President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe speaking at the 60th anniversary conference of the United Nations Food Programme.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
AFRICAN FOCUS By Tafataona P. Mah
Mines and Mining Development Minister Cde Obert Mpofu and his delegation to the latest Kimberley Process meeting in Tel Aviv in the fourth week of June 2010 should be congratulated for the way they fought off an attempted lynching of Zimbabwe by a US-led Anglo-Saxon cartel over Chiadzwa diamonds.
However, the nasty experience and abuse they had to endure at the hands of the white racist minority in the KP system should compel the nation to adopt a long-term strategy for handling and anticipating such abuse and sabotage. The strategy of the racist minority was to turn the whole process and the conference on its head, by rejecting the official legal documents and replacing them with unofficial and clandestine ones obtained through fraud and espionage.
The strategy first revealed itself when two Western spy-linked organisations demanded the rewriting of KP rules and the redefinition of “blood diamonds” especially against Zimbabwe and for the purpose of vengeance against Zimbabwe. These two spy-linked organisations are the British Global Watch and the Canadian Partnership Africa Canada. They were soon followed by yet another pair, the British Amnesty International and the US-based Human Rights Watch.
When the Zimbabwean delegation got to Tel Aviv, they discovered that the racist countries had conspired to treat the official KP monitor, Mr Abbey Chikane, and his reports on Zimbabwe as mere decoys which were used to keep the Zimbabwean state from noticing an alternative and clandestine network of spies and compromised officials operating secretly inside Zimbabwe and working on a fraudulent report or reports which would then be introduced abruptly and dramatically at the meeting in order to force a displacement and rejection of the officially sanctioned KP monitor’s report.
Farai Muguwu of the so-called Centre for Research and Development was a key figure in the clandestine and fraudulent network. The bogus “Chief Chiadzwa” by the name of Newman Chiadzwa was another key player.
Then there were some officials in the inclusive Government and the Parliament of Zimbabwe who had also been roped in to concoct the fraudulent report(s) which were supposed to bury Mr Chikane’s official and professional report in muck.
What the Anglo-Saxon racists did not count on was that the state would uncover enough of the clandestine and criminal network to force the isolation of the US and its allies at the conference. What was uncovered demonstrated to the majority of the members of the KPCS that the US-led operations to tarnish Zimbabwe’s diamonds were not only illegal but also diabolic, bordering on economic terrorism and total contempt for the rules of international trade, diplomacy and decorum.
Tel Aviv 2010 A Repeat of Past Tactics
Zimbabwean patriots must realise that the US and its white allies have used the same strategy and tactics before and succeeded in turning the majority at similar conferences to become a “coalition of the unwilling”. This time they failed to pull it off, but they will not stop there. They will make other attempts at other meetings.
That is why it is important to remember similar incidents in the past and to think of a long-term strategy against future attacks. Similar attacks in the past include the following:
--Anglo-Saxon attacks on the Presidential election of 2002 and the Parliamentary elections of 2005 were based on a similar strategy where Western lies or Western-sponsored lies were orchestrated in order to drown official and legitimate Sadc and AU reports declaring the elections to be free and fair . . .
--The events at the conferences which convinced Zimbabwe to leave the British Commonwealth in 2003 were similarly staged and equally diabolic and fraudulent.
--The attachment in 2002 of a negative anti-Zimbabwe addendum to the otherwise favourable “Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and other Wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo” was based on similar fraud and coercion at the level of the UN Security Council.
--Mrs Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka’s 2005 “Report of the Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe to assess the Scope and Impact of Operation Murambatsvina by the UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues in Zimbabwe”, was based on a similar strategy and tactics, whereby most of the evidence from credible state institutions was either ignored or misrepresented while lies from donor-sponsored originations and “activists” were accepted without question. The Tibaijuka’s report was justified formally as an inquiry on behalf of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan but submitted straight to the very same Anglo-Saxon gang which just attempted to lynch Zimbabwe at the June 2010 KP meeting in Tel Aviv. The same powers in March 2006 tried to manipulate the UN Secretary-General into visiting Zimbabwe without invitation in order to worsen the propaganda damage which Tibaijuka had inflicted on the country on behalf of Britain and the US but under the cover of the UN.
What is common among the events just listed is the fact that Zimbabwe was ambushed and lynched by the Anglo-Saxon forces through the subversion of events and processes which were supposed to be governed by normal rules of diplomacy, mutual respect and decorum.
Thinking ahead, it is important for Africans to relate the Zimbabwean experience over diamonds and the KP system to other developments led by the same US and its allies. The alleged involvement of Farai Muguwu in acts that go against Zimbabwe’s economic and security interests suggests a link between imperialism’s use of NGOs and its use of spies, soldiers and terrorists. There is a link between sponsored “civil society” and sponsored military and intelligence programmes for destabilisation.
That is why in each of the five regional divisions of the US military programme called African Command (Africom), the commander is a soldier who is deputised by a civilian. This link also explains why USAID is linked to both the sponsored NGO network (civil society) and to the US-sponsored military command and network called Africom.
The process of ambushing and lynching other countries for economic or geopolitical reasons is not limited to civilian conferences and civilian negotiations alone. It also uses the military and, of course, spy networks.
Investigations carried out by the Chinese show that the incident between North and South Korea, where a South Korean submarine was hit by a torpedo or mine, killing 46 sailors, was staged by the US in order to create a political-military situation which could justify not only the lynching of North Korea but also the overthrow of a newly elected Japanese Prime Minister who had been elected on a pledge to remove US military bases from Japan.
In the context of apparently credible media reports that North Korea was about to wage war on its southern neighbour and sister nation of South Korea, a Japanese politician mobilising the masses against US military bases in the same region came to be seen as a mad man. Indeed, he was removed soon after being elected.
Africa is opening itself to much worse manipulations than those recently inflicted on North-East Asia if it allows the US Africom project to grow and spread on African soil.
The Anglo-Saxon powers, led by the US, already control a continental network and superstructure of “civil society” throughout Africa. It ranges from individual activists and NGOs at the village level to national headquarters of the same NGOs operating on a nation-wide basis; it ranges from donor-funded, quasi-judicial human rights commissions to regional bodies such as the Sadc Tribunal, all the way to the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR.)
What to do? The Need for a Strong State
It is no coincidence that all the attacks on Zimbabwe over the Chiadzwa diamonds have been meant to weaken the role of the State in securing national assets and to persuade Zimbabweans who are engaged in national constitution writing to create a constitution which elevates NGOs to demi-gods while whittling down the State to a minimal necessary evil.
While the Africom proposal would mean the global extension of the US state on African soil from Kisangani to Chimanimani, the people of this region (Zimbabwe in particular) are being advised by activists funded by the same US state to downsize their own state and its laws while multiplying the number of NGOs and “independent” tribunals which are totally dependent on foreign and mostly Anglo-Saxon donors for their survival. It is important for Zimbabweans to recall that the same Anglo-Saxon cartel which admitted its ownership of Farai Muguwu and others in the anti-Chiadzwa network also looted Angola’s diamonds for 31 years under the guise of fighting communism through Jonas Savimbi's Unita. The Western hypocrisy and racism did not begin in Tel Aviv in 2010.
As John Peck once wrote in his October 2000 Z Magazine article: “This spring 2000, De Beers promised to certify that all its consignments of diamonds do not include any diamonds controlled by rebel forces rebelling against the legitimate and internationally recognised government of the relevant country.”
This De Beers certification was not true. But the same Western media and governments looked the other way because Savimbi’s Unita was seen as a Western anti-communist client movement. In Angola as in Zimbabwe, there were attempts made by the Western cartels to make the legitimate Government appear to be the rebel or terrorist movement simply because it was supported by Cuba, the OAU and the former Soviet Union.
Zimbabwe has been a target of similar destabilisation attempts for the last 10 years. The current Anglo-Saxon hostility arises from the realisation that the destabilisation efforts have failed so far.
Precisely because the entire Anglo-Saxon axis and its NGO-media cohorts were willing to look the other way, Unita helped the West to loot diamonds valued at more than US$4 billion, counting just the period between 1992 and 1998 alone. The tendency for the West to treat sovereign states as rebels while supporting illegal regime change forces as human rights defenders is exactly what Zimbabwe confronted at Tel Aviv in June 2010. A country can cope with such mischief only if it builds a strong and competent central state.
According to African Business editor Anver Versi in his editorial called “On Knocking African Leaders” (February 1998): “The quality of leadership needed to deal with any one major social or economic convolution is staggering — Africa, however, is undergoing at least three or four major convolutions at the same time. This is unprecedented in history and therefore the type of (African) leadership that has emerged over the last 40 years has been unprecedented . . . Leaders who have grown up from their native soils cannot (and should not) be put in the same category. Many of them suffered great tribulations and made enormous sacrifices for their people and countries. The challenges they faced have been far more daunting than anything any Western leader has had to confront since the Second World War.”
This is true of Zimbabwe. It is true of DRC. It is true of Angola. It is true of most countries in Southern Africa. This is the context within which Zimbabweans embark on constitution making and it must guide the controls they put in place to safeguard the resources of the people such as the Chiadzwa diamonds and the coal reserves in Hwange, Gokwe and Chiredzi.
As we embark on national constitution making, it helps to listen to the Nigerian Pan Africanist writer Chinwezu, who says: “Have the Africans not yet learnt the central lesson of the last 500 years of global history: that if a people sit upon great resources and neglect to build the power to defend themselves, then their goose is cooked whenever the powerful want those resources? I propose to start by focusing on the following . . . that to lose sovereignty is to lose everything . . . A people’s sovereignty is their most precious possession, even more precious than their land; for without sovereignty, they can be deprived even of the opportunity to breathe the free fresh air. Sensible people risk their last ounce of treasure and their last drop of blood to protect or recover their sovereignty; fools part lightly with it.”
This was also Zimbabwe’s message to the racist cartel trying to scuttle the Kimberley Process against Chiadzwa diamonds.
New Constitution: Women lobby for dual citizenship
By Phyllis Kachere
Zimbabwe Sunday Mail
WHAT was expected to be an everlasting union has turned into a nightmare for young Alice Ndare (not her real name) who married her Yugoslav boyfriend and relocated to his country in 2004.
As per tradition, Alice immediately assumed her husband’s citizenship.
Dual citizenship is prohibited in her new domicile and this meant renouncing her Zimbabwean citizenship.
One child and four years later, the marriage hit rocky times, resulting in her husband filing for divorce.
Recently, Alice approached the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers’ Association (ZWLA) to seek assistance in the divorce case and in reclaiming her Zimbabwean citizenship.
Without an income and social support in Yugoslavia, life has become a challenge for her. “The husband for whom I renounced my Zimbabwean citizenship has ditched me,” she said.
“All the friends I made in Yugoslavia were through him. Sadly, most of them have now abandoned me because of the fallout I had with my husband.
“Now I am stuck with his citizenship but without him and without social support.”
ZWLA advocacy manager Ms Thoko Thabete said Zimbabwean women were lobbying for dual citizenship to be incorporated under the new constitution.
“Ms Ndare is not alone in this situation. Because of the economic challenges that forced most young Zimbabweans into the Diaspora, many of our young women have found love outside Zimbabwe and some have married foreigners,” said Ms Thabete.
“We all know situations change. When things go wrong, it is usually women and children who become victims.
“That is why there is this strong lobby by women for dual citizenship and the right for them to pass on their citizenship to their children and spouses.”
In reference to Ms Ndare’s case she said:
“In such a situation, Ms Ndare no longer has the previous strong ties with Yugoslavia because her marriage is on the rocks and divorce is likely to be granted,” she said.
“The tragedy of the matter is Ms Ndare is regarded as a citizen of Yugoslavia, a country to which her husband was the only one binding her to it.
“With the husband gone, Ms Ndare’s ties to Yugoslavia have weakened. But had she been allowed to keep her Zimbabwean citizenship, she simply would have come home.”
Ms Thabete said citizenship allowed one to enjoy consular protection when in a foreign country.
“Ms Ndare cannot seek consular protection from the Zimbabwean embassy in Yugoslavia because she is regarded a local, but at the same time she is failing to access social programmes because of a language barrier,” she said.
She added that while politicians disapprove of dual citizenship, the positives on the social side outweigh the political negatives.
In terms of the current Zimbabwean Constitution, a person who is married to a Zimbabwean and has been ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe for at least five years since the marriage is entitled on application to become a Zimbabwean citizen by registration.
This amendment was effected by Act number 1/2009.
Prior to this amendment, a woman married to a Zimbabwean citizen was entitled to apply for citizenship by registration.
However, a man married to a Zimbabwean woman did not have the same entitlements. This issue was brought to court in the Rattigan citizenship case.
According to the Women and Law in Southern Africa (WLSA) the old position meant women did not have to wait for five years.
It seems as if when women challenged this position vis-a-vis their foreign husbands, the law in its “majestic neutrality” decided to create similar conditions.
There have been these allegations that some foreign men marry Zimbabwean women just to get citizenship and they go on to dump them after attaining it.
WLSA has also recommended that: “Women must have the same right to acquire and pass on Zimbabwean citizenship as men.
“Article 9 of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) recommends that women and men should have equal rights in terms of citizenship.”
Ms Thabete said spouses of Zimbabwean women should have the same rights of residence and/or citizenship as those of Zimbabwean men.
Article 8 (5) of the Sadc Protocol on Gender and Development states that parties shall put in place legislative provisions that ensure married women and men have the right to choose whether to retain their nationality or acquire that of their spouse.
Behind the MDC-T re-appointments
Courtesy of the Zimbabwe Sunday Mail
IN a move that took some people by surprise, MDC-T leader and Prime Minister Mr Morgan Tsvangirai recalled some members of his party from Government. The move, which has widely been viewed as part of the deep internal conflict within the MDC-T, sparked intense debate with many questioning the timing of the changes. Our Features Editor Lovemore Chikova explores various reasons that could have led to this course of action, which is reportedly a purge of a clique angling for the ouster of Mr Tsvangirai at the party’s congress next year.
Engineer Elias Mudzuri — “The second most popularly elected man”
His fallout with Mr Tsvangirai is well documented.
For a long time, the former Harare mayor has been on the party “hit-list”, as he was accused of being the front-runner of a faction seeking
to topple the MDC-T leader.
Indications are Mr Tsvangirai has been on his case since 2003.
The differences between the two could be equated to the two proverbial bulls sharing the same pen.
A founding member of the party, Mr Mudzuri commands a decent measure of support across the MDC-T structures.
He burst into Parliament after the 2000 general election and was among the most prominent opposition legislators.
He was one of the powerful members who could challenge the party leader on questionable decisions he would have taken.
Not many dared.
It seemed their allegiance was with Mr Tsvangirai mainly because his power of appointment hung over their heads like the sword of Damocles.
But not so with the engineer. He was his own man. He depended on no one to leverage his political standing.
Mr Tsvangirai seemed only too aware of this.
Mr Mudzuri was getting too confident for comfort and his wings had to be clipped.
But 2003 did not provide the perfect timing.
The party was relatively in its infancy and the general belief was the “nominal friction” between the two party strongmen was only but a teething problem.
After bandaging the power-struggle, clear highlights of things to come were captured in 2003 after Eng Mudzuri was dethroned at Town House.
“I am the second most popularly elected person in Zimbabwe after (President) Mugabe,” he declared.
This statement must have pierced the MDC-T leader’s nerves.
Though veiled, it carried a lot of political gunpowder.
It was a direct message to Mr Tsvangirai that he was far from being popular after his drubbing in the 2002 Presidential election.
At the same time, Eng Mudzuri was endorsing President Mugabe’s overwhelming victory, which was a point of MDC-T contestation at the time.
How dare you go against the grain of the party, Elias?
Mr Tsvangirai must have been livid.
All this took place in the face of interesting statistics, which showed President Mugabe’s 1 685 212 votes, which accounted for 56, 2 percent of the vote.
Mr Mudzuri won the race for Harare with 262 275 votes. It came as no surprise that Eng Mudzuri was among the four MDC-T ministers placed under investigation on corruption charges in January this year.
It was clear, analysts say, the probe sought to oust the engineer, who is reputed for his verbal barbs.
He might have ducked the first punch, but certainly not the second, which came in the mould of an uppercut in last week’s dramatic reshuffle.
Eng Mudzuri was dropped from his post of Energy and Power Development Minister.
Interestingly, he still fired a veiled warning at Mr Tsvangirai that the people would judge him. He said this even as he hit the canvas.
Fidelis Mhashu
Mr Mhashu’s poor record of political judgment is well known. One such blunder came to the fore in 2001 when he told the BBC that his party would return land back to former white commercial farmers if it assumed power.
The statement was widely publicised.
It had dire consequences for the MDC as it came at a time the West was passionately demonising Zimbabwe over the land reform programme.
Mr Mhashu also embarrassed his party when he sneaked into South Africa without Cabinet authority last year and did not follow protocol while in that country.
As a result, he was robbed of R5 000, a mobile phone, a wristwatch and business cards.
The South Africans were evidently not happy that he visited their country without seeking security as per procedure.
But his major fallout with Mr Tsvangirai must have come in October last year when he attended a housing conference at a time his party was “boycotting” Cabinet.
Mr Tsvangirai was incensed.
Insiders say it was from that point that the MDC-T leader set in motion plans to show Mr Mhashu the door.
Giles Mutsekwa
Perhaps the most outstanding victim of the purge, Mr Mutsekwa was seen as representing the Rhodesian element in the MDC-T because of his strong background as a former member of the rogue Rhodesian army.
When he was appointed co-Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Tsvangirai uttered something to the effect that he was an experienced person for that ministry.
But soon there was a fallout between the two.
Mr Mutsekwa was accused of working with Zanu-PF in administering laws dealing with public violence and protests.
Yet his defence was that his hands were tied because the law was clear on how to handle such matters.
Soon, Mr Mutsekwa found himself under investigation for alleged corruption.
Party sources say the probe was ordered at the highest level of the party and calculated at casting aspersions on his image.
The probe paved way for last week’s reshuffle.
Only last month, Mr Mutsekwa was excluded from a key district restructuring programme in his very own Dangamvura-Chikanga constituency.
He was widely quoted as denouncing illegal sanctions on several occasions.
This was contrary to the stance of the MDC-T.
Observers say it is just a matter of time before he loses the new post of Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities.
Murisi Zwizwai — One diamond too many
One could really say the Chiadzwa diamonds have claimed their first victim.
Sources say Mr Zwizwai was appointed Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development to specifically ensure the MDC-T position on diamonds prevailed.
But he seemed to have swapped his party’s hymn book for some factual “singing”.
Shortly after his appointment, he saw reason in efforts to place diamond mining at the centre of the country’s economic revival efforts.
He made it clear during a Kimberley Process conference last year that there were no “blood diamonds” in Zimbabwe.
No doubt, he openly contradicted the MDC-T position. From then on, he was seen as unsuitable for office in the party.
He was also soon placed under investigations on corruption allegations together with Eng Mudzuri and Mr Mutsekwa.
His new position of Deputy Minister of Media, Information and Publicity is seen as “giving him a long rope to hang himself”.
Others say he has been thrown to the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity because with Cde Webster Shamu at the helm and with Cde George Charamba as permanent secretary, Mr Zwizwai won’t find the room to play any games.
Thamsanqa Mahlangu — Of cellphones and two women
The dismissal of Mr Mahlangu from the post of Deputy Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment did not come as a surprise to many.
Mr Mahlangu had already embarrassed both himself and his party when it emerged during his trial on allegations of stealing a mobile phone that he had spent a night with two women in a hotel room.
Though he was eventually acquitted, the theft allegations are said to have endorsed his candidature for dismissal.
Mr Mahlangu could have also paid for failing to grasp the finer details of the country’s indigenisation laws.
It is understood he was expected to take a lead in opposing the indigenisation laws that are meant to empower locals.
So ruthless was Mr Tsvangirai that he fired Mr Mahlangu despite the fact that the poor chap had not even buried his mother. Some people in Matabeleland are baying for Tsvangirai’s blood.
Gorden Moyo
Observers say his removal from the Prime Minister’s Office was largely influenced by his penchant for picking arguments that he could not win.
He tried to protect Mr Tsvangirai at all costs, but analysts believe that his outbursts ended up irritating his leader.
The latest stunt was misleading the nation that a bilateral agreement Mr Tsvangirai signed in South Korea was binding.
As an advisor to the Prime Minister, Mr Moyo was expected to research on issues surrounding the signing of such country-to-country agreements and advise his boss accordingly.
Coming from a civil society organisation, Bulawayo Agenda, it could be fair to suggest that Mr Moyo failed to distinguish between Government business and running an NGO that is not accountable to the electorate.
Theresa Makone
When she was appointed Minister of Public Works, many contended that it was because her husband, Ian, is a close friend of Mr Tsvangirai’s.
Actually, Mr Tsvangirai has always taken sides with Mrs Makone. When there was a power struggle within the MDC-T Women’s Assembly, he was seen to throw his weight behind Mrs Makone.
With Mr Tsvangirai’s support, Mrs Makone went on to unilaterally take up the post.
This was despite other senior party members insisting that proper procedures should be followed.
MDC-T insiders say madam Makone can be what she wants because of her husband’s closeness to Mr Tsvangirai.
Evelyn Masaiti
She was initially not on the original list of MDC-T ministers.
Her name seemed to have come as an after-thought and after inquiries on why she had been left out.
Ms Masaiti soon found herself in trouble. She was dragged to court for allegedly abusing Government subsidised inputs.
Tapiwa Mashakada
Finally rewarded for his loyalty to Mr Tsvangirai, Mr Mashakada was increasingly being seen as a checkmate to the alleged plot by Finance Minister Tendai Biti to challenge the MDC-T leader.
As the deputy secretary-general, Mr Mashakada seemed to have usurped Mr Biti’s powers as secretary-general of the party.
Recently, Mr Tsvangirai was reported to have entrusted Mr Mashakada with the party’s day-to-day affairs.
The new Minister of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion would write and sign letters of dismissal and suspension to those seen as crossing Mr Tsvangirai’s path.
Obert Gutu and Tongai Matutu
Their elevation to the Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs and of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, respectively, did not come as a surprise.
The two were increasingly vocal in their support for Mr Tsvangirai.
Observers say Mr Gutu finally got rewarded for singing praises to the MDC-T leader in his long and boring newspaper articles.
On the other hand, Mr Matutu gained the unenviable tag of making unnecessary interjections in Parliament.
Observers say he proved that there are indeed many tickets to high office.
No comments:
Post a Comment