WHAT NGOs??????

HARARE – The ruling Zanu PF has ordered non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to stop food distribution in the country’s rural areas accusing the organisations for having campaigned for the opposition in the run up to the March 29 elections.

Sources within the ruling party said there was a strong feeling in the party that the party lost many rural constituencies because the NGOs had used food aid to de-campaign Zanu PF.

“We have told them (the NGOs) to keep their food aid and we want to know how the MDC is going to campaign here. We want this area to be a no go area for the opposition and we are not sleeping,” said a Mr. Chauke, a political commissar from Masvingo while addressing supporters, who had come to buy maize in rural Masvingo.

Among the organisations that have been barred from distributing food aid are the World Food Programme and Care International.

Efforts to get comments from the organisations yesterday proved fruitless.

The villagers from Chidzikwe had to wait for more than five days to have their allocation of maize delivered to them. The allocation only arrived on Wednesday afternoon and the distribution was based on political affiliation.

From the way Chauke was speaking to the villagers, it became very clear that Zanu PF is already preparing for a run-off.

“All those who voted for the other parties, we know you, please come out and reform publicly and nothing will ever harm you. We will not accept any opposition forces in this area,” ordered Chauke, who is believed to be a major in the army and is one of the leaders in the ruling party campaign team in Masvingo.

The ruling party has deployed war veterans and its militia to the countryside to unleash violence and intimidate people believed to have voted against ZANU-PF and Mugabe in the elections.
“We are going to be the sole distributor of food in the country through the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). Whoever wants to give out food has to do it through the party structures and it has to be approved by the party’s commissariat,” said a Zanu PF official.

A 50Kg bag of maize was being sold to the hungry villagers at 50 million Zimbabwean dollars and it was supposed to be a bag per each household.
The Zanu PF militias and the soldiers are supposed to ensure victory for Robert Mugabe through violence in a possible run-off. Political violence and intimidation of the electorate have always been thought to be ZANU-PF's winning card.

Winning Zanu PF Candidate for Mutare West Charles Pemhenai said the opposition claims that the ruling party had used food aid during their campaigns was baseless as the opposition also used food aid in their campaigns through NGOs.

MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said the ruling Zanu PF has already started its retribution exercise and hundreds of their supporters have been attacked by known war veterans and serving members of the army.

“What is happening is very worrying and they want to pretend as if everything is normal. Our supporters are being beaten up by soldiers on daily basis. They are also being denied food purely on the basis that they are MDC supporters,” said Chamisa.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is going ahead with the vote recounts, even though sources within Zanu PF believe any outcome favouring Mugabe will lack credibility.

So far ZEC has only managed to go through nine constituencies out of the earmarked 23. The nine went to the original winners.

Former Transport minister Mushohwe loses

FORMER Transport Minister Christopher Mushohwe has lost his constituency to the Movement for Democratic Change faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai in the latest batch of results announbced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

SADC petitioned over Zim results delay

THE Crisis Coalition of Zimbabwe, a grouping of civic society organisations in Zimbabwe, has petitioned the SADC Heads of State and the AU heads of state and governement to urgently exert pressure on the Zimbabwe government to allow that the March 29 results are released immediately without being tampered with.

President Robert Mugabe, through the Joint Opperations Command (JOC), according to sources, has ordered the Zimbabwe Electoral Commision to hold on to the presidential result as the regime ponders the possibilties rigging.

McDonald Lewanika, the coalition's spokesperson said they found it necessary to send the urgent petition in order to save the country from sinking into "complete anarchy" if election results are manipulated.

Zimbabweeans voted on the 29th March for the national president, members of parliament and councillors.

"The biggest concern that has emerged is the inordinate delay in the announcing of the election results. There seems to be absolutely no justification for this delay and the tokenistic announcement of results for 109 contested seats by 8 AM on 1 April is wholly inadequate," said Lewanika.

The counting was done immediately after the polls were shut generally around 7PM on 29 March at the polling stations and the results were posted outside the stations immediately.

Lewanika said the coalition also demand that the SADC leaders exert pressure on President Mugabe not to declare a state of emergency as well as apply pressure on the military and intelligence in Zimbabwe not to manipulate the results.

Arnold Tsunga, human rights lawyer and coalition chairperson said indications on the ground were clear that Mugabe preparing the nations for a state of emergency.

"The delay shows that they are not prepared to accept the people's verdict. There are heavily armed police offiers at every 200-m intervals. In other parts of the country there soldiers have been flying war jets at very low levels and all this is meant to intimidate the electorate," said Tsunga.

Meanwhile the ZEC chairperson Lovemore Sekeramai has revealed that electoral management body was currenctly receiveng the presidential election results from various constituency centres across the country.

He said the tabulation and verification of the presidential results would start as soon as they get all the results.

"We urge the nation to remain patient and we also want to commend the electorate for their
maturity," said Sekeramai.

ends//

Ex-Finance minister acquitted of externalisation charges

FORMER Finance Minister Christopher Kuruneri was last week acquitted by a High Court Judge on charges of violating the country's exchange control regulations, putting to an end the more than three years old legal battle.
Kuruneri became the first senior official in President Robert Mugabe's cabinet to be caught up since the government launched a clampdown on corruption, money laundering and illegal foreign currency dealing when he was arrested on 24 April 2004, for externalising funds.
High Court Judge Justice Susan Mavangira handed down her judgment on Friday declaring Kuruneri a free man on seven counts of exeternalising funds.
Kuruneri's lawyer Jonathan Samkange yesterday told The Standard his client had been cleared of externalisation charges and the only charge still pending against Kuruneri was that of dual citizenship, which is illegal in Zimbabwe.
“Yes indeed, he was acquitted yesterday. Justice has been done. He is now not facing any charges except the one on dual citizenship, which is a minor charge,” said Samkange.
He said the dual citizenship charge is also almost through as it now left with the mitigation procedure before sentence. “I believe he is going to be given a wholly suspended sentence considering that he stayed close to 17 months and remand prison and 2 years under house arrest,” he added.
The former minister was facing seven counts of breaching the country's exchange control laws by transferring US$500 000, 37 000 British Pounds, 30 000 Euros and R1,2 million to buy and renovate properties in South Africa's Cape Town.
Kuruneri however maintained that what he did was above the law because he earned the money he used to buy the properties from consultancy work for Mobile Systems International and Felipe Solano.
During his trial Kuruneri denied any charges of smuggling foreign currency to South Africa on various occasions between March 2002 and March 2004. His defence argued that the house in Cape Town was bought by a South African company, Choice Decisions, of which Kuruneri was a director.
Again, Kuruneri argued that Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono had allegedly personally sanctioned the transactions during his tenure as chief executive of the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ).
Evidence was led in court that Gono personally facilitated the deals which saw Kuruneri buy the properties.
The Supreme Court finally granted Kuruneri bail on appeal in July 2005 after he spent 16 months in remand prison. Bail was however, granted on strict movement conditions after attempts, until then, to be granted bail had failed in the lower courts.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku granted Kuruneri bail of Z$50 million and ordered him to surrender the title deeds to all his South African properties. Kuruneri was also to repatriate R1.3 million from his bank accounts in South Africa and remain under house arrest until Friday afternoon.

We will go it alone - Mutambara

THE Arthur Mutambara-led faction of the Movement for Democratic Change has finaly decided to go it alone in all coming elections officially sealing the possibility of united opposition fight against the ruling Zanu PF party.
Addressing a press conference in Harare yesterday soon after the meeting of the party's National Council, Mutambara solely blamed the Morgan Tsvangirai faction for the failure of a proposed coalition of opposition forces ahead of next year's harmonised elections.
“Consequently, the National Council has resolved to proceed on its own in preparation for any future elections. We will be fielding our own Presidential candidate against both Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai,” said an emotionally charged Mutambara.
He described Tsvangirai as a “weak and indecisive leader” who can not embrace what ordinary Zimbabweans are demanding.
“If Morgan Tsvangirai does not understand the strategic value of unity in our struggle against Mugabe, Council wonders whether he is capable to be president of Zimbabwe,” he added.
Mutambara also announced that the party's National Council had also resolved to immediately withdraw from the Save Zimbabwe Campaign because it has become a vehicle to solely advance the “perverted agenda” of Tsvangirai.

However, spokesperson of the other faction Nelson Chamisa, yesterday dismissed Mutambara's claims saying the party was still fighting for the unification of all democratic forces to fight Mugabe.

"We have just had our National Council meeting and we have resolved to fight for national unity to ensure taht we achieve change in this country. We have a common enemy, and that enemy is Robert Mugabe," said Chamisa.
In the proposed coalition agreement the MDC led by Tsvangirai had been given an opportunity to choose the single presidential candidate to represent the party in the elections.

It has had provision for further co-operation that would ultmately lead to reconciliation and reunification.

Mtetwa challenges police

LAW Society of Zimbabwe president and top human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa has lodged a formal complaint to the police over her assault and other colleagues at the hands of the police early last month after the police have been reluctant to take up the case.
Mtetwa and her colleagues Chris Mhike, Collin Kuhuni and Terence Fritzpatrick allege that they were viciously assaulted by members of the police both in uniform and in plain clothes along Cumberland Road in Eastlea.
The four were assaulted after gathering on 8 May with several of their colleagues in Harare, to present a petition to Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa protesting the detention of lawyers Alec Muchadehama and Andrew Makoni.
After being referred from one police station to another, Mtetwa said they encountered a lot of problems because the assailants were police officers and the strategy was to “intimidate them into abandoning their complaint”.
In a letter directed to the Deputy Commissioner (Crime), Mtetwa said they tried to make a report at Harare Central Police Station but they were referred to Rhodesville Police Station, which was said to have the necessary jurisdiction over the matter.
“We proceeded to Rhodesville police where we once again struggled to lodge our complaints as the sergeant on duty developed cold feet when he heard who the assailants are. He referred us to Highlands which he indicated was the station with the relevant jurisdiction,” wrote Mtetwa.
She said they finally wrote their statements and gave them to the sergeant but they were denied medical examination forms.
“The sergeant refused to give us the medical examination forms, insisting that only Highlands police could give us the form. He undertook to transmit the complaints to Highlands,” she explains.
Mtetwa added that when she followed up the issue on 14 May with Highlands Police, she was advised that the report had been taken to Harare Central under CR61/5/07.
She said despite explaining the need to have “our injuries examined by a Government Medical Officer (GMO), noone was prepared prepared to give us the correct form”.
“In the meantime the injuries are healing with the result that the GMO who examines me, if I am ever examined, will not get a good picture of what injuries are suffered. This I contend is so gross a miscarriage of justice as to require your intervention,” wrote Mtetwa.
Deputy Commissioner in charge of crime Innocent Matibili was not immediately available for comment last week.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka said they were not aware of the letter from Mtetwa maintaining that any case presented to the police will be dealt with accordingly.
“Those medical examinations form are given to the people at the particular police station a report would have been made. We are not aware of that letter you are referring to,” said Mandipaka.

Top human rights lawyers arrested

High Court orders release of two detained lawyers

HIGH Court Judge Justice Tedias Karwi yesterday ordered the release of two human rights lawyers arrested outside the High Court building on accusations of obstructing the course of justice.
The lawyers Alec Muchadehama and partner Andrew Makoni, who are representing the arrested MDC activist accused of petrol bombings, were arrested on on Friday around 5PM and they have been denied legal representation.
In the judgement Justice Karwi ordered that the arrest and detention of the applicants (Muchadehama and Makoni) were unlawful. “It is hereby ordered by consent that the arrest and detention of the applicants be and is hereby declared unlawful. The respondents be and are hereby directed to release the applicants forthwith or upon service of this order,” ordered Karwi.
Advocate Eric Matinenga represented the two lawyers while Richard Chikosha from the Attorney General's office appeared on behalf of the police.
The order came after counsel for the two's lawyers made an urgent chamber application against Assistant commissioner Mabunda, detective inspector Rangwani, the police commissioner and the minister of Home Affairs in order to have the two released.
In the founding affidavit lawyer Harrison Nkomo of Mtetwa and Nyambirai said they tried unsuccessfully to gain access to the detained lawyers.
“We attempted to explain the reason of our visit and also tried to enquire as to the nature of the allegations that the applicants are facing and also indicated to to him that we wanted to get instructions from from the applicants.
“The 1st respondent (Assistant Commissioner Mabunda) who was reluctant to entertain us just indicated that the applicants were facing charges of obstructing the course of justice. He barred us from taking any instructions from the applicants,” wrote Nkomo
He added that Mabunda threated to assault and detain Dzimbabwe Chimbga, one of the lawyers who had gone to see Muchadehama and Makoni, forcing them to leave the police station.
President of the SADC La”wyers' Association Sternford Moyo said they were very concerned by the arrests and detention of lawyers while on duty.
“The police and the government of Zimbabwe have an obligation, arising from both domestic and international law to ensure that lawyers are allowed to discharge their functions without hindrances from public officials or any other person,” said Moyo.
He added that the right to legal representation is a cornerstone of an effective administration of justice.
“Where that right is not observed or is not guaranteed the administration of justice is rendered ineffective and the right to protection of the law is reduced to a Pius' declaration,” he said.