JUSTICE FOR ZIMBABWE

· A Transitional Government
· A New Constitution
· Economic Justice – Workers Rights, A Debt Audit, Repatriation of Stolen Assets
· People-driven Social Investment
· A National “Truth and Reconciliation” Process to Begin National Healing

Monday, July 21, 2008
4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
The Embassy of Zimbabwe
18th Street and New Hampshire Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC

The people of Zimbabwe have been betrayed, by the government that claims to represent them and by Western governments that claim to support their desires for economic development and democracy. Post-independence promises made by the international community were not kept; the imposition of economic structural adjustment policies further entrenched inequality and reversed the initial gains made by the country. Internally, corruption, government mis-management, military excesses, and poor economic decisions have furthered the country’s multiple social and economic crises. Today, after an illegitimate presidential runoff the country stands in economic ruin, wide spread political violence continues, and the only way forward is through a national dialogue and a political negotiation. Please join us in our standing with the people of Zimbabwe in their call for change!

Co-Sponsored by:

A. Philip Randolph Institute; AFL-CIO;
Africa Action; Foreign Policy in Focus;
Metropolitan Washington, AFL-CIO; Priority Africa Network

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

TransAfrica Forum
1629 K Street, N.W., Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202-223-1960 ext .137
info@transafricaforum.org/www.transafricaforum.org

Please join us!
For more information visit us on the web:
www.transafricaforum.org

The film alleges there was no secrecy in votes for Robert Mugabe
New evidence of vote-rigging in last month’s presidential election in Zimbabwe has emerged in the form of a secret film made by a prison guard.
The guard, Shepherd Yuda, filmed the vote-rigging at his jail in a production for Guardian Films.
Prison officers, including Mr Yuda, who has now fled Zimbabwe, were forced to vote for President Robert Mugabe by superior officers.
The officers organised a postal ballot and stood over them as they cast votes.
‘Orphans’
Mr Yuda decided to speak out after the murder of his uncle, an opposition activist, two months ago.
He knew he and his family would have to leave Zimbabwe as a result.

[South African President] Thabo Mbeki has betrayed us. He didn’t want to come down hard on Mugabe
Anonymous prison guard

See film on Newsnight (iPlayer)
“This election: I have never seen that type of violence,” he says in the film.
“The impact has left a lot of orphans; it has left a lot of people displaced. You cannot expect that from your government.”
He secretly filmed a war veteran, Superintendent Shambira, watching as prison officers voted.
Supt Shambira ensured they marked their ballots for Robert Mugabe, and not the opposition candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Supt Shambira then logged each vote against an identification number. There was no secrecy.
All those voting knew Supt Shambira had the power to condemn them as MDC supporters.
Mr Yuda says he had no choice but to vote for Robert Mugabe.
Mr Yuda also spoke to voters on the streets of Harare.
“They’re standing right in front of you when you cast your vote,” one voter told Mr Yuda. “They watch.”
The voter went on: “Shambira definitely sees you vote - there’s no way of hiding it. I was thinking I could vote when he wasn’t looking, but he was watching like a hawk.”
Re-education rallies
Among the prisoners is Tendai Biti, a prominent opposition MP and human-rights lawyer.
Mr Yuda filmed him having his leg-irons removed for a court hearing.
Mr Biti, who is awaiting trial on treason charges, was released on bail, but could still face execution.

Mr Mugabe won the run-off election after the opposition pulled out
“You know, I was so touched: for a man of his status to be reduced to such levels, to be put in a criminal institution,” Mr Yuda says in the film. “It’s very, very sad.”
Mr Yuda also captured conversations between prison guards in the run-up to the 27 June run-off election, as tension was increasing.
“In my area, there’s a lot of tension,” one guard tells him. “Zanu-PF (ruling party) thugs came to my house as soon as I left for work today. They abducted my wife. They took her to the base.”
These “bases” are springing up in private houses all over Harare.
Previously they were a feature of rural Zimbabwe; now they have reached the capital.
Ordinary people are abducted and compelled to attend Zanu-PF re-education rallies.
“I am forced to go and guard these bases all through the night, after my shift here,” another prison officer says.
“They cordon off the whole street: it becomes a no-go area. These people are killers, the thugs that Zanu-PF are using.”
And another guard says the rest of the world should do more to help Zimbabwe.
“It’s in the hands of the international community now,” he says.
“[South African President] Thabo Mbeki has betrayed us. He didn’t want to come down hard on Mugabe. Instead, he kept going on and on about pan-Africanism.”
On election day itself, Mr Yuda films a woman who is so fearful that she has pretended to have voted.
She colours her little finger with a pink marker, hoping to simulate the ink used to identify those who have already cast their ballots.
The day after Robert Mugabe’s election, Shepherd Yuda and his family began packing, preparing to leave Zimbabwe.
Their lives would have been in danger if they had stayed. They can only begin to think about returning once Mr Mugabe has gone.

Article taken from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7491077.stm

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UNITED NATIONS, New York: Seeking to force President Robert Mugabe into negotiations with the opposition, the United States formally proposed United Nations Security Council sanctions on Zimbabwe, including an international arms embargo and punitive measures against the 14 people it deemed most responsible for undermining the presidential election through violence.

Besides Mugabe, those singled out Thursday in the draft resolution to be subject to an international travel ban and a freeze on personal assets include the chiefs of the various branches of the Zimbabwean armed forces, the governor of the central bank, the head of the Justice Department and the presidential spokesman.

“We want to respond to the situation and respond in a way that encourages a move toward resolving the legitimacy crisis without negatively impacting the people of Zimbabwe who are suffering a great deal at the hands of the regime,” said Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

The United States expects to bring the resolution to a vote as early as this coming week, he said. The mood around the council chamber was noncommittal, with even previously outspoken opponents to further UN interference, particularly South Africa, saying they would have to consult with their governments.

Although passage is not assured, the United States has apparently mustered enough support to garner nine of the 15 votes needed to approve the resolution. China and Russia, which have generally supported the position that this is an African problem that ought to be dealt with locally, could still veto it. Russia is considered unlikely to do so, diplomats noted, and China might feel pressured to avoid vetoing sanctions because of criticism of its own human rights record in the prelude to the Olympics.

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Mugabe was elected to his sixth term more than a week ago after his opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, dropped out of a runoff election because state-sponsored enforcers were beating and killing his followers. Tsvangirai won 48 percent of the vote to 43 percent for Mugabe in the election March 29.

In Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union would seek “all possible sanctions” against Zimbabwe and Mugabe. “We will take up the issue again within the EU, under the leadership of the French presidency,” Merkel said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We will think up all possible sanctions and check to see what more we can do, such as travel bans” for members of Mugabe’s regime.

The EU, which is calling for new elections, said Friday that it was ready to consider “appropriate measures” against those responsible for violence in Zimbabwe, but did not elaborate, The Associated Press reported.

Criticism also came Friday from two African nations, Nigeria and Botswana.

“We express our strong displeasure at the process leading to the election and its outcome,” the foreign minister, Ojo Maduekwe, of Nigeria said, according to Reuters.

His counterpart from Botswana, Phandu Skelemani, said his nation did not recognize the election and encouraged other southern African nations to do the same, Reuters reported.

Article taken from: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/04/africa/zim.php

African leaders meeting in summit this week urged President Mugabe and opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai to form a government of national unity, but analysts warn that more substantive action must be taken to bring the political crisis to an end.

Both President Mugabe and Tsvangirai are setting conditions: Mr. Mugabe insists Tsvangirai recognize him as president before any talks can begin, while Tsvangirai is insisting that the results of the March 29 first-round elections should be the basis for

Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change is also talking up a transitional authority which would give way to new elections after two years as opposed to a a government of national unity which would continue through Mr. Mugabe’s five-year presidential term.

For a look at the chances any of these forms of crisis resolution will be achieved, reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA’s Studio 7 for Zimbabwe turned to Senior Peace Fellow Jamaal Jafari of the Public International Law and Policy group in Washington, and Phillip Pasirai, a senior programs officer at the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, who opened the discussion by submitting that a national unity government is unworkable in Zimbabwe.

Article taken from: http://voanews.com/english/Africa/Zimbabwe/2008-07-04-voa55.cfm

Original article from: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jc2kJPT4w0gS6690rq3QuvA8JxOQ

Fame Nickle (Zimbabwean Rapper)
Yardsteppa (Zimbabwean Reggae Singer)
Steve McIlvaine (Former US/African foreign service officer