A military style police deployment is underway to deal effectively with the business community who are accused of pursuing the agenda of regime change. There is fear and apprehension and some people are being detained for literally for having the new prices displayed in the wrong position the packaging. Anything goes and any excuse will allow for arrests. Larger companies are being forced to stay open and trade at prices and volumes determined by the “Task Force”. At random, Price Inspectors will descend on shops and businesses and change prices and return again in a few days and force the prices down further. Some items are now being sold for less than 25% of their market value. Most factories remain open but operating only at symbolic levels to satisfy the authorities. Goods are in desperately short supply as the economy virtually grinds to a halt with the exception of exporters, Toll manufacturers and mines. Food is becoming scarce which may lead to social unrest.

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Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, economy, inflation, corruption, Business Watch

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The second issue of Zimbabwe Election Watch highlights further examples of breaches of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections by the Mugabe regime. The South African-led SADC initiative to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis is reported to be in danger of collapse as President Mugabe has insisted that his ruling Zanu PF party will not discuss a new constitution with the opposition. Zanu PF representative Patrick Chinamasa said the politburo cabinet has decided instead to press ahead with plans to amend the constitution through Parliament.

In an extract from the latest Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum report, the group recorded an escalation in the number of cases of abuse by state agents: 373 in May compared to 318 the previous month. They include torture and the curtailing of freedom of expression. The government’s ongoing crackdown on activists from the National Constitutional Assembly and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change is of grave concern.

A survey released on 25 July by Amnesty International (AI) reports that the political manipulation of food distribution persists, particularly of GMB (Grain Marketing Board) maize sold in rural areas. The organisation notes that in 2004, “food aid was often withheld from those who did not hold a Zanu PF loyalty card, and was used in attempts to influence election results.” The UN World Food Programme estimates that 4.1 million people will require food aid during the first three months of 2008.

Although there is no legislation barring foreign-published newspapers from being sold in Zimbabwe, plans for the government’s all-out propaganda campaign ahead of the 2008 elections will include blocking distribution of The Zimbabwean newspaper.

Mbeki-led SADC talks hang by a thread
Source Date: 20-07-2007

Citing a top Zanu PF and government offical, ZimOnline reported that the South African-led SADC initiative to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis looked in danger of collapsing as President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu PF party insisted it would not discuss a new constitution with the opposition.

South African President Thabo Mbeki - who will report back to SADC leaders in August - has previously said progress was being made in the search for a negotiated solution, while reports in Zimbabwean and regional media suggested Zanu PF and the MDC had agreed on a formal agenda of talks, with the issue of a new constitution topping the list.

However, sources on Thursday said Zanu PF representatives, Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche, earlier this week met the South African team of mediators led by Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi to tell them they had instructions from their party not to discuss a new constitution.

Rev Frank Chikane, director-general in Mbeki’s office, also attended the meeting at which Chinamasa said Zanu PF’s powerful politburo cabinet had decided the ruling party should press ahead with plans to amend Zimbabwe’s constitution through Parliament.

“He (Chinamasa) told them that the MDC rejected constitutional reforms in 2000 and that the politburo had now resolved to push the 18th Amendment to the constitution to allow for joint presidential and parliamentary elections next year,” said a top Zanu PF and government official.

Constitutional Amendment No. 18, which the government has tabled in Parliament, will in addition to harmonising elections, empower the House - in which Mugabe enjoys sweeping support - to elect a successor in the event that he dies or plans to step down. The MDC says the amendment is a ploy by Mugabe - who will extend his rule to 33 years if he is re-elected next year and finishes the five-year presidential term - to hang on to power for life.

Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to source

SADC standards breached

• 2.1.1: Full participation of the citizens in the political process;
• 2.1.4: Regular intervals for elections…
• 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections

Zimbabweans told to register to ‘defend the president’
Source Date: 18-07-2007

Opposition and civic society have criticised the way the voter registration exercise, that is currently underway, is being conducted.

National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) leader Dr Lovemore Madhuku said there can never be a credible voter registration process under the present conditions. He voiced deep concern that his organisation was being prevented from having access to rural areas where many voters live.

The civic leader said Zanu PF goes there and misrepresents the purpose of the voter registration process.

“I actually have information,” said Dr Madhuku “from the NCA structures in Mashonaland East and Mashonaland Central that people are being told to go and register to defend President Mugabe from being taken out of power by the west. So you go and register and you are told that the purpose of your registering is that when the time comes you must go and defend the President! Not that you are registering so that you exercise your right to elect the leader of your choice.”

Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW)
Link to source

SADC standards breached

• 2.1.8: Voter education.
• 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
• 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
• 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …
• 7.5: [The member state holding elections shall] Take all necessary measures and precautions to prevent the perpetration of fraud, rigging…

Food crisis: a disaster waiting to happen
Source Date: 22-07-2007

Estimates are that in the first three months of 2008 — an election year — 4.1 million people, a third of the population, will require food aid. Most of it will be provided by the United Nations, but so far the government is said to be in a state of “denial”, refusing to make the obligatory appeal to the UN.

The government has already declared 2007 a drought year but is yet to send a formal appeal to the United Nations to allow it to institute an international appeal for assistance.

According to the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET), (a USAID initiated and funded program which monitors hunger, food availability and shortages across the globe), Zimbabwe is facing its worst food shortages yet, with this harvest having only met just above 30 per cent of national requirements.

The United Nations World Food Programme (UNFP) predicts that around 2.1 million people will face serious food shortages by the third quarter of this year, due to crop failures and escalating poverty in both rural and urban areas.

The most affected provinces include Masvingo, Midlands and Matabeleland North and South.

In Matabeleland South, the San community who still survive as hunter gatherers, are reportedly the most affected by the crisis. Acting Tsholotsho District Administrator, Lydia Ndethi-Banda, warned recently that the San would die of hunger if donors did not intervene urgently.

Meanwhile the government scoffed at food aid pledges by the United States and Canada last week, saying they were meant for opposition parties.

The Minister of Agriculture, Rugare Gumbo, said the government was still carrying out an assessment of the food situation before making a formal appeal to the UN, but the world body warned last week that time was running out to launch a major appeal. Zimbabwe requires about two million tonnes of maize for annual consumption but estimates show that this year Zimbabwe harvested a mere 400 000 tonnes of maize, the country’s main staple.

Source: Zimbabwe Standard, The (ZW)
Link to source

SADC standards breached

• 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
• 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …

Additional comments on this event in relation to SADC standards:

The Zanu PF government has a history of using food as a political weapon, especially during elections. Their failure to take action in the face of the looming crisis, combined with polices which actively reduce food supplies even further, is a cause for major concern.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place - Women Human Rights Defenders at Risk
Source Date: 25-07-2007

This survey, conducted by Amnesty International and released on 25 July 2007, states that Zimbabwean women are suffering increasing repression as they mobilise to confront the government in the face of a spiralling economic and social rights crisis in Zimbabwe.

Amnesty International reports that, in 2004, the organisation documented the political manipulation of food aid, noting that ”food aid was often withheld from those who did not hold a Zanu PF loyalty card, and was used in attempts to influence election results.”

In 2007, Amnesty International found that “the manipulation of food distribution persists, particularly of GMB (Grain Marketing Board) maize sold in rural areas.”

Under the heading: “Denial of access to subsidised maize in rural areas”, the report notes:

“The government of Zimbabwe has permitted discriminatory distribution of maize in the rural areas as part of its strategy to retain its political support base since the emergence of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Over the last seven years, Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu PF) politicians have used maize sold through the state-owned Grain Marketing Board (GMB) as a tool to silence perceived opponents. In order to buy maize from the GMB, needy households in rural areas are registered at the local level. The registration process is conducted by councillors who are, in the majority of cases, members of Zanu PF. These councillors omit names of perceived and known MDC supporters, reportedly stating that the “government should not be feeding its enemies.” Women human rights defenders have been labelled MDC supporters and are also discriminated against in the sale of GMB maize.

Under the heading “Recommendations to improve the operational environment for the promotion and protection of public rights”, the report states:

“In respect of violations of economic and social rights of women human rights defenders, the government should: Ensure that food is distributed to all on the basis of need, irrespective of real or perceived political affiliation, or any other factor or criteria.”

The full report is available at the link below.

Source: Amnesty International
Link to source

SADC standards breached

• 2.1.1: Full participation of the citizens in the political process;
• 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
• 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens

Mugabe stepping up abuses, says Human Rights Forum
Source Date: 16-07-2007

Zimbabwe human rights groups have accused President Robert Mugabe’s government of continued abuses against opponents and have urged Harare to respect judicial officers and court rulings, adding that it was worrying that lawyers have been harassed while carrying out their duties.

“Abuse of state power by state security agents, disregard of court orders by the police, harassment of lawyers, intimidation of opposition and civic society activists continued unabated in May,” the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum, a grouping of over a dozen rights groups said in its latest monthly report.

“The Human Rights Forum continues to deplore the heavy-handedness with which peaceful demonstrators are treated and the criminalisation of political and civic activity by the government of Zimbabwe,” the report states.

The rights group recorded a total of 373 cases of abuse by state agents in May compared to 318 the previous month. These included torture, unlawful arrest and detention, assault and curtailing of freedom of expression.

Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to source

SADC standards breached

• 2.1.1: Full participation of the citizens in the political process;
• 2.1.2: Freedom of association;
• 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
• 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
• 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
• 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …
• 7.5: [The member state holding elections shall] Take all necessary measures and precautions to prevent the perpetration of fraud, rigging…

More NCA officials arrested in Manicaland
Source Date: 20-07-2007

The crackdown against activists from the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) continues. The group’s acting Youth Chairperson for Manicaland, Manex Mauya, was arrested together with two other activists on Friday (20 July). The group said in a statement that no reasons had yet been given for the latest arrests.

This comes three days after the police arrested provincial chairperson Elisha Makuyana, for allegedly insulting Robert Mugabe during a discussion on the controversial price reductions. This was the third time that Makuyana had been arrested in two weeks.

He had previously been arrested for possessing shortwave radios that were meant for distribution to rural areas. The police later raided the NCA offices in Mutare and confiscated 21 radios. The government aims to restrict access to information in the rural areas by seizing radios and preventing distribution to residents there. Makunyana was finally released on Friday after spending three days in police custody.

The NCA said in a statement: “Makuyana was given a tough time by the police who accused him of undermining the office of the President… He was told in no uncertain times that the police (were) going to follow him up closely and that if he wants to live a normal life he should desist from the NCA.”

Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW)
Link to source

SADC standards breached

• 2.1.1: Full participation of the citizens in the political process;
• 2.1.2: Freedom of association;
• 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
• 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
• 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
• 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …

Court still to make a decision on bail application by MDC detainees
Source Date: 18-07-2007

Seventeen MDC activists have now been locked up in remand prison for 114 days (four months), while over four weeks have passed with the High Court failing to make a ruling on a bail application put forward by their lawyers. Human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama said the state was clearly determined to ensure his clients remain in custody. Up until now no trial date has been set, with the MDC activists being remanded in custody to 13 August.

Despite the unconscionable delays already experienced under Zimbabwe’s deeply flawed justice system and the fact that some of the detainees require urgent medical attention, there is still no end in sight to activists’ ordeal. Week after week the defence is told to expect a ruling the following week.

In March this year 32 opposition activists were arrested on charges of petrol bombing government targets, with half that number facing separate charges of terrorist activity. After 60 days in detention the courts ordered the release of 14 activists due to lack of evidence. This left 18 in custody to face charges that they were involved in banditry training in South Africa.

The MDC says quite simply that all the charges were trumped up to justify a brutal crackdown on its supporters.

Hospital sources estimate 600 opposition activists were hospitalised during a countrywide crackdown by the security forces. Mounting evidence in the last four months suggests members of Mugabe’s elite presidential guard have been behind the majority of abductions and the torture of activists.

Source: SW Radio Africa (ZW)
Link to source

SADC standards breached

• 2.1.1: Full participation of the citizens in the political process;
• 2.1.2: Freedom of association;
• 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
• 2.1.7: Independence of the Judiciary and impartiality of the electoral institutions …
• 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
• 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
• 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …

Police officers demoted for setting free MDC activists
Source Date: 20-07-2007

Six senior police officers in Masvingo town are facing demotion after they set free several opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party activists who were arrested during a government crackdown last March. The six will be demoted from the rank of superintendent to inspector with effect from 31 July 2007.

The officers were last month hauled before the police disciplinary board for releasing the MDC supporters who had been arrested for protesting against the arrest and torture in police custody of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and othere in March.

Human rights groups accuse the Harare authorities of weeding out police officers suspected of being sympathetic to the opposition and replacing them with pliant, brainwashed youths from the controversial youth militia programme.

Source: Zim Online (ZW)
Link to source

SADC standards breached

• 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
• 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
• 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
• 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …

Government plans to block ‘The Zimbabwean’
Source Date: 19-07-2007

As it prepares to launch an all-out propaganda offensive ahead of the watershed 2008 elections, the ruling Zanu PF government is planning to block the distribution of one of Zimbabwe’s largest independent weeklies, The Zimbabwean, inside the country.

Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu recently met with the Media and Information Commission’s chairman Tafataona Mahoso to discuss ways of preventing the newspaper from entering the country.

Un-named sources within the Ministry of Information are understood to have confirmed that the government fears exposure of its election rigging process by this paper.

In the meeting Mahoso and Ndlovu are said to have agreed to find a mechanism to block the weekly paper which many Zimbabweans now read following the government’s closure of the popular Daily News and its sister paper Daily News on Sunday.

As there is currently no legislation barring foreign-published papers from being sold in Zimbabwe, Ndlovu is understood to favour the urgent drafting of new legislation so that Mugabe can sign it into law before Zanu PF chooses its 2008 presidential candidate in December.

Identified perpetrators: Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, Tafataona Mahoso

Source: Zimbabwean, The (ZW)
Link to source

SADC standards breached

• 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
• 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
• 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
• 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …
• 7.5: [The member state holding elections shall] Take all necessary measures and precautions to prevent the perpetration of fraud, rigging…

Zanu PF forcing teachers off schools
Source Date: 22-07-2007

Zanu PF supporters and war veterans in Matabeleland North have allegedly embarked on a campaign to intimidate village heads and teachers suspected of being Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) activists ahead of next year’s elections.

One school in Nkayi District is reportedly facing closure after the ruling party activists forced the entire staff to seek transfers to other schools, accusing them of being MDC supporters.

Teachers and general staff at Ngwalade primary school in Nkayi were forced to seek transfers after they failed to attend a recent rally addressed by Sithembiso Nyoni, the Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises Development. Sources said the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) had deployed its agents to spy on teachers suspected of having opposition links.

Since 2000, Zanu PF has lost consecutive parliamentary elections and the 2005 Senate polls in the area to the MDC.

Abedinico Bhebhe of the MDC, who is the MP for the impoverished constituency, said: “There is heightened intimidation of MDC sympathizers in the area… We cannot tolerate a situation where our schools are left with no teachers by overzealous Zanu PF supporters. At the same time, chiefs in the area are threatening to kick out village heads accused of MDC links”.

Source: Zimbabwe Standard, The (ZW)
Link to source

SADC standards breached

• 2.1.1: Full participation of the citizens in the political process;
• 2.1.2: Freedom of association;
• 2.1.3: Political tolerance;
• 4.1.1: Constitutional and legal guarantees of freedom and rights of citizens
• 4.1.2: Conducive environment for free, fair and peaceful elections
• 7.4: [The member state holding elections shall] Safeguard the human and civil liberties of all citizens …
• 7.5: [The member state holding elections shall] Take all necessary measures and precautions to prevent the perpetration of fraud, rigging…

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Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Election Watch, elections, democracy, justice, voting

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[This message is being circulated on behalf of all Zimbabweans. Please note that there is a multi-denomination prayer service to be held tomorrow. Full details here.]

We as citizens of Zimbabwe are appalled at the recent attempt of the State to undermine the standing of +Ncube. We demand answers to the following questions:

• Why was the Deputy Sheriff accompanied by ten state journalists when serving +Ncube with a summons? This has never happened before in the history of Zimbabwe.
• Why were pornographic images, which may or may not be of +Ncube and a woman in what they imagined to be the privacy of a bedroom, displayed day after day in the state run media, including newspapers and television, to which children have ready access?
• Why is the government fighting a battle for the alleged aggrieved husband? His rights in this case will be decided in due course in a court of law, and it is detrimental for this case or any other to be so publicly debated while sub judice.
• What interest does the government have in this simple civil case?

It is in the interests of the general public to know that Ernest Tekere, the private investigator on this case, was for twenty years a very senior CIO operative, and that he was allegedly active in Matabeleland during the Gukurahundi campaign. The media attack on +Ncube has highlighted the fact that he has been an outspoken critic of Gukurahundi and other government instigated violations of human rights, and has suggested that +Ncube should not be forgiven any transgressions, as he has spoken out about the need for those responsible for gross crimes against humanity to be brought to justice. In other words, we believe that Tekere has a personal as well as a State axe to grind against +Ncube.

While it would be unfortunate if the allegations of a love affair are true, we believe that there is no comparison between two consenting adults having sex and the murder of 20,000 people, the displacement of 500,000 and the total disregard for its own people that this government has shown for 27 years. A love affair would show +Ncube is capable of human frailty. The state is guilty of crimes against humanity.

We believe that +Ncube’s oath of celibacy and any breaching of this is an issue between himself and the Church which he serves. He did not take this oath with the nation and he should not be expected to give the nation an explanation. We are sure that he will deal with the issue appropriately through the Church channels, and will deal with the civil claim through the courts.

We encourage all caring citizens to stand by +Pius Ncube in this dark hour, as he has tirelessly stood by us all for many years. We ask him to continue to raise his voice with ours, and to continue to campaign for the many just causes and fair practices that he has worked for in the democracy movement.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Archbishop Pius Ncube, Catholic, Catholic Church, Christian

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Factories continue to shut down and warehouses are being depleted and the last stocks of manufactured goods have all but disappeared from the shelves. Whilst there has been some backtracking by government on Operation Dzikamai, the Minister for Industry and International Trade, Orbert Mpofu, continues to threaten the business community and issued this recent statement:

“Once we take over a company, we retain all the staff and bring in a manager. All we get rid of is the owner of the company,” he told a meeting in Bulawayo.

He added: “We do not want to kill you, but to make your business viable. Once you are in business and happy, you will also leave us to run the country. It is in that spirit that I say we are here to correct each other. We want to build some kind of an orderly business environment. I will hate to reach a stage where I will be forced to take over the companies from you, but if you do not co-operate that is what is going to happen and this is the position of the government.”

The stock exchange has recovered somewhat and the Reserve Bank has returned to the FOREX market, accelerating the depreciation of the Zimbabwe Dollar once more and the Rand had reached 36 000:1 yesterday. The OM implied rate stands at 18 500 which may well be a reflection of the state of share prices. Business is under siege by the state with both the current price control prices and “Indigenisation” threatening. Banks are now becoming jittery as collateral assets are threatened with expropriation. This resembles the farm invasions and the banking sector is nervous about experiencing major losses once again. Companies have generally made a provisional plan to see to see out the crisis believing that relaxation of the controls is inevitable as shortages mount.

Recent news indicates that negotiations between government and some industrial sectors is underway.

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Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, inflation, hyperinflation, economy, business, economic collapse

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We have received an email asking us to circulate information that there will be a multi-denominational prayer service held on Wednesday this week, at St Mary’s Cathedral, Lobengula Street, Bulawayo, from 1-2 pm.

This is a prayer service to enable all to stand in solidarity with Archbishop Pius Ncube.

What: Multi-denomination prayer service in support of Archbishop Pius Ncube
Where: St Mary’s Cathedral, Lobengula Street, Bulawayo
When: Wednesday 25 July 2007, 1-2pm

Please can you circulate this information widely.

UPDATE: via SW Radio Africa

Prayer service in support of Archbishop Pius Ncube

A prayer service in solidarity with the Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, has been organized for Wednesday by the parishioners in his constituency who said it is to confirm and reaffirm their support for what he stands for. The Archbishop is facing allegations of having conducted an adulterous affair with a Bulawayo woman, in a case that is largely believed to have been orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Organisation.

J.D. Katazo of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace said the majority of Catholic and non-Catholic lay people and churches in Bulawayo view Archbishop Ncube as “a saviour who is articulating their issues” and stand behind him even in the face of the allegations. Katazo said: “The allegations against Ncube are not even an issue in these troubled times when there is no mealie-meal in the shops, there is no meat and there are shortages of just about everything.”

The multi-denominational prayer service will be held at St Mary’s Cathedral in Bulawayo on Lobengula Street on Wednesday from 1-2 pm. Asked if everyone is invited, Katazo said: “Praying to God has never been by invitation. If you are a man of good will, whether you are a Muslim or a Hindu, if you feel there is a cause for concern then come in and pray. You are welcome.”

Katazo added that many people viewed the case as a government created distraction from the hardships people are facing. Condemnation of the Archbishop was also instigated the last time there was an election. Katazo explained that the Archbishop was then accused of being a puppet of British prime minister Tony Blair. He said this time a lot of pornography was used, which is against our culture and against our traditional laws.

A report in the Standard newspaper said Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) believes the drama was a “diversionary tactic” and they were aware of the “underhand tactics” used worldwide to silence human rights defenders.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, prayer, Catholic Church, Archbishop Pius Ncube, Bulawayo, St Mary’s Cathedral

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Chipo Ngwira, 31, left Harare three weeks ago to look for a job in Gaborone, Botswana. She has not tasted a decent meal for 14 days as Batswanas constantly remind her that they have no jobs for foreigners, commonly known in the diamond-rich nation as ‘makwerekwere’. The 100 Pula she had raised over six months in Zimbabwe’s economically crippled capital, Harare, has been exhausted. The only thing now is for her to join other Zimbabwean women at Gaborone West’s Mogoditshane suburb where prostitution is the order of the day.

Finding a job in Gaborone’s White City area, largely frequented by Zimbabweans looking for formal employment such as gardening and housekeeping is just a pipe dream.

To Chipo, the idea of leaving her two starving children with their grandmother was the most painful decision she has ever made in her life.

“I just dumped them at my grandmother’s place in Highfield density suburb in Harare and told the granny that I am leaving for a better life either in Botswana or South Africa,” says the distraught single parent.

“I shed my tears before embarking on the 760 kilometre journey to Gaborone. Right now, I don’t know whether my children have had a decent meal during the past three weeks because my grandmother is poor and she receives $100,000 per month from the Department of Social Welfare. This is hardly enough to buy two loaves of bread.”

Chipo is not the only Zimbabwean facing such difficulties as thousands of economic refugees are flocking to Botswana and South Africa to search for basic food commodities and greener pastures as the country is facing its worst economic crisis in its history.

“This is the worst time of our lives and there is no way one can live in Zimbabwe and make ends meet unless one is a thief, money dealer, businessperson, worker of a non-governmental organisation or top civil servant. People have struggled to make ends meet since President Robert Mugabe and his cronies raided the farms in the year 2000,” says Njabulo Ndlovu, an economic refugee currently looking for a job at White City suburb.

Independent sources estimate that between 500 and 600 refugees cross into Botswana and South Africa every day to look for jobs. Farmers close to the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa say that the figures are much higher, a fact that they say senior officials in the military and police will only privately admit to. According to the farmers’ estimates, about 4,000 Zimbabweans are crossing into South Africa every night. That represents at least 100,000 people a month, far more than official estimates of 20,000 per month.

Just this week the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported that 6,000 Zimbabwean refugees were deported every week from Musina near the Beit Bridge border post. ZimbabweJournalists.com reported that Andrew Gethi, the chief operating officer of the International Organisation for Migration, which opened an office to assist deported Zimbabwean refugees on the northern side of the border, says the organisation is handling on average 17,000 deportees every month - it estimates that more than 86,000 illegal immigrants were forcibly repatriated between January and May this year alone. (It is important to note that the figure of 17,000 per month excludes those refugees who have managed to evade the South African authorities).

The scale of the problem is likely to worsen as the Zimbabwean economy deteriorates further and as Zanu PF policies become increasingly repressive and brutal. For most refugees, the dangerous crossing into neighbouring countries and the uncertain future they face there presents them with far better options of survival than staying at home.

Zimbabwe’s economy is deteriorating at an alarming rate. South Africa’s Econometrix Ecobulletin of 10 July reported that in June, Zimbabwe’s inflation was around 3 700% and the preceding month around 2,200%. At the time of publishing, the bulletin said the official rate had reached over 4,500%. This clearly indicated that the country had reached the realms of hyperinflation as a 4 500% inflation rate entailed roughly a doubling of prices every month or an escalation of 2.33% per day. Furthermore, if daily prices accelerated to 2.8% per day, on an annualised basis this would be equivalent to 20,000% inflation.

The Econometrix Ecobulletin noted: “No country has ever endured true hyperinflation without there being a change in leadership or type of government within a fairly short space of time. Zimbabwe is unlikely to be any different.”

The very recent ‘price war’ policies embarked upon by the Zanu PF government under Mugabe’s leadership has led to an immediate upsurge in the scale of the refugee problem. The editor of South Africa’s Business Day newspaper commented this week that the undeniable human flood of Zimbabwean refugees to South Africa over the recent years has suddenly become a torrent. He further commented: “There is a real threat of a socially and economically disastrous tsunami sweeping [South Africa] in the coming weeks unless there is international intervention”.

Opposition parties in South Africa have called upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to set up refugee camps along the borders with Zimbabwe, a call that has been rejected by Jack Redden, the UNHCR’s regional information officer. Redden said that the UNHCR could only be involved in the case a “total collapse” of the Zimbabwean state, at a point when Zimbabweans became ‘asylum seekers’ rather than ‘economic refugees’.

Rapidly escalating state-sponsored violence and the fall out from Operation Murambatsvina has blurred the distinction between political and economic refugees. During the disastrous government initiated operation to demolish the houses and shacks of largely poor people in the major cities and towns, more than 700,000 people were rendered homeless or jobless, and at least 2.4 million poor people were affected. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the special envoy of Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, said the programme breached both national and international human rights law provisions guiding evictions, thereby precipitating a humanitarian crisis. The UNHCR distinction between political and economic refugees is a moot point to most Zimbabweans; they are leaving Zimbabwe because they have no options and they need to survive. [1]

Among the refugees fleeing Zimbabwe, those who have already sought political asylum in Botswana during the past six months are awaiting the processing of their application papers at Dukwe Camp, a security-tight compound once occupied by Zimbabweans fleeing atrocities perpetrated by former Rhodesian leader Ian Smith’s repressive regime and the Mugabe government’s Gukurahundi - involving mass civilian murders - in the 1980s. It is estimated that more than 20,000 people died during the Gukurahundi massacres.

David Sediadie, an official spokesman of President Festus Mogae’s Office, says indications are that the political asylum seekers arrived in the country six months ago while the new string of refugees are linked to the current price control measures enforced by Mugabe’s desperate regime.

Although the Zimbabwean government is tight-lipped over refugees fleeing the country into neighbouring countries, the situation appears to be worse in Johannesburg, one of Africa’s largest cities.

This has forced Bishop Paul Verryn’s Central Methodist Church to take care of 900 stranded refugees, some of them with little children, who crossed the borders illegally to look for a better living.

“Conditions for refugees in a church building not meant for housing are a nightmare, but it’s far sight better than living rough on the inner-city streets where life is very tough and the refugees are regularly harassed,” said the Bishop.

“While peace is not in place, it’s vital that people seeking asylum and refuge find a more humane welcome in the countries to which they flee. In South Africa, we have the opportunity for the Zimbabwean refugees to be granted full refugee status, almost in response to the way we were hosted and cared for during the difficult years by the Zimbabwean government of that time.”

He continued: “The presence of Zimbabweans in this country presents us with a choice about our view of humanity. Firstly, refugees are by no means a nuisance or a curse in a country. They are a glorious opportunity for us to show our true humanity. Secondly, Zimbabweans come with gifts. Our wisdom is to expose and celebrate their presence among us.”

An estimated three million Zimbabweans, mostly illegal immigrants, live in South Africa. The majority end up living in crime-infested areas such as Hillbrow, Berea and some parts of Johannesburg’s South-Western Townships (Soweto), leading to the troubling perception among some South Africans that Zimbabweans are deeply involved in crime - a perception that many commentators see as a worrying increase in xenophobia.

“Once these economic and political refugees arrive here, look for jobs and fail to get formal employment, some are forced into crime,” says a top South African policeman.

Despite concerns like these expressed in media reports, Chris Maroleng from the South African Institute of International Affairs says the statistics do not indicate a disproportionate number of Zimbabweans involved in crime.

“Individuals who were engaged in normal activities back home are less likely to get involved in criminal activities in other countries,” he says. “They are just keen to make a living and send food and money home.”

Maroleng does point out, however, that there have been cases of former Zimbabwean army personnel being involved in specialised crimes, such as cash in transit heists and bank robberies.

The difficulties and uncertain future facing Zimbabwean refugees in neighbouring countries, combined with the negative and sometimes hostile reception they receive from locals there, highlights the scale of the desperate conditions in Zimbabwe. The choice to leave, to cross illegally into another country either by swimming across a crocodile infested river or risking arrest by border patrols, reflects the tenacity and courage of Zimbabweans too, determined to find a way to survive despite all efforts to beat them into submission.

Zimbabwean refugees want to go home to live with their families in peace and security and are increasingly turning to talk of the need for action and the need for political change in Zimbabwe. Regional leaders would do well to listen to them, and support their call for non-violent peaceful change.

The Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa and Botswana believe that there is only one answer to their suffering - the demise of Zanu PF and Robert Mugabe’s rule, a dictatorial evil leader who has been at the helm of the country for all of the 27 years since independence from British rule.

“Our lives are resting on one selfish man named Robert Gabriel Mugabe. I don’t see the reason why over 12 million people can be terrorised by one man without fighting back. This is the time for us to retaliate against this monster. Enough is enough!” says Phathisani Mkandla, an economic refugee roaming the streets of Johannesburg during the past two weeks looking for formal employment.

“If all people agree to stage a strike against Mugabe, we will push him out of power within hours and our country may pull out of this mess,” says Mkandla’s friend Power Nketha with razor sharp cheekbones, a sign of extreme hunger.

[1] See reports by the Solidarity Peace Trust: “No War in Zimbabwe” and “Operation Murambatsvina - Discarding the Filth”. www.solidaritypeacetrust.org

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Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, refugees, South Africa, Botswana, poverty inflation, hyperinflation

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ACTSA have been pushing further with the Dignity! Period. Campaign and have secured the support Bodyform, manufacturers of sanitary protection in the UK. Bodyform are committed to supporting the work of ACTSA’s Dignity! Period. campaign and will donate funds to produce ¼ million packs of sanitary towels for Zimbabwean women, as well as continuing to raise awareness of the campaign. Please visit the Bodyform website and use the ‘Tell a Friend’ feature to spread word of the campaign.

For a mere £2.50 you can also buy yourselves a Dignity! Period. wristband. What’s truly amazing about this is that your money will provide one woman with essential sanitary protection for three months.

What’s it all about? Listen to this:

Click on the image below to read our summary post and add this button to your website to help and support.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Dignity! period., women, women’s rights, human rights, health, gender, poverty

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I heard a story today about how, over the weekend, the price police task force hit a petrol station in a small town and told them to open their tanks immediately and sell the fuel for Z$60 000 per litre.

The owner of the establishment tried by all means to stop them, informing them that the fuel was pre-sold and this would constitute theft.

Disinterested, they threatened him with arrest and the tanks were drained of the precious fuel within a couple of hours. This is the normal state of affairs.

But, what I love so much about this particular case and gave me great joy, is the fact that the owner had in fact pre-sold the fuel to the police and the CIO!

So when they come to claim their coupon based fuel they will have to chase their own task force to replace their own fuel!

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, economy, corruption, ZRP, CIO, inflation, hyperinflation, Mugabe, business

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The hardest part of the current looting spree is to see people dashing off to buy tv’s, cheap toilet paper etc and not stopping to think of the implications. A friend who owns a butchery was taken to task by someone he knows well over why he didn’t phone to tell her the meat was going cheap. Should he speed the process of his own demise?

I do understand that an impoverished mother of five will race to the shops to buy a little meat, probably not having had any at all for months.

I do understand that this mother thinks only of survival, bound in the moment and incapable of thinking about tomorrow.

However, I have seen people pulling up at electrical shops in new mercs, loading the car with looted booty, tvs, toasters etc.

The insanity that is plaguing our streets is yet another sure sign of the divide and rule tactic so successfully employed by the zanu regime to turn brother against brother, child against parent.

Once again the dictator has removed blame from his doorstep, making the honest businessperson the victim and the supposed evil force working with the opposition and western forces to topple his power base.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, economy, inflation, hyperinflation, poverty, hardship, Mugabe

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Business is reeling and in a state of shock. Industrial activity has diminished dramatically and is estimated to be as low as 13% of capacity. Most manufacturers are producing at token levels to show “good faith” as the authorities are threatening business with nationalisation if they do not produce goods. A more sinister development has been that retailers have been forced to cost their goods at a US$ rate of 15 000:1, the official bank rate, which contrasts with the market rate of 300 000:1, at the time when production or purchase took place. This means that goods are being sold at 1/20th of their normal value. Currency rates are starting to move upwards and today business commenced the new week faced with threats that Government may now limit profits at 5% for producers and 10% for wholesalers. More arrests and detentions of businessmen have taken place and now all it takes to be arrested is for a manager to mistakenly forget to adjust the price of one packet of toilet rolls.

Related articles in the media:

• Price Cuts Paralyzing Zimbabwe Economy (The Guardian UK)
• Zim price freeze to continue indefinitely (The Star)
• Mugabe’s price cuts bring cheap TVs today, new crisis tomorrow (The Guardian)
• When dictators drive disasters (Christian Science Monitor)

Click here to see all posts in the Business Watch series

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, economy, hyperinflation, corruption, economic collapse

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Not long to go now! Make sure you visit the Dispatch : Zimbabwe site to read all about it, and please spread the word everyone! And here’s a link to the Dispatch Foundation.

More at our previous post here.

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

A reliable source in the Ministry of Home Affairs has revealed that while frustrated Zimbabweans queue in their thousands to obtain their birth certificates, identity and passport documents, Government has hijacked the process and is clandestinely handing out documents to Zanu-PF supporters. “These supporters from far off places are preferentially given identity cards and passports and registered as voters”, this is in order to reconfigure the Harare and Bulawayo urban constituency voters rolls ahead of the 2008 harmonised elections.

Zimbabwe’s electoral law allows only holders of national identity cards and passports to vote.

Minister of Womens Affairs, Oppah Rushesha, her deputy Abigail Damasane, and Sithembiso Nyoni, Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, are rallying government departments to assist the processing of batches of national identity cards and passports. The Ministry of Public Service and Social Welfare led by Nicholas Goche is facilitating wages for the youth militia (locally referred to as the Green Bombers) who are now literally political commissars for Zanu-PF, while the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) facilitates the registration of Zanu-PF supporters in the Harare and Bulawayo urban voters roll.

In the parliamentary election of 2005, former MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi lost the Gwanda constituency seat to Zanu-PF after the CIO secretly registered thousands of graduates from the Border Gezi youth militia.

Many see this as on reason why, in 2005, the Zanu PF government embarked on ‘Operation Murambatsvina’ or ‘Clear out the Trash’, a police operation to destroy homes belonging to poor urbanites, exposing victims to the cold winter. Despite condemnation by the United Nations (UN), President Robert Mugabe endorsed the action, arguing that these were necessary slum clearances. Homeless victims, many of whom were MDC supporters, were forcibly removed to remote areas and rendered unable to vote since they are now far from where they are registered to vote.

Government is also setting up self-help and grocery clubs for Zanu-PF supporters with funds drawn from the fiscus, and these have also been associated with clandestine voter registration.

Self-help projects, the brainchild of Vice President Joice Mujuru, entail chicken rearing and the supply of farm fertilizer and these are targeted at boosting the morale of personnel in the army and police force. According to our sources, beneficiaries of the project are secretly registered as voters to swell the Harare and Bulawayo urban constituency voters roll.

Grocery clubs, led by Ministers Oppah Rushesha and Sithembiso Nyoni, buy scarce commodities such as cooking oil and washing soap in Botswana and South Africa for profit sale back home. Many interpret this as an open admission by the government of having ruined the economy. Grocery club members are each given Z$10 million sourced from the Reserve Bank - this is to facilitate the purchase of scarce commodities. They are then directed to illegally buy foreign currency in the streets. Again, sources say that beneficiaries are being registered as voters in Bulawayo.

The MDC (Tsvangirai) National Director of Elections, Ian Makone was arrested at a critical time for the MDC. Makone was arrested just when the party was about to launch its Democratic Resistance Campaign (DRC), a campaign based on the precepts of the revered Mahatma Ghandi, and timed to coincide with the launch of the party’s campaign for next years tripartite national elections. Said one MDC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity; “it stands to reason that Government arrested Makone to rig next years elections while he was in jail. And even though he is out of custody, his work is hampered because other important MDC members are in custody over spurious petrol bombing charges.”

Lucia Matibenga, MDC (Tsvangirai) National Chairperson-Womens Assembly, was refused permission to even check that her name was on the voters roll. This was just before one registration official recognised her and instructed subordinates to assist her saying, “she’s the MDC boss. We don’t want to be all over the newspapers”. Matibenga insists that people should “demand” to be registered.

Zanu-PF has a track record of manipulating the registration process towards meeting its own objectives. First, through ‘Operation Murambatsvina’, Zanu-PF reduced significant numbers of MDC supporters on urban voters rolls nationwide. Second, by registering new supporters in Harare and Bulawayo, Zanu-PF is encroaching and building its numbers on turf traditionally held by the opposition MDC.

Zanu-PF knows it has lost the urban vote and it ‘wins’ elections by manipulating the delimitation Commission, comprised mainly of Mugabe’s dreaded Central Intelligence (CIO). This body marks out constituency boundaries according to area population, and in the current status quo ensures at any one time there are more rural than urban constituencies.

The ongoing secret and continuous voter registration is calculated to swell the number of Zanu-PF supporters on the voters roll.

The registration of Zanu-PF supporters in Harare is augmented by the Ministry of Local Government redrawing and extending Harare Province boundaries to include areas previously held by evicted white farmers. In these recently acquired areas, such as Harare South where Zanu-PF holds a parliamentary seat, government has resettled mainly war veterans and Zanu-PF supporters, and is now secretly registering them as voters. Felix Mafa, MDC spokesman for Bulawayo Province asked, “what other evidence of rigging do people need?”

Surprisingly, while in many democracies the citizens voters roll is accessible for voter registration throughout the year, Mugabe maintains a law restricting the voter registration period to one week, and although the law obliges government to advertise the period of voter registration, no adverts have as yet been flighted on state radio and television. This is save for one advert appearing in The Chronicle newspaper, issue of Saturday 16 June, stating that voter registration runs from 17 June to 17 August.

Government is exercising a fraudulent silence and is determined to ensure that mainly Zanu-PF supporters register to vote. Shockingly, Government has sent registration officers to the suburbs, allowing only two days for voter registration, thus excluding hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans from the process and consequently denying them a right to vote.

It is clear to most that Mugabe and Zanu-PF are rigging next years’ elections before voting even starts.

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

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, elections, rigging, electoral fraud, Zanu PF, MDC, voter registration, voting, vote

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On Saturday, July 14, 2007, Brad, Chad and Pete will reunite as DISPATCH for “DISPATCH: ZIMBABWE,” a concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. All of the money raised from ticket sales will go directly to charities that are fighting disease, famine and social injustice in Zimbabwe; a portion will be allocated to local charities that the band supports in the States as well.

Promo

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Visit their blog here to read all about it and to watch their videos. It’s moving stuff.

I am blown away by this!

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Dispatch:Zimbabwe, concert, benefit concert

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Click here to send these to people you know to tell them about what is happening in Zimbabwe.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, economy, action, activism, protest, advocacy, inflation, hyperinflation

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Business utilization is now estimated to be down from 25% of capacity to around 15% as Operation Dzikamai (the business Murambatsvina) continues to hit home.

There are essentially two groups involved in the chaos.

One is made up of presumably Zanu PF supporters who follow police and Price Inspectors. This group appears to have inside knowledge on these raids. They pounce armed with cash and pick up bargains as the store owners are forced to sell at prices below cost.

The second simply survey empty shelves and open comments of derision can now be heard. It seems that the Government propaganda is not winning the war of words.

In Harare, one can now buy most things at “independent” stores but at a huge price. Fuel is selling for between Z$300 000 to 700 0000 per litre, bread up to Z$65 000, 2L cooking oil Z$400 000 and sugar Z$110 000 per 2kg.

It is believed that a good portion of these goods are spoils from the raids conducted by the authorities.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Operation Dzikamai, economy, inflation, hyperinflation, corruption, Zanu PF

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