http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Lizwe Sebatha Thursday 08 April
2010
BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's empowerment regulations compelling white
owned firms
to cede 51 percent stake to blacks will deliver the final blow
against
colonialism, Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere told
ZimOnline on
Wednesday.
Kasukuwere, a top loyalist of President
Robert Mugabe, announced in February
that all foreign-owned businesses,
including banks, mines and factories
valued at a half a billion American
dollars or more must offload their
majority shareholding to locals by March
2015.
The regulations -- that sent foreign-owned firms into panic with
threats of
imprisonment for foreign shareholders (or presumably their local
representatives) who fail to comply within the next five years -- gave
foreign-owned companies up to the end of last month to submit proposals to
the government on how they plan to bring locals on board.
Several
foreign owned firms are understood to be finalising or have already
submitted their indigenisation plans to Kasukuwere's ministry.
In a
telephone interview Kasukuwere said Zimbabwe was still under
colonialism as
seen by the skewed distribution of wealth and ownership
patterns favouring
minority whites despite the country attaining
independence from Britain in
1980.
"The wealth imbalances derive from the system of colonialism . . .
there is
no way Zimbabweans can say they have overthrown colonialism when
they do not
control their resources," said Kasukuwere. "This indigenisation
is
overthrowing remnants of colonialism."
The indigenisation rules
have been a source of controversy dividing the
unity government along party
lines.
Critics fear Mugabe's ZANU PF party wants to press ahead with
transferring
majority ownership of foreign-owned companies as part of a
drive to reward
party loyalists with thriving businesses.
But
Kasukuwere denies the charges saying that the government will not impose
local investment partners on foreign owned companies and blacks. "My
ministry will not force or impose any partner on foreign owned companies, "
he said.
While the coalition government has said it is reviewing the
indigenisation
laws, Mugabe and his party - who still wield greater power in
the unity
government - insist the empowerment drive must go ahead, ignoring
warnings
that this could scare away foreign investors whose funds Zimbabwe
needs to
rebuild its shattered economy.
The regulations that do not
say where impoverished local Zimbabweans will
get money to pay for stake in
large mines and industries owned by foreigners
are seen as a potentially
fatal blow to efforts to woo foreign investors to
help rebuild the country's
economy shattered by 10 years of political
turmoil and acute
recession.
The regulations were gazetted on February 5 in line with an
Indigenisation
and Economic Empowerment Bill passed in Parliament by the
then sole ruling
ZANU PF party in 2007. Mugabe signed the regulations into
law in March
2008. - ZimOnline
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| FOOD AID . . . 78 percent of the population of Zimbabwe is absolutely poor and 55 percent live below the food poverty line |
HARARE - An estimated
78 percent of Zimbabweans are "absolutely poor" a UNICEF report said on
Wednesday, in yet another reminder to the country's ruling coalition to stop
bickering and cooperate to rebuild the economy to end mass poverty brought by
years of recession and political strife.
Painting a grim
picture of the situation in Zimbabwe dwarfing the much vaunted success of the
Harare power-sharing government in stabilising the economy, the report said a
burgeoning HIV/AIDS pandemic has killed many breadwinners to leave large numbers
of child-headed families and 55 percent of the population living below the bread
line.
"Currently
approximately 78 percent of the population of Zimbabwe is absolutely poor and 55
percent live below the food poverty line," the UNICEF's Child-Sensitive Social
Protection in Zimbabwe report said.
"People living below
the food poverty line cannot meet any of their basic needs and suffer from
chronic hunger. It is estimated that approximately 6.6 million people including
3.5 million children suffer from this extreme form of
deprivation."
Zimbabwe's economy
registered its first growth in a decade last year after the coalition government
of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai implemented
measures, including the adoption of multiple currencies, that doused
hyperinflation.
But incessant
bickering between Mugabe and Tsvangirai over how to share executive power
continues to scare away foreign investors whose funds are vital to any effort to
rebuild Zimbabwe's shattered economy.
In addition rich
Western nations, unconvinced by Mugabe's commitment to democratic reforms, have
refused to provide direct financial support to Harare demanding more political
reforms and that the government acts to end human rights abuses before they can
loosen the purse strings.
In the absence of robust support from Western governments, the International Monetary Fund and other multi-lateral institutions, Zimbabwe's economic recovery has remained fragile, while the country also remains heavily dependent on foreign humanitarian assistance to meet the basic needs of its population. - ZimOnline
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Written by Pindai Dube
Wednesday, 07 April 2010
13:35
BULAWAYO - Police here have barred youths from the mainstream MDC from
holding a peaceful demonstration on transitional justice today (Thursday)
saying it will cause anarchy in the country.
In a letter written on
Good Friday by chief superintendent Nsingo, police
officer commanding
Bulawayo district, to mainstream MDC provincial youth
leader, Bhekithemba
Nyathi, he warned against mobilizing party youths to
defy the order, saying
the police would use force.
"You are hereby informed that your request to
hold a demonstration on
transitional justice on Thursday has been rejected.
I therefore warn you
that police won't resist to use force if any of your
party members defy this
order and go into the streets," reads part of the
letter.
Nyathi said he was shocked that police banned the demonstration as it
was
just a follow up to one held in Harare last month.
"We are shocked by
police decision. We just wanted to hold a peaceful
demonstration in the city
centre demanding an end to political violence and
the prosecution of
perpetrators of the June 27 presidential election
violence," said
Nyathi.
"We know if it was a Zanu (PF) demonstration they were going to allow
it,"
he added.
Last month thousands of MDC youths from the party's Harare
province staged a
massive street march that brought traffic to a halt. The
youths carried
placards with messages demanding an end to violence,
corruption, the
politicization of the police who are under orders from their
superiors not
to arrest Zanu (PF) supporters who commit political crimes.
http://www.newzimbabwe.com
07/04/2010 00:00:00
by Lunga
Sibanda
AN MDC councillor who told a security guard he "only argued
with Robert
Mugabe" has been arrested and charged with "undermining the
authority of the
President".
Benard Nyamambi, 40, a councillor for
the Movement for Democratic Change
party led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai in the resort town of Victoria
Falls could be fined or jailed for
a year if convicted.
Nyamambi was arrested on March 16 this year, a day
after he argued with a
security guard at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge.
The guard had refused
Nyamambi permission to drive into the
premises.
The councillor, angry at the snub, told the guard: "I cannot
argue with you,
I only argue with Robert Mugabe. Who are you with three
bars? You will die
poor."
Prosecutors say Nyamambi's remarks fell
foul of Zimbabwe's tough security
laws which make it an offence to
"publicly, unlawfully and intentionally
make any statement about or
concerning the President ... with the knowledge
or realising that there is a
real risk or possibility that the statement is
false and that it may
engender feelings of hostility towards; or cause
hatred, contempt or
ridicule of; the President ... or makes any abusive,
indecent or obscene
statement about or concerning the President or an acting
President, whether
in respect of the President personally or the President's
office."
An
individual convicted for the offence "shall be guilty of undermining the
authority of or insulting the President", according to Section 33 of the
Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
Nyamambi, the councillor
for Ward One, appeared at the Victoria Falls
Magistrates' Courts on
Wednesday but the trial was postponed to next week
because the completed
docket had not been received from the regional police
HQ in Hwange.
http://www.herald.co.zw/
5 March 2010
Harare - THE Competition
and Tariff Commission will next week conclude
investigations into
allegations that the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority is abusing its
monopoly by charging excessive tariffs and over
arbitrary disconnection of
supplies.
The commission's assistant director, Mr Benjamin Chinhengo,
said they would
set a hearing for the power utility to respond, compile a
report and
recommend action.
Unfair business practices are activities
that distort trade and give an
unfair advantage to those practicing them and
can result in economic injury
to the local industry.
After the
hearing, the commission is expected to pass a ruling.
The commission is
empowered to take action against the culprit in terms of
the provisions of
the Competition Act of 1996.
They have powers to order companies to cease
and desist from carrying out
unfair business practices.
An order
would be issued to compel the party to the restrictive practice to
terminate
wholly, or to such extent as may be specified in the order and
within the
stipulated time.
The force of the order given by the CTC carries the same
weight as a court
judgment.
"We are receiving between 80 and 100
complaints on Zesa every day and it has
become a national disaster and we
are dealing with the issue with urgency.
"A report on Zesa should be
ready by next week, and action would be taken
based on the findings," said
Mr Chinhengo.
Zesa has been disconnecting power to defaulters, both
commercial and
domestic.
The power utility bases its bills on
estimates, with companies and
households receiving unrealistic electricity
bills, resulting in customers
refusing to pay.
Some of the bills show
arrears of between US$5 000 and US$9 000 in
high-density areas despite
erratic supplies.
Some essential services have also been threatened by
load-shedding, with
some essential medical drugs lost through unrefigerated
storage, risking
people's health.
Mr Chinhengo said the commission
would assume the duty to monitor major
companies on whether their market
dominance constitutes abuse of monopoly in
a bid to protect
consumers.
He added that the commission has also launched investigations
across all
sectors of the economy where they are getting
complains.
In the past, the commission has undertaken investigations into
the
automotive, medical health insurance, manufacturing, waste paper
collection,
beverages, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, cement and sugar
industries.
The pressure comes at a time when Zesa is grappling to settle
a US$428
million debt and power generation is at it lowest.
http://news.radiovop.com
07/04/2010
20:50:00
Harare, April 07, 2010 - One of the prison officers alleged
to have assisted
alleged coup plotters to attempt an escape from Harare's
Chikurubi Maxim
Prison has been jailed for seven years by a Harare
magistrate while another
has been arrested in connection with the
case.
Two of the seven years were suspended for good
behaviour.
The jailed prison officer identified as Donald Tapera
Gwekwerere (26) is
being held by the police's law and order department and
sources said he was
being quizzed on his relationship with Defence Minister,
Emmerson Mnangagwa.
It is strongly believed that Gwekwerere had been sent
by Mnangagwa to set
free the coup suspects who have been in remand since May
2007. Magistrate
William Bhila heard that Gwekwerere had accepted a USD 6200
bribe and a car
from the alleged coup plotters and had also been promised a
luxurious life
in the United Kingdom.
Albert Matapo allegedly
attempted to escape from the country's Maximum
Security Prison on the 5th of
April 2010 when he was found in
possession of hacksaw blades, a hammer, glass
cutters and a 15meter long
rope among other materials which the prison
officials term
Prohibited Articles.
Matapo was arrested in 2007
together with six other suspects namely Nyasha
Zivuku, Oncemore Mazivahona,
Emmanuel Marara, Patson Mupfure, Shingirai
Mutemachani, and Rangarirai
Maziofa on allegations of plotting to replace
President Mugabe with a senior
ZANU-PF official Emerson Munangagwa.
Most of the suspects are however
ex-army officials who have close links with
top Zanu PF officials.
http://www1.voanews.com
Sources
reported a scramble for Reserve Bank assets by creditors including a
Zimbabwean farm equipment dealer and two South African seed companies
looking for payment for goods sold to the central bank in the
past
Gibbs Dube | Washington 07 April 2010
Zimbabwe's
Sheriff's Office on Wednesday expanded its attachments of Reserve
Bank of
Zimbabwe property amid reports previous auctions of such property
have
raised only US$200,000 against a debt of US$2.1 million owed to
Farmtech
Spares for tractors.
Sources said a deputy sheriff executing court orders
for two South African
seed companies was unable to seize movable property
Farmtech has already
attached.
The Sheriff's Office was expected to
attach immovable properties of the RBZ
as the auctions
proceed.
Attorney Davison Kanokanga, representing Farmtech, told VOA
Studio 7
reporter Gibbs Dube that there is a scramble by many creditors for
central
bank assets including those already attached.
Elsewhere,
economist Eric Bloch said that despite the recent signature by
President
Robert Mugabe of a new law to reform the Reserve Bank, oversight
continues
to be provided by the executive and the Finance Ministry pending
constitution of an oversight committee.
Bloch said the the central
bank can be autonomous if it is divorced from the
realm of
politics.
"The new Act still gives the executive and Ministry of Finance
extreme
authority and control of the bank which creates the danger of them
going too
far in overseeing its operations," he said.
http://www1.voanews.com
The process of revising the Zimbabwean constitution has been held
up for
several months while funding issues were worked out between Harare
officials
in charge of the process and donors led by the UN Development
Program
Jonga Kandemiiri & Brenda Moyo | Washington 07 April
2010
Rapporteurs who will record the views of Zimbabweans in the
public outreach
phase of the country's process of constitutional revision
gathered in Harare
Wednesday for training sessions on Thursday and
Friday.
Parliament's Select Committee on Constitutional Revision
announced the
schedule last weekend. There have been delays in the process
due to funding
issues, but sources said the United Nations Development
Program has released
US$21 million.
Constitutional Affairs Minister
Eric Matinenga told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Jonga Kandemiiri that the issue of
police security is still being discussed.
Rapporteur Effie Dlela Ncube,
chairman of the Matebeleland Constitutional
Reform Agenda, told VOA Studio 7
reporter Brenda Moyo he hopes he will learn
how to accurately record public
opinion.
http://www.sabcnews.com/
April 08 2010 , 6:44:00
John
Nyashanu, Harare
A consolidated report by Zimbabwe's feuding political
parties has been
forwarded to President Jacob Zuma. The parties failed to
agree on
outstanding issues of their truce agreement and now await South
African
Development Community (SADC)'s recommendations. However, analysts
remain
pessimistic of an immediate solution and are calling for the creation
of an
even playing field for fresh elections.
It is a deal hanging by
the thread; sources told the South African
Broadcasting Corporation that the
consolidated report is now in South
Africa. They say it is set to be seen by
President Zuma before being
forwarded to Mozambican president Armando
Guebuza - the SADC chairman on
defence politics and security. Zimbabwean
analysts say the perpetual
stalemate is in Zanu-PF's
favour.
Political analyst, Lovemore Madhuku explains: "Government will
continue
under the current situation where the issues regarded as
outstanding will
remain very much, no longer outstanding in the sense that
no one will be
talking about them but government will be proceeding, in
other words -
there will be a Zanu-PF victory in the talks in the sense
that there will be
no new concessions."
While others feel a fresh
election is the only real solution.
"At the moment we do not have a
climate for elections. We are still in the
same situation we were at pre
June 28; it might be at a lesser level. But
overnight we can get back to the
same situation," says Barnabas Thondlana a
political analyst.
Failure
by the parties to find common ground has all but watered down
President
Zuma's statement last month that the parties have agreed on
measures to be
implemented concurrently
http://www1.voanews.com
FEWSNET
said most households in rural areas are now through the peak hunger
season
and conditions should continue to improve through July as the annual
maize
harvest picks up and product flows into local markets
Patience Rusere |
Washington 07 April 2010
Although Zimbabwe's 2010 maize harvest is
likely to fall short of 2009
output, the country is more secure in its food
supplies than it was last
year due to a stirring economy and grain market
liberalization the
U.S.-based Famine Early Warning System Network
says.
A new FEWSNET report said maize and other staple foods are readily
available
and maize prices have come down from last year, particularly in
areas that
had good harvests and due to the emergence of a freer market in
cereals
under the country's unity government. The state Grain Marketing
Board
exercised a monopoly on maize and other cereals previously, but was
very
inefficient and subject to political manipulation.
FEWSNET said
most households in rural areas are now through the peak hunger
season and
that the situation should continue to improve through July as the
main
harvest of maize comes on line.
But in drought in Masvingo, Matabeleland
South and Manicaland provinces
among other areas has made food scarce,
meaning assistance will be required.
Christian Care National Director
Forbes Matonga told VOA Studio 7 reporter
Patience Rusere that farmers who
planted maize early n December-January saw
their crops devasted by drought
conditions.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Robert Mugabe, a self-professed foe of
colonial power, is being propped up
by South Africa
Innocent
Madawo
From Thursday's Globe and Mail Published on Wednesday, Apr. 07,
2010 7:18PM
EDT
When President Robert Mugabe presides over the
commemoration of Zimbabwe's
30th anniversary of independence on April 18,
one point he'll certainly
emphasize - for the 30th time - is that the
country will never be a colony
of another.
Of course, Mr. Mugabe
doesn't mean a 19th century-type occupation. He means
political and economic
domination he perceives as the aim of the West,
particularly
Britain.
Nevertheless, it's in that context that Mr. Mugabe has been
lying to himself
and those who believe him. Zimbabwe is already dominated by
erstwhile
neighbour South Africa.
For a man who's fond of accusing
others of selling the country to foreigners
in their quest for power, he has
turned out to be the biggest sellout -
precisely to remain in
power.
For more than two years, then South African president Thabo Mbeki
used
"quiet diplomacy" to resist pressure to force Mr. Mugabe to accept the
will
of Zimbabweans, who clearly preferred Morgan Tsvangirai and his
Movement for
Democratic Change in the 2008 parliamentary and presidential
elections.
Observers wondered why Mr. Mbeki denied Zimbabweans what his
own people took
for granted - electoral democracy. Now, as the shrewd
economist enjoys his
own retirement, his intentions for Zimbabwe are
manifesting themselves. Mr.
Mbeki gave South African businesses a
resource-rich and market-ready
Zimbabwe.
Before the national unity
government that Mr. Mbeki forced on Mr. Mugabe and
Mr. Tsvangirai was
inaugurated a year ago, Zimbabwe's markets - known for
their empty shelves -
were suddenly awash with a variety of South
African-made
products.
The currency of choice became the rand, paid out by South
African investors
who now provide the main source of employment in Zimbabwe.
The rest of the
money is repatriated by the two million to three million
Zimbabweans working
in South Africa, where the government was quick to
guarantee a renewable
work visa and eased immigration
regulations.
South Africa needs Zimbabwe's ready-made professionals to
augment its own
inadequate reserves. Better working conditions and
remuneration have
resulted in a sustained brain drain that has been
epitomized by school
closures as teachers and students flock
south.
Mr. Mugabe's government has defended this situation as a necessary
relief
from a historical ally. But fundamentals indicate an economy set to
rely on
South Africa for the big part of Zimbabwe's fourth decade of
independence.
Apart from the Western-targeted sanctions imposed on Mr.
Mugabe, Zimbabwe is
under a general investment, trade and aid boycott by
most other countries
except those from Asia - particularly China - and those
from Africa whose
economic capacities are not adequate enough to do
meaningful business with
Zimbabwe. The country owes $6-billion in foreign
debt, and doesn't qualify
for an International Monetary Fund balance of
payments loan.
Furthermore, Zimbabwe's economy is overwhelmingly
resource-based, with
agriculture and mining taking the lead. But a
decade-long persecution of
farmers and current efforts to restrict foreign
ownership of mining
properties have kept out potential investors. Worse
still, the country faces
a shortage of about a million tonnes of grain - the
national staple.
The country once known as the bread basket of Africa now
requires more than
a political settlement to regain its economic
independence. Even as its
political leaders bicker over the proper wording
of the constitution and
whether to continue with the national unity
government or call an election,
Jacob Zuma - Mr. Mbeki's successor and a man
who, it was hoped, would push
Mr. Mugabe over the cliff - is actually
consolidating South Africa's
economic dominance of Zimbabwe.
In a
typical case of "he who pays the piper calls the tune," Mr. Zuma
recently
"ordered" Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai to avoid any political
drama until
after the soccer World Cup, a money-spinning extravaganza from
which
Zimbabwe could benefit. Obviously, Mr. Zuma will dictate what course
Zimbabwean politics should take afterward, but his decision will be guided
by South Africa's economic needs in Zimbabwe, not what Zimbabweans want. If
that's not being colonized, what is?
Innocent Madawo is a freelance
Zimbabwean journalist based in Toronto.
HWANGE, Zimbabwe
Nicholas D. Kristof
In a week of surreptitious reporting here (committing journalism can be a criminal offense in Zimbabwe), ordinary people said time and again that life had been better under the old, racist, white regime of what was then called Rhodesia.
"When the country changed from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, we were very excited," one man, Kizita, told me in a village of mud-walled huts near this town in western Zimbabwe. "But we didn't realize the ones we chased away were better and the ones we put in power would oppress us."
"It would have been better if whites had continued to rule because the money would have continued to come," added a neighbor, a 58-year-old farmer named Isaac. "It was better under Rhodesia. Then we could get jobs. Things were cheaper in stores. Now we have no money, no food."
Over and over, I cringed as I heard Africans wax nostalgic about a nasty, oppressive regime run by a tiny white elite. Black Zimbabweans responded that at least that regime was more competent than today's nasty, oppressive regime run by the tiny black elite that surrounds Mr. Mugabe.
A Times colleague, Barry Bearak, was jailed here in 2008 for reporting, so I used a fresh passport to enter the country as a tourist. Partly for my own safety, I avoided interviewing people with ties to the government, so I can't be sure that my glimpse of the public mood was representative.
People I talked to were terrified for their personal safety if quoted - much more scared than in the past. That's why I'm being vague about locations and agreed to omit full names.
But what is clear is that Zimbabwe has come very far downhill over the last few decades (although it has risen a bit since its trough two years ago). An impressive health and education system is in tatters, and life expectancy has tumbled from about 60 years in 1990 to somewhere between 36 and 44, depending on which statistics you believe.
Western countries have made the mistake of focusing their denunciations on the seizures of white farms by Mr. Mugabe's cronies. That's tribalism by whites; by far the greatest suffering has been endured by Zimbabwe's blacks.
In Kizita's village, for example, I met a 29-year-old woman, seven months pregnant, who had malaria. She and her husband had walked more than four miles to the nearest clinic, where she tested positive for malaria. But the clinic refused to give her some life-saving antimalaria medicine unless she paid $2 - and she had no money at all in her house. So, dizzy and feverish, she stumbled home for another four miles, empty-handed.
As it happened, the clinic that turned her down was one that I had already visited. Nurses there had complained that they were desperately short of bandages, antibiotics and beds. They said that to survive, they impose fees for seeing patients, for family planning, for safe childbirth - and the upshot is that impoverished villagers die because they can't pay.
I also spent time at an elementary school where the number of students had dropped sharply because so few parents today can afford $36 in annual school fees.
"We don't have desks. We don't have chairs. We don't have books," explained the principal, who was terrified of being named. The school also lacks electricity and water, and the first grade doesn't have a classroom and meets under a tree.
This particular school had been founded by Rhodesians more than 70 years ago, and the principal mused that it must have served black pupils far better in Rhodesian days than today.
At another school 100 miles away, the deputy headmaster lamented that students can't even afford pens. "One child has to finish his work, and then he lends his pen to another child," he explained.
Zimbabwe is one of my favorite countries, blessed with friendly people, extraordinary wildlife and little crime. I took my family along with me on this trip (my kids accuse me of using them as camouflage), and they found the scenery, people and wild animals quite magical.
At a couple of villages we visited, farmers were driving away elephants that were trampling their crops - and they were blaming Mr. Mugabe for the elephants. That struck even me as unfair.
The tragedy that has unfolded here can be reversed if Mr. Mugabe is obliged by international pressure, particularly from South Africa, to hold free elections. Worldwide pressure forced the oppressive Rhodesian regime to give up power three decades ago. Now we need similar pressure, from African countries as well as Western powers, to pry Mr. Mugabe's fingers from his chokehold on a lovely country.
The weekly Crosaire began on March 13th, 1943 after an encounter in a Fleet Street bar, writes LORNA KERNAN
DEREK CROZIER was always charming to work with, a gentle man with a clipped voice who began his sentences with the old-fashioned "Now my dear . . ."
He must be the longest-lasting contributor to The Irish Times , having supplied his Crosaire crosswords for just over 67 years. He must also have been the most senior, at age 92.
This is the end of a unique era: one of tapping out words on a manual typewriter, with carbon paper copies and hard copy arriving at various intervals from Zimbabwe in brown envelopes marked by hand with "surface mail" and "printed matter", reminiscent of an earlier time.
His cryptic puzzles were a microcosm of his marriage to Marjorie - she the avid crossword solver who, until her death, filled in grids with words, he the reluctant cruciverbalist who took her words and moulded them with clever clues.
The story began in December 1941, when Derek's goddaughter gave him a present of a book of crosswords. Even though he didn't do crosswords, he decided after a few days that he would "have a go", only to discover that Marjorie had solved the lot.
"Right," he said. "Now I'll make you up one that you won't be able to solve." And he did. Later on, he woke her in the middle of the night and suggested offering crosswords to The Irish Times . She told him not to be silly and to go back to sleep. This was all the rag he needed: "Right," he said, "I'll show her."
At Christmas Eve drinks in 1942 with Jack White in the Pearl Bar in Fleet Street, he boldly approached then editor of The Irish Times , Bertie Smyllie, and his deputy, Alec Newman, to offer his expertise and, after a few samples were approved, the weekly Saturday Crosaire began on March 13th, 1943. Wednesdays were added in 1950, Tuesdays in 1955, and the go-ahead for today's six-day formula came in 1982.
The crosswords took three to four hours to complete, with Crozier's workload set at one and a bit a day. Poignantly, it was on Good Friday last, while conjuring up his last one, that he became ill.
Those who were frustrated with his clues often contacted me, not in outrage but more in search of a reasoning behind his answers, or asking when we were running the Crosaire how-to guide again.
As far as the philosophy of the genre went, cruciverbalists were a mystery to Derek, who always admitted he never in fact did crosswords. He couldn't ever solve them. If he was presented with one of his own creations after a decent interval, he was floored and couldn't solve it either.
Living in Zimbabwe, correspondence with The Irish Times wasn't easy. Yet his familiar brown envelopes always seemed to arrive well in time, emblazoned with different postage stamps including Irish, English and South African. Some were marked "by hand" and were delivered to The Irish Times offices in person.
Derek always found someone - friends, friends of friends, and friends of Crosaire itself - to take his envelopes and post them safely. Such was his fear of not getting them to the office in time for publication that he worked ahead, with military regularity, and has ensured there is a bag of Crosaire crosswords to publish for at least the next 12 months.
Derek was always surprised and delighted at how popular his crosswords were, and how interested his fans were in him. He was worried when we began to supply answers to his crosswords by telephone and fax. I never did tell him that today the answers can be accessed by mobile phone.
He was amazed at the web and the Crosaire blogs propagating his fan-base across continents, where fans met to discuss Crosaire clues.
He declined to co-operate with a documentary-maker from Ireland who wanted to travel to Zimbabwe to interview him and document his life. He was primarily concerned that a journalist arriving with all the equipment to film and record him might be put in danger.
After all, who would have believed she was doing a story on an old crossword compiler? When a friend of mine was travelling to Zimbabwe last January, I asked Derek if there was anything I could send him. "Yes, my dear . . . well, that's if they still make them. A couple of erasers; the ones that would do ink. That would be lovely, my dear."
