Thursday, 31st December 2009

Howzit

And so we greet the last day of 2010. It has been a troublesome year for many, myself included, but the situation in Zimbabwe remains unresolved and seemingly without end.

I am not going to fall into the trap of doing a year in review - mainly because not only is it repetitive, but it takes up much too much space and time. I am sure that there will be plenty year in review articles and even more on the television.

For my part, I am going to take a short break from daily blogging, and this page will resume normal activity on Monday, 4th January 2010.

May I take this opportunity to thank you for your support of this page during 2009, and the numerous comments that I have received.

A happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year to you all!

-o00o-

Zimbabwe is fast becoming a den of iniquity - and I have to say that the criminals obviously believe that if the politicians can do it, so can they...

"Zimbabwe police say the festive season has been marred by armed robberies across the country, the latest being a heist at a Stanbic Bank branch Tuesday in Chegutu, a satellite town outside Harare, the capital, where gunmen made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of hard currency.

Officials said the six robbers took $US266,000, 150,000 South Africa rand and some 34,000 Botswana pula for an equivalent total of about $US285,000. They said on Wednesday that the perpetrators remained at large.

Co-Minister of Home Affairs Giles Mutsekwa of the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told VOA that armed robberies have surged since the holiday season began.

He said police have mobilized in search of the gang of six men which looted the Chegutu bank, whose manager sustained a gunshot wound. Mutsekwa said the mixed hard currency monetary regimen adopted by the government early this year has helped to encourage such stepped-up criminal activity."

I do note that anything to to do with Home Affairs from a public standpoint are dealt with by Mutsekwa whilst the ZANU PF co-minister, Kembo Mohadi, remains silent. Read into that what you will.

"The Matebeleland region in the west of the country has been one of the hardest hit. Police sources said gunmen hit a supermarket and a nightclub in Gwanda last week, making off with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.

Mutsekwa told VOA Studio 7 reporter Ntungamili Nkomo that the police will crack down hard on crime, but the Home Affairs minister warned banks and businesses to take steps themselves to bolster their internal security.

"There has been a surge recently in robberies, where banks and individual businesses have been targeted," he said. "Police are out in full force... but businesses should also be careful in handling their own cash."

I thought that VOA was viewed as a "pirate" radio station... and yet here we have the co-minster giving them a statement. Perhaps they are not the "threat" that Mugabe and his minions would have us believe.

-o00o-

In the last few month we have read reports of the Zimbabwean girl with a huge cancerous tumour on her face and how she was brought to the UK for surgery and medical care.

In an exhaustive article today, we discover that money given by well-wishers has gone missing and that Essex police are investigating how and who...

"Following reports of the story regarding Taremeredzwa "Tare" Nomatter Mapungwana, a total of £3862.00 has been released to pay-off outstanding hospital fees with reports that Britain's Essex police have started investigations into circumstances surrounding the girl.

This also follows confirmation by the co-Director and Founder of Girl Child Network Trust Fund (UK), Priscilla Nyathi that Tare's second operation had been delayed as a result of failure to pay-up outstanding hospital fees.

Tare is an 18-year-old Zimbabwean girl, recently brought into the UK for an operation on a life-threatening tumour, in a campaign led by Girl Child Network (GCN).

It has also been revealed that case Number 1003/29-12/09 have been opened by Essex Police who immediately transferred the case to Southend-on-Sea Fraud Squad for full investigations.

At the time of going on Press, the complainant and the accused have not yet been publicly identified although there has been an on-line petition regarding the same matter attracting 150 signatures. The petition has also been passed to Britain's premier investigators, the Scotland Yard."

The article goes on to give a full accounting of the money - which I am not going to repeat here - but it is apparent that someone has light fingers and has helped themselves.

As a direct result, further surgery has had to be delayed.

This is a huge threat as a delay could negate the good done in the first surgery.

Why is it that people insist on picking on the frail and infirm - those that cannot fight back?

This is nothing less than gutter behavior and I sincerely hope that when the police have finished their investigation that someone is facing criminal charges, whilst the patient is able to proceed with her treatment.

"We have, since then, received two statements, one from GCN founder Betty Makoni and another one from Priscilla Nyathi, the co-Director and Founder of Girl Child Network Trust Fund (UK), but both explaining the issue regarding the money that has caused such a storm.

This also follows reports that a substantive amount raised under Tare's name has been channeled into a private account belonging to a distant relative, who only met her in Britain recently, while an unaccounted amount was also channelled to Tare's brother, Talent Mapungwana in Zimbabwe.

According to Nyathi, GCNW has appointed an independent accounting firm with more than 35 years experience to audit all of the organisation’s books.

"The name of the accounting firm is Colin Gardner and Co Accounting Firm. I will be taking all the GCNW books to them tomorrow,” said Nyathi."

-o00o-

One thing which I have mentioned in previous postings on this page is the habit that Zimbabwean families have of having sick family members admitted into local hospitals under false names as the family does not have the resources to pay for the treatment and certainly do not have the money to pay for a funeral in the event that the patient does not survive.

I have read reports that the hospitals in Zimbabwe have had little option but to give the deceased pauper's burial at the hospital's expense. This is a sad situation, but evidently it is an acceptable alternative.

Now we read of the same thing happening to sick Zimbabweans in South Africa.

"Seventeen unclaimed bodies of Zimbabweans in South Africa have been given a pauper's burial, has been reported.

It has been revealed that the bodies, suspected to be Zimbabweans were finally given a mass burial after lying at Elim Hospital mortuary in Louis Trichardt in Limpopo Province for a long time.

The spokesperson for Elim Hospital, Mr Avhatakali Marole, said the hospital’s forensic pathology department buried 17 unknown people believed to be Zimbabweans as paupers on Tuesday last week at Tshikota Cemetery.

This was after hospital authorities had failed to locate the relatives of the deceased persons."

It should be realised internationally that Zimbabweans are poor people. Very few of them have enough money to even pay for adequate food for their families - and many families do not even have a breadwinner.

Now, I am not suggesting that we excuse the abandoning of family members in hospitals - either within Zimbabwe or on foreign soil - but we also have to factor in the possibility that the deceased people were in South Africa illegally, or that their family in Zimbabwe did not even know that they were there, let alone that they had died.

"Mr Marole said most of the unclaimed bodies had been stuck at the hospital mortuary for more than a year.

"We buried 17 unclaimed bodies of unknown persons from Zimbabwe after we had failed to locate their relatives.

"In fact, we realised that it was impossible for us to continue keeping the bodies at our mortuary, which has a capacity of carrying about 58 people at a given time, hence making it difficult for us in terms of the availability of space," he said.

Mr Marole said of late there has been an increase in the number of unclaimed bodies lying at the mortuary, adding that most of them were illegal immigrants from Zimbabwe and Mozambique."

-o00o-

Isn't it amazing that one of the people whose appointment is an obstacle to the inter-party negotiations should call for more farm invasions? If anyone was not convinced of Mugabe's racist attitude, then this should do the trick.

"Zimbabwe’s Attorney General Johannes Tomana has defended the fresh white farm invasions that have since escalated during the festive season.

In response, the president of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) Deon Theron, said the escalating invasions could be a signal for the return of violence that blighted Zimbabwe's elections last year.

"This is a new wave of violence," said Theron.

Theron said, last week two white farmers came under siege from the ZANU PF sponsored invaders in Manicaland. He said President Mugabe's trusted ally, Didymus Mutasa was believed to be behind one of the invasions."

There is a land audit supposed to take place in 2010-11 and this will be queered by the new onslaught which will stir up the unrest again.

If Mugabe's land grab is not racist, then why should he allow his unilaterally appointed Attorney-General to call for fresh invasions? In line with the unity agreement, this sort of thing is not encouraged and will cause more consternation and unhappiness in Zimbabwe.

"Mr Tomana said the invaders were right to repossess their land despite an international condemnation of Zimbabwe's controversial land reform programme.

“Those farmers are actually guilty of breaking the law and they must leave. All the land in the country belongs to the government and as such no individual has the right to disobey a government directive to vacate such.

"There is nobody invading any farms, actually it’s the white farms that are guilty of failing to vacate state property. They must have vacated those farms a long while ago.” he said.

Mr Tomana added: “What is happening right now is that many of those white farmers were ordered to leave long back, but decided to fight the government in courts. Now they must leave because the land belongs to Zimbabweans who want to utilize it to develop the country.”

Zimbabwe's agricultural sector has collapsed and the country is no longer able to feed itself and is dependent upon imports and aid.

Further invasions will not help the situation and will cause more problems when it comes to feeding the people, and in the negotiations which have achieved nothing worth talking about in two years.

"President Mugabe also told reporters onTuesday that there was nothing amiss in the fresh farm invasions as the people in question had offer letters dating back to 2004.

What irks many Zimbabweans today is that farm invasions continue unabated despite the unity government in place.

Commenting on the same issue, MDC-T spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa said his party condemned the continued harassment of white farmers.

“Our party intelligence has it on record that the fresh farm invasions are being perpetrated by Zanu pf leaders mainly in Manicaland province and the country as a whole. We condemn in strongest terms the fresh farm invasions. We condemn the greedy being displayed by ZANU PF. That is one of the areas where we are failing to agree with ZANU PF,” said Chamisa."

-o00o-

Here we go - Mugabe is happy to have other people pay for a new Parliament building in Harare - but the government hasn't even been sorted out yet!

And, as the article states, there are due to be even more MPs in place soon.

"The cash-strapped Government of Zimbabwe will construct a new Parliament in the Kopje area of Harare, Theresa Makone, the new Minister of Public Works and Housing Construction has revealed.

Makone is from the MDC-T camp which is part of the inclusive government of President Robert Mugabe.

Makone said the Chinese government had agreed to help fund the project expected to cost about US$10 million according to conservative estimates.

Zimbabwe's old Parliament has become too small for its MPs and Senators. The country introduced the Senate just before the March 2008 harmonised elections. More MPs are expected after the next election expected once the constitutional making process has been finalised."

I do note that the article suggests that the Chinese government will 'help' fund the project - in other words Mugabe will let them pay for it and in return he will mortgage more State resources to the foreign power.

Question - how will this work with regards to the demarcated 51% local ownership of foreign companies?

"We will be building a new Parliament for Zimbabwe in the Kopje area of Harare," Makone said.

The Parliament project had been regularly shelved several times because government did not have any cash and architects haggled over the many plans.

Zimbabwe's Parliament was built in the 1960s under the colonial regime of the Federation. It has never been improved or updated.

Makone said the new Parliament building would have state-of-the-art facilities found in other Parliaments internationally."

-o00o-

So - that's it for 2009. Please take care in your celebrations tonight.

I look forward to continuing with this page in 2010.

Take care.

'debvhu

Wednesday, 30th December 2009

Howzit

Foreign currency mid-rates updated.

-o00o-

Another good friend - this time living in Scotland - sent me a link to a video of the Black Eyed Peas singing "I Gotta Feeling". I am no slouch when it comes to musical knowledge, and this is easily one of the best mass dance exhibitions I have ever seen.

I just love the way people stand unmoved by the initial music and only start to dance when the music changes tempo. But I particularly love the single dancer doing her thing while everyone else stands impassive...

The show thereafter is just so clever!

Thanks for the link, MF - I love it!

-o00o-

I also noticed something last night while I was trawling the internet.

I sell my book - the printed version - through Amazon for US$20.00 plus postage. According to my Amazon shop portal, there are 2 used copies for sale at US$51.31 (each)!

I mean, how does that compute?

The second edition of the book has a slightly more aesthetic
look insofar as the box around the ZRP badge takes on the
shape of Zimbabwe...

-o00o-

Just two days ago I was discussing by email with a friend the Gukurahundi following the publication of a book by the former head of the CCJP on the subject.

I actually stated: "Sadly this will become another "also wrote" as he makes the self-same mistake I made. Writing too long after the fact for it to be anything more than a part of our history. You will, I hope, see that I used the article you drew attention to in my posting this morning.

I will however, attempt to see the positive side, insofar as Auret has not held back on passing his opinion.

He gauges the dead at upwards of 30000 which is a lot of bodies. I have never tried to calculate just how many dead I can remember or picked up the corpses of - and am not sure if doing an exercise like that would be a positive move or not.

One then has to ask, "Where were the bodies hidden?" My book gives one possible answer - mine shafts - but there must have been at least another means... It is currently alleged that soldiers executed in Harare for stealing weapons and planning some sort of uprising have been buried in a mass grave near Arcturus.

We know that there is plenty of space for Mugabe to have had the Ndebele dead buried in communal graves - and this must have been an option - but how come these graves haven't been discovered? Surely, in the event that these mass graves are found, then the international world would have no option to sit up, pay attention and do something.

Look at the Rwanda/Burundi massacres. There are people in jail still waiting to face justice - why not in Zimbabwe? There are not very many people of adult age who are NOT aware of the terrible killings in Rwanda/Burundi. Why then, is it so hard to find people who have knowledge of the Gukurahundi?

Okay - "Hotel Rwanda" the movie helped - perhaps we should be looking for someone who is prepared to produce a film of similar ilk on the Gukurahundi...

All this being said, I intend to complete the first draft of my second book ("Isiqotho" - Ndebele for "storm") by March at the latest (it was put on the back burner while I was recovering from the infection in my arm, the bone breakage and then the rebuilding thereof) and hopefully it will sell well enough - and will bring with it a new emphasis and focus on my first effort, "Without Honour"."

And then, within a few hours of my writing that, the remains of an MDC activist who disappeared some three years ago have been discovered.

Why don't we have a full investigation into the Gukurahundi - I know that Mugabe has a full commission look into the events, but the report by Enock Dumbutshena was blocked from being made public by Mugabe.

"The remains of a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) party activist suspected to have been murdered by ZANU PF militia in 2007 have been found in a mountain, police confirmed on Tuesday.

Manicaland provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Makomeke said the bones of Paul Zimunda, who died at the age of 33, were discovered on Monday by a hunter in Unze Mountain, in Zipeya Village, under Chief Nyashanu.

Zimunda had his metal identification card on him.

His whereabouts remained a mystery after he was abducted by a gang of the notorious militia who were violently drumming up support for ageing President Robert Mugabe while stifling any voices of dissent."

Without the proof positive that Zimunda was abducted by the militia, very little can be done on a legal basis. Any court would have to have absolute and irrevocable evidence that he was abducted before it could convict anybody of an unlawful killing... and therein lies the reason why ZANU PF remains on top.

No proof is available. Suspicion alone is not enough.

"After the ZANU PF supporters kept on nagging him, Paul went to the village head’s place to seek refuge. That was the last we heard of him. But other villagers told us that his assailants were also seen at the village head’s place," said the neighbour, who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation.

Pauls’ parents are also late. He has no other known relatives.

MDC-T Manicaland provincial chairman, Patrick Chitaka, told Radio VOP that the ZANU PF youths also turned Zimunda’s house into a torture base after they executed him.

"After the disappearance of Paul, his parents’ house was turned into a torture base for suspected MDC-T supporters in the run up to last’s year’s bloody June 27 elections. His parents are late, and nobody was left to look after his house," Chitaka said.

Chitaka said they expect to give Zimunda a decent burial Tuesday."

-o00o-

I only have one question with regards to the proposed land audit... just how close will ZANU PF be allowed to get to the actual audit so that they can queer the result?

"The Zimbabwean coalition government will carry out the first phase of the national land audit next year involving more than 180,000 farms.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti revealed this in the Three-Year Macro-Economic Policy and Budget Framework for 2010-2012 (STERP II) which he launched last week.

He said the first phase of the audit would cover 12,000 A2 farms, 108,000 A1 farms, 56,250 old resettlement schemes and 6000 small-and large-scale commercial farms.

The second phase, set for 2011, will cover another 60,750 farms, including 4,000 A2 farms, 36,000 A1 farms, 18 750 old resettlement schemes and 2 000 small-and large-scale commercial farms."

Now, should we examine the spreadsheet of farms for the Chegutu area as available here, it is obvious that the land grab is nothing like Mugabe claims it to be. It is not the return of land to the landless blacks, but a targeted enrichment of ZANU PF loyalists - and we can easily see that the Mugabe policy of 'one family - one farm' has been grossly abused - and when it comes to auditting farms in the relevant area, Mugabe's family will also be exposed.

"Beyond the provision of logistics and support services for inspection, land audit committees and provincial teams, other activities under the national land audit exercise will include training of enumerators and data capturers, as well as carrying out of pilot audits," he said.

Zimbabwe embarked on the land reform program in 2000 which saw the government repossess white owned farms for redistribution to the landless blacks.

At least two land audits have been conducted revealing multiple farm ownership and other irregularities.

Lands and Land Resettlement Minister Herbert Murerwa was quoted by The Herald on Tuesday as saying that the ministry was ready to conduct the audit after getting an allocation of 31 million US dollars in the 2010 national budget."

US$31 million? I would suggest that this money should be very carefully managed as people will be watching. Lands & Land Resettlement Minister Herbert Murerwa is a failed Mugabe finance minister and will be eager to show his loyalty - which could easily result in an audit result being re-engineered - just as Mugabe had the first round ballot re-engineered to a more palatable result.

"We are ready to start the audit but just waiting for the money we received in the national budget. We are going to conduct the audit in phases so that we strengthen our methods of the audits while assessing the effectiveness of the program," he said.

Murerwa assured that the land audit would not remove resettled farmers from their pieces of land. "I would want to dispel rumors that farmers will lose their land. The audit is expected to assist government come up with policies and programs that help farmers enhance production on their pieces of land."

And what about those new land 'owners' that are NOT farmers? What of them?

-o00o-

Things just don't get any better for the country's long-suffering population. Not long ago it was cholera - and we have seen a influx of new cases in recent months, but now the emphasis and focus is on measles...

"Twenty-two people, mainly children below the age of 5, have died of measles in Zimbabwe, the country's state media reported.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said two weeks ago it was "deeply frustrated" by the measles outbreak, which came after it sponsored a vaccination program in the African nation.

WHO's head in Zimbabwe, Dr Custodia Mandlhate, told journalists in Harare the outbreak has totaled more than 340 suspected cases this year, and "this is not acceptable". She said the outbreak came about "mainly because of people who have denied their children vaccination."

I half expect Mugabe to come out and say that the outbreak has been contained - just as he did last year when cholera was spreading like wildfire. (His office later told journalists that Mugabe;s claims were an attempt at 'sarcasm'.)

"The Herald on Tuesday reported the 22 victims had not been vaccinated, quoting health officials in the troubled country. Ninety cases have been confirmed nationwide, Zimbabwe's Health and Child Welfare Minister Henry Madzorera told the newspaper.

"This is an unwarranted loss of lives given the fact that measles is a preventable disease," he said, according to the state-owned Herald. "In Zimbabwe, outbreaks of measles were rare because of sustained high vaccination coverage among all children. It is therefore important for parents to realize that vaccinating their children protects the individual children" from the disease and its complications," he said."

Mind you, poverty is also a 'preventable disease' but it also has been ailing Zimbabweans for years.

-o00o-

Since I have a new toy to play with which will allow me to do more on the internet 'on the hoof', and that it is a terrible day weather-wise (having just been round to the shops for B), I have no intention of making your day any worse by writing more stories on the siuation in Zimbabwe, I will be leaving it there.

Take care.

'debvhu

Tuesday, 29th December 2009

Howzit

A friend of mine in the US of A kindly sent me a link with the note, "Your blog does make a difference!"

Thanks DB...

-o00o-

Mugabe and his band of brigands are banned from travelling to numerous countries around the world and ZANU PF companies are barred from doing business with companies in those countries. Mugabe calls these targeted travel sanctions as 'illegal' and 'economic' and claims that these measures have contributed to the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy.

Now we discover that the ban in place against the BBC and CNN from reporting within Zimbabwe was wrongly instituted.

Not that it is going to make one jot of difference.

If Mugabe does it, then there is no problem - if anyone does it to him, then he does little more that talk about it, cry about and make all manner of absurd allegations with regard to the travel ban.

"The seven-year ban by Zimbabwe on the British Broadcasting Corporation and and other international media houses was never formalized on paper, a senior official has said.

Deputy media, information and publicity ministry deputy director and personal aide to minister Webster Shamu, Simbabrashe Tavengerwei revealed this during an explosive meeting with independent film and television producers.

"We heard that CNN, BBC and others had been banned and we believed it. But recently when the BBC wanted to come back and we sought to regularize their position we discovered that there were no records. We talked to them (BBC) and asked them to produce the letters banning them but there was nothing on paper. Someone may have said something to them and they went away. It was really the work of an individual," Tavengerwei said."

Mugabe plays a wonderful game with words and allegations and seems to get away with it. "Do as I say, not as I do" appears to be his maxim.

"He did not name the 'individual' responsible but those present took it that he meant axed information minister Jonathan Moyo, who threw out numerous correspondents and banned newspapers under the 'draconian' AIPPA law that he created. Others also say that the president’s spokesman, George Charamba then carried on from where Moyo had left, perpetuating the ban.

The admission that the ban on the BBC and others was not according to Zimbabwe’s own laws could clear the way for correspondents who were expelled to file civil suits against Harare, return to work in the country or just to clear their names of wrongdoing. Some of the journalists were accused of being spies."

Sadly, Mugabe and his minions do not play to the rules and will ignore this revelation - and, if need be, according to their understanding, will do it again...

And these are the people that insist on labelling VOA and SW Radio Africa as "pirate" radio stations.

-o00o-

One of the things that ZANU PF is noted for is their disdain of Zimbabwean law and human rights. To the point that they refused entry into Zimbabwe of a UN torture specialist. The people that are held in custody throughout the country are exposed to some of the worst torture and inhumanity known to man.

Yet Mugabe and his followers see no wrong in their actions.

"Hell - that’s how MDC employee Pascal Gwezere sums up the torture, hunger, fear and misery that he experienced during his abduction and detention incommunicado for two months in two remand prisons.

Released on Christmas Eve, Gwezere, the transport manager of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party, was arrested on accusation that he underwent military training in Uganda and stole 21 firearms from the Pomona Army Barracks in Harare. He denies the charges, saying they are trumped up."

First it was accusations that the MDC had training camps in Botswana - and when that was disproved, it has changed to Uganda.

I thought that Mugabe was great buddies with the Ugandan government? Surely then, they can prove or disprove these allegations? (Not that I expect the Ugandans to side with the MDC - but they may decide that staying out of Zimbabwean politics is a good idea...)

"Gwezere's ordeal started when he was abducted on October 21 from his Mufakose home in Harare by military intelligence officers. Also in attendance, according to him, were Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives, detectives from the Law and Order Section of the police, the Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI) and 15 police officers who were in anti-riot.

Gwezere said he was forced into an Isuzu KB 250 twin cab truck and driven to Marimba Police Station before being taken to various places where he was interrogated and viciously assaulted while being interrogated about MDC leader and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s strategy in disengaging from Cabinet and Council of Ministers’ meetings last October. He was transferred to Rhodesville Police Station and Harare Central Police Station, where he says he was severely tortured and denied food and legal representation. He was held incommunicado.

He says he secretly appeared before Harare Magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi on Saturday a week later, with no legal representation whatsoever. He was initially remanded in custody at Harare Remand Prison. Gwezere told The Zimbabwe Times that his first glimpse of the other inmates and their surroundings was shocking.

"What did I see behind the door? Almost naked prisoners in a room with a repulsive odour caused by smoke, unprocessed tobacco, urine, faeces and people who haven’t washed for a very long time," Gwezere said. "It is just like hell."

This description falls in line with the statement made by Roy Bennett when he was finally released on bail having spent days in a Mutare holding cell.

Should we be surprised that Mugabe & Co, denied entry into Zimbabwe by the UN torture specialist? Should we be surprised at the treatment and living conditions of the incarcerated people in cells up and down the country?

When I was serving in the police - not very many years after independence, I used to have to visit jails to interview suspects and transfer prisoners to the station. Even then the prisons were in a terrible state - dirty, smelly, horrible places - and nothing was done then. So what are they like now?

"He says he was detained in small room, 7 by 3 metres, packed with dozens of other prisoners. He recalls that as night fell, the conditions deteriorated further when a can filled with urine overflowed, soaking those who slept nearby.

"There was no air," said Gwezere. "To breathe, you have to be close to the bars but to get there you have to fight.

And the next morning brought little relief. It became clear there was no food, water, medicine or access to healthcare despite the fact that his leg was getting septic from the injuries sustained during torture. He described horrific remand prison conditions and said the lucky few prisoners were those whose families live close enough to visit regularly. He said most of the inmates received no visitors, and therefore lacked food. He said among the prisoners in the female section he saw women with babies.

He said inmates were allowed to visit the toilet only once a day."

Just close your eyes for a second and imagine the situation. The only description I have for this "inhumane" - but does the free world say anything, do anything? No!

The situation in the prisons is bad enough, but then we also have to remember that this is not just limited to the jails. Normal life (is there such a thing?) in Zimbabwe is not much better. Food is in short supply whilst money is thin on the ground. Services like water supply and sewerage works only work intermittently, if at all.

And Mugabe makes his party's wants and needs a priority instead of thinking about the people - the very people that he claims put him in office...

"Gwezere says he was fortunate to be held in civilian facilities where he mixed with ordinary prisoners although he was facing military related offences.

These appalling conditions are replicated throughout Zimbabwe’s prison system, prompting detainees to attempt to escape to avoid misery and possible death. Gwezere said when he was moved to Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison, he found the conditions equally appalling.

He was transferred to Chikurubi on the outskirts of Harare after two weeks.

"When I saw the prison wall, more than three metres high, I understood that from then on, I was really a prisoner," he said.

Gwezere says he first saw members of his family and members of the government watchdog, the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee, who had taken up his case for investigation.

At that time, he had gone for days without receiving medical attention. Many Zimbabwean prisoners are denied medical attention."

The crisis in Zimbabwe is now reaching grave proportions and urgent assistance is required.

-o00o-

This article would suggest that the voters' roll is a 'shambles'... No, not really. This was deliberate - not an accident. If the roll were a shambles then the ghost soldiers (aged 122 years!) would have appeared on the listing, but would not have voted...

The fact that this 'voter' was able to cast his vote means that this was specifically designed to do exactly that.

"Evidence has emerged that Zimbabwe’s voters’ roll is in total shambles amid revelations that in Masvingo Urban Constituency alone 500 soldiers, some allegedly as old as 122 years, voted in last year’s harmonised elections.

According to an audit of the voters’ roll conducted by the mainstream MDC of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in Masvingo Urban Constituency 500 ghost voters purported to be registered as soldiers at Four Brigade Headquarters voted during the March 29 harmonised elections.

The audit also revealed that scores of people who are not resident in Masvingo Urban, including some who are deceased, are still registered on the voters’ roll. The finding has generated fears that the situation might be replicated or worse in other parts of the country.

Documents at hand show that 500 ghost voters, some purportedly born in 1887 and enlisted at the army barracks, managed to cast their vote."

It becomes apparent that the long held bastion of Mugabe's power is riddled with corruption - and that even though they were aware that the subterfuge would be discovered, they still went ahead.

A person aged 122 shouldn't be casting a vote - they should be in the record books!

A forensic audit is required of not just the voters' roll, but should include the land grab and all financial dealings within the Mugabe administration going back as far as possible. (In my mind's eye I see Mugabe loyalists reaching for their paper shredders.)

Yesterday I made available a basic spreadsheet of new farm 'owners' in the Chegutu area. If this can be done in that area, then it should be down throughout the country. Not only would it save an awful lot of money (US$31 million to be precise!) but it will finally put to sleep the idea that the land grab was to return land to the 'landless' blacks.

"The MDC -T party has unearthed serious anomalies on the voters’ roll in Masvingo Urban Constituency alone following an audit which revealed that ghost voters are still on the voters roll," reads the audit report in part.

"This is just a tip of the iceberg since the situation might have been very serious in other constituencies country wide."

MDC-T provincial secretary general Tongai Matutu who is also the MP for Masvingo urban yesterday confirmed the discovery. He said even if he won the election the voters' roll was in a shambles.

"We are the very people who carried out this audit and we wonder how a person can be considered to be still serving in the army at the age of 122 years," said Matutu.

"This was a deliberate ploy by ZANU PF to rob the people of victory but, thank God, we managed to win the election."

As we have come to expect, ZANU PF remain silent on the matter.

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Chuyanga - he of the Rolls Royce Phantom fame - is connected closely with the Mugabe family, and questions are being asked not only of how he made his fortune, but how he was able to trade useless commercial properties for residential stands.

"Scores of Zimbabweans in the diaspora who have invested in real estate through businessman Phillip Chiyangwa’s flagship Pinnacle Properties now stand to lose out after a major dispute erupted between him and the Harare City Council over how the former acquired vast tracts of land in prime residential areas of the city.

The city council recently ordered Chiyangwa’s Kilma Investments to suspend work on a multi-million dollar hotel project in Borrowdale stating that the development was 'illegal’,

Investigations have now been widened to ascertain how Chiyangwa rose to become one of the largest property owners in the city. Councillors allege that the flamboyant businessman traded second-rate industrial property for prime residential land targeting the diaspora market."

Doesn't Chiyangwa have an ongoing problem in South Africa with a mansion he is having built?

This is the same person who jumped on the bandwagon upon news of the death of Michael Jackson, stating that he was in the process of bringing Jackson to Zimbabwe. An opportunistic liar.

"Chiyangwa confirmed last week that he had swapped industrial stands for 'open spaces' in residential areas but insisted that it was at the city’s request after it ran out of industrial properties wanted by investors.

Mayor Muchadei Masunda said the probe had been prompted by an 'outcry' from the public over Chiyangwa’s business activities.

Chiyangwa, however alleged that Masunda was an interested party as he was a shareholder in Old Mutual and John Sisk, both competitors to the former."

How utterly absurd that a close friend and relative of the Mugabe family should be allowed to do whatever he wants - and then maintain that no one should get involved as they are all interested parties.

-o00o-

Take care.

'debvhu