Messages From Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe police in Mashonaland East have launched a blitz confiscating shortwave radio sets parcelled out to villagers by non-governmental organisations campaigning for the freeing of the airwaves. Information obtained by Radio VOP on Thursday indicated that the police had been raiding homesteads starting with Murehwa centre in search of the “offending” SW radio sets, in what civil society organisations view as part of a ZANU PF strategy to stop rural folk from accessing alternative media sources other than the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).

Due to ZBC’s partisan reporting in favour of President Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF, Non-governmental organisations have been doling out free SW radios to enable villagers to tune into foreign-based radio stations which beam into the country such as Radio VOP, SW Radio Africa and and the Washington-based Studio Seven run by the Voice of America.

An official with ZimRights told Radio VOP that police officers in the company of members of the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) are going around Murehwa District threatening villagers in possession of the NGO donated sets before proceeding to confiscate them.  “Three men from Chitowa village fell victim to this police raid early this week and they have been able to identify the police details as Constables Sibanda and Basopo,” said the source.

In a statement to Radio VOP confirming the police actions, ZimRights in Harare said police claimed the distribution of the radio sets were done “behind their backs and without their knowledge.”

“Consequently, they (police) question the motive of the organisations in giving the radios behind their back,” said ZimRights.  “They argue that the radios are propaganda driving tools meant to discredit the government. The police claimed that with the radios, the people cannot access official Zimbabwe radio stations. They also cited ZIMRA (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority) complaints about evasion of tax during the importation of the radios,” it added.

National police spokesman, Wayne Bvudzijena said he was not aware of the incidents but promised to investigate.

ZimRights said it was demanding an immediate stop to the victimisation of rural people as well as the violation of their right to access to information and freedom of expression. “Police should practice what they are mandated to do instead of pursuing political agendas, an undesirable characteristic of state security,” said ZimRights.

Despite media reforms being top of the agenda of the government of national unity, ZANU PF is refusing to free the airwaves.

(Source)

Top ZANU PF officials recently warned party first secretary, Robert Mugabe, against holding elections next year as the former ruling party would lose big time to MDC-T, a politburo member told The Zimbabwean.

“After Mugabe announced that elections would be held next year, as senior politburo members we updated him about the true situation on the ground. We told him ZANU PF as a party and he as an individual no longer commanded support at grassroots level. It would be politically suicidal to go to the ballot anytime soon,” said the source. He said ZANU PF politburo did not deliberate or approve going to the polls. It was Mugabe alone who remained adamant that the country should hold elections next year.

“If Mugabe takes a decision, nothing would make him change his position, no matter how risky it is. Like sheep, we are being led to the sacrificial alter come next elections. No ZANU PF legislative or Senatorial candidate was willing to contest in the proposed elections as the outcome would not favor ZANU PF. Since the party lost its grip among rural communities, MDC-T would easily romp to victory. Despite all these observations, Mugabe dangerously stuck to his guns that his party was ready for elections,” the source added. The party election machinery has already gone into action in the rural areas, where intimidation is Mugabe’s trump card.

(Source)

STATE security agents have warned off editors of privately-owned newspapers from repeating South African and British newspaper claims that President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace, had an affair with Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono.

Aides of both Gono, who is married, and Grace Mugabe, nee Marufu, strongly reject the allegations.

Four senior Central Intelligence Organisation officials met newspaper editors separately in Harare and issued various threats on Tuesday, according to an editor who attended the meetings, but who wanted his publication to remain unnamed.

“They basically claimed they knew that our paper was planning to report the story, which sounded like fishing to me. I pretended I had no clue what they were talking about and forced them to go over it.

“They said someone might die if we go on and repeat the allegations, they made that very clear,” he said.

The editor said the CIO operation appeared aimed at “getting the threats in before the midweek papers and weekend editions” of the Financial Gazette, News Day, Zimbabwe Independent and Standard newspapers.

New Zimbabwe.com has learnt that President Mugabe met Gono for lunch on Monday, and advisers of the two men had met on Tuesday and Wednesday morning to map a strategy of tackling the damaging reports first carried in both the UK and South African Sunday Times newspapers.

A source familiar with the discussions said: “These have been intense discussions. Their lawyers have advised them that they have strong grounds to sue the Sunday Times newspapers for libel, but the political advisers are split.

“Some are saying they would rather the matter be totally ignored, but those on the opposite end of the planning say this would create a permanent impression that reports of the affair were true – something which would dog the rest of Mugabe’s presidency and subject both Gono and the First Lady to unending public ridicule.”

Meanwhile, President Mugabe and his wife made their first joint public appearance since Sunday at the burial of his brother in law at Kachere Farm in Concession on Tuesday.

Bonny Brian Gumbochuma, who died aged 57 last Saturday, was married to Grace Mugabe’s elder sister.

Mugabe described the late Gumbochuma as a humble person who helped him “integrate into the Marufu family”.

(Source)

He is now a used condom, which is heading for the cesspool. This is the best description of Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara’s state of political affairs as his handler, Welshman Ncube ejaculate him into political oblivion.

Ncube, who rented Mutambara since February 2006, as President of his factions, announced recently that he will be contesting the presidency next year, bringing the political career of the Robotics Professor to an abrupt end.

Ncube no longer needs the services of a condom. He is taking the ‘presidency’ of his faction live, not through a plastic Arthur.

Mutambara who never concealed his Chihuahua exhilaration when he miraculously landed on the Vice Prime Minister position on 11 February 2009 after loosing a parliamentary contest in Zengeza was dusted off from political stupor by Ncube.

The cunning Ncube who hates ‘Chamatama’ with infatuation, went out shopping for a suitable candidate in his endeavor to short- circuit the popularity of the all-time -adored Morgan Tsvangirai.

The law professor, found Arthur on the market and bought him cash. The currency Ncube offered to Arthur was the Zengeza West constituency, which the 44 year old Guseni lost gloomily.

The arrangement that followed saw the condom amassing more power and enjoyment in the inclusive government as Ncube took a junior position as Minister of Trade and Industry.

But Ncube now wants his power back. Now where to for Guseni from here?

The once fiery former student leader, who Zimbabweans once ranked within Tsvangirai’s filament, stunned the nation when he re-emerged in Zimbabwe’s political equation but on the wrong side.

Mutambara further riled Zimbabweans when he backed Simba Makoni in the last Presidential race that was won by Tsvangirai. This fast-tracked Mutambara‘s fall from residual grace to dry grass.

Occasional shot pots, he aimed at Tsvangirai also are sure to cost him dearly. Zimbabweans are so incensed with his utterances that sought to undermine Tsvangirai. Guseni failed to read the political temperatures correctly. Maybe the propensity to placate his handler, Ncube, was too tempting to resist.

In an auxiliary spectacular display of political harlotry Guseni openly backed Robert Mugabe’s recent unilateral appointments of ambassadors. He slammed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for protesting against such violations of the global political Agreement. The former visiting fellow of Massachutes Institute of Technology might be paving his visit to the Shake-Shake building, by insulting Tsvangirai on behalf of Zanu PF.

This is a classic case of its own kind where condoms are recycled. Mugabe will not use the same condom that Ncube contaminated already. Condoms can only be used once. After use a dirtied condom is deposited in a rut. That is where Arthur Guseni Oliver Mutambara is heading to.

(Source)

The bitter feuding in President Robert Mugabe’s clan has taken a dramatic twist and escalated as battle to control his wealth takes a public spat of skulduggery and media snipping amongst family members, The Zimbabwe Mail can reveal.

At the centre of the family feud is the Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono who is fighting in the corner of Grace Mugabe and the President and on the other side has the rest of the Mugabe clan led by Leo Mugabe who is the son of President Mugabe’s late sister Sabina.

A source close to the family said Leo is only carrying over from where his mother left.

This week a report in a South African newspaper accused Gono of having an affair with the President’s wife Grace Mugabe, but we can reveal that the report is part of the family smear campaign fuelled by the rival family clan amid reports that Leo Mugabe has escaped assassination plots in a number of occassions.

The report in the Sunday Times says, one of Mugabe’s most trusted bodyguards who were present at the time, Sabina Mugabe, 75, warned her brother before she died that he was being betrayed by two of the most important people in his personal and political life: his wife and his personal banker, a pivotal member of his regime.

The report says Sabina told the president that Grace and Gideon Gono were secret lovers.

The Reserve Bank Governor and the First Lady both come from the same area in Chivhu District in Mashonaland East province and Gono together with Grace Mugabe’s late brother Reward Marufu were some of the first members of Robert Mugabe’s spy agency, the dreaded CIO.

In the early 80s Gono was assigned by the CIO to spy on white executives at Natbrew Breweries where he infiltrated the company as a tea boy in a spy sting operation that eventually forced the Senior Managers of the Brewery to flee the country and leading to the eventual takeover of the company by the quasi-State owned Delta Corporation.

In the years gone by, Mr Gono has been at the centre of the President and his family’s complicated business network both at home and abroad and this has not gone down well with the rest of the Mugabe clan who feel more and more ostracised as his wife’s relatives take more influence in his wealth.

At the same time when Mr Gono gained prominence and influence in the President’s wealth, Leo Mugabe who used to be the President’s favoured and trusted family member has hit hard times as all political avenues and business prospects have been closed for him by Grace Mugabe’s people who are surrounding the President leading to bitter family feuding and skulduggery and the latest media briefing in a South African newspaper.

Mugabe has staffed most key positions in the government with Grace Mugabe’s relatives particularly in the Justice and Foreign Affairs Ministries.

Sources close to the family said the fall-out over President Mugabe’s wealth has escalated and got worse since the death of Sabina Mugabe amid reports that the President took two Harare houses owned by his late sister and gave them to his daughter Bona and his son Robert Mugabe Jr. much to the outcry by everyone in the Mugabe clan.The majority of the members of the Mugabe family are accusing the President and his wife Grace of “killing” Sabina Mugabe using witchcraft.

The pair is also stands accused of causing the ill health to the President’s younger sister Bridgette Mugabe who has been in intensive care in a Harare hospital for four months and she has requested that the President and his wife be kept away from her.

Meanwhile, to his clan members, President Mugabe is adamant that his wealth belongs to his children and he has even declared that he doesn’t even know what Grace’s vast business empire is.

In recent years, Mugabe has outflanked the rebel nephew Leo Mugabe and he has given a cabinet post to Leo’s rival brother Patrick Zhuwawo as Deputy Minister of Science and Technology in the coalition government.The two sons of Sabina Mugabe, Leo and Patrick have different fathers. Leo’s father is the late former ZIFA Secretary-General in the early 80s and owner of Mboma buses in the 70s and early 80s while a Mozambican man fathered Patrick Zhuwawo.

The two brothers do not see eye to eye and true to his legendary divide and rule tactics, the President has taken advantage in order to ostracise Leo.

Sabina’s eldest son, Innocent, who was a director of the state’s Central Intelligence Organisation until his mysterious death a few years ago was said to be kingpin of this family feud and his death was also linked to it as he led a faction in the spy agency which rivalled Grace’s brother Reward Marufu.

Leo is owner and chief executive of a construction and telecommunications consortium, Integrated Engineering Group (IEG), which is almost defunct due to piling debts and loss of business revenue due to the fall out with his uncle.

In the past IEG got awarded contracts running into billions of dollars to construct government buildings, often ahead of far more experienced companies but the money was not put to good use. In the 90s, Leo’s company was controversially awarded the right to construct the Harare International Airport.

In recent times Leo has had troubles in his effort to lay claim to be the majority shareholder in Telecel Zimbabwe through Empowerment Corporation, where he has, on a number of occasions tried to replace Jane Mutasa on the board of the country’s third largest mobile phone company.

Empowerment Corporation (EC) holds 40 percent equity while Telecel International, the foreign partner, holds a controlling 60 percent stake.

Originally, EC was composed of six organisations vying for a stake in the mobile telecommunications firm.

Businessman James Makamba represented the EC interests on the Telecel board and under the influence of Grace Mugabe was later replaced by Mrs Mutasa after he slipped out of the country when police launched investigations on his alleged externalisation of foreign currency.

Telecel, however, suspended Mrs Mutasa as acting chairperson in March this year when the Harare businesswoman was arrested on allegations of defrauding the company of airtime worth US$ 750 000, however, the Attorney-General has declined to prosecute.

Grace Mugabe, believed to be backing Jane Mutasa to “fix” Leo and the First Lady’s close relative, the Attorney General’s Chief State Prosecutor Chris Mutangadura is alleged to be behind Attorney-General’s office refusal to prosecute Mrs Mutasa.

The long running dispute of Leo Mugabe’s shareholding at Telecel dates back to the 90s and sources said Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ) Bank wrote to Empowerment Corporation that the Z$ 140 000 cheque drawn by Mr Mugabe in 1999 meant for Shares subscription was dishonoured and that was when he is alleged to have lost his stake in Telecel. It is believed Gideon Gono played a part in the bank’s actions to stripe Leo’s claim in Telecel.

The feud in the Mugabe clan has become so bitter that the President himself is no longer in contact with the rest of the members of the family and he has put Leo Mugabe on 24-hour surveillance.

Both rival family sides have spend huge amounts of money in recent years consulting African traditional healers and using all forms of skulduggery in order to outdo each other and the latest snipping tactic accusing Grace and Gono of having an affair will definitely not go down well with the ruthless President Robert Mugabe.

(Source)

When the ZANU PF Women’s League announced last Sunday that it wanted President Robert Mugabe to stand for elections next year and ‘rule forever’, it was in fact calling for violence.

“We endorse your candidature. We are saying: stand in the next election and rule forever,” ZANU PF Secretary for Women’s Affairs, Oppah Muchinguri, was quoted by state-owned media. “Your work cannot be compared to that of anyone else. Do not leave us.”

Declaring Mugabe the party’s sole candidate for the next elections and asking him to rule Zimbabwe forever is a stab in the back for the thousands of women and men who have endured violence from Mugabe’s ZANU PF party over the past decade. By making such a declaration, Muchinguri was effectively silencing the majority of women who live in the rural areas and who bear the brunt of Mugabe’s vicious attacks.

Mugabe is now synonymous with violence. He once said he had ‘degrees in violence’.  Mugabe is currently in power by default. After having lost the 2008 presidential election to Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, he unleashed violence on the electorate resulting in 200 mostly MDC supporters killed, several others injured maimed, tortured and displaced from their homes.

Thousands of women and girls were raped. There have been no reparations.  Any decent help has mainly come from well wishers outside the country. The women struggle daily with the physical and psychological scars of their abuse. This is despite that Zimbabwe is signatory to the Convention of the Elimination of all Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw).  Some of the women in the ZANU PF Women’s League go around the world talking about Cedaw yet say nothing about their leader, Mugabe who uses the army, central intelligence officers, party youth militia and war veterans to instil fear, torture and kill innocent people.  It is therefore shocking to hear Muchinguri calling for life presidency for Mugabe.

Mugabe and his right hand men in the army and police have deliberately ignored violence by refusing to persecute the perpetrators who still roam freely and continue to issue more threats to defenceless citizens despite the setting of the Healing Organ.

Women constitute the majority of the population in Zimbabwe. The majority of these live in the rural areas where ZANU PF maintains a stronghold. The women have been cowered into silence. They have been threatened with denial of food and have been labelled sell outs for unseating ZANU PF political heavyweights by voting for the opposition. They do not have a voice. It is their urban counterparts like Muchinguri, who live in airy homes in Borrowdale, who make decisions on their behalf.  It is very clear that Muchinguri is singing for her supper.

Zimbabwe’s constitution making process is currently on hold in Harare and Chitungwiza due to violence. The process has been characterised by violence in most parts of the country while in some areas people have been threatened with death if they utter a word, especially in areas where army personnel have been planted.

If Mugabe is for the people then ZANU PF should let nature take its course. The constitution making process should be completed properly then a referendum held under peaceful conditions before a free and fair election so that people once again choose a leader of their choice.

(Source)

State harassment of human rights defenders in Zimbabwe continued this week when police attempted to serve summons to 14 activists arrested in May 2008. Only one member, Clara Manjengwa, received the summons to appear in Harare Magistrate’s Court today at 8.30am. When she presented herself at court, there was no docket, witnesses or any record of the matter being due to be heard. The police themselves were not even present. In fact the only evidence that a summons had been served was the copy that Clara herself had. Clara is still recovering from her most recent detention in Harare Central Police Station a few weeks ago and had to leave her sick bed to attend court.

Instead of dismissing the matter out of hand, Prosecutor Chigota insisted on calling out the names of the 14 from Clara’s copy of the summons three times, despite it having been communicated that Clara was the only member to receive the summons. The matter was postponed to 11.30am to give time for the docket to be found. When at 11.30 the docket still had not been found and neither the Investigating Officer nor witnesses were present, Magistrate Munhamato Mutevedzi dismissed the matter. The state will have to proceed by way of summons when they have their case in order.

The 14 members had been arrested on 28th May 2008 near the Zambian Embassy in Harare, where they were to hand over a petition to the SADC chair calling for an end to post-election violence. 12 of the group spent 17 days in Chikurubi and Harare Remand Prisons after the state contested the Magistrate’s granting of bail.  Two members, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, spent 37 days in Chikurubi Prison before being granted bail. The group were charged under Section 37 (1) (c) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act – ‘participating in a gathering with the intent to promote public violence, a breach of the peace or bigotry’. After appearing in court on remand several times, the group was finally removed off remand on 15th October 2008.

WOZA condemns this attempt by the state to resurrect this case over two years later without any additional evidence as pure harassment of human rights defenders. It raises concerns of renewed violence and persecution of pro-democracy activists ahead of a possible election next year.

(Source: via email)

An attorney for Zimbabwe’s finance minister says the highest court has thrown out his case in which he claims his arrest and detention during 2008 elections was illegal.

Tendai Biti, a former opposition politician and now a key minister, was detained on charges of treason and for claiming victory for the opposition. The treason charge could have been punishable by the death penalty.

The opposition did win, but not by the margin needed to avoid a presidential run-off.

Attorney Lewis Uriri said the Supreme Court dismissed Biti’s action against the police because court papers were not handled in time. The slowness of the court system means “authorities can escape liability for abuses of fundamental rights,” he said.

Biti says he’ll appeal Monday’s ruling.

(Source)

There are growing fears that Zimbabwe is headed for another bloodbath as President Robert Mugabe pushes for elections next year – with or without a new and democratic Constitution seen as critical to ensuring that any new polls are bloodless.

A defiant Mugabe said last Thursday that he was fed up with the “stupidity” of some of his disputes with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and wanted a delayed constitution-making process speeded up to enable elections to be held by mid-2011. Responding for the first time to the latest dispute with Tsvangirai over the appointment of ambassadors and provincial governors, Mugabe said he wanted a new constitution to be ready by the end of the two-year term of Zimbabwe’s shaky coalition government next February.

“To give it another life of six months or one year no, no, no,” Mugabe said, referring to the coalition government he formed with Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara in February 2009. The coalition has been rocked by constant squabbling among the partners, with Tsvangirai and Mutambara regularly accusing Mugabe of making decisions without consulting them as required under a September 2008 power-sharing pact that led to the formation of the unity regime.

Appointments

The latest spat between the two rivals was triggered by Tsvangirai’s refusal to recognise some senior appointments made by Mugabe during the past few months in violation of the power-sharing pact –also known as the global political agreement (GPA) – which requires the ageing Zimbabwean leader to consult his coalition partners before appointing officials. Tsvangirai last week wrote to the leaders of South Africa, Italy, Sweden, the European Union and United Nations asking them not to recognise six Zimbabwean ambassadors whom he said were unilaterally appointed by Mugabe.

He has also refused to recognise the legitimacy of the chief of police, the central bank governor, the attorney general, 10 ministers and five judges, all appointed by Mugabe alone. This prompted South African President Jacob Zuma to send a three-member mediation team to try to resolve the Harare impasse. Mugabe hinted that a referendum on the new Constitution would to be held earlier than the previously stated June 2011 to allow polls to be held by the middle of next year.

But analysts warned last week that trying to fast-track the Constitution drafting process would produce a flawed document that does not reflect the changes demanded by Zimbabweans. “There is no way we can have a new constitution by the time the term of the inclusive government ends in February 2011 given the myriad of problems COPAC (Constitutional Parliamentary Committee) has faced since the committee was set up in April last year,” said Harare-based political analyst Donald Porusingazi.

The process to draft a new governance charter is more than a year behind schedule due to a combination of factors, including funding problems and bickering among the three parties to the GPA. It has also been marred by violence allegedly perpetrated by ZANU PF militias led by the head of the war veterans association Jabulani Sibanda and members of the armed forces.

Forces of darkness

“It’s obvious that Mugabe and ZANU PF will try to capitalise on the constant disputes with the MDC to force an early election where they will unleash their forces of darkness on the hapless electorate,” Porusingazi added. ZANU PF has been re-establishing militia training camps in some parts of the country and Tsvangirai’s MDC-T this month listed at least

50 incidents of violence and intimidation perpetrated by war veterans, police officers, soldiers, Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives and pro-Mugabe traditional chiefs.

ZANU PF youths are known for using militia camps as torture basis where perceived opponents of Mugabe and his party are assaulted, raped, tortured or even murdered. “Should this happen, the nation will be thrown back to the year 2008;

Mugabe and ZANU PF will ‘win’ the elections and illegitimacy will be reinstated all over again,” Makumbe said.

He spoke of the threat of a fresh exodus of desperate Zimbabweans leaving the country to escape persecution, charging that SADC countries would have to brace themselves for the influx of political and economic refugees from Zimbabwe.

(Source)

A consensus is emerging among the EU institutions to reject Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s ambassadors-designate to the European Union, after the country’s prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, called on the bloc not to recognise Mugabe’s unilateral appointment.

President Mugabe appointed Zimbabwe’s new envoys to the EU, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa and the UN without consulting Tsvangirai – prime minister since January 2009 and leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

The normal procedure everywhere in the world is that ambassadors are designated by the government and approved by the head of state. Then, the countries of their destination have the right to accept the appointment or reject it.

Tsvangirai, whose party shares power with Mugabe’s Zanu-PF in a unity government, wrote to the EU and UN this week urging them not to recognise the choices, made solely by Mugabe. The unilateral appointments, he argues, contradict the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that established the power-sharing government last year.

MEPs, headed by Geoffrey Van Orden of the European Conservatives and Reformists, will call on Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Council President Herman Van Rompuy to heed Tsvangirai’s request by rejecting Mugabe’s choice for Brussels, Margaret Muchada.

“As PM Tsvangirai has stated, Mrs. Muchada’s credentials must be refused, as her appointment is clearly unconstitutional,” said the British MEP, who leads the Parliament’s campaign for democratic change in Zimbabwe.

“As PM Tsvangirai’s recent statements illustrate, not much seems to have changed on the ground following the signing of the ‘Global Political Agreement’ two years ago […] Key elements of the Zimbabwean state – in this instance one of Zimbabwe’s most important diplomatic postings – are still controlled by Mugabe, in outright contravention of the GPA,” Van Orden said.

“Until Mugabe and his cronies step aside and there is real evidence of change, the EU and its member states must keep up the pressure on Mugabe. I would urge Mr. Barroso and Mr. Van Rompuy to send a clear signal to the Mugabe clique that the EU does not tolerate despots,” he added.

On Wednesday (13 October), a spokesperson for EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton affirmed that the EU is taking the envoy row very seriously.

“It is important that the ambassadors be fully empowered to speak on behalf of the whole government,” said Maja Kocijancic, quoted by AFP.

“The EU supports the GPA. Non-respect is therefore a matter of great concern,” she added. “This is a serious matter that demands clarification.”

Since the government was formed in January 2009, relations between the two leaders have been strained over the appointment of state figures, such as governors and the attorney general. Tsvangirai recently accused Mugabe of “betrayal” for failing to honour the unity pact.

(Source)