The Forum of Zimbabweans in the diaspora says it has begun organising its members to help solve some of the humanitarian problems in Zimbabwe. At least 80% of Zimbabweans live below the poverty line. The forum celebrated the country's 26th independence anniversary by holding a meeting in Johannesburg yesterday (April 18).

Mugabe famously said in 1980: “Tomorrow is thus our birthday, the birthday of great Zimbabwe and the birthday of its nation. Tomorrow we shall cease to be men and women of the past and become men and women of the future. It is tomorrow then, not yesterday, which bears our destiny. As we become a new people we are called to be constructive, progressive and forever forward looking. For we cannot afford to be men of yesterday backward looking, retrogressive and distractive.” Sadly, says this article from the blog as Zimbabwe celebrates 26 years of Independence Mugabe has failed to be constructive or progressive.
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Little to celebrate as country turns 26

A fresh wave of farm takeovers hit the southeastern Lowveld in Zimbabwe this week with Zanu-PF supporters and land officers seizing five plots with a ready-to-harvest sugarcane crop. The farm owners, most of them South Africans, have since appealed to the South African embassy in Harare to intervene, reports the Zimbabwe Independent. In a letter to Willem Geerlings, first secretary at the SA embassy, the farmers alleged that a Chiredzi lands officer, identified only as Mukonyora, another official identified as Guruvheti and a farmer, identified as Jambaya, invaded Hippo Valley Settlement, Holding 16, and gave the owner 30 days to vacate the property, reports the Mail and Guardian.

A panel of judges has given the government a green light to deport Zimbabwean refugees despite fears of torture under Robert Mugabe’s regime. Home Secretary Charles Clarke said he was ‘pleased’ at the Court of Appeal ruling which overturned a previous decision of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT). Refugee groups expressed dismay at today’s ruling claiming Zimbabwe remained a ‘very dangerous place.’

Parents and educationists in Zimbabwe have warned that a rise of more than 1,000 percent in school fees will force larger numbers of children to drop out and preclude others from all education. Inflation has hit a new high of 913 percent, bringing a 12-fold rise in the cost of essentials. All schools, including those run by the government, said they would have to enforce the increases, effective from May.

Zimbabwean women have the shortest lifespan in the world, according to a new report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday. Neither men nor women in one of the world's fastest shrinking economies are expected to reach the age of 40, according to the 'World Health Report 2006', based on the statistics for 2004.

A second year media student with the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo, was arrested while taking photographs during demonstrations by students at the university campus, according to a release from Misa. The student, Fungai Machirori, had been assigned to take photographs of the demonstration as part of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies' training programme when the police pounced on her for "taking photographs without their consent."

Fundraising Trainers Ass. has introduced a fundraising newsletter aimed at sharing fundraising information in Zimbabwe. Contact [email][email protected] to receive a copy.

Rise is the title of Mann Friday's new song about Zimbabwe. All proceeds from sales of the single will be donated to health charity Shared Health Empowerment (SHE). Sharing Health Empowerment UK sponsor volunteer doctors and health specialists to visit Zimbabwe and share their skills with the local healthcare community, with particular emphasis on HIV management and the welfare of AIDS orphans.

The military has taken control of food production by small-scale farmers in parts of southern Zimbabwe, a rights NGO headed by church leaders claimed on Wednesday. The Solidarity Peace Trust alleged that under the guise of Operation Taguta/Sisuthi or 'Operation Eat Well', launched last year to help revive the agriculture sector, army units have "hijacked" plots and maize harvests in the southern province of Matabeleland, leaving the smallholder-farmers with no income or food.

For 5 years, Professor Jonathan Moyo was President Robert Mugabe's strident defender as Information Minister. Today, he is an Independent MP and sitting on the other side of the fence, tearing into the man he loathed, then liked, and now loathes again. On Tuesday night, he spoke to SW Radio Africa's top inquisitor, Violet Gonda. Visit the URL provided for a transcript of the interview.

The proposal to establish a Human Rights Commission in Zimbabwe, a body whose mandate will be to investigate and promote human rights issues is an important one. Since the colonial era to the present, Zimbabwe has known no culture of human rights and yet evidence is abound in international law on the universality and the special regime status that the human rights discourse has attained. The question that we ought to ask ourselves as Zimbabweans is whether the ruling ZANU PF elite, that have been the biggest human rights violator since the attainment of independence in 1980 should be the one to spearhead the debate on the establishment of a Human Rights Commission. Phillip Pasirayi from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition assesses the proposal.

This is a brilliant piece. Truly, the ordinary people's suffering in Zimbabwe is unbearable. Comrade Mugabe is right on the land question. But he needs to change tactics to ensure that Zimbabwe's people survive to enjoy the fruit of the land reform.Why should restoration of land necessarily lead to the continuing impoverishment of the people of Zimbabwe as though uncle Bob has already quit the stage? Comrade Mugabe, please deliver the people to the promised land of plenty.

I wish to express my concern and my solidarity in the very crucial situation faced by my global brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe. I wish there were some way in which the international community could intervene. I feel sorry to be just standing by and watching the situation unfold. I am wondering if Amnesty International of which I am a member could have a role to play in the situation in Zimbabwe. Yours in solidarity.

Every March for the last four years, Pambazuka News has carried articles describing the situation in Zimbabwe and looking at options for the future. In 2006, is there any hope for Zimbabwe? What do developments such as the split in the Movement for Democratic Change mean for the future of the country? Can Zimbabwe be put back together again?

Every year since 2000, Zimbabweans have wondered: “Will this be it, will this be the year when it all ends, when Humpty Dumpty finally totters off the wall?” And if it is, what will it mean for each one of us, and for the nation as a whole – healing, restoration and return to “normality”, or deepened chaos, insecurity and catastrophe? We listen to talk about elections in 2008 and 2010 and deep down nurture a hope that there will be no more ZANU PF elections. But even deeper down we fear that even if there aren’t, things will never come right again, not in our life-times, unless we are still very young.

Several years ago, as Zimbabwe left the gentler rapids and began its headlong rush towards the precipice, some people declared loudly that we had reached the bottom and could now only go up. How deluded they were. We then began to hear an unfamiliar word tossed around by commentators – “meltdown”. We couldn’t really imagine what this might be, having associated the term mainly with nuclear reactors. When they overheat they meltdown, self-destructing in a spectacular display, lethal to anyone in the vicinity. Is this what happens when an economy or an entire nation melts down? Is this the year in which we will find out?

Certainly we know that the multiple crises which embody Zimbabwe’s millennium experience are intensifying, making life barely livable for the majority of the population. The crises have engulfed the working world, the learning world, the consumer world, the world of the supermarket and even of sport. The economy limps along, agriculture crawling, tourism virtually defunct, manufacturing crippled, and mining, the one still flickering light of the economy, under recent assault from government policies. Electricity comes and goes at will, water likewise in many places; fuel supplies (black market only) are erratic and prices exploitative. Schools are places of confusion, teachers demoralized, pupils unable to afford textbooks if they manage to pay fees, and only finding bus fare for half the school days. Courts barely function, police cells are filthy putrid hell holes, prisons even worse. The Commissioner of Prisons admits the entire prison system has no drugs as they have been stolen before reaching the system; prisoners simply die for want of treatment. Hospitals have no doctors, no medicines; their mal-functioning mortuaries overflow and the stench from too many bodies wafts through into some of the wards. All government “services” are riddled with nepotism, incompetence and corruption.

Living conditions are abysmal, with several families crowded into most houses, even in low density areas, each taking a room and sharing cooking and bathing facilities. It is hardly surprising that skilled personnel flee the country, not only for greener pastures, but for the opportunity to function as genuine professionals.

Year-on-year inflation has just reached the official figure of 782%. Imagine the daily trauma suffered by the working father who realizes he cannot pay for medicine for his sick child, the student in his final year who cannot raise the 1000% increase in fees imposed mid-year, the pensioner forced to sell his possessions in order to eat. And what of the estimated 80% who do not work? A thriving informal sector in which hundreds of thousands of people managed to survive through trading, cottage industry, deal-making, and personal services, was wiped out in June and July by brutal police attacks. A large percentage of them also lost their homes in the assault on the urban poor. Although many have resurfaced, enormous numbers had their livelihoods destroyed and will not be able to recover. How do they live in the environment which defines Zimbabwe today? Many don’t, and die quietly of malnutrition, exposure, cholera, pneumonia and broken spirits.

Is this it? Is this meltdown? While this is the question occupying most Zimbabweans, the more interesting question to political analysts and observers is what various actors on the stage are doing about the situation. Is there any hope of a solution emerging from this complete disaster?

Most governments confronted with such a situation, whether of their own making or otherwise, would either resign or scramble frantically to find solutions, but the Zimbabwean government is doing nothing of the kind. While blaming everyone from white farmers to the British Prime Minister and crowing constantly about the “turn-around” of the economy, our current band of ministers are fully occupied by two major activities:

1. Amassing wealth. This is done simply by pursuing purely private interests while in government offices, or more obviously, using their government contacts and positions to secure for themselves contracts, housing and land to which they arrange access. Price controlled goods in short supply offer welcome opportunities to make black-market fortunes.

2. Staying in power. ZANU PF must stay in power for two reasons: one is clearly to continue appropriating the little remaining wealth of the country for their own personal use. The other is to avoid the inevitable unpleasant consequences of their past and present illegal activities, should another government take power.

But staying in power takes a lot of effort when economic collapse has made the people so clearly discontented and desperate. It requires energy and resources to be channeled not to solve the problems created, but to systems of control: police, army and youth militia need support; tens of thousands must be given benefits for infiltrating “opposition” organizations and informing on others. Patronage must be supplied to the multitude of individuals whose loyalty is purchased, including the uniformed forces. The electoral machinery must be manipulated to ensure victories for ZANU PF, no matter what the ballots say. Operations such as Murambatsvina to disorganize the urban masses divert resources from elsewhere.

A substantial portion of legislation over the past few years has been repressive in nature; the constitutional amendment number 17 effectively nationalised land and made possible the denial of passports; the only Bill which has passed Parliament this year is the Education Amendment Bill, a mean-spirited piece whose prime aim seems to be to control, and therefore no doubt destroy, private education. Newly announced is another Bill to legalise government interception of telephone, email and postal communications, a practice previously declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile are they doing anything about the economic meltdown? A lot of verbal energy is expended in insisting that the crisis either doesn’t exist, or exists only in the imaginations of “enemies”, or crowing about the “turn-around” which is taking place.

Gideon Gono, the only government official who ever in any way seems interested in solving the economic problems seems to be on a lonely road to nowhere. All his attempts to manipulate exchange rates, interest rates, prices, money supply, and the banking sector lead us round in circles like someone lost in the desert. Each time we return to where we started, with our resources further diminished. His attempts to re-engage the IMF by paying off the outstanding loan have back-fired, fuelling inflation further with the printing of trillions to buy forex on the black market. Of course it flopped as the IMF understood that with current policies the Zimbabwean economy is not going to revive, and no new loan could be negotiated. Currently, in spite of the announcement in November that price controls would be lifted and the dollar would be allowed to seek its own market-determined rate, we still have price controls and already by January the exchange rate was controlled. We have effectively returned to yet another failed policy.

The fact is, that as long as government is not able to restore productive activity and seriously tackle corruption, then the economy cannot be rescued. Inflation is not the number one enemy, it is merely a symptom, produced by both absence of production and corruption. Corruption cannot be tackled because it is the life-blood of the patronage system which keeps ZANU PF in power and production cannot be restored without major injections of foreign investment, impossible without a return to protected property rights sustained by the rule of law. Government is meanwhile hopelessly divided on whether to retreat from the brink.

It is not only the succession issue which has created open paralysing splits within ZANU PF: while Gono woos the IMF, Mugabe launches tirades against them. While Gono, backed by Msika, says no more farms must be invaded, Mutasa declares that all whites will be driven out. While Gono tries to accommodate the mining sector, the party floats legislation to effectively nationalize half the industry. Government appears to have check-mated itself. There is no longer a free square to move to.

The opposition has a golden opportunity to capitalize on ZANU PF’s paralysis and the people’s desperation and misery. But how? The normal election route has been closed by fraudulent manipulation. Calls for mass protests have in the past met with a poor response from the people. And the opposition itself is now paralysed by division.

Although MDC had enormous support through the early years of the decade, its failure to translate its mandate into success at the polls or to lead mass protests has made many people sceptical of its capacity to bring about “a new Zimbabwe”. Not surprisingly, the malaise led to a split in the party. Popular opinion describes the split as a policy dispute about participation in elections for the newly created senate; however, it reflected rather a dissatisfaction with the leadership style of the President, Morgan Tsvangirai, with the issue of the senate being merely the specific point at which the Gibson Sibanda group chose to take a stand.

What we have now is two versions of the MDC, which have held separate congresses. While one faction retained Tsvangirai, the other brought in a new personality, Arthur Mutambara, a well-known student leader of the 1980’s, to breathe new energy and perhaps new ideas into the struggle against ZANU PF. While Tsvangirai has clearly retained the loyalty of a larger percentage of the party members, both factions draw support from all parts of the country, belying the myth that this is a tribal split. It is sad, and inauspicious for the future, that those choosing to part ways with Tsvangirai’s leadership were viciously attacked as tribalists and sell-outs.

Intolerance of differences of opinion, resulting in insults and name calling, is a hallmark of ZANU PF politics, and it is alarming when opposition members in both factions begin doing the same. The position is not helped by the fact that both insist that they are the real MDC and are already battling over party assets. But the split itself does not necessarily mean that political opposition is hamstrung. If the two factions can get over the divorce and allow each other to go their separate ways with renewed vigour, it could even be a positive development if they desist from attacking and frustrating each other and get on with the real struggle.

It is unlikely that the two factions will reunite – probably the best that can be hoped for is that they agree to a loose alliance. In terms of policy, Tsvangirai has called once again for massive street demonstrations. Mutambara’s faction has not ruled out any activity which will bring down ZANU PF, and includes both elections and street protests within their possible tactics; however they are yet to show the public their true colours in terms of policy and capacity.

Many feel that now the time is ripe, and this time street protests may be successful. Since Tsvangirai has apparently abandoned national elections in spite of participating in some local government contests, he has staked his leadership on bringing people onto the streets. If he fails this time, he may not get another chance.

Some sections of civil society are also waking up to the desperation of the people and looking at ways to make a greater impact on government. The National Constitutional Assembly, Women of Zimbabwe Arise and the national students organisation are the only organizations that have so far succeeded in putting meaningful numbers in the streets to protest. But there are other stirrings. A new Christian Alliance has been formed from churches radicalized by the experience of tending to those affected by Murambatsvina; several meetings have taken place grouping various civic organizations and churches to find a collective way forward. If these combine with the efforts of both factions of the MDC, then perhaps a hitherto doubtful populace will come onto the streets in support.

And if they do? What is the mechanism whereby mass street protests lead to a collapse of the ZANU PF government? One of the reasons people have so far been reluctant is that they can’t envisage how mass protests will achieve their goals. Tsvangirai and others seem to believe that if masses of people get into the streets on a continuing basis, government will have no alternative but to capitulate and agree to a constitutional conference. A new constitution will be devised, followed by free and fair elections which will replace ZANU PF.

They are vague about the answers to important questions such as: What will make ZANU PF resign? Is power to be seized peacefully, and if so how and by whom? Who will be administering the country while the new constitution is written and elections organized? What legitimacy will any government have which is installed under such conditions? Is there a role for the international community?

All of this makes the assumption that ZANU PF will indeed give up. That is hugely unlikely. The government has given notice that it will crush any protests, and we have no reason not to believe them. Already we see signs everywhere of further repression – fake arms caches, road blocks searching for weapons everywhere, draft legislation to search our communications. ZANU PF will certainly fight.

To date there has indeed been harassment, arrests, torture and killings of opposition members. But to date there has not been any court conviction which has led to a lengthy term of imprisonment. Armed with new legislation with even stiffer penalties and new categories of illegal activity, if ZANU PF feels itself seriously threatened it will surely not hesitate to use every means to defend itself. As long as the police are prepared to arrest, the courts are prepared to refuse bail and to sentence, and police and army are prepared to use violence to suppress street demonstrations. Crushing of protests will be relatively easy for the government.

ZANU PF will only give up and run away in one circumstance: the law enforcement agents and soldiers on which they depend refuse orders to crush the protests. The economy can meltdown or blow up, but ZANU PF will only be defeated when meltdown strikes their own instruments of repression. Is this going to happen? We can’t yet know. The upper echelons of the services have been brought on board the ZANU PF train with the normal perks of patronage, especially farms, but there are signs of serious discontent in the lower ranks of the army and police, especially over their low salaries. How long will it take for the constables, the privates, the sergeants to decide that their interests are better served by listening to the people rather their bosses? No one knows, but when they do, that is when ZANU PF’s moment of truth will have arrived.

But supposing ZANU PF does give up the fight. That does not automatically mean the battle is won. The chaos of a collapse of government in the midst of economic meltdown and shortages of goods does not necessarily lead to the restoration of democratic practice. A disintegration of the law enforcement agencies would certainly lead to looting and lawlessness; who would restore order and how?

The army could easily fracture into rival factions or into gangs under political and military ZANU PF warlords who look after their own interests and live off the people. There is no magic wand to wave to ensure that pumpkins turn into coaches. We are in a very dangerous situation, and anyone calling for mass protests has the obligation to have a clear strategy for translating them into valid solutions. Certainly a concerted effort of all democratic forces is required, whether they be political parties, civic organizations or churches, but it will not be the easy walk to freedom that some would have us believe.

Once again we wait – wait to see what economic meltdown looks like and how many can survive it, wait to find out whether enough Zimbabweans are prepared to take to the streets to make their discontent known, wait for the inevitable intensified repression. And then wait to see what happens after that - a political meltdown to match the economic? A surrender by the government and turning over to some interim body to conduct new elections under a new constitution, or a fragmentation and disintegration into civil conflict?

The cracking of an egg does not always hatch a chick. Humpty Dumpty could not be put together again; perhaps Zimbabwe will not be so easy to put together again either. The tension of expectation is building as the people’s misery becomes unsustainable. Will this be the year, and if it is, will it hold hope for the future, or will we simply all fall down together?

* Mary Ndlovu is a Zimbabwean human rights activist.

* Please send comments to

* Previous editorials from Mary Ndlovu in Pambazuka News:

- Zimbabwe’s March: The struggle continues

- Zimbabwe’s March: Pambazuka News 105, 2003

University authorities at the National University of Science and Technology have suspended 28 students. The students at the National University of Science and Technology, have been in perpetual protest at the college since the semester started, at the massive fee increments by government which students have termed "Operation Murambashasha", and have demonstrated at least 4 times this semester.

Undeterred by the hefty duty imposed on a consignment of sanitary pads donated to Zimbabwean women hit by rocketing prices, the country's labour federation plans to import them regularly. "We are going to bring the sanitary pads in every month, otherwise it is a pointless exercise," explained Wellington Chibebe, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). After an appeal on a South African radio station at the beginning of the year, the ZCTU collected 12 million pads in South Africa last month.

Raymond Majongwe, the Secretary General of the Progressive Teachers Union (PTUZ) was arrested last week Friday on allegations of ‘driving’ a group of Dutch trade unionists and teachers visiting the country. The police say Majongwe and his four visitors failed to stop at a roadblock near the Mabvuku roundabout in the capital. Security on the day was tight as the main opposition was beginning its three-day congress at the City Sports Centre.
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* New rights body should be independent, say activists

Life for some Zimbabweans can only be described as hell on earth. As the world celebrated International Women's Day, 33-year-old Fungai Katsande finds herself worse off than ever. Waking up everyday to face the challenges of life makes her want to break down in tears. "My husband is sick, my child is sick, I am sick and I do not know who is going to help me", she says quietly. Visit Zimbabwe's civic and human rights web site incorporating an online directory for the non-profit sector, to read the full story.

The Zimbabwean government has drafted a bill that would permit the surveillance of telephone and e-mail communications while making it compulsory for service providers to install the enabling equipment on behalf of the state, according to a statement from Misa. The proposed law, the Interception of Communications Bill 2006, seeks to empower the chief of defence intelligence, the director-general of the Central Intelligence Organisation, the Commissioner of Police and the Commissioner General of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to intercept telephonic, e-mail and cellphone messages.