Mugabe family named in corruption report

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace have been named among 56 other
Zimbabweans - mostly Zanu PF bigwigs –implicated in corrupt activities
fleecing the country of billions of dollars at the expense of the general
populace.
Mugabe and the Zanu PF elite were also cited for poor leadership practices
in the country.

According to a report by the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT),
a non-governmental organisation established in 2004, the First Family and
the top Zanu PF component in the inclusive government were fingered in
multi-billion-dollar corrupt activities.

Regional co-ordinator of ACT-Southern Africa Alouis Munyaradzi Chaumba said
all the cases should be reopened, investigated and all culprits prosecuted.

“I do not understand why the Zimbabwe Republic Police and the
Attorney-General’s Office have been consistently refusing to investigate and
prosecute senior government officials, their families, friends and
associates implicated in corruption.

“The impression created is that they are above the law. All these cases
should be investigated or else we are going to compel them to do so through
the courts of law,” he said, adding that people implicated should not be
allowed to participate in future elections until they were cleared.

But, Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo said he needed to see the report first
before he could comment on the document.

The report, compiled by studying newspaper reports in post-independence
Zimbabwe, examined corrupt activities ranging from the late 1980s Willowgate
motor vehicle scandal to the farm mechanisation programme prior to 2008. It
also focused on corruption in government entities such as Noczim, Zupco and
Grain Marketing Board as well as the War Victims’ Compensation Fund (WVCF).

Mugabe was implicated in the Z$7 billion Harare airport expansion deal in
1999, the report said, while Grace was fingered in the VIP housing project
in 1995 when she, alongside top Zanu PF hawks, allegedly grabbed houses
meant for low-earning civil servants in the “pay-for your-house scheme”.

Most of the cases, the report states, were not investigated as most
enquiries were kept under wraps by the government to allegedly protect
corrupt officials.

The President’s case, according to the report, came to light after a Saudi
national, Hani Yamani, owner of Air Harbour Technologies (AHT) - a company
that Mugabe seconded to win the tender to expand the airport - wrote to him
in July 1999 complaining of “excessive kickbacks”.

“Alongside the construction of the airport terminal, AHT funded the
construction of a private residence for President Mugabe. Furthermore,
Yamani donated $50 000 to Zanu PF and made payments to two senior Cabinet
ministers,” the report reads.

Grace is also fingered in alleged illegal diamond deals together with
Vice-President Joice Mujuru, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono
and Mines minister Obert Mpofu. 

Fresh assault on Zim media

It is truly tragic that the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) has now
launched its Media Council.

Indeed, there can only be one outcome of this Zanu PF-driven and managed
political project — a fresh and savage assault on the country’s fledgling
independent media, at the same primitive level as was witnessed when the
Daily News was maliciously and unjustly shut down in September 2003.

What this also means is that the well-known lunatic fringe in President
Robert Mugabe’s former ruling party, with their scotched earth approach to
politics, are now firmly in charge of Zanu PF again.

This in turn means that Zimbabweans ought to be very afraid again, for the
signs are all too ominous, all round. To decode things further, this fresh
assault, as was the case a decade ago, is ultimately aimed at ordinary
Zimbabweans — rather than the independent media per se.

The question to ask is what is next after they decapitate the private media
as they intend to do?

A decade ago it was literally the beginning of a traumatic ride to hell that
culminated in the likes of Murambatsvina, rapes and murders in 2008 and the
worst economic disaster that the world has ever witnessed!

Beleaguered Information minister Webster Shamu set the ball rolling on this
fresh tilt at anarchy earlier this week when he bluntly and unashamedly
promised to shut down the private media if they continue shining their
bright torches in the dark corners of Mugabe’s and Zanu PF’s kleptocratic
worlds.

We say beleaguered of Shamu because we believe that he is acting under
pressure from his party’s hardliners, and that deep down he does not believe
in this barbarism. Indeed, why would he sanction this insanity now and not
earlier?

And was it not under his overall sympathetic watch that Zimbabwe’s leading
media brand the Daily News was able to come back?

Shamu’s shocking rantings were on Thursday followed by the launch of the
Zimbabwe Media Council itself, to the further trauma of all right-thinking
Zimbabweans.

Among its supposedly impartial members who will run this august body are
Justin Mutasa, the CEO of Zimpapers, and Happison Muchechetere, the CEO of
the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. Whoa! Really?

Is Mutasa not the same gentleman whose company publishes the rabid Zanu PF
propaganda missiles that include The Herald, The Sunday Mail and The
Chronicle?

And is Muchechetere not the head of the monopoly television outfit that is
headquartered at Pockets Hill and that beams nothing but hate speech against
political opponents of Mugabe and Zanu PF?

Indeed, are state newspapers and broadcast stations not guilty of the worst
editorial excesses imaginable in this country? Do they not day-in and
day-out weave disgusting Zanu PF spin and incite violence against those
perceived to be critical of the establishment?

Given all these incontrovertible truths, we ask with tears in our eyes how
this media council is supposed to work with any semblance of legitimacy with
the likes of these two gentlemen as part of the team in charge? To what
effect?

We want to state unequivocally here, that any nation that seeks to regulate
the media this way is truly a banana republic, no matter how much this
statement will upset these anarchy mongers.

After all, we already have the Voluntary Media Council which is working
perfectly.

Just watch the carnage as it unfolds from here onwards, for you can’t
entrust the chicken run to hyenas.

It is that bad. 

 By  Chinofunga Ndoga

SADC leaders clamp down on human rights court


SADC heads of state who met in Maputo for the annual summit over the weekend
have been accused of “shutting the doors” to the SADC Tribunal to the region’s
citizens, following a decision to limit the court’s Protocol to dealing only
with conflicts between member states.

A final communique issued at the summit on Saturday said SADC leaders had
“resolved that a new Protocol on the Tribunal should be negotiated and its
mandate confined to interpretation of the SADC Treaty and Protocols relating
to disputes between Member States.”

The Tribunal’s original mandate allowed the court to hear and decide on
cases brought by individual citizens, who felt they had been denied justice
in their home countries. The weekend decision essentially leaves no legal
recourse for individuals seeking justice, therefore undermining the rule of
law.

The SADC Tribunal was suspended in 2010, after the Mugabe regime dismissed a
ruling by the court which said his chaotic land grab exercise was illegal
and racist. But Mugabe dismissed the ruling and challenged the legality of
the Tribunal. Rather than deal with the issue the SADC leaders suspended the
court’s operations instead.

The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) have strongly criticised the
SADC leaders. They had expected the Summit to adopt the recommendations from
their own Ministers of Justice and Attorneys-General from the region, which
limited the human rights mandate of the Tribunal while a new Protocol was
decided on.

“This weekend’s decision goes far further in narrowing the Tribunal’s
mandate. Individuals won’t have any access to the Tribunal whatsoever, no
matter what type of case is concerned,” the Centre’s director Nicole Fritz
told SW Radio Africa.

She added: “Most of cases that were heard by the Tribunal so far had been
brought by individuals. Member states almost never bring cases against each
other before the courts. They try and resolve their disputes by diplomatic
means. So the SADC tribunal is essentially not going to be worth the
expense.”

Civic society groups that had also lobbied for the revival of the Tribunal
have said they are disappointed with the decision to block individual cases.

Nobel peace prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu was one of the campaigners
fighting for the court’s re-instatement. He had described it as “a place
where crimes could not go unpunished and victims of injustice and human
rights abuses could turn with confidence”, adding: “but that house is now in
grave danger.”

Tutu had warned that “the region will lose a vital ally of its citizens, its
investors and its future” if SADC leaders did not revive the court. “It is
up to all of us to ensure that SADC not only reinstates the Tribunal but
also strengthens it,” Tutu was quoted as saying.

Possible SA link in Zim activist's absence

http://www.news24.com/

2012-08-06 14:02

Cape Town - Friends and colleagues of Zimbabwean human rights campaigner
Paul Chizuze, who has been missing for six months, are losing hope of
finding him and are desperately hoping he has fled to South Africa,
according to reports.

Four months after his disappearance, a relative saw his dusty vehicle parked
in a prominent position outside the government tax offices while passing
through the border town of Beitbridge en route to SA.

According to the Cape Times, colleagues say they were told by a security
guard working nearby that the car had been there for several weeks. But
Zimbabwean police did not do any forensic tests on the vehicle. One source
described the issue as "too sensitive" for the police to handle.

Chizuze had a modest SA bank account opened about seven years ago. But his
colleagues say they have established that no withdrawals have been made
since his disappearance.

Chizuze left his home in Bulawayo just after 20:00 on 8 February 2012. The
58 year old was seen driving his Nissan Hardbody with registration number
ACJ 3446.

Information on massacres

Some family members say they fear Chizuze may have been abducted, hijacked
or murdered on the night he disappeared. A relative who declined to be named
said the family was despairing.

"I now suspect he was murdered and we should all accept that we will never
find him alive."

Chizuze was a prominent activist and investigator during and after the
massacres (Gukurahundi) in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland region in the 1980s, when
then prime minister Robert Mugabe ordered a North Korean-trained brigade of
the Zimbabwean army to kill thousands of opposition supporters loyal to
Joshua Nkomo, leader of Zapu, then a rival to Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party.

Zimbabwe education and culture minister David Coltart, a close friend and
former colleague of the disappeared activist, said Chizuze had too much
information on Gukurahundi.

The minister said Chizuze had been working on issues that could have
embarrassed authorities in the government, especially hardliners.

Video shows 'intimidation' by Mugabe’s party ahead of election cycle

http://observers.france24.com/content/20120803-video-showing-intimidation-mugabe-party-fans-fears-over-next-election-zimbabwe-zanu-pf-tsvangirai-politics

03/08/2012 / ZIMBABWE

A video has emerged showing what appears to be evidence of intimidation on the part of members of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party. With an election expected in the coming year, this video - along with reports of similar incidents - has stoked fears that the party is returning to the same intimidation tactics used in the run-up to the 2008 election.

A speaker in the video tells a crowd of people, “If MDC [the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party] comes here and you, as a ZANU-PF member, participate [in their meetings], I promise I will beat you.” Another speaker asks people gathered around him to each divulge a name of an opposition supporter they know. [Our Observer, below, explains that people who don’t necessarily agree with the party’s politics are sometimes pressured to attend these meetings].

The video, which was procured by a human rights organisation that FRANCE 24 has decided to keep anonymous for security reasons, includes footage of two separate political meetings, which were reportedly held in the central district of Chirumhanzu on May 17 and in the northern district of Chinhanga on May 23. We have shown this video to several of our Observers in Zimbabwe, who were able to confirm that the dialects spoken match those used in these areas.

FRANCE 24 has asked ZANU-PF for comment on this video, but we have not yet received a reply.

Incidents of intimidation against opposition supporters have been reported with increasing frequency as the next presidential election, expected in mid-2013, draws nearer. The outgoing US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray, recently said that, judging by the recent atmosphere, he fears the coming elections could once again descend into violence.

During the last election, opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew a week before the second round, claiming that a campaign of violence by Mugabe’s supporters had turned the process into “a sham.” However, under pressure from the international community, the two ended up at the head of a coalition government, with Mugabe as president and Tsvangirai as prime minister. In 2013, both men will once again compete to become president.

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe with an iron first since 1987. Zimbabwe is currently ranked 154 out of 182 countries on Transparency International’s corruption index.

Contributors

Mugove

“This sort of intimidation is quite typical of what’s happening all over the country”

Mugove (not his real name) is a Zimbabwean human rights activist. FRANCE 24 has decided to keep him anonymous for security reasons. [Activists are frequently the targets of harassment in Zimbabwe].

“I am convinced this video is authentic, not only because meetings were indeed scheduled in these places on these dates, but because I recognized the dialects being spoken as belonging to these regions.

This sort of intimidation is quite typical of what’s happening all over the country these days; I have received many reports of similar incidents, both in cities and in rural areas. The threats of beating heard in the video are not mere talk – on May 26, an opposition supporter was lynched by ZANU-PF supporters. [Witnesses reported that the police on the scene did not intervene]. I believe this was a clear result of these types of intimidation tactics.

Intimidation can take multiple forms. The most common are direct threats to people who sympathise with the opposition or their family members, which includes threats of beatings and destruction of property. Many people are also forced to attend political meetings and buy party membership cards. Another common threat in rural areas is banishment – village leaders have the power to expel people from their communities. People who rent stores or stands in markets are also often required to pledge allegiance to a party in order to keep their spots.

“People who are threatened cannot count on the help of the police”

In Zimbabwe, people cannot count on the police if they are threatened by supporters of political parties. Police chiefs have openly expressed their support for ZANU-PF, so that makes it difficult for rank-and-file police officers to go against this party’s interests. Moreover, there is an atmosphere of impunity. Vigilante groups have been roaming the streets of cities causing violence; the police clearly have the capacity to deal with them, but it seems that they have decided to ignore it when it’s in the interest of the politicians they support. The policing system needs a major overhaul. Currently, too many people who took part in or allowed the 2008 violence remain in positions of power.

As we approach the elections, more and more political meetings are taking place, and tension is increasing. I think it’s quite likely that intimidation will once again give way to bloodshed.”

Position on the temporal jurisdiction of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission

11 July 2012

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) continues to follow closely, and
with interest, the progress relating to the operationalisation of the
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC).
ZLHR commends the renewed commitment by the Minister of Justice & Legal
Affairs, and Parliament, to finalise the legislation required to make the
ZHRC functional. This is long overdue. It is also in line with
recommendations to ensure that the ZHRC can commence its operations as soon
as possible, as accepted by the Government of Zimbabwe during the United
Nations (UN) Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of Zimbabwe
held last year, and as strongly expressed by UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, Navi Pillay, during her visit to Zimbabwe earlier this year.

The importance of having an operational commission to deal with protection
of human rights cannot be over-emphasised, particularly in a society where
violations of fundamental rights and freedoms remain prevalent. The urgency
of having a functional mechanism to investigate and deal with violations is
further heightened where elections loom, and bearing in mind previous trends
in Zimbabwe where such violations escalate in the run-up to, and following,
key electoral and other political processes.
So too, Zimbabwe remains a country with immense challenges relating to the
continuing culture of impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations.
Without providing mechanisms to investigate and deal with past human rights
violations – whether through trials, national enquiries, reparations,
memorialisation, amongst other means – our society will never be able to
escape the vicious cycle of impunity or ensure non-recurrence of such
heinous crimes.

There has been much debate and speculation in relation to the emotive issue
of the temporal jurisdiction of the ZHRC, which has been set in the ZHRC
Bill as 13 February 2009 – a date agreed by the three negotiating political
parties.
ZLHR has also noted the intention of the government to establish a national
mechanism that will deal with issues relating to post-conflict justice,
healing and reconciliation separately from the ZHRC, although precise
details as to the ambit of such a mechanism remain sparse. This accords with
regional and continental good practice, where human rights institutions and
truth/justice/reconciliation commissions have traditionally been separate
mechanisms.

ZLHR is of the considered view that there is urgent need to approve the
legislation that will operationalise the ZHRC and allow it to substantively
commence its functions. It is a critical institution in the difficult battle
to reduce, stop and/or prevent ongoing and future human rights violations in
Zimbabwe. It must be fully functional in order to play its role as elections
approach. Resistance in relation to the issue of temporal jurisdiction is
delaying such operationalisation and ensuring that the ZHRC cannot act on
any ongoing and future human rights violations.

At the same time the political parties in government must, with urgency and
guided by the recommendations made by survivors of past human rights
violations, establish an independent mechanism to deal with issues relating
to past human rights violations and atrocities. The mandate of this
independent mechanism must be to deal with all past human rights violations
that have occurred in Zimbabwe, including the pre-Independence era, as well
as the post-Independence atrocities of Gukurahundi, Operation Murambatsvina,
and electoral-related crimes, amongst others.

It is the role of government to ensure the speedy establishment of such an
independent and credible mechanism. However political parties, trade unions,
the broad civil society, non-governmental organisations, and survivors of
violations and their families, must also ensure that they play their role in
ensuring that sufficient pressure is brought to bear on the government to
make this a reality and to do so with urgency.

Further, and for the avoidance of any doubt, it must be clearly understood
and stressed that crimes committed in the past remain crimes, whether or not
a national human rights institution or other mechanism exists to deal with
past human rights violations. Government, political players and other
perpetrators of violations must disabuse themselves of the notion that the
creation of such mechanisms removes responsibility and punishment for such
crimes.

There is a constitutional and legal obligation on the police, the
prosecutorial authorities and the judiciary to respectively investigate and
arrest, prosecute, and punish convicted perpetrators. ZLHR expects these
constitutional duties to be carried out without fear or favour, and will
continue to exercise its watchdog role in this regard. 

Police accused of murdering suspects

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

There are chilling allegations that police eliminate wanted criminals at
stage-managed field investigation exercises in the countryside, a highly
placed source told The Zimbabwean.
11.07.1208:59am

by Staff Reporter

According to the source, suspects regarded as dangerous criminals by police,
would be taken to remote areas and shot dead or left with permanent
disabilities. Investigating officers would claim that the suspects met their
fate as they attempted to flee lawful arrest.

“Such ill-fated field investigations are common place and hundreds of
suspects – mostly those accused of serious offences such as armed robbery
and political activists - have fallen victim to them. Dangerous criminals
with connections within the police were spared. The practice has forced a
number of junior CID officers to resign or seek internal transfer to the
uniformed section, as the gruesome practise was against their conscience,”
said the high-ranking police source.

When The Zimbabwean visited Harare Remand Prison recently, a number of
people visiting detained relatives complained about how some suspects were
either killed or injured during such investigations.

“An inmate accused of committing a serious crime was recently shot in the
leg as he reportedly attempted to flee from police custody at an undisclosed
location. Several others sustained serious dog bites under similar
suspicious circumstances,” said a concerned visitor at the remand prison.

Meanwhile, some former detainees accused plain clothes Criminal
Investigations Department officers of continuing to use severe torture as
means of extorting confessions from the accused

 Zimbabwe remembers 27 June 2008.

June 27th, 2012

Today is 27 June 2012, a very significant and memorable day for the people of Zimbabwe as it brings sad memories of how Zanu PF, dripping with blood, stole the people’s will and elections on 27 June 2008.

Exactly four years ago today, the people of Zimbabwe witnessed a very sad event as Zanu PF and its president, Robert Mugabe claimed to have won an election that was contested by one presidential candidate.

This was despite the fact that Zanu PF had been trounced heavily by the MDC and President Tsvangirai in the harmonized elections held earlier in March.

Today, we sadly remember the hundreds of MDC members and their families who were murdered, tortured and maimed at the hands of Zanu PF and State security. Families were left broken, homeless and destitute as Zanu PF hoodlums went on a rampage looting and raping innocent people.

The country was brought on its knees by a ruthless Zanu PF regime that wanted to cling to power at all costs despite losing its popularity through dictatorship, corruption and disregard of the people’s freedom.

Human Rights Still Suffer In Zimbabwe

Chinofunga Ndoga

Freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association and movement have been restricted.

 Flawed elections, restrictions on the freedom of expression, assembly or association, media censorship or intimidation and attempts to control the activities of civil society and non-governmental groups indicate eroding respect for human rights in some countries.

Continued abuse of basic human rights in Zimbabwe is a concern to the United States and the entire world community. United Nations Human Rights chief Ms. Navi Pillay said the extreme polarization in Zimbabwean politics is “a major impediment on a number of fronts, including the advancement of human rights.” It is critical that all political parties and leaders join together in upholding and enforcing the protection of human rights.

The 2011 U.S. Human Rights Report, states that over the previous year human rights abuses in Zimbabwe continued to be led by ZANU-PF supporters and the security sector.  These power centers targeted members of other political parties, journalists and civil society activists for harassment, arrest and physical abuse, sometimes leading to death like of in of 67 years old MDC local chairman Cephas Magura in Mudzi area of Mutoko. Despite calls by President Mugabe and other leaders for an end to political violence, security forces have operated with impunity. Freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association and movement have been restricted, and groups of thugs operating under the ZANU-PF banner have invaded private farms and demolished homes and informal marketplaces.

For the sake of the nation, it is critical that all political actors and the security sector follow the president’s directive, immediately halt their involvement in human rights violations and hold other perpetrators accountable. It is equally important that President Mugabe insist that the government enforces his directive.

VOTE ZANU-PF KLEPTOS AND MANIACS OUT

Chinofunga Ndoga

For a long time the complaint in Zimbabwe has been the thievery of state resources by politicians from a party that still claims relevance three decades after proving it has no business steering this ship. And the thievery has virtually become an official exercise.

One will recall a time when local papers splashed the now Defense Minister’s wealth valuing it at billions of dollars, a time when the Zim dollar was considered useful. Of course it was asked where the hell he got that kind of money considering the salaries of government ministers were – and still are – public knowledge.

Time was the Kumbirai Kangais grabbed news headlines with allegations of sweeping clean the national GMB silos.

Time was when senior government officials claimed incredible disability gratuities from the War Veteran Compensation Fund, some claiming up to 100 percent disability, never mind they continued to occupy such lofty positions as government ministers and top cops. Talk about equal opportunity and the spirit of “disability is not inability!” If only that were true!

And then it took the woman who bashed lawyer Gugulethu Moyo, screamed profanities about then opposition gadfly Morgan Tsvangirai’s manhood, to be scorned for Zimbabweans to get a look see into the wealth amassed by Constantine Chiwenga. Of course Jocelyn deliberately and vindictively made the public claims in order to shock and awe and prompt us to ask where the heck all that wealth came from, considering the scorned woman knew the kind of bread the soldier brought home on his salary.

And then the Vice President Mujuru’s point man Sylvester Nguni’s domestic troubles also became what let us in on the kind of wealth that has been amassed on what would be a measly government minister’s salary.

And then Ignatius Chombo who seeks to rival real estate don Donald Trump and his stupendous wealth that only became public after a bitter woman who all along enjoyed the same trappings at the drooling of “ordinary” Zimbabwean.

And then Obert Mpofu, who does not need hostile domestic waters to have his wealth splashed ostentatiously, owning prime Bulawayo real estate and big business (acquired on the advice of Saviour Kasukuwere to borrow from banks, he says), feeding 10,000 people on his “birthday bash” and seeks to put to shame the wealth of your typical amoral African politician.

Of course there are many more.

And then Finance Minister Biti complains about the kleptocracy that has become rooted in the diamond fields.

One would think these are issues that would inform voters and determine how they use their franchise, yet Zimbabwe offers many bad examples about how the politics do not necessarily have to reflect the people’s sentiments. A politician can go on looting the people’s wealth and still expect those same people to vote for him! Crazy isn’t it?

If the people decide they have had enough and show this through the ballot, these same people are accused of being influenced by external forces who are imposing Western models of democracy that are not applicable here! But you still have to ask what culture under the sun has ever accepted thievery, what kind of voters gleefully embrace the  kleptocracy of their leaders when this kind of behaviour is impoverishing millions.

It should be quiet a simple exercise really to connect the dots, and it does not need any racking of the brain: if people complain about lousy amenities, raw effluent on their doorsteps because of archaic water and sewer systems, living with the threat of disease every day, school children failing to be looked after by the State, pensioners being abandoned by the State, if the people see the brazen posh lifestyles of the political elites, surely the only way to address these and other issues must be to vote for someone else. But then for some reason, it does not work that way here.

A politician is a devil’s quilted anvil. He fashions all sins on him, and the blows are never heard. John Webster, English dramatist

 SHOW RED CARD TO MUGABE AND ZANU PF HATE SPEECH THIS ELECTION

Written by Chinofunga Ndoga

With talk of elections on the horizon and political parties going around the country holding campaign rallies, the season of hate speech by ZANU PF and Mugabe is again upon us. Hearts are sinking into troughs of despair. Hate speech by this geriatric ZANU PF leader has been one of his favoured weapons in attacking those that do not agree with his policies of doom and gloom. Hate speech has become an endemic and poisonous epidemic that has fractured and polarised society by promoting extreme levels of political, social and economic intolerance and hostility towards any group or individual that disagrees with Mugabe and ZANU PF perspective.

Inflammatory, intimidating and abusive propaganda peddled and spewed raw by Mugabe and members of his presidium, politburo, central committee and cabinet has by far and large translated into political violence carried out by militia groups like the notorious Chipangano and renegade security forces. This fanatical extremism propagated by ZANU PF career politicians has relentlessly become the diet for the ill-fed Zimbabweans. Songs by the like of Chimurenga Mbare Choir, Chinx Chingaira, Brian Muteki and the late musicians Andy Brown, Simon Chimbetu, Elliot Manyika and Border Gezi daily incite tribal and racial hatred through slogan and dance. Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) and all the print media under the Zimpapers stable broadcast and publish inflammatory stories that fill the minds of the vulnerable unemployed youths with hatred and lust for blood.

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s dictator at the helm since 1980 is guilty of some of the most vicious racism with a disastrous policy of state sponsored terrorism which led to criminal acts of stealing and looting of farms and businesses. ZANU PF has planned and promoted through hate speech the systematic annihilation of opposition supporters and sympathisers. This maximum hatred for a minimum of reason has led to a meticulous plan of massacre and extermination. Opposition supporters of every creed and caste continue to be killed and dumped into rivers, dams, disused mine shafts and even at hospital morgues during the dead of the night. Others are reported to be cruelly fed to crocodiles alive.

Through hate speech white commercial farmers became scapegoats for failed socialism policies and were violently removed from their properties. The High and Supreme Court judges were terrorised and assaulted by mobs in their chambers. The offices of the daily news newspaper were bombed. The arbitrary arrest and torture of government critics intensified. This reckless promotion of racial hatred led to imprisonment of the likes of Roy Bennet on flimsy charges. Human rights activist like Jestina Mukoko who dared to document such acts of brutality by ZANU PF were not spared the wrath of systematic torture. Journalists and editors continue to be arrested and tortured on a daily basis for daring to expose ZANU PF corruption and intransigence. Pastors and Clergymen are arrested for praying for peace and justice.

Under Robert Mugabe’s racist and tribal regime tens of thousands of Ndebele tribesmen were massacred. The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace report put the figure of the Gukurahundi genocide at 20000. During the madness of the shambolic 2008 harmonised elections, it is reported that over 500 MDC supporters and sympathisers were callously killed. Today state security agents continue to stifle debate on Gukurahundi genocide. Politicians, civil society workers, media personnel and clergy continue to be harassed, intimidated and locked away for daring to speak about the evils of 5^th Brigade in the systemic persecution of ZAPU supporters and opponents of ZANU PF.

“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true”. Martin Luther King Jr.

The afore-mentioned from the great Afro-American Human Rights defender is an apt description of the traits exhibited by Mugabe and his ilk. Zimbabweans of every caste, hue, ethnicity and tribe inside and outside the country borders should show the red card to hate speech. ZANU PF politics of divine, rule and conquer is as old as Mugabe and should be despised during this forthcoming plebiscite.

WHERE IS SOLOMON MADZORE?

Written by Chinofunga Ndoga

MDC-T Youth nexus – Solomon Madzore

Pliant Mugabe judiciaries refused him bail

and condemned him to Chikurubi Maximum Prison

His crime murder of a Police Officer-Petros Mutedza

His gripe freedom, justice and peace for all

How dare he challenges status quo, they argued

Armed spiteful officers on beat

escorted him to his new home

Till he and death shall meet

In this filthy concrete dome

In these solemn limits

He shall own not

Neither his birthrights

or his garb as it is theirs too

Theirs, his too

In his new locale,

Raw human effluent streams.

Lice, fleas and mosquitoes bite

Pain and misery nibble

Desolate, he squirms and squeals.

They say light is at the end of the tunnel,

but all he sees is a ray in day

When they frog-march him out of the kennel

For a day’s sunshine stay

At least he lives for now

Others of his stripe

Could not last till now

Trauma, torment and torture wipe

In their solitary and shared confines

No light shines

Others succumbed to disease and infection

Some to sodomy

Others fall victim to malnutrition

In graves so shallow prostrate they lie

and in awe birds of the sky eye

Call for prayer and action for all Zimbabweans

By Chinofunga Ndoga 

It is imperative that the Christians unite in prayer and action to ensure that the long suffering people of Zimbabwe are freed from tyranny which has oppressed and afflicted them for the past 31 years under Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF political party.
There is need now more than ever to mobilise our congregations and denominations to earnestly intercede for Christians who are suffering in Zimbabwe.  Some church buildings have been demolished and others illegally occupied. Gatherings have been violently dispersed by Riot Police. The Anglican cathedral has been desecrated by Mugabe’s renegade priest Bishop Nobert Kunonga and his followers. A group of nearly 80 clergymen from the Church Province of Central Africa (CPCA) were evicted from Peterhouse High School in Marondera on Tuesday 3 January 2012, by police who insisted they did not seek permission to gather for their annual prayer retreat .Pastors praying for peace in Zimbabwe have been arrested for ‘subversive prayers’. Civilians and human rights activists continue to be beaten indiscriminately in the streets. Lawyers and advocates continue to be arrested and dragged out of their chambers. The sick are systematically denied medical help. The children are denied a decent education by the lawless regime of Robert Mugabe who willy-nilly disrupts lessons for political expedience. Prisoners die of hunger awaiting trial. Enough is enough!  Mugabe and his ZANU PF mafia should relinquish office and be replaced by a democratically elected government by the people and for the people.
We need to pray and act now to ensure that Zimbabweans attain the freedom that they have been praying and working for these many years. Mugabe’s Marxist regime destroyed the rule of law and devastated the economy with record inflation outside a war zone. In our prayers we should prioritise praying for the restoration of respect for the sanctity of life, property rights and for the rule of law.
We should pray that the new government should be democratically elected in a free and fair election. We should pray for the right to hold dual citizenship, e-balloting and postal balloting this coming election for every Zimbabwean dotted around the globe. We as Christians should impress upon the new political set up to implement Biblical principles of restorative justice, restitution to those defrauded and looted by ZANU PF, restoration of property to those who were unjustly deprived of their homes and properties through operation Murambatsvina and its phase 2 currently ongoing as well as the continued chaotic land theft disguised as reform. The-would -be government should promote free enterprise and honest money. National resources should not be channelled towards individual enrichment like what ZANU PF is doing with the proceeds of Marange Diamond mines. “Thou shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). The principle of private ownership of property should be established. Institutional envy and theft by conversion practice of ZANU PF should be made criminal and punishable by law. “Thou shall not covet thy neighbour goods” (Exodus 20:17)
ZANU PF Indigenisation of companies Act and free-for-all attitude is legalised theft of wealth created by hard work, business acumen and ingenuity of others. As Christians, we should pray that this never see the light of day rather we should pray for free enterprise, diligent hard work, honesty, thrift, honest money and Christian ethic in fiscal behaviour. “Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends up in slave labour” (Proverbs 12:24)
Together yes we can!! Let us all pray and hope for an imminent departure of Mugabe, his cronies and ZANU PF party from the epicentre of political, social and economic power in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is crying for urgent help and change. She needs to heal her wounds, feed and nurture her hungry children. Time for real and meaningful changes is here and now

http://www.hatnews.org/2012/01/18/call-for-prayer-and-action-for-all-zimbabweans/

HUMAN RIGHTS ARE RIGHTS

By Chinofunga Ndoga 

Human Rights cannot be

When peace cannot be

Human Rights cannot be

When freedom cannot be

Human Rights cannot be

When democracy cannot be

Human Rights cannot be

When volcanoes of war erupts

Human Rights cannot be

When epicenters of oppression exist

Human Rights cannot be

When autocracy holds fort

Human Rights cannot be

When you and I cannot freely speak

When elections are stolen in Zimbabwe

When dictators order soldiers to shoot and kill

When women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia

When genital mutilation still exists in certain cultures and religions

When dissent is suppressed in China

and Ai Weiwei remains under house arrest

When sexual violence is an instrument of control in Burma

and Aung San Suu Kyi is not permitted to condemn such barbarism

When Palestine land is under siege

and Israel is fretful of attack

When race and color of skinis a determinant between life and death

When individuals fleeing persecution

lose their identities and are called immigrants

Human Rights cannot be

Human Rights are universal

Human Rights are not fractions

Neither half nor quarter

Human Rights are whole

Never sorrow or hollow

Human Rights are not privileges

Human Rights are rights

http://www.hatnews.org/2011/12/15/human-rights-are-rights

                          What a mess!

                                           By Chinofunga Ndoga 

Pains and bruises sing me a lullaby
Constant fear caresses my soul
to a night of unwanted intimacy
Marital injustice unsanctioned
My bed is wet and unbearable
Verbal vomit, the culprit
Please wake me up!

To join you at the breakfast table
of promises and lies
Sweet coffee of mental trauma
Served sharp and crude
by a monster I vowed to love
Till death do us apart

It’s a three course lunch sweetheart
Politics, patronage and propaganda
Served with slogans and rhetoric
and washed down with red wine
from the vineyard veins of our rivals dead
No sweet heart!
Please order me
Human rights, democracy
and political pluralism

I dread my supper today
Censored news
Served raw by my husband‘s favourite chef
I like a balanced diet not this palate
Hunger, spare me tonight
It’s long before breakfast

Night falls and hope slips away
My love belly is hungry, angry and beckoning
Please fill me up, but the diseased diet
drips with acid shared by all in the women‘s league

Singing and dancing at the vigil tonight
Singing and dancing to the tune
of abduction, torture and murder
Whistling and ululating to the rhymes
of rape and romance
Thumping and clapping to the sounds
of hate and revenge

Enough is enough
I long for peace and progress
I long for harmony and happiness
I long for freedom
from this shame of a marriage
When will priceless love ever be mine?
Maybe an escape….
Is the answer

http://www.hatnews.org/2011/04/15/what-a-mess/

Dzidziso isina ruomba

By Chinofunga Ndoga 

Manzuma yave pauriri

Heyo yozeya chisvusvuro chezuva

Mushure yorara dzemadzikiriri

Uku mwene nyunyuto kuzvuva

Dzake tsoka onanga kwaSadunhu

Kuno rara amire pachivanze chedzidziso

Ko mukweguru anoida yei?

Rwendo kusarudzo akakwenya zvichida kashanu
Jana nhasi kuparura rwechimurenga
Kushirikadzi dzisina chekupakura
Nhasi dzotsinhira nesimba rederere
Uku dova regukurahundi riri banga
Kutsoka dzizere man’a

Hedzoka harahwa nechembere kudzana

Sesvikiro guru Nehanda

Pwere dzouchira moyo yati svii

Nehasha dzechikoro chine

Varairidzi vakaramwa basa

Gutsa ruzhinji yakaendepi?

Aziva donzvo remurairidzi mutsva ndiyani

Baba vemwana tirumei nzeve

Zvichida maziva kubva muzevezeve rechitirongo

Kuno pwere dzarura kupinda shumba

Mwaka uno kana gejo hatibayi

Igangaidzva mukwenyi

Burusasike chairo

Chinopona chine mudzimu wacho

Pamhirizhonga ine maungira

Emapopoma aZambezi

Ratinhira bhanan’ana rebopoto

Kubva mumutema rege wembada

Unoyeverwa neropa risakapara mhosva

Ratungidzwa rimi kudya mhuka dzesango

Nhaka nhomba yenyama ichatibaya

Pasina sanzu rekudzimura wadai

Kukwira gomo kuninga yaNhoworeka

Vari nyikadzimu

http://www.hatnews.org/2011/09/06/dzidziso-isina-ruomba/

                           Mr President

                                                 By Chinofunga Ndoga 

Echoes of discord reverberate
In the vicinity of animosity!
The music of hate plays
To the audience of its victims!

The hate-filled morons strings
The violins setting the agenda of humanity!
Slaughtered human flesh gives taste
To the buds of the cannibals!

Without free freedom
Tensions abound,
Brutality consolidates!
Spears sharpen!
And daggers are drawn
For what,
Whose war?
In this sweet democracy!

In this remoteness and emptiness
Of free movement
Hymns and rhymes of dissent dwell!
Recitation long curtailed!

In this bankruptcy of humanity
Human blood from the canals of
Slit open veins flow!
Washing away the records of mischief
Into the oceans of history!

In the Goromonzi palace of torture
A bird of peace languishes!
With a battered soul
And a determination
To expose the junta for what it is!

In this dumbness and deafness of society
The rule of man takes over that of law!
The noose tightens
On the throat of freedom
And with it freedom disappears!

Weeks on end
Soldiers miscount the numbers
Of a plebiscite in dispute

In the shrewdness of autocracy
Souls and emotions are chained!
To the whip that restrict!
Self emancipation!

http://www.hatnews.org/2011/07/06/mr-president/

Our Experience

By Chinofunga Ndoga

Acts sanctioned by none but you
Acts known by none but you
Acts of deaths witnessed by you
Acts of darkness commanded by you
Acts unkind, evil and unforgiving


Mischief approved and common to you
Mischief paid art in your covert world
Mischief uncommon and disapproved
In the overt world we reside


My capture!
My demise!

His abduction!
His disappearance!
Her torture!
Her callous murder!

Their arrest!
Their incarceration!

Our trial!
A travesty!
Our experience!
Painful and horrific


You gain from our pain
You locate relief in our grief
You count victories in victims
You!
I hate your success
Achieved at the expense of our sorrows


Where is justice for our experience?
My captor still haunts me
His abductor, still roam the streets scot-free
Her murderer still kills more

Their policeman still acts with impunity
Their prison officer continues to deny them food and medication
The intelligence officer unintelligent
still extracts information under duress
The judge remains tribal
His verdict partisan and poisoned


In Zimbabwe, my country
Alluta continua!

http://www.hatnews.org/2011/07/21/our-experience/