Messages From Zimbabwe

ZANU PF Unity Accord survived one of its tumultuous tests in more than two decades of its existence after the blocking on Monday night of machinations intended at upsetting the pact by tempering with the composition of the presidium.

Although there is no written clause in the 1987 Unity Accord signed between the original ZANU PF and the former PF ZAPU, the united ZANU PF has maintained that the presidium should at all time comprises of four people from both revolutionary parties.

But in the run-up to the nominations for the post of national chairman, there were maneuvers to nominate non PF ZAPU leaders, prominent among them Didymus Mutasa who was nominated by Manicaland province.  

However, in an apparent move meant to preserve the Unity Accord, some senior party officials on Monday night moved with speed to whip into line cadres that wanted to parachute non-former PF ZAPU cadres into the Presidium.

ZANU PF called a crisis meeting of provincial leaders from the three Mashonaland province and Harare to arm-twist them into nominating Simon Khaya Moyo for national chairman instead of Mutasa, the party’s current secretary for administration.

It is understood that some hardliners in ZANU PF, miffed by the poor showing of the party in Matabeleland, wanted to upset the current arrangement by parachuting a non former PF ZAPU member, in a clear defiance of the gentleman’s agreement entered into between President Mugabe and the late vice President Joshua Nkomo.

“There was a crisis meeting on Monday night where the four provinces were whipped into line to nominate former PF ZAPU cadres into the presidium to save the unity accord from collapse as it is general felt that they should occupy two posts there,” said a source privy to the latest developments which saw John Nkomo and SK Moyo being nominated for the posts of second vice president and national chairman respectively.

Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, the political head of the ZANU PF Bulawayo province who was instrumental in the nomination of both Nkomo and SK Moyo, yesterday thanked the three Mashonaland and Harare for playing what he said was a major role in the salvation of the unity accord from being violated.

Ndlovu, who doubles up as the national secretary for education in the ZANU PF politburo, former PF ZAPU cadres were elated that the unity accord had been preserved.

“There is no victor nor vanquished,” he said. “We are celebrating the affirmation of unity and urge all party cadres to work together, former PF ZAPU and original ZANU PF. We should stop this regionalism and tribalism and be united as a party so that we win the next elections.”

On Monday, Ndlovu wrote to the ZANU PF leadership complaining about what the Bulawayo province felt was the abuse of the state media to “wrongly” influence other provinces that had awaited the direction from Matabeleland regarding the nominations for national chairman.

In their letter of complaint, the Bulawayo province chided Mutasa, saying he should have known better that he was not from former PF ZAPU.

“The position of National Chair although not written in the Unity Accord became former PF-ZAPU position by an unwritten agreement and by convention to balance the Presidium representation of the former ZANU-PF and PF- ZAPU,” said Ndlovu in the letter in our possession. 

“Comrade RG Mugabe President and Comrade Muzenda Vice President; represented former ZANU-PF; Comrade Joshua M Nkomo, Vice President and Comrade J Msika National Chairman, represented PF-ZAPU. PF-ZAPU Congress at the City Sports Centre in 1987 ratified this arrangement and this has been so all along. We strongly believe that the Unity arrangements must not be tampered with,” it added. 

Mutasa was not immediately available for comment but it remains to be seen whether the ZANU PF congress in December would retain Mutasa as secretary for administration or reassign him following his ambition that threatened to shake the foundation of the Unity Accord.

Observers say the composition of the new presidium further complicates the battle to President Mugabe.

Meanwhile ZANU PF announced to the state-owned Herald on Friday that it had shifted its dates for the annual congress from the first weekend of December to the second.

(Source)

Zimbabwe has started withdrawing soldiers from diamond fields in the east of the country after recommendations by the Kimberly Process and criticism over rights abuses, state media reported on Thursday.

The government deployed soldiers at the poorly secured diamond fields in Marange last year to seal off the area and clamp down on illegal mining, but rights activists say this resulted in serious rights abuses by the army.

A meeting in Namibia early this month of the Kimberly Process — which regulates the global diamond trade — voted to allow Zimbabwe to continue mining and trading in diamonds but gave it six months to improve conditions in Marange.

“As is evident at these (Marange) fields, there are no army officers or police details,” Mines Minister Obert Mpofu was quoted as saying by the state-controlled Herald newspaper during a tour of Marange by government ministers on Wednesday.

The government, through its mining arm Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, is mining diamonds in Marange in a joint venture with two little-known South African companies, Core Mining and Grandwell Holdings.

Mpofu said there was still room for more foreign investors to prospect for diamonds in Marange and across Zimbabwe.

“I want to urge all investors interested in diamond mining or other mining activities to come to Zimbabwe and work with the government,” he said.

In September Mpofu said the government would insist on a 50 percent shareholding in all diamond mining ventures, but it is unclear what stake the government holds in the Marange venture.

Mpofu is consulting industry officials on an eagerly awaited mining bill which investors had hoped would scrap the requirement for foreign mines to sell majority shares to locals.

Murowa mine in central Zimbabwe, majority owned by Rio Tinto, is the country’s largest diamond mine, while the privately run River Ranch mine is the second biggest.

(Source)

Zimbabwe’s government will next week start an audit of its workers to establish a credible payroll, following criticism that thousands of people who were not state employees were receiving salaries.

Critics have accused President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF of smuggling party supporters onto the government payroll in the past, especially youths from a national training programme blamed for unleashing election violence on the opposition.

Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro said on Wednesday the audit would be held from November 23 to December 18 but would not cover members of the security forces.

A report by the country’s auditor general published last month showed that the Ministry of Youth Empowerment and Indigenisation — which administers the controversial youth training programme — had more than 10,000 people on its payroll who were not employed by government.

“The idea is that government can vouch for the integrity of the payroll, audit staffing levels and eradicate irregularities if any,” Mukonoweshuro told journalists.

“The audit is not in any way or in any form a witch hunt. If mistakes are found, we want, as government to stand up and have the courage to look up to those mistakes.”

The $4 million for the audit would come from a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank.

Zimbabwe is under pressure to carry out extensive political and economic reforms after the formation of a unity government in February, but the new administration is yet to get critical funding from reluctant Western donors.

Mukonoweshuro said more than 200,000 people were employed by the government, most of them teachers, adding that the audit would also establish the extent of skills loss after thousands of Zimbabweans left the country for better paying jobs.

(Source)

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has defended land reforms blamed for plunging his people into starvation and lashed out at the West for imposing “inhuman sanctions.”

Addressing a UN food summit Tuesday, Mugabe said the policy under which thousands of white-owned commercial farms were seized in 2000 was a quest for “equity and justice.”

He blamed the subsequent meltdown of Zimbabwe’s economy on “hostile interventions” by “neo-colonialist enemies” that have imposed “illegal and inhuman sanctions.”

Western countries have slapped travel bans and asset freezes on Mugabe and his top aides. The ban does not apply to United Nations summits.

(Source)

The Solidarity Peace Trust has released four videos to the media showing the victims and testimonies of the horrific political violence last year towards the abborted Presidential election run-off.

The videos which were shot last year as the country’s political and economic crisis worsened, shows victims, mainly opposition supporters narrating their ordeals.

On two of the videos titled Democracy: Missing Presumed Dead and After the elections: A Crisis In Zimbabwe, supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), narrate the ordeals they went through, how they were abducted, beaten using various weapons that included chains, iron bars, whips while others were burnt under their feet with burning grass for supporting a ‘British’ funded party.

The other two videos are titled Death Of A Nation and A Marriage Of Inconvenience narrate the effects of the cholera epidemic and while the other video chronicles stages to the formation of the inclusive government.

The videos on violence shows property and houses that were burnt down and destroyed which were for MDC supporters in various parts of the country as ZANU PF supporters and state security agents reigned on anyone perceived to be an MDC supporter.

The role of the dreaded government spy agency the CIO, the police and the army is told in the videos, how they were using state institutions to suppress ordinary people and how they used cars without registration plates to abduct and kill opposition supporters.

Names of ZANU PF Members of Parliament, Newturn Kachepa, Edward Raradza, Saviour Kasukuwere are mentioned frequently in the testimonies by the victims of the political violence on their role in the violence against MDC supporters.

Mugabe’s presidential run-off election campaign last year was spearheaded and led by the military at the highest level leaving dozens dead, thousands displaced and resulted in Tsvangirai pulling out of the presidential race days before the polling day citing ‘unprecedented’ violence against his supporters by Mugabe’s ZANU PF supporters and state security agents.

The MDC has said over 200 of its supporters and officials were killed in the violence towards the presidential run-off election after the March general elections.

Although the government formed an organ on national healing and reconciliation led by the three political parties, victims of the violence have called for justice to be done and for the police to arrest perpetrators of violence.

The Solidarity Peace Trust is a Non-Governmental Organisation based in South Africa and led by church leaders in Southern Africa who are committed to human rights, freedom and democracy. The trust has already documented rights abuses in Zimbabwe in the past years.

(Source)

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has called for the immediate resignation of the co-ministers of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi and Giles Mtsekwa after police wrongfully arrested the labour body’s leadership in Vic Falls this week.

ZCTU president Lovemore Matombo together with Michael Kandukutu, Percy Mcijo, Dumisani Ncube and Nawu Ndlovu were arrested in the resort town on Sunday night for holding meetings with workers without police approval.

But a magistrate on Thursday dropped charges against them on the grounds that under the notorious Public Order and Security Act (POSA) trade unions were exempted from seeking police authority to hold meetings with their respective membership.

Matombo and the four unionists were freed on Thursday, much to the delight of the ZCTU membership.

But in a hard-hitting statement on Thursday night, ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe said Mohadi and Mutsekwa should quit the inclusive government for allegedly letting the nation down by wrongly applied POSA.

“It is heartbreaking that innocent people had to spend four nights in filthy police cells and only freed after the intervention of the courts,” said Chibebe. “The ZCTU expresses its disappointment in the actions of the inclusive government, particularly those of the co-Ministers of Home Affiars Giles Mutsekwa and Kembo Mohadi.

As stated in our previous statements, the two gentlemen have failed this nation. The best present they can offer Zimbabweans is to resign.” However, Chibebe said the ZCTU welcomed the court’s ruling that the police had no business disrupting the ZCTU meeting and arresting innocent trade unionists.

“The police should be undoubtedly ashamed of their actions. The comments made by the police through state owned media that the ZCTU should have sought police clearance before holding the meeting smack of a police force that acts on political decisions and not on whether one has a case to answer or not.

This is not the kind of police that Zimbabweans want, but unfortunately we have to live with such. This points to the fact that we definitely need to reform the police so that we have a professional non-partisan force.”

(Source)

Old Mutual says its investments are dictated by profit and not political considerations.

The insurance giant was reacting to a call to shed its investment in the Zimbabwean company that prints the Mugabe government’s propaganda mouthpiece, The Herald newspaper.

“Our investments are made for the benefit of our policyholders, meant to meet needs and expectations in terms of return and not contingent upon political consideration,” OM Zimbabwe group chief executive Luke Ngwerume said in a statement on Wednesday.” (SAPA)

Anyone who has been living in Southern Africa for more than an hour would be aware of the atrocities that have been committed by the ZANU PF and President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe in order to cling to power.

One of the most important cogs in the machinery that they employ in order to achieve this is the Mugabe mouthpiece The Herald.

It ensures that only the information and disinformation he wants circulated goes out to the people through the major newspaper of that country.

Moreover the government censor, to a large degree, anyone who dares to take up an anti-government position.

This is not rocket science and everyone knows it.

Accordingly Old Mutual is acutely aware that this particular investment of theirs is occasioning untold hardship on the people of that country.

Personally I was shocked to hear that one of our major corporates was involved with a Mugabe propaganda machine.

It is totally unacceptable.

What is worse is that they try to justify the indefensible by saying that they have a duty to their shareholders to ensure that they retain profitable assets and anyway it’s an investment dictated by money not politics.

What a load of crap.

There are many corporate monsters that have tried singing the exact same song before and their conduct was equally disgusting. Let’s look at one example.

Zyklon-B was a commercial rodenticide and pesticide in common use before World War II. The active lethal ingredient in the product is hydrogen cyanide, which is deadly to warm-blooded animals in very low concentrations, and to insects in considerably higher concentrations.

DEGESCH (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schädlingsbekämpfung mbH / German Vermin Controlling Company), a subsidiary of IG Farben 4, licensed two German companies for the manufacture and distribution of Zyklon-B: Tesch und Stabenow (Testa) and Heerdt-Lingler (Heli).

Zyklon-B was also manufactured in one of its forms in the United States by the American Cyanamid Company 5 under licence from the patent holders, I.G. Farben.

Hydrogen cyanide has historically been employed for the destruction of rodents and insect pests.

When, however, the Nazis were looking for an effective method of gassing the Jews and other undesirables in their concentration camps they chose Zyklon-B as the most suitable for that purpose.

As a result huge orders went out to the suppliers who naturally also considered themselves indebted to their shareholders and only interested in profits and not politics.

Or that’s their version and they’re sticking to it.

If the comparison makes anyone uncomfortable it’s meant to.

In Zimbabwe we have 5 million people on the brink of starvation, political murder, millions in exiles and on and on.

The part that The Herald has played in promoting Mugabe and the ZANU PF can never be underestimated. Despite millions starving, other millions leaving the country and their countrymen’s terrible suffering they simply keep pumping out the “good word”.

Old Mutual is an insurance company which weighs up risk very carefully before spending their money. In order to do this they need information in depth.

Accordingly if they invested heavily in The Herald they know far more about the horrendous goings on in Zimbabwe than almost anyone else.

Yet they say they are not concerned about politics merely profits.

I hope they’ve heard of Dormicum or falling asleep every night must be a bitch.

(Source)

Defense lawyers for a top prime minister’s aide can raise torture allegations at his trial, a judge ruled Wednesday in a case that has shaken Zimbabwe’s troubled coalition government.

Judge Chinembiri Bhunu also ruled that a weapons dealer can testify at Roy Bennett’s trial, setting the stage for lawyers to spar over his testimony and how it was obtained once the proceedings begin in earnest Thursday.

The weapons case against Bennett, a top aide to Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, stems from allegations of a plot to topple President Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai says the charges are baseless and part of efforts by Mugabe loyalists to undermine the coalition formed in February between the longtime rivals.

Bennett’s lawyers say weapons dealer Peter Michael Hitschmann, who is the main prosecution witness, was not only tortured but also did not implicate Bennett during his own trial.

Hitschmann was arrested in 2006 and initially accused of plotting to assassinate Mugabe. Bennett had not been linked to the case until his arrest in February.

Hitschmann was cleared on charges of treason and “possessing weapons for the purpose of terrorism,” the same charges Bennett faces that carry a possible death sentence or life imprisonment if convicted. Hitschmann spent 2 1/2 years in jail on lesser charges of possessing illegal weapons.

Zimbabwe’s neighbors had pressed for the coalition to be formed after a series of inconclusive elections marred by violence blamed on Mugabe loyalists, saying the country’s factions needed to stop bickering and find solutions to their economic and political crises.

Tsvangirai temporarily withdrew from the coalition because of the case against Bennett among other issues. Last week, South Africa and other neighbors called a summit at which they persuaded Tsvangirai to end his boycott.

Ayanda Ntsaluba, the top civil servant in South Africa’s foreign ministry, told reporters Tuesday that leaders at the summit made clear that they believed “the political leadership of Zimbabwe must not squander what appears to be the opportunity, perhaps their only opportunity, to pull the country out of the abyss.”

Ntsaluba said that outside countries had to step carefully though.

“We are dealing with people who really have been at war with one another virtually, and that the levels of trust are not exactly where you would want them to be,” Ntsaluba said.

(Source)

Parliament will today debate a motion for leave to introduce a Private Members Bill that will amend a draconian security law used by the previous government to restrict political activity by pro-democracy groups and individuals.

The historic motion, which was introduced by Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) House of Assembly Chief Whip Hon Innocent Gonese, MP and seconded by Hon Tabitha Khumalo, the MP for Bulawayo East on Thursday, faces stiff resistance from ZANU PF MPs who for the last decade have been religiously spared the use of the draconian Public Order and Security Act (POSA) by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, at the expense of other democratic forces.

POSA, a revised and strengthened version of the colonial Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA), regulates political gatherings, forces individuals and groups to notify police before any gathering, and penalises one’s failure to carry identity documents among other things.

“We want to de-criminalise the requirement of moving around with identity documents,” said Hon Gonese.

Many members of the House spoke passionately about the negative and unjustifiable effects POSA has had on their own and on the public’s freedom of expression, assembly, association and movement.

“It’s a motion for leave of the house to bring in a Bill to amend POSA. We want the House to amend specific clauses such as Clasue 2 which Parly to amend POSA? deals with the definition of public gatherings and Clause 14 which deals with breach of peace to include the word ‘serious’ so that it deals with serious breaches only,” said Hon Gonese.

“Failure to give notice to the police before a gathering should not constitute a criminal offence,” added Hon Gonese.

He added that the courts and not the police should be responsible for prohibiting gatherings or imposing bans, and only on just cause.

In the past police have erroneously interpreted the notification requirement to mean an application for pernission to hold a meeting.

Debate on the motion was adjourned to tomorrow.

Hon Gonese said a simple majority is required for the motion to sail through.

Democratic space in Zimbabwe remains severely restricted due to a plethora of laws that inhibit freedom of assembly, movement and speech.

A transitional government formed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe has been slow in implementing reforms which include repealing draconian legislation nine months into the new administration.

STATISTICS ON THE USE OF POSA AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS 2003

o There were 55 cases involving the arrest and detention of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs), involving a total of 822 HRDs.

o Of the 822 HRDs arrested, 274 individuals were charged under POSA.

o None of them were successfully prosecuted by the State 2004.

o A total of 155 HRDs were charged under POSA.

o None of them were successfully prosecuted by the State 2005.

o A total of 547 HRDs were arrested during this year.

o 52 of the HRDs were charged under POSA.

o None of them were successfully prosecuted by the State 2006.

o A total of 577 HRDs were arrested during the year.

o Of these, 65 HRDs were charged under POSA.

o None of them were successfully prosecuted by the State 2007.

o There were 96 cases of arrest and detention of HRDs, involving a total of 1,127 individuals.

o POSA was used in just 5 instances, owing to the advent of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, which duplicated POSA in entire sections.

o As such, the Code was used in 24 instances of arrest and detention.

o None of the HRDs were successfully prosecuted by the state – either under POSA or the Criminal Code 2008.

o There were 1,446 instances of arrest and detention of HRDs.

o Of these, 271 were charged with participating in unlawful gatherings and were charged under either POSA or the Criminal Code.

o None of the cases finalised have been successfully prosecuted by the State 2009.

o At least 125 people have so far been arrested and accused of participating in gatherings and charged under either POSA or various provisions of the Criminal Code.

o None of the cases thus far have been successfully prosecuted by the State, save for one instance in which the HRDs paid admission of guilt fines.

This was to secure their release and avoid being detained in inhumane and degrading conditions in police cells. The admission of guilt fines are now being challenged by the affected HRDs in the Magistrates’ Court.

(Source)

Prosecutors want to prevent a top aide to Zimbabwe’s prime minister from arguing that evidence against him in a weapons trial was obtained through torture.

Roy Bennett’s trial, which has strained Zimbabwe’s coalition government, opened Monday with the attorney general asking the judge to bar a defense argument.

Bennett’s lawyers say the weapons dealer who is the main prosecution witness was not only tortured, but did not implicate Bennett during his own trial.

The weapons dealer was arrested in 2006 and initially accused of plotting to assassinate longtime President Robert Mugabe. Bennett had not been linked to the case until his arrest in February.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says “the malicious prosecution” of Bennett must stop.

(Source)