Zimbabweans walk to work as crisis deepens August 27
2005 at 04:05PM
Harare - Zimbabwe's transport crisis fuelled by an
acute fuel shortage worsened this week, forcing many people to walk to work
or shell out more than they can afford in bus fares, a newspaper said on
Saturday.
The independent Daily Mirror said a survey across
Harare's poorer suburbs showed that the transport crisis had intensified
since Tuesday in working-class suburbs and townships.
The areas
include Glen View, Epworth, Mabvuku, Tafara and the sprawling township of
Chitungwiza, south of the capital, it said.
For a trip into the
city centre "Mabvuku and Chitungwiza commuters were being forced to part
with Z$15 000 (about R0,85) a trip instead of the government-gazetted Z$11
000," it said.
"Stranded workers resorted to
walking to and from work," it said.
Tawanda Petros, a resident of
Mabvuku township in Harare's poorer eastern section, told the newspaper:
"Commuter omnibus operators are taking advantage of the fuel and transport
crisis to make a killing."
"We are left with no option except to
pay exorbitant fares," he said, adding that the government should find a
lasting solution to the shortages as "the transport problem affects
productivity."
Zimbabwe, currently reeling under triple-digit
inflation, spiralling unemployment and a food crisis is facing what some
experts say is its worst fuel crisis ever, which has brought the country
almost to its knees.
The majority of privately owned commuter buses
have been off the road for weeks because they have been unable to get
diesel.
State-run buses, which dominate city routes, have been
unable to meet demand.
Commuters brave the cold winter weather,
some getting up as early as 3am to begin standing in queues for the few
buses or vans available. Others walk to make it to work on
time.
Sekai Mujakachi, from the populous south-western Glen View
township, said: "It is a problem in the morning getting transport into town
and vice versa after work."
John Tendai from Chitungwiza said
that the transport crisis had worsened this week, partly due to an ongoing
national agricultural show in Harare.
"Everybody wants to go
there so this has made the situation worse," he said, adding: "It has been a
very bad week for us."
Tendai said it could take him up to three
hours to get from his home to his workplace in Borrowdale, an upscale
northern suburb, after changing buses in the city centre.
"Today for instance, I was coming into town. I waited for a bus for more
than one-and-a-half hours until some friends gave me a lift," he said. -
Sapa-AFP
Jan Egeland, a top UN humanitarian official, has called on South
Africa to do more to help improve the situation in Zimbabwe.
In a
veiled but condemnatory statement regarding Zimbabwe, Egeland said that
stalled negotiations between the United Nations and Harare are holding up an
appeal for those displaced by Zimbabwe's slum clearance programme. He says
that although the UN is helping 100 000 people affected by the Mugabe
Government's Operation Restore Order, some 500 000 more still need to be
assisted.
Egeland has issued an appeal for South African
assistance.
THE United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) has made significant inroads in assisting victims of
Operation Murambatsvina/Restore Order in Zimbabwe despite encountering
hurdles while executing its philanthropic duties. UNDP resident
representative Agostinho Zacarias told The Daily Mirror yesterday that many
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and churches have since joined the
world body's charity arm in ensuring that relief aid - food and none food -
has been granted to people affected by the clean-up across the
country. "The report by (UN secretary general's special envoy Anna Kajumulo)
Tibaijuka has offered us the opportunity to get access to victims and
providing them with basic human needs like water and sanitation, food items
and blankets," Zacarias said. He dismissed media claims on the Internet
suggesting that the UNDP had taken a back seat while authorities in Harare
had usurped the role of providing humanitarian assistance. Zacarias
explained that his organisation was a NGO and as such was not a law unto
itself, but operated within parameters set by the country government of the
day. He said the UNDP was working closely with the government to establish
the exact number of people displaced and sent to rural areas as a result of
the blitz by finding ways on how best to assist them. "It is important to
move as one and remove all elements of suspicion within the entire
humanitarian community," Zacarias said. He also said though reports indicated
that Operation Murambatsvina/Restore Order had affected about 100 000
people, that figure was believed to be conservative. Therefore, it was
imperative to ensure that all victims, including those relocated to their
communal origins be provided with coping mechanisms. Zacarias said before
they could offer victims assistance, a number of things should be worked out
with the government. He said it was important for stakeholders to move on
with speed, as some affected people required immediate assistance. "We
have made an appeal for access to people sent to the rural areas," he said.
"We have to know the rules of engagement to have access. The government has
been co-operative. But I wish we could move faster in order to assist all
those in need." Zacarias noted that while the Zimbabwe government had shown
commitment to providing decent accommodation to all affected people by
building houses under Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle, the UNDP was looking
at ways to give temporary shelter to people who would have secured stands.
To that end, the Mozambican-born career diplomat said there had been a
number of proposals made to improve the lot of poor citizens, including
providing them with tents, roofing sheets and poles. He said resources
from other humanitarian organisations have had to be redirected to cater for
the immediate needs of Murambatsvina victims. He said the proposed 5 000
housing units would not be enough to shelter all people affected by the
crackdown, so there was need to ensure that Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle
covered every other person. Another major priority of the UNDP, Zacarias
said, was to see all Murambatsvina victims allocated stands being given
security. He said: "We want to see security of tenure. It would be
unfortunate if five years down the road, people were to be moved
again." Meanwhile, Zacarias said UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's intended
visit to Zimbabwe was still on the cards but would not give a time frame as
to when the Ghanaian-born top diplomat would come here due to a busy
schedule. A number of events were lined-up by the New York-based world body
this year including the UN General Assembly's Millennium summit slated for
next month which could push Annan's much anticipated visit perhaps to next
year.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Trudy Stevenson"
Sent: Friday,
August 26, 2005 4:12 AM Subject: Voting record on Second Reading of
Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment 17 Bill :
Reminder and Note
This Bill seeks among other things
to: - prevent landowners whose land has been acquired by the state
from approaching the courts; - prevent people leaving the country who
might threaten "the national interest, ......public interest or the economic
interest of the State; - re-establish the Senate with 5 Senatorial
constituencies per Province + 6 appointed Chiefs; - disenfranchise
permanent residents.
Chinamasa (Leader of the House and Minister of
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs) has announced that the final vote -
on Third Reading - will take place on TUESDAY 30 August. For the Bill to be
passed, ZanuPF needs to have 100 members physically present and voting. They
have 107 MPs if you include the Chiefs, who are not officially ZanuPF, but
have always voted for the ruling
party.
............................................................................ ................................... Parliament
of Zimbabwe VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSE WEDNESDAY, 24 AUGUST,
2005 ………
6. Adjourned debate on Second Reading of the
Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 17) Bill (H.B. 7, 2005) (adjourned
23rd August 2005 – The Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs).
Question again proposed: That the Constitution of Zimbabwe
Amendment (No. 17) Bill (H.B. 7, 2005 be now read the second time – The
Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
Motion put and
the House divided.
AYES – 61: Baloyi A, Bidi Chief N.S.D., Buka F,
Bushu S. chief, Butau D., Chadengenda D.J., Charumbira Chief F.Z, Chigudu
T., Chikomba I., Chimombe Chief G.M., Chinamasa P.A., Chihota P.C.,
Chininga E.T.C., Chipanga T.S., Chiwewe W., Chombo I.M.C., Dandawa Chief
T.M., Goche N.T., Gumbo R.E.N., Gwachiwa C., Kadzima P., Kangai K.M.,
Kanzama F., Katsande A., Mabika Chief J., Malisa Chief C., Maluleke T.H.,
Marumahoko R., Machaya J.M.K, Machirori S., Madubeko J., Majange C.,
Malaba Chief C.N., Masawi E.S., Masuka A., Matimba K.M., Matiza J.B.,
Matshalaga J.O., Mathuthu T.A., Mawere M., Maziriri E., Muchena O.,
Muchinguri O.C., Mugabe L., Mugabe S., Mupukuta L.S., Musa C.J., Mushore
L., Mutezo M., Mutiwekuziva K.K., Mutomba W., Mzembi W., Ncube D.M.,
Nhema C.D.F., Nyauchi E., Satiya C., Udenge S., Zimyemba M., Ziyambi
Z.W.E. Tellers: J.M. Gumbo and C. Pote.
NOES – 28: Biti T.T., Chamisa
N., Chebundo B., Chibaya A., Chimanikire G., Chimbaira G., Coltart D.,
Gabbuza J.G., Gwetu M., Madzimure W., Madzore P., Malinga A.M., Matamise
E.E., Matutu T., Mguni N., Misihairabwi-Mushonga P., Mukosi E.T.M., Moyo
J.N., Moyo L., Mubau T., Mukhalera T.L.A., Mutsekwa G., Ndlovu M.M.,
Sansole J., Sibindi T., Stevenson B.G., Zwizwai M. Tellers: T Khupe and P.
Mpariwa.
Today's
Herald has three sets of farm listings. Please note that under Lot 16 there
are a few anomalies:
Numbers 13, 18 and 26 are the same farm but have
different case numbers. Numbers 51 and 76, as above. Numbers 52 and 62, as
above. Numbers 55 and 66, as above. Numbers 79 and 87, as
above.
Numbers 31 and 32 are different farms but have the same case
number. Numbers 73 and 74, as above. Numbers 148 and 149, as
above.
Number 118 has no case number.
Section 7's (153 properties)
LOT 16:
1 2901/74 Humani Est P/L Bikita R/E of Chigwete 20808,7601ha
LA4592/04
2 1611/98 Mary Ellen P/L Bubi Lot 1A of Portwe 681,6960ha
LA5361/05
3 2333/47 John William Wheeler Charter Wildebeestlaagte
1000,14mor LA1321/02
4 1486/73 Lowveld Agencies P/L Chipinga Lot 10 of
Newcastle 100,8345ha LA5414/05
5 350/82 Barbara Ada Snook Darwin
Bretten 735,0402ha LA5841/05
6 348/82 J W Mells Gatooma Glasgow
456,5801ha LA5686/05
7 6984/85 The Trustees for the Time Being of The
Delta Trust Gatooma Remainder of Overlaw 4569,8175ha LA5687/05
8
6515/89 Melville Farming Ent P/L Gatooma Remainder of Whitewaters 691,3058ha
LA5701/05
9 7646/97 M D Hoffman, A M Maartens, M J C Hoffman, D G P
Hoffman, C J Van Rensburg, A E Beukes, M D Stanfield Gatooma R/E of S/D A of
Railway Farm No 8 770,9577ha LA5660/05
18 1130/97 Wornor P/L Gatooma
Hilltops of Hillside 283,1866ha LA699/01
19 7646/97 M D Hoffman, A M
Maartens, M J C Hoffman, D G P Hoffman, C J Van Rensburg, A E Beukes, M D
Stanfield Gatooma Remainder of Railway Farm 7 1469,6049ha LA5624/05
20
4960/82 Claude Edwards & Son P/L Gatooma Remainder of
Lanteglos 914,7124ha LA5620/05
21 126/83 John William Mells Gatooma
S/D A of Acton 40,7731ha LA5655/05
23 3050/78 J W
Britz P/L Gatooma R/E of Hope 1131,5991ha LA5670/05
24 8435/88 A C Lubbe
Inv P/L Gatooma Remainder of Milverton 749,0540ha LA5651/05
25 656/77
Umsweswe River Ranches P/L Gatooma Farm 5 of Umsweswi River Block 1010,8269ha
LA5638/05
26 1130/97 Wornor P/L Gatooma Hilltops of Hillside 283,1866ha
LA5606/05
27 4170/92 Golderoy Charles Rodney Theunissen Gatooma Remainder
of The Lion Farm 160,3978ha LA5691/05
28 516/96 Oldland Farming P/L
Gatooma Tee Sin 284,9253ha LA5640/05
29 6084/85 Inniskilling Farm P/L
Gatooma S/D A of Croc-na-raph 605,8790ha LA5675/05
30 4849/72 Eyerston
P/L Gatooma Farm 10 of Umsweswi River Block 1335,9854ha LA5644/05
31
6939/88 A C Lubbe Inv P/L Gatooma Hazlemere 585,0018ha LA5628/05
32
4849/72 Eyerston P/L Gatooma R/E of Umsweswi River Block
1275,4495ha LA5628/05
33 2717/87 The Trustees for the Time Being of
The Delta Trust Gatooma Abendruhe 6514,0380ha LA5612/05
34 7646/97 M D
Hoffman, A M Maartens, M J C Hoffman, D G P Hoffman, C J Van Rensburg, A E
Beukes, M D Stanfield Gatooma Arundel Est of S/D X of Railway Farm 8
388,1149ha LA5617/05
35 4440/93 Paddock Farm P/L Goromonzi The Paddock of
melfort Est 404,8476ha LA5904/05
36 1724/82 The Trustees for the Time
Being of Commercial Growers Assoc of Zimbabwe Gatooma Itafa Est 292,2711ha
LA5613/05
37 4849/72 Eyerston P/L Gatooma Farm 11 of Umsweswi River Block
1275,4068ha LA5633/05
38 656/77 Umsweswe Ranches P/L Gatooma Farm 6 of
Umsweswi River Block 915,7077ha LA5615/05
40 122/60 Leonard Ronald Melville
Gatooma Blue Grass Extension of White Water 472,4679mor LA5627/05
41
1106/92 Sundew Green P/L Gatooma Flaxton Est 1977,5625ha LA5668/05
42
1311/71 Vrystaat Est P/L Gatooma Farm 8A Umsweswi River Block 2766,5019ha
LA5642/05
43 11038/97 Propkept Inv P/L Goromonzi Remainder of S/D C of
Learig 370,5811ha LA5618/05
44 6211/99 Moyra Mackenzie Devine, Lesley
Elizabeth Mellon, Margaret Ann Faure, William Barry Mackenzie Munro Goromonzi
S/D B of Kilmuir 256,1517ha LA5604/05
45 2415/49 Tuenen and Co P/L
Goromonzi S/D B of Springs 784,1256mor LA2755/02
46 3414/78 Esajas
Fillipus Petrus Vosloo Gutu Irvine A 1280,7115ha LA5045/04
47 2660/85
Benjamin James Loyard Bezuidenhout Gutu Edina 1264,6032ha LA4336/04
48
1530/76 Daniel Jacobus Therba Gutu Woodlands 972,15ha LA4469/04
49
5051/82 Thomas Johannes Bezuidenhout Gutu Ripley 543,0324ha LA449/05
50
4391/87 Frederick Garth Heathcote Gwelo Lot 64 of Umsungwe Block 700,49ha
LA4917/04
51 7373/96 Vulan Mining Co P/L Hartley S/D A Blagdon Extension
95,7636ha LA5629/05
52 6987/2000 Ardhill Ent P/L Hartley Ardconnell
1183,8136ha LA5646/05
53 3237/67 Anfield and Farm P/L Hartley Anfield
2660,45ac LA5677/05
Zim: you can't get blood from a
stone August 27, 2005
The opposition parties
are fully justified in questioning the conditions of the contemplated
multimillion-rand loan to Zimbabwe to bail that country out of it's
financial woes. Let's face it that when it comes to payment you cannot get
"blood out of stone".
But then if we have to look at this
situation from a government perspective and with Zimbabwe being such an
important neighbour, there could be huge ramifications if that country is
not saved from the situation it finds itself in.
Political and economic instability there could be a threat to conditions
here in South Africa.
The government should see this as an
opportunity to exploit in some other way the resources of Zimbabwe when
granting this loan. For instance it is a known fact that certain areas in
South Africa such as the Northern Cape and Free State will turn into semi
arid regions due to the shortage of water.
If our
Government can come up with some sort of deal with Zimbabwe to tap the
waters of the mighty Zambezi river and channel it to these areas it could
turn them into fertile regions.
The government should also
look at saving the depleted wildlife in that country by implementing the
already spoken of plan of incorporating parts of Zimbabwe, Mozambique and
South Africa into a huge conservation area thereby creating much needed jobs
for all these countries through tourism.
The SA Sun. Times published this a couple of Sundays ago! I thought it was
absabloodylutely excellent!! Sending it just incase you didn't see it. Col.
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2005 3:24 PM Subject: Justice Malala's
article on Jonathan Moyo Aug.7th '05
No forgetting the blood on
Moyo’s hands The least of the former Zimbabwean Information minister’s crimes
is blinding hypocrisy, writes Justice Malala. " He is a vile, evil,
two-faced, dissembling co-conspirator to torture, starvation and murder"
MEMORIES of injustice persist. They cannot be erased, they
cannot be subjugated. They rise. I, for example, cannot forget Gugu Moyo. No
one who meets her would. Frail, serious, the young lawyer used her devastating
intellect and stamina to help launch and drive an international campaign to save
the Daily News in Zimbabwe. Two years ago she travelled to South Africa,
Namibia, Botswana, the UK and the US to ask governments and civil organisations
to help save the newspaper after it was shut down by the government of Zimbabwe.
She failed. Moyo is not the only one I cannot forget. I cannot forget the
young journalists at SW Radio Africa, forced to broadcast from London because
they would be jailed in their own country. I also cannot forget Wilf Mbanga and
John Masuku, journalists who have fled the same persecution in Zimbabwe. I
cannot forget the despairing faces of the hundreds of activists — many with
devastating stories of torture — I have met in New York, Hillbrow, London,
Pretoria and Amsterdam. All of them fled the torture and death that Jonathan
Moyo — as Robert Mugabe’s Information minister — gleefully orchestrated,
ruthlessly carried out and defended with a frightening robustness in
public. These memories — and those of millions of Zimbabweans and others
across the world — are alive. At a time when so many get away with murder,
memory remains the most powerful weapon against a repeat of the corruption,
dishonesty, cant and murder that is visited upon our fellow human beings in
places like Zimbabwe. In fact, it is the only weapon we have. Dictators and
their cohorts thrive on the rewriting of history and the erasure of memory.
Jonathan Moyo writes in last week’s Sunday Times, “Mugabe has dug Zanu-PF’s
grave”, as though he were not complicit in the wave of torture, repression and
murder that has engulfed that country in the past seven years. With
breathtaking hypocrisy, he calls Mugabe a “rhetorical nationalist who does not
want to see democracy anywhere near him”. For years Moyo was the main driver
of Mugabe’s attempts to throttle the legitimate voices of the Zimbabwean people
— and now he wants us to forget his role in all this? Nothing can erase from
our collective memory what Moyo has done and the numerous deaths he has to be
accused of causing. We must also not forget that Moyo is not where he is
today because he decided to stand up against Mugabe’s excesses. Moyo and some of
his cohorts within Zanu-PF were plotting to block a Mugabe favourite from taking
over the party leadership and thereby hopefully succeeding the ageing and
demented dictator. Moyo and his friends wanted themselves to sup at the
table that Mugabe is luxuriating at while Zimbabweans starve. Moyo thinks we
have suddenly forgotten all this. But memory must persist, and it does in his
case. We have not forgotten the Sunday Times exposé of his living it up in
Johannesburg, stocking his 4x4 with luxuries, while the poor ate mud in
Zimbabwe. Let us remember the Daily News, once Zimbabwe’s biggest-selling
newspaper. The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) points out that
when legal steps to close the paper in 2000 failed, Moyo — then getting into his
stride as Mugabe’s apologist — began “extra-legal” steps to shut it down. “In
April 2000 its head office was bombed. In January 2001, its printing press was
bombed in a military-style operation. Hours before this attack, the Information
minister [Moyo] had told the government-controlled broadcaster that the state
would silence the Daily News, saying it posed a security risk to the nation,”
the MMPZ wrote. Moyo went on to introduce one of the most undemocratic pieces
of legislation ever passed through an African parliament, the Access to
Information and Privacy Act. After its adoption, foreign journalists were kicked
out of Zimbabwe, more newspapers shut down and hundreds of journalists forced
into exile or jail. When Moyo brought the legislation to parliament even his
Zanu-PF colleagues thought he was bonkers. The chairman of the Parliamentary
Legal Committee, Dr Eddison Zvobgo, said: “I can say without equivocation that
this Bill, in its original form, was the most calculated and determined assault
on our liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, in the 20 years I served as
Cabinet minister.” Moyo cannot fool us, must not fool us. He is a principal
player in the conspiracy that has brought Zimbabwe to its knees, and he is a
principal player in and accessory to the harassment, torture and murder that has
become the signature of Robert Mugabe. He is to Mugabe what Goebbels was to
Hitler. While Mugabe killed, Moyo lied, whitewashed and turned the screws on
independent media. Through his columns in The Herald he exhorted Zanu-PF’s
militias to harass and where possible eliminate the opposition. He is a vile,
evil, two-faced, dissembling co-conspirator to torture, starvation of the poor
and murder. All this we have not forgotten. These memories must stay with us
for the day the International Court of Human Rights rolls into Harare, Bulawayo
and Mutare and we must take the stand and testify. And Moyo, no matter how
much whitewashing of the past he attempts, will be in the dock. Malala is a
freelance writer
Dear Family and Friends, I was at the counter in a small shop in Marondera
this week when an elderly woman came in clutching two bags of white sugar to
her chest. "Please help me" she said to the shop attendant. "Can you spare me
an old newspaper or a brown paper bag to put my sugar in. It is not safe for
me to walk like this." A few doors down, a small supermarket had received
a truck load of sugar and people had been queuing on the pavement for
most of the night. As opening time approached, so did the bully boy
queue jumpers and people who were cold, tired and hungry surged forward to
try and protect their place in the line. Within minutes an orderly line
had degenerated into a seething mass of pushing, shoving and shouting and
then the police were there too, trying to keep order. By mid morning
the pavement was completely clogged and swarming with people and the
police were still there but a few at a time some were getting the chance to
buy two bags of sugar. The elderly woman said that some people had been
beaten and two had been hurt but there was nothing anyone could do and she
was just grateful that she had got to the front and got her two precious
bags of sugar.
Can you imagine not feeling safe to be seen carrying a
bag of sugar through the streets? How absurd that life should have
degenerated to this, just five months after Zanu PF said they had won the
people's mandate to rule Zimbabwe for their 25th year.
This little
example is a very representative picture of life here today. Everywhere
people are on some sort of a desperate mission in order to survive and whole
days and nights or more are sacrificed in an attempt to make the smallest of
gains - a bag of sugar, litre of fuel or bottle of cooking oil.
There
is now an overwhelming "us and them" existence in Zimbabwe. While luxury
double cabs and top of the range Mercedes cruise our highways, ordinary
family cars sit standed in unmoving fuel queues. In most fuel lines lately,
the cars no longer park one behind the other, now they park side by side at
an angle to stop the bully boys from pushing in. The vehicles are filthy,
covered in dust and almost always driverless, guarded by youngsters who wait
for days at a time on the off chance of a delivery.
Again I end on a sad
note by reporting that the 37 tonnes of humanitarian aid donated by South
African churches on the 1st of August remains blocked by Zimbabwean
officials. Until next week, with love, cathy. Copyright cathy buckle 27th
August 2005 http://africantears.netfirms.com
Last night the 5th floor of the Mater Dei
hospital burnt down. One elderly lady on that floor died. Our local fire
brigade were amazing. We all watched as they battled with the equipment they
had to control the blaze, and truely only prayer and brave persistence
achieved this.The people who gave freely of their help with no thought to
their own safety was a true reflection of the spirit we all know exists in
this country. The first cause and damage assessment is being done as I
write.
The Mater Dei hospital is and has always been, for all of you I
write to, a source of comfort and an institution we have been extremely
grateful for. For whatever reason, we have all, at some stage, benefited
from Mater Dei.
This is an appeal for you to use whatever contacts or
resources available to you to raise funds to repair the hospital as soon as
possible. Please pass this appeal on to whoever comes to mind.
FORMER cabinet
minister Victoria Fikile Chitepo, convicted on Thursday of negligent
driving, was yesterday fined $300 000 or 10 days in prison by magistrate
Rodin Mzyece. Chitepo, the widow of the late liberation war hero Herbert
Chitepo, was found guilty of contravening the Road Traffic Act after she
collided with a motorcycle at the intersection of Sam Nujoma and Natal
Streets last year. Passing sentence, Mzyece considered that Chitepo was not
speeding when the accident occurred on August 2 2004 hence a custodial
sentence would have been too harsh. He also considered that Chitepo was an
elderly person. She was ordered to collect her driver's licence after seven
days from the clerk of court. Chitepo collided with a motorcyclist, Souja
Tembo, resulting in the victim sustaining various injuries to the
body. The motorcycle was extremely damaged. Chitepo had pleaded not guilty
to a charge. In mitigation Chitepo through her lawyer Precious Chakasikwa
pleaded with the court to consider that the she was a first offender and has
been driving since 1956. Chakasikwa also argued that Chitepo was an
elderly person, a grandmother looking after a lot of grandchildren before
dwelling on her standing in society.
From Our Correspondent in Mutare issue date
:2005-Aug-27
POLICE in Mutare on Thursday rounded up over 50 street
vendors as they intensified "war" against black marketeering of scarce basic
commodities. Patrolling on horsebacks, the uniformed forces descended on the
unsuspecting vendors at the Meikles Park and the city's commuter omnibus
ranks. The vendors sold sugar, cooking oil, laundry soaps and other scarce
basic commodities. A senior police officer in the city who was in charge
of the operation confirmed netting the illegal vendors and confiscating
large quantities of scarce basic commodities. "We have rounded up at
least 50 street vendors and seized large quantities of goods they sold from
bags to targeted clients," the police officer said. "This is a routine
exercise to try and eradicate black marketeering, which is fuelling
commodity shortages and pushing prices to soaring levels." He added that the
culprits would be given an option to pay admission of guilty fines or appear
in court if they wished, while seized commodities would be
auctioned.