Messages From Zimbabwe

Sanctions are not “economic” sanctions against the country of Zimbabwe, but against those individuals in ZANU PF who continue to be involved in the slow but sure genocide taking place, in the looting of the Reserve bank resulting in the decline of the Zimbabwean economy.

Commissioner Zimondi of the Zimbabwe Prison Service, tells his subordinates to find food donations for the prisoners at Harare Central Prison, because “the government has no resources”. The prisoners are dying of starvation and illness but the so called government can still afford to buy new Mercedes Benz’s for its ministers, it can afford to buy numerous Isuzu and CAM trucks, which have been, and still are used to carry ZANU PF thugs to beat up MDC members and officials.

How many ZANU PF thugs and officials, CIO, Police or Army have been indicted for the over 300 (known) brutal murders of MDC members last year? NONE! And the Commissioner of Police Augustine Chihuri has the temerity to publicly say that all murder dockets being investigated from the Political violence campaign in 2008 must be shelved.

Why have no ZANU PF members been prosecuted, or at the very least, been made to return goods looted from MDC members last year? Why are MDC members now being arrested and detained for retributive violence?

The answers are quite clear - justice is still selective, and there is still NO RULE OF LAW.

Until the RULE OF LAW is restored why should any country in SADC or the world pour money into Zimbabwe? If they do, then they are complicit once again with a genodical bunch of despots. ZANU PF has no intention of sharing power, no intention of giving a transitional power sharing government a chance.

Nothing has changed! People with “degrees in violence” know no other way.

Keep the targeted sanctions on those individuals who have failed to keep to the Global Political Agreement.

Human Rights Activist, Zimbabwe.

(Source: via Skype)

Half-way through a 25 month sentence for theft, Brian Gumbo is literally rotting - his skin peels from malnutrition and the muscles in his legs have withered to the point where he can barely walk. Mr. Gumbo, believed to be in his late 20s or early 30s, is one of several inmates portrayed in an expose on Zimbabwe jails that will screen Monday night on “Special Assignment,” a weekly television news feature of the South African Broadcasting Corp. The program, entitled “Hell Hole” is likely to put further pressure on Western governments to maintain sanctions against the regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. The United States has personal sanctions in place against Mr. Mugabe and more than 200 of his closest advisers, including prison commissioner Paradzai Zimondi.

The executive producer of the program, Johann Abrahams, said his crew used hidden cameras and worked with prison officers who wanted to expose the abuse. “As an investigative journalist I’ve seen a lot of human misery,” Mr. Abrahams said, “but when I first viewed the Zimbabwe prison tapes it shocked me. I was reminded of the German death camps at Dachau and Auschwitz.” He said that several inmates featured in the film had since died. In one segment, the camera follows Mr. Gumbo as he shuffles from his cell to a hall where he is given his daily meal: one bowl of corn porridge. Like many prisoners, he suffers from pellagra caused by a lack of protein and one of the B vitamins. Left untreated, the deficiency leads to a loss of teeth, skin lesions, blindness and, ultimately, death.

Joseph Musonza, who now lives as a refugee in South Africa, was released from jail shortly before Christmas. He said that while it was rare for prisoners to be beaten or physically abused by warders, many died of neglect. “It is hard to tell people my story because they accuse me of lying or exaggerating,” he told The Washington Times. “In remand, before I was sentenced, I lived with 19 people in a cell built for maybe six. Nearly every night, someone died and it can be days before the bodies are [taken] away. In summer there would be maggots in the man’s flesh and he is still lying next to you.” Mr. Musonza served 12 months for assault, but claims the charge was political. He said that people were often convicted because they belonged to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which is now in a coalition government with Mr. Mugabe’s Zanu PF “When MDC was the opposition, if you were too active in the party, police would say you tried to assault them and they would lock you up and bring in Zanu PF supporters to witness against you,” he said. “They use the fear of jail to silence those who speak out. People know that, once you are inside, no one in the system cares if you live or die.”

UN agencies estimate that up to three-quarters of Zimbabwe’s 12 million population is malnourished and dependent on some form of food aid. Critics blame this on bad governance and a land-redistribution program that began in 1999 and which has left a majority of farms lying idle. Until 2001, Zimbabwe was a net exporter of food. But Mr. Musonza said that food was delivered to the prison, only to be sold by warders. “There is not much to eat, but any meat or vegetables will be grabbed by the warders and taken for their families, or sold outside the jail. Inside you get one cup of sadza [corn porridge] or sometimes a thick slice of bread.” Cells, he said, were plagued with fleas and there were frequent outbreaks of dysentery. “Older prisoners used to speak of the days when there were rats, but they have all been eaten.” Efforts to obtain comment from either Mr. Zimondi or Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa for this article were fruitless.

In Johannesburg Sunday, the lobby group, Zimbabwe Democracy Now (ZDN), called for the resignation of the prison chief and suggested he could be tried for crimes against humanity. ZDN acting spokeswoman, Ethel Moyo, said the SABC images showed that “a crime is taking place inside the jails.” “These people are days away from death, having been starved, and abused. It is cases like these for which the International Criminal Court was set up at The Hague,” she said. On Thursday, the State Department called for the release of all political prisoners and said that the U.S. would not engage the government of Zimbabwe until there was “respect for human rights and personal security, and full access to humanitarian assistance.” President Obama and his predecessor, President Bush, have urged rapid progress towards a free and fair election in Zimbabwe, where Mr. Mugabe has ruled since 1980.

(Source)

On 25 March 2009, in his maiden speech to the parliament of Zimbabwe under the theme: “Understanding and Embracing the new dispensation in Zimbabwe”, the Deputy Prime Minister, Professor Arthur Mutambara responded to President Mugabe’s rebuke about his utterances on Gono’s future, by clarifying his own understanding of the constitutional distribution of power in the context of the inclusive government.

Change is the only constant thing in human existence. Each day presents opportunities and challenges. Sometimes when change takes place it is difficult to appreciate its magnitude and significance.

Zimbabweans are not alone in living in a change environment but what is significant is that after so many years of no change it is often useful for one to be reminded of its form and substance especially given the complex history that has brought it about.

The mere fact that Professor Mutambara is a Deputy Prime Minister in an administration headed by President Mugabe must account for a lot in any conversation of hope and change in Zimbabwe. As he said, only the naïve including President Mugabe will behave as if it is business as usual.

Zimbabwe will never be the same. History already has a special place for Mugabe, Mutambara, and Tsvangirai and it would be wrong to argue that the inclusive government does not represent a transition from exclusionary to an involuntary inclusive dispensation characterized by what should ideally be a give and take approach to governance, a phenomenon that hitherto has regrettably not characterized the post-colonial experience.

It is not just the state actors who need a paradigm shift in the way they think and operate but all of us have to step up to the challenge by responding with a commensurate shift of approach and tactics.

The cynics who believe that Mugabe’s presence in an inclusive dispensation is toxic and counterproductive to the change agenda must draw comfort from what Professor Mutambara said in parliament last week.

Although other lesser beings continue to be daily subjected to harassment and intimidation, Professor Mutambara is still a free man, suggesting that a shift is taking place, albeit in slow motion, that points to a new dispensation in which the state can be unilaterally deployed to pursue partisan interests and agendas.

If Mutambara had used the same words that he used in parliament, I have no doubt that he would have been an excellent candidate for Chikurubi prison.

If anyone had doubts that the days of a unitary government driven by one party and one man are on the way out, the speech by Mutambara must rank as one of the most significant in helping clarify the limits and possibilities of change in Zimbabwe.

He was blunt and direct but now needs to be supported by all the forces of change. It is these kinds of words that help shape the future and there can be no wrong time to say the right things especially when the present and future are clouded by the past.

We are all entitled to be sceptical and yet we must realize that the formation of the inclusive government was not informed by the benevolence of the state actors but by a sheer necessity to convert the message of the voters into some workable arrangement.

The people of Zimbabwe wanted change but the kind of change that they will get will depend on all including external partners to put flesh into what is at this stage a mere skeleton whose head is still the same as the one who presided over the systematic removal of the flesh that independence was meant to guarantee.

The kind of change people want to see cannot be a derivative of what President Mugabe and ZANU PF want to see. We already know that the three partners who now have to lead Zimbabwe to a better address of hope and opportunity do not share the same vision and values.

This is as it should be and it is now important that we assist President Mugabe in appreciating that there are better ways of reducing poverty and ignorance than his preferred model.

What is significant is that there is no provision for any unilateralism in the GPA framework compelling all the players to rethink about their approach to change. Things had fallen apart and it was evident that the centre could no longer hold requiring SADC/AU to intervene.

As Professor Mutambara remarked, the days of a monolithic centre of executive power are fading and Cabinet is and should be the new address of power rather than the incumbent in statehouse.

Gono’s wings have been clipped and in so doing the role of parliament as the vehicle of allocating national resources have been restored. However, this is work in progress and is contingent on all to counter the propaganda that Zimbabwe’s perilous economic state is solely a result of the impact of the externally imposed sanctions regime.

Professor Mutambara was right on the mark that executive authority now clearly resides in three locations: Presidency (ZANU PF), Premiership (MDC) and Cabinet (MDC & ZANU PF).

The President’s powers have been reduced sufficiently to give comfort to many sceptics that change can come in baby steps but the direction of such change can be better understood in the design, architecture and foundation of the new structure.

Zimbabwe will have to traverse the un-trodden path with no compass and guiding aides. The President has to operate within the box and his former adversaries are acutely aware of the dangers of sleeping in a car driven by a person who has a 29-year record with known outcomes.

Will it be easy for President Mugabe to change? It will never be easy but institutionally the options of pretending that yesterday is the same as today are no longer available.

Mutambara and Tsvangirai are real factors that have to be incorporated in any decisions that are made in the name of the government of Zimbabwe.

While Zimbabweans fasten their seatbelts for the turbulent journey in motion, they must be comforted that their voices count in as much as the parliament of Zimbabwe has an opportunity to transcend the limitations imposed by partisan politics to begin to address the peoples’ agenda while critically reviewing the unacceptable policies of the past.

The views expressed by Professor Mutambara on sanctions resonate with my own views that it is critically important for an honest and frank discussion on this complex subject to begin to inform policy options and choices including the proposed SADC rescue fund.

President Mugabe and Gono hold the view that has been accepted and endorsed by ZANU-PF that external sanctions are to blame for the state of the economy.

Over the last 29 years, degrees of individual freedom have been reduced by the state to the extent that citizens have discounted the state as their organ to advance any collective interests.

Through corruption, poor governance, incompetence, mismanagement, fraudulent elections, political violence, the politicization and privatization of the state, and measures taken to undermine the democratic constitutional order the state has been discredited more by the conduct of its actors than by sanctions.

Unless such conduct stops and the approach to governance that says the end justifies any means is changed, it is unlikely that any form of external assistance will add value to the process of change.

Notwithstanding the unresolved issues, the inclusive government has enough checks and balances built into it. However, if parliament, the judiciary and civil society surrender their power to the executive branch of government then the outcome will not be any different from the experience of the last 29 years.

Parliamentarians have no choice but to act decisively and the first stage is for them to empower citizens who have been marginalized and terrorized by their own servants for too long that they may not have any confidence to use the window of change to better advantage.

The state has been operating outside the box and it is important that citizens get a better understanding of how the state was operating because in doing so it will be possible to make informed choices on who should remain in the state or who should be asked to leave.

President Mugabe has no alternative but to work with his new partners. He has made the case that his interpretation of the GPA is that he is still the custodian of change but Professor Mutambara has eloquently put a compelling counter argument.

Who is right? I think any jury will have to agree with Professor Mutambara that the winds of change have and are blowing in Zimbabwe.

The inclusive government was informed by a mutual recognition that Zimbabweans wanted change and the parties that they elected into parliament could transitionally manage such change. The inclusive government is, therefore, a constitutional necessity and a reality. There is simply no better game plan in place.

The issues that Professor Mutambara identified as outstanding i.e. the distribution of power at provincial governor level, permanent secretaries, ambassadors, and the unilateral re-appointment of the controversial RBZ governor and the appointment of the Attorney General will not to be addressed urgently.

The credibility of the inclusive government is at stake and these issues have to be solved to build confidence that the spirit of the inclusive government is informed by a Zimbabwe First agenda.

In the eighties, the Sandura Commission was able to change President Mugabe in a unique manner. If President Mugabe had been approached, for instance, for the removal of former Minister Enos Nkala from cabinet, I have no doubt that his attitude would have been the same as he has on not only Gono but many other state actors.

However, through a Commission of Inquiry, President Mugabe was not left with any choice but to accept the findings and consequences. Equally, if people did not vote for change last year, President Mugabe will still have been accommodative of what he has previously described as “deadwood”.

It may be useful for Professor Mutambara to convert his wise words into concrete proposals of how citizens can be made to believe in the inclusive government.

One such proposal could be the setting up of a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the alleged misconduct of not only Gono but also other state actors. This will help in better informing the kind of change that people can begin to believe in.

A danger exists that the new state actors may already have been or are being compromised by Gono’s generosity using the state machinery to induce the kind of behavior that has limited the voices of dissent to the extent that President Mugabe may now believe that no change is good change.

Professor Mutambara should be rest assured that evidence does exist confirming the criminality that people have alleged against many of the state actors who remain part of the inclusive government.

I have no doubt that President Mugabe will be a supporter of such a proposal as he evidently continues to hold the view that his administration has discharged its obligations with honour and sincerity.

(Source)

Mutambara has moved from being a voice of reason to echo of Mugabe’s wailing. The robotics professor seems to be sliding quicker than Tsvangirai in his admiration for Mugabe to the point that he has suddenly assumed the position of a George Charamba. His recent maiden parliamentary speech reveals a man struggling with getting over his student union days. It is time for the professor to understand the basics of life. You cant plead forgiveness and cry revenge with same mouth at the same time. As much as he appreciate that Zimbabwe’s problems are self  inflicted wounds, he should realise too that it does not do any good to the country when he attacks the West. The professor must accept the plain truth that  Zimbabwe is a beggar and as such has no power to put conditions to possible donors. A beggar has two choices, either to stretch his arm and take what is offered or fold his arms and refuse. 

Mutambara has off late adopted a Mugabe turbulent, disillusioned attitude towards the West as noted from his maiden speech, “Please, remove any types of sanctions you have imposed because you are undermining Comrade Tsvangirai, you are undermining the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, you are undermining the efforts of Zimbabweans”

“It’s not for America , it’s not for Britain to judge our wisdom or lack of it vis a vis the affairs of our country as long as we take charge of what we control.”

The robotics professor has become a talking caricature of Mugabe more than an animation of him. His goodwill and spirit lacks charisma the natural golden touch that characterises charismatic statesman like Nelson Mandela and nationalist like the late Joshua M Nkomo.

If Zimbabwe has wisdom and ability to take charge of its own affairs, then it (Zimbabwe) has to stop appealing for help from these western donors. What the robotics professor has managed to display is the plain fact that all African leaders think that the problems faced by Africa are European engineered other than the basic fact that the leaders are plain stupid, corrupt and unaccountable. The professor is starting to show symptoms that are endemic, hereditary, embedded and contagious among African leaders. l believe it would be better if the GNU created a marketing ministry  for the robotically and rocket  intelligent professor who draws so much from the term re-branding.

(Source)

The war of attrition between Finance minister Tendai Biti and Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono intensified this week, raising fears it could disrupt the smooth operation of monetary and fiscal policies unless quickly resolved.

Biti this week took the fight deep into Gono’s territory after he told cabinet that the central bank boss ran a parallel government structure at the height of his power which gobbled 45% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Sources said Biti told cabinet on Tuesday that Gono had been running a “parallel government” using state resources secured via printing of money. He said this took 45% of GDP, leaving government in a state of paralysis.

Biti seems to be on a warpath against Gono. Government insiders fear an ugly row which could disrupt the transitional government.

Biti, who has compared Gono to an Al-qaeda terrorist who deserves to be put before a firing squad, last week stoked fires when he accused his rival for the first time in public of engaging in “illegal and excessive quasi-fiscal activities that have been done outside the provision of the Constitution of Zimbabwe”.

This signalled that Biti wanted to squeeze Gono on the legal front, observers noted, possibly using sections of the state apparatus to support his move.

However, Gono has repeatedly said he engaged in quasi-fiscal activities in a bid to deal with “extraordinary circumstances” which demanded “extraordinary interventions”.

Previously, he even published a list of ministerial directives to show he was acting under orders from above.

Efforts to get comment from Gono were unsuccessful Thursday.

Sources said President Robert Mugabe, who chaired cabinet on Tuesday, shook his head in an ambiguous manner without necessarily showing whether he agreed or disagreed with Biti.

The sources said Mugabe later left the cabinet chair to Vice-President Joseph Msika as he went to another meeting.

“Biti is determined to continue pushing for Gono’s removal,” a source said. “He seems to have changed his strategy. It appears his Plan A is to get him out if he can and, failing that, his Plan B is to sideline him.

“Removing him looks complicated, but undermining and sidelining him seems to be the main line of attack.

“Biti said Gono ran a parallel government structure using public funds and no one in cabinet challenged that.”

Biti’s remarks came as a major surprise after the two held a private meeting on Monday in a bid to reduce tensions.

Sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that Biti and Gono met on Monday and agreed to work together.

Before that, their relationship was so bad that Biti had not been talking to Gono. Biti had been refusing to return Gono’s calls, sources said.

They said there was hope of improved relations after Monday’s crucial meeting but things unexpectedly deteriorated afterwards.

Last week Biti described Gono’s quasi-fiscal activities as “illegal”.

He said quasi-fiscal activities had now ceased, blaming the measures for fuelling hyperinflation. Gono has insisted he was trying to save the country from sinking.

(Source)

One of Zimbabwe’s two vice prime ministers and key party to Zimbabwe’s infant tripartite government of national unity, Professor Arthur Mutambara on Wednesday threw ice cold spanners in the works of President Robert Mugabe dictatorship when he announced that the country will immediately allow back in to the country the foreign media.

The controversial politician from the smaller formation of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), promised he was to immediately facilitate the return of the big foreign media and singled houses such the BBC, CNN and ITN which are all banned from operating from Zimbabwe.

Local correspondents of all foreign media operate illegally under a wide range of repressive legislation such as the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Broadcasting Act which has seen them detained, tortured and imprisoned for operating “illegally” if they are not “registered” with the government’s Media Information Commission.

The Commission is well known for its links with President Mugabe’s spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation.

Prof Mutambara said the new government would reverse the old order where the State determined who should report and how. “No government has the right to control how it should be reported, by whom and from where,” he said adding that while Zimbabwe had external sanctions; its leadership had to remove internal sanctions they imposed on themselves through their misrule.

Prof Mutambara’s broad shot will not only litmus test President Mugabe’s commitment to ending dictatorship but will begin actualizing a new democratic political dispensation.

The former Massachusetts Institute of Technology robotics engineering professor had no kind words for Zimbabwe’s present junta’s iron fist rule.

“We want to re-brand Zimbabwe, but what are we known for? How are we perceived by the rest of the world? “We are known for violence, farm invasion, disregard for the rule of law, electoral fraud, cholera, an unheard of rocket propelled inflation, gigantic corruption and mafia style abductions and kidnappings of journalists, human rights activists and anyone seeking their democratic space,” he said amid applause from the large turn out that included Vice President Joyce Mujuru, one of President Mugabe’s key allies.

Prof Mutambara said Zimbabwe needs a complete paradigm shift in the manner in which it runs its affairs.

“You cannot re-brand for instance tourism to just start this economy instance without first re-branding Zimbabwe first. To re-brand a country, you must first have a product.

“You must be known for something and have triggers for delivery but not certainly what Zimbabwe is presently known for. You must be perceived for the right things for you to be attractive, and then you can sell.

“You then have to go beyond and build love marks which will then market loyalty for your product,” he told the country tourism stakeholders citing Coca Cola and Mercedes Benz which he told them has branding equity of 65% and US$22 billion on their balance sheets respectively.

In another fora, in Parliament Mutambara hit out at western governments describing as “ignorant and arrogant” a decision by US President Barrack Obama to extend targeted sanctions on President Robert Mugabe and his allies.

In his maiden speech, Mutambara criticised western governments for imposing and extending targeted travel sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his lieutenants in spite of the establishment of a government of national unity (GNU) between ZANU PF and the two MDC leaders.

“We understand why the US, Britain, and the EU are sceptical to remove the sanctions. But we are determined as the three political parties to make this agreement (Global Political Agreement) work. Please do not give us conditions like (such as) we are waiting for progress. If we don’t get balance of payments support and humanitarian assistance this government will collapse. Don’t patronize us. So we are saying remove any type of sanctions you have imposed on our people. You are undermining the Prime Minister. You are undermining the efforts of Zimbabweans. Mr Obama has extended sanctions to our country by one year. That decision was based on ignorance and arrogance,” Mutambara said.

Obama extended US sanctions that target Zimbabwe’s longtime ruler President Mugabe and others linked to him for another year at the beginning of this month, saying some people are continuing to undermine the country’s democratic processes.

Although both Mugabe and Tsvangirai have asked the US and the European Union to lift the sanctions to help the country pull itself out of its man-made economic crisis, both Washington and Brussels have ruled out any early lifting of targeted sanctions against Mugabe and his close associates until there is more progress on democratic reforms and human rights.

The EU and the US first imposed sanctions targeting scores of people and companies linked to President Mugabe with travel bans and asset freezes in 2002 and 2003 respectively to protest human rights violations in Zimbabwe and President Mugabe’s dictatorial rule.

(Source)

Video here.

Police Bulawayo yesterday charged Chronicle Editor Brezhnev Malaba with criminal defamation over a news article published last month that exposed allegations of corruption at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).

The story in question, headlined “Govt urged to overhaul GMB” and carried by the paper on 16 February, quoted millers complaining about the alleged diversion of maize to the black market by some unnamed GMB officials who ripped off hungry villagers by offering a few bags of grain in exchange for livestock.

A miller alleged that one top official at the GMB enjoyed the protection of “a senior police officer” from Matabeleland North.

Instead of dwelling on the corruption allegations, police have decided to charge the Chronicle Editor with criminal defamation over the phrase “a senior police officer”.

The Criminal Investigations Department (Fraud Squad) in Bulawayo yesterday (17th March) charged Malaba with violating Section 96 (1a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act that deals with the publication of falsehoods and Section 30 of the same Act that deals with “bringing disaffection” to the police.

Malaba - who is being jointly charged with reporter Nduduzo Tshuma and Zimpapers Bulawayo branch General Manager Sithembile Ncube - signed a warned-and-cautioned statement and strongly refuted the two charges.

The Editor, accompanied by his lawyer Mr Job Sibanda, said he was disappointed by the charges because even at that stage, it was not clear who exactly the complainant was.

“The news article in question was not focussing on the involvement of police in the alleged goings-on at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). The import of the story was about alleged corruption at the GMB.

“It is strange that police have decided to dwell on a peripheral aspect of the story while clearly turning a blind eye to the substantial allegations raised in that article. A charge of criminal defamation under these circumstances would be incapable of fair application,” said Malaba.

“The news article, quoting our anonymous source, says a ‘senior police officer’ is protecting the allegedly corrupt manager at the GMB. Our story does not name this ‘senior police officer’.

“On that point alone, the allegation of criminal defamation cannot stick because the Chronicle has not injured anyone’s reputation. The allegation that the story has impugned the reputation of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) is too broad, nebulous and ill-defined in a democratic society,” he added.

“In any event, the allegation of corruption against the ‘senior police officer’ is not extravagant on the part of the Chronicle. It is contained in a direct quote recorded from our source whose main aim was to blow the whistle on the alleged corruption at the GMB.

“In that connection, the involvement of the ‘senior police officer’ was mentioned only in passing. After reading that article, the average right-thinking Zimbabwean would not conclude that the story is about police corruption.

“He would conclude that the story is about the alleged corruption at the GMB and the plight of desperate villagers,” said Malaba.

“When the CID officers first contacted the reporter who wrote the story, they demanded to know the name of our anonymous source. The reporter would not divulge the name of our source. The CID officers were then told to talk to the Editor.

“When the Editor told them that he would not reveal the source, the CID officers then told the Editor that they were charging him with criminal defamation.

“We would like to make it categorically clear that it is not the duty of journalists to conduct investigations on behalf of police detectives. Police should not seek to punish journalists for refusing to do their job for them,” he added.

“The GMB and the ZRP are public institutions. Their actions are not above scrutiny. The Constitution upholds every citizen’s right to subject public institutions to critical scrutiny. When such scrutiny is applied, the words used are unlikely to have results that may detrimentally affect the interests of the State or community.

“In fact, such scrutiny, helping to expose the alleged looting of maize meant for financially vulnerable Zimbabweans, should strengthen the public institutions in question so that they remain responsive to the concerns of ordinary citizens. Public institutions must respond openly to criticism instead of seeking to suppress it,” said the Editor.

“The story itself was substantially true. It was also in the public interest because it exposed the alleged corruption at the GMB, a public institution that is at the heart of the nation’s food security system. Instead of dwelling on the corruption allegations levelled against the GMB, the police are now focussing on peripheral issues that have nothing to do with the import of the news article in question. We published the story for the public benefit,” said Malaba.

“The police have not utilised their right of reply despite the fact that they believe the story contains inaccuracies. Inaccurate statements are inevitable in a free and democratic society. The police have not engaged the Chronicle to seek a correction of the purported inaccuracies, if any,” said the Editor.

Malaba faces imprisonment or a fine, or both if convicted.

(Source)

Botswana’s Foreign Affairs Minister says no evidence of terrorist training camps has been presented to the authorities in Gaborone to support allegations made last year by President Mugabe’s government.

Phandu Skelemani said the allegations of so-called camps where saboteurs were receiving training to distabilise Zimbabwe were nothing but “distorted, manufactured and generalized accusations which were not backed by tangible facts”.

The allegations were made during the Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Organ Troika of SADC Heads of State and Government on October 27, 2008, in Harare. The SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation then mandated an investigation to be conducted, a report of which would then be submitted to the Ministerial Committee of the Organ.

“To the best of my knowledge, the team completed its investigations both in Zimbabwe and Botswana late in December 2008,” said Ms Leefa Penehupifo Martin, speaking on behalf of SADC’s Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomão. “I am not sure it has reported back to the commissioning authority that is the Ministerial Committee of the Organ Troika. As such, we have no clue of the content of their findings.”

Asked what SADC itself had to say since there were still people being incarcerated or prosecuted in Zimbabwe on charges relating to terrorism training in Botswana, she responded, “We are not privy to the evidence nor to the incarcerations you are alleging.”

Dozens of people were abducted for having been involved in such training or of assisting such trainees. They included human rights activist Jestina Mukoko and former Tsvangirai aide Gandhi Mudzingwa. While the majority were granted bail two weeks ago a few are still being held, some in unknown locations.

Andrew Makoni, a lawyer for some of the abductees told reporters in Harare on Thursday that from October 2008, when the abductions started, to December at least 31 people had been kidnapped.

“Twenty-two, including a two-year old baby, have now been accounted for but the whereabouts of the others are still unknown,” he said.

He said it was no longer known if the missing were still in police custody or had disappeared completely.

Skelemani told The Zimbabwe Times Friday that Zimbabwe’s accusations had been put to Botswana for her response.

“Botswana totally rejects the unsubstantiated allegations which were made and are clearly nothing more than an exercise to engage in acts of intimidation and harassment of the innocent people of Zimbabwe,” he said. “The Zimbabwean authorities will do themselves good by releasing those people.”

Asked when the investigation would close and if Botswana would be happy to let the accusation die without publicly addressing the accusations levelled against the country by Zimbabwe, the minister said, “That is for the SADC Organ Troika to determine as they were tasked to investigate the matter. Botswana awaits the feedback from the SADC Organ Troika on this matter.

“We have expressed our concern about the undue delay in determining this issue.”

Skelemani went on to say that, generally speaking, Botswana’s position on Zimbabwe had not changed. He said it remained the official position of the government of Botswana that, in the event of the Global Political Agreement being rendered unworkable, a re-run of the presidential election should be held under international supervision.

Three days ago, Botswana President Ian Khama told the Financial Times that Botswana had not always agreed to “this sharing of power”, just like they didn’t agree to the Kenyan model either because they felt that what should be done on the continent was to ensure that credible elections were always held.

“This power-sharing thing is a bad precedent for the continent,” Khama said.

Asked to state Botswana’s official view on Zimbabwe’s Government of National Unity and whether satisfactory progress was being achieved, Skelemani said: “The inclusive government formed in Zimbabwe has, to some degree, addressed the crisis of legitimacy in that country and this is a welcome development.

“Botswana had hoped that all the parties in government would seize this opportunity and genuinely work towards the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country’s economy. Regrettably, some elements in government, notably, Zanu-PF, continue to encourage and engage in irresponsible acts and make provocative statements which are likely to discourage the international community from extending a helping hand to Zimbabwe for the benefit of its long suffering people.”

At the SADC Secretariat Martin said, “At the risk of sounding banal, I wish to state for a fact that the Zimbabwe government of national unity was only inaugurated on February 13, 2009, which is less than a month today and, in my opinion, it is exceptionally too short a period by any measure to assess anything less complex, let alone a government of national unity.”

Early last week, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Social Welfare, Pauline Mpariwa, officially opened the Plumtree Reception and Support Centre, the second of its kind which has been established in Zimbabwe by the International Organisation on Migration (IOM) to provide humanitarian assistance to irregular (illegal) Zimbabwean migrants being deported back home. The first centre was established in Chiredzi.

“We look at the centre as an important facility which will help in the documentation of returnees and therefore should provide data as maybe needed,” said Botswana’s Labour Minister, Lethlogonolo Siele, during the opening ceremony.

Asked if the opening of this transit camp in Plumtree was an indication that Botswana still expects continuing traffic of illegal migrants into the country, Skelemani said: “The difficult economic conditions in Zimbabwe are still there. As long as this remains the case, people will continue to cross the border into Botswana to seek opportunities for a better livelihood.”

Could he cite any issue in particular that Botswana was not happy about with regard to the current situation surrounding the Zimbabwe government?

“Yes,” said Skelemani, “the continued detention of MDC activists, which can only serve to undermine implementation of the Global Political Agreement and efforts to attract international goodwill and the much needed economic, financial and technical assistance for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the economy of Zimbabwe.”

“ZANU PF should end unilateralism and create an atmosphere conducive to building mutual trust and confidence as well as to live up to the spirit of the Global Political Agreement, wherein the parties committed themselves to bring an end to the polarization, divisions, conflict and intolerance which have characterised Zimbabwean politics and society in the recent past.

“The continued detention of MDC activists is a sign of bad faith on the part of ZANU PF.”

(Source)

Tendai Biti’s declaration that Zimbabwe’s dollar is now dead are direct words subtly conveyed to Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono that his services are no longer required.

According to the constitution of Zimbabwe, the Reserve Bank governor manages monetary policy and when the currency dies, monetary policy immediately looses its purpose. Both Gono and Biti obviously know the whole meaning of this.

After monetary policy has become impotent, the man at the helm of the whole fiscal organism takes up space and squeezes into the fray. When the dust settles, and the glory begins to be seen, only one man will be praised. That will be the Finance minister. Tendai Biti ‘will’ be Zimbabwe’s Gordon Brown, as during the flowery days of Tony Blair.

The MDC obviously do not want to share this glory with anyone, beginning with Mr Gideon Gono, who has many times boasted to be on the World Bank list of wanted professionals. Gono claims that the United States government has ‘begged’ him to take up a top IMF job.

The MDC has for a long time desired that the Reserve Bank Governor be removed from office and another person take up his place. However, will Gono’s absence essentially guarantee any change to Zimbabwe’s ailing economy? Everyone believes it will, and in fact most critics echo the same sentiments. But Zimbabwes’ economy is fuelled mostly by agriculture, and this sector has experienced a historic continual decline since Mugabe began seizing legally owned farm land from white farmers in 2000. This chaotic move is widely seen by economists to be the direct cause of Zimbabwe’s woes which has also brought the country to its knees.

Tendai Biti smiled with Robert Mugabe live on national television on Thursday in such a glorious way seen by many to reflect that Biti has now taken the driving seat of the economy, will work well with Mugabe, but this will happen in Gideon Gono’s absence , or rather silence. But what will happen to Gono? Gono might just as well turn into a phantom stooge hidden in the Samora Machel RBZ building, and maybe, he will go back to cook some more tea. In his own words, Gono reveals that his first profession was ‘cooking tea’ and he says that he was well good at it!

(Source)