Social and political commentator Rejoice Ngwenya believes that the right to property ownership should be enshrined in Zimbabwe’s new Constitution. He writes:

Property ownership – whether it is land, trademarks, brand names, patents, and works of art or literature – needs title in order to realise real market value. Ownership is not just a historical fact of life, but also a right whose spinoffs go well beyond the individual. It is about self-confidence, wealth creation, identity, legacy, inheritance and economic growth.

Make property rights part of the Zimbabwe Constitution today. Let’s go down in history as being the first country in developing Africa to enshrine private property in the Bill of Rights. If you do not agree with my ideology, let’s talk about it!

What do you think? Leave a comment here or contact Rejoice directly on rngwenya [at] ymail [dot] com

After 37 nights in custody, diamond whistle-blower Farai Maguwu, director of the Centre for Research and Development, has finally been released on bail. According to VOA news,

Maguwu’s release comes just two days before members of the Kimberly Process and the World Diamond Council are to meet in St Petersburg, Russia, to discuss certification of diamonds from Marange. Kimberly members failed to reach consensus last month on certifying Marange gems amid allegations of human rights abuses.

Coincidence?

I just came across this Y&R Cape Town advert on MarkLives.

Farai Muguwu, director of the Centre for Research and Development, has been remanded in custody again – he’ll be looking at a good 45 days in jail at least before he is released. His crime? Investigating human rights abuses and corrupt dealings in the diamond fields of Marange.

We’ve recently updated our special index on Zimbabwe’s diamond fields, with reports from Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada.

The Y&R advert advises people to insist on certification to protect themselves from dealing in blood diamonds. But as the PAC report worryingly points out:

The story of Zimbabwe’s contested diamond fields is also a story of how the Kimberley Process – the international initiative created to ensure that the trade in diamonds does not fund violence and civil war – has lost its way.

Zimbabwe is not the only country failing to meet some or all of the basic requirements asked of diamond producing nations by the Kimberley Process. A lack of political will and weak internal controls in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, allows for a steady flow of illegal diamonds onto the international market.

But Zimbabwe sets itself apart from the others because of the government’s brazen defiance of universally agreed principles of humanity and good governance expected of adherents to the Kimberley Process. As such Zimbabwe poses a serious crisis of credibility for the KP, whose impotence in the face of thuggery and illegality in Zimbabwe underscores a worrisome inability or unwillingness to enforce either the letter, or the spirit, of its founding mandate.

Tariro is a secretary who wants to do her job well. But Mr Kunaka has other ideas about what her duties should be.

Listen to this seralised audio drama about sexual harassment in the work place.

This statement from Amnesty International summarises a number of the challenges facing the Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC) outreach process which began last week.

Restrictions of fundamental freedoms undermining credibility of constitution making process

Arbitrary arrest and detention as well as violence against human rights and political activists risk undermining the credibility of Zimbabwe’s just started constitution making process, led by the Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC).

All parties in the unity government should respect and protect the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly and ensure that everybody has unfettered access to COPAC outreach meetings. Amnesty International also urges Zimbabwe’s security agents to strictly observe Article XIII of the Global Political Agreement which requires state organs and institutions to be impartial in the discharge of their duties.

Amnesty International’s calls follow reports of arbitrary arrest and detention, and beatings of civil society monitors working under the Independent Constitution Monitoring Project, which is jointly run by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Zimbabwe Peace Project and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

On Sunday 27 June, three civil society monitors, Paul Nechishanu, Artwel Katandika and Shingairayi Garira were taken by ZANU-PF supporters to Scarffel Farm in Makonde district (Mashonaland West province) and beaten with logs.  Garira sustained injuries to his eardrum while Nechishanu and Katandika suffered head injuries.  The attackers also took the monitors’ mobile phones and money.  Two of the phones were later returned to them by the ZANU-PF supporters.

The beating of the monitors follows the arrest of another team of monitors – Godfrey Nyarota and Tapiwa Mavherevhedze, and their driver Cornelius Chengu – by police in Mutare on 24 June. The three activists were at Mukunu North Primary School in Mutare North constituency, monitoring the on-going constitution making process.  They were charged under Section 81(3) of the Access to Information and protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) for practicing journalism without accreditation. They were released on $20 bail and remanded to 9 July. Reports indicate that the police arrested the three monitors in Mutare at the instigation of a well known ZANU-PF activist and a member of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veteran Association.

Another activist in Mutare, Enddy Ziyera, the provincial coordinator of the independent monitoring project, was detained for several hours and released without charge on 25 June after bringing food for the three activists in detention.

Again on 25 June, in Marondera (Mashonaland East province), three Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) activists, Rodreck Shamu, Themba Musimara and another man only identified as Mukunyaidze were taken by unidentified state security agents.  They were later found detained at Marondera police station and are yet to be charged.

Background

Consultations for a new constitution are provided for under Article VI of Zimbabwe’s Global Political Agreement (GPA) which explicitly states ‘the fundamental right and duty of the Zimbabwean people to make a constitution by themselves and for themselves’ and provides for the people of Zimbabwe ‘to hold such public hearings and such consultations as it may deem necessary in the process of public consultation over the making of a new constitution for Zimbabwe.’

Over the past six months, Amnesty International has been receiving reports of intimidation in rural areas where villagers were threatened with violence if they do not support ZANU-PF’s position on the new constitution.  Initially, the threats were meant to intimidate villagers into endorsing the heavily criticized Kariba draft constitution. The Kariba draft constitution, which was agreed in 2007 by the former ruling party ZANU-PF and the two formations of the MDC without public consultation, has been strongly criticized by civil society organizations as an attempt by the parties to impose a constitution on the population.

Two weeks ago I was Cote d’Ivoire or bust. But then they had that shocking exhibition of poor sportsmanship on Sunday, and I was heartbroken. So my orange jersey has been hanging limply in limbo. Can my love for my team trump my principles of justice? Not bloody likely. I might even find myself rooting for North Korea on Friday. . . Hmmm. No. That’s not very likely either.

But as I get ready to cheer for Ghana tonight, this LA Times article from Robyn Dixon spoke to me: Africans cheer for their teams, their continent, despite a lack of faith

Despite disappointment over the performance of Africa’s World Cup teams, the competition here appears to be bringing out a keen sense of Pan-African pride, a border-transcending spirit and attitude that one would almost surely not encounter on most other continents.

When any of the six African squads has scored a goal, shouts of joy have erupted across the continent, in exuberant food and beer joints like Mama’s Place in Lagos, Nigeria, in shops converted into mini-screening rooms in the narrow streets of Freetown, Sierra Leone, in the pubs of Nairobi, Kenya, and in open air, vuvuzela-infested parks in the townships of Johannesburg.

The idea of South Koreans rooting for Japan or the French cheering on England may be far-fetched. But in Africa, even those who don’t normally follow the game are praying that at least one African team will make it to the quarterfinal in the first World Cup on African soil. Or even to the round of 16.

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