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10 huts burnt in Buhera political violence

POLITICAL violence has resurfaced in the restive Buhera District with seven homesteads belonging to Zanu-PF supporters coming under attack and at least 10 huts burnt to the ground in recent weeks.

This is despite efforts by the inclusive Government’s Organ on National Healing and Reconciliation to cool political tension and hostilities stemming from the 2008 harmonised elections.

The latest violence occurred in Buhera North constituency, which is under Zanu-PF’s Cde William Mutomba.

He is the only Zanu-PF legislator in Buhera with the other three seats belonging to MDC-T lawmakers.

Zanu-PF supporters in Rambanapasi Village under Chief Gunguwo Chitsunge say MDC-T followers burnt down their homes.

Chief Chitsunge has urged the political leadership to urgently intervene, while Cde Mutomba has reportedly tried to engage his MDC-T counterparts without success.

Cde Mutomba has also called on the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee to urgently visit Buhera North and address the problem that is threatening to get out of hand.

Investigations indicate the acts of arson were all carried out at night in January while the homeowners slept.

MDC-T spokesperson Mr Nelson Chamisa yesterday said he needed time to gather details on what was obtaining on the ground.

When The Herald visited Buhera North on Tuesday, victims were still in a state of shock and the charred remains of their homes dotted the village.

Village head Mr Joseph Mudenhe Masomere had his three huts burnt down at night soon after his family had gone to bed.

"My 16 children, including a week-old baby, survived but everything — as you can see — has been destroyed; from chickens, household utensils and the granaries.

"We could not put out the fires as we concentrated on quickly moving my children outside," he said.

Mr Masomere said his family had moved into their asbestos-roofed house after getting threats that the perpetrators would target "the easy to burn thatched huts".

"Had I not shifted my children from the huts where they traditionally sleep, they could all have been dead.

"This is political violence because it came after threats by people who are well-known MDC-T supporters," he alleged.

He said he reported the threats at Dorowa Police Station and had they taken action, then the arson could have been averted.

Mr Masomere, who is the Zanu-PF chairman for Rambanapasi District, said the attack on his home came a few days after he had visited other party members who had fallen victim to arson.

It appeared the arsonists were targeting Zanu-PF office holders in Rambanapasi as another victim, Mr Jeremiah Chabata of Chikoto Village, also had one of his huts burnt down.

Mr Chabata is Zanu-PF’s district information and public-

ity officer.

"The attacks followed repeated threats by some MDC-T supporters.

"They are ordering us to stop holding Zanu-PF meetings in the village.

"Earlier on, they disrupted a meeting at which we were working on logistics ahead of the President’s input support scheme," said Mr Chabata.

Police details from Dorowa Police Station were recording statements from the Chabata family when The Herald news crew arrived.

They, however, declined to comment, referring all questions to Dorowa station that in turn directed the crew to Mutare.

Mutare police said they were still investigating the matter.

Another victim, Mrs Fungai Musanhu, who is Zanu-PF’s deputy information and publicity secretary in the district, had all her belongings destroyed when one of her two huts was burnt down at night.

She claims the systematic attack followed threats of unspecified action by some MDC-T supporters.

"They have also taken over some of our fields. They are saying we should leave the village and go elsewhere," she said.

Her neighbour’s hut was razed that same night.

A village head (name supplied), whom Chief Chitsunge has since suspended on a different charge, is accused of leading the attacks in Chikoto village.

He disappeared from the area on seeing The Herald news crew and he played hide-and-seek until late in the evening.

Chief Chitsunge has written to Dorowa police asking them to take remedial action.

He said the political leadership had a duty to stop their supporters as indications were that the attacks would continue.

"My assessment is that it is deep-seated hatred among these people. It could have emanated from some other disputes.

"If these attacks are politically motivated, then it is up to the political leaders to address them."

Cde Mutomba said there was need to sca.le up reconciliation and healing efforts in rural areas.

He said he had tried to convene joint rallies with his MDC-T counterparts, but failed to get co-operation, with one of them making a "sudden U-turn because he needed clearance from the party leadership".

"People need to be taught that we need not misdirect our energies by fighting each other. In some instances these people fighting each other are relatives.

"As leaders, we should be at the forefront telling our supporters to desist from violence and concentrate on development," he said.
Samuel Kandiye · 12 views · 2 comments
28 Jan 2010

Mugabe’s party rules out concessions


HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF on Wednesday ruled out making further concessions in power-sharing talks with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC until Western nations lift sanctions against the party’s top leaders.



Clearly out to draw maximum profit from disclosure by British foreign secretary David Miliband last week that London would lift travel and financial sanctions on Mugabe and his associates on guidance from the MDC, ZANU PF said it had instructed its negotiators not to make any concessions until the punitive measures are lifted.



“(ZANU PF) politburo therefore instructs its negotiators to desist from making concessions in the negotiations until sanctions are removed and the pirate radio stations cease to pollute our airwaves,” spokesman Timothy Masawi told journalists after a meeting of the party top decision making committee in Harare.



Labelling the MDC a “tool of the British and Western imperialism ready to destroy our economy”, ZANU PF called on Tsvangirai to act cause lifting of the sanctions.



ZANU PF also said controversial appointment by Mugabe of two of the party’s top allies to head the central bank and the attorney general’s office was in accordance with the law and the constitution and should not be discussed at the power-sharing talks.



There was no immediate reaction from Tsvangirai’s MDC party.



The talks to resolve outstanding issues between ZANU PF and the MDC have dragged on the former foes agreed to join hands last February in a coalition government that has been credited with stabilising the country’s economy to improve the lives of Zimbabweans.



South African president and the region’s appointed mediator in Zimbabwe Jacob Zuma is expected to step into the fray should the Harare parties formally declare a deadlock in the talks.


Samuel Kandiye · 16 views · 2 comments
28 Jan 2010

Court to rule on Bennett witness’s impeachment

HARARE – High Court judge Chinembiri Bhunu will on Thursday make a ruling on whether gun dealer Peter Michael Hitschmann – a key state witness in a treason trial of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s top aide Roy Bennett – will be impeached for becoming a “hostile” witness.



If Bhunu allows the state to impeach Hitschmann, this would pave way for the prosecution to cross-examine the arms dealer on the key statement incriminating Bennett that the gun dealer had sought to render irrelevant by disowning it in court.



“The state has made a case of impeachment so that the truth and justice can be found,” said Attorney General Johannes Tomana as he finished his application to have Hitschmann, who has turned into a problematic witness for the state, impeached.  



Hitschmann maintained that he was not being hostile, arguing that the state was not being sincere in its case because he had notified it through an affidavit last November that he did not want to testify against Bennett, a senior official of Tsvangirai’s MDC party.



“In fact what Mr Tomana, has done is to deceive this honourable court and has wasted valuable time and resources and caused additional and unnecessary stress to me,” said Hitschmann, a former police officer dismissing the state application to impeach him as “obscure, to say the very lease, for it makes no sense to me”.



“He knew from the onset that I had nothing to contribute as far as the state case against the accused (Bennett) is concerned.”



Prosecutors allege Hitschmann was paid by Bennett to buy weapons to assassinate President Robert Mugabe. They say Hitschmann implicated Bennett in 2006 when he was arrested after being found in possession of firearms.



“I would have been delighted if the fire arms had been in possession of the accused, but regrettably, they were in my possession, and he (Bennett) had nothing to do with them being in my possession,” said Hitschmann.



Bennett faces a possible death sentence if found guilty in a case that has heightened tensions in Zimbabwe’s fragile coalition government.



The MDC says the case against him is politically motivated and aimed at keeping him out of the unity government it formed with Mugabe's ZANU PF party last February


Samuel Kandiye · 34 views · 4 comments
19 Jan 2010

Zuma eyes Zimbabwe elections in 2011

South Africa is now pushing for Zimbabwe to prepare for fresh elections next year as President Robert Mugabe’s coalition continues to live on borrowed time due to unending squabbles over a number of fundamental issues.

South Africa is now pushing for Zimbabwe to prepare for fresh elections next year as President Robert Mugabe’s coalition continues to live on borrowed time due to unending squabbles over a number of fundamental issues.

The three government parties led by Mr Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara resume their power sharing talks on Sunday amid pressure from neighbours for a quick resolution of all the outstanding issues.

Fresh elections

President Jacob Zuma’s call for the Harare administration to clear the hurdle for fresh elections next year could also be a signal that South Africa is losing patience over the dialogue that began in March 2007 and yielded the unity government 11 months ago.

The parties are poles apart on demands by Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party that Mr Mugabe must reverse the appointment of his cronies to head the central bank and the attorney general’s office.

But Mr Zuma has suggested that the issues could be put aside for now so that the country can ready itself for elections.

The Zimbabwean authorities have not come out clearly on the issue of elections, with some calling for the coalition to serve a full five year term.

But much depends on the ongoing constitution making process, which is likely to be concluded by the beginning of next year.  President Mugabe was dismissed as a dreamer in December last year after he called on his Zanu PF to prepare for elections anytime.

“The Zimbabweans have set themselves a deadline of 2011 for a vote,” President Zuma’s spokesperson, Mr Vincent Magwenya was quoted as saying.  
Last week, Mr Zuma had also expressed his impatience with the Zimbabweans during an interview with a South African radio station where he called on some of the contentious issues to be “parked.”

“Are these issues so fundamental that we cannot move without resolving them,” he said.

Samuel Kandiye · 34 views · 4 comments
19 Jan 2010

COMMUNITIES POINT STATEMENT ON HAITI

Communities Point joins the world in sympathising with the people of Haiti. In their hour of need, the pressure group is with the people of Haiti and joins and commends the efforts of the international community as they extend a hand of help to the troubled masses.The intervention of the USA, the Dominican Republic, most South American countries and many other countries once again reminds us of the positive role internationalism can play in our development as the human race. As the human race we owe it to our collective aspirations for a common good that we continue on the path of international co-operation to guarantee our survival. The disaster in Haiti is natural, there is no way that anyone could have stopped it happening. But the unity of humankind is something that can come from us as the main stakeholders in our own survival. The involvement and death of UN personnel, including the UN Chief in Haiti cements our containment about the historical, contemporary and futuristic relevance of the organisation as the ultimate word in international relations. After all, we are one community, the international community, beyond that racial divide, beyond that class divide, we are one and stand to be guided by the same aspiration which is the betterment of the human race wherever we are. The loss of our brothers and sisters in Haiti gives us the opportunity to reclaim internationalism, from the one that seeks selfish ends to one that pursues selflessness. The death of the UN martyrs in the disaster must continue to remind us that there is no better way to co-exist other than as members of the only one organisation in which countries as subjects of international law, are equal members conforming to the same set of rules that will guarantee individual freedoms; including freedom from religious, political, social, cultural and political oppression. Yes, Communities Point is a Zimbabwean pressure group, but its aim is to retake Zimbabwe to the community of nations. We will be happy where we also play a part in such collective efforts. The respectability of our nation will be derived from our involvement in helping in disaster alleviation. Our history is enriched by our involvement in Mozambique during the time that country was hit by floods and famine, our helping hand in Ethiopia between 1984-1986 during the great famine in that country, our principled stance in Lesotho in 1996 together with South Africa and Botswana when we intervened to stop the palace coup there and our principled opposition to Sani Abacha of Nigeria, even as he reminded both South Africa and Zimbabwe of the role Nigeria played in the two countries independence, we still had the guts to tell him that it was Nigerians and not the Nigerian aristocracy that helped liberate Zimbabwe and South Africa. That time we opposed the hanging of Ken Saro Wiwa and supported the expulsion of Nigeria from the Commonwealth for the dictatorship of Sani Abacha. These noble deeds earned us respect but the absurdity in our recent years have seen us concentrate on trivialities. The absence of Zimbabwe in particular and Africa in general is telling, that the people we share much in common with in Haiti are not receiving help from us but from the same people we have accused of collective oppression must put shame on us as a country and as a continent. Zimbabwe’s priorities must be put right, that we earn respectability again and be able to participate in important international duties. What is happening today in Haiti can happen anywhere and our own preparedness is questionable if our priorities remain this wrong. Our foreign policy ought to enjoin us to the international community once again, let us start now.   EMILY MADAMOMBE, SECRETARY GENERAL COMMUNITIES POINTwww.communitiespoint.com
Samuel Kandiye · 17 views · 3 comments
19 Jan 2010

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