Denford Magora's Zimbabwe Blog

Roy Bennett with his lawyers today, 10 November 2009 at the High Court in Harare, (his main lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, stands with her back to the camera)  where they had been called by the Judge who indicated that he was ready with his ruling on the applications of both the defence lawyers and the Attorney-General, who is acting personally as the prosecutor ni this case.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 10 November 2009

I just spoke with Beatrice Mtetwa, the lawyer for Roy Bennett, about today's ruling on the applications by Roy Bennett's lawyers and the Attorney-General. The judge in the case first indicated yesterday that he would only be ready "provisionally" with his decision on Wednesday (tomorrow).

Later that same day (yesterday), the judge, Justice Chinembiri Bhunu, sent a message to Bennett's lawyers that he had already reached a decision on the application and would make his ruling today, Tuesday, 10 November 2009 at 11a.m. at the High Court in Harare.

But it appears someone has gotten to him.

When Roy Bennett and his lawyers showed up today at the courts, they were told that the judge had changed his mind and decided that he will only deliver his ruling on Wednesday after all.

Bennett, who stands accused of amassing arms of war to remove Robert "The Solution" Mugabe from power by force, had arrived at the court in good time, together with his lawyers. He now has to wait until tomorrow, in a development that shows there are hands trying to manipulate things from behind the scenes.

The ruling the judge is supposed to give, as I explained in a previous article, will have the effect of stopping Bennett's trial dead in its tracks if the judge grants the Defence's application. If he dismisses it, then things go on as before and only the final verdict will have an impact. Mugabe has already vowed that Bennett will never be acquitted.

Harare Municipal Police, who instigated the riot in Mbare yesterday, are seen here no Friday raiding Fourth Street Bus Terminus in the City Centre. Yesterday, they were in Mbare, where one vendor at the open ground opposite Mupedzanhamo Market died while fleeing from them. This prompted one of the worst riots ever seen in Zimbabwe, with residents fighting running battles with riot police for hours despite having teargas thrown at them

Harare, Zimbabwe, 10 November 2009

The crackdown by the overzealous and under-qualified Harare Municipal Police has now claimed the life of a vendor in Mbare.

Godfrey Tonde, who was 25 years old, fell down while fleeing Municipal police, who fell upon him soon afterwards. It is not clear whether he was dead before they fell upon him or he died as a result of their physical action.

All the same, residents in Mbare, a teeming high-density area of the capital of Zimbabwe, took up arms immediately after word spread that Tonde had died. The residents blocked Remembrance Drive, which leads into the city centre and started stoning vehicles and the police. As happened last week at Roadport, along Fourth Street, riot police were called and they also got what-for from the residents, who fought running battles with them using stones, sticks and anything they could find.

The riot police managed to control the situation with some difficulty, but when Tonde's body was removed Council offices near the main Mbare Market, residents who saw it started another riot.

They went after the police, attacking the one truck that had been sent into the area to contain the situation. Riot police were overpowered in this latest surge and they had to call for reinforcements. This latest battle lasted pretty much all day.

Police reinforcements had to use tear gas to try and disperse the crowds, but residents took wet t-shirts and cloths and put them over their faces to neutralise the smoke. At the same time, the flyover leading into the centre now was now blocked with burning tyres and other materials.

Hundreds of residents had now come out and were threatening all-out war with the police.

When reinforcements arrived, just after two in the afternoon, it took them more than hour to calm the situation and by the time people were driving from work, the roads had been cleared.

But the residents are threatening that if they catch a Municipal Policeman by himself, they will make sure he meets the same fate as Tonde, whose body has now been taken to Harare Hospital mortuary.

The people's anger today was unprecedented and exposes the lie that Zimbabweans are generally servile people who are bossed around by the police and the armed forces. If this sort of anger had been channeled and directed at the dictatorship in Zimbabwe, we would have brought freedom from tyranny a long time ago.

The people simply lack leadership, is what I concluded yesterday.

Even after police had used teargas on them, the people of Mbare kept coming and it was clear that the police were struggling.

Zimbabwe Riot Police Patrol the Entrance to the High Court before the arrival of Roy Bennett for his terrorism trial in Harare today. Justice Bhunu, the presiding Judge, has now indicated that he is ready with his ruling on the applications brought by the Attorney-General and by Bennett's lawyers. The ruling will be delivered at 11:00a.m. Zimbabwe time tomorrow. It is an crucial ruling with far-reaching implications for the justice delivery system in Zimbabwe.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 09 November 2009

Justice Chinembiri Bhunu, the judge in the terrorism trial of Roy Bennett this afternoon informed Roy Bennett's lawyers that he has reached a decision on the applications brought by them and by Attorney General Johannes Tomana.

Bhunu had earlier today indicated that he would only deliver his ruling on Wednesday.

I am not sure whether Bennett's lawyers should be celebrating or not because of this fast-tracking. Although Judges in Zimbabwe are beginning to assert their independence, the trial of Roy Bennett is one rife with political intrigue. Pressure is no doubt being brought to bear behind the scenes and it would not be a surprise at all if the application by Bennett's lawyers are thrown out.

This is a crucial ruling, make no mistake about it, and it will be delivered at 11:00 a.m. Zimbabwe time on Tuesday (tomorrow) at the High Court in Harare. If Justice Bhunu grants the Defence's application, it will mean that Roy Bennett will walk free, because that decision will have the effect of nullifying Bennett's indictment.

Considering that Mugabe has stated that Bennett will not be acquitted, this would be a huge slap in the face for the tottering dictator and would essentially embolden the whole of the judiciary.

I dare say that, should this unthinkable happen, Zimbabwean justice will never be the same again.

The MDC-Tsvangirai, if they are clever enough and if this application by the defence is upheld, will have an extremely strong leg to stand on in their quest to have Tomana removed from his post. They will be able to argue that he is not competent to hold that office, seeing as he has essentially put his own reputation on the line by personally taking over the prosecution of the MDC-T Treasurer-General.

The MDC would then be able to state boldly that not only is Tomana ignorant of the law, but that he is dangerous to the rule of law in general by displaying such ignorance. The matter will no longer be only about Roy Bennett but about the competence of the Attorney-General to hold his office.

If the application by the Defence is thrown out, however, then all bets are off and this thing will have to be taken right down to the wire.

You can rest assured that the courtroom in Harare will be packed again for the ruling from Justice Bhunu. You will get the latest details here as soon as they are available.

It was during the trial of Alec Muchadehama (left, leaving Magistrates' Court in Harare), that Ms Mutongi's troubles began, after she cited a State Prosecutor from the Attorney-General's Office for contempt. She has known no rest since and has been humiliated in addition by seeing her decisions reversed after another Magistrate was appointed to take over from her in the State Prosecutor's case. She has now resigned, citing "interference from some quarters" - clearly the Attorney-General's Office itself.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 09 November 2009

One of Zimbabwe best-known Magistrates, Ms Chioniso Mutongi, has resigned from the Ministry of Justice, citing interference from "some quarters".

Mutongi's resignation arises directly from the way she handled a case involving a lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, who was facing trial for "defeating the course of justice." Muchadema, it will be recalled was arrested for doing his job, which was to take a court order to a Judge's chamber in order to get his clients (who are MDC-T activists)  released from Prison.

During the Muchadehama's trial, the State prosecutor made an objection, which Ms Mutongi overruled. The State prosecutor responded with "Tsk", which led the Magistrate to cite him for contempt of court.

Although he was taken immediately into custody, the prosecutor was released on the same day on US$30 bail "pending review". When he was called back for that review by Mutongi, she found herself taken off the case. Another judge heard the matter and granted the prosecutor bail.

Her life has not been the same since. She claims that she has received threatening phone calls and find it impossible to work because the Chief Magistrate's Office is not giving her the protection due to a Magistrate in the matter.

In her letter of resignations, she says:

"I resign from the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs forthwith. My resignation has been occasioned by events that were glaringly unethical and unprofessional in the manner I ought to have discharged my duties as a magistrate without fear or favour.

"To put the event into proper perspective, your office (Chief Magistrate’s) recalls very well the unpleasant experiences I went through when I tried to impartially handle the matter of State versus Alec Muchadehama and another.

"I had a torrid time during which I was entirely abused and harassed at the hands of the State prosecution, but I did not get professional protection from this office as I reasonably anticipated.

"Further to this, I only learnt with dismay that another magistrate had granted Andrew Kumire bail pending appeal in unclear and dubious circumstances wherein I am the trial magistrate for that particular case.

"I only recused myself from handling the case of Alec Muchadehama and another and not the Kumire case. That was a misnomer.

"I do not believe that I would be able to discharge my duties as a duly trained magistrate given that level of interference."

"How can a person whose committal to prison has been confirmed by the High Court on review, be granted bail pending appeal by another magistrate when the trial magistrate has not recused herself from that particular matter?" she asks in her letter.

Clearly, the Magistrate, although not naming them, suspects that the Attorney-general's office is behind this harassment that she is going through. As a professional (she has handed down several very brave decisions during her time in office), she feels that it is better to resign than to be put in a position where prosecutors will no longer have any respect for her in court, knowing that they will be able to claim that she has something against Attorney-General's staff.

I wonder: how long will it be , do you think, before you hear that she has emigrated and is now based in Namibia or Botswana (the two countries who have in the past hired our bravest and most professional judges who find it impossible to work in Zimbabwe's courts)?

The presidential Guard in Zimbabwe, with their distinctive yellow berets, are notorious for assaulting drivers who do not get out of Mugabe's way fast enough and getting away scot-free. They have now attacked a home for former Street Children in Bulawayo, some of whom sustained internal injuries. When police opened dockets against them, the soldiers started intimidating the policemen responsible! As usual, above you can see Mugabe whistling to himself as he inspects a guard of honour. He does this every time he inspects any sort of Guard presented to him. It is a sort of charm, apparently.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 09 November 2009

Soldiers of the Presidential Guard attacked 41 former school children at Thuthuka Centre in Bulawayo last week, accusing them of being MDC-T supporters, according to a report from The Standard's Bulawayo reporters.

The attack was described by authorities at the school as "vicious" and it came about as a result of a misunderstanding over a girl.

Two boys from a nearby suburb apparently followed a girl at the Centre whom they were interested in, but the girl raised the alarm, telling her friends at the Centre (a school for former street kids) of the boys' intentions.

Older boys at the Centre came out to engage the two boys and a fight broke out. What they did not know was that the two boys' brother was a soldier staying at the Presidential Guard camp nearby.

When the two boys were overpowered, they apparently took refuge in their brother's house. The brother, seeing twelve boys massed by his door, called for reinforcements from his fellow soldiers, telling them that his house was under attack from MDC-Tsvangirai supporters.

Twenty soldiers showed up minutes later at the Centre.

"They did not try to understand what happened, " said Mqhele Mlupi, the Thuthuka Centre Manager, "they beat up all the kids at the centre, including staff members."

"They used all sorts of things, rifle butts, booted feet, logs and anything they could lay their hands on. They took some of the children away and beat them up some more before releasing them. All the 41 were savagely beaten up but about 11 sustained serious injuries."

The soldiers are also said to have randomly attacked people on their way back to their back. Most of these attacks were in Saurstown, which is near the Bulawayo State House.

Unbelievably, the soldiers who had done this then ran off to the police and reported that the children from the Centre had attacked their camp. When the police heard and saw the children against whom these charges were being laid, they opened dockets on the soldiers instead. The Presidential Guard soldiers are now being accused of threatening death and destruction against the police officers who opened those dockets.

The police confirm that some of the beaten children sustained serious internal injuries.

The Presidential Guard in Zimbabwe is notorious for their impunity. If anyone so much as hesitates to move out of the way of Mugabe's motorcade, for instance, they are sure to get a beating. Old women drivers and mothers with their children in their cars are only some of the people that are known to have been beaten up for not showing proper respect to the Presidential motorcade.

So powerful is the Presidential Guard, in fact, that even Ministers are known to have been manhandled if they put a foot wrong in the presence of the president or his guards.

Twelve soldiers who have "disappeared" from Pomona Barracks in Harare are said to be held at the notorious Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, where they have been tortured so badly that their relatives are barred from visiting them. The soldiers apparently were arrested in connection with the alleged disappearance of 20 AK 47 guns from the same barracks. An MDC-Tsvangirai employee is currently before the courts facing the same charge.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 08 November 2009

It is reported here today that twelve soldiers who disappeared from Pomona Barracks a few days ago are being kept at Chikurubi Maximum Prison, where they are being so badly tortured and in such bad shape that their relatives and friends are not allowed to visit them.

Some of the soldiers' relatives do not even know that their kinsmen have been arrested, since they were taken straight from Barracks to Chikurubi.

The soldiers were arrested in the wake of the theft of firearms from Pomona Barracks, a case that has also roped in Pascal Gwezere, an MDC-Tsvangirai employee. Gwezere was in court last week facing charges of stealing the firearms with the help of soldiers whose whereabouts the state claimed in court were not known.

The Zimbabwe Standard spoke to a source who insisted that the soldiers' whereabouts are very much known to the state. It is just that they have been so badly abused that they can not be produced in court. Gwezere himself is fighting against the continuance of his trial, alleging severe torture, including torture on his private parts.

The Zimbabwe police, through their spokesman Oliver Mandipaka, say they know nothing about the arrest of the soldiers. These, of course, are the same policemen who claimed they knew nothing about the abduction of Jestina Mukoko, only to see her surface from their cells in December last year after months of denial. So their credibility is zero.

The Zimbabwe National Army says 20 AK 47 rifles and a shotgun were stolen from Pomona and they are certain that Gwezere and the soldiers who are now in detention know about this matter.

Gwezere claims that apart from wanting information on the theft of the rifles and shotgun, his abductors also wanted to know what the Prime Minister's "Plan B" was if his disengagement from ZANU PF failed to give him what he wants.

Just a couple of weeks back, another soldier appeared in court on charges of stealing a firearm, which he admitted taking, saying he had sold it in order to buy food and pay school fees for his children.

The paltry salaries that Zimbabwe's rank and file soldiers get are a big contributing factor in the rise in the theft of army property by serving men. They, unlike their leaders, have to make do with around US$150 per month.

It is almost certain that, when the time comes, the soldiers who are said to have disappeared from Pomona will suddenly find themselves in court, facing the same charges that Gwezere faces.

It is puzzling, though, that the army has decided to take this route with the soldiers, since it is common knowledge that they prefer to deal with errant soldiers themselves in their own court-martial process. They so detest the Zimbabwe Republic Police that they do not allow any ZRP policeman to arrest a Zimbabwean soldier. That job is for the Military Police.

When the SADC Troika Heads of State meeting in Mozambique broke for lunch, Mugabe walked off with the other presidents (seen here during the lunch break with Jacob Zuma opf South Africa and Armando Guebuza of Mozambique (and Troika Chairman). Tsvangirai, as is shown in the article below this one, had to go off by himself. Mugabe's hand is basically strengthened by the SADC Troika position as I explain below

Harare, Zimbabwe, 7 November 2009

So.

Patrick Chinamasa, one of Mugabe's biggest lapdogs and errand boys, was waxing lyrical yesterday upon his return from the SADC Troika Summit in Mozambique and says ZANU PF is happy indeed about the outcome of the Summit.

So is Mugabe, who is now in Sharm el Sheik for the China-Africa Summit.

They are very happy in ZANU PF because they now have Morgan Tsvangirai all to themselves. SADC leaders will not even mediate the talks that must now go on between the two main parties. They simply say the two must talk.

Apart from sanctions, Tsvangirai has no leverage over Mugabe. And these sanctions have failed before to move Mugabe. Maintaining them now is no guarantee that the dictator will give in to Tsvangirai's demands in order to get them lifted.

Already, Mugabe's office is sounding contemptuous:

"No set day deadlines were given by anyone in the Summit and no set deadlines would be entertained by anyone," said George Charamba, Mugabe's spokesman, yesterday.

Which means Mugabe intends to drag this out. Tsvangirai will have to make up his mind whether he will remain in government as the matter are dragged out or whether he does another "disengagement" stunt.

Repeating the "disengagement", however, is a non-starter, as even he knows after speaking to Jacob Zuma in Mozambique. Zuma told the Prime Minister that the outstanding issues can only be resolved by the Inclusive Government. If he walks out of it, then the MDC-T would be the ones seen as breaking the agreement and killing the Inclusive Government.

The leaders say he must stay in and continue talking with Mugabe. Mugabe says he he will not give in until his side is satisfied about their own complaints......it is tedious and as clear as day.

So, to get back to the essence of this analysis: Tsvangirai is back in the Lions' Den, unarmed. His back is against the wall still and as he has said repeatedly, there is no alternative to the GPA: that is because he knows that despite his bluster about wanting new elections, Mugabe will hold them only when he is good and ready, no matter what happens.

The holding of new elections is something that SADC will never ever order Mugabe to do.

Previous Article

Harare, Zimbabwe, 07 November 2009

The SADC Troika Communique from the meeting in Maputo this past Thursday shows the regional body trying to do a balancing act between being seen to be doing something while at the same time maintaining its hand-off approach to Zimbabwe's problems.

Of particular interest is the SADC "resolution" that Mugabe and Tsvangirai must start talking within 15 days and that the talks must not continue beyond 30 days. At the same time, they call for both parties' grievances to be dealt with "concurrently."

"Summit decided as follows: the political parties signatory to the GPA should engage in dialogue with immediate effect within 15 days not beyond 30 days," reads the Communique.

It is incredibly vague language, which favours Mugabe more than it addresses Tsvangirai's concerns. 

I say this because this resolution effectively tells the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe that he must do what Mugabe wants within 30 days and, more crucially, that he can not hold off on doing this on the basis that his own grievances have not been met.

The communique certainly is unfair to the MDC-T because it effectively recognises Mugabe's own grievances as genuine by making them part of the package of issues to be addressed simultaneously with Tsvangirai's own grievances.

One might ask how the Prime Minister is supposed to show that he has, as Mugabe is demanding, ended sanctions against Zimbabwe, "dismantled the parallel government set up in the prime minister's office" and stopped "pirate radio stations" beaming into Zimbabwe.

Any fair person would  say that these are clearly issues that the Prime Minister has no power over, that, apart from the argument of the parallel government in his office, there is no way he would be able to fulfill the other demands because it is not his party that runs those radio stations. They may be run by people who support him, but they are not dependent on him. So how is he supposed to stop them or get the sanctions lifted?

By doing this, the SADC Troika has effectively hung the Prime Minister out to dry because Mugabe will simply say that the MDC-T refuses to implement any of the things that it agreed to in the GPA.

But sympathy for Morgan Tsvangirai's impossible position must be tempered by the truth that the Prime Minister made a fundamental blunder in agreeing to have these issues put into the GPA in the first place. He allowed the issue of the radio stations to be part of the GPA, he allowed the "sanctions" to be put in the GPA. 

And then he signed it, basically admitting that he had the power to do something about these things. He can not now perform revisionism by disowning these issues. he signed and he must deliver. That is the black and white, legalistic manner in which SADC is dealing with this.

If the MDC-T had refused to have responsibility for sanctions and foreign-based radio station put in their lap, this crisis would not even have happened in the first place.

This is why it is important to realise that there is no realistic prospect of the Prime Minister getting any of the things he wants. Effectively, as I said yesterday, SADC has simply said that Mugabe and Tsvangirai must start talking. The 30 days into which the talks have been restricted applies both to the issues of parallel government, sanctions, radio stations (MDC-T responsibilities according to Mugabe) and Bennett, ambassadors, governors, attorney-general and reserve bank governor (ZANU PF responsibilities according to Morgan Tsvangirai).

If Tsvangirai fails to deliver on his issues, Mugabe will also say he has failed and there is nothing SADC will be able to do to either man unless they decide to openly come out on the side of one of the parties by dismissing the concerns of the other as frivolous or impractical.

It is this that they will not do.

Which is why it is true to say that they have solved nothing. Zimbabwe continues to run in one spot, not going anywhere, not making progress.

We are likely to be in this situation until the day the Inclusive Government collapses and new elections are called.

Did you also notice that the issue of the militarisation of the rural areas has been ignored completely. Intimidation in the same areas is not mentioned at all. The continues arrests of MDC-T MPs and activists is also ignored completely.

This is a much more serious issue that the issue of giving jobs to MDC officials like Bennett and ambassadors and governors etc. Yet these important matters are off the agenda completely because they are not part of the GPA. SADC is simply taking the legalistic route of addressing the thing they guaranteed: the GPA. The harassment and arrests came after and therefore are not their problem.

We are back to Square One, despite what the propaganda of both MDC-T and ZANU PF tries to tell us.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 6 November 2009

Early this morning, the Harare Municipal Police who fought running battles with vendors and black market foreign currency dealers at Fourth Street Bus Terminus (also known as Roadport) were back.

They immediately started work, carrying off any wares they could lay their hands on as people ran away, some afraid of being caught in the crossfire and others abandoning their "duty stations". The police had driven straight into the rank itself where workers were coming off their minibuses and going to work.

I chatted later on with some of the Municipal Police, who are vowing revenge and saying they will not let go of their operation "until we clean up this place."

But, just a few metres away from Roadport itself, forex dealers were boldly going about their business, asking passers-by (me included) if they wanted "cross-rate".

The Municipal police seem to be concentrating only on the rank itself, where minibuses park and it is clear that they think yesterday's noise was largely due to touts (people who shepherd people towards various stations and into specific minibuses, calling out destinations and controlling queues of commuters during peak hours.

When I asked whether there was anything they were doing about the money-changers, they said next week they will turn their attention to them. They claimed that they were simply monitoring to see which ones where money-changers and which ones were touts, so that they would know who pounce on next week.

Meantime, riot police, who made me delete the photo of them I had taken, I parked out of sight, by Africa Unity Square, two roads away from Roadport. They are obviously on standby for any recurrence of yesterday;s disturbances.

I will keep you posted, seeing as our offices are just round the corner from the scene of action itself.

Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe (in the background) listen to proceedings during the opening of the SADC Troika Summit in Mozambique yesterday. Tsvangirai has now announced that he is ending his boycott of Cabinet and Council of Ministers, saying that he is giving Mugabe 30 days to implement the outstanding issues. The matter is dead now. Mugabe will not meet the deadline and Tsvangirai will quietly stay on in government, having achieved his objective of hoodwinking his supporters into thinking that he has stood up to Mugabe. He remains a powerless Prime Minister, referred to by Mugabe's most junior ministers as "just another minister".

Harare, Zimbabwe, 06 November 2009

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has now destroyed the last vestiges of any credibility he might have had after announcing in Maputo last night that he is ending his boycott of Cabinet and Council of Ministers.

It is important to note that he is doing this without any of the issues he raised being addressed. He is going back into government without any of his demands being met.

As I have explained since Day One of this "disengagement", Tsvangirai was always going to go back in without having any of his demands met. Despite all the propaganda, SADC was never going to order Mugabe to appoint certain people to the civil service of Zimbabwe. They simply do not have that mandate. The rules that govern the regional body say they should not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries unless there is a naked military coup in that country. That is the most important thing.

The second thing is that Tsvangirai has historically alienated all SADC heads of state to the extent that he has no sympathy from any one of them at all. Even Ian Khama has now deserted the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe and his party. That's fact.

SADC made no resolutions about the issue in Zimbabwe. They did not mention a single one of Tsvangirai's grievances and simply indicated that they were meeting as a matter of form, to fulfill the obligation they had to review the Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe.

The Chairman of the SADC Organ on Defence and Politics, Mozambican President Amando Guebuza, said that the government in Zimbabwe was working well on the whole and that there were a few minor matters that only needed to be talked through by the parties to the GPA.

"The political parties share more common views than disagreements," Guebuza said. "They do the most they can to overcome these disagreements and have shown great commitment in implementing policies and programmes that can answer the great desires of their people."

Effectively, then the regional leaders say that Mugabe has shown great commitment to the GPA and the Inclusive Government. They have made no undertaking to hold another summit should things not go well for the MDC-T.

Morgan Tsvangirai now says he is going back in and giving Mugabe thirty days to implement all outstanding issues. Mugabe, on the other hand, now knows that the Prime Minister and his party have no leg left to stand on, they can not go back to SADC because, after this review, the regional body is no longer interested in Zimbabwe.

Their position, as I have said before, remains that Morgan Tsvangirai should slug it out with Mugabe and may be best (or more brutal) man win!!

I wonder why it is that MDC-T supporters think that the SADC leaders should complement the failures and weaknesses of their leader, Morgan Tsvangirai by doing his job for him.

Nowhere else in the world has a people relied on foreigners to free themselves from tyranny. They have to do it themselves. If their leader does not have what it takes, they remove him and put in another one to take on the tyranny.

In Zimbabwe we are being told by MDC-T supporters that they agree that Morgan Tsvangirai can never remove Mugabe from power. He lacks the skills to do this. So, we are told, regional leaders must step in and do for Tsvangirai what he can not do himself.

Zimbabwe is not SADC's problem. It was not SADC leaders who elected Mugabe into office in 1980 and reelected him time and time again after that, deriding all form of opposition to Mugabe and laughing at other opposition parties started by very capable democrats like Enoch Dumbutshena and others.

SADC must never allow itself to be used to do the job that Zimbabweans must do themselves: remove Mugabe. This will teach Zimbabweans that they should not repeat the mistake they made with ZANU PF and Mugabe. Even now, they want to repeat the same mistake. MDC-T supporters desperately want to destroy other parties, like ZAPU, MDC Mutambara and Simba Makoni's Mavambo so that Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC-T become another ZANU PF, taking all the seats in parliament and ruling the country all by itself.

Zimbabweans have not learnt their lesson yet. SADC must teach them it.

An in-depth and very eloquent interview with Simba Makoni has been barred from airing on Zimbabwe Television. It was explicitly communicated to me that the "top people" at ZBC had said the programme was not be aired until they had seen it. They then made sure that they did not see it until the time it was due to be broadcast. I suppose this is what Prime Minister Tsvangirai means when he says the dictator Robert Mugabe is "The Solution". We do not need such a "Solution" in this country. We need real change, which neither MDC-T nor ZANU PF are capable of ever delivering. Ever.

Harare, Zimbabwe, 6 November 2009

Zimbabwe Television yesterday barred the airing of a 30-minute interview with Simba Makoni, conducted by Supa Mandiwanzira last week for his program Talking Business.

The interview was scheduled to air at 9:00p.m., which is basically prime time in Zimbabwe.

I got a call just after six in the morning telling me that ZBC personnel had just informed Supa's people that the "top people" at ZBC had given the instruction that the program was not to be aired before it was seen by them (the "top people"). 

I asked who the "top people" were and I was informed that this usually meant only the people within ZBC itself, specifically Executive Chairman Happyson Muchechetere. It was also explained that if the programme was not aired, it would then find a spot on Saturday at 7:30 in the morning, when everyone would still be very much asleep. But even this was also dependent on the "top people" watching the program and clearing it to air on Zimbabwe Television.

At the time of the call to me, Supa's staff (he runs his own studio and records his own programs independent of ZBC) were frantically trying to edit another programme in order to have a "stand-by" if the Makoni interview had not been cleared by the time 9:00p.m. came up.

At nine, ZTV started showing an American comedy instead of Supa's programme. The program then never aired last night.

You will recall that during the presidential elections in March last year, ZBC conducted a panel interview as required by our electoral laws and Makoni was part of the panel. John Nkomo, who was supposed to represent ZANU PF, ran away and refused to go head to head with Makoni. The interview went ahead with members of the other party present.

Muchechetere, who is now the head of ZBC, was just a journalist at that time and he conducted a very bad interview, never allowing Makoni to finish answering a single question, cutting him off every time he tried to make a point. He clearly was under instructions to make sure that Makoni's points never got communicated.

Now that he is head of the broadcasting company, he is using his position to frustrate the same man.

It remains to be seen whether the program will air on Saturday. But even if it were to air then, it will not be watched by anybody at all because it will be very early on Saturday morning, the day most people sleep in and rest after a week of work.

This is the main reason we require media reform in Zimbabwe, an agenda that the other party in the government, MDC-T has failed to push at all, even though they have a deputy minister in place at the Ministry of Information and Publicity (controlled, of course, by Mugabe).

We need even more television stations and newspapers on the streets and in the homes of Zimbabwe. But, we all know now that Tafataona Mahoso, the media "hangman" and Mugabe ultra-loyalist, has now been put in charge of the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, which is charged with issuing licences to people seeking to establish radio and television stations.

There is no likelihood that any new television and radio stations will be licenced to operate any time soon. Mugabe and ZANU PF will not allow it and it appears not to be a priority for the MDCs in government.

Bottom-line, though: the establishment is very afraid of giving exposure and space to Simba Makoni. The articulate and intelligent former Finance Minister is widely popular in Zimbabwe and his party, in terms of the numbers of members (membership) is now the largest party in Zimbabwe, even with things like this going on.

He will shock them all at the next election. Of that you can be certain.

Pleas keep in mind that this interview focused on the "disengagement" by Tsvangirai. Makoni is very critical of the move, mostly on the basis that the MDC is not fighting for substantive issues (such media and economic reform and policies that can transform people's lives). The banning of this interview protects the MDC-t more than it protects ZANU PF.

I can only assume that the MDC-T and Morgan Tsvangirai are very happy today that ZBC has denied Makoni a right to speak to the nation on this very important issue.