The Chronicle

11th March 2019

By Nqobile Tshili

A member of MDC party Senator David Coltart has said the opposition party has a problem of labelling members that show ambition to contest for posts Zanu-PF agents.

Mr Coltart last week told CBNC Africa that the fake infiltration narrative has been commonly used in the MDC to suppress those harbouring ambitions.

MDC secretary general Mr Douglas Mwonzora has been labelled an in-plant of Zanu-PF after he made public his intention to challenge Mr Nelson Chamisa for the post of president at the party’s congress set for May.

Mr Coltart said the narrative that has become common in the opposition party is a blunt lie.

There have been attempts to link Mr Mwonzora to Zanu-PF but the ruling party has distanced itself from the allegations saying it has no time to meddle in opposition politics.

Mr Mwonzora, has been receiving a barrage of insults and threats from party officials intent on scuppering his campaign.

“It is critically important that we approach that contest in a mature fashion. We should stop this behaviour whereby each time someone puts his or her head up above the pulpit to challenge a position, he or she is accused of being a Zanu-PF agent. I don’t believe the allegations against Douglas and I hope the rhetoric will end,” said Mr Coltart.

He pledged support for Mr Chamisa but said this should not stop Mr Mwonzora from throwing his hat in the ring.

“I know Douglas Mwonzora very well. I respect him because he has done a very good job as the secretary general and if we are a democratic party, anyone must be allowed to contest for any position. 

“However, I think that Nelson Chamisa has revived the party and he enjoys grassroots support, hence I back him. But Douglas has the right to contest,” he said.

Despite presenting itself as a “democratic party of excellence”, the MDC has been at pains to eliminate any challenge to Mr Chamisa’s position at congress.

MDC deputy president, Engineer Elias Mudzuri, is also viewed as another potential contender for the presidency.

Mr Coltart said the opposition party which controls most urban local authorities should demonstrate its capacity to preside over public affairs.

MDC-run councils have been accused of failing to provide services despite residents paying for these services.

“I think that is the big challenge for the MDC, going forward in the next four years, we have won every single urban centre, we now have a challenge to demonstrate that we can deliver,” said Mr Coltart. – @nqotshili

The Zimbabwe Mail

10th March 2019

Former Education Minister David Coltart says sanctions on Zimbabwe, which have been on for nearly two decades, have long exceeded their sell-by date and are now benefitting the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front.

He told CNBC that sanctions had an effect when they were imposed in the early 2000s because they identified human rights abusers but from as early as 2010, they had already reached their sell-by date.

The European Union extended its sanctions on Zimbabwe by a year last month and the United States did the same thing last week.

EU sanctions affect only two people, former President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace, as well as the Zimbabwe Defence Industries but they also include an arms embargo on the country. Although three former security bosses Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, Agriculture Minister Perrance Shiri and Zimbabwe Defence Forces chief Philip Valerio Sibanda are also on the sanctions list these are suspended.

United States sanctions on Zimbabwe are, however, more comprehensive. They affect about 140 individuals and entities but also bar Zimbabwe from receiving financial bailouts from international financial institutions. They can also be used to bar payments from outside in US dollars as the US may refuse to clear the payments.

Zimbabwe has complained that the sanctions are not only illegal but unjustified but it has said it will continue to engage with the United States and other Western countries.

It has also hired United States President Donald Trump’s ally to lobby for the removal of the sanctions at a cost of US$500 000 a year.

Coltart said in his opinion the Zimbabwe government should be judged by how well they abide by the constitution.

Watch the interview on this link https://www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/coltart-says-sanctions-on-zimbabwe-have-exceeded-their-sell-by-date/

Bloomberg

8th March 2019

• Opposition leader Coltart dismisses leaders criticism of army
•  Coltart says Mnangagwa depends on military for survival

Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is working with the military to ensure his own survival, an opposition official said, dismissing the leader’s criticism of the army’s heavy handed approach in quelling riots over fuel prices in January.

The protests, the worst since 1995, ended after the military was deployed, firing on crowds and killing at least 17 people. Since then the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and human rights groups have said soldiers have been carrying out raids on houses in poorer areas of the country’s biggest cities and have been accused of beatings and rapes. Mnangagwa, who became president after a military coup in 2017 ousted Robert Mugabe and then won an election last year, said on Jan. 22 that “heads will roll” if soldiers were guilty of misconduct.

“Mnangagwa, like Mugabe, is primarily concerned with survival,” David Coltart, a lawyer and founding member of the MDC, said at an event hosted by the Free Market Foundation in Johannesburg on Wednesday. “Mnangagwa and his senior generals are acting in concert. I don’t believe there is dissent between Mnangagwa and the military. They have common purpose.”

The comments by Coltart, the MDC’s legal secretary, contradict assertions by some senior military and government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. They say the Zimbabwean leader is being defied by a number of army officials as he tries to bring the country and its broken economy back into the international fold by pledging a more open and tolerant society than was the case under Mugabe.

While Mnangagwa had initially “kept up the facade,” he has now created “a climate of fear” by intimidating doctors and lawyers who helped protesters in the January riots and is using threatening language in public speeches that was last heard during massacres of the minority Ndebele ethnic group in the 1980s, Coltart said.

“When the president said ‘heads will roll’ he meant every word,” Nick Mangwana, Zimbabwe’s secretary for information, said by text message, referring to action against the military. “We have seen the immediate retirement of senior commanders since that promise. We have seen soldiers convicted and imprisoned,” he said. “What we witnessed is heads rolling.”

The military has played a prominent role in Zimbabwe politics since independence from the U.K. in 1980. It helped keep Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front in power in 2008 when then MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai backed out of a presidential runoff vote after hundreds of his supporters were killed by armed militias, the top MDC leader said.

Protesters Killed

“The military was a very powerful component of Zanu-PF,” Coltart said. “They were fused and still are.”

Few, if any officials, have been punished for the massacres in the 1980s, the 2008 election violence and the killing of protesters after elections in August last year and in January, he said.

“What afflicts Zimbabwe is the culture of impunity,” Coltart said, adding that western nations as well as neighboring South Africa have prioritized stability over democracy and have been reticent to act against alleged abuses.

Pindula.co.zw

27th February 2019

Former Minister for Primary and Secondary Education David Coltart has lambasted the Monetary Policy Statement presented by the Central Bank Governor John Mangudya on Wednesday last week.

Coltart was not even impressed by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube’s presentation. Said Coltart:

This is poppycock – the monetary policy is vague and confusing. No foreign investor is going to be attracted by a policy which fails to address the fundamental need of any currency – the confidence of the public in the issuing authority, namely the central bank.

Pindula.com

26th February 2019

Bus Stop TV actor and social media commentator Samantha Kureya was on Tuesday arrested while she was at her home in Mufakose, Harare. Twitter users were full of outrage over the arrest of the popular ‘Gonyeti’. Below are some of the comments made over the arrest:MDC Zimbabwe‏

We are being informed that CID law and order just took Bustop TV’s Samantha Kureya aka Gonyeti from her home for questioning at Harare central. #Freecomicartists @nelsonchamisa

Prof Jonathan Moyo‏

When jokes, let’s be technically correct; when comedy, in fact let’s be constitutionally clear; when freedom of expression invites Gestapo visits from LAW & ORDER in an AUTHORITARIAN MILITARY STATE–which Zimbabwe has become–you must know all hell has broken loose! #FreeGonyeti

Magamba TV : Gonyeti’s only crime is being a comedian who speaks truth to power. Magamba condemns this attack on free speech. We must be free to laugh at our leaders. And our leaders must have a sense of humour!

David Coltart
‏Free Samantha Kureya, otherwise known as the comedian Gonyeti of @bustoptv -who has just been detained by the Mnangagwa regime. Her crime – speaking truth to power, albeit in a very funny way. This brutal regime clearly now has no sense of humour & is petrified of its own shadow.

Chipo Dendere
I was hoping that this was a bad joke but it’s not. A popular Zimbabwean comedian from @bustoptv has been picked up by authorities in Zimbabwe. The two women team often bring humour and joy to people suffering from the current economic & political situation.

uMahambayedwa
Zvino vakatora #Gonyeti viki tinoripedza sei? – with @bustoptv #FreeGonyeti!

Ngonie
#Zimbabwe @ZLHRLawyers has deployed lawyers to offer emergency legal support services to Samantha Kureya, a comedian popularly known as “Gonyeti” of @bustoptv, who has been “picked up from her residence by police & taken to Harare Central Police Station. #FreeGonyeti

Fadzayi Mahere
#FreeGonyeti
RETWEET until it’s not even funny. We want @bustoptv back on our screens and making us laugh!

Bulawayo News 24

12th February 2019

Residents in the western areas of the second city woke up yesterday to see a huge presence of riot police who were anticipating another round of protests.

Apparently, the police were reacting to fake news posted on WhatsApp.

While the police and army have for the past three weeks been a common sight in high density suburbs around Bulawayo, law enforcement agents took their vigilance to another level yesterday.

The Daily News witnessed a number of police officers in full gear in the early hours of yesterday, strategically positioned on different spots in the suburbs with checkpoints on major roads leading to the city centre.

National police spokesperson senior assistant commissioner Charity Charamba could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Police sources said the move was meant to ambush potential protesters after fake news pointing to another protest went viral on social media.

“From Monday 11 February to Friday 15 February 2019, we need to tell our political leadership once again that enough is enough. Enough is enough,” reads one of the WhatsApp posts in part.

“Prices of basic commodities are still going up despite assurances that things will improve. The announced fuel price hikes are causing more pain. Why should we suffer everyday like this? The standard of living has become unbearable while our leaders continue to enjoy themselves at our expense, the taxpayers.

“Our kids are not going to school as teachers are totally incapacitated. They can’t pay our teachers and civil servants a decent salary yet they fly themselves to seek medical services abroad.”

The social media post went on: “Soldiers should return to the barracks and allow us to exercise our constitutional right to protest and petition our leadership. We are not at war. No more bloodshed. Taramba isu”.

Bulawayo, which is usually a quiet city, shocked many last month when its long-suffering residents became violent during a three-day stay-away organised by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

The army and police responded with a massive crackdown, in a development that saw hundreds being arrested and tortured.

According to Matabeleland Collective, a grouping of civic society organisations, over 1 000 residents have been subjected to army torture during the crackdown in the aftermath of the protests.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently denied any human rights violations by the country’s security details.

 “We would want to see evidence where the 17 people were killed, where were they buried. Let us have the relatives who will say I lost a son, I lost a daughter, I lost a cousin and I lost a relative by the hands of the army,” Mnangagwa said.

Meanwhile, respected lawyer David Coltart came out guns blazing against Mnangagwa’s denial of human rights violations in the country.

“Mnangagwa disputes the fact that several women have been raped and says they should report the crimes to the police,” Coltart said.

 “Rape is a harrowing crime and far more difficult to prove than murder, especially when the crime has been committed against mothers under threat of being shot.

“Mnangagwa should know that as a lawyer. He should know that very few rapes are reported worldwide because of the massive trauma women face, especially because they know that convictions are often difficult to obtain,” he said.

“As a lawyer Mnangagwa should know all of this. So, his dismissal of these allegations is not only disingenuous but also shameful,” fumed Coltart.

“He rather needs to ask himself the questions – who are these women who have told numerous people they have been raped? Are they politicians seeking to score points? If not – and there is no proof of that – why would they concoct these stories, causing shame and anguish for themselves in the process?

“Is there any possibility that they are genuine and that they fear the consequences of reporting to a regime that has shown zero inclination to hold soldiers to account for their actions?”

The Standard

10th February 2019

United Refineries CEO Busisa Moyo has lamented the extent of damages suffered by Bulawayo businesses during the January 14 protests, citing the destruction of retail shops especially in high-density areas.

A number of shops were looted after the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions-organised stayaway turned violent.

“This shopping complex with about six shops in Entumbane was looted and then set alight,” Moyo tweeted after touring some of the affected businesses on Friday. “The damage is extensive. Tills and shelfing were taken by looters.

“All the people that worked here are now at home and without work. De-industrialising and now de-retailing of a city is a painful experience.”

He said during the tour he was told by a business owner that the looters appeared well organised.

“A business owner related to me how an advance team of looters had bolt cutters, crow bars and angle grinders and cut his store open.

“They also had explosives and equipment to bust any safe or strongroom open. He managed to get his money from only one of four shops.

“The pharmacy in Cowdray Park was completely looted of medicines and drugs and the owner was brutally attacked by the rioters. He was slashed with a knife and hit with bricks.
“Some shop owners have started to rebuild from own funds but at a low pace.”

Former Education minister David Coltart called for a commission of inquiry to establish who was behind the looting.

“This is shocking and all right-minded people must condemn this,” he tweeted in response to Moyo’s tweets.
“However, we must know the whole truth.

“Much of this was well organised and we need an independent inquiry to see whether there was a third force, which exploited the anger of the people to achieve a political aim.”

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube, who toured the affected businesses on Friday, said the government would avail at least $19 million required by the looted businesses for them to re-open.

Bloomberg

By Desmond Kumbuka and Godfrey Marawanyika

6th February 2019

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa invited opposition leaders for talks after a violent crackdown on anti-government protests over an economic crisis.

The meeting will take place on Wednesday at State House in the capital, Harare, Madock Chivasa, a spokesman for the opposition National Constitutional Assembly, said by phone. Political leaders who contested last year’s presidential elections can bring three delegates and those who won seats in parliament may be accompanied by an additional representative, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda said in an invitation letter sent to political parties. Thousands of people poured onto the streets of Harare and other major cities such as Bulawayo when the main labor federation called a three-day strike last month after fuel prices were more than doubled to the highest in the world. At least a dozen people were killed and hundreds injured as the army tried to suppress the riots in the most brutal crackdown since independence in 1980.

Thousands of people poured onto the streets of Harare and other major cities such as Bulawayo when the main labor federation called a three-day strike last month after fuel prices were more than doubled to the highest in the world. At least a dozen people were killed and hundreds injured as the army tried to suppress the riots in the most brutal crackdown since independence in 1980. Zimbabwe.

Main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa is “looking into” the invitation, Nkululeko Sibanda, a spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change, said by phone late Tuesday. Chamisa said on his Twitter account on Wednesday that dialogue to resolve a political crisis in the country should be held under a “credible convener and mediator.” He didn’t say whether or not he’d attend the meeting.

David Coltart, a member of the MDC’s executive, said Wednesday the party had urged those invited to “politely decline” to attend, according to a statement posted on his Twitter account. The politburo of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front gathered earlier on Wednesday to prepare for the meeting, Obert Mpofu, the party’s secretary for administration, said by phone.

The National

By David Pratt Foreign Affairs Editor

1st February 2019

WELL done the Church of Scotland. At a time when so much of the international community has been shamefully reticent over atrocities committed in a brutal crackdown in Zimbabwe, it’s been reassuring to see the church calling for intervention.

Some of the reports of human rights abuses emerging from Zimbabwe these past weeks have been appalling. Rights groups have already documented shootings, beatings, random arrests and the widespread use of rape and sexual violence.

Soldiers and unidentified thugs ostensibly seeking to quell protests sparked by a recent 150% hike in fuel prices by the government of president Emmerson Mnangagwa have sometimes gone door to door in neighbourhoods carrying out atrocities.

It’s all a far cry from the positive mood and pronouncements made by Mnangagwa last year when I visited the country and he declared: “Zimbabwe is now open for business.”

The decades of dictatorship by former president Robert Mugabe’s regime were declared to be over then and there was a renewed hope in Zimbabwe.

Up until now Mnangagwa has talked a good game, going on a charm offensive desperate to win the West’s approval.

Indeed his deception almost worked, but in the end what Mnangagwa said and promised and what he delivered in terms of deeds have been miles apart.

In light of recent events in Zimbabwe it’s been noticeable just how quickly those hopefuls in the international community have lost confidence in his capacity to bring about democratic reforms.

As these past weeks have starkly revealed, tyranny and misrule linger, and the current crackdown has all the viciousness of the Mugabe era when Mnangagwa earned his nickname the Crocodile for the ruthlessness and cunning he displayed in doing the dictator’s bidding.

What’s now so evidently clear is that Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF party political machine run by Mugabe since independence in 1980 is still in command and up to its old ways.

Troubling as this is, it’s equally disquieting just how scarce criticism has been from the international community. Is it perhaps that they placed too much store by Mnangagwa’s promises and now find themselves at a loss to admit their mistake and openly condemn him?

Certainly the UN and other bodies have denounced his government’s “excessive use of force”, but any practical diplomatic pressure being brought to bear on Mnangagwa remains thin on the ground.

Faced with such a desperate situation, ordinary Zimbabweans now need all the help they can get and from wherever genuinely they can get it, without the political strings so often attached from apparent do-gooders in times of crisis.

It’s to the Church of Scotland’s credit then that it has seen fit to speak out on the recent abuses being perpetrated in the country.

This week as a partner of the Church of Scotland, the Council of Churches in Zambia along with other civil groups urged the Zimbabwean government to stop the persecution of its citizens.

In what they described as a “deeply disturbing” crisis, the church group made a plea to leaders in Zimbabwe to be “magnanimous” and address the suffering of the people.

“The onus lies with President Mnangagwa to be all inclusive in finding a lasting solution to the many challenges that the country faces,” the statement said, noting that there is now a “warlike feeling in the air” in parts of the landlocked country, which borders Zambia.

Former Moderator of the Church of Scotland and current convener of its World Mission Council the Very Rev Dr John Chalmers said they fully endorsed the statement of their partners in Zambia and themselves urged the Scottish and UK Governments to make representations. “It is time to restore order and to allow the voices of the most vulnerable to be heard,” said Chalmers.

I for one always feel heartened by those bodies, be they the church, NGOs or civil society groups in Scotland, willing to step up to the plate and do the right thing even though such crises might be a long way from home.

Scotland, of course, has had a long historical connection with many African countries including Zimbabwe, not all of which have always been something to be proud of. Indeed one need only take a tour around certain suburbs of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare to realise this. At least 13 districts or neighbourhoods have names that are readily identifiable with places in Scotland or are of Scottish origin going back to colonial times, including Strathaven, St Andrews Park and Lochinvar to name but three. Many Zimbabwean citizens, too, have Scottish roots or connections.

During one of my earliest visits to the country, I recall meeting and interviewing David Coltart, a Zimbabwean lawyer, politician and a founding member of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) when it was established in 1999.

Born to a Scottish bank manager father and a South African nurse mother, Coltart’s Scottish grandfather was Deputy Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1938.

Back in 2009 when I met Coltart at his 14th-floor office in a run-down high-rise in Harare, he was to tell me of these family connections and the challenges he faced as newly appointed Minister of Education in a Zimbabwe under the iron rule of Mugabe. An impressive man once targeted by Mugabe’s thugs for assassination because of his opposition to the dictator’s rule, he remained undaunted.

“I’m a pathological optimist,” I recall Coltart saying while pointing out that “perseverance along with gentleness are the best characteristics of the Zimbabwean people”.

Such perseverance and desire to rid the country of the last legacy of Mugabe’s rule continues today with both David Coltart and his son Douglas, a human rights lawyer, still at the centre of that struggle.

Just last week, Coltart the elder described the silence of the international community over the crisis in his country as “deafening”.

On that point he is so right. Perhaps he can take some consolation, however, in the fact that here in Scotland there are those who have had the courage to speak out.

Here’s hoping, too, the Scottish Government acknowledges the Church of Scotland’s admirable lead and makes its own voice heard in condemning those human rights abuses taking place in Zimbabwe right now.

AllAfrica.com

By Jerry Chifamba

29th January 2019

Cape Town — Zimbabwe lawyers have taken to the streets to protest against the alleged abuse of rule of law by the State.

“So proud of my professional colleagues today. Restore the rule of law and constitutional democracy. The army must go back to the barracks,” prominent lawyer and opposition politician Fadzayi Mahere tweeted.

Human rights watchdogs in Zimbabwe have strongly criticised authorities for using troops to quell demonstrations.

Zimbabwe’s Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has accused security forces of systematic torture, raising fears that the country is reverting to the authoritarianism that characterised the rule of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s predecessor, Robert Mugabe.

Child Rights International Network says minors have been persecuted. In Zimbabwe “Children as young as 11-years-old have been detained on frivolous charges” related to recent protests, flaunting the government’s lack of respect for their right to freedom of assembly, they said in a statement.

Lawyers and activists say police and soldiers have killed at least a dozen people, wounded scores and arrested hundreds since protests began following a hike in fuel prices. Police say three people died during the protests.

Lawyers and activists say hundreds of Zimbabweans are in custody accused of public order offences, including at least four lawmakers from the opposition MDC party, and Evan Mawarire, a pastor who rose to prominence as a critic of former leader Robert Mugabe and led a national shutdown in 2016.

“I am proud to have this astonishingly brave and competent human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa as my friend. Here she is preparing to march with other lawyers in Harare today to protest the subversion of due process by the Judiciary in #Zimbabwe. Be safe,” tweeted opposition politician David Coltart.

Before winning a contested election in July, Mnangagwa promised a clean break with the 37-year rule of Mugabe, who used the security forces to quell civilian protests.