Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa on Friday said the country
could be forced to revert to the old constitution to hold elections due
later this year.
Such a move would infuriate the opposition as it would mean ignoring an
amendment that brought about the power-sharing government two years ago
It is exactly two years since President Robert Mugabe swore in Morgan
Tsvangirai as Prime Minister.
The Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) appears
anxious to hold fresh elections as soon as possible.
Chinamasa hinted that ZANU-PF intended to ignore changes to the constitution
brought about by the signing of the coalition deal.
He said the ideal position would be to hold the elections under the old
constitution if drawing up a new one takes too much time.
In comments in Friday’s Herald, Chinamasa said people might not like a
proposed new constitution.
Saturday, 12 February 2011
Intensified propaganda signals impending polls
HARARE - When a green file cobra flies over your homestead, it portends a
dreadful mishap; when an owl perches near your home in broad daylight,you
better seek the services of a traditional medicine man. These are beliefs
that the superstitious among us live with.
But a phenomenon more precise than scientific meteorological forecasts and
that has guided peasants in predicting freak droughts or bountiful seasons
merely requires checking how high the raucous weaver birds have built their
nests above the river’s normal water level.
Peasants can deduce the chances of the river breaching its banks from the
height of the nest and make contingent evacuation plans.
When a weaver bird constructs a nest at a low height, there is bound to be a
drought.
Just as the height a weaver bird’s nest is a precise barometer, so is the
trite con-trick of parading opposition party supporters defecting to Zanu PF
ominous of impending national polls.
These stage-managed defections, involving people of little or dubious
political virtue being “born again” portend an election in the offing,
particularly when abetted by a state media blindly retailing a ruse long
past its sale-by date.
When Zanu PF abuses the sole broadcaster to parade people that have revised
their political preference, publicly reciting reasons cloned from a
prototype for their change of heart, “to join the only revolutionary party
that has the people at heart,” Zimbabweans have concluded, without much
persuasion that elections are round the corner.
Greater wisdom dictates that an angler needs fresh bait to catch bigger
fish. Zimbabwe boasts of one of the highest literacy rates in Africa,
second only to Tunisia where the poverty-stricken and jobless citizens
recently hounded enduring leader, Ben Ali, into exile.
The high literacy rate means the majority of Zimbabweans can easily notice
counterfeit reports on events in the state media.
They see and read reports that do not bear any relation to facts, not even
the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie.
They also see the state media publishing untruths and eager “political
analysts” building emotional super structures over events not likely to
happen, although these intellectuals would want them to happen the way they
portray them.
As polls loom on the horizon, the only propaganda line open to Zanu PF is to
present itself as a victim of Western imperialism which has become a perfect
scapegoat for its legendary failures. The party sees the electorate as
biddable and unable to withstand “tushuga netumasweets from the British” to
make rational political choices of their own.
Post-independent Zimbabwe has witnessed defections from the late Ndabaningi
Sithole led Zanu Ndonga; from Edgar Tekere’s Zimbabwe Unity Movement, (Zum)
from the late Joshua Nkomo’s PF Zapu and from Margaret Dongo’s Zimbabwe
Union for Democrats (Zud).
Currently, there are defections from the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) although we have yet to witness abandonments from Simba Makoni’s
Mavambo/Dawn/ Kusile (MDK) fringe party.
Zimbabwe is yet to witness Zanu PF’s cherished pipedream of a one party
state despite all these defections, libraries of songs clamouring for its
establishment along with the ineffectual million men and women marches.
One cannot help but snigger when a party cleaves to the old-hat claims that
it is the only revolutionary party that built school, clinics, hospitals so
on and so forth.
One cannot fail to notice politicians struggling to remind a seemingly
ungrateful electorate of their benevolence and agonise over its reluctance
to appreciate all that has been done for their benefit.
The signal for polls becomes more ticklish when the Head of State and
Government and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed forces offers a whooping
US$33 million in the form of agricultural inputs to rural peasants
dreadful mishap; when an owl perches near your home in broad daylight,you
better seek the services of a traditional medicine man. These are beliefs
that the superstitious among us live with.
But a phenomenon more precise than scientific meteorological forecasts and
that has guided peasants in predicting freak droughts or bountiful seasons
merely requires checking how high the raucous weaver birds have built their
nests above the river’s normal water level.
Peasants can deduce the chances of the river breaching its banks from the
height of the nest and make contingent evacuation plans.
When a weaver bird constructs a nest at a low height, there is bound to be a
drought.
Just as the height a weaver bird’s nest is a precise barometer, so is the
trite con-trick of parading opposition party supporters defecting to Zanu PF
ominous of impending national polls.
These stage-managed defections, involving people of little or dubious
political virtue being “born again” portend an election in the offing,
particularly when abetted by a state media blindly retailing a ruse long
past its sale-by date.
When Zanu PF abuses the sole broadcaster to parade people that have revised
their political preference, publicly reciting reasons cloned from a
prototype for their change of heart, “to join the only revolutionary party
that has the people at heart,” Zimbabweans have concluded, without much
persuasion that elections are round the corner.
Greater wisdom dictates that an angler needs fresh bait to catch bigger
fish. Zimbabwe boasts of one of the highest literacy rates in Africa,
second only to Tunisia where the poverty-stricken and jobless citizens
recently hounded enduring leader, Ben Ali, into exile.
The high literacy rate means the majority of Zimbabweans can easily notice
counterfeit reports on events in the state media.
They see and read reports that do not bear any relation to facts, not even
the relationship which is implied in an ordinary lie.
They also see the state media publishing untruths and eager “political
analysts” building emotional super structures over events not likely to
happen, although these intellectuals would want them to happen the way they
portray them.
As polls loom on the horizon, the only propaganda line open to Zanu PF is to
present itself as a victim of Western imperialism which has become a perfect
scapegoat for its legendary failures. The party sees the electorate as
biddable and unable to withstand “tushuga netumasweets from the British” to
make rational political choices of their own.
Post-independent Zimbabwe has witnessed defections from the late Ndabaningi
Sithole led Zanu Ndonga; from Edgar Tekere’s Zimbabwe Unity Movement, (Zum)
from the late Joshua Nkomo’s PF Zapu and from Margaret Dongo’s Zimbabwe
Union for Democrats (Zud).
Currently, there are defections from the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) although we have yet to witness abandonments from Simba Makoni’s
Mavambo/Dawn/ Kusile (MDK) fringe party.
Zimbabwe is yet to witness Zanu PF’s cherished pipedream of a one party
state despite all these defections, libraries of songs clamouring for its
establishment along with the ineffectual million men and women marches.
One cannot help but snigger when a party cleaves to the old-hat claims that
it is the only revolutionary party that built school, clinics, hospitals so
on and so forth.
One cannot fail to notice politicians struggling to remind a seemingly
ungrateful electorate of their benevolence and agonise over its reluctance
to appreciate all that has been done for their benefit.
The signal for polls becomes more ticklish when the Head of State and
Government and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed forces offers a whooping
US$33 million in the form of agricultural inputs to rural peasants
Zim Leaders Meet Ahead Of Unity Govt Expiry
Harare, February 11, 2011 - THE three Principals who signed the Global
Political Agreement (GPA), President Robert Mugabe of Zanu (PF), Prime
Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai from the MDC-T and Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur
Mutambara of MDC were expected to meet on Friday to discuss, among other
items, Zimbabwe's explosive security situation and to review the GPA.
The GPA brought about the new unity government which was put in place in
February 2009. However, it has not been fully implemented due to
disagreements mainly between Mugabe and Tsvangirai over appointments of
governors and ambassadors among other issues.
Meanwhile there have been wide spread demonstrations in Harare by rowdy Zanu
(PF) youths in the city centre. The youths, many of them who were visibly
intoxicated" came mainly from the populous Mbare High Density suburb.
"We are meeting later today to discuss the security situation in Zimbabwe,"
said Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara."We will also discuss the GPA since it
is expected to expire today (Friday). We will have to renew it."
He said international investors were worried that property rights in
Zimbabwe were not being adhered to or respected.
Many commercial farms have been grabed from white commercial farms and
distributed to black farmers mainly from the former ruling party, Zanu (PF).
This week the Minister of Indigenisation and Employment Creation, Saviour
Kasukuwere, threatened that the government of President Mugabe would also
grab firms belonging to whites if they continued to destroy the economy or
engage in illegal deals.
He said the new Indigenisation Act would deal with the white culprits.
Mutambara said it was very important that property rights be respected by
Zimbabwe in order for it to receive support and financial aid at a time whe
when the economy is on its knees.
"We must negotiate better deals with our partners," Mutambara said at a
discussion about investing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). "We must just
not send rough diamonds to foreign nations but we must sell them jewellery
made here in Zimbabwe."
He said it was unfortunate that the Chinese were taking over many Zimbabwean
firms but said they were simply helping out.
"This is the reason why we are meeting today to discuss how we can increase
our investment levels because the situatiion is just not good enough right
now and I am the first person to admit it," he told the investors.
Mutambara left the discussion early in order to attend to the "important"
meeting with the two other principals, Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
"There might be some passengers too who will be joining us in the
discussion," Mutambara jokingly said, referring to his new boss, Professor
Welshman Ncube, now MDC President. Ncube was also expected to attend the
meeting on security at Cabinet Offices.
Political Agreement (GPA), President Robert Mugabe of Zanu (PF), Prime
Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai from the MDC-T and Deputy Prime Minister, Arthur
Mutambara of MDC were expected to meet on Friday to discuss, among other
items, Zimbabwe's explosive security situation and to review the GPA.
The GPA brought about the new unity government which was put in place in
February 2009. However, it has not been fully implemented due to
disagreements mainly between Mugabe and Tsvangirai over appointments of
governors and ambassadors among other issues.
Meanwhile there have been wide spread demonstrations in Harare by rowdy Zanu
(PF) youths in the city centre. The youths, many of them who were visibly
intoxicated" came mainly from the populous Mbare High Density suburb.
"We are meeting later today to discuss the security situation in Zimbabwe,"
said Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara."We will also discuss the GPA since it
is expected to expire today (Friday). We will have to renew it."
He said international investors were worried that property rights in
Zimbabwe were not being adhered to or respected.
Many commercial farms have been grabed from white commercial farms and
distributed to black farmers mainly from the former ruling party, Zanu (PF).
This week the Minister of Indigenisation and Employment Creation, Saviour
Kasukuwere, threatened that the government of President Mugabe would also
grab firms belonging to whites if they continued to destroy the economy or
engage in illegal deals.
He said the new Indigenisation Act would deal with the white culprits.
Mutambara said it was very important that property rights be respected by
Zimbabwe in order for it to receive support and financial aid at a time whe
when the economy is on its knees.
"We must negotiate better deals with our partners," Mutambara said at a
discussion about investing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). "We must just
not send rough diamonds to foreign nations but we must sell them jewellery
made here in Zimbabwe."
He said it was unfortunate that the Chinese were taking over many Zimbabwean
firms but said they were simply helping out.
"This is the reason why we are meeting today to discuss how we can increase
our investment levels because the situatiion is just not good enough right
now and I am the first person to admit it," he told the investors.
Mutambara left the discussion early in order to attend to the "important"
meeting with the two other principals, Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
"There might be some passengers too who will be joining us in the
discussion," Mutambara jokingly said, referring to his new boss, Professor
Welshman Ncube, now MDC President. Ncube was also expected to attend the
meeting on security at Cabinet Offices.
Fear as govt marks 2 yrs in office
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s troubled coalition government marks its second
anniversary today and although it is credited with mending a broken economy,
talk of it winding down to allow elections sometime this year has stoked
fears of a resurgence in violence that swept the last poll in 2008.
The troubled southern African country has witnessed a spate of politically
motivated violence in suburbs in the capital Harare and President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s parties are exchanging blame
for the skirmishes.
The unity government, which was brokered by former South African president
Thabo Mbeki, was meant to heal political wounds after a cycle of electoral
violence, which critics say mostly targeted Mugabe’s rivals in the
opposition and civil society.
Ordinary Zimbabweans who had seen their country return to normal in the last
24 months, including GDP growth and an end to shortages of food, fuel and
foreign exchange, now dread that another election will roll back the
economic gains brought about by the coalition and return the country to
violence.
They may not be wrong, after ZANU-PF supporters attacked their MDC opponents
in the last two weeks, which culminated in looting of a downtown shopping
complex in Harare by youths supporting Mugabe’s controversial empowerment
programme on Tuesday.
“All the two years of peace we had enjoyed will go to waste if we have
another election and already with these reports of violence in the suburbs
it doesn’t look good,” said Tawanda Makarau, a 36-year-old who operates a
flea market stall in downtown Harare.
At the flea market, a huge campaign poster of Mugabe adorns the entrance and
Makarau said ZANU-PF youths had forcibly put it there.
The unity government has hobbled along, with tensions between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai over how to equally share executive power.
Mugabe has rejected MDC demands to swear-in its treasurer general Roy Bennet
and five of its members as provincial governors and has refused to fire
central bank chief and financial adviser Gideon Gono and attorney general
Johannes Tomana, who has publicly said he is a ZANU-PF card carrying member.
Mugabe, on his part accuses the MDC of not doing enough to convince Western
countries to remove a European Union travel ban and financial freeze on his
close allies and United States sanctions and that he would not yield to the
MDC demands until the sanctions are removed.
Police Complicit
Critics say the unity government has failed to end human rights abuses and
to reform the security services, whose top brass has vowed that it will only
recognize Mugabe as president.
The MDC accuses police of complicit in the recent spate of violence that has
gripped the capital but the law enforcement agents have hit back, saying the
former opposition party is responsible for the violence but rushes to play
victim.
“Such unlawful actions (political violence) violate the Global Political
Agreement and demonstrate that the undermining of the rule of law has not
changed fundamentally,” the United States embassy in Harare said in a
statement yesterday, in which it said it was alarmed by the violence.
State-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and other government-owned
media, which are pro-Mugabe, have said the unity government expires today
and that Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara (who represents a splinter
MDC faction but has been rejected by that formation) will meet to decide
whether to extend its life.
Mugabe has previously said he was reluctant to prolong the tenure of the
coalition and wants elections this year even before a referendum on a new
constitution but the process is nearly a year behind.
Under the global political agreement, which was signed in September 2008,
the leaders of the three political parties in the unity government will meet
after a new constitution has been adopted to decide whether to continue or
call elections.
Under the original timeline a referendum would have been held last month.
"If we start talking about elections the first thing that comes to people's
minds is the trauma they went through in 2008," said Okay Machisa, director
of Zimbabwe Human Rights Association.
"We should (instead) be talking about reforms in the security sector, the
media and electoral systems," he added.
Military Deploys
Already the MDC says hundreds of its members have fled their homes after
attacks from ZANU-PF supporters in urban centres, the party’s stronghold and
are being put in safe houses.
Investigations by ZimOnline have shown the military deploying in the rural
areas in large numbers ahead of elections and last week senior military
officers, including Air Force Vice Air Marshal Henry Muchena, a staunch
Mugabe ally who is now heading the executive in the ZANU-PF commissariat,
resigned from their posts, to lead Mugabe’s re-election campaign.
Mugabe lost to Tsvangirai in the March 2008 presidential vote after his
ZANU-PF party surrendered its parliamentary majority to the MDC for the
first time in a parallel election but the veteran leader, who turns 87 in
two weeks, managed to cling on after a violent campaign during a run-off,
which Tsvangirai withdrew from.
With the economy in turmoil, marked by inflation of more than 500 billion
percent and refugees flooding into big neighbour South Africa, Mugabe was
forced by his peers in the Southern African Development Community into a
coalition with Tsvangirai.
Now ZANU-PF, which during the power-sharing talks wanted the unity
government to last five years, says the marriage cannot be allowed to
continue and elections should be held this year.
“Any election that is held before a new constitution or security and
electoral reforms will be just another sham and will be more violent than
what we saw in 2008,” John Makumbe, a political science lecturer at the
University of Zimbabwe said.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network said in a report last month that
almost a third of the names appearing on Zimbabwe's voters roll were of
people who had died.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has previously said it was not ready for
an election this year. -- ZimOnline
anniversary today and although it is credited with mending a broken economy,
talk of it winding down to allow elections sometime this year has stoked
fears of a resurgence in violence that swept the last poll in 2008.
The troubled southern African country has witnessed a spate of politically
motivated violence in suburbs in the capital Harare and President Robert
Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s parties are exchanging blame
for the skirmishes.
The unity government, which was brokered by former South African president
Thabo Mbeki, was meant to heal political wounds after a cycle of electoral
violence, which critics say mostly targeted Mugabe’s rivals in the
opposition and civil society.
Ordinary Zimbabweans who had seen their country return to normal in the last
24 months, including GDP growth and an end to shortages of food, fuel and
foreign exchange, now dread that another election will roll back the
economic gains brought about by the coalition and return the country to
violence.
They may not be wrong, after ZANU-PF supporters attacked their MDC opponents
in the last two weeks, which culminated in looting of a downtown shopping
complex in Harare by youths supporting Mugabe’s controversial empowerment
programme on Tuesday.
“All the two years of peace we had enjoyed will go to waste if we have
another election and already with these reports of violence in the suburbs
it doesn’t look good,” said Tawanda Makarau, a 36-year-old who operates a
flea market stall in downtown Harare.
At the flea market, a huge campaign poster of Mugabe adorns the entrance and
Makarau said ZANU-PF youths had forcibly put it there.
The unity government has hobbled along, with tensions between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai over how to equally share executive power.
Mugabe has rejected MDC demands to swear-in its treasurer general Roy Bennet
and five of its members as provincial governors and has refused to fire
central bank chief and financial adviser Gideon Gono and attorney general
Johannes Tomana, who has publicly said he is a ZANU-PF card carrying member.
Mugabe, on his part accuses the MDC of not doing enough to convince Western
countries to remove a European Union travel ban and financial freeze on his
close allies and United States sanctions and that he would not yield to the
MDC demands until the sanctions are removed.
Police Complicit
Critics say the unity government has failed to end human rights abuses and
to reform the security services, whose top brass has vowed that it will only
recognize Mugabe as president.
The MDC accuses police of complicit in the recent spate of violence that has
gripped the capital but the law enforcement agents have hit back, saying the
former opposition party is responsible for the violence but rushes to play
victim.
“Such unlawful actions (political violence) violate the Global Political
Agreement and demonstrate that the undermining of the rule of law has not
changed fundamentally,” the United States embassy in Harare said in a
statement yesterday, in which it said it was alarmed by the violence.
State-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and other government-owned
media, which are pro-Mugabe, have said the unity government expires today
and that Tsvangirai, Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara (who represents a splinter
MDC faction but has been rejected by that formation) will meet to decide
whether to extend its life.
Mugabe has previously said he was reluctant to prolong the tenure of the
coalition and wants elections this year even before a referendum on a new
constitution but the process is nearly a year behind.
Under the global political agreement, which was signed in September 2008,
the leaders of the three political parties in the unity government will meet
after a new constitution has been adopted to decide whether to continue or
call elections.
Under the original timeline a referendum would have been held last month.
"If we start talking about elections the first thing that comes to people's
minds is the trauma they went through in 2008," said Okay Machisa, director
of Zimbabwe Human Rights Association.
"We should (instead) be talking about reforms in the security sector, the
media and electoral systems," he added.
Military Deploys
Already the MDC says hundreds of its members have fled their homes after
attacks from ZANU-PF supporters in urban centres, the party’s stronghold and
are being put in safe houses.
Investigations by ZimOnline have shown the military deploying in the rural
areas in large numbers ahead of elections and last week senior military
officers, including Air Force Vice Air Marshal Henry Muchena, a staunch
Mugabe ally who is now heading the executive in the ZANU-PF commissariat,
resigned from their posts, to lead Mugabe’s re-election campaign.
Mugabe lost to Tsvangirai in the March 2008 presidential vote after his
ZANU-PF party surrendered its parliamentary majority to the MDC for the
first time in a parallel election but the veteran leader, who turns 87 in
two weeks, managed to cling on after a violent campaign during a run-off,
which Tsvangirai withdrew from.
With the economy in turmoil, marked by inflation of more than 500 billion
percent and refugees flooding into big neighbour South Africa, Mugabe was
forced by his peers in the Southern African Development Community into a
coalition with Tsvangirai.
Now ZANU-PF, which during the power-sharing talks wanted the unity
government to last five years, says the marriage cannot be allowed to
continue and elections should be held this year.
“Any election that is held before a new constitution or security and
electoral reforms will be just another sham and will be more violent than
what we saw in 2008,” John Makumbe, a political science lecturer at the
University of Zimbabwe said.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network said in a report last month that
almost a third of the names appearing on Zimbabwe's voters roll were of
people who had died.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has previously said it was not ready for
an election this year. -- ZimOnline
Saturday, 1 January 2011
ZIMBABWEAN DISPENSATION PROJECT DEADLINE
PASSOP and the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum have over the past few months monitored the implementation of the Zimbabwean Dispensation Project- PASSOP based in Cape Town and Zimbabwe Exiles Forum is based in Pretoria.
We recognise and commend the ha...rd work, patience and dedication of Home Affairs officials who have worked long and hard hours under immense pressure over the holiday period to serve as many applicants as possible in the time provided. We observed the department serve queues, in which no persons were left standing outside the offices. We, therefore, congratulate them for receiving over 200 thousand applications and see this as no small achievement.
It is clear that the Zimbabwean Dispensation Project (ZDP) is a good first step towards regularising the stay of the many Zimbabweans currently living in South Africa. By legalizing their status, the ZDP gives Zimbabweans a clear set of rights that should reduce the discrimination and exploitation that they are often subjected to by employers, landlords or officials, as well as give them the chance to have basic access to services. Beyond this, the ZDP should also serve to clear up the currently seriously over-burdened and backlogged asylum-seeker process.
That being said, we note that the implementation of the ZDP was placed under immense pressure and we appeal to the department to exercise patience and leniency during the processing of applications. It is important that all applicants are provided with an opportunity to produce any documents that maybe missing in their applications and that all legitimate applicants are given permits. We will continue to monitor the appeals process closely in the coming months to ensure that it is fair, transparent and uniform across the board.
Our biggest concern for applicants is the Zimbabwean authorities. It is clear that passports will be needed for permits to be issued into and that, factoring in the new applicants the number of Zimbabweans needing new passports are extremely high. In the documentation project we feel that the Zimbabwean government have already failed the Diaspora. They seemed less committed to the process than South African authorities (despite charging exorbitant fees and being responsible to Zimbabweans) and have been weak partners in the ZDP project. We remain convinced that there is no justification for charging R750 a passport and that it in not acceptable that they have not delivered passports to thousands of applicants after several months.
Finally, we hope that the spirit of engagement that Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and her team have shown through the process will be sustained and set an example to fellow South Africans. We wish them, their Department, and all Africans a peaceful new year.
Issued by PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty) and Zimbabwe Exiles Forum on December 31st, 2010.
For further comment contact: Contact
ZEF Director Gabriel Shumba – (00 27) 726393795
PASSOP Director Braam Hanekom – (00 27) 843191764
We recognise and commend the ha...rd work, patience and dedication of Home Affairs officials who have worked long and hard hours under immense pressure over the holiday period to serve as many applicants as possible in the time provided. We observed the department serve queues, in which no persons were left standing outside the offices. We, therefore, congratulate them for receiving over 200 thousand applications and see this as no small achievement.
It is clear that the Zimbabwean Dispensation Project (ZDP) is a good first step towards regularising the stay of the many Zimbabweans currently living in South Africa. By legalizing their status, the ZDP gives Zimbabweans a clear set of rights that should reduce the discrimination and exploitation that they are often subjected to by employers, landlords or officials, as well as give them the chance to have basic access to services. Beyond this, the ZDP should also serve to clear up the currently seriously over-burdened and backlogged asylum-seeker process.
That being said, we note that the implementation of the ZDP was placed under immense pressure and we appeal to the department to exercise patience and leniency during the processing of applications. It is important that all applicants are provided with an opportunity to produce any documents that maybe missing in their applications and that all legitimate applicants are given permits. We will continue to monitor the appeals process closely in the coming months to ensure that it is fair, transparent and uniform across the board.
Our biggest concern for applicants is the Zimbabwean authorities. It is clear that passports will be needed for permits to be issued into and that, factoring in the new applicants the number of Zimbabweans needing new passports are extremely high. In the documentation project we feel that the Zimbabwean government have already failed the Diaspora. They seemed less committed to the process than South African authorities (despite charging exorbitant fees and being responsible to Zimbabweans) and have been weak partners in the ZDP project. We remain convinced that there is no justification for charging R750 a passport and that it in not acceptable that they have not delivered passports to thousands of applicants after several months.
Finally, we hope that the spirit of engagement that Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and her team have shown through the process will be sustained and set an example to fellow South Africans. We wish them, their Department, and all Africans a peaceful new year.
Issued by PASSOP (People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty) and Zimbabwe Exiles Forum on December 31st, 2010.
For further comment contact: Contact
ZEF Director Gabriel Shumba – (00 27) 726393795
PASSOP Director Braam Hanekom – (00 27) 843191764
Friday, 17 December 2010
Zimbabwe’s New Land Barons
HARARE -- President Robert Mugabe, hisloyalists in ZANU-PF, cabinet ministers, senior army and governmentofficials and judges now own nearly 5 million hectares of agriculturalland, including wildlife conservancies and plantation land, seized fromwhite commercial farmers since 2000, investigations by ZimOnline have revealed.
This means that anew well-connected black elite of about 2 200 people nowcontrol close to half of the most profitable land seized from about 4100 commercial farmers
Even though Mugabehas consistently maintained that his land reform programme is meantto benefit the poor black masses, it is him and his cronies who have gotthe most out of it, according to our three month long investigations.
ZimOnline canconclusively state that Mugabe and his second wife Grace, now own 14farms, worth at least 16 000 hectares in size.
All ministers fromMugabe's ZANU PF in Zimbabwe's coalition government and ZANU PF deputyministers are multiple farm owners. That probably explains why Prime MinisterMorgan Tsvangirai's determined push to have a new land audit done touncover multiple farm owners has persistently hit a brickwall.
Mugabe's deputy JoyceMujuru, alongside his influential husband, former army general Solomon Mujuru,and their relatives, own at least 25 farms with a combined hectarageof more than 105 000.
Critics who have consistently dismissed Zimbabwe's emotional land reforms as apolitical patronage programme by the octogenarian Mugabe to reward supporterswho have kept him in power are right after all.
But the veteranleader insists the programme is meant to redress colonial imbalancesand benefited the povo. Mugabe, whose agrarian reforms have been criticised bythe West, says some 300,000 people have benefitted from the programme.
However, investigationsby ZimOnline have shown that while at least 150,000 ordinary people may havehad access to farms, the majority own between 10 and 50 hectares each after someof the huge farms were subdivided into small plots. But these ordinary peopleonly accessed land on the strengths of their ZANU PF party membership cards.
With the notableexception of Welshman Ncube, the secretary-general of asmall splinter faction of the MDC, no high profile civil society and MDCofficials have benefited from the land seizures.
But some 2,200 wellconnected people – Mugabe, his wife Grace, their top allies, friends andrelatives -- have parcelled among themselves choice farms spanning from 250hectares to as much as 4,000 hectares in the most fertile farming regions inthe country, in clear violation of the government’s own policy of capping farmsizes.
Land the size ofSlovakia
Government documents andinvestigations show that Mugabe and his top allies control nearly 40 percent ofthe 14 million hectares of land seized from whites, which if puttogether are the size of Slovakia, with a population of 5.4 million people.
Before 2000, the 4,500members of the largely white Commercial Farmers’ Union and another 1,500unaffiliated white farmers owned close to 15 million hectares of Zimbabwe’smost arable land and wildlife conservancies.
A decade later, less than400 white farmers remain on the land, with the rest expelled and theirproperties handed over to politically correct blacks.
And research, includingexamination of various government documents and audit reports show that thebiggest beneficiaries of the land reform programme remain ZANU-PF members andsupporters, security service chiefs and officers and traditional chiefs whohave openly sided with Mugabe and senior government officials and judges.
Some top governmentofficials have been fingered in three official audits as multiple farm owners,clearly thumping their noses at the government’s own failed policy of “one manone farm”.
The 86-year-old Mugabeand his young second wife, Grace, are the chief multiple farm owners,with 14 farms in total, including seven in his home province of MashonalandWest and in the agriculture rich district of Mazowe in Mashonaland Central.
The farms measure over16,000 hectares – enough to build 160,000 medium density houses – and include afive-in-one 4,046-hectare property named Gushungo Estate in Darwendalenear Mugabe's rural Zvimba home.
“This is a politicalprogramme camouflaged as land reform because it is clear that land has beentransferred to high profile people and not the landless,” John Worsley-Worswickfrom the vocal Justice For Agriculture (JAG) farmers pressure group said.
Another of Mugabe'sdeputies, John Nkomo is also a multiple farm owner. He now controls thelucrative Jijima wildlife sanctuary in north-west Zimbabwe after hemuscled out a fellow black farmer.
Nkomo, who already ownedanother farm in Matabeleland, seized the Jijima lodge wildlife conservancy(size unkonwn) in north western Zimbabwe in defiance of a High Court orderagainst him.
Asset stripping
Mugabe has not acted onthe multiple farm owners, despite three government land audits which fingeredtop ZANU-PF officials and recommended that they return the farms.
Investigations show thatfor example Edna Madzongwe, Senate Speaker and a Mugabe relative has since 2000seized six productive commercial farms in Chegutu district, Mashonaland Westprovince, farms which she has all but run down.
These are Aitape, CobunEstates, Bourne, Mpofu Farm, Reyden and Stockdale Farm, which she seized froman elderly white couple last year. The farms, which span 5,200 hectares intotal, are all in Chegutu, some 100 kilometres west of capital Harare.
“Some of this can only bedescribed as asset stripping because if you look at the farms now they are nowin a derelict state and Madzongwe keeps hoping from one farm to another,” saida white commercial farmer who lost his farm but declined to be named fearingvictimisation.
Investigations alsoshowed that top politicians have in the past years moved from one farm toanother, stripping them of equipment and selling off the produce, which hasseen some of them rich overnight.
But Madzongwe is only oneof several high-ranking ZANU-PF officials who have more than one farm.
Governor’s five farms
The president of theChiefs’ Council Fortune Charumbira has seized more than four farms in Masvingomeasuring 6,600 hectares in total and Information Minister Webster Shamu ownsLambourne farm and Selous Tobacco Estates in Mashonaland West measuring 1,660hectares.
A government auditcarried in 2002 showed that former Mashonaland West provincial governor PeterChanetsa at one point had five farms spanning 4,000 hectares, former MinesMinister and legislator Chindori Chininga, Local Government Minister IgnatiusChombo, former Information Minister Jonathan Moyo own or have owned multiplefarms at some point.
“It is incumbent on thegovernment and … ZANU-PF to quickly re-align the land reform programmeimplementation to the national land policy in order to reassert its credibilityas a just and democratic programme to equitably redistribute the land in Zimbabweand empower the indigenous people through land ownership,” the audit reportsaid.
Agriculture remains themainstay of Zimbabwe’s economy but production in the sector has plunged by 60percent since 2000 when government-backed land invasions started.
Exports from the sectorhave fallen from $1.4 billion – 41percent of exports – in 2000 to nearly $700million last year, after falling below $500 million in 2007, blamed largely onpoorly equipped new black farmers and lack of farming inputs like seed and fertiliser.
But the downfall inagricultural output is also attributed in part to the fact that a hugechunk of some of the most productive and largest former white-owned commercialfarms hoarded by senior Mugabe political allies are lying fallow either becausethe new owners are not that keen on farming or they simply abandoned theproperties for new farms.
Gov’t to seize excessland
Lands and RuralResettlement Minister Hebert Murerwa said while there were some people withmultiple farms, these were very few and would be forced to give them up.
“The fact that a handfulof people may have more than one farm does not detract from the overwhelmingsuccess of the land reform where the government has created 300,000 new farmersover the last ten years” Murerwa said.
While much has been saidbout the failure of black villagers resettled on former white farms to feedZimbabwe chiefly because they lack financial resources, little is said aboutthe fact that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe went to great lengths -- including employing ratherquestionable methods such as printing money -- to try to fund the new farmers.
The central bank hadbetween 2003 and 2008 pumped in $3 billion in the agriculture sector alone byprinting money and raiding accounts of NGOs and exporters, to buy subsidisedfarming equipment, fuel, seed and fertiliser. But this has mostly benefittedinfluential Mugabe allies, some who are accused of selling inputs on the blackmarket.
Malawi in comparison,which spend half the amount to support its farmers has grown to become a netfood exporter, while Zimbabwe continues to plug a food deficit.
Political analysts sayMugabe has managed to ensure support from the key security service, includingthe army, police and central intelligence, by dishing out prime farms tocommanders and senior officers.
The security forces
Of the nearly 200officers from the rank of Major to the Lieutenant General in the ZimbabweNational Army, 90 percent have farms in the most fertile parts of the country.This is replicated in the Zimbabwe Republic Police, Zimbabwe Prisons Service,Air Force of Zimbabwe and CIO.
In total there are 400officers in the security services alone who are known to have farms above 250hectares, often seized at gun point from the previous white owners whileseveral lower ranking officers and war veterans also have smaller holdings.
Constantine Chiwenga, theZimbabwe Defence Forces Commander, who is among a cabal of Defence Forceschiefs who have publicly declared that they will only serve Mugabe, has twofarms near Harare, including the 1,200 hectare Chakoma Estates, which his wifeseized at gunpoint, telling a terrified white farmer that she lusted for whiteblood and sought the slightest excuse to kill him.
Perence Shiri, a veteranof the liberation struggle whose record was soiled during his command of anarmy crack unit in an insurgency crackdown in Matabeleland in early 1980s, hastwo farms, the 1,460 hectare Eirin farm in Marondera, which he seized afterevicting 96 landless families and the 1,950 hectare banana producing BambooCreek in Shamva.
Augustine Chihuri,Mugabe’s loyal Police Commissioner General owns Woodlands Farm (size unknown)in Shamva.
In the past year morethan a dozen senior army and air force officers with have used armed soldiersto evict white commercial farmers.
In August last yearBrigadier General Justin Mujaji evicted white farmer Charles Lock from his 376hectare Karori farm in Headlands district east of Harare and defied severalHigh Court orders, including one meant to allow Lock to take his tobacco andmaize crop and equipment.
“Clearly there is acommon thread here, where the military which is supposed to defend its citizensbrazenly terrorises them in the name of land reform,” said John Makumbe,a University of Zimbabwe political lecturer and Mugabe critic.
Politburo and judges
All of ZANU-PF’s 56politburo members, 98 Members of Parliament and 35 elected and unelectedSenators were allocated former white farms, all 10 provincial governors haveseized farms, with four being multiple owners, while 65 percent of thecountry’s more than 200 mostly partisan traditional chiefs have also benefitedfrom the land reforms.
Sixteen Supreme Court andHigh Court Judges, including Chief Justice Chidyausiku, who owns the 1 000hectare Estes Park farm in Mazowe/Concession district, also own large farmsranging between 540 to 1380 hectares.
Forty serving and formerambassadors have been allocated farms, with 70 percent of Parastatals bossesalso owning large tracts of land.
Investigations have alsorevealed that Mugabe’s personal banker and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governorGideon Gono surprisingly does not own a farm given to him by government but hasmanaged to buy four farms, including the prime 4,000 hectare Donnington farm inNorton he purchased in 2001.
Sources said Gono, who atthe time was CBZ Holdings chief executive who personally authorised loans forsenior government officials, bought the farms at knockdown prices from farmerswho were under pressure from invaders to leave their properties.
"The white farmershave simply been replaced by a new black elite," said a source. But whilethe old white farmers regarded farming as a profession and most worked theirland full time maintaining Zimbabwe as the bread basket of Africa , the Mugabecronies who have replaced them largely fit the mould of what Mugabe himself hasdescribed as "mobile phone farmers".
They are largelyresponsible for converting Zimbabwe into a basket case as they have used theirland more for weekend recreation.
Minister of State in VicePresident Joyce Mujuru's office, Sylvester Nguni, himself a huge land owner,once accused his fellow ZANU PF officials of only acquiring vast swathes ofland "for pride" as they had dismally failed to use their land manyyears after they seized it.
While most of the seizedland controlled by these top Mugabe cronies continue to lie fallow, mostof the poor peasants and small holder farmers in communal and otherbetter areas account for most of the improvements in agricultural output lastyear.
In fact, the peasantfarmers accounted for more than half of Zimbabwe's total maize productioneven before the mass evictions of white landowners who mostly focusedon cash crops.
Sources say if theland reforms had been based on a transparent poverty alleviation thresholds andproperly implemented with the right beneficiaries being selected andempowered without Mugabe's patronage considerations, the white farmers would largelyhave not been missed.
But even the 350 000black farm workers, who many had thought would be among the initialtargets or beneficiaries of land reforms were largely ignored.
Unconfirmed reports saymany of the former farm labourers have died due to poverty after they wereevicted alongside their former white employers. The few who remained on thefarms have to content with the new black landowners who don't invest on theproperties and pay them starvation wages. -- ZimOnline
LIST OF ZIMBABWE’S TOP FARM OWNERS
*The list is not exhaustive as district landofficers who have the knowledge of farm owners in any given district were insome cases unwilling to disclose such details for fear of possible reprisals.
NAME | FARM | SIZE | AREA |
R. MUGABE | Gushungo Estates | 4046ha | Mazowe |
Gushungo Dairies | 1000ha | Mazowe | |
Iron Mask Estate | 1046ha | Mazowe | |
Sigaru Farm | 873ha | Mazowe | |
Gwebi Wood | 1200ha | Mazowe | |
Gwina Farm | 1445ha | Banket | |
Leverdale Farm | 1488ha | Banket | |
Highfield Farm | 445ha | Norton | |
Cressydale Estate | 676ha | Norton | |
Tankatara Farm | 575ha | Norton | |
John O’Groat Farm | 760ha | Norton | |
Clifford Farm | 1050ha | Norton | |
Bassiville | 1200ha | Norton | |
S & M. MUJURU | Alamein Farm | 1300ha | Beatrice |
JOHN NKOMO | Gijima Lodge | xxx | Hwange |
SIMON KHAYA MOYO | Marula Block 36 | 2034ha | Bulilamangwe |
CABINET MINISTERS | |||
Joseph Made | Tara Farm | 840ha | Odzi |
Emmerson Mnangagwa | Sherwood Farm | 1600ha | Kwekwe |
Francis Nhema | Nyamanda | 1000ha | Karoi |
Stanislaus Mudenge | Chikore Farm | 760ha | Masvingo |
Kembo Mohadi | Jopembe Block | 3000ha | Beitbridge |
Benlynian Range | 3200ha | Beitbridge | |
Patrick Chinamasa | Tsukumai | 800ha | Headlands |
Nyamazura | 1260ha | Rusape | |
Hebert Murerwa | Rise Holm | 1100ha | Arcturus |
Ignatius Chombo | Allan Grange | 3000ha | Banket |
Oldham | 400ha | Chegutu | |
Shingwiri | 1600ha | Chegutu | |
Webster Shamu | Lambourne Farm | 1340ha | Selous |
Tobacco Estate | 900ha | Chegutu | |
Obert Mpofu | Young Farm | 2300ha | Nyamandlovu |
Umguza Block 39, 40, 41 | 6200ha | Umguza | |
Auchenberg | 1026ha | Nyamandlovu | |
Sithembiso Nyoni | Fountain Farm | 3100ha | Insiza |
Walter Mzembi | BW Farm | 720ha | Masvingo |
Nicholas Goche | Ceres Farm | xxx | Shamva |
Savior Kasukuwere | Conucorpia Farm | 100ha | Mazowe |
Didymus Mutasa | Harmony Farm | 500ha | Mazowe |
Sydney Sekeramayi | Maganga Farm | 620ha | Marondera |
Edna Madzongwe | Aitape Farm | 2000ha | Chegutu |
Coburn Estates Plot 13A | 560ha | Chegutu | |
Bourne Farm | 445ha | Chegutu | |
Mpofu Farm | 1200ha | Chegutu | |
Stockdale Farm | 750ha | Chegutu | |
Reyden Farm | 1340ha | Chegutu | |
SECURITY SERVICES | |||
Constantine Chiwenga | Chakoma Estates | 1276ha | Goromonzi |
Perence Shiri | Bamboo Creek | 1950ha | Shamva |
Eirin Farm | 1460ha | Marondera | |
Augustine Chihuri | Woodlands Farm | xxx | Shamva |
Paradzayi Zimondi | Upton Farm | 1029ha | Goromonzi |
Happyton Bonyongwe | Thetford Farm | ||
Henry Muchena | Serui Drift | 1500ha | Chegutu |
Abu Basutu | Swallowfork Ranch | 2711ha | West Nicholson |
Elson Moyo | Daisy Farm | 1600ha | Chegutu |
JUDGES | |||
Godfrey Chidyausiku | Estes Park | 895ha | Concession |
Luke Malaba | Marula Block 35 | 1866ha | Bulilamangwe |
Paddington Garwe | Faun Farm | 760ha | Chegutu |
Antonia Guvava | Harndale Farm | 1000ha | Chegutu |
Mafios Cheda | Marula Block 37 | 3039ha | Bulilamangwe |
Ben Hlatshwayo | Kent Estate | 800ha | Norton |
Charles Hungwe | Little England | 6956ha | Makonde |
Chitakunye Alfias | The Grange | 1300ha | Chegutu |
PROVINCIAL GOVERNORS | |||
David Karimanzira | Arcadia Farm | 1300ha | Marondera |
Cain Mathema | Gwayi Ranch | 4600ha | Gwayi |
Umguza Block | 3700ha | Umguza | |
Chris Mushohwe | Kondozi Farm | 400ha | Odzi |
Titus Maluleke | Clipshap Farm | 3000ha | Masvingo |
Thokozile Mathutu | Dete Valley Farm | 2800ha | Dete |
Anthonia Extension | 6500ha | Umguza | |
Angeline Masuku | Wollendale Farm | 3000ha | Gwanda |
Cephas Msipa | Cheshire Farm | 2100ha | Gweru |
ZANU-PF/GOVT HIGH RANKING OFFICIAL | |||
Reward Marufu | Leopards Vlei | 1294ha | Glendale |
Kachere Farm | 880ha | Mazowe | |
Sabina Mugabe | Mlembwe Farm | 1037ha | Makonde |
Longwood Farm | 924ha | Makonde | |
Gowrie Farm | 430ha | Norton | |
Leo Mugabe | Diandra | 815ha | Darwandale |
Nangadza | 1200ha | Mhangura | |
Journey’s End | 3000ha | Makonde | |
Patrick Zhuwao | Marivale Farm | 244ha | Mazowe |
George Charamba | Battlefields 02 | 1572ha | Kwekwe |
Nathan Shamuyarira | Mt Carmel | xxx | Chegutu |
Bright Matonga | Lions Vlei | 2000ha | Chegutu |
Amos Midzi | Magudu Ranch | 10701ha | Chiredzi |
Dick Mafios | Insingizi Farm | 1100ha | Bindura |
Melfort | 554ha | Mazowe | |
Joseph Chinotimba | Watakai | 1240ha | Mazowe |
Happison Muchechetere | Burry Hill Estate | 617ha | Makonde |
Tobaiwa Mudede | Ballineety | 3147ha | Nyabira |
Austin Zvoma | Chinomwe Estates | 1432ha | Makonde |
Mariyawanda Nzuwa | Stella Burton | 425ha | Mazowe |
David Parirenyatwa | Rudolphia | 802ha | Murewa |
Charles Utete | Rudzimi | 3350ha | Lomagundi |
Paddy Zhanda | Chipfumbi Meadows | 1364ha | Goromonzi |
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