Traction Elusive for Zimbabwe Civic Activists Lobbying African Summit in Uganda

Both President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the main Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have signaled recently that they are ready for elections next year Zimbabwean civil society groups are having some trouble gaining traction on their issues at the African Union summit in Kampala, Uganda, where they have been urging the continental body to press the Zimbabwean government to implement major electoral reforms ahead of national elections some see taking place next year. Civic activists have warned the AU that the kind of deadly violence seen in 2008 elections could recur in a 2011 ballot. Both President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the main Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have signaled recently that they are ready for elections next year. Groups working under the umbrella of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition lobbied the AU secretariat last week to start preparing the ground work for Zimbabwe’s elections to make sure they are free and fair. But the summit has been dominated by security issues, notably civil war-torn Somalia and Uganda, where 74 people died in bombings on July 11 for which the Somali rebel group Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility. The Zimbabwean groups say they will deliver the same message regarding possible 2011 elections to a Southern African Development Community meeting in mid-August in Namibia. Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition South African Coordinator Dewa Mavhinga told VOA Studio 7 reporter Ntungamili Nkomo that the AU and SADC, guarantors of the 2008 Global Political Agreement that provided the basis for the national unity government set afoot in Zimbabwe in early 2009, must implement strategies to ensure a successful ballot.

* VoA

Zimbabwe Meeting Sparks Hope for Unity Government

Political observers say a meeting in Zimbabwe Wednesday of national executives of the unity government's three political parties has raised optimism about the country's political future.  The group gathered to discuss issues that have been outstanding since the coalition government was formed, including political violence and freedom of association.

Political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe Eldred Masunugure called the meeting of three executive committees a "very significant development."

The analyst said policymakers for the three parties must reassure the public that they are serious about fulfilling a political agreement signed in September 2008, which served as the foundation for the coalition government that formally came into power in early 2009.

AFP

President Robert Mugabe addresses the nation in Harare (File)

President Robert Mugabe has said previously his ZANU-PF party has gone as far as necessary with the political agreement.  But the United States and the European Union have kept in place financial and travel restrictions on Mr. Mugabe and some of his associates.

Welshman Ncube, secretary-general for the smaller Democratic Change party said there has been much finger-pointing about past political violence.  But, Ncube said, officials at the meeting agreed that President Mugabe's party was responsible for most of the political violence in the last 10 years.

"At least there is acceptance, if we talk about the past violence...that ZANU-PF, as a party, or through its agents or people it controls, did commit violence against many people," said Ncube. "There is acceptance about that.  There might be excuses given for it, but I don't think anyone can deny the existence of that violence.  The issue is, what can we do, and how do we move forward?"

He also said there was consensus at the meeting that Zimbabwe's Global Political Agreement, or GPA, which was signed by leaders of all three parties, has not yet been fulfilled.

"There was, of course, concern that there are some provisions in the GPA, not fully implemented, and that we must implement the GPA in its entirety," he said.

The MDC's Ncube also said the police and army had to be engaged, as they are accused of contributing to violence themselves, or standing by while violence is committed by others.

After the meeting, the ZANU-PF secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa, said the Organ on National Healing and Reconciliation would chart a way forward for further meetings among the three parties at all levels of society.

AFP

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

Tendai Biti, secretary-general to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC said he elated about the meeting, and added that no Zimbabwean should be punished for his or her party affiliation.

Analyst Eldred Masunungure said the timing of the meeting was crucial because it coincided with the start of the constitution-making process, which he said had been bogged down.  He said the meeting had been arranged by Zimbabweans themselves, without any external input or influence.

South Africa has a team of mediators, which has met with the leaders of the three Zimbabwean political parties about several outstanding issues from the political agreement.

* VoA

Some Skepticism as Zimbabwe Political Parties Pledge to End Political Violence

State-controlled media came under fire from political party representatives for alleged bias and hate speech, and delegates agreed such reporting fanned the flames of violence and obstructed the healing process

Further details emerged Thursday on a meeting between the hierarchies of Zimbabwe's three main political parties in which the leadership of ZANU-PF and the two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change promised to send a message of peace, reconciliation and nonviolence down to the grass roots of their national organizations.

The three-hour meeting at a Harare hotel on Wednesday was called by the Organ on Healing, Reconciliation and Integration set up under the 2008 Global Political Agreement for power sharing, with the aim of ensuring adherence to articles three and 18 Article of the GPA in which the parties engaged to shun violence and promote healing.

Delegates from the ZANU-PF politburo and the national executives of the MDC formations of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara agreed to set up an inter-party organ on dialogue that will operate down to the village level to address political violence and lay the groundwork for truth-telling and national healing. It was agreed both perpetrator and the victim must tell their stories for proper healing to take place.

Many Zimbabweans were traumatized by political violence related to the 2008 presidential and general elections in which hundreds died, leading Mr. Tsvangirai to pull out of the June presidential run-off, triggering a crisis that the Southern African Development Community helped patch over with the power-sharing agreement.

At Wednesday's meeting, state-controlled media came under fire for alleged bias and hate speech. Delegates agreed such reporting fanned the flames of violence and obstructed the healing process.

Leading the ZANU-PF delegation was party secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa while the MDC groupings were represented by their secretaries general - Tendai Biti for the Tsvangirai formation and Welshman Ncube of the wing led by Arthur Mutambara. A third MDC formation that recently splintered away was not represented.

Officials of all three parties called the meeting historic. Such talks among party structures are rare.

But political violence victim Sanderson Makombe, who survived a gasoline bombing in 2000 that killed two other MDC activists, told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that he remains skeptical of the party pledges.

The Organ on National Healing said it received firm commitments from the three parties forming the national unity government to encourage their members to shun violence, practice tolerance and live harmoniously.

Gibson Sibanda of the Mutambara MDC formation, an adviser to the national healing body, told VOA Studio 7 reporter Ntungamili Nkomo that he believes the parties are committed.

Despite the new found harmony, however, the unity government seemed headed for a new clash over the appointment of ambassadors by President Robert Mugabe without consultations with his governing partners.

Both MDC wings expressed alarm and dismay after learning that Mr. Mugabe has decided on new ambassadors to the United Nations, Switzerland, Angola and Iran. They said this is contrary to an agreement by Mr. Mugabe to give first preference to MDC candidates when ambassadorial posts open. Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Mzila Ndlovu of the Mutambara MDC formation voiced shock when informed of the development.

Zimbabwe Ambassador to Switzerland Chitsaka Chipaziwa confirmed he is to succeed Boniface Chidyausiku at the United Nations. Sources in ZANU-PF said the president is not obliged to consult Mr. Tsvangirai and Mutambara on such appointments. But Jameson Timba, a minister of state attached to Mr. Tsvangirai's office, said Mr. Mugabe's unilateral appointments, as on past occasions, are causing friction within the government.

For a deeper look at Wednesday’s healing session among inclusive government parties, VOA  Studio 7 reporter Sandra Nyaira turned to Iden Wetherell, special projects editor for the Independent weekly newspaper, and Lovemore Kadenge, representative of the Tsvangirai MDC in the joint monitoring committee tracking power sharing.

Kadenge said that if all parties implement what is stated in the Global Political Agreement about non-violence it would be a turning point for Zimbabweans yearning for normalcy. Wetherell said observers are inclined to skepticism based on non-compliance with the GPA to date, but that it is worth giving the non-violence pledge a chance.

* VoA

Zimbabwe's General Peter Walls Passes Away

PARIS — Lt. Gen. Peter Walls, the last commander of white Rhodesian forces in what is now Zimbabwe, who played a central and sometimes ambiguous role in the first days of his country’s transition to majority rule only to fall out bitterly with its first black leader, died on Tuesday in South Africa, where he lived in exile. He was 83.

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Maggie Steber

Lt. Gen. Peter Walls in 1977. He fought the guerrillas and then oversaw the military during the transition to Robert Mugabe.

A son-in-law, Patrick Armstrong, said Wednesday that General Walls had collapsed at an airport in George, on the Indian Ocean coastline. The cause of death was not immediately known.

As the overall commander of Rhodesian forces from 1977 onward, General Walls oversaw an ultimately doomed campaign to halt a shifting bush war conducted by guerrillas loyal to Joshua Nkomo, a nationalist patriarch, and Robert Mugabe, who went on to become the increasingly autocratic — and so far only — president of Zimbabwe after the country achieved independence in 1980.

As the fighting unfolded, Rhodesia, named for the British archcolonialist Cecil John Rhodes, was an international pariah, shunned by most countries with the exception of apartheid-ruled South Africa, its neighbor.

The Rhodesian forces were far superior to the sometimes ill-equipped guerrillas, displaying their military might with cross-border strikes against insurgent rear bases in Mozambique and Zambia, even as General Walls spoke of winning the “hearts and minds” of the black majority inside the country.

By 1980 the options open to Rhodesia’s white minority had narrowed, whittled away by international economic sanctions, the withdrawal of unconditional South African support and the growing recognition that a deal with the guerrilla leaders was inevitable.

The prospect of black rule sent tremors of concern through many whites, and as elections — brokered by Britain, the former colonial power — approached in early 1980, the country seemed on a knife edge, balanced between the expectations of the black majority and fears that white soldiers under General Walls might resist the new order and even stage a coup.

In a memoir published in 1987, Ken Flower, the intelligence chief of both the last white government and the first black one, said General Walls himself had helped deepen fears of a coup among the British officials overseeing the transition to majority rule. But, Mr. Flower said, the idea of a coup was never seriously debated by the military and security elite.

White apprehensions sharpened on March 4, 1980, when the election results were announced and the clear victor was Mr. Mugabe, seen by many whites as a Marxist rabble-rouser who would hound them out of the country.

But instead of staging a coup, General Walls publicly appealed to the white minority “for calm, for peace,” Mr. Flower recalled.

Mr. Mugabe also went out of his way to assure whites. In what seemed a political masterstroke, he appointed General Walls to oversee the planned fusion of the former white-led army with the two guerrilla armies.

Deep down, though, profound mistrusts lingered from the war years, and Mr. Mugabe began to pay heed to reports circulating at the time that General Walls had indeed plotted against him.

In one widely reported exchange after several attempts on his life, Mr. Mugabe was said to have asked why the general’s soldiers were trying to kill him. General Walls reportedly replied that if his men had been involved in the attempts, Mr. Mugabe would be dead.

General Walls also acknowledged in a BBC interview that he had asked Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister at the time, to annul the results of the election that brought Mr. Mugabe to power because vast numbers of voters had been intimidated. Mrs. Thatcher refused, British officials said.

Increasingly estranged from Mr. Mugabe, General Walls offered his resignation within months of independence and later moved to South Africa’s Eastern Cape region, where he lived for many years in relative obscurity.

Born in Rhodesia in 1927, General Walls had a long military career, training at the British military academy in Sandhurst and the staff college at Camberley. As a commander of a special forces unit, he also fought insurgents in colonial-era Malaysia.

He is survived by his wife, Eunice, three daughters and a son, said Mr. Armstrong, his son-in-law.

* NY Times

Mugabe's Party Sees Possible 2011 Zimbabwe Elections

HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe's party says there is "no reason" for Zimbabwe not to hold elections in 2011, but analysts believe the polls could be much later over demands for more reforms to guarantee a free and fair vote.

Mugabe, 86, was forced into a power-sharing pact with his rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai more than a year ago after a crisis over a 2008 national election that local and foreign observers say was marred by violence and vote-rigging.

In public, both Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have been telling their party structures to stay ready for elections, but privately their officials say the polls are at least two years away.

In a statement posted on its website this week, headlined "Elections inevitable," ZANU-PF says there are serious political differences in the fragile coalition -- which Mugabe has likened to water and oil -- and Zimbabwe should go for elections when the government's two-year mandate ends next year.

"Given this situation, there is no reason why the people of Zimbabwe should not go for elections when the inclusive government expires next year," it says, dismissing observations by some critics that Zimbabwe was not ready for new elections.

"ZANU-PF has clearly stated that it is ready for elections. The only question now is, are both factions of the MDC ready?" it added.

Under the power-sharing arrangement, fresh elections would have been held in 2011 after a referendum on a new constitution, but the process to write a new charter is nearly a year behind.

Should Zimbabwe be Allowed to Sell Diamonds?

The World Diamond Council recently announced that Zimbabwe will be allowed to sell its diamonds by September after an agreement was made with the Kimberly Process, which monitors trade in the precious stones to stop the use of blood diamonds’ to fuel conflicts.

This decision comes after much wrangling because the Zimbabweans say they need to earn foreign currency from the sale of the diamonds, while the Kimberly Process was concerned about reports of human rights abuses at Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields.

The Zimbabwe army is accused of killing and torturing hundreds of illegal diggers in the Marange diamond fields in 2006, which prompted the international community to stop buying Zimbabwean diamonds.

Now the Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who is one of the opposition leaders for the Movement for Democratic Change, has won a small victory by getting the green light for the sale of two batches of diamonds, which will take place under strict monitoring and regulation.

All in all, Zimbabwe says it holds a stockpile of 4 million carats of Marange diamonds, worth about $1.7 billion.

For Biti, selling just some of these will help boost the economy and offset the lack of donor aid, which has not come flooding into the country after a political agreement was made between Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF and the opposition MDC. Zimbabwe’s international debt is estimated at about 5.5 billion dollars.

So my question is, do you think this is a good thing? Should Zimbabwe be given a chance to sell diamonds to help earn much-needed revenue for its bankrupted state coffers? Or is this decision premature and are the abuses at the Marange diamond fields still occurring?

Zimbabwe Preparing for an Influx of Nationals Returning From South Africa

Zimbabwe is preparing for a possible influx of its nationals from South Africa because of mounting concern over xenophobic attacks in the neighboring country.

Tents have been erected in preparation for any flood of people returning from South Africa, Madzudzo Pawadyira, head of the government’s Civil Protection Unit in the border town of Beitbridge, said by phone from the town today.

“We have put up three very big tents, acquired 10,000 blankets and 1,000 buckets and put in place similar measures at Plumtree on the border between Zimbabwe and Botswana,” he said. “The International Organization for Migration has told us that the number of people crossing back into Zimbabwe has almost doubled in recent days, but this includes nationals from countries like Malawi and Zambia.”

At least five people were injured in Kya Sands in northern Johannesburg late yesterday when immigrants were assaulted by mobs, Talk Radio 702 reported on its website, the latest in a series of attacks. At least 3 million Zimbabweans, many of them illegal immigrants, live in South Africa, according to government estimates.

Attacks on foreigners led to the death of 62 people in 2008, some of whom were doused with gasoline and set alight. South African police have said they will not allow xenophobic attacks to resurface this year.

“The situation is tense in the informal settlements and squatter camps and many people, Zimbabweans, Malawians, Rwandans and even Somalis, are seeking temporary safety outside the country,” Jacob Kadzviti, a Zimbabwean waiter, said in a phone interview from Johannesburg today. “I have sent my wife and two children home until the tension has calmed down.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Durban at blatham@bloomberg.net.

Biti Instructs ZIMRA to Trace Diamond Revenue

GOVERNMENT has instructed the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) to trace the US$30 million realised from diamonds sold this year outside international processes, Finance minister Tendai Biti said on Friday.

The directive follows a decision by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) on Thursday to allow Zimbabwe to sale a stockpile of diamonds from Marange under stringent conditions.

Under the compromise deal, the country would be allowed to sell a limited stock of diamonds between now and September 1.
The KP would then send a review mission before any further exports.

In his report which cleared the way for the lifting of the ban on the Marange diamonds, KP monitor Abbey Chikane said the country had exported US$30 million worth of diamonds but the money could not been accounted for by treasury.

“I am going to ask Zimra to trace the money,” Biti said adding that any revenue from Marange has to be accounted for in terms of the law, with the Consolidated Revenue Fund receiving its dues in full under parliamentary oversight.

“This will avoid the current opaqueness and suspicions over the quality and actual value of resources being generated from the current diamond mining operations in Marange,” he said.

Biti said the impact of the diamonds on the treasury would be determined after the sale.
According to estimates by officials from the Ministry of Mines, 4,4 million carats have been produced from the beginning of the year to May this year by Mbada and Canadile.

The two companies are joint-venture projects between private investors and the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation.
The value of the diamonds stockpile is more than half this year’s US$2,25 billion national budget.

“It depends on the value of diamonds which nobody knows because no sale has taken place. People have been flaunting wild figures and we are saying let the sale take place,” Biti said.

However, the minister emphasised that Zimbabwe stick to the KP requirements and also ensure “money should not come before human rights”.
There are concerns that the decision to give Mbada and Canadile the mining concessions was not done above board and the two companies could be used by powerful individuals to plunder the country’s wealth.

* Zimbabwe Standard

SADC Tribunal Rules in Favour of Zimbabwean Farmer

WINDHOEK — A southern African regional tribunal on Friday ruled that two Zimbabwean white farmers may continue living on and working their land, challenging the stance of a Zimbabwe court.

"The application of farmers Louis Fick and Michael Campbell is granted as the respondent - the Zimbabwean government - failed to comply with a previous order of the SADC (Southern African Development Community) Tribunal," Justice Jamu Mutambo said.

White farmers in Zimbabwe, once the breadbasket of the region, have faced compulsory expulsions and the loss of their land turned over to blacks since President Robert Mugabe launched land reforms a decade ago, aiming to correct a colonial legacy that left whites owning most of the best farmland.

"The tribunal also grants the relief sought by the applicants to have this matter referred to the upcoming SADC summit," Mutambo ruled.

The annual summit will be held in the Namibian capital Windhoek next month when President Hifikepunye Pohamba will take over the chairmanship from Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The two farmers had appealed to the SADC tribunal after the Zimbabwean high court failed to register and comply with a previous ruling that allowed the white farmers to continue living and working on their land.

"We are satisfied with the ruling as these farmers have experienced repeated violence and were chased off their farms and their workers harassed," said Namibian lawyer Norman Tjombe, who represents the farmers.

Tjombe added that "evidence is mounting against Zimbabwe as a rogue country, not respecting justice and human rights."

"If the SADC summit does not take action on this matter, SADC and its tribunal can only be regarded as a white elephant," Tjombe said.

The tribunal found in 2008 that Zimbabwe had wrongly taken land from nearly 80 farmers, saying they had been targeted due to their race.

Zimbabwe's chaotic land reform campaign was marred by deadly political violence and wrecked the farm-based economy, leaving the country dependent on international food aid.

Copyright © 2010 AFP

UK Based Zimbabwean Diaspora to Meet Over Constitutional Reform

Zimbabwe Constitution Consultation UK

www.zimcc.com



MEDIA STATEMENT



UK Constitution Consultation to kick off.



London, 15th July 2010. The task force chosen by UK based Zimbabwean organisations to lead the facilitation of the new Zimbabwe constitution consultation process in the UK, (ZIMCC) would like to cordially invite Zimbabweans and other stakeholders to a workshop to launch the UK Diaspora consultations at Durning Hall, Earlham Grove, Forest Gate, London E7 9AB on Saturday 17th July at 14:00hrs -17:00 hrs.



This follows a call by Zimbabwe Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe’s call for Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to, “... organise yourselves, consult and make submissions to the constitution. It is your right as Zimbabweans.”



Consultation on what should be in the new Zimbabwean constitution is being led in Zimbabwe by a parliamentary committee (COPAC) jointly chaired by Douglas Mwonzora MP, Edward Mkhosi MP and Paul Mangwana MP representing three parties in parliament.



Zimcc chair Rev Zeb Manatse said the objectives of the workshop are: “to discuss the COPAC methodology for collecting views and ensure an understanding of COPAC talking points, to explain the roll out of Diaspora consultations including timelines; to give out the materials to be used in the consultation and to answer any questions relating to Diaspora participation in the COPAC led constitution making process”



Rev Manatse also emphasised that DPM Khupe had reassured that once the views of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora are collected, her office would facilitate the inclusion and consideration of these views.



“We will ensure that the drafts are reflective of what all Zimbabweans will have said and if necessary will go to the scripts to check,” Khupe added.



Rev Manatse encouraged all Zimbabweans in the UK to take the initiative and participate in the lifetime opportunity to write the supreme law for their country.



He said that ZIMCC now had all the material needed and used for the outreach in Zimbabwe.

The consultation in the UK will be done through organisational outreach programmes before a conference is called which will compile all the data submitted.



“This is an opportunity for organisations that wish to participate in this important national process to send representatives to receive material and explanation of the process,” Rev Manatse said.



To see a map of the venue and to get directions click this link

http://www.aston-mansfield.org.uk/pdf_docs/location_of_durning_hall.pdf



Back-story

The Zimbabwe Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) led outreach programme on the new constitution consultation in Zimbabwe has now kicked off.



Zimbabweans in the Diaspora have been actively been encouraged to make their submissions to the process by Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe. She was speaking on the 6th July 2010 in London to the Zimbabwe Diaspora Focus Group (ZDFG); a Coalition of UK based Zimbabwean organisations.



The ZIMCC organisations are also members of the ZDFG.



In 2000, Zimbabweans voted against a constitution that had been proposed by the Government, in a referendum.



Zimbabwe is currently using a constitution based on the 1979 Lancaster House Agreement that gave Zimbabwe independence in 1980. The constitution has been amended a total of nineteen times, the last of which came in the middle of the political crisis in 2008 resulting in a Government of National Unity (GNU).



The current effort is part of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) provision when the two MDC formations signed a MoU with ZANU PF on 15th September 2008. One of the key commitments by the parties to the agreement was the facilitation of a new constitution after which, fresh elections would be held.



The GNU has tasked an interparty committee to undertake the consultation process. There are 17 thematic committees to which submission will be made following consultation with ordinary Zimbabweans. A referendum is proposed after the final draft.



Ends

Thamsanqa Zhou 

Spokesperson, Zimbabwe Constitution Consultation UK (www.zimcc.com) 

Tel: 44(0) 7826202810

SA's President Zuma Briefly Meets Mugabe in Harare

Harare - The President of Zimbabwe , Robert Mugabe on Thursday met South African President Jacob Zuma at State House in Harare.

President Zuma jetted into the country early Thursday morning on a private visit in the company of his former spouse and South African Home Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dhlamini –Zuma to pay his condolences to the family of Professor Welshman Ncube, whose father and son-in-law died recently.

After spending their time at the Ncube home in Greendale, President Zuma was at State House to pay a courtesy-call on Cde Mugabe.

* ZBC

Zimbabwe Lacks AIDS Drugs to Expand Treatment

HARARE — Zimbabwe may not have enough anti-AIDS drugs to comply with World Health Organisation recommendations on providing treatment to people with HIV, a top health official said Sunday.

Zimbabwe is currently treating about 200,000 people whose immune systems have been severely weakened by the disease, but the WHO recommends that treatment should start earlier.

"The number of people in need of treatment will double if we follow the World Health Organisation plan," Tsitsi Mutasa Apollo, co-ordinator of HIV treatment in the health ministry, said in the state-run Sunday Mail.

"We are likely to experience more drug shortages," said Apollo.

The new guidelines would mean about 500,000 people need treatment, the paper said.

Zimbabwe's prevention and treatment campaign relies on donor funding, after a near decade of economic crisis also which crippled health services.

The country imposes an AIDS levy on workers to fund drug procurement for over 1.6 million people living with the virus.

Last year HIV infected 13.7 percent of adults, down from a high of 33 percent in 1999.

The decline has been attributed to donor-backed prevention campaigns which promotes safe sex and discourages multiple sexual partners.

Copyright © 2010 AFP.

Mugabe: Diamonds are Zimbabwe's Best Friend

Zimbabwe's vast resource wealth holds the key to its economic recovery but the ongoing debate over whether its diamonds are tainted threatens to hold the country back.

Likely to unlock the door to immediate riches, the cleaning up of Zimbabwe's image in the international diamond industry could set it up to become another Botswana, which has built its economy on diamond mining.

"The maximum exploitation of Zimbabwe's natural resources will turn the Zimbabwean economy around and, as a nation, we should not wait for Western benevolence," Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe said on Friday.

Addressing Zanu-PF's central committee at the party's headquarters in Harare, Mugabe said Zimbabwe would recover by her "wits and resources".
"It is our mineral resources - all these helped by the ingenuity and entrepreneurship of our people which will turn this economy and country around," he said.

But Zimbabwe has imposed onerous currency rules on foreign mining companies and threatened to implement its new indigenisation laws - which aim to transfer up to 51% of foreign-owned firms to Zimababweans.

From the awarding and withdrawal of prospecting rights and sending in the military, there is little to suggest that the government is an innocent party in the debacle.

Zimbabwe stands accused of failing to meet minimum human rights standards in the diamond fields and of illegally exporting thousands of carats of diamonds.

And human rights groups say abuses continue. They cite the massacre of hundreds of illegal panners and say soldiers are still engaging in forced labour and harassment.

The World Federation of Diamond Bourses on Thursday said Zimbabwe and the Marange field continue to be a concern.WFDB president Avi Paz called on all stakeholders - governments, NGOs and members of the diamond industry - to work towards a solution over diamonds from the Marange region that would be acceptable to all sides.

Paz warned the industry that diamonds originating from Marange should not be purchased until approved by the Kimberley Process Working Group on Monitoring.

He said any member trading in such merchandise would be subject to disciplinary procedures.
To date the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme has allowed the diamond industry to play an exemplary role in advancing complete transparency in the rough diamond supply pipeline.

Ironically, it is the integrity of the process that is now under threat.

Zimbabwe has been banned from selling its diamonds in the international market - something that it has threatened to ignore.

If the Kimberley Process does not act to stop the sale of diamonds from Marange, it has been warned that the market may soon be flooded with blood diamonds.

The founder of the Kimberley Process, Willie Nagel, said that Harare must be brought back into international fold to avoid destabilising global trade. Nagel said that Zimbabwe's "continued refusal to conform will undermine the Kimberley Process and destabilise the whole market".

He warned that this could lead to the US - the largest diamond market in the world - banning all imported stones, with European Union countries following suit.

* Times Live

Foreigners Braced for Xenophobic Violence in SA

For Charles Moyo there is a sense for déjà vu in the threats of xenophobic violence in South Africa come the end of the soccer World Cup today.

Moyo, who has been resident in South Africa for the past five years, says he witnessed the May 2008 violence. Although he was not affected he felt this time the threats were real and was scared for his life.

"I have taken leave from work and will only return to that country when everything settles down, I cannot take chances," he said from Harare's Roadport terminus, where he had just alighted from a bus from South Africa.

The terminus has a heightened wave of activity, which touts attribute to the spectre of violence raised by rumours that foreigners will be brutally ejected from South Africa at the end of the soccer showcase.

Very few travellers were willing to speak, but most were carrying used refrigerators and stoves and other household goods suggesting that they were not for resale and they could be fleeing after fears that xenophobic violence could grip South Africa.

Touts jokingly taunt passengers asking them where they thought they were going to in the first place, now they have to return to Zimbabwe.

News reports from South Africa suggest that locals in some of the townships embarked on a door-to-door campaign, advising foreigners to leave the country at the end of the World Cup.

A Zimbabwean man was recently thrown out of a moving train and is said to be recovering at a South African hospital.

In Kraaifontein, a suburb of Cape Town television images showed Zimbabweans packing their belongings and heading to a garage along the highway where they board haulage trucks bound for Johannesburg from where it is easy to get lifts to Zimbabwe.

However, it is reported that South Africans were now following them there and robbing them of their possessions.

Police Minister, Nathi Mthethwa so far maintains that threats of xenophobia could be nothing but baseless rumours, though he claims that police and the military were on high alert.

It is said that there is a high presence of security officials in Diepsloot, the eye of the last xenophobic storm to grip South Africa.

But such a cavalier approach, dismissing the threats of violence as mere rumours is reminiscent of former President Thabo Mbeki's era. In 2008 Mbeki was late to respond and, when he did, blamed a third hand for masterminding the violence.

Despite assurances that the situation was under control, Moyo said he was not going to return to that country until the situation settled down.

"I do not want to be a statistic my friend, I will wait and see. I would rather lose everything I have in that country than my life," he said.

Among their crimes, foreigners are accused of "stealing South Africans' jobs and wives", crimes which they should pay for by either fleeing the country or through physical harm or even death.

It is believed that there are three million legal and illegal Zimbabwean immigrants in the neighbouring country and the number could have risen in recent years as there was demand for labour in the construction industries and areas that were directly linked to the World Cup.

A significant number of Zimbabweans in South Africa fled the political and economic meltdown orchestrated by President Robert Mugabe and his party Zanu PF.

In 2008 a wave of xenophobic violence swept through South Africa and the most gripping picture was that of a burning Mozambican national who had a tyre put around him, doused with petrol before being set alight.

This method of lynching is known as "necklacing".

For a fortnight at least 60 people were killed by violent mobs. The violence, extinguished in one part, quickly reappeared in another, with Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban experiencing the worst of it.

About 35 000 people were hounded from their homes and these were accommodated in open areas and tents by the South African government.

South Africa has often been described as a country with two economies, one for the wealthy and another for the poor.

The poor often reside in slums, have no access to income and are disgruntled that 16 years after independence they cannot find jobs in their country.

It is because of this discontent that locals often resort to violence and vent their anger and frustration at foreigners.

There are reports that, as in 2008, there is a flood of people thronging the Beitbridge border post, as Zimbabweans try to beat today's deadline, set by mobs, to leave South Africa.

A source at the border post said officials had handled more than 4 000 undocumented travellers compared to about an average of 1 300 in the preceding weeks.

The assistant regional manager-in-charge of Beitbridge border post, Charles Gwede declined to comment, referring all questions to head office in Harare.

Copyright © 2010 Zimbabwe Standard.

SA Govt Issues Warning Against Xenophobia

Acts of violence against foreign nationals living in South Africa will not be tolerated, Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa has warned.




The minister said police were aware that media and civil society organisations have over the past few weeks expressed concern about rumours that foreign nationals living in South Africa faced a threat of xenophobic violence after the end of the FIFA World Cup.



According to these rumours, residents in certain parts of the country, with a concentration of foreign nationals, are providing a range of reasons why foreign nationals may be targeted.



Recent media reports claimed that some South Africans could resort to violence against foreign nationals once the tournament ends and the many jobs the World Cup created are no longer there.



There are fears that locals could take out their frustrations on foreign nationals who, some South Africans believe, are taking jobs away from locals.



Mthethwa, who chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Xenophobia, said there could be no justification for violence against foreign nationals or anyone else living in South Africa and police would be on high alert and act swiftly against such acts.



"We will not tolerate any threat or act of violence against any individual or sector of society, no matter what reasons are given to justify such threats or actions.



"Government is closely monitoring these xenophobic threats by faceless criminals whose desire is to create anarchy. We want to assure society that our police are on the ground to thwart these evil acts," the minister said.



Police's intelligence arm, with the help of various community structures, was investigating the threats of xenophobic attacks.



"Security agencies are on high alert to ensure that threats and manifestations of violence against any individual or group are effectively addressed," Mthethwa added.



He also called on organisations and individuals who had any information about any possible xenophobic violence to take that information to police and to support police in the fight against crime.



"Criminals do not live in isolation from communities. That is why we need to deepen our partnership with communities," he said.



Mthethwa also promised South Africans that the swift and effective police work the country witnessed during the World Cup would continue once the tournament was over. - BuaNews



From: http://www.buanews.gov.za/news