Messages From Zimbabwe

A Zimbabwe court dropped a treason case against an opposition leader on Friday after state lawyers failed to provide a trial date, a sign that President Robert Mugabe’s government wanted a coalition government to succeed.

But Magistrate Olivia Mariga said the state could still revive the case against Movement for Democratic Change secretary-general Tendai Biti by issuing a summons.

Biti was charged with seeking to oust Mugabe unconstitutionally by saying MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won a March 2008 poll against Mugabe outright.

Zimbabwe‘s electoral authority said Tsvangirai had won the poll but without enough votes to take the presidency. Tsvangirai boycotted a June runoff citing violence against his supporters.

On Friday, Biti’s lawyer Lewis Uriri said the magistrate turned down an application by prosecutors to keep the MDC secretary-general on remand, saying the state can pursue the case when they are ready.

“The magistrate refused to remand Mr. Biti, and accepted our argument that the state had broken its own undertakings to the court to proceed to facilitate a speedy trial,” Uriri said.

Biti, who led the MDC’s team in negotiating a unity government with Mugabe’s ZANU PF, says the charges were trumped up to hobble the opposition.

state has not vigorously pursued the case in a sign that Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party wanted to see the unity government take off.

Zimbabwe‘s parliament passed a constitutional bill on Thursday to allow a coalition government being set up under a power-sharing deal to end severe political and economic crisis.

Tsvangirai agreed last week to join a unity government with the ruling party after months of wrangling over ministerial posts had stalled the agreement signed last September.

The vote on Thursday was the first concrete step by the two parties to meet a deadline set by leaders from the Southern Africa Development Community for a unity government to be in place by February 13 to focus Zimbabwe on its humanitarian problems.

More than half of Zimbabwe is surviving on food aid and the population is also struggling with the world’s highest inflation rate of over 231 million percent as of July last year.

The southern African state has also been devastated by a cholera epidemic which has according to the latest UN figures killed 3,371 people since August and affected 67,945.

Zimbabwe‘s health and education systems have collapsed under an economic crisis that has left eight of 10 people out of employment in the once prosperous country.

(Source)

PRESS STATEMENT FROM MAVAMBO.KUSILE.DAWN ON THE STATEMENT BY THE SO-CALLED NATIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF MKD

We are aware of the allegations made in a statement by a shadowy group of a so-called National Coordinating Committee against Independent presidential candidate Simba Makoni.

Because of the libelous nature of this completely false statement, we have engaged our lawyers with a view to taking legal action.

What we would like to assure the nation, however, is that Simba Makoni refuses to be distracted by these persons who are clearly driven by an anti-democratic agenda. He remains focused on delivering an honest and democratic dispensation in Zimbabwe. In this regard, work to build a new party continues undeterred by these spurious and false allegations from people who have no mandate from anybody.

Those who know Simba Makoni will attest to his commitment to democracy, good governance, transparency and respect for the people. This was, indeed, the reason he left ZANU PF in February 2008.

The people of Zimbabwe should remain resolute in their support and belief in Simba Makoni’s leadership.

Information and Publicity

Denford Magora

(Source)

Zimbabwean negotiators joined hastily arranged talks in South Africa on Wednesday in an effort to ensure a unity government is formed this month.

Party officials said their negotiators were called to South Africa on Tuesday, after the main opposition complained that President Robert Mugabe’s party was delaying and endangering chances that a power-sharing agreement, which has been stalled since September, would finally be implemented.

Last week, regional leaders pressed Mugabe’s ZANU PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to start making their agreement a reality Thursday in parliament by passing a constitutional amendment creating a prime minister’s post.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is to be prime minister and Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, is to remain president in the unity government.

The regional leaders, meeting as the Southern African Development Community, also said Tsvangirai should be sworn in by Feb. 11 and the rest of the unity Cabinet sworn in on Feb. 13.

South African presidential spokesman Thabo Masebe said the negotiators were called to South Africa on Wednesday “to ensure that they are ready to meet all the deadlines that were set by SADC.”

South African President Kgalema Motlanthe is the current chairman of the SADC and former South African President Thabo Mbeki has been mediating among Zimbabwe‘s factions on behalf of the regional leaders’ group.

Zimbabwean lawmakers may not be able to meet Thursday’s deadline for approving the constitutional amendment. Joram Gumbo, ZANU PF’s chief whip in parliament, said acting Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa should have presented the amendment to parliament Wednesday, but was instead in South Africa leading ZANU PF’s negotiating team.

A lawyer for the top opposition negotiator, Tendai Biti, asked a judge to postpone a hearing set for Wednesday in Biti’s treason trial because of the talks in South Africa.

Biti’s trial is one of a number of court cases the opposition says were trumped up to silence its members. The opposition has demanded that such harassment and worse against its supporters must stop to create the right conditions for power-sharing.

The opposition also had called for a fairer distribution of Cabinet and other government posts after Mugabe unilaterally declared the most powerful positions will be filled by ZANU PF members.

Mugabe’s party and leaders of neighboring countries have said the opposition should first enter the government, then resolve outstanding issues. The opposition has largely bowed to that, but wants to ensure its concerns are not ignored.

The opposition said Tuesday that it had been told by ZANU PF officials that they could not take part in meetings meant to fine-tune the unity government agreement “because they have no mandate from (Mugabe) who is attending the AU summit in Ethiopia.”

ZANU PF’s Chinamasa insisted Tuesday that discussions were on track. Mugabe, in a speech at the African Union on Tuesday, said he was committed to forming the unity government.

On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told journalists in Addis Ababa that Zimbabwe‘s newly forged national unity government was an “imperfect” solution, and that it can only resolve the country’s political crisis if Mugabe made further progress. Ban also urged Mugabe to release political prisoners being held in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has been in a political crisis since Tsvangirai won the most votes in a March presidential election. Tsvangirai withdrew from a June runoff against Mugabe because of state-sponsored violence against opposition supporters.

The deadlock has kept leaders from addressing a spiraling economic crisis many blame on Mugabe, widespread poverty and food shortages, and a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 3,300 people since August.

(Source)

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday blamed Western sanctions for his country’s economic collapse, which has left millions jobless and hungry.

Speaking on the final day of the 12th African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Mugabe charged that European and US sanctions against his regime had crippled his nation’s economy and fuelled popular unrest.

“We believe that these illegal sanctions are not only unjustified and cruel, but they have also contributed deeply to the suffering and the poverty-induced polarisation of the people of Zimbabwe,” he said.

Mugabe accused donors of punishing Zimbabwe for his land reform programme, in which white-owned farms were forcibly seized and given to black farmers, who often had little experience or access to equipment.

“Our condemnation, our isolation is because my government took the necessary measures to create conditions for equal opportunities, for decolonisation, for creating conditions in which our people could regain their lost resources.”

Zimbabwe has been bogged down in a bitter political feud since the March 2008 elections, further scuppering an already ailing economy.

The southern Africa country’s unemployment rate currently peaked at 94 percent while its inflation – symbolised by the release last month of a 100-trillion-dollar note – is the world’s highest.

The African Union on Saturday called for the lifting of the sanctions, which comprise mainly a travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe and his inner circle, as a means of alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe made little mention of a deal to form a national unity government with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and did not reply to calls from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for him to free political prisoners and guarantee human rights.

The 84-year-old, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, has come under increasing international pressure since his electoral dispute with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

But Mugabe remains a popular figure and is considered an independence hero by many African leaders.

The Zimbabwean president also blamed the West for causing the global financial crisis by allowing the speculative activities of a greedy few and demanded Africa be given a role in shaping a healthier economic system.

“We are therefore ready and more than willing in playing our part and contributing toward the rebuilding of the global economy,” he said.

(Source)

President Robert Mugabe is set to squander over US$500 000 next month for his 85th birthday celebrations, at a time when Zimbabweans are reeling in extreme poverty.

The celebrations will be held in the 84-year-old leader’s home village, Zvimba on 28 February.

ZANU PF sources revealed that the country’s 10 provinces were forced to fundraise for the event which will chew over US$500 000.

According to Mugabe’s nephew, who has been tasked to fundraise, Patrick Zhuwawo, over US$110 000, 80 herd of cattle, 70 goats, dozens of bread, five tones of mealie-meal have been raised so far.

The goods will be gobbled at the birthday bash when the majority of Zimbabweans are going on empty stomachs.

A group of ZANU PF youths, known as the Tag Team, who are looting resources in the country contributed US$100 000 towards the party.

However, villagers are forced to donate cattle and goats, despite the fact that the livestock is their only hope for survival.

The US$500 000 birthday bash comes barely a month after Mugabe’s wife, Grace went on a US$92 000 holiday in the Far East. She is said to have spent 2 000 pounds a night, an amount that is adequate to cater for the needs of hundreds of Zimbabweans.

Grace is well known for her penchant for shopping in the First World, regardless of the desperate situation at home. She is believed to be spending millions of United States dollars on her monthly shopping trips.

Zimbabwe is undergoing an immense economic and humanitarian crisis that is fingered on Mugabe and his ZANU PF cronies. The European Union recently added more ZANU PF names on the sanctions list due to the deepening humanitarian crisis in the southern African nation.

(Source)

Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president, will have the power to dismiss his arch-opponent from a government of national unity even though the two men have agreed to join forces in an effort to rescue the country’s ruined economy. Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who will become prime minister, could be sacked for incompetence under the terms of a deal that leaves the 84-year-old president firmly in control. There were mixed reactions to the deal in Zimbabwe. Some feared Mugabe would use Tsvangirai, 56, to extend his power. Others felt that the opposition leader would neutralise the president. One opposition sympathiser said she was “hoping for the best but preparing for the worst”. Many nonetheless applauded the opposition’s decision, hoping that a unity government would unlock overseas aid, which is needed to rebuild the shattered country.

Western diplomats in Harare pointed out that development aid hinges on economic and political reform and Mugabe’s long history of reneging on commitments holds out little promise of change. The United States and Britain, Zimbabwe’s biggest aid donors, are unhappy that the deal leaves Mugabe in charge of security and the military and that he re-appointed Gideon Gono as head of the central bank, where Gono has presided over hyperinflation and monetary collapse. Britain provides £40m of emergency aid each year to Zimbabwe. That could be increased to £200m overnight if it is decided that Tsvangirai’s premiership will bring progressive government. One difficulty is that Britain and the US stated publicly in December that any government in which Mugabe served was unacceptable. British ministers now have a dilemma – do they eat their words and give aid, or do they deny Tsvangirai the assistance that he and Zimbabwe require? Britain’s decision is likely to influence other European donor nations. The US is in a less difficult position since President Barack Obama would not consider himself bound by President George W Bush’s officials.

The need for aid is acute. Zimbabwe is fighting a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 3,100 and made more than 60,000 ill since August. The collapse of the health and sanitation infrastructure had made it impossible to bring the disease under control. In addition 80% of the population need food aid. The power-sharing arrangement will be fragile, at best. Half the new government ministers will be from Mugabe’s Zanu PF party, which led Zimbabwe to its plight. Tsvangirai’s authority will be severely restricted: Mugabe will chair the cabinet; Tsvangirai will chair a council of ministers. Analysts said it was difficult to imagine such a divided government taking the steps that the crisis called for. One particularly unhappy feature for the opposition is its failure to win control of the police. Under the deal it will share responsibility for the interior ministry with Zanu PF, an arrangement many see as unworkable. Mugabe retains control of the military and intelligence ministries.

Nonetheless, Tsvangirai won his party’s reluctant backing for the coalition at the MDC’s national council on Friday after coming under pressure from southern African leaders. His predicament was reflected in his statement that “this government will serve as a transitional authority leading to free and fair elections”. Mugabe has never acknowledged that the unity government is a transitional entity and considers himself president for a full term of office. One fear is that Mugabe will use the government to smash the opposition, which has been severely weakened by intimidation and internal rivalry. Tsvangirai will also have to manage without his adviser, Tendai Biti, who opposes the unity government and will not join it. Biti, 42, is in danger of being jailed on Wednesday, when politically motivated treason charges against him are likely to be revived.

(Source)