http://www.newzimbabwe.com
01/04/2012 00:00:00
by AFP I
Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is in Singapore on a private
visit to arrange
post-graduate studies for his daughter, state media
reported Sunday.
"President Mugabe left the country yesterday (Saturday)
evening on a private
visit to Singapore," the state-owned Sunday Mail
newspaper said.
The paper said that Mugabe would oversee arrangements for
his daughter Bona
to begin post-graduate work, after she received her
accounting degree last
year.
Mugabe, 88, who has ruled Zimbabwe since
independence from Britain in 1980,
visited Singapore several times last
year. His spokesman said the president
had gone for cataract surgery amid
repeated media reports that he was
suffering from cancer.
His health
has been the subject of much speculation, especially since
WikiLeaks last
year released a 2008 US diplomatic cable saying central bank
chief Gideon
Gono had told then-US ambassador James McGee that Mugabe had
prostate cancer
and had been advised by doctors he had less than five years
to
live.
Mugabe's health has been cited as one reason that a faction of his
Zanu PF
party has pushed to rush new elections.
But Mugabe, who has
already been named as his party's candidate for the next
elections, has shot
down rumours that he is sick.
The veteran leader told a party meeting
Friday that work on a new
constitution must be concluded by May or Zimbabwe
holds new elections under
the Lancaster House constitution.
“Let’s
conclude the new constitution, whether we agree or disagree. The
dance we
have had for the past four years is over. Let us have an election
and end
this animal called inclusive government,” Mugabe said.
Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai and Industry Minister Welshman Ncube,
leaders of the MDC
factions in the ruling coalition are demanding a raft of
media, security and
electoral reforms before a new vote.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, April
01, 2012-The country’s troubled state-run airline, Air
Zimbabwe is
generating some revenue through the operation of chartered
flights, which
are also keeping its flight crew in shape.
Air Zimbabwe grounded all its
aircraft in January owing to poor management
and lack of funding and also
due to fears that its planes might be impounded
by impatient
creditors.
Insiders at the ailing national airline told Radio VOP
that although Air
Zimbabwe had suspended domestic, regional and
international flights, it is
currently operating charter flight services
which are generating some
revenue for the grounded national
carrier.
The insiders disclosed that on Friday, Air Zimbabwe operated
a presidential
charter service to Equatorial Guinea to collect some
officials from
President Robert Mugabe’s office reportedly offering some
undisclosed
training service to some people in the West African country. The
plane is
scheduled to return on Tuesday.
A fortnight ago Air
Zimbabwe also flew to the resort town of Victoria Falls
on charter ferrying
Al Amal Atbara, a Sudanese soccer team that played
Hwange Football Club in
one of the Caf Confederations Cup matches.
Insiders said the
charters, which are operated on Air Zimbabwe’s Boeing 737
aircraft also
offer Air Zimbabwe an opportunity to keep its flight crew in
shape for
resumption of service scheduled for May.
Last week, Air Zimbabwe
summoned all of its flight crew to attend refresher
training courses so as
to keep them in shape ahead of planned resumption of
service.
The
refresher courses, which are being held at the airline’s headquarters at
Harare International Airport, are also meant to enable pilots to keep their
licenses current and fly at short notice.
http://www.radiovop.com/
Harare, April
01, 2012 – The controversial Minister of Youth Development,
Indigenisation
and Employment Creation, Saviour Kasukuwere, says chiefs must
be taught
Corporate Governance issues so that they can handle Employee Share
Ownership
Trust Funds.
"They are the custodians of our culture and they must know
how to run
companies so that they can do this on behalf of their
communities," the
minister said in Harare.
Kasukuwere was
addressing a one-day conference on Corporate Social
Responsibility
(CSR).
CSR is being carried out by firms that have been told by the
minister to
indigenise and give locals a shareholding in their
companies.
The minister had been asked whether chiefs would be able
to deal with issues
of corporate governance if they arose in their
communities.
"We must not take away the role of the chiefs because
they are traditional,"
Kasukuwere said.
"What we must do is to
teach them. In fact we have about six chiefs who have
gone through studies
on corporate governance and they know how it is done."
He said
lessons would be held in every province in Zimbabwe and top lawyers
would be
invited to inform the chiefs.
The conference participants had said
that they felt chiefs did not
understand corporate governance issues and,
therefore, should not be allowed
to take control of learned citizens living
in their communities.
Top Corporate Governance lawyer, Canaan Dube, a
Senior Partner of Dube,
Manikai and Hwacha (DMH) also attended the
conference.
http://www.timeslive.co.za
JAMA MAJOLA | 01 April, 2012 00:42
Zanu-PF will convene an
extraordinary politburo meeting this Wednesday to
deal with the increasingly
contentious constitution-making process amid
growing calls from its
hardliners for the party to quit the exercise and
call for
elections.
The meeting will be critical in determining whether President
Robert
Mugabe - who wants elections this year with or without a new
constitution -
will pull his anxious party from the constitution-making
process.
Jonathan Moyo, the Zanu-PF strategist, last Sunday said it was
time to
delink the constitution-making process, "park it" and go for
elections.
In terms of the Global Political Agreement (GPA), if one of
the three
parties withdraws, the agreement collapses, giving Mugabe room to
unilaterally call for fresh elections. Under the GPA, Mugabe must consult
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai before announcing the election date.
However, Mugabe has been threatening to go it alone.
Zanu-PF insiders
say the politburo on Wednesday will decide whether Mugabe
pulls out of the
GPA or not to free himself to call elections without
consultation.
"The next politburo meeting will be very critical
because this past
Wednesday we received an update on the constitution-making
process from Paul
Mangwana (Zanu-PF's co-chairman of the constitutional
exercise) and it was
clear there is not much progress and the president is
getting impatient," a
senior politburo member said.
"So we resolved
to task our negotiators, Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas
Goche, to come up
with proposals on how we should proceed on this issue.
They are submitting
the report today (Friday) and it will be discussed at
the politburo this
coming Wednesday."
Zanu-PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo confirmed these
developments, including the
scheduled extraordinary meeting.
Mugabe
is on a warpath against the GPA and associated processes as he tries
to
raise the stakes to build a case for his party to pull out of the
agreement
and force elections.
He has even launched attacks on the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) facilitator in Zimbabwe, SA President Jacob
Zuma, threatening to
remove him "any time in broad daylight and we have
warned him of that".
Zanu-PF's anger over the proposed draft constitution
has been growing in
recent months, fuelled by the inordinate delays and its
failure to control
the process. The situation was worsened by proposals by
MDC parties - with
the support of some Zanu-PF officials - to come up with
presidential term
and age limits which would have barred Mugabe from
contesting the next
elections. Mugabe and his loyalists angrily rejected
these proposals and
removed them.
Now Zanu-PF is at war over other
proposals in the draft constitution, which
it claims constitute "subversive
material" designed to "weaken the state"
and reverse empowerment
programmes.
The party also says the draft constitution seeks to whittle
down Mugabe's
powers and "undermine the country's territorial integrity,
provide absolute
rights to foreigners, substantially alter the supervision
of
non-governmental organisations and downplay the significance of the
liberation struggle".
The constitution-making process is also
currently deadlocked over issues
which include dual citizenship; powers of
the attorney-general and the
National Prosecuting Authority; system of
government; the number of deputy
presidents; the position of the prime
minister and devolution of power.
Agreement seems to have been reached to
minimise the death penalty and ban
gay rights.
However, devolution is
the most explosive problem facing parties in the GPA.
In a bid to disrupt
the constitution-making process and rush to elections,
Zanu-PF is now coming
up with all sorts of proposals, including revisiting
the exercise without
stopping elections this year.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
MARK SCOFIELD | 01 April, 2012 00:42
The discovery of
diamonds in June 2006 by villagers in the Marange area in
rural Chiadzwa,
90km southwest of Mutare, has been a mixed blessing for
Zimbabwe.
The
Marange diamond fields - hailed as "the greatest find of the century"
and
said to hold 25% of global rough diamonds by Israeli diamond watchdog,
Tacy
Ltd - have courted both controversy and fame.
The diamonds, which were
banned in October 2008 for being "blood diamonds"
following allegations of
human rights abuses by the military, have drawn in
big Chinese and South
African mining companies.
These have transformed the diamond fields into
a large-scale commercial
production centre, ending the primitive artisanal
mining (using shovels and
picks) once used by diamond panners. Estimates
suggest that Zimbabwe can
earn up to $2-billion a year from the Marange
diamonds, but coalition
partners in the fragile unity government find
themselves nowhere close to
realising that revenue, and instead have been
sucked into an endless fight
to control diamond revenue.
As Zanu-PF
and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) prepare to square
off in a new
election, there is tacit agreement among observers that unlike
the March
2008 poll when the diamonds had not yet taken centre-stage, this
time the
gems will be at the heart of the election.
The Sunday Times this week
takes a look at the political drama sparked by
the Marange diamonds
involving Tendai Biti and Obert Mpofu - the faces of
the MDC-T and Zanu-PF,
respectively. Both realise that the diamonds are
Zimbabwe's best hope to
lift the country out of the economic doldrums.
TENDAI BITI, FINANCE
MINISTER
The MDC-T's greatest undoing is that it jumped onto the Marange
diamonds
gravy train late, and has continued to pay dearly for its
mistake.
Biti presides over Treasury, but pays nearly 70% of monthly
revenue to civil
servants in salaries. Treasury is left with very little to
finance anything
else - something observers see as a vicious
cycle.
Political analyst Charles Mangongera said: "It is unheard of in
public
administration that you can have a finance minister who has no
control over
revenue from such a key sector of the economy as mining. It is
an awkward
situation."
Promised $600-million from diamonds for this
year's $4-billion budget, Biti
has so far only received $19-million. Biti
said: "Diamonds have to deliver
... we are being crippled by their
underperformance."
Biti has accused Zanu-PF of running a parallel
government that is financed
by Marange diamonds, blaming Mpofu for being
behind the clandestine move to
sideline Treasury.
When MDC-T leader
Morgan Tsvangirai entered into the unity government in
February 2009, he
promised to overhaul the economy - and seek funds from the
international
community to kick-start the economy.
But he paid little attention to the
Marange diamonds' potential. His
insistence on donor funding was mocked by
Zanu-PF hawks who accused him of
carrying a "begging bowl" to source funds.
In the meantime, Zanu-PF
strengthened its grip on the Marange diamond fields
where it has the sole
discretion on who comes and goes. Tsvangirai was only
"authorised" to visit
Marange last month.
OBERT MPOFU, MINES
MINISTER
Mpofu has been the face of resistance to Western sanctions
imposed on local
diamonds, boasting that Zimbabwe "will never beg again".
Yet diamond revenue
continues to be shrouded in secrecy, with Mpofu
revealing that the low
revenue ($19-million) submitted to Treasury in
February was because there
have been no diamond auctions this
year.
This was his mildest response to Biti. Mpofu has been involved in a
string
of public spats with the MDC-T strongman, whom he has accused of
"lying" and
"playing cheap politics". He has insisted his ministry's
dealings with
Treasury on diamond revenue were above board.
Clifford
Mashiri, a London-based political analyst, said: "If Treasury
received only
$122-million last year, what has convinced it that it will get
$600-million
in 2012? Does it mean the loopholes in the diamond mining
sector have ended
and the country can now expect more revenue? I foresee the
MDC being taken
for yet another ride by Zanu-PF."
Meanwhile, Mpofu is likely to continue
being the de facto finance minister,
pulling the purse strings by virtue of
control of the mining companies in
Marange . Reports suggest Mpofu gave the
green light last year for
$300-million to be paid to civil servants as
bonuses , despite the MDC-T' s
protests.
A Harare-based political
commentator said: "Some Zanu-PF barons have become
extremely wealthy over
the last few years. I am convinced they will pull out
all the stops to
ensure Zanu-PF wins the next election. Never mind the
factions in the
party.
"Their group interests will force them to unite and put together a
bloody
campaign that will be funded from diamond money."
Mpofu's
personal wealth has also attracted intense speculation. He boasts of
being
the "single largest cattle rancher in the country" and owns buildings
and a
supermarket chain in Bulawayo and safari operations in Victoria
Falls.
Last year Lovemore Kurotwi, the disgraced former executive at
Canadile
Miners ejected from Marange, accused Mpofu of soliciting a
$10-million bribe
in order to get a mining licence.
A Harare judge
recently ruled that Mpofu had to respond to the allegations
as his "name was
being dragged through the mud".
In their own words . . .
OBERT
MPOFU
"We are not and we will not be shaken by his [Biti's] sentiments
for we now
know his double-dealing. We have been remitting all the diamond
proceeds
accordingly and we have records to prove it. He is trying to play
cheap
politics. Remember, these are the same guys who have been calling the
diamonds body to block the certification process. He and his party are
agents of imperialists who thrive on the people's poverty and never wished
the country well." - In response to Tendai Biti's allegations in the
Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Review on August 1 2011 of diamond revenue not
reaching Treasury.
"With the [Kimberley Process Certification Scheme]
certification, the
country is going to realise substantial income. Zimbabwe
will not beg for
anything from anybody again. We're actually going to be a
world market
leader in terms of diamonds. There is huge demand for our
diamonds." -
November 1 2011 after Zimbabwe is given permission to sell its
diamonds by
the KPCS.
"That is the most idiotic statement that an
organisation like De Beers would
make. I mean, they were here for 15 years
so when did they realise that our
diamonds are not of any quality?" - On
November 14 2011 in response to De
Beers's statement that it would shun
Zimbabwe's Marange diamonds.
"The country's mining companies are on the
sanctions list. Marange
Resources, Mbada and ZMDC are all under sanctions.
We will do business with
friendly countries but if we start telling people
who we have sold the
diamonds to and at how much, then what do you expect to
happen to our
companies? They [the West] will freeze their money and as I
speak, ZMDC has
its money frozen by the US." - On March 15 2012 in an
interview with CNN.
TENDAI BITI
"The reality of Zimbabwe's
situation is that there is no connection between
Zimbabwe's income from
diamonds, its output and international prices." - On
July 29 2011,
presenting the Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Review.
"There is a parallel
government being run by Zanu-PF and as finance minister
I am also in the
dark." - On November 20 2011 while addressing a Movement
for Democratic
Change rally in Chitungwiza.
"Your decision will not stop the mining.
That is a sovereign issue covered
by international law. More importantly, it
will not stop the sale of
diamonds. All it does is encourage more opaqueness
and underwriting of the
diamond industry." - In a letter to the US treasury
on December 19 2011
slamming the diamond sanctions imposed on two Zimbabwe
companies.
"Revenue from proceeds from diamonds has not been received by
Treasury for
the months of January and February 2012. Diamonds have to
deliver... We are
being crippled by their underperformance." - On March 15
2012 in a state of
the economy address press briefing.
http://www.timeslive.co.za
MARK SCOFIELD | 01 April, 2012
00:42
Likely caving in to increased pressure to provide transparency on
Zimbabwe's
diamond fields, President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has been
on a
concerted charm offensive to gain publicity on the operations at
Marange.
Observers have, however, dismissed the overtures to provide a
glimpse into
operations at Marange as a "publicity stunt" and "last-ditch
effort" to
clean up the image of Zimbabwe's battered diamond industry, long
associated
with "blood diamonds".
The efforts come at a time when
persistent speculation prevails in political
circles that Zanu-PF is piling
up a war chest with which to fund the next
election.
Since the
beginning of the year, Obert Mpofu, the Mines and Mining
Development
Minister, has given the green light to tours of Marange by the
media and
civic society organisations.
There, journalists and civic society
leaders, among them Farai Maguwu, who
was arrested by police in 2010, have
been taken on the tour to gain
"enlightenment" and to see what really
happens at Marange.
According to Mpofu, the tours are meant to ensure
that the scribes write the
"correct things" about the Marange diamonds and
stop demonising it.
However a journalist, Moses Matenga, last month was
detained for allegedly
picking up a stone during one of the tours, although
Matenga insists the
stone in question is a lucky charm he got from
church.
A separate trip was also organised for Morgan Tsvangirai last
month, his
first trip to the diamond minefields.
Even CNN, a sworn
"enemy of the state" identified in the run-up to the 2002
elections by
political turncoat Jonathan Moyo and banned from the country,
was allowed in
to document the operations at Marange.
In February, CNN's Robyn Curnow
was allowed to film a documentary shot over
a week. It is understood that
international media houses encouraged by the
CNN coverage are now scrambling
to get their applications in to also have a
look.
Political analyst
Dumisani Nkomo said, "It's a calculated move by Zanu-PF to
clean itself up
ahead of the elections."
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
By Staff Reporter 7 hours 10 minutes
ago
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe personally blocked Philip Chiyangwa’s
ascendancy to
the post of vice-chairman in Mashonaland West province during
the party’s
politburo meeting recently, authoritative sources
said.
The sources said Mugabe queried why the business mogul was suddenly
elevated
when the party had resolved that he be re-admitted as an ordinary
card-carrying member.
They said Mugabe, who was visibly angry during
last Wednesday’s meeting,
took a swipe at Zanu PF Mashonaland West politburo
members, for failing to
stamp their authority in the
province.
“Mugabe felt that Chiyangwa could have used his vast influence
to fast track
his ascendancy while other party cadres were being denied the
opportunity,”
said one source. “He has also spoke against imposition of
candidates.”
Chiyangwa, said sources in Zanu PF, could have managed to
work his way back
into provincial leadership by exploiting factionalism
rocking the province.
But other sources said Mugabe has never liked Chiyangwa
following his arrest
and acquittal on allegations of selling state secrets
to foreign agents.
Zanu PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, played down the
issue yesterday saying
the position taken on Chiyangwa was by
consensus.
“We sat as a politburo late last year and admitted Chiyangwa
back into the
party only as an ordinary card-carrying member and then we
discussed the
issue on Wednesday after hearing that he was elected
vice-chairman in the
province,” said Gumbo.
“We agreed as a party
that he will remain a party’s card-carrying member
only until the party
thinks otherwise, meaning that his election is null and
void.”
In
2009, Chiyangwa appeared in court charged with selling official State
secrets to South African intelligence agents.
At the time, the
state-run Herald newspaper broke the story on the former
Chinhoyi
legislator's whereabouts with a banner headline 'Spy ring smashed'.
The
paper said; "A spy ring allegedly involving flamboyant businessman and
Chinhoyi legislator Phillip Chiyangwa and three others has been smashed,"
the paper said.
Chiyangwa appeared before a Harare magistrates court
amid rumours that he
had suffered a stroke, was in a coma or dead after
being tortured by
Zimbabwe's secret agents.
President Robert Mugabe's
nephew, Chiyangwa, and the other men appeared
separately before magistrate
Peter Kumbawa.
The then Zimbabwe's ambassador-designate to Mozambique
Godfrey Dzvairo,
Metropolitan Bank company secretary Tendai Matambanadzo
(Tich Mataz's
brother), and Zanu-PF external affairs director Itai Marchi
were brought to
court in leg irons before Kumbawa asked the guards to
unshackle them.
The four were charged under Section 4 of the Official
Secrets Act.
Chiyangwa’s bid to run for MP in Chinhoyi suffered a major
reversal this
week after the Zanu PF politburo and central committee
nullified his
election as the party’s vice chairman in Mashonaland
West.
The property tycoon beat Reuben Marumahoko on March 16 in an
internal Zanu
PF vote, and many thought that marked the end of his
rehabilitation after
his expulsion in 2006.
Zanu PF spokesman Rugare
Gumbo said: “There were reports recently that
Comrade Chiyangwa was elected
as the vice chairman for Mashonaland West
province.
“The politburo on
Wednesday reviewed that case and nullified the election.
The decision was
endorsed by the Central Committee on Friday.
“Comrade Chiyangwa will remain
as an ordinary member of the party until
further notice.”
Zanu PF
expelled Chiyangwa on March 20, 2006, exactly two years after he was
charged
with espionage, although he was acquitted by a High Court judge in
2005.
The Zanu PF constitution says a member cannot be re-admitted
into the party
until after five years have lapsed since their
expulsion.
Chiyangwa’s expired last year and he was re-admitted into the
party last
November as an ordinary member, but it appears Zanu PF is
determined to
extend his pain by blocking him from holding
office.
After his purported election, Chiyangwa had set his eyes on the
Chinhoyi
parliamentary seat, but those plans now appear in jeopardy.
http://www.nation.co.ke
By KITSEPILE NYATHI NATION
Correspondent
Posted Sunday, April 1 2012 at 20:51
HARARE,
Sunday
Zimbabwe has indefinitely suspended weddings because it is working
on a new
certificate to curb marriages of convenience.
The suspension
saw scores of couples intending to tie the knot being turned
away by
magistrates’ courts over the weekend.
In the second city of Bulawayo,
officials on Friday said 20 couples were
turned away by the
courts.
The magistrates in various parts of the country said they had
received
circulars advising them to stop solemnising marriages.
The
marriages at the courts usually take place on Tuesday and Fridays. Last
week
the Registrar General Mr Tobaiwa Mudede unveiled a new marriage
certificate
saying foreigners were now abusing the system to settle in the
country.
He said the new document had security features that made
counterfeiting
impossible.
“We are fighting this nuisance of
marriages of convenience. Marriage
officers will have to comply with this
and if you don’t, the jail is waiting
for you,” Mr Mudede said.
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He had said the new certificates were ready and would
be dispatched to
provincial offices countrywide.
Of late several
Nigerians have been dragged to court for faking marriages
with Zimbabwean
women so that they can obtain residence permits.
Last month a Nigerian
businessman based in Harare was charged for marrying
two Zimbabwean women
using different names. He reportedly married one of the
women without her
knowledge.
picture from newzimbabwe.com
‘Yes boss I told them
off about the illegal sanctions’
Three years into the
coalition government and Morgan Tsvangirai is a well-travelled man. He has
nothing else to keep him busy as he has no power to do anything except Mugabe’s
bidding and Mugabe wants the Prime Minister to go around grinding out the
sanctions tune.
He could, of course,
do some housekeeping work for the MDC, but he must be tired of his meetings
being disrupted by Zanu PF and cancelled by the police. And party business is
not as much fun as slapping the well-suited back of a real Prime
Minister.
After his talks with
David Cameron in London, the Vigil began to wonder who exactly Tsvangirai is
working for. His message explained in Parliament on Wednesday by Tsvangirai
himself was: remove sanctions and give us lots of money. Never mind that there
have been no reforms and that Zimbabweans are now world-renowned for never
paying their debts. Ask Mugabe why he has not paid his electricity bill of
$350,000 . . . .
What we at the Vigil
want from Tsvangirai is a strategy to secure free and fair elections in the face
of total obstruction from Mugabe’s cronies – the people he wants to legitimize.
We have heard of no such strategy and time is fast running out. Unfortunately
there are still a few countries he hasn’t visited and some backs he hasn’t
slapped. After all he is now Premier Class.
So the Vigil is
stepping into the vacuum by sending the following letter to the British Prime
Minister:
Dear Mr Cameron
The Zimbabwe Vigil is
pleased to hear that you gave the Zimbabwean Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai,
your commitment to help achieve free and fair elections in
Zimbabwe.
The Vigil has been
demonstrating outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London every Saturday for ten
years in support of this cause.
President Mugabe has
insisted on elections this year even though a new constitution has not yet been
adopted or reforms made as required by the Global Political Agreement he signed
after the violent elections of 2008.
President Mugabe’s
supporters have made it clear that they will again employ the methods that
sabotaged those elections, including violence and ballot
rigging.
The Vigil believes
the international community has a duty of care to Zimbabweans to prevent
bloodshed and ensure a fair poll. The contribution of regional observers during
previous elections has been questionable and the Vigil calls for UN involvement
this time.
As you will see the
petition has been signed by more than 10,000 people from all over the world who
have stopped by the Vigil.
We ask for an
opportunity to present this petition to you or your representative in the near
future as time for Zimbabwe is running short.
Yours
sincerely
Vigil
Co-ordinators
Other
points
· A reminder
that the Zimbabwe Action Forum is to meet after the Vigil next week. See
‘Events and Notices’ below for details. The Forum provides an opportunity for
people to offer suggestions for the way forward to free
Zimbabwe.
· Vigil supporters may
be interested in the observations of former student leader Freeman Chari, who
writes of the need for an international peacekeeping force to monitor elections
(http://nehandaradio.com/2012/03/27/only-force-can-remove-mugabe-and-zanu-pf/
– Only force can remove Mugabe and Zanu PF).
· We were pleased to
see an article about the Vigil written by a Zimbabwean writer Hasani Hasani
(The vigil eye on Mugabe’s abuses
– http://www.thenewlondoners.co.uk/news-a-features/106-feature-immigration/413-the-vigil-eye-on-mugabes-abuses).
The Vigil diary last year published a poem he read out at the service in support of
Zimbabwean victims of torture – 26th June 2011 (http://zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/316-service-in-support-of-zimbabwean-victims-of-torture-26th-june-2011).
· The plight
of Zimbabwe moves many generous spirits. One gentleman who regularly makes a
donation to our work stopped by today and gave us £60. We are very
grateful.
· Another
gentleman asked us whether we had read Ben Freeth’s book. Josie on the front
desk told him we had just received an email from Ben supporting our plans for
the petition to the UN. The passer-by promptly signed the
petition.
· Thanks to
Thabani Nyathi who brought soft drinks and Lorrein Gumise who brought biscuits
for Vigil supporters. Thanks also to Georgina Makaza who has been coming at the
start to help set up.
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
Please note: Vigil photos can only be downloaded from our Flickr website – they
cannot be downloaded from the slideshow on the front page of the Zimvigil
website.
FOR THE
RECORD: 67 signed the
register.
EVENTS AND NOTICES:
·
Zimbabwe Action
Forum. Saturday
7th April from 6.30 – 9.30 pm. Venue: Strand Continental Hotel (first
floor lounge), 143 Strand, London WC2R 1JA. Directions: The Strand is the same
road as the Vigil. From the Vigil it’s about a 10 minute walk, in the direction
away from Trafalgar Square. The Strand Continental is situated on the south side
of the Strand between Somerset House and the turn off onto Waterloo Bridge. The
entrance is marked by a big sign high above and a sign for its famous Indian
restaurant at street level. It's next to a newsagent. Nearest underground:
Temple (District and Circle lines) and Holborn.
·
Next Swaziland
Vigil. Saturday
7th April from 10 am – 1 pm. Venue: Swazi High Commission, 20
Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LB. Please support our Swazi friends. Nearest
stations: St James’s Park and Victoria. www.swazilandvigil.co.uk.
·
ROHR
North East general meeting.
Saturday 14th April from 3 - 6 pm. Venue: Windmill Centre, Chester Place,
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE8 1QB. For directions please contact Susan Ndlovu
07767024586, Tapiwa Merrymore Semwayo 07722060246 or Colin Matongo
07865691347.
·
Fourth
21st Movement Free Zimbabwe Global Protest organized by the MDC
diaspora. Saturday 21st April. On this day the Vigil will also
mark Zimbabwe’s 32nd Independence anniversary.
·
Two Gentlemen of
Verona Shona Production at the Globe
Theatre, 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London SE1 9DT. Dates /
Times: Wednesday 9
May, 2.30pm. Thursday 10 May, 7.30pm. Tickets £5 - £35 (700 £5 tickets
available) from 020 7401 9919 and www.shakespearesglobe.com.
A two-man Zimbabwean riot of love, friendship and betrayal. From Verona to
Milan, via Harare and Bulawayo, two great friends, Valentine and Proteus, vie
for the love of the same woman. In a triumphantly energetic ‘township’ style,
Denton Chikura and Tonderai Munyevu slip into all of the play’s fifteen
characters – from amorous suitors to sullen daughters, depressed servants and
even a dog – in this new, specially commissioned translation.
·
Zimbabwe Vigil
Highlights 2011 can be viewed on this
link: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk/the-vigil-diary/363-vigil-highlights-2011.
Links to previous years’ highlights are listed on 2011 Highlights
page.
·
The Restoration of
Human Rights in Zimbabwe (ROHR) is the Vigil’s
partner organisation based in Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the Vigil
to have an organisation on the ground in Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s
mission statement in a practical way. ROHR in the UK actively fundraises through
membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in
Zimbabwe. Please note that the official website of ROHR Zimbabwe is http://www.rohrzimbabwe.org/.
Any other website claiming to be the official website of ROHR in no way
represents the views and opinions of ROHR.
·
ZBN
News. The Vigil
management team wishes to make it clear that the Zimbabwe Vigil is not
responsible for Zimbabwe Broadcasting Network News (ZBN News). We are happy that
they attend our activities and provide television coverage but we have no
control over them. All enquiries about ZBN News should be addressed to ZBN News.
·
The Zim Vigil
band
(Farai Marema and Dumi Tutani) has launched its theme song ‘Vigil Yedu (our
Vigil)’ to raise awareness through music. To download this single, visit: www.imusicafrica.com and
to watch the video check: http://ourvigil.notlong.com.
To watch other Zim Vigil band protest songs, check: http://Shungurudza.notlong.com
and http://blooddiamonds.notlong.com.
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace
page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
Vigil
co-ordinators
The Vigil, outside
the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00
to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in Zimbabwe. The
Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until
internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/williamsaundersonmeyer/2012/03/31/zimbabwe-the-high-costs-paid-for-normality/
In
photography, time-lapse exposures are a useful mechanism to make
imperceptible changes unreel with new clarity before the eye. Similarly, for
a journalist, a series of sequential exposures to a situation can make
gradual social changes suddenly obvious in a way that microscopic study does
not.
After a long absence from Zimbabwe, where I used to
spend a significant
amount time on business, I returned last week for the
first time since 2006.
It was instantly to renew a love affair with a
country that I find endlessly
beguiling, but whose political and economic
meltdown had made it at turns
frustrating, depressing and, on occasion,
dangerous.
The most glaring change is how the switch three years
ago to the United
States greenback has brought economic stability. Inflation
had reached a
million percent a year; billion Zim dollar notes were being
issued; the
stores were mostly empty; and economic activity had been reduced
to barter
and hunt-and-peck shopping that consumed hours of everyone’s
day.
A wry joke of the time was that the daily 27-fold average
increase in prices
meant that by the time a minibus taxi had travelled from
Harare to
Chitungwize on its outskirts, passengers had to cough up the same
fare
again, and a bit more, to adjust for inflation.
Now, in
contrast, inflation is under control and the shelves are groaning
with
imported goods. Anything and everything is available at a price — but a
whacking price, two to three times that of South Africa.
The
air of prosperity in the spruced up northern suburbs of Harare is
somewhat
illusory. For the 90% who are unemployed the daily survival
threshold is
higher than ever, while the employed poor are pounded by the
trade-off that
has had to be made between stability and high prices.
Structural
economic damage has been considerable, with manufacturing almost
extinct and
agricultural exporters crippled by the cost of dollarised
inputs. The real
grease in the economic wheel has been a consumer-spending
boom of grey money
sourced from the massive diamond finds in the east of the
country.
And most of that grease comes from what has adhered
to the sticky fingers of
the Zanu-PF elite. They corruptly pocket
astronomical sums from the Chinese,
who fly out the diamonds by the
planeload. Little accrues as revenue to the
exchequer and there is
consequently minuscule benefit to the average
Zimbabwean in a nation still
run as a feudal fiefdom by President Robert
Mugabe.
The other
stark contrast is how the Government of National Unity (GNU),
brokered by
former SA president Thabo Mbeki shortly before he was
unceremoniously dumped
by his own party, has reduced political tensions.
The inclusion
in government of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
as junior
partners has reduced, although not stopped, the deployment of the
state
security apparatus in its long campaign of detention, beatings,
torture and
murder of MDC supporters.
The GNU is not, however, the triumph
that the Mbeki-ites proclaimed. In the
same way that monetary stability has
come at a price, so too with political
stability. Here the trade-off has
been at the cost of democracy, as the MDC
is subtly absorbed into the
existing machinery of government and inevitably
begins to take on some of
the tainted complexion of Zanu-PF.
The constitutional mechanisms
supposedly fundamental to Mbeki’s ‘road map to
democracy’ have mostly not
been implemented. In their absence, the election
that Mugabe wants to take
place soon cannot be free and fair. And after such
an election the popular
will is likely, again, to be subsumed into an uneasy
GNU compromise that no
one — neither Zanu-PF nor MDC supporter — has
actually ever voted
for.
The real costs of these economic and political trade-offs
will not be known
for a while yet. On the other hand, after the past dozen
years of trauma and
uncertainty, for now it’s probably for most ordinary
Zimbabweans an
acceptable price to pay for peace and normality, however
precarious.
