PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is taking political brickbats from his party’s senior leadership after apparently apologising to President Robert Mugabe over a boycott of last week’s cabinet meeting by MDC ministers.
Furious officials have sought a clarification from Tsvangirai amid rising tensions in the party following another row last week pitting him against Finance Minister Tendai Biti.
MDC ministers pulled out of the Cabinet meeting after it was brought forward by a day because Mugabe was leaving for an African Union summit in Libya.
Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe said the decision to hold the cabinet meeting on Monday and not the traditional Tuesday was a Zanu PF plot to deny Tsvangirai an opportunity to chair cabinet.
Tsvangirai publicly supported the boycott by his ministers, saying he “understands their frustrations and concerns”.
But President Mugabe, in an interview with the state-run Herald newspaper on Monday, claimed Tsvangirai had apologised to him.
He told the Herald: “We talked a bit about it with the Prime Minister and he apologised for it, and thought they should have come and if they had any grievances, aired their grievances in the meeting.
“It was a surprise to me to tell you the truth. I don’t know whether this is going to be the order of doing things. It’s insolence on one hand, but it’s also abysmal ignorance on the other.”
The report sparked feverish activity among senior MDC officials who say the Prime Minister’s message is increasingly at odds with the party line.
One minister said Tsvangirai was “causing agony” in the party.
“It’s a big problem. The team in cabinet is not speaking the same language as the Prime Minister and if Mugabe’s statement is anything to go by, then expect fireworks in the party,” said the minister who spoke to New Zimbabwe.com on condition of anonymity.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Tsvangirai acting like Mugabe's grateful slave - Jonathan Moyo
MORGAN Tsvangirai was monstered by an MP last night over his performance on a world tour for failing to stand up for his government in front of western leaders.
“Where we expected dialogue among equals, he has not shown that he is an equal, he continues to behave like he is there as a faction political leader, or unfortunately a slave,” said Tsholotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo (Indep).
The astonishing attack came as the Prime Minister continued to meet sceptical western leaders who are refusing to commit direct financial aid to the government, or lift sanctions which the government says are hindering efforts to turn around the economy.
The Prime Minister met US President Barack Obama at the White House last Friday and was arriving in Britain on Friday for a meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Obama said the US would not be restoring direct support to the Zimbabwe government until certain benchmarks were met. He committed US$73 million in humanitarian aid.
“It will not be going to the government directly because we continue to be concerned about consolidating democracy, human rights, and rule of law. It will be going to the people of Zimbabwe,” Obama said after his meeting with Tsvangirai at the Oval Office.
The aid would be disbursed by American NGOs and the World Bank, Obama said.
Moyo blasted: “Obama treated him as if he were an envoy of American NGOs in Zimbabwe, and gave the impression American NGOs are in a better position to assist the people of Zimbabwe, more than the government of Zimbabwe of which Tsvangirai is Prime Minister.
“It was a personal disaster for Tsvangirai, and at the national level a complete waste of time. He cut a pathetic figure of a grateful slave.”
Moyo charged that most of the US$73 million “would remain in American pockets, paying Americans working in the governance and democracy field. A tiny bit of it will end in a Zimbabwean stomach, but the bulk of it has nothing to do with Zimbabweans.”
He added: “Time has come for us to be honourable enough to tell the truth, it is nothing, a mere trinket for a country which needs US$8,3 billion. Tsvangirai left this country knowing we need that money.”
Moyo, a former government minister, said “Tsvangirai should have understood he was being insulted personally, and that the people of Zimbabwe through him were also being insulted.”
“If an American President behaved the way the Prime Minister behaved overseas, he would be impeached,” he said in an interview with New Zimbabwe.com.
Tsvangirai, who formed a unity government with President Robert Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara in February, says the country needs US$8,3 million to get out of the economic woods after a decade-long crisis.
Only Denmark has said it will provide direct financial support to the government, but it committed only US$18 million – not enough to pay the government’s civil service wage bill for a month.
Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Germany have all said they will support the government through “humanitarian aid” to be channelled through western NGOs and financial institutions.
But it was the snub by the United States which Moyo says doomed the Prime Minister’s mission. And he says far from being the reformer he projected during his election campaign, Obama is using an old template in US-Africa relations.
He said: “Zimbabweans here were hoping Tsvangirai would make their case, he was there at the Oval Office on behalf of the government of Zimbabwe and failed to acquit himself as such.
“His host told him he would rather deal with people of Zimbabwe as if Tsvangirai was not aware he was there on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe. Why did he forget he presided over a planning process which has concluded US$8,3 billion is urgently and desperately needed to get this country working again?
“There is a simple issue these guys are forgetting. The only interest that Obama can have is whether or not Zimbabwe has a legitimate government, and of course we have a government. As to what policy that government implements is none of Obama’s business, Gordon Brown’s business, it’s our business.
“We are entitled to elect nincompoops and suffer them for the duration of their tenure, but cannot allow presidents and prime ministers of other countries to say ‘these are the policies we want you to implement’. That’s absolutely preposterous.”
Moyo said Tsvangirai should have pressed Obama to realise there is a gap between idealism and the practicalities of exercising political power – as his short reign as US President has demonstrated.
He added: “Obama ran a campaign promising to close Guantanamo, investigate and prosecute CIA agents who used water boarding. He is reneging on those promises, has anyone put benchmarks on that?
“Obama has changed his promise on practicalities on the ground as president, why should he expect that others like Tsvangirai, now in government, will not encounter practicalities which dictate a change?
“Why shove a reform agenda written by donors?”
The Prime Minister “should understand Europeans and their allies put the country on fire through sanctions, they must not be congratulated for that, they must be condemned”, said the former university lecturer and political scientist.
Moyo was also scathing over Tsvangirai’s failure to stand up for Tourism Minister Walter Muzembi who was barred from the Obama meeting – because he is from President Mugabe’s Zanu PF party.
Moyo said: “It was disgraceful for Tsvangirai to allow Americans to divide his delegation. How can you lead a delegation, and be told some members of your delegation are not allowed? It is yet another glaring example of the behaviour of a grateful slave.
“While is clear that Zimbabwe has problems, and we need to solve them, this was the worst show of leadership by Tsvangirai. His conduct during his trip so far has been less than satisfactory, but his conduct in the Oval Office was scandalous.
“The White House was built by slaves, he should have felt proud in that place -- a product of the forced labour of his ancestors, but he became worse than the people who built it.”
Moyo said a “shameful dimension” of the PM’s trip played out in Harare this week when the United States Development Agency (USAID) distributed a glossy free newsletter with “embarrassing pictures of Tsvangirai posing separately with Hillary Clinton and Obama to whom he deferred”.
He claimed the USAID pamphlet was presented as a newsletter from the Prime Minister’s Office “when it is clearly an American propaganda sheet”.
He added: “What is shameful is that while civil servants are going without salaries, while the UZ remains closed, while farmers struggle to plant wheat, and while peasants have been reduced to the life of hunter gatherers, Americans are showering Tsvangirai’s Office with previous US dollars to print and distribute neo-colonial propaganda on glossy paper in the streets of Harare and Bulawayo.”
The Prime Minister’s Office said the newsletter was printed in response to a state media blackout and misrepresentations of the PM’s overseas visit.
“Where we expected dialogue among equals, he has not shown that he is an equal, he continues to behave like he is there as a faction political leader, or unfortunately a slave,” said Tsholotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo (Indep).
The astonishing attack came as the Prime Minister continued to meet sceptical western leaders who are refusing to commit direct financial aid to the government, or lift sanctions which the government says are hindering efforts to turn around the economy.
The Prime Minister met US President Barack Obama at the White House last Friday and was arriving in Britain on Friday for a meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Obama said the US would not be restoring direct support to the Zimbabwe government until certain benchmarks were met. He committed US$73 million in humanitarian aid.
“It will not be going to the government directly because we continue to be concerned about consolidating democracy, human rights, and rule of law. It will be going to the people of Zimbabwe,” Obama said after his meeting with Tsvangirai at the Oval Office.
The aid would be disbursed by American NGOs and the World Bank, Obama said.
Moyo blasted: “Obama treated him as if he were an envoy of American NGOs in Zimbabwe, and gave the impression American NGOs are in a better position to assist the people of Zimbabwe, more than the government of Zimbabwe of which Tsvangirai is Prime Minister.
“It was a personal disaster for Tsvangirai, and at the national level a complete waste of time. He cut a pathetic figure of a grateful slave.”
Moyo charged that most of the US$73 million “would remain in American pockets, paying Americans working in the governance and democracy field. A tiny bit of it will end in a Zimbabwean stomach, but the bulk of it has nothing to do with Zimbabweans.”
He added: “Time has come for us to be honourable enough to tell the truth, it is nothing, a mere trinket for a country which needs US$8,3 billion. Tsvangirai left this country knowing we need that money.”
Moyo, a former government minister, said “Tsvangirai should have understood he was being insulted personally, and that the people of Zimbabwe through him were also being insulted.”
“If an American President behaved the way the Prime Minister behaved overseas, he would be impeached,” he said in an interview with New Zimbabwe.com.
Tsvangirai, who formed a unity government with President Robert Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara in February, says the country needs US$8,3 million to get out of the economic woods after a decade-long crisis.
Only Denmark has said it will provide direct financial support to the government, but it committed only US$18 million – not enough to pay the government’s civil service wage bill for a month.
Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Germany have all said they will support the government through “humanitarian aid” to be channelled through western NGOs and financial institutions.
But it was the snub by the United States which Moyo says doomed the Prime Minister’s mission. And he says far from being the reformer he projected during his election campaign, Obama is using an old template in US-Africa relations.
He said: “Zimbabweans here were hoping Tsvangirai would make their case, he was there at the Oval Office on behalf of the government of Zimbabwe and failed to acquit himself as such.
“His host told him he would rather deal with people of Zimbabwe as if Tsvangirai was not aware he was there on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe. Why did he forget he presided over a planning process which has concluded US$8,3 billion is urgently and desperately needed to get this country working again?
“There is a simple issue these guys are forgetting. The only interest that Obama can have is whether or not Zimbabwe has a legitimate government, and of course we have a government. As to what policy that government implements is none of Obama’s business, Gordon Brown’s business, it’s our business.
“We are entitled to elect nincompoops and suffer them for the duration of their tenure, but cannot allow presidents and prime ministers of other countries to say ‘these are the policies we want you to implement’. That’s absolutely preposterous.”
Moyo said Tsvangirai should have pressed Obama to realise there is a gap between idealism and the practicalities of exercising political power – as his short reign as US President has demonstrated.
He added: “Obama ran a campaign promising to close Guantanamo, investigate and prosecute CIA agents who used water boarding. He is reneging on those promises, has anyone put benchmarks on that?
“Obama has changed his promise on practicalities on the ground as president, why should he expect that others like Tsvangirai, now in government, will not encounter practicalities which dictate a change?
“Why shove a reform agenda written by donors?”
The Prime Minister “should understand Europeans and their allies put the country on fire through sanctions, they must not be congratulated for that, they must be condemned”, said the former university lecturer and political scientist.
Moyo was also scathing over Tsvangirai’s failure to stand up for Tourism Minister Walter Muzembi who was barred from the Obama meeting – because he is from President Mugabe’s Zanu PF party.
Moyo said: “It was disgraceful for Tsvangirai to allow Americans to divide his delegation. How can you lead a delegation, and be told some members of your delegation are not allowed? It is yet another glaring example of the behaviour of a grateful slave.
“While is clear that Zimbabwe has problems, and we need to solve them, this was the worst show of leadership by Tsvangirai. His conduct during his trip so far has been less than satisfactory, but his conduct in the Oval Office was scandalous.
“The White House was built by slaves, he should have felt proud in that place -- a product of the forced labour of his ancestors, but he became worse than the people who built it.”
Moyo said a “shameful dimension” of the PM’s trip played out in Harare this week when the United States Development Agency (USAID) distributed a glossy free newsletter with “embarrassing pictures of Tsvangirai posing separately with Hillary Clinton and Obama to whom he deferred”.
He claimed the USAID pamphlet was presented as a newsletter from the Prime Minister’s Office “when it is clearly an American propaganda sheet”.
He added: “What is shameful is that while civil servants are going without salaries, while the UZ remains closed, while farmers struggle to plant wheat, and while peasants have been reduced to the life of hunter gatherers, Americans are showering Tsvangirai’s Office with previous US dollars to print and distribute neo-colonial propaganda on glossy paper in the streets of Harare and Bulawayo.”
The Prime Minister’s Office said the newsletter was printed in response to a state media blackout and misrepresentations of the PM’s overseas visit.
Morgan Tsvangirai jeered into silence
Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has been forced to cut short an event where he was addressing Zimbabwean exiles due to jeering.
Mr Tsvangirai was addressing more than 1,000 exiles, whom he urged to return home to rebuild the country, during an event at London's Southwark Cathedral. But his appeal was poorly received as questions were raised over assurances he made about the country's stability.
Mr Tsvangirai's UK visit is the final stage of a tour of Europe and the US. He has been seeking funding for the unity government he formed with President Robert Mugabe in February.
Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change who became prime minister in the power-sharing deal, said the country needed the exiles' skills and money to help to rebuild Zimbabwe. He told the audience that improvements had been made through the creation of a "transitional" government, and that no-one had been "fooled" or co-opted.
Referring to the power-sharing deal, he went on: "It represented the best solution to a crisis that has engulfed us as a people."
The Zimbabwean prime minister said inflation had been cut, schools had reopened and previous scarce commodities were now available, adding that the government had "made sure that there is peace and stability in the country".
That assertion provoked a noisy reaction from sections of the audience. He went on: "Our mission is to create the necessary space, the necessary freedoms for Zimbabweans. Our mission is to make sure that we give the people of Zimbabwe hope.
"Zimbabwe is changing for the better, and that change is for you and me to ensure that we can build a Zimbabwe together."
He acknowledged that no-one should forget the struggles and suffering of the Zimbabwean people, adding that he, as a victim of beatings and arrests, would be the last to forget the past.
However, Mr Tsvangirai told the gathering that the plan to work towards a new constitution and referendum over the next 18 months was the correct one.
The European Union still holds sanctions against Zimbabwe, and EU leaders have told the Zimbabwean prime minister they want to see improvements in the human-rights situation in the country before they consider lifting them.
The Foreign Office in London has sounded a similar note, with minister Lord Malloch Brown saying sanctions would not be lifted until Zimbabwe's transition to democracy has "reached a point of no return".
Mr Tsvangirai is expected to hold talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday.
Mr Tsvangirai was addressing more than 1,000 exiles, whom he urged to return home to rebuild the country, during an event at London's Southwark Cathedral. But his appeal was poorly received as questions were raised over assurances he made about the country's stability.
Mr Tsvangirai's UK visit is the final stage of a tour of Europe and the US. He has been seeking funding for the unity government he formed with President Robert Mugabe in February.
Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change who became prime minister in the power-sharing deal, said the country needed the exiles' skills and money to help to rebuild Zimbabwe. He told the audience that improvements had been made through the creation of a "transitional" government, and that no-one had been "fooled" or co-opted.
Referring to the power-sharing deal, he went on: "It represented the best solution to a crisis that has engulfed us as a people."
The Zimbabwean prime minister said inflation had been cut, schools had reopened and previous scarce commodities were now available, adding that the government had "made sure that there is peace and stability in the country".
That assertion provoked a noisy reaction from sections of the audience. He went on: "Our mission is to create the necessary space, the necessary freedoms for Zimbabweans. Our mission is to make sure that we give the people of Zimbabwe hope.
"Zimbabwe is changing for the better, and that change is for you and me to ensure that we can build a Zimbabwe together."
He acknowledged that no-one should forget the struggles and suffering of the Zimbabwean people, adding that he, as a victim of beatings and arrests, would be the last to forget the past.
However, Mr Tsvangirai told the gathering that the plan to work towards a new constitution and referendum over the next 18 months was the correct one.
The European Union still holds sanctions against Zimbabwe, and EU leaders have told the Zimbabwean prime minister they want to see improvements in the human-rights situation in the country before they consider lifting them.
The Foreign Office in London has sounded a similar note, with minister Lord Malloch Brown saying sanctions would not be lifted until Zimbabwe's transition to democracy has "reached a point of no return".
Mr Tsvangirai is expected to hold talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Monday.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Zimbabwe Independent editors challenge constitutionality of Criminal Law
swradioafrica.com
Zimbabwe Independent editors, Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimakure on Tuesday appeared before magistrate Moses Murendo applying for a referral to the Supreme Court where they seek to challenge the constitutionality of section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, which they are charged under.
Media watchdog, Misa-Zimbabwe, reports the two appeared along with Michael Curling who is representing the Zimbabwe Independent. The matter has however been postponed to 9 July to enable the prosecution to file its response.
Their lawyer Innocent Chagonda asked the magistrate for a referral to the Supreme Court stating that section 31 of the Criminal Codification Act, which attracts a maximum sentence of 20 years, is unconstitutional. The defence team say the penalty of a 20 year sentence imposed by section 31 is so heavy and disproportionate to the offence that it infringes section 20 of the bill of rights. Section 20 of the constitution of Zimbabwe guarantees the right to freedom of expression.
Chagonda also filed a second application in which he wants the Supreme Court to determine whether two law officers from the Attorney General's Office, namely Michael Mugabe and Morgan Dube, cited as State witnesses, can act as both complainants and prosecutors at the same time in the case.
Chimakure and Kahiya are being charged for the publishing or communicating of falsehoods when they published a story in May revealing the names of law enforcement agents involved in last year's abductions of MDC and civic activists.
The story titled, Activist abductors named - CIO, police role in activists' abduction revealed, stated that notices of indictment for trial in the High Court served on some of the activists revealed that the activists were either in the custody of the CIO or police during the period they were reported missing.
The Media watchdog said in a statement: "The two journalists submitted that as journalists, the very nature of their job obliges them to write on a regular basis, a task which they cannot safely or efficiently execute if they live in constant fear of arrest for their writings. This is a hindrance to free expression and it therefore violates the Constitution, the journalists argue."
Zimbabwe Independent editors, Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimakure on Tuesday appeared before magistrate Moses Murendo applying for a referral to the Supreme Court where they seek to challenge the constitutionality of section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, which they are charged under.
Media watchdog, Misa-Zimbabwe, reports the two appeared along with Michael Curling who is representing the Zimbabwe Independent. The matter has however been postponed to 9 July to enable the prosecution to file its response.
Their lawyer Innocent Chagonda asked the magistrate for a referral to the Supreme Court stating that section 31 of the Criminal Codification Act, which attracts a maximum sentence of 20 years, is unconstitutional. The defence team say the penalty of a 20 year sentence imposed by section 31 is so heavy and disproportionate to the offence that it infringes section 20 of the bill of rights. Section 20 of the constitution of Zimbabwe guarantees the right to freedom of expression.
Chagonda also filed a second application in which he wants the Supreme Court to determine whether two law officers from the Attorney General's Office, namely Michael Mugabe and Morgan Dube, cited as State witnesses, can act as both complainants and prosecutors at the same time in the case.
Chimakure and Kahiya are being charged for the publishing or communicating of falsehoods when they published a story in May revealing the names of law enforcement agents involved in last year's abductions of MDC and civic activists.
The story titled, Activist abductors named - CIO, police role in activists' abduction revealed, stated that notices of indictment for trial in the High Court served on some of the activists revealed that the activists were either in the custody of the CIO or police during the period they were reported missing.
The Media watchdog said in a statement: "The two journalists submitted that as journalists, the very nature of their job obliges them to write on a regular basis, a task which they cannot safely or efficiently execute if they live in constant fear of arrest for their writings. This is a hindrance to free expression and it therefore violates the Constitution, the journalists argue."
The Invasion of Mount Carmel: From the Zimbabwe State Media Perspective
SOKWANELE.COM - For those who have not experienced the peculiar perspective of Zimbabwe’s state-controlled media, here’s an example in the form of ZBC coverage of the legal struggle for Mount Carmel farm (published on Friday 12 June). Please note, this farm is protected by a SADC ruling.
White farmers cause chaos at Dr. Shamuyarira’s farm
White farmers have regrouped themselves at Mount Carmel, a farm allocated to Zanu-PF Politburo member Dr Nathan Shamuyarira in Chegutu where they are causing chaos in clear desperate attempts to reverse the land reform programme.
The situation at Mount Carmel and Tyford farms in Mashonaland West Province was tense when ZBC News arrived.
The white farmers Bruce Campbell, Ben Freethe and Meredith had regrouped in their battle to try and evict ZANU PF politburo member Dr Nathan Shamuyarira and the party’s Central Committee member Cde Jimayi Muduvuri.
Dr Shamuyaria’s farm manager Cde Landmines Madongonda said on different occasions, the white farmers escorted by foreign journalists came to the farm to provoke the farm workers so as to create ugly scenes which could then be used to create false stories.
He said on Thursday the white farmers came and took away the farm workers’ food, clothes and a DDF tractor which was later recovered in Chegutu after being dumped there.
Cde Muduvuri who is facing the same problem said he is now worried about the constant visit and resistance by the white farmers and foreign journalists and says they are bent on stage managing events within the farms so as to come up with stories that tarnish the inclusive government.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Justice National Co-ordinator Advocate Martin Dinha warned the white farmers to stop playing games reminding them that the Global Political Agreement signed by the three political leaders has clearly stated that the land reform is a closed chapter that cannot reversed.
The new wave of farm disturbances by white farmers who are now working in cahoots with hired foreign journalists have been described by observers as blatant attempts bent on discrediting the inclusive government by stage managing some form of chaos within the farms.
Some sections of the western media have claimed that there are fresh farm invasions in Zimbabwe reports which have been dismissed as untrue by the inclusive government.
White farmers cause chaos at Dr. Shamuyarira’s farm
White farmers have regrouped themselves at Mount Carmel, a farm allocated to Zanu-PF Politburo member Dr Nathan Shamuyarira in Chegutu where they are causing chaos in clear desperate attempts to reverse the land reform programme.
The situation at Mount Carmel and Tyford farms in Mashonaland West Province was tense when ZBC News arrived.
The white farmers Bruce Campbell, Ben Freethe and Meredith had regrouped in their battle to try and evict ZANU PF politburo member Dr Nathan Shamuyarira and the party’s Central Committee member Cde Jimayi Muduvuri.
Dr Shamuyaria’s farm manager Cde Landmines Madongonda said on different occasions, the white farmers escorted by foreign journalists came to the farm to provoke the farm workers so as to create ugly scenes which could then be used to create false stories.
He said on Thursday the white farmers came and took away the farm workers’ food, clothes and a DDF tractor which was later recovered in Chegutu after being dumped there.
Cde Muduvuri who is facing the same problem said he is now worried about the constant visit and resistance by the white farmers and foreign journalists and says they are bent on stage managing events within the farms so as to come up with stories that tarnish the inclusive government.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Justice National Co-ordinator Advocate Martin Dinha warned the white farmers to stop playing games reminding them that the Global Political Agreement signed by the three political leaders has clearly stated that the land reform is a closed chapter that cannot reversed.
The new wave of farm disturbances by white farmers who are now working in cahoots with hired foreign journalists have been described by observers as blatant attempts bent on discrediting the inclusive government by stage managing some form of chaos within the farms.
Some sections of the western media have claimed that there are fresh farm invasions in Zimbabwe reports which have been dismissed as untrue by the inclusive government.
Tsvangirai denies running Mugabe's errands
WASHINGTON – Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has vehemently denied that he was sent by President Robert Mugabe to beg the West to remove sanctions imposed against him and his top lieutenants by countries in the European Union and the United States of America.Speaking in an interview as he prepared to leave the United States where he met President Barack Obama and senior Senate and Congress leaders, Tsvangirai said reports emanating from Harare that he was tasked by Mugabe to come and seek the removal of the targeted sanctions were far from the truth.
“I was not sent by anyone, it was my own initiative,” he said. “I told the President that it was time to reengage with the rest of the world following a cabinet resolution on reengaging the EU and other western countries. I took the initiative – I would have stayed at home, no-one would have sent me so I think it’s just a myth cultivated to promote a certain position which is not the objective of the inclusive government.”
The Prime Minister said the problem with some elements in Zanu-PF was that when they think of the biting targeted sanctions against them they think that I am the one responsible for them being put in place in the first place.
“The sanctions came because of the gross human rights situation in our country – the killings, the torture, the wanton destruction of people’s properties, the violence – they know that the violence – we cannot go back there now – but the world could not just sit and watch people being killed and maimed. Did they expect the world to applaud them.
Yes we have the issue of the sanctions or restrictions but when there is no rule of law and people’s rights are being trampled on, the whole world cannot just watch.”
On being only the second African leader to meet Obama, who gave him a book written by Martin Luther King Jnr, Stride Toward Freedom, Tsvangirai said: “It was quite a profound experience, we had talked over the phone but we had never really met so as we met I think there was a degree of convergence and I think the discussion was very productive, it was very informative about where the United States stands and what we need to do as a country in order to earn the full confidence of the international community.”
He said the objective of his trips abroad were two-fold, the first being to seek re-engagement after Zimbabwe’s 10 years of isolation.
“Yes one of the reasons was to try and seek transitional support apart from just humanitarian support and we set to do and the American government has made a commitment – over 75 million dollars committed to the short-term transitional support until there is definitive progress on a number of issues.”
Tsvangirai said the overall objectives of his trip had been met though the initial meetings were very tough with many being skeptical about the current political arrangement in Harare.
He later addressed a meeting organized by the MDC in Virginia. He took questions from skeptical Zimbabweans whom he urged to come back home and help rebuild the country.
One asked how Zimbabweans in the Diaspora could trust the unity government when Zanu-PF was not even committed to fulfilling the conditions of the GPA.
Tsvangirai, tried to assure the skeptical audience, and even told them he had refused to eat with Mugabe on the first night they had a meeting together. He said the acrimony between him and Mugabe was legendary – ‘ as you know, he would call me Chematama and say namai vangu vaBona hazviite and all sorts of things and I would say, “Kamudhara aka kasingadi kusiya power, kauraya nyika (this old man does not want to step down from office yet he has ruined the country)” and all that.
“That is legendary and you all know it and the scars I have sustained in the process but we have both realized that acrimony does not bring food onto the tables of Zimbabweans, medicines, education and all so it is now all in the past and we are all committed to working towards a better Zimbabwe”.
Tsvangirai told his audience that Mugabe laments to him that his politburo was saying that he had sold out. He said he had told the President that he too was being subjected to accusations of selling out.
“So we have a position where we are being blamed by our parties for this inclusive government so I said then it means we have both sold out. But everyone in Zimbabwe knows that this inclusive government is the only way we can get to set our country back on the right track again and we need the Diaspora support to do that.
“You are very important to us – like the Ghanaians who send billions back home every year – we expect to come up with programs to see how best we can harness such resources through the estimated four million of you living in the Diaspora so you can all play a part in rebuilding Zimbabwe because I know, some of you came here single and are now married, have children and are not ready to go back. But we want many of you to ride on the train with us because you risk being left behind because things are changing in Zimbabwe.
“Zimbabwe will never be the same again.”
He assured the dual citizenship problem had been resolved through Amendment Number 18 so no-one would be asked to renounce their Zimbabwean citizen once they became citizens of their new chosen countries.
Tsvangirai has since been to German where he was given full military honours. He is now in Sweden and goes to Norway tomorrow evening. He is expected to visit Denmark, Brussels, France and Britain before going back home.
“I was not sent by anyone, it was my own initiative,” he said. “I told the President that it was time to reengage with the rest of the world following a cabinet resolution on reengaging the EU and other western countries. I took the initiative – I would have stayed at home, no-one would have sent me so I think it’s just a myth cultivated to promote a certain position which is not the objective of the inclusive government.”
The Prime Minister said the problem with some elements in Zanu-PF was that when they think of the biting targeted sanctions against them they think that I am the one responsible for them being put in place in the first place.
“The sanctions came because of the gross human rights situation in our country – the killings, the torture, the wanton destruction of people’s properties, the violence – they know that the violence – we cannot go back there now – but the world could not just sit and watch people being killed and maimed. Did they expect the world to applaud them.
Yes we have the issue of the sanctions or restrictions but when there is no rule of law and people’s rights are being trampled on, the whole world cannot just watch.”
On being only the second African leader to meet Obama, who gave him a book written by Martin Luther King Jnr, Stride Toward Freedom, Tsvangirai said: “It was quite a profound experience, we had talked over the phone but we had never really met so as we met I think there was a degree of convergence and I think the discussion was very productive, it was very informative about where the United States stands and what we need to do as a country in order to earn the full confidence of the international community.”
He said the objective of his trips abroad were two-fold, the first being to seek re-engagement after Zimbabwe’s 10 years of isolation.
“Yes one of the reasons was to try and seek transitional support apart from just humanitarian support and we set to do and the American government has made a commitment – over 75 million dollars committed to the short-term transitional support until there is definitive progress on a number of issues.”
Tsvangirai said the overall objectives of his trip had been met though the initial meetings were very tough with many being skeptical about the current political arrangement in Harare.
He later addressed a meeting organized by the MDC in Virginia. He took questions from skeptical Zimbabweans whom he urged to come back home and help rebuild the country.
One asked how Zimbabweans in the Diaspora could trust the unity government when Zanu-PF was not even committed to fulfilling the conditions of the GPA.
Tsvangirai, tried to assure the skeptical audience, and even told them he had refused to eat with Mugabe on the first night they had a meeting together. He said the acrimony between him and Mugabe was legendary – ‘ as you know, he would call me Chematama and say namai vangu vaBona hazviite and all sorts of things and I would say, “Kamudhara aka kasingadi kusiya power, kauraya nyika (this old man does not want to step down from office yet he has ruined the country)” and all that.
“That is legendary and you all know it and the scars I have sustained in the process but we have both realized that acrimony does not bring food onto the tables of Zimbabweans, medicines, education and all so it is now all in the past and we are all committed to working towards a better Zimbabwe”.
Tsvangirai told his audience that Mugabe laments to him that his politburo was saying that he had sold out. He said he had told the President that he too was being subjected to accusations of selling out.
“So we have a position where we are being blamed by our parties for this inclusive government so I said then it means we have both sold out. But everyone in Zimbabwe knows that this inclusive government is the only way we can get to set our country back on the right track again and we need the Diaspora support to do that.
“You are very important to us – like the Ghanaians who send billions back home every year – we expect to come up with programs to see how best we can harness such resources through the estimated four million of you living in the Diaspora so you can all play a part in rebuilding Zimbabwe because I know, some of you came here single and are now married, have children and are not ready to go back. But we want many of you to ride on the train with us because you risk being left behind because things are changing in Zimbabwe.
“Zimbabwe will never be the same again.”
He assured the dual citizenship problem had been resolved through Amendment Number 18 so no-one would be asked to renounce their Zimbabwean citizen once they became citizens of their new chosen countries.
Tsvangirai has since been to German where he was given full military honours. He is now in Sweden and goes to Norway tomorrow evening. He is expected to visit Denmark, Brussels, France and Britain before going back home.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Tsvangirai Linked to "Mystery Woman" Behind Attempted Farm Grab
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s spokesman, James Maridadi, is battling to protect the Premier’s image at a crucial time after unsavoury stories linking him to a woman did a round on online publications on Tuesday, right in the middle of his tour of the United States and Europe.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Dr Arikana Chiyedzo Chihombori walk the red carpet at the Jacob Zuma inauguration in Pretoria on May 9.
It is being alleged that Tsvangirai and Maridadi misled the nation over the identity of the mysterious woman who walked by the recently widowed Prime Minister’s side as he arrived to attend the inauguration of President Jacob Zuma of South Africa in Pretoria on Saturday, May 9.
Maridadi, speaking immediately after the Zuma inauguration, identified Tsvangirai’s bespectacled companion as the Prime Minister’s niece. The woman has since been identified as Dr Arikana Chiyedzo Chihombori, a Zimbabwean medical doctor based in the United States.
But doubt was cast over the truthfulness of Maridadi’s assertion when a Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) spokesman claimed the Prime Minister had denied the relationship in a conversation with United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee. It was not clear why it became necessary for Tsvangirai to make the denial to the Ambassador or how the CFU, which represents Zimbabwe’s white commercial farmers, became instantly privy to such a privileged denial.
The renewed controversy over the woman erupted after a commercial farmer in Chegutu claimed Chihombori had tried to seize his farm. The farmer, named by the ZWNews.com website as one L. J. Cremer, claims Chihombori had been “actively trying to seize De Rus Farm since late last year”.
John Worsely Worswick, a spokesman for Justice for Agriculture (JAG), a group which campaigns on behalf of Zimbabwe’s embattled commercial farmers, told SW Radio Africa Monday night that the farmer had approached the American embassy after De Rus Farm had been visited by an individual “with an American accent looking to take over their property”.
Worswick said: “The feedback that came to the Cremers (from the US embassy) was to the effect that this was the same woman who attended the inauguration with Tsvangirai, and that the ambassador had taken Tsvangirai to task about who this woman was, and that he had denied any knowledge of her. Now that is very alarming.”
With the raging controversy threatening to distract the Prime Minister at a time when he requires to focus all his attention on the task in hand, The Herald reported Tuesday that Tsvangirai had embarked on the tour abroad on the specific instructions of Mugabe to press for the removal of sanctions and the restoration of the country’s lines of credit.
“Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is set to clash with US President Barack Obama when they meet on Friday as Washington has already announced that it will dig in on sanctions while the Prime Minister has a brief from President Mugabe and Cabinet to press for the lifting of the sanctions,” the paper reported in a front page article.
But Western nations insist they want to see more reforms in Harare, especially media reforms and a cessation of disruptive farm invasions. Tsvangirai recently characterized the latest wave of invasions as being “blown out of proportion”.
Maridadi was reported as saying that, in a bid to contain the developing crisis Tsvangirai had on Tuesday instructed Chihombori to “walk away from that farm”.
NewZImbabwe.com reported that Chihombori was expected to issue a press statement on Tuesday under pressure from the Prime Minister’s office. There was no evidence late Tuesday night that the statement had been issued. Maridadi was constantly unreachable on his number in Washington, where Tsvangirai is preparing to meet Obama on Friday.
“Dr Chihombori is the Prime Minister’s niece, that’s the truth,” Maridadi was reported to have said earlier in the day.
Chihombori’s appearance in Pretoria on May 9 alongside Tsvangirai was the cause of speculation on the internet, prompting the Prime Minister’s office to issue a statement.
“Dr Chihombori was invited separately to the Zuma inauguration, but she arrived at the same time as the Prime Minister,” Maridadi said at the time.
The matter would have died on the note had the Chegutu commercial farmer not approached the US embassy to make inquiries about the woman from America who wanted to take De Rus Farm over.
Somehow, it occurred to someone at the embassy that this was the same woman who had arrived at the Zuma inauguration in the company of Tsvangirai.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Dr Arikana Chiyedzo Chihombori walk the red carpet at the Jacob Zuma inauguration in Pretoria on May 9.
It is being alleged that Tsvangirai and Maridadi misled the nation over the identity of the mysterious woman who walked by the recently widowed Prime Minister’s side as he arrived to attend the inauguration of President Jacob Zuma of South Africa in Pretoria on Saturday, May 9.
Maridadi, speaking immediately after the Zuma inauguration, identified Tsvangirai’s bespectacled companion as the Prime Minister’s niece. The woman has since been identified as Dr Arikana Chiyedzo Chihombori, a Zimbabwean medical doctor based in the United States.
But doubt was cast over the truthfulness of Maridadi’s assertion when a Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) spokesman claimed the Prime Minister had denied the relationship in a conversation with United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee. It was not clear why it became necessary for Tsvangirai to make the denial to the Ambassador or how the CFU, which represents Zimbabwe’s white commercial farmers, became instantly privy to such a privileged denial.
The renewed controversy over the woman erupted after a commercial farmer in Chegutu claimed Chihombori had tried to seize his farm. The farmer, named by the ZWNews.com website as one L. J. Cremer, claims Chihombori had been “actively trying to seize De Rus Farm since late last year”.
John Worsely Worswick, a spokesman for Justice for Agriculture (JAG), a group which campaigns on behalf of Zimbabwe’s embattled commercial farmers, told SW Radio Africa Monday night that the farmer had approached the American embassy after De Rus Farm had been visited by an individual “with an American accent looking to take over their property”.
Worswick said: “The feedback that came to the Cremers (from the US embassy) was to the effect that this was the same woman who attended the inauguration with Tsvangirai, and that the ambassador had taken Tsvangirai to task about who this woman was, and that he had denied any knowledge of her. Now that is very alarming.”
With the raging controversy threatening to distract the Prime Minister at a time when he requires to focus all his attention on the task in hand, The Herald reported Tuesday that Tsvangirai had embarked on the tour abroad on the specific instructions of Mugabe to press for the removal of sanctions and the restoration of the country’s lines of credit.
“Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is set to clash with US President Barack Obama when they meet on Friday as Washington has already announced that it will dig in on sanctions while the Prime Minister has a brief from President Mugabe and Cabinet to press for the lifting of the sanctions,” the paper reported in a front page article.
But Western nations insist they want to see more reforms in Harare, especially media reforms and a cessation of disruptive farm invasions. Tsvangirai recently characterized the latest wave of invasions as being “blown out of proportion”.
Maridadi was reported as saying that, in a bid to contain the developing crisis Tsvangirai had on Tuesday instructed Chihombori to “walk away from that farm”.
NewZImbabwe.com reported that Chihombori was expected to issue a press statement on Tuesday under pressure from the Prime Minister’s office. There was no evidence late Tuesday night that the statement had been issued. Maridadi was constantly unreachable on his number in Washington, where Tsvangirai is preparing to meet Obama on Friday.
“Dr Chihombori is the Prime Minister’s niece, that’s the truth,” Maridadi was reported to have said earlier in the day.
Chihombori’s appearance in Pretoria on May 9 alongside Tsvangirai was the cause of speculation on the internet, prompting the Prime Minister’s office to issue a statement.
“Dr Chihombori was invited separately to the Zuma inauguration, but she arrived at the same time as the Prime Minister,” Maridadi said at the time.
The matter would have died on the note had the Chegutu commercial farmer not approached the US embassy to make inquiries about the woman from America who wanted to take De Rus Farm over.
Somehow, it occurred to someone at the embassy that this was the same woman who had arrived at the Zuma inauguration in the company of Tsvangirai.
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