The New African Times

The Lemba people are easy to distinguish from most other Zimbabweans - they wear skull caps, pray in a language which is a mixture of Hebrew and Arabic, and put the Star of David on their gravestones.

Their oral traditions claim that their ancestors were Jews who fled the Holy Land about 2,500 years ago.

It may sound like another myth of a lost tribe of Israel, but British scientists have carried out DNA tests which confirm their Semitic origin.

These tests back up the group's belief that a group of perhaps seven men married African women and settled on the continent.

 
The Lemba pray in a language which mixes Arabic and Hebrew
And they also have a prized religious artefact that they say connects them to their Jewish ancestry - a replica of the Biblical Ark of the Covenant known as the ngoma lungundu, meaning "the drum that thunders".

The object went on display recently at a Harare museum to much fanfare, and instilled pride in many of the Lemba.

"For me it's the starting point," says religious singer Fungisai Zvakavapano-Mashavave.

"Very few people knew about us and this is the time to come out. I'm very proud to realise that we have a rich culture and I'm proud to be a Lemba.

"We have been a very secretive people, because we believe we are a special people."

Religion vs culture

The Lemba have many customs and regulations that tally with Jewish tradition.

They wear skull caps, practise circumcision, which is not a tradition for most Zimbabweans, avoid eating pork and food with animal blood, and have 12 tribes.

Many people say that the story is far-fetched, but the oral traditions of the Lemba have been backed up by science

They slaughter animals in the same way as Jewish people, and they put the Jewish Star of David on their tombstones.

Members of the spiritual leaders of the Lemba, a clan known as the Buba, were even discovered to have a genetic element also found among the Jewish priestly line.

"This was amazing," said Tudor Parfitt, from the University of London.

"It looks as if the Jewish priesthood continued in the West by people called Cohen, and in same way it was continued by the priestly clan of the Lemba.

"They have a common ancestor who geneticists say lived about 3,000 years ago somewhere in north Arabia, which is the time of Moses and Aaron when the Jewish priesthood started."

The Lemba have a sacred prayer language which is a mixture of Hebrew and Arabic, pointing to their roots in Israel and Yemen.

Despite their ties to Judaism, many of the Lemba in Zimbabwe are Christians, while some are Muslims.

"Christianity is my religion, and Judaism is my culture," explains Perez Hamandishe, a pastor and member of parliament from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Despite their centuries-old traditions, some younger Lemba are taking a more liberal view.

"In the old days you didn't marry a non-Lemba, but these days we interact with others," says Alex Makotore, son of the late Chief Mposi from the Lemba "headquarters" in Mberengwa.

"I feel special in my heart but not in front of others such that I'm separated from them. Culture is dynamic."

Crowds

The oral traditions of the Lemba say that the ngoma lungundu is the Biblical wooden Ark made by Moses, and that centuries ago a small group of men began a long journey carrying it from Yemen to southern Africa.

Hearing from those professors in Harare and seeing the ngoma makes it clear that we are a great people and I'm very proud

The object went missing during the 1970s and was eventually rediscovered in Harare in 2007 by Mr Parfitt.

"Many people say that the story is far-fetched, but the oral traditions of the Lemba have been backed up by science," he says.

Carbon dating shows the ngoma to be nearly 700 years old - pretty ancient, if not as old as Bible stories would suggest.

But Mr Parfitt says this is because the ngoma was used in battles, and would explode and be rebuilt.

The ngoma now on display was a replica, he says, possibly built from the remains of the original.

"So it's the closest descendant of the Ark that we know of," Mr Parfitt says.

Large crowds came to see the unveiling of the ngoma and to attend lectures on the identity of the Lemba.

For David Maramwidze, an elder in his village, the discovery of the ngoma has been a defining moment.

"Hearing from those professors in Harare and seeing the ngoma makes it clear that we are a great people and I'm very proud," he says.

"I heard about it all my life and it was hard for me to believe, because I had no idea of what it really is.

"I'm still seeing the picture of the ngoma in my mind and it will never come out from my brain. Now we want it to be given back to the Lemba people."

A 65-year-old man was arrested in Zimbabwe on Tuesday for emailing colleagues photographs of what appears to be Robert Mugabe’s mansion.
Reports said the executive was charged in a case that shows just how dangerous it is to criticise the 86-year-old leader.
It is no secret that the president built himself a huge mansion on the outskirts of Harare. But very few people know what it looks like on the inside. Now a senior Harare executive from Freshpro Company is being accused of circulating an email showing pictures of the mansion’s interior.
The Herald reported that John Rushdin said Mugabe was living like an "American billionaire or a Saudi prince". That is not a great thing to say in Zimbabwe where criticising the president can land you in jail.
Rushdin has already appeared before a magistrate and been given bail of 200 ZImbabwean dollars. What everyone wants to know and what the state’s not saying yet is, was that really Mugabe’s house in the pictures?See the comments below the pictures.

HARARE  - Lawyers for Zimbabwe politician Roy Bennett disputed on Wednesday a state witness' evidence backing up emails linking Bennett to a terrorism plot, saying he was not suitably qualified to declare their authenticity.

Bennett's arrest and trial has raised tensions within the power-sharing government formed by Mugabe and his bitter rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, last February.

A close ally of Tsvangirai, who was nominated for the post of deputy Agriculture Minister in the new government, Bennett faces a maximum death sentence if convicted. He, however, denies the charges and says he is being persecuted by Mugabe's party.

The state's case -- that Bennett planned to fund a 2006 plot to blow up a major communications link and assassinate key government officials -- hinges on emails prosecutors say links the former commercial farmer to the crime.

Attorney General Johannes Tomana brought in an IT network technician to give evidence on the validity of the emails.

But under cross examination, the technician, Perekai Mutsetse, said he had not seen the original emails, and was only shown printed documents by the police.

Bennett's lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, who argued that anyone could have created the e-mails to implicate Bennett, said the witness had failed to prove that the emails were genuine.

"Since you did not see the original email, you cannot vouch for their authenticity," Mtetwa said.

Speaking through a translator, Mutsetse admitted not conducting a forensic analysis to establish the authenticity of the emails.

"You have absolutely no expertise in the field you claim to be an expert," Mtetwa said.

Bennett's alleged co-conspirator, former policeman and arms trader Peter Hitschmann, has disowned the emails and denied Bennett was involved. Hitschmann faced the same charges as Bennett in 2006, but was convicted on a lesser charge of possessing dangerous weapons.

Tangai Chipangura

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is in South Africa where he is undergoing an undisclosed surgical procedure, his spokesperson James Maridadi has confirmed.

Maridadi told City Press that the Prime Minister had left for South Africa on Tuesday and was expected back to Zimbabwe on Monday.

“It is not a major operation. It just a minor surgical procedure which is not life threatening. I am not able to give you details of the nature of the operation as that would be violating the PM’s privacy.

"That is something personal which we should all respect. What is important is that the operation is minor and not life threatening,” Maridadi said.

A source within Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, however, said there was speculation the PM was going for a correction of deformities caused by the severe assaults he was subjected to at the height of his battle with President Robert Mugabe.

Tsvangirai was nearly killed during assaults by police officers while in detention at Highfields police station on March 11 2007 when he attempted to address a prayer meeting which Mugabe had banned.

When he was finally released, after several days without treatment, his head and face were swollen and bleeding.

He had scars all over the body and sjamboks and baton scars were easily discernible in images of him that were electronically distributed all over the world when he was brought to court.

Ironically, the police officer in charge of the district where Tsvangirai was tortured, Tomsen Todd Jangara was this week removed from the European Union’s sanction list of Mugabe’s inner circle.

City Press has established that the removal of Jangara from the sanctions list was done through a mistaken belief that the police officer was dead.

Jangara was promoted from the rank of Chief Superintendent to that of Assistant Commissioner soon after he oversaw the beating of Tsvangirai.

“It all began with the Financial Gazette which published last month that I was dead. They had mistaken me with Winston Changara (Mugabe’s bodyguard) who died and was declared a national hero.

"The Gazette, however, wrote that Tomsen Jangara had died, so the EU people took it from there and included me among other dead people that have been removed from sanctions,” said Jangara.

The EU list of the names of people removed from the sanctions contains names of Zanu PF officials such as the late Joseph Msika, the late Zanu PF politburo member Richard Hove and the late army commander Vitalis Zvinavashe who died recently.

Tomsen Jangara’s name appears on the list.

By Never Kadungure in Harare

In November 1999 President Robert Mugabe accused the British Government of setting ‘gay gangsters’ on him over his violent land reform exercise.

Three activists from gay pressure group Outrage, led by Peter Tatchell, stopped Mugabe’s car and tried to carry out a citizens’ arrest in October 1999 accusing him of “homophobia and human rights abuses against the people of Zimbabwe”.

A furious Mugabe later told the state owned Sunday Mail newspaper that the UK Labour government was behind the gay activists who ambushed his car.

The Zanu PF leader has over the years made his homophobic views clear describing gays and lesbians as ‘worse than pigs.’

With this history in mind it is astonishing that Mugabe’s own Youth Development and Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has now been outed as gay.

What makes the irony click into place is that Saviour is one of the most violent Zanu PF ministers around with a track record only matched by the ruthless Defence Minister Emerson Mnangagwa and Air force Commander Perence Shiri.

Kasukuwere is the godfather of the Chipangano hit terror squad that caused mayhem and suffering for MDC supporters in the run-up to several elections since 2000.

Kasukuwere as deputy youth minister was nicknamed ‘Paraquat’ for encouraging party youths to rub the poisonous herbicide onto the torture wounds of MDC activists. This meant that it was almost impossible for the wounds to ever heal and caused enormous suffering and a number of deaths.

Nehanda Radio can also reveal that Saviour amassed his wealth through many gay liaisons with rich businessmen and ministers while he was still a blue-eyed Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) hitman in Mutare.

Last year, he reportedly stole livestock where it was being kept at a farm in Concession with “students” from the Border Gezi infamous school of violence keeping guard on behalf of the corrupt minister.

Although some farmers tracked their beasts to the minister’s hideout, they were told to keep mum lest they faced unspecified action of retribution.

So when Mugabe complained of gay gangsters being set on him in the United Kingdom in 1999 he was probably thinking of the many gay gangsters in his own party.

Only last year a  31 year old Bulawayo man, Mncedisi Twala, sensationally claimed that the then ZANU PF National Chairman, John Nkomo, molested him in April 2002.

After first fleeing to South Africa Twala says he came back after the formation of the unity government and filed a police complaint in July. The police however refused to investigate the complaint and even arrested Twala.
Stan Mudenge
Former Foreign Affairs Minister Stan Mudenge has in the past also faced accusations of having gay liaisons.

The CIO launched a manhunt for gay activist Dumisani Dube after he made a stunning disclosure that he had a love affair with the cabinet minister.

Dube also claimed Mudenge infected him with the deadly HIV virus several years ago.

Relatives close to Mudenge concede his health has dramatically deteriorated over the years and he was literally ‘in the departure lounge.’ Nehanda Radio

HARARE – Two senior police officers and an ex-policeman have been arrested, with the serving officers being summarily transferred to remote police stations outside Harare, after they were accused of allegedly leaking police information to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Police sources have revealed that Senior Assistant Commissioner Justice Chengeta last week ordered the arrest of Superintendents Casper Nhepera and another one identified only as Madiko for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act.

Chengeta had walked into an office which was being used by the two at the Police General Headquarters to find them entertaining one Macmillan Mukombachoto, whom Chengeta accused of being a secret MDC agent.

Chengeta, who has a declared incorrigible dislike for the MDC, was further agitated by the fact that Mukombachoto had produced a computer flash disk from which his former colleagues took delight in downloading music.

“Chengeta immediately ordered their arrest,” said a source. They spent the weekend detained at Harare Central Police Station.”

As they were languishing in custody, their transfer papers were being processed.

Nhepera was transferred to Nkayi in Matabeleland North Province while Madiko was moved to Nyanga in Manicaland.

Mukombachoto is a former police officer who worked for over 20 years as a lower ranking policeman.

For most of his service he worked as a photographer for Outpost, the monthly magazine of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

The Zimbabwe Times could not readily establish when the accused are likely to go on trial for the alleged offence.

Chengeta who is regarded with awe in the police force is among Police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri’s top lieutenants. He has been at the forefront of “cleansing” Zimbabwe’s heavily politicized police force of both known and suspected MDC sympathizers.

Purging has routinely been used as a strategy by Chihuri to frustrate professional police officers who have refused to follow orders from their superiors to apply the law selectively.

One of such victims is the former officer commanding Harare Province, senior assistant commissioner Emmanuel Chimwanda, who was forced to terminate his service by Chihuri at the onset of Zimbabwe’s current political crisis 2000.

Chimwanda, now a director in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s office, had insisted on the arrest of marauding war veterans and Zanu-PF militants in Masvingo who were committing crimes with impunity.

Chihuri, an avowed supporter of President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF, is among service chiefs who have publicly declared they will never salute Tsvangirai.

He has further threatened to dismiss any police officer found to be sympathetic to the MDC.

05/02/10 Botswana says it is recalling two senior diplomats based in Harare in protest against the detention of three wildlife officers in Zimbabwe.

The government of Botswana said it would withdraw its intelligence and defence attaches.

It also asked Zimbabwean intelligence officers to leave Botswana.

The diplomatic row began three weeks ago with the arrest of three Batswana gamekeepers who had strayed across the border while tracking a lion.

Botswana has been one of the few neighbours of Zimbabwe to criticise the human rights record of President Robert Mugabe.

HARARE – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister (PM) Morgan Tsvangirai are locked up in a fresh power struggle after the former instructed government ministers to report to his two vice-presidents by-passing the Premier – a clear breach of the former foes’ power-sharing agreement.
The global political agreement (GPA) that gave birth to the Harare coalition government splits powers between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
The GPA – itself a source of incessant squabbling between the two rivals over its implementation – specifically charges Tsvangirai with overseeing formulation and implementation of government policies and requires ministers to “report to the Prime Minister on all issues relating to the implementation of such policies and plans”.
But Mugabe’s chief secretary Misheck Sibanda in a circular to Cabinet ministers and their permanent secretaries said Vice President Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo – all from Mugabe’s ZANU PF party – will assist the veteran leader to run the government.
Circular
The January 25 Circular No. 2/2010 reads: “I am directed to inform you that in the inclusive government, Honourable Vice Presidents will continue to assist His Excellency, the President in the general supervision and management of the administration of government business just as the Honourable Prime Minister is assisted by deputy prime ministers.”
Sibanda’s circular does not spell out whether ministers are expected to continue reporting to Tsvangirai and if so, who takes precedence over the other, the PM – who is also deputy chairman of Cabinet – or the two Vice-Presidents.
But a closer reading of the document shows it is a well-calculated move to isolate the PM’s office, leaving Tsvangirai – with all his powers given him by the Constitution and the GPA intact – but no one to supervise and no means to execute decisions.
Permanent secretaries are the chief executives of government ministries and having them report directly to Vice-Presidents leaving out Tsvangirai effectively renders the PM a lame duck unable to influence and direct formulation of government policies or their execution. 
Sibanda’s circular says Mujuru supervises all social and agricultural ministries, in addition to overseeing the implementation of programmes to enhance productivity in the agricultural sector; implementation of the indigenisation and empowerment programmes including women empowerment in gender equity programmes.
Strategic
Mujuru will also supervise Zimbabwe’s strategic public utilities and continue to chair the Cabinet committees on honours and awards, state occasions and national monuments and parastatals.
According to Sibanda, Nkomo will oversee ministries in charge of the economy, finance, mines, industry, energy, international cooperation, tourism and natural resources management.
Nkomo will also chair the Cabinet committee of rural development as well as supervise bilateral and investments promotion agreements, land reform, local government, sport and recreation programmes.
If Sibanda’s circular is followed to the letter, Tsvangirai would virtually become a ‘titular Prime Minister’ whose presence in or absence from the government will be of no consequence.
Usurpation
But the PM’s office immediately rejected the attempt to emasculate Tsvangirai with the former opposition leader’s chief secretary Ian Makone accusing Sibanda in a memo of attempting to engineer a usurpation of the powers of the Prime Minister.
In a letter dated January 29, Makone reminds Sibanda of the powers and duties of the PM prescribed under the Constitution and in the GPA. Makone, who copied his response to Sibanda to all ministers and permanent secretaries, said Tsvangirai and his two deputies will share supervision of all government ministries.
Makone wrote: “The deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara supervises the infrastructure and security cluster while deputy prime minister Thokozani Khupe, supervises the social and rights cluster. The Prime Minister supervises the economic cluster.
“To avoid further confusion, I have been directed to circulate this letter to all ministries and heads of ministries as a corrective measure to clarify any misconceptions that may have been created. Members of the Council of Ministers are requested to take note accordingly.”
There were indications last night that ministers from Tsvangirai’s MDC party will ignore Sibanda’s circular, with the PM’s office understood to be now saying it is not aware of the circular by Mugabe’s secretary. 
Gesture
However ignoring Sibanda’s circular might turn out to be only a political gesture that will have little real impact on the ground because permanent secretaries – who run government departments – were appointed by Mugabe and are most likely to abide by instructions from the President’s office. 
It remains to be seen how the latest wrangle in Zimbabwe’s troubled coalition government will play out.
The government that completes a year in office this month is also mired in dispute over a host of outstanding issues from the GPA, chief among them Mugabe’s refusal to rescind his unilateral appointment of two of his top allies to head the attorney general’s office and the central bank.
Mugabe has also refused to appoint members of the former opposition MDC formations as provincial governor and to swear in Tsvangirai all Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture minister.
On its part ZANU PF insists it has done the most to uphold the power-sharing deal and instead accuses the MDC of reneging on promises to campaign for lifting of Western sanctions on Mugabe and his top allies.
Zimbabwe’s unity government has been able to stabilise the economy, end hyperinflation and shortages of basic commodities.
But analysts fear unending bickering between the parties and the administration’s failure win significant financial support from Western countries could in the long run render the coalition ineffective or, in the worst case scenario, cause its collapse.

EU - Keep Sanctions on Mugabe's Inner Circle

New York - The European Union should maintain its travel restrictions and asset freezes on President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle until Zimbabwe carries out the concrete human rights reforms set out in the 2008 Global Political Agreement, Human Rights
Watch said today. The EU is currently reviewing its sanctions policy toward Zimbabwe.

The Agreement, which established a power-sharing government, was implemented in February 2009 by Mugabe's party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), and the then-opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by.

Morgan Tsvangirai. It contained specific measures to promote freedom of speech and the rule of law, end politically motivated violence, and apply laws of the country fully and impartially in bringing to justice all perpetrators of politically motivated violence. But the repression has continued, and the perpetrators are not being held to account for their actions.

"ZANU-PF has continued committing grave human rights abuses and acting as if the agreement had never been signed," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The European Union runs the risk of reinforcing ongoing repression and impunity in Zimbabwe if it eases the sanctions now."

In September, the European Union sent a delegation to Zimbabwe to assess the implementation of the Agreement. The delegation found that the inclusive government had failed to meet the benchmarks the EU had established for resuming development cooperation
with Zimbabwe and lifting targeted travel and financial restrictions on senior ZANU-PF members.

The Swedish minister for international development, Gunilla Carlsson, who was part of the EU delegation, said then that targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe would not be lifted until human rights abuses ended.

Human Rights Watch's ongoing research and analysis in Zimbabwe show that the human rights situation there remains virtually the same as during the EU delegation's visit. As Human Rights Watch said in an August report on Zimbabwe's new power-sharing government, state agents affiliated with ZANU-PF continue to abduct and kill MDC activists without punishment and to arrest its legislators on spurious charges.

Zimbabwe's oppressive media laws remain unchanged. Illegal invasions of commercial farms, frequently led by military personnel allied with ZANU-PF, are continuing; and there has been no meaningful progress in instituting promised human rights reforms or in demonstrating respect for the rule of law.

Zimbabwe FM Biti Warns Unity Government At Risk, Urges Regional Intervention
Finance Minister Tendai Biti warned that if the unity government fails to achieve key objectives including the drafting of a new 'people-driven' constitution, the power-sharing arrangement in Harare could fall apart

Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Biti warned Tuesday that the national unity government in Harare could collapse if so-called outstanding issues that have been troubling it are not addressed and if its founding principles are not fulfilled, urging regional leaders to intervene to break the impasse.

Biti, also secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change formation led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, told journalists at the National Press Club in Washington that negotiations between his MDC party and President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF had deadlocked in recent weeks and that South African President Jacob Zuma, a mediator in Zimbabwe, should step in.

He warned that if the so-called inclusive government does not achieve its key objectives, including the drafting of a new "people-driven” constitution, the power-sharing arrangement in Harare could fall apart.

But Biti said he was generally optimistic about Zimbabwe's future despite political wrangling and resistance from ZANU-PF hardliners.

“This equation can only work if those fundamental foundational cornerstones which brought the Zimbabwean parties involuntarily together are addressed," Biti said. "If there is a fear that there is arrested development on the things that gave rise to [the government] such as democratization, writing of a new constitution and economic reforms, it will collapse. This is the time for President Zuma to show  leadership and intervene."

Appealing to the international community for help raising the estimated US$8 billion needed for national reconstruction, Biti called on Western nations to end their isolation of Zimbabwe and help the country rebuild.

Biti called for the “decimation and elimination” of Zimbabwe's foreign debt of  some $6 billion foreign with the help of multilateral creditors including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Asked by VOA to respond to complaints by ZANU-PF that the MDC was not campaigning hard enough for sanctions to be lifted, Biti declined to comment.

The finance minister is in Washington for discussions with the Bretton Woods institutions as well as senior U.S. government officials.

Under Court Order, Sheriff Attaches Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Property for Debt
An attorney for Farmtec Spares and Implements said the sheriff would attach bank property to settle a US$2.1 million debt related to the Farm Mechanization and Agricultural Support Enhancement Facility run by the RBZ

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe faced the seizure Friday of its property under a court order obtained by an agricultural equipment dealer who said the central bank never paid it US$2.1 million for tractors it had purchased.

An attorney for  Farmtec Spares and Implements said the sheriff was moving to attach RBZ property to settle an unpaid bill related to the Farm Mechanization and Agricultural Support Enhancement Facility run by the bank.

The sheriff’s office started to attach bank property Thursday and was expected by the end of business Friday to fully execute the High Court order.

The RBZ is said to be close to collapse due to large amounts of unpaid debts which sources say far exceeds the institution's available funds and assets.

Lawyer Davison Kanokanga, representing Farmtec, told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube that if the sheriff did not find movable assets of sufficient value, fixed assets of the bank such as buildings could also be attached.

“I am now waiting for the deputy sheriff to come back to me with a report as to what assets he has been able to attach,” said Kanokanga.

“The writ of execution has a list of five properties which are owned by the RBZ which we would want the deputy sheriff to attach in the event that they are not enough movable assets to realize the judgment debt.”

Some of the properties listed are in Harare, the Manicaland capital of Mutare and the northeastern Zambezi River resort town of Kariba, he said.

The central bank ordered 150 tractors for the farm mechanization program and received 60 worth US$2.1 million, the Farmtec attorney said. The remaining 90 were to be delivered once the bank paid for the first consignment.

The farm mechanization scheme was one of the largest so-called quasi-fiscal activities conducted by the RBZ on behalf of the government and funded by printing vast amounts of Zimbabwean dollars, leading to the debasement of the currency and the second highest episode of hyperinflation in history.

HARARE – High Court judge Chinembiri Bhunu will on Thursday make a ruling on whether gun dealer Peter Michael Hitschmann – a key state witness in a treason trial of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s top aide Roy Bennett – will be impeached for becoming a “hostile” witness.
If Bhunu allows the state to impeach Hitschmann, this would pave way for the prosecution to cross-examine the arms dealer on the key statement incriminating Bennett that the gun dealer had sought to render irrelevant by disowning it in court.
“The state has made a case of impeachment so that the truth and justice can be found,” said Attorney General Johannes Tomana as he finished his application to have Hitschmann, who has turned into a problematic witness for the state, impeached. 
Hitschmann maintained that he was not being hostile, arguing that the state was not being sincere in its case because he had notified it through an affidavit last November that he did not want to testify against Bennett, a senior official of Tsvangirai’s MDC party.
“In fact what Mr Tomana, has done is to deceive this honourable court and has wasted valuable time and resources and caused additional and unnecessary stress to me,” said Hitschmann, a former police officer dismissing the state application to impeach him as “obscure, to say the very lease, for it makes no sense to me”.
“He knew from the onset that I had nothing to contribute as far as the state case against the accused (Bennett) is concerned.”
Prosecutors allege Hitschmann was paid by Bennett to buy weapons to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. They say Hitschmann implicated Bennett in 2006 when he was arrested after being found in possession of firearms.
“I would have been delighted if the fire arms had been in possession of the accused, but regrettably, they were in my possession, and he (Bennett) had nothing to do with them being in my possession,” said Hitschmann.
Bennett faces a possible death sentence if found guilty in a case that has heightened tensions in Zimbabwe’s fragile coalition government.
The MDC says the case against him is politically motivated and aimed at keeping him out of the unity government it formed with Mugabe's ZANU PF party last February

Four cabinet ministers in Zimbabwe’s inclusive government are under probe from their respective parties, MDC and Zanu Pf, on corruption allegations.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC has set up a 13 member probe team into various corruption charges, including flouting of government tender procedures, seeking bribes for tender awards and conniving with their Zanu PF counterparts for self-enrichment.

Energy and Power Development minister Elias Mudzuri, co-Home Affairs minister Giles Mutsekwa, and Mines deputy minister Murisi Zwizwai are the three ministers being probed by the MDC.

Mines minister, Obert Mpofu of Zanu PF is also being probed on shady diamond deals.

MDC sources say the party has come up with a code of conduct which is soon to be taken to the national executive committee and then national council for approval.
  

The code will require ministers, legislators and councilors to declare their interests and assets in line with modern trends to ensure that there is accountability and transparency.

MDC-T spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa, said that anyone found to be corrupt would face automatic dismissal from the party. “We are a party of excellence. Transparency, accountability and good governance are part of our fabric,” he said.

“We expect these from our Prime Minister, from our ministers and from, most importantly, our councils. If anyone negates these principles, then we will be destroying the very fabric of the MDC. We should be the opposite of Zanu PF.”

Mudzuri is accused of taking bribes from several private petroleum companies, prejudicing ordinary Zimbabweans.

Zwizwai is being accused of seeking bribes for diamond and other minerals tender awards and conniving with Zanu PF officials to flout tender procedures.

The accusations seem to be emanating from the way Mbada Diamonds was allowed to mine Chiadzwa diamonds without going to tender.

Mutsekwa is being probed for allegedly taking bribes.

But some MDC functionaries say the probe is a stage-managed inquiry by individuals on the national executive who want to get rid of certain persons, whom they perceive as threats to the succession issue in the party.

“The three individuals are perceived to be close to the Prime Minister,” the official claimed. 2010 is the year of politics — it will lay the foundation for the 2011 congress” she said.

MDC would next year hold an elective congress.

Mudzuri say he’s not scared of any investigation saying “… am not afraid of anything — I have nothing to fear. I believe I have been straightforward and those claiming to have evidence must come out.”

Mines minister Mpofu is linked to looting of diamonds at the controversial Chiadwza Diamonds field.

HARARE  - Zimbabwean state teachers and health workers threatened on Wednesday to strike over low pay, in a move that would paralyse public services and put pressure on a unity government struggling to reverse a decade of economic collapse.

A power-sharing administration set up last year by President Robert Mugabe and his bitter rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in a bid to end a protracted economic and political crisis says it needs at least $10 billion to fix the economy.

The three major unions representing government workers, who earn an average of $160 a month, told reporters at a joint news conference in Harare that they would strike if their demand for a minimum wage of $630 was not met within two weeks.

The unions said they rejected the government's offer of $236 a month for the highest paid public servant.

"The civil servants in Zimbabwe ... register their displeasure and utter dismay at the paltry offer the government has put forward," the unions said in a statement.

"Civil servants therefore demand an urgent redress of this situation before it's too late...we are giving the leadership of the country 14 days to decisively intervene on this issue as a matter of urgency."

Finance Minister Tendai Biti has said the government wage bill takes up 60 percent of total revenue and that limited resources available made it difficult for the state to award significant wage increases.

But government workers said they had no choice.

"Our members are suffering, we cannot pay our bills, the tariffs are higher than our wages," said Cecilia Alexander, president of the Public Service Association (PSA), an umbrella body for all civil servants.

A strike by teachers and health professionals, who make up the bulk of the civil service, would severely affect efforts to revive core sectors which collapsed at the height of Zimbabwe's crisis in 2008 when services at public schools and hospitals ground to a halt.

State media reported on Wednesday that although schools had opened on schedule for the new term, state-employed teachers were not giving lessons in protest against the slow pace of wage negotiations with the government.

Zimbabwe's unity government has managed to stabilise the economy, mainly by dumping a local currency rendered worthless by hyperinflation which peaked at 500 billion percent in December 2008 and adopting the use of multiple currencies.

The country's economy grew for the first time in a decade last year -- by a better than expected 4.7 percent -- and tamed hyperinflation, but analysts say the economy will only take off on the back foreign investment and Western aid.

Investors and Western donors are, however, holding out for signs that the unity government will last and watching if Mugabe is ready to genuinely share power with Tsvangirai and institute broad reforms.

The fragile coalition has been rocked by frequent wrangles over the pace of reforms, senior government appointments such as that of central bank governor and attorney-general, as well as sanctions imposed on Mugabe and his inner circle.

Roy Bennett has long been a thorn in President Robert Mugabe’s side. The white former farmer was elected in 2000 and faced continuous intimidation from the ruling Zanu PF party. Now he’s accused of treason and plotting to kill the controversial Zimbabwean leader and says he’s seriously concerned his hearing won’t be a fair one:
“Obviously I feel very apprehensive. When you’re on trial for something you didn’t do and the charges are all trumped up and you’re in a country where there’s selective application of the rule of law and basically a judiciary system that’s seriously compromised, what do you expect?”

Secret police
Roy Bennett was seized by secret police in February last year just three days after the Movement for Democratic Change and Zanu PF formed a unity government. He was later taken to a prison near the city of Mutare and charged with treason, and sentenced to a year behind bars.

Despite having described his eight months in Chikurubi prison as something he would never forget, he decided not to seek exile in neighbouring South Africa before tomorrow’s trial:

“This is about a fight for democracy, it’s about a fight for a better life for Zimbabweans. As a leader with a constituency it is my duty to fight in the best interests of the majority to have a better world so we have a country that has good governance and returns investment to the country and picks Zimbabwe up and moves it forward.”

Optimistic
Despite the opposition he’s faced – not to mention the fact he’s never been able to take up his post as deputy agriculture minister in the coalition – Roy Bennett told RNW he remains upbeat about lies ahead for Zimbabwe:

“I think Zimbabwe has a tremendous future. We just have to get past this period now and allow the people’s voice to be heard and their will to be respected.”

 Sunday 3 January 2010 00.06 GMT 

 Barefoot at his front door, wearing faded shorts and a T-shirt, Roy Bennett looks tired. As well he might. Next week, instead of kicking off the new year discharging a brief as deputy agriculture minister in Zimbabwe's power-sharing government, Bennett will be back in Harare's high court, enduring a further instalment of a trial in which he faces life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the president, Robert Mugabe.

Under the draconian Public Order and Security Act, the former commercial farmer is accused of buying £3,000 worth of arms in 2006 to carry out acts of insurgency, sabotage, banditry or terrorism. The prosecution claims to have email evidence, along with a confession from Mike Hitschmann, a gun dealer and alleged conspirator, that Bennett bought the weapons to be used as part of an anti-government plot. "It's complete nonsense," he told the Observer at his home in the capital where he is currently on bail. "I had seen Mike Hitschmann at political rallies, but I never bought a single gun from him.

"The court experience is a total nightmare. Sitting in that court every day, listening to people lying, is like one of those dreams where someone is trying to murder you but you can't defend yourself because your gun won't work." Amid no-shows by witnesses and chaos in the paperwork, no one knows when the trial will end.

Bennett, who is also treasurer-general of Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, was arrested in February, on the day he was due to be sworn in to the "inclusive" government that the MDC had finally agreed to join following disputed elections. He is the tenth person to face treason charges since Mugabe came to power in 1980. But the fact that he is white, his political track record and the timing have given this trial a special significance.

Last month, at the Zanu-PF party congress in Harare, Mugabe took his latest swipe at the "settler's son" who is held up by the veteran president as evidence that the MDC is a white-led – or British – conspiracy to dispossess all black Zimbabweans. "Open your eyes," said Mugabe. "This is your country and not for whites. Not the Bennetts. They are settlers. Even if they were born here they are offspring of settlers."

Lawyers say the country's legal system – flawed as it is – should clear Bennett. Dubious witnesses, cobbled-together exhibits and the mysterious disappearance of evidence have marred the prosecution's case. But if he is found guilty, the MDC could find itself at a dangerous crossroads. The secretive nature of the current round of talks between Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister, and the 85-year-old Mugabe has led to a growing restiveness among MDC supporters. A touchy-feely joint press conference just before Christmas left Zimbabweans feeling Tsvangirai was in danger of giving too much ground to his old foe. Diplomats are worried, too. "We are getting very few clear signals from the talks, and we are worried that some MDC ministers are being co-opted by Zanu-PF," said a European ambassador.

It is in that political context that Bennett's trial gives an insight into the workings of power in Zimbabwe. "The outcome of the trial is on the table of the political talks. Mugabe is dangling the danger of Bennett's conviction in front of the MDC as a threat. Mugabe has calculated that, if Bennett goes to jail, Tsvangirai will be considerably weakened in people's eyes," said John Makumbe of the University of Zimbabwe.

The grandson of an Ulsterman who arrived in the 1880s to work as an assayer in the mines, Bennett was a policeman before going to agriculture college in 1978. "I served five years as a regular in the British South Africa Police," he said. "The liberation war was on. I attended many murders. The so-called liberation fighters would go into communal areas and kill black government employees. That was their way of forcing people to support them. Seeing the repression, and how the people were getting a hammering from both sides, gave me a strong affinity with them."

Bennett, who currently lives in Harare with his half-Scots wife Heather, 47, built up his booming 300-hectare fair-trade coffee farm at Chimanimani in the east of the country from scratch. Before May 2000, when it was invaded under Mugabe's ruinous land resettlement campaign, the farm was a hub of empowerment, known throughout the area. Bennett, a fluent speaker of the local language, Shona, had ploughed a share of his profits into building bridges, roads, schools and clinics for the community.

So popular was Bennett that when Mugabe's "war veterans" occupied his farm his employees and local people resisted. Later they sent a witch-doctor to protect the farmhouse and curse the invaders. The farm, he says, is now derelict; he has fought successive court battles but has not been able to return, even for a visit, since 2004. He has now started a panel-beating business in Harare.

Bennett describes himself as a "native through generations of history that was no choice of my own, in the same way as most black Zimbabweans have roots throughout the region". His brand of politics is based on parleys under trees: "I did not want to go into politics. But before the 2000 elections the people came and asked me to get involved. I turned to Zanu-PF, but they would not have me as a candidate. One day the elders and I travelled up to Harare to see what Morgan Tsvangirai had to say for himself. We decided on the MDC. "

In 2000 he became one of four whites to win parliamentary seats for the MDC. His Manicaland constituency – a former heartland of the war against white rule – had been staunchly Zanu-PF for 20 years. For the seat to have gone to a white farmer was an insult to Mugabe. He quickly became a priority target for the ruling party. In 2004 the justice minister, Patrick Chinamasa, announced in parliament that Bennett's Charleswood estate was to be resettled. Bennett marched across the floor and wrestled Chinamasa to the ground. He also took a swing at the anti-corruption minister before being ejected and jailed for 15 months.

The treason trial is based mainly on a controversial "confession" from Hitschmann, 49. Until 2006, when he was arrested, the former volunteer police officer held a formidable armoury on behalf of farmers who had fled the land invasions. He has been subpoenaed as a prosecution witness in Bennett's trial, despite emerging only in July 2009 from two years in jail after being convicted of illegal possession of firearms. The confession that incriminates Bennett was ruled invalid in Hitschmann's own trial because it was obtained under torture.

Hitschmann told the Observer he will reveal the full extent of his mistreatment when he appears in court this month. "The confession naming Bennett is one of five they made me write after I was handcuffed, leg-ironed, beaten over the head and told that my wife and son were in custody. They kicked me in the genitals and burnt my buttocks with cigarettes, and then I was made to write five different confessions.

"One covered a plan I was supposed to have hatched to derail Mugabe's motorcade. The second was the alleged MDC plot involving Bennett. A third had me destabilising the country on the orders of two provincial Zanu-PF officials, and a fourth involved me in economic sabotage of Zanu-PF assets on the orders of a party official. The fifth said [defence minister] Emmerson Mnangagwa and 'unnamed' generals had involved me in a plot to organise resistance to unseat Mugabe.''

As he prepares to face the prosecutors again, Bennett admits he is exhausted. He terribly regrets having "ruined" his family's life. "It has been awful for them. My son Charles, who is 24, had his room raided by strangers when he was 10 and he has not had a permanent home since then. They want to break you, and they get close. But I am not a politician. I cannot be corrupted or intimidated.

"I got into this to help people who now have hung their hats on the fact that I am committed to represent them honestly and fairly. If it was not for those people, I would have walked away from this thing long ago.''

Roy Bennett

Born 1957

1973-1978 After leaving school at 16, serves in the British South Africa Police.

1980 Begins work as a farmer. Later buys Charleswood estate.

May 2000 Charleswood is occupied for the first time; 800 cattle are taken.

24-25 June 2000 Wins seat for MDC by 11,410 votes against 8,072.

2006 Mike Hitschmann is arrested. Bennett asks for asylum in South Africa.

2007 Hitschmann is jailed for two years.

February 2009 After receiving assurances of his safety, Bennett returns. Morgan Tsvangirai gives him job of deputy agriculture minister. But Bennett arrested on arrival at airport.

October 2009 Tsvangirai boycotts power-sharing government for a month in protest at charges against Bennett. Bennett released on bail.

Novem

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai used a Wednesday meeting with Harare City councilors from his MDC party to call for a probe into the controversial airport road construction deal. The ‘Joshua Nkomo Expressway’, as it is known, is meant to link the Harare International Airport and the city centre and has been valued at US$80 million, despite a similar 2001 project in Chegutu covering 77km costing US$19 million. Adding to suspicion is that the airport road is actually 20km shorter than the one built in Chegutu.

Sources accuse Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo and former Harare Commission chairperson Michael Mahachi of corruptly engineering the deal, that saw Ukrainian company Augur Investments being awarded the tender. When the MDC took over council Mahachi was appointed a ‘special
interest councilor’ by Chombo before he resigned a month later to become the project manager for Augur Investments.

The new council run by the MDC has already told its workers taking part in the current construction to stop doing so, until a full investigation into the tender process has been completed. This year Minister Chombo issued a directive rescinding this council resolution but the council has defied this. Only workers from the contractor are still on site.

Harare residents have slammed the project saying it’s hardly a priority given they are going for days without water and the city would be better advised to focus on improving the water infrastructure.

Meanwhile Tsvangirai used the meeting with the councilors to warn them against engaging in corrupt activities. This follows a drastic decision a few weeks ago to suspend the MP for Zengeza East, Alexio Musundire, over violence charges, and a similar suspension of former mayor Israel Marange, and the entire Chitungwiza executive, over allegations of corruptly selling residential stands.

Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Newsreel the MDC was serious about rooting out corrupt officials and Tsvangirai’s meeting with the councilors was part of the wider campaign to emphasize to their members the importance of not being found on the wrong side of the law. ‘We were elected by the people, to serve the people and not our stomachs,’ Chamisa told us. He said all party members, MP’s and councilors are being told the same message and the ‘anti-corruption drum beat was growing louder.

John Nkomo been sworn in as one of Zimbabwe’s two vice Presidents.
Cde Nkomo has been nominated to fill the void left by the death, in August, Joseph Msika.

A Matabeleland province was task to recommend a cadre to take over the post.

Subsequently after a long battle for the position, which almost tore the region apart, they settled on current party chairman Cde Nkomo, a decision that was unanimously endorsed by provinces countrywide.

The provinces also nominated Cde Khaya Moyo as national chairman to take over from Cde Nkomo.

President Mugabe told delegates at a party congress on Saturday that the former Zanu PF chairman will be sworn in into the powerful position on Monday afternoon. 

“I will tell you a secret that I have not told any other person other than Robert Mugabe,” a grinning President Mugabe said as he deliveredhis acceptance speech as leader of the party for the next five years. 

“What I told this man who is your President was ‘since you are also the President of not just Zanu PF but of Zimbabwe as a whole, this Newman who is Vice President should be sworn in as Vice President of Zimbabwe on Monday’. 

Nkomo, a former PF Zapu stalwart led by the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo, which united with President Mugabe’s Zanu PF in 1987, will take over the post left by the late vice President Joseph Msika, who died in August after a long illness. 

Under the 1987 unity accord, one of President Mugabe’s two vice presidents should come from the former PF Zapu.

At party level, Nkomo smothered a fierce challenge from some party heavyweights such as Mines Minister Obert Mpofu, Bulawayo governor Cain Matema and Senate deputy president Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu. 

But critics view Nkomo’s ascendancy into the coveted post as having been influenced by his closeness to President Mugabe. Nkomo is said to be among some Zanu PF politicians who are despised from their under developed Matebeleland home area for alleged abandoning of the region.  

One of Zanu-PF’s elderly statesmen, the widowed Nkomo was born in 1934 in the Tsholotsho District of Matabeleland North province. Nkomo has been the national chairman for Zanu-PF since 1999 and has served in the capacities of Deputy Minister of Industry and Energy in1981, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (1982-1984),Minister of Labour, Manpower Planning and Social Welfare (1988-1992)and Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare,(1992-1995).

Between 1995 and 1997, Nkomo was Minister of Local Government, Ruraland Urban Development, then  minister in the renamed Ministry of Local Government and National Housing, (1997-1999) and Minister of HomeAffairs, (2000-2002).  He was Speaker of Parliament until 2005.

Dec. 10 More than a year after the signing of a power-sharing deal aimed at rescuing Zimbabwe's shattered economy, young people are still leaving the country in droves, seeking a better life in South Africa.

"Not much has changed in Zimbabwe over the past year," says 21-year-old Blessed Rugaru, a day after arriving in South Africa from the eastern Zimbabwean city of Mutare.

She has left behind her parents, who have both lost their jobs.

Zimbabwe's economy has stopped its freefall - mainly because the government has adopted foreign currencies instead of the worthless Zimbabwe dollar.

But this means that those without access to hard currency are in a desperate situation.

The Red Cross has launched an appeal to aid some 220,000 people - mainly in rural areas - it says have no access to money from abroad.

And so those who can send South African rand back to to their families are increasingly valuable.

"There is nowhere to work in Zimbabwe - even if you are educated there are just no jobs," says Brian Ngovu, 17.

They are some of hundreds of Zimbabweans waiting in long queues to be served at a refugee reception centre in Musina in Limpopo Province.

It opened its doors in July 2008 to deal with the thousands of Zimbabwean asylum-seekers then camping out in an open field in the border town.

There are three refugee centres in South Africa and the Limpopo centre, close to the Beit Bridge border post, receives the largest number of people - about 350-400 new asylum applications daily.

"The trends have not changed, we are still seeing the same large groups of people coming here as before the elections last year," says a senior official at the centre.

He refuses to give his name in case he gets "into trouble for speaking to the media".

Queuing for change

The halls and corridors of the centre are packed; the air is warm and stuffy and there is very little conversation as people wait their turn. 
 
Many applications for refugee status are turned down
Mr Ngovu is in the queue that snakes outside; beads of sweat have formed on his face.

He has had nothing to eat that day but he says he will not go home without being served - which looks unlikely to happen before the office closes.

He has been in South Africa for a year - trying to get a job but failing as he does not have legal documents.

He is living in Thohoyandou, about 100km (62 miles) from Musina, with friends who sometimes get jobs at gardeners or painters, but they never get anything long-term because they do not have papers.

"I am looking for a job here so I can help my family back home. If I can get papers for asylum I can get a good job," he says.

But unemployment is high in South Africa and he left school a year before graduating. With no official qualification, finding a job - even with legal documentation - will be difficult.

In a country of close to 50 million people, more than 23% of South Africa's citizens are without jobs.

But between three and four million Zimbabweans are believed to have already crossed into South Africa.

Xenophobic fears

Tension in some townships and informal settlements with a large number of foreigners is on the rise again, following last year's spate of xenophobic attacks. 
  
Some 3,000 foreign nationals, mostly Zimbabweans, were recently driven from their homes in a township outside Cape Town - their shacks were set alight and their belongings destroyed.

Ms Rugaru says fears of more attacks against Zimbabweans are never far from her mind.

"I am worried that the attacks might happen again," she says.

"Things are not good right now in Zimbabwe but I will go back, home is best."

But she is prepared to stay in South Africa as long as it takes to get her refugee papers.

"When I get asylum papers I will use them to apply for study bursaries here," she says.

"I want to be able to build computers from scratch and then I can fix the broken computers in my country."

No guarantees

Both Ms Rugara and Mr Ngovu believe the answer to their troubles is being awarded refugee status.

However, the authorities at the centre say only cases that have "merit" are considered.

"South Africa is obliged by AU [African Union] laws to give permits to refugees, but most of these people do not qualify for refugee status," the senior official explains.

"We cannot give refugee status to people who only leave their country because there are no jobs; these people are economic migrants not refugees," he says.

Although many Zimbabwean asylum requests are rejected, until its economy starts to recover, people will continue to risk their lives crossing the crocodile-infested Limpopo river to earn the hard currency their families need to buy food back home.

Harare — PF Zapu veterans in Zanu PF have threatened a showdown at the party's congress opening on Wednesday if President Robert Mugabe rejects their choice for the party chairmanship.

Mugabe last week made a stunning summersault on the nomination of Zimbabwe's Ambassador to South Africa Simon Khaya Moyo by the majority of Zanu PF provinces after his lieutenants challenged the selection process.

Zanu PF sources said Mugabe was pressured to take the position that might threaten the very foundation of the troubled party after Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa made it clear that he would never consider Moyo as his boss.

Current Zanu PF chairman Didymus Mutasa has also been protesting publicly about the alleged flouting of procedures for the nomination, which he said favoured PF Zapu people.

The latest developments mean Mutasa and Mnangagwa have been thrown a life line to launch fresh bids for the chairmanship.

Speaking in Manicaland last week Mugabe said it was only the post of Vice-President won by John Nkomo that had been settled.

His statements contradicted pronouncements by senior Zanu PF officials such as Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, Angeline Masuku and Richard Ndlovu who have taken issue with Mutasa for trying to seek nomination for a post they say must be reserved for former PF Zapu members.

The say it is an unwritten rule from the 1987 Unity Accord that two posts in the presidium should always be reserved for former PF Zapu.

"When we discussed the issue of candidates to fill in the post left vacant by the late Cde (Joseph) Msika we urged the Matabeleland region to hold consultations and nominate a candidate who would be presented to the provinces," Mugabe was quoted as saying by the state media.

"This was duly done with the nomination of Cde Nkomo as Vice-President of the party.

"We however did not put up the chairmanship for discussion and we were even surprised to read through the media of Cde Khaya Moyo's nomination as national chairman.

"We are surprised that some people rushed to make announcements in the media."

Moyo was chosen by a caucus of former PF Zapu leaders who met before the nominations that had a record number of contestants.

Mugabe said Manicaland was free to lobby for its candidate ahead of the congress, in what was seen as an open endorsement of Mutasa.

However, several Zanu PF officials who spoke to The Standard yesterday said they were waiting for Mugabe to repeat his statements at a politburo meeting scheduled for tomorrow.

The matter was deferred from last week's politburo meeting because Richard Ndlovu, the deputy commissar was in Namibia.

"We are waiting for Monday," said a politburo member. "Mugabe is playing with fire... he can only go ahead with the decision to block Moyo if he is no longer interested in the Unity Accord.

"I don't see the matter being resolved at the politburo meeting and we are sharpening our knives for the congress because it appears they want to call for nominations from the floor, something which is unprecedented.

"Just call me after the politburo meeting on Monday and you will get the best story ever written about Zanu PF."

The official said Mnangagwa was now the favourite to land the chairmanship, which might come as a consolation after his faction was trounced by the rival Mujuru faction during the nominations.

"If they say Moyo was not nominated procedurally then we will have to mobilize Matabeleland provinces to revise their endorsement of Mugabe for the presidency," said another official.

Mugabe was nominated by all the other provinces unopposed while his deputy Joice Mujuru was initially rejected by Masvingo province, which chose Women's League boss, Opphah Muchinguri.

However, Masvingo was forced to reverse the nomination after Mujuru won in other provinces.

There are reports Muchinguri has not abandoned her bid and might surprise Mujuru at the congress by seeking nominations from the floor.

Zanu PF is already weakened in Matabeleland after former politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa led several senior party members to revive Zapu.

04/12/09 Southern African Regional Official in Harare to Push Unity Government Talks

Southern African diplomatic sources voiced concern at the expansion of the agenda on the table in talks among the three parties to Zimbabwe's troubled national unity government aimed at resolving contentious issues

Southern African Development Community Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao flew into Harare on Thursday to press the parties to the power-sharing government there to reach agreement on at least some of the "outstanding issues" that have been troubling the unity government since it's February inception.

Negotiators for the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe, the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC grouping of Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara face a Saturday deadline for concluding this round of discussions - though a communiqué issued by SADC on November 5 is vague on the meaning of the 30-day term.

What is clear, however, is that regional officials including SADC Chairman and Mozambique President Armando Guebuza and South African President Jacob Zuma, mediator in the Harare crisis, expect some results by then.

Sources privy to the talks told VOA that the agenda has grown to 27 issues from six initially, as the governing parties have refined positions and strategies.

For most of the past 10 months since the unity government was formed, feuds between ZANU-PF and the Tsvangirai MDC focused on appointments including the governor of the Reserve Bank and the attorney general as well as those of MDC provincial governors and ambassadors. But more recently debate has shifted to charges of "pirate" radio stations broadcasting to Zimbabwe - including VOA Studio 7 and London-based SW Radio Africa.

The September 2008 Global Political Agreement setting out the terms of power sharing urged foreign governments funding such broadcast operations to cease doing so and for Zimbabwean expatriate broadcasters to come home.

South African mediators and SADC officials urge that the agenda be narrowed down to the most important issues and discussions concluded expeditiously.

, regional diplomatic sources express shock that instead of focusing on operational issues such as senior appointments, the government parties are wrangling over national heroes,  a socalled parallel government and other issues.

Despite growing regional impatience, Prime Minister Tsvangirai told reporters in Cape Town that the tripartite negotiators are making progress.

Political analyst Joy Mabenge told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that the expanding agenda reflects a lack of trust among the governing partners.

 The team of advisers to South African President Jacob Zuma was to meet with negotiators for Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change before reporting to Mr. Zuma on progress in Harare

 A high-level team of South African officials in Zimbabwe to review progress in talks among the partners in Harare's troubled unity government met Monday with President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to push for resolution of outstanding issues before a Dec. 5 deadline.

The deadline was set by the Southern African Development Community troika on Politics, defense and security which met in Maputo, Mozambique, on Nov. 5 to resolve a crisis that jeopardized the survival of the unity government.

The team of advisers to South African President Jacob Zuma was also to meet with negotiators for Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change before reporting to Mr. Zuma.

Negotiators reached by VOA declined to comment on meeting with Mr. Mugabe and the other unity government principals.

Tsvangirai spokesman James Maridadi told VOA Studio 7 reporter Jonga Kandemiiri that Mr. Tsvangirai told the team he wanted to see all outstanding issues resolved before the deadline approaching on Saturday.

A government source said the negotiators have made some progress, but were not close to agreeing on all issues.

Others said the negotiators have for the moment set aside the highly charged dispute as to the tenure of the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon Gono, and Attorney General Johannes Tomana, both Mugabe stalwarts, intending to take them up again when other less politically charged issues more amenable to settlement have been disposed of.

Despite Pretoria's push for agreement, ZANU-PF politburo member Absolom Sikhosana told VOA Studio 7 reporter Ntungmili Nkomo that his party won’t make any concessions until Western sanctions are removed.

Political analyst Mandlenkosi Gatsheni said Mr. Zuma’s facilitation team should pressure both ZANU-PF and the two MDC formations to compromise.

Elsewhere, Tsvangirai spokesman Maridadi took exception to an article in the state-run, pro-ZANU-PF Herald newspaper whose headline said the prime minister made a “U-turn” on Western sanctions. Maridadi said Mr. Tsvangirai did not speak of sanctions but of “restrictive measures” at a Sunday rally in Harare, saying Mr. Tsvangirai has not changed his position.

Maridadi told VOA Studio 7 reporter Brenda Moyo that such restrictive measures can only be removed if the unity government reaches certain benchmarks.

The United States and European Union have indicated that they will not consider lifting their travel and financial sanctions on Mr. Mugabe and other top ZANU-PF officials and individuals seen as key supporters until the 2008 Global Political Agreement for power sharing is fully implemented.

24/11/09 WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama has given an award to a leading women's rights activist in Zimbabwe, labeling Robert Mugabe a "dictator" in the process.

Obama presented Magodonga Mahlangu and her organization Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) with the 2009 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in a White House ceremony.

"Each time they see Magodonga beaten back, beaten black and blue during one protest, only to get right back up and lead another, singing freedom songs at the top of her lungs in full view of security forces, the threat of a policeman's baton loses some of its power," he said.

WOZA has united tens of thousands of Zimbabwean women in a campaign of non-violent struggle against rapes and other rights violations under Mugabe's regime, enduring brutal repression and repeated arrests.

"By her example, Magodonga has shown the women of WOZA and the people of Zimbabwe that they can undermine their oppressors' power with their own power, that they can sap a dictator's strength with their own," Obama said.

Founded in December 2002, WOZA has organized more than 100 demonstrations in favor of democracy and women's rights in Zimbabwe, according to the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

Both the European Union and the United States maintain a travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe, his wife and inner circle in protest at disputed elections and alleged human rights abuses by his government.

Mugabe and rival Morgan Tsvangirai formed a power-sharing government in February tasked with steering Zimbabwe back to stability, but deep problems remain and the political deal is extremely fragile.

The Kennedy center has been awarding its human rights prize, a bronze bust of the later Robert Kennedy along with 30,000 dollars and the promise of legal and technical support to the recipient, since 1984.

Robert Kennedy, the brother of president John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in June 1968 while campaigning for the presidency.

 HARARE  - Zimbabwe's government will next week start an audit of its workers to establish a credible payroll, following criticism that thousands of people who were not state employees were receiving salaries.
Critics have accused President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF of smuggling party supporters onto the government payroll in the past, especially youths from a national training programme blamed for unleashing election violence on the opposition.

Public Service Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro said on Wednesday the audit would be held from November 23 to December 18 but would not cover members of the security forces.

A report by the country's auditor general published last month showed that the Ministry of Youth Empowerment and Indigenisation -- which administers the controversial youth training programme -- had more than 10,000 people on its payroll who were not employed by government.

"The idea is that government can vouch for the integrity of the payroll, audit staffing levels and eradicate irregularities if any," Mukonoweshuro told journalists.

"The audit is not in any way or in any form a witch hunt. If mistakes are found, we want, as government to stand up and have the courage to look up to those mistakes."

The $4 million for the audit would come from a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank.

Zimbabwe is under pressure to carry out extensive political and economic reforms after the formation of a unity government in February, but the new administration is yet to get critical funding from reluctant Western donors.

Mukonoweshuro said more than 200,000 people were employed by the government, most of them teachers, adding that the audit would also establish the extent of skills loss after thousands of Zimbabweans left the country for better paying jobs.

Hopes for an end to impasse in Zimbabwe
MDC says parties have no option but to honour deal
November 16, 2009 Edition 1

Stanley Gama

Zimbabwe's partners in the coalition government, the Movement for Democratic Change and Zanu-PF, were due to meet in Harare today for make-or-break negotiations.

Regional leaders have given the leaders until December 5 to resolve the crisis.

Nine months into the inclusive government, President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are still haggling over outstanding issues from the fragile Global Political Agreement (GPA) that brought about the coalition government.

The impasse between Mugabe and Tsvangirai exploded last month when the MDC temporarily pulled out of the government, leaving the government paralysed and in a constitutional crisis.

This forced the guarantor to the unity deal, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to intervene, and on November 5 it gave Tsvangirai and Mugabe between 15 and 30 days to make sure they implement the outstanding issues.

President Jacob Zuma is expected to visit Zimbabwe on December 6 to assess whether they have resolved the problem. He was assigned by SADC to facilitate the implementation of the deal.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the parties had no option but to fully implement what they agreed to when the GPA was signed.

"This is a straightforward case which does not need days to complete because everything was agreed by the parties. We therefore expect full implementation of the GPA, and expect the negotiators to embrace the letter and spirit of the GPA.

"All the chapters, commas, full stops, clauses, punctuation marks, signatures and paragraphs must be respected and must be complied with. The political parties must agree on implementation so that we do not embarrass SADC, who are guarantors to the deal.

"We are, however, conscious of the stubbornness and insincerity in Zanu-PF. They are dragging their feet and are reluctant to implement reforms, and we hope that this time around they come to the meetings more serious so that we can move the country forward," said Chamisa.

Efforts to obtain comment from Zanu-PF spokespersons and negotiators were in vain. But it has been reliably learnt that Mugabe is already showing signs of giving in on a number of issues, suggesting that today's meeting could make a breakthrough.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai met last week in what insiders say was a fruitful meeting, where the two political heavyweights agreed on a number of reforms pertaining to the media.

"Mugabe and Tsvangirai agreed on the media reforms when they met last week, and all what's left is for the president to announce the various media commissions which will pave the way for the coming in of new players in the media," said a top government official.

Among the outstanding issues the MDC wants implemented are the appointment of provincial governors; the appointment of the attorney-general and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor; the swearing in of deputy minister of agriculture-designate Roy Bennett; and other complaints, such as the slow progress in the constitution-making process and the continued harassment of MDC supporters and officials.

Mugabe, on the other hand, wants the MDC to help remove targeted sanctions and to stop foreign radio stations like the Voice of America broadcasting in Zimbabwe.

10/11/09 PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC ministers in Zimbabwe’s inclusive government have resumed government duties they had boycotted last month.

Addressing a rally in Chitungwiza town, about 20 kilometres south of Harare on Sunday, Tsvangirai said the boycott of Cabinet functions on October 16 was a wake-up call to President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party that the MDC should not be treated as a junior partner in the inclusive government.

“If you want this inclusive government to deliver hope to the people of Zimbabwe, then you must regard the MDC as an equal partner, not as a junior partner,” Tsvangirai said. “If ZANU-PF thought this was a joke, you have learnt one lesson ... that you must regard the MDC as an equal partner and not a junior partner. We are not in there because of the generosity of Robert Mugabe. We are not a junior partner when we have the mandate of the people.”

The rally was Tsvangirai’s first public address since calling off a three-week boycott of the power sharing government after the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) troika intervened in Mozambique last week.
He said his party would resume government duties but that the agreement should be reviewed in 15 days.

“We have come a long way, both as a party and as prime minister, we will not be shaken,” Tsvangirai said. “We will not leave, our people told us that we should fight from inside.

Why should we leave when we are the majority party?”
He said South African President Jacob Zuma had assured that the issues would be resolved in 15 days and that he would come to assess the implementation of the power sharing agreement at the end of the 15 days. Since Tsvangirai and his officials boycotted government functions, they have stayed away from three consecutive cabinet meetings, which have been attended by ZANU-PF and the smaller faction of the MDC led by Arthur Mutambara.

Tsvangirai said SADC had been satisfied with the action he and his officials took but urged that they go back into government while issues were being resolved.

“SADC said these people (MDC) are justified to take the action they took,” Tsvangirai said. “They said if you (MDC) do not go back into the government, the country will slide back into chaos.”

He said ZANU-PF had a window of opportunity to demonstrate goodwill and commitment to the unity government and to the SADC resolutions.
Zimbabwe’s inclusive government was brought to a near chaos after MDC disengaged from it in response to what it said was ZANU-PF refusal to abide by the provisions of the political agreement that established the government.

Among the outstanding issues are so-called unilateral appointment of the central bank governor and Attorney General by President Mugabe, the appointment of senior government officials, diplomats and provincial governors and the failure by the President to swear in Roy Bennett to assume the position of deputy agriculture minister.

Bennett is currently in court facing criminal charges for possessing assorted weapons with a view to committing “banditry and insurgency.”

4/11/09 Police in Zimbabwe Tuesday released a lawyer arrested Monday for objecting to a subpoena issued for his client, Peter Hitschmann, who served a prison term for possession of weapons in connection with an alleged 2006 plot to assassinate President Robert Mugabe.

Attorney Mordecai Mahlangu was charged with obstructing justice after he wrote to Attorney General Johannes Tomana to protest the subpoena directing Hitschmann to testify in the terrorism trial of Senator Roy Bennett of the Movement for Democratic Change.

Bennett, a former white commercial farmer who in 2004-2005 served eight months of a term imposed by Parliament for a scuffle on the House floor with ZANU-PF Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, is scheduled to go on trial Nov. 9 on charges of possessing weapons for the purpose of terrorism and banditry in connection with the 2006 Hitschmann case.

The alleged assassination conspiracy targeting Bennett and other members of the MDC formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, then in opposition, fell apart as even state prosecutors disassociated themselves from the case. Only Hitschmann was convicted on weapons charges after police seized firearms at his home in Mutare, Manicaland province.

Mahlangu told VOA Studio 7 reporter Sithandekile Mhlanga he was freed Tuesday afternoon and is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 16, when he said he intends to refuse further remand as his action on behalf of Hitschmann was within the bounds of the law.

Elsewhere, another Tsvangirai MDC official reported missing a fortnight ago turned up in a Harare court on Tuesday accused of stealing weapons from a military barracks. Pascal Gwenzere was remanded in custody to Nov. 13.

His lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, said Gwenzere was charged without his knowledge and needs urgent medical attention because he was severely tortured by state agents.

Hardliners in Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party are trying to split the country's unity government, says senior official Arthur Mutambara.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party is refusing to co-operate with Mr Mugabe and talks brokered by Mr Mutambara ended with no deal on Monday.

Mr Mutambara, who leads a separate faction of the MDC party, said the leaders must continue to talk.

The MDC and Zanu-PF were bitter enemies before agreeing to govern together.

Analysts say there are factions within both parties who still find it extremely difficult to work together since the government was formed in February following disputed elections last year marred by violence.

'Trying to offend'

Mr Tsvangirai withdrew co-operation with Mr Mugabe on 16 October angry at a prosecution being brought against a senior MDC member.

He also cited frustration at the perceived failure of Zanu-PF to implement measures agreed to as a part of the power-sharing deal which was signed in February.

 
The coalition has stalled over a lack of political progress, the MDC asserts
But Mr Mutambara, one of the country's deputy prime ministers, told the BBC's Network Africa programme he did not believe Mr Tsvangirai had made the right decision.

"There are hardliners in Zanu who are taking the opportunity to offend all of us in government - offend our colleagues led by Morgan Tsvangirai," he said.

"What they want is the collapse of the government.

"What we need to do is to make sure we don't fall into that trap. We have to be clever, we have to be strategic, we have to out-think them."

Mr Mutambara was said to have mediated in a four-hour meeting between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai on Monday.

It was the first time the pair had met since Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of the coalition government.

But Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said the two men were "worlds apart" on many issues.

The MDC, which was in opposition in Zimbabwe for many years, says it is now looking to a meeting in Harare later in the week of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) to try to break the deadlock.

"If that fails... a free and fair election under the supervision of the international community, Sadc and the African Union will be the only option," Mr Chamisa said.

"If they [Mr Mugabe and the Zanu-PF] are facing west we are facing east," he added.

SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma said Zimbabwe will not be allowed to “slide back into instability” after meeting Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a delegation from the Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s Defence and Security Organ is expected in Zimbabwe next week to try and break an impasse between Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe which is threatening to unravel a power sharing government formed in February.

Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, the current chairman of the rotating organ on Security and Defence, assured Tsvangirai after a meeting in Chimoio, in the central province of Manica, that an emergency taskforce would be sent to talk to the three main parties before reporting to a SADC troika meeting scheduled for Harare which both Mugabe and Tsvangirai will attend on October 30.

Tsvangirai travelled to neighbouring Mozambique on Monday, his first stop in a wide tour across the SADC region as he seeks the support of Zimbabwe’s neighbours to put pressure on Mugabe and his Zanu PF party to resolve what the MDC says are “outstanding issues” from a September 15, 2008, power sharing agreement.

The MDC wants the unilateral appointment of the Attorney General and Reserve Bank governor by Mugabe reversed, and a speedy resolution of other appointments – including governors and ambassadors.

The MDC tripped last week after Tsvangirai’s pick for Deputy Agriculture Minister Roy Bennett – who is yet to be sworn in -- was indicted on terrorism charges.

Tsvangirai announced last Friday that his party was “disengaging” all contact with the “dishonest” Zanu PF, and on Tuesday, his party’s 13 ministers skipped a Cabinet meeting chaired by Mugabe.

After meeting Tsvangirai in Cape Town, Zuma said he was concerned with the situation in Zimbabwe.

“Zimbabwe should not be allowed to slide back into instability,” he said.

In Johannesburg, an aide to Tsvangirai told a Wits University lecture that Zimbabwe's government of national unity would continue unless constitutional reform was derailed.

“If Zanu PF derailed the constitutional [reform] then there would be no reason to stay in government,” the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office Gorden Moyo said.

Despite criticism of the government of national unity (GNU), Moyo said it still had the support of members of Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Tomaz Salomao, SADC’s executive secretary said the “troika” mission early next week would be followed by a meeting to be held on Friday in Harare between Mugabe, Tsvangirai, as well as Mutambara. President Guebuza is set to attend that meeting.

Salomao said Tsvangirai is aware that the solution to overcoming the problems was for Zimbabweans themselves not to create a perception of a country in permanent crisis whose solution depends on others.

"It is up to Zimbabweans overcome this crisis and the Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai is also clear. Better than anyone, they all three (Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara) know what is good for Zimbabwe and what is not," Salomao said.

Former Zimbabwe Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, architect of the country's harsh media laws, has said if given another chance as a public official he would have done certain things differently and even better.

But he defended the controversial media laws, saying they were created and remain on the books because they are good for Zimbabwe.

"Clearly, there are things I would have done differently or even better, but as to the laws, we are a democracy. Whatever the detractors say, it's not possible in a democracy for one individual to write any laws. Secondly, those laws…are still on our books some five years after I left government. Surely… they are there because they are good for Zimbabwe," he said.

Moyo said criticism of the media laws he helped enact has nothing to do with their substance but rather based on hatred for him.

"If I were to propose love as the law of Zimbabwe, those detractors would find something wrong. Even if I gave them the Bible and said the entire Bible is now going to be the law, as long as that proposal will be coming from me, those particular detractors will think the Bible is a devil's document," he said.

Moyo, who resigned from Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party five years ago was accepted back into the party last week.

He said while he might have left ZANU-PF in flesh, he never left in spirit.

"One gets associated with a political party at the level of ideology and principle, and my ideological affiliation with ZANU-PF has not changed, but there had been some misunderstandings on issues of strategy, tactics and personality. And I had been considered to have expelled myself. So there has never been really a formal process of the party expelling me," he said.

Moyo is the only independent member in Zimbabwe's 210-seat parliament where the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has a slim one seat majority.

But he denied he was invited back to give ZANU-PF an additional parliamentary seat.

"The fact of the matter is that this is an expression of my freedom of association which has nothing to do with the numbers in parliament. I must say though it's not true that the MDC has a majority in parliament. There are three political parties that make up the government of national unity in Zimbabwe. None of them has a majority," Moyo said.

Moyo called for support for Zimbabwe's unity government.

"Clearly, there has been a dramatic reduction of political tension in our country…The fact that we have a government of national unity, which by and large has shown the capacity and willingness for Zimbabweans to work together means that everyone else who really means well and wishes our country well should support it," Moyo said.

He said while "considerable effort and achievement" have been made, those efforts and achievement continue to be undermined by what Moyo called "illegal sanctions" by Western countries.

2/10/09 HARARE, Zimbabwe — A prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist and eight others are suing the government for $500 million after terror charges against them were dropped because they had been beaten and tortured, their lawyer said Thursday.

Harrison Nkomo, a lawyer for activist Jestina Mukoko, said the national police commissioner, intelligence minister and several police officers were among those being sued for the abduction, wrongful arrest and torture of Mukoko and the others.

Mukoko is seeking $250 million of that settlement, he said, adding that the rest would be split between the other activists.

The country's Supreme Court granted the activists a permanent stay of prosecution Monday because their constitutional rights had been violated.

Mukoko testified earlier this year that she had been tortured and assaulted in jail. The defendants appeared with bloodied, swollen faces during court appearances late last year.

"It is their prerogative to pursue any legal recourse with regard to any perceived violence they allege may have happened," said police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena. "The police will also advance and argument why they can't be held liable for anything done to Jestina and the others."

Thursday's announcement was made at a press conference hosted by the group Zimbabwe Lawyers For Human Rights. Mukoko attended the conference but did not speak.

The organization's director Irene Petras also called for Attorney-General Johannes Tomana to resign over his "unethical and partisan" conduct during the activists' trial.

Tomana dismissed the call and told The Associated Press that his officials had been professional.

Accusations that Mukoko and the others had been plotting to overthrow Mugabe had been widely denounced as trumped up and politically motivated.

Mukoko was taken from her home in early December and held at an undisclosed location until being jailed Dec. 23. She was freed on bail in March, only to have a Harare magistrate revoke that in May, prompting international criticism.

Some analysts saw the decision to drop charges as a new willingness by judges loyal to President Robert Mugabe to meet demands for reforms.

Mugabe formed a unity government with former opposition leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in February.

Tsvangirai said the case undermined the coalition and called for the dropping of charges against all activists and for attacks against opposition members to be stopped.

Petras said she remained concerned about seven activists from Tsvangirai's party whose whereabouts are unknown.

Hundreds of pro-democracy activists went missing in the wake of Zimbabwe's disputed elections in March 2008.

Zimbabweans will go to the polls to choose their next political leaders two years after a new constitution is put in place, President Robert Mugabe has said.

Mugabe made the surprise announcement when he officially opened the National Women’s Congress of his Zanu-PF party in Harare on Thursday.

The announcement has surprised and shocked many Zimbabweans who had expected to return to the polls within the next two years as prescribed by the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which gave birth to the ruling inclusive government.

Mugabe apparently made the decision and announcement without consulting anyone.

According to the GPA, elections are expected to be held as soon as the new constitution is in place. The process was expected to take two years which was also the expected tentative lifespan of the inclusive government.

Work on the constitution has already begun and although there have been resource impediments, the exercise is expected to be completed by the end of next year. Elections would be held immediately after that.

Mugabe has, however, put paid to these expectations with the announcement that elections would have to wait another two years after the completion of the new constitution.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai won last year’s elections but failed to garner enough votes to unseat Mugabe from the presidency.

His party, however, won the majority parliamentary seats. The stalemate resulted in the formation of the inclusive government, a transitional arrangement meant to shepherd Zimbabweans towards another round of elections in two years time.

“We are all surprised. It is the first time we are hearing this. It could be one of Mugabe’s unilateral decisions which have always given us problems,” Nelson Chamisa, spokesperson of Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change, said on Friday.

Professor John Makumbe of the University of Zimbabwe said Mugabe may have the executive powers to announce election dates but for him to spring surprises of this nature on his GPA partners was “dangerous arrogance”.

“Why is he provoking his partners like that? It is not as if they were not going to agree on the timetable with his partners, but he could have had the decency to consult them instead of making surprise announcements at his party’s gathering.”

HARARE, Zimbabwe  -- A European Union delegation met Saturday with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who said the parties had established a "good rapport."

President Mugabe and his wife, Grace, arrive for a ZANU PF party youth conference on Friday.

 "There was no animosity, it was quite friendly," Mugabe said.

Gunilla Carlsson, the Swedish minister for International Development Cooperation, said the parties "definitely made some progress."

"Of course we didn't agree with everything Mr. Mugabe said, but it was a correct meeting and we exchanged views," Carlsson, who is heading the mission, told CNN's Rosemary Church.

The delegation met with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai later on Saturday.

Carlsson spokesman Peter Larsson had said earlier that "there was no sense of any hostility from Mugabe." Larsson was referring to remarks the Zimbabwean president made Friday, when he condemned "bloody whites" for meddling in his country's affairs. Carlsson is heading the mission to Zimbabwe.

"Sanctions or no sanctions, Zimbabwe remains ours," .Mugabe told his ZANU-PF party's youth conference in Harare on Friday.

"Who said the British and the Americans should rule over others? That's why we say, down with you. We have not invited these bloody whites. They want to poke their nose into our own affairs. Refuse that," he said.

The European Union imposed travel bans on Mugabe and his representatives in 2002. The bans were imposed after accusations of human rights violations and election fraud.

In addition to travel restrictions, the European Union has frozen the assets of more than 200 Zimbabweans for allegedly violating human rights, according to Sweden, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU this year.

On Saturday, Mugabe again addressed "sanctions," saying he was dismayed that they were not lifted after meeting with the EU delegation.

"I have always been disappointed with sanctions on Zimbabwe," he said, adding that the EU delegation "thought things were not working, yet we did all the things we were asked to do" under a power-sharing agreement signed in September last year.

Larsson said there was no discussion about the restrictions at the meeting.

Under the agreement, which was to end months of turmoil and violence that followed the country's March 2008 presidential elections, Mugabe retained his office, and opposition leader Tsvangirai became prime minister.

The agreement -- the Global Political Agreement-- spelled out a number of fundamental democratic reforms, but so far there has been no progress toward them, Carlsson said in a statement ahead of the meetings with Mugabe and Tsvangirai.

"There have not yet been clear positive developments in all areas. I am still concerned at the lack of democratic development," she said then.

After meeting with Tsvangirai, Carlsson told CNN that "Tsvangirai's government is working hard towards the implementation of the political agreement."

She added, "After such a long time of oppression, it is of course hard to move forward and change will take some time. But the EU is committed to follow up on this progress and encourage change."

KINSHASA — Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai called Tuesday on southern African nations to step up monitoring of his power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe.

He said the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) "remains seized with the enormous responsibility" of making sure that the two sides in the February accord, which ended a prolonged political standoff, "move rapidly towards its full implementation".

Tsvangirai, speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of a SADC summit in Kinshasa, added that he was attending the event as leader of the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.

"Now that the SADC Troika is specifically vested with the matter of Zimbabwe it is my hope and belief that it will deal with all outstanding issues as a matter of urgency," he said.

Tsvangirai's MDC and Mugabe's ZANU-PF signed a deal to form a unity government after months of political violence but they have clashed over the appointment of a central bank chief and chief prosecutor.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma was to report to the summit on his latest meetings with Mugabe and Tsvangirai aiming to resolve the remaining tensions between the political rivals.

The summit also discussed the crisis in Madgascar, which was suspended from the SADC after Andry Rajoelina ousted President Marc Ravalomanana in March.

Madasgascar's main opposition movements have rejected a proposal by the island's contested leader for a "consensus government".

Internationally-brokered crisis talks last month yielded a deal stipulating that the president and prime minister of a power-sharing transition administration were to be decided by consensus.

But Rajoelina has refused to change the prime minister he appointed after his army-backed takeover. The three opposition groups, led by former heads of state, have insisted they will not give a vote of confidence to a cabinet drawn up by Rajoelina's camp.

The SADC summit in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital was also to discuss climate change policy ahead of international talks in Copenhagen in December and free trade measures.

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai will be giving the opening address at the upcoming Zimbabwe Mining Indaba, to be held in Harare on September 16 and 17.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will officially open the conference after Tsvangirai’s 
address.

Other top-profile speakers 
include Minister of Mines and Mining Development Obert Mpofu, Minister of Finance Tendai Biti and Minister of Economic Planning and Devel-opment Elton Mangoma.

In an interview with Mining Weekly, Andrew Mari, chairperson of Utho Capital, the conference organiser, reports that the conference has gained significant government backing owing to the fact that Zimbabwe has realised the importance of a sustainable mining industry in rebuilding the country’s battered economy.

“The focus of the conference is to promote Zimbabwe as a mining destination of choice. The conference will also give potential investors the opportunity to engage government on concerns regarding investing in the country,” says Mari.

The indaba follows the recent 
Omega Mining Investment Mining in Africa conference, where Mpofu said that the new Zimbabwe administration was eager to fast-track investment in the country.

The indaba will also serve as a means for the government to ascertain the expectation of 
investors regarding legislation, as the current mining legislation in Zimbabwe is being reviewed.

“The Zimbabwe government is looking at all its options, as it does not want to create an environment that will be unfavourable for foreign investment,” says Mari. A one-hour session on government policy and legislation has been set aside on the opening day.

Other highlights on the opening day include a discussion on Zimbabwe’s strategy for the recovery of the mining industry, from government and private-sector perspectives; an overview of mineral resources in Zimbabwe; and a discussion on whether Zimbabwe’s mining sector is still an attractive investment option – this will also cover the political risk of entering Zimbabwe and whether this is 
exaggerated.

A key session on the opening day will be on indigenisation and mining. At the Mining in Africa conference, Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines (CoM) president Victor Gapare reported that the industry needed significant recapitalisation to rebuild itself into a sustainable industry. However, this would not be done at the expense of locals.

The CoM has been tasked with developing an indigenisation programme that will favour local Zimbabweans over foreign investors. However, the initial guidance of a 51% stake being held by 
indigenous Zimbabweans has been described as unsustainable by Tsvangirai. The chamber, in 
association with the Department of Mines and Mining Develop-ment, is now looking at various indigenisation programmes from other countries in the Southern African Development Community region.

Mari reports that the Zim-babwe Mining Indaba will have a different feel to the annual Mining Indaba, held in Cape Town. He says that, because the Cape Town indaba is established and investors are aware of the investment opportunities offered by South
Africa, the Cape Town Indaba 
focuses on trends in the mining 
industry. However, because this is the inaugural Zimbabwe Mining Indaba, the focus will largely be on investment opportunities in Zimbabwe and raising the profile of the country as an investment destination.

“It has been very encouraging to see the level of interest gener-
ated by the conference. A dele-gation of over 140 members is being sent to the indaba from South Africa. This delegation will 
be made up mainly of representatives from mining majors and 
juniors,” says Mari.

THE Movement for Democratic Change party led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara says it has expelled former St Mary’s legislator Job Sikhala for “deviant behaviour”.

Sikhala claimed last month that he had taken control of the party and lashed out at Mutambara and other senior leaders whom he accused of “deviating from the party’s founding principles”.

In a statement on Tuesday, the head of the MDC’s disciplinary committee Lyson Mlambo said a hearing convened on Sunday passed a verdict expelling Sikhala along with Edwin Dzambara, also a member of the national executive.

Mlambo said: “While the two did not turn up for the hearing, the Committee proceeded to consider their cases separately, based on the available evidence, and found the two guilty of the charges outlined in the letters sent to them on August 19, 2009.

“Consequently, the National Disciplinary Committee, having fully considered the evidence at its disposal, decided that the two be expelled from the party with immediate.”

Sikhala said his expulsion was “nonsense and rubbish and coming from dogs and reptiles who are finished politically,” while repeating that he now had control of the party’s structures, “the original MDC which has no totems or other people’s surnames”.

Mlambo blasted: “A mentally balanced person wouldn’t just simply go to the press and say ‘I have taken over the party, I am now leader of the party, and I am now Secretary General’. From which Congress and from which constitutional provisions? It’s a clear case of being paid by foreign agents, simple, and we had to put a full stop to that.”

Sikhala’s expulsion follows that of the party’s three MPs Norman Mpofu (Bulilima East), Abednico Bhebhe (Nkayi South) and Njabuliso Mguni (Lupane East) after they were found guilty of misconduct by the disciplinary committee in July.

Last month, the Speaker of Parliament notified the three legislators that there parliamentary seats had fallen vacant after the expulsions in which they were accused of aligning themselves with a rival MDC faction led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and undermining the party’s leadership.

Two other MPs Maxwell Dube (Tsholotsho South) and Thandeko Mnkandla (Gwanda North) escaped with cautions after being hauled before the same disciplinary committee.

E man at the centre of sensational sodomy allegations against National Healing minister and Zanu PF chairman John Nkomo, the favourite candidate to become co-vice-president, Mncedisi Twala, has spoken out on the saga which has sent shockwaves through the political landscape.


In hot soup: Nkomo

The sodomy allegations, which our correspondent has been closely following since last week after Twala made an alarming police report against Nkomo, has echoes of the Banana saga which rocked the country in the late 1990s.

Former president Canaan Banana was convicted and jailed for sodomy against the late Jefta Dube, sinking his illustrious political career.

President Robert Mugabe, who has described homosexuals as "worse than pigs and dogs", did not attend Banana's funeral. Banana was not buried at Heroes Acre, where most liberation-struggle nationalist leaders are interred, after the Zanu PF politburo refused to declare him a national hero.

The Nkomo saga deepened this week  when police intensified their investigations by visiting the complainant's home to interrogate him. Police yesterday reportedly also seized Twala's uncle, Bekezela Khumalo, whom they had been hunting down the whole week.

Twala's mother, Lister Ncube, in an interview said she was worried about the safety of her son.

Nkomo, who has denied the allegations, has reportedly engaged attorneys Chris John Dube of Dube, Banda & Nzarayapenga, while Twala's lawyer is Mkhululi Nyathi of Mabhikwa, Hikwa & Nyathi.

Twala (30) narrated his alleged rape to our correspondent on Wednesday and yesterday saying he was traumatised and now feared for his life after being arrested and harassed by the police.

He said he was now living in fear because he had been harassed and treated like a criminal when he was a "victim" of rape.

Twala, who lives with his mother in Lobengula West in Bulawayo, said instead of investigating his report, police in fact initially tried to charge him with armed robbery before dropping the claims which could not stick. He said police were now trying to charge him with making a false report, but he was standing by his sodomy allegations.

Twala, who is a photographer, said what was now happening has proved his worst fears because his initial report to police after the alleged sexual assault in April 2002 was not recorded by the law enforcement agents.

After failing to get police protection and an investigation into the matter in 2002, Twala said he escaped to South Africa.

He said he only permanently returned home on July 4, although in between he occasionally visited his mother when she fell ill.

Twala said minutes after his release on Wednesday that although he was temporarily free, he now feared for his life but was "prepared to tackle anyone head on if push comes to shove".

"I now fear for my life as I was constantly told that I could disappear or even be killed because I'm accusing a senior Zanu PF official," Twala said.

Twala said he was psychologically affected by his "unlawful detention" by police since last week. He was released on Wednesday by a Bulawayo area prosecutor, Simon Nleya, without charge. He was threatened with a counter charge of armed robbery.

"When I was in police detention on Friday night, some anonymous people came to my cell accusing me of making a false report on a senior Zanu PF person and asking me if I knew I could disappear for it. At that point I did not fear anything because I was already in detention but now after my release, I'm scared for my life," said Twala.

Nkomo has denied the allegations.

Asked whether his claims are not politically motivated, Twala laughed, saying he had nothing to benefit from meddling in party politics because he was not a member of any political party.

"I can tell you 100% this is not political. All that I want is justice. Why are the police now hesitant to bring me to court to prove that I did not make a false report as they want to claim? If they think I'm lying, let them take me to court and I will prove I'm not lying," he said.

Twala said the alleged rape happened in April 2002 after meeting Nkomo at Bulawayo's Centenary Park where he used to spend time taking photographs.

He said the alleged rape took place at a hotel after Nkomo had invited him there. Twala said he has had serious difficulties in reporting the case to the police.

After the failed previous attempts, Twala finally made a report at Rose Camp police station in Bulawayo last Thursday.

However, he was arrested on Friday at his home and was detained at Luveve police station. He was moved to Western Commonage police station in Mpopoma on Saturday afternoon.

He remained there until his release on Wednesday. Jefta Dube and other victims of sodomy had repeatedly reported the case to top government officials, but were rebuffed until the police murder case in the courts led to the investigation of the allegations.

Twala said he felt harassed by the police after making his report last week. Barely 24 hours after his release on Wednesday, police yesterday morning went to Twala's house in Lobengula West to ask him further questions relating to when he had applied for a passport and whether he could positively identify the police officer to whom he first attempted to file the sodomy report in 2002.

Twala said he initially made the report at Bulawayo central police station when Nkomo was Minister of Home Affairs before leaving the country and returning to pursue the matter.

26/08/09 HARARE - President Robert Mugabe has flown out of the country for urgent medical attention, amid indications that the health of the 85-year-old Zimbabwean leader is failing,according to the Zimbabwe Tribune.

The President's medical condition is a closely guarded secret, but doctors in Singapore were said to be attending to him after he ordered a London-bound Air Zimbabwe flight to drop him and his entourage in Qatar via Dubai last week.
 
Mugabe missed the Cabinet retreat in Nyanga that ended in chaos on Saturday and Sunday after Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara slammed the veteran leader's murderous campaign last year. Vice President Joice Mujuru stood in for him.
 
What heightened speculation was Mugabe's conspicuous absence during the death of Richard Hove, a veteran of the struggle who died at 77 last Friday.
 
Again Mujuru had to deliver a painstaking apology on the President's behalf, just stating the "VaMugabe vari kunze kwenyika. Ndaka taura navo nezuro."
 
Sources say Mugabe was suffering from prostate cancer and had taken a week off to fly to the Far East for a "medical emergency."
 
Sources say the country's leader of 29 years is determined to stay on and contest the next elections despite suffering a number of fits in recent months and collapsing at State House recently. "He is prepared to contest them from his deathbed," one official said.
 
He is understood to have travelled to the Far East with his wife, Grace, amid reports he is in "serious condition."
 
Mugabe is also uncharacetristically missing the Harare Agricultural Show, which was scheduled to be officially opened by Jacob Zuma, the SA President tomorrow.

 ADDITIONAL REPORT

Zimbabwean ruler whisked off to Dubai clinic in secret after health scare

ZIMBABWE’S President Robert Mugabe is receiving treatment in a Dubai hospital following a serious health scare.

By Denford Magora

I have previously told you about buckets of loose diamonds stored in the vaults of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe but what we did not know was just how this is affecting the “outstanding issue” of Gideon Gono at the Reserve Bank.

The American government recently put sanctions on people from Malaysia and Singapore who are apparently facilitating the sale of loose diamonds on the world market for Grace Mugabe and Gideon Gono.

We now know how these loose diamonds are being taken out and what they are then used for.

As you know, diplomatic bags are not searched, nor are diplomats when they travel through foreign airports.

Most of the trips that are made by Grace Mugabe, especially, to Hong Kong and Singapore are not publicised unless Robert “The Solution” Mugabe joins in. And always, there is a smokescreen when Robert Mugabe himself travels. It is either for “holiday” or “medical reasons” to see his urologist, who is based in Singapore and travels between Singapore and Malaysia.

Mohamed Kechik, who is said to be Mugabe’s personal physician in Malaysia and Singapore, has now almost entirely stopped his medical practice, and instead concentrates on “business”.

This business involves the Mugabes, Gideon Gono and some top Defence Forces officers from Zimbabwe.

Premises for cutting and polishing loose diamonds for eventual sale have already been established in Qingdao Province by this group, with the help of their Malaysian and Singaporean friends.

Of course, everyone knows about the voracious appetite Grace Mugabe has for opulence. This applies also to the lifestyles of her children and, although no one can say for certain how Mugabe is funding the University education for his daughter Bona, who is at a Hong Kong hotel, those in the know say that it is money from loose diamonds that makes this possible.

Already, bit by bit, loose diamonds are being taken out in handbags and in diplomatic pouches.

There are allegations that surfaced this last week that some of this dirty work is being done my military attaches in China, where Grace’s former husband is now stationed as a military attache.

The refusal by the army to vacate the Chiadzwa diamond fields is so that they can at least buy more time to collect even more loose diamonds for polishing and sale from their new factory in China.

Grace Mugabe
Previously, it was thought that Zimbabwean diamonds were going out by way of South Africa, where the loose diamonds were “sanitised” put up for sale as originating from that country or from Namibia.

This is what informed the plea by the Kimberley Process Team for Zimbabwe’s neighbours to help ensure that Zimbabwe’s diamonds are monitored properly.

Zimbabwe’s diamonds are considered “blood diamonds” or conflict diamonds because of the persistent allegations that up to 200 people may have been killed at the Chiadzwa diamond fields as the army moved in and cleaned up the place, brutally dispersing the “small-scale diamond miners” who were exploiting the place.

While it is true that there was an upsurge in vehicles with South African registration plates in the diamond-mining area in the old days, these have since disappeared as the army put a choke-hold on the fields.

Any foreign registered vehicle found in that area is searched thoroughly and the drivers routinely roughed up.

The move is as much about protecting the loose diamond trade established under the table by authorities in Zimbabwe as it is about ensuring that national wealth does not get frittered away as foreigners buy the gems for much less than they are worth – the small-scale miners know no difference.

The extent and richness of the fields is betrayed by the fact that Acting Chief Chiadzwa, Newman Chiadzwa, who was is currently on trial in Mutare, was found with 8KGs OF LOOSE DIAMONDS in his shop.

Apparently, he had been asking desperate villagers to bring him diamonds to buy groceries and supplies with, since cash was in short supply.

He also owned a diamond mining supply shop and it is alleged that he also sold equipment to small-scale diamond miners and asking for loose, rough diamonds as payment.

All this makes it unlikely that you will find any resolution to the Chiadzwa issue any time soon. The army has refused to move off, prompting the Kimberley Process to call for a ban on Zimbabwe diamonds worldwide.

All that this will do is ensure that the army remains in charge and loose diamonds continue to be spirited away to China to be invested in the lifestyles of Zimbabwe’s ruling class. No company will want to partner the government-owned company that is now nominally in charge of mining at the diamonds fields.

By the time the whole mess is sorted out, quite a number of Zimbabwe’s ruling class would have built empires, fortunes and vast investments on the back of smuggled loose diamonds, cut and polished in China and sold, as one source put in, “in the alleyways and backyards of Hong Kong and China.”

Even as the MDC is aware that this is happening, Tsvangirai is powerless to do anything about it because of his fear of Zimbabwe’s military, who only recently decided to pay him token respect in exchange for being left alone to pursue their trade in loose diamonds and continue milking the state and the fields themselves.

HARARE, August 19, 2009- Self-proclaimed new leader of the Arthur Mutambara-led MDC formation, Job Sikhala says Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai should have seized power from President Robert Mugabe soon after last year’s elections.

Sikhala, who himself claims he has toppled his own party president, Mutambara, says Tsvangirai should have declared himself President without opting for a unity arrangement that has subordinated him to Mugabe, whom he says is "a legitimate election thief”.

“If I were Morgan Tsvangirai, I was going to do exactly what I have done to Mutambara today,” Sikhala said Tuesday evening.

He was addressing journalists at the Quill Club, Harare’s press club.

“I was going to declare myself President and was going to ask everyone including international diplomats to come and pay homage to me, " he said. " I was also going to ask the entire international community to recognise my government to say that I have won the elections, I am now the commander-in-chief of the armed forces."

Tsvangirai won the inconclusive March 29 elections but withdrew his candidature a week before the run-off election marred with massive State sponsored volence which claimed the lives of an estimated 200 MDC supporters.

He is now part of the transitional government that has left Mugabe as Head of State while he became Prime Minister with executive powers.

The former St Mary’s legislator said he has ousted Mutambara, now Deputy Prime Minister, whom he accuses of joining hands with Tsvangirai to surrender power to Mugabe through the unity arrangement.

 “The verdict of the election was supposed to be respected. When we formed the MDC we did not form it because we wanted to one day go and share power with Robert Mugabe. We wanted total power,” said Sikhala, who moves around with dozens of followers who accompany most of his comments with bursts of applause.

Sikhala said he was on 13 January, 2003, tortured by the police CID Law and Order division for challenging Mugabe’s rule.

“I was not fighting for him to sit on table and enjoy chocolates with Mugabe,” he said.

He said his assumed status as leader of the smaller MDC is anchored on the support of 90 percent of the beleaguered party’s national executive council members and provinces.

 “The revolution has been betrayed,” said Sikhala. “I have taken over the reigns of power in the MDC. I am going to continue with the struggle alongside the majority of the members in my party. Arthur Mutambara is no longer the proper commander-in-chief of my party. He is no longer fighting for the cause of the people. He is now enjoying the crumbs that are falling from the table of King Robert Mugabe.”

Sikhala said those who doubt his actions should do so at their own peril.

“I am a man who says something and follows up on it. I am prepared to die for it and mean it that I have overthrown Mutambara. The total control of power is now in my hands.”

Sikhala said he will call for an extra ordinary congress at the Chitungwiza Aquatic Complex in April next year that will bring in 6000 delegates to choose a new MDC leadership.

In between, he says, he would organise for “massive demonstrations” both as “a show of strength” and to denounce the leadership of Mutambara and his secretary general Welshman Ncube, whom he says were being assisted by the state machinery cling to power.

Sikhala claims the two MDC formations have connived to abandon the founding values of the MDC at the formation of the inclusive government and joined Mugabe's way of thinking.

He said Mugabe has stuck to his guns by remained uncompromising on his position on land, his one party state ideology, and his strong condemnation of the West and their sanctions.

He said the two MDC formations have taken Mugabe’s positions of forgiving all perpetrators of political violence without any justice and have also taken Mugabe’s position of having government dominating the current constitution making process.

“To some of us who have suffered so severely under Robert Mugabe’s dictatorship for the past 10 years, we say this is not the solution," said Sikhala. “There must be truth and justice where those who tortured and killed must confess to the people of Zimbabwe and if they are given clemency, it must be on the basis of their repentance. We are moving away from the act of Mugabe who who thinks that Zanu PF should be the beginning and end of politics in Zimbabwe."

He said he has written to Lovemore Moyo, the Speaker of Parliament and the Clerk of Parliament ask them to ignore the expulsion of three rebel MPs from the MDC.

They are Nkayi South MP, Abednico Bhebhe, Njabuliso Mguni (Lupane East) and Norman Mpofu (Bulilima East).

Sikhala says the three were being victimed by Mutambara and Ncube as they were among the three quarters of the MDC national executive council members who have passed a vote of no confidence in the two.

 “The revolution is now being betrayed by political pretenders. So we saw it that it was better for us to snatch.”

17/08/09 ZIMBABWE President Robert Mugabe will today confront his unity government partners to demand that they act to remove “Western-imposed sanctions”.

Stung by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s complaints to President Jacob Zuma, who also chairs the SA Devolopment Community, Mugabe has gone on the offensive.
Presidential press secretary George Charamba was quoted by state media yesterday as saying the meeting was “coming on the background of absolute anger and frustration in the Zanu-PF politburo”.
Mugabe’s party is upset because sanctions, including travel bans against prominent individuals in his party, have not been lifted.
On Thursday, the politburo — Zanu PF’s highest decision-making body — implored Mugabe, 85, not to give in to pressure to change the status quo.
Tsvangirai wants the SADC to compel Mugabe to honour all agreements made at the formation of the unity government just over six months ago.
So far Mugabe has stubbornly resisted attempts to nullify his unilateral appointment of Attorney General Johannes Tomana as well as the re-appointment of central bank governor Gideon Gono.
The ageing president has even stalled the process of freeing the media.
Efforts to form the Zimbabwe Media Commission, which will be charged with the licensing of independent newspapers, have hit a brick wall.
Today Mugabe is expected to tell the leaders of both formations of the Movement for Democratic Change, led by Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, to act urgently to get the sanctions removed.
The move was expected to counter MDC claims that Mugabe was not honouring his side of the agreements.
Zanu PF says it also wants the MDC to stop “the beaming of anti- Zimbabwe messages by pirate radio stations”.
With Western donors still reluctant to fund Zimbabwe’s economic revival, Tsvangirai is now considered dispensable by Zanu PF’s hierarchy.
Meanwhile, the real bread-and- butter issues remain unresolved. Zimbabwe has failed to raise the required US8-billion it needs for its economic revival.
Unemployment remains above 90%. Water and electricity supplies are as erratic as ever.
Hospitals are also in chaos — doctors and nurses are on strike for better pay.

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwean generals known as hard-line supporters of President Robert Mugabe have saluted former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

During presidential campaigning last year, generals vowed never to salute Tsvangirai, saying their loyalty was to Mugabe. That makes the mark of respect they showed Tuesday significant.

Tsvangirai was attending his first Armed Forces Day as prime minister.

Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the presidential first round, then pulled out of a run-off because of state-sponsored violence. Tsvangirai and Mugabe entered a coalition in February.

Most of the country's generals are veterans of Zimbabwe's independence war, which the 57-year-old Tsvangirai did not fight . Mugabe, who is 85, has been in power since independence in 1980.

HARARE - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said on Monday the country's unity government may need to reconsider its relations with Western nations he accused of refusing to support the new administration.

Mugabe formed the government in February with rival Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, but Western countries have continued to withhold funding, saying the veteran leader has not shown commitment to fully implement the unity deal.

The West has maintained travel and financial bans on Mugabe and his allies and refuses to extend financial support to the government until it undertakes political and economic reforms.

Mugabe, 85, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, said although the unity government was the result of efforts by the African Union and the regional Southern African Development Community, the West still refused to support it.

"I say these are not the people to deal with. If they reject us, why should we continue to want their help," Mugabe told thousands of mourners at the burial of deputy president Joseph Msika in Harare.

"So we must assert ourselves as the inclusive government and say we have tried to open ourselves as friends, but you (the West) are not coming as friends, you want to come as masters to us, as principals to tell us what to do."

Mugabe's position is at odds the drive by his coalition partner Tsvangirai to restore full ties with Western governments that are crucial to providing financial aid for the unity government to fix the country's battered economy.

Although the government has reported securing about $2 billion in credit lines for the private sector, mostly from Africa, it has failed to attract budgetary support and significant foreign investment.

Tsvangirai toured Europe and the United States in June, but his efforts to attract Western financial aid for the unity government, which needs $8.3 billion for reconstruction, were met with calls for more reform.
Mugabe accuses the West of imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe as punishment for seizing white-owned commercial farms to resettle blacks and to loosen his grip on power.

The veteran president said on Monday the farms would not be returned to white farmers, adding that foreign aid was not enough to develop the country.

He said former coloniser Britain wanted to maintain influence in the once prosperous southern African nation.

"Let everyone in the inclusive government and in the country generally know that our nation will never prosper through foreign handouts," said Mugabe.

Harare — Thousands of people in the Zimbabwean capital face mass eviction from their market stalls and homes in a government operation reminiscent of the forced evictions that left about 700,000 without homes or livelihood in 2005.

Most of the people targeted were victims of the 2005 Operation Murambatsvina (Restore Order), according to an alert issued last week by Amnesty international.

A Catholic priest in Harare contacted by CISA described news of the impending eviction as worrying.

"If the City Fathers and Mothers are thinking of moving in with force to remove illegal dwellings, plastic shelters and wooden shacks and drive their occupants away (where to?), we musk ask them to think again," Fr Oskar Wermter, director of Jesuit Communications, wrote in a newspaper article.

"If you want to do away with slum conditions you must first build proper shelters for them before you send in the police with pickaxes and sledge hammers, bulldozers and heavy trucks. No one chooses to live in slum conditions. It is not the fault of slum dwellers that government went back on its much advertised promise of 'Housing for all by the year 2000'".

According to Amnesty, some 200 people from a slum in the suburb of Gunhill and thousands of informal traders across Harare face being forcibly evicted without being given adequate notice or any consultation or due process.

The Deputy Mayor of the Harare City Council stated this month that the city authorities have considered evicting people from illegal settlements and market places to restore order. He claimed that the targeted people were posing a health hazard and violating city by-laws.

Formal unemployment in Zimbabwe is above 90 per cent. The bulk of the urban population, particularly women, survives on informal trade. Further forced evictions would drive these people deeper into poverty. Since Operation Murambatsvina, the city of Harare has repeatedly targeted informal traders, mainly urban poor, seizing their wares and fining them.

BULAWAYO – A special parliamentary committee leading Zimbabwe’s constitutional reforms wants top officials of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party prosecuted for disrupting a conference to discuss the reforms two weeks ago, one of the committee’s chairmen Douglas Mwonzora said at the weekend.
Mwonzora, from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party, said video evidence compiled by the committee and showing ZANU PF legislators disrupting the conference would be handed over to Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and to the police.
“We have complied videos and disks which will be used as evidence during the prosecution of the legislators and other people who disrupted the conference . . . the days of lawlessness have to come to an end," said Mwonzora, addressing a meeting to discuss constitutional reforms in the city of Bulawayo.
It was not immediately clear whether ZANU PF was in agreement with Mwonzora that its members should be prosecuted for disrupting the conference.
The representative of Mugabe’s party on the three-man team chairing the constitutional reform process, Paul Mangwana, was not available for comment on the matter.
David Coltart, the other chairman from Mutambara’s MDC party on the committee was also not available for comment on the matter.
However Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara speaking soon after abandonment of the conference indicated that no action would be taken against those who had caused the conference to flop on its first day.
Some senior ZANU PF officials, war veterans and the party’s militant youth wing broke up the conference on July 13, insisting it could not go ahead unless delegates sang the national anthem first.
The conference only resumed the next day after Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara spoke strongly against the mobs that had disrupted the first day of the meeting that had been called to map out the course of constitutional reforms
Zimbabwe is on a programme to write a new constitution that should lead to the holding of free and fair elections in about 24 months.
Zimbabweans hope a new constitution will guarantee human rights, strengthen the role of Parliament and curtail the president's powers, as well as guaranteeing civil, political and media freedoms.
The new constitution will replace the current Lancaster House Constitution written in 1979 before independence from Britain. The charter has been amended 19 times since independence in 1980. Critics say the majority of the amendments have been to further entrench Mugabe and ZANU PF’s hold on power.

WASHINGTON, DC - July 20, 2009 - African-Americans are up in arms against President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe for his constant use of pejorative adjectives to describe African-American officials. In an open letter from the African American Unity Caucus, it condemned President Mugabe's disparaging remarks made against the new U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Johnnie Carson, who Mugabe referred to as "an idiot."

Entitled "THE IDIOT COMMENT: Robert Mugabe's Affront to the African Diaspora", the letter states as follows

-President Robert Mugabe’s recent public characterization of Assistant Secretary Johnnie Carson as “an idiot” was a serious affront to African-Americans, and indeed to all people of African descent. The President’s earlier characterization of Jendayi Frazier, Ambassador Carson’s predecessor, as “that little girl trotting around the globe like a prostitute” was equally offensive, and AAUC believes much beneath the dignity of a sitting Head of State.

One must wonder why President Mugabe seems to reserve these demeaning, off-color and totally unnecessary barbs for distinguished representatives of the African Diaspora community. The AAUC is confounded by President Mugabe’s apparent callous disregard for the sensitivities of this community, which supported him in his liberation struggle and has largely defended him against harsh criticism during his long administration. When the President has needed the African Diaspora, he never hesitated to ask for its support, but he doesn’t offer respect to those who now happen to disagree with him in any way on the harsh realities of Zimbabwe.

President Mugabe has missed an early opportunity to refocus Zimbabwe’s relationship with the United States. That relationship has been marred by rancor and name-calling due largely to his unshakable resentment of Great Britain as the former colonial power and his perception of the United States as a country that did not support his liberation struggle. However, President Mugabe’s intransigence and lingering resentments do nothing to relieve the sufferings of the Zimbabwean people, sufferings which, in no small measure, are the results of Mugabe’s own hubristic and callous policies. While the AAUC was not privy to the dialogue between Assistant Secretary Carson and President Mugabe, it is clear that Ambassador Carson, who served as America’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe, was putting forth ideas to help raise Zimbabwe from the chasm into which it has fallen. Make no mistake, a nation whose inflation rate only recently was incalculable needs all the help it can get.

Through a series of poor governing decisions, the Mugabe administration has ruined his country’s economy sector by sector – from commercial farming to manufacturing to small and medium enterprises to the vendor on the street. His government’s determination to win elections at all cost has been at the sacrifice of the freedoms of speech and assembly, and he has presided over the disintegration of institutions such as the judiciary by forcing out judges whose loyalty was to the rule of law rather than to the ruling party. President Mugabe seems to have thrown any semblance of good governance and respect for human rights to the wind.

In his Africa policy speech in Ghana, President Obama said that the West was not responsible for the destruction of Zimbabwe’s political and economic systems. He said that what Africa needs are not strong men, but strong institutions, which is the opposite of what Mugabe has wrought in his country. If Zimbabwe is to be restored to the successful and productive nation it was even recently, there must be dispassionate and serious engagement by the Mugabe government with the rest of the world. Playing the blame game will not accomplish this.

Our government appears ready to engage. Efforts have been made in recent years to begin discussions on how the United States can help Zimbabwe, but Mugabe and his loyal lieutenants only want to dredge up the past to criticize those who refuse to offer uncritical support. If a workable relationship is to be established, one must ask, can President Mugabe put the colonial past behind him and move forward? Can he govern justly and wisely for the benefit of his people and the future of Zimbabwe?


The African American Unity Caucus (AAUC), established in 2002, is a non-partisan alliance of committed leaders and organizations of African ancestry focused on issues affecting Africa and the African Diaspora. The mission of the AAUC is to marshal human, material and social capital in order to enhance the overall sustainable development of African people. Through strategic decision-making, the AAUC will initiate and foster actions, and forge effective partnerships, among public and private entities in Africa and the African Diaspora and impact U.S. foreign policy. The AAUC is a program of the Constituency for Africa (CFA)
.
316 F STREET, NE, SUITE 101, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20002
PHONE (202) 371-0588 FAX (202) 371-9017

By Dumisani Muleya,17 July 2009
A FIERCE battle drawing in President Mugabe and his ministers has erupted between Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and SMM Holdings (Pvt) Ltd administrator Arafas Gwaradzimba over the return of business tycoon Mutumwa Mawere's seized companies.

This comes amid a growing political conflict over the controversial issue connected to current power struggles.

The fight pits Mugabe, Gono, and Mawere on the one side apparently against Gwaradzimba, Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa and Defence minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa on the other. Chinamasa this week said court cases
against Mawere must be intensified.

It forms part of wider corporate and political power struggles which threaten to expose a hidden nexus between politics and business. The veiled interface between corporate moguls and politicians is partly at the heart of the country's poisoned political environment and the ongoing scramble for wealth and power.

The current clash is dominated by heated exchanges between Gono and
Gwaradzimba. Gono accuses Gwaradzimba of creaming off Mawere's  companies by collecting  6% of gross proceeds of the sprawling empire and selling off its assets.  This has triggered accusations and counter-accusations of "looting of primitive accumulation proportions" and a resultant "wreck and ruin" of the SMM empire under the rubric of "reconstruction".

Informed sources said there has of late been a flurry of meetings, telephone calls, emails, faxes and other forms of communication, as well as court battles in a bid to resolve the problem which started in 2004.

After recent consultations with Mugabe, Gono has argued Mawere must get back his companies, which Gwaradzimba has dismissed as "interference and ill-advised". Gwaradzimba has said it would be "inappropriate" for Mugabe to rescue Mawere who has already been "nailed" in the fight. He said by trying to hand  SMM assets back, Gono  was attempting to "laundry" Mawere's illegal
deeds."

This has sparked heated exchanges between Gono and Gwaradzimba, roping in Mugabe, Mnangagwa and Chinamasa, among other political heavyweights.

Mugabe met Mnangagwa, Chinamasa and Gono on June 2 to discuss the escalating dispute. The same group again met on Monday to find a way forward.

This latest round of drama started after Mugabe met with Mawere twice during South African President Jacob Zuma's inauguration in May to tackle the issue which hitherto made them bitter enemies.

Informed sources said Mawere made his case before Mugabe and produced a "pile of documents". Mugabe is said to have taken the documents with him to Harare to consider the case which has been fought in courts in South Africa, the United Kingdom, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  Sources said Mugabe tasked Gono to assess the documents and recommend a way forward.

Gono then wrote an advisory note to Mugabe on May 14, urging him and government to return Mawere's assets in the "spirit of the inclusive government and reconciliation". Gono has also been pushing for the de-specification of a number of exiled businessmen whom he was accused of
squeezing out at the height of corporate battles during the 2004 banking crisis and their return home. A number of them were despecified this week.

In his letter to Mugabe dated May 14, Gono said charges against Mawere must be dropped and his companies returned because government had acted improperly during their seizure. He said although he was aware the issues were before the courts, a negotiated settlement could be a better way to resolve the dispute.

"Your Excellency, this advisory brief seeks to highlight pertinent review points on the SMM case that are recommended to form the basis for a resolute way forward on this long outstanding matter," Gono wrote to Mugabe.

"It is recommended that Your Excellency approve the despecification of Mr Mawere and his companies so as to pave way for a new beginning, particularly in the context of investment promotion and empowerment in Zimbabwe."

Gono advised Mugabe the central bank was ready to drop exchange control-related and externalisation charges against Mawere. He said allegations that Mawere's companies were indebted to the state were handled badly as it "violated the law of contracts" between SMM and state entities concerned. SMM was taken over by the government over allegations that it was failing to pay its debts to parastatals and other state entities and that Mawere had externalised millions in hard currency.

Gono said allegations of insolvency against SMM were pursued without fulfilling "minimum procedures of notifying shareholders, creditors, debtors and other related parties" and there were no "judicial hearings" to facilitate the process.

He said Gwaradzimba's pursuit of "culpability" on Mawere's part and attempts to bankrupt him were "self-serving". Gono suggested that the reason Gwaradzimba was doing all this and refusing to allow Mawere to get hiscompanies back was because he was getting an enormous return out of it. He also said there were unconfirmed reports that Gwaradzimba wanted to secure equity in SMM entities.

"Gwaradzimba, the SMM administrator, is getting payments set at 6% of gross proceeds of all SMM companies which is even more lucrative than shareholders themselves, let alone revenues to government," Gono said. "The administrator's activities also seem to have entrenched interests of needlessly permanently dispossessing Mawere of all his assets."

Gono said Gwaradzimba had a conflict of interest in SMM as a former auditor of the company.

However, Gwaradzimba hit back at Gono, saying his remuneration as administrator was a "contractual matter that was transparently and lawfully determined".

"The governor was the prime mover and instigator of the SMM reconstruction process, yet he embraces Mawere's allegations and advances them against the original case," Gwaradzimba said. "It boggles the mind how the chief complainant in this matter can turn around to become the chief defender.it is too late for the governor to change course."

Gwaradzimba also said some of Gono's arguments were misleading "false claims" and were "naïve and mischievous". He insisted Mawere must not get back his companies because he has "lost 100% of cases in Zimbabwe and South Africa"

TWO twin sisters who walked around stark naked because “that’s what God intended” have been arrested, police confirmed.

The twins, identified only by their surname, Ndlalambi, say they belong to a sect called Davidic Kingdom Garden of Eden which seeks to restore life as lived in the biblical Garden of Eden.

Police spokesman Andrew Phiri said the twins had been arrested on Monday, adding: “They are currently detained at Zhombe police station. They will appear in court soon.”

The sisters, whose age was given as 40, face a charge of public indecency and could be jailed for up to six months or escape with a fine.

The cult is said to have once had 22 members in Zhombe, made up of former Seventh Day Adventists.

But after a police crackdown, which saw some members sent to prison for a month, it disintegrated.

In 2005, two other twins Tafadzwanashe and Tapuwanashe Fichani were arrested for wearing traditional African loin clothes made from goat skin.

The twins said they were following tradition, but they were condemned by the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association’s Gordon Chavhunduka.

“We have failed to see how their actions conform to our culture … dressing of that nature is now reserved for special traditional and cultural occasions and not everywhere,” Chavunduka said.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who stirs mixed feelings in many Malawians, received hisses at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre where he was attending the country’s 45th independence celebrations on Monday.
The celebrations, where he was the only other head of state with his host Bingu wa Mutharika ,appeared to have been studiously shunned by the 16-member Southern African Development Community, SADC. Only two low-ranking officials from Mozambique and Tanzania attended among locally-based diplomatic staff.

Government sources said the SADC heads are sending a message to Mugabe that his failure to cooperate with their recommendations on the way forward for the Zimbabwe government will not be tolerated.

But a political secretary in one embassy said it has dawned on the leaders of SADC who are on the verge of going to elections of their last terms of office, that they do not want to encourage their own successors to dump their political parties as Mutharika did in Malawi.

Mugabe who is seen by local Malawians as only a titular head following the formation of a unity government with Movement for Democratic Change, MDC was hissed at on entry and was openly booed with his host from the over-crammed 25,000- seater stadium in a show of disaffection with his presence in Malawi.

He was also here in May attending Mutharika’s inauguration. Mugabe is the most frequent visitor and a political buddy of Mutharika.

Some said they were tired with Mugabe while others said the relationship has become an obsession with Mutharika at the expense of the people in the eyes of the international community and in particular, Britain which gives Malawi the second largest chunk of development aid after Bangladesh.

However, there also concerns that Malawi will be seen as comforting the enemy in the eyes of the emerging new leaders who may not be kind to the existing relation.

In the madness-filled attacks against so-called white farm settlers, many of the 3 million Zimbabweans who trace their origins to Malawi were also victims of the extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, rape and torture from marauding Mugabe thugs in uniform and plain clothes.

Others said attended the celebrations for the love of football which was played at the end of long-winded political speeches where Mutharika and his officials took turns to vilify the opposition, in the fashion that his guest revered until he faced the reality that he cannot survive without the opposition.

Mugabe has been a source of mixed reaction in Malawi with protests from civil society and opposition followers removing his name from road furniture bearing his name.

However, Mutharika whose foreign policy favours close ties with China and countries such as Iran as opposed to major bilateral donors like Britain declared Mugabe his political “hero”.

Accused of Terror Win Appeal To Zimbabwe Supreme Court  

Zimbabwe's high court Wednesday handed down a crushing blow to the government's case against a group of Movement for Democratic Change supporters and officials.

Seven people who were accused of terrorism will have their complaints referred to the Supreme Court to decide whether their constitutional rights were violated when they were allegedly abducted and tortured last year.

High court judge Charles Hungwe on Wednesday reprimanded state prosecutors for failing to prepare their case adequately, saying he had no alternative in allowing the seven accused to have their case referred to the Supreme Court.

The seven accused argued that the terrorism charges against them should be dismissed because their constitutional rights were violated when they were abducted from their homes, held incommunicado and tortured into making confessions last year.

The Zimbabwe government claims the seven people - most of them officials or supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change - were involved in plots against President Robert Mugabe.

Their lawyer Alex Muchadahama told the court there was no evidence against any them beyond one confession extracted under torture.

In a related case, a senior official in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party will stand trial in Zimbabwe in October on terrorism charges, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

 
Protesters hold posters asking to free Roy Bennett (Feb, 2009 photo)
Roy Bennett, the MDC's treasurer-general, was arrested in February, accused of plotting against the Mugabe government. He will go on trial in the eastern city of Mutare, charged with illegal possession of arms for purposes of terrorism and banditry. He denies the charges but faces life in jail if convicted.

Bennett is also deputy agriculture minister designate in the four month old government of national unity but Mugabe says he will not be sworn into office until he is cleared of all charges.

Although defense laywers say the cases against MDC officials and supporters are slowly crumbling, fear persists.

Freelance journalist Andrisen Manyere, who was in court Wednesday, said he has been visited late at night by groups of plain clothes state security agents eight times in the last three weeks.

Zimbabwe's former opposition party said Monday it would boycott the next Cabinet meeting and was considering disengaging from a troubled, four-month-old unity government with President Robert Mugabe.

The Movement for Democratic Change has complained about continued harassment and arrests of Mugabe's opponents and his unilateral appointments of top officials.

Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, bitter rivals, formed their coalition in February, pressed by neighbors to end a decade of violent confrontation and work together to resolve the southern African nation's severe economic crisis.

MDC Vice President Thokozani Khupe said the latest irritant came Monday, when Mugabe rescheduled the weekly Cabinet meeting from Tuesday to Monday because he was going to be out of town for an African Union summit in Libya. At a news conference, Khupe depicted that as a snub to Tsvangirai, her party's leader, saying he should have chaired the meeting in Mugabe's absence.

Mugabe's party "has not welcomed MDC as an equal partner," said Khupe, a deputy prime minister in the unity government.

Khupe said her party would boycott the rescheduled Cabinet meeting, but remained "committed to the (coalition) agreement in the interest of our people" despite "clear evidence of the absence of a reliable and honest partner."

She did not say when MDC ministers would resume attending Cabinet meetings.

"It is our constitutional right to consider disengagement," she said. "It is time toxicity and insanity are removed (from the coalition)."

The MDC has asked the Southern African Development Community, which pushed for the coalition government to be formed, to intervene. It is asking for help in resolving issues such as Mugabe's appointment of loyalists as the central bank governor and the attorney general, the arrests of and attacks on independent rights activists and MDC lawmakers, and the seizures of white-owned farms.

Khupe said Mugabe loyalists had also frustrated democratic and media reforms.

The Southern African Development Community, though, has said it did not see a reason to step in now.

Tsvangirai made no public comment Monday upon returning from a tour of the West that has focused new attention on tensions in the unity government.

Mugabe is barred by travel restrictions from visiting the countries on Tsvangirai's itinerary, and the leaders with whom the premier had cordial talks — among them President Barack Obama — accuse Mugabe of trampling on democracy and ruining a once-vibrant economy.

Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper has reported that some officials aligned to Mugabe were worried about Obama's reference to building a new partnership not with the coalition government, but with Tsvangirai, a former opposition leader who has been beaten and jailed by Mugabe's regime.

Tsvangirai says his three-week trip was aimed at re-engaging with the West, while officials linked to Mugabe have tried to portray it as an attempt to persuade the international community to lift sanctions.

In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, Zimbabwe's Vice President Joice Mujuru, a Mugabe loyalist, expressed frustration that Tsvangirai's European and U.S. trip didn't raise as much financial aid as her government had hoped.

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Saturday defended his move to enter a power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe, saying they would succeed or fail together.

"Those who accept me have to accept Robert Mugabe.... If there is a problem, we go and fail together," Tsvangirai told reporters in Johannesburg following a three-week tour to London, Washington, Berlin, Stockholm, Brussels and Paris.

"I don't have to defend Mugabe's past and position towards the West or other countries," said the former opposition stalwart who challenged Mugabe in a bitterly disputed election last year before reaching an agreement with him.

"We are in this transition and this transition is working," he added.

He also said his tour to drum up support for the "new" Zimbabwe was a success despite criticism from Western leaders of continued human rights abuses and he insisted that political and economic reforms were gathering pace.

"The reforms are not stopping, they are accelerating," he said.

"I'm happy with the pace.... It has to take into consideration the local realities, the sensitivities. We have to navigate through a lot of problems."

The country's unity government was formed on February 11 and tasked with steering Zimbabwe back to stability after disputed elections plunged the impoverished African state even deeper into crisis and world record inflation.

It has appealed for 8.3 billion dollars (5.9 billion euros) to rebuild the shattered economy but the assistance has so far come in dribs and drabs.

Tsvangirai's tour -- which saw the first official talks with the European Union in seven years -- did not see big aid pledges and he was told repeatedly that Zimbabwe needed to improve its rights record and deepen reforms.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told Tsvangirai: "The international community remains concerned about the rule of law in Zimbabwe" and about the areas of security, media freedom and respect for private property.

"An independent judiciary should go hand in hand with the state's respect for the rule of law," Kouchner said.

But Tsvangirai on Saturday put a positive spin both on his tour and the situation in the country.

"This transition is irreversible," he said. "We are taking measures to reform the political and economic situation in the country.

He listed reforms to the constitution, to the security sector, to the reserve bank and to investment laws as examples.

"In general, the trip has been very successful," he said.

During Tsvangirai's tour, former colonial master Britain pledged an extra five million pounds (8.2 million dollars, 5.9 million euros) in aid but urged more reform.

The United States offered 73 million dollars but President Barack Obama cited concern "about consolidating democracy, human rights and rule of law."

Despite Tsvangirai's optimism, divergences between his appeal to the West and Mugabe's stand came into sharp focus on the last day of his European trip.

Mugabe mocked the West for refusing to lift sanctions against him and his inner circle until the country's unity government introduced tangible reforms.

"'We will not lift sanctions', they say, and 'we will not give money except the little pieces of silver for cholera and humanitarian assistance'," Mugabe told members of his party's consultative assembly in the capital Harare.

"'As long as that man is still there, as long as Mugabe is still there, you will not get that money from us, you Tsvangirai,'" Mugabe said, mimicking Western leaders during a speech broadcast on state television.

Britain has pledged an extra £5 million in aid to Zimbabwe during talks between Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Gordon Brown.

At Downing Street, Mr Brown said there were "great signs of progress" following February's power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai, his long-time opponent.

It brings this year's transitional help from the UK to £60 million. The extra cash will be delivered via aid agencies and not the Harare administration.

The latest donation will be made up of £4 million for "food security" and £1 million to provide text books for the newly-reopened schools.

Mr Brown says there will be more to come, provided Zimbabwe can show it is on the road to real democratic reform.

But the Prime Minister warned the UK would continue to watch for and criticise signs of renewed repression.

Mr Tsvangirai has struggled to raise the large sums of financial help he wants from foreign governments which remain wary of giving cash directly to Mr Mugabe and his allies.

He defended the power-sharing arrangement and insisted he was taking Zimbabwe on an "irreversible" journey of reform.

The former opposition leader was heckled and booed at a meeting of Zimbabwean exiles living in the UK after urging them to return home.

There is anger that he appears to be legitimising the Mugabe regime despite continued criticism by bodies such as Amnesty International of human rights abuses.

Mr Tsvangirai said it was unfortunate that those living in Britain concluded nothing had changed because they didn't see Mr Mugabe disappearing.

He said: "I want to assure you that that is not the case. I am accountable to Zimbabweans inside the country and I am hoping that, with time, those Zimbabweans living outside, will also share the confidence that Zimbabweans inside the country are sharing."

A HARARE businessman has sued former Trust Banking Corporation director Chris Goromonzi over a US$70 000 grain import deal that went off the rails.

Duncan Mukondiwa, a fuel importer, wants to recover US$70 000 plus interest the banker owes him since 2006 when the two partnered to import maize, fertiliser and rice from South Africa on behalf of the GMB in a deal that never took off.High Court documents in the possession of the Zimbabwe Independent reveal that Goromonzi, representing a Botswana company, Laupa Holdings, approached Mukondiwa and entered into an agreement on February 7 2006 where the fuel importer advanced US$40 000 to the banker at an interest rate of 46% monthly.

On March 13 2006, the two signed another agreement where Mukondiwa advanced US$30 000 to Goromonzi at an interest rate of 43% monthly.

The money, according to the documents, was meant to import grain and fertiliser on behalf of the GMB and Mukondiwa was to be repaid “out of the commission proceeds from the grain transaction”.

The first transaction was to involve the importation of 50 000 tonnes of maize to be supplied to the GMB. This was to be followed by the importation of 52 000 tonnes of fertiliser and 16 000 metric tonnes of rice. According to Mukondiwa, the transactions never materialised.

“The proposal I am working on is as follows: that you participate in the transaction under my company and outlay an amount of say US$40 000 towards the various upfront expenses,” wrote Goromonzi to Mukondiwa on February 2 2006.  “This will be subject to an agreement between you and my vehicle — Laupa Holdings Botswana — who are external principals in the transaction. Laupa will guarantee you a return — as per discussion of 46% per month and payments will be made monthly subject to timely receipt of payments in respect of the export of the commodities to Zimbabwe.”
Laupa, a company Goromonzi owned, claimed to have clinched a deal involving the export of grain from South Africa into Zimbabwe and had a signed agency commission with Mvela Agri (Pvt) Ltd & Mark Daniels (Pvt) Ltd.

As security to their agreements, Goromonzi and Mukondiwa had agreed that Laupa would cede part of its future commission in respect of work done on the grain export transaction.

“The loan shall be secured by a personal guarantee of Christopher Pasipanodya Goromonzi,” read when of the agreements.
But Mukondiwa said when the deal failed to materialise, Goromonzi only paid him back US$30 000, forcing him to approach the High Court.Goromonzi, through his lawyers Scanlen & Holderness, in his heads of argument filed with the High Court on May 20 said the court had no jurisdiction to entertain Mukondiwa because the contracts “were neither entered into in Zimbabwe nor to be performed in Zimbabwe”.

The lawyers questioned the legality of the transaction on the basis that exchange control authority was not sought in the deal and that “an illegal agreement which has not yet been performed, either in part, will never be enforced”.

They argued that the agreement was “illegal or immoral” in that it “violated” Section 6 of the Money Lending and Rates of Interest Act.

Goromonzi’s attorneys also argued that the matter ought to have been referred to arbitration and insist that the matter was a “classical case of a vague and embarrassing” claim.

Mukondiwa’s lawyers, Kantor & Immerman, on the other hand argued that the High Court Act provides the country’s courts the jurisdiction to hear the case on the “grounds that the contracts were negotiated and entered into in Zimbabwe”.Mukondiwa’s lawyers also argued that arbitration was not necessary because the would-be mediator, the Commercial Arbitration of South Africa, did not exist.

Therefore, there is no process by which arbitration can be effected since there is no one to appoint arbitrator and set out the rules for such arbitration,” read Mukondiwa’s heads of argument.

Mukondiwa’s attorney also argued that the agreement was legal saying there was no “exchange control restrictions in Zimbabwe presently and that the economy is dollarised”.

“The company (Laupa) which is the principal debtor under the agreement has no assets and is a shell and was essentially the conduct through which defendant (Goromonzi) perpetrated a fraud on the plaintiff,” read the heads of argument. “On the facts, the defendant is clearly guilty of obtaining a loan under false pretences and misrepresentation. The plaintiff is taking the matter up with relevant authorities despite the fact that the defendant is using his political connections to thwart the process.”

,June 9, 2009 

 President Mugabe Allies of Robert Mugabe are drawing up 'assassination lists' of members of the unity government, a minister claimed.
Hardliners in the president's Zanu-PF party are targeting members of the Movement for Democratic Change, according to Sekai Holland, the minister for national healing, reconciliation and integration.

She said she believed her name and those of colleagues had been added to the 'growing' list and many had received threatening phone calls.

'We are told that they do have a list of people that they will kill,' Ms Holland revealed to the BBC.

'No one feels safe in Zimbabwe. We haven't reached a ceasefire. We are still at a point where people have their guns cocked.'

Her party opposed Mr Mugabe's regime but joined his unity government in February following an election stand-off.

Ms Holland, a senior member of the MDC, was badly beaten by Zanu-PF supporters two years ago.

She said she believed the worst violence was being planned to coincide with elections due in 18 months.

Jonathan Chawora, chairman of the MDC in Britain, said: 'I cannot confirm the news but I would not be surprised given Mr Mugabe's history.

'I can understand why MDC members are worried.' Mr Chawora also criticised the speed of political change in Zimbabwe since the unity government was installed.

He said: 'People feel let down by Mr Mugabe and the Zanu-PF party.

Hong Kong - Two bodyguards protecting the daughter of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe will not be prosecuted for allegedly roughing up two photographers in Hong Kong, officials said Tuesday.

Government lawyers have decided the male and female bodyguards hired to mind 20-year-old Bona Mugabe, who is at university in Hong Kong, behaved as they did because they were 'genuinely concerned for the safety of Miss Mugabe.'

The two Zimbabwean nationals, who have not been named, allegedly assaulted Briton Colin Galloway and American Tim O'Rourke on February 13 outside a 5-million-US-dollar villa in Hong Kong provided for Bona by her father while she studies.

The photographers were working for The Sunday Times in London, which was investigating the Mugabe family's links to Hong Kong, and complained to police after O'Rourke was alleged grabbed by the neck and Galloway gripped and bruised by a man in his 30s.

The incident took place one month after Robert Mugabe's wife and Bona's mother, Grace, allegedly assaulted another photographer who took pictures of her shopping in Tsim Sha Tsui. The Department of Justice later decided she was entitled to diplomatic immunity.

The case involving the bodyguards was classified by police as common assault and advice was sought from Hong Kong's Department of Justice in March as to whether a prosecution should be brought.

A department spokeswoman told the German News Agency dpa, 'They saw it as their duty to protect Miss Mugabe from any sort of danger, whether actual or perceived.'

At the time of the incident, Bona was about to leave the villa, which Robert Mugabe reportedly bought through a middle-man last year, to go to university, the spokeswoman said.

'The bodyguards were genuinely concerned for the safety of Miss Mugabe. They appeared to have believed that they were acting properly in intercepting the complainants who they considered to be trespassing,' she said.

Even though the actions of the bodyguards 'might have caused the complainants to believe that disproportionate force had been used', she said, events had to be taken in their context.

'Miss Mugabe was about to leave the house in a two-car convoy with her security personnel when the complainants suddenly appeared at the scene, and the (bodyguards) were apprehensive for her safety in the circumstances which confronted them,' she said.

'Regard ... needed to be had to the difficult they faced in weighing to a nicety each and every action they took to ensure her safety, particularly when they saw it as their duty to protect Miss Mugabe from any sort of danger, whether actual or perceived.'

Reacting to the case, O'Rourke said: 'I am not surprised by this decision but what does it say about Hong Kong and freedom of the press? It looks pretty bad.'

The lawyer representing the two photographers, Michael Vidler, said: 'We are very concerned about this decision and we are taking advice from legal counsel.'

He said both photographers immediately identified themselves as journalists and neither bodyguard expressed concern at any stage for Bona Mugabe, who was not seen anywhere in the vicinity of the alleged assault.

A tape recording taken by Galloway and handed to police made it clear the alleged assaults took place, in the words of one of the two bodyguards, 'because you were taking pictures', he said.

Vidler said: 'It appears that in Hong Kong, anyone linked to any regime like Zimbabwe, and anyone with links, however distant, to any head of state, whatever we think of that head of state, can casually disregard the rights of the press to investigate a legitimate story.'

THE United States Congress has started hearings on the removal of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe in 2001 over political repression and a series of policy disputes.

This comes as Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai prepares to visit Europe and the US to lobby for funding for economic recovery and lifting of the sanctions.

Tsvangirai, who has called for the removal of the “restrictive measures”, is expected to meet senior European Union (EU)  leaders and US President Barack Obama during his visit this month. He is also expected to meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Finance minister Tendai Biti this week called for the lifting of the sanctions by the West. Biti will next week address the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, focusing on Zimbabwe’s reconstruction.After Biti’s recent return from Washington and London, he told cabinet that US officials had indicated that the Obama administration would provide humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe while Congressional hearings on sanctions went on.

Zimbabwe has formed a ministerial team which is currently engaging the EU on sanctions under Article 8 of the Cotonou Agreement, a pact between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states signed in 2000.

Article 8 dialogue encompasses a regular assessment of developments concerning respect for human rights, the rule of law and governance.

Sources said hearings on the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zidera) have now started in the US and this could lead to the partial lifting of financial sanctions imposed under this law. It is said the US is willing to remove economic sanctions, but not those targeted at President Robert Mugabe and his cronies, or their companies.

Sources said US Congressman Donald Payne was in Zimbabwe last week and held talks with Mugabe, Tsvangirai and deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara on sanctions, among other issues.

The sources said Payne, chairman of the sub-committee on Africa and Global Health of the committee on Foreign Affairs and co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, discussed possible ways sanctions could be lifted or scaled down.

It is said the US is prepared at this stage to remove financial restrictions on Zimbabwe so that it can provide the country with economic aid.

At the moment Washington can only provide humanitarian assistance due to Zidera.

Sources said Obama could soon issue an executive order to deal with the matter to enable the US to help out Zimbabwe. Tsvangirai is expected to push for such action. Sources said Tsvangirai could be able to secure up to US$700 million from the US during his forthcoming visit. He is also expected to extract significant donations from the EU states. A multi-donor trust fund has been formed to help Zimbabwe.

However, donors have set conditions around political and economic reforms before they release any money. So far Zimbabwe has only been able to secure just over US$1 billion. The country is looking for US$10 billion in the next three years for economic recovery. Cabinet has approved the commercialisation and privatisation of state companies in a bid to raise funds for economic recovery.

Zimbabwe has appealed to Sadc countries to firm up on their pledges for funding, while they step up their campaign to get sanctions lifted.

The US and EU sanctions have worsened Zimbabwe’s economic crisis triggered by government’s unbudgeted expenditures, the DRC war, land invasions as well as mismanagement and corruption.

Zidera was passed by the US Congress at the end of 2001. It was introduced by Senators Bill Frist and Russ Feingold and was then sponsored by Jesse Helms, Hillary Clinton, Joseph Biden and Frist himself. Senate passed the Bill on August 1 and the House passed it on December 4. Former president George Bush signed it into law on December 21.

Under Zidera, unless the US president gives an order, the Secretary of the Treasury has to instruct the US executive directors in each international financial institution to oppose giving Zimbabwe loans, credit or guarantees.

Zidera forbids the cancellation or reduction of the country’s indebtedness to Washington or any international financial institution which includes multilateral development banks and the International Monetary Fund.

Multilateral development banks referred to include the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Development Association, International Finance Corporation, Inter-American Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Investment Corporation, the African Development Bank, African Development Fund, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency is important in underwriting loans between governments.

Jun 03, 2009
A High Court judge in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city, has ordered John Nkomo, a minister of state in the office of President Robert Mugabe and chairman of the long-ruling ZANU-PF party, to surrender a tourist lodge he seized in Matabeleland.

Nkomo has been seeking for several years to assume control of Jijima Lodge, a tourist accommodation in Lupane, Matabeleland North province, from a local businessman.

The lodge is near Hwange Game Park, a tourist destination in the western region.

High Court Judge Francis Bere on Tuesday upheld a ruling he made in 2006 when he blocked an attempt by then-Minister of Lands Didymus Mutasa to withdraw an offer letter from Langton Masunda, current owner of the property.

A security officer for Nkomo was arrested last month for allegedly shooting Masunda’s brother at the lodge.

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Saturday that his efforts to restore democratic freedoms and the rule of law to Zimbabwe have so far failed.

The former opposition leader took his Movement for Democratic Change into a coalition government with longtime autocratic President Robert Mugabe in February to end the country’s political deadlock and economic collapse.

But Tsvangirai gave his party’s annual convention a bleak assessment of Zimbabwe’s situation and said that hard-liners backing Mugabe were frustrating progress.

“We have not yet succeeded in restoring the rule of law … our people do not live free from fear, hunger and poverty,” he said.

The official state media remained biased and there was only limited freedom of movement and expression, he said.

“Our members continue to be the victims of political persecution,” Tsvangirai said. “That society for which we are striving bears little resemblance to the reality in which all of us live today,” he said.

His comments reflected the tensions wracking the so-called unity government. But despite the unhappiness, Tsvangirai has so far shown no sign that he will pull his party out of the coalition in protest. Tsvangirai had been frozen out of office, despite election victories, until Zimbabwe’s neighbors forced Mugabe to enter the unity government in February.

Tsvangirai and more than 1,000 delegates to the two-day convention wore red T-shirts emblazoned with a new party slogan: “Together to the end. Marching to a New Zimbabwe.”

Despite agreeing to the coalition government, 85-year-old Mugabe still seems reluctant to cede real power to Tsvangirai, his former foe.

Last week, for example, Tsvangirai announced an end to restrictions on foreign journalists entering Zimbabwe and to tough licensing rules for local media. Mugabe’s spokesman this week said the restrictions would remain.

The two men are also locked in dispute over the key appointments of the central bank governor Gideon Gono and the attorney general Johannes Tomana.

Mugabe reappointed Gono to a second five-year term as governor of the Reserve Bank in November and also unilaterally chose Tomana. Tsvangirai says the appointments violate the power-sharing deal and wants regional mediators to intervene.

Gono is blamed for printing Zimbabwe dollars until they were worthless and accused of taking hundreds of millions of dollars from foreign currency accounts belonging to aid groups and private businesses. Tomana also is accused of being behind detentions of pro-democracy activists.

Tendai Biti, Tsvangirai’s finance minister, has appealed for $8 billion to rebuild the shattered economy. But most donors and investors have insisted more reforms and the rule of law be in place before they commit funds.

Tsvangirai told his party loyalists Saturday the adoption of hard currency as the country’s legal tender halted world-record inflation of 500 billion percent in the now abandoned local currency.

More humanitarian aid was also being received to restore health services and collapsed utilities.

His party’s role in the coalition was “instrumental in stabilizing our economy and bringing it back from the brink of a truly national disaster,” he said.

Mugabe’s program to seize thousands of white-owned commercial farms is blamed for disrupting the agriculture-based economy since 2000 and leaving more than half the population in need of food handouts earlier this year.

Farmers groups have reported a new wave of seizures of white-run farms in recent weeks.

“Land reform must empower the majority of Zimbabwean without victimizing any of our citizens … It cannot be based on racist persecution that leaves productive land fallow and our people hungry,” Tsvangirai told the party convention that ends Sunday.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara have finally sent a letter to SADC, officially asking them to break the talks deadlock over the appointment of the central bank chief and the attorney general.

On Wednesday we had spoken to two senior MDC officials who had told us that Tsvangirai would be writing to SADC before the end of the week.
But Gordon Moyo, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office, told us on Thursday the letter, co-authored by the two leaders, was dispatched late Wednesday.

‘There is one letter that was sent via the South African embassy for onward transmission. This letter represents the views of the two principals (Tsvangirai and Mutambara). But what is important is what is contained in the letter rather than who wrote it,’ Moyo said.

This highlights the problems journalists face in trying to clarify issues with the government, given the lack of official press releases.

Before the SADC letter was officially delivered the MDC had been on a diplomatic offensive, briefing regional leaders about the deadlock. Following these consultations, they finally drafted the letter addressed to the SADC chairman, South African President Jacob Zuma.

It was reported on Thursday that a draft of the letter had been seen and in it Tsvangirai and Mutambara expressed dissatisfaction that the delays in solving the issue of Gono and Tomana were threatening the credibility of the coalition government.

The letter is believed to have referred to the summit held in January in which it was agreed that the appointment of the Reserve Bank Governor and the Attorney General should be dealt with by the coalition government.

Mutambara and Tsvangirai have pointed out in the letter to Zuma that despite innumerable meetings between the three principals, Mugabe has refused to budge on Gono and Tomana, despite the SADC ruling for all parties to agree on senior appointments.

HARARE - The embattled governor of the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono, has accused Honey and Blankenberg, the leading Harare legal firm in which the Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, is a senior partner, of externalising more than US$1 million in foreign currency in contravention of Exchange Control regulations.

This, he states in the letter he wrote to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai this month, could be the reason why “such personal hatred, venom and attacks” have been directed at Gono by Biti.

Gono furnished the Prime Minister with details of the funds externalised between October 2005 and May 2006, saying central bank investigations had come up with a “can of worms” suggesting that  Honey and Blankenberg could have been involved in the forex scams from before 2003. He said the RBZ investigating team had discovered some entries had been deleted from records.

Meanwhile The Zimbabwe Times is conducting its own investigation into how Gono’s letter (or parts thereof) found its way into the hands of its correspondent in Harare enabling him to construct what now appears to have been a partisan report which glossed over the governor’s dramatic allegations against the Minister of Finance.

The following is the full text of Gono’s letter whose existence the Zimbabwe Times correspondent revealed on Tuesday:

The Rt. Hon. Prime Minister of the
Republic of Zimbabwe
Mr. M. R. Tsvangirai
Munhumutapa Building
Samora Machel Avenue
HARARE

Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, Sir,

RE: COMPLAINT AGAINST PERSONAL VICTIMIZATION AND VILIFICATION BY HON. MINISTER OF FINANCE T. L. BITI.

1. As you may be aware Hon. Prime Minister, the strained relations between the Hon. Minister of Finance and myself are a matter of public knowledge and, need I say, concern.

2. For more than a year now, the Minister has uttered, publicly and privately, words and statements that are not only criminally defamatory but also, seriously insulting to my person, family and indeed, to the institution that I work for, its Board, management and staff. His misleading statements are also career limiting in my field of Finance and economics.

3. Professional disagreements in public offices are a matter of daily life for public personalities but constant and malicious misrepresentations, unrestrained utterances, incitement of violence against the person of the Governor, outright lies and victimization against persons doing their normal duties are traits normally unheard of especially coming from “Offices that are supposed to know and act better”

4. Examples may drive home the point:

(a) At a campaign rally in Masvingo last year, Hon. Minister called me names and accused me of “being at the epicenter of ZANU (PF) terror machine”; “an economic saboteur, terrorist and number one Al-Qaeda who deserves to be shot by a firing squad”

These utterances were widely circulated both in the print and electronic media and today form the basis of the hate-mail that I receive and the hatred many MDC-T supporters display against the Governor. Indeed the international community has also been poisoned to believe that I am a member of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. These threats to my life and family are very unsettling and may one day be carried out by an over-zealous MDC-T Party Member or just criminals hiding behind the Minister’s publicly declared wishes of getting me killed.

(b) On several occasions, the distinguished Minister has accused me of “killing this economy through printing money”. This is despite the overwhelming evidence that the country was and remains under the yoke of debilitating sanctions and other constraints such as droughts/floods and political differences all of which are/were militating against international support in the area of Lines of Credit among other needs. The Hon. Minister only came to acknowledge on Monday 4 May, 2009 when he returned from the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings held in Washington DC. USA that SANCTIONS are “real” and that they need to be removed if we are to turn around this economy. This admission was despite previous denials.

5. Now if indeed the Hon. Minister, after only 3 months in office is now realizing that this economy cannot be stabilized let alone turned-around without the repeal of ZIDERA and other pieces of “restrictive” actions by some economic powers in the West, and that without such a repeal of these toxic pieces of legislation and actions against Zimbabwe, the country cannot access the much needed lines of credit, how did or does the Hon. Minister expect me to successfully turn-around this economy in the presence of ZIDERA which some have accused him of having participated in its “birth” and “sustenance” over the years?

6. After my three (3) children were unceremoniously expelled out of Australia before your visit to that Country, Sir in 2006 they suffered a two year roll-back in their university education, and when they found new universities to go to, they found themselves being called upon to explain how their father is allegedly associated with the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization with the threat of further expulsion from their new university if the allegations were/are not refuted. Who among us parents can stomach such misfortune if directed at their own children?

7. It is a known fact that Leadership is not about expecting others to perform miracles where the leader himself cannot perform same. What is difficult to achieve for the Hon. Minister today (raising lines of credit) is a fraction of what my team and I were expected to achieve in an environment of not only ZIDERA but serious political and social in-fighting between Zimbabweans prior to the Inclusive Government.

8. A lot more “kiya-kiyering” was and had to be done to sustain the economy, sustain life and everything else this Inclusive Government found in place. Without such gymnastics including the so-called printing of money or “quantitative easing” as they are now calling it in Europe and elsewhere, this country could have easily degenerated into unprecedented chaos with no opportunity ever for anyone in the Inclusive Government to be in the comfortable positions from where they are now calling the “shots” today.

9. I have suffered and continue to suffer abuse and ridicule at a time when you as Prime Minister have been telling the Nation that bye-gones are bye-gones and that we need to move forward but this message doesn’t seem to have found root in some quarters.

10. You know very well Rt. Hon. Prime Minister that people are being highly dishonest when they allege that it is/was the Governor of the Reserve Bank who “killed” this economy for I do have on file, letters from Ministers of Finance and other stakeholders including Labour and Business dealing with requests for funding and/or authorizations to move in a given direction.

11. I believe that it needs to be appreciated, Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, that the last ten years have been a period of both political and economic madness in this country and that the work of sanctions-busting, the world-over, is not a walk in the garden park or a straight-forward text-book lesson and practice from an Apprenticeship Economic textbook.

12. Sanctions are a form of war-fare against the sanctioned country or people and my job was to try and defeat them, not physically but through “out-of-the-box” type of thinking strategies all of which had the blessings of my Head of State and President Cde. R. G Mugabe whom you are free to check and verify with, as well as the entire Cabinet of the day.

13. It is heartening to note though that Hon. Minister Biti is following the same path, going to the same African Banks and friends who stood by us during the said period of madness and only last week, the Hon Minister happily and proudly ran with and announced to the world facilities that my team and I had negotiated and secured namely the US$300 million Country Program from Afrieximbank which was approved in Mauritius on 12 December 2008 and the PTA Bank facility, again which we had negotiated last year and was awaiting activation.

14. These two institutions, together with Al-Shams linked to Mr Jayesh Shar, are the three main sources of funding who helped us during difficult times. Today it is an open secret that Hon. Minister Biti is going to all of them for support and all three are supporting the Inclusive Government at a critical time when noone else, including the so-called donor community is giving us funds due to understandable economic difficulties in their own backyards.

15. The point here Rt. Hon. Prime Minister is that nothing my team and I did is not being followed by the new Minister of Finance and I can point out that 99% of our recommendations for the turn-around of this economy have been included in STERP (see attached analysis and evaluation document).

16. This is not to take away anything/credit from the Hon. Minister’s well received STERP but to draw attention to the need for “modesty in pronouncements made and credit taken while standing at the pulpit” so to speak when the Minister is addressing stakeholders.

17. It is against this background that charges to the effect that this Governor and his team “murdered” or committed atrocities in this economy are hereby vehemently denied.

18. A lot has been said by the distinguished Hon. Minister, done and misrepresented all in an effort to destroy the Governor, to remove me from the post (as if I re-appointed myself!).

19. In trying to examine the possible angles from where such personal hatred, venom and attacks have been coming, it has dawned on my team and I, that all this noise about “Governor must Go song” especially as it rings loudest from the powerful Secretary General of MDC-T and Minister of Finance may have its background in self-interest and protection. The background to it is as summarized in the attached write-up involving the Hon. Minister’s Legal Firm, Honey and Blanckenberg.

20. The background involves the Bank’s investigation into alleged rampant externalization of foreign currency resources and money laundering activities discovered at the Minister’s legal firm Honey & Blanckenberg where he is (or was) a partner.

21. After getting a tip-off on the case in which the Law Firm was allegedly prejudicing the country of the much needed foreign currency and possibly tax-revenues due to Government through such Exchange Control Violations, my team investigated the Firm’s Records (those which had not yet been deleted by then) and came up with a “can of worms” suggesting that the Firm could have been involved in these forex scams from before 2003.

22. As the attached summary will show you, in the few months that the investigating team considered, it uncovered a total of over US$1 million which was allegedly kept outside the country in violation of Section 9, 10(1)C and 11 of the 1996 Exchange Control Regulations.

YEAR                           AMOUNT

October 2005             US$102 210.00
November 2005        174 179.00
December 2005        110 664.00
January 2006            139 758.00
February 2006          145 939.66
March 2006               168 047.11
April 2006                  153 281.00
May 2006                   31 864.50
TOTAL                       US$1 025 943,53

Records for other months were allegedly deleted before the investigating team could lay their hands on them.

23. Intimidatory tactics are said to have been encountered during these investigations leading to various forms of delays in the completion of this assignment/case.

24. Ultimately as the attached report shows, one of the whistle-blowers who was employed by the Law Firm had to leave the Firm due to alleged victimization, the same that I am suffering from today.

25. Of course legal explanations, arguments and justifications were proffered by the Law Firm, as would be expected, but these were found to hold no substance as it was proven that the Honey and Blanckenberg as a Law Firm were banking their money into Barclays Bank PLC, Barclays House, Victoria Street, Douglas, Isle of Man via UK, account details being:

Swift Code: BARCGB22
Account No. 68949366,
Sort Code : 20-26-74.
IBAN : GB95BARC20267468949366.

26. The case and its facts were analysed by the Bank’s legal personnel in the normal way that the Bank does with all other cases before deciding to go ahead with prosecution and as we speak, the matter is yet to come to actual trial although it is at the courts.

27. With Advocate Eric Matinenga the one set to be Accused Firm’s defence lawyer, (as of January 2009), my team members, seeing what victimization is being meted against the Governor, is now expressing reluctance to go and stand in court to testify against the Minister of Finance’s legal Firm.

28. The issue now at stake is, how come the Governor continues to be victimized for doing his job while the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, who is supposed to be in the picture of all this “through ministerial declarations of interest or conflict(s) with institutions or persons that the Ministers deal with under their Ministries?

29. It is not difficult to conclude that threats of investigating the Governor “left right and centre” as well as putting the Governor on the GPA list of persons who must go has all along been motivated by the desire to intimidate the Governor and his team or at best to scandalize and remove me from the scene so that a pliable Governor is put in my place and certain matters then get buried under the carpet in the process.

30. This also explains the “personal hatred” nature of the Minister’s zeal, enthusiasm and speed with which he seeks to remove the present Governor from the Chairmanship of the RBZ Board in conflict with best practices in SADC, IMF, World Bank, China, Russia, UK and the world over. The pre-occupation is total and no stone has been left unturned to date to try and achieve this.

31. Is this the policy or policies of the Inclusive Government to victimize its officials or that of MDC-T to disguise personal wars and camouflage them as national matters of incompetence?

32. There have also been various misrepresentations made to Cabinet and Cabinet Committees by the Hon. Minister relating to false allegations of “borrowing US$1 billion without authority” which proved embarrassing to the Minister when refuted with evidence.

33. Are the Parties (MDC-T) aware that they are being enjoined in a personal war far removed from national issues but financial at personal levels? Are SADC Heads of State or the Facilitator, the IMF/World Bank and others in the picture of this scandal?

34. There is more that I could say and have come up with to prove a case of victimization against me but it is not necessary to deal with those issues now.

PROPOSED WAY FORWARD

35. Rt. Honourable Prime Minister, herewith my proposals for the way forward:

(a). That this letter be discussed between yourself and the Minister and if you see it fit, failing which I propose that it be brought for discussion in Cabinet or Parliament or JOMIC and, that, I be called upon to testify if need be.

(b). That RBZ be granted autonomy in the current legislative amendments to report to Parliament as recommended by SADC in its Model Central Bank Legislation – copies of which were sent to the Rt. Hon. Prime Ministers Office and not the current Minister of Finance until the Hon. Minister renounces his vindictive mission against me.

(c). That the Hon. Minister and myself be invited for discussion with the Rt. Honourable Prime Minister to iron out the issues I have raised and to normalize and our relationship.

(d). That the Governor and team be given/granted immunity/protection at law against victimization by the Ministers, some of whom may have been involved in nefarious/regrettable activities before. Otherwise all RBZ Governors will continue to face the same fate that I am facing and experiencing, disguised as national desire to do good yet the reality is that deep down there are personal interests at stake in need of protection.

(e). That a public apology be made to the Governor by the Minister of Finance and both MDC-T and MDC-M Parties and their followers be informed that the Governor did not “kill” this economy and that he is not a member of Al-Qaeda nor does he deserve to be shot by the “firing squad”. In addition a smart way has to be found to advise the International Community of the true facts so that it gives a correct and informed judgment on the Governor.

CONCLUSION

36. It is not unusual for two or more people to fail to work together and if I am to leave RBZ at some stage, as I will in future, the current approach and strategy is definitely not the correct one.

37. There are better, more mature, effective, cordial and amicable ways of people partying ways but not in the manner of the “PURSUER” and the “PURSUED”, the “Victor” and the Vanquished”. That approach does not work in the area of economics and finance.

38. I await direction(s) from the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister.

Yours Sincerely

G. GONO
GOVERNOR

Enclosures

1. The Evidence relating to Honey & Blanckenberg Forex Externalization Investigations – Basis for Victimization by Minister of Finance Hon. T. L. Biti.
2. Evidence to show that the African Export-Import Bank (Afrieximbank and PTA Facilities recently announced were successfully negotiated by Governor prior to INCLUSIVE GOVERNMENT.
3. Comparative Analysis of STERP with the Governor’s Economic Advices over the Last 5 Years. So much about the Governor being incompetent when in fact the same STERP is 99% a product of my Advice.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's political party is coming under intense criticism after calling for the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to intervene in resolving a deadlock in Zimbabwe's unity government.

The move is reportedly generating more friction in the unity government after supporters of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party dismissed the call as bogus and premature, a charge the prime minister's party denies. 

Mugabe supporters contend that discussions between the principals within the unity government have not yet reached a stage where there is a need for arbitration. But the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says there is a deadlock that needs to be addressed. 

Political analyst Rejoice Mbowenya told VOA that the time for arbitration is now.

"The MDC has got a right to turn to the SADC for arbitration because in terms of the Global Political Agreement and the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) the SADC is guarantor of the success of this agreement," Mbowenya said.

He said the MDC is in the right direction by calling for international help to resolve the deadlock with President Mugabe's ZANU-PF in the unity government.

"Morgan Tsvangirai and his team have got the right to turn to SADC and I believe they are doing the right thing because that is the only transient escape route they might have at the moment," he said.

Mbowenya described as unfortunate accusations that the prime minister's party overstated it bounds by calling for international intervention to help resolve the deadlock in the unity government.

"That is an unfortunate position because what the MDC is asking for is the basic acknowledgment that the political agreement was based on an understanding of a gentleman's way of doing business," Mbowenya said.

He denied speculations that both the African Union and SADC do not have leverage to use against President Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party.

"I believe that is a misinterpretation. We know that there are certain things that SADC cannot do as a collective entity, but the most powerful force in SADC is South Africa… in the first place that singlehandedly brought Mugabe to the negotiating table when he said he was not going to have Morgan Tsvangirai to the party," he said.

Mbowenya described as best the agreement that led to the formation of the unity government.

"This agreement is good for everybody. It's as good for MDC as it is for ZANU-PF because if Mugabe had not entered into this agreement, his political career would have been effectively over because the crisis would have completely paralyzed him," Mbowenya said.

He urged the prime minister to be more forceful to have ZANU-PF cede some grounds to his party in the unity government.

"I believe that Morgan Tsvangirai still has got an opportunity to use that critical leverage… to push the deal further and with a bit of pressure from himself and his executive committee and SADC for Mugabe's empire would crumble," he said.                                                        

The National Executive of the MDC over the weekend referred to what it described as outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement to SADC and the African Union for arbitration was to address a deadlock within the unity government.

The party said the appointments of Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono, Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, provincial governors, ambassadors and permanent secretaries be revisited, with all the three parties having a say and benefiting from the appointments. The party also said it wanted a stop to what it said are political arrests of its members.

The MDC has often accused President Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party of dragging their feet on the matter.                                                                                      

Meanwhile, the Global Political Agreement which paved the way for the inclusive government also created The Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC), comprising and co-chaired by members from the three parties to ensure the implementation of the agreement.

THE inclusive government this week celebrates its first 100 days in office amid increasing frustration at the speed at which the coalition is implementing reforms to haul Zimbabwe out of its political and economic morass.Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is expected to address Parliament this week on progress made by the government during its first three months in office, which elapse on Saturday.

Some of the achievements he is likely to list include the re-opening of schools and hospitals that were closed for the better part of last year due to unending strikes.

Tsvangirai is also likely to hail Zimbabwe’s re-engagement with the international community after years of isolation and the renewed interest in the country as an investment destination.

The inclusive government has also made strides in addressing food security with basic commodities now readily available while the rehabilitation of the economy battered by years of ruinous policies is now well underway.

But analysts say the government has little to celebrate as major reforms promised in the global political agreement were still to be carried out.They said there was also evidence that Zanu PF hardliners were still unwilling to embrace change.

According to the September 15 power-sharing agreement signed by Zanu PF and the two MDC formations, which led to the formation of the inclusive government in February, some of the key result areas for the coalition included the release of all political prisoners and providing an environment conducive for economic revival. However, the first 100 days have been characterised by the failure to resolve outstanding issues, policy contradictions, conflicts over minsterial duties, fresh farm invasions and continued human rights violations.There have also been disagreements between civil society and government on how to draft a new constitution for the country.

“Very little has changed under this inclusive government,” spokesperson for the revived Zapu, Smile Dube, said.

“Journalists and lawyers still get arrested for doing their jobs and there is evidence that some partners in the coalition have not embraced the spirit of the inclusive government.

“We still have a disgruntled civil service, which is always threatening strikes and hospitals still do not have adequate drugs as well as doctors and nurses.”

The government convinced civil servants including teachers and health professionals to return to work after it got support from donors to pay them US$100 allowances across the board.However, efforts to get more donor support to improve on the salaries have hit a brick wall, leading civil servants to threaten another round of strikes.

While some countries and banking institutions have availed over US$1 billion in lines of credit for the inclusive government, little inflows have been recorded in terms of budgetary support.

Major lenders have adopted a wait-and-see approach as the parties continue to differ on outstanding issues that include Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono’s reappointment. 

The donors are reluctant to release their money to a treasury where Gono, who is accused of abusing funds to sustain President Robert Mugabe’s previous regime, is still in charge. Mugabe is reportedly unwilling to give in to the MDC-T’s demands for Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana to be relieved of their duties as part of last year’s agreement.

Donors are also not impressed with the continued arrest of human rights activists and the government’s hostility towards journalists.

Ernest Mudzengi, a Harare-based political analyst, said Zimbabweans were fast losing confidence in the unity government because of the delayed reforms and continuous squabbles in the coalition.

“The disagreements in the inclusive government that are in the public domain are indicative of the serious problems it is facing,” he said.

“They are particularly indicative of the fact that Zanu PF is not committed to sharing power and instead it wants the relationship of a horse and rider.”
He said although there was evidence that things had changed in the country, Zanu PF’s reluctance to reform remained a major disadvantage for the coalition.Tsvangirai last week expressed frustration that some hardliners from the previous administration were delaying progress but insisted that his party would not pull out of the coalition.

“Mugabe is still in charge and nothing has changed,” said Paul Siwela who lost the 2002 presidential elections to the 85- year-old leader.

“There is very little that Tsvangirai can do to change the country because he does not chair cabinet and will find it very difficult to influence things.”Siwela said instead Mugabe and his loyalists were seeing the inclusive government as an opportunity to recover from the setbacks they suffered in last year’s elections where Zanu PF was almost toppled from power for the first time since 1980.

Teachers in Zimbabwe have called off a strike despite their wage demands not being met, the education minister says.

David Coltart said the government had no money to raise their salaries, but he had agreed to help teachers by giving their children free schooling.

Teachers' groups said they accepted the government was struggling for funds and needed time to raise revenue.

Teachers have been paid $100 a month in foreign currency since February, but trade unions wanted much more.

The new term begins on Tuesday, and Mr Coltart has been in protracted talks with unions and foreign aid donors to make sure the schools reopened on time.

He said although the schools would be open, the education system was a "shadow" of what it had been.

"The doors may open, there may be children in the classrooms and teachers teaching, but there are very few textbooks in the rural areas and many schools do not have roofs or doors or windows," he told the BBC.

'Responsible'

Mr Coltart, a former opposition activist, said the state of the service was down to two decades of neglect by President Robert Mugabe's government.

Raymond Majongwe, head of the Progressive Teachers Union, said going back to work was the "responsible" thing to do.

"We are appealing to our members to go to classes tomorrow [Tuesday] while we allow the government to raise funds so that we can get reasonable salaries," he said.

Zimbabwe's economic collapse left the country's currency virtually worthless - and many civil servants unable to afford the bus fare to work.

The new power-sharing government managed to persuade many government employees to return to work in February by paying them in foreign currency and agreeing to wages reviews.

MASHONALAND Central Zanu PF youth league chairman Dougmore Chimukoko is set to appear at Harare Provincial magistrates' Court facing attempted rape and several other charges.

Chimukoko is also facing three counts of physical assaults, undermining a police officer and a criminal insult charge.

The trial, which was supposed to take place at Bindura Magistrate' Court last month, was transferred to Harare after Chimukoko's lawyer, Farai Mtamangira of Mtamangira and Associates said his client would not get a fair trial in the mining town.

No reasons were given but sources told The Standard that Chimukoko requested that the matter be transferred to another province because he believed that magistrates in Bindura supported the MDC.

A trial date is yet to be set.

It is the state's case that on January 29 this year Chimukoko went to Mungofa lodge in Mukumbura in Mashonaland Central where the complainant Adolescent Dambuza, a Zanu PF youth was staying.

It is further alleged that Chimukoko tried to rape Dambuza who then screamed for help.

On February 2, Chimukoko allegedly called Dambuza telling her that she was a prostitute, who slept with everyone including then deputy minister of youth, Saviour Kasukuwere.

On another count, it is alleged that Chimukoko physically assaulted Lincoln Mudonhi, a police officer stationed at ZRP Mt Darwin.

On December 3 last year, Mudonhi was at GMB in Mount Darwin when Chimukoko arrived and started accusing him of conniving with GMB officials in delaying the distribution of farming inputs.

It is also said that he started to physically assault Mudonhi, who was later rescued by a person not identified in court papers.

It is also the State's case that on August 16 last year Chimukoko went to Bindura Power Sales and physically assaulted a female salesperson, Sibilo Chibira.

Chimukoko is also accused of undermining the police authority by closing his car windows and driving away when Allan Mafuratidze, a police officer at Bindura police station was investigating Chibira's complaint.

JOHANNESBURG - In an effort to reduce waves of Zimbabwean asylum seekers, South Africa announced Monday that its neighbor's citizens can travel here on a free 90-day visitor's permit and apply to do casual work during their stay.

Immigration minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula appeared with her two Zimbabwean counterparts to make the announcement. Zimbabwe has two home affairs ministers under a power-sharing agreement implemented earlier this year to try to resolve the country's economic and political crises.

Mapisa-Nqakula said the new regulations came into effect May 1, but acknowledged bureaucratic hurdles could slow implementation.

"We have a significant number of economic migrants from Zimbabwe," Mapisa-Nqakula said.

South African officials have been overwhelmed by Zimbabweans, who apply for asylum at a rate of more than 8,000 a day, and they believe many will now opt for the visitor's permit. Most asylum seekers are denied because South African officials believe most Zimbabweans are not fleeing out of fear or persecution, but to find work as their economy collapses.

Monday's announcement could be seen as an acknowledgment that South Africa does not expect the stream of Zimbabweans to slow soon, despite hopes raised by the power-sharing government formed by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change.

International donors have been slow to respond to calls for help from the unity government, waiting to see whether it endures and fulfills promises to shore up democracy and rule of law in Zimbabwe after years of abuses blamed on Mugabe. The political marriage by the rivals has been shaky — as illustrated by the appearance of two Zimbabwean home affairs ministers alongside Mapisa-Nqakula.

Both parties insisted on control of the key ministry, which also oversees police accused of attacks on Mugabe's rivals, and in the end they had to share it.

On Monday, the ZANU-PF co-minister, Kembo Mohadi, insisted Zimbabwe had no political prisoners. Some Zimbabweans in South Africa have said they cannot return until political prisoners are freed. Mohadi's MDC counterpart, Giles Mutsekwa, disagreed, saying party leaders were still negotiating on how to address the issue of political prisoners.

But Mutsekwa added that all the parties were "committed to this inclusive government," adding: "The people of Zimbabwe have not got any hope other than pinning their hopes on this inclusive government."

The unity government was formed to turn around an economic crisis that began with a land redistribution campaign in 2000. The often-violent campaign disrupted the agriculture-based economy of what was once the region's breadbasket. Mugabe blames Western sanctions for his country's economic woes, even though they are targeted at him and his cronies and not the country.

According to the United Nations, 83 percent of Zimbabweans live on less than $2 a day, and 7 million, more than half the population, receive food aid. Zimbabweans come to South Africa to earn money to send back to relatives, or to buy food and other necessities that have been scarce at home.

Human Rights Watch, among several international rights groups that have been pressing South Africa to ease restrictions on Zimbabwean immigration for humanitarian reasons, called the change outlined Monday a "positive development." But Tiseke Kasambala, a Johannesburg-based Zimbabwe expert for Human Rights Watch, said in an interview that the change needed to be widely advertised and thoroughly explained.

Human Rights Watch has complained that a directive issued by the Home Affairs Ministry earlier this month to stop deporting Zimbabweans for six months has not been followed on the ground, in part because South African police are unaware of the new rules.

Kasambala said Zimbabweans need to know they can still apply for asylum if they feel that is warranted, as well as for longer term visas to enter South Africa.

She said South Africans who might see the Zimbabweans as competition for scarce jobs in a depressed economy should understand that employers who might once have seen the Zimbabweans as easy to exploit would now more likely follow minimum wage and other employment rules for all job seekers.