Eddie Cross keeps on writing, optimistically at that. Where oh where does he find his eternal spring of MDC fervour from?

Of course it depends on who you’re speaking to. Some disillusioned MDC activists have been lamenting the party’s collective lack of intelligent strategising and their lack of any kind of consistent pressure bearing activism. Of particular concern was the MDC’s lethargic response to their cadres being abducted by Mugabe’s henchmen. Especially insulting was Tsvangirai’s late in the day threat to abandon any participation in The Talks unless the abducted people were produced by 1 January 2009. Where’s his sense of urgency and immediacy? Like can he spell the word NOW.

Apparently 12 MDC activists are still missing. So Mr T, what are you going to do about it? Flip flop, again?

The majority of Zimbabweans are unanimous that the MDC must not agree to a junior role in a new Government but if the MDC hasn’t realised by now (that word again) that Zanu PF are leading them around by the nose (some say pricks, with the occasional stroke to keep them engaged), then they are more foolish than any of us ever imagined. They might have a “road map” regarding how they will eventually govern Zimbabwe (according to Eddie), but they are certainly way off track on the getting rid of the old man side of things.

Mugabe is so entrenched that we need a battalion of super strength bull dozer’s to dig him out, many of them driven by 57 cm high tokoloshes. Talk certainly isn’t going to do it.

Eddie Cross also tells us that

Mr. Tsvangirai has received his passport – that was finally extracted from the Registrar Generals hands and taken to Gaborone by the South African Ambassador and handed to him by the Ambassador on Christmas day.

That’s an Ambassador too many for my liking. But now that he’s got his new passport perhaps he can come home and finish the job.

An encampment of MDC MPs in Unity Square with Tsvangirai at the helm, until all abducted activists are returned and released, might be a good place to start.

Granted, not as comfortable as exile in Bostwana though.

It’s the first working day of the New Year and I’ve been checking out the emails that have come in over the holiday. One of them suggested various ways to work off all that Fruit Cake. I smiled because if you’re Zimbabwean you don’t have to do a lot of working off of any excess. Simply because there’s not a helluva lot to consume in the first place. Take my Christmas Eve dinner for example: bacon, eggs and Jack Daniels. I was lucky to inherit Jack from a friend who left the country recently.

But one of my favourite emails came from Lionel who says some useful stuff . .

It has been a hard year for all but I wish you all a very happy new year and a prosperous one at it too. Let us hope that all parties concerned really begin to think of all the people of our country and not just their petty power grabbing techniques. A new beginning means everyones participation, as we have all learned, a country does not run on politicians only. They need people to do the other very important tasks, like teaching, doctoring and sweeping the street. No job is menial and as Africans we must get out of the habit that only degrees count. There is a man there with a lot of degrees but what has he done? The rest is history. Now you all have a good day and we will catch up in the New Year.

Alberto, resident hairdresser in the Mon Repos Building in Newlands Shopping Centre, invited us to go “behind the curtain” with him for a nip of Cheeky Fanta at about 9am one morning.

Cosmo, a rescued pup, named after my favourite cocktail of the moment, can de-pip a litche with his little shark teeth.

Jestina and other comrades in the struggle for justice in Zimbabwe were finally found. They’re still illegally detained but at least we know where they are.

My sister called.

Two friends from afar came home bringing much needed energy, care, concern and gifts of two sexy martini glasses. What can I say . . . sorry I fell asleep.

South Africa beat Australia.

There’s been power, most of the time.

On this Christmas Eve in Harare I walked through a dirty and gray Harare city centre to go to a press conference organized by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR). They had information that they wanted to share about the recent enforced abductions of activists in Zimbabwe.

The press conference was held in the Quill Club in the Ambassador Hotel. The Quill Club is a popular watering hole for journalists in Zimbabwe.

There was a group of about 30 of us gathered around a pool table with the head of a large buffalo glaring down at us from a wall. A small TV, with the sound turned down, was screening some African soap. Standing around waiting for the conference to start I felt various emotions running through me: fear, outrage, pride. To name a few. Fear because we have to spend so much time watching our back, outrage because the Mugabe regime behaves so despicably and with such impunity and pride because Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has been working so hard to find the activists who have been abducted.

Irene Petras and Otto Saki from ZLHR were joined by kick arse lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa and they told the gathering the length and breadth of the shocking collusion of the Zimbabwe Republic Police in keeping the whereabouts of the abducted activists unknown for so long.

Jestina Mukoko one of the forcibly abducted has been moved from police station to police for the last several days. Attempts by lawyers to get to talk with her and establish her well being have been denied.

Below is the most recent statement issued by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights. Give it a read and you’ll be left in no doubt that the rule of law does not exist in Zimbabwe.

And that Mugabe must go now.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)

PRESS STATEMENT
24 December 2008

Recent developments relating to individuals subjected to enforced disappearances

At around 1400 hours on Tuesday 23 December 2008, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) began to receive piecemeal information that various individuals, including civil society activists and members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) who had been abducted over the last 7 weeks, were believed to be held in various police stations around Harare.

Lawyers responded with a comprehensive but non-exhaustive search of a number of police stations, including Mabelreign, Marlborough, Avondale, Borrowdale, Mbare, Stodart, Matapi, Harare Central, Braeside, Rhodesville and Highlands police stations. By speaking to various police officials, examining Detention Books and requesting cell head counts, it was established that at least fourteen (14) individuals of the total number subjected to enforced disappearances, twelve (12) of whom appeared on the list of confirmed abductees, were being detained in custody at Mabelreign, Marlborough, Mbare, Stodart, Matapi, Braeside, Rhodesville and Highlands police stations. These individuals include Jestina Mukoko and her two (2) colleagues from the Zimbabwe Peace Project, who are being held at different police stations.

It is our strong belief that more individuals than those disclosed to lawyers are being held in those police stations, as well as others which have not yet been visited. It is also our belief that there may be more abducted persons than those currently confirmed and on the full list with which lawyers are currently working, as confirmed by the discovery of two (2) individuals in custody who had not been previously known to be abducted.

In contravention of constitutional protective provisions relating to detained persons, lawyers were, in all cases, denied access to their clients. They were not permitted to establish the wellbeing of the individuals, in all but one case they were not permitted to provide food to their clients, they were not permitted to provide medical assistance and treatment to the individuals, and were advised that a directive had been circulated to ensure that all individuals were not to have access to their lawyers, or to food and medication.

Most of these individuals, including those whose whereabouts are yet to be confirmed, are subjects of High Court orders which enjoin the police, including the Commissioner-General of Police and his subordinates, to do “all things necessary to determine [their] whereabouts” and to “dispatch a team of detectives to work closely and in conjunction with lawyers appointed by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, to search [for all people] at such places as may be within their jurisdiction in terms of the Police Act [Chapter 11:10] and the Constitution of Zimbabwe”.

It has transpired from investigations made by lawyers yesterday at various police stations that at least some of these individuals now confirmed to be in police custody have been held at police stations, have been booked in and out, moved from one police station to another, and made to carry out indications and other actions, for at least the past two to three days. There has also been at least one search of a private property (the home of Jestina Mukoko) on the night of Tuesday 23 December 2008, in the absence of her lawyers, and during which time some items were removed by the police. It is yet to be established whether police were acting in terms of a lawful and specific search warrant. The operation has been led by Chief Superintendent Magwenzi, together with other known individuals from the Law and Order section. Chief Superintendent Magwenzi himself confirmed to senior lawyers who spoke with him yesterday that he is the investigating officer in these cases, and has all the missing persons in his custody in direct contravention of the various court orders.

ZLHR is extremely concerned by the following:-

• The continuing trend, as experienced in previous cases, of separating out detained and accused persons in various police stations around the city to ensure that lawyers face challenges in accessing their clients and providing legal support and other protective services;

• The contempt by the police of at least six (6) High Court orders by failing or refusing to work with lawyers, as ordered by the judiciary, to ensure that the missing persons are urgently located and brought before a court of law or released forthwith;

• The unlawful search and seizure of property without search warrants;

• The now commonplace feature of denying lawyers access to their clients, as well as denying the detained persons food and medical attention, which puts them at physical and psychological risk despite clear constitutional protective provisions and in contravention of regional and international protective provisions which the state has willingly ratified and is expected to implement;

• The failure or refusal by the investigating officer and other police officials to disclose the charges against the individuals and barring lawyers from taking proper instructions before individuals are brought to court to be charged, especially where the charges are believed to be extremely serious and bear heavy penalties upon conviction;

• The continued breach of various provisions of the Global Political Agreement signed on 15 September 2008, in which all political parties undertook to protect the security of persons and to ensure that fundamental rights and freedoms would be respected.

These individuals, both those located and those still unaccounted for, have fundamental rights and freedoms which are being violated with complete impunity. They have been detained in unknown locations at which time they may or may not have been subjected to torture and other forms of inhuman and degrading treatment in order to unlawfully extract false confessions. It is our strong belief that any charges preferred against any of these individuals will be unlawful as a result of the treatment to which they have been subjected.

Today lawyers will be filing an urgent High Court application to have all detained persons produced before a court of law, seeking access to the individuals by their lawyers and medical practitioners, and to have them released as a result of the unlawful treatment to which they have been subjected. We hope that the courts will act with the urgency these cases deserve, and that law enforcement agents will comply with orders and act professionally in order to restore the rule of law immediately.

-Ends-

List of confirmed detentions

Jestina Mukoko    Matapi

Concilia Chinhanzvana    Highlands

Emmanuel Chinhanzvana    Marlborough

Pieta Kaseke    Marlborough

Ghandi Mudzingwa    Highlands

Zacharia Nkomo    Stodart

Mapfumo Garutsa    Mbare

Regis Mujeyi    Matapi

Pascal Gonzo    Rhodesville

Broderick Takawira    Braeside

Nigel Mutemagawu (2 year old minor)    Mabelreign

Tawanda Bvumo    Rhodesville

Violet Mupfuranhehwe    Mabelreign

Mr Makwezadzimba    Braeside

Whereabouts still unconfirmed

Andrison Shadreck Manyere

Chinoto Zulu

Agrippa Kakonda

Chris Dhlamini

Gwenzi Kahiya

Lovemore Machokota

Charles Muza

Ephraim Mabeka

Edmore Vangirayi

Peter Munyanyi

Graham Matehwa

Here’s another contribution from Sophie Zvapera, a Kubatana subscriber . . . it seems like women are tired of men talking, talking, too much.

Today I thought I should give you some of the quotations from Zimbabwean women who had gathered for a women’s weekly church fellowship meeting (Ruwadzano):

“These men (Mugabe, Tsvangirai & Mutambara) have totally killed us and our families

Do you think these men care at all? But these men think we care who is controlling Home Affairs or not? Not at the moment! It doesn’t provide food on my table!

Do these men have a conscience at all? Next time I won’t vote because the vote has no value at all in Zimbabwe

Do these men Mugabe, Tsvangirai & Muatmbara have wives? What are their wives saying about all this?

Men are the same they don’t care about our suffering all they want is power, power & power”

These exchanges went on for a while as we waited for the start of the meeting during which time I started thinking of all the women and children who are unsung, unrecorded and unknown heroines of the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe.

There are many women whose names have never been mentioned anywhere who are suffering the brunt of the failure of leadership at all levels. These women are responsible for looking for food where there is none, caring for the sick where there is no hospital, no medication; they are the ones that are experiencing both social and psychological burn out because of the situation that is presenting in Zimbabwe. They see their children, husbands, relatives and friends dying because of cholera, HIV/AIDS, starvation and still have to attend the funerals and do all the traditional rites. The question that kept on coming to my mind as these women talked is do these political leaders care at all? I recognized that the feeling amongst these women as they expressed it here was that political leaders do not care about all the suffering that is going on except to gain political mileage at the expense of the suffering masses.

Someone might say this is an unkind analysis but I am sure I am not the only one who gets this feeling when you talk to small groups of women going about their daily chores. All they want now is a solution that brings respite to the people of Zimbabwe. In my discussions with women that I meet on a daily basis in my life none of them wants fresh elections, none of them wants a coup. All they want is going back to normal where they do not wake up in the morning to the news that a woman like Jestina Mukoko or Violet Mupfuranhewe and her two year old child disappeared, for instance. If women had their way they would have stopped the suffering long back through finding a workable solution than ‘to stick it out to the wire’ as these men are doing whilst people are dying daily.

My request therefore to these leaders is for them to talk to the suffering women and find out what they think about the ongoing impasse. If they think they are going to get some ululation for a job well done then they are so far away from reality. Women want this impasse resolved immediately. They want to take care of their families and move on with their lives where there is no senseless dying from cholera, where there is enough food for their families on the table, where children can go back to school and get a decent education, where the employed earn respectable salaries and not all this political rigmarole.

How many people have to die before these three men realise it is time for all of them to compromise in one way or the other. It is political doublespeak for any of the three leaders to say they have compromised enough because from where the women stand they have not since we have not moved forward as a country.

As desperation and lawlessness take hold in Zimbabwe we are beginning to eat one another. Here’s some citizen reporting illustrating what life is like on the ground. If you hear about, or experience these kinds of incidents please contact Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. Speak out, make a complaint, don’t let them get away with it.

I had an unfortunate experience last night.  I was travelling down Glenara Avenue and was stopped by two policemen who asked for my drivers’ license and my ID which I of course gave them.  They then would not give back my documents until I ‘gave them something’.  They got into my car and would not get out .  I gave the one $100 and then they went through my handbag for more.  They took $200 which for me is a lot of money.  It was a very ugly event.  I went and made a charge at Highlands police station but no doubt won’t hear anything nor get my money back. – Emma