected' by ZANU
PF.
That woman in her was under attack verbally and physically. Her
age? Not an
issue.
The two young women we were with were not spared.
The young 'whores'
according to the officers had to be taught a
lesson.
Together with Sekai and myself we were beaten on the buttocks.
'Rovai
mazigaro' 'beat up the big bums' they shouted.
My black beret
fell off and I got a beating for my blond hair. 'Hure
rekuHoliday Inn
rovai." "A Holiday Inn prostitute beat her up'. 'Look at the
color of her
hair.'
The 'sins' were many. I colored my hair blond in protest after
Registrar
General Tobaiwa Mudede denied me a travel document on the basis
that it was
a 'state security document' and not a 'right.'
I was
slowly being rendered stateless in my own country.
And so as is the case
too in opposition politics the attack on us women was
more on our sexuality,
we were assaulted, humiliated, demeaned in whatever
way they could think
of.
Comically again, amongst us victims were some of the worst male
philanderers, but the issue with them remained political, exposing the
misogynistic character of our society.
We were treated this way
because we are women and nothing else.
As I reflect on, I do not regret
the woman I am and the hard choices I have
to make.
It is for these
that in my life I have often been persecuted, socially,
sexually or mentally
and this time I have paid an insufferably heavy price
that has left deep
scars on my body and soul.
I challenge oppressive systems in all their
forms not just to do away with
Robert Mugabe's injustice, but also primitive
actions by those in our midst
that still place us women in the odd position,
of being underdogs even in
the struggle for a democratic and just
society.
It is a double battle for both our political freedom and
emancipation, none
of which can be achieved without the other, otherwise
it's a half-baked
revolution, similar to the one we got at
independence.
Zimbabwean women in politics have stories to tell.
Opposition politics? More
stories.
Over the past months I have seen
myself in and out of jail on various
dubious charges mostly to do with
organising and leading illegal
demonstrations.
Once I was placed in
solitary confinement at Rhodesville Police station for
48 hours. The aim
here I suppose was just to traumatise me. As I sat there
in that cell on my
own I was afraid.
Afraid of many things to do with being tortured, raped
or even being killed.
By the grace of God I came out not touched.
A
female freedom fighter can be killed at any time. In the wee hours of
March
12 the military police came for me at Braeside Police Station, where I
had
been dumped half dead already, the night before.
A search for me by
family and friends was in full scale at this time.
I was in a cell with
two other women. One of them was actually nursing and
praying for me as I
was in great pain and bleeding. We heard the sound of
cars outside. Foot
steps then the jail door opened.
The officer in charge, Makore pointed at
me and said 'uyu Kwinjeh' to four
military intelligence officials. I held on
to the two women I knew I was in
danger.
Once again in the fence of
Braeside police station, I was tortured by the
officers. They said they had
been given orders to kill and not negotiate
with civilians. This was not a
joke because by this time comrade Gift
Tandare's body lay cold
somewhere.
May his soul rest in peace. I did not know this. The rest I
leave to God and
his mercy for me on that night.
They asked me all
sorts of questions as they beat me with short 30
centimetre really painful
baton sticks. I fainted several times but each
time they got me up and
tortured me.
Until in the end I could not stand that is when they asked
me to remain
seated and stretch out my legs and they beat the soles of my
feet. How I got
back in the cell I do not know. All I know is my life was
spared.
They stayed on vigil outside the fence waiting for further
'instructions'.
Thank God some officials from the Lawyers for Human Rights
found me before
the 'instructions' came the next day.
And then it was
drama after drama. Released to hospital under riot police
guard; then no
charges; re arrested while trying to leave the country then
back to hospital
under riot police guard.
Eventually with Sekai Holland we made it for
medical treatment here in South
Africa.
I thank the sisters and
brothers for the solidarity that came in the form of
prayers,
demonstrations, night dresses, cake, books, fruit and water.
Above all
for taking the risk of being associated with this kind of woman,
by visiting
us at the Avenues Clinic in full view of the police and CIO
operatives.
I will end with a quote from Paolo Coelho's 'The Zahir',
"I don't regret the
painful times; I bear my scars as if they were medals. I
know that freedom
has a high price, as high as that of slavery; the
difference is that you pay
with pleasure and a smile, even when that smile
is dimmed by tears.'
And so the woman in me will fight on. Aluta
Continua.
* Grace Kwinje is the deputy secretary for international
relations in the
Morgan Tsvangirai-led Movement for Democratic Change
party
Mail and Guardian
Harare, Zimbabwe
09 April 2007 11:15
Cash-strapped Zimbabwe is now forcing all motor-vehicle
importers to pay
their excise duty in foreign currency, the state-run Herald
reported on
Monday.
Finance Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has ordered
that the new
rule, which will cover all luxury goods, takes effect
immediately after
declaring the change in a government gazette, according to
the newspaper.
"Payments of customs duty and value-added tax
on the importation
of any item of goods designated as luxury items shall be
payable in United
States dollars, euros, or any other currency denominated
under the exchange
control," Mumbengegwi was quoted as
saying.
The general rate of duty for cars ranges between 60%
and 80%
depending on the type of vehicle.
Previously
importers paid for duty in local currency, making it
relatively cheap to
import.
According to central bank figures, Zimbabweans have
been
spending an estimated $400 000 importing an average of 80 used vehicles
a
day from Britain, Dubai, Japan, Singapore and the United
States.
Since August last year, authorities have pegged the
local unit
at Z$250 to the US dollar, yet in reality it costs about Z$14
000.
The used-car industry had become one of the growing
business
sector in the country.
In addition to duty
calculated against the cost of the car,
freight and insurance, importers
will also have to pay surtax and
value-added tax.
Analysts say the latest government directive will make the cost
of importing
vehicles more expensive.
"The government directive will
result in all imported vehicles
being very expensive," one vehicle importer
said. "Many people, especially
those who had already paid for their
vehicles, will be badly affected by
this policy shift."
The Southern African country is in the seventh year of economic
recession
characterised by high inflation, massive unemployment and chronic
shortages
of foreign currency and basic goods such as fuel and the staple
cornmeal. --
Sapa-AFP
OhMyNews
Masimba Biriwasha
Published 2007-04-10 00:52
(KST)
Zimbabweans are turning en masse to God in search of solace and
divine
answers in the face of a political and economic fallout that has no
apparent
resolution in sight.
Christianity, which played a key role
in Zimbabwe's liberation struggle that
ushered independence from British
colonial rule in 1980, is increasingly
providing a platform for popular
revolt in the beleaguered country. Many
churches are, once again, beginning
to embrace the liberation theology that
inspired people to take up arms
against the colonial regime.
The country, which is tottering under a
record hyperinflation of more than
1,700 percent, also has an unemployment
rate of over 80 percent. 4 out 5
people are unemployed and basic goods are
in short supply. Over 2 million
people are in need of food
aid.
"There's a warfare going on, and we have to turn to God for
protection,"
said Michelle Dumare, who regularly attends New Covenant Life
Ministries, a
high profile Pentecostal church in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital
city. "I am
currently living by the grace of God of course. With the prices
of basic
commodities sky rocketing all the time, one has to believe in God
for
provision each and every day."
President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front
(ZANU-PF)-led government is not
letting up, and is applying heavy-handed
tactics to anyone who dares to
express dissent.
But like many Zimbabweans, Michelle ardently goes to
church every Sunday to
pray for the salvation of the country. She also
attends morning, afternoon
and evening prayer meetings where the main
subject of prayer is the
disintegration of the nation-state.
As
pressure mounts on Mugabe to quit or reform, many Christians are
certainly
hoping that their prayers are reaching God.
"Our nation Zimbabwe has been
in the press lately with reports of violence
and trouble. There has been
some tension and frustration lately, but God is
still God," reads a
statement on prominent Zimbabwean Pastor Tudor Bismark's
Web site, Tudor
Bismark Ministries. "We really need your prayers, our nation
is in travail
-- people are struggling and reaching desperation point.
Prices of
commodities and services are changing as much as four times a
day."
"It's a time for the Christians to intercede for the nation.
There's need
for more prayer. Zimbabweans need to humble themselves before
God and
repent, and ask for forgiveness on behalf of the whole nation. A
miracle
will happen in the country, if only we pray," said Godsway Shumba, a
Zimbabwean Pentecostal Christian.
And Maybe God is listening
indeed?
Over the weekend, the Roman Catholic Church, which supported the
country's
liberation war, flashed red lights at Mugabe's regime. The Church
has the
majority of Christians in the country -- Mugabe himself proclaims to
be
Catholic.
In a Sunday Easter message, Pope Benedict XVI, head of
the Roman Catholic
Church, bemoaned the state of affairs in the
country.
"Zimbabwe is in the grip of a grievous crisis, and for this
reason the
bishops of that country in a recent document indicated prayer and
a shared
commitment for the common good as the only way forward," he
said.
Roman Catholic bishops in Zimbabwe warned President Robert Mugabe's
government of the potential of a popular revolt in the face of ongoing
economic meltdown and political repression.
In a letter distributed
to all parishes throughout the country, the bishops
warned of a mass
uprising unless there's imminent change in the governing of
the
country.
According to media reports, the letter titled "God Hears the
Cries of the
Oppressed," was the most critical pastoral message towards
Mugabe's
leadership style since Zimbabwe won independence in 1980. The
letter was
posted on church noticeboards and read from the pulpit throughout
the
country, including rural areas -- tradionally Mugabe's
stronghold.
"As the suffering population becomes more insistent,
generating more and
more pressure through boycotts, strikes, demonstrations
and uprisings, the
state responds with ever harsher oppression through
arrests, detentions,
banning orders, beatings and torture," read part of the
pastoral message
from the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference.
The
letter said young Zimbabweans "see their leaders habitually engaging in
acts
and words which are hateful, disrespectful, racist, corrupt, lawless,
unjust, greedy, dishonest and violent in order to cling to the privileges of
power and wealth."
"It is the same conflict between those who possess
power and wealth in
abundance, and those who do not; between those who are
determined to
maintain their privileges of power and wealth at any cost,
even at the cost
of bloodshed, and those who demand their democratic rights
and a share in
the fruits of independence; between those who continue to
benefit from the
present system of inequality and injustice, because it
favors them and
enables them to maintain an exceptionally high standard of
living, and those
who go to bed hungry at night and wake up in the morning
to another day
without work and without income; between those who only know
the language of
violence and intimidation, and those who feel they have
nothing more to lose
because their constitutional rights have been abrogated
and their votes
rigged," said the letter.
The bishops backed calls
for a new constitution "that will guide a
democratic leadership chosen in
free and fair elections."
Recently, the head of the World Alliance of
Reformed Churches (WARC)General
Secretary Setri Nyomi expressed "grave
concern" over the economic, political
and humanitarian crisis unraveling in
Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, Mugabe's government brushed aside the criticism.
Information
Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said on South Africa public radio
that he
"respected the opinion" of the bishops because Zimbabwe was a
democracy and
they were "free to say what they like."
Niagara Falls Review
Editorial & Opinion - Monday, April 09, 2007 Updated @ 7:09:43
AM
The government of Iran is outraged that a Hollywood movie about the
battle
of Thermopylae portrays ancient Persians as brutal, bungling
barbarians.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denounced the film, "300,"
as a calculated
insult and a deliberate attempt to injure Iran by the United
States
government. It is doubtful the film industry is that sophisticated in
its
knowledge of either history or Iran, but Ahmadinejad proceeded to
reinforce
the slander he saw in the movie by behaving in a brutal, bungling
and
barbaric way in the seizure of 15 British sailors and then parading them
on
TV.
Iran appears to revel in its status as an outcast
regime.
So, too, does Zimbabwe. The government of Zimbabwe is outraged that
other
governments and human rights organizations portray President Robert
Mugabe
and his ZANU-PF government as brutal, bungling
barbarians.
Mugabe condemns his critics as imperialists and colonialists
opposed to
Africans ruling themselves, but he governs in such a brutal,
bungling,
barbaric way that Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket and economic
engine of
southern Africa, now sees thousands of people die every week from
starvation
and disease and is economically bankrupt. Its democracy, once a
potential
beacon for black Africa, is now crippled both metaphorically, by
legal
restrictions against opposition parties, and literally, by physical
attacks
on opposition politicians that put them in hospital or in jail.
Earlier this
month, Zimbabwe's people lost their last hope that their
government could
reform itself when the ruling party endorsed Mugabe's bid
for yet another
term as president.
The international community has
imposed sanctions on both nations, the
United Nations Security Council on
Iran and the Commonwealth and the
European Union on Zimbabwe, but to no
effect.
Ahmadinejad and the mullahs who govern Iran, Mugabe and his
cronies in
ZANU-PF, feel no effect themselves from economic sanctions; they
are rich
and comfortable and so closseted by blockade busters in the
international
community and the business world that they and their
governments continue to
prosper while their countries suffer.
Since
direct sanctions against Iran and Zimbabwe are ineffective, it is time
to
take a more serious step that would see sanctions extended to governments
and businesses that continue to prop up these odious regimes. Aiding and
abetting brutal, bungling barbarism is a crime that should not go
unpunished.
Secondary sanctions can effect that. They can cast a
wider net and
accomplish what direct action has not yet
achieved.
From the Winnipeg Free Press
From The Sunday Independent (SA), 8 April
Beating and imprisonment of Zimbabwe president's
opponents intensifies as
South African team begins talks with MDC
factions
Basildon Peta
President Thabo Mbeki started his
mediation effort in Zimbabwe this week by
asking President Robert Mugabe's
opponents to outline their proposals for
convening free and fair elections
next year. Mbeki has dispatched lengthy
letters to Mugabe and the leaders of
Zimbabwe's main opposition party
outlining his mediation intentions. A
high-powered delegation of Mbeki's
confidants - Aziz Pahad, the deputy
foreign affairs minister; Sydney
Mufamadi, the provincial and local
government minister; and Mojanku Gumbi,
the presidential legal adviser - on
Wednesday met Welshman Ncube and Tendai
Biti, the secretaries-general of
Zimbabwe's divided opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC). Ncube
and Biti were asked to prepare submissions on
what they considered the best
conditions for holding free and fair elections
in Zimbabwe. It is understood
that Mbeki will take their proposals to
Mugabe's ruling party for its input
before he takes the mediation effort to
its next stage. Biti and Ncube were
upbeat after their meetings with Mbeki's
team, but they refused to provide
copies of the letters from Mbeki to the
presidents of their respective MDC
factions. They said the tone of the
meetings with Mbeki's officials proved
that his mediation effort was "very
serious". "It certainly won't be
business as usual for Robert Mugabe. We met
a group of African comrades who
are genuine in their effort to see a genuine
African solution to a desperate
situation," said Biti. "I think they are
genuine and share our opinion that
this is the last chance to peacefully
resolve the Zimbabwe crisis." Ncube
was equally enthusiastic: "My opinion of
the meetings is that there is a
serious urgency and determination to seek a
genuine resolution of this
problem."
Analysts say the success of Mbeki's mediation depends on
Mugabe's
co-operation. But Mugabe has a record of rebuffing the South
African
president. Ncube said that, through his representatives, Mbeki had
asked the
two factions of the MDC to say what they considered to be at the
heart of
the Zimbabwe crisis and to identify the minimum conditions for free
and fair
elections. The MDC statements will be presented to Mugabe and his
responses
will determine Mbeki's next move. It is not clear what that next
stage in
the mediation effort will entail, but it could be face-to-face
talks between
Zanu PF and the MDC factions to iron out differences on
election mechanisms
and to agree on a timetable for an agreement's
implementation. There is
almost universal consensus that the best solution
to the Zimbabwe crisis is
the convening of free and fair elections - which
Mugabe would be unlikely to
win in view of the meltdown in his country. The
official inflation rate is 1
700 percent, there is record unemployment and
people are starving. Mugabe
has faced accusations of stealing elections,
which are allegedly run by his
hand-picked cronies, most of them from the
army. Biti said a resolution of
the Zimbabwe crisis would have "to be
premised on the writing of a new,
democratic, people-driven constitution,
the dismantling of Mugabe's fascist
control of the state and all its
institutions of violence, and the repeal of
repressive media and security
laws". Ncube said that at the core of the
Zimbabwe crisis was an
illegitimate constitution and flawed elections. These
were the first things
that would have to be resolved, he said.
The MDC factions will make
their submissions to the South Africans soon
after the Easter holidays.
Mbeki is beginning his mediation bid as Mugabe's
government continues its
attacks on the opposition. Hundreds of low-level
opposition party officials
have been taken from their homes in the past few
weeks and beaten. Morgan
Tsvangirai, the main opposition leader, said this
was a well-orchestrated
attempt to frighten opposition supporters and deter
them from participating
in opposition activities ahead of the elections next
year. The United States
ambassador to Zimbabwe, Chris Dell, has described
the attacks on the
opposition as calculated and co-ordinated. Nine close
aides of Tsvangirai
were badly beaten and taken by the police from the
hospital where they were
being treated. They are said to be in "a grave
condition" in police custody.
But perhaps the most tragic incident this week
was the abduction and murder
of Edward Chikomba, a veteran television
cameraman. Chikomba was snatched
from his home in Harare's Glen View. His
badly beaten body was discovered
dumped near a dam on the outskirts of the
city. It seems his crime was that
he worked secretly for international TV
networks that have been banned from
operating in Zimbabwe. His murder has
drawn worldwide condemnation and a
scathing attack on the Mugabe government
by the International Federation of
Journalists, in Brussels. The two
factions of the MDC are under enormous
pressure to present a strong, united
front against Mugabe at the
negotiations and in the elections next year.
Mugabe has been forced, mainly
by opposition in his own party, to abandon
his plans to extend his term by
two years and hold elections in 2010.
Daily Champion (Lagos)
April 9,
2007
Posted to the web April 9, 2007
The growing isolation
which Zimbabwe's 83-year-old leader, Robert Gabriel
Mugabe, is currently
facing from both within and outside the country should
be a clear indication
that it is time for him to quit power.
Although his ZANU-PF party has
recently endorsed him for next year's
presidential election amid widespread
protests, commonsense and wisdom
demand that Mr. Mugabe must resist the
attempt to continue in power when his
current tenure expires February
2008.
Since 1980 till date, nearly three decades he has been in
power, making him
one of Africa's sit-tight leaders.
He started well
as the beacon of hope for the new Zimbabwe in the early
1980s, having fought
gallantly alongside other great nationalists like
Joshua Nkomo to secure the
nation's independence. Even his detractors (the
West and the rest) could
readily admit that Mugabe made giant strides in
education and
nation-building. He was a liberation hero as well as leader of
the frontline
states that facilitated the demise of apartheid regime in
South
Africa.
However, over the years Mr. Mugabe has fallen from grace to
grass. Despite
wholesome condemnation of his administration in form of
negative publicity
and propaganda by the West, Mugabe's long rule has
continued to bring
Zimbabwe lower by the day, which means the ovation had
since ceased for the
man who is supposed to be one of Africa's greatest
statesmen.
That is why we insist that despite nomination by his party to
go for another
term of six years, Mr. Mugabe should rather now busy himself
with the task
of grooming a successor. This is the only way he can amend his
chequered
political career as well as secure the future of his
country.
In Africa, we know that the vexed issue of sit-tightism by
rapacious leaders
and dictators has often led to guerilla warfare which at
times lasted many
years, destroying the affected countries' infrastructure
and forcing such
sit-tight leaders out of power in disgrace. Mr. Mugabe
should not allow this
to happen to his tottering regime and
country.
Now with unemployment rate at 80 per cent, galloping inflation
of about
1,700 per cent, the worst in the world as well as crippling
sanctions by the
European Union (EU) since 2002, Mugabe's Zimbabwe is on the
brink of
collapse. The EU had slammed sanctions, including travel bans and
arms
embargo on Harare after controversial elections won by the long-serving
ruler which the opposition alleged were massively rigged.
Even at
that, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has recently pressed for
tougher EU
measures against Zimbabwe, describing the situation in that
country as
"appalling, disgraceful and utterly tragic."
In spite of local protests
and virulent criticisms by the West, Mr. Mugabe
has surprisingly remained
belligerent. According to him, "nothing frightens
me. I make a stand and
stand on principle here where I was born, here where
I grew up, here where I
fought and here where I shall die."
President Mugabe ought not resort to
repressive measures against the
opposition to perpetuate himself in power.
His detractors have always
referred to the massacre of about 25,000
civilians in 1983 and 1984 by
Mugabe's North Korean trained soldiers in
Matabeleland, South -West of the
country. Instead, he should age gracefully
by allowing a power-sharing
formula between the opposition and his ruling
ZANU-PF. We believe that
Mugabe should be building an enduring legacy,
particularly by seriously
thinking of quiting power by February
2008.
He should ensure that the country which he had laboured and staked
his life
for, lives on and better too after him.
Granted that the
West wants to facilitate his exit from power, the ageing
leader can still
redeem himself by ensuring national peace and stability
which could be
promoted if he dumps the idea of running for election next
year.
From
what has been happening especially in recent time, it is glaring that
he has
run out of ideas, and the protests further confirm the conviction of
the
West that Mugabe has run Zimbabwe aground.
For how long can he continue
to apply brute force to quell protests against
his regime?
In 2000,
Zimbabweans passed a vote of no confidence on Mugabe in a
referendum
conducted to extend his presidential term. That even showed that
he had
outlived his welcome.
Mr. Mugabe should learn from the ugly experiences
in some African countries
like Togo and Cote d'Voire where former sit-tight
leaders - the late
Presidents Gnassingbe Eyadema and Houphet Boigny
respectively - failed to
plan for their succession leading to constitutional
crisis when they died in
office.
Mugabe should not allow this to
occur in his country. He should start
tidying up for his eventual exit next
year. Standing for the next
presidential poll will never be in his best
interest nor that of Zimbabwe.
Southgate Amateur Radio Club, UK
Zimbabwe's Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu has said that the
country's
new international shortwave radio station, News24, will start
broadcasting
before independence celebrations on 18 April.
The new
radio station will be based in Gweru, and should be available to
audiences
both in and outside Zimbabwe.
"There will be a revolutionary development
in the media. We should be able
to tell our own story," Ndlovu is quoted as
saying.
The Herald says the government is spending US$35 million on the
project.
zimbabwejournalists.com
9th Apr 2007 18:22 GMT
By a Correspondent
LONDON - The Christian
community in the United Kingdom will on the 21st of
April join hands with
activists within the Zimbabwe Vigil, the opposition
MDC and human rights
activists here to hold a prayer vigil for Zimbabwe.
A statement from the
Christian community said the prayer vigil would be held
outside the Zimbabwe
Embassy in London.
This follows the massive crackdown by the Zimbabwe
government on opposition
activists after police thwarted efforts by the Save
Zimbabwe Campaign to
lead Zimbabweans in prayer on the 11th of
March.
Opposition leaders were arrested, beaten up and one activist, Gift
Tandare,
was shot dead in Highfield as the police tried to stop Morgan
Tsvangirai,
the MDC founding president and other pro-democracy leaders from
attending
the prayer meeting.
There have also been reports on a daily
basis of the abduction of opposition
activists with one said to be fighting
for his life after being shot at by
the police this Easter
holiday.
"There has been political unrest that is causing untold
suffering in
Zimbabwe," said the statement. "The situation is deteriorating
everyday with
more and more disturbing reports on the harassment, torture
and abuse of the
ordinary Zimbabwean. The people are being held hostage in
their own
country."
"But then each time a man or a woman stands up
for justice, the heavens sing
and the world rejoices. We are urging the
people here to stand up and be
counted."
The organisers say they
expect various church groups from the Zimbabwean
community here will attend
the vigil and pray for Zimbabwe.
"We are convinced that if we all humble
ourselves and pray and seek God's
grace, He will hear us and heal our
land."
Public
Agenda (Accra)
April 4, 2007
Posted to the web April 9,
2007
Ebenezer Hanson
Accra
The Minority Leader, Hon. Alban
Bagbin is not amused with the manner
President John Agyekum Kufuor has so
far handled the Zimbabwean political
crisis.
According to him, he
"expected President Kufuor to chastise President
Mugabe" rather than
resorting to "diplomatic language" and describing the
ignominious acts of
Mugabe against his opponents as merely an
"embarrassment".
To him
the lenient stance of the Kufuor administration on the Zimbabwean
Government
amounts to backtracking on Ghana's foreign policy of promoting
justice and
growth of democracy on the African continent.
Bagbin was commenting on a
statement presented to Parliament by the Minister
of Foreign Affairs and
NEPAD, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on the African
Union (AU) and related
matters on Ghana's foreign policy and President
Kufuor' AU
chairmanship.
Hon. Bagbin expressed his gratefulness to other African
leaders for
conferring the AU Chairmanship on Ghana saying that the position
has not
been conferred only President Kufuor but to the nation as
well.
On the forthcoming AU Summit, which is expected to test Ghanaian's
diplomacy
to the limits, Hon Bagbin said the nation must do all it can to
stabilize
the energy and water problem before this important international
assignment.
He advised that appointees in charge must put their acts
together and not be
caught pants down like we did when "we were planting
grass during the dry
season before the highlights of the Golden Jubilee
celebrations when people
did not have water to drink".
President
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and his main opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
have been at each other's throats, leading to the rest and
battering of the
opposition by the police
Mr. Mugabe sees the activities of Tsvangirai and
his MDC as conspiracy by
his opponents and Britain to remove him from
power.
In response to the condemnation by certain leaders Mugabe says he
would not
desist from the process of giving the people their land back; the
essential
message is to defend the land reforms and farm seizures that have
occurred
in the past two years.
But Mr. Tsvangirai claims his party
wants an integrated society - black,
white, yellow, whoever. "This is the
principle that the people themselves
have defined. That our problems do not
arise out of the mischief of whites
or any small group; our problems arise
out of misgovernance, corruption and
lack of investment and creation of
jobs. So that is the basis upon which
people are defining their issues.
Whether Mugabe defines it in his own
paranoid obsession about whites, that'
s his problem it's not our problem."
Mr. Tsvangirai says the MDC has been
at the receiving end of the terrorist
actions of Mugabe's administration,
not that they have initiated anything to
warrant those kinds of labels. "
MDC is one that has maintained peace in
this country. "We have maintained
peace in this country otherwise it would
have blown out of
control."
For past 12 months Mugabe has accused the MDC of waging a
terror campaign,
backed by British intelligence, to destabilize Zimbabwe. No
one has taken
the claims seriously. Internationally, the focus has been on
the violence
and terror being created by pro government Zimbabweans are
grappling with
the world's highest inflation - 1,700% a year - while
unemployment and
poverty are widespread.
From The Sunday Times (SA), 8 April
Professionals flee Mugabe's tyranny for an uncertain,
illegal life across
the border
Julian Rademeyer
Three
years after being forced into exile, Zimbabwean Judge Michael Majuru
has all
but given up hope of being granted asylum in South Africa. "It is an
almost
impossible process to get an asylum-seeker's permit. It is a process
riddled
with corruption and you need to pay bribes to get your way into the
system,"
he said this week. "There is no acceptance from South African
authorities
that there is a problem in Zimbabwe and that some Zimbabweans
may genuinely
be seeking asylum in South Africa." Accused of "colluding with
British
imperialists" while hearing an appeal by Zimbabwe's Daily News
against its
closure under the country's draconian media laws, Majuru fled
the country in
2003. "A Central Intelligence Organisation agent told me a
senior police
officer had been assigned to look into ensuring my arrest.
More than
anything else, that scared me and so I had to run away." For the
moment he
remains in South Africa on a student visa while pursuing a master's
degree
in human rights law. His wife has to return to Zimbabwe every 30 days
to
renew the business visa she was granted. Majuru hopes that one day he
will
be able to return home. "The expectation of every Zimbabwean is that
the
situation will normalise and then they will go back."
Thousands of
Zimbabwean teachers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, engineers and
scientists have
joined the Zimbabwean diaspora over the past decade. Victims
of economic
deprivation and worsening violence, they have been forced to
flee their
homes and abandon friends and family to pursue an uncertain
future in South
Africa, Europe, Canada and Australia. Last month, Zimbabwe's
parliamentary
portfolio committee on Foreign Affairs, Industry and
International Trade
heard that the "brain drain" was costing the country
billions each year.
Emotionally and sometimes physically scarred by their
experiences, many of
the Zimbabweans fleeing to South Africa fall victim to
xenophobic hatred and
exploitation. In cities like Johannesburg, engineers
find work as security
guards and teachers become construction workers. Like
many of his friends
and colleagues, Absalom, a teacher, fears reprisals from
the Zimbabwean
security forces and does not want his full name published.
"You are always
afraid, wherever you are. We will do any work that comes our
way because you
have to survive. You have to eat and you have to bath ...
You can't live in
a country where you know you can be killed at any time for
nothing. That is
why we have come here ... But our skills are being
exploited for the benefit
of South Africa," he says.
Another teacher, who taught maths and
computer science at a private school
in Zimbabwe, agrees. "We do part-time
jobs in construction, some of the guys
go to work for security companies at
football matches . But the construction
companies cheat us. Just before pay
day they will call the police to round
up all their workers and get them
deported. That way they get free labour."
The maths teacher has found work
at a fly-by-night inner-city college and
earns a paltry R1500 a month.
"There are a lot of experienced Zimbabwean
workers here who could benefit
South Africa. As skilled people we would like
to offer our services."
Teachers have been specifically targeted in terror
campaigns conducted by
President Robert Mugabe's thuggish security services
and youth
paramilitaries, the "green bombers". "Educated people are seen as
being
against Zanu PF and because of that the victimisation is quite
difficult,"
said another teacher.
It is Thursday night at the Central Methodist
Church in Johannesburg's inner
city. From the street, the shadows of the
refugees can be seen silhouetted
against the grimy windows and dull yellow
lights of the church. Inside,
hundreds of people, - mostly Zimbabwean -
crowd around the sanctuary in
stairwells, passageways and halls. For now,
this is their home. Surrounded
by meagre possessions, they prepare to bed
down for another uncomfortable
night on cold, hard floors. Many have
survived horrific journeys from towns
and villages in Zimbabwe, across the
Limpopo River and into South Africa. On
the eve of Easter, the sermon is
about betrayal and forgiveness. As lights
outside the church are switched
off, about 700 refugees emerge from the
darkness and jostle into the pews.
Bishop Paul Verryn asks them to "pray for
the powerless ... and all who
strive for justice". "Let us pray tonight for
the rulers of the countries
from which we came," he exhorts.
In a corner on the fourth floor of
the building, two teenagers, one
Mozambican, the other Zimbabwean, huddle
together for warmth. Nelio Chauke,
15, left his home in the Zimbabwe
Midlands in December last year. The
refugees who have taken him into their
care say his father was killed during
an upsurge of political violence in
their home town. His mother fled and has
not been heard from since. Somehow
Chauke managed to slip across the Beit
Bridge border post. According to
Absalom "the boy made his way to Musina and
boarded a train on his own. He
found himself at Park Station and for close
to a week he slept on the
street. Then he heard people speaking languages he
recognised from home and
they told him to come here to the church."
According to the International
Organisation for Migration, 793 children aged
between 11 and 17 were
returned to Zimbabwe between January and March this
year. A further 51 801
adult migrants were deported from South Africa, with
the dominant group
being 18 to 24.
The Herald
(Harare)
April 9, 2007
Posted to the web April 9, 2007
Walter
Nyamukondiwa
Kariba
THE Zambezi River Authority and Zesa Holdings
yesterday conducted major
checks on the Kariba Dam wall and key electricity
generation infrastructure
to assess structural maintenance
needs.
This resulted in the shutdown of both Kariba North and South power
stations
feeding Zimbabwe and Zambia for up to six hours to allow
consultants to
assess the level of corrosion on the apron -- subsequently
switching off
most areas in the supply grid of electricity in the two
neighbouring
countries.
An apron is a concrete structure at the
foot of a dam wall to protect it
from the impact of falling water when
floodgates are opened at first before
it starts falling into the
81-metre-deep plunge pool.
This has been eroded over the years especially
when the floodgates are
opened.
The gates were last opened in 2001
and there are no immediate prospects of
them being opened owing to the low
levels of water in Lake Kariba which is
at 30 percent capacity.
The
last inspection was conducted in 1992 and the outcome of yesterday's
inspection is expected to be almost the same as then when maintenance needs
are minimal.
ZRA chief executive officer Dr Michael Tumbare said
preliminary indications
were that the main structure was intact while it
should be established if
there was need to resurface its coating.
"So
far we have looked at the apron and it seems the main structure is
intact
although we now need to wait for the consultants to find out whether
there
is a need to resurface it or not," he said.
This means that no major
maintenance work would be needed in the next five
years that could warrant
the shutting down of the two power stations for
long periods.
"If
there was need for major work on the apron it would have meant a
shutdown of
up to a week but the core of the structure is still intact," he
said.
Dr Tumbare said the dam wall was intact and still had at least
90 more years
of its projected 147-year lifespan.
ZRA board member
from the Zambian side Mrs Emily Striedel said the process
went on smoothly
on the North station.
The gradual shutdown of the four generators on
either side of the Kariba Dam
wall began at 8am resulting in water levels
dissipating along the Zambezi.
However, one generator each from the North
and South power stations was left
running at 25 megawatts to allow for a
smooth switch-on of the other
generators after the inspection.
This
shutdown left some fish exposed owing to the lowering of the water
levels
playing into the hands of expectant people who were waiting to catch
trapped
fish.
People on either banks of the Zambezi River were able to catch some
fish
although officers from the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of
Zimbabwe were there to monitor the situation.
Security officers were
deployed to monitor activity along the Zambezi as
people tried to take
advantage of the subsiding water levels to poach fish
or smuggle goods in
and out of the country.
"This time we could not catch as many fish as the
last time when generators
from the two power stations suddenly tripped and
the water levels dropped
almost instantly meaning fish did not have time to
move to safety," said a
man who had managed to catch some fish in the
subsiding water.
Zesa also took the opportunity to inspect and repair all
its four
tailraces -- an outlet of water used to run the turbines for power
generation into the Zambezi River -- for the smooth control of water
flow.
The shutdown was a spectacle for tourists who were lucky to be in
Kariba.
"It is spectacular because we can see the hippos and fish while
they are in
the water unlike when the volume of water is high," said Mrs Lyn
Schwim of
Bulawayo who is on holiday in the resort town with her family.
(SECAM is the Pan-African Association of Catholic Bishops Conferences)
A
message from the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and
Madagascar
(SECAM*) on the State of Affairs in Zimbabwe
We, members of the
Standing Committee of SECAM, meeting in Accra, Ghana,
from March 26-30,
2007, having prayerfully reflected on a number of issues
pertaining to our
continent and not being indifferent vis-à-vis the
suffering of our sisters
and brothers in other African countries, do hereby
issue the following
message on the situation in Zimbabwe.
"God is always on the side
of the oppressed" (Psalm 103:6)
We are saddened and concerned
about the suffering of our sisters and
brothers in Zimbabwe. A fact-finding
mission sent to Zimbabwe recently by
SECAM reports that the situation there
has reached a state, where an
uncontrolled outbreak of violence, chaos and
anarchy is more and more
becoming a danger.
The mission
confirmed the observations which the Catholic Bishops'
Conference of
Zimbabwe has made in a recent pastoral letter.
Zimbabwe today is
characterized by:
A political situation, where freedom of
assembly, expression and movement no
longer exists; members of the civil
society, political opponents and even
ordinary citizens become victims of
violent acts, meted out on them for no
legitimate reason.
A
social situation, where basic needs are hardly met; food has become
unaffordable for the vast majority of the population. Drugs and medical
services are far beyond the reach of the ordinary Zimbabwean. The education
system is almost collapsing.
A situation of despair; almost
four (4) million Zimbabweans have gone into
exile. They continue to send
their loved ones some basic commodities from
outside. At the same time, the
wave of refugees to Zimbabwe's neighbouring
countries is also becoming a
burden for that region.
An economic situation, which makes the
production and distribution of goods
impossible, therefore leading to a
continuous deterioration of the public
and common good.
The
situation in Zimbabwe is not the result of a natural catastrophe or only
of
adverse international conditions. It is largely self-inflicted. It is a
crisis of moral leadership and of bad governance.
We strongly
appeal to the Government of Zimbabwe, in the name of Jesus, to
immediately
stop the violence. And we urge all the political leaders of
Zimbabwe to be
fair, just and compassionate in governing their people.
Peace, good
governance and respect of human rights should always be the
overriding
principle.
We also appeal to President John Agyekum Kufuor,
Chairman of the African
Union (AU), and President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete,
Chairman of the Organ of
Politics, Defense and Security of the Southern
African Development
Cooperation (SADC), and all leaders assembled in
Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania on
the 29th of March 2007 that, in the spirit of the
New Partnership for
Africa's Development (NePAD) and the African Peer Review
Mechanism (APRM),
they should prevail upon the Government of Zimbabwe to
immediately take
measures to stop the violence and carnage that is engulfing
the country.
They should insist that the rule of law and respect for
fundamental human
rights as enshrined in the African Charter of Human and
Peoples' Rights, to
which Zimbabwe is a signatory, be
reinstated.
The major motivation of the Church's involvement in
the development of
people has been the promotion of the dignity of the human
person, made in
the image and the likeness of God. As a Church we are aware
of the
challenges that lie ahead of us and will do all within our means to
play our
prophetic role and carry out the divine mission entrusted to us.
That is why
we shall continue to speak out for the voiceless, the
marginalized and the
oppressed in society.
We also urge all
Churches and people of faith and good will in Africa to
join the people of
Zimbabwe in their national day of prayer scheduled for
the 14th of April
2007 by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Zimbabwe.
May our
Mother Mary, the Mother of Africa, intercede for us!
Issued on
March 28th 2007 in Accra, Ghana
Signed
His
Eminence Cardinal Pengo, President of the Symposium of Episcopal
Conferences
of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) and Archbishop of
Dar-Es-Salaam,
Tanzania.
His Eminence Peter Cardinal Turkson, Treasurer
of SECAM and Archbishop of
Cape Coast, Ghana.
Most. Rev.
Theodore-Andrien Sarr, First Vice President and Archbishop of
Dakar,
Senegal.
Rt. Rev. Fancisco João Silota, Second Vice President and
Bishop of Chimoio,
Mozambique.
Most. Rev. John Onaiyekan,
Immediate Past President of SECAM and Archbishop
of Abuja,
Nigeria.
Most. Rev. Nicolas Djomo Lola, Bishop of Tshumbe,
Democratic Republic of
Congo, representing the Bishops' Conferences of the
countries of the Great
Lakes.
Most Rev. Paulin Pomodimo,
Archbishop of Bangui, Central African Republic,
representing the Bishops'
Conferences of Central Africa.
Most. Rev. Fulgence Rabemahafaly,
Bishop of Antanimena, Madagascar,
representing the Bishops' Conferences of
Madagascar and the Islands of
Africa
Most Rev. Jean-Pierre
Kutwan, Archbishop of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire,
representing the Bishops'
Conferences of French-Speaking West Africa.
Most Rev. Vincent
Landel, Archbishop of Rabat, Morocco, representing the
Bishops' Conferences
of North Africa.
Rt. Rev. Franklyn Nubuasah SVD, Bishop of
Francistown, Botswana,
representing the Bishops' Conferences of Southern
Africa.
Most Rev. John Njue, Bishop of Nyeri, Kenya, representing
the Bishops'
Conferences of Eastern Africa.
Most Rev. Gabriel
Anokye, Auxiliary Bishop of Kumasi, Ghana, representing
the Bishops'
Conferences of English-Speaking West
Africa.
________________________________________________________________________
Rev.
Fr. François-Xavier Damiba, Secretary General of SECAM
Monsters and Critics
Apr 9, 2007, 7:31 GMT
Harare/Johannesburg -
A Lebanese woman, arrested last month in the company
of a Zimbabwean
government official while trying to smuggle diamonds through
Harare
International Airport, has been fined the equivalent of 84,000 US
dollars,
reports said Monday.
Thirty-six-year-old Carole Georges El Martni was
sentenced to an 18-month
prison term or a fine of 16,456,105 Zimbabwe
dollars for being in illegal
possession of diamonds, plus a 4,936,830 dollar
penalty for attempting to
smuggle them to Dubai, the state-controlled Herald
reported.
A further five-year jail term was wholly suspended on condition
she does not
commit a similar offence.
Although officially worth more
than 21 million Zimbabwe dollars, the fine is
worth just 840 US dollars on
the unofficial but widely used parallel market
rate for foreign
currency.
The Lebanese woman was arrested on March 1 in the company of
William Nhara,
the principal director in the ministry without portfolio, who
was trying to
help her to get past the airport officials.
An x-ray
machine at the airport had picked up the diamonds in her hand
luggage. She
pleaded guilty to the charges. The diamonds have been forfeited
to the
state.
Nhara, who is reported to have pleaded for clemency from President
Robert
Mugabe, is still in custody.
Zimbabwe's central bank chief
last week said the cash-strapped economy had
in the last nine months lost
around 400 million US dollars worth in
potential earnings from the smuggling
of diamonds from a rich source in
eastern Zimbabwe.
The diamond
fields of Marange have been plundered by fortune- seekers after
the
government cancelled a claim to the area by an international mining firm
and
allowed impoverished villagers to take matters into their own hands.
The
free-for-all also attracted miners and dealers from outside the
country.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
09 April
2007
Harare has seized on a document released by the U.S.
State Department
recently as proof that Washington is intent on bringing
about "regime
change" in Zimbabwe, but a senior U.S. official and
Zimbabwean opposition
officials have rejected the charge.
Information
Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu charged that a report entitled
"Supporting Human
Rights and Democracy" proved that Washington was "actively
undermining the
Zimbabwean government under the guise of democracy and human
rights," and
that it was backing the opposition aiming to bring down
President Robert
Mugabe.
The report states that the U.S. strategy is to maintain pressure
on the
Mugabe regime, strengthen democratic forces and to provide
humanitarian aid
for those left vulnerable by poor governance. The
opposition Movement for
Democratic Change faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai
has denied receiving U.S.
funds to help it unseat Mr. Mugabe.
In a
news conference Thursday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for
Democracy,
Human Rights and Labor Barry Lowenkron dismissed assertions the
report
highlighted plans by the U.S. to bring about regime change in
Zimbabwe,
saying the intention was simply to allow the Zimbabwean people to
determine
their own destiny.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Eliphas Mukonoweshuro of the
Tsvangirai MDC
faction told reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that
the MDC was not funded by the United States, unlike a number
of civil
society groups in the country.
Zim Online
Tuesday 10 April 2007
By
Batsirayi Muranje
HARARE - Thirty-eight year old Elijah Mukarati has been
a cross-border
trader since he quit the teaching profession four years
ago.
Like so many other workers in Zimbabwe, Mukarati could no longer
cope with
his small salary forcing him to throw in the towel and abandon the
classroom
for the tough world of cross-border trading.
Each month,
Mukarati collects crafts, wooden spoons, cooking sticks,
crocheted baskets,
bags and other wares carved wood for sale in South Africa
and Botswana,
Zimbabwe's two prosperous neighbours.
But the thriving trade, his only
source of income, came under severe threat
last month after the Zimbabwean
government through its Environmental
Management Authority, pounced on the
traders confiscating wares worth
millions of dollars.
"The
confiscation of our wares will send most of us into crime because at
least
we were making an honest living," said Mukarati as he packed the few
wares
that he managed to hide at the busy Roadport international bus
terminus in
Harare.
"Most companies have shut down over the past seven years. The
economy is in
recession and millions have been retrenched. Cross border
trading was the
only legitimate means left for many of us to eke out a
living," said
Mukarati.
A few metres away here at Roadport, Loreta
Mashayamombe, a widow, says the
seizure of her wares had also worsened her
plight.
Mashayamombe says cross-border trade was her only source of
income as she
looks after her family of five.
"I was on my to
Johannesburg and I had bought these baskets for $800 000 for
resale in South
Africa but now I have to go back home.
"I am not sure whether I will
recover from this setback and be able to fend
for myself and my family
again," said a teary eyed Mashayamombe.
"There was no warning and these
people have ruined our lives. At least they
should have given us a warning.
This was my only means of survival and I don't
know what I will do now," she
said her voice shaking with emotion.
The police and the Environmental
Management Authority argue that the cross
border traders are a serious
threat to the environment as most of them were
plundering natural resources
for raw materials in newly resettled farms.
"Forests are fast
disappearing especially in Domboshava, Seke, Hwedza,
Mhondoro and Zvimba due
to the high demand for these wares.
"This has become a serious threat to
the environment and we cannot allow
this to continue simply for the love of
money," police spokesman for Harare
province, Inspector Memory Pamire, told
ZimOnline.
"We are simply following the law," she added.
With 80
percent of Zimbabweans out of a job, cross border trade is probably
the only
viable source of sustenance for millions of Zimbabweans right now.
The
southern African country is in the grip of a severe economic crisis that
has
manifested itself in the world's highest inflation rate of nearly 2 000
percent, massive joblessness and poverty.
The main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change party, blames the
economic crisis on
mismanagement by President Robert Mugabe who has been in
power since the
country's independence from Britain 27 years ago.
Most long distance
buses companies that ply international routes to South
Africa, Botswana and
Malawi have recorded significant drops in passengers as
a result of the
police crackdown.
Never Gwitira, an inspector with City-to-City Bus
Company that plies the
Harare-Johannesburg route said they had recorded a
drop in business as a
result of the crackdown.
"We have witnessed a
significant decline in the number of passengers because
of this operation.
On the day these people began their operation, 46
passengers failed to make
it to Jo'burg after their goods were confiscated.
"We did not reimburse
them because they buy their tickets in advance but
since then, our business
has hit a bad patch," he said.
As the police crackdown continues, what is
certain is that these desperate
cross-border traders, with a fierce
determination to succeed, will be back
again because they can hardly afford
to stay at home and let their children
die. - ZimOnline
By
Free Zim-Youth
FIRST of all we wish as young Zimbabweans to salute
the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) for calling an urgent
meeting to discuss the
worsening political and economic crisis in our
country.
We all want an immediate end to the crisis so we can bring back
political
and economic stability in the country that has been slowly
bleeding to death
over the past seven or so years.
Following the
outcome of the meeting of the SADC leaders, we feel as young
Africans that
we have the moral and ideological obligation to voice our
concerns and
respond to the resolutions that came out of the extraordinary
summit and any
other such issues affecting members of the bloc.
From our point of view,
there were some positive and negatives from the
compiled resolutions from
the 29 March Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Heads of
State and Government of
SADC in Tanzania regarding the Zimbabwe question.
Here we have merely
provided our positive and negative expansion of the
resolutions by regional
leaders.
ON THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN ZIMBABWE
Mbeki's
appointment
The summit mandated H.E President Thabo Mbeki to continue to
facilitate
dialogue between the opposition and the Government and report
back to the
Troika on the progress.
We feel there is need for more
clarity on Mbeki’s appointment and an update
is also needed as to why his
previous efforts have failed to yield results.
We strongly believe Mbeki
should update Africans on what has been the
stumbling block to create a
dialogue in Zimbabwe. We as young Africans have
no confidence with the
so-called Mbeki mediation.
We feel Mbeki has for a long time been playing
sustainable tactics, which
were and are designed to resuscitate and give
more life to the Mugabe
government. He has since 2000 been endorsing
election fraud and blocking any
U.N. motion to probe human rights violation
in Zimbabwe. What of the
Zimbabwean government’s policies to displace
families as a voter
manipulation tactic, leaving all victims eliminated from
the voters’ roll.
Mbeki's failure in the Cote d' lvoire is a perfect
example as to why we need
more clarity of time frame and platform of this
new deal.
Young Africans shall resist by all means any efforts to
manufacture a fake
peace settlement that will be tabled outside an
independent platform which
can accommodate an independent
election.
We are very sceptical of any efforts by the appointed mediator
to push for
some form of stability that will be manufactured outside as
electoral
process, excluding the masses in the decision-making
process.
We stand united today saying No to another Zanu-Zapu peace
accord. We demand
that all stakeholders should be involved in this process
that should bring
lasting peace and stability to Zimbabwe and not just for a
few years.
Surely we shall mobilise all the young Africans to resist any
betrayal of
the aspirations of our forefathers who have been victims of the
fall of
black majority rule. We say No to another smoke screen
accord.
The Election Issue
We strongly feel that SADC failed
to come up with a visible resolution that
will accommodate a free and fair
electoral process;
- Given evidence that Zanu PF has already announced we
are going to have
elections in 2008. We know the current electoral system is
skewed and cannot
accommodate independent expression. There should be a
level playing field in
place before any election is held in Zimbabwe and
SADC should have made this
very clear.
- The Ministry of Home
Affairs has no resources issue out ID cards and
manpower to lay out such a
majority capacity.
- Zimbabwe being the only SADC member state that does
not allow postal
votes, it is a major concern, especially when more that a
quarter of the
population lives outside the country and can't exercise their
voting rights.
We feel SADC should have come up with a resolution that will
accommodate
voting framework that will allow the Diaspora to take part in
the
restoration process of social justice in their motherland.
-They
should be a radical advocacy to ensure and accomodate diaspora postal
vote.
- We will fully support any efforts of a peaceful transitional
process that
will pave the way for a new Zimbabwe but not a
sell-out.
- We salute the bloc's position to acknowledge that the crisis
is home
grown and needs a home grown solution to deal with such issues as
governance.
But we need more clarity on how the bloc shall assist in
ensuring there will
be a free and fair election in Zimbabwe.
With
regards to the land issue, the Extra-Ordinary Summit urged Britain to
honour
its compensation obligations made at the Lancaster House before
independence
in 1980.
We as young Africans welcome any initiatives that will ensure black
empowerment and the need to debate the Lancaster House agreement but dismiss
the need to endorse Zanu PF bosses to advocate for reparations, especially
when they are the ones who negotiated and sold out to a compromise with the
Thatcher government.
Reasons why Zanu PF are bourgeois to claim a
radical reform of the agrarian
reform.
We as young Africans believe
Zanu PF has for long become a far right-wing
neo-liberal bourgeois
organisation to claim to be truly behind empowering
black peasants and the
working class.
We go back to the Lancaster House agreement in which the
liberation fighting
wings of Zanla and Zipra came to a manufactured
settlement with the
Rhodesian settlers, agreeing to a willing buyer and
seller basis agrarian
land reform.
At the time of Zimbabwe’s
independence in 1980 the best agricultural land
was owned mainly by large,
commercial farms, often of more than 1,000
hectares each. Poor landless
peasant families were crowded into the less
productive communal areas, on
land holdings that were often less than one
hectare.
Mugabe sold out
on the Lancaster Agreement, signing to a no provision in the
settlement deal
which did not establish a specific fund to support land
reform.
But
in the agreed 10-year deal, Zanu PF failed to embark on the land reform
exercise adopting far-more right wing policies (neo-liberal policies - ESAP
and SAP) from the West, which had a major negative impact on the working
class. And the abuse of funds for the Agrarian reform between 1980 and 1985.
The UK provided £47m for land reform: £20m as a specific Land Resettlement
Grant and £27m in the form of budgetary support to help meet the Zimbabwe
Government’s own contribution to the programme. The Land Resettlement Grant
was signed in 1981, and substantially spent by 1988.
With corruption
in parastatal organisations like GMB, and government-owned
oil procurement
company, Noczim, with a combination of an elite gain in the
support of war
in DRC at government expense and many other such dubious
initiatives - all
these have contributed to the knee-jacking of the
economy.
We young
Africans strongly feel more equitable distribution of land is
essential to
reduce poverty and to contribute to the country's long-term
economic and
social future. But to be effective, young Africans strongly
believe that
such reform must be carried out within the rule of law; be
transparent and
fair; and within a well-managed economic policy framework
that contributes
both to poverty reduction and Zimbabwe’s economic
prosperity.
We strongly
dismiss Zanu PF's fake ideology. The current crop of leaders has
betrayed
the aspirations of Joshua Nkomo and Tongogara and Sithole who all
fought for
a free colonial Zimbabwe.
US Christopher Dell should shut up
We
the youth angrily receive US government's foreign policy on Zimbabwe's
crisis as pathetic and fall to understand the strategy behind the Bush
administration's direct involvement in our crisis.Surely it now time we as
Africans stand up and lay things straight and dismiss any solidarity that is
undermining our solidarity from our Pan-Africanist comrades.We as the future
Zimbabweans are saying enough is enough from these parrot sympathizers who
don't read the ideological conflicts of there direct involvement,surely with
the chaos in Iraq and our no support of inhuman Guantanamo Bay prison and
the bombing of Somalia.
Our progressive leaders should know better
and say something about this too
much talking from Dell.We shall implement
programs aimed at exposing double
standards,lets all not forget our
Chimurenga history which is not Zanu PF
but Zimbabwe's history.
As we
head towards Independence Day, we call on all Zimbabwean Youth,
regardless
of tribal grounds, to rise and demand their future which has been
hijacked
by the so-called chefs. It’s a class struggle. And remember we are
fighting
a system!! We as the youths will soldier on with our “Africa
Liberate
Zimbabwe” campaign until things change for the better in our
beloved
country.
The future is today!!
Power to the
People
Comradely thank You
Free-Zim
Youth
07960333568
07706868955