Get documents about "ZIMDAY Friday 3 September 2004 - Download Now DOC
Document Sample
dy" officials, "crooks" and "cunning knaves" bribing voters and those who
ZIMDAY Friday 26 November 2004 wanted to "grab bread from other people’s mouths". Both camps used a
variety of means, including "donations" and alignment with the media, to win
In this issue: votes. Donations in cash and kind seem to have angered Mugabe this week
Ethnic cleansing - Zimbabwe Independent who accused his officials of using money, including some sourced from
"white imperialists" with British connections, to bribe voters. Mnangagwa’s
'Lapdogs’ to return – Star
camp last Thursday descended on Dinyane Secondary School in Tsholot-
Targeted NGOS - Zimbabwe Independent sho, Matabeleland North, for a prize-giving ceremony, which sources said
Moyo backs down... – Times was a strategic meeting. Mnangagwa was supposed to be the guest of
...for now - Daily Telegraph honour. Moyo was also supposed to attend. However, Mnangagwa and
Moyo failed to attend due to the emergency politburo meeting in Harare.
Chinamasa was despatched to officiate. He urged people in Tsholotsho to
vote for Moyo in the forthcoming Zanu PF primary elections.
From The Zimbabwe Independent, 26 November
War camps and the battle plans Six Zanu PF chairmen, ministers, deputy ministers, MPs, a governor, war
veterans and party functionaries attended the ceremony where there was a
Dumisani Muleya cascade of donations. Mnangagwa led by example when he donated, in
absentia, $10 million to buy computers for the computer laboratory, Langa
The ruling Zanu PF’s leadership nomination process ahead of next week’s donated $5 million, Shumba gave two computers to the school, while Ab-
congress has run its dramatic course and produced an outcome which has edinigo Ncube and Hungwe donated 100 bags of cement each for the con-
changed the plot of President Robert Mugabe’s heated succession race. struction of a classroom block. Labode donated shelving material and Bula-
The selection of Mugabe, Joseph Msika, Joyce Mujuru and John Nkomo to wayo businessman Delma Lupepe donated $5 million. Mudenda donated a
occupy the party’s top four elected positions came against a background of water pump and Bhuka a television set. Some made pledges. Mnangagwa’s
vicious wrangling among the party’s political gladiators grouped in two camp two weeks ago organised a similar prize-giving ceremony at Ntalale
camps. Zanu PF insiders say the groups, one led by the party secretary for Secondary School in Gwanda where Siyoka declared his executive would
administration Emmerson Mnangagwa and the other by politburo big shot, not support Mujuru. He got suspended for it after members of the Mujuru
Retired General Solomon Mujuru, were locked in a power struggle to secure camp in the province reacted angrily. That reaction, coupled with a botched
nomination of their candidates. The political combat was characterised by interview with a local weekly which angered a lot of people, apparently trig-
behind-the-scenes manoeuvres, backbiting and sometimes open bickering. gered a chain of events which led to Mnangagwa’s downfall.
The sources say the infighting manifested itself in the form of tussles over
land, clashes in the media, at meetings and in parliament. The squabbling From The Star (SA), 26 November
left Zanu PF deeply divided into warring political factions. Although mem- Defiant Cosatu tired of being ANC's 'quiet lapdog'
bership of the camps overlapped, there were movers and shakers on both
sides. Mnangagwa’s group — coalesced around the so-called South-South By Moshoeshoe Monare
Coalition which encompassed Midlands, Matabeleland, Masvingo and Man-
icaland — included Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs Patrick Chinamasa, Cosatu is tired of being used as the ANC's election machinery and intends
information and publicity deputy secretary Jonathan Moyo, and senior party defying the government by blockading the Zimbabwean borders and send-
members such as July Moyo and Shuvai Mahofa. Insiders say the camp’s ing another fact-finding team to Harare. This was stated in Johannesburg
masterplan had an ethnic arrangement from the current Zanu PF Unity yesterday by Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi. In what sounded
Accord structure. It placed Mugabe on top to represent Zezurus, Women’s like a threat to the tripartite alliance, Vavi said it was about time to break the
League chairperson Thenjiwe Lesabe to represent Ndebeles, Mnangagwa 10-year cycle of a frustrating relationship with the ANC. "The cycle is that
Karangas and Chinamasa Manyikas. Lesabe was understood to have been we in the alliance get very close six months before the elections; we cam-
dragged in. paign very vigorously together. At that time, the mood changes (becomes
comradely) ... But then, after the elections, six months down the line, the
Masvingo governor Josiah Hungwe, Agriculture minister Joseph Made, reality of how and what each of us expect from the alliance begins to haunt
Transport minister Chris Mushowe and his deputy Andrew Langa, Foreign us," Vavi said. The fragility of the alliance was discussed at length at Cosa-
Affairs deputy minister Abednico Ncube and Minister of State in the Vice- tu's two-day central executive committee meeting that ended on Wednes-
President’s Office Flora Bhuka were part of this camp. Zanu PF MPs Jorum day. Vavi said there were ANC leaders who believed the role of Cosatu and
Gumbo, Pearson Mbalekwa and Kindness Paradza, among many others, other alliance partners was to mobilise for elections, help draft the manifes-
were also in the group. War veterans chairman Jabulani Sibanda, his depu- to, support government programmes and sing ministers' praises. "That cycle
ty Joseph Chinotimba, and Bulawayo war veterans chairman Themba has to be broken ... the alliance can't be reduced to an elections machinery.
Ncube were included. Former Matabeleland North provincial medical direc- We have been doing that in the past 10 years ...We can't be managed in
tor Dr Ruth Labode, who is close to Jonathan Moyo, was also linked to the between the elections and with an attempt to silence us from making politi-
group. The camp managed to draw into its fold six Zanu PF provincial ex- cal observations," Vavi said. The spat will dominate the alliance summit,
ecutive council chairmen: Themba Ncube (Bulawayo), Jacob Mudenda likely to be held next year, which has been postponed several times due to
(Matabeleland North), Mike Madiro (Manicaland), Lloyd Siyoka (Matabelel- what Vavi described as a lack of commitment by the leaders. "The question
and South) and Daniel Shumba (Masvingo). However, Mudenda’s and Ma- that arises is where are the other leaders of the alliance when, seven
diro’s provinces defected to the Mujuru camp at the eleventh hour to deliver months down the line, (we don't) have a summit?"
the final blow against Mnangagwa who eventually lost to Joyce Mujuru in
the race for the vice-president’s post left vacant after the death of Simon Vavi said one of the examples of how the ANC-led government was ignor-
Muzenda last year. General Mujuru’s grouping comprised a number of polit- ing Cosatu was on the Zimbabwe issue: "How could a strategic partner of
ical heavyweights such as Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi, politburo the government not know what (the government) is doing in Zimbabwe?"
bigwigs Dumiso Dabengwa and Josiah Tungamirai, State Security minister Vavi said the acid test for President Thabo Mbeki's quiet diplomacy would
Nicholas Goche, party commissar Elliot Manyika and nearly all other provin- be next year's Zimbabwean poll: "Will (quiet diplomacy) deliver free and fair
cial governors. It also had sympathisers in the form of Msika, Nkomo, Home elections that are in line with the SADC protocol?" Cosatu still believes its
Affairs minister Kembo Mohadi, Zanu PF deputy national commissar Sikha- 13-member fact-finding mission, which was booted out of Harare this
nyiso Ndlovu and virtually all other former PF Zapu stalwarts. Zanu PF month, was justified. Vavi and the union's president, Willie Madisha, plan to
spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira was also seen as generally associated return to Harare in January. The ANC, the government and the ANC Youth
with it. The group commanded the support of Zanu PF chairmen in Masho- League lashed out at Cosatu's fact-finding team, and Vavi said the attack
naland East (Ray Kaukonde), Mashonaland Central (Chen Chimuteng- was meant to silence Cosatu. "The message was very clear to Cosatu:
wende), Mashonaland West (Philip Chiyangwa) and Harare (Amos Midzi) 'Keep quiet, move out of politics, be a quiet lapdog ... We will refuse to do
although Chiyangwa was seen as a Mnangagwa backer. that," he said. Vavi said Cosatu would mobilise Southern African unions in
the next few weeks to march to Zimbabwean high commissions in their
Mugabe remained neutral and above the fray as the cliques wrestled for respective countries and blockade their borders with Zimbabwe. ANC secre-
power. His intervention only came after the politburo decided last Thursday tary-general Kgalema Motlanthe and spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama were
at an emergency meeting that one of the two vice-presidents would have to not available for comment.
be a woman. He only intervened decisively on the side of women who sup-
ported Joyce Mujuru a day before the nominations. Mugabe took a firm From The Zimbabwe Independent, 26 November
stand this week in a bid to suppress rising dissent and factionalism stem- NGOs get 6-month reprieve
ming from the process. In a thinly-veiled attack on senior party officials,
Mugabe threatened to deal with sulking top members involved in acts of Godfrey Marawanyika
destabilisation. He said he would deal with "divisive elements" in the upper
ranks of his deeply split party. He also said he would crackdown on "gree-
The government has given Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) a six- Bevan said: "It is naive to say that sport and politics do not mix, but you are
month grace period to regularise their operations once the controversial able to draw a line in the sand and say you should not cross that particular
NGOs Bill is passed by parliament. The latest development comes amid line. Certainly to use players as political pawns is unacceptable. "The play-
claims in the NGO sector that government has targeted 15 organisations for ers have sent a powerful message to the Zimbabwe Government and world
closure. The NGOs reportedly on government’s hit list include the Zim- supporters of cricket by refusing to accept that initial position." Public opi-
babwe Civil Education Trust, Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Com- nion remains strongly against the trip and Morgan probably missed an op-
bined Harare Residents Association, Crisis in Zimbabwe, Humanistic Insti- portunity to withdraw on Wednesday evening when there was no indication
tute of Development Co-operation with Developing Countries, National that Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Information and Publicity would climb down. At
Constitutional Assembly, Media Institute of Southern Africa, Zimbabwe that point the ICC was sympathetic to the possibility that England would pull
Liberators Platform, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Amani Trust, out. Carr claimed that the ECB had taken the groundswell of opposition
Zimbabwe NGO Human Rights Forum, Bulawayo Agenda and Women of back home into account in deciding to travel. "Goodwill of the British public
Zimbabwe Arise. Government has however dismissed the allegations that has to be a factor," he said. "The British public might have got bored with
its Bill on the registration, regulation and funding of NGOs is target-specific. the issue over the past few months but ultimately they have to understand
Public Service and Social Welfare minister Paul Mangwana said although what is at risk." Morgan, Bevan and Carr will travel with the players for the
the Bill was silent on the period NGOs should take to align their operations duration of the trip, with Bevan saying that any breaches of the assurances
with the law, those that were operating legally would be given time to adjust provided on his recent visit to assess safety and security would be taken
to the new legislation. "Organisations that were already legally operating "extremely seriously". However, Carr admitted that no 100 per cent guaran-
under the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Act or as registered trusts tee could be given despite verbal assurances from Zimbabwe.
have got six months to regularise their operations. That list (of 15 NGOs
targeted) is not true because that is just speculation," he said. "We are not From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 25 November
targeting anybody. If those organisations by their virtue deal with human New demand might put tour back in doubt
rights organisations, they fall under this category but they are not targeted
at all," Mangwana said. By Mihir Bose
The proposed legislation will repeal the PVO Act and seeks to make it illegal England's tour of Zimbabwe could be back in the melting pot when the 13
for NGOs involved in issues of governance, such as voter education, to cricket journalists originally denied a visa fly in with the team this morning.
receive foreign funding. The Bill will also outlaw the registration of foreign At Harare airport they may be asked to sign a document saying they will not
NGOs whose "sole or principal objects involve or include issues of gover- report anything other than cricket and last night The Daily Telegraph made it
nance". The proposed law will have a huge bearing on the ability of affected clear that their cricket correspondent, Derek Pringle, who was one of the
NGOs to operate since most of them are foreign-funded, analysts complain. banned group, would not sign any such document. Other media organisa-
This includes the critical area of food distribution. Director of the National tions are expected to take a similar stance and this could put the tour back
Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (Nango) Jonah Mudehwe in jeopardy. Yesterday David Morgan, chairman of the England and Wales
said he was aware the government was targeting particular institutions but Cricket Board, who has been in Harare tirelessly trying to get the ban lifted,
would not name them. "The minister has been very open that there are said: "A Telegraph feature writer with no association with cricket would not
some NGOs which are targeted, particularly those involved in issues of have got accreditation and I could not have complained. "What is clear is
governance and human rights. Unfortunately I cannot say anything on that that the journalists are either cricket or general sport journalists and they
particular list," Mudehwe said. On Wednesday, legislators referred the have to abide by the laws of the country."
NGOs Bill to the Parliamentary Legal Committee for assessment after MDC
MPs objected to some of its causes. Morgan also explained that yesterday, before the Zimbabwean government
changed their mind, the ECB had to clarify the status of certain BBC journal-
From The Times (UK), 26 November ists and get late accreditation for three Sky Sports journalists. It was only
England prepare for flight to Harare with political baggage after this that Morgan received word, at 10am London time yesterday, that
the ban had been lifted. He then telephoned the news to John Carr, ECB
From Richard Hobson, One-day Cricket Correspondent, in Johannesburg cricket director, who was about to board a plane to Johannesburg to meet
England are to fly to Zimbabwe this morning after the players agreed last the England players. Morgan revealed to me how yesterday morning he
night to put aside their concerns and fulfil the one-day series. Their decision faced a "deafening silence" from the Zimbabwean authorities. For nearly
followed talks lasting more than an hour with John Carr, the England and three hours Morgan fretted before getting the first encouraging phone call
Wales Cricket Board (ECB) director of cricket operations, who had flown from Peter Chingoka, the president of Zimbabwe Cricket. The Daily Tele-
from Harare to convince them to travel. The ECB had been taken by sur- graph can reveal that this came about as a result of pressure applied by the
prise in the morning when the Zimbabwe Government reversed its decision International Cricket Council on the ZCU. Morgan also believes pressure
to ban nine news organisations, including The Times, from entering the from the Foreign Office was crucial. The ICC pointed out that, should Eng-
country to cover the five matches. This meant that it could no longer pull out land pull out, no financial penalties would be imposed on them, and Zim-
of the trip without the possibility of a fine and suspension. David Morgan, babwe's future as an international cricket country could be in doubt.
the ECB chairman, confirmed at around 1pm that the tour would proceed,
but Duncan Fletcher, the coach, has asked for the first game, due to take After this crisis broke on Monday afternoon two intense series of meetings
place today, not to be rescheduled. Zimbabwe Cricket has requested that it and phone calls took place, one in Harare, the other in London. In Harare,
should now be played tomorrow, but England will be reluctant to take the Morgan met a series of people, including Zimbabwean government officials.
field less than 24 hours after their arrival. Players had become increasingly It was over lunch on Tuesday at the Harare cricket ground, where England
nervous and unhappy after the political decision taken by the Mugabe re- will play, that Morgan received a call to go immediately to the British High
gime on Tuesday to deny access to some of the press. They asked to stay Commission. In London, British Foreign Office minister Dr Dennis McShane
in Johannesburg on Wednesday night before Morgan instructed them to called in the Zimbabwean acting High Commissioner and told him the jour-
stay put and they anticipated flying home either last night or this evening, nalists must be allowed in. The Foreign Office also instructed British diplo-
with the Zimbabwe Government seemingly entrenched. mats to do everything they could to put pressure on Zimbabwean govern-
ment officials to let in the journalists. Meanwhile, from London, Ehsan Mani,
When Andrew Walpole, the press officer with the squad, announced that the president of the ICC, was speaking on the telephone with other Test-playing
party had been booked on to flights leaving Johannesburg at 10.30 this countries. In recent years there has not been much sympathy for England
morning, Carr was still to arrive at the Emperor Hotel, a couple of miles from over Zimbabwe but now the consensus view, even from the Asian countries,
the airport, to address their worries. He arrived at around 3.30pm and im- was that England should not face any financial penalty.
mediately began speaking to team management before the meeting with
players at around 5pm. The squad broke up looking drawn and wandered Morgan himself spoke to a few countries and, confident he could escape
around the hotel lobby clutching a piece of ECB-headed notepaper. Their any financial penalty, he told the England cricketers to stay in Johannesburg
refusal to comment prompted speculation that they might have refused to on Wednesday night. "I took the decision to keep the players in South Africa
travel. The notepaper, however, turned out to be nothing more than the to increase the leverage on the Zimbabwean government," Morgan said.
dress code for today’s flight. Richard Bevan, chief executive of the Profes- "Without the accreditation of the 13 banned journalists, or a high proportion
sional Cricketers’ Association, was also at the meeting and it was not until of them, and satisfactory explanations for not allowing them in, the tour
8pm that he and Carr jointly addressed a press conference. Ultimately, it would not go ahead." On Wednesday night it seemed the Zimbabwean
seemed that the events of the previous two days had never happened as government attitude was stiffening. But after a meeting between Chingoka
they repeated the mantra that the ECB had no option but to agree to the and a high level minister close to Robert Mugabe, the ban was described as
series. Concerns centred on the safety and security of the press as well as an administrative cock-up.
the players, and the possibility of demonstrations at the matches. Carr and
Bevan left the meeting of players on three occasions to make check calls
with the security team who will accompany the squad in Zimbabwe, the
British Ambassador and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.
