Zuma faces criticism on Zimbabwe

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma found himself facing strong criticism at
the European Parliament on Wednesday, for the way he has handled the
Zimbabwe crisis in his role as the regional facilitator.

Police hound witnesses in MDC activist’s murder

Two key witnesses in the brutal murder of MDC activist Crispen Mandizvidza
are now on the run, after police indicated they wanted to arrest them for
the killing.

23 year-old Mandizvidza died from injuries sustained after a group of ZANU
PF supporters attacked him. Some of the attackers have been positively
identified and are residents of Mbare and have not been charged.

Police had also harassed mourners gathered at the late
Mandzvidza’s home over the weekend.

Victims of violence arrested

Tsvangirai's MDC-T party on Tuesday said
four of its activists who were assaulted by members of President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU PF were arrested by the police after attempting to report the
assault.

The MDC-T said the four, Godfrey Cotton, Edmore Manyofa, Shingi Gorekore and
Paul Majarifa were assaulted last Sunday in the Harare low-income suburb of
Mbare when a public hearing on the proposed new constitution degenerated
into violence.

man dies after gang attack by Mugabe's party

A security guard died of his injuries Wednesday, hospital officials
said, following a weekend attack by a gang of youths from President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU(PF) in the Zimbabwean capital Harare.

Crispen Mandizvidza was walking a relative home on Sunday night in Harare's
crowded Mbare township when about 50 youths from the party descended on
them, said the officials who asked not to be named. Mandizvidza was forced
to the ground and youths bludgeoned his stomach with crowbars.

The incident came as hundreds of ZANU(PF) youths, bused in from rural areas,
were deployed all over the capital to disrupt meetings held by a
parliamentary committee to canvas the views of ordinary Zimbabweans on what
they want in a new constitution.

Eleven other people were injured, and a 26-year-old woman is still in the
private Avenues Clinic with head injuries.

Witnesses said large numbers of police were deployed, but took no action as
Mugabe's youths hurled stones at supporters of Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and attacked them with
iron bars, took over the parliamentary committee's meetings and drove out
white participants.

Violence in Mbare

FIVE officials from the main faction of the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) were seriously injured when marauding Zanu
PF supporters swamped Mai Musodzi Hall in Mbare, Sunday, and unleashed an
orgy violence during a constitutional outreach meeting.

Gukurahundi finally classified as genocide by leading experts

The Gukurahundi massacres that saw tens of thousands of innocent Zimbabweans
killed by soldiers loyal to the Mugabe regime in the mid eighties, were on
Thursday classified as genocide by the internationally recognized group
Genocide Watch. Based in Washington DC, the group's chairperson, Professor
Gregory Stanton, said the Mugabe regime has been trying to sweep this
atrocity under the rug for 30 years now but this classification now means
the perpetrators can be prosecuted no matter how much time has passed.

Speaking to SW Radio Africa Professor Stanton said: "It's been clear to us
from the beginning that this was genocide. The reason why it is important to
label it as genocide is because genocide is the crime of crimes. It is the
worst of all crimes against humanity"

More importantly Professor Stanton explained that there is no statute of
limitations for genocide or for crimes against humanity. This means the
people who committed these crimes may be called into court at any time.

He added: "They've been trying to act as though this is something that
should be forgotten. But it shouldn't be forgotten because in fact denial is
the final stage of genocide. So the question is how do you bring people who
have committed genocide to justice."

The Professor, who was in Harare meeting victims of the atrocities back in
2001, said that a crime as serious as genocide should be investigated by the
High Commissioner for human rights at the United Nations, by the African
institutions on human rights and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Since Zimbabwe is not party to the treaty of the ICC, the court could not
directly indict Robert Mugabe and others that were involved in the killings.
"But the United Nations Security Council can in fact refer the situation to
the ICC, just as they referred the situation in Darfur. And it is the way in
which President Bashir of Sudan has now been indicted for genocide,"
explained Professor Stanton.

Police looking for Roy Bennett again

The latest malicious attempt by the police to arrest the MDC
Treasurer-General and deputy Agriculture minister-designate, Senator Roy
Bennett is a well-orchestrated political persecution and victimisation of
the MDC. Police officers from the Law and Order Section have for the past
two weeks been hunting for Bennett on yet to be established set of
trumped-up charges. What is more worrying is that the police officers are
refusing to state their agenda on why they want to arrest Hon. Bennett.
However, what is clear is that Senator Bennett has no case to answer and the
attempt by the police to incarcerate him is only politically motivated.