Mandebvhu Talks “Zimbabwe”…

Pressure from within and outside Zimbabwe to force the unity government to free the media might soon pay off.

At least three newspapers are ready to launch or relaunch as soon at the government gives them permission.

They include NewsDay, owned by Trevor Ncube, proprietor of the Mail & Guardian, The Financial Gazette daily and the banned Daily News.

There are no independent dailies in Zimbabwe and there is only one television channel - which is owned by the state.

In recent weeks, pressure has been mounting for the government to open up the media space and Media Minister Webster Shamu is expected to make an announcement today that will change Zimbabwe’s media landscape.

Shamu, a fierce opponent of independent media, has finally come around after intense pressure. The minister is expected to meet the editors of the independent media before making his announcement.

The move could endear Zimbabwe to the West. Sweden, the new EU chair, has promised to persuade European countries to help Zimbabwe if it can comply with EU stipulations.

Western donors have demanded “real change”, such as freeing the media, before they loosen their purse strings. Zimbabwe is in desperate need of a bail- out after 30 years of ruinous policies.

President Robert Mugabe’s former nemesis, Morgan Tsvangirai, now the prime minister, has promised that his government will deliver once the octogenarian honours all the agreements he has made.

(Source)

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Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says he is convinced that his wife was not assassinated, putting to rest speculation about the fatal road accident that became the unity government’s first biggest test after its inauguration in February.

The circumstances leading to Mrs Susan Tsvangirai’s death were some of the most uncomfortable issues that confronted the former opposition leader during his three week tour of the United States and Europe that ended at the weekend.

The Tsvangirais were involved in an accident weeks after President Robert Mugabe’s former arch rival joined the unity government and Mrs Tsvangirai died on the spot.

Speculation was rife that the accident was planned after Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said it was launching its own investigations.

Government said it was investigating a commercial farmer after he photographed the accident scene before the police arrived.

But results of both investigations have not been made public.

“I can safely say it was an accident,” Mr Tsvangirai said in Paris, a day before he returned to Zimbabwe. I was involved in the accident and I could have died there. I know what happened.”

“There is bound to be speculation because of Zimbabwe’s history of accidents involving high profile people that have not been properly explained but I will be the first one to say the one that unfortunately took away my wife’s life was genuine.

Scores of senior politicians have died on Zimbabwe’s roads since independence in 1980 after falling out of favour with the rulers and investigations into their deaths have remained closely guarded secrets.

Last week, the wife of an army general who was found dead inside his vehicle on a railway level crossing ruffled feathers when she put an advert in the state media saying she believed her husband was assassinated.

Brigadier Armstrong Gunda died in 2007 after he was linked to a group of army officers who were implicated in an alleged plot to topple Mr Mugabe.

Mr Tsvangirai said he never contemplated abandoning politics after the accident because his wife would have wanted him to continue.

I knew her wish was to see the full democratisation of Zimbabwe, he said. That route (leaving politics) was also not considered in the party and instead we were encouraged to fulfill the mandate we were given by people.

The former trade unionists survived a number of attempts on his life including a severe bashing at the hands of the police after he tried to attend a prayer meeting in May 2007.

Mr Mugabe said his then fierce opponent deserved the bashing because he had provoked the police.

But Mr Tsvangirai who was forced to defend the 85-year old Mr Mugabe’s right to remain in government despite an electoral defeat said he had developed a good working relationship with the veteran ruler.

“We have reached a stage where we had to ask ourselves if our acrimonious rivalry was benefiting Zimbabweans, Mr Tsvangirai said.

“Around this time last year it was totally inconceivable that I will sit in the same cabinet with Mugabe.

“But now I will be the first one to defend his right to a place in the transition. Our relationship is business like.”

Last year, Mr Tsvangirai who beat President Mugabe in March elections pulled out of the June 27 presidential election runoff citing mounting violence against his supporters.

(Source)

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Arthur Mutambara has served five MDC-M  legislators who are part of seven officials verbally suspended two months ago with official letters of suspension.

The MDC-M has written letters to the suspended members saying they will now be charged with urging party supporters to shift their allegiance from the party to the main MDC faction led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC).

The legislators who had only heard about their suspension through the media argued their suspension was null and void as they  had not seen any official correspondence from the party.

The letters signed by the party’s national disciplinary committee chairperson, Lyson Mlambo, and dated June 16 said the conduct by the suspended party members violated Article 10.5 (b) of the party constitution.

“You addressed and urged party officials and supporters to shift their allegiance from the party to the MDC-T. This conduct is in violation of Article 10.5 (b) of the party constitution,” reads party of the letter written to one of the legislators facing disciplinary action.

The seven party members were expected to appear before the disciplinary committee last week on Saturday but the case was deferred after the suspended officials requested to attend the constitutional hearing meetings that were taking place last weekend.

The suspended officials are Abednico Bhebhe, the Member of Parliament for Nkayi South, Njabulo Mguni (Lupane East), Norman Mpofu (Bulilima East), Thandeka Mnkandla (Gwanda North) and Maxwell Dube (Tsholotsho South).

Last week two of the suspended legislators attended a victory rally for Bhebhe that was also attended by MDC-T vice president Thokozani Khuphe and other MDC-T officials, raising speculation that the suspended members could be on their way to joining the MDC-T.

Early this month the Mutambara’s formation suffered a body blow when the party’s entire Nkayi district leadership and all 23 councillors crossed the floor to join the MDC-T, in protest against the suspension of Bhebhe.

(Source)

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Vice President Joice Mujuru and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai returned home yesterday aboard the same flight from South Africa raising further questions of the VPs close relationship to the PM.

VP Mujuru is being persecuted by some high-ranking Zanu PF officials for allegedly working with the Movement for Democratic Change.

The accusations stem from the Mnangagwa faction which has roped in the services of Oppah Muchinguri who will challenge Olivia Muchena (a Mujuru ally) for the leadership of the women’s league.

VP Mujuru was in New York to attend a United Nations world summit of First and Third World leaders to discuss the current global economic recession.

She said developing countries had called for the reform of multilateral agencies for them to be accountable to the world body than to their boards of directors.

Briefing journalists soon after her arrival at Harare International Airport, VP Mujuru described the conference, where 192 countries were represented, as successful.

“Developing countries were not happy with institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as they said the UN, a universal body, was best placed to co-ordinate global economic policies for member countries,” she said.

There was a divergence of views between developing countries and developed countries as the latter were comfortable with the status quo in which institutions they dominate such as the G7, G20, International.

Monetary Fund and World Bank ran the show regarding global economic issues, she said. Developing countries, on the other hand, accused developed countries of causing the global economic recession and argued that they should not be allowed to dictate direction, in particular formulation of world economic policies.

“A sub-committee was set up to advise the UN membership on how to deal with the recession,” VP Mujuru said.

Sources close to deliberations at the summit said the argument by developing countries was that it was not prudent to continue allowing multilateral agencies like the IMF and World Bank to formulate global economic policies because they were influenced by developed countries as they wielded more voting rights.

Developing countries raised issues of conditionalities demanded by the IMF and World Bank, most of which had the effect of undermining their sovereignty.

Developed countries had, on the other hand, argued that global economic policies should be left to the boards of these financial institutions whom they said had best expertise.

This was strongly resisted by developing countries who argued that Western countries influenced voting and attendance to G7 and G20 summits, and conferences were by invitation and not by right for those countries who were not members.

It was agreed that issues of financial packages and debt for developing countries were already on the table and ought to be followed upon using the UN system, a development that was viewed as a major success by the developing countries.

The UN conference attended by the Vice President ran from June 26 to 29 in New York. VP Mujuru addressed the summit and called for the international community to support Zimbabwe by providing a stimulus package to offset the financial challenges.

PM Tsvangirai, who was on a three-week tour of the US and Europe after being tasked by President Mugabe and Cabinet to seek financial aid for the inclusive Government and the lifting of sanctions, described his trip as successful.

“It was quite successful, we were quite happy with the engagement we had,” said PM Tsvangirai before he was whisked away.

He, however, said he would give a comprehensive statement on his tour in due course.

PM Tsvangirai was welcomed by MDC ministers who boycotted yesterday’s Cabinet session.

Addressing reporters in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the weekend where he made a stopover, he said his tour to drum up support for the “new” Zimbabwe was a success despite criticism from Western leaders of alleged continued human rights abuses and he insisted that political and economic reforms were gathering pace.

(Source)

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Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party boycotted a meeting of Zimbabwe’s cabinet on Monday on the grounds that it made a mockery of the country’s power-sharing deal.

The 13 ministers from Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) pulled out of the meeting after it was brought forward to accommodate President Robert Mugabe, who was to fly to the African Union summit in Libya later.

“This morning we were advised that cabinet had been shifted from its mandated day of Tuesday to Monday,” Tsvangirai’s deputy Thokozani Khupe told journalists.

“The decision seeks to deny recognition of the prime minister as chair of cabinet when the president is away. Mr Mugabe has indicated he will not be present on Tuesday and hence the decision to move cabinet forward to today,” said Khupe.

The former rivals set up a power-sharing government in February meant to stabilise Zimbabwe nearly a year after disputed polls plunged the country into further economic and political chaos.

Khupe said the decision to move the meeting “reflects unilateralism, disrespect, contempt and refusal to recognise the reality and the letter of the global political agreement.”

“We will not attend an informal unilateral meeting,” she added at a press conference attended by the 13 MDC ministers, including Finance Minister Tendai Biti and Home Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa.

Khupe also expressed disappointment at the issues that remained unresolved four months after the coalition government was formed.

“For a long time we have remained the polite and subservient upholders of the global political agreement, against clear evidence of the absence of a reliable and honest partner,” said Khupe.

Among the outstanding issues listed were the appointments of provincial governors and ambassadors, as well as the dispute over the appointments of the attorney-general and the central bank governor.

“Further evidence of a lack of paradigm shift is the deliberate refusal to convene the national security council,” Khupe said. “The national security council became law in February 2009 and demands that the security council meets once every month.

“Four months later, it has not yet met simply because a few elite securocrats do not recognise the authority of the new order.”

(Source)

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Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai intends to run for President at the next election and should he win, he will serve out a maximum of two five-year terms, he says in a new interview.

Tsvangirai, who has been the leader of the former opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for a decade, says Zimbabwe “needs to adopt term limits as a principle”.

Asked by the France 24 news channel on Friday if he will run for elections, possibly in two years, Tsvangirai said: “Certainly, I think that my party will put me forward as their candidate.

“One thing that I am committed to is we have to commit ourselves to 10 years because I think that historically, it allows for regeneration of political leadership, it allows for new ideas to come into the political sphere and so I think that Zimbabwe needs to adopt term limits as a principle, two terms of five years each.”

Zimbabwe’s current constitution is silent on term limits for the President which has allowed Robert Mugabe to rule uninterrupted for 29 years, first as Prime Minister and later as President.

The country has begun a process to come up with a new constitution within two years, expected to be followed by elections. Imposing term limits for the President is likely to be one of the key discussion areas.

Tsvangirai’s public commitment to term limits may expose him to an uncomfortable discussion within his own party whose constitution adopted in February 1999 says the party president “shall serve a maximum of two terms”.

If the MDC constitution was correctly applied, it would block Tsvangirai from standing again as president of the party and the country – unless if he runs as an independent.

(Source)

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President Robert Mugabe said Zimbabwe may revive the use of its own currency because the US dollar introduced to tame hyperinflation was unavailable to a majority of people.

The local state Herald newspaper on Friday quoted Mugabe as saying his new unity government with rival Morgan Tsvangirai was battling to ease economic hardships, but that Zimbabwe could not have a system where rural people were forced to trade their livestock.

‘We cannot have a country like that. We are reviewing this so that we can go back to the use of our own national currency,’ he was quoted as telling a meeting of his ZANU PF party in the local Shona language.

(Source)

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Last week I had the opportunity of making a comment on webcam with France 24 reporter Julien Pain about the video that appeared online which depicted the instructors at Tomlinson Depot in Harare beating the recruits.

The France 24 report can be seen here.

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Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe is reviewing its indigenisation law and would likely lower the 51% requirement for local ownership of foreign firms investing in the country.

Speaking at a mining conference in London on Tuesday Prime Minister Tsvangirai said, “We are reviewing mining laws. Fifty-one percent is far, far too high.”

He added that the new inclusive Government hopes to agree to a new local ownership level that is “comfortable” for investors, but still beneficial to the mineral-rich nation.

Tsvangirai said he supported the concept of encouraging local businesspeople, but the law also had to be fair to overseas investors.

“There’s nothing wrong with indiginisation, for allowing local Zimbabweans … to participate in the economy of the country,” he said.

“What is wrong is to expect someone to bring money into the country and say we will take 51% of that.”

(Source)

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Zimbabwe could be harbouring as many as six former top soldiers in the Rwandan army wanted in connection with the 1994 Genocide which left over a million people dead.

The six were senior military officers in the regime of former Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana, which is accused of masterminding the Geenocide against Tutsis.

The former soldiers from the then Armed Forces of Rwanda (FAR) fled Rwanda when then Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) rebels led by president Paul Kagame, seized control of Kigali and put to an end the 100 days of blood-letting.

Sources this week said the six former senior Rwandan army officers were based in Harare where they were reportedly running thriving business ventures. They have all reportedly changed their identities and assumed new names.

Although there was no official confirmation from authorities in both Harare and Kigali, an African Rights Report released recently revealed several former top Rwandan army officers who participated in the Genocide are scattered all over southern Africa mainly in countries such as Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

The top former army officers are wanted in Kigali and by an international tribunal trying Genocide suspects in Arusha, Tanzania.

Sources within the refugees’ community said genocide suspects were living comfortably in Harare running business ventures.

“They are in Harare running their businesses,” said one refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “But it’s difficult to track them down because they have all changed their identities but I know that they are about six staying here.”

Some years ago refugees from the DRC demonstrated at Tongogara Refuge Camp, about 350 KM south east of the capital, demanding that some refugees from Rwanda be removed from the camp because they participated in the Genocide. The demonstration was quelled by the police.

Sources in Harare said the former top military men came to Zimbabwe in 1996 after initially being based in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Officials from the United Nations refugees’ agency in Harare, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), declined to comment on the issue.

An official from the department of social welfare in Harare said he was aware of such accusations but insisted divulging such information was sensitive and could compromise their work.

Zimbabwe is also home to former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariem, who together with several of his kinsmen fled their motherland after a rebel movement, which is now in power, overran the country. Mengistu is wanted for the murder of hundreds of his former political nemesis.

Relatives of former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor are also staying in Harare also running thriving business operations in the Zimbabwean capital.

Another country accused of harbouring alleged fugitives include Kenya where Felicien Kabuga is largely believed to be hiding.

Kabuga is Africa’s most wanted war criminal with a US$5 million bounty on his head. He is alleged to have financed the Genocide.

Senior officials in Kenya’s government are accused of harbouring Kabuga, an immensely wealthy businessman with vast business interests.

(Source)

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