Mixed reaction as MDC backs unity government

By Alex Bell


The MDC national executive on Friday backed party leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s decision to join a unity government with Robert Mugabe, in a move that has already prompted a flurry of opposing responses.

The power sharing agreement that was signed last year between the MDC and ZANU PF has been argued by some as the best possible solution to the devastating crises ravaging the country. The economy has completely collapsed under the weight of hyperinflation and the local dollar has been dropped in favour of foreign currency. At the same time, critical infrastructure has collapsed and basic services have disappeared, leaving diseases such as the cholera epidemic to rampage across the country unchecked. Officially more than 3000 people have died from the disease alone, but with the collapse of the health system, tens of thousands more people have died from other ailments, usually treatable in a functioning society.

More than half of the country’s remaining population are in desperate need of food aid and the country is literally starving to death. The majority of the country’s remaining workforce, believed to be only 6% of the population, are still being paid in the worthless local dollar, meaning basic living expenses are unattainable, and even school has become an unaffordable luxury for most students.

The combined crises have sparked outrage from many observers that Mugabe has been allowed to cling to power in this unity government, despite being at the centre of the country’s collapse. Many also believe that the MDC has effectively ‘sold-out’ by joining a government which has the blood of so many Zimbabweans on its hands, and there have been renewed cries from civil society for SADC leaders to respect the outcome of last year’s March presidential elections, which the MDC won.

Analysts have argued that allowing the losing party, namely ZANU PF, to cling to power despite the ongoing human rights atrocities still being committed in the country, is setting a bad and worrying precedent for the rest of Africa. For this reason, the decision by the MDC to join Mugabe’s government, has left many with a bitter taste in their mouths.

SW Radio Africa’s Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa explained on Friday that the MDC’s decision to join the ZANU PF government has been met with mixed feeling on the ground, saying that many Zimbabweans “are questioning what will happen next now that the MDC has joined hands with the devil.” Muchemwa said that in some cases, hopes have been raised that an end to the crisis is in sight, but he also argued that faith in the MDC has been shaken.

“Many people believed the MDC was going to hold out until their demands were met, but they didn’t and have proven to be inconsistent,” Muchemwa said.

Friday’s decision by the MDC national executive was taken in ‘full unanimity’, according to party spokesman Nelson Chamisa. The party has however cited three conditions to be met by the time Tsvangirai is sworn in as Prime Minister on February 11th. These include the release of all political detainees, a review of the distribution of posts of provincial governors and the drafting of legislation to revamp national security. As it stands, ZANU PF will control 13 ministries and share the Home Affairs ministry with the MDC-T, who will control 14 ministries. The remaining three ministries will go to the splinter MDC formation, led by Arthur Mutambara,

How Home Affairs will be shared has yet to be decided, although South Africa’s Director General in the country’s Presidency this week shed some light on how the decision will be made. Rev Frank Chikane, while lauding the ‘success’ of the SADC summit on Monday, rather worryingly said Zimbabwe’s leaders should ‘toss a coin’.

Meanwhile, leaders in Kenya and Senegal on Friday expressed doubt over whether a unity government will work in Zimbabwe, saying Mugabe must step down from power. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, said it is time for ‘Mugabe to be shown the door’, explaining that if the dictator “needs a golden handshake, let’s assure him of a golden handshake.” At the same time, Odinga’s sentiments were echoed by Senegal’s President, Abdoulaye Wade, who said an impasse had been reached in Zimbabwe. He said: “If Mugabe does leave power... he could come to Senegal. We need to provide a smooth exit for him.”

Teachers call for Mugabe to go

ZIMBABWE- HARARE - With only one day before schools open, teachers have launched fierce protests against the Zanu-PF regime led the 84 year-old Robert Matibili Mugabe.

Hordes of teachers from Matabeleland region staged protests in Bulawayo, demanding the government to address grievances before schools open on Tuesday.

Thousands of teachers under the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association, Saturday, were in a stormy meeting where they denounced the Zanu-PF government for running down the economy.

ZIMTA, which is widely seen as sympathetic to Zanu-PF, is now singing a different tune as teachers called on the Mugabe to step down for the sake of “the country’s education system.”

ZIMTA president Tendai Chikowore, had a torrid time trying to calm down the protesting teachers who were carrying some placards imprinted “We Want foreign currency” and “Mugabe has failed the education system.”

Chikowore however, concurred with the teachers, vowing never to return to work until the demands are met.

She said teachers should be paid US$2 300 to enable them to make ends meet.

“We wish to advise our members that nothing concrete has been offered by the employer, except the acceptance in principle of paying teachers and the rest of the civil servants in foreign currency.

They went further to advise that the issue will be tabled before parliament on Thursday 29 January, and consequently debated and hopefully approved.

Council will thereafter reconvene to obtain feedback,” she said.

“Regrettably, the conditions that have incapacitated the workers from delivering service as expected continue to affect our members. Educators have neither the financial resources to travel to their work stations nor sustain themselves.”

Chikowore said ZIMTA had written to the government informing that teachers will not be reporting for duty.

She lambasted Zanu-PF for destroying the country’s future – education.

“We know that this is a political problem but that should not affect the learning of the children. The children in this country need to learn. We also have our own children who need to go to school and learn. We hope the issues are resolved quickly,” said Chikowore.

Source: Zimdaily

Mbeki must Leave Zimbabwe Alone: South African Clergy

South Africa's clergy is demanding the resignation of former President Thabo Mbeki as mediator of the ongoing power sharing negotiations between President Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The clergy say Mbeki has failed on various occasions to help find solutions to the political stalemate, which they claim has undermined his credibility.

They are also calling on the international community, including the African Union to put more pressure on President Mugabe to end the stalemate in forming a unity government aimed at resolving the country's economic meltdown. But supporters of Mbeki dismissed the clergy's demand. Bishop Paul Veryn is the Head pastor of the Central Methodist Mission in South Africa. From Johannesburg he tells reporter Peter Clottey that Zimbabwe's ongoing crisis is an indictment of Mugabe's leadership.

"I think that is a fair comment by the church leaders particularly in view of the fact that Thabo Mbeki has had enough time to change the situation. And I want to tell you that I have between 1600 and 2000 Zimbabweans living in my church and I see every one of them when they come into the building and I can tell you that the circumstance of the ordinary person in the street has become unbearable. In actual fact it is not unbearable it is a disgrace on the leadership qualities of those people who have the responsibility of taking care of people," Bishop Veryn said.

He said the Zimbabweans living in his church have horror stories about how badly they have been treated and the pressure for them to abscond into neighboring countries just to survive the ongoing crisis.

"These are people who have either left because they cannot make ends meet or have been harassed, and threatened and tortured and the rest of it in Zimbabwe. And truly are one of the fundamentals of any mediation process must insist that there must be a cessation of this carnage activity. And it actually hasn't it actually made it much worse for Zimbabwean citizens," he noted.

He said the leadership of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party has failed to yield power after its failed policies have plunged the country into an economic meltdown.

"If the leaders can be big enough to say actually we have made huge mistakes, let's give someone else an opportunity or if they break open the platform for discussion. There are many other people including church leaders who could add substantial critique as well as suggestions to what could solve the problem in Zimbabwe," he said.

Bishop Paul Veryn said President Mugabe and his government have failed the people of Zimbabwe.

"I don't think the politicians have proved their mettle at all. I think they let insecurities to get in the way of it and I think friends and favors have gotten in the way of it. I think the way Morgan Tsvangirai for one has been treated is despicable if one actually thinks he would be more than gracious in fact saying, I would go for a government of national unity. He (Tsvangirai) actually won the election that is the bottom line and Mugabe is illegitimate," Bishop Paul Veryn pointed out.

He said there was need for the international community to put more pressure on President Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF government to end the political stalemate.

"My feeling is that we need far more censure from SADC (Southern African Development Community) and the African Union (AU). Mugabe should not be permitted to go to those meetings anymore. He is not the rightful owner of that position," he said.

The clergy, who represent the Roman Catholic, Methodist, Anglican, Dutch Reformed, Lutheran and Rhema Church leaders described Mugabe's cling to power as illegitimate. They said Zimbabweans spoke on March 31, 2008 by electing a new leadership and called on

'Dark day' as Zimbabwe talks fail

From BBC Africa

Earlier times on the powersharing play: Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe (C) laughs with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai (L) and Arthur Mutambara, leader of breakaway faction of the main Zimbabwean opposition group Movement For Democratic Change (MDC), after signing a power-sharing deal at Rainbow Towers hotel in Harare September 15, 2008. Mugabe signed a power-sharing agreement with opposition rival Tsvangirai on Monday, relinquishing some of his powers for the first time in nearly three decades of iron rule.


Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai have failed in their latest attempt to form a unity government.
After 12 hours of talks, Mr Tsvangirai said it was "probably the darkest day of our lives" for his party.

The MDC remained committed to a power-sharing pact but only if it had control of home affairs and finance, he said.

Mr Mugabe said he intended talks with the MDC to continue ahead of a regional summit on Zimbabwe's crisis next week.

The BBC's Peter Biles in Johannesburg says Zimbabwe's parliament is due to re-open on Tuesday, but without an effective government, the country remains paralysed and the suffering of millions of Zimbabweans goes on.

Parliament must change the constitution to create the post of prime minister for Mr Tsvangirai before the power-sharing deal can take effect.

Mr Mugabe said Monday's Harare talks, which broke up at around midnight, "didn't go well".

He accused Mr Tsvangirai of presenting new conditions. But negotiations would go on, he said, before next Monday's Southern African Development Community summit, set for either in South Africa or Botswana.

"We will continue with discussions here at home," the 84-year-old told reporters.

On the eve of the negotiations, both sides had depicted it as a make-or-break moment for the power-sharing agreement struck in September.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader said: "Unfortunately, there's been no progress because the very same outstanding issues on the agenda... are the same issues that are creating this impasse.

"For us as the MDC this is probably the darkest day of our lives, for the whole nation is waiting."

South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, his predecessor Thabo Mbeki and Mozambican leader Armando Emilio Guebuza mediated at the talks.

Under the deal, Mr Tsvangirai is supposed to become prime minister while Mr Mugabe stays president.

Arthur Mutambara, the head of an MDC breakaway faction who is supposed to become deputy prime minister under the pact, also joined the meeting.

The deal first faltered after the MDC accused Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF of trying to hive off the most powerful cabinet posts.

The MDC has also demanded an end to the abduction of opposition and human rights activists by state security agents.

The political deadlock has exacerbated the problems facing Zimbabweans, from a cholera epidemic and an economic meltdown to food shortages and the collapse of basic services such as health and education.

Mr Tsvangirai, who arrived back in Zimbabwe on Saturday after an absence of more than two months, gained the most votes in elections last March but not enough for outright victory.

He pulled out of a run-off in June against Mr Mugabe, citing a campaign of violence against opposition supporters.

Grace Mugabe Punched Me in the Face: Reporter

Grace Mugabe, photographed here attendending a State Function in the company of her husband (not shown). The Zimbabwean First lady is notorious for her extravagant shopping sprees when the rest of her country is facing desperate poverty and famine.

HONG KONG (AP) — A British photographer said Sunday that the wife of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe punched him repeatedly in the face after he tried to take pictures of her near a luxury hotel in Hong Kong.

Richard Jones told The Associated Press that Grace Mugabe, 43, ordered a bodyguard to hold him down and then attacked him herself on Thursday near the Shangri-La hotel on Hong Kong's Kowloon peninsula.

"She directed several punches into my face," Jones said. "She was wearing diamond-encrusted rings, which caused a lot of lacerations."

Jones, 42, from Machen in South Wales, was on a freelance assignment for London's The Sunday Times.

He said he suffered at least 10 cuts to his face but did not require hospitalization.

"She was screaming, completely crazy," The Sunday Times quoted a witness, Austrian tourist Werner Zapletal, as saying in a report Sunday.

Police spokeswoman Odelia Tam said police are investigating the alleged attack but have not made any arrests. She said she did not know the identity of the alleged attacker.

Calls seeking comment Sunday from the Zimbabwean embassy in Beijing went unanswered.

The Sunday Times condemned the attack.

"We take very seriously the freedom of journalists to operate abiding by the law in Hong Kong and we look to the Hong Kong authorities to uphold those rights at all times," said Michael Sheridan, the paper's Far East correspondent.

Zimbabwe's first lady was vacationing in Hong Kong and visiting her daughter Bona, who is studying in the Chinese-ruled former British colony, The Sunday Times said.

Grace Mugabe has left Hong Kong since the alleged attack, the report said.

Sheridan said he and Jones had been staking out the Shangri-La on Thursday, where Mugabe was believed to be staying.

Sheridan told the AP he approached Mugabe in the lobby of the Shangri-La shortly before the alleged attack, but a female companion denied her identity.

About 10 minutes later, he found Jones nearby "with his face streaming blood."

Sheridan said The Sunday Times wanted to "draw a contrast between her lifestyle and the plight of the people in Zimbabwe."

Zimbabwe is suffering from a cholera crisis that has killed 2,200 people and an economic meltdown that has seen inflation officially put at 231 million percent.

Despite the country's political and economic difficulties, Grace Mugabe went ahead with a vacation in Asia, spending time in the Malaysian island resort Langkawi and Singapore before arriving in Hong Kong, The Sunday Times said. Robert Mugabe joined his wife in Singapore for a few days, the newspaper said.

Meanwhile, the country's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, returned home Saturday for talks Monday with Robert Mugabe about a power-sharing agreement that was reached in September but never implemented.

Mugabe: No more Concessions for MDC

HARARE, Zimbabwe – President Robert Mugabe ruled out giving any further concessions to Zimbabwe's opposition, saying it has one last chance to join a government of national unity, a state newspaper reported Sunday.

Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will meet Monday for talks aimed at implementing a power-sharing agreement signed in September but stalled by disagreements over Cabinet posts.

"This is the occasion when it's either, they accept, or it's a break," Mugabe was quoted by the Sunday Mail as saying. "If they have any issues they deem outstanding, they can raise them after they come into the inclusive government."

But Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change insisted Sunday that all outstanding issues be resolved before a unity government was formed — not after.

The political deadlock has prevented authorities from addressing a spiraling economic crisis, with the central bank last week introducing a new 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar note to keep pace with dizzying price increases. Inflation is officially at 231 million percent — in reality much higher. The health, water and education systems have collapsed, and most major goods are in shortage.

More than 5 million Zimbabweans are likely to be dependent on food aid this year, and a cholera epidemic has killed more than 2,200 people and infected over 42,000.

Under the power-sharing accord, 84-year-old Mugabe would remain president, Tsvangirai would become prime minister and nearly all major Cabinet ministries would go to Mugabe's party.

But Tsvangirai has said he would not be "bulldozed" into joining a lopsided government, after winning the first round of presidential elections in March but pulling out of the runoff because of violence against his supporters.

On Sunday he reiterated demands that his party receive an equal share of Cabinet portfolios. In particular, he wants control of the Home Affairs Ministry in charge of police, who are accused of a wave of abductions of opposition supporters.

The opposition party also wants a say in how Zimbabwe's National Security Council is composed and run. And the party's executive committee demanded after a meeting Sunday that their imprisoned supporters be released.

The talks Monday also include the presidents of South Africa and Mozambique and regional mediator Thabo Mbeki.

But Mugabe indicated his patience was running out.

"We have gone past negotiations, and whatever concessions were there to be made have already been made," the Sunday Mail quoted him as saying.

Opposition party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said that if Mugabe was "arrogant" enough to terminate the talks "it would be for everyone to see that he is not sincere in resolving the country's problems."

Source: AFP

Zimbabwe rolls out Z$100tr note

Zimbabwe is introducing a Z$100 trillion note, currently worth about US$30 (£20), state media reports.

Other notes in trillion-dollar denominations of 10, 20 and 50 are also being released to help Zimbabweans cope with hyperinflation.

However, the dollarisation of the economy means that few products are available in the local currency.

On Thursday, the opposition leader said he was still committed to power-sharing intended to rescue the failing economy.

Since September, when the deal was signed, talks have stalled over who should control key ministries.

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he was due to hold talks with President Robert Mugabe "within this coming week" to try to resolve the political crisis.

He described Mr Mugabe as "part of the problem but also part of the solution".

The latest annual figure for inflation, estimated in July last year, was 231m% - the world's highest.

"In a move meant to ensure that the public has access to their money from banks, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has introduced a new family of banknotes which will gradually come into circulation, starting with the Z$10 trillion," Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper quotes a bank statement as saying.

But previous issues of new banknotes - and the dropping of several zeros from the currency - have done little to help Zimbabweans cope with inflation.

On Tuesday, a 50bn Zimbabwean dollar note was issued, less than a month after a Z$500m bill was released.

Correspondents say prices can double every day, and food and fuel - for those without US dollars - are in short supply.

Last month, the daily bank cash withdrawal limit - which at one stage was only enough for several loaves of bread - was abandoned.

However, most banks do not have enough cash to meet demand.

Some shops are licensed to sells goods in foreign currency but everyone from vegetable sellers to mobile phone service providers peg their prices to the US dollar.

Most groceries are brought in by Zimbabweans from neighbouring South Africa, Botswana or Zambia, further driving up prices.

There is more than 80% unemployment in the country and those with jobs find their salary is worthless unless they are paid in foreign currency.

Tears

Mr Tsvangirai is expected to return to Zimbabwe on Saturday after two months abroad.

At a press conference in Johannesburg, Mr Tsvangirai again appealed for prominent human rights activist Jestina Mukoko, who appeared in court on Thursday, and other such detainees, to be released.


Robert Mugabe has resisted growing calls for his resignation

"Those abducted and illegally detained must be released unconditionally if this agreement is to be consummated," Reuters news agency quotes Mr Tsvangirai as saying.

Ms Mukoko - director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project - denies charges of organising military training to topple President Mugabe.

She broke down in tears in court as she spoke about her ordeal when she was abducted from her home by armed security agents at the beginning of December.

She described how she was beaten on her feet during questioning.

"The experience was frightening. I would not wish it upon anyone," she said.

Under September's power-sharing agreement, Mr Tsvangirai is to become prime minister while Mr Mugabe remains as president.

But the deal faltered after the MDC accused Zanu-PF of keeping the most powerful ministries - including the one that controls the police - to itself.

As the political wrangling continued, Zimbabwe has been hit by a cholera epidemic that has claimed more than 2,000 lives, made worse by the collapse of the water, health and sanitation systems.

Mr Tsvangirai, and Western nations, accuse Mr Mugabe of not being sincere about power-sharing.

Mr Mugabe insists he welcomes the power-sharing deal, and has resisted growing international pressure to resign

Source: BBC

As Political Crisis Deepens, Zimbabwe Government Puts Security Forces On Alert

By Blessing Zulu & Jonga Kandemiiri

The Zimbabwean government has put police and soldiers on high alert, charging that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change formation headed by Morgan Tsvangirai is seeking to overthrow President Robert Mugabe, sources said Tuesday.

But senior officials of Tsvangirai's MDC formation quickly dismissed the allegation as a pretext on which crack down harshly on the opposition at a time when Tsvangirai and Mr. Mugabe are at loggerheads over the terms for forming a government of national unity.

Brigadier General John Zingoni warned the army late last month to remain on high alert citing the alleged shooting and wounding of Air Marshall Perence Shiri in December. Some observers have cast doubt on the veracity of official reports of such an attack.

Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told Bloomberg News on Monday that the opposition is recruiting youths to train and deploy as bandits to destabilize the country and topple the government.

But senior police sources told VOA that that the Joint Operations Command comprising senior army and police officials hatched the initiative to crack down on voices of dissent as the political and economic crisis in the country deepens.

Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi told reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that such matters are not discussed with the press.

Security and Intelligence Secretary Giles Mutsekwa of the Tsvangirai MDC formation says heavily armed members of the police and army were patrolling the streets of Mutare, the capital of eastern Manicaland province.

National Constitutional Assembly Chairman Lovemore Madhuku said the country is in an undeclared state of emergency meant to intimidate a restive population.

The Tsvangirai MDC formation meanwhile said it was still trying to locate 11 activists abducted in the past several months who remain missing, and is appealing to the United Nations, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community to pressure President Mugabe and his ZANU-PF government to release those abductees.

Other abducted MDC activists - and Zimbabwe Peace Project Director Jestina Mukoko - have reappeared in police hands and been charged with plotting to overturn the government.

Spokesman Nelson Chamisa of the Tsvangirai MDC formation told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the party wants the U.N. and other international bodies to take a larger role in dealing with the country's political and humanitarian crises.

Source: VOA

Zimbabwe Health Crisis a Crime: Doctors Group

By Peta Thornycroft
13 January 2009


The health crisis in Zimbabwe should be the investigated by the International Criminal Court, campaign group Physicians for Human Rights says. The physicians group also says that without a political solution, the health care system, water and sanitation should be taken over by the United Nations.


Children collect stagnant water for use at home in Glen View, Harare (File)
The death toll from Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic has climbed over 2,000, as an international doctors' group accuses the government of President Robert Mugabe of crimes against humanity.

In a new 45-page report, the group says Zimbabwe's health crisis is a direct outcome of human rights violations by Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party.

It calls on the U.N. Security Council to refer the crisis to the International Criminal Court, for investigation of crimes against humanity.

At a news conference in Johannesburg, Frank Donaghue of the Physicians for Human Rights says that while the cholera epidemic is very serious, it is only a symptom of a bigger problem in Zimbabwe.

"We realize cholera is not the issue. Cholera is a symptom of a grossly collapsed health system due to the blatant disregard for his people by Mugabe and his regime," he said.

Four investigators from the group, including two doctors, visited Zimbabwe in December to investigate the collapse of the health care system. They say with most public hospitals closed since November, the majority of Zimbabweans are being denied access to health care. They also found that clinics lack basic medicines and medical supplies, and the death rate from the cholera epidemic is more than five times higher than normal.

Donaghue said he had been going to Zimbabwe for more than a year and was shocked at what he found during the visit.

"The government has abrogated its most basic, basic state function of protecting the health of its people including the maintenance of public hospitals. There are no public hospitals. The clinics are closed. The support of its healthcare people is non-existant," said Donaghue.

David Sanders, who was trained as a medical practitioner in Zimbabwe and lectured at the now closed medical school for 14 years, was part of the team. He said that life expectancy statistics were staggering and had dropped from 62 years in 1994 to 36 years.

"Cholera and the other major health problems all can be traced to the same root cause. The root cause is economic collapse and misgovernance," said Sanders.


Donaghue says that the situation in Zimbabwe cannot continue. He said the group had made several recommendations which had serious implications for Zimbabwe.

"Probably the most radical of our recommendations is that an emergency health response needs to be put in place - the entire health system, water system, sanitation, should be handed over to a receivership, that the UN might put together a coalition of organizations or nations to manage health, water, sanitation for the Zimbabwe government because it cannot manage it itself," he added.

Zimbabwe is facing food shortages, 80 percent unemployment, and the world highest inflation rate, last measured at 231million percent. Critics blame the economic collapse on years of misguided policies, including the seizure of white-owned commercial farms. Mr. Mugabe blames the situation on sanctions and interference by Western opponents, led by Britain.

Zimbabwe cholera death toll tops 1,700: WHO

GENEVA (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic is picking up speed, with a total of 1,732 deaths out of 34,306 cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

A cholera update dated January 5 showed a further 59 deaths and 731 new cases, up from 32 deaths and 379 fresh cases reported the previous day, it said.

The epidemic is adding to the humanitarian crisis in the country, where President Robert Mugabe and the opposition are deadlocked over a power-sharing deal and the veteran leader is resisting Western calls to step down.

The waterborne disease, which causes severe diarrhea and dehydration, has spread to all of Zimbabwe's 10 provinces because of the collapse of health and sanitation systems.

On Monday Health Minister David Parirenyatwa said the epidemic could get worse as the rainy season develops.

The rainy season peaks in January or February and ends in late March. Floods, which can affect Zimbabwe's low-lying areas, may increase the spreading of the disease.

"Social service delivery is collapsing, notably education, health and water supply infrastructure," said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

It said the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) planned to help feed 4.5 million people a month until March when the main cereal harvest is due to start, while the Consortium for Southern Africa Food Security Emergency (C-SAFE) would handle another 1.8 million over the same period.

"WFP and C-SAFE pipelines combined will assist more than 50 percent of the population of Zimbabwe with food," OCHA said.

(For more information on humanitarian crises and issues visit www.alertnet.org)

(Reporting by Jonathan Lynn; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

Zimbabwe Cholera Deaths Climb to 1,778, UN Health Agency Says By Paul Richardson
(Bloomberg) -- The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe rose to 1,778 after 35,931 people were infected with the bacterium, the World Health Organization said.

At least 709 people were admitted to hospital yesterday suffering from the disease, the Geneva-based organization said in an e-mailed statement today.

Cholera causes profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to fatal dehydration and shock. Zimbabwe, ruled by President Robert Mugabe since 1980, has had a decade of economic recession and its health, sewage and water systems have collapsed. The cholera outbreak has been fueled by a lack of safe drinking water and medical supplies, and poor sanitation, the World Health Organization said on Dec. 26.

Obama's disdain sends Mugabe to Russia; China revisited?

Michael Trapido

In June of last year Barack Obama, soon to be inaugurated as the next president of the United States, declared Robert Mugabe's regime illegitimate and lacking in credibility. Then Senator for Illinois, Obama expressed the view that "If fresh elections prove impossible, the US and other countries should tighten "targeted sanctions" and "pursue an enforceable, negotiated political transition in Zimbabwe that would end repressive rule".

Subsequently the USA has made it clear that, as far as they are concerned, Mugabe has to go before any support will be forthcoming from that quarter. Indeed yesterday's influential Washington Post carried an article "In Zimbabwe, a cancer called Mugabe.

While Obama is primarily focused on the financial crisis prior to his becoming president on January 20, Mugabe can be in no doubt that, if anything, the squeeze on his regime will be tightened after the new president arrives in the White House.

So Bob figured that seeing as he wasn't doing anything anyway he might as well pop down to Moscow for a visit.

"Mugabe will use the trip, details of which are shrouded in secrecy, to seek closer strategic ties with Moscow, a senior government official told New Zimbabwe.com.

With a power sharing agreement signed with the opposition stalled amid calls from Western powers, particularly Britain and the United States, for him to step down, Mugabe "will seek a new alliance with Russia that will secure Zimbabwe's sovereignty and provide a new front for combating economic sanctions that have created nothing but misery for ordinary people", according to the official.

The source added, without elaborating, that the "new front" is linked to the "exploitation of a strategic resource that God has given to Zimbabwe and which could be used to give the country a much-needed new lease of life".

A well-structured injection of between US$5-billion and US$10-billion, Mugabe's aides believe, can stabilise the country's economic decline and give the 84-year-old leader some breathing space to pursue an elusive political settlement that he has been battling to forge with the two MDC formations.

Without confirming a date of Mugabe's imminent visit, the official said the trip was of "strategic necessity" and a direct response to British and US efforts to isolate Zimbabwe through a combination of sanctions and diplomatic pressure."
(New Zimbabwe.com)

Now far be it for me to criticize Bob for trying to do the right thing for himself . er, I mean his cronies,.,er, I mean the people of Zimbabwe but we saw the exact same stunt pulled with the Chinese in 2005 whereby Bob got his mansion, Grace went shopping, the cronies got cars and houses and the people of Zimbabwe . the right to starve and die at an ever increasing rate from abuse, starvation and disease.

In these articles from the Weekly Standard's Richard Bate UK Telegraph's Christopher Booker and EU Referendum's Richard North we learn of Bob's trading substantial Zimbabwean mineral rights to China in return for financial assistance.

Subsequent to 2005 Bob and his cronies have done very nicely thank you very much and the people of Zimbabwe have become substantially poorer and the country has turned into a sewage farm not fit for humans to inhabit.

Little wonder that China blocked any UN intervention in Zimbabwe - can't allow genocide to interfere with business. Of course these are the same Chinese who are asking the planet to hold off on prosecuting the genocide in Darfur, also related to their vested interests there.

Along with China, Russia vetoed the UN resolution and I would imagine that Bob is now off to sell a further substantial proportion of the Zimbabwean birthright to maintain his expensive habits. Very little, if any, of the proceeds to find a way to the masses as the Chinese adventure demonstrated.

Zimbabweans' heritage and God given resources being traded away so that one man and a handful of cronies can live like kings.

But who are we to argue?

The real danger is after all Western imperialism, not so?

Shame.

In Zimbabwe, a Cancer Called Mugabe

By Chris Beyrer and Frank Donaghue

Physicians for Human Rights sent a team to Zimbabwe last month to investigate the cholera epidemic that has ravaged lives there since August. As part of that team, we found something much more disturbing even than cholera: a people facing an array of health threats in a country where the most basic functions of the state -- clean water, sanitation and health-care delivery -- have collapsed.

One could date the collapse to November, when the government closed the public hospitals in the capital, Harare. On Nov. 18, President Robert Mugabe's police, wielding batons, attacked doctors, nurses and medical students from the teaching hospital. But given that cholera has killed more than 1,600 people and sickened some 33,000 others, we might date the collapse to August, when the public hospitals lost running water. Imagine a hospital without running water for three months -- with no functioning toilets, no soap, an empty pharmacy, and not enough food for patients or staff.

To be fair, not all hospitals are closed. Decent health care is available -- for the few who can pay in American cash. Despite Mugabe's vilification of the West, his policies have made this once-prosperous country dependent on the dollar. In Harare's private clinics, a physician consultation costs $200; admission, $500; a Caesarean section, at least $3,200. Those without dollars make their way to stretched, but still open, mission hospitals, or they go to South Africa, as some 4 million Zimbabweans have already done, making this nation's collapse a regional issue.


This tragedy has many terrible features, but chief among them is that this catastrophe is entirely man-made. The Mugabe regime has destroyed the health-care system, as it has devastated virtually every other sector of public life, with its ruinous mix of corruption, mismanagement, violence and human rights violations. Zimbabwe once was not only prosperous and a major agricultural exporter but also a leader in health care and in medical and nursing education. Sadly, in November, the medical school in Harare closed. It canceled exams, we were told, because it had no paper and ink to print them.

The cholera epidemic has its origins in politics, too. Mugabe's ZANU-PF regime nationalized municipal water supplies in 2006 after the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan Tsvangirai, controlled some 80 percent of seats nationwide following successes in municipal elections. Mugabe's government seized the water authorities to deny the MDC revenue and to control the lucrative contracts for repair of the broken system. The result was mayhem: Graft and corruption further undermined repairs, water went untreated and raw sewage was pumped into Harare's main reservoir. Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city, was spared this fate. Mugabe's regime had calculated that taking over the water authority there would drive residents to vote for the MDC. Tellingly, Bulawayo suffered no cholera deaths last week, while Harare's case fatality rate for the same week was 19 percent, some 20 times higher than the 1 percent fatality rate the World Health Organization estimates for cholera when proper treatment is available.

Since Mugabe's defeat in the March general election, and his violent refusal to step down, economic and social collapse has been precipitous. Diseases of hunger such as pellagra have returned. Anthrax resurfaced as people resorted to eating carrion. Health worker salaries were worthless by the time cholera struck. The Harare morgue has lost power, so the dead rot. Nurses who have worked without pay for months told us of having no medication for pain, hypertension, epilepsy and infections. That many are still struggling to provide care is a testament to the Zimbabwean people. They deserve better.

What can the world do to help? Humanitarian assistance is flowing in, and groups and agencies such as Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF are saving many lives. But Zimbabwe's agonies are not humanitarian in nature; they result from a political crime -- the refusal of Mugabe and his cronies to accept electoral defeat. A September power-sharing agreement is all but dead, and there is little hope for the people of Zimbabwe as long as these criminals remain in charge.

Last month, Mugabe declared, "I will never, never, never surrender . . . Zimbabwe is mine," and he has reportedly started to form a new government -- without the MDC. This would amount to getting away with the murder of a country. Zimbabwe's neighbors, led by South Africa, must do much more to push for change. At the United Nations, there is a key opportunity for China, long a Mugabe enabler, to show, by not hobbling the Security Council, that it is capable of mature diplomacy in Africa. And Uganda, which has just arrived as a rotating member of the council, must be pressured to reconsider its pledge to follow the "hands off" policy that has allowed Mugabe to stay in power.

Barack Obama will face many crises once he takes office, but the devastation of Zimbabwe by its own rulers cannot be ignored. If there is a "responsibility to protect," as the United Nations has pledged, the world has that responsibility in Zimbabwe.

Chris Beyrer directs the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Frank Donaghue is chief executive of Physicians for Human Rights.

Zimbabwe Political Prisoner Deliberately Poisoned?

Zimbabwean rights campaigner Jestina Mukoko, who is to appear in court Monday on charges of plotting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe, is being poisoned and tortured in custody, the Sunday Independent reported.

According to the paper, Ms Mukoko, who is in solitary confinement at the notorious Chikurubi Maximum Security prison, is being force fed drugs by prison personnel.

It said her lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa has called for a toxicology report to support the allegations.

"Mukoko is psychologically traumatised, it is not certain that she has told the full story because, every time she speaks to a doctor or a lawyer, a state official is present," said Ms Mtetwa.

Ms Mukoko was seized from her home on December 3 by armed men who identified themselves as police.

Last week she made a first court appearance after being detained at an unknown location for weeks.

A high court on Friday refused an application by her lawyers that she be taken to hospital for treatment after alleged torture.

She is accused together with 28 members of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party of recruiting or goading other people to undergo military training in neighbouring Botswana aimed at toppling Mugabe's Government.

Ms Mukoko's detention raised particular alarm among international rights groups and western nations which have accused Mr Mugabe's Government of intimidation and harassment.

The rampant human rights abuse cases in Zimbabwe highlight the country's deepening political crisis more than three months after Mr Mugabe signed a power-sharing deal with Mr Tsvangirai.

Source- AFP

Ian Khama: a lone voice in the Kgalagadi wilderness

By Daniel Mololeke

Daniel Molokele is a human rights lawyer. He describes himself as a very passionate and free person.his role models include, unsurprisingly, Thierry Henry, the biblical Daniel, Paul, Nehemiah and historic figures like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, Joshua Nkomo and Barack Obama


WHEN the news of former Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa’s death reached the ears of many Zimbabweans, a blanket of heartfelt grief enveloped the nation.

While his death might have been in essence a sad loss to the people of Zambia specifically, it is trite to also point out that also a substantial amount of tears also flowed from millions of pairs of eyes watching from across the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe.

It may also be necessary to also point out that not everyone felt the pain of his death in Zimbabwe. In all likelihood, the news of his demise might have been greeted with a huge sigh of relief by the ruling elite in Harare. Mwanawasa had by the time of his death become such an unpopular person both with Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cohorts.

On the contrary, Mwanawasa had endeared himself with the long suffering masses of Zimbabwe by breaking out of the traditional apologetic stance on Zimbabwe as propounded notoriously by the former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki is widely discredited for helping to prolong Mugabe’s overstay in power though his largely ineffective and controversial ‘quiet diplomacy’ on the Zimbabwe crisis.

In one of his highly publicised open rebukes of the Mugabe regime, Mwanawasa urged Africa especially the SADC region to accept that Zimbabwe was now like a ‘sinking Titanic’ and decisive action needed to be taken in order to resolve the never-ending crisis in Zimbabwe.

And so it was, when Mwanawasa passed away, that many Zimbabweans felt that he was going to be such an irreplaceable loss in terms of his strong principled stance on the Zimbabwean crisis.

However, it now appears so much of that agony and despair was not really necessary in the circumstances. This is so because yet again, a new leader in the SADC region has decided to take over from where Mwanawasa left in an even more radical way.

As I write today, millions of long-suffering Zimbabweans have started to acknowledge that the new President of Botswana, Ian Seretse Khama, has now assumed the moral leadership role that was left vacant by the late Mwanawasa.

Khama assumed office on April 1, 2008, in one of the most peaceful presidential transitions in African political history. Until then, he had been the Vice President of Botswana and also the preferred successor by his predecessor, the former President Festus Mogae.

This fact on its own was made even more spectacular in the sense that it is normal for incumbents in Africa to prefer any other candidate except their Vice President to succeed them.

Added to that, Mogae did something so rare in African politics. He decided to step down a year earlier from the end of his term to allow Khama to settle down smoothly without the hassles of an election campaign. As such, Botswana is due to hold its next presidential elections in 2009.

Ever since Khama took over the reigns in Gaborone, he has gone out of his way to voice his displeasure with the situation in Zimbabwe. He has boycotted a SADC heads of states summit. He has also called for a new United Nations-supervised election to be conducted in Zimbabwe to enable the electorate to have a decisive say on its preferred leader of the country. Even more, a news report recently claimed that he had said that his country was even prepared to help fund the proposed election re-run.

In this regard, his commendable stance has been ably complimented by his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Phandu Skelemani. Skelemani has also been principled and outspoken when it comes to the way forward in terms of the crisis in Zimbabwe. In a recent interview with the BBC, he boldly called for Mugabe to step down and also called for the neighbouring states to seal off their borders for a period so as to force Mugabe to step down.

It is common cause that the Mugabe regime has a very terrible record in terms of its ability to uphold or respect human rights in Zimbabwe. Under his leadership, the regime has grossly violated several inalienable rights of its own people. In this regard, the genocide in Matabeleland, Operation Murambatsvina, among a plethora of similarly destructive army and police-led operations; and the ruthless suppression of the opposition parties, media and the NGOs come to mind.

Zimbabwe is now known as one of the top ten worst human rights violators in the world.

As we joined the rest of the world in commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights charter last week, the Mugabe regime was yet again under heavy media spotlight in the wake of a fast-paced humanitarian crisis in the country represented by the ravaging effects of the unprecedented national cholera epidemic.

But as if dealing with the cholera crisis was not enough on its own, the Mugabe regime also chose to celebrate the International Human Rights week by unleashing a series of politically-motivated abductions and disappearances.

As I write, the question is no longer when the abductees will be found but it is now about whom else is going to be abducted next.

The Executive Director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, Jestina Mukoko, former aide to the MDC leader, Gandhi Mudzingwa and dozens of others have all been abducted by suspected CIO operatives and Zanu-PF political thugs.

In all this, most of Africa, except Kenya’s Raila Odinga, has chosen not to take a public stance against the Mugabe regime. Odinga has joined Khama, the seemingly lone voice from the Kgalagadi wilderness that is crying for peace and justice to return the land of Zimbabwe.

And so let us all hail Odinga together with Khama for standing with the people of Zimbabwe at this hour of need.

When the history of the nation is written for our posterity, we will not only remember those who oppressed and committed the atrocities against our people; but we will also remember those who chose to keep silent and ignore the gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe by the Mugabe dictatorship.

We will also remember the good that the likes of Mwanawasa, Odinga and Khama did for the benefit of our beautiful nation.

Indeed as the great Martin Luther King once said, ‘for evil to prevail, it always takes good people to keep silent’.

Aluta continua! Viscera caritate!!!

Two-year old boy placed under torture

By NOZIPHO MASEKO

ZIMBABWE - HARARE - Lawyers have been told that Superintendent Makedenge and his Harare central police station law and order department henchmen assaulted a two year-old baby using cruel torture techniques that were meant to induce a confession from the mother.
A two year old baby is among political detainees held in the filthy Chikurubi female remand prison.
Lawyers were allowed access to the female activists on Monday, ZimDaily can reveal, but were denied client-lawyer privileges.
The mother told a team of lawyers that went to Chikurubi that the two-year-old baby was assaulted by the goon squad and needed urgent medical attention which has been denied, even in prison.

No prison doctor has been availed to the opposition and human rights activist that were sent back to Chikurubi after appearing in court yesterday.
They have further angered the regime by attempting to charge President Mugabe with contempt of court.

The Mugabe regime has refused to comply with a high court order to take the detainees to hospital to get treatment for torture injuries.

The State says they face serious charges of plotting to overthrow President Mugabe's constitutionally established government.

The detainees are a flight risk, argues the State, which asserts they face very serious charges and could abscond.

"The state is approaching this court with dirty hands," lawyer Charles Kwaramba argued in the high court yesterday. "The state did not comply with the order of (High Court) justice Yunus Omerjee. On that basis alone, the state should be held in contempt of the high court," he said.

The defendants, Jestina Mukoko of the Zimbabwe Peace Project and eight co-accused, are facing trumped up charges of recruiting MDC guerillas to undergo military training in neighbouring Botswana with an objective of causing unrest and overthrowing the government.

The political detainees arrived at court in leg irons and handcuffs yesterday.

Jestina Mukoko's health is sharply deteriorating. She looked gaunt and tired as she arrived at court, with her red tracksuit disheveled and her hair unkempt. She has not been allowed to take her medication, lawyers said. She is said to be suffering from a chronic condition.

"Ya, ine museredzero (Its pay back time for selling out) one of the detectives said in remarks apparently aimed at four journalists that had summoned the guts to cover the high profile court case at the high court.

Journalists, clearly terrified of abductions, strategically stayed away from court, which was teeming with intelligence operatives.

Yesterday nine other activists were brought to court from police cells, and not from Chikurubi.

The stratification of the prisoners has not been explained. Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe will hear the case again on Wednesday.

The defence team is arguing that there is no need for the case to go to trial and the magistrate is expected to decide on an application to throw out the case saying there was no prima facie case that Mukoko and her co-accused plotted to overthrow Mugabe.

There was not even a shred of credible evidence to support the State's incredulous claims, the defence team argued.

The State has appealed against the high court ruling handed last week stating that the political detainees be taken to hospital, rejecting claims by the defence that the accused were tortured during their prolonged incommunicado detention.

"We are contesting the accused being formally remanded," Kwaramba said. "The actual criminals are their abductors."