South Africa calls on the leaders of Zimbabwe to take urgent steps to finalise the amendments to their constitution, the allocation of the remaining Cabinet posts and the formation of a representative Government without any further delay and before the situation of ordinary Zimbabweans degenerates any further. No amount of political disagreement can ever justify the suffering that ordinary Zimbabweans are being subjected to at the moment. Like SADC, South Africa would like to see a political settlement sooner rather than later so that the region could start focussing on the most urgent measures needed to rebuild Zimbabwe’s economy.THAT’S WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT, son of the soil

Draft Amendment Number 19, which formalises the posts of prime minister and two deputies was written by Government and submitted to the facilitator, Mbeki who called for a meeting of the main parties to dicsuss its contents.

A report in teh Financial Gazette (FinGaz) newspaper revealed that on Tuesday Mbeki asked the negotiators to converge in Johannesburg for a meeting that was scheduled to be held yesterday to deliberate on the Draft Amendment Bill made available to him by the authorities in Harare, but the MDC resolved to boycott any further Sadc initiatives until the regional body addresses what the party regards as “critical outstanding issues”.

According to the FinGaz, “sources in Pretoria said Mbeki, who was eager to have a new government in Zimbabwe as early as possible, reluctantly postponed the meeting to next Monday after being informed that the MDC’S chief negotiator, Tendai Biti had prior engagements in the United States.”

“The facilitator had invited the Zanu PF and MDC negotiators to Johannesburg for a meeting, which was supposed to take place today (Wednesday), but he has deferred it to Monday after MDC-T said its chief negotiator will not be available,” sources were quoted by the weekly.

The same sources told FinGaz that Biti had indicated he would only be available either on Monday or Tuesday next week.

“Biti, however, told The Financial Gazette that MDC negotiators would not attend the Monday or any further meetings involving the power-sharing agreement until SADC rescinds its resolution and shows ’seriousness’ about resolving the Zimbabwean crisis.

“Our national executive council rejected the SADC resolution that the three political parties should form a government. So we are not meeting anyone as we have a problem with the SADC resolution,” said Biti.

“We cannot legitimise an illegal and ill-conceived SADC resolution by meeting anyone in South Africa. As MDC negotiators, we have no mandate to meet anyone in South Africa on any SADC business as the SADC resolution was rejected by the party’s national executive council. I repeat we are not meeting anyone,” he said.

Biti denied asking for the postponement of yesterday’s meeting until Monday on the pretext that he was travelling to the USA. “It’s just a blue lie. I am not going anywhere. I am in Harare and will be in Dotito while they meet in South Africa. The truth of the matter is that we are not going to that meeting. We have stated our position and we are not going anywhere and are not meeting anyone,” said Biti.

FinGaz says it is reliably informed that both Zanu PF and MDC-M strongly believe the Tsvangirai camp and particularly Biti, is deliberately sabotaging the talks. “SADC leaders know our position and that we are committed to the power-sharing arrangement, but pretend not to know,” said Biti, denying any intention to sabotage the negotiations.

After its national executive council meeting last Friday the MDC-T said it would only enter into a coalition government only after the Constitutional Amendment Number 19 has been passed into law and other six allegedly outstanding issues have been ironed out, including the issue of the appointment of the 10 provincial governors and other senior government officials such as permanent secretaries and ambassadors.

Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga, the deputy secretary general of the MDC-M, confirmed they were due to meet yesterday, but the meeting had been moved to next week. “Yes, we were supposed to meet sometime this week in South Africa, but the meeting has been postponed to next week,” said Misihairambwi-Mushonga.

“The purpose was to look at draft Amendment Number 19,” she said.

They said politicians who joined the country’s two major parties from
the former liberation movement that was swallowed up by Zanu PF after the
signing of the Unity Accord had only sought a temporary political home.
Zanu PF, which is still smarting from its worst electoral performance
in history, is battling a serious rebellion from structures mainly in
Matabeleland where calls to break away from the unity accord continue to
gather momentum.
Although the ruling party has played second fiddle to the MDC in the
restive region since the opposition entered the political scene in 1999, it
has won a number of constituencies in previous elections. It had also
maintained structures in all the provinces with offices mainly taken over
from PF Zapu.
Analysts said if PF Zapu was revived, this could result in the total
collapse of Zanu PF in Matabeleland.
“The split is definitely going to erode both Zanu PF and MDC-T support
in Matabeleland but the ruling party will suffer the most,” said Jethro
Mpofu, a Bulawayo-based analyst.
“If you look at the former Zapu people, there are those die-hards who
took a break from politics after the signing of the Unity Accord and joined
the MDC at its formation, and those who went to Zanu PF with reservations.
“The Zapu revivalists have a chance to tap into all those groups. So
if carried out properly the revival will create a new political force,
especially when those who are expected to form a unity government continue
dilly-dallying.”
Negotiations to set up a unity government between Zanu PF and MDC are
currently stalled over the distribution of ministries and the dispute looks
set to spill over to next year. The PF Zapu revivalists led by former Home
Affairs Minister, Dumiso Dabengwa, say they are not happy with the September
15 power-sharing agreement between the two major parties.
The re-launch of the party that was once led by Vice-President Joshua
Nkomo has been greeted by mass resignations of senior Zanu PF officials in
Matabeleland and the Midlands. But Cont Mhlanga, who was part of the Zapu
2000 that rattled Zanu PF with calls for the review of the Unity Accord,
said the revival of the party was ill- timed.
“It is good to see that there are people from Zanu PF who have finally
responded to people’s calls to pull out of the accord which did not benefit
them,” he said. “When we started Zapu 2000 these politicians said we were
lost and now I am wondering if it was a matter of us being nine years ahead
of time or them being nine years behind.
“The bottom line is that they have to answer questions like what were
they doing in Zanu PF all along.”
Gorden Moyo, the director of Bulawayo Agenda, fears the revived party
might suffer the same fate as Simba Makoni’s Mavambo/Kusile project as its
backers would find it difficult to shed the Zanu PF tag.
“Their names are tarnished and their credentials are tattered,” Moyo
said. “I think they will face many hurdles because we saw that with people
who tried to revive Zapu in the 1990s and were not tainted by Zanu PF, but
still they found it very difficult.
“Already we have two parties calling themselves Zapu led by Agrippa
Madlela and Sikhumbuzo Dube.”
Makoni, who was viewed as one of the few popular leaders in Zanu PF,
performed badly in the presidential election where he came behind MDC’s
Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe.
Analysts blamed Makoni’s poor performance on his links with Zanu

Saturday, 22 November 2008 19:51
THE country’s first commercial bio-diesel plant, commissioned amid
pomp and fanfare last year, is operating at less than five percent capacity,
investigations revealed last week.

Workers at the gigantic plant in Harare – once touted as the panacea
to the country’s perennial – said they were producing “a few hundreds of
litres” of diesel and cooking oil a month.
They attributed the false start to an acute shortage of Jatropha,
cotton seed, sunflower, soya beans and maize to produce diesel and cooking
oil.
When standardbusiness visited the plant just before midday on
Thursday, the plant with a capacity to produce between 90-100 million litres
of diesel annually was silent.
“For the past year, we have been using cotton seed for the production
of diesel and cooking oil but it has run out,” said a worker speaking on
condition that he was not named.
“We can’t use maize or soya beans because there is hunger. People need
them for food.”
At least 500 tonnes of seed oil is required annually to produce the
targeted 100 million litres of bio-diesel.
“We have to wait for the Jatropha seedlings to mature otherwise we are
wasting our time,” said another worker.
It takes between two and three years for a Jatropha seedling to
mature.
The worker said when the fuel is available at the plant anyone can buy
using foreign currency. He said initially they were selling the diesel for
US$1.35 a litre, but the price was being reviewed following the drop in fuel
prices globally.
Only one of the tanks was said to be full of diesel, which was being
sold in foreign currency.
Most of the fuel, the workers said, was being sold to the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe (RBZ), which was heavily involved in the setting up of the
plant.
Edward Madyavanhu, finance and administration manager of Transload
Enterprises – a company that manages the plant – refused to comment
referring all questions to the company’s managing director, Douglas Musiiwa.
Musiiwa could not be reached for comment.
During the plant’s commissioning last year, government officials said
it would meet 10% of Zimbabwe’s annual diesel requirements, which translates
to foreign currency savings of US$80 million annually.
RBZ Governor Gideon Gono said the central bank has set aside funds to
support a Jatropha feed stock growing programme.
“Under the programme beneficiaries of Zimbabwe’s land reform programme
will receive support to grow Jatropha on marginal land as the country works
towards its target of achieving fuel self-sufficiency by 2010,” said Gono.
He also announced government would set up one bio-diesel plant for
each of the provinces by 2010.
However, the project seems to have stalled.
RBZ spokesperson Kumbirai Nhongo did not respond to questions emailed
to him last week.
Experts however say there is need to guard against diverting
productive land and food crops to the production of biofuels at the expense
of regional food security.
The World Food Programme (WFP) says over five million people will need
food aid at the beginning of next year.

International law requiring punishment of atrocious crimes and, most
critically, international pressure for compliance can provide important
counterweight to pressure from Zimbabwe’s ruling elite responsible for the
Matabeleland and the Midlands massacres, the June 2008 burning to death of
opposition activists at Jerera growth point in Masvingo province, and other
heinous criminal activities.
I want to argue that when prosecutions are administered and
undertaken, pursuant to the provisions of international law forbidding acts
such as genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and war crimes, they are
less likely to be perceived or opposed as acts of revenge.
In my view, it is easy to believe that prosecutions that come after
the fall of a dictatorship are politically motivated when a decision to
institute them is a matter of unbridled discretion; justice is readily
mistaken for vengeance hence the need to deliver justice to Zimbabweans
under strict provisions of international law, such as the provisions of
Convention Against Torture and some aspects of domestic law which forbid
torture, inhuman and degrading treatment of citizens.
It has been mistakenly argued that amnesty laws may be necessary to
mend social divisions because, in my view, amnesty laws are not the only way
of achieving reconciliation in troubled countries such as Zimbabwe where the
rule of law has been sacrificed in pursuit of unbridled thirst for power by
President Mugabe and his ruling elite.
There are other means to pursue reconciliation in Zimbabwe without
allowing impunity to be celebrated. I want to point out that amnesty laws
can be used to promote reconciliation in post-Mugabe Zimbabwe, provided they
do not cover atrocious crimes which domestic and international laws require
states to punish.
Those in Zimbabwe, the region and the international community
struggling to end the country’s political and economic woes should
appreciate that international human rights law require States to punish
certain crimes committed in their territorial jurisdiction. Zimbabwe, under
the Zanu PF dictatorship, should be no exception and amnesty laws should not
be invoked to cover up years of rampant human rights abuses in the country.
Several human rights treaties which form part of international law
such as the Convention Against Torture to which Zimbabwe is a party, as well
as the United Nations Charter, require state parties to criminalize
particular abuses such as genocide and torture, investigate violations and
seek to punish wrongdoers. These treaties make it clear that a state party
fails in its duty to ensure the cluster of rights protecting physical
integrity if it does not investigate violations and seek to punish those who
are responsible.
I know and accept that people in Zimbabwe will legitimately accuse me
of writing under the comfort of the United States when I make these views
but I remain convinced that in the case of Zimbabwe, I would prefer to
suffer longer under Mugabe’s tyranny in the hope of a fully satisfactory
political outcome, than to make progress through untidy promises.
I am of this view because it is important for the country to exorcise
the ghosts of the Zanu PF administration by laying bare the atrocities
associated with it through a proper and independent investigation, and the
prosecution of serious crimes against humanity to the fullest extent
possible, so that future generations will not be haunted. The rich, poor,
powerful and weak should be equal before the law and this cannot happen when
there are elements in the security forces and the ruling elite who think
that they can continue to get away with murder for the rest of their lives.
Zimbabwe needs its political leadership to be accountable to its
misdeeds in order to create a law-abiding culture in the country. It is
important to have such critical, complex and in some respect controversial
circumstances in order for future political leaders in Zimbabwe to respect
the call to act responsibly when they assume the leadership of the country.
More so, that kind of accountability will make political players
instil in their supporters respect for the rule of law, allow the security
forces to realise their constitutional mandate and desist from operating
like militias and political commissars of rogue political leaders.
Zimbabwe is currently littered with numerous cases of impunity because
of the total disregard for the rule of law that is supported by the country’s
ruling party. In order to return to law and order there is need for those
responsible for gross human rights violations to account to the justice
system in order to heal those whose fundamental rights were violated.
In my view, beyond taking criminal proceedings against human rights
violators in the country in order to promote reconciliation, not the type
Mugabe promoted in 1980 which was not statute based but rhetorical, a truth
commission which strives to investigate past human rights abuses; provide an
official forum where victims of Zanu PF and security forces’ abuses and
perpetrators alike can tell their stories and offer evidence and prepare an
authoritative report that documents the events, makes conclusions and
suggest ways in which similar abuses and atrocities can be avoided in
future.
The findings and recommendations of such a body should be made public.
I say so because Zimbabwe is littered with commissions of investigations
including the Chihambakwe and Dumbutshena one into the Matabeleland and
Midlands disturbances whose findings remain hidden at State House while the
victims of that sad chapter in the history of the country still wait for
justice.
Any post-Mugabe truth commission must make recommendations for
reparations to be given to the victims of state organised murders, violence
and abuses, which must take the form of cash payments, pensions, free access
to health care and psychiatric treatment, or public memorials and national
remembrance days. But beyond that, efforts should be made to seek
compensation from the perpetrators such as senior government and ruling
party officials and security forces, rather than relying on government
alone.
Even if amnesty could be exercised, like in the case of South Africa,
it should not be unconditional. In order to foster a democratic society, no
person should be given amnesty unless he or she applies for it, makes a full
disclosure of the crimes, and establishes that the crimes were committed
with a political objective. In this regard, wrongdoers and hardliners within
the political establishment in Zimbabwe who fail to follow this course
should be prosecuted.
Both the international human rights law and international humanitarian
law demand that people responsible for gross violation of human rights
should be held accountable for their crimes. For this reason, the granting
of unconditional, blanket amnesty would be unacceptable and should be
avoided in Zimbabwe.
In the case of Zimbabwe, Parliament should be allowed to exercise that
role. This is because Zimbabwe has seen numerous amnesties by the present
government which have benefited the perpetrators of violence rather than the
victims. Some of the people that have benefited from Mugabe’s self-styled
amnesties since independence should be behind bars.
If Zimbabwe is to return to democratic legitimacy, any new government
or political order after Mugabe should further respond to human rights
violations by adopting laws which bar certain categories of former
government officials and party members from public employment. Such measures
would not be new to Zimbabwe; they have worked well in post-communist
governments in Europe and Latin America.
It is argued that a successful transition to democracy demands the
removal from public institutions of individuals who may have taken part in
violating human rights. Such elements are rampant in the country’s public
service particularly in the security forces. Those who are making peace in
Zimbabwe should not forget the plight of the regime’s victims. They are
waiting for justice.
*Pedzisai Ruhanya writes from the University of Minnesota Law School,
USA.