Wednesday (15-03-2006) Bulletin

Each blue headline below is a link that will take you to the relevant article...

• One Released, Seven Still Held In Zimbabwe Arms Imbroglia TBM speaks: These are all small moves by the ruling party as they seek to make someone 'pay' for the alleged 'assassination conspiracy'. MDC Manicaland Treasurer, Brian James, was released on Sunday night, but has been gagged as to his experience by a court order. If he's no longer under suspicion or investigation, why should he be gagged - unless there was something in the authorities style of questioning that they don't want to make public... I mean, most people in Zimbabwe know of the beatings that suspected persons receive, and those that don't know of it, suspect it. The authorities don't do themselves any favours by preventing James from talking. Ironic, that whilst in custody, the investigators want him to tlk, and once released, they gag him...

• Bennett Flees To SA TBM speaks: I understand that Roy Bennett has left Zimbabwe for SA via Mozambique. And who can blame him? Not me. This man spent time in Zimbabe's filthy jails for almost a year for pushing a ZANU PF MP to the ground a couple of years ago. He is a victim of the system, the radically based hatred that Mugabe has for anything white. He does not want to return to those hell holes. And the suggestion that Roy is in any way connected to the arms cache or the 'assassination conspiracy' is ludicrous. Roy is a peace loving man, a true Zimbabwean. "Repeated efforts to obtain comment from Bennett’s wife Heather remained fruitless. Her cellphone was indicating that she was not available."

• Zimbabwe Opposition Legislator Freed As Another MP Arrested In Harare TBM speaks: Giles Mutsekwa, who is accused together with five others of plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe and to commit sabotage, has been released on ZW$50 million bail - the rough equivalent of £2800. But in an obvious game of 'give and take' by the ZANU PF powered investigation, another MDC MP, Timothy Mubhawu, was arrested in Harare. Mubhawu was arrested when he presented himself to the Police when he discovered that they were looking for him. The Police have indicated that they 'might' arrest more MDC activists in connection with the conspiracy to assassinate Robert Mugabe. The MDC views much of these threats as a means to upset their Congress due to be held this weekend.
  

• Zimbabwe Collapses Under Mugabe Sanctions TBM speaks: An article that is written by someone who has visited Zimbabwe having been away for a while, and the huge changes that they witnessed. Not long ago, a friend of mine also got to spend some time 'back home' and upon their return contacted me to say that the entire country is in tatters and that everything they remember as a land of plenty has gone. They said that Zimbabweans continue to smile and laugh, but said that they could sense a weary tolerance to the situation. They told me that they would not be going back again in a hurry, and were finding it hard to explain the changes to their children. I have long believed that much of the situation in Zimbabwe has been put in place deliberately, to keep the populous at bay - giving them something else to worry about, but of late I have seen how the Mugabe-engineered poverty has started to affect even those in power. A step too far perhaps?

• Zimbabwe's Main Opposition Group Accuses Government Of Threatening It's Leader TBM speaks: Being a politician or political activist in Zimbabwe, not allied to Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party, is not a job for the faint-hearted. You would be under scrutiny, suspicion and always and under threat of physical abuse or worse. Mugabe's Minister of State Security, Didymus Mutasa, appeared on ZTV last night and threatened the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai with "physical harm " - anywhere else in the world, just the threat of harm is enough to warrant arrest. Not so in Zimbabwe. An MDC spokesman said, "... they forget is that in the MDC, we are not a rebel movement; we are a legitimate opposition political party."

• Zim Plane Scare TBM speaks: I have heard of Air Zimbabwe referred to as "Scare Zimbabwe" - by most reports, the fact that the aircraft are still able to fly is a wonder of science... Here, an AZ Boeing 767 was forced to return to Harare International Airport after it developed a technical fault within minutes of taking off for South Africa. "It took off and had an air turn-back a few minutes later and landed safely, after indications that there was a technical fault. It was nothing very serious." Nobody was reported injured in the incident.

• Zim Houses 'Not For Officials' TBM speaks: People who are related to government officials, that grabbed houses built for victims of Operation Murambatsvina, will have them taken back and reallocated correctly. Well, so says the minister of local government, Ignatius Chombo, at any rate. But this may just be lip service as if he were in any way serious, the houses wouldn't still be in their possession. In his position, I would have moved quick and decisively. This is all in the follow up Operation Garikai (Settle and Prosper) which is meant to be providing housing to those people now without housing following last May's controversial "clean up" exercise. Thousands of families still live in the open as the government has failed to provide anything by way of shelter to them.

'debvhu

TECHNORATI TAGS FOR YOUR USE:
Zimbabwe, MDC, Roy Bennett, ZANU PF, Mugabe, Tsvangirai, Murambatsvina