Thokozile Ncube 29.DEC.08
Mystery still shrouds the death of a Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) activist who died last week amid suspicions by his relatives that
he might have had his beer poisoned by state security agents.
Felix Gwafa (30), a staunch MDC supporter died in as yet unclear
circumstances last Friday after complaining of serious stomach pains and
vomiting blood while coming from a beer drink.
Gwafa, a University of Zimbabwe (UZ) graduate in History and Development
studies, was said to have insulted President Mugabe at a funeral wake of
Mukudzei Madondo, the son of prominent Gutu Business person and Chief
Gadzingo Madondo the day before, his relatives revealed.
Mukudzei died in a car accident near Panyanda Lodge, a few kilometers
out of Masvingo, along Beitbridge highway that links the town to South
Africa.
He was aged 28.
Some Gwafa family members who spoke on condition of anonymity said Felix
had made some remarks at Mukudzei’s funeral which might have ruffled the
feathers of the dreaded Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) members
that were also present at the ceremony
Thursday
How Mugabe treats his critics
24.DEC.08
After an orgy of torture and kidnapping by President Robert Mugabe's secret police, eight civil rights activists and Movement for Democratic Change officials were due to appear in the Harare Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.
Most of them are to be charged, based on "confessions" made in the custody of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), of bombing Harare's Central police station and a "plot" to violently topple Mugabe.
Among those due to appear in court is human rights activist Jestina Mukoko, 54, who was abducted in a dawn raid on her home in Norton, about 30km north of Harare, on December 3.
'Jestina is alive but frail'
The CIO, led by Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, has collected filmed "interviews" with the MDC's director of security, Chris Dlamini, and Gandhi Mudzingwa, a close adviser to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who were both abducted earlier this month.
Mukoko, a widow and mother of a teenage son, was the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), which collected information on human rights abuses by Mugabe's security establishment.
Jameson Timba, an MDC MP in Harare, said on Tuesday: "Jestina is alive but frail."
He said he did not know the whereabouts of the other abductees. At least 15, including a 2-year-old child, have been missing for eight weeks.
On December 9, High Court Judge Anne-Marie Gowora ordered the Zimbabwe Republic Police to produce Mukoko, but in court the police said they didn't have her in their network of cells.
Mukoko had been due to officiate at a USAID-backed awards ceremony before her abduction by a group of seven plainclothes armed men and a woman.
Two of her colleagues, Pascal Gonzo and Brodrick Takawira, were abducted from the project's offices a week later.
The ZPP has played a crucial role in documenting politically motivated violence before and in the run-up to the March 2008 elections, won by the MDC.
The project against the MDC and other anti-Mugabe activists came from Mugabe's team of security advisers, the unofficial committee of security chiefs, known as the Joint Operations Command, of which Mutasa is a member.
On Friday, Tsvangirai, in temporary exile in Botswana, said he would withdraw from negotiations to form an inclusive government unless more than 40 abductees were freed or appeared in court.
President Kgalema Motlanthe said last week he did not believe the MDC had been training insurgents in Botswana to topple Mugabe.
On Saturday, the Harare High Court ordered police to produce a freelance photojournalist, Shadreck Manyere, who was abducted from Norton a week earlier. Nothing has been heard of him since.
- IOL
After an orgy of torture and kidnapping by President Robert Mugabe's secret police, eight civil rights activists and Movement for Democratic Change officials were due to appear in the Harare Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.
Most of them are to be charged, based on "confessions" made in the custody of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), of bombing Harare's Central police station and a "plot" to violently topple Mugabe.
Among those due to appear in court is human rights activist Jestina Mukoko, 54, who was abducted in a dawn raid on her home in Norton, about 30km north of Harare, on December 3.
'Jestina is alive but frail'
The CIO, led by Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, has collected filmed "interviews" with the MDC's director of security, Chris Dlamini, and Gandhi Mudzingwa, a close adviser to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who were both abducted earlier this month.
Mukoko, a widow and mother of a teenage son, was the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), which collected information on human rights abuses by Mugabe's security establishment.
Jameson Timba, an MDC MP in Harare, said on Tuesday: "Jestina is alive but frail."
He said he did not know the whereabouts of the other abductees. At least 15, including a 2-year-old child, have been missing for eight weeks.
On December 9, High Court Judge Anne-Marie Gowora ordered the Zimbabwe Republic Police to produce Mukoko, but in court the police said they didn't have her in their network of cells.
Mukoko had been due to officiate at a USAID-backed awards ceremony before her abduction by a group of seven plainclothes armed men and a woman.
Two of her colleagues, Pascal Gonzo and Brodrick Takawira, were abducted from the project's offices a week later.
The ZPP has played a crucial role in documenting politically motivated violence before and in the run-up to the March 2008 elections, won by the MDC.
The project against the MDC and other anti-Mugabe activists came from Mugabe's team of security advisers, the unofficial committee of security chiefs, known as the Joint Operations Command, of which Mutasa is a member.
On Friday, Tsvangirai, in temporary exile in Botswana, said he would withdraw from negotiations to form an inclusive government unless more than 40 abductees were freed or appeared in court.
President Kgalema Motlanthe said last week he did not believe the MDC had been training insurgents in Botswana to topple Mugabe.
On Saturday, the Harare High Court ordered police to produce a freelance photojournalist, Shadreck Manyere, who was abducted from Norton a week earlier. Nothing has been heard of him since.
- IOL
Friday
Mugabe hints on dismantling Mthwakazi People's Convention during ZANU PF Central Committee
Full story is found in the ZANU PF mouthpiece the Herald.
Link: http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=1761&cat=1
"I was reading recent utterances by Condoleezza Rice (US Secretary of State) that African leaders are not prepared to topple President Mugabe and bring about regime change.
"She condemned this inability on the part of African leaders. How could African leaders ever topple Robert Mugabe, organise an army to come? It is not easy. I do not know of any African country that is brave enough to do that."
President Mugabe took a swipe at Botswana for being a mouthpiece for the British and the Americans.
Africans, he said, were rational enough to know that epidemics do occur regardless of whether one is black or white.
He warned delegates to be wary of the enemy who was devising new ways of destroying Zanu-PF from within and urged members to be on high alert.
The President said there has been a build- up of incidents of a military nature perpetrated against the people and country.
"Now we notice there is change . . . that change is that the enemy forces should now concentrate on personalities in Zanu-PF. Let’s take care. You are the leaders of the party," President Mugabe said urging party members to guard against "supping and dining" with the enemy.
"Tikadaro chete tapera. Nyaya iyoyi yekucherana ngaipere," he said to applause from delegates.
Most of the Central Committee members shouted "No" when the President asked whether all the members were clean.
He expressed dismay at the skirmishes that characterised Harare provincial elections warning some party members to desist from being too ambitions, backbiting, tribalist and regionalist.
"You might have an ambition but let not your ambition be misguided. We do not want it. Let us avoid it. I hope we can correct that kind of trend, which is developing.
"Varipo vangataura kuti isu tinoda zvechidunhu, nyika yakarwirwa by all tribes. We are Zimbabweans first and foremost. Yes, we keep our cultures, but we should not allow that to divide us . . . As one people we can move forward together faster than a divided people.
"Zvimaparty zvingamuka kana zvikadini zvazvo but as long as they are not based on unity and have no history as that of our party, the political wealth that our party has, they can never last," he said.
He denounced the use of the youths in fighting against each other while the enemy was plotting day and night to win over the party members in a bid to decimate the party.
"Setting one group against the other . . . Zvava zveboxing? The enemy is planning day and night ways and means of winning our people and therefore reduce our membership . . . Let’s have a counter to that," he said.
"Yes, they will back you to do the foolish business of fighting your people but we are watchful. We are saying that cannot continue."
Link: http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=1761&cat=1
"I was reading recent utterances by Condoleezza Rice (US Secretary of State) that African leaders are not prepared to topple President Mugabe and bring about regime change.
"She condemned this inability on the part of African leaders. How could African leaders ever topple Robert Mugabe, organise an army to come? It is not easy. I do not know of any African country that is brave enough to do that."
President Mugabe took a swipe at Botswana for being a mouthpiece for the British and the Americans.
Africans, he said, were rational enough to know that epidemics do occur regardless of whether one is black or white.
He warned delegates to be wary of the enemy who was devising new ways of destroying Zanu-PF from within and urged members to be on high alert.
The President said there has been a build- up of incidents of a military nature perpetrated against the people and country.
"Now we notice there is change . . . that change is that the enemy forces should now concentrate on personalities in Zanu-PF. Let’s take care. You are the leaders of the party," President Mugabe said urging party members to guard against "supping and dining" with the enemy.
"Tikadaro chete tapera. Nyaya iyoyi yekucherana ngaipere," he said to applause from delegates.
Most of the Central Committee members shouted "No" when the President asked whether all the members were clean.
He expressed dismay at the skirmishes that characterised Harare provincial elections warning some party members to desist from being too ambitions, backbiting, tribalist and regionalist.
"You might have an ambition but let not your ambition be misguided. We do not want it. Let us avoid it. I hope we can correct that kind of trend, which is developing.
"Varipo vangataura kuti isu tinoda zvechidunhu, nyika yakarwirwa by all tribes. We are Zimbabweans first and foremost. Yes, we keep our cultures, but we should not allow that to divide us . . . As one people we can move forward together faster than a divided people.
"Zvimaparty zvingamuka kana zvikadini zvazvo but as long as they are not based on unity and have no history as that of our party, the political wealth that our party has, they can never last," he said.
He denounced the use of the youths in fighting against each other while the enemy was plotting day and night to win over the party members in a bid to decimate the party.
"Setting one group against the other . . . Zvava zveboxing? The enemy is planning day and night ways and means of winning our people and therefore reduce our membership . . . Let’s have a counter to that," he said.
"Yes, they will back you to do the foolish business of fighting your people but we are watchful. We are saying that cannot continue."
Thursday
To offer Mugabe immunity would not give us long lasting peace
The following article is in today's UK Guardian newspaper.
The culture of impunity that began in the 1980s sowed the seeds for today's crisis, says Mpho Ncube
Article history
Jonathan Steele's suggestion that Robert Mugabe and his henchmen/women might just relinquish power if they are offered a "soft landing" will not bring a lasting solution in Zimbabwe (Softly, softly oust Mugabe, 15 December).
Essentially, Steele is proposing the perpetuation of Zimbabwe's culture of impunity, and we have been here before. When Mugabe came to power in 1980, a similar soft-landing deal was signed by the three warring armies of Zanu-PF,
PF-Zapu and the Rhodesian Front, where human rights abuses in the just finished brutal guerrilla war were swept under the carpet. It wasn't long after that, in 1982, that Mugabe unleashed a crack unit dubbed the Gukurahundi (the wind that washes away the chaff) to maim and murder more than 20,000 civilians in Matabeleland and Midlands.
The seeds of today's political and human rights crises in Zimbabwe therefore have their roots in the culture of impunity that was sown when a deal to end the massacres was signed by Mugabe and his political rival, Joshua Nkomo of PF-Zapu. The so-called Unity deal of 1987 gave a blanket amnesty to all members of the armed and security forces who were involved in the Gukurahundi atrocities, together with their political masterminds. It is therefore no wonder that the same people who masterminded the Matabeleland massacres are in charge of the violence and murder that has enveloped Zimbabwe in the past decade.
The reason Mugabe and his hench-people are so defiant is that they have benefited from previous orgies of violence and have no fear of the consequences. To call for "guarantees of retirement in safety", as Steele does, will be music to Mugabe's ears. Zimbabweans are once again being held hostage by his regime, and so to talk of immunity deals is to reward those who see violence and murder as a legitimate policy tool.
Steele's article makes no reference to the wishes of the many thousand victims of Mugabe's ruthless 28-year rule in Zimbabwe, and herein lies the other problem. Too often, in the discourse on the future of Zimbabwe, the victims' cries for truth and justice are seen as an impediment to a political deal to end the crisis. Steele himself argues that the threat of criminal action may make Mugabe more desperate to cling to power. Yet truth and justice are a prerequisite of any lasting solution. The reward of immunity, retirement in safety, or jobs for Mugabe and his henchpeople is the wrong mechanism for building long-lasting peace and stability.
My organisation is campaigning, on behalf of the victims of Gukurahundi and other state-sponsored abuses, for a Truth, Justice and Healing Commission. Without the direct input of victims of Mugabe's murderous reign, any top-down, expedient political fixes will not prevent abuses by future leaders.
A deterrent must be set in very clear and visible ways, which is why the lesson of the Nuremberg trials after the second world war is very apt. What is required now is for the "never again" principle to be institutionalised in Zimbabwe.
• Mpho Ncube is director of communications for the Mthwakazi Action Group on Genocide in Matabeleland & Midlands, a British-based campaigning group for Zimbabwean exiles ncubem@maggemm.org
The culture of impunity that began in the 1980s sowed the seeds for today's crisis, says Mpho Ncube
Article history
Jonathan Steele's suggestion that Robert Mugabe and his henchmen/women might just relinquish power if they are offered a "soft landing" will not bring a lasting solution in Zimbabwe (Softly, softly oust Mugabe, 15 December).
Essentially, Steele is proposing the perpetuation of Zimbabwe's culture of impunity, and we have been here before. When Mugabe came to power in 1980, a similar soft-landing deal was signed by the three warring armies of Zanu-PF,
PF-Zapu and the Rhodesian Front, where human rights abuses in the just finished brutal guerrilla war were swept under the carpet. It wasn't long after that, in 1982, that Mugabe unleashed a crack unit dubbed the Gukurahundi (the wind that washes away the chaff) to maim and murder more than 20,000 civilians in Matabeleland and Midlands.
The seeds of today's political and human rights crises in Zimbabwe therefore have their roots in the culture of impunity that was sown when a deal to end the massacres was signed by Mugabe and his political rival, Joshua Nkomo of PF-Zapu. The so-called Unity deal of 1987 gave a blanket amnesty to all members of the armed and security forces who were involved in the Gukurahundi atrocities, together with their political masterminds. It is therefore no wonder that the same people who masterminded the Matabeleland massacres are in charge of the violence and murder that has enveloped Zimbabwe in the past decade.
The reason Mugabe and his hench-people are so defiant is that they have benefited from previous orgies of violence and have no fear of the consequences. To call for "guarantees of retirement in safety", as Steele does, will be music to Mugabe's ears. Zimbabweans are once again being held hostage by his regime, and so to talk of immunity deals is to reward those who see violence and murder as a legitimate policy tool.
Steele's article makes no reference to the wishes of the many thousand victims of Mugabe's ruthless 28-year rule in Zimbabwe, and herein lies the other problem. Too often, in the discourse on the future of Zimbabwe, the victims' cries for truth and justice are seen as an impediment to a political deal to end the crisis. Steele himself argues that the threat of criminal action may make Mugabe more desperate to cling to power. Yet truth and justice are a prerequisite of any lasting solution. The reward of immunity, retirement in safety, or jobs for Mugabe and his henchpeople is the wrong mechanism for building long-lasting peace and stability.
My organisation is campaigning, on behalf of the victims of Gukurahundi and other state-sponsored abuses, for a Truth, Justice and Healing Commission. Without the direct input of victims of Mugabe's murderous reign, any top-down, expedient political fixes will not prevent abuses by future leaders.
A deterrent must be set in very clear and visible ways, which is why the lesson of the Nuremberg trials after the second world war is very apt. What is required now is for the "never again" principle to be institutionalised in Zimbabwe.
• Mpho Ncube is director of communications for the Mthwakazi Action Group on Genocide in Matabeleland & Midlands, a British-based campaigning group for Zimbabwean exiles ncubem@maggemm.org
Wednesday
Robert Mugabe 'doomsday' drawing closer than expected
17.DEC.08Harare -
In scenes that rattled the regime of President Robert Mugabe and stoked speculation its days were numbered, dozens of soldiers ran amok in the capital Harare on December 1 in protest over the country's economic meltdown. Some bystanders watched in amazement, some joined in as junior soldiers who, frustrated at being unable to access their meagre salaries because of acute cash shortages, ran through the streets, looting shops and attacking black-market currency dealers. Although the state moved quickly to put the genie back in the bottle, arresting 16 soldiers who face court martial proceedings, the footsoldiers of Mugabe's repressive regime warn they are likely to hit the streets again before long. "Just like everyone else, we have stomachs and families to feed. We are suffering, just like most citizens in this country," one junior officer Ola (not his real name) tells Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Sitting in a house in Mbare township south-west of Harare in worn boots and faded fatigues, Ola, a 27-year-old father of two and Duke (not his real name), 29, tell of the frustration that provoked their outburst. "There is no junior army officer that still supports Mugabe. We are tired, we are suffering," says Duke. "If a foreign army comes to fight us, we will join them or flee to a neighbouring country." Long lines The riots began when the soldiers were forced to stand in long line with ordinary Zimbabweans for their money at a bank ATM instead of being paid at the barracks. "Cash ran out (at the barracks) because the top guns finished the money. We then started walking into town to queue for cash," said Ola. "We got angry when we could not get it (the banks ran out of cash). That is when the chaos started." The rioting was the first open challenge to Mugabe in his 28 years in power from within the normally loyal military. While that loyalty is still strong among the top brass, whom Mugabe has showered with gifts, including luxury vehicles and confiscated farms, junior officers, who are feeling the pinch of the economic crisis, are showing signs of fatigue. The lowest-paid soldier in Zimbabwe earns about $10 a month. "I am now (illegally) changing money. My wife does that when I am at work," says Ola, who has just returned from the city centre to receive a money "drop" from his wife. "Because of the recent unrest (a series of protests by unions and activists), we are not allowed to go on leave - lest the situation gets out of hand and the army is called in," says Duke. "They took our passports. Otherwise many of us could have fled the country and sought asylum," Duke says amid widespread reports in recent months that thousands of soldiers have already deserted, mostly to South Africa in search of work. 'Head on' Although the soldiers were seen attacking money changers, Ola blames the police and military police for violence during the protest. The police used batons to quell the riot. "The idea was to show the public that even soldiers were now tired of this chaos. We wanted them to join us in marching since they have the same problems like us," Ola says. Coming after bombings at two police stations in recent weeks that were caused minimum damage and were described by police as an inside job, the riots have sparked speculation that Mugabe's hold on power may be loosening. Ola and Duke said junior soldiers were ready to meet the Mugabe regime "head on." "The top guns are getting payment in foreign currency but the rest of us, we are getting shells of peanuts," Ola complains. "We want to see if we will get a substantial salary rise in December as they promised. Otherwise, there will be another round of protests." - Sapa-dpa
In scenes that rattled the regime of President Robert Mugabe and stoked speculation its days were numbered, dozens of soldiers ran amok in the capital Harare on December 1 in protest over the country's economic meltdown. Some bystanders watched in amazement, some joined in as junior soldiers who, frustrated at being unable to access their meagre salaries because of acute cash shortages, ran through the streets, looting shops and attacking black-market currency dealers. Although the state moved quickly to put the genie back in the bottle, arresting 16 soldiers who face court martial proceedings, the footsoldiers of Mugabe's repressive regime warn they are likely to hit the streets again before long. "Just like everyone else, we have stomachs and families to feed. We are suffering, just like most citizens in this country," one junior officer Ola (not his real name) tells Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Sitting in a house in Mbare township south-west of Harare in worn boots and faded fatigues, Ola, a 27-year-old father of two and Duke (not his real name), 29, tell of the frustration that provoked their outburst. "There is no junior army officer that still supports Mugabe. We are tired, we are suffering," says Duke. "If a foreign army comes to fight us, we will join them or flee to a neighbouring country." Long lines The riots began when the soldiers were forced to stand in long line with ordinary Zimbabweans for their money at a bank ATM instead of being paid at the barracks. "Cash ran out (at the barracks) because the top guns finished the money. We then started walking into town to queue for cash," said Ola. "We got angry when we could not get it (the banks ran out of cash). That is when the chaos started." The rioting was the first open challenge to Mugabe in his 28 years in power from within the normally loyal military. While that loyalty is still strong among the top brass, whom Mugabe has showered with gifts, including luxury vehicles and confiscated farms, junior officers, who are feeling the pinch of the economic crisis, are showing signs of fatigue. The lowest-paid soldier in Zimbabwe earns about $10 a month. "I am now (illegally) changing money. My wife does that when I am at work," says Ola, who has just returned from the city centre to receive a money "drop" from his wife. "Because of the recent unrest (a series of protests by unions and activists), we are not allowed to go on leave - lest the situation gets out of hand and the army is called in," says Duke. "They took our passports. Otherwise many of us could have fled the country and sought asylum," Duke says amid widespread reports in recent months that thousands of soldiers have already deserted, mostly to South Africa in search of work. 'Head on' Although the soldiers were seen attacking money changers, Ola blames the police and military police for violence during the protest. The police used batons to quell the riot. "The idea was to show the public that even soldiers were now tired of this chaos. We wanted them to join us in marching since they have the same problems like us," Ola says. Coming after bombings at two police stations in recent weeks that were caused minimum damage and were described by police as an inside job, the riots have sparked speculation that Mugabe's hold on power may be loosening. Ola and Duke said junior soldiers were ready to meet the Mugabe regime "head on." "The top guns are getting payment in foreign currency but the rest of us, we are getting shells of peanuts," Ola complains. "We want to see if we will get a substantial salary rise in December as they promised. Otherwise, there will be another round of protests." - Sapa-dpa
Sunday
Missing activist was 'collecting evidence' on Mugabe crimes
Human rights workers are going into hiding across Zimbabwe as regime launches new wave of arrests.
Alex Duval Smith in Bulawayo
The Observer, Sunday 14 December 2008
A prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist abducted 12 days ago was working on case files to be used as possible prosecution evidence against members of President Robert Mugabe's regime, The Observer has learnt.
Jestina Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), is the most prominent among 20 political and civil society activists who have disappeared in the past six weeks.
According to fellow campaigners, Mukoko had established a network of hundreds of monitors - mostly church people, teachers and ordinary township dwellers - who had provided handwritten testimonies of the campaigns of brutality carried out by Mugabe's government. The testimony could have been used in any future investigation of human rights abuses by the Mugabe regime. 'She had catalogued thousands of incidents of murder, assault, torture, arson, and who the perpetrators are. The work was so meticulous it could stand up in any court,' said one associate.
A human rights lawyer revealed that just before Mukoko's abduction the ZPP had shifted from cataloguing violence in townships to the organised abuse of food aid, where people were forced to support Mugabe in return for maize deliveries. 'That upcoming report was going to be extremely embarrassing for the ruling party,' said the lawyer.
Lawyers and opposition politicians believe the abduction of Mukoko was carried out as part of a new campaign by elements in the ruling party to intimidate and hinder the work of those gathering incriminating evidence of human rights violations in the country. Most leading human rights figures have in recent days gone into hiding. The ZPP has closed and the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (Nango) has warned that 'there are reasons to fear for the safety of every activist in the land'.
At about 5am on 3 December, 15 armed men wearing civilian clothing burst into the home of Mukoko in Norton, 25 miles from the capital, Harare. Her 15-year-old son watched as the men, who claimed to be police officers, beat up a gardener, then bundled her, barefoot and dressed only in her pyjamas, into a waiting Mazda 323.
Within days, other abductions were carried out by groups of between six and nine armed men in civilian clothes using unmarked vehicles without number plates. On 5 December Zacharia Nkomo, 33, brother of leading human rights lawyer Harrison Nkomo, was taken from his home in Masvingo.
Three days later Brodrick Takawira and Pascal Gonzo, both of the ZPP, were abducted in Harare. And on 10 December, Gandhi Mudzwinga, a close associate of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, was kidnapped near Harare.
The ZPP, which was formed in 2000 and is funded by the Dutch and Canadian governments, is one of the most respected groups in Zimbabwean civil society. Its reports have been made available to African and Western embassies in Harare and used in confidential diplomatic briefing documents.
They are likely to have been among documents seen by the European Union before it added 11 military, police and ruling party officials to its latest travel blacklist, made official last Monday.
Lawyer Otto Saki said he and his colleagues have made desperate attempts to establish Mukoko's whereabouts. 'We struggled to find a judge to hear our application. Three days after her abduction, a judge we finally managed to speak to in the High Court car park told us it would be heard on Monday, 8 December.
'A week after she was taken, we obtained an order that the police search for Jestina in all places of detention where they have jurisdiction - in other words, everywhere except military compounds. But we have no news and the police say they do not have her.'
Lawyers say the last time the courts acted so evasively was in April - just after the first round of presidential elections - when Movement for Democratic Change activist Tonderai Ndira was abducted.Ndira was later found murdered.
JB Nkatazo of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace said Mutoko's abduction sent 'cold shivers' down the spines of all Zimbabwean activists. 'The new disappearances send a clear message to civil society that we will be picked up one by one,' said Nkatazo.
'We must fear the worst for Mukoko,' said Effie Ncube, 35, of the Masakhaneni Projects Trust for victims of violence. 'If she has been picked up and tortured, that means she also knows who her assailants were.' Paying tribute to her courage, he said: 'We last sat together two weeks ago. She understood the nature of the regime and the risks she was taking. She was documenting cases of human rights abuses to liberate Zimbabweans but also to liberate Mugabe. She paraphrased Nelson Mandela who said the South African transition was about liberating the racists.'
He added: 'What we do is very risky because the regime's attitude is that we are giving information to the CIA or to MI6. Mugabe's rhetoric is calculated to set African governments against Europeans, and so we, as civil society, are viewed as agents of Western imperialism.'
One of the greatest fears of Mugabe and those involved in this year's election-related violence is that the UN Security Council will call for an International Criminal Court investigation, as it did over Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir's involvement in the Darfur killings.
Statements in the past week by Mugabe and his aides provide clear evidence of the regime's paranoia. Presidential spokesman George Charamba told the state-run Herald newspaper that Western countries were planning to 'bring Zimbabwe before the UN Security Council by claiming the cholera epidemic and food shortages have incapacitated the government'.
On Friday, in a bizarre effort to parry criticism of the regime at tomorrow's meeting in New York, Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said: 'Gordon Brown must be taken to the United Nations Security Council for being a threat to world peace and planting cholera and anthrax to invade Zimbabwe.'
But Minister for Africa Lord Malloch-Brown said the meeting would focus on the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, especially concerns that UN medical officials have been denied access to the country to assess the cholera outbreak.
'I don't see the prospect of an international tribunal coming up tomorrow,' he said. 'Mugabe is in a state of exaggerated paranoia. The arrests of the human rights activists are part of that. But it is certainly the case that Mugabe's actions this year have exposed him as never before. The day he falls he has huge future vulnerability.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Alex Duval Smith in Bulawayo
The Observer, Sunday 14 December 2008
A prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist abducted 12 days ago was working on case files to be used as possible prosecution evidence against members of President Robert Mugabe's regime, The Observer has learnt.
Jestina Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), is the most prominent among 20 political and civil society activists who have disappeared in the past six weeks.
According to fellow campaigners, Mukoko had established a network of hundreds of monitors - mostly church people, teachers and ordinary township dwellers - who had provided handwritten testimonies of the campaigns of brutality carried out by Mugabe's government. The testimony could have been used in any future investigation of human rights abuses by the Mugabe regime. 'She had catalogued thousands of incidents of murder, assault, torture, arson, and who the perpetrators are. The work was so meticulous it could stand up in any court,' said one associate.
A human rights lawyer revealed that just before Mukoko's abduction the ZPP had shifted from cataloguing violence in townships to the organised abuse of food aid, where people were forced to support Mugabe in return for maize deliveries. 'That upcoming report was going to be extremely embarrassing for the ruling party,' said the lawyer.
Lawyers and opposition politicians believe the abduction of Mukoko was carried out as part of a new campaign by elements in the ruling party to intimidate and hinder the work of those gathering incriminating evidence of human rights violations in the country. Most leading human rights figures have in recent days gone into hiding. The ZPP has closed and the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (Nango) has warned that 'there are reasons to fear for the safety of every activist in the land'.
At about 5am on 3 December, 15 armed men wearing civilian clothing burst into the home of Mukoko in Norton, 25 miles from the capital, Harare. Her 15-year-old son watched as the men, who claimed to be police officers, beat up a gardener, then bundled her, barefoot and dressed only in her pyjamas, into a waiting Mazda 323.
Within days, other abductions were carried out by groups of between six and nine armed men in civilian clothes using unmarked vehicles without number plates. On 5 December Zacharia Nkomo, 33, brother of leading human rights lawyer Harrison Nkomo, was taken from his home in Masvingo.
Three days later Brodrick Takawira and Pascal Gonzo, both of the ZPP, were abducted in Harare. And on 10 December, Gandhi Mudzwinga, a close associate of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, was kidnapped near Harare.
The ZPP, which was formed in 2000 and is funded by the Dutch and Canadian governments, is one of the most respected groups in Zimbabwean civil society. Its reports have been made available to African and Western embassies in Harare and used in confidential diplomatic briefing documents.
They are likely to have been among documents seen by the European Union before it added 11 military, police and ruling party officials to its latest travel blacklist, made official last Monday.
Lawyer Otto Saki said he and his colleagues have made desperate attempts to establish Mukoko's whereabouts. 'We struggled to find a judge to hear our application. Three days after her abduction, a judge we finally managed to speak to in the High Court car park told us it would be heard on Monday, 8 December.
'A week after she was taken, we obtained an order that the police search for Jestina in all places of detention where they have jurisdiction - in other words, everywhere except military compounds. But we have no news and the police say they do not have her.'
Lawyers say the last time the courts acted so evasively was in April - just after the first round of presidential elections - when Movement for Democratic Change activist Tonderai Ndira was abducted.Ndira was later found murdered.
JB Nkatazo of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace said Mutoko's abduction sent 'cold shivers' down the spines of all Zimbabwean activists. 'The new disappearances send a clear message to civil society that we will be picked up one by one,' said Nkatazo.
'We must fear the worst for Mukoko,' said Effie Ncube, 35, of the Masakhaneni Projects Trust for victims of violence. 'If she has been picked up and tortured, that means she also knows who her assailants were.' Paying tribute to her courage, he said: 'We last sat together two weeks ago. She understood the nature of the regime and the risks she was taking. She was documenting cases of human rights abuses to liberate Zimbabweans but also to liberate Mugabe. She paraphrased Nelson Mandela who said the South African transition was about liberating the racists.'
He added: 'What we do is very risky because the regime's attitude is that we are giving information to the CIA or to MI6. Mugabe's rhetoric is calculated to set African governments against Europeans, and so we, as civil society, are viewed as agents of Western imperialism.'
One of the greatest fears of Mugabe and those involved in this year's election-related violence is that the UN Security Council will call for an International Criminal Court investigation, as it did over Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir's involvement in the Darfur killings.
Statements in the past week by Mugabe and his aides provide clear evidence of the regime's paranoia. Presidential spokesman George Charamba told the state-run Herald newspaper that Western countries were planning to 'bring Zimbabwe before the UN Security Council by claiming the cholera epidemic and food shortages have incapacitated the government'.
On Friday, in a bizarre effort to parry criticism of the regime at tomorrow's meeting in New York, Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said: 'Gordon Brown must be taken to the United Nations Security Council for being a threat to world peace and planting cholera and anthrax to invade Zimbabwe.'
But Minister for Africa Lord Malloch-Brown said the meeting would focus on the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, especially concerns that UN medical officials have been denied access to the country to assess the cholera outbreak.
'I don't see the prospect of an international tribunal coming up tomorrow,' he said. 'Mugabe is in a state of exaggerated paranoia. The arrests of the human rights activists are part of that. But it is certainly the case that Mugabe's actions this year have exposed him as never before. The day he falls he has huge future vulnerability.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Friday
Can there be an Ndebele speaking President in Zimbabwe?
By Nkululeko Sapho Ndlovu
Let me begin by deconstructing the semantics. Ndebele is a language which derives from Zulu. The now common currency of calling uMthwakazi or Mahlabezulu the Ndebele is an anomaly, which is still being debated today. The question should be can there be an Mthwakazian president in Zimbabwe? Ndebele being a language, no-one has a monopoly over it, inasmuch the Anglo-Saxons do not hold the monopoly over the English language. The simple and direct answer to this question is NO. This question should be considered by those who consider themselves Zimbabwean. From the perspective of a Mthwakazian, I can not see that happening. A Shona hegemony engineered by Zanu is now so steeped in the Shona psyche that, there has to be a catastrophic paradigm shift on the Shona to realise a President of Zimbabwe who is Mthwakazian. An Mthwakazian President in Zimbabwe will be illegitimate.
Zimbabwe existed as an entity before the advent of BSAC rule (1888-1923), separate from Matebeleland, which shall be referred to as Mthwakazi throughout this document. From 1923 to 1965 both Mthwakazi and Zimbabwe revert to be ruled from London now called Rhodesia, after Mthwakazi was annexed by the Charter, which in itself was illegal and therefore renders the annexation illegal. As there was/is no formal treaty of annexation of Mthwakazi and Zimbabwe by the British, both territories remained independent entities administered jointly as protectorates by the British crown. On 11 November 1965, Ian Douglas Smith declares the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). Rhodesia becomes independent from Colonial Britain. This is declared an illegitimate act by not only Britain but by the United Nations. This therefore means Zimbabwe and Mthwakazi have never been formally annexed, and remain independent of each other until today.
As evidence has clearly shown that Mugabe has from the 1980s, intended to rule Zimbabwe and Mthwakazi as separate entities, this emphasises the point of separateness of the two states, making it difficult for an Ndebele speaking person to be President of Zimbabwe, and exposing the illegitimacy of the Zimbabwean government and Mugabe on Mthwakazi.
The unfortunate development is that Mugabe and Zanu-PF, have managed to subjugate and colonise the minds of Mthwakazians, who now have internalised subservience to Zanu and Mugabe’s hegemony on Mthwakazi. Our people now fail to aspire for the top echelons of any facet of life, be it as President; director of a company; manager of a department or principal of a school. The list is endless. This has been created by the usurpation of the democratic space by Mugabe and Zanu. At present there is a quartet of parties led by Shona speaking individuals, two of them MDC-T and MDC-M, deliberately configured to be led by Shona speakers, and possibly the fourth led by Makoni. This deference to the Shona is regrettable and the Obama effect is light years away, if not near impossible.
The other aspect of this is that, after the Gukurahundi massacres, the situation became untenable. Gukurahundi was a clear indication that Mugabe and Zanu wanted Mthwakazi annihilated. Indeed when Mugabe was questioned by the BBC reporter, about the massacres of Mthwakazi civilians in Mthwakazi, he stated that “we do not distinguish between civilians and dissidents”. This was Mugabe showing impatience with the Zanu 1979 Grand Plan, and Gukurahundi was the quick fix solution, to cow uMthwakazi into ultimate submission to a Zimbabwean hegemony, under one party statism.
Preceding the Mthwakazi massacres, Mugabe had demobilised a sizeable number of ex-Zipra cadres. This was to lay ground for the pillaging, and wanton murder by the marauding Gukurahundi, unimpeded by the vastly superior Zipra. The same demobilised ex-Zipra cadres were now hunted by Mugabe’s Gukurahundi, reminiscent of poachers hunting game.
This period was followed by en-masse colonisation of Mthwakazi, to now consolidate the Zanu Grand Plan of 1979. Unless one is deliberately accosting ignorance, it is without a doubt that the Zanu Grand Plan 1979, has come to pass, and has been cemented in all facets of life in Mthwakazi. Now the icing on the cake is Mugabe, with his brother Makoni, and their nephews Tswangirai and Mutambara, leading their respective parties, who are the embodiment of absolute Shona hegemony over Mthwakazi. This is evidence enough that there can be no Mthwakazi person, at the helm of Zimbabwe.
However, I as a Mthwakazian, I have no interest on Zimbabwean politics. To me Zimbabweans rip what they sow. We in Mthwakazi have never given Mugabe and Zanu a mandate. My only interest on Zimbabwe is divorcing Mthwakazi from the Zimbabwe. I discuss Zimbabwe as an illegal reference point, from where uMthwakazi must now reassert herself as an Independent entity, as created by our fore fathers.
Nkululeko Sapho Ndlovu is the Mthwakazi People's Convention (MPC) UK-Secretary and the movement's Director of International Relations based in United Kingdom. He can be contacted on e-mail: international.relations@mthwakazionline.org
Let me begin by deconstructing the semantics. Ndebele is a language which derives from Zulu. The now common currency of calling uMthwakazi or Mahlabezulu the Ndebele is an anomaly, which is still being debated today. The question should be can there be an Mthwakazian president in Zimbabwe? Ndebele being a language, no-one has a monopoly over it, inasmuch the Anglo-Saxons do not hold the monopoly over the English language. The simple and direct answer to this question is NO. This question should be considered by those who consider themselves Zimbabwean. From the perspective of a Mthwakazian, I can not see that happening. A Shona hegemony engineered by Zanu is now so steeped in the Shona psyche that, there has to be a catastrophic paradigm shift on the Shona to realise a President of Zimbabwe who is Mthwakazian. An Mthwakazian President in Zimbabwe will be illegitimate.
Zimbabwe existed as an entity before the advent of BSAC rule (1888-1923), separate from Matebeleland, which shall be referred to as Mthwakazi throughout this document. From 1923 to 1965 both Mthwakazi and Zimbabwe revert to be ruled from London now called Rhodesia, after Mthwakazi was annexed by the Charter, which in itself was illegal and therefore renders the annexation illegal. As there was/is no formal treaty of annexation of Mthwakazi and Zimbabwe by the British, both territories remained independent entities administered jointly as protectorates by the British crown. On 11 November 1965, Ian Douglas Smith declares the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI). Rhodesia becomes independent from Colonial Britain. This is declared an illegitimate act by not only Britain but by the United Nations. This therefore means Zimbabwe and Mthwakazi have never been formally annexed, and remain independent of each other until today.
As evidence has clearly shown that Mugabe has from the 1980s, intended to rule Zimbabwe and Mthwakazi as separate entities, this emphasises the point of separateness of the two states, making it difficult for an Ndebele speaking person to be President of Zimbabwe, and exposing the illegitimacy of the Zimbabwean government and Mugabe on Mthwakazi.
The unfortunate development is that Mugabe and Zanu-PF, have managed to subjugate and colonise the minds of Mthwakazians, who now have internalised subservience to Zanu and Mugabe’s hegemony on Mthwakazi. Our people now fail to aspire for the top echelons of any facet of life, be it as President; director of a company; manager of a department or principal of a school. The list is endless. This has been created by the usurpation of the democratic space by Mugabe and Zanu. At present there is a quartet of parties led by Shona speaking individuals, two of them MDC-T and MDC-M, deliberately configured to be led by Shona speakers, and possibly the fourth led by Makoni. This deference to the Shona is regrettable and the Obama effect is light years away, if not near impossible.
The other aspect of this is that, after the Gukurahundi massacres, the situation became untenable. Gukurahundi was a clear indication that Mugabe and Zanu wanted Mthwakazi annihilated. Indeed when Mugabe was questioned by the BBC reporter, about the massacres of Mthwakazi civilians in Mthwakazi, he stated that “we do not distinguish between civilians and dissidents”. This was Mugabe showing impatience with the Zanu 1979 Grand Plan, and Gukurahundi was the quick fix solution, to cow uMthwakazi into ultimate submission to a Zimbabwean hegemony, under one party statism.
Preceding the Mthwakazi massacres, Mugabe had demobilised a sizeable number of ex-Zipra cadres. This was to lay ground for the pillaging, and wanton murder by the marauding Gukurahundi, unimpeded by the vastly superior Zipra. The same demobilised ex-Zipra cadres were now hunted by Mugabe’s Gukurahundi, reminiscent of poachers hunting game.
This period was followed by en-masse colonisation of Mthwakazi, to now consolidate the Zanu Grand Plan of 1979. Unless one is deliberately accosting ignorance, it is without a doubt that the Zanu Grand Plan 1979, has come to pass, and has been cemented in all facets of life in Mthwakazi. Now the icing on the cake is Mugabe, with his brother Makoni, and their nephews Tswangirai and Mutambara, leading their respective parties, who are the embodiment of absolute Shona hegemony over Mthwakazi. This is evidence enough that there can be no Mthwakazi person, at the helm of Zimbabwe.
However, I as a Mthwakazian, I have no interest on Zimbabwean politics. To me Zimbabweans rip what they sow. We in Mthwakazi have never given Mugabe and Zanu a mandate. My only interest on Zimbabwe is divorcing Mthwakazi from the Zimbabwe. I discuss Zimbabwe as an illegal reference point, from where uMthwakazi must now reassert herself as an Independent entity, as created by our fore fathers.
Nkululeko Sapho Ndlovu is the Mthwakazi People's Convention (MPC) UK-Secretary and the movement's Director of International Relations based in United Kingdom. He can be contacted on e-mail: international.relations@mthwakazionline.org
Thursday
MPC forsaw the failure of the ZANU PF,MDC Agreeement in September
STATEMENT ON THE POWER-SHARING AGREEMENT BETWEEN ZANU-PF AND MDC SIGNED IN HARARE ON THE 15th SEPTEMBER 2008.
MPC says there is no need for the world to wait and see how the so-called power-sharing agreement between Zanu-PF and the MDC signed in Harare on Monday, 15th September 2008, will work. Its fate is a foregone conclusion because it is a political fraud preordained to fail.And the agreement fools no one. Mugabe is still firmly in charge. He has not lost any of his powers.The political grandstanding of the whole signing event bore all the hallmarks of a political fraud seeking political legitimacy well after the event.The body language of the signatories and their speeches gave everything away. The one man tried too hard to be accepted while the other was only too happy to showcase his total disdain. A lie that even the supposed actors could do nothing to hide. It will simply not work.A public event cannot legitimise a secret political fraud made out in the shadowy corridors of power. The whole process had no political legitimacy; the outcome completes the political fraud. That it was negotiated with the so-called mediation of South Africa does not grant it legitimacy retrospectively. In the circumstances, it makes it worse. If anything, it is unZimbabwean as it is unAfrican and not international. It is a private agreement, devoid of political legitimacy.We fear the MDC long sold-out the popular cause, the so-called agreement only being the manifestation of that betrayal. Nothing short of a genuine democratization process will suffice. MPC believes it is better to have no revolution at all than to have a still-born one. The people of present-day Zimbabwe are the losers and the 15th September 2008 must be recorded as a sad day and not the great, non-event it was touted as.The citizens of present-day Zimbabwe not only deserved to know what was happening, they have the right to know and to be fully informed and to fully participate on such a crucial matter that not only affects them but their future generations as well.What the world saw on the 15th September 2008 was a re-enactment of the old and archaic mentality that the world should discard in 2008 and not endorse. It is a mentality that says that so-called leaders know everything and the people must just accept and follow. This is a lost golden opportunity to truly democratize present-day Zimbabwe and rescue it from the black-hole of regression that Mugabe and Zanu-PF have frog-marched Zimbabwe into. MPC and Mthwakazi, and indeed all progressive and open-minded Zimbabweans, will and must do everything in our power to stop this.This is also the mentality that gave Zimbabwe the political monster of Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF, and uMthwakazi, the tragedy of Gukurahundi. It is about to hand us the political dinosaur of Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC. The people must say; not this time!Who mandated all the actors here and in whose name were they acting, we ask?2MPC and the world know what gave Zanu-PF and MDC-T a place at the negotiating table. It was mutual violence. Kenya is a dangerous precedent that must be buried in Kenya. It is the new head of evil that all Africa and the world must not see repeated elsewhere. It must not see the light of day in present-day Zimbabwe.It is time to stop the privatization of public processes and return their ownership to the people. The people of present-day Zimbabwe must bury their differences and reject comprehensively and loudly this political fraud. More than that, Zanu-PF and the MDC must bear full responsibility for prolonging the political and economic agony that the people of present-day Zimbabwe are going through and will in all probability still go through. Zimbabweans are being made to pay the ultimate political price for the selfish interests of a few men and women who won’t subordinate themselves to the greater and common good.The political fraud of 1987, the so-called Unity Accord, casts a large shadow over this latest charade. The fate of this latest accord is sealed. By this agreement Zanu-PF and the MDC have formally taken us back to the Dark Ages and down the political drain.The political problems of present-day Zimbabwe are political. It does not take a VIDCO Chairman (Village Development Committee) to know that.Therefore a political fraud crafted to achieve an economic miracle will not work. Zimbabwe must address its political problems openly, accountably, genuinely and without fear or favour. That is what will fix the collapsed Zimbabwean economy, not this political mischief-making we witnessed on the 15th September 2008.MPC understands that the diplomatese that has greeted the so-called agreement is unavoidable but we hope that the international community will give careful consideration to this agreement before writing the cheques and tempering with the targeted sanctions presently in place.The world might be tempted to give limited financial support now as an incentive for the regime to increase political reforms. We remind the world that this is a scared and running Mugabe. It will never work. Gukurahundi and all the crimes that he and his cronies have committed since, hang like a sword over their heads. The protection of office is Mr Mugabe and his cronies’ primary and overriding concern. Everything revolves around this concern.MPC remains of the considered view that only a true all-inclusive political process involving all the stakeholders and addressing all political issues openly and robustly, will rescue present-day Zimbabwe, and not the sort of political fraud we saw signed with a pliant, out of sorts political opposition on the 15th September 2008.MPC has long called for and continues to call for such a process. We continue to call for Codaz (the Convention for a democratic alternative in present-day Zimbabwe). Only such a process will stop self-saving leaders disgracing the political landscape of present-day Zimbabwe and give us leaders who are not afraid of the people but are prepared to submit and subordinate themselves to the sovereignty of the people. That is the essence of democracy and democratic activity.Zimbabwe and the rest of the world have an obligation not only to reject this so-called agreement between Zanu-PF and the MDC but also not to waste time on an agreement as visibly hollow as this one. The protection of a group of men and women cannot be allowed to hold a whole nation at political ransom. No man or woman’s mistakes are worth the suffering of all.MPC is challenging the people of present-day Zimbabwe and the rest of the world to reject this agreement without equivocation.
Distributed by the Department of Communications© Copyright 2008 MPC Department of Communications .
Contact: Mr Kirth Dube
Director of Communications- MPC
director.communications@mthwakazionline.org
MPC says there is no need for the world to wait and see how the so-called power-sharing agreement between Zanu-PF and the MDC signed in Harare on Monday, 15th September 2008, will work. Its fate is a foregone conclusion because it is a political fraud preordained to fail.And the agreement fools no one. Mugabe is still firmly in charge. He has not lost any of his powers.The political grandstanding of the whole signing event bore all the hallmarks of a political fraud seeking political legitimacy well after the event.The body language of the signatories and their speeches gave everything away. The one man tried too hard to be accepted while the other was only too happy to showcase his total disdain. A lie that even the supposed actors could do nothing to hide. It will simply not work.A public event cannot legitimise a secret political fraud made out in the shadowy corridors of power. The whole process had no political legitimacy; the outcome completes the political fraud. That it was negotiated with the so-called mediation of South Africa does not grant it legitimacy retrospectively. In the circumstances, it makes it worse. If anything, it is unZimbabwean as it is unAfrican and not international. It is a private agreement, devoid of political legitimacy.We fear the MDC long sold-out the popular cause, the so-called agreement only being the manifestation of that betrayal. Nothing short of a genuine democratization process will suffice. MPC believes it is better to have no revolution at all than to have a still-born one. The people of present-day Zimbabwe are the losers and the 15th September 2008 must be recorded as a sad day and not the great, non-event it was touted as.The citizens of present-day Zimbabwe not only deserved to know what was happening, they have the right to know and to be fully informed and to fully participate on such a crucial matter that not only affects them but their future generations as well.What the world saw on the 15th September 2008 was a re-enactment of the old and archaic mentality that the world should discard in 2008 and not endorse. It is a mentality that says that so-called leaders know everything and the people must just accept and follow. This is a lost golden opportunity to truly democratize present-day Zimbabwe and rescue it from the black-hole of regression that Mugabe and Zanu-PF have frog-marched Zimbabwe into. MPC and Mthwakazi, and indeed all progressive and open-minded Zimbabweans, will and must do everything in our power to stop this.This is also the mentality that gave Zimbabwe the political monster of Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF, and uMthwakazi, the tragedy of Gukurahundi. It is about to hand us the political dinosaur of Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC. The people must say; not this time!Who mandated all the actors here and in whose name were they acting, we ask?2MPC and the world know what gave Zanu-PF and MDC-T a place at the negotiating table. It was mutual violence. Kenya is a dangerous precedent that must be buried in Kenya. It is the new head of evil that all Africa and the world must not see repeated elsewhere. It must not see the light of day in present-day Zimbabwe.It is time to stop the privatization of public processes and return their ownership to the people. The people of present-day Zimbabwe must bury their differences and reject comprehensively and loudly this political fraud. More than that, Zanu-PF and the MDC must bear full responsibility for prolonging the political and economic agony that the people of present-day Zimbabwe are going through and will in all probability still go through. Zimbabweans are being made to pay the ultimate political price for the selfish interests of a few men and women who won’t subordinate themselves to the greater and common good.The political fraud of 1987, the so-called Unity Accord, casts a large shadow over this latest charade. The fate of this latest accord is sealed. By this agreement Zanu-PF and the MDC have formally taken us back to the Dark Ages and down the political drain.The political problems of present-day Zimbabwe are political. It does not take a VIDCO Chairman (Village Development Committee) to know that.Therefore a political fraud crafted to achieve an economic miracle will not work. Zimbabwe must address its political problems openly, accountably, genuinely and without fear or favour. That is what will fix the collapsed Zimbabwean economy, not this political mischief-making we witnessed on the 15th September 2008.MPC understands that the diplomatese that has greeted the so-called agreement is unavoidable but we hope that the international community will give careful consideration to this agreement before writing the cheques and tempering with the targeted sanctions presently in place.The world might be tempted to give limited financial support now as an incentive for the regime to increase political reforms. We remind the world that this is a scared and running Mugabe. It will never work. Gukurahundi and all the crimes that he and his cronies have committed since, hang like a sword over their heads. The protection of office is Mr Mugabe and his cronies’ primary and overriding concern. Everything revolves around this concern.MPC remains of the considered view that only a true all-inclusive political process involving all the stakeholders and addressing all political issues openly and robustly, will rescue present-day Zimbabwe, and not the sort of political fraud we saw signed with a pliant, out of sorts political opposition on the 15th September 2008.MPC has long called for and continues to call for such a process. We continue to call for Codaz (the Convention for a democratic alternative in present-day Zimbabwe). Only such a process will stop self-saving leaders disgracing the political landscape of present-day Zimbabwe and give us leaders who are not afraid of the people but are prepared to submit and subordinate themselves to the sovereignty of the people. That is the essence of democracy and democratic activity.Zimbabwe and the rest of the world have an obligation not only to reject this so-called agreement between Zanu-PF and the MDC but also not to waste time on an agreement as visibly hollow as this one. The protection of a group of men and women cannot be allowed to hold a whole nation at political ransom. No man or woman’s mistakes are worth the suffering of all.MPC is challenging the people of present-day Zimbabwe and the rest of the world to reject this agreement without equivocation.
Distributed by the Department of Communications© Copyright 2008 MPC Department of Communications .
Contact: Mr Kirth Dube
Director of Communications- MPC
director.communications@mthwakazionline.org
Wednesday
Time to Topple Robert Mugabe
The world must know that the people of Zimbabwe are not the problem but Robert Mugabe is, that is simple for any world leader to recognise but do they?
I do not understand why anyone would be blamed and held accountable for plotting to kill this evil monster called Mugabe. Britain and the British people should understand that it is not racist to be vocal against Mugabe but it would be suicidal to be silent and NOT act and say this is only an African problem.
I Also find it absurdly anachronistic for the MDC leadership to use the language of human rights when describing Mugabe’s Gukurahundi massacre of the Mthwakazi people and his brutalisation of all Zimbabweans post 1987 Unity accord.
With the recent breakdown of the country’s health system, the collapse of the economy and the rebellion of some of the national army personal in the streets of the capital, one will envisage the cracks in this defiant regime. With the resurgence of the ZIPRA and ZAPU in matebeleland (Mthwakazi), I as an active member of the opposition MPC, I will be naïve not to be pleased by this development.
Watching distressing footage of the sufferings of our people on international TV screens miles away from my native land is not only emotionally distressing but is psychologically impairing beyond imagination. I urge our youth to rise up against this regime and use every means possible to fight to restore democracy in our land. I am a Mthwakazian who grew up in the townships of Bulawayo, I have no intention nonsoever – to scare people but to write what I like so long it reaches those that it is meant to reach. Sources tell me that the cholera outbreak is a way of dealing with the urban dwellers that voted against Mugabe and ZANU PF, if this is true them Mugabe must be dealt with in the same manner terrorists like Osama Bin Laden who commit mass murder are dealt with.
Tuesday
The Sham State of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's government has pledged transparency in its handling of all donor funds aimed for the fight against Aids.The statement follows the recent controversy, which saw the Global Aids fund compel Harare to repay $7 million, after it was alleged that government had diverted the money to other causes.With around one in seven adults living with HIV, Zimbabwe is experiencing one of the harshest Aids epidemics in the world. Donors suspected that the money had been used to fund other government programmes including farm distribution, and lavish gratuities.
World Aids Day, observed on December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the Aids pandemic caused by the spread of HIV. Aids has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007, and an estimated 33 million people worldwide live with HIV as of 2007, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history.
One Zimbabwean national, Loveness Dzvimba has been living with HIV for the past 18 years but she's never felt more vulnerable to the disease. Life has been really tough for many Zimbabweans, but it's been a nightmare for those living with the virus: “ARVs are being sold in foreign currency at about R300 for a month's supply, and most of us simply can't afford.”
As the health system collapses, private medical aids are now virtually non-existent and basic measures such as a balanced diet are but a pipe-dream for many Aids patients.
Zimbabwe's deputy health minister Edwin Muguti says due to the shortages of food, it has been difficult to extend their home-based care programmes. “We're also having difficulties with children made vulnerable by Aids. I'd urge NGOs and all our other partners, to scale up their activities.”
NGOs lament the time lost, when government barred them from operating for almost two months earlier this year and now they've got to deal with the cholera epidemic. Dr Patience Musiwa, a volunteer doctor, says: “If you're living in an area where sewage is flowing in the cities, where there's no proper sanitation, and you already have a compromised immune system, it's very difficult to stay healthy.”
Of the estimated 300 000 Aids patients known to be in urgent need of ARVs, only half are believed to be on medication.
World Aids Day, observed on December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the Aids pandemic caused by the spread of HIV. Aids has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007, and an estimated 33 million people worldwide live with HIV as of 2007, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history.
One Zimbabwean national, Loveness Dzvimba has been living with HIV for the past 18 years but she's never felt more vulnerable to the disease. Life has been really tough for many Zimbabweans, but it's been a nightmare for those living with the virus: “ARVs are being sold in foreign currency at about R300 for a month's supply, and most of us simply can't afford.”
As the health system collapses, private medical aids are now virtually non-existent and basic measures such as a balanced diet are but a pipe-dream for many Aids patients.
Zimbabwe's deputy health minister Edwin Muguti says due to the shortages of food, it has been difficult to extend their home-based care programmes. “We're also having difficulties with children made vulnerable by Aids. I'd urge NGOs and all our other partners, to scale up their activities.”
NGOs lament the time lost, when government barred them from operating for almost two months earlier this year and now they've got to deal with the cholera epidemic. Dr Patience Musiwa, a volunteer doctor, says: “If you're living in an area where sewage is flowing in the cities, where there's no proper sanitation, and you already have a compromised immune system, it's very difficult to stay healthy.”
Of the estimated 300 000 Aids patients known to be in urgent need of ARVs, only half are believed to be on medication.
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