Mugabe regime cracks down on press

Four journalists arrested as autocratic Mugabe prepares for elections.

Zimbabwe GlobalPost Correspondent
 December 5, 2011 06:00

Zimbabwean journalists are taking the heat again, as President Robert Mugabe clamps down on the press ahead of watershed elections next year.
Human rights lawyers and media freedom groups warn that the crackdown on the press is serious.
Police are increasingly using criminal defamation laws to arrest journalists from privately-owned newspapers for reporting on the business dealings of Mugabe's allies.
Will Robert Mugabe exit like Gaddafi?
On Dec. 2, plainclothes detectives swooped on Xolisani Ncube, a reporter with the Daily News and his editor Stanley Gama after the newspaper published a story claiming that Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo bragged about his wealth to a delegation of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The delegation was meeting the minister to discuss housing projects for the poor.
The two journalists were detained and questioned for more than eight hours before being released “while investigations continue.” Ncube, a young reporter fresh from college, was arrested in front of his visiting mother.
Two weeks earlier, police detained overnight two journalists from The Standard, a privately-owned weekly, for a story on the collapse of a medical insurance firm owned by Munyaradzi Kereke, a special advisor to central bank governor Gideon Gono.
All four journalists are being charged under criminal defamation laws that journalists' unions and lawyers say are being used to muzzle the media.
Alec Muchadehama, the lawyer representing the Daily News journalists, described the arrest as an abuse of the law to punish journalists who poke their noses into the affairs of Mugabe allies. He said that despite the coalition government with long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai that was formed in February 2009, Mugabe remains in control of the security sector, including the police, which he is using against the press.

“It is a disturbing trend we are witnessing,” said Muchadehama, who is also a campaigner for media freedom. “Criminal defamation is becoming the new front in our war against media repression. Why lock up journalists in police cells on issues that are best solved using civil lawsuits?”
Nando's cancels its satirical ad about Robert Mugabe, "Last Dictator Standing."
Long tim opposition leader and now Mugabe coalition government partner, Morgan Tsvangirai and his party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party at the weekend said it “is worried by the continued arrests of journalists from the independent media with investigative journalism now being turned into a criminalized profession.”
Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka defended the arrests. “It is just the law taking its course,” he said.
Police have arrested close to a dozen journalists in the past five months, mainly for covering stories deemed offensive to the Mugabe government.
Journalists from newspapers critical of Mugabe’s three-decade rule have been prey for state agents and pro-Mugabe militia since the year 2000 when a newly formed MDC posed a potent threat to Mugabe’s continued hold on power.
The Daily News has just started operations after having been banned in 2003, a time Mugabe and his allies publicly branded the paper an enemy. Its printing press had also just been bombed. Police have not yet arrested anyone for the bombing.
In its first months after it was formed in February 2009, the shaky coalition government brought a relative relaxation of Mugabe's control of the press that resulted in the licensing of several privately-owned newspapers to compete in a media market dominated by the state.
Mugabe, however, remains in direct control of broadcasting airwaves and sparked a row with Tsvangirai two weeks ago after the only independent radio licenses to be awarded since independence from Britain 1980 were given to Mugabe's backers.
Tensions are rising again in Zimbabwe as Mugabe pushes for elections in 2012 to break out of a coalition described by both partners as unworkable.
Tsvangirai says he will boycott elections if they are held before the implementation of democratic reforms to ensure a free and fair vote.
Ban lifted on Zimbabwe diamond exports
Heightened talk of elections has left journalists fearing for the worst.
“It all has to do with elections. Mugabe and his loyal police are finding more ways of silencing the media. Journalists in this country are at their most vulnerable when politicians begin talking of elections,” said Njabulo Ncube, chairman of the Zimbabwe chapter of the media freedom watchdog, the Media Institute of Southern Africa.
Mugabe, having just won a fresh endorsement to lead his party into the next elections, is holding Zanu-PF's annual conference this week to map out election strategies.
“It seems their strategy on the media is pretty clear. Journalists will have to be vigilant,” said Foster Dongozi, secretary-general of main journalists’ body, the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists.
International organizations such as the United States-based Freedom House say conditions for journalists have remained treacherous despite promises of reform at the inception of the coalition government.
The organization’s Freedom of the Press index for 2011 notes that the media landscape in Zimbabwe remains repressive, with "near-total government control of the broadcast sector, foot dragging on attempts to open new broadcast outlets, and continued legal and physical harassment of independent journalists.”

Global Witness Quits Kimberley Process Over Zimbabwe Diamonds

5th December 2011

Read a message from Global Witness Founding Director, Charmian Gooch
Lire le communiqué de presse en français
Global Witness today announced that it has left the Kimberley Process, the international certification scheme established to stop the trade in blood diamonds.
The Kimberley Process’s refusal to evolve and address the clear links between diamonds, violence and tyranny has rendered it increasingly outdated, said the group. Despite intensive efforts over many years by a coalition of NGOs, the scheme’s main flaws and loopholes have   not been fixed and most of the governments that run the scheme continue to show no interest in reform.
“Nearly nine years after the Kimberley Process was launched, the sad truth is that most consumers still cannot be sure where their diamonds come from, nor whether they are financing armed violence or abusive regimes” said Charmian Gooch, a Founding Director of Global Witness. “The scheme has failed three tests: it failed to deal with the trade in conflict diamonds from Côte d’Ivoire, was unwilling to take serious action in the face of blatant breaches of the rules over a number of years by Venezuela and has proved unwilling to stop diamonds fuelling corruption and violence in Zimbabwe. It has become an accomplice to diamond laundering – whereby dirty diamonds are mixed in with clean gems.”
In a shocking move, the Kimberley Process recently authorised exports from two companies operating in the controversial Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean army seized control of the area in 2008, killing around 200 miners. Mining concessions were then granted in legally questionable circumstances to several companies, some of them associated with senior figures in Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party. Newspapers have reported that the Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation, the state security service aligned with Mugabe whose members are accused of committing acts of violence against opposition supporters, directly benefits from off-budget diamond revenues.
“Over the last decade, elections in Zimbabwe have been associated with the brutal intimidation of voters. Orchestrating this kind of violence costs a lot of money. As the country approaches another election there is a very high risk of Zanu PF hardliners employing these tactics once more and using Marange diamonds to foot the bill. The Kimberley Process’s refusal to confront this reality is an outrage,” Gooch continued.
“Consumers should not buy Marange diamonds, and industry should not supply them,” said Gooch. “All existing contracts in the Marange fields should be cancelled and retendered with terms of reference which reflect international best practice on revenue sharing, transparency, oversight by and protection of the affected communities.”
The diamond industry should be required to demonstrate that the diamonds it sells are not fuelling abuses – by complying with international standards on minerals supply chain controls, including independent third party audits and regular public disclosure. Governments must show leadership by putting these standards into law.
“Consumers have a right to know what they’re buying, and what was done to obtain it,” added Gooch. “The diamond industry must finally take responsibility for its supply chains and prove that the stones it sells are clean.”
/Ends
Contact:
Annie Dunnebacke: +44 7912 517 127; adunnebacke@globalwitness.org
Andrea Pattison: +44 7970 103 083; apattison@globalwitness.org

http://www.globalwitness.org/library/global-witness-leaves-kimberley-process-calls-diamond-trade-be-held-accountable

The struggle for power in Zimbabwe

Eddie Cross

30 November 2011

Eddie Cross says if Zanu-PF stick with Mugabe they'll become the laughing stock of the country

Cooking in a Three Legged Pot
I often say to people who have an interest and concern for what is going on in Zimbabwe that if they are not confused; then they have not been here long enough. The confusion arises from deliberate misleading information in the public sphere, and often just because events move fast behind the scenes and the various players are trying to outmanoeuvre each other.
Since 2000, three centres of power in Zimbabwe have emerged and are engaged in a savage struggle for supremacy. Each of these power centres have subgroups and divisions of their own - but remain today as coherent centres of power. These are:
- The JOC, a military structure inherited by Mugabe in 1980 from the Rhodesian war which has evolved into a form of a military Junta in the past decade. It is dominated by the military but has a number of senior hardliners from Zanu PF in its ranks;
- Zanu PF under the leadership of Robert Mugabe, a clever, if reclusive and aging leader who has maintained an iron grip on the Party and the State through a mixture of intelligence, hard discipline sometimes involving targeted assassinations and patronage on a massive scale;
- and the MDC under the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai, a genuine democrat who has long association with Zanu PF but who split with the Party in 1997 after concluding that Zanu PF had to be removed from power if Zimbabwe was to make progress.
The emergence of this third leg in the power structure gave rise to a massive reaction from both the JOC and Zanu PF which essentially destroyed the economy and eventually drew in the region in an effort to halt the carnage and limit collateral damage on Zimbabwe's neighbours.
While these three centres of power struggled for ascendancy over the past decade, the intervention of the region gradually metamorphosed into the form it has today and this is critical to understanding the present situation and assessing any possible outcome.
In 2000, South Africa, the regional super power, concluded that a MDC victory in the struggle in Zimbabwe would not be in its interests and over the following three years they used their diplomatic and regional power to back Zanu PF and Robert Mugabe, the JOC occupied a supportive role and MDC was totally outgunned - its only power source being its growing cohesion and popular support.
In 2004 and 2005, South Africa decided first that Mugabe had become a liability and sought, with the help of senior Zanu PF leaders and the JOC, to have him replaced as leader of Zanu PF. In 2005 South Africa concluded that both Mugabe and Tsvangirai were a hindrance to securing a workable solution and worked clandestinely to have both men removed from the legs of the power pot that they represented.
In 2006/7 the South Africans decided that their strategies in Zimbabwe were not working and they moved to support a process of negotiated change in Zimbabwe which would bring into being a workable government that would be able to attract international support and enable recovery in the economic sphere and stabilize the political situation. This gave rise to the GPA process and eventually created the present Transitional Government in which Zanu PF and the MDC share power.
The main problem was that the new nature of the new government was a recipe for deadlock and did nothing to resolve the underlying power struggle. It did however give the MDC real power for the first time, for many this was a burden, not a new opportunity, and spurred efforts to co-opt the MDC and blur its image as a real agent of change. MDC meetings have become associated with rows of luxury vehicles where in the past only mini busses and broken down jalopies attended MDC meetings - all the result of its new links to the power and patronage structures of government created by Zanu PF over the past 30 years.
But the new arrangement has halted the decline in the economy and started a recovery. This has been retarded by deliberate subversion of the economy by Zanu PF because the recovery is seen as being a sole MDC construct. It has also complicated the nature of the political struggle. Images of Mugabe and Tsvangirai working together have muddied the water in which the struggle is being waged.
The other major change has been in the nature of South African engagement. This has been driven by ancillary developments in the region - the change in leadership in South Africa, changes within the ANC and then changes in the nature and character of SADC support and intervention.
While this situation has metamorphosed into what faces us today, the situation within the three pillars of power in Zimbabwe has changed. In Zanu PF the major development has been the decline in the health of its leader, Mugabe. It is now clear to all associated with our crisis that a leadership change in Zanu PF is only a question of time. How it will happen depends on the leadership of Zanu PF itself and the continued ability of Mugabe to maintain his grip on power within the Party and in Government.
In the MDC leg to the Pot, power has consolidated around Tsvangirai who is clearly the man of the future. The other factions of the MDC that are products of the 2005 machinations of South African meddling have faded into irrelevancy.
The JOC remains intact but has been severely damaged by pre-emptive strikes from South Africa. Denied any possibility of an independent attempt at grasping power using its military and political power, the leadership is contemplating how they can grasp control of the leadership in Zanu PF, now their only hope of remaining relevant. The belief that they can take control and assume the leadership of Zanu PF and thereby the Presidency, is astonishing and is characterized by supreme unjustified arrogance.
For Zanu PF the Rubicon is approaching in the form of their National Conference next week. If they stick to Mugabe as their President and candidate for any coming election they will be the laughing stock of the country. Mugabe is clearly no longer able to campaign or manage the State effectively.
Last week we understand the South African Cabinet agreed to a new strategy for resolving the never ending crisis in Zimbabwe. As the case in the past this will be pivotal in determining what happens here in the next few weeks and months. For me, the way is clear; South Africa will force the parties to the crisis in Zimbabwe to negotiate a compromise. This will bring Tsvangirai to power as President under a revised constitution and create a reformed National Unity Government that will dissolve the JOC, normalize the environment for eventual elections and allow the full recovery on international relations and the economy.
Eddie Cross is MDC MP for Bulawayo South. This article first appeared on his website www.eddiecross.africanherd.com

China supplying small arms to Zimbabwe

Written by defenceWeb
Monday, 14 November 2011 12:28 

Zimbabwe has taken delivery of 20 000 AK-47 assault rifles from China as the country re-equips its army ahead of upcoming elections.

The Southern Africa Report, which focuses on political and economic intelligence issues in Africa, reports that the Zimbabwe Defence Force (ZDF) has taken delivery of “the first of several consignments of Chinese small arms and equipment,” including AK-47 assault rifles, uniforms, a dozen trucks and 21 000 pairs of handcuffs.

The delivery apparently took place through an ‘African intermediary’ and a second consignment is due by the end of the year.
 
Read More;
http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21061:china-supplying-small-arms-to-zimbabwe&catid=50:Land&Itemid=105

http://www.southernafricareport.com/Member/SecurePages/SecureNews.aspx?niid=11805

'Only time will tell' if Mugabe makes good on threat'

  Wednesday, 2 November, 2011

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is not happy with Switzerland. After news broke that his wife and many of his entourage would not be receiving Swiss visas to attend the ITU conference in Geneva he called them “vicious “ and promised to reciprocate with unspecified action on Swiss businesses and properties in Zimbabwe. WRS’s Pete Forster spoke to Marlon Zakeyo with the Zimbabwean Human Rights Advocacy Office and asked whether he thought Mugabe was likely to carry through with his threat:

http://worldradio.ch/wrs/news/switzerland/only-time-will-tell-if-mugabe-makes-good-on-threat.shtml?27354

ZIMBABWE’S CSO’s LAUNCH ADVOCACY CHARTER AT UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Information Alert

23 September 2011

ZIMBABWE’S CSO’s LAUNCH ADVOCACY CHARTER AT UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

A coalition of Zimbabwean Civil Society Organisations (CSO)’s on Friday 23 September 2011 officially launched a Human Rights Advocacy Charter on the sidelines of the 18^th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Advocacy Charter was launched during a special event jointly organised by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Geneva-based Zimbabwe Advocacy Office.

The theme of the event was, ‘The Universal Peer Review Process (UPR) and the current human rights situation in Zimbabwe.’

In his opening remarks, Martin Okumu-Masiga, the deputy director of ICJ’s Africa Programme highlighted the importance of the forthcoming review of Zimbabwe’s compliance with its human rights obligations on 10 October 2011. Masiga noted that the review process was an opportunity for Zimbabwe to reflect on its human rights record and take corrective measures to address concerns that would have been raised by fellow states during the peer review process.

Officially commissioning the Advocacy Charter, Dzimbabwe Chimbga, a projects manager with ZLHR gave a narration of the process through which a coalition of over thirty organisations had undertaken since the beginning of 2010 to work together to put a report highlighting the key human rights issues in Zimbabwe, culminating in the validation and adoption of the Advocacy Charter.

Chimbga noted that although the UPR process did not allow for direct interventions by CSOs during the review itself there were mechanisms by which other stakeholders, CSOs included, can make submissions to the Office of the UN High Commission that would form part of the overall submissions to the state.

“CSOs can additionally lobby UN member states to relay certain questions or recommendations to the State under review during the actual review process. It is this space, among other state-targeted initiatives, that the coalition of CSOs had sought to explore,” said Chimbga.

Commenting on the current human rights operating environment in Zimbabwe, Chimbga noted that, notwithstanding the signing of the Global Political Agreement that brought about the coalition government, cases of human rights violations continued to be reported across the country.

He said in 2011, more than one thousand cases of various human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests, persecutions and harassment of human rights defenders had been documented by ZLHR.

Chimbga urged the government to take advantage of the UPR process to evaluate its record in the past decade in the protection and promotion of human rights and take cogent measures to correct its failings that are well documented. The human rights lawyer said a case in point was the failure to address cases of impunity through investigating and prosecuting those guilty of human rights violations arising from the violent election of 2008.

With fresh elections imminent, Chimbga urged the government to create conditions that would allow for the holding of a free, fair and credible election by ensuring that the electorate freely exercised its right to vote. He declared that the era of disputed elections should become a thing of the past.

In response, the State representative only identified as Munhundiripo based at the Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe to the UN in Geneva acknowledged that the events of 2008 were ‘regrettable’.

He however defended the State arguing that no country in the world had a ‘pristine human rights record. ’

Munhundiripo pointed out that since the inception of the coalition government the human rights situation had greatly improved although it remained work in progress.

He also pointed towards the progressive amendments to most of the repressive legislation such as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) as evidencing the progress the State was making to address human rights. Munhundiripo further blamed the poor performance of the economy for the poor service delivery and the falling standards in areas such as health and education. He concluded by suggesting that the on-going constitution making process could address most of the issues of political contestation that negatively impacted on the enjoyment of human rights.

Contributing to the discussion, Marlon Zakeyo, a Zimbabwean lawyer and coordinator of the Zimbabwe Advocacy Office observed that a lot of the human rights violations in Zimbabwe did not require material resources to be addressed. He gave an example of the brutal repression of people particularly around election period. All it required was for the State to desist from violating the rights of citizens without any impact to the State resources. Whilst commending some of the positive statements made by the government delegate, Zakeyo urged the State representative to ensure that the same spirit of co-operation exhibited during the meeting should be translated into real gains on the ground for human rights defenders and ordinary people back home in Zimbabwe where the enjoyment of human rights still remain elusive to many.

The UPR is a United Nations-led state to state review process of each member States’ record of compliance with international human rights law. The process culminates in recommendations being made to the particular State on how it can enhance the protection and promotion of human rights of its people.

Zimbabwe will for the first time in history be subjected to the review process on 10 October 2011. It will remain key for civil society to follow up on the implementation of the recommendations on the ground during the period between Zimbabwe’s review next month and the next cycle of review in 2016.

ENDS

Zimbabwe Parties, NGOs Hail Tough Sentence in Politically-Inspired Rape Case

Ntungamili Nkomo | Washington

Passing judgment against war veteran Gilbert Mavhenyengwa on Monday, Masvingo Magistrate Esther Muremba called him a “disrespectful thug” who took advantage of the volatile situation to rape a vulnerable woman.

Both formations of Zimbabwe's former opposition Movement for Democratic Change and civic organizations have hailed the sentencing of a ZANU-PF activist to 20 years in jail following his conviction for raping an MDC supporter during 2008 election violence.

Passing judgment against war veteran Gilbert Mavhenyengwa on Monday, Masvingo Magistrate Esther Muremba called him a “disrespectful thug” who took advantage of the volatile situation to rape a vulnerable woman, independent daily Newsday reported.

The magistrate also chastised Mavhenyegwa, who commanded a ZANU-PF militia base in Masvingo at the time, for not using a condom during the forced encounter, saying he had exposed the unnamed victim to the danger of contracting the AIDS virus.

Such judgments against perpetrators of the 2008 election violence are not common. A magistrate in Chitungwiza, a Harare satellite town, sentenced five ZANU-PF supporters to three years in jail in January for torturing MDC supporters during the elections.

But the 20 year sentence imposed on Mavhenyengwa caught public attention.

Spokesman Nhlanhla Dube of the MDC wing led by Industry Minister Welshman Ncube told VOA reporter Ntungamili Nkomo that his party is pleased with the sentence which he said would send a strong message to would-be offenders.

"We celebrate this judgment as a victory for a society that believes that political differences can never be settled through violent means," Dube said.

Those sentiments were echoed by deputy spokesperson Thabitha Khumalo of the MDC wing led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. She said all those who commit violence should be given similarly tough prison sentences.

But ZANU-PF parliamentary whip Joram Gumbo downplayed the significance of the case saying it was a criminal matter not linked politics or ZANU-PF.

"The issue has got nothing to do with political parties," Gumbo said. "It only has something to do with the person's behavior and character."

Programs Manager Pedzisai Ruhanya of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition commented that the sentence was just and commendable - but could have come sooner.

http://www.voanews.com/zimbabwe/news/Zimbabwe-Parties-Hail-Tough-Sentence-in-Political-Rape-Case-130216023.html

Women Human Rights Defenders to Unite at New York Global Summit

NEW YORK - September 15, 2011 -- Leading female human rights defenders from around the world are set to arrive in New York for a major summit organized to coincide with the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly.

Mariane Pearl to appear at human rights summit in New York next week

We Have A Dream: Global Summit Against Persecution and Discrimination will highlight the centrality of women's struggles to the global human rights agenda when it convenes on September 21-22nd.
Women of Courage who will be presenting include the writer Mariane Pearl, wife of the Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl who was murdered by Al Qaeda terrorists in Pakistan in 2001, Rebiya Kadeer, the most prominent advocate for the rights of the Uyghur people in China, Grace Kwinjeh, the Zimbabwean journalist who survived the torture chambers of the Mugabe regime, Jacqueline Kasha, the outspoken advocate for LBT rights in Uganda, Tran Thuy, the Vietnamese writer and former political prisoner, and Marina Nemat, a leading Iranian writer and commentator.
The summit will also provide a unique insight into the horrific prison camp system of the North Korean regime through the first person testimony of Kim Hye Sook, who escaped from the Bukchang gulag.
"Women are the foundation of every family and every community. When a woman stands up to fight for her beliefs, entire families and communities are lifted up," said Mariane Pearl, who will be leading the summit's session entitled Women of Courage: The Struggle for Human Dignity. "By gathering these extraordinary women at our summit, many of whom have directly experienced the hell of imprisonment, solitary confinement, torture and genocide, we are sending a clear message that the right of women to live free from discrimination is non-negotiable."
"The rights of woman will be at the heart of the declaration which we will issue at the end of our summit," Ms. Pearl continued.

• The We Have A Dream Summit will take place on September 21-22 at the W Hotel, 541 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022.
• For more information and to register, please visit www.ngosummit.org.
• For interview requests, please contact our director of media relations, Ben Cohen, on 917 302 0194, or deputy director Lev Janashvili on 212 844 9290, email: secretariat@ngosummit.org.

Organized by an international coalition of human rights NGOs:

Zimbabwean lawyer wins Inamori Ethics prize

Andrew MeldrumSeptember 13, 2011 16:18

Lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa received the Inamori Prize for Ethics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Here Mtetwa, a lawyer who concentrates on human rights and press freedom, talks to the press outside the High Court in Harare on April 6, 2008. (Desmond Kwande/AFP/Getty Images)

 

 

Zimbabwean human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa is one of Africa's towering heroes for her principled and courageous battles to uphold the rule of law.

Mtetwa was awarded the 2011 Inamori Ethics Prize at Case Western Reserve University for her zealous defense of human rights and press freedom.
"I am optimistic that democracy and the rule of law will be restored in Zimbabwe," said Mtetwa in Cleveland, Ohio, for the prize-giving ceremony. "I abhor injustice and I fight it wherever I see it. I am driven to defend people who are struggling for their basic human rights. ... I am optimistic that the rule of law will be restored in Zimbabwe in my lifetime."

Mtetwa said she shared the honor of the Inamori Ethics Prize with "all the people out there who challenge the system knowing there are consequences and yet still do it."
"I come in after they have already exercised their rights," Mtetwa said to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "They are the brave ones for doing it. Without them I would have nobody to defend. I feel it is my duty to join them in the battle for basic democratic rights."

Mtetwa has earlier won awards from the Committee to Protect Journalists which presented her with the Burton Benjamin award for lifetime achievement in 2008 for her defense of journalists who had been arrested by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's regime. In 2009 Mtetwa won the Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize in France for her defense of human rights in Zimbabwe.
But Mtetwa's most notable awards are not the trophies and medallions that are given to her. I'm sure her most treasured awards are the freedom of the many journalists, politicians, human rights workers and ordinary Zimbabweans whom she has ably defended in court.
I am one of Mtetwa's devoted fans because she got me out of a Zimbabwean jail in May 2002 and she brilliantly won my acquittal when I was charged with "publishing a falsehood." If I had been found guilty I faced a sentence of two years in prison.

Mtetwa also successfully represented me in court when the Mugabe regime tried to deport me. After hearing Mtetwa's argument, the High Court ruled that I had the right to stay and work in Zimbabwe.
And in May, 2003, when Zimbabwe government agents illegally abducted me, held me captive and forced me on a plane out of the country, Mtetwa got a court order declaring those actions unlawful.
I am a beneficiary of Beatrice Mtetwa's dogged determination to make Zimbabwe's justice system uphold the rule of law. And I am in awe of her principled dedication to the law.

Mtetwa has also represented a number of foreign journalists including New York Times reporter Barry Bearak, after he was arrested and charged under an obsolete law requiring press accreditation. She has defended a number of Zimbabwean journalists and human rights workers.

Consider the story of Jestina Mukoko, a Zimbabwean human rights worker. Mukoko was abducted from her home before dawn in December 2008. Armed men took Mukoko away from her home, still in her nightgown and barefeet. Police said they had not arrested Mukoko and many feared that she would never be seen alive.
Mtetwa refused to give up in her search for Mukoko. She used a court order to force the state media to publicize Mukoko's case. The public responded by sending in reports that Mukoko had been seen at an army base. Mtetwa's persistence brought such attention to the case that Zimbabwean authorities were forced to release Jestina Mukoko. She had been so badly tortured that she needed immediate medical care.
Mukoko said she believes that her life was saved by Beatrice Mtetwa's efforts.

Mtetwa's career is dangerous. She has has received death threats and has been beaten twice by Zimbabwean police.
The mother of two said she learned to challenge authority as the eldest daughter in a large polygamous family in rural Swaziland. Mtetwa said she began challenging her father's authoritarian rules at an early age. Her defiance sometimes caused her to be beaten.
She said that she was determined to get a university education so that she could have an independent life and she encouraged her sisters to get university educations, too.
In the past few years, Mtetwa said despite being disliked, she's earned a measure of respect from many in the Zimbabwean police force.I can attest to that. When I was held by Zimbabwean police, my interogating officers often displayed an arrogant attitude and threatened me. But when Mtetwa came into the station, the officers snapped to attention and treated both of us with respect.

Mtetwa's shining reputation as a human rights lawyer has not come without cost. Many big corporate clients in Zimbabwe have stopped being represented by Mtetwa because they are fearful that the Mugabe regime will rule against them. Mtetwa has inspired a generation of Zimbabwean lawyers, both by her courtroom work and by leading the Zimbabwe Law Society. However, many other lawyers and activists have fled Zimbabwe.

"Those fighting are fewer and fewer and some of the few left are fearful because they don't know what will happen to them," said Mtetwa.

Mtetwa said that she is determined to be optimistic. She knows what Zimbabwe needs: an impartial judiciary, a professional and apolitical police force and army, a proper human rights commission and electoral body, and an independent attorney general.
"If we can get one or two of those things accomplished the rest will start to fall into line," she said.
When she received the Inamori ethics award, Mtetwa spoke to the hundreds of students who gathered at Severance Hall, the home of the Cleveland Orchestra.
"It is not what you make that counts," she said. "It is what difference you make that counts. It is the difference you can make with your life to make other people's lives better that is important."

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/africa-emerges/zimbabwean-lawyer-wins-inamori-ethics-prize

Summer Travel: Mugabe Style

Leslie Wayne

Associate Editor, 100Reporters.com

Summertime is travel time and no one is taking to the friendly skies more than Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean president who has brought nothing but poverty and pain to his country.

In July, he was in New York, even though sanctions imposed by the United States do not allow him to enter the country. The loophole? The 87-year old Mugabe and an entourage that included his wife Grace, 46, various government officials and a phalanx of body guards (twelve in all) came to attend a youth conference at the United Nations. He was the only head of state at an event that brought together young people to discuss issues common to their age group. 

U.N.-sponsored events are fair game for Mugabe, as is anything at the Vatican and in other countries -- mainly in Asia -- that have not imposed the same travel sanctions that bar him from the U.S. and the European Union. This loophole is large enough to fly a 747 through and that is exactly what Mugabe has been doing, courtesy of Air Zimbabwe.

"He only comes on U.N. business,'' Nhamo Matambo, a spokesman for Zimbabwe's mission to the U.N. told 100Reporters. "It was a high level conference and people came to hear his views." Matambo declined to say where Mugabe stayed or what else he did in New York -- "it is not really a concern of the public."

Even so, it is hard to miss Mugabe. On the road, he likes to roll with his pack: His companions are often a 70-member delegation and his tastes are extravagant. Mugabe's travel expenses are running around $3 million a month and it's easy to see why. He's a regular at the "Langkawi Dialogue, '' a Malaysian conference where his stay in the Presidential Suite at the posh Berjaya Langkawi Beach & Spa -- which "embraces the emerald waters," according to its website -- costs over $1200 a night. 

The Daily News, a Zimbabwe newspaper, reports that Mugabe has spent more than $20 million on travel since January alone and Zimbabwe government officials from the opposition MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) party fear his travel expenses are on track to reach $50 million by year's end.

"The situation is out of hand,'' said Tendai Biti, an MDC member and finance minister in the country's divided government. "It's alarming. It's frightening. It's criminal." Biti said these lavish travel bills mean "you can't put that money either into health or education" and added that nothing tangible has resulted from Mr. Mugabe's globe-trekking.

While in New York, Mugabe used the U. N. conference as a chance to continue his portrayal of Zimbabwe as a victim of "neo-colonial machinations" through illegal sanctions and constant interference in the country's domestic affairs, according to an account of his remarks on the U.N. website. All that, he said, hurts the youth of his country.

Zimbabwe is hemorrhaging money and Mugabe's jaunts cause it to bleed even more. The country has outstanding debt totaling $9 billion and anticipates a budget shortfall this year of $700 million. The Daily News article that broke the travel story estimates Mugabe's 2011 travel budget could pay for six months of AIDS treatment for 600,000 Zimbaweans.

Mugabe traveled at least six times this year to Singapore -- at $3 million a pop. In January, he was off to Singapore on holiday and for an eye operation. He returned in February to correct the operation and needed a March visit, again, he said, because of his eyes. He has made several other trips there since.

He, Grace and a delegation, attended the Vatican beatification ceremonies last April for Pope John Paul II. Rome is popular on the Mugabe circuit: He attended the funeral of John Paul II in 2005 and any number of U.N. conferences in the Eternal City on such issues as food and agriculture -- both of which are in short supply in Zimbabwe, thanks to Mugabe's policies. 

The presence of his wife, Grace, raises hackles back in Harare. Grace's penchant for extravagant shopping sprees in the world's capitals has earned her such monikers as "Dis-Grace," "First Shopper" and "Grasping Grace." University of Zimbabwe political science professor John Makumbe saw the recent New York trip as a thinly-veiled opportunity for Grace to go shopping.

In an interview with SW Radio Africa, an independent radio station, Prof. Makumbe said Mugabe is always itching to jet away to "facilitate shopping" for Grace and replenish their supplies of luxury goods. There have been widespread press accounts of Grace's wholesale purchases of marble statues, handbags and gems and of her aides paying for hotel rooms with bags of cash. 

Of course, as with all travel, not everything goes smoothly. When Mugabe was in New York last year for the U.N. General Assembly, he decided to hit a decidedly down-scale Duane Reade drug store. While standing amid a display of blushers and lipsticks and looking intently, a New Yorker with family in Zimbabwe recognized him. According to an account in London's Daily Mail, the shopper began to shout at him: "Give the power to the people. Leave office gracefully. Do it for Zimbabwe."

A dozen of Mugabe's bodyguards swooped down on the protester and bundled him outside while Mugabe, after waiting for the coast to clear, scurried into a waiting limousine.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leslie-wayne/mugabe-travel-expenses_b_945523.html

MUGABE PREACHES PEACE AND HINTS AT ELECTIONS AS ZANU PF SUPPORTERS ASSAULT COUNCILLOR AND JOURNALIST

President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday 6 September 2011 preached peace for the second time in less than one month but the conduct of some of his supporters left his sincerity questionable.

Supporters of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party on Tuesday assaulted a Harare City Councillor, Victor Chifodya and a freelance journalist, Henry Chimbiri as the octogenarian leader opened a session of parliament.

Mugabe opened the fourth session of the seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe and denounced violence in his speech which was broadcast on national television.

But while President Mugabe was preaching peace, supporters of his ZANU PF party attacked Councillor Chifodya, the chief whip for Harare City Councillors and Chimbiri.

Councillor Chifodya was attacked at the corner of Nelson Mandela Avenue and Sam Nujoma Street in central Harare while on his way to Parliament to attend proceedings in Parliament where he was an invited guest. Chimbiri was filming the arrival of President Mugabe to address Parliament.

Councillor Chifodya sustained a deep cut on his head and is currently receiving medical assistance at a local health institution while Chimbiri sustained injuries leading to a bleeding nose. Chimbiri had by late Tuesday not recovered his video camera.

This is the second time in less than two months that ZANU PF supporters have unleashed violence in the environs of Parliament.

On Saturday 23 July 2011, ZANU PF supporters disrupted a public hearing organized by the Joint Committee of the House of Assembly Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal Affairs, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs and the Senate Thematic Committee on Human Rights at Parliament to solicit people’s views on the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) Bill.

The boisterous ZANU PF supporters verbally abused and assaulted Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) Member of Parliament for Hwange Central, Hon. Brian Tshuma for allegedly not singing the anthem and turned their inexplicable anger and violence on journalists from the private media, including Levi Mukarate of The Financial Gazette and Nqaba Matshazi of The Standard and Aaron Ufumeli of NewsDay, who were covering the hearing.

Meanwhile, in his address to Parliament, President Mugabe hinted at imminent plans to hold elections saying bickering parties to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) had “now agreed on key milestones and timelines in preparation for the holding of national elections.”

He said the Referendum Bill together with the Electoral Act agreed to by the GPA negotiators and adopted by the coalition government’s Cabinet will soon be tabled before Parliament as part of preparations to hold elections.

Mugabe, who denounced violence appealed to legislators to preach messages of national healing and reconciliation in their constituencies.

ENDS

Marange Diamond Revenues Used to Buy French Planes

The Africa Report 

Cash strapped Air Zimbabwe buys Airbus planes

Monday, 22 August 2011 16:16

Air Zimbabwe has bought two new A340-200 Airbus passenger planes from France in a deal bankrolled by one of the mining firms licensed to mine at the controversial Marange diamond fields. Map of Zimbabwe Mbada Diamonds, which has a joint venture with the state owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), financed the deal. It is expected to cost US$500 million. The company's involvement, although a welcome relief for Air Zimbabwe, which was struggling to replace its ageing aircraft, is likely to fuel speculation that President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF is running a parallel structure since the money was not channeled through treasury. Finance Minister Tendai Biti says diamond revenue from the Marange fields has not been accounted for and suspects Zanu PF appointees at ZMDC are abusing the money. Last month ZMDC also provided money to increase salaries of civil servants without Biti’s knowledge. Aviation sources said Eads, the French aircraft manufacturer was the supplier of the planes. AirZimbabwe chairperson Jonathan Kadzura was reluctant to divulge details of the deal saying he would do so later this week. “Mbada Diamonds are the financial muscle behind the planes deal as Air Zimbabwe is broke. “However, the diamond company’s interest in the whole arrangement is still not clear” said an aviation source. Air Zimbabwe which has an obsolete fleet of three Boeing 737-200 planes has not flown commercial flights since July 29 when the airline’s 49 pilots walked out over outstanding salaries and allowances. Pilots earn between US$1200 and US$2 500 a month. The troubled state-owned airline’s bosses say they need US$7 million to settle the dispute, but the government says it is too broke to help. The strike, the second work stoppage this year, has disrupted the travel plans of thousands of people. To prepare to take delivery of the new planes, the Air Zimbabwe's staff is undergoing training. A team of pilots and air stewards was last week dispatched to Madrid, Spain for a month long intensive training on the new aircraft. In July a team of pilots and stewards was dispatched to Toulouse, France, for training on the new aircraft. The new aircraft will service Air Zimbabwe’s long-haul routes – mainly to China and the United Kingdom. http://www.theafricareport.com/archives2/business/5170074-cash-strapped-air-zimbabwe-buys-airbus-planes.html

Zim food security ‘pressing issue’

Thursday, 11 August 2011 19:32 Wongai Zhangazha

THE humanitarian situation in the country still remains fragile, with food security, health, water and sanitation a serious cause for concern. Millions of people are said to be drinking from unprotected water sources and living under unhygienic conditions. Due to the immediate humanitarian needs, aid agencies through the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Unocha), last week appealed for US$488 million, an increase of US$73 million from the original requirements of US$415 million.

Key priorities to be addressed by the revised 2011 Consolidated Appeal Process include improving levels of food security, which have been described as a “pressing issue,” nutrition, water and sanitation and addressing the needs of asylum seekers as well as other vulnerable groups. About nine million people, more than half of Zimbabwe’s estimated 12,3 million people (according to the Central Statistical Office’s population projections 2010), are set to benefit this year from water, sanitation and hygiene services, while 8,2 million people will benefit from the health budget and another 6,2 million people from the money budgeted for agriculture.

About 4,95 million women and children are in need of immediate nutritional facilities while 3,2 million pupils, 600 000 teachers and other groups are targeted to benefit in the education sector. As of June 30 2011, four million people have benefited from safe water, hygiene and sanitation while more than three million out of the targeted seven million people are still in need of safe water and sanitation services.
However, half of the targeted people have benefited as of mid this year.

According to the report as of June, 1 750 450 students and 49 890 teachers have been assisted. This is far below the target of more than three million students and 100 000 teachers and school administrators.
In addition, less than half of the five million targeted people to benefit from primary health care facilities have been reached while food security remained an urgent issue after a ‘protracted’ dry spell affected six out of 10 provinces this year. Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Regional Integration and International Cooperation Tedious Chifamba said an internal exercise by the World Food Programme revealed that following extensive crop failure and lack of other food or livelihood, some districts required immediate food assistance for nine months instead of the usual four months. Chifamba said: “Usually vulnerable group feeding is offered for four months (January to April) during the hunger period.  “WFP estimates that it will soon be responding to the needs of approximately 1,4 million people and requires US$83 million to meet these needs. We understand, however, that USAid has already contributed US$18,5 million to meet some of the food needs.”

Due to the dry spell in the six provinces that recorded minimal harvest, vulnerability, especially among people living with HIV/Aids, child headed families, women and the unemployed, had increased. Although there has been stable food availability and marginal improvement in household incomes, poverty, as defined by generally low income, high underemployment and unemployment levels, has remained a major challenge to household food security in both urban and rural areas.

According to Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fewsnet), Zimbabwe’s food security outlook for July through to December 2011 released last week, Binga, Kariba, Mudzi, Umzingwane and Zvishavane districts need to be monitored closely as they have annual localised food deficits and their current production was heavily compromised by the dry spells. The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC)
rural livelihoods assessment estimated the prevalence of food insecure rural households to be six percent in July 2010. This number was projected to increase to 11% between October and December 2010 and further to 15% during the peak hunger season.“Rates for chronic and acute childhood malnutrition still stand at 35% and 2,4% respectively,” read the review. “One third of rural Zimbabweans still drink from unprotected water sources. While the scale of cholera has significantly reduced compared to past years, localised outbreaks continue due to the poor state of the health and water, sanitation and hygiene sectors.” UN humanitarian co-coordinator for Zimbabwe Alain Noudehou said though there has been improvement in the social economic context in the country and stability in the humanitarian situation, there are still some weak areas where humanitarian assistance was still needed. He said an announcement by the South African government that it would start deportations of Zimbabweans by August 1 is expected to result in an influx of people, increasing the need for assistance.“I would like to refer to needs related to food insecurity, response to disease outbreaks like cholera epidemics,” said Noudehou. “There could also be the need to support Zimbabweans who may be repatriated from South Africa in the coming months.”

The review also read: “Gains made in the education sector, especially under the Basic Education Assistance Module, are at risk unless pledged funds are disbursed quickly.” Minister of Finance Tendai Biti in his mid-year fiscal policy statement said according to the second round crop assessment survey, about 164 000 households were confirmed to be in need of food assistance.This has prompted his ministry to put in place a framework which requires US$32,4 million to facilitate distribution of food.
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/local/32010-zim-food-security-pressing-issue.html

BBC: Zimbabwe torture camp discovered

Victims speak of massacre in Zimbabwe diamond fields

A BBC investigation has found that torture camps are being operated by Zimbabwe's security forces near the Marange diamond fields.
Victims have told the BBC's Hilary Andersson that prisoners are routinely subjected to rape and severe beatings and that some are mauled by dogs.
This comes as the EU is pushing for a partial end to a sales ban on Marange diamonds. The names of people in this report have been changed to protect their identities.
Hilary Andersson reports.

 See short videos of interviews
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14445087
http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_9557000/9557246.stm

Export of Zimbabwean diamonds threatens ethical jewellery trade

Rosie Spinks

08 August, 2011

With the Kimberley Process in a state of paralysis over Zimbabwean diamonds, consumers can no longer be sure they’re buying ethical jewels. Ahead of a BBC Panorama investigation into the issue, Rosie Spinks reports

The dusty veld on Zimbabwe’s eastern border with Mozambique is home to the Marange diamond fields; an area with rich alluvial deposits that have an estimated worth of up to US $800 billion and could be viable for the next 80 years.

However the extraction of diamonds from these fields – and their subsequent release into the global market - has put the ethical diamond trade in jeopardy due to allegations of serious human rights abuses connected to the region's diamond industry.

‘At this point, the consumer has no idea what they’re getting at jewellery stores,’ says Annie Dunnebacke of Global Witness, a UK-based NGO. ‘And retailers have no way of telling consumers if a diamond has been produced without human rights abuses.’

In 2002, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) was created to prevent the sale of ‘blood diamonds', or stones used by rebel groups to fund civil wars, such as those in Sierra Leone and Angola.

Diamonds from Zimbabwe’s Marange region have been questioned ever since President Robert Mugabe’s forces took over mining operations there in 2008 as part of his attempt to nationalise the industry. Since then, numerous reports of human rights abuses—including rape, child labour, and mass killings—have emerged.
Tomorrow, BBC Panorama airs an in-depth investigation into the scale and scope of these alleged crimes, and assesses whether or not Mugabe will ever be held accountable.

The controversy over Marange diamonds reached a peak on June 23, when the civil society branch of the KPCS walked out in protest at the body’s official meeting being held in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The dozen African and international groups that comprise the KP civil society coalition, which includes Global Witness, clashed with KP Chairman Mathieu Yamba of the DRC. Yamba broke with the KP’s consensus-based decision making procedure by unilaterally stating that Zimbabwe could start exporting rough stones from Marange without having to prove their compliance with KP regulations first.

‘The case in Zimbabwe highlights the extent to which the KP isn’t able to [control] the members who don’t uphold the minimum standards to accountability,’ said Dunnebacke. She confirmed that Global Witness, which was instrumental in founding the KPCS, is currently ‘reconsidering future participation’ with the scheme.

Conservative MP Henry Bellingham, the UK Foreign Office Minister to Africa, said the UK is committed to ending the trade of conflict diamonds. Bellingham believes that Yamba’s recent decision cannot be considered valid.

‘Despite the statement released by the Chair of the KP in June, it is clear that KP members did not reach a consensus to resume exports of diamonds from Marange,’ Bellingham told the Ecologist. ‘Any agreement must ensure Zimbabwe complies with its KP obligations, and must be robust enough to ensure that the KP remains a credible and effective mechanism.’

Bellingham’s disapproval of Yamba’s unilateral action was echoed by other national governments including the US State department, which issued a statement saying it was ‘deeply disappointed’ by the non-consensus based decision.

The World Diamond Council, the group formed to represent the interests of the diamond industry in KPCS decisions, said in a press release that traders in the industry should avoid Marange diamonds for the time being.`The WDC urges all members of the trade to deal only in rough diamonds that are accompanied by KP certificates that comply with the consensus decisions of the Kimberley Process.’

Defining conflict diamonds

It has widely been quoted that less than one per cent of the diamonds on the world market are blood diamonds. However, Dunnebacke states this figure only applies when the narrow definition of a blood diamond is used, which only includes stones that rebel groups use to fund civil wars. In Zimbabwe, it is the legitimate (if controversial) government, not rebels, that is reportedly profiting from diamonds mined in inhumane conditions. In addition, Mugabe’s officials are failing to account for the proceeds from these stones in a transparent manner.

Farai Maguwu is a Zimbabwean diamond activist who was jailed and then released last year for allegedly 'publishing and communicating false information' related to human rights abuses at the mines. He said that if the KP is concerned with human rights, it must broaden its definition to include situations like the one in Zimbabwe.

‘In terms of ending rebel related conflicts the KP achieved its goal 100 per cent,’ Maguwu told the Ecologist. ‘But in terms of protecting people from diamond related violence, the KP has failed to find an answer, especially where it pertains to Zimbabwe. It's not about the identity of the perpetrator, whether it be government or rebel group that matters, it is all about protecting people.’

Maguwu is not optimistic when it comes to the prospect of average Zimbabweans benefiting from the vast mineral wealth that is found in their nation. ‘You have a situation where the Finance Minster says he is not receiving proceeds from diamond sales and then a quasi state institution [is] paying salaries for state employees using proceeds from diamond sales,’ Maguwu said. ‘Unfortunately diamonds are non-renewable and that day may never come when we [Zimbabweans] shall all say, “behold what our diamonds have done for us.”’

Zimbabwe as a symptom
However dire, the situation in Zimbabwe is only part of the larger challenge the KPCS faces at present. There are major underlying problems within the certification scheme as a whole that must be addressed, according to Dunnebacke. She cited administrative problems, including a lack of funding and a permanent secretariat, as well as issues caused by a consensus being required for every decision that's made.

The KPCS has a three-pronged structure: the civil society coalition, participating governments (of both producer and consumer nations), and industry representatives. Dunnebacke said that both government and industry have to make major changes if the KPCS is going to move forward as an effective regulator.

‘We need to face the facts now and see that government have failed in their responsibility to see that the KP is effective and industry has totally failed in their responsibility to see that there’s any supply train traceability,’ Dunnebacke said. ‘Its basic stuff - find out who your suppliers are, who their suppliers are, and then demand documentary evidence for that.’

In Zimbabwe's case, several possibilities remain. In the wake of Yamba’s decision, it's possible that Marange diamonds are being exported with KP certification attached. In addition, smuggled Marange diamonds could have already left Zimbabwe and been on the market prior to June's meeting. For these and other reasons, Dunnebacke says, there is currently no guarantee of a ‘conflict-free’ diamond on the market. ‘It’s not something the consumer wants to hear,’ Dunnebacke said. ‘But the fact is unless you’re buying from certain companies that have a “mine to market” certification scheme or from retailers that only buy from a certain mine, there’s no way of knowing.’

Maguwu says that it's sad that something as precious as a diamond can result in such suffering and wants to see it change. 'Diamonds are an expression of love, not hatred or pain,' he said. ‘This love must flow from the place of origin, from that remote village, through the whole production chain, right up to the consumer.’

For more information, see www.globalwitness.org

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/1005476/export_of_zimbabwean_diamonds_threatens_ethical_jewellery_trade.html