News Africa Extended

News Africa Extended

Zim trade union urges citizens to defy protest ban

Posted: 02 Sep 2016 12:06 PM PDT

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has called for citizens to resist the Zimbabwean government’s ban on demonstrations.

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Harare - The Zimbabwean government’s ban of demonstrations was a serious attack on the rights of citizens, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) said on Friday, calling for people to resist the ban.

“The right to demonstrate remains one of the most fundamental rights the world over and depriving people of this right, no matter under what circumstances, is a serious threat to freedom of expression and an attack on civil liberties,” ZCTU secretary general, Japhet Moyo said in a statement.

He said the gazetting of Statutory Instrument 101 (a) of 2016 by the government banning all demonstrations in the country’s capital for the next two weeks was as good as returning the country to the colonial era.

Moyo said the banning, which came a day before the planned demonstration by a group of political parties under the banner of the National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) to press for electoral reforms, was a clear sign that Zimbabwe was sliding into an authoritarian state.

Moyo said the government was being paranoid as it faced angry citizens who were demanding better governance from the regime of President Robert Mugabe.

“Only recently the police refused to respect a High Court order that granted political parties under the banner of National Electoral Reform Agenda (NERA) the right to demonstrate,” Moyo said.

He called on the government to lift the ban forthwith.

African News Agency

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Namibian cop, resort worker bust with rhino horns

Posted: 02 Sep 2016 09:19 AM PDT

A former police officer and an employee of the Namibia Wildlife Resort have been arrested for possession of two rhino horns.

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Rundu - A former police officer and an employee of the Namibia Wildlife Resort were arrested on Thursday for possession of two rhino horns.

The Namibian Police Force's (NamPol) acting Crime Investigations Coordinator for Kavango East, Detective Chief Inspector Chrispin Mubebo said on Friday that members of the public had informed the police about the two men who were allegedly looking for potential buyers for the horns.

The two were arrested at a local shebeen in Rundu. They have been charged with contravening the Controlled Wildlife Products and Trade Act (Act no 9) of 2008.

“Possession of wildlife products is a very serious offence. We will not have mercy on whoever is found with it. The law will deal with you accordingly,” Mubebo said. He warned members of the public to refrain from such activities as they would be caught. The two are expected to appear in the Rundu Magistrate's Court next week.

African News Agency

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Gabon: France says won't meddle in Africa

Posted: 02 Sep 2016 05:23 AM PDT

Foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault says that France's days of meddling in African countries' politics are over, as Gabon counts the cost of post-election riots.

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Paris - Foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Friday that France's days of meddling in African countries' politics were over, as former colony Gabon counted the cost of riots that followed a disputed election.

The foreign ministry in Paris, along with the United States and the European Union, on Wednesday urged Gabonese authorities to release election results from individual polling stations for greater transparency.

The spokesman for the winner, President Ali Bongo, rejected that request on Thursday.

Interviewed on France 2 television on Friday, Ayrault said: "We are Africa's partners but we do not want in any case to intervene in countries' internal affairs. That would be disrespectful of Africans, they don't ask for it".

France acted only when countries requested Paris's help, he added.

On Sunday, Bongo's allies had expressed anger over a French Socialist Party statement declaring that early results showed challenger Jean Ping to be the winner.

They accused it of failing to respect the sovereignty of a country where 14 000 French citizens live, and which hosts a French military base with 450 troops.

They said it harked back to the era of La Francafrique, when Paris played puppet-master in African countries decades after post-colonial independence, propping up leaders like Bongo's father in exchange for pushing business to French firms.

Following Wednesday's announcement of Bongo's narrow victory, Ping accused authorities of rigging the ballot

There are recent precedents of France becoming involved in African countries such as in the Ivory Coast in 2011.

After Ivory Coast's former president Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down following a disputed election, France went to the United Nation's Security Council to get a mandate to send troops and help swing a civil war in favour of Bagbo's rival Alassane Ouattara.

Gabonese government spokesman Alain-Claude Nze told French television BFM TV that the government expected France to help ease tensions and bring both sides to a peaceful resolution.

Reuters

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Mystery Zim man faces charges in Botswana

Posted: 02 Sep 2016 02:17 AM PDT

A man was arrested in Botswana for various offences incuding the possesson of a ceremonial uniform of the Zimbabwe National Army.

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Gaberone - Prosecutors in Botswana have added five more charges to the sheet against an unidentified Zimbabwean immigrant.

The man was arrested in a village outside the capital Gaborone for the illegal possession of a pistol, handcuffs, two-way military communication radios and a ceremonial uniform of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA).

Since his arrest in September 2015, the local police, their Zimbabwean counterparts and Interpol have failed to positively identify the man who gave his name as Michael Graduate Mutizwa.

However, prosecutors and the Botswana police and prosecutors have engaged their Zimbabwean counterparts and discovered that while there is indeed a Michael Graduate Mutizwa in the country, the fingerprints on his record do not match those of the suspect detained in Gaborone.

The suspect, who arrived in Botswana around 2009, appeared at the Gaborone Magistrate's Court on Thursday where prosecutors slapped him with him five new charges and remanded him in custody to September 14 for trial.

He now faces additional charges including three for obtaining Botswana residence permits by false pretence after giving false information to a public official. He also faces a single charge of obtaining a drivers's licence by false pretence and another for fraudulent acquisition of the marriage certificate which he used to marry his Motswana wife.

In his plea, the suspect alleged that the police planted the pistol that was found in his home in order to find an excuse to arrest him.

However, the court ruled that he should remain in custody as he was a flight risk given that nobody in Botswana or his native Zimbabwe knew who he really was or where he was from.

The prosecution said a team would soon travel to Zimbabwe to interview the real Mutizwa in the hope that he could help unmask the mystery of the man detained in Gaborone.

African News Agency

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