Posted on 02/08/2003 4:59:57 AM PST by Clive
In Zimbabwe, demonstrators are learning that cricket is a deadly game
In a largely unsuccessful bid to embarrass the Mugabe regime, KAREN MacGREGOR finds, the opposition is targeting the World Cup
By KAREN MACGREGOR
HARARE -- Edison Mukwazi was not the first member of Zimbabwe's embattled opposition movement to die under mysterious circumstances.
The 29-year-old political activist died in hospital last Sunday after being admitted with liver and lung injuries sustained during police custody -- the second time in two years he had been badly beaten by authorities.
But this time, his alleged crime was different from his running opposition to President Robert Mugabe. Mr. Mukwazi, who left behind a wife and two-week-old daughter, had dared to walk into the Harare Sports Club to distribute leaflets protesting against next week's Cricket World Cup.
Such is the state of political repression in Zimbabwe that the opposition has taken to demonstrating against international cricket matches to embarrass the Mugabe regime. So far, they appear to have failed.
Nervous cricketers are due to arrive here in the coming days from England, Australia and India for preliminary matches leading to the World Cup final in South Africa -- a move that Mr. Mugabe has hailed as a sign of his country's stability.
Players from England and Australia this week lost court challenges in South Africa to cancel or move their matches. The England and Wales Cricket Board said the players would be in danger in Zimbabwe.
It was unclear last night whether England would forfeit its matches rather than play in Zimbabwe, but the local government was doing the best it could to lay out a welcome mat. In Harare, streets have been cleaned and long queues at gasoline stations disbanded.
Police this week also stepped up efforts to stop opposition protests near the matches. Some of the roadblocks that were dismantled last year after the violent presidential election have reappeared, while anyone demonstrating against cricket have been threatened with sedition charges.
The opposition indicated it will focus its protests on other issues -- a rally planned for next Friday by a new group, Women in Zimbabwe, will include a march against gender violence. "If we make it political, it will be banned," spokeswoman Jenny Williams said.
In the past three weeks, at least 10 opposition supporters have been arrested and several beaten or tortured. Among them was Job Sikhala, an opposition member of Parliament. "It was a terrible experience, gruesome and horrendous torture," he said in an interview.
Mr. Sikhala said he was arrested for alleged insurrection, and beaten, urinated on and tortured with electric shocks before being released after two days in custody. He was later sent to hospital. A Harare court this week threw out the charges against him.
"This regime has lost control of its senses. It should not be recognized by anyone," he said.
Elias Mudzuri, opposition mayor of Harare, was also recently arrested, roughed up and threatened with death for holding a civic meeting. Mr. Mudzuri, who won the city council for the Movement for Democratic Change, was held for two days without access to his lawyers.
The political turmoil comes amidst a spiralling economic crisis and famine in Zimbabwe. A prolonged drought has left close to half the population of 7.2 million in a state of hunger or starvation, while the economy has shrunk by nearly a third in three years.
Gawaher Atif, a Canadian who serves as deputy country director for the World Food Program, said the United Nations last month distributed an estimated 38,000 tonnes of food aid to prevent a far worse catastrophe. Until the 1990s, Zimbabwe was a net food exporter.
In the major cities, shortages of basic goods and fuel have led to long lines and rationing, especially at gasoline stations, where on weekends queues can be seen snaking around city blocks as people wait up to 48 hours to be served.
Gasoline attendants this week, however, said they had noticed a sudden increase in fuel supplies. "We've had more petrol deliveries than usual since last weekend, we think because of the cricket," said one attendant at a Shell station in Harare. "More garages are getting less petrol, to shorten queues before the foreigners come."
Last weekend a man was killed when tempers flared in a queue for corn, a local staple.
This week, riot police attacked a rowdy crowd that was threatening to storm a corn-distribution shop in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city.
On the contrary, the regime should be recognized by some humanitarians, who happen to be flying B-52s and are readying to drop much-needed JDAMs on every aspect of that regime. Mugabe and his cronies are murderous thugs and have to go!
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