Category: News Feeds

* A lawyer in India appeared at a virtual hearing in a T-shirt lying in bed last week. This attorney should have read our earlier coverage of American lawyers making similar mistakes during remote appearances. [Tribune]

* The U.S. Attorney in Manhattan made clear that he was fired and did not voluntary step down. [Reuters]

* Black female YouTube creators have filed suit alleging that the algorithm used for the video-sharing website is racist. [AdWeek]

* Some New Jersey attorneys are in hot water for allegedly agreeing to pay bribes to secure government contracts for legal services. [New Jersey Law Journal]

* A Texas lawyer is now facing a $6 million judgment even though he failed to attend the summary judgment hearing due to scheduling confusion caused by COVID-19. Seems like this attorney has good arguments for a reconsideration motion… [Texas Lawyer]

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.

The plan, which will end an effective subsidy, will take place as early as June 23 when a currency peg is removed and an auction system for foreign exchange is set to begin, the people said, asking not to be identified because a public announcement hasn’t been made. The plan may be implemented a week or two later when its clear how the new system is working, one of the people said.

The move is an attempt to save the government $100 million of foreign exchange. The country has been beset by persistent fuel shortages as the central bank doesn’t have the money to pay for adequate imports.

The central bank currently provides letters of credit each month to fuel-importing companies. The letters of credit had been issued at a fixed exchange rate of 25 Zimbabwe dollars per U.S. dollar, compared with a black market rate that’s almost four times that.

Gold Subsidy

John Mangudya, the central bank governor, didn’t answer calls seeking comment. “The finance ministry is looking at the exchange rate and they are best placed to comment on the fuel subsidy issue,” Energy and Power Development Minister Fortune Chasi said by phone.

George Guvamatanga, the secretary for finance, didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

The southern African nation requires 1.4 million liters (370,000 gallons) of gasoline and 2.5 million liters of diesel daily, according to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority.

Earlier this month, the central bank also canceled a gold-subsidy program, flagged by the International Monetary Fund as contributing to excessive money supply which had weakened the Zimbabwean dollar.

Moyo, appointed to the position in 2018, was initially picked up by officers from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) on Thursday evening, but President Emmerson Mnangagwa allegedly ordered him released because he had not been informed of the plan to arrest him, according to sources.

ZACC spokesman John Makamure Friday night was quoted confirming the arrest: “Yes, he has been arrested and is in detention. That’s all I can say for now.”

Post published in: Featured

Three opposition activists from the Movement for Democratic Change-Alliance (MDC-Alliance) disappeared in May after being detained by police while on their way to an anti-government protest.

The women were found badly injured outside the capital Harare nearly 48 hours later and immediately hospitalized. They say they were abducted, sexually abused and forced to drink their urine.

Their abusers remain unidentified but as the women were abducted from police custody, it is assumed they were some kind of state agent.

The three women, member of parliament Joanna Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, have since been arrested on charges of lying about their abduction and torture.

‘Pattern of disappearances and torture’

Their rearrest came as the United Nations expressed its concerns over what it calls a “reported pattern of disappearances and torture that appear aimed at suppressing protests and dissent” in Zimbabwe.

According to the UN, 49 cases of abductions and torture were reported in the country in 2019 alone.

Thirty-eight-year old rights activist Tatenda Mombeyarara, who was taken from his home by heavily armed men in August 2019, is one of these.

After being severely beaten with metal rods, Mombeyarara was dumped in a quarry. At hospital, it was found he had a broken leg and bruised ribs.

During the beatings, Mombeyarara’s attackers accused him of being involved in organizing protests.

Mombeyarara also faces charges of subversion from a previous arrest dating back to May 2019.

‘Petrified and terrified’

The May abduction and torture of the three opposition activists has made him even more fearful.

“I am petrified and terrified. It is a difficult situation to become a villain when you are the victim,” Mombeyarara told DW. “You are forced to decide to keep to yourself to prevent further victimization. You have to remain gagged to heal. The nature of harm caused on you goes beyond physical.”

The identity of Mombeyarara’s attackers is also unknown. But human rights organizations say in most incidences, the pattern of the violations points towards the state being the primary perpetrator of the abuses.

Zimbabwe’s government, however, has denied any responsibility.

“Government does not engage or permit any of its agencies and institutions to use any methods such as torture, forced disappearances or abductions,” Zimbabwe’s home affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe said at a press conference last week.

He accused the opposition of working with foreign organizations to destabilize the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“Torture and forced disappearances are alien to us,” Kazembe said. “We believe they have been brought from foreign environments to generate negative sentiments against our government.”

The World Food Program says more than half of Zimbabwe’s population need food assistance

Rising frustration

There is increasing tension between Mnangagwa’s government and citizens as a result of the poor state of the economy.

Read more: African journalists honored with DW Freedom of Speech Award

The cost of living has gone up dramatically from the beginning of the year especially under the COVID-19 lockdown. Inflation is now pegged at over 700% and long winding fuel queues are an almost permanent feature in the country’s towns and cities.

Zimbabweans have been calling on the government to address the situation, but it appears as if the state is instead responding by silencing critical voices.

Failure to follow up

Zimbabwe has also been accused of failing to investigate and persecute the disappearances.

“Zimbabwe’s failure to decisively deal with cases of abductions disappearances and torture severely undermines the standing of the country within the international community,” said Human Rights Watch Southern Africa Director Dewa Mavhinga.

In early 2000, rights violations resulted in the sanctioning of political leaders in Zimbabwe, then ruled by Robert Mugabe.

The atrocities also led to the isolation of the southern African country from the international community.
Analysts say promises that were made in 2017 when Mugabe was removed from power have become empty. Hope was raised but it was naive because the systems used by Mugabe remained intact.

“The country need to end impunity if Zimbabwe is to be respected. Failure to do so undermines the country’s reengagement efforts with the international community,” Dewa Mavhinga told DW.

In the United States and around the world, societies are struggling to balance the sometimes draconian social controls needed to combat a highly contagious infectious disease with the need for limits on government power and the protection of civil liberties. Public health concerns can be used to justify crackdowns on opposition politicians, the manipulation of vital humanitarian assistance, and the emergency overriding of mechanisms meant to prohibit private gain at the public’s expense. In societies where the scales had already tipped toward authoritarianism before the emergence of COVID-19, the disease is providing cover for the further consolidation of power and abuse of citizens. Zimbabwe is a clear example of this trend. But the endgame for Zimbabwe’s government remains very uncertain.

The government of Zimbabwe’s shocking campaign to persecute political opponents, which has long been a constant that varies only in intensity over time, has ramped up once again. To take only one egregious recent example, three members of the main opposition MDC Alliance party, Member of Parliament Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri, and Netsai Marova were detained at a checkpoint in May, ostensibly for violating lockdown orders to attend a peaceful protest. All three women report subsequently being abducted, tortured, and sexually assaulted. True to form, government officials have publicly mooted wild theories claiming that the allegations were fabricated, or that a mysterious “third force” could be responsible. Last week, the three women were arrested for allegedly lying about their ordeal.

Meanwhile, hunger stalked Zimbabwe even before the economic outlook dimmed for the entire region as a result of the pandemic. The World Food Program indicates that half of the population is severely food insecure, and that urban hunger will get even worse by next spring. But the urgency of the crisis has not stopped the government from arbitrarily shutting down urban spaces, or from politicizing the distribution of food aid to punish citizens who support the opposition.

Likewise, the desperate circumstances of the population have not stopped government officials seeking to capitalize on the pandemic to enrich themselves. Officials were recently compelled to cancel inflated contracts for medical supplies with a consulting firm linked to the President of Zimbabwe and his family, but not before berating journalists for covering the story.

As eagerly as the government of Zimbabwe has seized on this crisis to consolidate power and wealth, there is little evidence of a viable plan for the future. Brutality cannot tame the second-highest inflation rate in the world, make the government’s “command agriculture” scheme anything more than a vehicle for elite corruption, or help the country manage the global economic consequences of COVID-19. Rumors of toxic rifts in the senior ranks of government and even coup plots illustrate the limits of Zimbabwe’s authoritarian consolidation, even in a crisis.

Post published in: Featured

The 30-year-old mother is among hundreds of people queuing for free food outside a home in Chitungwiza township on the outskirts of Harare in Zimbabwe.

A woman is busy dishing out portions of maize meal porridge and Mufambi and her two-year-old baby are among the grateful diners, who know that, at least for one night, their meal is guaranteed.

Before a friend told her about the kitchen, Mufambi told CNN that her family would oftentimes go to bed hungry.

“My son and I will never go to bed hungry again, this relief kitchen will sustain us as I try to make ends meet,” Mufambi said with a smile.

Zimbabwe’s hunger crisis

The kitchen is run by Samantha Murozoki who is ensuring that people in her community are getting fed in a country where hunger is rampant.

More than seven million people — half of Zimbabwe’s population — were facing food shortages or hunger before the coronavirus outbreak in the country, according to the World Food ProgrammeWorld Food Programme (WFP).

UN food agency WFP is appealing for $US19.5 million to fund its logistics and operational response to the Covid-19 outbreak in the southern African nation.

“WFP is currently scaling up its urban assistance program to deliver monthly cash transfers for food to more than half a million urban dwellers in Zimbabwe by the end of the year,” WFP Communications Director Neville told CNN.

Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Amon Murwira said the government had revived its social welfare program during the lockdown to cushion millions facing hunger.

“Everyone who lost income can go to social welfare and register for assistance. We have a budget for the next eight months to cater for one million people,” Murwira told CNN.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the food situation in the country, according to international agencies.

In March, the Zimbabwean government imposed the first 21-day lockdown, followed by another two weeks as Covid-19 cases increased.

Zimbabwe has officially recorded just 391 cases of Covid-19 but a mass outbreak would devastate an already weakened health system.

Authorities extended the nationwide lockdown indefinitely in May partially opening the manufacturing and mining sectors.

But people like Mufambi, who ekes out a daily living selling imported secondhand clothes, say they’re finding it difficult to eat during the lockdown.

She’s one of more than 16 million people who are struggling to make ends meet, according to the WFP.

It’s a tiny drop in the ocean but Murozoki’s food kitchen is plugging the gap and giving hope to hungry families in the area.

Samantha Murozoki serves food to a young child.

A national heroine

What began as a desire to feed a neighbor who had gone to bed hungry at the start of the lockdown has grown into a community feeding scheme, that attracts more than two thousand people daily, according to Murozoki.

“Ever since the lockdown was introduced, a lot of folks have suffered… they are sitting indoors with no way to make money and to find for themselves. This is how my little unit came up,” she told CNN.

“It was mainly to cater to people I grew up with. Things escalated and I ended up feeding people from all over.”

Children queue for food outside Murozoki’s kitchen in Zimbabwe.

Initially, she funded the project out of her own pocket, but the community soon started to contribute to sustain the project — and she traded some of her own items too.

“It took me less than two weeks to get to 867 people coming to eat… so I started to barter jeans, sneakers, jackets. Anything I wasn’t using at the time to trade for maize, cooking oil, salt, labor, so we could get the ball rolling,” Murozoki said.

The 35-year-old lawyer and mother of two, has since become a national heroine and says her life has changed.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” she says. “I’m just happy. My son understands that mummy needs to feed people… My day starts at 4 am and ends at 7.30 pm when we served the last meal… It’s a lot of work… “

In May, Murozoki faced a setback after the Chitungwiza municipal police shut down her feeding kitchen over regulatory issues.

She has since resolved the licensing problems and is feeding even more people.

“Our register has about 4300 people that have had a meal once or twice for the past 33 days. We serve an ever-growing community. I am glad that the government has recognized us and the kitchen is likely to feed more people,” Murozoki said.

‘Worst day of my life’

As well as hunger issues, daily wage earners have also been feeling the full force of the law, following a government crackdown on illegal structures.

Bright Mutema, 34, was forced to watch his vending stall destroyed by Harare municipal police. Local authorities have targeted stalls and wooden cabins like Mutema’s after the government gave orders for them to be destroyed during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“It is the worst day of my life. I thought I would have somewhere to start from after the lockdown but I’m grounded. I fear for my children. What kind of father will I be if I cannot provide,” Mutema tells CNN.

“Many people, including myself are more afraid of hunger than the virus. Hunger is more lethal than this virus that we cannot see,” he said.

Mavis Mapako, 42, a mother of five, shutdown her tuckshop when President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a nationwide lockdown in May.

Mapako has now resorted to street hawking for a living.

She has endured running battles with police, ordering people to stay indoors.

“I don’t have anywhere to sell my goods, vending was banned because of the pandemic. We are always harassed by soldiers and police. All I want is food for my family, I don’t even know what to do,” Mapako tells CNN.

Soaring poverty levels

The lockdown economic woes have also affected the private and public sectors.

Obert Masaraure, leader of the Zimbabwe Rural Teachers Association of Zimbabwe told CNN that government workers were barely surviving under the extended lockdown.

“The lockdown has affected teachers in a big way. Poverty levels have soared. The majority of our civil servants are earning US$30. They have been surviving on side hustles which are part of the informal economy which has been completely shutdown,” Masaraure said.

“The lockdown has plunged the civil servants into abject poverty,” he added.

Zimbabwe faces a long road to recovery, former finance minister Tendai Biti told CNN. He said the country would remain stuck in depression until the government addresses Mugabe-era political issues that have made the nation ineligible for international funding.

“The key precondition here is to resolve the political crisis but it doesn’t appear that it will be resolved any time soon. So talking about the prospects of a rebound when it comes to Zimbabwe is basically far-fetched and daydreaming,” Biti said.