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My tour guide is Gift, 18 years old, with fiercely red eyes that stared out from a gaunt sallow face. Gift is from Nyanga originally, he left school in Form one, and has never had a job. He “works” the streets, the systems, watches cars, cleans cars, buys and sells commodities - and he lives in a ditch.

I have watched Gift grow up from a skinny little kid into even skinnier adulthood. There is a home for street kids in Bulawayo run by a wonderfully caring church group, but after Gift’s initial stay with them, he ran away, preferring the freedom of the streets. We took a trip to his “Home” which is not far from his main haunt - a suburban shopping centre in what was once an affluent residential suburb. Not any more!

Gift’s home comprises a shallow depression behind a fallen log; dead palm fronds, artfully placed, protect his privacy from passers-by. His worldly possessions include a broken bucket, a tiny wire mesh grate, several ragged blankets and various tin cups and plates.

He bathed every day, he told me, in a bucket of cold water from a tap near a hotel where wealthy tourists and businessmen stay during their visits to Zimbabwe. You can smell alcohol on Gift, but in spite of his horrendous living conditions, he also smelled of cheap soap!

Alcohol is his lifeline, he said - alcohol and dagga (cannabis). With these substances he can cope with “being laughed at” he said me sadly. A twist of dagga is easily and readily available for just one rand. Skokiaan is his preferred drink, costing two rands for a “scud”. (Skokiaan most typically refers to a fast brewed ‘home-brew’. It sometimes contains meths.)

We spoke about the cold at nights - Bulawayo had a black frost this week destroying some farm crops and many urban gardens - but Gift says he actually prefers the cold! He explained that during winter the snakes go underground to sleep. Gift is dreadfully afraid of snakes. He burns plastic bags at night to keep his fire going - he tells me that plastic burns for quite a long time. There is never a shortage of plastic bags flying around Bulawayo in spite of the recent “Keep our City Clean” campaign. He also prefers to sleep alone: I gathered from his conversation that something sad in his youth made him a bit of a loner.

Gift is well spoken despite his lack of formal education and happily took me on a tour of some of the town’s darker side.

“There ” he said, “under the bridge, live some bad criminals”. I could see smoke trickling out: I cross that bridge every day and this was the first time I learned that anyone lived underneath it! He introduced me to his friend Colin who lives nearby in similar lodgings. Colin is disabled both mentally and physically, and just nods slowly, his tiny face moving slowly from side to side: like a captive creature he shifts his weight constantly from one foot to the other.

Axes for sale

We progressed to the Railway Station area where there were groups of men gathered together in the sparse sunlight, garnering what little warmth they could from the suns rays, to prepare for the cold night ahead. There was no one sleeping on the pavements yet (during the day they are moved off) but as night falls, dozens of Bulawayo’s homeless return to what is possibly the only home they have ever known.

Gift prefers his own quarters, he does not partake of the soup kitchen so valiantly run by that amazing man Ben Strydom. “People laugh at me” he says, “they say I am young and I should get a job”. Unemployment runs at 90% in Zimbabwe: where on earth would he get a job he asks?

I wondered about his preoccupation and fear of “being laughed at” …..?

As we tour the city I take cognisance of all the small ways in which the unemployed were eking out a living: there outside the post office is a man who mends shoes. People were sitting on the pavement waiting while he repaired their shoes. A new sole here, a new strap here, a bottle of glue, a strip of leather, a few nails and he has a business! It was ingenious people like him who bore the brunt of Mugabe’s terrible Operation Murambatsvina.

Scanias for hire

There were dozens of scanias (push carts) littering the city, many of the owners lay dozing in the warm sun because their scania rental business has dropped since the initial flurry of forex has been spent. In more profitable times, these scanias would collect your goods from the railway station, move house for you, carry your goods from the market or the shop, all for a small fee.

Corner shop

Almost every street corner has a tiny shop consisiting of a cardboard box on which neat rows of sweets, cigarettes, oranges or tomatoes are arranged.

‘Juice-up’ guy

Every corner and traffic light also features a “Juice Up” man or woman - cards to top-up one’s cell phones can be purchased from the ‘juice-up’ man. For a tiny country we have an inordinate amount of cell phone providers!

We then came across Gift’s friend Cephas who sells apples. Cephas is twelve years old, he goes to school, but his mother is ill and so his afternoons are spent touting his apples around from corner to corner. Cephas does not like to just sit and sell, he likes to actually market his goods.

Cephas

He has a bottle of water with which he washes the apples and keeps them nice and glistening and they look deliciously appealing! The bruised sides are kept facing downwards. Two rand buys you a Granny Smith apple! Cephas tells me he sometimes earns seventy rand a day clear profit !

I took Gift back “Home” as dusk fell; he needed to cook before the sun went down. He promised that if I gave him some money he would not spend it on dagga or skokiaan, but would look for some warm accommodation.

According to the weather-man, the temperature would be reaching three degrees Celsius tonight.

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The second report released yesterday by the Solidarity Peace Trust is titled  ‘Gone to Egoli’. Download the full report from the SPT website, or from Sokwanele’s document archive.

Executive Summary

There is not much likelihood that the formal economy in Zimbabwe will recover any time soon. It is likely to take over a decade before industry begins to recover in any meaningful way, and in the interim, Zimbabwe will continue to lose her youth to the diaspora, and those left behind will struggle to survive. Particularly in rural areas, grinding poverty is likely to be a factor for the indefinite future.

Diasporisation is escalating exponentially, with our sample families reporting a one hundred fold increase in the rate at which family members are leaving, between 1990 and 2009. However, there is not proving to be a corresponding return in remittances for rural families in Matabeleland.

While 59% of Zimbabweans in the diaspora are under the age of 30, only 4% of these send goods or money home on a regular basis – three times a year or more. Goods and money sent home do not lift families out of desperate poverty. 76% of families with members in the diaspora received NO money at all in 2008, and many of the remaining 34% received less than R100 a month. Goods sent home could amount to as little as 2 kg of sugar. When asked to describe the impact of having family members abroad, only 20% spoke of remittances. Most people referred to death, disease, criminal habits, broken marriages and diaspora orphans.

Families have been driven to bartering in the almost total absence of foreign exchange and goods for sale in rural areas. This has been ruthlessly exploited by the unscrupulous and at the end of last year, people in some parts of Matabeleland had to barter cows for 50kg maize meal each. Urban families have also resorted to barter as poverty overwhelms them.

The prospects are bleak for Zimbabwe’s poorest citizens, and for the nation’s youth. The next few years are unlikely to see the massive growth nationally that is needed to create the jobs that could change this reality. What is more likely, is that Zimbabweans will continue to stream across the borders – to be confronted in turn with the hardship of life on the streets in South Africa. Zimbabwe’s poor are getting poorer, and the degree to which remittances from abroad can mitigate against this, has been overestimated when judged against the findings of this study.

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Solidarity Peace Trust released two new reports yesterday. Download ‘Walking a thin line’ from the SPT website, or from Sokwanele’s document archive.

Executive Summary

The Global Political Agreement signed on 15th September 2008 was an uneasy compromise between the two MDCs and Zanu PF, and was the result of a combination of factors: the weakening of both Zanu PF and the opposition, together with the social and civic forces that supported the MDCs; the disastrous economic and humanitarian descent in the country; pressure from SADC; and growing international isolation of the Mugabe regime. Moreover while for Zanu PF the GPA was a modality to claw its way out of the economic crisis and to begin a normalistion of international relations, the MDCs accepted the agreement as their only viable route to power, and a vital opportunity to begin a process of national political and economic revival.

The Transitional Government will continue to manifest the challenges of the Zimbabwe crisis, demonstrating the complexity of the national, regional and international dimensions of the situation. The new government has to face the challenges of dealing with overlapping legacies of colonial inequalities and post-colonial authoritarian rule, while attending to the post Cold War demands of North-South relations. In such a context the wrong forms of international interventions could well encourage divisions in the democratic movement, as well as a new convergence around nationalist questions of sovereignty across party lines, in the face of mounting frustrations caused by limited international support. In the absence of sound alternatives to the current political arrangement, the slow international response to the needs of the new government could strengthen the hand of the more regressive elements of the ruling party in the military and security, while frustrating the democratic forces within the transitional state. This risks around limited engagement with the transitional arrangement are much greater that a more substantive engagement by the international community.

A major obstacle to the GPA has been the continued failure of the new government to create a situation in Zimbabwe where there is total respects for human rights and the rule of law, notwithstanding the fact that the scale of harassment of civic and opposition members has been reduced from the extreme repression of 2008. The international community is unlikely to engage with any meaningful financial assistance until there is a clear return to the rule of law, respect for property rights and the genuine opening up of the media. However, the failure of the international community to engage could well threaten the fragile state of the GPA, which if it were to collapse, would lead to another round of violence and repression.

An uneasy calm prevails in some parts of the country, while in others tensions remain high in the wake of the horrific violence of 2008. This serves to underline the need for healing in Zimbabwe and it is commendable that a Ministry of National Healing has been established. There is need for this organ to allow for the encompassing of a variety of approaches. It is unlikely that the compromised space of the GPA will allow for high level prosecutions or for the establishment of an effective truth commission, but debates about the future possibility of such processes should begin. To facilitate such processes and to deepen democratic debate in the country media reform needs to be speeded up.

Access to Humanitarian resources and coping strategies in Matabeleland.

In focusing on the access to humanitarian resources and the coping strategies in one part of the country, Matabeleland, the following major findings were recorded:

• In 2008 families were largely excluded from access to both health and education. While over the last six months there has been some improvement in access to education, and some erratic improvement in rural clinic delivery, the situation in rural Zimbabwe in 2009 remains generally dire.
• The majority of families interviewed (65%) have not harvested more than a few months of grain, and will be in need of donor food relief again by September 2009. This food security is already being undermined by the fact that families in rural Zimbabwe do not have access to foreign exchange, meaning that they are being forced to pay school fees, bus fares and grinding mill fees with their meager harvests. Bartering and the loss of able-bodied people to the Diaspora continue to impoverish rural Zimbabweans, increasing the already heavy burden on female-headed households.
• Because most rural families have little or no access to foreign exchange, it is not financially viable for small business owners in rural business centres to restock, given the limits of the local market.
• Political violence is not apparent in rural Matabeleland. Democratic spaces have opened up and people are able to meet more freely and debate contentious issues without interference. However in Bulawayo itself problems persist, with students and members of WOZA arrested and assaulted this year when conducting peaceful demonstrations.

Recommendations

1. One of the central factors in ensuring the success of the GPA is to put in place economic policies that will provide more security of livelihoods for Zimbabwean citizens. This can only be done though a combination of effective mobilisation of national resources, with support from SADC and the international community.
2. It is vital for the international donor community to carefully calibrate its interventions with the transitional government. The current humanitarian interventions must be complemented by key developmental support in order to assist in developing the material basis for a national reconciliation process in Zimbabwe.
3. Conditions for international support must be based on the benchmarks set by the transitional government itself, which must in turn be based on the central democratic demands of the GPA.
4. There must be a more open debate within the democratic forces in the country over the continued basis for Sanctions in the current context. There are too many mixed messages emerging around this problem.
5. Continued ways must be found to fund the transitional government without at the same time perpetuating the dual authority in the current state structures, which have the potential to provide the more regressive actors in Zanu PF with basis to derail the GPA.
6. Strong steps must be taken by the guarantors of the GPA, SADC and the AU, to ensure that the democratic and human rights reforms of the GPA are implemented with greater speed. The continued abrogation of the elements of the GPA by the ruling party must come under censor.
7. All parties to the agreement must ensure the constitutional review process is not hindered by the obstructive interventions of any party to the agreement, and that, as much as possible within the framework of the GPA, the concerns of civil society are attended to around this process.
8. From the findings of the Diaspora study it is clear that many families in the rural areas are not being sustained by remittances. This adds urgency to the need for sustainable economic reforms that will provide greater security for the livelihoods of the majority of Zimbabweans.

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The video footage above shows sewage freely flowing along the perimeter of Lobengula Primary school (Bulawayo) - you can hear children shouting and playing near-by in the background.

It’s cool and dry in Zimbabwe at the moment, but when the rainy season ensues, and the weather turns hot, the threat of a massive cholera epidemic looms large again. This footage, and the images included in this post, clearly show that unhygenic conditions persist.

Rubbish left uncollected alongside a road in Makokoba, a high density residential area

Rubbish left uncollected alongside the road in Makokoba

ZimOnline, in an article titled ‘Zim at risk of more deadly cholera outbreak’, noted that health professionals are still very concerned about the health risk facing Zimbabweans, “chiefly because underlying causes remained unattended to“:

Zimbabwe remains at risk of a fresh and more deadly outbreak of cholera once the next rainy season starts in about five months time, health experts have said, adding that the infectious disease had become endemic in a country where sewer and water facilities broke down years ago.

International relief agencies and local health officials who coordinated efforts to combat a cholera outbreak that began last August and was only brought under control several weeks ago, said the disease could probably not be completely eradicated in the near future chiefly because underlying causes remained unattended to.

“We are afraid that we will have a resurfacing of cholera once the first rains start,” UNICEF communications officer Tsitsi Singizi told ZimOnline in an interview.

“Water supplies are still erratic in areas such as Budiriro and Glen View (Harare suburbs), which were the epicentres of the cholera outbreak. Sewage is still flowing in and the government must repair infrastructure and correct the water supply,” said Singizi.

Backed up sewage system pushes sewer contents to the toilet surface

The still images in this post were taken in Makokoba, one of Bulawayo’s oldest high density areas. Bulawayo was the province least affected by the cholera epidemic, reporting a total of 445 cases to date (Harare reported 19,550 cases and Mashonaland West was the worst affected with 22,753 cases). Nevertheless, conditions in Makokoba are dire.

Overflowing sewer

Children playing near overflowing sewage

Even though Bulawayo was less affected by the epidemic than other regions, the health conditions in Makokoba are horrific. It is a densely populated area with many of blocks of flats built creating the type of environment where disease can rapidly spread.

Makokoba is a densely populated area.

The latest report from the World Health Organisation (7-13 June 2009) on the cholera crisis in Zimbabwe quantifies the crisis since the cholera epidemic started in August 2008:

Since August 2008

• 55 out of the 62 districts (89%) in the country have been affected by the ongoing cholera epidemic

• 98,531 suspected cholera cases and 4,282 deaths have been reported by 13th of June 2009 to the World Health Organization (WHO) through the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare’s (MoHCW) surveillance department.

• The crude case fatality since the outbreak started still stands at 4.3% (61.4% of the mortality being community deaths).

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Allegations against the MP are that he and two other MDC supporters kidnapped a 13 year-old girl in his constituency during the run-up to the 27 June, 2008 presidential run-off.

Two and a half years of the sentence were suspended.

Hon. Mudiwa, today filed papers at the Mutare Magistrates’ Courts appealing against his imprisonment.

The MDC views the sentencing of Hon. Mudiwa as an attempt by Zanu PF and other retrogressive forces in the inclusive government to whittle down the party’s majority in parliament.

The MDC is the majority party in parliament after winning 100 seats in the House of Assembly in 29 March 2008 harmonised elections.

Several other MDC MPs are also facing trumped-up charges on various allegations.

Sokwanele note: Veritas warned that MDC-T MP seats could be under threat. Read our earlier blog post here -
MDC-T Parliamentary Seats Under Threat - Veritas

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The Police in Johannesburg have introduced the stop and search operation which only sees it targeting foreigners. This is suppose to be a good move because it was introduced to offer safety for the Confederations Cup (soccer) that is underway and 2010 World Cup that is to be held next year but the police are abusing the move for their personal gains.

Everyday I move around because I am not working. It is difficult for some South Africans to get a job in their country, but more for us as foreigners. The law here in South Africa allows companies to give first preference to locals and later it may be given to foreigners. So to get employment is just like trying to match lotto numbers, very difficult.

One day when I was going to watch a match in Joubert Park where there is a big television screen for everybody to watch for free, it was Bafana Bafana playing against Iraq. Bafana Bafana is the name given to the South African football squad.

I met three guys, so they showed me their police cards and demanded to search me. Since they were police I accepted and they did their work very fast. When they finished, I think they wanted unlicensed guns because here in Johannesburg robbers carry guns. They asked me questions like where am I going, what is your name only to identify which language to speak. They know that most of those who speak Zulu here in Johannesburg chances are high to be Zimbabwean. I am very fluent in Zulu because Zulu and Ndebele are almost the same and I have spent seven years here in South Africa of which the two years I was in KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.

I was then asked to produce identification; I did not have it because if you always carry the asylum it will be torn very fast because of the paper is not very strong. One of them asked me what am I saying and I knew he wanted money for bribe because I didn’t have my document at hand. I asked them to take me to the flat where I stay which was less than a kilometre away and they said cannot do that. They will rather arrest me and deport me in Zimbabwe.

I’m used to them and I know their tricks and know my rights. Those who do not know their rights became frightened, pay bribes and if they don’t they sometimes spend the whole day in the police car, others get beaten and cell phones taken by police. When they find out you really do not have the money they take you to the charge office and you will be charged with loitering.

I was taken inside the car and for four hours we were moving around and the car was full. Those with relatives who call and claim they have the money, the police will drive there to take the money. Those who bring the money they are not asked for identification I think because they are good ‘clients. They went around with us up until the match was finished at eight o’clock and now we were just two in the car and the police looked very happy, I think because they had money. People who pay bribes they pay amounts ranging from R200 to R300 for not having documentation and other criminal cases are higher depending on the case and how you talk to them.

We were about twenty and I believe the three policeman received R1 500 to R2 000 from us. They asked us separately where we stay and they just delivered us to our places. There my daughter was surprised about me. Before I went to watch the match I left her with her friends who stays with their Mum and it was time to sleep and they had to wait for me not knowing when I will come. They did not call me because they are also having no money at all.

Everyone who is not South African and having no proper documents and are scared to be deported back to their home country pay bribes and those with proper documents like asylum and permits are arrested and charged with loitering and released the next day. I understand some police know where the foreigners stay so every month end they come to collect the bribe. They say the bribe is called inhlalakahle a Zulu or Ndebele name meaning stay well. Those who pay inhlalakahle even if they are arrested in anywhere by other police they phone their own police to come to talk to the other police and they are released.

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Background

On 30 September 2007 at Kariba, the Minister of Justice and the Secretaries-General of the two MDC formations agreed upon a draft Constitution to replace the present Constitution of Zimbabwe. The draft, which is known as the Kariba Draft, was the culmination of secret negotiations between the parties sponsored by the then President of South Africa, Mr Mbeki. The draft was never implemented but in Article 6 of the Inter-party Political Agreement [IPA], which deals with the constitution-making process, the parties “acknowledged” it and it was an annexure to the IPA.

MDC-T Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Eric Mr Matinenga has said that the Kariba Draft is one of several draft constitutions that will be made available for reference, but he also said “Nobody owns the Kariba Draft and it is where it belongs – Kariba”. At its extraordinary National Executive meeting on Tuesday, the MDC resolved “to reject any attempts to have the Kariba draft, one of many drafts available, adopted as the Alpha and Omega of the constitution-making process”.

Mr Mugabe has insisted that the Kariba Draft should form the basis on which the new constitution is drafted and it was reported this week in the Independent that “the Zanu PF politburo recently tasked Minister of Women’s Affairs Olivia Muchena to go to the Parliamentary Select Committee to enforce the Kariba draft as the reference document”.

MDC-M are sticking to the principle that the parties to the IPA agreed that the Kariba Draft would be the working document that would be put to the people.

Basis of Kariba Draft

Although the Kariba Draft is to some extent based on the Government Constitutional Commission Draft Constitution, which was rejected in a Referendum held in 2000, it gives the President more powers than this rejected Government Draft did. It was very largely because of the excessive Presidential powers in the present Constitution that there was a popular drive for a new constitution culminating in the National Constitutional Assembly [NCA]’s proposed Constitution in 1999. The NCA process stimulated the Government into setting up its own parallel constitution-making process. The Government Commission’s Draft was rejected in the 2000 Referendum, largely because (a) it was mistrusted as emerging from a government driven process and (b) it did not reduce the President’s powers sufficiently. It is going backwards to base the present constitution-making process on the Kariba Draft, which embodies fewer democratic principles than the rejected Government Draft Constitution.

The Presidency

There is to be an executive President, as at present, elected in a country-wide election. A President will be limited to two five-year terms, but tenure as President before the draft constitution comes into effect will not be counted, so Mr Mugabe will be eligible to continue in office for another 10 years.

There will be up to two Vice-Presidents appointed by the President, as under the present Constitution and they will hold office at the pleasure of the President. They will act for the President in his absence and in the event of his death or incapacity one of them will act as President for up to 90 days, whereupon both Houses of Parliament acting together will elect someone to be President until the end of the former President’s unexpired term of office.

The President will have extensive executive powers. Acting in his own discretion [i.e. without having to seek advice from anyone] he will be able to:

• prorogue [adjourn] and dissolve Parliament;

• appoint and dismiss Vice-Presidents, Ministers and Deputy Ministers and assign functions to them;

• appoint “other public officers”;

• appoint and receive diplomats, and conclude and execute treaties;

• call referendums; and

• deploy the armed forces outside Zimbabwe.

Everything else he will have to do on the advice of the Cabinet. [His powers under the rejected Government Constitutional Commission draft were more limited: acting in his own discretion under that draft he could only prorogue and dissolve Parliament and appoint a Prime Minister.]

The President’s power to declare a state of emergency is much the same as under the present Constitution, but it will last for only three months, as opposed to six months at present, before having to be renewed; and the President will have to get Parliament’s approval within 14 days. [Under the rejected Government Constitutional Commission draft the President had only 7 days to get approval.]

President Appoints Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Cabinet

As under the present Constitution, there will be Ministers and Deputy Ministers appointed by the President in his absolute discretion from members of Parliament. It may be noted that under the rejected Government Constitutional Commission draft Ministers were to be appointed on the advice of the Prime Minister and there were to be no Deputy Ministers. Again as at present, there will be no limit to the number of Ministers and Deputy Ministers that the President may appoint [though under the rejected Government Constitutional Commission Draft there were to be only 20 Ministers unless Parliament, by a two-thirds majority, agreed to more.] The office of Prime Minister [which would have been provided for under the rejected Government Constitutional Commission Draft] has no place in the Kariba draft. The Cabinet, as under the present Constitution, will be presided over by the President or a Vice-President [in the rejected Government Constitutional Commission Draft the Prime Minister would have presided.] [Note under the IPA and the present Constitution there is provision for a Prime Minister and for certain presidential decisions to be taken in agreement with the Prime Minister. This would obviously fall away if the Kariba Draft Constitution is adopted, as there would not be a Prime Minister.]

Presidential Powers vis a vis Parliament

The President will have to summon Parliament within 21 days after a general election, but apart from that, the position will be the same as under the present Constitution: the President will have power to summon, dissolve or prorogue Parliament.

Presidential Powers vis a vis Judges

The Chief Justice and the Deputy Chief Justice will be appointed by the President after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission; the President will appoint other judges from lists of nominees drawn up by the Commission. [Under the rejected Government Constitutional Commission Draft, the appointment of all judges would have been subject to approval by the Senate.] It should be noted, moreover, that in the Kariba Draft the Judicial Service Commission will consist almost entirely of presidential appointees: the Chief Justice, the Judge President, the Minister of Justice, the Attorney-General, a nominee of the Public Service Commission and six other members appointed by the President in his own discretion. [Under the rejected Government Constitutional Commission draft, the other members would have been appointed by the President on the advice of Cabinet and with the approval of the Senate.]

Presidential Powers vis a vis Attorney-General

The Attorney-General and Deputy Attorney-General are to be appointed by the President after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission, as under the present Constitution, and the Attorney-General will continue to be a non-voting member of the Cabinet and Parliament. [In the rejected Government Constitutional Commission draft, the Attorney-General would have been appointed on the advice of Cabinet and with the approval of the Senate.]

Presidential Powers vis a vis Service Commissions

The Public Service Commission will consist of a chairperson appointed by the President in his own discretion, and up to seven other members appointed by him with the approval of the Senate. [In the rejected Government Constitutional Commission draft, the appointment of all the members would have been on the advice of the Cabinet and would have required approval from the Senate.] The other service commissions — the Defence Forces, Police and Prison Service Commissions — will all consist of the chairperson of the Public Service Commission and other members appointed by the President in his discretion.

Presidential Powers vis a vis Security Forces

The officers commanding the Defence Forces, the Police Service and the Prison Service will all be appointed by the President in his own discretion, though in the case of the Commander of the Defence Forces he will have to consult the Defence Forces Service Commission and the Minister of Defence. The President will be able to deploy the Defence Forces outside Zimbabwe in his absolute discretion [at the moment he has to consult with Cabinet] but the deployment will be subject to later ratification by both Houses of Parliament.

Presidential Powers vis a vis Independent Commissions

The composition and functions of these Commissions — the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Human Rights Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission and Media Commission – will be the same as under the present Constitution, as amended by Constitution Amendment No. 19. It should be noted, though, that under the Kariba draft the chairpersons of the Electoral and Human Rights Commissions will be appointed by the President in his own discretion, after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission and the parliamentary Committee on Standing Rules and Orders. [In the rejected Government Constitutional Commission Draft, by contrast, all the members of the Commissions would have been appointed by the President on the advice of Cabinet and with the approval of the Senate, and the Media Commission would have been established under an Act of Parliament.]

[Rejected Government Constitution Commission Draft Constitution put to the Referendum in 2000 available on request]

The Kariba Draft and Dual Citizenship

Not related to Presidential powers, but of great interest – to those in the Diaspora in particular – is the question of dual citizenship. Again, the provisions relating to citizenship are essentially the same as those in the present Constitution. There is no provision permitting dual citizenship. As in the present constitution the question of dual citizenship is left to be regulated by the Citizenship Act, which at the moment forbids it.

Via Veritas mailing list

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Human Rights Watch have released a report today into the abuse of human rights in the Marange Diamond Fields in Zimbabwe. It’s a damning report, highlighting the central involvement of the military in the diamond mines and accusing them of being involved in a litany of abuses, including forced child labour and the torture and abuse of villagers living in the area (who are also forced to work in the fields). The report’s summary (included in full below) also raises hard questions for the new power sharing government. It says:

While Zimbabwe’s new power-sharing government, formed in February 2009, now lobbies the world for development aid, millions of dollars in potential government revenue are being siphoned off through illegal diamond mining, smuggling of gemstones outside the country, and corruption. The new government could generate significant amounts of revenue from the diamonds, perhaps as much as US$200 million per month, if Marange and other mining centers were managed in a transparent and accountable manner. This revenue could fund a significant portion of the new government’s economic recovery program, which would benefit ordinary villagers like the residents of Marange.

You can download the report from the Human Rights Watch website here, or from where we have archived it on the Sokwanele website here.

Please use our e-card to spread the word about the abuses taking place. It’s a national disgrace.

Report Summary

Zimbabwe’s armed forces, under the control of President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), are engaging in forced labor of children and adults and are torturing and beating local villagers on the diamond fields of Marange district. The military seized control of these diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe after killing more than 200 people in Chiadzwa, a previously peaceful but impoverished part of Marange, in late October 2008. With the complicity of ZANU-PF, Marange has become a zone of lawlessness and impunity, a microcosm of the chaos and desperation that currently pervade Zimbabwe.

The military’s violent takeover of the Marange diamond fields in October 2008 occurred one month after ZANU-PF agreed to share power with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the opposition party that won the March 2008 elections. The contested vote precipitated a political crisis and period of rampant human rights abuses by ZANU-PF against members of the opposition.1 The seizure of the diamond fields took place amidst a major economic crisis in Zimbabwe, caused largely by the failed policies of ZANU-PF, which resulted in astronomical inflation, rampant unemployment, the unchecked spread of disease, and massive food insecurity.

In this context, army brigades have been rotated into Marange to ensure that key front-line units have an opportunity to benefit from the diamond trade. Soldiers have bullied and threatened miners and other civilians into forming syndicates so that the soldiers can control diamond mining and trade in Marange. The enrichment of soldiers serves to mollify a constituency whose loyalty to ZANU-PF, in the context of ongoing political strife, is essential. The deployment of the military in Marange also ensures access to mining revenue by senior members of ZANU-PF and the army. Human Rights Watch believes that money from illegal diamond trading is likely to be a significant source of revenue for senior figures in ZANU-PF, which has either failed to or decided not to effectively regulate the diamond fields while exploiting the absence of clear legal ownership of the gemstones.

Diamonds were discovered in Marange in June 2006, and ZANU-PF effectively encouraged a diamond rush by declaring the fields open to anyone to mine. By November 2006, however, a nationwide police operation was launched to clamp down on illegal mining across the country, including in Marange. Police assumed control of the diamond fields; but, rather than halt illegal mining and trade, they exacerbated and exploited the lawlessness on the fields. Police officers were responsible for serious abuses—including killings, torture, beatings, and harassment—often by so-called “reaction teams” deployed to drive out illegal miners. Miners described colleagues being buried alive. A police officer working with a reaction team told Human Rights Watch of orders from senior officers to “shoot on sight” miners found in the fields. Villagers described arbitrary arrests, beatings, and harassment that by May 2008 had swamped a local prison with 1,600 prisoners, 1,300 more than its capacity.

With policing disintegrating into anarchy, the army operation called Operation Hakudzokwi (No Return), which started on October 27, 2008, appears to have been designed both to restore a degree of order and to allow key army units access to riches at a time when inflation in Zimbabwe was astronomically high and the country teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. Military operations over a three-week period involved indiscriminate fire against miners at work and people in their villages. Between November 1 and November 12, 107 bodies, many with visible bullet wounds, were brought from Marange to the morgue at Mutare Hospital. Overcrowded, the hospital eventually had to turn away trucks carrying more bodies. One man described to Human Rights Watch the extrajudicial execution of his brother on November 14—shot in the back of the head by soldiers who had accused him of being an illegal miner. Scores of miners and diamond traders were tortured and beaten, and at least 80 villagers from Muchena were beaten by soldiers demanding to know the identities and whereabouts of local illegal miners.

With control established, the army rapidly turned to forming syndicates, often using forced labor, including of children. A miner described to Human Rights Watch how his syndicate was cheated by the soldiers who formed it—when the men decided to abandon work, soldiers shot them, leading to the death of one man and the maiming of another. Children describe being made to carry diamond ore, working up to 11 hours per day with no reward. One local lawyer has estimated that up to 300 children continue to work for soldiers in the diamond fields.

While Zimbabwe’s new power-sharing government, formed in February 2009, now lobbies the world for development aid, millions of dollars in potential government revenue are being siphoned off through illegal diamond mining, smuggling of gemstones outside the country, and corruption. The new government could generate significant amounts of revenue from the diamonds, perhaps as much as US$200 million per month, if Marange and other mining centers were managed in a transparent and accountable manner. This revenue could fund a significant portion of the new government’s economic recovery program, which would benefit ordinary villagers like the residents of Marange.

Human Rights Watch calls on the power-sharing government of Zimbabwe to remove the military from Marange, restore security responsibilities to the police, and ensure that the police abide by internationally recognized standards of law enforcement and the use of lethal force. The power-sharing government should appoint a local police oversight committee consisting of all relevant stakeholders, launch an impartial and independent investigation into the serious human rights abuses committed there, and hold accountable all those found to be responsible for abuses. Members of the army and police who have committed abuses should also face disciplinary action for their crimes. The new Zimbabwe government should strengthen resource accountability by allowing greater transparency in how mining revenues are derived, permitting public scrutiny of the allocation of that revenue, and protecting the basic civil and political, as well as economic and social, rights of its citizens.

As a formal participant in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS)—an international scheme governing the global diamond industry—Zimbabwe has a responsibility to immediately end the smuggling, corruption, and abuses that are taking place in Marange and ensure effective internal control over its diamond industry. Members of the KPCS should demand that Zimbabwe comply with the scheme’s minimum standards, which include stopping the smuggling of diamonds from Zimbabwe, bringing Marange diamond fields under effective legal control, and ensuring that all diamonds from Marange are lawfully mined, documented, and exported with relevant valid Kimberley Process (KP) certificates. The KPCS should take urgent measures to audit the Zimbabwean mining sector, ensure that individuals involved in smuggling return their ill-gotten gains, and act to prevent any further abuse in both the extraction and onward sales of Marange diamonds.

The Kimberley Process emerged out of a concern that rebel groups in West Africa in the 1990s were engaged in the mining and trade of conflict diamonds, which provided the groups with revenue and permitted them to commit abuses against civilians. Human rights concerns are implicit in the KPCS mandate, but that mandate has been too narrowly construed by its members. Human Rights Watch calls on the KPCS to broaden its remit to include serious and systematic abuses, not only by rebel groups in conflict, but also by other agencies, including governmental bodies. The abuses committed by Zimbabwe’s police and army did not occur in armed conflict, but they are as serious as those the Kimberley Process was designed to address; for that reason, KPCS members should classify Marange diamonds as “conflict diamonds.”

Human Rights Watch recommends that the KPCS suspend Zimbabwe from participation in the Kimberley Process on account of the horrific human rights abuses in Marange and the lack of effective official Zimbabwean oversight of its diamond industry. It should also place an immediate, temporary halt on the extraction and trade of Marange diamonds. The KPCS should bar Zimbabwe from exporting Marange diamonds and ban the importation of Marange diamonds by its members until the government of Zimbabwe has ended human rights abuses in Marange and has regulated the diamond fields in ways that stop smuggling. Regulation of the diamond fields should include settling the question of legal title and ensuring that only those properly licensed are allowed to mine diamonds.

Finally, as a member of the KPCS and as a regional political power, South Africa also has an important role to play. Its own huge diamond industry is at serious risk of being tainted if illegal diamonds from Marange are indeed being sold alongside South Africa’s domestically produced diamonds. Human Rights Watch calls on South Africa, both individually and as a member of the KPCS, to prevent the entry of tainted precious stones from Zimbabwe and to encourage the transparency and accountability of Zimbabwe’s diamond industry.

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Provincial consultative meetings for input into the agenda of and selection of delegates to the First All-Stakeholders Conference are taking place around the country. 27th June at 10 am – in Bulawayo, Lupane, Gweru, Masvingo and Gwanda . Venues are being advertised in the press - The Chronicle listed the City Hall for Bulawayo’s venue.

Please spread the word to everyone.

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Many industries have now moved onto short working weeks and some larger enterprises work alternate weeks. Demand for goods is increasing but the financial squeeze continues to deny industry the chance to re-stock and re-finance. The wrangle over exorbitant utility bills continues further reducing the competitiveness of Zimbabwean business within the region.

Margins are slender within the prevailing forex driven market conditions. Previously the Zim Dollar provided the luxury of trading in conditions which allowed a lot of room for manoeuvre.

Business has raised concerns about the increase in fuel prices which do not correspond with world oil price rises. This is having a very negative effect on the ability of local companies to compete as such costs make up a considerable proportion of the value of the end product. Prices have risen from USD 0.65/l in February to USD 1.30 now and rumoured to go to USD 1.60 USD.

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From the SILVERDOCS website:

This year’s SILVERDOCS Sterling Award for a World Feature goes to MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN directed by Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson, which explores, through the lens of a 74-year-old white farmer, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s deeply controversial land seizure program, which intended to re-distribute white-owned farmland. The director will receive $10,000 cash.

The Jury noted: “The three of us on the International Jury have very different backgrounds, sensitivities and outlooks. But all three of us were totally unanimous in our verdict. Our chosen film displays a moral conviction which grew from the vision behind it, became an integral part of the trusting relationship between the contributors and the filmmakers, and that powerfully elevates a resonant story to a global stage. We want to commend the filmmaking team for the physical risks they took in their relentless pursuit of this story, and for having the wisdom and humility to simply give their characters the freedom to intimately express anguish, doubt and resolve.” (Link to SILVERDOCS website).

Read more about this documentary on our earlier blog here: “Mugabe and the White African”

Archived blogs on Mount Carmel Farm

• Tonight is going to be a tense night: an update on Mount Carmel Farm - 11 June 2009
• Invasion into our house - Ben Freeth - 28 May 2009
• Flagrant violation of the rule of law on Mount Carmel farm - 16 April 2009
• “Mugabe and the White African” - 3 April 2009
• Zimbabwean farm evictions escalate despite the GPA - 18 March 2009
• CIO operative tells farm owners that the ‘President is the law’ - 10 March 2009
• Invasion of Mount Carmel Farm, Chegutu area, Mashonaland West - 25 February 2009
• SADC Tribunal to deliver landmark judgement on Zim farmers’ test case - 28 November 2008
• Zanu-PF regime’s legal team walks out of the SADC Tribunal hearing - 18 July 2008
• Zimbabwean farm hearing due tomorrow in Windhoek: considered a test case for the rule of law in the SADC region - 15 July 2008
• Abducted and tortured while Mugabe was being inaugurated - 30 June 2008
• Updated 30 June ~ 10.15 - Action Alert : Farm attacks taking place in Chegutu today - 29 June 2008

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Mathias Mlambo, MP for Chipinge East – sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment for obstructing the course of justice. He has been granted bail pending the hearing of his appeal. His suspension as an MP continues despite his release on bail [Constitution, section 42].

Shuwa Mudiwa, MP for Mutare West – in prison awaiting sentencing on 27th June on a charge of kidnapping. His lawyers have already said the conviction will be challenged in the High Court, claiming the charge is unfounded and politically motivated. As the maximum sentence for kidnapping is imprisonment for life, so a sentence of more than 6 months is conceivable – which would mean suspension and, depending on the result of the appeal, possible loss of seat for Mr Mudiwa.

Meki Makuyana, MP for Chipinge South – on trial for kidnapping.

Blessing Chebundo, MP for Kwekwe Central – arrested on a charge of rape and on bail awaiting trial. [The maximum sentence for rape is imprisonment for life.]

Trevor Saruwaka, MP for Mutasa Central – facing political violence charges.

Senator Roy Bennett – due in court on 1st July on charges of possessing arms of war [which might also attract a heavy sentence in the event of a conviction].

Lynette Karenyi, MP for Chimanimani West’s case is slightly different – her right to the seat is being challenged in a High Court civil case by her March 2008 ZANU-PF opponent, on the basis of her conviction for involvement in the forgery of a nominator’s signature on her nomination paper [the sentence imposed was insufficient to trigger section 42 of the Constitution].

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Concillia Chinanzvavana, the MDC Mashonaland West province Women Assembly chairperson, 72-year old Fidelis Chiramba, Zvimba South district chairperson, Violet Mupfuranhewe, district Women’s Assembly secretary and Collen Mutemagawu, district youth chairperson are facing trumped-up charges of banditry.

The trial of the four started on 6 June 2009 but the MDC lawyers filed a petition to refer the case to the Constitutional Court because the rights of the accused had been violated. The lawyers argued that before the accused’s trial proceeds, the Supreme Court must deal with their abduction and subsequent torture.

The lawyers also wanted the Constitutional Court to determine whether or not the abductees’ abduction constituted lawful deprivation of liberty.

The MDC applauds today’s ruling as this will give the abductees an opportunity to give testimony on how they were abducted and mistreated at the hands of the then Zanu PF regime before their trial resumes at the High Court.

The Supreme Court case will expose those residual elements in Zanu PF and in the inclusive government who are working everyday to undermine the rule of law by continuing to abduct and torture innocent people.

The four activists are among 40 MDC and civil society activists, including two year-old Nigel Mutemagau, who were abducted by State security agents on trumped-up charges of banditry last year.

Meanwhile, Harare Magistrate, Jackie Munyonga, today again postponed to tomorrow the ruling over the case of MDC director-general, Toendepi Shonhe, who is facing trumped up charge of perjury.

He was granted a US$500.00 bail with stringent reporting conditions by Magistrate Munyonga last Thursday but the State invoked the draconian Section 121 sub section 3 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, which suspends bail.

The MDC is dismayed by the continued illegal incarceration of its Director-General and calls for his immediate release.

Via MDC mailing list

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Who could argue with this? The country’s despotic regime had driven us into extreme levels of unemployment and poverty and imposed hellish conditions on all of our lives where terror and fear  thrived. ‘Change’ - no matter what it was - was bound to be better than the misery we were all struggling to survive under.

So, as we all know, people turned out and voted overwhelmingly for change - year after year - until last year, when ‘change’ finally arrived. It perhaps wasn’t what we dreamed of or thought we’d get when we voted the Zanu PF party out of power, but the situation we have now in the form of the GNU is still different to what we had before: like it or not, it is a form of ‘change’.

But is it enough of a political promise fulfilled? Clearly not.

This weekend, news reports told us how Zimbabweans in London heckled Morgan Tsvangirai when he asked them to return home:

The response to his rallying cry was not what he would have hoped for. Instead of a wave of patriotic fervour, his words unleashed jeers from thousands of exiled Zimbabweans.

The Movement for Democratic Change president appealed for the best and brightest to return to help rebuild his nation. The plea was shouted down with chants of “Mugabe must go” and calls for politicians’ children to return first.

The MDC party slogan “chinja” (change), which Mr Tsvangirai used to get to power, was employed yesterday to mock his assessment of the situation in Zimbabwe, which, he said, was one of “peace and stability”.

The ferocity of the crowd was such that he left the pulpit for two minutes before returning and saying: “I did not say ‘pack your bags tomorrow’, I said you should be thinking about coming home.” (Via The Independent)

The Zimbabwe Vigil, based in London, later circulated more angry opinions from Zimbabweans in the audience:

Some comments from the many disappointed and angry Zimbabweans who came on from the Cathedral to the Vigil, many of them first-timers:

• ‘When Morgan said “the schools have re-opened” everybody cheered. When Morgan said “the hospitals have re-opened” everybody was silent. When he said “there is peace in Zimbabwe” everyone heckled and booed and you could taste the anger in the air. One lady asked the question “if there are goods in the shops and the schools have re-opened where will everyone get money to buy food and send their children to school” – this was not answered.’

• ‘He was speaking like Mugabe. He is saying everything is now ok.’

• ‘The MDC expects everyone to agree or they are treated as an enemy’.

• ‘We have been betrayed by Tsvangirai’.

• ‘Today Tsvangirai was shot down in flames by Zimbabweans in the UK diaspora.’

• ‘How can Tsvangirai encourage people to go home when all his children are in the diaspora,’

Last month Morgan Tsvangirai addressed people at Wits university in South Africa. The refugee blogger who occasionally writes for ‘This is Zimbabwe’ sent us an email revealing his own disenchantment with the Prime Minister after he heard him speak there:

The Tsvangirai I once knew does not exist at all. The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe put in by the GNU said,” “President Mugabe was the cause of the problems in Zimbabwe and now he plays a crucial roll in the building of the country.”

If Mugabe plays a crucial role, why didn’t the MDC involve him in the formation of the [MDC] party?  Why did they wait for the people of Zimbabwe to die before they come to their senses….?

Now I am in the diaspora, and they shake hands and forgive each other,  but I have not forgiven anyone who tortured and abused me. I do not like Mugabe and Zanu PF, and if the MDC fall in the hands of Zanu they will lose my trust, my vote and my activism.

Many refugees claimed to be disappointed about Tsvangirai’s words after he also emphasised that even those people from the MDC who committed crimes claiming they were protecting themselves will face the court of law.

I spoke to [name and role supplied] of the Movement for Democratic Change Veteran Activist association (MDC VAA) now living in diaspora. He is also angry and even said that maybe the Prime Minister has been bought by Zanu PF.

I am so angry disappointed and we have to call an emergency meeting to address this. The GNU is failing to arrest Zanu people who are still invading the commercial farms and they want to arrest us…? How can he do this and claim it is safe at home?

I do not think this GNU will be for two years as it was agreed, it will take long in Zimbabwe. This Tsvangirai that is now saying Mugabe is a good man … what will he say in two years? Will he say Mugabe must go as before? Never! He seems he has been bought so the international community will lift sanctions against Mugabe and Zanu PF.

The anger expressed in this email, and the anger shown by those in London, indicates a growing bitterness with the lack of significant progress on the issues that have caused the most anger and distress to Zimbabweans. The most basic condition, set even before the MDC-T joined the GNU  - namely releasing all political detainees - has still not been met. Human rights violations continue, and there are murmurings of  militia bases being set up.

Zimbabweans do not feel safe and they do not believe that if they are abused that their persecutors will ever be brought to justice. The rule of law has not returned and the culture of impunity for Zanu PF loyalists persists. Rather than acknowledging the reality and enormity of these issues, calls  to ‘go home’ gloss over profound worries and fears and provoke real anger.

The growing anger and mistrust being revealed is a cause for real concern and something I hope the MDC parties are taking very seriously indeed. The call to ‘vote for change’ may have worked for the MDC in previous elections, but I can’t help but ask, what happens when the next election rolls around and the people realise that ‘change‘ wasn’t enough, and what they really want is a firm promise of the return to the rule of law and democracy from  a party they can believe in? Worryingly, who will the people vote for next time if they believe the MDC is incapable of fulfilling its promises? I hope the MDC parties are listening to the people right now very closely indeed and I hope they are thinking ahead to future elections.

I also hope the Zimbabwean people keep speaking out: if  our politicians are failing to do what we asked them to do for us,  say so, and keep saying so again and again, until the politicians finally hear us and take action.

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The timetable for this process is clearly set out in the GPA. It provides for the establishment of a Select Committee of Parliament within 2 months of the inception of the new Government - this has been done. Then the holding of a “All Stakeholders Conference” by the 13th July - this will now take place between the 9th and the 12th July. This process then leads into a 4-month consultation period that will end in November.

The Select Committee must then complete its draft of the new constitution, which has to be tabled in three months at a second “All Stakeholders Conference” in February 2010. Following this, in one month (by mid March 2010) a draft must be presented to Parliament. Parliament is then given one month to debate the draft and once this is concluded and a draft adopted (by mid April). The resulting draft has to be Gazetted followed by a 3 month national debate and the holding of a Referendum in July 2010.

If adopted by the country in the referendum then it has to be Gazetted within a month and must be adopted by Parliament within 30 days of publication. That takes us to September 2010.

At its recent National Conference, the MDC decided that it would then call for an election within the 90 days as prescribed, Parliament will be prorogued and new (and hopefully democratic) elections held. That takes us right into the next wet season and this might present some difficulties.

The Select Committee has been very busy in the past few weeks - Zanu PF is terrified of the process and is trying by all means, to delay the inevitable - with little success so far. This coming week teams from the Select Committee will visit all provinces in order to hold consultative meetings. After this each Province will put together delegations to attend the All Stakeholders Conference to be held in Harare. The purpose of this initial meeting will be to receive reports from the Select Committee and to then agree on the process that will be followed in determining what the collective views of Zimbabweans are on the possible content of a new Constitution.

This is the second time this has been attempted since our independence in 1980. In the first attempt - forced on the Zanu PF government of the day, by a campaign launched by Civil Society and led by Morgan Tsvangirai in the early stages. The State appointed a Commission that was sent out to hear the views of the nation only to have those views distorted in the final draft in a way that would have perpetuated the rule of the Zanu PF elite. In the subsequent campaign, conducted by an arrogant and supremely confident Zanu PF, they completely underestimated the strength of public opinion.

Despite heavy rigging (independent investigations showed that the result was rigged by 15 per cent) the government lost the referendum. Then, in a carefully rehearsed performance, President Mugabe stated that he would accept the decision of the majority and continue to govern under the old constitution. In fact far from accepting the decision, Zanu PF rightfully recognised that they were in a real fight for power and began the desperate struggle to retain power that has dominated the affairs of the country since then.

In the subsequent elections held just a few months after the referendum, Zanu retained its control of Parliament by a tiny minority and resolved that it could never again allow a free and fair contest. The elections in 2000 were rigged and accompanied by widespread violence and yet despite what they thought had been a watertight programme of repression, they nearly lost power. In the ensuing 8 year struggle with the MDC they have used every trick in the book and a few they invented, to ensure that the MDC was not successful in its democratic efforts to effect real change.

They identified the commercial farmers as holding the balance of power between the urban and the rural areas and systematically drove them off their farms destroying the highly successful enterprises they ran and inflicting poverty and displacement on their workers and two million dependents. The final cost - 70 per cent of all Zimbabweans on food aid and a 60 per cent decline in Gross Domestic Product. In the short space of one decade Zimbabwe was reduced to the status of a desperate “Least Developed Country”.

They identified the voter’s roll as the key to manipulating elections and reducing the vote for the MDC and they took control of this and simply changed it to yield the results they wanted. They identified the growing population of the urban centers and we had Murambatsvina - the forced displacement of over one million people in three months. They recognised that they could not win in urban areas - the MDC was just too well organised and entrenched and urban voters more independent and well informed, so they gerrymandered the constituencies leading to a 60:40 split - rural to urban even though the real population split is the other way round.

They closed down the only truly independent papers and took over the management of the content of all State controlled newspapers, the radio stations and national television. Zimbabwe was left to rely on three small radio stations broadcasting from abroad on shoestring budgets. They banned all independent media from reporting from inside Zimbabwe.

As if that was not enough, they drove millions out of the country in a deliberate attempt to reduce voting numbers with the result that nearly 5 million Zimbabweans now live outside the country. They then unleashed a savage campaign of terror on MDC structures - using, as they are even today, the legal system as a weapon of oppression rather than justice. Hundreds of thousands were beaten and tortured, hundreds murdered. Police cells became centers of collective punishment for those who dared to oppose the regime.

Then they resorted to ever increasing and blatant vote rigging - stuffed ballot boxes, falsified counting schedules and sometimes simply announcing false results and defying anyone to prove them otherwise. The civil service was simply beaten into subjection and any officials who dared challenge the system found themselves being severely dealt with or even killed.

Despite this, the MDC steadily gained on the regime, gradually forcing it back against the ropes and securing key concessions that eventually gave it electoral victory in March 2008. Aided by Mbeki, Zanu PF was able to extract itself from that debacle, but severely weakened in all respects. Now they find themselves facing fundamental reforms being debated and decided by a system they no longer control and in which they cannot dictate the outcome.

This is the first time ordinary Zimbabweans have had the opportunity to decide for themselves, what kind of government they want. It is this process that will finally signal the demise of Zanu tyranny. Just one last word on this issue - its time the Diaspora was included in these consultations - I see no sign of that today. Next elections, the Diaspora must vote, that would be the cherry on the cake.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 20th June 2009

Circulated by email

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Part 1. Should AIPPA be Repealed?

AIPPA is divided into three parts:

1. the first part deals with access to information;

2. the second prohibits misuse of databases containing personal information;

3. the third imposes restrictions on the press and journalists — this is the part that has incurred the most odium.

1. Access to information

This part of AIPPA purports to give everyone a right of access to “records” [i.e. recorded information] held by the government and public bodies, but the right is severely restricted:

• a vast area of information is excluded from disclosure. For example the following cannot be disclosed:

• advice and recommendations given to the President or to Ministers or public bodies [section 14];

• information that would prejudice law enforcement processes in any way [section 17(1)(a)] or compromise the effectiveness of investigation techniques, e.g. a defence lawyer cannot obtain correct information before a trial if such information might weaken the state case.

• information that would prejudice the “interests of the country” [section 17(1)(b)] – an extremely wide term that would allow virtually any information to be withheld;

• information whose disclosure may affect relations between the government and a local authority [section 18(1)(a)(i)] – so the Minister of Local Government could refuse to disclose his reasons for appointing certain councillors to local authorities;

• information that may result in harm to the planning, financial or economic interests of the State or a public body – so information that may reveal mismanagement or fraud in the Government or parastatals may be withheld.

• the procedures for disclosure are unnecessarily cumbersome and lengthy:

• a request for information must be in writing, giving “adequate and precise details” of the requested information [section 6] – so one cannot expect to get information by simply phoning a Ministry;

• a response to a request for information can be delayed for 60 days or, with the consent of the Zimbabwe Media Commission [ZMC], for even longer [section 8 & 11];

• anyone aggrieved by a public officer’s refusal to disclose information can request the ZMC to review the refusal under Part X of the Act. There is no time-limit for the ZMC to complete a review, and even if the ZMC does decide that the information must be disclosed, the public officer has a further appeal to the Administrative Court [section 52B]. So in practice information may never be obtained – or obtained too late to be of any practical use.

• above all, there is no general provision requiring the government to be open and transparent and to assist the public by publishing information regularly and making it widely accessible e.g. land reports, etc.

Should this part of AIPPA be repealed?

To measure the effectiveness of this part of the Act, one only has to ask the question: has Zimbabwe become a more open society in the seven years since AIPPA was enacted? The obvious answer is: no, it hasn’t. Therefore this part of AIPPA has not served its purpose and should be repealed. It should be replaced by another Act giving a real right to information held by government, making access to that information easier, and compelling the government to publish information and to keep the public informed about its processes and decisions.

2. Protection of privacy

The next part of AIPPA restricts the collection of personal information and the uses to which personal information collected may be put. Essentially this part is intended to control the misuse of computerised databases of personal information collected by bodies such as the government, parastatals and insurance companies. The term “public body” is widely defined to cover the government, statutory bodies and various professional bodies, but it does not include commercial organisations unless they are public companies.

Should this part of AIPPA be repealed?

This part of AIPPA is inadequate:

• It prevents the misuse of computerised databases but does not deal generally with invasions of privacy, for example, by journalists.

• The misuse of databases is not yet as serious a problem in Zimbabwe as it is in other countries. But world wide it is a serious problem and the provisions of this part are outdated.

Provision for protection of privacy should be far more carefully thought out and a balance found between the need to reveal information for the public good and an individual’s right to privacy [or this could be protected in the new Constitution]. This should be a separate piece of legislation.

3. Control of the media

Under this part of AIPPA:

• no one may operate a mass media service, e.g. a newspaper or a broadcasting station, in Zimbabwe unless it has been registered by the ZMC [section 66(1)] and no mass media service or news agency may employ a journalist unless he or she has been accredited by the [sections 78(4) & 79(7)].

• only citizens are allowed to own mass media services [section 65].

• only citizens and permanent residents can be employed as journalists [aliens and non-residents may be accredited for up to 60 days) [section 79(3) & (4)].

• journalists and owners of mass media services who publish false information can be imprisoned for up to two years, in the case of journalists [section 80] or three years in the case of mass media owners [section 64].

• journalists and mass media services can be disciplined and stripped of their accreditation or registration by a media council consisting entirely of persons appointed by the Zimbabwe Media Commission [Part VIIA].

Should this part of AIPPA be repealed?

The arguments for retaining it boil down to this: left to themselves, news media and journalists are intrusive and abusive and are disrespectful towards such hallowed national institutions as the President. They are also liable to invade the privacy of people who appear in the public eye. They must therefore be controlled by the government. The arguments for repealing this part of AIPPA are:

• The Constitution guarantees freedom of expression, which includes freedom of the press. Without that freedom, a democratic society cannot exist.

• No public officer, from the President through the Governor of the Reserve Bank down to the must junior clerk, should be immune from criticism and questioning by the press. Even unfair criticism is beneficial to the democratic process, so long as the person who is subjected to criticism is allowed to rebut it.

• A free, vibrant and questioning press is so vital to democracy that any restrictions on it should be no more than are needed to prevent egregious abuses such as intrusions into personal privacy.

• AIPPA goes far beyond anything that is needed to prevent abuses. There is no justification whatever for banning mass media services if they are not registered, or for preventing journalists from working if they are not accredited. The arrest and prosecution of journalists for publishing “false” information has a chilling effect on investigative journalism. [It should be noted, incidentally, that though many journalists have been arrested for this offence, no journalist has yet been convicted of it.]

And there is a further overwhelming argument: AIPPA is widely regarded as a cornerstone of the repressive Zimbabwean State. Its repeal will send a clear signal to Zimbabweans and to the world that the new government has turned decisively from the past and is leading the country towards an open, tolerant democracy.

Not enough to repeal AIPPA but also clauses in Criminal Code

AIPPA is not the only statute that imposes undue restrictions on journalists. In the Criminal Law Code:

Section 31 makes it an offence punishable by an unlimited fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding twenty years or both, if “any person, whether inside or outside Zimbabwe … publishes or communicates to any other person a statement which is wholly or materially false with the intention or realising that there is a real risk or possibility of (i) inciting or promoting public disorder or public violence or endangering public safety; or (ii) adversely affecting the defence or economic interests of Zimbabwe; or (iii) undermining public confidence in a law enforcement agency the Prison Service or the Defence Forces of Zimbabwe; or (iv) interfering with, disrupting or interrupting any essential service.” NB this is an offence whether or not the publication or communication results in one of those consequences, and even if the person who publishes the statement does not know it is false.

Section 33 criminalises the making of false statements that may engender feelings of hostility towards the President, and the making of “abusive” statements about the President. Again, the person who makes the statement does not have to know that it is false.

Section 96 makes “criminal defamation” an offence punishable by an unlimited fine or imprisonment for up to two years or both. The offence consists of the publication of intentional false statements causing, or with the potential to cause, serious harm to another person’s reputation. The criminalisation of defamation is widely regarded as unacceptable as the civil law of defamation gives sufficient protection. The African Commission of Human and Peoples Rights Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression has recently reiterated that criminal defamation laws in African states should be repealed.

These sections of the Criminal Code should be repealed at the same time as AIPPA is repealed. [The first two of these sections had their parallels in the Rhodesian Law and Order Maintenance Act which was carried over by the Zimbabwean government until 2002.]

Note: There is a current appeal to the Supreme Court for section 31 of the Criminal Code to be struck down for inconsistency with the constitutional right to freedom of expression. Two Zimbabwe Independent journalists, and the newspaper’s owners, currently face trial under this section. They have requested the magistrates court to refer their case to the Supreme Court for constitutional adjudication, describing the section as “too nebulous and the penalty oppressive and savage”. Their lawyer pointed out that this section can be traced back to the very similar section in the notorious Law and Order (Maintenance) Act – a section struck down by the Supreme Court in the 2000 Mark Chavunduka case for inconsistency with the Constitution’s freedom of expression clause, because it was far too vague and wide and had a “chilling effect” on the practice of journalism that was unacceptable in a democratic society.

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I was not really sure exactly what I would find at the Central Methodist Church in the dreaded Smal Street in Johannesburg CBD.

“Its unsafe to go there, a woman on her own ? You are crazy! At least leave your handbag behind, and drive an old clapped-out car.”

Well, I did none of the above, and I chose possibly the worst time of the day - 3 p.m. on a Friday - to drive into the Johannesburg CBD. It was not an experience I would like to repeat - the traffic I mean - but as far as the visit to the Central Methodist Church, I felt quite safe and comfortable in the midst of hundreds of my countrymen.

It was nothing like I expected. It was much much worse: the squalor, the misery, the deprivation is like nothing I have ever experienced, and I have been in some sad places in my time.

I met with the legendary Bishop Paul Verryn, a man of the cloth who has stood  for the poor and oppressed against the might of the South African Government.

Who wants an eye-sore like this in central Johannesburg right next to the once famous Carlton Hotel? Which city needs pavements clogged with thousands of Zimbabwean refugees, month after month, year after year? Paul Verryn has stood his Christian ground against all odds to care for Zimbabwean refugees for many years now.

One steps gingerly as one climbs the steps to the office on the third floor of the Centre methodist Church. One steps carefully because you are likely to stand on a desperate, probably ill, refugee, asleep on the stairs.

I shuddered sadly as I stepped over two tiny children asleep on a thin mattress, right in the middle of the draughty stairwell. What an address to give if ever asked “Where do you live”: “I live on the fourth floor, fifth stair from the top, of the stairwell at the Central Methodist Church”. Please God none of mine ever have to give an address even remotely similar.

I did have three “bodyguards” accompanying me, kindly arranged by a friend to guide me through one of Johannesburg’s unsafe areas, but I did not need them. I was among friends in this place. They knew me instantly, by my handshake, by the look in my eyes, by our shared language: it does not take long to recognise a fellow Zimbabwean.  I do not know what the intrinsic qualities are, but believe me they are there in all of us. Maybe it is that haunted look, yet disguised  with compassion and love…. There are certain gestures, inflections, innuendos that Zimbabweans have, and they recognise one another instantly.

Everyone in this place was ill: colds and flu, HIV and maybe TB? Illness went with the territory.

The Church does its best and it does it brilliantly under the circumstances. There is a simple creche for the 100 children, many of them born right there in the center.

There is a computer room where students are taught daily, in preparation for life beyond the CMC. And of course there is the Church, after all, in times of trouble, that is all that is left to call one’s own.

There is a “couples” room where mounds of those Treger’s striped polypropylene bags are piled up waist high in minute squares, just the size of a single mattress, where couples co-exist with each other. My one bodyguard Grace lived in the “couples” room, she smiled frequently and never once complained about her lot. In fact conversation was polite, carefully phrased, but always took a turn towards those three much cherished words “going back home .”

The main hall of the church was where the single men and women lived, a vast squalid hotch potch of possessions “Mphala” interspersed with thin beds.

Back with the Bishop I was forced to purloin a tissue from a tissue box on his coffee table, as my nose was already running in anticipation of a ferocious cold I knew I would catch as everyone was ill.  His coffee table was festooned with books all pertaining to the Zimbabwean “struggle”: books by Judith Todd, books by Peter  Godwin, and a book entitled “Go Home or Die Here” by David Ansara and fore-worded by Paul Verryn. This is a book about the Xenophobia which struck SA last year.

The Bishop had queues of people waiting to see him. As we spoke, people walked in offering blankets, food, assistance. There were medical students waiting for interviews for jobs, there were people waiting for finance to start a project. Downstairs Medicines Sans Frontiers were conducting a clinic and there was a long line of patient people waiting for treatment.

Maybe thats the problem with Zimbabweans: maybe we are too patient, always waiting. I edclude myself: I am of the opinion that we should MAKE things happen. But my lot, thank you God, is so much easier than that of these pain filled people, three thousand of them, who have no home other than “Stair number four, Fourth Floor, Central Methodist Church Johannesburg.

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If you walk around Zimbabwe you can find that every corner where you walk there is police and soldiers. On one day I saw quite a number of young boys heading to Mukwati Building. When I asked one of these youngsters ‘where are you going’, he said, “We are going to Mukwati to collect our salary”. He also told me he is a soldier. Now, I think that the boy I was talking to is maybe 17 to 19 years old!!?

Why is the government still employing so many army and police while the country has no money? Where are they getting the money to pay these people? Every 20 to 30 kilometres you find a roadblock … what is the use of roadblocks? The security is one sided. There is no opposition party that brings arms into the country, it is Zanu PF who brings in arms from their friend China. Pliz SADC bring election to save the poor people of Zimbabwe.

What is needed now is to rebuild the country which he had destroyed with his company Zanu PF. Every Zimbabwean I talk to we says should go for elections which must not be monitored by people from both parties. We all know there is no way Mugabe will release all the ministries which are so important to him. He makes sure he keeps his thugs with him.

The militias are now deployed in rural areas. The people believe that their mission is to intimidate old people so that when election comes they will vote for Mugabe. The attendance of people at MDC rallies is also bringing fear in Zanu PF so people think they want to re-start the violence they did during 27 June 08 run off where they killed so many people. Zanu PF have totally lost stratagy of campaigning. SADC should tell all parties to go for free and fair elections which will save the people of Zimbabwe. Elections should be monitored by SADC, AU, EU and UN so that it will be fair to everyone. No one from should be seen close the monitors.

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This security update email follows on from our earlier post about soldiers attacking civilians. One victim of such an attack is depicted above.

• Areas where violence against the MDC has been taking place - Masvingo, Muzarabani, Mberengwa, Chililmanzi, Mutoko, Cashel, Shamva (some houses burned).
• Dombashawa - last week and this week soldiers from the 1 Mech Bat, ZNA have been beating up MDC people in that area. They are using iron bars and bayonets. One young man had his hand slit, between second and third fingers. His father was slashed on the head with a bayonet (requiring 6 sutures) and was stabbed in the left arm and right hand. The soldiers are in groups of 15 to 20, some in uniform, some in civilian clothing. One of the assailants said “you are MDC and your Prime Minister promised us better pay, where is it?”.  (one victim depicted in photo above)
• Mutoko - a small group of MDC members visited the Zanu PF people in the area requesting that they return the livestock that was stolen from them last year. In most cases the ZPF people agreed, receipts were signed, with three witnesses. It was all very amicable. Now the Police are charging those MDC members with Extortion! This occurred in Ward 17. The Junta Commander Air. Comm. Bramwell Katsvairo is still in the area - he was in charge of the groups perpetrating violence and mayhem pre and post elections last year. He meets with groups of ZPF youth each night between 7pm and 10pm. During the day, these youths go around intimidating MDC members.
• Marondera - The Prime Minister a few weeks ago held a well attended meeting in Marondera (as part of a round the country trip). Following this visit it is reported that the CIO in Marondera are saying “things are getting out of hand, we will have to tighten things up, they (MDC) must remember this is the capital of Mash East”.
• Marondera - three white commercial farmers are being indicted to appear in court for “remaining on their farms”.
• Odzi - A ZPF member Mike Madiro (ex Provincial chairman) this week evicted all his farm employees saying that their political allegance was dubious. They are not homeless and join the 90% unemployed.
• Mudzi - reports from this area are that a number of MDC members houses have been burned. Police have been told they are not to attend the scene. (further investigations are being carried out by MDC members).
• Mudzi - report today of the suspected abduction of MDC member John Sixpence from his home in Kambudzi village, Chimkoko. (Chimkoko was an area very badly affected by political violence last year).

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