Messages From Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe-born boxer Dereck Chisora will go into the history books on Saturday night, when he fights Briton Carl Baker in the British heavyweight title fight.

The 26-year Chisora has switched allegiance to Britain. Despite the souring relations between Harare and 10 Downing Street, Chisora has stood up to be noticed by the world.

Danny Williams was initially scheduled to fight Chisora but pulled out blaming a viral infection.

The fight at Wembley Arena had already been hit by the withdrawal of Williams’ original opponent Sam Sexton.

He was replaced by the unbeaten Chisora after cutting his hand in training.

Promoter Frank Warren says he is now in talks with two boxers who hold wins over Williams and may be able to step in at short notice.

Chisora had been due to meet Williams last year but was suspended after biting opponent Paul Butlin on  May 22.

He was banned for four months and fined £2,500 for the incident which took place at York Hall in Bethnal Green but returned in October to stop Georgia’s Zurab Noniashvili in the eighth round.

The Zimbabwe-born fighter is rated as one of the brightest prospects in the British heavyweight division.

Chisora said: “Baker’s going to be tough, but I’m ready to knock him out and show I’m the best in Britain. I’m disappointed that I won’t be fighting for the British title against Williams, but Frank has worked hard to make sure this fight is an eliminator for the Lonsdale belt. I’ll get my hands on it later this year and having to wait now will make it all the sweeter when I finally get to lift it.”

(Source)

Dumiso Dabengwa who is leading the revival of Zapu has dismissed accusations that he is treating the former liberation movement as his personal project. Instead, Dabengwa has already hinted plans to retire from politics and concentrate on writing books about his experiences during the Rhodesian war and after independence when he was imprisoned by ZANU-PF.

The Zapu interim chairman says he is ready to have his credentials scrutinised at the party’s congress in May.

Dabengwa, who was speaking for the first time since six senior party officials were suspended late last year amid accusations that they had stood up to his alleged dictatorial tendencies, maintained that the revival of Zapu remained on course.

Zapu announced last week that it would hold its inaugural congress in May, a year after it formally withdrew from the 22-year-old Unity Accord with Zanu PF.

The split came amid dissatisfaction in Matabeleland over the way President Robert Mugabe was implementing the deal.

The suspended Zapu members who included Evans Ndebele, the owner of the now defunct ZEX Airlines, former Bulawayo police spokesperson Smile Dube, and former outspoken Bulawayo councillor Alderman Charles Mpofu accused Dabengwa
of perpetuating the Zanu PF culture.

But the former Zipra intelligence supremo says there is no room for dictatorship in Zapu because there were checks and balances to prevent power from being concentrated in an individual.

He said the Council of Elders, a body that consists of members aged 65 and above, holds leaders accountable at every level.

“The role of the council was defined by congress to be that of guiding the party, and to ensure that there is discipline in the party,” Dabengwa a,former Zanu PF politburo member, said.

“One would expect that if I was the so-called dictator I would by now have been brought before the disciplinary committee by the Council of Elders of  Zapu.

“The comparison with Mugabe has no basis and is far-fetched because in the first place no one in Mugabe’s party can even think of disciplining him.

“In Zapu the Council of Elders has authority to discipline even the chairman or president.”

The veteran politician who caused a stir when he abandoned Zanu PF on the eve of the March 2008 presidential elections to support Simba Makoni who was an independent candidate said although there were cases of indiscipline in Bulawayo, they were exaggerated by the media.

He added: “The party, like all institutions, be they political, religious, social or business, has had incidents of misconduct by a few members, such as our Bulawayo province which has had to deal with a matter within its area, and only to refer it to the national interim executive if they have any problem sorting out the disciplinary issue.

“The chaos is not there at all. It is an invention of the media, some of whom are hostile to Zapu,  of course.”

The May congress will culminate in the election of a substantive leadership from all levels, which means Zapu might have a new leader to represent it in next year’s elections.

Those challenging Dabengwa’s leadership say he must make way to youthful leaders who can give Zanu PF and the two MDC formations a run for their money.

Although Dabengwa did not rule out chances that he would lead the party in the next elections if he is nominated, he said he would have preferred to retire from active politics.

“If I had my way, after the Zapu Congress I would like to retire and concentrate on my ambition to write my book or books on my 70 years’ experiences, as a young boy, during the struggle, in prisons both before and after Independence, and about my involvement and contribution in the development of the our country since Independence,” Dabengwa said.

He said the party would be ready for next year’s elections and has already set up structures across the country.

Full interview:

In May last year Zapu announced that it was pulling out of the Unity Accord with Zanu PF over disagreements on the way the agreement was being implemented.

Zapu effectively became the most vibrant opposition party after Zanu PF and the MDC formations formed a unity government.However, the revival of the former liberation movement has not been smooth sailing and Standard’s Senior Reporter Nkululeko Sibanda (NS) last week interviewed Zapu interim chairman Dumiso Dabengwa and asked him about the various challenges facing the party. Below are the excerpts.

NS: How far have you gone with the revival of Zapu since the announcement of the pullout from Zanu PF in May last year?

DD: Zapu started its workshops outreach programmes after our congress in May. We started in August this year. We divided our programme into phases, starting with provincial workshops. All the provinces held and completed their workshops by end of October. The workshops looked into three main themes, namely, amendment of the Zapu constitution, the Zapu policy, the Zapu ideology, and our mobilisation strategy. We also took the opportunity during our workshops to mobilise our members to give their views during the outreach programme for the proposed new constitution. Presenters on the themes were people selected from among the Zapu Council of Elders, the interim executive and experts drawn from our membership. The second phase was the districts and branches workshops, starting from last November and is on course and has spilled over to this year and is set to be completed by March. The response has been very encouraging, in particular the injection of new ideas mainly from the youths, who are participating in a very meaningful way. As interim chairman, I have addressed some of the workshops, such as the Harare one, which encompassed the three Mashonaland provinces, Manicaland and Harare. I also attended the joint Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and South workshop, and also addressed the Masvingo workshop, which included district representatives from the province. I also attended and addressed the Midlands workshop in Gweru, which also included delegates from some of the districts. I also attended the Matabeleland North inter-district workshop and later on went to address the Binga district workshop. The workshop sessions have been very educative.Whilst we thought we would be guiding the people on what the party and nation should be doing, we ourselves had a lot of lessons to learn. The contributions we got from all areas bore testimony to the political maturity among our people. We are clear from what we got from the people at the workshops what exactly the people want.

NS: Some of your critics in the party say you have not addressed any meeting since the congress and they suggest this has killed the momentum created after they announcement that you were leaving Zanu PF.

DD: In October last year when we discussed our party programme and resolved as the executive that workshops and the formulation of structures was our priority so as to re-establish the nucleus of Zapu in all the provinces and
districts. Some people felt this could be done in tandem with public
meetings but we felt, and I felt as much that we should concentrate on the workshops. However, we agreed also that where public meetings were to be addressed, party procedures for booking meetings should be followed in order to avoid chaos, where anyone in the party find themselves booking meetings without the authority or knowledge of the relevant party structures and authorities.

All provinces are currently in the second phase of conducting
district/branch workshops and this is an ongoing exercise countrywide

NS: There are reports of disturbances at Zapu meetings especially in Bulawayo. Could this not be an indication that the party is in turmoil?

DD: Zapu has not been rocked by any disturbances. The party, like all institutions, be they political, religious, social or business, has had incidents of misconduct by a few members, such as our Bulawayo province which has had to deal with a matter within its area, and only to refer the matter to the national interim executive if they have any problem for sorting out the disciplinary issue. The chaos is not there at all. It is an invention of the media, some of whom are hostile to Zapu, of course.

NS: Is it not that the indiscipline could be as a result of some members having lost faith in you as a leader?

DD: I am sure that if the party has lost faith in me they will express that feeling or decision at the Zapu congress scheduled for May this year, wherein delegates will elect substantive leadership.

I don’t have time to go about dispelling rumours, particularly this one. I will not as leader of Zapu respond to criticism on me done through the press, by unnamed people who I am not even sure if they are members of Zapu or they exist in the first place. All Zapu members are free to present criticism about me or any other party leader at rightful party platforms.

NS: What tangible progress has Zapu achieved since breaking away from Zanu PF?

DD: Tangible areas that have been covered by my interim executive since our election at the Zapu convention in December 2008 have been to convene a successful Special Zapu Congress in May 2009 and to implement what congress mandated us to do, that is to identify and reactivate Zapu structures throughout the country and to prepare to convene a full party congress within a year, which we are doing right now.

NS: It has been suggest that you are a dictator and your run Zapu like your personal property?

DD: One of the innovations that we came up with in reorganising Zapu was to create a Council of Elders, consisting of members aged 65 and above. There is a council of elders at all levels of the party. The role of the council was defined by congress to be that of guiding the party, and to ensure that there is discipline in the party. The council of elders is also responsible for conducting elections at all levels of the party.

One would expect that if I was the so-called dictator I would by now have been brought before the disciplinary committee by the council of elders of Zapu. The comparison with Mugabe has no basis and is far-fetched because in the first place no one in Mugabe’s party can even think of disciplining him. In Zapu the Council of Elders has authority to discipline even the chairman or president.

Our congress also recommended that there should be devolution of power to all provinces such that each province has authority to run its affairs in consultation with the national executive and council of elders. All these structures have their own programme and say at our executive meetings. Our decisions are collective; no one person has the final say on an issue.

NS: Is Zapu ready for elections next year considering that President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are pushing for an early poll?

DD: Zapu is ready to participate in any election that would be called, any day now. Whilst we may not have as much resources as other parties, we have faith in our members who are prepared to sacrifice and give themselves up in order to achieve their goal. If elections were called any time, Zapu members will stand up and do everything possible to ensure that the party is able to
come out best.

NS: There are allegations ahead of your May congress that you will seek to hand pick delegates who will rubberstamp your bid to remain chairman. What is your response?

DD: As we draw towards congress, we have encouraged the provinces to work out and recommend to the Council of Elders how best the election of our party leadership should be done, such that we come out with reliable, honest, credible and committed leadership for Zapu. For instance some members in Harare have suggested that each province nominates at least two possible leaders for congress to consider. Other provinces are free to come up with their ideas. Each branch will be represented at congress, as will be each district and all provinces. So how would it be possible for anyone to handpick all those people?

NS: Do you still harbour any ambitions to lead Zapu after the May congress and will you represent the party at the next elections?

DD: If I had my way, after the Zapu Congress I would like to retire and concentrate on my ambition to write my book or books on my 70 years’ experiences, as a young boy, during the struggle, in prisons both before and after independence, and about my involvement and contribution in the development of the our country since independence.
In Zapu one does not choose to be in a position. There is no such thing as self-nomination. People nominate you. Yours is either to accept or decline the nomination. I have never and have no intention of nominating myself to contest anything.

NS: What should Zimbabweans expect from Zapu this year?

DD: Zapu is the mother of the revolution, together with ANC in South Africa, Frelimo in Mozambique, MPLA in Angola and Swapo in Namibia. Our main aim as Zapu is to reassert those values that the party had during the liberation struggle, which unfortunately we have not seen since independence. Zapu has identified a number of deviations and diversions from the goals and we are anxious to reconnect all the people of Zimbabwe to build a progressive, democratic, free and stable Zimbabwe for all the people.

(Source)

One of President Robert Mugabe’s security men was critically injured when his motor bike collided with a truck near Sam Levy’s Village in Borrowdale on Thursday evening.

The motorist is likely to be charged with negligent driving as he did not give way to the Presidential motorcade. President Mugabe was on his way to his Borrowdale mansion when the accident occurred.

The rider is part of the Presidential Guard.

The motorist was driving from Sam Levy Village near Domboshawa Road and the robot indicated that he had the right way but did not give way to the Presidential motorcade.

A Radio VOP correspondent witnessed the accident as the out-rider who led the motorcade rammed into the truck before swerving into a nearby ditch.

The Presidential Motorcade which has an ambulance in the convoy of about six cars did not stop to assist the Zimbabwe Republic Police rider who lay sprawled on the ground. He was later attended to a few minutes and is reportedly in a critical conditon.

The out-rider with a siren leads the way clearing the road giving ZIM 1 (President Robert Mugabe’s stretch limousine) a distance of  about 200 metres.

The Presidential Motorcade later follows in a diamond formation covering the tarmac with Mugabe’s limousine in between.

On hearing the siren the motorists on the road park their cars by the roadside to give way to the speeding Presidential motorcade. However on Thursday evening a motorist did not give the right way to the motorcade. It could not be established when the motorist would appear in court.

Several motorists have in the past been assaulted by Mugabe’s security men for not giving way to the Presidential motorcade. Some of the riders who led the motorcade have also been killed after some motorists fail to observe the unwritten law of giving way to the Presidential motorcade.

President Mugabe now spends most of his time at his mansion in Borrowdale mansion were he lives with his family.

In the past the First Family lived at State House which now normally used for State occasions before he retires to his Borrowdale mansion. President Mugabe’s motorcade has over the years been criticised as a waste of state resources.

(Source)

Installation of the fiber optic cable which will link Zimbabwe with the rest of the world should be complete by March this year in time to enable visitors during the 2010 FIFA World Cup to enjoy reliable and fast Internet connections, according to ITC Minister Nelson Chamisa.

He said here Wednesday that the government was determined to ensure that Zimbabwe benefited fully from the world soccer showcase to be held in neighbouring South Africa from June 11 to July 11 this year.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti had made available 5.0 million USD in the 2010 National Budget for installation of the fiber optic cable.

“The fiber optic cable connection is expected to respond to problems of Internet connectivity which has made services expensive compared with elsewhere in the region,” said Chamisa.

He added that the fiber optic cable connection was the way to go since satellite facilities were expensive and the country rented them from other Internet providers.

He said the Zimbabwe government, through his ministry, wanted to ensure that Internet technology was affordable and accessible to everyone.

In his 2010 Budget, Biti also announced duty-free importation of ICT related products, with the objective of making them cheaper and accessible to everyone.

IT experts and service providers have hailed government’s efforts to improve Internet connectivity, saying it would ensure that the country moved with trends the world over.

Countries such as Kenya have already started benefiting from the 17,000-km cable which runs along the east coast of Africa, creating a digital superhighway that links South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya with Europe and Asia.

(Source)

Police have warned people against buying vehicles with foreign registration number plates as some of them will not have proper documents.

Some of these vehicles are believed to have been stolen, while others were smuggled into the country.

There have been cases during this period where some locals based in neighbouring countries bring in their cars for the holidays.

At the border, they are issued with Temporary Import Permits, which bear the number of days they will be staying in the country.

It is believed that when returning, some will sell their vehicles at cheap prices to some locals without the proper documents.

Most of them will dupe their insurance companies that their vehicles were stolen during the holiday so that they will also be compensated, especially in South Africa.

CID spokesperson Detective Inspector Augustine Zimbili urged people to buy vehicles with proper documents so that they will not have problems in changing ownership.

He said some people were taking advantage of the TIPs to evade import duty and bring in their cars for sale.

“Some of these vehicles could have been stolen, while others could have been smuggled into the country,” Detective Insp Zimbili said.

He said people should be aware of such vehicles, as they will end up losing their hard-earned cash.

They have been urged to seek the services of the CID Vehicle Theft Squad to avoid such incidences. VTS will check through the International Police whether the vehicle could have been stolen or not.

Detective Insp Zimbili said any imported vehicle should have some Zimra documents, registration book and police clearance forms, among others.

In August last year, police launched a blitz targeting imported vehicles believed to have been brought into the country in a well-orchestrated scam involving importers and corrupt officials.

Most of the cars were pre-owned Japanese vehicles bought from Durban, South Africa.

(Source)

Peter Tatchell has stood down as Green candidate for the next election due to brain injuries left by attacks by Robert Mugabe’s bodyguards and Russian neo-nazis.

The 57-year-old human rights activist said he was standing down as parliamentary candidate in Oxford East “with great regret and reluctance”.

“My brain injuries from the Mugabe and Moscow bashings mean that I would not be able to campaign effectively in the general election or do the duties required of an MP, if I was elected,” Tatchell said.

“It would not be right for me to seek election if I could not do the job of an MP to the high standards that I want and that Oxford East voters have a right to expect.”

Tatchell has made a mark as a human rights activist in campaigns stretching back more than 40 years, and was one of the more unusual candidates to be selected by the Greens.

He told the Guardian earlier this year: “I suspect I might be quite a troublesome MP, starting with the oath of allegiance.”

It would have been an uphill struggle for him to have been elected in Oxford East, where the Greens polled 4.3% at the last election, although they polled highest in East Oxford in this year’s Oxfordshire county council elections.

The Greens currently have no MPs, although they are hoping their leader, Caroline Lucas, an MEP and their candidate in Brighton Pavilion, will become their first at the next election.

Tatchell shot to public prominence in 1983 as the Labour candidate in the notorious Bermondsey byelection, where he was the subject of a bitter political and media campaign.

In March 2001, in Brussels, he received seven blows at the hands of Robert Mugabe’s bodyguards after attempting a citizen’s arrest of the Zimbabwean president over human rights abuses, leaving him with lasting injuries.

He was knocked unconscious and left with poor vision in his right eye. Other long-term effects included poor memory, concentration, balance and coordination.

These injuries were compounded in 2007, just a month after he was selected as a parliamentary candidate, when he suffered severe concussion following an attack by neo-nazis at a gay pride event in Moscow.

His physical problems deteriorated further after he was out campaigning for a Cornish parliament in south-west England when the bus he was sitting on swerved and he hit his head on a metal rail.

He told the Guardian earlier this year that his doctor had told him to “radically reduce my workload for a period of up to a year”. But, he said, “at the moment I am saying: ‘No, there is a general election.’”

Today Tatchell said: “If I was elected, I could manage the parliamentary duties or the constituency work. But my health is not strong enough for me to do both.

“The injuries don’t stop me from campaigning but I am slower, make more mistakes, get tired easily and take longer to do things. My memory, concentration, balance and coordination have been adversely affected. I can’t campaign at the pace I used to.”

He recalled: “Following the Moscow assault, I never rested and recuperated. I carried on campaigning, with a very heavy schedule of commitments in Oxford East. After several months, I was severely exhausted. This stress and exhaustion probably intensified the damage and thwarted my recovery.

“I have postponed making this announcement for several months, in the hope that I might get better and be able to carry on as the Green candidate. Unfortunately, my condition has not improved. If anything, it is worse.”

He said he had received medical advice to the effect that if he slowed down and reduced his workload his condition might improve “in a year or so”. But, he said, “I am unlikely to ever recover fully”.

He added: “I don’t regret a thing. Getting a thrashing and brain injuries was not what I had expected or wanted. But I was aware of the risks. Taking risks is sometimes necessary, in order to challenge injustice. My beatings had the positive effect of helping draw international attention to the violent, repressive nature of the Russian and Zimbabwean regimes. I’m glad of that.”

Oxford Green party will select a new candidate in January.

(Source)

The Zimbabwe Mail can reveal that a document is circulating and fliers distributed this morning amongst ZANU PF delegates to the party’s congress urging members “to reclaim their party from the presedium”.

(Readers please note, The Zimbabwe Mail has moles embedded in the centre of ZANU PF power battles and we will keep you informed of any developments as ZANU PF faces inevitable disintegration irrespective of Robert Mugabe’s message of defiance.)

The document, believed to be a summary of Jonathan Moyo’s authored plan for a ZANU PF break-away plan and its colourful fliers which have been distributed openly by a group of party rebels led by former Chairman of ZANU PF Harare province, Hubert Nyanhongo are all urging party members to “to do whatever possible to reclaim their party from unelected leaders”. They are written in English, Shona and Ndebele languages.

Last night our reporter witnessed a Nissan 4×4 pick up truck off-loading defiant banners, fliers and placards at the Kopje Plazza, the NETONE building and they where taken into the basement by people believed to be aligned to Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The reporter was told of hidden weapons and communication gadgets in the basement on that building.

Unconfirmed reports said in the last 48 hours some of the ring leaders have been seized by the intelligence forces and scores of party supporters have since fled into neighbouring South Africa as the battle reaches fever peach.

We’re also told that last night a man died in a fist-fight at the ZANU PF Harare District offices near Fourth Street bus station and scores were injured as things got out of control in a pre-congress briefing.

Sources said, South African President Jacob Zuma has kept a close touch with his Zimbabwean counter-part with reports that President Mugabe has sounded a security scare alert as the battle ground moves into the control of security forces.

President Jabob Zuma in turn has informed other SADC leaders of the challenges facing Zimbabwe and on his visit to Zambia he has briefed the Zambian President of the need to set-up his army ready to assist if there is an urgent need.

Today, Botswana President Ian Khama, a former Army commander himself, will tour army bases in the Chobe District which is situated around the Zimbabwe-Botswana border, and our source revealed that this is part of the latest SADC security alert plan as they fear Zimbabwe could degenerate into a civil conflict.

We can reveal that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao was tasked by SADC leader to meet President Mugabe early this week in order to get some feedback and the Zimbabwean President raised the security concern which has since been communicated to the region’s Defence Ministers.

A battle over who will eventually succeed 85-year-old President Robert Mugabe as party leader threatens the future of his long-ruling ZANU PF but analysts say an immediate split is unlikely at a congress this week.

By balancing competing factions and through a political patronage system, Mugabe has kept a tight grip on ZANU PF since becoming party leader in the mid 1970s and spearheaded a guerrilla war against white minority rule.

But as Mugabe heads into the twilight of a political career spanning over half a century, his lieutenants have stepped up an internal fight for prime positions to take over the party when Mugabe retires. He has not given a date.

Rival factions have been jostling for posts in ZANU PF’s “presidium” leadership before a five-yearly party congress opening in Harare on Friday, widening cracks within ranks already torn over personalities, ethnic and regional issues.

“These fights are going to go on until Mugabe goes, and when he goes ZANU PF is in danger of disintegration,” said Eldred Masunungure, a leading political analyst.

“There is no consensus candidate on who should succeed Mugabe, and Mugabe himself has apparently created that crisis to remain in power,” Masunungure told Reuters.

But whoever eventually wins the battle to succeed Mugabe – whenever his position becomes vacant – will have a huge task to reorganise a party which many critics say just managed to hang onto power last year through violence against the opposition.

TERMINAL DECLINE?

A post-election standoff with the rival Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) forced Mugabe to sign a power-sharing deal with its leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Since then the new government has struggled to rebuild the shattered economy and attract much-needed aid funds.

“All the fighting that is going on in ZANU PF is not going to help them at the next elections against the MDC,” said Lovemore Madhuku, chairman of political pressure group National Constitutional Assembly.

“What is emerging is a weak and divided party, a party probably in terminal decline,” he said.

The two-day congress will endorse Mugabe as party head for five years, and confirm a new policy-making central committee.

A faction led by former army General Solomon Mujuru has gained an upper hand in the succession battle as Mujuru’s wife, Joice Mujuru, 54, has been nominated by most of ZANU PF’s provincial executives to remain as vice-president to Mugabe.

This makes Joice Mujuru, for now, the front runner to succeed Mugabe as ZANU PF leader if he steps down, ahead of rival faction leader Emmerson Mnangagwa, who local media has for long touted as a favourite to takeover from Mugabe.

The congress will also confirm John Nkomo, 75, current party chairman to become the second ZANU PF vice president, replacing veteran politician Joseph Msika who died aged 86 this year.

Zimbabwe‘s ambassador to South Africa, Simon Khaya Moyo, 64, has been earmarked to fill Nkomo’s party chairman post.

The issue of Mugabe’s successor has divided ZANU PF along ethnic lines, with Mnangagwa’s faction charging that Mujuru’s group seeks to preserve the party presidency for another member of Mugabe’s Zezuru ethnic group. 

“The problem of tribalism or ethnic tensions has been swept under the carpet in ZANU PF for a long time, but I think this is going to be a real issue if some things appear so obvious,” said Masunungure.

Mugabe has flatly refused to discuss his retirement plans, but analysts say he is unlikely to contest the next presidential poll — expected in the next two years or in 2013 if the current unity government runs a full term.

He will be heading towards his 90th birthday by then, and may not get his party support to continue in power.

(Source)

After fleeing her native Zimbabwe, arriving in Toronto alone, living in a Salvation Army shelter, getting first an undergraduate degree in Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto and then a master’s degree in history and ethnic and pluralism studies and founding the Humane Migration Institute, Andriata Chironda decided it was time for a little fun.

So she entered the Miss Afri-Canada pageant. And won it.

But even with the crown and the flowers and the title, Chironda still sees the pageant, just like everything else, in terms of politics and social justice.

“Zimbabwe gets a lot of negative press,” she says, then pauses. “For very good reason. The cholera, the HIV, the politics.

“But we’re pretty nice people, except for Robert.”

That would be Robert Mugabe, president for life and the man whose despotic rule inspired her as a teenager to join the fledgling opposition movement. It was the first time since 1980 that Mugabe’s repressive regime could no longer smother dissent.

“It was unheard of. Civil society had burst and now a generation was saying no.”

A word not without risks. In 2001, at the age of 20, Chironda found herself on a plane to Toronto on orders from her mother. Canada had a reputation for being “more humanitarian than most,” she said. Zimbabwe‘s intelligence agents were believed to operate in Britain, so she would not be safe there.

Her father, who had fought against white rule when Zimbabwe was Rhodesia, had died just a year earlier after many years in detention. She recalls him as a “difficult man to live with” but now, a little older, she understands better the sacrifices he made for his country.

“We didn’t have much time to mourn him as a family before things went to s—.”

Her mother wasn’t going to let anything like that happen to her eldest.

And so Chironda landed at Pearson airport with not much money and no connections, a little surprised “to see so many white people.”

Growing up in Zimbabwe, “I had never really thought of myself as a black woman. You’re not conscious of yourself as a black woman. It’s an experience you get here when you’re exposed to explicit and implicit forms of racism.”

Every single piece of her experience of the past eight years has fed into what she has carved out for herself. The loneliness of a newcomer, the experience of justifying her claim before the Immigration and Refugee Board so she could stay, the diaspora that is her family – mother and youngest sister now in Europe, two sisters in South Africa, her brother finally with her in Toronto – the realization of what other immigrants, not from Zimbabwe, have gone through to get here.

That last came with the Miss Afri-Canada pageant, in which she competed in October against 11 other young women in Toronto representing other African countries. It taught her, she says, how diverse Africa is as a continent and how “Mugabe is not the only evil on the face of the planet.”

Plus, it was “the best fun I’ve had in years. It’s not your typical pageant. It’s not a crass lining up of women.”

When she won the event, sponsored by the African Heritage Association since 1999, this self-proclaimed scrawny tomboy with a master’s degree in history “was laughing inside to myself. It all seemed quite ridiculous, surreal.”

The competitors showcase their culture. Chironda played the mbira, a thumb piano used to accompany traditional oral history melodies. Oral histories are what she wants to use the Humane Migration Institute to showcase as well, through stories, music and arts. “So much of it can be lost in translation.”

She talks eloquently of what transnationals, the people who straddle two cultures, lose and gain. She lost her family and country but gained what she calls a “more multi-dimensional” personality, able to put her activism in a world context and expand her definition of family to include the people at the Maytree Foundation, which gave her the scholarship that gave her an education.

Maytree also sponsored her internship at Amnesty International, putting more flesh on the bones of her knowledge about refugees and diasporas.

Before she goes back to academia for her doctorate, Chironda is putting that knowledge to use on a government-sponsored project through the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, which will examine just what immigrants and refugees are and aren’t receiving to help them adjust.

Her time at Evangel Hall, the Salvation Army shelter, taught her that a credo of her student activist days – that religion was merely a means of controlling people – didn’t fit all the time.

A chance encounter near her then-home on Wellesley St., with a man on inline skates, gave her a metaphor for “becoming Canadian.

“He looked really majestic, like he was gliding. I stared at him. A friend told me I was too old for that, so I was determined to do it. God bless Canadian Tire. I got a nice pair of Rollerblades there and I taught myself.”

Then she overcame being petrified of the cold to learn how to skate.

“There is something beautiful about learning `what’s done in Rome.’ Do you know what I mean? Now I can participate. I am at ease on the streets of Toronto. I can skate faster than most Canadians.”

A tiny bit competitive, Andriata? “Oh yes,” she says with a rolling laugh. “You have to learn to define yourself.”

(Source)

It will take sometime for alleged Zimbabwean fugitive wanted in the assassination of a high ranking former South African diplomat to Zimbabwe to be extradited.

Since his arrest last February, the suspect Kevin Blaze, who is also facing three counts of obtaining by false pretences in Botswana, has moved an application after another to prolong his trial date.  

Blaze, who is currently on bail, has so far moved applications, among them one for the recusal of Thato Mujaji, the magistrate who had been hearing the case.

Mujaji is has since been transferred to Selebi-Phikwe. The case is now before regional magistrate Lorraine Makati-Lesang. The other application was for bail pending trial which was granted by the High Court. He also wanted charges to be quashed.

According to the first count, the 28-year-old Blaze, of Harare, obtained credit in the amount of P7, 500 by falsely pretending to be the lawful owner of Credit Card No.4436290000001589 on February 22, 2008 at Thapama Cresta Lodge in Francistown.

On March 4, still at Thapama, Blaze allegedly obtained credit in the amount of P5, 000 by falsely pretending to be the lawful owner of credit card No. 4367732163152454.

On the third count it is alleged that Blaze, on March 7 last year, at the same hotel, obtained credit in an amount of P5,000 by falsely pretending to be the lawful owner of credit card No. 5491130335695433.

Meanwhile, there is new information that the European banks have denied issuing Blaze with credit cards he used at Thapama Cresta Lodge.

According to a letter from First National Bank Botswana dated February 15, 2008 addressed to the manager of Thapama Cresta Lodge, the bank says it has communicated with European banks where the above listed credit cards are issued and confirmed that they did not belong to Blaze.

Last March, Interpol Harare sent an urgent correspondence to their Gaborone counterparts the subject of which was Blaze, alias Taurai Gasva. He is wanted in his native Zimbabwe to face three criminal charges.

He is accused of contravening Section 4 as read with section 3 (1) (a) of the Domestic Violence Act and contravening section 7 (1) (a) of the Children’s Protection and Adoption Act Cap 5:06 Baby Dumping. Blaze is also accused of contravening C/S 186 of the Criminal law (Codification and Reform) Act (Threats).

In South Africa, he is wanted in connection with the murder of Kingsley Sithole, a former political counsellor at the South African Embassy in Harare.

Sithole was shot dead outside his newly purchased Midrand home, near Johannesburg on June 12, 2006.

(Source)