The Zimbabwe We Want: The MDC (Mutambara ) States its Case

29^th November 2006; Harare, Zimbabwe

 

Introduction

 

 

On the 28^th of November 2006 the MDC leadership met with the Church leaders who are behind the "The Zimbabwe We Want" initiative. This was the first time that our party was engaged in this project. There had been misrepresentations in the press that the Church bishops had met some of our leaders before the launch of the document. This was completely false.

 

Zimbabwe is going through an economic and political crisis of unprecedented proportions. Any initiative that seeks to foster and develop solutions to this crisis must be supported. Whenever any group of Zimbabweans gets together in pursuit of such initiatives, it must be hailed and encouraged.  The state of our country and pain of our people demand nothing less. Consequently, in spite of its initial exclusion from this particular Church initiative, the MDC is solidly supportive and wishes to be actively involved.

 

In pursuing a national initiative such as the "National Vision for Zimbabwe" it is essential to ensure ownership and buy-in by the generality of the people of Zimbabwe. The people must own both the process and content of the national vision. Furthermore, the process of an initiative cannot be de-linked from its content. A dysfunctional process will lead to distorted and contested content

 

 

Process of Achieving the National Vision

 

It is our submission that the Church leaders' process in crafting a National Vision for Zimbabwe has been fundamentally flawed. It has been characterized by dishonesty, manipulation, and lack of inclusiveness. A few examples will suffice to illustrate these aspects. Critical stakeholders in the form of civic organizations, political parties, and church organizations (e.g., NCA, Crisis Coalition, MDC, ZCTU, ZINASU, Christian Alliance, National Pastors Conference) were not engaged nor consulted prior to the launch. To compound matters, there were falsehoods in the media, which were never retracted, about some of these groups being consulted. The lack of involvement of key players led to the spectacular failure of the document launch, where it ended being a ZANU(PF) orgy in self indulgency.

 

In addition, some of those organizations engaged were shown versions of the document that were different from what was eventually launched. This has led to complaints about duplicity and manipulation from the Catholic Jesuits, and Bishop Pius Ncube. The perception is that people and organizations were being used to legitimize a dubious agenda.

 

The most problematic process aspect of the Church initiative has been the way they have engaged Robert Mugabe and ZANU(PF). From the tea sessions at State House to the launch of the document by Robert Mugabe, the Church leaders have allowed the criminal dictatorship of Robert Mugabe to destroy the potential of the initiative. Mugabe's ill-advised comments about non-negotiable issues, defence of the Lancaster House constitution, and general disdain for other stakeholders, have compromised the effectiveness of the initiative. In a very cynical way Mugabe embraced the project in order to destroy its credibility, and then unleashed his chief apologists and propagandists to viciously attack the initiative in the state media. What a shameful ploy!

 

The Church leaders are well-intentioned and their motivation is honourable. However, they have been extremely naïve. With the continuously deteriorating economic malaise and global isolation, Mugabe wants to buy time. He could use the initiative to do just that by appearing to be doing something. The suffering people of Zimbabwe will reject any process that will provide a lifeline to the evil regime of Robert Mugabe. They will not be part of any efforts to sanitize the

Dictator.

 

 

 

 

Content of the National Vision

 

 

The MDC will be submitting a detailed written response to the content of the vision document. Here we outline some preliminary and inconclusive remarks. The general gist of the document is in sync with the views of most Zimbabweans, that is, the material is common cause. However, there are areas characterized by omissions and distortions. Some of the distortions are due to the dysfunctional process through which the initiative has gone. The ugly hand of ZANU(PF) is evident. As already submitted, you cannot separate content from process.

 

For a start, the vision statement sounds like apple pie and motherhood. There is no economic vision, neither is there a social justice aspect to it. There is no clarity on the economic strategy that will take Zimbabwe from the economic crisis to the Promised Land. The recommendations on the economy are weak, poorly structured and lack congruency. Similarly, the section on land requires more input around collateral value of land, security of tenure, agricultural productivity, secondary agriculture, justice and equity.

 

A major distortion in the document is around the nature and cause of the Zimbabwean crisis. At the root of our national problems are issues of bad governance, political legitimacy, economic mismanagement, corruption, and political dictatorship, all due to the absolute failure of Robert Mugabe and ZANU(PF). This must be stated without equivocation or ambiguity. The vision document at best equivocates, at worst it is apologetic. Misdiagnosis of a problem will lead to wrong solutions.

 

It is also astounding that the language of the document is very subdued and apologetic when describing national institutional ills such as POSA and AIPPA. In some cases the diction resembles that of ZANU(PF) in the way issues like patriotism and sanctions are discussed. Presumably these language overtures are meant to placate the dictator, Robert Mugabe. It must be emphasized that this is done at a huge cost: De-legitimization of the content leading to its total rejection by the people of Zimbabwe.

 

Another area of contention in the document is on the subject of Gukurahundi, which is treated shamelessly as a footnote. There is a celebration of the first 15 years of independence as blissful and full of hope. Yet, it is during this period that the regime of Robert Mugabe massacred over 20 000 civilians in Matabeleland and Midlands. The nation must come to terms with this reality. There must be a Truth and Justice Commission, followed by an acknowledgement of what transpired. Only then can national healing begin. We must seek restorative justice, victim based justice, and rehabilitation of the communities affected. Today there are young people who cannot get birth certificates and identification cards because both parents were killed during Gukurahundi; and it is not officially acknowledged that the parents are dead. These are people being victimized today. Hence no!  Gukurahundi cannot be a footnote in a National Vision for Zimbabwe.

 

A general point about the document is that it lacks time-frames, and prioritization of the different initiatives and recommendations. There must be clarity on what matters are short term, medium term and long term.

 

The document extensively uses Christian Biblical chapters and verses. This is inappropriate in a national vision document. Even if our country is 90% Christian we still have Moslems, Hindus, and Jews as part of our nation. There are also Zimbabweans who believe in traditional religions. We need religious tolerance in our national vision.

 

As indicated earlier, our detailed written response on the content is forthcoming.

 

 

The Way Forward

 

In conclusion it is clear that the Church leaders have process and content challenges in their great initiative. It is important that they embrace the critique we have provided above and address relevant matters. Dramatic changes and corrective measures are required, in particular around the process. The initiative has to be wrestled back from ZANU(PF), its credibility re-established, while building buy-in and confidence among disgruntled stakeholders. The success of the initiative will depend solely on the Church leaders doing the right things. As the MDC party, our reservations notwithstanding, we pledge to work closely with the Church leaders without any preconditions. We urge other stakeholders and the generality of the people of Zimbabwe to participate and seek to influence both the process and content of the initiative.

 

 

The National Vision for Zimbabwe must be owned by all Zimbabweans.

 

 

 

Defeat is not on the agenda & Victory is certain.

 

The Struggle Continues Unabated.

 

 

Arthur G.O. Mutambara

MDC President

"And it seems to me that you lived your life like a candle in the wind...."

1.Who sang the song?

2.It was originally dedicated to whom?

3.At the Funeral Service of which Princess was it sung?
4. What were the rules and regulations governing the taking of photographs in that main Funeral Service?

5. In your perception, what does that song mean?


Please send your answers to mufarostig@yahoo.co.uk.

The competition closes on the 24th of Dec, 2006.

Results will be known on the 5th of January,2007.
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In my humble opinion, Cde Learnmore Jongwe "lived his life like a candle in the wind."

The Radical Soldier is the other person who's "living his life like a candle in the wind."



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(P/S. This is an attempt to see how many view this blog.)

Dear Robert Mugabe, (From Prof Stan Mukasa!)

November 27, 2006

In today's Letter from America Dr. Stan Mukasa writes an open
no-holds-bared letter to Mugabe urging him to seek mental and spiritual
counseling for a possible redemption for his soul, as the 83-year-old
geriatric dictator approaches the inevitable political and physical exit
doors from this world.

An Open Letter to Robert Gabriel Mugabe President, ZANU-PF

Robert Mugabe:
Jongwe House
Harare

If you close your eyes and imagine what the mood in the country would
be like on the news of your death you may or may not be surprised to learn
about all-day, all- night exuberant celebrations and riotous festivities and
yes, pungwes that will most likely take place along the length and breadth
of this country.
Your ears would almost be deafened by the unending horn blasts from
all those cars.
Or, try what Idi Amin Dada, Uganda's former dictator, did one time. He
spread rumours that he had died. His security chiefs took him on a
helicopter ride and he personally witnessed the ecstatic jubilation that
spread around Uganda.
Lest you think this is an unjustified accusation coming from a
disgruntled Zimbabwean living outside Zimbabwe your very own security chiefs
have advised you that you are the most hated man in Zimbabwe today. They
have also told you that if the leadership of the opposition movement was
organized and united Zimbabweans are ready, willing and able to storm the
State House and hang you upside down by a meat hook like what Italians did
to your fellow dictator, Benito Mussolini, in 1945.
Maybe that explains why you have moved from the State House to your
multimillion-dollar ultra luxurious mansion that you built on the backs of
the struggling masses. And maybe that also explains why you are now busy
militarily fortifying your mansion. You are a fast learner! You are probably
more aware than any of us the degree and extent of resentment, contempt and
hatred that is leveled against you. But all those underground bunkers and
all those missile defenses and radar will not save you or guarantee you a
permanent peace of mind.
You are now 83 years old and way in the sunset of your life. In
African tradition people of your age are regarded with great respect as
sources of wisdom who should teach younger generations the virtues of life.
My grandparents were honorable and well respected. When they died hundreds
of people gathered to pay their respects.
In contrast, when you die thousands of people will come to your
graveside not to pay respect but to make sure it's you being lowered into
the grave so they can pour contempt and ridicule. They will do this
notwithstanding the tradition of not speaking ill about the dead. You will
definitely be an exception to that tradition. Take my word for it.
Zimbabweans are circling like vultures waiting for the day they will hear
the news.
I do not harbor any wish for death for you. I would hope you live long
enough to be brought, like Liberia's Charles Taylor, to trial at The Hague
for crimes against humanity. I would, however, prefer you were tried in Kezi
at the VERY same spot where on one fateful day back in 1983 your Fifth
Brigade soldiers gathered villagers and told them they were "serious about
hunting dissidents." And to prove their point they lined up scores of
civilians and massacred them in cold blood.
This was one of the thousands of acts of genocide committed under your
watch and which resulted in the murder of over 20,000 innocent civilians. At
that spot in Kezi I would hope that each of the surviving relatives of the
innocent civilians you butchered will come and stare at you in the face and
tell you what they think of you. And, after you are found guilty, I would
hope you are saved from the people's rage and the gallows so you can serve
the rest of your miserable life in Chikurubi maximum prison.
While in Chikurubi you will be compelled to listen AGAIN to video
recordings of testimonies from every Zimbabwean who was affected by your
Fascist dictatorship.
The walls around your solitary confinement in Chikurubi prison should
contain a complete record of how you brought death, misery, destruction and
a Stone Age existence to millions of Zimbabweans.
When God at His time should decide to take your life I would hope you
are buried with all your sins so they can be your documented record in the
other world.
In 1980 Zimbabweans gave you an overwhelming vote of confidence when
they voted you in office. Millions converged at the airport to meet you from
exile. Their expectation was that you would bring them out of the settler
colonialism of Ian Smith where they had no political rights.
You betrayed this hope and trust when you started behaving like Ian
Smith immediately after independence. You did not dismantle the colonial
laws that oppressed blacks. You used them to your advantage. Whatever
economic gains Zimbabwe made in the first ten years of its so-called
independence they were a smokescreen for your real motives. These were spelt
out by the late Edison Zvobgo when he said your single ambition in life was
to stay in power indefinitely and at all costs.
Incidentally, Zvobgo may have been in your political party but he
spoke very contemptuously about you.
I remember one day he said people were mischievously misled into
thinking you were very educated by the virtue of all those degrees you
gained through distance education. He said you boasted about having more
degrees than a thermometer. The reality, according to Zvobgo, was, as he put
it, "A B.A .plus a B.A. plus B.A. is still a B.A."
Zvobgo also ridiculed the so-called ZANUPF women's league who wore
dresses emblazoned with your picture and became a characteristic circus and
spectacle at the airport to welcome you from your endless trips abroad.
Congratulations, you probably beat the late Kamuzu Banda of Malawi's record
on this! Zvobgo used to openly scorn those women whom he said were other
people's wives yet they had unashamedly Mugabe's picture almost tattooed on
their butts and other parts of their bodies!
Zvobgo was apocalyptically right when he said you have a schizophrenic
obsession in clinging to power even when you know very well that you have
lost the respect, let alone political support, of the majority of
Zimbabweans. He derisively called you the madman from Ngomahuru - that
hospital for mental patients in Masvingo! He said you had been given a baton
in a relay race to pass it on to the next person. Instead, you fled with
that baton into the mountains where you are still running wildly today!
The fact that Zimbabwe is being ruled by a madman from Ngomahuru
accurately explains the crisis situation in the country today.
Today, everything that can possibly go wrong in Zimbabwe has happened.
Zimbabwe is not at war yet it has all the symptoms of a war ravaged country.
You thirst for blood, to quote a statement from one of your fanatical
supporters Joyce Chiwengwa in reference to another occasion in her turbulent
life of unearned luxury, has been a permanent feature of your despotic rule.
You mobilized unemployed youths and trained them into a militia of thugs
numbering 50000 - more than the size of the army! Then you set them off to
kill, torture, rape, abduct members of the opposition movement. The past six
years have been pure hell on earth for Zimbabweans. Human rights
organizations have documented over 400 members of the opposition movement
who were killed, hundreds of women raped some of whom have now contracted
the deadly HIV/AIDS disease. Your militia thugs also gang -raped women and
we have the riveting testimony about this.
Your disastrous seizure of commercial farms, ostensibly to give blacks
what you called the stolen land, ended up replacing half a million blacks.
It is amazing that you realized that land had been stolen and needed to be
retrieved 20 years after you had been in power and just when you also
discovered you were about to lose the 2000 elections! And now you have
discovered that the same blacks, except your cronies and relatives, you gave
back the stolen land do not deserve it.
As if that was not enough you launched the so called Operation
Murambatsvina which left millions of already destitute Zimbabweans homeless.
You were an odd sort of Robin Hood. You robbed from the rich but you did not
give to the poor because you also robbed from the poor!
The results of your disastrous policies are everywhere around you. You
only need to roll down the windows in your bulletproof imported Mercedes
Benz to see how thousands of Zimbabweans are toiling and scavenging just to
survive from one day to the next.
Zimbabwe's economy, which ironically was vibrant during the settler
colonial regime despite the imposition of sanctions, now lies in tatters. It
has been in recession for the seventh year in a row and has contracted by 40
percent. No other country in the SADC region has experienced this phenomenal
free fall in its economy. Eight out of ten Zimbabweans are unemployed.
Inflation which stands at over 1,000 percent is the highest in the world.
Just to show how high the inflation is , if we exclude Zimbabwe, the range
of inflation rates in the developing countries is between 5 and 100 percent!
Corruption is now endemic and pandemic. You have created out of state
resources and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe a gravy train for your cronies
who are living a life of unbridled luxury in a country where the vast
majority are starving and homeless. And now the pigs in the feeding trough
are stumbling on each other as the trough runs empty. In your desperation to
refill this trough you are gallivanting around the world selling Zimbabwean
resources to the highest bidder.
This has got to be a scandal of monumental proportions. It is more
than a justification for your dismissal from office. Yet you have rigged all
elections because you knew very well that you would lose miserably. You have
also manipulated efforts to seek redress through the courts because the
judiciary system is now stuffed with your cronies.
You have turned down, like a spoilt child, all genuine efforts at
mediating the crisis of governance that you have precipitated. You have, in
what can be termed as act of a madman from Ngomahuru, turned down efforts to
give food and shelter to victims of your disastrous policies. Do you
remember saying Zimbabweans do not need outside food otherwise they will
choke? What can be more insane than this cruel hoax of a statement made in a
country where all indications are that over two million Zimbabweans are in
urgent need of food aid? Even your militia thugs and rank and file soldiers
upon whom, by your very admission, you rely to stay in power have been
reduced to beggars and scavengers.
If there was any chance at all that you are still capable of listening
to reason and sense this letter would demand that you step down immediately
as you have neither a constitutional nor legitimate right to rule Zimbabwe.
This would pave way for a transitional government made up of representatives
of the opposition movements in the country and under the protection of the
United Nations peace keeping forces who will facilitate a democratic
transition to free and fair and internationally supervised elections,
democratic rule, the rule of law and economic recovery.
The crisis in Zimbabwe is 90 percent a direct result of your misguided
policies and insatiable and ruthless determination to stay in power
indefinitely. You will be fully responsible and will be held fully
accountable for BOTH the causes and the consequences of acts of civil
disobedience by the Zimbabweans who are clearly fed up with you.
At the age of 83, you should seek , even at this late hour, spiritual
and mental counselling . You are coming to the end of your life. There is no
redemption for your soul. The future generations and including your own
offspring will spit and curse at your grave. You have brought shame and
disrepute not only to yourself but all those who once trusted you and gave
you the mandate to rule the country.
God may forgive you. But Zimbabweans cannot forgive you because the
blood and the spirits of thousands of innocent civilians that you butchered
in cold blood and thousands others whom you tortured demand justice.

Yours sincerely,

*************

Message from www.magazim.co.uk !!

comments:
panicomg24 said...
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1:53 AM, November 29, 2006

Zimbabwe Diaspora CSOs Forum:ANNUAL REPORT AND RESOLUTIONS OF 2006 AGM!

Annual General Meeting
Saturday 25th November 2006


2006 Annual Report



1. An Overview of 2005-6

2005-6 has been such a roller coaster ride for the Forum! The past year has the Forum grow phenomenally in terms of both stature and influence both here in South Africa and internationally. In general terms, the first year has been a very positive year of progressive growth. The Forum has certainly exceeded most of its expectations for the first year of its existence.


2. Administrative Matters

The Forum is still in the process of registering itself in terms of the Non-Profit Organisations Act. It is anticipated that the Certificate of Registration will be issued soon.
The Forum has had several abortive attempts to set up an office in Braamfontein. At the moment there are two separate initiatives that are likely to result in an office being set up by the 1st February 2007. However, the Forum is using the Treasurer’s company office at Auckland House as its administrative premise.
In the meantime, the Forum has received several donations and pledges of both office furniture and electronic equipment that includes at least five computers.
The Forum’s Secretariat is still yet to be fully set up. In the meantime, Nora Tapiwa has been playing the role of the Acting Co-ordinator on a voluntary basis. This is one area of critical of concern in terms of the Forum’s prospects.


3. The Management Committee

The inaugural AGM in 2005 elected a substantive Management Committee to lead the Forum for a two year term in terms of its adopted Constitution. The Committee has since then remained largely intact and hyperactive for most of the past year! The only slight variation was the co-option of Savious Kwinika to replace Steven Paradza who stepped down to serious pressure arising from a new job appointment. The current Committee consists of the following persons:

(a) Daniel Molokele – Chairperson
(b) Solomon Chikohwero – Vice Chairperson
(c) Luke Zunga – Treasurer
(d) Joyce Dube – Committee Member
(e) Proper Ndlovu – Committee Member
(f) Savious Kwinika – Committee Member

The Committee has consistently met on a monthly basis during most of the year. It has also had several special meetings on a need arise basis.


4. Other Committees of the Forum

In line with the provisions of its Constitution, the Forum has set up several working Committees during the past year. The following two have perhaps been the most active ones:

(a) The Fundraising Committee

The Fundraising Committee was set up in February 2006 to help develop a sustainable financial resources model for the Forum. The Committee has at least six active members who are led by Luke Zunga, as the Chairperson.

(b) The Humanitarian Issues Committee

The Committee was set up in April 2006 to help the Forum address any critical issues in the Humanitarian area. It was tasked to respond to such critical matters as the Lindela Deportation Centre, Methodist Church refugees, among other similar issues. It is co-chaired by Solomon Chikohwero and Joyce Dube.

(b) The Diaspora Conference Committee

The Committee was set up in February 2006 to help the Forum implement its plans to host the first ever Zimbabwean international global Diaspora conference in 2007. So far the Committee has mainly helped to organise the Public Meetings Series and the First Preparatory Conference in June 2006. The Committee is chaired by Daniel Molokele.



5. The Membership of the Forum

The growth of the Forum’s membership has been such a phenomenal one! At present the network now has thirty fully registered members. It is thus evident that the Forum has in the past year grown so much that it has become the only credible network or umbrella body for most of the Zimbabwean CSOs that are based in South Africa. Admittedly, there are still few groupings that are not yet registered members but have increasingly come to accept the advantageous reality of the network. It is thus anticipated that by the 2007 AGM almost all the organisations will be affiliated to the Forum in one form or another.









6. Summary of Programme Activities

During the past year, the Forum was engaged in numerous programme activities. The following are some of the programme highlights for 2005-6:




(a) The Strategic Planning Workshop

The Strategic Planning workshop was the first major event of the year since it was held in February. The participants of the workshop were drawn from the network membership’s representatives. Another aspect of the event was that it was used as the first public platform for the newly appointed Co-ordinator of the Regional office of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition to interact with the leaders of the SA based Zimbabwean CSOs Community. the major outcomes of the event was the adoption of the Forum’s Strategic Plan that included the Vision, Mission, Programme Objectives, and the adoption of the proposal to host the global Diaspora conference in SA during 2007.


(b) The Public Meetings

In line with its resolution to host the Diaspora conference in 2007, the Forum also decided to initiate a public meeting series so as to sustain an active momentum during the countdown towards the 2007 event. Speakers were invited to address an open public discussion that had its focus on one of the topical themes related to the situation in Zimbabwe. At least five public meetings have been held so far. It is expected that the public meetings will continue to be hosted on a bi-monthly basis till the 2007 event is finally held.


(c) First Diaspora Conference

The February 2006 workshop resolved that in line with the plans of the Forum to host the global Diaspora Conference in 2007, there was a need to host two separate preparatory conferences prior to the major event. The two conferences would focus on the local SA based Zimbabwean groups/activists and the solidarity movement that is also derived from the SA NGOs that are actively involved in solidarity campaigns for a new democratic dispensation in Zimbabwe. Consequent to that, the First Preparatory conference was successfully held in June 2006. There are plans to host the Second Conference by April 2007.



7. The Forum’s Strategic Partnerships

During the past year the Forum has strived consistently to develop strong programme or network partnerships with other formations that are actively involved in the struggle for a new Zimbabwe. The following details are some of the major highlights in this regard:



(a) Local South African Partnerships

The Forum has sought to work with the various SA NGOs that are actively involved in the solidarity movement such as SANGOCO, CSVR, Peace and Solidarity Trust, Amnesty International, Roll Back Xenophobia Campaign, among others. But even more critically, the Forum has consistently engaged the broader network known as the Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum.


(b) International Strategic Partnerships

At an international level, the Forum has been actively exchanging contacts in such countries as the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand, among others. During the year, the forum hosted delegates from the UK based Campaign for justice in Zimbabwe and also from the North American Coalition for a Free Zimbabwe. Plans by the Forum’s Chairperson to meet several leading UK based groups collapsed after the trip was aborted due to visa related problems. The Forum also tried but failed to send it s own delegates to the annual Open Forum on Zimbabwe that is held in the UK. It is hoped that next year, the Forum will be strongly represented there. With regards to the other African countries, the Forum plans to engage in a series of exchange visits in 2007 to such countries as Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, among others.


(c) Zimbabwean Strategic Partnerships

The Forum has also consistently sought to develop a strong partnership with the NGOs that are active in Zimbabwe. In particular, it has strove to have a working relationship with the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition. This is so especially with the group’s local regional office in Johannesburg. The Forum was also represented by its Chairperson who was a speaker at the launch of the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance in Bulawayo during February 2006. The Chairperson also attended the launch of the Save Zimbabwe Convention in Harare during July 2006. There are also plans by the Forum to host two separate public meetings in 2007 that will be held in partnership with the National Constitutional Assembly and the Zimbabwe National Students Union.


(d) The Diaspora Media Support

The Forum has also benefited a lot for the goodwill coverage of the Diaspora based media. In particular, the Forum has benefited a lot from such news houses as The Zimbabwean, New Zimbabwe.com, CAJ News, VoP, SWRadio Africa, Studio Seven, Zimonline, among others. Special mention though, has to go to the thriving community of Zimbabwean free lance journalists that are based in South Africa. It is evident that the continued support of the Diaspora media will be very critical in the run-up towards the successful holding of the 2007 global Diaspora conference.





8. The 2007 Diaspora Conference

In February 2006, the Forum endorsed the plans to host the first ever global Zimbabwean Diaspora Conference in Johannesburg during 2007. The conference plans have since then been one of the major programme areas of the Forum. Initially it was hoped that the historic conference would be held in April 2007 but due to a number of logistical reasons it appears that is no longer tenable. It is thus likely to be held in August 2007, in terms of the current projected dates.



9. In Conclusion

As already alluded to, the past year has seen a monumental growth for the Forum. It is now hoped that in the aftermath of its consolidation process during the first year, the New Year ahead is most likely to bring even much more success for the Forum.
In particular, the successfully hosting of the Diaspora conference could prove to be a critical point in terms of the long term prospects of the Forum. The Forum is ready to face the challenges of the year ahead and firmly believes that the year 2006-7 will bring with it better news for the long suffering people of Zimbabwe both at home and in the Diaspora.
In the meantime it will be up to all of us to fight together and ensure that such initiatives as the Forum will continue to grow from strength to strength.

The struggle for a new democratic and prosperous Zimbabwe continues!
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ZIMBABWE DIASPORA CSOs FORUM

RESOLUTIONS OF 2006 AGM


The Zimbabwe Diaspora Civic Society Organisations Forum has successfully held its second Annual General Meeting on Saturday 25th November 2006, at the Holy Trinity Church in Braamfontein in Johannesburg.

An impressive turnout of about forty delegates representing up to 35 different Zimbabwean civic society groups that are based in South Africa attended the event.
The Forum seeks to co-ordinate the Zimbabwean CSOs common vision and strategy in the struggle for a new democratic dispensation in Zimbabwe.
The vision of the forum is of a democratic Zimbabwean society where all citizens are able to participate in all decision-making processes that have an impact on their lives be it at home or abroad.
The mission of the forum is to promote civil society by uniting and strengthening the CSO sector to enable it to influence development policy and advocate for a new prosperous and democratic Zimbabwe.
The following is the summary of some of the major resolutions of the 2006 AGM:
1. The AGM noted with continued concern and condemned the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe at both political and socio-economic levels and pledged to continue its fight for a new democratic dispensation in Zimbabwe.

2. The AGM affirmed plans to launch the Zimbabwe Democracy Centre by 1st February 2007. The centre shall be located at Braamfontein in Johannesburg and shall be the general office complex for several Zimbabwean CSOs that are based in South Africa.

3. The AGM also re-affirmed plans by the Forum to host the first ever international Zimbabwe Diaspora Conference in Johannesburg. The date of the conference has now been set as October-November 2007.

4. The AGM resolved to continue to engage the various other formations that are part of the pro-democracy movement and develop strong partnerships with them. These include among others the Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, North American Coalition for a Free Zimbabwe, and all other similar groupings in Zimbabwe and the rest of the Diaspora communities.

5. The AGM also resolved to set up or strengthen the various Committees of the Forum such as the Gender Committee, HIV & Aids Committee, Policy & Advocacy Committee and the Humanitarian Committee, among others, to ensure the maximum effectiveness of the Forum in its quest to promote the cause for a new democratic Zimbabwe.

6. The AGM also noted with concern the need for an urgent solution to the plight of Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa, and tasked the Humanitarian Committee to meet the Central Methodist Church leadership and the Department of Home Affairs.

7. The AGM also appreciated and thanked the various media institutions that include The Zimbabwean, New Zimbabwe.com, Zimonline, Voice of the People, CAJ News, Studio Seven, SW Radio Africa, among others, for their active role in promoting the various Diaspora civic society formations that are actively involved in the struggle for a new democratic Zimbabwe.

(The above statement has been issued by the Management Committee of the Forum on behalf of the 2006 AGM on this 26th day of November 2006 in Johannesburg, South Africa.)
For any more details, please contact Daniel Molokele on +27 72 947 4815

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Zuma says will not turn into another 'Mugabe monster'

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=522 JACOB Zuma . . . I am no Robert Mugabe JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s former deputy president Jacob Zuma has rejected charges that he is a new Robert Mugabe in the making branding the veteran Zimbabwean leader a “monster.”  Zuma, who is heavily tipped to succeed President Thabo Mbeki as leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party in 2007 and possibly state president two years later, was speaking in an interview with a British newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph.  Political commentators have expressed fears that if Zuma wins the South African presidency, he will introduce populist economic policies reminiscent to what happened in Zimbabwe where Mugabe seized white farms for redistribution to landless blacks.  "As a member and a leader of the ANC all I do is carry out ANC policies," he said. "How could you have an individual who would become such a monster? The ANC system does not allow for that kind of thing."  The ANC, while acknowledging that there is a crisis in Zimbabwe, has in the past steadfastly refused to openly attack Mugabe who is still revered in Africa as a liberation war hero.  The criticism of Mugabe by Zuma ranks among the most forthright by a senior ANC official.  But Zuma defended Mugabe’s land seizures blaming the crisis on Britain which he said failed to honour its promises to fund land reforms in Zimbabwe. He also defended South Africa’s policy of “quiet diplomacy” towards Harare which his government has pursued over the past six years. "Other people have adopted the policy of criticising Mugabe from a distance, which only makes him more angry. We are the only ones who have engaged him on the issues," Zuma said. - ZimOnline

"Tsvangirai has lost his fire!"

Tsvangirai has lost his fire 




 Ex "The Financial Gazette."  http://www.fingaz.co.zw/story.aspx?stid=1978

 

EDITOR — Morgan Tsvangirai, once a firebrand politician, is increasingly becoming a liability to Zimbabwe’s opposition movement.
His naivety on the Ari-Ben Menashe issue, his misjudgment on the “Final Push” demonstrations, his inability to keep the MDC together, and his subsequent failure to deliver on the “Winter of Discontent” mass protests speak volumes of his leadership deficiencies.
It is now crystal clear to all and sundry that Tsvangirai has exhausted his energy and it is now time for him to step aside and give up the reins of power to someone more agile and capable.
It should not be forgotten that were it not for Tsvangirai, President Robert Mugabe would have been out of power as we speak. I say so because the rejected draft constitution of 1999, which Tsvangirai opposed vigorously, had a stipulation that would have legislated President Mugabe out of power by 2004.
This year alone, Tsvangirai has been completely out of touch with the people save for the time he promised winter protests during the MDC congress in March. Right now as the men of the cloth try their very best to negotiate President Mugabe out of power, Tsvangirai has sought to hijack their mission and claim their agenda. It is now important more than ever that the leading opposition leaders stand up firm and show Tsvangirai the exit door.

Wilberforce Majaji
United States

CONGRATULATIONS TO SWRADIOAFRICA!

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news231106/winners231106.htm

Association for International Broadcasting awards
In the catagory for
International station of the year - radio
The winner is............................................ SW Radio Africa

SW Radio Africa is delighted to announce that it has won the award for International Radio Station of the Year from the AIB, the Association for International Broadcasting.

We are also delighted that Mandisa Mundawarara was highly commended in the award category, International Radio Presenter of the Year.

These non commercial awards offer peer review of output, personalities and technology - they are the only awards that celebrate excellence in international cross-border broadcasting. The 2006 awards have been judged by an international panel of broadcasting experts, including professional TV and radio critics from leading newspapers.

Thank you AIB.

See links:

http://www.aib.org.uk/

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/article/221106/bbc_and_sky_win_broadcast_awards

 

Statement from the Presidency of the MDC!

The Zimbabwe We Seek

By Morgan Tsvangirai

Last updated: 11/10/2006 20:27:02

THE MDC national executive met at the weekend and considered the latest initiative by the Zimbabwean churches to address the deepening national crisis through a proposal to map out a national vision for the country.

On Friday, I met the Bishops and shared with them our views on some of the issues they raise in their document, The Zimbabwe We Want. We commend the Bishops for their efforts. It is now common fare that the people of Zimbabwe feel the negative impact of the crisis.

Families are torn apart as millions of young people have sought refuge in the Diaspora; the vulnerable can barely breathe; millions are out work; business is on its knees; and the middle class has long disappeared from our social scene.

Even the bishops can feel the pressure and are desperate for relief.

The few Zimbabwean workers still at work are paid salaries and wages way below the official sustenance level - their continued employment is a form of slavery.

May I take this opportunity, fellow Zimbabweans, to record my appreciation for the tireless efforts of our civil society partners and political activists who have consistently confronted the Mugabe dictatorship against such heavy odds? I wish to pay special tribute to my fellow colleagues in the MDC who have remained steadfast in their fight for democracy, to the labour leaders recently brutalised for their convictions and beliefs; to the women who protest no food a decent education for their children; to our youth who struggle daily because of the lack of jobs; to civic society who has fought to find new ways tackle the issues we all face; and to the church and the Christian Alliance for its leadership's determination to continue to speak out for the voiceless.

All of these great Zimbabweans are heroes fighting for survival in a country
that showed a lot of promise at independence in 1980 but is now one of the poorest and a near hermetic nations on earth. All of these people - every one of them- fight every day for a new Zimbabwe. The work done by trade unions, students, peasants and thousands of political and Constitutional reform advocates to press Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF to see reason deserves special mention.

Who would have believed in 1980 that in 2006, only 26 years after Independence, Zimbabwe would have the highest inflation rate in the world? Workers would earn a mere Z$10 000 when the poverty datum line is Z$140 000? Who would have believed that 26 years after Independence the average life expectancy of a man in Zimbabwe would be 37 and for a woman 34, the lowest in the world in 2006?

The last advantage we have as a country is in the strength and resilience of our people. That is why we will not fail at this critical time in our history. It
will take all of us working together to solve this crisis: bishops, trade
unions, civic society, the MDC and other political parties, students and women.

But to save Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF have to address the known roadblocks to a new society. Although the crisis is clear to all, Mugabe and Zanu PF are refusing to realize that they have a role to play, like all Zimbabweans, and to end the current mess. Our understanding of democracy has always been rooted in our own reality and our sovereign status, but this must not be exploited to evade our obligations to posterity.

This crisis shall remain with us unless Mugabe and Zanu PF shift their mindset through a patriotic desire to save Zimbabwe from further haemorrhage.

The social costs of the Zimbabwean crisis has claimed a many a life. Acts of suppression and victimization have become visible throughout the country and even beyond. I need not remind you of cases of selective food distribution or even Operation Murambatsvina which invited the attention of the United Nations last year.

We believe the latest initiative from the Church, like previous efforts by both local and international political players to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis, shall lead us to a cul-de-sac as long as Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF remain stuck in a state of denial. The absence of a political will to attend to our bleeding nation has become the single biggest obstacle to progress.

A national consensus and a national vision shall remain elusive for as long as the dictatorship defines, in its own terms, what constitutes people's freedoms, people's choices and a people's way of life.

We believe it is important for our nation to heal its wounds and re-build for
the future, recognising that what binds us is far greater than what divides us, celebrating our diversity and differences as individuals and as communities, and with a common resolve to institute safeguards to ensure that never again will our dignity be undermined by any one person or political party.

While the church effort is a well intentioned and a noble attempt to reaffirm
what the rest of the country has been aware of for the past 26 years, a speedy breakthrough to this national crisis hinges on the behaviour of Mugabe and Zanu PF. The urgency of the matter cannot be over-emphasized. We believe Mugabe and Zanu PF must embrace the reality and allow the nation to express itself out of the crisis.

The crisis is essentially political; we need to work together and create an
enabling political environment for a national vision to be realized. We are
ready to make an unconditional contribution through open and principled dialogue towards a new Zimbabwe in the national interest.

In our national executive meeting we noted that Zimbabwe needs a stable
political environment to allow for a new Constitution; open the way for a free and fair election; and enable us to embark on a reconstruction agenda, national healing and a stabilization programme.

We further noted that the framework for new vision for Zimbabwe and of rights and responsibilities must be enshrined in a new Constitution and Bill of Rights that is the result of a comprehensive process of social debate in which all stakeholders and communities have a full and equal opportunity to participate and have their say in the drafting a new founding document.

A new Zimbabwe must be anchored on the foundation of equality - in which our country provides shelter and care for all women, men and children who live there, with equal access to justice, to public goods and services, and to economic opportunity and resources, and where no unlawful discrimination shall be accepted.

We re-stated our desire for a Zimbabwe that cherishes good governance,
compassion, solidarity, peace, security and respect for women, men and children.

We reaffirmed our subscription to the principle of sustainable development
grounded in prosperity, quality of life and community stability.

Given the humanitarian emergencies confronting our nation, we urge the Church to press Mugabe and Zanu PF to open the door to all in order to save Zimbabwe. We owe it to our children to resolve the national crisis speedily and to cast away our current pariah status in the eyes of the international
community.

The people of Zimbabwe need food, jobs, medical drugs and a good education system for their children. The people of Zimbabwe want to come back home and re-unite with their families. The people of Zimbabwe want to live well, with an affordable way of life. They want respect, at home and abroad. The people demand a new Constitution: an environment that shapes the future and allows for free and fair elections. The people of Zimbabwe want a respectable and accountable government.

I look forward to working with all Zimbabweans to build a better life for them and their families: to make Zimbabwe once again one of the richest countries in the world, where every young person has a job, where every child has plenty to eat, where every family can look to having their own home, where every old person can have quality health care - working together we can and will save Zimbabwe.

Morgan Tsvangirai is leader of a faction of Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change

Mugabe's prosecution and punishment!

By Admore Tshuma

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/opinion222.14957.html

Last updated: 11/08/2006 02:34:59

THE unprecedented economic meltdown coupled with gross violation of human rights in Zimbabwe merit the prosecution and punishment of Robert Mugabe.

After clinging to power for nearly three decades, Mugabe has made sure that he wholly paralyses the economy of a country once regarded as the brightest beacon of hope in southern Africa.

Today, Zimbabwe has been relegated to a begging bowl of southern Africa and according to latest World Bank figures, Zimbabweans now have the shortest life-span the world over. This is not political rhetoric but a product of a reliable scientific measurement.

The country is deep in poverty, and Mugabe is responsible for the severe deprivation of human basic needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. This is the exact and universally agreed definition of absolute poverty -- a condition which is more prevalent in Zimbabwe today.

I wish to argue that Mugabe is prosecutable and chargeable with systematic violations of economic, social and cultural rights which rise to the level of serious crime under international law as understood by the Princeton Principles of Universal Jurisdiction, interpreted in light of Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

With half of Zimbabwe's population facing grinding poverty and millions more having emigrated to other countries where some live miserably as illegal immigrants, just eke out a decent living, the systematic character of the violation of economic, social and cultural rights by Mugabe's regime have assumed a genocidal dimension.

How Mugabe created poverty in Zimbabwe is perhaps the simplest question that does not need academic research.

Mugabe is responsible for political repression, killing and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction in whole or in part, first for the vulnerable group, the Ndebeles and then Whites and then everyone.

This is against the background that we now live in a globalised village - what a political leader says or does in Harare makes a chain reaction all the way to Washington DC. It's the New World Order and it's unchangeable.

One might want to know, as human memory is very short, who are the actual victims of Mugabe's murderous regime, the answer is first they were the Ndebeles.then Whites..later everyone. Mugabe has always assumed that Ndebeles were by definition enemies and opponents of his regime. Remember, there was a time in the late 1980s when Mugabe tried to establish a one party state in Zimbabwe. He saw Ndebeles as a hindrance to his plans of a one-party state, hence he attempted to exterminate them.

This "genocide" was both ideological and national in character, for in effect, it sought to annihilate an entire political spectrum from Zimbabwe's public life by persecuting elite members of the Ndebele society.

There is no doubt that Mugabe's regime should be held accountable for the unprecedented levels of poverty, or what we would call social genocide. In my view, his crime stems from a deliberate reduction of the living standards of the country's poorest and working people, because of intentionally redistributing wealth upwards and reconcentrating wealth among his cronies. Using this theory of social genocides, one can authoritatively conclude that Mugabe's enemies (and victims) are the majority of Zimbabweans.

In addition, Mugabe's regime can be pursued under the 1986 Limburg Principles on the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economics, Social, and cultural Rights, echoed in part in the language quoted above from 1993 Vienna Declaration, the 1997 Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the evolving General Comments of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the findings of Special Rapporteurs on related topics. Such principles, guidelines and comments are all essential elements of the emerging normative framework of international poverty law.

In the Maastricht Guidelines (1997), this emphasis is further elaborated: "It is now undisputed that all human rights are indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Therefore, states are as responsible for violations of economic, social, and cultural rights as they are for violations of civil and political rights.

Violations of the Covenant occur when a state fails to satisfy what the committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has referred to as a minimum core obligation to ensure the satisfaction of, at the very least, minimum essential levels of each of the rights, thus a state Party in which any significant number of individuals is deprived of essential foodstuffs, of essential primary health care, of basic shelter and housing, or of the most basic forms of education, is pram facie, violating the Covenant.

What is more depressing is that even if Mugabe goes today, his legacy will continue to haunt Zimbabwe for many years to come. It manifests itself plainly in the form of hostility between Zimbabwe's two major tribes, Shona and Ndebele.

Because of Mugabe's earlier preachings of tribalism, Zimbabwe is today a more divided country than it was before independence in April 1980. This is evidenced by the fact that when one visits football grounds, internet chart rooms and so forth, there is a lot of tribal slurs going on.

These are some of the behavioural attitudes which our society has unwittingly inherited from Mugabe's quarrelsome brand of politics. Remember if Mugabe had not resorted to planting seeds of tribalism he would have lost the 1980 elections to Joshua Nkomo.

From independence, Mugabe's vampiric government lacked particularly a basic attribute of all laws, and that is the simple ability to provide rational guidance for exemplary conduct. For Zimbabwe to flourish and move on as an egalitarian society we need our version of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission whose major task would be to investigate the Mugabe regime crimes in order to reconcile and unite a deeply divided society.

What is more glaring is the deliberate inequality Mugabe tried to create between Ndebele and Shona - today Harare and Mashonaland are regarded by an average person from Matabeleland as upper class and privileged against the background of numerous skyscrapers and glassy buildings in Harare and well-constructed roads while Bulawayo is still reeling from medieval buildings put up by the Smith regime in the 1970s.

Perhaps leading British social scientist Prof Peter Townsend's definition of absolute poverty gives us a better insight of what is happening in Zimbabwe today. Prof Townsend argues in his celebrated work on poverty that individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the types of diet, participate in the activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged or approved, in the society to which they belong to.

According to the Bulawayo City Council, in the first six months of 2003, up 67 people died in the city as a result of malnutrition. The figure included both children and adults.

Zimbabweans lack many more necessities that are needed for a human being to properly function and participate in his society. Individuals or families whose resources are so small as to exclude them from the minimum acceptable way of life are said to be living in poverty. In the study of poverty and inequality we find that both financial exclusion and debt are associated with low income. Moreover, debt is strongly associated with a range of psychiatric problems.

Mugabe's laws are a deliberate ploy to bring down Matabeleland - salaries are higher in Harare even if people are doing the same job with same qualifications and working for the same company. What seems to be a problem is to be based in Matabeleland. And more daring was the fact that in the 1990's, the Chronicle newspaper which I worked for, earned more revenue for Zimpapers, but still Herald employees in Harare were paid far much higher than Chronicle workers.

When I was still at The Chronicle, firebrand politician Welshman Mabhena once told me that Mugabe has a secret agenda to destroy the Ndebele as a society. Mabhena said Mugabe blames Ndebeles for his miserable, fatherless childhood.

Mabhena said Mugabe's father walked out on the family and left his wife to fend for the off-springs to live with a beautiful woman in Bulawayo's Makokoba suburb, identified as MaTshuma, and has never forgiven the Ndebele for his miserable upbringing. According to Mabhena, Mugabe achieved revenge for his troubled childhood by sending the 5 Brigade to kill the Ndebeles.

For the greater part of my seven years at The Chronicle, I worked with many Shona people, journalists, clerks, messengers etc - most of them, if not all could not even attempt to speak in Ndebele except for those who grew up in Bulawayo. Yet all Ndebele employees at Chronicle did speak fluent Shona. It is not their fault.

Remember, when Mugabe appeared on television in the mid-1980s, he deliberately twisted his tongue, coming up with a horrible accent in an attempt to say a Ndebele word. He was in a deliberate contempt of the Ndebele language. However, Mabhena argues that Mugabe can speak in Ndebele fluently as the two were teachers at Hope Fountain on the outskirts of Bulawayo - implying what Mugabe intended to demonise the Ndebele language and its values, hence no Shona child would envy to speak a demonised language.

I had an opportunity to be among reporters who listened to Mugabe's speech on the funeral of Joshua Nkomo in Bulawayo's Ascot stadium. I can reveal that, on this day he spoke fluent Ndebele without even fumbling. I thought to myself: "Mr President you have finally invoked your Hope Fountain Primary School days".

What I found more interesting is when I visited South Africa recently, I found out that in every street there is a Zimbabwean who happens to be Shona and they all speak in Zulu which is close to Ndebele. The excuse we were given by our fellow employees at Chronicle was that Ndebele was such a difficult language to learn as it involved learning to pronounce cliques omankankane or uxakuxaku. As a head of state Mugabe's hatred of the Ndebele people was never a secret which penetrated deep into the social fabric of society. Even children in Matabeleland know that Mugabe hates Ndebeles so is vice versa in Mashonaland.

Unfortunately, such a behavioural attitude is contagious even among the unborn generation. There is alarming hostility among the two tribes, this hostility turns out to be Mugabe's strength. For example, consider what happened in the run up to the division of the opposition MDC. Under normal circumstances, and in a proper democratic institution, Tsvangirai should have been ostracised for what he did. He called in for a vote and when he lost that vote he decided to use brute force, so what is the difference between Tsvangirai and Mugabe?

W2hen some dissenting voices queried and tried to bring in sanity in the name of democracy, they were simply labelled "dissident Ndebeles", because of that label very few Shona people would support the rebelling Ndebeles.

The purpose of my article is to argue that a leader such as Mugabe who has presided over the world's fastest shrinking economy, thereby, condemning the entire population to poverty is guilty of social genocidal crimes and crimes against humanity which should be prosecutable at the international court of tribunal.

To start with, designing and legislating brainless policies which result in mass poverty is a crime on its own. Apart from the 20 000 Ndebele speaking people of Matabeleland who were massacred by Mugabe's Fifth Brigade, estimates say up to 10 000 people from Matabeleland disappeared and had not been accounted for to date.

Murderous state-sponsored hit squads have been in existence at least since the independence of Zimbabwe in April 1980 and are widely acknowledged to have stirred up much dissident activity in Matabeleland in order to justify the killing of civilians in the region.

There is a school of thought which says the six European tourists killed at Esigodini area allegedly by the dissidents were in fact murdered by Mugabe's murderous hit squads in order to justify the deployment of the Fifth Brigade.

There is no doubt that Mugabe and his government are guilty of crimes against humanity. To some extent, crimes against humanity overlap with genocide and war crimes.

But crimes against humanity are distinguishable from genocide in that they do not require an intent to "destroy in whole or in part" as cited in the Genocide Convention of 1948, but only target a given group and carry out a policy of widespread or systematic violations. Crimes against humanity apply in the context of war and in times of peace as well.

The good thing about it is that no one is immune to prosecution for crimes against humanity - this applies to those who acted on behalf of the state and even the head of the state himself is not immune.

The Geneva Convention, states that if the head of state sends an army to a
troubled area or province, and that army happen to target civilians, the head of state is guilty of war crimes. The Convention goes on to state that, under such circumstances it is the duty of any nation or anyone else to prosecute or the International Criminal Court has a right to indict the head of state with his accomplices.

What makes the Zimbabwe situation more needy is the gruesome killings of people of Matabeleland especially in Tsholotsho, Lupane and Gwanda.

Coming back to the crunch of my paper, the sorry state of the Zimbabwe's economy here does not need us to consult a rocket scientist or a Professor of economics. I'm sure even a young school boy would tell you that Mugabe and his gangsters have messed up, and the destruction of our economy was long expected.

Much of Mugabe's legislations are so capricious in their drafting as well as in their application. Above all, the whole battery of laws makes political dissent a crime. The normal functions of a responsible citizenry becomes the business of the country's jailers. Mugabe's government has increasingly conferred forms of lawless discretion on his functionaries in the civil service, the police and the military. The deployment of the state's resources to inflict random terror and assassination on the state's own citizens.

Poverty levels are unprecedented and Mugabe, like a woman in a polygamous relationship, keeps on churning abuse at George Bush and Tony Blair - guess what, they don't reply back they just shut up.

When a BBC reporter confronted Tony Blair in 2002 at the height of bloody farm invasions, and asked him why he was not engaging Mr Mugabe in talks Mr Blair simply said: "I will not sit in a round table conference with a leader guilty of mass murder. In fact, I will do everything for him to go."

Blair and the whole international community can go a step further than just pushing for Mugabe's exit. He should be brought to account for his murderous reign and sermons of hatred that have divided our beautiful land.

Admore Tshuma is a former Chronicle Chief Reporter now reading for a PhD at the University of Bristol specialising in Global Poverty, Social Justice and Human Rights Law.

He can be contacted on atshuma@hotmail.com

Great words from Mr Peter Moyo!

I think people need to stop talking about Mugabe and ask themselves what they really are doing for the country and themselves. Mugabe is a passing generation and he is not the air we breathe and he is neither Zimbabwe and nor Zimbabwe Mugabe – so, stop crying and talking about regime change as the solution. Recently we have seen that the civil society from the opposition MDC to Madhuku's NCA who are rewriting constitutions willy nilly are part of the problem instead of being the solution

 

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NOBEL PRIZE FOR PROF JONATHAN MOYO!

ex www.zimonline.co.za
Tues 21 September 2004

Assuming there was a Nobel Prize for hypocrisy and arrogance, Prof. Jonathan Moyo, the Zimbabwe Minister of State for Information and Publicity in the Office of the President would qualify with a distinction. He deserves the biscuit for abandoning his earlier crusade as an opponent of government's propensity to stifle media freedom. In his yesteryears as an academic, Prof. Moyo accused the government-controlled media of failing the nation. "Their brief is to report ZANU PF affairs as if the ruling party is greater than the nation" Prof. Moyo wrote in the then privately owned Financial Gazette in 1992, adding that this journalistic docility sometimes took on disgusting proportions, "as when the media reports whatever Mr. Mugabe says and wherever he says it without analyzing its contents. Presumably, this is in keeping with the ZANU PF doctrine of presidential infallibility," he lamented.  The paradigm has changed for Prof. Moyo. His new pre-occupation with ZANU (PF) is like reading Dr. Faust's classic tale about the highly intelligent professor who signs a pact with the devil in return for infinite wisdom and power; more like doing a bad thing for a good reason. First, he surprised many by joining ZANU (PF), the party he once denounced as authoritarian and for this bold move, Prof Moyo was rewarded. Today, he is ZANU (PF)'s information and publicity secretary, a presidential appointee to parliament and government minister solely responsible for policy and regulation of all media in Zimbabwe. Ironically, in his short term as a minister, Prof. Moyo has authored media laws considered by many commentators as the most repressive in the history of post-independence Zimbabwe. A case in point is the enactment of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), without any broad consultation with the 'nation'. AAIPA was an offer that the majority of freedom loving journalists in Zimbabwe couldn't possibly accept and for this the scribes are paying a heavy prize. AAIPA has put more and more journalists in prison, a great number of them for crimes related to their professional livelihood. The Zimbabwe Chapter of the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) reports that more than thirty- (30) journalists were detained or charged from January 2003 to date, for contravening sections of AAIPA.  This is intriguing, given Prof Moyo's well documented past as a 'freedom loving academic'.  His turn-around logic translates to a 'Thank you very much. It was important that you were mobilized then, but now that l am in power on your behalf, you either shut-up or face-up". According to MISA-Zimbabwe, AAIPA does not provide the public with access to any real and relevant information. "In reality the Act's purpose is protecting the institution of the government from scrutiny by prohibiting and heavily penalizing public/media inquiry and scrutiny into its affairs, and in addition by an unrestrained control over journalists and media companies", argues MISA. Prof Moyo posits that unless the police and courts aggressively crack down what they term 'anti-government press', social cohesion would degenerate into anarchy. He argues that even the constitutionally contested legal provisions such as journalists not registering with the MIC, contribute to an anything goes atmosphere in which serious social disobedience would proliferate. In all Prof. Moyo has said or done, he has claimed adherence to the treasured philosophy of 'public or national interest'. However, it is precisely his definition of what is in the public interest that is contested. Further, Prof. Moyo has positioned himself as the embodiment of the nation or the public's negotiator, who represents the nation's interests, our interests.  But who really should define for media operators and journalists what is in the public or national interest? In the case of Zimbabwe, Prof. Moyo has claimed the right to singularly define the national or public interest. He then expects the media to uphold his definition without question. This attitude confirms the most lurid of scare stories about party functionaries running out of control. Sadly for Prof. Moyo, it has been hard to find Zimbabweans who do not see AAIPA as a repressive legislation that is either undesirable or unjust. What is worse is that several prominent ZANUPF supporters, recognizing that AAIPA threatens the sustainability of their own media enterprises, the party and government, are slowly distancing themselves from Prof. Moyo's position. Certainly, hope is not all lost. First, if in the past, Prof. Moyo was able to change his mind, he can do it again. Second, much as lasting damage has been inflicted to Zimbabwe's reputation as a thriving democracy, it seems there has not been much success in destroying the hopes of all freedom and peace-loving journalists who now realize that defending the public or national interests may mean challenging the government and public officials of the day. That is precisely what Prof. Jonathan Moyo did in his past life.