Violence conducted by Zimbabwe's security forces is spreading as they randomly beat up members of the public while swooping through neighbourhoods on the lookout for opposition supporters, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.

African leaders sought to hammer out a fresh approach to Zimbabwe's crisis on Thursday as President Robert Mugabe's government was hit with new charges of widespread human rights abuses.

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/broadcasts/marceline.jpgFree Zim-Youth, a group of young Zimbabweans living in the UK, demonstrated outside the South African embassy in central London in protest at the ANC's silence over the Mugabe regime. Commemorating the anniversary of the Sharpeville Day massacre during apartheid rule, the youth group accuse the ANC of betraying the people of Zimbabwe. In this podcast, hear the voices of the protesters and the sounds of the demonstration. To contact Free Zim-Youth email them at [email][email protected]

The past three weeks have seen an embattled Zimbabwean government unleash terror on its citizens. Mary Ndlovu believes that the last weeks have brought qualitative change to Zimbabwe that spells the end of Mugabe ‘s rule sooner than later. Change is coming, she writes, but it is not likely to bring us close to that goal. Rather it will be the first step of another very long journey.

Three weeks ago an embattled Zimbabwe government declared a ban on public meetings for three months. A week later, when a defiant opposition attempted to hold a prayer rally in a historic Harare suburb, government responded with brutal and calculated beatings of hundreds of opposition supporters, residents and stunned by-standers – resulting in two known deaths and many life-threatening injuries. Since then the world’s press and diplomatic communities have been in an uproar and newspaper editors have fallen over each other predicting the pending demise of Robert Mugabe’s 27 years of misrule.

Has Robert Mugabe’s game finally come to an end? Has he now gone a step too far for even his protectors to tolerate? Will the coming weeks see progress toward the genuine change so many Zimbabweans are longing for?

Opposition leaders have said so – we have reached the tipping point, claims Morgan Tsvangirai. Others are calling it the beginning of the end; Mugabe’s last stand. Not so hasty say the more cautious, it has happened before; we have had massive public protests; we have had government brutality and world condemnation before.

The Zimbabwean people are not ready to face the dangers of extended public protest, they say, and will likely again be cowed by the terror tactics of government. At this point, we do not even have a state of emergency; Mugabe still has many weapons in his arsenal, both literal and figurative. Mugabe may have been weakened, he may be down for the count, but he is not out, and could rise to his feet again.

The past weeks have indeed brought a qualitative change to Zimbabwe, with a significant shift in the balance of power between the forces which keep Mugabe in power and those which wish to remove him. Ultimately a government’s endurance rests on its success in maintaining a productive and healthy economy which delivers at least subsistence to the population. Mugabe has failed spectacularly in this sphere, with the economy in a state of contraction for the past seven years, and in free fall for the past year.

This collapse has effects which undermine his political support. Firstly, it makes it more difficult for him to dispense the largesse necessary to buy the continuing loyalty of the political and security elite, and to keep the lower ranks of the forces in line. Second, it makes the population, which has remained largely quiescent and submissive in the face of oppression, restive and prepared to risk more in confronting a hugely unpopular government which has destroyed their lives. And thirdly it has spill-over consequences in the region which are beginning to annoy and frustrate neighbouring governments.

Perceiving a weakening in Mugabe’s power base, opposition leaders in political parties, civil society organisations, student movements and churches, have taken their cue and demonstrated greater determination and willingness to come together to push him out.

Within the past weeks opposition elements have shown greater cohesion than at any time in the past few years, the people are less afraid, neighbouring governments are at last speaking out on the need for change, and the ZANU PF elite are themselves realising that they do not want Mugabe to continue in power any longer.

Add to this the alienation of the regular police, army and intelligence forces, and the increasing unwillingness of a previously tamed judiciary to play ball, and we do have a recipe for change in the near future. Most critical of these elements in effecting an early change, is the ZANU PF elite.

The opposition would take much more time to bring sufficient pressure to bear, but the ZANU PF hierarchy has seemingly realised that rather than squabbling about succession, their interests will be better served by working together to ditch their unpopular and ageing leader. That may be the only way they can save themselves, their positions and their misgotten wealth.

Certainly, Mugabe will not go easily. He is determined to hang on, and prepared to use any violent means within his grasp. In case the regular police waver in their support, he has side-stepped them by utilising youth militia and party thugs, with or without uniforms, to intimidate opposition forces by brutality, both targeted and indiscriminate.

Now he has declared that the traditionally loyal although also divided war veterans will form a reserve army. And a pact with Angola to provide police to support his rule is rumoured. Dissenters to Mugabe’s continued rule from within ZANU PF have the permanent threat of arrest and punishment for economic crimes dangled over them, and the implied threat of violence as well.

Clearly the food weapon will again be used against any who do not show their loyalty in another year of drought and scarcity. He is a master at splitting any social or political force which he does not control; in Zimbabwe he has split the churches, the political opposition, and civil society organisations; internationally he succeeded in splitting the Commonwealth and now there are signs that the Angolan alliance is an attempt to split SADC. Down he may be, perhaps, but certainly still fighting, with no intention of leaving the ring.

But Mugabe will eventually go, and it appears now that it will be sooner rather than later. If his own party supporters see him as a liability his days are numbered. Their loyalty has for some time been conditional on his ability to protect their criminal activities. With this becoming less and less possible, they have no reason to keep him in place. While it is useless to speculate on the timing, when Morgan Tsvangirai says that he will be gone before the end of this year, it is now believable.

Our focus then shifts to the question of how he will go, bringing us to consider the scenarios which could play out before us. We have reached the time of greatest hope but the time of greatest danger, because the way in which Mugabe goes is of utmost importance to the future of Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans.

There are two major issues – will it be a peaceful change, or will it be violent – and will the change bring progressive forces into power, or will it simply be more of the same?

Mugabe’s use of violence, denying non-violent means of resisting him, tends to provoke violence in response. Although all the opposition forces espouse non-violence, in the face of intensifying, irrational repression, it is possible that groups of dissenters will turn to violence.

The current sporadic use of sabotage tactics against police and civilian targets could be the work of agents provocateurs, but could also be the work of disgruntled opposition elements who want to do anything to express their anger. They are not a threat to the government, as they lack organisation and weaponry, at least at the present moment.

A more serious threat to government would be action by disaffected army units, with or without the connivance of senior military and political figures. Serious fighting could result if the army were to divide into units loyal to Mugabe and units loyal to other factions of ZANU PF, or acting independently. It might well lead to the removal of Mugabe, but could also usher in a period of civil strife and uncertainty such as has occurred in Cote d’Ivoire. It would probably also lead to international intervention of various sorts, which might or might not produce a satisfactory political resolution.

But experience in the rest of Africa shows that once weapons are used to promote the interests of individuals or groups, the results are highly detrimental to civilians at all levels, and the chaos produced is normally long-term, not short-term. Thus civil strife, or even a violent overthrow of Mugabe by his own soldiers can hardly be considered a desirable solution. Fortunately, it does not appear very likely, but is certainly a possibility.

The second scenario would be one in which opposition forces, acting on their own without support from the ZANU PF hierarchy, but possibly with assistance from within the police and army, were able to pressure Mugabe into resigning or fleeing as he sees his support base melting away. In such a case, opposition forces would be likely to call for international assistance in effecting a transition and holding new elections. A transition which is driven by popular mass action is desirable as it empowers the people to make the leaders accountable to them. Furthermore, it is likely to put in place a system of trial and punishment for perpetrators of violence and exploiters of the nation’s wealth, ending impunity for crimes.

But the truth is that the opposition in Zimbabwe would take many months to organise the people into such a powerful formation. Although the capacity of the combined opposition forces to pressurise Mugabe is probably underestimated, the main goal which unites them is to remove the man himself. Even if they were able to pull off an 'Orange revolution' which is always being held up as a model, their ability to deliver the dreams of the masses of Zimbabwe is highly questionable.

Elements amongst them which show a commitment to genuine participatory democracy and an economy of fair distribution of wealth are very weak. They have not shown that they have the will or the skills to replace a highly corrupt political and government structure which answer to the people’s needs.

Nevertheless, such a people driven change would be the most desirable, simply because it would remove the corrupt power structure of ZANU PF and hold it accountable for the destruction of a once vibrant nation and the immiseration of its people. We live in hope that it would at least produce something better than what we have been subjected to for the past 27 years.

The other likely prospect is a 'negotiated settlement'. This is currently being promoted, not only by Western governments, but also probably by South Africa and the majority of SADC. This position sees the opposition MDC as being too divided and too weak to effect the removal of Mugabe, making factions of ZANU PF opposed to Mugabe’s continuation in power critical to removing him.

The idea is to use some of his immediate subordinates in the party to broker a deal in which Mugabe is persuaded (or even forced) to vacate office in exchange for impunity from any form of accountability for his crimes against his people. Talks between ZANU PF and the MDC on a new constitution and arrangements for 'free and fair' internationally supervised elections in 2008, would follow, resulting in a new government taking office. It would then receive massive support from the IMF to resurrect the economy.

The first scenario is the most dangerous, the second the most desirable, but the third ultimately the most probable. If current reports of 'talks' can be believed, the second 'solution' may already be in process.

Much as we would like to see a change, we should not be fooled into believing that such an outcome will solve our problems. Since it relies on Mugabe’s lieutenants to remove him, it means they will remain in place; but they are equally guilty of the crimes of which he would stand charged. Unless they are also removed, impunity will prevail and they will keep the current corrupt anti-democratic patronage system in place. Moreover, can we trust SADC to supervise a transition? Who will repeal the oppressive legislation which ensured that recent elections could not be fair?

The same people who put it in place? Who will restore citizenship to those Zimbabweans who have been stripped of it and denied their vote? How do we install a new election machinery and overhaul the Registrar General’s electoral roll if ZANU PF leaders remain? And how can we trust those African governments which previously declared obviously flawed elections free and fair to guide us through new elections?

We may wish for a peaceful transition, but are we wise to again allow the perpetrators of massive human rights abuses to go unpunished? Many voices are raised to urge Zimbabweans to allow Mugabe to retire gracefully in order that we gain a peaceful transition. But does this mean we allow the establishment through which he perpetrated the abuses to continue as well? The lessons of history are that when there is impunity abuses continue. Such an outcome does not augur well for the future.

There is a danger in this scenario that we will see a sort of replay of 1979. At that time, when liberation movements had a complete victory over Ian Smith within their grasp, the international community intervened to prevent it, and force compromises whose consequences remained to haunt our independence.

Is this what is happening again? Will Western and Southern African nations intervene to help remove Mugabe himself, enforce compromises in the shape of impunity for perpetrators of human rights abuses, re-establish a safe environment for world and regional capital, and leave the people little better off than before?

The main difference, however, is that opposition forces in 2007 are much further from victory on their own, and history will not wait for those who are unable to seize the moment.

In spite of a history of 'people’s struggle' in Southern Africa, the outcome has almost always been the appropriation of the political process by the few. Deals are worked out between opposing elites which put one or the other or a combination in power.

In general, the need to deal with abuses is swept aside, international capital pours in to revitalise investment opportunities for the world’s entrepreneurs, and the people are fed an illusion that change has occurred.

Sadly, we must accept the truth that progressive forces have not yet evolved sufficiently to achieve power in Zimbabwe or indeed the region as a whole. A non-violent negotiated removal of Mugabe by elites in Zimbabwe and outside will at least break the current impasse.

We can only hope that it will open some cracks which the committed might use to create democratic space. In that space they must continue the struggle to achieve the vision of a just society. Change is coming, but it is not likely to bring us close to that goal. Rather it will be the first step of another very long journey.

* Mary Ndlovu is a Zimbabwean human rights activist.
* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

A network of NGOs working in the democracy and good governance field in Zimbabwe is looking for person to fill the field officer position based in Masvingo. The incumbent will be responsible for the provision of information to support the organisation 's education, research and advocacy programme. Deadline for Applications is 20 April, 2007.

A vacancy has arisen in one of the leading youth-based human rights non-governmental organization (NGO) for the position of Gender Programmes Officer. Deadline for applications is 5th April 2007.

Zimbabwean police say opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara and more than 40 other activists arrested last week are not allowed to leave the country until their case is finalised in court, a newspaper reported Monday. Mutambara, who leads a breakaway faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was arrested at Harare International Airport on Saturday as he tried to leave the country to visit his wife in South Africa.

Scheming by Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) is killing off the few remaining independent news media while the government-controlled Media Information Commission (MIC) continues to use obligatory press accreditation as way to pressure journalists in an entirely unacceptable fashion, Reporters Without Borders have reported.

Mugabe – leadership without vision or a brutal power-drenched dictator who has lost all sense of reality and humanity?

Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe, once said the problem of Africa is a problem of leadership without vision. That cannot be truer than recent events in Zimbabwe have proven.

Battered bodies, broken bones, bleeding human flesh. That is all President Robert Mugabe has been able to give to the people he is supposed to protect and lead, in the past few weeks, even before. The president can only offer brutal violence to a nation suffering from so many human catastrophes: economic collapse, shortages of food and fuel, massive unemployment, unprintable inflation figures, and finally, national hopelessness.

'Our people have bad eating habits. They should eat rice and potatoes', he said in the midst of a critical shortage of the staple maize in a country which produces neither.

For President Mugabe, the national vision ends with him. 'L'etat, c'est moi', the leader seems to say. The state is him, and he believes he owns every citizen, and so can do whatever he wants with them. The outside world must not interfere in the 'domestic affairs' of Zimbabwe. The president's vision ends with his own power and self-preservation. Inflicted with deafness and blindness, the president has lost the capacity to see anything else around him. 'He has lost the plot,' as some have said. But the reality is that he has lost any sense of reality. He is totally out of touch with the real world around him.

Zimbabwe introduced a massive education programme in the 1980s, enabling every child to go to school. And the children did. Mugabe's ambition was to have a secondary school in every cluster of villages. He almost succeeded. With such a high thirst for education, the children and teachers flooded the countryside and the cities. Almost every secondary school acted as two: one group comes in the morning, and another in the afternoon, two schools in one.

The educational yields were unbelievable. Zimbabweans still believed in the power and efficacy of education. It was the only way they knew that would take them and their children out of poverty and ignorance. From school, the child would get a job, thus help to save the whole family, including uncles and the whole village. Parents would sell the last chicken, goat or cow to send the child to school, their economic saviour. Teachers, too, were trained in guerrilla-style courses. Those of us already qualified to teach were assisting new teachers to train on the job. This went on until the late 1980s when the World Bank intervened, claiming that Mugabe was giving Zimbabweans too much education which would flood the country with educated but jobless people.

Mugabe had not realised that the education system was producing people who would begin to think for themselves without being necessarily grateful to him. Who could analyse the problems of society on their own, including the root causes of those problems. Unfortunately, they discovered that the Mugabe government had made no plans for a concrete skills programme to equip them to enter the economy at a productive level. Students then started to revolt, and Mugabe was furious. That was when he declared that he had 'degrees in violence', challenging the students and calling them hooligans. If Mugabe had realised the importance of his education programme, he would also have realised that the youths were being given skills to analyse everything and everyone, including him. Now he hates the youth of the country, except those he hires to kill and break the bones of his critics.

Mugabe would have preferred all Zimbabweans to remain illiterate. That is his biggest regret. Even when he addresses villagers, he uses impeccable English, better than Tony Blair and George W. Bush - his arch-enemies.

Like most African leaders, Mugabe hates the situation in which the citizens know their rights and are able to demand them. His philosophy on democracy is what he calls 'guided democracy', which means, as one of his vice-presidents, the late Simon Muzenda, once said, 'If Zanu PF gives you a monkey as a candidate, you have to vote for it'. This arrogance is typical of the Mugabe government since he seriously believes that he is the most intelligent leader in Zimbabwe and the rest of the continent. Mugabe's rule is arrogance - 'arrogancocracy', if such a word exists. His ministers have also taken the cue. And it flows down the ladder to his members of parliament and village leaders who hardly ever visit or consult their constituents.

The current violence in Zimbabwe has also to be understood in the context of the 'liberator mentality'. No liberation war has ever produced a democrat of substance.

'If you don't vote for me, there will be war', Mugabe declared during the presidential campaign of 2002. And being the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the army commanders were soon to appear at a press conference in which they declared that they will never salute a president who did not come out of the liberation war. That was a silent military coup. So, even if the opposition leader had won the presidency, he would never have been allowed to go to state house.

The 'liberator' mentality also produces the 'father of the nation' mentality. Mugabe intensely hated Joshua Nkomo because Nkomo was establishing himself as 'the father of the nation' long before anyone knew Mugabe. Hence the violence in the southern provinces from 1983 to 1987. The purpose was to destroy Nkomo's political base and make his supporters realise that Nkomo was vulnerable and easy to destroy. The image had to be destroyed, even if it meant destroying the man himself.

'I liberated you, so I can subdue you and rule as I wish. You must be forever grateful to me', is the thinking. When Mugabe attacks his opponents and critics, he uses the liberation war as a licence to subdue all and sundry, by whatever means.

Former liberation war leaders love things and places named after them. In every town in Zimbabwe, there is a Robert Mugabe street, usually cutting through the centre of the city. In every government building and office, the framed picture of Mugabe looks down at you as if you are under the omnipresent eye of the President. It becomes a god-like symbol reminding every citizen that the demi-god, Mugabe, is watching you, day and night.

In the quest for glory and grandeur, the presidential palace is full of charlatans, praise-singers and flatterers. First they used to call him 'the son of God', and then one minister publicly said 'Mugabe is our Jesus Christ'. Next the minister of education and culture has recently designed and installed a 'throne' in parliament, for 'king Mugabe.' Then the minister of local government would not be outdone. He has decided to build 'a shrine' in Mugabe's home village. A shrine is a place of worship. So the president has become a god who deserves a 'shrine.' Thus, from VaMugabe ndibaba' (Mugabe is our father) to 'the son of God' to 'Jesus Christ' to a 'shrine' a place of worship, God.

When a mortal human is elevated to the status of a god, what can he not do? In biblical terms, God said, 'I am the God of war. I punish children for the sins of their fathers.' Hence President Mugabe, having elevated himself to that level, does not hesitate to inflict pain and death on men, women, children and the rest. All the problems of the country have nothing to do with him. It is all because of the West, Tony Blair and George W. Bush. Were he to admit a mistake, he would lose his infallibility. So, when he was asked many years ago, if he had made any mistake in the governance of the country, he answered, with a straight face: 'none at all'. The violence in Zimbabwe is Mugabe's 'rightful' demand to rule like a god.

African leaders have developed the capacity to transform themselves from elected leaders to royals, then to demigods and finally gods, from a presidential medal to a royal throne to a shrine, in their own lifetime.

Unfortunately, Africa is an extremely religious continent. We love to worship, even if it means creating our own gods in the name of a president. Religious hymns initially meant to praise gods are soon adapted to praise The President. Church uniforms normally depicting angels and Jesus Christ are soon flooded with images of The President. Bank notes are also soon covered with pictures of The President.

Africa is a continent of love and generosity, so we always believe. But somehow it produces such these monstrosities of political and financial power that it boggles the mind. We have a reputation of creating laughter at every occasion, including death. We have the capacity to produce an Idi Amin, a Bokassa, a Mobuto, a Banda, a Mugabe, at the same time that we laugh and dance. Could it be that we laugh and dance too much at the expense of serious business? All one can think of is: if Africa did not laugh, it would be crying all the time. 'We laugh in order not to cry', an African once said.

Not many African leaders have ever bothered to develop the language of democracy. President Mugabe is known to be probably the most foul-mouthed president in the world. There is no word he will not use against the opposition. At one time they are 'dogs', at another they are 'stooges', 'terrorists', 'tea boys,' 'traitors', 'sell-outs', and many other vulgarities only the mother tongue can pronounce. The ethics of language usage do not exist for President Mugabe and his cronies. He has no capacity to realise the implications of using a certain vocabulary in the political arena. When he says 'we will crush the opposition', he does not seem to realise that his youths will physically 'crush' the heads and limbs of his opponents.

'Power is a desolating pestilence,' an Indian scholar once observed. Power consumes human memory and conscience. President Mugabe has been so totally consumed by power that his memory does not seem to be about to rescue him. By training youths to murder and maim, he has destroyed a whole generation which has to be brought up again so they can learn to respect human life, freedom, dignity and compassion. All this in the insane pursuit of power for its own sake, power to loot and plunger the material and spiritual resources of a country.

The powerful in Africa seem to be infected with the diseases of deafness, blindness, and lack of vision of a past, and a future without them. They will kill their own mothers, sisters and brothers, if it makes them remain in power. When they inherit the instruments and technology of torture and oppression, they seem to be so grateful to their colonial masters whom they take pleasure in blaming for other convenient things: 'As Africans peacefully walked to the townships in the afternoon, just as they had walked to work in the morning, they were beaten up, and dogs were let loose on women and children', words of the late Zimbabwean nationalist, Maurice Nyagumbo, as he remembers the colonial rulers' treatment of Africans in Southern Rhodesia in the 1950s.

History, especially in Africa, seems to repeat itself, in different colours of skin and flag.

* Chenjerai Hove is a Zimbabwean writer living in exile in Norway.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

My wife, Sekai Holland, is a 64-year old grandmother. For the crime of being a member of the opposition MDC in Zimbabwe she has suffered one of the most brutal attacks imaginable at the hands of the ZANU PF regime's sadistic thugs.

Sekai's ordeal began when she and fellow activist Grace Kwinjeh went to Harare's Highfield police station looking for those who had been arrested for trying to attend a Zimbabwe prayer vigil last Sunday. When they arrived they were told the others were in the yard at the back, and they were then taken to the yard and locked in with those already detained. Then the beatings started. Initially there was a mass beating of everyone there - over a hundred people who were forced to lie on the ground while they were viciously attacked. Later Sekai and the other members of the MDC leadership were called in one by one to the charge office where they were made to repeatedly run a gauntlet of thugs who beat them mercilessly.

Sekai was first hit in the face, her glasses being smashed to start with. Her earrings and watch were ripped off. Then she was hit with a variety of weapons, including clubs and batons. They kept accusing her of being Tony Blair's girlfriend - to which she responded 'No - he is my son - how can you call me his girlfriend?' That naturally didn't go down well. The beatings went on and on over a period of hours. A woman repeatedly jumped on her with booted feet - fracturing or breaking three of her ribs. Her clothes were covered in blood - both her own and that of others suffering the same brutality. She passed out several times.

At one stage one of the torturers left the room and was then called back by another who said 'What about her legs?'. He then used some instrument to break her leg, after which they forced her to stand up and hobble around on it. When satisfied that they had indeed broken it they left. The team of torturers was apparently trying to break her spirit by inflicting the maximum amount of pain.

From Highfield Sekai was taken first to Central Police Station and then to the suburban Avondale station. At Avondale when she was ordered to get out of the high prison truck she replied that she was unable to do so due to her injuries, so they pushed her out and she fell and landed hard on her head, adding to the injuries she already had.

Sekai spent two full days in detention without medical treatment. She suffered filthy conditions without proper sanitation, and with numerous injuries. When the courts finally forced the police to take the injured for medical treatment, it was first thought that she had a broken arm and foot, as well as the massive bruising over most of her body. Later on they discovered that she in fact had a broken leg not foot, and that she also had three broken or fractured ribs as well as a fractured knee.

I managed to get back to Harare from Tanzania on the evening of the day Sekai was admitted to hospital. The place was still crawling with riot police, and the atmosphere was very tense. However a local human rights organisation, Amani Trust, had managed to negotiate proper treatment for all the injured and Sekai was put into very good medical hands.

A doctor friend of ours from Australia paid her a visit before I arrived. However he was arrested and interrogated by the police for many hours before being released without charge. Apparently they thought he was a journalist. Sekai was in excellent spirits when I finally saw her, in spite of being so sadistically brutalised. She said that neither she nor any of the other leaders she saw being battered uttered any cries - and that must have infuriated the torturers. In the end the sadists were the ones who failed. In frustration they apparently made the bizarre boast that they were being paid a million dollars (admittedly only US$100 or so now) by Reserve Bank Governor Gono to carry out the beatings, plus an extra $100,000 a day for their meal allowances. That gives you an indication of the mentality of those hired by the regime.

Since her admission to hospital Sekai has had surgery to insert pins in her broken leg and arm. That operation went well, but she will need specialist treatment outside the country for the fractured knee.

I think that the regime has massively miscalculated with this brutality. Messages of solidarity have been coming in from all over the world, and I can see this leading to real pressure on the neighbouring African countries who have shielded Mugabe and his regime for so long.

The most moving development of all for us has been to hear of the support coming from so many members of the Australian Aboriginal community with whom Sekai campaigned over the elimination of apartheid and other colonial systems in Africa, and in support of Aboriginal Land Rights back in the
1970s. They say they are not going to let this pass without action that may surprise everyone.

Update 17 March 2007

It was agreed that it was essential to evacuate Sekai and fellow MDC activist Grace Kwinjeh from hospital in Harare to South Africa, where the atmosphere was calmer and safer and where medical facilities were better than in Zimbabwe. Arrangements were therefore made for them to be taken by air ambulance from Harare airport to Johannesburg. However when their ambulance drew up next to the aircraft on the tarmac they were met by members of the CIO (Central Intelligence Agency) who refused to allow them on board. Discussions with our lawyer followed, but he was told that the injured women required a clearance letter from the Minister of Health before they could leave the country. That of course was a total fabrication as there is no such provision in the law or indeed in practice. The ambulance was ordered to proceed under police escort to the Central Police Station.

At Central, the lawyer was advised that the women were not allowed to leave the country but should return to hospital under police escort. No justification or explanation was given. They were taken back to hospital and placed under the guard of four uniformed police officers - two fully armed men and two women. No explanation was forthcoming for another hour or so, at which time they were informed that they were under arrest as they were to be charged with some unspecified offence to be determined in due course by the CID (Criminal Investigation Division of the police).

It should be noted that on the day of their appearance before the court last Tuesday the magistrate ordered that everyone should be released from custody and that no further arrests should be made, and that if the police wanted to proceed against any of those arrested at a later stage it should be by way of summons and not arrest. The treatment they received today is in direct violation of that court order.

I am impressed by the amount of space your online magazine has given to the Zimbabwean case. It is true that the economy of Zimbabwe is in shambles. It is true that Mugabe has overstayed his welcome as head of state of Zimbabwe. It is not true that all the economic problems in Zimbabwe are Mugabe's making. It is not true that to create land for blacks from whose ancestors land was taken by force, is a bad policy. It is not true that the SADC countries just sit and watch and they don't understand the politics of Zimbabwe.

Who is Mugabe?

One of the African heroes of the independence movement. One of the only black African head of states who cannot be manipulated by the West including the 'only' super power on the scene The man who stood against the 'West's' evil plan in the DRC by taking 10,000 armed men to the battle field. The only African head of state who courageously faced a white privileged class and dispossessed them of their ill gotten wealth Mugabe takes lesson from doyens of liberators of the world's poor such as Fidel Castro, Frantz Fanon and lately Hugo Chavez. Mugabe says there is no freedom in South Africa as long as 'economic apartheid' prevails. Is this the man your publication and the West think the 'foolish' African citizens will turn against? Sekou Toure once said 'we prefer poverty in freedom rather than riches in slavery'. Dedan Kimathi, Kenya's freedom fighter said: 'It is better to die in the struggle than to live on our knees'.

For a long time Africa has been the West's 'cake on the table' since the days of the Berlin's conference. There are a few African thinkers and leaders who want to stop this trend. Mugabe is their apostle. Next time you write on Zimbabwe, please include divergent opinions like mine. I am not a Zimbabwean, I am a Kenyan who has interacted with Zimbabweans. Aluta continua against imperialism of both government and the media.
Long live Zimbabwe
Long live Mugabe
Long live African freedom

This week, police in Zimbabwe used tear gas, water cannon and live ammunition to crush Sunday's gathering by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of opposition, church and civic groups, in Harare's western township of Highfield. Police shot and killed one opposition activist, Gift Tandare. Lawyers and fellow opposition activists said Tsvangirai had suffered a suspected skull fracture after being beaten by police. Patrick Burnett summarises voices from the ground and highlights some key messages from articles published in Pambazuka News in the recent past. Is it a year of hope or will it all simply collapse into a quagmire?

'In pairs we were being led to the cells where there were five people dressed in police uniforms holding baton sticks who were beating the hell out of us," relates an unnamed woman opposition activist. "They would beat each pair for between 15 and 20 minutes after which they would order the pair out to fetch the next pair from the van." The woman describes how her head was banged against a wall causing her to fall down to the ground. "It took a long time according to what I was seeing and I was only praying if they could stop," she tells the camera in this video as her testimony is interspersed with shots of police brutally beating arrested protesters with batons in order to force them into a police van.

Another activist states in the same video: "We wanted the government to see and show the world at large that the Zimbabweans are suffering. The money they are getting is peanuts, it does not take them anywhere. It is the government that regulates the prices. You can hardly pay for a child at school. You have to feed the family and sometimes you have only one meal a day. We wanted to show the leadership of Zimbabwe that what they are doing is not fair."

Even video sharing site knows what's happening in Zimbabwe. This video was not testimony from Sunday's protest, though, but of a peaceful labour union demonstration in September 2006 in which 23 people were beaten and tortured. No doubt, videos of Sunday's march will find their way onto youtube, providing a valuable window into the situation – the above video already has over 12 000 views - but in the meantime compare testimonies from the video quoted above with that of MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, as told to the BBC:

"It was almost as if they were waiting for me…Before I could even settle down I was subjected to a lot of beatings, in fact it was random beatings but I think the intention was to inflict as much harm as they could. I suffered injuries on the head, six stitches, body blows, a broken arm. I also suffered injuries on the knees and on my back several body blows, but I think the most serious injury was the head injury because I lost a lot of blood. They have just administered almost two pints of blood."

Police used tear gas, water cannon and live ammunition to crush Sunday's gathering by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of opposition, church and civic groups, in Harare's western township of Highfield. Police shot and killed one opposition activist, Gift Tandare. Lawyers and fellow opposition activists said Tsvangirai had suffered a suspected skull fracture after being beaten by police.

World outrage followed news of the crackdown, with calls for more stringent sanctions and renewed engagement with Zimbabwe. African leadership, long muted on the issue of Zimbabwe, was also more strident. Ghanaian President John Kufuor, also the African Union chair, said: "I know personally that presidents like (South Africa's Thabo) Mbeki tried desperately to exercise some influence for the better," as reported by numerous media. "Please don't think that Africa is not concerned. Africa is very much concerned. What can Mbeki as a man do? Are you proposing that Africa compose an expedition team to march on Zimbabwe and oppose? It does not happen like that. We are in our various ways trying very hard."

As demonstrated by the youtube video and numerous human rights reports in the past months and years, Tsvangirai's beatings are the result of long term repression to which numerous Zimbabweans have been subject over the past years.

At this stage its worth trolling through a few of the articles published by Pambazuka News about Zimbabwe over the last five years, not because they are the only record of the Zimbabwean crisis or because they comprehensively cover all the issues faced by the country, but because they show the progression of events in the country, and provide useful analysis and insight into the complex Zimbabwean situation. At times like this its important to remember that short-term political outrage shouldn't mask the long-term nature of the situation in Zimbabwe – nor the long-term nature of political inaction.

Perhaps the most useful insight into Zimbabwe's path is provided in a series of articles written in March of each year since 2002 by Mary Ndlovu, a human rights activist from Zimbabwe. Her articles take readers into the heart of life in Zimbabwe, documenting the politics and effect of the land reform crisis, the controversial elections and the downward economic spiral and its effect on the Zimbabwean people.

In March 2004, Ndlovu writes: "On our side of the looking glass, the mounting catastrophe has political, economic, social and cultural components. Most objective observers would trace the economic problems back at least to the late 1980's. Certainly the introduction of structural adjustment at the beginning of the 90's can be seen as the process which eroded the living standards of Zimbabweans, and spawned the first broad-based opposition party. It also generated pressure from interest groups such as war veterans and ambitious black businessmen who felt they had waited too long to share in the country's wealth. The government's response to these developments sent the country into the downward spiral which today ensnares us. Instead of taking the criticism and the pressure and sitting back to plan a coherent strategy of how to deal with the inter-related issues, ZANU PF panicked, saw their ruling position threatened, and from 1997 on have responded piecemeal, reactively and irrationally, bringing us to the tragedy which unfolds before our eyes."

In another article, she writes: "In February 2000, ZANU PF discovered, in a rare moment of truth, that they were unpopular enough to be defeated at the polls, in spite of all the advantages they had in controlling most of the media, the electoral machinery and all the state security apparatus. They immediately began the process of ensuring that no matter what the people wanted, never again would ZANU PF lose a vote. The electoral process would be turned into a stage-managed spectacle."

Following on from this and assessing the 2005 Parliamentary elections, Ndlovu warns of economic collapse and "dire consequences" for the region should ZANU PF take power against the wishes of Zimbabweans. She makes three points on the back of this:

- SADC unwillingness to insist that regional electoral standards be upheld appears to signal that they are not prepared to implement them for their own countries either.

- Democrats should be aware that governments cannot be trusted with the task of defending democracy, in their own countries or anywhere else.

- There is a long road ahead for the building of democracy in Southern Africa, "from the bottom up, with much struggle to claim rights against the autocratic tendencies of all the governments and ruling parties of the region".

The startling lack of progress on the Zimbabwean front is evident in Ndlovu's articles. In March last year, Ndlovu wrote that: "Certainly we know that the multiple crises which embody Zimbabwe's millennium experience are intensifying, making life barely livable for the majority of the population. The crises have engulfed the working world, the learning world, the consumer world, the world of the supermarket and even of sport. The economy limps along, agriculture crawling, tourism virtually defunct, manufacturing crippled, and mining, the one still flickering light of the economy, under recent assault from government policies. Electricity comes and goes at will, water likewise in many places; fuel supplies (black market only) are erratic and prices exploitative. Schools are places of confusion, teachers demoralized, pupils unable to afford textbooks if they manage to pay fees, and only finding bus fare for half the school days. Courts barely function, police cells are filthy putrid hell holes, prisons even worse."

Writing in 2004, Steve Kibble points out the long-term nature of Zimbabwe's problems. "The inheritance of violent colonial dispossession and dehumanisation with the response of (in Brian Kagoro's words) a 'violent and hegemonic struggle for decolonisation…culminated in a largely symbolic independence devoid of material gain for the majority black population.' This meant an authoritarian elite unable/unwilling to transform the repressive state colonial structures into democratic institutions, and the emergence of neo-patrimonialism and clientilist structures along with long lasting cultures of intolerance and impunity."

In pointing to why regional responses to the Zimbabwean situation have been muted, Kibble writes in another article that: "The 'national security' strategy of the ZANU PF elite has led to economic collapse, severe repression, flight and severe economic consequences for the region, but as yet there has been no concerted regional reaction to this in terms of security. This in turn relates to national elites being unable to formulate a path directed to human security, and largely because of their lack of engagement with and mistrust of new social forces (which of course are not themselves necessarily united or coherent)."

Kibble questions how to shift the security focus from military to human security to focus on those without power and those affected by poverty, environmental degradation and human rights abuses. Values would include peace and the promotion of human rights. "It may not seem obvious when there seem more immediate concerns, but the fight against repression in Zimbabwe illustrates much of this, and involves what values postcolonial states and regions should have, their road to development, democracy and overcoming of colonial and apartheid structures, all of which pose human security dilemmas."

Patrick Bond and David Moore, in April 2006 ask what can be done to offer solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe: "…the real solidarity action ahead may revolve around COSATU and broader civil society forces. They must shake free of Mbeki's influence and establish a strategy for longer-term support. This would more forcefully and surgically target Mugabe and his cronies, and nurture the unpredictable resurgence of Zimbabwean protests, which certainly still lie ahead." More broadly, one could add to this the need for pressure on the African Union and other regional and international human rights bodies.

Perhaps the last word, before noting that based on the progression of events in Zimbabwe the happenings of the last week are hardly surprising and without concerted effort on behalf of all stakeholders worse will surely follow, should go to Ndlovu, writing in 2006: "The tension of expectation is building as the people's misery becomes unsustainable. Will this be the year, and if it is, will it hold hope for the future, or will we simply all fall down together?"

* Patrick Burnett is contributing editor of Pambazuka News
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

On March 12 2007, firebrand journalist Sunsley Chamunorwa renowned for his hard-hitting editorials and commentaries at the helm of the weekly Financial Gazette was suspended over a story reportedly involving the business interests of a strong ruling Zanu-PF official.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was on Tuesday taken to hospital after sustaining heavy injuries during torture while in police detention.

Two freelance journalists who were arrested when police broke up an opposition demonstration in Harare on 11 March, photographer Tsvangirai Mukwazhi and reporter Tendai Musiyu, were freed on Tuesday evening along with opposition activists who had been arrested at the same time. Both are contributors to the Associated Press news agency.

This passed week has seen the government of Mugabe reach an all time low in the violence committed against Zimbabwean citizens. Following the murder of the MDC activist, Gift Tandare, and the arrest and torture of senior MDC officials, including leader Morgan Tsvangirai, one begins to wonder whether this is the final push of Mugabe before he falls over the abyss and the people of Zimbabwe can begin finally to rebuild the country he has devastated economically and morally.

A message from some of the activists beaten last Sunday reads.

'The assaults on Sunday were so terrible and surreal. Like watching a movie except that one was part of the characters. Strangely if it were to happen again many of us would love to be in the front line again. They were hitting us but they were the ones afraid. Our wounds will heal but the scars on their souls are permanent and they will take them to hell.'

http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/295/blog_thisiszim.gif - presents a photo essay of the arrest of Mogan Tsvangirai and writes a list of atrocities committed by the government.

'Gift Tandere murdered by the police; MDC faction leader beaten and seriously injured; Activists shot while attending a vigil; Arrests continuing two days after the rally; Police searching for ’subversive material’; Evidence of widespread use of torture against high profile civil rights activists; Senior opposition figures ‘missing; Denial of legal representation; Ongoing police intimidation of civilians in Highfields, including possible use of violence; Scores of activists arrested.'

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Enough is Enough - reports that all of the 48 activists who were injured by the police were kept waiting for medical attention.

'Silence gripped the courtroom as the 46 arrested activists found their place among the chairs. It looked more of a hospital ward that a courtroom. In fact, the whole bruised lot deserved to be in hospital and not in a courtroom. ….Those who were seriously injured included Tsvangirai, the National Constitutional Assembly chairman Lovemore Madhuku, the MDC’s deputy national treasurer, Elton Mangoma and deputy secretary for international affairs Grace Kwinje.'

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Final Push - has a report from SABC on how the Zimbabwean government justifies it’s violent actions against opposition leaders - Nathan Shamuyarira, secretary for information and publicity Zanu (PF), says Morgan Tsvangirai, has been 'asking for trouble for a long time'.

'Tsvangirai has been provoking violence in urban townships. "If you ask for that kind of trouble you'll get it," he said, referring to Tsvangirai. Morning Live's Vuyo Mbuli asked: "Was Tsvangirai beaten because he asked for it?" and Shamuyarira replied, "Yes he asked for it!"…………The Zanu (PF) representative maintains that the meeting held on Sunday was unlawful and all the people who attended it ignored government's call to ban mass meetings. He says all meetings, including those of the ruling party, have been barred. "The MDC is always playing to the gallery of the international community. They want to demonstrate to Britain and America that there is violation of human rights in Zimbabwe. So they provoke action with the purpose of impressing their overseas bosses.'

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Cry Beloved Zimbabwe - comments on the what he sees as the complicity of the South African government in the violence committed by Mugabe against the Zimbabwean people….

'The fact that South Africans cannot see nothing wrong even with surmounting evidence that MDC leaders have been tortured in custody means two things, they are complicit with the human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and they are also heading the same way. Mandela once said it "the greatest question one has to ask is what did I do to help another human being in need" when he was invited to the British Labour Party in 2000 South Africans are intellectually challenged its no secret, most of them South African politicians waffle, there is little substance to what they say, most of the times its not their waffle which surprises me but the amount of waffle they are capable of producing. While the whole world over condemns the unlawful arrest, detention and torture of Zimbabwean political figures such MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai'

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Black Looks - publishes at obituary to murdered activists, Gift Tandare. Zorora Murugare by Zimbabwean feminist, Isabella Matambanadzo.

'His death is the result of repression. His grave will be a marker of how rights denied, end.In Zimbabwe, we live in a country where police run riot. Where our rights to lawyers and doctors are denied because certain elements of the state want to hold on to a kind of power that they can see they no longer have.'

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, and is Online News Editor of Pambazuka News.

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at pambazuka.org

It has come to our attention that on Sunday 11 March 2007, Mr. Gift Tandare, a Zimbabwean citizen was shot and killed by police in Highfields, a suburb in the capital city of Harare. He was on his way to a prayer meeting. Zimbabweans from different walks of life had agreed to spend their Sunday, the traditional day of Christian worship, in collective fellowship as comfort to each other.

The Government of Zimbabwe has resolved to offer full financial support to deserving students at tertiary level, according to the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Dr Stan Mudenge.

Zimbabwe's struggling agriculture sector can be turned around with more "nuanced" government support targeting smaller-scale farmers, agricultural experts said. Reserve bank governor Gideon Gono this week signalled an end to preferential loans and inputs for wealthier black commercial farmers in the next growing season.

Zimbabwean parents not only have to contend with fees they cannot afford, but also with expensive essentials like uniforms, which now cost 600 times more than they did in 2006.