Zimbabwe: State lawyers fight citizenship rights of dead statesman's daughter *** Chidyausiku criticized de Bourbon for not presenting the court with New Zealand statutes on citizenship. However, de Bourbon protested that it was up to the government to prove Todd held New Zealand citizenship. He said it was not up to her to renounce a theoretical right she has never attempted to exert. The court said it would rule later in the week on a government request for postponement to allow time to get copies of New Zealand statutes. Zimbabwe has been racked by political unrest and economic collapse since Mugabe lost a constitutional referendum in February 2000. His claims to victory in later parliamentary and presidential elections have been widely challenged.
Garfield Todd, who died last week at 94, campaigned for black advancement in Zimbabwe when it was a British colony known as Southern Rhodesia. Although the government wants to declare him a national hero, the registrar stripped him of his citizenship and right to vote before the presidential elections last March because he was not born in Zimbabwe. Judith Todd said Friday declaring her father a hero would be "inappropriate" and an "embarrassment" because he abhorred the ruling Zanu-PF party's "suppression of democracy, erosion of civil liberties, assassination of opposition officials and supporters, arrests, torture, and the climate of fear spread throughout the country." ***
End of War Intensifies Plunder of Congo Riches *** Zimbabwe military and some government officials have contended their contracts are legal payment for troops, which propped up the Kinshasa government. The report says a network of Congolese and Zimbabwean political military and commercial interests, including top government officials in both countries, has transferred ownership of at least $5 billion in assets from the state mining sector to private companies "with no compensation or benefit for the state treasury." "The diversion of funds from state companies and public coffers, by fraud or under the pretext of war efforts has contributed to eliminating funds available for public services," the report said. ***