Zimbabwe: Outpost of Tyranny

Studio 7 Radio and SW Radio Africa Report on Petrol Bombing of Lovemore Madhuku's Home.

SW Radio Africa and VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe radio programs each has a story on the arson attack on NCA President Lovemore Madhuku's home on Sunday. You can read them here and here. The VOA report includes an interview with Madhuku.

"Mugabe attempts to close last remaining newspaper opponents."

Andrew Meldrum, who reported from Harare for over 20 years before being expelled in 2003, reports from South Africa that Mugabe is moving to revoke the citizenship of the publisher of 2 of Zimbabwe's only remaining independent newspapers, the Independent and the Standard.  Writing in the Guardian yesterday, Meldrum reports that Zim authorities are challenging Trevor Ncube's citizenship as a pretext to shut down the 2 newspapers:

"Senior government officials said Mr Ncube, the publisher of two weeklies, the Zimbabwe Independent and the Standard, was not entitled to Zimbabwean citizenship because his father was Zambian.  Zimbabwe's strict media laws require newspapers to be owned by Zimbabwean citizens. If the Mugabe government succeeds in withdrawing Mr Ncube's citizenship, it is expected to swiftly close his two papers, which are staunch critics of Mr Mugabe's policies. Mr Ncube told the Guardian yesterday that he would go to court to retain his citizenship: "I am a Zimbabwean. I was born and bred in Zimbabwe and I have no other citizenship."

Read Meldrum's article here.

Zimbabwe's Burden: Editorial in the Toledo Blade (U.S.)

An American newspaper, the Toledo Blade, published a New Year's Eve Editorial entitled "Zimbabwe's Burden."  The editorial describes the disaster that Mugabe has been for the country, begining shortly after he ascended to power with his massacres of the Ndebele ethnic group, with the help and military training of North Korea:

"Mr. Mugabe has been a disaster for the 12 million people of the southern African country since he came to power with bright, conciliatory words upon its independence. Virtually his first act was to raise new troops from his Shona tribe, with North Korean help, to stamp out his Ndebele minority opposition.  Then, over the years, he destroyed the Zimbabwe economy. Apart from his army's depredations in Ndebele country, he went after Zimbabwe's white farmers, who grew not only tobacco and other commercial crops for export, but also the bulk of the country's food. He and thugs who had his authority simply grabbed the white farmers' land, installing in their place not peasant farmers, but military and civilian Shona cronies of Mr. Mugabe.  Zimbabwe's people now suffer starvation from time to time and depend to a large extent on food relief. Through corruption and economic mismanagement, Mr. Mugabe has also severely damaged the rest of the economy, with inflation sometimes reaching four digits."

One error in the editorial is the implication that the majority Shona population constitutes a support base for Mugabe ("An opposition confronts him internally, but it has no chance against the army and the Shona majority, which accounts for 80 percent of the population."). 

The Shona majority in the country has been as victimized, impoverished and brutalized by the Mugabe regime as other ethnic groups. 

The fact that several million Zimbabweans--perhaps a quarter or more of the population of 12 million and a majority undoubtedly Shona--have fled the country over the past 6 or 7 years is proof of this fact.

The frequent and well documented incidents of government organized violence and torture perpetrated against human rights defenders and the general population (Shona, Ndebele, of European and Asian descent and other ethnicities) is further evidence.

Read the whole Toledo Blade editorial here.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) Leader, Ray Majongwe, Alleges Threats over Donated Radios.

That is the title of a story on VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe radio program, yesterday.  The story includes an interview with the Secretay General of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), Ray Majongwe.  Zimbabwe Government television aired a news report on New Years Day regarding civil society organizations' distribution of solar and hand crank radio hand sets to their rural constituents. 

This blog has reported in the past on the regime's efforts to limit the population's access to information and news through the seizure of shortwave radio handsets.  The regime has reportedly been using Chinese equipment to jam independent radio programs including VOA's Studio 7 and SWRadio Africa.  Read the story here.

President Morgan Tsvangirai's New Year's Message to the Zimbabwe People

Opposition leader and President of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, has a New Year's Message to the People of Zimbabwe.  It includes an appeal to members of the ruling party to join the MDC in its drive to put an end to the Mugabe dictatorship:

"Our transition to a New Zimbabwe has been long and hard. We have come a long way. We are encouraged by your determination and unwavering stance against this dictatorship. Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF are on the verge of collapse. Recent developments in that party show a growing disenchantment with the ruling elite. Within Zanu PF, a significant body of opinion today is in favour of a solution to the national crisis. I thank you for weakening the nerve centre of the dictatorship through your refusal to legitimize the plunder of our national resources and rapacious acts of misrule. Things have begun to fall apart.  We are ready to co-operate and work with committed patriots who see sense in what we seek to achieve. We need to realign our positions and embrace those willing to join hands with us and Save Zimbabwe from further damage. Mugabe and Zanu PF must be stopped from continuously abusing well-meaning Zimbabweans, regardless of their political persuasion, whose patriotic desire is to chart an all inclusive way forward."

It also includes a condemnation of the arson attack on Lovemore Madhuku's home on New Year's Day:

"The shameful attack on the home and family of constitutional expert and activist, Dr Lovemore Madhuku is a symptom of the general panic within the establishment over a definite shift towards a national consensus on Zimbabwe’s future. Robert Mugabe and some elements in Zanu PF are terrified about tomorrow. They are trying to find an escape route out of a house already on fire. They shall target progressive groups and individuals to divert attention and to frustrate and intimidate them away from making a contribution to the realization of a New Zimbabwe and a new society. The regime shall employ desperate tactics to silence those from within its ranks who are against Mugabe’s extension of his rule to 2010. The regime shall confront all of us in the forlorn hope of imposing its will onto the people."

You can read the whole Tsvangirai statement here.

Jeff Nyarota Slams Jeff Koinange for his Ignorant Reporting

Writing in his online newspaper, the Zimbabwe Times, exiled Zimbawean journalist and former editor of the now banned (and bombed) Daily News, Geoffrey Nyarota echoes the criticism that this blog meted out last month for ambulance chasing CNN reporter Jeff Koinange for his report that publicized the falsehood that Zimbabweans are eating rats to survive.  I won't link again to Koinange's absurd piece of disaster hucksterism disguised as journalism but you can find it on their site if you really must.  Nyarota (in his article, which can be found here) echoes many of the points that this blog made here last month with regard to the repulsive Koinange's latest breach of journalistic ethics.

Nyarota dissects the Koinange story and points out several of the incongruities and absurdities of the narrative presented:

As for Elizabeth, the woman in the CNN story, she appears to have simply gone along with the preconceived notion of the reporter that these were, indeed, rats being prepared for dinner out of desperation in a desperate country. The report goes on to contextualise the eating of rats in Zimbabwe vis-à-vis the country’s debilitating economic crisis.

"This is a story about how Zimbabwe, once dubbed southern Africa's bread basket, has in six short years become a basket case. It is about a country that once exported surplus food now apparently falling apart, with many residents scrounging for rodents to survive," Koinange reports.

"Look what we've been reduced to eating?" Elisabeth chips in, as if acting on a cue. "How can my children eat rats in a country that used to export food? This is a tragedy."

Her alleged statement, however, immediately arouses suspicion in the mind of sharp-eyed Zimbabweans. They pride themselves on their country’s commendably high level of literacy. But to attribute a statement such as, "How can my children eat rats in a country that used to export food?" to a rural peasant is to push the issue beyond the limits of credibility. The average rural peasant does not normally make such profound and sophisticated pronouncements, especially in eloquent English.

Another cause of concern is that Koinange reached the conclusion that Zimbabweans now thrive on rats after a fortuitous encounter with Elizabeth and her daughter. Just one encounter with one rodent –frying peasant Zimbabwean woman cannot, in any way, constitute sufficient or plausible evidence on which to build a case that starvation has forced a nation of more than 12 million to resort to consumption of rats in order to survive.

Read the entire Zimbawetimes.com article by clicking here.

Eddie Cross's Outlook for 2007

The eminent pro-democracy fighter and economist, Eddie Cross does not have his newest essay up on his web site yet (he has just sent it out by email), so I append its entire text here which includes his analysis of 2007 harvest prospects (POOR!):

"The Outlook for 2007.

We are now well into the wet season and it is possible to look at the situation and begin to make some assumptions about the outlook for the next 12 months. This could change and in some cases, dramatically, but I think at this point in time the assumptions I have used are reasonable and the estimates made are the best available at this time.

The first assumption I have used is that there will be no significant change in the overall political situation here. Zimbabwe will remain a pariah, failed State with hostile relations with the majority of the rest of the world. The second assumption is that Zanu PF will follow through on their recent policy statements and we will see further hostile actions against the private sector during the year. A third major assumption is that the wet season is going to be inferior to 2005/06.

Reports coming into me from all over the country suggest that crop plantings have been similar or reduced compared to 2005. We know the tobacco crop will fall to below the 50 000 tonne threshold this year (the minimum crop size required to maintain the support infrastructure to keep the industry intact), we also know that plantings of contract crops has declined due to uncertainties in the corporate sector that maintained this activity last year.

In many areas crops have not yet been planted or have not yet germinated. Recent heavy rains affected the southeast and the midlands (the Tokwe and the Lundi are in flood) but in the rest of the country crop development is well behind schedule. This suggests an even smaller outturn in 2007 than in 2006 when only 700 000 tonnes of maize was grown. This is supported by the high prices being achieved for green maize at present. For all these reasons I think that agricultural output will decline again this year by at least 10 per cent – maybe more.

In the mining sector virtually all major maintenance and expansion activity has stopped. Suppliers to this sector report a sharp drop in buying activity throughout the industry. The only expansion taking place is in the platinum sector where special conditions seem to prevail. The main concern being the threat to "take" 51 per cent control of all mines in the country. A statement that the State will use this control to appoint new management has now reinforced this threat. My prediction is therefore that mineral output will continue to fall. Certainly there will be no recovery in sales of gold to the Reserve Bank until monetary policy is rationalized and as the informal sector is now the subject of fresh attacks, this will reduce illegal gold output and sales.

In the industrial sector the outlook is for accelerated decline in local industrial activity. The failure to adjust exchange rates on a regular and systematic basis is undermining the viability of many exporters and the concomitant failure to make available foreign exchange to industry for imports is impeding activity on a broad front. Even the State predicts that industry is going to continue to decline but recent actions by the State not only make this prediction inevitable but have also increased the possibility of even more rapid decline.

The threat that the State will take 51 per cent of all foreign owned firms is finding expression in many different ways. Zanu PF leaders – even at a low level, are approaching owners and managers in industry with the threat that if they do not co-operate they will be forcibly taken over. These threats are being taken seriously.

Foreign owned companies occupy many of the key positions in local manufacture and must be reviewing their activities with this threat in mind. Like the mining industry they may well decide to halt any expansion and major maintenance work. This will inevitably impact on both current and future capacity.

This generally gloomy outlook is compounded by the fact that the region seems to be making no serious attempt to head off a shortfall in electrical energy supplies that has been predicted for the region for some years and is scheduled to start impacting on supply in 2007. In Zimbabwe the shortage of coal and foreign exchange for spare parts and maintenance of existing plants will continue to impede supplies of electrical energy and this together problems in the coal and liquid fuels market will make operating conditions for many companies more difficult.

The one sector that may see a slight recovery in activity is tourism where the regional boom in tourism (growing at 10 to 15 per cent per annum) will result in some recovery in tourist numbers at the major tourist centers. However it is unlikely that hotel occupancy will rise significantly above the levels maintained last year. Income from tourism will remain depressed, as the switch from traditional tourism origins to the newer origins will be at a lower level of per capita spending.

After a turbulent few years, the financial sector will remain reasonably stable but critically dependent on Reserve bank policies. Wild swings in policy in 2006 have seriously undermined confidence and reduced the ability of financial institutions to protect themselves and their viability in an otherwise distorted and declining economy.

The commercial sector of the economy will be maintained by the inflow of funds from the Diaspora now running at in excess of US$100 million per month. These funds are directed mainly at paying school fees and medical costs and supporting the cost of living for the majority of people living in Zimbabwe. Converted at parallel market rates these inflows will continue to have a major impact on consumer spending and it is a pity that local industry will not be able to take advantage of this because of their other constraints. This sector will be hampered by shortages and rapidly rising costs.

As far as inflation is concerned and foreign exchange rates on informal markets, both can be expected to rise even faster than in 2006. Inflation is set to exceed 2000 per cent shortly and will probably rise still further by midyear. If government continues to insist on price controls this will lead to company failures in the retail and manufacturing sector. The main problem being cash flow constraints and an inability to finance new stock levels.

Eddie Cross

Bulawayo January 4th 2007."

"Save Zimbabwe Campaign's" Statement on Mugabe's Move to Postpone Elections.

The "Save Zimbabwe Campaign", a coalition of Zimbabwean pro-democracy civil society groups chaired by the Christian Alliance has released a statement with regard to the regime's attempts to postpone scheduled 2008 presidential elections until 2010:

"Save Zimbabwe Campaign will do all that is permissible in a democratic society to challenge the ruling Zanu PF party’s intentions to refuse the people of Zimbabwe the right to select leaders of their own choice under a democratic constitution dispensation.  We will campaign for both the holding of elections in 2008 and the overhauling of Zimbabwe’s current constitution in order that it be replaced by a democratic, people driven and defined constitutional framework."

Read the entire statement by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign and see a list of its council member organizations by clicking here.

Eddie Cross: "The Chicken Treatment."

Eddie Cross relates two lessons he learned during his childhood growing up on a farm in the eastern Matopo hills that have direct relevance to today's crisis in Zimbabwe.

The chicken treatment was a strategy to stop an offending dog from raiding the chicken coop that consisted of tying the dead chicken around the dog's neck.  By the end of a week, the dog was displaying symtoms of panic.  The parallels with ZANU-PF's raiding of Zimbabwe are described by Eddie:

"The dog will soon be irritated by the carcass and then will become quite agitated – throwing its head from side to side as it tries to get rid of the thing around its neck – to no avail. When it starts to stink it will become quite frantic and when finally the chicken is removed, the dog will run from the carcass if it is shown to it. This is a very effective treatment for delinquent dogs.  The economy performs such a role in Zimbabwe today. Zanu PF has been grossly delinquent and in the process has killed what was once a vibrant and diversified economy. Today the carcass of the economy is firmly tied around its neck and do what it may; it will not be able to throw it off. I think we are into the third phase of this particular exercise – panic and severe distress."

The second childhood lesson was regarding greedy baboons who raid the maize field.  The ingenious young lad learned that if he placed several maize cobs inside an empty metal drum, and cut a hole in the top that was just big enough for the baboon to fit his hand in to grab a maize cob (but too small to get the maize cob out) that the baboon's greed was such that young Eddie could approach the baboon and take him into custody. 

The similarities between ZANU-PF and baboon behavior are striking: 

"Zanu PF chefs are similar to that poor baboon – they see the goodies that are lying around and they cannot help but grab what they can. Such goodies are tied to various things and these ties cannot be hidden – so when Gideon Gono goes out and buys a US$365 000 Mercedes Benz he cannot hide the acquisition – he also cannot let it go and it will eventually lead to his capture and humiliation. It is the same with assets that do not belong to those who have taken them from their rightful owners. When the time comes we will be able to identify the culprits quite easily. Painting them and letting them loose also sounds like a good idea! I am sure they will also find their erstwhile colleagues decidedly reluctant to be seen in public with those so identified and humiliated!"

Eddie should have the full text up on his web site today:  www.eddiecross.africanherd.com.

Sudan: "After hundreds of thousands of black Muslim corpses, is the genocide at last over?"

That is the sub-title of Nat Hentoff's latest in the Village Voice, entitled "Black Holocaust".  It is another illustration of the cowardice, incompetence and impotence of the U.N. that Adam LeBor describes in his recent book,  Complicity with Evil.  Hentoff's article is here.

Two Million Missing Persons in Zimbabwe.

Some years back, writing in the New York Review of Books, the "hunger economist" and Nobel Laureat, Amartya Sen, wrote compellingly about the millions of "missing"  women in South Asia, West Asia, and China, the result, in Sen's words, of a "terrible story of inequality and neglect leading to the excess mortality of women."  A link to Sen's 1990 article is here.

Normblog, today, has a link to an article in yesterday's Sunday Times (London) by R.W. Johnson, in which the author writes about the millions of "missing Zimbabweans" (which is why my mind travelled back to Sen's piece of some 15 plus years ago).  Using the government's own conservative population estimates, Johnson reckons that there have been at least 2 million excess deaths in Zimbabwe (the majority occuring over the past 7 years):

"A vast human cull is under way in Zimbabwe and the great majority of deaths are a direct result of deliberate government policies. Ignored by the United Nations, it is a genocide perhaps 10 times greater than Darfur’s and more than twice as large as Rwanda’s.

Genocide is not a word one should use hastily but the situation is exactly as described in the UN Convention on Genocide, which defines it as “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.

Reckoning the death toll is difficult. Had demographic growth continued normally, Zimbabwe’s population would have passed 15m by 2000 and 18m by the end of 2006. But people have fled the country in enormous numbers, with 3m heading for South Africa and an estimated further 1m scattered around the world. This would suggest a current population of 14m. But even the government, which tries to make light of the issue, says that there are only 12m left in Zimbabwe.

Social scientists say that the government’s figures are clearly rigged and too high. Their own population estimates vary between 8m and 11m. But even if one accepted the government figure, 2m people are “missing”, and the real number is probably 3m or more. And all this is happening in what was, until recently, one of Africa’s most prosperous states and a member of the Commonwealth."

Read Johnson's shocking article about the millions of missing Zimbabweans.

"Government Takes Aim at Remaining Independent Media"

That is the title of a story in IRIN news, yesterday, that is a follow up to the story about the Zimbabwe Government's decision to strip publisher Trevor Ncube of his Zimbabwean citizenship.  The regime's denials notwithstanding, it still appears that the case that Andrew Meldrum and others have been making in the press that this is the government's first step to closing down Harare's 2 remaining newspapers may be credible. 

Read the IRIN story here.

MDC Leader Mutambara Calls on All Democratic Forces to "Put National Interests before Self Interests."

Opposition leader, Arthur Mutambara issued a statement published on the zimbabwejournalists.com web site entitled "Reflections from the Opposition".  The MDC leader speaks about the need in 2007 for the differences among the opposition, represented most obviously by the split in the opposition MDC party between the formation led by him and that led by Morgan Tsvangirai, to be reoconciled:

"It must be clearly understood that the cooperation of the two MDC formations is a necessary but not sufficient condition for democratic change in Zimbabwe. Even if reunification of the two MDC formations is achieved, it is not enough, to dislodge ZANU (PF). We have to grow the democratic forces beyond the traditional MDC support base. This should be done by attracting reform minded people from within ZANU (PF), other political parties, and those who are not currently in active party politics."

He also points out the need for closer cooperation between civil society organizations and democratic political parties and recognizes the sacrifices and courage of civil society members:

"Furthermore there should be enhanced cooperation with Zimbabwe civic society organizations, thus unlocking synergies amongst all democratic forces. Organizations such as NCA, Crisis Coalition, ZCTU, ZINASU, WOZA, MOZA, Women Coalition, and the Churches have shown spectacular courage under vicious attacks."

Read Arthur Mutambara's whole statement here.

Interview with Opposition Leader Arthur Mutambara: He Calls for Unity of Democratic Forces.

Opposition Arthur Mutambara was interviewed on VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe Program yesterday, stating that rival MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) formations must make reunification a priority in the new year.  Mutambara stated that this year must be:

"the year of action - we want the MDC to be involved in action, to confront and bring the regime of (President) Robert Mugabe to its knees." There was, he said, "no way whatsoever that the opposition can have any traction in Zimbabwe without working together."

Read a summary of the interview or listen to the whole thing on Studio 7.

More on the "Invisible Genocide in Zimbabwe."

We blogged on Monday about the suberb analysis in the Sunday Times (London) by R.W. Johnson on the two million (or more) missing people in Zimbabwe, what can only be described as a silent genocide.

Today, a blog called Security Dilemmas, written by an American Professor of Political Science, has a post on the same R.W. Johnson article, correctly calling it a "bone-chilling portrait" of what Johnson described as the massive human cull taking place here.

The author of Security Dilemmas echoes many of the statements of Adam Lebor, in his recent book "Complicity with Evil", with regard to the responsibilities of the U.N. to uphold its charter and take actions against member states, like Sudan and Zimbabwe, that so flagrantly violate their most basic responsibilities under that charter:

"The new United Nations' Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, faces many challenges, not the least of which are the on-going genocides in Africa. If the UN is to have any relevancy in the modern world, it must abandon its blind adherence to state sovereignty and take action. States like Sudan or Zimbabwe that preside over the deaths of hundreds of thousands of their own citizens have no moral or legal claim to sovereignty. They must be treated as international pariahs; all voting rights and privileges in the UN should be suspended, and international sanctions should be imposed immediately. If the concept of an "international community" is to have any meaning, political or legal, it must be capable of taking action in cases where the most extreme limits of its norms are violated."

A few weeks back, this blog included a post entitled "With Zimbabwe a Member, the U.N. is Pointless (With Apologies to Adam LeBor)" in which we similarly argued for action--expulsion when genocide is being committed--against rogue states like Sudan and Zimbabwe who willfully preside over the massacre of their own citizens. 

Read the post entitled "Invisible Genocide" from the blog, "Security Dilemmas" here.

Zimbabweans Demonstrate at the White House for the Restoration of Democracy in Zimbabwe.

SW Radio Africa reported last night about a demonstration of Zimbabweans at the White House in Washington, D.C.:

"One of the organisers Dr. Handel Mlilo said change was needed urgently because people are suffering in Zimbabwe. The group wants the American public and officials to understand what is going on and they planned to leave the White House and head for the Zimbabwe Embassy to drop off a petition.

Mlilo said: 'We demand the restoration of freedom, democracy, human rights and adherence to the rule of law in Zimbabwe. We have had enough.'"

A link to the SW Radio Africa article can be found here.

Edgar Tekere (ZANU-PF Founding father, Liberation Struggle Leader) Concludes: Mugabe is the Source of 90% of Zimbabwe's Problems.

And the other 10% of its problems can be attributed to the sycophants in ZANU-PF who have protected and supported him for the past 26 years.

The Zimbabwe Independent had an account yesterday of a book launch in Harare on Thursday for a biography of Edgar Tekere, the founding ZANU-PF Secretary General. Tekere delivered "riveting" criticism of Robert Mugabe at the event, according to the Independent.   Tekere said that he and other liberation struggle leaders should shoulder some of the blame for placing the country in Mugabe's hands:

"I have my share of responsibility, as well as Maurice Nyagumbo, Enos Nkala and those of our leadership who in extolling Robert Mugabe as we did at Independence, forgot to put in place the institutional arrangements that would ensure that the party was sustained by collective leadership, democratic discourse, adherence to the principles that fuelled our struggle for Independence, and accountability."

He added: "In retrospect we have to acknowledge that, in the absence of such institutional arrangements, any one of us, and not just Mugabe, could have lost the course and degenerated into a virtual dictatorship, buttressed by the combination of political patronage and the threat of state brutality if one dared to defy the powers-that-be."

Are you listening, Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and other South African "freedom fighters" who have been so loathe to criticize Mugabe?

The entire Independent article is here.

Zimbabwe Political Opposition Members Demonstrate At White House

Read and or listen to the Studio 7 radio report of this title by clicking to this link.

Light blogging.

Apologies for light blogging today and yesterday.  Electricity problems and the internet service provider being down are among the reasons...more tomorrow.

MDC Leader Tsvangirai: Mugabe's Bid to Remain in Power Will Not Stand.

The leader of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, held a press conference in Harare yesterday during which he promised that democratic forces would work through the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, an umbrella group of pro-democracy civic, church and political groups to oppose Mugabe's effort to remain in power past 2008.  During his press conference, which is covered on the front page of today's Financial Gazette newspaper (but not yet up on their web site), Tsvangirai said that democratic forces would bring pressure to bear within the country and in the international community to insure that presidential elections are held in 2008 under a new consitution. Zimbabwejournalists.com has a brief story on the press conference here.

Voice of America's Studio 7 radio program for Zimbabwe also covers the story including an interview with Morgan Tsvangirai.   

S.W. Radio Africa is also on the story.

“Zimbabwe Alone To Blame For Economic Collapse, US Embassy Statement Declares”

That is the title of a story on Voice of America's Studio 7 radio program that aired on Tuesday.  You can read and/or listen to the story here.

ZANU-PF Rattled by Liberation War Leader Edgar Tekere's Book.

There has been more fallout following the publication last week of a book by Edgar Tekere, one of the founding fathers of Zimbabwe's liberation from colonial rule and of the ruling ZANU-PF party.  The official government newspaper, the Herald has been writing about the supposed demand by the ZANU-PF youth league for Tekere's expulsion from the ruling party.  The book, in which Tekere places most of the blame for Zimbabwe's economic collapse on Mugabe's shoulders and expresses regret for the role he played in propelling Mugabe to the head of the pary and of the state, has reportedly been selling briskly in Harare and elsewhere around the country. 

Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu has a report on the tempest that has been created within the ruling party in response to the book.  Listen to the VOA Studio 7 report here.

Arnold Tsunga Briefly Detained at Harare Airport

Human rights lawyer and pro-democracy activist Arnold Tsunga was briefly detained this afternoon by security personnel (and then released) at the airport in Harare on his return from the World Social Forum, which was held in Nairobi, Kenya.  Tsunga, a past president of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and a recipient, this year, of a Human Rights Watch award for his defense of civil liberties and human rights in Zimbabwe, has been a constant critic of the excesses of the Mugabe regime.  More information as it surfaces.

Alert! Alert! Government Ordered to Renew Zimbabwean Publisher Trevor Ncube's Passport!

I append below, in its entirety, an alert just sent out by MISA-Zimbabwe (Media Institute for Southern Africa) announcing the decision today by a High Court Judge that the Zimbabwe Government must renew within 7 days the passport of journalist and publisher Trevor Ncube.  Ncube, the publisher of the last 2 remaining independent newspapers in Zimbabwe, (the Standard and Independent, both weeklies) and of a South African weekly (the Mail and Guardian) has become the target of the Zimbabwe regime because of the regular and trenchant critiques of Mugabe and the GOZ that have appeared in his newspapers.  The Registrar-General, responsible for passport renewals, refused to issue a new passport for Ncube on the grounds that he did not fill the requirements for Zimbabwean citizenship becasue his father was not born in Zimbabwe.  Ncube was born and bred in Zimbabwe and was a lifelong resident until he sought exile in South Africa recently in the face of the repression of the Mugabe regime. Read MISA's press release, below, for more details:    

Media Alert

25 January 2007

Government Ordered to Renew Ncube’s Passport

High Court judge Justice Bhunu on 25 January 2006 ordered the Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede to renew the passport of prominent Zimbabwean publisher Trevor Ncube within seven days of service of his order to that effect.

Justice Bhunu made the ruling after the Attorney-General’s Office withdrew its opposing papers in which Ncube was seeking a High Court order to renew his passport following his application for Zimbabwean citizenship.

Ncube who is the publisher of the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent and Zimbabwe Standard as well as the Mail and Guardian of South Africa, had cited the Registrar General (RG) and the Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi as respondents in the matter.

In his response to the application filed by Ncube, the RG was arguing that Ncube is a Zambian by descent and was required to renounce that country’s citizenship in terms of Zambian law to qualify for a Zimbabwean passport. Mudede said Ncube should have renounced his Zambian citizenship by descent within the prescribed period between July 6 and January 6 2002 failure of which meant automatic loss of his Zimbabwean citizenship.

The respondents were also ordered to meet Ncube’s legal costs after he ruled that Ncube is a citizen of Zimbabwe by birth and that the refusal to renew his passport was unlawful, null and void and of no force or effect.

Ncube argued that the withdrawal of his citizenship was unlawful as he has never been a citizen of any other country other than Zimbabwe but contends that his father who was born in Zambia is a Zimbabwean citizen.

The judge said his order in December 2005 in which he ordered the same respondents not to interfere with the possession of Ncube’s passport after immigration officials in Bulawayo seized the same document on December 8 2005 upon his arrival from South Africa, still stood and had not been invalidated as was being argued by the Registrar-General.

No reasons were advanced then for the unlawful action other than that Ncube was on a list of citizens whose passports were to be withdrawn. His passport was released after the Attorney-General’s Office conceded that the 2005 seizure was unlawful.

For any questions, queries or comments, please contact:

Nyasha Nyakunu

Research and Information Officer
MISA-Zimbabwe
Box HR 8113
Harare
Zimbabwe
Tel/fax 00 263 4 77 61 65, 746 838
Mobile 00 263 11  602 448
Website: www.misazim.co.zw

Zimbabwe Civil Society and Democratic Opposition Organizing to Oppose Extension of Mugabe's Term in Office.

To all those Doubting Thomases, naysayers, negativists and perpetual pessimists (within Zimbabwe but also among some of the friendly international powers) who can consistently be relied upon to moan about what they see as an "inactive civil society", "docile population", and "impotent poltical opposition", we declare, loudly: You need to get out more.

Both civil society organizations and and the democratic political opposition have been frenzied in their activities and activism during this past week and much of their organizing has been around the Mugabe regime's attempt to force through a plan to extend his stay in office from 2008 to 2010.

Here's a quick tally of some of the important actions and activities occurring during this past week:

• On Tuesday, ZESN (Zimbabwe Elections Support Network), an independent umbrella group of more than 30 civil society organizations whose mission is to work towards asssuring transparent free and fair democratic elections in Zimbabwe, organized a public meeting at the Jameson Hotel to discuss the ruling party's attempt to delay Presidential elections from 2008 to 2010.  The ZESN chief, the medical doctor Reginald Matchaba-Hove, chaired the lively and sometimes raucous meeting.  There was an overflow crowd of close to 1000 persons in attendance in the hotel's largest meeting room and the temperature inside must have been close to 40 degrees. The guest speakers were the Professor Eldred Masunungure, who is also the President of the Mass Public Opinion Institute in Harare;  Jonathan Moyo, former Minister of Communications (and principal author of repressive media legislation ) and now Independent Member of Parliament; Gabriel Chaibva, the information officer for the break-away "pro-senate" faction of the oppostion MDC party; and Tendai Biti, the Secretary General of the MDC.
• On Wednesday Morning, ZESN organized another meeting to discuss the same issue, this time at the Bronte Hotel for civil society organizations. Another excellent and lively debate and discussion as well as a good turnout of perhaps 100 members of civil society organizations.
• Also on Wednesday, the Save Zimbabwe Campaign organized another one of its lunch-time noise-making protests in Harare to manifest the population's outrage at the continuing economic downward spiral.
• On Thursday, the National Constitutional Assembly held a protest march to draw attention to the regime's attempt to postpone presidential elections (and maintain Mugabe in power) until 2010.
• On Thursday night, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human RIghts held a Public Meeting at the Book Cafe on Fife Avenue on the topic: "I can't retire if my party is going to be in shambles," Robert Mugabe, 14 December 2006.  The speakers were Jacob Mafume of the Crisis Coalition, Lovemore Madhuku of NCA and the civil rights lawyer, Theresa Mugadza.
• On Friday morning at the Rainbow Towers, the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe organized the launch of a self-regulatory media council for Zimbabwe to be called the Media Council of Zimbabwe.  The keynote address was delivered by the executive secretary of the Tanzania media council, Anthony Ngaiza.  Solidarity remarks were delivered by the Southern Africa Journalists Association, ZESN, NANGO, Crisis Coalition, Zimbabwe Human RIghts NGO Forum, Community Newspaper Association of ZImbabwe, Zimbabwe Editors' Forum and the ZImbabwe Association of Editors.  The down note of the meeting was an address delivered by Leo Mugabe, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications (and nephew of the dictator).  Mugabe, who had been surprisingly supportive of the initiative to form the independent media council up until the day of the meeting, delivered a speech laced with veiled threats to the organizers and advising against creating what he called "a parallel structure" to the regime's MIC (Media Information Council).  Following Mugabe's speech the Tanzanian keynote speaker urged the particpants to forge ahead and not to be disuaded or discouraged by the government's obstructionism.

Not bad for a week's work by Zimbabwe's democratic forces!

More on Arnold Tsunga's Brief Detention at Harare Airport on Thursday.

VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe radio program has a story on the brief detention of Arnold Tsunga, on which we also blogged last Thursday. The Studio 7 story is here and includes a brief interview with Tsunga.

Studio 7 Account of the Thursday National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) Protest March in Harare

Read about and/or listen to Studio 7's account of the Thursday protest march in Harare by clicking here.

Eight Christian Alliance Leaders Arrested on Friday While Launching CA Chapter in Kadoma.

Eight religious leaders, and members of the progressive church group known as the Christian Alliance, were arrested in front of 400 stunned worshippers in Kadoma on Friday.  The arrested inculde a blind pastor.  Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has, reportedly, sent lawyers to the scene of the arrestations. Today's edition of the Zimbabwean independent newspaper, the Standard has more on this story although their site is down for the moment. Studio 7 has the story here.

Reginald Matchaba Hove: ZESN Will be Prepared for 2008 Presidential Elections.

The chief of the independent, civil-society based elections monitoring unit, ZESN (Zimbabwe Elections Support Network), the physician, Dr. Reginald Matchaba Hove, said, in an interview yesterday that his organisation will be prepared for 2008 presidential elections, even if the Mugabe regime is now making noises about attempting to postpone those elections, and to extend Mugabe's grip on power, until 2010.  Listen to the interview with Matchaba Hove here.

Eddie Cross on the Arrests of Christian Alliance Leaders and the "Courage of Ordinary People" in Zimbabwe.

Eddie Cross does not yet have his latest up on his website (http://www.eddiecross.africanherd.com) so I will append the whole text below:

Please change my cell!

Zimbabwe is a complex mosaic of thousands of small events each day. Together they make up the whole. What the whole looks like is different to each of us and trying, like this, in a weekly letter to describe events and the whole for others, is not easy.

Take for example the arrest of 7 pastors and others in Kadoma – a small town in central Zimbabwe. They were holding a meeting of the Christian Alliance attended by about 1000 people with the intention of forming a local branch of the Alliance. They had notified the Police as required under the Public Order and Security Act and several policemen were actually sitting in the hall.

At lunchtime a group of armed riot police arrived and the leaders of the meeting were taken into custody. The Christian Alliance comprises some 1500 churches so this was by no means an insignificant event. In fact it marks the first admission by the State that it is concerned about the activities of this grouping. It is the opening shot in what is going to be a drawn out struggle between the Church and the State over the way we are being governed.

One incident stands out for me. Pius Wakatama, a good friend for many years and one of Zimbabwe’s foremost thinkers and intellectuals as well as a writer, is one of the Christian leaders arrested. He was separated from the majority and taken to the central police station where he found himself locked up with 30 others in a cell designed for four. Standing room only. My wife was locked up under similar circumstances last year – she was with 23 others in a cell and said they could not all lie down at night at one time.

Pius led the entire cell population in prayers and in singing well-known hymns and after 24 hours in the cell, he asked to be moved to another cell. "Why?" The police asked, "All those in my present cell have become Christians and now support the Alliance. I need a new congregation to work with!" Pius responded. This time the Mugabe regime better sit up and take note, they are now dealing with a new type of dissident!

This past week we also remembered the two MDC staff workers who were burnt to death in the 2000 parliamentary campaign. I remember both young people well – Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika. They were driving down a road in the Buhera district when they came to a roadblock. While stationary, their vehicle was set on fire using petrol and both young people were killed, the girl surviving long enough to identify her assailants at a nearby mission hospital where she was taken after the attack. She died soon after.

The Central Intelligence Officer who led that attack was a man called Mwale and he has not only been protected for the past 7 years by the Mugabe regime – he was actually promoted and has been used in several other incidents. The High Court has examined the evidence on this case and called for the matter to be prosecuted – without effect or influence.

Both these incidents reflect two things – the willingness of this regime to use whatever force is required to protect its hold on power and its willingness to violate all the accepted norms of judicial standards and ethics. It also reflects the courage of ordinary people here – willing to give up their freedom and security and even their lives to defend democracy and good governance.

I met with a group of young activists who are leading the struggle against the regime recently. All well educated – some with university degrees, living on a pittance and working long and dangerous hours with the ever-present threat of a knock on the door followed by detention and perhaps a beating.

"Why do you do it?" I asked, they responded, "We are doing community service."

These are the building blocks of a new Zimbabwe. Principled, dedicated service for the country and its people above self. Pius could so easily have become a beneficiary of the Zanu PF patronage system. All he had to do was bow to the Zanu leadership and cow tow or remain silent and neutral – like so many have done. I can think of several of my old colleagues and friends who have done just that – sold their souls and the country down the Zanu PF toilet.

He is retired, has no money, large family responsibilities and a wonderful, long suffering wife, Winnie. He has suffered loss in the family and struggles to meet his own and his families needs. But he has never contemplated even once, conceding space to the regime here. He has retained his integrity and his commitment to principle. He was a thorn in the side of the old Smith regime, now he fights on against the very leadership he once supported because he feels they have abandoned their principles and failed their people.

I sat in a small house in one of the townships the other night. We were discussing the way forward with local leadership. An outstanding woman led the meeting – I looked around that room at the 50 or so people crowded into the area. All poor, no "fat cats" here. Some had walked 10 kilometers to get here and would have to walk home at the end – and then face a 6-kilometer walk to work in the morning because they could not afford bus fare.

We opened in prayer, closed in prayer and sang some hymns as well as some songs about the regime and its leaders. Always much laughter and many jokes. Where would I rather be? This is where real life is found, not in the security and luxury of some developed country where these battles were fought a century ago and where people now live bored and corpulent, using up the spiritual capital that was created by earlier generations.

I now know what a well known Russian dissident was saying when he stated at a conference attended by thousands in Switzerland that he sometimes longed to be back in his prison cell in the Gulag where God was very real to him and he was forced, every day, to confront the fundamental realities of life itself.

Eddie Cross

Bulawayo, 28th January 2007