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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.

Youth Forum reiterates need for justice

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Youth Forum remembers vividly how June 27 2008, a day when for the first time in the history of Zimbabwe there was, literally, a one man election,  resulting in many human rights abuses which saw more than 200 lives being lost, 300 000 families being displaced and thousands of innocent civilians being maimed and injured for the sake of ensuring that President Mugabe retains the driving seat.

Youth Forum commemorates this day with great agony considering the fact that youths not only within our membership but across the political divide suffered the consequences more than any other people in this nation. According to a survey carried out by our Research Desk out of every 5 victimized people in a community, 3 were youths. This is attributable to the active participation of youths in implementing the decisions on behalf of politicians. Equally disturbing is the fact that the findings also revealed that of the 5 perpetrators of violence 4 of them were youths.

Generally it came out that these youths would have been paid and could therefore not resist the temptation given their high levels of poverty due to massive unemployment, around 90% according to the Central Statics Office .This is also coupled by the fact that youths do not own resources due to imbalance in the distribution of the latter.

Against this background Youth Forum reiterates the need to effect transitional justice, peace building and conflict transformation, youth empowerment advocacy and promoting informed participation. We are however not impressed by the rate at which the government, which is a major stakeholder, is dragging its feet in coming up with these critical issues. Communities continue be divided on political grounds whilst unity is being preached at the elite levels of political parties and the government.

Furthermore youths continue to play a second fiddle in issues of national importance, particularly on the Constitutional Making Process which continues to be  clandestine and nicodemus to the majority of youths despite now being at an advanced stage.  Youth Forum has declared June 27 a special day for the youths whereby youths meet and discuss issues to do with violence prevention, informed participation and meaningful empowerment. We are not going to endorse processes which we did not participate in and will therefore mobilize our membership to reject anything which is imposed on us.

INFORMATION AND PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT

Transcript of Obama-Tsvangirai meeting

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President Barack Obama welcomed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to the Oval Office in Washington.

Below is a transcript of their remarks, as released by the White House and amended on the basis of a live recording of PM Tsvangirai’s remarks.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I want to welcome Prime Minister Tsvangirai to the Oval Office. He and his delegation have been meeting with my team throughout the day. I obviously have extraordinary admiration for the courage and the tenacity that the Prime Minister has shown in navigating through some very difficult political times in Zimbabwe.

There was a time when Zimbabwe was the bread basket of Africa and continues to have enormous potential. It has gone through a very dark and difficult period politically. The President — President Mugabe — I think I’ve made my views clear, has not acted oftentimes in the best interest of the Zimbabwean people and has been resistant to the kinds of democratic changes that need to take place.

We now have a power-sharing agreement that shows promise, and we want to do everything we can to encourage the kinds of improvement not only on human rights and rule of law, freedom of the press and democracy that is so necessary, but also on the economic front.

The people of Zimbabwe need very concrete things — schools that are reopened, a health care delivery system that can deal with issues like cholera or HIV/AIDS, an agricultural system that is able to feed its people.

And on all these fronts, I think the Prime Minister is committed to significant concrete improvement in the day-to-day lives of the people of Zimbabwe.

I congratulate him — they’ve been able to bring inflation under control after hyperinflation that was really tearing at the fabric of the economy. We’re starting to see slowly some improvements in capacity — industrial capacity there. So, overall, in a very difficult circumstance, we’ve seen progress from the Prime Minister.

We are grateful to him. We want to encourage him to continue to make progress. The United States is a friend to the people of Zimbabwe. I’ve committed $73 million in assistance to Zimbabwe. It will not be going through the government directly because we continue to be concerned about consolidating democracy, human rights, and rule of law, but it will be going directly to the people in Zimbabwe and I think can be of assistance to the Prime Minister in his efforts.

He’s going to continue to provide us with direction in ways that he thinks we can be helpful. And I’m grateful to him for his leadership, for his courage, and I’m looking forward to being a partner with him in the years to come.

Mr. Prime Minister.

PRIME MINISTER TSVANGIRAI: Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for receiving us. I’m sure that — I want to take the opportunity of congratulating you, although belatedly, for being elected the President. And I think it’s a profound experience for some of us who are committed to change, and hopefully that — the Prime Minister, who is committed to change, and the President, who is committed to change, find common convergence position.

I’ve been explaining to the President that Zimbabwe is coming out of a political conflict and economic collapse or decay, and that the new political dispensation we have crafted is an attempt to arrest this decay, but also mindful of the fact that it is a journey. This is a transitional arrangement. We want to institute those reforms that will ensure that in 18 months’ time the people of Zimbabwe are given an opportunity to elect their own government.

Yes, there has been a lot of progress made by the transitional government, but there are also problems.

It is the problems of implementation, and I do recognize that even by the standard of our own benchmarks, there are gaps that still exist and that we will strive. And I want to show my — to express my commitment that we will strive to implement those benchmarks, not because they are for the international community but because for ourselves it gives people of Zimbabwe freedom and opportunity to grow.

I want to say, lastly, I want to thank you for that demonstrable leadership in assisting the people of Zimbabwe and I want to take this opportunity to thank the humanitarian support that the West — we have experienced over the years and the continued expression of support. And of course we continue to engage in ensuring that that support consolidates the process towards democratic change, rather than strengthens a reverse and defense of the status quo.

Thank you very much, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody have a great weekend.

Eddie Cross: The Century of Cyberspace

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By Eddie Cross

If one was to characterise different periods of world history you could decide to do it in several ways – the 19th Century was perhaps the century of steam, the 20th perhaps the fossil fuels century, this century may well be called the century of cyberspace. When I started this weekly letter it was to keep a few friends informed of what was going on in the political sphere. It now goes out to a base line circulation of several thousand individuals and they in turn circulate it to thousands more.

Some friends offered to start a website – just titled Eddie Cross.com and if you Google my name, you will find nearly two million entries. It gets about 10 000 hits a month – mainly in the States but also in many other countries, even the far-flung corners of Russia. All sorts of people tell me they read my letters and they are published on a regular basis by newspapers and other journals – mainly because they are free I suspect!

Then along came Obama. A friend in Harare made a donation to both the Republican and the Democratic campaigns – each of US$500. The response from Obama was immediate – a personal note from the man himself and then on a regular basis, he got updates on the campaign, on policy and current affairs. From the Republicans – a polite thank you from an official in Washington DC. You know who raised more money, you know who won the campaign – now you know partly why!

Even here the war in cyberspace is fierce. I had an attack on my website – they penetrated the codes used to protect its contents and scrambled my content and inserted some funnies – it took my friends a few days to sort it out. Zanu PF took a long time to appreciate the importance of the web in their affairs but are now at it full time with a number of websites – none of which tell you they have anything to do with Zanu PF or with the Zimbabwe regime, but are still vehicles for their brand of disinformation and propaganda.

MDC has never been very good at this sort of thing to the despair of many.
At the start we had two volunteers who took up the cudgels and started a MDC website. In 2001 they won a global award for the best political website in the world. When they had done their service and retired to other things, we slumped and the battle was left to a number of enthusiastic individuals who took it upon themselves to fight the good fight. ZW News was one result – Graham fighting a lone battle in London – a fight that he has continued to maintain for 8 years now.

I know of others, who for a fee will scan the web every day and respond to debates on virtually anything on an hourly basis – they never seem to sleep.
Zanu PF has employed such people in the past and continues to do so. MDC now has several sites – none of which really set the world on fire but we are better than we used to be. However we come nowhere near the efficiency and intensity of the Obama campaign.

At lunch today, taken in glorious weather at the Hillside Dams in Bulawayo, one of our lunch companions referred to a Zanu PF propagandist as an “evil genius”. I concurred. Just look at what these guys did to Morgan this past week.

It started at the Zuma inauguration in Pretoria a month ago. A woman arrived at Morgan’s doorstep claiming to be a relative (in Shona culture that is used as an immediate establishment of a contact with obligation – at least to be courteous). She had an invitation to the inauguration but needed a ride – could MT oblige? Certainly. On arrival at the venue a photographer appeared and he was captured with this woman – well dressed and attractive and this photo got everybody talking.

Unbeknown to Morgan she had been involved in an attempt to grab a home and small farm outside Chegutu. No sooner had she been identified as a  “relative” and linked to MT than she resumed the attempted theft of private property in Chegutu. Just as MT left for the United States the case suddenly is brought to the surface and presented as an example of his duplicity – how can MT attack the farm invasions if his own relatives were involved?

As soon as he had landed in the States he instructed his staff to call this women and to tell her to withdraw her claim and break off the illegal action or he would issue a statement condemning the woman’s actions. Immediately a story appeared stating that she had said that it was her “right” to claim the property and that her claim was legal. She has been living in the United States for 30 years and has no possible rights to act in the manner she has.
My own advice to the US government is to pull her green card and kick her out and then allow the Chegutu family to sue her US estate for damages.

I spoke to a meeting yesterday in Ward 5 in Bulawayo – well attended and found that they all knew about this case and wanted to know what the real facts were, I was astounded when I found out how well informed even ordinary people were of the facts in a case like this. Mainly because the transmission of information today – even misinformation, is instantaneous and is broadcast into remote corners of this country by one of the radio services.

I think the visit to the US and Europe is going very well, it gives the leadership of the main players on the global stage a chance to get the measure of MT and to appreciate his personal capacity and charm. It is yielding the results we expected – the passing of a resolution by the US Congress just prior to the Obama meeting basically to establish the boundaries of reengagement by the US government and to specifically state that there will be no lifting of sanctions or restrictions until more progress towards democracy and justice is achieved.

The new funding announced by the US Government (another $73 million) comes on top of an existing programme of $250 million for humanitarian assistance and another $200 million under the global fund for health needs, raising the total of the US governments commitments to Zimbabwe to over half a billion dollars – all of it in the form of grant aid, extraordinary in any language.

Unless you are linked into the cyberspace war, you are unlikely to hear or see anything like that in the media – especially here in Zimbabwe, but it marks out the rules of the game for the next two years – major leaders like Obama are firmly on our side in this fight and if we do our part, you can be sure we will achieve what Morgan promised the US President – 18 months to an election when the people of Zimbabwe, at last, can elect a government of their own choice.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 14th June 2009

Cathy Buckle: What Wheat Crop?

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By Cathy Buckle

Dear Family and Friends,

The first little seed of truth was planted in the government controlled Herald newspaper this week. In a report about the country’s annual wheat crop, we were finally told in writing what we already know and can see with our own eyes, which is: What wheat crop!

The Vice President of the Zimbabwe National Farmers Union, Garikai Msika said the winter wheat cropping

programme was a total failure. The report cited the usual litany of plaintive excuses including a lack of money, seed, inputs and the change to US dollars. The report said that the Zimbabwean government should immediately start mobilising funds to import wheat.

Tragically, the report did not even mention the continuing farm seizures or the effect they are having on food production in the country.

We are still trying to take in the news that an American doctor, resident in the USA for the past 30 years and with an established medical practice there is trying to take over the remaining 60 hectares of a Chegutu farm. The doctor has not lived in Zimbabwe since Independence three decades ago and yet now she says she is merely correcting an ‘historical imbalance.’ Even harder to comprehend was the doctor’s own admission that it was her sister, a church Pastor, who had tried to evict the farmer. I am reeling still, to think that a woman of the church would be involved in this and cannot help but wonder what example this is for the parishioners in her church.

Most distressing of all is that 4 months into Zimbabwe’s unity government this madness is still going on. As fast as Prime Minister Tsvangirai and Finance Minister Biti persuade the world to give us money, farm grabbers are just as fast sabotaging all attempts to pull the country out of starvation. Daily we hear of maize crops being stolen by the truckload, of export oranges and mangoes being looted or going rotten in cold rooms and all because there continues to be no law and order on the farms.

The UN said recently they expected to have to feed 7 million Zimbabweans by the end of this year. We have wasted our chance to grow a winter wheat crop and the Red Cross are even having to feed our prisoners. While this goes on non resident doctors, church Pastors, politicians and security personnel continue to ravage Zimbabwe’s few productive farms. Surely the time has come for Prime Minister Tsvangirai to put a stop to this.

I am delighted to close with the news that my book “African Tears” is at last available again, as an E-book. Have a look at my website and follow the links if you are interested. Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.Copyright cathy buckle 13th June 2009. www.cathybuckle.com

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