Links ~ 24 July 2008
Zimbabwe’s MDC, ruling party start full crisis talks (Reuters)
Senior negotiators of the MDC and Zanu-PF have begun talks on Thursday. Mukoni Ratshitanga spokesperson of South African President Thabo Mbeki said that the teams have started talks and even if they missed the two-week deadline, it would not mean the end of talks. A two-week deadline was set under the framework of the memorandum of agreement, which was signed on July 21. The main objective of the talks is the creation of a government of national unity. South African newspaper Business Day reported on Thursday that the two sides are close to reaching a deal and only need to resolve the final details. Business Day said, quoting sources from both parties, that agreement was reached on most of the issues, except for the framework for a new government.
Mbeki to urge EU not to sanction Zimbabwe (SABCnews)
South African President Thabo Mbeki is expected to call on the European Union (EU) to drop sanctions against Zimbabwe and to allow the political crisis in that country to be resolved through negotiations. Mbeki will hold talks with EU French President Nicolas Sarkozy and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barraso in Bordeaux, France on Friday, July 25.
It is expected that Mbeki will also discuss the implication of the indictment of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Bashir will stand trail on charges of genocide and war crimes arising from the ongoing conflict in Darfur.
Zanu (PF) fat cats stashing cash abroad (Africa Confidential)
Zanu-PF officials are dragging out negotiations so that they may hide millions of US dollars in offshore accounts. Top officials of Mugabe’s regime and their business allies are transferring tens of millions of US dollars out of Zimbabwe to safe havens where it will be safe from the scrutiny of a power-sharing government or targeted sanctions. Africa Confidential has seen bank documents that prove that Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono has violated the very monetary rules he was entrusted to uphold. All of the transactions were done illegally and in contravention of Zimbabwe’s foreign exchange laws.
CIO hide MDC activist’s corpse (Zimbabwe Metro)
The body of Emmanuel Nyapfungwe (36) has been confiscated by suspected CIO agents and was either hidden or buried in an undisclosed site to avoid legal repercussions. Nyapfungwe was from Ward 20, Nhamo village in Buhera was murdered on June 20 by Zanu-PF militia led by Headman Amos Betera. Five other activists were murdered alongside Nyapfungwe, namely Chris Makanyisa, Albert Masuka, Trymore Sabira, Pepukai Maangira and Phineas Chirozva.
Nyapfungwe was axed in both hands and both legs before the murderers had taken him to the Save River where he was tortured until he died. It is said that some of the bodies may have been dumped in the crocodile infested Ruti or Gotora dams.
More tortured MDC activists in Buhera South (The Zimbabwean)
Wilson Jori (65) was fined 8 goats and 18 chickens for being a MDC supporter and then he was severely beaten and tortured after being forced to attend a Zanu-PF rally on July 17. Jori lives in Ward 28, Chimombe Village in Buhera South. Jori and other villagers were forced by Zanu-PF militia to attend a so-called ‘victory celebration meeting’. The militia demanded that the MDC supporters give them goats and chickens. Later the militia started beating the victims on their backs and buttocks using electric cables, wire, logs, and sjamboks. Besides Jori, there are 20 MDC activists in Buhera South, with severe injuries that require immediate medical attention. The Zanu-PF militia are preventing them from getting medical assistance. Photos can be viewed at the above link.
Despite Talks, Zimbabwe Opposition Says Political Prisoners Still Held (VOA)
Despite the signing of an agreement and subsequent negotiations between the MDC and Zanu-PF, more than 2000 MDC supporters and activists remain in detention in Zimbabwe’s jails. MDC Policy and Research Secretary Sekai Holland said that she had to go into hiding after she realised that she was under surveillance by Zanu-PF. Holland said that a new state operation was launched named, ‘Who Sent You?’.
Headman and chiefs who are loyal to Zanu-PF have fined some MDC supporters returning to rural homes. In some areas, MDC supporters have been subjected to kangaroo courts and beaten for supporting the MDC. Reportedly, areas such as Mudzi and Murehwa South remain too dangerous for MDC supporters to return home.
Zimbabwe Municipal Authorities Struggle To Deliver Key Services (VOA)
Officials and civic activists say that urban dwellers are facing critical water and power services and the deterioration of health services. Newly appointed authorities struggle to provide essential services as hyperinflation wreaks havoc on the economy.
Amnesty International: Climate of fear persists in Zimbabwe despite deal (AI)
Amnesty International (AI) said in a statement that the organisation continues to receive reports of political violence and harassment, in particular from rural areas, despite the signing of an agreement between the political parties in Zimbabwe. AI said that both the political parties should ensure that there are not pardons for those who have committed human rights abuses in the aftermath of the elections.
“There can be no lasting political solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe without addressing past human rights violations. While human rights violations must end immediately, investigations must be carried out and alleged perpetrators brought to justice,†said Amnesty International.
AI voiced its concern that important questions of justice and impunity have not been explicitly tackled in the memorandum of understanding signed by the political parties on July 21.
“Any future deal between the parties should not include amnesties, pardons or any other measures that would prevent the emergence of the truth, a final judicial determination of guilt or non-guilt, and full reparations to victims and their families,†AI said in its statement. It said that by signing the MoU, the political parties have not only committed themselves to condemning the promotion and use of violence, but were also bound by the agreement to take the necessary measures to ensure that the structures and institutions under the control of those parties, do not engage in acts of violence.
Austrian company helps Zimbabwe bank produce near-worthless money (The Star)
Austrian company, Jura JSP is supplying the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) with the materials used in the design and printing of Zimbabwe’s money. Jura JSP has continued to have business dealings with RBZ despite pressure on European companies not to do business with Mugabe’s regime. The company supplies the RBZ with the licences and software used to print bank notes. Company officials have indicated that Jura JSP would consider halting its business dealings with RBZ should the European Union ask them to do so.
MDC SA To Demonstrate Against Government Of National Unity In Zimbabwe (The Zimbabwean)
The MDC’s external structure, based in South Africa is organising a massive demonstration over the weekend in protest against the SADC initiative for a government of National Unity.
We call upon SADC to stop pressurising MDC into accepting a government on National Unity. We need a Transitional authority, with the mandate to conduct news elections.
We will deliver a petition at the Zambian Embassy in Pretoria on Saturday at 11 a.m. The High Commissioner of Zambia has agreed to accept our petition on behalf of the SADC chairperson, Levy Mwanawasa.
MDC SA CHAIRMAN
Austin Moyo
Huge rise in number of Zim refugees in SA (The Star –SA)
There have been massive increases in the numbers of refugees applying for asylum in South Africa. Siobhan McCarthy spokesperson for the South African Ministry of home affairs said that the number of people seeking asylum have risen from 800 a day to more than 5000 a day at the Crown Mines Refugee reception area in Johannesburg. McCarthy said that most of the people applying for asylum were from Zimbabwe. She attributed the increase in numbers to the disputed presidential runoff election on June 27 in Zimbabwe and the collapse of that country’s economy.
The Department is considering plans for “a special dispensation†which will grant illegal Zimbabweans temporary relief from deportation. Sources from within the ministry fear however that such a move would prove risky after the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa. “Logistically, such a decision would have a huge impact, especially in areas like public health care and education,” McCarthy said.
One of the problems standing in the way of a “blanket amnesty†is that those fleeing economic collapse in their countries are not recognised by international classification standards and there is no category for economic refugees. McCarthy said that deportations were continuing but that the two weekly trains designated for the job could not keep up with the number of people being deported. The UN has said in a previous statement that South Africa had recently deported an estimated 17 000 Zimbabweans in a period of 40 days.
The People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (PASOP) called on the South African government to end deportations.
July 25th, 2008 12:55
Gideon Gono has, of course, been very clever.
He has no need to drain his money out of Zimbabwe via Britain or South Africa and then stash it in East Asia. He gets paid directly from Malaysia and keeps it there. Gideon doesn’t like it to be known that he owns a valuable farm in Mazowa, East of Harare from where he quietly ships out flowers such as roses on a large scale direct to Malaysia. Last year he was estimated to be making an incredible US$3m a week from this venture.
Of course the farm was not his in the first place. He did not buy it, he stole it. He may employ a thousand workers and one Dutch farm manager, who are just doing their jobs, but the sweet smell of success is based on an ownership fraud, as is the case with many other farms owned by the Zim mafia which is a favoured clique of Zanu-PF. They are the ones who glide over potholes in Mercedes comfort. They are the ones who live in elegant homes tended by armies of servants, and who feed themselves from well-stocked freezers.
July 25th, 2008 23:22
That’s the way to go Austin.
Anything that legitimises zanu and mugabe should be viewd with the contempt it deserves.
Sounds like Mbeki et al are arm twisting or have arm twisted Tsvangirai. The result will be another shambles of a governmemt. An internationally cosmetic affair which will absolve mugabe and Mbeki of the worst human and political disaster ever seen in Southern Africa.
It will last till they have retired and by then they will will exclaim oops!
And life goes on.
An African problem solved, left for others to correct, while the boil of homophobia, ethnic hate and disorganisation in once prosperous nations simmers to bursting point.
I really think Mbeki is a shrewd contriver. He is capitalising on the cheapest labour from zim, which he can use and discard willy nilly while his bulldog churns them in and out of his country. There must have been an agreement between the two about this otherwise what kind of statesmanship is this.
July 25th, 2008 23:55
The CIO of zimbabwe:
Have been the worst cowards, doing their nocturnal murderous activities. While zanu signs the fake memo of agreement with the MDC, this goes on.
A headman was also part of this!? A community leader being part of a murder!
While the party for whom he murders is in pretoria signing a pact of peace!?
When will this madness end. Seen from a world WIDE perspective this is a minor event but trust me evil is doing the rounds in the nation and there shall be retribution.
All the points for the Memomorandum of agreement are a smoke screen. The MDC will realise this when it’s too late. They must have researched on the ZAPU experience.
This time Mbeki is an extension of zanu in SA.
July 25th, 2008 23:56
What are the issues between the two tendencies in MDC?
The split seemed to come out of nowhere, especially for those of us trying to follow the issue from afar.
I realize it’s hard since so much of the discussion and decision-making is now taking place out of the public eye, but could Hope or someone post on what their understanding of the issues between the tendencies?
July 26th, 2008 04:11
This does not make sense, and you should look into it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072502569.html
If Irag is banished from the Olympics, how on earth is Zimbabwe, Sudan, Burma etc. allowed in?
China should get an earful of complaints via the IOC.