Here are a few burning issues being shared with Kubatana by members of the Zimbabwean public . . .

Water

Hi, I would like to bring to your attention the health time bomb that most Zimbabweans have been exposed to and I am appealing that your organization could make Zimbabweas aware of the danger of consuming poorly treated water a problem caused by Zanu PF misrule. I hope that your organization can help by informing the general public that they should try and take responsibility for their health by ensuring that their water is first purified before consuming it. I would also like to appeal to you to mobilise Zimbabweans to bombard their MPs and senators and parliament by means of email, phone calls, sms’s, personal meetings and letters demanding that they starting implementing the Zambezi pipeline project and the Kunzwi dam project these are the only projects that will long term solutions to the critical clean water crisis,they should be focusing on solving this health crisis instead of fighting over cars. The cholera epidemic was just the tip of the iceberg worse things are still to come. The provision of clean water by a government is a basic human right. - Maryanne

Power

What is the true situation with Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) bills? Here in Mutare we received household bills of up to US$300.00. I don’t always have access to the press but I hear ZESA was directed to slash these astronomical figures by a certain percentage. Is this the true position right now? Efforts to contact ZESA have proved fruitless as one is put on continuous “hold”. - Iris

Police

My experience occurred on 3 May 2009 at 3pm at Christmas Pass roadblock in Mutare in the hands of a police officer with a name I saw on a ticket reading like Sada. I was driving my recently imported Toyota car with temporary card board number plates being issued these days. I had tried by all means to buy ordinary plates but failed since ZIMRA in Harare is said to have no plates. At the road block when the police officer saw my car with this temporary number plate he immediately took it and ordered my car to be parked out of road saying it had been impounded by police and it is only them who will drive it to police camp. I asked the reason for that and they said the number plate was supposed to be written the route which I was supposed to use and hence was not allowed to move from Masvingo to Mutare. I explained that I was informed that these numbers allowed me to travel in all parts of Zimbabwe but not outside the country but the police officer refused and said it is only him who can explain the law. I asked one police officer who was not manning the roadblock and he said there was nothing like that since temporal number plates are allowed in all parts of the country of Zimbabwe. He ordered me to reason with him maybe he wanted me to pay money to him. I said I was not prepared to pay the money as a UN staff and if I had the case I would pay a legal ticket. I even phoned CID Masvingo who had cleared the car and  they told me that there was no case but were supposed to give me back my car. I went back to the police officer and tried to reason with him asking him if he could write a ticket of whichever amount so that I can pay but refused. I requested to take him to Police camp to verify if the car was stolen but he refused saying he will do it at his own time since he was knocking off at 10pm. I informed him that I had little children in the car and was going to Masvingo and would end up driving at night which is unsafe but he refused. During the negotiations he was giving me gestures that he wanted me to pay bribe money but I refused. I waited for an hour and was later given back my number plates warning me not to argue with police. I left the road block at 4pm and had to travel during the night to Masvingo risking cattle and all problems of night driving. I was emotionally disturbed and had to drive to Masvingo in this state together with whole family risking my family’s life. I am still disappointed about this event and should there be a way of making this police person be put to book I will pursue it. His name I am sure is Sada and purports to be coming from Mt Darwin at Dotito.
- Ephraim

On Monday lunchtime I landed at Harare Airport and the South African Airways pilot made an announcement saying that passengers should remain in their seats so that the Korean (North) delegation could leave the plane first. There was a whole lot of rumbling in response to this from passengers up and down the aircraft. Then the pilot spoke again and asked passengers to exit out the back door so that the Korean delegation could skip out the front and along the red carpet all on their own. The rumbling grew louder. Another announcement and we were told that stairs for the back door couldn’t be found so we’d get our turn on the red carpet after all. The pilot apologised, and so he should have. What sort of crap is this? Why should the Korean delegation get any special treatment? Come to think of it they hadn’t even bought business class tickets, so sitting cattle class like me they should have waited their turn like everyone else.

Bollocks I say.

Even bigger bollocks was the fan fare put on by the Government of National Unity . . . they rolled out Everything, not just the red carpet. And I believe that Morgan Tsvangirai and Thoko Kupe were part of the welcome party.

A text message I received on that day read

I would not like to think any member of the MDC whatever group would attend the state banquet tonight for organisers of the fifth brigade.

So who were the fifth brigade and what did they do? Here is an excerpt from a report called Breaking the Silence published by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace. The report discusses the atrocities in Matabeleland in the early 1980s.

In October 1980, Prime Minister Mugabe signed an agreement with the North Korean President, Kim Il Sung that they would train a brigade for the Zimbabwean army. This was soon after Mugabe had announced the need for a militia to “combat malcontents”. However, there was very little civil unrest in Zimbabwe at this time.

In August 1981, 106 Koreans arrived to train the new brigade, which Mugabe said was to be used to “deal with dissidents and any other trouble in the country”. Even by August 1981, there had been very little internal unrest. Joshua Nkomo, leader of ZAPU, asked why this brigade was necessary, when the country already had a police force to handle internal problems. He suggested Mugabe would use it to build a one party state.

Mugabe replied by saying dissidents should “watch out”, and further announced the brigade would be called “Gukurahundi”, which means the rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains.

5 Brigade was drawn from 3500 ex-ZANLA troops at Tongogara Assembly Point. There were a few ZIPRA troops in the unit for a start, but they were withdrawn before the end of the training. It seems there were also some foreigners in the unit, possibly Tanzanians. The training of 5 Brigade lasted until September 1982, when Minister Sekeramayi announced training was complete.

The first Commander of 5 Brigade was Colonel Perence Shiri. 5 Brigade was different to all other army units, in that it was not integrated into the army. It was answerable only to the Prime Minister, and not to the normal army command structures. Their codes, uniforms, radios and equipment were not compatible with other army units. Their most distinguishing feature in the field was their red berets. 5 Brigade seemed to be a law unto themselves once in the field.

Deployment of 5 Brigade – Matabeleland North, 1983

In late January 1983, 5 Brigade was deployed in Matabeleland North. Within weeks, they had murdered more than two thousand civilians, beaten thousands more, and destroyed hundreds of homesteads. Their impact on the communities they passed through was shocking.

Most of the dead were shot in public executions, often after being forced to dig their own graves in front of family and fellow villagers. The largest number of dead in a single killing involved the deliberate shooting of 62 young men and women on the banks of the Cewale River, Lupane, on 5 March 1983. Seven survived with gunshot wounds, the other 55 died. Another way 5 Brigade killed large groups of people was to burn them alive in huts. They did this in Tsholotsho and also in Lupane.

At the same time as 5 Brigade was sent into the area, the Government had introduced a strict curfew on the region. This prevented anybody from entering or leaving the area, banned all forms of transport and prevented movement in the region from dusk to dawn. A food curfew was also in force, with stores being closed. People caught using bicycles or donkey carts were shot. No journalists were allowed near the region. This situation meant that it was very hard to get news of events out of the region, and hard to judge the truth of the early accounts. However, as some people managed to flee the area, stories of the atrocities began to spread.

Targeting civilians: during these early weeks, 5 Brigade behaved in a way that shows they had clearly been trained to target civilians. Wherever they went, they would routinely round up dozens, or even hundreds, of civilians and march them at gun point to a central place, like a school or bore-hole. There they would be forced to sing Shona songs praising ZANU-PF, at the same time being beaten with sticks. These gatherings usually ended with public executions. Those killed could be ex-ZIPRAs, ZAPU officials, or anybody chosen at random, including women. Large numbers of soldiers were involved in these events, sometimes as many as two hundred, and often forty or more.

If Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Thoko Kupe were part of the welcome party at Harare Airport then I’m pretty sure that they attended the state banquet as well. The thought of this made me choke – what about you? A question to ask ourselves is when do we move on and put these national injustices behind us?

After a national inquiry perhaps?

I have to say this. I have commented on local social and political issues from way back before the turn of the century and for me whether it has been objective or emotional, one thing has always stood out in my analysis and understanding of local politics: the sincerity of Zanu PF is always and has always been suspect.

Everything the party says – the individuals as a collective – is taken in at your own peril. Whatever people say, the analysts, the opposition, the academics, there is always a caveat.

Beware – they (Zanu PF) only put up a human face to a leviathan that only seeks the dominance of other people’s lives. And all this based on the folly of imagining their own immortality.

I wrote a long time ago about how Mugabe made snide remarks way back in the early years of independence about a white legislator who sued govenment and won the case only to have Mugabe – then the darling of the white world -  to issue an edict that the pay out would be a waste of taxpayer’s money so why pay it.

Now they (Mugabe types) are arressting or rather re-arresting all kinds of activists in direct contravention of the so-called GPA so where does that leave us? Are we there yet? Stupid question! Are we ever getting there?

With this kind of crap where everybody seems to think the leopard will change its colours one can only commiserate with the opposition – and the rest of the incorrigible optimists – where popular thought is that Mugabe and the other types are about or on the road to Damascus. It has always been a trifle that actions speak louder than words, so folks how louder can it get?

The question then is: how do Zimbabweans get themselves out of this mess as the whole world is saying we only pass this Rubicon when they see genuine changes? We have lived with this crap for long enough and we surely deserve better.

The Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) has just withdrawn from the highly controversial Zimbabwe All Stakeholders Media Conference set to start tomorrow. They cite the re-detention of Zimbabwean activists as the reason for their withdrawal.

We need more of this. Much much more. Without this kind of public condemnation of the behaviour of the Government of National Unity (GNU) there will be no hope of achieving a return to the rule of law and respect for human rights.

I hope that others involved in the conference will follow the example set by MAZ and stand up for justice.

Shame on ANY of you who don’t.

05 May 2009.

Media Alliance of Zimbabwe Position Statement on the Re-Detention of Journalists and Human Rights Defenders.

The Media Alliance of Zimbabwe advises members of the Zimbabwean public, the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity, and Members of Parliament of its decision not to attend the Zimbabwe All Stakeholders Media Conference scheduled for this week from the  6th to the 9th of May 2008 in Kariba. This decision was made following the re-arrest and detention of human rights defenders, in particular Zimbabwe Peace Project director Ms. Jestina Mukoko and freelance journalist Mr. Andrisson Manyere on charges that can only be considered political.  It is MAZ’s view that their re-detention represents an apparent abuse of the judicial process which undermines the spirit and letter of the Global Political Agreement, especially as regards the restoration of a political environment that is democratic and respectful of the rule of law, as well as cognisant of the urgency of ensuring the security and freedom of human rights defenders and citizens in general.

It is in this context that MAZ considers it impossible to participate at the government All Stakeholders Media Conference when human rights defenders and journalists such as Ms. Mukoko and Mr.Manyere, who are presumed innocent until proven guilty, continue to be targets of repression.

MAZ remains committed to engaging the government to ensure that genuine media law and policy reforms are made in a politically conducive environment, and according to the letter and spirit of the GPA.

Ends//

MAZ comprises of MISA-Zimbabwe Chapter, Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe National Editors Forum, Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe, and African Community Publishing and Development Trust.

18 human rights activists including Jestina Mukoko have been re-detained on terrorism charges by the Government of National Unity in Zimbabwe. Morgan lets see some muscle; lets have some freedom. Now.

Francis Fukuyama reviews The Challenge for Africa by Wangari Maathai and Dead Aid by Dambiso Moyo.

But the truth is that these books have more in common than their authors may admit. Both women see sub-Saharan Africa’s fundamental problem not as one of resources, human or natural, or as a matter of geography, but, rather, as one of bad government. Far too many regimes in Africa have become patronage machines in which political power is sought by “big men” for the sole purpose of acquiring resources—resources that are funneled either back to the networks of supporters who helped a particular leader come to power or else into the proverbial Swiss bank account. There is no concept of public good; politics has devolved instead into a zero-sum struggle to appropriate the state and whatever assets it can control.