Zimbabwe Inclusive Government Watch (ZIG Watch) is tracking articles and reports which provide examples of violations of the agreement between Zanu PF and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Formations signed in Harare on 15 September 2008.

A great weight of responsibility rests on the shoulders of Zimbabwe's new Joint-Monitoring Implementation Committee (JOMIC), which began work in Harare on Monday.

JOMIC was set up to ensure that the unity government proceeds according to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by all three political parties on 15 September last year in an effort to resolve the nine-year crisis.

The 12-member committee comprises eight senior Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party members drawn from both formations, and four senior Zanu PF party members.

JOMIC will monitor compliance with, and progress on, items agreed within the GPA.  The panel is tasked with resolving existing and emerging disputes among the parties or government agencies through dialogue.  It will also receive reports and complaints in respect of any issue related to the implementation, enforcement and execution of the agreement.

In cases where it fails, the disputes are to be referred to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU).

In a statement released last week, SADC said the committee was required to be a catalyst in the creation and promotion of trust and understanding.

In view of Zanu PF's track record, this will prove to be a significant challenge.  To date Sokwanele's Zimbabwe Inclusive Government Watch monitoring project has logged a total of 770 breaches of the 25 "Articles" contained in the agreement.

Of these, Zanu PF has committed 757 (97.4%), MDC (T) 11 (2.2%) and MDC (M) 2 (0.4%)

The breaches range from the most appalling and inhuman forms of torture to the denial of food aid to MDC supporters - or perceived supporters - or even the outright theft of food aid.  

Corruption continues to be endemic and includes the ruthless plundering of mining resources.  On 13 December, it was reported that nearly 80 people had been murdered by the Zimbabwean army in its campaign to take control of a diamond field near the eastern city of Mutare.

In this second issue of ZIG Watch, released in the wake of Friday's signing of the power-sharing agreement, we highlight 12 media articles detailing violations.  They are drawn from a list of 130 compiled between 10 December and 31 January.

Jestina Mukoko, project director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, who was abducted and severely tortured almost three months ago by the Mugabe regime, remains in detention and her bail hearing has been postponed.  

Over 30 MDC and civil society activists who face a range of dubious charges are also being detained in appalling prison conditions.  State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa has signed an affidavit confirming the abductions were officially sanctioned.

Nigel Mupfuranhehwe, a two-year-old toddler who was abducted with his parents and beaten by security agents - to the degree that he needed medical attention - was only released after 76 days in jail.  His parents remain in prison.

Shortly after Nigel's release, the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender released a report revealing the inhuman conditions existing at most prisons across the country.  

Released on 13 January, the Physicians for Human Rights report detailed the dramatic reversal of the population's access to food, clean water, basic sanitation, and health care under the Mugabe regime. It also accused the regime of abrogating the most basic state functions in protecting the health of the population.

Less than two weeks later, it was reported that council clinics had started charging patients in US dollars. According to Health Minister David Parirenyatwa, the fees had been approved by the Mugabe government.

Despite escalating starvation countrywide, a Zanu PF-controlled food task force has plundered thousands of tonnes of mealie-meal and maize (corn) using helpless millers to swindle the Grain Marketing Board.  It is being sold at massively inflated prices on the black market.

Earlier in the month, newly appointed Attorney General Johannes Tomana said he would proceed with the prosecution of all commercial farmers who had acted in breach of government's order to vacate gazetted land.   This was in spite of a November 2008 ruling by the SADC Tribunal in Windhoek, Namibia, barring the government from continuing with its eviction of the farmers in question.

Fresh farm invasions have been instigated by Themba Mliswa, the Zanu PF secretary for Lands in Mashonaland West province.  At a provincial meeting for A2 farmers in Chegutu on 28 January, those with offer letters were told to grab the farms before Tsvangirai took up office.

Gideon Gono, governor of the Reserve Bank, has again been embroiled in an embarrassing financial scandal.  It has emerged that he gave licences pegged at US$20 000 for Foreign Exchange Licenced Warehouses and Shops to Zanu PF members, friends and relatives free of charge.

Once again journalists have been targeted, this time by being charged "astronomical" accreditation fees. Under Zimbabwe's harsh media legislation, which has yet to be repealed, journalists can be arrested for practising without accreditation.

Detailed breakdown of breaches on the Global Political Agreement, by clauses per article, available at www.sokwanele.com/zigwatch

Mukoko bail hearing postponed again, as legal games continue
SW Radio Africa (ZW): 30/01/2009

Zimbabwe’s political rivals agreed to a unity government on Friday, but for abducted and detained activist Jestina Mukoko nothing changed as Justice Anne-Marie Gowora postponed her bail hearing. The legal technicalities thrown up in all the cases have ensured the state succeeds in holding the activists in custody for as long as possible. On Friday Justice Gowora said the defence had to file a written response to the issues raised by state in opposing bail for Mukoko. Almost 3 months into her abduction and detention the Zimbabwe Peace Project Director is still to be charged for the offences Mugabe’s regime claims she committed. In a cruel twist of events the state is claiming that a bail application cannot be heard because Mukoko has not been charged yet. Defence lawyer Harrison Nkomo said they would file the requested written response on the same Friday. The case will now be heard on Monday.

• ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS
• ARTICLE XVIII : SECURITY OF PERSONS AND PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE

Toddler, 2, beaten in prison
Independent Online (RSA): 04/01/2009

Horror stories are emerging from Chikurubi Maximum Security prison in Zimbabwe where at least 16 human rights activists are being held. In a shocking revelation, activists report the youngest prisoner, Nigel Mupfuranhehwe, a two-year-old - who was abducted with his parents Violet Mupfuranhehwe and Collen Mutamagau - was beaten by security agents and needed medical attention. The lawyers of Jestina Mukoko, the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), have also called for a toxicology report for fear the Zimbabwe government is poisoning her. Mukoko is being force-fed drugs by the army doctor who oversaw her torture.

• ARTICLE XI : RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER LAWS
• ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS
• ARTICLE XVIII : SECURITY OF PERSONS AND PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE

Zimbabwe security minister says abductions sanctioned by state
VOANews (USA): 31/12/2008

Zimbabwean State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa has declared in court documents that agents of Harare's security apparatus carried out the seizure of opposition and civil society activists, lawyers defending the currently jailed activists said on Wednesday. The lawyers said Mutasa signed an affidavit to the effect that the seizures or abductions as they have been characterized by the Movement for Democratic Change, dozens of whose members were abducted in recent months, were officially sanctioned.

• ARTICLE XI : RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER LAWS
• ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS
• ARTICLE XVIII : SECURITY OF PERSONS AND PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE

Report paints horrifying picture of conditions in prisons
Zimbabwean, The (ZW): 24/01/2009

The government has established a cemetery at one of its biggest jails to bury hundreds of prisoners dying from disease and hunger. Last month, prison officials had to conduct a mass burial of the decomposing bodies of prisoners who had been kept in a room at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison for six months because a mortuary at Harare Central Prison was full, the report said. According to the report, 2008 was "the most horrific and traumatic year" for both inmates and prison wardens. Prisoners went for days without a meal and were occasionally supplied with food "only meant to keep a person alive" such as the staple porridge, sadza. The report continued: "The death impact of prisoners saw the opening of a cemetery at Chikurubi Prison Farm. The main causes of prisoners' deaths included reduced meals, shortage of drugs and the poor health environment in our prisons," it said.

• ARTICLE XVI : HUMANITARIAN AND FOOD ASSISTANCE

Health in Ruins: A Man-Made Disaster in Zimbabwe
Physicians for Human Rights: 13/01/2009

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) witnesses the utter collapse of Zimbabwe's health system, once a model in southern Africa. These shocking findings should compel the international community to respond as it should to other human rights emergencies. PHR rightly calls into question the legitimacy of a regime that, in the report's words, has abrogated the most basic state functions in protecting the health of the population. As the report documents, the Mugabe regime has used any means at its disposal, including politicizing the health sector, to maintain its hold on power.

• ARTICLE XVI : HUMANITARIAN AND FOOD ASSISTANCE

Zimbabweans seeking medical treatment forced to pay in forex
Harare Tribune, The: 22/01/2009

Ordinary Zimbabweans continue facing a bleak future as council clinics have started charging in foreign currency. The clinics, which are depleted by both staff and medication, are demanding fees in United States dollars. Clinics are the first port of call for patients before they can be attended to at referral hospitals and the foreign currency fees are a major blow to many. The fees have been approved by the President Robert Mugabe’s regime, according to Health Minister David Parirenyatwa. He defended the position saying of late, many patients were opting to pay in foreign currency.

• ARTICLE XVI : HUMANITARIAN AND FOOD ASSISTANCE

Zanu-PF food taskforce plunders grain
ZimEye: 24/01/2009

A Zanu-PF controlled food taskforce has plundered thousands of tones of mealie-meal and maize in Bulawayo. Sources revealed that the Zanu-PF taskforce was working using a group of helpless millers to swindle the GMB of large quantities of maize. The food taskforce is said to be asking for over 70 percent of the maize and mealie-meal from the small millers. Revelations are that the Zanu-PF food taskforce was making a killing by selling a 10kg bag of mealie-meal for 60 Rands or US$6. The majority of Zimbabweans cannot afford to buy mealie-meal because they have restricted access to foreign currency, leaving the corrupt Zanu-PF members to benefit at the expense of many. The sources said the taskforce, which is chaired by the Bulawayo Provincial administrator, Leonard Ncube, was responsible for the disappearing of maize from the state-run Grain Marketing Board.

• ARTICLE VII : PROMOTION OF EQUALITY, NATIONAL HEALING, COHESION AND UNITY
• ARTICLE XI : RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER LAWS
• ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS
• ARTICLE XVI : HUMANITARIAN AND FOOD ASSISTANCE

Tomana vows to prosecute farmers
Zimbabwe Times, The (ZW): 14/01/2009

Zimbabwe’s newly appointed Attorney General, Johannes Tomana, says he will proceed with the prosecution of all commercial farmers who have acted in breach of government’s order to vacate gazetted land. This is in spite of a November 2008 ruling by the SADC Tribunal barring government from continuing with its eviction of the farmers in question. In passing the judgement, the President of the tribunal, Judge Mondale, said the Zimbabwe government had violated the treaty governing the 15-nation regional bloc by compulsorily acquiring their land. But in a letter written to lawyers representing the farmers, Tomana, an ardent supporter of President Robert Mugabe, is adamant that he will go ahead with the prosecutions. Commenting on the ruling, the Minister of State for National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement in the President’s Office, Didymus Mutasa said government would continue to appropriate more land from the white farmers.

• ARTICLE III : RESTORATION OF ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH
• ARTICLE V: LAND QUESTION
• ARTICLE XI : RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER LAWS
• ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS

Mliswa urges last-minute farm invasions
Zimbabwe Times, The (ZW): 30/01/2009

Fresh farm invasions have been witnessed in Mashonaland West province as frustrated Zanu PF supporters try to grab pieces of land before the inception of an all inclusive government by Zanu PF and MDC in two weeks' time. The invasions are said to have been instigated by Themba Mliswa, the Zanu PF Secretary for Lands in Mashonaland West province at a provincial meeting for A2 farmers in Chegutu on Wednesday. Witnesses told The Zimbabwe Times that Mliswa openly told Zanu PF supporters who were still holding onto offer letters that they risked not owning any farms in their lives if they did not forcibly take ownership of land before February 11. Mliswa, a staunch supporter of President Robert Mugabe, told the farmers that it would be difficult to occupy their land once MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had been sworn in as Prime Minister.

• ARTICLE III : RESTORATION OF ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH
• ARTICLE V: LAND QUESTION
• ARTICLE XI : RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER LAWS
• ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS
• ARTICLE XVIII : SECURITY OF PERSONS AND PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE

Gideon Gono engulfed in another embarrassing scandal
Afrik.com: 30/01/2009

Gideon Gono, governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, has again been fingered in an embarrassing financial scandal as it has emerged that he gave the Foreign Exchange Licenced Warehouses and Shops (FOLIWARS) free of charge to Zanu PF members, friends and relatives. The licenses are pegged at US$20 000 but to date not one of those who is trading has paid such an amount. Said a source at the RBZ headquarters, “Nobody has paid for the RBZ licences because most of those trading in forex are relations and friends of Gono. We are angry about the development because we are being denied an opportunity to trade in hard currency when the economy has been dollarised.” According to the source, Gono was empowering his Zanu PF cronies as part of a looting strategy. Businesspeople linked to opposition politics are said to have been sidelined in getting licences to sell wares in United States dollars and rands. “If you a Zanu PF member, you are quick to be granted a licence without going through hassles. That’s an instruction we received from the Governor (Gono).

• ARTICLE III : RESTORATION OF ECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH
• ARTICLE VII : PROMOTION OF EQUALITY, NATIONAL HEALING, COHESION AND UNITY
• ARTICLE XI : RULE OF LAW, RESPECT FOR THE CONSTITUTION AND OTHER LAWS
• ARTICLE XIII : STATE ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS

Zimbabwean journalists criticize 'astronomical' fees
Earth Times: 11/01/2009

Journalists in Zimbabwe on Sunday criticized recent "astronomical" accreditation fees by President Robert Mugabe's government. Last week, a government-run media commission imposed a fee of 4,000 US dollars on local journalists working for the foreign media in Zimbabwe in 2009. Foreign media houses pay 10,000 dollars for the application and 20,000 for accreditation, payable only in foreign currency, with an administration fee of 2,000 dollars. Under Zimbabwe's harsh media legislation, journalists can be arrested for practising without accreditation. "The increase is indicative of the contempt the government feels towards the press in general, and the international media in particular, and its desire to engineer a news blackout about political, economic and public health developments in Zimbabwe," said a statement from press freedom advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

• ARTICLE VII : PROMOTION OF EQUALITY, NATIONAL HEALING, COHESION AND UNITY
• ARTICLE XVIII : SECURITY OF PERSONS AND PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE
• ARTICLE XIX : FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND COMMUNICATION