About $96 million of taxpayers' money was embezzled from the Aids Levy Fund, a report says.

Fear of the social consequences of testing positive for HIV is "threatening to undermine" efforts in Zimbabwe to reduce infant mortality rates, according to a health ministry official.

It was a nondescript sort of room, about 12ft by 9ft, and the windows at the top of one wall looked out onto flowerbeds, but the police paraphernalia lying around left Tom Spicer in no doubt as to why he had been brought there. Scattered about the floor and tables were pieces of leather, handcuffs and blindfolds.

Hundreds of delegates to a world racism conference wrapped up six days of meetings with resolutions calling for rights to African citizenship and praise for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's land redistribution programme.

Human rights workers, journalists, farmers and ordinary people arbitrarily arrested in an increasingly repressive Zimbabwe can now rely on a simple network of support due to the Internet tactics of an innovative civic and human rights web site. Being arrested can be a frightening and disruptive experience for anyone, but in developing what they call The Friendship Tree, an organisation called Kubatana.net, in collaboration with civic activists, hopes to make sure that nobody is left alone. Using email and the telephone, Kubatana - with Kubatana being a Shona word meaning “working together” - have developed a web of at least 100 Zimbabweans who have agreed to be a part of The Friendship Tree. Once news is received of an arrest, The Friendship Tree is activated through email or the telephone to ensure that the court appearances of those detained are witnessed. “One of the most powerful things we can do in situations of chaos is to become a witness,” says Bev Clark, who along with Brenda Burrell, began Kubatana.

The Friendship Tree is one example of how Kubatana has developed a brand of e-activism that is attempting to keep information flowing in Zimbabwe. The Kubatana Trust of Zimbabwe emerged in 2002 out of the NGO Network Alliance Project, which was formed in March 2001. “The most noticeable difference,” says Clark about the use of e-activism, “isn't so much in influencing policy but rather giving Zimbabweans an opportunity to protest or speak out and to feel like they're actually doing something. This in itself, in a country where many people feel powerless, is a necessary initiative.”

And with more Zimbabweans going online, an increase in the opening of Internet cafes and a competitive Internet Service Provider environment, the potential for e-activism exists. One of Kubatana’s initiatives has been the facilitation of electronic activism training workshops. Kubatana hires internet cafes and discusses with participants the different ways in which email can be used to lobby, activate and mobilise, followed by some practical experience spent online going through the basics of email and the internet. Kubatana see themselves training a “diverse group of information activists” consisting mainly of young Zimbabweans who want to communicate messages of peace and non-violence. In 2003, the organisation intends to take their electronic activism workshops national and target tertiary education institutions. “In our current crisis in Zimbabwe we believe that it is important to train members of the general public to become information activists to counter the media blackout that we're experiencing. If we can instil a culture of information sharing through the use of email and the internet we believe that vital civic and human rights information will continue to flow despite deepening government restrictions,” says Clark.

Kubatana is encouraging the public to use the Kubatana web site to share their civic and human rights experiences. An example of this is the Prison Diary series published on the Kubatana site and made available by email following the increase in the number of illegal arrests and detentions in Zimbabwe. The series has made Zimbabweans aware of the prison conditions in their country, motivated people to become involved in prison reform or protest prison conditions and reminded authorities that their actions will be exposed.

When it began, Kubatana aimed to provide an online directory listing all NGOs and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Zimbabwe. The online directory now electronically networks over 200 NGOs, CSOs and social justice organisations. “We also believed that by creating a central information hub for the non-profit sector, NGOs would receive more interest and attention from regional and international development organisations,” Clark says.

Many Zimbabwean NGOs are either not in a financial position to develop a web site or lack the capacity for regular updates and maintenance. Recognising this, the Kubatana directory is based on "fact sheets" for each participant. These fact sheets list important information on the NGO concerned, including their contact details. NGOs that have a fact sheet in the Kubatana directory have a first level entry into the world wide web and can cite their fact sheet “web address” in their correspondence.

The Kubatana home page publishes press statements, articles, reports, appeals, surveys and other information from Zimbabwean NGOs, giving them an internet publishing outlet for their news. “In Zimbabwe we have an extremely polarised press and NGOs find it extremely difficult to integrate development news into the mainstream print media and often their message is manipulated and distorted. On Kubatana information from NGOs is not altered in any way,” says Clark. Identifying a need to encourage the sharing of information within the NGO sector and to bridge the divide between NGOs and the public, Kubatana used an advertising campaign to encourage members of the public to subscribe to their email address to receive civic and human rights information.

Zimbabwean NGOs function in an environment where inflation stands at 125 percent, where unemployment is at 60 percent and where 20 percent of the population are HIV positive. One of the “biggest challenges”, says Clark, is dealing with the fear and despondency that Zimbabweans are experiencing, with the March Presidential Elections leaving people feeling defeated, and a large number displaced, injured or financially ruined.

“We believe that it’s important to remind Zimbabweans that the individual matters. That even the smallest step is vital and that we cannot sink into apathy and inaction. This is what the government is relying on. Kubatana and the rest of civil society in Zimbabwe will do all we can to keep information channels open and hope alive,” says Clark.

* Visit - Zimbabwe's civic and human rights web site
incorporating an online directory for the non-profit sector and

CRS' offices in the South Africa region are being reorganized to effectively manage the Southern Africa food crisis in a manner that supports a significantly increased response while maintaining program and management quality standards. The Program Manager, Finance will form part of the Management team, which provides support to the emergency as well as the ongoing CRS programs within the Region.

Amnesty International has strongly condemned state-sponsored violence , torture, arrests and intimidation of opposition cadidates and supporters during country-wide local council elections held on 28 and 29 September. "Once again, government authorities have failed to ensure that elections take place in a climate free from harassment and intimidation. All allegations of human rights violations, including torture, against opposition Movement for Democratic change (MDC) officials and supporters during the local elections must be effectively investigated," Amnesty International said.

Tawanda Majoni, a journalist with the "Daily Mirror", has been sentenced to three
months in prison for allegedly breaching the Police Act.

Legislation is currently being drafted by the Ministry of Justice, Legal & Parliamentary Affairs that will affect the operations of non-profit organisations in Zimbabwe. It is vital to discuss the implications of this pending legislation and to offer strategies as to how to collectively deal with potential interference in operations, say NGOs.

Patson Muzuva sat by the mock ballot box on the second day of the Zimbabwe presidential election on 10 March. Dressed in mock army fatigue he looked very exhausted, and his voice was hoarse after spending two days and two nights dancing and singing protest songs as he and others guarded a huge mock ballot box just outside the Zimbabwe House in Central London. That morning he looked sad and reflective and seemed to realise that the election did not mean that political violence was over in Zimbabwe, - the threats, hiding and the fear for relatives and friends would still haunt him.

The German Agency for Technical Co-operation in Zimbabwe (GTZ) has bailed out of the country without completing major projects due to the prevailing political situation, the Zimbabwe Independent has learnt. It has relocated to South Africa.

Reports of increasing incidents of torture against members of Zimbabwe's political opposition are circulating after rural elections came to an end this weekend. Witnesses say that a number of those arrested - including an opposition MP - have been assaulted and are in need of medical attention. Meanwhile, the ICFTU caught up with Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions Secretary General, Wellington Chibhebhe, to talk about the challenges for trade unions and for democracy in Zimbabwe.

Yesterday, we sat outside Harare Central Police Station with Edwina and Newton Spicer. After searching for 40 hours since his arrest with four others, they were finally presented with their son, Tawanda Tom. All five had been tortured. Tawanda had been singled out, severely beaten, given 30-40 electric shocks, his body bruised, his tongue in tatters. And they were being kept in custody for the weekend. He was allowed a lawyer. "Sorry - no doctor, no doctor, no doctor, no doctor, no doctor." (New regulation - prisoners can only be seen by prison doctors.) And Tom is the lucky one, the others had no one there to push for them.

Two parents dealing with this horror sitting on the lawn of Harare Central. Gathering their energy trying not to be overwhelmed, connecting with a support system somewhere out there in the world. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, FOR CELL PHONES. Armed police in riot gear walk in and out, a sparrow builds a nest in the palm tree overhead. A small baby boy screams with anger at having his nappy changed and the mother jokes with me about the volume of his protest. Over the road street kids search through the rubbish looking for plastic to resell. Next door a colourful market of second hand cloths stands without customers. As I write - 5.30pm Sunday - they have lost him again, haven't seen him all day, have been told he has been moved again. I am struck again and again by this thought: If there were 20 people standing on the steps of the police station in silent protest at the torture that is happening within, if there were 40, or 100, or what if there were more? Just to let the perpetrators of such outrage know they are being seen.

It would not then, be so easy, to say to parents and a lawyer: "Good morning Mr and Mrs Spicer this is your tortured 18 year old son."
"No he may not see a doctor."
"I'm sorry he has disappeared again."
"You will have to leave."

When Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe began his fast-track land-reform program more than two years ago, he promised that female-headed households would receive 20 percent of redistributed land. That apparently hasn't happened.

The high cost of the female condom is forcing Zimbabwean women, particularly commercial sex workers, to reuse the device to save money, despite the risks associated with reuse, AIDS activists have warned.

As two days of polling in local council elections in rural areas of Zimbabwe drew to a close on Sunday, the main opposition party disputed the legitimacy of the vote, saying government opponents had been subjected to ongoing violence and intimidation.
Related Links:
* US decries elections
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimes/newsst/newsst1033450804…
* Torture victims released
http://zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=5246

Thirty-four health facilities in Zimbabwe are administering the antiretroviral drug nevirapine to HIV-positive pregnant women to reduce their risk of transmitting HIV to their infants, the Zimbabwe Herald/AllAfrica.com reports.

About 30 to 35 percent of pregnant mothers in Zimbabwe are HIV-positive and 25 to 35 percent of their infants will be born infected. To curb the ever-increasing infant mortality rate the Government has introduced nevirapine.

Zimbabwe journalist who wrote an article this month claiming the country's police chief was unwell, has been sentenced to three months in jail under the Police Act, his lawyer said on Thursday.

Zimbabwe is supposed to be a multi - party democracy where we cherish competition and diversity of views. In an ideal situation we would have wanted to see all political parties conducting free and fair primary elections. This becomes more critical where there are no primary elections and that candidate goes through unopposed.