Well done to the Mail & Guardian for their persistence:

SA government ordered to release hidden Zim election report By Alex Bell
07 June 2010
SW Radio Africa

The South African government has been ordered to release a hidden report on the 2002 elections in Zimbabwe, after a successful court bid by a local newspaper.

Since 2008 the Mail & Guardian has been trying to have the report released, amid widespread speculation that it contained evidence showing that Zimbabwe’s 2002 disputed election was not free or fair. Judge Sisi Khampepe and Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke were at the time commissioned by then president Thabo Mbeki to visit Zimbabwe and report back on the state of the election. The report was handed over to Mbeki but never made public, although the former President insisted the electoral process in Zimbabwe was completely democratic.

The newspaper’s efforts to access the details of the report were repeatedly denied, leaving it little choice but to seek the intervention of the High Court. The government, now under President Jacob Zuma’s leadership, has seven days to release the report to the Mail & Guardian, after the High Court ruled in the newspaper’s favour last Friday. The government can appeal in that time, but their plan of action is not yet known.

Mail & Guardian Editor Nic Dawes told SW Radio Africa on Monday that he is “extremely pleased” with the outcome of the court challenge, calling it a victory for “freedom of information in South Africa.” He explained that there is a “sense” that the report “will say something very different to what Mbeki was saying about the elections in Zimbabwe.”

The government has argued that the report was ‘confidential’ and a “record of the cabinet and its committee.” They said it contained information “supplied in confidence by or on behalf of another state, for the purpose of assessing or formulating a policy,” and that the content of the report was not in the public interest. The government has also argued that the report would lead to a deterioration of relations between the two countries, as South Africa is the facilitator in Zimbabwe’s ongoing political crisis.

The newspaper has in turn argued that the report is of enormous public interest, as the 2002 elections were marred by vote-rigging, intimidation, violence and fraud by Robert Mugabe’s government, despite South Africa’s contention that the election was free and fair. Dawes also explained that the report was never handed to cabinet despite being described as a “document of cabinet,” and instead remained within the office of the President, rousing more suspicions of its content.

Dawes described the court’s decision as an important one for South Africans who he said were left “injured” by the government’s abysmal handling of the Zimbabwe crisis. Former President Thabo Mbeki faced international criticism for his policy of ‘quiet diplomacy’ towards Zimbabwe; a policy that many say has crippled South Africa’s own reputation. Dawes said that it was a “painful and difficult period” for South Africa, because “it seemed to jar with our own democratic values.”

“The truth of the report might be a way to address some of the hurt and frustration by reasserting our democratic values,” Dawes said, expressing hope that the Zuma administration won’t fight the court’s ruling “too hard.”

“The Zuma administration has taken a more robust and assertive approach than Mbeki, and appealing this ruling and hiding this report will be very damaging,” Dawes said.

Just thinking about the blog I wrote about the City of Harare and their lack of alacrity in fixing water leaks . . . our office block was without water for the whole afternoon. When I went into the loo before I left for home it smelled as if someone behind one of the closed doors was doing an almighty crap. But instead some of the toilets were nearly seat high in toilet paper and poo. Meanwhile downstairs in Libbys there was a festive big crowd of men watching the Brazil/Zimbabwe game. The sound effects were really great, lots of gasps, and sighs and cheers. I’m wondering about the other effects . . . a bunch of guys who have been drinking for a few hours and the non-working toilets . . . where will they pee? Maybe up against their own cars like I watched a reveller do late one night last week.

I do a lot of running and on my way through Newlands Shopping Centre over a week ago I ran past a very badly leaking water pipe. The road running through the shopping centre had become a river.

I sent a text message to the Mayor of Harare, Mr Masunda, asking him if he could send someone to attend to it as soon as possible. A week later, the pipe was still madly spewing water. It is important to point out that this shopping centre, along with the majority of Harare, suffers from crippling water cuts. So I sent another text to Mayor Masunda asking for an emergency number to call so that the problem could be fixed. I didn’t receive any replies to my text messages – yeah, he’s a busy man I know – and in the meantime I heard that the leak was over 3 weeks old and that the BP petrol station attendants had tried, in vain (understandably because they’re not plumbers), to fix the leak with pieces of black rubber. The petrol station had asked the city works department to come and fix the leak but it seems like they haven’t put this problem on their list of Things To Do.

What are we to make of this? Shop owners and residents of Harare pay their rates; motivated citizens report problems and yet the City of Harare, knowing that the provision of water is an essential service, allows major water leaks to remain unresolved for weeks at a time.

Zimbabwean activist Rejoice Ngwenya has just published a new article . . .

Who would have thought that at this landmark stage in my life, this only year I will turn 50, I would once again read the Daily News, The Mail, The Daily Gazette, The Worker newspapers? Is it not your eternal sense of generosity that finally manifests itself in the multiplicity of print media? Those who pour scorn on your act of magnanimity know little of your history. Allow me therefore to pay homage by chronicling your unprecedented and amazing acts of benevolence for the benefit of perpetually ungrateful sceptics!

Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, may I remind the unholy cabal of reactionary sceptics that it is by your self-sacrifice that our country ever tested real democracy! Growing up as a young man from the rural areas, I would visit city relatives and see public toilets written ‘whites only’. Now as a grown man in Harare, I visit commercial farms and see plaques written ‘blacks only’. You are truly a great man!

In the 1980’s, you acted like a real mature father by disciplining a small clique of unruly dissidents in Matebeleland who were destabilising your flourishing socialist country. Although there were minor incidents where twenty thousand civilians lost their lives in what Americans would term ‘collateral damage’, your acts of courage resulted in the dignified submission to your authority of one Joshua Nkomo, hence the peace and tranquillity that prevails since then.

Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, in 1990, you inspired, through your fatherly grip of Parliament, the removal of the clause that ring-fenced the political and property rights of residual Rhodesian elements. This was the beginning in the long journey of Zimbabweans being in charge of their destiny. As you always say, Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans, Britain for British and America for Americans. If I may add, Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, Mercedes Benz cars for the Germans. We would rather use scotch cart presidential convoys as a true reflection of our endangered tradition than being sucked into the material gluttony of the misguided European Union!

In the 1990s, you continued to protect us from the vagaries of Western intimidation by again inspiring Parliament to retain the state of emergency. Like any father, children must be protected from unknown adversaries. You acted in our best interest, because you knew then as you still do now what is good for us. The West has brought civilisation, but at high cost: pollution, national debt, homosexuality and reckless media that attempts to seek truth through invasion of privacy!

Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, I should dwell a bit on the issue of invasion just to show your immortal benevolence. When distant neighbour Laurent Kabila was under threat of invasion by combined Ugandan and Rwandese forces in the guise of ‘rebels’, you single-handled repelled the military misfits into the jungles. Your detractors came out guns blazing alleging that your soldiers were looting diamonds using national resources at a whopping one million United States dollars per day! What hogwash! Whoever heard of a ‘cheap’ war? I’m glad to mention that your act of courage has resulted in strong bilateral ties with the Democratic Republic of Congo, and our experience of guarding diamond mines is now paying off handsomely at our very own alluvial Chiyadzwa Diamond Mines. Those detractors who claim the country is not benefiting from Chiyadzwa cannot explain how Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, you can afford to attend most international conferences and African presidential inaugurations with one hundred of your staff without a single cent from the immature MD-something party minister of finance!

Another act of invasion is the gutter press. Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, at one time you had to use your good judgement to discipline journalists and newspapers that falsely claimed you paid Lobola for someone or your committed party members beheaded a villager. After having forgiven them, they abused your immortal benevolence until you requested your able minister for information to legally shut all of them down. Those British and American journalists who insisted on reporting half-truths about human rights were politely requested to leave. All humans, especially Zimbabwean ones, have rights, so why would anyone keep talking about it?

Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, in the late 1990s, your good acts of generosity were again on public display when fifty thousand destitute freedom fighters were empowered by your personal gifts of money. The ugly face of detraction again reared its head by false allegation of favouritism, plunder, corruption and abuse of state funds. How a father can give his children money but be accused of all this beats my mind! There are some white good-for-nothing bushconomists who claim that was the beginning in the collapse of our economy. How untrue? Do they want to ignore the negative effects of racist Bretton Woods institutions whose force-fed liberalisation prescription laid the foundation for Zimbabwe’s economic demise? Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, you acquired your knowledge from the candle light of prison cells while these motor-mouths revelled in the bright lights of Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and Rhodes, but they keep being overpowered by their ignorance of basic economics principles!

Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, I would like to conclude by thanking you for giving us land. All acts of generosity will be immortalised in the anus, I mean annals of Zimbabwe’s history. It is not your fault that beneficiaries are abandoning the land to lie fallow. Now am even more excited that you are planning to give us mines and industry. These belong to us and so as we wait for the newspapers that will start operating due to your immortal benevolence, Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, I hope that they will desist from gutter, yellow journalism that fails to appreciate your good deeds. If I have inadvertently insulted you by singing  these praises due only to Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, I your humble servant, submit myself to the punishment that befits my transgression.

Actually, just thinking of the VIP delegation interruption at Doon Estate today, I went to a really interesting event put on by the Alliance Francaise in Harare. It was a production called On The Edge featuring juggling, dance and acrobatics. The performers were outstanding. So Thanks A Lot to the organisers. The one blemish on the evening was being kept waiting for over half an hour. It seemed like we were waiting for the French Ambassador and his wife because the show Suddenly Started after they took their seats in the front row. Show some respect Monsieur. Last month Zimbabweans were treated to countless productions that started on time during the Harare Festival of the Arts. I didn’t ever think that I’d say that Zimbabweans keep better time than the rest of the world!

Populist as ever the MDC suddenly decides to condemn power cuts mainly because the world cup is happening soon and Zimbabweans will get right royally fucked off if they can’t watch all the games. So it seems like a good time to harness some support.

Seems like ZESA could actually help by keeping us in the dark during the world cup. Maybe we’ll finally see a “red shirt” style uprising like Simba Makoni suggested we need.

You can take our freedom away, but don’t mess with our soccer.

MDC condemns power outages Tuesday 01 June 2010

The MDC is seriously concerned by the continued power cuts that have inconvenienced citizens and virtually brought business to a standstill across the country. The continued power supply disruptions by Zesa have not only brought unbearable and unnecessary hardships on the ordinary people, but are a threat to industry at a critical moment in the revival of the country’s industrial sector.

The incessant and ceaseless power cuts have resulted in most commercial entities facing massive business losses and being forced to lay-off workers due to low production. The power utility’s load-shedding schedules are shambolic while the intermittent power supplies have damaged electrical gadgets in people’s homes and heavy duty equipment in our struggling manufacturing industries. The entire production sectors, including our farming, manufacturing and mining concerns have all been seriously affected by these power outages.

It is no wonder that the majority of Zimbabweans are wondering whether they will be able to watch the historic World Cup to be held in South Africa in less than two weeks time. It is shameful for Zesa to embarrass the nation and short-change citizens at such a historic moment for the country, the region and the continent. ZESA, which like any parastatal has been plagued by endemic corruption and colossal ineptitude, has short-changed innocent Zimbabweans who continue to receive astronomical power bills, even in cases where a household or a business premises would have had no access to power for a whole month.

This is daylight robbery by a parastatal that is rewarding its senior officials with hefty salaries and allowances for keeping the ordinary people in the dark. As a party, we restate our resolution of the national council of 16 May 2010, that we find unacceptable the charges being levied by public utilities. These charges are high and bear no reflection to a cost structure but rather to high wages and allowances that are being paid to senior management.

The MDC calls upon the Ministry of Energy and Power Development to urgently look into the state of affairs at Zesa with the hope of expeditiously making sure that Zimbabweans have access to electricity. Turn-around plans and astronomical bills have failed to address the issue and ordinary citizens continue to be short-changed every-day even though they are paying through the nose for a non-existent service.

The inclusive government should urgently look into these power outages as a matter of priority as they threaten the survival of the industries that we want revived for the benefit of the country and its citizens.  Zimbabweans want real change. They want dignity, prosperity, hope, security and freedom. Zimbabweans will never load-shed their demand for basic services.

MDC Information & Publicity Department