Make Mugabe Listen THE NEW YORK TIMES Friday, December 7,
2001
Before Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections last year, government
thugs terrorized opposition activists for months, killing dozens. Now
Zimbabwe is due to go to the polls again, possible as early as February, to
elect a president. Robert Mugabe, the ruler for 21 years, is once again
inciting violence and distorting the election laws. . Mr. Mugabe,
Zimbabwe's independence leader, has become erratic, tyrannical and
indifferent to the problems of ordinary people. Because of hyperinflation and
soaring unemployment, many Zimbabweans now can afford to eat only one meal a
day. Mr. Mugabe has tried to recapture public support by demonizing white
farmers, encouraging the violent takeover of hundreds of their farms. Not
surprisingly, food production has faltered. . In large part because of
Zimbabwe's economic troubles, recent polls show Mr. Mugabe losing his
presidency to Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic
Change, a respected umbrella opposition group. A panicked government has
proposed laws banning foreign and domestic election observers, obstructing
the ability of likely opposition supporters to vote, barring foreigners from
working as correspondents and restricting domestic journalists. . In a
recent speech, Mr. Mugabe called the opposition party and white
farmers "terrorists," using the word at least 20 times. Many worry that it is
a signal that he is preparing to ban the opposition, or step up the
violence. This month in Zimbabwe's second-largest city, Bulawayo, thugs
burned down the opposition headquarters while police watched. Police arrested
14 opposition members on trumped-up murder charges. Two activists have
asserted that the police tortured them to make them confess. Wealthy
countries have little influence over Mr. Mugabe, who gets no money from
Washington. Still, America, the European Union and the Commonwealth nations
missed an opportunity. High-level Western officials should be criticizing him
and coordinating sanctions against his inner circle. The U.S. House
of Representatives joined the Senate on Tuesday in passing a sanctions bill,
a positive step that is likely, however, to have only a limited impact.
The West should also have been working with nations that have direct
influence in Zimbabwe. South Africa could shut down Zimbabwe's railroads,
power and sea access if it chose. . Zimbabwe's political and economic
woes have discouraged investment in South Africa and threaten to overwhelm
the region with refugees. But while leaders of Malawi and Mozambique have
spoken out against Mr. Mugabe's policies, South Africa's president, Thabo
Mbeki, has only recently begun to criticize Mr. Mugabe in public. This is
welcome, as South Africa's quiet diplomacy has failed. Last March, Zimbabwe,
along with its neighbors, signed a pledge to hold free and fair elections.
Those neighbors, led by Mr. Mbeki, must now hold Mr. Mugabe to this
promise. .
December 7, 2001 International community steps up pressure on
Mugabe
by Lewis Machipisa (IPS)
Terrified over the prospects for
worse violence in Zimbabwe, regional and international leaders this week
stepped up the heat on president Robert Mugabe to ensure that next year's
presidential elections are free and fair.
On Wednesday, the United States
House of Representatives passed a legislation which urges President George W
Bush to impose targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe's leadership unless they end
months of ''political violence and ensure that free and fair elections are
held''.
''In Zimbabwe, we are sadly seeing a dictator literally burning
his country down. President Mugabe has sanctioned utter anarchy in his
homeland in an attempt to win an election he has been pressured by Zimbabwe
into holding,'' said Ed Royce, US Africa Sub-committee
chairperson.
The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act was passed
by an overwhelmingly vote of 396-11.
Adding to the pressure is South
Africa's president Thabo Mbeki who has ditched his quiet diplomacy toward
Zimbabwe with a deafening roar turning up the heat on president Mugabe in the
face of rising political violence.
Ruling party war veterans in Zimbabwe
have warned of bloodshed if the country's main opposition party wins next
year's presidential election.
''In a situation in which people get
disenfranchised, in which people get beaten up so that they don't act
according to their political convictions, there can't be free elections,''
said president Mbeki.
''The situation is not improving at all. If you had
elections in Zimbabwe which were not seen by the people as legitimate, then
you'd end up with a situation worse than it is now,'' Mbeki added.
The
Zimbabwean government, is currently under fierce pressure to end political
violence in the country, and the passing of the Zimbabwe Democracy and
Economic Recovery Act in US could see personal sanctions imposed on president
Mugabe and his ruling elite.
The passing of the bill, has been met with
mixed reactions in Harare.
Naturally, the ruling ZANU-PF party was angry.
''We are naturally disappointed,'' said Nathan Shamuyarira, ruling party
spokesperson before going on a tirade against independent newspapers who he
accused of having campaigned for the Act.
A ruling party war veteran
official, Christopher Mutsvangwa, dismissed the act as a racially and
vengeance driven piece of legislation.
Mutsvangwa wonders why Zimbabwe is
being singled out when there are other countries with worse records who still
maintain good relations with the US.
''It's not about democracy but
about hate, vengeance and racially driven piece of legislation,'' said
Mutsvangwa. ''There are many countries which don't even call elections in the
world but still maintain relations with the US.''
The war veteran
official added that Zimbabwe is being punished for correcting colonial
injustices against a white minority which has the sympathy of the
US.
Zimbabwe has embarked on redressing gross land ownership imbalances
where less than 4,500 white own more than 70 percent of the fertile land.
Although the need for land reform is a popular one here, the violent manner
the government has gone about it has been controversial.
Although the
Zimbabwe government has not yet commented on the Act it has however in the
past, scoffed at the threats of sanctions saying the country is already under
sanctions.
The government says the Bill is a clear violation of the
sovereignty of Zimbabwe.
Although Learnmore Jongwe, the spokesperson
for the opposition MDC refused to be drawn into saying whether his party
supported the Act or not, he said that the affected ruling party ZANU-PF
officials had asked for the Act through their violent conduct.
''This
is a matter between the US government and affected ZANU-PF officials who
through their conduct have asked for the legislation,'' said
Jongwe.
Jongwe noted that for more than a year, the ruling party
officials had defied international pressure to end political violence and
human rights abuses in the country.
The Bill which was passed by an
overwhelming margin, also provides incentives for aid should President Mugabe
restore the ''rule of law'' in the southern African country.
The US
House of representatives say they came up with the Act to stop what they say
is a dictator literally burning his country down. They accuse President
Mugabe of sanctioning anarchy in the countryside in an attempt to win next
year's presidential elections.
The European Union has also threatened to
impose trade sanctions unless democratic rights are restored.
While
political analyst, Brian Raftopolous hopes the passing of the Act will put
added pressure on president Mugabe to end the violence, he doubts
that politically related violence will ease as result of the Act.
In
fact, Raftopolous fears that president Mugabe may even go on the much wider
offensive.
The Act, which is now before president Bush for his signature,
also allows the US to impose visa restrictions and other sanctions on
President Mugabe and his supporters who are responsible for political
violence in Zimbabwe.
A move to restrict president Mugabe's travels
abroad will certainly be greeted with joy by his opponents who count the
costs complaining that the Zimbabwean leader has a tremendous appetite for
overseas travel.
A Harare sidewalk street vendor said he welcomes efforts
for a free and fair election which could bring about a change of
government.
Maybe with a different government in power, the vendor says
he hopes his fortunes will change and he can get a job and feed his growing
family.
Zimbabwe is experiencing unprecedented economic crisis. Millions
of people in the countryside are in need of emergency food aid while
inflation and the cost of living have shot beyond the reach of most
people.
COMMERCIAL FARMERS' UNION Farm invasions and Security Report Thursday 6
December 2001
This report does not purport to cover all
the incidents that are taking place in the commercial farming areas.
Communication problems and the fear of reprisals prevent farmers from reporting
all that happens. Farmers names, and in some cases farm names, are omitted to
minimise the risk of reprisals.
NATIONAL REPORT IN BRIEF Masvingo –
farmer locked up and barricaded in homestead. Cattle axed for straying onto
illegal settlers land. Mashonaland Central – a number of farms that have
been de-listed have been “fast tracked”. Mashonaland West (North) – farmers
told that army and police personnel to claim plots on farms.
REGIONAL
NEWS MASVINGO Masvingo East and Central Area - Situation remains the
same. Pegging, ploughing, clearing of trees and poaching on some farms
continue. Mwenezi Area - at Quagga Pan three cattle have been axed on this
property for straying into illegal occupiers’ lands. On Lumbergia Ranch one
cow has been speared by illegal occupiers for going into “their” lands. Police
responded and said they will come and take a report. The owners remaining
cattle have been kraaled and Police refuse to sort the issue out saying DA
Mwenezi must rectify the problem. DA Mwenezi is not in his office today, and
the cattle will have to remain kraaled for a long period. Illegal occupiers
have threatened two cattle herdsmen employed on La Pache Ranch Chiredzi
Area - A list of plots “issued” has been stuck up at the DA’s office in Chiredzi
with plot numbers and property name concerned. Samba Ranch reported rumours
that an entourage of Government officials will be visiting this property over
the coming weekend to issue fertilizer packs for illegal occupiers. On Monday
3rd December 2001, owner of Saccharine Farm had problems with the wages of 20
workers. He was requested to attend a “kangaroo court” the same day but refused
to do so. . The following day he was locked up and barricaded within his
homestead while illegal occupiers waited for the war vet Mutemachani to arrive.
Dispol was contacted at 7am, reacting by sending Support Unit to resolve the
situation. The owner of Faversham Ranch has had continued problems with illegal
occupiers pegging within cane fields. Save Conservancy Area - Snaring and
poaching continue. Gutu / Chatsworth Area - Situation remains the same.
There is continued pressure from illegal occupiers over cattle
movement.
MANICALAND Chipinge - Pegging and planting is
continuing.
MASHONALAND EAST Beatrice - Section 8 Orders have been
served on some dairy farms. Enterprise/Bromley/Ruwa - more section 5 Notices
have been given out in Enterprise and D.D.F. & Agritex have been active
in all the areas. Featherstone –Harvieston still has a total work stoppage.
The owner went to see the DA on Tuesday who refused to see him The DA said he
would contact the owner to set up a meeting, but no word to date. On Kuruman
the dairy farm is still only allowed to milk the cows, and no planting has been
allowed. The DA was to come out today to see the owner, but failed to arrive.
Sable Flats had a truckload of approx 25-30 people dropped off to start pegging,
who were aggressive and rude to the owner. The owner of Ngesi farm has a
continued work stoppage and has moved off all cattle and ploughing has been
done for the settlers. Harare South - Quiet with planting and people driving
around inspecting the farms Marondera North – at Grand Chase Agritex came to
look round for A2 resettlement. A new section 8 Order was received at Dombi
while Warwick has been pegged. Wedza - The following farms received a Section
8 Order this week: Skoenveld, Kingswear, Ruware, Corby and Bolton. Leeds and
Fels received a second Section 8 Order. 1 beast was slaughtered, one leg
removed and the rest left, on Doune On Rapako one Impala was killed in a snare
and 30 snares have been collected since the Parks official left. The Valuators
returned to Brantingham and visited Merryhill On Exeter the valuators returned,
did very little valuating and merely looked around. 100 ha of maize has been
planted, 40 ha using a DDF planter on Hull & Lifton Two tractors are
ploughing continuously displacing cattle from paddocks. A 7 tonne lorry arrived
full of fertilizer. All the labour was told to attend a meeting on Tuesday at
the Chop Chop shop. Macheke/Virginia - Wheatlands RRB224/2001 has a total
work stoppage including all work on flowers. This was reported to Sgt Mapzi
and the situation was resolved later in the day, with work on the flowers
allowed to continue but there is still a dispute about the cattle which should
be resolved on Tuesday by Mr Matatsi. On Wenesday RRB 226/2001, illegal
settlers locked the owner into his barn fence. He was released on condition he
attends a meeting with the ZFTU on Monday 10 December. There is a continued
work stoppage on Howgate The labour are threatening to return to work the
following day whether the Illegal settlers like it or not. The owner managed to
resolve the problem with the Lands Committee in the afternoon and the labour
were allowed to return to work. On Murrayfield continued problems ongoing from
Saturday, where the owner and his wife are still barricaded into their home by
the labour. During the morning the problem was resolved through negotiation and
the labour returned to work, although all production on this farm has been
stopped by illegal settlers. Another barricading has been experienced on
Virginia Farm RRB 227/2001 where the owner and his wife are confined to their
yard by the labour from Paradise farm demanding a bonus. The owner of Virginia
took the labour to the Police station and the matter will be resolved with the
ALB and ZFTU at Macheke Police Station on Wednesday. The police did not regard
as a serious offence the fact the labour had barricaded in the owner and his
family, or that they had taken the farm truck from Paradise. Marondera South
- No report
MASHONALAND CENTRAL Tsatsi - A group of people arrived
on Zanadu Farm saying that they had come to claim the other half of the farm
which had not been pegged yet. Ploughing by DDF tractors continues unabated
throughout the Mashonaland Central Region. Horseshoe – a reliable source
reports down in the Zambezi valley along from Mahuwe in the last few days, some
70 houses have been burnt, one house actually knocked down totally and this same
house owner's tractor trashed; there are also reports of many, many beatings
taking place. It is also known that five houses in Bakasa have been burnt
down. On Tiaseka (03.12.01) irrigation equipment to the value of +/- Z$90,000
was stolen. On 04.12.01, Section 8 Orders were delivered to nine farms in
Horseshoe: Mangondo (listed, fast-tracked and total work stoppage), Rushpeak
(listed, fast-tracked and total work stoppage) Camsasa (delisted but
fast-tracked), Blue Grass (delisted but fast-tracked) Penrose (delisted but
fast-tracked), Red Lichen (delisted and with tobacco crop in the ground),
Ternanog (delisted and with tobacco crop in the ground), Dunaverty (listed and
fully operational), and Maidavale (listed and fully
operational).
MASHONALAND WEST NORTH Raffingora – incident report,
period 20 November to 03 December 2001 Court dates were set for some farms.
Some farmers have had their cases thrown out of court on technicalities. One
farm was pegged by Agritex, with 20 x 1ha plots pegged. It was visited
subsequently by people in a Land Rover from Harare, claiming Plot no. 22. When
they were told only 20 plots were allocated they insisted that Plot 22 was
theirs and had a letter from ZANU PF, and maps of farms in the area. Two other
farms, pegged, but not listed had two visits by people from Harare this week.
On the first visit they spoke to a farm guard and a Supervisor, saying they had
been allocated plots, and wanted to know land sizes, soil types, what dams were
available etc. When refused entry to the farm gate they threatened to destroy
irrigation equipment etc. Later, when confronted by the farm manager they said
they were looking for farm equipment that they had been told was for sale.
Yesterday a sedan with white number plates arrived on the same farms. The
occupants spoke to the Supervisor. They told him they were from the army, one
claiming to be a Lt. General. He said that six plots of 90ha each had been
allocated and they were coming to claim their land. Six families would arrive
this week, and army and police personnel were claiming their land countrywide.
They added if the farmer was “nice to them”, he would be allowed to continue
with his crops already in the ground, but nothing should have been planted in
their land.! Farmers on the street are still refusing to co-exist. One farmer
has made a deal with the settlers: in exchange for preparing 32ha of land for
the settlers he will be allowed to plant 350ha. In general, all farms with
settlers have activity with ploughing by Arda and DDF tractors as well as
settler oxen ploughing, with seed and fertilizer packs dropped off. With the
good rain so far most cotton and maize crops are up and looking good. Some areas
report some settlers, who are too late to plant ,are selling their seed to farm
workers. There have been reports of settlers who are trading plots and
exchanging areas. Shamva - the area is generally quiet, with an increased
theft of bananas and irrigation equipment. Poaching of game continues.
MASHONALAND WEST SOUTH Norton - On Maine Farm police and eight army
personnel arrested the farm foreman. Although reaping is now allowed on the
irrigated crop the owner is still not able to plant into the land he has
prepared and fertilized at a cost of $5.2 million. Mr Matondo, the new "owner"
is not planting any crops on Bonnington Farm (S Matondo) which he was previously
given by Government, but is rather wanting the house and fertilized lands on
Maine. Mr Matondo, due to his close connections with the President of Zimbabwe,
seems to be immune to prosecution. Selous - On Wicklow Farm 5 cattle were
slaughtered . Suri-Suri/Chegutu - On The Grove Agritex is pegging apparently
at the request of Municipality. The same is happening on Hallingbury Farm where
they are pegging 1 hectare plots in standing crops for urban use.
Kadoma/Chakari/Battlefields - On King Chim the owner has been stopped from
doing land preparation and has still not been allowed to destroy his Cotton. On
Railway Farm 4 the owners cattle got into the occupiers maize, and although
they did not do any damage the owner has had to agree to pay the occupiers
$1000.00 each to herd his cattle into pens to be moved off the property. On
Blackmorvale Police still have not arrested war veterans and other occupiers for
the assaults, the burning down of 50 houses and the smashing of 50 windows in
the asbestos roofed houses. General - Officials are coming around saying that
they are from GAPWUZ and that NEC has passed the new
wages.
aisd1@cfu.co.zw
www.mweb.co.zw/cfu
DISCLAIMER The opinions in this message do
not necessarily reflect those of the Commercial Farmers' Union which does not
accept any legal responsibility for them.
Trevor Ncube THE last
time I contributed to this column, which is exactly a year ago, I warned I
would be back if the urge overpowered me and the editor indulged
my craving.
Well I have succumbed for a number of reasons. This lovely
country of ours is experiencing an unprecedented political crisis and I feel
I am being totally irresponsible by maintaining a self-imposed silence. And
do not get me wrong. My burning desire to write is not inspired by any naïve
illusion that what I write will change the course of history. I write to
share my thoughts and my optimism with you and to offload this burden of
guilt that I am standing on the sidelines as a spectator while Robert Mugabe
and his gang systematically ruin our heritage.
I have been meaning to
get back to writing for sometime but time and my rather strong sense of
division of labour between proprietary functions and editorial
responsibilities have conspired to keep me away from these pages.
Last
week I received an e-mail from Marion Bonnier which touched me and convinced
me I must write. This is part of what she wrote: “I would like to make a very
heartfelt request to you.
“As we get closer to this awful election, I
would love to have one or two of your special editorials.
“I know you
must be very very busy, and maybe think that a retired teacher has no
business in interfering, but you really inspired me to get out and vote (June
parliamentary election).
“You have a gift, and that gift will help us get
the support we need.”
How could I resist this without feeling that I was
betraying a lot of my countrymen?
In any case keeping issues bottled
inside me is not good for my health. Take for instance the murder of Cain
Nkala by Zanu PF supporters and the pathetic attempts to blame the opposition
for this hideous and dastardly act. Not to mention the orgy of
state-instigated political violence, intimidation and destruction of property
on commercial farms and the rural areas all across the country.
This
government is as guilty as charged of perpetrating state terrorism and then
trying unashamedly to accuse peace-loving Zimbabweans of terrorism to divert
attention away from its own dastardly acts.
Fortunately the public and
the international community have not been blind to this craven
charade.
As the presidential election draws nearer we will witness more
of the ruling party and government’s desperate political stunts. Robert
Mugabe, Jonathan Moyo, Joseph Made and Patrick Chinamasa are keenly aware
that without bending the rules and resorting to absurd legislative antics,
there is no way their party would win the presidential election. They are
determined to stay in power by hook or crook.
However, they are also
aware of the law of diminishing returns associated with large doses of
violence and a sustained campaign of intimidation on the electorate, hence
the crude attempts to disenfrachise millions of Zimbabweans by placing
unrealistic demands for them to register as voters.
To all intents and
purposes, the presidential election is being rigged right in front of our
eyes through this latest rush of amendments to the already faulty Electoral
Act.
Under normal circumstances all these hurdles being placed in our way
would be legitimate reasons for us all to throw in the towel and sink into
bouts of depression. But as every one of us is well aware, these are far
from normal times. If we cannot play a role in liberating ourselves from
this suffocating dictatorship then we have no choice but to suffer
the consequences.
As one of my heroes, Martin Luther King Jr, once
said: “There is a moment in your life when you must decide to speak for
yourself; nobody else can speak for you.” Such is the moment we face in our
country today.
And how do we do this? I hear you ask. Very simply I say
by registering to vote. And if you have already registered, by making sure
that your name is on the voters’ role and helping those among us who are
experiencing problems, then spread the message far and wide about people’s
constitutional right to vote and why they must exercise this right and not be
deterred by violence and government propaganda. Collectively we must band
together and expose the inequities in the voter registration process for the
whole world to see.
It is about time that Zimbabweans realised that
freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor but that it must be
demanded by the oppressed. The dictatorial Zanu PF regime is not budging an
inch. In fact it is taking away more of our rights as represented by the new
and draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill (see the
editor’s Independent Comment), our property via the so-called fast-track land
reform exercise, and arbitrary changes to electoral laws.
Our
collective docility and conformity have not yielded any dividends at all. Nor
has our fear benefited us. Through intimidation, we have compromised and each
compromise has given this regime a sense of invincibility.
We should
all realise that we are in an era in which a prison term in pursuit of
justice is a badge of honour. We must be prepared to suffer sacrifice and
even to die to gain our goals. As Mahatma Gandhi, another of my heroes, once
said, if we want to liberate ourselves we must be prepared to “fill up the
jails”.
However, in confronting our present oppressors, we must continue
to occupy the moral high ground. We must not sink to the gutter occupied by
our oppressors. We must resist all temptation no matter how appealing, to
use their language, their weapons and their tactics. We must say no to
political violence and only use the ballot box to ventilate our
anger.
This means therefore that boycotting the election is simply not on
the agenda. A boycott would hand Mugabe an easy victory about which he
would have no moral qualms.
As we stand in this, our greatest hour of
need, our biggest enemy is our cowardice, not Zanu PF and its thugs. We must
muster moral courage to stand up for our rights. The thing that we need most
in this country at the moment is a group of men and women who will stand up
for right and oppose wrong and be prepared to face the consequences of their
principled choices.
What we are all going through at the moment is a
gigantic lie and, fortunately, no lie can live forever. All in all I am
optimistic that the free will of the majority of Zimbabweans will triumph
over Zanu PF’s machinations.
PRESIDENT Mugabe is in Spain battling to
head off a growing array of international sanctions with a last-ditch appeal
to the European Union whose envoys he snubbed last month by walking out of a
meeting with them.
This follows the passing of the Zimbabwe Democracy and
Economic Recovery Bill by the United States Congress this
week.
Reports say Mugabe is in Spain to lobby Madrid — the incoming
European Union (EU) president — to block further EU measures against
Zimbabwe. Mugabe flew to Spain via London on Monday and is understood to be
in Barcelona where he is said to be receiving eye treatment at a private
clinic. The president last visited Spain in August during his holiday in
Libya.
Government is also banking on the hoped-for support of the
Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the African Union (AU) as
well as the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) members in the EU/ACP
Joint Parliamentary Assembly to avert punishment for repression and
lawlessness.
But a substantial number of ACP members voted against
Zimbabwe at an EU/ACP meeting on October 29 in Brussels. Sadc is also
back-pedalling on its support for Mugabe’s increasingly repressive
regime.
The Sadc task force recently appointed to monitor the Zimbabwe
crisis has been invited to come and assess the situation ahead of the
EU/Zimbabwe consultations under Article 96 of the Cotonou
agreement.
The group, comprising ministers from South Africa, Mozambique,
Botswana, Malawi, Namibia and Angola, is expected to visit Zimbabwe on Monday
to review the situation since a team of Sadc heads of state told Mugabe to
get his house in order during their visit on September 10-12.
Mugabe
was initially reluctant to allow the taskforce to come after the bruising
Harare summit.
He has also refused to implement agreements reached to
consult the opposition and civil society on any new measures regarding land
reform.
The Harare conference gave him a month to restore law and order.
But 86 days after the meeting, the situation has
deteriorated.
Diplomatic sources said the Sadc team would be complemented
by the AU group appointed during the organisation’s Lusaka summit in June.
The seven-member committee comprises South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya,
Algeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Authorities expect the teams visiting
Zimbabwe to resuscitate the Abuja agreement to give the impression that
government is adhering to it.
The EU parliament meets from December 10-13
in Strasbourg, France, to draw up a final resolution on
Zimbabwe.
“Parliament will call for smart sanctions, travel bans for
Mugabe and his officials and the freezing of their assets. Families of
ministers who are studying abroad will also be affected,” one MEP
said.
SIMON Spooner, one of
the suspects in murder of war veterans' leader Cain Nkala, was yesterday
granted $100 000 bail.
Spooner is accused of financing the kidnapping and
subsequent murder of Nkala. High Court judge Justice Lawrence Kamocha ordered
Spooner to surrender his passport and not to interfere with State witnesses
and police investigations.
He was also ordered to report to Hillside
police station three times a week and to surrender the title deeds to his
Fourwinds suburban home.
Permanent airlink between Harare, Mutare on the
cards
12/7/01 7:50:53 AM (GMT +2)
From Our Correspondent in
Mutare
TALKS are underway between the Mutare municipality and a private
aviation company to run the city's aerodrome, paving the way for a permanent
air link between Mutare and Harare.
Mutare has had erratic air links
with the outside world over the years and charter companies which have tried
to service the route in the past soon abandoned it, citing viability
problems.
Itai Munyame, the city engineer, said there were plans to link
Mutare by air with the Mozambican coastal city of Beira.
"One private
company is trying to negotiate with us to run the airstrip on our behalf, and
link Mutare with Harare, and possibly Beira," Munyame said on Wednesday. He
would not name the company.
Munyame said the council was vigorously
pursuing its long-standing plans to have the city serviced by a scheduled air
service.
However, a Beechcraft aircraft operated by an indigenous firm,
Mekias Aviation (Pvt) Ltd, flies a charter service between Harare and
Mutare.
Mike Munyaradzi, 33, a qualified commercial pilot and chief
executive officer of the Harare-based company, flies his six-seat,
twin-engine aircraft solo from Harare International Airport's domestic
terminal to Mutare aerodrome in just under 40 minutes.
Munyaradzi, who
trained at Guthrie Aviation School in Harare and worked for United Air
Services, a charter company based in the capital, said he bought the Baron 58
Beechcraft from his previous employers for an undisclosed sum.
IT
IS Zimbabwe 2006. I've been here all this time, something like 77 years. I've
been here. But wait a minute, something is wrong.
Is this the same
country that we are talking about? Just yesterday I took a walk around to
familiarise myself again. And guess what? I was not sure what was taking
place myself. Was I back home?
The streets of the town are an eyesore.
Everywhere there is dirt. Everywhere there are mad people and beggars. Full
in the streets, mad people and beggars everywhere. And many children who are
themselves nearly mad, wander aimlessly about the city like wild
animals.
Nowadays these children, who stay bombed out of their heads with
the glue they always sniff and the misery and hunger they confront every day,
are called the fortunate ones. Ignorance is bliss, you know.
Imagine
people, preoccupied with their own sorrows or seized by oblivion, pick their
way around near-dead bodies strewn on the pavements of home. No one dare
notice them in case it triggers those dreadful pangs of conscience. Then the
wailing sirens of the super-rich and powerful remind you that you are back
home, surrounded by all this fear and despair. The powerful are turning a
blind eye to all the filth they created, telling it to get out of the way. Is
this my country? Then you hear them say I am in charge, and the whole fight
becomes one of I am in charge. Then you see all the bodies strewn around the
earth, and they claim that they are still in charge! No matter what. It
doesn't matter that the country is dying, they are in charge and don't you
forget that! And by the way, this land is my home, our home - so give land to
the people, now! They are hungry for land. A dangerous afterthought more than
20 years later. There is not a single thought given to human development,
just an extension of poverty and suffering - so let the party be thanked,
and the orgy may continue. Is this my country? Let me annoy you, they say,
and don't you open your mouth - how dare you talk back at me! And all the mad
people and the beggars and the fortunate ones milling in droves about you,
making their piteous sight tear at your conscience. They stop short of
shouting at you: "Stop pretending, you're just as much a beggar and a thief
as we are. Get off that high horse and glory with us in our haven!" My
home. Then we look again. We see people in uniform, in authority, smashing
the livelihoods and the faces of ordinary people who dare complain of
hunger, but with whom they scrimp and scrounge daily for a living. Is this
just for the meagre pay and . . . a little patronage? The power we
invested in has gone wild, just like a snake in pain that strikes itself. The
power has now become a power unto itself, and our investment in it has become
redundant. We, the power, have become powerless in the face of this
onslaught. Only at home, you realise, do they sit there and say none but
ourselves may have the honey and the power. Freedom is but a realm within the
ambit of our whim. And we need no back-chat from you. I think I'm back
home. I realise that everyone back home is either mad and destitute or near
there. Or they are going or gone. It doesn't make sense. I guess being a
tramp doesn't make much sense. And being back home doesn't make much sense
either. Those not in party Z, including legislators, are harassed, battered
and slaughtered at will. Somebody call the police . . . better not or
you yourself will end up behind bars. Or they will call in the soldiers for
you . . . It doesn't make much sense. What with all these laws rushed
through Parliament to increase terror, and poverty? Is there any sense in
poverty and misery? Is there any sense in supping with the devil and living
in fear? Is there any sense in being poor and enjoying it? Is there any
sense in having no sense? Is there any sense in having sense? So I'm back
home, unwanted and unloved. Not thinking, not doing anything, just unwanted
in case I say anything. Everyone views me suspiciously. I won't keep quiet
though, even if they say I should. Remember I am back home and home should be
freedom. And I only need freedom and don't tell me that you too qualify and
quantify freedom! Freedom has no quantitative properties or wishes. Excuse me
while I feed with the little freedom I have. Back home and love is all
around. Love is killing all the folk back home and everywhere I know of. That
monstrous trap that was placed at the pit of procreation . . . yet still it
seems to me that hate is playing a bigger part in the killings of most folk
here at home. Those powers that be have enlisted hate as their principal ally
and it is a most willing tool in the devastation of what I once knew as home,
the place I still feel is home.
Only at home is hate the brew where all
veterans of war and liberation are cooked in special vats and fermented to
create an even more potent hate.
The cauldron used in this alchemy spews
out divided potions into society: veterans of war and not veterans of war;
liberators and not liberators; party Z members and not party Z members; black
people and not black people; white people and not white people; Africans and
not Africans; indigenous and not indigenous; the British and the not British;
people and baboons; goats and pigs; hawks and fowls; and those others and us.
What an obnoxious concoction that even splits hairs in the stomach - the
waste from the guts - and this is our home-brew!
Was there a nuclear
holocaust during the years I was away? It's so desolate back home. Well
indeed you cannot get anything here. Food and medicine are for the
rich.
Hospitals are places where you go to die. Education is designed to
keep you stupid. Our leaders have no faith in our national institutions. They
send themselves, their families, rats, roaches abroad for all
this.
The powers of home should never be personal. Rulers come and go.
Like everyone else in normal society, they should eventually call it a day
and retire to write their memoirs.
But to use the blood of the people
as ink to achieve that, is unforgivable.
LAST September, six
heads of state of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) met in
Harare to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe.
All of them, except for their
host, President Mugabe, sought an assurance that the violence over the land
reform programme, the harassment and violence against the opposition parties
and independent Press, would not deteriorate.
They were also concerned
with preparations for the Presidential election next year, that they would be
free and fair. They held meetings with all stakeholders, including Zanu PF,
the MDC, the churches, and the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade
Unions.
Largely unspoken must have been their grave concerns over the
inordinate clout wielded over government policy and actions by the so-called
war veterans.
This concern must have reached ballistic proportions
when Mugabe introduced to the heads of state the leaders of the war veterans.
Nobody is yet certain what he introduced them as, but there is no doubt the
visitors must have been flabbergasted.
But more was to follow.
President Thabo Mbeki, even at the time one of Mugabe's fiercest critics, was
reported to have walked out of a meeting at the Harare International
Conference Centre.
The reason? While the Sadc chairman, Malawi's Bakili
Muluzi, spoke he was reportedly heckled by Zimbabwean war veterans, including
Joseph Chinotimba, the self-styled "commander-in-chief of land invasions" and
a defendant in an attempted murder case.
In the aftermath of that
walkout, an unnecessary din was created by spurious allegations that this
newspaper had blown the walkout out of all proportion.
Subsequent events
would seem to vindicate the original theme of the story: Mbeki was and is
thoroughly fed up with Mugabe's obstinacy. As Nelson Mandela said, the man
will not listen to any advice.
The government seems surprised and annoyed
that Mbeki has at last removed the kid gloves and decided to use his bare
knuckles to deal with Mugabe.
They should have seen those punches coming.
The South African leader has been so patient with Mugabe and his
unwillingness to be rational on all issues that Mbeki felt his own
credibility was at stake, both at home and abroad.
Moreover, at their
Harare summit, his fellow presidents told Mugabe that his domestic and
foreign policy bungles had endangered their economies. The violence which he
appeared to condone threatened foreign investment in their own
countries.
They appealed to him to curb the excesses of his war veterans
on land reform, the opposition parties, the judges and the independent
Press.
By last week Mbeki had reached the end of his tether with Mugabe,
who had done little in response to his colleagues' concerns. Mbeki went
public, in language more explicit than ever before - there would be civil
conflict if the Presidential election was not held in a free and fair
atmosphere and if the independent Press was not allowed to play its proper
role in covering the campaign.
Stunned by this bare knuckle blow to
the chin, Mugabe's spokesman sounded incredulous: Mbeki could not have
said what he was reported to have said. But the government in South Africa
made it clear that their President had indeed toughened his stance against
the stubborn Mugabe.
What is amazing is that back home in Zimbabwe
itself, many of his fellow citizens and even some in his own party, have told
Mugabe precisely what Mbeki has told him: he is heading for the jagged rocks
of political disintegration if he continues on his present wild
course.
Everybody who recognises the great potential of Zimbabwe to be a
great united country with a booming economy has warned Mugabe to halt his
present pursuit of power through violence.
But he seems determined to
reap the whirlwind of his folly.
South Africa Gets Tough On Zimbabwe
The Monitor (Kampala)
December
7, 2001 Posted to the web December 7, 2001
South Africa has
finally started to voice alarm and impatience over the crisis in Zimbabwe,
but Pretoria lacks guaranteed leverage to ensure political and economic
normalisation in its northern neighbour.
President Thabo Mbeki has in the
past few days openly said he fears "a civil conflict" in Zimbabwe if the
country's elections next year are not free and fair and seen as
legitimate.
Mbeki, long the target of domestic criticism for failing to
bring President Robert Mugabe to heel, has expressed deep concern about
infringements on press freedom and called on countries to "act urgently" to
ensure a free vote.
He has denounced Harare's "wrong economic
policies" of the past 20 years, while officials have privately told the local
press that his "patience is wearing thin" with Mugabe.
The Zimbabwean
leader, who is backed by self-styled liberation war veterans in a land reform
programme marked by violence and has launched virulent attacks on his critics
and the press, "should not expect protection any more", they
added.
Mbeki has asked the 14-nation Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to convene a meeting of its task team of heads of state on
Zimbabwe.
This all stands in sharp contrast to his much-maligned "quiet
diplomacy" towards Mugabe of the last year.
That approach was marked
by subtle pressure, applied during one-on-one meetings and coupled with
economic cooperation, as well as "constructive engagement" between ministers
and officials of the ruling parties from both countries.
Zimbabwe Independent
SA scoffs at Zim attacks on Mbeki
Dumisani
Muleya
SOUTH Africa has turned down an invitation to get involved in a
mudslinging match with Zimbabwe which authorities here initiated this week
through the government-controlled media.
President Thabo Mbeki’s
spokesman, Bheki Khumalo, yesterday said Pretoria had no time for malicious
and ill-informed newspaper reports. The Herald has been carrying full frontal
attacks on Mbeki and the South African government.
“We are not worried
about those reports,” Khumalo said. “That’s the nature of democracy. We don’t
think responding to those kind of reports will help us in any way.”
He
said Pretoria would not react because the Zimbabwe government had
not directly attacked Mbeki.
“They (government) have not attacked our
president and we can’t respond to newspaper stories,” he insisted. “We have
got diplomatic channels with Zimbabwe which can be used. Frankly we are not
worried at all.”
The Herald — apparently taking orders from the
President’s Office — has since Monday been making personalised attacks on
Mbeki, his predecessor Nelson Mandela, and South Africa in
general.
“It’s a futile barrage,” a South African diplomat in Harare told
the Independent.
“Why waste time on such ignorant and spiteful
reports? The fact that no Zimbabwean official wants to be associated with
those reports shows how useless they are.”
The stories in the Herald
followed Mbeki’s strongest comments yet on the Zimbabwe crisis. South Africa,
a regional superpower, has been turning up the heat on Mugabe because events
north of the Limpopo are damaging its economy.
Mbeki has been firming
his stance for much of this year and his comments reflect exasperation with
Mugabe’s refusal to listen.
In an interview yesterday, acting South
African High Commissioner, Thomas Rambau, said his government did not respond
to newspaper outbursts.
“We have no comment on that,” he said. “There are
established channels of communication between Zimbabwe and our government. If
there were any problems they would have informed us through those
channels.”
Daily News
SA steps up deportation of Zimbabweans
12/7/01 7:47:01
AM (GMT +2)
From Our Correspondent in Bulawayo
SOUTH Africa
this week stepped up the deportation of Zimbabwean farm workers from the
Northern Province, increasing the international and regional siege on
President Mugabe's government, already grappling with an unemployment rate
hovering at 60 percent at home.
Beitbridge police on Wednesday reported a
sharp increase in the influx of deportees as South Africa stiffened its
hard-line stance on the Mugabe government which has defied mounting pressure
to reverse the country's deepening socio-political and economic rot.
A
police spokesman said some farmers, in a panic, were dumping their workers at
illegal crossing points along the 260km border stretch with
Zimbabwe.
They feared the heavy penalties imposed by the South African
authorities on farmers who continue harbouring illegal
immigrants.
Farmers may be charged under the Aliens Control Act which
imposes a fine of up to R25 000 (about $150 000).
The deportation of
15 000 workers, which has been strongly criticised by Zimbabwean authorities,
was halted last month after commercial farmers won a temporary reprieve in
the courts directing the Home Affairs Department to negotiate with the
farmers.
The negotiations culminated in the setting up of a 23 November
deadline for farmers to secure work permits for their workers.
Only 4
000 workers reportedly secured work permits before the deadline.
South
African Home Affairs spokesman, Leslie Mashokwe, said last week workers who
had been in that country for five years or over would be given a 90-day grace
period to argue their cases in the courts.
He said individual farmers
would also be asked to show cause, on a case-by-case basis, why individual
workers should be allowed to stay.
The process of flushing out all the
workers is expected to be complete by Christmas.
Mashokwe: "Last year,
we signed an agreement for a year-long programme to phase out this
employment. We believe the farmers should start employing South Africans. The
Northern Province has a big problem with unemployment and poverty. We are
saying farmers should give locals a living wage."
South African
President, Thabo Mbeki, who was previously known for his policy of quiet
diplomacy when dealing with the 77-year-old Mugabe, last week took a new
stance against the Zimbabwean leader.
Mbeki joined the European Union in
calling for Mugabe to restore law and order in the country and reverse recent
laws which threaten a free and fair Presidential poll.
Dr John
Makumbe, a political scientist, said on Wednesday he expected
the deportations to increase not only in South Africa, but the world over
as pressure mounts on Mugabe who faces his stiffest challenge from
the opposition MDC in the presidential election next year.
"I see the
hand of Sadc applying pressure on Mugabe to co-operate in order to stop the
rot in his country which is directly affecting their economies," said
Makumbe.
Zimbabwe's police chief
has vowed to crack down on the opposition.
He has accused it and
unidentified foreign supporters of mounting terrorist attacks ahead of
presidential elections early next year.
Augustine Chihuri says the police
will stop at nothing unless and until all terrorists engaged in
destabilisation tactics are brought to justice.
Mr Chihuri vowed in his
speech that police would "descend hard on perpetrators
and
collaborators of terrorist activities.
The murder of a ruling
party activist last month was labelled by the government as a terrorist
attack by militants from the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
party.
"Zimbabwe is being bludgeoned by a host of insurmountable
pressures from imperialist forces abroad and their local prodigies," Chihuri
said in an address seen as likely to signal a clampdown on dissent against
the government.
The government accuses the opposition of receiving
support for a campaign of violence and destabilisation against the ruling
party from Britain, the former colonial power, and its Western allies
including the United States.
The opposition party, the biggest challenge
to President Robert Mugabe's 21 year rule, denies the allegations and
independent human rights groups blame state-backed party militants for most
political violence which has left at least 60 people dead.
HARARE, December 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Zimbabwean
Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri declared war on terrorism on Thursday
and promised to descend hard on perpetrators and collaborators of terrorist
activities, the Herald newspaper reported on Friday.
Chihuri
warned that the police force would not tolerate officers who were working in
collusion with and as admirers of imperialist machinations bent on
destabilizing the country.
"The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) have
no place for those officers with high political avidity and the role of the
police force in the present political environment is simply to ensure that
the sanctified rights of people are not sacrificed on the altar of political
expediency," he said.
People involved in terrorist activities would
be dealt with firmly, he said, the police will stop at nothing unless all
terrorists engaged in destabilization tactics are accounted for and brought
to justice.
He singled out the opposition party of the Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) for thriving on political violence, which has led to
the recent spate of terrorist activities in the country.
The
degeneration into a psychosis of violence, which rocked various parts of the
country during the mayoral and parliamentary elections held this year, should
be stopped, he said.
Some MDC supporters have been arrested and are
appearing in court facing murder charges. The supporters were allegedly
involved in the callous abduction and gruesome murder of war veteran leader
Cain Nkala and the ruling party activist Lumukani Lupahla.
The
challenging environment, he said, called for a police force to be loyal and
patriotic to the government and the people in order to ensure that the gains
of the hard won independence of the country were not smoked away by those
forces of negation.
"Our loyalty to the people, the law and the
nation is not a matter of debate but a matter of fact, qualified by both the
verity of our constitution and the logical dictates of nationhood," he
said.
"To that end, the nationalistic and patriotic posture of the
police force will never be compromised," he added.
The
commissioner said the ZRP would continue policing the agrarian reform, adding
that it was the conviction of force that through land redistribution,
perennial peace and stability could be guaranteed in Zimbabwe.
IN a clear sign of growing paranoia, the government has banned all
light aircraft from flying below 5 000 feet in the resort town of Victoria
Falls during the Zanu PF conference from December 12-17.
The six-day
flight ban will negatively impact on the struggling tourism industry in the
town as bookings will have to be cancelled. The acting director of Air
Navigation Services in the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe, Ezra
Mazambara, yesterday said planes could still fly over the town but would have
to remain above 5 000 feet. He said this restriction had been put in place as
a precautionary measure for the safety of the gathering on the
ground.
“This is not the first time we have done it. We have always tried
to do this whenever people gather,” said Mazambara.
However, operators
who spoke to the Independent yesterday said it was pointless to organise
sight-seeing flights at the prescribed height as it was too high. Industry
sources said each operator is set to lose as much as US$3 000 ($165 000) a
day as a result of the ban and more from other cancellations.
International Herald Tribune
At Victoria Falls, No Tourist
Flood
Rachel L. Swarns New York Times Service Friday, December 7,
2001
VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe The horn wails and the luxury train lurches
from Pretoria and glides toward Zimbabwe and its glorious waterfall. The
dining car bustles with tourists from Japan, Britain, Spain and the United
States, who sup on crayfish and crème brûlée. But the smiling waiters know
all is not well on the famous Blue Train. This October day, a season when the
train is often booked solid, half of the 82 cabins are empty. . Despite
government efforts to reassure the world that Zimbabwe is safe for travelers,
the number of tourists visiting continues to slide as violent clashes between
white farmers and black squatters make headlines. The terrorist attacks on
the United States and the war in Afghanistan have only made matters worse,
leaving many people reluctant to fly. . The squatters, who have invaded
hundreds of whiteowned farms, have not attacked tourists. Popular places such
as Victoria Falls and the game parks remain largely untouched by unrest.
Still, concern over the country's political troubles is devastating the
tourism industry. . In the first five months of 2001, the number of
tourists visiting Zimbabwe dropped by 24 percent, to 588,575 from 777,293 in
the same period in 2000, the government's statistics show. The slump follows
last year's dismal season, after more than 30 people were killed before
parliamentary elections. In 2000, the number of tourists dropped to 1.8
million, from 2.1 million in 1999, official figures show. . Over the
last 18 months, at least 200 restaurants, tour companies and travel agencies
have closed, officials say. . "It has been a painful time, a painful time
for everyone involved," said Amos Midzi, chief executive of the Zimbabwe
Tourism Authority, in Harare. . The industry, which brought in $231
million at its height in 1996, slumped to $124 million last year. Officials
say bookings have fallen even more since Sept. 11. . Midzi said he
believed tourists would return in numbers, particularly if political tensions
ease after the presidential election expected, but not yet scheduled, next
year. He and other officials already have begun to
woo travelers. . "The situation is not as tragic as it is sometimes
portrayed," Midzi said. "The service, everything is intact. Not a single
tourist has been hurt." . In its most recent travel advisory, dated Aug.
1, the U. S. State Department notes that travelers should avoid political
rallies and be particularly careful around elections. It also warns that
economic woes might leave visitors in the lurch: "Travelers are advised to
reconfirm their lodging immediately prior to departure for Zimbabwe as
numerous game reserves and lodges around the country have closed."
British Airways Introduces Electronic Ticketing
African Eye News
Service (Nelspruit)
December 6, 2001 Posted to the web December 6,
2001
Marvelous Mpofu Harare
British Airways (BA) has launched
an electronic ticketing service for Zimbabwean travellers in an attempt to
streamline local booking procedures.
BA marketing co-ordinator for
Zimbabwe, Clare Wingfield, said the new e-ticketing service would cut down on
paperwork and bring Zimbabwean ticketing procedures in line with
international norms.
Passengers will, Wingfield said, be issued with an
e-ticket on the country's computer reservation system, allowing passengers to
go straight to airport check-in counters where they will be issued with
boarding passes.
"This means there will be no more queuing at airport
ticket desks to validate tickets issued by travel agents. It will also allow
travellers to check on their ticket status telephonically," said
Wingfield.
An added incentive, she said, is that customers will no longer
have to worry about losing or forgetting their tickets.
"This means
people won't miss planes anymore simply because they misplaced their tickets.
All the relevant information is stored electronically in the reservations
system, making the e-ticket ideal for passengers with busy schedules, or for
people who are too busy to physically visit travel agents or airline
offices," she explained. - African Eye News Service
Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe Media Update # 2001/ 48 26
November to 2 December 2001
CONTENTS 1. Summary 2. Information
Bill approved 3. International Relations- the "U-turn" puzzle 4. Court
Reporting- How not to 5. Mayoral elections- Media mum on Chegutu mayoral
candidates 6. Memoirs 2000: Lest we forget i. Victory for
Freedom of expression- from Article 19 ii. Low and Highs- from
Diocese of Mutare 7. From our subscribers i. Dr. Jonathan Moyo is quite
enough? ii. Appreciation iii.Missing publication
1.
SUMMARY: Media Under Siege!
· The week witnessed government's
endorsement of yet another draconian piece of legislation, termed the
Public Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill to deal
with perceived wayward journalists. This comes just a few weeks
after the government announced that it intends to amend the electoral
law; after President Robert Mugabe used his presidential powers to amend
the Land Acquisition Act to legalise the controversial land reform
programme; and lately, after the government approved the
controversial Public Order Security Bill. It would seem all these moves
are intended at dealing with the opposition, white commercial farmers
and the media - especially private and foreign media journalists.
Interestingly, the state controlled media, which broke the news of this
latest government initiative, treated the issue as normal.
· The week also saw the launch of ZBC's Vision 30. MMPZ applauds
the broadcaster for its much-improved visuals and style in the
presentation of their programmes. However, ZBC's coverage of the launch
was excessive. The launch consumed 40 minutes and 20 seconds of its
prime news hour on 29 and 30 November. This constitutes 57
percent of the 81 minutes allocated to news in the two days. In addition
to this blanket coverage, the event was launched live on ZBCTV. The
obvious casualties were the NCA all stakeholders meeting on the
constitution held in Harare, which ZBC ignored. Similarly, ZBC ignored
the pending Public Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Bill.
2. INFORMATION AND PRIVACY BILL: Zimpapers celebrates
draft Bill
The Herald (30/11) reported the government's endorsement
of the Public Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill under
Government approves Information Bill, but did not analyse or interpret
the Bill's curtailing effects on future operations of the press in the
country, especially those of the private press. Neither did it scrutinize
how the Bill would negatively affect the public's unfettered right to
information.
Rather, the paper's treatment of the issue only underlined
the public media's enslavement to the dictates of the government, which
of late has transformed it into its announcement bulletin rather than
questioning professional news organisations.
It is no wonder that besides
listing the provisions of the Bill in its story, The Herald only used input
from the Department of Information and Publicity to justify the enactment of
the legislation at the exclusion of alternative voices.
Part of the
article read: "In recommending the Bill, the Department of Information and
Publicity said the media should be accountable to society and had to be
judged on how well they were conveying messages without distortions or
interfering with the right to freedom of expression given to people in
the constitution."
The reporting pattern remained unbroken in the
follow-up story, Access to Information Bill to be presented soon, (1/12).
The paper noted: "Journalists who have been surviving from plagiarizing
stories from The Herald and other newspapers to file stories on Zimbabwe
in . foreign newspapers will face criminal charges ." adding, "The proposed
law has created a furore among foreign journalists who have been distorting
stories on Zimbabwe with a view to mobilizing the international
community against the country."
In the private press stable, only The
Daily News and Standard carried stories on the Bill. This was probably
because the rest of the papers had already gone to press when the news
broke. The Daily News (1/12) weighed in with Zimbabwe Union of
Journalists' (ZUJ) attack of the Bill. Basildon Peta, the union's
secretary general, said: "The only relief in the new Bill is that its
contents are so stupid, pathetic and irrelevant to pass any test of
constitutional legitimacy, even under a justice system run by a system not
different from the Afghan Taliban".
The Standard (2/12) attacked the Bill
in its comment, Information Bill absolute madness, and accused government of
approving "devious legislation" whose effect would be "to make criminals
out of otherwise law-abiding citizens". It noted that aspects of the
Bill, rather than strengthening the newsgathering processes of newsrooms,
actually sought to usurp the powers and responsibilities invested in the
management of media organisations.
The paper said: "But one of the
Bill's more laughable provisions is the requirement that journalists be
issued with certificates of registration, which will be renewable after one
year. Are journalists like pilots who have to undergo regular checks to
establish whether they are still fit to fly?"
Earlier, the Daily News
(28/11) published an opinion piece calling on the state to publish the draft
Bill while The Zimbabwe Independent (30/11) carried a preview on the Bill
under the headline Groups press for access to information. The latter
statement was from the Civic Alliance for Social and Economic Progress
(CASEP) and doubted government's sincerity in its promise to discard the
cloak of secrecy that has dogged its operations in the past via the
Information Bill. CASEP said: "It is becoming clear that key public
rights to receive and communicate information.are now under threat." ZBC
failed to report the story.
3. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: The "U-turn"
puzzle
The international community's efforts to bring President Mugabe
back to the democratic fold continued in the week under review with
South Africa, Britain and the United States officials publicly condemning
and denouncing President Mugabe.
The state media led by The Herald used
more international conspiracy theories to explain away Zimbabwe's problems.
They diverted public attention from the government's shortcomings by
repeating the assertion that Britain was to blame for the current crisis
in Zimbabwe.
Significantly, they deliberately tried to smother the issues
raised by the international community in the name of sovereignty. Britain
was thus attacked for "persuading" the European Union, United States
and, more recently, South Africa to put pressure on the ruling ZANU PF
government to force it to restore the rule of law and ensure a free, fair
and peaceful presidential poll.
ZBC (30/11, 8pm) carried Foreign Minister
Stan Mudenge's response to statements in Parliament by the British Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw without actually reporting on the speech. On ZTV
Mudenge said, ".They have no mandate and therefore are acting illegally
unprocedural and totally unacceptable as part of the British government's
attempt to demonise Zimbabwe using underhand methods."
President
Mugabe joined his minister in attacking Britain during the annual National
Tree Planting Day event held in Bindura (ZBC, 1/12, 8pm). ZTV quoted him
stating: "Let the British know that elections have been our tradition for
years and we are not afraid of elections at all. The MDC can never win
elections never, never. Let the Blairs, the Cooks and the Straws know
that."
The private press stuck to the statements made by Thabo Mbeki,
EU and US diplomats. For instance, The Daily News (1/12) and (3/12)
articles Mbeki calls for more pressure on Mugabe and Mbeki's patience with
Mugabe wearing thin, just reported on what Mbeki had said. In its story,
Europe and the US resolve to act against Mugabe, The Zimbabwe Independent
(30/11) reported observations by Congressional Representative Ed Royce, but
also included comments from Andrew Griffiths, spokesman for prominent EU
MP Neil Parish echoing the same sentiments.
The previous day, The
Financial Gazette (29/11) carried a story, EU ponders smart sanctions, in
which it reported the EU as strongly considering sanctions targeted at
members of the government.
On the same day, The Daily News (29/1) led
with Mbeki warns Mugabe. In the story, the paper reported that Mbeki had
warned of a civil war if government did not ensure a free and
election.
The Zimbabwe Independent (29/11) carried a similar story
headlined, Zimbabwe risks civil conflict without free press says Mbeki
while The Standard (2/12) led with US to discipline Zimbabwe, a follow-up
story to the US House of Representatives' passing of the Zimbabwe Democracy
Bill.
In fact quite interesting was how The Daily News (30/11) and The
Herald of the same day both covered the passing of the Zimbabwe
Democracy and Economic Bill by the US House of Representative Committee.
Both stories were based on a scathing attack on President Mugabe emanating
from a speech made by Ed Royce, chair of the United States Africa
Sub-committee in the House of Representatives.
While The Daily News
merely reported what Royce had said, The Herald, Anti-Zimbabwe Bill to go
before US House (30/11) chose to be apologetic on behalf of President
Mugabe.
For instance, when Royce is quoted in the story accusing
President Mugabe of reluctantly acceding to the holding of the
presidential poll, the paper automatically absolved him, "The statement
is a lie. President Mugabe has never refused to hold elections and has held
them since 1980."
Likewise, the paper found itself exonerating "violent
ZANU PF thugs" by blaming the violence on the opposition MDC. Reported
the paper: "The MDC has instead been implicated in several murders,
rapes and kidnappings with the latest being the kidnap and strangling of
Cde. Cain Nkala." The story again accused Britain of indirectly pushing for
the enactment of the Zimbabwe Democracy Bill to punish the
government.
It also quoted unnamed sources saying, "Mr. Royce is
speaking the same language as MDC president Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai that
aid and financial assistance can only be resumed when 'there is rule of law'
and yet Mr. Tsvangirai was the beneficiary of a lawful decision in the
Supreme Court ruling."
ZBC played down Royce's calls to House of
Representatives to urgently pass the Bill.
Tatenda Makono, Zimbabwe's
Consul in the US (ZTV, 30/11, 8pm) was quoted saying, "There are still quite
a few processes to go" to give the impression that the Zimbabwe Democracy
Bill was far from being passed in the US.
Makono was abruptly cut
off when he was explaining the latest development with regards the Bill.
Makono said, "They are saying that should the bill be passed it would mean
that there are some sanctions that would be imposed on Zimbabwe as a
country" before being cut. This was a deliberate plan to corroborate
ZANU PF and the state media's claims that the Bill would mean the imposition
of sanctions against Zimbabwe when in actual fact it is targeted at
government officials including Mugabe. No comment was carried from the US
embassy.
ZBCTV also reported in the same bulletin on the meeting between
the British High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, Brian Donnelly, and Minister
Moyo, in which Britain was reportedly "criticized for isolating Harare
because of Zimbabwe's land reform programme".
The following day
(1/12), the Herald triumphantly reported on how Information Minister
Jonathan Moyo had "roasted" Donnelly over Britain's sponsorship of the
opposition and its regional and international campaign to demonise Zimbabwe
during a meeting. The story recorded the deliberations of the meeting
through the eyes of an unnamed third party whom the paper quoted, relaying
verbatim what both Donnelly and Moyo said to each other.
The paper
did not carry comments from either Moyo or Donnelly. However, on Sunday, The
Standard carried a report of the meeting and directly quoted Donnelly, who
said "we disagreed on a number of issues. I made it clear that Britain does
not support terrorism in Zimbabwe or anywhere else in the world, but that we
did not view the MDC as a terrorist organization."
Surprisingly, and
presumably in response to the Standard story, The Herald (3/12) rehashed its
report on the meeting under the headline, Moyo slams UK's double standards.
An example of the Herald's use of misleading headlines came with MDC
foreign funded (28/11). The story reported that the MDC had admitted
receiving funds from the British Westminster Foundation - but only before
the prohibition on foreign funding under the Political Parties Finance Act.
Hence there was a story - but not the one that the Herald tried to suggest.
The MDC secretary general, Professor Welshman Ncube, was reported as
dismissing "reports that the Westminster Foundation was still funding the
MDC through non- governmental organisations such as the Armani Trust". These
are nothing better than smear tactics. No evidence was presented for the
allegation - not even references to where such "reports" might be found. Of
course, the sentence as written in probably accurate. Presumably Prof. Ncube
did "dismiss" the allegations, but this is hardly worth reporting unless the
paper has evidence to support the claims. Confidence is not greatly inspired
by the Herald's inability to get the name of the NGO right. It is the Amani
Trust - which provides psychological counselling to survivors of torture
and organized violence. Its name is the Kiswahili word for peace. Despite
what the Herald appears to believe, it has nothing to do with the Italian
fashion designer.
4. COURT REPORTING: How not to
The Herald's
reporting of the continuing bail application by Simon Spooner, one of those
accused of the abduction and murder of Cain Nkala, has been an interesting
exercise in how far the truth can be twisted without the reporter being
hauled before the court for contempt. There are, rightly, strict rules
governing the reporting of continuing court cases. The Herald does not
always feel greatly constrained by these, as instanced by the purported
description of Nkala's last moments in its issue of 16 November. However,
its court reporter in Bulawayo (and sub-editors in Harare) are clearly
aware that total fabrication is not really an option. So subtle
distortion must serve instead.
For example, on 27 November, the story
headlined New twist in kidnap case, led with Spooner's testimony that he had
received military training in Australia between 1967 and 1969. There the
"twist" was left hanging, presumably because there was nothing else to
be said about something that was of no obvious relevance to the case.
Numerate readers will not have taken long to work out that the 48-year-old
Spooner was aged between 14 and 16 when he undertook this
training.
This diversionary lead was used to bury the far more relevant
second half of the story, in which another of the accused, Khetani
Sibanda, alleged that police had assaulted him in order to force a
confession from him. This claim, whether true or not, is highly relevant
to the truth of the allegations against the accused. Whether Spooner was in
the cadets as a schoolboy is not.
The following day the story was
headlined (with startling originality) New twist to murder case. This time
there was indeed a twist: Sibanda, who had claimed not to have met Cain
Nkala, now testified that scars on his wrist were caused by Nkala's biting
him during the kidnap. (The Daily News, but not the Herald, subsequently
cited a medical report concluding that the scars were not consistent with
bite marks.)
The effect of this new "twist" was to relegate another claim
of torture, this time from Remember Moyo, to the second half of the
story.
The Herald also needs to watch its tendency to report
allegations against the accused as fact. In reporting Remember Moyo's
testimony, it stated that he had last driven a white Toyota Hilux four
days before his arrest. It then stated that a "similar car" had been used in
the Nkala kidnap. "The car, which belongs to the MDC, has not been
recovered." Yet it was the car driven by Moyo, not necessarily the one used
in the kidnap, which is owned by the MDC.
Similarly, the previous
day, the Herald reported: "The money Sibanda was to collect was raised by
MDC supporters in Harare and was to be used by Cde Nkala's killers to flee
the country soon after the murder." The omission of the words "the State
alleges" from that sentence is deeply unprofessional.
5. MAYORAL
ELECTIONS: Media mum on Chegutu mayoral candidates
The forthcoming
Chegutu mayoral elections to be held on 8 and 9 December were overshadowed
by the Supreme Court ruling on the Harare mayoral election. Those who will
be voting in the town of Chegutu have not been empowered with information in
the media on what the aspiring mayoral candidates for Chegutu have to
offer.
ZBC (26/11, 8pm) reported that the Supreme Court had set aside
the previous week's High Court ruling ordering the Registrar General's
office to conduct the Harare mayoral elections by 28 December 2001,
following an appeal by the Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede. High Court
Judge Justice Hungwe had previously ruled that his ruling would still stand
despite an appeal. Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku in his ruling stated
that a lower court could not order the Supreme Court. The state broadcaster
reported the ruling without clarifications and analysis for the benefit of
the public who might have been confused by the development.
No
comment was sought from alternative law experts on the ruling.
Only The
Herald, The Daily News and The Zimbabwe Independent covered the urgent
appeal to the Supreme Court by Mudede. The Daily News and Zimbabwe
Independent focused their attention more on the irregularities surrounding
the appeal while The Herald reports remained largely uncritical.
The
Herald and The Daily News (26/11) both carried a story each on Mudede's
appeal to the Supreme Court. However, The Herald story, Poll order opposed,
gave emphasis to Mudede's arguments for wanting the High Court ruling
reversed and underplayed the controversial circumstances in which the appeal
was presented or heard. These were buried deep in the story.
It was
left to The Daily News story; Chidyausiku refuses to recuse himself from
election hearing to highlight those circumstances. In it, the paper
highlighted concerns raised by lawyers of the Combined Harare Residents
Association (CHRA) - who had earlier successfully asked the High Court to
petition Mudede to conduct the Harare mayoral and council elections - that
Chidyausiku recuse himself from the matter to avoid conflict of
interest.
The lawyers are reported in the story as having argued that
Chidyausiku "was involved in improper business dealings with the
commission presently running the City of Harare".
Although Mudede had
told the High Court the voters' roll was ready for inspection, reported the
paper, he made "a sudden u-turn and said he was pre-occupied with
preparations for next year's presidential election."
The Zimbabwe
Independent story, Chidyausiku faces conflict of interest (30/11) dovetailed
with The Daily News one and observed, among other issues, that Chidyausiku's
order was "made on the basis of wrong information contained in the
Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede's affidavit".
Reports the paper:
"Legal sources said Mudede's distortions could have been through 'negligence
or forgery'."
The Daily News (1/12), in its article Mudede misled
Chidyausiku says residents' lawyer, also highlighted that Mudede had
presented "completely new facts and a reversal of his previous
stance"
Both The Herald and The Daily News politicized the issue. The
Herald (27/11) put a political spin by quoting Moyo who said, "Those who
have demanded that we accept (Justice) Hungwe's judgment without appealing
against it are either children who waste our time or dangerous elements in
our midst who want to use the judiciary against the majority."
The
Daily News (28/11) publicized the issue in its article, NCA boss hammers
Chidyausiku's ruling, and in its comment: Election appeal shows government
is scared.
Observed the comment: "The hasty manner, bordering on sheer
panic, in which the Supreme Court was convened to hear the government's
application, not only testifies to the unacceptable extent of totalitarian
rule under which we now live, but also to how government has become in its
bid to avoid having to subject itself to any test of popularity, not just
in Harare but nationwide."
6. MEMOIRS 2000: Lest we forget
Your comments and opinions mean a lot to us. Last year we asked our
subscribers to help us look back on the Zimbabwean media with a short
paragraph or two about what they thought were the main stories in the year
2000.
As from last week to the end of the year we are publishing some of
the responses we received.
Please note, the opinions expressed do
not necessarily reflect the views of MMPZ.
In the meantime, we
kindly ask you to help us look back on the year 2001. Tell us what you think
were the main stories in the year 2001.
We feel that the Chavunduka/ Choto
ruling was a significant victory for freedom of expression during 2000 as
outlined in ARTICLE 19's press release dated 5 June 2000:
"In a
landmark judgement upholding the right to freedom of expression, the Supreme
Court of Zimbabwe has struck down the legal provision under which tortured
journalists Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto were charged last year.
Andrew Puddephatt, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19 said:
"We are
delighted that the Zimbabwean Supreme Court, in a powerful and unanimous
decision, has struck out the provision which might have led to the
imprisonment of Ray Choto and Mark Chavunduka.
"This is a very
significant victory for freedom of expression and sends a clear signal that
"false news" measures are unacceptable. ARTICLE 19 hopes to build on this,
using the judgment to assist in our efforts to do away with the false news
provisions that still exist and are actively applied in many countries," he
added."
Louise King Schlich, Africa Programme Officer, ARTICLE 19-
Global Campaign for Free Expression
ii. LOWS AND HIGHS
You
asked for a short paragraph or two.
First of all, may I thank you for
your service throughout the past year. I pass on your weekly reports to six
people with e-mails here in Manicaland and sometimes to others overseas.
Your analysis is insightful, impartial and much appreciated.
You
asked about the main stories; could I briefly offer you what I view as a few
highs and lows during the year as my way of encapsulating the
stories.
The highs would relate to the growing maturity of the Zimbabwean
electorate reflected in the large turn out for the June elections and
the formation of a significant opposition group in Parliament. A high
was also the widespread consultation before the Referendum last February
and the fact that the people were mature enough to say "no" despite a very
partial promotion of the "yes" vote in the state media. A high would also be
the fact that the unequal and unjust distribution of land is being seriously
examined by all sectors of society - not least the major landowners
themselves, even if under duress.
The lows would seem to be many.
The way the land issue was politicized before the June election; the
ongoing lawlessness in many rural areas. The fact that the electoral process
- which should be an act of self-determination and empowerment - has for
many become an occasion of intimidation and fear.
Further lows would
refer to the low turnout in the Referendum largely due to the rushed nature
of the process between the publication of the draft constitution and the day
of the referendum itself. Most people had not seen the draft. Many did not
understand what they were voting for and thus stayed away; I suspect
also that many who did cast their ballot, voted on party lines. A
Constitution should be a sacred document, a legacy to future generations,
and thus above the manipulation of party politics.
Another low has
been the consistent use of the state media to further the interests of the
ruling party rather than providing an impartial service to the people of
Zimbabwe. The worst examples of this were in the pre-June electioneering
period; the TV coverage was embarrassing to say the least! A low too has
been the interference by the Executive in the affairs of the judiciary -
particularly in recent times.
I have been appalled too by the level
of racist and divisive language that people in positions of responsibility
have used. The poor performance of the opposition MDC in parliament and the
bungling of their leadership has also been a low.
A major low has
been the recent amnesty for those who committed political crimes. It is
incomprehensible that the perpetrators of violence are being allowed go
free. They are receiving a clear message: "Violence pays. It can be
undertaken with impunity and can be undertaken again". In particular it can
be undertaken in two years times when a further election looms.
You
are receiving much more than one or two paragraphs. It was not my intention
to write so much. Again thanks. Keep up the very good work.
(Fr)
Michael Bennett, Diocese of Mutare
7. FROM OUR
SUBSCRIBERS
"Dr. JONATHAN MOYO" IS QUITE ENOUGH
From Roger in
Harare, Zimbabwe
In Update # 2001/47 you wrote:
".The Sunday Mail
(25/11) carried five opinion pieces attacking the MDC. Professor Jonathan
Moyo, the Minister of Information and Publicity penned one of the articles,
titled MDC "Clean up" strategy exposed."
Why do you find it necessary
to continue to dignify Jonathan Moyo with the title "Professor"?
As
far as I understand, he was an Associate Professor (not a full Professor)
and therefore should cease to use the title since his employment in that
capacity has ended. Dr Jonathan Moyo is quite enough- in all senses of that
phrase!
APPRECIATION
From Barry MacCartney in Harare,
Zimbabwe
I just want to put on record my appreciation of what you are
doing. I forward your reports on to people all over the world. Yours is a
voice of sanity, an oasis of calm in a disturbing situation. It is good
to know that there are people of such quality in Zimbabwe. I am a British
teacher here on a 3-year contract. Many thanks.
MISSING
PUBLICATION
From a subscriber in Harare
Hello there - could you
please tell me what has happened to the publication of the Daily News - I
haven't been able to get copies for the past two days?
From MMPZ: The
circulation department of the Daily News can be contacted on 781012, 781264,
781406 or e-mail circulation@dailynews.co.zw
Contact details of the various newspapers in Zimbabwe can be accessed from
our website at http://www.icon.co.zw/mmpz
Ends
The
MEDIA UPDATE is produced and circulated by the Media Monitoring Project
Zimbabwe (MMPZ), 15 Duthie Avenue, Alexandra Park, Harare, Tel/fax: 263 4
703702, E-mail: monitors@mweb.co.zw Feel free to
respond to MMPZ. We may not be able to respond to everything but we will
look at each message. Also, please feel free to circulate this message.
RETURNING residents are now required to
provide details of the duration of their stay outside the country as
government moves to implement new electoral laws.
Under new electoral
regulations, government has proposed that any resident not continuously in
the country for a 12-month period would be ineligible to vote in the
presidential election next year.
At all entry points into the country
returning residents are now required to fill in a form detailing their name,
passport number and duration of stay abroad. There is no section on country
visited. The form does not have any logo or indication of where it
originates. It became mandatory for returning residents from last
Friday.
An authoritative source in the Immigration department at
Harare International Airport said the form was for gathering information
on residents’ movements.
“These forms came to us through the
Register-General’s office, they do not belong to Immigration,” said the
source.
Other sources said the forms had been introduced by the RG’s
office on the instructions of the President’s office to keep track of
passport holders and compile details of those with residence
permits.
The Zimbabwe Independent was informed recently that the
Immigration department had instructions from the President’s office to submit
details of all residence permits issued to British citizens since
1996.
This comes hard on the heels of new laws by the government to
forbid dual citizenship by January 2002.
Register-General Tobaiwa
Mudede could not be reached for comment as he was said to be busy preparing
for the presidential election.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe
acting chief executive officer Karikoga Kaseke confirmed the existence of the
new forms but was in no position to shed light on their purpose.
“I
can only confirm that there are new entry forms but I am not qualified
to comment authoritatively on the issue,” Kaseke said.
“It would be
very unfair to both the Immigration department and (chief immigration officer
Elasto) Mugwadi since he hasn’t contacted me about the new
forms.”
Efforts by the Independent to obtain comment from Mugwadi were
fruitless as he was repeatedly said to be either in a meeting or out of his
office.
MARTIN Luther King
said there were two types of law: just and unjust.
“One has not only a
legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws,” he said in 1963 when
addressing problems arising from an absence of civil rights for
African-Americans in the southern states of the US. Conversely, one has a
moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. An unjust law is no law at
all.”
This is a point worth pondering as parliament prepares to pass
draconian legislation clearly designed to prevent the independent press
from performing its duty in exposing the misuse of public funds and other
facets of misrule.
Nearly every single aspect of the proposed Access
to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill, copies of which have been
distributed to the media without any prior consultation, is crafted to
prevent accountability and exposure. Under restrictions on divulging
information emanating from public officials it would be impossible for
instance to reveal the depth and extent of corruption at parastatals such as
Noczim or even aspects of poor management at Air Zimbabwe.
Invasion of
privacy clauses would prevent our exposure of the “Gracelands” scandal where
First Lady Grace Mugabe took advantage of a scheme which provided housing
loans to junior officials to build a mansion in Borrowdale. The same
prohibition would cover the amassing of wealth by Zanu PF nomenklatura over
the past 21 years.
The Bill claims to “foster a Zimbabwean national
identity and integrity”, a woolly formulation clearly intended to advance the
ruling party’s spurious nationalist agenda. “Denigrating” or “bringing into
contempt or ridicule” the president and law enforcement agents would prevent
legitimate criticism of a ruler who is not only head of state but leader of a
party in electoral contention. It would also outlaw satirical comments and
cartoons, which are arguably fundamental to democratic discourse, and make it
an offence to expose the manifest failings of senior police
officers.
National security would be cited to conceal information on the
true cost of money wasted in the unpopular Congo war or details of arms
procurement.
The pretext for these unconstitutional infringements on
freedom of expression and the public’s right to know, according to the
Department of Information, is “a discernible decline of public faith in the
media industry as has been witnessed by complaints, open hostility and
attacks on the media.
“Some offended sections of the public have
regrettably taken the law into their own hands,” we are told.
This
sounds suspiciously like an attempt to justify attacks by war veterans on the
distribution of independent newspapers or even a defence of the bombing of
the Daily News.
There have been a string of manufactured complaints about
the independent press carried in the state media which is run by the
Information department. But where allies of the ruling party have resorted to
court action they have usually come off second best.
That includes
Minister Jonathan Moyo who tried to prevent this newspaper from reporting a
civil action brought against him for the alleged misappropriation of donor
funds.
The Bill which purports to protect the public interest is
therefore manifestly designed to safeguard the political and private
interests of ministers and senior officials. If there has been a “discernible
decline in public faith” in the media it is because the public have been lied
to and misled by that section of the press manipulated by the Department
of Information. Sales of independent weeklies may be marginally down owing
to cover price constraints on circulation. But there has been no reduction
in the hunger for real news by the public.
Where there has been a
complete collapse of confidence is in a captive media that breach all ethics
by presuming individuals guilty before a court of law has determined their
fate, where childish conspiracy theories are reported as fact, and systematic
wrong-doing is swept under the carpet.
The new Bill is designed to
institutionalise all that and outlaw whistleblowers. There will be no
impartial adjudication of complaints by the proposed media commission when
ruling-party apologists with a record of hostility to the independent press
hand down judgement. Instead, like the minister himself, they will abuse
state power to get even with their critics.
The state media is already
in violation of clauses which make it an offence to “conceal, falsify or
fabricate information”. It also spreads information that “discredits a person
or category of people on the basis of race...nationality... and political
conviction”. But these violations of media ethics have official sanction — if
not ministerial inspiration.
President Mugabe and his government have
injured the country’s reputation irreparably by inciting and promoting racism
and violence. Under the Bill no newspaper will be able to report the
wickedness and terror being perpetrated by this regime because the media
commission will operate a licensing system designed to reward conformity and
punish criticism.
Is that what Zimbabweans want? Is that what a country
brought to the brink of ruin by what President Thabo Mbeki has identified as
misrule and failed economic policies needs: an acquiescent, praise-singing
press that ignores corruption, demagoguery and dictatorship; that believes
human rights and freedom of expression are a Western indulgence? Isn’t that
what we had in the 1980s and how did it serve the public interest?
The
fact that this measure emanates from the Office of the President tells us all
we need to know about his state of mind as he extends his sclerotic grip over
all public discourse. Is this the product of a ruler confidently ensconced in
the affections of his people? Is it the product of a regime confident of
winning a free electoral contest?
Of course not. Rather it is an
advertisement for a government running scared. Scared of the truth.
THE very great sense of
community-consciousness which characterises Zimbabwe has, over the years,
brought an immense number of charitable and welfare bodies into existence.
Numerous organisations exist to care for the blind, the physically and the
mentally disabled, the aged, the orphaned young, those suffering from Aids
and those afflicted by other debilitating diseases, and otherwise to be of
support to those in desperate need, to provide health care, education, and
other community needs.
The devastation wrought upon the Zimbabwean
economy over the past more than four years is beginning to exact its toll
from those deserved and much-needed enterprises of care and concern. Over
that period, inflation has soared from 13,9% per annum to an annualised rate
of 97,9% in October and is projected to remain at hyperinflation levels over
the year ahead.
The distressed economy is further emphasised by fast
rising levels of unemployment, brought about by many business closures and by
the contraction in operations of many more, in response to diminishing local
market demand (as inflation, unemployment and other factors increasingly
curbs the spending power of the populace, declining export volumes in
consequence of non-competitiveness of prices as costs rise but rigid exchange
rates deny receipt of compensatory greater revenues, and as price controls
destroy operational viability).
Concurrently, the environment is
unconducive to new investment, whether foreign or domestic, required to
create jobs in substitution for those lost.
The state of the economy is
such that, in his recent 2002 budget statement, the Minister of Finance and
Economic Development, Simba Makoni, with great regret and distress, noted
that more than three-quarters of Zimbabwe’s population is now living in
“abject poverty”. This is corroborated by statistics which indicate that at
least 78% of Zimbabweans now exist at below the poverty datum line (PDL), and
almost half of the populace barely subsist at below the FDL.
These
disturbing economic circumstances are impacting severely upon charitable and
welfare organisations that have rendered invaluable service to Zimbabwe and
its people. First of all, the environment is increasing the numbers in need
of those services. More and more are suffering malnutrition and therefore
reliant upon communal support for their sustenance, and that malnutrition is
triggering much ill-health and the sufferers do not have the resources to
access required health care, other than when provided by Zimbabwe’s charities
and its welfare bodies. The demands upon those bodies are increasing
exponentially, but concurrently their resources
are diminishing.
Operational costs are rising not only because there
are much greater numbers in need of support, but also because of the ravages
of inflation. Whatsoever the community-support organisations require to
fulfil their objectives is markedly increased in cost. Food inflation is
nearing 95%, utility charges are soaring, and all other inputs are similarly
subject to massive cost escalations. The organisations are confronted by
demands for higher salaries and wages, as their staff also battle to combat
the cancerous inroads of inflation.
And for many, their essential
support and operational needs are imported into Zimbabwe, and with the
limited availability of foreign exchange in official markets, can only be
paid for through the parallel market, which has effectively reduced the
buying power of the Zimbabwean dollar by nearly 85% in the last year. (In
other words, that buying power is now about a sixth of that of 12 months ago
and, therefore, six times as much funding is now required, in Zimbabwean
dollar terms).
But as the costs of the institutions rise continuously,
their revenues are falling. Most of them are heavily reliant upon the support
of corporate entities who have provided much of the institutional needs. But
companies are now struggling for their survival.
Their first priority
is to assure their continuing existence by containing their cash flows to
absolute essentials, until such time as an economic upturn restores their
wellbeing.
Their necessary economies and expenditure cutbacks have
included sharply reduced donations, no matter how deserved are the
innumerable appeals for assistance that they would normally wish to respond
to positively.
Similarly, the quantum of donations from individuals in
society is decreasing, forever fewer have the wherewithal required to provide
the charity required of them.
Concurrently, because of the magnitude
of the deficits being sustained by both central and local government, the
charity and welfare grants and support of the public sector are fast
decreasing in real terms, and Zimbabwe ’s negative international image
(inclusive of its increasing reputation for corruption and for abuse of the
principles of good governance in both public and private sectors) is
resulting in substantially lesser financial support from international
well-wishers.
An indirect consequence of the adverse circumstance
afflicting the charitable and welfare organisations is that their members,
hardworking committee members and personnel, struggling to make the
organisations’ ends meet, are becoming demoralised and demotivated in many
instances, impacting adversely upon fundraising endeavours, and upon efficacy
of operations, and thereby compounding the array of difficulties which the
organisations have to face up to.
All these distressed circumstances
are forcing the closure of many of Zimbabwe’s private voluntary organisations
that have existed to address critical community needs. At the present time
several old age homes, orphanages and other establishments are on the
threshold of closure, with their residents suffering the frightening
prospects of homelessness, destitution, increased hardships and even
possibilities of accelerated and premature death.
Others are having to
cutback on their operations and withhold critically needed support and
assistance, notwithstanding their desires and anxieties to meet the crucial
needs of the community. Social welfare calls upon the state are, therefore,
increasing, as also those upon Zimbabwe’s extended-family systems.
But
the state does not have the resources to meet the needs of society (or, if it
has them, it misdirects them into areas of defence, presidential spending, an
excessively large executive, and the like), and the burdens upon the populace
impinge upon the ability of the extended-family concept to address the
massive widespread need.
It is long overdue for government to recognise
that its gross mismanagement of the economy is impacting adversely and most
severely upon all Zimbabweans, but especially upon those who most need the
state’s understanding of their needs and attention to those
needs.
Government must belatedly subordinate political objectives and
aspirations to economic needs, taking long-overdue actions to address
macro-economic fundamentals constructively and consistently, even if at the
expense of short-term political dictates.
It must reverse the economic
decline, rapidly and dynamically, instead of concentrating most of its
endeavours to denial of the decline or, when acknowledging it, denying
responsibility. It must restore harmony, co-operation and goodwill to
international relations, instead of resorting to endless and groundless
confrontation. It must place the needs of Zimbabweans ahead of its own
needs.
When it eventually does so, the lot of most Zimbabweans will
improve, and of equal or greater importance is that the many invaluable
organisations which continuously care for the underprivileged will then be
enabled to continue doing so. Until it does so, less and less of those
organisations will survive, and more and more Zimbabweans will suffer
increasing distress.
HOW live is “live” at the
new-look ZBC? Last Friday on News-at-Eight they had a little puff piece to
promote their latest attempt at reinvention. Newsnet was now able to
broadcast live from different locations in the country, we were
told.
Anchor Obriel Mpofu then “linked up” with Midlands correspondent
Makhosini Hlongwane who had a studio interview with Gweru Mayor James
Bwerazuva. The mayor did well to recite a script singing the praises of the
new set-up.
But there was no indication that the interview was really
live.
Then ZBC Newsnet bureau chiefs went on to the streets “live” to
interview residents on what they thought of the new arrangement at Pockets
Hill.
Despite purportedly taking place after eight o’clock at night it
was still broad daylight when people were being interviewed.
Obriel
Mpofu asked each bureau chief: “What is the mood in (Gweru, Mutare, Chinhoyi
etc) following the launch?”
The “mood” was very clear. Those interviewed
wanted to see the programmes which ZBC had taken off the air!
Gideon
Gono said at last Friday’s launch — which started over an hour late — that “a
visitor from Mars a few weeks ago would never have known whether he was in
Zimbabwe or another country if he watched our television and listened to our
radio stations because of an overdose of foreign content”.
What planet
has he been on? A visitor to Zimbabwe would have no difficulty — either
before the launch or after — telling exactly where he was by the chronic lack
of professionalism, relentless propaganda and exclusion of any voice other
than the ruling party’s. Scheduling is still a mess with programmes
advertised as starting at 8.35pm at weekends when the rambling news bulletin
has already eaten into that time slot.
Diplomats meeting Information
Minister Jonathan Moyo should not waste too much time insisting on certain
international standards for the conduct of elections. The government is deaf
on this issue. As British foreign secretary Jack Straw pointed out, Zimbabwe
is not only in breach of EU and Commonwealth declarations it has signed but
has also chosen to ignore detailed Southern African electoral norms which
President Mugabe agreed to only last year.
Moyo’s response is to
bluster about colonialism as if that entitled Harare to violate every
agreement it has ever signed.
British High Commissioner Brian Donnelly
was told at a heated four-hour Munhumutapa Building meeting recently that he
should simply admit that Britain didn’t like the Zanu PF
government.
Who does? Even South Africa has abandoned Mugabe’s
rat-infested ship. It is pointless seeking a rational dialogue with Mugabe’s
spokesmen.
Diplomats should simply tell Moyo and his sidekick George
Charamba that the world does not like Zanu PF because it is using violence
and coercion as electoral weapons. Nobody likes a regime which abuses power
on the spurious grounds that it alone is ordained to rule, especially when it
has made such a spectacular mess of the economy.
It is not the
interests of the white community that are being exclusively threatened as
Moyo and Charamba childishly pretended at their meeting with Donnelly. All
Zimbabweans are victims of Mugabe’s electoral savagery and economic
sabotage.
Moyo and Charamba should be told that a country which violates
international standards of democracy cannot expect anything other than
isolation. As for Moyo’s opinion as a “trained and experienced political
analyst” that “this country will not be led by someone who does not have any
link with the liberation struggle”, let’s not forget this was the same
“trained and experienced analyst” who predicted no more than three seats for
the MDC in last year’s election. He also predicted Zanu PF would win the
recent Bulawayo mayoral contest.
Moyo it appears has a difficulty with
numbers. He told Donnelly not to repeat claims in the Zimbabwe Independent
that Zanu PF lost the popular vote in last year’s election despite winning a
majority of seats. Moyo offered to provide the “correct version” of the
results.
We wish he would. If the Registrar-General’s office or the
Electoral Supervisory Commission has provided a breakdown of the total
figures according to parties — as distinct from individual constituency
results — we would like to see them. Or are they exclusive to Moyo who can’t
count beyond three?
South Africa is now the target of official
vitriol, it would seem. Moyo’s mouthpiece, the Herald, says President Thabo
Mbeki’s recent utterances “neatly dovetail with Britain’s grand plan for a
global coalition against Zimbabwe”. It speaks of South Africa’s “complicity
in the plot to overthrow the ruling Zanu PF government from power” and even
compares Mbeki to Judas Iscariot.
Mbeki has “washed his hands off
(sic) Zimbabwe”, it is alleged, and is now “in the same bed with the former
architects of apartheid, the New National Party and Tony Leon’s white
Democratic Party...”
Democratic Party founder, Helen Suzman, who Nelson
Mandela has honoured for her fight for democracy, will be interested to know
she is now accused of sleeping with the architects of apartheid. And will
somebody tell the Herald that the NNP and DP have split up. The DP, now
called the Democratic Alliance, opposes the deal between the ANC and the NNP
for precisely the same reasons as the Herald. But there appears to be some
confusion at Herald House.
Tim Chigodo thinks the partnership between
the ANC and NNP is “strongly opposed by the former white rulers” and cites
the example of outgoing Cape premier (not “prime minister”) Gerald Morkel who
has remained loyal to the DA.
Does Chigodo have any idea which party
is which and what community Morkel comes from? It doesn’t sound like it. And
has it occurred to the Information department’s propagandists that Mbeki’s
frustration over Mugabe may have nothing to do with the NNP but, as Nelson
Mandela pointed out this week, could instead be the result of 18 months of
futile efforts to engage Zimbabwe’s ruler in a friendly and rational dialogue
that sought a solution to the mounting problems of misrule and
state-sponsored violence?
The latest developments in the coalition
against Zanu PF terrorism, including US sanctions, are all the result of
British diplomacy we are told. The British must be congratulating themselves
on a global reach unparallelled since Palmerston.
Readers may recall
comments in this paper about supine church leaders who have refused to place
responsibility for political violence where it really belongs. The worst
example was Bishop Mutume of the CCJP, Andrew Wutawunashe, and Denisen
Mafinyane of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches emerging from the Commonwealth
ministerial hearings to proclaim that Zimbabwe’s problems stemmed largely
from press reports. Mafinyane spoke of “white lies”.
Now we gather he
has been appointed to the board of the Transmedia Corporation, the
government’s agency for regulating broadcast wavelengths. But this is not a
technical body.
“Its principal objective,” we are told, “is to foster
national identity by ensuring that the Zimbabwean national point of view
finds full expression nationally, regionally and internationally.”
In
other words it is a tool of the Department of Information and thereby of Zanu
PF. It would appear that Mafinyane is the recipient of Jonathan
Moyo’s patronage. How can we expect the ZCC to speak out against Zanu PF’s
campaign of violence and lawlessness when its spokesman sits on one of
Moyo’s suffocating regulatory authorities?
The Transmedia Corporation
is a product of the Broadcasting Services Act which has restricted freedom of
information and entrenched the government’s monopoly over broadcasting in
defiance of a court ruling last year. Should Mafinyane be colluding with this
travesty of democratic norms?
The government press recently provided a
fine example of media ethics when they reported that David Coltart had
“evacuated” his family to South Africa. A few days later Mrs Coltart and her
child introduced themselves to the full-time liars at the Chronicle.
Naturally the reading public would expect an apology from a paper that had
simply invented a story. But no, we got a report that Coltart’s family had
“surfaced”, implying they had been hiding somewhere. Comment please Prof
Mahoso.
We were interested to see that in the Herald’s report on the
draconian provisions of the so-called Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Bill were references to individuals’ privacy being infringed by
photographs of their properties. Which individuals does this refer to and did
they collaborate with the Information Department in drawing up this
legislation? Will it also cover the exam results of dunces tutored by
tyrants?
Business Day seems to have got the measure of the man behind
these fascist measures. In an editorial headed “Harare’s Goebbels”, it
compares Jonathan Moyo to Hitler’s minister of propaganda.
“Once an
implacable critic of President Robert Mugabe’s government, the ‘Nutty
Professor’ — as the independent media in Zimbabwe has taken to calling him —
has made a 180-degree turn in the past three years to become one of Mugabe’s
most loyal and enthusiastic acolytes,” the paper says.
He has evicted
foreign journalists and made sure radio and television remain state
monopolies. “He has also seen to it that independent newspaper editors spend
more time giving statements to police than editing their
publications.
“Now, feeling the heat of negative international media
coverage of the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe Moyo wants to silence
local journalists working for foreign publications — making unsubstantiated
and vague allegations that they are aiding acts of terrorism in the
country...
“His aim is simple: to cut off the supply of balanced news
from Zimbabwe to the world, regardless of the implications for the
country.”
For a long time the crisis in Zimbabwe has been blamed on
Mugabe alone, Business Day points out. “It is time the likes of Moyo — who
retains assets in South Africa — come under the spotlight too. Someone ought
to remind Moyo that his sponsor will not be in power for ever. One day he
will be called on to account for his share of the damage being wrought on
Zimbabwe.”
Do you recall Moyo’s sharp comments about “night judges” after
one heard an application in chambers one evening? Well now, thanks to him, we
have Sunday judges as well. While the night judge released people arbitrarily
held, the Sunday judge wants an entire city held captive!
The African
Banking Corporation (formerly FMB) which recently held an impressive launch
ceremony for its operations across the continent omitted to inform our
immigration and customs authorities of the importance of regional
cooperation, it seems.
Eight journalists flown up from Johannesburg to
cover the launch were detained for five hours at Harare airport while their
equipment and credentials were checked and rechecked. Eventually they were
allowed in but it would be interesting to know exactly what impression of
Zimbabwe they returned with.
They were reminded who was behind this
petty harassment by the portraits of Zimbabwe’s leader decorating all parts
of the terminal building.
Underneath him, masquerading as an emergency
exit sign, is a cartoon of a white man on the run. No doubt that’s how he
wants to be remembered!
Reports that the president is in Spain having his
eyes attended to should come as no surprise. He has been short-sighted for
some years now as well as suffering from the hearing problem President Mbeki
recently identified. Following Mbeki’s latest statement on the situation in
Zimbabwe,
Muckraker would like to propose to Nathan Shamuyarira a title
for his forthcoming biography of our illustrious leader: “The Great
Betrayal”.
Dumisanu Muleya THE proposed
Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill will further erode
public accountability by placing severe restrictions on press coverage of
President Mugabe’s persistent misrule, observers said this week.
Analysts
say the draconian Bill — which purports to improve access to public records —
is part of government’s well-advertised agenda to tighten media curbs and
limit the free flow of information ahead of next year’s presidential
poll.
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) secretary-general Basildon Peta
said the Bill was a “moronic piece of legislation” calculated to suppress
public information and muzzle the media.
“It’s actually a misnomer to
call it an Access to Information Bill because its primary aim is to deny
access to information,” he said. “The term ‘access to information’ is a
dim-witted smokescreen intended to hoodwink the public.”
The Media
Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) also condemned the proposed media laws
which are likely to be found unconstitutional.
“The Bill, if it were to
become law, will severely undermine critical and independent reporting,” it
said. “Under such circumstances, the public’s right to fair and accurate
information from the mass media is not guaranteed. Neither is the access to
information the Bill claims to p