Messages From Zimbabwe

After having dismissed their original bail application in February, the High Court finally granted bail to MDC officials Chris Dhlamini and Gandhi Mudzingwa, plus journalist Shadreck Manyere on Thursday. But they will remain in police custody as the State immediately opposed the judge’s ruling.

Justice Charles Hungwe had granted bail to the three political detainees and asked them to deposit the sum of US$1,000 each, reside at their given addresses, not to interfere with witnesses and report once every Friday at their nearest police station.

But lawyer Andrew Makoni said: “As soon as the judgement was delivered Mr Mutangadura, who was representing the State, immediately advised the court of the provisions of Section 121 of the Criminal Procedures and Evidence Act and informed Justice Hungwe that the State intends to seek to apply for leave to appeal in the Supreme Court.”

This means the three will remain in custody until such time as the State has appealed in the Supreme Court. The State has seven days to first of all apply for leave to appeal, in the High Court and then they file the appeal in the Supreme Court. This is the game that the government has played with all political detainees in the past.

The opposing of bail by the State comes just days after JOMIC’s co-chairperson, Welshman Ncube, had indicated that they were trying to persuade the authorities not to oppose bail for the three accused persons. Speaking on the Hot Seat programme last Friday Professor Ncube said: “So our job has been to try and secure the release on bail of these persons and this is why we have tried within the limits of the constitution to get the principals, the President, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Justice, the Attorney General to come to a conclusion whereby the State does not oppose the granting of bail to these people.”

The three who were abducted in December are being accused of bombing police stations and railway lines. Four of their co-accused were released on bail in February but they remain in custody because the State claims they were found with explosive weapons. They deny these charges. Mudzingwa and Dhlamini are being held at the Avenues Clinic while Manyere is locked up at the notorious Chikurubi Maximum Security prison. They are among a group of civic and political activists kidnapped from their homes and workplaces between the months of October and December last year.

(Source)

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe vowed Thursday to continue with the state’s seizure of white-owned farms, despite rising tensions over a wave of evictions since a new power-sharing government seven weeks ago.

His remarks published in the daily Herald newspaper, the state organ of his ZANU PF party, came amid a wave of seizures, evictions, theft of property on farms, attacks on workers and prosecutions of white farmers.

Mugabe called allegations of farm invasions ‘wicked lies’ and insisted the appopriation programme was ‘legal.’

In February a coalition government was formed between longtime foes Mugabe and new prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change.

That agreement specified that the new administration will ensure the rule of law is observed throughout the country and that farmers be allowed to produce crops without disruptions.

Western donors have said they will hold back on helping to bail out the bankrupt government until there are clear signs that human rights reforms are taking place.

On Wednesday finance minister Tendai Biti, from the MDC, said he and the party were determined to ‘get Zimbabwe back on its feet again,’ but, he added, ‘We are very unhappy with the situation on the farms.’

In Thursday’s Herald, Mugabe told his party central committee: ‘Those who now wish to cause confusion by claiming there are farm invasions should be warned that their malicious and wicked lies will not deter government from its pledge to economically empower the people… through legal means.’

A ‘revolutionary land reform programme’ launched by 85-year-old Mugabe in 2000 has seen about 50 white farmers and their workers murdered by ZANU PF militias, about a million workers made homeless and the collapse of an agricultural economy that once earned Zimbabwe the reputation of being Africa’s breadbasket.

Human rights organisations say ZANU PF cronies have taken over the violently vacated farms, usually in violation of court orders to allow the farmers to stay.

White farmers’ lobby groups say about 100 farmers have come under renewed pressure to force them off their land since the coalition government came into being.

Last weekend, Mike Campbell, 74, who has led a legal campaign to try to force the government to allow them to remain on their land and to ensure authorities protect them from persecution, was forced off his farm, Mount Carmel, the country’s biggest mango producer, in the Chegutu district 100 km west of Harare.

A relative of an elderly member of Mugabe’s politburo kicked down the kitchen door and gave Campbell two hours to leave, said his son- in-law, Ben Freeth.

‘There is chaos now, there is a total breakdown of law and order,’ he said.

Campbell‘s manager, Martin Joubert, and seven workers were arrested by police on allegations of ‘kidnapping’ the team of invaders, and are expected to spend the weekend in jail in Chegutu after a magistrate dismissed their application for bail.

Occupiers on the farm immediately began removing mangoes and selling them in the Chegutu market, he said.

(Source)

The intensity of the recent wave of farm attacks sweeping the country has been taken to new levels this week, with the wife of a Chiredzi farmer being used as bait by local police to lure her husband out of hiding.

Teresa Warth was arrested on her Wasara Ranch in Chiredzi on Monday, and was told by police that she was being used as ‘bait’. Her husband Gary has been in hiding for six weeks and police hoped her arrest would flush him out of hiding to face arrest and prosecution. Teresa was forced to leave behind her frail parents-in-law as well as their animals, including three tame elephant and a herd of cattle. The Warth’s property has come under brutal attack before and many of their animals have been slaughtered by land invaders, in an act of cruel intimidation. Teresa was later released on Monday night but is expected in court on Wednesday to face, as yet, unknown charges.

Gary Warth is just one of many farmers that have been forced into hiding as a result of the fresh wave of attacks aimed at removing the remaining commercial farmers off their land. The land invasions and fast-track prosecution of farmers began in earnest in February, after Attorney General Johannes Tomana instructed local police and magistrates to support the attacks. In all cases, court orders and other legal protections on the farms are being knowingly ignored, and with the police supporting the attacks, farmers have no assistance or protection. It was also known that arrest warrants had been issued for the farmers.

The arrest in Chiredzi meanwhile comes as Chegutu famer Ben Freeth and his family are still defending their land from a gang of invaders who have also been clearly supported by local police. The offensive on the Mount Carmel farm started on Friday when a group of around fifteen thugs arrived on the property and demanded that Freeth and his family leave. The gang of men also returned on Saturday morning, only to be forced off the property by the farm employees and workers from other farms in the area, who united against the invaders. But the invasion turned violent on Saturday night when the thugs returned and assaulted six of the family’s farm workers. One worker was left with a fractured skull after the beating and has been forced into hiding with the rest of the staff.

The family once again came under siege on Monday night, this time by a group of armed policemen, who not only threatened to arrest Freeth’s wife, but also hauled away yet another innocent farm worker. The police action occurred while the land invaders were on the property threatening the family, but police completely ignored them in another clear sign of their support for the farm attacks. At the same time, eight of the farm workers are still being kept behind bars on trumped up charges and Freeth explained on Tuesday that they have all been tortured while in custody. He called the situation ‘total anarchy’ and explained that the family can’t even reach some parts of the farm because the invaders have settled in.

A report by a London-based analysis group warned this week that the fresh farm invasions not only threaten the fragile stability of the unity government, but are also likely to lead to further social unrest. The Economist Intelligence Unit this week ranked Zimbabwe has having a high risk profile for political upheaval and public unrest, saying the situation is further fuelled by the extreme poverty facing the population.

“A constitutional review process, rampant corruption in government and a general breakdown of the rule of law has deepened Zimbabwe’s exposure to social and political tension, putting at risk the stability of the coalition government,” the EIU report noted.

The unity government, despite being bound by the terms of the Global Political Agreement that pledged to encourage food production on farms, has done nothing to prevent the attacks from continuing – attacks that have seen all work on farms grind to a halt. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last week told media that the Joint Operation and Implementation Committeee had been tasked with dealing with the land issue, not long after vowing that the perpertrators of the land invasions would face arrest. But it is clear that the Prime Minister’s words have been ignored and he does not have the power to do anything about it.

(Source)

Since Retired Major General Paradzai Willings Zimondi assumed control of the Prison service, prison conditions have reached an extreme of cruelty and deprivation. Death by enforced starvation and the withholding of medical attention is nothing less than murder in the first degree.

The trusted Mugabe right hand man brought in and appointed corrupt generals and colonels, lacking administrative skills, required to run the commanding heights of the Zimbabwe Prison Service, a move which has led to this decay we witness today.

Things got worse when he brought in Retired Major (Woman) Kanonge to head the finance department, Retired Major Madzimure to head Transport, Retired Major Dube to head construction department, Retired Major Ndebele to head the quartermaster’s department, Retired Major Makuvire to head procurement department, Retired Major Chihobvu to head Intelligence, Retired Major Seulah, Retired corporal Maramba, retired corporal Mafuta, Retired Major Sibanda, Retired corporal Chirombo, Retired WO2 Muzanechita, Retired coronel Maredza, Retired Major Vincent Ndlovu and many more.

Most of Zimbabwe’s top military brass are veterans of the 1970s liberation war against white minority rule and are fiercely loyal to ZANU PF.

As for new recruits into the force, priority was given to the Mugabe’s hated youth militias, there is little hope that the Prison Service will become an impartial body in any near future.

The militia training camps, which have been in existence since 2001, are places where school leavers are imbued with “patriotic values” as defined by the ruling party. Graduates from these camps, known as Green Bombers from their distinctive olive green uniforms, have been used to terrorise government opponents at successive elections inside the prison and outside.

“The retired Major General Paradzai Zimondi should be arrested now and face trial for crimes against humanity”.

I am disturbed by the arrest and harassment of Junior Officers Thabiso Nyathi (35), Siyai Muchechedzi (35) and Thembinkosi Nkomo (28). They were arrested on Friday on charges under the Official Secrets Act, which prescribes lengthy jail terms for government employees who leak state secrets.

The three should be released with immediate effect and UN should intervene now.

In the name of the United Nations Charter of Human Rights, Commissioner Zimondi and his Deputy Commissioners, Retired Major Vincent Ndlovu and Washington Chimboza should be arrested for crimes against humanity – and, while awaiting arraignment by a SADC or European Court of Justice, they should be detained in their own jails.

The main causes of prisoners’ deaths included reduced meals, shortage of drugs and poor health environment in our prisons.

Prisoners went for days without a meal and were occasionally supplied with food only meant to keep a person alive such as the staple sadza (a thick porridge made from maize meal) and salted, unclean water.

More often than not, inmates in many of the country’s jails have to survive on a single meal in two to three days of sadza and cabbage boiled in dirty salted water because there is no money to buy adequate supplies. This led to an outbreak of pellagra disease that slaughtered over a thousand inmates around the country.

Pellagra is a vitamin deficiency disease caused by shortage of vitamin B3 and protein.

The functions of the Zimbabwe Prison Service are derived from the mission statement and the broad functions of the ZPS are as follows: To protect society from the criminal elements through the incarceration and rehabilitation of offenders for their successful re-integration into society, while exercising reasonable, safe, secure and humane control. Offenders come to prison as punishment and not to be punished

In the ZPS we believed that offenders need to be given a second chance through rehabilitation.

Conditions in our prisons are inhuman. The new government must act swiftly to address this situation or else the prime minister will be sucked into this mess. Every single day they spend without acting will be blood on their hands.

It makes me cry to know that the cabinet is being sworn in while one of them is being added to the tally of prisoners.

I appeal to the International community to intervene before the three youngsters are tortured to death. I know they are chasing after my head but the truth will be told even if they kill me.

Shepherd Yuda

(Source)

Prime Minister Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s grandson, Sean who died on Friday after he drowned at the family home’s swimming pool, will be buried in Buhera on Monday.

James Maridadi, the spokesman for the Prime Minister, said two year old Sean would be buried next to his grand mother Susan at the family cemetery.

Sean drowned at the Prime Minister’s residence in Strathaven Harare at about at about 1530 hrs.

According to Maridadi he was playing outside when suddenly he sneaked to the back of the house and undressed before he jumped into the deep end of the swimming pool. He was discovered later floating.

Sean was the son of Garikai, Tsvangirai’s second born son. Garikai and Sean’s mother Lillian live in Canada but were currently in Zimbabwe to attend the funeral of Garikai’s mother Susan Nyaradzo Tsvangirai who died in a car crash on March 06.

The Prime Minister had to leave Victoria Falls in a huff  on Sunday to go to Harare.

(Source)

Zimbabwean farmers have accused prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s new unity government of betraying its principles by failing to stop a fresh wave of farm invasions.

More than 70 white-owned farms have been invaded since Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) established a coalition with Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF last month.

Affected farmers have been angered by the MDC’s silence on the latest invasions

“No one from the unity government people has even mentioned us,” said Brian Bronkhorst, a dairy farmer who inherited his property from his grandfather last year. “We’re backed up against a wall and there’s no one to intervene to help us.”

John Worsley-Warwick, who runs a hotline for targeted farmers, said there has been a two-pronged assault on white farms. Magistrates have charged at least 50 with illegal occupation and another 77 have reported some form of invasion. A Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday endorsed the eviction orders, destroying the last vestiges of hope of legal relief for scores of landowners.

In a safehouse in Chegutu, once a prosperous market town named Hartley, Mr Bronkhurst and group of fellow displaced farmers spend their days discussing their losses and playing backyard cricket. The rolling fields around the town are flush with crops but the farmers are forced to loiter in T-shirts and shorts on a friend’s veranda.

Peter Etheredge was forced off his farm by thugs in the pay of the president of Zimbabwe‘s senate, Edna Madzongwe.

He said his 6,000 ton orange harvest was contracted for sale to the Middle East. “I turn over at least $4 million (£2.74 million a year from that business, selling to a good market that wasn’t going to be affected by any downturn,” he said. “It was a good crop too, full of export grade oranges and she’ll sell it on the local market for nothing. It’s a waste.”

Intimidation tactics are widespread and the so-called war veterans leader, Joseph Chinotimba, who spearheaded the most bloody land invasions since 2000, has re-emerged. “Chinotimba has brought down people to intimidate our labour,” said Mr Etheredge. “It’s not pleasant when people you’ve known for 16 years turn on you and claim you haven’t paid them.

“When I tried to get rid of his men, one turned on me and said ‘we know you and where you live, we will kill you.”

Hours later Mr Etheridge and his brother James fled under the cover of darkness.

Tapiwa Mashakada, the MDC’s deputy secretary general, conceded the party had been unable to use its position to stop a “last minute” rush by ZANU PF to seize more land. “These are out of sync with the reality,” he said. “It will take some time but I sure we can restore confidence.”

Ousted farmers can’t believe they have lost their land just as the country is at a turning point. Rob Taylor has had to camp with a wardrobe and other possessions in the car park of his 12-year old daughter’s school before threats forced them into hiding. He said: “I’ve got nothing, I’m bust. I was 26 when this started nine years ago, maybe I should have gone somewhere new but I can’t leave now, it’s too close to the end.

“Agriculture is the engine of the Zimbabwean economy. The economy needs a boost to get started but you can’t kickstart it without the engine.”

President Mugabe, the champion of land seizure has denounced the invaders as “enemies” of Zimbabwe but his words had not been backed by action. The 85-year old made no effort to reign in the officials, judges, policemen and family members.

With harvests looming in the southern hemisphere, farmers believe high ranking ZANU PF figures are grabbing lucrative assets before the new government establishes its authority.

Mr Taylor’s former employees face a bleak future. “Since the white man was chased away we have never had a proper meal,” Margaret Ngoma said.

Foreign officials said the government is “at war” over the invasions. The status of farms is crucial to Zimbabwe‘s efforts to attract international aid to revive its bankrupt government.

Western diplomats said the ZANU PF Lands Minister Herbert Murerwa had conceded for the first time that Zimbabwe would compensate dozens of farmers who had lost property protected by bilateral investment treaties.

But the concession would not affect the claims of thousands of British, Commonwealth and white Zimbabwean farmers who had forfeited property since the land invasions began.

(Source)

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono has pledged second-hand vehicles to Members of Parliament pending the purchase of new cars by Treasury. He said the vehicles, which the central bank has been using in its programmes, would be released in batches. Dr Gono said this was a temporary measure to enable MPs to visit their constituencies in the course of their duties. “It is an interim measure. You will give us back our vehicles when the Finance Minister (Mr Tendai Biti) gets money to buy you new vehicles,” he said. President of the Senate Edna Madzongwe proposed that priority be given to new MPs.

(Source)

Zimbabwe‘s Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has dismissed as “false” an SABC TV3 Special Assignment documentary which aired horrifying footage exposing how prisons in the country have become death camps for thousands of inmates who are deprived of food and medical care. The documentary, shown on Tuesday’s night on South Africa‘s state broadcaster SABC3, documented the “living hell” for prisoners at Beitbridge, Khami and Chikurubi Maximum prisons. In an interview with RadioVOP on Wednesday, Chinamasa said the documentary, which shocked most Zimbabweans due to its horrifying pictures of gravely ill inmates, accused the SABC team of fabricating the story. “What was shown by the SABC3 is not true,” said Chinamasa. “The SABC is lying. We do not allow cameras into our prisons. We have made investigations and found out that the footage is not from Zimbabwean but other countries,” he said.

“The pictures shown are not from Zimbabwe prisons but elsewhere in Africa and these are being attributed to us. We know our prisons are facing challenges but that documentary was false. Also it is unethical for the SABC to show such pictures of foreign prisoners and attribute them to Zimbabwe. I want to re-state that no-one is allowed inside our prisons with cameras,” he said. But the SABC team said the film, made by SABC’s Special Assignment programme, was shot over three months with cameras smuggled into the prisons. The film showed how prison staff have converted cells and storage rooms to “hospital wards” for the dying and makeshift mortuaries, where bodies “rot on the floors with maggots moving all around”. In October last year the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO) released a report indicating that there were 55 prisons in Zimbabwe, with ae capacity to hold 17000 inmates. But in October 2008 it was estimated that more than 35000 people were in jail.

(Source)