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WOZA beaten & arrested in Bulawayo

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Members of Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA/MOZA) marched through the streets of Bulawayo today to mark International Refugee Day, commemorated annually on 20th June. Four simultaneous protests began at 12.30pm under the theme – real people, real needs.

The four different protests began at different locations, one of which was outside Bulawayo Central Police Station, converging on the offices of the state-owned Chronicle newspaper to test if media freedom exists in Zimbabwe today.

Three of the four simultaneous protests, including the one that had started outside the police station, arrived at the offices of the Chronicle at which point they were attacked by uniformed police officers who brutally beat them, arresting many.

The fourth demonstration was stopped en route by police who also viciously beat the peaceful protestors. At this point, we are still trying to verify how many people have been arrested and how many require medical treatment.

WOZA traditionally marks International Refugee Day as we believe Zimbabweans are refugees in their own country – displaced, unsettled and insecure. Government is still targeting informal trading, the only means of survival for most people and so many find themselves unable to provide for themselves and their families. Informal traders are harassed by police, their produce often looted and stolen.

In a country where all goods and services are now charged in foreign currency, the inability to earn forex places the vulnerable even more at risk and forces more and more Zimbabweans to flee their country of birth to try and provide for their families.

Through these peaceful protests, WOZA is reminding the inclusive government and the world that the people of Zimbabwean remain the victims of this crisis – it is time to put the needs of the people first. ALL Zimbabweans deserve to enjoy the full rights of citizenship; amongst others, the right to earn a living, the right to personal security and the right to adequate shelter.

Swedish PM urges Zim reforms, no aid yet

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STOCKHOLM, June 16 (Reuters) – Sweden’s prime minister said on Tuesday he saw positive signs in Zimbabwe but stopped short of offering aid to the impoverished country, urging the government to push through economic and political reforms.

“We are determined to do as much as we can to support the transition to democracy and increase the respect for human rights in Zimbabwe,” Fredrik Reinfeldt said at a news briefing after a meeting Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

“This will be an important task during the Swedish EU presidency.” But Reinfeldt, who takes over the rotating European Union presidency for Sweden from July 1, offered no aid for the African nation, saying urgent matters needed to be resolved.

“Politically motivated violence needs to be stopped,” he said. “The rule of law and freedom of the media must be established.”

Tsvangirai has been touring Europe and the United States in a bid to woo financial support for the unity government he shares uneasily with rival President Robert Mugabe.

Reinfeldt said Zimbabwe must provide greater transparency in its financial system and start reforming its central bank.

Western donors, who accuse Mugabe of years of misrule and largely shun him, have said aid will only flow when a democracy is created and economic reforms are implemented.

Aid is beginning to trickle into aid agencies, bypassing the government. Germany pledged 25 million euros ($35 million) for Zimbabwe on Monday and U.S. President Barack Obama promised last week $73 million to help fight AIDS and promote good governance. Tsvangirai said he understood the concerns and was not there to defend Mugabe’s past record. “I would be the last one … to say everything is rosy,” he said. “There are some gaps.”

Tsvangirai’s government has said it needs $10 billion to rebuild a country of 12 million people which has been devastated by chronic unemployment above 90 percent and acute poverty.

Zimbabwe’s unity government was formed by Mugabe and Tsvangirai in February after an electoral standoff, but their power-sharing deal has not been fully implemented.

MDC Director-General Shonhe detained

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The MDC director general, Toendepi Shonhe was today arrested by the police on a trumped-up charge of perjury.

Shonhe, who is being charged under Section 183 (1) of the Criminal Law (Codification) Act, is accused of having lied under oath when he swore to an affidavit that three members of the MDC had been re-abducted by State security agents.

The three activists, Lloyd Tarumbwa, Fani Tembo and Terry Musona, had been taken by the police from their homes in Banket for interviews at the Attorney General’s Office.

By 6pm, Shonhe was still detained at Harare Central where officers from the police’s Law and Order section were recording a statement from him in the presence of his lawyer, Chris Mhike, of Atherstone and Cook Legal Practitioners.

Security agents should be non-partisan

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Mutare – THE MDC’s national secretary for security and defence Hon. Giles Mutsekwa at the weekend urged State security agents to be non-partisan when performing their duties.

Addressing more than 5 000 MDC supporters at the MDC 10th Anniversary celebration rally at Dora Secondary school in his constituency of Mutare North  in Manicaland, Hon. Mutsekwa took a swipe at the police for doing little to improve on service delivery and integrate well in the inclusive government to revive the nation.

Hon. Mutsekwa is also the Co-Minister of Home Affairs.

“The police, army and CIO agents should defend the government and not any political party.

Leading is not about being oppressive, fearsome, taking advantage of circumstances or vulnerable people. Leading is offering freedom and protection and ensuring that people live in peace and harmony” he said.

Hon. Mutsekwa also took the opportunity to encourage perpetrators of political violence to surrender themselves to the police and local traditional leaders as a means to truly repent and pay back what they looted after the March 2008 harmonised elections.

He said the people should have a culture of openness so that genuine national healing and reconciliation takes place.

“People should come in the open and spell out their part in the political disturbances that happened and if there is need for restitution, they should do so. They should then seek forgiveness from those they offended. This is the only way people can truly repent and be forgiven” he said.

Over 500 MDC activists were murdered after the announcement of the March 28, 2008 harmonised elections while thousands were attacked by Zanu PF militias.

Addressing at the same rally, Musikavanhu MP, Hon. Prosper Mutseyami warned MDC supporters not to relax but to be prepared for elections as the country had not yet reached their final destination for a better Zimbabwe.

“The inclusive government has indeed started to show some positive changes. This should however not deceive the people. We have not reached the New Zimbabwe that we are hoping for as a party. The struggle is still going on and people should keep on pressing forward until a new dispensation is ushered in”, he said.

The rally was also attended by Makoni South MP, Hon. Pishai Muchauraya, Mutare Senator, Hon. Keresensia Chabuka and Nyanga Senator Hon. Patrick Chitaka.

Tsvangirai Is Head of Government: MDC

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President Head of State, Prime Minister Head of Government

The MDC notes with dismay the mischievous press reports alleging that the MDC President and Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Hon Morgan Tsvangirai is on a fund-raising mission for his party.

Today’s issue of The Herald makes another equally malicious claim that all executive authority in the inclusive government is vested in President Mugabe as the Head of State and Government, which is in itself a mischievous and dishonest claim.

We note with concern the abuse of state institutions, particularly The Herald and the ZBC. We continue to hear the Zanu PF voice. We continue to hear the voice of hatred, mendacity, falsehoods and unbridled malice.

President Mugabe is the Head of State while the Prime Minister Hon Morgan Tsvangirai is the Head of Government responsible for the government business in Parliament as well as the formulation and implementation of government policy, according to the Global Political Agreement.

President Mugabe is not the sole repository of executive authority as mischievously claimed by The Herald. Article 20 of the GPA is clear that executive authority rests with Cabinet, the President and the Prime Minister.

Zimbabweans are aware that the inclusive government is a combination of different political parties. It cannot be an inclusive team of exclusive players with one of them notoriously claiming executive player status.

The MDC also notes with dismay the insinuation that President Tsvangirai is on a fund-raising mission for the party. The MDC President has since reiterated that his mission is to re-engage the international community so that Zimbabwe once again rejoins the family of nations.

For the record, the MDC as a party has never ruptured relations with the international community and we cannot be held responsible for the negative perceptions the world has about those who thought sovereignty means severing ties with everyone.

All the MDC and its leadership have sought to do is to engage the international community to assist and support the inclusive government as a transitory mechanism which remains the most viable route to a new Zimbabwe and a new beginning.

We are a party of excellence. We do not believe in cheap politicking and unbridled propaganda which seeks to undermine and belittle the office of the Prime Minister and its responsibilities. We believe in honesty, transparency, equality, justice, respect, tolerance and freedom as the hallmark for building a new and better Zimbabwe.

Together to the end, marching to a new Zimbabwe.

MDC Information & Publicity

MDC: 15 000 turn up for Bindura rally

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About 15 000 people turned up at the MDC’s 10th anniversary celebratory rally at Chipadze stadium in Bindura on Sunday while thousands more attended 317 rallies held at ward level in several parts of the country.

In his keynote address to the thousands who thronged the 10th anniversary rally in Bindura, the MDC secretary-general Hon Tendai Biti said the party had decided to be part of the inclusive government in order to salvage the deteriorating political, social and economic situation in the country.

“We did not join anyone’s government. We won the election on 29 March 2008 but the defeated refused to hand over power. The inclusive government is an instrument of soft-landing the crisis so that we can alleviate the suffering of the people pending a new Constitution and free and fair elections,” he said.

Hon Biti said the MDC was concerned with improving the lives of the people and that is why the MDC President and Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister, Hon Morgan Tsvangirai had entered on a three-week international tour to re-engage the international community so that Zimbabwe would rejoin the family of nations.

“He is working hard to improve the people’s lives and the people of Zimbabwe know the obstacles he is facing from the residual elements who are refusing to recognise the new authority in town,” he said.

He blasted the service chiefs, who he said had made it abundantly clear that they were fighting change, progress and development by refusing to accord respect to the Prime Minister.

The MDC secretary-general said the tide of change was irreversible, adding that President Robert Mugabe himself was Prime Minister before he became the country’s President.

“There is no going back. Morgan Richard Tsvangirai will win a free and fair election and we all know that Zimbabwe’s template is such that you become Prime Minister first before you become President,” the MDC secretary-general said to rapturous applause.

Before the MDC secretary-general took to the podium, the stadium reverberated to the din of delegates shouted “Gono must go! Tomana must go!”

Hon Biti said the MDC’s position on the two was clear that they should resign in the national interest, but said he would not be drawn into getting into the details of the matter.

The MDC national conference resolved on 31 May 2009 that Reserve Bank of Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana must resign “forthwith.”

Hon Biti urged the MDC structures to remain resolute and brace themselves for elections that are scheduled once a people-driven Constitution-making process takes place.

Addressing the same crowd, the deputy secretary-general Hon Tapiwa Mashakada paid tribute to the people of Mashonaland Central by sticking to the party in times of violence.

He said the MDC’s decision to join the inclusive government was merely a decision to continue fighting for change and democracy in a new arena.

“We are only 10 years old but we already control all the major towns and cities, we have the majority of councillors, we control Parliament and we have ministers of government,” he said.

The rally was also attended by the national organising secretary Engineer Elias Mudzuri, his deputy Hon Morgan Komichi, the national youth chairman Hon Thamsanqa Mahlangu, provincial leaders, MPs, councillors and senators.

The 10th anniversary celebrations are being held under theme “Celebrating a decade of courage, conviction and leadership.” The next provincial 10th celebratory rally will be held on 28 June 2009 in Midlands North province.

MDC Information & Publicity

US Doctors Give Zim Man New Face

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By Dennis Douda

Minnesota nice is being proven all over again. A young man from Africa who says he is proof of that as doctors in St. Paul rebuild not only his face but his entire future. Even for skilled specialists, the surgical case on the table before them is a challenge.

“It’s kind of like putting a puzzle together,” said one surgeon before the operation.

Yet, amidst the medicine and machines and mounds of surgical blue they never lose sight of the gentleman they hope to help.

“Just a quiet, gentle, very intelligent young person who, hopefully, his entire life is gonna change now,” said Neurosurgeon Eric Nussbaum.

His name is Tonderai Mandigumura. In early April, the 22-year-old flew to Minnesota from Zimbabwe to see if American doctors could accomplish what nearly two dozen operations back home have not: to free him from a life of hiding his deformity behind hats and scarves.

Mandigumura has a genetic condition called neurofibromatosis, sometimes called Elephant Man’s disease. Since childhood tumorous tissue has overwhelmed the right side of his face.

Craniofacial Reconstructive Plastic Surgeon Martin Lacey thinks he can help. Mandigumura admits to being a little nervous.

“Is it going to be a series of operations or is it going to be one day?” asked Mandigumura.

“I think this one will be one long day,” said Lacey.

To know what they’re dealing with, a multitude of CAT scans map his body. The tumor has destroyed Mandigumura’s right eye and changed the shape of his skull around it.

To see if key arteries may have been altered as well, he’s given a cerebral angiogram.

It is here that Interventional Radiologist Mike Madison discovers the carotid artery in the right side of his neck is blocked, but his body has grown its own bypass vessels around it to feed the brain.

The big day was June 2. St. Joseph’s Hospital has donated its services and staff.

A trio of surgical specialists has volunteered their time. Nussbaum is joined by Lacey and Neuro Ophthalmologist and Plastic Reconstructive Surgeon Andrew Harrison. They expect to be on their feet, non-stop, for the next eight hours.

The first piece of tumor removed weighs over a pound.

From there the right side of Mandigumura’s face is literally peeled away so doctors can reshape the tissues beneath and reposition eyelid, lips and ear. There is constant consultation and team work.

“You know I think it’s critical in terms of doing a case like this,” said Nussbaum. “It crosses sub-specialty lines, so as a neurosurgeon this is much more than I could ever look at doing myself.”

“It is crucial I think to be able to work back and forth as we see the anatomy unfold, making decisions about what to do,” he said.

Because Mandigumura’s right eye is non-functional, it’s been removed. And now doctors are going to implant something called a Bio-Eye. It’s a placeholder until an artificial eye can be added in the future.

The center of the Bio-Eye is specially chosen coral, shaped into a sphere.

“And we wrap it in a donor sclera, which is the white part of an eye from a donor eye. And that allows us to attach the muscles to it so it can move with the other eye,” said Harrison.

Because tumor had greatly enlarged and moved Mandigumura’s eye socket, Harrison re-models it with pieces of titanium screen and bone. Even though this is not a cure for his condition, the tumors are very slow growing and doctors expect the results to be long-lasting.

“Neurofibromatosis is relatively common in the community. I think you’d be surprised,” said Lacey. “In the United States, we’re lucky. Things are caught earlier. We can intervene at an earlier stage and as a result not let them reach such extreme examples as this.”

What started before 10 a.m. concludes six hours later.

The surgeons spared Mandigumura two extra hours under anesthetic by avoiding the need to open his skull and expose his brain. The personal satisfaction sparkles in their eyes.

“It’s huge. It’s huge! I mean, like I said to the family, this is why we go into medicine in the first place,” said Harrison.

Exactly one week later the swelling is going down. In a few months, another procedure will refine his lips and face even further. He is staying with a St. Joseph’s nurse, also from Zimbabwe, who happens to be married to his cousin.

Fellow nurses put together a cookbook to raise money for his expenses. He says he is very touched by the outpouring of generosity.

“Yeah, everyone’s nice. Very nice treatment here. The hospital. Excellent care,” said Mandigumura.

In about two weeks Mandigumura will be fitted with a prosthetic eye. He is trained in business and accounting, but people have been reluctant to hire him. He hopes finding a job will be easier now when he goes back home. CBS.

Soldiers & Police say Gov Easing Tension

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By Peta Thornycroft

Lower-ranking police officers and army troops in Zimbabwe say they are better off under the country’s new inclusive government.  But they quietly say they fear there is too much political involvement in the security services.

Zimbabwe’s army has about 30,000 soldiers who earn $100 a month.  It was reported that lower ranking soldiers carried out most of the beatings of Movement for Democratic Change supporters during last year’s elections.

A private with four years service told VOA he beat MDC supporters because senior officers loyal to President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF, forced him to.  The soldier, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, said he is relieved an inclusive government is now in place, because those pressures are now gone.

He is critical of top officers in the Zimbabwe National Army, who he says are unprofessional because they openly support Zanu PF, the former ruling party.

Zimbabwe’s top generals have refused to salute Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who won more votes in the March 2008 election than President Robert Mugabe.

“As a soldier, I am not happy with the attitude of our bosses [with] Morgan Tsvangirai and the inclusive government, because when they say they will not support anyone who is not Zanu PF, then it means the army is any extension of the party,” he said.

An off-duty policeman, who also asked not to be named, said a senior group in the Zimbabwe Republic Police loyal to Mr. Mugabe does not recognize Mr. Tsvangirai.  He said top policemen had made what he described as “enormous fortunes” during the past few years of Zanu PF rule.

He also said the force of about 20,000 is no longer professional.  He said many untrained Zanu PF youth militia were recruited into the force since last year’s elections, lowering the standards in the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

He said many police spend days harassing motorists at road blocks to extract bribes to boost their salaries instead of enforcing law and order.

“As for me, I am not actually happy that $100 dollars is very little for me to survive for a month long . You need about $500 to survive for a month in Zimbabwe. In police we are no longer policing.  The manner in which police must police, this is creating more and more corruption.  We are no longer working as police officers on duty,” he said.

Despite this, and a core of senior officers in the army and police fanatically loyal to Mr. Mugabe, many people in Harare’s western townships who were hounded by the security forces last year, say they are better behaved since the inclusive government was sworn in in February.

A former member of the army, now a businessman said people are no longer scared of the security forces, even though he did not want his name mentioned.

“Considering how they were behaving before the inclusive government and how they are behaving now there is a major difference.  They are no longer harassing people in bars,” he said. “They are no longer traumatizing people like they used to do.  They used to be bullying people whenever they see people gathering, even at shops.  They used to harass people, but right now their behavior has changed, really.”

VOA was unable to get comment from the Zimbabwe government.  Defense minister Emmerson Mnangagwe mobile phone was not on, and George Charamba, spokesman for President Robert Mugabe ZANU-PF in government, declined to comment.

Meanwhile, word is spreading in the security forces that coinciding with Mr. Tsvangirai’s visit last week to Washington, the Senate said the United States may assist with salaries for Zimbabwe’s teachers and health workers, but not members of the security forces.

Lower-ranking officers in the police and army said the United States was making a mistake.

“As a policeman and a civil servant we should be treated equally.  We are all coming from the government and we are  suffering the same things that affect teachers, those are the same things that affect us also,” he said.

A soldier in central Harare, who did not want to be identified, says if any difference in salaries is made between the security forces and other civil servants there could be consequences.

“It may destabilize the country, because we may be viewed as people belonging to the party instead of being viewed as professional,” the soldier said.

Political commentators also agree the security forces, by and large, are behaving better than they were before the inclusive government.

An exception is police working in districts of Zimbabwe where white farmers are being harassed by Zanu-PF loyalists trying to take over their farms.   The Commercial Farmers’ Union says the police usually fail to respond to farmers calls for help. Voice of America.

Constitution hearings to go ahead-parties

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By Nelson Banya

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe will go ahead with its public hearings on a new constitution, set for later this month, parliamentary officials said on Friday, removing a major obstacle to fully implementing a power-sharing deal.

Zimbabwe’s new unity government, formed by Mugabe and rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last February, had appeared headed for a clash after lawmakers from Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party indicated they would seek to delay the hearings, citing lack of preparedness.

A new constitution was a key demand by Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) during negotiations leading to the formation of the power-sharing government.

The MDC has accused Mugabe and ZANU-PF of failing to fully implement the political agreement and the move to delay constitutional reforms could further upset the stability of the unity government.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai agreed on an 18-month timetable for constitutional reforms, with a referendum on the new constitution expected to be held in a little over a year’s time.

MDC lawmaker Douglas Mwonzora, joint chairperson of a 25-member parliamentary committee steering the constitutional reform process, told a news conference that all parties in the unity government had agreed to start public hearings in all the 10 provinces between June 24 and June 27.

That would lead to a national conference on constitutional reforms from July 9 to July 12, Mwonzora said.

“The days we have announced are by consensus. We all agreed that they are final,” he said.

The ZANU-PF chief whip, Joram Gumbo, said his party’s earlier concerns on the process had been misunderstood.

“To clear the air, all we said is that ZANU-PF MPs were requesting, if possible, for the co-chairpersons to postpone the hearings,” Gumbo said.

“We did not try to stall the process.”

The state-controlled Herald newspaper had on Friday reported that ZANU-PF MPs would seek to postpone provincial hearings.

The unity government, which says it needs up to $10 billion to fix an economy battered by hyperinflation, has been struggling to get aid, especially from Western donors who have demanded broad economic and political reforms before providing support.

Tsvangirai is currently on a trip to Europe and the United States seeking to lure Western donors. He is expected to meet U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on Friday to drum up support for the unity government.

Germany to give Harare $35m

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel Monday praised Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, but suggested that economic aid for the impoverished African country would depend on the pace of reforms there.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Tsvangirai after talks at the chancellor’s office, Merkel praised him as a “courageous man” who stands as “a symbol of democratisation”.

“We wish the prime minister’s government luck and we will seek to help it, in the future, whenever possible,” she said.

But she also underscored the need “to strengthen democratic structures”.

“We want to help in this process. But it is important that we get a feeling as to how good progress is,” she said.

She notably spoke of the need to amend the country’s constitution and allow for the return of land expropriated under President Robert Mugabe.

Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader turned reform-seeking prime minister under a uneasy power-sharing deal with Mugabe, is on an international tour looking for development aid.

The country is seeking to emerge from years of hyper-inflation and a breakdown in basic services that has forced millions of Zimbabweans to flee the country.

In the United States last week, he won a pledge for 73 million dollars in aid from President Barack Obama.

Merkel also spoke of humanitarian aid, but made no direct pledges.

German development minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, who later met Tsvangirai, announced that Germany would give the World Bank 20 million euros (27 million dollars) to help Zimbabwe, along with five million euros to buy seed and fertiliser for small-time Zimbabwean farmers.

Speaking at the press conference, Tsvangirai said his government was making progress in dealing with the country’s problems.

“Zimbabwe is changing and is changing for the better,” he said.

Mugabe and rival Tsvangirai on February 11 formed a power-sharing government tasked with steering Zimbabwe back to stability after disputed elections last year plunged the country into crisis.

An International Monetary Fund team arrived Monday in Zimbabwe to assess the government’s economic policies and the country’s humanitarian needs, officials said.-AFP.

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