Messages From Zimbabwe

A deal is looking increasingly less likely in Zimbabwe as talks enter their final day, with Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe as far apart as they have ever been. The South African-facilitated talks, led by mediator President Thabo Mbeki and which began on Sunday, adjourned shortly after 8pm last night, four hours after they got under way at a hotel here. They are scheduled to resume at 3pm this afternoon and to end, either way, before the day is out. Although Mugabe claimed last night the main points of contention had been “overcome”, he did not sound upbeat about the direction of the talks. They were “not exactly” going well, he said. Asked if progress had been made in more than four hours of discussions, Mugabe said: “Not at the present moment, but we will continue tomorrow.”

The thorny issue of who is to hold sway over the incoming parliament has not been resolved, with Mugabe refusing to give ground and Tsvangirai, who won the March 29 elections, reluctant to back down from this advantage. The MDC leader has been offered a junior partnership in Mugabe’s government as a prime minister but with minority executive control, while his ZANU PF counterpart is adamant about ruling for a further five years. “The MDC is willing to go to the polls again, in a free and fair election, to determine who should govern this country,” a participant in the talks said shortly after they adjourned last night. “But we will not give an inch to Mugabe’s plans to hold on to presidential powers.” A Zimbabwean woman, speaking yesterday as she trudged along a highway towards her home 8km west of here, said: “We are going to suffer even more now, and we are hungry and worried and maybe Mugabe is going to stay on for ever, until he dies.”

Meanwhile, at the five-star venue where the talks are taking place, Arthur Mutambara, leader of the breakaway MDC faction, began emerging as the key player. Unconfirmed reports suggested he had been offered the position of deputy prime minister to Tsvangirai, much to the latter’s displeasure. The leader of the smaller MDC faction holds the swing 10 parliamentary seats that could make or break a deal, depending in whose favour he chooses to cast them now. Earlier yesterday, Mutambara tried to outwit his former leader when he attended a Heroes’ Day rally with Mugabe, sparking another round of street talk that he had “sold out” to the ZANU PF chief. Mugabe told his followers to continue their fight, saying “God says I gave you the power to protect yourselves”. Mutambara’s critics were quick to play down his status. Sydney Masamvu, an analyst in Harare for the International Crisis Group, said: “Mutambara will be nothing more than the bridesmaid in this marriage, if Mugabe and Morgan make it to the altar at all.”

Zimbabwe desperately needs a deal, but one that would be supported by international donor countries. “It doesn’t look good, perhaps we are not going to get a deal,” said an exhausted source close to the marathon talks. A settlement would count in Mbeki’s favour as he approaches a summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), at which he assumes the rotating SADC chair, in Johannesburg this weekend. In recent months, his mediation efforts have attracted criticism from some members of the 14-country bloc. In recent weeks, Botswana has said it will not recognise a Mugabe-headed government, while in South Africa Cosatu chief Zwelinzima Vavi warned that while he could not stop the incumbent Zimbabwean president from entering South Africa to attend Saturday’s summit, he will make it difficult for him to be here.

The negotiations are seen as the best chance to end a post-election crisis. Tsvangirai confirmed the talks had adjourned and said reporters would be advised of any progress. An opposition source said a power-sharing agreement was being held up by Mugabe’s refusal to give up executive powers, while an official from the ruling ZANU PF said Tsvangirai’s demands could scupper any chance of a breakthrough. Negotiations began last month after Mugabe’s unopposed re-election in June in a poll condemned throughout the world and boycotted by Tsvangirai because of attacks on his supporters. Mugabe told supporters at the Heroes’ Day rally in Harare that there was progress in talks with Tsvangirai and breakaway MDC faction leader Arthur Mutambara. “We had a long night negotiating on some little hurdles. I thought I should raise my fist, but he (mediator Mbeki) remained cool and said: ‘Let us continue talking’,” Mugabe said. He was delivering a speech to honour those who died fighting in Zimbabwe‘s liberation war. In a sign of a softening of his stance towards Tsvangirai, Mugabe told the rally the time had come to sit down and talk as a family. “After a fight, the family sits down. That’s where we are,” he said, referring to the violence since the March elections that has claimed at least 120 lives.

Both sides are under international pressure for a deal, particularly from neighbouring countries that fear the consequences of a meltdown in Zimbabwe. Economic collapse has already driven millions of Zimbabweans to seek work in other countries. Political analysts say there are a host of issues that need to be tackled before a solid deal is possible. First is whether Mugabe will be ready to give up some of the powers that have helped him keep a tight grip on Tsvangirai and other foes. Control of the powerful security forces is another key question. If Tsvangirai were to get only insignificant ministries, it might anger other MDC officials and supporters who braved what they say was a ruthless government crackdown during the election. The MDC said 120 of its supporters were killed.

(Source)

Howzit

ZNU 133 is released this morning.

In this episode, I look at Clem Tholett’s song “Another Hitler” and discuss how that song of thirty years ago foretold much of what we see happening in Zimbabwe today.

I also look at how Mbeki has allowed ZANU PF to stack the deck in their favour by allowing the Joint Operations Command to participate in the talks.

And finally I look at how Mugabe’s successes are outweighed by his excesses…

The programme can be listened to using the multiplayers in the right hand sidebar of
The Bearded Man blog.

It can also heard here, or downloaded from here.

Thanks for your continued support of the ZNU podcast.

Take care.

‘debvhu

President Thabo Mbeki was part of the Zimbabwe problem by using the continuing violence in the country to blackmail the opposition into talks, Allan Boesak said on Sunday.

He called on churches and religious bodies to find ways to put pressure on Mbeki and Zimbabwe‘s rulers to stop the violence there, after victims testified at the international HIV and Aids conference this week about the systematic rape of opposition supporters.

Boesak was part of a delegation of reformed churches, including the Presbyterian and Unitarian churches, which gathered last month near Benoni for a special summit on Zimbabwe. Their subsequent submission to the presidency was critical of Mbeki’s handling of the crisis.

This week South African Council of Churches (SACC) president Tinyiko Maluleke said the council had not been satisfied with the response. He said the presidency had asked the delegation to bring evidence on the level and scope of the violence.

“We handed a comprehensive dossier to his office, but were are not happy with the response,” he said.

After Zimbabwe‘s March 29 election, Mbeki dispatched a team of retired generals to probe the violence, but their report had never been published.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said at least 120 of its officials and supporters had been murdered, while non-governmental stalwarts such as Elinor Sisulu said the figure could well be more than 600.

Boesak said on Sunday the group was receiving e-mails and phone calls daily from victims of violence.

At the Aids conference in Mexico this week, a group of women recounted how they had been raped by government militias.

The SACC had been particularly upset about increasing reports of limbs being hacked off, which is reminiscent of the infamous amputations of the hands of participants in Sierra Leone elections during the reign of Fody Sankoh.

This information had been gathered at great risk by churchgoers and others across Zimbabwe, said Boesak.

The presidency’s response had been one “we had become used to”, he said – one of “stilstuipe” (Afrikaans for an attack of silence). “It raises the fundamental question, why is the violence still continuing?” asked Boesak. “Why is Mbeki not getting Mugabe to stop the violence? How can a real, honest settlement be achieved while violence is being perpetrated on innocent people?”

He accused Mbeki of using the violence to put the MDC in an ” invidious” position during the talks – forcing the organisation into negotiations in a morally disadvantageous position, because Mbeki told them the violence would stop only if they took part.

Boesak said this hidden agenda was being played out in the talks.

Maluleke cast doubt on the whole exercise of the talks. “What is the use of a political settlement if the people have to live in the midst of death?” he asked.

Boesak said the talks should no longer be about “making a pact with the devil”, but about securing peace. He suggested that pressure from all sides and of all sorts, including renewed calls for sanctions, be maintained on the Mugabe regime, and on Mbeki, to stop the violence.

During their first submission, the church leaders called on regional governments to refuse to recognise Mugabe as president. They also called on Mbeki to desist from making statements showing a partiality to Mugabe.

(Source)

As I breeze through to check in formalities at Accra international airport on my non-stop evening flight to Johannesburg, I cannot help but flashback 27 years ago to when I first started travelling to my second home through marriage from the country of my birth, Zimbabwe. How the tables have turned in less than one lifetime!

In those days, there was one flight a week to Accra via st1:place>Lagos on Balkan Airlines. By comparison to Accra , Harare was the very essence of reason and tranquility. You went from a country bursting with hope to one whose bright star in blazing the trail to Africa ‘s independence had fallen to its lowest ebb with each successive coup.

You left a country whose dollar was stronger than the US dollar to a land where moneychangers hung around in dark alleys stuffing notes under their flowing robes. You braced yourself for the heat and the sweat of the airport; the inevitable “third page in your passport” to get through Customs; the likelihood of stolen luggage; the hassle to get past hordes of hangers on looking to squeeze whatever they could out of you.

My first trip to Ghana coincided with Jerry John Rawling’s second coup on December 31, 1981. A naive Southern African schooled in liberation politics, but without a clue of what it meant to be in a state run by the military found herself unable to leave the country for a fortnight as every airport, phone line and telex machine shut off. Rescued by American missionaries who made a foot trip over the border to Togo , I thanked the almighty for a passport that I could carry with pride whether east, west, north or south of this globe.

As I flashback to that moment, I am reading the headlines in the Daily Graphic about Robert Mugabe, the global pariah, even in Africa, even in Ghana , his second home through marriage. Ghana that once proudly claimed Mugabe as its son-in-law has turned its back on him as well.

It is not just about the way he turned his back on his first wife Sally, starting a relationship with his secretary as the Ghanaian wife who stood by him through years of incarceration lay dying of a long kidney ailment. That of course is a sore point with Ghanaians.

As only Ghanaians would have the guts to do, Mugabe’s in-laws snubbed his second wife, Grace, when she tried to visit with him a year ago.

However, the sense of betrayal runs much deeper than the sins of the son-in-law. It stems from the statement made at the just-ended G8 summit in Japan: that Mugabe has shamed all of Africa; taken all of Africa down with him when he brazenly marched to power on June 27 after terrorising the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) into withdrawing from the second-round leadership election after it won the March parliamentary polls.

Rawlings may not have been the west’s idea of a democrat, but he restored enough discipline and order for Ghana to take the harsh economic medicine necessary to halt hyperinflation and get a resource rich nation back on its rails. He submitted himself to elections.

And, just as Ghana blazed the trail to becoming Africa’s first independent nation, Ghana led the way in becoming one of the first post independent African nations in which one elected leader handed over to another through the ballot box.

John Kufuor’s Ghana is not a utopia. But, as Zimbabwe becomes a country ruled by the military in all but name, this at least is a nation in which coups are a thing of the past.

When Ghana knocked all the zeros off its cedi currency a little over a year ago after several years of stable economic growth, something amazing happened. The cedi strengthened to just a little over a US dollar. The two now stand virtually at par: like they did in Zimbabwe in 1981.

When Zimbabwe tried the same trick, almost at the same time last year, the inevitable happened. The zeros climbed back again so fast that no one even bothers to give a figure to the inflation rate any more. As the Latin Americans would testify, it takes a lot more to halt hyperinflation than knocking off a few zeros at the printing press of the reserve bank.

As I prepare to leave, an old friend asks me how it is possible for a leader – even if they make every conceivable political and economic bungle – to bankrupt a country as rich in human and natural resources as Zimbabwe in less than our lifetime.

At the airport I brace myself for the worst. Habit has taught me to keep my wits about me; even have extra “pages in my passport” in case they might be needed. But there is no need. The queues are normal. No one insists on opening my suitcase.

I am asked politely, which seat I would like. I go through Customs with the minimal of fuss. I even put my feet up in the lounge. The flight leaves on time.

Gazing down at the lights of Accra , I reflect on the 360-degree turn-around that I have witnessed in one country in less than a generation. Is it true that what goes down must come up? If so, how much further must Zimbabwe sink before it rises? And how much more shame are we as Africans prepared to bear on Mugabe’s behalf before we force that turn?

*Colleen Lowe Morna is executive director of Gender Links

(Source)

They say that whatever you are trying to avoid won’t go away until you confront it. This being so and focusing on Zimbabwe, It is of grave concern that the Government of Zimbabwe has failed to address the plight of Matabeleland, a big province in Zimbabwe.

In Zimbabwe there is a general tendency to evade or discard as baseless, some issues; issues which however matter so much to some of the Zimbabweans. It is such attitudes which then lead to some unending disgruntlement within certain constituencies. And Matabeleland falls as one such.

I am no Ndebele, yet upon an open minded reflection; I realize that Matabeleland is best given autonomy; best declared an independent state; distinct and separate from the rest of Zimbabwe.

It is pertinent to raise this issue of autonomy at this point in time, because Zimbabwe appears to be at cross roads, and it is during such periods that such pertinent issues should naturally be tackled and addressed.

The granting of independence to Matabeleland matters to some of the Ndebele people. Amongst many other advantages; one that strikes me is that it is indeed good for their whole well being and fulfillment of life, which is an important essence of life.

Matabeleland has for the longest time been discriminated and deprived of a fair slice of her cake despite her generating a significant portion of Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). A reflection on the Mac’imbi production, a very nutritious product particularly for the Zimbabwean HIV/AIDS sufferers is one such productive activity among many other lucrative ventures in Matabeleland, ventures which are quite underrated, undeservedly so, in Zimbabwe. Yet very little is ploughed back to the province. Thus Matabeleland has seen insignificant developmental projects come to fruition under the guidance of the Central Government. From an economic spectacle; this falls as daytime robbery, and such thieving should be stopped. Justice can only reign if Matabeleland retains power and tax money rather than sending it to the Central Government.

The failure by the Government to also recognize Ndebele as one of Zimbabwe’s national languages other than Shona is another burning issue. Both Shona and Ndebele languages should have been incorporated in all the education syllabi stretching from primary education; and each and every Zimbabwean should have been bilingual.

The lack of respect for Ndebele as one of Zimbabwe’s languages has also been exposed by the failure of the Zimbabwean Broadcasting Cooperation (ZBC) to run at least two distinct broad television and radio channels, the Shona and the Ndebele channels to cater for the two different language groups.

It is against this background that Matabeleland is best able to stand and ‘do it’ alone.

Zimbabwe is not too small to be divided. The world has some even smaller countries with less people, so propounding such an argument against the split up of Zimbabwe is but baseless.

The granting of autonomy to Matabeleland will not only benefit Matabeleland. The split will also augur well, healthily so for the remaining Zimbabwe in many ways to pick up a few; more transparency, fewer squabbling when it comes to the scramble for limited resources, which include enrolment places at tertiary institutions.

Discussions with other Zimbabweans has raised concern that allowing Matabeleland to be declared an independent state could bolster other ethnic and linguistic minorities in Zimbabwe to also rise up and seek autonomy. But in this argument, all the other groups which fall outside Matabeleland are being put under one umbrella, the Shona.

It is greatly commendable that some pressure groups pressing for the independence of Matabeleland have been born. Such pressure groups should muscle up more, sell themselves more and give unending heat on the relevant authorities through pushing hard for their independence; if at all Matabeleland is to get sanity. And the muscling up has to begin right at grass root level. Otherwise, as a province of Zimbabwe, I fail to see how else her interests could ever be justifiably catered for.

(Source)

Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai – rival claimants to power in Zimbabwe – are expected to hold direct talks on a power-sharing deal today, but crucial disagreements remain over how much authority the president will continue to wield. The negotiations are based on a proposal by South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki, for Mugabe to remain as a titular president, with a guarantee that he will not be prosecuted for past crimes, while political power shifts to Tsvangirai as an executive prime minister because he won the last election acceptable as credible – the first round of voting for president in March. Mbeki is expected to travel to Harare in the coming days, but possibly as early as today, to press forward the deal. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change broadly welcomed such an agreement when Mbeki first proposed it in June, provided that it established a transitional administration with a focus on writing a new constitution and holding fresh elections within two years. However, the MDC is hesitant to endorse a blanket amnesty for leaders of the ruling ZANU PF who have overseen a bloody campaign of murder, abduction, rape and beatings against opposition supporters in recent months.

Mbeki’s aides have talked up the negotiations, suggesting that Mugabe also broadly agrees with the terms of the deal. But there remain serious doubts over whether Mugabe and the hardline ZANU PF leaders around him who pursued their campaign to break support for the opposition in the June presidential run-off would give it all away at the negotiating table. Sources close to the talks say that ZANU PF is insisting on Mugabe retaining many of his powers as president and on Tsvangirai, as prime minister, being forced to appoint a deputy prime minister from ZANU PF. A likely candidate for the post is Emmerson Mnangagwa, the head of the Joint Operations Command who is widely regarded as an architect of the terror campaign against voters. A greater stake in government would not only permit senior ZANU PF officials to maintain the considerable patronage they wield but offer protection from prosecution for their crimes, recent and distant. Mnangagwa, for instance, is not only vulnerable to prosecution over the state-orchestrated campaign against the MDC and its supporters but also as state security minister during the Matabeleland massacres of about 20,000 people by the army in the 1980s. ZANU PF also wants a powersharing deal to be kept in place for five years, putting off elections that are likely to see the party devastated if there is a clean vote. Senior MDC officials suspect that Mugabe is trying to buy time in the hope that Tsvangirai will pull out of the talks and be blamed for their collapse.

(Source)

“For changes to be of any true value, they’ve got to be lasting and consistent.”

Change needs to be fundamental. And for ordinary Zimbabweans that would equate to the Total Eradication of Fear that is by now so ingrained in all sectors of our Society that we seem paralysed by it still. People are still afraid to even take down Mugabe posters for Gods Sake!

Although ZANU is making gestures of arresting the odd person for supposedly perpetrating violence – the Real Instigators of the serious violence and murders which occurred soon after the March Elections have yet to be made accountable. It is very doubtful whether this will ever happen because it would mean that key ZANU enforcers would have to be arrested and they would then have to forfeit their Council and MP seats – these are the people who are responsible. So until these serious offenders are arrested and charged for their crimes the fear that their very presence invokes in the people remains

Although some militia camps are breaking up and dispersing of their own accord no admission of their existence has come from ZANU. Nor has the order for them to disband. No order has gone out from anywhere to tell the police to arrest people who have been implicated in political violence. The Police seem willing, in some cases, to do the right thing but are hesitant without clear orders.

The army still has not been removed from the “lines” in the rural areas – sure they are no longer playing such a visible roll, but they are still there – still quietly threatening, still perpetuating fear. The rank and file of the army have still not been stood down from the so-called threat of an eminent invasion from Botswana – this state of ”readiness” prevents the average soldier dwelling on his own miserable existence. One can almost feel the JOC commanders plotting daily – trying to come up with a plan so that will not have to relinquish their power. From everywhere come the whispers of their persistent, obstinate stance that there is no way they will serve under MT.  

On the ground, the reality is that nothing has changed and if MDC and the International Community are hoodwinked into thinking there has been progress made, they would be making a serious error.

ZANU is so desperate for a deal that they are making small compromises in line with the MOU to try and deceive everyone that this veneer is enough to get what they want. If the MDC were to be rushed into the signing of anything that is a compromise it would be a grave mistake. ZANU are real snakes.

Remember that ZANU’s only power base is the government institutions and the weapon of fear that it uses through them. MT power base is the people of Zimbabwe. We see ZANU consulting with their power base. We even hear that Mbeki is meeting with JOC.

Are we taking these talks seriously? We are holding all the cards, let’s not be rushed into anything – it is obvious ZANU is pushing for a quick deal – why? They know they have no bargaining power. Are the MDC going to make concessions by being manipulated and the peceived need for “self-preservation”? Is MT and his negotiating team going to ask for ratification of any negotiations and concessions from his power base, the people, before he signs our lives away? 

We certainly hope so – in fact we demand it!

(Source: by email)

The rival Zimbabwean parties have finally agreed on a genuine power-sharing deal, sources close to the negotiations said last night. The focus of the talks between Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) factions was said to be shifting to Harare where the leaders would iron out the details. Sources said the deal would most probably install MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as executive prime minister with Robert Mugabe agreeing to a ceremonial role as president. The crisis talks, which began on July 24 and deadlocked after five days, resumed this week at an undisclosed location north of Pretoria. A memorandum of understanding signed two weeks ago in Harare “envisaged that the dialogue will be completed within a period of two weeks of signing”, although it also stated that negotiations “will continue until all the parties have finalised all necessary matters”. Those “matters” concern the structure of the government which will shape the country’s future when ZANU PF and both MDC factions share power in a transitional authority. The Cape Times has been reliably informed that the parties have agreed on a power-sharing deal. “They are down to detail now,” one source claimed. Although the negotiating teams will continue to meet throughout the week, the weight of the discussions has shifted to Harare where party leaders will meet with chief facilitator President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday, and will continue to meet until a settlement is finalised.

(Source)

Howzit

Today I am in hospital for the day, so all I have to offer in the latest ZNU episode. In this episode I look at the ‘mediated’ talks, and Mugabe’s dark past – dating back into the 1960′s.

ZNU 132 is available to play using the player below, the multiplayers in the right hand sidebar  of The Bearded Man  blog, here, or you could even download it from here.

Thanks for your support of my podcasts.

Hopefully, I will be in some fit state to offer a posting tomorrow.

Take care.

‘debvhu