HARARE – More than 80 000 youth militia, war veterans and soldiers will be deployed across the country in an army-led drive to ensure victory for President Robert Mugabe in the next elections that, according to investigations by ZimOnline, look set to be the bloodiest ever witnessed in Zimbabwe.

A three-month investigation by ZimOnline that included interviews and discussions with Cabinet ministers, senior military officers and ZANU PF functionaries, revealed a desperate determination by Zimbabwe’s top generals to thwart Tsvangirai, with some even openly bragging that they would topple the Prime Minister should he somehow triumph against the planned violence to emerge the winner of the polls whose date is yet to be named.

Zimbabwe’s hardliner generals have long been regarded as wielding a de facto veto over the country’s troubled transformation process and as likely to block transfer of power to the winners of elections that Mugabe insist should take place this year should the victors not be the veteran President and his ZANU PF party.

According to our investigation the Joint Military Operations Command (JOC) that brings together the commanders of the army, air force, police, secret and prison services plan to intervene at an earlier stage in the process, well before foreign or even local observers are on the ground.

The strategy is to unleash enough violence and terror — worse than seen in the bloody 2008 presidential run-off poll in which at least 200 of Tsvangirai’s supporters died and tens of thousands of others were made homeless — to make sure a thoroughly cowed electorate will on voting day back Mugabe in enough numbers to save the veteran President from having to face another second round vote or do a Gbabgo.

The Ivory Coast leader, Laurent Gbabgo, has openly refused to hand over power to his victorious opponent after being defeated in elections.

Zimbabwe’s generals, who were behind the 2008 violence that forced Tsvangirai to withdraw from a second round vote he had been tipped to win after beating Mugabe in the first round ballot, fear that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is unlikely to accept another blood-soaked second round election victory for Mugabe or allow him to refuse – Gbabgo style — to hand over power to a victorious Tsvangirai.

The plan

With Tsvangirai and the MDC, civil society and even SADC seemingly distracted by the problems surrounding implementation of the power-sharing deal that led to the formation of the Harare unity government, the JOC has worked quietly to reactivate the structures that waged violence in previous polls – almost unnoticed, apart from the occasional report by human rights groups or the media of resurgent violence in some parts of the country.

According to information made available to ZimOnline, the JOC plans to deploy senior commanders from either the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) or the Central Intelligence Organisation in each of Zimbabwe’s 59 districts to coordinate the fight to retain Mugabe in power.

The ZDF comprises the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) while the CIO is the government’s secret service agency that has a reputation for ruthlessly dealing with Mugabe’s political opponents.

Air Vice Marshal Henry Muchena, a fierce Mugabe loyalist who has virtually taken over as ZANU PF elections director, will be in charge of the campaign that according to our investigation will be unrolled during the constitutional referendum but will reach peak momentum towards elections that are expected to follow the plebiscite.

Muchena is in charge of the campaign’s central command housed at ZANU PF’s national headquarters in Harare.

Other top soldiers of the ranks of major general, brigadier general or air vice-marshal and assisted by CIO agents will head provincial command centres that will direct the onslaught against the MDC in the provinces. Some of the senior commanders have already started work in the provinces meeting ZANU PF and traditional leaders to plot the way forward.

The JOC is convinced that Tsvangirai and his MDC-T party remain the biggest threat to Mugabe retaining power and while paying attention to smaller parties such as Welshman Ncube’s MDC, Simba Makoni’s Mavambo/Kusile/Dwan and Dumiso Dabengwa’s ZAPU will mainly focus on the former union leader and his followers.

According to a source — who is a senior official in the Ministry of Defence — Major General Engelbert Rugeje will be in charge of Masvingo province.

Rugeje is a notorious Mugabe fanatic who took part in atrocities committed by the army in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the 1980s.

At least 20 000 innocent civilians died in the army campaign in the Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces that was ostensibly launched to crush anti-Mugabe rebels but randomly targeted civilians from the Ndebele ethnic community dominant in the area and which mainly supported the then main PF-ZAPU opposition party of the late nationalist, Joshua Nkomo.

According to our information, Rugeje has allegedly already started terrorising MDC supporters in Masvingo where he has in recent weeks been blamed of several acts of violence and intimidation against the former opposition party’s supporters.

In Mugabe’s Mashonaland West home province Brigadier General David Sigauke will run the brutal campaign to keep ZANU PF leader in power, while Brigadier General Douglas Nyikayaramba will be in charge in Manicaland province, said our source, who refused to be named for fear of possible reprisals.

Retired Brigadier General Victor Rungani will be in charge of the campaign in Mashonaland East province while Air Vice Marshal Abu Basutu will oversee matters in Matabeleland South province.

Brigadiers General Sibusio Bussie Moyo, Sibangumuzi Khumalo, Etherton Shungu will oversee matters in the provinces of Midlands, Matebeleland North, Mashonaland Central respectively.

Colonel Chris Sibanda and Air Commodore Mike Tichafa Karakadzai will, respectively, run the campaign to neutralise opposition to Mugabe in the smaller metropolitan provinces of Bulawayo and Harare that are seen as the strongest bastions of Tsvangirai support.

Junior commanders and hundreds of lower ranking soldiers, some of who have already been deployed in recent months in villages in some districts, will be at the disposal of the senior commanders. But our source was unable to say exactly how many out of Zimbabwe’s ±40 000 soldiers will be put to work campaigning for Mugabe. (See below story full list of senior and junior commanders who will run the campaign)

Torture camps

Hundreds of war veterans who have taken part in previous ZANU PF campaigns including farm invasions will also feature prominently this time round and will along with the youth militia run torture camps at strategic locations in the districts and will also conduct pungwes (all night political education meetings) that will be primarily used to intimidate villagers and warn them about the dangers of voting for Tsvangirai or his MDC party.

The torture camps will be used as centres to punish and breakdown prominent supporters, activists and leaders of Tsvangirai’s MDC in the districts and villages as part of a drive to disable and render dysfunctional the party’s grassroots structures.

Soldiers and war veterans will play major roles in the campaign but the youth militia trained under a controversial government national youth service programme will be the principal agents of violence, according to our sources.

The youths that are fanatical supporters of Mugabe and ZANU PF have in previous polls sealed off whole districts to the opposition and are once again expected to turn most of Zimbabwe’s rural areas into virtually no-go areas for the MDC.

While reports in the press last weekend quoting documents from the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment said the ministry was looking to revive the youth service programme and to train 300 000 militia members annually, a Cabinet minister in the unity government whom we spoke to last December said at present there were about 80 000 youths ready for use in ZANU PF campaigns and programmes.

Gov’t funded-bases

The minister, who only spoke on condition he was not named, said many of the youths had been absorbed into the civil service while a smaller number remain at the government-funded youth training camps where they are from time to time assigned work by ZANU PF which controls the youth ministry.

He said: “80 000 had passed through the national youth service by the time it was stopped two years ago. The majority of those who had already graduated before the suspension of the programme have been absorbed into the system.

“Government ministries which absorbed these youths are the ministry of defence through the Zimbabwe National Army, the Ministry of Justice through the prisons service, the home affairs ministry through the police and the ministry of youth.

“Those who have failed to get jobs have remained at the training centres. I know some remain at Dadaya, Guyo, Eaglesnest, Mashayamombe and Mshagashe. These are the most dangerous because this is a group that is readily available to do any sort of work. The centres have remained a crucial structure of violence because they provide government-funded bases.”

Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere repeatedly refused to take questions on the plans by the military to takeover ZANU PF’s campaign and the role of the youth service in the army-led drive to secure victory for Mugabe and his party.

But ZANU PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo dismissed the reports that the party had virtually outsourced its electoral campaign to the generals as unfounded and an attempt to smear Mugabe’s party.

Gumbo told ZimOnline: “That is unfounded. ZANU PF is fully in charge of its programmes. We have the capacity to run our own campaign without involving soldiers. We have seen a pattern to smear ZANU PF and its leaders by falsely claiming that there is violence out there and that we are behind the violence. Now we are supposed to have surrendered our campaign to the army. There is no basis.”

Do-or-die affair

But our investigations have established that ZDF commanders and CIO agents have been holding high-level strategic provincial meetings to plot how to secure Mugabe’s victory in the next elections even before a single ballot is cast.

Analysts have advanced several theories as to why the generals would want to prevent a possible Tsvangirai poll victory.

Others have said the men in uniform fear an MDC government will prosecute them for human rights abuses including the Matabeleland and Midlands massacres, while others say the generals — or some of them genuinely believe — rightly or wrongly, that Tsvangirai is a puppet of the West and that they have to stop him to protect the revolution.

And yet others say the generals want Mugabe or a successor appointed by him in power because the veteran President or his appointee will not only protect the commanders from prosecution but will ensure that they retain access to national resources, not least the rich Marange diamond deposits.

But whatever their motive or motives, our investigations showed a group of committed military men who believe that the next elections — that Mugabe has said must take place this year although they may yet be postponed possibly to 2012 or 2013 — are a do-or-die affair and that they are better off taking matters in their own hands.

The generals are absolutely convinced that a lethargic ZANU PF that is riven by factionalism over Mugabe’s succession cannot on its own win an election against an MDC party that remains hugely popular with the electorate despite the mediocre performance of some of its leaders in the unity government or the WikiLeaks disclosures that painted Tsvangirai as flawed and of questionable executive ability.

For example at a meeting in Manicaland last November, Nyikayaramba and Air Commodore Innocent Chiganze told the ZANU PF provincial leadership that the military was taking over the party’s campaign in order to be able to stop Tsvangirai from winning.

Senior ZANU PF politicians among them Diydmus Mutasa, who is minister of state in Mugabe’s office; Patrick Chinamasa, who is justice minister; deputy economic planning minister Samuel Undenge; former minister Munacho Mutezo, party provincial chairman, Mike Madiro and provincial spokesman Kenneth Saruchera attended the meeting with the two soldiers.

Safe hands

Chiganze told the politicians that the elections were just as crucial as the 1980 elections that ushered in independence from Britain and in which the same military commanders actively campaigned for ZANU PF.

He said the ZANU-PF leadership had failed to effectively campaign because of factionalism and it was now the duty of the army to lead the campaign to defeat Tsvangirai.

According to a source who attended the meeting, Chiganze told the meeting that military generals were ready to retire, but would only do so when they were certain that the country was in the “safe hands” of a ZANU-PF leader.

Chiganze, according to our source, openly told the meeting that the military would never allow Tsvangirai to takeover power and would rather depose him than salute a leader they viewed as an American front.

The Air Commodore told the meeting that soldiers would be deployed in all districts well before the announcement of the election date to seal the off areas and mobilise people.

Chiganze advised the Manicaland ZANU PF leaders that once a date for national elections was announced they should move with speed to organise internal polls to chose candidates to represent the party in the various constituencies in order to give time to soldiers to mount an “effective campaign” well before international observers arrive in the country.

Mutasa and Chinamasa, the most senior ZANU PF leaders at the November meeting, urged all party members to cooperate with the military as was the case during the constitutional outreach programme during which Mugabe’s party was able to push its views and drown out those of other parties.

Revolutionary credentials

The meeting between Nyikayaramba, Chiganze and the ZANU PF leaders was a follow up meeting to another one held earlier by Nyikayaramba and over 200 traditional leaders whom he summoned to his army barracks to warn them of the fatal consequences of allowing MDC activities in their areas.

A traditional leader, who agreed to speak to our reporters on condition he was not named, quoted Nyikayaramba as saying: “Some people are saying that Mugabe should be removed from power but that will never happen when we are here. No one without any revolutionary credentials will rule this country. We have no regrets over this statement because a lot of our people sacrificed their lives for the liberation of this country.”

Other senior commanders assigned to the various provinces have also met ZANU PF leaders there to inform them to leave campaigning in the hands of the military.

Zimbabwe’s elections have in the past been blighted by violence and charges of vote rigging, which saw the European Union and United States slapping sanctions on Mugabe, top ZANU-PF members and the security forces commanders.

The country’s last election in 2008 ended in a stalemate that only ended when Tsvangirai and Mugabe bowed to regional pressure to form a government of national unity in February 2009.

The two former foes have appointed a new Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to run new elections expected once a new constitution is in place.

But ZEC chairman Simpso Mutambanengwe has complained that the commission lacks resources to fix a chaotic voters’ roll and implement other measures key to ensuring the next polls are free and fair.– ZimOnline

List Of Soldiers

The list shows the province, district or constituency in which the soldier will be based and the name of the soldier:

Harare Metropolitan Province – AVM Karakadzai

Bulawayo Province – Col. C. Sibanda

Bulawayo central – Maj. J. Ndhlovu, Maj. J. Ncube

Manicaland and Mutare South – Brig. Tarumbwa

Buhera Central – Col. Morgan. Mzilikazi (MID)

Buhera North – Maj. L. M. Svosve

Buhera South – Maj. D. Muchena

Buhera West – Lt. Col. Kamonge, Major Nhachi

Chimanimani East – Lt. Col. Murecherwa

Chimanimani West – Maj. Mabvuu

Headlands – Col. Mutsvunguma

Makoni North – Maj. V. Chisuko

Makoni South – Wing Commander Mandeya

Mutare Central – Lt. Col. Tsodzai, Lt. Col. Sedze

Mutare West – Lt. Col. B. Kashiri

Mutare North – Lt. Col. Chizengwe, Lt. Col. Mazaiwana

Mashonaland Central – Brig. Gen. Shungu

Bindura South – Col. Chipwere

Bindura North – Lt. Col. Parwada

Muzarabani North – Lt. Col. Kazaza

Muzarabani South – Maj. H. Maziri

Rushinga – Col. F. Mhonda, Lt. Col. Betheuni

Shamva North – Lt. Col. Dzuda

Shamva South – Lt. Col. Makumire

Midlands Province – AVM Muchena, Brig. Gen. S. B. Moyo, Lt Colonel Kuhuni

Chirumhanzu South – Maj T. Tsvangirai

Mberengwa East – Col. B. Mavire

Mberengwa West – Maj T. Marufu

Matebeleland South – AVM Abu Basutu

Beit Bridge East – Group Cpt. Mayera, Rtd. Maj. Mbedzi, Lt. Col. B. Moyo

Gwanda South – Maj J. D. Moyo

Gwanda Central – Maj. B. Tshuma

Matopo North – Lt. Col. Maphosa

Matebeleland North – Brig. Gen. Khumalo

Binga North – Maj E. S. Matonga

Lupane East – Lt Col. Mkwananzi

Lupane West – Lt Col. Mabhena

Tsholotsho – Lt. Col. Mlalazi

Hwange Central – Lt. Col P. Ndhlovu

Masvingo Province – Maj. Gen. E. A. Rugeje,

Bikita West – Maj. B. R. Murwira

Chiredzi Central – Col G. Mashava

Chiredzi West – Maj. E. Gono

Gutu South – Maj. Chimedza

Masvingo – Lt. Col. Takavingofa

Mwenezi West – Lt. Col. Muchono

Mwenezi East – Lt. Col. Mpabanga

Zaka East – Maj. R. Kwenda

Mash West Province – Brig. Gen. Sigauke

Chinhoyi – Col Gwekwerere

Chegutu East – Lt. Colonel W. Tutisa

Hurungwe East – Lt. Col. B. Mabambe

Mhondoro Mubaira – Col. C. T. Gurira

Zvimba North – Cpt. T. Majongwe

Mashonaland East – Rtd. Brig Gen Rungani

Chikomba Central – Lt. Col. Marara

Goromonzi North – Lt Col. Mudzimba, Maj F. Mbewe

Marondera Central – Maj. Gen. Chedondo (COSG), Lt. Col B. Kashiri

Marondera West Squadron Leader – U. Chitauro

Murehwa South – Maj. Gurure

Murehwa North – Lt. Col. Mukurazhizha, Lt. Col. Chinete

Gutu North-Retired Colonel Mutero Masanganise

Gutu South-Colonel Muchechetere

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• 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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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.

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