The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has welcomed the declaration of a state of emergency over HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe, but has urged a return to democratic accountability and the rule of law.

A magistrate's court in Zimbabwe has ruled that The Daily News reporter Lloyd Mudiwa and Guardian foreign correspondent Andrew Meldrum must be tried on allegations of having "written falsehoods". The two are being charged under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

A constitutional dispute between Capitol Radio Private Limited and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Authority (BAZ) over the legality of the latter(BAZ)will begin at the Supreme Court on June 19. Chief justice Godfrey Chidyausiku together with Justice Sandura, Cheda, Gwaunza and Malaba will hear the matter.

The Presidential Elections that took place from March 9 to 11, 2002, in Zimbabwe provoked enormous internal and international controversies. The impact of the continued presidency of Robert Mugabe, head of state and leader of the government under ZANU-PF since Zimbabwe's Independence in 1980, for the country, the region and the continent might be far reaching. The consequences are not yet fully apparent, but the current debates also centres around the case of Zimbabwe as a litmus test for the notion of "good governance" and democracy as perceived and acknowledged by other African leaders, especially in the context of the "New Partnership for Africa's Development" (NEPAD). The contributions to this Discussion Paper offer critical and political comments from scholars mainly in or from the Southern African region, who have been closely involved with regional and Zimbabwean issues.

The United Nations Fund for Women educates sex workers through videos made by former sex workers and rehabilitiates them by providing sustainable businesses like market gardening, poultry and fish farming.

Bornwell Chakaodza the Editor of The Standard and his senior reporter Farai Mutsaka, were arrested for the third and second time respectively, in a space of two weeks. The two were charged of having written a false story over "impeding" personnel changes at the state run Newspaper Company, Zimpapers and the national broadcaster, the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).

During the Zimbabwe election campaign I wrote a letter to the British newspaper The Guardian. A supporter of the ruling ZANU-PF had written an article claiming that two friends of mine had been associated with the Selous Scouts – the elite Rhodesian army unit responsible for gross human rights violations in the 1970s. Both these people are prominent human rights activists (as well as opposition members of parliament) and the claims were demonstrably false.

I was simply writing to set the record straight, but nothing had prepared me for the deluge of emails that my letter would prompt. It was striking that everyone who wrote to me – bar one or two – made an automatic assumption about my political loyalties. Both ZANU-PF supporters and white supporters of the opposition MDC clearly jumped to a set of (wrong) conclusions about my reasons for writing. Everyone ignored the fact that I was defending my two friends from the horrendous allegation that they were Selous Scouts and instead reached the completely opposite conclusion that I was defending the Rhodesian security forces. They also drew a set of related inferences about my opposition to land reform, desire to reinstate colonial rule and closeness to the British Government.

I politely replied that my involvement with Zimbabwe began in the 1970s because I, as a socialist and trade unionist, opposed colonialism and the Selous Scouts and supported land reform. But I also opposed intimidation, election-rigging and telling lies about people. Some of my correspondents appeared genuinely confused by what they saw as a quite improbable conjunction of views.

This was all rather depressing testimony to the success of Robert Mugabe’s strategy of playing the anti-colonial card. The presidential election was as illegitimate as it is possible to imagine. Its outcome was influenced by disenfranchisement, manipulation of the electoral roll, violent intimidation, a government broadcasting monopoly and miscounting. All this has been documented. Yet Mugabe was still able to enlist a good number of African governments to endorse the result. This was achieved solely by presenting himself as the defender of African interests against whites and colonialists.

In Zimbabwe itself the anti-colonial card does not play quite so well, largely because ordinary people can see the reality. They are also bewildered by sheer ludicrousness of the supposed global conspiracy against Zimbabwe. According to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and the government-controlled Herald this conspiracy includes, in no particular order: Tony Blair, Tony Leon, former Selous Scouts, members of the House of Lords and their gay lovers, British sea captains blockading the port of Beira, “Terry Blanch” (presumably the khaki-clad Afrikaner neo-Nazi), Peter Tatchell, the BBC, George W. Bush, Israel (except when it is supplying riot gear to the Zimbabwe police) and myself. Actually the list is much, much longer and I am honestly making none of this up.

And what binds us all together, this motley crew of anti-Zimbabwe conspirators? Our skin colour, of course. I had the misfortune to be included on a list of supposed “terrorist apologists” because of something I wrote criticising official media coverage. There were seven of us on the list, five white and two black. But it was the five whites who were singled out, with the rider that we were “assisted by the likes of” the two black journalists. Even the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is usually only described as being a tool of the conspirators. His crime during the liberation struggle is not that he was a Selous Scout, but merely that he did not fight. (Incidentally, those blacks who were in the Rhodesian security forces, such as ZANU-PF MP Philip Chiyangwa, are never mentioned in this context at all.) This has intriguing echoes of Ian Smith’s belief that “our Africans” were peaceable folk who were manipulated by “Communist terrorists”. Apparently Zimbabweans are still incapable of taking action on their own account – it’s just that the terrorist manipulators have changed.

This is to see Zimbabwe entirely through the prism of race. Why not, for a moment, remove the racial element and see what we are left with.

At independence in 1980 the new government adopted what was essentially a welfarist approach, providing considerable benefits for the people in areas such as health and education, while leaving the structure of economic power intact. In accordance with the pre-independence Lancaster House agreement there was no programme of genuine land reform and land resettlement was marginal. Both commercial and communal farmers benefited from significant real increases in the producer price of maize, while the commercial sector also saw a boost to its export earnings.

By the early 1990s, when the legal constraints on land reform were removed, several other things had happened. ZANU-PF had made considerable strides towards introducing a one-party state, notably by forcing the main opposition party into a merger. The army had massacred thousands of its supporters in Matabeleland. The government adopted a structural adjustment programme, which was causing widespread economic distress. And official corruption was becoming more extensive and more brazen.

Land acquisition was used not as a means to redress ancient injustices, but rather as a further means of enrichment for the party elite. There was an increasing amount of rhetoric about “indigenisation” of businesses. But genuine indigenous capitalists, such as Strive Masiyiwa of Econet, were obstructed bureaucratically because they came from outside the charmed political circle.

Opposition to all these developments was led by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). Originally this had been under the leadership of Mugabe’s brother, who died mysteriously in the midst of a corruption scandal. Over the next few years the membership wrested control from the party appointees. By the 1990s what could be seen in Zimbabwe was a remarkable manifestation of class struggle, with the organised workers leading opposition to the government on a number of issues.

There was a misfortune and an irony in the success of the civic opposition in forcing a referendum on the constitutional issue in February 2000. If the government had not been defeated then, it is quite possible that the newly formed MDC would have won the legislative elections later that year. As it was, the referendum not only inflicted a psychological shock to the ruling party. It also laid bare the new political demography of Zimbabwe. The urban population was solidly against the government. So was Matabeleland, for reasons that are not hard to divine. But, most significantly, so were swathes of Mugabe’s Shona heartland. Until this point ruling party strategists had assumed that they had an automatic ethnic majority in perpetuity. Yet what had happened was that class politics had asserted itself. The anti-Mugabe rural votes were workers, very often unionised, on the massive commercial farms.

The wave of farm invasions that followed the referendum and that has continued ever since combined three elements. They were an attempt to mobilise anti-white sentiment and a supposedly visceral African attachment to the land. This plays well in Windhoek and Pretoria – less so in Harare, or even Bindura. Secondly, the farm invasions were a way of the political elite getting their hands on new economic assets. And thirdly, they would have the effect of displacing (and thereby disenfranchising) tens of thousands of farmworkers and their families.

And now, in the post-election phase, when international attention has moved elsewhere, it has become clear that this strategy was remarkably successful. Mugabe can rely on the support of his African “brothers” to soften the impact of any international sanctions. The allocation of farms has been a massive new source of patronage whereby Mugabe can reward the loyal. These are not, of course, primarily the “war veterans” who took over the farms in the first place, but party functionaries, government ministers, police and army officers, Mugabe’s family members, broadcasters, judges – all the heroes of what has been labelled, apparently without irony, the “third chimurenga”, or war of liberation.

And the rural workers – Zimbabweans who had the temerity to put class before tribe – have been scattered. Some estimates of internal displacement in Zimbabwe put the numbers as high as 1.5 million. Beyond question hundreds of thousands of people, mainly rural workers have been driven from their homes.

Zimbabwe faces a massive food crisis. Agricultural production, hardly surprisingly, is at an all-time low. This has coincided with famine in the sub-region. Communal farmers are likely to be spared the worst consequences, but it is the urban and rural working class – Mugabe’s opponents – who will be hardest hit. And to make matters worse, provision of food aid at the local level is often only available to those with a ZANU-PF card.

The irony of all this is that Mugabe’s land policy has to some extent brought about the alliance that it denounced. White commercial farmers, always politically quiescent, have been driven into the arms of the MDC as they have seen that they have no political alternative. The whites who have been politically active against Mugabe for years have not, by and large, been commercial farmers or former Selous Scouts, but those same people who opposed Ian Smith before independence. The influx of right-wing whites is not what the party needs if it is to represent the interests of its own constituency – but this because they are right-wing, not because they are white.

As the scale of the Zimbabwean disaster becomes clearer over the next few months, there will no doubt be louder calls for a humanitarian response. But another type of response is needed to. While farmworkers are forced from their homes, public sector workers such as teachers and health personnel are driven from their jobs. And the government promotes its own yellow union, Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions, at the expense of the ZCTU. Zimbabweans need solidarity, especially from African trade unions, just as much as they need food aid.

Richard Carver is director of Oxford Media Research.

Zimbabwe's government has declared a state of emergency over HIV/AIDS and will allow the importation and manufacture of generic drugs, a local state-controlled newspaper reported. However, Lindy Francis, director of The Centre, an NGO working with people living with AIDS (PWAs) in Harare said that if true, the declaration was "five years too late".

The World Association of Newspapers on Monday awarded its annual press freedom prize, the 2002 Golden Pen of Freedom, to Geoffrey Nyarota, Editor of the Daily News in Zimbabwe, in recognition of his outstanding service to the cause of press freedom in the face of constant persecution. "I receive this award today on behalf of the beleaguered and much terrorised journalists of Zimbabwe," said Mr Nyarota, in accepting the award just one week after he was arrested and briefly jailed in a continuing campaign of government harassment.

We the undersigned, as individuals concerned about the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe, find it puzzling and rather appalling that the international police organization, an organization that claims to value the respect of human rights, would invite to the Interpol Conference in the city of Lyon, a known and documented abuser of such rights in the nation of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe's Police Chief, Mr Augustine Chihuri.

The record of the police force in Zimbabwe as being a highly corrupt organization, and the force's political allegiance to Mr Mugabe are not issues of debate. We the undersigned hereby wish to register that we are appalled by the choice made by Interpol, to allow Mr Chihuri to attend the Interpol Conference despite his inclusion on the list of Zimbabwean officials affected by the "Smart Sanctions" imposed by the EU and the USA. Your choice is hereby taken as an indication that you do not stand in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe to secure their basic human rights. We cannot conceive of a logical explanation as to why the invitation to the Interpol Conference, of an individual on an oppressor's payroll, could benefit the oppressed people of Zimbabwe. We request that Mr Chihuri be removed from his post as Vice President of Interpol, unless your organization wishes to retract its claim to the respect of human rights as one of its core values.

To sign this internet petition, please go to www.PetitionOnline.com/zwIpol/

Politically motivated violence appears to be decreasing in Zimbabwe, says a report by a local human rights group. "Reported cases and instances of political violence have decreased in comparison to the cases reported in the first four months of 2002," says The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum's latest report.

A report by the Danish group Physicians for Human Rights, which documents the politicisation of Zimbabwe's growing food crisis. The full report contains detailed fieldwork examining the distribution of food in particular villages and towns, on which these findings and conclusions are based.

Zimbabwe’s ruling elite, including the two vice presidents and relatives of President Robert Mugabe, has taken over most of the top commercial farms under the government’s fast-track land reforms, it was established this week.A list compiled from the government’s own advertisements in the state media and reports from commercial farmers shows that among those who have benefited from the model A2 scheme meant to create the new commercial farmer are Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, army commander Constantine Chiwenga, director of prisons Paradzayi Zimondi and even broadcaster Reuben Barwe.

The managing director of Zimbabwe's "private" television station, Joy TV, Tony De Villiers has quit the station allegedly because of the interference of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). Joy TV is leasing a station from ZBC and uses ZBC's signal transmitters. The Daily News reported on 14 May 2002. Tony De Villiers indicated in his resignation letter that recent events have forced him to resign. "With regard to the announcement and the events associated thereto, it is with deep regret that I hereby tender my resignation as a director of Flame Lily Broadcasting limited (Joy TV)," read De Villiers letter.

Our THURSDAY DISCUSSION SERIES has been very badly affected by gossip or innuendo that suggests that The Book Cafe has been "banned" etc.. etc.. The truth is sadly that political discussions are now regarded under the new law as "public gatherings" requiring ZRP permission. We have resolved to continue because a 5-year tradition of free and open democratic discussion is too important to abandon, at probably the most critical juncture. Where discussions have a political content we will obtain permission. Otherwise we continue as normal. We have taken all reasonable steps to protect ourselves and our patrons from any trouble. We are perfectly aware that the new law represents, in practice, a form of suppression of freedoms of speech and assembly. We hope that you may share our conviction that democacy is an elusive right unless it is practiced. That there is NO option BUT to continue to exercise the right of a community to discuss matters which concern their lives, even under exceptionally difficult circumstances.

The government has created a potentially explosive situation by inviting two labour umbrella bodies to accompany its delegation to the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) annual conference in Geneva next month. In the past it has invited only the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) to represent the workers, and the Zimbabwe Confederation of Employers (ECZ), the employers. This time, for the ILO conference from 2-20 June, the government has invited its own creation, the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU), one of whose top officials is the high-profile war veterans leader and chief of municipal police, Joseph Chinotimba.

A coalition of non-governmental organisations dealing with conflict management has noted with great concern the continuation of human rights violations on farm workers throughout the country. These violations have been noted on both designated and undesignated farms during the fast track land redistribution exercise. Farm workers are among the poorest members of our society and yet, the resettlement programme has been instituted without any consideration for the welfare of thousands of farm workers and their families. The methods being used to implement the resettlement programme violate the basic human rights of the farm workers. The programme has resulted in a sudden termination of their employment resulting in an immediate loss of income with no provision for compensation or retrenchment packages. There is the forced and oftentimes violent removal from their homes and the destruction of their property. These people can no longer feed their families nor educate their children. This situation does not provide any form of hope and security for the thousands of displaced farm workers and their families. With the exception of a very small number, the farm workers have not benefited from the land resettlement exercise. A large majority are the descendants of people of foreign origin and are therefore not considered Zimbabwean citizens. This is despite the immense contribution made by generations of farm workers to Zimbabwe’s economy. The coalition believes that the situation of the farm workers can be improved in a number of ways. Contact: Coalition on Conflict Management, c/o Box CY 369 Causeway, Harare; email [email protected], telephone +263-(0)4-791 994.

This is a consolidated Land Aquisition Act which takes into account the amendments passed by Parliament and Gazetted on Friday 10th May 2002, with immediate effect. [Acts 3/1992, 15/2000(1), 14/2001(2), 6/2002(3). This consolidated Act states the law as from 10th May 2002.] An act to empower the President and other authorities to acquire land and other immovable property compulsorily in certain circumstances; to make special provision for the compensation payable for agricultural land required for resettlement purposes; to provide for the establishment of the Derelict Land Board; to provide for the declaration and acquisition of derelict land; and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing. Download the Land Acquisition Act from the www.kubatana.net web site.

The complexities dogging Zimbabwe’s controversial land reforms demand intelligent, fair and accurate analysis from the media. But this was not the case during the week when government again bulldozed through Parliament the enactment of the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill, which gives government immediate control of white-owned farms targeted for resettlement. Parliamentarians were hastily assembled before the official opening date to regularize the law reincarnated last November by presidential decree after a Supreme Court ruling nullified the General Laws Amendment Act to which the amendment originally belonged. Coverage of this important development in the public media was especially unprofessional.

The Legal Resources Foundation have published this information in light of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act [Chapter 10:27] is now in operation. If you are a citizen of Zimbabwe or lawfully resident in this country, you have a right to examine, and to obtain copies of, certain documents and information kept or controlled by "public bodies".