SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Players in the opposition political movement may be considering joining forces and forming a grand coalition, in a bid to unseat the ZANU PF regime.

Over the past few weeks officials from some opposition political parties have spoken about the need for such a coalition, following the disappointment with the last election result, which ZANU PF fraudulently won.

Some political observers acknowledge that ZANU PF stole the election but say the opposition also failed to coordinate and work together, choosing instead to split the vote, even in areas where fielding one opposition candidate would have worked in their favour.

On Friday the South African based Mail and Guardian newspaper said Zim opposition political figures were talking with a view to working together under a grand coalition.

So far the rumour is that this coalition will include political formations such as Welshman Ncube’s MDC, the MDC Renewal Team, Lovemore Madhuku’s NCA, civil society groups and churches.

According to the Mail & Guardian, MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been excluded from the coalition, possibly because of the current internal strife that has seen the expulsion of key party members who wanted him to step down.

Last month MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti, who is said to be part of the renewal team, suggested at a public meeting that opposition forces should form a coalition to fight ZANU PF.

Over the weekend the MDC’s Welshman Ncube reiterated the calls, with MDC-T official Samuel Sipepa Nkomo adding his support for this coalition at a meeting held in Bulawayo Wednesday.

Harare-based economist and keen political observer Vince Musewe confirmed to SW Radio Africa that talks were ongoing between civil society groups, churches and political parties.

He said it was important that civil society groups are involved if this coalition is to work.

Nixon Nyikadzino of rights group the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition welcomes the idea, but said the success of the coalition will largely depend on how inclusive it is and what its objectives are.

“If you remember the MDCs formed a coalition towards last year’s election which failed because they were coalitions of convenience which the parties did not take seriously.

“We need a democratic coalition that is non-sexist, non-violent, promotes tolerance, debate and treats people fairly and equally,” Nyikadzino said.

Useni Sibanda, religious leader and head of the Zim Institute for Social Transformation, said there must be a place in the coalition for the involvement of Zimbabweans currently based abroad.

Sibanda said church leaders in Zimbabwe had grown quiet. He said they should be  holding political leaders to account but have withdrawn from this role because of the repression and heavy-handedness of the ZANU PF regime.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

As the country celebrates 34 years of independence Zimbabweans have decried the state of the nation saying the economic and political conditions they live in are not those of a free people.

This year’s celebrations come at a time when the country is facing a serious economic crisis, with experts predicting an implosion. The situation has been blamed on mismanagement, poor governance and massive corruption.

ZAPU leader and former freedom fighter Dumiso Dabengwa led the cries saying the objectives of the struggle have not been fulfilled. Speaking during a public discussion forum in Bulawayo, Dabengwa said: ‘You cannot say the ideals of our struggle have been fulfilled when laws such as Public Order and Security Act continue to suppress our people. Our human rights record has been in the spotlight. There is no freedom of expression and association.’

Dabengwa’s comments come amidst reports that ZANU PF officials were forcing people to finance this year’s independence celebrations in many parts of the country. The former home affairs minister also said the levels of corruption in high places show that ‘the people have not been respected.’

Zimbabwe Liberators Peace Initiative leader Max Mkandla also lambasted corruption and economic mismanagement. He said the fact that Zimbabwe has dollarized was an indicator that that there was a ‘leadership crisis’ in the country. He said Zimbabweans cannot say they are truly independent when they are using other nations’ currencies as the medium of exchange.

The former freedom fighter said the ZANU PF leadership should desist from peddling their liberation war credentials in the face of such criticism. He added: ‘Yes they fought the war like us, but we need respect. We cannot continue being treated as their children.’

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition called upon the government to ‘honor its obligation to improve the welfare of the citizens.’ In a statement the organization said it regrets the ‘increasing joblessness’, and inaccessibility of basic services such as water and shelter. The coalition also condemned the inadequate support the government has given to the flood victims in both Tsholotsho and Tokwe-Mukosi.

The sense of gloom in the country is generally shared by all Zimbabweans across the social divide. This week, former finance minister Tendai Biti called for a ‘caretaker’ administration to save the economy, while his colleague Eddie Cross called for a new coalition government. The MDC-T legislators both predict economic implosion if nothing is done to address the situation.

Since the July 31st elections investors have taken billions of dollars out the economy due to the lack of trust in the ZANU PF government policies. Revenue collections have dwindled due to poor economic activity, leaving the government struggling to service the domestic debt. Moreover donors remain un-interested in the country, whose external debt is estimated at $10 billion.

So desperate is the situation that the MDC-T national organizing secretary, Nelson Chamisa, said recently that things were better under colonial rule.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Police in Bulawayo on Tuesday searched the Radio Dialogue offices, for what they claimed was ‘broadcasting material capable of dispatching information which can harm the interest of the state’.

Radio Dialogue production manager, Zenzele Ndebele, said about 10 police and CIO officers pitched up at the community radio station’s offices around mid-day and searched for the equipment, which they did not find.

Ndebele said when the police called at the office he was away but he received a phone call that he should report at Hillside police station. On arrival he was shown a search warrant which said the police had the information that he had ‘radio transmission equipment.’

Ndebele said the police, who were in the company of officials from the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz), then told him to lead them to his house where they searched and again found nothing.

Last month Ndebele was acquitted on charges of contravening broadcasting laws. The charges arose after Ndebele was arrested last year following a police raid on Radio Dialogue during which police seized 180 radio sets. The radios in question were ordinary receivers with no transmitting capacity. Ndebele said he had no clue whether the latest development was related to the resolved case.

Radio Dialogue is a member of the Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations (ZACRAS) which is pushing for the opening of the airwaves to multiple players.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Fears about the future safety of the ‘protected’ Zimbabwe Presidential elephant herd have been further heightened, after reports of gunfire and suspected hunting activity at one of the herd’s watering holes.

The reports came from a nearby safari lodge, claiming that a man called Ruben Mkandla and two hunters were shooting the elephants this weekend. Mkandla is understood to be the brother-in-law of former Mines Minister Obert Mpofu.

SW Radio Africa was unable to verify the reports on Tuesday.

But the claims will do little to ease the fears of conservationists in and around Zimbabwe, because the reports follow just days after warnings that the elephants are under threat.

Last week, Johnny Rodrigues the Chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), warned that the elephants faced being killed despite the Presidential decree meant to be protecting them. He told SW Radio Africa that the decision by the herd’s primary caretaker to step aside, left them vulnerable to hunting activities.

Last week Sharon Pincott, who founded and ran the Presidential Elephant Conservation Project since 2001, announced she was stopping her work. This shock decision followed a worsening fight caused by the takeover of a piece of land in the Hwange National Park, which serves as the herd’s home range.

The land in the Kanondo area has been claimed by a woman who insists she has an inheritance claim to the land, despite a 2013 directive by Zimbabwe’s Cabinet that offer letters for the land be withdrawn. Instead, the Kanondo land claimant has forged ahead with the building of a safari lodge called the Gwango Elephant Lodge, which claims to be a conservancy opening for tourism business.

The claimant, Elisabeth Pasalk/Freeman, is understood to be an American resident, but concern has been raised amid reports that she is the sister of a known Zimbabwean hunting safari operator named Rodger Madangure.

Pincott was fighting for support and intervention from the government, because of the threat the land claim has to the Presidential elephant herd’s future safety. But her efforts have been to no avail and she has now completely withdrawn from the Project.

Rodriques said: “Once she’s removed from there, the Presidential elephants will be gone. I hope they move on, but I believe the people claiming this land are interlinked with hunting operations so I don’t see any future for these animals. They will all be shot and that will be the end of the Presidential herd.”

Meanwhile, a leading, international conservation group has warned in a new report that land grabs in Zimbabwe were a direct threat to elephant populations in Africa. The report commissioned by the Born Free group said that Zimbabwe could become a poaching hot spot as a result of the lawless and murky manner in which conservation land has been parceled out to ZANU PF members.

To contact this reporter email [email protected] or follow on Twitter

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The family of a cancer patient, who is reported to have died just hours after being released from a major referral hospital, has said he might still be alive had he not been detained and allowed to continue his treatment elsewhere.

Tauya Shumba lost his fight against liver cancer on Saturday night, a few hours after Harare Central Hospital finally released him from detention over an unpaid bill of $227, according to the Daily News newspaper.

The family had offered to pay $80, out of a minimum required down-payment of $150, and the balance at the end of the month. But hospital officials chose to detain him instead. The Daily News said he was released after they initiated an inquiry into his case.

Several relatives told the paper that they believed Tauya might have survived if he had been released shortly after the hospital discharged him last Thursday. He had been in hospital for a week.

“We wanted to take him back to Karanda Hospital with the tests results but they chose to detain him over money as if we had refused to pay,” Tauya’s older brother, Ignatius, is quoted as saying.

He added: “The hospital is just rotten; they gave us an embarrassing prescription which we had to take back for correction after a pharmacy in Avondale said it was impossible to sell 16 milligrams of codeine without knowing the duration of treatment.”

Conditions at Harare Central, like most hospitals in Zimbabwe, have deteriorated and are said to be appalling, with many patients sleeping on the floor and shortages of staff and basic medicines affecting the quality of care.

In addition, many skilled physicians have left the country and government officials often seek treatment in South Africa, without doing anything to improve the situation at home.

Tauya leaves two young children behind. The Daily News said he would be buried Tuesday in Mberengwa.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

On Friday Mugabe lashed out at what he called Europe’s ‘homosexual nonsense’ and condemned its leaders for refusing to accept his hold on power. He also threatened to deport Western diplomats if they promote gay rights in Zimbabwe.

In a one and a half long tirade, Mugabe dared the opposition to organize protests against his rule. The Zimbabwean strongman who turned 90 years of age in February threatened that his fist can pack 90 tonnes of force if pushed against the wall. The warning against street action follows calls for nationwide protests by the MDC-T youth wing over rising poverty in the face of high level corruption, company closures and unemployment.

Harare-based SW Radio Africa correspondent, Simon Muchemwa said Mugabe’s speech showed that he had no idea how to solve the challenges facing the common man, and that he wasn’t even interested in doing so. Muchemwa said the people wanted to hear Mugabe’s solutions to rampant corruption, rising unemployment and poverty, not the same tired rhetoric.

Muchemwa added: ‘The feeling in the country is that Mugabe’s speech proved his inability to guide the country through challenging situations. The feeling is that he lives in the past. The issue of gays is certainly not one which anybody wanted to hear in the face of difficulties the country is facing.’

The Combined Harare Residents Association spokesman, Simbarashe Moyo, said instead of threatening people with violence Mugabe should honor the promises he made to the people ahead of the July 31st elections. He said: ‘If he is unable to deliver, as citizens we have every right to protest because that is legal. We have a right to protest in terms of the constitution.’

Moyo added: ‘Unfortunately, Mugabe’s speech proves that he is more of a violent leader than he is a problem solver.

This year’s independence celebrations came at a time when experts are predicting an implosion if nothing is done to address the economic problems. Last week many people, including respected war veterans, said the conditions Zimbabweans are living in at the moment are not those of a free people. The ZANU PF government is clearly failing to improve service delivery and to improve civil servants’ salaries as promised ahead of last year’s polls.

Mugabe’s speech also coincided with a BBC television interview in which he claimed that his monthly salary was only $4,000. Much to the viewers’ surprise the interviewer failed to ask Mugabe how, if his salary was that modest, he had financed his daughter’s wedding a few months ago. Bona’s wedding is said to have cost $5 million.

In the same interview, Mugabe claimed that Britain had lost its might and standing in the world because it was now led by people with ‘gay tendencies.’

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The US government has revised its targeted sanctions list by adding four new names and removing 11 others.

Those added to the list are ZANU PF functionaries Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede, ZANU PF supporter and Chinese tycoon Sam Pa, Zim-based Singaporean lawyer Jimmy Zerenie and his company Sino Zim Development. Pa and Zerenie are business associates.

The four are accused of “undermining Zimbabwe’s democratic processes and institutions or facilitating public corruption through support to the Government of Zimbabwe, senior government officials, and/or Specially Designated Nationals.”

“Today’s action targets those who are disrupting Zimbabwe’s democratic and economic progress,” the US Under-Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said in a statement last week.

Rights group Global Witness raised the alarm on Pa in 2011, when it released a detailed report on how the tycoon spent millions funding ZANU PF’s re-election bid in return for shady Chiadzwa diamond deals with the military, including spy agency the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).

“This off-budget financing has contributed to CIO programs dedicated to pre-election intimidation in Zimbabwe, among other activities,” said the US.

Zimbabwe’s security sector is at the forefront of most human rights violations in the country, and Mugabe owes his 34-year hold on power to service chiefs who control a vast network of businesses in the country.

Singaporean national Zerenie is said to have acted as Pa’s go-between, “facilitating illicit diamond deals with senior Zimbabwean officials.”

Zerenie is also a director at the now designated Sino Zim Development, which is believed to be a joint venture between Pa and the CIO.

Mudede has been included on the list for overseeing a flawed 2013 electoral process. Many Zimbabweans accuse Mudede of tinkering with the voters roll, thereby helping ZANU PF to fraudulently win the poll.

One of the flaws observed during last year’s elections was the absence of the electronic voters roll, which Mudede as the Registrar-General of Voters has steadfastly refused to make available.

Last week the NewsDay newspaper said the US had lifted measures against 11 other individuals from its list, many of whom are deceased.

Those removed from the list are businessman Billy Rautenbach, the late Vice president John Nkomo former Anti-Corruption Minister Paul Mangwana, SMEs minister Sithembiso Nyoni, late former Deputy Education Minister Isaiah Shumba, Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo’s ex-wife Marian, Msipa Sharlottie, the late ex-Tourism Minister Victoria Chitepo, the late ZANU PF politburo member Kumbirai Kangai, Bulawayo businessman Peter Nyoni, as well as a company Ringerpoint Overseas Development Private Limited.

Mfundo Mlilo, the spokesman for rights group Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, welcomed the addition of Mudede’s name to the US targeted sanctions list for his role in aiding ZANU PF’s electoral fraud.

However, Mlilo said the US move may be too little too late since Mudede’s “electoral shenanigans have already handed victory to ZANU PF and Mugabe.”

“If Billy Rautenbach’s name has been removed from the list, then this is puzzling because he has been involved in regional illicit business and mining deals working with ZANU PF’s Emmerson Mnangagwa.”

Mlilo said Rautenbach has not only financed ZANU PF but has plundered and corruptly benefited from the regime and lifting measures against him will make is easier for him to transact internationally on behalf of the regime.

ZANU PF’s Information Minister Jonathan Moyo last week dismissed the latest US moves as a divide-and-rule tactic meant to undermine the country’s independence.

The US imposed targeted sanctions on 113 Zimbabwean individuals and 70 entities in 2001 in response to growing human rights abuses by the ZANU PF regime.

The US Statement is available here: http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl2363.aspx

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Economists, politicians, clergy and many ordinary Zimbabweans have criticized a popular Zimbabwean prophet, who told worshippers at his weekend “Judgement Night 2” service that the country will soon see better days, and all because of prayer.

A huge crowd estimated to be over 160,000 participated in the all-night service, organized by preacher Emmanuel Makandiwa of the United Family International Church at Harare’s National Sports Center Sunday night.

Makandiwa prophesied that Zimbabwe was on the verge of a major economic and industrial boom that will bring back the good times and people will be able to move around the city and go shopping “even during the night.” But many economists and politicians, including Erich Bloch, Job Sikhala and Shadow Economic Minister Tapiwa Mashakada, are reported to have weighed in immediately, saying what Zimbabwe needs is a change in government policy and foreign investment. The Reverend Dr Roy Musasiwa at Domboshawa Theological College in Harare, explained that the idea of prophecy is not being practiced correctly by modern preachers, because biblical prophecy addresses the causes of the problems people are facing.

“If we examine the very meaning of prophecy as exercised by the Old Testament prophets like Amos, what they were judging were systems that caused the problems to manifest in the first place. They were prophesying against injustice, against greed and against the sinfulness of the nation,” Reverend Musasiwa said.

He added: “I am very concerned about giving people hope which is not based on industriousness, which is not based on hard work, but which is based on an expectation that things can just happen supernaturally.”

The Reverend explained that when God gave us the Garden of Eden, he said we must work on it, till it and take care of it in order to eat. This means we need to work to produce for our survival and not just expect miracles to save us.

Judgment Night 2 was attended by many top government officials, including the Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi, Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, Minister of State for Mashonaland West Ferber Chidarikire and his Midlands counterpart Jason Machaya.

Writing on the social network site twitter, one Zimbabwean said: “Our hope is being delivered by prophets while we listen to the silence of our leaders”. Zimbabweans will remember how government ministers were duped by a so-called prophet into believing that diesel had been found in rocks in the Chinhoyi area. Some of the same officials who attended Makandiwa’s service fell for this embarrassing “prophecy” and visited the area out of greed, hoping to make a fortune. Off course no such rocks were found.

Makandiwa also reportedly launched a “miracle-working anointing oil” that he said would “bring glory” and “deal with all economic problems bedeviling the society”.

According to the Daily News, he then personally collected money for the Sunday offering while issuing a disclaimer against the “popular belief that church leaders were fleecing ordinary people”. The preacher claimed “God had told him that there was nothing wrong and that he should go ahead and collect,” the paper said.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Officials in the Ministry of Lands have become the latest government members to be implicated in widespread corruption, after it emerged they fleeced hundreds of people out of thousands of dollars.

A report in the Herald newspaper names former ZANU PF councillor for Mayo in Makoni District, James Munetsi, who allegedly promised to assist about 240 people acquire farms and plots. The report states that these people, mainly located in the Diaspora, were asked to pay a ‘fee’ of up to $2,000 to begin the land allocation process.

Munetsi reportedly said he could influence land allocation officials, and needed the fees to do so. He then stopped communications with the victims of the scam, after being paid.

A local church, Faith in God Ministries, allegedly fell victim to this scam which the Herald claims “might be a tip of the iceberg.” They are believed to be a handful of aspiring farmers duped by such scams involving Land Ministry officials and politicians.

Munetsi is the latest ZANU PF official meanwhile to be named in a series of exposés uncovering the extent of corruption in Zimbabwe.

The reports have surfaced predominantly in the state media, raising suspicions about the real purpose of the corruption claims. Some observers have questioned if the reports are more to do with the infighting rocking ZANU PF than a real commitment to eradicating corruption.

Alouis Munyaradzi Chaumba of the Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa (ACT-Southern Africa) told SW Radio Africa that more needs to be done to stamp out corruption.

“We need a total paradigm and cultural shift in governance and education, and we need a new breed of leaders in public office. I have never believed that the government has the political will to tackle corruption,” Chaumba said.

He added: “People who are highly connected politically are running the syndicates and the bodies tasked with tackling corruption are highly comprised too. So it is only small fish, if anyone, who are caught.”

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SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The 55th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) kicked off to a bad start this week with reports of power cuts and low attendance on the first day of the annual event.

The Southern Eye said ‘intermittent’ power cuts rocked the opening day leaving some exhibitors wondering whether Zimbabwe was serious about attracting foreign investment. Livid exhibitors were quoted as saying power supplies went off three times on Tuesday.

Congo-Brazzaville President Denis Sassou Nguesso, who was expected to officially open the event Friday, also pulled out at the last minute citing commitments in the war ravaged Central African Republic. Sassou Nguesso’s withdrawal means the ageing Mugabe will have to step in to officially open the annual event.

SW Radio Africa correspondent Lionel Saungweme said a ZESA official claimed that the power cuts were limited to exhibition hall number 4. The official blamed exhibitors at that particular hall of overloading the system with many gadgets. Saungweme said government officials were not willing to discuss Sassou Nguesso’s withdrawal but it was clear they were very unhappy about it.

ZITF Chairperson Bekithemba Nkomo said some firms reduced the size of stands as compared to previous years because of financial constraints. Since 2000 exhibitors have pulled out in large numbers as a result of the country’s rogue image and economic downturn.

However the USA has returned to the fair after a 10 year absence, alongside Bangladesh and Nigeria. Congo-Brazzaville made a maiden appearance at the ZITF. These developments meant that the number of countries participating at the country’s biggest trade exhibition increased marginally to 19.

China is the largest exhibitor with more than 1,000 square meters of exhibition space followed by South Africa. China has over the years become one the largest investors in Zimbabwe following Mugabe’s so-called ‘Look East policy’.

This year’s fair comes at a time when the ZANU PF government is promoting its controversial indigenization policy which many say is scaring investors away. According to the law, all foreign companies operating in the country must secure 51 percent ownership of shares by local Zimbabweans through partnerships with business people, community trusts and worker share trusts.

Despite indications that some ministers are having second thoughts about the policy, Mugabe is adamant. US Ambassador, Bruce Wharton, told a ZITF business conference in Bulawayo Wednesday that government policies should be ‘predictable and implemented consistently’ so as to boost investor confidence.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean civil society organisations have backed calls for the inclusion of such groups at the upcoming US-Africa Leaders summit in Washington, with pressure building on Barack Obama to honour his commitments to supporting human rights and democracy across Africa.

Obama is hosting the two-day meeting in early August, and it is expected that more than 40 African leaders will gather for discussions with US policy makers and high-level government officials. The summit will reportedly focus on US trade and investment in Africa, and highlight America’s commitment to the overall security of the continent.

Invites are only being extended to those nations in ‘good standing’ with the US, or who are not currently suspended by the African Union (AU). This means Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, who remains targeted under the US government’s restrictive measures, has not been invited.

It is yet to be seen if this will change, given that Mugabe was nominated to a senior AU position that could see the 90 year old assume the chairmanship of the continental body next year. It was this nomination that saw the European Union (EU) bypass its own laws to invite him to the EU-Africa summit in Belgium earlier this month. The invite was extended despite him being targeted with European restrictions.

Mugabe ultimately boycotted that meeting because the EU failed to extend an invitation to his wife Grace, who also remains targeted with restrictive measures.

The Mugabe situation has since been described as a potential “diplomatic migraine” for the US, although ZANU PF has dismissed the snub as a non-event.

The US has insisted it wants to see more diplomatic reforms in Zimbabwe before it removes the measures from Mugabe and his inner circle, although last week the Obama administration did revise some of the measures, removing 11 names and adding four new ones.

Zimbabwean civic groups have now added their names to a list of signatories to a letter delivered to Obama last week, which calls on him to invite civil society to participate in the US-Africa meeting.

The letter submitted by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights (RFK Center), together with Amnesty International, Open Society Foundations, and Freedom House, called on Obama to honour his public commitments to support civic groups and individuals on the frontlines of advancing human rights and democratic change in Africa. The letter received the full endorsement of more than 100 signatories from around the world.

Jeffrey Smith, Advocacy Officer for Africa at the RFK Center, said the aim is to have an all-encompassing meeting that “won’t necessarily just be heads of state talking in diplomatic terms and to addressing key issues underpinning concerns Africa.”

He said while there have been vocal commitments made towards the advancement of human rights and democracy in Africa, there has been more “rhetoric than action” from the US government.

“It is very evident that human rights concerns have not been prioritised by this administration. If you look across Africa, there have been increasing attacks on human rights defenders and civil society, a spate of repressive laws and this copy and paste mentality of NGO laws that restrict the independence of civil society groups,” Smith explained.

He said that the role for Zimbabwean civil society at the meeting, regardless of Mugabe’s presence, was important. He said it is unlikely the US with change its mind in inviting Mugabe.

“In terms of support from African civil society, we’ve had over100 signatures including many from Zimbabwe. They can give voice to the fact that crises, humanitarian crises, human rights crises, peace and security crises, do no erupt overnight. They are usually the result of years of repression, the denial of basic human rights and the targeting of those who dare to raise critical voices. And this has been seen again and again in Zimbabwe,” Smith said.

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SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The continuation of the country’s political and economic crisis, nine months after the 2013 elections, is a result of the failure by the government of national unity to implement security sector reforms, a leading human rights campaigner has said.

Charles Mangongera said if the coalition partners in the last government had managed to implement some of the important reforms, that would have created conditions for a free and fair election in 2013. He believes that reforms to the security sector would have altered the political terrain significantly in Zimbabwe.

Mangongera told SW Radio Africa’s Hidden Story program on Wednesday that the Global Political Agreement (GPA) that resulted in the formation of the unity government had the potential to deliver a democratic breakthrough in the country.

That development however was severely undermined by military elites who feared that a level political playing field would favour the MDC-T and its leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

In a research paper titled ‘A new twilight in Zimbabwe? The Military VS Democracy,’ Mangongera said Zimbabweans had high hopes that restrictive laws would be repealed so that they could freely participate in political, social, and economic life.

‘To the disappointment of many however, the military elites used their power to stifle reform. The Joint Operations Command (JOC) has become a de facto policy making body that has usurped the traditional role of bureaucracy,’ he said.

In the report that was released last week, Mangongera explains that while President Robert Mugabe’s authoritarian grip on the state has been gradually slipping in the face of growing opposition, the military has grown ‘more and more’ involved in politics.

‘Military elites have gained institutional vetoes and blocked the country’s transition to democracy through the militarization of key state institutions and use of state sanctioned violence against Mugabe’s challengers.

‘In return, those military elites have been rewarded with lucrative government contracts, access to prime land and mining concessions from the state,’ the report said.

Mangongera bemoans the lack of a viable opposition which he said could have challenged ZANU PF’s disastrous economic record. He also cites the weakened civil society organisations as another reason why ZANU PF continues to ride roughshod over the rights of the people.

He says the only hope would be a strong and united opposition, bouncing back and taking advantage of the economic collapse to defeat Mugabe and his ZANU PF party.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Violence has broken out at Chingwizi transit camp where some victims of the Tokwe Mukosi flooding disaster have reportedly attacked fellow villagers for agreeing to leave the camp before receiving compensation.

The families were evacuated from their homes in February and since then have been squeezed in at the camp while waiting for the government to compensate them and to resettle them on new plots.

The government agreed to resettle the villagers on 4 hectares of land and to give them around $4,000 each as compensation to help them rebuild their lives.

But three months later, the government is reneging on its promise, according to Admire Mashenjere, a field officer with the Tokwe-Mukosi Rehabilitation and Resettlement Trust, which lobbies for the rights of the displaced families.

“Villagers are now being forced to move to 1 hectare plots and have been told to move without receiving any compensation. This has not gone down well with some who feel that once they leave the camp, they may never get compensation,” Mashenjere said.

Villagers who had moved to the new plots are said to be returning to the camp in fear after a group of individuals who are resisting relocation before compensation followed them and destroyed their tents to protest what they deem a betrayal by their colleagues.

Mashenjere told SW Radio Africa that even those other villagers who were already settled on 4-hectare plots were being told to move from the land on which they had begun setting up permanent structures.

“We do not want to be crowded like people living in city suburbs. We have already suffered enough disruption without the government making the displacement even more challenging by forcing us to move again to plots where we will be mixed with people from other areas,” Mashenjere added.

The villagers are also worried that the area where the new plots have been pegged has no clean water, no schools and fear that they may starve to death as they say they are already struggling with access to food.

The local Mulale school is said to be struggling to cope with the large numbers of children, with each class said to consist of at least 80 pupils.

“Where I live in Block C, the government has already stopped giving us food although they know that we have not been able to grow anything to survive on.

“There is no borehole and people are drinking unclean water from the river together with animals. The place is also mosquito-infested and the local health facility is full of children suffering from malaria,” Mashenjere said.

The government insists that the villagers have to move to avert a health crisis at Chingwizi camp.

Last week, Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo angered the displaced villagers when he ordered them to leave the camp without compensation, and threatened to stop relief groups from feeding the villagers if they kept resisting.

Almost all the assistance for the flood victims has come from international humanitarian groups whose swift response has ensured that the villagers have at least some food and shelter.

On its part the Zim government has been anything but coordinated – failing to respond timeously to the threat of flooding and evacuating villagers to safety and now bungling the resettlement process.

Visitors to the camp have described conditions there as extremely overcrowded with families having to share one small tent.

There have also been outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhoid due to the unsanitary conditions.

About a fortnight ago the head of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition chairperson, Dewa Mavhinga, said at least seven people had died at Chingwizi due to diarrheal complications.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

A leading conservation group in Zimbabwe has slammed a court challenge filed in the United States, in an attempt to overturn a ban on the importation of hunted elephant trophies.

The US government’s wildlife department announced this month that it was suspending the import of sport-hunted elephant trophies from Zimbabwe and Tanzania, citing questionable management practices and a lack of effective law enforcement.

In a statement on its website, the US wildlife department said: “Given the current situation on the ground in both Tanzania and Zimbabwe, the Service is unable to make positive findings required under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Endangered Species Act to allow import of elephant trophies from these countries.”

It added: “Additional killing of elephants in these countries, even if legal, is not sustainable and is not currently supporting conservation efforts that contribute towards the recovery of the species.”

But a group called Safari Club International has this week reportedly filed a lawsuit to challenge the ban, calling it ‘abrupt and unwarranted’. According to the NewsDay newspaper, the Club says the information the US wildlife body based its decision on is ‘inadequate’, and does not consider the alleged ‘beneficial impacts’ that US hunters and sport hunting have on African elephant conservation.

The NewsDay report stated that the Safari Club has argued in its court papers that the ban would “undermine on-the-ground conservation benefits created by US hunters.”

“For instance, three game management areas alone, such as Gokwe North, Gokwe South or Mbire, produce roughly $500,000 annually and 85% of the income was applied directly back to local projects for villages through Campfire. This revenue provided local communities with conservation resources and incentives and discouraged poaching,” NewsDay reported.

But Johnny Rodrigues, the head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), said that hunting operations in Zimbabwe are in many cases not only badly managed, but beneficial to only a few individuals. He said that initiatives like Campfire have been a “total failure” because nothing is put back into community development.

“There is no professionalism and in things like Campfire, there are a lot of people appointed and a lot of money is generated but nothing plowed back into the communities,” Rodrigues said.

He added that the US ban is welcome and added that there should be more emphasis on promoting photographic tourism in Zimbabwe, rather than hunting. He said that more money, jobs and local development can be generated if tourism was prioritised over hunting practices.

The US ban has been linked to the partisan distribution of conservation land and hunting quotas in Zimbabwe, which have benefitted ZANU PF officials for many years.

National Parks in 2012 year issued hunting permits to 25 so-called indigenous ‘farmers’ who were given land in the wildlife-rich Save Valley Conservancy in the Lowveld. This was said to be part of the government’s ‘wildlife based land reform’ exercise, saying beneficiaries have been allocated 25-year land leases in conservancies throughout the Masvingo province.

Included in the list of beneficiaries were top ZANU PF officials and loyalists, including war vets leader Joseph Chinotimba, Major General Gibson Mashingaidze, Major General Engelbert Rugeje, Masvingo Governor Titus Maluleke, then ZANU PF Masvingo provincial chair Lovemore Matuke, then Deputy Health Minister Douglas Mombeshora, ZANU PF’s central committee member Enock Porusingazi, as well as ZANU PF MPs Alois Baloyi, Abraham Sithole, Samson Mukanduri and Noel Mandebvu.

More recently, a land ‘seizure’ in the Hwange National Park has put the future safety of the Presidential Elephant Herd at risk, after their caretaker withdrew over the land row. Sharon Pincott, formerly the head of the Presidential Elephant Project, named government ministers Francis Nhema and Saviour Kasukuwere as being complicit in the potentially damaging distribution of conservation land.

Another key figure in the ZANU PF regime that has been implicated is Minister Ignatius Chombo. He has already been exposed as owning several hunting operations, including those in Hwange.

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SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

There appears to be attempts by the ruling ZANU PF party to soften its stance on the controversial indigenisation law that compels foreign owned firms to transfer a controlling shareholding to locals.

The law, enacted in 2008, has been criticised as an impediment in attracting much needed foreign direct investment.

Many analysts believe the law that requires all foreign firms, including mines and banks, to have majority control by local blacks has helped contribute to the present dire economic crisis in the country.

But last week Friday President Robert Mugabe in his Independence Day speech appeared to backtrack, saying the indigenisation program had been misunderstood.

He said not all foreign companies were targeted for takeovers disclosing there had been some confusion in the implementation of the program. Mugabe also ruled out a one-size-fits-all indigenisation approach, saying only companies utilising the country’s natural resources will be required to immediately turn over majority stakes to indigenous Zimbabweans.

This is a departure from the aggressive rhetoric adopted and normally used by former Indigenisation Minister Savior Kasukuwere.

Lately two moderates in Mugabe’s cabinet, Tourism and Indigenisation Ministers Walter Mzembi and Francis Nhema, cautioned against the law, warning of dire consequences to the economy.

Nhema has, since taking over from Kasukuwere at the indigenisation ministry, adopted a softer approach and indicated his willingness to relax the policy.

Speaking to our correspondent in Bulawayo on Wednesday, the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bruce Wharton, said the policy on indigenisation has not been consistent.

He emphasised that this creates a lot of uncertainty and lack of confidence, adding that if the rules change all the time it breeds concern and reluctance among investors.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Harare residents have said Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri is responsible for the death of a boy, who died after being knocked down by a commuter omnibus whose driver was fleeing cops who wanted a bribe.

Three-year old Neil Tanatswa Mutyora died in hospital on Tuesday after he was hit by a commuter omnibus in the city center. The child was walking in the company of an adult when the accident occurred.

According to reports the driver of the omnibus was trying to avoid paying a bribe to the cops. A NewsDay report said the child’s parents ‘blamed corruption and police heavy handedness for their son’s death.’

SW Radio Africa heard that there was an outpouring of anger and grief at Granville Cemetery where the child was laid to rest Thursday. Mourners publicly said commissioner general Augustine Chihuri must take responsibility for the child’s death.

Moses Matenga, a journalist who covered the funeral, said while the owner of the commuter omnibus contributed towards the cost the police did not bother and neither did they attend. He said: ‘The only time the police had contact with the Mutyora family was when they phoned the aunt who was in the company of the deceased child to come to the Harare central police station to give a statement.’

Harare Residents Trust Director Precious Shumba condemned the police for chasing after commuter omnibuses in the city center, saying they were endangering people’s lives. He said: ‘In our view the police do not need to chase after the omnibuses. They just need to take down the number of vehicle and transmit that number to the central vehicle registry so that the owner can be pursued legally if there is any case after all.’

Shumba said in most cases the drivers flee from the police as a way of avoiding paying bribes. He said it was not the first time that traffic cops had caused death through similar accidents.

According to the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition two people died in February this year into two separate accidents during police chases in central Harare. In 2013 one person died, while an elderly woman was knocked down. That same year 16 people were injured when a commuter omnibus overturned in Bulawayo under similar circumstances.

Police recklessness is not limited to the department of traffic. Recently, three officers from Inyanga were forced to pay compensation to a mother whom they brutally assaulted after she failed to produce her son whom they were looking for.

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights chipped in to sue the police on behalf of Felistas Mutsamarudza leading to an out of court settlement after the officers agreed to pay. In another separate incident, the lawyers group is suing both Chihuri and home affairs minister Kembo Mohadi for the torture of two Bulawayo men by the cops last month.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

Government has finally called time on mining firms that have been operating at the Marange diamonds fields in Manicaland, indicating that only one company will remain operating there.

Seven firms operate in Chiadzwa and these are Anjin Investments, Diamond Mining Company, Gye Nyame, Jinan, Kusena, Marange Resources and Mbada Diamonds.

There is speculation that Mbada diamonds, linked to Robert Mugabe and chaired by the multi-millionaire retired Air Vice Marshall Robert Mhlanga, is tipped to continue with the mining operations in Chiadzwa.

Lack of transparency surrounding diamond revenues has been a matter of critical public interest. It has deprived the Treasury of much needed revenue and amplified concerns raised by the opposition MDC-T that much of the money from the diamonds only goes to fund ZANU PF and its various cronies.

Economist and MDC-T MP Eddie Cross this week wrote on his blog that at least $7 billion in surplus revenue has been siphoned off from the operation in eight years. He said he estimated that well over 100 million carats were extracted, with a face value of $12 billion during the same period.

Some individuals in President Robert Mugabe’s cabinet and senior officers in the armed forces have accumulated vast wealth, adding to suspicions that the country’s diamond revenues are not being accounted for or managed in the public’s interest.

This may have forced government this week to finally crackdown on the mining firms following recent reports of massive looting and corrupt activities in the state owned parastatals. There is also speculation that this is part of ZANU PF’s attempts to appear more transparent, to create a sense of legitimacy to encourage more foreign investment.

However, the state controlled Herald on Thursday said the decision to pull the rug from under the companies’ feet comes after the firms allegedly refused to commit themselves to hand over $10 million each towards the government’s Marange-Zimunya Community Share Ownership Trust.

But former Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere faces accusations of dishonesty and lying, in the ongoing parliamentary probe into the failed Community Trust, as we reported earlier this month. To read that story click here.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The Gweru-based Voice of Zimbabwe (VOZ) radio station is facing closure, due to a combination of obsolete equipment and undercapitalization.

VOZ whose mission is described as, ‘to tell the Zimbabwean story from Zimbabwe, by Zimbabweans’ was set up by government essentially to counter foreign-based independent radio stations like SW Radio Africa and Voice of America.

But according to a ZBC report the shortwave radio station has not been transmitting any signal since October 2013 due to the breakdown of transmitters. The report said the ZBC board, which toured the station this week, expressed dismay at the national broadcaster’s failure to rectify the problem.

Reporters told SW Radio Africa that the station was on the verge of total closure due to poor funding. They said so serious is the problem of undercapitalization that their monthly salaries were recently cut from $600 to $300. Since October, they have continued to produce programmes but most of them remain unaired while some of them have been used by other ZBC radio stations.

Last year ZBC workers went for seven months without getting their salaries. In March this year Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said ZBC should have closed a long time ago because it was insolvent.

The MDC-T MP for Mabvuku, James Maridadi, said the development at VOZ was inevitable because ‘there has not been any investment into the transmission equipment for ages.’ He added: ‘Before we even start talking of the issue of improving transmission we need to put the ZBC into the black. From the red of $47 million we need to invest as much so that they come on to zero and that is when we can start talking about improving the problem of poor transmission.’

Maridadi said there was also a danger that Zimbabwe may fail to meet the June 2015 international deadline for digitalization. Two years ago Zimbabwe failed to meet the SADC deadline. The SADC countries had set their own deadline of 31st December 2013 but only Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania were able to comply.

ZBC’s technological problems date back to many years ago. In 2009 former information minister Webster Shamu told Parliament that ZBC needed approximately $70 million to replace its obsolete equipment. He said all the transmitters in the country had outlived their lifespan by more than 25 years.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

MDC-T President Morgan has appointed US based academic and political analyst, Dr Maxwell Shumba, as his chief political strategist.

Tsvangirai’s chief of staff Abisha Nyanguwo confirmed that Shumba will advise the party leader on a range of political and economic issues and will work alongside officials in Tsvangirai’s Harvest House office. Nyanguwo said Shumba would provide ‘significant support’ in an advisory role.

Shumba, the founding chairman of the MDC-T in the United States and an original member of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA), is expected to travel to Harare shortly for strategy meetings with Tsvangirai.

After that he will participate in ‘regular’ discussions with the team, before setting up base in Zimbabwe. Shumba told SW Radio Africa on Friday that he was excited about his new job which will be to develop action plans designed to achieve electoral victories.

‘The MDC-T has been winning many of the elections in Zimbabwe but they have failed to rule. Without giving away much, we are busy developing strategies to convert an electoral win to executive power,’ Shumba said.

In 2008, the MDC-T leader is believed to have defeated President Robert Mugabe in the presidential poll, but the military junta prevented Tsvangirai from taking over as the new President.

‘It’s not going to be business as usual…there are many things that have to change,’ said Shumba, whose priority would be to proffer advise to his boss on how to unite the fractured main opposition party.

‘My message to every democrat in Zimbabwe is let us unite, without unity, we are not going anywhere. To colleagues in the renewal team, there is also an opportunity to sit down and find ways to reengage,’ he said.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Independent reported on Friday that financial challenges facing the MDC-T continue to mount, amid indications that Tsvangirai is seeking funding from Botswana, Gabon and Ivory Coast.

The paper said Tsvangirai is seeking funding assistance for an early congress, in the aftermath of an internal crisis triggered by calls for him to step down.

SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe

The US government has refused to say why ZANU PF benefactor Billy Rautenbach was let off the targeted sanctions hook last week.

Rautenbach was one of the 113 ZANU PF functionaries that Washington slapped with restrictive measures in response to the regime’s human rights abuses.

But in a surprise move on April 17th, the US government lifted the restrictions against Rautenbach, but added Registrar-General Tobaiwa Mudede, for his role in the chaotic, disputed 2013 elections.

US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bruce Wharton, would not say why the controversial businessman has been removed from the list.

Speaking to SW Radio Africa Friday, Ambassador Wharton said the US government imposed targeted sanctions on individuals they “believed were in a position to weaken Zimbabwe and Mr Rautenbach was one of those people.”

The US official however said he will not go into the specifics of why an individual has been taken off the list.

“We have also taken off the list a sitting Cabinet minister and a [ZANU PF] politburo member, so there are a number of people who have come off that list.”

Rautenbach owes much of his illicit fortune to his links with Zimbabwe’s military.

The US Ambassador said Mudede had been added to the list for depriving Zimbabweans of an opportunity to participate in a transparent and credible electoral process.

“We did not believe the election was credible, and one of the big problems was the voter registration process and the absence of a publicly useful voters’ roll. So for us, those two things were key to the lost opportunity that the 2013 elections represented,” Wharton added.

The US envoy also dismissed reports that his government had “frozen and later unfrozen” an account used by the Zim government to pay its embassy staff in Washington.

On Thursday, media reports quoted Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa as saying the US government had frozen the account as part of its targeted measures.

But Wharton said the US government had not been involved in freezing or closing any accounts. He said the decision had been made by a commercial bank and about 16 foreign missions, including Zim, had been affected.

“Some banks want to do business internationally and some do not. This was not a US government decision and had nothing to do with the US policy towards Zimbabwe,” Wharton added.