Political violence on the increase in Zimbabwe
February 24, 2009 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Harare Tribune – In the face of Morgan Tsvangirai being sworn in as Zimbabwe’s second Prime Minister since the country’s independence from Britain in 1980, the situation on the ground has changed from tense to volatile, even dangerous.
In the working surburb of Mbare in Harare, a Harare Tribune reporter saw ZANU-PF militants, acting with impunity, clash with MDC supporters in what analysts was a resurgence of the political violence that has left thousands displaced over the last ten years.
The Harare Tribune was told the violence in several parts of the country, from Nkulumane in Bulawayo to Chegutu in Mashonaland West is borne of deep-seated grievances between MDC supporters and ZANU-PF militants.
Seeing their former torturers walking free, the Harare Tribune heard that MDC supporters are demanding that the new inclusive government take action to bring human rights abusers to book, if not, they will take the law into their own hands themselves.
The demands by MDC supporters came when two weeks ago the police commissioner, Augustine Chihuri, a card-carrying member of ZANU-PF, instructed the police to drop all charges against ZANU-PF cadres accused of political violence.
“There cannot be peace without justice,” an MDC supporter in Mbare, nursing wounds from a clash with militants Sunday night February 22 2009, told the Harare Tribune. The man was responding to Morgan Tsvangiria’s weekend call that there should be reconciliation between human rights abusers and their victims.
Tinged with polical undetones, the Harare Tribune heard the violence in Mbare, as in other places started when MDC supporters, banished from their homes over the years by Chipangano, a ZANU-PF militant group, tried to reclaim their houses.
The Prof. Welshman Ncube, chairperson of the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) established to oversee implementation of the power-sharing deal, said that numerous reports of “revenge attacks” had been received from across the country.
“Officials from the ministry of home affairs have tabled before us reports that revenge attacks are taking place in Harare, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central [provinces in northeastern Zimbabwe], Manicaland [bordering Mozambique], Masvingo [in the southeast] and the Midlands Province,” he said.
The Prof. Ncube added that he didn’t have the exact figures as to the number of those injured or affected, but he warned that if nothing is done soon the violence will spread.
The political violence is flaring up just as violence on commercial farms, spearheaded by ZANU-PF militants, has taken a turn for the worse as more than 200 white farmers find themselves facing eviction from their land amid threats of torture and death.
By the time of going to print, over 40 farmers across the country had been evicted from their farms. The police has done nothing to stop the illegal activities of ZANU-PF militants.
Last year, political violence condoned by Robert Mugabe and his government, saw more than 200 MDC supporters die at the hands of ZANU-PF militants across the country.
Thousands of people were beaten, raped and displaced, while others had their livestock confiscated and homes razed. Many people fled overseas, while others slept in the open following the looting and burning of their homes.
“In many areas it would appear that supporters of the MDC, who were ill-treated by ZANU-PF members, are demanding and implementing their own form of justice. Others are demanding the return of livestock which was confiscated and eaten at ZANU-PF militia torture camps during election campaign,” The Prof. Ncube said.
“Anyone who believes that the law was violated should make a report to the police. Violence and retribution only create more lawlessness, and we are not about retribution,” the Prof. Ncube appealed for peace.
Police officials have warned that violence across the country will spread if nothing is done to stop it. Since the inception of the inclusive government, Robert Mugabe has not spoken out about the need for an end to violence.
ZANU-PF supporters have said their will continue to view MDC supporters as enemies of the state who need to be “dealt” with.
The Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), which coordinated the political violence last year and the recent abductions of MDC supporters, has been shadowing MDC officials and defence lawyers ahead of their possible abduction. **Additional reporting by IRIN.
This article was first published Monday 23 February 2009 in The Harare Tribune
Silenced – the sharpest voice against Mugabe
December 15, 2008 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
(The Times) – The terrifying ordeal of Jestina Mukoko, a television news anchor turned human rights activist, began at 5am on December 3 when seven men and one woman forced their way into her house at gunpoint in Norton, a quiet, leafy town 25 miles west of Harare.
The intruders were not in uniform, although one of the men claimed to be a police officer. They refused to let her dress, find her spectacles or pick up the blood pressure pills that she is supposed to take three times a day.
Her 17-year-old son Takudzwa and a six-year-old niece, Tofara, who was in her care, were left shocked and alone after seeing her led away in her nightdress.
Mukoko, 51, who was widowed 13 years ago, has not been seen since by family, friends or lawyers. The regime of President Robert Mugabe has said nothing about her whereabouts or her condition. Fears for her safety are growing.
Last week supporters assembled in Zimbabwe’s capital to turn a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights into a demonstration for her release.
Lawyers marched through the streets in their robes calling for an end to “extrajudicial abductions”. But even among activists there is no consensus about who has taken Mukoko.
Some believe it is the work of the secret police – the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). Others speculate that she was kidnapped on the orders of a leading figure in Zanu-PF, the ruling party, irritated by her criticism of the regime.
Certainly Mukoko has been a thorn in Mugabe’s flesh. She resigned from state television to become director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, a human rights monitoring network, and has been one of the regime’s most intelligent, influential and informed critics.
She has collected evidence of tens of thousands of abuses in the past decade. Her monthly reports have detailed the routine tyranny of violence, the shortage of food and the denial of free speech that characterise Zimbabwean life today, particularly in rural areas.
Mukoko pioneered the use of information technology to map Zanu-PF’s attacks on its opponents. Before elections last March she presented her findings publicly in a Harare hotel. She knew her audience included members of the CIO but nevertheless set out patterns of violence in the 2002 and 2005 elections and predicted where trouble would occur in 2008.
The places she identified – such as Manicaland and Masvingo provinces – were indeed subjected to Zanu-PF campaigns of mass eviction, communal beating and murder. Opposition figures believe much of Zimbabwe’s current tragedy might have been avoided if international observers had followed her advice and gone to such trouble spots.
Mukoko has been an outspoken critic of Zimbabwe’s system of supplying food. Her analysis shows food is supplied to those showing loyalty to the ruling party and is denied to opposition supporters.
While activists still hope for the best, many fear that Mukoko has already been murdered. Lawyers have visited police stations in Norton and Harare to search for her.
The High Court stalled for five days before hearing an urgent application for her release. On Tuesday a judge, Anne-Marie Gorowa, ordered the police “to dispatch a team . . . to search for Jestina Mukoko”. The authorities simply ignored the ruling. Police said they had no jurisdiction to search military or intelligence premises.
Other members of the Zimbabwe Peace Project have also been targeted. Three were arrested for photographing uncollected refuse, bank queues and cholera victims. Their lawyers say they were released after three days when the police conceded that they could not bring any charges.
Nobody knows exactly why Mugabe chose this moment to silence Mukoko; but the abduction is seen as a sign of his desperation and a reflection of the mounting pressure on him.
Mugabe demonstrated in a rambling speech last Thursday that he is infuriated by television coverage of the cholera epidemic, which his officials have blamed on “biological warfare” waged by Britain. The United Nations estimate the death toll at nearly 1,000, but it may be twice as high. His claim that cholera has been eradicated backfired as local commentators queued up to refute it.
Cholera is by no means the only serious threat to life. The UN estimates that 5m people will soon need food aid. The economy is in freefall. Four months after launching a new currency, the central bank has bowed to hyperinflationary pressure and issued Zim $500m notes.
The prospect of a unity government seems further away than ever. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, won elections in March but has been unable to take power. Fifteen MDC members were snatched from their homes in Mashonaland in late October. Two senior party officials were arrested in Bindura in November; last week Gandhi Mudzingwa, Tsvangirai’s former personal assistant, was abducted. Nothing has been heard of them since.
Many in the MDC believe the regime is moving onto a war footing. Mugabe has been shocked by calls from Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Raila Odinga, the Kenyan prime minister, for him to be removed, if necessary by force.
Eddie Cross, an MDC MP, has suggested that the regime is fuelling an expectation of conflict by planting stories on the internet alleging that the Zam-bian army is building up forces on Zimbabwe’s northern border. Cross thinks the CIO has also circulated neighbouring governments with a dossier of fabricated evidence that Bot-swana is training a guerrilla army to invade Zimbabwe.
Mugabe may hope that by exaggerating the threat of invasion he can justify the crackdown on opposition groups. Activists argue that if a woman of Mukoko’s prominence can be made to disappear with impunity, there is no limit to the regime’s readiness to destroy its critics.
Catalogue of tyranny
Jestina Mukoko recorded 20,143 incidents between January and September 2008 including:
- 202 murders
- 463 abductions
- 41 rapes
- 411 cases of torture
- 3,942 assaults
- 907 cases of malicious damage to property
- 444 cases of unlawful detention
- 10,795 cases of harassment/intimidation
- 73% of victims are said to be supporters of the opposition MDC
- 80% of perpetrators of violence are claimed to be Zanu-PF supporters
Source: Zimbabwe Peace Project
“Houston, We’ve got a Problem” (Called Mugabe)
September 13, 2008 by Webmaster · Leave a Comment
Why the GNU is a ‘Successful Failure’ and the case for a New Opposition and Civic Groupings in Zimbabwe.
It was April 13 1970, two days after Apollo 13 lifted off en route to the moon. At an altitude of 401 056km, the third manned lunar-landing mission was crippled after Apollo’s fuel cell tank exploded. Astronaut James Lovell uttered the famous quote “Houston, we’ve got a problem” Pandemonium followed as most of power and oxygen were lost but the crew members took total control through improvisation.
The interesting observation here is that the mission had been aborted three times due to unsuccessful tests carried out earlier on. As a result of that explosion Apollo 13 was forced to circle the moon without landing but the crew successfully returned to earth. The mission would later on be dubbed “Successful Failure”
What a striking semblance to the Zimbabwe political landscape of today! The nation has just experienced a lift-off but there are several pointers to potential catastrophe especially given the fact that Mugabe will retain control of the army and chair the cabinet.
For Zimbabwe, many would want to characterize the recent pronouncements about a government of national unity as a ‘deal but no deal”. But it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. Let us not forget that in all its absurdity, the deal signifies an end to a protracted period of political paralysis. We saw it coming especially as enunciated in a series of strategy articles available at http://nationalvision.wordpress.com beginning in January 2008.
National Vision Institute released a statement on April 2008 entitled “Unity Government or Apocalypse Begins” in which we stated that stripping Mugabe of control of the army, “while it is a necessary sine qua non, remains a goliath of a challenge to overcome! Both the MDC and Zanu PF will have to be realistic about their expectations for a GNU to occur. It is both ludicrous and implausible to think that a government of national unity can exist without Tsvangirai as the main player, the same way it is unthinkable that it can come into existence without Mugabe” (regrettably though)”
The institute also pointed out that Zanu PF desperately needed the MDC, the real nexus to reconstruction funds. But the thought of Mugabe still presiding over the security insurgents still sends shivers down the spine. Of course, Zimbabweans are not that dimwitted to the extent of being oblivious of the monumental repercussions of Mugabe’s machinations. Thank goodness we have the majority of MDC as parliamentarians whom we sincerely hope will address the mounting pressures of the need for political reform.
Morgan Tsvangirai brings to the table confidence, authority and legitimacy to the new government necessary for rebuilding international alliances for economic restitution. While the details of the new deal are still sketchy, it is our sincere hope that a new constitution will be put in place and that elections will be reset in not more than 24 months.
Concerning the problem called Mugabe, in order to view it in the proper perspective, it is necessary to resurrect the Zanu and Zapu Unity deal of 1987. It simply represented the demise of opposition in Zimbabwe save for the dubious ZUM. We should not be incognizant of the challenges that come with it. Morgan Tsvangirai has to be wary of the bloodthirstiness of Zanu PF. Mugabe cannot be trusted. Nothing should make us comfortable with his intentions given his 28 bullying years. I can safely conclude that there should be deep-seated unease concerning this deal.
The people (me included) clamored for a unity government. After years of frustration, bitterness, intimidation and spite under the hands of torturous regime, the people of Zimbabwe are looking forward to a new day. The Unity government is the best option that is capable of offering peace to Zimbabweans as well as affording the nation a chance for an economic revival. Failure of which would have provided more of the same.
Leaving Mugabe in control of the armed forces is worrisome because that is where his power lies. It is the same security apparatus (especially the CIO and the soldiers) that is dripping with blood of innocent civilians. After all, hours before the deal was announced, Mugabe, a compulsive perennial fomenter of trouble, went on a torrent of vituperation castigating Tsvangirai as an agent of the West. We should give the MDC some credit and support for standing its ground, otherwise it would have settled for ludicrous kind of deal.
The perilous journey to economic, social and political justice has just started. We are entitled to asking all the tough questions in order to avoid the costly mistakes of the past. There is very little that we know about Morgan Tsvangirai, let alone the shadows around him, that is not to say he does not deserve our support.
In any case even most of the Members of Parliament were voted more in protest of Zanu PF than on individual merit. I remember voters asking “pasiri peZanu ndepapi ndiise X yangu chete” (show me where there isn’t a Zanu PF MP so I can put my X there). Mugabe, with his seven degrees, has made a mockery of education so we will not ask about how ‘schooled’ Morgan Tsvangirai and his team are.
Instead, for now we will trust his heart and experience as a champion of democracy and freedom but we shall remain vigilant. Remember Mugabe used to say “we brought you democracy” ironically implying that he is entitled to taking it away as dictated by his whims.
The people of Zimbabwe need to know more about Morgan Tsvangirai and it is his duty to volunteer himself for that exercise. As for Mugabe, Zimbabwe knows him, a political disaster that has been around for about three decades. Knowing what we know now about Mugabe, and if we could go back in time, we would never have elected him to be our leader.
These men have to open up to the nation. Those ‘nicodemous’ appointments (or disappointments) to cabinet and top civil service cannot continue to happen in secrecy since it is the same cronyism that we are decrying. Everyone must be able to apply and be vetted for some of the positions.
If, God forbid, Tsvangirai is involved in some of those mysterious accidents (or the equivalent of) that have come to characterize the deaths of the majority of Mugabe’s perceived high profile enemies, then what will the new direction of our country be in the absence of strong civil society and opposition? It is irrefutable that a government of national unity, even though it was the only feasible solution, will see the gradual erosion of MDC’s active role in opposition politics. The danger is that MDC is likely going to be corrupted because the two ‘shall become one’.
While the Zanu PF establishment is facing imminent collapse and is deservedly destined for the dustbins of history, it will forever be known for its disappointment and betrayal of the people of Zimbabwe. It bewilders many how the likes of Robert Mugabe, Gideon Gono and the whole Zanu PF legion are able to walk with their heads high given such a trail of destruction they are leaving behind. There is no longer any room left for the concealment of even the slightest pretence.
Mugabe and his henchmen will be remembered for the indelible record of causing the biggest bankruptcy of any nation in world history. The starkness of their insensitivity to the plight of the suffering people has caused the most outrage to many progressives across the world.
I assertively wrote in defiance of Mugabe’s regime and I will continue to do so until the ordinary man and woman reclaim their human dignity which they have been robbed of.
Even as we honor Morgan Tsvangirai’s valorousness and the gallantry of those who died to liberate Zimbabwe from the jaws of Mugabe and his men, it is our right to be suspicious of our politicians. It is a noble thing to do especially given the fact that this deal was shrouded in secrecy. We must be very afraid!
In the face of this unity government, the imperative challenge for MDC is how to reform and/or transform Zanu PF given its culture of intransigence, looting and corruption. In a new era of extraordinary challenges, a new opposition (s) and vibrant civil society is required for challenging and changing the face of Zimbabwe’s political landscape.
For Zimbabwe’s democracy to work, the emergence of a formidable opposition party (or parties) coupled with the reconstitution of a strong civil society is a necessity of utmost urgency. The current struggles faced by the people should embolden our resolve to fight for a better Zimbabwe. We cannot afford the luxury of giving Morgan Tsvangirai or Mugabe blank checks (cheques) ever again! – National Vision Institute
+++Dr Paul Mutuzu is the CEO of the National Vision Institute: An independent economic and political strategy think tank focusing on Zimbabwe and the Southern Africa Region. You can visit his blog.
