ZANU PF ‘seeking legitimacy’ through sanctions case

The last two on the EU sanctions list: Robert and Grace Mugabe

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
17 June 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

ZANU PF has stepped up its efforts in seeking international legitimacy, by trying to secure a court ruling that declares the European Union (EU) targeted restrictive measures as ‘illegal’.

The party’s case against the EU, which it filed in 2012, is finally underway despite the Brussels based leadership bloc already removing the majority of its restrictions against the ZANU PF regime.

Robert Mugabe and his wife are the only two members of the regime who remain targeted with travel and financial restrictions, after the EU removed the bulk of the measures earlier this year. This is in spite of the flawed elections in Zimbabwe last July, as well as a lack of reforms that the EU had previously stipulated were needed before its ‘sanctions’ policy would be reviewed.

ZANU PF’s court case, which got underway at the General Court of the European Union last Tuesday in Luxembourg, now seeks to have the measures declared illegal, with the party arguing that the ‘sanctions’ were imposed without any legal basis. The party’s lawyers are arguing that it was only the UN Security Council that had the power to impose ‘sanctions’ on a member country.

Oral hearing of the case is set to continue for the next two weeks before a decision is handed down later in the year.

Observers say ZANU PF is trying to absolve itself of the financial ruin Zimbabwe is facing, with the party maintaining that international ‘sanctions’ are to blame for the dire state of the economy.

The measures, and those which still remain imposed by Australia and the US, have been repeatedly blamed for Zimbabwe’s current economic crisis despite the fact that it was only individuals and individual entities that were specifically targeted.

Wilbert Mukori, the spokesperson of the Zimbabwe Social Democrats group, said the court case has “no merit.” But he told SW Radio Africa that the EU itself has helped ZANU PF in this legitimacy drive, by actively seeking re-engagement.

“This re-engagement undermines the position of other countries who say that since the rigged elections last year, sanctions should remain,” Mukori said.

He also expressed concern that there is no attempt to hold the ZANU PF regime to account for past atrocities that led to the targeted sanctions being imposed. He said that the selfish interests of some EU member states meant that Mugabe and his “dictatorship” were being allowed to “carry on as normal.”

“The EU is giving the Mugabe regime the encouragement on carry on with human rights abuses and corruption. We have reached a point where corruption is rampant and looting has reached shocking levels. And that is the root cause of the economic collapse,” Mukori said.

Meanwhile, civil society members debated the ‘sanctions’ issue during a think tank discussion on the state of the Zimbabwe’s economy on Tuesday, with some civil leaders saying the targeted measures were “counter productive.”

James Muzondidya from the Zimbabwe Institute argued that the economy cannot be revived if targeted sanctions remain, saying the presence of the measures maintains a view of “instability.” He argued that because the sanctions have been “ineffective in effecting change,” they are “pointless in maintaining.”

The EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Aldo Dell’Arricia also gave his opinion on the matter, insisting it was the country’s massive international debt, not ‘sanctions’, that was stopping the government from receiving new loans. He also insisted that the targeted measures imposed by the EU were legal.

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

Marange diamond region hit by ‘panic and uncertainty’

Alluvial diamond field in Marange

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
18 June 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

The government’s plan to consolidate control of the Marange diamond region is said to have created a ‘panic’ situation, with mining investors, employers and workers uncertain about the future.

Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa in March this year announced plans to reduce the current number of mining firms in Chiadzwa to just one. This was followed by a threat by Mines Minister Walter Chidhakwa, to shut down all operations at the diamonds fields, where millions of dollars in ‘missing’ diamond revenue remains unaccounted for. He said that the government was losing diamond revenue through “cartels,” and that shutting down all mining at the alluvial fields was better than this continued revenue loss.

No further action has been taken since these threats which, according to a local research group, have left people ‘panicking’.

James Mupfumi, the acting director of the Centre for Research and Development (CRD) told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that the government’s plans have created ‘uncertainty’. He said a direct result of this was the “arbitrary slashing of salaries” by the Mbada Diamonds firm, which has cut the pay of its workforce by 50%. The company has cited ‘low production’ as the reason for the salary cut.

Mbada is the latest of the seven firms operational at Chiadzwa to make changes with a direct impact on its workers. Recently, the Anjin diamond mine sent part of its workforce on forced leave, while workers at other mines have reported not getting paid for months.

“Because of that quietness and darkness over what is happening, we are hearing of companies downsizing, companies sending workers home without salaries. There is panic, there is uncertainty and nobody knows what is happening,” Mupfumi said.

He added: “We are also hearing that some investors and shareholders are pulling out the mining equipment at night and taking it to Mozambique, while people from the military are coming into the mining fields, also under cover of darkness.”

Mupfumi explained that the local community has been bearing the brunt of the confusion, with an increase in illicit activity being reported at the mines.

“The fact that the mining firms haven’t been paying the workers means there are more organised syndicates bringing in more illegal panners. And the response has been brutal. We’ve met with people who have been victimised and beaten after being accused of being panners by the security. So it has worsened the lives of already poverty stricken people who have not benefited from the diamonds ever,” Mupfumi said.

The speculation meanwhile about the true intentions of the government’s Chiadzwa consolidation plan has been rife, amid reports that steps are being taken to hand over control to the Mugabe family-linked Mbada firm.

According to a recent report by Africa Confidential, Mbada is set to be the “last miner standing” and would ultimately be a joint venture with the ZANU PF government.

“But we hear that the biggest private share may already be in the process of transferring to President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe,” Africa Confidential reported.

Africa Confidential said that “Grace and her three children, rather than the President, are the beneficiaries of a 50% stake in Mbada,” according to two independent sources from the financial sector and an airline official who has worked with the President’s new son-in-law, Simba Chikore.

Minister Chidhakwa, allegedly a nephew of Robert Mugabe’s, is also reportedly leading the plans to put Mbada in control, after being placed in the Ministry “to secure the [Mugabe] family’s interests.”

The CRD’s Mupfumi meanwhile said that the ZANU PF “patronage system” has been at play in the diamond fields ever since the gems were discovered, and nothing will improve until there is a strong outcry from the public and civil society.

“I don’t think the government is sincere is stamping out corruption, because it boils down to political will to change things. For years the shareholding of the mines have been parceled out to senior members of ZANU PF and the army, and we haven’t seen any positive impact of diamond mining on the communities. And that is not going to change while the patronage system is working,” Mupfumi said.

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

ZANU PF power entrenched by ‘exploitative’ Trafigura deal

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
27 May 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

The planned takeover of the ZANU PF linked Sakunda fuel group, by a controversial Dutch multinational oil trader called Trafigura, has been slammed as an “exploitative deal” that entrenches ZANU PF’s grip on power.

The takeover of Sakunda is said to be part of Trafigura’s aims at “consolidating its grip on the fuel supply and distribution in Zimbabwe,” and to cement its relationship with Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF. According to a report by Africa Confidential  the deal has been done through Trafigura’s South African Subsidiary, Puma Energy Africa Holdings.

Senior ZANU PF and CIO officials have been linked to Sakunda for years, and the company has long been accused of supporting the party’s political and financial aims. For example in 2012, it was Sakunda that facilitated an estimated $40 million maize import deal with Zambia, after President Micahel Sata pledged to helped Mugabe’s re-election campaign.

More recently, in December 2013 Sakunda secured a $120 million loan from a French bank, which was guaranteed by Trafigura. It is likely this loan, which was given to the ZANU PF government, helped Trafigura in its plans to acquire Sakunda, despite already claiming a 60% stake in the local Redan fuel retailer last year.

With Sakunda and Redan under its belt, Trafigura now controls over 125 Zimbabwe fuel outlets, and also has exclusive access to the government owned Fekura oil pipeline that runs from Beira to Harare.

Economic analyst Vince Musewe told SW Radio Africa that the deal does nothing for the empowerment of Zimbabweans, and goes against ZANU PF’s own indigenisation plans.

“It is unacceptable that an entity like this comes in and buys out the market. The laws also states that in the retail sector, only locals can participate. This is the fuel retail sector, so there is much more to this than a straight deal,” Musewe said.

Also implicated in the Trafigura deal is the Brainworks Capital Management firm, which made news headlines last year after company founder George Manyere was paid $40 million dollars to prepare the Zimplats indigenisation agreement.

Brainworks, said to be investing in Zimbabwe’s fuel sector alongside Trafigura’s Puma subsidiary, facilitated the recent sale of Trafigura’s BancABC stake to the former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond.

Diamond meanwhile recently said he would secure a $207 million European bond for Mugabe’s government.

Musewe said these loans and related deals are all about securing ZANU PF’s grip on power, in exchange for Zimbabwe’s assets. He said this was “exploitative” and such deals were undermining Zimbabwe’s economic recovery.

“This is the same beast that has done all the corrupt deals in Zimbabwe since the 80’s and it is the international community that is assisting the further entrenchment of ZANU PF. Despite the rhetoric that they (ZANU PF) want to empower Zimbabwe, the economic space remains limited to ZANU PF cronies and this kind of deal demonstrates that,” Musewe said.

Trafigura meanwhile has had its own share of controversy and in 2006 was directly implicated in a health crisis in Côte d’Ivoire after a Trafigura chartered ship offloaded toxic waste at an Ivorian port. The gas caused by the release of these chemicals is blamed by the UN and the government of Côte d’Ivoire for the deaths of 17 and the injury of over 30,000 Ivorians.

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

Violence leader Chinoz embraced as Book Café ‘guest of honour’

Chinotimba dances with crowd at Book Café

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
26 May 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

Buhera MP Joseph Chinotimba was last week embraced and welcomed as a guest of honour at the Book Café in Harare, where he reportedly “brought the house down” with his jokes.

Appearing at the Carnival Comedy Night at the venue, ‘Chinoz’ was pictured on stage, microphone in hand, making jokes and laughing with Book Café patrons.

The ZANU PF official has previously been the butt of Zimbabwean jokes, often described as a ‘caricature’ of politics in his quest to win the Buhera parliamentary seat in past elections. But since scoring a shock ‘win’ in the constituency last year, the jokes have seemed less funny.

The former Harare city council security guard rose to infamy during the 2000 land invasions when he and the combative war vets leader, Chenjerai “Hitler” Hunzvi, led the takeovers of white-owned commercial farms. Chinotimba styled himself “commander-in-chief” of the land invaders and openly advocated the use of extreme violence and rape.

He also advocated this level violence in Buhera during the 2008 elections period, and has been accused of being behind the deaths, assaults and rapes of many MDC supporters in the area.

According to eyewitness testimonies, on the 5th May 2008 Chinotimba raped an MDC-T member named Idah Munyukwi twice, after threatening her with a gun. Also under his instruction a group of about 21 ZANU PF thugs gang raped Memory Mufambi, an MDC-T supporter in Ward 18 of Buhera.

Mufambi, whose husband was a prominent MDC activist, was beaten unconscious by a mob of ZANU PF youth militia and war vets who then took her to their torture base where she was raped repeatedly over the course of a week. She suffered serious internal injuries as a result of the rapes, and has been in and out of hospital ever since.

Also in 2008, in Ward 27 area of Chapanduka, Chinotimba led a group of ZANU PF thugs who beat to death an MDC-T activist known as Sibamba. In another incident on the 18th May 2008, Chinotimba’s truck was used in the attack on Choukuse Nyoka Mubango in Ward 26. Mubango was axed to death in full view of his wife and five children.

MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora reacted with anger that Chinotimba was now being ‘embraced’ by society.

“It is hurtful and demeaning to see the tormentor being given this respect and being given a chance to perform as a guest of honour. It is arrogant on the part of government and it is unacceptable,” Mwonzora said.

He added: “The diplomatic community is forgetting that ZANU PF committed these horrendous crimes. We see them gracing these occasions as if everything is fine, and it is outrageous.”

Listen here to the 2009 interview with Chinotimba by Violet Gonda:http://www.mazwi.net/videos/joseph-chinotimba-the-comedy-of-zim-politics or See transcript here

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

Zim farming community ‘shell shocked’ after violent Guruve murder

Charles Taffs of the CFU says that there has been a rise in lawlessness since the land grabs began

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
16 May 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

The death of a young Zimbabwean woman, who was brutally beaten in an attack on her and her father near their Guruve farm, has left the farming community “shell shocked.”

Catherine Francis was out walking with her father Malcolm on Saturday when they were attacked by an as of yet unidentified group of suspects.

Full details of the incident are not yet clear, but it is understood the pair was found beaten and unconscious by a family member, after the attack took place.

Malcolm remains in a critical condition in hospital and is still being treated for serious injuries.

But Catherine passed away on Wednesday as a result of the brutal beating.

Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) President Charles Taffs told SW Radio Africa that he was outraged that these violent attacks are still continuing against the farming community.

“This is one of many murders that have taken place on farmers and farm workers, and it’s just continuing,” Taffs said.

The ZANU PF land grab campaign, launched over a decade ago by the Robert Mugabe regime, has seen the farming community, including tens of thousands of farm workers, face serious violence and deaths. To date, the perpetrators of the violence have never been brought to book.

“What we are seeing is a breakdown of the rule of law and people are doing what they please. The law has been selectively applied for 14 years and people are taking advantage of it, and the result is lawlessness,” Taffs explained.

He added: “From the community’s point of view, it’s like we aren’t even part of society, the white farming constituency. We are Zimbabweans and have every right to be here. What is happening is against every human rights charter this country has signed up to.”

“It is disgusting what has happened and I condemn it in the strongest terms,” Taffs said.

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

Africa fights for immunity for government leaders

President of Sudan Omar-al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for genocide and crimes against humanity

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
16 May 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

Attempts to secure immunity from prosecution for African government leaders has been criticised as a potentially “detrimental” move that would impact on the rule of law and justice on the continent.

African Justice Ministers and Attorney Generals gathered in Ethiopia this week, where they were set to discuss a proposal to absolve sitting African leaders for their part in genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The two day Ethiopia meeting was called to consider a draft protocol to expand the authority of the African Court on Justice and Human Rights to include criminal jurisdiction over these serious crimes. The draft protocol includes the proposed blanket immunity for heads of state.

Jemima Njeri, a senior researcher in the International Crime in Africa program at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said the proposal “would be a major setback for justice for grave crimes.” She warned that this was a sign of Africa’s leaders “supporting each other,” at the expense of the rule of law.

“It is not right for African heads of state to include these amendments. It is detrimental to democracy,” Njeri told SW Radio Africa.

Human rights and justice groups from 19 African countries have since written to African governments, warning them that the rule of law is being threatened by the proposal.

“Impunity remains one of the biggest threats to human rights protection in Africa,” said Thuso Ramabolu, human rights officer at Lesotho’s Transformation Resource Centre, one of the signatories to the letter.

“It’s crucial for people responsible for mass atrocities to face justice, irrespective of their official positions. Immunity poses grave alarm and would create an incentive to hold on to power indefinitely,” Ramabolu added.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s Constitutional Court will on Monday hear the latest appeal against a landmark order for the authorities there to probe crimes against humanity committed in Zimbabwe.

Last year, the Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a court order from 2012 that compelled the prosecuting authorities in South Africa to investigate torture and other crimes perpetrated in Zimbabwe. This was after the police and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had appealed the original order handed down by the North Gauteng High Court.

The South African police have then filed another appeal in January this year, arguing that among other issues, an investigation would infringe on the sovereignty of Zimbabwe and damage diplomatic relations.

The case is being led by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) and the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) and was based on a dossier detailing a politically motivated attack on MDC members in Zimbabwe in 2007. This dossier, which implicates 18 high level ZANU PF members, was handed to the NPA in 2008 but the prosecuting body and the police decided not to take the case further.

ZEF Director Gabriel Shumba told SW Radio Africa that the latest appeal is “without merit,” and the ZEF and SALC “will vigorously oppose the appeal.”

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

Relocated Marange villagers face unfolding humanitarian crisis

A Marange villager from the cover of the report by the Centre for Natural Resource Governance

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
25 April 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

Thousands of villagers who were forcibly removed from their homes to make way for diamond mining operations at Marange, now face an unfolding humanitarian crisis.

This is according to accountability group the Centre for Natural Resource Governance, which warned in a detailed report this week that the villagers “are sliding deeper into the abyss of abject poverty.”

In early 2009 the government announced that plans were underway to relocate almost 5,000 Marange families affected by the diamond mining operations there. The affected families were to be relocated to a farm formerly owned by the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) at Transau in Odzi, about 24 kilometres west of the city of Mutare.

But almost five years later the commitments made towards the humane resettlement of the families have not been honoured.

“Observed from afar the new Arda Transau settlement portrays an aura of sophistication and affluence as it looks like a small urban settlement in the middle of nowhere. But behind this façade of affluence lies a community weighed down by the bondage of poverty and hunger,” the Centre warns.

Only a fraction of the families have been moved to Arda Transau, where housing facilities and developments like clinics and schools have not been completed. The families have also never been compensated for the loss of their homes.

The population at Arda Transau is slightly above 5,200 people, and consists mainly of women and children. The relocated people have no source of livelihood, and they depend entirely on the diamond mining firms, who facilitated their forced removal, for food handouts. But these food handouts have not been consistent and hunger has been a serious concern for months. The Centre for Natural Resource Governance said all the diamond firms, except one, have completely stopped handing out food.

The villagers are also largely unable to grow their own crops, because of an absence of suitable land and no access to irrigation facilities or other necessities for successful agricultural production. The report this week states that malnutrition is widespread and some villagers go several days at a time without eating. One 92 year-old-man said his family survived on eating salt-spiced anthill soil and a cup of water. The old man’s wife was clearly undernourished and the children showed clinical signs of kwashiorkor.

“Without food hand-outs we are doomed, and as we are speaking now some people who were relocated here have not received any food handouts for the past 12 months,” another villager revealed.

The health situation in Arda Transau has been described by one community leader as a “time bomb”, and according to the report this week, the local clinics are so badly resourced that people are expected to supply their own candles if they stay overnight.

The Centre’s Director Farai Maguwu told SW Radio Africa on Friday that the situation is “appalling.”

“There is serious poverty stalking this area and there is a humanitarian crisis unfolding. There are a number of recommendations for the government, but in the short term, the villagers need humanitarian assistance,” Maguwu said.

He also said that a redistribution of arable farm land was necessary, saying there is enough land owned by government ministers to give to the desperate Marange families.

“The government should make available some farms. Most Cabinet ministers have multiple farms, and yet the government has created a squatter camp for these villagers. They have been reduced to squatters,” Maguwu said.

Meanwhile about 4,000 other Marange families are still to be relocated from the mining area. The Centre’s report said however that this is looking increasingly uncertain.

“There are indications that companies are now reluctant to continue with relocations in light of the reported dwindling alluvial diamonds in Marange in recent months,” the report said.

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

Zim joins calls for civil society participation at US summit

Barack Obama on a visit to Ghana in 2009

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
23 April 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

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 exteded 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.

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

Khama maintains SADC boycott over flawed Zim polls

Ian Khama was the only African leader to raise concerns about the Zimbabwean elections

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
16 April 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

Botswana’s President Ian Khama has reiterated that his country will no longer take part in regional election observer teams, because of the flawed polls in Zimbabwe last year.

Khama, the only African leader to raise any concerns about the disputed elections in Zimbabwe, has called for an audit of the Zim polls that saw Mugabe re-elected as President.

The Botswana leader earlier this year told the national television station BTV that the Zim elections were neither free nor fair and that SADC had let Zimbabwe “off the hook” for the flawed process. Khama also said the rules that govern democratic elections in Southern African were not followed in Zimbabwe’s case, and announced that his country would no longer participate in any SADC election observer missions.

Khama reiterated this position this week, through a statement by his spokesperson Jeff Ramsay.

“In the interest of public understanding and in light of recent media speculation over Botswana’s participation in SADC election observer missions, the Government of Botswana wishes to re-affirm its position to not send official observers to participate in such missions,” Ramsay said.

Ramsay added that the move by Khama’s government was based on principle.

“Further to the above, Botswana’s position is based on a matter of principle and thus not targeted at any institution or state,” he said.

Khama’s comments about the lack of fairness in Zimbabwe’s polls fly in the face of SADC’s endorsement of the elections, which have also been disputed by the opposition MDCs in Zimbabwe, civil society groups and regional observer teams present during the polls.

Elias Bila, who was part of the Southern African Trade Union Coordination Council (SATUCC) observer team, said on Wednesday that a sense of “comradeship” in Southern Africa’s political leadership was the reason for the endorsement of Zimbabwe’s polls. He told SW Radio Africa that the elections there “could not be said to be either free or fair.”

“SADC is represented by my members of countries and the challenge we have as observers is that the leaders are comrades (from liberation movements) who won’t stand against each other. So I think Khama is sending a message to African leaders to say ‘we need to change and to the right thing’,” Bila said.

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

SA opposition warns of ‘ZANU-fication’ of ANC

In a bitter indictment, Helen Zille of the DA party in South Africa accused the ANC of ZANU-fication

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
16 April 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

South Africa’s main political opposition has warned against what it calls the ‘ZANU-fication’ of the ANC government, saying Jacob Zuma’s party is increasingly reflecting the values of Robert Mugabe’s party.

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille made the comments this week as her party is fighting against the national broadcaster’s decision to ban one of the party’s election campaign adverts.

The SABC refused to air the advert, which strongly critcises the Zuma led administration and the state of South Africa since Zuma came to power.

Zille said the saga over the banned advert showed that the ANC government was undermining institutions that should be independent, threatening to set South Africa on a course similar to that taken by Zimbabwe under ZANU PF.

“If people are not frightened, they are not following the news. The fight is not between the SABC and the DA. It is between the SABC and all South Africans who believe in freedom of speech, information and political contestation,” Zille said.

Joy Mabenge from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said the negative connotations associated with ZANU PF have been created by the party’s anti-democratic values.

“Anything referred to as ZANU-ised is basically about a liberation political party that then turns against those it claims to have liberated,” Mabenge told SW Radio Africa.

He added: “The mark they (ZANU PF) are leaving on SADC and the rest of Africa is a mark associated with the lack of willingness to allow democracy to thrive. It is a legacy associated with the lack of willingness to open up spaces and allow competition and alternative views. I don’t think any political party would want to be associated with this legacy, but unfortunately it has happened.”

He echoed Zille’s warnings to the Zuma led ANC, saying the party should “be aware of the pitfalls of being ZANU-ised.”

“The legacy that liberation movements have of liberating their people is one they should strive to protect, unlike ZANU PF. The ANC should watch out against the pitfalls of the ZANU-fication of its legacy and struggles and history,” Mabenge said.

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

Zim elephant protector steps aside over illegal Hwange land claim

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
15 April 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

The fallout over an ‘illegal’ land claim in the Hwange National Park has seen one of the country’s top elephant protectors stepping aside and shutting down a key elephant conservation project.

The Zimbabwe ‘Presidential Elephant Conservation Project’ was founded and has been run by Sharon Pincott since 2001, with the aim of monitoring and protecting the Presidential Elephant Herd, a unique herd of wild elephants that are meant to be protected by Presidential decree. In 2011 Pincott successfully lobbied Robert Mugabe to re-pledge his support for the elephant herd. This was in the face of land invasions, poaching and other threats to Zimbabwe’s elephant population.

But 13 years since the Project was launched, the elephants now face being left without a caretaker after Pincott announced on Monday that she is stopping her work. The announcement has 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. In what has been described as a case that “so reeks of incompetence and lack of care, of ignorance, of greed, of covering butts, of back-handers, and of the corruption that this country is supposedly, right now, trying to stamp out,” the Cabinet directive of 2013 has been ignored. Instead, the Kanondo land claimant has forged ahead with the building of a safari lodge.

The Kanondo area is now being referred to as 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 has since been 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.

In a public letter announcing her withdrawal, Pincott listed the repeated failures of government officials to stand by the Decree mean to guarantee the elephants’ safety. She said that under the watch of former Environment Minister Francis Nhema, “land areas were snatched and underhanded hunting activities went on, and on. When further land claim problems resurfaced in early 2013, Minister Nhema was too busy electioneering to help with my pleas.”

She said that Nhema’s successor Saviour Kasukuwere has also proved a disappointment, after becoming “suspiciously quiet with regards to the Kanondo land grab, when it all clearly became too hard.”

“Under Minister Nhema’s watch we lost forever one area, and then another. But at least these were on an outer edge of the key area. Then it got much worse. Under Minister Kasukuwere’s watch, we have now lost yet another; the most critical of them all (Kanondo). What we have now is little plots of land, where questionable individuals are being allowed to do as they please, destroying past processes and efforts (that were particularly intense over the past 12 months). That this has been allowed to happen shows just how ‘important’ the Presidential Elephants of Zimbabwe are to the government,” Pincott said.

She added: “I cannot allow myself to be linked to such new depths of collusion and cluelessness. I cannot keep hitting my head against a brick wall, year after year after year after year, with lack of care and lack of respect and understanding of these elephants growing and growing – despite all the efforts – like an invasive weed over a pond, smothering everything.”

Johnny Rodrigues, the Chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF), who has worked closely with Pincott over the past 13 years, said Tuesday that he was “disappointed and disgusted” by how the situation has developed.

“It’s uncalled for and shows the authorities here in Zimbabwe are not serious about what they say. They are doing nothing about protecting the areas for the elephants…. These greedy people are trying to fatten their wallets and they don’t care about wildlife,” Rodrigues said.

He added: “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.”

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

US man pleads guilty to illegal ZANU PF lobbying

Prince Asiel Ben Israel

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
14 April 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

An American businessman has admitted he illegally lobbied on behalf of ZANU PF for the removal of US targeted restrictive measures against the Robert Mugabe regime, and now faces a five year jail term.

72 year old Prince Asiel Ben Israel, a former cult leader now described as a “consultant” on American trade relations with Africa, pleaded guilty in a US Federal Court last week to one count of failing to register as an agent for a foreign government.

The Chicago based businessman admitted that he tried to persuade US government officials, including an Illinois state senator and two US representatives from Chicago, to push for the lifting of the targeted sanctions.

The charges against Ben Israel were brought last year by federal prosecutors, who also charged fellow Chicago businessman C. Gregory Turner, 71, in the case. Turner has pleaded not guilty and his trial is pending.

The pair has been accused of a making a financial arrangement with ZANU PF in 2008, to the tune of $3.4 million, in exchange for their US lobbying efforts.

The US Attorney’s Office in Chicago stated last year that the men met with Mugabe, then Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono and other officials “multiple times” in the US and Africa, and allegedly agreed to lobby US officials on Zimbabwe’s behalf. In late 2008 the pair allegedly signed a “Consulting Agreement” that called for an initial payment of $90,000 which was paid out from a Zimbabwean official’s account in Botswana.

Political analyst Clifford Mashiri said Monday that the case has clearly exposed how money is driving calls for the removal of targeted measures against the Mugabe regime. He said such lobbying efforts, as demonstrated in the US case, indicate the likelihood of numerous “financial arrangements” being conducted on ZANU PF’s behalf.

“It is an interesting case and it is enlightening to understand what is happening behind the scenes in the lobby for the removal of these targeted measures,” Mashiri told SW Radio Africa.

The US measures against Mugabe and his inner circle remain in place since they were imposed in 2003. Unlike Europe, which has lifted almost all its targeted restrictions as part of re-engagement efforts with ZANU PF, the US has insisted that more reforms are needed in Zimbabwe before its measures are reevaluated.

Mashiri said the US case is unlikely to be an isolated one, and he questioned the motive behind the European Union (EU) decision to de-list most of the Mugabe regime. Mugabe himself and his wife Grace are the only people still targeted under the European measures.

“It is unlikely that the lifting of the EU measures was done with the best intentions. And you cannot rule out the possibility that a lot of money was spent in lobbying efforts,” Mashiri said.

The EU has been roundly criticised for its decision on the targeted sanctions, particularly after it was admitted by a top Belgian diamond official that there was active lobbying on ZANU PF’s behalf before the EU.

Antwerp World Diamond Council (AWDC) chief executive Ari Epstein told a recent Parliamentary meeting in Harare that he “made a commitment” to former Zim Mines Minister Obert Mpofu to lobby for the removal of the European restrictions, in exchange for the sale of Chiadzwa diamonds in Belgium.

“I made a commitment to the minister to help lift sanctions on Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and I worked extremely hard to keep these promises,” said Epstein.

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

Illegal allocation of hunting licenses linked to US ban on tusks

Wealthy hunters from the US come to Zimbabwe and like to take trophies back with them

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
9 April 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

The unlawful allocation of hunting licenses in Zimbabwe in recent years has been pegged as a major factor in the decision by the United States to ban hunted elephant trophies.

The US wildlife department announced last week 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.”

The ban comes of the back of the poaching crisis that hit Hwange National Park last year, where hundreds of elephants were killed by poachers using the deadly cyanide chemical. The ban also comes amid a fresh threat to Zimbabwe’s protected Presidential Elephant Herd, after the takeover of a piece of land in Hwange that serves as the herd’s home range.

That takeover defies a Cabinet directive from last year that the land was ‘state owned’ and all offer letters for it must be withdrawn. Conservation groups meanwhile have raised concern for the safety of the Presidential elephants, because the woman who has claimed the land is related to a local hunting operator.

Johnny Rodrigues, the Chairman of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force (ZCTF) told SW Radio Africa that the ZANU PF government’s history of illegally handing out land claims and hunting permits to party officials and loyalists means the entire hunting business in Zimbabwe has fallen into disrepute. The ZCTF warned that in recent months hunting permits have been handed out along the lines of the country’s indigenisation laws. Rodrigues said this leads to untrained, unregulated hunting operators acting in an unsustainable manner.

“A lot of hunters do hunting in an ethical manner, and they plow a lot back into conservation. But the uncontrollable way in which a person who has no experience in hunting, suddenly gets issued permits to have hunting, is a real problem,” Rodrigues said.

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.

ZANU PF’s Environment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has since likened the US ban on Zim elephant trophies to “sanctions on the elephants”.

Rodrigues said this position was hardly surprising, because top party officials are involved in the majority of hunting operations across the country.

“For years the very wealthy people in America have been coming to Zim to hunt, and then you have the top dogs in Zimbabwe who own most of the hunting concessions, and they’re going to feel the pinch now and they can’t be as greedy as they were,” Rodrigues said.

He meanwhile added that things like photographic tourism would be of more benefit to Zimbabwe in the long term.

“If we had the tourism coming into the country, it would generate ten times the amount that hunting generates,” Rodriques said.

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter

Mbada claims ‘high office’ in govt responsible for tax evasion

By Alex Bell
SW Radio Africa
9 April 2014

Published by SW Radio Africa

The Mbada mining firm, which has been operating at the Chiadzwa diamond fields since 2008, has said it is not at fault for the non-payment of millions of dollars in tax.

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has ordered the firm to pay a portion of its tax debt, issuing a garnishee order for $22.4 million. This is the second such order on Mbada accounts at BancABC in four months.

The company has allegedly been withholding tax it accrued during transactions with a contractor called Gecko. A previous garnishee order issued by Zimra last year, to the tune of over $5 million, was cancelled shortly after it was issued.

Mbada has not denied the tax liability, passing the buck instead to the ‘highest level’ of government. According to a report in the NewsDay newspaper, the diamond firm said that there was an agreement that the companies had paid their taxes in advance “after they chipped in with cash for civil servants’ salaries.”

According to a March letter from the national Treasury to Zimra, and published by NewsDay, “government, through the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, directed that diamond mining houses where government has a shareholding should remit advance dividends in order to mitigate cashflow challenges.”

The letter, signed by Finance and Economic Development secretary Willard Manungo and addressed to Zimra commissioner-general Gershem Pasi, said that three mining companies, including Mbada, had directly paid over $197 million to the cash-strapped government last year towards civil servants’ salaries.

This is a complete contradiction of the claims made previously by government ministers that Chiadzwa diamonds were not benefitting the state in anyway. Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said late last year that out of a targeted $40 million expected from diamond sales in 2013, nothing had been received by the Treasury.
Chinamasa’s predecessor, Tendai Biti, meanwhile repeatedly stated during his tenure that no money was forthcoming from the diamond mining firms.

Millions of dollars of diamond profits have gone ‘missing’ from the alluvial fields, amid accusations from international rights groups that the cash was being used to prop up the Mugabe regime.

Meanwhile news that the ‘highest level’ of government was involved in Mbada’s tax liability has come as little surprise to many, with the mining firm having strong links to Robert Mugabe.

Mbada chairman Robert Mhlanga is a long time Mugabe family ally and former pilot for Robert Mugabe. His company also made one of the largest cash donations at the wedding of Mugabe’s only daughter to Simba Chikore last month, giving the couple $100,000.

Minister Chinamasa meanwhile last month announced plans to reduce the number of diamond mining operations in Chiadzwa to just one, allegedly in an effort to improve transparency at the alluvial fields. And although the government has not yet announced how it will determine who gets to control the concessions, it appears likely that Mbada, with its strong connections, will be given control.

To contact this reporter email alex@swradioafrica.com or follow on Twitter