Messages From Zimbabwe

THE MDC unreservedly condemns the continued manufacturing of malicious documents alleging non-existent, imaginary and concocted power struggles and factions at the party’s headquarters at Harvest House in Harare.

We note with serious concern the smear campaign by shadowy offices in Zanu PF to malign President Morgan Tsvangirai and Secretary-general Hon Tendai Biti by alleging they are involved in a non-existent power struggle.

A document manufactured by the traditional enemies of the real change agenda is currently in circulation linking the recent disturbances at Harvest House to two “factions.”

Apparently, there is only one united leadership and one faction in the MDC; the gigantic faction of a collective unit of patriotic Zimbabweans fighting to bring real change to the people; the gigantic faction of a common, collective idea of real change.

What has happened at Harvest house are disturbances to do with administrative issues which the leadership is currently seized with.

The culprits have since been suspended and an independent Commission has been set up to carry out a comprehensive probe.

These are internal hygiene issues that a gigantic and mass-based party like the MDC can deal with.

Unfortunately, these disturbances have provided an avenue for the traditional enemies of the people’s project to transport and relocate factionalism from its permanent home in Zanu PF to the MDC.

We also note that there are exogenously sponsored units traveling across the provinces to manufacture, promote and market images and impressions of a party riven with factionalism.

As a party, we understand the frustrations of those who were defeated at the last election, but defeat should not be an excuse to indulge in shameful smear campaigns.

Fortunately, the people’s project remains firmly on course. The people’s project cannot be easily waylaid or hijacked by perpetual naysayers.

The struggle for real change is our compass and we owe it to our departed colleagues to achieve a new Zimbabwe and a new beginning.

We owe it to Thabitha Marume, Getrude Mthombeni, Tonderai Machiridza and all those who have been killed, displaced or maimed over the years in their pursuit for real change and democracy.

The MDC continues to entrench itself in the hearts and minds of the people of Zimbabwe.

We are a party with its roots anchored in the people. We continue to hold massive and successful real change rallies in both urban and rural areas to strengthen our ties with the people.

We know that Zanu PF would wish to export its endemic disease of regionalism and factionalism to the MDC.

But no amount of daydreaming and hallucinations in the enemy’s camp will distract us from our historical mission to deliver real change.

(Source)

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday denounced politically motivated violence and made a passionate appeal to people in Gweru to participate in the constitution making process.

Tsvangirai had gone to Gweru to console the families of Renson Gasela and Lyson Mlambo who were killed in a car accident last Saturday together with Ntombizodwa Gumbo.

The three and other eight people who were injured in the accident which happened along Gweru-Zvishavane Road, belong to the smaller Movement for Democratic Change faction led by Arthur Mutambara (MDC-M).

Tsvangirai’s speech was punctuated with applause from an appreciative crowd that had gotten wind of his impending visit.

One mourner, shouting in a deep Karanga accent summed up the mood of the crowd as the Prime Minister concluded his delivery,”Save dotihwirai ngoni takarashika kare zviya.”Prime Minister please have mercy on your lost flock.” He was probably referring to the MDC split of 2005.

Addressing mourners at the Mlambo family home, Tsvangirai retraced his friendship with the late Lyson to 1988 when they first met at Midlands Hotel in Gweru at a Trade Union congress. Tsvangirai was representing the Associated Mine Workers Union while Mlambo was a branch leader of the Urban Councils Union then led  by former Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Florence Chitauro.

It was at that congress that a 36 year old Morgan Tsvangirai was elected Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions then led by Mr Jerry Mutandare as President.

In his speech which was met with deafening applause, Tsvangirai said,”Political differences notwithstanding, the fact that we are all Zimbabweans is what should bring us together. We differed politically with Lyson in 2005 but that does not change the illustrious role he played in an endeavour to bring about democratic change in Zimbabwe. I am here to say to Lyson you lived a fruitful life and it is time for you to take a well deserved rest. Go well old man.”

Tsvangirai had earlier in a statement released by his party, lamented the poor state of Zimbabwe’s major roads describing them as “rivers of blood and highways of death”.

“Week in week out, month in month out, blood continues to spill on Zimbabwe’s highways of death. Zimbabwe’s roads have become rivers of blood and death cages.”

“Innocent people have perished on our roads and on our railways; far too many to warrant urgent action from the inclusive government. The MDC calls on the inclusive government to take these accidents as wake-up calls to deal decisively with the carnage on our highways which has become a loud indictment on the state of the national road network.”

The party also called for “a special investigation into the toll gate fees that continue to be collected but with no improvement on the state of our roads”.

Gasela was among the MDC’s founding national executive members as the party’s secretary for Lands and Agriculture. Prior to getting into full time politics, he served as a general manager at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).

Despite the issues that saw Gasela leaving the party in 2005, the MDC described him as a “a committed and patriotic Zimbabwean who fought for many years to bring real change to the people of this country”.

“He was a democrat, a patriot and a staunch defender of human rights who wanted to see positive change in the country of his birth,” the party said.

“Since 1999, Gasela has always been on the vanguard; responding to the clarion call to save his country from the vagaries of Zanu PF misgovernance and corruption. We cherish his legacy of fighting for a better Zimbabwe.”

Mlambo and Gumbo were expected to be buried on Wednesday while Gasela will be laid to rest at his farm near Gweru on Sunday.

(Source)

Australia has suffered a stunning one-run loss against Zimbabwe in their opening T20 World Cup warm-up game at the Beausejour Stadium in St Lucia.

Chasing Zimbabwe’s 173 for seven off 20 overs, the ‘unseeded’ Australian team was restricted to 172 for seven, despite an attacking 72 run inning from opener David Warner and 49 from skipper Michael Clarke.

Needing 13 runs from the final over for victory, Australia lost Clarke, bowled from the penultimate delivery, and then Mitchell Johnson was run out off a wide, as the side finished one short of the target, Fox Sports reports.

Earlier in the day, Zimbabwean batsman Elton Chigumbura’s 76 off 35 balls, including six sixes and five fours, had provided the backbone to Zimbabwe’s total.

He also shared a 114-run partnership with Craig Ervine (39) for the fifth wicket.

Australian fast bowler Johnson was the pick of the Oz bowlers claiming 4-23 from his four overs, while Dirk Nannes, Lee and Shane Watson took one wicket apiece.

Australia now has one more warm-up match against local side Windward XI, before Sunday’s opening Group A match against defending champions Pakistan.

Brief Scorecard:

Zimbabwe: 173-7 (Elton Chigumbura 76, Sean Ervine 39; Mitchell Johnson 4-23) Australia: 172-7 (David Warner 72, Michael Clarke 49; Prosper Utseya 2-27). (ANI)

(Source)

Regardless of what country NATO Training Mission Afghanistan members represent, returning home from their deployment here often means taking some much needed time off to get some rest and spend quality time with the family.

However, for Gunner Kuziva Dapira, a British soldier currently assigned to the Camp Alamo UK Leadership Training Team, time off and rest is not what’s on his agenda after reaching the end of his tour in April.

Dapira is a member of the United Kingdom’s King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery, also known as The Troop, and within a month of his returning to London, his unit will be participating in one of Britain’s biggest events – Queen Elizabeth’s official birthday celebration also known as Trooping the Colour.

The Troop is an elite unit of about 100 soldiers, all of whom superb equestrians trained to drive a team of six horses that pull the ‘thirteen pounder’ state saluting gun. Their duties include the firing of royal salutes on royal anniversaries and state occasions, and providing a gun carriage and team of black horses for state and military funerals.

But out of all the ceremonies the unit participates in, Trooping the Colour is the highest honor, according to Dapira.

“Riding in the Queen’s Parade means a lot to the King’s Troop,” he said. “It’s our bread and butter. It’s like playing in the world-cup finals.” He added that out of approximately 100 members of his unit, only 48 actually ride in the parade and that to him it is a high honor to be one of those selected.

Dapira, a Zimbabwe native, has been in Britain for six years and joined the Army three years ago. His duties at the KMTC include providing logistical support to his fellow British soldiers and to train Afghan non-commissioned officers.

Training NCOs for the Afghan National Army is very rewarding because it helps help create more leaders for Afghanistan, he said.

 “Other high-points of this deployment have been working with multi-national forces and also different regiments,” he said. “And learning languages, I’ve learned a little bit of Dari and a little bit of French.”

This will be the second time Dapira rides in the Queen’s Birthday Parade, and he feels confident that regardless of the short time given for him to prepare, he will be ready by June.

“It won’t be hard readjusting to being back on parade because it’s something I have done before,” he said. “While it’s a big change to go from being in a war zone to going back to being in front of a crowd, I’m a professional soldier and I’m trained to adapt to any circumstance.”

Trooping The Colour celebrates the queen’s official birthday and is always held the second or third Saturday of June. Her actual birthday is on April 21, but the ceremony is held in June to in the hope for good weather. The ceremony itself dates back to at least the early 18th century when the flags of the battalion, also referred to as colours, were carried or ‘trooped’ down the ranks so that they could be seen and recognized by the soldiers. The Queen attends in a horse-drawn carriage and the regiments of the Household Division, her personal troops, parade in front of her. More than 1,400 soldiers are on parade, plus 200 horses and more than 400 musicians.

(Source)

Zimbabwe’s government on Monday denied reports that it had signed an agreement allowing Iran to mine uranium, saying there was no certainty that the southern African state had commercial uranium reserves.

President Robert Mugabe told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Harare last week that Zimbabwe backed Iran’s controversial nuclear programme and accused the West of seeking to punish the two countries for asserting their independence.

But Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube on Monday dismissed a report in Britain’s Daily Telegraph claiming Harare had struck a deal allowing Tehran to mine untapped uranium reserves to secure raw material for its nuclear programme.

The report said Zimbabwe would get oil for access to potential uranium deposits.

“It’s not true. No such agreement was signed,” said Ncube, a minister from a splinter faction of the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe’s unity government.

“There is no certainty that Zimbabwe has uranium deposits. You first have to prove that there are uranium deposits and that has not been done,” he told Reuters.

Ahmadinejad was in Zimbabwe last week for a two-day visit and there was no official indication of any link between his trip and Iran’s nuclear programme.

Mugabe has previously said the country holds uranium deposits which have yet to be exploited.

Iran faces a possible new round of United Nations sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. The West accuses Tehran of trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran says it aims only to generate electricity.

Ncube said Zimbabwe and Iran had only signed general cooperation agreements in the fields of energy, science and technology and agriculture but officials from the two countries still had to meet to finalise details of any investment.

Asked whether Zimbabwe would in future consider jointly mining uranium with Iran, Ncube said: “There is no evidence that Zimbabwe has commercial deposits of uranium, so that question does not arise at all.”

(Source)

Three senior officials from the Mutambara MDC were killed in a car crash over the weekend the party confirmed. Secretary for Lands and Agriculture  Renson Gasela, chair of the party’s disciplinary committee Lyson Mlambo and the chair of the women’s assembly for Midlands south Ntombizodwa Gumbo died when their vehicle rammed into a stationary front-loader 25km outside Zvishavane on the road to Gweru on Saturday night.

All three were returning from a party meeting in Zvishavane. A statement from the party’s spokesman Edwin Mushoriwa said six other officials were injured in the crash and are hospitalised at the United Bulawayo Hospitals. The injured include Benias Chikweya, Felix Pireyi, George Mukaro, a Ms Mhishi and the driver, Lavender Mugavhu.

The officials were returning from a party meeting in Zvishavane. The MDC-M statement said;

“The party has indeed lost dear friends and compatriots whose contribution and dedication to the fight for democracy has been beyond measure. We take solace in that the Lord has made his decision. We shall always cherish the times that we have shared with our departed compatriots though the void created by their untimely deaths will be difficult to fill.”

“MDC also extends its heartfelt sympathies to the families of those injured in the same accident who are recovering at United Bulawayo Hospital. The party wishes them a speedy recovery,” the statement added.

Gasela is a former head of the state run Grain Marketing Board before he joined opposition politics.

(Source)

Official statistics refute the claims that Britain is being “swamped” by immigration and show the desperately impoverished conditions in which immigrants live and work.

Annual net immigration is closely correlated with Britain’s economic growth and for many years, more people left than came to Britain. According to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), there were 5.5 million Britons living abroad in 2005. Every year, at least 90,000 nationals leave Britain to work overseas.

The trend of negative net immigration reversed during the boom years of the 1980s, but net immigration only really took off after the 1990s recession, as it did in almost all industrialised countries. Since 1998, it has exceeded 100,000 a year, although many migrant workers tend to return home after a short stay.

Many economic migrants are employed in low paid, minimum wage jobs. More than a few are subject to ruthless exploitation by human traffickers who forced them to pay extortionate sums to get to Britain, or by gang masters who treat them like slaves working in the most dangerous conditions. The case of the 19 Chinese cockle pickers who lost their lives in 2004 is one of the most tragic examples.

Even at the peak of immigration in 2004 – after the expansion of the European Union when Britain was one of only three countries to open its doors to the new accession countries – the total number of migrants was 244,000, largely from Poland and Eastern Europe. Economic migration has since fallen as many immigrants have returned home. Immigration fell sharply in 2008 with the onset of the recession and could fall to 100,000 a year.

The Labour government’s points-based system, introduced in 2008, restricts immigration to what is deemed in Britain’s “economic interests”. It gives work permits to highly skilled workers and those with a job offer where there are no other applicants. Only about 96,000 permits a year have been given since 2006, mainly to workers from Asia and Australia.

About 47,000 spouses, partners and dependants are admitted – but only after they have jumped through numerous hoops to prove their relationship. While 309,000 visas a year are given to overseas students who pay to study in British universities – mostly youth from China, Russia, Japan and the US – they are often too late for students to start their courses on time. Education is now a major export industry.

A report by the London School of Economics shows that the UK has a lower share of immigrants in its population (10.2 percent) than Australia (25 percent), the US (13.6 percent), Sweden (13.6 percent), Germany (12.9 percent) and the Netherlands (10.7 percent). They come from a more diverse range of countries than ever before, most frequently Poland, India, Pakistan, South Africa and the US. They tend to be younger and better educated than the UK-born population and the more recent immigrants are even better educated.

The number of asylum seekers and refugees is small. In 2007, according to Home Office figures, there were 23,430 asylum applications, mostly from the war-torn regions of the world: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Turkey, Afghanistan, China, Iran, Iraq and Sri Lanka. Including dependants, there were just 27,900 asylum seekers. As most are young men without dependants, they are not eligible for social housing under Labour’s 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act.

Asylum seekers face almost insurmountable hurdles to defend their right to stay. Of those who received an initial decision on their asylum application in 2007, just 16 percent were granted refugee status. Eleven percent were given humanitarian protection or discretionary leave to stay, while 73 percent were refused. Just 23 percent of those who appealed a decision were successful.

After an application is rejected, the Home Office suspends all financial assistance, usually within 21 days, and then issues a removal order. The failed asylum seekers can then be seized by the UK Border Agency police without notice and incarcerated pending deportation. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, at least 55 asylum seekers have taken their own lives since 2000 rather than go back to their own countries.

Many failed asylum seekers “disappear” and become part of the growing black economy where they are cruelly exploited. Others become destitute and are reduced to begging and sleeping on friends’ floors. The Home Office estimated that the number of “irregular” or undocumented migrants was between 330,000 and 500,000 in 2001. Their plight is horrific. Since 2004, undocumented workers have been denied access to hospital treatment, much to the concern of doctors.

Economic migrants have very limited entitlement to social welfare, depending on thier citizen and residency status and National Insurance contributions. Those who have been in Britain less than five years are not entitled to social housing or housing benefits and tax credits, even when on low incomes.

The overwhelming majority of economic migrants rent from private landlords, some of whom have bought up former council houses, fuelling misconceptions about “queue jumping”. Less than two percent of the 10 million people who live in social housing are new migrants. They are mainly refugees who have been given permission to stay in Britain and have been allocated empty social housing in the north of England and Scotland.

(Source)

Taking photographs can be a high-risk occupation in Zimbabwe for journalists [and sometimes for other people, including tourists]. Last month a freelance photojournalist was arrested outside Harare magistrates court for taking photographs of arriving prisoners without the permission of the Commissioner of Prisons, and, although this is not against the law, he was detained, questioned by the police and charged with disorderly conduct. This raises the question: “In what circumstances can journalists and other people take photographs in Zimbabwe?”

The Legal Position

The general rule is that everyone is free to take photographs of anything and anyone they like, except where the law specifically forbids photographs to be taken. This is one aspect of freedom of expression, which is protected by the Constitution and which includes freedom to receive and impart ideas and information. This freedom as spelt out in the Declaration of Rights [section 20] can only be limited in certain circumstances, by a law passed in order to protect:

• the interests of defence, public safety, public order, the economic interests of the State, public morality or public health; or
• the reputations, rights and freedoms of other people, or the private lives of people concerned in legal proceedings; or
• the authority and independence of courts or tribunals or Parliament.

And any such law must be “reasonably justifiable in a democratic society”. There are several laws that prohibit or restrict the taking of photographs in Zimbabwe. By listing them here we are not implying that they comply with section 20 of the Constitution – even some of the following provisions could be open to a constitutional challenge.

Laws Prohibiting or Restricting Taking Photographs

Defence Act: Under section 94 of the Defence Act, the Minister of Defence has the power to declare any area to be a protected area and to give directions banning the taking of photographs within the area [but not of the area from outside it]. Although section 94 is couched in extremely wide terms, it probably covers only defence installations. Taking photographs in contravention of section 94 attracts a fine of US $200 or six months’ imprisonment or both. Various areas were declared to be protected before Independence, but none have been since. The pre-Independence declarations have never been repealed.

Electoral Regulations: Under section 25 of the Electoral Regulations, 2005, it is a criminal offence to take a photograph of anyone inside a polling booth, or to take a photograph within a polling-station without permission from the officer in charge of the station. Anyone who contravenes the section is liable to a fine of US $700 or a year’s imprisonment or both. There is nothing wrong, however, with taking photographs of the outside of polling stations.

Official Secrets Act: Under section 3 of the Official Secrets Act anyone who takes a photograph which is calculated or intended to be, or which might be, useful to an enemy of Zimbabwe is guilty of espionage and liable to imprisonment for up to 25 years, if he or she takes the photograph for a purpose prejudicial to Zimbabwe’s safety or interests. Section 3 of the Act is couched in very broad terms and could afford a pretext for the arrest of anyone who tried to photograph defence installations and other places believed to be of strategic importance.

Prisons (General) Regulations: Under section 168 of the Prisons (General) Regulations, 1996, it is an offence to take photographs inside a prison unless the Commissioner of Prisons consents. A contravention of the section attracts a year’s imprisonment. Taking photographs of the outside of a prison, on the other hand, seems to be perfectly all right — unless the photographer loiters when taking it, in which event he or she may be arrested and charged with loitering within 100 metres of a prison and failing to move on when requested to do so, in contravention of section 85 of the Prisons Act. If found guilty of that crime, the photographer is liable to a fine of US $100 or three months’ imprisonment or both.

Protected Places and Areas Act: If premises are declared to be a protected place, the declaration usually includes prohibitions or restrictions on taking photographs on the premises [section 4(5) of the Act]. Anyone who takes a photograph in contravention of such a provision risks a fine of US $400 or two years’ imprisonment or both. Similarly, if an area is declared to be a protected area the taking of photographs within the area is usually prohibited [section 5 of the Act], and anyone doing so is liable to the same penalty. Note that the Act does not make it an offence to take photographs of a protected place or area, merely within the place or area. The following places and areas are listed in the Index to Legislation as being protected under the Act: the Aurex Factory, Goromonzi; the Beitbridge border-post; the “Chimanimani Restricted/Reserved Area” [presumably the Marange diamond fields]; the Zimbabwe Defence Industries factories in Domboshawa; Fidelity Printers and Refinery in Harare; an underground fuel depot in Mabvuku; a fuel depot in Masasa; the National Heroes Acre; the Presidential retirement home in Borrowdale, Harare; the environs of State House, Harare; and the Wilton Pipe Station.

Other Situations Where Photography is Restricted

Parliament: Taking photographs of the proceedings of the Senate or the House of Assembly is considered to be contempt of Parliament unless permission has been obtained from the President of the Senate or the Speaker. Although not stated specifically in the Privileges, Immunities and Powers of Parliament Act or in Parliamentary Standing Orders, it is established practice of both Houses to prohibit visitors from filming or taking photographs of their proceedings. The prohibition does not extend to taking photographs outside the Parliament building.

Court proceedings: Similarly, filming or taking photographs of court proceedings without permission from the presiding judge or magistrate amounts to contempt of court and is punishable as such. So far as is known, no court in Zimbabwe has ever given permission for criminal or civil proceedings to be filmed or photographed [apart from the ceremonial opening of High Court sessions] and no court is likely to give such permission in future. Again, there is no prohibition against photographing the outside of court buildings.

Parties to criminal and civil proceedings: If a court has prohibited disclosure of the identity of a party or witness to criminal or civil proceedings, then it would be unlawful, and punishable as contempt of court, for a journalist to photograph the party or witness entering or coming from the court in connection with the proceedings.

In All Other Situations

In all other cases journalists and other people can generally take photographs of what and of whom they choose. It is not necessary to get the consent of a person before taking his or her photograph; if the person objects to having the photograph published, he or she can take civil proceedings to prevent publication but cannot normally invoke the assistance of the police to prevent the photograph being taken. The police can become involved only if taking the photograph:

• seriously impairs the dignity of the person concerned or seriously invades his or her privacy, in which event it will amount to criminal insult, which is punishable by a fine of US $300 or a year’s imprisonment or both; or
• amounts to intentionally engaging in disorderly or riotous conduct in a public place, in which case it will amount to disorderly conduct in a public place, a crime punishable by a fine of US $200 or six months’ imprisonment or both.

In some other cases people can be prevented from taking photographs and the police may be called on for assistance. For example, if a person enters private land or premises in order to take a photograph, he or she can be told to leave and, if he or she does not do so, will be guilty of criminal trespass and liable to a fine of US $200 or six months’ imprisonment or both [section 132 of the Criminal Law Code]. The police may be called upon to eject the person from the premises. But in such a case the essence of the crime would be failing to leave the premises rather than taking photographs. Much the same applies if a person takes photographs of a meeting such as a company meeting without permission from the person presiding: he or she may be asked to leave and may be ejected if he or she refuses.

Legitimate Law Enforcement or Police Harassment of a Photo Journalist

To return to the story of the freelance photojournalist. On March 1st he was apprehended and detained by prison officials at the Harare magistrates court for taking photographs of prisoners without the permission of the Commissioner of Prisons. He was later handed to the police who detained and questioned him. There is no law in Zimbabwe that prohibits filming outside courthouses, nor one that requires journalists to seek permission from the Commissioner of Prisons before performing their duties, so the police could not charge him for taking photographs. They eventually charged him with disorderly conduct and he paid the fine rather than spending the night in the cells, but his lawyer is contesting that charge as spurious. [Note: the prisoners he photographed were a group of alleged coup plotters being brought to court to face charges of attempting to escape from Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison and the photojournalist was pursuing his legitimate professional job covering a case of public interest.]

On January 18 this year, the same photojournalist, Andrisson Manyere, was arrested and detained by the police for two hours for filming a public protest march in Harare by members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise [WOZA]. He was released without charge. The following month a group of ZANU-PF youths unlawfully apprehended and detained him for filming the youths’ public protest against sanctions on the ZANU-PF leadership. The youths handed Manyere over to State security agents who, unlawfully, forced him to delete all footage in his camera before they released him.

Previously, State security agents seized Manyere at his home in Norton on December 13, 2008. Without search warrants or any legal justification, they raided his house and confiscated his work equipment, including a camera and two laptops, which have never been returned to him. While in police custody, Manyere was threatened with death and accused of taking and sending images of victims of human rights abuses to international media. Manyere was charged with banditry, sabotage and terrorism, together with other abductees [see previous Peace Watches] and kept in Chikurubi maximum security prison for months, and was only finally released on bail on 13th May, 2009. His case is pending before the courts. His lawyer has said he was tortured and that during his incarceration his rights to legal representation, a fair trial, and security of person were violated; he has brought a civil case claiming damages against the State but a court date has not been set.

Meantime he is trying to earn a living following his profession and is having to replace the equipment which has not been returned to him. His constantly being arrested is making this difficult and is also causing a lot of suffering to himself, his wife and children, who each time he is arrested fear the worst.

Conclusion

Any limitation on peoples’ constitutional rights and freedoms must be in accordance with the law. A person should not be stopped from taking a photograph unless there is a given law that prohibits him or her from doing so. And the law must comply with section 20 of the Constitution. The police’s duty is to uphold the law, not to act outside the parameters of the law.

(Source)

SW Radio Africa news – The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
By Tichaona Sibanda
22 April 2010
Villagers in districts of Mashonaland East provinces have been told to brace themselves for more political violence, following ‘promises’ from ZANU PF officials they would be dealt with after the 2010 World cup finals.

Pressure group, Zimbabwe Democracy Now, issued a statement Thursday detailing how Mike Chiwodza, a ZANU PF district chairman, has been going around the province telling villagers ‘We will kill you after the World Cup.’

The report said Chiwodza, backed by a gang of thugs armed with machetes and barbed-wire clubs, was seen roaming villages in Marambapfungwe and threatening MDC supporters.

The report said: ‘On the 8th and 9th April ZANU PF thugs led by Chiwodza went from home to home in the villages around Marambapfungwe district of Mashonaland East, telling the people that as MDC supporters your houses won’t be burned this time because that would be evidence. This time we will abduct and kill you and get rid of your body in the Mazowe River or down mine shafts.’

A week later, Chiwodza visited more villages in the province and threatened to deal with family members should their targeted MDC activists flee the crackdown. He said if the MDC activists escaped, they would find their spouses and children and kill them, after the World Cup showcase in South Africa.

In South Africa, exiled Zimbabweans have faced similar threats that they will also be killed after the World Cup for stealing jobs and putting strain on the local infrastructure. Johannesburg based analyst Luke Zunga told us that officials from various Zimbabwe groups in South Africa had requested a meeting with President Jacob Zuma to discuss the issue.

‘Various Zimbabwe groups are meeting in Johannesburg this weekend to work on the agenda, and a meeting with President Zuma will be called anytime soon,’ Zunga said.

Zunga said he was unsure if threats in Zimbabwe were linked to those in South Africa, though he conceded that in politics you cannot rule anything out.

Analysts warn that Zimbabwe remains in danger of sliding back into the political violence that engulfed the country in the run up to the June 2008 one-man presidential run-off election, unless the political leaders take a firm stand on violence.
In the last three months, political clashes have resurfaced in Masvingo, Mashonaland East and Manicaland provinces.

Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, officially teed off the Africom Zimbabwe Golf Open at Royal Harare on Wednesday.

A tee off is the official beginning of the tournament, which ends on Saturday.

This is the first time the Prime Minister has officiated at a prestigious sporting event since the signing of a Global Political Agreement.

President Robert Mugabe normally presides over most sporting events. However, the organisers of the Zimbabwe Open, decided to  invite Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai teed off in the pro-am at Royal Harare as the Africom Zimbabwe Open roared into life. He immediately commended the Zimbabwe Open Golf Committee, for a sterling job, given the short period of time that they managed to put this event together.

A field of 144 golfers will play in the revived Zimbabwe Open ,with some top professional golfers, Tony Johstone and Mike Williams who left Zimbabwe at the height of political upheaval, entering the event.

Livingstone Gwata, the managing director FBC Bank and the Zimbabwe Open chairman, said 141 professional would take part in the tournament running from April 21 -24.

The largest number of the golfers will come from the Southern African circuit, the Sunshine Tour, which are bringing 130 golfers. They will play in the Sunshine Tour sanctioned tournament by virtue of their Order of Merit on the tour.The other golfers are composed of professionals and amateurs who qualified through the various qualifying tournaments.

However it is coming entrance of Johnstone who has six European and 22 US tour victories that bring Zimbabwe under the spotlight. The Bulawayo based golfers left the country at the height of the political upheaval in 2000 when the Zanu (PF) grabbed farms from white commercial farmers.

The Zimbabwe Open was a golf tournament on the Sunshine Tour that was last played in 2001. It was first played in 1984 and was part of what was known as the Safari Tour, a collection of events in Africa that were played by professionals based on the European Tour during their winter. As a result, it became an event on the European based Challenge Tour in 1991, where it remained for two seasons before moving onto the FNB Summer Tour, which became the Southern Africa Tour and later the Sunshine Tour.

(Source)