http://news.yahoo.com/
AFP
1 hr 43 mins
ago
HARARE (AFP) - The Zimbabwe high court has approved the sale of
diamonds
from a field plagued by human rights abuses, as Harare moved to
defy the
Kimberley Process, state-run media reported Tuesday.
The
sale of the Marange diamonds belonging to British-owned African
Consolidated
Resources was blocked last year by the international regulator
after it
found that Zimbabwe had failed to comply with human rights
standards.
Harare initially stopped the sale pending authorisation
from local
authorities and the Kimberley Process -- set up to prevent the
sale of
so-called blood diamonds, which are used to fund rebel
movements.
However, the state-run Herald newspaper reported Tuesday that
the high court
has now approved the sale of 129,000 carats of diamonds
belonging to African
Consolidated Resources (ACR).
Mines Minister
Obert Mpofu reiterated Harare's determination to defy the
Kimberley Process,
even though Zimbabwe is a member of the group.
"We are going to benefit
from our diamonds whether with the KP (Kimberley
Process) or not," he said,
according to the state-run New Ziana news agency.
Mpofu also claimed that
the "country's detractors" were manipulating the
process in order to block
Zimbabwe from benefiting from diamond sales.
"That is why our detractors
always throw spanners in the wheels when we want
to move forward," he
said.
Mpofu said the government will comply with the high
court.
"We will abide by the court's ruling," Mpofu told AFP after a
cabinet
meeting.
"This is what the country has been waiting for.
These resources belong to
the people of Zimbabwe," Mpofu added. "These
people (Westerners) have
clearly taken their sanctions agenda to another
level."
Mpofu could however not state when the sale will take place, but
pointed out
that the southern African country will ask police to investigate
ACR
management for buying diamonds on the black market.
He said the
country had in stock 300,000 carats of diamonds that have been
mined by two
firms currently contracted by the government in Marange.
Last year,
government entered into a joint venture with two South African
firms to mine
diamonds in Marange.
"We cannot keep or store another 129,000 carats of
diamonds, but we are
going to ask the police to find out why a public listed
company like ACR was
buying diamonds from panners (artisanal
miners).
"We will wait for the KP monitor to come, but we cannot wait for
ever."
In February, the Supreme Court ordered two government firms to
stop
operations on the ACR fields. The case was brought to court by ACR in a
bid
to win back its mining rights which had been suspended in
2006.
Since the suspension, the Zimbabwean government and the London
listed ACR
have been in a legal fight over the ownership of the diamond
fields.
In March, a Kimberly Process investigator visited the country to
determine
if human rights standards are being met in the country's Marange
diamond
fields.
The investigator found that while procedures looked
good on paper, they were
not being implemented. Zimbabwe was given until
June to fix the abuses.
http://news.radiovop.com
27/04/2010
09:26:00
Harare, April 27, 2010 - Alarmed by the lack of progress in
the full
implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), Zimbabwe's
Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last week embarked on a regional diplomatic
offensive mission, where he met South African president and facilitator
Jacob Zuma and Botswana president Ian Khama to try and put pressure on
President Robert Mugabe to reform.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai have been
haggling over full implementation of the GPA
for more than a year after the
inclusive government was put in place.
Although details of Tsvangirai's
meetings with the two presidents remain a
secret, Radio VOP has it on good
authority that the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) leader is losing
patience with Mugabe who seemingly agrees to
reforms in closed door meetings
but ends up failing to meet his obligations.
Tsvangirai's office on
Monday refused to divulge details of the meetings but
highly placed sources
said he had fully briefed Zuma about the situation in
Zimbabwe and expected
some sort of action to be done in the next few days.
Tsvangirai travelled
to South Africa and Botswana after snubbing Iranian
President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad who was in the country to officially open the
Zimbabwe
International Trade Fair (ZITF) at the invitation of Mugabe. The
Zimbabwean
prime minister instead chose to meet Zuma and Khama.
"The Prime Minister
managed to meet SADC (Southern African Development
Community) facilitator
President Zuma in Pretoria for more than three hours
last week and he was
among other things discussing progress in the on-going
negotiations. He also
expressed anger with Mugabe over his failure to
fulfill agreements arguing
that even if they agree on certain issues, Mugabe
would renege whenever he
meets his hardliners in Zanu PF.
"The problem with Mugabe is that he
deceives people including presidents
from the region by appearing to agree
to certain things in meetings then
dithering when it comes to
implementation. Of course he usually makes a
u-turn after meeting his
hardliners from the army and the politburo. This
was what Tsvangirai was
telling President Zuma.
"Right now we are a month away from the World Cup
finals yet Mugabe is still
trying to create chaos here so that we embarrass
our neighbours, South
Africa who are hosting one of the biggest sporting
events of all time," said
the highly placed official.
Tsvangirai then
proceeded to Gaborone where he met Khama, who as expected
was reportedly
sympathetic to the MDC leader's concerns. The Zimbabwean
prime minister is
due to meet other regional leaders. The region is said to
be losing patience
with the Zimbabwe issue and if the deadlock continues,
another SADC summit
on Zimbabwe might be convened.
Mugabe is claiming that he will not move
on reforms unless sanctions imposed
by the West are removed while the MDC
wants a number of outstanding issues
implemented like the swearing in of
provincial governors and deputy minister
of agriculture designate Roy
Bennett, the completion of the constitutional
reforms and media reforms
among others.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
27/04/2010 00:00:00
by Lunga
Sibanda
A STAGGERING 45,000 teachers quit the profession and sought
jobs abroad over
the last decade, a union said Tuesday.
The Zimbabwe
Teachers' Association (ZIMTA) said at least 7,000 teachers had
heeded a
government call to return to work since February last year after
Zimbabwe's
three main political parties formed a power sharing government.
The
figures reveal for the first time the impact Zimbabwe's economic crisis
had
on the education sector as millions of Zimbabweans flooded regional
countries and thousands more went in search of a better life in Europe,
America, Canada and Australia.
In a report, ZIMTA said: "It is
generally agreed that the loss over the past
years is irrecoverable in terms
of quality learning and teaching time and
represents a significant gap in
the education of Zimbabwe's children."
ZIMTA said the country's 5,200
primary schools and 1,500 secondary schools
were currently 30 percent short
of teachers on average.
The cash-strapped unity government formed after
disputed elections recently
warned it was unable to raise monthly allowances
of below $270 paid to
public service workers for an indefinite
period.
ZIMTA said the allowances were "demoralising" adding that
teachers "cannot
meet their cost of living expenses, let alone pay for their
own children's
school fees."
The union, the largest in the country,
added: "Education remains the engine
with which to drive Zimbabwe's long
term prospects. It is critical therefore
that the sector is not left to
collapse. Enduring solutions on salaries,
food and working conditions should
be reached soon, the situation in schools
requires urgent action."
http://news.radiovop.com
27/04/2010
10:48:00
Masvingo, April 27, 2010 - Riot police disrupted a photo
exhibition by
Zimrights Monday which showcased the political violence of the
2008
elections, after they confisticated the pictures and arrested the
organisers.
About a dozen police officers swarmed the Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) boardroom, the venue of the photo
exhibition, looking for organisers
of the event.
Okay Machisa, the
ZimRights director, told Radio VOP police arrested Joel
Hita and three
other employees Cynthia Manjoro, Olivia Gumbo and Leo
Chamawinya on
Monday.
While Hita remained in police custody on Tuesday morning, the
three
employees were released at 7pm on Monday. ZimRights intended hosting
an
photo exhibition entitled "Reflections."
Hita was being held
without any charges being formulated against him.
Machisa said police had
refused Hita's relatives to give him food.
"This is another barbaric
harassment and persecution of human rights
defenders and campaigners. It is
real people acting out the law.
Police were ordered by a High Court in Harare
recently to return pictures
seized at another exhibition. This is a
continuation of the
harassment of civil society organisations in Zimbabwe,"
he said.
Many people who had come for the exhibition were forced out of
the venue and
ordered to disperse, Radio VOP witnessed.
Masvingo
provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Prosper
Mugauri, refused
to comment on the matter, referring all questions to the
police headquarters
in Harare.
However, Zimrights lawyer, Philip Shumba of Mwonzora and
Associates, said:
"We are going to challenge the decision and seek the
release of the
arrested. The police charged us under POSA, but the event had
got clearance
from the police."
Recently Police in Harare barred a
similar exhibition after arresting
Machisa who was later released at the
intervention of Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai. Zimrights sought a High
Court order that compelled the police to
return the pictures and the
exhibition went ahead. Tsvangirai officially
opened the event. However,
organisers later abandoned the exhibition that
was supposed to run for 10
days, due to constant harassment by the police.
Zimrights later vowed it
will stage exhibitions throughout the
country.
A Bulawayo artist Owen Maseko was also recently arrested for an
exhibition
showing photos of the Gukurahundi era which saw many people in
Matabeleland
persecuted by the North Korean trained fifth Brigade Army. He
was later
released.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Own Correspondent Tuesday 27
April 2010
HARARE -- Zimbabwe's largest election monitoring body, the
Zimbabwe Election
Support Network, has said the independence of the recently
installed
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's is compromised through the
executive
interference of President Robert Mugabe.
ZESN said the new
elections body was seriously compromised as it remained
beholden to
Mugabe.
The report also said the timing of the election is subject to the
proclamation by the president who is also a candidate. This makes ZEC
reactive to the presidential proclamation.
"The independence of ZEC
is therefore compromised on a number of issues due
to executive influence
through ministerial approval, where the ideal should
be parliamentary and
not executive," the 17-page report released Monday
said.
"ZEC has the
mandate to monitor media conduct during elections but has been
limited by
financial resources and perhaps the political will to do so
effectively in
the past.
"While commissioners may be "new brooms", they may face a
mammoth task in
attempting to alter an institution that has been politicised
for so many
years."
The report said there were also concerns that the
chairperson who is based
outside the country may not be able to entirely
commit himself to the work
of the commission and his presence may be little
more than symbolic given
commitments out of the country.
"In
addition, the installation of a deputy chair from the former Commission
who
is likely to be in charge of the Commission's processes in the absence
of
the chairperson raises a number of questions regarding the extent of
reform.
The constitution needs to explicitly define the legal
independence of ZEC.
Appointment and dismissal of staff must be
independent from the influence of
political parties.
"In fulfilling
its mandate the capacity of ZEC needs to be enhanced through
adequate
resourcing and increasing its staff complement," said the
report.
Furthermore the ZEC's budget must be independent from executive
power and
should rather be regulated by parliament, the report
said.
"Formal and practical independence form the cornerstones of an
effective
electoral management body.
"Formal independence is provided
for by the law and practical independence
is provided for in their ability
to undertake their operational functions
without interference.
"Thus
an independent electoral body should be able to appoint and dismiss
its own
staff according to its needs," the report said.
"Depoliticisation of
electoral governance can only be achieved by the
establishment of an
independent electoral management bodies.
"Independence does not mean
total disconnection from government but that as
a state institution, the
body remains accountable to the state and public
through
parliament.
"The fact that ZEC'S functions are to a large extent subject
to ministerial
approval limits the operational independence of
ZEC."
In addition, an independent electoral body should be able to level
the
political field and ensure that political actors comply with the law,
the
report stated.
ZESN advocates for an electoral management body
that is independent and free
from executive control, which reports and is
accountable to parliament. -
ZimOnline
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Violet Gonda
27
April 2010
Destitute Zimbabweans living in shacks in urban areas in South
Africa are
becoming victims of a 'clean up' exercise, as the government
prepares for
the World Cup which starts in June.
The South African
government is using what are effectively militia groups,
called the Red
Ants, to evict immigrants. They wear red overalls, paid for
by the various
municipalities, arrive without warning and force the slum
dwellers out,
often using brutal force and giving them no time to pack their
belongings.
They are often drawn from vigilante groups and refer to
immigrants as
'parasites or cockroaches' and have become a growing force as
the government
begins a campaign of "beautification", to move the desperate
refugees out,
before the World Cup tourists arrive.
The SA Sunday Times newspaper
reported that 100 Zimbabweans were beaten and
evicted by the Red Ants from
just one derelict building on the main road to
Ellis Park stadium in
Johannesburg, one of the football tournament's main
venues. The paper quoted
one of the Red Ants from Soweto saying; "We will
not stop beating them until
our work is done, until they leave this land
forever".
Braam Hanekom
from the South African Refugee Rights group, People Against
Suffering,
Suppression, Oppression and Poverty (Passop) told SW Radio Africa
on
Tuesday: "The Red Ants are renowned to be an extremely violent and
aggressive eviction unit, which is called in to do the government's dirty
work."
He said there have been instances where people have died in
the past,
because of the brutal force used by the Red Ants to evict
immigrants.
Hanekom said: "Just like racism there are a lot of terms,
derogatory terms,
used to demonise foreigners here. We find that groups like
the Red Ants,
appeal to hooligans from the communities they are from and
often have strong
links to xenophobic mobs, which were seen in 2008." Scores
of foreign
nationals were killed during attacks in South Africa in that
year.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Lance
Guma
27 April 2010
Twelve students from the University of Zimbabwe,
who were arrested last
Thursday for allegedly using fake tuition fee payment
receipts to enter
examination rooms, were finally released from police
custody on Monday.
According to the Zimbabwe National Students Union
(ZINASU) an announcement
from college authorities that all students who had
not paid their fees would
not be allowed to sit for exams triggered the
crisis. To enforce this
requirement, security guards were posted at all the
exam halls.
Tuition fees range from US$300 to US$800 and the majority of
students say
they cannot afford this as they come from humble backgrounds.
Out of
desperation the 12 students forged receipts, to give the impression
they had
paid. This was the only way they could be allowed to sit for their
exams.
ZINASU say about three quarters of the students have failed to pay
the fees
and negotiations to resolve the matter have been in vain. Last year
over
half the students at the Midlands State University in Gweru were forced
to
defer their studies after failing to raise the required
fees.
ZINASU maintain that there was nothing criminal in what the
students at the
UZ did as they were just exercising and demanding their
right to education.
UZ Vice Chancellor Levy Nyagura ‘should be ashamed for
dragging ambitious
students to court, their only crime being their desire to
finish their
degrees and contribute to the development of the public and
private sector,’
the union said.’ They also said what the students did
should be a wakeup
call for the government to see how terrible the situation
in colleges has
become.
Despite being arrested on Thursday the
students were kept in police custody
right up to Monday, more that 24 hours
longer than the legal 48 hour
detention permitted by the law before someone
is brought to court. They were
remanded out of custody until the 3rd May
after college authorities failed
to appear in court.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona
Sibanda
27 April 2010
The MDC-T in Mashonaland central province
claimed on Tuesday that it has
indisputable evidence that the ZANU PF MP for
Muzarabani South, Edward
Raradza, was fuelling a surge of violence and
torture in the district.
Tonderai Samhu, the MDC-T youth chairman in the
province, told SW Radio
Africa the political violence exhibited by ZANU PF
militias and youths in
recent weeks has the blessing of the ZANU PF
provincial governor Martin
Dinha.
There have been numerous reports
from human rights organisations of an
upsurge of violence in rural areas,
such as Mutasa North, Mudzi, Bindura and
Masvingo, by ZANU PF sponsored
thugs.
Two weeks ago the pressure group Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR)
reported
that terror had broken out in Muzarabani, resulting in 16 families
fleeing
their homes.
ROHR said the families from Hoya ward in
Charunda village of Chief Kasekete
in Muzarabani, fled at night to seek
refuge at St Albert business centre, 84
km away. They did this to try to
escape the organized terror from a group of
200 ZANU PF youths, sponsored by
Raradza.
Reports say Raradza gives free rein to militias to burn down
people's homes
and cause mayhem in the villages, and that he also ferries
party cadres to
villages to scare the electorate. The MDC has the vehicle
registration
numbers of the various lorries, trucks and cars used to ferry
the thugs.
Governor Dinha has allegedly also ordered the police not to
interfere with
ZANU PF activities in the province.
'ZANU PF enjoys a
free rein in the province. They're untouchable because
Dinha has told the
police to back off and not to interfere with their
activities good or bad,'
Samhu said.
A case in point is the refusal by the police to grant MDC
activists and
supporters permission to demonstrate in major towns of the
province, while
allowing ZANU PF to protest anytime, anywhere.
'The
villagers here, especially those deemed pro-MDC, are defenceless and
have no
one to defend them, because the police are partisan and too scared
to stop
ZANU PF supporters from their violent activities,' Samhu added.
Samhu
said the current violence in the country is unfortunate because it
clearly
has the backing of the highest office. He said that it was very
wrong for
the police to take no action against the people responsible for
the recent
violence, when they would have immediately reacted if it was the
MDC
creating the violence.
Meanwhile the oppression of activists and the clamp
down on freedom of
expression continues as Joel Hita, the regional
chairperson of ZimRights in
Masvingo, has been arrested. ZimRights' has been
trying to showcase a photo
exhibition of the political violence during the
2008 elections, and have
moved it from town to town as it regularly comes
under threat of closure
from the authorities. The exhibition had been taken
to Masvingo and lawyer
Philip Shumba said Hita was picked up by the police
even though the event
had been given police clearance. Hita was arrested
along with three other
ZimRights staffers on Monday. The others were
released late that night.
He remains in police custody and is being
denied access to food, friends and
lawyers.
http://news.radiovop.com
27/04/2010
10:47:00
Masvingo, April 27, 2010 - Ten families evicted from a farm
by a former Zanu
(PF) provincial lands secretary have been living in the
open for almost a
week at the 35 kilometer peg along the Masvingo-Mutare
highway, Radio VOP
has discovered.
Despite the chilly weather that
hit the southern parts of the country
recently, the communal farmers-among
them a young woman with a one week old
baby- are living by the
roadside.
They were evicted from Godden Farm, after their homes were
torched by Bhota
Chitumba with the help of the police, and dumped at the
site.
The 40 families had invaded the formerly white owned farm at the
height of
the land reform programme in the year 2000, but were evicted by
the new
black owner.
They have since erected temporary plastic shacks
along the highway.
A health time bomb is looming as they are using the
bush toilet. They are
also using the place as a market to sell ground and
round nuts and livestock
in a bid to raise money to travel to their
respective rural homes.
But others said they have nowhere to go as they
had destroyed their former
homes.
"He told us that the farm is no
longer white-owned after claiming to have
bought it. We have nowhere to go.
My husband and I had destroyed our former
homes in Bikita, where we came
from. All our parents are late, and we have
few relatives," said Agnes
Chiropa (23) who was holding her baby.
Chitumba maintained that the
families had invaded the farm when he had
bought it from the former owner,
Irvine Godden.
"They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I bought
the farm from the
former white owner a week before they invaded it. And I
continuously told
them to start saving money and look for somewhere else way
before, but they
refused. I actually gave them the grace period to harvest
their crops,"
Chitumba said.
Masvingo Provincial Governor, Titus
Maluleke, said he was going to do
something about the families.
"We
have to do something for the families.they cannot continue to live by
the
roadside..they had invaded the farm before it changed ownership, but we
are
also going to investigate if Chitumba is not being used as a front by
Godden," Maluleke said.
Godden is now living in Masvingo town after
he quit farming.
http://news.radiovop.com
27/04/2010
10:06:00
Mwenezi, April 27, 2010 - A 15-year old schoolboy here who
has been waiting
to see justice being done to the people who murdered his
father during the
2008 elections has taken the law in to his hands and
killed a well-known
Zanu (PF) terror master on Sunday.
The event,
which left the whole area in shock took place at a church service
where
Nhamo Machacha had gone to further victimise worshippers in Village 2
near
Neshuro Growth Point.
Machacha was an aide to a Zanu (PF) Mwenezi East
Member of Parliament
Kudakwashe Bhasikiti.
Machacha had brought the
church to a stand-still demanding the service to be
aborted for reasons best
known to himself when the 15 year old boy came from
behind and pulled out
his knife and stabbed Machacha twice in the stomach.
He was rushed to
Neshuro General Hospital but he died before he was attended
to due to
excessive bleeding.
Masvingo Acting police spokesperson, Assistant
Inspector Prosper Mugauri,
confirmed the incident saying the boy was now
assisting the police with
investigations.
"We have since arrested the
school boy and he is assisting us with
investigations. He murdered him at a
ZCC (Zion Christian Church)
church meeting," said Mugauri.
Witnesses
said the boy (name supplied) said the state had taken long in
taking justice
to those who killed his father during the height of
political violence in
2008.
"That boy's father Lameck Muripo was killed by Zanu (PF) thugs in
2008.
Their home was burnt and they were left homeless but the children were
still
young. However, up to now the culprits including the now deceased were
walking free and this boy said he wanted to revenge," said one of the
witnesses.
Bhasikiti pledged to meet all funeral expenses but
declared a war against
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the
area.
"There is nothing to hide here. MDC is a party of violence, they
need
violence and they have provoked us today. How can I keep silent when
they
slapped us in the face like this?
"They have started it and they
must not cry tomorrow," warned Bhasikiti.
Source: The Zimbabwean
Date: 26 Apr 2010
Written by Paul Ndlovu
VICTORIA FALLS - The country's health delivery service , which is already under severe strain, is being further compromised by the fact that there are only 47 surgical doctors operating in Zimbabwe.
Israel Dube, the Secretary General of the Surgical Society of Zimbabwe (SSZ) said this figure was a small number. "There are only 47 surgeons in the country and this is a small number. However, we have other surgeons and doctors who are not part of us because they might be expatriates and therefore do not subscribe with us. There are also missionary doctors, then there are a few working elsewhere for other organisations sometimes in administration and not involved in operations. So the number of all surgeons working or involved in training in the country is not a big number."
"Places such as Victoria Falls, Masvingo, Kwekwe and other small towns do not have surgical professionals hence their cases are referred to other cities. Even in these cities they have to be on waiting lists," he said. He said this meant more costs and delays for patients. Dube said this at a three-day College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa/Association of East Africa (COSECSA/ASEA) annual general meeting and scientific conference in Victoria Falls.
http://news.radiovop.com
27/04/2010 10:45:00
Bulawayo,
April 27, 2010 - Bulawayo Mayor Patrick Thaba-Moyo has rejected
plans by
Local government Minister Ignatius Chombo to appoint special
interest
councilors saying this will disturb day-to-day running of council
business.
Last week Chombo announced that in the next few weeks his
ministry will
complete the appointment of special interest councillors in
Bulawayo, Harare
and other urban councils in a bid to provide expertise and
improve service
delivery.
According to the Urban Councils Act, the
appointed councillors are entitled
to participate in the business of the
council and perform the same functions
as elected councillors. They are also
entitled to the same benefits but do
not vote at council
meetings.
Chombo claims his ministry was mandated to appoint the
councillors as a
means of providing expertise to the city councillors
especially when
considering that a majority of them were new to council
affairs thereby
lacking experience.
However speaking to Radio VOP on
Monday, Thaba-Moyo said Bulawayo City
council is not going to allow Chombo
to go-ahead with appointment of the
special interest
councillors.
"Our position remain the same since 2008 .We are not going
to allow that.
How can he talk about appointing special interest groups who
bring nothing
to the city?" said Thaba-Moyo.
In 2008 Bulawayo City
council went to the High Court to block Chombo from
appointing special
interest councillors and won the case.
The Bulawayo City council is
dominated by the mainstream MDC which has 23
councillors. Six are from the
small breakaway Mutambara faction.
"We would rather prefer to work
closely with our donors who bring funds to
improve service delivery than to
work with these unelected special interest
councillors who will disturb our
business," he said.
The eight special interest councilors who were
blocked by the High Court in
2008 after appointment by the Local Government
Minister are Tadubana Tshuma,
Omega Sibanda, Emmanuel Kanjoma, David Ndlovu,
Abednigo Nyathi, Tryphine
Nhliziyo, Dennis Ndlovu and Ernest Marima who both
Zanu PF provincial
officials.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Lance Guma
27 April
2010
The annual Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA), kicked
off on
Tuesday with a Spanish theatre group that performed at the Olympic
Games in
Barcelona in 1992 getting the ball rolling. The 6-day festival and
workshop
programme has been showcasing the very best of local, regional and
international arts and culture since its inception in 1999.
Our
correspondent in Harare, Simon Muchemwa, reports that the capital was a
hive
of activity, with most hotels fully booked and most shows sold out.
Legendary Malian afro-pop singer Salif Keita is the star attraction. He
performs on Sunday, the last day of the festival.
Organizers says the
festival 'has come to be seen as an important symbol of
something positive
about Zimbabwe, unifying socially and culturally
disparate groups of
Zimbabweans at a time of ideological conflict and
political uncertainty
bringing huge audiences together to celebrate
something positive - the
healing and constructive capacity of the arts.'
This year will be the
second festival under the shaky coalition government
and Muchemwa reports
that judging from participation it seems to be
recovering from the gloom
associated with the economic collapse under the
ZANU PF regime.
This
year will be the 11th HIFA festival.
Source: The
Zimbabwean Date: 26 Apr 2010 About 36 villagers were treated for cholera at Murambinda Hospital and
discharged while two more cases of the deadly cholera disease were detected in
Chipinge and Chimanimani, respectively. Six children died in the Dekeya area
under Chief Nyashanu. They were understood to have been buried secretly by their
parents, who belong to the Johane Marange Apostolic Sect, which shuns modern
health treatment. The sect believes in using prayer and water to heal the sick.
In Makoni and Buhera, religious and cultural radicalism continue militating
against emergency health interventions meant to combat the viral measles
disease, whose symptoms include drowsiness, coughing, loss of appetite, gradual
elevation of temperature, body rash on the inner cheek, high fever and
recurrence rash. Chief Chiduku in Makoni district recently accused the Measles Task Teams in
the district of corrupting their religious beliefs through coerced vaccination
of sect children. The acrimony deepened with the traditional leader accusing the
all-male Task Team of "snatching their sect wives" under the guise of an
immunisation crackdown. In an interview with The Zimbabwean last week, the
Manicaland Medical Director, Dr Milton Chemhuru, said the situation was under
control. Chemhuru said: "We are on the verge of rolling an indiscriminate
vaccination campaign for all children between six months and 14 months. The
campaigns will be without exception. We want parents to adhere to prescribed
child immunisation schedules." The country will embark on a national immunisation campaign in May in order
to control the disease, which has also become a menace in most southern African
countries. Chemhuru added that parents, regardless of their religious or
cultural beliefs should uphold the children's right to good health by letting
them vaccinated. "We want to challenge members of the public to exercise the
best hygienic practices as a way to curtail the spread of cholera," he said. The
hardest hit with cholera in Buhera, is Muzokomba , which is facing problems of
proper sanitation and safe water. When The Zimbabwean visited the area last week, the ministry of Health and
Child Welfare had deployed more nursing staff to disseminate information on good
health and hygiene standards in schools and communities to prevent loss of life.
Chemhuru said the ministry in conjunction with other partners such as
Non-Governmental Organisations, were trying their best to curb the spread of
cholera. According to the latest Zimbabwe Epidemiological Bulletin, the latest
cholera outbreak has hit 12 of the country's 62 districts. Other districts which
were affected included Shamva, Chiredzi, Beitbridge, Mwenezi, Hurungwe, Makonde,
Chiredzi, and Kadoma.
BUHERA - Buhera has seen
12 measles deaths in the past two weeks and more than 60 cases of cholera
recorded in the area.
http://news.radiovop.com
27/04/2010 09:46:00
Harare, April 27,
2010 - ZANU- Ndonga has petitioned Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai to
review the hero status of their party's late leader Ndabaningi
Sithole.
Sithole, who distinguished himself in the liberation
struggle,died in 2000
and was buried at his rural home in Chipinge despite
protests from several
Zimbabweans who were convinced that he deserved to be
honoured as a national
hero.
But in a letter written to Tsvangirai,
ZANU-Ndonga petitioned the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) leader to
take a leading role in convincing the
two leaders of the coalition
government to appraise the hero status of
Sithole. At the time of his death
Sithole was facing charges of plotting to
kill President Robert Mugabe,
charges which he denied.
"As you already know Honourable Prime Minister,
ZANU Ndonga's position is
that the treatment that the late Reverend Sithole
got when he passed on, was
not reflective of the role that he played in the
struggle for the liberation
of this country. The fact that Reverend Sithole
played a significant role is
not an overstatement as you also echoed similar
statements at his burial at
Freedom Farm in Mount Selinda Chipinge on the
18th of December 2000. We
would therefore be grateful if you were to give us
feedback on this issue
and kindly request you to pursue the subject if
nothing has been done to
date," read part of the letter written by
ZANU-Ndonga national chairman
Reketayi Mushiwokufa Semwayo.
Semwayo
said Tsvangirai had pledged to look into reviewing the hero status
of
Sithole during a meeting he held early last year with the (MDC)
leader.
"At this meeting which we held in the presence of Deputy Prime
Ministers
Thokozani Khupe and Professor Arthur Mutambara you promised to
look at the
issue in consultation with President Robert Mugabe," said
Semwayo.
The granting of hero status has been a contentious issue in
Zimbabwe. Hero
status is the highest honour that an individual can be
accorded in
recognition of his or her contribution to the struggle and
success of a
nation, whatever field it may be.
Since independence in
1980 more than 80 heroes and heroines have been
interred at the country's
national shrine, situated just outside Harare's
city centre.
But the
national hero's status bestowed on some of the men and women buried
at the
shrine has reignited debate about what constitutes heroism and the
relevance
of the National Heroes Act, which gives the President, in this
case Robert
Mugabe, exclusive authority to designate national heroes.
Some
Zimbabweans argue that Zanu (PF) has usurped the Act and reduced
patriotism
to party loyalty, allegiance and service. Presently, the Zanu
(PF)
politburo, the party's supreme decision-making organ confers the hero
status.
Since 1980 not even one member of the opposition has been
buried at the
national shrine, vindicating critics who argue the honour is a
preserve for
Zanu (PF) members.
Besides Sithole, James Chikerema,
another veteran of the protracted
liberation struggle and a relative of
Mugabe was laid to rest in Zvimba, his
rural home, after "differing with the
ZANU-PF party in a major way."
http://www.ilo.org/
Press
release
Date issued 27 April 2010
Reference
ILO/10/18
GENEVA - ILO News - The Government of Zimbabwe has informed
the
Director-General of the ILO, Juan Somavia, that it accepts the
recommendations contained in the report of the ILO Commission of Inquiry on
trade union rights in the country.
The report was submitted to the
ILO Governing Body at its Session in March
of this year. The Government, in
its reply dated 20 April 2010 has accepted
the recommendations made by the
Commission of Inquiry “in the spirit of
engagement among the people of
Zimbabwe”.
The Government has indicated that these recommendations will
be implemented
in the context of its current legislative and institutional
reform
programme. It welcomes the guidance and support of the ILO in its
implementation of the Commission’s recommendations.
The Commission of
Inquiry examined in the course of 2009 the observance by
Zimbabwe of the
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to
Organise Convention,
1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective
Bargaining
Convention, 1949 (No. 98).
The recommendations of the Commission’s report
entitled “Truth,
reconciliation and justice in Zimbabwe”, focus on the need
for legislative
reform; the cessation of anti-union arrests, detentions,
violence, torture,
intimidation and harassment, interference and
discrimination; strengthening
of national institutions and social dialogue;
training on freedom of
association and collective bargaining, civil
liberties and human rights; and
the reinforcement of the rule of law and the
role of the Courts.
"I welcome the positive response of the Government of
Zimbabwe to the
recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry and the
commitment it has given
to fully implement the recommendations. The ILO will
continue to work with
and support the Government, Employers and Workers of
Zimbabwe in their
efforts to ensure full observance of freedom of
association and collective
bargaining rights in the country" said the ILO
Director-General Juan Somavia
upon receiving the reply of the Government of
Zimbabwe.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
Tuesday 27 April 2010
HARARE - Africa's
leading mobile operator MTN has agreed to buy some of the
assets of Egypt's
London Stock Exchange (LSE) listed telecommunications
giant, Orascom, which
include Telecel Zimbabwe and Burundi, a senior
government official has
said.
The possible inking of the agreement resulted in the LSE on Friday
suspending Orascom Telecom Holding SAE's (ORSTF) shares from trading,
pending the conclusion of the deal.
If successfully concluded MTN's
purchase of Orascom's Zimbabwe assets will
become the first major deal in
the country involving foreign interests since
announcement last February of
controversial regulations to force
foreign-owned firms to cede majority
stake to local blacks.
The indigenisation regulations give foreign-owned
firms up to May 15 to
submit proposals on how they intended to offload 51
percent stake to
indigenous Zimbabweans by March 2015.
Speaking on
condition that his name was not published, a senior official
from the Post
and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe
(POTRAZ), said at
the weekend MTN would comply with the country's
indigenisation
law.
"MTN will retain 49 percent in Zimbabwe, once the payment goes
through to
comply with POTRAZ," said the source, adding; "Under the deal,
MTN has
agreed to buy some of Orascom's operations in Zimbabwe and
Burundi.
"The actual value of the deal could be as high as $10 billion if it
goes
through. This will also be good news to Zimbabwe given the problems
that
have been caused by the indigenisation and empowerment law."
MTN
could not be reached for comment at the weekend.
Through its subsidiary
Telecel Globe, OTH also operates in the Central
African Republic, Namibia
and Zimbabwe. Orascom Telecom had over 88 million
subscribers as of
September 2009.
MTN has vast business interests spanning across the
continent and the Middle
East.
Indigenisation Minister Saviour
Kasukuwere has said the empowerment
programme will first target the mining
sector where some of the world's
biggest international corporations hold
multi-million dollar investments.
According to Kasukuwere to date 400
firms have submitted empowerment
proposals to his ministry.
The
economic empowerment scheme has split the Harare coalition government
with
President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU PF party backing the plan.
But Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC party want the
indigenisation
programme stopped to allow for more consultation and drafting
of new
regulations that will not scare away foreign investors, while
allowing for
economic empowerment of the majority.
Large multinational corporations
such as cigarette manufacturer BAT
Zimbabwe, which is 80 percent
British-owned, UK-controlled financial
institutions Barclays Bank and
Standard Chartered Bank, food group Nestlé
Zimbabwe, mining giants Rio Tinto
and Zimplats, and AON Insurance are some
of the big foreign-owned firms that
will be forced to cede control to
locals. - ZimOnline
SW Radio Africa Transcript HOT SEAT: Matombo says MDC disengaged too early from ZCTU | |
Synopsis: Journalist Violet Gonda presents Hot Seat where she speaks to the President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions Lovemore Matombo, who gives us the ZCTU’s position on the coalition government and the key issues that affect workers. He says the MDC was initially regarded as ‘a union based party with strong connections to the poor,’ but has now disengaged itself too early from the labour movement. Matombo feels they no longer share an ideological connection with the MDC , and the labour leader also criticises the National Healing Organ for doing ‘nothing,’ saying it does not exist in the eyes of Zimbabweans. He also gives us the ZCTU’s position on the controversial indigenisation regulations, among other issues . |
|
BROADCAST: 23 APRIL 2010 VIOLET GONDA: My guest on the programme Hot Seat today is the President of the Zimbabwe's Congress of Trade Unions Mr. Lovemore Matombo. Where is the focus of the ZCTU right now? LOVEMORE MATOMBO: Well the focus of the ZCTU remains the same in that we need to guide the working people along processes that should give them enough money for their survival. That has always been the case – whatever we do, wherever we go, whatever we talk, it has always been the case that we need Zimbabwean people to earn enough money, that is of course not below the poverty datum line and our focus has remained as it is. GONDA: Before we carry on with that point, what is the ILO Commission of Enquiry and what did it release?
GONDA: What are these violations and what were their recommendations?
But of course there were some recommendations, but let me just mention the two of the main recommendations which are so clear and fundamental – these are mainly that there should be a truth, reconciliation and justice within the Zimbabwean population because they had noted the polarisation of the Zimbabwean society, polarisation on political grounds. And that recommendation is important because Zimbabwe remains a traumatised society because of the human rights violations that were conducted by the government of the day and the question of reconciliation, truth and reconciliation becomes paramount. There’s also another recommendation that the structures of the security sector needs training and education. For example what you might have heard is that, say if ZCTU is conducting a particular exercise, like protesting or demonstrating, the first thing the police do is not to talk to the people, they hit, they just hit. Precisely the same way that used to happen with the colonial system, so what it means is that the colonial system has continued up until to this day and what is important is that there should be training to ensure that the police should understand what are the basic rights and what are not the basic rights and how do they treat each and every person. So I think those two areas are so key and fundamental as part of the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry. GONDA: There is an Organ on National Healing, is it doing enough as far as the ZCTU is concerned to address some of these issues?
GONDA: And just going back to the issue of salaries – you mentioned this at the beginning of the interview – now I understand that the government, through Finance Minister Tendai Biti has said that salaries have been frozen indefinitely because the government has no money for salary increases for State workers. What’s your response to this?
It is the role of government to find the money and we want to say to government – please find that money and we know you can find that money. Zimbabwe is very rich; Zimbabwe is extremely rich that it is so absurd to suggest that a government would tell us that it doesn’t have money. I know there is a lot of money in Zimbabwe, there is a lot of money, where is the money going to? Where is the money going to? Where is the money from Chiadzwa going to? In fact there is more than what we need, there is more than what 14 million Zimbabweans would want. There is a lot of money. They must re-correct and realign the governance system so that there is transparency even in the manner in which we conduct business. Let’s bring in some good corporate governance. The problem is that anyone can do as he or she chooses to do. This is why we appear as if we are a very poor country. Zimbabwe is not a poor country and ZCTU cannot be made to believe that Zimbabwe is a poor country. It’s not, we are not poor, we are very rich. And I think we want to continue to urge the government to make sure that they find those resources and be able to pay the civil servants. GONDA: Now some have said that the diamond fields that you’ve just mentioned in Chiadzwa should be nationalised so that some of the revenue goes to the workers. Would you be in favour of this?
GONDA: So as the labour movement and indeed the general civil society have you insisted to find out where the money is going from the sale of diamonds or whatever is happening in the Chiadzwa area? What is the labour movement doing about this? MATOMBO: Well the whole environment is a closed society just as we know that the people of the type of governance system like the one we have in Zimbabwe are in a closed society and obviously the officials would not want to be moved at all. But I think with time people will know exactly where the money is going. I don’t think there is anything that will ever be hidden forever. It will be known, it will be known, but unfortunately for us as ZCTU we do not know where the money is going, we certainly don’t. GONDA: And you have threatened to take action if the salaries issue is not resolved, but how do you respond to those who say that a strike action actually hurts the common man more than the politician? MATOMBO: Well it depends as to what they are saying and where they are coming from. Zimbabwe is a country that has a high level of disparity. You have people who are super rich in Zimbabwe and you have people who are extremely poor, that’s a real problem that we have. In fact for people who are earning 150 US dollars to suggest that if they go on strike they will be hurt – they are already hurt, people are suffering already to the extent that you cannot differentiate between the salaries they are earning or even if they didn’t have any salaries, salary, earnings at all. The point that remains at the moment is that the salaries or no salaries it now looks as if it is one and the same thing and therefore the strike can only be the solution. Strike, protest and any other action that will force the government to accept and in fact to give salaries to the civil servants. GONDA: So where is the ZCTU right now? Why is it that you are not visible these days on the streets especially after the formation of the unity government?
GONDA: So when is the labour movement going to take action? MATOMBO: No we will take action in a systematic manner because what it is is that it’s important that you take everybody because we believe on a bottom-up approach, we believe that what we need to do is to continue to galvanise support from the bottom, that’s the most important thing. And so that when we go for a strike it has to be as successful as possible. But I think, give us time, this will come and hopefully the government is taking notice of what we are saying. GONDA: And what are your views on the freezing of State workers’ salaries without streamlining a bloated unity government?
GONDA: And you mentioned that it was strategically wrong to protest when the coalition government was formed. The MDC which is now part of this coalition government actually came from the labour movement. So what is the relationship with the ZCTU and the MDC now that it’s in government? Do you still have a solid relationship?
Well, the relationship, the ZCTU still remains an independent organisation because there is a danger here of ZCTU just agreeing with MDC when in fact we are supposed to give guidance and I think we should remain resolute. I know there are some people who say whatever MDC says, we should agree to it, no, no, no we cannot do that. In fact as you might know, trade unions everywhere and student union movements throughout the world are the torchbearer of any political and economic direction and this is what the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions will do. GONDA: But is there still an ideological connect between the ZCTU and the MDC ? MATOMBO: Well I think from the way things are happening we are diametrically opposed ideologically in terms of the political and economic direction of the two. ZCTU as is always the case we don’t belong to the right, we belong to the left, that’s the truth and that; I think your question is quite clear – this is purely an ideological difference. GONDA: Can you explain the fundamental differences? MATOMBO: Well the fundamental differences are quite clear. One – that if you want to introduce an economic plan you don’t just do it from your own desk, you involve others so that all of us can put across our economic plans, what we think are in the best interests of the workers. We don’t want to behave like what we have seen from the Minister of Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment - you introduce your own law in your own desk and you say you are empowering 14 million? But you don’t want to discuss with the people who represent workers, the people who are making the best out of their labour and that’s exactly the same thing that we are saying, let’s always make a consultation. And also I think if you want to make an economic plan you need to have a bottom-up approach. Zimbabwe’s economy is in tatters and what we have are members of the informal economy, these people need to be nursed up and I think what the MDC economic ministries were supposed to do was to liaise with the informal economy and we have structured informal economy structures around the country, get to know their feeling, get to know what they would want and in fact that’s the way we have to do it. But what you see in these people is that they are making economic plans based on the corporate business that exists today and that’s very dangerous and in some ways it is frightening because even some of the business people are saying – you workers, you call yourselves workers that you want a poverty datum line, we’ve got our new ministers these days and you are never going to get anything. They are very proud of that. In fact what we now have are the two diametrically opposed ideologies where this government belongs to the right and the labour movement to the left. So yes it can clearly be observed that this ideological position is very clear so the ordinary person is now quite clear, they are very poor and as you have just heard, they cannot give us money because the government has no money. GONDA: Some have actually said that the MDC disengaged too early from the movement, would you say that is the correct observation? MATOMBO: Yah well, I think it took ZANU almost a decade to disengage literally. But I think the argument of MDC is that, according to what we hear, is that they say; ‘they are these people who think they know everything and these organisations where formed just for purposes of opposing’. Well yes it is quite frightening also that some of the speeches are coming from MDC but we hope and trust that at some stage they will realise that the war has not been won and they also still need friends but if they believe they don’t need friends, well the choice is theirs, it’s not for us. After all it’s them who want to be voted into office and but I think it is a bit too early, it was a bit too early for them to disengage. GONDA: And just going back to the composition of the ZCTU, what is your membership now considering the growth of the informal sector?
GONDA: So would it be correct to say that your membership has been weakened by the informal sector and also the high unemployment rate? MATOMBO: Precisely it has been weakened but for the first time I think we are the only country that has been able to recruit people through the informal economy to the extent that the relationship of the unemployed and the employed is intertwined and for that we are very proud. I think that was a very good strategy although some people look at the formal employment alone but I think the way we did with the informal economy and so on it was a good idea because we had known, we had seen beforehand that the question of unemployment was going to hit us hard and this is why we had to come up with the informal economy which is well structured around the country -although it was decimated in 2005 by the so-called Operation Murambatsvina, but I think we have done extremely well to keep close to some of our colleagues in the unemployment sector in the form of the informal economy. GONDA: And of course there are others who say that the ZCTU is no longer the vibrant body that used to be there during the time of Morgan Tsvangirai, would you agree with this?
GONDA: We did talk a bit about the indigenisation policies but as ZCTU can you just briefly outline your position as the trade union movement on this because you have some people saying that employees should have shares and therefore part own some of the companies, how are you contributing to this debate?
GONDA: Both MDC and ZANU PF have said they want elections to be held next year in 2011, what’s the ZCTU’s position on this? MATOMBO: I think what we seem to see about these elections and the Global Political Agreement is that these people they are highly polarised and they’ll never agree to anything. What we thought they should do at this stage is to make sure that SADC will come up with the electoral systems that are self-proof and ensure that SADC and AU will supervise those elections and also the United Nations should be reigned in to ensure that they monitor those elections so that the winner can win without any disturbance and the loser should accept to relinquish power whoever that might be, but I think this is what is required. Surely if we wait and say that there shall be a constitution, a constitution? Well I don’t think these people will ever come with a new constitution but otherwise let’s have the electoral laws that should force individuals to abide by them and ensure that we come up with an undisputed electoral system. GONDA: So as the labour body, you want the elections to be held as soon as possible, even 2011?
GONDA: Final question – some have said that the civil society is very quiet and is not doing enough to point out the failures of the unity government, why is that? MATOMBO: Yah I think most of the civic organisations in Zimbabwe are still in the learning process I suppose because you know these people have been frightened by the authoritarian system. They have been frightened and the culture is that whatever the politicians say, they say yes, we will see later on and so on and so forth, so they cannot stick their necks out and say you are doing wrong. You know some of them also might be looking for employment you never know and they cannot afford to rock the boat, they will just say yes, it doesn’t matter. So there are many factors that we have to consider. There are some people who just agree with the inclusive government purely because their expectations are that at some stage they might be somewhere, somewhere there but well that’s what life is all about. GONDA: Thank you very much Mr. Lovemore Matombo MATOMBO: OK thanks, cheers. Feedback can be sent to violet@swradioafrica.com |
http://www.opednews.com/
April 27,
2010 at 10:52:15
By Border
Jumpers
For OpEdNews: Border Jumpers - Writer
Cross posted
from Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet.
Gertrude Hambira
doesn't look like someone who gets arrested regularly. Nor
do the other
women and men in suits who work with her at the General
Agricultural and
Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ), formed in
the mid-1980s to
protect farm laborers. But arrest, harassment and even
torture have been
regular occupational hazards for Gertrude-the General
Secretary of
GAPWUZ-and her staff for many years.
Unfortunately, things have not
gotten much better since the 2008 elections
when President Mugabe refused to
cede power to the democratically elected
Morgan Tsvangirai, a former union
leader himself. The resulting
power-sharing agreement has left the two sides
battling for control as the
nation plummets deeper into unemployment and
poverty. At least 90 percent of
the populati0n is not part of formal
workforce.
Meanwhile, land reform policies have left many farm workers
(about 1.5
million) without a source of income as farms are divided up-with
many tracts
given to Mugabe supporters. While Zimbabwe's land reform was
initially
intended to decrease the number of white-owned farms in the
country and
provide land to the landless, it's done little to help the poor
in rural
areas. "Land was taken from the rich and given to the rich," says
General
Secretary Hambira. The rich farmers are, however, not utilizing the
land,
she notes, leading to lower agricultural productivity, higher prices
for
food, and widespread hunger.
Hambira says that as rural areas
become a target for government reforms,
"farm workers have become
voiceless." But giving them back their voice is
what GAPWUZ is trying to do
by helping reduce child labor, by educating
members about their rights in
the fields and on the farm, by educating
workers about HIV/AIDS , and by
helping women workers gain a voice in
decision-making. And, unfortunately,
that's why General Secretary and her
staff often get arrested. Shortly after
I met with her, the GAPWUZ office
was raided by government police and she
was forced to go in hiding to South
Africa for several weeks.
But
GAPWUZ isn't just working to protect the rights of farm workers in
Zimbabwe,
says Hambira. By "looking at the plight of farm workers," the
union is
helping to build productivity on the farm and to build a strong
agricultural
sector-one that will be needed more than ever as Zimbabwe
struggles to
rebuild and restore democracy.
I wonder what it is that makes President Mugabe so terrified of his countrymen?
There were no less than three armoured personnel carriers parked alongside the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair during the visit of the much despised Iranian President.
Bristling with camouflaged military personnel the grey unimog tanks with fierce 20mm gun turrets pointed menacingly at the Trade Fair.
Yes, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, hated and reviled the world over by all except the radical extremists, officially opened the 2010 Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.
What a smear on the faces of the thinking people in Zimbabwe.
Ahmadinejad is renowned for his nasty bed fellows and has added Zimbabwe to his nest of "prestigious" countries-at-arms i.e. Cuba, Venezuela, Belarus.
There had been a lot of dissension amongst the Trade Fair officials as to the choice of guest, but as usual Mugabe got his way.
A small handful of Muslims chanted and sang outside the Trade Fair grounds, as Zimbabwe police, support unit and the army swarmed everywhere to protect the man. The President's office worked its way round the city seeking fanatics who might have enough hatred for the Iranian president to try and destabilize the event.
Helicopters circled overhead, giant belligerent, clenched-fisted posters, quite out of character with the usual very business-like attitude of the ZITF, festooned every hall giving the fair a 'Kim Jong Il' atmosphere.
Hundreds of police in brand-spanking-new fluorescent sleeves, together with men brandishing automatic weapons, surrounded the fair and manned every intersection on the road from the airport to the fairgrounds.
There were men in dark glasses on every corner, Gucci shoes and Ralph Lauren suits were everywhere, and joy of joys - no electricity cuts while the president is in town !!
The Climate of Fear had the desired result: one was far too scared to even think about taking photographs of the armoured tanks.
To add insult to injury, Zimbabwe's plan to host a North Korean soccer side for the June 2010 FIFA World Cup is re-kindling memories of the Matabeleland massacres in the 1980s, amid a current climate of political intolerance.
Teams were said to be practicing for the World Cup in Bulawayo's Barbourfields Stadium, cherished sports field of every Ndebele who lost countless of their countrymen in the Gukuruhundi Massacres.