Thursday, 26th May 2011

Howzit

Yesterday I spent a little time working on the cover of book I am writing. The contents of the book don't matter as it will be a private publication, but what I wanted to show here was a brilliant little freeware programme called Fotosketcher.

I worked with a photograph of myself taken in May last year in London.

I then turned it into a sketch and then, using some other art software, removed the extraneous background - oh, and I rotated it about 4 degrees counterclockwise.

I am particularly pleased with the results.

I have a feeling that I might be using this programme again...

-o00o-

Ah... I see a plan in the making here.

The United Kingdom allowed a former Central Intelligence Organisation operative asylum in the country, even though he is responsible for some pretty horrendous act again MDC supporters.

You will recall, no doubt, my comments on the subject as I feel that there are numerous Zimbabweans scattered throughout the world who are struggling daily to make ends meet and this individual is given it all on a silver platter.

But perhaps the authorities intend to use his insider knowledge...

"Phillip Machemedze, the former Central Intelligence Organisation operative who was granted asylum in the United Kingdom, faces interrogation from International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors, who are keen to build a case against President Robert Mugabe, sources have revealed.

The development comes at a time when human rights organisations and pressure groups are campaigning for Machemedze’s deportation for violating human rights.

His lawyer, Masimba Mavaza of IEI Solicitors, a former prosecutor at the Harare Magistrates’ Court and lecturer at the Police Staff College, confirmed his client was under pressure although he said he would not testify against the President or any government official.

According to reports from the UK, Machemedze admitted smashing an MDC supporter’s jaw with pliers, and then pulling out his tooth.

He also reportedly took part in the torture and killing of several MDC activists."

I have two points only...

Firstly - was the asylum granted on the proviso that he testify against Mugabe?

Secondly - Machemedze is HIV+ which means that by the time Mugabe is dragged to the ICC, he would died. And Mugabe will probably have joined him.

The idea that Mugabe could be prosecuted in the ICC is foolhardy as we all know that he enjoys the protection of the regional powers, and, as I say, he will probably do a Milosevic who died in custody at the ICC just days before the verdict on his trial for war crimes was due to be delivered.

"His asylum request was initially turned down by the British Home Office which said he had "committed crimes against humanity".

But Justice David Archer of the First Tier Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber allowed Machemedze and his wife’s appeals in a judgment delivered on May 4, 2011. The Home Office is not appealing.

An impeccable source said the case has revealed that Machemedze was granted asylum partly because the UK government wanted him to be questioned by ICC prosecutors, hence the decision by the Home Office not to appeal."

I doubt that we will hear very much more of this man or the intended ICC case against Mugabe.

-o00o-

Anyone who has been following news and events in Zimbabwe over the last few years will be aware the Mugabe used the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe as his personal cash point. The governor of the bank, Gideon Gono, was unilaterally appointed and this is one of the obstacles in the on/off cross party negotiations... more than three years after ZANU PF lost the parliamentary majority in 2008.

And now there are stories coming out of Zimbabwe that the RBZ is riddled with corruption, graft and theft.

"Board members at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) are allegedly taking home as much as US$2,000 a month in allowances, while ordinary workers receive a paltry US$150 a month. The Daily News reports that because of this key staff members are resigning and others are applying en-masse to be retrenched.

The newspaper says that so serious are the problems Finance Minister Tendai Biti summoned the board members to his office for an explanation of both the looting allegations and the mass resignations by senior employees. Workers now want the government to intervene and stop the pillaging of the central bank.

The Daily News obtained documents showing that board members collected more than US$111,000 in retainer and sitting fees, as well as fuel and communication allowances from May last year. Deputy Chairman Charles Kuwaza got US$14020, Willard Manungo (US$10745), Godfrey Kanyenze (US$10920), Primrose Kurasha (US$12870 and Daniel Ndlela US$11570.

The controversial Governor of the central bank, Gideon Gono, did not claim any money and told the paper he would only get his share of directors’ allowances once the bank had got back on its feet. As Gono is renowned for being seriously wealth, he is unlikely to go hungry while waiting.

Workers at the bank are said to be puzzled at what the board members actually do, since Finance Minister Biti cut down the scope of responsibilities assigned to the central bank."

Think about it. Before the Zimbabwean dollar was abandoned, Mugabe used to milk it for all that it was worth, and now, with the unity (!) government, the focus shifts away - but it hasn't stopped Mugabe from travelling wherever and whenever he wants (but he doesn't travel to countries that won't allow him to).

The RBZ is supposed to be the central point for the country's finances, bar the Finance Ministry, but this obviously does not stop the people on the inside from plundering what little riches are left.

A forensic audit of the bank is urgently needed, but what makes me think that this will be interfered with as ZANU PF have so much to hide?

"Additionally the Zim dollar is not in use, something that would have been a core function of the bank. Before the coalition government the bank used to be notorious for printing endless amounts of money to finance quasi-fiscal activities and prop up the Mugabe regime. This, among other disastrous policies, was blamed for the hyper-inflation that set world records."

Auditing the bank is the only answer. And somebody needs to face criminal charges for the manner in which the bank was run.

-o00o-

I have, in the last few weeks, noticed that Mugabe's police are arresting all manner of people on the most spurious charges. Yesterday we looked at the intended prosecution of an individual who has been publicly discussing the torture of people in Zimbabwe. How is that a crime?

Today, I read of a policeman who used the toilet at the International Trade Fair that was reserved for Mugabe. He is now languishing in cells. Go figure.

"Police in Tsholotsho have continued to deny lawyers access to two officials from the ZimRights civic group, who were arrested in this area of Matabeleland North on Monday. Regional coordinator Florence Ndlovu, and paralegal officer Walter Dube, have not been seen since they were taken by police at a roadblock set up 'to specifically arrest' them. They had been banned from holding an anti torture workshop at Tshino Business centre, even though they had a court order giving them permission.

ZimRights director, Okay Machisa, told SW Radio Africa that he was "very, very worried" for their safety, after a police guard with an AK 47 rifle told lawyers on Wednesday he had been "instructed to shoot" if they continued trying to pass through the gate."

Now we have lawyers, who, according to their remit, need to speak with their clients, and are threatened with being shot! And we have to realise that the two detained persons were en route to an anti-torture workshop for which they had a court order allowing them to proceed.

So what criminal charge could they face? And how is it acceptable that the lawyers are threatened with being shot?

"Colleagues from ZimRights who had brought some food were also denied entry into Nyamandlovu police station, where they say Ndhlovu and Dube are being held, although police deny this.

"The car they were driving is no longer parked in a conspicuous place where everyone can see it." Machisa said. He added that the vehicle driven by the arrested officials was now parked behind the police station. "How can they have the car and not have the people that own it?" a frustrated Machisa asked."

I have noted that the police in Zimbabwe have begun to arrest people for anything they want, and then, after a few days of torture and starvation, they are released with no charge.

But when the police are incapable of allowing people to carry out their functions - even when they have a court order allowing them to do this - then we have to realise that ZANU PF is becoming more and more desperate to hang on to power and this is their unfettered response.

"Ndhlovu and Dube were in Tsholotsho to teach villagers about the evils of torture and its effects, in an area where thousands of them suffered during the so-called Gukurahundi massacres of the mid-eighties. But police banned the workshop, saying "the subject of torture is not in line with Zimbabwean culture".

The arrests were similar to an incident in Lupane last month, when police arrested MDC-N MP Moses Mzila Ndhlovu, who is also a co-Minister for National Healing, and Father Max Mkandla, a priest who had given a church service on the massacres."

-o00o-

There was an article on the internet yesterday which I found distinctly disturbing. It was a response from the Mthwakazi Liberation Front about the burning of a Zimbabwean flag in South Africa.

The flag was burned as a protest over the marginalisation of the Matabele people in Zimbabwe. The response stated that the flag does not belong to one political party, but is a national symbol.

But, the MLF says, it was imposed upon the country by a 'Shona supremacist party' and therefore falls short of representing all Zimbabweans.

"It is a known fact that the Zimbabwean flag was designed and imposed on the people of modern day Zimbabwe by a Shona supremacist party called ZANU PF. Its dominant symbols are representative of ZANUism, Shona supremacism and Shona-centricity. The absence of Matabeleland symbols in the Zimbabwean national flag is clearly consistent with the historic state sponsored marginalization of this region."

I feel that burning the flag is a dangerous move, as it will result in the arrest of key members of the MLF allowing further marginalisation of the Matabele. If anything, they might have considered burning the ZANU PF flag...

I really do wish that they has thought this one through before acting.

-o00o-

Staying with the MLF, "Incacerated Mthwakazi Liberation Front (MLF) senior official Paul Siwela has been admitted to a clinic at the notorious Khami Maximum Security Prison on the outskirts of Bulawayo after his blood pressure went up.

According to his close friends, Siwela was rushed to the prison clinic a few days ago after prison officers reported that he had turned pale and had become too weak to stand.

His lawyer Lucas Nkomo of the newly formed Abameli Human Rights Network confirmed that Siwela was seen by a medical officer at the clinic after his condition deteriorated last week due to high blood pressure caused by too much stress.

Siwela has been in detention since March when he and two other MLF Bulawayo executive leaders, John Gazi and Charles Thomas were arrested for allegedly distributing what police described as "subversive material" whose aim was to incite Zimbabweans especially those from the western province of Matabeleland to rebel against President Robert Mugabe.

When the three officials appeared in court, the judge granted the two, Gazi and Thomas bail of US$2000 leaving Siwela to be incarcerated in prison.The judge said Siwela who is a prominent businessman in Bulawayo, had another serious case pending and related to his activities with those seeking a separate Ndebele state."

Siwela's detention may be prolonged and he may be of poor health, but the burning of the flag will not help his cause.

Seeking a separate State of Matabeleland will probably not work, but the idea that the country should be split on tribal lines is asking for a civil war of sorts. The Shana and the Matabele are irrevocably linked and mixed throughout Zimbabwe.

Yes, there may be a case for the Matabele to be included in politics and society more, but doing it through incitement and the burning of the national flag is just plain stupid...

"When he appeared for another bail hearing two weeks ago, a Harare judge told Siwela to write an affidavit dissociating himself from the activities of those seeking a separate state of Matabeleland. Meanwhile Gazi, a former ZIPRA special weapons expert is fighting allegations that he has been a mole for the secret service since the 90s.

Another MLF official, Max Mkandla, also a former ZIPRA guerrilla officer has denied he has links with the spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)."

-o00o-

Not that long ago, I commented on a story that England was going to provide a further one hundred million pounds in aid to Zimbabwe. This story says that Zimbabwe still owes the ECGD another 190 million pounds and are not in any position to repay any of it.

What is it about the West that they have to lend money and give money in huge piles to Mugabe - even if he does amlign and ridicule the West whenever he can?

"Zimbabwe owes Britain’s Export Credit Guarantee Department 190.4 million pounds and has not indicated when it will repay the money, the Undersecretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Edward Davey, told the House of Commons yesterday.

Zimbabwe is among 24 countries, eight of them African, which owe the ECGD 2.4 billion pounds.

Sudan owes the highest amount of 663.68 pounds and like Zimbabwe has not indicated when it will repay the money."

I would have thought, the moment that a country fails to begin repayments or indicates a reluctance to do anything about it, that the taps would be turned off. Even England is experiencing a hard time with the economic downturn, and why should we struggle whilst Zimbabwe and other countries renege on the loans?

"Relations between Britain and Zimbabwe have been frosty but this has not affected business to a large extent. It is estimated that there are about 400 British companies in Zimbabwe."

It is absolute financial suicide to lend and give more money to Zimbabwe before we see any long term and lasting reforms...

But my feelings are obviously not shared by those in the halls of power.

-o00o-

Take care.

'debvhu