Highlight the Plight of the Zimbabwean People

African Think Tanks stretch out their hands to the people of Zimbabwe
Temba A Nolutshungu

Nine African think tanks, concerned about conditions in Zimbabwe are co-sponsors of the Zimbabwe Papers: A Positive Agenda for Zimbabwean Renewal – Coalition for Market & Liberal Solutions; Zimbabwe; IMANI: The Centre for Policy and Education, Ghana; Initiative for Public Policy Analysis, Nigeria; Institute for African Economics, Guinea; Law Review Project, South Africa; Le Centre des Affaires Humaines, Burkino Faso; Free Market Foundation, South Africa and Centre for Ethics and Technological Development, Nigeria.

The Zimbabwe Papers contain proposals for reform that, if implemented, would not only rapidly improve conditions for the long-suffering people of Zimbabwe but also make them once again a thriving and productive nation. The country that was once described as the ‘bread-basket of Africa’, can regain its former title if it applies sensible policies such as those outlined and explained in the carefully prepared proposals.

Excerpts from the papers describe the reasons for their preparation:

‘Zimbabwean citizens have had a hard time over the last decade. Life expectancy has declined, the majority of the people are unemployed, nearly half the people do not have enough food to eat, and the children have suffered terribly from malnourishment and illness.’

‘The suffering of the Zimbabwean people is not the consequence of historical or external factors. It is entirely due to policies adopted, decisions made, and actions taken by the government of Zimbabwe. Many people have been the victims of violence perpetrated by the government, the institution that was supposed to protect them and provide them with an institutional environment in which they could lead happy and productive lives.’

‘African friends of Zimbabwe, who have observed the suffering of its people with helpless concern for many years, wish to assist in the best way they can. Schooled in political economy, they have prepared documents that offer proposals for policy changes that can be used to bring about reforms to transform Zimbabwe: reforms that can restore it to its rightful place as one of Africa’s most thriving, peaceful and prosperous countries.’

‘When the opportunity for change arises, the people of Zimbabwe will need to act quickly to put policies in place that will change their lives for the better, and dramatically improve the prospects of future generations. High economic growth is a matter of choice, not destiny. It depends on the nature of the policies, laws, and institutions that are put in place by the people of a country to ensure that they have good governance and economic and social conditions that lead to peace, economic opportunity and prosperity.’

Some of the ideas for reform put forward in the Papers deal with:

Currency stabilisation
Economies are destabilised by currency inflation and crippled by hyperinflation. The death of the Zimbabwe dollar and the formal adoption of a choice-in-currency policy, with the SA rand, US dollar and Botswana pula in most general use, is a positive step towards currency stabilisation and the revival of the economy. Ensuring that there is not a recurrence of currency instability must remain a permanent feature of future economic policy.

Tax reform
Private capital investment, not aid, is the most essential financial requirement for the revival of the Zimbabwe economy. A competitive tax environment will be necessary to attract capital investment and provide citizens with incentives to rebuild the economy. Low taxes and simplified tax laws will encourage foreign investment and the entrepreneurial activity that is needed to rapidly lift the country out of poverty.

Trade
Lowering trade barriers, improving infrastructure and streamlining customs have the potential to bring about enormous improvements in the people’s general welfare. An increased flow of products and people across the country’s borders will attract ideas, entrepreneurial talent and technology. More active trade will improve relations with neighbouring countries and bring about greater political stability.

Property rights
Restoring the inviolability of private property rights is a crucial requirement for the future economic progress of Zimbabwe. A strong constitutional and statutory framework for the protection of property rights against arbitrary seizure is vitally necessary to gain and retain the confidence of potential investors.

Mineral rights
Abundant natural resources do not automatically translate into prosperity for the people. The allocation and subsequent protection of mineral rights have to be carried out within a transparent framework that is free of arbitrary government decision-making, respected by the country’s people, and trusted by investors. Efficient extraction will follow, jobs will be created, and citizens will gain the greatest benefit from the country’s natural resources.

Water
That water is a necessity of life does not mean that the government should provide it. Clearly defined, enforceable and transferable water rights that allow people to buy the water they need, provides the people, including the poor, with greater access to the water than is provided by government monopolisation of water rights.

Health care
Good health is essential for human flourishing and government’s role is to create the circumstances in which people can live healthy and productive lives. This does not mean that government should provide health care, any more than it should provide food, clothing or shelter. Rather, it means that government should create conditions within which the maintenance of good health is possible.

Unemployment
Zimbabwe’s general economic problems are not the only reason for its high unemployment rate. The situation is exacerbated by regulations intended to ‘protect’ employees. If it is difficult to fire employees, firms are less likely to hire people. Employment contracts governed by Zimbabwe’s common law will provide employees with protection without creating barriers to employment: reform measures should therefore restore to employees and employers their contractual rights.

Freeing enterprise
Business regulations in Zimbabwe are confusing, arbitrary and costly; they inhibit business start-ups, repel foreign investment, reduce productivity and depress wages. Regulations that unnecessarily inhibit economic activity should be swept away in order to allow entrepreneurs and businesses to kick start the process of economic growth.

Controlling violence
Few people would choose to live in a society rampant with violence. Preventing violence should therefore be the highest priority of any government. Zimbabwe reform must reduce violence, crime and arbitrary violation of people’s rights.

Free speech and the media
Few rights are more fundamental and more crucial to our well-being than the right to free speech and free expression. Freedom of speech and expression, including freedom of the press and other media, freedom to receive or impart information or ideas, and academic freedom, must be guaranteed in the new Zimbabwe constitution.

The ideas for reform contained in the Zimbabwe Papers are not comprehensive. They are those that from all accounts appear to be most essential and urgent. A copy of the full report is available at http://zimbabwepapers.wordpress.com/

Author: Temba A Nolutshungu is a director of the Free Market Foundation and a Zimbabwe Papers commissioner. This article may be republished without prior consent but with acknowledgement to the author. The views expressed in the article are the author’s and are not necessarily shared by the members of the Foundation.

FMF Feature Article / 19 May 2009

^{(with apologies to Charles Dickens)}

Courtesy of money.co.uk

By Charlotte Cardingham Jan. 12, 2009

The country’s central bank has today released the new note into circulation in their attempt to battle hyperinflation.

Zimbabwe’s central bank has today launched a $50billion note into circulation, despite the currency being virtually worthless.

According to today’s estimates the $50billion note will trade at $1.25 US dollars on the black market and have enough purchase power to buy just two loaves of bread or three newspapers.

Three weeks previous, when the government introduced a $10billion note, the equivalent £50billion would have been worth $3.30 US dollars, illustrating the currency’s severe decline in value.

A $20billion note has also been released as part of Acting Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa’s bid to tackle the cash shortages currently gripping the country.

This actually represents the second issue of such high value notes after the government were forced to revalue the currency and remove 10 zeros (effectively turning Z$10billion to just Z$1) in August last year.

Poverty stricken Zimbabwe is currently struggling with an unprecedented economic crisis. Almost 80% of its population is unemployed, its currency is dropping in value by almost 100% a day and inflation is running at a staggering 231million%. As a point of comparison, the official rate of inflation in the UK, the Consumer Prices Index, currently sits at 4.1%.

Hyperinflation has become such an issue that few are trading in the nation’s official currency. US dollars and South African rand have instead been adopted as a more viable alternative.

Even the government have acknowledged the futility of the Zimbabwean economy and in September licensed over a thousand shops to sell goods in foreign currency. Everything from food to fuel, property and mobile phone credit can now be bought with non-Zimbabwean funds.

While the situation is nothing short of dire it is difficult to see how this move by Zimbabwe’s central bank will better the situation.

“I am not really sure what these notes would be for,” commented Zimbabwean economist John Robertson in an interview with CNN. “No one now accepts the local currency. It is a waste of resources to print Zimbabwe dollar notes now.”

Many have argued that a resolution of the country’s grid-locked government can be the only possible reprieve for the situation.

Courtesy of Time.com

By Alex Perry Monday, Dec. 01, 2008

Cholera is one of the simplest diseases to prevent or cure. To kill the cholera bacterium in water, just boil it. To treat the chronic diarrhea and potentially fatal dehydration that results from cholera, take a liter of water, a teaspoon of salt, eight teaspoons of sugar, mix, and drink; or, for patients too weak to drink, administer intravenously.

You have to be destitute not to be able to afford a fire. You have to be just as poor not to afford salt and sugar. And you have to have ruinous public sanitation not to be able to filter out the feces of an infected person from the water supply (ingesting fecal matter is the most common way for cholera to spread). So it is a stark indication of how far Zimbabwe has fallen that a country that used to export food is now in the grip of a cholera epidemic that the World Health Organization (WHO) says has claimed 412 lives and infected 9,908 people. South Africa’s Sunday Times said 400 new cholera cases were arriving at a treatment center in the township of Budiriro every day. Aid groups on the ground — UNICEF, Medecins Sans Frontieres, German Agro Action and the WHO have between them set up 36 treatment centers — are working on a scenario of 10,000 deaths and 60,000 infected by next March. The outbreak began in the east of the country and now affects the entire eastern portion, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It is also hitting cities hard, including the capital Harare, where it can be expected to infect more people more rapidly because of greater population density. The epidemic has also spread to neighboring Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique.

The root cause of Zimbabwe’s woes is the power struggle between President Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, led by Morgan Tsvangirai. This, by itself, has been bad enough — Mugabe and his security services unleashed a campaign of violence that has killed more than 200 people when they lost control of parliament and Mugabe came second to Tsvangirai in a general election in March this year. (See pictures of the political crisis in Zimbabwe.)

But, in the context of Africa’s worst countries, 200 deaths, despotism, brutality and the corruption of the regime elite is all too usual. The cholera epidemic indicates Zimbabwe is entering a new stage: a humanitarian crisis that affects tens of thousands inside the country and, with hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring over Zimbabwe’s borders, all southern Africa too. After initially denying there was a problem, Zimbabwe’s regime changed its tune last week, saying it could not cope with the health crisis. “With the coming of the rainy season, the situation could get worse,” said deputy health minister Edwin Muguti. “Our problems are quite simple. We need to be helped.”

Courtesy of CNN.com

By Eliott C. McLaughlin

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday that Zimbabwe is in shambles and warned that deaths from starvation and a cholera outbreak threaten to surge with the rainy season approaching.

Bemoaning Zimbabwe’s decline is a familiar refrain for the embattled head of the Movement for Democratic Change. His most recent remarks, however, were backed by former President Carter, who returned from a five-day trip to neighboring South Africa this week and declared Zimbabwe “a basket case.”

Tsvangirai also expressed frustration with attempts to form a unity government between his group and the ruling Zanu-PF party. He said he has asked that South African ex-President Thabo Mbeki recuse himself as mediator between the two parties.

The Zimbabwean government quickly countered Tsvangirai’s allegations that President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF were responsible for the problems gripping the country.

“The government is very committed to ensure that the humanitarian crisis is addressed. It would be wrong for the MDC to blame it on the government,” Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said.

Addressing Tsvangirai’s allegations that cholera deaths could soon top 50 a day and that the Mugabe-led government seems intent on covering it up, Mumbengegwi noted that Zimbabwe is not the only country where cholera is a problem. Watch why world leaders call the situation in Zimbabwe shocking »

“No government would want its people to suffer. Cholera is not peculiar to Zimbabwe,” he said. “We hear it is now in South Africa, too, but we cannot relax because of that. We have to fight it as Zimbabweans.”

A report in the state-run Herald newspaper Wednesday said the government has kicked off an information campaign to inform citizens of “the do’s and don’ts to combat the disease.”

The government is also drilling boreholes to find clean, subterranean water that can be pumped to the surface for drinking and bathing, the Herald reported.

The World Health Organization said last week that almost 300 people have died of cholera since August and more than 6,000 cases have been reported.

Tsvangirai said Wednesday that conditions would worsen this month as the rainy season brings steamy downpours to much of Zimbabwe, especially the eastern mountain forests.

Carter, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Graca Machel, wife of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela – all of whom belong to a group of world leaders called the Elders – had hoped to visit Zimbabwe on their recent trip to the region but were denied visas, according to Tsvangirai and a statement from the Carter Center.

“Mr. Mugabe would prefer that the suffering that he and Zanu-PF have caused, and continue to cause, remains in the dark,” Tsvangirai said in a statement, adding that because the Movement for Democratic Change and Zanu-PF cannot form a partnership after months of wrangling, “the MDC must instead work with those Zimbabwean organizations, groups and individuals to address the humanitarian crisis.”

The humanitarian problems illustrate the political quagmire in Zimbabwe, where a power-sharing agreement that Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed in September has yet to take effect.

Carter issued a statement Tuesday condemning what he said was Harare’s decision to renege on an agreement to allow him, Annan and Machel into the country. He also offered a damning assessment of the Mugabe regime.

“After almost three decades of governmental corruption, mismanagement and oppression, Zimbabwe has become a basket case, an embarrassment to the region and a focus of international concern and condemnation,” he said.

Denied passage to Zimbabwe, Carter, Annan and Machel were left to consult with regional leaders – including Tsvangirai, Botswana President Ian Khama and South Africa President Kgalema Motlanthe – as well as United Nations officials, nongovernmental organizations and Zimbabwe’s civil leaders.

“We had a complete and balanced agenda and more frank discussions than would have been possible in the oppressive and restrained environment of Harare,” Carter said in his statement.

Carter said he learned of conditions in which the official inflation rate has soared to about 231 million percent while thousands of Zimbabweans stand in line for their daily allowance of about 2 cents a day—from their own bank accounts. The allowance does not afford them a half loaf of bread, he said.

Teachers, who earn about a dollar a month, report a student-textbook ratio of about 20-to-1, and school attendance has dropped to about 20 percent in the past three months, the former president reported. The few students still attending classes are generally doing so in the hopes of being fed, he said.

“Meanwhile, top government officials and other privileged people can exchange Zim money at a favorable rate that is several thousand times more than the official rate available to other citizens,” Carter said. “They profit greatly from these monetary transactions and shop in special stores.”

The nation’s four major hospitals have shut down, as roughly 3,500 AIDS victims are dying each week. Unchecked sewage and filthy water have compounded the cholera problem, and Zimbabwe’s death rate from the disease is 10 times greater than rates in areas where treatment is available, Carter said.

The former president said 19,000 Zimbabweans are fleeing the country each month, mostly to South Africa and Botswana. He estimated that 4 million people have fled the nation.

“The middle class is departing, leaving behind the extremely poor and the small elite group around Mugabe who are profiting from the economic disaster,” he said.

Comparing Zimbabwe to Somalia, a failed African state that has had no functional government since 1991, Carter cast blame on African leaders who fail “to confront Robert Mugabe and force him to accept the result of the March election and more recently to comply with negotiated political agreements to share governmental authority with Morgan Tsvangirai and the opposition party.”

Tsvangirai snared more votes than Mugabe in March’s election but not a majority. Tsvangirai dropped out of a subsequent runoff, citing widespread violence against MDC supporters.

Carter’s call for African leaders to step up pressure on Mugabe came a day before Tsvangirai asked South Africa’s Mbeki to bow out as mediator between the MDC and Zanu-PF.

“Sadly, the negotiations have also been hampered by the attitude and position of the facilitator, Mr. Thabo Mbeki. He does not appear to understand how desperate the problem in Zimbabwe is, and the solutions he proposes are too small,” Tsvangirai said in his statement.

“He is not serving to bring the parties together because he does not understand what needs to be done. In addition, his partisan support of Zanu-PF, to the detriment of genuine dialogue, has made it impossible for the MDC to continue negotiating under his facilitation.”

Asked for the Zimbabwe government’s reaction to the MDC asking Mbeki to recuse himself, Foreign Minister Mumbengegwi said, “We have no right to tell them who to complain about. It is their decision in the MDC.”

Unless African leaders can find a way to mitigate the political impasse in Zimbabwe, the United Nations or the African Union might need to enter the fray, because, Carter said, “the poisonous effects” of the Mugabe regime, including the cholera outbreak, are spilling into other African nations.

Food, medicine and monetary donations should be sent immediately to humanitarian agencies such as CARE, World Vision and Save the Children, Carter said, advising that it is unwise to send cash directly to people in Zimbabwe.

“It is counterproductive to contribute money that can be confiscated by the Zimbabwe government,” he said.

...by definition, most every man acts in good faith, according to his beliefs of good. As said Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who has seen the heart of evil, ``To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good.´´ Certainly, there are very few psychopaths, who do what they know to be evil. And unhappily, we often find these psychopaths attracted to positions of political power.

http://fare.tunes.org/liberty/sofia2005.html

Mr A. M. Rosholt (Executive Chairman of Barlow Rand Limited)said:

“

There are now ominous signs appearing in Zimbabwe which are of grat concern to any of us with business interests there. The same pattern is emerging (as in the Zambia). State participation in the private sector and in individual companies – nationalisation of land and agricultural resources – statutory uneconomic minimum wages and a state marketing board for all minerals, which taken together have already made the mining sector uncompetitive in export markets. A stock exchange which is rapidly becoming a non-event, incapable of carrying out its traditional role of providing capital for the economy. We must ask ourselves whether these steps would have been taken if the majority of the population had shared in the past of the fruits of the economy.”

He then goes on to ask if we in South Africa are not on the same road.

The fact that in South Africa the masses have been denied “the fruits” during the Apartheid years should not blind them from seeing what is happening in our northern border.

Let the seed of liberty grow in our part of the world so that all can share in the fruits of our land.

Elsewhere in his talk Rosholt says:

“In general the state can obstruct the working of the private enterprise system in two ways. Firstly by participating in the economy, particularly where it is in direct competition with the private sector. Secondly by enacting excessive and restrictive controls and regulations.”

I am afraid to say that many of the policies that we have seen being followed in South Afica lately has not been in the right direction – they have been interventionist to the detriment of economic growth.

We can only hope that sense will prevail…

Courtesy of www.sokwanele.com

PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY

It is more than a month since the elections were held on March 29th 2008, and we are still waiting for the Presidential results.

Meanwhile, Zanu PF has embarked on a campaign of terror and intimidation in the rural areas against opposition supporters. There have been at least ten murders so far.

A report released on the 25 April 2008 by the ‘Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR)’ details violence and torture against 62 people they have treated, over a period of the three days between April 22 to April 24. They state that even this number “under-reports the true total as full documentation (e.g. confirmation of suspected fractures by x-ray) of a number of cases has not yet been completed”.

In these three days, ZADHR says:

Sixty two cases were assessed and treated, including 9 women, one of whom is 84 years old and sustained serious facial injuries when she was struck in the face with stones on opening her door to unknown assailants. The youngest patient seen was a one year old baby boy who suffered gastroenteritis with dehydration following sleeping in the ?bush? with his mother after their home had been burnt down. 23 cases were from Karoi; otherwise there was still a concentration in Mudzi, Mutoko and Murewa with 12.
It is against this backdrop of gross human rights violations that riot police invaded Harvest House, the MDC Headquarters, and arrested scores of people on Friday, 25 April 2008.

Many of those arrested are injured civilians who had fled the rural areas to seek safety and refuge in the only place they could turn to; namely, the opposition headquarters. Many of them were injured days ago and were only able to get medical treatment when they arrived in town.

The state-controlled press have deliberately gone on to misreport the arrests.

The government’s motive, through the state-controlled press, is to try and persuade the people in our country – who have little access to independent news – that the victims of these horrendous attacks are actually criminals. By arresting the injured, the state hopes to hide the evidence of their violence and silence the voices that shame them. On Saturday, The Herald wrote:

Police yesterday arrested 215 people after raiding MDC-T?s Harvest House headquarters in central Harare on allegations of committing acts of political violence countrywide and going into hiding. [...] Chief police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said the information they had indicated that most of those who had participated in post-election violence had sought refuge at the MDC provincial and national headquarters. “Police rounded up 215 people at Harvest House this afternoon and these will be screened against participation in politically motivated criminal activities around the country,” he said.
The Herald would like us to believe that these people are criminals; however, the full extent of their lie is exposed when we learn that among the injured people arrested are twenty-four babies and 40 children under the age of six:

?This is ruthlessness of the worst kind. How can you incarcerate children whose mothers have fled their homes hoping to give their children refuge?? asked an emotional [Nelson] Chamisa yesterday. ?In Mugabe?s Zimbabwe even children are not spared the terror that befalls their parents.? [Nelson Chamisam is the MDC MT spokesperson]
The Herald might print lies, but the pictures the world has seen tell the truth. These are not pictures of criminals: they are the images of people who have been brutalised, tortured, murdered and had their human rights violated. They have been subjected to retributive persecution by a regime that fails to accept the simple truth that it has lost the elections.

It does not matter how many people the regime tries to arrest to cover up the reality that it is brutalising its own people; the world now knows the truth.

In a press release on Sunday the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for Zimbabwe (IDAZIM) announced that they had initiated, with full support from civil society, labour and legal organizations, a Truth and Justice Coalition on Zimbabwe. They have stated that:

Its objectives are to identify perpetrators and seek legal redress for the victims of crimes against humanity and other serious crimes in Zimbabwe [...] the coalition had now assembled over 200 names of ZANU (PF) military, militia, members of parliament and war veterans who in their personal and/or professional capacity have unleashed terror and tyranny against civilians in recent months. More importantly, their complicity with a cabal of high-ranking Zimbabwean politicians and military personnel with links to other countries is now documented for public release.

We need to Take Action!

On Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council will be briefed on the situation in Zimbabwe by the MDC Secretary General, Hon Tendai Biti. A statement issued today says:

The MDC will make its plea to the United Nations that the ZANU PF regime has unleashed brutal and fascist violence on the membership of the MDC and the generality of the people of Zimbabwe. The regime has declared war with the people, whose only ‘crime’ is voting for change, and change they can trust. We call on the United Nations to send an envoy, who will work with SADC to find a lasting solution to the crisis. This crisis can only end if Mr Mugabe accepts that he lost the election and allow a smooth transfer of power, leading to the formation of a government of national healing led by President Tsvangirai.

Under the Charter the functions and powers of the Security Council are:

to maintain international peace and security in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations;
to investigate any dispute or situation which might lead to international friction;
to recommend methods of adjusting such disputes or the terms of settlement;
to formulate plans for the establishment of a system to regulate armaments;
to determine the existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression and to recommend what action should be taken;
to call on Members to apply economic sanctions and other measures not involving the use of force to prevent or stop aggression;
to take military action against an aggressor;
to recommend the admission of new Members;
to exercise the trusteeship functions of the United Nations in “strategic areas”;
to recommend to the General Assembly the appointment of the Secretary-General and, together with the Assembly, to elect the Judges of the International Court of Justice.
What can we do?

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
It is very important to reinforce the message of non violence at every opportunity. Please do what you can to help our country maintain its committment to non violence through these difficult and distressing days. We have come so far, let us not be seduced into violence in the way that Zanu PF hopes we will be.

You can also:

Send emails to Permanent Representatives to the United Nations of the United Nations Security Council and tell them, in your words, the truth about what is happening in Zimbabwe

They are Jean-Maurice Ripert (France); Sir John Sawers (UK); Vitaly Churkin (Russian Federation); Johan C. Verbeke (Belgium); Marty Natalegawa (Indonesia); Dumisani S. Kumalo (South Africa); Marcello Spatafora (Italy); Le Luong Minh (Vietman); Jorge Urbina (Costa Rica); Giadalla A.Ettalhi; Ricardo Alberto Arias (Panama); Zhenmin Liu (China) and Wang Guangya (China)
These are their email addresses (you can copy and paste them into your email software): france@franceonu.org; UK@UN.int; rusun@un.int; newyorkUN@diplobel.be; ptri@indonesiamission-ny.org; sacg@southafrica-newyork.net; info.italyun@esteri.it; info@vietnam-un.org; costarica@un.int; misioncostaricaun@yahoo.com; emb@panama-un.org; chinamission_un@fmprc.gov.cn;

Because of the violence in our country, ask the UN Security Council to place a UN arms embargo on all trade in arms and ammunition with Zimbabwe until such time that a political resolution has been reached and there is peace and no more violence in our country.
Ask them to call for an immediate end to the violence against the people of Zimbabwe, and to support the opposition’s request for special envoy to work with SADC to find a lasting solution to the crisis
Ask them to call for an immediate release of the Presidential results. Remind them that it is now one month after we voted and the results have still not been officially released
Send copies of your emails to SADC regional leaders. We recommend you focus your letters towards President Levy Mwanawasa who is the Current SADC Chairperson; President Thabo Mbeki, SADC’s appointed mediator in the Zimbabwe crisis; and President Jakaya Kikwete, the President of Tanzania who is also the current Chairperson of the AU. Their full details are provided below.
Forward this email to friends, family and colleagues and ask that they Take Action too!
Boycott the State controlled media! Don’t pay hard earned money to read lies.
Country: Zambia
Name: Mwanawasa, Levy
Job title: President of Zambia; Chairperson of SADC
Email: differmu@nkwazi.gov.zm
Telephone: +260 1 266147
Fax Number: +260 1 266092
Website address: http://www.statehouse.gov.zm/
Physical Address: Independence Avenue Woodlands Lusaka Zambia 10101 P.O Box 30135

Country: Botswana
Name: Mothae, Tanki
Job title: Director of Politics, Defence and Security Affairs, SADC
Email: tmothae@sadc.int
Telephone: +267 361 1001 or +267 397 2848
Organisation: Southern African Development Community (SADC)

Country: South Africa
Name: Mbeki, Thabo
Job title: President of South Africa
Email: president@po.gov.za
Telephone 1: +27 (0)12 300 5200
Telephone 2: +27 (0)21 464 2100
Fax Number: +27 (0)12 323 8246 and +27 (0)12 461 2838
Physical Address: Private Bag X1000, Pretoria, 0001 Union Buildings, Government Avenue Pretoria; Private Bag X1000, Cape Town, 8000 Tuynhuys Building, Parliament Street, Cape Town
Website address: http://www.gov.za/

Country: Tanzania
Name: Kikwete, Jakaya
Job title: President of Tanzania and Chair to the African Union
Email: info@ikulu.go.tz
Telephone: 00 255 22 2 116 898 or 00 255 22 2 116 899
Fax Number: 00 255 22 2 113 425
Physical Address: State House Luthuli Road, Box 9120, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

What we are seeing is the result of many years of the eroding of individual and human rights. If you can with impunity take a person’s farm (for your comrades) and buldoze a persons home as part of a “cleanup” process surely you can, even if you have lost a democratic election, continue to run a country as if it is your own personal fiefdom.

If South Africa and the world does not take a stand South Africa itself may be in jeopardy, then Africa and I am afraid to say… the world.

Now is the time to act.

Dear 43ters,

I’m repeating this entry because I believe it contains an extremely important message for all.

I have just received the message below and have taken the liberty of posting it here. Yes Zimbabwe is just one more world crisis along with Darfur, Tibet, Iraq, etc. However we do have the power to at least try to do something instead of sitting back and merely watching from the sidelines. It doesn’t cost anything to sign a petition and your action may contribute to a solution. PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW

The Zimbabwe crisis is spinning even further out of control, but the international response is gaining steam.

In less than a week, more than 120,000 people from 215 countries and territories including thousands from across Africa have signed the Avaaz petition demanding the release of the election results. On Wednesday, as world leaders enter the United Nations for a special summit chaired by South Africa, a plane hired by Avaaz will soar above them pulling a massive aerial banner reading “MBEKI: TIME TO ACT DEMOCRACY FOR ZIMBABWE.”

To make this message count, can you help us reach 150,000 signatures by the end of the day? Forward this email to your friends and family, and urge them to sign the petition at this link:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_zimbabwe/20.php?cl=76880517

Yesterday, the Zimbabwe High Court ruled against requiring the immediate release of the results of the March 29 Presidential election. In response, opposition called for a nationwide strike, and Mugabe deployed police throughout the country.[1]

All of this came just after South African President Thabo Mbeki who, more than anyone else in the world, could influence Mugabe’s actions said on Saturday that “there is no crisis in Zimbabwe.”²

But Mbeki isn’t off the hook just yet. Tomorrow (Wednesday), he will chair a special United Nations Security Council meeting, where diplomats have promised to raise the Zimbabwe crisis.[3] If he looks up as he enters the United Nations headquarters, Mbeki will see a 280 square metre (3000 square foot) banner amplifying the voices of Avaaz members around the world and if he doesn’t see it then, you can be sure he’ll see it in the newspapers the next day. International press have already begun to report on the planned fly-over of the banner.

Throughout the day, Avaaz will update reporters in Southern Africa and at the United Nations on the growth of the petition. If all of us forward this email to friends, co-workers, and relatives, we can add tens of thousands of new signatures in one day, and show Mbeki and Mugabe that the world is watching and supporting the people of Zimbabwe as they demand democracy.

It’s easy to sign at this link:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/democracy_for_zimbabwe/20.php?cl=76880517

This Friday, the 18th of April, marks Zimbabwe’s Day of Independence from colonial rule. Amidst the worsening poverty and danger, civil society organisations across Zimbabwe are gearing up for nonviolent resistance to Mugabe’s regime, calling for local actions and urging supporters to wear white in solidarity. And Zimbabwean media organisations many now operating outside the borders are broadcasting news about the international support that Zimbabwe’s people are receiving.

Mugabe was once the hero of Zimbabwe’s liberation. Now his own people embody the principles he once championed. For those of us around the world, it is our privilege and our responsibility to stand with them.

With hope,

Ben, Ricken, Galit, Paul, Milena, Graziela, Pascal, Iain, and Milena—the Avaaz.org team

Sources:

AFP: Zimbabwe opposition strikers face police crackdown http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hwWRGDpJdG0A1GFJ6SSTbcP_MP8w
Zimbabwe is not in crisis, says Thabo Mbeki http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/12/wzim412.xml
Reuters: US, Britain want UN council to tackle Zimbabwe. (See final paragraph.) http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/15/worldupdates/2008-04-15T023403Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-330394-1&sec=Worldupdates
Zimbabwe National Association of Non Governmental Organizations
http://www.nango.org.zw/news/view.asp?id=802 _

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