JUSTICE FOR AGRICULTURE PR COMMUNIQUÉ -
April 11, 2003
Email: justice@telco.co.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet: www.justiceforagriculture.com
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PROFESSOR
MASIPULA SITHOLE
Justice for Agriculture (JAG) would like to express
their deep and sincere
sympathy to the Sithole family, their friends and
colleagues on the loss of
a wonderful man. His strong stand on human
rights and democracy will long
be remembered, and his work continued for the
betterment of his beloved
country Zimbabwe.
ZORORA MURUGARE
SEKURU.
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JAG OPEN LETTER
FORUM
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justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
Internet: www.justiceforagriculture.com
Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter
Forum to
justice@telco.co.zw with "For Open
Letter Forum" in the subject
line.
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Letter
1: J L Robinson
The Council and Director of
The Commercial Farmers'
Union.
Dear Council,
Please could you read the letter that was
written to you by Mrs. Kay, which
it seems was sent to the Council in October
2001.
The points raised by the lady some eighteen months ago appear to
have
continued to come home to roost in a most unfortunate manner for
commercial
farmers and their employees, indicating that both she and her
husband seem
to have had (and continue to have) an incredible grasp of the
situation.
The Chairman of JAG has advised me that he visited their farm
over twenty
years ago, as a Gwebi College student, and that their farming
operation was
outstanding - in a truly holistic sense. The human resources
were, by all
accounts, nurtured to an equal standard of the crops or the
environmental
conservation.
I understand that Mr. Kay has fairly
recently sought the opportunity to
come and discuss current agricultural
affairs with you as a Council and
that this request was refused. It is
somewhat unnecessary for me to comment
further.
Yours
faithfully,
J.L.
Robinson
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Letter
2:
I have lost contact with Mr. Michel Robertson, a farmer. I am
concerned
that something might have happened to him and his family. Would you
please
help me find him and ask him to send me an email on: mnkbiz@hotmail.com
Thanks
Larry
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letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions
of the
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
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JAG Security Report April 11,
2003
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Today's
Daily News reports that two more opposition MDC party MP's David
Mpala and
Jealous Sansole have been arrested and their whereabouts are
unknown.
The physical abuse of Gugu Moyo at the hands of Jocelyn Chiwenga
(and the
Police/Army) who declares herself "I am the law" as reported in
the
newspapers. This is clearly an ongoing attack by the ruling party
on
anyone construed to be opposition members or activists and is deplorable
in
every sense of the word.
Perhaps one needs to be taken back to the
report by Genocide Watch of
February, 2002 when it issued a Politicide Watch
for Zimbabwe which simply
put means getting rid of, or disempowering the
political opposition one
way or another. So have the events of the past
four years (not forgetting
Gukurahundi in Matabeleland) been a "softening up"
process for the people
of Zimbabwe?
In a report entitled "Is Zimbabwe
on the brink of genocide" prepared for
ZIMNEWS by an Independent human rights
consultant in January of this year,
I quote :-
Stage 6 -
Preparation.
It is at this point that Zimbabwe is currently argued to be by
Genocide
Watch. Here the "out" group is visibly distinguished by the
perpetrators.
It is the final point at which preventive action can be taken
by the
international community. As Genocide Watch comments:
"At
this stage, a Genocide Alert must be called. If the political will of
the US,
NATO and the UN Security Council can be mobilized, at the very
least,
humanitarian assistance should be organized by the UN and private
relief
groups for the inevitable tide of refugees."
Genocide is an ugly and
terrifying word, but it is even uglier and more
terrifying in reality, as the
Ndebeles and Rwandans can bear witness to.
Such information as above may be
construed by some to be tantamount to
creating panic. Well knowing the
true Zimbabwean psyche I like to think
it would have the opposite effect -
that it will galvanize individuals,
organizations, the SADC region,
Commonwealth, UN, NATO etc in action. No,
not thinking and talking and
waiting, but acting on the very obvious signs,
acting on the Genocide Watch
warning, acting before it is too late. It is
everyone's responsibility
to prevent the final evil
act.
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From The
Cape Times (SA), 11 April
Zim officials 'would compromise task
team'
By Brian Latham
Harare - If Zimbabwean government
officials are included in the Southern
African Development Community's task
force due to investigate the country's
crisis, the results will be "as good
as pre-determined", opposition Movement
for Democratic Change secretary
general Welshman Ncube said on Thursday.
Ncube was responding to press
reports suggesting the SADC task force that is
to visit Zimbabwe next week
will include government officials from the
ruling Zanu PF party. "If these
reports are true they would seriously
compromise the search for the truth
about what is happening in Zimbabwe and
the path towards the resolution of
the Zimbabwe problem," said Ncube. "The
Zimbabwe government would be
investigating itself. The failure of previous
SADC missions to Zimbabwe can
be largely explained by the fact that Stan
Mudenge, Zimbabwe's foreign
minister, was allowed to be part of such
missions, compromising their
independence and integrity," he said. Last week
SADC foreign ministers
meeting in Harare agreed to send a task force to the
country to investigate
the deepening crisis.
Ncube said that the MDC has received no formal,
written invitation to meet
the SADC task force. MDC leaders last week offered
cautious praise to SADC
for "rethinking" its position on Zimbabwe. "They were
to be here this week,"
he said. "But indications are that they will arrive
only next week. We have
been told by Mozambican officials, who we understand
are to chair the task
force, that they would like to meet us, but we've had
no formal invitation
giving us a date," he said. The move followed
unprecedented torture and
violence directed at opposition supporters. A wave
of terror in Harare's
townships saw over 250 torture victims treated in
hospitals. The MDC says
over 1 000 people fled their homes ahead of scores of
terror brigades armed
with AK-47s, whips and batons. "It doesn't matter who
you are or where you
are in this country, you can be beaten, gang raped and
tortured any time,
anywhere. All you have to do, the only crime you have to
commit, is to come
across members of Mugabe's militia," said
Ncube.
Last month, Harare's hospitals were flooded with over 250
victims of torture
and rape. According to the opposition, about 100 remain in
hospital with
severe injuries. "You've all seen them in The Avenues Clinic,"
Ncube told
reporters. "They have broken arms and broken legs, they've been
raped and
beaten." MDC presidential spokesperson William Bango said: "The
Avenues
Clinic looked like a military hospital in a nation at war." Bango
described
how one elderly woman in an impoverished township had been raped by
soldiers
who forced her to perform a sex act with a beer bottle. And he said
others
had been forced to have unprotected sex in public after men in
uniform
raided township nightclubs. He also told reporters that Information
Minister
Jonathan Moyo, a hard-line Mugabe supporter, last week warned:
"Where the
army is deployed, people should not expect a
picnic."
From
ZWNEWS
Cops try to defy court order
Police
yesterday tried to circumvent the court order to release MDC
spokesperson
Paul Themba Nyathi. After High Court Judge Maphios Cheda had
ordered the
release of Nyathi, police tried to have him charged again before
a magistrate
in order to continue detaining him. Nyathi was seen being
shepherded around
the corridors of Tredgold Buildings, where the Bulawayo
magistrate's courts
are situated. Nyathi's lawyers managed to reach him
before any hearing could
take place, produced the high court order, and
effected his release from the
cells, where he was being held pending a
return to Khami prison.. Two
policemen - Inspectors Matira and Masuna -
claimed ignorance of the order,
although Matira had been present in the high
court when it was ordered, and
had undertaken to release Nyathi. Inspector
Matira has become notorious in
Matabeleland for his abuse of police powers,
and involvement in violent acts
over the last three years.
Comment from The Star (SA), 10
April
Zim must think about how to recover
By Max
du Preez
It was an extraordinary moment. Monday, mid-morning Iraqi time.
The Iraqi
Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, holds a press
conference on
the roof of the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. He is buoyant.
There are no
American soldiers in Baghdad, he says emphatically. It's all
lies. We're
slaughtering them all. The TV screen splits, and the other half
shows
American tanks parked in front of Saddam Hussein's main palace. A Fox
News
reporter talks to the tank commander, who says the minister should
simply
look down into the street and he'll see the tanks - they're about 500m
apart
. "Perhaps we should go in and tap him on the shoulder," he says.
My
thoughts immediately went to another minister of information who is as
much
of a clown as al-Sahhaf and is also never deterred by facts clear for
anyone
to see: Zimbabwe's Jonathan Moyo. This week I listened to him denying
his
government's campaign of terror on Zimbabweans after the successful
stayaway
action two weeks ago. At the same time as we are shown television
and press
images of tortured and beaten-up people and listen to multiple
stories of
Zanu-PF thuggery, Moyo blames the opposition for all the violence.
How many
times have we listened to Moyo, the man who called South Africans
barbarians
after his huge shopping spree in Johannesburg, stating that there
were no
human right abuses in Zimbabwe; that the rule of law was intact; that
there
was no violent, corrupt land-grabbing sanctioned by his
government.
The sad thing is that many Iraqis and citizens from Arab and
Muslim states
actually believe Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, and many people in
Southern
Africa, including apparently our foreign minister and general
secretary of
the ruling party, believe Moyo. They believe these men against
all evidence
because they want to believe them. But unlike most Arab states,
we in
Southern Africa are not strangers to democracy and an open
society.
Zimbabweans fought for years with great suffering and loss of life
for those
values, and accepted it as the norm during the first decade or so
after
independence. They want and deserve the truth. The big question in
Iraq
today is not which way the war is going to end, but what will happen
after
the war. In Zimbabwe the big question should not be whether Robert
Mugabe's
reign will end, but how Zimbabwe will recover from his disastrous
rule after
he had gone. It is becoming increasingly clear that he will
probably not see
Christmas in Harare. The rebuilding of Zimbabwe's economy is
crucial, and
hopefully Britain and the rest of the international community
will play an
active role in that process. But the reconciliation of the
people of that
country is even more important. The hatred and resentments run
very, very
deep. The police and army will have to be rehabilitated, because
today they
are widely seen as the henchmen of the ruling clique and enemies
of the
ordinary people. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Thank God we had
Nelson
Mandela to carry much of the load himself as an extraordinary symbol
of
reconciliation. But I have no doubt in my mind that our Truth
and
Reconciliation Commission process, much maligned as it was from
many
quarters, played a major role in persuading the vast majority of our
people
to accept the compromises reached during the negotiations process. I
firmly
believe that we would not have had the stability and goodwill we have
now if
we had not gone through that experience.
Zimbabwe will need
a truth and reconciliation process after Mugabe had gone
as much as we needed
it after apartheid. Ordinary people will need to on to
a public forum to tell
the stories of their torture and humiliation and get
recognition for their
suffering. Hundreds of Zanu PF officials, policemen
and soldiers will have to
be tried and sent to jail if their country does
not also have a system
whereby perpetrators of gross human rights violations
can confess and make
full disclosure and then be granted amnesty. And above
all, the lies about
what happened in the last few years should be exposed.
Zimbabweans can learn
a lot from our experience when they have a truth
commission. Their process
should also be as public as possible with
television cameras and radio
microphones present everywhere. In our case,
our daily participation in the
TRC proceedings through the media was far
more important than the final
reports of the commission, and so it will be
for them. Civil society and the
various non-governmental organisations in
Zimbabwe should start preparing for
that now. The sooner after a regime
change Zimbabweans can go through that
process, the quicker healing can
start. A truth commission experience in
Zimbabwe will not only help to heal
personal pain and communal resentments,
but it will go a long way in
restoring that nation's sense of public
morality. It will also do a lot to
restore the high esteem most of the world
had for Zimbabwe before Mugabe
started messing up.
Investor to Plough $40 Billion Into Ferro-Chrome Operations, Jobs
Likely
The Herald (Harare)
April 11, 2003
Posted to
the web April 11, 2003
Deputy Business Editor
Harare
The
Chinese company, Shanghai Baosteel International Economic and
Trading
Company, will plough US$50 million (Z$40 billion) into its
ferro-chrome
operations should the ongoing exploration of the mineral bear
fruit.
It is also anticipated that the ambitious initiative would create
at least 2
000 new jobs in the mining sector.
A six-member Chinese
delegation from Afrochine Energy Corporation, the
company that has been
contracted to undertake the exploratory work, began
its exercise
yesterday.
The exploration is being undertaken at several sites in the
country
including Darwendale, Shurugwi and Zimasco.
Afrochine
chairman, Mr Philip Mand, said he was optimistic that the mining
project by
Shanghai Boasteel Company would take off before the end of
the
year.
"We are very confident that Shanghai Baosteel International
Economic and
Trading Company will resume operations after the exploratory
work because
Zimbabwe has abundant chrome ore reserves.
"Our
exploratory work is mainly to ascertain the nature of the chrome ore
deposits
in the countryand analyse the investment risk. Otherwise,
operations would
resume within six months after completion of our
exploratory work," he
said.
The only problem that the giant steel company may face could be the
right to
mine chrome in areas under the control of certain individuals and
private
companies, which have exclusive prospecting
orders.
Individuals and companies with such rights usually demand to be
paid large
amounts of money and in some cases, shares from companies
intending to
resume operations in areas under their control. Mr Mand said the
Chinese
were going to make representations to the Ministry of Mines and
Mining
Development for possible assistance regarding the matter.
He
said the Shanghai Boasteel International Company also intended to build
a
smelting plant in Darwendale.
China is now the biggest producer as
well as the largest consumer of steel
in the world according to United
Nations figures.
The country produces 160 million tonnes of steel per
year and is also the
largest market of ferro-alloys.
The wife of the
Zimbabwe High Commission to China, Mrs Monica Mutsvangwa, is
accompanying the
delegation from China. She said that her husband, Mr Chris
Mutsvangwa, has
held meetings with several Chinese businessmen appraising
them of investment
opportunities in the country.
Mrs Mutsvangwa said several Chinese
companies have expressed willingness to
invest in Zimbabwe.
"There is
strong political will from the Chinese government to strengthen
economic
relations with Zimbabwe," she said.
Mrs Mutsvangwa said Zimbabwean
companies should seize the existing
opportunities by entering the Chinese
market.
"There is need for local companies to participate at some of the
Chinese
trade events. There are several events, which take place in China
every
year, which provide several opportunities for Zimbabwean companies to
market
themselves.
"Already the Chinese are preparing for a very
important trade event, the
Shanghai Export which will be held in 2010," said
Mrs Mutsvangwa.
Trade between Zimbabwe and China have been heavily in
favour of Zimbabwe
with the country having 28 000 tonnes of tobacco worth
$180 million to China
against imports worth US$200 million.
Zimbabwe
generally imports light industry goods, machinery, textiles, grain,
clothing,
electronic gadgets and bicycles from China.
Mandaza Seeks Court Order to Transfer Bubi Farms Into His
Name
The Herald (Harare)
April 11, 2003
Posted to the
web April 11, 2003
Harare
Publisher and businessman Dr Ibbo
Mandaza is now seeking a court order
compelling Mr Charles Hammer-Nel, the
previous owner of a block of farms he
bought in Bubi, to transfer the farms
into his name.
According to his lawyer, Mr Johannes Tomana of Muzangaza,
Mandaza and
Tomana, the publisher is also seeking an eviction order against
the people
settled on the four farms.
Mr Tomana said they have issued
summons against the majority shareholder of
the companies that owned the
farm, Mr Hammer-Nel.
The block of farms at the centre of controversy are
Robert Block 19, Robert
Block 20, Subdivision 1 of Graves End, Induba and
Mucklenuck, all in Bubi
district.
"The summons seek to compel the
transfer of those shares held by Mr
Hammer-Nel to Dr Mandaza," said Mr
Tomana.
"We are moving towards obtaining an eviction order against these
people."
The Government has made it clear that the block of farms was not
designed
for resettlement and was delisted.
The people on the farms
are, however, claiming that they were resettled
under the land reform
programme.
"But nobody is taking responsibility to assert to their claim
and the
Government has not acknowledged their claim," said Mr
Tomana.
He, however, refuted allegations that there were 95 people on the
farms.
He said they were less than 10 people.
Last month the
Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement
instructed its
officials in Matebeleland North province to withdraw from the
courts
acquisition proceedings of the Bubi farms.
This was done in order to
facilitate their take over by Dr Mandaza.
But Mr Hammer-Nel instituted
legal proceedings against Dr Mandaza claiming
that he bought one farm and
failed to pay for the other four, resulting in
the cancellation of the
agreement of sale.
He accused ministry officials of assisting Dr Mandaza
to get the farms.
The matter is still pending at the High
Court.
According to the Sunday Mirror of this week, private investors
have shown
interest in financing the billion-dollar Induba Agricultural
Development
Project as a response to the land reform.
The project was
initiated in April two years ago and is aimed at
transforming five separate
land titles, totaling 7 000 hectares into one
agro-estate based on the
complimentary approach model, combining ranching
and irrigation supported
small and medium scale agricultural production.
(the question marks appear in the original report,
no doubt because of the Chinese characters of the original. ... I have
left them in.B)
UNDP supports Zimbabwe on its economic
blueprint
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Xinhuanet 2003-04-12
01:40:29
HARARE, April 11 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations Development
Program (UNDP)
said here Friday that it fully supports Zimbabwe's newly
crafted economic
blueprint, the National Economic Revival Program (NERP),
launched by the
Tripartite Negotiating Forum in February this
year.
??Victor Angelo, UNDP resident
representative to Zimbabwe, told
participants to a one-day workshop in Harare
that the world body regarded
the NERP measures as important and necessary for
the revival of the
Zimbabwean economy.
??"We fully support the plan and we are always willing to play our
part in
assisting Zimbabwe," said Angelo.
??"In
addition, we would be ready to facilitate discussions between
Zimbabwe and
the international community in order to mobilize support for
the plan," he
added.
??He said that the NERP had
provided hope in the process of economic
revival and represented an essential
framework within which stakeholders
continued to work together to revive the
economy.
??Angelo pointed out that the
measures outlined by NERP provided a
stepping-stone towards efforts to
improve the economy.
??He said it was
critical that the program was fully implemented for
it to produce results,
adding that the success of the NERP wasdependent on
the full support of all
players in the economy.
??The most
difficult challenges, he said, pertained to the
establishment of a
macro-economic environment that was conducive to
meaningful participation of
all sectors as well as the support of the
international players in realizing
the objectives of the NERP.
??The
Zimbabwean government and its social partners, he said, needed
to actively
engage with international development assistance providers for
financial and
technical resources support, particularly in the area
of
HIV/AIDS.
??"The declining economic
performance and the deteriorating
humanitarian situation makes it more
imperative for stakeholders to urgently
explore ways of enhancing
consultation with the international community on
program areas and on the
mobilization financial and technical resources,
particularly in the area of
HIV/AIDS," he said.
??He said the
escalation of the epidemic had severe effects on the
socio-economic
development of the country.
??The
international community, in consultation with stakeholders,could
enhance
support to on-going national efforts in terms of HIV/AIDS
prevention, care
and support, treatment and mitigation, he
said.
??The NERP aims to spur economic
growth through increased agricultural
production and a vibrant export
sector.
??Zimbabwe's economy is in its
fourth year of recession, largely
caused by the withdrawal of aid by
multi-lateral institutions and the
informal sanctions imposed on the country
by the European Union (EU).
??The
country's relations with the EU soured following the stanceit
took in 2000 on
the land reform program which has seen thousands of
historically margined
blacks resettled on prime land.Enditem
??
Sunday
Times (SA)
SA gives Zimbabwe R93.5m in food
aid
Zimbabwe has been allocated 93.5 million rand worth of
emergency food aid
from South Africa to combat famine in the subregion,
according to
Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza.
In reply to a question
in Parliament from New National Party MP Francois
Beukman, she said 55,000
tons of maize had been allocated to Zimbabwe.
In addition, she said,
Swaziland, Mozambique and Lesotho would receive
10,000 tons each. Malawi
would receive 15,000 tons.
The total cost was 170 million rand, she
noted.
The World Food Programme had been assigned as the executing agency
for the
delivery of the maize.
"The Department of Foreign Affairs is
overseeing the entire process on
behalf of (the South Africa) government,"
she noted.
The first consignment to Zimbabwe had already started, she
said.
Washington Times
April 11, 2003
Opposition vows
anti-Mugabe march
By Geoff Hill
THE WASHINGTON
TIMES
JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe's opposition
movement is planning one of its
biggest challenges yet to the government of
President Robert Mugabe by
marching "tens of thousands" of supporters to the
leader's residence, where
soldiers have taken up posts with a shoot-to-kill
policy.
"We don't want to give the government
any warning of our actions ahead
of time because they have all the resources
of the state at their disposal
just waiting to thwart us," opposition leader
Morgan Tsvangirai told The
Washington Times. "But you can expect to see a lot
of things happening very
soon."
Mr. Tsvangirai,
who heads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), has promised
to lead a march of "tens of thousands of supporters" on
the State House, Mr.
Mugabe's official residence.
In response, the
government has deployed troops to guard the residence
and imposed a
shoot-to-kill policy in the vicinity of the building. The
government also
says it plans to arrest Mr. Tsvangirai for
inciting
violence.
A week ago, the MDC won two
by-elections in the capital, Harare, and a
party spokesman said this
confirmed that the people were ready for change.
Mr.
Mugabe was returned to power last year in a poll marred by violence
and
intimidation. Many Western countries, including the United States,
have
refused to recognize the result, and the opposition has demanded
another
vote under international supervision.
Human rights groups complained that in the week after an
opposition-organized
general strike last month, more than 500 people were
arrested and tortured by
police.
The MDC said that police had arrested
Information Secretary Paul Themba
Nyathi in the southern city of Bulawayo, an
opposition stronghold, but
police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said he was not
aware of the arrest.
Last week, one of Mr.
Tsvangirai's deputies, MDC Vice President Gibson
Sibanda, was arrested under
the draconian Public Order and Security Act and
charged with organizing the
successful strike on March 8-9.
During the past four
years, a government land-reform program has seen
all but 600 of the country's
4,000 white commercial farmers forced off their
property. The land was to be
given to rural blacks, but critics say that the
best farms have gone to
government ministers and to Mr. Mugabe's friends
and
family.
Agriculture has collapsed to the
point where the United Nations World
Food Program estimates that 60 percent
of Zimbabwe's 12 million people live
under conditions of
famine.
In the capital, there are lines for basic
goods, including cornmeal,
milk, bread, paraffin and
gasoline.
The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
(ZESA) has begun periodic
cutoffs to factories and mines, saying it does not
have the money to buy
sufficient power from neighboring South
Africa.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has
followed a policy of "quiet
diplomacy" with Zimbabwe, but there were signs
this week that Mr. Mbeki's
patience had run out when he criticized Mr.
Mugabe's record on land and
human rights.
A
government source in Pretoria said the state-owned ESKOM power
corporation,
which sells electricity to neighboring countries, had been told
to "apply
commercial principles" to ZESA which has, in the past, run up a
large debt
with ESKOM.
Last week, the British minister for
Africa, Valerie Amos, who was on an
official visit to South Africa, said
problems in Harare were jeopardizing
progress in the rest of the
continent.
"The situation of Zimbabwe could see
developed nations lose their
collective vigor for plans to revive Africa,"
she said.
But Mr. Tsvangirai says he believes the
standoff between the MDC and
the ruling Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front party could be
over sooner rather than
later.
"This is the final push," he said. "There can
be no going back because
the country has sunk so low that there is nowhere to
go back to. All we can
do is continue the struggle to restore legitimate
government and to regain
our freedom," he said. "The time has come to end the
madness."
Business
Day
Unity will defeat Mugabe -
MDC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
International
Affairs Editor
MOVEMENT for Democratic Change (MDC) foreign affairs
spokesman Moses
Mzila-Ndlovu says there are strong signs that some African
countries could
soon take a tougher stand on the growing human rights abuses
in Zimbabwe.
He said criticism from legislators from Botswana, Ghana,
Kenya, Mozambique,
Uganda, Niger, and Zambia at a recent meeting in Congo
(Brazzaville) of
parliamentarians from the African, Caribbean and Pacific
countries with
their European Union counterparts could mark a turning
point.
Mzila-Ndlovu, said criticism of Zimbabwe at the meeting was led
by
St.Vincent and the Grenadines, an island grouping in the Caribbean, but
he
was pleasantly surprised by the number of African parliamentarians
from
countries that had shown a new level of awareness of the problems
in
Zimbabwe.
He said a delegation from Uganda, had led other African
countries in
slamming President Robert Mugabe.
From this he said it
was clear that Mugabe's attempt to play the racial card
in defending his
ongoing abuses of human rights had failed.
Mzila-Ndlovu said the head of
the Zimbabwean delegation to the meeting had
refused him permission to speak,
but a Swedish parliamentarian had given
away her time for him to address the
gathering.
With the recent crackdown and arrest of MDC top officials and
their onerous
bail conditions, which include having to report to a police
station twice a
week, Mzila-Ndlovu said it was becoming increasingly
difficult for the
party's leadership to operate effectively in the country
and travel abroad.
Earlier this week Mzila-Ndlovu drew praise from the
ANC Youth League for
what they said was his criticism of the "racist" Tony
Leon. However,
Mzila-Ndlovu said the point he wanted to get across was that
the Democratic
Alliance's criticism of SA policy toward Zimbabwe was allowing
the ANC to
play the racial card in defending Mugabe.
PAUL Themba
Nyathi, the MDC's secretary for information and publicity, was
released
yesterday without charge on the orders of High Court Judge Justice
Mafiosi
Cheda after the state failed to show any case as to why he should
remain in
custody.
Moments before his release police attempted to move him to
another prison.
Business Day Reporter
Reuters
11 Apr 2003 11:29:43
GMT
Zimbabwe food deficit seen lower,
crisis
lingers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
HARARE,
April 11 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe expects a reduced 561,180 tonnes
cereal gap for
the 2003/04 consumption year but food security continues to
worsen in most
rural areas in the southern districts, a U.S.-based agency
said on
Friday.
Aid agencies say a combination of drought and disruption to
agriculture
linked to President Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms
for
redistribution to landless blacks has left half of Zimbabwe's 14
million
people facing food shortages.
On Friday, the Famine Early
Warning System Network (FEWSNET) said food
security in northern parts of the
country had improved due to increased food
aid assistance from the
humanitarian community and an upward revision in
output from the 2002/03 crop
season because of improved rains in the second
half.
"Preliminary crop
estimates put the current season's maize production at
1,289,000 tonnes. This
represents about 90 percent of recent five year
average production and close
to a 160 percentage increase over the 2001/02
season's maize harvest,"
FEWSNET said.
Industry officials had previously estimated a maize output
of at least
414,100 tonnes from the 2002/03 (Nov/March) cropping season, down
20 percent
from the previous year.
FEWSNET said the output would leave
a total cereal deficit of 561,180
tonnes, or 35 percent of total cereal
requirements for the just-started
2003/04 (April/March) marketing
season.
Maize would account for 55 percent and wheat for 28 percent of
the total
forecast deficit, it added.
"The crop producing districts in
the northern half of the country will
typically have a net cereal surplus in
the 2003/04 consumption year while
the southern districts of Matebeleland,
Midlands and Masvingo are going to
have serious grain deficits".
Also
vulnerable to shortages were people in urban and the new resettlement
areas
which were excluded from current donor food assistance and largely
depended
on inadequate supplies from the state Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
"In
general, food security prospects for urban areas will remain
critical
throughout the 2003/04 consumption year. Failing any meaningful
food
assistance, the urban population will have to depend on the GMB (but) it
is
already clear that the GMB supplies are going to be restricted,"
FEWSNET
warned.
Continued shortages of maize and other basic
commodities such as sugar,
cooking oil and milk would inevitably increase the
price of food
substitutes, thereby further pushing them out of reach of the
majority of
poor urban households.
"Food aid assistance should
continue and should be scaled up in innovative
ways that takes care of the
needs of both the urban population and the rural
population currently
uncatered for," FEWSNET urged.
Industry officials say Zimbabwe, grappling
with an acute foreign currency
shortage, is importing about 70,000 tonnes of
maize a month from South
Africa and the U.S., far short of the 150,000 tonnes
needed to meet national
consumption requirements.
President Mugabe
denies that government mismanagement has left what was once
a thriving
economy in shambles, with acute foreign currency and fuel
shortages, among
other scourges.
The veteran leader, in power since independence from
Britain in 1980, says
the current food shortages are due solely to incessant
droughts, which have
hit small-scale black farmers who produce the bulk of
Zimbabwe's maize.
The government says its land reforms are needed to
correct the imbalances
created by colonialism, which left the bulk of the
country's prime farming
land in the hands of minority whites who constitute
less than one percent of
Zimbabwe's population.
CFU REPORT THURSDAY 10TH APRIL
2003
N.A.D.F. UPDATE
New DZL producer prices for standard
milk are $150/l as from 01/03/03 and
$230/l as from 01/04/03.
Premiums/penalties to be applied.
The date for The Dairy Farmer of
The Year field day to be hosted by Eddie
and Barbra Warambwa has been changed
from the 03/05/03 to 16/05/03.
The next dairy supervisors course at
Blackfordby Agricultural Institute is
scheduled for 01/06/03 to
06/06/03. The cost is now approximately
$25,000.00 per participant
subject to changes to the fuel price.
Rob Jansen-van Vuuren
C.E.O.
N.A.D.F.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------
CARBON
TAX FOR VEHICLES
The deadline for paying additional amounts on your vehicle
carbon tax is
fast approaching.
Previously, carbon tax was paid over the
same period as your vehicle licence
and could be done at the same time. This
year, however, Government has
stated that carbon tax must be paid for the
period 01 January 2003 to 31
December 2003. This means that if you had paid
from September 2002 to
September 2003, you must now pay for the additional
three months.
Payments can only be made at a ZIMRA Revenue Office. These are
in Harare
(Ground Floor, Kurima House, next to ZTA), Bulawayo, Gweru, KweKwe,
Mutare
and Masvingo. You must take along proof of payments already made
otherwise
you could be charged for the whole year. The deadline for payments
is Monday
14th April 2003.
There have been reports of people being asked
for their carbon tax
certificates at police roadblocks, so it is advisable to
get your payments
up to date and keep a copy of the certificate in your
vehicle.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------
FOR
DIESEL IN LOCAL DOLLARS
CONTACT POWER FUELS, 167 FIFE AVENUE,
HARARE
PHONE: 799407/8
FAX: 790282
EMAIL: 606855@ecoweb.co.zw
LANDED COST
Z$563,53 PER LITRE AS OF 9TH APRIL 2003.
PLEASE NOTE THIS PRICE COULD CHANGE
DAILY AND SHOULD BE CONFIRMED WITH POWER
FUELS.
FOR PETROL OR DIESEL
IN US DOLLARS
CONTACT MAX ON 011 219 825 OR 04 335382
MINIMUM ORDERS 20
000 LITRES MAXIMUM DELIVERIES 42 000 LITRES
ORDER CAN BE SPLIT BETWEEN PETROL
AND DIESEL PROVIDED BUYER HAS UNDERGROUND
PETROL TANKS
LEAD TIME FROM DATE
OF PAYMENT TO DELIVERY = 2-3 WEEKS
NOTE PRICES ARE ONLY VALID ON DATE OF
QUOTATION
PRICE OF DIESEL 9TH APRIL 2003 = 35 US cents per litre + Z$90 per
litre
PRICE OF PETROL 9TH APRIL 2003 = 34 US cents per litre + Z$110 per
litre
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------
DISCLAIMER:
Unless
specifically stated that this is a Commercial Farmers' Union
communique, or
that it is being issued or forwarded to you by the sender in
an official CFU
capacity, the opinions contained therein are private.
Private messages also
include those sent on behalf of any organisation not
directly affiliated to
the Union. The CFU does not accept any legal
responsibility for private
messages and opinions held by the sender and
transmitted over its local area
network to other CFU network users and/or to
external
addressees.
mmegi
Botswana
Zim immigrants: hard come
hard stay
GREGORY
KELEBONYE
Staff
Writer
4/11/2003 11:33:57 AM (GMT
+2)
Siphiwe is a real life Zimbabwean
illegal immigrant who has lived and
worked in Botswana as a domestic help for
five years. She has worked for
only one family whose two children she nursed
from birth.
With the little pay she
gets from her employer, she was able to buy
some food and clothes for her two
children and her mother back in Zimbabwe.
But Siphiwe's male employer died
this week, and his wife has been on sick
leave for over a month. She has
asked Siphiwe to leave her job because she
can no longer afford to pay her.
And Siphiwe has two choices. She can go
back home or try and get a job in
Botswana. She has received her last pay of
P375. But currently she has a
serious problem of transport money and finding
where to sleep, bathe and eat.
Moreover going home would mean her mother and
her two children would starve.
She has temporarily been accommodated by a
cousin who stays in Mogoditshane
with her boyfriend in a single room. In the
last five days that she has tried
to get a job she has been unlucky. A
fairly beautiful woman, Siphiwe is now
contemplating joining the hordes of
Zimbabweans who wait by Orapa House and
Dutch Reformed Church in the African
Mall. She has even fleetingly considered
sex work. Should she do either,
Siphiwe will automatically become a target of
both the police and vigilante
groups. Like hundreds of her country people,
she would immediately become
the bane of the Botswana Society and qualify for
deportation.
While in the past deported
Zimbabweans could come back into Botswana
on the same day they were deported,
it might be difficult this time around.
The Botswana Government has built an
electric fence along its border with
Zimbabwe in a bid to prevent illegal
crossings, which has been identified as
one of the major reasons contributing
to a spate of foot and mouth disease
outbreaks in the North East. Should she
be deported and still make it back
to Botswana, Siphiwe will find herself
back at the same place from where she
was picked by the police. She might
finally succumb to prostitution. If she
does, she will fall victim to
dishonest clients who will use her, refuse to
pay and call the police. She
may even fall prey to some police officers who
might use her, refuse to pay
and arrest her. At a traditional court
recently, one of six women charged
with prostitution said the arresting
officer was a regular client of hers,
who failed to pay and arrested her
instead. Getting odd jobs would be no
different.
"Many times we find odd jobs
like doing the laundry or cleaning around
the house, but the women often
refuse to pay and call the police on us
instead," said one of the women who
wait by the Dutch Reformed Church in an
interview with
Mmegi.
But the line between truth and lies
among these immigrants is often
blurred. For example there is a Zimbabwean
calls himself Johnson Nyoni. He
claims a local brick-making company was
employing Zimbabweans and paying
them only P10 a fortnight before chucking
them out. But a visit to the
company by Mmegi proved the contrary. First
there was never a Johnson Nyoni
at the company. But the management suspect
who it might be. The description,
which includes his Zambian/Malawian accent
fits that of Johnson. His real
name is Collin and he is a Zambian. He ran
away from the company on
Wednesday last week after he was beaten up by two
Zimbabwean colleagues for
stealing their clothes which they had taken off to
don trench-coats. A look
at the payment register showed Collin was among the
highly paid labourers -
getting as much as P120 per
day.
"We could never cheat Zimbabweans.
These people are our lifeblood.
Batswana would rather queue up to offload
stock or furniture, but not work
with the mortar and Zimbabweans are a ready
labour," said a manager at the
company. However she pleaded with this paper
not to publish her company name
as that would mean closure of business for
them when the police come to
their premises to arrest
immigrants.
In another case Alexandra, a
Zimbabwean bricklayer alleged that he had
built the foundation of a
five-roomed house and was chased by the Motswana
project owner when only one
course was left.
"I told him I had a
limited number of days and would therefore have to
work even on Sunday so
that I could be done by Thursday when I will be going
back to
Zimbabwe.
But he decided not to bring the
cement on Sunday. When I came again on
Monday he told me he no longer wanted
me to work for him and refused to pay
me for the work I had done," he
said.
Together with the immigrant Mmegi
visited the site and interviewed the
project owner. It turned out that the
owner, whose family runs a
construction business, had indeed chased him away
and refused to pay him.
However he claimed that he chased Alexandra because
he now wanted more money
than they had initially agreed upon. He said he
would pay Alexandra P650 for
the foundation and slab of the five-roomed
house. Similar work for a
two-roomed house around the country costs at least
P1000. Now that Alexandra
had only laid the foundation bricks, he could not
possibly pay him as he
could not breakdown the figure, he
said.
It is because of people like Nyoni
that most immigrants are seen as
bad, to an extent that even hardworking and
non-thieving ones like Alexandra
find themselves at the mercy of their
employers and the police. Village
Chiefs will not spare them either. Recently
the Batlokwa chief Moshibidu
Gaborone had to summon Zimbabweans and their
High Commissioner to the Kgotla
to give them a piece of his mind. In the
meeting Zimbabwean illegal
immigrants were reported to be the masterminds
behind break-ins and theft in
the village. However Zimbabweans interviewed by
this paper said the
situation was not as portrayed by the Tlokweng
authorities and the
villagers.
"As in
any country, there are thieves among decent folks. When good
people travel,
they too travel and practice their bad habits wherever they
are. There are
bad Zimbabweans who come here. But should we all be painted
with one brush?
Batswana criminals have realised that Zimbabweans have been
turned into a
scapegoat and are now busier than ever knowing the blame will
fall on
Zimbabweans," said one of the many Zimbabweans interviewed by
Mmegi.
The government of Botswana is
working on a new law, which shall make
it difficult for illegal immigrants
into Botswana. Under this law, an
illegal immigrant and the person aiding him
or her can each be charged
P4000. But Zimbabwe has still to come out of the
economic abyss, and more
illegal immigrants will keep pouring into Botswana.
For these men and women,
especially with the newly erected electric fence it
is hard come, hard stay.