Update – 15:48 – 31 May: James and Mathew Taylor were released from custody by the Magistrate at Nyamandlovu this morning.  Their case, the illegal occupation of their farm, has been remanded until 14 June.  The Magistrate informed them they could return to their farm, but a policeman warned them they should not as they would be arrested on different charges.

Update -19:38: Mathew Taylor agreed to police demands to clear the farm house this afternoon on condition that he and his father are released.  The police assured him if he complied they would be released.  Mathew was taken by policed detail to the farm, he cleared three rooms and as they were cleared so the the “new owner” packed his own goods into those rooms from trucks that were waiting outside. Mathew carried out this action apparently in a state of great distress. The tragedy is that the police did not hold true to their guarantee and Mathew Taylow has been taken back into the cells at Nyamandlovu.

Update -18:40: We’ve received news that Mathew Taylor has now been taken back to the farm under police escort – apparently to pack up the farm. His father, James Taylor, is still in jail. We reported earlier on James Taylor’s health problems following a stroke, and we have been advised that he is hypotensive, epileptic and diabetic. He is 62 years old and  in frail health.  It is critical to his health that he is kept warm and given the correct diet. We are very concerned because we’ve received word that the police are refusing to provide him with the medication he needs.

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Following the farm invasions in Nyathi and Nkayi districts last week, the action has now moved to Nyamandlovu, also part of the Bubi Umguza constituency. The same farmers who were harassed in January of this year are again under attack. Two of the three are in hiding, but James and Mathew Taylor were both arrested on Friday afternoon for occupying the remaining portion of their land. James Taylor is a stroke victim and his doctor has submitted a medical document to the police warning of the threat to his health, however the police refused to even read the letter.

James Taylor was arrested on Friday lunch time, and when his son heard he immediately went there to take his father his medication and the police then arrested the son. Both were kept in Nyamandlovu police cells over the weekend, but recent reports coming in on Sunday evening have come in, indicating that they have been taken to the farm under police escort to pack up their belongings so as to evacuate. Apparently the younger Taylor in a brief telephone conversation said they have had enough and are giving up. However, the men will be taken back to the police station to be kept in incarceration.

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Chris Kabwato of Zimbabwe in Pictures has written a piece reflecting on race in Zimbabwe, highlighting the way race is politically manpiulated. He titled it “Did Roy Bennett celebrate Africa Day?“. This is what he said:

David James, Ashley Cole, Tom Huddlestone, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, Rio Ferdinand, Emile Heskey, Aaron Lennon, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Jermaine Defoe, Theo Walcott and Darren Bent. What do they have in common? Yes, they are soccer stars. They play for England. No, I should say they are English. And, oh by the way, they are black.

On the other side, Italy has a problem with a young man called Mario Barwuah Balotelli – he loves soccer and he is good at it. He plays for Internazionale Milan and Italy but there is the small matter of his identity. He is black. Now many Italians believe that you can’t be black and Italian. There is, apparently, a fixed definition of “Italianness”.

In Zimbabwe there is a person who cannot be sworn in as a minister of state, not because of any crime he committed, but he is simply the wrong colour. He is white. (more…)

Update: 27 May 2010 – The two members of the gay rights group Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, who were arrested last week after a raid on their offices, were finally released on $200 bail each on Thursday by a magistrate’s court.

Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Muhambi, who are facing charges of ‘insulting the office of the President’ and for allegedly possessing ‘pornographic material’ are expected back in court for their remand hearing on June 10th. Lawyer David Hofisi said they also filed an urgent High Court application to see if the long period they stayed in custody was lawful, and the State now has 10 working days to file opposing papers.(Via SWRA)

ZLHR Press Release – 26 May: Two Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) employees on Wednesday 26 May 2010 alleged that police severely tortured them in their holding cells.

David Hofisi and Dzimbabwe Chimbga, the lawyers representing the two employees Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Mhambi told Harare Magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi that their clients were tortured during their detention in police cells and asked for an investigation into the alleged torture.

Mhambi alleged that police used empty soft drinks bottles to assault him on his knees and forced him to “sit” in a position without a chair or any other tool for a long period. Chademana said the police also forced her to undertake the same action for a long period.

Both detainees allege that they were subjected to assaults all over their bodies.

Hofisi applied for the release of Mhambi and Chademana on bail arguing that the two were suitable candidates for bail. (more…)

Press Release – 26 May 2010 Subsequent to the arrest of Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Muhambi, employees of the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) on charges of “possessing dangerous drugs and pornographic material” on the 21st May 2010, the police have gone further to search the house of Chesterfield Samba, the Director of GALZ. The raid took place this morning (26 May 2010) at 0600hrs. Five police officers from the Zimbabwe Republic Police searched the house and confiscated Mr. Samba’s birth certificate, passport photo, magazines and business cards. Mr. Samba was not present during the ordeal, but the family members there report that the police asked for his whereabouts and when he will return.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Forum) condemns this conduct by the police in the strongest terms. The conduct of the police is unwarranted and is testament of the levels of intolerance within the police force and our government. Further the Forum questions the independence of the police in executing what clearly are political instructions against the gay and lesbian community in Zimbabwe.

The Forum reiterates its calls to all civil society organisations to stand in support of GALZ as fellow comrades in the struggle for human rights, being mindful of the fact that such repression can easily happen to any organisation fighting impunity in this country.

ZLHR Press Release – 24 May: Police on Monday 24 May 2010 pressed fresh charges against two employees of Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), who were arrested last week after the police raided their offices in the capital.

Police on Monday charged Ellen Chademana and Ignatius Muhambi with contravening Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for allegedly undermining the authority of President Robert Mugabe.

The police allege that Chademana and Muhambi displayed a plaque of former San Francisco Mayor Willie Lewis Brown, Jr in their office in which the African-American denounces President Robert Mugabe’s homophobia against gays and lesbians.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) lawyers Dzimbabwe Chimbga, Tawanda Zhuwarara, David Hofisi, who was assisted by Belinda Chinowawa finally managed to secure access to their clients after initially being denied access on Saturday 22 May 2010. (more…)

The images from the Refugee Exhibition co-organised by Solidarity Peace Trust and the Central Methodist Church (Johannesburg) give a real sense of the rocky-road the children who created it wanted their adult audiences to experience for themselves. This  final installation (depicted above) says it all.  The images of the exhibition reveal the children’s real understanding of their difficult circumstances, as well as showing their incredible imaginations and their desire to try and change things. I wish senior figures in the South African government could be made to walk beside their student guides and see this for themselves. I wish our leaders in Zimbabwe could see it too, to show them of the raw talent forced to live in terrible conditions because they, our leaders, have still failed to make Zimbabwe a country that these children and their parents feel confident enough to return to. Click here to see the images for yourself.

Nineteen months on, the Zimbabwean Global Political Agreement (GPA) is still not fully implemented. A new political and economic order – promised by politicians – is still on a distant horizon, and the world media churns out a daily stream of articles describing a political landscape that closely resembles a warring battlefield.

It doesn’t take much to see where the problem lies. A simple analysis of the current state of the country can be done by capturing and cataloguing news articles about the country. For the month of April, a list of seventy-nine articles were selected from the internet media, with the criteria that they each represent a record of a unique event that details a breach of the terms of the GPA. They were then categorised according to nature of breach, and basic statistics drawn from them.

The results – from the month of April 2010 – are staggering. Twenty-two articles (27.8% of the total) detailed cases of violence, intimidation, hate speech and abductions, of which Zanu-PF were accountable for 90.9%. Cases of subversion of legal processes were second with seventeen articles (21.5% of the total), and harassment through the courts of MDC supporters and politicians came in third with 11 articles (13.9% of the total) – of which Zanu-PF was accountable for 100% of both cases. Summarising just these three most significant categories, Zanu-PF were accountable for 60.8% of breaches of the GPA that were recorded for this exercise. Space does not allow us to publish more details in this document, but suffice to say, the remaining 49.2% of breaches recorded are also almost all attributable to Zanu-PF.

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Via Veritas: SI 95/2010, gazetted on 14th May,  extends the deadline for businesses to submit their IDG 01 forms and indigenisation implementation plans. [See Statutory Instrument attached] The original deadline of 15th April was extended to 15th May by Ministerial announcement and SI 95 extends it to 30th June. SI 95 also gives new businesses 75 days in which to submit form IDG 01 and indigenisation plans, in place of the 60 days allowed by the original regulations. It is only after the new deadline elapses, that the Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment [Minister Kasukuwere] can take formal steps to compel non-compliant businesses to submit their forms and plans by serving notice on them to do so. And, it is only when there is non-compliance after notice has been served that a business can be prosecuted [see Bill Watch 17 of 16th April for more detail].

Still No Other Amendments

The amendment agreed between the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] and Minister Kasukuwere has still not been gazetted. This amendment would change the word “cede” in section 3, which was widely perceived as connoting takeover without compensation and which the PLC deemed unconstitutional. Minister Kasukuwere has said the word “cede” had been misconstrued and that what was intended was “a fair transaction where full value is compensated for”. Unless this amendment is made, however, the PLC will return an adverse report, in which case, if both Houses support the PLC report, that section of the regulations will be nullified.

Other amendments that have been talked about, such as increasing the asset threshold of companies to be indigenised, etc, have moved closer to gazetting, with the news that they were being considered by the Cabinet Committee on Legislation on 13th May. A recent statement by the Minister said some amendments may be gazetted by the end of the month but these are not yet at the printers. (more…)