NewZimbabwe.com

21st January 2019

By UK Bureau & Associated Press

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa announced on Sunday that he will return home and skip the World Economic Forum in Switzerland after a week of turmoil in which activists have said at least a dozen people have been killed in a government crackdown.

Mnangagwa had been under growing pressure to come home from a two-week overseas visit as accounts emerged of abuses by security forces, including dozens of people wounded by gunfire and others hunted down in their homes and severely beaten.

Sunday’s decision was made after he had visited four countries on what was supposed to be a five-nation foreign trip. The Zanu PF leader visited Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

Zimbabwe has seen days of unrest since Mnangagwa made an announcement more than doubling fuel prices that made the struggling country’s gasoline the most expensive in the world.

Mnangagwa in his Twitter post didn’t mention the violence, saying only that he is returning “in light of the economic situation.”

The first priority, he said, “is to get Zimbabwe calm, stable and working again.”

President of Zimbabwe✔@edmnangagwa

In light of the economic situation, I will be returning home after a highly productive week of bilateral trade and investment meetings. We will be ably represented in Davos by Minister of Finance, Mthuli Ncube. The first priority is to get Zimbabwe calm, stable and working again.3,4066:20 PM – Jan 20, 2019Twitter Ads info and privacy4,505 people are talking about this

The decision to cancel the trip and return home came amid claims of deep divisions in the ruling Zanu PF party and some media reports of a second coup plot.

Although, the administration blames the opposition for the violence and looting seen country-wide during last week’s protests, Zanu PF supporters and security services personnel have also been arrested in connection with the outrages.

A cryptic Twitter message by former deputy finance minister and Mnangagwa loyalist Terrence Mukupe at the weekend left many eyebrows raised and prompted speculation that some in Zanu PF were likely plotting Mnangagwa’s ouster.

Mukupe remarked;

I’m worried with what’s going on… The citizens are blind to what’s really going on… The next 72hrs are going to be crucial regarding the path we are going to take as a nation… Chokwadi chichabuda… President Mnangagwa is not the issue… Viva Zimbabwe.”

Meanwhile, former education minister and opposition MDC politician David Coltart claimed that a “third force” had been linked to the attacks in Bulawayo and other parts of the country.

“There is a mounting body of evidence which suggests that a third force was involved in the rampant looting which has taken place across Zimbabwe,” said Coltart in a weekend article.

“Companies who trade in Bulawayo’s suburbs have given evidence of a third force looting their properties on occasions with the police watching.

“They have told of local residents warning them that people unknown to their local communities have been brought in, and that they (the local residents) have not themselves been involved in the looting. ”

Meanwhile, at Davos in Switzerland, Mnangagwa had planned to appeal for foreign investment and loans to the southern African nation, but the visit had been expected to be a challenge.

His Davos visit a year ago came shortly after he took over from longtime, repressive leader Robert Mugabe, a move cheered by Zimbabweans and the international community.

A year of troubles in which his administration failed to improve the collapsed economy, narrowly won a disputed election and violently put down anti-government protests has caused widespread concern.

Growing frustration over rising inflation, a severe currency crisis and fuel lines that stretch for miles finally snapped after Mnangagwa announced the fuel price increase.

Civic leaders called for Zimbabweans to stay at home for three days in protest. Other people took to the streets. Some looted, in desperation or anger.

The military was called in, and with Mnangagwa overseas, the hard-line former military commander and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga was left in charge. A crackdown began.

More than 600 people have been arrested, among them a prominent pastor and activist, Evan Mawarire, who has supported peaceful protests on social media and now faces a possible 20 years in prison on a subversion charge.

Some 400 people have been denied bail, said his lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa. She said she will apply for bail at the High Court Monday. She said described the case against Mawarire as a “travesty of justice.”

Mawarire has called it “heartbreaking” to see the new government acting like that of former leader Mugabe, who stepped down under military pressure in late 2017 and was succeeded by former protege Mnangagwa.

In what critics have called an attempt to cover up abuses, the government in the past few days has imposed an internet shutdown across the country.

On Monday, the High Court will hear a case challenging the internet restrictions. Although access to the internet is back, social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp are still blocked.

Jacob Mafume, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, said Mnangagwa’s return “was long overdue, in the first place he was not supposed to travel abroad when the country was burning from the economic and political crisis. … However, we don’t have confidence that his return will solve anything unless he opens lines of communication. What is needed is political dialogue but Mnangagwa has been avoiding us.”

The Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference last week lamented the government’s “intolerant handling of dissent” and its failure to halt economic collapse, concluding that “our country is going through one of the most trying periods in its history.”

NewZimbabwe.com

By UK Bureau & Paidashe Mandivengerei in Harare

21st January 2019

SENIOR opposition politicians and former cabinet ministers have accused the government of using an “unprecedented and illegal” internet shutdown imposed last week to hide the administration crimes against humanity.

Former education minister and opposition MDC politician David Coltart described the blockade as a “modern-day equivalent of the Nazi book burnings” of the 1930s.

Not even Robert Mugabe ever turned off the internet during his rule,” said Coltart in an article published at the weekend.

Government imposed the internet ban last Tuesday as part of its lethal response to the nationwide protest called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).

Although internet access has been restored, popular social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube remain banned.

Rights groups say the government crackdown against protestors has left 12 people dead, dozens injured from gunshots and hundreds in detention.

The ban was imposed because the “regime is fearful that the truth of what has actually happened in Zimbabwe since January 14 will be revealed,” said Coltart.

Commenting on Twitter, exiled former information minister Prof Jonathan Moyo said; “the military and Zanu PF militia used that Internet shutdown along with nightfall to unleash untold horror upon residents of high-density suburbs in all cities across Zimbabwe!

“While Bulawayo and Harare are the most affected, all cities and towns in the country are suffering the same assaults. He said he and his colleagues have been overwhelmed by desperate SoS messages of killings, torture, rape, injuries and abductions.”

Coltart added; “ … appalling things which have happened.

Doctors report people shot with live ammunition. It is thought numerous people have been killed through the use of live ammunition.

“There are reports of men in uniform systematically breaking into houses of innocent people in working-class areas. There are other reports of tear gas being randomly thrown into houses.

“Hundreds of people have been detained. Lawyers attending to them in Harare on Wednesday reported to me that juveniles aged 14 are among those detained.

“They were being held with the adults — some had been held since 14 January, beyond the 48-hour limit for holding a person, as prescribed in the constitution.”

According to Coltart, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government was determined to avoid a repeat of what happened with the August 1 post-election protests.

“When innocents were gunned down by the military on the streets of Harare on the 1 August 2018, the regime learnt the lesson that the internet instantly reports the truth and provides damning evidence against the perpetrators.

“They simply cannot allow that to happen again and so they have cut off the internet, or at least the parts of it which can instantly convey images of abuse to the world,” he said.

The human rights lawyer called for international intervention saying, “The world must now act, and act urgently.

“Mnangagwa … must be taken to task … world leaders for the appalling human rights abuses and crimes against humanity being perpetrated against civilians by his regime.”

Prof Moyo also urged the regional SADC organisation and the African Union (AU) to help save lives.

“While SADC and the AU see the situation in Zimbabwe as demos caused by Mnangagwa’s hike of fuel prices, the reality is that the price hike and demos are symptomatic of a constitutional crisis that has become humanitarian.

“Engaging now than later will save lives!”

Pindula News

20th January 2019

Supporting calls for Kirsty Coventry to resign, lawyer and former government minister David Coltart, said today that Coventry should resign as she risks being culpable of ongoing government violence against Zimbabweans.

Coltart was responding to a conversation started by another prominent lawyer, Fadzai Mahare, who said she respected Coventry’s decision to stay on but questioned how she’d be able to dissociate herself from the liability of the conduct of a Government she’s part of.

Some on Twitter have questioned why calls to resign have focused on Kirsty Coventry and not other ministers. Such calls, it has been said are based on her race and a messiah complex:

Rumour circulated last week that Coventry had resigned. However she said she would stay on and that she believed sports (which she’s a minister of) is part of the solution.

A few people, such as 2018 presidential election candidate, Noah Manyika, called on Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube to resign too.

The Zimbabwean security agents have gone on a campaign of retribution on Zimbabweans for protests on 14 January 2019. it has been reported that as many as 12 people have died from the violence on Zimbabweans, most of them men from high density surburbs in Harare.

Bloomberg

By Brian Latham and Desmond Kumbuka

20th January 2019

Zimbabwe’s police and military blamed violence during last week’s protest on men masquerading as soldiers in stolen military uniforms.

Criminals dressed as soldiers and police “hired vehicles from car hire companies” before committing criminal acts, police spokeswoman Charity Charamba told reporters late Saturday in the capital, Harare.

“The explanation is as pathetic as it is ridiculous,” David Coltart, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party’s legal secretary, said by telephone.

Thousands of Zimbabweans took to the streets last week, barricading roads and torching some government property to protest the state’s doubling of fuel prices. The violence killed at least 12 people and left scores with injuries.

In a separate interview with Zimbabwe’s state broadcaster, presidential spokesman George Charamba said blocking access to the internet last week “was necessary.”

”The internet was a tool that was used to coordinate violence. Naturally, when you’re reacting to a conspiracy of that nature, you ensure that society is protected. There’s no way that you expect us to sacrifice a national good for the sake of the internet,” he said.

Newsday

By Newsday - January 19, 2019 

BRITISH Africa Minister Harriett Baldwin on Thursday summoned Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Retired Colonel Christian Katsande, to discuss the Theresa May government’s concerns over reports of violence, killings of demonstrators, internet blackout and a security crackdown in the country this week.

BY EVERSON MUSHAVA

Harriet said Britain was deeply concerned by reports of violence and the security crackdown in the country.

This came as reports showed that an estimated 14 people had died and hundreds injured and arrested since Monday when the stay away organised by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions turned violent.

“Deeply concerned by reports of violence, fatalities, internet shutdown and security crack-down this week in Zimbabwe. I summoned ambassador to @foreignoffice to discuss concerns in person,” Baldwin tweeted Thursday evening.

Katsande was Deputy Chief Secretary before being reassigned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa after the November 2017 coup which ousted former President Robert Mugabe from power.

In a ministerial statement on Zimbabwe yesterday, Baldwin said: “Since the weekend there has been widespread unrest and a heavy security force response, with several people killed and many injured.

“While we condemn the violent behaviour of some protestors, and unlawful acts such as arson and looting, we are deeply concerned that Zimbabwe’s security forces have acted disproportionately in response. In particular, there are disturbing reports of use of live ammunition, intimidation and excessive force,” the statement read.

“We call on the government of Zimbabwe to ensure its security forces act professionally, proportionately and at all times with respect for human life and constitutional rights. We further call on the government of Zimbabwe to investigate all allegations of human rights abuses. We also urge the reinstatement of full internet access, consistent with citizens’ constitutional right to freedom of expression.”

The European Union, in a statement from Brussels, yesterday said the escalation of violence in Zimbabwe over recent days had been aggravated by the disproportionate use of force by security personnel.

“We expect the government of Zimbabwe to uphold human rights and the rule of law, as enshrined in the Constitution, and ensure due legal process for those detained. Access to medical services should be granted to those in need. It is essential that demonstrations be carried out peacefully; the destruction of private or public property is unacceptable,” the EU said.

“Moreover, the shutdown of access to the Internet should also be reversed. Access to information is a universal right and should be respected by government in accordance with its constitutional and international obligations.”

Zanu PF has accused the MDC of the violence, but ongoing court cases revealed the involvement of the Zimbabwe military and ruling party apparatchiks in the orgy of violence.

Zimbabwe authorities also deported eTV news reporters yesterday upon touching down at the Robert Mugabe International Airport, in what the media organisation claimed was an attempt to cover up for the heinous activities by the soldiers.

Media Alliance of Zimbabwe said in a statement: “Aldrin Smpear and Linge Ndabambi of eTV news were refused entry into Zimbabwe on flimsy grounds. “The deportation of the foreign journalists comes on the backdrop of the second directive by government to completely shutdown the Internet in response to widespread citizens’ demonstrations, violent protests and a heavy-handed State response that has plunged the country into a crisis.” In the US, American senators condemned the violence and implored the Zimbabwe authorities to desist from excessive use of force when dealing with civilian protests.

Newsday

By Newsday - January 19, 2019 

IN a shocking exposé, victims of the violent attacks by uniformed military and police officers have spilled more graphic details about how they were
bludgeoned with blunt objects and torched with piping hot metal rods.

By Phyllis Mbanje/Everson Mushava

So barbaric were the attacks which are still ongoing in most parts of Harare’s high-density suburbs, that many will remain with the mental scars long after their flesh wounds have healed.

Most of the victims from Kuwadzana, Harare, including children as young as 12, suffered serious injuries after the military embarked on a door-to-door crackdown meant to quell the protests over fuel price increases and general hardships that many Zimbabweans are facing.

Seventeen year-old Stephen from Kuwadzana said he was traumatised by attacks from soldiers who he always looked up to as heroes. He is nursing head and back injuries.

Narrating his ordeal, the “O” Level student said Tuesday was a nightmare for his community, which was subjected to such torture many will require extensive medical care as well as counselling.

“All hell broke loose on Tuesday morning when the soldiers descended on our neighbourhood and started beating people. Many ran indoors to seek refuge, but they followed and either teargassed them out or kicked down doors,” he said painfully.

Like everyone, Stephen and his 12-year-old sister and their parents locked themselves up, but the soldiers came and demanded that they open the doors.

“My mother pleaded with them, saying they were just mere school children, but the soldiers did not listen and dragged us away. They took me and my sister, and we were ordered to roll in raw sewage before being beaten up with logs,” he said.

“It was very painful, but I tried to be brave and looked them in the face. That must have angered them more and they continued beating me.”

Several men and boys spent nights in the fields because the soldiers targeted them more. Those who failed to get away in time were ordered to lie down before being trampled on by booted feet and steel rods.

Many were taken up a mountain, beaten and ordered to roll down.

“We stayed in the forests, afraid to go back home and were very concerned about our families we had left behind,” a young man, from Mbare, said.

Elizabeth can hardly walk. They beat her backside until it turned black from repeated strokes.

“I cannot even sit properly; I am in so much pain. I do not belong to any political party, but they beat me up anyhow. What crime have I committed?” she queried.

The 30-year-old was beaten up in front of her four-year old son.

“My son saved me when he cried as he watched the entire drama, and that is when they stopped. One of them actually said if he had not cried, they wanted to kill me,” she said.

Another 27-year-old woman from Hopley, Jennifer, was battered while she was sleeping in her house.

“They demanded to see my husband and when I told them that he was at work, they started assaulting me. There were dogs everywhere. I was scared. I did not think I would live to see another day,” she said.

Like the other female victims, her backside got the worst and she struggles to sit or walk. Thirty seven year-old Getrude was beaten with a red-hot rod plucked from a burning tyre.

“They dragged me from my house and took me to where the tyres were burning and asked who had set the fire. I told them I had no idea, but they beat me up and took a burning rod and used it on me,” she said. Afterwards, they asked her to smear soot on the gaping wound.

The children whose age range from 12 were still traumatised and afraid to go home. “If I hear a sound, I jump because I imagine that they have come back, this time to kill me and my family,” said a 12-year-old, who had head and back injuries.

Yesterday, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said they had noted the human rights violations with concern since the beginning of the protests.

In a statement, they said they had recorded over 844 human rights violations during the shutdown, with at least 12 deaths and 78 injuries from gunshots as well as 242 from dog bites, assaults and torture. Over 466 cases of arbitrary arrests and detentions were also recorded.

The forum said it condemned the random and indiscriminate use of live ammunition as well as lethal force.

“The forum has received disturbing reports of armed security breaking into private homes, torturing occupants, including children as young as nine years,”

They also expressed concern over the Internet blockade by government, describing the act as unwarranted and unjustified.

Senator David Coltart

Bulawayo

19th January 2019

The Mnangagwa regime took the unprecedented, unconstitutional, and therefore illegal action, of turning off the internet entirely and throughout Zimbabwe on Wednesday. Not even Robert Mugabe ever turned off the internet during his rule. Since then the internet has largely remained cut off and certain sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp and YouTube have been permanently cut off. Zimbabweans have had to use other means to get news of the dreadful things taking place in Zimbabwe out to the rest of the world. It has also been extraordinarily difficult to get news, even of events taking place on the other side of town.

This is the modern day equivalent of the Nazi book burnings,  a campaign conducted by the German Student Union (the “DSt”) to ceremonially burn books in Nazi Germany and Austria in the 1930s. The books targeted for burning were those viewed as being subversive or as representing ideologies opposed to Nazism. These included books written by Jewish, pacifist, religious,classical liberal, anarchist, socialist, and communist authors, among others. The book burning heralded far worse atrocities.

The Mnangagwa regime is fearful that the truth of what has actually happened in Zimbabwe this past week will be revealed. The propaganda being put out by the regime is that the MDC has organised violent protests which has caused destruction and that lawful means have been used by the State to quell the protests. The truth is that a three day non violent shutdown protest was called for by trade union, civic and church leaders. All of them specifically stated that the protest should be non violent and repeated those pleas. The truth is that a sinister third force appears to have been involved and the State has being using unconstitutional means to deny Zimbabweans their constitutional right to protest peacefully.

There is a mounting body of evidence which suggests that a third force was involved in the rampant looting which took place across Zimbabwe this week. Companies who trade in Bulawayo’s suburbs have given evidence of a third force looting their properties on occasions with the police watching. They have told of local residents warning them that people unknown to their local communities have been brought in, and that they (the local residents) have not themselves been involved in the looting. Having represented the citizens of Bulawayo for 13 years in Parliament it seems completely out of character to me that they would have been involved the wholesale destruction of the very shops they get their food from. The people who have suffered the most are the local residents and I simply do not believe that they are behind this mayhem. Frustrated jobless youths of course may be involved in petty looting, but it is hard to accept that such widespread and seemingly coordinated looting was done without a hidden hand at play.

Given this regime’s propensity to use live ammunition and the widespread deployment of troops and police throughout Zimbabwe it is also hard to comprehend how such widespread looting could have happened on the scale it did. The lead story in yesterday’s Newsday states that at least one army officer, police officer and ZANU PF youths were amongst those arrested by professional policemen trying to their job. The MDC HQ building was firebombed on Wednesday by masked assailants. These reports lend credence to the suggestion that another hand has been at play in subverting what was meant to be a peaceful stayaway.

There are further appalling things which have happened this week. Doctors report tens of people shot with live ammunition. It is thought numerous people have been killed this week with the use of live ammunition. There are reports of men in uniform systematically breaking into houses of innocent people in working class areas. There are other reports of tear gas being randomly thrown into houses. Hundreds of people have been detained. Lawyers attending to them in Harare on Wednesday reported to me that juveniles aged 14 are amongst those detained. They were being held with the adults – some had been held since Monday, beyond the 48 hour limit for holding a person prescribed in the Constitution.

When accused people were finally taken to court lawyers have uniformly reported that other fundamental Constitutional rights, such as the right to have a reasonable time to prepare a defence, have been violated. It appears that magistrates have been instructed to deny bail to everyone and to start trials immediately without allowing accused persons time to adequately prepare their defences. Magistrates are meant to exercise their discretion independently and it is odd that such a uniform practice has suddenly been applied countrywide. Included amongst the accused persons are of course civic and church leaders such as Pastor Evan Mawarire who have clearly not committed crimes – Pastor Mawarire in all his statements unequivocally called for peaceful protests to be conducted as allowed by the Constitution. His charges are utterly spurious. In contrast it appears that some of those who have been accused of actual participation in violent acts, including looting, have been released on senior orders.

Finally last night a horrifying new development commenced with the abduction of Teacher Trade Union leader Obert Masarure from his home by four armed men in plain clothes. This is reminiscent of the abductions of MDC activists in 2008 when some 400 MDC activists were murdered in this manner. Other activists are in hiding – not because they have committed crimes but because they fear for their lives.

In the circumstances it is not surprising that the regime has decided to shut down the pesky internet. We must remember that some of the very same people responsible for Gukurahundi, Murambatsvina, and the 2008 crimes against humanity are still in charge of government. When those crimes were committed the internet was either non existent or far less pervasive than it is today. That enabled them to get away with their crimes then. When innocents were gunned down by the military on the streets of Harare on the 1st August last year the regime learned the lesson that the internet instantly reports the truth and provides damning evidence against the perpetrators. They simply cannot allow that to happen again and so they have cut off the internet, or at least the parts of it which can instantly convey images of abuse to the world.

The world must now act, and act urgently. Mnangagwa is attending Davos this weekend and he must be taken to task there by world leaders for the appalling human rights abuses and crimes against humanity being perpetrated against civilians by his regime. President Ramaphosa has a particular responsibility to rein in his neighbour. If he fails to do so he will himself become complicit in the terrible things taking place in Zimbabwe.

*A “crime against humanity” is defined in section 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as “a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, with knowledge of the attack, including murder, persecution on political grounds, involving the multiple commission of acts in furtherance of a State or organisational policy to commit such an attack”.

I’ve seen too much hate to want to hate, myself, and I have see hate on the faces of too many ZANU PF youth and thugs to want to hate, myself; and every time I see it: I say to myself, hate is too great a burden to bear. Somehow we must be able to stand up before our most bitter opponents and say: we shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will and we will still love you. We cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws and abide by the unjust system because non-cooperation with evil is as is much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good, and so throw us in jail and we will still love you. Bomb our homes, loot our stores, and threaten our children, and, as difficult as it is, we will still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence, armed with AK47s, into our communities at the midnight hour and drag us out on some wayside road and leave us half dead as you beat us,  and we will still love you. Send your propaganda agents around the country and make it appear that we are not fit to rule,  but we will still love you. But be assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only freedom for ourselves, we  will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory. It there is to be peace on Earth and in Zimbabwe and goodwill toward men, we must finally believe in the ultimate morality of the universe, and believe that all reality hinges on moral foundations.