HARARE – Zimbabwe’s former finance minister Simba Makoni will today transform his Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn movement into a fully-fledged political party.

The move to turn the movement into a political party is coming after the former ZANU PF politburo member aborted its transformation thrice earlier this year after his former colleagues in the movement – national convener Ibbo Mandaza and mobilisation chairperson Kudzai Mbudzi – deserted him and accused him of financial impropriety and maladministration.

Denford Magora, Makoni’s spokesperson, yesterday said the launch of the new party would take place at Stoddart Hall in Mbare, Harare.

“The party will be launched tomorrow (Wednesday),” Magora said. “Our national executive has approved the transformation, although I am not at liberty to disclose the name of the party yet. We expect foreign dignitaries to attend the launch.”

Magora declined to give further details of the launch, but sources said Makoni was destined to be the president.

In March this year, lawyers representing Mandaza and Mbudzi filed an ordinary High Court application to bar Makoni from using the movement’s property.

The application came barely a week after Judge President Rita Makarau threw out an earlier urgent application by the duo to bar Makoni from using Mavambo’s resources. 

Makarau said the applicants had failed to approach the courts for relief early enough to show that the matter was urgent.

In the papers lodged, the applicants said the Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn Movement’s presidential campaign for Makoni last year was well funded and received a donation of US$3 million and 34 vehicles, some of which were attached to Makoni.

“Serious problems arose in the Movement after the elections in March 2008. For reasons difficult to understand, Simba Makoni literally became a very different Simba Makoni from the Simba Makoni whom the Movement had nurtured into being its presidential candidate,” the court application says.

According to the papers, Makoni and a small team of what are allegedly his personal friends, including Abby Mujeyi, took advantage of their location at the head office, and their administrative responsibilities to make decisions which were completely contrary to those of the national coordinating committee.

“In May and June 2008 for example, the Movement resolved to unilaterally and unconditionally support Morgan Tsvangirai in the event of a runoff. Despite being present at the meetings and in fact agreeing to the resolutions, Simba Makoni proceeded to announce a vague, meaningless and ambivalent position of his own which has hurt the image of the Movement,” the application states.

The movement also accuses Makoni and his coterie of friends of turning the money and assets of Mavambo to their own personal use.

Mandaza and Mbudzi allege that there are 20 other cars which despite a resolution, Makoni has withheld and refuses to distribute to the provinces

By Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa
PATRICK KOMBAYI, JOSHUA NKOMO, AND LOOKOUT MASUKU: FOREVER ERNEST KADUNGURE REMAINS GUILTY! The death of MDC Senator, war veteran and a veteran of Zimbabwe’s opposition politics, Senator Patrick Kombayi [Peace be Upon Him] is a constant reminder of what one has to go through in the politics of Zimbabwe. Reading the sad news from Nehanda Radio recently: http://nehandaradio.com/2009/06/21/mdc-senator-patrick-kombayi-dies-in-gweru/ and from the source; one Never Kadungure; I could not help being reminded of one of the fathers of notoriety in independent Zimbabwe; one Ernest Kadungure [Peace be Upon Him] of the Gukurahundi fame and the role he played in establishing the terror network that to this day is still responsible for the horrors that have visited Zimbabwean opposition and human rights activists. Zimbabweans can not be so naïve to forget that it was Kadungure who was among the architects of Gukurahundi and the People’s Militia which wreaked havoc in rural Matabeleland from 1981-1987. It was also Kadungure who was responsible for setting up the Youth Brigade a predecessor to the “Green Bombers”; for the same sinister motive of silencing the opposition in Zimbabwe. A report on Kubatana.com reveals the minute detail of the role played by Kadungure: “ “First report of the Portfolio Committee on Youth Development, Gender and Employment Creation Parliamentary Debates March 31, 2004 MR CHAIBVA: Thank you for according me the opportunity to debate on this very important issue of the youth training programme. This idea did not come three years ago towards the year 2002. It was originated way back in 1980 when there was so much talk about the Herbert Chitepo ideological college. I was one of those selected to go through this training process when then I was in ZANU PF youth. There was this training camp called Robert Gabriel Mugabe Marondera in Mashonaland East. When we went there, we spent two weeks. What we were being taught by the late Ernest Kadungure who then at one point was a Minister of Political Affairs and member of the ruling party and secretary of the Politburo was how to deal with ZAPU. How to kill those who were opponent to ZANU PF during those days in 80’s. So the historical origin of this programme is very much well acquainted for me. The idea was to train cadres – I said if hon. Mutasa were here In Nigeria for example, there is a national youth programme. They call it national service programme. It is regulated in terms of national law that once you complete your advanced level or higher education, you have to go to those training programmes. Their programme identifies your area of interest so much that if you want to be a medical doctor, you will then be associated with experts who are to deal with the medical professions. If you want to be an engineer for example, then you will go to a department which is associated with that as part of training programme. We in Africa, particularly those of us who have been well acquainted with the politics of the opposition and fighting dictatorship know the broad objectives of this NYS programme. This is why there is no legislation and in order for you to qualify, you have to be a member of the ruling ZANU PF party. You have to be recommended by the district chairperson, you have to be approved by the province of ZANU PF in order for you to ultimately be admitted into this training programme. They talked about trying to institute elements of discipline in some of these, what exactly you are talking about? It is a matter of public knowledge that these "green bombers" as we have come to call them, are involved in aspects of violence in the several bi-elections that have been conducted in this country, ostensibly to advance the political programme and ambitions of the ruling ZANU PF party. MOTION”: http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/edutra/040331parl1.asp?sector=CHIYOU&year=2004&range_start=91 Senator Kombayi, Dr Joshua Nkomo, Lookout Masuku [Peace be Upon Them] and many other departed comrades are all victims of both Rhodesian and post-independence oppression. What makes it sad is that there has been no attempt to bring the perpetrators to justice. I am for reconciliation and peace but I do not think the “reconciliation” model that we have followed in Zimbabwe is the one to follow. Reconciliation that does not tell us what we are forgiving does not solve things. If at all it means that crimes and criminal activity will remain in perpetuity. I have had the chance to follow the German debate after the Second World War and the Zimbabwean debate from the time of our independence to our current problems. After World War 2 there was a feeling that every German was a NAZI and therefore guilty of crimes against humanity. This is called “Germaschuld in international law: the general guilty of every German for crimes against humanity”. The choice was either to summarily forgive accused perpetrators or to summarily punish them without having an inquiry on what crimes they had committed. This would have the effect of not revealing the extent of the crimes that had been committed and at what level were those found “guilty” culpable. If that had been the case every German could have remained guilty for crimes most of them had not committed; they would still be abused as a nation of misfits to this day and those who “forgave” them could have continued to blackmail them to this day. A trial model was therefore chosen because it would reveal these crimes and take away the unfair collective guilt from them. Today German is a free country because they agreed that those among them who had been NAZI be tried and punished for their crimes. No-one can blackmail them as a country. Our reconciliation model “pardoned” ex-Rhodesians for crimes we do not know about. We know of Nyadzonya, Chimoyo, Tembwe, Mulungushi, Mboroma, Mkushi etc which are all war crimes. In fact after UN SC Resolutions 216 and 217(1965) which outlawed Rhodesia as a country and recognised ZAPU and ZANU as liberation movements; even the mere act of defending themselves by Rhodesia was a war crime. Rhodesia was illegal and such a defence was an act of aggression against the two Liberation Movements! Yet this does not make every ex-Rhodesian guilty. So to collectively “pardon” people without first charging them for their criminal offences does not seem to follow any logic to me. It is this flaw that has been used to blackmail white Zimbabweans into either supporting ZANU PF or no to support anyone else. Because we do not know what we have forgiven; who fired what shot and where; every white Zimbabwean has been made collectively guilty. Some were in the army but never fired a shot, some were not involved at all yet others took an active role. If they were to be pardoned we should have heard what we were pardoning. Similarly it is people like Ernest Kadungure [Peace be Upon Him], whose policies haunt us to this day that should have been tried for their role. In Shona they say “mhosva haiori” which means crimes never die. Even the dead who have committed criminal offences can be tried posthumous and in Ernest Kadungure [Peace be Upon Him] we have a perfect starting point. We have a key witness; Gabriel Chaibva who attended a session to indoctrinate him to kill opposition figures. The legacy has lived to this day in the so-called “Green Bombers”. We have seen campaigns to deport children of all those people in ZANU PF who have caused the suffering of our comrades in opposition back home and I wonder if that’s not going to extend to children of those who passed the legacy of killing on our youths. Never Kadungure in his capacity as a journalist works for a media organisation that has been at the forefront of such campaigns. I am not implicating him or relating him to Ernest Kadungure [Peace be Upon Him] whose legacy is the misery that Zimbabwe is seeing today: http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/edutra/040331parl1.asp?sector=CHIYOU&year=2004&range_start=91 but it is still necessary to see if he is the son or immediate family of the same man. If he is then we have all been duped and he owes it to Zimbabweans and humanity to stand up and apologise for his father; if he is one of us! It is people in his capacity who could actually start the process of national healing by owning up to the gross mistakes of the past and as has been the norm; children of such people can better do so in Zimbabwe. The reconciliation model that MDC seems to be following will not bring change to a moral fabric that is already torn. It helps perpetuate the same culture of impunity and blackmail that we are seeing today. It brings peace by retaining tension because justice must be seen to precede peaceful co-existence. We owe it to our liberation war heroes and our democracy-campaign heroes to have true justice and reconciliation in Zimbabwe. Not every ZANU PF member even those in the politburo is a bad guy. Not every soldier, CIO, Gukurahundi or even the Youth Militia committed crimes against humanity in Zimbabwe. It is also unsafe because this can be used to blackmail former ZANU PF members into silence in future; they will be told: “Support us or keep quiet because we offered you reconciliation”, even those who are committing no crimes. Let’s bring in the trial model and know what exactly we are forgiving. To the late Patrick Kombayi, I join Zimbabweans in saying “sleep well our true hero, you came, you showed us the way and we will follow! And your road leads to paradise where we will one day join you!” Until then, Be Judge! Julius Mutyambizi-Dewa [Abhu-Mandla al Gokwe] mutyambizidewa@yahoo.co.uk or 00447529705413

BY PHIDIOUS KANYIMO

Calling to all Zimbabwean who are tired of killer President to come together and stop the killing spree. Zimbabweans have seen the genocide, the killings of ministers and potential presidents and now we have just witnessed another blow, the killing of the prime minister’s wife. We must stop the killings, let’s kill the killer, I say Mugabe must die. Waiting seems forever, the tyranny seems to be immortal, the Americans have taken down Saddam Husain, but they seem not to be coming for our Hitler “Mugabe”. Let’s get the job done to create a safer Zimbabwe. Is it not wise that one should loose his life for the sake of millions? I say it’s only right for Mugabe to die and to save the lives of Zimbabweans. Let’s join hands in this act of a necessary evil. Let’s kill the devil.

ComPoW is shocked at the arrests of Zimbabwe Independent Editors Vincent Kahiya and Constantine Chimhakure: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-05-11-two-newspaper-editors-arrested-in-zimbabwe As an organisation we are solidly behind the efforts to establish normalcy in Zimbabwe and have watched with interest the progress that is being made by the Government of National Unity in that country. It still remains our hope that Zimbabwe will be able to shed its pariah image and the starting point will certainly be the free flow of information. Arrests and detentions of journalists have always been the weakness of the Zimbabwean Government. Whilst criminal defamation and the publishing of unlawful stories must surely be punishable in any society, this must follow lawful criminal proceedings. A quick thought will go to the involvement of the Court and an application for an injunction against the Zimbabwe Independent and also a search warrant allowing the police to lawfully enter the premises of the Zimbabwe Independent and search for the documents. There seems to be an absence of both and police acted on their own. Given the involvement of senior officers of the police it can not be far-fetched that they may actually have instigated the raids and that this can only be for sinister motives. The article in question implicated the following senior members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police: Reggies Chitekwe, Joel Tenderere, Elliot Muchada, Joshua Muzanango, Crispen Makedenge, Peter Magwenzi and Simon Nyathi: http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com/index.php/local/22570-cio-police-role-in-activists-abduction-revealed Because of their implication it will set a very bad precedent for Zimbabwe if the action of the police is allowed. Among other things it will create a police force that is not accountable to anyone, a situation that is unsafe in a democracy. Journalists play a very vital role in providing citizens with information important in subjecting public authorities and security agencies such as the police to scrutiny. Like any other citizens they too should be accountable for their actions but this accountability should follow a laid down procedure that is acceptable under international human rights standards. An application to a judge in chambers followed by the interim measures; a search warrant and an injunction enforceable on Zimbabwe Independent would have done better to restore confidence in the Zimbabwe Republic Police. In the absence of this the action of the police represents scare tactics aimed at muzzling the voices of journalists at a crucial time of reform and re-engagement in Zimbabwe. It implies an attitude where the police say their excesses can not be known by the same public which pays their salaries. Effective policing is not intimidatory, it does not alienate the same citizens it seeks to work for. Effective policing must rely on the citizenry as it is the citizenry which in most cases provide the clues essential in solving criminal offences. Policing that unlawfully arrests journalists for no other crime than to report on alleged violations by senior members of the ZRP is not in the interest of the public. If at all it alienates the public because its visible objective is to create a deficiency of information by putting a cog on the free flow of information. The Zimbabwean legal system provides the above senior members of the ZRP, who are also citizens of Zimbabwe, with the right to sue a journalist for libel or defamation. This can be done by the aggrieved parties in their own right severally, jointly or individually or by the ZRP if they have been defamed as an organisation. Engaging in unlawful actions at a time when Zimbabwe is trying to show the world that it is changing for the better is counter-productive and also flies in the face of the epistemology of the Zimbabwe Republic Police. The value system of the organisation ought to derive from the value system of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle whose objective was to create a free, united society, which respects the rule of law and in which security agencies are not there to monitor the citizens or to intimidate them but to serve, assist and protect them. Arrogant policing, which intimidates and monitors people ought to have been an element of Rhodesian-era policing because it is oppressive; anti-people and anti-progress kind because it criminalises Zimbabweans going about their normal duties in different spheres of life. At this point in time ComPoW also calls for the correct actions always as we do not want to set up a precedent where wrong and unlawful arrests are made only to be reversed at the intervention of “sympathetic politicians”. Correct policing must be the modus operandi of the ZRP and this should have no substitute. As we call for the release of Vincent and Constantine, we challenge the senior police officers cited to rebut the allegations on them in the correct way if they so wish or else they will have to stick and be investigated with the possibility that they too be accountable for the alleged torture of Jestina Mukoko and the 15 other activists who were in their alleged care. “COMPOW: COMPATIBLE WITH HUMAN RIGHTS, JUSTICE AND PEACE IN DEVELOPMENT!” Julius Sai Mutyambizi-Dewa: DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND COMPLIANCE Contact details: mutyambizidewa@yahoo.co.uk / 00447529705413

Communities Point Worldwide [ComPoW] wishes to congratulate the Daily Telegraph on the serialisation of the expenses saga involving UK MPs across the political divide.
While it may be true that they may not have committed any criminal offences to be liable for legal censure, ComPoW can safely say the actions of the MPs can never escape the censure of the tribunal of public opinion. The morale deficit of their actions is that all the expenses they used were paid from UK taxpayers’ money and everyone knows the amount of energy that the UK public invests in their work ethic. The collective and cumulative nature of their actions will surely challenge the UK public to explore the collective consciences of the politicians involved especially at the backdrop of the current economic situation. The UK public has heard how government has spent money that was borrowed at the expense of organisations that might have used the same resources for the betterment of the UK public. The fact is when Government borrows money it does so by winning the “loan competition” with the private sector and it is now coming to light that a percentage of that money was in fact channelled to funding unbelievable expenditures of some of our MPs.
The UK is the cradle of Parliamentary democracy and any mishaps in the country’s democracy can never escape the scrutiny of the world at large. While we welcome sentiments expressed by some of the leaders of the political parties involved, that the errant MPs will be disciplined, we further challenge that the public has the right to know the full extent of the abuse of public funds by Parliament and all those who have the privilege to use public money. We therefore implore the decision-makers not to bury the unfolding saga from public scrutiny but to continue to expose its true nature and extent for the benefit of the UK public and democracy.
ComPoW remains focused on creating a world that is free from tension. It does so by challenging injustices and promoting transparency. The novelty of the organization and the diversity of its collective experiences mean that we have members who have worked in the promotion of human rights across many continents. Whilst we are advocates of universalism in human rights we nevertheless lend an ear to the cultural divergence that still remains a fact of life in our world today. In the UK we have mainly worked in the grassroots to promote integration and encourage ethnic minorities to participate in topical issues in the UK. We believe that only when communities that feel they are excluded are empowered to participate in topical issues, will they feel they are collectively responsible for decision-making and thus will be accountable for any such decisions as UK citizens and residents. We believe alienation causes tensions and it is these that in the end lead to a nation divided across minority-majority, rich-poor or across ethnic and racial lines.
JULIUS SAI MUTYAMBIZI-DEWA: DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND COMPLIANCE
CONTACT: mutyambizidewa@yahoo.co.uk/00447529705413
“COMPOW, COMPATIBLE WITH HUMAN RIGHTS, JUSTICE AND PEACE IN DEVELOPMENT!”