Links ~ 22 May 2008

Tsvangirai visits xenophobia hot spot (M&G)

Morgan Tsvangirai leader of the MDC will return home on Saturday (May 24).

Tsvangirai and Tendai Mbiti the MDC general secretary were greeted with loud applause when they visited Zimbabweans in the Alexandra. The xenophobic attacks in South Africa have thus far claimed 42 lives and displaced 16 000 people. Tsvangirai thanked the South African government, the ANC and the Nelson Mandela Foundation for their support to all of the people affected by the crisis.

He told the Zimbabweans that he will be returning to Zimbabwe and said: “I’m hoping all of you can join me to solve the political crisis we have [in Zimbabwe]. He said that it would be preferable to find a solution for the problems in Zimbabwe, so that there would be jobs and food in the country and people would not have to leave the country and find that they are unwelcome in other countries. ‘Let’s go back home, let’s solve the Zimbabwean problem, and hopefully in the long term we can live happily ever after and shake hands as Africans.”

ZANU PF militia abduct children (ReliefWeb)
Zanu-PF militia is kidnapping children and women. The purpose of the abductions is to force husbands and fathers to return to their villages, where they face beatings and torture by the militia for being MDC supporters. Several of the women who have been abducted have been subjected to sexual harassment, torture and assault. According to the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), many hundreds of men have fled the rural areas to seek safety in the cities.

Pregnant woman bludgeoned to death for supporting MDC (SWRA)
Rosemary Maramba, who was six months pregnant, was bludgeoned to death in a ‘horrific, brutal and frenzied attack’, which left her almost unrecognisable. Her body was found in Nhakiwa village in Mutawatawa, Mashonaland Central. Maramba and two other people, Action Nyadedzi and Chitsungo a village head, were linked to the MDC. Zanu-PF is now targeting influential MDC activists in the rural areas, in the past week those who have been killed were chairmen, polling agents and village heads.

MDC candidate abducted at gunpoint in Murehwa (SWRA)
4 men driving a blue twin cab, registration number AAA 9248, have abducted Shepard Jani MDC candidate for ward 6 in Murehwa district. It is believed that this vehicle was also used during the abduction of Langton Mafuse, MDC candidate for ward 10 Murewha North.

Shepard Jani was abducted on Thursday morning. MDC supporters with him tried to grab him as he was dragged to the vehicle but the assailants threatened to shoot them if they did not back off. Jani was crying out in pain as he was beaten and forced into the vehicle. The car was last seen heading in the direction of Macheke.

Zanu-PF behind violence in Zimbabwe: Boesak (SABC)
The SA Council of Churches (SACC) has documented proof that the violence in Zimbabwe is driven by Zanu-PF. Church leader Alan Boesak speaking on behalf of the SACC, said that the documents will be made available to President Thabo Mbeki who had previously requested evidence of abuse and violence in Zimbabwe. The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, the Treatment Action Campaign, and the SACC has gathered documented information regarding human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. Based on the evidence provided, the organisations have asked the SADC to immediately deploy a peacekeeping force in Zimbabwe.

Sokwanele comment: we have been advised that in the live interview broadcasted on SABC it was said that the documents will also be given to the members of the SADC and other organisations. Alan Boesak said in the interview that they have investigated allegations that MDC has instigated violence, but evidence showed that the few incidents of violence on the part of MDC was of a defensive nature.

Back Robert Mugabe or face war, army tells white farmers (The Telegraph)
The remaining white farmers in Zimbabwe are being threatened with eviction if a single vote is cast for Morgan Tsvangirai leader of the MDC, in polling stations on their land. Five landowners were called in for a meeting by a lieutenant colonel in the army. The meeting was conducted in the presence of three senior officials from Zanu-PF. The colonel told the farmers “I do not accept failure, and Mugabe has to win. If he doesn’t win, we will go back to war. Tsvangirai and the MDC will never rule Zimbabwe. If there is one MDC vote on your farm, there will be war.”

Mugabe Rewards Militia (The Zimbabwe Gazette)
The Zimbabwe Gazette has revealed that Zimbabwe’s Mugabe is paying the notorious youth brigade to unleash terror across the country.

A source within Zanu-PF has disclosed that militia is being paid to either kill, torture and / or spy on MDC leaders and supporters. Youths from disadvantaged backgrounds are targeted for enrolment into the militia. Financial rewards for murder, torture and spying are as follows: Z$10 billion – Murder Z$5 billion – Causing grievous bodily harm and destruction of property. Z$ 2 billion – Spying on MDC leaders and supporters and reporting them to war veterans.

Terror centres have been set up across the country and are run by police officers, soldiers, and war veterans. Some of the militia have received training at Harare’s military base-KG6. The youths were taught knife drills, martial arts, and how to torture and kill. There was an extensive campaign to recruit youths and many joined, as many would not enlist.

Obituaries for Tonderai Ndira here on SWRA and here on zimbabwejournlists.com

Zimbabwe teachers face punishment (BBC)
The report describes the violent campaign against teachers in Zimbabwe, who are being assaulted because many of them acted as polling officers in the March 29 elections. When Zanu-PF lost the election, violence was also unleashed on teachers. Statistics obtained from the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) show that with regard to teachers there have been: 5 000 cases of assault, 600 cases of hospitalisation, 231 cases of destruction of property.

More Trouble for Anglicans (NYTimes)
A Supreme Court order was obtained and it states that Anglican churches in Harare must to be accessible to all of the Anglican faith, is being ignored by the police. Despite the order, parishioners and church officials are consistently prevented access to churches or singled out for harassment and assault. It is believed that the renegade Anglican bishop Nolbert Kunonga, staunch supporter of Robert Mugabe, has been instrumental in the continued crackdown by police on those of the Anglican faith. Kunonga was excommunicated from the church last week as he had started his own church and failed to follow church cannons.

Police not behind intimidation — Mugabe (Business Day)
Mugabe (Zanu-PF) has said to the Zimbabwe police that they must ignore accusations that they (the police) are behind political intimidation. He said that the MDC, which was established as an instrument of Britain, was on an “evil crusade” to divide Zimbabwe and its people along political lines and that the MDC was behind the political violence.

Zimbabwe Opposition Rejects Mugabe’s Accusation (VOA News)
The MDC has rejected Mugabe’s allegations that they are behind the ongoing violence and that they were in league with Britain to affect a regime change. Eliphas Mukonoweshuro -secretary for international affairs of the MDC – says that it is tragic that the allegations from the leader of Zanu-PF are the only response from a man who is the leader of Zanu-PF. The widespread violence in the country is evident to all. The MDC has simply called for impartial policing, which means that should anyone, regardless of political affiliation, transgress the law that person should be brought to book. Mukonoweshuro said that it did not seem too much to ask from the responsible authority of a state. “But everyday, we are burying people, and the last thing we need is inflammatory statements from the caretaker president of the country,” Mukonoweshuro said.

Zimbabwe: Rights group asks AU to dispatch monitors (afrika.no)
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has asked the African Union (AU) to immediately dispatch human rights monitors to Zimbabwe. They also asked that the AU should publicly demand that the Zimbabwean government stops its campaign of violence, torture, and intimidation. HRW said that unless the current situation is brought under control, it could be expected that many more people will be brutalised and will die. The immediate deployment of human rights observers and monitors will help to deter further human rights abuses and save lives.

The AU should authorise such monitors to investigate the gross human rights violations committed by members of the Zimbabwean army and the Zanu-PF militia against supporters of the MDC. HRW said that Zanu-PF officials, the military, and local chiefs and headmen, were inciting and organising the violence in the country by holding daily “re-education” meetings which involved beatings and torture to deter people from voting for the MDC.

The Zimbabwean Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga rejected the charges and said that HRW had no business asking the AU to send observers and monitors. He said that it is the prerogative of the Zimbabwean government to invite them (monitors and observers) should the government want to.

Zanu PF forcing the media back on message (zimbabwejournalists.com)
The powerful central committee of Zanu-PF has moved into top gear to reverse the electoral defeat Mugabe has suffered on March 29. While state-sponsored militia wreak havoc in the country, control is also tightened on the state media.

· Control over state-run media
· Re-vamped committee on information and publicity
· Special sub-committees for food and public transport
· Financial controls to generate income for the election campaign
· Printing of money for (amongst others) the wages of militias

Violence deliberately unleashed: NIA (The Times, SA)
The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) of South Africa said that the current xenophobic violence in the country has been deliberately unleashed and orchestrated ahead of next year’s general election.

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This entry was written by Link Round-up on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 10:52 am. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.