Zim Online
Fri 21 April
2006
HARARE - The Zimbabwe government plans to take back land from
close to
2 000 black owners who have failed to farm and return it to whites,
State
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa has said.
In a major
policy reversal and the clearest admission yet by the
Harare government that
its controversial land redistribution programme
failed, Mutasa said that the
government had asked the white-member
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) to
submit names of applicants to receive land
repossessed from
blacks.
Mutasa, who spoke to ZimOnline earlier this week on
Tuesday, said: "We
have set up land identification committees countrywide
working at a
provincial level.
"Figures coming from provinces
indicate that there is still a lot of
under-utilised land. Some people are
not farming at all and we will take
away this land. In some provinces, like
Manicaland 200 farmers will lose
their land to new
owners."
Mutasa, a trusted confidante of President
Robert Mugabe and who
oversees land reform and food aid distribution on top
of minding state
security, said he and other government ministers had held
meetings with the
CFU leadership in the past weeks, adding that the white
union now
appreciated the government's land policy.
He said the
government wanted to boost farm production and end hunger
in the country but
some blacks allocated land had failed the government by
failing to produce
food. Whites will be brought back to revive food
production but more blacks
willing to farm would also get land, Mutasa said.
Mutasa said: "We
have held fruitful meetings with them (CFU
leadership). They now seem to
have a clear way forward and understanding on
how to work with this
government and we are happy with that.
"It was in this vein that we
asked them to submit applications for
land and these will be treated
favourably. They are Zimbabweans like
everyone else."
CFU
vice-president Trevor Gifford confirmed his organisation had held
talks with
the government and had submitted names of former white farmers
wishing to be
allocated land by the government.
Gifford said: "We have been
talking to Honourable Mutasa and other
ministers over the future of
agriculture in this country.
"In fact, we have just submitted to
the government 200 applications
for land from our members, and in the spirit
of the talks we hope the
applications will be treated favourably .. we could
soon have our members
farming again soon."
Mugabe and his
government have over the last six years chased away
virtually all of
Zimbabwe's 4 000 white farmers and gave their land to
blacks in what Mugabe
said was a correction of a colonial land tenure system
that unfairly
allocated all the best land to whites while blacks were
cramped in poor arid
regions.
The farm seizures however destabilised the mainstay
agricultural
sector, plunging the economy further into the mire, while food
production
plummeted, leaving the once food self-sufficient southern African
country
dependent on handouts from international donors.
For
example, a quarter of the 12 million Zimbabweans require food aid
this year
and food relief groups say millions more will require help in the
2006/2007
period.
But Harare had until now insisted it would never go back on
its
controversial land reforms. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Fri 21 April 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe's latest drive to
revive an economy teetering on the
brink of meltdown is bound to fail as
President Robert Mugabe defiantly
pursues economic policies that have put
the country at cross-paths with the
global community, analysts said
yesterday.
Zimbabwe officials this week launched a National
Economic Development
Priority Programme - a brainchild of a Communist-style
committee chaired by
Mugabe - which it said would see a reversal of an
eight-year recession
within 6-9 months.
But analysts - who
spoke as the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
called on Mugabe's government
to change economic course and governance
style - doubted the success of yet
another blue-print, saying the government
was skirting the root cause of
Zimbabwe's crisis by tinkering with
peripheral issues.
"It is a
big set of promises, some of which are outrageous," said John
Robertson, a
Harare-based economic consultant. "It is not the right course
that we are
taking, we know the problems that we need to address."
Zimbabwe,
once touted as a shining beacon and a model economy for
black Africa, is
fighting its most crippling economic crisis to date, which
has been worsened
by the withdrawal of international support over policy
differences with
Harare such as its forcible seizure of white-owned
commercial farms for
blacks.
The crisis is highlighted by the world's highest inflation
rate at
913.6 percent, joblessness above 80 percent, crunch shortages of
foreign
currency and fuel and grinding poverty.
Analysts were
sceptical of the latest economic revival plan, which the
government said was
crafted with industry's input.
They pointed to the consistent
failure by the government and central
bank to meet growth and inflation
targets and said there were no guarantees
the latest drive would pull the
country from its punishing crisis that has
angered the majority, whose
incomes continue to be eroded everyday.
The revival initiative
would see inflows of US$2.5 billion flowing
into Zimbabwe "either in cash or
in the form of investments" within the next
90 days, the government
said.
Analysts said the blue-print lacks detail on actual growth
and
inflation targets and does not say where the government will get
resources
to support its bid to turn around the economy.
"There
is no one who will bring that kind of money or investment when
there are no
guarantees of the sanctity of property rights," James Jowa an
economist with
a Harare financial services house said. "In one breath the
government says
it is not apologetic for its actions and on the other you
say you want to
mend relations, it is confusing," he said.
IMF head Rodrigo Rato
told journalists in Washington that nothing
short of a complete change of
course "both in macroeconomic terms and also
in the respect of plurality and
human rights and governance", was needed to
pull back Zimbabwe from the
brink.
The IMF cut financial assistance to Harare in 1999 after
disagreeing
with Harare on fiscal policy and other governance issues. Rato
said help
would remain frozen despite Harare paying off a huge portion of
its debt to
the multilateral institution.
Economic experts see
little prospects of economic recovery in Zimbabwe
without significant help
from the IMF.
Mugabe's government has clashed with the West not
only over his
controversial land reforms, but also over charges that his
ruling ZANU-PF
party has rigged key elections since 2000 and violated human
rights, earning
the country the title of an "outpost of tyranny" by
Condoleeza Rice, United
States Secretary of State.
The veteran
leader again rattled investors by backing controversial
government plans to
take over 51 percent of foreign-owned mines. Mining is
one of the few
remaining sectors with a large share of foreign investors.
Robertson was critical of the government blue-print saying it put
emphasis
on the setting up of committees to preside over recovery instead of
focusing
on real projections which the government would be measured against.
"You don't create growth by starting committees. What we need is to
build
factories to create employment and restore confidence in the economy
then we
can talk of a turnaround," he said.
Mugabe has predicted Zimbabwe's
economy will grow by between 1-2
percent, the first time since 1999 but
analysts predict the economy, which
has shrunk 40 percent since then mainly
due to a slump in the key
agriculture sector, will contract again in
2006.
Zimbabwe has forged ties with China after falling out with
the West
but there has been little investment coming from the Asian giant.
Instead
tourist arrivals have fallen 70 percent from Asia, as the
government's "Look
East" policy wobbles.
"Even China will not
bring its money without a guarantee of return on
investment. I suspect they
(Chinese) are interested in the mining sector but
there is a danger of
breaching existing agreements signed with other
companies especially from
South Africa," a Harare banker who declined to be
named told
ZimOnline.
The government has hinted it wanted to take part of
platinum claims
owned by Zimbabwe Platinum Mines, a subsidiary of South
Africa's Impala
Holdings, and industry officials say China is the likely
recipient. -
ZimOnline.
Zim Online
Fri 21 April
2006
HARARE - The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Rodrigo
Rato said yesterday President Robert Mugabe's government needed to
change
its economic course and the way it is governing the southern Africa
nation.
The IMF has been critical of Harare's policies and has
stopped lending
to the country over controversial policies such as the
seizures of land from
white commercial farmers, which critics say has led to
a plunge in
agriculture and food shortages.
Rato, who was
addressing journalists in Washington said the
multilateral lender was still
concerned over Zimbabwe's future.
"We are really engaged in the
future of Zimbabwe and we have been
advising the authorities of Zimbabwe to
change their course, both in
macroeconomic terms and also in the respect of
plurality and human rights
and governance," Rato told a press
conference.
Rato said Zimbabwe was for a long period in arrears on
loan repayments
to the Fund and that is why its voting rights at the Fund
had been
suspended.
Harare last month accused the IMF of being
hijacked by Washington and
London to continue suspending its voting rights
despite having cleared a
critical account that had seen the country being
faced with expulsion.
"Those arrears have been cleared but also
there are issues right now
regarding the consistency of data and we are
working on that," Rato said.
Zimbabwe is in the throes of its worst
economic crisis that has been
worsened by the withdrawal of international
support mainly over Harare's
controversial policies.
The
meltdown has shown in chronic shortages of food, foreign exchange
and fuel,
surging unemployment and the world's highest rate of inflation at
913.6
percent.
The government this week launched a drive to revive the
economy and
expects inflows of US$2.5 billion "either in cash or in the form
of
investments" within the next 90 days.
But analysts have been
sceptical about Zimbabwe's prospects and say
the economy, which has
contracted by 40 percent in the last eight years, is
likely to shrink
further in 2006. - ZimOnline
Cape Argus
April
20, 2006
By Basildon Peta
President Robert Mugabe's
militant supporters have invaded and seized
five farms with grown crops
owned by mostly South African investors in
south-eastern Zimbabwe, farmers
report.
Farmers confirmed reports that the farms had
ready-to-harvest crops,
mainly sugar cane. They say the occupation and
seizures are in line with a
new method of seizure by Mugabe supporters
whereby they target farms that
have mature crops.
They move in
to harvest and sell the crops and equipment before
abandoning the properties
and leaving former owners virtually bankrupt.
The affected South
Africans have since written a joint letter to the
South African High
Commission in Harare seeking help. They complain that
they were about to
start harvesting their sugar crop in time for the milling
season.
In a letter to Willem Geerlings, first secretary at the
SA embassy,
which was copied to the Commercial Farmers Union and published
in the
Zimbabwean press, the farmers detailed the harassment they had
suffered at
the hands of government supporters.
"Today, April
11, 2006, the Chiredzi lands officer, Mukonyora, and
Guruvheti arrived on
the farm to inform Wayne Petzer that the remainder of
(his) farm has been
taken over and that he has 30 days to get off," reads
the
letter.
"The lands officer and a new A2 farmer (called) Jambaya
then walked
around the homestead and stated that Petzer could cut one block
of cane
(about 5ha) and then the rest will be taken by them."
A
farmer from the area interviewed last night said it was obvious that
government supporters wanted to reap where they had not sown.
No comment could be obtained from the South African High Commission
last
night.
a.. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has launched a
strongly worded
attack on President Robert Mugabe, calling his regime a
"disgrace" that had
brought the country to its knees, reports
Sapa-AFP.
"What the regime is doing in Zimbabwe is a disgrace,"
Blair told
parliament in his weekly question and answer session yesterday
when asked
why Western governments appeared powerless to prevent human
tragedy in the
country.
"While Zimbabwe remains as it is, it
casts a shadow over that whole
part of southern Africa and it is a tragedy
for the people concerned."
zimbabwejournalists.com
By Magugu Nyathi
JOHANNESBURG-President Robert Mugabe's regime has deployed soldiers in
rural
Matabeleland to brutally assault rural people and confiscating their
maize
harvests. The move is apparently meant to force them to vote for ZANU
PF in
the forthcoming local government elections in September.
A report by
Solidarity Peace Trust on operation Taguta / Sisuthi/ Eat
well: Command
Agriculture in Zimbabwe, which was launched by the government
late last
year, suggests continued excesses by the army.
Bishop Rubin Philip
of the Trust said at the launch of their latest
report: "Deploying of the
army under the guise of Command Agriculture means
that army units are now
embedded deep in rural areas. This effectively
closing democratic space and
will have a repressive impact during Rural
District Council election due in
September. It is likely that the army will
stay and increase in numbers in
rural areas," said Bishop Phillip.
Zanu PF regime is deploying army
personal to take charge of food
distribution in order to suppress rural
through disrupting the farming in
communal areas. The army is accused in
Matabeleland for bringing down once
well utilized irrigation to its knees.
They are said to have taken custody
of early maize harvest in one scheme,
where inputs were made well before the
arrival of the army.
The
report, which was authored by Bishop Phillip of Kwazulu Natal and
Bishop
Kevin Dowling who traveled to Zimbabwe recently, assesses the impact
of
"Command Agriculture on rural communities in Matabeleland". It paints a
sorry and sad picture as soldiers are wantonly and systematically destroying
lucrative markets gardens and seizing people yields. Matabeleland is viewed
by the Mugabe regime as the stronghold of the opposition and there the
government doesn't care about that region.
"In Matabeleland,
soldiers beating people in the field and withholding
food is reminiscent of
the great food curfew of 1984 in the Gukurahundi era.
During 1984, 400 000
people were deliberately brought to brink of starvation
by 5 Brigade. This
presence of soldiers has disrupted the social fabric and
left people angry
and afraid.
"Some comments by senior govt officials recently suggest
that they are
not only intending to forcibly acquire not just harvest from
irrigation
schemes but also from rural farmers who have good harvest.
Therefore there
is need foe the world to prevent what would amount to
confiscation of crops
in exchange of pittance," read part of the
report.
It was noted that Mugabe regime does not pay any attention to
international advice and assistance. The government rebuffed the
humanitarian assistance offered by United Nations after Operation
Murambatsvina.
"Government is hostile to international donors and
army and uniformed
forces continue to benefit from Operation Garikayi," said
Bishop Phillip.
Bishop Dowling said people are living in fear because
of soldier's
brutality in the rural areas and also stressed that they had
difficulties in
getting information from people as the soldiers are stamping
authority. It
also reveals that soldiers are sexually abusing school
children in the rural
areas exposing them to HIV/AIDS.
Reverend
Nicholas Mukaronda the Co-ordinator for Crisis Zimbabwe-SA
office said,
"Since 2000 people have been raising the issue of soldiers
involvements in
food distribution. The report shows clearly that the state
is at war with
its own people. Zimbabwe has turned out to a refugee
producing country. It
is naďve to think that the Mugabe regime is not aware
that the crises are
out of hand. This might be a Zimbabwean problem but it
is the entirety of
humanity that suffers at the end of the day."
The army is regularly
used by Mugabe to suppress any dissenting voices
in the country by brutally
assaulting people. During 2002 Presidential
election they were deployed in
townships to quarrel any uprisings.
"The Zimbabwe govt has developed a
liking for terming all its
large -scale policies in language more associated
with Military. It is the
military that undertakes "Operations" not farmers
or municipalities and its
is no coincidence as the uniformed forces were
intimately involved in the
past "Operations".
The report goes on to
reveal that Command Agriculture has been a
failure in 2005/6 season in
relation to improve the maize production at
rural irrigation schemes in
Matabeland as it has undermined such production
and has extremely negative
effect on the community at large.
"It has instead destroyed self
-sufficient in rural population and
created vulnerability through dependency
on government as the only source of
food, Command Agriculture is likely to
prove a resounding "success"."
zimbabwejournalists.com
Chenjerai Hove, who now lives
in Norway, shares his
experiences with the secret police in
Zimbabwe.
By Chenjerai Hove
READING Bill
Saidi's story made me both cry and laugh. How can our
experiences be so
similar: the same tricks, the same kind of security
officials, and the same
crimes?
One Friday afternoon, in 2001, I was playing snooker, my
favourite
game then, at Queensdale Sports Club, with friends and foes,
enjoying a
stream of political jokes as usual. And the drinks were flowing,
with
erratic supplies of our favourite braai of juicy pieces of pork and
beef.
The economy was struggling already, but still staggering
ahead on
shaky feet, hence the drinks and the subdued joy. Then around 4.15
on that
Friday afternoon, a Defender CID truck with civilian number plates
came to a
halt in the club car park. I did not see them arrive as I had gone
to the
other side of the club hall to play table tennis. The waiter on duty
came
rushing to me:
"Mr Hove, there are people who urgently
want to see you in the
entrance area," he said, his face shrunken with a
turbulent kind of
suppressed fear.
"Did they say who they are?"
I asked, wondering if it were another
group of relatives coming to inform me
of another AIDS-related death. Such
deaths are so many in Zimbabwe it is
rare to pass a single day without a
close relative departing that
way.
"No, but they......", he did not know how to finish. I walked
to the
entrance area, rather shaken already. Standing in the doorway were
two men
in plainclothes. On introducing myself, they quickly produced their
identity
cards and waved them into my eyes.
"We are detectives
from the CID Airport Depot," the senior of the two
said. The other two
officers were standing beside their car parked outside,
apparently waiting
for action. I could see the guns tucked openly on their
waist
belts.
Now almost exploding with fear, I said: "Gentlemen? Is
anything
wrong?" "You are under arrest for attempting to smuggle 23.5
kilogrammes of
marijuana to Botswana via the Plumtree border post. You and
your two fellow
smugglers jumped out of the car and escaped into the forest
on seeing a
police road block a few metres ahead of you. The car's
registration number
is 326-518K, and it is a Datsun 140Y yellow station
wagon," the Chief
Inspector concluded the charges.
"But, I have
never been to Plumtree in my life," I said. 'And the only
car I have is the
one you saw at my house," I pleaded, having been told by
them that they had
first gone to my house and were directed
to the Club. "In addition, I
do not even know how to roll a cigarette
of any kind, let alone export
marijuana," I continued, almost resigned to
my fate: a filthy prison
cell.
As it happened, I had once upon a time, owned a car with the
same
registration numbers, a Datsun 140Y sedan, yellow. On telling them that
I
had sold that car, a sedan, not a station wagon, five years before, they
were adamant that I could argue that in court Tuesday the following week.
They had to take me with them. Then an idea clicked in my mind. I had sold
the car through a registered
garage, so I pleaded with them to
phone the owner of the garage using
my cell phone, to check the name of the
person who had bought my car then. I
did not even know the man since every
transaction was done through the
garage as my authorised
representative.
Fortunately, the owner of the garage was still at
work, and he was
willing to meet with the detectives and give them all the
details of the
Kwekwe man who had bought the car, a yellow sedan, not a
station wagon.
The Chief Inspector stepped forward and shook my
hand, looked straight
into my eyes and said: "You are a lucky old man. We
had instructions to lock
you up for the weekend. But your story is
convincing. We will confirm everything with the garage owner," he
said,
sitting down before asking if he could be allowed to buy a few beers
for
himself and his team.
Sitting down with the four of my possible
jailers, I became relaxed
enough to ask where the 'instructions' to arrest
me had come from. They just
laughed and warmed me to 'be
careful.'
But before this incident, I had experienced a serious
hit-and-run
accident at the corner of Fourth Street and Samora Machel. I had
been
returning from a literary awards ceremony at the Oasis Hotel. A friend
had
asked to be dropped at a flat near Specis College. And the accident
happened
as I, with three other writers, southwards along Fourth. With
traffic lights
perfectly green on my side, we chatted and entered the
intersection. And the
big bang came, like an explosion. Fortunately, my car
did not roll over
because of the weight of the four passengers. No one was
hurt, and but
hit-and run-driver had dropped the front number plates of his
car, a BMW.
The accident happened at 21.30 just a few minutes walk
from the
central police station and we telephoned to report it to the police
soon
after. We waited for nearly three hours without any police officer
turning
up. My car was not too badly damaged, so we were able to start it
and drive
to the Central Police Station.
The police officer in
charge that night insisted on keeping the number
plate. But I refused and
took it home. I had it properly hung in my lounge
as a souvenir. For three
months the police were failing to find the owner of
the hit-and-run car
despite the computerised Central Vehicle Registry data
bank.
Coincidentally, the number plate disappeared one night after a
burglary in
which no door or window was forced open at my house.
Coincidentally
as well, after the marijuana incident, another break-in
resulted in my
cell-phone and other electrical gudgets disappearing. I had
heard them
forcing the door, and so they were not able to take much.
After
claiming to have no transport to come to take fingerprints and
investigate,
I went to fetch them, only to be told by one officer who looked
at me,
identified me as 'the writer' before declaring that he thought 'the
crime
looks political.'
Little did I know that the 'burglars' had not
finished their job. A
few months after I had left the country, they came in
broad daylight, with
careful planning and observation of the movements of
the
occupants, to swiftly steal my computer hard disk drive, diskettes,
laptop and fax machine. Nothing else except 'communication
equipment.'
Knowing fully well that no one can touch them, the
agents of the
Central Intelligence Organisation even boast about the various
ways in which
they can make you disappear, especially after having an
abundance of
alcoholic drinks at the express expense of the
taxpayers.
The life of a critical writer, or journalist, in
Zimbabwe, is full of
coincidents, one after another. As for seemingly casual
death threats, I had
stopped counting them after receiving the fiftieth
one
or so. Thus I learnt hard and fast that some crimes in Zimbabwe are
simply 'political' and no amount of investigation will ever lead to an
arrest.
Reuters
20
Apr 2006 13:24:03 GMT
Source: Reuters
By MacDonald
Dzirutwe
HARARE, April 20 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition party
vowed on
Thursday to press ahead with mass protests against President Robert
Mugabe,
saying it would not be cowed by his threats to crush the
demonstrations.
"We are unmoved by the ramblings of an 82-year-old
geriatric," Tendai Biti,
the Movement for Democratic Change's
secretary-general, told Reuters.
"We are not deviating from the course we
have taken."
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, whose party has come closest
to unseating
Mugabe at the polls, last month threatened a campaign of
peaceful mass
protests, prompting warnings from the veteran leader that the
MDC was
"dicing with death".
MDC officials said anti-Mugabe protests
were still on, and that Tsvangirai
would address weekend rallies in Harare
and the eastern border city of
Mutare to mobilise support for the drive,
which comes as Zimbabwe teeters on
the brink of economic
meltdown.
Political and economic analysts say rising prices of basic
foodstuffs,
public transport and housing is stoking anger in an urban
population already
struggling with breaking sewerage systems, water and
electricity cuts,
uncollected garbage and roads riddled with
potholes.
But they say the MDC still needs to shore up support for a
unified stand
against Mugabe's forces, with the military, police and
security agencies
still believed to be firmly behind the longtime president.
"Zimbabweans are
increasingly moving away from collective action in
preference for individual
action to solve their problems, so they need to be
convinced to buy into the
MDC programme," said leading political analyst
Heneri Dzinotyiwei.
Previous MDC protests have been met with tough
tactics by Mugabe's security
forces, the last being in June 2002 dubbed
"final push" to drive Mugabe from
power. It failed and led to Tsvangirai's
arrest on treason charges.
The opposition has not given a timetable for
new protests but Tsvangirai
told supporters at a congress last month they
should save money and stock up
food ahead of a "cold season of peaceful
democratic resistance".
"There has never been a revolution with a
time-table but it is the pressure
on the ground and the momentum from
congress that will determine when such
action will start," said MDC
spokesman Nelson Chamisa.
Political analysts say the MDC was keeping
information on demonstrations to
a minimum to keep the government
guessing.
"The are probably keeping their plans close to their chest
maybe because
they are borrowing from the military strategy of a surprise
attack," said
Eldred Masunungure, chairman of the political science
department at the
University of Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai, who has led the
MDC since its formation in 1999, has been
constantly outmanoeuvred by Mugabe
but analysts say he has emerged from his
party's recent split intent on
taking the battle to the veteran leader.
On Wednesday, a rebel MDC
faction which this year formally broke ranks with
Tsvangirai over how to
tackle Mugabe's ZANU-PF, announced its chairman had
joined three other
senior officials who quit and defected to Tsvangirai's
camp
Ecumenical News International
19 April 2006
David Wanless
Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
(ENI). For a visitor to the country, or the consumer of
news reports, the
numbers in Zimbabwe are staggering and depressing, whether
they relate to
the economy, inflation, or HIV infection. But some Christians
in the
southern African country, which this week celebrated 26 years of
independence, still believe there is reason to hope.
On a recent weekend,
when the funeral of liberation struggle hero James
Chikerema was carried
live on national television, workers in an old-age
home in the eastern city
of Mutare were shown on state TV striking in a
protest against a monthly
wage of 1.8 million Zimbabwe dollars (US$18).
Chikerema was a cousin of
President Robert Mugabe and raised at the same
Roman Catholic mission but
his criticism of the Zimbabwean leader was said
to have denied him a burial
at Heroes Acre, a resting spot for those in the
ruling party's faithful who
fought for liberation. "It is not everybody who
qualifies to be buried at
the Heroes," said Mugabe in a statement in the
government-run Herald
newspaper.
Zimbabwe's Central Statistical Office reported on 7 April that
inflation for
March had climbed to 913 per cent, the highest in the world,
according to
the International Monetary Fund. Trade Union leader Collin
Gwiyo was
reported by Agence France-Presse as saying the average worker
would need
25-30 million Zimbabwe dollars (US$253-302) a month to make ends
meet.
There are other signs of an economy that is estimated to have
shrunk by up
to 40 per cent in the past five years. Because they cannot
afford the bus or
taxi fare, hundreds of people can be seen walking to work
- or in search of
it. Filling stations rarely have petrol and many have an
abandoned look.
Supermarket shelves are often without stocks of staples such
as maize, rice,
sugar and cooking oil in a country that was once considered
the breadbasket
of Africa.
But you can buy a medium-sized slab of
chocolate for 450 000 Zimbabwe
dollars. On Sunday afternoon, minibus taxis
full of football fans returning
noisily from a match won by a local team,
give an impression that normal
life goes on.
One church leader told
Ecumenical News International that the bags of maize
seen on sale at a
roadside stall in a suburb of Bulawayo were probably
obtained by corrupt
means and the price mark-up put their purchase beyond
the reach of the
ordinary citizen.
Other Zimbabwean numbers seem even more depressing.
Although the HIV
infection rate has reportedly declined slightly, the World
Health
Organization has stated that because of the pandemic and the
breakdown in
health services, average life expectancy for Zimbabweans in
2006 has dropped
to 36 years, making it the world's lowest.
Still, at
church services in Zimbabwe's second city on 2 April, Passion
Sunday,
worshippers who spoke to ENI said they believed that God would bring
change
and improvement to their lives. Deacon Agnes Saymani, the lay leader
of a
congregation that meets in the open air while it struggles to raise
funds
for a church building said: "When we have faith in God, and work
together,
our needs will be met."
Later, at an ecumenical service in the Njube
Congregational Church, after a
march through the suburb to highlight the
stigmatisation of people with HIV
and AIDS, factory manager Joseph Ndhlovu
said, "We face shortages of
materials. Although most of our production is
exported and we have to
surrender much of our foreign exchange to the
government, we somehow manage
to keep production going and pay our workers
what we can."
Preaching at the service, the Rev. Prince Dibeela, a member
of the central
committee of the World Council of Churches, likened the
hardships being
experienced by Zimbabweans to those of the ancient
Israelites during their
exile in Babylon, who lamented: "How can we sing the
Lord's song in a
strange land?"
He drew parallels between the
political, economic and spiritual hardships
experienced then and now, but
told the congregation that he shared their
hope. His affirmation, "There
will be a new day in Zimbabwe," drew prolonged
applause and ululation from
the congregation.
. Journalists and critics of the government can
face draconian action. The
names of some of the people interviewed have been
changed for their own
protection. Editors.
Zambia Naional Broadcasting Corporation
The
Immigration Department in Livingstone has rounded up and questioned 15
Zimbabwean nationals for trading illegally in the tourist Capital -
Livingstone.
Immigration Department Public Relations Officer Mulako
Mbangweta said the
Zimbabweans were picked up, for trading on the streets of
Livingstone when
their entry permits indicate that they were entering Zambia
as visitors.
Ms. Mbangweta said the Zimbabweans would be taken to
Zimbabwe for them to
formalise their business entries into Zambia since they
are free to conduct
cross border business under COMESA trade
agreements.
She however said the Zimbabwean traders should conduct their
businesses only
in designated places and not on the streets.
The
Zimbabwean traders tell border officials that they are entering Zambia
to
visit friends and relatives but once they enter they become street
vendors.
She advised the Zimbabweans to respect Zambian laws.
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 20th April
2006
A friend sent me a table yesterday that sets out the
statistical
situation as derived from the Governments own figures of our
economic
performance since 1996. Why 1996? Because that was the year in
which our
exports peaked and our GDP reached US$8,5 billion. The stats from
that year
onwards simply nose dive.
Gross Domestic Product (the
usual measure of total economic output of
a
country) has declined
by almost 50 per cent. Income per capita has
fallen from US$830 per person
to US$358 - a drop of nearly 60 per cent. Our
GDP is now nearly 20 per cent
below the level of our GDP in 1980 - after 16
years of mandatory sanctions
and 8 years of civil war. Our GDP per capita
now classifies us as a nation
of very poor people. If the average GDP per
capita is at that level and we
still have some very wealthy people -
goodness only knows what the incomes
of the bottom third of our population
have become.
On Tuesday
our beloved State President told the nation that he was
expecting growth of
1 to 2 per cent in 2006 and stated that this was due to
a recovery in
agriculture. Well, the real news is that the figures issued by
his own
Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank point to another year - the
7th in
a row, when the economy will decline by over 5 per cent. Every sector
is
down on last year - including agriculture and we have just had the most
perfect farming season I can recall.
Pretty dismal reading. Of
course these are just the stark economic
facts - they say nothing about the
rampant corruption, the erosion of living
standards and the total
destruction of all forms of savings leaving
pensioners in dire straits. Can
this go on - yes it can and if it does the
consequences will be
catastrophic. Increasing movement of people across
borders, rising levels of
internal displacement and a rapid decline in
population due to increased
mortality and emigration.
There are three options -
1.
Leave things as they are, drift along and accept that there is
little
we
can do about the situation. Yesterday in the British Parliament Tony
Blair basically said just that - there was "little they could do to
influence matters".
2. Go the Mbeki route - engineer Mugabe's early
retirement, adopt
amendment
number 19 to the Lancaster House
constitution and allow Parliament to
appoint his successor, extend the life
of this government to 2010 and create
a fictional "government of national
unity" with some international (UN?)
support.
3. Go down the road
chosen by the MDC - throw everything we have into
a
short
non-violent struggle to force Zanu to accept they have failed
and cannot get
us back on the road to the future. Get them into a national
conference and
there thrash out what to do about all our problems and set up
a transitional
government that will take us to elections as soon as possible
so that the
people can chose who will lead us out of the hole we are in at
present.
Quite clearly option one is simply suicide - we cannot
go on as we
have been. To do so would reduce Zimbabwe to an impoverished
backwater with
a few million people living at a level of about US$100 per
annum and
virtually no future for anyone except a tiny political minority
who lived in
great
(feudal) wealth. Do not say it cannot happen -
it is happening in many
countries and the global community simply does not
have the will (they have
the means and the resources) to do anything about
matters until a real
Sierra Leone or Rwanda type situation
happens.
I fume when I see the pictures of educated African
refugees in Europe,
holding sit ins in Churches and marching on the streets
to protest their
situation. They should be home in Somalia, in the Sudan
fighting for their
rights as citizens and demanding performance from their
leaders. By fleeing
the continent they not only bring shame on all of us who
live in Africa, but
they make the situation in their countries more
hopeless. Stay and fight -
for democracy, for human rights, for political
rights, for jobs and
prosperity. These things do not come easily or
cheap.
Option two is being hatched as I write - but very soon its
architects
will run into Robert Mugabe who is simply demanding that he be
allowed to
complete his current term and is saying to anyone who will listen
- "I am
ready to do four more years". It is a non-starter and thank goodness
(or
Robert) because that solution would leave the Zimbabwean populace
in
the hands of the same corrupt despotic collection of clowns that have
been
responsible for the mess we are in now. It would do nothing to restore
the
rule of law; it would not restore our basic freedoms and would not be
either
legal or democratic.
So we are thrown back onto our own
resources and courage. Everyone I
speak to says that we (Zimbabweans) do not
have what it takes to topple this
dictatorship. This is not Bosnia, the
Philippines or Russia - Zimbabweans
are simply too passive and compliant to
do what is required. One such
commentator said to me today - you would be
better off launching the
struggle in South Africa where you have two or
three million very angry
Zimbabweans. Sure - that might be true; it is also
true that if those angry
young men came back - we could probably sort out
the mafia here in short
order. But that is not going to happen.
We have two more rallies this weekend - one in Mutare and another in
Harare.
I am going to both because I want to see and sense the mood
of the
people.
My own view is that Zimbabweans are ready to do what
is needed and we
need not fear the armed forces - they are as fed up as we
are. A business
executive told me yesterday that these situations are often
like an
eggshell - hard and impervious, until it cracks. Then it just
splinters and
falls apart.
We are about to hit this egg hard -
the egghead is nervous and
worried. He might well be because he has no
certainly that when this
situation cracks open, that he will be able to
protect himself from a very
angry and frustrated people. Remember East
Germany just before the wall came
down - tough, strong and invincible, until
the egg cracked and then there
was nowhere to go.
Eddie
Cross
By
Tichaona Sibanda
20 April 2006
Zimbabwe Cricket might be
forced to cancel their tour to Pakistan
after cricket authorities there
signalled their unwillingness to host a
depleted Zimbabwe side for a series
of one-day internationals later this
year.
Zimbabwe were
scheduled to visit Pakistan for a test and one-day
series in September, but
a players' strike forced the Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC)
to postpone all test
cricket until next February.
The ZC interim committee said it would
continue to play one-day
internationals but not tests, due to the depleted
strength of the squad.
But Reuters reports that unhappy with the
situation, a Pakistan
Cricket Board (PCB) official told them that a letter
had been sent to the ZC
asking them to arrange a full test and one-day
international tour next year.
Former Zimbabwe fast bowler Henry
Olonga told us news of Pakistan's
reluctance to play a depleted squad was
disappointing for Zimbabwe Cricket,
especially for those who have seen the
country's cricket fortunes collapse
in the last couple of
months.
'Sad thing is that all the youngsters have been let down by
the
administrators of ZC, who have promised so much but delivered nothing. I
hope it doesn't set a dangerous precedence because other countries can start
pulling out of tours,' Olonga said.
He admitted though that
'things like this' were going to happen at
some point because the ZC
administration has been acting like renegades, and
he pointed a finger of
blame towards the International Cricket Council for
not doing enough to
rescue cricket in Zimbabwe.
'The ICC should have been stronger
earlier, there is no doubt the game
has been administered very poorly. The
collapse of cricket in the country is
no ordinary occurrence, the government
has had a hand in it because they
stepped in and set up an interim committee
run by Peter Chingoka, the man
who is behind most of the controversies,' he
said.
He added that it's 'like fighting fire with fire' and cricket
will die
in the blaze.
SW Radio
Africa Zimbabwe news
The Herald
(Harare)
April 20, 2006
Posted to the web April 20,
2006
Harare
ALL workers should be given inflation-adjusted
salaries to survive
hyperinflation, the Public Service Association (PSA) has
said.
The association said although the issue of better wages was before
the
Tripartite Negotiating Forum, the resumption of talks should be
considered
as a matter of urgency. In an interview, PSA executive secretary
Mr Emmanuel
Tichareva said salary increases that were awarded to civil
servants in
January this year have since been eroded by inflation, which now
stands at
913 percent. He added that the cost of health care was had also
gone beyond
the reach of many despite it being a basic human right. "We call
upon
employers to review the conditions of service for all Government
employees
and other workers in the country," he said.
"It is our duty
to remain loyal and steadfast to our motherland and should
remain resolute
in our march against unfair labour practices in our beloved
country," he
said. He said the biggest puzzle is: where are the underpaid
civil servants
going to get school fees for their children next term since
the fees far
outweigh their earnings? Government recentl y met business and
labour
representatives in a bid to resolve the impasse over salaries between
the
TNF social partners.
Business and labour had delayed the resumption of
the TNF, a strategic
framework for addressing social and economic problems,
following a stalemate
over the adjustment of salaries to be above the
Poverty Datum Line (PDL).
The last TNF meeting was held in January this year
and labour called for a
review of monthly salaries from $2 million to about
$28 million, in line
with the PDL. However, the PDL has since risen to $35
million after
inflation surged to 913 percent and prices of basic
commodities continued to
soar against the stagnant salary earnings.
Employers are yet to adjust
workers' salaries although some of them were
declaring huge profits running
into billions of dollars.
Business Report
April 20,
2006
By Janice Kew
Harare - Shares of Impala Platinum (Implats)
and Anglo Platinum (Angloplat)
fell yesterday after Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe said he backed a
plan to take 51 percent stakes in mines owned
by foreign companies.
Implats shares fell 3.25 percent to R1 100, while
Angloplat fell 2.31
percent to R585.
The Top40 index was 0.81 percent
higher.
Implats' Zimbabwe Platinum Mines unit, which owns a mine in
Zimbabwe and
most of the country's known reserves, said last month that the
state might
take a 51 percent stake in the nation's platinum projects,
citing a
government proposal.
Angloplat also plans to dig a
mine there.
Mugabe told a rally in Harare on Tuesday that he backed the
plan, according
to Reuters.
"Mugabe's comments are definitely hitting
the platinum stocks and probably
more so than the rand," said Mark Kalil of
Andisa Securities.
The rand climbed to a three-month high against the
dollar yesterday,
breaking through R6 to reach R5.949. - Bloomberg
Khaleej Times Online Editorial
20
April 2006
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is not your
usual, run-of-the-mill
politician. He has always been unorthodox in his
approach to politics and
democracy, for ever courting controversy with his
unconventional views,
policies and actions.
Who could forget
how he, as part of his 'beautification' drive, recently
demolished tens of
thousands of homes in the poor suburbs of Harare? No
wonder he is thoroughly
despised in the West even as the rest of Africa
views him with increasing
alarm.
This week, addressing the 26th anniversary celebrations of the
country's
independence, Mugabe warned opposition parties of dire
consequences if they
used street protests and strikes to come to power. The
president thundered:
"I am warning them from playing with fire - they should
stop it." Responding
to the threat by opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai,
that he would
mobilise people to push the government out of power, the
Zimbabwe president
promised the wrath of the state machinery.
While
as the leader of Zimbabwe, Mugabe has every right to maintain peace
and
order in the country, he cannot prevent opposition parties from doing
what
is their democratic right: to protest, criticise and strike - if
necessary -
to draw people's attention to government failures. After all,
that is what
the opposition is supposed to do in a democracy. If the
political parties in
Zimbabwe are taking to streets to make their point, the
government has no
option but allow it to do so. As long as such protests and
demonstrations
remain peaceful, the government cannot and mustn't interfere
with them, if
Mugabe genuinely believes that Zimbabwe is a democratic
country. As someone
who loves to chastise the West for its 'double standards'
from time to time,
it's time for Mugabe to demonstrate his own commitment to
genuine
democracy.
April 20, 2006
By Oscar Nkala www.andnetwork.com
Over 750
Zimbabwean families that invaded the Gonarezhou National
Park, an important
component of the tri-nation Trans-Limpopo peace park
initiative, will
finally vacate the intensive conservation zone, a
government newspaper has
reported.
According to The Herald, the families agreed to move
following an
agreement on relocation with provincial government
officials.
The paper, which did not give details of the agreement,
added that the
families had for long resisted eviction efforts by the
government's
Department of National Parks and Wildlife.
They
reportedly contented that the game park was part of their
ancestral lands,
from which they were unfairly evicted by the colonial
regime.
The tri-nation frontier park will link South Africa's Kruger National
Park,
Gaza National Park in Mozambique and the Gonarezhou in Zimbabwe. But
the
invasion of Gonarezhou has slowed the project down, with the government
dithering on when the invaders would be ordered to leave.
The
DPNW has always insisted on the removal of the invaders to make
way for the
development of the park, but the government has consistently
refused to act
firmly against them because they are all supporters of
President Mugabe's
ruling ZANU PF party.
The Herald quoted the governor of the
south-eastern province of
Masvingo as saying the invading families would
leave by the end of August.
The presence of human populations in the game
sanctuary led to a sharp
increase in indiscriminate poaching in which all
sorts of weapons- ranging
from crude wire snares to automatic rifles - were
used to kill game.
Because of the invasion of the game sanctuary,
the lauch of the
Trans-Limpopo frontier park has been delayed several times.
While Mozambique
and South Africa have proceeded with the opening of an
elephant corridor
from Kruger into Mozambique's Gaza Park, Zimbabwe may
still be a long way
from joining because of the dilapidated state of
Gonarezhou.
The invaders are also reported to have destroyed the
perimeter fence,
raising the cost of rehablitation beyond the financial
capabilities of the
Zimbabwe governmnet.
AND Africa
Engineering News
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zimbabwe on Wednesday launched a new drive to revive its ailing
economy,
saying it would do away with past obstacles to growth, but vowed to
press on
with policies that have repelled key donors.
The southern African
state is in the throes of a deepening economic
crisis that has been worsened
by the withdrawal of international support
mainly over Harare's forcible
redistribution of white-owned commercial farms
among blacks.
The meltdown has been revealed in chronic shortages of food, foreign
exchange and fuel, surging unemployment and the world's highest rate of
inflation at 913,6%.
Critics say political interference,
including failure to prosecute
ruling party supporters implicated in
disruptions to agriculture linked to
the land reforms, have undermined
efforts to reverse the crisis.
"Previously we have been very good
at crafting turnaround programmes
that have fallen short at the
implementation stage. This time round the
programmes we have got are
action-oriented," central bank Governor Gideon
Gono told a news briefing
also addressed by government ministers and
business leaders.
"We also have commitment to do away with the bureaucracy that has
stifled
(us) before. Where the issue is delivery versus bureaucracy,
bureaucracy
must give way."
Economic Development Minister Rugare Gumpo said the
drive was aimed at
"restoring the positive image of the country" by, among
others, seeking to
boost investor confidence and cut government debt. The
plan will be overseen
by a council headed by President Robert
Mugabe.
But Gumbo also struck a defiant note over Zimbabwe's
strained
relations with the international community, saying: "We are not
apologetic
about what we are doing in Zimbabwe."
Mugabe has
clashed with the West not only over his controversial land
reforms, but also
over charges that his ruling ZANU-PF party has rigged key
elections since
2000 and violated human rights. The veteran leader, in power
since
independence from Britain in 1980, denies the charges.
In a move
likely to further rattle investors, Mugabe this week backed
government plans
to assume 51% control of all foreign-owned mines.
But an optimistic
Mugabe told supporters at a rally on Tuesday to
commemorate 26 years of
independence that the country was on course for
recovery and would register
positive economic growth for the first time in 8
years.
Gono
said on Wednesday the revival initiative would also trigger
inflows of
$2,5-billion "either in cash or in the form of investments"
within the next
90-days.
But analysts have been sceptical about imbabwe's prospects
and say the
economy - which has shrunk by 40% since 1999 - is likely to see
another
contraction in 2006.
20 April
2006.
Zimbabwean activist and immigration lawyer Yvonne Mahlunge is the
guest on
Behind The Headlines. Lance Guma interviews her on the recent
asylum ruling
on the fate of failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers by the UK
Court of Appeal.
With so much confusion surrounding the implications of that
ruling, the
programme explores all the possible angles and what they mean
for
Zimbabweans in the UK.
Yvonne Mahlunge
NEXT WEEK- Blessing
Chebundo (MP) on BTH- Why he left the pro-senate MDC.
27 April
2006.
Don't miss Behind The Headlines next Thursday as Lance Guma speaks
to the
MDC's Kwekwe Member of Parliament Blessing Chebundo. Why did he
resign from
the faction led by Arthur Mutambara to rejoin Morgan Tsvangirai
and his
camp? Chebundo gives an explosive recounting of events that led to
his
departure and how some of his colleagues gave him a verbal lashing for
defecting. It's one not to miss.
Blessing Chebundo
Lance
Guma
Producer/Presenter
SW Radio Africa
+44-777-855-7615
www.swradioafrica.com
Behind The
Headlines
Thursday 6:15 to 6:30pm ( British Summer Time) on Shortwave or live
on the
internet at www.swradioafrica.com
Also available
on internet archives after broadcasts at
http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/archives.php
SW
Radio Africa is Zimbabwe's only independent radio station broadcasting
from
the United Kingdom. The station is staffed by exiled Zimbabwean
journalists
who because of harsh media laws cannot broadcast from home.
Full
broadcast on Shortwave-3230 KHZ between 6-8pm ( British Summer time)
and 24
hours on the internet at www.swradioafrica.com.
Daily Mirror, Zimbabwe
Oswelled Ureke
issue
date :2006-Apr-20
THE PRICES of fuel at most city service stations
countrywide have been going
down in recent days, a survey by The Daily
Mirror has established.
The development comes at a time trends on the
international market show
prices going up due to the current stand off
between the USA and Iran over
the latter's nuclear development
programme.
Diesel can now be bought both at service stations and on the
parallel market
at about $190 000 a litre, while petrol is $10 000 more
expensive at $200
000.
This has been a downward change from about a
fortnight ago, when fuel sold
at anything above $220 000 a litre, both on
the parallel market and at
service stations.
Besides lowering the fuel
prices, many service stations have also put up
boards and notices
advertising 'special offers' for the commodity to lure
customers.
Some of
the signs that could be seen at service stations in Harare's central
business district (CBD) read 'diesel and petrol available', or 'fuel on
special offer' with motorists filling up their tanks without having to
queue.
The availability of fuel at most service stations countrywide has
been a
cause for relief, as the commodity had in recent years become more
scarce
that only a few stations sold it.
Fuel was reportedly abundant in
Masvingo and Bulawayo, where it was said to
be selling below $200 000, while
in Bindura diesel sold at $210 000 a litre.
Some motorists, however, said
fuel was not so readily available in Bindura
as in Harare and Bulawayo, and
efforts to get an official comment on the
variegated fuel supply trend were
fruitless.
A Mufakose-based fuel vendor, who requested anonymity, said demand
for fuel
had declined with price increases, forcing fuel dealers to revise
the price
downward.
"Before we started selling the fuel at over $200 000,
it was around $150 000
a litre.
"That figure was not lucrative for
service stations, so they were not
importing much of the commodity, causing
high demand for fuel, compared to
the number of suppliers on the
market.
"But the $200 000 per litre price was lucrative so all service
stations
began selling it, but motorists could not afford it, causing us to
review
the prices downwards," said the vendor.
Officially the pump prices
for diesel and petrol are $22 000 and $23 000 a
litre respectively pending a
review by the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of
Commerce (ZNCC) president Luxon Zembe said the
trends were normal and
predicted that fuel prices would continue to go down
before stabilising as
long as market forces were left to determine demand
and supply. "Fuel is in
abundance because government has allowed individuals
to bring in the
product, so it becomes more available and the price goes
down.
"This is
the basic economic theory of demand and supply and it is a good
lesson that
we need to remove price controls.
"Though not officially communicated this
is what is happening and we may
see the prices continuing to go down despite
international trends, to as low
a level as makes business sense,' Zembe
said.
The normalisation of fuel supplies has seen some stability and sanity
creeping back into the transport sector.
Both commuter omnibus and
long-distance transport operators have continued
charging stable fares,
which recently were not uniform and rose at short
intervals.
Long
distance bus fares were largely unchanged going into the Easter break,
although a few unscrupulous transporters temporarily hiked them taking
advantage of the influx of commuters during the period.
City transport
blues have, of late, also eased up.
Efforts to seek comment from the Noczim
over the trends on the fuel market
were in vain as calls to their offices
went unanswered.
According to international reports, petroleum prices rose
above US$70 a
barrel on Easter Monday and showed indications of rising to
new record
prices on the back of tensions over Iran's nuclear standoff with
the US.
Prices of the commodity opened the year at around US$55 a barrel in
the
first week of January.
Daily News, SA
April 20,
2006
By the Editor
With the reputation of being the
fastest shrinking economy in the
world, there can be little for the people
of Zimbabwe to celebrate as that
country goes into its 27th year of
independence.
When reigning president Robert Mugabe took over the
country, Zimbabwe
had the potential of being the shining example under the
African firmament.
It was well endowed with natural resources,
plenty of fertile
agricultural land - although, as in much of Africa, water
is a problem - and
an industrious population with a generally good standard
of education.
Alas, it was never to fulfil that potential. Slowly
but surely Mugabe
allowed his wonderful country to haemorrhage through
corruption, poor
government, political nepotism and disastrous economic
policies.
At the same time, Mugabe himself started losing touch
with reality as
his megalomania grew to the extent that he has alienated his
important
friends in the West who have washed their hands of his many
problems,
allowing his country to crumble into its current socio-economic
crisis.
What was once the breadbasket of Africa has become a
country of food
shortages brought about largely through the farm land grabs
under the guise
of Mad Mug's land redistribution policy, during which time
the elite grabbed
the best properties with little idea of how to farm
them.
As investment dried up as a result of Mugabe's threats to at
least
partially nationalise foreign-owned industry and mines, so too did
foreign
exchange. Today Zimbabwe is unable to pay for its imports of fuel,
medical
supplies, machinery and other goods, driving inflation to around
900%.
From a jewel in the African crown, Zimbabwe today is a sad
litany of
failure, brought to its knees by an 82-year-old man gone mad on
his own
perceived importance, grudgingly supported by his neighbours,
including
President Mbeki.
Time is running out for the
11-million Zimbab-weans who are dying
through Aids and its attendant
diseases, along with starvation and a general
hopelessness. It can only get
worse while Mugabe is still around.
April 20, 2006,
By ANDnetwork .com
Mpilo Central Hospital in Zimbabwe is operating
without a sterilising
machine, putting the lives of patients undergoing
surgery at risk because
surgical equipment is being cleaned using an
ineffective boiling process.
A source at the hospital said doctors
feared patients could be in
danger of contracting infections or dying
because surgical tools were not
properly sterilised. The hospital's
autoclave sterilising machine broke down
six months ago.
"It is
very difficult for one to operate on a patient with a clear
conscience when
you are aware that the tools you are using are not properly
sterilised.
"I do not regard it as ethical to operate on a patient
when you know
that their lives could be at risk because tools are not
sterilised," said
the source.
He said the autoclave sterilisation
process entails tools being
steamed under pressure over a stipulated period
and temperature to ensure
that all germs are killed.
"When the
autoclave sterilisation process is used, it is unlikely that
surgical tools
remain contaminated. The tools are heated in extreme and
intense
temperatures over a time measure that is controlled according to
recommended
specifications.
"Boiling on the other hand only heats the tools to a
maximum of 100
degrees only, even if you boil the tools for over three
hours, the maximum
temperature remains the same and that temperature is not
effective in
removing all the impurities," he said.
He said that
the responsible authorities should act to have the
sterilising machine
repaired.
Mpilo Medical Superintendent, Dr Lindiwe Mlilo, could not be
reached
for comment yesterday as she was said to be in Harare for a
consultative
meeting.
Source : Angola Press
This Day
(Lagos)
EDITORIAL
April 19, 2006
Posted to the web April 20,
2006
Lagos
In a characteristic manner, Africa is unable to produce
a compromise
candidate(s) for the proposed expanded permanent membership of
the United
Nations Security Council, five months to the deadline. If this
opportunity
is frittered away, Black Africans will remain the only race
without
representation in the most powerful organ of the United Nations,
with the
attendant negative implications.
Since the world body was
established six decades ago, it has served as a
widely accepted platform for
international relations, diplomacy and
arbitration. Specifically, the
security council that takes final decisions
on war and related matters has
become a forum where awesome military
credentials are used as weapons for
negotiations and supremacy. Also, the
veto power held by its five permanent
members - US, China, France, Britain
and Russia - confers on them rare
privileges whose misuse can have serious
global consequences. Over the
years, this status quo has provided the basis
for apprehension, inferiority
and agitation among the non-veto members of
the organisation.
The
current reforms at the UN are aimed at correcting that imbalance to
foster a
better sense of belonging in the world community. The cold war era
promoted
the polarisation of nations along ideological lines, which in turn
hampered
global peace, trust, and integration. In the new world, there is
the need
for a repositioned UN to move closer to racial equality.
That is why the
most backward part of the planet - Africa - must not be
sidelined as a new
thinking sweeps through the UN. From centuries of
slavery, through direct
colonialism, and now to economic imperialism, Africa
has remained the butt
of all other races of the world.
It is sad that now that an occasion has
presented itself to move the
continent up in the global family, Africa is
once again in contention with
itself for the one or two security council
slots. It is unfortunate that the
seven aspiring countries - Nigeria, South
Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal,
Libya and Gambia - do not seem to appreciate
the gravity of the situation.
Majority of the veto holders prefer the
existing structure and composition
of the influential organ. The failure of
African nations to forge a common
front would only justify the alibi for
their position that the elite club of
veto-wielders should not be
expanded.
This point has been well made by Nigeria's minister of foreign
affairs,
Chief Olu Adeniji. Says he: "The quest (for a candidate) has hit a
brickwall. The battle is now between aspirants to that seat and members not
willing to admit new entrants...And for the five permanent members, the
disagreement among the contenders is sweet music."
If this discordant
tune is received as symphony by advanced nations, it
will, no doubt, have a
cacophonous fall-out in Africa whose underdog rating
has continued to deny
it the best on offer in a world that is often unkind
to the feeble. The
African Union (AU) should urgently put its acts together
and prove that it
is united, focused and undaunted in the pursuit of its
interests.
At
the risk of appearing immodest, we reiterate our stand on Africa's
selection
for the UN slot. Nigeria is eminently qualified to clinch it,
against the
background of its unstinted involvement in peace-keeping
operations around
the globe. It has committed more human, financial and
material resources to
peace efforts in the continent and outside it than any
other African
country. Furthermore, apart from its predominant population,
it also
possesses the potential to be the strongest economy in the
continent.
Whichever way it turns out, Africa must show that it has
come of age, and
that it is prepared to be realistic in its choice of which
of its countries
assumes the critical responsibilities at the world's centre
stage.
By Tererai Karimakwenda
20 April 2006
The Chinese premier
Hu Jintao is in the United States meeting
president George Bush and
influential business leaders like Bill Gates. As
smiles and handshakes grace
television screens and newspapers worldwide,
victims of China's abusive
tendencies at home know that their case will at
least be heard during
discussions in Washington. But it is unlikely that the
subject of China's
support for ruthless regimes in Africa will come up. Due
to it's massive
economic growth China appears to be prepared to lend support
to anyone, if
it gains them access to rich resources.
For Zimbabweans in
particular, the Chinese have become a symbol of
Robert Mugabe's "Look East"
policy. Their cheap products (known as
"zhing-zhongs" to Zimbos) flood the
shops as a constant reminder of the role
the Chinese government has played
in the deterioration of their country.
Tim Hughes at The South
African Institute of International Affairs
(SAIIA) has been looking at
China's growing influence in Africa. He believes
the country is already a
major player on the continent, doing at least US$40
billion worth of
business annually. Construction contracts, deals in
agriculture and
preferential access to Zimbabwe's markets were granted by
Mugabe in exchange
for military hardware, foreign currency and protection in
the United
Nations' security council. It's also generally believed that
China provided
the equipment that the Mugabe regime used to jam our
shortwave broadcasts to
Zimbabwe.
Hughes said China is also influencing business in Sudan
and Angola,
which provide it with crude oil. The Sudanese scenario is
perhaps the most
tragic. Thousands were killed in the Darfur region and
weapons from China
were implicated. This Chinese role in military affairs
worries Hughes even
more. He said the Chinese government has also provided
Zimbabwe with
military hardware. This is contrary to its stated foreign
policy of
"non-interference in internal affairs." Hughes said China's
activities are
undermining government structures in Africa and its influence
is now
extending beyond Zimbabwe, Angola and Sudan into the Gulf of
Guinea.
According to Hughes China has been changing international
business
since the US normalised relations with the country under president
Bill
Clinton. He said the flood gates then opened when Bill Gates and his
giant
Microsoft compromised its principles by allowing China to restrict the
use
of certain language on its internet browser. Google and Yahoo then
followed
suit. Hughes said when these companies compromise themselves in
allowing
China to restrict them and censure information, China will not
reform or
fall in line with accepted human rights standards. He believes
these
companies are so powerful they could have forced the Chinese
government to
mend its ways.
Meanwhile China's relationship
with Zimbabwe is already changing. The
Mugabe regime has run out of
resources to offer as the country's economy
continues to deteriorate at a
rapid pace. Recent reports indicate that
Chinese tourism figures have
declined drastically. Zimbabweans have no more
money to spend on the
zhing-zhongs due to hyper inflation. But China
continues to thrive
elsewhere, supporting military juntas around the world
which are condemned
by most democratic nations.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
New Zimbabwe
By Lebo Nkatazo
Last updated: 04/20/2006 19:23:56
THE two
feuding factions of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic
Change
(MDC) will submit names of their candidates for the Budiriro
by-election on
Friday, offficials said.
The nomination court for the parliamentary
by-election will be taking
candidates' names on Friday, and the contest is
likely to be between Zanu PF
and the two MDC factions.
Nelson
Chamisa, the spokesman for a faction led by the MDC's founder leader,
Morgan
Tsvangirai, said Wednesday that they would be fielding Emmanuel
Chisvuure as
their candidate.
Chisvuure is a former information and publicity youth
secretary in Budiriro.
Chamisa rejects suggestions that the confusion within
the party could split
the vote and favour the Zanu PF candidate.
He
said: "There is no issue of splitting the vote as there is one MDC. Our
supporters also know that there is only one MDC."
The other faction
of the party led by former NASA rocket scientist Professor
Arthur Mutambara
was expected to release the name of its candidate late
Thursday following a
meeting of the national executive.
However, New Zimbabwe.com understands
that Gabriel Chaibva is likely to be
the candidate.
The two MDC
factions are smarting from defeats in the Chegutu mayoral polls
and ward
elections in Bulawayo at the hands of Zanu PF.