Zimbabwe: Outpost of Tyranny

Human Rights Watch Issues Report on March 11th to Present Wave of Mugabe Regime Violence.

You can read the whole Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, released yesterday, by clicking here.

Read the HRW summary of the report below.

Zimbabwe: Violent Crackdown Fuels Deepening Crisis

Mbeki and Other SADC Leaders Should Press for End to Human Rights Abuses

(Johannesburg, May 2, 2007) – The Zimbabwean government should end its violent crackdown on the political opposition, civil society activists, and even ordinary Zimbabweans in neighborhoods seen as opposition strongholds, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

Human Rights Watch called on South African President Thabo Mbeki—who has a mandate from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to address Zimbabwe’s political crisis—to make human rights a central part of his planned mediation talks between the ruling party and the opposition. 

“President Mbeki has a chance to push for an end to the massive human rights violations that are fueling Zimbabwe’s crisis,” said Georgette Gagnon, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Leaders of SADC countries should take a stronger stance against the appalling human rights situation in Zimbabwe.” 

The 39-page report, “Bashing Dissent: Escalating Violence and State Repression in Zimbabwe,” documents the Zimbabwean government’s crackdown on peaceful protest and dissent since March. Based on two weeks of research in Harare, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Mutare, and Bindura, the report provides first-hand accounts of the government’s widespread and systematic abuses against opposition members and civil society activists, as well as its increasingly violent repression of ordinary Zimbabweans in Harare’s densely populated suburbs. 

“Arbitrary arrests, detentions, and brutal beatings by police and security forces skyrocketed in March and April, and continue unabated,” said Gagnon. “The Zimbabwean government is violating the human rights of its citizens with impunity.” 

The Save Zimbabwe Campaign—a broad coalition of Zimbabwean civil society organizations and members of the political opposition—attempted to hold a prayer meeting in the Harare suburb of Highfield on March 11. As hundreds of people streamed into the Zimbabwe Grounds, heavily armed riot police launched a brutal and unprovoked attack on them, beating people with batons and rifle butts and injuring dozens in an effort to prevent the meeting from taking place. Police arrested scores of opposition members and civil society activists, including the leaders of the two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The MDC members and civil society activists who were arrested were then held at various police stations around Harare, and many of them were brutally beaten by police and security agents in detention. 

The report also documents how police have used disproportionate and lethal force against unarmed activists, resulting in the death of one activist and serious injuries to several others. At the March 12 funeral of MDC member Gift Tandare, who was shot dead by police on March 11 in the immediate aftermath of the prayer meeting in Harare, two MDC supporters were seriously injured when police opened fire on mourners. 

“The police jumped out of their trucks and started beating everyone there. They were two guys who were shot at the funeral, I saw it,” said an MDC supporter who witnessed 20 to 30 police armed with guns, batons and police dogs storm the funeral. “One was shot in the arm, and one in the leg. They just fired. They said ‘disperse, disperse, what are you doing here?’ and some people started running, and that’s how the two were shot. Those of us who didn’t run were forced to lie down and beaten.” 

Victims of violence told Human Rights Watch, in the immediate aftermath of the March 11 attack, that police went on a two-week rampage randomly beating people walking in the streets, in shopping malls and beer halls in several high-density Harare suburbs, which the authorities view as opposition strongholds. Police also went from house to house beating people with batons and accusing them of belonging to the opposition. 

The high levels of repression in the suburbs continue. Police have imposed an informal curfew in several suburbs, including Glenview and Highfield, arresting and beating anyone they suspect of supporting the opposition, especially at night. 

“Right now, no one walks about after 7 p.m., unless you want a beating,” one man in Highfield told Human Rights Watch. “My nephew was beaten the other day as he was walking home late after visiting friends. The police accused him of being one of the MDC activists who plan acts of violence, but my nephew doesn’t support any party.” 

The Zimbabwean government claims that it is responding to an opposition campaign of violence and terror in the country. The authorities have arrested more than 30 MDC members and supporters whom it accuses of orchestrating and conducting 11 petrol bomb attacks around the country on police camps, a passenger train, and two stores since March 12. The MDC denies the allegations and accuses state agents of staging the attacks to justify a crackdown on the opposition. 

“The petrol bomb attacks are serious crimes, and those responsible must be brought to account,” said Gagnon, “But these attacks do not justify the government’s violent attacks on hundreds of ordinary Zimbabweans, opposition members and supporters, and civil society activists.” 

In contrast to government claims that primary responsibility for the recent violence lies with the political opposition, Human Rights Watch found that Zimbabwe’s police forces, agents of the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), and groups of government-backed “youth militia” are the main perpetrators of serious human rights violations. The government’s failure to curb abuses by these groups is likely to encourage further unchecked violence, Human Rights Watch said. 

Human Rights Watch called on the Zimbabwean police and security forces to immediately halt the use of excessive force against demonstrators. Police and security forces must also stop intimidating, harassing, and beating opposition members, civil society activists, and ordinary Zimbabweans. The government must investigate and prosecute all incidents of abuse. 

Human Rights Watch urged SADC to publicly call for an immediate end to the ongoing violence and human rights violations in Zimbabwe, and for all those found responsible to be brought to justice. SADC should deploy an independent mission to Zimbabwe to investigate reports of human rights abuses in line with SADC’s stated objective to promote and enhance the development of democratic institutions and practices within member states, and to encourage the observance of international human rights obligations under the treaties of the African Union and the United Nations.

MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai's Op-Ed Piece in Today's Washington Times

A way out for Mugabe

By Morgan Tsvangirai

Published May 4, 2007

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On March 11, 2007, I was arrested while attempting to attend a prayer vigil in Harare and taken to a police station where officers, whose job it is to protect the public, beat me so badly I suffered injuries to my skull and had to be hospitalized for almost a week. My crime: trying to pray for change in Zimbabwe.

    The world's outcry over the past two months at the brutality exhibited by the regime of President Robert Mugabe has been heartening to the Zimbabwe people.Make no mistake, this condemnation, both in Africa and abroad, has had a huge and positive effect on the morale of those fighting for freedom.

    Mr. Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980 and since that time, we have seen inflation spiral from virtually zero to 2,300 percent, a collapse of the currency and the flight into economic exile of almost a third of our population. True, there have been worse leaders in the world. According to the Guinness Book of Records, Joseph Stalin killed more than 30 million people. Idi Amin murdered around 300,000 Ugandans while one in 10 Cambodians perished under the rule of Pol Pot. The other dictators lived out their lives in relative comfort and died of natural causes.

    Nevertheless the world has changed. Gen. Augusto Pinochet of Chile, propped up so shamelessly by Washington and Europe during the Cold War, ended up on trial, stripped of the immunity he had forced the Argentine government to give him in exchange for a transfer to democracy. On my own continent, the former leadership of Rwanda and Sierra Leone are in the dock, while one-time president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, is under arrest at The Hague for crimes against humanity.

    These are dangerous times for dictators. I have little doubt that one reason Mr. Mugabe is so determined to stay in office until he dies (he's already 83 years old) is a fear of prosecution. In the early '80s, he sent his army into our southern province of Matabeleland, where they slaughtered thousands of people loyal to his rival, the late Dr. Joshua Nkomo. That one act would be enough to see him tried for war crimes, let alone the wide-scale murder and torture committed by his government since our party, the Movement for Democratic Change or MDC, first challenged his authority in 1999.

    Mr. Mugabe was not alone. Air Marshall Perence Shiri, among others, led the Matabele genocide; speaker of parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa oversaw it as minister; various heads of the feared Central Intelligence Organization or CIO, including the incumbent Didymus Mutasa must be held to account. These individuals could be held responsible for permitting acts of torture and abuse, not to mention the wholesale displacement of an estimated 1.5 million people when their homes were bulldozed in 2005 during operation Murambatsvina(clear the trash).

    And that's the Catch-22. If we say we'll bring these people to justice, they will cling ever more firmly to power. Yet, if we offer them unconditional pardon, we sell out the hopes of their victims: millions of people who have a right to justice. With my body still in pain from the recent beating, I am reminded of the words of Henry Kissinger when he was secretary of state in the 1970s: "If you want to make peace, it's no good talking to your friends; you need to speak with your enemies."

    To this end we are willing at any time to sit down with Mr. Mugabe and his ministers and discuss a transfer to democracy, free and fair elections, an end to their rigid control of the media and a new era of freedom for Zimbabwe. After all, we have nothing to lose and polling suggests our party would win a landslide if people had the chance to vote without the rigging and intimidation that have marred recent efforts. If it took immunity from prosecution to secure change, we could talk about that.

    Our side comes to the table with no preconditions except that discussion must be aimed at bringing true freedom to the country. I will never be bought off by offers to join Mr. Mugabe's side, or any plan that would see a continuation of the current tyranny. The change I talk about will come, regardless of whether Mr. Mugabe agrees to it or not. As surely as dictatorship fell in Chile, Cambodia, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and the former Soviet Union, it will collapse in Zimbabwe. But the longer Mr. Mugabe and his allies stall that change, the greater will be the wrath of our people.

    There is still time for Mr. Mugabe to make a dignified exit, but not much. Beatings, torture, killings, rigged elections and control of the media may secure his position in the short term, but nothing will change the outcome. Let's pray that Africa and the world can persuade him of that before it is too late.

    

    Morgan Tsvangirai is president of the Zimbabwe opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

Arrests of 2 of the Top Human Rights Lawyers in Zimbabwe, Yesterday...FOR? DOING THEIR JOBS!!

On 4 May 2007 at around 16h30, Andrew Makoni and Alec Muchadehama, two prominent lawyers and members of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) were arrested outside the High Court during the course of their business. They were taken to the Law and Order section at Harare Central police station "for interrogation" but were not provided with reasons for their arrest.

Lawyers attending at the Law and Order section were able to confirm the presence of the two lawyers but were chased out of the offices by Detective Inspector Rangwani, who also threatened to physically assault Dzimbabwe Chimbga, a project lawyer with ZLHR. Rangwani, together with four unidentified police details also threatened all lawyers present with arrest if they persisted with seeking a reason for their clients' detention.

An urgent application (HC 2346/07) was filed by ZLHR at the High Court of Zimbabwe, and at around 21h30 Justice Tedius Karwi granted a "temporary order" directing the police to allow lawyers access to Makoni and Muchadehama and to allow them access to food, medical attention if necessary, and visitation by their relatives, pending the hearing of the matter the following day.

Despite this, the police defied the court order and denied access; instead they moved Makoni to Stoddart police station and Muchadehama to Matapi police station. Matapi has been found by the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe as a place of detention which is inhuman and degrading, violating the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

On the morning of 5 May 2007, lawyers were again denied access to the two and their families were not allowed to provide them with food, being told to "return at 12h00". The court reconvened at 12h30 before Justice Karwi, where Mr. Richard Chikosha (representing the Respondents) agreed with Applicant's counsel, Advocate Eric Matinenga, that the arrests were unlawful and that Makoni and Muchadehama should be immediately released. Justice Karwi granted this consent order.

Lawyers from ZLHR served the order on all Respondents and travelled to Matapi police station, where they were informed that Mr. Muchadehama had been taken back to the Law and Order section at Harare Central for further interrogation by one MARUFU. Lawyers proceeded to Stoddart police station, where they confirmed the presence of Mr. Makoni, but were advised that the Officer in Charge was not available and therefore he could not be released. Again, this is a clear contravention of a court order.

Efforts are continuing to locate Mr. Muchadehama and ensure the release of both lawyers from unlawful custody.

ZLHR strongly condemns the unlawful actions of the police in this matter. Senior police officers at several stations, as well as the entire Law and Order section, continue to remain a law unto themselves, and impunity for their actions is further entrenched as each day passes. Arresting lawyers - who are professionals and officers of the court - whilst they are attempting to carry out their lawful duties and ensure the constitutional right to legal representation for countless repressed human rights defenders in Zimbabwe, is a cowardly and evil act calculated to harass and intimidate an independent legal profession. Further, the continued contempt of court orders by the police has become an everyday phenomenon and no person is safe from those who are constitutionally obliged to protect the people of Zimbabwe. Such actions cannot be tolerated or condoned in a democratic society.

We call upon all concerned citizens and organizations to vociferously:

i) Condemn the actions of the police;

ii) Demand from the Commissioner of Police, the Minister of Home Affairs and all police officers, an end to the ruthless repression of human rights defenders, and defenders of human rights defenders in Zimbabwe, and compliance with orders of the courts of Zimbabwe;

iii) Register their condemnation and concern with the Chief Justice of Zimbabwe, the Judge President of the High Court, and the Minister of Justice, Legal & Parliamentary Affairs; and

iv) Pressure the judiciary to protect officers of their courts and ensure that they can carry out their professional duties without victimisation.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Irene Petras

Acting Executive Director

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights   

 

Lawyers Still Being Held Without Charge

An Update from Irene Petras, Acting Executive Director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights:

Lawyers representing unlawfully detained human rights lawyers Andrew Makoni and Alec Muchadehama remain unable to secure their release at the time of this update, as police continue to flagrantly defy two Court Orders issued by Justice Tedius Karwi on 4 May and 5 May 2007.

On attempting to secure Alec Muchadehama's release from Matapi police station yesterday, lawyers were informed by the Officer in Charge that he had been removed from the police station by members of the Law and Order section just before the lawyers had arrived. Likewise, the lawyers found when they attended Stodart police station that three men in dark suits had visited the cells and removed Alec Muchadehama around the same time, without the knowledge of the Officer in Charge.

ZLHR lawyers returned to CID Law and Order section at Harare Central where the police, including two of the Respondents who were aware of the Court Order for the release of the 2 detained persons (Assistant Commissioner Mabunda and Detective Inspector Rangwani), continued to hinder their efforts and ignore the Court Order. The lawyers also found that Mr Richard Chikosha, the legal representative of the Respondents had been dragged to the polcie station where he had been assaulted by police and warned by Mabunda to "go and reverse Karwi's order". The lawyers were forced to leave the police station, fearing assault by the officers in the Law and Order section.

Lawyers are about to file another Urgent Application seeking the production of Makoni and Muchadehama in court together with an explanation from the police as to why they continue to hold the two in custody despite the order.

Information reaching us is that police intend to charge the two lawyers under section 184(e) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act with obstructing the course of justice. No further details of the evidence against them has been provided to their legal representatives.

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Irene Petras

Acting Executive Director

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

Two More Updates from ZLHR on Arrested Human RIghts Lawyers, Alec Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni.

Following the continued defiance of Justice Karwi's Order handed down on Saturday at 1230hrs (5 May 2007), a further Urgent Application was filed on Sunday morning (6 May 2007) seeking the production of Andrew Makoni and Alec Muchadehama before the High Court so that the Court could confirm their safety and ensure that they were released into the custody of their legal representatives.

Whilst this was being filed, police from the Law and Order section at Harare Central police station visited the offices of the law firm of Mbidzo, Muchadehama & Makoni taking the two detainees with them. The police, led by one Detective Inspector Muchada, were armed with a search warrant and proceeded to raid the law firm. Lawrence Chibwe, the Deputy Secretary of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, and Otto Saki, were threatened with arrest when they sought to scrutinise the search warrant. Police proceeded to remove certain files and documents from the offices and did not allow the lawyers to take an inventory or remain present during the search.

It is unlawful to search and remove documents from law offices, as they are protected by legal practitioner-client privilege. This, however, did not deter the police.

Muchadehama and Makoni were then taken back to CID Law and Order.

In the afternoon at around 1600hrs, Justice Chitakunye granted a further Order that:

1. The Respondents be and are hereby directed to physically deliver the Applicants before this Honorable Court within one (1) hour of the service of this order on any one of the Respondents. 
2. The Applicants' legal practitioners be and are hereby granted leave to serve copies of this order on any of the Respondents or officers of their section.

Armed with reinforcements, 7 lawyers attended at CID Law and Order section to serve the Order. The situation was extremely tense and several lawyers had to withdraw from the police station fearing imminent arrest by increasingly hostile and uncooperative police officers. The Order was eventually served on the Respondents at 1824hrs, meaning that Muchadehama and Makoni should be brought to the High Court before 1924hrs.

In a further act of defiance, the police again ignored this Court Order. Lawyers waited in vain at the High Court until around 2130hrs. It is now unclear where Muchadehama and Makoni spent the night. ZLHR lawyers are currently searching for their whereabouts.

Muchadehama and Makoni were due to appear in court on behalf of clients today in several critical matters affecting personal liberty. Efforts are being made by other lawyers to deal with the cases, but the police defiance of three court orders has directly contributed to the violation of constitutional rights of other Zimbabweans to protection of the law, presumption of innocence, and being represented by lawyer/s of their choice.

Further updates will follow.

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Irene Petras

Acting Executive Director

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

 

6:28 PM Monday:

Alec Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni, the lawyers representing the MDC detainees are still in custody, despite a High Court order issued on Saturday morning that they be released immediately.

Andrew Makoni's wife was arrested briefly today.   Quite incredible (but predictable) that the Police Law and Order section defies an order from the High Court.  This is not the first time, it has been going on since the first land invasions, in 2000,  when the Police would openly defy orders handed down from the High Courts and the Supreme Court.

Lawyers are currently negotiating with the A.G.   

As an aside, when Grace Kwinji and Sekai Holland were being tortured recently, one of the perpetrators said "if you think the Police or Government are in charge, you are wrong, we, the military intelligence are in charge".   And as has been demonstrated, they are above the law.  But only for the time being!   No situation is ever permanent.  In due course, they will find themselves being held accountable for their actions and their cruelty.  That time is not far off, God willing.

Nelson Mandela said " Many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountain tops of our desires".

Press Statement from Zimbabwe Lawyers from Human Rights (ZLHR) on the State Attack, Yesterday, on the President of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, Beatrice Mtetwa, and the Acting President of ZLHR, Irene Petras and Other Lawyers.

A horrifying development in the continuing saga of the breakdown of the rule of law in Zimbabwe…Beatrice Mtetwa and Irene Petras are two of the leaders and shining lights of the human rights  legal community in Zimbabwe. 

Another leader, and woman, Eileen Sawyer, was only spared a beating when she appealed to the police officer’s (sic) morality and humanity, telling him that she was “old enough to be his grandmother.” 

The political violence has reached epidemic proportions here and there is no sign that it will let up soon.

Thabo Mbeki, who is supposed to be heading the SADC mediation efforts for a political solution to the crisis, has yet to utter a word calling for an end to the Mugabe regime’s violent reign of terror. 

How long will the Chiefs of State of other SADC and African countries stand by, themselves mute, and observe the systematic annihilation of innocent Zimbabweans by a rogue regime.

How long will African Presidents also remain mute in the face of Mr. Mbeki’s amorality and inaction on

Zimbabwe

?

History will judge our leaders.

8 MAY 2007

PRESS STATEMENT

   

  STATE ATTACK ON LEGAL PRACTITIONERS CONTINUES

Members of the Law Society of Zimbabwe were today subjected to the full brutality of the state when they attempted to gather for a peaceful solidarity protest outside the High Court of Zimbabwe in Harare.

Lawyers were due to present a petition to the Minister of Justice, the Attorney General and the Commissioner of police urging full and immediate protection of lawyers and prosecutors in the execution of their professional duties.

This comes in the wake of harassment, threats and assaults on human rights lawyers at the hands of the police, and which culminated in the arrest and detention of senior legal practitioners Alec Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni on Friday 4 May 2007 during the course of their business on charges of obstructing the course of justice.

Around 60 lawyers had gathered outside the High Court, when they were ordered by Chief Superintendent Tenderere to disperse before the count of three, failing which his officers had instructions to beat lawyers. As lawyers began to disperse, riot police, uniformed officers and plain-clothes individuals wielding baton sticks began to threaten the lawyers, verbally abuse them, and prod them with their baton sticks.

Led by President of the Law Society, Mrs. Beatrice Mtetwa and two other Councillors of the Law Society, Collin Kuhuni and Chris Mhike, a number of lawyers dispersed in the direction of the Attorney General’s office, walking on the pavement. Without provocation or warning, police began assaulting lawyers with baton sticks, because they “were not dispersing fast enough”. Senior lawyer Mordecai Mahlangu and Acting Director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Irene Petras, were amongst those subjected to such assaults.

When Messrs Mtetwa, Kuhuni, Mhike and Fitzpatrick ran into the Attorney General’s office to seek protection from the ruthless police, they were chased by riot police, and found other officers already waiting for them inside the building. The four were loaded into a police truck and driven to Eastlea, where they were offloaded and severely beaten with baton sticks in full view of the public. Police then abruptly abandoned them on the side of the road.

ZLHR strongly condemns the brutal actions of the police and views these assaults as proof positive that the integrity and independence of the legal profession remains at critical risk.

Threats, intimidation, verbal and physical attacks on lawyers who are carrying out their professional duties and attempting to speak out for the protection of the law for their own colleagues, are a clear sign of the state’s outright disregard for constitutional protections and regional and international human rights standards which oblige the state to ensure that lawyers and prosecutors are able to carry out their duties without fear or favour and enjoy the same freedoms of expression and assembly as other people of Zimbabwe. Such actions also serve as blatant attempts to bar lawyers from representing human rights defenders who remain at serious risk of violations by the state and its agents.

It is clear that Zimbabwe has become a police state, with those whose duty it is to protect and serve the people of Zimbabwe turning on them with increasing viciousness and impunity. The silence of the Minister of Justice, Legal & Parliamentary Affairs, as well as the Attorney General of Zimbabwe is deafening and they need to act immediately and publicly if the rule of law is to be restored in the country.

   -Ends-

Statement by MDC General Secretary, Tendai Biti Calling on African Leaders to Act on Zimbabwe.

09 MAY 2007

MDC CALLS FOR AFRICAN LEADERS TO ACT ON ZIMBABWE

On the 12th of April 2007 Movement For Democratic Change (MDC) President Morgan Tsvangirai outlined the systematic unbridled assault that have been unleashed against the MDC, civic society and activities by Zanu PF regime.

In that statement President Tsvangirai disclosed at the time that 600 party members had been tortured, abducted between 11 March 2007 and then.

Over 150 members throughout the country had been hospitalized or victimized at the hands of Robert Mugabe regime and his militia. Since then the situation has not mitigated, on Monday 30 April 2007 our Manicaland provincial information officer Pishai Muchauraya was abducted from Mutare and spend a horrendous week at Harare Remand being tortured and butchered by state thugs. The very next day our youth leader Godfrey Kauzani was taken at his home bundled into a truck and taken to Beatrice Police station where he was tortured and brutalized and to be released on 3 May 2007. The very next day the two main lawyers representing MDC activists since the brutal clampdown began two months ago, Alex Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni were taken by the police and unlawful detained at the horrendous Matapi Police Station.

Despite three court orders Robert Mugabe regime contemptuously refused to release the human rights lawyers, eventually Harare magistrate court remanded them but on 7 May 2007 comical allegations of obstructing of justice were proffered against them. The drama did not end there, only yesterday,  8 May 2007 about 100 senior lawyers of Harare gathered at the Harare High Court in a bid to march to the office of the dictator’s minister of Justice legal and Parliamentary affairs Patrick Chinamasa to hand over a petition protesting the arrest and detention of their professional colleagues Alex Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni.

The feudal aura emanating from their gowns did not prevent the police heavily armed from assaulting and roughing the lawyers gathering at the High Court. Some of the lawyers who were assaulted by the regime’s police include Chris Seddon of Colglan and Guest, Innocent Chagonda of Atherton and Cook, MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti.

Immediately then after police bundled four senior lawyers namely President of the Zimbabwe Law Society Beatrice Mtetwa, Chris Mhike, Fritz Patrick and Colin Kuhuni into a truck were they took them into a open field along Samora Macheal Avenue close to East 24, and heavily brutalized and tortured them. Later the lawyers had to be admitted to Dandaro Hospital for treatment.

This is the amazing brutality of this regime, whose actions shame even the desperate expressions of the settler regime of Ian Smith.

As if this not enough the regime with its complicit judiciary continues to deny bail to MDC members languishing at the Harare remand prison including heroic Ian Makone MP Paul Madzore, Luke Tamborenyoka, Morgan Komichi,Piniel Denga,Kudakwashe Matibiri,Brighton Matimba,Solomon MadzoreTonderai and Barnabas Ndira, Ishmael Kauzani amongst others.

The conditions of these political prisoners continue to deteriorate in the infected lice prisons. Many of the detainees include Morgan Komichi, who is in critical condition and is fighting for his life.  We lost our chairman Isaac Matongo last week on 2 May 2007 because of cumulative suffering at the hands of the dictatorship.  That death was caused by unbearable stress induced by the murderous Mugabe regime, we do not want to loose Morgan Komichi, or any of our heroes that are detained at Harare Remand Prison. Since 1 March 2007 it is quite clear that the regime has lost it and can do everything legal or illegal to eliminate the MDC and its allies.

The assault on MDC, Non Governmental Organizations ,the church, and our party structures is not an accident. These are barbaric acts of a gangster state whose days are numbered.

We saw this barbarism act in 1978-79 in the last days of that artificial construction called Zimbabwe- Rhodesia. These acts of thuggery are the birth pains of a new Zimbabwe. It is imperative that African leaders, in particular the African Union and SADC, take note, not deaf ears to the current crisis in our country.

We ask African leaders to call for an extra-ordinary summit on Zimbabwe which is long overdue to condemn these atrocities put pressure on the regime to stop the onslaught on democratic forces.

We ask the facilitator of the SADC dialogue, President Thabo Mbeki to realize that no dialogue can take place in an environment full of fascism and violence perpetrated by the state. I

t is our view that turning a blind eye on this state-sponsored violence and atrocities is tantamount to fertilizing impunity.

We in the MDC will continue to fight for a decisive resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis, predicated upon a new constitution and removal of all obstacles to create an environment for free and fair elections.

The eventual realization of the people’s will be achieved through the democratic struggle that we are going through.

YESTERDAY,TODAY, TOGETHER WILL MARCH TO A NEW ZIMBABWE.

MDC Secretary- General Hon Tendai Biti

Western Journalists, Whether Traveling Undercover, or Observing from their Johannesburg Perches, Are Missing the Story in Zimbabwe, as they Perpetuate Myths, and Carry Water for Mugabe. (Sub-title: "Majoring on the Minors and Minoring on the Majors.")

We posted last week on the "Illicit Reporter" from the Economist, reporting undercover in Zimbabwe and said that that reporter, and many others, were derelict in their duty of reporting on the Mugabe Regime's reign of terror against democratic forces. 

I would like to add a corollary to that critique today by saying that while these reporters are missing the big story, that of the Mugabe regime's meticulously calculated and brutally (and sadistically) executed campaign, underway since March 11th, to wipe out the pro-democracy civil society and political movement, they are also contributing to perpetuating the myth--a myth promulgated by Mugabe and the ZANU-PF thugs themselves--that the "real story" is the supposed disunion within the opposition MDC, and their supposed propensity for violence.

In his last missive from Zimbabwe, on which we did not blog last week, the illicit reporter from the Economist carries Mugabe's water for him when he subtitles his series "our online reporter finds the opposition in disarray," without pointing out that that opposition has been the object since March 11th of a savage Mugabe-orchestrated reign of terror that has resulted in thousands of persons being beaten, hundreds being arrested and hospitalized following torture, and at least 2 being killed.   

As I write, and you read, this, 39 middle and senior leaders of the MDC languish in remand prison.  The party's leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, its secretary general, Tendai Biti, its information officer, Nelson Chamisa were all sadistically beaten by Central Intelligence officers masquerading as police officers.  Our illicit reporter apparently does not see a cause and effect relationship between the regime's campaign and the problems that the the opposition is experiencing. 

But at least the illicit Economist reporter does not adopt the entire Mugabe and Zanu-PF narrative in his reporting, i.e. that the MDC is not only in "disarray" but that it is also a pack of violent thugs.

Unfortunately, Michael Wines of that august American journal of record, the New York Times, makes both erroneous (and libelous) charges against the MDC in his front page article yesterday.

Yesterday's article by Wines (one of those who writes from a Joburg perch) is a prime example of what a colleague of ours likes to call "majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors"  (translation: giving undue attention to insignificant issues while missing the big story).   

Mr. Wines, who has turned in some decent copy during the past 2 months of the government crackdown, totally misses the boat on this occasion and is guilty of swallowing hook, line and sinker (please excuse the double aquatic metaphor) the bankrupt narrative of ZANU-PF and Robert Mugabe.

Wines reports as fact the Mugabe narrative with regard to the Movement for Democratic Change, i.e. a) that the party's split is itself an issue worthy of a title on page 1 and b) that the split is the consequence of the MDC President's propensity for, and advocacy of, violence.

The very title of his article, "Opposition splits as Zimbabwe slips" focuses on a story that is no longer news or at the very least very old news (Welshman Ncube, whom Wines interviews, is the SG of the break away group which quit the MDC October 12th, 2005) and ignores the Mugabe reign of terror unleashed since March 11th that has resulted in thousands of arrests, hundreds of injuries and hospitalizations of persons who were the object of state-sponsored violence and torture and hundreds of abductions.  That is the story Mr. WInes has missed.

Majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors.

It is a story of a security apparatus that arrests the lawyers who are representing the victims of the organized and state sponsored terrorism and of a police force that defies the court orders to release those lawyers and other victims and to allow them access to medical care.

It is the story, coincidentally, the eve of WInes' report, of the President of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, Beatrice Mtetwa, the acting President of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Irene Petras, and the 80 year old chief of the Human RIghts NGO Forum, Eileen Sawyer being beaten by security forces (Tuesday) as they attempted to undertake a peaceful march to present a letter to the Minister of Justice, the disgraceful Patrick Chinamassa, to demand a minimum respect of the rule of law.

Mr Wines should have taken the precaution of reading the MDC report on party violence that he misrepresents in his own story because, if he had, he would have known that far from assigning culpability to Tsvangirai and his officers, the report concluded that there was no official support or condoning of violence and, rather, that the attacks were the work of  Central Intelligence Officers who had (and have) infiltrated the party.

Mr. Wines also might have troubled himself to become informed of the fact that the security apparatus did not in fact arrest those widely recognized to have been implicated in the violence but instead arrested known MDC activists, to whom there were no links to the violence.

Mr. Wines might have informed himself in addition that the M.O. of the regime (committing violent acts and blaming them on the opposition) is not a new one, and dates back to the 2000 constitutional referendum (lost  by Mugabe) and the 2002 Presidential elections (won by Mr. Tsvangirai and stolen by Mugabe)--although its use has accelerated in recent weeks as CIO officers toss petrol bombs and then round up all opposition figures in the areas and charge them under the country's "terrorism act".   

It is embarrassing that a NY Times journalist allows himself, in this way , to be used by those who seek to take the international community's eye off the extermination campaign underway and conducted by Mugabe and his thugs against the legitimate opposition, and onto the non-issue of "opposition disunity". 

If it were only embarrassing, however, it would not be so bad. 

It is also DANGEROUS because the lives of all of those from the democratic forces who are languishing in remand prison (or, as it seems may be the case, in secret torture camps around the country) are being put at risk because their story is not getting out. 

Read the New York Times story.

Press Release from Freedom House: "Zimbabwe Unfit to Serve as Leader of UN Body."

Press Release

<>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Amanda Abrams

Zimbabwe Unfit to Serve as Leader of UN Body

Washington, D.C.,May 10, 2007 Zimbabwe is completely unfit to serve as chair of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, and its selection should be blocked by other members of the commission, Freedom House said today. Zimbabwe has been submitted by African countries as the next head of the commission, whose leadership rotates by region. Though other countries have reacted with indignation, it is expected that the African group will push their recommendation through tomorrow, when the decision will be made. The body is charged with monitoring global policies on economic development and the environment. “For Zimbabwe to lead any UN body is preposterous—the Mugabe government clearly has nothing but scorn for the UN’s founding principles of human rights, security and international law,” said Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House. “But for it to preside over an institution examining ways toward sustainable development is particularly ludicrous. Any Zimbabweans with useful ideas on the topic are obviously not welcome in decision-making circles in Harare, which is presiding over one of the most precipitous and calamitous cases of de-development the world has ever seen.” Though Zimbabwe was once the “breadbasket of southern Africa,” the country is now experiencing its worst economic crisis since independence, widely attributed to the policies of President Robert Mugabe. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate, currently the world’s highest at over 2200 percent, is expected to exceed 4000 percent by the end of the year, and 80 percent of the population is unemployed. On Wednesday, the government warned households that it may institute 20-hour daily power cuts. The government is also responsible for major human rights abuses against opposition activists, civil society advocates and journalists. Zimbabwe is one of the world’s most repressive states, and ranks as Not Free in the 2007 edition of Freedom in the World. The country received a rating of 7 (on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 as the lowest) for political rights and a 6 for civil liberties. Freedom House, an independent nongovernmental organization that supports the expansion of freedom in the world, has monitored political rights and civil liberties in Zimbabwe since 1980. For more information about Zimbabwe, visit: Freedom in the World 2007: Zimbabwe Freedom of the Press 2007: Zimbabwe

Arnold Tsunga SPeaks Out About the Mugabe Regime State of Seige Against Civil Society

The director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Arnold Tsunga is speaking out again against the Mugabe dictatorship:

Zimbabwe Lawyer Decries Intimidation (Weissenstein, AP) 
Friday, May 11, 2007
AP
By Michael Weissenstein
Zimbabwe's government is intimidating, arresting and beating lawyers in an attempt to destroy the beleaguered political opposition's last line of defense, one of the country's leading attorneys said Wednesday.

Although President Robert Mugabe's security forces have roughed up lawyers for years, the mistreatment has increased in recent weeks with the arrests of four prominent attorneys, said Arnold Tsunga, the executive director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

Lawyers who protested two of the arrests by demonstrating outside the country's high court on Tuesday were manhandled and struck with riot batons, according to witnesses and the Zimbabwe Law Society. Some were forced into a truck, taken to a suburban field and beaten, they said.

"It's to send a very clear message that there is no lawyer in Zimbabwe who is safe," Tsunga told The Associated Press in an interview.

A spokesman for Zimbabwe's mission to the United Nations referred questions to Ambassador Guwa Chidyausiku, who was not immediately available for comment.

Tsunga said the violence was a reaction to his group's success in slowing Mugabe's persecution of the political opposition. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has taken the cases of about 1,000 political defendants a year since 2003, he said. It has managed to win acquittals in every case and the release of many defendants within two days, a stark change from a time when political defendants were held incommunicado indefinitely and abused with impunity in jail, he said.

"It gave the political activists a lot of hope that they are not alone in the struggle for greater democracy of our country," he said. As a result, he said, "there has been a deliberate effort to clamp down on members of the legal profession. ... The government is now showing desperation."

Tsunga, who also helps lead Zimbabwe's bar association and heads a group of 350 reform-minded civil society groups, spoke in a Manhattan hotel room on his way to Washington, where he was finishing his work for a 10-month human rights fellowship at the University of Minnesota.

He left Zimbabwe for the United States last year with his wife and three children after receiving what he described as credible reports that his name was on a list of people targeted for death by a government hit squad.

Tsunga, 40, said he will return to Zimbabwe next month despite continuing fears for his life, because he feels obligated to help other lawyers putting themselves at risk to aid Mugabe's opponents. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights counts nearly 200 of the country's approximately 700 private lawyers as members.

"It would be highly irresponsible of me to abandon them," he said. "We have to be part of the group that creates hope for our country."

He decried what he called the silence of Zimbabwe's neighboring countries, particularly South Africa, whose President Thabo Mbeki has been appointed by nations in the region as a facilitator charged with helping to resolve the standoff between the government and the opposition.

The South African government insists that its policy of quiet diplomacy is more effective than Western-style criticism. A South African government spokesman did not immediately return a phone call seeking a response to Tsunga's comments.

Mugabe, an 83-year-old former anti-colonial rebel who has ruled Zimbabwe since it gained independence from Britain in 1980, has acknowledged that police used violent methods against opposition supporters and killed at least one activist. He has warned alleged perpetrators of unrest that they would be "bashed" again if violence continued.

Zimbabwe's ruling party has endorsed Mugabe as its candidate in next year's presidential election. Victory would allow him to stay in power until 2013, when he would be nearly 90.

From the Christian Science Monitor: A sad Commentary on the Invertebrate African "Leaders": They install a Mugabe lackey as Head of UN Commission.

African leaders recently chose Zimbabwe to chair the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, despite strong objections from Western countries.

By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

May 16, 2007

Johannesburg, South Africa

When African leaders nominated Zimbabwe – a country with 2,200 percent inflation, looming famine, and authoritarian tendencies – to chair the UN Commission for Sustainable Development this past week, they may have been sending the world a message.

By giving Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe the yearlong chairmanship, Africa has signaled defiance of the West, which has attemptedto isolate Zimbabwe for alleged human rights abuses and economic mismanagement.

Many African nations have grown increasingly frustrated by the development policies of Western donors that they see as intrusive and harsh. When Australia cancels a cricket tour to Zimbabwe, as it did this week, or when the European Union refuses to hold an EU-Africa summit, as it has for the past six years, because of Mr. Mugabe, many Africans see the pressure as neocolonial habits that must be broken. For many across the continent, Mugabe's muscular land confiscation from white farmers and talk of social justice still have appeal.

"This is African brinkmanship with the West," says Peter Kagwanja, a senior researcher for the Human Sciences Research Council in Tshwane (formerly Pretoria). "Many African nations are still struggling to get over the economic and political legacy of past colonial and racist regimes, and so they are more or less sympathetic with the bold moves taken by Zimbabwe," moves that "they are not capable of doing themselves."

While most African leaders recognize that following Zimbabwe's anti-Western stance would be an act of economic suicide, Mr. Kagwanja says that Africa is throwing its support behind Zimbabwe to show its disinclination to be pushed around by the powerful West. In practice, this means that the nomination of Zimbabwe for the UN agency this year is just the beginning. "All these things that come up, Zimbabwe will be promoted as Africa's choice," he says.

Why Mugabe resonates in Africa: "The resonance behind what Mugabe says is a result of what Africans see as the duplicity of the Western international institutions" such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, says Chris Maroleng, a top Zimbabwe expert at the Institute for Security Studies in Tshwane. There is anger over "the imposition of the conditions on aid," he says.

But while he understands the reasons for this gap between Africa and the West, he sees the selection of Zimbabwe to head the UN Commission for Sustainable Development as a mistake. "By hoisting the mantle of a known autocrat and dictator in order to make a statement is regrettable. Certainly there is a need for more African voices on development issues. But I don't think that Mugabe is that poster boy."

For the West, Zimbabwe is a pariah nation. British newspapers regularly refer to Mugabe as "Mad Bob," and Australia said Monday it would spend $15 million backing Mugabe's critics, just a day after banning the cricket tour. But for many in Africa, Mugabe is something of a hero. He's seen as a man who took land away from whites whose ancestors swindled or stole the land from blacks nearly a century ago.

This is not the first time Africa has shown its independence on matters of international import. Over the past decade, African leaders have welcomed Chinese development loans, which, unlike those of the World Bank, don't make aid conditional on economic or political reforms. In its year-long stint on the UN Security Council, South Africa has voted against sanctioning Burma and Zimbabwe for their human rights records and backed Iran's efforts to avoid sanctions because of its uranium-enrichment programs.

At a March 28 conference of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, South African President Thabo Mbeki called for African unity above all.

"The fight against Zimbabwe is a fight against us all. Today it is Zimbabwe; tomorrow it will be South Africa, it will be Mozambique, it will be Angola, it will be any other African country. And any government that is perceived to be strong and to be resistant to imperialists would be made a target and would be undermined. So let us not allow any point of weakness in the solidarity of SADC, because that weakness will also be transferred to the rest of Africa."

At the end of the conference, African leaders threw their unanimous support behind Zimbabwe's Mugabe and called on Mr. Mbeki (not the West) to mediate between Mugabe and the political opposition. Leaders who had been critical of Mugabe before the conference, including Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, fell silent.

'Quiet diplomacy'

South Africa's attempt at "quiet diplomacy" needs time to bear fruit, says Mr. Maroleng. By taking the West out of the negotiation process, Mbeki has disarmed Mugabe of his most resonant arguments for holding on to power.

"It shifted the battleground from the international arena, which Mugabe loves," he adds, "to the domestic issues of economic recovery and constitutional reform and the violent nature that Mugabe engages his opponents. And to a degree this strategy may be working."

This week, Zimbabwe's Minister of Rural Housing and Social Amenities, Emmerson Mnangagwa, revealed that Mbeki has imposed conditions – including the acceptance of Mugabe as president and the renunciation of violence – on the two main opposition leaders, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, in order for talks to proceed. No such conditions were imposed on Mugabe, Mr. Mnangagwa told parliament.

New York Times Editorial, Today: Partial Recompense for their "Bad Wines" Article Last week.

The New York Times has made up in part for the bad (Michael) Wine(s) article it was intoxicating public opinion with last week in the form of analysis that discussed only in passing the epidemic of politically motivated violence, abductions and torture sweeping Zimbabwe since March 11th, while buying into Mugabe's false narrative (perpetuated by Welshman Ncube in that article) that the "split" of the oppostion MDC and the opposition's supposed "disarray" and their supposed predilection for violence is the real problem in Zimbabwe--and not the Mugabe regime's reign of terror.  We blogged on the bad Wines here.

Today's editorial gets back on the real story and that is the Mugabe reign of terror.  Thank you, New York Times, for regaining your senses and refocussing on the crisis in Zimbabwe:

Waiting For Thabo Mbeki (NYT)

Thursday, May 17, 2007

The New York Times

Will Robert Mugabe’s outrages never stop? For months he has been jailing and brutalizing opposition leaders and trampling the rule of law in order to guarantee himself another rigged victory in next year’s presidential elections.

If Zimbabwe is to brake its headlong descent into tyranny, famine and some of the world’s lowest life-expectancy figures, the leaders of neighboring African countries will have to bring strong political and economic pressure on Mr. Mugabe, and they will have to move quickly. So far they have done the opposite. In the midst of Mr. Mugabe’s reign of terror, his fellow African leaders appallingly selected the continent’s prime example of economic free fall as the chair of the United Nations’ Commission on Sustainable Development.

The leader with the most potential leverage is Thabo Mbeki, the president of South Africa, which is the region’s political powerhouse, as well as the supplier of 40 percent of Zimbabwe’s electricity and one of its largest investors. A group of southern African nations have asked Mr. Mbeki to mediate between Mr. Mugabe and his opponents. So far, Mr. Mbeki hasn’t done much more than write a few letters.

If his mediation is to succeed, substantive negotiations will have to start quickly and be concluded well in advance of next year’s election. And, to assure that the opposition can freely campaign, Mr. Mbeki must insist that Zimbabwe repeal its legal restrictions on free assembly and that Mr. Mugabe stop terrorizing opposition leaders.

If the human tragedy of Zimbabwe cannot move Mr. Mbeki, he might at least consider his own country’s narrow self-interest. Potential investors in South Africa can only be put off by the growing tide of misery and upheaval just over the border.

Eloquent Letter from Zimbabwe Youth to Mbeki and SADC Leaders

Via: SW Radio Africa May 11th, 2007:

http://www.swradioafrica.com/News110507/openletter.htm

Open letter to SADC leaders from Zimbabwe Youth Movement

Freeman Chari

Zimbabwe Youth Movement

This letter comes from the children of a small nation called Zimbabwe. We are not as old as you are nor are we as wise as you are. We are only children, poor children for that matter. This we say because we believe we do not have the right to be addressing you, rather it would be more than a privilege if this letter passes through your hands, let alone enter your incoming-mail baskets.

Honourable elders, we write to invoke your memories, conscience and probably sympathy. Most of us as you might remember were born in the numerous refugee camps that were scattered throughout the region in the 70's. We are Zimbabweans by citizenship but most of us have their umbilical cords interred in the soils of your countries; Chifombo in Zambia, Chimoio in Mozambique, even as far as Mgagao in Tanzania. We cherish the courtesy of life that you bestowed unto us. We salute Nyerere, Kaunda, Khama and Machel.

We thank you rather belatedly for the lorries and aeroplanes that ferried us back to Zimbabwe in 1980. It was indeed a touching moment to see Comrade Machel on the podium together with our very own Robert Gabriel Mugabe- the fresh from the bush Mugabe. How did you leaders of Africa feel when we got our independence?

Except for you Mr Thabo Mbeki, we can definitely answer for all the others: there was general happiness and relief. As for you Mr Mbeki we do not know where you were but even if Nelson Mandela was not allowed newspapers at Robben Island we believe he got the message as soon as it happened and definitely he was at the most happy and at the least envious of the new state!

It is twenty-seven years since the then energetic and fifty-six year old Mugabe took power; we still listen to Bob Marley's Africa Liberate Zimbabwe. Do you remember the song Mr Mwanawasa?

Obviously you remember that one Your Excellence, but do you also remember the Dare reChimurenga meeting at Mulungushi Rock Hotel and the Kafue forests in 1970 and 1971. May you please ask Kenneth Kaunda why we had those meetings in Zambia and not in Rhodesia? If he refuses to tell you then you might as well take it that it was maybe because Rugare Gumbo had been expelled from Zimuto High school and detained at Whawha prison, or maybe Emmerson Munangagwa had been sentenced to death, or maybe Mugabe and other nationalists had been abducted and unlawfully detained since 1966, or maybe the Smith regime had killed protesters against his proclamation of Rhodesia as a republic on 2 March 1970?

So Mr Mwanawasa; Hentchel Mavuma, Collen Chibango, Sendisa Ndhlovu, Maddock Chivasa, Wellington Mahohoma and many others were expelled from the University of Zimbabwe, Batanai Hadzizi , Lameck Chemvura and more recently Gift Tandare were killed by the Zimbabwean authorities. Right now many opposition activists including MDC's Ian Makone and Dennis Murira are detained illegally by the Zimbabwean Police. Isn't this a scenario typical of the 1970 situation? Don't you think it is time that we also have meetings in Kabwe, Gaborone, Arusha, Chimoio and Musina forests?

Mr Thabo Mbeki, when you said AIDS is caused by poverty, the whole world doubted your scientific aptitude but we never doubted your intelligence. When your vice took a bath to protect himself from HIV we did not doubt your government's wisdom either. When you came out of that meeting in Tanzania and you declared yourself mediator between Mugabe and Tsvangirai we thought you were running out of intelligence and wisdom; but you are our elder -just like Mugabe - we cannot disrespect you. We would however like to know if corruption, inflation, unemployment and general economic decline are caused by a power struggle between Mugabe and Tsvangirai?

Mr Mbeki, the crisis is not about Tsvangirai being beaten in elections or on the head. It is between the people of Zimbabwe and the Government of Zimbabwe. It is between the peace-loving people of Zimbabwe and their blood-thirsty, insensitive, arrogant and gun-totting government. We have a junta in power, a warlord is ruling us. He does not respect our lives; if he slaughtered 20 000 people in 1982 what can stop him from killing ten?

In short, Mr Mbeki we do not need any mediation. What we dream for is an accountable, transparent and responsible government. What we want as of now Mr Mbeki is your protection from this gun-totter. If you cannot rebuke him then give us the chance to rebuke him. You cannot invade Zimbabwe but you can influence the course of change in our country. You have a moral obligation to welcome us in the forests of Musina, equip us and be quiet as we redefine the course of our revolution, that way Quiet Diplomacy would work!

Finally, we would want to ask you why the federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland went ahead in 1955 despite the massive African resistance led by Nkomo, Kaunda and Kamuzu Banda? African had no guns but white had. Why did the white engineered Zimbabwe-Rhodesia coalition failed; Africans had guns!

So leaders of Africa wake up to the call for international duty!

We mean every word we say!

Tomorrow is Today. Ramangwana ndinhasi. Ukusasa ukunamhla!

Freeman Chari
Secretary General
Zimbabwe Youth Movement

Eddie Cross: Hopeful on SADC Sponsored Talks?

Real Leadership at Last

The past two weeks have seen significant developments in the field of the SADC sponsored talks to try and resolve the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe. We cannot say too much about this, as we are under instructions to keep the lid on things until the facilitators can report progress.

I must say I am surprised by recent developments – and pleased. They represent an example of real leadership by Africa’s leaders in powerful positions and if we can keep this up we may actually see an African crafted solution to the Zimbabwe situation. It is about time and watching the international community wring its hands over the situation in Darfur just makes me wish we could act multilaterally on a more constant and principled basis. But then this is politics!!

Various forces have helped in this process, the final outcome of which is still very uncertain, but at least it is under way. Among these forces must rank the economy. Last year the fiscal deficit was over 60 per cent of estimated GDP. Inflation figures just released reluctantly by the local statistical office were 3 700 per cent – over 100 per cent in April alone. It is at least double that in reality but all the same, most commentators still use the official numbers and they are bad enough.

The impact of this on the local economy and on everyone is difficult to describe to anyone who lives in a normal environment. Here business can be literally wiped out in weeks if you do not move with speed. That is impossible with Government and the collapse of all State controlled institutions and organisations are now very rapid. Most can barely function.

For the average person life is a nightmare. Prices change by the hour and you must spend your money as soon as you get it or watch it simply fade away. People on fixed incomes are long since eliminated, as they simply are unable to cope. This week saw thousands of workers in all spheres go on strike – demanding wages that would in a small way reflect what it costs to live. The numbers are just impossible to comprehend.

The regime has finally given in to the realities of the situation and raised the price of maize meal by 600 per cent. Even so 65 per cent of the cost of a bag of maize meal is reflected in distribution and packaging costs. Enough maize meal to feed the family now costs more than the total wages of 70 per cent of all workers. Transport to work will cost as least as much. Talking to strikers last week they said they did not care if they were fired – they would pack up and go to South Africa.

Then there is the food situation. We have grown 20 per cent of our needs – world stocks of grain are down to six weeks supply and prices have doubled in the past year. We will have to import 2 million tonnes of grain under desperate conditions – no foreign exchange, high prices, poor infrastructure and low transport capacity.

The great majority of the urban population is in the position where they cannot feed themselves let alone buy food for “home”. In rural areas the situation is much worse – there are no stocks in the south at all – a total crop failure from Chegutu south has ensured that. Government sees this food crisis as simply a chance to control the population. Orders have gone out that no food distribution is to take place without political controls being in force. These instructions are being ruthlessly enforced. Free and fair elections are impossible under such conditions.

Then there is the new pressure from the global community. I sense a new resolution to be tough with rogue States like ours. The EU has toughened its stance and last week we got refreshingly frank statements from the Prime Minister of Australia when he took the unusual step of banning the Australian Cricket team from visiting Zimbabwe. He called Mugabe a “grubby little dictator” and said the he was running a “Gestapo style regime.” Tough truth from powerful and influential people.  At last those countries that are providing shelter to the children of those on the list of targeted sanctions as well and other human rights abusers are now being threatened with eviction and a humiliating return home.

The new approach adopted by the SADC and the AU has also raised the temperature. They have recently made statements that suggest that they are no longer prepared to tolerate the behavior of the Harare regime and are calling on it to reform or face sanctions.  At long last the AU Human Rights Commission has debated its own report on human rights abuse in Zimbabwe. Despite a defence put up by Zimbabwe Ministers they adopted the report and called for change. The same happened last week at the Pan African Parliament sitting in Gauteng where a full inquiry was ordered.

Such events were unthinkable a few years ago, even last year. The African block at the UN supported by South American States succeeded in getting Zimbabwe appointed as the Chairman of the Commission on sustainable development – but that simply highlights the weakness of the UN system and its inability to act on a principled basis. Still at least the Commission gets a Chairman who knows what does not work – from personal experience.

Yesterday the National Council of the MDC met in Harare and adopted its basis for action over the next 10 months. We agreed our goal was to “restore hope”, “overcome fear” and “make every vote count”. I thought that was a clever bit of work by our National leadership because it really does sum up what we, as a Nation need.

We need hope that all is not lost and some form of a solution is now under way. One that offers us a chance to rebuild our lives and country from the bleak ashes of what we have left. We must overcome fear – fear of being associated with the MDC, fear of what the State will do to me if I join the struggle or step out of line, fear of what the future holds, if anything.

Then we have to reestablish a belief that our votes will count. We have voted in 2000, in 2002 and in 2005 and in each case watched as our desires and wishes were crushed by violence, vote rigging and coercion. We are now in that place where we wonder if our votes will mean anything. That is what the talks are all about and when the outcome becomes know, I am sure there is going to be an explosion of new enthusiasm for the electoral process. If we can persuade people that their vote will be counted and will make a difference, we can trust the rest to the people.

I for one, am looking forward to that day, its now coming soon, do not despair!!

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 18th May 2007

Channel 4 (U.K): Inside Mugabe's Land of Fear

A news team travelling undercover just returned from a 3 week trip to Zimbabwe.  Link to the story here.

OP-Ed in African Executive: Zimbabwe for Top UN Job? No Way!

From: Africanexecutive.com 23-30 May 2007 Opinions

Zimbabwe for Top UN Job? No Way! Zimbabwean activists are now resigned to institutions such as the United Nations (UN), African Unity (AU) and Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) which are nothing but expensive congregations of harmless penguins. African delegates gladly collaborate in this deadly symphony of deception by vetoing anti-fascist resolutions. When it comes to global warming, the extermination of Palestinians, violation of women's rights in Saudi Arabia and the Chinese plundering resources in Africa by sacrificing political expediency at the altar of business sense, the US government exhibits similar tendencies of double-faced showmanship manifested in reckless abuse of its veto powers. Therefore, I was not surprised when I heard that Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe's Environment and Tourism Minister, had been elected to chair the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. The struggle against modern-day slavery in Sudan and environmental degradation in Zimbabwe can no longer be concluded behind the façade of tinted glasses in New York or Addis Ababa, for it is in those corridors that perverted political minds squander the taxes of the very same people they torture, maim and rape. It is naïve to be wooed winked by Zimbabwe's masquarade on the global stage as a protagonist of sustainable development, yet Mr Nhema chose to ignore his government's destruction of conservancies. Those who were rewarded with tracts of land expropriated from white commercial farmers have totally destroyed water catchment areas, resulting in irreversible siltation and desertification. We see large scale degradation in the form of politicised gold panning in Zimbabwe's midlands and the diamond 'mining' in the eastern highlands of Marange. The Sabi-Limpopo tourist development project meant to yield huge benefit for Zimbabwean citizens is under threat because of villagers who invaded the game reserve as payoff for allegiance to the regime of Robert Mugabe. All this drama is under the supervision of Francis Nhema who did not so much as play a single note in fear of upsetting Mugabe's political octave. The free world can no longer watch in bewildered paralysis as the United Nations continues to pander to the whims of political patronage. Just like Thabo Mbeki's quiet diplomacy, the UN's culture of corrosive tolerance casts itself as fatal collusion with fascist dictatorships. African presidents have been arguing for a case of UN reform - I say, forget UN reforms and close shop altogether. By Rejoice Ngwenya Freelance Writer, Harare-Zimbabwe