Category: Zimbabwe

ZIMBABWE: UNITED NATIONS/SABANEWS/14/2/19 SABANews 1

HARARE – The new economic, socio and political dispensation in ZIMBABWE enjoys nonstop support from the global community, with the latest show of solidarity coming from the UNITED NATIONS itself.

The world body has retained NEPALESE national BISHOW PARAJULI in the economically devastated SADC country with his more than 33 years of experience in a variety of development areas.

A Statement by UN Mission Communications Specialist SIRAK GEBREHIWOT says Mr PARAJULI gained expertise in humanitarian, diplomatic, fund raising, coordination and management issues in ASIA, EUROPE, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA and the MIDDLE EAST.

He became UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in SEPTEMBER 2014, but this THURSDAY he has presented his credentials, as the most high-ranking UN Representative, to President EMMERSON MNANGAGWA at State House in HARARE.

Mr GEBREHIWOT says the development is in line with events of ONE JANUARY 2019, when the UN System launched a global change for an improved and new Resident Coordinator System and UN Country Team – putting countries at the forefront.

He says UN Secretary General ANTONIO GUTERRES has made the appointment of Mr PARAJULI as part of efforts to implement this ongoing UNITED NATIONS reform agenda.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres (Pic. Reuters)

The world body adopted Resolution 72/279 at the 72ND session of its General Assembly to strengthen the authority and leadership of the Resident Coordinators as the highest-ranking representatives of the UNITED NATIONS development systems.

The envoys are to lead sustainable-development-focused UN country teams and system-wide accountability on the ground for implementing the UN Development Assistance Framework, as well as supporting countries in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

However, the promoted UN Resident Coordinator and the refreshed UN Country Team remain focused on sustainable development, with the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions as their principal objective.

Mr GEBREHIWOT says the emphasis is consistent with the integrated nature of the 2030 Agenda, and in line with the UNITED NATIONS Development Assistance Framework.

With his new mandate, Mr PARAJULI will lead alignment of both UN agency programs and inter-agency pool funds for development with national development needs and priorities, as well as with the UN Development Assistance Framework, in consultation with the State.

Secretary General ANTONIO GUTERRES has also recently issued a statement to UN member nations on the rollout of the UN System Reform.

He says countries will be able to count on impartial and empowered Resident Coordinators – fully devoted to the needs required to fulfil the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, drawing on experience, skills and knowledge across the UN system.

Mr GUTERRES says UN Country Teams on the ground will now be better able to tailor their presence, capacities, skills sets, and overall responses to priorities of the host nations.

Before Secretary General GUTERRES appointed him to lead the newly reformed UN System in ZIMBABWE, Mr BISHOW PARAJULI has been UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Representative in ZIMBABWE since 16 SEPTEMBER 2014.

He has led UN cooperation with the government, donors, civil society, communities, the media, and other partners to new heights; including a new strategic engagement under the 2016 to 2020 UN Development Assistance Framework, focusing on SIX national priorities.

The priority areas are poverty reduction, social services, gender equality, HIV and AIDS, food and nutrition security, and good governance, and they have led to the successful mobilization of 400-MILLION US dollars yearly for the past THREE years.

Results from the schemes include resilience building for 830-THOUSAND people in 23 rural districts, giving cash and food aid to TWO-POINT-TWO-MILLION vulnerable people, as well as introducing climate smart agriculture.

The development partners have further helped expand agro-businesses and irrigation infrastructures, as well as linking women to domestic and regional markets.

ZIMBABWE also now has independent institutions, including the Election Commission, the Human Rights Commission, the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, and the Gender Commission.

The UN Mission statement says the established authorities are meant to promote peace, reconciliation, and contribute to efforts to enhance democracy and human rights in the SADC country.

It says the world body has helped the nation to fulfil its reporting obligations to human rights mechanisms like the Universal Periodic Review, and to implement rights recommendations and development goals, with a view to enhance human rights and development.

The UN has also been actively engaged on national initiatives to end child marriages and gender-based violence, ensuring access to education of children with disabilities and providing books to TWO-POINT-FIVE-MILLION pupils.

It has further helped more than 300-THOUSAND poor households – especially child headed – with cash transfer consistently, and more than THREE-POINT-SIX-MILLION people in rural and semi-urban areas have received water and sanitation services.

In response to the HIV pandemic, more than ONE-MILLION people have been successfully put on antiretroviral treatment, allowing them to lead a productive life and make the country ONE of the leaders in such efforts internationally.

The world body says it has been responding proactively to emerging humanitarian crises caused by recurrent droughts, floods and outbreaks such as cholera and typhoid in the country.

The UN has worked with ZIMBABWE and development partners to find lasting solutions by building national capacities for disaster risk management, early warning systems, as well as resilience building of communities to withstand shocks and effects of climate change.

The repositioning of Mr PARAJULI as the most high-ranking UN Representative comes as ZIMBABWE is reeling under biting AMERICAN and BRITISH economic sanctions that have left the country on its knees and facing opposition-led social unrest./Sabanews/cam

ZIMBABWE: PROTESTS/THE HERALD/21/1/19 ONE

HARARE – The authorities in ZIMBABWE say they have deployed security forces to ensure public safety following threats of another round of violent opposition protests in the country.

The announcement comes from Home Affairs Minister CAIN MATHEMA and Information Minister MONICA MUTSVANGWA, after angry demonstrators shut down most major cities and towns for the whole of last week.

The ZIMBABWE CONGRESS OF TRADE UNIONS this month teamed up with social groups like the TAJAMUKA and the #THISFLAG to organise nationwide labour protests to pressure the government.

Their move comes amid worsening economic conditions that have seen prices of most basic goods rising to out of the reach of the majority, although incomes have remained stagnant and unemployment remains high.

However, what was supposed to have been a peaceful work stoppage for THREE days to force the State to solve the worsening economic situation in the country turned very violent, with mobs blocking roads with large rocks and burning tyres.

The government has blamed the opposition MDC ALLIANCE, which it claims is working with the labour movement and the other groups – with sponsorship from Western powers – to force a regime change in the SADC nation.

Alliance Leader NELSON CHAMISA has dismissed the accusation, saying the demos are a result of mismanagement by the authorities and the announcement of fuel prices increases by the Head of State.

Mr CHAMISA claims the soldiers who the State deployed shot and killed more innocent civilians than the SIX victims of the AUGUST 2018 post-election violence his supporters provoked in the capital, HARARE.

He has told mourners at the funeral of ONE victim of the violence in the corridor city of CHITUNGWIZA his party is going to engage regional and continental authorities, as well as the UNITED NATIONS, for intervention.

THE HERALD says Home Affairs Minister MATHEMA and Information Minister MUTSVANGWA have pledged the government will deal firmly with lawbreakers focussed on property destruction and loss of life.

The State run newspaper says the Cabinet message comes after the alliance of political parties under the MDC flag, the trade unions’ federation and the social groups have threatened to carry out continuous violent demonstrations – beginning today, MONDAY.

It quotes ONE of the suspected organisers of the disturbances of last week, an official of the #TAJAMUKA outfit, as saying he has gone into hiding but is planning more protests.

PROMISE MKWANANZI allegedly says his team is mapping out their next move to force President EMMERSON MNANGAGWA, currently hunting for capital in EURASIA, to solve the national economic issues and remove bond notes.

Nevertheless, Information Minister MUTSVANGWA says the protests are not actions of demonstrations but machinations by people who are pushing for a violent regime change in the country.

She says the people who destroyed the property worth more than 300-MILLION US dollars across the country are hooligans, some of whom are in custody and face heavy punishment if convicted.

Minister MUTSVANGWA says there is what she calls a THIRD force in the operations, in which mobs reportedly set fire to more than 30 cars and buses, destroyed and looted shops, clinics, private homes, and even police stations across the country.

The authorities have since arrested more than 700 suspects, among them the leader of the #THISFLAG, EVAN MAWARIRE, for their alleged involvement in the violence and they are still looking for others.

They say they have also established security checkpoints to search people who may attempt to move their loot to rural areas, amid reports saying some of the suspects are dumping the stolen goods wherever they can in order to avoid arrest.

Meanwhile, there are reports saying the violence of last week also involved members of a notorious group that has terrorised people every election time in the western HARARE suburbs of WARREN PARK ONE and D as well as other surrounding areas.

Its leader, only named as VOYAGE, allegedly a well-known youth leader of the ruling ZANU PF, which has since disowned him, has reportedly been arrested after commanding teams that attacked residents with machetes, iron bars and an assortment of other weapons.

The groups, using unmarked FOUR-wheel-drive vehicles with no number plates, would pounce on anyone, beat them up brutally, grab phones, as well as smashing windows of parked motor vehicles and houses as they went.

Calm only written to WARREN PARK after armed police officers and soldiers deployed to clear the roads and hunt down the gangsters.

President MNANGAGWA says he has cancelled his trip to DAVOS, SWITZERLAND where he was due to attend the 2019 World Economic Forum so he can attend to the situation back home.

The ZIMBABWEAN Leader has made the statement from ASTANA in KAZAKHSTAN, describing his tour of RUSSIA, BELARUS, AZERBAIJAN and KAZAKHSTAN as fruitful./Sabanews/cam

ZIMBABWE: VIOLENCE/THE HERALD/27/11/18 SABANews 1

HARARE – Leaders of the opposition MDC ALLIANCE in ZIMBABWE have rejected their supporters who staged violent protests in which SIX people were killed on ONE AUGUST in the capital, HARARE.

ALLIANCE President NELSON CHAMISA and Deputy National Chairperson TENDAI BITI have this week appeared before a Commission of Inquiry into the post-election disturbances.

Mr CHAMISA says his hands are clean because his party had not organised the violent demonstrations that almost shut down the city TWO days after the 30 JULY General Elections, whose results he still reject though.

He says the people who were demonstrating or protesting on the fateful day were not doing so on the instruction of the MDC, its organs, or its leaders; and all of them should have been behind bars by now because they destroyed property.

Mr CHAMISA also says a reportedly militant group under his party youth league comprises young people who are not violent and who do not own firearms; although he says they have the capacity.

However, witnesses accuse the group of unleashing violence on anyone who challenges him and it attempted to burn MDC-T President THOKOZANI KHUPE and other party officials.

Ms KHUPE and her colleagues had sought refuge in a village hut during the funeral of their Party Leader MORGAN TSVANGIRAI in the south-eastern district of BUHERA when the violent youths descended on them.

Mr CHAMISA has instead challenged the Commission of Inquiry to summon President EMMERSON MNANGAGWA to account for the deployment of the army on ONE AUGUST.

He says the Head of State, whom he does not recognise as such, despite a Constitutional Court ruling, should be held accountable for the SIX deaths that occurred during the riots.

Meanwhile, Mr CHAMISA says his party still believes it won the 2018 General Elections and he should be the President of ZIMBABWE – failing which he will be staging demonstrations this THURSDAY to force the government to negotiating table.

On the other hand, Mr BITI, who tried but failed to secure political asylum in neighbouring ZAMBIA after the demonstrations, has also denied inciting the tragic violence.

Both men, the only ones to appear with their lawyers before the Commission so far, have further dismissed even campaign video evidence showing them threatening violence if they lost the JULY polls.

They have appeared before the NINE-member international team after turning down invitations to do so in the past weeks during which they unsuccessfully made a number of demands for them to comply.

When ONE of the Commissioners asked if Mr CHAMISA respects the national legal structures, and that the Constitutional Court ruling is final, he agreed; but still says he does not accept the ruling it made in favour of President MNANGAGWA.

The opposition leaders have appeared before the Commission after military and police chiefs have testified in the ongoing inquiries, which are sometimes broadcast live on national television, dismissing reports claiming their soldiers killed civilians during violent protests.

The Tactical Commander of the National Reaction Force, who is also the Presidential Guard Commander, says he was in charge of the military operations to reinforce the police on the fateful day.

Brigadier-General ANSELEM SANYATWE has told the Commission of Inquiry into the disturbances his troops only fired warning shots into the air, not at the rioting crowds scattered around the city.

He says the videos circulating in the media, showing a soldier kneeling on the ground and appearing to be firing at the rioters, are not proof that the military killed anyone on the day.

He says the soldiers were under the command of high ranking and experienced officers who are aware of the rules of engagement, either during civil unrests or in real combat, and had they fired AK-47 rifles there would have been more than the SIX dead bodies.

Despite denials by the opposition leaders, the army says it cannot rule out the possibility that the SIX people who were killed in the ONE AUGUST post-election violence could be victims of a militant group in the ALLIANCE.

Brigadier-General SANYATWE says the group, known as the VANGUARD, is violent and obviously includes trained former members of the national army and police, who are able to use firearms.

He says what also further shows his soldiers killed no one during the demonstrations is that a number of journalists decided to report the events while taking cover behind the military lines, and no dead body was pictured lying in the streets.

Brigadier-General SANYATWE says the reporters should have been able to capture people falling from AK-47 bullets and bodies lying in pools of blood if the troopers really opened fire into the crowds.

He says he does not give much consideration to the video clip that has gone viral on social media, because no civilian has the guts to film such military operations.

Defence Forces Commander General PHILLIP VALERIO SIBANDA agrees with his officer, accusing the MDC ALLIANCE of preaching violence before, during, and after the 30 JULY General Elections each time they addressed their rallies.

General SIBANDA says they have reason to suspect the opposition leaders had planned to plunge the country into bloody clashes if they lost the polls; and when they realised they were losing, they sent riotous youths into the streets of HARARE on the day.

He says the police had to call for help from the military after the violent crowds, who were now burning and looting in a bid to shut down the city, had overpowered the law-enforcement agents.

General SIBANDA says anyone, members of the public, observers who witnessed the ballots, as well as journalists who covered them, who have evidence of his soldiers killing people, should come forward with it.

The 2018 Post-Election Violence Commission of Inquiry in ZIMBABWE is interviewing a cross-section of people from mid-OCTOBER, but it is not likely to conclude its work soon – given the bulk of evidence the team has to consider before reporting./Sabanews/cam

ZIMBABWE: POLITICS/SABANEWS/15/11/18 SABANews 1

HARARE – Military officials in ZIMBABWE have dismissed reports claiming their soldiers killed civilians during violent protests that nearly shut down the capital, HARARE, on ONE AUGUST.

The Tactical Commander of the National Reaction Force, who is also the Presidential Guard Commander, says he was in charge of the military operations to reinforce the police on the fateful day.

Brigadier-General ANSELEM SANYATWE has told the Commission of Inquiry into the disturbances his troops only fired warning shots into the air, not at the rioting crowds scattered around the city.

He says the videos circulating in the media, showing a soldier kneeling on the ground and appearing to be firing at the rioters, are not proof that the military killed anyone on the day.

Brigadier-General SANYATWE emphasises the military details he deployed in THREE sectors in HARARE did not open fire to kill but to disperse the crowd.

He says the soldiers were under the command of high ranking and experienced officers who are aware of the rules of engagement, either during civil unrests or in real combat.

Moreover, given the fact that the soldiers were carrying AK-47 assault rifles, people would have witnessed serious carnage if anyone of them had fired into the crowds – because the gun has serious impact.

The army also says it cannot rule out the possibility that the SIX people who were killed in the ONE AUGUST post-election violence could be victims of a militant group in the MDC ALLIANCE.

Brigadier-General SANYATWE says the group, known as the VANGUARD, is violent and obviously includes trained former members of the national army and police, who are able to use firearms.

He says what also further shows his soldiers killed no one during the demonstrations is that a number of journalists decided to report the events while taking cover behind the military lines.

Therefore, the reporters should have been able to capture people falling from AK-47 bullets and bodies lying in pools of blood if the troopers really opened fire into the crowds.

Brigadier-General SANYATWE says he does not give much consideration to the video clip that has gone viral on social media, because no civilian has the guts to film such military operations.

The Commission, set up to probe the cause of the violence and whether or not the reaction by the military was proper, has also head the testimony of Defence Forces Commander General PHILLIP VALERIO SIBANDA.

He has accused the MDC ALLIANCE of preaching violence before, during, and after the 30 JULY General Elections each time they addressed their rallies, which led to the ONE AUGUST tragedies.

General SIBANDA says the opposition leader, NELSON CHAMISA, and his colleagues had planned to plunge the country into bloody clashes if they lost the polls; and when they realised they were losing, they sent riotous youths into the streets of HARARE on the day.

He says the police had to call for help from the military after the violent crowds, who were now burning and looting in a bid to shut down the city, had overpowered the law-enforcement agents.

General SIBANDA says members of the National Reaction Force had strict orders never to shoot at the demonstrators, and they never killed anyone.

He has also emphasised if the circulating video was authentic, the soldier shown kneeling and seemingly shooting into the crowd would have killed quite a huge number of people with such rapid fire.

General SIBANDA says anyone, members of the public, observers who witnessed the ballots, as well as journalists who covered them, who have evidence of his soldiers’ killing people, should come forward with it.

Despite having issued a joint media statement with the police to appeal to people with such evidence either vehicle number plates, names of soldiers, or anything, to furnish them with such information, no one has brought anything.

General SIBANDA also says he is disappointed that none of the many foreign observers, foreign journalists, and embassies, who witnessed the elections, ever denounced the pre-election opposition threats of violence.

Only THREE groups visited him, surprisingly to find out if the military would accept MDC ALLIANCE Leader CHAMISA if he won the presidential poll; to which he answered soldiers would abide by the Constitution.

General SIBANDA says the authorities are determined to find out the real architects of the violence as well as the killers of the SIX people, and the culprits will definitely be in police custody eventually.

The 2018 Post-Election Violence Commission of Inquiry in ZIMBABWE has interviewed a cross-section of people from mid-OCTOBER, but it is not likely to conclude its work soon – given the bulk of evidence the team has to consider before reporting./Sabanews/cam