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SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Namibia could have controversially used a ‘perfect cover’ to send helicopters to Zimbabwe, for rescue operations to save flood victims in the Tokwe-Mukosi basin, following the heavy rains in the last few weeks.

The Alouette III helicopters are the same aircraft the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) wanted to donate to Zimbabwe last year. But an urgent court order obtained by AfriForum in 2013 prevented the donation to Zimbabwe over fears that President Robert Mugabe’s regime would use the aircraft against its own people.

Earlier this month South Africa announced it would donate the 12 Alouette helicopters to Namibia. Following these reports AfriForum said they would monitor the donation to Namibia to ensure that it does not end up benefiting the Mugabe regime.

But following floods in the country, the Namibia Defence Force (NDF), sent three of its helicopters to Zimbabwe on Wednesday, after appeals from Zimbabwe to assist with airlifting marooned families affected by flooding at Tokwe-Mukosi in Masvingo.

NDF public relations officer Petrus Shilumbu said: “The heavy rainfall experienced in the Republic of Zimbabwe have prompted the Government of Zimbabwe to request assistance from the Republic of Namibia.” Shilumbu said in response to that request the Namibian airforce sent three of its helicopters, with six pilots and seven technicians.

However Namibia’s generosity has raised eyebrows, taking into account that it is sending to Zimbabwe the same type of helicopters that were blocked from being donated to the airforce of Zimbabwe.

AfriForum legal advisor, Willie Spies, said while they do not object to Namibia offering help to Zimbabwe, they will not hesitate to approach the South African courts again if they discover that the rescue mission has been used to sidestep legal issues concerning the helicopters.

Solomon Chikohwero, a former airforce officer in Zimbabwe and director of Intelligence for the MDC-T, said the ‘help’ from Namibia was part of a grand plan to deliver the helicopters from South Africa via Namibia.

‘If Zimbabwe really needed help airlifting marooned villagers, they would have simply asked Zambia or South Africa, that are an hour away from the flood victims by air.‘To seek help from a country that is half a day away using helicopters raises eyebrows. South Africa has helicopters permanently stationed at Limpopo and Messina for rescue operations and it would have made sense asking help from them,’ Chikohwero said.

He said he felt certain the helicopters would not be going back to Namibia.

‘They will use every trick or excuse for the helicopters to remain in Zimbabwe. Either they will say they have developed mechanical failures or will leave them in the country until the floods are over,’ he added.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

ZANU PF’s supreme decision-making body met Friday, as the party tries to put a lid on the infighting manifesting itself through State media corruption exposés.

The politburo meeting was called by Mugabe following a public spat involving top party officials, in the wake of alarming corruption within government.

The power contest between the ruling party’s two rival factions, led by Emmerson Mnangagwa and Joice Mujuru, is getting more public as each tries to position itself to take over from their ailing leader Robert Mugabe.

So far the Herald newspaper-led revelations have only targeted officials linked to Vice President Mujuru’s faction, exposing how they drew stupendous salaries from state-linked firms with zero accountability.

It is widely believed that Mnangagwa’s front-man and Information Minister Jonathan Moyo is behind the disclosures in the State media.

Last weekend Mujuru did not do herself any favours when she warned the media to back off the salary scandals, remarks which her rivals used against her.

“There must be no sacred cows, whatever the position of those involved,” Moyo told the Sunday Mail in response to Mujuru.

Despite Moyo’s comments that no-one will be spared, no official from his faction has been exposed, and the probe has only focused on the lower rungs, leaving the top levels untouched.

In the aftermath of Mujuru’s speech, many Zimbabweans agreed that although she correctly identified Moyo’s hidden hand in the anti-corruption dossiers, she was wrong to try and gag the media.

South Africa-based political analyst Percy Makombe said the Mnangagwa faction was deliberately playing to the gallery on the corruption issue.

“These guys are preparing themselves for the post-Mugabe era. They have all resigned themselves to the fact that Mugabe will die in office,” Makombe said.

“Their strategy now hinges on outwitting each other to pole position and that is what Mnangagwa is doing, and with Moyo being in charge of the mass media this is playing out well.

“The plan is so far working well for the Mnangagwa-Moyo faction and they may just hoodwink the public into seeing them as genuinely against corruption in public office,” Makombe said.

Veteran journalist and editor Barnabas Thondhlana said unless the Mujuru faction started bringing out its own dossiers, things were looking bad for them, and people will not be concerned about her cries of victimisation.

“In the final analysis corruption is corruption and Zimbabweans want to see it exposed and action taken, regardless of which faction the culprits belong to,” he said.

Thondhlana said Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba’s admission that ministers have knowingly shielded the rot, and it’s time for a clean-up, suggests that his boss may at least give direction on how his party should proceed.

“So we may see this going right up to the top, to Mujuru’s office, with indications that the ‘small fish’ so far netted are part of the case being built up against her.

“Mugabe was aware of the extent of the corruption but did not act, because the feeling within the party, going into last year’s election, was that raising it would give the opposition MDC a boost.

“What will force Mugabe to act are two things; first, the public anger over the corruption levels at a time when the economy is non-performing and secondly, Mugabe is desperate to rehabilitate his image before he dies.

“If he pulls this one off, people will remember him as someone who was intolerant of corruption, cleaned up the rot, and hopefully restored public confidence in public institutions before he left.

Few will remember him for having presided over, and groomed, this corrupt system for many years,” Thondhlana added.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

In what is seen as further manifestation of ZANU PF factionalism, the state media this week took the ‘salary gate’ scam to another level by provoking debate on the prospects of some culprits being prosecuted. An article in the Sunday Mail suggested that more evidence must be unearthed before the suspended ZBC CEO Happison Muchechetere and Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) boss Cuthbert Dube are arrested. But as in most of the state media, they are omitting to mention the guys at the top, who are also responsible. George Charamba and former information minister Webster Shamu. Charamba was paid a very large salary for sitting on the board of PSMAS, while Shamu, as Minister of Information, was Muchechetere’s boss. Titled ‘Why are Muchechetere, Dube not in jail’, the article quoted an unnamed lawyer saying only an audit at ZBC and PSMAS can reveal whether crimes were committed. The unnamed lawyer said Dube could be charged with abuse of office, as he was also the ZBC chairman at the time Muchechetere was CEO. This would happen if it was proved that he negotiated and approved contracts of executives without the full board’s knowledge. Audits are ‘imminent’ at both the ZBC and the PSMAS, reports have said. A fortnight ago information minister Jonathan Moyo said the ‘obscene salaries’ earned by some executives of public entities were ‘corrupt and illegal.’ Moyo further said the government should come up with a ‘depoliticised’ response to the rot at the public institutions. But observers have detected ZANU PF factionalism in the pattern of events around the ‘salary gate.’ Social policy expert Dr Admore Tshuma said the exclusion of Charamba and Shamu from the Sunday Mail article shows that the state media revelations are about ZANU PF factionalism and personal clashes. Tshuma said: ‘If there is indeed any desire to prosecute there should also be debate on whether both Charamba and Shamu can be arrested or not. You cannot talk of arresting Muchechetere and Dube without talking about Charamba. So this whole thing boils down to personal clashes and factionalism.’ Tshuma said he did not expect Dube and Muchechetere to be nabbed because there is no way in which their looting would have gone on for so long without the board knowing anything. Tshuma’s comments come after former minister of state enterprises Gorden Moyo told SW Radio Africa that the looting of parastatals was a secret government programme meant to cushion strategic individuals, like the soldiers. Moyo said most CEOs distributed part of their mega salaries to indentified people as per instruction from the government. Moyo said as a result he expected most of the people found to have looted parastatals to go scot free. Moyo said he expected business to continue as usual including at institutions where looting was monumental. Already on Monday the Government announced the renewal of the PSMAS licence before the appointment of a new board. The PSMAS, whose boss Dube earned half a million dollars a month, owes the United Bulawayo Hospitals over $9 m in unpaid arrears. Analysts have observed that only people linked to a ZANU PF faction led by vice president Joice Mujuru have been exposed so far in connection with salary scams at public institutions. As most of the stories have come out through the state media Jonathan Moyo is seen as being behind the revelations. Both Moyo and Charamba are said to belong to a faction led by Justice Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

2,000 prisoners are expected to have walked to freedom by the end of this week, following an amnesty order by President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe’s order is unlikely to be seen as a gesture of goodwill and empathy, and more of one of necessity. Recently it was reported that about 19,000 prisoners countrywide were facing starvation as food stocks had dropped significantly. Reports said the situation could worsen due to poor funding. On Monday Zimbabwe Prison Service deputy commissioner Aggrey Huggins Machingauta told journalists that his department was working with the police in indentifying deserving inmates. A NewsDay report said people who have reached 70 years and above, except those facing life and death sentences, will qualify. Juvenile inmates at an open prison will automatically also qualify for amnesty, including the terminally ill, the report said. Mugabe’s order states that some prisoners will not be pardoned, including people on death row, habitual criminals, as well as any person serving a sentence imposed by a court martial. Others who will not be pardoned include those jailed for rape, murder, treason, carjacking and armed robbery. According to the NewsDay, Machingauta denied that prisons were hell and were recording high death rates. But a tour of the Harare Central Prison by the Zimbabwe Independent last week revealed otherwise. The paper quoted inmates saying they were living under ‘fatal unhygienic conditions.’ Some inmates reported witnessing fellow prisoners dying of hunger and lack of treatment. One prisoner said it is the same whether you get a five year sentence or a death sentence, because the result in both instances is death.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

A proposal by ZANU PF to name a street in Zimbabwe after the former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, has been dismissed by the MDC-T and some observers, who accuse Mbeki of supporting the Mugabe regime during his tenure as chief SADC negotiator. A ZANU PF legislator last week urged parliamentarians to show “appreciation” of Mbeki by naming a street after the former South African leader, claiming that he brought stability to Zimbabwe by negotiating the creation of a coalition government in 2008. The motion was tabled in Parliament on Thursday by ZANU PF MP for Hurungwe North, Reuben Marumahoko, during a debate on the Presidential speech. Marumahoko credited Mbeki with saving Zimbabwe from “a regime change agenda”, describing him as “the icon of Africa”, “son of the soil” and “a principled man”. But the MDC-T MPs were reportedly dead set against it and do not consider Mbeki a hero who saved Zimbabwe from “a regime agenda”. Instead they view the former South Africa leader as a ZANU PF ally who saved the Mugabe regime after it lost to the MDC-T in 2008. Political commentator Lameck Mahachi also dismissed the street naming idea, saying there are other pressing issues in Zimbabwe that Marumahoko should be focusing on. Mahachi explained that ZANU PF had lost the 2008 elections and resorted to violence against MDC-T supporters and officials when regional leaders appointed Mbeki to negotiate a solution. “ZANU PF was dead and buried and he came and saved them. He negotiated for the survival of ZANU PF and not the survival of Zimbabwe. Changing from a ZANU PF government to an MDC-T government is a process of democracy, not regime change,” Mahachi told SW Radio Africa. He added: “If they want to name a bench in a ZANU PF office or even a meeting hall at their headquarters after Mbeki that would be fine. But not a national issue, because that would give a misconception of historical events.” Gordon Moyo, the MDC-T shadow Minister for International relations and Cooperation, said the idea of honouring our leaders is a noble one and Mbeki had done a lot for Africa in general, but he disagreed with Marumahoko regarding Mbeki’s role in Zimbabwe.“Mbeki was working on the side of ZANU PF when it came to issues of Zimbabwe, to be very specific. He was the kind of facilitator who was playing on the same side as one of the players. We understood and said this from day one,” Moyo told SW Radio Africa.“Because he shared the history of the liberation struggle and because he believed in the liberation movement, he preferred ZANU PF. We were of aware of that,” Moyo explained. Mbeki was strongly criticized for his policy of so-called quiet diplomacy, which saw the former South African leader refusing to criticize Robert Mugabe or ZANU PF publicly, despite events in Zimbabwe pointing to their complicity in violence, political harassment and intimidation of the electorate.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

UK based pressure group the Zimbabwe Vigil has written a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron, urging him to boycott April’s EU/AU Summit in Brussels. President Robert Mugabe is to attend the summit from 2nd-3rd April after he received a formal invitation. Since 2002 he has officially been banned from visiting the EU, under their ‘restrictive measures’, because of human rights abuses and corruption. He is not prevented from attending international meetings. The two-day summit is expected to explore ways of ‘strengthening political partnership and enhanced co-operation at all levels.’ Dennis Benton, the Vigil spokesman, told SW Radio Africa that nothing has changed in Zimbabwe that should allow the EU to change its policy towards Zimbabwe. ‘The ZANU PF gangsters that run the country have not changed any of their policies, what we see now is a country being run into the ground,’ Benton said. He added: ‘Our advice to the Prime Minister is that Mugabe has not changed his hatred of the West, especially the UK, so why should he go to Brussels to be abused by the ageing man. So as far is Cameron is concerned he should stay home.’ Recently the Reuters news agency reported that the EU will this week lift most of its remaining targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe. The EU’sforeign policy chief Catherine Ashton told lawmakers at the European Parliament that they were probably now in the right place remove targeted sanctions, on the basis that ‘if things go badly we can move back again.’ The EU imposed the restrictive measures on Zimbabwe in 2002, in response to a government crackdown on the opposition and the violent land reform program. These have gradually been lifted in recent years, following political improvements, but measures have remained in place against key individuals in Mugabe’s inner circle.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Information Minister Jonathan Moyo has announced a new board for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). It will be chaired by telecoms entrepreneur Dennis Magaya, who is currently embroiled in the ‘salarygate’ scandal. Magaya, 44, will lead a ten-member board, some of whom have in the past been involved in nefarious activities and the remainder are strong supporters of the ruling party. The other members of the board are Ndabezinhle Dlodlo, Phyllis Johnson, South Africa-based Zimbabwean broadcast engineer Gelfand Kausiyo and Donald Khumalo. Also on the board are film maker Joyce Jenje-Makwenda, ZANU PF apologist and University of Zimbabwe lecturer Charity Manyeruke, Rudo Mudavanhu, Gibson Munyoro, Cleopatra Matanhire-Mutisi and Blessing Rugara. Recently the weekly Financial Gazette revealed that in 2012 Magaya was controversially appointed as a strategy consultant to a ZESA subsidiary company. He is earning a monthly salary of $44,000, almost the same amount as the suspended ZBC CEO, Happison Muchechetere. The revelations come at a time when workers at the company are grappling with low salaries. It was reported that Magaya is currently pocketing a monthly salary of over $25,000 plus a bonus of $18,000, which translates into an annual salary of over $500,000. He is entitled to this package up to August this year, and the salary could be reviewed upwards at this time. Settlement Chikwinya, the MDC-T MP for Mbizo in KweKwe, said the new board contains many individuals with dubious characters. In the case of Gelfand Kausiyo, the MP said he was suspended by the SABC last year, following allegations he used a plagiarised document in a failed bid for Kiss FM for a radio license. Kausiyo worked in SABC’s technical department in South Africa. Then there is the issue of Cleopatra Shingirai Matanhire-Mutisi, the wife of Brigadier-General Francis Mutisi. She was in the news in late 2012 for allegedly unleashing two soldiers on her 13-year-old nephew, who she accused of stealing $70. She is alleged to have locked the child up for two days without food or water before ordering the two soldiers to assault him. Mutisi allegedly then joined them in the morning to assault the boy before leaving for her rural home. The soldiers then beat the nephew again and he died. Mutisi has appeared in court facing murder charges. In December 2013 she was granted a temporary reprieve, following the State’s failure to furnish her with a trial date. Settlement Chikwinya, who sits on the Parliamentary Portfolio committee on media, broadcasting and information, described this new board as a unit that will not give advice, but will merely prop up the minister. ‘What do you expect from a board full of bootlickers and ZANU PF supporters? This does not augur well with the institution. This is why we saw ZBC failing to live up to competition to the extent that workers went for 7 months without salaries.‘Looking at the other board members, I have no respect at all for Charity Manyeruke, a known ZANU PF supporter and mouthpiece, masquerading as a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe. She is in the same bracket as Sylvester Nguni and Psychology Mazivisa. For Moyo to expect policy advice from Manyeruke is like expecting advice from a tout at Mbare Musika,’ the MP said. Chikwinya said he would raise the issue with Moyo in parliament and demand an explanation on why he picked people with little media experience and with serious legal cases hanging over their heads.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

By Nomalanga Moyo SW Radio Africa 18 February 2014 A predominantly white pressure group has been formed to press Western countries to lift the remaining restrictive measures against ZANU PF officials. The group, which calls itself Zimbabweans Against Sanctions, blames the restrictive measures imposed on the Mugabe regime 12 years ago for the collapse of the country’s economy. Speaking in Harare on Monday, the chairman of the group Mathew Smith, a hotelier and contract miner, said they want western countries to remove all the measures which he said were imposed on all Zimbabweans. His father Gary who is also a member of the group is the finance director of a transport and trucking business. Mathew said his group believes that the targeted measures are hurting the country and Zimbabweans, and should be lifted unconditionally. “We are forming this lobby group because the truth about Zimbabwe needs to be heard and for that truth to be heard it needs to be told from our perspective, especially as white Zimbabweans on whose behalf these damaging sanctions were supposedly imposed,” he said. In a passionate speech delivered at a press briefing in Harare the leaders of the group denied that the motive behind the formation of the group is to protect their businesses from ZANU PF’s property grabs. Speaking to SW Radio Africa Tuesday, Mathew Smith said he has never felt the need to protect himself in his 33 years living in Zimbabwe, “and we are starting now because the time just feels right”. He said the country has just had a “fantastic, peaceful, free and fair election and it is time that the citizens are freed from the sanctions yoke. Our interest is Zimbabwe and ordinary Zimbabweans”. Defending ZANU PF’s controversial indigenisation law which requires foreign-owned businesses to cede a 51 percent stake to locals, Smith said this was a good policy that was benefitting every Zimbabwean but which has been misunderstood due to the negative perception the world has on the country. The restrictive measures were imposed 12 years ago on some ruling party ZANU PF officials by the United States, Britain and the European Union following a sustained campaign of human rights abuses by the Mugabe regime. Explaining his government’s position, US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Bruce Wharton said: “The underlying principle is that the US targeted sanctions programme seeks to limit the economic activities of that very small number of individuals and entities that have shown a willful disregard for the rule of law, democratic process, and human rights in Zimbabwe.“In our view, those are the activities that have weakened this country’s economy. Targeted sanctions are our means of expressing concern and trying to encourage decisions that will strengthen Zimbabwe,” Wharton said. But Smith said this was a misconception, and criticised Monday’s decision by the EU to retain restrictions on Mugabe, his wife Grace and arms dealer the Zimbabwe Defence Industries. Prominent retired Zim cricketer Heath Streak is one of the members of the Zimbabweans Against Sanctions lobby group whose membership comprises almost 3,000 others.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The EU has suspended targeted sanctions against eight ZANU PF officials but kept the restrictive measures on President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace. This was announced by a visiting EU parliamentary delegation, the state media reported Tuesday. A Herald report said the head of the delegation, Mario David, told journalists that the decision to lift sanctions followed ‘deliberations with various groups’. The announcement comes barely a week after EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe Aldo Dell’Ariccia attempted to give the impression that that such a decision had not been taken yet. Among those removed from the travel ban are army commanders Constantine Chiwenga, Phillip Valerio Sibanda and Perence Shiri. Also removed from the targeted sanctions list are presidential affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa, police commissioner Augustine Chihuri and leader of the war vets Jabulani Sibanda. UK-based pressure group the Zimbabwe Vigil said the EU has ‘betrayed’ the people of Zimbabwe. The Vigil’s Ephraim Tapa said by easing the restrictive measures the EU has literally given members of Mugabe’s inner circle the opportunity to ‘enjoy their loot.’ Tapa said: ‘This is like awarding them an opportunity to strengthen their stranglehold on the economy and the people of Zimbabwe. They will widen their business connections and get even richer and more powerful.’ Tapa added that the EU move will send a ‘wrong signal to other African countries’ who might be tempted to pursue Mugabe’s repressive rule. Ahead of the announcement the Vigil led calls to the EU not to ease the restrictive measures against Mugabe and his inner circle. The Vigil argues that the ZANU PF government is still hell bent on abuses, rampant corruption and electoral theft. Only a few days ago the Vigil wrote a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameroon, urging him to boycott April’s EU/AU Summit to which Mugabe has been invited. The summit will explore ways of enhancing ‘political partnership’ and co-operation between the EU and African countries. According to the Vigil, Cameron must stay away because Mugabe continues to hate the West in general and the UK in particular. Mugabe will attend the Brussels summit from 2nd to 3rd April. Since February 2002 Mugabe and his inner circle have been banned from visiting the EU under the targeted sanctions. The EU imposed restrictive measures against Mugabe and his cabal following the expulsion of the head of the EU observer mission Pierre Schori, amid an increase in human rights violations. However, over the years the measures were carefully relaxed in response to specific reforms. Until the latest EU move only 10 members of Mugabe’s retinue and one company remained on the restrictive measures list. For years ZANU PF has sought to blame the country’s economic decline on these restrictive measures. The party reacted characteristically to the latest EU gesture saying it was ‘nonsensical.’ ZANU PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo called on the EU to remove the sanctions on Mugabe and his wife.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Tokwe Mukosi flood victims are stranded after scotch cart owners contracted to move them to higher ground went on strike over non-payment for their services. A NewsDay report Tuesday said the government recently commandeered scotch carts to help transport flood victims at $10 a trip. But according to the report the scotchcart owners have since withdrawn their services in fear that they may not be rewarded. Chivi District administrator Bernard Hadzirabwi confirmed the development but would not say how much the government owed the scotchcart owners. But the report quoted some scotchcart owners saying they have not yet been paid for as many as 20 trips they have made so far. According to the report, the scotchcart owners initially charged $15 for the six kilometer trip to the Kushinga Transit Camp where the flood victims are temporarily camped. The evacuated villagers are being moved to the Chigwizi area in Mwenezi. The fee was reduced to $10 after the government said $15 was too much. The scotchcart owners’ fear that they may not be paid what they are owed is not without logic. The government is struggling to pay civil servants across all departments. Only last week it admitted that it had no money to increase the salaries of teachers.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The troubled Allied Bank is reportedly on the verge of collapse with its owner, ZANU PF Transport Minister Obert Mpofu, said to be failing to inject more cash to keep it afloat. The bank is one of seven institutions facing insolvency and that have been under central bank surveillance since November last year. In December there were near-riots at several branches as angry depositors protested the unavailability of cash at the indigenously-owned banks. Another bank AFRASIA Zim, (formerly Kingdom) which has been facing problems, is said to be limiting cash withdrawals to $300 per day in a bid to manage the persistent cash shortages. A Herald newspaper report this week said Allied bank will be inviting investors to inject fresh capital in exchange for shares and if that fails, “the bank will downgrade its banking license to deposit-taking micro finance.” Ex-central bank governor Gideon Gono handed Mpofu the bank after he reportedly injected $23 million into the ailing institution, formerly known as the Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group. Despite his vast riches as a ZANU PF functionary Mpofu has failed to put more money into the bank, amid reports that his takeover deal was not based on cash but rather on assets such as buildings, which the minister has failed to transfer to the bank. A combination of a shrinking economy, a lack of investment, and ZANU PF’s destructive economic policies is likely to see most of the locally-owned banks shutting down for lack of any cash injection. Following ZANU PF’s disputed July 31st poll win, the sector lost nearly a $1 billion almost overnight, as jittery depositors took their money elsewhere due to political uncertainty and concerns about the new government’s policies.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

A highly sought-after report on the controversial 2002 Zimbabwe presidential elections has vanished from South Africa’s Pretoria High Court. The report is at the centre of a legal battle between the SA government and the Mail & Guardian newspaper, which has been fighting for its release since 2008. Earlier last year, SA High Court Judge Joseph Raulinga ordered President Jacob Zuma to hand over the report to the M&G within 10 days. This was after the judge had read the report and concluded that it cast doubt over the legality of the Zim elections – which were ‘won’ by ZANU PF’s Robert Mugabe. The SA presidency however appealed the order, just as they had done with three previous rulings to make the document available to the public. It is unclear how the report detailing the findings of two SA judges, sent by then-president Thabo Mbeki to observe the 2002 Zim elections,vanished. But Judge Raulinga, who was keeping it in his office, told both legal teams last week that he had his suspicions and was investigating, the M&G said Friday. According to the newspaper: “Between December last year and February this year a senior state attorney had made several unsolicited and unsuccessful attempts to retrieve the report from the judge’s custody, in his absence.” The SA Presidency claims that the missing copy was the only one it had. The South African newspaper maintains that it is important to make the confidential report public to enable SA, a key player in regional politics, to understand what went wrong in the 2002 election. “If our President (in 2002) was informed by two eminent judges of serious problems with that election and reacted in the way he did, which was effectively to endorse that stolen election, then there are things the current administration can learn,” Nick Dawes, then editor at the M&G newspaper, told this station last year. Current SA President Zuma was among the first regional leaders to endorse last year’s July 31st election which was again controversially ‘won’ by Mugabe and ZANU PF, sparking an outcry from many Zimbabweans who condemned the poll as neither free, fair, nor credible.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

An organisation specialising in helping torture victims has led the chorus of outrage at the EU’s move to suspend the restrictive measures on members of President Robert Mugabe’s inner circle. The Mike Campbell Foundation says it is ‘alarmed’ that the EU has suspended ‘targeted sanctions’ on eight of Mugabe’s close allies because the ZANU PF government is still abusing people’s rights. The EU this week suspended the targeted sanctions against these ZANU PF officials, but kept the restrictive measures on President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace. Among those on whom the targeted sanctions were suspended are army generals and senior intelligence officers, including the Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, and Zimbabwe’s Intelligence Chief and Chief of Police. Ben Freeth, who is the executive director at the Mike Campbell Foundation, said the EU is ‘condoning the culture of impunity’ in Zimbabwe by allowing members of Mugabe’s retinue to move freely within Europe. He added: ‘For us in Zimbabwe it is a terrible betrayal for the principles that Europe has in the past tried to uphold. Things are changing in Europe, quite clearly, and this is alarming for us and it must be alarming for the people in Europe as well.’ Ahead of the suspension of the restrictive measures the foundation implored the EU to decide against this week’s move. In a report detailing cases of human rights violations the foundation said it would be ‘utterly terrible’ for the EU to grant Mugabe’s allies the right to conduct business in Europe. The report gave a detailed account of how the ZANU PF government has relied on repression and torture since 2000. It lists a series of abuses around the farm invasions and the 2002 and 2008 elections. Also detailed in the report is the 2005 Murambatasvina campaign, a government exercise which saw the deliberate destruction of urban voters’s shacks. The campaign, which the government claimed was a cleanup exercise, left nearly a million people homeless. The report also touches on corruption, including the current salary scams in parastatals. Two months ago the foundation jointly submitted fresh evidence of torture in a case in which the organization, together with AfriForum, want the South African authorities to investigate crimes against humanity in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Vigil this week also expressed its horror at the EU’s move. The Vigil, which has led the anti-Mugabe campaigns in the UK, said the EU has ‘betrayed’ the people of Zimbabwe. But an EU delegation currently in the country, on Wednesday said the move was taken as a step towards the normalisation of relations with Zimbabwe. They insisted the targeted sanctions had not been removed, but had been suspended, meaning they could be re-imposed at any time. They also said the restrictive measures on Mugabe and his wife would only be removed when clear reforms were visible. Geoffrey Van Orden is a member of the European Parliament and Chairman of the European Parliament ‘Friends of Zimbabwe’ group. He has long spearheaded the Parliament’s campaign for freedom and democratic change in Zimbabwe. Commenting on the suspension of the restrictive measures he said while there has been ‘some movement in the right direction in the past year’ there were still incidents of human rights violations in Zimbabwe. In a statement Van Orden said real progress in Zimbabwe will be achieved only when Mugabe and his allies are out of power. He emphasised that there were never targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe, but only against Mugabe and his inner circle.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The chairperson of newly-formed ‘Zimbabweans Against Sanctions’ lobby group has denied any links with the ruling ZANU PF party. Mathew Smith, his father Gary and former cricketer Heath Streak, announced the formation of the anti-sanctions group in Harare on Monday. The group has attracted divided opinion, with many Zimbabweans saying the group is seeking to enamour itself to ZANU PF in order to benefit from the regime’s patronage system. ZANU PF has already commended the group for “rallying behind President Robert Mugabe” and for speaking against the restrictive measures. Smith said this was to be expected “because for the first time we have something that we can agree on and the lifting of sanctions affects them more than us, but it does not mean that we are affiliated to them.”“We are however glad that ZANU PF has come out to support us. We are a completely apolitical group whose main concern is that sanctions are real and are hurting Zimbabweans,” he added. Smith said his father’s business interests are only in the mining sector, where he is as a director.“We have operated a contract mining firm in Zimbabwe for the past 20 years and none of the mines we are involved with have any links to ZANU PF. Anyone is free to come and check, we have nothing to hide,” Smith added. He said none of their mining activities involved diamonds. Smith insisted that the targeted sanctions were bad for the country, and that the group they had received a lot of support from across the political divide. “It is a misconception that the (targeted) sanctions were imposed on just a few people because if you check the American ZIDERA (Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act) it imposes blanket economic sanctions,” he said. Earlier this week however, US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Bruce Wharton said the US targeted sanctions programme seeks to limit the economic activities of a very small number of individuals and entities (113 and 70 respectively) who, “have shown a willful disregard for the rule of law, democratic process, and human rights in Zimbabwe.” Wharton said everyone else was free to import, export and do business with US firms. The EU this week suspended restrictions against all ZANU PF members who were on their list, except Mugabe and his wife grace and arms dealer the Zimbabwe Defence Industries.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Two senior Air Zimbabwe bosses, and the former CEO of the airline, were on Tuesday denied bail, after the court ruled they are a flight risk. The trio is facing allegations of defrauding the national flag-carrier of millions of dollars in an insurance scam. Peter Chikumba 59, Grace Nyaradzai Pfumbidzai 49 and Innocent Mavhunga 53, appeared before the Harare magistrates’ court where they applied for bail pending trial, which was denied by a magistrate. Chikumba and Pfumbidzai are facing criminal abuse of duty as public officers and fraud charges, while Mavhunga faces charges of fraud only. A forensic investigation carried out by a leading firm of auditors in Harare last year exposed possible manipulation of aviation insurance policies by past and present bosses, which could have prejudiced the state-run airline of millions of dollars between 2009 and 2013. The national carrier has for a long time suffered from chronic mismanagement and corruption and its massive economic down turn has seen its aircraft seized in both South Africa and the UK and a number of strikes from its work force. A sad decline for what was once one of the finest airlines in the world.

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Promise Mkwananzi, the MDC-T youth assembly secretary-general, has urged the top leadership of the party to denounce violence and ensure that perpetrators of last weekend’s disturbances outside Harvest House are punished. The youth leader, one of three senior party members to be manhandled by youths baying for their blood, for allegedly leading a plot to oust party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, said the ‘silence is deafening’ over the violence. Mkwananzi told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that the party should desist from making false statements that those behind the attacks are from ZANU PF, insisting that he was beaten up by MDC-T youths, ‘people I have worked with for years.’ He said his immedate reaction after the attack was that of disappointment and anger, especially realizing that he had been set upon by people he thought should be defending him from ZANU PF’s violent tendencies.‘I’m their leader, I know them like the back of my hand, and so to suggest I was attacked by ZANU PF youths, when in fact I was beaten up by people I work with everyday, is not only unfortunate but trying to hide the truth unashamedly,’ Mkwananzi said. He added: ‘We need a strong statement from the top leadership denouncing violence. Lets not use the laws of the jungle to settle personal differences. The party has a constitution which spells out the appropriate channels and platforms to resolve differences.’ One of the leaders who was attacked on Saturday and had his shirt torn and glasses destroyed was Elton Mangoma, the deputy treasurer-general. He has now made a formal complaint to the police. Secretary-general Tendai Biti reportedly escaped the mob by getting into Tsvangirai’s car, while another youth president, Solomon Madzore, remained holed up in Harvest House for his safety.

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The Minister of Information, Jonathan Moyo, has been branded a hypocrite and received strong criticism, following statements he made defending an alleged murderer and fraudster, both of whom he recently appointed board members at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). Addressing reporters on Wednesday, Moyo dismissed media reports that exposed the criminally tainted backgrounds of Cleopatra Mutisi and Gelfand Kausiyo, insisting they have the technical expertise needed to turn around the broke and scandal-ridden national broadcaster. This was after firing the previous board over corruption issues. The wife of a Brigadier General, Mutisi is alleged to have ordered two soldiers to assault her 13-year-old nephew after accusing the child of stealing $70. She is now facing murder charges following the teenager’s death and is awaiting a trial date. But Moyo pointed to her skills as financial manager instead. Kausiyo was accused of plagiarizing an SABC technical report in 2011, which was submitted as part of a failed KissFM application for a national radio license. It was later revealed Kausiyo had forged the report himself. The SABC fired him. But Moyo defended him saying: “Plagiarism has nothing to do with broadcasting.” The comments were made after Moyo fired Dennis Magaya just hours following his appointment as chairman of the new ZBC board. Magaya had controversially earned an exorbitant salary as a business consultant at a ZESA subsidiary. Former ZBC journalist Bekithemba Mhlanga said Moyo faced the dilemma of finding a board with “as less dirt as possible”. And by allowing the tainted and exposed individuals to carry on, he is discarding the same principles that he applied to the old board and to Magaya.“He is now trying to hide behind the context of people being innocent until proven guilty and that people’s rights should not be violated and they should be given a second chance in life. This whole story has taken on a life of its own which Jonathan Moyo cannot control,” Mhlanga explained. Despite their tainted histories, Moyo said Mutisi and Kausiyo’s cases had “no constitutional, administrative and/or moral issues” involved. Zimbabweans responded with a barrage of comments on the state-run Herald news site, blasting Moyo for being a hypocrite. One reader wrote: “Whilst we are urging others with “financial issues” to resign on ethical grounds, you are appointing others with “murder issues” onto boards. Incredible!” Another ranted: “So why appoint people whose backgrounds are soiled? Board members should be exemplary in ways they conduct themselves at work and in their private lives.”“I said it that people are in too much of a rush to praise this charlatan, Moyo, who is playing a political game to have his people at the trough. How can a person with issues of dishonesty be expected to clean up the house?” said another Herald reader.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

A Member of the European Parliament has voiced concern over the decision by western powers to ease restrictive measures against Robert Mugabe’s key allies. Geoffrey Van Orden, a prominent campaigner for freedom and democratic change in Zimbabwe within the European Parliament, commented on the EU measures and said: “There has been some movement in the right direction over the past year and this needs to be reinforced. However, there are still hundreds of incidents of human rights abuse each year and political freedom is constrained.“The most recent elections were widely recognised as having been neither wholly democratic nor credible – despite being conducted in a relatively peaceful manner,” Van Orden said in a statement. The MEP, who is banned from entering Zimbabwe, also criticised the EU’s decision to invite Mugabe to Brussels for the EU-Africa Summit in April. He indicated that Mugabe should remain isolated, saying “real progress in Zimbabwe will not be made until Mugabe and those that hold on to his coat-tails have left power”. Political analyst Joy Mabenge said the western bloc should use Mugabe’s present in Brussels to push him for more reforms.“Like many Zimbabweans I believe the lifting of the targeted sanctions has more to do with the western powers’ economic interests rather than a belief that the ZANU PF government has improved anything on the ground,” Mabenge said. On Thursday, rights campaigners the Zim Human Rights NGO Forum, said they were concerned about the EU’s plans to start channelling development aid directly through the ZANU PF government, from November 1st. The group said there were worries within civil society organisations that the Zim government may use this to begin recriminations against the CSOs. Mabenge said there was also the danger that millions of suffering Zimbabweans, who are currently reliant on donors for their survival, will be affected. “The Zimbabwe government has proved to everyone that it cannot manage public finances let alone donor funding.“The current corruption scandals prove the economy has collapsed, and there are absolutely no guarantees or measures in place to suggest that development aid will benefit deserving Zimbabweans,” Mabenge said.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

One of the two people whose bodies were retrieved from a disused gold mine in Johannesburg, South Africa, has been identified as Zimbabwean Blessing Chaitwa. The two were part of more than 20 illegal gold miners who spent several days trapped in the abandoned mine. The majority of the miners are said to be Zimbabweans who are in SA illegally as they try to escape the economic hardships back home. Others have been identified as Mozambique, Lesotho and Malawi nationals. Reports from SA say the illegal miners were deliberately trapped by a rival group who blocked their escape with boulders. When people heard shouting from underground, police were called but started arresting the illegal miners as they emerged from the shaft. At least 10 people are still down the mine shaft, afraid of arrest if they come out. It was reported that police had blocked food and water being sent down to them. Speaking from Johannesburg, SW Radio Africa correspondent Ezra Tshisa Sibanda said relatives had identified Blessing Chaitwa as one of the two people who died after being struck by a falling boulder. “This is the same mine where 82 people died in an inferno in 2009 and there are notices warning people not to go down these mine shafts, located in Benoni, in Johannesburg,” Sibanda said. However, without proper documentation, many Zimbabweans have been forced to live dangerously, including going into these forbidden mines. “While Blessing has been lucky to be named, the identity of the other victim has not yet been established.“It is a double tragedy that these people are dying miserable deaths, and may also never be properly identified or given decent burials by their loved ones, because they exist in the shadows,” Sibanda added. Sibanda said the 25 men who were rescued were whisked away by the police to be charged for mining illegally. It is estimated that about 4 million Zimbabweans have been driven to foreign lands as a result of political persecution and the economic hardships brought on by the Mugabe regime. The majority of these are in neighbouring South Africa, where they face discrimination and regular xenophobic attacks. About a week ago, two Zimbabweans were killed during such an attack in Thohoyandou in the Limpopo province.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

In response to the Tokwe-Mukosi breaching its dam wall three weeks, following heavy rains in Masvingo province, government has managed to relocate all but 50 families who lived downstream of the dam. Around 4,500 villagers living along the flood basin of the dam had to be evacuated after water, escaping from cracks in the dam wall, flooded the river that flows directly towards the villages. This forced the government to declare the area a state disaster, fearing the dam wall would burst and sweep away thousands of people in its path. Following analysis of the dam, Italian engineers involved in its construction say they are confident the dam will not collapse. Admire Mashenjere, from the Tokwe-Mukosi Rehabilitation and Resettlement Trust, told SW Radio Africa that his family was one of about 50 out of 4,500 families still to be relocated. ‘There is mass movement of people from the area. Trucks from the CMED and contracted haulage trucks have been moving villagers to Masangula and Chingwizi areas in Mwenezi and some to Chisase in Chiredzi.‘Roughly about 50 families remain here but we are confident by tomorrow (Friday) or Saturday we will be relocated to start new lives away from the dam project,’ said Mashenjere, who believed funds from the relocation had been provided by donors. The US government has already donated $750,000 through the International Organisation on Migration (IOM) to help deal with the disaster. Karen Kelley, a counsellor for public affairs at the US Embassy, told the media in Harare that they will also be sending in an advisor through the USAid office to liaise with other relief organisations to identify additional needs at the Tokwe-Mukosi dam.

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Zimbabwean who died at disused SA mine identified | SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Last batch of villagers from Tokwe-Mukosi to be evacuated Saturday | SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe