AT., AUGUST 16, 1980
- THE CAROLINA TIMES 13
A Weekly Digest Of
African Affairs
ZIMBABWE
Scandal Mars
Machel Visit
SALISBURY IAN This
was supposed to be a
triumphant week for Zim-.
babwe, a week to pay.
tribute to the Mozambican
leader whose weapons and
' bases sustained Zimbab
wean guerrilla fighters in
t heir war of independence.
Instead, the long awaited
state visit of Mozambi
que's President Samora
Machel was eclipsed by
the biggest scandal to hit
Prime Minister Robert
Mugabe's government
since he took power nearly
four months ago.
Tens of thousands of
cheering and chanting
Zimbabweans turned out
to greet President Machel
in Salisbury Monday mor
ning. He was welcomed at
the airport and then dtove
down newly-renamed
Samara Machel Avenue.
But at the official state
banquet in Machel's
honor that evening, there
was one Cabinet minister
conspicuously absent,
Manpower Planning and
Development Minister
Edgar Tekere.
Only the next day was it
learned that Minister
Tekere had spent the night
holed up in an apartment
building in downtown
Salisbury, with the police i
special weapons and tac
tics squad stationed out
side. The Minister of State,
Emerson Munangwa, was
called in on the matter.
Prime Minister Mugabe
.himself later conferred
with the police minister as
well to prevent the
'SWAT' team from stor
ming the building to arrest
Tekere and several of his
bodyguards. The 44-year-old
minister was question
ed by police when he
cmri4 frpftr rht Iwildjng
Tuesday morning. He was",
formally arrested and
charged with murder
August 5 after ar. unusual
in camera hearing at the!
Salisbury central police j
station. '
The charges stem from
an attack on a farm just
outside Salisbury allegedly
staged by Tekere and his
associates on Monday
afternoon, in which a
68-year-old white farmer
was killed. According to
the witness who found the
body of Gerald William
Adams, the murder was
the result of a shoot-out
between former black
Rhodesian Army soldiers
that were guarding the
farm, and former black
guerrillas who were guar
ding Minister Tekere.
Official sources say the
shoot-out followed a
dispute on Sunday night,
when a soldier from the
adjoining farm crashed a
party attended by several
government ministers in
cluding Tekere. Tekere
' reportedly accompanied
his bodyguards to the
farm the next day to settle
the score, and his car was
seen speeding away from
the scene of the murder.
The same sources say
the state has requested
that the manpower
minister undergo
psychiatric examination
before he stands trial for
murder. Tekere is also the
third-ranking member of
Robert Mugabe's ruling
Zimbabwe African Na
tional Union (ZANU-PF)
party, and he has been the
most outspokenly radical
member of both the
Cabinet and the party's
central committee. His
calls for swifter moves
toward fulfilling the par
ty's socialist campaign
promises won popular
support from black Zim
babweans, who have yet
to see a concrete gain
come out of Prime
Minister Mugabe's
restrained efforts to
dismantle the country's
largely white-controlled .
capitalist economic base.
Tekere, along with
Finance Minister Enos
Nkala had also issue
Sublic criticism of Joshua
Ikomo, the leader of the
minority wing of the
Patriotic Front guerrilla
movement and now
minister of home affairs in
the independent govern
ment. The Tekere affair has
obscured what could have
been an important sym
bolic move toward healing
some of Zimbabwe's
numerous post-war
wounds, for the visit of
President Samora Machel
managed to bring together
Prime Minister Mugabe
and his erstwhile rival
Nkomo on the same plat
form at two mass rallies,
one in the home territory
of Nkomo's party, last
week. Due to the stage
managing of the vibrant
Mozambicans, a packed
stadium in Bulawayo was
treated to the rare display
of Machel, Mugabe and!
Nkomo together singing
the Zulu freedom song in
terspersed with shouts of
"Viva Zimbabwe."
At the Salisbury rally
that climaxed Machel's
five day visit, Nkomo
walked off the stage for
unknown reasons in the
middle of Machel's con
demnation of racism and
tribalism. Unfurling the
Zimbabwe flag to the ap
plause of the approving
crowd of 50,000, the
Mozambique leader pro
claimed, "There are no
Ndebeles, no Shonas, no
blacks, no whites in this
flag, only Zimbabweans."
President Machel's visit
was in part to sign a joint
economic trade and
transport agreement, but
at the Salisbury rally he
also pledged defense aid,
saying "Any time the in-1
dependence of Zimbabwe
is threatened, count on the
people of Mozambique."
Machel's only oblique
reference to Zimnbabwe's
political problems came in
a mention of the recent
strikes, and criticism of '
his friend Mugabe's
cautiows leadership. "Arc ,
you .helping the enemy to -destroy
ft iff qwfrygyer jpr
ment? he demanded of
the crowd. .
ANGOLA
No End To War
(AN" A special delega
tion from the Organiza
tion of African Unity,
headed by Togolese
Foreign Minister Aniami
Anianyo, and including
representatives of Angola
and Nigeria, visited '
southern Angola last week
to inspect the damage
from the massive South
African incursion that
lasted from early June un-.
til the second week of Ju
ly. The testimony of the
OAU mission, consistent
with that of other recent
visitors to the area, was
that major damage was
done to civilian Angolan
targets rather than being
confined as South African ',
officials have stated, to
guerrilla bases of the
Namibian independence
movement SWAPO.
Only days before the
OAU visit, airborne South
African troops struck at
the town of Chitado, some
eight miles from the
Namibian border, killing
27 people, according to
the South African com
munique. Apart from an
attack on the repeatedly
assaulted border town of
Caiai in mid-July, this was
the first large raid since
the June-July action in
which more than 2,000
South African forces oc
cupied large portions of
Cunene province. Lt.-Col.
Foguetao, commander of,
Angola's fifth military;
region, told the Angola'
press agency, however,
that South African recon
naissance flights and at
tempts to infiltrate guer
rillas of the UNITA move
ment are carried out
almost constantly.
The major purpose of
the South African raids,
observers agree, is to try
to force Angola to
withdraw its support for
SWAPO, as well as
hampering SWAPO's ac
tions directly by attacking
its supply lines and the
refugee population.
There is little doubt that
Angola's southern areas
are hurting badly. The
small town of Mongua,
for example, at the center
of lasf month's action,
was completely destroyed
by South African air
power. And there are now
reportedly some voices
within Angola in favor of
making more com
promises with South
Africa in order to halt the
attacks.
If the latest Cabinet
reshuffle is any
barometer, however, there
appears to be no change in
the Angolan government
position, a combination of
on-the-ground resistance
and diplomatic initiatives
to settle the Namibia ques
tion. The same personnel
remain in posts related to
security, though port
folios have been shifted
somewhat, largely for the
purpose of increasing effi
ciency. Veteran guerrila leader
Col. Pedro Maria Pedale
moved from deputy
defense minister to
minister of defense; Kundi
Paihama, who served for
several years as commis
sioner for Cunene Pro
vince, moved from
minister of interior to
minister of state security;
and Col. Alexandre
Rodrigues (Kito) moved
from vice-minister of in
terior in charge of the
police to minister of in
terior. Meanwhile, in what was
a clear sign of a hard line
against South African
backed insurgents, sixteen
persons were executed
August 5 following con
viction in a trial of 28 ac
cused of organizing bomb
attacks in public places in
Angola over the last eigh
teen months. Seven others
received jail sentences'
from twelve to 24 years,
and four were acquitted.
The group is part of a
larger number of 129 ar
rested in June.
When the trial started,
UNITA, with which the
men are apparently af
filiated, released a com
munique in Lisbon, Por
tugal, threatening to ex
plode ten bombs fqr every
one of its members
sentenced to death.
At this point, however,
Angolan authorities ap
pear less worried about
the threat from UNITA
than about the direct at
tacks from South Africa.
Three recent British
visitors to Angola, whose
account was cited in The
Times of London, report
that in central Huambo
and Bie, provinces away
from the Namibia border
but considered the heart
of UNITA leader Savim
bi's support, they traveled
freely without danger.
Large numbers of
peasants formerly under
UNITA control, they said,
have come into govern
ment centers, where they
are putting a serious strain
on social services and food
supplies.
Ready For Next Olympics
Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee president Peter Ueberroth (I) and Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley display the City
of Los Angeles Flag (green at top, yellow at center and red at bottom). Ueberroth said the raising of the city flag was made
-possibly by a rule change approved by the International Olympic Committee. Traditionally, the flag of the country that will host
the next Olympics is raised at closing ceremonies at Moscow. UP! Photo
"It there is no struggle, there
is no progress. Those who pro
pose to favor Ireedom and yet
depreciate agitation, are men who
want crops without plowing up
the ground. They want rain
without thunder and lightning.
They want the oceans majestic
waves without the awful roar ot
its waters."
Frederick Douglass
SCIENCE
A recent research study
showed that women who had
abortions before 1973 were
more likely to have a miscar
riage than women who had
abortions after 1973. The
researcher attributed this to
the fact gentler abortion
methods are being used.
Machinist
Apply now for Fall Quarter classes.
Durham Tech's Machinist program is designed for the working student,
conveniently scheduled evening classes are held Mondays through
Thursdays, with no Friday classes.
Tuition for this program is $39.00 per quarter.
For further information please contact the
Admissions Office at:
596-9311
Durham Technical Institute
1637 Lawson Street, Durham, N.C.
Affirmative ActionEqual OpportunitySection 504 InstitutionMF
Ills i'SipWiiislili1! iSfisftSMfclis r liiftta)Mi
ID
! Seagram's
t Extra
. .....
A ec . ... (a, '
'oWri T- " IH i i ....... WWo
1 I I ll I
V 'A II A
S-
I Seagram!? I
I ExtraOnj f
u .4'
DlSTlLLtO NO BOTTLE O
tNCttuHC IW lOmSVHll V MLA
DtSTiLlf O 0v GIN
wm I -I
ft
tillCO om AMcmcAN chain Jjp j I i
St.! i "'
7s. s?"wr
1 Ei
.
1 - v "s
V6IH, fNSTlLLEO (KM GRAIN.