Rules for our Rulers [21:14m]: Download

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• The SADC organ of the Troika, which met on the eve of the SADC Summit in Windhoek, Namibia, adopted a report on the progress of Zimbabwe’s transitional government compiled by South African President Jacob Zuma.

• President Zuma’s new “roadmap” includes a push for elections, zero tolerance for intimidation and a 30-day deadline for President Mugabe to finally honour his agreements.

• The SADC Summit instructed the three parties in the transitional government to fully implement the Global Political Agreement (GPA) and clear the way for 2011 elections by completing the writing of a new constitution.

• Faced with rising tensions among the parties over a range of longstanding issues, South Africa said it would step up its mediation efforts. Lindiwe Zulu, the facilitator and President Zuma’s international relations adviser, confirmed that her team would be back in Harare shortly.

• The sixth SADC People’s Summit, held concurrently with the SADC Summit in Namibia under the auspices of the Southern Africa Peoples’ Solidarity Network (SAPSN), warned that governments in the region are silencing dissenting voices increasingly to sustain unpopular regimes.

Legal

• SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salamao denied Wednesday that the SADC Tribunal had been suspended as claimed by Zimbabwe Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa.

• Mr Salamao said the Tribunal’s role and responsibilities were to be reviewed by professionals and experts tasked with providing clear recommendations. The review would be undertaken by a committee of SADC Justice Ministers and Attorney Generals within a period of six months. “In the meantime, they don’t entertain any new cases but they can deal with those they have at hand,” Mr Salamao said.

• Lawyers in South Africa have warned of the negative impact on the region if human rights are not respected and the rule of law is tramped on when it does not suit the rulers in power.

Diplomatic

• Swedish Ambassador to Zimbabwe Sten Rylander and European Union ambassador Xavier Marchal, who have both completed their terms of office in Harare, have been commended for their commitment and invaluable contributions to the country.

• Rwanda has appealed for United Nations intervention in its simmering diplomatic row following Zimbabwe’s refusal to extradite Proitas Mpiranya – believed to be one of the masterminds of the 1994 Rwandan genocide – to the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Governance

• Sanctions imposed on President Mugabe and his close associates will remain until the implementation of democratic reforms in Zimbabwe, US ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray told a roundtable discussion with senior editors in Harare on Wednesday.

• In a complete reversal of what President Mugabe and his partners agreed to at the SADC Troika, Mugabe on Friday vowed not to make any further concessions in the transitional government until Western sanctions are removed.

• These include the appointment of governors from the two MDC formations – one of the outstanding issues in the GPA. The new stance differs with observations made by President Zuma at the SADC Summit that the issue of governors had been resolved.

• In a compromise deal announced last week, the three political parties in the transitional government have agreed to retain controversial George Charamba – accused of churning out hate-speech against the MDC-T – as President Mugabe’s spokesman and permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information.

• Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai can no longer make senior appointments in his party and government without consulting the party’s National Standing Committee (NSC), as part of measures to stem growing factionalism.

Economy

• Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has appointed committees dominated by allies of President Mugabe to help the government set minimum shareholdings in various segments of the economy to be allocated to black investors. The appointees include former defence force officials known to have spearheaded violent campaigns in the 2008 presidential election run off.

• Large multinational corporations targeted for indigenisation include cigarette manufacturer BAT Zimbabwe, which is 80 percent British-owned; UK-controlled financial institutions Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, food group Nestlé Zimbabwe, mining giants Rio Tinto and Zimplats, and AON Insurance

• The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency reported that the annual inflation rate in July stood at 4,1%, declining from 5,3% the previous month. Food inflation eased from 7,39% in June to 7,11%.

• The cash-strapped Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe board has ordered the central bank to cut — with or without packages — three quarters of its staff to match its scaled down operations and avoid a ballooning retrenchment bill.  The visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) team made similar recommendations.

• The RBZ has also started has started repossessing top of the range vehicles it donated to parastatals and several government departments in the run-up to the 2008 elections.

• The beleaguered Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) said Friday it would comply with an order from Competition and Tariff Commission (CTC) to reduce tariffs and reverse some of the excessive, inaccurate bills it gave to consumers.

• Reports show that rural poverty is deepening, with more rural people – many of whom live on less than one US dollar a day – being more vulnerable today than at Independence, increasing the spectre of instability as resources continue to be plundered ahead of development.

Business

• Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi’s son Lieutenant-Colonel Engineer Saadi Muammar al-Gaddafi and a delegation arrived in Zimbabwe on Thursday for a five-day visit to explore business opportunities

• Production at Rio Tinto Zimbabwe’s Murowa diamond mine increased by 28%, although it generated a loss of US$5 million due to a ban on the export of diamonds from Zimbabwe among other factors, the Rio Zim unit said on Friday.

• Kingstons Ltd, a giant provider of stationery partly owned by government, had 18 vehicles attached by First Mutual Limited (FML) recently over a US$130 000 debt amid reports that it owes creditors over US$1,5 million. The company has been struggling to pay its workers for several months

Mining/Diamonds

• A third layer of hardliners has been added to the powerful grouping of cabinet ministers/top civil servants and retired senior military officers who have effectively taken control of the diamonds, from mining in Chiadzwa to the final sale of the gems at the new Zimbabwe Diamond and Technology Centre near Harare. They are allegedly using the proceeds to boost the depleted Zanu PF party coffers and generate cash to fund Mugabe’s election campaign. For further details:

http://www.swradioafrica.com/news230810/diamond230810.htm

• Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa has threatened action against Farai Maguwu, the director of the Centre for Research and Development and his alleged backers after Mr Maguwu’s appointment as the focal point person for the Kimberley Process by the umbrella body for non-governmental organizations, NANGO.

• According to mining minister Obert Mpofu, the August 11 auction of Marange diamonds raised US$56.4 million, of which the government will receive US$30 million.  This differs from an earlier estimate by finance minister Tendai Biti that the auction raised US$46 million, with US$15 million coming into government coffers.

• Zimbabwe sold 900 000 carats of  what Mines minister Obert Mpofu said was just part of a six million stockpile after a protracted battle to get certification from diamond regulator, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. Finance Minister Tendai Biti says of the US$45 million realised from the sale, government pocketed US$15 million.

• The financial scandal rocking the state-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) has deepened amid further revelations that the company’s suspended top managers, including CEO and general manager Dominic Mubayiwa, invested millions of dollars in the money market while the corporation’s mines were being closed.

Land/Agriculture/Food Security

• Zimbabwe is ranked among the top 10 countries in danger of hunger this year, according to a new reported published by British risk analysis and rating firm Maplecroft. The United Nations estimates that more than 1.68 million Zimbabweans will need food and agricultural assistance next year.

• Zimbabwe’s wheat harvests are expected to hit an all-time low of 11,000 metric tonnes in a nation that needs at least 250,000 tonnes annually.

• The 3,7 million litres of milk currently being produced each month falls below the monthly demand estimated at an average of 5,5 million litres, Dairibord Holdings Limited has reported.

• Workers at Gushungo Dairy Farm, which was taken from its legal owners by the Mugabe family, have accused their employer of unfair dismissal. Both permanent and seasonal workers said they were sent on forced unpaid and indefinite leave a fortnight ago and food rations were stopped as business was said to be “low”.

• According to the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement, the three leaders of the transitional government have finally agreed to set up an independent Land Commission whose main task will be to oversee the implementation of the long-awaited audit to rid the country of multiple land owners.

• A Zanu PF MP behind the illegal seizure of a farm in the Somabuhla district, who has committed ongoing vandalism and acts of violence to intimidate the owners and their workers, has snubbed a High Court order protecting the land from invasion and refused to leave the property on Monday. The farm owner is a South African citizen who should be protected by a bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement (BIPPA) signed between South Africa and Zimbabwe and ratified in May.

New Constitution / Escalating Violence

• Violence related to the constitutional outreach exercise has become so severe in Manicaland that MDC officials on the teams have resolved not to hold meetings in the affected areas. MDC Senator Patrick Chitaka said several MDC members have been hospitalized after attacks when they spoke out during outreach meetings. Reports have been made to the police and details provided of some of the perpetrators but once again there have been no investigations or arrests.

• The General Agricultural and Plantation Workers’ Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ) has raised concerns about “rampant” intimidation and harassment of farm workers in constitutional outreach meetings, mainly in Mashonaland farming areas.

• Seven members of the MDC who had been abducted at gunpoint by Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives were finally found dumped at Catchway police station in Manicaland province last week.

• Villagers apprehended a group of axe-wielding militants who attempted to disrupt a constitution-making outreach preparatory meeting in Nyanga North constituency and handed them over to the Nyamaropa Police Station.

• Human rights group Amnesty International last week expressed its concerns about worsening human rights abuses in Manicaland and other parts of the country during the ongoing outreach exercise.

• A coalition of Zimbabwean churches, civic and human rights bodies, women’s organisations and student and labour movements is campaigning for the devolution of power with a proposal that the country’s proposed Constitution should provide for provincial assemblies to be elected on a system of proportional representation.

• Christians in Zimbabwe, who are being mobilised to participate actively in the making of the new constitution, are also being encouraged to set the groundwork for national reconciliation and healing

Elections / Pre-election Violence Threats

• A row is brewing within the transitional government over the timing of the next elections and the level of SADC’s involvement in any such polls. While President Mugabe is resisting significant SADC involvement, Prime Minister Tsvangirai believes that SADC, as guarantors of the GPA, should play a central monitoring role.

• Speaking at the SADC Summit, President Zuma said the troika of the organ on politics, defence and security should persuade SADC to “draw up guidelines for free and fair elections where intimidation and violence would not play any part and where the result of such elections would be credible.

• The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) says electoral authorities should do away with postal votes for police force members and instead introduce a new “special voting” system where they cast their ballots two days before polling day instead of 30 days ahead for postal votes.

• The MDC-T says its supporters in Mudzi and Mutoko districts of Mashonaland East province are living in fear as Zanu PF is ordering them to renounce MDC membership or face political violence as in 2008.

• The Union for Sustainable Democracy has been inundated with statements of concern from Johane Masowe Church members who are worried about Zanu PF’s infiltration of their church and escalating intimidatory tactics ahead of possible elections.

• Zimbabwe has still not joined the ranks of the 147 nations who have signed up to the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.  The 147 nations include 47 out of 53 African states.

Education

• About 30 percent of Zimbabwe’s 90 000 teachers are unlikely to be retained for the third term which begins next month as the government battles to afford salaries of temporary teachers and other qualified members who have recently joined the profession.

Diaspora

• At least 20 000 failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers in the United Kingdom could be deported before the end of the year. To assess claims that despite the formation of the transitional government it is still unsafe for them to return home, Britain has sent a fact finding mission to Harare from its Border Agency.

• Since January, 14 795 illegal Zimbabwean immigrants have crossed into South Africa over the Limpopo river at Beitbridge, the SA army said on Tuesday.

Sport

• Zimbabwe’s cricket team has offered to tour Pakistan to raise funds for the victims of the country’s massive floods, despite the suspension of foreign visits following a militant attack last year.

The Good News

• Primary education is to benefit from the distribution of 13 million textbooks made available through the Basic Assistance Module (Beam) programme between the government and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.

• To boost Zimbabwe’s self image, the African Centre for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has launched a nationwide campaign where local churches, aid groups and government agencies are working together to rid the streets of trash.

Source:  Zimbabwe Democracy Now

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Rules for our Rulers [17:32m]: Download

Rules for our Rulers [17:15m]: Download

• South African President Jacob Zuma dispatched a top envoy to Zimbabwe last week in yet another attempt to kick-start the stalled talks. Former Transport Minister Mac Maharaj arrived Tuesday and met separately with the three party principals.

• A political storm is said to be gathering on whether Zimbabwe should be on the agenda of the SADC Summit in Namibia on 16/17 August.  South Africa reportedly wants to bridge the divide between Zanu PF and its partners ahead of the summit.

• Following recent talks with a delegation of Zimbabwean officials, the European Union has proposed a mechanism to allow individuals and companies under EU travel and financial sanctions to approach Brussels on an individual basis and present documentation as to why their names should be taken off the list.

• Civil society organisations were outraged by the Zimbabwe cabinet’s decision to deny National Healing Minister Sekai Holland permission to address a transitional justice workshop in Johannesburg last Monday.

Diplomatic

• During President Mugabe’s address at the funeral of his sister Sabina, he lashed out at Western powers over sanctions imposed on Zanu PF, saying the European Union and United States were simply bent on driving him out of power.

• On Wednesday, Zimbabwe’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Mumbengegwi, summoned the German, European Union and United States envoys to berate them for leaving early from the burial in protest at the president’s speech.

Economy

• Iran has extended a 40-million-euro line of credit to Zimbabwe to finance energy, banking and industrial projects, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Iran, Nicholas Kitikiti, said Wednesday.

• Industry Minister Welshman Ncube (MDC-M) said constant and erratic power cuts by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) were suffocating efforts to revive industry by damaging new and expensive industrial equipment “sometimes beyond repair”.  He said industry was operating at around 10 percent of capacity.

• Zimbabwean State Enterprises Minister Gorden Moyo said Monday the government will commission independent audits of floundering state enterprises to assess the value of their assets and to determine the extent of corrupt activities in the country’s parastatals, many of which are on the verge of collapse.

• At least seven banks have failed to meet the prescribed minimum capital requirements set by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) last year and have been directed to raise cash from shareholders or bring in new partners.

• RBZ Governor Gideon Gono said the central bank would intervene to force banks to slash “punitive” lending rates of as high as 50 percent.

• Gono was reported last week to be resisting an International Monetary Fund (IMF) audit of the bank’s finances, following revelations it was looted by senior Zanu PF officials.

• More than 1,000 RBZ workers have been receiving Zimbabwe dollar salaries despite the rest of the country converting to foreign currency transactions in March last year.  Arbitrator George Nasho Wilson ruled Wednesday that the central bank should start paying the affected workers in foreign currency.

• Youth Development, Indigenization and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere told Zanu PF youths in Matabeleland last Wednesday to identify businesses, especially mines that are under performing or closed, and to reclaim them.

• The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said Thursday that political meddling has delayed the naming of a foreign investor needed to help resuscitate the state controlled Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (ZISCO Steel) which is close to collapse due to mismanagement and excessive government interference.

• National Railways of Zimbabwe workers have threatened to down tools in protest over late salary payments which are also two thirds less than the prevailing poverty datum line, estimated at US$480.

Business

• The RBZ reported that trade on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) has contracted 19 percent since December, while market capitalisation shrunk to US$3.19 billion in June from nearly US$4 billion at the beginning of the year.

• The ZSE has asked government to back down on indigenisation regulations compelling foreign-owned companies that include listed concerns to dispose of a controlling interest to cash-strapped local investors.

• Vice President Joice Mujuru said Saturday that firms would now be privatised or commercialised to make Zimbabwe great once again. She said senior ministers were trying to block top projects instead of helping the nation’s indigenisation and privatisation programme and stressed that her door was open to all investors who felt they were being sidelined.

• Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) has reduced the approval period of investment projects to 10 days from over seven weeks as it moves to implement structural reforms aimed at encouraging investment into the country.

• Foreign direct investment in 2009 totalled US$60 million, an increase of US$8 million from the US$52 million recorded the previous year, according to the World Investment Report released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development.

• Barclays Bank has entered into a £1,5 million (about US$2,3 million) three-year partnership with Junior Achievement (JA) worldwide as one of the ways to tackle the issue of youth unemployment in Zimbabwe.  The bank is also developing innovative computer-based technology to reach rural areas.

Mining/Diamonds

• Finance Minister Tendai Biti said last week that, at the very least, the system where the country gets only royalties from foreign mining firms needs to be reviewed.

• During his address at the funeral of his sister Sabina, President Mugabe said the newfound diamond wealth must benefit the nation not just individuals and urged greedy politicians to blunt their appetite for individual wealth.

• Police have come up with fresh charges against Centre for Research and Development director Farai Maguwu.  Maguwu was arrested following allegations he passed on false information on human rights violations in the Chiadzwa district where the Marange alluvial diamond field is located.  He was eventually released on bail mid July. The police now claim he will be arrested and charged with possession of a stolen Mercedes Benz vehicle.

• The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has welcomed the agreement reached by the Kimberley Process (KP) that will enable the renewal of rough diamond exports from Marange.

Land/Agribusiness

• The European Union has ruled out supporting newly resettled farmers until the Zimbabwe government carries out a long-delayed audit agreed to by the coalition government to eliminate multiple farm owners.

• Zimbabwe will need about US$264 million to import about 800,000 tonnes of maize and 339,000 tonnes of wheat to meet the annual national requirement, the Commercial Farmers’ Union said Wednesday.

• Top EU officials have told a ministerial delegation from Zimbabwe to first pay compensation to Dutch farmers whose land was expropriated under the land grab before development aid can start flowing to Harare.

• Three farmers whose farms were seized by the Zimbabwean government will apply for a special order to recover legal costs in the Pretoria High Court, their attorney Willie Spies from AfriForum said Monday.  He said although the government brought the action against the farmers, the auctions of the Cape Town properties were in fact organised by German banking group KFW Bankengruppe to collect a judgment debt of €40m (about R400m).

• Following threats by Germany to withdraw aid, the Mugabe government ordered an armed gang off three agricultural plantations in eastern Zimbabwe belonging to German national Heinrich von Pezold.

• The Cotton Ginners Association of Zimbabwe has taken steps to stop a Chinese firm, Sino-Zimbabwe Holdings, from using political muscle to clandestinely purchase cotton from farmers already contracted by local industry.

Humanitarian

• A senior United Nations Development Programme officer in Harare announced the launch Tuesday of a revised US$500 million appeal for humanitarian aid (previously US$370 million) to cater for the remainder of the year.

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates more than 1.3 million people in the rural areas will require food assistance in early 2011.

• Last week the Minister for Regional Integration and International Cooperation, Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, told ambassadors from donor countries they must keep government informed of their activities.  This includes the total funding brought into the country and the names of NGOs they are partnered with.

• UNICEF reports that Zimbabwe has over 50,000 child-headed families and that an average of 100,000 children are living without parental care.

• The Zimbabwe Association of Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation, an NGO dealing with prisoner welfare, estimates there are more than 300 children in the country’s notorious prisons, the majority whom are less than two-years-old.

• The Solidarity Peace Trust has released a report titled ‘A fractured nation: Operation Murambatsvina five years on’. It assesses the effects of the operation during which more than 700,000 people were left homeless and an estimated 2.4 million lost their livelihoods.  To access the report:  www.solidaritypeacetrust.com

New Constitution

• The MDC-T has accused Zanu PF of launching “Operation Vhara Muromo” (“Operation Close Your Mouth”), to stifle public comment on the revision of the constitution.

• MDC sources warn that state security agents, soldiers and Zanu PF militia members are attending outreach meetings and systematically intimidating members of the public to ensure only approved Zanu PF views are expressed.

• The Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe has charged that a new wave of violence is rising against teachers, intended to suppress non-Zanu PF views on constitutional revision.

Elections

• South African mediators must press for the de-militarisation of Zimbabwean state institutions before the country goes to next elections, the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD), a leading South African think-tank, said last week.

• Fresh elections should take place only after all measures to ensure free and fair polls, including compilation of a new and accurate voters’ roll are complete, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said Thursday.

• Addressing a rally in Makokoba, Bulawayo on Sunday, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told about 10,000 MDC supporters that Mugabe and his party have no power to set fresh elections dates without consulting him.

• The harassment of MDC members is continuing across the country amid widespread fears that Zanu PF has started an early election campaign.

Political Violence

• In June alone, the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) recorded 1,174 victims of human rights violations. Most of the violations were directly linked to the constitution-making process outreach programme.

• Since 2008, the ZPP said that 43,933 human rights violations have been recorded while the cumulative toll of violations on the distribution of food and other forms of aid since January 2008 has risen to 10,986.

• At least 22,000 victims of the 2008 political violence have so far sought treatment for injuries and trauma at a counselling and rehabilitation centre in Harare, which says it is still recording fresh cases. Of these, only 10,200 received “proper physical and psychological treatment”.

Legal

• The postponing of MDC-T treasurer Roy Bennett’s acquittal case “indefinitely” by the Supreme Court last Wednesday has ensured that Bennett will not be sworn in to his post as Deputy Agriculture Minister in the near future.

• At the weekend, an international lawyers’ group released a report titled “A place in the sun; A report on the state of the rule of law in Zimbabwe after the Global Political Agreement”. It noted that the culture of impunity on the part of the police and the state security forces remains unchanged, while “the majority of the senior judiciary remains fundamentally compromised by state patronage, grants of land and other gifts given to them by the former government.”

• The lawyers’ report also noted that incidents of extra-judicial killings, kidnapping, torture and other serious human rights abuses continue to occur, and that they “remain un-investigated by the authorities.”

• Concern is being raised over the South African government’s intention to seek a legal opinion on the legal reach of SADC over Zimbabwe’s refusal to honour the SADC Treaty.

Health

• According to the latest Zimbabwe Food and National Nutrition Survey, launched Friday, the prevalence of chronic malnutrition is now at 33.8 percent.

• Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda warned at the weekend that there is a serious water crisis and that Harare is once again facing a major cholera threat.  The UNDP estimates that 6 million Zimbabweans lack access to safe water.

• A cholera outbreak in villages in and around the Marange diamond field has left 80 people hospitalized and led authorities to set up emergency treatment centres. Entering the military controlled zone to provide emergency aid remains difficult.

• A malaria outbreak has resulted in 117,038 cases and 183 deaths since the beginning of the year.

• The Ministry of Health has announced plans to do away with hospital and clinic fees for pregnant women in a bid to reduce maternal deaths, particularly in rural communities.  It will look to international donors for funding.

Media

• Zimbabwe’s media regulator said Friday it had granted licences to four new media houses:  two news agencies – Cable News Agency and the African Open Media Initiative, as well as a sports magazine and a lifestyle publication.  This brings to eight the number of new players registered.

• The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) expressed concern that the infamous Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Broadcasting Services Act (BSA), “two pieces of legislation have presided over the shrinkage of media space within our country” are still in place.

The Good News

• The European Commission (EC) has adopted a €15 million (US$19, 4 million) aid package for Zimbabwe to address the ongoing humanitarian needs. The money will be deployed towards the re-establishment of essential health and water supply services and to provide food assistance, short-term food security and livelihood support.

• The ambitious Bulawayo Water and Sanitation Emergency Response (BOWSER), announced by the Australian government in July, is now supporting a 4.6 million Australian dollar (US$4 million) programme to unblock more than 200 kilometres of choked sewerage pipes, rehabilitate water treatment plants and repair pipeline leaks.

• The United States and Canadian embassies on Thursday officially handed over a grinding mill and various water and sanitation facilities to Tose Respite Care Home, a center for mentally and physically handicapped people based in Harare.

Source:  Zimbabwe Democracy Now

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Rules for our Rulers [19:31m]: Download

Almost ten years younger than the President, Sabina was the mother of Leo Mugabe, Patrick Zhuwao and Robert Zhuwao. Her nephew is the prominent and controversial businessman Philip Chiyangwa.

In 1985, Sabina served as a Member of Parliament for Makonde East and was subsequently legislator for Zvimba South constituency between 1990 and 2008. She was also the Zanu PF Women’s League national secretary for production and labour.

During her time in active politics, Sabina was described as being an integral part of the Mugabe political dynasty.

She withdrew from active politics two years ago, shortly before the controversial elections in 2008.

Prior to independence in 1980, Sabina taught dressmaking to aspiring entrepreneurs from the townships around Harare (then Salisbury).

It was Sabina who gave Robert Mugabe the tragic news of the death of his three-year-old son, Nhamo, from encephalitis in December 1966. The toddler had passed away at the home of his maternal grandparents in Ghana.

At the time, Mugabe was in detention and had been moved from the Midlands to Salisbury Remand Prison.  Despite Sabina’s efforts, he was inconsolable and struggled to come to terms with the tragedy and the fact that he had seen so little of his son.

After Mugabe’s release from prison in 1974, the church gave him an office in Silveira House, where his sisters Sabina and Bridget were employed to work on women’s development programmes.

According to a Catholic churchman interviewed by journalist and author Heidi Holland, Sabina in the latter years turned into a different person, barely recognisable as the gentle woman they had known.

In November 2000, nine months after the farm invasions began, Sabina, then Zanu PF MP for Zvimba South, and Agness Rusike, a war veteran leader, united to lead a terror campaign against white commercial farmers and their farm workers in the Norton district, 40 km south west of Harare.

Travelling in an official black Mercedes Benz, they urged black squatters to grab white-owned farmland for themselves.  One of the farms targeted was that of Terry Ford (55) whom they visited in tandem with a large truckload of militant youths.

Sabina insisted she would take over the house and furniture of Ford’s aunt, who had died a few months earlier.  Further threats ensued and soon afterwards, Ford’s farm equipment was confiscated.

Four months later, Terry Ford’s battered body was found beside the gate of his homestead on Gowrie farm.  After the vicious beating he had been shot in the head.  Earlier that night, the house had been surrounded by militants and the police had refused to assist.

The photograph of Ford’s beloved Jack Russell, Squeak, curled up on the blue bedspread covering his master’s body, focused international attention on the tragic events taking place across Zimbabwe.

On a list of the people who have taken over farms and are multiple farm owners, Sabina is noted down as having three farms. The document was released in November 2009 by human rights activists.

The Zanu PF politburo has agreed that Sabina will be declared a national heroine and will be buried at the Zimbabwe National Hero’s Acre on Sunday.

Zimbabwe Democracy Now

www.zimbabwedemocracynow.com

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe’s 75-year-old sister, Sabina, has died, his son Leo confirmed.

Sabina, born on October 14, 1934, had been ill for a long time and was hospitalised at the Avenues Clinic last Friday. One of only three of the President’s siblings still alive, Sabina died at around 3AM on Thursday morning at the same hospital. The surviving sisters are Bridgette and Regina.

Her eldest son, Leo Mugabe, confirmed her death in a brief telephone interview saying: “Yes, unfortunately it’s true.”

He added that mourners are gathered at her house in Harare’s Eastlea suburb.

The former Zvimba MP was once elected to Parliament at the same time as two of her four children – the former ZIFA chairman Leo and Patrick Zhuwawo.

Her death will come as a major blow to Mugabe, 86, who buried his brother, Donato, only three years ago. At the burial, Mugabe for the first time spoke about his family in detail. The President revealed that his father, Gabriel Mugabe Matibiri, and his mother, Bona, married in 1918.

The couple’s first child — Michael — was born a year later, followed by Raphael in 1922. Raphael died six months later. Robert Mugabe was born in 1924, two years ahead of Donato.

Sabina and Bridgette were born after the boys.

Mugabe revealed his father was deeply upset when Michael died of poisoning in 1934, and he decided to move to Bulawayo. He did not reveal the circumstances of his death.

Mugabe said once in Bulawayo, his father took up jobs as a carpenter and farm labourer before marrying a second wife. He had three children with his new wife, although two — David and Albert — have since died. Regina Gata is the survivor.

The President revealed his father returned to the family in 1944 before dying a year later.
“He came back on the eve of his death. Of all the fathers who went to Bulawayo, there was no one who was as wise as my father,” the President said in 2007.

Mugabe said his father had brought a lot of livestock back to Zvimba.

Lance Guma speaks to Madock Chivasa, spokesman for the National Constitutional Assembly. On Monday the NCA completed a 3 day workshop, discussing how to campaign against the government-led constitution making process. Chivasa talks about the resolutions made and reacts to last weeks hard hitting interview with MDC-T spokesman Nelson Chamisa, who described the outreach as a farce.

Rules for our Rulers [19:46m]: Download