Messages From Zimbabwe

December 15, 2008

I am a 70 year old white widow living in Zimbabwe. My husband died in May this year and apart from the house, I was left destitute because his only child, from a previous marriage, did not want to share any inheritance. Suffice to say, I had no option but to survive and the only way I could do so was to sell my furniture, jewellery and anything else I had, just to earn some valuable US $ and with careful economising, painting, and selling my work, growing my own vegetables and limiting myself to one meal a day, I’ve kept going.

I am luckier than most, but only because I still have the ability to ‘make a plan’. I couldn’t afford a dentist, so I pulled out my own teeth. I couldn’t afford a doctor, so I stitched a dog’s bite on my arm with needle and thread. I look after an African family who have nothing - all seven of them - trying to ensure that they get food and whatever else I can find to keep them going. I have a young white family living in a cottage with their two babies, and a young bachelor living in a thatched hut, whose salary doesn’t even cover his basic needs and together we form a ‘family’, looking out for each other and doing the best we can to keep going.

The only thing I have plenty of is loneliness and spare time, and I have put out feelers to try and join some Non-Government Organisations to go to the rural areas to help with the cholera epidemic. I am not a qualified nurse - but I care deeply and I know how desperate the situation is, but have not had any luck, because possibly they think me ‘too old’. But I am not! My whole life has been directed towards looking after disabled servicemen, orphans, and now the indigenous folk of this country. There are those of us who are fighting not only for our own lives, but for those of our countrymen. The fancy cars seen on the roads today belong to Government personnel and Party officials who live in luxury.

I heard of two elderly white people who lived in a disused shed. They used to own a house and a car, but found themselves with nothing when they had their land and home stolen. A kind African let them live in a shed on his property. On their wedding anniversary the wife went out and sold her wedding ring. She and her husband decided they would have one last night out on the ‘town’ so they went to a hotel and had a great dinner and shared a glass of the wine they had left over from their night out, curled up into their blankets on the stone floor, and  died. They had poisoned themselves and were found holding each other in their arms as they couldn’t bear to suffer another day.

Every story is different. I am still here and refuse to let go. There are too many people left in this country who need compassion, care and hope to go on. Although there are organisations and charitable groups who try to help, there aren’t enough of them. But the solution lies with all of us here - black , white and coloured, to start caring for each other. It takes more than courage, it takes fury and grief to explode into action.

I have taken in people who have had their families murdered in cold blood, and experienced such fear you cannot imagine the enormity of it. I have sat up through the nights watching the house and listening for intruders. There are so few of us left now - maybe 2000?

Today, I ventured into Harare city, and I saw a populace of ’stick figures’ robotically going about their business, faces closed and dull. Starvation, AIDS, cholera, anthrax and extreme poverty has robbed them of all hope. It was not all those years ago, we saw glossy fat women with their babies. Today, I did not even see one baby on the back of a mother. The High Court was empty. No staff, so I could not get on with the Estate of my late husband, but that no longer seems so important. Everywhere we see the portrait of Robert Mugabe in every government building, but nobody looks at it much any more. Fly speckled and faded from the sun, he just hangs there as a reminder of the horrors he can impose. I live not far from his residence, Government House, and in the past we could hear the screaming sirens of his cavalcade proclaiming ‘the master’ is in our presence. Today, there is no fanfare, just secrecy of his journeys, because he is afraid - good! We’ve all been afraid for too damn long.  Our fear has persisted as babies, children, men and women are murdered.

I have no intention of leaving this land in which I was born. I belong here as much as my darker skinned country man. I love this country, and the people who inhabit it. And that is why I am a proud Zimbabwean. Every day we receive a small gift - be it a couple of tomatoes from someone’s garden, or a small bunch of wild flowers and that’s Christmas. We are poor - but we are richer in other senses nobody can understand unless they go through the torments this country has faced over these last few many years. We yearn for light at the end of the tunnel, but refuse to pick up arms and kill others as we have been killed. We wait for justice,  not from them, but from a Power beyond our capacity. It will come!

To all those who live elsewhere and who have never experienced the deprivation that just one man can dole out to millions, let me tell you, it is a testing experience. There are many here who do what they can to make the ‘oldies’ leave this vicious world, feeling loved, regardless of their colour. This is just my story. Multiply it a thousand times - and include the human greed that makes it harder for us to withstand the hardships, but which is prevalent in all humanity regardless of race and creed. Above all, learn from it, because - but for the Grace of God there goes You.”

With warmth, from an old white Zimbabwean woman,

Sue.

(Source: by email)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Firstly, I would like to thank the Government of Botswana for allowing me to stay in their country during this difficult time. As I will highlight later, this does not come without a cost to their country and therefore their hospitality is especially appreciated.

Secondly, as all of you here know, the situation in Zimbabwe, particularly from the humanitarian perspective, is now worse than at anytime in our country’s history. The fact that this situation is being publicized around the world is of the utmost importance to Zimbabweans and is largely a result of the stories printed and broadcast by yourselves, your colleagues and your organizations, and I would like to thank you for your courage and dedication.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in increasingly desperate attempts to hang on to power, the Mugabe regime has imposed the worst kind of sanctions upon the people of Zimbabwe. They have deprived our citizens of their most fundamental rights and, through their political and economic mismanagement, they have turned Zimbabwe into a country where poverty and disease thrive and people die.

Cholera is now rife throughout the country, starvation stalks almost every Zimbabwean family and education and healthcare now exist only for the elite.

The cholera epidemic, which should be an easily treatable disease is infecting people and taking lives in ever greater numbers. The aid agencies are doing their best to cope with this tidal wave of humanitarian suffering but, as the rains continue in Zimbabwe, they are in danger of being overwhelmed. Only if we simultaneously begin to address the causes and the effects of this disaster will it be possible for us to reduce the pandemic to manageable proportions.

Unfortunately, Zanu PF’s insistence on removing the responsibility for water delivery from the local authorities is perpetuating this crisis. Harare is the epicentre of the cholera epidemic and, if the city council was to have control of the water reticulation system and its refurbishment returned to it, then the MDC already has pledges to cover the US$30 million required to undertake this project that will end the threat from cholera in the capital city.

Zanu PF has shown itself not to be able to manage donor funding responsibly or impartially which means that this finance is only available to the authority that has a direct mandate from the people and that is the MDC-controlled, Harare City Council.

If Zanu Pf truly cared about the welfare of the people, they would immediately undertake this action and allow the city council to assume its role of providing adequate services to the residents. This is a model that could easily be duplicated throughout the country.

The MDC has already proved that this model can work. At the beginning of this agricultural season, we undertook a countrywide seed distribution programme to mitigate the effects of the regime’s failed agricultural policy. The success of this distribution is already, quite literally, bearing fruit and as a result the MDC will be able to undertake a mid-season seed distribution that will be double the size of the previous distribution and benefit 100 thousand families. This is what can be achieved when a responsible political party puts the welfare of the people first and is thus able to capitalize on the goodwill that exists in the international community.

For this reason, and as a result of the delays in implementing the Global Political agreement which was signed on September 15th, 2008, the MDC will now work with all United Nations Agencies and NGOs operating within Zimbabwe to add value to, and increase, their current programmes.

This is of particular importance when it comes to food distribution. While significant, our seed distribution will not avert nationwide food shortages in the coming months. The MDC is able to mobilize enough food relief to help Zimbabweans through this crisis, but only if such aid is going to be distributed to the most needy in a free, non-partisan manner. To this end, we will also be working with partners in Zimbabwe on the distribution mechanisms for this aid to ensure that the international community has the assurances it needs to donate the food that our people need.

Ladies and Gentlemen, when we signed the Global Political Agreement (GPA) we believed that we would be undertaking these measures from within an inclusive government. But a partnership can only be formed when there are two willing partners and the Mugabe regime has shown itself to be unwilling to put the welfare of Zimbabwe and its people first.

The MDC can only enter into an agreement that enables us to participate as an equal partner in order that we can contribute to solving the Zimbabwe crisis. This is the mandate we have from the people.

Three months after signing the GPA we have to evaluate why there is no agreement? As an act of the MDC’s good faith, we allowed Mugabe to be President in a coalition government. We are saddened by the fact that he is still trying to stay in power at all costs and reduce MDC to a junior partner in the new government. Let me remind you that at the moment, Zimbabwe has no government. The previous government is refusing to leave or share office despite losing the March 29^th elections and despite the signing of the GPA. Mugabe himself called his last cabinet the worst in the country’s history – and yet he has retained these incompetent ministers who are overseeing the humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding in Zimbabwe today.

Throughout the negotiation process, the MDC has shown patience, political maturity and willingness to make significant concessions to create a government that can begin to address the suffering of the people. In this we have constantly been rebuffed by Zanu PF, and the region itself has often been silent where their transgressions are concerned.

The Mugabe regime has willfully and repeatedly broken the letter and the spirit of this agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding that led to this agreement, through both procedural violations and the continued persecution of innocent Zimbabweans.

In the past two months, more than 42 members of the MDC and civil society have been abducted and their whereabouts are still unknown.

The regime is conducting a deliberate and targeted national terror campaign to undermine the MDC’s support within Zimbabwe and the work of the pro-democracy and human rights organizations.

This situation can no longer continue. The MDC can no longer sit at the same negotiating table with a party that is abducting our members, and other innocent civilians, and refusing to produce any of them before a court of law.

Therefore, if these abductions do not cease immediately, and if all the abductees are not released or charged in a court of law by January 1st 2009, I will be asking the MDC’s National Council to pass a resolution to suspend all negotiations and contact with Zanu PF. There can be no meaningful talks while a campaign of terror is being waged against our people.

There is an increasing sense of urgency surrounding the resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis. Not only is the death toll through disease, hunger, poverty and oppression rising every day, but Zimbabweans themselves are beginning to feel that the hope they invested in the Global Political Agreement will never mature into tangible benefits.

The people of Zimbabwe cannot be expected to continue living under such appalling conditions indefinitely. Therefore, this negotiation process must now be confined to a specific timeframe in which all the outstanding issues are addressed, including, the appointment of Provincial governors, the composition and constitution of the National
Security Council, and equity in the allocation of key ministries. If this cannot be achieved then  internationally supervised presidential election must be conducted in an environment that is conducive to a free and fair poll.

A minor matter in terms of the suffering of our people, but a significant matter when it prevents me from being with them in their time of need is my passport. I have been waiting for six months now for a simple travel document that is my constitutional right. This matter has also become a symbol of Zanu PF’s lack of good faith in the
negotiating process and it must be addressed now.

In respect to all these issues, I will be calling on SADC and the African Union as the guarantors of this Global Political Agreement, to ensure that these conditions are met in order to alleviate the suffering of the Zimbabwean people in the shortest possible time.

The regime has also been making baseless and ludicrous allegations that the MDC is training armed insurgents in Botswana. Let me state that the MDC is not conducting military training camps in Botswana or any other country as this would be contrary to the values and objectives of the MDC. In fact the Zimbabwe parliament is already debating a motion to  condemn Zanu PF for these baseless allegations. Therefore, I welcome the statement by South Africa’s President Motlanthe who this week stated there was no foundation to these allegations. I also thank him for taking the regional lead to address the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.

However, I encourage SADC to become more actively involved in finding a solution to our crisis once and for all. There is nothing to be gained from trying to push the MDC into an agreement just for the sake of removing Zimbabwe from the SADC agenda. The MDC can only enter a new government when our support from the people translates to substantial gains for them in terms of democracy, freedom and economic growth.

We are told that SADC is the key to resolving the Zimbabwe crisis but why then is that key not opening the door to a more democratic dispensation in our country?

SADC needs to ask itself if resolving the Zimbabwe crisis requires them to work more closely with the African Union and the United Nations? After all, this negotiation process was mandated to SADC by the AU and therefore we ask that SADC makes a formal report to the African body on the state of the negotiations in general and the
outcome of the November 9th summit in particular.

In conclusion, I would like to address the people of Zimbabwe.

You, the people of Zimbabwe are enduring a heroic struggle with peaceful resolve.

You are enduring hunger and disease. You are enduring the regime’s betrayal and broken promises. The world marvels at your bravery in the face of such hardship and oppression.

Mugabe and his regime were convinced that they would defeat you by now. They thought that by declaring war on the people, by imposing the worst kind of sanctions on all of us, that we would abandon our struggle and our dreams. They were wrong.

I know that our belief in our right to live in a Zimbabwe that can provide us with freedom, food, jobs, education and health care is stronger than the hate and maliciousness that drives those few who continue to cling to power so desperately and regardless of the cost to our country.

I salute the health workers you have been on the frontline of the war against cholera despite working under appalling conditions for very little pay. In fact, all our civil servants, who continue to do their jobs regardless of the meager salaries and poor working conditions need our respect and gratitude.

I  know that the vast majority of Zanu PF members are truly patriotic and only want what is best for Zimbabwe and are prepared to work with us to create a New Zimbabwe and a New Beginning.

I know that the majority of personnel in our security forces have genuine grievances about their conditions of service and they do not want to be used as a tool of oppression but instead look forward to the day when they can be the means of our protection.

I know that this is our darkest hour and that the dawn is not far away. People of Zimbabwe, the MDC will never forsake the mandate that you gave us to deliver the peaceful, democratic change that you desire.

I thank you.

(Source: by email)

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has accused the United States of urging African nations to topple him, adding that none were “brave enough to do that,” state media reported Friday.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently called on Mugabe to step down and urged southern African states to pressure the 84-year-old leader to resolve the longstanding political deadlock in the country, ravished by a collapsed economy and deadly cholera epidemic.

Mugabe referred to what he said were “recent utterances by Condoleezza Rice that African leaders are not prepared to topple President Mugabe and bring about regime change,” the Herald newspaper reported.

“She condemned this ability on the part of African leaders. How could African leaders ever topple Robert Mugabe, organise an army to come? It is not easy,” the Herald reported.

“I do not know of any African country that is brave enough to do that,” Mugabe was quoted as telling a meeting of his ZANU-PF party.

Few African nations have been openly critical of Mugabe although Botswana’s President Ian Khama infuriated his Zimbabwean counterpart last month by calling for a re-run of disputed elections under international supervision.

The veteran leader also said he would soon discuss forming a unity government with his two political rivals. Negotiations to form the government following a power-sharing in September have deadlocked.

“We will be inviting the two leaders — Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai and Professor Arthur Mutambara — to come and discuss the way forward,” said Mugabe.

Unity government discussions have stalled over disagreements on the allocation of key ministries, including home affairs, which controls the police.

Last week, parliament published a constitutional amendment creating the post of prime minister, which Tsvangirai and his deputy are supposed to fill under the power-sharing deal.

(Source)

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party holds its annual conference Friday facing internal divisions and intense global pressure over a ruinous political crisis and a cholera epidemic.

With several leaders pressing him to step down, Mugabe, 84, meets his top officials with the first-ever loss of their parliamentary majority in elections earlier this year hanging over them.

But The Voice, the official mouthpiece of the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU PF), said the issue of succession would not be on the agenda of the meeting, which was meant to “invigorate” the party.

The conference takes place in the small mining town of Bindura, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of the capital Harare.

Harare-based political commentator Caesar Zvayi said the conference was an opportunity for ZANU PF to patch up the divisions that characterised the party’s campaign, leading to its general election loss in March.

“At the conference ZANU PF needs to tackle the divisions within the party,” Zvayi told AFP.

“If one looks at the March elections results, ZANU PF is not united as it should be. There are problems of disgruntlement,” he added.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled just ahead of Mugabe in first-round presidential elections, but handed the presidency to his rival when he pulled out of a second round, citing violence against his supporters.

The two parties signed a power-sharing accord in September but are deadlocked on its composition.

“Currently the country is operating without a substantive government, social services such as health has been declared a state of disaster, other social services are crumbling,” said Zvayi.

Schoolchildren missed lessons for the better part of the year as teachers went on strike to press for better pay; major hospitals closed due to understaffing and a lack of essential drugs; and water and power supplies have been erratic.

Mugabe will seek to close ranks in his party, after himself admitting faults within ZANU PF led to its embarrassing election result.

“Our structures went to sleep, were in deep slumber in circumstances of an all-out war,” Mugabe said in May.

“They were passive, they were lethargic, ponderous, divided, diverted, disinterested, demobilised or simply non-existent.”

Unusually, the former liberation hero has also faced open dissent from some elements of the military. Ordinary soldiers suffering the same stark deprivations as civilians went on the rampage in Harare two weeks ago, beating up currency dealers and looting shops.

Party spokesman Ephraim Masawi said he expected the party to emerge stronger after the conference, which has as its theme: “Let’s stand united in support of the party and the revolution.”

He played down divisions in the party, arguing that the party’s poor showing in the March general elections was a result of complacency.

“We have always been united,” he told AFP. “The major problem was that we underestimated the strength of the opposition.”

Takavafira Zhou, a political scientist at Masvingo State University said: “ZANU PF has a challenge on how to proceed assuming the MDC pulls out of this power sharing agreement.”

Mugabe has threatened fresh elections if the two parties fail to reach agreement.

“The conference will also have to deal with the issue of divisions within the party, there is also a possibility of PF-ZAPU severing ties with ZANU PF and intra-party protest,” Zhou said.

PF-ZAPU was a former opponent of ZANU PF, led by Mugabe rival Joshua Nkomo, which formed the country’s first ever unity government in 1987.

“One way or the other, they will have to deal with the issue of succession given that Mugabe has hinted that there might be elections,” said Zhou.

(Source)

South Africa’s leader has said he believes the deadlock over Zimbabwe’s power-sharing deal has been resolved.

“We are hopeful that such an inclusive government will be put in place this week,” Kgalema Motlanthe said.

He added that the regional body, SADC, was launching an urgent aid appeal to deal with Zimbabwe’s cholera crisis.

More than 18,000 people have developed the disease and aid agencies are warning that with heavy rains further infections are set to rise.

After disputed presidential elections in March, President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) agreed to form a power-sharing government.

But implementation of that agreement, reached in September, has been dogged by disagreements over whose supporters would get key ministries.

Months of negotiations brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have failed to break the deadlock.

Earlier, the UK think tank International Crisis Group suggested that both Mr Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai should step aside to end the “hopelessly deadlocked” talks.

This could allow a transitional administration to implement political and economic reforms, it said.

The proposal would also give the president and his generals immunity from prosecution.

But BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says it is unlikely either side would take up such an idea.

President Motlanthe told journalists in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, that he would not join calls for Mr Mugabe to step down.

African countries like Botswana and Kenya have called for Mr Mugabe to go to end the political turmoil.

But the South African leader said the power-sharing deal was about to be implemented, which would see Mr Mugabe stay on as president and Mr Tsvangirai become prime minister.

However, the MDC told Reuters news agency it knew nothing about any imminent breakthrough.

“Maybe the president knows something we don’t know, but we are not aware of any plans to form a government this week. It’s certainly news to us because the outstanding issues we have outlined remain,” MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

Nigeria’s foreign minister is pressed on Zimbabwe

Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Ojo Maduekwe told the BBC’s HardTalk programme that while Nigeria shared the “moral outrage” about Zimbabwe, the best way to move forward was to “insist” both sides honour the power-sharing deal.

President Motlanthe said the Sadc appeal was being launched “for the people of Zimbabwe in order to help them overcome the challenges facing their country”.

The BBC’s Karen Allen, who recently travelled to Zimbabwe, says nine out of the country’s 10 provinces have reported cases of cholera.

The epidemic has so far claimed nearly 1,000 lives, but the official figure of infections could be just the tip of the iceberg, she says.

In Mashonaland - where Mr Mugabe’s party commands some support, she found patients with the disease housed in makeshift clinics.

Drugs were in short supply, clean water was scarce and many young children had succumbed to the disease - dying of dehydration in just a matter of days.

Our reporter says cholera is a potent symbol of Zimbabwe’s steady collapse.

Piles of burning rubbish in the streets of the capital, Harare, and burst pipes spewing filthy water are now a common sight here, she says.

Last week, Mr Mugabe maintained his country had contained the cholera outbreak.

(Source)

The head of Zimbabwe’s air force, a close ally of President Robert Mugabe, was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt at the weekend, state media said on Tuesday.

The shooting of Air Marshal Perence Shiri on Saturday appeared to be part of attacks against high profile figures designed to destabilize the country, Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi was quoted in the Herald newspaper as saying.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) accuses Shiri and other commanders of leading a violent election run-off campaign in June that prompted party leader Morgan Tsvangirai to boycott the vote, in which Mugabe was re-elected unopposed.

Shiri was shot on the way to his farm, which was seized from a white farmer in 2000 in a campaign condemned by Mugabe’s Western critics. He escaped with a gunshot wound and is recovering at a Harare hospital.

“The attack on Air Marshal Shiri appears to be a build-up of terror attacks targeting high profile persons, government officials, government establishments and public transportation systems,” Mohadi was quoted as saying.

Zimbabwe has accused neighboring Botswana of training opposition insurgents to topple Mugabe, who has ruled since 1980. It also says Western states, calling on Mugabe step down amid a deepening humanitarian crisis, are plotting against him.

MDC officials were not immediately available to comment on the report of the attack on Shiri. Both Botswana and the MDC have denied the accusation that insurgents are being trained there.

Dozens of MDC members have been arrested on terror charges but have been cleared by the courts.

The MDC says Mugabe uses such charges when under pressure, especially from Western foes who are calling on him to step down over a humanitarian crisis and economic meltdown.

(Source)

The opposition MDC has alleged that Zimbabwe government was preparing to declare a state of emergency in the troubled southern African country. MDC secretary general Tendai Biti said ZANU PF was forcibly extracting incriminating evidence from over 20 party activists abducted over two months.

Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa claimed in the Herald on Monday that the government had evidence that the Movement for Democratic Change was training bandits in neighbouring Botswana.

Biti said ZANU PF had prepared a colourful document in which the “evidence” forcibly extracted from the party activists was to justify the declaration of a state of emergency.

“We have no doubt as a party that they are going to declare a state of emergency. We are aware that they have produced a 27 page document which is full of rubbish that contains the purported evidence. We are aware that they have three DVDs of purported confessions by MDC activists. The document is as mendacious as fictitious. They would not have gone that far to prepare expensive DVDs, power point presentations and materials that are annexured to that document if they did not want to use it. They are using this as an entry point to declare a state of emergency.”

In a state of emergency, the Bill of rights gets suspended meaning that the Constitution gets suspended. People will be arrested, there is no recourse to lawyers, there is no recourse to courts and people will die in prison, according to Biti.

He said that ZANU PF has always been using the same tactic to silence the opposition. “This is not the first time that ZANU PF has made allegations that MDC is training insurgents and bandits in Botswana. As a matter of fact, the MDC is doing no such thing, Botswana is doing no such thing. In fact, in the SADC meeting in Sandton the Vice President of Botswana challenged Robert Mugabe who backtracked on the allegations.

He added: “The MDC is the defacto government and the fact that we are not controlling government does not detract from the fact that we won the elections in March. We control parliament with the Speaker and leader of parliament coming from the MDC. So how does the MDC which is in government seek to burn down that same government. Parties that participate in banditry are parties that do not believe in democracy. We have refused to go to the hills slinging little guns on our shoulders.”

Biti chronicled stage managed assassination plots which were used in the arrests of opposition leaders after independence. “If they want to declare state of emergency let them do it without creating fiction against the MDC to justify that. The whole thing is a dog’s breakfast but one which my dogs won’t touch,” he said.

(Source)

A prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist abducted 12 days ago was working on case files to be used as possible prosecution evidence against members of President Robert Mugabe’s regime.

According to The Observer, Jestina Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), is the most prominent among 20 political and civil society activists who have disappeared in the past six weeks.

According to fellow campaigners, Mukoko had established a network of hundreds of monitors - mostly church people, teachers and ordinary township dwellers - who had provided handwritten testimonies of the campaigns of brutality carried out by Mugabe’s government.

The testimony could have been used in any future investigation of human rights abuses by the Mugabe regime.

‘She had catalogued thousands of incidents of murder, assault, torture, arson, and who the perpetrators are. The work was so meticulous it could stand up in any court,’ said one associate.

A human rights lawyer revealed that just before Mukoko’s abduction the ZPP had shifted from cataloguing violence in townships to the organised abuse of food aid, where people were forced to support Mugabe in return for maize deliveries.

‘That upcoming report was going to be extremely embarrassing for the ruling party,’ said the lawyer.

Lawyers and opposition politicians believe the abduction of Mukoko was carried out as part of a new campaign by elements in the ruling party to intimidate and hinder the work of those gathering incriminating evidence of human rights violations in the country.

Most leading human rights figures have in recent days gone into hiding.

Statements in the past week by Mugabe and his aides provide clear evidence of the regime’s paranoia.

Presidential spokesman George Charamba told the state-run Herald newspaper that Western countries were planning to ‘bring Zimbabwe before the UN Security Council by claiming the cholera epidemic and food shortages have incapacitated the government’.

(Source)

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe probably will introduce a constitutional amendment today to allow appointment of a prime minister and two deputies, the state-controlled Herald said.

The law will then be debated in Zimbabwe’s parliament and possibly passed into law in February, Patrick Chinamasa, Mugabe’s justice minister, told the Harare-based newspaper. New elections will have to be held in the southern African nation if parliament rejects the amendments, the Herald added.

The Movement for Democratic Change, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, holds a narrow majority over Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party, though the constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority.

Neither MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa nor Patrick Chinamasa could be immediately reached by Bloomberg News. Under a Sept. 15 agreement between the two parties, Tsvangirai will become prime minister, while Mugabe will remain head of state as president.

(Source)

Robert Mugabe’s government on Friday claimed that the ageing leader had been joking when he said there was “no cholera” in Zimbabwe, despite the continuing epidemic.

On Thursday, Mr Mugabe, 84, told mourners at the funeral of his close ally Elliot Manyika that the disease had been “arrested” and that there was “no cholera” in Zimbabwe. Amid growing calls for his departure, he said: “Now that there is no cholera, there is no need for war.”

But on Friday, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported that the president’s cholera denial was “sarcasm”.

George Charamba, a spokesman for the Zimbabwean leader, tried to backtrack, saying that Mr Mugabe had been making his argument “through sarcasm, noting that now that efforts deployed so far towards containing the outbreak were beginning to yield positive results”.

Mr Charamba denounced the Western media, saying they “have chosen a path of wilful distortion of a clear statement and argument by the Zimbabwean president, in order to advance the war and regime change agenda of their expansionist governments”.

But the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, whose power- sharing agreement with the ZANU PF party is at an impasse, said Mr Mugabe was in “denial mode”.

“Such careless and reckless statements have not helped the situation,” said its health secretary, Henry Madzorera. “The people of Zimbabwe know that the epidemic is still with us and is spreading fast across all major cities and towns.”

Mr Mugabe has presided over the decline of his country from a once prosperous nation to one where millions of people need food aid, hyperinflation is rampant, and cholera has killed around 800 people at a minimum.

Neighbouring South Africa is feeling the effects ever more, with a border district declared a disaster area, but Pretoria is still focusing on pushing the unity government, despite doubts over its structure.

Nonetheless, the Anglican bishop of the capital city today added his voice to the demands for Mr Mugabe to go.

“He must be removed by all means necessary, to stop the further suffering of God’s children and save lives in that country,” Joe Seoka told South Africa’s Times newspaper.

“Mugabe must be viewed as the 21st century Hitler because of the deaths and suffering of Zimbabweans under his rule.”

(Source)