The Telegraph
By Peta Thornycroft in
Harare
(Filed: 15/08/2006)
President Robert
Mugabe admitted yesterday that Zimbabweans were
"begging" for food because
of his mass seizure of white-owned farms.
After years of official
claims that his land policies would improve
production and guarantee
self-sufficiency, he confessed that many of those
awarded white-owned farms
were doing nothing with their gains.
"If farming is not in your
blood, switch to what you are good at," Mr
Mugabe told supporters in the
capital, Harare. "We want those with land to
use it. We don't want to keep
begging for food."
Zimbabwe has depended since 2001 on
emergency supplies from the World
Food Programme. Almost four million people
- one third of the population -
needed help from the WFP last year. Food
once ranked among Zimbabwe's main
exports. The main reason for the switch
from self-sufficiency to dependency
on outside help is the transfer of
commercial farms to new owners with no
training, capital, expertise or
equipment for farming.
Mr Mugabe's speech at the annual ceremony
remembering the war against
white Rhodesia of the 1970s amounted to an
admission of failure. "Those who
can't produce, be warned, we will take the
land back," he said. "We now need
to distinguish capable and committed
farmers from holders of land who are
mere chancers and who should be made to
seek opportunities elsewhere." Mr
Mugabe's regime has evicted all but a few
hundred of the 4,000 white farmers
who, until the start of the land seizures
six years ago, were the backbone
of the economy.
The economy
has shrunk by nearly 40 per cent since 2000. Inflation, at
nearly 1,000 per
cent, is the highest in the world.
Canadian
Press
Published: Monday, August 14, 2006
OTTAWA (CP) - Zimbabwe's foreign
minister was allowed into Canada for the
international AIDS conference in
Toronto despite a ban on visits by senior
officials from the African
country.
The Foreign Affairs Department says an exception was made for
Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi because of the international nature of the
conference.
Regular travel to Canada by officials in Zimbabwe is banned
as part of a
campaign to pressure the government of Robert Mugabe over
serious human
rights violations.
Foreign Affairs says Mumbengegwi was
scheduled to leave Canada on Monday.
VOA
By
Blessing Zulu
Washington
14 August
2006
Addressing his fellow Zimbabweans on Heroes Day, President
Robert Mugabe
issued a thinly veiled attack Monday on the government of
neighboring
Botswana, saying that some member nations of the Southern
African
Development Community were making noise but did lacked proper
understanding
of Zimbabwe's crisis.
The comments came three days
before SADC heads of state were to meet
Thursday in Lesotho. The regional
association was expected to endorse
mediation by former president Benjamin
Mkapa of Tanzania between Harare and
London.
The Zimbabwean president
also took his customary swipes at British Prime
Minister Tony Blair and U.S.
President George Bush for their alleged
"undeserved ostracism and
unjustified smear campaigns" against his
government.
Looking
homeward, Mr. Mugabe warned founding president Morgan Tsvangirai of
the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change against staging protests. Mr.
Mugabe said the opposition should instead cooperate in solving the economic
crisis.
He also hit at corruption by officials he denounced as
economic "saboteurs."
Ruling ZANU-PF supporters held placards saying "no
to money laundering,"
referring to the central bank's ongoing and highly
unpopular monetary
overhaul under which all currency in circulation must be
turned in by August
21 or expire worthless. The central bank has been
accused of poor planning,
and public outrage has been stirred by the police
seizure of large amounts
of currency at border crossings and
roadblocks.
Members of the political opposition boycotted the Heroes Day
ceremony,
accusing the president of turning the national holiday to ruling
party
political uses.
Reporter Blessing Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe spoke with senior
researcher Sydney Sasamvu in the Pretoria, South
Africa, offices of the
International Crisis Group, about the implications of
Mr. Mugabe's comments
ahead of the SADC summit.
August 14, 2006
By ANDnetwork .com
Johannesburg (AND) South African opposition
party has called for probe
on corruption by the police officials to Zimbabwe
migrants at Beit bridge
border, between South Africa and
Zimbabwe.
Mabutho Michael Ngcobo
This follows a 54
page report by Human Right Watch, which implicated
South African police and
some officials at the border in the corruption.
The
report says, South African police often mistreat undocumented
workers when
they arrest them. It also says, while awaiting deportation at
police
stations, undocumented migrants are given inadequate shelter and
food, and
some are detained beyond the 30-day limit.
The
report called upon the South African government to enforce its
employment
laws by increasing the number of labor inspectors and introducing
mechanisms
to enable workers to directly report employers who do not meet
labor
standards, and encouraging nongovernmental organizations to help
monitor
labor practices.
"The Government should launch a
comprehensive investigation into all
members of the South African Police
Service and Home Affairs officials
stationed at the Beit Bridge border
gate," says Independent Democrats MP
Vincent Gore.
'The
Government must take heed of the report released by Human Rights
Watch,
which confirmed allegations of bribery,' says Gore.
"'What makes matters worse is that this is not the first time such
serious
allegations have been made against our police and Home
Affairs
officials at Beit Bridge and nothing substantial has been done
yet.
"A proper investigation would determine the extent of the
alleged
corruption and would exonerate the innocent officials who are
painted with
the same brush as those who are allegedly engaging in these
illegal
activities," says Gore.
Johannesburg bureau,
AND
VOA
By Blessing
Zulu & Ndimyake Mwakalyele
Washington
14 August
2006
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono has ordered
banks to stay open
on weekends and holidays through an August 21 deadline
for the exchange of
old money for new notes with three fewer zeros to adapt
to 1,200% inflation.
Banks across the country opened their doors on
Monday, Heroes Day, and were
to open again on Tuesday, Defense Forces Day,
another national holiday.
Parallel market currency dealers in South
Africa and other neighboring
countries were said to be scrambling to get
trillions of Zimbabwe dollars
back into the country and into bank accounts
or the revamped currency before
the deadline next Monday.
Reports
said couriers were wading the crocodile-infested Limpopo River which
forms
Zimbabwe's southern border with South Africa. Within the country,
those
transporting currency avoided internal roadblocks by boarding
overnight
cross-country trains.
For insight on the troubled currency conversion
program, reporter Blessing
Zulu of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe spoke with
economist Godfrey Kanyenze,
director of the Labor and Economic Development
Research Institute in Harare.
Elsewhere, civil and human rights groups
were moving to lodge a legal
challenge to the basis on which police and
central bank officials have
confiscated large amounts of cash from those
holding more currency than
permitted under new regulations.
A
presidential decree lets officials seize funds in from individuals holding
more than Z$100 million, or companies in possession of more than Z$5
billion.
The Law Society of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Human Rights
Forum say that the
measures violate the Zimbabwean
constitution.
University of Zimbabwe law lecturer Greg Linington told
reporter Ndimyake
Mwakalyele that the civil society groups are on solid
ground.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By a
Correspondent
LONDON - Zimbabweans living in the UK will
tonight start a two-day
campaign to force the British government into
reversing its decision to
deport failed Zimbabwean asylum seekers following
a recent tribunal ruling
allowing the UK to resume removals.
Brought together under the Coalition Against Deportations and Forced
Removals to Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwean community will kick off the campaign
with a vigil at the Zimbabwe Embassy in Central London at 8pm. The vigil
will be used to highlight the plight of the failed asylum seekers and what
they are likely to face once forcibly removed to Zimbabwe.
In
an interview yesterday, Mercy Munyaradzi, the coalition's
secretary, said
after the Tuesday night vigil, protesters will walk to the
Home Office
headquarters in central London before going to 10 Downing
Street, Tony
Blair's offices, and voice their concerns on the recent
decision and its
implications on the failed asylum seekers.
After spending the night
outside Zimbabwe House, the protesters' walk
to the Home Office is set to
begin at 10 am. They will be at the Home Office
until 1pm. The protesters
will walk a short distance to Downing Street where
they will demonstrate
outside Blair's offices and official residence until
4:30pm.
"We are calling on all Zimbabweans to go out there and support each
other
and show the British government why the failed asylum seekers should
be
protected and not deported to Zimbabwe," said Munyaradzi.
"What we
are saying is that the decision is wrong in that it wants to
protect certain
sections of the community whole leaving others exposed," she
said. "It (the
ruling) gave new guidelines that protect those with a
military background,
activists with the opposition MDC and a few others. We
want all Zimbabweans
who are here to be protected because everyone is at
risk regardless of their
backgrounds."
Organisations representing Zimbabweans in the UK,
that are working
together under the coalition, have been urging failed
asylum seekers to
remain calm as their lawyers, the Refugee Legal Council
(RLC) pores over the
ruling to see if it can seek leave to appeal before the
Wednesday deadline.
The ruling, which said a failed asylum seeker
returned involuntarily
to Zimbabwe did not face on return a "real risk of
being subjected to
persecution or serious ill-treatment on that account
alone" has created
tension within the Zimbabwean refugee community in the
UK.
Some failed asylum seekers have stopped going to report to
designated
stations as is required by the law fearing detention and
inevitably, forced
removals.
Representatives from the various
Zimbabwean communities around the UK
are expected to be at the vigil and the
demonstrations on Wednesday.
In Birmingham, activist Mirriam
Mutakwa, told zimbabwejournalists.com
the community there was busy preparing
for many such protests to show the
world how much all Zimbabweans need
protection from the Harare regime.
"There is so much that the
international community and those who
sympathise with our plight can do,"
said Mutakwa. "We as the Zimbabwean
community here must learn to unite and
fight for our own protection. The
situation in Zimbabwe is known everywhere
around the world and just as it is
up to us to fight and free ourselves from
the shackles of Zanu PF rule, we
must today stand up and fight for
protection here in the UK."
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By a Correspondent
HARARE - THE Media
Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) has reported
the Zimbabwe government
seems to be jamming frequencies for the Voice of
America's Studio 7
programme to the southern African country.
In its weekly media
update, the MMPZ says it has been unable to
receive a consistently clear
signal from the VOA's Zimbabwe flagship
programme, Studio 7 broadcasting
service.
"The steady droning interference appears to corroborate
earlier
reports that the Central Intelligence Organisation and engineers
from the
Ministry of Information were "now working flat out" to find ways of
"completely" jamming the radio station's broadcasts into Zimbabwe," said the
MMPZ yesterday.
"The jamming indicates a single-minded
determination to ensure that
the station's broadcasts into Zimbabwe cannot
be heard."
When the jamming started in June, VOA spokesperson, Joe
O'Connell was
quoted by the Committee to Protect Journalists as saying only
the Medium
Wave broadcasts were affected.
But in the week under
review the station's Short Wave signal also
appears to have been interfered
with.
"For example, of the week's Studio 7 Short Wave bulletins
that MMPZ
tried to monitor, only three (1/8, 2/8 & 4/8) were mostly
audible, but even
then under constant interference. The other two (31/7
& 3/8) were completely
muffled by a continuous grinding sound that
specifically coincided with the
start and end of the bulletin."
"If government's threats to stifle what it considers to be illegal
broadcasting have anything to do with this development, MMPZ is again
obliged to condemn it as a cynical interference with the public's
constitutional right to freedom of expression and their right to access
information without hindrance," said the media monitoring
organisation.
Studio 7 and SW Radio Africa emerged precisely
because of ZBH's
illegal de facto monopoly of the airwaves and serve as
vital alternative
sources of credible news for information-starved
Zimbabweans who have to
endure the blatant propagandist output of the
government-controlled national
public broadcaster, it said.
The
MMPZ said the government should speed up the process of licensing
local
independent broadcasters instead of wasting resources investing in
equipment
to shut down alternative sources of information.
THIS week MMPZ was
unable to receive a consistently clear signal from
Voice of America's Studio
7 broadcasting service. The steady droning
interference appears to
corroborate earlier reports (ZimOnline, 26/6) that
the Central Intelligence
Organisation and engineers from the Ministry of
Information were "now
working flat out" to find ways of "completely" jamming
the radio station's
broadcasts into Zimbabwe.
The jamming indicates a single-minded
determination to ensure that the
station's broadcasts into Zimbabwe cannot
be heard. When the jamming started
in June, VOA spokesperson, Joe O'Connell
was quoted by the Committee to
Protect Journalists (4/7) as saying only the
Medium Wave broadcasts were
affected. But in the week under review the
station's Short Wave signal also
appears to have been interfered with. For
example, of the week's Studio 7
Short Wave bulletins that MMPZ tried to
monitor, only three (1/8, 2/8 & 4/8)
were mostly audible, but even then
under constant interference. The other
two (31/7 & 3/8) were completely
muffled by a continuous grinding sound that
specifically coincided with the
start and end of the bulletin.
If government's threats to stifle
what it considers to be illegal
broadcasting have anything to do with this
development, MMPZ is again
obliged to condemn it as a cynical interference
with the public's
constitutional right to freedom of expression and their
right to access
information without hindrance. Studio 7 and SW Radio Africa
emerged
precisely because of ZBH's illegal de facto monopoly of the airwaves
and
serve as vital alternative sources of credible news for
information-starved
Zimbabweans who have to endure the blatant propagandist
output of the
government-controlled national public
broadcaster.
Government should be speeding up the process of
licensing local
independent broadcasters instead of wasting resources
investing in equipment
to shut down alternative sources of
information.
Meanwhile, MMPZ says the need to reform the Access to
Information and
Protection of Privacy Act to ensure that it compels public
officials to
release information that is in the public interest was
demonstrated recently
when The Standard newspaper failed to confirm a story
it was working on with
the police. The paper, according to its reporter, was
categorically told by
Senior Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena the
police "does not speak"
to The Standard.
"Journalists depend,
for balance, fairness and accuracy, on access to
official news sources.
Besides being a biased and arbitrary decision to
deprive a news institution
of information of public interest and importance,
the refusal by the police
to disclose such information allows public
officials to escape scrutiny and
undermines democratic standards of
disclosure and transparency."
Mercy Corps
August 14,
2006
In Zimbabwe, Mercy Corps is paying for
school improvements and materials in exchange for tuition waivers for 750 AIDS
orphans and other vulnerable children. Photo: Courtesy of UNICEF Pote, Zimbabwe
— Every morning after prayer, 15-year-old Talent Tsveta cleans house and cooks
breakfast for her mom and grandmother before leaving for school. Talent, who
aspires to become a lawyer, doesn't mind the chores. She's simply grateful for
an educational opportunity afforded few other teenage girls in similar
circumstances.
Talent lost her father to AIDS. She is one of more than 1.1
million Zimbabwean children who has lost a parent to the disease. Another
225,000 will join her ranks this year, UNICEF says.
While Talent still has
her mother, losing the family breadwinner can be ruinous to Zimbabwean families
with young children. Public school fees in this desperately poor African nation
have skyrocketed in the last two years, in some cases by 1,000 percent, making
education a luxury for cash-strapped families like Talent's.
But for Talent
and 49 other pupils at Pote Secondary School, tuition is provided free of
charge. In exchange, the school is getting its dilapidated roof replaced by
Mercy Corps.
This mutually beneficial arrangement is one example of the
larger program Mercy Corps operates here, funded by the British government's
Department for International Development through UNICEF, in 10 wards on the
hilly outskirts of Harare. Mercy Corps is paying for much-needed infrastructure
improvements, textbooks and other supplies in return for tuition waivers for 750
orphans and vulnerable children.
Keeping girls such as Talent in school,
experts say, is one of the best ways to reduce their vulnerability to infection.
Studies show that HIV/AIDS risk decreases with every year of school a girl
attends. Education increases their self-confidence, income potential and
awareness of sexually transmitted diseases. And attending school free of charge
makes girls less likely to enter into relationships with older men in which sex
is traded for the promise of school fees. For these and other reasons, education
remains a key bulwark against the disease's vicious cycle of disease and
poverty.
Students eligible for the tuition waiver are selected by Child
Protection Committees that Mercy Corps helped established in each village. These
elected bodies — which include teachers, preachers, police officers and
businesspeople — agree to register their village's orphans and vulnerable
children, or OVCs, with the government (which makes them nominally eligible for
free or discounted social services), to mobilize community resources on their
behalf and to help them organize activities that generate a small income.
One
other key part of the program is the 20 after school groups being established
for OVCs to help them cope with grief and their stressful circumstances through
sports and other activities.
Mercy Corps' efforts are just one of many across
Zimbabwe to deal with the epidemic of children profoundly impacted by the
country's 30 percent AIDS rate. UNICEF estimates that 2.6 million children in
Zimbabwe are orphaned or otherwise vulnerable, and that in rural areas, two in
every five households care for orphans and other children made vulnerable by
HIV/AIDS. "AIDS is redefining the very meaning of childhood" across Africa,
UNICEF reports. "[It is] depriving children of many of their human rights - of
the care, love and affection of their parents; of their teachers and other role
models; of education and options for the future; of protection against
exploitation and abuse."
Protecting orphans and vulnerable children is high
among the priorities list of Zimbabwe's beleaguered government, which last month
issued a national call to nonprofits "to partner and submit proposals on how
they would improve the quality of life for orphans and vulnerable
children."
For Talent, attending school means keeping alive her dream of
becoming a lawyer. She likes going to class, reading novels, playing volleyball
and hanging out with her best friend, Fadzai. She is freed from the guilt she
had before of being an economic burden on her mother. Talent says, "She no
longer struggles to get my school fees," which UNICEF says have simply become
"unaffordable" to the average family. "And at school, I am able to study, learn
and grow."
The Herald (Harare)
August 13,
2006
Posted to the web August 14, 2006
Tawanda
Kanhema
Mutare
TRAINS are being used to smuggle billions of dollars as
some money
launderers work round the clock to beat the Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe's
August 21 deadline to return all old bearer
cheques.
Rigorous cash searches are taking place at numerous checkpoints
on the
country's major highways, airports and other ports of entry, but
hardly any
on passenger trains plying the country's railway
networks.
Enterprising money launderers and ordinary people spotted and
quickly
manipulated the loophole to move huge amounts of cash between towns
and
cities.
No cash discoveries have been reported on trains since
the beginning of the
nationwide operation.
Trains move the highest
number of people between towns and cities compared
to any other mode of
transport, but were left out of the cash searches, and
checks that are being
rigorously conducted on all of the country's highways,
airports and company
premises.
This had left the railway system open to cash
smugglers.
The Herald caught up with two daring money launderers in
Mutare, who claimed
to have been assisting businesspeople and other
individuals with the
placement of "dirty" money into the formal banking
system and conversely
withdrawing a new batch of "clean" money from the
banks before the August 21
deadline.
According to the two -- who
described themselves as "consultants" over
cash-in-transit matters arising
from the tight monitoring of cash movements
between cities -- any amount of
cash can be moved between any two towns
serviced by trains without
hassles.
Although they did not disclose their modus operandi, the two
dealers claimed
to have assisted a number of businessmen and individuals in
Mutare to move
money to Rusape, Marondera and Harare, making the placement
and integration
of dirty money into the formal banking system easier. The
duo claimed to
have transferred more than a billion dollars in the old
bearer cheques to
Harare, for a fee of between $100-$200 million and said
they were not using
road transport due to the numerous cash checkpoints set
up by the police.
Asked why trains had been left out in the nationwide
cash searches,
Manicaland police spokesman Inspector Joshua Tigere last
Friday told The
Herald that trains had been overlooked in the
searches.
He later said the Mutare train was being searched at Rusape by
on-board
police officers, but passengers on the Harare-Bulawayo train have
reported
no such searches.
A visit to Mutare Railway Station last
Friday morning revealed that there
were neither searches nor checks of
luggage for boarding travellers. The
Harare-bound train left Mutare at
around 10am with over 700 people without
being searched.
A National
Railways of Zimbabwe worker at Mutare Railway Station confirmed
that there
were no searches for boarding luggage and travellers, while the
station
manager refused to comment, saying he was "busy".
Cash searches on
trains, which carry thousands of people often with huge
baggage, are
manpower intensive and coaches run overnight, with numerous
pick-up and
drop-off points between towns and cities along the railway
network.
Searches would ideally be conducted at the station of
origin, but this would
virtually cripple the railway system with long
departure and arrival delays,
currently oversubscribed by travellers due to
low fares compared to road
transport.
The inter-city trains, which
now ply their routes twice every day, are often
overcrowded, making on-board
searches of luggage and individuals cumbersome
if not
impossible.
These logistical difficulties have left trains as an open
avenue for illegal
cash movements ahead of the August 21 deadline, as the
wagons jog with
hordes of cash while buses and cars are stopped for hours
and scoured at
roadblocks.
Meanwhile, an Indian wholesaler, E.N.
Richards, was found with $14 billion
in Chipinge, last week, almost two
weeks before the RBZ deadline. Richards
operates a chain of wholesales in
much of the Lowveld, Masvingo and
Manicaland provinces, and had not banked
his old bearer cheques in exchange
for the new.
Another man who used
to own a banana plantation in Mutare, John Vorster,
proprietor of banana
exporter H.J. Vorster Pvt (Ltd), was found with $618
million in old bearer
cheques. Police in Mutare are trying to establish
whether Vorster still
qualifies as a corporate account holder since his farm
was allocated to new
farmers.
Vorster argued that he is a holder of a corporate account
operating under a
registered company and, therefore, can deposit up to $5
billion as
stipulated by the Reserve Bank. He said the money had been drawn
for farm
operations and workers' wages.
"I took the money to the
banks and they had no new money. I'm waiting for
the day that the banks will
have new money -- they only had $100 000 notes
and that won't help farm
workers," he said.
Vorster was also found in possession of old $100 and
$20 notes and $5 coins
that had been extensively damaged by water, which he
claimed to have drawn
for farm workers' wages before his farm was
allocated.
Manicaland has recovered $22 billion in old bearer cheques
since the
beginning of cash searches, and police in Mutare have also
confiscated
thirty-five 50-kilogramme bags of fertilizer and ten 12-inch
asbestos sheets
they say they suspected to have been bought in an attempt to
"dispose of
dirty money before the deadline".
They alleged that the
buyer intended to go and exchange the fertilizer and
asbestos sheets worth
$289 million for potatoes in Nyanga.
Meanwhile, Mozambican businesses and
individuals in towns close to the
Zimbabwe border have found themselves
stuck with billions of Zimbabwean
dollars in the old currency, with most of
them failing to repatriate the
money.
Traders in Mangwe, a settlement
close to Forbes Border Post, are desperately
trying to dispose of the old
bearer cheques, which they obtained from
dealers smuggling money out of the
country through the border and other
undesignated crossing
points.
"Trade in Zim currency is very much alive in Mozambique,"
said Assistant
Inspector Tigere, "It's as good as their second currency
because they cross
into Zimbabwe and buy commodities like cement, sugar and
other products from
shops in Mutare."
Mozambicans in Mangwe, Chimoio
and Manica use Zimbabwean dollars for most of
their transactions, and
traders take the money back to Zimbabwe to import
basics.
Asked how
much Zimbabwean money was trapped in Mozambique by the operation,
Insp
Tigere said it was difficult to quantify the amount because there was a
lot
of informal trade going on between communities in areas close to the
border.
OhMyNews
Poverty and cynicism in Harare, Zimbabwe keep young women from
escaping
Nelson G. Katsande (NELKA)
Published 2006-08-15 11:36 (KST)
I decide to go undercover
on the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe, with a
mission of exploring the causes
and dangers associated with prostitution. My
investigation was prompted by
reports regarding young girls being sexually
exploited by older married men.
Called "sugar daddies," they shower the
young girls with presents and money
in return for sex.
Statistics show that about one fifth of female
HIV/AIDS cases involve
girls in their teens. Between 1993-1998, cases of
young girls being abused
at home increased by 30 percent.
I
brave the cold winter nights and embark on my three-day
investigative
mission. My findings are frightening and appalling, to say the
least. I
discover a world of child prostitution and drug rings. I am also
confronted
by married women and college girls, all plying the world's oldest
profession
in the dark corners of the city.
Working women too, have been
forced to sell their bodies to make ends
meet. Their inability to grapple
with financial problems has set them on
this rough and dangerous
path.
It's day one of my investigation, and my first port of call
is Josiah
Chinamano St., in the Avenues. This area is well known for its
vice, even
President Mugabe once admitting "these flats are
notorious."
It is midnight as I drive along Josiah Chinamano
Avenue. I notice a
group of young girls wearing glittering mini skirts and
body tops. I head
towards them and flick my lights to catch their attention.
They stride
toward me, and I notice that they are six of them. Three break
away from the
group and run towards another approaching car. The driver
stops and picks up
one of them. I lose sight of the remaining two as they
disappear into the
night.
The three girls approaching me walk
in a suggestive manner, wiggling
their bottoms and waists. I focus my
attention on the youngest and pretend
to be a prospective client. The other
two leave, and I am left in her
company.
"How much are your
charges for a one night stand?" I ask her.
"Prices differ depending
on whether you are using a condom or not,"
came her reply.
I am
taken aback by the last part of her response - "Or not." I lure
her into the
car and she directs me to a secluded place. It is then that I
introduce
myself as an investigative journalist. She tries to dismiss me by
saying she
does not talk to journalists and that I should seek interviews
from
politicians and sportsmen. She is about to leave the car when I promise
to
compensate her for her time.
I notice a smile on her face as she
insists that I hand over the money
first. I comply, and with the money
safely tucked in her purse, our
interview begins. She introduces herself as
"Tambudzai" and narrates her sad
story.
Tambudzai, age 15, grew
up on a farm in Mazowe, northeast of Harare.
Her mother died in a bus
accident when she was barely six. Her father was a
farm laborer, and after
the farm was sold to new owners they were forced to
leave. Her father died a
few months later after succumbing to a bout of
malaria.
Following his death, poverty was unavoidable. Tambudzai was expelled
from
school for non-payment of fees, and none of her father's relatives
offered
to help. Her dream of becoming a nurse had been shattered. Left to
fend for
herself, she was lured into the venality of city life and found
herself in
Harare.
There she met other girls of her age who were already into
prostitution, and she gave in to irresistible temptation.
She
admits that working as a prostitute is dreadful, as she is
constantly being
physically abused by her older clients. Most of her clients
insist on having
unprotected sex, despite the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS.
Sometimes her
clients become aggressive when she asks for payment. She is
often caught up
in police raids, with some corrupt officers asking for
bribes. Sometimes
they demand that she hand over all her cash takings. Some
even demand sexual
favors in exchange for her release. Tambudzai cannot
recall how many times
she's had sex with police officers in order to secure
her
release.
Though she is bitter and disappointed, she says she will
never be
dispirited. Asked whether she has previously sought help from
social
services, she blusters that no social service agency is concerned
with her
plight.
Day 2
It is 10 p.m. Saturday, the
second day of my investigation. It rained
for a few hours but the heavy
downpour has subsided. I drive along Josiah
Chinamano St. and find it
deserted. I attribute this to the unfavorable
whether conditions and decide
to drive toward Parirenyatwa hospital, as the
area is also known for
prostitution and drug activities. Trainee doctors
sneak out at night to buy
marijuana from the young peddlers and sexual
services from the young
girls.
On my way, I notice a lone girl wearing a black coat. As I
approach
her, she dashes into the middle of the road to catch my attention
and
unbuttons her coat. I notice she is not wearing anything underneath to
cover
her dignity.
"Can we do business?" she asks.
"What business?" came my reply.
The girl is cunning and tries to be
humorous. "Well, I am a business
person and sell body parts."
Seeing that I was failing to understand her humor, she explained
further
that she sells sex for a living. This is her first day back at work
and she
is desperate to raise money for rent and food. For the past week,
she was on
her menstrual cycle and was confined to her home. Now she wants
to make up
for the lost time and income.
Without being invited, she opens the
door and jumps into the car. Her
expression changes as I tell her that I am
a journalist and not a
prospective client. I am quick to produce a wad of
cash and promise to
compensate her for her time. She insists on having the
money first before we
can discuss anything. She has learned her lesson from
experience as I later
hear that some clients, who had promised to pay after
sex, later became
aggressive and failed to pay. Now she insists that payment
be made first.
She does not want me to drive away since I am not
looking for sexual
favors. I comply and she narrates her sorry story of
abuse, prostitution,
drugs, and alcohol.
Tsitsi, 15, ran away
from poverty and abuse in the Musana communal
lands. She was lured into
prostitution by her elder sister, who died of
HIV/AIDS six months ago.
Tsitsi started prostitution at the age of 14 after
having been subjected to
physical abuse by her father. She reported the
matter to her mother, who
accused her of lying. She later made a report to
the police and her father
was arrested. He is currently serving a 10-year
prison sentence for child
abuse as well as cattle rustling.
Tsitsi is one of the many teenage
girls working for a group of men
involved in vice. The men set targets that
the girls have to make each
night. If they fail to meet these targets, they
are physically abused. In
some cases, they have to rob their clients, in
cahoots with the men, to make
up the difference. The victims, most of them
businessmen and respectable
members of society, do not report the crime for
fear of being identified.
Tsitsi was introduced to drugs and
alcohol at the age of 14. She says
prostitution is the easiest solution to
find money.
Day 3
It is Sunday night, the final day of
my investigation. I head for a
brothel along Herbert Chitepo Avenue. The
area is infamous for its
high-level of prostitution activities. Government
ministers, too, frequent
this place. Brothels are illegal in Zimbabwe and
many of them operate in the
guise of a bed and breakfast lodge.
This is where university and college girls ply their trade. Married
women,
too, come here to engage in prostitution. As I get to the brothel, I
notice
four top-of-the-class Mercedes Benzes parked outside. The owners are
inside
the building seeking sexual services. I approach the burly bouncer
manning
the gate, who directs me to room two.
In room two, a woman in her
late 40s welcomes me. "Tea or coffee?" she
asks.
"No thank
you," came my reply.
After introducing myself, I quickly state my
business and offer to
compensate her for her time. Maidei is a married woman
whose unsuspecting
husband works in neighboring South Africa as a long
distance truck driver.
He plies the Zimbabwe-South Africa route and comes
back to visit his family
once a month.
She also works as a
receptionist for an insurance company in the city.
Because of the hardships
facing ordinary people, she has decided to engage
in prostitution to
supplement her income. She says she insists on protected
sex with her
clients but admits to having had unprotected sex twice. She has
on one
occasion contracted a sexually transmitted disease.
There is a
knock on the door and she excuses herself to answer it. She
opens the door
for her friend, Rosemary, who also works as a prostitute at
the same
brothel. Rosemary is a 36-year-old mother of two. She works for a
car sales
company. She was lured into prostitution following her separation
from her
husband. She could no longer afford to look after her children as a
single
mother.
But after years of abuse and police raids on the streets,
she decided
to join a brothel. Operating from a brothel is safer as security
is provided
by the owner. Government officials also visit the brothel and so
do
celebrities. Rosemary recalls one day when she had a one-night stand with
a
well-known gospel musician.
"These Christians do not practice
what they preach," she says.
As I leave, I notice two girls in
their late 20s. They are both
university students out on the streets to
supplement their bursaries
[scholarships] through prostitution. I hear that
some students have dropped
out of college as economic hardships
bite.
Sunday Times, SA
Tuesday August
15, 2006 09:01 - (SA)
A Zimbabwean businessman has been arrested for
shouting insults at President
Robert Mugabe at a roadblock, Harare's Herald
newspaper reports.
Its website said Comoil managing director Tichaona
Beverly Muchabaiwa was
travelling alone, and apparently resisted arrest
after the incident at
Mazowe.
Police spokesman person Inspector
Andrew Phiri on Monday confirmed the
arrest and said investigations were
continuing.
Muchabaiwa of Harare, was arrested last Friday and was taken
to Harare
Central Police Station, where he was still in detention on
Monday.
He was expected to appear in court on Wednesday.
"The
suspect (Muchabaiwa) was very unco-operative, abusive and made
derogatory
remarks against the president of Zimbabwe," said Phiri.
Muchabaiwa faced
a charge of undermining the authority or insulting the
president under the
Criminal Law Codification Act. He would also be charged
with resisting
arrest, said Phiri.
Phiri urged the public to co-operate fully with
police manning roadblocks
countrywide.
"The police would like to warn
and urge members of the public to bear with
police officers manning
roadblocks," he said.
"We are aware of the delays and inconvenience
caused to some travellers but,
regrettably, the police have a duty to
perform."
Police have mounted roadblocks to search people who might be
moving with
large sums of old bearer cheques and as part of enforcing
traffic
regulations during the Heroes' and Defence Forces
holidays.
Sapa