Rebuilding Foundations Caring for People
Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe seized Mike Campbell’s highly productive family farm. When Mike and his son-in-law, Ben Freeth, took the Zimbabwe government to court at the regional court of justice, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal, Mugabe's thugs burned down their houses, kidnapped them, and fractured Ben’s skull during their night-time torture session at a militia camp . Ben joins Vivek Ramaswamy on the Truth Podcast in the United States to discuss the rise of tyranny, the importance of property rights, and the dangers of victimhood politics. He also discusses Lessons for America.
Do the Chinese come to Zimbabwe to invest or to pillage our resources?
President Mnangagwa has returned from China, where he attended the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). In a statement, he said: “This is the best time to invest in Zimbabwe.” However, commentator Tendai Ruben Mbofana questions the value of China’s investments given that their mining operations have resulted in displacement and appalling hardship to local communities, massive pollution of the environment which is causing cancer, cholera, typhoid, dental and skeletal fluorosis, as well as killing livestock, while the wealth generated flows into the coffers of foreign entities, notably China.
Newsletter from Cathy Buckle: “Come with me to the hand pump”
Come along with me to the borehole on the side of the road in urban Zimbabwe, a new part of my everyday life. Up soon after 03:30am I am getting ready to go to the nearest ‘hand pump’ long before dawn. Water hasn’t come out of my taps for many weeks and so I have to go and get it at the ‘hand pump’ on the roadside…. As I get my breath back, I think of the YouTube video of Zimbabwe’s grandiose new parliament and its long rectangular pool near the entrance to the building. Fountains and water overflowing down a wide stone stairway. The extravagance of it all [a gift from China costingUS$200 million] is an absurd.
Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe, not fit to lead SADC
Writing for The Namibian newspaper in Windhoek, the former seat of the SADC Tribunal Court of Justice, which was closed down at the instigation of Zimbabwe’s then president Robert Mugabe in 2012, social political commentator Vitalio Angula warns that “having [Zimbabwean president Emmerson] Mnangagwa as the [incoming] chair is an affront to the values of human rights and democracy that SADC nations believe in…. For heads of state of the 16-member regional bloc to agree to be led by a tyrant is an affront to the principles SADC leaders swore to uphold when they signed the treaty that created the regional bloc.
44th SADC Summit: SA’s Mmusi Maimane condemns human rights abuse in Zimbabwe
Mmusi Maimane, the leader of opposition party Build One South Africa (BOSA), has decried the failure of South Africa’s African National Congress party (ANC) to condemn the human rights abuses and brutal crackdown in Zimbabwe by its long-time ally, the ruling ZANU-PF party, headed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. This is ahead of the upcoming 44th Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit set to be held in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, on Saturday 17 August. Maimane stresses that: “We must play no part in enabling evil and make no mistake the Mnangagwa regime is evil. They lie, kill and destroy.”
STATEMENT: ALARMING ESCALATION OF STATE REPRESSION IN ZIMBABWE AHEAD OF 44TH SADC SUMMIT
Human rights and civil society organisations across the African continent are deeply concerned about the severe restriction of civic space and the systematic erosion of fundamental freedoms in Zimbabwe. The recent escalation in state-sponsored repression, characterised by abductions, arbitrary arrests and unjust denial of bail, torture, and harassment of human rights activists and opposition political members, represents a profoundly disturbing trend. This repressive environment is particularly concerning ahead of the 44th session of the SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government scheduled for 17 August 2024.
White farmers reject ‘bad deal’
Representatives of white commercial farmers whose land was expropriated by the government have rejected a Treasury Bonds (TBs) deal offered by the government as compensation in which the TBs mature over a period of 10 years. The Global Compensation Deed (GCD) of July 2020 stipulated that half of the settlement (US$3,5bn for improvements only, not for the land), would be paid within a year, with the remaining half distributed over five years. Liam Philp, president of the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), said that the new deal proposed by the government falls short of the initial agreement.
Exposing Mnangagwa Sadc façade
In this hard-hitting letter to the Southern African Development Community heads of state ahead of the SADC Summit in Zimbabwe mid August, Zimbabwean political scientist Luke Tamborinyoka exposes the façade of a successful country created by President Mnangagwa as a ruse to impress them while, hidden from their view, ordinary citizens scrounge to eke out a living. He also summarises the arrests, torture and other gross human rights abuses taking place ahead of the Summit to quell any potential activism. He reminds them of the stolen 2023 elections, about which the SADC leaders continue to remain silent.
ZLHR advocates for suing perpetrators of human rights violations
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) is calling on victims of human rights violations to sue perpetrators directly, particularly those in the uniformed forces. They argue that legal accountability will force violators to face the financial consequences of their actions. “When such awards have been secured, applications for garnishee orders have been granted by the courts. The monetary award is deducted monthly from the salary of the police officer,” Hanzi explained. “Ministers should also be hit in the pocket,” Hanzi said, emphasising that accountability should extend beyond lower-ranking officials.
Elections, Civic Space and Political Violence in SADC: Trends from 2013 to 2023
In the past decade, the SADC electoral environment has been tumultuous. In all the member states, the civic space has been shrinking, and populism took over. The South Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) reports on this shrinking of civic space, whilst CIVICUS in its 2024 report points to this development as an existential threat to independent civil society, “under attack amid deepening and intensifying conflict.” In the SADC region, political violence, particularly against female political actors has spiked over the decade. This report has been produced by the Research & Advocacy Unit (RAU) in Zimbabwe.
Newsletter from Cathy Buckle: For the love of an elephant
A young bull elephant with a very swollen lower leg was standing in the hot, dry bush. From photos taken, it looked like there were two snares – set relentlessly by poachers - on one of its lower legs. The veterinary team headed by Blake Muil of the Rukuru Conservation Unit, was summoned urgently. They got to work immediately, tracking and darting the elephant, then extracting the twisted wires, cleaning and sterilizing the wounds, injecting antibiotics and then administering the reversal drug. After a few anxious minutes, the elephant slowly rocked itself and managed to sit up …..
The Zimbabwean government’s struggle to whitewash its image while unleashing violence on civilians
Despite the Mnangagwa government’s efforts to beautify Harare and impress SADC heads of state due to attend the SADC Summit in mid August, its latest human rights abuses have severely damaged its reputation, bringing the international spotlight back on Zimbabwe. In the latest incident, four individuals headed to Victoria Falls for the 5th African Philanthropy Conference were ordered off the plane and held incommunicado for more than eight hours. When they were finally released, they told of unimaginable and shocking torture: waterboarding, beatings with iron bars, psychological torment and threats.
Mnangagwa regime fires union leader Obert Masaraure from his teaching job - 24 July 2024
Obert Masaraure, president of the Amalgamated Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) and a vocal human rights campaigner, has been fired from his job as a desperately needed chemistry schoolteacher, allegedly as punishment for leading civil servants’ campaigns against poor remuneration and human rights abuses. ARTUZ represents about 35,000 workers across 10 provinces in the education sector. The American Bar Association reports that Masaraure has been subjected to six criminal charges against him in a pattern of harassment against union leaders and other human rights defenders and members of civil society.
