Zimbabwe court rules seizing of white-owned land legal

Houston Chronicle ^ | December 5, 2001 | Houston Chronicle News Services

[Cincinatus' Wife]

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's top court has declared the government's plan to seize white-owned farms legal, overturning its own previous ruling that the seizures were unconstitutional.

In a judgment released Tuesday, four of the five Supreme Court justices appointed to hear the new seizure case said they were satisfied the government's "fast track" land nationalization program was lawful and "sufficiently complied" with the constitution.

Last year's Supreme Court ruling declared the government's methods of land seizures illegal and in breach of constitutional ownership rights and government land laws.

Some of the judges who made that ruling have been replaced in recent months.

Four of the five judges hearing the new case, including Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, were appointed recently by President Robert Mugabe. Those four voted to uphold the government's land seizure program.

The Supreme Court traditionally had only five judges until Mugabe expanded the bench to eight in July, adding three judges considered loyal to the ruling party. The chief justice usually appoints small panels of judges to hear each case.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has described the court's expansion as a political ploy designed to turn the court into a government puppet.

Armed ruling party militants have occupied more than 1,700 white-owned farms since March 2000, demanding they be redistributed to landless blacks. The government has listed some 4,500 properties -- about 95 percent of farm land owned by whites -- for nationalization without compensation and last month warned about 800 farmers they had three months to vacate their land and homes.

Monday's court ruling rejected white farmers' assertions that the land seizures were taking place amid violence and a breakdown of law and order in farming districts.

It said the government had met the previous court's order to prove it had restored law and order and a sustainable land reform program in those districts.

Though it was not disputed that clashes took place on farms, "by definition, the concept of rule of law foresees a situation in which behavior prescribed as criminal will occur. The presence of the rule of law does not mean a totally crime free environment," the court said.

Adrian de Bourbon, the lawyer for the Commercial Farmers Union, had asked Chidyausiku and two other new appointees to recuse themselves from the hearing, alleging they had shown open allegiance to the ruling party and its land seizures.

None of the judges stepped down.

Monday's ruling described de Bourbon's request as "unbridled arrogance and insolence."

"This is the first and last time such contempt of this court will go unpunished," it said.

A spokesman for the union said farmers were surprised and disappointed by the decision.

"The ruling does not seem to be based on the strict application of the law or the rules of natural justice, but on a political argument," the spokesman said.

"We are obviously surprised and shocked by this because this is the highest court. But we hope the government will still find the wisdom to be reasonable," he said.

Judges have been under mounting pressure from the government and ruling party militants. Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay was forced out after the government warned him and other judges they would not be protected from ruling party militants, who stormed the Supreme Court last December.

[nopardons]

The " coming bloodbath " ? What shall we call what has been and is going on there now ?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Good question. I'm sure there will be many descriptive titles after the vote this weekend.

Violence, laws prevent fair vote in Zimbabwe [Excerpt] Recent amendments to the election law forbid civic and religious organizations from monitoring the poll and from running voter education campaigns.

Military officers have been appointed to the election directorate, and only civil servants -- dependent on government jobs -- will be allowed to monitor the vote.

Seals will no longer be placed around the whole ballot box when it is moved to the counting station, but only around the opening. Since the new law allows the ballots to be transported in the absence of party representatives, many fear the boxes can be disassembled in transit.

"That gives the ruling party ample opportunity to stuff the ballot box. If that is not the case, why introduce such a law anyway?" asked Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, a professor at the University of Zimbabwe. [End Excerpt]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Zimbabwe Government Gives Scant Details of Poll in 3 days (23 observers accredited out of 12,000) [Excerpt] HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's government on Wednesday failed to provide international observers with basic details of how a bitterly-contested presidential election will be conducted in three days time.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and foreign critics led by former colonial power Britain and the United States, accuse President Robert Mugabe, 78, of trying to rig the vote to beat the biggest challenge to his 22-year rule.

At a briefing for foreign election observers and the media the Electoral Supervisory Commission (ESC) gave out scant information. It could not say how many ballot papers had been printed, the exact location of 4,548 polling stations or when voters lists would be made public.

Nor could ESC chairman Sobuza Gula-Ndebele, a retired army colonel, and his officials say why only 23 local observers had been accredited out of 12,000 nominees.

"I have a problem. I don't think as the supervisor of an election that is only a couple of days away you can tell people 'I don't know,"' said observer Martha Sayed of Botswana's Independent Electoral Commission.[End Excerpt]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Dr Chris Barnard's Scathing comments on South Africa

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Mugabe Talks of Retribution After Zimbabwe Vote: Places Army on High Alert [Excerpt] HARARE (Reuters) - Just over two days before Zimbabwe's closest-fought presidential election, Robert Mugabe warned he would pursue his challenger once the voting was over.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has been accused of treason over a secretly recorded video purporting to show him discussing Mugabe's assassination with Canadian consultants who were actually working for Mugabe.

A private Zimbabwean newspaper reported Thursday that Mugabe's government had placed the army on high alert, recalled soldiers from leave and ordered those who live outside military barracks to stay home, ready to deal with possible trouble after the elections next Saturday and Sunday.

The weekly Financial Gazette also said the government had withdrawn some troops from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to beef up security and repeated remarks made by one Mugabe's senior officials early this week that the ruling ZANU-PF party would support a military coup if Mugabe lost power.

Mugabe told a rally in eastern Zimbabwe Wednesday that Tsvangirai would have to answer for the alleged murder plot after the elections.

"No murderer will go unpunished. No one we know to have planned such deeds will escape," said Mugabe, promising post-election retribution against those he said had committed crimes against Zimbabwe, though he mentioned no names. [End Excerpt]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Trick or treat - how to rig an election--[Excerpt] The various observers now in Zimbabwe have arrived in the last few weeks. Hence they will not have witnessed the last twenty two months during which 75% of Zimbabweans have been exposed in some way or another to state brutality. They will not have seen the beatings by Zanu PF, the destruction of the MDC infrastructure, the attacks upon just about anyone, the creation of no go areas, the mutilations and murders, the imposition of starvation on the many and the rewards for the Zanu PF faithful. They may not be aware of the subversion of the judiciary and the shaping of sinister laws that deliver basic freedoms, and the election arrangements, into the gift of Zanu PF. They may not have heard the poisonous and incessant state monopoly of the airwaves. They may not have smelled the fear. This might tempt them to subscribe to the informed view of Theo- Ben Guribab, Namibian Foreign Minister, who told us at the end of February that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe, just "manageable violence". Now there's a concept for the twenty-first century. [End Excerpt]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Fears that the vote would be rigged were high. Opposition party officials said the voter rolls are badly tainted. More than 80 percent of the people who had died in the last two years remained on the rolls in some areas. In other places more than a third of the people who voted in the last election have been dropped from the rolls.--Source

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thousands Driven from Homes by Political Violence Can't Vote in Zimbabwe

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Africa's heart of darkness - Zimbabwe's corrupt ruler will do anything to hang on to power The curse of Africa, as reiterated to the Organization of African Unity by Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki, is "tribalism (racism) and corruption." Today's problems can't be blamed on colonialism.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Key Developments in Zimbabwe - Eve of Election--Chronology of Mugabe years

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Stuffed ballot boxes found as Mugabe begins stealing poll--[Excerpt] THE discovery of ballot boxes stuffed with votes for Robert Mugabe spilling out of a police car involved in a crash gave the last day of campaigning in Zimbabwe's presidential election an almost comic air.

But few of the country's 5,607,812 registered voters were laughing as they prepared to go to the polls today after an election campaign that will be remembered as one of Africa's most murderous and turbulent.

Forty polling agents for the opposition have been arrested, electoral rules favourable to the government have been re-imposed - despite being deemed unconstitutional by the courts - and a shambolic voters' roll was found to place up to half of the electorate outside their districts.

The number of polling stations has been halved in urban areas, which support the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and increased in rural areas where the ruling Zanu-PF is supported. Tens of thousands will be unable to vote.

So cruel were the mobs unleashed by Mr Mugabe to bring voters in line that one man was beaten to death by supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF party simply because his house had decorative mud hand-prints on the walls.

An open hand is the emblem of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and this was enough to cost James Sibanda his life. The mob never stopped to ask his political affiliation. He was a lifelong supporter of Mr Mugabe. [End Excerpt]

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South Africa: Mbeki attacks 'racist' Blair--[Excerpt] PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki of South Africa made a veiled but unprecedented racial attack on Tony Blair yesterday, inviting "white supremacists" to leave the Commonwealth if they disagreed with its decision to delay sanctions against Zimbabwe.

His comments, on the eve of Zimbabwe's presidential elections, will be seen as the equivalent of South Africa casting its vote in favour of Robert Mugabe. This is despite wholesale intimidation and the rigging of the election by Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party.

Mr Mbeki stopped short of naming names. But his words amounted to an implicit denunciation of Mr Blair and New Zealand's prime minister, Helen Clark.

Both criticised the Commonwealth's refusal to suspend Zimbabwe immediately at the organisation's summit in Australia last week. Mr Mbeki said the outcry reflected "a stubborn and arrogant mindset [that] at all times the white world must lead".

His views are particularly important because of South Africa's influence on its neighbour and Mr Mbeki's central role in the trio of Commonwealth leaders who will decide what action to take against Zimbabwe after the elections. [End Excerpt]

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After two decades of Mugabe domination, a presidential challenger for Zimbabwe [Excerpt] "We can't feed our children on history. Mugabe is buried in history. Tsvangirai is for future hope," she said.

But opposition politics can be dangerous in Zimbabwe. In 1999, attackers suspected of being ruling party militants assaulted Tsvangirai and tried to hurl him out of a 10th floor window. But the screams of loyal staff forced the assailants to flee, said Gwiyo. Tsvangirai now rides in an armor-plated car.

The trade union federation, which represents 90 percent of organized labor, was closely aligned to black nationalist forces fighting white domination in the colonial era, and remained in alliance with Mugabe's party after independence.

Tsvangirai broke that alliance, and "Once that was achieved, the labor movement had to redefine itself and concentrate on improving workers' lives and conditions," said Gibson Sibanda, former head of the railroad workers union, now an opposition lawmaker.

The federation under Tsvangirai became increasingly hostile to the government over economic policies and corruption that led to record unemployment, inflation and an aid and investment freeze. "We were fighting to work, to earn a living and bring up our families," Sibanda said.

Tsvangirai spent six weeks in jail in 1989 on allegations he spied for apartheid-ruled South Africa against Mugabe's government.

Violent farm seizures and factory occupations by Mugabe loyalists that began after the defeat of the referendum drove thousands of people from homes and jobs, sealing the labor movement's schism with the government, Sibanda said.

Tsvangirai, who turns 50 on Sunday, began working as a laborer in a textile factory at age 20. Two years later he joined a nickel mine, rising to general foreman and branch chairman of the Associated Mine workers union, the nation's largest labor group of which he became deputy head in 1985 before his election as federation secretary general in 1988. He is married to his wife of 24 years, Susan, and has six children [End Excerpt]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Mark Steyn: Meet Barbie, Ken and Robert Mubarbie-[Excerpt] "I'll say." Armand whipped out a Ken doll. "Hey, Bob. Didn't I see you in Heaven last night?"

The Mubarbie doll spun around and his little jaw moved up and down. "You filthy British homosexual!" he yelled at Ken in a tinny voice. "You are lower than pigs!"

"I'm impressed," I admitted. "Does he have any friends?"

"More than you'd think," said Armand, and handed me Kommonwealth Konference Ken.

I pulled the string in his back, but nothing happened. "He's useless," I complained. "He doesn't do a thing."

"Nonsense," said Armand. "Look at him. He's expressing `deep concern'.[End Exceprt]

More great truths from Mark Steyn.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Zimbabwe -- Farmers providing election support arrested

Michael Laban, left, a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, registers an appeal with Zimbabwe police Inspector Martin Mberi after being told that his name had been deleted from the voters roll at Avondale polling station in Harare on the first day of the Presidential Elections, Saturday March 9, 2002. (AP PHOTO) - Mar 09 6:53 AM ET

Mike Auret, left, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change MP for Harare Central is assisted by Presiding Officer Gladys Chirokote, center, and an election officer after he discovered he had been struck off the voters roll at Avondale polling station in Harare, on the first day of the Zimbabwe Presidential Elections, Saturday March 9, 2002. Auret protested and later in the day presented evidence of his citizenship, and the election officials allowed him to vote.(AP PHOTO) - Mar 09 6:43 AM ET

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Zimbabwe -- voters refuse to leave queues [Excerpt] Another determined auto electrician exclaimed: "Come rain, come thunder, I am going to vote."

Other hungry voters complained that they could not leave the queue to go and get food, because if they did leave the Mbuya Nehanda hall grounds, police would not let them back in.

Dorcas Zifambi, said she had left a seven-month-old breastfeeding baby at home at 03:00 hoping she would return home within reasonable time to attend to her child. Eleven hours later she had not yet cast her ballot and had not been back home.

Susan Gamunorwa, 60, who suffers from asthma and diabetes was lying on the ground next to the queue, saying she was feeling weak as she had not had recourse to either medication nor food.

Another woman said she had left her very ill sister at home who needed constant monitoring and was worried about her condition as she had not been fed. [End Excerpt]

[nopardons]

Hoorah for the brave election officials !

[Salvation]

Thanks for your postings.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I wish complacent voters in the U.S. would see what happens when you lose your freedom.

Zimbabwean vote fraught with long lines, hostilities - 20 vote per hour--[Excerpt] The main reason for the slow pace Saturday appeared to be too many voters and not enough stations, observers said. The government reduced the number of stations in urban areas, where opposition is higher, and increased them in the countryside, where Mugabe's backing runs strong.

Between seven and 20 people were voting per hour in many of the 167 polling stations in Harare, the capital and an opposition stronghold. More than 5,000 people are registered to vote in each polling station, and thousands stood in line at most of them Saturday.

Polling officials at one Harare station took a two-hour lunch, despite raucous complaints from voters. Observers reported officials asking voters numerous questions and slowing balloting.

Some stations stayed open after the official closing time of 7 p.m. Saturday to accommodate voters already in line, while others closed because they lacked electricity.

People in line at the polls went home, got blankets and started bedding down to sleep in line so they wouldn't lose their place for the second day of voting today.

Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, political science professor at the University of Zimbabwe who waited in line for 11 hours, said voters were not giving up.

"I have not seen such determination in my life, and they are staying put and the mood is quite jovial," he said by mobile telephone from a Harare suburb.

[nopardons]

BUMP

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Mugabe in trouble--[Excerpt] PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe looks definitely set to vacate State House if the response to yesterday's polling is anything to go by.

As had been expected, there was an overwhelming turn out of upbeat voters in major urban areas such as Harare, Bulawayo, Kwekwe, Gweru and Mutare. People trekked to polling stations as early as 4am for voting which started at 7am.

According to official figures, there are 3,4 million people registered to vote in urban areas, the opposition MDC's stronghold, as opposed to 2,2 million in rural areas which are dominated by Zanu PF. Even taking into consideration the extra 400 000 expected from the controversial supplementary voters roll, the figures are still heavily in favour of the opposition.

………. There was drama at St Peters Kubatana in Highfield when some people were incensed by the arrival of unpopular war veterans leader, Joseph Chinotimba arrived. At Chikanga Primary School in Mutare, no voting material was available when The Standard visited at around 10am. Polling officials present refused to explain why this anomaly occurred. [End Excerpt]

Zimbabwe -- Heroes of the front line -[Excerpt] Jericho Ngonu and Francis Kufani are marked men. Last week, they were hauled from their homes in the middle of the night by Robert Mugabe's feared National Youth Brigade, beaten savagely with wire piping, then handed over to the police for a night in a fetid cell. Their crime was to have put their names forward as polling agents for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in Zvimba South, the birthplace of the Zimbabwean president. They were limping, bruised but still defiant when I met them in hiding on a farm north of Harare, shortly after they were released from jail. They insisted that the risk of further beatings - or worse - had not deterred them serving as MDC agents at polling stations yesterday - nor would it do so today. [End Excerpt]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Zimbabwe Govt. -Mugabe- Says No Need to Extend Voting Days State radio, quoting official figures, said only 127,000 people in the Harare area voted on the first day of the election out of 800,000 registered voters, almost all of them opposition supporters. "The majority of our voters are deliberately being blocked out of this election," MDC information secretary Learnmore Jongwe said.