Messages From Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has warned Switzerland he would “reciprocate” after his wife and top officials were denied visas to attend a UN meeting in that country, state media said Monday.

“Now they are showing that they are vicious and we will reciprocate because they have their properties here,” Mugabe said in the state-run Herald newspaper.

“We are not without means to reciprocate,” he said.

“It is violation of rules and regulations governing host countries of UN meetings.”

Mugabe’s wife Grace, his personal bodyguard, and four top officials were denied visas to attend to a meeting of the UN’s International Telecommunications Union in Switzerland, causing the trip to be cancelled, according to state media.

The six are on the sanctions list imposed by the European Union and backed by Switzerland, which is not an EU member. Switzerland has not commented on the visas.

Swiss food giant Nestle operates a factory in Harare, which produces cereals and powdered milk for the local market.

Meanwhile, The Herald said Mugabe returned to Zimbabwe on Sunday from a private visit to Asia — trips that have become monthly events amid reports that the 87-year-old leader is suffering from prostate cancer.

Mugabe has angrily denied reports that his health is worsening.

“You want to ask me about my health. As you can see, this Mugabe is fit,” Mugabe told the paper.

According to the WikiLeaks whistleblower website, Mugabe has prostate cancer which has metastasized, and has been advised by doctors to cut on his activities.

The cable sent to Washington in 2008 said Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono told the then-US ambassador, Jame McGee that Mugabe was told by doctors he had three to five years to live.

(Source)

Dear Friends

Please could you circulate this widely. Voting closes on 31 October and the Chiredzi River Conservancy desperately needs to win the prize money:  5,000 Aussie dollars.

Thanks so much

Glyn

Dear Friends

YOUR VOTE IS NEEDED TO HELP RAISE FUNDS FOR A UNIQUE HERD OF ENDANGERED ZIMBABWEAN ELEPHANTS

 A herd of 70 elephants is under threat in Zimbabwe’s Chiredzi River Conservancy (CRC) which is located in the south eastern lowveld close to Gona re Zhou National Park.

The Chiredzi River Conservancy is once again being over-run by invaders who are setting fires, clearing areas, chopping down trees and destroying riverine forests at an alarming rate. The elephants are also under threat from wildlife poaching, habitat destruction and encroachment.

The invaders are chasing the elephants away from dams and other water sources using hunting dogs, burning logs and anything else they can get their hands on. Recent reports have indicate that stress is taking the toll on the beautiful creatures and they are now exhibiting signs of being emanciated. Lack of water resources is a recurring problem which is resulting in a clash between the herd and the invaders.

The elephants are now in danger of being shot or posioned. For the full story, history and to view pictures you can click on this link.

If you have a Facebook account, you can also like the CRC page to get updates and generate much needed awareness.

The CRC stands a chance to win a grant by having the most number of votes.Voting will close on 31 October.  Please vote by clicking on this link.

You will then get an email to confirm the vote. This money will be used to employ more patrol staff, supplies and equipment to protect the elephants in the meantime while an urgent solution is found.

Your vote will only take five minutes but it will make a big difference in the lives of these peaceful elephants who have the right to exist without fear and harm in the land they belong to.

Please also forward this to friends.

Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa has rejected calls by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to enshrine gay rights in a new constitution.

Mr Chinamasa told the BBC that gay rights could not be “smuggled” into the constitution because most Zimbabweans opposed it.

Earlier, Mr Tsvangirai told the BBC that gay rights were a “human right” that should be respected.

Mr Tsvangirai and Mr Chinamasa are from rival parties in a fractious coalition.

Their parties – the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Zanu-PF respectively – are drafting a new constitution, which will be put to a referendum ahead of elections next year.

Homosexual is currently illegal in Zimbabwe, as in most African countries where many people view gay rights as un-Christian and un-African.

Last year, Mr Tsvangirai said “the ancestors would turn in their graves” if gay rights became enshrined in a new constitution.

We all know what people said about gay rights – it’s a total no; an almost 100% no”

Patrick Chinamasa Justice minister

But Mr Tsvangirai signalled a shift in policy in an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight programme.

“It’s a very controversial subject in my part of the world. My attitude is that I hope the constitution will come out with freedom of sexual orientation, for as long as it does not interfere with anybody,” Mr Tsvangirai said.

“To me, it’s a human right.”

In his reaction, Mr Chinamasa said Zimbabweans had firmly rejected gay rights when they were consulted on a new constitution during the government’s outreach programme.

“We all know what people said about gay rights – it’s a total no; an almost 100% no,” he told the BBC’s Network Africa programme.

Mr Chinamasa said Mr Tsvangirai made the comments for “propaganda” purposes, contradicting the position he had adopted in the cabinet.

“We can’t smuggle [into the constitution] the views of a prime minister who wants to please a certain audience basically, I suppose, to mobilise resources for his party.”

“I know personally he doesn’t believe it. He has said so many times in the cabinet,” Mr Chinamasa told Network Africa.

The election due next year will be the first since the MDC and Zanu-PF – led by President Robert Mugabe – formed a unity government after polls in 2008.

Those elections were marred by widespread violence and rigging, with Mr Tsvangirai boycotting a run-off vote.

The coalition – formed under pressure from regional leaders – has stabilised the country, but tension has been rising ahead of next year’s vote.

The two parties are yet to agree on political and security reforms to guarantee a free and fair poll.

(Source)

President Robert Mugabe is expected to fly to Singapore this morning amid speculation that the aging leader’s visit is motivated by medical reasons.

This is believed to be his eighth visit to Singapore this year.

Mugabe, who is reportedly suffering from several diseases consistent with old age, is expected to leave this morning on a commercial plane to Johannesburg where he will catch another commercial flight to Singapore.

However, presidential spokesperson George Charamba, who has on many occasions said Mugabe was enjoying good health and that he was not aware of the trip.

“I am in Buhera so I do not know what is happening there. Who is saying that the President is ill,” asked Charamba.

About a month ago, Mugabe traveled the same way to Singapore but Charamba had said that his boss was in Harare. Mugabe’s trip, which comes days after his ally Muammar Gaddafi was brutally killed by Libyan forces, will raise speculation on his health.

The last time he traveled to Singapore for the trip which Charamba said his boss had not taken, Mugabe claimed he had gone there on a private visit to see his daughter Bona, who is studying in the Far East country.

To his credit, Mugabe has remained fit for his age and in public, rarely shows any signs of ill-health and at one point jokingly challenged this reporter to a physical fight and went on to throw a few punches in the air to show his “strength.”

In one of the leaked United States diplomatic cables released by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, a US diplomat is said to have seen Mugabe checking in at a cancer clinic.

According to a cable originated by Joel Ehrendriech, a US official, Mugabe visited Singapore in May and August 2008 for cancer treatment.

Speculation on Mugabe’s health started swelling at the end of last week when he failed to officiate at a graduation ceremony at Chinyoyi and Bindura universities.

But Charamba denied that Mugabe’s failure to attend the ceremonies had anything to do with his illness.

“The President was not invited to officiate,” was all Charamba said although Mugabe as chancellor of all government universities in Zimbabwe, makes sure that he presides over the graduation ceremonies.

Mugabe was also due to travel to Switzerland at the weekend for an UN ICT summit and was supposed to come back via Singapore but suddenly changed plans.

A senior government official confirmed Mugabe’s sudden change of plans.

“President Mugabe was supposed to travel to Switzerland and would have come back via Singapore for routine medical checks but it appears something went wrong. He now has to fly tomorrow (today) morning.

“Air Zimbabwe had already made plans to fly him to Switzerland and then Singapore before coming back to Harare but all this has changed suddenly. It looks like he has something he urgently needs to attend to in Singapore,” said the government official.

Mugabe’s several trips to the Far East have gobbled millions of dollars at a time when the country is struggling to service a $9 billion debt and is reeling under a $700 million budget deficit.

SADC leaders at one time even expressed concern over his health and plan to persuade him to quit.

At some point, Members of Parliament from both ZANU PF and MDC considered impeaching him because of his advanced age and ill health.

It is not very clear what Mugabe is suffering from but sources close to him say he has prostate cancer; a condition which local doctors say is common to men of his age.

Doctors also say a man of Mugabe’s age is also prone to dementia. Charamba however, insists that the president has eye problems.

Yet another cable suggested that Mugabe had consulted a UN medical specialist about his medical problems.

“UN resident representative Victor Angelo on November 12 advised Ambassador Sullivan that Mugabe has consulted with a UN medical specialist about some of his medical problems. According to Angelo, Mugabe’s ailments include periodic convulsions and stroke like episodes (perhaps eschemia) brought on by diabetes and a lipid disorder which affects the covering of the brain,” US political officer Win Dayton said.

The octogenarian leader is said to have been shaken by the brutal demise of his long-time ally Gaddafi.

In addition to the loss, he also feels betrayed and was left depressed when he discovered that his most trusted lieutenants went behind his back and held secret meetings with Americans whom he considers as arch enemies, seeking his removal from office.

Mugabe has also been under pressure from his party which wants him to appoint a successor as they no longer have confidence in his leadership.

There are reports that ZANU PF hawks are planning to turn the party’s conference in December into an extra-ordinary congress where they are reportedly plotting to persuade him to step down.

(Source)

Vusi Mavimbela, South Africa’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, has attacked President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF over its continued invasion of South African-owned farms and over the mounting rhetoric about the seizure of foreign-owned mining companies under the indigenisation law.

Observers see the tough talk of Mavimbela, former director general in the South African presidency, as the out­ward expression of a major shift in relations between Pretoria and Harare under President Jacob Zuma, who is clearly turning up the heat on the 87-year-old Mugabe in a bid to force him to rein in lawlessness by members of his party.

Political analyst Trevor Maisiri said: “The ambassador’s sentiments are a clear indication of a changing of the guard in Pretoria.”

Mavimbela, quoted in the state-owned Herald after meeting Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai at the weekend, said: “We are not happy with the farm invasions that have been taking place in the country and South African farmers being evicted from their farms.

“Scores of farmers came to our offices for assistance and the majority have been rendered destitute, save for a few who have been taken in by friends.”

Earlier this month, ZANU PF youths in Nyazura evicted two South African farmers — Koos Smith of De Rust farm and Tienie van Rensburg of Rueben farm — giving them an hour’s notice to pack up their belongings and leave.

It is understood that the South African envoy has been irked further by Harare’s disregard for a 2009 bilateral trade agreement between the two countries, intended to protect South African investments in Zimbabwe.

Matters beyond
Mavimbela said that some matters “have gone beyond the level of the embassy and the situation now needs state-to-state dialogue”.

ZANU PF national chairperson Simon Khaya Moyo shrugged off Mavimbela’s comments. “The South African ambassador does not answer to ZANU PF and so there is no way that ZANU PF can deal with the issue. It’s a matter between two governments,” Moyo said.

In the past, Zim­babwe’s foreign affairs ministry has read the riot act to Western countries over their perceived involvement in the country’s internal affairs. Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi is well known for his brash style with foreign diplomats.

He could not be reached for comment.

This week Hendrik Olivier, the chief executive of the Commercial Farmers’ Union of Zimbabwe, welcomed Mavimbela’s public stance, saying that it would “help influence and hold in check” land invasions.

“Invasions have taken place over the past 11 years, despite Zimbabwe being a signatory of bilateral agreements with many countries, including South Africa.

“It remains to be seen whether the government will take the necessary steps to respect its trade agreements,” said Olivier.

Meanwhile, divisions have emerged over the indigenisation laws in ZANU PF and the coalition government, with the Affirmative Action Group, a militant black empowerment project linked to ZANU PF, splintering over the beneficiaries of the expropriation of foreign business interests.

The action group’s entire executive board, led by journalist-cum-businessman Supa Mandiwanzira, has stepped down, giving way to Philip Chiyangwa, a property tycoon and nephew of Mugabe.

The board has been accused of “having lost its way and put individual gain before mass empowerment”.

There have also been claims that $32 000 has been embezzled from the project.

(Source)

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has submitted a US$220 million budget to Treasury for both the referendum and general elections expected early next year.

ZEC deputy chairperson Mrs Joyce Kazembe said in an interview on the sidelines of a voter education workshop yesterday the body did not have any money and would wait for the allocation to start its programmes.

The submission comes as the election body says it is lobbying for autonomy from its parent ministry. Mrs Kazembe said US$104 million would cover the referendum while US$115 million would fund the general elections.

“We came up with a budget we submitted to Treasury and as long as we get the money we are ready to roll,” she said.

“We have already trained our officers.

“The referendum budget was submitted through the Ministry of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs because they administer the Referendums Act, while the general elections budget was submitted to the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs.”

The budget will cover voter education, voters’ roll inspection, special voting, postal ballot and the actual polling.

Zanu-PF spokesperson, Cde Rugare Gumbo, said the money for the referendum and elections should be made available once the polls are due.

“Money for elections will obviously be made available,” he said. “We have always said that Treasury should expeditiously release the funds.”

Cde Gumbo said that the delay in releasing the money would not affect the election timeframe.

MDC-T national deputy chairperson Mr Morgan Komichi, who attended the voter education workshop, said an election roadmap was more important.

“Elections cannot be held when there is no money,” he said. “What is important at the moment is to put in place necessary measures for credible elections.”

MDC vice president Mr Edwin Mushoriwa said elections should not be held next year.

“We don’t believe elections will be held next year because we need a proper roadmap for credible elections,” he said.

Mrs Kazembe said they were lobbying for ZEC to have full independence like the Judicial Service Commission.

“We want to move away from using the Executive as a conduit,” she said.

“The intention or desire is, just like the Judicial Service Commission, that we get our budget vote direct from Parliament.”

Mrs Kazembe said ZEC remained independent when discharging its constitutional duties.

“When we implement electoral processes, we don’t take orders from any political party or individual or any authority,” she said.

“We don’t report to the Ministry of Justice when administering the ZEC Act.”

ZEC, said Mrs Kazembe, was in consultation with the Ministry of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs on the provisions of the Referendums Act.

She said what needed to be determined was whether or not people should be allowed to vote wherever they are during the referendum or they should vote in their constituencies.

“One problem that arises with allowing people to vote from wherever they are is that, if five million people flock to Binga, for example, on the polling day we might not have sufficient ballot papers for that area,” said Mrs Kazembe.

(Source)

The pews are often virtually empty on Sunday mornings at Harare’s St Mary’s and All Saints Anglican cathedrals, but this is Bishop Nolbert Kunonga’s “throne” and he is prepared to defend it with violence.

After a service attended by a few followers last Sunday, Kunonga, the priest who has divided the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe and set disciples on rival clergymen, stood in front of his pulpit and raved against gays and Rowan Williams, the visiting archbishop of Canterbury. “This is my throne,” he declared. “I am in charge. He [Williams] cannot come here.”

Kunonga regards the cathedral as a prized asset among hundreds of church properties he has taken over in a fight that has demonstrated the impunity enjoyed by President Robert Mugabe’s allies.

Excommunicated in 2007, Kunonga is fighting for control of the Anglican Church, seizing assets and barring worshippers from churches. A dossier on the dispute presented to Mugabe this week claimed that at least one parishioner, Jessica Mandeya, might have been killed in attacks by Kunonga’s followers.

Also last Sunday, 15000 members of the rival faction led by Bishop Chad Gandiya were attending a mass held by Williams in a sports arena. Kunonga rustled up a crowd of women, who marched outside the cathedral where he was preaching to denounce Williams. One placard read: “Homosexuals must die.”

It is Kunonga’s central claim: the church is at risk of being overrun by homosexuals and he alone stands in its defence.

“Williams is the reason why the Anglican Church all over the world is divided. He has not taken a position on homosexuality,” he has said.

But his critics see this as a cover for his campaign for power. Parishioners have left him, to worship in parks and rented halls, but he has insisted: “It is not about who has the majority or the minority. It is about who is right.”

Kunonga was elected bishop in 2001, beating Tim Neill, a rabidly anti-Mugabe priest. At a time when the church — including Mugabe’s own Catholic Church — was growing increasingly critical of his rule, Mugabe found an ally in Kunonga among the hostile clergy.

At Mugabe’s inauguration in 2002 Kunonga described his victory, which came after a violent campaign, as “God’s will”. He has also described Mugabe as “a prophet of God who was sent to deliver the people of Zimbabwe from bondage”.

A church tribunal accused Kunonga of plotting the murder of rival priests and misusing church funds, but the trial was abandoned after a judge hearing the case stepped down.

In 2007 he formed a splinter church, claiming it was in protest at the Anglican Church’s tolerance for homosexuality. He began seizing church assets, at one time moving out of his suburban home to sleep in the cathedral to ensure that his rivals stayed out.

Over recent months Kunonga has grabbed churches, schools, hospitals and orphanages, evicting priests and staff and locking out worshippers.

He has also seized the church’s most sacred shrine, which honours one of Africa’s earliest martyrs, Bernard Mizeki.

On Monday Williams handed Mugabe a dossier giving details of Kunonga’s campaign. It said that police had “disrupted church services and used tear gas and batons to drive people out of church buildings”.

“As a consequence most churches lie empty each Sunday, except where a handful of Dr Kunonga’s priests and their families are able to occupy them,” the dossier stated.

Priests and deacons were arrested without charge and many of the arrests were deliberately made on Fridays to keep priests from church, said the dossier.

“Parishioners are not only denied access to their churches, but increasingly are threatened with punishment if they worship at all, or attempt to carry out their ministry to the community.”

Kunonga’s followers barred Williams from entering churches in Mutare on Monday.

At church hospitals, his loyalists have also been denying health care to members of the rival faction and turning away drugs and equipment donated by aid agencies.

Kunonga denied the dossier’s charges and said he would continue the fight “as long as the archbishop of Canterbury remains homosexual”.

The large crowd attending Williams’s mass contrasted sharply with Kunonga’s small congregation, but he remained defiant.

“Williams’s coming here will not make them get in the church buildings. We are the ones here in the cathedral; they are meeting at the sports centre.

“I am the owner of all this. Gandiya is showing off with a white man and I do not care. This is not the end of Kunonga.”

The troubles that have gripped Zimbabwe’s Anglican Church have further exposed the country’s feeble human rights record, even as it mounted a bold defence during the United Nations Human Rights Council’s universal periodic review this week.

In Geneva, Switzerland, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Patrick Chinamasa said Western-imposed sanctions — in place since 2003 — contributed to the suffering of Zimbabweans and were “the greatest violation” of human rights.

Zimbabwe’s attorney general, Johannes Tomana, has threatened to take legal action against the European Union over the sanctions.

The debate on Zimbabwe’s human rights coincided with a visit from the global Anglican Church leader, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.

A report presented to the UN council by a coalition of 27 civil society organisations from Zimbabwe challenged the government’s glossy report on the human rights situation in the country. Dewa Mavhinga, regional co-ordinator of Crisis in Zimbabwe, said: “We want the world to know the real situation in the country. It is not ready for elections next year. There is still just a lot to be done on the human rights front.”

Effie Ncube, a political analyst, said: “ZANU PF’s denial of the atrocities and human rights violations of the past 31 years is a demonstration of the severe moral deficiency in the party.”

South Africa demanded an investigation of the ­killings that occurred during the presidential run-off elections in June 2008. The United States, Australia and Pretoria have all expressed their deep concern over the killings and said those responsible in the army, police and secret service had to be punished.

Zimbabwe’s dark human rights past has hogged the international limelight with several high-profile cases, such as the Gukurahundi massacres during the 1980s, the controversial Murambatsvina clean-up exercise in Harare in 2005, the killings by the military at the Chiadzwa diamond fields in October 2008 and the violent presidential run-off elections in June that same year.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have estimated that nearly 300 Movement for Democratic Change supporters were murdered during the run-off elections by ZANU PF members.

But a rare triumph of justice has occurred in the past month when a court sentenced ZANU PF militia base commander Gilbert Mavhenyengwa (55) to 20 years in jail for the rape of the wife of an MDC supporter during those elections.

(Source)

MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai says his party is totally opposed to the indigenisation and economic empowerment drive that seeks to transfer wealth to previously disadvantaged Zimbabweans.

Government is implementing the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, which compels foreign-owned companies to cede 51 percent stake to indigenous Zimbabweans.

Addressing a rally at Rudhaka Stadium in Marondera yesterday, Mr Tsvangirai said in place of the indigenisation policy, MDC-T intended to attract foreign investment to create jobs for Zimbabweans.

“We are totally opposed to this programme being undertaken by (Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Saviour) Kasukuwere and Zanu-PF,” said Mr Tsvangirai.

“There are some people who are moving around saying: ‘indigenisation, indigenisation’. How can you implement a party programme wakavanda neGovernment?

“Ours is a job plan. We cannot have a society where 90 percent of our children are not employed.

“Our plan is of jobs and starts by encouraging investment. Our plan is not to take from Peter to pay Paul. We cannot have another situation like what happened with the land reform, taking away from a few whites and giving to a few blacks.”

Mr Tsvangirai’s remarks come barely three days after President Mugabe officially launched the Chegutu-Mhondoro-Ngezi-Zvimba Community Share Ownership Trust at Zimplats. The platinum mining giant unveiled $10million to be used in community development projects.

The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces urged foreign investors to respect Government’s policy to empower its Mr Tsvangirai and MDC-T ministers did not attend the launch, save for Mr Tongai Mathuthu, a deputy minister in the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment.

It is this ministry that is implementing empowerment regulations through Minister Kasukuwere.

MDC-T last week announced that it was launching an ‘empowerment’ programmme known as Investment, Jobs and Upliftment.

The programme is a direct challenge to the indigenisation and economic programme being implemented by the inclusive Government.

While the inclusive Government policy emphasises on ownership of companies by indigenous people, MDC-T wants locals to remain mere workers.

At Zimplats last Thursday, President Mugabe said the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme was in response to the previous exclusion of indigenous people from mainstream economic activity by the colonial regime.

“The policy seeks to broaden the economic base by involving the majority indigenous Zimbabweans in meaningful and gainful economic activity, thus giving greater meaning to our independence and self- determination,” he said.

“The majority shareholding underlines the principle of sovereign ownership by the State, on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe of the natural resources of the land.

“It restores the identity of the indigenous people as the rightful owners of the land and its resources.”

At the Rudhaka rally, Mr Tsvangirai spoke about the forthcoming national elections and violence, which he said should be addressed nationally and internationally.

A fortnight ago, President Mugabe said the highest decision-making bodies in Zanu-PF and the MDC formations should meet ahead of elections to digest the issue of political violence to ensure that the polls are held in a peaceful and conducive environment.

Mr Tsvangirai, who accused Zanu-PF of perpetrating violence in previous polls, said he did not need to campaign to win the elections.

He vowed never to agree again to an inclusive political arrangement like the one brokered by Sadc where Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations are in an inclusive Government.

President Mugabe has also raised concern over the discord in the inclusive Government and indicated that elections could be held not later than March next year.

(Source)

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, gave President Robert Mugabe a dossier alleging a member of the church was murdered in cold blood while priests and parishioners were being terrorised by the police and armed gangs loyal to former Anglican church leader Nolbert Kunonga.

According to the dossier, a copy of which is in NewsDay’s possession, the police are said to be playing a critical role in the violence unleashed against members of the main Anglican Church by Kunonga, who was excommunicated from the church in 2007.

The police have been accused of arresting Anglican priests without cause and driving out worshippers from churches using baton sticks and teargas.

“Priests and deacons are arrested without charge on a weekly basis, often on Friday, allowing the police to hold them over the weekend without charge, so that they cannot minister to their congregations . . . Even when priests are not arrested they are threatened with violence by armed men,” reads the dossier.

“In Harare the police have disrupted church services and have been using teargas and baton sticks to drive people out of church buildings. As a consequence, most churches lie empty each Sunday, except where a handful of Dr Kunonga’s priests and their families are able to occupy them.”

The dossier claimed Jessica Mandeya of Harare Diocese was murdered on February 18, after having earlier received death threats for “consistently” refusing to join Kunonga. Kunonga and the police were also accused of denying Anglicans access to shrines such as Bernard Mizeki and Arthur Shearly Cripps for their annual pilgrimage.

“In 2010, just as people from all over the country and beyond started converging at the Bernard Mizeki Shrine just outside Marondera, police turned up in full force and drove the pilgrims away. The police took this action despite assurances (to) the bishops by government that they would not be disturbed or harassed by anyone.”

But, police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena denied the police were siding with Kunonga and said in the cases they had been involved they would be investigating criminal cases or restoring order.

“Most of the issues are common cause, basically they are turning common criminal issues into politics.

When someone reports that they have been assaulted, we react whether that person is aligned to Kunonga or Chad Gandiya, just like we react to violence whether the perpetrator is MDC or Zanu PF,” Bvudzijena said.

“If it’s public disorder, we react the same whether the disorder has been caused by Christians in a church or drunkards in a bar. In cases where there was disorder in church, the police may have moved in to restore order.”

President Mugabe was also informed that Kunonga had taken over several schools and nurseries in Harare and Manicaland Diocese, driving out priests and school heads resulting in academic standards falling.

Kunonga has also reportedly taken over orphanages, health facilities and training centres and was abusing funds while stripping the institutions of assets.

(Source)

The documentary, “Robert Mugabe… what happened?” directed by Simon Bright and produced by Michael Auret, had its World Premiere as the Opening Night film of the Encounters South Africa International Documentary Festival in Cape Town and went on to be the most watched film at the 2011 event, with additional screenings being added to accommodate the demand.

Billed as the definitive account of Mugabe’s life, it dramatically illustrates his successful liberation and development of the country but also his ruthless and cunning retention of power at all costs.

The film moves onto the Durban International Film Festival on the 23rd July then onto the Tri-Continental Film Festival in Johannesburg in September, with a limited theatrical run in South Africa, a UK premier and various international film festivals screenings scheduled for coming months.

Experts on Zimbabwe interviewed in the documentary include Trevor Ncube, Geoff Nyarota, Lovemore Maduku, Simba Makoni and the recently deceased Edgar Tekere in what was sadly his last ever interview.

Comments from audience members after premier at Encounters

“An amazing film, quite hard hitting… the title of the film is quite apt, what exactly happened to this revolutionary? Its very difficult for many  people who grew up in the apartheid era to reconcile the man that Mugabe is today with the hero that supported the liberation movements in South Africa and other countries. It’s a powerful film, and it’s quite sad as well to see what he’s doing to his people… It’s a film that more people need to see… maybe it’ll help South Africans understand why the Zimbabweans are in our country, like we were in their country when we needed help”

– Thabo Bopape, C-TV

“The filmmakers took the question that is on everybody’s mind around the world and made an entire film about it, which is something that I think a lot of people haven’t had the courage to do because to film in Zimbabwe is something where you’re risking your life just to go in there as a journalist. Throughout the film I was wondering how they got all those interviews without risking their lives although they probably did. I thought it was a really great look at the personal life of Mugabe, because you read articles about the destruction of Zimbabwe and it just doesn’t make any sense, so it was really interesting to get that inside look. I left the film with a lot more questions than I went in with, and that’s a good thing. I thought it was funny at times, really interesting, and a lot of great music”

– Laura Gamse, director.