THE MDC-T's readiness to compromise on some challenges that have confronted the three-month-old unity government will dent the party's credibility as the country heads for another election in two years, a legal expert warned last week.
A few days after joining Zanu PF in the unity government in February, the party led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai shocked many democratic activists when it agreed to proposals by President Robert Mugabe to increase the number of ministers in violation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
Mugabe had initially tried to smuggle into cabinet additional ministers among his loyalists from Zanu PF without the knowledge of the MDC formations.The MDC formations said they agreed to the expansion of the cabinet, which even violated the constitution, to save the coalition from collapse.
The MDC-T also appears to have softened its stance on farm invasions and its long-held view that travel bans against Mugabe's inner circle cannot be described as economic sanctions.
Derek Matyszak, a senior researcher at the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU), said Tsvangirai's party, which has fiercely fought for democracy and respect for the rule of law for close to a decade, was now singing from the Zanu PF "hymn book".
"Instead of insisting on enforcing the GPA and what are now constitutional provisions, the MDC simply accepts the flouting of its terms in accordance with its policy of propitiation, appeasement and compromise," Matyszak said.
The MDC-T leadership also seemed to be less enthusiastic about the need to push for the removal of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana despite the fact that their re-appointments violated the GPA, he said.
Matyszak said signals from the party's leadership, especially Finance Minister Tendai Biti, were that they were prepared to compromise on the two if their powers were curtailed.
Biti recently said reports of serious differences between him and Gono were a creation of the media."It has also been reported that cabinet has approved Biti's proposed amendments to the Reserve Bank Act," he said. "All this indicates that the
MDC-T is once again preparing to capitulate to Mugabe's unilateral exercise of power.
"We will be told that a compromise has been reached and that Mugabe has agreed that Gono will stay but with limited powers." Matyszak said the MDC-T also made a blunder by compromising on the re-appointment of permanent secretaries as most of them were Zanu PF politicians retained from the previous administration.
"So the MDC-T will have us believe that the likes of George Charamba, the permnent secretary in the Ministry of Information, and the likes of David Mangota in the Ministry of Justice who is responsible for the conditions in the prisons are suitable and non-political appointments," he said.
"As they did with Mugabe's unilateral allocation of the ministries, they have simply accepted Mugabe's unrestrained and non-inclusive exercise of power."
But Deputy Minister of Justice and MDC-T MP Jessie Majome said compromise was better than giving up and allowing the country to slide back into a situation where it is run by an "exclusive" government. "We are aware that some of the tactics are meant to frustrate us and push us out of the game but we believe that quitting is not an option," she said.
Responding to criticism that the government had not achieved much since its formation, Majome said resuscitating the country was a process which would take time.
"You need to understand that this transitional coalition government was established to provide first aid to a dying, ailing and traumatised society," she said.
"It is more of a paramedic act on the situation we found ourselves in as a country following widespread atrocities and humanitarian crisis under the former exclusive government.
"Work is in progress to bring about the promised reforms . . . it cannot be an event but a process." But Matyszak said it was unfortunate that the MDC-T had even compromised on fundamental issues such as the opening of the democratic
space.
"MDC-T has now decided to define sanctions the Zanu PF way," he said. "It now says sanctions do not mean targeted sanctions and travel bans against those who supported the Mugabe government.
"The MDC-T now uses the term sanctions to mean the absence of IMF and balance of payments support and the provision of aid from countries that Mugabe continues to insult."
He said instead of calling on donors to "open up their wallets", the MDC-T should be pushing for the opening up of the democratic space which he said was crucial in convincing the international community to come to the country's rescue.
Matyszak was contributing to a public discussion organised by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
The theme of the discussion was "Assessing the Rule of Law, the humanitarian and economic situation in Zimbabwe in the context of the inclusive government's first 100 days and its 100-day action plan".
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Tsvangirai, Attorney General, Clash over Media Ruling
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday said he was surprised that the state intends to appeal against a judgement in favour of freelance journalists who successfully applied to stop the defunct Media and Information Commission from interfering in their work.
Freelance journalists, Stanley Gama, Valentine Maponga, Stanley Kwenda and Jealousy Mawarire sought the intervention of the court after the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity insisted that those without MIC accreditation would not be allowed to cover the Comesa summit.
In a move hailed as a victory for democracy, High Court Judge Justice Bharat Patel upheld their appeal on Friday evening.
The judge said the MIC ceased to exist legally last year when it was replaced by the Zimbabwe Media Commission following the enactment of Constitutional Amendment No.19. He said the order would stand notwithstanding any appeal by the respondents.
Patel ordered Minister Webster Shamu and George Charamba, the Secretary for the Ministry to retract their statements to the effect that journalists must accredit with MIC for the purposes of covering the ongoing Common Market for East and Southern African summit in Victoria Falls.
Patel said they should do this by putting notices in the print media and also through radio and television.The judge also interdicted Shamu, Charamba, "their agents and any person purporting to act on their behalf or with their authority from making statements, publishing notices, or attempting in any other way to compel the
four and or any other journalists to accredit for the Comesa summit, or assuming any functions of the ZMC including the levying of accreditation fees".
While journalists hoped this could bring a closure to the matter, MIC lawyers on Friday announced that the state would appeal against the decision.
Reacting to the announcement yesterday, the Prime Minister said he was "surprised" that the state intended to appeal.He said the AG's office had indicated in its legal opinion that "the MIC was defunct".
Tsvangirai's office had sought legal opinion from the AG's office after Charamba dismissed the Prime Minister's assurances that journalists and media houses were free to operate without licences until the Zimbabwe Media Commission was set up in terms of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
The correspondence between the AG's office and Tsvangirai was part of the evidence produced at the High Court."It is surprising that it is the same (AG who now wants to appeal) who advised that what was happening was wrong," Tsvangirai told journalists at the Harare International Airport shortly before leaving for Europe and the United States.
Tsvangirai left Harare on an eight-nation tour that takes him to France, Sweden, Britain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the US.He told journalists: "There is no legal basis for the media to be licensed to cover and report issues about the country."
Meanwhile, lawyers and journalists hailed Patel's judgement as a victory for those campaigning for a return to the rule of law and freedom of expression.
"It is a victory for those who wish to see a swift return to the rule of law, adherence to the laws of the country as well as cessation of the abuse of power by certain members of the executive," the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said in a statement.
John Gambanga, the executive director of the Zimbabwe Voluntary Media Council said the government must now put in place the ZMC to replace MIC.
"This is a major victory for democracy, freedom of expression and freedom of the press," he said. "I am particularly happy with the fact that the MIC's illegitimacy has been legally confirmed."
The ruling also came as a relief for journalists who have seen the MIC throwing tens of their colleagues into the streets after closing down several newspapers.Tafataona Mahoso, the controversial MIC chairman had opposed the application by the four freelance journalists.
Freelance journalists, Stanley Gama, Valentine Maponga, Stanley Kwenda and Jealousy Mawarire sought the intervention of the court after the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity insisted that those without MIC accreditation would not be allowed to cover the Comesa summit.
In a move hailed as a victory for democracy, High Court Judge Justice Bharat Patel upheld their appeal on Friday evening.
The judge said the MIC ceased to exist legally last year when it was replaced by the Zimbabwe Media Commission following the enactment of Constitutional Amendment No.19. He said the order would stand notwithstanding any appeal by the respondents.
Patel ordered Minister Webster Shamu and George Charamba, the Secretary for the Ministry to retract their statements to the effect that journalists must accredit with MIC for the purposes of covering the ongoing Common Market for East and Southern African summit in Victoria Falls.
Patel said they should do this by putting notices in the print media and also through radio and television.The judge also interdicted Shamu, Charamba, "their agents and any person purporting to act on their behalf or with their authority from making statements, publishing notices, or attempting in any other way to compel the
four and or any other journalists to accredit for the Comesa summit, or assuming any functions of the ZMC including the levying of accreditation fees".
While journalists hoped this could bring a closure to the matter, MIC lawyers on Friday announced that the state would appeal against the decision.
Reacting to the announcement yesterday, the Prime Minister said he was "surprised" that the state intended to appeal.He said the AG's office had indicated in its legal opinion that "the MIC was defunct".
Tsvangirai's office had sought legal opinion from the AG's office after Charamba dismissed the Prime Minister's assurances that journalists and media houses were free to operate without licences until the Zimbabwe Media Commission was set up in terms of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
The correspondence between the AG's office and Tsvangirai was part of the evidence produced at the High Court."It is surprising that it is the same (AG who now wants to appeal) who advised that what was happening was wrong," Tsvangirai told journalists at the Harare International Airport shortly before leaving for Europe and the United States.
Tsvangirai left Harare on an eight-nation tour that takes him to France, Sweden, Britain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the US.He told journalists: "There is no legal basis for the media to be licensed to cover and report issues about the country."
Meanwhile, lawyers and journalists hailed Patel's judgement as a victory for those campaigning for a return to the rule of law and freedom of expression.
"It is a victory for those who wish to see a swift return to the rule of law, adherence to the laws of the country as well as cessation of the abuse of power by certain members of the executive," the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said in a statement.
John Gambanga, the executive director of the Zimbabwe Voluntary Media Council said the government must now put in place the ZMC to replace MIC.
"This is a major victory for democracy, freedom of expression and freedom of the press," he said. "I am particularly happy with the fact that the MIC's illegitimacy has been legally confirmed."
The ruling also came as a relief for journalists who have seen the MIC throwing tens of their colleagues into the streets after closing down several newspapers.Tafataona Mahoso, the controversial MIC chairman had opposed the application by the four freelance journalists.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Zimbabwe Violence: A besieged farmer tells his story
BEN FREETH'S STORY/UPDATE ON INVADERS (JUNE O1,2009)
The invaders came at 11pm. Fifteen of them — singing, chanting and crashing metal objects together by our windows. “Out, out,” they shouted as they surrounded our farm — they certainly wanted us out. They broke into the house and dragged burning tyres through the front door.
This was last Tuesday. I called the police but then the invaders took the phone away. Their leader, who calls himself “Landmine”, was armed with a rifle. They pushed us around and raised sticks and said that we must leave. They beat my tonga drum so hard that the cowhide skin broke.
One of them went up to the children, who had been woken by the din. “Josh, Josh, there’s a man in our room,” said Anna, 4. Joshua, 9, told my wife Laura afterwards that the man was making hyena noises. My other son, Stephen, is 7.
Police arrived and the invaders were ushered out. None was arrested, but “Landmine” did return my phone at the request of the police. When the police left, though, the invaders resumed their attack. They did not break in this time, but they made a lot of noise, circling the house like whooping hyenas and shouting before they left: “We will eat the children.”
To be caught on the edge of life, isolated, without help and abandoned, is a hard thing. This is how it is living on a farm in Zimbabwe today. Our house, surrounded by wild stretches of swaying savannah grasses, should be a haven of peace. For us, though, looking out and listening, there are things we see and hear that make our hearts beat fast and our minds race. It is like looking out on a tranquil river, the languid stretches of the mighty Zambezi, and somehow being able to see the crocodiles beneath the surface lying in wait for the one who is careless and not alert.
We thought that with the new Government, and Morgan Tsvangirai becoming the Prime Minister, things might get better. Underneath the waters, though, we knew that the great crocodile, Robert Mugabe, was still in control. It is clear to us now that Tsvangirai does not want to harm Mugabe’s “sacred cow” — the eviction of the last of the white men from their farms must continue. Last week Tsvangirai said that there were invasions on only “one or two farms” and that they have been “blown out of proportion”. This is not the truth. Almost every white farmer that has so far survived is either being prosecuted criminally by the State for still being on his farm, or is facing an attack in which invaders take the law into their own hands.
To stay in our home, which we built on the farm from nothing in 1999, is a battle of wits and nerve — a battle that has raged since we completed our house and had our first child. Joshua, born three days before 2000, has known nothing but farm attacks. His first brush with the invaders was when he was four months old. We were driving out to visit another farm, but militia had erected a road block on the driveway. The invaders stopped us and smashed our car windows with axes and rocks. We had to drive for our lives, with Joshua in his carrycot on the back seat.
There was a time, though, when there was peace on the farm. It was a childhood dream of my father-in-law to reintroduce wildlife to the land. When the 1,200-hectare Mount Carmel farm, which has a river flowing though the middle, came up for sale he sold everything, took out a loan and bought it to create a safari enterprise. Over many years of hard farm work his dream gradually became reality. He introduced nine species of antelope and even had 45 giraffe by the time Joshua was born. The animals did well and my parents-in-law built a safari lodge set by the Biri River.
It was a happy place then, without fear stalking the veldt. Laura, my wife, grew up among all that.
The bush war made things difficult for a time in the late 1970s, but it was never as it is now. Today, of the several hundred antelope that were here, not one remains. They have all been killed and the safari lodge has been burnt down.
The battle now is relentless, wearing and it drains all our innermost reserves. It is also an unusual battle — where else in the world does a government declare war on its own people? Where else does the State aim to destroy the economic base of the country so that people will be poorer and therefore more easily controlled? Where else do police connive with criminals to destroy agricultural production — leaving the people starving and totally dependant on the ruling party? Those who have not lived through a time of terror at the hands of a dictatorial government will never understand what it is like.
We have 500 people living and depending on the farm but none of the 150 workers has been allowed to work since April 4. They are chased away with guns by the invaders whenever they try.
Ninety per cent of our farming community has left or is packing at the moment. Tsvangirai’s appointment has hastened our demise. There is a rush to clear the farms of the last white people so that Mugabe can put his men on to the land to control and terrorise the people when the next election comes. Nobody can farm in the midst of this controlled anarchy. That is why we are now the most food-aid dependent country in the world.
Police arrived and the invaders were ushered out. None was arrested, but “Landmine” did return my phone at the request of the police. When the police left, though, the invaders resumed their attack. They did not break in this time, but they made a lot of noise, circling the house like whooping hyenas and shouting before they left: “We will eat the children.”
We can run away of course. Most people have. If self-preservation is the goal then there is no sense in staying. For us, though, there is a greater good. It is a matter of principle. If individual men and women allow evil to advance unchecked, it will prevail and more people will suffer and starve. It is hard to live and try to make a difference in a time of terror — especially with a family. My wife has been amazing. It is only our faith in God and his provision that sustains us.
Tuesday was not Landmine’s first visit. When he came last month and broke in to the house of my elderly parents-in-law, Mike and Angela Campbell, during the night, shouting that they must leave, our workers were beaten. One was put in the fire and his trousers caught alight before he wriggled out. They then beat him with sticks and metal pipes all over his body. They dumped him, his skull fractured, at the local Chegutu police station. After that it was easy for the invaders. My in-laws are still trying to recover from a savage beating and abduction on the farm nearly a year ago. Then, between the three of us, we suffered 13 broken bones. My skull was also fractured. At the age of 38 I recovered well, but Mike, 75, who sustained the worst beating, is taking a long time to mend. Our crime was to try to get the whistle blown in the SADC Tribunal. With guns to our heads, they made Angela sign a paper saying that we would withdraw from the court, but we never did.
After Mike and Angela were forced to leave, Shamuyarira’s men were able to have the run of the place. For more than a month we have not been able to retrieve any of their possessions from the house. Two weeks ago the invaders drove a red government tractor into the fenced area around our house and started ploughing up our beautiful garden and driveway so that we could not get out. They screamed abuse and threatened to burn down our home, lighting sacks under the thatched roof before weaving off down our access road and ploughing that into a quagmire too. They then went to the workers and pushed down the door to the home of the foreman, Peter. He has been working for my father-in-law for 31 years. They took him from his bedroom and started beating him and then continued hitting him with sticks on the soles of his feet through the night. We could hear the singing and the raw screams of the beating through the night air, but there was nothing we could do. Nobody knew where Peter was until the next morning when he was dumped at the police station. There were no arrests.
It is harvest time in Zimbabwe. That is one of the reasons that Shamuyarira’s men have come now. This is the largest mango farm in Zimbabwe. There were 50 tons of mangos in the pack shed and cold rooms and another 120 tons still hanging on the trees two months ago. They have stolen all of them and are now starting on the oranges. After that it will be the maize and the sunflowers — and nobody is willing to stop them.
Where else in the world do the Government sanction people to reap what they did not sow, and get away with it? Where else do people come to take homes and occupy them? Where else do people get beaten and left at police stations and their attackers drive off with impunity?
Nobody is putting in a wheat crop this year. The wheat seed sits in the warehouses and in the shops. And so there will be no bread.
When the invaders are not here there is an eerie unease. The workers’ houses are quiet and deserted — their occupants in hiding. When we do see our workers they are furtive — listening, jumpy, ready to move at the slightest threat. Ultimately it must be for them that we stay. We know that if we run they will be chased from their homes and will starve.
It is our conviction that God has called us to stay and stand and resist the evil that continues to beset the land.
Pray for us as we have come face to face with Satan.
Ben Freeth
For now, though, we are reeling, sometimes seeing stars, bewildered in a bewitched land. We are waiting for a future.
The invaders came at 11pm. Fifteen of them — singing, chanting and crashing metal objects together by our windows. “Out, out,” they shouted as they surrounded our farm — they certainly wanted us out. They broke into the house and dragged burning tyres through the front door.
This was last Tuesday. I called the police but then the invaders took the phone away. Their leader, who calls himself “Landmine”, was armed with a rifle. They pushed us around and raised sticks and said that we must leave. They beat my tonga drum so hard that the cowhide skin broke.
One of them went up to the children, who had been woken by the din. “Josh, Josh, there’s a man in our room,” said Anna, 4. Joshua, 9, told my wife Laura afterwards that the man was making hyena noises. My other son, Stephen, is 7.
Police arrived and the invaders were ushered out. None was arrested, but “Landmine” did return my phone at the request of the police. When the police left, though, the invaders resumed their attack. They did not break in this time, but they made a lot of noise, circling the house like whooping hyenas and shouting before they left: “We will eat the children.”
To be caught on the edge of life, isolated, without help and abandoned, is a hard thing. This is how it is living on a farm in Zimbabwe today. Our house, surrounded by wild stretches of swaying savannah grasses, should be a haven of peace. For us, though, looking out and listening, there are things we see and hear that make our hearts beat fast and our minds race. It is like looking out on a tranquil river, the languid stretches of the mighty Zambezi, and somehow being able to see the crocodiles beneath the surface lying in wait for the one who is careless and not alert.
We thought that with the new Government, and Morgan Tsvangirai becoming the Prime Minister, things might get better. Underneath the waters, though, we knew that the great crocodile, Robert Mugabe, was still in control. It is clear to us now that Tsvangirai does not want to harm Mugabe’s “sacred cow” — the eviction of the last of the white men from their farms must continue. Last week Tsvangirai said that there were invasions on only “one or two farms” and that they have been “blown out of proportion”. This is not the truth. Almost every white farmer that has so far survived is either being prosecuted criminally by the State for still being on his farm, or is facing an attack in which invaders take the law into their own hands.
To stay in our home, which we built on the farm from nothing in 1999, is a battle of wits and nerve — a battle that has raged since we completed our house and had our first child. Joshua, born three days before 2000, has known nothing but farm attacks. His first brush with the invaders was when he was four months old. We were driving out to visit another farm, but militia had erected a road block on the driveway. The invaders stopped us and smashed our car windows with axes and rocks. We had to drive for our lives, with Joshua in his carrycot on the back seat.
There was a time, though, when there was peace on the farm. It was a childhood dream of my father-in-law to reintroduce wildlife to the land. When the 1,200-hectare Mount Carmel farm, which has a river flowing though the middle, came up for sale he sold everything, took out a loan and bought it to create a safari enterprise. Over many years of hard farm work his dream gradually became reality. He introduced nine species of antelope and even had 45 giraffe by the time Joshua was born. The animals did well and my parents-in-law built a safari lodge set by the Biri River.
It was a happy place then, without fear stalking the veldt. Laura, my wife, grew up among all that.
The bush war made things difficult for a time in the late 1970s, but it was never as it is now. Today, of the several hundred antelope that were here, not one remains. They have all been killed and the safari lodge has been burnt down.
The battle now is relentless, wearing and it drains all our innermost reserves. It is also an unusual battle — where else in the world does a government declare war on its own people? Where else does the State aim to destroy the economic base of the country so that people will be poorer and therefore more easily controlled? Where else do police connive with criminals to destroy agricultural production — leaving the people starving and totally dependant on the ruling party? Those who have not lived through a time of terror at the hands of a dictatorial government will never understand what it is like.
We have 500 people living and depending on the farm but none of the 150 workers has been allowed to work since April 4. They are chased away with guns by the invaders whenever they try.
Ninety per cent of our farming community has left or is packing at the moment. Tsvangirai’s appointment has hastened our demise. There is a rush to clear the farms of the last white people so that Mugabe can put his men on to the land to control and terrorise the people when the next election comes. Nobody can farm in the midst of this controlled anarchy. That is why we are now the most food-aid dependent country in the world.
Police arrived and the invaders were ushered out. None was arrested, but “Landmine” did return my phone at the request of the police. When the police left, though, the invaders resumed their attack. They did not break in this time, but they made a lot of noise, circling the house like whooping hyenas and shouting before they left: “We will eat the children.”
We can run away of course. Most people have. If self-preservation is the goal then there is no sense in staying. For us, though, there is a greater good. It is a matter of principle. If individual men and women allow evil to advance unchecked, it will prevail and more people will suffer and starve. It is hard to live and try to make a difference in a time of terror — especially with a family. My wife has been amazing. It is only our faith in God and his provision that sustains us.
Tuesday was not Landmine’s first visit. When he came last month and broke in to the house of my elderly parents-in-law, Mike and Angela Campbell, during the night, shouting that they must leave, our workers were beaten. One was put in the fire and his trousers caught alight before he wriggled out. They then beat him with sticks and metal pipes all over his body. They dumped him, his skull fractured, at the local Chegutu police station. After that it was easy for the invaders. My in-laws are still trying to recover from a savage beating and abduction on the farm nearly a year ago. Then, between the three of us, we suffered 13 broken bones. My skull was also fractured. At the age of 38 I recovered well, but Mike, 75, who sustained the worst beating, is taking a long time to mend. Our crime was to try to get the whistle blown in the SADC Tribunal. With guns to our heads, they made Angela sign a paper saying that we would withdraw from the court, but we never did.
After Mike and Angela were forced to leave, Shamuyarira’s men were able to have the run of the place. For more than a month we have not been able to retrieve any of their possessions from the house. Two weeks ago the invaders drove a red government tractor into the fenced area around our house and started ploughing up our beautiful garden and driveway so that we could not get out. They screamed abuse and threatened to burn down our home, lighting sacks under the thatched roof before weaving off down our access road and ploughing that into a quagmire too. They then went to the workers and pushed down the door to the home of the foreman, Peter. He has been working for my father-in-law for 31 years. They took him from his bedroom and started beating him and then continued hitting him with sticks on the soles of his feet through the night. We could hear the singing and the raw screams of the beating through the night air, but there was nothing we could do. Nobody knew where Peter was until the next morning when he was dumped at the police station. There were no arrests.
It is harvest time in Zimbabwe. That is one of the reasons that Shamuyarira’s men have come now. This is the largest mango farm in Zimbabwe. There were 50 tons of mangos in the pack shed and cold rooms and another 120 tons still hanging on the trees two months ago. They have stolen all of them and are now starting on the oranges. After that it will be the maize and the sunflowers — and nobody is willing to stop them.
Where else in the world do the Government sanction people to reap what they did not sow, and get away with it? Where else do people come to take homes and occupy them? Where else do people get beaten and left at police stations and their attackers drive off with impunity?
Nobody is putting in a wheat crop this year. The wheat seed sits in the warehouses and in the shops. And so there will be no bread.
When the invaders are not here there is an eerie unease. The workers’ houses are quiet and deserted — their occupants in hiding. When we do see our workers they are furtive — listening, jumpy, ready to move at the slightest threat. Ultimately it must be for them that we stay. We know that if we run they will be chased from their homes and will starve.
It is our conviction that God has called us to stay and stand and resist the evil that continues to beset the land.
Pray for us as we have come face to face with Satan.
Ben Freeth
For now, though, we are reeling, sometimes seeing stars, bewildered in a bewitched land. We are waiting for a future.
Friday, May 29, 2009
"Reinstate the Rule of Law," Zimbabwe is urged
by Cuthbert Nzou
HARARE - Amnesty International has challenged Zimbabwe's inclusive government to impose the rule of law in the country and that the administration acts against state agents and government officials who continue to violate human rights.
"The relentless silencing of government critics that characterised the previous administration is a blight on the record of the inclusive government," said Simeon Mawanza, Amnesty International's expert on Zimbabwe in a report released yesterday.
Amnesty criticised the arrest of two independent journalists and a prominent human rights lawyer over the past three weeks.
On May 11, journalists, Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimakure of the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent weekly were arrested and charged for publishing an article, which the state claimed, was "wholly or materially false with the intention to generate public hostility towards the police, the military and the prison service".
They were released the following day on bail and were yesterday remanded on bail to June 16 for trial. Amnesty said it believes the journalists were arrested and detained purely for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
On May 14, prominent human rights lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, who had been representing a number of human rights and political activists, was arrested and detained by officers from the police's law and order section, notorious for harassing perceived opponents of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party.
Muchadehama was charged with "defeating or obstructing the course of justice" and released on bail. Amnesty said it was concerned about the apparent lack of political will by the power-sharing government to create an environment in which human rights
and media workers could freely do their work. The organisation urged the Southern Africa Development Community and the African Union to use their role as guarantors of Zimbabwe's inter-party agreement to end on going human rights violations.
"The continued harassment and intimidation of perceived government critics has held back the international community from providing much needed assistance to ensure the realisation of the economic and social rights of Zimbabwean people," said Amnesty.
"For the inclusive government to live up to its international obligations to ensure the realisation of the economic and social rights of Zimbabwean people, it urgently needs to create the conditions in which donors can feel confident about providing assistance," said Mawanza.
Amnesty International also expressed concern about reports of victims of political violence who have taken up matters into their own hands in an attempt to recover their property that was looted by ZANU PF supporters between the March and June 2008 elections.
Police were quick to arrest the people involved, but no action was taken against known perpetrators of the 2008 human rights abuses despite reports being made to the police by the victims.
"Partisan policing needs to be brought to an end, said Mawanza. "The needs of victims of the state sponsored human rights violations have to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Those responsible for human rights violations have to be held accountable and the victims accorded effective remedies." - ZimOnline
HARARE - Amnesty International has challenged Zimbabwe's inclusive government to impose the rule of law in the country and that the administration acts against state agents and government officials who continue to violate human rights.
"The relentless silencing of government critics that characterised the previous administration is a blight on the record of the inclusive government," said Simeon Mawanza, Amnesty International's expert on Zimbabwe in a report released yesterday.
Amnesty criticised the arrest of two independent journalists and a prominent human rights lawyer over the past three weeks.
On May 11, journalists, Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimakure of the privately owned Zimbabwe Independent weekly were arrested and charged for publishing an article, which the state claimed, was "wholly or materially false with the intention to generate public hostility towards the police, the military and the prison service".
They were released the following day on bail and were yesterday remanded on bail to June 16 for trial. Amnesty said it believes the journalists were arrested and detained purely for exercising their right to freedom of expression.
On May 14, prominent human rights lawyer, Alec Muchadehama, who had been representing a number of human rights and political activists, was arrested and detained by officers from the police's law and order section, notorious for harassing perceived opponents of President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party.
Muchadehama was charged with "defeating or obstructing the course of justice" and released on bail. Amnesty said it was concerned about the apparent lack of political will by the power-sharing government to create an environment in which human rights
and media workers could freely do their work. The organisation urged the Southern Africa Development Community and the African Union to use their role as guarantors of Zimbabwe's inter-party agreement to end on going human rights violations.
"The continued harassment and intimidation of perceived government critics has held back the international community from providing much needed assistance to ensure the realisation of the economic and social rights of Zimbabwean people," said Amnesty.
"For the inclusive government to live up to its international obligations to ensure the realisation of the economic and social rights of Zimbabwean people, it urgently needs to create the conditions in which donors can feel confident about providing assistance," said Mawanza.
Amnesty International also expressed concern about reports of victims of political violence who have taken up matters into their own hands in an attempt to recover their property that was looted by ZANU PF supporters between the March and June 2008 elections.
Police were quick to arrest the people involved, but no action was taken against known perpetrators of the 2008 human rights abuses despite reports being made to the police by the victims.
"Partisan policing needs to be brought to an end, said Mawanza. "The needs of victims of the state sponsored human rights violations have to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Those responsible for human rights violations have to be held accountable and the victims accorded effective remedies." - ZimOnline
Gideon Gono to get his wings clipped?
HARARE - Zimbabwe's cabinet is said to have agreed to effect key amendments to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Act, a development that will see the RBZ being confined to its core functions.
While the battle around the status of controversial RBZ governor Gideon Gono rages on, Finance Minister Tendai Biti is reported to have convinced cabinet on the need to clip the wings of the central bank chief, whose controversial quasi-fiscal policies are widely regarded as having ruined Zimbabwe's once buoyant economy.
President Robert Mugabe, who has declared he will not heed local or international calls for Gono to be replaced, chairs cabinet, which comprises all ministers from both Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) parties.
"I am pleased to advise that cabinet has agreed on fundamental amendments to the Reserve Bank Act," Biti told journalists Thursday. "It is important that we restore the legitimacy, credibility and integrity of the Reserve Bank."
Biti said the RBZ reforms would ensure the bank was confined to its core business which involved the crafting of the monitory policy, supervising the banking sector and the management of the national payment systems, among other duties.
The MDC secretary-general said the envisaged amendments to the RBZ Act will also factor in recommendations by an International Monetary Fund (IMF) technical team that is in Zimbabwe to offer guidance in the banking system and central bank governance.
He said, "There would also be reforms around the board and the composition of the board.
"Most importantly the board will also play an oversight role of the bank. The board will ensure that there is compliance with the Act and various other Acts of the state.
"There will be issues around curtailment of the capacity of the bank to borrow. We have put in some restrictions there. "There will be provisions that will enforce the liquidation and rationalization of all none-core assets of the bank - companies like Home Link - so that the bank remains clean and legitimate."
Biti was confident the moves were bound to succeed saying nothing was going to distract his ministry from redressing the economy.Gono took over the reigns as central bank governor in December 2003 when inflation was still at around 600 percent. It ballooned to an estimated 500 billion percent by December last year, according to Biti.
Since the time, the RBZ was churning out loads of worthless local currency ostensibly to meet the demands of spiralling inflation while financing extravagant and often partisan government activities.
Biti said the advent of the multi-currency system early this year, coupled with a new fiscal culture by the new inclusive government, had reduced inflation to a monthly average of minus three percent. "Our biggest enemy as a ministry is politics," he said.
"There are things that we do not control, that we hope our principals and our leaders will resolve as a matter of urgency. All the outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement we hope that they will resolve them.
"All the toxic issues around detentions, people that are being arrested, farm occupations we hope they will be resolved. If they can only help us in liquidating these things then we will be able to sprint.
Meanwhile Biti's law firm, Honey and Blanckenberg, has condemned Gono for what it described as an "unfortunate outburst against us" after he controversially accused its directors of externalization of funds and money-laundering.
In a letter purportedly written to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on May 11, Gono said Honey and Blanckenberg - where Finance Minister Tendai Biti was a partner - had stashed over US$1million outside the country in violation of exchange control regulations.
Gono said the law firm's externalization of foreign currency predated his appointment as Reserve Bank governor in 2003. He sought to use the allegations to buttress his claim that Biti's campaign to remove him from the RBZ was motivated by a personal vendetta.
New Zimbabwe.com reports that the law firm said in a statement: "Over the past few weeks (three years after the alleged offence), the partners of Honey and Blanckenberg have received a number of crude threats arising from these old accusations, stating that unless Tendai Biti, a former partner of the firm and currently Minister of Finance, desisted from his attempts to demand accountability from the governor of the Reserve Bank, the partners would face unspecified consequences. Naturally we have ignored such threats.
"Since Dr Gono states that this matter is before the courts, then it is clearly sub judice and it is regrettable and highly inappropriate that a person of his position has resorted to the media in an effort to bring this matter into the political arena without allowing the due process of the law to take its course.
"We are confident, however, in the sound judgment of the public its awareness of the integrity of Honey and Blanckenberg and its understanding of the reality of what lies behind Dr Gono's unfortunate outburst against us."
Gono's so-called letter to Tsvangirai was mysterious leaked to the media. Tsvangirai said last week that he never received the letter.If the Prime Minister never had sight of the letter allegedly dispatched to him by the governor of the Reserve Bank, while the document was splashed in various media outlets, it would be logical to assume the letter was leaked at source.
While the battle around the status of controversial RBZ governor Gideon Gono rages on, Finance Minister Tendai Biti is reported to have convinced cabinet on the need to clip the wings of the central bank chief, whose controversial quasi-fiscal policies are widely regarded as having ruined Zimbabwe's once buoyant economy.
President Robert Mugabe, who has declared he will not heed local or international calls for Gono to be replaced, chairs cabinet, which comprises all ministers from both Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) parties.
"I am pleased to advise that cabinet has agreed on fundamental amendments to the Reserve Bank Act," Biti told journalists Thursday. "It is important that we restore the legitimacy, credibility and integrity of the Reserve Bank."
Biti said the RBZ reforms would ensure the bank was confined to its core business which involved the crafting of the monitory policy, supervising the banking sector and the management of the national payment systems, among other duties.
The MDC secretary-general said the envisaged amendments to the RBZ Act will also factor in recommendations by an International Monetary Fund (IMF) technical team that is in Zimbabwe to offer guidance in the banking system and central bank governance.
He said, "There would also be reforms around the board and the composition of the board.
"Most importantly the board will also play an oversight role of the bank. The board will ensure that there is compliance with the Act and various other Acts of the state.
"There will be issues around curtailment of the capacity of the bank to borrow. We have put in some restrictions there. "There will be provisions that will enforce the liquidation and rationalization of all none-core assets of the bank - companies like Home Link - so that the bank remains clean and legitimate."
Biti was confident the moves were bound to succeed saying nothing was going to distract his ministry from redressing the economy.Gono took over the reigns as central bank governor in December 2003 when inflation was still at around 600 percent. It ballooned to an estimated 500 billion percent by December last year, according to Biti.
Since the time, the RBZ was churning out loads of worthless local currency ostensibly to meet the demands of spiralling inflation while financing extravagant and often partisan government activities.
Biti said the advent of the multi-currency system early this year, coupled with a new fiscal culture by the new inclusive government, had reduced inflation to a monthly average of minus three percent. "Our biggest enemy as a ministry is politics," he said.
"There are things that we do not control, that we hope our principals and our leaders will resolve as a matter of urgency. All the outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement we hope that they will resolve them.
"All the toxic issues around detentions, people that are being arrested, farm occupations we hope they will be resolved. If they can only help us in liquidating these things then we will be able to sprint.
Meanwhile Biti's law firm, Honey and Blanckenberg, has condemned Gono for what it described as an "unfortunate outburst against us" after he controversially accused its directors of externalization of funds and money-laundering.
In a letter purportedly written to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on May 11, Gono said Honey and Blanckenberg - where Finance Minister Tendai Biti was a partner - had stashed over US$1million outside the country in violation of exchange control regulations.
Gono said the law firm's externalization of foreign currency predated his appointment as Reserve Bank governor in 2003. He sought to use the allegations to buttress his claim that Biti's campaign to remove him from the RBZ was motivated by a personal vendetta.
New Zimbabwe.com reports that the law firm said in a statement: "Over the past few weeks (three years after the alleged offence), the partners of Honey and Blanckenberg have received a number of crude threats arising from these old accusations, stating that unless Tendai Biti, a former partner of the firm and currently Minister of Finance, desisted from his attempts to demand accountability from the governor of the Reserve Bank, the partners would face unspecified consequences. Naturally we have ignored such threats.
"Since Dr Gono states that this matter is before the courts, then it is clearly sub judice and it is regrettable and highly inappropriate that a person of his position has resorted to the media in an effort to bring this matter into the political arena without allowing the due process of the law to take its course.
"We are confident, however, in the sound judgment of the public its awareness of the integrity of Honey and Blanckenberg and its understanding of the reality of what lies behind Dr Gono's unfortunate outburst against us."
Gono's so-called letter to Tsvangirai was mysterious leaked to the media. Tsvangirai said last week that he never received the letter.If the Prime Minister never had sight of the letter allegedly dispatched to him by the governor of the Reserve Bank, while the document was splashed in various media outlets, it would be logical to assume the letter was leaked at source.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Elderly woman beaten and detained by police as farm attacks continue
By Alex Bell
The elderly mother of a commercial farmer has become the latest victim of violent attack, as the countrywide offensive to remove the remaining farmers off their land continues unabated.
Chinhoyi farmer, Murray Pott's 80-year-old mother, was severely assaulted by police officials on Monday when they arrested her son for being on his land 'illegally'. Justice for Agriculture's (JAG) John Worsley-Worswick explained on Tuesday that police are repeatedly breaking protocol for bringing farmers before the courts, saying the exercise "simply requires a phone call and a request to present yourself to court." Worsley-Worswick said this latest attack is "clear police brutality and harassment," and part of ongoing efforts to scupper the unity government. There was still no word on Tuesday what condition Pott's mother was in, or whether police had released her to seek medical attention.
The attack comes just days after a Banket farmer was beaten on his farm last Friday, by the son of a top political official set on taking over the farm. Patrick Stooks received serious facial injuries after being repeatedly punched and then hit in the face with the butt of a shotgun. The official, Philip Chamboko, who holds a political role at the Zimbabwean embassy in Tokyo, has been trying since last year to remove the Stooks from their land.
Patrick and his wife Sue, were both locked up for three days in deplorable conditions last year, on trumped-up charges relating to the invasion of their land. The case was eventually thrown out of court as the prosecution witnesses admitted that the police had forced their statements out of them. Chamboko's son, Gideon and his hired thugs, continued to live on the farm but last Monday a High Court ordered the illegal occupation of the land to cease. On Friday Patrick came under violent attack after he confronted Chamboko, whose thugs vandalised Patrick's farm equipment. The attack was in full view of the Deputy Sheriff of the High Court who was there to serve the order papers on Chamboko and his men, but unsurprisingly, the police have taken no further action.
The ongoing invasions of Zimbabwe's remaining commercial farms have been fully supported by police officials, acting on the direct orders of the Attorney General, Johannes Tomana. Police have repeatedly been involved in attacks against both farmers and their staff, while at the same time, police officials have refused to carry out the many court rulings ordering land invaders off stolen land. Instead, police have actively ignored the flimsy legal protection held by the country's remaining commercial farmers, hauling them before court for 'fast-track' prosecution.
JAG's Worsley-Worswick explained on Tuesday that the recent actions by a Supreme Court Judge have "paved the way for fast track litigation to go ahead." Earlier this month, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku heard the case of a commercial farmer, protected by last year's SADC Tribunal ruling, which was meant to guard against future land invasions. Worsley-Worswick explained that the Chief Justice "systematically destroyed any argument raised by the farmer in the case," and he expressed fears that it is the start of a major legal offensive against the farmers.
Meanwhile as the farming community remains under siege, thousands of farm workers have been left jobless and penniless in a country already plagued by 94% unemployment. Their plight is being completely overlooked by the unity government, which has done nothing to stop the land invasions continuing.
The elderly mother of a commercial farmer has become the latest victim of violent attack, as the countrywide offensive to remove the remaining farmers off their land continues unabated.
Chinhoyi farmer, Murray Pott's 80-year-old mother, was severely assaulted by police officials on Monday when they arrested her son for being on his land 'illegally'. Justice for Agriculture's (JAG) John Worsley-Worswick explained on Tuesday that police are repeatedly breaking protocol for bringing farmers before the courts, saying the exercise "simply requires a phone call and a request to present yourself to court." Worsley-Worswick said this latest attack is "clear police brutality and harassment," and part of ongoing efforts to scupper the unity government. There was still no word on Tuesday what condition Pott's mother was in, or whether police had released her to seek medical attention.
The attack comes just days after a Banket farmer was beaten on his farm last Friday, by the son of a top political official set on taking over the farm. Patrick Stooks received serious facial injuries after being repeatedly punched and then hit in the face with the butt of a shotgun. The official, Philip Chamboko, who holds a political role at the Zimbabwean embassy in Tokyo, has been trying since last year to remove the Stooks from their land.
Patrick and his wife Sue, were both locked up for three days in deplorable conditions last year, on trumped-up charges relating to the invasion of their land. The case was eventually thrown out of court as the prosecution witnesses admitted that the police had forced their statements out of them. Chamboko's son, Gideon and his hired thugs, continued to live on the farm but last Monday a High Court ordered the illegal occupation of the land to cease. On Friday Patrick came under violent attack after he confronted Chamboko, whose thugs vandalised Patrick's farm equipment. The attack was in full view of the Deputy Sheriff of the High Court who was there to serve the order papers on Chamboko and his men, but unsurprisingly, the police have taken no further action.
The ongoing invasions of Zimbabwe's remaining commercial farms have been fully supported by police officials, acting on the direct orders of the Attorney General, Johannes Tomana. Police have repeatedly been involved in attacks against both farmers and their staff, while at the same time, police officials have refused to carry out the many court rulings ordering land invaders off stolen land. Instead, police have actively ignored the flimsy legal protection held by the country's remaining commercial farmers, hauling them before court for 'fast-track' prosecution.
JAG's Worsley-Worswick explained on Tuesday that the recent actions by a Supreme Court Judge have "paved the way for fast track litigation to go ahead." Earlier this month, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku heard the case of a commercial farmer, protected by last year's SADC Tribunal ruling, which was meant to guard against future land invasions. Worsley-Worswick explained that the Chief Justice "systematically destroyed any argument raised by the farmer in the case," and he expressed fears that it is the start of a major legal offensive against the farmers.
Meanwhile as the farming community remains under siege, thousands of farm workers have been left jobless and penniless in a country already plagued by 94% unemployment. Their plight is being completely overlooked by the unity government, which has done nothing to stop the land invasions continuing.
Zimbabwe lawyers in anti-government march
HARARE - Zimbabwean lawyers on Tuesday defied a police ban and marched through the streets of Harare to protest against government’s alleged harassment of lawyers and journalists.
The march was staged around lunch time in central Harare. The lawyers had earlier met in a hotel where a decision was taken to defy a police directive to ban the march.
Prominent human and media rights lawyers such as Beatrice Mtetwa and Alec Muchadehama took part in the lunchtime protest.
MDC legislator and parliamentary chief whip Innocent Gonese joined in the march which started at the High Court, proceeded along Samora Machel Avenue into Fourth Street and then turned into Central Avenue where the protestors gathered outside a new government complex which houses the offices of the Ministry of Justice.
The lawyers staged their peaceful protest under the watchful eye of anti-riot police outside the government offices. For about 15 minutes they hoisted placards with messages denouncing violations of lawyers and media rights.
Some of the placards read, “Stop Abductions Now” and “Rule of Law not Rule by Law.”
The police officers cooperated with the lawyers and granted access to three representatives into the government offices to present a petition.
The Minister of Justice Patrick Chinamasa and his deputy Jessie Majome were not in their offices when the lawyers presented the petition.
“The ministers were not in the office but out gallant sister Irene Petras slipped the petition under door for the minister to have sight of the petition upon arrival,” said a representative of the lawyers Chris Mhike.
Petras is the Director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
Mhike said the march sought to highlight the continued harassment of lawyers in their line of duty.
“The march is a protest against the violations of the lawyer’s rights,” said Mhike.
The march by the lawyers comes barely a week after the arrest of prominent human rights lawyer Muchadehama and two Zimbabwe Independent newspaper journalists.
Muchadehama was charged with seeking to improperly release a group of human rights and political prisoners that he has been representing. A clerk of the High Court was also arrested on the same charges.
The journalists were arrested for allegedly publishing falsehoods after the Zimbabwe Independent ran a story naming members of the state security agencies who were involved in the abduction of political and human rights activists last October.
Several other lawyers have been threatened with arrest for carrying out their official duties. A High Court judge has in the past indicated that a prominent Harare rights lawyer might be charged for utterances that were made against the High Court.
The lawyer had said that the independence of the judiciary was highly compromised after the court had denied bail to a group of human and political activists facing charges of banditry and insurgency.
Two lawyers from the ZLHR were arrested in February after they presented themselves at the Harare Central police station. They intended to act on behalf of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) members who had been arrested for staging a demonstration in Harare.
The lawyers, Rose Hanzi and Tawanda Zhuwarara, were charged with inciting violence. They were granted bail and had been appearing in court on remand but were on Friday summoned to the Harare Central police station in controversial circumstances.
“We hope that the message we have been trying to get across has got through that the legal profession should be treated with the respect it deserves,” said Mhike after the march. “We should not be punished for simply exercising our duties.”
In the petition left at the Ministry of Justice, the lawyers said they wanted the government to act on the harassment.
“Your urgent attention to these issues will be sincerely appreciated,” reads the statement by the Law Society of Zimbabwe in part.
“Lawyers will be particularly grateful for an assurance from your office and the ZRP that the independence of the legal profession shall be upheld in Zimbabwe and that harassment of the legal profession shall stop immediately.”
The march was staged around lunch time in central Harare. The lawyers had earlier met in a hotel where a decision was taken to defy a police directive to ban the march.
Prominent human and media rights lawyers such as Beatrice Mtetwa and Alec Muchadehama took part in the lunchtime protest.
MDC legislator and parliamentary chief whip Innocent Gonese joined in the march which started at the High Court, proceeded along Samora Machel Avenue into Fourth Street and then turned into Central Avenue where the protestors gathered outside a new government complex which houses the offices of the Ministry of Justice.
The lawyers staged their peaceful protest under the watchful eye of anti-riot police outside the government offices. For about 15 minutes they hoisted placards with messages denouncing violations of lawyers and media rights.
Some of the placards read, “Stop Abductions Now” and “Rule of Law not Rule by Law.”
The police officers cooperated with the lawyers and granted access to three representatives into the government offices to present a petition.
The Minister of Justice Patrick Chinamasa and his deputy Jessie Majome were not in their offices when the lawyers presented the petition.
“The ministers were not in the office but out gallant sister Irene Petras slipped the petition under door for the minister to have sight of the petition upon arrival,” said a representative of the lawyers Chris Mhike.
Petras is the Director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
Mhike said the march sought to highlight the continued harassment of lawyers in their line of duty.
“The march is a protest against the violations of the lawyer’s rights,” said Mhike.
The march by the lawyers comes barely a week after the arrest of prominent human rights lawyer Muchadehama and two Zimbabwe Independent newspaper journalists.
Muchadehama was charged with seeking to improperly release a group of human rights and political prisoners that he has been representing. A clerk of the High Court was also arrested on the same charges.
The journalists were arrested for allegedly publishing falsehoods after the Zimbabwe Independent ran a story naming members of the state security agencies who were involved in the abduction of political and human rights activists last October.
Several other lawyers have been threatened with arrest for carrying out their official duties. A High Court judge has in the past indicated that a prominent Harare rights lawyer might be charged for utterances that were made against the High Court.
The lawyer had said that the independence of the judiciary was highly compromised after the court had denied bail to a group of human and political activists facing charges of banditry and insurgency.
Two lawyers from the ZLHR were arrested in February after they presented themselves at the Harare Central police station. They intended to act on behalf of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) members who had been arrested for staging a demonstration in Harare.
The lawyers, Rose Hanzi and Tawanda Zhuwarara, were charged with inciting violence. They were granted bail and had been appearing in court on remand but were on Friday summoned to the Harare Central police station in controversial circumstances.
“We hope that the message we have been trying to get across has got through that the legal profession should be treated with the respect it deserves,” said Mhike after the march. “We should not be punished for simply exercising our duties.”
In the petition left at the Ministry of Justice, the lawyers said they wanted the government to act on the harassment.
“Your urgent attention to these issues will be sincerely appreciated,” reads the statement by the Law Society of Zimbabwe in part.
“Lawyers will be particularly grateful for an assurance from your office and the ZRP that the independence of the legal profession shall be upheld in Zimbabwe and that harassment of the legal profession shall stop immediately.”
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