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'CIVIL SOCIETY WILL CEASE TO EXIST' IN ZIMBABWE
International Association of Law Societies condemns planned NGO legislation
Mon 2 August 2004

      JOHANNESBURG ­ The International Bar Association (IBA) calls on 'all
freedom-loving people' to 'fight' against planned legislation in Zimbabwe
that obliges non governmental organisations (NGOs) to register with the
state. If introduced, 'civil society, as we know it, will cease to exist'.

      The IBA describes itself as the 'world's largest international law
association' with a membership of 16 000 individual lawyers and 190 Law
Societies, among them the Law Society of Zimbabwe.

      In a media statement the IBA refers to the announcement by President
Robert Mugabe on 20 July of a new NGO law to be passed by parliament. It is
to establish a Non-Governmental Organisations Council tasked with
'rationalisation of the macro-management of all NGOs'.  'Non-governmental
organisations', Mugabe said, 'must work for the betterment of our country,
      and not against it. We cannot allow them to be conduits or instruments
of foreign interference in our national affairs.'

      'Evidently', the IBA says, 'the current government regards most NGOs
as working against the country. Mugabe made no reference to the Obetterment'
of the people of Zimbabwe, who are the beneficiaries of most of the work
done by NGOs.'

      'Mugabe's speech also makes it clear that NGOs are perceived to be
agents of foreign interests that have been set up to interfere in government
affairs. This is a familiar allegation which Mugabe has used to reduce the
democratic space in Zimbabwe and to limit the participation on national
issues by ordinary Zimbabweans.'

      The IBA argues that 'there can be no doubt that government will seek
to control which NGOs are registered and which not. There can also be no
doubt that those NGOs that will be registered will have their operations
controlled and Omanaged' by the proposed council. Those NGOs that have
traditionally sought to bring to the fore government excesses, failures, etc
      are therefore not likely to be registered.'

      The statement compares the proposed Council with the Media and
Information Commission that registers media and journalists. It says this
commission 'has, in two short years, done everything possible to shut down
the independent press'.

      Referring to the upcoming polls scheduled for March 2005, the IBA
says: 'The effect of the legislation will be disastrous for Zimbabweans,
particularly before an election year. NGOs that have generally followed the
conduct of elections are at high risk of not being registered by the
proposed council.'

      'With the absence of an independent daily newspaper, excesses
committed by political parties, their members and other agents are not
likely to be published. Unlawful arrests and detention at unknown places
which are usually accompanied by torture will not be reported, thus
lessening the chances of investigations and seeking redress. S The proposed
legislation will virtually cut out the free flow of information to the
outside world, since monitoring government excesses will be criminalised'.
ZimOnline

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Zim Online

Living off dying land
Mon 2 August 2004

      HARARE - Columns of smoke smudge the sky above a newly resettled farm,
outside Harare, coal black.

      Farmer Denis Kambwe says he's burning grass because it flushes
terrified wild game  out into the open. He's stoking a fire as he talks.
Every now and then sparks flash as fat drips - from the liver and kidneys of
a kudu roasting above - onto the flames.

      'At least now we'll have sadza with meat for several days,' smiles
Kambwe. He then walks over to the carcass and begins skinning the buck while
his dogs, lying nearby, salivate. Asked if he is aware of the rapid
depletion of the game on his farm, he nods.

      'But remember,' he says, 'this land belongs to me now.' A
self-described war veteran, Kambwe says he 'grabbed' the property  four
years ago from its then owner John Bata.

      Aside from a change in ownership, the land has undergone a physical
metamorphosis too. Once lush and fertile, the farm now lies derelict. Kambwe
complains it's the government's fault, because the authorities never
provided the necessary capital to buy agricultural inputs and  machinery.

      As a result, Kambwe argues,  he is justified in hunting the animals
because he needs meat. While cautiously cutting-up a kudu kidney, he says
that's 'okay' because the farm's creatures are his property too. The
hunting and poaching of wild animals on recently re-settled farms has risen
as beef prices climbed, caused by the shrinking of the national herd.

      'I cannot afford to buy beef and, thank God, on this farm there's
plenty,' mumbles Kambwe as he chews.

      Visits by ZimOnline to properties in several provinces - including
Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West and Manicaland - reveal that dozens of
new A2 (or commercial) farmers are not cultivating the land allocated to
them.

      A number of small- and medium-sized commercial farms, given to black
farmers under Zimbabwe's fast-track land redistribution programme, are lying
fallow..

      While Kambwe seems to be in good health, the same cannot be said for
his farm. The property is clearly neglected and grass covers fields that
once bore crops.  The few visible implements and machinery are either
broken, or derelict.

      Cleopas Mandebvu, acting director of the predominantly black Zimbabwe
Commercial Farmers' Union (ZCFU), says his organisation is concerned about
vast tracks of land lying idle: "We are lobbying government and are busy
compiling a report, based on our own findings, with the aim of correcting
the situation.' His organisation wants Zimbabwe to be the breadbasket of
      Southern Africa again.

      Mandebvu attributes land being neglected, or lying fallow, to plots
being given to new farmers without their being 'genuinely interested' in
farming. He adds they probably went into farming primarily to earn some of
the 'prestige associated with being a commercial farmer".

      Near Turnpike farm, more than 50 km south west of the capital,
60-year-old Zini Daudi sells firewood along the main highway.

      Dressed in gumboots and overall Daudi resembles a farmer, although he
spends most of his time selling firewood. When one driver breaks and rolls
down his window Daudi jogs to the car and asks him, jokingly, how many
tonnes of firewood he needs. He then points to the farm, explains it belongs
to him and promises to deliver wood.

      Daudi tells ZimOnline he knows he should be busy preparing the soil
ahead of the rainy season. When asked why he's selling wood, he says he
needs to raise capital to buy fertilizer, among other things. 'Agricultural
inputs are expensive. Selling firewood can help me earn money.'

      When asked whether he received a loan from the state-owned
Agricultural Bank of  Zimbabwe (Agribank) last season, he nods. And the
money? Daudi stares at the pile of wood at his feet and then stammers he
bought a car which is now
      'a write-off.'

      Agribank runs a Z$60 billion (US$ 12 million at unofficial exchange
rate) loan facility to assist new farmers under the land reform programme.
But all is not well at the bank either. It recently initiated criminal
proceedings against bank staff involved in mismanaging the facility. Some
have already been axed at the instigation of the Reserve Bank, which
unravelled a total
      of 186 fraud cases at the institution. Agribank chief executive
officer Sam Malaba admitted to The Financial Gazette some workers had been
advancing loans to undeserving applicants.

      About a year ago a land review committee, set up by President Robertt
Mugabe, submitted a report examining the allocation of land through the
government's reform programme. It stated that 1,672 farms (or about 2.1
million hectares) had been handed over  to more than 7-and-a-half thousand
applicants under the A2 scheme.

      But now Sam Moyo, the former head of the committee's technical unit,
concedes some new farmers are 'failing to utilise farms'. Some who applied
did not have the required resources, although they had falsely claimed they
did.

      "They lack the capacity to operate because they do not have the
basics, like tractors and harvesters,'  says Moyo. 'Many farmers have failed
to obtain money to capitalise on their activities, while a substantial
number only managed to get small amounts."

      Meanwhile high inflation of 400 % has increased the price of inputs
beyond the reach of the new farmers and interest rates have made it
prohibitive to borrow. 'This, coupled with their lack of the requisite
skills for specialized farming, has compounded the problem', notes Moyo. He
warns it may take 'a while' for them to acquire the know-how.

      Until they have the necessary inputs, and skills, farmers like Denis
Kambwe will continue simply living off their land, and 'their' animals.
ZimOnline

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The Telegraph

Dr Livingstone's statue is ours, we presume, Zambia informs Mugabe
By Jane Flanagan in Johannesburg
(Filed: 01/08/2004)

A life-sized bronze of Dr David Livingstone has stood overlooking Victoria
Falls for more than half a century. But after years of neglect by its
current owners, the Zimbabwean government, Zambia is calling for the statue
to be handed over to them.

The figure of the Victorian explorer, leaning on his walking stick, has
stood on the Zimbabwean side of the falls and been seen by hundreds of
thousands of visitors each year to one of the seven natural wonders of the
world.

Recently, however, as political turmoil in Zimbabwe has deepened, tourists
have switched in increasing numbers to the Zambian side of the falls - while
two years ago the statue, seen as a symbol of British colonialism, was
defaced by thugs of Robert Mugabe's regime.

Now the authorities in Zambia want to cap their success by making the figure
of Africa's most celebrated explorer the centrepiece of the town of
Livingstone, where the tourist trade is booming.

"The Zambians have a great deal of affection for Livingstone's memory,
unlike the Zimbabweans," said Siloka Mukuni, the chief of the Leya people,
who live around Livingstone. "We have changed a great many of our colonial
place names since independence, but we have kept the name of Livingstone out
of a deep respect. For Zimbabwe the statue merely represents tourism and
money. We would like the statue, but we would prefer not to fight over it."

It was from the Zambian side of the Zambezi river in 1855 that Dr
Livingstone became the first European to sight the falls, then known locally
as Mosi-oa-Tunya - "The smoke that thunders".

Some older Leya people claim that the statue was originally erected on their
side of the Zambezi - then the British colony of Northern Rhodesia - but was
moved during the 1950s to its present site overlooking the Devil's Cataract,
on what is now the Zimbabwean side.

"I have 80-year-old advisers who clearly remember the statue being on our
side of the river," Chief Mukuni said. "It was there and then it was gone,
reappearing in Zimbabwe."

Others say there may have been a second statue depicting the explorer
shielding his eyes from the sun, on the Zambian side of the falls, which is
now missing.

Either way, Zambia is keen to get its hands on the bronze, sculpted in the
1930s by Sir William Reid Dick, before next year's 100th anniversary of the
town of Livingstone, when it will also be 150 years since the Victorian
explorer first saw the falls. The Zimbabwean government has signalled,
however, that it has no intention of handing the statue over.

Now Donald Chikumbi, a senior official at Zambia's National Heritage
Conservation Commission, has asked the Foreign Office in London and the
British High Commission in Lusaka to help get to the bottom of the mystery.
"Ideally, we would like to have the Victoria Falls statue, but obviously we
have a stronger case if we can show that it was originally in Zambia. What
is clear is that Zimbabwe does not want us to have it," he said.

Once Africa's most popular tourist destinations, the town of Victoria Falls
has fallen out of favour in recent years. Hotel occupancy has plunged from
70 per cent to below 30 per cent.

Victoria Falls' losses, however, have been Livingstone's gain. A string of
new hotels has sprung up since 2000, when Mr Mugabe began his violent
land-grab policy, and occupancy rates have risen sharply.

Tendai Shoku, Zimbabwe's High Commissioner to Zambia, said that the dispute
would be resolved "bilaterally".

"Zimbabwe and Zambia are just brothers - we are actually one. Let not this
issue separate us," he said. "The habit of bringing confusion is for the
British who even in the times of Rhodesia called us Southern and Northern,
as if we were different. We are not."
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IOL

Cash crisis cripples Zim's schools    Basildon Peta
          August 01 2004 at 12:12PM

      Some private schools in Zimbabwe, banned from increasing school fees
despite the country's 400 percent-plus inflation, will start going into
voluntary liquidation tomorrow because they have run out of money to
maintain operations.

      Earlier this year President Robert Mugabe's government shut down about
50 private schools that increased fees, alleging they wanted to maintain
"exorbitant fees" to exclude blacks.

      In fact, 90 percent of pupils in such schools are black. Scores of
headmasters were arrested and jailed and the schools reopened after agreeing
not to increase their fees.

      But the order for schools to charge what are clearly sub-economic fees
has not worked, even by the admission of Mugabe's own tightly controlled
media.

            90 percent of pupils in such schools are black
      The state-owned Herald newspaper reported that Zimbabwe's most elite
private schools, Eaglesvale primary and secondary, would go into voluntary
liquidation tomorrow as they had run out of money.

      "The schools could be the first casualties of the determined policy by
the ministry of education, sport and culture this term to limit school fees
at private schools at levels well below half the budgeted costs," said the
Herald.

      It said Eaglesvale could stay open only if more parents made donations
this week to fill the gap between the fee fixed by the ministry and the
actual cost of educating a pupil at present standards. But the donations
plan is not working well either.

      The Independent Foreign Service established that as a way of
circumventing Mugabe's ban on school-fee increases, parents at private
schools had decided to contribute money in the form of donations to maintain
the schools. The donations were an indirect way of topping up the inadequate
fees.

      Some private boarding schools had warned parents they could no longer
feed their pupils as they had no money to buy food.

      The Herald said most private schools believed that donation levels had
to include more than 80 percent of parents with enrolled children for a
school to remain viable. Even if the donations were forthcoming, the schools
would still have to drastically cut costs and drop standards, the paper
said.

      The Herald said private schools did not make any profit or pay any
dividends, and in recent years had been budgeting tightly since surpluses or
reserves would be eroded rapidly by inflation. Governors and trustees at
private schools are not paid and do not generally even receive expenses.

      George Theron of Eaglesvale School said in a letter to parents that
the board members and trustees would be committing a crime if they continued
operating the school knowing it could not pay its debts. They would be
personally liable for such debts. The school thus had to go into voluntary
liquidation.

      After parents at Eaglesvale started paying donations to maintain
standards, the Mugabe government alleged that authorities were using
coercion to get the donations and warned the school of serious consequences.

      This created further problems for the school, forcing its board of
governors to opt for closure. Many pupils will therefore be forced out of
school when the private schools close.

      The Herald said private schools offered parents smaller classes for
their children, which drove up the staff costs, and also a wide range of
extra activities.

      The newspaper quoted pupils as saying they had been told to bring back
school property such as textbooks so that the school could take stock of all
its property before it closed down.

      It is understood that many other private schools face the same fate if
the Mugabe government does not allow them to charge realistic fees.
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Xinhua

      Human development declines 12 percent in Zimbabwe

      www.chinaview.cn 2004-08-01 16:53:30

          HARARE, Aug. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Human development in Zimbabwe has
declined by 12 percent in the past five years, leading to a 21 percent
increase in poverty and 26 years decline in life expectancy during the same
period, according to Zimbabwe's Sunday Mail on Sunday.

          It said that the findings in the Zimbabwe Human Development Report
2003 recently launched by Zimbabwean Minister of Public Service, Labor and
Social Welfare Paul Mangwana show that the negative impact of the AIDS
pandemic has to a large extent, causedby a fall in human development, life
expectancy and incomes.

          Human development is measured by assessing performance based
onincome, health expectancy and educational attainment, which has been
declining between 1995 and 2001.

          The fall in human development resulted in the increase of poverty,
with Matabeleland North province experiencing the highestincrease of
poverty.

          Life expectancy also fell in all provinces by an average of 26
years.

          A newly born Zimbabwean baby in 2001 is expected to survive 14
years less than a child born in 1995.

          A four percent fall in real expenditure between 1995 and 2001 also
contributed to the general fall in human development.

          Surprisingly, provinces that registered highest income levels were
observed to have the highest poverty levels.

          High incomes were associated with transactional and commercial
sex. The fact that poverty causes susceptibility and vulnerabilityto HIV and
AIDS is no longer disputed.

          Six border provinces - Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South,
Manicaland, Masvingo, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland Central in that
order - registered increases in real incomes mainly because of a lot of
cross-border trading.

          There was a lot of foreign currency dealing and cross-border
trading at the border posts, hence the increase in incomes.

          Matabeleland, which recorded the highest incomes, is known as the
hub of tourism and there is a lot of foreign currency exchanged at parallel
market rates. Enditem

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News24

Zim: Tsvangirai harassed
01/08/2004 14:39  - (SA)

Harare - Zimbabwe's main opposition party accused police Sunday of harassing
its leader to hinder his political activities before crucial elections early
next year.

Police on Saturday searched the northern Harare home of Movement for
Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai, looking for weapons allegedly
kept there.

None were found in the search, said opposition spokesperson William Bango.

Under sweeping security laws, police also refused to authorise a meeting
Tsvangirai had been scheduled to address on Saturday in the Bikita district
in southern Zimbabwe, Bango said.

Another opposition meeting called by Tsvangirai in Hwedza district east of
Harare on Tuesday was called off after police cited security concerns.

Police deny harassing Tsvangirai and say the opposition was asked to
postpone the Hwedza meeting because a rally for the ruling party was
scheduled nearby in the volatile district at the same time.

Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said officers raided Tsvangirai's home
on Saturday on suspicion he was hiding firearms said to have been used in a
July 2 clash with ruling party supporters at Mvurwi, 100km north of Harare.

"We received information some of the firearms could have been hidden at his
home," Bvudzijena said.

The opposition insists Tsvangirai's July 2 meeting with opposition
politicians was disrupted by a group of about 200 ruling party militants who
arrived in Mvurwi in a convoy of vehicles and were armed with axes, clubs,
stones and tear gas.

Tsvangirai took shelter from a hail of stones in his armour-protected car
and was not injured. Witnesses said two tear gas canisters were discharged.

Bango said Tsvangirai's staff do not carry any firearms, grenades or tear
gas.

"Mr Tsvangirai is surprised that he is being targeted for investigation when
he was a victim of political violence," Bango said.

Tsvangirai believes police are targeting him "to frustrate his political
work" before parliamentary elections in March, Bango said.

Tsvangirai is still facing treason charges that he plotted the assassination
of President Robert Mugabe in 2001.

The trial ended in February, with a verdict expected within six months. But
on Thursday, the Harare High Court postponed the verdict indefinitely for
administrative reasons, court officials said after two High Court assessors
requested more time to study court transcripts.

Tsvangirai denies the charges, which carry a possible death sentence, and
says the case was a political ploy against him.

Tsvangirai was charged with treason before 2002 presidential elections
Mugabe narrowly won. The opposition leader surrendered his passport and was
forced to report regularly to police while on bail.
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News24

Zim's Moyo a 'land baron'
01/08/2004 21:13  - (SA)

Media 24 Africa Bureau


Harare- Zimbabwe's information minister Jonathan Moyo was allocated more
than one farm despite his angry denials, official documents show.

This is against the policy espoused by President Robert Mugabe that all
beneficiaries of his controversial land reform programme only receive one
farm each.

Mugabe has vowed to recover the seized farms, although his ministers have
roundly ignored his call that they surrender their multiple farms.

According to a report in the weekly Zimbabwe Independent, documents from the
agriculture ministry indicate that Moyo, who has been named together with
other ministers as multiple farm owners, was given Paterson Farm in Mazowe
and Lot 2 of Dete in Hwange.

He was also linked to other farms in Matabeleland and Little Connemara in
Nyanga.

He has however denied ownership of all but one farm, Paterson. A letter
dated November 30, 2001, and signed by agriculture minister Joseph Made,
also named as a multiple farm owner, shows Moyo was allocated Paterson Farm.

The farm was described in the offer letter, whose reference was "offer of
state land holding, Model 2 Phase 11", as state and not private land.

The letter said Made, then minister of lands, agriculture, and rural
resettlement, which allocated Moyo the farm under the Agricultural Land
Resettlement Act, "reserves the right to cancel/withdraw this offer if it is
established that you failed to disclose essential information when you
completed your application or when you were interviewed, such as the
ownership or lease of other state land".

Purchase

Despite the description of Paterson Farm as state land, documents show that
Moyo later went on to buy the property for a mere Z$6 million from Made's
ministry.

The payment followed a letter written by the department of agriculture's
permanent secretary, Ngoni Masoka, on April 29 2002 to Moyo informing him
about the cost of the land and improvements.

Documents say "Prof JN Moyo" was also offered Lot 2 of Dete in Hwange which
was estimated to be 3 165.16 hectares.

A letter signed by Made confirmed that Moyo was given the farm which was
also described as state land.

However, Moyo has said the farm belonged to a Jackie Mayers, his cousin.
Moyo has also denied he owned another farm in Matabeleland, saying it
belonged to his mother.

A number of ministers and high-ranking Zanu-PF and government officials have
been accused of using their influence to grab several farms and using
proxies to hide
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The Herald

New citizenship regulations gazetted

Herald Reporter
THE Government has gazetted new regulations that will require those born in
the country but whose parents and forebears originated from countries within
the region to fill in special renunciation forms to restore their Zimbabwean
citizenship.

According to the gazette released last Friday, any citizen from the Southern
African Development Community who wishes to restore his or her Zimbabwean
citizenship will now have to fill in forms for special renunciation which
are being issued by the Registrar General's Office. The new changes follow
the amendment of section 9 of the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act by the
Government early in May.

Once completed, the renunciation forms would be taken by the RG's Office to
the appropriate embassy for endorsement.

The changes would help the RG's Office to deal effectively with problems
arising from dual citizenship within the southern African region.

Forms were being distributed countrywide for easy access by those who need
to renounce or restore their citizenship.

When the Citizenship Act was amended many people living in the country but
whose ancestors were originally from within the region complained that the
regulations were too rigid and did not take their plight into account.
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The Herald

Row over lectures to demonise President

WINDHOEK.
NAMIBIA'S Polytechnic - the second highest institution of learning in the
country - has found itself in a controversial row over lectures provided
there that negatively portray and demonise President Mugabe.

The lectures, given last month, have drawn sharp criticism from some
students who felt that the polytechnic was using Western media propaganda
material to indoctrinate students at the institution.

Given by the Department of Commu-nication, English Communication - first
opportunity examination June 2004 - the modules are based on texts lifted
from Western media reports and those of non-governmental organisations that
constantly demonise President Mugabe and portray him as a "dictator".

The text that came under Question 4 of the examination describes how the
Government of Zimbabwe uses "food aid as a political weapon to starve people
who are not members of President Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF.

The text claims that the "coping strategies" of those badly affected will
run out early in the year and people "will start to die".

It went on to give flimsy reasons why European countries would not "rush to
Zimbabwe's aid while (President) Mugabe is still in power".

It then quoted Denmark's European Affairs Minister Bertel Haarder as saying:
"We would like to strongly react against the fact that the Zimbabwean
Government is using our aid and our food to put political and economic
pressure on its own people.

"They use our aid as a tool in the domestic fight against the opposition to
survive, and that is not acceptable."

The text went on: "The elections may be over but, according to one human
rights observer who returned from Zimbabwe, the use of starvation as a
political weapon is continuing in some of the most hard-hit areas.

"The human rights worker - who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals
against witnesses - described widespread use of starvation against
opposition communities."

One of the witnesses quoted in the text said "20 families in his community
had been denied the right to buy food from the Government's Grain Marketing
Board warehouses because of their support of the opposition.

"They have also been denied the right to work. So they cannot eat and they
cannot earn money," the witness was quoted as claiming.

The texts were prepared by the Department of Communication, and the first
examiner was one Ms E S Hill.

The second examiners were Ms J Hunter, Dr S Krishnamurthy, Mr A L Vueba, Mr
W Ngozo, Mr C Petersen, Ms G Theron and Ms L Willemse. Dr T Elyssa was the
moderator.

Angry students at the polytechnic said they were very disturbed by the
material used and the way the Government of President Mugabe was portrayed.

They said Question 3 was so scathing in its condemnation and demonisation of
President Mugabe and his Government that it had to be withdrawn immediately
after they had answered.

"We have had this Western media propaganda before," said one student, "but
little did we know that such propaganda will filter through our institutions
of learning. Where are we heading to? What are we trying to achieve?

"Those allegations have never been proven. Are Zimbabweans marked on their
faces so the Government could tell immediately that this one belongs to the
ruling party and this one to the opposition?

"I have never been to Zimbabwe, but I find it extremely impractical that
such measures could be used. Do people in Zimbabwe buy with party membership
cards?"

Some of the questions that students had to answer after reading the text
are: "Why do donors no longer want to help suffering Zimbabweans?";
"Describe how food aid is used as a political tool by Mugabe's regime.";
"How does Mugabe's regime maintain the monopoly of feeding its supporters?";
"How are the children in Zimbabwe affected by the current state of
affairs?"; and "In what ways have Zimbabweans been punished?"

The students said that such questions had coded anti-President Mugabe antics
and could not meet any criteria to pass through as tutorial material in any
serious institution of higher learning.

"We see our institution being drawn into the anti-Mugabe crusade and regime
change," said one furious student. "We had to demonise President Mugabe
because we wanted to pass the examinations. But is that fair? We are not
here to be brainwashed.

"I would like the polytechnic to release all the answers, particularly those
of Question 3. It is shocking to see how President Mugabe was demonised in
such answers. The more one demonises him, the more marks one gets. So much
for our polytechnic."

The rector of the polytechnic, Dr Tjama Tjivikua, said that although the
questions were based on a political journalistic statement, they were purely
meant to be an academic exercise in English.

He said that he had discussed the questions with the lecturers concerned and
discovered that it was more a question of "insensitivity than criticism" on
their part.

"The passage was chosen because it is written in English and it falls within
the framework of reference for our students who read newspapers daily and
obtain information about any country in the Sadc (Southern African
Development Community) region, which is of interest to them," he said.

He said that the passage dealt with famine in Zimbabwe caused by El Nino and
drought and why donors were not coming to Zimbabwe's aid.

But neither El Nino nor drought ever featured in the text, as the rector
maintained.

"As is academic tradition internationally, faculty and staff have the
freedom to decide what is best for students and we have always exercised
great responsibility in utilising this freedom," he said.

"Care is taken to ensure that the extracts fall within the purview of
copyright laws and copyright is obtained before publication. Void of
political indoctrination, students are trained to make oral presentations on
controversial topics in order to make them think and argue," he said.

But the students dispute this argument, saying that lifting texts from
newspapers that insult our leaders was wrong.

"Granted, they have the freedom to choose what is best for students, but
what they have chosen for us in this case is horrible. Is Mugabe bad just
because Britain says so? What if you have a story written in English by a
white man describing how blacks are inferior to whites or why racism is
good, will they use it just because it is in English or just because they
have the right to choose what is best for students? If a text is in bad
taste, it is just in bad taste and should not be used," a student said.

"It is Europe, particularly Britain, which is using its money to effect
'regime change' in Zimbabwe. It will be a sad day in the history of our
Polytechnic that, at the end of the day, we shall have contributed to that
nonsense of Britain."

Said Dr Tjivikua: "I assure all that it was not the Polytechnic's intention
to criticise or to project negatively a government, country or to hurt
anyone's feelings or to provoke any anger.

"I tender an apology for the unintended harm. We shall try to be more
sensitive and objective in the future. I tender our humble and sincere
apology, and express our highest esteem and best wishes to the High
Commission, the Government and the People of the Republic of Zimbabwe." ---
Namibia Today/SNNi.
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