Links ~ 31 July 2008
August 1st, 2008
Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Calls for Honorable Exit for Mugabe (Channel 4 / VOA)
Morgan Tsvangirai leader of the MDC said, on Thursday, that he hopes that negotiations with Zanu-PF will leave room for Robert Mugabe to have a honourable exit from power. Tsvangirai told Channel Four that the talks were going well and that it was in an initial stage. He said that later stages would need the participation of the leaders of the political parties. “Speaking for ZANU-PF and myself there is that total commitment to see to the speedy conclusion and successful outcome of the talks,” Tsvangirai said.
Tsvangirai says Zimbabwe talks deadline flexible (Reuters)
The MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told reporters that he was “fairly satisfied†with the talks being held with Zanu-PF. Tsvangirai was speaking to reporters in Dakar after he had met with Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade. “I am fairly satisfied, but there are, like in any negotiations, sticking points that need to be unravelled,” said Tsvangirai. He said that the deadline date for inter-party talks, August 4, was not “inflexibleâ€. “Two weeks may appear too short, but it is not inflexible and I am sure that the facilitation will adjust as progress moves forward.”
Mbeki to expand Zim mediation (AFP)
Morgan Tsvangirai leader of the MDC said on Thursday that South African President Thabo Mbeki would be bringing other players into the process of talks between Zimbabwean political parties. Tsvangirai also referred to the resource reference group that Mbeki has created and said, “It would expand the level of assistance in the mediation beyond just South Africa.â€
Junta plans decree to nullify MDC poll challenge (The Zimbabwean)
Mugabe’s regime fears an imminent court defeat after the MDC has challenged the results of the March 29 elections in 60 constituencies. Zanu-PF has in reaction challenged the results of 52 parliamentary seats won by the MDC. Mugabe’s regime is now considering a law that would prohibit the courts to invalidate Zanu-PF’s victories in the 60 disputed constituencies. Such legislation cannot be passed through parliament, but the amendment could be passed through special presidential powers. The latter would ensure that the amendment would not be subjected to debate in parliament.
Woman commits suicide after humiliated & refused ZPF food aid (SWRA)
Mai Tarwa, a mother of three, took her own life on Tuesday after she was publicly humiliated and refused permission to buy Zanu-PF food aid. Tarwa who lived in Mutasa Central constituency in Manhicaland province had joined a crowd of people at the Moyoweshumba primary school where Zanu-PF-sponsored food aid were being distributed. The village headman identified Tarwa as a MDC supporter and in order to force her to denounce the MDC, stripped Tarwa naked in front of the crowd. Wellington Zindove a co-ordinator for the Zimbabwe Youth Forum said the woman was “humiliated and devastatedâ€. Her tormentors then refused to sell her the Bacossi goods [Food aid supplied by ZANU-PF under the Basic Commodities Supply Side Intervention (Bacossi)].
Tarwa fled to her home and was later found, hanging from a tree.
Zanu chiefs kick white farmers off land (The Zimbabwean)
The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) said that dozens of white farmers in Manhicaland are being forced off their farms. Zanu-PF government officials are now evicting farmers throughout the province and telling the farmers to pack and leave their homes, said the CFU in a statement. The farmers were informed that they will receive no assistance from the police should the new ‘owners’ arrive and throw out the belongings of the farmers. The CFU said that farmers are challenging the Section 8 notices in court and have applied for a stay of execution so that they may harvest their winter crops. It would seem however that those involved with the evictions are ignoring the court applications.
Fake war veterans exposed in court (The Zimbabwe Times)
A court case in Masvingo has confirmed that there are so-called veterans who had no record of service in the war to liberate Zimbabwe and resulted in independence in 1980. The court had sentenced three men, on Thursday, to an effective 10-years in jail each after they were convicted on stock-theft. The accused are all registered with the ZNLWVA. The men, who were supposedly war veterans, were in fact unemployed and were exploiting the status of war veterans for personal benefit.
BAE System’s affair with President Robert Mugabe’s ally (Africa Confidential)
Africa Confidential (vol. 49 issue no.16) reveals the BAE Systems has paid more than ₤25 million to a company whose majority shareholder is a business ally of the Mugabe regime. Furthermore, the secret payments are linked with the controversial arms deal issue in South Africa. It is predicted that investigations will have serious political repercussions in Britain and in South Africa.
To read the full article, please follow the link above.
August 1st, 2008 11:42
Hi Guys,
Is this news?? : When I try visit the Herald website (I like to read the garbage they print once in a while) you find that google has blocked it as a malicious site.
Furthermore if you type it in the web address bar : you get the message
“This web site at http://www.herald.co.zw has been reported as an attack site and has been blocked based on your security preferences.”
” Of the 788 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 189 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 07/30/2008, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 07/29/2008.
Malicious software includes 267 scripting exploit(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 1 new processes on the target machine.
Malicious software is hosted on 64 domain(s), including usaadp.com, drvadw.com, verynx.cn.
3 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including usaadp.com, drvadw.com, kr92.ru.”
proceed with caution -could this be hackers??
August 1st, 2008 16:53
Do you think there could be any link between the farms in Manicaland which have been seized by Zanu – as reported in The Zimbabwean on 31 July – and the report ‘Chinese take over Manicaland mining’ reported in The Zimbabwe Times on 29 July? Do the farmers have any right to recourse in this current situation?
My concern is that there may be further such ‘business deals’ signed and farms/land seized while the ‘negotiations’ take place, deals which may be very difficult to reverse once implemented. Is there no international justice system in place to protect a country’s citizens from having their assets taken away by its government to be sold – or given in lieu of money – to another country, in peace time?
Surely these actions can be challenged?
August 1st, 2008 17:03
It is most likely that the site is full of malware because their security is sloppy. Any badly maintained site is liable to get attacked by bots which attempt to install malware on any computer that is attached to the net. Systems using Microsoft operating systems are most at risk. ____________ The infected sites in turn attempt to infect other sites and individual computers, mainly those running Windows.
August 1st, 2008 18:35
Watch the channel 4 interview with Tsvangirai here:
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/zimbabwe+central+bank+set+to+devalue+dollar+further+/2367882
August 1st, 2008 22:46
It is no use Thabo Mbeki trying to conjure up a carbon copy of the negotiated settlement of the disputed elections in Kenya. The two situations are completely different. In Kenya, the army is genuinely independent of all political parties. In Zimbabwe, it is utterly partisan, contolled by Mugabe’s henchmen, who have actually orchestrated the violence for twenty years, only to increase it at election times in order to maintain their hold on power and continue to reap the fruits of their despicable corruption. In Kenya, the law coursts at least have a semblance if independence. In Zimbabwe, they are nothing else than the creatures of the ruling party.
So how can Morgan Tsvangirai possibly overcome these obstacles and find a negotiated settlement that will give Mugabe ‘an honourable exit’? There are times when, even against the odds, the downtrodden, the suppressed, the weak, have a trump card to play. Even the Bible tells of how a mere shepherd boy called David slew the giant Goliath with his sling. Morgan also has a trump card, and a very valuable one. It is that without international support and a generous aid programme Zimbabwe will never recover, and therefore no deal will succeed.
If the outcome of talks still leaves Mugabe in office, it will mean continuing misery and isolation. Mugabe will simply have to choose: leave and the country recovers; stay put as you are and the country continues further into isolation and the whole of southern Africa is destabilised. He is the one who will now have to decide. He chose the path of a politician, he will now have to make the politician’s ultimate decision. He is lucky that he is still in a position to be able to make that choice. Many before him have not been so lucky.