Messages From Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has warned a week ahead of a run-off election that he will not leave power until land is returned to the majority black population, state media reported Friday.

‘Once I am sure this legacy (of returning land to the black population) is truly in your hands, people are empowered… then I can say: Aha, the work is done,’ Mugabe said in the Herald newspaper.

‘I walk on this land. I farm on this land. I sleep on it… That is truly our number one legacy.’

The government mouthpiece reported that Mugabe made the comments at two rallies in the Matabeleland North province in the country’s west.

Mugabe has previously warned he was ready to fight to keep the opposition out of power, and he repeated earlier statements about veterans of the 1970s liberation war.

‘The war veterans came to me and said: ‘President, we can never accept that our country, which we won through the barrel of a gun, be taken merely by an ‘x’ made by a ballpoint pen’.’

Mugabe embarked on a chaotic land reform programme at the turn of the decade which saw some 4,000 white-owned farms expropriated by the state.

He has repeatedly portrayed his opponent in the June 27 run-off vote, Morgan Tsvangirai, as a stooge of former colonial power Britain, and returned to that theme in the Herald report.

(Source)

Edward Stourton, Presenter: We’re joined now by the Foreign Office Minister Mark Malloch-Brown, Lord Malloch-Brown.  Good morning.

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, Foreign Office Minister: Good morning, Edward.

ES: I don’t know whether you heard earlier on the programme our correspondent in Johannesburg speculating about the possibility that the South Africans had been talking to Robert Mugabe and to the opposition about the possibility of some kind of grand coalition.  What’s your view of either the likelihood or the desirability of that emerging in Zimbabwe?

LMB: Well, the South Africans have, or at least President Mbeki has been promoting that throughout this period, and indeed there’ve been talks between intermediaries and the two sides.  But it seems a long way off because Robert Mugabe’s version of it is one where he stays in charge; the opposition’s, very properly, is one where they take power and then invite parts of Mugabe’s party, the reformist part, to join them.  Because, after all, they won the first round and there’s no doubt that the MDC enjoy overwhelming popular support in the country, and if there were a free and fair election - a huge ‘if’ as you rightly report - they’d win overwhelmingly in a second round I suspect.

ES: Well from what you say I take it that you don’t think it’s very likely that that idea is going to fly very far; in which case, we are confronted with the likelihood that the elections will go ahead in some shape or form, but they probably won’t be free or fair and that Mr. Mugabe will win or declare himself the victor.  In which case he’s sort of got away with it really, hasn’t he?

LMB: Well first I, I think at one point both sides in Zimbabwe will have to come together and govern together, so I, I don’t want to rule that out, it’s just a matter of when and on what terms.  As to the election itself next week, you know I suspect, from the fact that there was a 55 per cent anti-Mugabe vote in the first round, and everything he’s done since has only outraged and offended his own people and his African neighbours, that in, that number has increased, say, just modestly by another 10 per cent.  That means he’d have a, the, the opposition would have a two to one lead in the popular vote.  That’s hard to steal and get away with it.  If he does steal it, and he’s obviously on track to try to with all these things he’s doing – throwing out UN workers, stopping local observers deploying, limiting the number of international ones, stopping opposition ads on the TV, arresting the opposition leaders – he obviously wants to steal it.  But he’s going to have to do it so visibly and ostentatiously and outrageously I think the world will, I hope, not let him get away with it.

ES: You, you’ve made a big assumption there about what’s happening in Zimbabwe and public opinion, even if you’re right about people’s feelings do you really think that that will be reflected in the way that they vote given what’s been happening, and continues to happen, in Zimbabwe?

LMB: Well, by the way, not that big an assumption.  I mean for the first time in Zimbabwe we saw the result of votes counted relatively cleanly…

ES: All right, let, let’s grant you…

LMB: …the opposition won…

ES: …let’s grant you your assumption.

LMB: Okay.

ES: In terms of people actually going into polling stations this second time, after all the intimidation, the pressure there’s been, do you really think that, that that sort of figure is going to vote for the opposition in this…

LMB: Well, Ed…

ES: …in this round?

LMB: Ed, I think it’s a very good question.  I mean people must feel disheartened and must wonder whether their votes will be allowed to count, must be making the sort of cost benefit analysis…

ES: Must be frightened.

LMB: …in their own mind, they must be frightened of the risk of going to vote.  Is it worth it if you don’t think your vote’s going to, be allowed to count?  So I’m sure all those things are going through people’s minds.  But, you know, the fact is they, they nevertheless did it in the first round, they took the risk, and my suspicion is, having punctured the authority and invincibility of Mugabe, having seen he could lose, that they will have the courage to come out despite these massive disadvantages.  The issue though will be, can the, the, the integrity of that vote be protected because he’s targeted the observers and is dismantling them in a very, very systematic way, and so that’s the challenge.  I think people will vote…

ES: And, and as ever we can do… we can do very little to influence that.

LMB: No, I think that’s, I hope, where you’re wrong in that, you know, throughout these bitter, difficult years, it’s always tended to be Britain versus Mugabe.  Now it’s really Mugabe versus the world.  His African neighbours are starting to speak out, the, the rest of the world is as appalled as we are by what’s happening.  I think were he…

ES: Lord Malloch-Brown, very briefly, sorry we, we must stop it there, I think we, we got the message, but thank you very much indeed for talking to us.

LMB: No, thank you.

(Source)

ZANU PF’s youth militia, aided by war veterans are now resorting to the use of highly toxic herbicides to injuries inflicted on victims. To date, doctors say at least 12 people including a nine year old girl had her buttocks laced with Tactic Cattle Spray, a dipping chemical, and Paraquat. This is to exacerbate pain as well as increase the chances of fatality. A visit Tuesday to one of the private health care cantres set up by missionary doctors in Harare revealed a grim picture of Robert Mugabe’s desperation to stay in power. One MDC victim, Tonde Mondiwa aged 24, had his skin on the left leg pealing off. Both arms are full of blisters. Doctors said his chance of full recovery are next to nil. “The cell death in Tonde’s skin tissues are rapid, his chance of recovery are nil now.” Paraquat is a highly toxic herbicide which medical experts say can be fatal if it enters the bloodstream or when swallowed by accident even in small measures.

The ZANU PF militias, led by war veterans has been administering this kind of punishment on victims of violence since the retribution started after Mugabe’s loss to Tsvangirai in the presidential election held on March 29. Paraquat, described as a quick-acting, non-selective herbicide, which destroys green plant tissue on contact and, by translocation within the plant, was widely used in the farming areas to kill any green weeds in preparing land for planting. “When I was beaten up by the green bombers they poured cold water laced with Paraquat on my leg” recounts Tonde. Doctors said the injuries sustained by some of their patients especially those in the buttocks through beating are unusual and not consistent with beating. Bones in buttocks are left exposed and grisly. The herbicide eats through the tissues, hence the horrific sight of the injuries, they told me.

A single swig of Paraquat, immediately spat out, can cause death as a result of fibrous tissue developing in the lungs leading to asphyxiation. Long term exposures to paraquat would most likely cause lung and eye damage. “This is sickening, two teaspoons are enough to kill .There is a chemical war against supporters of the MDC which no-one has been aware of,” said the doctor. She said with time Paraquat affects the lungs and liver and can also lead to kidney failure. Douglas Gwatidzo, the spokesman for the Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights, says the medical fraternity is baffled by the gravity of the injuries and length of time they were taking to heal despite the fact that some of the wounds were not burns.

(Source)

There was wanton destruction of property in Mbare on Sunday after Zanu PF youths reacted angrily to the visit to Matapi police station by a group of observers from the Southern African Development Community. The observers had gone to Mbare on a fact finding mission to investigate the living conditions that Biti was being held under at the now infamous Matapi police station, which the regime uses to lock up its political opponents. The MDC MP elect for Mbare, Piniel Denga said the observers were denied permission to see Biti, who has only been seen once in public since his arrest last week Thursday. He was arrested at the Harare International Airport soon after returning from South Africa where he had been based for the past two months. According to Denga, trouble began the moment observers left the station. Hoards of ZANU PF thugs, who were monitoring the movement of the observers from a safe distance, started attacking residents living near the police station.

“There was mayhem in Mbare. We thought the presence of observers was going to improve the security situation but it has only made things worse. These ZANU PF guys literally told people there was nothing that the observers could do to stop them from re-educating people to vote wisely on 27th June,” Denga said. The Mbare MP said the observers seemed nervous and tense when it became apparent that ZANU PF youths were patrolling the area. The observers took note of the situation and promised to forward their concerns to the head of the observer mission. “I have never witnessed such political harassment and intimidation in my adult life. This has become unprecedented, where they indiscriminately beat up people with the police watching and doing nothing,” Denga added. In Kadoma, hundreds of people were force marched to attend a rally that was to be addressed by Robert Mugabe. Our source told us ZANU PF youths were moving from door-to-door ordering home owners to attend Mugabe’s rally.

(Source)

ZNU 125 is released this morning. (Believe it or not, Odeo rejected the file as ‘invalid’ - go figure - and 4shared has just disappeared off the internet - so that leaves just Switchpod, which last week and the week before, gave me hell…)

One out of three is better than nothing, I s’pose…

In this show, I take a brief look at the email I received attacking my internet activities, the penchant of Mugabe’s to remove anything he can from the people - in this case, satellite dishes - whilst I also look at Mugabe’s threat to take his forces back to a war footing if he loses the election, in the light of another group of people stating that THEY will utilise whatever means it can to establish democracy.

I also look at the impounding of Tsvangirai’s buses and the arrest of MDC Secretary-General, Tendai Biti, for treason… And a look at the terror gripping the country at the hands of ZANU PF activists, and a brief look at the call to arms by Elliot Manyika - himself a ZANU PF MP, but the call is heeded by the militia - but not reacted to by the ZRP.

This episode can be listened to using the players in the right hand side bar of The Bearded Man blog.

Thanks for your continued support.

Take care.

‘debvhu

Zimbabwe’s presidential run-offelection must be called off because a free and fair vote is impossible, ruling ZANU-PF party defector Simba Makoni has said.

Makoni’s statement came after a similar call by U.S.-basedHuman Rights Watch, which said brutal intimidation and murderby supporters of President Robert Mugabe made normal campaigning impossible for the June 27 poll.

An EU-U.S. summit in Slovenia on Tuesday called on the Zimbabwe government “immediately to cease the state-sponsored violence and intimidation against its people.”

It urged U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to send monitors to Zimbabwe to deter further violence.

Makoni, who challenged Mugabe in disputed March 29 elections, told reporters in Johannesburg that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai must negotiate a five-year transitional government.

“Normal political conduct and behaviour is not possible in the circumstances within Zimbabwe at the moment. I don’t believe we can have free elections under these circumstances that’s why we are suggesting that the run-off will not takeplace,” he said.

A South African newspaper reported on Tuesday that ZANU-PFand Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were incrisis talks that could lead to cancellation of the poll.

Makoni, a former finance minister, came a distant third inthe March election in which Tsvangirai beat Mugabe but failed to reach the absolute majority needed to avoid a second round.

Human Rights Watch said on Monday a free and fair poll wasimpossible because of a systematic campaign of murder and torture unleashed by ZANU-PF in which at least 36 people haddied. Some 2,000 people were victims of violence.

Mugabe blames his foes for the violence. Jacob Zuma, leader of the ruling party in Zimbabwe’s powerful neighbour South Africa, said during a tour of India onTuesday that he was alarmed and anxious about the reports of violence and called on ZANU-PF to ensure free political activity.

South Africa’s Business Day newspaper, quoting negotiators for both sides, said on Tuesday:

“ZANU-PF and the opposition… are engaged in 11th hour talks - mediated by President Thabo Mbeki - to salvage a solution to the political stalemate, which may include cancelling a proposed presidential run-off election.”

Business Day quoted the negotiators as saying the run-off might be too “dicey”. They were looking at various options including a national unity government led by Mugabe, with Tsvangirai as prime minister - similar to the solution found for Kenya’s bloody crisis earlier this year.

This idea was previously rejected by the MDC.

Makoni said he was involved in consultations between thetwo sides but they could not be described as negotiations. He called for this process to be accelerated.

Mbeki spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said he was unaware ofthe talks. Zuma, who has been outspoken about the Zimbabwe crisis, is frontrunner to succeed Mbeki next year after toppling him as leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC). The latter has been widely criticised for his softly softly approach to Mugabe.

(Source)

Authorities in Zimbabwe have banned wind-up receivers, a favourite among nongovernmental organisations seeking to promote access to information in rural areas. Their presence has often spawned listening clubs accused of tuning in on “illegal” foreign news bulletins broadcast through shortwave or AM. Instead of batteries, which are almost unavailable in Zimbabwe, the low-priced gadgets are powered by human muscle. Along with satellite dishes, ownership of a wind-up radio is enough to land villagers in trouble. “They have been warned that they must hand in those radios. It has become a subversive tool,” says Rob Jamieson, chairperson of the Southern Africa Editors’ Forum. “It is quite shocking to see the situation in Zimbabwe. No professional media in Zimbabwe can operate,” says Jamieson, who was part of a week-long mission that went to Zimbabwe.

The mission found that journalists operate under the constant fear of being abducted, arrested, detained or beaten up. They have to battle for survival in a failing economy that has also placed extreme pressure on the remaining local media businesses. Freelancers battle to get accreditation and are sometimes forced to operate illegally. “There is no way they can be accredited because you have to belong to a media organisation to be accredited,” says Jamieson. Even then, licensed journalists cannot travel outside the city centre for fear of security agents and militia in the rural areas. Under those conditions, normal journalistic investigation becomes a hazardous task. Worsening the conditions is the harassment and departure of lawyers and other human rights defenders, leading to concern that there might be no one to assist should journalists be arrested.

Last month three people, two of them South Africans, were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment after they were caught with “illegal broadcasting equipment” for British TV network Sky TV. A few weeks ago a truck transporting 60000 copies of The Zimbabwean - a newspaper produced in SA and the UK - to Harare from Musina, was petrol-bombed by unknown assailants. “What I saw and experienced I had not seen in any part of Africa these days, even in Ethiopia and the Gambia - countries that we say are difficult,” says Gabriel Baglo, the Dakar-based Africa director of the International Federation of Journalists. Another member of the mission, Luckson Chipare, says Zimbabwean journalists are often forced to move towns when the heat gets too overwhelming. Chipare also painted a gloomy picture of the main TV news bulletin. “There is not a single bulletin that talks about the opposition except to denigrate them. It’s all about ZANU PF.”

(Source)

Zimbabwean police arrested opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai twice more on Thursday in what his spokesman said was harassment aimed at disrupting his campaign for a June 27 run-off election.

Tsvangirai’s latest arrest, at a roadblock near Gweru, outside Harare, came hours after police said his party’s Secretary General Tendai Biti would be charged with treason and could face the death penalty. Biti was arrested on Thursday.

Tsvangirai was later released without charge.

“We have just been released, some five minutes ago. We were not charged but held at Gweru Central Police Station for about three hours,” said Tsvangirai’s spokesman George Sibotshiwe, who was among those arrested with the MDC leader.

“Our vehicles were searched. It’s just harassment, but we will be continuing with our campaign tomorrow,” he said.

It was the fourth time in about a week that Tsvangirai had been detained. He was held for two hours earlier on Thursday.

Biti was in police custody after being arrested at the airport in Harare. He flew home from South Africa to help Tsvangirai’s campaign against President Robert Mugabe, who is battling to keep his 28-year hold on power in the ruined state.

Police had sought Biti, the third ranking MDC official, for announcing results of the March 29 first round vote prematurely.

“We are charging him with treason and communicating statements prejudicial to the state. For the treason charge he faces the death penalty or life in prison,” police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said.

The MDC described the charges as ludicrous and demanded that defence lawyers be allowed to see Biti.

Britain and the United States expressed concern at Biti’s arrest. “We and the rest of the international community are watching and we hold the Zimbabwe government responsible for his physical safety,” British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

The opposition and human rights groups accuse Mugabe’s supporters, including the security forces, of arresting and attacking its opponents in a bid to intimidate the opposition ahead of the run-off.

Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the March 29 election but failed to win the absolute majority needed to avoid a second ballot, according to official results. Mugabe’s support has been eroded by the economic collapse of his once prosperous country.

The MDC says ruling ZANU PF party activists have killed 66 opposition supporters since March. Mugabe and his officials blame the opposition for the violence.

The Southern African Development Community, a grouping of 14 nations including Zimbabwe, has sent a team of election monitors. Observers from Western nations critical of Mugabe’s government are not being allowed into the country.

The political turmoil has compounded an economic crisis.

Inflation has soared to over 165,000 percent, unemployment is around 80 percent and food and fuel shortages are commonplace. Millions have fled to neighbouring countries in search of food and work.

Critics blame Zimbabwe’s decline on Mugabe’s policies, including the seizure of thousands of white-owned farms which they say has contributed to the collapse of agriculture since 2000. Some of the most fertile farms have gone to supporters of Mugabe who were ill-equipped for farming.

(Source)

President Robert Mugabe was accused of bringing “war” to Harare after his militias attacked the poorest townships of Zimbabwe’s capital. The new onslaught marked a major escalation of his campaign to guarantee victory in the presidential election’s final round on June 27. Remote rural areas had borne the brunt of the violence and suffered most of the 53 murders confirmed so far. Harare, a stronghold for Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, had been relatively quiet. On Sunday, hundreds of men from the ruling ZANU PF party raided Harare’s township of Epworth. Lidia Mulenga, 26, fled after her house was burned down. “They were shouting about ZANU PF and wearing ZANU PF t-shirts. I think they were youth militia,” she said. “They used petrol on the house and then set it alight. I ran with the kids. Other houses were attacked. I don’t know how many as I was running away.”

Mrs Mulenga, a single mother whose husband died in 2003, lives in a derelict part of Epworth, bordering an old farming district that has been devastated by Mr Mugabe’s seizure of white-owned land. The treeless area, where nothing grows, has been taken over by ZANU PF’s militias, who claim to be veterans of the war against white rule. Mrs Mulenga and her children, Kisha, seven, and Tariro, five, are now sheltering along with hundreds of others in the Harare headquarters of the MDC. Willias Madzimure, an opposition MP, was trying to help another influx of displaced people. “There are so many houses burned or destroyed. They come and loot first, then they burn or destroy the property they don’t want. These people are very, very poor. The war is now in Harare,” he said. The MDC put the number of murders at 66, with another 200 people missing and 3,000 seriously injured. A Western diplomat in Harare estimated that 50,000 had been forced to flee their homes.

As well as targeting Harare, ZANU PF has tried to break the MDC’s organisation by assassinating key activists. Five have been murdered so far. Another tactic is to create vast “no-go” areas, where the party exerts total control and can murder and intimidate at will. This may explain why Mr Mugabe has stopped foreign aid agencies from operating inside Zimbabwe. His behaviour has stirred concern among his neighbours. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa said the “incidents of violence and reported disruption of electoral activities” were a “cause for serious concern and should be addressed with all urgency”. But he studiously refrained from apportioning any blame.

(Source)

Zimbabwe’s opposition candidate said Tuesday talks of a unity government with President Robert Mugabe’s party were premature, as the idea was raised again as a way to end the violence that has engulfed the country for two months. Morgan Tsvangirai told reporters in the Zimbabwean capital that he was focused on his campaign for the presidential runoff election, less than three weeks away. “A government of national unity does not arise,” he said, adding that it might be an issue after the vote on June 27. Earlier Tuesday, a former member of Mugabe’s party said that preliminary talks on sharing power were under way. But Mugabe’s Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said he could not confirm reports the two sides were discussing sharing power. An opposition spokesman also refused to comment. Tsvangirai, 56, beat Mugabe and two other candidates during the first round of presidential voting March 29, but official results did not give him the 50 percent plus one vote necessary to avoid a runoff. Tsvangirai expressed confidence that he would win the runoff despite the violence and intimidation his supporters have faced since the first round.

Human rights groups say Mugabe has engineered the violence to ensure he wins. The opposition leader says 66 of his supporters have been killed. “Mugabe can beat us but we will vote him out,” he said. The idea of a coalition government has been raised previously, but the sticking point has long appeared to be ZANU PF’s insistence that Mugabe remain president of any coalition government. Tsvangirai has repeatedly pledged to bring moderate members of Mugabe’s party into his administration, but not Mugabe. South African President Thabo Mbeki has mediated stop-and-start talks between Mugabe’s and Tsvangirai’s parties. Mbeki has insisted on a media blackout, and his spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, said the reports of renewed talks, which first appeared Tuesday in South Africa’s respected Business Day newspaper, were untrue. But Simba Makoni, a former member of Mugabe’s party who finished third in the presidential elections, said preliminary talks on sharing power were under way. Makoni, speaking at a news conference in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Tuesday, said the talks could not yet be described as formal negotiations, but that he could “confirm… that I know that there are communications between and among Zimbabwean leaders at various levels.”

(Source)