Civil Organisations Blast Sata http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

Civil Organisations Blast Sata http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/ Civil organisations and ordinary Zimbabweans in Matabeleland have castigated Zambian leader, Michael Sata for openly showing support to Zanu (PF) during the official opening of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Bulawayo last week. 30.04.1211:37am by Zwanai Sithole Harare Sata, who was the guest of honour at the 53rd edition of the international showcase shocked invited dignitaries when he raised his fist in Zanu (PF) style and started chanting "Pamberi neJongwe" (Forward with the cock). Effie Ncube, the chairperson of the Matabeleland Constitutional Reform Agenda (MACRA) said Sata's behaviour clearly shows that some Sadc leaders are not suitable to be mediators of the country's political impasse which has resulted in the formation of the inclusive government. "Sata has shown the world that he is a supporter of Zanu (PF) and cannot be fair and objective when dealing with the Zimbabwe crisis in his capacity as Sadc leader. Besides that, Sata should know the difference between a state function and a party function. The ZITF had nothing to do with Zanu (PF)" said Ncube. Ncube said inclusive government partners who were present at the function were supposed to have walked out of the ZITF main arena, the venue of the ceremony soon after Sata's utterances. "I expected representives of the two MDC formations and other invited guest with no links to Zanu (PF) to leave their seats and go away in protest of the political abuse by Sata. As a Sadc leader who is involved in solving our political problems here, Sata should have showed the spirit of inclusivity," said Ncube. Some of the MDC 's officials who attended the ceremony included Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe, MDC-T national chairman and speaker of the House of Assembly, lovemore Moyo and the host minister, Welshman Ncube who is also the MDC president. The Secretary of a local pressure group, Ibhetshulikazulu, Fuzayo Mbuso said Sata's political shenanigas at the ZITF were well planned and meant to create the impression that Sadc is fully behind President Robert Mugabe. Sata has previously accused Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai as a puppet of the West. "I think the whole thing was planned by Mugabe so as to thwart reports of his waning support among Sadc leaders .Sata must have been fully briefed before coming to Bulawayo. Unfortunately that was a wrong platform and the plot is likely to backfire. The two MDC s will certainly raise this issue with the regional board," said Mbuso. The Bulawayo spokesperson of the Welshman Ncube led MDC, Edwin Ndlovu said his party was shocked by Sata's blatant partisanship. "We wish to tell Sata that Zimbabwe is not Zanu (PF). Zimbabwe is being run by three political parties and we are shocked that Sata as one of the Sadc leaders is not aware of this. That was an extreme abuse of Zimbabwe's hospitality," he said. Earlier on, when disembarking from his charted plane at the Joshua Nkomo International Airport, Sata also greeted with a clenched fist scores of Zanu (PF) supporters who had been bussed from Umguza in 26 Zupco buses and haulage trucks belonging to Obert Mpofu, the Member of Parliament for the constituency.

Zim transitional justice report launched in London http://www.swradioafrica.com/

By Alex Bell 30 April 2012 A new report on Transitional Justice in Zimbabwe was launched in London on Monday, focusing on the expectations of the Diaspora. The report is the first since a Diaspora Outreach programme was launched in 2010 by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, which has been spearheading initiatives to garner public opinion on transitional justice options. Since 2003 the Forum has been conducting a serious of meetings at grassroots level and has published two reports on taking transitional justice to the people. These consultations were then broadened in 2010 to include Diaspora communities across the world. The Diaspora Outreach workshops have been aimed at getting the opinions of victims of human rights abuses at the hands of the Robert Mugabe regime, who fled to places like the UK. The meetings allowed people to state how they want justice to be served on the many perpetrators who have never been punished for their abuses. The Forum has said that such meetings are particularly critical now, because the process of a writing a new constitution is still underway. The group said the new report “presents new opportunities to build on the (previous) consultations as the nation struggles for justice, accountability and healing.”

THE SWORD HAS SUNK DEEP ENOUGH (BY David Magagula)

It is heartening to realize that the cries for Mthwakazi Freedom have gone to the belies of those who took over from the British to oppress us. This has seen new attempts put at play to once again confuse the Great March to Mthwakazi Independence. Two new approaches to thwart the advancement of our calls for the restoration of our country are now being implemented by the regime : 1). The use of cheap Historians in the form of promoting overnight scholars like Ndzimu. 2). The intimidation of the Black sheep among the flock-these being represented by Mthwakazi ministers in the inclusive government. Zimbabwe is known for its history which is full of half truths;omissions and in some cases twisted facts. In not so distant a past the media was awash with revelations that a former minister of education had authored a History textbook that drew a lot of criticism ranging from deliberate omissions of obvious historic facts to twisting facts to suit the present regime,now we come across yet another self styled Kalanga Historian named Ndzimu Emanuel. Reading Ndzimu's historic claims leaves me concluding that he/she is a hastily organised institution to slow the Mthwakazi Agenda by throwing spanners at given intervals. Now we deal with the Bukalanga issue,next will be another ethnic group within us till we are all pulled down. The second and most salient method is that of making sure those ministers who are of Mthwakazi origion are kept under check-lest they go to their fold with the loot. Obert Mpofu is being investigated for being rich;David Coltart awarded Longman the tender for supplying School Textbooks;Moses Mzila on trial for speaking about Gukurahundi and all have to condemn their own and denounce their pleas for injustice in order to be counted in. When He came to Bulawayo for the Trade Fair He called people snakes and ordered the snakes to be eradicated. The sword has sunk to the heart! To those still left behind I warn that, "inkukhu ingaze ibenhle kanjani ekhozini yinyama kuphela" .Lamaqhude ayadojwa yimizwazwa! The writing is on the wall and home is best: BANTWANA BANTWANA WOZAN'EKHAYA!

Open Letter from Mthwakazi to President Robert Mugabe, by V J Sibanda

By V J Sibanda (Bulawayo24) Your Excellency, President Robert Mugabe President of Zimbabwe Office of the President Private Bag 7700 Causeway Harare, Zimbabwe 29th April 2012 Open Letter from Mthwakazi to President Robert Mugabe on 'snake' utterances Dear Your Excellency, President Robert Mugabe, Greetings to you, Your Excellency! We write to you, once again, as Mthwakazi. 1. We are writing to you today, Your Excellency, in connection with certain utterances attributed to you by The Herald's edition of 27th April 2012 on your arrival in Bulawayo for the Trade Fair on the 26th April 2012. You are alleged to have uttered the following words, among others: "Now is the time to remove all the snakes on our way and ensure that Bulawayo and the whole of Matabeleland is vibrant." 2. We do not know the particular context of those words and where they were located in the context of everything you said that day. We are sure you will clarify that if and when you reply, Your Excellency, as we hope you will do. 3. As you may already have seen from press reports, the people of Mthwakazi, rightly or wrongly, have reacted negatively to those alleged utterances. 4. We do not know, Your Excellency, whether you did utter those words and if you did whether they are accurate as reported by The Herald. Again, we are sure you will only be too happy to clarify that, Your Excellency. 5. However, we are still concerned as Mthwakazi, Your Excellency, at such words being uttered at all, as alleged. 6. You will no doubt recall, Your Excellency, that when you first used the imagery of a snake at a rally in Marondera on 14th February 1982 it was in reference to the late Zapu President, Joshua Nkomo, and most ominously, through him, uMthwakazi as a whole. Soon thereafter, your government labeled uMthwakazi 'dissidents'. As you know, Your Excellency, dehumanization or labeling is one of eight stages to genocide. True enough, the Gukurahundi genocide against uMthwakazi followed. Gukurahundi genocide remains unacknowledged and denied. Denial, as you know Your Excellency, is the last stage of the eight stages of genocide which confirms its existence or that it has happened. 7. We are therefore deeply concerned as Mthwakazians, Your Excellency, that if these utterances attributed to you are true, we are beginning to see the language of dehumanizing and labeling re-enter the political landscape again and, as Mthwakazians, are deeply worried about where this is all now headed, given uMthwakazi's experience with Gukurahundi and what we say in Paragraphs 12 (a) – (c) below. 8. The perception is strong among Mthwakazians, Your Excellency, that unlike in 1982 when your 'snake' utterances expressly targeted uMthwakazi, this time you may be using the setting, Matebeleland, and Bulawayo in particular, to target and set uMthwakazi up again for another anti-Mthwakazi operation. 9. As uMthwakazi, Your Excellency, we find it peculiar and deeply disconcerting that with all the opportunities and different settings you have as Head of State to do so, you choose Matebeleland, and Bulawayo in particular, as the setting for using the 'snake' imagery again and talk of unidentified and nameless 'snakes'. 10. Your Excellency, as uMthwakazi, we feel that there is nothing stopping you identifying your political enemies expressly as the MDC formations, if it is them you were referring to, as you have done many times before. As uMthwakazi we feel the 'snake' utterances attributed to you, if they are yours and true, refer to someone else, outside the MDC formations. We are worried that they refer to uMthwakazi and may be the beginnings of labeling and dehumanizing uMthwakazi again. Your Excellency, as uMthwakazi, we therefore feel threatened by the 'snake' utterances attributed to you, if indeed those utterances are yours and true. 11. We would therefore ask as uMthwakazi, Your Excellency, if those 'snake' utterances are yours and true, and in order to put uMthwakazi's concerns to rest, that you identify who you were referring to as 'snakes' in those alleged utterances and that you publicly state that the 'snake' labeling did not in any shape or form refer to Mthwakazi. 12. We write this letter, Your Excellency, mindful of three important points. (a) The point first is that, as uMthwakazi, and by letter dated 24th February 2011, we formally addressed you about uMthwakazi's desire for its independence and separate statehood. Despite our request for a response, we have still not had any formal response from yourself and your government. (b) The second point is that, in your first public utterances on uMthwakazi's independence, which you did not specifically refer to, or to our letter of 24th February 2011, you expressed hostility to the idea of Mthwakazi's independence behind the front of the Copac draft constitution 'leaked' in March 2012. As uMthwakazi we are concerned that you may well be using these seemingly innocent opportunities and settings to attack uMthwakazi, and that your alleged snake utterances at Bulawayo Airport may only be the beginning of anti-Mthwakazi rhetoric that will escalate with time. We are sure, Your Excellency, that you accept the democratic principle that uMthwakazi's independence will be a political and democratic decision of Mthwakazi, not of any individual. (c) The third point is that one of your own Ministers, an Mthwakazian, Moses Mzila-Ndlovu, the co-Minister in the Organ for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, is currently on trial on a matter relating to the Gukurahundi genocide. As uMthwakazi, we cannot help wondering whether Mr Moses Mzila-Ndlovu could be one of the 'snakes', with all the political implications of that for Mthwakazi as a whole? 13. The perception is strong among Mthwakazians, Your Excellency, that these three points inform and are the true political context of your alleged 'snake' utterances in Bulawayo. We are worried, Your Excellency, that the 'ambiguity' over the identity of the 'snakes' may well be intended with the full knowledge that this 'ambiguity' tapes into the painful legacy of Gukurahundi in Matebeleland and the Midlands and that we may well be seeing Gukurahundi, once again, being used as a means to intimidate, control and silence uMthwakazi politically. If we are wrong, Your Excellency, we are sure you will only be too happy to dispel our belief and put us to peace. 14. We are therefore asking, as Mthwakazians, Your Excellency, that you clear the air and put all of uMthwakazi's deep concerns outlined above to rest. Your Excellency, we thank you. Siyabonga! MTHWAKAZI MTHWAKAZI, ONDLELA ZIMHLOPHE UMTHWAKAZI ISIZWE SOHLANGA

Bulawayo loses US$1 million to strike

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/ 28/04/2012 00:00:00 by Staff Reporter STRIKING Bulawayo council workers have returned to work after agreeing to take their pay dispute to arbitration. The strike between Monday and Thursday lost the council nearly US$1 million in revenue after residents neglected to pay rates, financial director Kimpton Ndimande said. The BCC collects an average US$4,1 million from residents every month, but Ndimande says they will miss that target by US$1 million in April. He said the local authority got an average of $4,1 million per month, but this month it is estimated that it would get $3,1 million. “Ratepayers thought that since there was a strike, the Revenue Hall was closed. We were open and working with cashiers in the rates department,” Ndimande said. The strike had sent council bosses into a panic, coming in the middle of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair whose five-day run was set to end late Saturday. Most council services including clinics, rubbish collection, water pipe maintenance and even grave digging were affected by the strike. The 3,200 council workers say their February salaries – the last time they were paid – were slashed by 40 percent without consultation by the council. The workers have not been paid their March and April salaries with the MDC-T run council insisting that it is broke. Unions say 12 of the 23 urban councils are in pay arrears. The councils blame a bloated workforce and a poor debt recovery mechanism for their budget troubles. The Bulawayo City Council, with debts of US$55 million – including US$17 million owed to ZESA. But the council says it is owed US$35 million by residents, US$23 million by companies and US$4 million by the government – making for a total of nearly US$62 million.

Mgaxa's demise imminent.

Poised for a post-Mugabe era http://www.businesslive.co.za/ 28 April, 2012 21:24 TINA WEAVIND Business Times At 88 years of age and with suspected prostate cancer, Robert Mugabe is definitely slowing down. His recent two-week trip to Singapore, which caused two cabinet meetings to be called off, was brushed aside by his aides as a mere holiday. But anyone with even a fleeting interest in the country sat up and took notice. Zimbabwe is poised to become one of the biggest recovery stories on the continent, says Chris Hart of Investment Solutions. Hart is of the opinion that regeneration will go ahead but could be delayed if members of the "old guard" take power after Mugabe. He says there is a solid infrastructure base, although there has been no capital expenditure for more than a decade. There is power, there is a road network and the education system hasn't collapsed so skills are available. And while a great deal has broken down there is significant institutional memory that will fast-track growth when the political landscape becomes less obstructive. Zimbabwe has one of the largest reserves of platinum in the world and a wealth of other resources including diamonds, gold, chrome, nickel and coal. Hart suggests that investment in tourism, telecommunications, financial services, transport and retail would come in relatively quickly if the system stabilises. Mugabe is believed to have entered into a "gentleman's agreement" with his 65-year-old Minister of Defence, Emmerson Mnangagwa, that will put him in power when Mugabe steps down. If the veteran of the 1970s armed struggle against British rule does assume control, analysts warn that things could get worse. In the 1980s Mnangagwa was chief of the Central Intelligence Organisation and was instrumental in causing the deaths of thousands of civilians during a campaign to suppress the rival Zapu party. He was recently sent on a mission to Iran where he met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to discuss getting military aid in return for uranium. The UK's Sunday Telegraph reported that Mnangagwa was virtually guaranteed to succeed as long as he successfully campaigns for Mugabe in this year's presidential elections. But several analysts believe that when Mugabe cedes power the current constitution will be followed, which will mean one of the two vice-presidents - Joice Mujuru or John Nkomo - will take over. John Legat, head of asset management at financial services company Imara, says Mujuru will likely take charge since Nkomo has health problems of his own. According to the constitution, elections would then be held in 90 days. However, Legat believes Mujuru could opt to pursue a new constitution, which is nearly complete. This would give her time to put herself forward as a candidate for election and build up a support base. Legat says this scenario will be the most positive for business since Mujuru has in the past two years shown herself to be pro business. He says she and Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister of Zimbabwe and president of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, get on well and are "on the same page". The indigenisation law would probably be amended or scrapped, Legat says. While it had had limited practical effect, it had been egregious for investor sentiment. Still, there is a definite trickle of business moving back to Zimbabwe, and people are beginning to position themselves for a post-Mugabe era. Legat sa ys major changes will be seen when the IMF finally start s to support the country, and that will only happen once Mugabe has gone as there is too much uncertainty with him in power. T he IMF has been engaged in debt rescheduling and increasing its mission in Harare. Despite the indigenisation laws, mining is continuing with the big Impala Platinum and Anglo Platinum operations. Gold, too, is being mined, albeit on a far smaller scale, and diamond, chrome, coal, copper and nickel operations are all continuing but are nowhere near their potential levels of production. Other limited investment is also going ahead. In December, Pick n Pay took a 49% stake in Zimbabwe's TM supermarkets. Group Five is dualising the road between Harare and Bulawayo in a joint venture with the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration. Funded by the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the road will be tolled. Tenders are out to expand power stations to Hwange and Kariba, and Rio Zimbabwe has been given the go-ahead to build a power station. Though agricultural land is owned by the state, lease agreements where tenure is taken up for 99 years are a way to get around this. If security of tenure can be guaranteed by the state, this will carry weight with financial institutions and a move towards corporate farming will likely ensue. Some farming success can already be seen in tobacco and sugar, with BAT Zimbabwe having recently posted excellent results and Tongaat-Hulett having increased its Zimbabwe investment by about $135-million. Zimbabwe has been left behind in Africa's growth story. According to Accenture's Grant Hatch, it is the only country on the continent where poverty levels have consistently increased in the past decade. But change is coming and as Chris Hart says, they don't necessarily need a good system in place to get the regeneration ball rolling. All they need is a system that stops doing harm.

Zimbabwe prime minister says ‘poisonous politics’ are scaring away investors

Zimbabwe prime minister says ‘poisonous politics’ are scaring away investors http://www.washingtonpost.com By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, April 26, 2:06 AM HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s prime minister said Wednesday that the nation’s “bad and poisonous politics” have held back recovery and investment in the troubled economy. Morgan Tsvangirai said the three-year coalition government “has bickered more than it has collaborated” to spur economic growth. He also is a sharp critic of a zealous black empowerment program by President Robert Mugabe’s party. Mugabe’s party has vowed to seize 51 percent control for blacks of foreign and white-owned businesses. Tsvangirai, visiting a trade exposition in the second city of Bulawayo, said discord and “toxic” policies over the control of businesses frightened off investors willing to rebuild collapsed industries and power and other utilities. A decade of economic meltdown followed seizures of thousands of white-owned farms. Tsvangirai said traveling across the country was “a sorry sight — closed factories, old equipment, retrenched workers and ghost towns have been the story of Zimbabwe.” He said his party opposes any policies that lead to job losses and send the wrong message to potential investors. He wanted benefits to go to all Zimbabweans through improved business confidence and direct foreign investment. He said he wanted “machinations” by a minority in taking over foreign firms to end. “The basis for establishing international confidence in our economy is sound economic management,” Tsvangirai told business leaders in Bulawayo. Mugabe’s party insists the black empowerment program — and farm seizures that saw prime properties handed out to loyalists and cronies that still lie idle — is to correct colonial-era imbalances in the ownership of land, minerals and natural resources. Zimbabwe is a former regional breadbasket that now is heavily indebted and depends on food imports. In Bulawayo alone, once the nation’s industrial heartland of steel, engineering and railroad plants, 80 large businesses have recently closed down with the loss of at least 20,000 jobs, Tsvangirai said. Tsvangirai said economic reconstruction needs to be underpinned by peace and stability, a return to the rule of law and the protection of property ownership rights. He acknowledged his party lacks powers in the coalition to implement its visions for development and renewal of the country’s former status as a jewel of the region envied by many. Mugabe has called for elections this year to end the coalition. “Only a legitimately elected government and not a coalition ... can deal with the massive unemployment and poverty that Zimbabwe currently faces, “ Tsvangirai said.

COPAC remains deadlocked

http://www.swradioafrica.com By Tichaona Sibanda 25 April 2012 A deadlock on three contentious issues contained in the draft constitution remains, with no sign of an agreement emerging. MDC-T MP and co-chairman of COPAC, Douglas Mwonzora, confirmed to SW Radio Africa on Tuesday that discussions in the last few weeks have ended with no concrete results. The issues in dispute are dual citizenship, devolution and the structure of the executive. Last week the president of the smaller formation of the MDC, Welshman Ncube, said the three principals had failed to break the constitutional logjam and called on South African President Jacob Zuma to intervene. However, Mwonzora said they will wait for the management committee, which comprises chief negotiators from the three political parties in the unity government, to meet again and look at the outstanding issues. “One of the problems we have been facing is that members of the management committee have been busy with government commitments and have been outside the country in the last week. I understand they are all back now and we hope they’ll meet soon,” Mwonzora said. Blessing Vava, the information officer for the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), said an alternative approach to resolve the deadlock would be to publish views received during the outreach program on the issues in dispute. “As the NCA we have always said the draft Constitution should reflect the people’s views as captured during the outreach program. Every party involved with the new constitution has said the same and so we are saying let’s not divert from the views of the people,” Vava said. He added: “Let’s go back to what people said and see what they said about devolution, dual citizenship and structure of the Executive. As it is, the stalemate confirms our fears that the new constitution will not reflect the wishes of Zimbabweans, but of the politicians.” Vava said he hopes the new constitution will guarantee human rights, strengthen the role of parliament and curtail the president’s powers, as well as guaranteeing civil, political and media freedoms.

Mnangagwa admits army involvement in diamond trade

http://www.swradioafrica.com By Alex Bell 25 April 2012 Zimbabwe’s Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has confirmed fears of ongoing military involvement in the country’s diamond industry, which human rights campaigners have for years linked to abuses in the Chiadzwa diamonds fields. Mnangagwa reportedly told an audience at Midlands State University in Gweru that army deals were struck with diamond companies from China, Russia and other nations as part of efforts to counter Western targeted sanctions. He said the trade deals “to a large extent, stabilises industry and eliminates chances of internal economic sabotage.” Mnangagwa, widely believed to be the chosen ZANU PF successor when Robert Mugabe dies, has always denied succession claims. But according to analyst Clifford Mashiri, his admitted involvement in the diamond industry puts him in a strong position to ensure his place in the power hierarchy. Mashiri said the profits from the militarised diamond trade would ensure a ZANU PF victory, with Mnangagwa holding the reins of power. Mashiri meanwhile said there is little surprise that China and Russia have been linked to the Zimbabwean army, saying it justifies concerns already raised about their dealings in the local diamond industry. Russia is believed to be forging ahead with mining activities in Chimanimani, after forming a joint venture company with the Development Trust of Zimbabwe, another ZANU PF stronghold. In 2010 it emerged that Robert Mugabe’s loyal security forces and the equally notorious Chinese People’s Liberation Army, had entered into a diamonds-for-arms deal, with millions of dollars worth of industrial diamonds being mined and airlifted to China. The stones, which are not pure enough for commercial sale, are believed to be flown directly out of Chiadzwa where an airstrip was built in 2009. In return Zimbabwe’s military is said to be given weapons to keep propping up Mugabe’s regime. The deal between Zimbabwe and China was reportedly set up by General Constantine Chiwenga, A senior intelligence chief who was quoted by the UK Daily Mail after an undercover investigation, said that weapons supplied by the Chinese were being handed out to the military in preparation for a brutal new crackdown against Mugabe’s opponents. As well as paying a share of the diamond profits to Mugabe’s regime, he confirmed that China has agreed to supply military hardware to Zimbabwe. The official said: “Beijing supplies weapons to us, and we allow them to mine diamonds.” The military involvement in Chiadzwa has for years been raised as a major area of concern, so much so that the demilitarisation of the diamond fields was listed as a key requirement before the country was allowed to resume international trade. This was stipulated by the trade watchdog grouping, the Kimberley Process (KP), who have, nonetheless, given Zimbabwe the green light to resume sales. This is despite ongoing concerns about human rights abuses and rampant smuggling. Analyst Mashiri meanwhile told SW Radio Africa that the 2008 ‘clean-up’ operation at the Chiadzwa diamond mines must be used as an example of what happens when the military is involved. That operation, codenamed Operation Hakudzokwi (no return), resulted in the deaths of hundreds of diamond panners and secured the military grip on the area. No investigation has ever been launched into the deaths there, or reports that the military’s control led to forced labour and abuse. “You can seen why the military involvement is such a disturbing issue because their operations are so brutal,” Mashiri said.

Theme: An injury to one is an injury to all Venue: Hillbrow Theatre Presented By: Mtwakazi Liberation Front

1.Honourable VP 2.Honorable Chair 3.Honourable NEC members here present 4.Honourable Mthwakazi members here present 5.Honourable representatives from other pro - Mthwakazi organizations here present 6.Ladies and gentlemen 7.Comrades and friends We gather here today to give our solidarity to those of us who will be in the Zimbabwean courts as from tomorrow the 23rd of April 2012,facing charges of trying to overthrow the government of Zimbabwe - which is a treasonous act under the law of that country and punishable by death-an old and archaic law inherited from the colonial government. As we are gathered here, we think of messiers Paul Siwela, Charles Thomas, John Gazi who are facing the serious charge of capital punishment. We implore that the flyers that were found in their possession, which are the ones that it is assumed were carrying the message which is alleged to have been inciting the citizens to rise against the government were part of an ongoing program of conscetising our people to come together as a collective and support the calls and concerns of our people which are a cornerstone to our livelihood as a people. The so called offensive flyers were not offensive as they will remain not offensive. The flyers were and are telling the truth and whose truth is known by the affected Mthwakazi peoples not some subjects who have long deep seated and ingrained traits of subjecting Mthwakazi people to a perpetual life of servitude and some numerous injustices that cannot be cited here because of time. The meaning of the important messages on those flyers cannot be detected to us by those who are not from Mthwakazi and who do not understand the dynamics of the language that has been viewed as belonging to the second class peoples of Zimbabwe. It is also worthwhile to mention the Hon Moses Mzila, a Member of Parliament who is also the Minister in the Organ of National Healing, which, in essence is supposed to heal the people and help in the reconciliation process, but to make a smokescreen of that, he was arrested and is set to continue attending court prosecution. We wonder why then were this Ministry ever created if it is not allowed to address those injustices by mentioning them and then discussing them too in public domain. The state has not prepared a docket up to now. Ironically, arresting and detaining Hon Mzila should in itself have made the President of Zimbabwe invoke his unlimited powers to instruct the law enforcement agents to lay down reasons for his arrest before hastily doing what they did. You should have mentioned movements fighting for justice on Gukurahundi, the ICC, the fact that Gukurahundi was classified as a genocide last year, the fact that Mzila was within his rights to address people of Silwane on Gukurahundi as a shallow grave had been discovered by primary school children in which the skulls and human bones were protruding from the earth. We have Esau Ncube, who was arrested for demanding that jobs in Vic Falls be given to locals as a first preference. Owen Maseko, an artist was also arraigned to the courts for drawing pictures on Gukurawundi , which has been so far accorded the rightful classification, that of being regarded as genocide by the ICC. Styx Mhlanga a musician also found himself in the courts because of Mthwakazi sentiment that he had said. Father Marko Mnkandla, who also is facing a charge for talking about Gukurawundi and being a church minister, was also within his limits to address people on peace and national healing. The church plays a pivotal role in these cases. These are a few cases that we are citing which makes us say rally behind all those who face charges for the cause of Mthwakazi. In all fairness, is it a lie to talk about Gukurawundi? Did Gukurawundi not take place? Why did they indulge in the heinous act of Gukurawundi if they knew it was wrong? We will not be silenced and this means we will all be jailed for demanding that our children must know what they did to us. We want a recourse now rather than later. Some desperate calls by the Zimbabwean President on the Independence Day that they did wrongs to the people are coming rather late. Why is that coming now? He did not state how that will be dealt with. It was an empty rhetoric designed to hoodwink the public especially the people from Mthwakazi. We call upon the regime to halt forth with the dehumanizing treatment of those Mthwakazi people because what they were doing was not coming from their egos but they were fronting the calls of many Mthwakazi people. The tactics the regime is using is of trying to silence the people so that they view the ideology as treasonous but in essence they are feigning the hatred and more calls coming from all quarters of Mthwakazi. The people of Mthwakazi, we are gathered here to show solidarity are not the only ones facing the brutality of a regime whose fortune is waning, but we have numerous examples to point. In essence, all what is being done to Mthwakazi people is an implementation of what their 1979 grand plan says and this grand plan has never been denied by the regime which makes it a reality that they crafted it, lest we forget the subsequent additions/reviews that they have continuously brought to the open. The regime is trying by all means to suppress the voices from the concerned. We as the affected will never stop talking about what affects us. What the regime is doing is only seasoning the people so that they defend what they believe in and also motivating them to group and call in unison for cessation of arrests and address the problems. If we may briefly account for some telling vivid actions of the regime from the time zanu came into being, in 1963,coming in as a tribal entity with a few disgruntled Mthwakazi people, they instigated the fight that took place in Mgagao and Morogoro where about 88 freedom fighters died, the problems that they caused in Zambia which led them to be expelled and they had to seek bases in Tanzania and Mozambique, they caused the failure of bringing together the liberation movements’ merge under patriotic front banner, some freedom fighters deployed in Mozambique to work alongside zanla (during the liberation era) they were never tracked because they were either eliminated or out rightly eliminated as they were deployed in small numbers whereas they were in multitudes which then made it difficult for them to defend themselves from the comrades they were supposed to work hand in glove. This is just pointing out how skillful they are in silencing what they believe to be dissenting voices out to disturb their grasp to power. In Biblical terms as well as in any other terms, no people and no part of a people shall be held against its will in a political association that it does not want to belong to. This is a topical issue in Zimbabwe nowadays, albeit done in different ways. The emerging voices in Mthwakazi have and are talking about issues that affect them in their daily lives. Those issues cannot be left unattended to by those affected as they are there to guarantee us stable political and economic freedom that we have not enjoyed since the so called independence from the colonial entity that existed. The idea should not be limited to calls and narrations only, but there is a need for a vigorous collective drive by all the Mthwakazi people from different recognizable formations that matter in the present political sphere in the country. This day, has relevance in that we as a people, have sought to come together irrespective of our political affiliations and ideologies, to call for an end to intimidation and harassment of our people. We know that promotion of a certain tribal educational advancement in all spheres of development is still taking place, that history is seriously distorted and tilted in favour of Zanu-PF, that there is a serious and concerted de-industrialization of Matabeleland, that Zambezi pipeline will remain a pipedream as long as Zanu-PF presides over Mthwakazi, that double favours are a birth right to a certain tribe in the country and this is glaringly done to utter disgust of the Mthwakazi peoples. These and more issues about us, once talked about, as we do, warrant a treasonous act back in Zimbabwe. In conclusion, we all in unity, call upon the powers that be, in Zimbabwe and the international community to intervene and halt all these human right abuses that are an order of the day in the present Zimbabwe. The UN statutes should be enforced on any country without favour or fear. Our calls should not fall on deaf ears. We want all the injustices attended to as a matter of urgency. We as a nation will not remain silent and watch while our kin and kith are de-humanized but we will seek all the peaceful and principled ways of addressing our problems, until the regime is reigned in soberly. I thank you United we stand but divided we fall!! Vuka Mthwakazi Vuka!!

"Operation Hakudzokwi" By Miffs12

Sources reveal that there are possible mass graves in Marange, the army-led exercise which saw hundreds killed, some of them allegedly shot by helicopter gunships in 2008 Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba also known as ‘Nathaniel Manheru' coldly wrote: "I do not think diamond hunters will descend on Chiadzwa ever again… KuChiadzwa hakuna mai. Hakudzokwi… The Untouchables of Chiadzwa are either slaving, wounded or dead" (The Herald, "Operation Hakudzokwi", 24/11/08). Channel 4, UK, November 2011 went under cover to get testimonies from survivors and those who took part in the military assault, some who now sought refuge in South Africa. Amid the Gukurahundi atrocities, and the 600 bodies found in Chibondo mine shaft, Mt Dawning, and 60 more bodies in a school kwaMthwakazi. The ZanuPF regime shows no fear of doing it again, we wonder how many more should be sacrificed before Mthwakazians to stand United and take the initiative, to fight the the rule of tyranny and oppression.

Chief Khayisa Ndiweni November 1978

On 8 November 1978, at the age of 61 years Chief Khayisa Ndiweni, formed the United National Federal Party (UNFP), as a break away from the Zimbabwe United Peoples Organization.(ZUPO), a political party formed by the joint Council of Chiefs of Mthwakazi and Zimbabwe, which was led by Chief Chirawu as the President of the Council of Chiefs, the Vice President Chief Khayisa Ndiweni became its Vice President. ZUPO had been formed on the bases of equal representation for the two Territories. The joint Council of the Chiefs of both Zimbabwe and Mthwakazi had approved that each Territory shall be divided into eight regions to be used as election constituencies and ensure local representation in any future elections. ZUPO pledged itself to select candidates in each region from amongst the local people. The candidates will have to be locally known and respected persons, familiar with the particular constituency's life and problems. This was the first political party in Southern Rhodesia to recognize the different Territories which have their natural rights to be represented by their own trusted and elected representatives. During the formation of the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia government under the 3 March 1978 agreement, the Executive Council of four (EXCO), which formed the presidency happened to have one white and three Zimbabweans with no Mthwakazi representative, and the Ministerial Council lacked equal representation. In September 1978, ZUPO changed its original Policy of Equal Representatation. Its National Executive without the participation of the Mthwakazi Chiefs held a meeting and resolved that the country shall be divided into four regions, three of which to report to Salisbury (Harare in Zimbabwe) the forth was to report at Bulawayo, in Mthwakazi. When the internal settlement was formed, MaShonaland region got represented by Chief Chirawu, Manicaland by Bishop Muzorewa and Victoria region by Ndabaningi Sithole in the ESCO that formed the collective presidency with Ian Douglas Smith representing the whites. All the three regions happened to form one country, Zimbabwe. Mthwakazi was not represented in the Council of Four. The Cabinet which made all the decisions was also dominated by the Zimbabwe Ministers, with only four Mthwakazians out of 18 Ministers.

ZANLA

Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) was the military wing of the Zimbabwe African National Union, a militant African nationalist organisation and participated in the Rhodesian Bush War against white minority rule. ZANLA was formed in 1965 in Tanzania, although until the early 1970s ZANLA was based in camps around Lusaka, Zambia. Until 1972 ZANLA was led by the nationalist leader Herbert Chitepo, followed by Josiah Tongogara from 1973 until his death in 1979. With the war drawing to a close, command fell to Robert Mugabe, previously ZANU's number two leader after Tongogara and head of the movement's political wing. Until about 1971, ZANLA's strategy was based on direct confrontation with Rhodesian armed forces. From 1972 onwards, ZANLA adopted the Maoist guerrilla tactics that had been used with success by FRELIMO in Mozambique: infiltrating combatants into the country, politicising the peasantry and participating in 'hit-and-run' ambush operations. ZANLA's close association with Mozambique's FRELIMO helped it after Mozambican independence in 1975. From about 1972, ZANLA had operated from Tete Province in northern Mozambique, which was FRELIMO-controlled, and, after Mozambican independence, ZANLA was permitted to open additional training and supply camps along the Rhodesian-Mozambican border. This greatly assisted the recruitment and training of cadres. Beside their overall political ideologies, the main differences between ZIPRA, the armed wing of the pro-Soviet ZAPU party, and ZANLA were that: ZANLA drew its recruits mostly from Shona-speaking ethnic groups ZANLA followed a strategy of politicisation of the peasant population (inspired by the Maoist teachings of "protracted people's war"), most often by intimidation and outright terrorism. ZIPRA cadres were usually not based in Rhodesia for any length of time and consequently did not enjoy a close relationship with local peasant populations After about 1972, ZANLA introduced combatants into the country for long-term campaigns of guerrilla fighting, while ZIPRA was designed to be used as a conventional armed force: entering the country, striking and pulling back to its bases in Zambia and Angola During the late 1970s, some ZANLA fighters were deployed in the Matabeleland and midlands provinces, areas where Zipra mainly operated. There were a lot of clashes between the two forces. ZANLA fighters were well known for their savagery when it came to dealing with Ndebele civilians who were usually taken into what were called overnight bases and forced to sing songs in Shona denouncing ZAPU and its leader Joshua Nkomo. These ZANLA cadres had a strange love for chicken and a local staple food known as Sadza. Each time they came to a Ndebele homestead given their lack of the Ndebele language, they would simply demand "ndipe sadza nehuku" hence the local Ndebele nickname for them "Osadza nehuku". They were known as well for saying "Down with Nkomo" most of the time, hence another Matebele name for them became "OPASI" Aside from these tribal issues, in Mashonaland their home ground, the ZANLA fighter gave a different account of himself. Like their more polished and better organised fellow fighters in ZIPRA, in Mashonaland they helped inflict many casualties on the Rhodesian Security Forces. In fact, until today, the then ZANLA command still maintains that it was their forces, not ZIPRA, that attacked the Salisbury fuel depot in December 1978, resulting in a massive shortage of fuel in RhodesiaWhilst there was undoubtedly intense rivalry between the two fellow movements, the Rhodesian government treated both the same. As much as the Rhodesian security forces attacked and killed hundreds of ZAPU recruits across the borders in Zambia and Angola at Mkushi and Freedom Camps, ZANU also recorded many losses in Chimoio and Nyadzonia in Mozambique. Following the 1980 elections large portions of ZANLA were integrated into the new Zimbabwe National Army.

ZIPRA

Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) was the armed wing of the Zimbabwe African People's Union, a political party in Rhodesia. It participated in the Second Chimurenga against white minority rule in the former Rhodesia. ZIPRA was formed during the 1960s by the nationalist leader Jason Moyo, the deputy of Joshua Nkomo. Because ZAPU's political strategy relied more heavily on negotiations than armed force, ZIPRA developed as elaborately training both regular soldiers and guerrilla fighters ZANLA, although by 1979 it had an estimated 20,000 combatants[citation needed], based in camps around Lusaka, Zambia and at the front. ZIPRA's crossing points into Zimbabwe were at Feira in Zambia opposite Mashonaland East and west. For example, the operational boundary was Sipolilo where ZIPRA, ZANLA and Rhodesian forces clashed. ZIPRA operated alone in Mashonaland west. There was no ZANLA in that area.[citation needed] Zipra was a non tribalist organisation[citation needed] with cadres drawn from a wide spectrum of the country's population. Beside the overall political ideologies, the main differences between ZIPRA and ZANLA were that: ZIPRA drew its recruits from the Kalanga, Sutho, Ndebele, Shona ethnic groups while ZANLA only recruited from the Shona.[citation needed] ZIPRA did not follow ZANLA's (inspired by Maoism) but followed Soviet Marxist Leninist principles and enjoyed close relationship with local peasant populations. For example, ZIPRA forces in Mashonaland west were never sold out by the population because they respected locals and their culture.[citation needed] ZIPRA controlled liberated zones from Sipolilo to Plumtree. The enemy forces could not venture out of the keep in Kazangarare for instance.[citation needed]. Zipra had some of its forces who served in the new Zimbabwe national government like Philip Valerio Sibanda, Tshinga Dube Roy Reagen Ndlovu and Eddie Sigoge who was arrested in the 1980s. ZIPRA was in formal alliance with Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) the ANC's militant wing. ZIPRA and MK mounted a celebrated (if militarily unsuccessful) mission in Southern Rhodesia in the mid-1960s. In 1978 and 1979 ZIPRA downed two civilian passenger planes of Air Rhodesia, killing a total of 102 passengers and crew

Mkhonto Wesizwe.

1961, December 16: The formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe by the ANC, SACP and fraternal organisations is announced by a series of bomb blasts against apartheid structures in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Durban. 1962, January: Nelson Mandela leaves South Africa for military training. 1963, October to June: The Rivonia trail, which results in MK high command members Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Dennis Goldberg, Ahmed Kathrada, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni and Elias Motsoaledi`s being sentenced to life imprisonment. The charge sheet at the trail lists 193 acts of sabotage. 1964, November 6: Vuyisile Mini, Wilton Khayingo and Zizakile Mkhaba, three prominent trade unionists from Port Elizabeth, are sent to the gallows for MK activities. 1967, July 30-3: The "Luthuli Detachment" comprising ANC and ZAPU guerrillas crosses the Zambezi river into the then Rhodesia and engages joint Smith-Vorster troops at the start of the Wankie and Sipolio battles which rage until late 1968. 1970-75: MK reconsolidates its underground structures. Among others, Chris Hani returns to South Africa. 1971, December 16: MK celebrates its 10th Anniversary. 1975, June 25: The People`s Republic of Mozambique is created after a protracted 10-year battle by FRELIMO troops against the Portuguese colonialists in which MK troops participated. 1975, November 11: The People`s Republic of Angola is born and within months, after the defeat of the invading South African army by the Angolan people`s armed forces, MK is invited to train its cadres on Angolan soil. 1975-76: Early MK commanders who are active in the early 1961-64 sabotage campaign are released from Robben Island. Among them are Joe Gqabi, Indres Naidoo, Ismael Ebrahim and Andrew Masondo. 1976, June 16: More than 1,000 children are killed in Soweto by South African Police. Thousand of students leave South Africa to join MK. They are henceforth called "The June 16 Detachment". 1976, December 16: The 15th anniversary of Umkhonto we Sizwe. 1976-1978: There is a dramatic increase in MK operations including sabotage of railway lines, attacks on police stations and so on. 1979: The Year of the Spear. Named in tribute to the history of unbroken resistance and to the military of our people from the Battle of Isandelwana on January 22 1879. 1979, April 6: Mk hero Solomon Mahlangu is hanged in Pretoria. (his comrade Monty Motloung suffered brain damage from his torture he received at the hands of his captors). 1980, January: The Silverton siege, in which MK combatants intercepted en route to a mission take refuge in a bank in Silverton, Pretoria. Our comrades explain the policies of the ANC to the hostages, pledge not to hurt them, demand Nelson Mandela`s release. The SAP bundle the operation, and kill some of the hostages as well as the three MK comrades.... but not before several police have been killed as well. 1980, June: Umkhonto we Sizwe hits at the massive Sasol complex, causing damage estimated at R66 million. 1981, June: As part of nationwide defiance against the regime`s racist Republic celebrations, MK strikes at several strategic targets, blows up railway lines, power plants, military bases and recruiting offices. Altogether there are more than 90 armed actions against the regime and its installations this year. 1981, August 9: The SADF`s major military installation, Voortekkerhoogte, is attacked by MK combatants using 122mm rocket launchers. 1981, November 3: The "Indian Affairs" building in Durban is blasted, the day before the fraudulent South African Indian Council elections. 1981, December 16: MK celebrates its 20th anniversary. 1982, January 8:On the 70th anniversary of the formation of the ANC, MK attacks Koeberg nuclear power plant in Cape Town. 1983, May: Pretoria car bomb explodes outside South African Air Force HQ and SADF Military Intelligence HQ killing SADF and SAP personnel. MK claims responsibility. 1983, June 9: Jerry Mosolodi, Terry Mogerani and Thjabo Montaung are executed for their part in an attack on Wonderboom police station. 1984, September: MK operatives increase dramatically in response to the Vaal Uprisings. Actions include engaging SADF and SAP personnel, sabotaging economic and military installations. 1985: The Amamzimtoti bomb attack takes place. 1985, October 18: Malesela Benjamin Moloise is executed in defiance of international calls for clemency. 1986: The second state of emergency is declared and Andrew Zondo is hanged by the regime for his part in the Amamzimtoti bomb blasts. 1987, May: A car bomb explodes outside the Johannesburg Magistrates Court killing four policemen. 1987 July: The SADF`s Witatwersrand Command complex in Johannesburg is severely damaged by a massive car bomb. The SADF refuses to disclose casualties. 1989: A large contingent of MK combatants attack a South African Air Force secret radar installation at Klippan in the Western Transvaal causing extensive damage and undisclosed casualties. 1990, August 1: ANC/MK suspends armed actions after 29 years

Civic groups and labour meet over dying Matabeleland businesses

Civic society and labour groups in Matabeleland province met in Bulawayo on Tuesday to discuss the critical lack of development funds for the area, which has seen many businesses closing or relocating to Harare. Economic conditions in the province are said to be so dire that most companies cannot continue to operate there. Critics say areas of Zimbabwe that have been ignored since independence remain underdeveloped and this has caused resentment among residents and businesses. The Tuesday meeting follows increased criticism of the Distressed and Marginalised Areas Fund (DiMAF), a government subsidised loan scheme that was established with the aim of assisting businesses in marginalised areas, particularly Matabeleland province. The government pledged $40 million dollars to help these areas, but according to SW Radio Africa correspondent Lionel Saungweme, only $3 million has been disbursed so far and companies in Bulawayo were not assisted. Saungweme said the groups that met on Tuesday are planning a demonstration to highlight the plight of businesses and workers in distressed areas. They are also calling on government to prioritise Matabeleland development with urgency, and make DiMAF a Bulawayo scheme. Saungweme, who has copies of loan applications from CABS Bank, reported last month that the applications revealed Bulawayo was still being ignored, even under the DiMAF scheme. Out of 215 applications in his possession, Saungweme said only one company from Bulawayo received funds. He explained that workers are losing their jobs due to relocations, with companies making it so difficult to move house that many decide to resign instead. Harare is considered a prime location because it is easier to access loans and investors in the capital. Groups represented at the Tuesday meeting included the umbrella Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), the National Constitutional Assembly, Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Bulawayo Agenda, Radio Dialogue, Habbakuk Trust and Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association.

Stan Mudenge, Held hostage by his party's youth

Higher and Tertiary Education Minister and Zanu (PF) politburo member, was held hostage for three hours by his party youths on Monday. The youths, believed to be aligned to the Mujuru faction, locked Mudenge in the Chief's hall where the Masvingo District Coordinating Committee (DCC) elections were being held. Riot police led by Chief Superintendent Mavhenjengwa of Masvingo Central came to Mudenge’s rescue after the Mujuru faction and the one that belongs to Emmerson Mnangagwa locked horns over the elections. Mudenge was accused of imposing candidates after he insisted on holding the elections without those from the Mujuru camp. The Mujuru faction alleged that it had been agreed that the DCC elections would be suspended for some time to allow the leadership to agree on a number of outstanding issues. Police rescued Mudenge, who is aligned to the rival faction, after the youths threatened to beat him. “We know these youths were sent by our detractors but we are going to deal with them accordingly,” said Mudenge. Trust Mugabe was endorsed as the Masvingo DCC chairman but Dzikamai Mavhaire, who belongs to the Mujuru camp, rubbished the whole process saying it was a joke. “I think Mudenge was joking, he has now completely lost focus – in as far as I know, there are no elections held for Masvingo DCC,” said Mavhaire.

15 Activists arrested MDC N

Zimbabwean police on Monday arrested 15 activists from the MDC-N party in Tsholotsho South district of Matabeleland North province, claiming they had conducted an ‘illegal’ meeting. But the MDC-N has contradicted the police version, saying their officials were on a door-to-door membership recruitment drive and did not need permission from the police. Party spokesman Nhlanhla Dube told SW Radio Africa their officials were working mostly in pairs, and not more than three people would approach each location. He said this does not constitute a meeting and the police are simply trying to frustrate their efforts to recruit. “This morning we sent a team of lawyers and officials to try and evaluate the situation, but they were not allowed to see them. We had to involve JOMIC to make sure that they were being treated well,” Dube explained. The JOMIC team, which has been monitoring the situation on the ground ahead of elections, discovered the arrested officials had not been given any food since their arrest on Monday. Food was provided by the party on Tuesday afternoon. The officials in detention are the MDC-N provincial spokesman Minutewell Ncube, Matabeleland North secretary Robert Mgezelwa Ndlovu and councilors Petros Mahonondo, Abel Dube and Rhoda Ncube. Dube said police claimed they were trying to locate the investigating officer before they decide how to proceed. “This is a ploy to delay their discussion with lawyers so that our people get to spend another night in police cells, as a way to frustrate them and keep them from their work,” Dube said. The group is being charged under the controversial Public Order and Security Act (POSA), which requires that the police simply be notified of any public gatherings. But the police have taken a partisan stance over the years, banning meetings by the MDC formations while allowing ZANU PF to hold impromptu meetings without police notifications. “This is why we insist it is not time yet to hold national elections in Zimbabwe. They know if we were allowed to function without hindrance we would consolidate our membership and make an impact at election time,” Dube explained.

Sikhala in the dock over illegal alien

HERALD DEFENCE lawyers for MDC-99 leader Job Sikhala have asked a court to acquit him on charges of assisting an illegal alien to enter the country at the close of the prosecution case. Sikhala denies charges of assisting South African national, Sharon Theresa Bester, to enter Zimbabwe in July last year through the porous Beitbridge border post. Bester, who had no passport, was arrested in Harare in the company of the MDC-99’s secretary for information and publicity, Aaron Muzungu, who was trying to sell diamonds to an undercover cop. Bester turned state witness as she told how she met Sikhala at the home of one Okkie Volschenck in Johannesburg while the former St Mary’s MP was fundraising for his political activities. Innocent Chingarande, prosecuting, said Sikhala had offered Bester a job as his personal assistant. Sikhala, Bester, Muzungu and Volscheck then drove to the Beitbridge border four days later. She told the court that Sikhala had facilitated her illegal entry But defence lawyer Augustine Runesu Chikazani said the state had an obligation to prove if Sikhala had ever assisted Bester in skipping the border. He challenged the credibility of the evidence given by Bester, who has since been convicted and fined. The defence also contested the fact that the charge sheets bore no specific dates of the alleged crime. "It is ridiculous that a man is being put to his defence over a crime that has no date,” the lawyer said. He added that the arresting officers could have verified the exact date from Sikhala's passport. Chikazani said Bester’s testimony that she had lived at Sikhala’s home was suspect after she failed to name any of his children. “Having stayed with them for months, she surely would remember one child's name,” the lawyer said. But prosecutor Chingarande said they had proved their case against Sikhala and that Bester had been a credible witness. "She vividly narrated the trip from Johannesburg with Sikhala, his party's secretary for information Aaron Muzungu who has also since been convicted and fined and another South African Okkie Volschenck. Her evidence was unquestionable,” the prosecutor said. Sikhala's trial has been marked by drama after the MDC-99 leader initially elected to represent himself, before engaging Chikazani. He stunned the court when he requested that magistrate Anita Tshuma recuse herself from the case, accusing her of bias. The magistrate reprimanded him for “playing to the gallery”. The magistrate will rule on the defence application this week.

Makoni vows to make Zimbabwe 'ungovernable'

According to Zimbabwe.com MAVAMBO Kusile Dawn (MKD) leader Simba Makoni has threated to make “the country ungovernable” if President Robert Mugabe forces an election this year without political reforms opposition parties insist are needed to ensure a credible vote. In a statement Tuesday, Makoni said: “(We are) strongly warning President Mugabe not to go ahead with the holding of elections before instituting all necessary reforms which guarantee a free and fair result.” The MKD leader – a former Finance Minister and senior Zanu PF official before bailing out ahead of the disputed 2008 elections -- said much needed to be done before the country could hope to have an election whose outcome is not disputed. “The people of Zimbabwe want a clean voters’ roll,” he said. “The issue of dual citizenship should be addressed so that nationals in the Diaspora are (also) allowed to vote. All political parties should be allowed to campaign freely without harassment from opponents. “Elections (are not like) ritual ceremonies, where (the) lives of innocent people are sacrificed … For the record, we are not afraid of elections. MKD has no problem if elections are held tomorrow, the day after or in a week’s time, as long as the electoral environment is conducive.” President Mugabe wants new polls held this year to end the coalition government and has warned his rivals he could name an election date before on-going constitutional reforms are completed. “We just have to go for elections this year. We have to have elections this year and leave next year clear,” the Zanu PF leader told state media over the weekend. However, Makoni warned his ex-boss that he has another thing coming if he thinks he can force elections under conditions that allow him to manipulate the vote. “We will not dance to the whims and caprices of President Mugabe …We will not allow President Mugabe to tamper with the people’s will this time around. This is no idle threat but a promise,” he said. “M.K.D leadership will not speculate on the course of action to take, since it is the people that will decide. One thing for certain is that in the event of President Mugabe tampering with the peoples’ wishes, we will make this country ungovernable.” Mugabe and his coalition partners agree they can no longer work together and that new elections are needed to choose a substantive government but the parties differ of the timing of the new ballot.MDC-T leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai recently said new elections were only possible in March 2013. "It's just not possible to hold elections this year, there is no constitution and no referendum has been held," he said. "Elections will be held at the outer limit; that is in March 2013 when the current term of the lawmakers would have constitutionally expired."

Detective testifies in MLF activists

Nqobile Ndlovu Detective testifies in MLF activists’ trial PDF Print E-mail Monday, 23 April 2012 20:55 source www.chronicle.co.zw Court Reporter A detective who is part of the group that carried a search at Paul Siwela's offices where they allegedly recovered subversive material inciting people to revolt against the Government yesterday told the court that he gave literary translations to the messages contained in the fliers. The detective said this yesterday when the treason trial of politicians, Paul Siwela, John Gazi and Charles Thomas, which was adjourned last month, resumed. Detective Sergeant George Ngwenya, who has served the force for 30 years, told senior Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Nicholas Ndou sitting with Messrs Elliot Nyoni and Phanuel Damba that his understanding of the messages contained in the fliers meant that Mthwakazi Liberation Front wanted people to rise against the Government. Det Sgt Ngwenya had difficulty in reading some of the Ndebele messages contained in the fliers like Vuka Mthwakazi, Vuka, which he said he understood to be urging members of the armed forces to rise against the Government. He said he was disturbed by a map that he saw on an MLF calendar, which showed part of the country as Mthwakazi Republic with Bulawayo as the capital. He told the court that on 4 March last year, he was on duty when they received information that Charles Thomas had been arrested in Entumbane and that he had allegedly told the police that they had held a meeting in Siwela's office and that after the meeting he had been given some documents to distribute. "I then applied for a search warrant in respect of Siwela's offices and four officers accompanied me. We found him seated outside in his vehicle and I approached him and showed him the search warrant. "I told him that we wanted to search his office for subversive documents. We went into the office and we recovered a bunch of fliers from a cabinet in his office. As I showed interest in the fliers he told me that he had many and handed over another bunch," testified Det Sgt Ngwenya. He said they continued with the search and came across an attendance register of people who had attended a meeting in Siwela's office. They proceeded to search Siwela's vehicle after recovering a document headlined "Matabeleland Grand Plan" in the office and in the vehicle they recovered some membership cards and MLF calendars. "I asked him for the minutes of the meeting and he told me that the minutes were with John Gazi. Having read through some of the fliers I then informed him that he was under arrest," he testified being led by Messrs Samuel Pedzisai and Lovack Masuku, both from the Attorney General's Office. He said one of the fliers was talking about overthrowing oppressors and murderers and when pressed by the State counsels to explain who he understood the murderers and oppressors to be, Det Sgt Ngwenya said he understood it to mean the present Government. It was his evidence that when they got to Bulawayo Central Police Station, they found Gazi in one of the offices and when asked about the minutes he quickly handed them over. Earlier, another State witness, Sergeant Locadia Matoka, who was part of the team which arrested Gazi, gave evidence that contradicted what she had written in her sworn affidavit. In the affidavit she swore to on 16 August last year, Sgt Matoka said while they were conducting a search in the sitting room, Gazi handed over to her 10 MLF fliers but during her evidence under oath yesterday she said the fliers were handed over to Sgt Patrice Nyanhete, who was the team leader. "The truth is that he tried to hand over the fliers to me, but I told him to hand them over to Sgt Nyanhete since he was the team leader," she said in response to a question from Advocate Sabelo Sibanda, of SKM Sibanda and Partners for Gazi. Sgt Makota had a lot of difficulty in giving a description of the layout of Gazi's residence and Adv Sibanda put it to her that she never got into the house. In response she argued that she did not pay much attention to other details with regards to the house and admitted that she never read the messages on the fliers, but only heard what was contained in them from Det Sgt Nyanhete. She could not explain why she never mentioned a calendar in her sworn affidavit despite the fact that Adv Lucas Nkomo instructed by Mr Sindiso Mazibisa, of Cheda and Partners and Mr Robert Ndlovu, of R Ndlovu and Company, for Thomas and Siwela, had pointed it out to her that even Det Sgt Nyanhete's sworn to affidavit did not mention the issue of the calendar. The trial continues today with Adv Nkomo cross-examining Det Sgt Ngwenya.

"Power Corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely".

By Miffs12 I t was Lord Acton, his Lordship who said the quote "Power Corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Corruption is directly proportionate to the greed for power. When a person gains power over other persons — the political power to force other persons to do his bidding when they do not believe it right to do so — it seems inevitable that a moral weakness develops in the person who exercises that power. It may take time for this weakness to become visible. In fact, its full extent is frequently left to the historians to record, but we eventually learn of it. It was Lord Acton, the British historian, who said: "All power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." Please do not misunderstand us. These persons who are corrupted by the process of ruling over their fellow men are not innately evil. They begin as honest men. Their motives for wanting to direct the actions of others may be purely patriotic and altruistic. Indeed, they may wish only "to do good for the people." But, apparently, the only way they can think of to do this "good" is to impose more restrictive laws. Now, obviously, there is no point in passing a law which requires people to do something they would do anyhow; or which prevents them from doing what they are not going to do anyhow. Therefore, the possessor of the political power could very well decide to leave every person free to do as he pleases so long as he does not infringe upon the same right of every other person to do as he pleases. However, that concept appears to be utterly without reason to a person who wants to exercise political power over his fellow man, for he asks himself: "How can I 'do good' for the people if I just leave them alone?" Besides, he does not want to pass into history as a "do nothing" leader who ends up as a footnote somewhere. So he begins to pass laws that will force all other persons to conform to his ideas of what is good for them. That is the danger point! The more restrictions and compulsions he imposes on other persons, the greater the strain on his own morality. As his appetite for using force against people increases, he tends increasingly to surround himself with advisers who also seem to derive a peculiar pleasure from forcing others to obey their decrees. He appoints friends and supporters to easy jobs of questionable necessity. If there are not enough jobs to go around, he creates new ones. In some instances, jobs are sold to the highest bidder. The hard-earned money of those over whom he rules is loaned for questionable private endeavours or spent on grandiose public projects at home and abroad. If there is opposition, an emergency is declared or created to justify these actions. If the benevolent ruler stays in power long enough, he eventually concludes that power and wisdom are the same thing. And as he possesses power, he must possess wisdom. He becomes converted to the seductive thesis that election to public office endows the official with both power and wisdom. At this point, he begins to lose his ability to distinguish between what is morally right and what is politically expedient. Lets not the few decide our fate, we are all Mthwakazinas unity will see us trhough to the successful Liberation of our Nation, divided we are doomed for failure. We will stand firm and firm we will.

ITF opens in Bulawayo today, 24 April 12

A farm equipment company exhibits tractors at ZITF yesterday Bulawayo Bureau THE 53rd edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) begins in Bulawayo today amid calls for businesses to take advantage of the showcase to strike deals that would help revive the city’s ailing industries. A total of 468 exhibitors and 37 foreign companies are taking part in the showcase with 98 percent of the exhibiting space having been taken. By yesterday evening, ZITF grounds were a hive of activity as most companies were putting final touches on their stands while others were arriving. A group of Kenyans was also spotted with its wares as they arrived at the ZITF grounds. South African Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Vusi Mavimbela, and Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe, also arrived in the City of Kings yesterday and paid a courtesy call on Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Thaba in his parlour. Ms Thabethe urged Bulawayo companies to exploit the business showcase and boost their businesses. “Zimbabwe was once an economic powerhouse with Bulawayo as its industrial hub. “Through regional integration such as the trade fair, Bulawayo can regain its status as the industrial giant. “This is the biggest event for the city and local companies should utilise this opportunity to strike partnerships,” said Ms Thabethe. She said her country has strong bilateral relations with Zimbabwe dating back to the days of the liberation struggle and pledged her country’s commitment towards working with Zimbabwe in reviving industries. Ms Thabethe said there were 32 companies from South Africa that were participating at the trade showcase including small to medium enterprises. She also said her delegation has brought with it the popular music group, Ihatshi Elimhlophe. The South African delegation would hold its dinner gala at a local hotel tonight while the Bulawayo City Council would have its reception at the VIP Lounge at the ZITF today at 6pm. Clr Moyo also urged foreign companies who are participating at the ZITF to invest in Bulawayo. “The trade fair is coming at a time when we are having many challenges as most companies in the city are finding it difficult to operate. A total of 87 companies have closed or relocated from the city,” he said. “We are saying with big neighbours like South Africa and others, this is the opportunity for us to engage. Bulawayo used to be the industrial power house and that can be revived through partnerships.” The theme for this year’s ZITF is “Investing locally, reaping globally”. Zambian President Michael Sata will officially open it on Friday, a day before the show ends. Tomorrow, there would be an International Business Conference where Vice-President Joice Mujuru would be the guest speaker. More than 200 delegates are expected to attend the business conference to run under the theme “Investing locally, building local capacity and reaping dividends globally, turning a rich resource base into an industrial hub”.

Britain behind Gukurahundi massacres,May 28, 2007/Group report

Britain behind Gukurahundi massacres by Charles Rukuni May 28, 2007/Group report A former Zimbabwean freedom fighter who, himself, was a victim of Gukurahundi says Britain and not South Africa was behind the 1980s massacres that left nearly 30 000 innocent civilians from Matabeleland and the Midlands dead. Douglas Moyo* says South Africa was just a front. Britain was the brains behind the massacres. All it wanted was to stall land redistribution which was only implemented 20 years after independence but with devastating consequences. President Robert Mugabe’s government was forced to “grab” land from mostly white commercial farmers in 2000 but was immediately slapped with sanctions and international isolation. The country plunged from an agricultural and economic powerhouse to a basket case. Nearly a third of its population fled the country. Inflation soared, and now stands at a record 3 700 percent, the highest in the world. Moyo, a former Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) cadre, who was integrated into the Zimbabwe National Army and was attested to 1:2 Brigade, says he was picked up from his hospital bed at Mpilo on 11 February 1982 soon after the discovery of arms caches on properties owned by the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) around Bulawayo. Several other high ranking ZAPU officials including the ZIPRA intelligence chief, Dumiso Dabengwa, had already been arrested. Moyo, who was based at Ntabazinduna, had been involved in a car accident and was recuperating at the central hospital. He says he was whisked to Stops Camp in Bulawayo where he was initially detained before being shunted to Esigodini and finally to the dungeons at Goromonzi where he spent two years. No one knew that he had been detained or where he was. Not even his fiancée. He was never charged and was equally never officially released. He was just dumped outside the bus rank along Batsch Street on 21 November 1984. After finding his way home, he discovered that he had been saved by a white police officer whom he only remembers as Inspector Roberts. Roberts had learnt that Moyo was being detained at Goromonzi and had informed his fiancée who in turn sought help from Bulawayo lawyer, advocate Kennedy Sibanda, who was later to become a High Court Judge. There was another tragedy. Security forces had killed his grandfather while he was in detention. They were allegedly looking for him and wanted his grandfather to tell them where he was. Moyo, now a staunch member of the war veterans association which has propped President Robert Mugabe since the land invasions, says it is a delusion to think that South African was behind Gukurahundi. Several writers have claimed that South Africa was involved in destablising its northern neighbours to prolong its apartheid rule. According to: Breaking the Silence: a report on the disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands from 1980 to 1998, compiled by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace together with the Legal Resources Foundation, South African intervention in Zimbabwe was two-fold. It consisted of the systematic misinformation to the government, and also military attacks on the government and on the country’s infrastructure. The report, which was released 10 years after the disturbances, says the discovery of arms caches which caused the “final rift between ZANU-PF and ZAPU”, was almost certainly engineered by a South African agent, Matt Calloway. Calloway was a head of a branch of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) at the time the arms were stockpiled but later defected to South Africa. Moyo, who trained in military intelligence in East German specialising in reconnaissance and urban guerrilla warfare, said South Africa was just used as a front for western imperialism. If it were behind the disturbances why were they concentrated in Tsholotsho, Lupane and Nkayi and not in Plumtree, Beitbridge and Chiredzi which are closer to its border? he queried. “The only country that had a reason to destabilise Zimbabwe was Britain. The war was not political. It was about who controlled the country’s wealth,” he said. “Britain relinquished power without a fight in Zambia, Malawi and Botswana because the people there were fighting more for political independence. The issue was different in Zimbabwe. People were fighting for the equitable distribution of the country’s wealth. Their struggle was centred on land, hence their slogan mwana wevhu- son of the soil.” Britain had never wanted to surrender power to a black government in Zimbabwe because it had invested heavily in the country. Most of the talks aimed at a settlement from the time the then Rhodesian government declared unilateral independence were just meant to hoodwink the black nationalists that it was doing something when it actually sympathised with the Rhodesian government as it protected its investments. It even turned a blind eye as British oil companies busted sanctions to keep the Rhodesian economy going. Moyo said at Lancaster House, where the agreement that ushered Zimbabwe’s independence was panel beaten, Britain tried to avoid the land issue by all means and put pressure on Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique to force the liberation movements, ZAPU and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), to sign the agreement which guaranteed whites a stake in the government for a decade, before the land issue had been thrashed out. “After the agreement had been signed, Britain went all out to erase the fact that the liberation movements had won a military victory. It called for the integration of the liberation fighters into a new army that was dominated by the former Rhodesian soldiers. That army was retrained by the British Military Advisory Team (BMAT). The aim was to turn political soldiers to regular men who would merely follow orders which was totally against what they had been trained to do: to make sure land was equitably redistributed as this was the main reason why most had gone to war.” Despite its victory as Lancaster, Moyo says Britain was disappointed when the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe set up a government of national unity. Though it included some whites, it had taken in top ZAPU leaders and this meant that with a united front it only had 10 years to deliver land. It had to find a way to stop this. With most newly independent African states entering into conflicts soon after the British surrendered power, Britain decided to start one in Zimbabwe. It could not start a political war because ZAPU and ZANU were already working together. So it engineered a tribal war. Moyo says it started by frustrating ZIPRA cadres, but mainly the Ndebele-speaking ones. Clashes broke out between members of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and those of ZIPRA. The British slowly steered the clashes away from a political war to a tribal war pitting the Shona against the Ndebele. “It is a fallacy to say Gukurahundi was a clash between ZAPU and ZANU. If it was, why was the fighting confined to Matabeleland and only the Ndebele speaking areas of the Midlands?” Moyo argues. “People forget that ZAPU was a national party. Its top leaders were from all over Zimbabwe. We had people like Josiah Chinamano, Marange, Nyashanu, Chinamasa, and Madzimbamuto, just to name a few but there were no clashes in Mashonaland, Manicaland or Masvingo. Why? Because the British did not want a conflict between ZAPU and ZANU. They wanted a tribal war, because as long as the war was seen to be tribal, it would not end.” While Moyo’s argument seems to be purely hypothetical, it seems to be backed by reports that the CIO was responsible for igniting Gukurahundi. The difference between Moyo’s theory and the widely accepted argument is that while most analysts including Breaking the Silence say Calloway was responsible for igniting the conflict, Moyo says the British intelligence agency, MI6, was. Its man was Calloway’s boss, Ken Flower, head of the CIO. Flower was appointed head of CIO in 1963 after the dissolution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (a federation of what is now Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi). He had been deputy police commissioner for Rhodesia. An entry in Wikipedia says “astonishingly Prime Minister Robert Mugabe was content to keep Ken Flower in the role of head of CIO after majority rule in 1980, when the country’s name changed to Zimbabwe”. It adds: “This was seen by some commentators as proof that Flower had worked covertly and intermittently with the British intelligence services to undermine Ian Smith’s government, and was in sharp contrast to the treatment of General Peter Walls, chief of the Rhodesian Armed Forces, who was exiled and deprived of Zimbabwean citizenship in 1980.” British scientist and friend of Ian Smith, Dr Kitty Little, who had a keen interest in the Lancaster House talks and went there to meet Smith, is reported to have insisted that Flower was, or had been, a member of Britain's intelligence section, MI6. She said that Ken Flower might qualify for the Guinness Book of Records as the “doublest of double agents”! While head of Rhodesian intelligence, she said, Flower also worked for MI6, the KGB, East European intelligence, the CIA, and a number of African intelligence networks. He reportedly worked with the "D" group of MI6 operatives who “did nasty things and had them blamed on Ian Smith". In his autobiography Serving Secretly, Flower says when he took up the post of head of CIO he felt it was essential to study intelligence systems elsewhere in the world and decided to start with Britain. He says he learnt a lot about how the “gamekeepers (MI5) and the poachers (MI6)” worked, but he also states that at the Lancaster House conference he got more information from the Foreign office than from British intelligence. On South Africa’s involvement in instigating Gukurahundi, Flower says initially he thought they would not but he was wrong. He says he had constantly told Mugabe that South Africa “would not be so stupid or so short-sighted” to pursue a policy of destablisation on Zimbabwe. “How wrong I was!” he says. “What could anyone like myself do to help whilst South Africans believe that they must ensure the failure of black government because this confirms the superiority of white government.” Obviously Flower would never have admitted that he instigated the massacres. But if he did nasty things and had them blamed on Smith, he could equally have done nasty things and have them blamed on South Africa. After all he too wanted to ensure the failure of a black government when he formed the Mozambiquan National Resistance Movement to fight against Samora Machel. Flower admits that he worked with South Africans while he was head of CIO and continued to work with them after retiring. He says Mugabe retained his services because while he was adamant that no black member of his government should associate with South Africa’s white regime, he “saw practical advantages in continuing the association via a white like myself.” Moyo says British complicity in instigating Gukurahundi is also exposed in the selective manner in which they apportioned blame for the massacres. Britain distanced itself and those closely associated with it from the killings. Blame was heaped on the CIO and Five Brigade yet Five Brigade was deployed more than a year after the disturbances and was withdrawn before they ended. Though it was responsible for the bulk of the killings, the role of the Police Support Unit and other army units is played down, perhaps because most of the army units were retrained by the British while Five Brigade was trained by North Koreans. Most of the blame for the atrocities was heaped on State Security Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and head of Five Brigade, Perence Shiri, but there was little or no mention of Minister of State for Defence, Sidney Sekeremayi, or the commander of the army, Rex Nhongo who later changed his name to Solomon Mujuru. Moyo believes this was deliberate. Ken Flower admits in his book that Mnangagwa had given him full control of the CIO. Moyo also says though nearly 30 000 people were killed during the massacres, including six white tourists some of whom were British and 16 missionaries who were butchered to death, there was no outcry from the British. At least they were not as outraged as they were during the “land grab” of 2000 onwards yet only 11 white farmers were killed over a period. Instead, Mugabe was showered with awards by the West. He was awarded 13 honorary doctorate degrees three of them by United States universities and two by British ones. He was awarded the Africa Prize for Leadership for Sustainable End of Hunger and the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding. He chaired the World Solar Summit, the Commonwealth for three years, the G15 and was even awarded the Olympic Order of Gold for his contribution to Olympic ideals. He was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth II. This entitled him to use the postnominal letters KCB, but not the title "Sir." Incidentally all this happen before Mugabe started threatening to take over land from the whites, which he started in 1997 with the listing of more than 1 500 commercial farms. “No one raised an eyebrow or the issue of human rights during the massacres because British interests were not affected,” Moyo says. *The name of the freedom fighter has been changed to protect his identity.

Enos Nkala denies involvement in Gukurahundi Massacres

Enos Nkala By Lance Guma 19 October 2011 Former Defence Minister and ZANU PF founding member Enos Nkala has denied any involvement in the Gukurahundi Massacres. Nkala told SW Radio Africa’s Question Time programme that he was Finance Minister when soldiers from the notorious Fifth Brigade began a campaign that led to the slaughter of an estimated 20,000 innocent civilians in the Matabeleland and Midlands Provinces. A defiant Nkala said he served as Finance Minister at independence in 1980 up to 1983 when the portfolio was consolidated into Finance, Economic Planning and Development under the late Dr. Bernard Chidzero. Nkala was then appointed National Supplies Minister up to 1985. After elections that year he served as Home Affairs and Defence Minister, in the two years leading to a unity accord between ZANU and ZAPU that ended the Gukurahundi Massacres. Challenged on his role in the massacres as a cabinet minister Nkala said: “You are peddling lies which you cannot prove. You ask Robert Mugabe who formed Gukurahundi? Who deployed Gukurahundi in Matabeleland? Who gave them instructions to do what they did? It wasn’t me. Its people who are ill-informed who pick things from the press. You ask Mugabe, he owned Gukurahundi.” Nkala claimed he expressed his opposition to the massacres while he was still a cabinet minister and it was one of the reasons he doesn’t like Mugabe and the 87 year old ZANU PF leader also doesn’t like him. Nkala however also blamed the then opposition ZAPU for contributing to the conflict, claiming the abduction of white tourists in Victoria Falls by dissidents aligned to the party kicked things off. “That was the reason for Gukurahundi and many other issues. The two main political parties (ZANU and ZAPU) we were both armed. Why should the blame be put entirely on the ZANU PF leadership, why not on the ZAPU leadership?” Reminded that innocent people were targeted during the Gukurahundi and not the actual combatants Nkala said: “Long before you were born young man, innocent people were killed. When there is conflict, the grass suffers, innocent people suffer. When we were fighting the whites, you have never talked about that, because maybe you like whites. Many innocent people were killed, in villages people were grouped and killed.” Asked about a statement he made several years ago during a political rally, that he regretted being from the Ndebele tribe and wished he could wash this away, Nkala told SW Radio Africa: “That’s another lie. It was created by my political opponents who were fighting me and peddled that story to try and destroy me.” “How could I, I am a proud Ndebele, whatever you think. I fought as a Ndebele, I entered politics as a Ndebele and I left as a Ndebele. So that’s nonsense, it’s rubbish, it belongs to the dustbin,” Nkala said. Nkala also defended himself against the WillowGate Scandal, which cost him his job as a cabinet minister. The scandal saw several ministers abuse their concessions to buy cheap vehicles from the government-owned Willowvale Motor Industries and then sell them at a profit. “It’s all nonsense. You buy something at a lower price; sell it at a higher price, what is the scandal there? It’s business.” Reminded that they were abusing their privileges as ministers, Nkala said: “It was all foolish. It was because this weak man, so called Robert Mugabe wanted to weed some of us out. That was the reason, it was not about cars. It was blown out of proportion and if you believe it, continue to believe it if you like, it’s up to you.” A recent article by writer Thembani Dube described Nkala and Jonathan Moyo as, “arguably the most notorious Ndebele leaders since the formation of the Ndebele nation in 1821 under King Mzilikazi.” We asked Nkala if he thought that was fair criticism. He gave us another defiant answer saying: “Whether I am a good person or not, I wouldn’t care or give a damn about it. After all I have never heard about that Dube. He is just a useless creature, maybe a university lecturer or some funny gangster somewhere, he is entitled to his gangster thinking that’s all.” Nkala refused to comment on the controversial book he is said to be writing in which he says he chronicles, “all that has happened in ZANU PF since its formation, including the Gukurahundi Massacres and the assassinations of several high profile politicians using car accidents.” In the book he blames the death of liberation war heroes Josiah Tongogara and Herbert Chitepo and others on Robert Mugabe. All he said was that the book will be published when he dies, in the meantime he was, ‘doing a lot of research and authoring.” In the Wikipedia entry for Enos Nkala he is accused of having had an affair with Mugabe’s late wife Sally. We asked him about this and he said: “Please don’t be silly. I haven’t seen that (article). I would like to sue that person. Please, some of these questions should not come out your mouth.” Told it was our job as journalists to seek clarification on issues in the public domain he replied: “That’s why I am saying don’t be silly. If you read about leaders like (Winston) Churchill and others, there are a lot of untrue things written about them.”

Mugabe under pressure to order exhumation of Gukurahundi victims by Moyo Roy

Mugabe under pressure to order exhumation of Gukurahundi victims by Moyo Roy 2011 March 20 09:01:23 HARARE - Following the exhumation and reburial of the remains of Zimbabwe's liberation war victims in Manicaland, President Mugabe is now under pressure to order the exhumation of thousands of innocent civilians murdered during the Gukurahundi massacres in the Matabeleland and Midlands. The exhumation project has been politicised by ZANU and its supporters, this has invoked bitter memories of the 1970s conflict, as well as the Gukurahundi massacres. Analysts told the reporters this last week that Mugabe's party had made a huge play on the pre-1980 massacres to garner sympathy from the people ahead of expected presidential and general elections later this year. More than 20 000 innocent people are believed to have been murdered by members of the North Korea-trained Fifth Brigade, with Mugabe's government claiming at the time that they wanted to crush a rebellion by supposed dissidents in the early 1980s. Human rights organisations and victims of the Gukurahundi massacres have been demanding for the past three decades the exhumation of bodies believed to have been buried in mass graves around the Matabeleland regions and the Midlands Province. On his part, Mugabe has steadfastly refused to both compensate and apologise for what has since been described as a genocide – arguing that he was doing this in the interest of national unity and the country. While there is virtually no single family in Zimbabwe that was unaffected by the bitter war against Ian Smith's regime pre-1980, Zanu PF has sought to project itself as the sole structure concerned about the decent reburial of the country's fallen heroes. But Edgar Tekere, a former freedom fighter and Zanu PF secretary general, has attacked the beleaguered party's moves to buy political mileage out of the Mashonaland Central reburial programme – at the same time neglecting the more recent killings such as the Gukurahundi massacres. "That issue (Gukurahundi) was swept under the carpet. But it must be an open issue that our nation must know about. The Catholics did a very comprehensive report about this and the nation should receive that report. Others don't want the report to be out because they know they will be exposed," Tekere told the reporters last week, referring to the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace report on the mid 1980s disturbances. He added: "Mass graves must be exhumed when they are discovered. This (exhumation of mass graves) must not be done for political reasons." Many other observers, while welcoming the exhumation exercise, took exception with the fact that Zanu PF leaders knew about the existence of several mass and shallow graves since independence and yet chose to do nothing about it until now. With the former ruling party in full election mode, a predictable electioneering and propaganda pattern has emerged – in the hope that such tactics will earn the party votes. Mthwakazi Liberation Front leader Maxwell Mnkandla said his party was concerned about Zanu PF plans to exhume and re-bury victims of colonial war crimes, while ignoring those killed and maimed by Gukurahundi. "Gukurahundi is the vehicle ZANU PF used to subjugate this region and the feelings of its people do not matter. I am not surprised that they do not even acknowledge that Matabeleland has more people who were thrown alive into mines by the Fifth Brigade, Central Intelligence Organisation, Support Unit and the ZANU youth brigade… than those killed by Smith," Mnkandla said, adding that all they were asking for were dignified burials for the dead. Methuseli Moyo, spokesman for the revived Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), said plans to rebury the dead "were commendable", but ZAPU was worried about Mugabe's failure to acknowledge that there were far more victims of his own "anti–terror campaigns" lying in unmarked graves all over the Midlands and Matabeleland. "Smith's war was bad but Gukurahundi was worse because it was black on black genocide. While Smith never denied that his troops committed atrocities… we have a leader and commander-in-chief of an army that killed defenceless civilians in an act of sheer genocide (and he) does not want to acknowledge that fact," he said. While most of those killed were the late vice president Joshua Nkomo's supporters – opposed to Zanu PF's expedient socialism and one-party state quest – Moyo challenged Mugabe and his government to help national healing by ensuring that "high-ranking perpetrators of the massacres" were brought to book. Human rights organisations say the largest concentration of victims lie in Matobo District's Bhalagwe area. Moses Mzila–Ndlovu, a top Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-N) official and Organ on National Healing co–minister, said while he had only heard about the reburial programme on national television, government was also missing an opportunity to foster unity by embarking on partisan and selective commemorations of chosen war victims. "The national healing process cannot happen because it is being undermined in many ways by the same parties that are supposed to be contributing to it. I will not be surprised if the victims of Gukurahundi, who have been denied everything, from a simple acknowledgement of the genocide to justice, take this as the worst pinch of salt ever added onto their emotional injuries. "I hope by doing this the government is signaling that it will not interfere if we do the same with the victims of Gukurahundi," Mzila-Ndlovu said. Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo refused to comment on the issue. "It is their opinion," Gumbo said.

By CELIA W. DUGGER/Art Exhibit Stirs Up the Ghosts of Zimbabwe’s Past

By CELIA W. DUGGER Published: January 23, 2011 New York times BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe — The exhibit at the National Gallery is now a crime scene, the artwork banned and the artist charged with insulting President Robert Mugabe. The picture windows that showcased graphic depictions of atrocities committed in the early years of Mr. Mugabe’s 30-year-long rule are now papered over with the yellowing pages of a state-controlled newspaper. Enlarge This Image Robin Hammond for The New York Times Voti Thebe heads the National Gallery in Bulawayo, where the art was displayed. The New York Times Downtown Bulawayo has the sleepy rhythms of a farm town, but the psychic wounds of the Gukurahundi fester beneath its placid surface. But the government’s efforts to bury history have instead provoked slumbering memories of the Gukurahundi, Zimbabwe’s name for the slaying and torture of thousands of civilians here in the Matabeleland region a quarter century ago. “You can suppress art exhibits, plays and books, but you cannot remove the Gukurahundi from people’s hearts,” said Pathisa Nyathi, a historian here. “It is indelible.” As Zimbabwe heads anxiously toward another election season, a recent survey by Afrobarometer has found that 70 percent of Zimbabweans are afraid they will be victims of political violence or intimidation, as thousands were in the 2008 elections. But an equal proportion want the voting to go forward this year nonetheless, evidence of their deep desire for democracy and the willingness of many to vote against Mr. Mugabe at great personal risk, analysts say. In few places do such sentiments about violence in public life run as deep as here, and in recent months the government — whether through missteps or deliberate provocation — has rubbed them ever more raw. Before the World Cup in South Africa in June, a minister in Mr. Mugabe’s party, ZANU-PF, invited the North Korean soccer team, on behalf of Zimbabwe’s tourism authority, to base itself in Bulawayo before the games began, a gesture that roused a ferocious outcry. After all, it was North Korea that trained and equipped the infamous Fifth Brigade, which historians estimate killed at least 10,000 civilians in the Ndebele minority between 1983 and 1987. “To us it opened very old wounds,” Thabitha Khumalo, a member of Parliament, said of the attempt to bring the North Korean team to the Ndebele heartland. “We’re being reminded of the most horrible pain. How dare they? Our loved ones are still buried in pit latrines, mine shafts and shallow graves.” Ms. Khumalo, interviewed while the invitation was still pending last year, wept as she summoned memories of the day that destroyed her family — Feb. 12, 1983. She was 12 years old. She said soldiers from the Fifth Brigade, wearing jaunty red berets, came to her village and lined up her family. One soldier slit open her pregnant aunt’s belly with a bayonet and yanked out the baby. She said her grandmother was forced to pound the fetus to a pulp in a mortar and pestle. Her father was made to rape his mother. Her uncles were shot point blank. Such searing memories stoked protests, and in the end the North Korean team did not come to Zimbabwe. But feelings were further inflamed months later when the government erected a larger-than-life bronze statue of Joshua Nkomo — a liberation hero, an Ndebele and a rival to Mr. Mugabe — that, incredibly, was made in North Korea. Last September, bowing to public outcry over the statue’s origin (and protests from Mr. Nkomo’s family that its plinth was too small), the statue was removed from a major intersection in Bulawayo. It now stands neglected in a weedy lot behind the Natural History Museum here. Inside the museum hangs a portrait of a vigorous and dapper Mr. Mugabe in oversize glasses. He turns 87 next month. A massive stuffed crocodile, his family’s clan totem, dominates one gallery, its teeth long and sharp, its mouth agape. The signboard notes the crocodile’s lifespan exceeds 80 years. Mr. Mugabe signed a pact with North Korea’s founder, Kim Il-sung, to train the infamous army brigade just months after Zimbabwe gained independence from white minority rule in 1980. Mr. Mugabe declared the brigade would be named “Gukurahundi” (pronounced guh-kura-HUN-di), which means “the rain that washes away the chaff before the spring rains.” He said it was needed to quell violent internal dissent, but historians say he used it to attack Mr. Nkomo’s political base and to impose one-party rule. Mr. Mugabe’s press secretary, George Charamba, said the president had called the Gukurahundi “a moment of madness,” but asked whether Mr. Mugabe had apologized for the campaign, Mr. Charamba bristled. “You can’t call it a moment of madness without critiquing your own past,” he said. “I hope people are not looking to humiliate the president. I hope they’re just looking at allowing him to get by healing this nation. For us, that is uppermost. Our sense of embitterment, our sense of recompense may not be exactly what you saw at Nuremburg.” Downtown Bulawayo has the sleepy rhythms of a farm town, but the psychic wounds of the Gukurahundi fester beneath its placid surface. At the National Gallery here, the stately staircase leading to the shuttered Gukurahundi exhibit is now blocked by a sign that says “No Entry.” But the paintings, on walls saturated with blood-red paint, can still be glimpsed from the gallery above, through the bars of balconies. The paintings themselves seem to be jailed. Voti Thebe, who heads the National Gallery, said the artist, Owen Maseko, created the Gukurahundi exhibit to contribute to reconciliation. There was no money, so Mr. Maseko, 35, did it on his own time. He was just a boy at the time of the Gukurahundi, but he recalls the sounds of hovering helicopters and sirens. “The memories are still there,” he said. “The victims are still alive. It’s not something we can just forget.” In a large painting, a row of faces are shown with mouths open in wordless screams. In another, women and children weep what seem to be tears of blood. Three papier-mâché corpses, one hanging upside down, fill a picture window. Throughout the galleries are recurrent, menacing images of a man in oversize glasses — Mr. Mugabe. The day after the exhibit opened last year, it was closed down. Mr. Maseko was detained, then transferred to prison in leg irons before being released on bail. Mr. Maseko’s case awaits the Supreme Court’s attention. He is charged with insulting the president and communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the state, a charge punishable by up to 20 years in prison. David Coltart, a politician from Bulawayo who is arts minister in the power-sharing government of ZANU-PF and its political rivals, said he warned cabinet ministers that prosecuting Mr. Maseko could turn the case into a cause célèbre and inflame divisions. Mr. Coltart, who has long fought the Mugabe government, said he also appealed directly to Defense Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was security minister during the Gukurahundi. “It is only when nations grapple with their past, in its reality, not as a biased fiction, that they can start to deal with that past,” Mr. Coltart said in a lecture delivered above Mr. Maseko’s show. He called the Gukurahundi “a politicide, if not a genocide.” The Bulawayo playwright Cont Mhlanga knows the costs of free expression. His play “The Good President” was shut down on opening night here in 2007 when baton-wielding riot police officers stormed the theater. The lead character is a grandmother who lies to her two grandsons about the death of their father. He had been buried alive in the Gukurahundi. But the boys, ignorant of the truth, become beneficiaries of the Mugabe government, one of them an abusive policeman, the other a recipient of seized farmland. The play’s title refers, Mr. Mhlanga said, to African leaders who call Mr. Mugabe a good president, “this man who has blood on his hands.” Mr. Mhlanga says he feels “like someone has put huge pieces of tape over my mouth,” but insists that artists must express what people are terrified of saying. “We live in a society where we’re so afraid, even of our own shadows,” he said. “To create democratic space in a society like ours, we have to deal with fear.”