SADC to Meet Mugabe and Tsvangirai

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is scheduled to hold discussions with Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai Thursday.






Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai during a press conference in Harare, 16 Oct 2009

SADC is on a fact finding mission to ascertain the causes of the deepening political rift in the unity government.



Prime Minister Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change "disengaged" from the unity government after accusing Mugabe's ZANU-PF of persecuting its members.



Foreign ministers from Zambia, Angola and Mozambique representing the SADC Troika will present a report to the regional body after the discussions.



Gordon Moyo, a minister of state in Prime Minister Tsvangirai's office said that there is need to address MDC's concerns in the government.



"This is a fact finding mission. They are not here to carry out negotiations. They are here to find out how the Global Political Agreement (GPA) is being implemented so far and also to attend to the crisis that has arisen within the inclusive government," Moyo said.



He said both ZANU-PF and the MDC will have to lay their cards on the table.



"So we expect the political parties into the inclusive government are going to table their issues," he said.



Moyo said the MDC has concerns that need to be addressed.

Roy Bennett, allegedly being persecuted by Mugabe's ZANU-PF.





"From the prime minister's office perspective, there are a number of critical issues such as the outstanding matters of the GPA, the SADC (Southern African Development Community communiqué of 27th January 2009 as well as the issues of compliance where we believe there is non-compliance by some elements within government," Moyo said.



He described the current cabinet as deficient.



"Our disengagement means that the inclusive government is incomplete. The cabinet that they are holding is not a full cabinet. In fact it is a cabinet caucus because cabinet in Zimbabwe is made up of three political entities and the absence of one of the political entities renders the cabinet incomplete," he said.



Moyo said the MDC is only interested in the implementation of the GPA.



"We are not asking for renegotiations we are not asking for an opening of negotiations at all. What we are saying is let's implement what we agreed and that has not been done," Moyo said.



He said the ZANU-PF is unwilling to implement the agreement.



"In fact just a cursory check of the items of the GPA you would realize that out of the 34 key items of the GPA only four had been fully implemented, 13 partially implemented (and) 17 not done at all," he said.


* VoA

Zimbabwe Blocks UN Torture Expert

Zimbabwe's government has withdrawn an invitation to the UN's investigator on torture, Manfred Nowak, hours before he was due to land in the country.




It comes amid claims that supporters of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party have launched a campaign of violence.



MDC members say they have been beaten in recent days, despite the two parties being partners in a coalition.



Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC leader, withdrew co-operation with the unity government earlier this month.



He was angry at the jailing of a senior MDC member on terrorism charges that he says are trumped up.



Urgency 'highlighted'



The United Nations says Mr Nowak - the special rapporteur on torture - was informed of the cancellation only when he was in South Africa on his way to Zimbabwe.



He had been due to meet officials and rights activists and inspect prisons and police stations to compile a report for the Security Council.



The UN said Harare had called off the visit because of an unanticipated meeting with the southern African regional group, Sadc.



A Sadc team is due in Harare later to try to resolve the political crisis.



The UN said in a statement that Mr Nowak welcomed "all efforts to resolve the political crisis", but that the Sadc meeting was not a valid reason to cancel his visit.



"Recent allegations that MDC supporters and human rights defenders have been arrested, harassed and intimidated during the past few days, highlight the urgency of objective fact-finding by an independent UN expert," the UN said.



On Tuesday, Mr Tsvangirai's MDC party said there had been an increase in violent attacks on its members.



Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said a senior official had been stopped and beaten by Zanu-PF supporters on Tuesday morning. Days earlier, an MDC residence was raided by police.



Zanu-PF has described the comments as "cheap propaganda".



Story from BBC NEWS:

Zimbabwe's MDC Fears for More Security Led Attacks

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The party of Zimbabwe's prime minister said one of its security officials was beaten by the president's militants Tuesday, and said the attack was part of new violence unleashed because it has stepped back from the governing coalition.




Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa said at a news conference that the official was stopped on her way to party headquarters early Tuesday and beaten by four armed men who said they wanted to arrest her. He said the men were militants from President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. The men fled when a crowd gathered.



The party also has received reports from rural areas of attacks on its supporters, Chamisa said. He also cited a weekend police raid of a house used by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's supporters as part of a campaign of violence and intimidation.



"We expect this to increase and escalate on a national level," Chamisa said at a news conference. "We take this very seriously. We are possibly on the brink of another storm of persecution and intimidation."



Ephraim Masawi, a spokesman for Mugabe's party, denied the allegations, saying they were "cheap propaganda" intended to mask the failure of Tsvangirai's party to explain his decision to withdraw temporarily from the coalition on Oct. 16.



Tsvangirai accused Mugabe's ZANU-PF party of human rights violations and attempting to derail the coalition of longtime rivals that has been troubled since the day it was formed in February.



Tsvangirai has said he will not attend Cabinet meetings until his concerns are resolved. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change has continued to participate in parliament, where it holds a slim majority.



Tsvangirai and Mugabe met Monday for the first time since the withdrawal. Chamisa said the four-hour meeting did not unblock their impasse.



The unity government was formed at the urging of Zimbabwe's neighbors after a series of violence-plagued elections left the country at a political standstill and in economic ruin. Mugabe has been in power since 1980 and has long been accused of using violence to entrench his position.



Foreign ministers from three of the southern African nations that pushed for the coalition — Mozambique, Zambia and Angola — were due in Harare Thursday for talks with Tsvangirai and Mugabe to try to revive the agreement.


* AP

Hopes for Zimbabwe Crisis Resolution Dimmed as Region Seen Diluting Intervention

Efforts by Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change to engage regional heads of state to resolve the political crisis in Harare have been set back with word that a meeting of the SADC troika on security and defense next week will bring together member state ministers, not heads of state or government.




Observers said sending ministers instead of heads of state in effect downgraded the troika session and reduced its chances of resolving the crisis in Harare.



Mr. Tsvangirai spent much of the past week intensively lobbying SADC leaders with stops in Mozambique, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.



Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara meanwhile called a crisis meeting Monday in hopes of bringing Mr. Tsvangirai face to face with President Robert Mugabe before the troika meets.



Sources in Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said it will insist on the lifting of Western sanctions, pointing to progress resolving outstanding issues, in particular the announcement that five MDC ambassadors will shortly be dispatched abroad after months of delay.



SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the ministerial-level delegates to the troika meeting on Thursday will assess the situation and decide whether a meeting of heads of state is warranted.



Information Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha of Zambia, which holds the vice chairmanship of the troika, confirmed a Zambian minister will attend.



But Tsvangirai MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti, Zimbabwean minister of finance, said Salomao gave an assurance that the heads of state will make the trek to Harare.



* VoA

Activists Slam Unscrupulous NGO's Exploiting Zimbabwean Refugees in South Africa

Several activists and MDC officials in South Africa have slammed an NGO that allegedly manipulated the plight of Zimbabwean refugees there to raise funds for a repatriation programme. MDC SA Chairman Austin Moyo told Newsreel on Friday that hundreds of Zimbabwean refugees at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg were duped into going back home, on the back of a promise of R7000, computers, printers and scanners, to start internet café's back home.




Recently two buses packed with the refugees made the long journey back to Zimbabwe. On arrival back home none of the promises were delivered, instead the refugees were given R200 to use as bus fare to travel to their respective villages. Within a few days most of the refugees were back in South Africa at the Central Methodist Church, which has become home for thousands over the years. Some reports said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration may have helped fund the repatriation programme.



UNHCR and IOM officials are yet to comment on the matter but sources say the equipment for the refugees was bought some time back, but for some reason has not made its way to the intended beneficiaries.



Newsreel sought comment from Elliot Moyo, whose organization raised the funds for the repatriation. He told us he was in a meeting and could only speak to us after our Friday broadcast. Moyo however promised us a response by Monday. MDC SA spokesman Sibanengi Dube told us it was a very common problem to have NGO's raising money, using the plight of Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa, and later diverting the money for their own use. He said they were investigating the latest case to see where the money and computers went to.



The Zimbabwean crisis has seen the mushrooming of hundreds of NGO's in and outside the country. Although some are genuinely involved in helping the situation, several unscrupulous individuals have also created room for themselves to divert money from donors meant to help people in need.

* SW Radio Africa

MDC's Biti Reiterates State Killed Jongwe

HARARE – The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary general, Tendai Biti, has publicly repeated the allegation that that his party’s late spokesperson, Learnmore Jongwe, was killed by President Robert Mugabe’s government in 2002.




Biti said Jongwe was assassinated while in remand in the Harare Remand Prison. He said this while addressing journalists, civic society members, friends of the late politician and politicians at an event held in the Quill Club on Friday night to launch a trust fund named after him.



The Jongwe Foundation was launched to uphold the beliefs and legacy of Jongwe.



“The state has tried to propagate the theory that Jongwe committed suicide but it is impossible to smuggle anything into prison,” Biti said. “It’s not possible, so if anything is smuggled in there, they would have allowed you to smuggle it.



“So even assuming for one crazy moment that he swallowed the malaria drugs, the fact of the matter is that they would have allowed him. But since we are not making that assumption the only safe assumption is that the state killed Learnmore Jongwe and that assumption is correct until disapproved.



“So we wait for the professors of Zanu-PF to dispose that contention and they are many of them who are trying to revive cadavers.”



Biti said the last days of Jongwe had been tragic and traumatizing.



“The last days of Jongwe were tragic. Jongwe’s death was a shock. It was a tragedy and when I got incarcerated I met some people that had stayed with him in that Block C Cell at Harare Remand Prison. Those of you who have stayed as residents and guests of the remand prison will know the cell. Its an open cell. He never went into the private cells upstairs.”



Biti said once the MDC gets an opportunity to govern on its own, Jongwe, will be among the first people to be interred at its heroes monument.



“One day as a movement when we have the opportunity of properly remembering or building a monument for our dearly departed ones I think Learnmore Jongwe’s name together with those of Talent Mabika, Tichaona Chiminya and Isaac Matongo will be very high on the list,” said Biti.



The results of an independent autopsy carried out on Jongwe by a South African pathologist hired by his family confirmed that the young MDC legislator had died of excessive chloroquine poisoning. This was the same finding as that of the official government pathologist.



Releasing the results of the second autopsy in December 2002 a Jongwe family spokesman said the family was demanding a full inquiry into how the excessive amounts of chloroquine had entered Jongwe’s body.



“The Jongwe family has since received results of the autopsy conducted on the body of Learnmore Jongwe by a South African pathologist,” the family spokesman said. “The results are essentially similar to the findings by the government-hired pathologist in that they state Jongwe died from chloroquine poisoning.



“The family and all the people of Zimbabwe want to know from this regime the circumstances that led to the introduction of excessive amounts of chloroquine into the body of Learnmore Jongwe.”



Jongwe suddenly died in his prison cell on October 2, 2002, while awaiting trial for the alleged murder of his wife, Rutendo. There was a public outcry following the young politician’s death as his family and MDC supporters accused government of being responsible for the tragedy.



Ernest Mudzengi, a friend of Jongwe and National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) national director, told the gathering at the Quill Club on Friday that the Jongwe Trust would look after Jongwe’s daughter Tawananyasha, 8, who is a Grade 2 pupil at Victoria Junior Primary School in Masvingo.



The trust will also look at raising funds to look after Jongwe’s mother and to pay for the education of under-privileged children.



* Zimbabwe Times

NGOs Say Zimbabwe Political Disorder Puts Citizens at Risk’

JOHANNESBURG – International humanitarian organisations on Friday said lack of political order and respect of citizens by Zimbabwe's leaders was putting the country’s vulnerable population at risk as hunger and disease threaten to sweep the country again.




In a joint statement following last week’s fallout between Zimbabwe’s coalition partners – President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai – the organisations, who included UK-based Oxfam, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSN), UN's Roll Back Malaria Partnership and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Zimbabwe needs coordinated "robust leadership" to prevent a recurrence of the cholera epidemic and widespread hunger it faced last year.



"We are obviously concerned that the government of national unity continues to work," head of Oxfam-UK's operations in southern Africa Charles Abani said.



UNICEF’s Peter Salama called on Zimbabwe's leaders to overcome their political differences and "rally around the issues facing Zimbabwe's children today, and that is access to basic services" like schools and clinics, which have been devastated by the country's 10-year economic collapse.



Salama said it would be "tragic" if the current political impasse between Mugabe and Tsvangirai leads the international community to decide that the country is too risky to continue to invest in.



Tsvangirai and his MDC party last week boycotted all cooperation with Mugabe and his ZANU PF party, blaming the veteran leader’s failure to fully implement last year’s Global Political Agreement (GPA) that gave birth to the unity government.



Despite the unity government managing to restore some semblance of stability in the economy by bringing down inflation, opening schools and hospitals aid organisations still play a big role with some helping out even in prisons.

* Zimonline

Zuma Advises Tsvangirai to Continue Engaging Mugabe

HARARE – President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday told Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to go back to Harare and re-engage coalition partner President Robert Mugabe, the South African President’s special political adviser, Lindiwe Zulu, told ZimOnline on Thursday.




A statement released by Zuma’s office after his Wednesday meeting with Tsvangirai said he had told the Zimbabwean premier that Pretoria was ready to assist the Harare coalition partners resolve their differences.



The statement that also said Zuma had expressed concern with the situation in Zimbabwe appeared a thinly veiled statement of support for Tsvangirai’s calls for Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders to intervene to diffuse the crisis in Harare.



But Zulu said while Zuma expressed his sympathy with Tsvangirai’s concerns, he was more worried by the Zimbabwean Prime Minister’s decision to disengage from all cooperation with Mugabe and his ZANU PF party.



Zulu said Zuma also made it clear to Tsvangirai that he had to go back to Harare and try to resolve his problems with Mugabe because there was simply no alternative to the power-sharing government.



“President Zuma told him that the only mechanism on the table is to remain in government and ensure the implementation of outstanding issues,” said Zulu.



“This is the only mechanism available and there is no other. President Zuma and South Africa cannot afford to let Zimbabwe go back to last year’s condition. The way forward is to engage, engage and engage,” she added.



Zulu said Zuma suggested “Tsvangirai and Mugabe must sit down and iron out their differences as a matter of urgency”.



Tsvangirai last week announced his MDC party’s decision to boycott Cabinet and cut all cooperation with Mugabe and his ZANU PF party, blaming the veteran leader’s obstinacy for failing to fulfil the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that gave birth to the unity government, and the slow pace of democratic reforms.



The MDC’s action was also to protest the indictment of its treasurer general and deputy agriculture minister-designate, Roy Bennett, as well as what it says is the continued harassment and politically motivated prosecution of its activists and legislators.



* Zimonline

EU Urges For Implementation of the Zimbabwe Unity Govt Deal

JOHANNESBURG – The European Union (EU) presidency on Wednesday urged Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to swiftly implement a power-sharing agreement he signed with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, and end a fallout that is threatening to collapse the country’s coalition administration.




The EU presidency – currently held by Sweden – in a statement also called on Mugabe, who formed a unity government with Tsvangirai last February to end a political crisis following inconclusive elections last year, to speed up democratic reforms.



The statement follows last week’s decision by Tsvangirai and his MDC party to boycott all cooperation with Mugabe and his ZANU PF party, blaming the veteran leader’s failure to fully implement the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that gave birth to the unity government.



Sweden took a swipe at hardliners in Mugabe’s ZANU PF party whom it accused of retarding meaningful progress towards implementation of the power-sharing pact which the EU said was "the key to re-engagement" with the southern African country.



"However, elements within (Mugabe's party) have consistently failed to accept real power sharing and to demonstrate a willingness to assist in the implementation of the reforms to which they have committed," the statement said.



The EU called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and South Africa – brokers of Zimbabwe’s power-sharing agreement – "to make all efforts to create a constructive environment in which outstanding issues can be resolved" to end the current crisis.



The MDC announced a boycott of the country's power-sharing government, saying it will not “sit in meetings with an unreliable and unrepentant partner” after the re-arrest and detention of Tsvangirai’s to ally Roy Bennett on terrorism charges.



The former opposition party, which says the charges against Bennett are political, says Mugabe’s prosecution of Bennett is a further breach of the GPA under which Mugabe undertook to halt all political prosecutions.

* Zimonline

Zimbabwe Media Crackdown Draws Fire From Reporters Without Borders

An international press freedom group has condemned the Zimbabwe government’s crackdown this week on two foreign journalists in the country. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) charges that the arrests of al-Jazeera reporter Haru Mutasa and cameraman Austin Gundani on Tuesday underscore the harmful consequences of continuing tensions within President Robert Mugabe’s power-sharing government.


Media arrests during Tuesday's unity government cabinet meeting test the stability of Zimbabwe's year-old power-sharing arrangement







The journalists were allegedly mistreated and jailed for about three hours while trying to cover a cabinet meeting that was boycotted by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai is currently on a tour of southern African countries and the United Kingdom to brief leaders on why he has withdrawn indefinitely from the unity government. President Mugabe is also out of the country, attending an African Union-sponsored summit on internationally displaced people (IDPs) in the Uganda capital, Kampala.



The director of the Washington, D.C. office of Reporters Without Borders, Clothilde de Coz, says that all signs point to continued rough going for free speech advocates in Zimbabwe’s quest for democracy.



“There is a political battle. And the simple fact that they can’t cover a cabinet meeting is already something that shows that they have to work undercover, and they have to hide what they are doing because they can’t do it publicly,” she said.



Not only has the Mugabe government kept a tight leash on coverage by the local media in Zimbabwe, but during the past year, it also closed down bureaus and offices of several international outlets. RSF’s Clothilde de Coz says there are distinctions in the ways Harare treats the local press and international correspondents.



“Simply foreign media, what they risk is to be expelled, to be kidnapped. And the international community will raise really quickly about their cases. Local journalists are in a worse situation because they are in the country, and they fear all their relatives are also in the country. And so they are not they only one to fear what’s happening,” she points out.
 
* VoA

SA's President Zuma 'Concerned' About Zimbabwe Unity Govt Impasse

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma expressed concern about the situation in Zimbabwe after meeting Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in Cape Town yesterday.


Zuma and Tsvangirai met to discuss the deterioration of political relations across the Limpopo following last week’s temporary withdrawal of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) from the inclusive government.


“Zimbabwe should not be allowed to slide back into instability,” Zuma said.

Tsvangirai launched a diplomatic campaign in the region this week to persuade leaders of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) to intervene in crisis-torn Zimbabwe.



“Prime Minister Tsvangirai has met President Zuma for critical talks. The prime minister raised a number of issues leading to his decision to disengage from cabinet and the council of ministers,” Tsvangirai’s spokesman, James Maridadi, said.


“The two leaders discussed in detail the issues at stake covering matters in dispute and those which need to be implemented in terms of the Global Political Agreement.”

Zuma, who relinquished the Sadc chairmanship last month, remains influential in the bloc.

Diplomatic sources said that Sadc executive secretary Tomaz Salamao was yesterday expected to meet Zuma and former South African president Thabo Mbeki .


Tsvangirai would next meet Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos and Sadc’s chairman, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Joseph Kabila.



Tsvangirai on Tuesday met the chairman of the Sadc organ on politics, defence and security, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, in Chimoio.



Guebuza said he would dispatch a Sadc team to Zimbabwe to hold talks with Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party and the two factions of the MDC in an attempt to resolve the standoff.

* Business Day

Unity Govt Crisis Will Deter Zimbabwe Investment Potential

Zimbabwean Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube told a business audience in Harare on Wednesday that the unity government crisis will deter much-needed foreign direct investment in Zimbabwe.




The crisis in particular had discouraged investors currently talking with the government about taking a stake in the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company or ZISCO.

* VoA

Aid Groups Fret About Zimbabwe Unity Govt Disarray

JOHANNESBURG — Aid workers said Wednesday the disarray of the government of Zimbabwe is putting its most vulnerable citizens at risk as hunger and disease threatens to sweep the country.




Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai announced last week he was withdrawing indefinitely from a unity government that has been troubled from the moment its ministers were sworn in in February.



Tsvangirai cited "the fiction of the credibility and integrity" of his partnership with longtime President Robert Mugabe — a description likely to undermine his own efforts to persuade donors to help Zimbabwe recover from economic collapse.



Charles Abani, head of Oxfam-UK's operations in southern Africa, say Zimbabwe needs coordinated, "robust leadership" to avert a repeat of the cholera epidemic and widespread hunger it faced last year.



"We are obviously concerned that the government of national unity continues to work," Abani said in an interview with The Associated Press.



Peter Salama, head of the U.N. children's agency office in Zimbabwe, called on Zimbabwe's leaders to overcome their political differences and "rally around the issues facing Zimbabwe's children today, and that is access to basic services" like schools and clinics, which have been devastated by the country's economic collapse.



Salama told AP it would be "tragic" if the political impasse leads the international community to decide Zimbabwe is too risky to continue to invest in.



The European Union on Wednesday asked Zimbabwe's neighbors to help resolve the country's political problems and expressed concern over "continued politically motivated harassment of" members of Tsvangirai's party. Last month, the first visit by a high-level EU delegation since 2002 ended with a declaration that Europe would not resume development aid until more is done to implement the power-sharing agreement and restore human rights.



Before the unity government was formed, foreign governments hesitated to send aid and development money to Zimbabwe. The funds they did send were channeled through independent agencies, making coordination difficult. At one point, relations with the outside world deteriorated so much, ZANU-PF accused independent groups of supporting opposition activists and barred them from distributing aid for three months. The ban was lifted in late August, 2008.



Aid workers now have been called in to help even in prisons. In recent months, the international health agency Medecins Sans Frontieres has been providing food, clean water and medical care to inmates in 15 prisons, said Wim Fransen, an MSF mission head in Zimbabwe.



"What is important to know is that the crisis is still here and there is still a need for donors to fund organizations," Fransen said.



What's known as the hungry season, when food from the year's harvest begins to run out, is expected to hit in December of January. Last year, more than 5 million people needed food aid. Oxfam's Abani said it was likely to be less than 3 million this year, still significant in a population of about 8 million.


* AP

Zimbabwe's MDC and Zanu-PF Rift Grows Wider

JOHANNESBURG — The spokesman for President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe dismissed the decision made by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party to boycott cabinet meetings as “a non-event” and declared that the cabinet would meet Tuesday as scheduled, the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper reported.






The newspaper further quoted the spokesman, George Charamba, as saying the cabinet would make binding decisions, in what appeared to be a further indication of the rift between Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai.



As officials in Mr. Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change countered that Mr. Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF, could not unilaterally impose their will, they also asked regional leaders to help resolve a set of bitter disputes that threaten to bring down the power-sharing government.



Tomas A. Salamao, executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community, a 15-nation bloc, confirmed that Mr. Tsvangirai would meet Tuesday with the president of Mozambique, Armando Guebuza, representing the regional grouping.



In recent months, the bloc has declined to get involved in the festering issues that have plagued the unlikely partnership of Mr. Mugabe, who has ruled the country since 1980, and Mr. Tsvangirai, a former union leader who led the political opposition to Mr. Mugabe for a decade.



The Movement for Democratic Change’s decision to stop dealing with ZANU-PF was triggered by the state’s jailing of the party’s treasurer and deputy agriculture minister-designate, Roy Bennett, but was motivated by a broader contention that ZANU-PF has been acting in bad faith.



Mr. Tsvangirai’s supporters say Mr. Mugabe’s party has blocked progress in ensuring a free press and drawing up a new constitution, used its control of the criminal justice system to selectively prosecute rivals and not allowed the appointment of senior officials from Mr. Tsvangirai’s party to various posts.



Mr. Bennett was jailed Wednesday but was released on bail on Friday. His trial, which had been scheduled to start Monday, was postponed to give his lawyers time to prepare.


* NY Times

Zimbabwean Prosecutors Put Off Bennett's Trial

HARARE (Xinhua) -- Roy Bennett, a key figure in the current political standoff in Zimbabwe, was given more time pending a trial after prosecutors decided on Saturday to put it off until next week.




Bennett, an associate of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, was indicted on charges of terrorism and jailed this week before released on bail late Friday. He was accused of illegal possession of arms for terrorism.



Posecutors agreed to postpone the trial after Bennett's lawyers complained about short time for the legal case.



On Friday, Tsvangirai announced that ministers from his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party would no longer participate in Cabinet and Council of Ministers meetings until all outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement were resolved.



The inclusive government was formed in February by President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and the MDC led by Tsvangirai. The coalition has since led to the improved market of basic commodities and renewed confidence in the country's economic performance.



Tsvangirai's announcement of partial withdrawal from the coalition is seen by some citizens as ominous. They fear that it could swing the country towards economic decay once again.

ZANU-PF Says Zimbabwe Govt Will Operate Without MDC

Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF party says government business will continue despite the MDC party's decision to stop working with its unity government partner.






Zimbabwe's PM Morgan Tsvangirai during a press conference in Harare (File)



The state-run Sunday Mail newspaper quotes Information Minister George Charamba as saying a cabinet meeting will go ahead as scheduled on Tuesday and that binding decisions will be made.



On Friday, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said the MDC was "disengaging" from ZANU-PF, though he stopped short of withdrawing from the government.



The prime minister called ZANU-PF a dishonest and unreliable partner and said the party has ignored last year's power-sharing deal.



Charamba was dismissive of the MDC's protest, saying President Robert Mugabe has been too busy with ceremonial duties to react.



Tensions between ZANU-PF and the MDC have been constant since the unity government was formed early this year.



Regional leaders pressured the parties to share power after last year's disputed and violence-plagued elections.



The latest crisis was sparked by the re-detention of Roy Bennett, a white farmer who the MDC has nominated to be deputy minister of agriculture.



Bennett is awaiting trial on terrorism charges, and already spent a month in prison earlier this year before being released on bail. The MDC says he is innocent.



Mr. Tsvangirai said Friday that if the political crisis escalates further, the only solution would be to hold new elections under international supervision.

* VoA

I am Travelling in Cameroon!

Dear Readers

Please do kindly note that i am travelling in Cameroon and will resume updating my blog only after the 19th October 2009

Gono Blames Biti for Stalling Donor Funds

Harare - Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank governor said on Monday that the country's finance minister is delaying the distribution of $800-million in donor funds, hampering the nation's economic recovery.




Gideon Gono told bankers that former opposition leader Tendai Biti's actions were "unjustified and unreasonable". The money should go to the manufacturing and production sectors, he said.



Battles for the control over the treasury have hamstrung the unity government formed in February between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.



Gono is a top Mugabe loyalist whose monetary policy is blamed for the country's downward spiral.



Biti denied the charges and told The Associated Press that funds need to be used to get social services such as hospitals and schools running again. - Sapa-AP

Zimbabweans Dispute Rosy IMF Economic Prognosis

Zimbabwe's fortunes seem to have improved. That is if the estimates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are taken at face value. The IMF's World Economic Outlook forecasts growth of 3.7 percent this year and 6 percent next year.




A turnaround is taking place, now that the country's worthless currency has been replaced, mainly by the US dollar, and once again there is food on the shelves.



Of course, growth is off a very low base - after a 14.1 percent contraction last year and a 6.9 percent contraction the previous year. But how realistic are the IMF projections? As Reuters pointed out yesterday, the IMF figures are in line with Zimbabwe's own forecasts, announced in July.



John Robertson, an independent economist in Harare, says they are off the mark: "I can't find any evidence to support it."



He said estimates of this year's crop are in fact overestimates - possibly deliberately so. And he doesn't expect next year's crop to be much better because "farmers don't have the money to start cultivating".



As a result, although the rainy season is due to start, the farmers are not ready to plant. "The commercial farms are likely to perform dismally," he said.



Robertson said an earlier IMF survey showed it "wouldn't take much to fix our infrastructure, but we haven't even started fixing it". As to the food in the shops, Robertson said: "We're importing everything, where we used to produce everything ourselves."



Zimbabwe was once known as the bread basket of Africa, but its economy has been destroyed by gross mismanagement and land grabs that turned productive farms into failing enterprises.



The economy won't come right until it receives a massive injection of capital - and that won't happen as long as Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe clings to power because both investors and donors know that it will end up in the pockets of Mugabe and his cronies.
 
* Business Report

Mukoko: Signs of Justice Arise in Zimbabwe

Despite progress in stabilizing Zimbabwe’s devastated economy by the new transitional government, the anti-democratic and abusive practices of Robert Mugabe and his followers continue to cast a cloud over the once prosperous Southern African nation.




Hardliners in Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party continue to violate human rights and refuse to fully and faithfully implement the Global Political Agreement. Authorities have conducted a sustained campaign of political arrests and prosecution of opposition party members, lawmakers, and members of civil society.



However, Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court recently dismissed trumped-up terrorism charges against a prominent and award-winning human rights activist, Jestina Mukoko, and ruled that she was terrorized when state security agents arrested her late last year.

Demonstrators protest re-arrest of Zimbabwean rights activists, inluding Jestina Mukoko.





Ms.Mukoko was taken from her home by armed men last December and held in secret locations for more than 3 weeks as authorities tried to force her to confess to a plot to topple the government. Hospitalized for beatings she suffered in captivity, she was released on bail in March, but briefly jailed again in May.



The court, in its ruling, said Ms. Mukoko had been abducted illegally and tortured and it dismissed all charges against her. Amid the continued politicized arrests and prosecutions in Zimbabwe, it was a rare act of judicial independence, and the United States applauds it.



One ruling does not signify a trend, but in this case it does raise hope that other judges may be inspired to follow suit and lead the nation back to the rule of law.

* VoA

Mugabe Has Built Secret Farming Empire

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has said his fast-track land reform program, launched in 2000, was to give Zimbabwean land back to landless blacks and that each individual should acquire and own only one farm. However VOA has discovered that he has taken five formerly white-owned farms, while his wife Grace Mugabe has taken six. VOA spoke with several workers from several of the farms, some of whom have been working on the farms for decades.




President Mugabe's estate is in Darwendale district about thirty miles northwest of Harare, close to his tribal home. It lies adjacent to the large state-owned Lake Robertson, often called Darwendale Dam, which gives him access to unlimited water for irrigation.



The 4,000 hectare estate is made up of six farms, one of which is Highfield that Mr. Mugabe purchased in a normal commercial transaction nine years ago. Workers on the farms, the former farm owners, and current neighboring farms told VOA a group of veterans of the liberation war originally forced off most of the white owners of the remaining five farms between 2000 and 2002.



Then, the workers say, operations at the farm were taken over by the then government's Agricultural Rural Development Authority or ARDA. They add that in 2006, the properties were taken over by Mr. Mugabe, through one of his companies, known as Gushungo, his clan name.



Records seen by VOA show Mr. Mugabe has three holding companies registered at the deed's office in Harare, Gushungo Investments, Gushungo Security, and Gushungo Construction.



The war veterans involved in the original takeover told VOA they were happy to move off the land to make way for Mr. Mugabe because he is their hero for liberating them from white rule. They now live on adjoining farms which they say they struggle to farm because they have received little seed and other inputs from the government in recent years.
 
* VoA

Zimbabwe Activists Sue State for $500 Million

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The lawyer for a prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist and eight others says they are suing the government for $500 million after their terror charges were dropped.




Harrison Nkomo said Thursday that he is suing several officials for the abduction, wrongful arrest and torture of Jestina Mukoko and the others. The case targets the national police commissioner, intelligence minister and several police officers.



Nkomo said he filed the case on Tuesday.



The country's Supreme Court granted the activists a permanent stay of prosecution Monday because they were beaten and tortured in jail.



Mukoko was taken from her home in December and detained for months on charges of plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe.

* AP

Former Zimbabwe Olympian Sentenced in Tax Scheme

DALLAS — Two Zimbabwe citizens and a Texan found guilty of defrauding the U.S. government by filing false income tax returns have been sentenced to federal prison.




A statement Wednesday from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas says Fabian Muyaba, Joseph Mudekunye and Nichelle Henson, of Como, Texas, were convicted in June on various offenses related to a conspiracy scheme in which they profited.

* AP

Muyaba received a 10-year prison sentence. He testified to being the 100-meter record holder for his country and a former Olympic athlete. Mudekunye was sentenced to eight years and one month and was ordered to pay back $422,000. Henson was sentenced to four years.



Mudekunye and Muyaba are part-time Texas residents