The Telegraph
Urgent action urged over Zimbabwe
(Filed:
25/06/2005)
A senior Labour MEP has demanded that the Government must
take "urgent
action" to reconsider whether failed asylum seekers should be
forced to
return to Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe.
Richard Howitt also
called for a sports and cultural boycott of the southern
African
state.
Mr Howitt's comments came after a Zimbabwean opposition leader
facing
deportation won a last-minute reprieve from the Home
Office.
Crispen Kulinji was due to be deported, but won a reprieve after
the
intervention of Labour MP Kate Hoey.
Mr Kulinji, 32, from Harare,
an organising secretary and election
co-ordinator for the Movement for
Democratic Change opposition movement, is
recovering from injuries he claims
he sustained in jail in Zimbabwe.
A hunger strike among Zimbabwean asylum
seekers has been spreading through
the UK's immigration detention
centres.
More than 20 have been protesting for two days against the
lifting last
November of a ban which prevented Zimbabweans from being
deported against
their will.
The National Coalition of
Anti-Deportation Campaigns claims that almost 100
Zimbabweans in detention
are now on hunger strike. The Home Office says that
the figure is
21.
More than 15,000 Zimbabweans fled to Britain in the four years up to
2004,
though only a few hundred have been granted asylum.
In the
first three months of 2005, 95 Zimbabweans were forcibly removed and
another
104 are currently in detention awaiting possible deportation.
Speaking on
BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, Mr Howitt said: "What the
Government has said
is that there are no specific reports of abuse against
people who have been
returned since the ban was lifted in November.
"But when you compare that
with what the International Crisis Group talking
about one of the highest
torture rates in the world, endemic state violence,
with what Amnesty
International says about deliberate political killings,
physical assaults,
acts of torture against the MDC and opposition within the
country, I don't
think we can have any real confidence that those returned
will be
safe.
"I have got in my own constituency, in Yarl's Wood (detention
centre) in
Bedfordshire, up to 20 Zimbabweans currently on hunger strike,
there are up
to 100 nationally. This is an immediate crisis, and I am
looking for urgent
action from the Government."
Yahoo News
Zimbabwe Touts Homes That Have Been Built
By MICHAEL
HARTNACK, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 25, 9:03 AM ET
HARARE, Zimbabwe
- Hundreds of homes have been built in Zimbabwe's capital
to replace some of
the thousands destroyed in a widely criticized official
"cleanup" campaign,
the government said Saturday ahead of a planned visit by
a United Nations
envoy.
President Robert Mugabe earlier scorned Western "demonization" of
his
five-week program called Operation Murambatsvina, or "Drive Out Trash,"
which has left between 200,000 and 1.5 million Zimbabweans without homes or
livelihoods.
Saturday's announcement followed the condemnation by 10
U.N. human rights
experts of the demolition of tens of thousands of homes in
shantytowns and
the destruction of street markets and vegetable gardens.
More than 200
international human rights and civic groups Thursday demanded
an end to the
campaign, as have Western governments, including the United
States, Britain
and Australia.
State radio in Zimbabwe reported
Saturday that the first 500 of 5,600 new
homes were ready for occupation in
the capital, Harare, and 250,000 plots of
land had been made available
immediately countrywide.
A special envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan is scheduled to visit
Zimbabwe next week to assess Mugabe's campaign.
Opposition political groups
say it is aimed at punishing those who voted
against the ruling party in
recent parliamentary elections.
The
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp. also reported that Mugabe said he would
receive
the envoy "so as to enable the secretary-general to understand and
appreciate what we are trying to do for our people, who deserve much better
that are now being romanticized as fitting habitats for them."
Mugabe
also pledged $325 million to provide 1.2 million houses and plots of
land by
2008.
He urged Zimbabweans faced by widespread international condemnation of
the
campaign "to remain focused and disregard the machinations of the West
trying to demonize the country," according to ZBC.
The 81-year-old
president, who has ruled the southern African country since
independence in
1980, said the mass bulldozing of houses and businesses was
to curb
"lawlessness, illicit foreign currency dealings, black marketeering,
rampant
thefts, prostitution and other social ills so detrimental to social
morality
and decency." He claimed that the program had been "well-received
by the
majority of our people."
Police say the blitz - in which 42,000 people
have been arrested, fined, or
had their goods confiscated - has resulted in
a 20 percent drop in crimes,
including murder, house robberies and car
theft.
Zimbabwe's Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube called for
Mugabe's arrest
and prosecution Friday. Speaking at the Vatican, Ncube
alleged that
Zimbabwe's government planned to drive disaffected urban voters
back to the
famine-hit countryside for political re-education, as the Pol
Pot regime did
in Cambodia in the 1970s.
Both the African Union and
President Thabo Mbeki of neighboring South Africa
have refused to condemn
what they call Zimbabwe's "internal affairs."
Reuters
EU's Barroso chides African Union over Zimbabwe
Sat Jun 25,
2005 12:35 PM ET
By Andrew Quinn
PRETORIA (Reuters) - European
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso
expressed disappointment on
Saturday with the African Union's silence on
Zimbabwe, saying human rights
should be respected as universal values.
Barroso discussed Zimbabwe with
South African President Thabo Mbeki one day
after African Union officials
said they would make no statement on
Zimbabwe's latest crackdown. A
ferocious government blitz against illegal
homes and businesses has left
tens of thousands of people homeless.
"I was disappointed with the
statement made by the African Union," Barroso
told a news
conference.
"Questions of human rights should be the concern of all
people ... these are
universal values and everybody should respect those
values."
African Union spokesman Desmond Orjiako said on Friday the
continental group
had no plans to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe, saying
the crackdown
there was an internal matter.
The AU is due to hold its
annual summit on July 4-5 in Sirte, Libya.
Mbeki, who intends to take
Africa's bid for more aid and investment to next
month's summit of the G8
rich nations in Scotland, said he had spoken to
United Nations Secretary
General Kofi Annan about Zimbabwe on Friday.
He said South Africa would
await a report by a special U.N. envoy --
expected to arrive in Harare on
Sunday -- before considering what steps to
take.
President Robert
Mugabe's government has waged a six-week campaign against
Zimbabwe's shanty
towns and informal traders that human rights groups say
has left as many as
300,000 people without shelter in the southern
hemisphere's
mid-winter.
Mugabe's government says the crackdown is aimed at
eliminating black market
trading and other illegal activities.
The
European Union has taken a much stronger stance on Zimbabwe than South
Africa, which has long favored a policy of "quiet diplomacy" toward Mugabe's
government.
The EU, by contrast, has imposed targeted sanctions on
Mugabe and members of
his administration, limiting travel to the 25-nation
bloc by those suspected
of human rights abuses and freezing any assets they
hold in EU countries. It
has also imposed an arms embargo.
Despite
differences over Zimbabwe policy, Barroso said the EU would back
Africa's
bid for increased aid and investment at the G8 summit, noting that
the bloc
itself had already increased financial assistance to the world's
poorest
continent.
The Scotsman
MP Denounces Threatened Deportation of Zimbabwean Asylum
Seekers
By Tony Jones and John Deane, PA
The Government's
decision to place more than 100 failed asylum seekers under
the threat of
deportation to Zimbabwe was denounced as "outrageous" by
Labour MP Kate Hoey
today.
The politician has accused the Home Office of failing to
understand the
situation under Robert Mugabe's regime in the south African
country.
Ms Hoey helped secure a last-minute reprieve for a
Zimbabwean opposition
leader Crispen Kulinji who was due to be deported
today.
Mr Kulinji, 32, from Harare, an organising secretary and election
co-ordinator for the Movement for Democratic Change - the African nation's
main opposition party, is recovering from injuries he claims he sustained in
jail in his home country.
Ms Hoey told the ITV News Channel: "I just
think it's outrageous that over a
hundred Zimbabwean people are being
threatened with deportation.
"The Foreign Secretary is saying and has
quite loudly said what a terrible
regime it is and yet the Home Office in
Charles Clarke's area seem to be not
having any understanding of what's
happening in Zimbabwe."
A hunger strike among Zimbabwean asylum seekers
has been spreading through
the UK's immigration detention
centres.
The National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns has said
almost 100
people are taking part in the protest against the lifting, last
November, of
a ban which prevented Zimbabweans from being deported against
their will.
The Home Office says that the figure is 21.
Anna
Meryt, a human rights activist who has been in contact with some of the
asylum seekers, said Mr Kulinji still faced the threat of being deported in
the future and would continue the hunger strike he was on.
"They've
just cancelled his flight, they haven't said they're not going to
deport
him. They've not said they've given him indefinite leave to stay,"
she
explained.
Mr Kulinji told the ITV News Channel: "We're talking of death
and life here.
"We're not talking about someone being sent to a luxurious
country. We're
talking about someone being sent to a place that is not a
safe place or a
better place to live."
More than 15,000 Zimbabweans
fled to Britain in the four years up to 2004,
though only a few hundred have
been granted asylum.
In the first three months of 2005, 95 Zimbabweans
were forcibly removed and
another 104 are currently in detention awaiting
possible deportation.
Ms Meryt said a protest was due to be staged
outside the Zimbabwean Embassy
in central London later this
afternoon.
News24
Massive hike in Zim school fees
25/06/2005 13:25 -
(SA)
Harare - The Zimbabwe government has massively hiked fees for
state primary
and secondary schools, the official Herald newspaper reported
on Saturday.
Fees per term for primary schools in low-income town and
city suburbs have
gone up 1 000 times to Zim$100 000, ($10), the paper
said.
Foreign pupils attending those schools must pay $300 (US), it
added.
Fees for secondary schools have also gone up 1 000 times. The
hikes also
apply to schools in more affluent areas, but pupils attending
primary
schools in rural areas will not have to pay.
News of the
hikes comes at a bad time for Zimbabwe's city- dwellers, some of
whom have
lost their homes under a controversial campaign of shack
demolitions.
School attendance in Harare's oldest suburb of Mbare is
already reported to
be down by 50%.
President Robert Mugabe's
government has clashed several times with private
schools on the issue of
school fee hikes. The government accused the schools
of being racist and
trying to exclude pupils. - Sapa-dpa
The Scotsman
Hunger Striker: I Face Death If Sent Home
By Tony
Jones and John Deane, PA
A Zimbabwean opposition politician on hunger
strike in a British detention
centre said tonight he faces certain death if
the British Government sends
him back to Robert Mugabe's
regime.
Crispen Kulinji won a temporary reprieve today from being
deported after the
intervention of Labour MP Kate Hoey.
But the
32-year-old from Harare has begun the process of starving himself
in protest
against the lifting of a ban last November which prevented
Zimbabweans being
deported against their will.
He is one of almost 100 other Zimbabweans,
also failed asylum seekers in UK
detention centres, who are part of the
hunger strike protest, according to
the National Coalition of
Anti-Deportation Campaigns.
Mr Kulinji, an organising secretary and
election co-ordinator for the
Movement for Democratic Change - Zimbabwe's
main opposition party, told PA:
"I will be killed if I go home - it's as
black and white as that."
He explained he fled his home country after he
was attacked by the
Zimbabwean National Army and claimed asylum soon after
arriving in the UK
last September.
The politician has been on hunger
strike since Wednesday and is only taking
in fluids.
He added: "We
are not fighting for individuals, we are doing it for all
Zimbabwean
nationals.
"We would rather live, but it is better to have a dignified
death here then
go back to face Mugabe."
Asked about his deportation
he replied: "At the present time they have
deferred the flight; no reason
was given."
More than 15,000 Zimbabweans fled to Britain in the four
years up to 2004,
though only a few hundred have been granted
asylum.
In the first three months of 2005, 95 Zimbabweans were forcibly
removed and
another 104 are currently in detention awaiting possible
deportation.
Ms Hoey, MP for Vauxhall, told the ITV News Channel: "I just
think it's
outrageous that over a hundred Zimbabwean people are being
threatened with
deportation.
"The Foreign Secretary is saying and has
quite loudly said what a terrible
regime it is and yet the Home Office in
Charles Clarke's area seem to be not
having any understanding of what's
happening in Zimbabwe."
A Home Office spokesman said 41 asylum seekers
were on hunger strike.
He added that yesterday's statement from Tony
McNulty, minister for
immigration, citizenship and nationality, was still
the Government's
position.
Mr McNulty said: "We categorically condemn
human rights abuses in Zimbabwe
and are committed to providing protection to
those Zimbabweans in genuine
fear of persecution.
"Since returns were
resumed to Zimbabwe last November we have received no
substantiated reports
of abuse of any person returned to the country.
"We do, however, continue
to keep the situation under review and will
investigate any allegations of
mistreatment of returnees."
Labour MEP Richard Howitt, who speaks on
foreign affairs and human rights
for Labour MEPs and is vice chairman of the
human rights sub committee of
the European Parliament, also called for a
sports and cultural boycott of
the southern African state.
He said:
"I don't think we can have any real confidence that those returned
will be
safe."
In a statement, shadow foreign secretary Dr Liam Fox said: "The
Home Office
is going to have to take extra care when considering deportation
cases to
Zimbabwe given the appalling situation there and if reliable
evidence comes
to light that any of those deported so far have been victims
of the Mugabe
regime then clearly the Government would need to change course
and reinstate
the ban on deportations to Zimbabwe.
"It is also
essential that African governments put pressure on Mugabe to
stop these
crimes against humanity."
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark
Oaten said in a statement: "As
the situation in Zimbabwe becomes more and
more unsettled the Home Office
should be cautious about sending people back
to a repressive regime."
News24
West wants to 'demonise' Zim
25/06/2005 21:16 -
(SA)
Harare - Hundreds of homes have been built in Zimbabwe's capital
to replace
some of the thousands destroyed in a widely criticised official
"clean-up"
campaign, the government said on Saturday ahead of a planned
visit by a
United Nations envoy.
President Robert Mugabe earlier
scorned Western "demonisation" of his
five-week programme called Operation
Murambatsvina, or "Drive Out Trash",
which has left between 200 000 and 1.5
million Zimbabweans without homes or
livelihoods.
Saturday's
announcement followed the condemnation by 10 UN human rights
experts of the
demolition of tens of thousands of homes in shantytowns and
the destruction
of street markets and vegetable gardens.
More than 200 international
human rights and civic groups on Thursday
demanded an end to the campaign,
as have Western governments, including the
United States, Britain and
Australia.
State radio in Zimbabwe reported on Saturday that the first
500 of 5 600 new
homes were ready for occupation in the capital, Harare, and
250 000 plots of
land had been made available immediately
countrywide.
A special envoy of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is
scheduled to visit
Zimbabwe next week to assess Mugabe's
campaign.
Opposition political groups say it is aimed at punishing those
who voted
against the ruling party in recent parliamentary
elections.
The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp also reported that Mugabe said
he would
receive the envoy "so as to enable the secretary-general to
understand and
appreciate what we are trying to do for our people, who
deserve much better
that are now being romanticised as fitting habitats for
them".
Mugabe also pledged US$325m for 1.2 million houses and plots of
land by
2008.
He urged Zimbabweans faced by widespread international
condemnation of the
campaign "to remain focused and disregard the
machinations of the West
trying to demonise the country", according to
ZBC.
The 81-year-old president, who has ruled the southern African
country since
independence in 1980, said the mass bulldozing of houses and
businesses was
to curb "lawlessness, illicit foreign currency dealings,
black marketeering,
rampant thefts, prostitution and other social ills so
detrimental to social
morality and decency".
He claimed that the
programme had been "well-received by the majority of our
people".
Channel4
Bishop: Mugabe another Pol Pot?
Published: 25 Jun
2005
By: Jon Snow
Archbiship Pius Ncube of Bulawayo has long
established himself as a man
ready to speak out against President Mugabe and
in an exclusive interview
with Channel 4 News he issues his strongest
warning yet.
As President Mugabe's bulldozers demolish people's lives,
Africa and Europe
are at loggerheads as to how to prevent a predicted
humanitarian crisis.
Mugabe's crackdown on the shanty towns has
made many children homeless.
Disease is threatening to kill many
more.
A country already in the depths of struggle is lurching further
into the
gloom and so are the prospects of outside intervention
But
as Zimbabwe continues to burn, the response from African leaders has
been
either one of silence or in South Africa's case rejection to the
clarion
call
In a statement their government said: "South Africa refuses to
accept the
notion that because suddenly we're going to a G8 summit, we must
be reminded
that we must look good and appease the G8 leaders. We will do
things because
we believe they are correct and right."
The United
Nations has dispatched an envoy to look at the humanitarian
situation
following estimates that as many as 300,000 people have been made
homeless
in Robert Mugabe's Operation 'Drive Out Trash'
Once again the world
appears impotent in the face of what some describe as
crimes against
humanity but what Zimbabwes President justifies as crime
prevention
I spoke to Zimbabwe's Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube
who is on a visit
to the Vatican about the events in his country. He's one
of only a handful
of public figures in Zimbabwe able to challenge President
Mugabe's regime
openly.
Jon Snow: Have you seen evidence of the
clearances yourself?
Archbishop Ncube: Yes I walked around to see for
myself what had happened
and whatever places I couldnt reach I sent a
priest to see what was going
on and to register if there were people in need
of help.
I saw that these men sent by Mugabe were stealing property -
clothing,
footwear, cosmetics which they obtained from South Africa, and
they stole
all this and went to auction this.
I saw them even steal
decoders for TVs and radios, turn over vendor stalls
and often destroy them.
I saw all this with my own eyes.
J S: Who are the targets of this
violence?
A N: The targets are by and large urban dwellers, it seems
there is a
'peasantrification' drive here, they are taking revenge for
voting for the
MDC [opposition party] who won the elections in the
towns.
These people are being forced to go to the country but there is
a drought
in the country, Zimbabwe only produced a quarter of the food it
produced
five years ago.
So people are trying to find jobs in a place
where there is 80% unemployment
and 500% inflation.
J S: In
spite of that, your comparisons with Pol Pot are pretty extreme
N: It's
not extreme, here is a man pushing people out without any warning
there is
something like 1.5 million people without shelter, as churches we
have to
get together to give emergency aid, food and blankets.
We are sheltering
them in church halls, they have no clothes or food this
is extremely
cruel.
And much like under Pol Pot this will lead to many people starving
to death
because Mugabe didnt call for aid. These people are forced to go
the
country where there is no food.
J S: Why isn't there more protest
from neighbouring states?
N: You must understand there is an African club
here, they will support one
another come what may because they feel that the
western world is at an
advantageous position economically. They feel that we
Africans must not
embarrass one another by criticising - it is a total club
mentality.
J S: So when Jack Straw says Africa must move on this problem
themselves and
the South African Government says that is interference, what
do you think?
A N: The South African government cannot talk about
interference, they have
done nothing but support Mugabe. Mugabe is killing
his own people here.
Prime Minister Mbeki has lost all reputation in
Zimbabwe for supporting a
dictator that is killing his own people.
J
S: So what can be done?
A N: As far as I am concerned the UN should
arrest Mugabe, bring him to
trial and insist on free and fair elections.
There is no way we are going to
get rid of that man via elections - he has
rigged the elections for the past
five years.
He stuffs the ballot
boxes, he practices violence, he politicises food, he
will use all the lines
he can to defend himself.
While the bulldozers were breaking down
buildings, the police were standing
around with guns to intimidate people.
Do not be surprised to hear a figure
like one million people are dead as we
are all standing around just hoping
and hoping for something that will not
happen.
J S: You say there is an African club protecting Mugabe but what
can be done
outside of Africa? Should Britain be doing more? The Foreign
Secretary has
said we are thousands of miles away, we are the old colonial
power, this is
an African problem now.
A N: Here lives are at stake.
I'll tell you the honest truth, in the past
two weeks in rural areas, people
are starving like anything.
Little children coming from school, you can
see how hungry they are. Six
months ago Mugabe was aware there was a looming
drought and yet he did not
call for aid because he wants to use the
situation to his political
advantage.
When lives are at stake, this
business of saying we are too far away doesnt
work. We have some mad people
in this world.
We saw what happened in Rwanda, the UN stood
around, the African countries
did nothing and a million people perished.
It's like we want another Rwanda
to take place because of a madman who is
just after power. Why can't we help
this situation?
J S: You are
making these brave calls from the safety of Vatican city but
what happens
when you go back, will you be safe?
A N: Zimbabwe's my country and I will
not live in any other country. I'm
standing for the voiceless
people.
Mugabe goes around intimidating people, anyone who dares talk is
followed,
next is torture, next is demonisation or humiliation. Im standing
for the
truth and I trust in God.
I'm under surveillance myself, my
phones are tapped, I've been followed by
car, I've even been followed by
plane. An aeroplane was following me right
from town to a mission station
about 140km away, for two hours I was being
followed through dust
roads.
I am aware of the dangerous situation but the only thing I can do
is to
speak out.
J S: The G8 summit is meeting soon, what would your
call to them be?
N: Mugabe must be arrested and bought to trial, then let
the people of
Zimbabwe elect freely, they will never be free to elect while
he is in
power.
Js: This terrible crisis means that people are
fleeing the country...
N: Yes it does, people are leaving as there will
be mass starvation. He has
taken away their livelihoods, there is no one
selling anything and people
will die quietly in their houses.
We are
dealing here with a madman who is going to sacrifice the lives of his
own
people. The international community had better stop this now, we've had
enough.
The Royal Gazette, Bermuda
An army coup d'etat may be the only way to end
Mugabe's reign of
terror
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMENTARY by ALVIN
WILLIAMS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WITH
images flooding the news media of Zimbabwe's urban poor being bulldozed
out
of their homes by the Robert Mugabe government, it is hard to dispel the
impression that this country is now ruled by a power-mad dictator who is
hell-bent on consolidating his control no matter how far he drags
Zimbabweans down the path of self-destruction.
How did a seemingly
pragmatic Mugabe, one-time political prisoner of the
breakaway Ian Smith
regime in the former British colony of Rhodesia, turn
from policies of
reconciliation and reconstruction?
How did he become a man who can be heard
to boast that he will govern
Zimbabwe for a hundred years - seemingly
oblivious to the fact he is echoing
comments made by his former antagonist
Ian Smith, who said of the prospect
of black majority rule coming to the
former Rhodesia that such a development
would not come about even in a
thousand years.
It is hard to believe now that Prime Minister Mugabe was once
considered to
be pragmatic - even conciliatory - towards the white
population who had
fought the coming to power of Zimbabwe's black majority
tooth and nail.
I remember listening to Mugabe's first speech as the newly
sworn-in Prime
Minister of Independent Zimbabwe in 1980. I remember him
appealing to white
Zimbabweans, saying they could stay on as citizens of the
new state and that
the white farmers could continue to farm their lands -
which amounted to
4,000 white people controlling 80 per cent of the arable
land in a country
with an African population of ten million (who were
consigned to overcrowded
and overworked farms on Tribal Trust Lands).
It
was in those rural areas, the TTLs, where most of the fighting between
Ian
Smith's Rhodesian military forces and the liberation movements (who the
people called "The Boys" but who the Rhodesians declared to be terrorists)
took place. Those areas and the white-controlled farm lands.
The central
question in the conflict in Zimbabwe has always centred around
who has the
right to control the arable land. Much has been made of the
disruption to
Zimbabwe's economy as a result of the take-over of formerly
white-controlled
lands (the consequences for Zimbabwe's export crops, the
mainstay of that
country's financial well-being, has been catastrophic).
But what is often
forgotten is that these take-overs came about as a direct
consequence of
British colonial rule in that country - originally named
after the leading
proponent of British colonialism in Southern Africa and
the head of the then
British South African Company, Cecil Rhodes.
He began British colonisation of
what was then called Mashonaland and
negotiated a treaty between the
Matabele kings and the white settlers who
came up from British-ruled South
Africa in the late 19th century.
THERE were two major African tribal
groupings in what came to be called
Rhodesia (and then Zimbabwe). These were
the Shona, the largest group, and
the Matabele. These two groups, though
often rivals, soon saw that the
greatest threat to their existence was the
white settlers who began to
settle their land with British military might to
protect them. This resulted
in the first joint uprising in 1896, quickly put
down by the British.
The African peoples living in this area were not poor,
landless peasants.
They were farmers, they owned vast herds of cattle and
found themselves
increasingly pushed off their lands and being raided either
by the British
military or Cecil Rhodes' private armed forces, their cattle
stolen and
driven across the border into South Africa.
What happened was
the systematic dismantling of the African economy and its
replacement by a
white settler-dominated economy. Africans who had once been
farmers
themselves now found themselves farm workers on the settlers' vast
farms.
This state of affairs was reinforced by white-controlled
governments which
did not allow African participation in the political
process, resulting in
the liberation war that broke out in 1967 and which
eventually overthrew the
last white-controlled government headed by Ian
Smith.
If the central issue was land then why didn't Robert Mugabe put this
question at the top of his government agenda in 1980? Why didn't he tell the
white farming community that they could no longer control the amount of land
that they had, productive though it was? Even former British soldiers who
settled in Rhodesia following World War Two were given cheap land at the
expense of African people who had lived there for hundreds of years.
The
answer to that is the agreements the liberation movement was forced to
accept at the Lancaster House negotiations in London that led to the
creation of an Independent Zimbabwe. Britain was still of a mind to protect
settlers in its former colony.
So in order for the UK to accept
Independence for Zimbabwe, London required
the new African government to
adhere to a constitution which allowed the
white community to retain a
certain number of seats in the parliament for
ten years and put checks and
balances into place to prevent constitutional
amendments until that period
had passed and any future government had
attained a three-quarter majority
of parliamentary seats.
Britain and the United States promised to give aid to
the new Zimbabwe
government to buy up white-controlled farmlands so that it
could be given to
landless Africans. These promises were not kept and over
the years the
question was increasingly being asked by Zimbabweans - who had
fought the
Ian Smith government for African rights - as to why the pace of
change which
would see them regain their lost lands was so slow.
Mugabe
(pictured above)was in a political dilemma. He could no longer hold
off an
answer to that question coming from the bedrock of his political
support
base. And, of course, the whole issue became even more complicated
and
confused given the deep-seated corruption of the Mugabe regime - the
results
of which we now see coming to the fore in Zimbabwe.
THERE is no doubt that
you could not dismantle white control of Zimbabwe's
economy, especially in
the important farming industry, without dire
consequences for that economy
as a whole. This is the situation the country
now finds itself in.
And
apart from the land redistribution programme it can no longer be denied
that
there is a political battle taking place between Mugabe and his
supporters
and those Zimbabweans who want political change and blame the
Mugabe regime
for their country's increasingly dire state of affairs.
It is hard for me to
accept this but, short of a civil war, an army coup
d'etat may be the only
way out of Zimbabwe's worsening predicament. South
Africa, the strongest
country in the area, could intervene but it would have
to do so with the
general support of the other countries in Southern Africa.
And, as has been
demonstrated by the ongoing conflicts in West Africa,
Central Africa and now
in the Darfur region in the Sudan, Africa has yet to
prove that it can speak
with one voice to impose its own peace on regional
conflicts.
Until it is
in a position to do so, then Mugabe - as distasteful as many of
us consider
him to be - will likely continue his reign of terror unless his
own military
takes action against a man who is without doubt the most
dangerous enemy of
his own state.
Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2005 4:38 PM
Subject: Diesel for
destruction
Dear Family and Friends,
There has been a nation wide
shortage of petrol and diesel in the country
ever since the March elections
which has now got so bad that it has bought
almost everything to a complete
standstill. Petrol stations are either
completely dry and deserted or they
are places where rumours of deliveries
are rife and unmoving queues of
driverless vehicles snake away into the
distance. There may not be fuel for
the everyday things like commuter
buses and delivery trucks but there is
still diesel for destruction.
Countrywide the bulldozers continue to growl
and roar as they push down
walls, flatten homes and reduce lives to rubble in
the fourth week of the
government's Operation Restore Order.
One day
this week I met a man who is in his early eighties and was
desperate for just
10 litres of petrol so that he could get his wife to a
specialist for medical
treatment. The man has worked all his life in
Zimbabwe and had prepared well
for his old age. He hadn't banked on hyper
inflation and economic collapse
though and now his entire monthly pension
isn't enough to buy even one litre
of petrol. The man sat, counting filthy
hundred dollar notes into piles,
trying to work out just how much money he
had and how many notes he would
need. It was almost irrelevant that there
was no petrol to buy because the
fact was that 10 litres of petrol
represented a years worth of pension
cheques.
Later that same day I met another elderly man who stood waiting
for me
near my car and greeted me politely as I arrived. "Can you help
me,
please. I have nothing to sell and am just an old man." Once a farm
worker
until the government seized all the farms, the man had then got a
job
working in a garden in the town. Four months ago the government
increased
the minimum wage for garden workers by one thousand percent and
this
elderly man lost his job. He has become just another helpless,
hopeless
victim in Zimbabwe. I did not ask the man where he was living or if
his
home had been reduced to a pile of rubble as everywhere there are
police,
many police, watching and waiting to "restore order". I pressed a
note
into his hand and felt ashamed that an old man who has lost
everything,
has been reduced to this.
While the western world watches,
condemns, appeals and urges intervention,
the African Union say they will not
criticise events in Zimbabwe. An AU
representative speaking on BBC radio said
the organisation had other far
more important things to worry about than
Zimbabwe. What shame on these
leaders of Africa who will not even appeal for
mercy for women and
children, old men and the sick and dying. Will the AU
also refuse the
west's cancellation of debt? Will the AU refuse to accept
western money
raised by Bob Geldof and the worlds pop stars? What shame on
Africa.
With love, cathy. Copyright cathy buckle
25 June
2005 http://africantears.netfirms.com
New Zimbabwe
SW Radio Africa saved from closure
By Staff
Reporter
Last updated: 06/26/2005 01:43:04
SW RADIO Africa which has been
teetering on the brink of collapse is now
safe, it was confirmed on
Friday.
"SW Radio Africa is very pleased to announce that we have been
saved from
closure," the station's manager Gerry Jackson said in a brief
statement.
"We will therefore be able to continue broadcasting on Medium
Wave 1197kHz
from 5 - 7am every morning. This signal is clearly heard
throughout South
Africa and over most of Zimbabwe. We regret that due to the
relentless
jamming of our Shortwave signal by the government we are unable
to provide
this service at the moment."
Jackson did not say where the
money had come from, but indications were that
the station was now safe for
another year.
The award winning radio station needs close to £100 000
every month to
remain in operation, according to insiders.
Subject: Message of Solidarity
Date sent: Fri, 24 Jun 2005
11:01:15 +0200
Organization: Diocese of Natal
Attached please
find a copy of Bishop Rubin Phillip's message of
solidarity to the people of
Zimbabwe which will be read out at a
special service for victims of the
government's destructive actions
over the past few weeks which is to be held
in St Mary's Cathedral in
Bulawayo tomorrow morning.
Bishop Rubin is
chair of the Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum in South
Africa and is co-chair with
Archbishop Pius Ncube of the Solidarity
Peace Trust.
Please feel free
to distribute this and to have it read out in your
Solidarity Service in
London on Sunday.
Kind regards
Frank
Kantor
Personal Assistant to the Bishop of Natal
P.O. Box
47439
Greyville, 4023
Tel. +27 31 308 9300
Fax +27 31 308
9316
Email frank@dionatal.org.za
The
Bishop of Natal
The Right Revd Rubin Phillip
24 June
2005
MESSAGE OF SOLIDARITY TO THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE
My dear
brothers and sisters,
Greetings in the name of our triumphant Lord! It is
with a mixture of
deep sadness and anger that I write this message of
solidarity to
you at this time of your national pain and suffering. Anger at
the
inhumanity and brutality of the police and security forces
in
destroying the homes and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of
people
across Zimbabwe, and sadness at the indifference and lack of
concern of a
regime that appears increasingly bent on willful
violence and destruction. I
am also greatly saddened by the lack of a
decisive response from our
government in South Africa and other
SADC governments to these gross
violations of people's socio-
economic and human rights, and to the low
exposure given to these
atrocities in our national media (particularly the
SABC).
In the light of these omissions, there is one who hears the cries
of
His people, sees their oppression and is concerned about
their
suffering, and who acts against injustice and brutality. However,
as
in the case of the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt, God
uses
people as His instrument of deliverance, and called Moses to lead
his
people out of Egypt. Confronting power is never easy, and so
God
reassures a reluctant Moses that He will be with him and that
his
brother Aaron will be his spokesperson to make up for his
own
inadequacies in speaking truth to power.
In the same way today in
Zimbabwe, - as in the SADC region and in the
world - God is seeking men and
women who will be His instruments of
deliverance for the suffering and
oppressed people of their
countries by confronting and speaking to those in
power in a non-
violent but non-compromising way. As with Moses, God
promises to be
with us and to strengthen us and to rescue us from the hand
of the
oppressor.
Our prayer for you at this time is that God will
strengthen and
protect you and grant you great courage and fortitude in
your
struggle for your freedom and dignity as the people of God created
in
His image and likeness. We also pledge our on-going prayer
and
solidarity with you in this struggle, and our support in helping
to
mobilize resources for those affected by the 'tsunami' which has
hit
Zimbabwe. This tsunami is not as a result of a convulsion
of
nature, but is a result of the convulsions of an evil and
despotic
regime which no longer has the interests of its people at
heart,
and therefore must be resisted by every freedom loving person
in
Zimbabwe.
I am sorry that I cannot be with you today, but want to
assure you
that you are in our thoughts and prayers at this time, and that
God
who entered into our humanity through the person of Jesus Christ,
and
who shared in our human suffering, even to the point of death on
a
cross, is with you in your time of crisis.
In Christian love and
partnership,
Bishop Rubin Phillip Anglican Bishop of Natal Chair of the
Zimbabwe
Solidarity Forum Co-Chair of the Solidarity Peace
Trust
Church of the Province of Southern Africa ¢ Diocese of
Natal
New Zealand Herald
Goff calls for united front to halt Zimbabwe
tours
26.06.05
By Jonathan
Milne
The Government has sought Britain and Australia's support
to stamp out
the International Cricket Council's stubborn endorsement of the
Zimbabwe
regime.
Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff expected to
be in talks late last
night with his Australian counterpart Alexander Downer
and New Zealand
Cricket boss Martin Snedden.
The question of
whether the New Zealand team tours Zimbabwe is fast
escalating into an
international diplomatic stoush.
Mr Snedden is in London for a
meeting of the ICC, which insists New
Zealand must fulfil its contractual
obligation to tour the corrupt African
nation - or pay millions in
compensation. Mr Goff said he also hoped to
speak to UK Foreign Minister
Jack Straw, with the intention of making a
tripartite representation to the
ICC. The actions of Robert Mugabe's regime
were "reminiscent of Pol Pot", Mr
Goff said yesterday.
"We need to make an approach to the ICC,
saying surely there must be
circumstances in which your affiliate members
can be excused from their
contractual obligations. No human being can ignore
the atrocities that are
going on in Zimbabwe today."
Despite
public discomfort in New Zealand, the ICC contract only allows
NZ Cricket to
escape penalties for such extreme reasons as high risks to
team security, or
if the team is prevented by the government from touring.
Mr Goff has already
signalled he will refuse visas to Zimbabwean cricketers
planning to tour
here in December - a move that would excuse that country's
cricketing body
and its patron Mr Mugabe from paying compensation.
But short of
changing the law or withdrawing the New Zealand players'
passports -
hard-line options that Mr Goff has ruled out - there is little
the
Government can do to prevent the team's tour.
And it is loath to
offer to cover the damages payments should the team
pull out: Around $2.8
million would go to the ICC, whose policies it abhors,
and millions more to
Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe regime in compensation.
According to
confidential Foreign Affairs Ministry legal advice, the
only way NZ Cricket
could invoke the contract's clause to excuse it from
paying compensation,
was if the Government took hard-line action.
National Party sports
spokesman Murray McCully has asked for a
briefing from the Government:
"We're not unsympathetic to the Government's
stance but we want to be
consulted because these are events that will play
out after the election,"
he said.
Former Springbok protest leader John Minto said the
Government's
position was "weak" and he would encourage a return to protest
action on the
streets. "I'll be there, and I'll bring a banner and a
loudhailer."
Former New Zealand cricketer Adam Parore said the tour
was "a disaster
waiting to happen".
Parore said he felt sorry
for New Zealand Cricket, which was on "a
hiding to nothing" over the
issue.
It was doing "a pretty good job" of working within its
contractual
restrictions and the New Zealand Government should also be
applauded for its
"pretty clear" stance, he said. However, the International
Cricket Council
should not have instigated the future tours programme,
"knowing damn well
that half the countries involved in it are unsafe,
involved in terrorism,
harbouring terrorism, or have civil wars going
on."
African Union defends Mugabe
Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor, Vikram
Dodd and Eric Allison
Saturday June 25, 2005
The Guardian
The
African Union yesterday rejected calls by Britain and the US to
intervene in
Zimbabwe, where the president, Robert Mugabe, is conducting a
slum clearance
programme that has left hundreds of thousands homeless.
Desmond Orjiako, a
spokesman for the AU, which represents 53 African states,
said: "I do not
think it is proper for the AU commission to start running
the internal
affairs of members' states." He suggested there were various
good reasons
for the demolitions, including preventing Harare turning into a
slum.
The Foreign Office, which has been leading a campaign against
Mr Mugabe, has
expressed frustration over the last four years at the failure
of South
Africa and other AU members to act against - or even criticise - Mr
Mugabe
in spite of human rights abuses and rigged elections.
But
Britain's position was weakened yesterday by a Zimbabwean archbishop,
who
urged it to stop sending failed asylum seekers back to the Mugabe
regime.
The Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius A Ncube, said those deported
would be
persecuted by the Mugabe regime as "traitors". "People who were
asylum
seekers in Britain and are returned have been detained by police in
Zimbabwe, some being tortured and forced to confess that they were in
anti-government activities."
Mr Ncube told Channel 4 that Zimbabwe
was beginning to resemble Pol Pot's
Cambodia. He said Mr Mugabe's policy of
driving people out to the
countryside "is extremely cruel and it is very
much like Pol Pot and this
will lead to people starving".
The Home
Office has temporarily backed down on its threat to send an
opponent of Mr
Mugabe back to Zimbabwe today, which critics said could have
led to his
possible torture or death.
But yesterday it refused to reverse its policy
of deporting people to whom
Britain had refused asylum, which has triggered
hunger strikes by at least
16 Zimbabweans held in detention.
The most
high-profile detainee, Crespen Kulingi, who was due to be deported
today,
has been given a temporary reprieve.
Mr Kulingi, 32, is an adviser to the
leader of Zimbabwe's main opposition
party, the Movement for Democratic
Change.
He claims he suffered injuries so severe at the hands at Mr
Mugabe's
henchmen while detained in Zimbabwe that he is now in a
wheelchair.
The delay in deporting him came after an intervention by the
Labour MP Kate
Hoey.
Ms Hoey said: "I have no doubt that if Crespen
is sent to Zimbabwe, I think
there will be a very good chance he will be
killed, but more definitely he
would be locked up and probably
tortured."
The Home Office has been put under more pressure by remarks by
the foreign
secretary, Jack Straw.
Condemning Mr Mugabe's policy of
forced removals of people from areas which
voted for the opposition, Mr
Straw said it was "of serious international
concern".
On Thursday Mr
Mugabe hailed as a success the six-week-old slum clearance
programme, which
he named Drive Out Scum and which has led to the demolition
of tens of
thousands of homes. He said it was for environmental reasons and
to help
combat crime.
The MDC claims that the demolitions are politically
movitated, because the
core of its supporters is from these poorest areas.
The MDC urged the
African Union to take up the issue at its next meeting,
which is due to be
held in Libya.
But Mr Orjiako said: "It is painful
that the poor people in Zimbabwe are
being displaced.
"But if it is
in the interests to prevent crime, or improve sanitation, or
ensure the
health of the people, or ensure Harare does not turn into a slum,
I do not
see how the AU should take over the internal legislation for action
the
government says they have taken to improve the livelihoods of their
people."
On Wednesday, after a meeting in London of the foreign
ministers of the G8 -
the world's wealthiest countries - Mr Straw called on
African leaders "not
to continue to turn a blind eye to what is going on in
Zimbabwe".
Sitting alongside him, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of
state,
described the demolitions as tragic and called on the AU to speak
out.
Financial Times
Pressure on UN to take leading role in tackling Zimbabwe
crisis
By Mark Turner at the United Nations and Tony Hawkins in
Harare
Published: June 25 2005 03:00 | Last updated: June 25 2005
03:00
The crisis in Zimbabwe is emerging as a crucial test of the United
Nations
secretariat's resolve to tackle human rights violations, when
regional
powers and the Security Council prove unwilling to
act.
Anna Tibaijuka, head of UN-Habitat, is expected to meet Robert
Mugabe,
Zimbabwe's president, tomorrow or Monday, to discuss an urban
clean-up
programme that critics say has left hundreds of thousands
destitute, but
which the government claims has slashed crime and improved
hygiene.
Officials say her findings, backed by a team of political and
humanitarian
experts, will be crucial as Kofi Annan, UN secretary- general,
decides
whether to take a more proactive stance, or revert to its more
traditional
pattern of quiet long-term diplomacy.
UN diplomats say Mr
Annan could make a significant difference at a time when
several Security
Council members are resisting discussion, and African
leaders have rejected
US and British criticism.
Reform-minded UN staffers say it is exactly the
kind of situation where Mr
Annan should assume leadership, especially in the
wake of his recent reform
proposals on human rights and the protection of
civilians.
"Are we willing to grasp the nettle when something hits you in
the face or
not? This is where we can make a difference," said one
official.
Others claim Mr Annan has been looking for a "card of entry"
for some time,
but that he has been frustrated by Mr Mugabe's intransigence
and Africa's
reluctance to bow to a perceived western agenda. But in this
case they say
there may be more traction, as the crisis clearly affects
ordinary people.
Abdallah Baali, Algeria's UN ambassador, said the
situation in Zimbabwe was
an internal affair, without the international
dimension that would warrant
Security Council action. But he noted that Mr
Annan had the power to bring
it to the council's attention.
A US
official suggested that was exactly what Mr Annan should do. "That's
the job
of the secretary-general: to stand strong, take those hits and take
on
dictators," he said.
In Zimbabwe, both the opposition and the government
have welcomed the UN
mission. The government is convinced it will report
favourably on the
campaign, while the opposition is equally convinced that
any objective team
will be horrified by what it sees.
But some civil
rights campaigners question whether the UN will be objective,
noting its
reluctance to criticise Zimbabwe in the past. The opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change expects few results.
An MDC source said South Africa
had criticised Britain and the US for
calling for African governments to
come out against Mr Mugabe's conduct.
"How can Kofi Annan take effective
action if this is what African leaders
believe?" he asked.
"Sending a
special representative to see for herself and talk to President
Mugabe is
the easy part," said a member of Zimbabwe's Crisis Coalition.
"After that,
what can the secretary- general do if African leaders continue
to back
Mugabe, as they will?"
Home Office reprieves Mugabe opponent facing deportation
Ewen MacAskill,
diplomatic editor, Vikram Dodd and Eric Allison
Saturday June 25, 2005
The
Guardian
The Home Office has temporarily backed down on its threat to
send an
opponent of President Robert Mugabe back to Zimbabwe today, which
critics
said could have led to his torture or death.
But yesterday it
refused to reverse its policy of deporting people to whom
Britain had
refused asylum, which has triggered hunger strikes by at least
16
Zimbabweans held in detention.
The most high-profile detainee, Crespen
Kulingi, who was due to be deported
today, has been given a temporary
reprieve. Mr Kulingi, 32, is an adviser to
the leader of Zimbabwe's main
opposition party, the Movement for Democratic
Change.
He claims he
suffered injuries so severe at the hands of Mr Mugabe's
henchmen while
detained in Zimbabwe that he is now in a wheelchair.
Speaking from
Campsfield House detention centre in Oxford, Mr Kulingi said:
"My solicitor
has told me that the flight tomorrow has been canceled. I am
pleased for
that, but I am going to continue with the others on hunger
strike. We are
not prepared to go and face a dictator at home and we feel
the UK government
is using double standards."
The delay in deporting him came after an
intervention by the Labour MP Kate
Hoey.
Ms Hoey said: "I have no
doubt that if Crespen is sent to Zimbabwe, I think
there will be a very good
chance he will be killed, but more definitely he
would be locked up and
probably tortured."
He was backed by the Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius
Ncube, who said those
deported would be persecuted by the Mugabe regime as
"traitors".
"People who were asylum seekers in Britain and are returned
have been
detained by police in Zimbabwe, some being tortured and forced to
confess
that they were in anti-government activities," he told Channel 4
news.
His remarks came as the African Union rejected calls by Britain and
the US
to intervene in Zimbabwe, where Mr Mugabe is conducting a slum
clearance
programme that has left hundreds of thousands
homeless.
Desmond Orjiako, a spokesman for the AU, which represents 53
African states,
said: "I do not think it is proper for the AU commission to
start running
the internal affairs of members' states."
He suggested
there were good reasons for the demolitions, including
preventing Harare
turning into a slum.
The Foreign Office has expressed frustration over
the last four years at the
failure of South Africa and other AU members to
act against - or even
criticise - Mr Mugabe in spite of human rights abuses
and rigged elections.
Mr Ncube said that Zimbabwe was beginning to
resemble Pol Pot's Cambodia. He
said the policy of driving people out to the
countryside "is extremely cruel
and it is very much like Pol Pot and this
will lead to people starving".
The Home Office has been put under more
pressure by remarks by the foreign
secretary, Jack Straw.
Condemning
Mr Mugabe's policy of forced removals of people from areas which
voted for
the opposition, Mr Straw said it was "of serious international
concern".
On Thursday Mr Mugabe hailed as a success the six-week-old
slum clearance
programme, which he named Drive Out Scum and which has led to
the demolition
of tens of thousands of homes. He said it was for
environmental reasons and
to help combat crime.
The MDC claims that
the demolitions are politically movitated, because the
core of its
supporters is from these poorest areas. The MDC urged the
African Union to
take up the issue at its next meeting, due to be held in
Libya.
But
Mr Orjiako said: "It is painful that the poor people in Zimbabwe are
being
displaced. But if it is in the interests to prevent crime, or improve
sanitation, or ensure the health of the people, or ensure Harare does not
turn into a slum, I do not see how the AU should take over the internal
legislation for action the government says they have taken to improve the
livelihoods of their people."
On Wednesday, after a meeting in London
of the foreign ministers of the G8,
Mr Straw called on African leaders "not
to continue to turn a blind eye to
what is going on in
Zimbabwe".
Sitting alongside him, Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of
state,
described the demolitions as tragic and called on the AU to speak
out.
Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2005 6:15 PM
Subject: From the owner of a craft village at The Falls
Hallo all my
dear friends,I felt you should all know what has
been happening in this our most beautiful country and also to us.
Some of you have heard about it on the news, but
others didn't realise it hit our little town too. About two weeks ago, on a
Friday, our African townships were invaded by armoured vehicles and dozens of
troops - police - who knows? with metal helmets and batons, and they burnt every
single house that was not concrete. Wooden houses, lean toos, shacks, smashing
windows as they went. I know this happened in Bulawayo, Harare and many other
places too.
Now we have a piece of land that we paid Council
for way back in 2000 to connect water, sewerage, etc,. and had permission to
erect wooden houses, asbestos roofs, etc., for our dancers who had no houses of
their own. By the way hundreds of people pay to council for a plot - like my
little maid, Telia, who has been doing this since 2000, but they haven't come up
with anything as yet.
When we got word of this, Sam immediately went to
council and police to stop the destruction to our dancer's homes. We had to
FIGHT with everyone - Sam armed with his file and proof of correspondence,
etc., and eventually he got permission AND SEVEN DAYS GRACE to "jack it up".
Well what can you do with about 80 people in 7 days, so we bought corrugated
iron sheets, and poles and started by putting a "fence" around it all, and
rebuilding what had been smashed. As I walked over it with Sam, I wept
bitterly to see such utter destruction.
Honestly to see thousands of homeless in this cold
winter of ours, with their belongings piled up alongside somebody's home,
mattresses, blankets, furniture, stoves, fridges, wardrobes, and hundreds of
small children all staring wide eyed at what was happening - it was too sad even
to describe.
We (especially Sam and his helpers), worked flat
out to get it jacked up, and on day four (remember we were given 7 days), one of
the dancers rushed to the shop to say 2 armoured cars and 20 police were
smashing all Sam's work and burning everything. I thought he was going to have
a stroke and heart attack combined - he went grey with anger and
disappointment. Naturally we couldn't get hold of the police chief (he went
away), or anybody in council, so we just took our truck and tried to salvage as
much as we could, and took it to Sam's yard. Now we sit with 80 or so people
(26 work for us - the rest are their families), with no roof over their heads
and nowhere to go.
We rushed around - you better believe it - clearing
out rooms at our workshop, any space we could find, and by the next day,
everyone had a roof - albeit some sharing. Even my little gardener at his
home, had his lean to burnt so we have also put him at our workshop. What is
so sad is to buy a wooden home costs millions, to replace the glass in windows
smashed and the roofing asbestos sheets smashed - we are looking at about 80
million per home, which we don't have, BUT and here is the problem, coundil
can't give us any land on which to re-settle them. Why they had to burn and
smash everything, nobody knows.
We have had to send some staff back to their rural
homes, one old lady we put into the old age home, but as Sam says if this
continues, and everyone has to go "home". we will have no traditional village
and no traditional dancing for the tourists who we hope will return
soon.
Now we hear that the police are chasing people away
who are sharing, and even if you are staying in somebody's kitchen, you have to
go.
Sorry for that long story - but now you know why I
haven't had the time nor the inclination to sit and write this sad
story.
Lots of love to you all,
F
VOA
Mugabe Says Crackdown for Benefit of Zimbabwean People By Studio
7
Washington
25 June 2005
Zimbabwe President
Robert Mugabe said he welcomes the upcoming visit by a
United Nations
special envoy because it will allow the U.N. secretary
general to to
"understand and appreciate what we are trying to do for our
people," the
government-controlled Herald newspaper reported.
Speaking to the central
committee of his ZANU-PF party, Mr. Murabe blamed
criticism of the so-called
Operation Murambatsvina - Shona for "Drive Out
Rubbish" - on what he
described as an anti-Zimbabwean Western coalition.
He said the
controversial operation would improve the social condition of
the Zimbabwean
people, the Herald reported.
Mr. Murabe declared that action "had to be
taken, as indeed it was, to
restore our long lost environmental lustre that
made our cities and our
country famous for their decency and cleanliness,"
the paper said.
The president, under fire from Britain, the United
States, Australia and
other quarters for an operation that has left
countless thousands of people
homeless, said it was "primarily a positive
and...corrective" initiative.
Mr. Mugabe added that "except for a few
negative people, the operation has
been well received by the majority of our
people, for the results of the
campaign have begun to show
themselves."
The Herald confirmed this week that two small children were
crushed to death
under rubble in some of the home demolitions this
month.
An undetermined number of deaths have occurred from exposure to
winter cold,
sources told Studio 7.
Mr. Mugabe said a program was
under way to build new homes for those in need
of shelter, under an
inter-ministerial committee that disposes of a budget
of Z$3
trillion.
He said the program would be completed by the end of August of
this year.
The inter-ministerial committee, the Herald said, includes
"relevant arms of
security" and would also quote "lay a firm basis for small
and medium
enterprises whose role in the economic turnaround program is
crucial."
Economists say the state's Operation Restore Order, which
preceded the
Murambatsvina housing crackdown and targeted vendors and
traders considered
to be in violation of the law, has devastated the
informal economy on which
many Zimbabweans depended for their livelihoods in
a collapsed economy.
Politburo spokesman Ephraim Masawi told reporters
that army "building
brigades" would construct houses, shops and markets to
replace those
demolished by security forces in recent weeks.
JAG OPEN LETTER FORUM
Email:jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Please
send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the
subject
line.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prelude
text
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
1:
The End of the Mugabe Era.
In 1973 a small group of us in what
was then Rhodesia, got together to do a
detailed analysis of the situation
that faced us. We had been under UN
mandatory sanctions for 8 years and at
war with our own people for two
years. All of us were well informed and well
educated. We were all under 35
and constituted what I still believe to be
amongst the most outstanding
young men of our time in our
country.
After several meetings we drafted a brief report, signed it and
sent it to
the Prime Minister, Ian Smith with a request that he meet us to
discus our
conclusions. We had concluded that we could not win the war, that
time was
running out and that if a deal was not struck in the near
future,
eventually power would be taken away from Smith and his cohorts and
we
would be left to mercy of our history and our time.
We had a prompt
reply and the Prime Minister agreed to meet us at a private
home in
Highlands. He arrived on time and then spent two hours listening to
us and
debating the issues we had raised. But in the end he rejected our
conclusions
and said, "We are winning this war, right is on our side and
eventually we
will get through our difficulties and gain acceptance of what
we stand for."
For the majority of our group it was the end - out of 35
only 8 remained in
the country after 6 months. The others simply said we
cannot go on throwing
our lives away on a lost cause - they believed we
were right and they took
themselves off to pursue their careers and lives
elsewhere.
Looking
back on that time and recalling that document, we were absolutely
spot on.
Three years later - almost to the day, Smith was in Pretoria
capitulating to
the strong men of the day and from then on we were not out
of the woods, but
we were on the way to a final resolution of our conflict.
But from September
the 23rd 1976, Ian Smith no longer controlled the
destiny of the country he
had led since 1964.
On the surface Mugabe and Smith are chalk and cheese
and yet there are
striking similarities. I often say to fellow Zimbabweans
that Mugabe is a
"black" Smith. Hard, unflinching, stubborn, harsh on his
opponents.
Mugabe has been in power longer than Smith - 25 years as
against 16 but he
now nears the end of his time in power. For those who have
held power and
done terrible things, such a moment is a time of terror. To
let go means to
fall and such a fall would be absolute. So they hang on,
persuading
themselves that they can win through and forcing others by naked
power to
stay with them to the end. Some go with dignity - Smith did, Hitler
did
not. But eventually they all go.
I remember Malawi in the dying
days of Dr. Banda - of cocktail parties in
the capitol where people shrank
from talking politics - any sort of
politics. Where real fear stalked the
land and the aging tyrant - short and
stooped with his flywhisk held onto
power by the skin of his teeth. For
Malawians in those days it seemed as if
he would never go or let go but
eventually he did and his shattered country
could start to build again.
Mugabe has done just about everything he
could do to hang onto power - he
has subverted our justice system, our
electoral system is a sham, he
controls the media totally and has intimidated
the opposition and civil
society. He has created a political army and police
force and a huge secret
service that monitors all aspects of our lives. In
pursuit of safety he has
destroyed the economy and cut himself off from the
rest of the world. Now
he is doing the unforgivable - he is denying the
absolute poor of this
country the right to earn a living and their right to
shelter and food.
Even before this latest madness, we were reeling from
the events of the
past five years. Our life expectancy has halved,
agricultural output is
down by half, exports by two thirds, and incomes are a
fraction of what
they were 20 years ago. Hundreds of thousands are dying
every year and a
similar number flee the country for greener pastures as
economic and
political refugees. More people have died in armed conflict
under Mugabe
than under Smith - and that remarkable achievement was made
without the
benefit of a decent war.
I do not know how many will die
in the next few weeks - but they will run
to their thousands as hungry and
thirsty people go to sleep in sub zero
temperatures on open ground next to
the ruble of their homes and small
businesses. They will mainly be the very
vulnerable - the elderly, the very
young but they will include many who are
sick from Aids and HIV related
diseases. To Mugabe these are "rubbish", to
the Commissioner of Police -
former Deputy Head of Interpol, they are
"maggots". But to God they are the
"blessed" and those who abuse them are
condemned in the strongest terms in
Scripture.
I estimate that 1
million small businesses have been destroyed in this
exercise - their capital
stolen and their premises burnt. This will deny 3
million people their sole
means of making a living. I estimate that to date
1,5 million people have
been made homeless and am told that over 300 000
children have dropped out of
school. The impact on the formal sector will
be very significant and may well
accelerate the present decline in national
GDP - that is if the fuel crisis
does not simply close us down completely,
a possibility that now seems more
than likely.
We arrived at our conclusions about the end of the Smith era
in 1973 on the
basis of a premise that no one can fight the whole world and
his own people
and get away with it for very long. Smith lasted 12 years,
Mugabe will go
sooner. It was not the war that toppled Smith - it was global
consensus
that he had simply become too expensive to be allowed to carry on.
Mugabe
has now done enough to ensure that he to, like all tyrants in history
is
about to go. Will he go with dignity? I doubt it, he has now done enough
to
his own people for them to turn on him when the time comes and it will
not
be pleasant.
We all want to be remembered for what we achieved in
our short time on
earth. Mugabe has destroyed his legacy and will not be
remembered for what
he did in the struggle for independence - even though
that too was over the
bodies of his own associates at the time - he will be
remembered for
Gukurahundi and Murambatsvina.
Eddie
Cross
Bulawayo, 23rd June
2005
---------------------------------------------------------------
LETTER
NO 2
MIDLANE and WILLIAMS letters
Dear Jag,
As I seem to
remember the Midlane couple have children, hence the need to
educate them and
not having as much money to travel as Gayle Williams. Even
if education in UK
government schools is free they still need to
feed/clothe their
kids.
You cannot generalize people's situation in life in any country
because
every situation is unique, everyone has their reasons for staying
or
leaving Zim and what's good for a family is not necessarily good
for
another. Trevor and Tracey Midlane should not point fingers at others
for
having or wanting to stay in Zim - and Gayle makes the UK sound as if
it
was paradise, which it is not. Remember that as long as you are
relatively
healthy, you can cope with NHS subsidised treatment. Be prepared
to pay
around £2000 or more for a specialised operation, should or need one
or
make sure you have private UK health cover. Or take away the strong
pound
and perspectives will change very quickly. Lastly, may our thoughts
and
prayers be with those who are really suffering in Zimbabwe
today.
Jo Schermuly,
UK
---------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
No 3
Dear Jag,
I have for years had the book 'The Great Betrayal',
but have never had the
courage to read it, as I thought it would depress me.
.About 3 weeks I
happened across the book and started reading it, I'm about
half way through
it.
It makes interesting reading. Shame I can just
imagine Mr. Ian Smith,
shaking his head in total sadness right about now.
This is what he so badly
wanted to save this once beautiful country and it's
people, black and white
from. He could see it coming a mile
away.
Those who have the book read it now, it's most appropriate. I'm
just sorry
he has had to live to see it all coming true.
Sue
Fourie.
---------------------------------------------------------------
LETTER
NO 4
Lowveld News 21st June 2005
With out any warning farmers in the
Lowveld were called to the Police
Station where they were threatened with
charges for still being in their
homesteads. This included those that had
their section 5's, 8's put aside
or had "INTERDICTS".
Wholesalers in
Chiredzi have been tolled that they are not allowed to sell
maize meal and
that if they require meal for their staff they were to apply
to the GMB.
People can only buy meal in the Township now where it costs
almost double.
Obviously the GMB are only supplying certain people who are
making money
selling it at well above the controlled price, suspicion is
that the GMB is
in cahoots with these sellers.
There has been no deliveries of any fuels
to Chiredzi in the past week,
farmers who are still actively farming are
getting very worried about the
deteriorating situation. Regards
Gerry
Whitehead
---------------------------------------------------------------
LETTER
NO 5
Dear Family and Friends,
I am in deep shock at the situation in
Marondera as the government's
"Operation Restore Order" to cleanse the town
has gone into its third
week. Everywhere you look you see only desperation,
fear and shock on
people's faces. Everyone is saying the same thing : "But
why are they
doing this to us, what are we going to do, where can we go, we
are going
to die." On a short drive around Marondera town the aftermath is
there
for all who care to see. There are mounds of rubble on street
corners,
stacks of timber, tin and asbestos piled on road sides,
dismantled
pre-fabricated houses leaning against trees and people staring in
shock at
what was there one day and gone the next.
In a piece of
grassy waste land near a big supermarket I saw a woman
sitting surrounded by
her life's possessions on Friday morning. A battered
kettle, a plastic basin
and a small pile of clothes tied up in a blanket.
In the town you can see
many people still desperately looking for
somewhere to stay after their homes
have been demolished. Young women
carrying suitcases with babies strapped on
their backs, calling to others
for advice - "where can we go", "do you know
of anywhere". On one street
corner I saw a man sitting on top of a pile of
rubble and next to him in
the dust and filth were a battered cardboard
suitcase, a rolled up grass
sleeping mat and a small wardrobe. Another man
passed me on the main road
pushing a supermarket trolley which was crammed
with his life's
possessions - pots and pans, a tin bucket, a thin foam
mattress and a
threadbare grey blanket.
At the bus stop on the
outskirts of Marondera town, at least a hundred
people wait, surging out into
the road as every vehicle approaches,
desperate for a lift. After three
months of chronic fuel shortages lifts
are few and far between and most
people travel only when they have to.
This week on state owned television
there was film footage of this
"cleansing" operation starting on farms.
Peasant farmers, surrounded by
their furniture, clothes and harvested crops,
being evicted from the farms
that the government seized from white commercial
farmers. This week there
was also the news that one of just a few commercial
farmers left in
Marondera was forced off his land. He had to leave behind the
export crop
of flowers and the fields of newly germinated winter
wheat.
It is ironic that while hundreds of thousands of people continue
to be
forced into poverty in Zimbabwe, pop stars and politicians are planning
to
"make poverty history" in Africa and world leaders talk about forgiving
us
our debt. There seems no sense to this whatsoever. Please keep the
utterly
desperate plight of hundreds of thousands of displaced Zimbabweans in
your
minds and prayers. With love, cathy Copyright cathy buckle 18th June
2005
http://africantears.netfirms.com
My
books on the Zimbabwean crisis, "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears"
are
available from: orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com ;
www.amazon.co.uk ; in Australia and New
Zealand:
johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au
;
Africa: www.kalahari.net www.exclusivebooks.com
Cathy
Buckle
---------------------------------------------------------------
Letter
No 6
Leo and Swanny van de Velde, e-mail: leo.van-de-velde@wanadoo.fr
are
asking if anyone provide them with the e-mail address of Zara & Chris
Nicolle?
Unfortunately they have lost contact after the Nicholle's moved
to
Zambia
---------------------------------------------------------------
Thought
for Today
Hi All,
I liked this "thought for today" from
Simon.
We were not put on this earth
to see through each other,
but
to see each other through.
Regards
Gerry
Whitehead
---------------------------------------------------------------
All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
for
Agriculture.
--------------------------------------------------------------
THE
JAG TEAM
Email;jag@mango.zw justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
JAG
Hotlines:
If you are in trouble or need advice,
(011) 205
374
(011603296 please don't hesitate to contact us -
(04)799410 we're here to help!
JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE LEGAL COMMUNIQUÉ - June 24, 2005
Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's
Herald (Friday 24th JUNE 2005) contains one new listing of farms
under LOT
172 Section 5 notices pertaining to 30 properties.
There are no repeat
listings.
Herewith today's new listings;
Preliminary Notice To
Compulsorily Acquire LAND
Notice is hereby given,in terms of section 5(1)
of the Land Acquisition
Act(chapter 20;10),THAT THE President intends to
acquire compulsorily the
land described in the Schedule for urban
expansion.
A PLAN OF THE LAND IS AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION AT THE
FOLLOWING OFFICES OF
THE MINISTRY OF STATE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY,LANDS,LAND
REFORM AND
RESETTLEMENT IN THE PRESIDENTS OFFICE BETWEEN 8A.M AND 4P.M FROM
MONDAY TO
FRIDAY OTHER THAN ON A PUBLIC HOLIDAY ON OR BEFORE THE 25TH
JULY,2005.
a) Block 2 Makombe Complex crn Harare street and Herbert
Chitepo,Harare
b) Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement.Cf 119,
Government
composite block, Robert Mugabe Way,Mutare
c) Ministry of
Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,4th Floor,Block H,Office
146,Mhlahandela
Government Complex,Bulawayo;
d) Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and
Resettlement,M & W Building,Corner
Park/Link Street,Chinhoyi;
e)
Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,1st Floor,Founders
House,The
Green,Marondera;
f)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,19
Hellet Street,Masvingo.
g)Ministry of Lands,Land Reform and
resettlement,Exchange Building,Main
Street,Gweru.
i)Ministry of
Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement,Ndodahondo
Building,Bindura.
ANY
OWNER OR OCCUPIER OR ANY OTHER PERSON WHO HAS AN INTEREST AND RIGHT IN
THE
SAID LAND,AND WHO WISHES TO OBJECT TO THE PROPOSED COMPULSORY
ACQUISITION,MAY
LODGE THE SAME,IN WRITING,WITH THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR
NATIONAL
SECURITY,LANDS,LAND REFORM AND RESETTLEMENT IN THE PRESIDENTS
OFFICE,PRIVATE
BAG 7779,CAUSEWAY,HARARE,ON OR BEFORE THE 25TH OF
JULY,2005.
D.N.E.MUTASA,
Minister of State for National
Security,Lands,Land Reform and Resettlement
in the President's
Office.
HERALD DATED 24/6/05
1778 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 1
2921/74 Kingsbrook pvt ltd Bikita
Levanga 13 034,9467ha
1779 24-06-2005
Section 5 LOT 172 2 738/64 coert erammus charter rossal
3386,0000ac
1780
24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 3 7425/74 johammes machiel jacobs
chilimanzi
sevilla 306,6336ha
1789 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 4 4535/83 nicholls
avenue holdings pvt
ltd chilimanzi smiling vale 1118,6126ha
1790
24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 5 3939/89 walter breu chilimanzi
amalinda
642,9967ha
1791 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 6 664/95 beverly
jean harris chilimanzi
dalcross of daviot of shasha fountains
809,3720ha
1792 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 7 282/96 gadzirirai investments
pvt ltd
chilimanzi crownlands 1284,7771ha
1793 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT
172 8 797/63 jacobus marthinus erasmus
chilimanzi collins 3174,7890ac
1794
24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 9 4815/92 desting farm pvt ltd chipinga
lot 4
newcastle 153,7798 ha
1795 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 10 7024/94 bath farm
pvt ltd gutu
mazongororo 1360,5432 ha
1796 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 11
6408/70 thomas johannes bezidenhout
gutu malton 1746,1204 ac
1797
24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 12 597/89 ann lourens gwelo vigers
farm
867,1856ha
1798 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 13 2556/82 leonard bazil
ferrel gwelo lot
55 umsungwe block 447,7320ha
1799 24-06-2005 Section 5
LOT 172 14 1533/95 a b schoultz pvt ltd gwelo lot
6 sonambula 1
862,1887ha
1800 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 15 1160/97 albertus jacobus
joubert gwelo
julena 525,3177 ha
1801 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 16
3753/01 towfin services pvt ltd ndanga
chirdzi ranch south
4968,0171ha
1803 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 17 7376/95 eduan naude ndanga
lot 3 fair
range a 1573,0000ha
1804 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 18
3467/78 jatala estate pvt ltd ndanga
jatala lot 4a triangle ranch
315,7400ha
1805 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 19 2614/91 joe dyer pvt ltd
nuanetsi
mleletsi ranch of nuanetsi ranch 10 489.1469ha
1806 24-06-2005
Section 5 LOT 172 20 2614/91 joe dyer pvt ltd nuanetsi
dyers ranch nuanetsi
ranche 1284,3140ha
1807 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 21 471/74 peplow farm
pvt ltd umtali rem
of dice box 338,47378ha
1807 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT
172 22 3569/91 lynette ellen sparrow victoria
desmond dale 962,2352ha
1808
24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 23 10386/02 ian fraser dott victoria s.d
a of
mayo 1028,4583ha
1809 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 24 10387/02 ian fraser
dott victoria
remainder extent of mayo 539,8262ha
1810 24-06-2005 Section
5 LOT 172 25 722/57 john montgomery borland
victoria chidza
1056morgen
1811 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 26 3803/74 william henry good
victoria
remaining extent cooden of glyn tor 66,6046ha
1812 24-06-2005
Section 5 LOT 172 27 12911/99 willem maarten van harderwilk
& henri
antoine frederic wintermans victoria midwaters 556,7367ha
1813 24-06-2005
Section 5 LOT 172 28 7273/81 l s watkins & sons pvt ltd
victoria
remaining of mlinya 109,4125ha
1814 24-06-2005 Section 5 LOT 172 29 695/81
graham william goddord victoria
crest of ibeka 121,8137ha
1815 24-06-2005
Section 5 LOT 172 30 2106/82 anthony david mitchell
victoria wayne
960,7563ha
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
BBC
Zimbabwe hunger strike concerns
The Scotland
Zimbabwe Group has said it is extremely concerned about a
former Dungavel
detainee who is facing deportation to Zimbabwe.
The man, known as
Forard Mutero, was removed from the Scottish
detention centre earlier this
year.
He is currently being held at the Colnbrook Immigration
Removal Centre
near Heathrow Airport.
A number of detainees
have begun hunger strikes in protest at the
prospect of being returned to
Zimbabwe.
Life inside: Forard Mutero
The Scotland
Zimbabwe Group said that anyone being forced to return is
in very grave
danger.
Officially the government has insisted it is safe to return
failed
asylum applicants.
The Home Office said staff were
monitoring the welfare of the
hunger-strikers to ensure they received
appropriate medical supervision.
Forty-one Zimbabweans in Britain
are refusing food in protest at the
lifting of a ban on deportations in
November.
In the first three months of 2005, 95 Zimbabweans were
forcibly
removed from the UK and 116 are scheduled to be returned to the
country.
From The Mail & Guardian (SA), 24 June
Shades of Pol
Pot
Alexandra Zavis
Johannesburg - A smuggled video of
hundreds of thousands of poor Zimbabweans
on the move after the government
tore down their homes as part of an urban
renewal project underlined a call
from human rights groups for the campaign
to stop. The Zimbabwean
government, meanwhile, pledged to build new houses
for those it has made
homeless. At a series of news conferences in Africa
and at the United
Nations on Thursday, more than 200 international human
rights and civic
groups said the campaign known as Operation Murambatsvina,
was "a grave
violation of international human rights law and a disturbing
affront to
human dignity". The groups, including London-based Amnesty
International and
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, released footage
showing bewildered
families sleeping in the open in the winter cold after
police torched and
bulldozed their township homes. Street markets were also
targeted and the
stalls were left in smouldering ruins. Police prevent
journalists from
filming the demolition campaign, so the footage was
collected clandestinely
by the church-based Solidarity Peace Trust.
Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe's political opposition, which has its
base among the urban
poor, says the month-long campaign is meant to punish
its supporters for
voting against the ruling party in recent parliamentary
elections. Mugabe
has described the operation as an urban renewal campaign.
After a seven-hour
meeting of the government's highest policy-making body on
Thursday, the
government's spokesperson Ephraim Masawi was quoted on state
radio as saying
military personnel will lead national and provincial
reconstruction
committees being formed immediately. Answering questions on
Wednesday during
a stormy parliamentary session, Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa conceded
harm had been done to legitimate housing by what he
called a "clean up"
meant to flush out black marketeers and criminals. The
government blames
them for runaway inflation of 144% and shortages of most
staples. "We are
aware that there is damage, people are homeless and so
forth," the minister
said. "But government has put into place the necessary
logistics to address
those immediate concerns such as health."
Since police launched the
blitz in Harare on May 19, it has been extended
throughout the country,
causing sporadic rioting as impoverished residents
tried to resist the
destruction of their homes and livelihoods.
International rights groups said
at least 300 000 people have lost their
homes. The United Nations puts the
figure as high as 1,5-million, though
Zimbabwe police only acknowledge about
120 000. More than 46 000 people have
also been arrested, fined or had their
goods confiscated, police
acknowledged in the state-run Herald newspaper.
Pius Ncube, the Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, has been a sharp
critic of the evictions,
and was shown on the human rights groups' video
saying he was so angered by
the campaign he was "ready to stand before a gun
and be shot". At Hatcliffe
Extension, a Harare township, residents told
human rights groups that they
were being forced from homes given to them by
the government itself ahead of
elections in 2000 and 2002. Those who did not
leave on their own said in the
video that they were driven in trucks to a
patch of wilderness on the
outskirts of the capital, where they were shown
surrounded by their paltry
possessions. "We were dumped here by people with
whips," said one young man,
whose name was not released for fear of
retribution. "We don't know what
went wrong. We were given these stands by
the government."
When lawyers tried to get an injunction to block the
Hatcliffe evictions, a
high court ruled they were justified because
residents had made improvements
to their properties without prior government
approval, Arnold Tsunga of
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said at a news
conference in Johannesburg.
The rights groups urged the African Union, which
is meeting in Libya next
month, and the United Nations to act against
Zimbabwe - but did not specify
how. They also demanded that Zimbabwe
compensate those displaced and allow
access to them by humanitarian workers,
who they say are currently being
blocked from providing relief. Earlier on
Thursday, President Robert Mugabe
said his government supported the shack
demolitions. He said the shacks had
served as "notorious criminal hideouts
and havens for black-market
activities". He was speaking at a graduation
ceremony for more than 300 new
police recruits in the capital, Harare. State
radio, though, said on
Wednesday some of those displaced had been moved to a
farm 30km east of
Harare. The broadcast said charities were working with the
government to
turn the site "into a healthy comfortable destination". "Some
families have
already been resettled after vetting," said Inspector Eunice
Marange, the
police officer in charge of what the state radio said was a
"transit camp"
at Caledonia. "The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare has
since moved in
to vaccinate children and provide other services, while
accommodation, water
and food have also been made available," Marange told
the radio. The
opposition Movement for Democratic Change says "vetting"
means proving
loyalty to Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party, with suspected
opposition
supporters being forced into the countryside for "re-education,"
under a
policy similar to that of the former Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Clean-up affects Bulawayo cashflow
From
Nkululeko Sibanda in Bulawayo
issue date :2005-Jun-25
BULAWAYO Mayor
Japhet Ndabeni Ncube says the banning of vendors during the
ongoing clean-up
operation has affected the council's cash flow.
In an interview with The
Daily Mirror this week, Ncube said vendors had
become the city's cash cow -
paying over $66 million a month in operating
licences.
"We were
generating a lot of revenue from the vendors. Bulawayo was the most
organised city throughout the country in as far as vendors were concerned.
We had put up shelters for them and they paid rent and licence fees to us.
They were legal vendors operating within the confines of council by-laws,"
Ncube said.
He said his council was never consulted by the government and
the police on
the clean-up exercise in the city.
"I pointed out recently
that police should have consulted us and the
council could have helped them
identify illegal vendors," explained Ncube.
"There was no harm in them (the
police) consulting us since we have the
mandate through the Urban Councils
Act to designate areas where we feel
vendors should operate."
Ncube, an
MDC member, said his council was now in a dilemma on how to
reimburse some
of the vendors who had paid rents and licence fees in
advance.
"It is
public knowledge that the Bulawayo City Council is broke. The
Ministry of
Local Government, Public Works and Urban Development is quite
aware of our
predicament. Where then are we going to get the money to pay
back the
vendors?"
Despite the operation, some parts of Bulawayo's high density
suburbs still
have illegal structures, while in the city centre heaps of
garbage can be
seen all over the town. The clean-up started last month in
Harare, before
spreading to other areas in the country, with the government
claiming it was
meant to stem crime and disorderliness.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Nyanga health officials fail to control cholera
outbreak
Paidamoyo Chipunza
issue date :2005-Jun-25
HEALTH
authorities in Nyanga District, Manicaland, are failing to control a
cholera
outbreak which has killed 14 people since May, raising fears that it
could
claim more lives.
At least 203 cases have since been recorded, with health
officials
indicating that the number of people affected may rise
dramatically if no
urgent action is taken.
Deputy Minister of Health and
Child Welfare Edwin Muguti confirmed that the
outbreak was proving difficult
to contain because it needed combined effort
from Zimbabwe and
Mozambique.
"We know that the disease is coming from Mozambique but we are
unable to
control it without co-operation from health officials in
Mozambique," said
Muguti.
However, Muguti said his ministry had opened
negotiations with its
Mozambican counterparts on how best to curb the
outbreak and save lives in
both countries.
The outbreak is believed to
have originated from Mozambique through effluent
discharged into Gaerezi
River, which stretches from South Western Mozambique
to Zimbabwe.
The
outbreak was worsened, health officials in Nyanga said, by people who
bathed, washed and discharged human waste into the river, which is a source
of drinking water for Zimbabweans in Nyamaropa, Katerere and Nyakomba areas,
exposing the villagers to water borne diseases. Muguti would not comment on
the alleged pollution of the river.
"I cannot talk about that now, but it
all has to do with water and
sanitation, as you know that cholera is a
water-borne disease," Muguti said.
He urged people in Nyanga District to
boil drinking water before using it
and to report promptly to the nearest
clinic or health centre as soon as
they suspected or observed signs and
symptoms of the disease.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Court bars Willdale from evicting six
families
The Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Jun-25
A
HARARE magistrate on Monday issued an interim order barring a brick
manufacturing company, Willdale Bricks (Pvt) Limited, from evicting six
families residing at a farm it formerly owned.
The farm was later
acquired by government under the land reform programme.
In an exparte
application for an interdict, George Muwadzuri, a security
officer at the
firm, was cited as the first respondent, while Willdale was
the second
respondent.
In his founding affidavit, Kudakwashe Chigaro (representing all
the
families) said the two respondents tried to illegally evict him with the
help of unidentified police details.
"The first and second respondents
advised me on Thursday 16 June 2005 that I
was being evicted from the
company house. No notice was given for this move.
I was only given three
days period in which to move out all of our
belongings from the houses," he
said.
Chigaro added: "First and second respondents subsequently moved in on
19
June assisted by unidentified police details to evict us.
"As I am
speaking, I am now homeless due to the illegal acts carried out by
respondents."
He added that Muwadzuri and Willdale Bricks had no right to
evict him and
that the notice period was unlawful.
Chigaro further
contended that the farm houses were now owned by the
government after it
acquired the property.
"However, first and second respondents have no right
whatsoever to evict me
because the notice period of three days is patently
unlawful and
unreasonable. The respondents have, therefore, acted harshly,
unreasonably
by giving me a period of three days as notice.
The first and
second respondents in any event now do not own the farm
anymore. This land
has been designated by the government of Zimbabwe and is
now the owner and
authority therein," he argued.
Chigaro added the government warned the
respondents against evicting them
since the land had been
designated.
Muwadzuri and Willdale Bricks were given up to 18 October to
show cause why
they should not be barred from evicting the applicants and
pay the costs of
the application.
The interim order issued reads: "The
respondent be and is hereby ordered to
stop any eviction action against the
applicants pending the finalisation of
this matter."
The University of
Zimbabwe's Legal Aid and Advice Scheme represented the six
families.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Police bar HIV, Aids awareness race
The
Daily Mirror Reporter
issue date :2005-Jun-25
POLICE have barred the
Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) from
holding an HIV and Aids
awareness marathon road race on July 2 because they
will be committed to
"other operations".
In a letter dated June 21 2005 to PTUZ, officer
commanding Harare police
Superintendent Samanyanga refused to grant
permission for the marathon for
security reasons.
"Your application to
hold a marathon road race to raise the HIV and Aids
Awareness on 2 July at
Raylton Sports Club at 1000 hours has not been
sanctioned due to commitment
of police to other operations," wrote
Samanyanga.
"If you wish to proceed
with the function, you are advised to gather at the
venue of the function
only."
The police's move irked the PTUZ, which claimed the decision to ban
the
marathon was political.
"Unofficially, we were told that the marathon
would cause members of the
public to riot, but in their letter we received
they said they were busy
with other operations," the PTUZ secretary general
Raymond Majongwe said.
"It appears that political fingers have been stuck in
the event that is
purely intended to raise awareness of the decimation that
is taking place in
the teaching profession,"
He said the marathon was
meant to assist teachers living with HIV and Aids,
who are not beneficiaries
of funds from the National Aids Council (NCA).
"This happens yet 68 percent
of civil servants in Zimbabwe are teachers
which means we contribute the
largest chunk of funds to (NAC)," Majongwe
claimed.
According to the
PTUZ, at every school two to three teachers are on HIV and
Aids related sick
leave.