http://www.radiovop.com
Harare, August 13, 2009 - Zanu PF
Secretary for Administration,
Didymus Mutasa, has denied reports that there
are raging squabbles within
the rank and file of the party over who will
replace the late Vice President
Joseph Msika.
"There
are no squabbles as some people and the media might want to
suggest," said
Mutasa in an interview with Radio VOP on Thursday. "The
procedure that was
followed to replace the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo
by the late Vice
President Msika is the same procedure that is going to be
followed to
replace him."
Several media reports in the past week suggested that
there is a race
in the Matabeleland region among former Zapu members to
replace Msika.
According to the reports, the jostling is between,
Minister of State
responsible for National Healing, John Nkomo who also
happens to be the
highest ranking party member from the region, Bulawayo
Governor Cain
Mathema, Minister of Mines Obert Mpofu and Zimbabwe ambassador
to
South African Simon Khaya Moyo.
Dumiso Dabengwa has also
been thrown into the picture with reports
that President Robert Mugabe has
sent envoys to try and coerce him to
abandon his new Zapu party and
take up the vice presidency post.
President Mugabe is said to have
considered the move to bring back
Dabengwa in the fold to fulfill the
late vice president's death wish
to have former intelligence supremo
succeeding him.
Turning onto Finance Minister Tendai Biti's suggestions
that the
squabbles in Zanu PF might lead to a political implosion in the
same
scale as those witnessed in Ivory Coast and Somalia. Mutasa said
those
were just utterances and nothing close to that will happen.
"That's just wishful thinking nothing of that sort will happen in Zanu
PF,"
said Mutasa.
Biti had said the failure by ZANU PF to resolve President
Robert
Mugabe's succession issue could plunge Zimbabwe into
Somalia-type
anarchy. Biti went further to suggest that last week's
death of Vice
President Joseph Msika had reignited the vicious battle to
succeed Mugabe as
leader of ZANU PF party making the possibility of a
military coup the
more likely.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
13
August 2009
ZAPU, which broke away from ZANU PF last year, has denied
reports suggesting
Mugabe approached party leader Dumiso Dabengwa about
replacing the late Vice
President Joseph Msika. ZAPU spokesman Methuseli
Moyo told our Behind the
Headlines series on Thursday that there was no
truth to reports linking
Dabengwa to the Vice Presidency. 'There is no truth
in it. We have just seen
the media reports but when you check the source of
the story it's coming
from someone who is neither from the President's
Office nor from ZAPU. I don't
think anyone would believe such a story,' he
said.
Moyo says Dabengwa has denied the approach and insists he has not
met anyone
from ZANU PF about becoming Vice President. Asked if it was
possible Mugabe
could have had a private chat with Dabengwa without the
knowledge of his
party, Moyo responded by saying "why would Dabengwa leave
his own party to
join another party where he is going to be a Vice President
when he is the
leader of ZAPU?" He said they did not believe any of their
members would
ever consider rejoining ZANU PF after over 20 years of
disappointment since
the unity accord signed in December 1987.
There
is fierce infighting within ZANU PF over who will succeed Msika.
Newsreel
reported last week that although current ZANU PF national Chairman
John
Nkomo is the front runner, the faction led by Defence Minister Emerson
Mnangagwa is jostling to have Mines Minister and Mugabe blue-eyed boy Obert
Mpofu as the replacement. This has infuriated Nkomo and most in ZAPU who
consider Mpofu a 'sellout' after his defection to ZANU PF long before the
unity accord. Bulawayo Governor Cain Mathema, and Zimbabwe's ambassador to
South Africa Simon Khaya Moyo, are the dark horses.
The breakaway
ZAPU believe reports of Dabengwa being offered the post are an
attempt to
test the waters and gauge reactions. "It's more to do with the
dilemma in
ZANU PF. When Dabengwa and others pulled out of ZANU PF clearly
they left
behind a big hole. When you speak to ZANU PF members in
Matabeleland they
are saying none of the crop in ZANU PF can fill Msika's
boots," Moyo told
us. But he poured cold water on any chance of Dabengwa
rejoining ZANU PF
saying 'there can be no miracle they can perform to
correct all the bad
things that made us leave."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
13
August 2009
The trial of MDC official Thamsanqa Mahlangu, who is facing
allegations of
stealing a cell phone from war veteran Joseph Chinotimba, was
on Wednesday
postponed to August 26th after the State said it needed more
time to prepare
and to give the defence team the relevant papers from
witnesses. The
Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and
Empowerment is facing
charges of theft, together with his Personal Assistant
Malven Chadamoyo.
Defence Lawyer Charles Kwaramba said the two women who were
allegedly found
in possession of the phone line belonging to Chinotimba are
now also facing
the same charges of theft. Patience Nyoni and Geraldine
Phiri were facing
charges under the Telecommunications Act, but the
prosecutor announced on
Wednesday that the State was now charging them for
the offence of theft.
Chinotimba has also filed a civil lawsuit against the
four, in the sum of
US$19.5million, for loss of business.
Kwaramba said
his client denies the charges and says he has a good
explanation as to how
he came to be in possession of the cell phone. He
added: "Obviously in due
course we will be able to divulge the involvement
of the girls but at the
moment we don't want to prejudice our defence
because that is where the
State's case really resides - in the evidence of
the girls. So we are still
dealing with it and we have not seen the
statements from the
girls."
Meanwhile, a High Court Justice Lavender Makoni on Wednesday threw
out an
application by MDC official Roy Bennett to have his bail conditions
relaxed.
The MDC-T National Treasurer was appealing to the courts to relax
his
reporting conditions, including the return of his passport, so he can
travel
on business. Bennett, who is also the MDC Deputy Minister of
Agriculture, is
facing charges of terrorism and sabotage.
But Justice
Makoni said the MDC official is facing a criminal charge and he
would have
to clear his name first before he could be allowed to travel. "In
my view,
the applicant should wait for his trial date in October and then
solve his
personal issues later. Like the State said, those are the
consequences of
facing a criminal charge. Therefore, I will dismiss the
application for
variation of bail conditions," the judge said.
Bennett's lawyer Harrison
Nkomo told SW Radio Africa he was 'uncomfortable
and unhappy' with the
judge's ruling saying his client has committed no
offence. "Furthermore he
was arrested on 13th February. If indeed the State
has a case against him -
from the 13th February to the 13th October, why are
they taking this long to
try him? There is no question about it, they are
trying to frustrate him and
this is a ploy to cripple his ability to perform
his duties."
The defence
lawyer said it was also worrying that his client had still not
been
furnished with State papers. Nkomo said the State's star witness is
Peter
Michael Hitschmann, who has already stated he is not going to testify
against Bennett. "One really begins to wonder how they are going to prove
their case without Hitschmann."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Alex Bell
13 August
2009
A three-member delegation of the United Nations' International
Labour
Organisation (ILO) has started its probe into Zimbabwean workers
rights
violations, including the abuse and torture of leaders of the
Zimbabwe
Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
The team of lawyers from South
Africa and Mauritius arrived in Zimbabwe on
Wednesday for a two-week stay,
during which time they will conduct
interviews with ZCTU leaders and up to
40 labour and workers-rights
activists. The group of witnesses is set to
testify under oath about the
abuses they suffered at the hands of police
after various protests against
deteriorating working and living conditions
in Zimbabwe over the last
several years. The ILO lawyers are also expected
to meet with the police,
several government ministers, security agencies and
labour leaders.
The ILO inquiry was initiated due to what the UN labour
rights group has
called "the appalling track record of the Robert Mugabe
regime on labour and
trade union rights." The regime has for several years
singled out Zimbabwe's
trade union movements as targets of forceful
repression, and trade union
witnesses have been encouraged to testify for
the inquiry. The ZCTU has
since 2002 reported on trade union violations in
Zimbabwe to the ILO during
annual conferences, which eventually led to body
setting up a commission of
inquiry earlier this year.
In 2006 several
ZCTU leaders and activists, including Secretary General
Wellington
Chibhebhe, suffered severe injuries at the hands of police after
a public
demonstration, while others are said have suffered some permanent
disabilities. Police however denied assaulting or torturing the ZCTU
officials, insisting that the unionists were injured after they tried to
jump off a moving police truck. But lawyers representing the union leaders
alleged at the time that their clients were tortured while in police
detention at the notorious Matapi Police Station in Mbare.
Western
governments and local human rights groups condemned the torture of
the ZCTU
activists, but Robert Mugabe publicly backed the police for their
treatment
of the unionists, who he accused of plotting to topple his
government.
Mugabe this week once again accused western governments and
rights groups of
trying to tarnish Zimbabwe's reputation, saying the
accounts of military
abuse at the Chiadzwa diamond fields are false.
Zimbabwe meanwhile could face
being blacklisted from the ILO if the group
finds the country guilty of
violating trade union rights. A report set to be
sent to Geneva later this
year will determine if Zimbabwe will join Myanmar
and Colombia on the ILO
blacklist.
Chibhebhe on Thursday said the ZCTU is very pleased that the ILO
probe is
finally underway, adding that "our wish is that the truth finally
comes out,
because after so many years the truth must be told." He explained
that being
blacklisted is the worst-case form of punishment for the country,
saying it
is more likely that the ILO will make recommendations to the
government over
labour rights protections.
"For us the important thing is
that there is this chance for the truth to be
told," Chibhebhe explained.
"If there is to be forgiveness and national
healing, then the truth must be
acknowledged."
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Violet Gonda
13
August 2009
The National Executive Council of the MDC-M held a heated
meeting in Harare
on Thursday, in which it endorsed a decision to expel
three legislators and
outspoken official Job Sikhala. The four are accused
of 'indiscipline and
disrespecting the party leadership'. Last week Sikhala
announced he was the
new president of the party, saying the party had lost
direction under the
leadership of Arthur Mutambara, who is also the Deputy
Prime Minister.
Sikhala said he was trying to rescue the party from being
auctioned off to
Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF.
SW Radio Africa
correspondent Simon Muchemwa said the party's Secretary
General, Welshman
Ncube, also threatened to sue the Speaker of Parliament
Lovemore Moyo, for
allegedly failing to announce his party's decision to
expel the three MPS
who include Nkayi MP, Abedinico Bhebhe.
Muchemwa said the party
leadership, including Mutambara and Ncube, held a
press conference after a
heated Council meeting at which Ncube told
journalists that the Speaker of
Parliament's conduct was 'tantamount to
showing favour to the three
expelled MPs by not excluding them from
parliament after their party had
written to him to that effect.'
Muchemwa said the Council meeting became
heated because Sikhala and the
other MPs and their supporters held a similar
meeting at the Quality
International Hotel - the same venue Mutambara and
others were holding
their meeting. Muchemwa said the police had to be called
in, resulting in
Sikhala's group being told to leave.
The three MPs,
Abednico Bhebhe (MP for Nkayi South), Njabuliso Mguni (Lupane
East) and
Norman Mpofu (Bulilima East), are however not going without a
fight. They
are currently seeking an order in the courts barring Parliament
from
removing them from the House. The MPs say they are being victimised for
pushing for a unity pact with the Tsvangirai led MDC.
But the MDC- M said
it is now preparing for by-elections.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Lance Guma
13 August
2009
Zimbabwe's Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has threatened to sue
ZBC, the
state broadcaster, if they do not retract a false story they
broadcast
alleging that the labour body participated in disrupting the first
all
stakeholders' constitutional conference in Harare. ZCTU President
Lovemore
Matombo told Newsreel on Thursday that they have written to the
broadcaster
requesting an 'unreserved retraction' of the story. They also
want the ZBC
to give the same prominence to the retraction as they did to
the first
story.
The ZCTU letter dated 6 August gives the broadcaster
10 days to comply, or
face a defamation suit. The labour body also wants a
written apology to be
published in prominent newspapers. ZANU PF thugs
disrupted the
constitutional conference demanding an endorsement of the
controversial
Kariba Draft and even threatened to repeat the violence of the
2008
elections. But the state broadcaster went on to run a story blaming the
ZCTU, the National Constitutional Assembly and the Zimbabwe National
Students Union for disrupting the meeting.
Amazingly footage of the
disruption clearly showed ZANU PF MP's Patrick
Zhuwawo and Savior Kasukuwere
leading the chaos. Police details called to
quell the rowdy mob could be
seen half heartedly marshalling them out of the
hotel, in stark contrast to
the brute force used to crush opposition
activists.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=21071
August 13, 2009
By Our
Correspondent
MUTARE - Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe's Finance Minister and a top
MDC official
says President Mugabe has now become too old to continue to
rule the country
in an effective manner.
Biti, the MDC secretary
general, told about 400 cheering supporters at
Dangamvura Grounds in Mutare,
that Zimbabwe now urgently needed younger
politicians such as Morgan
Tsvangirai to effectively tackle the many
problems facing the
country.
Tsvangirai, the MDC leader, is the country's Prime Minister
under the
inclusive government negotiated to end a political stalemate in
the wake of
a flawed presidential run-off election held last year on June
27.
"The major problem is that our country is being led by very elderly
people,"
Biti said amid applause. "We now need wheelchairs in Cabinet
because a lot
of too old people."
He was speaking during election
victory celebrations hosted by Giles
Mutsekwa, the MP for
Dangamvura-Chikanga constituency. Mutsekwa is the home
affairs minister, a
portfolio which he shares with Kembo Mohadi of Zanu-PF.
The celebrations
were held during the Heroes' Day holiday.
Biti said it was disappointing
when leaders hang on to power despite their
very advanced ages. He said if
civil servants were forced to retire when
they reach 65 years of age it was
imperative for political leaders to do the
same.
He said President
Mugabe and his elderly lieutenants should now step aside
because of old age
and allow Tsvangirai, who is relatively younger and
raring to go, to take
over. One of Mugabe's two vice presidents, Joseph
Msika, died last week at
the ripe old age of 86. Msika spent the last 46
days of his life on a
life-support unit at the West End Hospital in Harare
after medical experts
in Cape Town had given up on him.
Towards the end Msika, known for his
predilection for scotch and cigarettes
into his old age, requested to be
allowed to step down and rest. Mugabe
would not allow him to retire. As his
former deputy was buried at Heroes
Acre on Monday, Mugabe told mourners that
the VP's death was a delayed
reaction to years on incarceration in
Gonakudzingwa Detention camp in the
1960s and 1970s.
Mugabe and Msika
were among the black nationalists detained by the Ian Smith
regime for
periods of up to 10 and 11 years.
"Chipai Save vachiri kutemwa dzinobuda
ropa kuti vatonge," Biti said in
Shona, meaning: "Please hand over to
Tsvangirai who is still full of life
and bountiful energy."
In MDC
circles Tsvangirai is not called by his name, but by his totem,
Save.
President Mugabe, now 85, and known by his own totem, Gushungo, in
Zanu-PF
circles, appears anxious to cling on to power with a dogged
determination
after three decades of dictatorial rule during which Zimbabwe,
once a
prosperous nation and a net exporter of food, has been reduced to a
poor
country 80 percent of whose citizens survive on food handouts from the
western nations that the President loves to despise.
"Zimbabwe is a
free country," Mugabe lashed out characteristically at Msika's
burial at
Heroes' Acre on Monday. "Zimbabwe needs not be tied to any one
corner of the
world, least of all a corner of former imperialist and racist
colonizers. We
are not part of Europe and the United States."
Biti said it was
disheartening when leaders die of advanced age while in
office instead of
retiring and resting from the hectic political offices.
While Msika died
at 86, two vice presidents before him, Joshua Nkomo and
Simon Muzenda died
in office at the ages of 82 and 81 respectively. In the
30 years he has been
in power Mugabe has not clearly defined a line of
succession within his
Zanu-PF party, preferring, except in the case of Vice
President Joice
Mujuru, deputies with little prospect of ever succeeding him
because of
their old age.
Biti said Tsvangirai could not effectively solve the
country's problems as
long as "there are two drivers on the steering
wheel".
Biti said the MDC entered into the power-sharing deal with its
sworn
political nemesis so as to extricate the country from a 10-year
economic and
political crisis of unprecedented proportions.
Biti said
the MDC was committed to having a liberalized media in Zimbabwe
and to
bringing international news organizations such as CNN, BBC and Sky
News into
the country.
He said they were also committed to ensuring the country
goes through a
proper national healing process to unite the people divided
for almost a
decade because of the political rivalry between the two major
political
parties, the MDC and Zanu-PF.
Biti attacked the country's
justice system saying it was being selectively
applied to victimize MDC
legislators.
He queried why eight MDC Members of Parliament had been
arrested and
promptly convicted of various criminal offences when at the
same time no
Zanu-PF parliamentarian had been subjected to similar
treatment.
"The justice system has become effective when it comes to
convicting MDC MPs
but Joseph Male is a free man," he said.
Mwale, a
reclusive Central Intelligence Organisation operative, has roamed
freely and
with total impunity despite calls by the High Court for his
arrest for the
alleged gruesome murder of two MDC activists, Talent Mabika
and Tichaona
Chiminya. The two were killed at Murambinda Growth Point,
Buhera, during the
violent campaign ahead of the 2000 parliamentary
election.
According
to sworn testimony, Mwale and an accomplice Kainos "Kitsiyatota"
Zimunya, a
Zanu-PF official, intercepted an MDC vehicle in which Mabika and
Chiminya
were travelling. They poured petrol on the vehicle as well as
directly on
Mabika and Chiminya. A bomb was then thrown into the vehicle
which caught
fire. The two died a horrifying death.
For the past ten years the police
have sat on the docket implicating Mwale
and Zimunya.
http://www.ei-ie.org
[2009-08-12]
Zimbabwean teacher unions ZIMTA and
PTUZ have called the recent salary
increase that places teacher salaries at
US$155 a month 'inadequate' and
urged the government to provide a living
wage for teachers.
The continuing low salaries and poor working
conditions for teachers could
force more teachers to abandon the profession,
thus increasing teacher
shortage and further threatening progress towards
Education for All.
Teacher unions expressed concern that even with the raise,
teachers would be
unable to provide for themselves and their families. At
current costs, the
average Zimbabwean family requires at least three times
the increased salary
for teachers to meet their basic needs.
EI members
ZIMTA and PTUZ are questioning government commitment to education
spending
and have criticised the lack of government consultation with
teachers. In a
statement issued in June, ZIMTA termed as "indefinite and
undependable" the
government's reliance on donor contributions to fund
teachers'
salaries.
Plans for government spending on cars for MPs have provoked anger
across the
trade union sector in Zimbabwe. Both teacher unions are urging
the
government to make education a national priority - believing that taking
steps to secure teachers regular salaries that are sufficient is a key
strategy for improving the flagging education system.
Financial Gazette
Shame
Makoshori
7 August 2009
Harare - NATIONAL airline, Air
Zimbabwe Holdings (AirZim), is technically
insolvent and on the verge of
collapse.
Its sole shareholder, the government, has run out of funds to
bail it out
amid mounting overheads, which include a US$1,2 million monthly
salary bill.
AirZim's board has already sent early signals to the
parastatal's 1
420-strong workforce that the airline could suffer the same
fate as Tanzania
Airways or Aero Zambia, which collapsed under heavy debts
if no solution is
found to rescue the passenger carrier.
Developments
at the airline confirm desperate attempts by the government to
parcel out 60
percent of AirZim's shareholding to private players to pave
way for a US$750
million fresh capital injection.
Confidential documents leaked to The
Financial Gazette indicate that the
AirZim board has tasked management to
institute cost-cutting measures to
minimise the financial
haemorrhage.
The measures include a contentious decision, now before an
arbitrator, to
cut the airline's salary bill by 50 percent. This would be
achieved by
sending a significant number of the workers on forced leave on
rotational
basis until breathing space is found.
But the workers at
the parastatal are challenging attempts by management to
place them on
involuntary leave for periods ranging between three and 12
months.
"The honourable arbitrator is reminded of the dire financial
state of the
respondent (AirZim), which is no secret," Dube, Manikai and
Hwacha --
AirZim's legal representatives -- argued in documents dated July
27 2009
presented for arbitration.
"Its shareholder (government)
is out of funds to finance its operations and
capitalisation. It is on the
verge of collapse. Ordering the restoration of
the status quo (working
without involuntary leave) would send the respondent
(AirZim) almost
immediately straight into real liquidation and the forced
retrenchment of
all employees on paltry packages, which may not exceed their
present monthly
incomes."
The documents show that AirZim has a weak balance sheet with
creditors in
excess of US$28 million.
Chief executive officer, Peter
Chikumba, told this paper yesterday that the
road to recovery for the
parastatal was bright after a tumultuous period
that started in 2000. But to
make the recovery possible, Chikumba said
AirZim must right-size its
staff.
"The issue of overstaffing has been known at AirZim since 2004 in
a study by
government, management, workers and consultants," Chikumba said.
"However,
the current management happens to be the one that has taken the
bold steps
to implement (staff rationalisation).
"We strongly believe
that should the company and the economy in general
improve, AirZim can
recover to 1996 levels when it carried one million
people.
"Then
it will be possible that we recall some of the workers, but for now,
our
levels of business do not require 50 percent of the staff. I do not want
to
come here and look like a cruel person wanting to retrench workers; I
have a
vision for AirZim," he said.
Chikumba said an ongoing restructuring along
with the planned programme to
attract investors, could see AirZim returning
to profitability.
"What we are trying to do is to restructure. It is
important that we focus
less on short-term measures like retrenchments, but
look at broader aspects
of restructuring, which is the first step to come
out of the ICU (intensive
care unit), thus creating the first framework to
attract investors," he
said.
The parastatal has resorted to borrowing
to procure fuel and pay allowances
and internal memos also confirm the
gravity of the problems.
"The company is actually insolvent," an internal
document presented by
AirZim's chief economist and treasurer on April 22
2009 reads in part.
Cost-cutting measures, which started in January,
are projected to save up to
US$1 million per month, or US$12 million per
year.
So far, the measures have saved US$500 000 per month.
This
is still inadequate to meet the airline's operating costs. Cashflow
deficits
have remained at unsustainably high levels of US$4,5 million,
US$2,2
million, and US$3,5 million in January, February and March 2009
respectively.
The airline was projecting a net loss of US$10 million
for the year-ended
March 30 2009, which Chikumba attributed to low volumes
of passengers
affecting airlines across Africa.
This loss position
might persist between 2009 and 2010 if the hostile
environment confronting
the State-run airline, and others across the world,
does not
improve.
At the end of April, AirZim employed 178 engineers who earned,
on average,
US$1 300 per month, 60 pilots who on average took home US$4 600,
136 flight
attendants whose salaries averaged US$327 with about 600 general
staff
taking a total of US$244 910.
"The unions (at the airline)
argued that they do not see (the) need to put
any employee for involuntary
unpaid leave as it is quite possible to reduce
the wage bill and achieve the
targeted 50 percent reduction without any
employee being forced to go on
unpaid leave," the internal minutes read.
"The unions maintained that the
focus should not be on the numbers of staff,
but on reducing salaries and
benefits for identified staff in conformity
with the outcome of a salary
benchmarking exercise," the minutes read.
AirZim has in the past decade
relied on government handouts, mostly from the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, to
run its ageing fleet after the hostile
macro-economic conditions hit hard on
its coffers.
The global financial crisis last year, which influenced
mergers, takeovers
and even the collapse of several respected brands and
some African airlines,
added to the company's woes.
In February,
Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the airline had been draining
US$3 million
per week from the fiscus.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com
Africa News
Aug 13, 2009,
10:00 GMT
Harare - Zimbabwe's four major hospitals are being
overwhelmed by patients
as a week-old strike by the country's junior doctors
strike intensifies, the
head of their union said Thursday.
Hundreds
of junior doctors in the two central hospitals in Harare and two in
the
western city of Bulawayo downed tools last week in a row over pay.
The
doctors are demanding an increase in pay from the 370 dollars they have
been
receiving from the power-sharing government formed in February by
President
Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
'It's a very serious
situation,' said Dr Brighton Chizhande, head of the
Hospital Doctors
Association which comprises doctors doing their
post-graduate
training.
'The hospitals are doing only emergency cases. Some outpatients
departments
are closed. Theatre cases are markedly reduced.'
He said
senior doctors not on strike were 'overwhelmed' as they were forced
to take
over the minor but essential procedures usually done by junior
doctors.
Junior doctors in smaller district hospitals in the
countryside had not yet
joined the strike, but these were receiving larger
allowances from the
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, he
said.
Doctors at the central hospitals were being paid by the government
and a
coalition of Western donors.
Zimbabwe's state health system
shut down almost entirely last year as the
country's economic crisis, marked
by hyperinflation and a worthless
currency, saw hospitals run out of drugs,
food, medical equipment and
bedding and medical staff were on strike for
over a year.
The worst cholera epidemic in Africa in recent year, which
caused around
4,000 deaths, was ended only by the intervention of Western
aid agencies.
Economic reforms introduced by Tsvangirai's Finance
Minister Tendai Biti
produced immediate results, with doctors agreeing to
return to work for low
pay on condition of later pay rises.
'There is
a lack of seriousness on the part of government,' Chizhande said,
citing the
possibility of a swine flu outbreak or a further cholera
outbreak. 'This is
a matter of life and death for the patients.
http://www.radiovop.com
BIKITA, August 13, 2009 - ZANU PF
central committee member and ex
Member of Parliament (MP) for Bikita West
constituency, retired colonel
Claudius Makova, has returned the district
constituency office property he
looted last month, following a probe into
the matter by the police.
MP for the area, Heya Shoko,
confirmed in a telephone interview with
Radio VOP Thursday morning that he
had been informed that some property had
been returned.
Makova last
month had, in the company of ZANU PF youths, stormed the
constituency office
and grabbed a desk, a computer, chairs, telephone
headset, and some curtains
claiming that he had bought them with his own
money. The bulky losing MP
claimed the property did not belong to the
Zimbabwe parliament.
"I
have been informed that he came early today (Thursday) and dropped
some
property. I am yet to check for myself if he brought everything.
I
think he realized that his move to loot the property claiming that
it was
his was valiant but ill-advised," Shoko said.
However, Cassiano
Chaodza, the district constituency officer who mans
the office, said Makova
is yet to surrender all of the property.
"He only brought back a desk,
some chairs and a telephone headset. No
computer, and curtains," Chaodza
said.
Makova however insisted that he had brought back everything.
"...I
have returned what was not mine. What I bought with my own money, I
kept,"
he shouted, before abruptly hanging the phone.
Police
provincial spokesperson, Inspector Phibion Nyambo, said he
was to verify if
everything looted was returned.
Comment
"why not
charged" by raymond at Thursday, 13 August 2009 13:08
looting is
theft or burglary.with force its agrovated burglary.10
years for the
bastard.why no charges.
http://www.radiovop.com
Chipinge, August 13, 2009 - Headman
Naison Chichichi of Museve area
in Chipinge has fled his homestead after
ZANU PF supporters threatened to
assault him for presiding over cases of
political violence committed during
the run up to last year's presidential
run off elections.
The headman, who is now staying with
his son in Bulawayo, fled the
area on Sunday following numerous threats from
ZANU PF supporters.
"I went to collect my father from the rural areas
over the heroes
holidays because his life was in danger. Since the time he
started presiding
over cases
of politically motivated violence at
his traditional court last month,
things have not been good," the headman's
son Enock, told Radio VOP.
The son said on numerous occasions he had
advised his father not to
preside over cases related to political violence
at his court, but said the
father was
defiant.
"... he
would argue that it is his right and responsibility as a
traditional leader
to do so".
He had summoned to his court all ZANU PF supporters in the
area who
looted perceived opposition supporter's properties and livestock
and some of
the looted items had already been returned to their owners."
said the son.
One of the high profile cases of political violence which
the headman
presided over involved a war veteran who took three goats and
two buckets of
maize from Pedzisai Chitiyo.
Chitiyo was accused of
supporting the MDC.The headman ordered the war
veteran, Maurice Mazungunye
to return the goats and maize to Chitiyo. After
the incident, Mazukunye
reported the incident to ZANU PF officials in
Chipinge who instructed the
headman to stop with immediate effect to preside
over cases involving
politics and threatened him with unspecified action.
"I am trying to
get in touch with the president of the Chiefs Council,
Fortune Charumbira so
that this issue can be solved. My father wants to go
back home and continue
with his traditional duties, but right now he cannot
do so."
http://www.radiovop.com
CHUNDU, August 13, 2009 - Confusion
has gripped over 2 000 villagers
in the remote area under Chief Chundu in
Hurungwe, amid conflicting
statements that they face eviction from their
homes of nearly three decades
to pave way for a game
park.
The majority of the villagers here suffered the same
fate in 1983 when
they were evicted from Nyamakate when Government
introduced resettlement
scheme and were accommodated under Chief Chundu's
area.
The area is under Hurungwe's rural council ward's 8 and has had
an
influx of many people from around the country since then as some came
from
as far as Masvingo for the virgin land.
However villagers
claim that they have been haunted by reports that
they will be evicted
within the next three months to pave way for a yet to
be named Chinese
company that want to venture into safari operations in
partnership with
acting Chief Chundu.
''We have heard of the notice that Chief Chundu
has facilitated our
eviction before the onset of rain season and is working
with a Chinese
company. We are still yet to get details on how are we going
to be
compensated and where we are to be resettled. Its confusing and unjust
to
us.'' said 47 year old peasant farmer Lameck Mapanga under headman
Nyaguwa
village in Mahwau area.
He lamented that he had spent 25
years farming in the area and had no
hope to start of yet another new life
anywhere.
Dejected rural folks complained on how they would face the
fate of
being evicted with some loosing hope of their lost relatives and
getting
away living deceased graves. Traditionally, its a taboo to leave a
relatives
grave far away from where you reside.
'' I lost my
parents early this year and I have to leave their graves
because the Chief
Chundu respects animals than his subjects. Its unfortunate
for us all'' said
Barnabas Tore of Kabidza area.
Though there are conflicting reports,
villagers in Mahwau have been
addressed by one Felix Chambwe warning them to
be prepared for eviction.
Villagers to be affected include those in
Madzikita, Mayamba, Kabidza,
Mahwau and part of Karuru area all in ward 8
and it will extend part of
Zambezi basin that links Chundu with Guruve in
Mashonaland Central.
Some villagers recounted that the same exercise
was aborted in 1994 by
the council when youths demonstrated against the
erection of a buffer-zone
fence that could have pushed out at least five
hundred villagers then.
''We had few youths who demanded an explanation
on why the council had
allowed veterinary officials to lead the erection of
a buffer-zone in
Mayamba area and a grader assigned for the exercise was
stopped. Although
Campfire programme was council top priority, they had no
justification to
evict us and we have enjoyed our stay here' said Rosina
Kamuchira of
Mayamaba village.
However local councilor Paddington
Chavhura confirmed the threats the
villagers were facing from acting Chief
Picture Chundu but council had no
plans to evict the villagers.
'Unless if this is done behind council's back then the Chief will be
answerable on compensating those affected. Council is battling to get some
developmental projects done and cannot afford to create resettlement crisis
for nearly two thousand families'' said councilor Chabvura.
Hurungwe rural district council chief executive officer Joram Moyo was
not
immediately available for comment at the time of writing, but a source
at
the Magunje council offices confirmed that the issue was tabled during
last
Friday council meeting and council had not sanctioned the eviction of
villagers in Chundu area.
''Chief Chundu is working on his own and
is still yet to communicate
with the council over this project and it will
never take off as council can
not afford to be dragged in controversy of
land issue at this stage'' said a
source who has no authority to speak to
the press.
However Chief Chundu refused to discuss the issue when
approached for
comment saying, ''I am the Chief and no -one has the right to
ask what I do
with my land as well as animals and my subjects,'' before
driving off in his
car.
HARARE, 13 August 2009 (IRIN) - The Grain
Marketing Board (GMB), the sole buyer and seller of grain in Zimbabwe, is
planning to sell agricultural inputs and become a "one stop shop" for farmers.
Photo:
Flickr
Planning
for plenty
The GMB has been mired in controversy in recent years, and has been
accused of providing preferential treatment to supporters of President Robert
Mugabe's ZANU-PF party - senior party members and military officials allegedly
received distributions of scarce maize, the staple food, and were handed
agricultural inputs that were then resold on the informal market at greatly
increased prices.
Maize is subject to price controls in Zimbabwe. GMB
corporate affairs manager Muriel Zemura told IRIN that the board was paying
US$265 a ton for maize, and had arranged with agricultural input suppliers to
sell fertilizer, seed, chemicals and other inputs at its depots.
"After
farmers have collected their money for delivering their maize to the GMB, they
will, within the same complex, be able to buy most or all the inputs that they
need for the new agricultural season," she said.
"The inputs on sale at
our depots belong to the manufacturers, and not ourselves, so we are making it
convenient for the farmers so that they don't spend a lot of money on travel
costs."
Zemura dismissed any allegations of past GMB impropriety, and
said so far the GMB had received fertilizer and chemicals, but not maize seed.
The planting season is due to start in September/October.
The unity
government, formed in February 2009 between Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai, said recently it would target small-scale farmers with agricultural
inputs to boost food production, but did not elaborate on how these would be
distributed.
Zemura said the GMB was well-positioned to fulfil the
distribution role. "Nothing has been said officially to us about distributing
any inputs, but we are anticipating that it will happen. We have the skills,
logistical ability, capacity, and we have a presence throughout the country."
A combination of environmental and political factors has decimated
Zimbabwe's once thriving agricultural economy in the last decade; in the first
quarter of 2009 nearly 7 million people depended on food aid.
Building on Malawi's success
"As the
government, we want to make sure that small-scale farmers in communal areas get
the requisite support from the government, since they contribute between 60
[percent] and 70 percent of our grain output," Tsvangirai told a recent meeting
of businessmen and farmers in the arid province of Masvingo, 300km southeast of
the capital, Harare.
We want to make sure that this
coming agricultural season is a success, through the wholehearted support from
the government to at least one million households that we have targeted to
assist with fertilizer and seed, and we hope that is going to go a long way in
providing food security
He said they would borrow from the
Malawian model, in which small-scale farmers had produced about 3.7 million tons
of maize in 2009, compared to the 1.2 million tons produced jointly by
Zimbabwe's commercial and small-scale farmers.
"We want to make sure
that this coming agricultural season is a success, through the wholehearted
support from the government to at least one million households that we have
targeted to assist with fertilizer and seed, and we hope that is going to go a
long way in providing food security."
Malawi first implemented an
agricultural subsidy programme in early 2000, and by the 2008/09 farming season
about 1.7 million small-scale farmers had benefited. Small-scale farmers were
able to buy inputs at one-tenth of the usual price - the costs being borne by
both donors and government - and were also not obliged to repay the balance of
the subsidy.
However, Malawi's subsidy programme has elicited concerns
over being open to corruption, and not the most cost-efficient method of
delivering food security.
Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe's minister of finance,
has set aside US$140 million to procure agricultural inputs for small-scale
farmers. "Malawi is a very small country compared to Zimbabwe, and of the 3.8
million tons produced in that country, the bulk of the crop came from
small-scale farmers who were supported to the tune of US$186 million."
Biti said several options were being weighed by the government to ensure
transparency and accountability, such as communities embarking on public works
programmes and being paid in farming inputs, while another consideration was
that inputs would be provided as low-cost loans, with repayments being made
after the harvest.
Vulnerable groups, such as child-headed households,
the elderly, and the disabled would also benefit from a US$66 million scheme to
distribute inputs to them.
Too late
Renson
Gasela, an agricultural expert and former head of GMB, told IRIN the
distribution of agricultural inputs was being left too late. "To start with, the
government has no capacity to distribute the inputs countrywide before the onset
of the rainy season between September and October. All serious farmers should
have their implements like seed, fertilizer and chemicals by June," he said.
"Have the beneficiaries been identified? Is the maize seed and
fertilizer available? If the implements can get to the farmers immediately then
there would be a bit of hope. Unfortunately, it looks like the whole exercise is
at the planning stage, which means inputs will get to fewer farmers very late,
which will create more food shortages," he warned.
"Experience has shown
that small-scale farmers have very low yields per acre. So what needs to happen
is that as many of them as possible should get seed and fertilizer, so that they
produce enough for their families and extra to feed the nation, but based on the
lack of movement in terms of distribution of inputs, if nothing is done now,
then we are facing a disaster."
These images struck me as a fitting metaphor for where the people of our
country are at the moment. Instead of the Zimbabwe flag flapping proudly and
joyously, symbolically representing the will of the people and a proud nation,
it is confused, worried and tangled up in knots. Just like us. We’re one month away from the expiry date of the Global Political Agreement
and the dictator who bashed the living daylights out of the people of our
country last year is still in power and has his most loyal acolytes still in
control of all the critical instruments of power. It seems to me that if they
want to bash the living daylights out of the people in our country again, they
still have the means to do so, and the means to avoid punishment for doing so.
It’s appalling. But as we in Zimbabwe all know only too well, appearances are everything. So
roll out the expensive crane and send up a State official - we WILL make that
flag flap and we WILL insist that all is well (or else)! Just like elections in
our country are free and fair, and just like the army
has had nothing to do with the massacres in Chiadzwa. Yeah right, pull
the other one! Or am I being a little too cynical? I am accused of being too pessimistic so
I did try hard to look at these with different thoughts in my head. The metaphor could be a positive one: the images indicating that despite all
our difficulties, the people of Zimbabwe will triumph and overcome adversity. I
just wish the task of getting this little flag to fly to represent this positive
metaphor didn’t require incredible resources and uniformed officials in charge,
because that’s where my confidence begins to ebb. Or perhaps the non-flying flag should be read as a symbolic protest against
the official (non democratic) solutions to complex problems. I quite like this
idea, but I like it a lot less when I see the uniformed guy being sent in to fix
it! That ’s ominous. …And around and around I go. This entry was posted by Hope on
Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 11:32
am
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za
Coenraad
Bezuidenhout
Had it not been for the 13-or-so million lives involved, one
could almost
feel sorry for Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. It seems the
old man has
had it with foreign donors only getting off their wallets for
NGOs active in
his country, rather than having the cash mainlined fresh into
Zimbabwe's
porous state coffers. Lest one might expect some level of
gratitude to the
so-called West for not hightailing it altogether, consider
that Mugabe's
recent rants may be a little bit more than an out-of-tune song
over a bad
hand of cards.
Allow me a bit of blogger's licence, and
I'll number the continuo anew .
I) After a decade of fairly sensible
post-liberation government, the
post-colonial-nationalist diet on which
Mugabe kept the ruling party
(Zanu-PF) fired up and unified behind him
started to cause some weight to
gather around its waist. Expanding
generations of cronies grew up to
overtake the somewhat more - if not
entirely - principled roles played by
older liberation icons. These
young'uns were made up of
delinquents-in-waiting from the hopelessly
(Zanu-fied) rural areas,
organised by preying opportunists such as the
Chenjerai Hunzvis and
leveraged as magic carpet rides by the (since
reformed) Jonathan Moyos of
the day.
II) Faced with the upheaval they
were causing, Mugabe figured that he could
either retire in fear of some
sort of retribution, such as trumped up
corruption charges (these would
after all not have been too difficult to
construct) for having betrayed
these Young Turks' insatiable nationalist
desire or he could trump them at
their own game. Whereas the former might
have had dire results for Mugabe
but spared Zimbabwe its rapid decline of
the last decade or two, the outcome
of the latter choice is now,
unfortunately, a fact of history.
III)
Timeous, strong opposition there was not. Voter turnout, consistently
below
50% from the nineties onwards, also suggested that Zimbabweans were
either
not particularly enthralled with their electoral choices (Zanu-PF or
Zanu-PF?) or failed to see the connect between what happened at the ballot
box and how their lives may be improved. When promising opposition did
eventually emerge in the late nineties, the Zanu-PF one-party state had
entrenched itself to such a degree that it would only be de-consolidated
with tremendous effort.
IV) To make sure that it would not be easy,
Zanu-PF engaged in a number of
dirty tricks. Police brutality, intimidation,
vote rigging, deceitful
propaganda, obstructionist negotiation tactics -
these were all a part of
the game, right up to, and even beyond the
establishment of the unity
government on January 11 2009. In this regard,
the plentiful graveside
revellers of African democracy will be quick to
point out the MDC's then
Deputy Agriculture Minister designate Roy Bennett's
arbitrary incarceration
even after a court of law granted him bail late in
February.
V) By the time it became apparent that the March 2008
presidential election
had been botched, Zimbabwe already sat with a
four-figure inflation rate,
unmanageable foreign debt, untold domestic human
misery and not enough money
for Zanu-PF to continue indefinitely without
collapsing under its own
weight. Mugabe and his government needed money,
urgently. And the only way
it could get some, was to acquire a veneer of
respectability so that it
could approach foreign governments and financial
institutions anew. Enter
former South African president Thabo Mbeki, who had
by then already been
mediating in the Zimbabwe crisis for some
time.
VI) It was clear that Mugabe appreciated Mbeki's obvious partisan
approach
to the mediation process - whereas the MDC at various points
expressed its
dismay with Mbeki as the Southern African Development
Community's point man
on Zimbabwe, the Mugabe regime was at pains to appear
welcoming to him.
Notable for his tendency towards African exceptionalism,
Mbeki, despite his
experience of South Africa's negotiated settlement,
seemingly never bought
into the need for a strong opposition or the
consolidation of democratic
institutions, such as free and fair elections.
Apparently particularly
careful about being seen as a tool of the West,
Mbeki pushed for a
negotiated settlement that would see Mugabe remain in the
president seat
despite having lost any legitimate claim to it in the March
2008 election
(he obtained 43.25% to Tsvangirai's 47.9%). MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
would become the prime minister.
VII) Cringe-worthy
comparisons of the ensuing situation with the
prohibition-era musical
Chicago may be forgiven: upon assuming office,
Tsvangirai's limited options
indeed made him look like one of the puppet
reporters singing off the hymn
sheet of Mugabe's Billy Flynn. His first
steps were to visit other countries
to seek aid and trade deals for the
economic recovery of his country. Aid
and trade, which was to be
administered by a bloated Zimbabwean government,
in which the notoriously
corrupt Zanu-PF still controlled the Reserve Bank,
and the majority of the
ministerial portfolios - R80 billion Tsvangirai then
reckoned it would take
to get Zimbabwe's economy going again. Ironically,
that was almost a third
less than the $12 billion in investment futures guru
Clem Sunter estimated
lay awaiting a credible political solution in Zimbabwe
at about the same
time.
VIII) At the end of February 2009, after its
monthly Foreign Ministers'
Meeting, it became apparent that despite the
establishment of the government
of national unity in Zimbabwe, the European
Union would not be changing its
policy towards our beleaguered neighbour. In
fact, Zimbabwe had for the
first time in years not even featured on the
agenda. Since President Barack
Obama occupied the Oval Office, the stance of
his government has been that a
Zimbabwe with Mugabe at the helm will not be
able to take care of its
people - a sentiment again repeated by Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton on
her recent visit to South Africa. This does not
only mean that travel
sanctions against Mugabe and many other Zimbabwean
officials will remain in
place. It also suggests that very little in the way
of economic rescue
packages and investment will realise, despite pleas from
Tsvangirai.
IX) Mugabe, left with preciously little patronage to
dispense, faced with
armies of cronies to keep from turning on him,
exercises what is seemingly
the only option open to him - attempting to keep
his followers united by
ranting against enemy number one (aka "the West")
and threatening to bring
the so-called reforms to a grinding halt.
If
Zimbabwe had half the luck that befell South Africa, number 10 in this
progression would somehow involve an apoplectic fit and a De Klerk-type
character emerging to challenge Mugabe's PW Botha. As far as I can see,
though, the key ingredients are just not there. No rooted, enlightened
Zanu-PF grouping has gathered any form of momentum yet. Also, Zimbabweans,
while known for their peace-loving good naturedness, are also not exactly
renowned for the type of civil zeal that saw movements such as the United
Democratic Front emerge in South Africa in the eighties. Finally, the
substantial Zimbabwean diaspora has also not been half as successful as the
global anti-apartheid movement at mobilising their fellow citizens still
resident in Zimbabwe in tandem with their own protest actions and pressure
exercised by foreign governments.
A particularly flamboyant and (in
anticipation of the barrage of reactions
that this may elicit) also a
particularly "indigenous" Zimbabwean friend of
mine once mused that if the
entire Zimbabwe were to all turn gay, it would
be a country full of
"bottoms" (so-called "Gayle" for the passive partner in
homosexual
relationships). My friend is full of it at the best of times, but
I do fear
that his stupid little remark may not be entirely without basis.
For as long
as the ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe keep on taking the
punishment of
corrupt, impoverishing government, the possibility will remain
for Mugabe
and his cohorts to resort to ever more desperate tactics to keep
themselves
singing the main song. Until the day comes that Zimbabweans show
continuous,
open and vociferous opposition to the raw deal that Mugabe has
dealt them,
it will not be game over for the basket case that that country
is seemingly
likely to remain.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009
at 5:33 pm