The New African Times

THE net is closing in on Zanu PF bigwigs and security chiefs who allegedly looted white-owned farms during the land reform programme.

Co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone has already circulated a dossier to senior Home Affairs officials linking senior Zanu PF officials and military officers who allegedly looted the farms.Makone has asked the officials to find out why the police have not dealt with the cases. The cases also involved officials who have defied High Court orders.

“I have received a document which I am working on. I have handed it over to the permanent secretary of Home Affairs to check what happened to the cases,” Makone told the Zimbabwe Independent on Wednesday. “It’s a long list and I won’t be surprised if there are senior Zanu PF officials on the list. First we have to find out what happened and then move from there.”

According to the document, the police in some cases refused to enforce High Court orders.
“They have also declined to take action against the persons who have unlawfully taken occupation of the farms in question and are in the process of looting,” the dossier, seen by the Independent, read. “A situation of lawlessness now persists on the farms with the tacit approval of the police.”

This comes after controversial businessman and former Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial executive Temba Mliswa was arrested three times and charged with fraud and looting of farms. He is now facing over 70 charges dating back to 2002 related to farm invasions.

Kembo Mohadi, the other co-Home Affairs minister, told the Independent this week that the police should investigate anyone who commits a crime irrespective of the person’s rank, title or position in government and party.

Police confirmed in the Harare Magistrates Court last week that they could not investigate individuals like Mliswa in the past because he was “untouchable”.

Asked if failure to investigate senior security and Zanu PF officials was because they were seen as untouchables, Mohadi said: “There is no one that is above the law. It is just a perception. If a case has been reported to the police, they should take action and they should apply the law as is.

“If there is any case that they have been sweeping under the carpet, these should be brought before the courts. The police will not be allowed to do that.”
According to the dossier circulated by Makone, Brigadier Justin Itayi Mujaji has ignored six High Court orders to vacate Korori Farm in Rusape and also ignored a letter from the then governor of Manicaland,
Tinaye Chigudu, stating that the late Vice-President Joseph Msika had endorsed Charles Lock’s stay on the farm.

Since February 2007, Lock has obtained six High Court orders. In May 2008, Brigadier Mujaji allegedly used armed uniformed soldiers to physically evict Lock from the farm and has since barred him from entering the farm.

“The police at police general headquarters have indicated to Lock that they are unable to assist him enforce the court orders because they fear an armed response from the soldiers as Brigadier Mujaji has threatened to shoot any police officers who try to enforce the court orders,” read the document.

On February 23 2007, in case number HC 824/07, Lock obtained an order for Mujaji to vacate the farm. On September 7 2007, in case number HC 3654/07, he obtained another order of contempt on the brigadier and an order for the police to enforce the judgment.

On the same day, Lock in case number HC 4974/07 got a writ of arrest on Mujaji and on July 16 2009, case number HC 2285/09, he got a second order for Mujaji to vacate the farm.

On September 24 2009, case number HC 3244/09, the High Court ordered Mujaji to stop interfering with farming activities and instructed the police to enforce the judgment.

The dossier also included cases of fraud, theft and common assault reported in Karoi allegedly committed by Mliswa.

Top on the list in the dossier were cases allegedly committed by prominent businessman Philip Chiyangwa and Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo and documentary evidence to support the cases were attached.

The dossier stated that on April 12, acting Harare Mayor Charity Bango lodged an official complaint of corruption against Chiyangwa and two employees of the city council, reference number IR 040725. On April 15, the acting mayor lodged another report against Chombo.

“Thus far no action has been taken by the police against Mr Philip Chiyangwa, Dr Ignatius Chombo and the city council employees who have been implicated for corruption by Harare City Council,” read the dossier.

Also on the list is the case involving Chipinge Magistrate Samuel Zuze, who ordered the immediate evictions of Algernon Taffs of Chirega farm, Dawie Joubert of Stilfontein, Mike Odendaal of Hillcrest, and Mike Jahme of Silverton farm.

The farmers successfully petitioned the High Court to issue an order suspending Zuze’s order. The magistrate refused to receive and comply with the High Court order, but instead ordered the arrest of the persons who sought to serve him with the order. To make matters worse, Zuze was given a portion of Silverton farm, one of the cases he was presiding over.

The Mliswa case has opened a can of worms with the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) saying the matter exposed the looting of white-owned farms under the pretext of the land reform exercise.

CFU vice-president Charles Taffs has been quoted saying: “It’s highlighted an issue which we have been pushing for 10 years and that is the looting on the farms hiding behind the land reform. What we have witnessed over the last 10 years is that beneficiaries have come onto farms and asset-stripped them, leaving farms with absolutely nothing.”

Harare lawyer David Drury yesterday said he was dealing with more than 600 cases of white farmers who lost property to senior Zanu PF officials and army generals under the guise of the land reform programme.
He told the Independent that there were many white commercial farmers who were seeking justice to no avail.

“We had tried on several times to have the perpetrators dealt with but we were squashed,” Drury said referring to Mliswa’s matter. “The cases are opened now and it looks like it’s a miracle. I am pleased that the people who looted the property are made accountable. We remain to see the finality of the cases.”
CFU president David Theron said the police must apply the law evenly without leaving any sacred cows.
“Finally, the law has taken its course and we are grateful that justice will prevail. It’s not about commercial farmers but mainly the rule of law,” he said.

He gave an example of Major-General Nicholas Dube, who allegedly looted property from Chipinge farmers Michael Odendaal and Michael Jahme and also allegedly harassed Paul Stibulph in Karoi.

Stibulph allegedly lost farm equipment, tobacco and soya bean crop worth US$ 900 000 to Dube.
High Court judge Justice Lavender Makoni gave an order in November 2009 for Stibulph to repossess his property, but he was barred from entering Grand Parade Farm by soldiers manning the property.

David Younghusband, who owned Foliot Farm in Karoi, allegedly lost farm equipment worth over US$1 million to Brigadier-General Francis Mutisi.

Younghusband has since relocated to New Zealand after failing to repossess his tractors, lorries, irrigation equipment and delivery vans.

A High Court judge on April 15 ordered a Lieutenant-Colonel M Masabeya in case number HC 2227/10 to return equipment, which included irrigation pipes, vehicles spares, tractors, trailers, electric motors, motorbikes and land preparation implements removed from Matanuska (Pvt) Ltd in Mutare but this has not been complied with.

The issue has divided senior Zanu PF officials and exposed rifts within the party, with one group saying Mliswa should name and shame senior officials who had dealings with him and have them prosecuted.
Another group says prosecuting the cases related to the land reform programme would open a Pandora’s Box and set a bad precedent which might force the police to investigate senior Zanu PF and government officials.

Mliswa has already named police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri, prominent businessman and Zanu PF central committee member Paddington Zhanda, and wife of commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Jocelyn Chiwenga, as having allegedly bought three of the six generators, which the former fitness trainer allegedly stole in Karoi.

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday received assurances from leaders of apostolic faith sects that they will cooperate with the Ministry of Health and international partners to see that their children are immunized against measles and other diseases in a forthcoming campaign, a spokesman for the prime minister said.

Mr. Tsvangirai called the high-level meeting on immunization to engage apostolic faith sect leaders aiming to persuade take part in the national immunization campaign set to begin on Monday and run through June 2. The United Nations has provided US$5.6 million to help the country vaccinate an estimated 5 million children.

The immunization summit was also attended by representatives of the United Nations Children's Fund, the World Health Organization, the Ministry of Health and traditional chiefs.

Tsvangirai spokesman James Maridadi said that the different apostolic sect leaders present agreed to work with the government to make sure that their children are vaccinated.

Health workers will vaccinate children between the ages of six months and 15 years against a range of diseases - in particular measles which has claimed more than 300 lives since September of last year. Outbreaks of measles spread in part because of religious objections to immunization by members of the apostolic sects.

UNICEF nutrition specialist Thokozile Ncube, who attended the immunization summit, told VOA Studio 7 reporter Brenda Moyo that the meeting was an eye-opener and very productive.

Amnesty International this week urged the Zimbabwean government to stop harassing political opponents and government critics.
This comment comes after the acquittal of Roy Bennet, a Movement for Democratic Change official and deputy agriculture minister designate in the Zimbabwean inclusive government, who was being accused of plotting to overthrow Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
He was acquitted by a Harare court on Monday.
“While welcoming the acquittal of Roy Bennett, we remain concerned about persistent abuse of the law against perceived opponents of the former Zanu-PF government,” said Michelle Kagari Amnesty International’s deputy director for Africa.
“We urge the unity government to immediately end all malicious prosecutions of people exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”
Despite the creation of the unity government in February 2009, police continue to arbitrarily arrest and detain human rights activists, journalists and political activists aligned to the former opposition parties now sharing power in the inclusive government.
In the last three months human rights activists attempting to facilitate public debate on past human rights violations have been specifically targeted and their activities barred by police.
Between 26 and 28 April, police in Masvingo, Gweru and Chinhoyi stopped exhibitions of photographs depicting organised violence and torture that followed the March 2008 elections.

TEHRAN — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left Thursday for a two-day visit to Zimbabwe and to UN Security Council member Uganda, with whom he will discuss Iran's nuclear programme, state television reported.

Ahmadinejad's visit to Uganda gains significance as world powers have stepped up pressure for a new round of UN sanctions against Iran for pursuing its nuclear programme.

The report gave no details of the Zimbabwe leg of the trip but said the Iranian hardliner would hold talks on Friday with Ugandan officials, including President Yoweri Museveni, in Kampala.

Uganda currently holds one of the rotating Security Council seats.

"Obviously as a member of the Security Council we are going to discuss the issue of nuclear energy," the permanent secretary of Uganda's foreign ministry James Mugume said on Tuesday.

"We've have been engaging Iran on this issue for some time."

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Sunday that Tehran planned to open talks with all 15 Security Council members in an effort to break a deadlock on a nuclear fuel supply deal that has put it at odds with Western powers.

While Iranian President Mamoud Ahmadinejad will arrive in Zimbabwe on Thursday for a two-day official visit - signs are that Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai would keep away from the president's tour.

 Officials in Tsvangirai's office said that he "has previous engagements in the region."

 Tsvangirai is President Robert Mugabe's partner in the country's 14 month-old coalition government.

 Officials said he would be in South Africa and in Botswana.

Tendai Biti, finance minister and Tsvangirai's closest aide in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is also out of the country. It was possible that lesser MDC officials would attend a state banquet for Ahmadinejad Thursday night, officials said.

 The MDC has been reportedly angered by Mugabe's invitation to Ahmadinejad.

 In addition to Tehran's disputed nuclear progamme, they point to his suspect victory in elections in June last year, which sparked demonstrations in which several protestors were killed.

 Some party members say the election mirrors what the MDC suffered in a presidential run-off election in 2008 when scores of its supporters were killed by Mugabe party loyalists.

Ahmadinejad is due to open a tractor factory and inaugurate a joint Iranian-Zimbabwean investment company, and is the guest of honour ofthe annual Zimbabwe International Trade Fair on Friday in the western city of Bulawayo.

 According to the official programme, Iranian companies accounted for the bulk of foreign exhibits.

After Zimbabwe, he will continue his visit in Uganda, where he is seekingsupport from President Yoweri Museveni's government against increased sanctions threatened by the United Nations Security Council. Uganda is a temporary member of the security council.

SHOULD TSVANGIRAI HAVE ATTENDED THE TRADE FAIR WITH IRANIAN PRESIDENT?LEAVE A COMMENT OR JOIN THE FORUMS

BULAWAYO – Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday said conflicting messages from his coalition government with President Robert Mugabe have fuelled uncertainty about Zimbabwe’s economic direction to discourage investors whose funds the country needs to rebuild its shattered economy.

Tsvangirai – whose MDC party has publicly differed with Mugabe’s ZANU PF over how to transfer control of the economy to local blacks – said there was no consultation on policy formulation, while policies implemented by the government had failed to create a predictable environment for investors.

“As a government we acknowledge that we have not been able to implement policies that ensure predictability for investment in our economy,” Tsvangirai told a business leaders’ conference on the sidelines of the ongoing Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF).

The former opposition leader who has wrangled with Mugabe over how to share executive power since the two former foes agreed to form a government of national unity last year said conflicting messages from government leaders had created uncertainty among investors.

Failure to fully implement the power-sharing agreement that led to formation of the unity government as well as continuing lawlessness and violence in the key farming sector have also marred Zimbabwe’s image as a viable investment destination, Tsvangirai said.

“Conflicting messages and lack of consultation have created an air of uncertainty in our investment climate . . . incidents of violence, farm disruptions and other illegal practices (continue) to mar our image,” said Tsvangirai, vowing he was going to act to bring coherence in government policy key to attracting investment capital.

Tsvangirai spoke as Zimbabwe Stoke Exchange (ZSE) authorities said the controversial plan to compel foreign-owned firms to cede majority stake to indigenous Zimbabweans has sacred off investors with many putting transactions on hold until there is clarity on the empowerment scheme.

"Last year our market was being driven by foreigners, upwards of 40 percent were foreigners and net buyers,” ZSE chief executive Emmanuel Munyukwi told reporters. “But from the end of January with the gazetting of the indigenisation regulations, there has been a lot of uncertainty and foreigners have put a hold on their transactions."

Under the empowerment regulations foreign owned firms have until May 15 to submit plans of how they intend to transfer 51 percent stake to blacks.

The empowerment programme has split the government with ZANU PF backing the plan while the MDC wants the scheme stopped to allow for more consultation and drafting of new regulations that will not scare away foreign investors, while allowing for economic empowerment of the majority.

Mugabe and Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere accept the need for consultations to improve current indigenisaton regulations but say empowerment should go ahead while consultation is taking place.

Large multinational corporations such as cigarette manufacturer BAT Zimbabwe, which is 80 percent British-owned; UK-controlled financial institutions Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, food group Nestlé Zimbabwe, mining giants Rio Tinto and Zimplats, and AON Insurance are some of the big foreign-owned firms that will be forced to cede control to locals.

The empowerment laws are silent about where or how impoverished local Zimbabweans will get money to pay for stake in the large mines and industries.

Critics fear Mugabe and ZANU PF want to press ahead with transferring majority ownership of foreign-owned companies as part of a drive to reward party loyalists with thriving businesses.

  HARARE, 14 April 2010 - A new report by Zimbabwe's National AIDS Council (NAC), showing a dramatic rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among people aged 15 to 24 in the capital, Harare, has health experts worried that the country's success in reducing HIV could be unravelling.

STIs heighten vulnerability to HIV infection, and this age group is one of the hardest hit. According to the NAC report, more than 24,000 people were treated for STIs in 2009, compared to 8,500 cases recorded in 2008; over 60 percent of the cases were women.

During this time almost 900,000 male condoms and over 155,000 female condoms were distributed in Harare. Itai Rusike, executive director of the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH), a network of civic groups that promote health awareness, blamed the rise in STIs on a too narrow focus on HIV/AIDS treatment.

"In the last two to four years we have concentrated our focus on access to treatment, especially access to ARVs (antiretrovirals), at the expense of preventive services," he told IRIN/PlusNews.

"Right now the bulk of our AIDS levy money [a percent tax on income] is going towards procurement of ARVs, to the detriment of health education awareness campaigns, especially for the young adults who are supposed to be our hope for the future."

Zimbabwe's adult HIV prevalence has been on a downward trend, dropping from 14.1 percent in 2008 to 13.7 percent in 2009.

Young people neglected

In 2009 the CWGH conducted an assessment of young people's needs for sexual reproductive health and HIV/AIDS interventions, which indicated that sex work, intergenerational relationships, early marriage, early sexual debut and unplanned pregnancy were among the challenges they faced.

In its recently published 2009 annual report the CWGH noted that young people had limited access to reproductive health information and services. "If we do not invest in preventive services, all the gains we have scored so far in HIV prevalence rate will be eroded," Rusike warned.

If we do not invest in preventive services, all the gains we have scored so far in HIV prevalence rate will be eroded

Job vacancy: male applicants only. Skills required: dexterity, ability to tie a knot, hard heart. Anyone prone to hesitation or mercy need not apply.

Zimbabwe is searching for a hangman. Chikurubi prison, a maximum security facility outside Harare, has been trying to fill the post for five years, but in vain, the Daily News of Zimbabwe reported yesterday.

The absence of an executioner is a mixed blessing for 50 condemned men. It is a reprieve, but it is also an agonising and indefinite wait on death row in a jail dubbed a "gulag" because of its inhumane conditions.

Zimbabwe's last hangman quit the post in 2005 after hanging two armed robbers who murdered a prison guard while escaping jail. The job has since remained unfilled, despite unemployment in the country hitting 94% last year.

The Daily News set out the requirements for any would-be Albert Pierrepoint: "Prison officials say the job of a hangman involves techniques and procedures that are very simple to learn. The candidate for the job need not possess any previous experience, neither does he have to be literate. The hangman's job is reserved only for men. The job demands strength and unwavering focus. It is not for the faint-hearted.

"If a hangman is found, jail officials would teach him how to tie the noose and train him to maintain the correct posture while executing, as this is vital."

It added: "But it appears the toughest part of the job is not about ropes and levers. It is about conscience.

"A hangman should never have second thoughts, if he does he should be retired," said a former principal prison officer, who spoke to the Daily News on condition of anonymity.

Lawyers and journalists based in Harare confirmed with the Guardian today that the prison has been struggling to find a hangman for years. "We've not had an execution for a long time," one said.

Some death row inmates have languished in solitary confinement for more than a decade. Their petitions for clemency have been rejected by Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president.

Last month, one death row inmate, Shepherd Mazango, challenged the impasse in an appeal to Zimbabwe's supreme court. He said: "Among us are George Manyonga who has spent 13 years awaiting execution, James Dube and Bright Gwashinga who have spent 10 and five years respectively, awaiting execution.

"This has caused severe trauma on the inmates that some of them are losing their mind ... Worse still, to think that I can spend 13 years before execution, like my colleague George Manyonga, crushes me."

Chikurubi prison is notorious for its filthy, freezing and overcrowded cells infested by maggots and rats. Former inmates include Simon Mann, a British mercenary, whose lawyer claimed he was tortured, assaulted and endured lice, inedible food and general deprivation there in 2004.

About 70 people are believed to have been executed since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980. The country is under pressure to abolish the death penalty from human rights groups, such as Amnesty International. Last week, an editorial in the state-owned Herald newspaper suggested it is time to reconsider the issue.

In the meantime, there seems little hope of persuading the last executioner, believed to be of Malawian origin, out of retirement. The Daily News's prison source said that he was a reluctant hangman, always extremely remorseful about his job.

ANC Youth League president Julius Malema wants government to nationalise two private sector-led telecommunications cable initiatives.

The firebrand politician told supporters at a rally on Wednesday that the Seacom and East Africa Submarine System (Eassy) undersea cables should be acquired by the state.

Malema (pictured), who promised to raise the issue at the ANC’s next national executive committee meeting, said the idea of nationalising the submarine cables was discussed earlier this week when he met with representatives of Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party in Zimbabwe.

The youth league’s delegation to Zimbabwe, which included deputy secretary general Steven Ngobeni and national spokesman Floyd Shivambu, discussed which aspects of SA’s economy should be nationalised to “speed up the redistribution of wealth to the poor and the needy”.

Malema said the ANC Youth League had already identified the mining industry as a key target.

But he said the telecommunications sector was also of “critical national importance” and therefore could not be entrusted to “the imperialists who are robbing the poor”.

“The cables are too important for these people to have them,” he told hundreds of cheering supporters.

“We want the ANC in the conference in 2012 to pronounce what is the stand of the ANC on the nationalisation of these cables. We want decisive leadership, we don’t want cowards.”

Asked by journalists after the rally whether he’d want to retain any private-sector involvement in Eassy and Seacom, Malema said he only wanted to ensure government had majority control of the cable systems.

Private shareholders would be allowed to retain minority stakes, he said. They’d be allowed to continue “running the cables” on behalf of the government.

Zimbabwe’s youth development, indigenisation and economic empowerment minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, said he supported Malema’s call for the nationalisation of telecoms. “Zimbabwe has proved how nationalisation can work for our people,” he said.

Malema said the private sector had failed to provide telecoms services to ordinary South Africans and the only way to ensure telephones and broadband reached the poor was to give government the power to do this by taking over critical infrastructure like undersea cables.

“We have to control the cables,” he said, before issuing a warning: “We won’t stop there. Vodacom and MTN and Cell C, they must watch out. Their prices are too high.”

Malema said his plans wouldn’t scare away investors. “The private sector will still have 40%. They must ensure everything still runs smoothly. They must make sure standards are not compromised. We are going to do this in partnership with the private sector, but with us being the majority.”

He said the additional revenue government would earn from the nationalised companies would “build hospitals, give people electricity … the pace is very slow because there is no money. We are relying only on tax. Where can we get extra money?”

Even if Malema is successful in convincing the ANC that Eassy and Seacom should be nationalised, doing so could prove difficult.

Though Seacom is majority-owned by SA companies, including entities controlled by ANC-aligned businessmen Andile Ngcaba and Cyril Ramaphosa, it also has a significant foreign shareholder base; and telecoms operators from all over the world own the Eassy cable.

Together, the backers of Seacom and Eassy have invested about US$1bn in the cables. Seacom went live in 2009 and Eassy is expected to be ready for commercial service in the third quarter of 2010.

Asked to react to Malema’s comments, Seacom president Brian Herlihy said: “Is this a joke?”

Zimbabwe President Mugabe Said to Repudiate South African-Mediated Agreements
Pretoria stepped up pressure on negotiators in Harare saying it would not accept a report from them due March 31 that does not incorporate agreements that were reached with President Zuma's help during his visit last week

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and South African President Jacob Zuma look to be on a collision course if the negotiations between the partners in the power-sharing government in Harare remain deadlocked despite Zuma's mediation.

Pretoria stepped up pressure on negotiators for the three unity government parties with an announcement saying it would not accept a report from them on March 31 that does not incorporate agreements that were reached with President Zuma's help during his visit last week.

The strong language from Pretoria came in response to a report in the pro-ZANU-PF state-run Herald newspaper saying ZANU-PF’s chief negotiator, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, had declared that the negotiators had reached no agreements with Zuma. The South African president said on concluding his visit that a "package of measures" was agreed through his mediation.

The Herald published a similar report early Saturday in Harare, this time attributing the position that there were no agreements reached under Mr. Zuma's mediation to President Mugabe himself, in remarks to the ZANU-PF central committee on Friday. Mr. Mugabe reportedly insisted ZANU-PF would not reach agreements with the MDC until Western sanctions have been lifted.

"The sanctions must go first!," the pro-ZANU-PF Herald quoted Mr. Mugabe as saying.

Political sources said Mr. Zuma secured undertakings from the parties for the appointment of provincial governors of the two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change, among other outstanding issues. Negotiators were supposed to wrap up talks March 29, and report to Zuma by March 31, upon which Zuma would report to Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, chairman of the Southern African Development Community troika or committee on politics, defense and security.

Mr. Zuma is Zimbabwe mediator on SADC's behalf.

Sources privy to the talks said the latest discussions were proving difficult as negotiators grappled with Zuma’s demand for a clear implementation plan.

The sources said ZANU-PF negotiators were seeking to put off implementation. Such difficulties have led the MDC formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to ask Zuma to conduct further mediation.

But Zuma adviser Lindiwe Zulu, a member of the South African facilitation team, said she and her associates would soon be back in Harare to continue work with the negotiators, and that it was premature for Zuma to intervene.

Political analyst Charles Mangongera said that the South Africans are clearly turning up the heat on ZANU-PF.

Progress in Zimbabwe could be reversed at any time due to the violence and intimidation blocking free and fair elections, according to a report by British lawmakers released on Friday.

Though some improvements to economic and conditions in Zimbabwe have been made, "governance, human rights and provision of basic services are still falling well below the needs of the people," it said.

The report was drawn up by the International Development Select Committee, a scrutiny panel of 11 lawmakers, as they examined British aid to its former colony.

They welcomed deal under which President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party agreed to share power with rivals the MDC, whose leader Morgan Tsvangirai became prime minister in February 2009.

"However, violence and intimidation, bad government and destruction of the economy have forced millions of people to leave," said committee chairman Malcolm Bruce.

"Many others have been displaced from their homes and are now refugees in their own country. There have been welcome signs of economic recovery under the Inclusive Government.

"Nevertheless, the political situation remains fragile. Until free and fair elections can take place, without intimidation and violence, progress will be limited and could be halted or reversed at any time."

The report said all elements within the unity government mush show their aim to ensure people receive basic services and can earn a living.

"The continuing political violence and harassment is not compatible with this," Bruce said.

The report also said that balance of power was "anything but satisfactory as it ensures that all the main levers of power remain with Mr Mugabe and ZANU-PF who have not fulfilled their undertakings and have sought to undermine the MDC's ability to deliver their limited areas of government."

The report said that European Union sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle could not be lifted.

South African President Jacob Zuma urged British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to get the sanctions removed when he visited London earlier this month.

But said Bruce: "Progress on human rights and democracy must be demonstrated before all the EU's restrictive measures placed on named individuals and organisations in Zimbabwe can be lifted."

The lawmaker also criticised land seizures, which went against a tribunal ruling by the Southern African Development Community.

"Farm invasions have had a devastating impact, both on individual farm-owners and workers and on the agricultural economy, and they must stop," he said.

"The terrible human rights abuses which have taken place as part of land seizures are completely unacceptable."

The report said Britain should continue giving aid through non-governmental channels.

Britain is a leading donor to Zimbabwe. It gave 60 million pounds (90 million dollars, 67 million euros) for humanitarian and development assistance in the country in 2009-10.

HARARE – Thousands of MDC youths from the party’s Harare province staged a street march that brought traffic to a halt in central Harare Friday, as they demanded an end to political violence and the prosecution of perpetrators of the June 27 presidential election violence.

Harare city centre was brought to a standstill by the three kilometre long body of marchers. The march started and ended at the MDC’s headquarters at Harvest House on Nelson Mandela Avenue.

The youths carried placards with messages demanding an end to violence, corruption, the politicization of the police who are under orders from their superiors not to arrest Zanu PF supporters who commit political crimes.

The MDC youths also demanded the resignation of President Robert Mugabe.

Mugabe (86) has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist since the attainment of independence in 1980.

In a departure from normal practice, the march was accompanied by the police.

In their petition, the MDC youths, who were joined by their national leaders Thamsanqa Mahlangu and Amos Chibaya, presented the petition to Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Attorney General Johannes Tomana and the co-Ministers of National Healing.

They said they were concerned by the threats that were issued last month by Zanu PF youths against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for allegedly inviting western imposed targeted sanctions on Zanu-PF top officials.

The threats were issued on Tsvangirai during a march by Zanu PF youths in Harare.

The MDC youths also demanded an end to the continued prosecution on petty crimes, of party leaders and activists by Attorney General Tomana, who is an avowed supporter of Zanu-PF.

“The office of the AG disabuses itself from being prostituted by the regime of Zanu-PF and start to actively pursue the murderers of Tonderai Ndira, Thabitha Marume, Tonderai Machiridza, Gift Tandare, Better Chokururama, Godfrey Kauzani and many others,” the petition read.

“The office of the Attorney General (should) swiftly move and prosecute those hooligans masquerading as Zanu-PF youths who continue to issue threats directed at the Prime Minister and Head of the Government of Zimbabwe, who is also the winner of the last election held in this country.”

The MDC has since increased its demands to have the perpetrators of violence arrested.

This week saw party parliamentarians demanding that a probe be instituted into the June 27, 2008 political violence.

The MDC says over 200 of its supporters were killed in the three-month orgy of violence when Zanu-PF supporters went on the rampage “revenging” President Mugabe’s humiliating loss to Tsvangirai in the March 29, 2008 elections.

JOHANNESBURG

The International Monetary Fund chief said Wednesday it's too soon to extend loans to troubled Zimbabwe.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, speaking to reporters at the end of a two-day South African visit Wednesday, said he and President Jacob Zuma discussed Zimbabwe a day earlier. Zuma has led efforts to get rival Zimbabwe politicians to reconcile, and says the international community should support that with aid and loans.

Strauss-Kahn says Zimbabwe's political problems must be resolved before the money can flow.

"The problem in a country like Zimbabwe is not only an economic problem. It's mostly a political problem," he said.

Asked about a law that went into effect this month in Zimbabwe requiring Zimbabwean businesses to be controlled by blacks, Strauss-Kahn seized on it as an example of politics presenting hurdles to recovery.

Such moves "which may not lead obviously or rapidly to a kind of reconciliation ... will not, definitely, solve the problem of the Zimbabwe economy," Strauss-Kahn said.

The law was passed by parliament when it was still dominated by President Robert Mugabe's lawmakers in 2008. Mugabe recently defended the law, saying it was aimed at ensuring "the people of the country own what is rightfully theirs." His prime minister, though, argues the law is unworkable and will discourage much-needed investment,

South Africa and other neighbors pressed Mugabe and longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai to form the coalition after a series of inconclusive elections marred by violence that was blamed on Mugabe's supporters. The first year of unity government has been marred by political bickering and impasse and continued attacks on opponents by Mugabe loyalists.

Vincent Magwenya, Zuma's spokesman, told The Associated Press Wednesday that with Zimbabwe it should not be a question of political resolution first, then economic re-engagement with the international community, arguing the two go hand-in-hand.

Last month, the IMF restored Zimbabwe's voting rights after a seven-year suspension over failure to pay $1.3 billion it owes the organization and other creditors. While that was a step forward, Strauss-Kahn said Wednesday: "We're not now at the point where resuming lending will be possible."

The IMF said last month Zimbabwe has started reducing the $140 million it owed the Washington-based lending organization at the end of 2009. But IMF officials said it has to produce a program to settle debts to other creditors that total $1.3 billion before IMF lending can resume.

With voting rights restored, Zimbabwe can participate in IMF decision-making and receive technical advice.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, 86, said on Thursday that he was prepared to stand for re-election if asked to do so by his ZANU-PF party.

"If ZANU-PF says yes, I will," Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, told journalists in a rare press conference. Elections are due in two years.If Mugabe wins the elections he will be 88 and will rule the country for another five years until he is 93.It is possible ZANU PF may choose him to run again for elections.

Mugabe and his longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai forged a national unity government a year ago under South African mediation, after a lengthy political crisis sparked by disputed elections.

"Elections will be a product of the constitution-making process," he said.

Under the pact which led to the formation of the unity government in February last year, the 2012 election will only take place under a new constitution.

The drafting of the new constitution has been marred by disruptions by Mugabe's supporters who are opposed to reforms. The process was halted in January to allow more public participation.

"If the process successfully ends, there will be an election. If it fails, that too will lead to an election.

Robert Mugabe went on to say his country would have better relations with London if the Conservatives win the next elections.

"We have always related better with the British through the Conservatives than Labour," Mugabe told journalists.

"Conservatives are bold, (Tony) Blair and (Gordon) Brown run away when they see me, but not these fools, they know how to relate to others," he added.

Mugabe's rant comes after Prime Minister Gordon Brown told South Africa's Jacob Zuma in London that Zimbabwe's targeted sanctions would not be lifted until progress was seen in the power-sharing government.

Zuma, who is the mediator in Zimbabwe's fragile unity accord, wants the sanctions lifted.

"We have a better chance with (British Conservative leader) David Cameron than with Brown," said Mugabe.

Relations between Zimbabwe and London have been strained over the past ten years, after Mugabe's government started seizing white-owned farms, under his controversial land reform laws.

In 2002, British former prime minister Tony Blair's government imposed targeted sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle -- including a travel ban and freezing of bank accounts -- following allegations of a rigged election.

"Blair is a downright liar, utterly dishonest, hypocritical," the veteran leader said..

Normally it is the venue for weddings, dances and charity events, but tomorrow a quiet village hall in a pretty corner of Leicestershire will be the centre of discussions to overthrow a hated African president.

Quorn Village Hall is the unlikely venue of a conference to find a democratic way of ousting Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe.

More than 100 exiled political activists from the opposition Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) have selected the village venue for the general meeting of the European wing of their party.

About 130 European delegates have been invited to attend a day of lectures and discuss ways of ending the 30-year-regime of Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).

Villagers say they are surprised that their hall, usually used for social events, has been chosen to host a political meeting about the future of a far-off African country.

 
Quorn parish councillor Terry Stirling said: "It seems very, very strange indeed. I don't think anyone in Quorn would ever have expected a Zimbabwean political party would be wanting to come here for any reason.

"Of course, we're no strangers to a bit of passionate political debate here but it tends to restrict itself to things like housing developments that people don't want – rather than dictatorships."

Parish council clerk Lindsay Swinfield said: "It is one of the more unusual groups that have asked to hire the hall. We asked one of the gentlemen why Quorn, and he said it's because we were central with good connections to the motorways and airport.

"Providing what happens in the hall doesn't disturb any of the residents we are happy. They have assured us this will not be a rally but a series of lectures and discussions."

ZAPU European provincial chairman Dr Ralph Mguni said: "We are a peaceful party and we wanted a place for the meeting that reflected that.

"Quorn is an idyllic village and is perfect for us but I can understand why it will be something different to what people are used to.

"We will not be causing any commotion, or any upset to anyone."

Provincial vice-chairman Nkosana Mthimkhulu, who lives in Birstall, said the party had tens of thousands of members in southern Africa and across the globe.

He said delegates will fly in from Germany, France and Ireland.

He said: "We probably could have had 600 or 700 members but that would have not been in the regulations of the hall, so we have limited it to 97 invited guests plus about 25 others.

"Normally we hold the meetings in a big city like Birmingham but this will be a nice change.

"Our aims are to remove Mugabe by democratic means and to form a fairer and more democratic society in Zimbabwe than exists now.

"We will do that by creating a sense of unity for the people where Mugabe has tried to create tribal divisions."

DURBAN, South Africa - Zimbabwe's state power utility ZESA said it would bring all the units of its Hwange power station back into operation by the end of March after a complete power failure last week, an official said.
ZESA's Chief Executive Ben Rafemoyo said two out of six units at the power plant, which has a total design capacity of 750 MW, were already back into operation and a third would start producing on Wednesday.

"Two of those units are operational already, the third one should come either today or tomorrow and progressively we will be bringing all the other units ... we think that by the end of March we will have all six units available for generation," he told Reuters at an African utility conference in Durban.

Hwange has been hit by a series of faults on the regional power grid, leaving the plant unable to produce any power.

The country is relying on the 750 MW Kariba hydro plant, which is producing at full capacity, while imports, mainly from Mozambique, are dwindling as regional demand for electricity rises.

Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo also export to Zimbabwe, when they have low demand at home.

The southern African country has a peak demand of 2,000 MW and needs up to $4 billion to build planned new power stations to supply adequate electricity.

Zimbabwe's energy minister said earlier this month that the country was willing to offer tax breaks to investors willing to put big money into power generation projects in the country.

Rafemoyo said initial financial committments, including an $81 million loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and a $51 million grant from the African Development Bank (ADB), would help kick-start other money flowing in.

"We're quite busy entertaining potential investors from all over... the ADB and DBSA funding is a sign that other investments will start flowing in," he said.

In the meantime, the country will have to rely on imports from the region and will have to resort to load shedding -- enforced power cuts -- to match supply with demand, he said.

Masvingo, - Riot police had running battles with Robert Mugabe's war veterans on Friday night who were digging up one of the world's historical monuments, The Zimbabwe Ruins, to exhume remains of bodies of fighters of the liberation struggle, which they said had been buried there. (Pictured: "They wanted to dig up for bones for reburial, but they did not follow procedures". War Veterans Association Secretary-General)
They said they wanted the bones of their colleagues reburied. The Great Zimbabwe is one of the world's major tourist attractions and foreign currency earner for Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is hoping to make a fortune out of the historical site in June as the world descend in neighboring South Africa for the 2010 World Soccer Cup.
Led by self styled war vets leader Francis Zimuto, popularly known as Black Jesus, who pioneered the bloody 2000 land grab from white commercial farmers, the ageing former guerrillas descended upon the monument at around midnight with spirit mediums armed with shovels and picks, provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Tinaye Matake told Radio VOP.
“We were called by the officials at the site that the war vets had started digging an area where they claimed ‘lay the bones’ of some war fighters. We rushed before they had done much damage, as you know that the monuments are protected, and that the war vets had not notified anyone, much as their idea might sound good,” Inspector Matake said.
He added that ten of the war vets were arrested after they tried to resist police orders. “Ten war veterans are arrested as we speak, but I cannot give you the names. They had failed to comply with the police orders."
Sources however said that among the arrested are the notorious former provincial war vets leader, Isaiah Muzenda, who a fortnight ago staged a sit-in in governor Titus Maluleke’s office in protest over alleged re-allocation of their tractors for non productivity, as well as Western Ezra, who last year invaded a city lodge, claiming that it was his as it is built on ‘his’ land.
Zimbabwe National War Veterans Association secretary general retired army major Alex Mudavanhu, also confirmed the arrest. "They wanted to dig up for bones for reburial, but they did not follow procedures. There should have been a way worked out on how they would do that, especially at the monuments where tourists visit."
In another incident in Gwanda self-styled war veterans who occupied Ridden Ranches in the area during the peak of the land invasions in 2003 have returned back to their original rural homes because of disillusionment.
Scores of Zanu (PF) supporters from Mberengwa , Gwanda and Beitbridge invaded the cattle ranches and chased away white commercial farmers who used to own the land.
The ranches, one of the largest cattle producers in the province before the land invasions are located on the borders of Midlands and Matabeleland South province. The invaders named the area “Kujambanja” ( a place of violence ).
“ I went to Ridden in 2003  during the height of the land invasions .At first I was sceptical about Kujambanja , but when I saw a significant number of my neighbours leaving , I decided to join the trek,” said Churu.
Disilluisionment set in when he discovered the area did not have good soils and is only suitable for cattle ranching. “There is no way anybody can get a good harvest at Ridden. The soils are poor and they are just as bad if not worse that where I come from. I wasted my time and resources leaving my father’s home.”
He accused Zanu (PF) of  moving people in unsuitable land in return for votes during election times. “ There were no health and shopping centre facilities at Kujambanja. Transport was also a major problem as one was forced to walk for a distance of more than 30 kilometres to the nearest bus stop,” said another settler, Kennedy Mhlanga, who has also turned his back on Ridden and has since returned to his rural home in Gwanda.
Some of the land occupiers have resorted to gold panning in the Shangani river as a means of survival.A Matebeleleland South provincial lands committee member, Silas Ndou admitted that soils in the area were poor. “ Infact , the problem of poor soils is not peculiar to ranches in the Ridden area alone. Matabeleland South is largely a wildlife and cattle rearing region. Securing fertile land for our people in the province has been a major headache,” he said.

Zimbabwe Power-Sharing Talks Resume Amid Pressure from Pretoria

South African facilitators hope to break a deadlock arising in large part from ZANU-PF's declaration that it will make no concessions until Western sanctions on President Mugabe and others are lifted

Negotiations among Zimbabwe's three power sharing parties resumed Monday following a new round of consultations with facilitators sent by South African President Jacob Zuma, mediator in the country's political crisis on behalf of the Southern African Development Community.

The South African facilitators hoped to break a deadlock in the talks arising in large part from ZANU-PF's declaration that it will make no concessions until Western sanctions on President Robert Mugabe and others are lifted.

After meeting with the South African facilitators, negotiators for ZANU-PF and the two formations of the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change returned to the table for intra-governmental talks late Monday. But observers were skeptical as to the likelihood of progress at this point.

Representatives of the parties in the talks were not available for comment. But  sources close to the negotiations said that Mr. Zuma's facilitation team told the negotiators that Pretoria was becoming impatient with the protracted talks, urging them to compromise and resolve outstanding issues.

The governing partners are haggling over the appointments of Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana as well as the swearing-in of MDC provincial governors and MDC Treasurer Roy Bennett as junior agricultural minister, among many other issues.

The facilitation team of Zuma adviser Lindiwe Zulu, Mac Maharaj and Charles Ngqakula was to meet Tuesday with President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.

Political analyst John Makumbe of the University of Zimbabwe said he is hopeful Zuma’s team can break the deadlock by pressuring ZANU-PF to move matters forward regardless of the sanctions, which he said are not within the control of the MDC.

HARARE: A fresh confrontation is looming in Zimbabwe’s shaky power sharing government after President Robert Mugabe reportedly ordered all ministers to stop reporting to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai but to the two Zanu PF Vice-Presidents in a bid to demote the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader.

Highly placed government sources have said that Mugabe issued the directive through a memo written and signed by the country’s chief secretary to the president and cabinet Misheck Sibanda last week.

The controversial directive by Mugabe, which goes against the Global Political Agreement (GPA) which gave power to Tsvangirai, is likely to escalate tensions in the transitional government following last week’s collapse of talks between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations.

“The directive from Mugabe came as a surprise to us, and in the letter he does not explain where he is getting the orders but it is clearly a Zanu PF and Mugabe ploy to create problems in the unity government. It’s yet another attempt by Mugabe to abuse his powers and ostracise the prime minister.

“Mugabe’s strategy in this issue is clear. He is aware that the issue will rejected outright by the MDC and but he wants it referred to the principals as an outstanding issue where it will take long to be resolved. In the meantime, Mugabe’s ministers will find an excuse not to report to Tsvangirai arguing that the issue has not be resolved,” said an MDC minister.

According to information at hand, the minister of state in the Prime Minister’s office, Gorden Moyo wrote back to Sibanda seeking clarification but the chief secretary to the cabinet responded by saying that if there were problems with the new directive, it had to be resolved by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara who are the principals in the GPA.

Although it was not clear at the time of going to press what the MDC was planning to do to hit back to the ploy to usurp Tsvangirai’s powers, Radio VOP understands that a showdown meeting of the principals is expected when Mugabe returns from the African Union summit in Ethiopia.

Sources also said talks facilitator, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa has also been made aware of Mugabe’s latest manoeuvres and is expected to brief colleagues in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) before engaging the 85-year-old Zimbabwe leader.

Since the Zanu PF congress in December last year, the party has taken a hard-line stance in the inclusive government including ordering their negotiators not to give in to any demands from the MDC until sanctions are removed.

The latest move is seen by observers as an attempt by Mugabe to give his vice presidents Joice Mujuru and John Nkomo some powers after the GPA effectively rendered them ceremonial with no job to do except attending functions. The GPA through Amendment 19 of the constitution gives powers to the Prime Minister with all ministers expected to report to him.

Tsvangirai also has powers to formulate and implement policy and is the one who is supposed to define the mandates of the ministers. He also chairs the council of ministers.

Written by STAFF REPORTERS    
Monday, 25 January 2010 14:06 

HARARE – A top airforce commander says a proposed new constitution should allow President Robert Mugabe to stand for a possible two more five-year terms, a scenario likely to see the 85-year-old leader die in office – if re-elected. (Pictured: General Constantine Chiwenga – Armed forces commander)
Director of air force intelligence, Wing Commander Bramwell Katsvairo told villagers during a Zanu (PF) rally in Mutoko last week that they should tell constitutional reform outreach teams that the presidential tenure should be limited to a maximum of two five-year terms and that Mugabe should be eligible to stand because this will be under a new constitution. “Top of your contributions, you must suggest that the presidential term of office should be two terms of five years each. The maximum ten-year term must start with President Robert Mugabe from the next elections,” Katsvairo told the villagers during the “conscientisation” rally held at Corner Store.
The airforce officer, who was in the company of several other members of the security forces, noted that Mugabe’s previous terms in office should be disregarded since this would be a new supreme law. “He must rule until 2020,” said the airman. He ordered villagers to emphasize in their constitutional reform contributions that age should not be a factor when setting criteria for a presidential candidate. Mugabe, who turns 86 next month, has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist since the former Rhodesia gained independence from Britain in 1980.
Critics have described the veteran leader’s 30-year reign on the country as worse than the legislated discrimination practised by the former white Rhodesian government that his Zanu (PF) and the former PF ZAPU waged a bitter decade-long battle to dislodge.
To avoid prosecution for human rights abuses, Mugabe and his party are campaigning for the adoption of the constitution drafted by negotiators from Zanu (PF) and the two MDC formations on Lake Kariba in September 2007. According to the Kariba draft, the president would be limited to two five-year terms but the proposed supreme law is silent on the tenure
already served by Mugabe. The tenure of the incumbent as president prior to the proposed new constitution would not be counted if the Kariba draft sails through. Constitutional experts say the Kariba draft is a mere extension of the current constitution and would further entrench Mugabe’s stranglehold on Zimbabwe. They also say the increasingly isolated Zimbabwean leader is unlikely to call for fresh elections in 2011 as agreed in a power-sharing agreement with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai but will run the full five-year term to 2013, after which he will stand for re-election for an additional two terms.
Under the September 2008 global political agreement between Zanu (PF), Tsvangirai’s MDC-T and a breakaway MDC faction led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, Zimbabwe is supposed to hold new elections in early 2011 after the passing of the new constitution. Analysts say Mugabe is aware that his political survival is at risk once he agrees to a new democratic constitution that would drastically clip his powers. As in the past three polls, the Zimbabwean leader has turned to the country’s military to ensure that any new constitution does not take away the system of privileges enjoyed by his coterie of Zanu (PF) sharks. The army has during the past few months stepped up campaigns in rural areas to have the Kariba draft passed as Zimbabwe’s new constitution. During the Mutoko rally, hapless villagers were told in no uncertain terms “mistakes” would not be tolerated in the constitution making process.
The utterances by Katsvairo and his army colleagues should not be ignored given the way they have influenced events in the past. The army was behind Mugabe’s blood reelection campaign during the June 2008 presidential runoff poll in which some 200-plus people died. Katsvairo is notorious in Mutoko where he led the area’s terror campaign team in 2008.
Last year he terrorized MDC-T supporters who wanted to recover their property stolen by Zanu (PF) thugs. He arrested and ordered the police to imprison more than 150 innocent
peasants without trial.

Zimbabwe leader, President Mugabe, is reportedly pushing for his military intervention in Madagascar to topple its president - Andry Rajoelina.
He is expected to further present his controversial proposal at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, today.

Mugabe’s spokesperson was not at liberty to discuss the issues when contacted. “The agenda of the summit is clear, Zimbabwe and Madagascar, so it would be wise for people to wait for the outcome. Mugabe has been linked to many issues but every time he has proven people wrong," he said.

Mugabe is official on his annual vacation but flew to Maputo last night for today’s meeting.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai stayed behind. His spokesperson said the premier is on leave and not aware of the meeting. "The prime minister is currently on leave, and he is not going to the summit. We are not aware of it," James Maridadi said.
 
Mugabe first made the call last June moments after he took over the chairmanship COMESA. A final communiqué issued at the end of the summit indicated that the bloc was considering a military invasion in the tiny island.

“Leaders expressed deep concern for the suffering of the people of Madagascar and called for an urgent solution to prevent the adverse social and economic implication particularly for the ordinary people of the extended uncertainty.

“… take a lead in their efforts to restore constitutional order in Madagascar by examining all options including the possibility of a military intervention,” read the communiqué.

Mugabe a war monger?

Observers claim that the 85-year-old Mugabe has a history of instigating wars in other countries.

When he was the chairman of the SADC organ on defence, he sent troops to Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a war that triggered excessive Government expenditure and was one of the major causes of Zimbabwe’s current economic meltdown. The war led to condemnation, as many Zimbabwean soldiers were killed while Zimbabwe received little benefit from it.

Mugabe also sent troops to Mozambique to fight the then Renamo that was led by Alfonso Dhlakama during the 1990s

Political analyst Chris Mawere in Harare said Mugabe’s move- if confirmed would be a disastrous one. “It would be a complete shock if the SADC meeting consider and endorse Mugabe’s plan. It’s a disastrous one. His own country is in a similar situation with that of Madagascar, will he accept a military intervention in Zimbabwe?” Asked Mawere.

Southern African leaders in 2009 suspended Madagascar from the SADC regional grouping and called for Rajoelina to step down. They vowed not recognise the 35 year old disc jockey, who took power in a move that was condemned as a coup by the international community.

The Maputo summit scheduled for 3pm will take place following the swearing-in of Mozambican President Armando Guebuza to his second term in office. The swearing-in ceremony follows the validation of the results of the October 28, 2009 presidential and legislative elections by the Mozambican Constitutional Court.

The Movement for Democratic Change formation of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Tuesday that it may ask the Southern African Development Community to intervene to halt farm invasions in the country.

The party said the divisive issue of the continuing takeovers of white-owned commercial farms under the guise of land reform might be added to the other outstanding issues under discussion between the Tsvangirai MDC and the former ruling ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe.

The smaller MDC formation of Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara is also involved in the talks, but Mr. Tsvangirai's former opposition party and ZANU-PF are the main protagonists in the long-running dispute.

The outstanding issues include Mr. Mugabe's unilateral appointments of the attorney general and the central bank chief in late 2008, following the signature of a Global Political Agreement for power sharing but before the unity government was put in place in February 2009.

The latest wave of takeovers of about 150 remaining white-owned commercial farms is said to be directed by ZANU-PF ministers, ZANU-PF aligned militia, the Defense Forces and the Zimbabwe Republic Police. Before Mr. Mugabe launched land reform in 2000 there were more than 4,000 white-owned farms which formed the backbone of the key agricultural sector.

Attorney General Johannes Tomana says the farmers being targeted are those who have resisted eviction. Tomana and the ZANU-PF side of the "inclusive"  government have disregarded a decision in favor of scores of the farmers issued by the Southern African Development Community tribunal in late 2008. Tomana denied that the latest farm takeovers are fresh invasions.

A report by the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union says more than 66,000 farm workers have lost their homes since the government was formed 11 months ago and are struggling for survival.

Mr. Tsvangirai and Mutambara have tried to end the takeovers through an inter-ministerial committee and the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee established to oversee GPA compliance, but to little avail.

Spokesman Nelson Chamisa of Mr. Tsvangirai’s MDC formation told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that the latest invasions are of serious concern and have the effect of discouraging much-needed foreign direct investment.

Minister of State Didymus Mutasa in Mr. Mugabe's office said an MDC appeal to SADC will make no difference as land reform will continue.

Zimbabwe's political rivals have agreed some outstanding issues of a power-sharing deal, but the pace of negotiations is slow, a South African official mediating in the talks said on Tuesday. Skip related content

President Robert Mugabe and long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, formed a unity government last year in February after disputed elections, but the coalition has been hobbled by disputes over power-sharing.

Lindiwe Zulu, international relations advisor to South African President Jacob Zuma, said while South Africa was not happy with the pace of talks, there was progress on some issues.

"I don't think that we should be talking of escalating conflict at this point in time. We are not saying that we are happy with the speed at which they are working but we think there are a number of things they've agreed upon," Sisulu told South African Talk Radio 702.

South Africa is mediating in the Zimbabwe negotiations and Zimbabwean media reports say Africa's biggest economy wants all outstanding issues resolved before it hosts the soccer World Cup in June.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in October "disengaged" from cabinet meetings with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, accusing it of being an "unreliable partner" but rejoined after mediation by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Mugabe and Tsvangirai are haggling over the appointment of provincial governors and the veteran leader's refusal to swear in Tsvangirai ally Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture minister.

The 85-year-old president has also refused to sack allies he appointed as central bank governor and attorney general without consulting Tsvangirai.

Mugabe says the MDC should call off Western sanctions against his party and ask its backers in the West to shut down what he calls pirate radio stations broadcasting into Zimbabwe from the United States and Britain.

Dairy firm managers leave over Robert Mugabe wife deal
Two South African managers of a dairy company linked to the Tetra Pak packaging empire have left the firm after it sold hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of equipment to Grace Mugabe's farm in Zimbabwe. 

It was revealed in October that the South African subsidiary of DeLaval, a Swedish-based dairy giant, had sold a 32-cow-capacity milking parlour, two giant cooling tanks and consumables worth £300,000 to Gushungo Dairy Estate, which was seized from its white owner and is now part of Mrs Mugabe's assets.

Mrs Mugabe, 44, is on the European Union's list of members of her husband's regime who are subject to targeted sanctions. She is described as "engaged in activities that seriously undermine democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law".

DeLaval is part of the TetraLaval Group, which also owns Tetra Pak and is itself owned by the Rausing dynasty, who include some of Britain's wealthiest people.

Benoit Passard, DeLaval's spokesman at its headquarters in Sweden, said that Leon Lilje, the managing director of DeLaval South Africa, and Rykie Visser, its sales manager for sub-Saharan Africa, had both "decided to leave the company to pursue new challenges".

They were not sacked and he declined to go into details about their departure agreements. But he said: "This follows the internal investigation regarding the transactions between DeLaval South Africa and Gushungo Dairy Estate farm in Zimbabwe, which was ethically unacceptable and in breach of our code of business conduct - namely dealing with people on international sanction lists."

The sale may technically not have been a breach of the EU sanctions, he pointed out, as it only involved employees of the firm's South African subsidiary.

But he added: "However, there's no doubt that the transaction was ethically unacceptable."

Gushungo Dairy Estate used to be known as Foyle Farm, when it was white-owned and the most productive dairy in Zimbabwe, but industry figures said that the then owner was forced, by a campaign of violence, to sell it to the authorities for a knock-down price.

DeLaval's corporate headquarters has consistently said that it was not aware of the deal until it was brought to its attention by The DailyTelegraph.

Nestle, the Swiss food multinational, whose Zimbabwean subsidiary was revealed by The Daily Telegraph to be buying milk from Gushungo Dairy Estate. It insisted it had done nothing wrong and backed down when a consumer boycott was threatened in South Africa.

The Rausing family's British-based arm includes Kirsten Rausing, who sits on its board and owns the Lanwades stud farm in Newmarket, her London-based brother Jorn (umlaut on o), also a board member, and their uncle Hans, who sold his half of the company to his late brother Gad in 1995 for an estimated $7 billion (now around £4.4 billion). He lives on a 900-acre estate in Wadhurst, East Sussex.

Hans Rausing and his family gave more than £150 million to charity last year and there is no suggestion any of them knew of the Zimbabwe deal.

Meanwhile six workers from Grace Mugabe’s dairy farm, Gushungo Dairy Estates, stormed the company headquarters of Nestle Zimbabwe demanding that the company resumes milk orders terminated in October, it was claimed.

Workers at the Swiss food conglomerate claimed the six men arrived just after lunch and demanded to see “whoever is in charge so that they can deliver milk”.

One Nestle employee said the six were driving in a white ERF truck parked outside the company’s HQ along Park Lane.

The six men are said to have met with Nestle managing director Heath Tilley and finance director, Farai Munetsi, who drove them out of the premises to an undisclosed location – thought to be the Meikles Hotel.

By late Thursday afternoon, neither Tilley nor Munetsi were available for comment as they were both said to be in meetings.

Nestle stopped making milk orders at Gushungo Estates after being pressured by foreign rights groups and its business partners who threatened to boycott its products.

Nestle was buying 10 to 15 percent of milk processed at its Harare plant from Mugabe’s farm.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe, S. Africa's Zuma Seen Meeting on Climate Summit Sidelines

Pretoria sources said Mr. Zuma was unhappy with the slow pace of the talks on a range of issues and was taken aback by the intransigent stance adopted by President Mugabe's ZANU-PF party in its congress on the weekend.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and South African President Jacob Zuma were expected to hold discussions on the sidelines of the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen regarding ongoing negotiations in Harare to settle contentious issues troubling the power-sharing government there.

Pretoria sources said Mr. Zuma was unhappy with the slow pace of the talks on a range of issues including top appointments, and was taken aback by the stance adopted by Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF in a party congress on the weekend vowing not to make concessions to the Movement for Democratic Change until Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai campaigns for the West to lift sanctions.

The ZANU-PF resolution declared that there should be "no movement on the concerns of the MDC formations (in the government) without corresponding and simultaneous redress of Zanu-PF's concerns such as the illegal Western sanctions and Western-funded radio broadcasts."

Political analyst Sydney Masamvu of the Iinternational Crisis Group in Pretoria told VOA's Blessing Zulu that Mr. Zuma must be firm with Mr. Mugabe because ZANU-PF hardliners would like to see the unity government collapse.

HARARE, December 12, 2009 – Zimbabwe’s political leaders are on Monday expected to announce the outcome of the latest round of talks whichwere called by the SADC troika in Maputo, Mozambique early last month.  
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Thursday evening the three principals will meet on Monday to consider the outcome of the negotiations and make a possible announcement.  
“I am hoping that we would be able to announce some position as towhat has been the outcome of the negotiating process as well as ensuring that some of the outstanding issues are resolved,” Tsvangirai said, as he received the new United States ambassador to Zimbabwe,Charles A. Ray at his house in Harare’s low density Strathaven suburb.  
“The principals are scheduled to meet on Monday and we have both been briefed by our teams, so we will meet to consider the reports andwhere there are deadlocks, we try to find a political solution to it.Certainly we cannot go on and on for ever and this is the message that has been communicated to us by the South African facilitation team andwe hope we will be able to announce them. 
 

“We must be conscious that we do not break our own deadlines and thatis what I was communicating to the facilitators and the facilitators are also anxious to ensure that we have credibility in the process andso we have a further meeting with the principals to try and receive reports from our various negotiators.”  
However, Tsvangirai could not be drawn into revealing what issues would be announced although it is expected that the issues like theZimbabwe Media Commission and the Electoral Commission would be announced.  
A South African facilitation team that was appointed by PresidentJacob Zuma has twice been to Zimbabwe in as many weeks to press Zimbabwe’s parties into respecting the November 5 deadline set by SADC.   
The MDC seeks the reversal of all unilateral appointments made by President Robert Mugabe after the signing of the GPA in September last year.  
They include those of the Attorney General, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, provincial governors and ambassadors. 
The MDC also wants its treasurer general Roy Bennett, who is currently being tried for terrorism, to be unconditionally sworn into his position as deputy minister of agriculture. 
 

 It is also seeking a stop to continued invasions on productive farmsby Zanu PF supporters, state media bias, the failure by the National Security Council to meet regularly and the continued arrest of its activists.  
Zanu PF wants the MDC to unequivocally commit itself to making calls for the lifting of western imposed targeted sanctions on its officials and businesses and the dissolution of the so-called parallel government structures. 
But Tsvangirai said the removal of sanctions was a collective responsibility as opposed to that of his party alone.  
“It is wrong to imply that MDC has liability over those issues. This is a collective liability as a nation and therefore that collective liability must be resolved collectively especially when it comes to ensuring that we comply with the benchmarks set by those people who set out those restrictions,” said Tsvangirai. 

7/12/09 Six Zimbabwean men are in a serious condition in hospital after they were attacked by residents at Westenburg in Polokwane on Monday night, Limpopo police said.

Residents took to the streets around 6pm looking for "rapists and murderers" following a murder on Saturday night, said spokesman Inspector Llisi Ngoepe.

"The men, believed to have been involved in the murder of a man in his 40s, were captured and assaulted. They were found lying on the street in a pool of blood and left for dead. Another was found lying in the bushes."

Ngoepe said a large contingent of police officers was sent to the area."Were are tracing those involved. No arrests have been made."

Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha said the six had told paramedics they were Zimbabweans. They were beaten with blunt objects.

 Ngoepe said police were treating it as a case of mob justice.

While police are refusing to call the attack xenophobic, according to Zimbabwean residents the men were citizens of their country.

It’s the latest in a spate of xenophobic attacks on Africans in South Africa, which has blighted the country over the last 24 months.

Government has been unable to cope with the ongoing clashes, even after newly installed president Jacob Zuma rushed to try and calm fears in Balfour to the east of Johannesburg where a number of Zimbabweans were burnt and stabbed to death in attacks.

LONDON, 1 December 2009  - Zimbabwean professionals in the UK say they will need to see real change before they would even consider going home, despite South Africa's ongoing attempts to resolve the disputes between the bickering partners in Zimbabwe's unity government.

In 2000 President Robert Mugabe, leader of the ruling ZANU-PF party, embarked on a violent land-reform exercise that destroyed the country's agriculturally based economy.

After a decade of economic meltdown, Morgan Tsvangirai, Prime Minister and leader of the main section of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway section of the MDC, and Mugabe became the three signatories to the Global Political Agreement (GPA), which paved the way for establishing the unity government.

"Zimbabweans here [in the UK] feel they cannot put their trust in the hands of politicians again, and unless all outstanding issues to the GPA are solved, few Zimbabweans will muster enough confidence to go back to their country," Arthur Bango, a qualified nurse who left Zimbabwe in 2000, told IRIN.

Estimates of how many Zimbabweans have fled the country's economic freefall and political violence in the last decade range from 500,000 to 4 million. Many have crossed the border to South Africa - the continent's economic powerhouse – while figures for the number in the UK, the former colonial power, vary between 100,000 and 2 million.

The GPA, signed in September 2008, led to formation of a unity government in February 2009, but any desire the expatriates might have had to return soon evaporated as the signatories failed to give the agreement any real substance. "The ZANU-PF side of the inclusive government is perceived to be dragging its feet on fully implementing the political agreement," Bango commented.

On 16 October 2009 Morgan Tsvangirai "disengaged" from the unity government in protest over Mugabe's alleged refusal to abide by the terms of the GPA, maintaining that Mugabe was stalling the swearing in of provincial governors, mainly from the MDC, and that MDC members and officials faced constant harassment by the ZANU-PF-controlled security forces.

The MDC has also said that Mugabe's unilateral appointment of the attorney general and the reserve bank governor, and their continued stay in office, is in contravention of the GPA.

In turn, ZANU-PF contends that the MDC has not done enough to persuade the US and the European Union to lift targeted sanctions against hundreds of senior ZANU-PF officials, as well as Mugabe and his family, and that the MDC has failed to stop radio stations funded by foreign governments from broadcasting into Zimbabwe.

Too late, too little

A three-man South African team – Vincent Mangwenya, President Jacob Zuma's spokesperson; Lindiwe Zulu, Zuma's international relations advisor; and former cabinet minister Charles Nqakula - has been trying to nudge Zimbabwe's political parties towards each other in the hope of kick-starting stalled negotiations, but many Zimbabweans in the UK think it might be too late.

Nobody wants to work in a foreign land for ever - people can't wait to go back to a normal environment 
"I am a qualified teacher and came to this country in 1999. My children have already grown and are attending schools or university here," said a Zimbabwean living in London who preferred to remain anonymous. Relocating his children to Zimbabwe would not make sense because the schools and universities there "had long collapsed, while health delivery is equally bad", he said.

Tatenda Nyati, another Zimbabwean in London, commented: "Many Zimbabweans were hoping to bring back development and prosperity to Zimbabwe, but that does not seem likely anytime soon."

A 30-year-old accountant, Malvern Moyo, said he and others were prepared to return and help rebuild the country, but "The politicians are being very selfish and unfair by not coming up with a solution to our problems. Nobody wants to work in a foreign land for ever - people can't wait to go back to a normal environment."

26/11/09 JOHANNESBURG — South Africa's President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday appointed a new team to monitor Zimbabwe's troubled unity government accord, ending former president Thabo Mbeki's mediation role, his office said.

"As part of the evaluation process, the facilitation team will be visiting Zimbabwe at a date to be announced," presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya said.

"Former president Thabo Mbeki's role was in the context of him being the head of state," Magwenya said.

Mbeki, who stood down as president in September 2008, led a team of mediators who brokered the power-sharing deal signed by President Robert Mugabe and his long-term rival Morgan Tsvangirai who became prime minister.

The unity government formed in February this year has been fraught with power struggles, which saw Tsvangirai boycott it for three weeks in October.

The stand-off was later resolved by regional leaders at a special summit in Mozambique.

"The facilitation team will soon engage with the parties as emissaries of the president, and report back to him," said the statement.

THE UN has condemned attacks against Zimbabweans seeking work in South African vineyards, which it says have driven 3,000 people from their homes.

Local farm workers accused the Zimbabweans near Cape Town of stealing their jobs by accepting lower wages.

South Africa saw an outbreak of xenophobic violence in May last year, when Zimbabwean refugees and asylum seekers were attacked.

More than 60 people died in the waves of mob violence.

The UN refugee agency said those displaced in the latest unrest were living in tents in a sports field north-east of Cape Town.

Foreigners live in fear 

On Friday, police said they had arrested 22 people in the informal settlement of De Doorns in Western Cape for allegedly attacking foreigners earlier this week, South African Press Association reports.

The trouble broke out when South African farm labourers were angered at reports that the farmers were employing migrant workers at lower wages.

"They started to shout at us saying that we had to go back to Zimbabwe," one migrant worker told the BBC.

"After that they started to break our houses. We phoned the police but the police didn't take action. They just stood there as people broke our houses and they stole our things."

Correspondents say South Africa is keen to show the world that poverty and crime is under control in preparation for next year's World Cup.

But for millions of South Africans the reality is very bleak.

This year there have been township riots by residents unhappy at the lack of decent housing and basic services, such as water and electricity.

19 Nov 2009 17:25
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai left Zimbabwe Thursday for Morocco and Libya, the current African Union chair, where he said he will brief Moamer Kadhafi on the unity government.

"I am taking the opportunity of being in the region to meet the chairman of the AU about the developments in the country and what progress we are making," Tsvangirai told reporters at Harare's airport before his departure.

He said he was invited by Libyan leader, and that he would also visit Morocco to discuss "areas of co-operation".

Meanwhile, he said his negotiators were meeting with President Robert Mugabe's party in a bid to smooth over bitter disputes within the power-sharing agreement.

At a 5 November summit, regional leaders gave the rival Zimbabwe parties 30 days to settle their differences.

"The whole urgency of the matter is to try and rescue the credibility of the inclusive government," Tsvangirai said.

This is the second time Tsvangirai has left the country as prime minister, after his maiden foreign trip to Europe and the United States.

Since March, Tsvangirai and Mugabe have disagreed on the appointment of key government officials such as the central bank governor and the attorney general. Tsvangirai's loyalists also remain the target of prosecution and harassment.

30 October 2009
The Southern African Development Community is stepping up its intervention to resolve the crisis within Zimbabwe's eight-month-old national unity government, with SADC Chairman and Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila due in Harare on the heels of a two-day assessment and mediation mission by SADC foreign ministers.

Mozambique Foreign Affairs Minister Oldemiro Baloi told reporters in Harare at the end of the two-day visit by a delegation of SADC's so-called troika on politics, defense and security that Mozambican President Armando Guebuza and the heads of state of Swaziland and Zambia, the other two countries on the troika, would convene a "summit" very soon.

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said earlier Friday that SADC heads of state as a body would meet in an extraordinary summit to examine the situation in Zimbabwe, but it was unclear whether the next step would be a full troika meeting or a SADC summit.

Mr. Kabila met earlier Friday in South Africa with President Jacob Zuma and announced that he was headed to Harare, adding that he felt certain the crisis could be resolved.

Official sources in Harare declined to confirm the visit, but some political sources said the news that Mr. Kabila was on his way caused consternation within the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe, though Mr. Kabila is thought to be close to Mr. Mugabe.

The impending Kabila visit was seen as a diplomatic gain for Mr. Tsvangirai, who lobbied the DRC president and other regional leaders after announcing Oct. 16 that his grouping of the Movement for Democratic Change would disengage from ZANU-PF in the government over a wide range of alleged ZANU-PF violations of the 2008 Global Political Agreement.

ZANU-PF officials said there was no reason for Mr. Kabila to come to Harare as the SADC troika delegation was on the scene and engaged with unity government partners.

The troika ministers completed a review of the current state of the GPA and unity government through discussions with President Mugabe, Mr. Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, among other stakeholders, including SADC diplomats.

Tsvangirai spokesman James Maridadi told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the troika will call for an extraordinary summit on Zimbabwe.

Secretary General Welshman Ncube of the Mutambara MDC formation said however that an eventual SADC summit was always on the cards.

ZANU-PF information committee member Chris Mutsvangwa said the party has no problem with SADC increasing its profile in Harare as a key guarantor of the GPA.

Political analyst Teresa Mugadza said Mr. Kabila’s decision to come to Harare was significant as it demonstrated SADC's serious commitment to resolving the crisis.

HARARE – A group of unknown people early Wednesday tried to break into the house of a top aide of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the latest of several attacks against the Premier’s followers since he partially withdrew his MDC party from Zimbabwe’s coalition government two weeks ago. 
Gorden Moyo, who is Minister of State in Tsvangirai’s office, said a group of people who did not identify themselves came to his Harare residency and tried to force their way in, banging on doors and broke some windows before they ran away after he threatened to shoot at them.
"They banged on my door several times and broke my window. When I threatened to shoot that's when they ran away,” said Moyo, who is not provided with state security guards at his Harare residence.
Asked if he thought the incident was linked to the country’s escalating political crisis Moyo said, "I think so."
Police were not immediately available for comment on the matter.
Political tensions that had relatively eased following formation of a power-sharing government between Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe last February are on the rise after the MDC two weeks ago began boycotting Cabinet over Mugabe’s refusal to fully implement the coalition accord.
A police raid last weekend on an MDC-owned house in Harare to search for guns allegedly stolen from an army barrack outside the capital, the abduction earlier on Tuesday of one of the party’s workers and the attempted kidnapping of another have heightened tensions in the country.
Tsvangirai’s decision to partially withdraw his MDC party from the coalition government plunged the administration into the worst crisis of its eight-month reign.
The former opposition leader wants Mugabe to agree to speed up democratic reforms and that the veteran leader fires his supporters he unilaterally appointed to head the central bank and the attorney general’s office in violation of the power-sharing accord.
Mugabe refused to concede to the demands in a Monday meeting with Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, the third signatory to the power-sharing agreement.
A Southern African Development Community delegation is due to meet Zimbabwean parties on Thursday to try to resolve the dispute between Tsvangirai and Mugabe.

HARARE – Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has written to Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa asking him to stop a brigadier general from unlawfully using national army soldiers to invade a white-owned farm, in a sign of growing discord within Zimbabwe’s coalition government.
Tsvangirai’s letter, whose disclosure came as a court ordered a top official of the PM’s MDC party, Roy Bennett, back to jail to heighten tensions in the shaky unity government, was copied to President Robert Mugabe, Commander-in-Chief of Zimbabwe’s armed forces and to Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairman, Joseph Kabila.
The SADC is alongside the Africa Union a guarantor of last year’s power-sharing agreement between Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara that led to formation of the coalition government last February.
“I hereby . . . request that your office institutes appropriate action against Brigadier (Justin) Mujaji to ensure his immediate cessation of illegal activities, in particular, the use of the Zimbabwe National Army to perpetrate unlawful acts,” read part of Tsvangirai’s letter, dated October 7.
Mujaji, the director general in charge of planning and programmes at Zimbabwe Defence Forces headquarters in Harare, several weeks ago deployed armed soldiers at Charles Lock’s Karori farm in Manicaland province in a bid to drive the white farmer off the property.
The army officer, who has allegedly stolen some of Lock’s crops, has openly defied several court orders to allow the white farmer to retrieve his personal belongings from the farm.
The soldiers threatened to shoot Lock and a court deputy sheriff who was accompanying him to his farm to collect his personal belongings.
In his letter, Tsvangirai narrates how Mujaji has defied court orders and how the brigadier has used national army soldiers as “private force” but the Premier does not say what action he will take should Mnangagwa fail to act against the army officer.
Tsvangirai wrote: “Charles Lock has obtained six High Court orders against Brigadier Mujaji. The Prime Minister’s office is aware of the fact that Brigadier Mujaji has disregarded all of the six High Court orders and is using attested members of the Zimbabwe National Army as a private force in contravention of the country’s laws and Constitution.”
It was not possible to immediately get comment from Mnangagwa or Tsvangirai’s spokesman James Maridadi on the matter.
But sources in the Prime Minister’s office said Mnangagwa – a powerful Mugabe ally – had not yet responded to the letter by yesterday, despite a demand by Tsvangirai for immediate response and action.
In addition, soldiers remained camped at Lock’s farm as Zimbabwe’s coalition government appeared headed for more choppy waters especially after Bennett’s incarceration yesterday.
Bennett, the MDC’s treasurer and its nomination for deputy minister of agriculture in the unity government, was sent to jail pending his trail at the High Court on charges of possessing weapons for the purposes of committing banditry, insurgency and terrorism.
The MDC politician denies the charges that Tsvangirai has also condemned as politically motivated. The MDC yesterday reacted angrily to Bennett’s jailing calling it a “serious attack on the credibility” of the coalition government.
The incarceration of Bennett and refusal by Mnangagwa to act against Mujaji as demanded by Tsvangirai is certain to fuel tempers within the hardliner camp in the MDC, already angry over what they see as attempts by Mugabe to relegate the former opposition to a junior role in the power-sharing government.

A total of £73 892,61 reportedly collected from Zimbabwean asylum seekers in Britain by MDC-T is believed to have been misappropriated with the provincial leadership claiming that most of the money was deposited into a personal bank account of a highly senior party official.

British police are expected to begin investigations on the matter soon.

The alleged scandal came to light when MDC-T’s UK provincial treasurer, Mr Tendai Gonese, announced to more than 500 party supporters at an MDC assembly in Britain’s Milton Keynes recently that the missing money was, in fact, sent directly to the senior official’s personal bank account.

Mr Gonese was explaining the handling of the MDC-UK funds after the party’s headquarters at Harvest House in Harare told the province recently that they had not received any money from the party’s UK province since 2007.

The announcement of the senior party leader’s alleged involvement sparked scenes of egg-throwing during the meeting, with members saying the UK executive was not telling the truth.

As the chaos intensified, the younger brother to Zimbabwe’s Finance Minister Tendai Biti, Mr Stanford Biti, who is also South-End MDC-T chairman, protested by throwing eggs at the provincial executive.

Mr Biti demanded accountability and accused the executive of betraying desperate asylum seekers who paid the money.It is understood that the MDC-UK executive charges up to £400 per asylum seeker to have his/her case represented by the party in the event of court proceedings. Asylum seekers are also charged an extra £90 for membership fees and, according to MDC-UK sources, there are over 4 000 paid-up party members in Britain alone.

British police had to be called in to calm the restless MDC-T supporters who were angry at reports that their money was sent directly to the senior official in violation of the party’s constitution which states that all party funds should be channelled to the treasurer-general, Mr Roy Bennett, or his deputy, Mr Elton Mangoma.

Trouble started after Mr Gonese avoided answering questions on the amount in question by saying anyone who want (sic) to ask questions about the money should call (the senior official) because that is where we sent the money”.

His announcement split the province into two antagonistic factions as some members sought to pass a vote of no confidence in the UK provincial executive.Hell broke loose at what was supposed to be the party’s 10th anniversary celebrations. The entire UK-provincial executive had to be whisked away to safety.

As MDC-T UK chairman Mr Jonathan Chawora tried to address the assembly, supporters started dancing and denigrating the provincial executive for “squandering our hard-earned money”.The party’s secretary-general, Mr Tendai Biti, who is also Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, has reportedly demanded a full financial inquiry backed by bank statements.

According to a report written by Mr Chawora, who is a former police assistant commissioner, Mr Biti has questioned why money raised from the UK membership has not been sent to Harvest House since 2007.

A financial statement compiled by the Chawora executive states that a total of £73 892,61 was collected from the party’s UK supporters between March 2008 and February 2009.

The Sunday Mail is now in possession of the controversial MDC-T UK financial statements which sparked chaos at Milton Keynes. Party branch chairpersons contacted by our correspondent expressed anger at the financial report which only showed expenditure but not income.The Chawora-crafted financial report, which is not backed by a bank statement, states that £400 was spent on “twinning phones duty”, £5 100,53 on “membership letters”, £443,92 on “DHL courier from Harare”, £150 for “NC’s printer from Peterborough branch”, and £200 was spent on “CVs postage to Harare”.

The controversial statement further states that £1 447,10 was spent on “funeral expenses”, £1 619 on “training”, £1 886 on “venue hire”, £2 116,45, on “stationery”, £1 393 on “advertising/campaign”, £2 921,04 on “party regalia” and a total of £48 210,44 sent to Harvest House.

Branch chairpersons who have led a rebellion claimed the financial report was doctored to cover up for mismanagement of party funds.They claimed that it was impossible to spend so much on postage alone under any circumstances. Most branch chairpersons voiced concern over the handling of party funds in the UK. They said the only way to resolve the party’s financial dispute was to call in independent auditors and warned they could be forced to report the matter to British police.

One of the most controversial issues was the £874 which the Chawora provincial executive says was spent on “website maintenance”. An expert in website design working for the British Broadcasting Corporation said £874 was too high a figure to spend on website maintenance.

He said a state-of-the-art website normally costs a maximum of £5 a month to host with reputable website hosting companies. MDC-T members in Britain have urged the party’s leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, to move quickly to resolve the issue.

“The supporters believe certain MDC-T leaders were behind the whole saga. They say they have tried communicating with the MDC leadership, but they were not getting any joy because some of them were involved in the financial scandal which is most likely to be investigated by British police soon,” said a well-placed source.

Efforts to get comment from the party’s secretary-general were fruitless yesterday.

HARARE-Leader of the mainstream Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai met his long time archrival President Robert Mugabe on Monday and reports are that the 10 minute meeting yielded nothing.

This was a routine meeting, but with a difference. Tsvangirai had been tasked on Sunday by his national executive to take Mugabe head-on regarding the outstanding issues hindering the full implemenation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

Usually, the principles Monday meetings to update each other on the performance or non performance of the inclusive gathering last at least on hour. But this time round it lasted an unusual 10 minutes.

Sources close to the meeting said Tsvangirai did exactly what he was tasked to by his party, but Mugabe would have none of that.

"The meeting lasted an unusal 10 minutes and we were all baffled because they usually take at least an hour," said a source. "However, Tsvangirai raised the outstanding issues with Mugabe and it seems this irked the president. Tsvangirai spoke of the appointment of provincial governors, ambassadors, the AG and RBZ governor and other senior government appointments."

The premier's spokesperson James Maridadi confirmed the meeting took place, but was unsually short.

"The meeting took place, but I am not privy to the details. I still need to be told what transpired by the PM and only after he has done so I will be in a position to let the media know," Maridadi said.

The fruitless meeting came on the eve of the first anniversary of the signing of the GPA by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and deputy prime minister Arthur Mutambara whose loose tounge has disturbed Africa leaders after he said they had no brand worth selling without assistance from the West.

ZIMBABWE - HARARE - We are just back from a rally to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the MDC – we formed the Party ten years ago today! The rally was the biggest we have had in Bulawayo since we formed the Party and the entire leadership was present.

The rally was preceded by meetings of the National Executive and Council and in those meetings it was decided that the MDC would have to toughen its stance in the transitional government.

The President, Morgan Tsvangirai, will now meet Mr. Mugabe on Monday and tell him that the National Leadership has resolved to give their Zanu PF counterparts one week to begin to implement the full demands of the Global Political Agreement.

In addition, the structures of the Party have been instructed to go back to the rank and file and ask them if it was not time to reconsider our participation in the Transitional Government.

This tougher stance was triggered by several events in the past week or so. First, at the SADC Heads of State summit in the Congo, Mr. Mugabe made a five hour speech in which he stated that the parties to the GPA were working well together and there were no serious problems.

Secondly, we felt that our willingness to compromise to try and make this deal work was being misconstrued as compliance and that this impression had to be corrected.

But perhaps the most important challenge came from the ordinary members of the Party who felt that the failure to get Zanu PF to play its part in the Transitional Government was stalling recovery and normalisation.

It was felt that after the early progress brought about largely by MDC reforms and their presence in the government, that the economy was still in deep trouble and that social service recovery was a long way off.

Zanu PF procrastination was impeding progress on all fronts; in the constitutional reform process the attitude of Zanu PF leadership was holding up progress and their demands that we short circuit the process and accept the Kariba Draft, was totally unacceptable.

The failure to consult on all major decisions and to unilaterally appoint people to posts in violation of the GPA had now gone too far and was not tolerable.

Then there are the issues of the failure to effect agreed reforms to repressive legislation and to open up the media.

The failure to halt the issuance of hate speech and the public denigration of the MDC and its leadership and the one sided application of the law to MDC legislators where 29 MP’s and Senators are now either in court or already convicted on fabricated grounds.

The statement on Saturday when Mr. Mugabe met the high level delegation from the EU in Harare that “we have implemented the GPA and therefore that sanctions should be withdrawn” met with little acceptance.

His case was not helped by an irresponsible and unlawful statement the previous day at the Zanu PF Youth Congress to the effect that the “bloody whites” had no place in Zimbabwean affairs and that remaining white farmers had to leave their farms or face eviction by force by the Police.

Such rhetoric has no place in a modern society. Zanu PF racism has gone too far this time. In the past Mr. Mugabe has always been careful to maintain some dignity in his public utterances and then done just what he wants behind closed doors.

The continuing attacks on white farmers are now blatantly racist and illegal, even in terms of the present law in Zimbabwe.

MDC responded by abandoning its previous stance that the so called land reform exercise was “irreversible”. The National Executive now states that the Zanu PF “fast track land reform programme” has been unacceptable and will require a comprehensive review and change.

The reality is that if the rule of law is restored in Zimbabwe, the new Courts will rule in favour of the farmers and holders of private property rights. Then what do we do? Anyway the present attacks on remaining farms are irresponsible in the face of a situation where we are being forced to import 80 per cent of our food.

Zanu PF has to ask itself now, “what happens if the Transitional Government” collapses?”. Make no mistake; it will not be back to normal business and looting for the Zanu PF thugs.

SADC would have no alternative but to become engaged and this time there would be no Mbeki to protect Zanu PF interests. MDC’s position would be quite simple – let’s go back to the people and settle this once and for all.

For Zanu PF that is the very last thing they want – they and Mutambara want the present Transitional arrangements to last for five years in the hope that MDC will screw up and they can benefit from the gradual recovery that is under way.

They also hope that by the end of the five year term new leadership might be in place in Zanu PF and they might be able to reenergise the Party. There is no hope for Mutambara unless the present arrangement persists.

So on Monday the other two partners in the Transitional Government face a “High Noon, Main Street” moment. Morgan Tsvangirai will confront clever Dick and the Botox man with the demand that they live up to the deal they signed a year ago in Harare.

They know what that entails and although they might shrink back from such a demand, the alternative is worse; it’s a stay of execution for at least a year.

Sitting in the crowd and watching the rally run its course, I felt so proud of the thousands of ordinary people who have fought for the past decade for freedom, democracy, security and safety and a better standard of life and have done so without violence.

What an example they are to the world in which we live where so often such disputes and conflicts are resolved by violence and murder.

Morgan summed it all up when he said “before God I pledge that I will not rest or retire until we have brought our promise of a future we can all believe in to fruition in Zimbabwe”.

When he asked the crowd if they would join him in that struggle, there was a roar of assent. I could feel the apprehension in Shake Shake building in Harare.

The farmstead owned by an outspoken critic of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s expropriation of white-owned land has been destroyed in a fire.

Ben Freeth, 40, and his wife, Laura, 39, returned from church on Sunday to find a bushfire being swept by high winds raging towards their double-storey thatched home on Mount Carmel farm in Chegutu district, 60 miles west of Harare.

"It was so fast, it touched the thatch and it was gone," said Mrs Freeth. "We got out with literally the clothes on our backs."

The couple designed and built the house and filled it with antique furniture, books and paintings. Most of the farms’ workers also lost their houses, and Mrs Freeth’s cottage industry linen factory was also destroyed.

"We are going to start again," Mrs Freeth said. "We will begin with a small cottage and then we’ll build the big house."

Mr Freeth and his father-in-law, Mike Campbell, 78, last year won a long campaign to have a Southern African regional tribunal declare Mr Mugabe’s seizures of white-owned land illegal, unconstitutional and racist. in June, shortly before the court delivered its verdict, the two men and Mr Campbell’s wife, Angela, 67, were abducted by war veterans who tortured them for nine hours to force Mr Campbell to give up his litigation. All were left with severe injuries.

The Campbells returned to Mount Carmel, which Mr Freeth helps run, but in April this year, a new group of invaders, on the orders of Nathan Shamuyarira, an octogenarian member of Mr Mugabe’s politburo, descended on the farm, and forced the elderly Campbells out after holding them hostage for several hours. About 70 tonnes of export quality mangoes rotted while the tractors, other equipment and farming supplies were looted.

A further attempt in June to drive the Freeth’s out of their house, about 1.5 miles away, failed. In a rare intervention local police, followed court orders protecting the family from eviction, and came to their rescue as war veterans were threatening the Freeth’s three young children.

Mrs Freeth said she did not suspect the war veterans on Mount Carmel of deliberately setting the fire. "It was a huge fire and it came from a long way off. But it could have been prevented. We could have put it out if we had our tractors and water bowsers, but they (the war veterans) have got them. Before all this happened, people used to fight bush fires. But now that the white farmers are gone, nobody does anything."

HARARE – War veteran and Zimbabwe’s former ambassador to China, Chris Mutsvangwa, is on a list of 12 people nominated to sit on a new commission that will oversee the Press in the country, Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo said Tuesday.
Mutsvangwa, a well-known President Robert Mugabe loyalist and part of the thinking side of the veteran leader’s ZANU PF party, was not on the original list of nominees made public about two weeks but Moyo – in charge of nomination of candidates – yesterday said that widely reported list was in fact not the official one.
“The list that was published by journalists soon after the interviews was not the official one,” sad Moyo, who never bothered to set the record straight when that list in question was widely publicised by local newspapers and by online news sites.
Moyo said: “What happened was that there were two lists, one from the panel of human resources experts and another from Members of Parliament.
“From both lists, there were nine candidates who had made it and the three remaining candidates had to come up after discussions and collations. That is when Chris Mutsvangwa’s name ended up in the list of the final 12.” 
Mugabe is going to pick nine people from the list submitted to him by Parliament to constitute the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) that will oversee the print media, replacing a defunct Media and Information Commission that during its time oversaw closure of four newspapers and instigated the arrest of scores of journalists.
He will pick three people from another list of six nominees handed him by Parliament to make up the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe that will oversee the electronic media.
A capable and committed ZANU PF cadre and a veteran of the media after managing the government’s Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation in the 90s, chances are high that Mugabe will pick Mutsvangwa to head ZMC that is set to have the biggest say to what extent the media shall be set free after years of strict government controls.
It was not immediately clear whether with Mutsvangwa’s inclusion ZANU PF was now fully in support of the process of selecting candidates for ZMC and other proposed commissions.
Mugabe’s party had complained bitterly and appeared determined to scuttle the nomination process after Mutsvangwa and several of its allies failed to make it to the final list first released more than a week ago – the list that Moyo has now rejected.
ZANU PF had alleged that the panel that interviewed candidates was biased against candidates perceived to be sympathisers of the party. Mugabe’s party also alleged that the panel favoured candidates with links to Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s MDC party.
Other ZMC candidates are human rights lawyer Chris Mhike, Lawson Hikwa, journalism lecturer Nqobile Nyathi, Mathew Takaona, Miriam Madziwa, Henry Muradzikwa, Godfrey Majonga and Wabata Munodawafa, academic Rino Zhuwarara, pastor Useni Sibanda and banker Millicent Mombeshora.
Nominated to join BAZ were academic Vimbai Chivaura, publisher Benson Ntini, Godfrey Chada, Clemence Mabaso, former ZBC executive Susan Makore and former ZANU PF legislator Kindness Paradza.
The ZMC is part of several commissions to be formed by Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government as part of a raft of reforms meant to reshape and democratize Zimbabwe’s politics.
The other commissions provided for under Constitutional Amendment Number 19 that established the power-sharing government are the Independent Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (IZEC), Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC).
Once the commissions and a new constitution are in place the government will call fresh elections with the whole process that began in February expected to last between 18 to 24 months.
Rich Western nations have refused to back the Harare government or lift visa and financial sanctions imposed on Mugabe and his inner circle seven years ago, saying they were not happy with the slow pace of political reforms.

THE unexpected move by army and airforce commanders to salute Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai during the Defence Forces Day on Tuesday after vowing never to do so followed high-level behind-the-scenes negotiations to improve poisoned political relations.

Informed sources said the discussions resulted in a political deal which is linked to the resolution of outstanding Global Political Agreement (GPA) issues that have continued to drive a wedge between President Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai.

This followed the recent meeting of the National Security Council where army commanders for the first time met with Tsvangirai face to face in an ice-breaking encounter.

Sources said the hostility between Tsvangirai and army commanders had reached alarming proportions as shown by a “nasty incident” at State House during the visit to Harare of a North Korean delegation in May when a top general allegedly grabbed MDC minister Nelson Chamisa by his collar during a heated political argument.

During that same evening, Tsvangirai left State House in a huff after a clash with security guards over one of his vehicles to which they refused entry.

The clashes had heightened political temperatures to the levels of last year during a fiercely-contested election campaign when army commanders declared they would not salute Tsvangirai.

Sources said in exchange for military respect and support, it has been agreed Tsvangirai would drop some of the unresolved issues that would feature prominently during South African President Jacob Zuma’s talks with Mugabe in Harare later this month.

Zuma is expected to officially open the Harare Agricultural Show which will run from August 24-29. The South African leader, who currently chairs Sadc, is expected in Harare on August 27.

Zuma recently held talks with Tsvangirai in Johannesburg and committed himself to contacting Mugabe and other regional leaders to tackle lingering political problems in Zimbabwe that might rock the Sadc summit expected during the first week of September.

The MDC whose national executive meets today said yesterday the outstanding issues –– including the disputed appointments of Attorney-General Johannes Tomana and Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono — must be resolved urgently.

In exchange for the salute, the MDC will stop demanding the removal of either Gono or Tomana.

The sources said the salute by Zimbabwe National Army commander Lieutenant-General Phillip Sibanda and Air Force Marshall Perence Shiri was a result of ongoing secret negotiations which involved Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s political aides. The advisors met and also telephoned each other in marathon attempts to broker peace.

Only Sibanda and Shiri openly saluted Tsvangirai. Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander General Constantine Chiwenga (pictured) only greeted Tsvangirai, while prisons commissioner Retired Major-General Paradzai Zimondi and Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri did not have a public encounter with him.

CIO Director-General retired Brigadier-General Happyton Bonyongwe was also not spotted close to the prime minister. The generals have told colleagues they saluted Tsvangirai out of courtesy.

Chiwenga, Army Chief of Staff Major-General Martin Chedondo, Chihuri and CIO deputy Director-General Mernard Muzariri had vowed not to salute Tsvangirai. Several other generals had also made similar undertakings.

Zimondi even declared he would quit his job to take up arms to defend his farm should Tsvangirai win the elections. In 2002 the late overall commander General Vitalis Zvinavashe and others made similar threats just before presidential elections.

Sources said current negotiations were prompted by a realisation the issue had badly damaged political relations between Tsvangirai and commanders.

The Zimbabwe Independent has a full list of Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s advisors who negotiated the deal and details of the meetings.
Sources said the advisors negotiated to ensure Tsvangirai and MDC officials attended Heroes’ Day celebrations and the burial of the late Vice-President Joseph Msika at Heroes Acre in Harare on
Monday as part of a build-up to the Defence Forces Day commemorations on Tuesday where the commanders would salute the prime minister as arranged.
The threats last year were condemned by Sadc leaders. Former South African president Thabo Mbeki sent retired army generals to investigate the root cause of   political violence which hit Zimbabwe in the run up to the elections. Scores of people, mainly MDC supporters, were killed, while hundreds were caught up in the wave of terror.

One of the most senior members of Zimbabwe's unity government has spoken of his fear that he and the prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, could be the target of assassination by forces determined to block political reforms.

Tendai Biti, finance minister and secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), received an envelope at his home last week containing a 9mm bullet and a death threat telling him to prepare his will. One of his employees was hospitalised after being beaten and kicked by a soldier outside Biti's front gate.

Tsvangirai and Biti are the MDC's principal players in the six-month-old power-sharing agreement with Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF, whose supporters have been blamed for a surge in political violence in recent weeks.

"Tsvangirai is the face of change in Zimbabwe and change is a threat to those who have been benefiting from the status quo," Biti told the Guardian. "Yes, we are at risk [of assassination] and I think we are being irresponsible by having the lax security arrangements we have, certainly myself."

He continued: "The fact of the matter is that we are in a struggle, a vicious struggle. The easiest and most opportunistic solution is to eliminate, and when you eliminate particularly strategic persons like prime minister Tsvangirai, you take the struggle backwards for many years. So of course any opponent would have to strategise and say, 'Look guys, this is an easy solution.'

"But killing somebody is not easy and also the world has moved. The information highway has helped: Zimbabwe is not an island. There will be harsh consequences to any act of insanity."

The finance minister, who has been credited with rebuilding the economy after last year's record hyperinflation, conceded that he should take the threat to his safety more seriously. "If they want to do anything to you, they can do it. I don't move around with a bodyguard because God is my bodyguard. I don't think about my personal security, which I think is stupid, but that's the reality."

The inclusive government last month launched a campaign of "national healing" and reconciliation, which prompted the rare sight of Mugabe and Tsvangirai laughing together on stage. Mugabe called for an end to violence, urging Zimbabweans to promote "the values and practice of tolerance, respect, non-violence and dialogue as a means of resolving political differences".

 Howard Makonza, Tendai Biti's gardener. Photograph: David Smith But last weekend Biti's gardener was assaulted outside the politician's home in Harare. Howard Makonza said he was passing the residence of the national army commander, General Philip Valerio Sibanda, when three armed guards told him to stop. He continued walking and a soldier started chasing him down the street. Makonzi ran to Biti's house but the soldier caught him outside the gate and struck him to the ground.

Makonza recalled: "He started beating me in a strong way, kicking me in the head, in my mouth and all over my body. He beat me for about 20 minutes. I thought he was going to kill me. I was screaming and people ran away, but my workmate helped me and opened the gate so Mr Biti's vicious dogs came out. The soldier shook the gate and said 'Now you're for it' but then he went away.

"I was bleeding in from the teeth and the lips. They called a doctor for me and I was taken to hospital. Later we went to the police and they asked the soldier why he beat me. The soldier said 'I want to beat him again' in front of the police, who said they would come back the next day."

The 39-year-old gardener now fears for his safety. "They want to destroy me. I've got small children to support and my mother is ill. I'm the breadwinner so if they destroy me, no one can support my family

Zimbabwe should be banned from the international diamond trade, according to the organisation set up to stop the use of diamonds to fund conflict.

According to a leaked report, the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme has recommended the country be suspended for the next six months. The move follows reports that the Zimbabwean army has forced some people to search for diamonds at gunpoint. Participants in the scheme must prove the origin of any diamond being traded. It seeks to assure consumers that by purchasing diamonds they are not financing war or human rights abuses.

Many people search for diamonds in Zimbabwe's Merange region, where the gems can be found close to the surface. Members of the Kimberly Process scheme met in Namibia earlier this month and although its conclusions were not made official, a leaked report reveals it wants Zimbabwe to be officially banned from the international diamond trade. Elly Harrowell from the pressure group Global Witness said that Zimbabwe's army was forcing local people to mine for diamonds.

"The Zimbabwe national army is now running the mines there as a way of funding themselves," she said.

They're forcing local people to do the mining and then smuggling diamonds out and taking the money for themselves." The Kimberly Process group's members are now seeking talks with the Zimbabwean government.

However, even if the country is officially suspended from trading, experts acknowledge that it may prove almost impossible to prevent all the diamonds which are mined illegally from reaching the international market.

Zimbabwe’s fledging coalition government has been engulfed by a fresh row over the control of cabinet portfolios amid an accusation by President Robert Mugabe’s loyalists that ministers from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party are trying to usurp the veteran ruler’s powers.
Mr Mugabe’s secretary George Charamba on Wednesday told state media the Minister of Information Communication Mr Nelson Chamisa was trying to re-order the functions of at least three ministries through a draft Information Communication Telecommunication (ICT) Bill.
The Bill sponsored by Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) seeks to open up Zimbabwe’s media and telecommunications sector, which have been tightly controlled by Mr Mugabe’s functionaries since independence.
In February, President Robert Mugabe almost caused the collapse of the coalition when he unilaterally took away the control of the telecommunications and broadcasting portfolios from Mr Chamisa and handed them to ministers from his Zanu PF.
The Herald newspaper, which is still fiercely loyal to Zanu PF, reported that the Chief Secretary to the president and Cabinet, Dr Misheck Sibanda refused to transmit the draft legislation to cabinet because it was flawed.
“We are not sure if the minister has crafted the draft as a member of this government or as an MDC functionary,” the paper said quoting a government source. “This is a political Bill.”
Mr Charamba said Mr Chamisa has ‘grievously misdirected himself’ in trying to change the functions of certain ministries and seeking to repeal laws that he did not administer.
“I have been favoured with a copy of the draft and I can tell you that is transcendental in intention,” he said. “It goes beyond the portfolio if the ICT ministry in that it purports to take legislative decisions on at least three Acts, which are outside his mandate.”
Another source from Mr Mugabe’s office quoted by the Herald said Mr Chamisa’s draft threatened the fabric of the inclusive government and would set a “a dangerous precedent for the coalition that is only half a year old.”
Six months after Mr Mugabe formed a unity government with his former arch rivals led by Mr Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara of the smaller formation of the MDC, the coalition is haggling over key reforms.
Hardliners in the former ruling Zanu PF are said to be resistant to media reforms because they are afraid of opening up space to the MDC formations ahead of fresh elections due in the next 18 months.
The fight intensified after Finance Minister Tendai Biti who is also the secretary general for the main MDC removed punitive import tax on newsprint and foreign newspapers in budget review last week.
His critics said he was exposing Zimbabwe to attacks by its enemies.
Some of the strongest critics for Mr Biti’s measures were former Information and Publicity Minister Jonathan Moyo who authored draconian media legislation that saw the mass closure of independent newspapers and barring of foreign journalists from working inside Zimbabwe.
Mr Charamba and the Minister of Information and Publicity Mr Webster Shamu of Zanu PF have also been dragged before the courts by journalists for trying to block media reform.
The Herald accused the MDC of waging a “systematic assassination of the president and key cabinet ministers.”
“Biti wants newsprint to come in for free and at the same time Chamisa is trying to strip the Ministry of Information of its role,” the paper said quoting another unnamed source. “These are things that should not be read in isolation.”
The renewed tensions come at a time when the coalition is riddled with infighting over a number of outstanding issues from the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that include the re-appointment of the central bank governor and the attorney general.
Mr Tsvangirai’s party has referred the outstanding issues to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for arbitration.
Meanwhile, the MDC’s parliamentary majority is fast diminishing following a string of convictions against its MPs after another legislator was jailed for corruption.
Mr Ernest Mudavanhu was handed a two year jail term after he was convicted of corruption involving the diversion of agricultural inputs from the government.
He will serve a year in jail after a Harare magistrate Mrs Olivia Mariga suspended half of the sentence – six months for good behaviour and six months on condition he pays US$15, 135 restitution.
Another four MPs were suspended from parliament last week after they were convicted for various offences.
In a statement, the MDC said: “The MDC is concerned by the continued persecution of its MPs, officials and party activists.
“The suspension of the two MPs is a well orchestrated move by some elements to whittle down the MDC’s majority in parliament.”
Five more MDC MPs face similar accusations of abusing farm inputs programme.
Last year, Mr Tsvangirai’s MDC overturned Zanu PF’s majority in parliament for the first time since independence from white colonial rule in 1980.

HARARE – Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara says President Robert Mugabe should take more blame for the commotion that almost derailed Zimbabwe’s constitution-making process last week.

Mutambara says the chaos would have been contained if Mugabe had not ignored an invitation to grace the abortive opening ceremony of last Monday’s All Stakeholders Constitution-making Conference, alongside his fellow principals in the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

Mutambara told journalists Saturday he, together with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khuphe arrived at the Rainbow Towers, venue for the conference, more than an hour before the chaos started. They had, however, kept away from the auditorium while they waited for Mugabe to arrive.

“We got to the venue earlier and discovered the mood was divided,” Mutambara said. “We decided not to go it alone but wait for Mugabe and go (in) as a team.

“Tsvangirai, Mai Khuphe and I were down there ready to address the people. We waited for an hour and a half for Mugabe. He did not show up.

“If the three of us had gone in there at the same time, we would have been able to provide leadership and make it happen.”

Mutambara said they left for State House to confront Mugabe, whom the ZBC quoted as claiming he had not been invited to officiate at the conference.

Meanwhile, they instructed Lovemore Moyo, speaker of the House of Assembly, to proceed with the conference while they made attempts to bring Mugabe at 12 noon.

All hell broke loose when a horde of Zanu-PF supporters disrupted the opening speech by Moyo, a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) legislator.

Moyo and cabinet ministers from both Zanu-PF and the MDC left the podium in a huff after the mob started chanting party slogans and throwing bottled water at them.

Mutambara said when they arrived at State House they had told Mugabe he should be careful not to return the country back to the June 2008 anarchy in which Zanu-PF militants killed more than 200 MDC supporters for voting against the Zimbabwean leader.

“We made it clear to our brother Mugabe that if you destroy this constitution, you are back to being a rebel leader,” Mutambara said.

“Mugabe lied when he said he did not attend because he had not been invited. We were all invited on Thursday last week.”

Mutambara said Mugabe’s legitimacy as President was tied to the continued existence of the all inclusive government and the success of the constitution-making process was key to the GPA that also secured the premiership for Tsvangirai and himself.

“The attack on the constitution making process was an attack on the GPA and the government,” Mutambara said.

“There would be no GPA-based government without a new constitution. We are in this arrangement because the elections were fraudulent.

“June 27 was a nullity, a farce. Which means one of the things we have to do is to create conditions for free and fair elections. If we don’t do that, we are back to June 27.”

Later on Monday, a watered down Mugabe came out at a media briefing condemning the chaos, something that allowed the conference to resume the following day.

Although the three principals had agreed not to attribute the chaos to any political party, Mutambara said he had been forced to talk about the matter because he was “agitated” by the failure by Mugabe’s spokespersons to correct repeated claims by the ZBC the chaos was caused by MDC supporters and youths from Zimbabwe’s civic society groups.

He said Zanu-PF and the two MDC parties were also to blame for the chaos as they allowed their supporters to sing party songs at the venue when the event was, in fact, national.

MASVINGO, June 25 2009 - Hordes of ZANU PF supporters who were in a party vehicle descended upon two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters who were distributing Prime Minister and party leader Morgan Tsvangirai's newsletter and confiscated it.

The incident happened on Thursday afternoon along Robert Mugabe way in the city center, near Zimbank.

The militia, who were putting on ZANU PF regalia, abruptly stopped the car and jumped out before snatching the Newsletter from the unnoticing MDC supporters, and sped away.

The youths were numbering about ten. RadioVOP failed to get the registration number of the vehicle as the incident happened quickly.

“This is bad. They accuse MDC of being violent, but look what did they just do to us. You are journalists, you have seen it for yourselves,” said Kennias Munanga, an MDC activist who was also distributing the newsletter to hundreds of rural teachers who were queuing for their salaries.

His colleague, Edmore Chirichoga, said they were going to make a police report.

“They should know that we are also ruling, our party leader is the prime minister. We are going to make a police report and we want to see what the police will do with this issue. After all, what we were doing is legal as we want to inform the public about what really is going on with the PM’s tour, not the lies they get from the state media,” he said.

ZANU PF provincial chairman, Lovemore Matuke, who professed ignorance over the matter, however blasted the ‘naïve youths’ for such ‘intolerance’.

“I will investigate the matter, but I think if it is true, then those youths are naïve and still have a hangover because we are now in an inclusive government which calls for tolerance,” said Matuke, a former Gutu Central legislator.

The newsletter, published by the office of the PM, which was criticized by Information and Publicity secretary and Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba, has hit the streets once again where it has proved to be popular with the people.

It had a screaming headline, ‘EU salutes Tsvangirai’ with a picture of the PM and Vice Chancellor Angela Merkel inspecting a guard of honour in Berlin, something which could have irked ZANU PF, given that the liberation party has no official mouthpiece of late following the closure of its publication, The Voice.
The Voice last hit the streets in February and since then it has never published due to viability problems.

The talks between Mugabe and Mswati might undercut Tsvangirai’s bid to get Sadc to intervene in the deadlock over the appointment of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and attorney-general Johannes Tomana, who are Mugabe loyalists.

Tsvangirai, through his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, wrote last week to President Jacob Zuma , who is the Sadc chairman, urging him to intervene in the stalemate.

This followed a series of failed meetings to resolve the issue between Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara. The leaders wanted to break a deadlock over outstanding issues in the political agreement that is the basis of Zimbabwe’s inclusive government.

Official sources said Mugabe would meet Mswati today in Harare to discuss regional issues, including the continuing Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa summit at Victoria Falls, but would focus on the unity government problems.

The Gono and Tomana dispute is likely to feature prominently in their talks, especially because Tsvangirai has reported Mugabe to Sadc over the matter.Sources said Mugabe and Mswati would visit Gono’s Donnington Farm, about 60km southwest of Harare, where the Swazi monarch would commission some grain silos. Mugabe and Mswati, both widely criticised for political repression, have formed a formidable bloc within Sadc resistant to democratic change.

If Mugabe succeeds in lobbying Mswati to reject Tsvangirai’s appeal about Gono and Tomana, it would be a major setback for the MDC, which is already facing a rebuff from Sadc over its call to convene an extraordinary summit to resolve the issue.

In a surprising irony, white South African immigrants abroad have been joining the British National Party (BNP) in the run up to the European elections. Liezl Maclean reports.
WHILST the rally cry of the BNP, led by Nick Griffin is often based on the principle of slinging immigrants back from where they came, one group of immigrants are finding a safe political haven in the BNP. While we live in a world of post-Mandela idealism and reconstructed South Africans well past the evils of apartheid, living as citizens of a democratic world, some might argue that what the two communities have in common is their prejudice.

The story was reported in the Cape Times last week, in the wake of the English community’s vote of no confidence in their MPs’, following the expenses scandal. In the upcoming European elections, many Brits have been threatening to vote BNP as a vote of no confidence in the system. There is a suspicion that South Africans abroad are joining the far-right party more to suit their traditional South African values than any activist stance.

The article states that recruitment for the BNP is “rife among South African expatriates to the UK”, according to a report by anti-fascist magazine Searchlight.

Moreover the article reports that white southern Africans, some with a history of hate crime, are prominent members and large contributors to the BNP.

“Arthur Kemp, a Holocaust denier linked to the murder of ANC leader Chris Hani in 1993, is the most prominent South African in the BNP’s ranks, running the party’s website and spotted last week handling their campaign leaflets for the June 4 elections,” the article states.

Reportedly of major interest to the BNP are wealthy South African business people and well-paid financial services professionals, especially in light of a leaked memo from BNP party leader Nick Griffin, which states the party is £90 000 short of its £390 000 campaign fund raising target.

Marius Roodt, a researcher at the South African Institute of Race Relations, said that although people like Kemp held abhorrent views they had the right to say what they thought and it was the BNP’s right to employ who they liked.

“As much as we may not like it, these people have the right to work for whoever would have them,” Roodt said.

Meanwhile the BNP has launched its campaign for next month’s European Parliament elections, predicting it could win up to seven seats.

At the BNP’s campaign launch in Essex, Griffin said: “There’s no protest vote like a BNP protest vote, because all the others are in it together.”

“Everyone knows we are the ones that they hate… We are the ones who are really a threat to their rotten internationalist, liberal system. So we are the ones people have got to vote for if they want to protest against what the old politicians – the tired, corrupt old politicians – have done to this poor country of ours,” BBC reported.

Meanwhile the Cape Times website is buzzing with reader emails and text messages expressing their disgust. In the wake of running the article, South Africans are asking just how far these antics will go.

“I live in the UK and do not believe Saffas are flocking to BNP. Most of the expat Saffas I know don’t even know the difference between the main parties in the UK,” a reader commented.

These sentiments were echoed by many other readers who remained unanimous, “Ja nee, all us expats must be BNP members by now,” a reader wrote. “Anyway, I’ve lived in the UK for eight years now and know lots of South Africans here from various ethnic backgrounds that are not racist or prejudiced let alone ‘flocking’ to join the BNP party.”

What do you think – does the Cape Times article have the bull by the tail, instead of the horns, in terms of South Africans abroad joining the far-right party?

Former St Mary's Member of Parliament, Job Sikhala, has issued a 48 hour ultimatum to the visiting North Korean official Kim Yong Nam, to leave the country. Sikhala said the visit was not welcome since North Korea helped train Mugabe's 5th Brigade which was responsible for the massacre of over 20 000 people in Matabeleland and the Midlands in the 1980's.

Sikhala, who was recently suspended from the Mutambara MDC for denouncing party leader for Arthur Mutambara for being too close to Mugabe, issued a statement saying he lost his aunt 'in that horrendous and hellish crime against humanity' now commonly referred to as the Gukurahundi Massacres.

The outspoken politician argued that, 'North Korea represents the most satanic outpost of tyranny and urged Mr Kim to go and organise elections in his country where people are languishing from unmitigated poverty and gross human rights abuses.' Sikhala also accused his party leader Mutambara of being in the company of Mugabe while he was with the Korean dictator.

Sikhala also expressed outrage at Mugabe for thanking the Koreans for the training facilities which they provided to the 5th brigade, saying this has infuriated thousands of Gukurahundi victims. Robert Mugabe  congratulated North Korea on its rocket launch last month and expressed hopes for even warmer bilateral ties.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said Mr. Mugabe made his remarks during a meeting Monday in Harare with Pyongyang's number two leader, Kim Yong Nam.

It said the two men discussed improving "long-standing relations of friendship and cooperation."

North Korea said it sent a satellite into orbit on April 5 as part of a peaceful space program. But the U.N. Security Council and much of the international community condemned the launch, which was widely seen as a test for a long-range missile.

Zimbabwe and North Korea, both of which have few friends internationally, have maintained strong ties for several decades.  

In the early 1980s, the North helped train a Zimbabwean army brigade that allegedly committed widespread atrocities against Mr. Mugabe's opponents in Zimbabwe's Matabeleland region.

The U.S. military said no North Korean satellite entered orbit last month. It said part of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan, while the rest landed in the Pacific Ocean.

The rocket launch was considered a violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution approved in 2006 forbidding North Korea from long-range ballistic missile tests.

Zimbabwe human rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko has been ordered back to jail for plotting to topple President Robert Mugabe, her lawyer said.

Ms Mukoko is among 18 leading activists to be detained, a move likely to spark new tensions in the unity government.

The activists say they were tortured into confessing to plans to remove President Mugabe from power.

New Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had said he would not join a unity government unless they were freed.

Jestina Mukoko appeared stunned as she heard the ruling from the dock, and stared at Harare Magistrate Catherine Chimanda as her supporters burst into tears. Fifteen others accused in the case were also ordered back to prison.
The suspects had been free on bail for two months. Chimanda said Tuesday she was sending them back to prison because a formal indictment had been filed a day earlier. The indictment accuses Mukoko and the others of sabotage, terrorism and banditry.
The charges stem from an alleged plot to overthrow Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Neighboring governments have said they believe the allegations are baseless, and Mugabe opponents say the charges were fabricated to justify a clampdown on dissent.
Before being granted bail March 2, Mukoko and the others had been held without charge since December at Chikurubi, a maximum security prison outside Harare known for harsh conditions.
Mukoko testified during a bail hearing that she had been tortured and assaulted during detention and the defendants were seen with bloodied and swollen faces during court appearances late last year.
Two of the defendants ordered back to Chikurubi Tuesday were not in court because they were being treated at a hospital for injuries believed sustained during their earlier detention.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who joined longtime rival Mugabe in a unity government in February, had called for the release of Mukoko and other detainees to show Mugabe's commitment to the coalition. Mugabe has argued such matters should be left to the courts.