Short-changed Mozambicans vent anger at Mugabe's spokesman

Zim Online

Sat 5 August 2006

      MUTARE - An angry crowd of Mozambican informal traders last Thursday
barred President Robert Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba from entering
that country after Zimbabwe immigration officials had seized money form the
traders.

      The Mozambicans kept huge sums of Zimbabwean currency for black market
trading with informal traders from Zimbabwe. But they were caught unawares
when Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) introduced a new re-denominated currency
and ordered all old currency surrendered within 21 days.

      When the Mozambicans tried to repatriate money to Zimbabwe it was
seized by immigration officials on instruction from the RBZ, which said the
money had in the first place been illegally exported to the neighbouring
country.

      Miffed at their loss the Mozambicans vented their anger at Charamba
who had tried to cross into Mozambique as part of his tour to assess the
state of Zimbabwe's border posts.

      Charamba heads a recently formed government taskforce on tourism and
image building and has been touring border posts to assess service there.

      But Mugabe's man had to beat a hasty retreat from Forbes border post
between Zimbabwe and Mozambique as an angry crowd of traders advanced
towards him threatening to beat him up.

      "He (Charamba) is their leader. Let's beat him up," shouted a man from
among the hostile crowd.

      "We want our money. Tell Mugabe to return our money or no Zimbabwean
would ever be allowed into our country again," another one shouted in Shona,
a vernacular language spoken on both sides of the border.

      A Mozambiquan immigration officer who spoke to ZimOnline reporters who
were at the border post defended his countryman saying they been mistreated
by the Zimbabwe government which seized they money.

      The immigration officer, who identified himself as Amandi Macahdo
said: "We allow Zimbabweans to trade here using their currency, and this is
how they repay us? We actually sympathise with these people and we are not
going to stop them from venting their anger."

      Sensing danger a humiliated Charamba and his entourage that included
state media journalists quickly made for their cars and vanished from the
border.

      Attempts to reach the President's Press secretary for comment on his
experiences at Forbes border post were fruitless last night.

      Relations between Zimbabweans and Mozambicans are very close as the
two peoples share a common language and culture. There is also a lot of
cross-border trade between the two communities. - ZimOnline

Harare bans selling of bulk grains to fix money changers

Zim Online

Sat 5 August 2006

      HARARE - The Zimbabwe government has placed further restrictions on
the marketing of maize by warning that the long arm of the law will deal
with any farmers found selling bulk grains, a move meant to close any
loopholes illegal money changers could have used to dispose of their cash
holdings.

      The Grain Marketing Board (GMB) announced yesterday that farmers must
not sell huge quantities of maize or other grains to anyone wishing to spend
more than $100 million for such a transaction.

      The GMB, which holds the monopoly for all grain sales and imports,
said illegal foreign currency dealers would want to cheat desperate farmers
by offering large sums of money for maize.

      It warned farmers not to accept transactions where dealers offered
$100 million for maize.

      The GMB buys maize at $2.2 million per metric tonne but due to payment
delays at the parastatal and transport problems, most farmers prefer to sell
to private dealers

      "The aim of these dealers is to quickly dispose of their excess cash
to avoid the wrath of the law while pushing the problem to the farmers who
will be left with the task of accounting for the source of the funds to the
police and banks," said the GMB.

      The ban is effective until 21 August when a Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
(RBZ) deadline for Zimbabweans to deposit all the old bearer cheques in the
banking system expires.

      In a move meant to destroy a thriving parallel market for foreign
currency, the RBZ this week introduced a "new family" of bearer cheques and
ordered all Zimbabweans to return all the money they were holding to the
banking system.

       Individuals are allowed to deposit a maximum of $100 million only
while companies can deposit up to $5 billion before 21 August. Any money
still in the possession of individuals or companies after this date will not
be accepted and will be taken by the authorities who will deposit it into a
non-laundering pool for two years pending investigations into its source. -
ZimOnline

State-owned bus firm boss convicted of corruption

Zim Online

Sat 5 August 2006

      HARARE - The chairman of state-owned Zimbabwe United Passenger Company
(ZUPCO) Charles Nherera was yesterday convicted of corruption and will be
sentenced on August 21.

      Magistrate Lillian Kudya made the announcement yesterday at the close
of a sensational corruption case that has also sucked in some top
politicians.

      Nherera, who is said to be close to President Robert Mugabe, is
accused of demanding a bribe from the owner of a bus manufacturing firm that
had a contract to supply coaches to ZUPCO.

      He is alleged to have demanded US$5 000 for each bus that the public
transporter purchased from Gift Investments. All in all, Nherera would have
earned more than US$80 000 in bribe money.

      The case has also sucked in the Deputy Minister of Information and
Publicity, Bright Matonga, who was ZUPCO chief executive at the time the
offence was committed. Matonga was last month picked up by police and is out
on bail. Matonga's case will be heard separately.

      Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, under whose ministry ZUPCO
falls, also testified in the case and unconfirmed reports have suggested he
might also be picked up by the police. - ZimOnline

State drops charges against Zimbabwe protesters

Zim Online

Sat 5 August 2006

      HARARE - The state on Friday dropped charges against 128 National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) members who were arrested last month for
demonstrating without permission from the police.

      The government's Public Order and Security Act requires Zimbabweans to
seek permission from the police before holding public political meetings or
demonstrations.

      State prosecutor, Savious Kufandada told a fully packed courtroom in
Harare yesterday that the state was dropping the charges after it failed to
gather enough evidence to prosecute the NCA members. He said the state would
proceed by way of summons.

      "We do not have enough evidence for now so we decided to drop the
charges," said Kufandada.

      The NCA members were arrested last month after they staged
country-wide demonstrations to demand that President Robert Mugabe accept a
new democratic constitution for Zimbabwe.

      They also wanted Mugabe to address the worsening economic conditions
in the country.

      NCA lawyer, Alec Muchadehama told ZimOnline yesterday that he was
happy with the latest development.

      "It was obvious that the NCA members had no case to answer," said
Muchadehama.

      The NCA has proved to be a real pain in the neck for the Harare
administration as the civic group constantly ignores the security Act to
stage demonstrations and marches in urban towns for a new, democratic
constitution for Zimbabwe. - ZimOnline

Tsvangirai MDC dismiss reports of new rainbow political party

      By Lance Guma

      4 August 2006
      Reports that opposition parties in Zimbabwe will unite to form a
rainbow coalition similar to the one that ousted former Kenyan leader Daniel
Arap Moi have been dismissed as untrue. Nelson Chamisa a spokesman for the
Tsvangirai MDC says they have made no such undertaking to form a New
Patriotic Front (NPF) and that the format would not work in Zimbabwe. He
says although they are committed to working with the other groups as
discussed during the Save Zimbabwe Convention organised by the Christian
Alliance last week, there was no way they would join a new grouping.

      He says they have spent over 6 years building the MDC brand and people
know what they stand for. All these groups Chamisa says, have different
constituencies and different interests and combining them would be
problematic. Press reports suggested that a founding memorandum of
understanding for the arrangement is to be signed on the 30 th September but
the former student leader dismissed the story as mischievous. A report in
the weekly Zimbabwe Independent said the NPF will ' include political
parties, civil organisations, trade unions, consumer groups, ex-combatants,
women, churches, students and individuals, and is expected to hold its
inaugural convention in December after Zanu PF's annual conference, to
prepare for the 2008 presidential poll if it comes.'

      A meeting between Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara who heads the
other MDC faction fuelled speculation the two could finally work together.
Although Chamisa did not dismiss this possibility he remained adamant it was
the forming of a new political party that was highly unlikely. Welshman
Ncube the Secretary General in Mutambara's MDC told the Zimbabwe Independent
that Mutambara's meeting with Tsvangirai should not be construed to mean he
wants to join the other camp. Several activists are excited at the prospect
of uniting the democratic forces in Zimbabwe to fight Mugabe, it is how they
combine that will prove central as all of them will want to protect their
political space.

      SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

Youth militia and police strip women to search for currency

      By Tererai Karimakwenda

      4 August 2006
      In the wake of the chaos caused by the new currency introduced by the
Reserve Bank this week the state controlled media has focused on the number
of arrests and on the billions of dollars seized at roadblocks, border posts
and in raids. But there has been no mention of the violations of human
rights taking place as youth militia and police subject innocent Zimbabweans
to humiliating public searches and interrogations.

      Otto Saki of The Zimbabwe Lawyers for human Rights (ZLHR) confirmed
Friday that they had received reports from people who had been abused and
women who were strip-searched at the roadblocks being manned by the youth
along with police and RBZ officials. He said the lawyers had received
instructions from one particular woman to take up her case. Saki criticised
the presence of youth militia and questioned the extent of the powers vested
in them. He told us the unruly youth with a proven track record of violence
are manning road blocks at all major roads in Harare and Bulawayo.

      From Bulawayo our correspondent Themba Nkosi reports that a woman on a
minibus Friday morning complained about the youth saying they were grabbing
breasts and other body parts for no apparent reason. Nkosi said the youth
are not showing respect even for the elderly. He told us there are many
complaints coming from travellers who are passing border posts manned by
police support units along with the youth militia.

      Nkosi had some disturbing news about the plight of people in the rural
communities. He said news about the new currency was only now reaching some
of them and they were rushing to the cities to bank their money. But most
cannot afford the cost of transport and are choosing either one person to
make the trip or finding someone who is already going into town. But the
problem is that this one individual is then being targeted by the militia
and police for having too much money, and it's being taken from them - even
though they desperately try to explain the situation.

      A businessman reported that it took a company driver 15 hours to
travel from Beitbridge to Harare through 21 roadblocks. Gwanda to Bulawayo,
a short run of 137 kilometers has 9 roadblocks.

      Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono announced during his monetary policy
review this week that he had enough powers to question anyone in his search
for those violating the Exchange Control regulations. Saki said the presence
of law enforcement officials during the searches does not justify the
conduct of the youth or make it acceptable. He said

      stripping women naked and making indecent searches just hardens the
hearts of the people and confirms to them that the government does not
respect their individual rights.

      The state's Herald newspaper reported that 125 individuals and
companies have been arrested and they will be charged under the Exchange
Control Act. The paper revealed that Z$62.5 billion in old bearer cheques
has been recovered and more than Z$655 billion has been deposited into banks
in the past two days. Zimbabweans have until August 21 to exchange their old
notes for new ones.

      The Herald also reported that the government's Chief Whip Joram Gumbo
appealed to the Reserve Bank on Thursday to extend the 21 day deadline set
for converting the old currency, especially for those in
      rural communities. Speaking in the House of Assembly during a debate
on Gono's new monetary policy, Gumbo said the deadline must be
      extended to allow time for rural communities to be educated on the new
currency. Gumbo who is the legislator for Mberengwa West alleged that some
white farmers were buying billions of dollars worth of cattle from communal
farmers in order to get rid of money they had stashed.

      Contributing to the same debate Glen-Norah lawmaker Ms Priscilla
      Misihairabwi-Mushonga said more action should be taken against
      top officials who are corrupt. She was quoted as saying: "Let's have
the big heads rolling if we are going to deal with corruption seriously,"
      .

      SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news

Survival after Operation Murambatsvina

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

HARARE, 4 Aug 2006 (IRIN) - A year after Zimbabwe's controversial campaign
to demolish illegal urban settlements and informal markets, thousands of
people remain in limbo, fearful of renewed raids by the police, but with
nowhere else to go.

When President Robert Mugabe's government launched Operation Murambatsvina
'drive out trash', last winter, it said the campaign was designed to restore
order and stamp out the parallel market, insisting that people displaced by
the municipal bulldozers should return to their rural homes.

"Everybody comes from somewhere. There is nobody who comes from nowhere, so
people will have to return to their rural homes," said police assistant
commissioner Edmore Veterai, who led the demolitions around the country.

But people like Martha Zulu, whose grandparents came from Zambia several
decades ago as migrant labourers to the then white-ruled Rhodesia, have no
rural roots in Zimbabwe.

She survives by doing people's laundry in exchange for food in Kuwadzana, a
township in the capital, Harare, where she has built a shack on the ruins of
the cooperative housing she used to live in. The shack is only a metre high,
so as not to draw the attention of the authorities. Before, she had running
water at the housing cooperative; now raw sewerage flows past her shack.

Zulu, like tens of thousand of others, lives in Zimbabwe as part of a
colonial legacy. From 1953 to 1963, Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), Northern
Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasaland (Malawi) were part of a federation of states
under British rule. Migrant labourers came in their thousands to work on
Rhodesia's mines and farms.

When Malawi and Zambia gained independence in 1963, the federation
collapsed. Many migrants remained in the then Rhodesia and stayed on in
newly independent Zimbabwe, but never applied for or attained citizenship,
even though they were born there.

Zulu worked as labourer with her two sons on a commercial farm in
Mashonaland West Province, but was forced off the farm in 2000 when the
government launched its fast-track land redistribution programme, otherwise
known as farm invasions.

"When the new farmer took over the farm in 2000, he said he would not be
able to employ us and advised us to look for new jobs."

Her two sons fled during the farm invasions, and she has not seen them
since. The white farmer, who was her employer for 20 years, gave her some
money, which she used to buy two rooms in the now demolished housing
cooperative.

Zulu has lost contact with her relatives in Zambia. "I don't even know which
part of Zambia my grandparents came from - I have never been to Zambia
because I now consider myself a Zimbabwean, but now I have been reduced to a
vagabond."

Before the 2002 presidential elections, the ZANU-PF government stipulated
that people with "alien" parentage had to renounce any other citizenship in
order to become Zimbabwean citizens. Many were unaware of the regulations,
chose to ignore them, or were unable to comply because of the prohibitive
costs.

Margaret Banda lives in Epworth, east of Harare. Her grandparents were from
Malawi. "Our family members have generally worked as domestic workers or
gardeners, and we were not aware of the effect of not renouncing our
Malawian citizenship. A relative once told us that the process was
cumbersome and expensive, and most of us chose to ignore the requirements."

A spokesman for the Combined Harare Residents Association, Precious Shumba,
told IRIN that his organisation had encountered many residents of foreign
origin. "The Harare municipality is demanding title deeds from council
houses but, although many people of foreign origin had some houses willed to
them by their parents or grandparents, they are having problems claiming
ownership because they don't have the local identity documents."

Gertrude Hambira, secretary-general of the General Agricultural and
Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe, said many of their members were
descendants of migrant labourers.

"At our peak we had 500,000 members, but out of that number only 0.2 percent
of farm workers were given pieces of land by the government. The majority of
our members lost their jobs and, naturally, that means they also lost their
homes, and this means they are wandering and searching for homes, as most of
them no longer had any links with their countries of origin."

Hopley Farm outside Harare is a transit centre for those left homeless by
Operation Murambatsvina. According to a field officer with the municipality,
"We have vetted all the inmates here and close to 80 percent are of foreign
origins - most of the locals have been sent to their rural homes."

A Zambian Embassy official in Harare said their office was offering to
repatriate Zambian descendents wanting to start a new life in the land of
their ancestors, but did not say how many people had taken up the offer.

The facade of the Zimbabwe crisis

Mmegi, Botswana

      8/4/2006 3:05:13 PM (GMT +2)

      Zimbabwe betrays little of a country in political and socio-economic
crisis. A visitor can be initially forgiven for wondering what the hordes of
Zimbabweans trudging the sub-continent in search of better living and
political breathing space are up to.

      The lull of serenity engulfs one on arrival at the Harare
International Airport, arguably one of the most modern in Africa. The
airport's cylindrical air control tower with the characteristic echo of the
ancient Zimbabwe ruins and stone structures, has spacious interiors with
well laid-out duty-free shops selling diverse goods from locally-made
cultural artifacts to imported perfumes and oak-matured whisky. The drive
from the airport cannot be anything but bliss, as one drifts along the wide
colonial boulevards that lead into the city centre. There are no potholes -
major defining characteristic of African countries in deep crisis - on this
particular stretch of road. However, before leaving the airport, something
unsettling caught my eye. Not far from the arrivals lounge exit, the
penalties for the reserved parking lot transgression seemed highly punitive.
One is left to ponder, why such a seemingly trivial transgression should
attract a total fine of eight million Zimbabwe dollars. The airport road led
to none other than the famed five-star Sheraton Hotel that was built in the
mid-1980s as a showpiece for the Non-Aligned Movement Summit that was hosted
by the then buoyant Zimbabwe. The old Sheraton, having since been
re-christened The Rainbow Towers has not, to its credit, lost its former
glory and sparkle. It appears to have the resilience to retain the high
standards that have become synonymous with it. Perhaps that kind of
resilience has also become a common trait of the ordinary Zimbabweans as
they face the machinations of a diabolical regime. Against all odds, the
ordinary Zimbabwean is trying to maintain a semblance of sanity. The
airport's Z$8 million parking penalty, viewed together with more than Z$3.8
million buffet meal at the old Sheraton, would undoubtedly drive the
optimist to insanity. The runaway inflation, that currently stands at more
than 1,200 percent and the shortage of foreign exchange quickly blows away
the fa�ade that has for long been paraded by the Zimbabwean government. The
government was compelled to devalue the Zimbabwean dollar last week by 45
percent and this week by a another five percent. Despite the telling effects
of the embattled economy, President Robert Mugabe's government will go to
great lengths to deny the crisis. When the crisis is grudgingly admitted, it
is conveniently placed on the doorstep of the British Prime Minister, Tony
Blair. As a result of the economic meltdown, poverty is ravaging Zimbabwe
with an estimated four million people dependent on food aid. The country's
life expectancy has drastically reduced from close to 60 to a paltry 34
years for women. Women and children are the hardest hit in the crisis,
particularly through the recently introduced maternity fees - which has
resulted in mothers who are unable to pay being 'detained' in state
hospitals. The country is also facing increasing cases of HIV/AIDS, with
only 20,000 patients on Anti-Retroviral Drugs (ARVs) out of more than two
million. The current crisis is a far cry from the new Zimbabwe that was born
in 1980, when it held the promise of being one of the most affluent and
educated countries in Africa. At the weekend convention, the president of
the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), Willington Chibebe caustically
noted that "today, a jewel we inherited in 1980 is now a soapstone. Anybody
who is getting less than $42 million (pay) is technically unemployed. It is
amazing that we are being oppressed by our own people". By last week, P1 was
estimated to be an equivalent of between Z$90,000 - Z$100,000. It is at this
stage that one is rudely awakened to the crisis - with all its political,
economic and social manifestations - that has been the bane of Zimbabwe in
recent years. For some, like the outspoken academic, Professor Don Makundu,
it is time that the Zimbabwean government's smokescreen is blown away. While
in Gaborone recently he argued that Mugabe has been able to 'rig' the
political and social sectors but the only thing that could not be 'rigged'
is the economy. In fact that the opponents of Mugabe's repressive rule trace
their current woes to the mid-1980s, barely five years after independence,
when he started publicly exhibiting intolerant tendencies. At last
Saturday's convention, speaker after speaker pointed to the infamous
Gukurahundi military campaign in Matebeleland as the beginning of Mugabe and
Zimbabwe's slide into dictatorship and economic ruin. During the Gukurahundi
campaign (literally kgogolamoko in Setswana), Mugabe unleashed the North
Korean-trained Fifth Brigade on Matebeleland, the stronghold of his
liberation colleague, Joshua Nkomo. The carnage resulted in the massacre of
an estimated 25,000 people, most of whom were buried in shallow graves. At
the height of the campaign, Nkomo fled into Botswana disguised as a woman.
By 1987, Nkomo's ZAPU had been beaten into submission to become part of
Mugabe's ZANU, hence the ZANU-PF. The ethnic co-option was not to hold long
though, as fissures started developing within the whole Zimbabwean society
due to the increasing repression and bad governance. Agitation for
constitutional reforms was started by the National Constitutional Alliance
(NCA), which pressured the government politically. With growing dissent
across the tribal and political divide, and the formation of the Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC), the Mugabe regime evoked the 'land reform'.
Zimbabwe political observers are in agreement that the reforms, which Pastor
Magaya dismissed as "a chaotic land grab" was motivated by cynical
considerations. It was meant to 'scare' the suspected backers of the reform
movement - ostensibly the British. However, with increased resistance from
the joint force of civic and political organisations, the government
resorted to brute force. Perhaps the most gut churning of these was
Operation Murambatsvina (Operation Clean-up), which rendered more than
700,000 people homeless and displaced hundreds of thousands. Among the other
draconian measures of the Mugabe regime is the emasculation of the
judiciary, in which independent judges were replaced with partisan ones. A
plethora of laws aimed at muzzling the media were passed and more are still
being promulgated. These have led to a closure of several media houses and
the banishment of journalists to foreign lands. In fact, Zimbabwean legal
drafters are considered the busiest on the continent.

Last independent voice stilled

Eastern Province Herald

VETERAN journalist Michael Hartnack, who died in Harare on Wednesday, was
one of the last independent voices reporting in embattled Zimbabwe.

Over recent years, colleagues working for foreign newspaper groups and wire
services were hounded out of the country. There was constant government
surveillance and police harassment, but Hartnack was determined to stay in
the country in which he had spent much of his working life.

In tribute to his determination, courage and contribution to journalism,
Rhodes University awarded him an honorary doctorate of literature in 2003.
The university public orator, Prof Paul Walters, at the graduation ceremony
in Grahamstown quoted the professors who sponsored his candidacy for this
award:

"Not only is his reporting of events meticulous, and his analysis balanced,
but his background reading enables him to contextualise events for the
distant reader, and the whole is presented in a fetchingly readable style.

"The qualities which place him in a special class are those which he has
displayed under the fire reserved by repressive regimes of every political
hue for those who seek to challenge or expose the official view of events."

He filed a weekly column commenting on Zimbabwean conditions and events for
The Herald, its sister paper, The Daily Despatch, and other publications for
more than 20 years. His last column, poignantly paying tribute to a former
colleague who had died, was published 10 days ago.

Hartnack, 60, suffered a stroke on Sunday and was admitted to the Avenues
Hospital intensive care unit in Harare. He died peacefully in his sleep on
Wednesday evening.

Born in what is now Zambia, Hartnack came from a family of journalists as
his maternal grandfather, Joseph Griffiths, and great-grandfather, Arthur
Griffiths, had both been journalists. As far as Hartnack was concerned the
newspaper business was - in his own words - "not so much a profession as an
inherited genetic disorder".

Hartnack was taken to England in 1956 and educated at the Hastings Grammar
School, Sussex. He joined his first newspaper, the Cambridge Evening News,
as a cub reporter and general dogsbody straight from school, aged 18.

He essentially learnt his trade on the job, though while working he studied
courses at the North Western Polytechnic in London.

Hartnack returned to Africa, to the then Rhodesia, in 1966 and joined the
Rhodesia Herald, concentrating on reporting on courts and municipal affairs.

He worked hard for better conditions for journalists through his membership
of the Rhodesian Guild (later Zimbabwean Union) of Journalists. In his final
column for The Herald, he told of fighting management, unsuccessfully, for a
salary for a black colleague that was equal to that paid to white
journalists.

He was president of the journalists' union from 1976 to 1980. During this
time saw his major responsibility as trying to unite members of the
profession, in pursuit of fairer rewards for the risks to which they were
exposed and improvements in their conditions of work regardless, as he said,
"of their political affiliation at that torrid time".

The Guild of Journalists was involved in continual confrontations with
successive Rhodesian governments headed by Ian Smith and Bishop Abel
Muzorewa, and then the British administration of Lord Soames. The union
battled both overt censorship, and manipulation or "management" of news.

The guild also protested vociferously against the detention and intimidation
of journalists. Hartnack was to find that little bar the government
protagonists had changed in the relationship with journalists in the new
Zimbabwe after independence in 1980.

Shortly before his retirement as head of the union in March 1980, Hartnack
had an altercation with Soames about the British failure to rescind existing
censorship regulations and set an example of openness.

He warned that an assault on the press would be the first symptom of
repression. But, as Hartnack commented, "all the British Government would do
then was pontificate, as in South Africa post-1910".

His warning would be proved true under Robert Mugabe's presidency.

In 1968 he joined the Inter African News Agency (Iana), the Rhodesian
subsidiary of the South African Press Association. Over the ensuing 13 years
he rose to be Iana's chief reporter and head of its parliamentary reporting
service.

The Zimbabwean Government took over Iana in 1981 and Hartnack was declared
redundant. He moved south to work for the South African Morning Newspaper
Group.

He joined The Herald (then the Eastern Province Herald) in 1981, and worked
in the reporting and sub-editing spheres. He is remembered by his former
colleagues in Port Elizabeth as an old school journalist who always reported
for work, even in the more casual sub-editors' room, in collar and tie, with
not a hair out of place.

He was a stickler for detail in his work, but with a ready wit.

In 1984 he decided to move back to Zimbabwe to run the Morning Group's
Harare bureau. He began writing the weekly column for South African readers
used by The Herald.

His wide knowledge of world history, literature and current events was
evident in his writing of his columns.

When financial constraints within the group forced the closure of the Harare
bureau early in 1986, following the demise of the Rand Daily Mail, Hartnack
opted to remain in Zimbabwe, rather than return to South Africa. He become
the group's correspondent there.

He also wrote for The Times of London and his stories for the American news
agency Associated Press meant his byline featured on reports used in
newspapers around the world. He also contributed to broadcasts for Skynews
and Deutsche Welle.

He contributed articles to various Zimbabwean publications without payments
to try to support his embattled local colleagues.

Walters said at the Rhodes graduation: "In pursuing the vision of a just and
non-racial Zimbabwe, Michael Hartnack has at all times had to call on
reserves of courage and integrity, striving to report the truth at no small
risk to himself and, by extension, his family.

"From the moment of his return to Rhodesia/Zimbabwe in 1966, Michael
Hartnack has wielded a powerful, courageous journalist's pen in the service
of that country and of an ideal which at present is being flagrantly
betrayed. Yet he has chosen to stay, in spite of all the pressures being
brought to bear on Zimbabwean journalists."

Hartnack leaves his wife of 33 years, Anne, two sons and a daughter.

... The oration delivered by Walters at Hartnack's graduation in 2003 was
extensively used, with Rhodes University's permission, in the writing of
this article.

Zimbabwe Dismisses Human Rights Watch Report on HIV/AIDS

VOA

      By Tendai Maphosa
      Harare
      04 August 2006

The Zimbabwe government dismisses a Human Rights Watch report accusing the
government of policies that worsened the plight of those affected by HIV and
AIDS as inaccurate.

Health minister David Parirenyatwa is quoted in the state-controlled daily
The Herald as saying he did not want to waste time on the Human Rights Watch
report which in his words was "obviously compiled by someone who never took
time to go around looking for information."

The report, No Bright Future: Government Failures, Human Rights Abuses and
Squandered Progress in the Fight Against AIDS in Zimbabwe, alleges abusive
policies and practices by the government are fueling the HIV/AIDS epidemic,
increasing vulnerability to infection, and obstructing access to treatment.

The report gave the example of last year's forced evictions, which it says
disrupted access to treatment and healthcare for many people living with
HIV. It noted that hundreds of people living with HIV continue to live in
appalling conditions, without shelter or in overcrowded houses. As a result
many are left more prone to opportunistic infections such as pneumonia and
tuberculosis.

The evictions, which the government called "Operation Drive Out the Filth,"
also interfered with HIV-prevention efforts the report says. During the
blitz on unauthorized housing in urban areas, police destroyed nearly 2,000
outlets dispensing condoms. Human Rights Watch blames the ongoing crackdown
on the informal sector for depriving people of their only source of income
in an environment of high unemployment. This, it says, increases the risk of
HIV infection for thousands, and further endangers the lives of those
already infected.

Parirenyatwa defended the evictions saying the building exercise which
followed was meant to ensure people had access to decent shelter and clean
water. But a spokesman for the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human
Rights, speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity, said while the government
has built some houses, they are not enough. He said more than a year after
the evictions; most of the victims are living in shacks while others were
forced to occupy houses without doors, windows, floors or running water.

The spokesman agreed with the report on the issue of people who were on
antiretroviral therapy had their treatment disrupted by the evictions. Also,
he said, as a result of losing shelter and livelihoods, some women expose
them to infection by engaging in commercial sex. He however said while the
government has the will to deal with the pandemic, the money to carry out
programs is just not there.

Parirenyatwa said instead of criticizing on the basis of a sample of 129
respondents, the report should highlight the good that has been done such as
the drop in HIV prevalence. Despite the decline in infection rates from 25
percent in 2001 to 20 percent in 2004, Zimbabwe still has one of the highest
HIV infection rates in theworld.

The minister welcomed the report's recommendation to the international
community to assist Zimbabwe in its fight against the pandemic.

Human rights watch says it was unable to secure meetings with Zimbabwe
ministry of health officials.

Fear, anger and dashed hopes

The Guardian

Zimbabwean asylum seekers need protection, not deportation.

Andrew Meldrum

August 4, 2006 11:47 AM
Fear and anger are my response to the British government's announcement that
it will begin deporting Zimbabweans back to their troubled country.

Fear for the many Zimbabweans I know who have sought asylum in Britain and
who now face a frightening prospect of abuse and violence upon return
because of Robert Mugabe's government's well-documented policy of torturing
its critics.

The anger comes from my dashed hopes, shared by many Zimbabweans and human
rights defenders, that the Blair government would live up to its promises to
support a restoration of democracy in the former British colony and to
protect Zimbabweans in fear of torture.

British immigration officials enthusiastically welcomed the ruling by the
Asylum and Immigration Tribunal that Zimbabweans who are refused asylum can
be deported to their home country. An immigration spokesman announced that
forced deportations could begin soon of the estimated 7,000 Zimbabweans who
have been denied asylum.

The speed with which this announcement was made, and its triumphant tone,
suggest that immigration authorities will show few qualms when forcing
Zimbabweans onto planes back to Harare.

I know many Zimbabweans who have sought asylum in Britain after suffering
state-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe. There is a young woman with cigarette
burns on her face and arms inflicted by agents of Mr Mugabe's notorious
Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO). She was suspected of supporting the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) because her brothers had
joined the party.

I also know a former policeman whose genitals were mutilated after he was
caught reading a newspaper deemed an opposition mouthpiece by Mr Mugabe.
These two survivors, and many others, have had to mount emotionally and
financially draining appeals because their applications for asylum were
rejected. This new ruling will only add to their suffering.

The ruling by the asylum tribunal makes an important caveat that anyone with
associated with the opposition MDC should be deemed to be under threat of
torture upon return to Zimbabwe and should therefore be exempt from
deportation. That is according to British law and international statutes
which Britain has signed that state no one should be returned to their home
country if they have a reasonable fear of mistreatment.

This important point could be expected to give protection to Zimbabwean
asylum seekers - except for the fact that Home Office officials in charge of
asylum have consistently refused to give fair consideration to the
sufferings of Zimbabweans.

I have interviewed doctors frustrated because they have provided medical
examinations proving torture only to see them rejected on spurious grounds
by immigration officials. Similarly lawyers have described their outrage
that detailed affidavits showing patterns of abuse have been dismissed on
the flimsiest of pretences.

Confusion abounds over how to deal with the many Zimbabweans seeking asylum
in Britain as a result of the Blair government's flip flops and more flops.
In January 2002 the Home Office suspended all deportations of Zimbabweans as
a result of evidence of state violence. But in December 2004 the
deportations were resumed as part of the government's efforts to show that
it was "getting tough" on immigration. Then a court decision in October 2005
suspended the deportations. And now in August 2006 the Asylum and
Immigration Tribunal decided that the deportations can begin again. It is a
sorry record of prevarication.

The asylum tribunal's ruling has been welcomed by Zimbabwean justice
minister Patrick Chinamasa, who said he would welcome those deported with
"open arms".

"They were never persecuted in the first place and claims that they will be
harmed when they return home are unfounded," said Mr Chinamasa, whose
statement should be viewed as self-serving spin, coming as it does from the
man who has presided over the dismantling of Zimbabwe's once proud judicial
system.

Although a reversal of the asylum tribunal's decision would spare many
Zimbabweans a great deal of anguish, it is not realistic to expect it.
Instead I urge all Home Office officials to consider very carefully each
case of deportation they process. I doubt that any would like to be
responsible for a single case of cigarette burns, rape or electric shock
torture.

ZERC Urges Private Sector To Invest In Power Generation

The Herald (Harare)

August 4, 2006
Posted to the web August 4, 2006

Harare

THE Zimbabwe Electricity Regulatory Commission (ZERC) has called upon the
private sector to seriously consider investments in the generation of
electricity to avert the looming regional power shortage by 2008.

In an interview, ZERC executive commissioner-general Dr Mavis Chidzonga said
Zimbabwe possesses various renewable sources of energy which were enough to
meet local demand if fully exploited.

"One of our objectives is to introduce and promote competition in the
electricity sector at generation level through joint ventures and
independent power producers (IPPs). IPPs help to reduce public expenditure
while improving capacity. The concept also allows for the mobilisation of
direct investment," she said.

In his Mid-Term Monetary Policy Review Statement, central bank governor Dr
Gideon Gono pointed out that Zesa Holdings was facing a serious liquidity
and cash flow squeeze.

"We would like to recognise the sterling efforts of the governor of the
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in spearheading economic recovery measures in the
monetary policy statement," Dr Chidzonga said.

Since the beginning of this year, about US$2,7 million has been disbursed to
the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) to procure critical spares for Hwange Power
Station and up to Z$951 billion has been paid to ZPC for working capital.

ZERC is mandated to create, promote and preserve efficient industry and
market structures and to ensure safety, security, reliability and quality of
service in the production and delivery of electricity.

Consumers were also urged to save power through the use of energy-saving
lamps and use faster and cheaper methods of cooking through the use of
efficient appliances.

Zimbabwe currently generates about 1 020 megawatts against a capacity of 1
750 megawatts due to shortages of coal and frequent breakdowns at Hwange
Power Station.

Police crackdown on "money hoarders"

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

HARARE, 4 Aug 2006 (IRIN) - Zimbabwe's police are being accused of
heavy-handedness after setting up roadblocks to seize money from people
thought to be trading on the black market.

Zimbabweans were thrown into panic on Monday after reserve bank governor
Gideon Gono devalued the currency by 1,000 percent, with a three-week
deadline for the old currency to be exchanged for new denominations.

Gono also ruled in his mid-term monetary policy review that individuals
could only deposit Z$100 million (US$1,000 at the old official rate) at a
time. The deadline means there are only 16 working days to make deposits,
and a maximum of Z$1.6 billion (US$16,000) can be exchanged.

Inflation has officially reached 1,183 percent - the world's highest rate -
forcing people to carry shopping bags and suitcases full of money to
purchase basic goods.

Gono's ruling was an unexpected shock for parallel market foreign currency
traders, and for the many who have little confidence in the banking system
and choose to keep their money at home or in the office.

According to the new rules, all individuals holding more than Z$100 million
(US$1,000) and companies with more than Z$500 million (US$5,000) of the old
currency would have the money seized unless they could prove it was acquired
legally.

A senior Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, said the roadblocks were being manned by the police, Zimra,
state intelligence operatives and graduates of the ruling ZANU-PF party's
youth training camps.

"Roadblocks are being mounted countrywide but searches are mainly
concentrated at border posts, where most of the youths who have been
recruited have been deployed especially to forfeit large amounts of money
that black market foreign currency dealers are returning into the country
ahead of the 21 August deadline," the official said.

On major routes into the capital, Harare, there were long traffic queues as
officials searched cars and people carrying large bags. Other vehicles,
including at least one commuter bus, made U-turns to avoid being searched.
At a roadblock about 8km southeast of the capital, two men were arrested
after Z$2 billion (US$20,000) was found in their car.

The State-owned Herald newspaper reported that so far 125 "cash hoarders"
had been arrested, and more than Z$62 billion (US$62,000) recovered in
countrywide searches.

Steven Matenda, a small businessman, had Z$150 million (US$1,500) seized at
a roadblock when he failed to provide receipts showing how he had acquired
the cash. "The law could now be saying that cash in excess of Z$100m
(US$1,000) should be taken away from individuals who cannot prove where they
obtained it from, but that does not make any sense," he said.

"For many years, I have been rearing chickens on my plot on a small-scale
basis, and that kind of business does not require that I produce receipts.
Even though I banked some of the money, I kept most of it at home to buy
feed for the chickens, but now it is being taken away."

Renson Gasela, a former spokesperson for the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), the main opposition party, said the roadblocks were unnecessary and
heavy-handed.

"This is a purely civic and monetary issue that requires decent methods that
don't inconvenience people. They [government] could just have flighted
advertisements urging people to surrender their money rather than
criminalise (people)."

He said roadblocks were counter-productive, as those holding large sums of
cash would find illegal ways to dispose of it.

In the rural areas people tended to store money at home because of expensive
transport costs and did not necessarily use receipts in their day-to-day
business dealings. "Information doesn't reach rural people so fast and,
after all, [Z]$100m [US1,000] is not that much money, given the high
inflation, and one tends to wonder how Gono arrived at that figure," he
pointed out.

Zimbabwe's new exchange rate is US$1 to Z$250, after Gono announced that
three zeroes would be struck off the country's temporary currency of bearer
cheques. Last week the official rate was Z$250,000 to the US dollar, and
Z$555,000 on the parallel market.

Africa looks east for economic, political salvation

Hong Kong Standard

On a parade ground in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, the national commissioner
of police recently told police academy graduates they should learn
Putonghua.

Terry Leonard

Friday, August 04, 2006

On a parade ground in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, the national commissioner
of police recently told police academy graduates they should learn
Putonghua.
And why not, African regimes such as Zimbabwe, largely shunned by the West,
are turning to China for economic and political salvation.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, under targeted sanctions by most Western
governments because of his country's human rights record and its retreat
from the rule of law, has declared a "Look East" policy.

China, hungry for energy and raw materials as its economy expands, has
invested heavily in Africa. At the same time, it has offered limited
political and economic help to repressive governments in Africa.

Western governments are more likely to tie engagement to political and
social reform, though they, too, have a history of backing African
dictators.

Bilateral trade between China and Africa has increased more than 300 percent
since 2000 and now exceeds US$40 billion (HK$312 billion) a year.

"There is a potential of political leverage for China. The West is worried
about growing Chinese influence. But the political effect so far is less
than might have been imagined," said Stephen Friedman, a senior research
fellow at the Center for Policy Studies in Johannesburg.

"The argument is they have helped Mugabe. But they haven't much. It has been
more of a symbolic gesture."

But Friedman said repressive and corrupt governments may nonetheless
increasingly turn to China for economic development and political cover.

China is now the largest exporter of oil from Angola, which has one of the
continent's more corrupt governments. It also exports oil from Sudan, one of
the most repressive governments, without condemning that government for the
killing in the Darfur region that the United States has labeled genocide.

At the United Nations last September, China worked to dilute a resolution
condemning Sudan for the killings in Darfur.

China has come to Africa seeking oil and raw materials, such as Zambian
copper, and to make investments that included such big- ticket items as
roads and refineries, usually with Chinese labor.

The Chinese "never make any pretense that they are anything other than hard
nosed and want to take away a profit," said John Robertson, an independent
economist in Harare.

"My biggest fear is that Zimbabwe has become so weakened that at some stage
the Chinese can say, `We can bail you out,' and in exchange we not only will
repay money but sell their products in the region.

"In other words, we will become the tool that wipes out the clothing,
footwear and textile industries for the whole of Southern Africa, and the
Chinese will have the market to themselves."

At the level of the working man, China, and especially imported Chinese
workers, are seen as a threat to their already meager livelihoods. In
Zambia, local workers have rioted to protest against the Chinese.

Chinese companies have been accused of flooding Nigerian markets with fake
and substandard goods, notably textiles. In December Nigerian officials took
the dramatic step of shutting down several shopping centers run by Chinese
traders in Lagos.

Even in South Africa, unions fearful of a loss of jobs, especially in the
clothing and textile industries, are pressing the government to renegotiate
trade agreements with China they say are advantageous to the Chinese. South
African imports from China exceeded 31 billion rands (HK$34.6 billion) in
2005 compared with 8 billion rands in exports.

South African firms - from mining giant Anglo American to Internet service
providers and beer brewers - have invested some US$400 million in China.
China has put about US$130 million in South Africa, most in a chromium mine.

In Angola, where most people live in extreme poverty, Prime Minister
Fernando Da Piedade Das Dos Santos last week had to respond to rumors he had
authorized the immigration of four million Chinese workers into Angola.

"The Chinese are coming to Angola within specific projects and after those
projects come to an end they will return to their country," he said, without
confirming or denying the rumored figure.

In Zimbabwe, "Look East" has generated deep resentment of the Chinese, said
John Makumbe, a political analyst at Zimbabwe University.

But Friedman believes despite any resentment in the streets, corrupt and
repressive African governments who have no where else to turn will look more
and more to China for political legitimacy and protection. Even if China has
offered little political help so far, it presents itself as a leader of the
Third World.

Democratic governments in Africa will look more and more toward China
because their businessmen will be pressing for access to China's huge market
potential.

Friedman said China believes its investment in Africa, beyond bringing it
the energy and raw materials for expansion, also has the potential of
creating a windfall profit in geopolitical influence in the future.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sound of sanity in a mad season

Business Day

Nicole Fritz

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LAST week, Zimbabwe's supreme court ruled that the electoral court,
established to hear disputes arising from the 2005 elections, had not been
properly constituted. As legal matters go, it is hardly the most riveting
case. Had the decision been issued in a functioning democracy it would
likely have elicited little attention outside of the legal profession. But
Zimbabwe is not normality and that which should be ordinary may, in fact, be
extraordinary. Judgment was delivered in response to a challenge brought by
Claudious Marimo, a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) candidate in the
2005 elections, and by the MDC itself. In finding that judicial appointments
to the electoral court were unconstitutional and improperly done, judges on
the supreme court bench rejected arguments made by the justice minister, the
attorney-general, and even their colleague, the chief justice.

Instead, the court emphasised the principle of separation of powers and the
independence of the judiciary, insisting that the process of judicial
appointment must secure the judiciary from interference by other organs of
state. It is a judgment that bears all the hallmarks of a developed
democracy: faith in the law and the principle of separation of powers.

At an even more basic level, it suggests that the society in which the
judgment is issued is one where reason and rationality prevail. But that, of
course, is not Zimbabwe today. The average Zimbabwean is reeling from the
effects of hyperinflation, finding it difficult to afford even the most
basic foodstuffs, and the recent devaluation will bring little respite
unless genuine political reforms are made.

Protest against this staggering mismanagement is likely only to bring him to
the attention of the country's security forces, with subsequent unlawful
arrest, detention and assault.

Given this reality, the electoral court decision may seem almost beside the
point. Indeed, amid allegations that supreme court
judges have been given confiscated farms, it is easy to be cynical.

Although antiexecutive in character, it is not the clear rebuff to the
executive that would be entailed by ruling that Operation Murambatsvina, the
so-called clean-up operation, was unconstitutional or that the Public Order
and Security Act is invalid.

The supreme court might be criticised, as courts were in SA under apartheid,
for conferring legitimacy on an unlawful regime by suggesting that it is a
still functioning democracy.

And even if the court has acted purely on legal principle, it runs the risk
that its decision will be ignored and go unenforced - as the executive has
done in response to countless previous decisions it found unfavourable. Then
the court has simply laid bare its own weakness.

Still, there is reason to take comfort in the decision and find in it a
renewed call for engagement with Zimbabwe. The judgment was issued by the
highest court in the land and follows on a number of decisions made by less
senior judges who, notwithstanding the tremendous pressure they face and
knowing full well that their judgments will be ignored, continue to give
independent rulings that find no favour with the executive.

Arguments before these courts continue to be made by some of the finest,
most committed lawyers in the region who have not yet abandoned the courts
as forums in which to oppose the government.

Admittedly, faith in the law is often misplaced, even if we lawyers tend
arrogantly to believe that our profession can set the world to rights. In
reality, law is generally only of value when all the hard, messy work is
done; when the conflict has ceased; when that large, amorphous concept that
legal and political theorists speak of - the social contract - has been
established.

That is why as long as Zimbabwe's lawyers keep taking their fights to the
courts, as long as some of Zimbabwe's courts continue to issue independent
rulings, even if these are ignored, there is reason to believe that the
crisis might be reversed; that the underlying social contract need only be
reaffirmed, not entirely rewritten from scratch. It is this that
distinguishes Zimbabwe from what is happening in Sudan or Somalia,
or even Swaziland, where after a vacuum of more than 30 years, the country
only recently enacted a constitution.

None of this is to suggest that the situation in Zimbabwe is not critical.
It is. And if it is to be reversed, engagement must happen now before
Zimbabwe figuratively embodies the Shakespearean vision of unchecked
repression: "Let's kill all the lawyers."

Fritz is the director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre.

At the UN, Disinterest in Zimbabwe, Secrecy on Chechnya, Congo Polyanna and Ineptitude on Somalia

Inner City Press

Economists: Political Solution Only Way to Save Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe seal series win over Bangladesh

Reuters

      Fri Aug 4, 2006 8:50 PM IST

HARARE (Reuters) - Gregory Strydom scored his maiden half-century to guide
Zimbabwe to a series-clinching win over Bangladesh in the fourth one-day
international in Harare on Friday.

Disciplined bowling helped Zimbabwe restrict Bangladesh, who won the toss
and chose to bat, to a mediocre total of 206.

In reply, the home side scored 212 for three in 41.4 overs to cruise to
victory by seven wickets.

The result gave Zimbabwe an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the five-match series,
which ends in Harare on Sunday.

Strydom, who hit a lusty 58 off as many balls with eight fours and a six,
began his assault in the 13th over after Vusi Sibanda and Terrence Duffin
had launched Zimbabwe's reply with an opening stand of 57.

Fast bowler Farhad Reza bowled Sibanda off the edge of his bat for 46 in the
22nd over, which brought Hamilton Masakadza to the crease to share 66 runs
for the third wicket with Strydom.

The partnership was halted when Masakadza, on 19, retired hurt with a
nosebleed.

Strydom was dismissed five balls later by left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak when
he sent a leading edge looping to midwicket, where Mohammad Ashraful took
the catch.

Stuart Matsikenyeri and Brendan Taylor completed the job for Zimbabwe with a
brisk stand of 53.

Shahriar Nafeez top-scored for Bangladesh with 45, and their only
substantial partnership was the 52 runs that Shahriar and Aftab Ahmed shared
for the second wicket.

Off-spinner Prosper Utseya tied the visitors down and took two for 25, while
leg-spinner Masakadza was less accurate but also effective for his return of
two for 36.

Zimbabwe Humanitarian Situation Report Issue no. 9, Jul 2006

Low tariffs cripple Zimbabwe power utility

Engineering News

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

      A former Zimbabwe power industry executive said the government should
remove tariff constraints on the state power utility to allow it to raise
sufficient money to boost flagging domestic generation.

      The Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has struggled to
produce electricity at its two main thermal and hydro plants due to a
critical shortage of cash to repair damaged equipment, which has led to
frequent power cuts for consumers and industry.

      The wholly government-owned company, the sole provider of electricity
in Zimbabwe, has said it is required to charge what it says are uneconomic
tariffs as the government seeks to keep a lid on spiralling inflation.

      On Thursday power expert Simbarashe Mangwengwende, a former ZESA chief
executive, said that "inappropriate regulation", including the low consumer
charges, had kept investors away from ZESA, leaving the cash-strapped
government with the sole burden of keeping the utility running.

      Erratic power supplies have piled pressure on local industries
struggling to stay in business in the face of an eight-year economic
recession critics blame on President Robert Mugabe's government.

      "There is a myth that energy supply costs are high and are a major
source of inflation. That is why we then end up with inappropriate
regulations that prevent investments," Mangwengwende told an annual congress
of Zimbabwe's main industry body.

      "The result is that we have over-dependence on an investor with
limited resources for investments," he told the meeting in Zimbabwe's second
city of Bulawayo.

      "The short-term solution right now essentially is if ZESA was allowed
to run as a business, you would not have load-shedding."

      The economic downturn has also manifested itself in the highest rate
of inflation in the world at 1 184% and unemployment of over 70%. Mugabe
denies mismanaging the economy and blames the crisis on sabotage by his
domestic and foreign opponents.

Tsvangirai to address star rally in Kadoma this weekend

MDC INFORMATION & PUBLICITY

Harvest House
Harare
Tel 091 940 489   email :mdcnewsbrief@gmail.com
 

 
President Morgan Tsvangirai tomorrow addresses another star rally at Rimuka Stadium in Kadoma as the MDC leadership continues its nationwide consultations with the people across the length and breadth of Zimbabwe.
 
President Tsvangirai will be accompanied by senior party members. Other members of the Liberation team will also address several rallies slotted for this weekend in various areas across the country. Another rally is also billed for Maglas stadium in Zvishavane, where national chairman Mr Isaac Matongo, women’s assembly chairperson Lucia Matibenga, national executive member Sekai Holland and Mkoba MP Amos Chibaya will be among the keynote speakers.
 
Another team led by national executive member Dr Tichaona Mudzingwa, Mashonaland Central provincial secretary Shephered Mushonga and other members of the provincial executive are scheduled to address a rally at Chimhanda in Rushinga and at Chiunye Centre in Mount Darwin South.
 
Thousands have been attending the MDC rallies imploring the party leaders to seek a quick resolution of the national crisis. President Tsvangirai will address the issue of the recently announced fake monetary policy and its implications on the ordinary people. The President will explain how Zanu PF seeks to use the monetary measures to mislead the nation.  The Liberation team will seek to update the people on the MDC’s roadmap to a peaceful resolution, whose key signposts include a new, people-driven Constitution, a transitional authority, free and fair elections under international supervision and a stabilization and reconstruction programme in post-Mugabe era. The leadership will also take the opportunity to update the nation on the historic resolutions of the Save Zimbabwe Convention by a coalition of churches, students’ bodies, labour representatives and opposition political parties to back our proposals for a mass resistance project to make Mugabe accept the people’s roadmap to a peaceful resolution.
 
The people have made it clear that they want an end to the worsening political and economic crisis. They have told the MDC leaders at our rallies across the country that they want Mugabe and his government to go. They have made it clear that they want to restore their dignity and to regain once more their inalienable right to freedom and prosperity. They have made it clear that they want to save Zimbabwe. The people’s cause can never be defeated. Zanu PF belongs to the archives.
 
Nelson Chamisa, MP
Secretary for Information and Publicity    
 
 

Zanu PF, Chinamasa, are above the law

MDC INFORMATION & PUBLICITY

Harvest House
Harare
Tel 091 940 489   email :mdcnewsbrief@gmail.com
 

 
The MDC notes with concern that the trial of Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa failed to take off ostensibly because no magistrate in Manicaland is prepared to try him. We also note with fear and trepidation that the magistrates alleged intimidation by State Security minister Didymus Mutasa and also felt that it would be difficult to preside over a case involving their principal in the parent ministry.
 
This leaves all Zimbabweans with no doubt that the regime has once again compromised the independence of the judiciary. The MDC notes with concern that the events that took place at Rusape Magistrates court on Tuesday are not only disturbing, but are inimical to democracy and the rule of law, as opposed to the rule of men.
 
The end result of this sordid episode was that charges against Chinamasa were withdrawn before plea while the trial of his co accused proceeded. This has resulted in a separation of trials in circumstances where this amounts to selective application of the law. It also negates the doctrine of separation of powers where judicial officers feel that they cannot carry out their duties because they fall under the Public Service Commission, itself a quasi-government outfit.
 
The MDC has noted with dismay the battering that democracy and the rule of law have received in Zimbabwe over the last few years. The law enforcement agencies have been severely compromised and the ZANU (PF) regime has shown complete disregard for the rule of law and this explains why, for example, the killers of MDC activists Talent Mabika and Tichaona Chiminya have still not been brought to book, six years after a High Court judge ordered that the murderers be arrested.
 
It is inexplicable that the notorious CIO operative and alleged killer of the two activists, Joseph Mwale, could simply disappear from the face of the earth when the regime has often boasted that it has an excellent police force and efficient intelligence services. What makes it more perplexing is that for a long time after the commission of the offence, Mwale remained at liberty and was in fact working in the President’s office in Chimanimani.
 
While the Attorney General’s office must be commended that it has got this far in trying to mount a prosecution in respect of the Minister responsible for the administration of justice, we deplore the failure to ensure that a competent judicial officer was available to commence the trial. We also note with concern that the separation of trials could lead to a miscarriage of justice in that the minister may never get tried. Often times when the State has indicated that it would proceed by way of summons, this has resulted in the case dying a natural death.
 
What is also disconcerting is that it is not the first time that Mutasa has been accused of trying to interfere with judicial processes. Ruling party big wigs are well known for their disdain and allergy to legal processes.
 
We in the MDC believe that the answer lies in the restoration of democracy and the rule of law culminating in the passing of a people driven Constitution, which would enshrine the doctrine of separation of powers. We need a truly independent judiciary, which cannot be intimidated by members of the Executive. We also cherish a democratic culture where government Ministers appreciate that they are not above the law. Chinamasa must simply be brought to book.
 
Innocent Gonese, MP
MDC Secretary for Justice

JAG Job Opportunities dated 3 August 2006

Please send any job opportunities for publication in this newsletter to: JAG
Job Opportunities; jag@mango.zw or justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ad inserted 29 June 2006

VACANCY:

C.E.O required to, head the Kapenta Industry in Kariba. Good package
depending on applicants qualifications. To start, 1st August 2006. Applicant
required to be good & meticulous administrator & very active (35 years &
above). Please apply to email address: conquest@mweb.co.zw

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ad inserted 6 July 2006

Workshop Manager Required

Workshop located in Ashbrittle
Work involves water supply systems
Applicant should be approximately 60 to 68 years old, needing to supplement
his pension.  Knowledge of pumps and vehicle maintenance an advantage
Job covers stock control and workshop activities as well as
telephone/reception
Salary negotiable

Please telephone 091 212 163 for further discussion (evenings 882718)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ad inserted 6 July 2006

Operations Manager

"Operations Manager" required for retail shops in Manicaland. Would suit ex
farmer and wife. Age and experience not important. Email aylen@mweb.co.zw"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ad inserted 13 July 2006

"Situation Vacant"

Hospital Matron. Borradaile (Private) Hospital, Marondera, requires a Matron
in Charge to start 1st August or later by arrangement.  Applicants must be
registered RGN with at least five years experience in a senior position and
preferably with midwifery and OT certificates.  Apply with CV and references
to The Chairman, P.O. Box 453, Marondera.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ad inserted 20 July 2006

Position Offered:

A permanent position is offered as a live in Nurse/Carer to take care of an
Alzheimer's patient as well as a Stroke patient.  Nurse Aids will be
available to help with night duties.

This position needs to be filled very urgently.  Salary will be discussed
personally with applicants.

Applicant must be willing to live on a farm in the Beitbridge district, and
have a valid passport.

Please phone: Patty on 086-22332/22391 during work hours or 086-22465 at
home or email Patty on
pbristow@iwayafrica.com

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Ad inserted 27 July 2006-07-27

FARM MANAGER REQUIRED

A farm manager is wanted for a large commercial tobacco estate, Karoi north
area. The position requires the management of 80 ha's irrigated & 80 ha's
dry land tobacco,250 ha's of commercial maize,10 - 30 ha's seed maize and 40
ha's winter crops.

The successful candidate needs to have previous experience in tobacco and
maize production. Farming diploma as well as mechanical and /or electrical
knowledge would be an added advantage.

The successful candidate is also expected to have strong HR skills to manage
a large work force of at least 300 workers.

The farm Manager will report to the General Manager of the Estate.

A competitive package with a generous performance driven bonus is on offer.

Minimum contract period shall be 2 years but standard offer will be for 3
years. Good accommodation and other related perks are also on offer.

Please send C.V. and references to wajetsi@hms.co.zw

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Ad inserted 27 July 2006

TOBACCO MANAGER REQUIRED URGENTLY

We urgently require a highly motivated and capable Tobacco Manager to run a
commercial unit near Harare. The successful applicant will be an honest,
hard working person who is prepared to put everything into the project to
ensure success.
Please contact Joe Pistorius on email: agrijoe@hms.co.zw or phone 091 251408
or 335465

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Ad inserted 27 July 2006

WANTED Regional Sales Manager

We are looking for a person in their 30's to aggressively sell Inverters for
our client.  The right candidate must have the following qualities:
* Hard core sales
* Someone who is used to a "small office" set-up
* Ability to manage a team of sales representatives at a later stage
* CV must show a strong sales experience with a preference to 3 years at a
management level
* Ideal candidates would have a background in
electrics/solar/electronics/FMGG/power (battery)/IT sector
* The candidate should be aggressive, focused and result oriented who can
build the market independently
* Main challenges are to identify the right partners as distributors/dealers
and agents
* The role will involve lots of travelling in Zimbabwe and Regionally. There
will be a lot of international exposure.
* Very attractive salary and benefits on offer

If you feel you have all the above experience and qualities, please contact
Sarah to secure a place in the short listing. Sarah Vale Oxford IT
CFU Agricultural House, Corner Adylinn Road and Marlborough Drive,
Marlborough, Harare
Tel: 309855 - 60 (ext 23), Direct: 309274, Fax: 309351

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Ad inserted 27 July 2006

Vacancy Offered - General Manager

Our company is looking for someone to fill the vacancy below:

Company: Associated Meat Packers, Harare

Industry: Beef Retail and Wholesale

Position: General Manager.

MAIN PURPOSE OF THE JOB: The position is required by the senior executive to
manage, plan and organize the daily operations and activities of Associated
Meat Packers, Harare. The objective of the General Manager is to be a direct
representative capable of making sound business decisions on behalf of the
Managing Director whilst operating AMP Harare as an individual strategic
business unit at a profit and growing.

EXPERIENCE: The incumbent should have at least 5 years experience in the
beef industry or related market(s) and have held a position of
responsibility for a minimum of 3 years. Knowledge in export markets is an
added advantage.

CONTACT:    L. JONES on 04 797868 (Work) or 091 408 881 (Mobile) for more
information and to arrange an interview. Please deliver CV in a sealed
envelope to Associated Meat Packers, 1 Coventry Rd, Workington, Harare -
Attention: Mr. L Jones.

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Ad inserted 3 August 2006

Domestic Staff wanted

We urgently need a reliable/honest couple to start work as soon as possible.
A combination of cook cum gardener with wife as housemaid who can wash and
iron, or a gardener (active enough to do physical work) with wife who can do
washing /ironing and some cooking. As we are away a lot of the time in
Mozambique we need a couple we can rely on to feed and look after our 2 dogs
and cat, And keep the house and garden in good condition. The domestic
quarters are only 1 room so regrettably we cannot have anyone with family.

Please contact Chris or Dawn Pohl on 792418 or cell 091 362405. E-mail:
tad@zol.co.zw

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Ad inserted 3 August 2006

Cruise Vacancy

We recruit qualified candidates and conduct training including interviews
before relocating selected employees to their specified job location. Our
Human-Resources Team is continually looking for friendly, hardworking,
dependable, crew for our cruise ships. They co-ordinates employment
opportunities, for all positions on board our cruise lines. The benefits of
working on cruise ships lure people of all ages. Our dedicated team will
assist you in applying for one of the most desired job positions ever.

POSITIONS:

Attendant
Accountants
Store Managers
Safety Officer
Computer Engineer
Satellite Controllers
Fitness Instructor
Receptionist
Computer Operators
Deck Supervisors
Food & Beverage Manager
Assistant Housekeeping Managers
General Labourer
Housekeeping Manager
Cruise Staffs
Lifeguards
Administration Assistants
Customer Service Rep.t
Deck Officers
Chief Purser
Assistant Purser
Assistant Waiter
Bar Tenders
Hospitality Manager
Chefs
Steward.... etc.

APPLICANT IS ADVISED TO APPLY FOR A JOB WITH HIS / HER C.V,
AN APPLICATION LETTER AND ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS (CERTIFICATES).

 E-mail: human_resources@infohq.com

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Ad inserted 3 August 2006

Girl Friday

To assist manager in small company - Graniteside.
Duties include
- maintain spread sheet, cash books, etc., on computer
- pay PAYE, NSSA, VAT, etc.
- pay creditors
- general office duties.

Please telephone - 011 202 352 or evenings 884153

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Ad inserted 3 August 2006

Antelope Park

Applicants are invited to submit applications for the following vacancies at
a Gweru based Safari Lodge:-

1)     Assistant Camp Manager - preference will be given to a couple.

2)     Assistant Reservationist

3)     Assistant Photographer

Antelope Park
P.O. 1218
Gweru

Email:  antelope@mweb.co.zw  or ap-mgr@africanencounter.org

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Ad inserted 3 August 2006

Vacancy

Our family-owned crèche and nursery school is looking for a mature lady to
work in the office.  She would need to have office experience, (bookkeeping
knowledge would be a bonus).  The job would probably be five mornings a week
and two afternoons. She would need to be energetic, enthusiastic, enjoy
children and be confident enough to manage our staff and maintain standards.
Good interpersonal skills a must.  This job would involve very little
supervision, so initiative is also a must. We are based in Avondale.
Applicants must have their own vehicles. This is not a stressful or taxing
position; it is mainly a supervisory presence. Any enquiries should be
forwarded to jmgvngd@mweb.co.zw.  Salary will be discussed with applicants
personally

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Employment Sought

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Ad inserted 6 July 2006

Girl Friday

Mature lady seeks position as a Person Friday.  Typing skills, Clerical
work, some computer experience i.e. Email.

Reliable, Honest, Available immediately has own transport.

Prefers not to have to deal with any figure work or money.

Areas - Workington, Light Industrial Sites, Msasa, Newlands, Southerton.

Contact Address: Phone Heather Don on 571737 or Email:  digger@mango.zw

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Ad inserted 13 July 2006

Commercial agricultural representative

I am a former commercial agricultural representative with farming experience
in Zimbabwe and Mozambique (Virginia tobacco, burley tobacco,
commercial/seed-maize, wheat, Soya beans, cotton, citrus and pigs); I have
extensive knowledge on the subjects of agronomy, crop chemicals and
veterinary products. Is there anybody out there with something for me?
Contact Stu Taylor on 0204 -2288 or 091-650997.

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Ad inserted 13 July 2006

URGENT POSITION REQUIRED - MANAGERIAL

Divorced, tomboy type female aged 48 seeks urgent position any where in
Zimbabwe.  Due to unforeseen circumstances the position I was to take up
shortly is no longer available and as a result I am available immediately.
I have vast experience in all aspects of Management and Management Training;
Stock Control; Buying; Sales and Sales Training and administration.  My
people skills are excellent and I have no problem working or managing in
Male environments, so would fit in well in most companies.  I consider
myself to have integrity, loyalty and am not afraid of putting an honest
days work or overtime.  I do not have my own transport, but have a valid
Drivers License.

Should anyone wish to discuss the matter, please contact Theresa asap on
(016) 537 any time within the next week.

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Ad inserted 13 July 2006

Typing Service

Don't have time to do your own typing and need someone to take the stress
from you.  Well here I am call on me and I will assist you in any way I
possibly can. I worked for Rio Tinto, Eiffels Flats in 1991 till 1994 when I
left to get married.  I then started working for Carters Transport in Kadoma
and worked for them for 3 years.  I did the creditors and wages side and
used the programs SAGE and Payrite.   I taught myself a lot on the computer.
Then obtained my ICDL in February 2004.  I have done various others projects
on the computer e.g. (Party Invitations, Menus, Order of Services, Cheque
book labels, Typed up an assignment for a student at Black Forbe).

I enjoy baking and cooking, its one of my main interests.  I have catered
for weddings, Company Christmas Parties, Round Table Induction Dinners, 8
years of teas, lunches, dinners for the Kadoma Golf Club and cheese and wine
parties.

Further more details contact myself on the following:-

Contact name        :           Mrs J J Niehaus
Email address       :           stealthtec@zol.co.zw
Mobile number       :           011-403718
Home number         :           04-300430/433

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Ad inserted 20 July 2006

Farming Experience

48-year-old farmer with 23 years diverse farming experience, 23 years
tobacco, maize, beef, sheep, and 10 years floriculture. No dependents. Phone
091233165 / 04499817. Email    bobz@zol.co.zw

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Ad inserted 27 July 2006

Ex Farmer

Ex Farmer/Consultant and Agronomist for Alliance One Tobacco aged 50 years
living in Zimbabwe with 23 years experience in growing tobacco, maize, seed
maize, horticulture, beef cattle, pigs, chickens.  Excellent management,
administration and communication skills, computer literate, full clean
drivers licence.  Was runner up' Tobacco Grower of the Year' in 1985.  Spent
last 2 years consulting for Imperial Tobacco Group in Madagascar on the
production of flue-cured tobacco.
AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY.  CONTACT Jack Readings:  011 600 636; 011 602 538 or
04 701170/3 or email: heather@karina.co.zw

Can send CV if necessary.

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Ad inserted 27 July 2006

Hospitality Industry

Single male with vast experience in the Hospitality Industry seeks
position.5 years experience in Lodge/camp administration /management .Please
contact William on 091 774 523 or 091 398 730 ,working hours 09-60727 or
0838 261 or E-mail at william@byo.masiye.com

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Ad inserted 3 August 2006

Vacancy Wanted A.S.A.P

Information and Technology Technology

Experienced (4yrs) Network and Software support Engineer
Microsoft windows 2003 server, Exchange server, Linux
Cisco networks
Hardware repairs
IT Diploma
Contact Carl @ cmukoyi@yahoo.com
+283 91 984 888

Groups are talking. We´re listening. Check out the handy changes to Yahoo!
Groups.

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For the latest listings of accommodation available for farmers, contact
justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw (updated 3 August 2006)