Messages From Zimbabwe

Police yesterday released 23 more names of suspected armed robbers who top the list of Zimbabwe’s most wanted criminals.

This brings the total number to 40 of criminals wanted by the police for committing armed robberies countrywide.

The 23 are Peter Mujuru, Gift Gibson Mwale (alias Give Tyres), George Whyte, Fero Gurudza, Tavengwa Mashitara, Steven Biti, Richard Timba, Nhau Tenje, News Dalikeni, Donald Neshamba, Benous Kachingamire, Jabulani Gwenze, Godfrey Mahlunge, Norman Kwarira, Gift Chitambo, Tinashe Java, Ray Machokoto, Ephraim Java, Jack January, Chancellor Tandi, Tonderai Ngoshi, Tafadzwa Tanyanyiwa and one identified only as Munetsi.

Chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said the suspects were wanted for robberies that occurred in and around Harare and other parts of the country.

Some of them were released on bail a few years ago and are believed to be masterminding the recent heists.

Last week police said they were looking for Charles Vindura, Tawanda Migodhi, Kevin Muza, Stanley Matsika, Musa Taj Abdul, Gilbert Kambaza, Noel Nyamapfeka, Dan Matore, Godfrey Godzebvu, Marshal Vudlani and George Khumalo.

(Source)

Zimbabwe’s former opposition party said Monday it would boycott the next Cabinet meeting and was considering disengaging from a troubled, four-month-old unity government with President Robert Mugabe.

The Movement for Democratic Change has complained about continued harassment and arrests of Mugabe’s opponents and his unilateral appointments of top officials.

Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, bitter rivals, formed their coalition in February, pressed by neighbours to end a decade of violent confrontation and work together to resolve the southern African nation’s severe economic crisis.

MDC Vice President Thokozani Khupe said the latest irritant came Monday, when Mugabe rescheduled the weekly Cabinet meeting from Wednesday to Monday because he was going to be out of town for an African Union summit in Libya. At a news conference, Khupe depicted that as a snub to Tsvangirai, her party’s leader, saying he should have chaired the meeting in Mugabe’s absence.

Mugabe’s party “has not welcomed MDC as an equal partner,” said Khupe, a deputy prime minister in the unity government.

Khupe said her party would boycott the rescheduled Cabinet meeting, but remained “committed to the (coalition) agreement in the interest of our people” despite “clear evidence of the absence of a reliable and honest partner.”

She did not say when MDC ministers would resume attending Cabinet meetings.

“It is our constitutional right to consider disengagement,” she said. “It is time toxicity and insanity are removed (from the coalition).”

The MDC has asked the Southern African Development Community, which pushed for the coalition government to be formed, to intervene. It is asking for help in resolving issues such as Mugabe’s appointment of loyalists as the central bank governor and the attorney general, the arrests of and attacks on independent rights activists and MDC lawmakers, and the seizures of white-owned farms.

Khupe said Mugabe loyalists had also frustrated democratic and media reforms.

The Southern African Development Community, though, has said it did not see a reason to step in now.

Tsvangirai was returning Monday from a tour of the West that has focused new attention on tensions in the unity government.

Mugabe is barred by travel restrictions from visiting the countries on Tsvangirai’s itinerary, and the leaders with whom the premier had cordial talks - among them President Barack Obama - accuse Mugabe of trampling on democracy and ruining a once-vibrant economy.

Zimbabwe’s state-run Herald newspaper has reported that some officials aligned to Mugabe were worried about Obama’s reference to building a new partnership not with the coalition government, but with Tsvangirai, a former opposition leader who has been beaten and jailed by Mugabe’s regime.

Tsvangirai says his three-week trip was aimed at re-engaging with the West, while officials linked to Mugabe have tried to portray it as an attempt to persuade the international community to lift sanctions.

In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, Zimbabwe’s Vice President Joice Mujuru, a Mugabe loyalist, expressed frustration that Tsvangirai’s European and U.S. trip didn’t raise as much financial aid as her government had hoped.

(Source)

Zimbabwe’s vice president on Friday expressed frustration that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s European and U.S. trip didn’t raise as much financial aid as her government had hoped, but called it a “quite successful” first step.

Joice Mujuru, who fought alongside President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe’s war of independence, told The Associated Press that the government had hoped Tsvangirai’s nearly three-week trip, which just ended in Paris, would have produced “more financial support, but being the first, it’s a positive move.”

She said it is being quickly followed up by ministerial visits to key countries and an investment conference to generate financial support for the new coalition government.

Tsvangirai launched the tour saying he wasn’t carrying a begging bowl but wanted to mend his nation’s relations with Western leaders, who accuse Mugabe of trampling on democracy and ruining a once-vibrant economy. Many Western nations want Mugabe to step down and are reluctant to offer Zimbabwe major aid or donate money directly to the government.

When Tsvangirai visited Britain this week, Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged 5 million pounds ($8.2 million) in new aid for food projects and textbooks — to be distributed by charities. Officials in France offered political support but said any new aid would focus on non-governmental organizations and not go directly to the government. Tsvangirai left Washington after meeting President Barack Obama with only a promise of $73 million in conditional aid.

Mujuru expressed frustration at Western reluctance to help the power-sharing government directly, saying Zimbabwe needs a “huge financial injection” — estimated by the Ministry of Finance at US$8 billion.

Longtime rivals Mugabe and Tsvangirai have pledged to work together to confront Zimbabwe’s crippling poverty, collapsed utilities and chronic shortages of food and basic goods. Zimbabwe has had the highest inflation rate in the world, thousands have died during a major cholera outbreak, and much of the population goes to bed hungry. Many blame Mugabe, but have been increasingly critical of Tsvangirai.

Mujuru said that for almost 10 years, the government and opposition “were at each other … but now we have decided to come together and work well” in an inclusive government.

The former rivals have the same message — “come and help us, now we are ready to work together and improve our economy and improve the living conditions of our people,” she said.

“I thought by just being one inclusive government sharing the same ideas and programs of government is a big plus on our side, and that’s where the world should come to our aid,” Mujuru said. “But still the world is saying, you are not yet ready.”

The new government is “stretching the hand of friendship” to the West and the rest of the world, just as Obama has said he is ready to stretch his hand out to opponents, she said.

“My president is actually saying, ‘let’s build bridges,’” Mujuru said. “So I don’t know how they expect us to start building the bridges.”

“How do you want us to show the world that we are ready?” Mujuru asked.

Western countries cite the slow pace of reform since the coalition government took power, the trials of activists on trumped up charges, claims that security forces still use force to crush political opponents, and other human rights violations.

Mujuru said “Yes, we still have those isolated cases of violence, but mind you, some of them are very criminal.”

“It’s not everything that is political,” she said, noting that one lawmaker from Tsvangirai’s party who is under arrest is accused of raping a 13-year-old girl.

She said parliament is currently recruiting for three commissions that respond to western concerns — a human rights commission, an anti-corruption commission, and a media commission.

Although Tsvangirai didn’t get the kind of financial support the government hoped for on his trip, Mujuru said “I think it was quite successful.”

“We have leads that need follow-up and so the beginning is very important,” she said.

Mujuru said the government sent the foreign minister, the finance minister, the minister of economic planning and others to visit EU and some non-EU countries starting last week in Brussels to “tell our story as a unity government, because we are not understood by many …”

The government also announced this week that it will be holding an investment conference in late July in Harare, she said.

“It’s a chance for the world to come over and see what is happening on the ground,” Mujuru said.

While Zimbabwe is a former British colony with links to the West, she said, the government is ready to do business with countries from the East.

In addition to being one of two vice presidents in the unity government, Mujuru is a vice president in Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, and according to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, she is considered a potential successor to 85-year-old Mugabe.

“That’s a huge compliment,” Mujuru said laughing when asked about succeeding the president.

“I don’t think there’s any politician who doesn’t have ambition,” she said. “As long as it’s a process that is taken through my party democratically, like the way I was brought in as vice president, who am I to say no? This shows that being a politician, I live up to ambition. So? I’ll be ready once the proper process is followed.”

(Source)

President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday put an end to the succession debate in ZANU PF ahead of its December congress by asserting that he will stay put and declaring that there will be no change of guard in the party’s top leadership until there is “better unity”.

Impeccable sources in ZANU PF told the Zimbabwe Independent that the ageing Mugabe told his party’s central committee that he will not vacate office when “enemies” were waging a war against him - halting the succession debacle that has threatened to split the party down the middle over the past five years.

Mugabe’s declaration, the sources said, also laid bare last month’s appointment by the politburo of a committee headed by national chairman John Nkomo to come up with a succession plan.

There are two factions in ZANU PF battling to influence the party’s successor to Mugabe who has been at its helm since 1977.

Politburo member, retired army general Solomon Mujuru, allegedly leads a faction pushing for his wife Joice to replace Mugabe, while another camp, reportedly headed by party legal secretary Emmerson Mnangagwa, wants the defence minister to take over from the octogenarian president.

The succession crisis in ZANU PF reached a crescendo on May 20 during a politburo meeting when bigwigs attributed problems besieging the party to infighting and divisions by senior officials bent on grabbing power from Mugabe.

Party heavyweights who clashed during the heated meeting were, among others, Vice-president Joice Mujuru, Solomon Mujuru, Mnangagwa, administration secretary Didymus Mutasa, women’s secretary Oppah Muchinguri, and politburo members Rugare Gumbo, Thokozile Mathuthu and Saviour Kasukuwere.

The clash prompted the convening of another politburo meeting on May 28 where Nkomo’s committee, among others, was appointed to come up a succession plan.

The plan, ZANU PF sources said, would not be in place before the party’s six-day congress that begins on December 18 and that Mugabe’s declaration on Wednesday had put an end to the succession issue for the time being.

During the central committee meeting - which also discussed the constitution-making process, the work of the all-inclusive government and the recent trip to Europe and the United States by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai - Mugabe spoke about jostling for power in ZANU PF.

The sources said the 85-year-old Mugabe claimed there were also exogenous forces who wanted him out of power.

One of the sources quoted Mugabe saying: “The British are saying Mugabe must go, but I am saying, where are they saying go? I will not go. When people are united, when people have ownership of their resources like land, there is no reason why we will not decide to have a new leadership.

But not when enemies are waging a war against you. You don’t go.”

The source added that Mugabe implied that there should be no change of leadership in ZANU PF - a move that may result in Joice Mujuru retaining her post as vice-president of the party at the congress and avert current efforts by Muchinguri and members of the Women’s League from ousting her.

This also entails that ailing Vice-President Joseph Msika, whom Mugabe described in the central committee meeting as “very weak”, would be forced to retain his position. Nkomo would also remain national chairperson.

“We must be united. People (in ZANU PF) are preoccupied with planning who will be where, by such a time. That will be decided when we are better united,” Mugabe was quoted saying.

Last week, the Independent wrote that the Mujuru camp wanted to seek an audience with Mugabe to stop the ouster of Joice and other members of the faction from the politburo and the central committee during the congress.

Mugabe, according to the sources, said the push for a new constitution was another ploy by the MDC and the West to effect regime change.

“You see how the West hates you, how they hate me and they hate ZANU PF. You see the love between the MDC and the West,” the source quoted Mugabe saying. “All these issues about a new constitution are processes by people who think this is what will get them into power.”

Other sources in ZANU PF said despite Mugabe’s declaration on Wednesday, the succession crisis was expected to intensify at various forthcoming events leading to the congress in December.

ZANU PF will hold its Youth League congress from July 17-19, the Women’s League congress on August 26-29 and the main congress from December 8-13.

Sources said Mugabe’s position may influence the outcome of the youth and women’s congresses.

“From a constitutional point of view, Mugabe’s declaration is null and void as the provinces nominate people to occupy offices in the presidium,” one of the sources said. “But as you know, whatever Mugabe says goes. No one can challenge him in the party.”

Before Mugabe’s declaration, sweeping changes were expected to take place in the youth and women’s leagues that would have resulted in Muchinguri being elected vice-president of the party at the main December congress ahead of Mujuru who is accused of working with the Tsvangirai-led MDC-T and of backing last year’s independent presidential candidate Simba Makoni.

Muchinguri was expected to fight it out with cabinet minister Olivia Muchena to head the Women’s League and automatically secure membership in the politburo as secretary for women affairs. Muchena is linked to the Mujuru faction.

The leadership of the Youth League is also expected to be overhauled in line with the party’s constitution that states that office bearers should be below the age of 30.

(Source)

Last week I had the opportunity of making a comment on webcam with France 24 reporter Julien Pain about the video that appeared online which depicted the instructors at Tomlinson Depot in Harare beating the recruits.

The France 24 report can be seen here.

Another Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) high ranking official, Mayor of Gweru Councilor Desmond Fungayi Mufunde has died

Councilor Desmond Fungayi Mufunde died in Harare on Sunday, a day after the death of seasoned politician and senator for Gweru urban, Patrick Kombayi.

The mayor died at the age of 61 and is survived by his wife and four children, according to a statement by Gweru Town Clerk Daniel Matawu.

“We are in great sorrow to learn of the death of our mayor who died on Sunday evening after a long illness. The council joins Mufunde in mourning the deceased because their loss is ours. Funeral arrangements will be announced in due course,” he said.

He said mourners were  gathered at 120 Umsungwe Avenue in Ridgmount in Gweru. The deceased was scheduled to be buried on Wednesday.

(Source)

The $8 million in food and educational assistance pledged Monday by Britain brings the total raised by Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to about $115 million.

It falls far short of the seven-to-eight billion dollar figure Zimbabwe government officials say is needed to rebuild the nation.

Like other countries visited during Mr. Tsvangirai’s three weeks in Europe and North America, Britain told the prime minister it wants Harare to take further steps toward democratization and economic reform, including a new constitution and new elections, before more substantial aid would be forthcoming.

Economics Professor Tony Hawkins of the University of Zimbabwe says that given the realities of his mission, Mr. Tsvangirai probably fared as well as could be expected.

“From a strictly realistic viewpoint, he’s done as well as you might have expected. Expectations here were really quite low as to what he could achieve because of all the problems on the ground,” he noted.

With state-controlled media in Zimbabwe heavily supportive of long-time President Robert Mugabe, Professor Hawkins says the Tsvangirai mission also stirred low expectations in public opinion and drew sparse coverage at home.

“When you see the state media, the media that’s still loyal to Mr. Mugabe, it’s enjoying what it sees as Tsvangirai’s failure, and therefore, one gets the impression that they see the failure of the mission, as they would portray it, as being a setback for Tsvangirai,” he explained.

Mr. Tsvangirai, a champion of electoral reform, received a warm personal welcome in Britain, Germany, Belgium, Norway, and the United States. But Hawkins points out that many of those abroad who met with Tsvangirai repeatedly voiced concern that the promise of last year’s Global Political Agreement (GPA) that produced a Zimbabwe unity government was proceeding too slowly.

“I think the meeting that he held in Southwark Cathedral in London over the weekend, at which he took a fair bit of criticism from the audience, who kept shouting, ‘change, change’ at him, this was evidence of how people felt, that the new government hasn’t changed very much, and that there’s disappointment. Therefore, what he did achieve is probably about as much as you could have expected,” he said.

While donor countries visited by Prime Minister Tsvangirai restating their willingness to pledge additional aid if reform efforts intensify, Professor Hawkins says substantial international assistance will be linked to Harare’s conduct in human rights and concerns about press freedom.

“I think it really boils down to progress on the law and order side, human rights, all these issues of people being arrested, particularly human rights, demonstrators and activists, and so on. The other area, of course, is the area of the media, where so much attention is being paid to the clamps on the media that appear to be still in place,” claimed Hawkins.

On the issue of land ownership, the University of Zimbabwe economist says he does not believe that efforts to change the practices of the previous ZANU-PF government will be made in order to attract greater foreign donor aid. “There’s no real momentum for changes in land ownership,” he says. “I don’t think many people tie it to the attainment of implosive aid. I think they’re seen as two very separate issues.”

(Source)

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has defended his support of President Robert Mugabe in an interview with the BBC.

His comments came a day after he was booed off stage at an address for more than 1,000 Zimbabwean exiles in London.

Mr Tsvangirai admitted the widely-criticised land reforms where white farmers were forced from their land had been a “disaster”.

He is on a tour of Europe and the US to lobby for relief funds for Zimbabwe.

He joined a unity government with Mr Mugabe in February following disputed elections in the poverty-stricken country.

‘Extraordinary experience’

Mr Tsvangirai, who had in the past been badly beaten by pro-Mugabe forces as leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said he understood why there was surprise over his co-operation with the president.

“It was the same with me, it was an extraordinary experience. I have a weekly meeting with him, as prime minister and president, we meet in cabinet. We meet whenever I want to meet him.

“We all know of a post-conflict situation. We had a similar experience in 1980, Mugabe declared reconciliation with the very same enemies he was fighting. In South Africa Nelson Mandela did the same.”

He said the country’s president, who has ruled the landlocked former British colony since 1980, had accepted there need to be changes.

“Mr Mugabe has already moved, he has already accepted that this is a process of transition and after two years we should go for an election.

“It will be a fair election because we are transforming the electoral environment. We are transforming the institutions that were used to abuse people.”

Mr Tsvangirai said the last 10 years of land reform - which has included the forced ejection of white farmers from their land - had “not been perfect” before admitting it had in fact been “a disaster”.

He said: “It has been a disaster. We all accept that, across the political divide.” But he said the government would still work towards a more “equitable” system of land ownership.

Mr Tsvangirai, who was booed by Zimbabweans at an address at Southwark Cathedral where he urged exiles to return to the country, said he understood why people were cautious about returning.

“I understand very well, I understand some of them left under circumstances of involuntary exile for themselves because of the circumstances back then.”

Ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Mr Tsvangirai said he would ask the British government for financial support to help the country through its transitional phase.

Mr Tsvangirai’s UK visit is the final stage of a tour of Europe and the US.

(Source)

Zimbabwe football legend Shackman Tauro has died on Wednesday, just 11 days shy of his 50th birthday.

The former CAPS United and Zimbabwe national striker passed away at Harare’s St Anne’s Hospital Wednesday night after a short illness.

Popularly known as “Mr Goals”, Tauro is widely regarded as one of the greatest players to have graced Zimbabwean football. Zifa chairman Wellington Nyatanga, who announced Tauro’s death on Thursday, described him as a “legend” and a “hero” of local football.

Tauro’s heyday was during the 1970s, when his extraordinary goal-scoring instincts illuminated the local soccer scene while he was turning out for CAPS Rovers, who later changed their name to CAPS United.

Tauro helped CAPS Rovers to gain promotion into the then first division in 1977, five seasons after the club’s management had spotted his potential while the team was still playing in the lower divisions.

In fact, Tauro joined CAPS in 1972 when the club was in third division and at that time he was receiving his primary school education at Rusvingo School in Harare’s high-density suburb of Highfield.

And on his very first outing for CAPS, Tauro, whose soccer career blossomed at Zororo Youth Centre in Highfield, grabbed a hat-trick.

That was a remarkable achievement because Tauro had only turned 14 a few weeks before the match.

In fact, he was lucky to make the team on that day because one of CAPS Rovers officials had objected to his selection because of his youth.

His role in CAPS United’s success was first recognized by his becoming the Soccer Star of the Year in 1979.

After that, he was one of the first players to don the senior national team jersey soon after the attainment of Independence on April 18, 1980.

A then hard-up youngster from Highfield, Tauro was the toast of the newly-born independent State of Zimbabwe.

He hammered in two goals in Zimbabwe’s 6-0 trouncing of Mozambique, and nodded home the winner in the four-nation Independence Tournament final against Zambia on April 21, 1980 at Rufaro.

In the match against Zambia, Tauro grabbed a moment of soccer glory for himself and the nation when he headed in Zimbabwe’s winning goal in the final minute to send an estimated 40,000 crowd ecstatic at Rufaro.

Tauro’s most memorable footballing moment, though, came on June 2, 1977, when he banged in six goals against Kaizer Chiefs during a North Zone Select team match against the South African glamour side.

Tauro became popularly known as “Mr Goals” in 1982 after he notched 28 goals to clinch the Mr Strong Top Goalscorer of the Year award.

Tauro won numerous caps for Zimbabwe, scoring more than a dozen goals for the senior national side until a knee injury forced him to hang up his boots in 1988.

May 1996 saw Tauro moving on to the now-defunct Premiership side Arcadia United, joining them as head coach only for him to rejoin CAPS United in June 1997.

He subsequently had spells with lower division side Circle United and the women’s national team - the Mighty Warriors.

At the time of his death, Tauro was involved in running Premiership side Shooting Stars.

(Source)