Mugabe: Detractors seeking to divide unity govt

By Macdonald Dzirutwe

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe accused Western powers on Tuesday of seeking to divide a fragile unity government he formed with rival Morgan Tsvangirai this year.

The veteran president has been angered by Western countries who refuse to give financial aid to the country until the new administration undertakes political and economic reforms.

Mugabe on Monday said Harare may need to reconsider its ties with the West for withholding financial support.

“Allegations of gross abuses of human rights or failure to respect good governance have provided fodder for the West and its media as they repeatedly seek blemishes to stick on to our country,” Mugabe told thousands at a gathering to commemorate Zimbabwe Defence Forces day.

“Our detractors, the same old detractors continue with their sinister efforts to divide us.”

While Mugabe continues to blame the West, his coalition partner Morgan Tsvangirai is on a drive to restore full ties with Western governments that are crucial for financial aid to fix the battered economy.

Tsvangirai toured Europe and the United States in June, but his efforts to attract Western aid for the government, which needs $8,3-billion for reconstruction, were met with calls for more reform.

The government says it has secured $2-billion in credit lines for the private sector, mostly from Africa, but has failed to attract budgetary support or significant foreign investment.

The unity government has suffered tensions since its formation in February, but on Tuesday Mugabe and Tsvangirai stood together at a ceremony to honour the country’s defence forces.

Senior security chiefs had previously vowed not to salute Tsvangirai, but on Tuesday, in a sign that relations maybe thawing, they rose to salute the former trade union leader as he arrived for the ceremony.

Mugabe said the country’s security services had been hit by the economic crisis and Western sanctions but had managed to partner local firms to manufacture equipment and spares while farms seized from whites would be used to supplement rations.

“The defence forces are utilising their farms to supplement their ration allocations from the fiscus [treasury]. This is a positive development which I hope will be pursued to higher levels,” Mugabe said. — Reuters

Mugabe threatens to ban NGOs again

(IRIN) – President Robert Mugabe has raised the spectre of banning the operations of non-governmental organizations in Zimbabwe, a threat he implemented in 2008 after the worst maize harvest on record.

“We have now a phenomenon of NGOs, or shall I call them phenomena, for they really are a type of government in the background of a formal government. I don’t know whether this creature is for the better or for the worse, but in our country we have seen a situation where they have exceeded their terms of reference, and perhaps we might have to reconsider the advisability of having NGOs.”

Mugabe raised the question while speaking on the theme of “Inclusivity and national visions” at the Global 2009 Dialogue conference at the Munyonyo resort on the shores of Lake Victoria on 27 July.

Fambai Ngirande, advocacy and marketing manager of the National Association of Non Governmental Organisations (NANGO), an NGO umbrella organization, told IRIN: “If NGOs are banned then that would jeopardize the livelihoods of millions of Zimbabweans to the point of being catastrophic. Millions of Zimbabweans depend on NGOs for food, medication, education, human rights and democracy support.”

Mugabe banned all NGO operations on 4 June 2008, a few weeks before the presidential run-off election – although he later excluded organizations concerned with HIV/AIDS, children, the disabled, and care of the elderly – after accusing NGOs of supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The ban was lifted on 29 August 2009 after Mugabe was re-elected unopposed to the presidency. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai – now prime minister – won the first round of the presidential election but withdrew from the run-off in protest over the murder of his supporters and the high levels of violence.

The ban disrupted preparations by the donor community for emergency food assistance to nearly 7 million Zimbabweans.

In September 2008, Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai’s MDC signed the Global Political Agreement, which laid the foundation for the formation of the unity government in February 2009.

“It’s obvious that the coalition government has failed to demonstrate that it can preside over donor money in a transparent manner, which is why some organizations and governments which want to support the people of Zimbabwe would rather channel their money through NGOs,” said Ngirande.

Tsvangirai received pledges of about US$500,000 for humanitarian relief on his recent trip to Europe and the US, but the money is to be distributed via humanitarian organizations and NGOs.

Ngirande dismissed Mugabe’s comments comparing NGOs to a parallel government. “It is certainly true that more Zimbabweans are depending on the NGO community for support, an activity which should be carried out by the government.”

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Mugabe’s dirty ploy to poach power

By Peta Thornycroft

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is trying to regain the parliamentary majority he lost in the March 2008 elections by convicting and sentencing MPs of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) so they are thrown out of Parliament.

This is the view of MDC-T and many observers.

Two MDC-T MPs were expelled in the past week.

Another has been convicted and sentenced to more than six months in jail, allowing the Zanu-PF-aligned Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma to expel him when Parliament sits again next month.

And MDC-T’s Kwekwe MP is facing rape charges and can expect to be convicted and sentenced to more than six months in prison.

Read full story here

Blair says Zimbabwe should ‘get rid of’ Mugabe: interview

Tony Blair believes that Zimbabwe should “get rid of” President Robert Mugabe, a German magazine quoted the former British prime minister as saying in an interview published Wednesday.

“I think if you can get rid of Mugabe, get rid of him. The guy has destroyed his country. There are many people in his country who have died who should not have died, because of what he has done,” Blair told the Stern weekly.

“If you can, you should, but you obviously have to operate in careful limits,” he said.

Blair also rejected criticism that his closeness to the United States and Israel made him unsuitable for his current job as envoy for the Middle East Quartet, mediating between the Jewish state and the Palestinians.

“I can honestly say that not once in all the time that I have been dealing with the Palestinians has the issue of my close relationship with the US or Israel ever been a problem. On the contrary, it is an advantage,” Blair said.

“I remember president (Mahmud) Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, when I had my first conversation with him. I said it might be a disadvantage because of my closeness to America and my strong view on Israel, and he said: ‘That is why you are useful’.”

Blair, who stepped down as premier in 2007, was former US president George W. Bush’s closest ally in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and drew criticism for his support of Israel’s bombardment of southern Lebanon in 2006.

The 56-year-old also reiterated that he had no regrets about toppling Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein despite the fact that no weapons of mass destruction — his main argument for the invasion — were found.

“I always say to people the question is very simple in the end: would the region be better off if Saddam was still in power?” he told Stern. “Do I regret having removed him, Saddam Hussein? The answer is frankly, no.”

Blair’s spokesman said Wednesday: “These are comments which Mr Blair has made many times before. His answers were in response to a question on the case for intervention against brutal dictators.

“He also went on to make it absolutely clear that it was obviously something that we couldn’t do in practice everywhere, and so didn’t.” – AFP

ZANU PF’s Siege Mentality Sickening

By Kenneth Mawomo

The recent carefully orchestrated violent disruptions of the Constitutional conference by a rented ZANU PF rowdy mob in Harare should not be viewed as an isolated incident of thuggery.  Instead, it is part of a comprehensive ZANU PF strategy that has been developed over time and has been deployed with reckless abandon coupled with a characteristic nauseating indifference to human suffering.

It fits neatly within the ZANU PF’s horrendous scheme of imposing its will on the people without any grain of remorse.  History abounds with examples of the manner in which this Party has trampled upon the rights, hopes and aspirations of its people with impunity.

The realities of today’s onslaught on innocent civilians are just snippets of ZANU PF’s grand plan – to cow everyone into submission while positioning the Party as the supreme body in the day to day affairs of the state.

One Party state mantra

Such deluded warped logic was nurtured in the pre-independence era when Robert Mugabe steadfastly toiled around with the folly of one party state democracy.  He was so obsessed with the one party state mantra to the point of intoxication.  This explains the brutal manner in which the war against dissidents in Matebeleland was executed soon after the country attained independence in 1980.  The plan is simple; deal ruthlessly with any potential opposition and eliminate their challenge to the political establishment.

Zanu PF Headquarters in Harare.

To begin with, ZANU PF does not envisage a situation where another political Party will ever rule Zimbabwe other than itself.  In fact, it has never entertained the idea of multi-party democracy.  As a party, it is allergic to the idea of two competing political parties co-existing in harmony. That is why the only credible opposition party in post independent Zimbabwe, PF ZAPU, was later swallowed through the unity accord in 1987, bringing to an end, a sad chapter in the history of our beloved Zimbabwe.

Matebeleland Massacres

Before the signing of the Unity Accord, ZANU PF had visited the people of Matebeleland with the notorious fifth brigade which embarked on a brutal military campaign against innocent civilians that left over 20 000 either dead or unaccounted for.  Such merciless mass killings have prompted some human rights groups to call for the indictment of Mugabe for crimes against humanity.

Although Mugabe has regretted the pitiless killings, referring to the darkest post independent period in Zimbabwe’s history as a moment of madness, he has however, in trade mark hawkish fashion, never offered an apology or compensation to victims or surviving family members of those who perished.  Not even a healing process through a truth and reconciliation commission is conceivable in ZANU PF’s scheme of things, preferring instead to hide behind the flimsy excuse that doing so will ‘open old wounds’.  What hogwash?

Sadly, the Matebeleland massacres hardened Mugabe’s tenacity and such bloodshed has been used as the yardstick to define and redefine ZANU PF’s modus operandi in pursuance of its narrow selfish agenda vis-à-vis the national interest.  ZANU PF brooks no impediments. Whatever stands in their way they uproot.  In a nutshell, it is either you are with them, or against them.  Pure and simple. It is on the basis of such an intolerant dogma that the anti-people crusade was wheeled into motion.

In developing this thesis, I will constantly replenish readers’ memories with a few illustrative examples from historical archives.  Such cases clearly demonstrate that the disruptions that characterised the constitutional conference in Harare are not in any way, one-off skirmishes that can simply be attributed to the so-called remnants of the old regime who are failing to realise that the only constant thing in life is change itself.

Such incidents fit neatly into ZANU PF’s long standing selfish, broad based anti-people crusade that has been deployed with alarming regularity by the unpardonable and morally bankrupt foot soldiers who have unashamedly declared their amenability to manipulation

More worryingly, the rowdy mob was led by youth minister, Saviour Kasukuwere and Mugabe’s nephew, Patrick Zhuwawo, who constitute the young generation of trusted subservient apologists of the geriatric leader.   Their deplorable complicity in the chaos that engulfed the constitutional conference venue is a harbinger of worse things to come especially, given their two allies’ special relationship with a leader who boasts of degrees in violence.

The 2000 Constitutional Process

In 2000, ZANU PF contemptuously subverted the will of the people by shamelessly foisting on the nation, a discredited constitution that was hijacked at the crafting stage, in pursuit of self-serving interests.  We were told ad infinitum, that ‘the people had spoken’.  But what the people actually said, inexplicably, got lost in translation.

Quite refreshingly though, the people’s response to such blatant manipulation of the constitutional reform process was unequivocal.  En masse, the people resoundingly rejected the doctored version, by voting ‘NO’ in the referendum.

Such an overwhelming response against the ZANU PF government’s preferred position send shock waves within the rank and file of the Party.  Mugabe in particular, was visibly stunned by such an open rejection and has never forgiven the people for such a basic lesson in humiliation. He masked his anger by sounding misleadingly magnanimous in defeat in a public address.  It was a classic case of calm before the storm.  Without warning, thugs that fondly refer to themselves as war veterans struck.

Farm Invasions

The war veterans’ response marked the beginning of farm invasions, chaos, the suspension of the rule of law and worse still, state sanctioned violence.  There was bloodbath and we are all aware of the shear extent of the madness.   The ZANU PF propaganda was that the ‘NO’ vote was sponsored by white commercial farmers who opposed the provision in the new constitution which empowered the government to compulsorily acquire land, a stipulation that would leave the affected parties with no recourse to any legal challenge.

At one point vice president, Joseph Msika and the then minister of Home Affairs, Dumiso Ndabengwa, the two lone voices of reason, called for an end to the mayhem by acknowledging that as a demonstration, the farm invaders had underscored their point.  It was now time for an orderly land reform programme, the two men argued.

This appeal was made in Mugabe’s absence, since he was away on one of his usual Vasco Dagaman trips.  Unfortunately, the two gentlemen were not preaching the original ZANU PF ‘gospel’.  This is understandable because the two gentlemen are not themselves original ZANU PF anyway.

And not surprisingly, when the ‘dear leader’ returned, he ordered the invaders to stay put, marking the beginning of the end of serious commercial agricultural productivity.  In doing so, Zimbabwe has embarrassingly scored a first.  It has earned itself the dishonourable reputation of being the former breadbasket of Southern Africa that made a remarkable overnight transformation into a miserable begging bowel.  It sounds exaggerated but that is the sad reality.

We are now importers of maize from Zambia and South Africa, the two countries that have been sensible enough to welcome former Zimbabwe white farmers.  To be honest, the two countries are reaping the rewards of their leaders’ prudence.  In our case, we have of late been busy stock-pilling our harvest of thorns owing largely to our leader’s narrow-mindedness.  I do not remember any period in our country’s history, ever importing food from Zambia.  But, that is in the past now.

No fair minded person has ever been against the land reform programme.  The bone of contention has always been about the manner in which the land has been distributed, which has left the country facing human induced famine.  What started off as a vindictive war against white commercial farmers, degenerated into a senseless onslaught on the country’s food security.  Food shortages, hunger and starvation are now commonplace.

Persecution of White Judges

Closely linked to the racially motivated war against white commercial farmers was the onslaught on white judges, accused of working against the land redistribution programme.  One by one, the white judges were forced into early retirement including the then Chief Justice, Antony Gubbay who was haunted out of office.

This paved the way for Godfrey Chidyausiku, Mugabe’s preferred choice, to be appointed Chief Justice.  According to critics, the partisan manner of Chidyausiku’s appointment left the judiciary heavily compromised.  It exposed the once impartial judiciary to political manipulation, which threatened its long standing and cherished independence and neutrality.  With Chidyausiku’s appointment, the judiciary was effectively Zanunised.

Elections in 2000 and 2002

By any stretch of imagination, both the parliamentary and presidential elections held in 2000 and 2002 respectively, could never have been conducted in peace, especially after the rejection of the ZANU PF sponsored constitution in an earlier referendum in 2000.  ZANU PF was seething with anger and someone had to pay for such an open defiance.

The violent land invasions that were now in full swing had set the tone for a vicious campaign that was to follow. Unprecedented levels of pre-election and post-election violence drove many hapless individuals out of the country into foreign lands.  The rural areas were declared no-go areas for the opposition MDC.  Most of the MDC parliamentary candidates were virtually unknown to the electorate, for fear of persecution.  This was a brutal campaign by a Party that is in the habit of negating the will of the people willy-nilly.

However, people refused to be intimidated though, and the MDC got 57 seats in parliament, a remarkable performance for a party that was barely six months old and unable to campaign due to state sponsored violence.  In the 2002 presidential elections, the violence intensified since the stacks were high.

Nevertheless, Morgan Tsvangirai narrowly lost by a mere 400 000 votes.  Independent observers were convinced Tsvangirai won the election but Mugabe’s men had again subverted the will of the people through rigging.  The MDC leader declared the election result the biggest electoral fraud in history.  Once again, Zimbabwe was stuck with an increasingly unpopular leader for another six long years.

Still smarting from quite a mauling in the urban areas which overwhelmingly voted for the MDC in both the parliamentary and presidential elections in 2000 and 2002 respectively, Mugabe’s thugs launched a sting operation intended to intimidate the electorate into accepting the results of the stolen presidential election.

It was a pre-emptive attack in which soldiers laid siege on unsuspecting city dwellers in Chitungwiza and Harare’s poor suburbs.  Such unprovoked brutality is beyond comprehension to say the least.

An undeclared state of emergency was imposed against civilians whose only ‘crime’ was the exercise of what is indeed their inalienable right to vote for a leader of their choice in a purported democratic country.

Operation Murambatsvina

As if that was not brutal enough, ZANU PF callously declared war on the people in urban areas through the indefensible operation Murambatsvina which left many homeless in the middle of the winter season.  It prompted the UN special envoy, Mrs Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, to declare the operation grossly disproportionate and inhuman because of the heartless manner of its execution.

Lives were lost, property was destroyed and people were displaced. School-children, the sick and the elderly, suffered the most.  The wanton destruction of people’s shelters and livelihood sources was akin to a scorched earth military style policy only conceivable in a war situation.  And yet this was an ‘elected’ government unleashing mayhem against its own people.

Threat to De-register Humanitarian Aid Agencies

As hunger and starvation ravaged the countryside, the government saw it fit to suspend the activities of NGOs engaged in the distribution of food for humanitarian purposes.  In its wisdom or the lack of it, the Mugabe government even had the audacity to threaten NGOs with deregistration if they continued handing out food to the starving masses.

These NGOs were accused of spreading opposition politics under the guise of food distribution.  ZANU PF’s paranoid had hit new weird levels.  As a Party, they failed to comprehend how the MDC had made inroads in the rural areas, once considered ZANU PF strongholds.

March 2008 Harmonised Elections

Still fresh in everybody’s mind is the manner in which ZANU PF once again subverted the will of the people in the March 2008 harmonised general elections.  It took more than a month for the Electoral Commission to release the presidential election results which Mugabe clearly lost.  It is believed that during that month long period the results were doctored in order to rob Tsvangirai of clear victory.

Tsvangirai refused to participate in a rerun, citing violence perpetrated against his supporters.  Logically, Mugabe should have been deemed duly elected President of Zimbabwe since he was unopposed. Simple common sense!  Anyway, common sense is something that is not normally associated with ZANU PF.

There is not a chance of such an association ever being remotely possible in the not-so-distant future, not even by mere coincidence.  Mugabe pushed ahead with an unnecessary one man show and declared himself the winner, a result that should have been pretty obvious even before anybody had cast a single vote.

It is within the context of ZANU PF’s unashamed endemic disregard of the people’s will that the recent chaotic scenes at the launch of the constitutional reform process ought to be considered.  ZANU PF has a notorious reputation for not respecting the will of the people.

Only ZANU PF supporters, including the myopic war veterans, are licensed to cause mayhem with calculated malice and never face the consequences of their heinous actions.

According to the ZANU PF violence manual, anyone who rapes, tortures, maims, injures or kills, in the name of the Party, is a ‘principled’ defender of the gains of the liberation struggle.  That’s the ZANU PF way.

The scepticism with which the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) has greeted the government led constitutional process has at last been vindicated.  Within the context of last Monday’s ZANU PF sponsored chaos; the NCA’s parallel constitutional process is not only desirable, but justified.  At least the civil society is on the side of history.

Ladies and gentlemen, least you forget, we have been on this treacherous path before, please, be warned: TRUST ZANU PF AT YOUR OWN PERIL!  This deceitful Party is selling us another dummy.  Beware!  Forewarned is forearmed, goes the old wise saying.

*Kenneth Mawomo is a volunteer Citizen Reporter with HAT News.

Mugabe Entraps Tsvangirai

By Kenneth Mawomo

Mugabe’s carefully contrived political choreography has left the MDC leader and Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai enmeshed in an intricate and dangerous political web-like-structure, minefield.

(Image Courtesy of www.toonpool.com)

If not careful, the gaffe prone MDC leader with a knack for scoring own goals, is slowly but surely digging his political grave.  The unity government that Tsvangirai pontificates about at any given opportunity is a far cry from what it should have been. In fact, it is nowhere near what it should be.

Mugabe is a master at side footing political opponents.  History is awash with vital lessons, but nobody seems to learn from it.    Mugabe has once again, in trade mark hawkish fashion, sold another dummy to another political foe and opposition leader.  He might as well be preparing the MDC leader’s epitaph.

Tsvangirai’s Come Back Home Plea

Take for instance, the call by the MDC leader to those in the diaspora to return home on the basis that it is now safe to do so.  This is a typical example of how Mugabe’s overbearing political tentacles can force you to choke on your own vomit.  Such a call was made against the backdrop of a damning human rights report by Amnesty International.

Some critics such as Llyod Msipa, dismissed the report by Amnesty International’s Irene Khan with disdain on the basis that it was prepared by a visitor.  Msipa is of the view that as Zimbabweans we should have trusted the Prime Minister’s word.  But the issue here is about facts, hard facts, not the two individuals’ national identities.  Yes, the Prime Minister is one of our own.  It is true he is not a visitor to his own country.  But ironically he failed to associate himself with the truth when he should have known first hand.

He should have told his audience that while their commitment to the success of the unity government is unquestionable, ZANU PF was being insincere and dangerously deceptive.  Pure and simple!  And as they say, ‘the truth shall set you free’.  Any attempt to sanitize the truth is unacceptable.  Not in this modern era of information technology.

What baffled many was that while Tsvangirai was making a bold declaration about Zimbabwe being safe for returnees, reports in the media including those emanating from his own party’s press office continued to give a grim but accurate account of disturbing events in our beloved country.

MDC’s Press Statements

On 23 June 2009, the MDC Information and Publicity Department’s Pressroom released a press statement immediately after the prime Minister’s not-so-well-received come back home call, which highlighted Resolutions of the MDC Extra Ordinary National Executive meeting.

Needless to mention that the contents of this press release were at variance with the Prime Minister’s overall risk assessment report.  It stated that the MDC was;

“FURTHER CONCERNED with the arrest and continued detention of the party’s activists, in particular the party’s Director-General, Toendepi Shonhe, on an innocuous trumped-up charge of perjury,

DISTURBED by the continued onslaught on civic society activists, journalists, and lawyers,

ALARMED by the renewed and relentless efforts by the forces of darkness to target and victimise MP Parliamentarians as evidenced by the crackdown on our MPs. Hon Shua Mudiwa, Mutare South MP, has been convicted of kidnapping”.

One wonders whether the Prime Minister had shuttled from another planet altogether probably, with a free Zimbabwe we are yet to be introduced to.  Your guess is as good as mine.

As if that is not enough, the deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe spearheaded a boycott of cabinet by MDC ministers in protest of what they perceived as Mugabe’s blatant display of bravado when he, in an unprecedented move, brought forward by a day, the date of a cabinet meeting to ensure that Tsvangirai would not chair the meeting in his absence.

Khupe pointed out that, “we [the MDC] are worried that we have remained the polite and subservient upholders of the GPA against clear evidence of the absence of a reliable and honest partner”.  There you are, they have said it not us.  We therefore wonder which functional government of national unity Tsvangirai so fondly talks about.

Another press release from the MDC dated 8 July 2009, lamented the delay in resolving outstanding issues as agreed within the context of the Global Political Agreement.  In their appeal to SADC, the statement said, “we await their [SADC] response to the delay in the resolution of all outstanding issues which include the continued crackdown on MDC and civic activists, the delay in the swearing-in of Deputy Agriculture minister Hon Roy Bennett, the appointments of provincial governors, permanent secretaries, ambassadors and the failure of the National Security Council to meet despite a clear Constitutional provision to that effect”.

These are not the kind of statements to be made by a party that is working in harmony with another in a government of national unity.  In an earlier instalment, I questioned the efficacy of this so called unity government because it is anything but united.

This is confirmed by yet another MDC press release of 9 July 2009 which point out that “the MDC is concerned by the continued persecution and harassment of its members and MPs by the State through the Attorney-General’s office in an attempt to decimate its structures and reverse the party’s majority in parliament”.

At least seven MDC MPs who include Chipinge East MP, Hon. Mathias Mlambo, Mutasa Central MP, Hon. Trevor Saruwaka, Hon. Lynnette Karenyi, Senator Roy Bennett and Mutare West, Hon. Shuah Mudiwa have been convicted this year or are facing trumped-up charges for various allegations.

MP Mudzuri Contradicts Prime Minister

Not so long ago, Hon Harrison Mudzuri, the MDC legislator for Zaka Central, attacked his party’s president, Morgan Tsvangirai, saying he is pretending all is well in Zimbabwe when violations continue despite the establishment of the inclusive government.

According to Zimbabwe Times, MP Mudzuri is quoted complaining that the “Prime Minister and party leader is just pretending that things are right in the country when nothing has changed”.  He went on to say that, “… our members are being harassed and arrested everyday, and when you try to tell the Prime Minister, he will say that such complaints will undermine the inclusive government”.

Are we missing something here?  Is the priority of this inclusive government its own survival or the security of the people?  People’s human rights and the sanctity of life are paramount and should be treated as such.  We can never accept the Prime Minister’s view that human rights violations are isolated and exaggerated.  So, if these incidents are isolated and exaggerated are they not worth talking about.  This is ridiculous to say the least.

Human rights violations in a country that purports to uphold the rule of law should be a source of embarrassment for any well-meaning government.  Let it be known that under no circumstances should any form of human rights abuses on any single individual by anyone including the state, no matter how isolated, should be tolerated in the 21st century.

To be honest, Hon Mudziri’s informed assessment of the situation on the ground, as well as the MDC’s incisive press releases, confirm our worst fears.  The Prime Minister is in deed living in a world of make belief. He is sadly but steadily developing a deep aversion for the truth.  A typical ZANU PF characteristic that is proving to be highly contagious.  If anything, his bold claim that Zimbabwe is now safe for those in the diaspora to return is not only preposterous, but dangerously fact-hostile and evidence-free.

UKBA’s Response

Not surprisingly, Tsvangirai’s utterances have been dismissed with the contempt they deserve.  Even the United Kingdom Border Agency has exclusively revealed to HAT News that their policy of not enforcing removals from the UK to Zimbabwe, in place since 2006, remains unchanged.

A statement from their spokesperson notes that, “we announced in September 2006 that we would be halting enforced returns to Zimbabwe and we are not currently enforcing the return of Zimbabwean nationals.  We take our international responsibilities seriously and we will grant protection to those Zimbabweans that need it.

We will continue to consider each application for protection on its individual merits. We expect those who have been found not to be in need of our protection to return home”.

Tsvangirai’s Dilemma

As it stands, Tsvangirai is now being forced to swim against the tide.  Who ever thought he would one day stand in defence of Mugabe?  How times change.  Mugabe should be pleasantly surprised by the turn of events.  Who wouldn’t envy him when his one time foe is now one of his enthusiastic defenders?

Mugabe has the MDC leader in the kind of position where he really wants him to be.  He has got Tsvangirai so fixated with protecting the interests of the inclusive government while alienating his political base.  In doing so, poor Morgan is busy stirring a hornet’s nest with disastrous consequences.  Already there is discord and discontent within the rank and file of his Party.  Top of the list is the recent public clash between him and finance Minister, Hon Tendai Biti over the China loan.

The fact that it is only Tsvangirai who feels obliged to speak glowingly about his working relationship with Mugabe while the octogenarian remains mum about it demonstrates the unwarranted level of desperation endured by the MDC leader in his bid to make this marriage of convenience work.

Mutambara’s ZANU PF Mantra

Throw Mutambara into the mix, and you can’t begrudge Mugabe for being on such an unprecedented lengthy honeymoon.  Mutambara’s love for the ZANU PF way should be put in its proper perspective.  He is a beneficiary of Mugabe’s intransigence.  Had Mugabe been magnanimous in defeat after the March 2008 harmonised elections Mutambara would not be the Deputy Prime Minister today.

No wonder why he is in support of the unilateral appointments made by Mugabe of Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono and Attorney General, Johannes Tomana. Likewise, he is a very grateful beneficiary of the back door politics that have dominated Zimbabwean politics since independence.  The abnormality of Mutambara’s enthusiasm to work with the two ZANU PF apologists is beyond comprehension to say the least. Nobody questioned Gono and Tomana’s qualifications.

The issue has never been about the two men’s qualifications.  It has always been about their moral standing and the manner of their appointments.  Tomana is currently presiding over the persecution of MDC MPs and activists including human rights activists while Gono has kept the ZANU PF machinery well oiled through the wanton printing of worthless paper money.  No wonder why Mugabe keeps hallucinating about the reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar.

Mugabe questions Tsvanirai’s Sincerity

As I write, Mugabe has ironically questioned the MDC’s sincerity in the unity government because the Party’s leadership including Tsvangirai failed to turn up at the Heroes Acre for the burial of a national hero, Ackim Ndlovu.  Mugabe rhetorically asked, “Are we truly united in the inclusive government? Are we truly one? Show it and let us speak with one voice, the voice of Zimbabweans”.  Isn’t this a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black?  Morgan watch your back!

At least the principal signatories to the Global Political Agreement are beginning to see what we saw well before they put pen to paper.  Yet it has taken them this long to get to grips with the folly of their selfish deeds.   It speaks volumes about the calibre of our leaders.   Unfortunately, it is now too late for any divorce proceedings to be commenced. And for some time, we will agonisingly be stuck with this government of national disunity.

UK Lord Malloch-Brown discusses African Union Summit on 5 Live

Foreign Office Minister, Lord Malloch-Brown, discussed the objectives of the African Union Summit during an interview with 5 Live. He is attending the Summit from 1-2 July 2009.

Shelagh Fogarty (SF): The Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch Brown will meet world leaders later at an African Union summit in Libya.

Robert Mugabe and Omar al-Bashir, the indicted President of Sudan, are among the guests, though the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has just announced that he is cancelling his trip. He was due to be there. Lord Malloch Brown joins us now. Good morning.

Lord Mark Malloch Brown (LMMB): Good morning.

SF: I suppose the difficult question in, when it comes to Africa is, is where do you begin? Is Somalia high on the agenda I imagine?

LMMB: Yes, Somalia’s really high on the agenda. The Government there is under real pressure from rebels. It’s fighting going on as we speak and we’re all racing to do what we can to support it, because if you remember a few years ago the country had really slumped under the control of hard line Islamist elements. And we’re just anxious to see a decent Government there that represents everybody, that protects people’s human rights and just offers a decent living to people. And that hangs in the balance at the moment.

SF: What about the cancellation by President Ahmadinejad? Was that to be expected as things are, are at the moment?

LMMB: Well I’m not sure. I mean I think it would have been typical of him to have shown up here and in a sense flaunted his success to the world, or at least here to an audience where there would have been some sympathy for his position. But I think red faces are saved all round by the fact he’s not coming. I mean I think probably to the majority of people here it’s a relief.

SF: What’s the latest from the Foreign Office on those remaining British Embassy employees? Iranian employees, but of the British Embassy, who were arrested?

LMMB: Well look, as you would expect I’m going to be very careful what I say about them. We’ve still got four who are being held and we just are being very, very sensitive about what we say publicly about them. But we’re making every effort inside Iran to secure their release. We consider they’ve done nothing wrong and this is a terrible breach of normal diplomatic protocols and laws.

SF: Away from that, Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, is going to be at this, at this summit meeting. It’s out of the headlines in the UK papers at the moment, but how far has it come down the line since this degree of co-operation between the Mugabe regime and Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition?

LMMB: Well we had Morgan Tsvangirai in London just recently with people from Robert Mugabe’s party, Zanu PF, in his delegation. We allowed them in, we treated them with full respect. We’re giving an increasing amount of humanitarian assistance to the Government. I’ve been meeting with people on both sides of the Government. I met with Robert Mugabe’s Vice President last week in New York, met with his Foreign Minister in South Africa a week or two before that.

So we’re really trying to increase the tempo of contact while continually saying in every encounter that we’re going to judge them by their deeds and actions. If this Government really can do the reforms it’s promised to do and can secure the reconciliation that it’s committed to, then the amount of support from the UK, Europe and the US will grow to reflect that.

SF: It was interesting and revealing in a way to see you mention that visit by Morgan Tsvangirai to London recently. He was heckled angrily by ex-pat Zimbabweans at an event in the UK wasn’t it who seemed to think that he was no more than a puppet of the Mugabe regime now that he had come from the outside to the inner circle.

LMMB: I think it was a little bit more complicated than it was reported because I think people inside Zimbabwe share some of that frustration and worry, is his good nature getting the better of him, is he being out manoeuvred by Mugabe. But equally they understand that the country was at such a low point that he had to do something, he had to engage, because so many people were going without food, there was the cholera crisis, basic services were breaking down, the schools were closed. And he’s been remarkably successful in turning a lot of that around.

I think the protesters at Southwark Cathedral were also in part motivated by the fact that there are quite a few so called illegal asylum seekers, those who’ve had their asylum seeking requests refused in the UK who once things are normal in Zimbabwe would have to go home. So I think there was a lot going on in that church meeting and it wasn’t just a commentary on Morgan Tsvangirai’s performance in Zimbabwe. It had a lot to do with asylum and refugee issues as well.

SF: Thank you Lord Malloch Brown, Foreign Office Minister, for talking to us this morning.

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The Burden of Working with Mugabe

By Kenneth Mawomo

Working in partnership with President Robert Mugabe is proving to be a nightmare for Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC President and Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister in the shaky government of national unity, notwithstanding his assertions to the contrary.

Robert Mugabe of ZANU PF, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leaders of the two MDC formations formed a unity government after signing the Global Political Agreement sponsored by the Southern Africa Development Community early this year.
The unity government’s mandate has been to rebuild the country’s shattered economy and to restore the rule of law.  While the country’s reconstruction is at a snail’s pace, its return to rule of law is as remote as Mugabe’s sincerity to sharing power.

A report by SW Radio Africa News Violet Gonda, attributed to Amnesty International’s Secretary General, Irene Khan makes disturbing reading.  If anything, the country is slowly but surely sliding back into anarchy.

Amnesty International’ Damning Report

Irene Khan notes that ‘the human rights situation in Zimbabwe is precarious’.  She made the important observation that, ‘while the Global Political agreement in Zimbabwe provided a framework for change, there is still no consistent commitment to its implementation throughout the government since ‘words’ have not been followed by ‘real change,’ and there was no real urgency by some government officials to transform’.

In the same report, it is stated that “persistent and serious human rights violations, combined with the failure to introduce reform of the police, army and security forces, or address impunity and the lack of clear commitment on some parts of the government are real obstacles that need to be confronted by the top leadership of Zimbabwe,”

In her view, “no serious efforts have been made to reform the security sector. No major investigation or prosecution has been brought against those responsible for state-sponsored political violence in recent years. Some elements of ZANU-PF still see the use of violence as a legitimate tool to crush political opponents.”

The combination of these factors could again generate grave human rights abuses in the lead up to future elections.”

Tsvangirai Jeered

Such a damning verdict on the performance of the unity government is the main reason the Prime Minister was jeered in London on Saturday when he tried to urge people to return home.  People need to be guaranteed security and a safe passage back home.  The Prime Minister does not have the capacity to do that, never mind his good will.

Rather than expend his energy on calling hard pressed Zimbabweans in the diaspora to return to hell, he should concentrate on reigning in the geriatric leader’s warped logic which clearly shows a man with no semblance of moral authority, who is not only besides himself, but very much against his people.

How on earth can Tsvangirai expect people to lend him their ears when, not so long ago, he told the world and anyone who cared to listen that the people still live in fear? Such contradiction is deliberate and dangerously deceptive.  Politicians should learn to tell their people, not only the truth, but the whole truth.  The Prime Minister needs no reminding that one of his high ranking officials is languishing in detention despite the fact that bail was granted by a competent court.

These are the sort of things that people are wary of.  No wonder why he is failing to convince the international community to resume direct aid to Zimbabwe under the prevailing circumstances.  He should desist from playing dangerous political games with people’s safety.  We are aware that the Prime Minister’s work is cut out as he is caught between a rock and a hard place.  But that is no excuse for putting people’s lives on the line for the sake of boosting his political profile.  Such carelessness can never be tolerated.  Never ever!

Tsvangirai can enhance his profile by simply knocking some sense into the unflinching despot’s thick head.  If he succeeds, he can then persuade a sceptical international community demanding real change before any substantial direct aid can be granted for the country’s rebuilding, to release aid.  It is a daunting task especially for someone who needs no introduction to Mugabe’s intransigence and the international community’s unwavering insistence that aid be directly linked to genuine and sustainable democratic governance.  Who would envy the Prime Minister’s precarious position?

Threat to Foreign Direct Investment

Morgan Tsvangirai’s Euro-American trip was supposed to showcase Zimbabwe as safe destination for investment. But then Mugabe is busy violating international agreements safeguarding foreign investments without a grain of remorse.  Needless to mention that his threat to grab a 51 per cent stake in foreign owned companies is as preposterous as it is self-defeating.  This man does not seem to tire in his relentless bid to push self-destruct buttons.

To worsen matters, farm invasions continue unabated.  One does not need to be a rocket scientist to understand that Zimbabwe’s economy is agro-based.  That is a fact of life.  Yet, the bootlicking unelected and unelectable Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa, in his wisdom or lack of it, has of late been frothing at the mouth, spitting venom, as he criticised the Southern Africa Development Community Tribunal’s ruling that farm invasions should stop forthwith.  In essence, he tacitly approves the ongoing senseless land grab, giving ammunition to a rag tag army of ‘bandits’ bend on wrecking  havoc on the farms with impunity.

Human Rights Abuses

Meanwhile, human rights abuses are escalating.  Members of WOZA, journalists, human rights and political activists as well as teachers are being persecuted.  Reports elsewhere indicate that the youth militia are setting up torture bases at schools to intimidate and harass the hard working but poorly remunerated teachers.

This will only help undo the sterling work that the tireless Minister of Education, the Honourable David Coltart, is currently undertaking.  Had it not been for his efforts and the goodwill of the Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, to pay teachers in US dollars, schools would not have reopened this year.  Unfortunately, all their hard work might count for nothing as these unemployed and unemployable marauding ZANU PF sponsored thugs threaten to unleash mayhem where sanity was beginning to take root.

ZANU PF’s Bankruptcy in Common Sense

It goes to show the ridiculous level of buffoonery being exhibited by Mugabe and his coterie of gullible and unashamed fools, who, at the height of fuel shortages in 2007, were taken for a ride by a certain n’anga (witchdoctor), called Rotina Mavhunga.  She effortlessly managed to hoodwink the entire cabinet into believing that pure diesel ready for the pump, could be extracted from a granite rock in the sacred Chinhoyi Caves.  In no time at all, a high powered ministerial delegation was dispatched to perform a traditional ceremony at the ‘holy’ fountain.

Such bankruptcy in common sense is baffling to say the least. No wonder why we are neck deep in this mess.  We are being led by a bunch of proven imbeciles masquerading as educated national political leaders.  To their credit, this gang of thugs’ notable collective ‘achievement’ has been their callous systematic plunder of the country’s resources, executed with reckless abandon.  What has our beloved Zimbabwe done wrong to deserve this?

MDC’s Lack of Decisive Power

Our desperate situation is made worse by the fact that while the MDC has the political will, it falls short where it matters most.  To be brutally honest, Morgan Tsvangirai wields no real power.  Real political power resides elsewhere.  Effectively, we have a head of government responsible for overseeing policy formulation and implementation with no decisive supervisory power.

The reality of the matter is that the MDC has been lumbered with responsibilities with no real power.  No wonder why the Prime Minister was derided for pleading with people to go back home.  Such a call is both premature and naïve.  Until and unless irreversible and sustainable democratic governance is guaranteed, such a move is inconceivable.  At least, for the time being.  An irrevocable return to the rule of law is the minimum precondition for our return, Mr Prime Minister.  And that is non-negotiable Your Excellence.  Period.

Zimbabwe’s ‘Transition’

(Washington Post) FOUR MONTHS after African nations brokered the formation of Zimbabwe’s coalition government, strongman Robert Mugabe must be pleased with the results. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, whose victory in last year’s presidential election was nullified by violence and fraud, is now charged with managing the economy; with help from foreign donors, he has managed to bring it back from the dead. World-record hyperinflation has been stopped; shops, schools and some hospitals have reopened; and a cholera epidemic has eased. Zimbabweans are finding it easier to obtain food and medical care and to send their children to school.

At the same time, Mr. Mugabe’s control over the state remains unbroken. He still commands the army and security forces and has violated or ignored most of the political provisions in the coalition agreement. Opposition leaders still face arrest and prosecution on trumped-up charges, white-owned farms still are being illegally seized and restrictions on the media have not been lifted. The 85-year-old president and his coterie of thugs evidently have no intention of complying with a plan to hold new elections under a revised constitution two years from now.

Now Mr. Tsvangirai is on a three-week tour of Western capitals — including this week in Washington — to campaign for fresh economic aid that Mr. Mugabe could not dream of obtaining on his own. Mr. Tsvangirai should not get any. Though he has eased Zimbabwe’s humanitarian crisis, Mr. Tsvangirai is not able to offer any tangible evidence to back his assertion that his country has embarked “on an irreversible transition to democracy.” On the contrary, most of his actions as prime minister have been defensive: obtaining the release of his party members or journalists after they are arrested by security forces. He has appealed for intervention by the Southern African Development Community, the sponsor of the power-sharing deal, because of Mr. Mugabe’s refusal to honor a provision that would have replaced the attorney general and central bank governor.

The Obama administration so far has correctly held off on aid to Zimbabwe beyond the $260 million in humanitarian assistance the United States is providing through the United Nations and other nongovernmental channels. The administration should be urging South Africa’s new president, Jacob Zuma, to enforce the agreement crafted by his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, and to push Mr. Mugabe toward retirement. Until Mr. Mugabe yields power, nothing should be done that would serve to prop up the current government — even if it is headed by a more palatable politician.
(Article first published Saturday 13 June 2009, Editorial section – Washington Post)

Also read related articles:
Infighting rocks inclusive govt (Financial Gazette)
Urging Freedoms, Obama Chides Zimbabwe Leader (New York Times)

Brutality deeply entrenched in Zimbabwean politics with Mugabe in power

By Tichaona Sibanda

SW Radio Africa has obtained exclusive video footage showing a number of police recruits in Zimbabwe being tortured and beaten in a series of sickening assaults by what appears to be their instructors.

In one horrifying attack, a recruit is pinned down by six officers with one stepping on his back as laughing instructors whip and kick the defenseless man. The recruit can be heard screaming while one officer shouts, ‘wuraya’ (kill him). Other officers are also heard shouting ‘castrate him,’ and ‘step on his throat.’

Screaming recruits are also seen being wrestled to the ground and held down while laughing officers kick and beat them with baton sticks.
The footage shockingly depicts the recruits as they lie screaming on the floor of what appears to be the Morris Depot training camp in Harare.

The footage is believed to have been filmed in the last two months in Harare. A voice supposedly that of one of the instructors can also be heard bellowing out instructions to the assailants.

‘The syllabus has now changed. We now call this syllabus E,’ the officer can be heard saying, probably referring to the practice of beatings.

Surprisingly, it was a police officer who made the film, and others can be seen in the video using their mobile phones to capture the beatings. Taurayi Chamboko, a police constable with the Bedfordshire Constabulary in the UK told us the officers in the footage would have faced serious charges of brutality and human rights abuses in the UK.

“In the UK it is illegal for an instructor to have physical contact with a recruit unless they are going through certain tactical drills where contact is unavoidable,” PC Chamboko said.

Human rights activists say police brutality is deeply entrenched in Zimbabwean life. Dewa Mavhinga, a human rights lawyer said all Zimbabweans should condemn in the strongest possible terms the brutality being meted out on recruits, which is not only a violation of human rights, but more importantly, an outright crime in terms of the country’s laws.

“A police officer is someone in a contract of employment, so what employer has a right to brutally assault employees? The Zimbabwe government must immediately investigate this crime and arrest anyone found to have been involved in these dastardly, inhuman and degrading acts,” Mavhinga said.

He added; “It’s unfortunate that in a country gripped by lawlessness such cruel beatings may even be viewed as normal. That goes to show the state to which Zimbabwe has been reduced.”

Isaac Dziya, a retired assistant commissioner with the ZRP described the beatings as ‘shocking,’ and said such things should not be happening under a new unity government.

Dziya said torture in Zimbabwe is now ‘routine,’ and exerted on anybody whether in political or criminal cases, and the police don’t really feel any shame in practicing it because they are taught the subject as a syllabus. – SW Africa

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