(This contribution sent to us by email)

Every day I ask myself ,what am I - a child of Africa and a Zimbabwean of many generations - doing here in England ? Every day I am reminded that I don’t really belong in this alien culture. What am I doing here, away from the sun-drenched plains of Africa in this dank, dark and cold climate ? What am I doing among the cold and indifferent and (though they don’t know it) amazingly prosperous Brits - who understand nothing whatever of ubuntu ? And every day, since I am not one of those to cut myself off from my roots, I feel the pain of the separation from my true home and from family and friends left behind in poor, blighted Zimbabwe. A beautiful land blighted by an utterly selfish and totally corrupt dictator who is as much a curse to his country as ever Idi Amin, Augusto Pinochet or Slobodan Milosevic were to theirs.

I am existing - I would not call it living - here in exile in a crowded tenement in over-crowded Birmingham. I did not ask to leave my homeland, nor come to these foreign shores in search of “greener pastures”. No, I left because effectively I had no alternative. As a professional civil servant I should have had no difficulty earning enough to support my wife and four children in Harare. For years we lived comfortably enough in a modest home in leafy Mount Pleasant, close to the university. The children were doing well in their schools. We all enjoyed the life. Zimbabwe was our home and we never doubted it would ever remain so. In our own way I think it can be said we were making a contribution to our community. But then in 2000 came the moment of truth when Mugabe and his party were jolted with the reality of an electorate that wanted change. They would not have it at any cost - they had too much to lose - and so the pretence of freedom, democracy and the rule of law was brushed aside and in its place we all saw the dictator in his true colours. The ugliness of brutal power unleashed on an unsuspecting (and altogether too naïve) people. A moral slide which has ended in an avalanche.

Forget the veneer of professionalism within the civil service. Now it was clear that nothing but a servile submission to ZANU PF and its survival strategy would do for every state (read party) employee above the most lowly grades. And moreover “good” employees were expected to demonstrate their “patriotism”, which meant an uncritical adherence to the puerile party propaganda and a willingness to endorse whatever hair-brained scheme was put forward to garner populist support - never mind the disastrous consequences. In fact to really get on in such a thought-controlled environment one needed to add a touch of racist xenophobia or the occasional anti-colonialist flourish. We all knew what was required of us as servants of the state (read party) and it certainly wasn’t objective, professional advice. Some colleagues - sadly most - showed a readiness to trim to the prevailing political wind. In fact a few so excelled in adapting that they were rewarded with instant promotion to dizzying heights. Those like myself who had always calculated that possession of a ZANU PF card would be the only sacrifice of conscience required, soon found otherwise. In order to hold onto a position of any standing one’s whole integrity had to become a negotiable asset.

For three years I struggled on under the ZANU PF monolith, bartering my soul away bit by bit in order to retain the confidence of my superiors. In truth it became more and more difficult to look at that questioning face in the mirror each morning. Yet with shame I have to confess it was not the moral compromises which finally forced me to a decision to leave. Nor was it the continual ZESA blackouts, the contaminated water, the fuel queues or bread, mealie meal and other recurring shortages. It was the crashing economy which pressed us harder and harder until finally we could no longer afford the school fees as well as the rocketing costs of feeding and clothing the family.

My wife had gone back to nursing many months before so as to boost the family’s dwindling real income. But her sacrifice was largely in vain because the additional income was soon overtaken by surging inflation. It was when one day she suggested to me that either she or I should take up a “temporary” job outside the country in order to make ends meet that I realized this was one sacrifice too many. Countless friends and colleagues had resorted to this desperate measure and in each case we had witnessed the tragic consequences. Though promising themselves it was just a temporary separation, sooner or later it became apparent to all that it was no such thing. We saw marriages buckle and break under the strain. We saw children, school fees paid, but starved of the love and affection they most needed. We saw families slowly disintegrating … and when we sat down and weighed the options carefully I’m pleased to say we all agreed we valued our life together too highly to take this risk.

And so the heart-breaking decision to leave the country. The house was sold to pay for the airfares - truly burning our boats behind us, though none of us would then admit it. Friends and family who had gone ahead provided a bridge-head into a new and unfamiliar world. They warned us the transition would not be easy even with their ready assistance - and what an understatement that proved to be. Don’t ask exactly how we acquired the necessary travel documents to move to our adopted land and start a new life there. Or how we found lodgings that we can afford. Or how I got a job - of sorts - as a humble railway clerk. Because at least now we have a roof over our heads and food on the table. At least now we don’t have recurring nightmares about the children being thrown out of school for unpaid school fees. (We can even afford to pay the school fees for a few nephews and nieces back in Zimbabwe - avoiding Gono’s slice on the exchange too) And I am pleased to say it is a little easier to look at the face in the mirror these days too.

Yes, we’re surviving. We’ve made the break so many Zimbabweans dream of as they struggle on in the wretched conditions Mugabe has created for all (save his own select group of cronies). But you’d be wrong to envy us. Like thousands of other Zimbabwean exiles we have an existence here but we are hardly enjoying the experience.

The truth is we are dreading our first Christmas in exile - away from our real home.

From,
An angry exile

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Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, England, Africa, Mugabe, ZANU PF, Christmas, exile

The total social and economic breakdown in Zimbabwe impacts every aspect of our lives here – it is even translating into carnage on the roads. There are virtually no police patrolling the roads for speeding vehicles, and it is common practice to bribe your way out of the situation if you are caught.

Along the roads to and from the main border posts, the majority of cars are towing overloaded trailers, which unbalance the car and make it more difficult to handle, but they still speed dangerously along. The roads are not being maintained properly, meaning that you have to swerve dangerously to avoid potholes.

I was traveling back from the border last week and saw evidence of countless crashes alongside the roads. This is another instance of Bob’s regime being responsible for death and destruction.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, road safety, accidents

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This question came in by email and I guess refers to this article here:

Did you know that Mugabe just recently donated computers to a rural school which doesn’t even have electricity?

As our emailer pointed out, it is indeed bizarre to construct a ceremony around handing over computers in a country where there are regular black-outs. Even more bizarre to hand out computers to schools in rural areas where electricity is hit and miss and dial-up connections (what a dream) are unheard of.

This is not to say that I don’t want a country where this is possible, just that I think it it is wilfully blind and staggeringly insensitive to make empty gestures like this when people are going hungry.

It reminded me of Mugabe’s last hilarious foray into donating computers to schools. This happened last year, just before the last stolen elections. Let me remined you by quoting our post titled ‘Not very PC‘ then in its entirity:

Selina has just come back from her rural home and tells me that the computers given to her child’s school by our president, were then taken back for delivery to another school. So much for election gimmicks!

Does he really expect me to think… ‘what a good guy….?’. Surely not!

Technorati Tags: Mugabe, computers, schools, rural, Zimbabwe, Africa

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The BBC are posing these questions in their ‘Have your say’ section, and inviting responses from the public. Lots of comments from people all over the world, but here’s a taster of some of the responses from Africans - read it all here:

You should know that Mugabe won’t leave that post as long as he is alive. You talk of 2010, he will still stand as the ZANU candidate. He is merciles and brutal hence no one has the guts to challenge him. Only revolt from the people, International fraternity and the soulders can remove him. I am saying this because I am one of the suffering people bach home. Even if the elections come they will still rig. lets start now to remove him.

Grand Mutondo, Harare

WHY HIM AGAIN (MUGABE) HE MAKE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE HOMELES AND POOR, WE DONT NEED HIM AT ALL. WE DONT NEED PEOPLE OF HIS POLICY IN THIS CONTINET PLEASE (EU) HELP US TO REMOVE THIS DIRTY AND STUPID MUGABE

TIMOTY, HARARE

I am Zimbabwean, but i totally support Mugabe. I do not care what happens in Zimbabwe anymore, i am sick and tired of fighting lone battles against Zanu PF. I have scars and lost a friend because of trying to fight against Mugabe. Zimbabweans dont care, people where even saying to me i am stupid when i use to demostrate against Mugabe. Until we all unite and stop complaining and writing these comments and do something, “longleave Mugabe”.How can 13mill people loose to 1man, such cowards we are!

takunda, london

Dear bbc

No media or anyone will ever describe the situation at hand here besides the people on the ground i mean the people who are earning approximately 10P a month in an enviroment where real inflation as we feel it is hovering around 2000+. The truth is being edited by a group of people who are amasing wealth through people’s sweat and tears. The enermy has ceased to be Mugabe himself but a new class of the ” get rich quickly” who are enjoying every moment.It is very very worse here.

Innocent, Harare

For change to occur in Zimbabwe, there should be a greater sacrifice of self for the good of the country. I am calling for those courageous man and women to conduct ME SO WE CAN ORGANIZE. FORGET TSVANGIRAI, FORGET MUTAMBARA, they ARE FOR SELF PRESERVATION. ARE YOU WILLING TO SACRIFICE ANYTHING OR YOU ARE JUST A COMPLAINER LIKE EVERYBODY? SHOW IT. Time for opinions, discussions or anything to do with TALKING is over. IT IS NOW CLEAR ZANU WILL NOT LEAVE UNLESS FORCED. ARE YOU READY FOR ANYTHING?

Paul Kudina, Harare

Mugabe is punishing his own people for disliking him and for voting him out of power during the recent elections. The destruction of Zimbabwe by Mugabe and his cronies is delibarate and well calculated. Its not about land reform or ‘foreign influence’. This is the work of the devil. What I do not understand is why he has not been arrested for crimes against human nature. This man is worse than Adolf Hitler. God help us all!

kudakwashe chitangawo, Reading

The decision by Comrade Robert Mugabe to extend his presidency is a pure sign of paranoia. I feel Mugabe is paranoid of what will become of him if he calls it quit. My plea is to Zimabweans is: please desist from this man’s egocentric motives. Hw will take you no where but to lunacy. Africa needs fresh minds!

Alex R. Nkosi, Katoto, Mzuzu - Malawi

Oh God in Heraven when will you take Sir Robert Mugabe to rest and redeem Zimbabwe and its citizenary from his york?

When will you come to our aid and help the ailing economy and the massive human rights abuses? We are tired OH GOD LET HIM REST!

MASEME MACHUKA, KISII KENYA

I am not a Zimbabwean but as an African in Diaspora, I feel ashamed that a person like Mr. Mugabe is still at the helms of affairs in Zimbabwe. I keep wondering why ‘the men of Zimbabwe cannot wear pants like men’. Is there not a man brave enough to force Mr. Mugabe out of power after all these years of self-inflicted suffering on his people?. Mr. Mugabe should not be allowed to stay one day longer in power so that the people of Zimbabwe can enjoy the dividends of democracy like other countries.

onukulunjo gekwumma, washington, d.c, United States

I would just like to state that Zimbabweans HAVE tried to get rid of Mugabe. Four times we have gone to the polls despite intimidation, torture, rape and murder and have voted to rid ourselves of this man. Each time, despite massive and obvious fraud the elections have been declared free and fair by monitors from the African Union.

The african union recently declared that Zimbabwe has perpetrated NO human rights abuses in the last 6 years. How can we be rid of him without support????

Mark

Fellow Africans
Perfect despotic leaders of africa like Mr Robert Mugabe should not be given a minute to be kept in power but to resign.

its very asurd fot the people of Zimbabwe that Mugabe wants extra (bonus)time to economically handcap our people.
Zimbabwe stand firm and resist this move.

MUGABE, THE SUFFERING YOU HAVE CAUSED IN AFRICA IS ENOUGH.PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE NEED A DEMOCRATIC LEADER.

mugabe resign resign for the sake of peace in all.

Musana Eric, KIBAALE

“Birds of the same feathers flock together” Zanu-pf party is filled up with bounch of Mugabes. You and i know nothing good is ever going to come out of that confrence so why do i think they should do something when we already know they are going there to serve their own intrest. This is what i think and expect all zimbabweans to do. They should match up the bigest protest ever recorded in history starting from this date indinitely, demanding for president Robert Mugabe to step down.

garland orhue ogiegor, edo nigeria

Mugabe has nothing to do than to continue holding onto power. he is scared of his future taking arap-moi, chiluba, charles taylor into consideration.
he has caused so much havoc that stepping down from the presidency cannot help him because he cannot live in the mess he has created. he is saying ‘all animals are equal but some are more equal than others’.
look at tghe economy now, the rate of inflation, agriculture,press freedom etc.remember this-ZANU-PF IS MUGABE AND MUGABE IS ZANU-PF.

richmond, accra,ghana

their reasons for such constutional change its a clear sign of a failed leader who is trying to chase the wind. the main issue affecting Zimbabwe its leadership, Mugabe has totally failed his people becos he lacks how to lead and knows how to rule with emotions. a am very sad for african leaders for not calling him to oder not even a single african leader has codemn him publicly. Mr kofi Annan and the AU must call him to order. he must stop that relic rule its no more relevant to democracy

OBED TACKIE, ACCRA

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Technorati Tags: BBC, Mugabe, Zimbabwe, Zanu PF

We emailed ACTSA earlier today to ask how international supporters could make donations to the Dignity. Period! Campaign. Clicking on the image will take you to our post with a set of links, as well as guidance on how to add the button to your site; however, some people outside the UK have felt that the donation feature was restricted to people in the UK. This as the response we received:

We have just launched a new website, and should soon have a brand new online giving system, which will accept a wide range of cards.

That said, the old system (even though it still says it can only accept UK donations) should take international ones too, as long as they are with Visa or Mastercards.

Will let you know as soon as we have the new system in place will let you know

So please keep trying to donate via the old system.

ACTSA have also left two comments on our main campaign post which are worth drawing out here since they address some of the many questions raised in the comments section there. This is the first comment:

Dear All

I am writing from Action for Southern Africa, who run the Dignity. Period Campaign in solidarity with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

Two quick things, you can of course send products directly, but in our experience they rarely get through, and when we did try and geta consignment of donated pads into Zimbabwe from South Africa, the duty charged was huge.

We now buy directly from a local manufacturer in Harare, and get a great price, and they deliver them directly to women via the trade unions. In this way we also suport local employment and the Zim economy and not large multinational manufactuers.

Finally, on the pads that were siezed, this was an islolated incident, and while it may happen from time to time, we know that 99.9% of the 2.5million pads purchased so far have reached the women in need.

In solidarity
ACTSA

And this follow-up comment addressing the recurring question over Mooncups and Diva Cups:

One more thing - re mooncups/reuseable products

We have had dicussions re this with the women of ZCTU, and while they agree that in the future this would be good, the current situation means that they would rather have pads than resuseable products.

As with all solidarity campaigns, we take our lead from our partners on the ground - in this isnstance the ZCTU, so they want disposable pads, they get disposable pads!

We have had discussions with the manufacturers of mooncup, and they fully understand and are fully supportive of this campaign.

Finally, all of us at ACTSA and the ZCTU are so encouraged by the support from all of you, this campaign has really helped put the issue of Zimbabwe, and also the struggle for the meaningful advancement of women the world over, firmly on the agenda of so many people

la Luta Continua
In solidarity
ACTSA

We at Sokwanele would like to add our thanks to you all too. We’ve been so amazed by the number of people who have added the button to their blogs and websites. We’ve also been impressed at the diversity of debate stirred up in comments and gratified to realise that regardless of different opinions, everyone is in total agreement that Zimbabwean women deserve better, and that everyone is committed to trying to do their bit to help. So thank you very much.

Technorati Tags: ACTSA, Dignity. Period!, Action for Southern Africa, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, ZCTU, Zimbabwe, women, gender, equality, human rights

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[This article is being mailed to our subscribers today. Click here to subscribe to the Sokwanele mailing list. ]

Day by day, we count the cost of this kleptocracy that rules our nation: we count it in terms of the bodies of those who die silently week by week of Aids, malnutrition and poverty; in terms of the disruption of family life, and the misery of the millions of economic refugees; in terms of the desecration of the environment; and, as here, in terms of the cost to the economy brought about by the plunder of national assets. What will be left once this evil is at an end, and the culprits are finally brought to book?

With no real democratic institutions in existence, and no law enforcement, there is no culture of accountability, which leaves the ruling elite free to loot and plunder as they please. When their heinous crimes do come to light, instead of heads rolling, and the government falling into disgrace - as would happen in a working democracy - the rulers treat those over whom they rule with utter contempt, of which the refusal to answer to parliament is a symptom. Without accountability, those in power simply decide amongst themselves what path to take in the latest and largest incidence of national fraud - some are even using it to further their own political agendas!

Zimbabwean parastatals are a by-word for mismanagement, incompetence, inefficiency and corruption. Eyes roll and heads wag at the mention of Air Zimbabwe, the Grain Marketing Board, Zesa, PTC, Zupco, and others. These are state-owned companies, meaning that the government, which is elected (we use this word loosely, given the theft of post-Independence elections in Zimbabwe) by the people, is accountable to the people of Zimbabwe for the management of these companies.

Zisco, the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company, is one of the largest state-owned enterprises in Zimbabwe. It also boasts the largest steel works in the region outside South Africa. Its principal activities are the production and marketing of iron and steel. At full capacity, the company produced 2 million tons of steel a year, but current production is less than 300 000 tons (or 15%). The drop in production stands in sharp contrast to the firming of the world’s steel price. In July, the Reserve Bank saved Zisco from closure by providing an emergency Z$2 trillion (old currency) lifeline, and the firm is saddled with significant foreign debts.

Zisco is now at the centre of a scandal that is rocking government circles, the biggest case of high-level fraud and corruption to come to light since Independence in 1980. As one Zisco official put it, the raiding of the Midlands-based parastatal will make all previous government graft cases “look like a Sunday afternoon picnic when it eventually explodes”.

If this is happening at Zisco, what is happening in other parastatals? Are they any different? Perhaps it is only the scale of the looting that is different. The Zanu PF principle is always the same: take what you can while you can, regardless of law and equity.

The Zisco saga: the facts

Through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Zisco had negotiated a profitable USD 400 million management contract with an Indian firm, Global Steel Holdings Limited (GSHL). GSHL was supposed to have injected foreign currency for the rehabilitation of Zisco plant components, particularly the blast furnaces, coke oven batteries, furnace and rolling mills; after 20 years, management control would have reverted to government.

This deal is now off, following a report by NECI (the National Economic Conduct Inspectorate), which implicates high-ranking government officials in the systematic looting of Zisco - on a scale that is difficult for most even to imagine.

A parliamentary committee was set up to investigate the existence and findings of the NECI report. In September, Industry and International Trade Minister Obert Mpofu, told the committee of the existence of the NECI report, saying that it implicated Members of Parliament and members of Mugabe’s Cabinet in the corruption at the parastatal. A week later, he back-tracked on his words, apparently after uproar from his Zanu PF colleagues and the government, who were afraid of exposure. Mpofu then failed to appear before the parliamentary committee, and government has refused to hand over the NECI report to them. It seems that Mugabe told cabinet ministers that the report should not be made public, and ordered Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa to advise the committee to halt further investigations into Zisco operations.

The parliamentary committee has now compiled its report, and has given government an ultimatum to put the NECI report on the record and publish it, or they will leak to the press the version they have obtained. Parliament has now started impeachment proceedings against Obert Mpofu on charges that, lying under oath, he gave false evidence to the committee. This will be the first time that a government minister has been impeached by Parliament in post-Independence Zimbabwe. He faces a fine, or up to 2 years in jail, or both.

The committee also investigated the contract with GSHL, finding that “the implementation of the contract was unplanned, improper, and highly questionable”. It found that the contract was awarded to GSHL out of 9 competing companies, without due diligence, and that the Zisco board was unaware of the deal. It seems that the board’s authority was usurped by Mpofu’s ministry - the Ministry for Industry and International Trade - which signed the GSHL contract. The committee also found that GSHL has a history of being on the receiving end of multi-billion US dollar lawsuits concerning agreements in Nigeria and the USA, where the company had entered into contracts which it had failed to honour.

Gross abuse of public assets at Zisco has been revealed, being perpetrated in the following ways:

• Claiming large allowances from the company after travelling on business that had nothing to do with Zisco
• Dubious contracts, where the bids were rigged
• Over-pricing purchases, where the excess money would be split between the arranging parties (at the Botswana subsidiaries, only one person handles purchases - contrary to the fundamental principle of segregation of duties)
• Claiming money for management fees and directors’ meetings without justification or following procedure
• Taking cash for private use
• Abuse of credit cards
• Hotel bookings and entertainment allowances (thousands of US dollars were spent entertaining government officials and their cronies at the Grand Palm Hotel Casino & Convention Resort - a five star hotel in Gaborone - where they squandered public funds on expensive drinks and food during weekends)

The employees of Zisco and its two Botswana subsidiaries, Ramotswa and Tswana Steel, have said they are ready to reveal the names of those implicated in the looting. The Zimbabwe Independent has performed extensive investigation into the matter, and revealed the names of the following individuals who seem to have benefited in some way from dubious dealings:

• Gabriel Masanga, the former Zisco group MD, had private expenditure paid through the company, plus questionable vehicle expenses incurred in Botswana
• David Murangari received forex to pay for personal expenses
• Samuel Mumbengegwi (Indigenisation and Empowerment minister & formerly Industry and International Trade minister in charge of Zisco) - paid an allowance of USD 3000 while attending a SADC meeting in Gaborone for himself and two others; also paid accommodation for unexplained visits to Botswana
• Joice Mujuru, who in 2003 was paid USD11 000 as allowances by the Botswanan subsidiaries, and received 30 000 litres of fuel (liquid gold!) from Zisco on her election as vice-president in 2004
• Olivia Muchena (Science and Technology minister) - air tickets and allowances for missions unconnected with Zisco
• Sithembiso Nyoni (Small-to-Medium Enterprises Development minister) - air tickets and allowances for missions unconnected with Zisco
• Stan Mudenge (Higher Education minister), hosted by Zisco subsidiaries in Botswana under unclear circumstances
• Late Gibson Munyoro (Zanu PF MP) - same as Mudenge
• George Mlilo (Transport permanent secretary), incurred dubious expenses for the company
• George Chikumbirike, received dubious forex payments
• Tirivanhu Mudariki (businessman and former Zanu MP) - air tickets, allowances and accommodation for missions unconnected with Zisco
• Numerous other individuals who were also on the receiving end of dubious payments, or transactions

George Chikumbirike, listed above, was the lawyer representing the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission in Tsvangirai’s legal challenge of the results of the stolen 2002 Presidential Election. Zisco’s Botswana subsidiaries paid him USD1 225 in July 2003 as an allowance through a telegraphic transfer into his ABC Botswana Bank Account (we trust that the Exchange Control authorities are investigating this); he also received USD1 000 for school fees in January 2004 from the Zisco Managing Director Masanga’s company facility.

Further shenanigans are apparent in the fact that the Ramotswa/Tswana Steel MD and business manager, James Chininga and Shelton Chivhere, respectively, are also trying to acquire those two companies themselves - both companies are owed money by Zisco and have made a lot of payments on behalf of their parent company. They claim that this is their own initiative but speculation is rife that senior politicians are working behind the scenes.

For further proof of mismanagement, Zisco has also just had to surrender its mining concessions to KFW, a German company, after failing to repay a USD 17.6 million loan advanced for the construction of its steel plant. This debt was in addition to numerous others, including those due to the Chinese, the NRZ, Zesa, and other local companies. And the latest news to hit the press is that a Chinese company has made a USD 3 billion takeover bid for Zisco, although that fact is being vociferously denied in some quarters.

The consequences

The questions of the release of the NECI report, and of the impeachment of Obert Mpofu, have given rise to further rifts within Zanu PF (and here we refer you to our earlier article “Is Zanu PF splitting up?”). The thieves are falling out among themselves over the share of the booty each is to receive, and those who are not actually complicit this time are making the most of their good fortune, and advancing their own agendas in the succession struggle by exposing guilty colleagues who are their rivals. And there are the others who see Zanu PF tearing itself apart, and are desperately trying to put a lid on the whole scandal.

Speaker John Nkomo is believed to be aligned to Vice President Joice Mujuru (she with presidential aspirations) - they want the committee scuttled, and the report swept under the carpet, Nkomo managing to hold in abeyance the motion to impeach Obert Mpofu for as long as he could.

But the other side is striking back! Justice Minister Chinamasa is on the side of rival presidential aspirant, Emmerson Mnangagwa. They are now retaliating against Joice Mujuru, who is suspected of involvement in the attempted prosecutions of Mutasa and Chinamasa. Chinamasa managed to adjourn parliament for some weeks, aiming to buy time to restore discipline within the ruling party. Mnangagwa and Chinamasa both want the report to be published and the wrong-doers to be exposed, and need time to swing things to their advantage.

On the subject of the impeachment, Obert Mpofu is to be taken to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee. The last person to appear before that committee was Roy Bennett - will Mpofu get the same treatment as he did, and will we see him clothed in Zimbabwe Prison uniform for 8 months, we wonder? One would expect parliamentarians to regard the deliberate misleading of the House as about the most serious offence imaginable.

Sadly, past experience has led us to believe that the regime’s commitment to fighting corruption will falter before the drastic step of a truthful public exposé of the facts, and the prosecution of offenders. If the result of any investigation is any less than this, it will be an irrefutable declaration by Mugabe and his regime that they are not committed to transparency, to justice, or to the fight against corruption.

Zanu PF has been involved in the rape, pillage and plunder of the assets of this country for 26 years; as we see from the list above, high level people have been involved in the plunder. They think they can get away with it because they’ve managed to do so for so long. We need to let them know that they can’t - and we praise those journalists who have been, and continue to be involved in this exposé.

But there will come a day of reckoning; there will come a day when what is done in the darkness will be brought to light!

It is time for all Zimbabweans who care, to say “SOKWANELE!” “ZVAKWANA!” - demanding full accountability, and insisting that the perpetrators of this massive fraud be brought to justice. It is the patriotic duty of any who can assist this process to make their contribution now, failing which, we are on the way to joining such totally failed states as the DRC, Darfur, Somalia, Sierra Leone et al.

[This article is being mailed to our subscribers today. Click here to subscribe to the Sokwanele mailing list. ]

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Technorati Tags: kleptocracy, Air Zimbabwe, Grain Marketing Board, Zesa, PTC, Zupco, Zimbabwe, Zisco, Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company, Zanu PF, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, RBZ, Global Steel Holdings Limited, GSHL, Obert Mpofu, Mugabe, Gabriel Masanga, David Murangari, Samuel Mumbengegwi , Joice Mujuru, Olivia Muchena, Sithembiso Nyoni, Stan Mudenge, Gibson Munyoro, George Mlilo, George Chikumbirike, Tirivanhu Mudariki , Roy Bennett

An Ethiopian court yesterday found exiled former Marxist ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam (and 70 other high ranking suspects) guilty in absentia of genocide, ending a marathon 12-year trial. Mengistu is a pretty horrible individual - this from the International Herald Tribune:

Mengistu, 69, ruled Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991, which included some of the darkest days of the country’s history, when government soldiers rounded up tens of thousands of students and intellectuals and brutally killed them in a campaign called the “Red Terror.” Human Rights Watch labeled it “one of the most systematic uses of mass murder by a state ever witnessed in Africa.”

Mengistu is thought to have killed many of the victims with his own hands, including Ethiopia’s last emperor, Haile Selassie, who was strangled in bed.

And this from the Washington Post:

In the 1977-78 “Red Terror” campaign, the most notorious of Mengistu’s purges, suspected opponents were executed by garrotting or shooting. Bodies were tossed into the streets.

[...]

According to the court ruling, Mengistu’s government directly killed more than 2,000 people, including 60 top officials, ministers and royal family members executed by firing squad. About 2,400 people were tortured, the court said.

Many, however, say this is the tip of an iceberg.

Witnesses told the court family members who went to morgues to collect bodies of loved ones were asked to pay for bullets that killed them. Gizaw Tefera said soldiers who killed his father cut his head off and offered it for auction at a market.

“No one wanted to buy my father’s head,” he said in 2000.

An Argentine forensic expert said some remains exhumed from mass graves showed victims were killed by garrotting.

“We found green nylon ropes knotted tight around their necks,” forensic expert Mercedes Doreth said in 2002.

Evidence at the trial included signed execution orders and videos of torture sessions.

Mengistu and his officials face sentencing on December 28. Ethiopia defines genocide as intent to wipe out political and not just ethnic groups.

Mengistu is also held partly responsible for the Ethiopian famine in 1984-85 that claimed one million lives:

For months before the scale of the famine became known, President Mengistu denied its existence and flew in planeloads of whisky to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the revolution. Via The Times

And where is this awful man? He’s living it up in Zimbabwe, a ‘guest’ of Robert Mugabe. The Zimbabwean government have said today that they will not extradite him, so Mengistu will not be held accountable for his crimes. Besides, he seems to be making himself useful to the government. In an article we wrote earlier this year we pointed out something few people are aware of:

When General Halle Miriam Menghistu, who had imposed a brutal form of dictatorship on Ethiopia and been directly responsible for starving many of his citizens to death, needed a place of asylum to escape justice in his own country Mugabe was quick to provide it. What is less well known is that he arranged for Menghistu to become a consultant to the CIO [Central Intelligance Organisation]. No doubt the former dictator found the income useful and the CIO could benefit from his wide experience in suppressing dissent.

Let’s all say it together now - 1, 2, 3 … ‘Birds of a feather flock together’, and ‘leopards don’t change their spots’.

UPDATE:

I almost can’t belive my eyes at the title of this just spotted IOL article: Zimbabwe hails Mengistu’s role in liberation.

And the words of praise:

“As a comrade of our struggle, Comrade Mengistu and his government played a key and commendable role during our struggle for independence and no one can dispute that,” William Nhara, a spokesperson for President Robert Mugabe’s government, said.

“The judgment is an Ethiopian judgment and will not affect his status in Zimbabwe. As far as we know there is no extradiction treaty between Harare and Addis Ababa.”

How shameful of the Zimbabwean government to miss the real point of the issue - by that I mean the tens of thousands killed. As if what Mengistu did during the liberation struggle wipes clean the slate of his crimes against humanity. Erm… no…!

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Technorati Tags: Mengistu Haile Mariam, genocide, Mengistu, Ethiopia, Red Terror, famine, Zimbabwe, Mugabe, dictator, CIO

Via SW Radio Africa:

Mobile phone campaign

From Friday 8th December we will begin sending news headlines via SMS to mobile phones.
If you have a friend or relative in Zimbabwe who would like to receive this service please email their mobile phone number to: talk@swradioafrica.com

This initiative follows recent reports that Mugabe’s security agents are now confiscating radios in an effort to clamp down even further on access to information and objective news reporting:

The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe said police and suspected agents of the Central Intelligence Organization, the country’s secret police, have been seizing radios donated to union members in the country’s Midlands province.

A senior union official said members in the area reported that known CIO agents and police had confiscated the solar-powered radios without justification.

The PTUZ has distributed radios to members in remote areas of the country to allow them to listen to independent news broadcasts from outside of Zimbabwe.

Nongovernmental organizations have also distributed small portable radios to small communities through local contacts who direct radios to those who need them (VOA News).

And this via SW Radio Africa:

Chamisa says their national office is inundated with complaints from people who have had their radios taken away and their information department is busy compiling a list of all the reported cases. Initially it had been thought radios donated to listening clubs were the prime target but by Tuesday the seizures had become indiscriminate with many people said to have lost their own private portable radio sets. Listening club members are being threatened and told they are selling out the country by listening to ‘foreign’ broadcasts. Several NGO’s donated solar powered, wind up radios for the listening clubs and Chamisa says although these are being targeted, the regime now believes it can reduce the number of shortwave radio listeners via a programme of indiscriminate national seizures.

Technorati Tags: SW Radio Africa, campaign, SMS, Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Central Intelligence Organization, CIO, radio, human rights, free speech, media

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[This article is being mailed to our subscribers today. Click here to subscribe to the Sokwanele mailing list. ]

December 10th is Human Rights Day, but in Zimbabwe human rights are grossly abused, and the poor, in particular, are ridden over roughshod by the Mugabe regime. 26 years after Independence, there is no respect for human rights in this country.

The American Declaration of Independence written at the end of the eighteenth century, states “….all men are created equal, and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights…. life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. These are the most fundamental human rights of all.

Today on Human Rights Day, we take just three basic human rights - perhaps the most important ones: food, health care, education - and look at how they fare as we mourn what has become of life in Zimbabwe.

Food

The average life expectancy in Zimbabwe has fallen to 34 years for women, and 37 years for men - the lowest in the world. This is due to the combined impact of poverty, Aids and malnutrition.

Zimbabwe used to be the bread-basket of Southern Africa, before Mugabe and his regime embarked on an ill-thought out land redistribution exercise. The majority of the previously highly productive farms were snatched from the mainly white owners and given to landless peasants without access to finance or the necessary skills and inputs; the other beneficiaries were Zanu PF bigwigs, who practice weekend farming using methods akin to slave labour. Since 2001, the country has relied on food imports and donor aid to supplement domestic output. Predictions for the last agricultural year 2005/6 were that farmers would harvest only 62% of the country’s annual cereal requirement.

Zimbabweans are dying. Bulawayo City is the only city council that regularly reports deaths due to malnutrition: in the five months up to May this year, they reported 155 deaths. Health officials there reported that most of those who had died of hunger-related illnesses were children below the age of five. Shockingly, in that same city, five deaths due to malnutrition were recently reported at Ingutsheni, the government mental hospital. Even government itself reports that stunting, a measure of chronic malnutrion, is reported to be 29,4 percent in 2005-06 compared to 26,5 percent in a 1999 survey, and the mortality rate for children under five has dwindled from 102 per 1 000 births in 1999 to 78 in 2004, and is no doubt far worse now, two years further on in 2006.

A report approved by senior government officials estimated that 1.4 million rural people (about 17% of that sector) are food insecure in the current season. This does not include a few million more hungry people in Zimbabwe’s towns and cities. The situation is desperate: workers arrive at work inadequately nourished and will often save the highly subsidized lunches received in factory canteens, taking them home in the evening to be shared amongst the entire family.

In summary, we leave the food issue with the following recent quote from former Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander Vitalis Zvinavashe (a Zanu bigwig if ever there was one!): “What independence is that when people are hungry 26 years on? …It is the system. We say we are now independent, independent with no food. Go back to historical structures. Open the archives and see how they used to do it, …They are saying we are going to have a good harvest, but there is no diesel. Should there be an agricultural Bible of Ten commandments on what must be done?”

Health Care

The Zimbabwean health system has collapsed: there is serious understaffing, lack of morale, lack of essential drugs including ARVs, critical equipment is old and not functioning, and HIV infection levels are running at 24% of the population.

Doctors and nurses battle with low wages and without critical equipment such as rubber gloves, saline drips, syringes and painkillers - not surprisingly, many of them emigrate for greener pastures, leaving a still greater load on those remaining. One province, Matabeleland South, recently reported that it had only one doctor, based at Gwanda Hospital, to service 4 million people; its full complement of doctors should be 12, with a further 9 specialists.

Even pharmacies battle to obtain critical drugs, supplying their clients in dribs and drabs as they are able to get their hands on 10 or 15 or 25 tablets at a time; a large percentage of drugs are imported and the pharmacists have to do battle with the Medicine Council’s import requirements, as well as with the Reserve Bank for the sourcing of the forex to pay for them. Medical aid subscriptions increase by 25% per month, notwithstanding the increasing shortfalls that are passed on to the patient, and probably only 10% or so of the population is fortunate enough to have access to private medical aid in any case.

The country has only two radiotherapy machines, at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare. They broke down five months ago, having gone well over their 10 year lifespan (one was bought in 1987 and the other one in 1992!), and are yet to be repaired. The Deputy Minister of Health and Child Welfare Dr Edwin Muguti said the country was not offering any radiotherapy services now, “Patients who need radiotherapy treatment now either go to South Africa or any other place where the facility is available,” he said.

It is the same story for all other critical medical equipment including dialysis machines.

Aids is the largest killer in Zimbabwe, although that is rarely the cause entered on the death certificate. In developed countries, patients diagnosed with HIV can expect to live 15 years or more without developing full-blown Aids, providing they have access to good nutrition and anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs. In Zimbabwe, about 600 000 HIV-positive people need treatment, but the regime’s ARV programme only caters for a tiny 42 000 of them. The rest have to source them from pharmacies (where the cost has increased by 65% in just 3 months) or the ultimate death sentence is passed, and they must go without.

Education

Zimbabwe’s workforce was once the envy of all other African countries: they were well educated and had a good command of English, Maths, Geography, Science and History on leaving school, often armed with other subjects as well. The University of Zimbabwe was well-respected, offering degrees which could hold their own against those of any other country on the continent, and abroad too.

As with other public services, though, the man-made economic crisis has bludgeoned the education sector into a shadow of its former self, with headmasters fighting to preserve standards with virtually no financial provision from the state. Teachers are poorly paid, and regularly resort to running “tuck shops” in break or lunchtimes, to augment their income by a few miserly bank notes.

Rural schools in particular are quite literally falling apart, with no provision for repair work to buildings or infrastructure: windows are smashed, desks and chairs are broken, often irreparably, and one text book is shared between an entire class.

With the increase in school fees this year, (and do please remember that as government schools, these are supposed to be free) many children have had to drop out of school. Where families have had to choose which child would be the unlucky one, the girl child often suffers first. Children, too, are arriving at school without adequate nutrition, resulting in falling concentration levels, or even falling asleep during class.

Even the private schools are not exempt, and have been subjected to sustained attack by the Minister for Education, Aeneas Chigwedere, doing everything within his evil power to force sub-economic fee levels that would lead to their closure. This has generated ire from his fellow ministers, most of whose children attend the best private schools in the country, but his aim appears to be to level all educational institutes to the lowest common denominator.

Finally on this subject, we mourn for the school leavers who have battled the odds to get good O and A level grades, for there are no jobs for them to go to. They are forced into economic exile or back to the streets or their rural homes to scratch a living there.

Our mourning turned to hope

So today, on Human Rights Day, we mourn. We mourn the current situation, the hopelessness, the deaths, the sores and scabs of Aids patients, the unemployment.

But we also have cause for hope, if not for rejoicing. For hope is kindled knowing that a change in just a few things would bring transformation.

Firstly, to have a government that is democratically elected by the people of the nation; secondly, the will to end corruption, and to prosecute offenders at all levels. Next, a redirection of government expenditure to critical areas, and away from the defence and intelligence forces; also in accord with this, a paring away of the bloated civil service and bringing in a culture of service, efficiency and value added. Finally, with these remedies successfully applied, a return of skilled professionals to the country, which would happen naturally if the fundamentals were put to rights.

How ironic that Zimbabwe currently holds a seat on the Council of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights. Mugabe is the chief criminal when looking at human rights abuses, and he has inculcated his value system into his cronies. They are afraid of losing power, because their crimes will become known and they will be held accountable.

We at Sokwanele want to hold them accountable, and this is part of our brief: to diligently record the gross abuses of power in this land, so that a contemporary record stands, ready for the time when they leave the corridors of power and are made to account for what they have done.

[This article is being mailed to our subscribers today. Click here to subscribe to the Sokwanele mailing list. ]

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Technorati Tags: December 10th, Human Rights Day, Zimbabwe, food, health care, education, Mugabe, Zanu PF, malnutrition, Aids, ARV, University of Zimbabwe, Council of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights

Does the Zanu PF government expect Zimbabweans to believe that sanitary ware for women is now an issue of national security - that tampons and pads are lethal weapons?

Or perhaps the government can’t bear to see civic society having the capacity to address the problems which are caused by the government’s incompetence.

Or is this simply a question of ugly intimidation, designed to de-humanise and deliberately humiliate Zimbabwean women further?!

Press Release from the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)

Dear colleagues,

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has just received news that state security agencies last week seized a consignment of sanitary pads meant for distribution to farmworkers in Zimbabwe’s farming areas of Concession and Mvurwi.

The pads were allegedly seized by police and later the dreaded Central Intelligence Organization was drawn into the matter. The ZCTU had given the General Agricultural and Plantation Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) its allocation of the pads sourced with the help of international partners.

On seizure, the farmworkers were told that the pads had been poisoned by former white commercial farmers, which is a blatant lie as the ZCTU, with the help of international partners and friends sourced for the sanitary ware.

However, the ZCTU is disturbed by this development because the sanitary pads were meant for women who cannot afford them. We deplore the actions of government, done through its security arms.

Efforts are currently underway to locate where the consignment of pads was taken to.

Please see this post for more information on the Dignity. Period! Campaign. It includes background information on the shortage of sanitary ware in Zimbabwe, and instructions on how to use our button to support the ZCTU and ACTSA campaign for Zimbabwen womens’ dignity via your website or blog.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, sanitary pads, police, Central Intelligence Organization, ZCTU, Dignity. Period!, Zimbabwe, gender, womens’ rights, freedom, justice

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A feature of the golfing calendar is corporate sponsors, often by leading banks. This is despite Zimbabwe achieving the worst economic indicators in the world. Life goes on.

However, I played the other day and settled into discussion following the game. Most players were businessmen and a good number from the commercial sector earning a living from the supermarket business.

The talk was about who had been visited by the CIO (Secret Police) CID and also Reserve Bank personnel.

Virtually everyone had been threatened and intimidated by these people most of whom were rude and aggressive to them. In one case, a business was visited three times in one day!

In another, a store keeper was threatened with closure if he didn’t sell sugar at the controlled price which, incidentally, is 25% below the purchase price from the refinery’s distributors.

Then there was another who had his cash confiscated because he had “too much in relation to his business” !

This was the same week that two bakery executives were jailed for four months for putting up prices “without Government approval”!

This is in an environment of doing business with an inflation rate of around 27% PER MONTH and rising!

In such cases, there is little or no recourse to law and everyone simply becomes a victim of state thuggery.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, CIO, CID, Reserve Bank, law, economy, mugabe, inflation

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WOZA Update
Press Release: 10.40 am Monday 4th

Sokwanele Note: Images were published last week in our post entitled ‘Zimbabwe police viciously attack women and children’

40 members released on Friday into the custody of their lawyer for the weekend have reported back to Bulawayo Central this morning. It is still not clear at this stage when police will take them to court, if at all.

The two members rushed to hospital on Friday afternoon finally received treatment late on Friday evening once they had been transferred from the government facility to which they had been taken to a private clinic. Magodonga Mahlangu was referred to a specialist on Saturday due to the fact that she had fallen to the ground and blacked out after being beaten with a baton stick. She was further kicked whilst lying passed out on the ground. Both are feeling considerably better having received medical treatment and neither’s condition is serious.

The woman with the broken ankle continues to receive specialist treatment and her condition remains serious. The specialist admitted that, given the severity of the break and her age, many other doctors would have simply amputated. He is continuing to attempt to save her leg but the next two weeks remain critical. The woman, in her sixties, admitted that she was beaten by police whilst lying on the ground. They were telling her to get up and run. When she tried to do so, “she could not find her foot to stand up”.

Further stories of horror have emerged over the weekend. The woman who was kicked in the breast and collapsed outside the police station was actually going to the rescue of her sister who was being beaten on the back of the neck by a baton stick and kicked in the stomach. When her sister begged them to stop, the same officer kicked her in the breast. This attack later caused her to collapse. Both sisters received medical treatment and are recovering from their brutal attack.

One of the young girls taken to the start of the demonstration and assaulted whilst being made to pick up flyers testified: “We were ordered to pick up all the flyers that we had strewn on the roads for passers-by. We were also ordered to pick up litter besides the flyers and this included picking up dirty material, even from stagnant water. They also forced us to pick up litter from beneath parked cars, which required us to lie prostrate on the ground, at which time they would beat us with baton sticks and kick us.

We were most pained when workers at Express Mart (the shop outside where we had kicked off our demonstration), joined hands with the police in insulting and even cheering on the police, who they ordered to force us to sing in the same way we had had been singing as we were distributing the flyers.”

You can contact Express Mart on +263 9 889997 to ask them why they find such delight and pleasure at the sight of policemen assaulting young girls with impunity in broad daylight.

More details will be given when they become available.

Technorati Tags: WOZA, Zimbabwe, gender, women, violence against women, gender violence, police brutality, ZRP, Zimbabwe Republic Police, human rights, protest, activism, activist

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We have had beautiful rain in Zimbabwe recently, and I thought of the thousands of derelict farms where over twenty thousand commercial farmers were evicted from their homes, and over two and a half million people, many of Malawian origin, have lost their livelihoods and their futures. It was a beautiful sunny day, and there was something really eerie about it, as the main roads are getting quieter and quieter, and the workers walking to work get fewer and fewer.

It struck me that I was living in one of the richest countries in Africa with vast Mineral resources, and yet, most of us live below the poverty line. Every month even those with jobs leave the factories and go to neighbouring Countries where they can earn well over five times the wage they get in Zimbabwe. It seems as though we are steadily grinding to a halt, and yet, there was a strange calmness about the day as it unfolded. It was eerie in that just below the surface lay a relatively simple solution to this stagnation and decline, and yet it eludes us. I then thought of what a reasonably sound National Management program could easily do to turn Zimbabwe into land of smiles, freedom, and prosperity.

I thought of just how simple the equation, and yet, a country is being forced to endure, through circumstance, and selfish exploitation by a miniscule minority whose only means to retaining power is through the weapon of fear. If we can only break down that barrier, we will be free and be able to take our country back and share it again when there will be enough for everyone to prosper and guarantee their children a secure future.

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From The Independent on Sunday (UK), 3 December:

‘At home I am an enemy of the state, here Anna is a shoulder to lean on’

Thabitha Khumalo is the vice president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and this year won UK Woman of the Year. Khumalo, 46, has just launched the campaign Dignity.Period! with Action for South Africa (ACTSA). She lives in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

The moment I saw Anna’s face I recognised her from the movies. My stomach was churning, but as soon as she sat down she was warm and friendly. Our first meeting was at a coffee shop in London. ACTSA had contacted Anna in order to help raise awareness of some of the health issues affecting women in Zimbabwe. We sat down together and I explained to her that the average minimum wage for a woman in my country is £12 per month, and yet a box of 10 tampons costs £3. What woman in her right mind would rather spend money on tampons rather than on basics like food? The female life expectancy is now 34 years: and they are dying from preventable infections. Anna was horrified. Anna told me that when she was in Zimbabwe she got very sick, and the couple she was staying with looked after her until she got better. They became good friends, so I think she felt she wanted to give something back. It so happened that I also knew the farm where she had stayed, and when I told her that it had been repossessed and all the people displaced, it broke her heart. She started crying and I did too.

From that moment our friendship blossomed. Every time I came to the UK I would call her and we would go to the theatre, or just chat over the phone. Eventually we managed to organise a fundraising event with her friends from the film industry. It was beyond words. The lights, the decorations, the most beautiful women in the most beautiful gowns - it was a different world for me. I was mesmerised. Although our lives are very different, Anna and I have a very strong connection. We are both go-getters with a lot of determination and energy. Like me, she is also a single mother, which can be a huge challenge. So even though we come from different environments, we are sort of in the same boat. When I compare our two worlds, it amazes me that they can co-exist and I think that is why our friendship is so important. I come from a place where I have no rights, or freedom of speech. It’s survival of the fittest. I have to learn from what I have seen of Anna’s world so that we can work towards a better Zimbabwe. In the UK I feel like a human being again, whereas at home in Zimbabwe I can feel isolated. At home it’s difficult for me to have friends because I am an enemy of the state and people are petrified to be seen to be talking to me. Here, you have no time to cry because you have always got to be strong, but when I come to the UK I know that in Anna I will always have a shoulder to lean on.

Anna Chancellor is widely recognised for her role as Duckface in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), and on television as Caroline Bingley in Pride and Prejudice. More recently Chancellor, 41, has made appearances in Spooks. She lives in London and has a daughter called Poppy.

Thabitha is a bit like a film star: she’s very beautiful and incredibly strong and incredibly vulnerable, all at once. Her openness is characteristic of the people in Zimbabwe, which is probably why I felt very at home there and very at home with Thabitha. I met Thabitha after receiving an email that said something like, “Women in trouble in Zimbabwe - no sanitary products”. I thought that was horrendous - the idea of never being able to have a tampon when you need one. But the real reason I felt a necessity to help was that I became incredibly sick while I was working in Zimbabwe and a local woman took me to her home, fed, bathed me and looked after me until I got better. I loved her so much. In a way my friendship with Thabitha is a repayment to her. Weirdly, when I told Thabitha this, we worked out that this woman was actually her cousin’s wife. The day we met we talked and cried. Appalling things have happened to her - she’s been arrested, raped and other things that you can’t imagine. In Zimbabwe you can be arrested for holding a meeting or a banner. She hides Nurofen in her hair because she knows that they are going to hurt her. It’s life on such an extreme edge - she is like a woman at war, she puts herself on the front line.

For me it has never been a problem being friends with people from different backgrounds. Thabitha is from Africa, and I grew up in the West Country; Thabitha is a warrior and I consider myself to be a coward. When I ask her how she manages to survive she says, “You have a fifth gear; there is somewhere else you go in very extreme times.” My fear is that I don’t have the fifth gear and my hope is that I do. I wish I could spend more time with Thabitha. I still haven’t cooked her roast chicken, which is what I’d really love to do. We did have a marvellous day together once when we went to see a play about Mugabe and then walked back through Soho and we ended up in a posh hotel where we lounged around on sofas talking about men. We weren’t focusing on the big problems - just laughing at the small ones. I feel incredible affection for Thabitha - not just because of the campaign, but because I feel easy with her. In her own country many people don’t want to know her because she puts her neck out. I think it’s a lonely life for her. I hope that one day she and I could just be relaxed together. We had a brief glimpse of it very, very late at night on those sofas.

Click on the image to read more about the Dignity.Period! campaign. Help spread the word by adding the button to your blog.

Technorati Tags: Thabitha Khumalo, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Dignity.Period!, Action for South Africa, ACTSA, gender, women’s rights, human rights, justice, health

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These pictures show the violence used against the WOZA protesters, including children (please see here for further details and for the telephone numbers you can use to express your outrage and disgust):

Via SWRadioAfrica:

WOZA spokesperson Annie Sibanda said the women, including 4 members of the Men of Zimbabwe Arise and a Presbyterian priest, are expected to appear in court on Friday. 36 WOZA activists who were arrested in Bulawayo have been charged under two sections of the notorious Criminal Law and Codification and Reform Act, although 6 of the women who were arrested with their babies were released on Thursday afternoon. They are accused of causing ‘a breach of the peace and interfering with the ordinary comforts of the public.’

Members of the pressure group were arrested after riot police violently broke up their gathering Wednesday. It’s reported that some of the arrested including the leaders, Jennie Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, were beaten. Sibanda told us that some of those in detention need medical attention but the police are blocking this. The victims lawyer, Advocate Perpetua Dube, was allegedly threatened with arrest, for “interfering with the course of justice” whilst trying to attend to her clients. The activists are being held in a courtyard cage at Bulawayo Central police station.

In an extraordinary twist Advocate Dube was yesterday able to secure the release of a baby who had been separated from it’s mother. The mother had not been arrested but the child had.

Meanwhile the 18 month old baby who was hurt yesterday sustained a broken leg. The WOZA spokesperson said the baby was sitting on her mother’s lap when police started to beat people, ‘They caused a stampede scenario where people were trying to escape from being beaten and somebody actually stepped on the baby’s leg in the chaos that was caused.”

Another elderly woman also had a broken leg while several other people had minor injuries.

The vicious attack by the police comes in the middle of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence campaign, embarked on by WOZA this past Saturday. Sibanda said although some areas have started banging pots and honking their car horns, the group is urging more Zimbabweans to join in a noise protest for two minutes at 8pm every evening during this period. She said this is to commemorate 16 days of activism against gender violence and human rights abuses.

Police continue to refuse to comment.

Technorati Tags: WOZA, Zimbabwe, women, Jennie Williams, Gender Violence, gender, violence, human rights, justice, law, torture, ZRP, police

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