CRD Director Farai Maguwu Arrested

Last weeks saw an increased focus on the Chiadzwa diamonds. The KP monitor visited Zimbabwe again and his findings, already much contested, will be discussed at the upcoming KP intersessional meeting in Tel Aviv. More importantly though, was the arrest of Farai Maguwu, which attracted attention from international media, politicians, and NGO’s. Maguwu, director of the Centre for Research and Development, has been instrumental in exposing human rights abuses in Zimbabwe’s notorious Chiadzwa diamond fields.

On June 3, 2010, he turned himself into police, after almost a week on the run from police and the feared Central Intelligence Organization (CIO). A week before, his home and office were raided by Zimbabwean CIO Agents, who confiscated documents and equipment. The raid came just days after Maguwu had met with Mr. Abbey Chikane, the monitor appointed by KPCS, who was in Zimbabwe to assess the country's compliance with a series of requirements that were imposed in November 2009.

Other news items deal with the fact that the outreach programmes with regard to the new constitution finally seem to start, the MDC-M faction is facing increasingly hard times as another group of counsillors defect to MDC-T, and invasions of white farms continue. Finally, there was some controversy around the amount of money the Zimbabwean government paid to host the Brazilian soccer team in the run-off to the World Cup.