- Zakeus Chibaya, Johannesburg: Lindela body still unclaimed
- A Zimbabwean correspondent, Harare Beware house visits
- Lois Davis, Bulawayo What happened to the heroes?
- Martine Stemerick, London: Free at last
Zakeus Chibaya: Lindela body still unclaimed
Johannesburg The body of a young Zimbabwean pregnant woman who died at the notorious Lindela Repatriation Centre on 4 July is still lying unclaimed at a mortuary as authorities at the camp are failing to locate the relatives in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The body of a Zimbabwean man who died at camp at the same time has been claimed. Human rights organisations trying to assist with the burial of Alice Tshuma are finding it extremely difficult as Lindela authorities are refusing to release any information about the deceased.
At a meeting to coordinate refugee activities last week, Joyce Dube of Southern Africa Women Migration (Sawima) painted a gloomy picture of Lindela. Dube said her organisation, which had been holding demonstrations to put pressure on the South African government to improve conditions at the camp, was going to take the case to Amnesty International for assistance.
We have asked Lindela authorities not to order a paupers burial as has been the case in the past, said Dube. Last year, the body of a Zimbabwean man had to be exhumed after the relatives came to collect it.
One human rights lawyer said he was having difficulty accessing his clients at Lindela.
"Sometimes we are told the person has been moved while in fact he is languishing in the camp and you have to put pressure to get past the various barriers," he said, adding that most of the people from Lindela come out ill or die shortly after being released. Food poisoning is being suspected at the camp and the living conditions are deplorable, he said.
One man who was deported to Zimbabwe but came back said the situation is terrible and the camp overcrowded. Disease is rampant in the camp. The remand prisons are much better than the situation at the camp. You have to close your eyes to eat. The South African government should really make an effort to deal with this deteriorating situation, he said.
The situation is complicated by the fact that some Zimbabweans give false information when they are arrested.
"It is difficult to trace the origin of the person when he has provided false information. Some people have criminal records back home and they dont want to be traced.
Lindela authorities have promised to investigate the deaths but the people here have no faith in them, added the source.
A Zimbabwean correspondent Beware house visits
Harare The criminal element lost no time swinging into action in the wake of Operation Murambatsvina. This week a number of incidents have been reported in the low-density suburbs of Harare involving scams by a gang purporting to be building inspectors demanding to see peoples plans.
But Harare city authorities say they have not yet sent inspection teams to most low-density areas. The police have confirmed a group of men are going around pretending to be part of operation clean-up but their intention is to raid the house and steal items.
The police advise members of the public not to allow anyone onto their properties, but to take their names and a contact phone number and verify with the Harare authorities that they are bona-fide inspectors before allowing them access.
Also in openDemocracy about Zimbabwe:
Andrew Meldrum, Who won Zimbabwes election? (April 2005)
Emily Barroso, A Zimbabwean life (April 2005)
Bev Clarke, Mass evictions in Zimbabwe (June 2005)
Jeremiah Kure, A tale of great loss
Jeremiah Kures article was first published in the weekly newspaper The Zimbabwean, which has regular news, analysis, features, discussion and up-to-the-minute reports on Zimbabwe; its online version is here
If you find this material valuable please consider supporting openDemocracy by sending us a donation so that we can continue our work and keep it free for all
Lois Davis What happened to the heroes?
Bulawayo This years Heroes Day should have been a particularly special time for Zimbabwe, marking as it does our silver jubilee. Few Zimbabweans were in a celebratory mood, however, and Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) have marked the occasion with an open letter to President Mugabe and his new deputy Joyce Mujuru.
The launching of Operation Murambatsvina (clear out the filth) demonstrated irrevocably to us that the Liberation guns have been turned against us, says the letter, recalling the time of the Zhii riots in July 1961 when the colonial regime introduced the stringent Law and Order Maintenance acts which were used to imprison Robert Mugabe himself along with other nationalists of the time.
The letter continued:
Never could we or our fallen heroes predict that the ghost of LOMA (the Rhodesian Law and Order Maintenance Act) would come back as POSA the Public Order and Security Act. Through POSA, AIPPA (Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act) and the ad hoc amendments to the Constitution your government has perpetuated the colonial mentality we fought to remove.
Once again it has been the women of Zimbabwe who have put their finger on the real pulse of Zimbabwe and supporters of the regime in neighbouring African states who claim to be motivated by the spirit of liberation would do well to heed the words of these wise women.
When liberation fighters entered the Mhondoro area in July 1978 to launch Zimbabwes war of liberation, they held pungwes (meetings) with the villagers where much was said about the racial discrimination and injustices by whites against blacks and many examples were given of white people leading luxurious lives at the expense of blacks who had nothing and were languishing in abject poverty. It was to end this injustice that young men and women of that time were inspired to join the liberation war where many sacrificed their lives.
Twenty-five years after the so-called liberation a different set of people occupy the luxury mansions of Borrowdale Brooke and drive their Mercedes through the streets of Harare, but the people still languish in poverty. On their behalf, Woza has been obliged to point out to todays leaders: Already socially and economically disadvantaged by a crashing economy, we as Zimbabwean mothers of the nation suffer greatly every hour, every day. We have lost our homes and livelihoods to Murambatsvina and have reached a point of no return.
Wozas slogan is: When you strike a woman you strike a rock but in spite of their strength there have been sacrifices. At least 700 Woza women from teenagers to grandmothers in their 70s have been arrested and often beaten since the organisation first set out to make injustice visible in Zimbabwe.
While the current leaders of Zimbabwe betray the memory of those who gave their lives to liberate their people, Woza still carries the torch for justice that was ignited all those years ago. Surely they are Zimbabwes heroes of today.
Martine Stemerick Free at last
London The excitement was palpable as Zimbabweans from all over the country gathered together in a musical vigil outside of the Royal Courts of Justice on 4 August.
Asylum-seekers and their supporters chanted and danced as they waited for a decision in the 10am hearing of three test cases by Mr Justice Collins, the high-court judge who last month put a moratorium on the return of asylum seekers to Zimbabwe pending new evidence of human rights abuse of deportees.
Human rights lawyers in Zimbabwe and friends of some of the 145 people deported to Zimbabwe since 16 November 2004, have scrambled to collect evidence and submit it to the Refugee Legal Centre (RLC), whose lawyers were representing the clients selected for the test case. Many in Zimbabwe were very reluctant to give evidence, fearing that they would suffer abuse at the hands of Zimbabwes regime, and that their families and friends would be targeted.
Over 600 pages of evidence were submitted to the judge and to the home office counsel, Ian Bennett, QC, who asked for an adjournment to give the home office and foreign office more time to review the evidence, saying that the situation in Zimbabwe was fluid.
The judge challenged this description, stating that conditions in the country had worsened: I think everyone will accept that the situation has deteriorated because of the so-called slum clearances, he said. There are also the attacks on non-governmental organisations who involve themselves in any way in a manner of which the government disapproves.
Counsel for the RLC, Mr Mark Henderson, queried the home office counsel concerning allegations that officials had arranged for several asylum-seekers to be removed on Friday 5 August. Mr Justice Collins said sternly: If that has been done it should have been cancelled. If (the Home Secretary) has spent money arranging flights he has been extremely foolish.
Upon hearing the decision, the crowd outside the Royal Courts of Justice broke into triumphant song. Crispin Kulinji, a Zimbabwean asylum-seeker who was tortured for his support of the opposition MDC party in Zimbabwe, was clearly delighted:
The results are very, very positive. The judge said that the Home Office has to cancel all the flights and that all of those in detention must be told that they can apply for bail. So, we hope that by next week, all of the Zimbabweans will be out of the detention centres. People at the demonstration are jubilant: they are singing God Bless Africa, the national anthem of the liberation movements. We have won a battle and we just hope that in October there will be a new country guidance case for Zimbabwe set by the AIT (the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal). back to top
