Links ~ 1 June 2008
June 2nd, 2008
MDC ‘rebel’ leader arrested (www.24.com)
Arthur Mutambara Leader of MDC (Mutambara) has been arrested in Harare on Sunday. Mutambara is the most senior MDC politician to be arrested yet, since the crackdown began on the MDC in the aftermath of the March 29 elections. Mutambara’s lawyer, Harrison Nkomo told AFP that Mutambara was arrested on charges of publishing falsehoods, contempt of court and for an opinion article he wrote in April. Mutambara was taken to the Central Police Station in Harare.
WOZA 14 arrested in Harare (The Zimbabwean)
14 WOZA (Women of Zimbabwe Arise) members have been arrested and are being held in Harare Central. The Zimbabwean, an independent newspaper in Zimbabwe has received a text appeal stating ‘’14 woza members arrested on wed still in Harare Central. Their detention now illegal. Pls call Harare Central to demand their release’.
For more information on WOZA visit www.wozazimbabwe.org
Tsvangirai’s explosive letter to Mbeki: (Sunday Times -SA)
Morgan Tsvangirai Leader of the MDC has, according to the Sunday Times (South Africa), written an ‘explosive’ letter to President Thabo Mbeki. In the letter dated May 13, Tsvangirai accuses Mbeki of:
- Lacking neutrality;
- Dividing the MDC;
- Blocking United Nations discussions on Zimbabwe;
- Suppressing the Khampepe-Moseneke Report on the 2002 Zimbabwe elections, which means that Mbeki has no moral claim to mediate a state of affairs at which he as, in secret, connivedâ€, and
- Breaching the principles of mediation by showing a lack of respect for the MDC
DOCUMENT: Read MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s letter to President Thabo Mbeki (pdf)
‘We called him our Steve Biko’ (Sunday Times – South Africa)
The heartbreaking story of a family’s search for the body of their husband, father, and brother, Zimbabwe’s own ‘Steve Biko’, the much loved Tonderai Ndira. A search, which led to the discovery of another 8 bodies of activists.
May we never forget…
MDC’s dynamic second-in-command (Sunday Independent)
Tendai Biti Secretary-General of the Movement for Democratic Change is frustrated and wants to go home. Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri had threatened Biti with unspecified action, on charges that he allegedly declared results of the March 29 elections ‘illegally’ and that Biti has been “urging and abetting political violenceâ€. The MDC leadership has decreed that Biti must stay in South Africa, to avoid his arrest, a situation that has Biti on edge as he longs to return home. “I am ready to face what is waiting for me.” says Biti.
More big fat zeros for Zimbabwe (Sunday Times – SA)
An economist, John Robertson says that the government is printing money as fast as they can, but it will come to the point where it will just not be fast enough. Money is becoming valueless. Robertson says that it will only be a matter of time before people start to say that they do not want the money. In fact, he says, it would not surprise him if the first to complain would be the army. As Christopher Dell former US ambassador said of the Zimbabwe’s skyrocketing inflation: “It destabilises everything. By carrying out economically destructive policies, the Mugabe government is committing regime change on itself. The regime is reaching endgame.â€
Zim teachers demand $76 billion pay (The Zimbabwean)
Teachers in Zimbabwe demand a hike in their salaries of ZW$76 billion per month. The Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said that the ZW$63 billion hike in salaries awarded in May, this year, was below their expectations and a further hike is needed.
Time for the tyrants to watch their backs (Sunday Independent)
Patrick Laurence of the Sunday Independent feels that the arrest of Jean-Pierre Bemba former vice-president of DRCongo has a sharp relevance for Robert Mugabe. Two words, resonate through the post-liberation history of Zimbabwe, that of Gukurahundi and Murambatsvina. The relevance to Mugabe in the case of Bemba’s arrest is that it means that Mugabe would no longer have immunity when travelling aboard, even if he does manage to negotiate some exit strategy and obtained indemnity in Zimbabwe. He could still be arrested if he should leave the country.
