Messages From Zimbabwe

MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai has made a dramatic U-turn on his recent attack on President Mugabe and service chiefs saying Zimbabweans should remain united and stop attacking each other in the media.

Addressing a rally at Mkoba Stadium in Gweru recently, Mr Tsvangirai accused President Mugabe and Zanu-PF of peddling lies and misinforming Zimbabweans about the recent Sadc summit on Zimbabwe in South Africa.

He also challenged the country’s security chiefs to leave the military and join the political ring, a remark, which attracted strong rebuke from across the board.

The backlash that followed has apparently forced Mr Tsvangirai to tone down his utterances. He told mourners at the burial of one of the party officials, Dr Mufandaedza Hove, in Mberengwa on Saturday that

Zimbabweans should stop criticising each other and instead work to promote unity, peace and development in the country.

“We have heard people lurching at each other in the Press and I don’t think this will help us build the Zimbabwe we want. There is no need for us to fight.

“Yes we can compete and try to win support on the political front but what we want at the end of the day is to make Zimbabwe move forward,” said Mr Tsvangirai. He said political parties continued to devote much of their time to blaming each other at the expense of development.

“We have said this and that to each other in the papers but we are saying as MDC, lets now focus on unity and development,” he said.

Mr Tsvangirai said MDC-T subcribes to peace.

“There is no reason for us to fight each other on political grounds, if you are Zanu-PF, remain Zanu PF and if you are MDC, you should ascribe to the party’s auspices which are peace and integrity. Why should one slap his or her kinsman for supporting a certain party? There is surely no reason for that,” he said.

Mr Tsvangirai touched off a storm of protests when he accused security chiefs of dabbling in politics.

Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba hit back, making it clear that the armed forces are justified in making some statements that can be viewed as political because Mr Tsvangirai was a national security threat, not a political one.

Dr Hove died on admission at Claybank Hospital in Gweru last week after he fell sick while attending the MDC-T rally at Mkoba Stadium. Mr Tsvangirai said the death of Dr Hove was a loss to his party, “We have lost a man of integrity, an adviser and a brother whom we will all miss.” MDC-T national organising secretary, Mr Nelson Chamisa, claimed Zanu-PF had refused to agree to his party’s demands concerning the criteria used for the conferment of National Hero Status, suggesting that if there was agreement Dr Hove would have been buried at the national heroes acre.

“As MDC, we are not happy with the way the selection of people who should be buried at the National Heroes Acre is being done by Zanu-PF, if it was being done in accordance with what we are advocating for, surely the late Dr Hove would be one of our members to be buried at the Heroes Acre.

“We were together since the formation of the party and have been fighting together in the struggle which has seen us being the popular party today,” he said.

President Mugabe has made it clear that the National Heroes Acre is for those with liberation war credentials and those who worked for the fulfillment of the ideals of the revolutionary struggle after independence.

He told the MDC formations and those with heroes of their own to look for their own hills and build their own heroes acres where they can bury those they perceive to be heroes. The late Dr Hove, a long time lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe, is survived by wife, Eunice, and three children.

Also present at his burial was Mr Tsvangirai’s deputy Ms Thokozani Khupe, Midlands State University Vice Chancellor Professor Ngwabi Bhebhe and some University of Zimbabwe officials.

(Source)

Four judges of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal have said the decision by the SADC summit to ‘dissolve’ the Tribunal was illegal and in bad faith, notes a Business Day report. It says that in a scathing letter to SADC’s executive secretary, the judges said a ‘close reading’ of the communiqué from the SADC summit of heads of state last month in fact showed ‘beyond doubt’ that the Tribunal had not just been suspended but ‘also dissolved altogether’. The decision was a ‘drastic action taken on political grounds’ – to avoid having to take action against Zimbabwe for refusing to enforce the Tribunal’s judgments, they said. According to the report, the Tribunal came under intense pressure after it gave judgments against the government of Zimbabwe on its land redistribution process. Zimbabwe refused to enforce the Tribunal’s orders and challenged its legality. In their letter, the judges said the original decision to suspend the operation of the Tribunal applied only to new cases. But last month’s communiqué ‘reiterated’ a moratorium on the Tribunal hearing both new and pending cases. These were ‘weasel words’, the judges wrote. The communiqué actually amounted to a dissolution of the Tribunal. SW Radio reports that the judges also questioned why the SADC council of Justice Ministers expressed concern about the role and jurisdiction of the Tribunal, instead of deciding the appropriate action to take against Zimbabwe for non-compliance with the Tribunal’s judgments. The SADC Tribunal Rights Watch group has since endorsed the judges’ statement, echoing their concerns that the move sends ‘the worst possible signal not only to the SADC region but also to potential investors, donors and the international community at large: that the highest authorities of SADC at best pay only lip service to the principles of human rights, democracy and the rule of law and do not scrupulously adhere to them’.

Full Business Day report

Full SW Radio report

Legal commentator Carmel Rickard takes up the astonishing decision on her blog, A Free State of Mind. Quoting from a letter to the SADC secretariat, Rickard says the judges speak of the ‘illegal and arbitrary decisions’ taken ‘in bad faith’ by the SADC Council of Ministers and by the summit of heads of states and government last month. The judges, including the former president of the court, say the decisions were clearly illegal and ultra vires. Rickard points out that the judges make it clear that they believe the unprecedented action taken against them resulted from the Tribunal’s ruling in the Campbell cases against the Zimbabwe Government. ‘We never expected … the Minister of Justice/Attorneys-General or the Council or Summit in 2011 to take, at long last, appropriate action against Zimbabwe for non-compliance with the judgments of the Tribunal of 2008 and 2010 for the simple reason that, every time the issue has been discussed, a stratagem has always been devised to defer consideration of the matter. But still, we did not expect or foresee this time the new drastic action taken on political grounds which at a stroke does away with the intractable problem of taking action against Zimbabwe: the complete dissolution of the Tribunal in its present form, with its current jurisdiction and membership…’

(Source: by email)

President Jacob Zuma must encourage the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to halt elections in Zimbabwe until key democratic reforms are made, the DA said on Monday.

“Zuma, as SADC-appointed mediator to Zimbabwe, must encourage the SADC to use the mechanisms at its disposal to ensure that elections do not go ahead until key democratic reforms have been made,” said the party’s Parliamentary leader Athol Trollip.

This follows the arrest of Jameson Timba, a cabinet minister and key aide to Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Timba, who is the minister of state in the prime minister’s office, was detained on Friday under Zimbabwe’s security laws, for accusing Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of lying about the outcome of a recent SADC summit in Joburg.

During his detention, Timba was allegedly denied food and access to his lawyers. A high court Judge ruled on Sunday that he be released, saying his rights had been violated.

“These are not the actions of a regime that is keen to embrace democratic reform, nor is this the behaviour of a state that is ready to hold free and fair elections,” said Trollip.

“South Africa needs to play a central role in taking a decisive stand against ongoing political repression in Zimbabwe as reports of intimidation, violence and voter fraud continue.”

He said the arrest was an illustration of Mugabe’s determination to entrench “repressive, tyrannical rule” in Zimbabwe.

Zuma should see to it that the tougher approach adopted by the SADC security organ at its March meeting in Zambia was maintained.

“Mugabe’s attempts to undermine political progress in Zimbabwe are decisively addressed by the appropriate SADC structures,” said Trollip.

In the light of continued political instability in Zimbabwe, the decision taken at last month’s SADC summit to extend a moratorium on the hearing of new cases at the SADC Tribunal was of grave concern, he said.

“This decision effectively dissolves this crucial body, which is responsible for adjudicating disputes between citizens and governments of SADC states when all domestic legal avenues have been exhausted.

“The tribunal was an important legal resource for Zimbabwean citizens, whose domestic legal system is deeply flawed,” said Trollip.

(Source)

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party rejected accusations by an army brigadier general that he is a threat to the southern African nation’s security.

Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba said Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, takes orders from “Western leaders,” the state-controlled Herald said today. It quoted him as saying the security forces “would die” to keep President Robert Mugabe, 87, in power and that Tsvangirai would never rule.

“The only threat to Zimbabwe comes from the military, which is interfering in politics,” MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora said today by phone from the capital, Harare. “The MDC won the March 2008 election and by any measure, the army should respect that.”

Nyikayaramba’s comments followed statements by Tsvangirai urging officials in the security services to quit their posts and enter politics instead of using their positions to back Mugabe. Tsvangirai’s MDC and Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party agreed to share power after disputed elections in 2008 that the MDC narrowly won.

The MDC insists that Zimbabwe’s security sector be reformed before a new vote is held.

“I don’t see that happening fast because the security sector is Mugabe’s guarantee of power,” political analyst Alois Masepe said in a telephone interview from Harare. Zanu-PF “equates security reform with defeat.”

Under the terms of the power-sharing agreement, Zimbabwe must vote on a new constitution before fresh elections can be held. Mugabe has repeatedly said a vote should be held this year, while the MDC insists no election can take place until at least 2012.

Zimbabwe’s army and Zanu-PF are “inseparable,” the Herald today quoted Nyikayaramba as saying.

“It shows how government is being perverted by a politicized security sector,” Mwonzora said.

(Source)

The Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC) has booted out controversial army commander, Brigadier Douglas Nyikayaramba for participating as a Zanu (PF) technical advisor to the thematic committee on elections in the new constitution making process.

Douglas Mwonzora and Edward Mkhosi, the other co-chairpersons representing Movement for Democratic Change led by Tsvangirai and MDC respectively confirmed that the overzealous army chief, who is on record as saying President Robert Mugabe should rule for ever, was kick-off last week.

“He has been fired. Nyikayaramba is a serving soldier and therefore cannot be a member of COPAC especially at an advisory level, “said Mwonzora.

Mkhosi said the issue of Nyikayaramba was now water under the bridge.

“He has left. It is now under the bridge,” he added.

Munyaradzi Mangwana, while confirming that he was no longer with COPAC, said Nyikayaramba’s contract had lapsed.

“His contract with COPAC has come to an end so he has left. It is wrong to say he has been booted out,” he said.

The two MDC formations have long raised concerns about his involvement in the constitution-making process since he was serving member of the army.

(Source)

President Robert Mugabe is tired of office and would have retired were it not for the mess in which his party is, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has revealed.

The MDC-T leader told thousands of his supporters at Mkoba Stadium in Gweru on Sunday Mugabe had confided in him that his heart was telling him to go but he was afraid if he did, Zanu PF would disintegrate.

The Prime Minister also hinted the President told him other than the fear factionalism would tear his party apart if he retired, the old leader was being held to ransom to remain in office.

Tsvangirai said the President was in dire need of help, adding that age was catching up with him as exposed by the gaffes he made at the Sadc summit in Johannesburg on June 12.

“I warned him and he wants out,” Tsvangirai said.

“I don’t know whether it is fear, but he is old. He needs help from young people like me. He is just old,” said Tsvangirai.

“President Mugabe was asked to present at the Sadc Summit and said he wanted to thank (former South African President Nelson) Mandela (instead of President Jacob Zuma). He is just old,” said Tsvangirai.

President Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba could not be reached for comment, but Zanu PF officials dismissed Tsvangirai’s statements as a figment of the Premier’s imagination.

“I think it’s from his head,” said Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo.

“I have not heard anything of that sort, and in fact, the President has always ably led us. Although it was supposed to be a conversation between two people, as far as the party is concerned it’s hogwash.”

Zanu PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa said President Mugabe would never confide in Tsvangirai, adding that his boss was still fit.

“When did Tsvangirai become the President’s spokesperson?” Mutasa asked. “Only Charamba, his spokesman, Gumbo, the Zanu PF spokesman, or myself can speak about the President,” said Mutasa.

“There is nothing like that (Mugabe wanting to rest), if there was he would have told us. He is in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) as we are talking now. Is that the behaviour of a tired person?”

(Source)

Zimbabweans could go to polls in eight months’ time to choose a new government to replace the troubled coalition of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a top official has said.

Defence Minister and top Mugabe confidante Emmerson Mnangagwa told Britain’s Sunday Telegraph newspaper that the timing of elections depended on the completion of ongoing constitutional reforms that he said could be wrapped up by next October.

“This (timing of elections) is not set in stone but assuming that a referendum on a new constitution is held and accepted, then the time frame for elections after that is a period of four months. If we were to have a referendum in October, then we would be looking at February for an election,” said Mnangagwa.

A leading candidate to succeed Mugabe as leader of the ZANU (PF) party and possibly president of Zimbabwe, Mnangagwa is considered one of the country’s most influential political figures.

As Defence Minister he chairs the Joint Operations Command, a secretive body of powerful securocrats that is seen as virtually wielding veto power on the country’s troubled transition process.

Mnangagwa is also legal secretary of ZANU (PF) that has been pushing for elections this year and only backtracked on early polls after pressure from the Southern African Development Community that wants any future vote to take place after adoption of a new constitution and implementation of other key reforms to ensure smooth transfer of power to winners.

His prediction of a February vote could be indication of ZANU (PF)’s preferred date of elections after failing to force polls this year.

Under an election roadmap or charter ZANU (PF), Tsvangirai’s MDC and a splinter faction of the Prime Minister’s party are crafting, Parliament would need to first pass amendments to the Electoral Act and the Public Order and Security Act, while the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission must clean up the chaotic voters’ roll and the country adopts a new constitution before polls can take place

The parties say they have already reached agreement on most of the issues. But analysts say the parties are likely to clash on security sector reforms, especially MDC demands to keep the military out of elections and the withdrawal of the army from the countryside where the MDC made significant gains in the March 2008 general election.

Zimbabwe’s military brass has been accused of being openly partisan in an effort to intimidate ZANU (PF) opponents to vote for the octogenarian Mugabe, the country’s sole ruler since independence from Britain in 1980.

ZANU (PF) denies the military has deployed personnel in the countryside and rejects any attempts to reform the security services.

The roadmap and the reforms to prepare the ground for free and fair elections should be ready by August when SADC hosts its annual summit.

Meanwhile Mnangagwa, who praised the unity government for stabilising Zimbabwe, told the British paper that he has no ambition to succeed Mugabe.

“I have no ambitions to be president. People speculate left right and centre but we have a structure in our party with a president and two vice-presidents. The leadership has to come out of that group, and I am not part of it. I just wish a legacy of peace, prosperity and growth for the younger generation,” he said.

But analysts say regular claims by various leaders from ZANU (PF) that they have no presidential ambitions are nothing more than attempts to curry favour with Mugabe by being seen as not too ambitious to takeover his job.

(Source)

President Robert Mugabe mistakenly referred to his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma as Nelson Mandela, and then in an attempt to correct his mistake suggested South Africa’s first black leader was DEAD, reports said on Friday.

Mugabe made the gaffe while addressing SADC leaders at a weekend summit on Zimbabwe hosted by South Africa, the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper reported, quoting “unimpeachable” sources.

After Zuma, SADC’s point man on Zimbabwe, had presented a report, Mugabe took the floor and began: “May I compliment our facilitator for the report given verbally. We would want it in writing. This is different from Livingstone [SADC troika summit] where we didn’t see the report.

“We were not happy with what happened. I have spoken to Mandela, sorry Zuma, about it. We would want to rebut some allegations.”

In an attempt to brush aside his mistake, Mugabe is alleged to have said: “May Mandela’s soul rest in peace.”

Mugabe, 87 this year, is said to have quickly realised his mistake again and added: “I hope he is in good health.”

The Independent said Mugabe’s “slip-ups suggested loss of memory or confusion due to pressure”.

Mugabe, in power since 1980, is set to lead his party into the next elections now expected next year even as media reports suggest that his health is failing. Zanu PF is believed to want early elections while Mugabe’s health can still hold.

(Source)

Attorney-general Johannes Tomana, a self-confessed Zanu PF supporter, says he will continue prosecuting Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC supporters ahead of those from Zanu PF — declaring defiantly, “the discretion is entirely in my hands”.

In an exlusive interview with our correspondent, Tomana — who is one of the outstanding issues of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) — reiterated his support for Zanu PF and President Robert Mugabe, Tsvangirai’s archrival-turned awkward coalition government partner.

Tsvangirai and the MDC have been demanding Tomana’s removal as one of the many pre-conditions for the holding of free and fair elections, accusing the controversial AG of prosecuting people in a partisan manner.

Without denying that some Zanu PF perpetrators of political violence were still roaming free around the country, Tomana described Tsvangirai’s calls for the Johannes Tomana threatens MDC fair application of the law as “nonsense”.

“It does not matter who we start to prosecute. Whether we start from the middle, bottom or top it does not matter. The discretion is entirely in my hands on who I should start to prosecute,” he said.

“It is like telling your manager not to dismiss you from work after you have been late for duty because yesterday your workmate who was also late was not dismissed. It is nonsense to make such a statement,” Tomana added.

Tomana’s utterances are significant as they manifest the deep political divide and the uneven playing field in the country, as well as the difficulties that the tottering coalition government, widely viewed as the country’s best hope out of a debilitating decade-long political crisis, must overcome.

“Everyone is judged on his own misdeeds. The MDC people have not said they are not committing offences. They are saying Zanu PF and them are offenders and complaining that they cannot be arrested alone leaving Zanu PF out. If you are guilty does it matter whether I have started with you leaving others?” Tomana asked.

Since taking over as AG, Tomana has been forced to repeatedly defend accusations that his blatant bias is a threat to the stability of the shaky 28-month-old coalition government.

Declaring his love for Zanu PF, Tomana said: “I do not see anything wrong in me supporting Zanu PF. Is it a crime to do so?  I know that there are some lawyers like Innocent Chagonda who sit on many boards but are active MDC members. Is it wrong for him (Chagonda) to do so? I am a citizen of this country and I belong to a political party I choose”.

As a result, Tomana said, he would not leave his post despite ranking high on the list of unresolved GPA issues.

The MDC argues that Tomana’s unilateral appointment in December 2008 was irregular because the GPA signed in September of that year stipulated that Mugabe needed to consult Tsvangirai on the appointment. Mugabe has vigorously resisted this demand.

Tomana said Tsvangirai and the MDC should instead learn to respect him.

“They always say Tomana must go. To where? I am saddened by the events that always surround my name. I don’t take it personally but it is wrong for them to pass judgments on me without any evidence. They use their political rallies to denounce my name, which is unfair to me. I wish the MDC leadership could respect me and this office,” he said.

“The MDC has shamelessly and persistently said that I must go and have passed judgments on my office.  Without any evidence they talk about selective application of the law and persecution without going into the merits.

“They (MDC activists) are being arrested for doing something they are not telling you about. They are talking nonsense saying they are being arrested and that there is selective application of the law,” Tomana added.

(Source)

The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists has condemned Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara for allegedly using “intolerant and intemperate” language while answering questions from the NewsDay newspaper.

The newspaper reported on June 13 that Mutambara had accused its journalists of “writing rubbish” after he was asked about an apparent snub by SADC leaders who refused to recognise him as MDC leader.

“Who told you to call me?,” Mutambara was quoted as shouting at a NewsDay journalist, before adding: “Tell your editor to stop publishing rubbish. Your paper is writing rubbish.”

The newspaper said earlier, Mutambara had accused it of “writing stupid stories”.

But ZUJ, which recently criticised Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Mines Minister Obert Mpofu and Information Communication Technology Minister Nelson Chamisa over attacks on journalists, said Mutambara’s outburst made its membership “uneasy”.

“The DPM has been very intolerant against journalists over the last few days while being interviewed over his participation in the just-ended Extraordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government in Johannesburg, South Africa,” ZUJ secretary general Foster Dongozi said in a statement.

“The Union would like to condemn in very strong terms the DPM’s abusive statements and call on him to use language which contributes towards peace and national healing in Zimbabwe.”

ZUJ said it feared attacks by politicians on journalists had the capacity to “endanger the lives of journalists as their supporters may take it as a cue to abuse, harass or assault journalists, newspaper vendors and media organisations.”

Mutambara, who has been battling to regain control of the MDC party now led by Welshman Ncube, was invited to the SADC summit in his capacity as Deputy Prime Minister and not leader of the party.

Mutambara had recently purported to have fired Ncube, despite giving up the party leadership at a congress in January.

Meanwhile, ZUJ also launched an attack on Harare councillor Joyce Kariwo who reportedly accused journalists of staying until late at council meetings “in order to eat councillors’ food”.

“We reject and condemn Clr Kariwo’s statements and would like to draw to her attention that the only reason why journalists attend council meetings until late is because they would be on assignment and are dedicated professionals seeking to provide quality service under extremely difficult working conditions,” Dongozi said.

(Source)