Help Zimbabwe Magazine: The Team

The Editor, Zvisinei Sandi

Zvisinei Sandi is an exiled political activist from Zimbabwe, presently a Scholar Rescue Fellow at Stanford University, where she continues with her teaching and human rights work.

Emmanuel Sigauke

Emmanuel Sigauke grew up in Zimbabwe, where he studied English and Linguistics at the University of Zimbabwe. He helped found the Zimbabwe Budding Writers Association, for which he served as National Secretary from 1992 to 1995. He moved to California in 1996 and studied English at Sacramento State University. He teaches composition and writing at Cosumnes River College and is one of the editors of Cosumnes River Journal.

The Unnamed Zimbabweans

The Unnamed are our team of journalists still in Zimbabwe. Because they live a dangerous existence on the frontlines, they cannot afford to have their names mentioned. The only gratitude we can show them is to hear their voices, and push our politicians to do something.

Zimbabwe warns of 'terror' plot after air force chief shooting

HARARE — Zimbabwe's government claimed to be the victim of a terror campaign after an assassination bid against the air force chief, as the diplomatic heat was turned up on President Robert Mugabe.

With the death toll from a cholera epidemic now nearing 1,000, UN chief Ban Ki-moon delivered an apocalyptic assessment of the political and health crises afflicting a nation which was once seen as a post-colonial role model.

Former colonial power Britain said the 84-year-old Mugabe was in denial about the state of the southern African nation he has led since independence 28 years ago.
Officials said the attack on powerful air force chief Perrance Shiri, who was shot in the arm while driving towards his farm on Saturday night, was part of a larger campaign of terror being waged against senior figures.

"The attack on Air Marshal Shiri appears to be a build-up of terror attacks targeting high-profile persons, government officials, government establishments and public transportation systems," the state-run Herald newspaper quoted Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi as saying.

Shiri -- a cousin of Mugabe's -- was leader of the Fifth Brigade which oversaw a brutal crackdown in southwestern Matabeleland in the early 1980s when up 20,000 people were killed.

The shooting comes in the wake of a series of bomb explosions at police stations in Harare and an attack on a bridge outside the capital, according to the daily.
Zimbabwean authorities said Monday they had "compelling evidence" that neighbouring Botswana was harbouring and giving material support to opposition-aligned rebels seeking to topple Mugabe.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has refuted the claims, saying it is convinced the government is preparing a state of emergency as an excuse to further disregard rule of law in the nation.

It also accused Mugabe's regime of "intensifying its terror campaign" against the opposition saying three of its councillors in Bindura were arrested ahead of a key ZANU-PF conference there later this week.

"The three were arrested on trumped up yet to be disclosed charges and are detained at Bindura Central Police Station," the MDC said in a statement.

Top officials from the ruling party met Tuesday to discuss the agenda of the conference, which state radio reported would include "restructuring of the party, the cholera outbreak, state of the economy, the all-inclusive government and the security threat to the country."

Australia strengthened its sanctions against Mugabe's regime Wednesday and urged him to step down to relieve the suffering of the southern African nation.
The government has added 75 individuals and four companies to a list of regime members and supporters facing financial and visa restrictions, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said.

"The strengthened sanctions are a clear signal that the Australian government holds the brutal Mugabe regime and its closest supporters accountable for the tragedy occurring in Zimbabwe," Smith said in a statement. " Australian sanctions are carefully targeted against the regime to avoid harming the Zimbabwean people."

Diplomats said South Africa had blocked a bid by the United States on Monday night to have the UN Security Council adopt a non-binding statement condemning Mugabe for his failure to protect his people from the cholera outbreak.

Jacob Zuma , the head of the ruling ANC, said Tuesday South Africa had a "responsibility" to push Zimbabwe to resolve its crisis and complete the long-delayed implementation of a power-sharing accord.

"We are concerned that they are taking longer to finalise the agreement while the humanitarian situation is deteriorating," he said.

South Africa's former president Thabo Mbeki has been trying to mediate between Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai since disputed elections in March. Although he did persuade the pair to sign a power-sharing agreement in September, it is still to be implemented amid disagreements over who should control key ministries.

In his briefing to the council, Ban said the UN was being effectively locked out of the efforts to resolve the impasse as "neither the (Harare) government nor the mediator welcomes a United Nations political role."

"The current cholera epidemic is only the most visible manifestation of a profound multi-sectoral crisis, encompassing food, agriculture, education, health, water, sanitation and HIV/AIDS," he added.

Zimbabwe Crisis Deepens, But South Africa Still Blocking Security Council Action

By Patrick Goodenough

Any U.N. Security Council action on Zimbabwe may have to wait until South Africa, Zimbabwe’s neighbor and longstanding defender of President Robert Mugabe’s government, relinquishes its council seat at the end of the year. Amid mounting pressure from the U.S. and elsewhere on Mugabe to stand down, Harare continues to look to its allies to block meaningful U.N. action.

Closed-door ministerial-level council talks were underway in New York on Monday. “We continue to witness a failure of the leadership in Zimbabwe to address the political, economic, human rights and humanitarian crisis that is confronting the country and to do what is best for the people of Zimbabwe,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the council in a briefing, according to a U.N. statement. Despite ongoing efforts, Ban said, “I unfortunately have to conclude that neither the [Zimbabwean] government nor the mediator [South Africa, acting on behalf of the regional Southern African Development Community] welcomes a U.N. role.”

“This clearly limits our ability to effectively help find immediate remedies to the crisis.” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said earlier the U.S. had been talking to Security Council members, including South Africa, in a bid to “start a process that will bring an end to the tragedy that is unfolding in Zimbabwe.”

The state-owned Harare Herald daily quoted Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu as saying Zimbabwe would “work hard to block [Security Council action] with the assistance of our friends.” South Africa, which for years has propped up Mugabe economically while giving him diplomatic cover, holds one of 10 two-year seats on the Security Council. It argues that as the Zimbabwe situation does not pose a threat to international peace and security, it should not be taken up by the council.

When in late 2006 it was elected to the position – for the first time in South Africa’s history – Pretoria said it regarded the two-year stint as an “opportunity to elevate to a global level the African agenda of achieving peace, security and development, including respect for human rights.” South Africa frequently is discussed as a likely permanent member of an enlarged Security Council, should long-delayed attempts to reform the top U.N. body bear fruit. Zimbabwe also has benefited from the support of two of the present five permanent members, China and Russia, which over the summer vetoed a U.S.-sponsored draft resolution sanctioning Mugabe and other senior officials for repressive policies linked to elections this year.

Mugabe, 84, has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980. After the disputed election, a unity government agreement was brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, providing for Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to become prime minister and for cabinet posts to be divided among his party and Mugabe’s ZANU-PF. Three months on, however, failure to agree on the cabinet post allocations has stalled the process.

The political crisis has been all but overshadowed by a cholera epidemic which the United Nations humanitarian affairs office said Monday has already cost almost 1,000 lives. More than 18,000 suspected cases have been reported in the impoverished country, and the disease has spread into parts of neighboring states including Botswana and South Africa. ‘Persuade him to go’ The South African government at the weekend urged Mugabe to speed up the formation of an inclusive government with the MDC, but it remains strongly opposed to any Security Council intervention. Mugabe has been viewed by many Africans as a hero of the struggle against colonialism, and following independence in 1980 Zimbabwe lent support to the then-outlawed African National Congress (ANC), now South Africa’s ruling party.

Last week the South African government said in a statement it could not put pressure on Mugabe to resign because the power-sharing agreement negotiated earlier this year, and agreed by all the parties, provided for him remaining as president. Two days later, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told reporters in Durban that neither tougher sanctions against Harare nor “invading” would work and said the ANC would seek to “persuade” him to retire. He said senior ANC leaders had discussed reasons why Mugabe may be loath to step down and believed he was worried about facing an international tribunal.

Mantashe cited the case of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, forced into exile and then extradited to The Hague where he is on trial for war crimes arising out of the vicious decade-long civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone. Among those who have called for Mugabe to stand down are President Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Botswana President Seretse Ian Khama. In a strong-worded attack at the weekend, the Anglican Bishop of Pretoria, Joe Seoka, called Mugabe “the 21st century Hitler” because of the suffering he has inflicted on the country. He called on South African churches to use Tuesday – a public holiday designed to foster racial reconciliation – as an opportunity to pray for Mugabe’s ouster. Seoka also said the Zimbabwean leader should face an international tribunal in The Hague.

Meanwhile Mugabe’s government, in line with long-established practice, is leveling accusations in several directions. It has long accused the West, especially Britain, of responsibility for an economic crisis that has impoverished the country, where inflation runs at a world-record high of well over 200 million percent. Upping the rhetoric, information minister Ndlovu at the weekend told the Herald that the cholera outbreak ravaging Zimbabwe was the result of a biological warfare attack by Britain. “Cholera is a calculated racist, terrorist attack on Zimbabwe by the unrepentant former colonial power which has enlisted support from its American and Western allies so that they invade the country,” he said.

Another government minister accused Botswana – the most outspokenly critical of Zimbabwe’s neighbors – of sheltering and training MDC “bandits” plotting to overthrow Mugabe by force. Both Botswana and the MDC denied the allegations, and the opposition party expressed concern that Mugabe was seeking a pretext for a new crackdown and the imposition of a state of emergency. Mugabe has threatened to call new elections if the rivals do not reach agreement soon; the MDC is not averse to fresh elections, but says they must be under international supervision. Having a state of emergency in place in the run-up to an election would make it difficult for the opposition to campaign freely.

Zimbabwe's Perence Shiri Shot

Zimbabwe Reporter
Zimbabwe's top general, Air Marshal Perence Shiri, has been shot by a regular duty soldier. His condition is said to be critical and he has reportedly been airlifted to South Africa for an emergency operation after he was shot in the stomach.Details remain sketchy, and the actual motive is unclear.

Government has confirmed the incident.Observers question the claims and say government was trying to declare a state of emergency by fabricating evidence.The State media on Monday repeated claims that MDC was training and arming bandits with the help of Botswana.

MDC secretary general told a news conference in Harare Monday that Zanu-PF had extracted false confessions under duress from MDC activists who have been abdcuted to qualify its claims of MDC banditry."Zanu-PF is back again framing a matrix of treason," Biti said."These works of fiction are Zanu-PF's default setting. They want to justify declaring a state of emergency, that the country faces a security threat."

The Mugabe regime has complained about the threat of military invasion and the opposition is saying it is convinced Mugabe was on the verge of suspending the Constitution and ruling by decree. That means Mugabe will trash the talks and run the country alone, with the Bill of Rights suspended and emergency measures in place. The street protests by soldiers and now the shooting of a top army general is too much of a coincidence, said one observer.

Zimbabwe Cholera Situation Set to Last - Report

Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's cholera crisis has taken an unprecedented scale and could last for months, the Doctors Without Borders group said Friday. "The scale and the sheer numbers of infections especially in Harare is unprecedented," said the organisation known by its French initials MSF. "Harare has been the centre of the outbreak.

MSF has treated more than 6 000 people in the densely populated capital," the group said in a statement. "A cholera outbreak of this proportion usually continues for several months," it said. "MSF expects to be caring for cholera patients in Zimbabwe for some time to come." Lack of access to clean water, burst and blocked sewers and uncollected garbage overflowing in the streets has spread the water-borne disease across the country.

"The fact that the outbreak has become so large is an indication that the country's health system can't cope," said MSF. Cholera is endemic in parts of rural Zimbabwe, but had been rare in the cities, where most homes have piped water and flush toilets. Those basic services have now broken down, and in some neighbourhoods sewage flows in the streets.

On Friday, the World Health Organisation said the death toll had climbed to 792, with 16 700 cases reported. One day earlier, President Robert Mugabe stunned the world by announcing that the epidemic was over. His spokesperson backtracked on the remarks after the comments sparked international outrage

Silenced: The Strong Voice of Jestina Mukoko

Sophie Shaw, Harare

The terrifying ordeal of Jestina Mukoko, a television news anchor turned human rights activist, began at 5am on December 3 when seven men and one woman forced their way into her house at gunpoint in Norton, a quiet, leafy town 25 miles west of Harare.

The intruders were not in uniform, although one of the men claimed to be a police officer. They refused to let her dress, find her spectacles or pick up the blood pressure pills that she is supposed to take three times a day.

Her 17-year-old son Takudzwa and a six-year-old niece, Tofara, who was in her care, were left shocked and alone after seeing her led away in her nightdress.

Mukoko, 51, who was widowed 13 years ago, has not been seen since by family, friends or lawyers. The regime of President Robert Mugabe has said nothing about her whereabouts or her condition. Fears for her safety are growing.


Last week supporters assembled in Zimbabwe’s capital to turn a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights into a demonstration for her release.

Lawyers marched through the streets in their robes calling for an end to “extrajudicial abductions”. But even among activists there is no consensus about who has taken Mukoko.
Some believe it is the work of the secret police – the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). Others speculate that she was kidnapped on the orders of a leading figure in Zanu-PF, the ruling party, irritated by her criticism of the regime.

Certainly Mukoko has been a thorn in Mugabe’s flesh. She resigned from state television to become director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, a human rights monitoring network, and has been one of the regime’s most intelligent, influential and informed critics.

She has collected evidence of tens of thousands of abuses in the past decade. Her monthly reports have detailed the routine tyranny of violence, the shortage of food and the denial of free speech that characterise Zimbabwean life today, particularly in rural areas.

Mukoko pioneered the use of information technology to map Zanu-PF’s attacks on its opponents. Before elections last March she presented her findings publicly in a Harare hotel. She knew her audience included members of the CIO but nevertheless set out patterns of violence in the 2002 and 2005 elections and predicted where trouble would occur in 2008.

The places she identified – such as Manicaland and Masvingo provinces – were indeed subjected to Zanu-PF campaigns of mass eviction, communal beating and murder. Opposition figures believe much of Zimbabwe’s current tragedy might have been avoided if international observers had followed her advice and gone to such trouble spots.

Mukoko has been an outspoken critic of Zimbabwe’s system of supplying food. Her analysis shows food is supplied to those showing loyalty to the ruling party and is denied to opposition supporters.

While activists still hope for the best, many fear that Mukoko has already been murdered. Lawyers have visited police stations in Norton and Harare to search for her.

The High Court stalled for five days before hearing an urgent application for her release. On Tuesday a judge, Anne-Marie Gorowa, ordered the police “to dispatch a team . . . to search for Jestina Mukoko”. The authorities simply ignored the ruling. Police said they had no jurisdiction to search military or intelligence premises.

Other members of the Zimbabwe Peace Project have also been targeted. Three were arrested for photographing uncollected refuse, bank queues and cholera victims. Their lawyers say they were released after three days when the police conceded that they could not bring any charges.
Nobody knows exactly why Mugabe chose this moment to silence Mukoko; but the abduction is seen as a sign of his desperation and a reflection of the mounting pressure on him.

Mugabe demonstrated in a rambling speech last Thursday that he is infuriated by television coverage of the cholera epidemic, which his officials have blamed on “biological warfare” waged by Britain. The United Nations estimate the death toll at nearly 1,000, but it may be twice as high. His claim that cholera has been eradicated backfired as local commentators queued up to refute it.

Cholera is by no means the only serious threat to life. The UN estimates that 5m people will soon need food aid. The economy is in freefall. Four months after launching a new currency, the central bank has bowed to hyperinflationary pressure and issued Zim $500m notes.

The prospect of a unity government seems further away than ever. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, won elections in March but has been unable to take power. Fifteen MDC members were snatched from their homes in Mashonaland in late October. Two senior party officials were arrested in Bindura in November; last week Gandhi Mudzingwa, Tsvangirai’s former personal assistant, was abducted. Nothing has been heard of them since.

Many in the MDC believe the regime is moving onto a war footing. Mugabe has been shocked by calls from Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Raila Odinga, the Kenyan prime minister, for him to be removed, if necessary by force.

Eddie Cross, an MDC MP, has suggested that the regime is fuelling an expectation of conflict by planting stories on the internet alleging that the Zam-bian army is building up forces on Zimbabwe’s northern border. Cross thinks the CIO has also circulated neighbouring governments with a dossier of fabricated evidence that Bot-swana is training a guerrilla army to invade Zimbabwe.

Mugabe may hope that by exaggerating the threat of invasion he can justify the crackdown on opposition groups. Activists argue that if a woman of Mukoko’s prominence can be made to disappear with impunity, there is no limit to the regime’s readiness to destroy its critics.

Catalogue of tyranny

Jestina Mukoko recorded 20,143 incidents between January and September 2008 including:
- 202 murders
- 463 abductions
- 41 rapes
- 411 cases of torture
- 3,942 assaults
- 907 cases of malicious damage to property
- 444 cases of unlawful detention
- 10,795 cases of harassment/intimidation
- 73% of victims are said to be supporters of the opposition MDC
- 80% of perpetrators of violence are claimed to be Zanu-PF supporters
Source: Zimbabwe Peace Project

Zimbabweans celebrate Elliot Manyika’s death

ZIMBABWE- HARARE - Zimbabweans in the country and the Diaspora have greeted the tragic death of Elliot Manyika with a mixture of joy and relief.
Readers of this online publication celebrated the news of Manyika’s death as if Zanu PF had conceded electoral defeat and handed the baton to the MDC.
In Zimbabwe ordinary people in Harare, Kadoma, Bulawayo, Mutare, Bindura, Shamva, Murombedzi, Murehwa and Mutoko greeted the news with absolute delight.
Every call was greeted with “nemakorokotozve ekushaya kwemhondi iyi inonzi Manyika”-[congratulations on the death of this murderous Manyika.]
Of nearly a combined 300 comments by ZimDaily readers only a paltry 10 comments expressed condolences and commiserations for the passing away of the Zanu PF National Commissar and the Zanu PF Junta Minister without Portfolio.
Such a reaction is completely out of character with societal norms and values of Zimbabweans whose culture is to express profound sorrow and sympathy to bereaved families regardless of whether they were close relatives and friends or complete strangers on hearing death news.
Yet in the case of Elliot Manyika the outpourings of relief and a measure of vengeful triumph at his death were not to be expected.
For here at last, was terminal news, of the death of a true messenger of Zanu PF viciousness towards people of Zimbabwe that has displaced millions and impoverished the entire nation.
Elliot Manyika was a fiery supporter of Zanu PF octogenarian despot Robert Mugabe who many hold responsible for their current misfortunes in life.
He died on 6 December 2008 while on a Zanu PF mission to reorganise its dilapidated provincial and grassroots structures.
The structures he was revamping are the ones that have been coordinating vicious murder, rape bombings, abductions and torture of any one within Zimbabwe suspected of being at variance with Zanu PF at local community level.
Many a family have directly or indirectly fallen victim of these structures and loathe them with a passion.
So it was pleasing to learn that the driving force of the unholy mission had at last met with a more powerful force and succumbed never to return to haunt them again.
That he could well be replaced by a more vicious successor is to many immaterial as they savour the rare moment of natural justice triumph over the evil that Elliot Manyika represented in the Zanu PF establishment.
Zanu PF has indeed lost a key cog in its repressive machinery. This is not to say they will find it impossible to replace Elliot Manyika. No.
The Party has an abundance of trained and indoctrinated assassins waiting in the fringes to take over from Manyika. They may however find the role a bit overwhelming given that at present there are wide craters within Zanu PF following its weakened position after losing the harmonised March 29, 2008 elections to the MDC.
The death of Manyika presents the troubled head of the Party and illegitimate Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe a platform to link with disenchanted grassroots supporters at the funeral which at present is likely to be a State Hero’s gathering.
But was the late Elliot Manyika a deserving National Hero fitting in the criteria used to declare Zanu PF heroes National Heroes in the past?
The short answer is yes. If messengers of Zanu PF violence like the late Dr Chenjerai Hunzvi and Border Gezi have graves at the National Heroes Shrine there can be no argument denying Manyika similar honours after his distinguished service to the Party of despots.
However from a purely National Hero viewpoint Manyika like Gezi and Hunzvi are National Villains rather than heroes.
Be that as it may the State owned media has already pre-empted conferment of National Hero status on the late Zanu PF National Commissar and possible interment at the heroes Acre in Harare with a glossed up obituary.
“We have lost a dedicated cadre, who always worked so diligently for the party. I don’t have much detail at the moment, but I think the Politburo will have to meet over his hero status," Junta Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi was quoted by the Sunday Mail as having bemoaned.
Nothing about him having served the country that will discuss his hero status is evident there from. But the country will still debate his hero status anywhere.
“In 1974, he was arrested for allegedly writing and circulating subversive statements while waiting for his O-level results.He was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released after 18 months under strict conditions. As a result of the incarceration, he could not proceed for Advanced level,” the Sunday Mail disclosed.
The nature of the subversive material he allegedly got done for remains a mystery. The fact is that in August 1978 the late Elliot Manyika was employed by the then Public Works Department (PWD) at its Mashonaland East Provincial offices situated near where the current Mutare road Vehicle Inspection Department is.
His criminal security vetting report was returned endorsed “No Criminal Record Traced/ Nothing Detrimental Traced” and he was duly appointed Clerical Assistant.
Further to that his “O” Level certificate had three passed subjects at grade “C” and a string of “D” grades for the rest and thus could not have been accepted for any “A” level course on the basis of those grades.
Suggesting that the PWD employed a saboteur under strict court conditions are stretching imagination a bit too far.
These are lies that can only be on his Zanu PF CV. While employed by the PWD he was called up for compulsory National Service in 1979. Although he was still under 30 years his poor “O” levels allowed him to escape basic Territorial Forces training at Llewellyn Barracks. Instead he was conscripted for Police Reservist training at Mushandike.
That is the same training base where Phillip Chiyangwa was trained. There is as far as we know no former person with Rhodesia Front military training interred at the National Heroes Acre and it appears Manyika is poised to score a first because his chequered history and links with the Rhodesian army has been camouflaged by reference to him as Comrade Manyika within Zanu PF.
Many people hold that he was a former Liberation combatant when he was never anywhere near an operational area or participated in the war. Not even as a Mujibha (male Civilian War sentinel and collaborator).
“Cde Manyika joined the Zanu-PF Youth League together with the late Minister of Youth, Gender and Employment Creation, Cde Border Gezi, in 1982,” declared the Sunday Mail falsely.
There was never a provision to join Zanu PF as special league member. Membership of Zanu PF was general membership and after joining one chose dependant on his age and sex to affiliate and be active in the Youth or Women’s League otherwise the docile members remained ordinary main league members regardless of their age or gender.
Elliot Manyika wormed into the Youth league prominence on the reputation of the late Robson Manyika whom he openly bragged was his brother.
To date it remains unclear how he was related to the late Deputy Minister but one thing for certain is they share a common surname and not many wanted to explore further the relationship after the Kopje shootout between the Deputy Minister and revellers at the Queen of Sheba brothel.
It was this connection he used to worm up employment ranks in the Civil service because of all his work colleagues in clerical positions in 1978 he was the only one who had failed accelerated advancement (affirmative action) promotion exams run by the Public Service training centre and remained a clerk class II when others were upgraded to Clerical Executive and Administrative Officers to fill the void of emigrating former White bearers of the posts.
His belated promotions in the Civil Service surprised many as he was never a high performer at work. The meteoric promotions from Clerk to Under Secretary were rewards for sterling party work he had done with Border Gezi, James Makamba, Chenhamo Chimutengwende Saviour Kasukuwere and Nicholas Goche to return a Zanu PF clean sweep of Parliamentary seats in Mashonaland Central in the 1990 Parliamentary elections.
As a leader of the terror gangs of Zanu PF hoodlums in the province he was rewarded handsomely with undue Civil Service work promotions for vile electioneering work he and his minions executed with diligence and precision that earned the Mashonaland province the “accolade” (No go area for opposition politicians).
The disclosure that he was promoted to senior Civil Service positions without linking the promotions to political patronage is most cynical by the State Media that wants to sell a daft hooligan as a smart civil servant.
By the time this writer left the Civil Service in 1982 Elliot Manyika who had joined the service at the same grade and level with the writer was still a clerk class II when the writer had already been promoted to an Executive Officer.
In 1995 Zanu PF repeated its political dominance of the province and that success brought Elliot Manyika handsome work rewards when he was in1999, appointed Zimbabwe’s High Commissioner to Malawi only to be recalled home the following year as Mashonaland Central Governor and Resident Minister.
Zanu PF needed him more in the country to spearhead the chaotic land reforms it had been forced to embark on by an embarrassing Constitutional referendum defeat and an even more humiliating electoral defeat to the MDC it had to reverse through ballot stuffing rigging by Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede and his Electoral Commission team.
He did not disappoint as he led marauding gangs around the province chasing off White farm owners and pummelling them into submission to his vicious onslaught.
When in 2001 his predecessor mentor and idol Border Gezi died in a car accident after a reportedly similar tyre burst to the one reported in his accident causing death, Elliot Manyika became a natural successor to both Gezi’s roles of Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation and Zanu PF National Commissar.
Little did he know that he had also inherited death in similar circumstances to those of his predecessor? How ironic?
Drawing on his experiences in National Service while at Mushandike police Reservist training he teamed up with hoodlums like Reason Wafawarova to draw up a National Youth service spiced with militia tactics and institutionalised the Zanu PF violent electioneering strategy.
The products of his thuggish training curriculum for National Youth Service are there for all to see and evaluate.
Cold blood murder, rape, torture and theft of civilian property in Youth manned electioneering bases countrywide every time the country goes to elections.
And more he mobilised the Youth to commit these crimes jovially by teaming up with compromised musical outfits like the POLICE band and Brian Muteki to compose and sing praise songs for the murderous regime he was part of.
Is it any wonder then Zimbabweans have greeted news of his death with joy and relief against their cultural norms and values. I guess not at all.
The wisdom in the vernacular Shona language that wafawanaka (the dead is good as he is no longer a threat worth counter strategising about) may hold true in many instances but not in Elliot Manyika’s case.
He was a vile political monstrosity with little respect for human life and died unrepentant. He was bad for Zimbabwe and will be bad in death. Zimbabweans will worry a about his legacy long after his burial wherever his party will decide to honour and bury him.

Discipline Falters In Mugabe’s Barracks

By Walter Murwizi,

HARARE - An extremely revealing picture of soldiers looting in Harare prompted me to do what I have not done for a long time: read the whole front page of The Herald last week.

The picture, taken on Monday and only conveniently used on Wednesday by the Herald after Minister of Defence Sydney Sekeramayi had prepared a response to the mayhem, showed four soldiers seizing clothes along Jason Moyo.

And that was the bad news that the Zanu PF government, battling to contain a cholera epidemic, food crisis, water shortages, among a vast array of challenges, would never have wanted the world to hear.

When the soldiers left their barracks and started grabbing women’s handbags, cash, cellphones and looting clothes and food from shops, these were signs that the discipline that has been the hallmark of Zimbabwe’s defence forces was faltering.

While suggestions that Zimbabwe may be ripe for a full-scale mutiny are exaggerated, the thuggish behaviour of the soldiers shows that indiscipline has started creeping into the force.
In the past few years Mugabe has counted on disciplined soldiers to suppress protests by the MDC, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and National Constitutional Assembly (NCA). But when the soldiers themselves start the mayhem these days, can they be trusted to quell any mass action that may be called in future?

I raise that question because some of the so-called rogue soldiers who looted shops last week actually encouraged people to start demonstrating against the government.

Some reportedly told their victims to join the ZCTU-organised demonstration.
At Market Square bus terminus soldiers beat up commuters for “coming to work”. “Munouyirei kubasa musina mari yacho, garai kumba zvinhu zvigadziriswe” (Why do you come to work when you don’t have money. Stay at home so the problems can be fixed)” one of the soldiers was heard saying.

Without the support of the army Mugabe’s rule could collapse like a deck of cards.
Mugabe knows full well this reality and that is the reason why he has, at every opportunity, taken extraordinary steps, sometimes at the risk of alienating other sections of the public service, to please the army with huge bonuses, and other perks over the past few years.
With inflation threatening to breach the quintillion mark, it has increasingly become difficult for the octogenarian dictator to please the generality of men and women in uniform. This has left him with no other option but to focus on the army chefs who have been given top of the range vehicles, farms, cheap loans and fuel as incentives for them to keep the troops in check.

But the foot soldiers, who have to be deployed in the streets to defend Mugabe whenever there is trouble, have been left wallowing in poverty. At the barracks, soldiers are served with sadza without relish.

Those who stay outside the barracks live miserable lives. They can’t pay rent — which is usually charged in foreign currency — they can’t afford their transport and they wear miserably threadbare uniforms.

Many have been coerced to regard as enemies close relatives and friends just because they belong to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change for which Mugabe makes no secret of his dislike. Yet they still have to live among the same friends and relatives in the townships and meet frequently at funerals and other family gatherings.

Three weeks ago I witnessed a young soldier bolt out of Food World supermarket with a stolen pie in his hand. The soldier was saved from a thorough beating because those who apprehended him felt sorry when they saw his cracked lips and pathetic demeanour. When a trained man is reduced to stealing a pie to fend off hunger, looting can become an option!

SUNDAY VIEW WITH WALTER MARWIZI