12 June 2010

Torture Feared As Zimbabwean Human Rights Defender Farai Maguwu Illegally Taken from Harare Remand Prison by Police. Lawyers Denied Access

Prominent Zimbabwean human rights defender, Farai Maguwu, was last night taken from Harare’s Remand Prison under orders of notorious Criminal Investigating Department Detective Henry Dowa and removed to Harare’s Matapi Police Station, sparking fears that Maguwu is being tortured. His lawyers have thus far been denied access to him.

Maguwu’s lawyer, Tino Bere, was today launching an urgent high court application to secure access, explaining that he had reason to fear that Maguwu’s removal from the remand prison was for purposes of torture.

“We prevented Farai’s possible torture or harassment last week by being present at almost all normal times at the police station. We stopped the costly surveillance and visits because normally, once remanded, the police no longer have control or access to the accused.”

Maguwu had been placed in Harare’s Remand Prison after being denied bail in respect of charges that he communicated false statements prejudicial to the state.

The charges follow a police raid of and seizure of documents from the Mutare-based Centre for Research and Development, of which Maguwu is the director and on Maguwu’s home. Maguwu’s brother and nephew have also been detained.

The Centre for Research and Development monitors activities in the nearby Chiadzwa diamond mining fields, where government security forces moved in to secure the area following a property ownership dispute in 2006 and then forced local residents to work the fields under often brutal conditions.

Prominent human rights groups have alleged severe and recurring abuses, including extrajudicial killings, on the diamond fields and that diamonds are being smuggled out of the area with the knowledge and participation of officials.

The raid and arrest warrant for Maguwu followed closely his meeting with Kimberley Process monitor, Abbey Chikane, a South African businessmen undertaking assessment of whether Zimbabwe has met the minimum standards of the Kimberley Process, a UN-backed initiative intended to halt illegal trade in diamonds.

Earlier this week, Chikane reported that Zimbabwe had met the minimum standards and should be allowed to export diamonds.

Said Nicole Fritz, director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre: “That Farai Maguwu has been taken illegally to the Matapi Police Station and held in cells which the High Court has declared unfit for human habitation; that recurring episodes of torture take place within its cells; that he has been denied access to his lawyers; and that this has been done under orders of Detective Henry Dowa, so renowned for perpetrating abuses against Zimbabwean detainees that he was the subject of an international complaint while stationed in Kosovo under UN authority and so had to hastily return to Zimbabwe; warrants the most serious alarm for the safety and security of Maguwu.

Fritz adds: “There is considerable irony in the fact that as Zimbabwe seeks to show that conditions have changed, that it deserves admission under the Kimberley Process, it makes clear how little has changed: human rights defenders and government critics continue to be silenced and persecuted. It is déjà vu again and again.”

ENDS

Issued by:

The Southern African Litigation Centre
Johannesburg

Further info:

Nicole Fritz
Executive Director
The Southern Africa Litigation Centre
Johannesburg
Tel:  +27 11 587 5000
Cell: + 27 82 600 1028
E-mail:  nicolef@salc.org.za
www.southernafricalitigationcentre.org

Epworth residents (names supplied) all spoke emotionally about how people in Epworth have been ordered by Zanu PF thugs to report for political meetings against their will.

The message, they told us, has been a very simple one: ‘Shut up and leave the task of responding to questions to those who have been selected to do so.’

In the unlikely event of ordinary residents having to respond to questions, they told us, they are to answer in a particular fashion. In particular they have been instructed to emphatically state that the new constitution must not put any limit on a president’s term of office. Clearly, the intention is to confirm Mugabe as president for life.

There will be more ‘educative meetings’ chaired by loyal Zanu PF supporters to ensure that people understand how the constitution-making process is to be handled. Landlords have been instructed to keep watch on their tenants and to either summarily evict anyone perceived to be sympathetic to the MDC or refer their names to ‘chairpersons’ for handling.

Meanwhile, residents have been given a month to acquire Zanu PF membership cards which, like Identity Documents, they have been ordered to carry at all times.

They have been warned that election violence this time around will be much worse than in 2008.

The Union for Sustainable Democracy views this fresh wave of intimidation with alarm and condemns it in the strongest possible terms. It is outrageous that thousands of innocent people can be forced to live in fear simply in order to guarantee the realisation of the unconstitutional and evil ambitions of a handful of people.

We urge the unity government to swiftly and decisively denounce this act of repression.

Issued by the Information & Publicity Department

The Union for Sustainable Democracy

Yet Britain continues to be unfairly censured from a most unexpected quarter. The Elder’s Graça Machel has told Britain to ‘keep quiet’ and let SADC deal with Zimbabwe (The Guardian, 16 April 2009). We ask Machel: What has SADC, and South Africa in particular, done for the Zimbabwean people? It has kept quiet. For a whole decade it has refused to restrain a brutal and dictatorial regime that has bought nothing but violence, ruin and misery to its own people. In one election after another, SADC and South Africa have sanctioned violence-stained and rigged elections that have maintained Robert Mugabe in power. South Africa has taken an obtuse pleasure in defending Mugabe’s malevolent government while Britain and its allies in the United Nations were trying to isolate and restrain it.

Let the truth be told. If Britain has acted as ‘big brother’ – as Machel avers – it has been to care for and feed Zimbabwe’s hungry and destitute. It has been to protect the people of Zimbabwe against its bullying leader by supporting human rights, democracy and the rule of law. And what have SADC and South Africa done? They have sided with the bully. They allowed Robert Mugabe to sit at the high table of Presidents even when they did not recognise his election to office in June 2008. It was SADC and South Africa that pushed through an undemocratic inclusive government that handed back power to their despotic ally to continue his gruesome handiwork. It is they that have insisted that Zimbabwe must sort out its own problems, knowing full well that Mugabe’s only methods of negotiation is with an iron bar and through the barrel of a gun.

If anything, the Voice for Democracy believes that Britain has been too soft on those SADC countries which it supplies with huge amounts of aid. Britain and its allies in the European Union and the United States should be exerting much more diplomatic pressure on SADC and South Africa to ensure that violence-free and fair elections bring about a democratic transition in Zimbabwe. If Machel wants Britain to keep quiet then SADC and South Africa must bring an end to the brewing state-sponsored violence that will inevitably erupt during the run-up to elections. We are watching and waiting.

Dale Doré

VOICE FOR DEMOCRACY
Harare

“We will kill you after the World Cup,” promises Zanu-PF district Chairman Mike Chiwodza, backed by a gang of thugs gripping machetes and barbed-wire clubs. Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF officials are once more terrorising villagers in Mashonaland East, using the FIFA World Cup of Soccer closing ceremony as a deadline for death.

On the 8th and 9th April, 2010 Zanu-PF thugs led by Chiwodza went from home to home in the villages around Marambapfungwe district of Mashonaland East, telling the people that as MDC supporters, “your houses won’t be burned this time because then that would be evidence. This time we will abduct and kill you and get rid of your body in the Mazowe River or down mine shafts.”

In the meantime, the thugs also demonstrate their power using acts of petty cruelty. Those victims of the 2008 political violence who received blankets from Red Cross have been told they have to give them back to MDC – ‘where they belong’. Red Cross blankets and other basic necessities were donated to victims left homeless and traumatised after their villages were razed to the ground after the last election. Mugabe’s orgy of reprisals after being trounced at the 2008 polls was code named “Operation Mavoteraphapi” (meaning How Did You Vote?).

This season’s food aid in the form of maize, beans and cooking oil supplied by CRS Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and which is distributed by the village chiefs, is being given to known Zanu-PF members and is not reaching all the intended recipients – MDC families are excluded.

On the 17th April, 2010 chairman Chiwodza and his group visited more villages and elaborated on his previous threat not to burn their houses. This time, he told the forced assembly of people, even if the MDC activists and officials fled their homes, they (Zanu-PF) would find their wives and children and kill them after the Soccer World Cup.

These threats are real. Retired South African army generals investigating post-election violence in Zimbabwe in 2008 uncovered ample evidence of state-sponsored terror.

“What we have heard and seen is shocking. We have heard horrific stories of extreme brutality and seen the victims,” said one of the generals. ”We have seen people with scars, cuts, gashes, bruises, lacerations and broken limbs, and bodies of those killed. It’s a horrifying picture.”

South Africa has officially urged calm and nonviolence in Zimbabwe, so that FIFA World Cup visitors will feel confident and secure out here in Africa. But it seems that has been twisted by the Zanu-PF element to mean: “No murdering for now, but do what you like after the tourists have gone home”.

Robert Mugabe, at his party’s Congress last December, promised another election ‘soon’. After his party was trounced at the polls in 2008 he will not risk another defeat. Under pressure from the SADC negotiators, a raft of electoral reforms have recently been prepared for presentation to Zimbabwe’s legislature. A reformed Electoral Act and administration would severely curtail the Mugabe machine’s ability to rig the poll again. But conveniently for Zanu-PF, the GPA-formed Parliament is in recess until June.

Judging by the steady increase in the number of terror gangs, torture centres and youth milita bases being deployed in the rural areas of Zimbabwe, Mugabe’s ‘electoral campaign’ is already well under way. This time thugs like Chiwodza won’t use half-measures; their orders are to ‘eliminate’ the opposition en masse.

The perpetrators will not fear prosecution since for over thirty years there has been complete impunity for Zanu-PF’s political terrorists in Zimbabwe. Some of the police are complicit and the army actively assists when required. Even so, reports indicate that the majority of the armed forces (including the police) want to return to their professional and non partisan status and would welcome the real and lasting change to democracy. Thus, the Youth Militias and party cadres are key to Mugabe’s survival strategy.

No dictator in Mugabe’s discredited and vulnerable position would wait for electoral laws to be reformed before calling an election. It is becoming increasingly clear that the clock is ticking towards a deadly campaign to be unleashed in Zimbabwe as promised – right after the FIFA World Cup. This could then be followed by an early election, possibly as early as August this year, with the opposition MDC devastated and the conditions heavily weighted in Mugabe’s favour.

Will the AU and SADC stand by and watch another slaughter, another stolen election in Zimbabwe?  Should Mugabe’s plan be allowed to unfold, all the gains and goodwill brought to southern Africa by the FIFA World Cup would be at risk.

THE Zimbabwe National Students Union (Zinasu) is opposed to the visit by ANC Youth League President, Julius Malema to Zimbabwe to meet Zanu PF officials and address rallies organised by Zanu PF. The visit by Malema is unacceptable, offensive, inciteful and politically misplaced considering that President Jacob Zuma is the mediator of the endless talks in Zimbabwe who by virtue of being a mediator is expected to be neutral. So for Malema to come and meet Zanu PF thugs known for egregious human rights abuses is a clear testimony that the ANC President is biased towards Zanu PF.

He is well known in South Africa for being a tenderprenuer and a rapacious capitalist, who is living a lavish lifestyle not through hard work, but through using his political advantage to get government tenders, and other means. Zinasu is aware of the tenders he got to construct a road and bridge in a high-density suburb of South Africa. His company got money from government but messed up the roads and the bridge has collapsed whilst the road is disintegrating at a fast rate. He goes out in public saying cheap rhetoric trumpeting black empowerment and indigenisation and pretending to be represent the poor black majority and yet he is robbing them, looting resources to the extent that he now is an island of wealth in a sea of poverty, 70% of his fellow youths whom he represents are poor, jobless and own nothing. What can he tell Zimbabwean youths about youth empowerment, when 70% of his fellow youths in South Africa are unemployed and are engaged in robbery, rape, mugging, drug abuse to name just a few. It is clear that the indigenisation he wants to preach in Zimbabwe is that of taking advantage of political leverage to enrich themselves at the expense of the majority. As students and youth, we identify with the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe and also of South Africa and we welcome a leader who is a diligent fighter for economic empowerment and equal economic opportunities, not someone who uses political power to amass wealth at the expense of the poor.

One of the ANC’s vision is to strive and work for educational advancement and economic empowerment of Africans. Malema should be guided by the visions and values of his party and by the example shown by Nelson Mandela who was a selfless and genuine fighter for the people.

Malema is a controversial youth leader in South Africa who does not even know the difference between right and wrong. He has caused so much confusion, through uncensored, senseless and inciteful utterances. Each time this misguided and unschooled boy speaks, he says nothing but garbage.

The ANC Youth President should first bring sanity amongst youths in his own country before engaging in the so called “Tour”. Malema’s visit to spread confusion and hate among citizens of Africa is unwelcome. He should be orderly before he attempts to teach others about any good virtues.

Instead of him dealing with internal problems facing youths in South Africa, especially ahead of the historic World Cup in June this year, the boy is busy trying to learn tricks on how to create racial disharmony and confiscation of minority properties in the same chaotic and unlawful manner Zanu PF did when it invaded commercial farms under the guise of land reform when in fact they were empowering a few in its Politburo and Central Committee.

Which leader in his sane mind can ever come to learn and consult from Zanu PF on any civilised way of organising society but chaos? Malema who is violent and racist by design should be warned that Zimbabwe is a non-racial and peace-loving country and we do not tolerate racist and violent tendencies as clearly stated in article 23 of the Zimbabwean Constitution which stipulates that 1(b) No person shall be treated in a discriminatory manner by any person acting by virtue of any written law or in the performance of the functions of any public office or any public authority. Not only is Zimbabwe against racism but also a signatory to international human rights instruments for example the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race. Malema who was dragged to the courts for uttering racist words in a song “…kill the farmer, Kill the Boer…” is not welcome at all in Zimbabwe.

Is it mere chance that Malema’s visit is coinciding with the re-emergence of lawlessness in Zimbabwe where Zanu PF youths have begun to intimidate people and Zanu PF bases are resurfacing which were used in the June 27 2008 elections to torture innocent civilians? President Zuma visited Zimbabwe on March 16, 2010 where he prescribed further talks and gave a deadline March 31 after which he went on to trumpet the Zanu PF sanctions propaganda.  The deadline has passed and nothing has materialised from the “merry-go-round” negotiation and another of Zuma type is coming here for what reason? It is highly likely that the violent and loud sounding nothing Malema is coming to Zimbabwe to meet the Zanu PF youth militia to encourage them to be as violent and controversial as he is.

Malema is known for publicly threatening his opponents that he would kill for his President Zuma. Is that the message he also wants to instill in the equally violent friends of his in Zanu PF to kill for their leaders. He should know that Zimbabweans have suffered enough through organised violence by his colleagues and should tread carefully.

Zimbabwean students as represented by Zinasu do not tolerate any form of violence or unlawful activities hence our abhorrence to your disgustful agenda.

Malema, you want to come to Zimbabwe to promote your hate speech to the Zimbabwean youth when this country is in the process of trying to reform the media and to heal from the wounds of past atrocities. For Malema to hide behind sharing liberation struggle is farfetched, what experience does he have on issues of independence when Zimbabwe is 14 years senior in terms of acquiring independence. Zimbabweans are beyond the euphoria of independence and the delusions as well as lies and deceit associated with the leadership of the yesteryear struggle. Zimbabweans are now aware from the 30 years of independence that the liberators have now turned into oppressors hence our struggle against them. So stop the rubbish about independence values and challenge the autocratic nature of the so-called liberators among your friends in ZANU PF.

Why is it that when Zimbabweans were being killed and maimed in South Africa during the xenophobic attacks, Cde Malema never issued a statement condemning the violence? It is most welcome for Malema to first address the xenophobic attacks on poor Zimbabweans first before coming to preach about youth empowerment and indigenization.  Zimbabweans have passed the stage of racial discrimination and now concentrating on trying to promote democracy and good governance. This is what Zimbabweans need right now rather than people who take the country backwards by trying to create a racially polarized country. Youths in the country are tired of being abused and frog marched to attend endless ZANU PF rallies which do not yield anything except inciting youths to be unruly and violent. Youths need strategic, well synchronized policies that promote and uplift their lives without destroying the economy of the country like the current ill timed, ill prepared indigenization bill being introduced by ZANU PF regime that has ceased to be electorally relevant among Zimbabweans. It is ungodly and unholy for Julius Malema to come here during Easter time and preach about violence, a time set aside to celebrate the death of Jesus Christ; instead, Malema should be holding prayer meetings with his youths and pray for him and their nation.

We call upon fellow students in South Africa to guard diligently the fruits of the struggle, they must be wary of leaders who use power to impoverish the poor and enrich themselves. Leaders must put people first.

ZINASU

Of course the attachment of four Zimbabwe Government properties is a drop in the ocean compared to the attachment of the thousands of once productive agricultural properties in Zimbabwe that were the homes and livelihoods of over 2 million people;  but this is a huge symbolic step in the quest for global justice through the international courts.

When has anyone ever heard of a Government having its properties outside its borders attached because of its contempt for an international court?

It is a historic day on the road to accountability.

This judgment is saying that when dictators do things in their own countries against the universal declaration of human rights, justice is around the corner.  It is saying that dictators can no longer get away with destroying life, liberty and property with impunity: there are consequences to acts of tyranny.

This is a major precedent and it will be built upon so long as the Zimbabwe Government continues to trample on the rights of millions of its citizens so that they are left hungry and in desperate poverty.

Ben Freeth [SADC Tribunal Rights Watch].

Cell:  +263 913 929 138  (Zimbabwe)
E-mail:  freeth@bsatt.com

Note:

Deon Theron, President of the Commercial Farmers’ Union (Zimbabwe) is currently in South Africa and can be contacted on:
Cell:  072 109 0125
E-mail:  dtheron@cfuzim.org

The attached properties:

It is an indictment on a government that has lost its constitution place in the progressive family of nations. That the Mugabe regime regard the SADC ruling as a ‘Nonsense of no Consequences’ demonstrate the extent to which the ZANU PF government pay scant regard to the rule of law. It is scandalously that the SADC grouping has become nothing more than a photo talk show with no practical mechanism to enforce its on protocols.

If anything, the grouping has been reduced to a consolidated platform for former government born out of former liberation movements to grandstand to the international community even if this is at the expense of human lives.

South Africa endowed with one of the progressive and moderate constitutions in the world has once again given hope to people in the region and beyond by enforcing the SADC tribunal ruling.

In Zimbabwe, there are tens of thousands of democratic minded citizens who have lost their properties and sources of live hoods, who have lost the hope of even recovering their properties through restitution. The majority have no recourse to justice due to lack of resources.

At the Foundation of Reason & Justice we remain committed to the principle of fairness and the preservation of property rights. We believe that the attachment of government property by the Afri-forum is a prelude to thousands of similar attachments which will happen in future.

Our view is that progressive Zimbabweans need to consolidate their ‘Civil Sanction Campaign’ by rallying behind this initiative. Successful sustainability is born out of collectivity beyond current level.

For support or any other information call us on Cell 0027 71 11 75405 or Fax 0027 86 558 5405

Collen Makumbirofa
Foundation of Reason & Justice
www.zimbabwehope.org
Emails: foundationof@gmail.com
zimnews@mail.com
Fax: 0027 86 558 5405

We salute PASSOP and other organisations that are providing much needed assistance and support to the Zimbabweans in De Doorns.

We salute the national government’s efforts to engage with PASSOP and its efforts in dealing with the refugee crisis as a whole.

We believe it is essential that South Africans in the communities where the refugees are living are well briefed regarding the appalling brutality and deprivation Zimbabweans have suffered over the past decade under the Mugabe regime – and of the current situation.

While the communities may believe that Zimbabwe has finally returned to peace and democracy under the unity government, this is regrettably not the case.  The violence and victimization continue, albeit at a reduced level – at this point.  However, ongoing threats by Zanu-PF and the increased levels of militarisation and deployment of the youth militia indicate that the upscaling of violence is a dangerous reality.

Those who oppose Zanu-PF remain at risk, unemployment is still estimated at 90 percent and the outlook for the forthcoming cropping season is once again disastrous.

The United Nations’ Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET) said in its latest report that close to 2.2 million Zimbabweans will be food insecure between January and March this year, which is up from last year’s estimates of 1.7 million people needing food aid.  Independent population estimates are between 6 and 7 million people, down from 12.5 million in 2000.

FEWSNET said the UN World Food Programme (WFP) planns to increase its food assistance activities from January to cover the food insecure population. WFP has however warned of a major shortfall of cereals between December 2009 and March 2010, which will likely see less people receiving food than planned.

The only real solution is to bring peace and stability back to Zimbabwe.  The South African government under President Zuma is making significant progress in this regard and we are extremely grateful to President Zuma for his principled stance and for the pressure he is applying on Zanu-PF and the unity government.

We urge the unity government to take cognizance of the difficulties faced by refugees in South Africa, the SADC region and internationally, to resolve all outstanding issues and to put its people first.

TIMELINE OF ZIMBABWEANS UNDER ATTACK
(Médecins Sans Frontières June 2009 report – click here to download a copy of the report – PDF – 4.5MB)

• January 2008: Police raid the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, detaining 350 people, before a court interdict secures their release. The presiding judge refers to the treatment of the detainees as being worse than during the days of apartheid.
• March 2008: Increase in political tension, violence, and intimidation in Zimbabwe on the eve of general elections.
• May 2008: Xenophobic attacks erupt in Alexandra township in Johannesburg, then spread throughout Gauteng and to Western Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal, killing 62 people and displacing more than 100,000.
• June 2008: Continued increase in election-related violence in Zimbabwe prior to the run-off elections.
• July 2008: Department of Home Affairs opens Reception Office at Musina Showground. Thousands of  Zimbabweans previously in hiding flock to seek asylum.
• November 2008: Department of Health declares a cholera outbreak primarily affecting Zimbabweans in Limpopo Province, and later Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and other provinces.
• February 2009: 100 police and ‘Red Ants’ attempt to raid people sleeping in front of the High Court next to the Central Methodist Church, harassing, intimidating, and arresting Zimbabweans sleeping on the street.
• March 2009: South Africa authorities forcibly expel thousands of Zimbabweans from Musina Showground.

Thousands of Zimbabweans flee from Musina to Johannesburg, the majority to the Central Methodist Church. More than 4,000 people seek refuge inside and around the Church at the height of the crisis.

Local businesses in Johannesburg’s Central Business District (CBD) sue the municipality, City of Johannesburg, and the Central Methodist Church, complaining that the thousands of Zimbabweans and the crowded and unhygienic environment around the Church are bad for business.

Local businesses erect large metal gate in front of the Church to prevent Zimbabweans from being able to sleep in the direct vicinity of the Church, effectively cutting people off from the Church and subjecting them to extreme vulnerability and potential violence and abuse.

• April 2009: Department of Home Affairs, under pressure from NGOs and human rights groups, announces special dispensation permit under the Immigration Act for those without legal documents and a moratorium on deportations. However, arrests and deportations continue, roll out of the special dispensation is slow, and confusion remains high, leading to continued chaos and uncertainty.
• May 2009: DHA announces a new 90-day ‘visa free’ entry permit, but it only applies to Zimbabweans who have travel documents.

On Tuesday, Mutare Magistrate Samuel Zuze found the four farmers, Algernon Taffs (Chiriga Estates), Z.F. Joubert (Stilfontein of Umzila), Mike Jahme (Silverton Estates) and Mike Odendaal (Hillcrest), a South African citizen, guilty of failing to leave their properties.

Each received a US$800.00 fine and suspended sentences. Odendaal was given a month to pack up his belongings, while the other three farmers were instructed to vacate their properties by 5pm the next day.

The magistrate ruled that the farmers would be jailed for two years each if they did not comply with the ruling. The four were also denied their basic right to appeal against the judgement, stating there was ‘no doubt’ in his ruling.

A last minute stay of eviction was granted by the High Court on Wednesday after the farmer’s legal representatives filed an urgent application shortly after their sentencing. But Magistrate Zuze on Thursday refused to recognise the ruling, and ordered the arrest of Joubert’s son, Dawie, and former Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) President Trevor Gifford when they tried to deliver a letter to Zuze clarifying the High Court’s position.

Joubert and Gifford were transferred Friday to the Mutare magistrate’s court after the Chipinge court refused to deal with them. They are facing dubious ‘contempt of court’ charges.

CFU is extremely concerned that Magistrate Zuze, who is being accused of “grossly exceeding his jurisdiction,” is a beneficiary of Jahme’s farm. CFU obtained a copy of an offer letter to Zuze, offering him Jahme’s Newcastle Farm. It is unacceptable for a magistrate to preside over a trial in which he holds a personal stake. Furthermore, before court proceedings had been concluded, supporters and hired thugs were already on two of the farms.

The looting of the main workshop on the Joubert’s farm and the police’s refusal so far to intervene further points to the complete lawlessness that continues to abound against commercial farmers in Zimbabwe.

The eviction of Odendaal, a South African citizen, again indicates the government’s total disregard for the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA), signed November 27, which protects South African citizens’ land in Zimbabwe. Attacks on South African nationals operating commercial farms in this country have in fact increased since the signing of the agreement.

The effects of these latest evictions on Zimbabwe’s economy and agricultural sector will be devastating. Joubert is a highly respected Brahman breeder in Zimbabwe. His cattle, which have top American and South African genetics, will likely be slaughtered out, adding to the horrific amount of breeding stock that have already been slaughtered since the land invasions began in February 2000. Two dairy herds will also be slaughtered out.

Approximately 350 ha of macadamia nuts, 400 ha maize, 140 ha avocados, 80 ha tea and 50 ha coffee will also be directly affected.

There will also be approximately US$3 million loss in export earnings due to this exercise. That is a staggering amount, particularly in a debt-ridden country like Zimbabwe that desperately needs revenue. Prior to the land invasions, agriculture was the second largest foreign currency-earning sector of the economy, surpassed only by mining.

The Zimbabwean people are also in desperate need of food security. The United Nations’ Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET) said in its latest report that close to 2.2 million Zimbabweans will be food insecure between January and March this year, which is up from last year’s estimates of 1.7 million people needing food aid.  Independent population estimates are between 6 and 7 million people, down from 12.5 million in 2000.

This is completely unacceptable in a country that has the capacity to abundantly feed itself as well as provide additional food for the region.

The land invasions have intensified in the past year, with the forced seizure of more than 80 farms since last February. 152 of the 300 farms still in operation are now being targeted for eviction.

The CFU deplores the government’s failure to stop the ongoing violence against farmers and their workers, and for allowing a handful of thugs to operate with complete impunity. The ongoing attacks violate the basic principles of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

We implore the unity government to take a stand and halt the land invasions, so that we can start the process of rebuilding our agricultural sector for the sake of the entire country.

ENDS

For further information:

Deon Theron

President

Commercial Farmers’ Union – Zimbabwe

Tel:  +263 4 309 800 (CFU – Harare)

Zim Cell: +263 912 246 233

E-mail:  dtheron@cfuzim.org

ACTION Support Centre, Solidarity and Transformation Agenda Desk, condemns Pastor Frank Henke’s xenophobic comments released on page 4 of the Cape Argus on 18 January 2010 and the Independent Online.

His words: “We will braai them and turn them into KFC. There’s no place for them,” are not only hateful and hurting to the people of Zimbabwe, including many other non-South Africans and the people of South Africa but also entrench xenophobia by promoting violence. Such comments, especially from the church leadership, cannot be tolerated in our country.

Necessary steps through relevant organizations such as the South African Human Rights Commission are being taken to make sure Pastor Henke withdraws his words and apologizes to the residents of De Doorns and the country at large.

In fact he must apologize before legal action is taken against him. Churches must discipline individuals like these and continue preaching the gospel of Ubuntu.

We also condemn labour brokers that are operating in the area and in most of the wine farms. To the people of Stofland and Ekuphumuleni may understand and collectively deal with the challenges bedeviling your communities. Let us not allow colonial borders to separate us. We are all victims of the same systems, capitalism including labour broking.

The challenges we face are real and the challenges non-South Africans are facing remain genuine as well. Let us share the little that we have and deal with xenophobia that continues to haunt us.

We salute organizations that are providing assistance to the residents of the camp in De Doorns like PASSOP and others, and agree that much more still needs to be done. The integration discourse must be informed by wide consultations at grassroots level. The media remains critical to our work and we appeal to you as well to cover success stories rather than focusing on only on the negative.

It is clear that nothing stands in the way of a new wave of xenophobia and therefore steps in the right direction are required.

Opportunities exist for communities, organizations, provincial and national governments to learn lessons from the xenophobic violence, find common purpose and deal with xenophobia.

Time for expressing horror and shock has passed. Effective dialogue, analysis, studies and literature on the subject must feed into broader responses to xenophobia.

Community intelligence and peace clubs must be established, isolation of those bent on campaigns of violence should be encouraged. Our isolated energies must be harnessed and short-term responses must be complemented by medium and long term responses to xenophobia.

We are one! We are one Big African Family!

Issued by ACTION Support Centre

For more information contact:

Sipho Theys
Cell:  082 500 811

Philani Ndebele
Cell:  076 942 3565