http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Sapa-AP | 17 April, 2013
13:32
The name of Zimbabwe's last white leader, who ceded power to
Robert Mugabe
33 years ago and who died six years ago, has at last been
removed from the
nation's list of 5.7 million registered voters.
The
state Electoral Commission says Ian Smith, the former prime minister, is
among 345,000 dead people who have been struck from the official roll of
voters ahead of crucial elections later in the year. As Zimbabwe celebrates
its 33rd anniversary of independence on Thursday there is fresh focus on the
poll, and a sense of optimism.
Mugabe has ruled this former British
colony as president ever since he took
over from Smith and the country
changed its name from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe
as it became independent. Mugabe
now faces the biggest test of his political
life.
Some Zimbabweans
look to the polls with trepidation because of violence,
intimidation and
irregularities that have occurred in past elections. High
among the problems
in the 2008 election was the voters' lists that included
Smith and his white
justice minister who died in 1984 and who, during the
war for independence,
had signed the execution warrants of Mugabe's captured
guerrillas.
The party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe's
main challenger,
alleged the outdated lists were used in past vote rigging.
Independent
researchers say incorrect information on the voters' roll opens
the way to
change results by including non-qualifying voters in polling in
hotly
contested districts.
There are still some problems with the
lists: The independent Zimbabwe
Election Support Network notes, for example,
that it contains voters whose
names have been duplicated in different voting
districts and tens of
thousands more who are living abroad and are
disqualified from voting.
Eddie Cross, a lawmaker in Tsvangirai's party,
said party officials are
scheduled to meet with the state election body
within days on the voters'
lists and to question the role in election
preparations of an Israeli
computer technology company that specializes in
population registration and
election systems that has raised new fears of
high-tech manipulation of
results.
Cross said the company Nikuv has
expanded its facilities and increased its
staff in the country and is
believed to be working with military and
intelligence chiefs loyal to Mugabe
in Harare.
Cross said youth groups loyal to Mugabe still drag travelers
from buses and
demand to see Mugabe party membership cards to show their
loyalty, a means
of intimidation known as "shaking a box of matches without
lighting one."
But he thinks that the vote this time around will be freer
of violence and
noted that regional leaders have vowed to closely monitor
the situation for
any poll violence.
"I think ordinary Zimbabweans
won't be told which way to vote anymore and
perpetrators are learning
violence won't help," Cross said. "It is being
neutralized."
The
Crisis Coalition, an alliance of rights and pro-democracy groups, says
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has been trying to re-invent itself and its leader.
Mugabe himself weighed in with repeated recent calls for peaceful
campaigning.
"Even though some have characterized this as deception,
Mugabe is no longer
viewed as demonic as he was in 2008 following the
violence," the coalition
said. "He has seized every opportunity to put
across his message, sparking
debate on whether he has changed or
not."
The group said the rebranding of Mugabe comes "in the wake of
changing times
and the new democratization wave in Africa."
Mugabe
has called for the vote by the end of June. A referendum on a new
constitution won an overwhelming 95 percent 'Yes' vote in March for the new
charter that imposes two five-year terms on the office of president,
strengthens human rights and calls for impartiality in the police and
military.
Human rights advocates hope it will help restore the rule
of law and remove
the impunity Mugabe militants have enjoyed since the
often-violent seizures
of thousands of white-owned commercial farms began in
2000, collapsing the
agriculture-based economy.
Tsvangirai has
proposed September as the earliest timeframe for elections.
The 60-year-old
former labor leader has already been on the campaign trail
predicting own
victory in the presidential race against an increasingly
frail Mugabe, who
is 89.
Tsvangirai is not without problems of his own. Since the death of
his wife
of three decades, Susan, in a car wreck in 2009 his name has been
publicly
linked to several women, one of whom he reportedly paid $300 000
dollars to
settle a dispute over claims he had married her under African
custom that
does not require a church service.
He lives in a $3
million private mansion in Harare and his critics say he
has lacked the
leadership to stop his aides from living lavish lifestyles in
this deeply
impoverished southern African nation.
That gap between the rich and poor
is not lost on voter Anne Katsande, a
home care nurse in Harare's
impoverished Budiriro township suburb, who is
disappointed that money wasn't
directed toward her district's bankrupt and
dilapidated state health
facilities.
Still, she said that Tsvangirai's party offers change and an
end to years of
fear.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/
By MacDonald Dzirutwe |
Reuters – 8 hours ago
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe has withdrawn a request
for money from the
United Nations to fund elections expected this year after
refusing to accept
its conditions, including over media reforms and security
issues, a minister
from President Robert Mugabe's party said.
The
comments, which came days after Finance Minister Tendai Biti said
Zimbabwe
could not afford to fund the vote, could undermine the credibility
of the
polls in the country which has a history of election violence.
The U.N.
assistance was expected to be about $132 million (86 million
pounds).
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told the state-owned Herald
newspaper
that the United Nations wanted to interfere in local politics by
attaching
conditions to funding.
"It was clear that the (U.N.) team wanted a
broader mandate ... They kept
talking about the security sector and media
reforms, all sorts of euphemisms
... and that we reject," he said in
comments reported on Wednesday.
"We remain alert to any attempts to
manipulate, infiltrate and interfere
with our internal processes and we are
happy we have parted ways with them,"
he said. "The U.N. avenue for sourcing
resources for the election is now
closed."
It was not clear what
reforms the United Nations sought, but Mugabe's
critics say his ZANU-PF
party maintains tight control on state media and has
stalled a programme to
introduce private television and radio stations in
the country.
The
president's rivals also say he has used the security forces to crack
down on
the opposition, including breaking up their meetings.
Mugabe denies these
accusations, saying they are part of a smear campaign by
his political
rivals and Western powers.
The U.N. chief representative in Harare, Alain
Noudehou, said the U.N.
conditions followed standard guidelines.
"It
became apparent that there were different expectations on the modalities
of
the needs assessment mission," Noudehou said in a statement.
POLL
VIOLENCE
Veteran ruler Mugabe was forced into a power-sharing deal four
years ago
with his arch-rival Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, after
bloody and
disputed elections in 2008.
Zimbabweans voted
overwhelmingly in a March 16 referendum for a new
constitution that would
curb presidential powers, paving the way for
elections later this
year.
Western countries want to place observers in the southern African
country
for the election in an attempt to help prevent a recurrence of the
2008
violence when hundreds of thousands fled across the border with South
Africa
seeking safety.
Mugabe's party, some of whose members have
been hit with international
sanctions for suspected human rights abuses and
alleged ballot-box stuffing,
has pushed to keep observers
out.
Zimbabwe's economy has been on the mend since Mugabe and Tsvangirai
agreed
to share power but is still suffering a hangover from a decade-long
recession.
Finance Minister Biti, a member of the Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic
Change, has sought foreign funding for the elections
which have an initial
budget of $132 million, saying the state's coffers
were near empty.
This week, he said that South Africa approved a $100
million loan for
budgetary support. Pretoria has not confirmed the loan,
saying only that
talks were ongoing.
"It is self-evident that
Treasury has no capacity to fund elections," Biti
said.
Zimbabwe
marks 33 years of independence from former colonial power Britain
on
Thursday and Mugabe, who is 89 and the only leader the country has known,
will give the main speech at celebrations in the capital.
http://www.canada.com/
BY GILLIAN GOTORA, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS APRIL 17, 2013 11:40
AM
HARARE, Zimbabwe - United Nations officials in Zimbabwe said
Wednesday they
want to seek a new agreement with the cash-strapped
government to fund
crucial elections later this year.
But President
Robert Mugabe's party said it has "closed the door" on
possible U.N.
funding, saying that a visit by its cost assessment mission
would be too
intrusive and will interfere in the nation's internal political
affairs.
The United Nations, responding to an official request for
funds, said in a
statement its officials wanted to "assess the political,
legal, technical
and security environment" surrounding the polls that would
encompass free
voting practices.
The nation's finance ministry says
it can't raise the $132 million needed
for polls without outside help to
bolster its efforts to find the cash
locally.
Finance Minister Tendai
Biti, the third ranking official in the former
opposition party now in a
shaky coalition with Mugabe, has appealed to
neighbouring South Africa for a
$100 million loan to go into Zimbabwe's
national treasury to ease its acute
cash shortages.
South Africa says it is still negotiating over Biti's
request amid
resistance from that country's main opposition, the Democratic
Alliance.
State media reported Wednesday that Mugabe's Justice Minister
Patrick
Chinamasa said requests for United Nations election funding will no
longer
be pursued. Chinamasa said the United Nations "overstepped its
mandate" by
asking to meet with independent civic leaders alongside the
state's formal
electoral institutions.
"The U.N. avenue for sourcing
resources for elections is now closed," he
told the state radio controlled
by Mugabe loyalists.
Zimbabwe's Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi
convened a meeting
Tuesday of Harare-based foreign diplomats.
United
Nations officials had failed to propose terms of reference and
responsibility for their elections assessment visit, Mumbengegwi
said.
"They wanted to be involved in our domestic political affairs"
after showing
hostility in previous fact-finding missions to Zimbabwe, he
told the
diplomats.
By Violet Gonda
17 April
2013
MDC leader Professor Welshman Ncube has accused Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe of seriously flouting provisions of the Global Political Agreement (GPA). He also warned that the United Nations Development Programme will not conduct an election assessment mission without access to other key stakeholders, contrary to ZANU PF demands.
In a wide ranging briefing with journalists Wednesday, Ncube said the $132 million needed to fund this year’s elections is “nothing compared to the money which is being stolen out of the Chiadzwa diamond fields.”
He said in last three months there has been an “insidious effort” by President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to rewrite the GPA, to be an agreement between the “MDC-T, ZANU PF and one person called Professor Arthur Mutambara.”
According to the MDC leader, this has rendered the foundations of the GPA dysfunctional resulting in his party last month writing to the Southern African Development Community, the guarantors of the agreement, urging them to intervene.
Ncube is currently involved in a leadership wrangle with Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara, although SADC recently compelled the other parties in government to recognise his leadership.
SADC also resolved that the coalition must work on an election roadmap with time lines. But both resolutions remain unimplemented and flouted, according to the MDC leader.
Ncube said: “Today all the newspapers are running with the headline that President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai have agreed to appoint a committee of two ministers – Eric Matinenga and Patrick Chinamasa representing the MDC-T and ZANU PF to re-write the election roadmap and clearly we are being excluded quite deliberately.”
He said this latest development also seeks to sideline the regional body from the election process as there were already plans for the negotiators from all three parties to meet with SADC representatives later this month to discuss the election roadmap.
He accused Tsvangirai and Mugabe of holding a private meeting Tuesday without him, where they discussed, among other issues, the UNDP election cash appeal. He said he was blocked from this meeting, although he had been invited by Jameson Timba, a minister in the Prime Minister’s office.
According to Ncube, Finance Minister Tendai Biti called him, “pleading with me that I must without fail attend that meeting otherwise there would be disaster. I indicated to him that I am on standby to attend the meeting but I had not been called.” When Ncube arrived at the meeting he was told that the PM had denied requesting Timba to invite him.
Many observers have been calling for the former opposition parties to form a pact ahead of forthcoming elections, to present a stronger challenge against ZANU PF. But Ncube believes the latest developments show there is now “an alliance between Tsvangirai and Mugabe which is working tirelessly against the MDC that I lead.”
After the Tuesday meeting, the Prime Minister told journalists that there was still no agreement on the UNDP needs assessment visit, as ZANU PF refuses to allow the mission to see other groups outside government.
Responding to questions from journalists on this issue, Ncube said the UNDP will not agree to such conditions and believes they will not provide funding if they are not allowed to see civil society organizations and other stakeholders.
“But I don’t particularly worry about that because there is enough money to fund for elections. All you have to do is stop stealing the diamond money and put it in the fiscus,” Ncube said.
He added: “$132million is nothing compared to the money which is being stolen out of the Chiadzwa diamond fields and elsewhere.”
International Crisis Group Southern Africa senior analyst Trevor Maisiri said the coalition needs to uphold the endorsement of Ncube by SADC. He also believes what is happening is shaped by Ncube and Tsvangirai’s personal relationship, which seems to not have been mended since the MDC split in 2005.
Click here for Welshman Ncube press briefing
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Wednesday, 17 April 2013 12:59
HARARE -
Zimbabwe’s ruling coalition partners are yet to come up with an
election
date for this year’s harmonised poll, principals’ spokesperson
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said yesterday.
President Robert Mugabe,
Tsvangirai and his deputy Arthur Mutambara this
week agreed to set up a
committee to come up with an election roadmap taking
into consideration the
need for voter registration and inspection before the
election dates are
declared.
“There are no dates for elections yet, we have assigned Justice
minister
(Patrick Chinamasa) and Constitutional Affairs minister (Eric
Matinenga) to
draw up a roadmap from which principals would be able to set
up election
dates that put into consideration the legal and political issues
around the
election,” Tsvangirai told a news conference at Munhumutapa
Building — the
citadel of government power.
It is the latest twist in
the on-going drama over when exactly the
harmonised elections will be
held.
The public media and Zanu PF in particular have declared elections
will be
held on June 29 while Tsvangirai insists elections are
process-driven and
are likely to be held in September at the
earliest.
On the other hand, the smaller MDC leader and Industry minister
Welshman
Ncube has come up with an August poll date.
While agreeing
the current Parliament lapses on June 29, Tsvangirai said the
government
principals will still have four months within which to conduct
the
harmonised poll from the date of dissolution of the legislature.
“The
executive has four months to run an election up to October after the
end of
the current Parliament on June 29,” Tsvangirai told reporters.
“Before
the end of June, Parliament must have completed the work of aligning
our
existing laws to the new constitution especially those that impinge on
our
election and those that are not part of the Electoral Act.
“The nation
needs to know that there shall be a voter registration exercise
for one
month and a voter inspection exercise for another month. I hope the
nation
gets this very clear, but subject to funding, these processes can run
parallel to the constitutional process.”
Tsvangirai said the
processes could run concurrently because of resource and
time
constraints.
The former trade unionist said the principals would consider
the election
road map next week.
Tsvangirai however, said there was
disagreement in the inclusive government
over the funding of elections by
the United Nations, which bankrolled the
just concluded constitution-making
exercise.
A UN team has been stuck in Johannesburg, after being denied
access to
Zimbabwe by Chinamasa. Chinamasa and Matinenga have been tasked
with
breaking the impasse over the UN’s role.
“There is no consensus
between the principals on the role of the UN mission
in the country and I
hope the two ministers will find consensus because
funding is a problem,”
the PM said.
“The UN sought to have an unrestricted mandate to meet
whoever they wanted
to meet before they could release funding while some of
our colleagues want
them restricted to meeting political parties, political
leaders and
organisations like the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission without
necessarily
having to go everywhere to meet other bodies and
individuals.”
UN resident coordinator Alain Noudéhou said in a statement
yesterday that
the government of Zimbabwe wrote to the UN Focal Point on
April 4, 2013
indicating its readiness to welcome the UN Needs Assessment
Mission (Nam).
“In the course of deploying the mission to Zimbabwe, it
became apparent
there were different expectations on the modalities of the
Nam,” Noudéhou
said.
“Further efforts were subsequently made by the
UN to engage with the
government and explain the purpose and scope of the
Nam. As of now, no
agreement has been reached on the modalities. The Nam is
therefore not
expected in Zimbabwe at the present moment.
“The UN has
been making every effort to respond to Zimbabwe’s request. The
UN will
continue to engage with the government of Zimbabwe to determine if
an
agreement can be reached on the modalities that will allow the Nam to be
conducted in accordance with the UN General Assembly
resolutions.”
With Finance minister Tendai Biti saying on Monday that the
country was
unable to single-handedly fund the elections, Tsvangirai said
the political
leaders will meet to consider funding options, emphasising the
need to raise
funds internally.
Biti said on Monday he hopes to raise
$132 million needed for the harmonised
elections from the international
community, diamond revenue, mobile
telecommunication firms’ licence fees and
mining royalties. - Mugove
Tafirenyika and Richard Chidza
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
16/04/2013 00:00:00
by Joseph
Mashizha
TWO cabinet ministers will draw-up an election road-map
which will be used
by the ruling coalition leaders to set dates for
elections due this year, it
was revealed on Tuesday.
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai told reporters in Harare that Justice
Minister Patrick
Chinamasa (Zanu PF) and his Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs
counterpart, Eric Matinenga (MDC-T), would work on the
programme.
“(We must) consider the legal and political issues
surrounding that
roadmap,” said the MDC-T leader.
“There are legal
issues which include the fact that the (new) Constitution
has to be signed
by President. We (also) need one month (for) voter
registration and one
month (for) voter inspection and we have to consider
the last day of
Parliament.”
Tsvangirai said the two ministers would also look at laws
that need to be
amended in order to align them with the new
constitution.
“We know which laws have to be adjusted. This does not only
relate to the
Electoral Act; we are talking about all the laws that impinge
on our
electoral process,” he added.
Zimbabweans endorsed the
country’s new Constitution in a referendum held on
March 16 but the charter
is still to be debated by Parliament before
President Robert Mugabe signs it
into law.
The constitutional reforms were expected to lead to new
elections to replace
the coalition government which came into office in
2009.
But Mugabe and Tsvangirai remain miles apart over the timing of the
key
vote.
The Zanu PF leader is pressing for an early election,
preferring a date
before the end of the current Parliament on June
29.
Tsvangirai however, insist conditions do not yet exist for a credible and
is
demanding the full implementation of reforms agreed as part of the deal
which facilitated the coalition government.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Sapa-AFP | 17 April, 2013
10:51
Zimbabwe may fail to secure desperately-needed UN funding for
crunch
elections, as political rivals disagree over how much access to allow
an
assessment mission by the world body, the prime minister warned
Tuesday.
Cash-strapped Zimbabwe has approached the United Nations for
help with
financing the general elections which are due later this year, on
a date
which has yet to be fixed.
For the UN to consider the request,
it was invited to undertake an
assessment mission to the country.
But
the main political rivals in the country's uneasy power sharing
government
have reached a deadlock on how far to allow the UN panel to go.
"The UN
team wants unlimited access but some of our colleagues feel it
should be
limited to meetings with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the
registrar-general's office, ambassadors and political parties," Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said, referring to President Robert Mugabe's
camp.
"There is no consensus on that. We have different views,"
Tsvangirai told
reporters in Harare after holding talks with Mugabe, his
longtime political
rival.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa from
Mugabe's party and Finance Minister
Tendai Biti, a member of Tsvangirai's
party, have been tasked with looking
for external funding for the
vote.
Tsvangirai could only express "hope the two ministers will convince
the
mission to proceed."
Biti on Monday said the country was in need
of $132 million for the polls
which Mugabe's party wants held as early as
June.
He said there was no money in the national coffers for the vote.
Apart from
seeking foreign funding, the government would also try to raise
funds on the
domestic front.
Biti said Zimbabwe had to raise enough
money or risk the credibility of the
vote.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com/
16/04/2013 00:00:00
by Staff
Reporter
A TOP envoy from the United States State Department met
President Robert
Mugabe in Harare on Tuesday in a development which the
state media described
as a sign the West was looking to ditch Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and
his MDC-T party.
Speaking after meeting Mugabe
at his Munhumutapa offices, Andrew Young, a
former US ambassador to the
United Nations, said the Obama administration
was keen to see an improvement
in relations between the two countries.
“The State Department has asked
me to come visit; and just to say that we
have Zimbabwe in our hearts and
that we would like to see relations with
Zimbabwe resume as they were pre
the problems,” he said.
“I hope to see a beginning of freedom, democracy,
peace and prosperity in
Zimbabwe and I think the US government would like to
help with that and I
think that everybody in Zimbabwe, whatever their party,
whatever their
opinion, whatever their race or creed, has got to realise we
are on the same
side.”
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since
independence in 1980, claims the US and
Britain facilitated the formation of
the MDC-T and financed its activities
in a bid to remove him from power as
punishment for the land reform
programme.
Relations between the West
and the 89-year old veteran leader, who is
seeking another five-year term in
office this year, have been frosty for
more than a decade.
Mugabe
says former colonial power, Britain, persuaded its allies to impose a
battery of devastating sanctions after he forced some 4,000 white farmers
forced off land which was then re-allocated to hundreds of thousands of
blacks.
The West says the sanctions were aimed at stopping gross
human rights abuses
and electoral fraud and denies they are responsible for
Zimbabwe's economic
problems.
Ambassador Young’s visit comes after
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa
joined a Cabinet delegation for meetings
with British government officials,
the first top level engagement between
London and a senior Zanu PF official
in more than a decade.
The
European Union (EU) also recently suspended its sanctions to reward
Mugabe
for the Constitutional reforms and hinted the measures would be
lifted
completely should the country organises credible elections later this
year.
The State-run but Zanu PF-leaning Herald newspaper on Wednesday
claimed that
these developments as well as unusually critical international
press
coverage of MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai showed the West had grown
weary
of its Trojan horse.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Young was also
sounded out on Zanu PF’s key themes of
land reform, indigenisation and the
lifting of sanctions.
And the envoy duly obliged, saying conditions in
Zimbabwe were improving and
that the US was ready to lift the
restrictions.
“I should say I have never particularly approved of the
sanctions personally
but I have never been able to get rid of them,” he was
quoted as saying.
“I think we have an administration now that is ready to
move beyond
sanctions but we need reassurance that Zimbabwe is as peaceful
and as
positive a society I think it is.”
He was also quoted as
saying the land reforms had been successful although
more could be done to
improve productivity.
“From what I know about it, (the land reform programme)
has been very
successful, but I also know there is always not enough seed,
enough
fertiliser, but with help it (production) can multiply ten-fold,” he
said.
“Considering what the world has gone through, I think Zimbabwe is
doing
fairly well, but we have to do better and we have to do better
economically
and I have always seen Zimbabwe as almost the crown jewel in
Africa and that
it should be one of the booming economies.”
http://www.news24.com/
2013-04-17 13:30
Cape Town – A
top envoy from the United States administration reportedly met
Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday in an attempt to "normalise
relations
with Zimbabwe ahead of crunch elections" scheduled to be held
later this
year.
The Herald reported on Wednesday that the Obama administration
dispatched
its former ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young to meet
with Mugabe
to convey the message of reconciliation.
The report
described the envoy’s visit as a sign the West was looking to
ditch Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his party after they "realised
that the
regime change agenda has aborted and MDC-T cannot form the next
government".
Speaking after meeting Mugabe, Young said the US wanted
to normalise
relations.
"The state department has asked me to come
visit and just to say that we
have Zimbabwe in our hearts and that we would
like to see relations with
Zimbabwe resume as they were pre the problems,"
he said.
Young also condemned the illegal sanctions regime, saying the
sanctions
should be removed.
"I should say I have never particularly
approved of the sanctions
personally, but I have never been able to get rid
of them," he said.
"But I think we have an administration now that is
ready to move beyond
sanctions, but we need reassurance that Zimbabwe is as
peaceful and as
positive a society I think it is."
Western media,
among them CNN, The Guardian and New York Times, recently
attacked
Tsvangirai, saying his public image had been soiled by his sexual
escapades
while corruption within the rank and file of the party would play
against
his party at the polls.
- News24
http://www.voazimbabwe.com/
Studio7
Reporters
17.04.2013
WASHINGTON DC/MUTARE — Local Government Minister
Ignatius Chombo says he has
fired suspended Mutare mayor councillor Brian
Leslie James, accusing him of
mismanagement, misconduct and
insubordination.
Chombo told VOA Studio 7 that the suspended mayor will
not be allowed to
occupy any local authority post for the next 10
years.
The minister suspended Mr. James in March last year claiming that
the MDC-T
councilor was incompetent and mismanaged council
affairs.
James’ lawyer Blessing Nyamaropa said Mr. Chombo would have
acted unlawfully
if he has indeed fired James as the High Court bars him
from taking any
further action against the suspended mayor.
David
Mukunda of the Combined Mutare Residents’ Trust said Chombo is
predictable
in the way he deals with cases involving councilors from the
MDC-T.
Meanwhile, the minister is said to have snubbed acting Mutare
mayor George
Jerison on Monday when he visited his offices trying to
persuade him to
reverse a decision taken by the city’s Town Clerk to fire
450 contract
workers earlier this month.
Jerrison and his team spent
the whole day at Mr. Chombo’s offices but left
empty-handed since he did not
entertain them.
A special council meeting last week recommended that
Jerison and other
council officials should travel to Harare to ask the
minister to intervene
to force the Town Clerk to renew contracts for the
fired employees.
Council said pressing financial obligations forced them
not to renew the
contracts.
The Town Clerk last week told the special
council meeting that he had no
powers to rehire the workers, adding only Mr.
Chombo could give such
authority.
Contacted for comment, Jerison said
Mr. Chombo did not snub his team, adding
they saw the minister briefly and
set an appointment to discuss issues
affecting Mutare city council this
Friday.
Councilors are under pressure from their MDC formation to ensure
the fired
contract workers are reinstated ahead of crucial elections this
year.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
17 April
2013
A complete overhaul of Zimbabwe’s political framework has been
described as
the key to unlocking the country’s true diamond potential,
which remains
under a cloud of corruption and suspicion.
Noted human
rights defender Farai Maguwu, who is the Director of the Centre
for Natural
Resource Governance, made these comments during an interview
with SW Radio
Africa on Tuesday. He was explaining how the Zimbabwe Diamond
Policy,
adopted by the government last year, is not enough to ensure the
diamond
sector becomes a transparent, accountable, beneficial one.
The Centre
this week released a full analysis of the Diamond Policy, stating
that while
the Policy is a good starting point to improve governance in
Zimbabwe’s
diamond, it does need revision. The Centre states in its analysis
key issues
remain unaddressed, namely investor identification, revenue
transparency,
community participation, mine closure, environmental impacts
and access to
information, among other things.
Maguwu told SW Radio Africa that the
major problem in the sector is a result
of a lack of political will, which
is preventing proper governance and
oversight in the industry.
“It is
an issue of politics. I have always said that Marange (diamond
fields)
should not be seen as an island, because it is a part of Zimbabwe
that is
experiencing the same governance problems in every sector in the
country.
Unless there is a turnaround in the way we think and the way we do
things
politically, there won’t be the quick turnaround we need,” Maguwu
said.
He added: “We need political will; we need good leaders who
have the
interests of citizens at heart. Not the current situation where we
have
unpatriotic elites who are doing things for themselves and not for the
people.”
Maguwu also explained that aside from the ‘internal’
problems dogging the
industry, there are also external factors.
“We
have (diamond) dealers who are taking advantage of the weak political,
institutional, legislation and policy framework in Zimbabwe to do underhand
deals and in the process are prejudicing Zimbabwe of millions of dollars,”
Maguwu explained.
He said that while the Diamond Policy is an
acknowledgment by the government
of the need for such a policy, there is
still c critical need for revision.
“The Policy does not show that
government has learned from it past
mistakes … I don’t think we have
addressed the fundamental problems and
checks and balance in whole value
chain,” Maguwu said.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
17 April
2013
Pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) has approached the
highest
human rights court in Africa for protection from harassment and
intimidation
back home.
WOZA filed an official communication at the
African Commission on Human and
People’s Rights though its lawyers on
Saturday, seeking to have the
Zimbabwean authorities indicted against
targeting the group with arrests,
harassment and intimidation, and physical
assaults.
In the communication, which was filed during the 53rd ordinary
session of
the African Commission over the weekend, WOZA is challenging the
pattern of
impunity they have faced in Zimbabwe, where a Supreme Court order
guaranteeing their right to peaceful protests has been ignored. That order
was passed down in 2010, but the group is still the target of arrests and
assaults almost every time they gather for meetings or peaceful
demonstrations.
WOZA leader Jenni Williams, who together with her
co-leader Magodonga
Mahlangu has been arrested over 50 times in WOZA’s ten
year history, said on
Wednesday that their communication “demonstrates
Zimbabwe’s clear and
systematic pattern of suppression of WOZA’s rights to
engage in peaceful
protest and public demonstrations.”
She explained
during a press conference in Harare that since the 2010
Supreme Court
judgment, there have been 24 incidents of violations of WOZA’s
right to
freedom of expression, assembly and association, as well as other
rights
protected by African Charter.
“The (police) continue to clamp down on
WOZA and repression has taken the
form of criminalizing peaceful protests
and WOZA gatherings. The police have
disturbed hundreds of processions,
indiscriminately beating and arresting
our members,” Williams
explained.
She stated: “WOZA are of the view that the right to engage in
peaceful
protest is an essential and constituent element of democracies,
anchored on
the twin pillars of freedom of expression and assembly. We have
requested
the African Commission to grant provisional measures indicting
Zimbabwe from
interfering in any way with (our) right to peaceful protests
and
demonstrations.”
The African Commission is more frequently
becoming the destination for legal
challenges of this nature, because the
legal system in Zimbabwe still fails
to protect basic human rights of
citizens. Most recently, the Commission
ordered the government to put in
place measures to allow Zimbabweans in the
Diaspora to vote using the postal
voting measure. But there has been no sign
of Zimbabwe complying.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
17
April 2013
The by-elections saga that has pitted three former legislators
against
Robert Mugabe will now return to the Supreme Court, after the three
filed an
urgent appeal against the latest court decision allowing the
President to
postpone the process.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku
has agreed to hear the appeal on an urgent
basis. The Supreme Court has now
ordered the High Court to prepare the
‘record of proceedings’, which will
then be transmitted to the higher court
ahead of the hearing. A date for
this hearing is yet to be confirmed.
The ex-legislators Norman Mpofu,
Abednico Bhebhe and Njabuliso Mguni lost
their seats after being fired by
the Welshman Ncube led MDC four years ago.
But they successfully approached
the courts in July 2011 in a bid to force
Mugabe to call for by-elections in
their areas.
Mugabe then appealed against High Court Judge Justice
Nicholas Ndou’s order
to ensure the by-elections were held. That appeal was
dismissed by a full
bench of the Supreme Court that ordered new elections to
fill the vacancies
as soon as possible, but by no later than 30th August
2012.
However Mugabe once again appealed and was granted a reprieve when
he was
given a March 31st 2013 deadline for him to pronounce the date for
the
by-elections. This ruling was ignored at the dates were never
set.
High Court Judge George Chiweshe then moved to allow Mugabe to
ignore the
Supreme Court order, ruling in his favour that the by-elections
be further
postponed. Mugabe now has until June 29th to set a
date.
Chiweshe said in his reasoning that the holding of the by-elections
now
would be costly and unnecessary because the life of Parliament would end
by
June 29th.
The former MPs, who also plan to contest as
parliamentarians on an MDC-T
ticket, are now appealing this decision arguing
that the High Court had no
jurisdiction in this matter.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Wednesday, 17 April 2013 12:59
Finance minister
Tendai Biti
HARARE - Zimbabwe has reached a tentative agreement on an
International
Monetary Fund (IMF)-staff-monitored programme (SMP) to help it
pursue
economic reforms and clear its debt arrears, according to Finance
minister
Tendai Biti.
The southern African country asked for the
staff-monitored programme to
“accelerate economic growth, step-up the
creation of sustainable jobs and
help reduce poverty.”
The IMF
suspended Zimbabwe’s voting rights in June 2003 as the country’s
economy
deteriorated and President Robert Mugabe’s government fell behind on
debt
repayments, but restored those rights in February 2010 in view of a
significant improvement in the country’s cooperation on economic
policies.
The country, which is slowly emerging from years of isolation,
has set up a
“Debt Management Office” in Harare to interface with the Paris
Club of
creditors to discuss ways to deal with its $10 billion debt owed to
the IMF,
the World Bank and African Development Bank (AfDB).
Zimbabwe
has implemented rapid economic and relatively slow political
reforms since a
coalition government between President Mugabe and Prime
Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai took over in February of 2009, discarding a
worthless Zimbabwe
dollar and implementing a largely successful short-term
economic recovery
programme.
Zimbabwe wants the IMF to monitor its economic and financial
reforms, and
the deal could lead to the write-off of Zimbabwe’s protracted
arrears by the
world lender.
Biti said a deal was being brokered
under the Zimbabwe Accelerated Arrears
Clearance Debt Development Strategy
(ZAADS) and will include a waiver on
debt.
The debt write-off could
help Zimbabwe gain access to fresh capital to shore
up its stuttering
economy and bankroll urgent infrastructure needs.
“Significant progress
has been achieved towards finalising the negotiations
with the IMF for the
Letter of Intent (LOI), the Memorandum of Economic and
Financial Policies
(MEFP) and the Technical Memorandum of Understanding
(TMoU),” Biti
said.
In a move to improve relations with the IMF which used to be a
major aid
provider, Zimbabwe’s government has opted to allow the IMF more
oversight in
exchange for a bigger package later.
“I would like to
thank Cabinet for its support to this very important
programme of
re-engaging with our creditors and international financial
institutions,”
Biti said.
“This will pave the way for starting the process of
negotiating for arrears
clearance, new financing and debt
relief.
“The resolution of our debt overhang will therefore, allow the
country to
move forward with its economic development agenda, which focuses
on
inclusive growth, poverty reduction and job creation.”
Biti said
Zimbabwe received an IMF team from February 25 to March 1, 2013,
where they
agreed that under the SMP, the IMF will monitor the
implementation of
economic and financial reforms with special emphasis on
key economic and
financial policies and targets.
The reforms include strengthening public
finance management, keeping
expenditure in check — in line with revenues,
increasing spending on capital
projects and social services, tax policy
reforms, tighter government payroll
administration, paying off domestic
debt, consolidating reforms at the
central bank and tightening governance of
the financial sector, increasing
exports and implementing a new diamond
policy.
According to the IMF website, staff monitoring does not involve
any Fund
financing.
Besides the IMF, the World Bank and AfDB
officials and negotiators for
Zimbabwe’s fragile coalition government were
also working to finalise an
agreement on an aid package.
The ongoing
talks reflect a show of economic goodwill to help revive the
longstanding
Western-Zimbabwean partnership that was strained by a decade of
socio-economic and political turmoil.
The IMF and other foreign
donors have in the past halted aid over policy
differences with Harare,
including its controversial forcible redistribution
of white-owned farms
among blacks.
Zimbabwe has of late sent a clear signal to the
multilateral financial
institutions of its intention to comply with a tough
economic structural
adjustment regime if the world lenders write off the
$10,7 billion debt
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Chengetayi Zvauya, Parliamentary Editor
Wednesday, 17 April
2013 12:59
HARARE - Speaker Lovemore Moyo is finding it hard to expel
from Parliament
five legislators who crossed the floor from the Welshman
Ncube-led MDC to
join the mainstream MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai.
The smaller MDC has requested that Nomalanga Khumalo, who is
deputy speaker
of Parliament and MP for Umzingwane, Dalimazi Maxwell Dube
(Tsholotsho),
Thandeko Mkandla (Gwanda North) and Senators Dalumuzi Khumalo
(Lupane) and
Kembo Dube (Umzingwane) be dismissed as legislators.
But
Moyo told the Daily News he is agonising over the issue.
“It is one of
the most difficult decisions one has to make to expel these
MPs as they were
democratically-elected by people from their
constituencies,” Moyo
said.
“It is very agonising as one has to consider the time and resources
these
MPs could have spent in campaigning.”
The smaller MDC
secretary-general Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga has
written letters to
Moyo and president of Senate Ednah Madzongwe demanding
that the five
legislators be expelled from Parliament and their
constituencies be declared
vacant claiming they were not representing
anyone in
Parliament.
Five other MPs managed to continue their tenure in the
Seventh Parliament
after ditching Ncube’s MDC to join Deputy Prime Minister
Arthur Mutambara’s
party.
The DPM wrote letters to Moyo and Madzongwe
advising them to disregard
attempts by the Ncube-led MDC to have the
legislators fired from Parliament
for allegedly crossing the floor claiming
that they belonged to his faction.
Since the begging of Seventh
Parliament in August 2008, eight MPs from
Matabeleland who entered
Parliament on the Ncube-led MDC ticket have ditched
the party and joined the
MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
In 2010, Ncube officially
expelled three MPs who were subsequently expelled
from
Parliament.
Parliament resumes business on May 6 and is expected to end
its term on June
29 this year.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
17.04.13
by Tarisai Jangara
About
50, 000 rural farmers are set to benefit from a $12 million project
under
the Zimbabwe Extension Support and Training initiative funded by the
European Union.
Last week the EU unveiled a $12 million
contribution, which will run from
2013 to 2015 and is aimed at increasing
agricultural productivity and food
security.
The project will be
carried out in Chivi, Gutu, Masvingo and Centenary and
is mainly targeting
youths and the disabled who have access to land and
labour.
Speaking
at the official launch of ZEST, EU Ambassador, Aldo Dell’ Ariccia
said the
project is aimed at developing and testing methods of improving
access to
agricultural extension for field crops, livestock and
horticulture.
ZEST will improve farm and household productivity
through the adoption of
higher yielding and drought tolerant crops,
strengthening farm management
skills through training and the provision of
input support.
“With this support farmers will intensify and diversify
production with a
leaning towards improved food security, dietary
requirements and income
generation, thereby increasing resilience to
external shocks and mitigating
the impact of HIV/AIDS,” Aldo Dell’ Ariccia
said.
The funds will be administered by the United Nations Food and
Agriculture
Organisation, the German Academy for International Cooperation
and a
non-governmental organisation, HELP, from Germany.
http://www.globalpost.com/
Agence
France-PresseApril 17, 2013 12:31
Africa must learn to dictate its own terms when dealing
with China and stop
blaming Beijing, apartheid or colonialism for its
economic woes, Zimbabwe's
deputy prime minister said
Wednesday.
Arthur Mutambara said it was time for Africa to stop taking a
"romantic
view" of China because it has grown from a "comrade in poverty" to
a global
economic giant and superpower.
"Why are we not making sure
the engagement with China is on our terms, as
Africans? Labour, skills,
technology, value addition," he said at a
China-Africa
conference.
"The Chinese must come to Africa on African terms. The terms
that will allow
the Chinese to make money but the terms that will also allow
Africa to
develop, win-win. China wins, Africa wins."
He said Africa
has been free for a long time -- two generations in countries
such as Ghana
-- and it should not be wasting time making excuses for its
tardy
development.
"Africans must not blame China, or any other power for that
matter. We must
take charge of our lives, we must take responsibility for
our problems and
solve them."
He added: "Yes, there are things we can
trace back to apartheid, to
colonialism, but we must take charge of our
lives and not justify
incompetence by talking about apartheid,
colonialism."
South Africa has lately been embroiled in a fierce debate
over whether -- 19
years on -- apartheid can still blamed for current
government policy
shortcomings.
Mutambara said that for Africa to
maximise benefits from its ties with
China, it must speak with one voice as
a continent or regional economic
blocs such as the Southern Africa
Development Community (SADC) and the
Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS).
"Let us discourage bilateral deals -- you get
shortchanged. We won't make it
as individual countries. We need a mind
shift. We are obsessed with our own
countries," he said.
Mutambara,
who is part of an uncomfortable power-sharing government with
longtime
leader Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, said the continent needs the type
of
leadership that will press for a pan-African agenda.
China has driven
much of African growth in recent years. Bilateral trade has
expanded rapidly
to hover around $200 billion (150 billion euros) last year,
a leap of almost
19 percent from 2011, according to Jianye Wang, chief
economist with the
Export-Import Bank of China.
But trade remains heavily skewed in favour
of China.
By the end of last year China's direct investment in Africa had
reached $20
billion.
At the same time African investors are making
little inroads, with a few
notables such as South Africa's SAB Miller, which
has become the single
largest brewer in China.
"Our footprint is
small," Martyn Davies, CEO of Frontier Advisory, the
conference organisers,
told AFP, adding: "We are far behind our Australian
peers."
Yansong
Rong, the commercial counsellor at the Chinese embassy in South
Africa, hit
out at growing anti-Chinese sentiments in Africa, especially
concerning
labour practices.
He dismissed as "ridiculous" criticism that Chinese
investors bring their
own workers, defeating the whole idea of creating
desperately needed jobs.
Local workers account for more than 80 percent
of the employees at the
dozens of Chinese firms operating in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, he
said.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
17
April 2013
The case in which the MDC-T MP for Makoni South, Pishai
Muchauraya is facing
charges of making threats to commit ‘murder’ took a
twist on Wednesday, when
police charged him with the murder of the late
parliamentarian, John
Nyamande.
The police admitted they don’t have
any evidence linking Muchauraya to the
death of Nyamande but told him they
will proceed with the case by way of
summons.
Muchauraya, the MDC-T
spokesman for Manicaland province was however made to
sign a warned and
cautioned statement at the Harare central police station
on
Wednesday.
The man he is accused of killing, Nyamande was the MDC-T MP
for Makoni
Central, who died in a horrific car crash in November 2009 near
Ruwa that
left his Isuzu KB vehicle a mangled wreck.
The 57 year-old
Nyamande was killed instantly when his car collided with a
stationary truck
that was partially parked off the Harare-Marondera highway.
After the
crash, police who attended the scene of the accident told Nyamande’s
best
friend, Hebson Makuvise (Zimbabwe’s current ambassador to Germany) that
the
MP died after suffering multiple broken bones as well as severe head and
chest injuries.
Muchauraya’s defence lawyer Tonderai Bhatasara told
SW Radio Africa that the
case against his client took a sinister twist when
police summoned him just
before his Wednesday court appearance, where he
stands accused of making
threats to commit murder.
On Tuesday
Muchauraya was charged with two counts of threats to ‘murder’ his
party’s
political rival, Geoff Nyarota. One of those who allegedly received
death
threats from the legislator is Sophia Chibayambuya, an aunt to Nyarota
and
an MDC-T aspiring councilor in the same constituency.
Muchauraya and
Nyarota are expected to square off in the party primaries for
the Makoni
South constituency that are to be held between the 3rd and 15th
May. For
this case, Muchauraya appeared in court on Wednesday where he was
granted
$100 bail and ordered not to interfere with witnesses. The state set
23rd
April as the trial date.
“It’s very interesting to note that the murder
charge stems from an
affidavit that was generated by Nyarota in his case
against the MP. It means
the complainant in the death of John Nyamande in a
car accident is Geoff
Nyarota,” Bhatasara said.
The ‘murder’ case
against Muchauraya centers on the same affidavit submitted
to the police
following threats allegedly made to Nyarota and Chibayambuya.
Nyarota
accuses Muchauraya of calling Chibayambuya on the 25th February and
telling
her: “Mava kuda kutanga hondo. Munoziva here kuti ndisu takauraya
John
Nyamande? (You want to start a war? Do you know it’s us who killed John
Nyamande?).”
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
Wednesday, 17 April 2013 12:47
HARARE -
Zimbabwe is yet to fully pay some enumerators who conducted the
fourth
national census in August last year, nine months on, the Finance
minister
confirmed on Monday.
Zimbabwe conducted its fourth population census
since independence from
August 17 to 27 last year, but enumerators in Harare
province are yet to be
paid.
“Treasury is pleased to report that
$4,8million in outstanding payments to
enumerators in Masvingo, Mashonaland
West and Mashonaland East were cleared
in March 2013,” Biti
said.
“This has reduced overall outstanding obligations to enumerators to
$2,7million, now only for personnel in Harare province.
“However
Zimstat (Zimbabwe Statistics Agency) also has some $6,3 million
outstanding
obligations with regards to payment to some of the catering
service
providers for the August 2012 population census programme which some
cooperating partners had committed themselves to supporting.
“Zimstat
is in discussion with both the UNFPA and cooperating partners to
come up
with a disbursement plan to liquidate these obligations.”
The first,
second and third censuses were conducted in 1982, 1992 and 2002
respectively, and payment was timely.
The 2012 census was conducted
by 1 320 district level, 6 000 enumeration
area supervisors and about 31 000
enumerators.
According to the census results, Zimbabwe’s population is
growing
marginally, with women still in the majority.
The southern
African nation had a population of 12,9 million on August 18,
2012, which
has expanded by 1,1 percent over the past decade, the census
showed. If the
current growth rate continues, the country — which is
recovering from a
decade of economic meltdown — will see the population
double in 70 years. -
Staff Writer
http://www.zimeye.org/
Published: April 17,
2013
Briggette Katiyo Magaya
The Zimbabwe National Student
Union (ZINASU) has sworn to vote against Zanu
PF asserting that the party
has dismally failed to meet the needs of the
masses.
“Students have
unilaterally declared that ZANU PF is an enemy beyond
conciliation and as we
go for the elections expected this year we will
mobilise students to vote
against ZANU PF,” said Pride Mkono the president
of ZINASU.
Speaking
at a press conference held in the capital today, Mkono urged the
MDC-T and
MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube to unite and create a grant
coalition
against President Mugabe.
“ZINASU condemns with uttermost contempt the
idea of a one man rule,
Zimbabwe has been led by one Robert Gabriel Mugabe
who seem not keen to hand
over power even at the age of 89.
“Zimbabwe
is full of young intellectuals and this in it self provides a
fertile ground
for power transfer and generational empowerment,” said Mkono.
Mkono said
that ZANU PF has been carrying out cheap propaganda to swindle
and confuse
the masses using state media.
He stated that the State media carried
falsehoods in blatant attempts to
paint a bad picture of ZINASU claiming
that it is developing a soft spot for
ZANU PF.
Mkono compared the
level of enmity towards ZANU PF to the one that
Zimbabweans had against
white minority.
He called for peaceful free and fair elections in which
the will of people
will be respected, unlike the bloodshed 2008 presidential
runoff elections.
“Youths need to be part of the electoral processes
through massive voter
registration. The registration procedures should be
flexible to allow
students to register as voters,” said Mkono.
http://nehandaradio.com/
on April 17, 2013 at 12:12 pm
SOUTH
AFRICA – The standing committee on finance agreed yesterday to ask
Finance
Minister Pravin Gordhan to appear before it to provide more detail
on the
R900 million loan reportedly extended to Zimbabwe to assist with its
upcoming national election.
DA finance spokesman Tim Harris said
he had submitted a parliamentary
question to the minister to clarify the
terms of the supposed funding.
“If we indeed intend providing the loans
to Zimbabwe then Minister Gordhan
has a duty to explain to South Africans
the motivation for extending such
generous financial support.
“There
are three main issues that urgently need to be clarified: the
motivation for
the loan, the terms of the repayment and any conditionality
attached to
it.”
“We believe that any financial support provided to Zimbabwe should
be
conditional on the money being spent on specifically defined projects
that
will improve the prospects for real democracy in Zimbabwe through free
and
fair elections.”
Under no circumstances, said Harris, should
South Africa tolerate extending
credit without strict political conditions.
Reserve Bank governor Gill
Marcus was also asked about the Zimbabwe loan
when she appeared before the
standing committee on finance
yesterday.
She said: “We need to be clear. This is a government to
government
discussion. Should there be any agreement on terms and
conditions, whatever
they are, they would be sorted out at government
level.”
The responsibility for this would most likely be delegated to the
Treasury.
“Once that is done we would simply be the executing arm, we are
not involved
in the discussions… we don’t know any more than you do. I thus
can’t answer
your questions about the conditions,” she said to David Ross,
another DA MP
on the committee.
It seems that the Treasury – and
Gordhan – is the right place to go for
answers. Gordhan met Zimbabwean
Finance Minister Tendai Biti in September
last year to discuss Zimbabwe’s
loan request. iol.co.za
http://www.news24.com/
2013-04-17 16:38
Cape Town - Two
opposition parties said on Wednesday they were in favour of
loaning money to
cash-strapped Zimbabwe to fund its coming elections.
The African
Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) said money spent helping
Zimbabweans take
ownership of their future through a fair democratic
election was "an
investment worth the risk".
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) said it
supported such a loan on condition
it be used primarily for the
elections.
It was reported on Tuesday that talks between the two
countries about
financial help were at a "sensitive stage".
On
Monday, Zimbabwe's Finance Minister Tendai Biti said his treasury did not
have the capacity to fund the elections, for which the country needed about
R1.2bn.
Biti said the Zimbabwean government had written to the UN,
South Africa, and
Angola asking for loans.
He was reported later on
Monday as saying South Africa would contribute
R900m.
The elections
are scheduled to be held later this year.
The IFP said in a statement on
Wednesday it supported such a loan "on
condition that it will be utilised
primarily in bringing about inclusively
free and fair elections later this
year in Zimbabwe".
In a separate statement, ACDP MP Cheryllyn Dudley said
it was in South
Africa's best interests to help Zimbabwe.
Trading
partner
The political situation in that country had "impacted
significantly" on
South Africa over the past 13 years, with many Zimbabweans
taking refuge in
the country.
However, Zimbabwe had the potential to
be a significant trading partner and
trading route to the rest of Africa,
"making positive relations with our
neighbour highly desirable".
The
situation was "unfortunate" and clearly an unfair burden on South
African
taxpayers.
"If, however, we want Zimbabweans to have a stable country to
live in, we
will have to actively support the democratic elections, and this
will mean
providing the funds needed," said Dudley.
"The ACDP accepts
that money spent on helping Zimbabweans to take ownership
of their future
through a peaceful and fair democratic election is an
investment worth the
risk and a move in the right direction."
Earlier on Wednesday, it was
reported that Zimbabwe had withdrawn a request
it had made to the UN for
money to fund its elections, after refusing to
accept UN conditions,
including media reforms and security issues.
- SAPA
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
Erwin Schwentzek, by
e-mail | 17 April, 2013 00:12
It is another great mystery how the
Reserve Bank can bail out Zimbabwe ("SA
bails out Zimbabwe to tune of
R900m", yesterday). It is neither morally nor
economically justifiable,
especially in the light of the gross human rights
violations in that
country.
President Robert Mugabe's refusal to have observers from truly
democratic
states monitor the elections should tell us a story. Zanu-PF is
not
interested in a fair election.
The recent harassment and arrests
of people aligned to the "opposition" are
proof of this.
Zimbabwe got
itself into the mess it is now in with its disastrous economic
policies.
Why do we, as a democratic country struggling to get
ourselves onto a sound
footing, give money to a dictator?
The
Zimbabwean government under Mugabe is neither democratic nor
transparent. It
is a government that has "stolen" vast fortunes from South
African companies
and individuals who owned land there or had investments
taken from them
through the kleptomaniac nationalisation policy.
The finance minister
Tendai Biti has only his own administration to blame
for the sorry financial
state of Zimbabwe. After all, a well running country
was turned into a
disaster through unsustainable and unrealistic policies.
You will see on our index page a link to a new website dedicated to the
upcoming election
http://zimbabweelection.com/
http://www.mdc.co.zw/
Tuesday, 16 April 2013 16:23
The MDC is poised to win
overwhelmingly in the coming elections because of
its impressive performance
in the inclusive government where the party has
managed to restore
political, social and economic stability in the country,
President
Tsvangirai has said.
President Tsvangirai said this while addressing
thousands of party
supporters at Tshovani Stadium in Chiredzi on Saturday
where he called on
the electorate to reflect on the horrific mayhem of 2008
in order to
understand the importance of the coming watershed
polls.
The rally was the launch of the MDC victory rallies which are
meant to
celebrate the gains made by the party since its formation with the
latest
being the people of Zimbabwe voting yes in the referendum for a new
Constitution in March.
The new Constitution is part of the MDC’s
agenda to give the people of
Zimbabwe a new Charter that will lead the
country to holding elections in a
free and fair manner which will usher a
new Zimbabwe with an MDC government
in office.
He said when the MDC
formed the inclusive government, the party managed to
restore political
social and economic stability adding that although there
was anxiety and
speculation about the date for elections – the principals to
the Global
Political Agreement (GPA) will sit down and come up with the date
for
polls.
“We have come a long way –we won the 2008 elections but we came up
with the
transitional government,” said President Tsvangirai.
“We
must not forget the misery of 2008 because a reflection of the past,
will
help us to come up with an informed political decision as we approach
the
coming elections.
“In 2008, we had reached a point of no return – schools
had been closed, the
economy was grounded and there was no medication in
hospitals but when the
MDC formed the inclusive government, there was a
notable change. We can all
agree that the MDC brought political and social
stability in the past four
years – things have improved but we have not yet
arrived at our destination.
“As we prepare for the coming polls, we have
very simple questions to
answer – who brought the country to a standstill in
2008 and who brought
political stability to the country?”
He said
these questions formed the basis of the crucial plebiscite.
“These are
the questions that are going to be answered as we go for
elections. The
inclusive government was the only option to soft land the
Zimbabwean crisis.
We know that people are curious about the date for
elections but myself and
(Robert) Mugabe will sit down and come up with the
date for elections,” said
President Tsvangirai.
He said the issue of employment was a key issue
that will be urgently
addressed once the MDC formed the next government
because thousands of
youths were wallowing in poverty due to the Zanu PF
economic and political
crises that ravaged the nation for close to three
decades.
“As we go for elections, the MDC is concerned about the level of
unemployment in the country. While Zanu PF destroyed employment
opportunities, the MDC has a clear jobs plan to make sure everyone gets
employment.
“We are going to attract foreign direct investment in
order to revive the
country’s economy .We can say the country’s economy is
in doldrums. We have
to revive agriculture, mining and industry among other
crucial sectors.
“The MDC will never tolerate any form of corruption –if
you are a corrupt
councillor, MP or President, then get out of the MDC
immediately. We have
to introduce a new culture of zero tolerance to
corruption,” he said.
President Tsvangirai explained that the MDC once in
office it is also going
to revive the education and health sectors as well
as infrastructural
development.
“We will certainly engage the
international community so that we can get
assistance. Of course we are
going to safeguard our sovereignty as a nation
but we must remember that we
are living in a global village where you cannot
avoid interaction with the
international community .We will not say much
about Zanu PF because they
have failed dismally to run the country,” he
said.
President
Tsvangirai said the MDC made tireless efforts to drag Zanu PF and
its leader
Mugabe to the negotiating table and that is how the MDC had
managed to
handle a dictatorship in a democratic way by taking Mugabe
through the
democratic journey.
“We made tireless efforts to bring Mugabe to the
negotiating table and we
also made tireless efforts to put pressure on the
Zanu PF regime. The MDC
managed to handle the dictator through democratic
means. We will continue to
use peaceful and democratic means to
win.
“Nobody wants war and nobody wins in a war. The MDC will never
tolerate war
in Zimbabwe and the shedding of blood because that is not our
philosophy,”
said President Tsvangirai.
Turning to voter
registration, President Tsvangirai said there was need for
the country to
embark on a mass voter registration exercise in the rural,
urban areas,
farming and mining communities. “Every one of you has to
mobilise new
voters. As the MDC, we are happy with the democratic process
so far in
which women have been empowered in the new Constitution.
“The new
Constitution will also address the issue of national languages
because there
is need to be well versed in all the country’s main languages.
In addition
we also have to consider minority languages, matters of
citizenship have
been addressed as well in the new Charter.
“We now have the new
Constitution in place –we are going to have a new
President for the country
and a new Zimbabwe. For change to come every
Zimbabwean who has turned 18
years has to register to vote,” said President
Tsvangirai calling upon the
uniformed forces to exercise their duties in a
professional manner at all
times.
“As the MDC, we don’t hate the army and our police force. We want
them to
be professional. We want to improve their welfare. The MDC will
not fire
people from the army. We want them to be professional and not
subvert the
will of the people,” the President said.
He called for
urgent media reforms before going for elections – pointing out
to the
blatant attempts by the ZBC and The Herald in taking turns to attack
President Tsvangirai and his lieutenants.
Hon. Lovemore Moyo, the MDC
national chairperson who is also the Speaker of
Parliament urged party
supporters to focus on the next election in ensuring
that President
Tsvangirai emerges the ultimate winner and becomes the new
President of
Zimbabwe.
Similar victory rallies will be held in every province with
President
Tsvangirai and the party’s top leadership addressing them.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1304/09/ctw.01.html
Excerpt
Aired
April 9, 2013 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT
BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE
UPDATED.
ANDERSON: A marriage of
convenience, that is how Morgan Tsvangirai,
Zimbabwe's prime minister,
describes his country's power sharing agreement
with Robert Mugabe. A
general election is due in Zimbabwe this year. And in
a moment, we'll be
hearing more from Mr. Tsvangirai.
First, a look at how this political
pairing came to be.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: 1980, Zimbabwe
gains its independence from Britain. And guerrilla
leader Robert Mugabe wins
the country's first parliamentary election. He's
ruled the country ever
since.
Among Mugabe's early and most ardent supporters was Morgan
Tsvangirai, an
ambitious union leader who has since become his fiercest
rival, leading
strikes and forming his own political party.
During
his bid for the presidency in 2002, Tsvangirai was accused of treason
and a
suspected plot to assassinate Mugabe, but was later acquitted of the
charges.
TSVANGIRAI: It was not Morgan Tsvangirai who was on trial,
it was democracy
and the freedoms of the people of
Zimbabwe.
ANDERSON: Undeterred, Tsvangirai continued to challenge Mugabe.
And in 2007
was arrested on his way to an anti-government rally and severely
beaten in
police custody.
TSVANGIRAI: This physical threat of
physical harm to individuals, me
included, has not had any effect at all in
discouraging further (inaudible)
of the opposition.
ANDERSON: Indeed,
a year later he claimed victory in the presidential
election with a majority
vote over Mugabe. Though it ended in farce, with
the electoral commission
calling for a runoff poll.
TSVANGIRAI: We in the MDC resolve that we will
no longer participate in this
violent, illegitimate sham of an election
process.
ANDERSON: In the end, a compromise, Mugabe remained president
and Tsvangirai
was declared prime minister in a power sharing agreement
that, to say the
least, has been uneasy.
(END
VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Morgan Tsvangirai is in London. I asked him earlier
to explain the
reason for entering into that power sharing agreement with
Robert Mugabe
five years ago. This is what he said.
(BEGIN
VIDEOTAPE)
TSVANGIRAI: It was a bleak situation. And I think what was
important at that
stage was to intervene and save the country. So, what were
the objectives?
Firstly, is to contain the hyper inflation and stabilize the
economy.
Secondly, to reform, to give reforms that will be necessary to
carry out a
free and fair election. And thirdly, to intervene in those
critical social
sectors like water sanitation, education and
else.
So, on those three benchmarks, I can tell you that anyone will
confirm that
things are much better than they were in 2008.
ANDERSON:
Many people I speak to in Zimbabwe, with respect, are frankly fed
up with
your leadership. They say that you have compromised the power
sharing
agreement. There are stories about your social life. There were
stories
about your finances. So some go so far as to say you have
legitimized Robert
Mugabe.
Does your MDC party, and do you still have any
teeth?
TSVANGIRAI: Well, the -- let's look at it this way, the MDC was
formed to
achieve a certain benchmark. We have gone through a road map that
we have
designed, we have outlined for ourselves. What are we going to do to
confront this crisis? Firstly, we said we're going to drag -- we're going to
apply pressure to drag Mugabe to the negotiating table. We are going to
negotiate a transition. We're going to have a constitution and we're going
to go to free and fair election.
So far, the three steps have been
achieved. We are on the rail on the
objectives that we set for
ourselves.
Now, when people criticize, they want us to go back to the
confrontational
state. We are part of the government. There's no way we can
be
confrontational when we have set a path for ourselves.
ANDERSON:
Let me put this to you again, they don't want to see, it seems to
me, your
social life and your finances making headlines when for so many
years people
in Zimbabwe and on the outside world relied on you as this sort
of official
opposition figure who might be able to take Mugabe down.
At this stage do
you think you're still in the position to do that? Or is it
now time for a
new generation of Zimbabwean leaders?
TSVANGIRAI: Well, I think that I
cannot determine. I mean, the determination
of who is going to be leader at
any one point is to the people. We go to a
congress and the people elect
their leaders. I've just come out of a
congress, people still have very good
faith in my leadership.
But it's not about the personal, it's about the
objective. I have
(inaudible) Mugabe down. Let's not be paranoid about an
individual, let's be
clear about what the role road map and the objective of
why we feel the MDC
is all about, it's about change, it's about
transformation.
Are we on course? Definitely on course. Are we going to
deliver this?
Definitely we're going to deliver...
ANDERSON; Does it
include Mugabe or not, though?
TSVANGIRAI: No. President Mugabe will be
contested, just as I will be
contested. And it will go to the people. and
the people will choose.
ANDERSON; How would you describe life in Zimbabwe
today?
TSVANGIRAI: I think there's comparatively, comparatively better
than it was
in 2008. People have food. People can actually have real money.
People can
have stability and normalcy, that was uncharacteristic in
2008.
ANDERSON: It's a country worth fighting for.
TSVANGIRA: It's
everything worth fighting for.
http://www.ipsnews.net/
By Jeffrey Moyo
HARARE,
Apr 17 2013 (IPS) - As Zimbabwe heads to the polls later this year,
media
analysts and journalists are concerned about increasing crackdowns on
both
the judiciary and the media.
This comes as stalwarts from President
Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zimbabwe
African National Union-Patriotic Front
(Zanu-PF) remain defiant about
implementing the media reforms outlined in
the Global Political Agreement
(GPA). The GPA is a 2008 pact between Zanu-PF
and the Movement for
Democratic Change that paved the way for the current
unity government and
the elections later this year.
“Forget about
security sector reforms, forget about media reforms. What we
are going to
have are elections soon after Jun. 29 this year when the term
of parliament
expires. Zimbabweans should brace for the polls,” Goodson
Nguni, a
well-known Zanu-PF leader, told IPS.
According to the GPA, for Zimbabwe
to hold credible, free and fair elections
in 2013, it needs to implement
media and security sector reforms. It is also
required to revamp the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, which is suspected to
be staffed with state
security operatives.
The country also needs to amend repressive laws like
the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which stipulates
that journalists
should be registered annually with the Zimbabwe Media and
Information
Commission, and the Public Order and Security Act, which
criminalises
reporting falsehoods and leaves journalists open to
litigation.
According to U.S.-based global watchdog Human Rights Watch,
both laws have
been used by Zanu-PF to “to harass political opponents and
rights activists”
and to prevent criticism by the media and public
debate.
Nguni’s remarks have left many journalists in this Southern
African nation
bracing for a difficult road ahead as they come at a time
when High Court
Justice Charles Hungwe faces persecution from the government
over recent
court rulings.
Hungwe has allegedly been targeted by
Zanu-PF for his decisions to grant the
Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission
leave to institute investigations
against ruling party politicians
implicated in corruption, and for granting
bail to prominent human rights
lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa.
She is accused of obstructing the course of
justice after she requested that
police produce a search warrant when they
raided Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai’s offices in March.
Hungwe
was reportedly summoned to appear before Chief Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku
for misconduct, a move that the Law Society of Zimbabwe called
the
deliberate targeting of the judge.
“What Nguni said, added to the recent
arrests of civil society leaders and
human rights lawyers like Beatrice
Mtetwa, sends shivers down our spines. It
means that worse is coming for us
as the elections loom, especially in the
face of unimplemented media reforms
four years after the formation of the
unity government,” Evans Muranganwa, a
freelance journalist, told IPS.
Political analyst Rejoice Ngwenya said
that if media reforms were not
implemented, journalists would be headed for
a confrontation with the
country’s national security officers.
“Right
now journalists are vulnerable and the law may be used against them
during
elections and the already-jittery security sectors see themselves
brandishing an open (invitation) to intimidate journalists.
“Media
reforms have to be enforced as part of the GPA, but Zanu-PF still
resists
this, although the new constitution makes it clear that they should
be
implemented before the elections,” Ngwenya told IPS.
The Daily News,
NewsDay and Zimbabwe Independent, which are privately-owned
newspapers, are
being sued for millions of dollars by top politicians for
various
investigative pieces they published. It is a move that analysts say
is aimed
at incapacitating independent newspapers ahead of the elections.
Ernst
Mudzengi, director for Media Center – Zimbabwe, said it has become a
tradition for journalists in Zimbabwe to face intimidation around election
time.
“We have always had the intimidation of journalists. There is
no enabling
environment for journalists to carry out their duties during the
elections,
contrary to the country’s GPA,” Mudzengi told IPS.
But
Bright Matonga, a media analyst for the state Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation and Zanu-PF parliamentarian for the Mhondoro-Ngezi constituency,
told IPS that contrary to claims by most independent journalists that the
media climate was repressive, this was not the case.
“The media
environment has always been conducive, although some journalists
have been
irresponsible in their reportages, blatantly distorting stories,
blending
them with truths and half-truths. But it is now up to them to abide
by the
law as the elections approach,” Matonga told IPS.
However, journalists
who operate from the Media Center – Zimbabwe in Harare,
said they were
suspicious of strangers.
“We are certainly (living) in fear because there
are strangers who we
suspect are state spies who were sent to man our
operations,” Vimbai Kamoyo,
an independent journalist, told IPS.
The
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) has taken the reports of journalists
being intimidated seriously.
“The level of fear among our journalists
as the country gears up for the
elections is certainly not an exaggeration.
But as a union we have
mechanisms to act as a safety net for journalists who
may fall prey to
intimidation. We are part of a campaign to demand the
safety and protection
of our journalists from African governments,” ZUJ
secretary general, Foster
Dongozi, told IPS.
He also said owing to
Zimbabwe’s traditionally volatile environment during
elections, ZUJ has
placed a team of lawyers on standby to defend journalists
who may be
arrested.
“Around the time of the elections, we will have a rapid legal
reaction force
on standby to defend journalists who may fall prey to
arrest,” he said.
Freelance journalists like 28-year-old Thomas Madhuku,
who was arrested by
police in 2012 after they accused him of tampering with
the voters’ roll,
said Hungwe’s persecution signalled increased intimidation
ahead of the
elections. Charges against Madhuku were dropped because of a
lack of
evidence.
“If interpreters of the law like Hungwe are being
persecuted for executing
their duties, what is going to be the fate of
ordinary journalists like us
who happen to be the fourth arm of the state?
Certainly, it’s not going to
be an easy road for journalists ahead of the
polls,” Madhuku told IPS.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
By Associated Press, Published: April 17
HARARE,
Zimbabwe — The name of Zimbabwe’s last white leader, who ceded power
to
Robert Mugabe 33 years ago and who died six years ago, has at last been
removed from the nation’s list of 5.7 million registered voters.
The
state Electoral Commission says Ian Smith, the former prime minister, is
among 345,000 dead people who have been struck from the official roll of
voters ahead of crucial elections later in the year. As Zimbabwe celebrates
its 33rd anniversary of independence on Thursday there is fresh focus on the
poll, and a sense of optimism.
Mugabe has ruled this former British
colony as president ever since he took
over from Smith and the country
changed its name from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe
as it became independent. Mugabe
now faces the biggest test of his political
life.
Some Zimbabweans
look to the polls with trepidation because of violence,
intimidation and
irregularities that have occurred in past elections. High
among the problems
in the 2008 election was the voters’ lists that included
Smith and his white
justice minister who died in 1984 and who, during the
war for independence,
had signed the execution warrants of Mugabe’s captured
guerrillas.
The party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe’s
main challenger,
alleged the outdated lists were used in past vote rigging.
Independent
researchers say incorrect information on the voters’ roll opens
the way to
change results by including non-qualifying voters in polling in
hotly
contested districts. There are still some problems with the lists: The
independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network notes, for example, that it
contains voters whose names have been duplicated in different voting
districts and tens of thousands more who are living abroad and are
disqualified from voting.
Eddie Cross, a lawmaker in Tsvangirai’s
party, said party officials are
scheduled to meet with the state election
body within days on the voters’
lists and to question the role in election
preparations of an Israeli
computer technology company that specializes in
population registration and
election systems that has raised new fears of
high-tech manipulation of
results. Cross said the company Nikuv has expanded
its facilities and
increased its staff in the country and is believed to be
working with
military and intelligence chiefs loyal to Mugabe in
Harare.
Cross said youth groups loyal to Mugabe still drag travelers from
buses and
demand to see Mugabe party membership cards to show their loyalty,
a means
of intimidation known as “shaking a box of matches without lighting
one.”
But he thinks that the vote this time around will be freer of
violence and
noted that regional leaders have vowed to closely monitor the
situation for
any poll violence.
“I think ordinary Zimbabweans won’t
be told which way to vote anymore and
perpetrators are learning violence
won’t help,” Cross said. “It is being
neutralized.”
The Crisis
Coalition, an alliance of rights and pro-democracy groups, says
Mugabe’s
ZANU-PF party has been trying to re-invent itself and its leader.
Mugabe
himself weighed in with repeated recent calls for peaceful
campaigning.