Posted on 03/11/2003 4:15:06 AM PST by Clive
NATIONAL NEWS Tuesday 11 , March
Villagers flee Zanu PF terror
ABOUT 10 villagers from Buhera South fled their homes following Zanu PF incited violence. They have since sought refuge at the ZimRights offices in Harare where they are seeking legal assistance.
Zanu PF youths allegedly mounted attacks on the villagers from their bases.
Arnold Tsunga, the ZimRights chairman, confirmed yesterday they had received victims of political violence from Buhera and Cashel Valley in Chimanimani.
He said the victims had sought refuge in Harare.
Tsunga said in Cashel Valley, about 53 people, 21 of them school children were displaced by the massive violence, perpetrated by Zanu PF supporters since last week. He said violence against the opposition has been intense in Manicaland since 16 November last year.
He said the political situation in Chipinge, Chimanimani and Buhera was of “extreme concern to ZimRights”.
He urged the authorities in Manicaland to preach tolerance and help enforce the rule of law so that peace could prevail.
He could not give figures of affected people, saying the magnitude of the violence and destabilisation in the province remained high.
Nathan Shamuyarira, the Zanu PF national secretary for information and publicity dismissed the reports as “untrue” and not worth commenting on.
But Tsunga said: “properties were burnt when violence erupted in Buhera last week. Political violence has gone on from 2000 and Buhera has not known peace since. People can’t be integrated into normal life.
“Until government ensures that there is tolerance towards opposition supporters, it’s unlikely that we will witness peace in that area.”
He said villagers in Chimanimani and Chipinge were being driven away from land they were settled on soon after independence.
Think pigs can fly?
Not a healthy profession.
Africa refused.
Our own loveable 'ti Jean (Canada) negotiated a deal whereby the Zimbabwe issue would be delegated to a sub-committee composed of Obasanjo (Nigeria), Mbeki (South Africa) and Howard (Australia) and postponed any decision until after the Zim 2000 presidential election.
The composition of the sub-committee guaranteed that the African viewpoint would prevail.
After the election, Obasanjo and Mbeki were making noises to the effect that while the election was not "free and fair" it was nevertheless "legitimate" when judged "by African standards". The meeting in London to decide the issue was expected to result in no action against Mugabe but Howard exerted moral suasion (perhaps aided by the imminence of a Group of Eight meeting in which Africa was trying to sell its NEPAS development scheme) to cause them to agree to suspend Zimbabwe for one year.
The year is now over and Mbeki and Obasanjo are taking the position that things are "normalized" in Zimbabwe (I suppose again by "African standards") and that the suspension should not be continued. To this end, they are refusing to meet Howard so that the suspension will end by default.
Her Majesty is a figurehead both within the Commonwealth and within the few parliamentary constitutional monarchies that remain in the Commonwealth.
Note that constitutional elective parliamentary governance is dying out in those places that are no longer monarchies while it continues in force in the monarchies. Other than in the monarchies the trend is toward de jure democracy but de facto single party rule under autocratic presidents entrenched for life.
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