http://www.timesonline.co.uk
December
11, 2008
If a state
breaks down, as Zimbabwe has, the disease is likely to spread.
But, as in
Victorian times, the solution is obvious
Ben Macintyre
The horror story
that is cholera-wracked Zimbabwe begins with a hand-pump in
a Soho street
and a British doctor who came up with a very simple, very
brilliant idea one
and a half centuries ago.
Cholera is more than just a dreadful disease:
it thrives on ignorance and
the most abject poverty; it breaks out when a
state breaks down; and it is
ultimately curable not by medicine alone but by
organising society itself on
rational, scientific principles. The only
antidote to cholera, in the end,
is political action.
Today, Robert
Mugabe's most powerful accuser is John Snow, the man who
tracked down the
cause of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae in Victorian
Britain.
In
September, 1854, cholera broke out in Soho, killing some 700 people,
including entire families, in a matter of weeks. Conventional medical wisdom
held that the disease was caused by some mysterious miasma in the air - "a
wandering ferment" - a deathly smell lurking beneath the rank odours of the
city.
Snow spotted that the brewery workers in Soho, who mostly drank
ale, and the
inhabitants of the workhouse, which was one of the smelliest
places in the
area but had its own water source, seemed to be immune. By
plotting and
mapping the spread of the disease, he traced the source to the
water pump in
Broad Street (now Broadwick Street): the water supply had been
contaminated
by an infected baby's nappy which had been washed in a bucket,
and the water
then sluiced into a cesspool from which it had seeped into the
water supply.
Using methods that now seem almost tragically obvious, Snow
established a
direct correlation between death from cholera and walking
distance to the
pump. People living below the sewage outlets on the Thames,
he worked out,
were 14 times more likely to contract cholera than those
obtaining their
water upstream.
The clincher came when a former
resident of Soho who had moved to Hampstead
asked her son to bring her some
of the distinctive-tasting water from her
old neighbourhood: she died a few
days later.
The young doctor was still widely disbelieved. For many, the
idea that they
were dying from drinking their neighbours' faeces was too
disgusting to
accept. But Snow was a brave man (he had, after all,
administered
anaesthetic chloroform to Queen Victoria during the birth of
her eighth
child, so he knew about taking risks). He removed the handle from
the pump.
The epidemic ceased.
Snow not only changed our
understanding of cholera but helped to confirm the
link between disease and
living conditions, reinforcing the fledgeling
concept of public health.
Joseph Bazalgette's great enclosed sewage system,
begun in 1858, would
henceforth ensure that sewage did not run into London's
drinking
water.
A series of public health acts in the mid-19th century marked an
acceptance
of the State's role in maintaining minimal standards of public
health,
forging a movement that would culminate in the foundation of the
National
Health Service in 1948.
Vibrio cholerae was defeated, but
not dead. Cholera returns, with grim
predictability, when the most basic
structure of a society is broken.
Outbreaks of cholera followed the
Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. The disease
killed hundreds in Basra, after
the city's sewage system was destroyed
during the invasion of Iraq. One of
the worst recent outbreaks afflicted
Rwandan refugees fleeing the
genocide.
The cholera bacterium - easily controlled, but horribly
persistent - is the
ultimate mark of a failing state. Snow's discovery, and
the public health
movement that it helped to create, was proof that only
political action can
eradicate the scourge.
This is undoubtedly true
of Zimbabwe, where the cause of the disease lives
in his own palace,
surrounded by security guards, drinking bottled mineral
water. Mugabe's
spokesman has accused the West of using the cholera outbreak
as a weapon to
oust him; and so it should, for a state that allows its
citizens to drink
their own sewage has broken a basic compact and forfeited
any residual
legitimacy.
No one knows how many people have died from cholera in
Zimbabwe because,
like Victorian London, no one is accurately counting. The
public health
laboratory in Harare, where contaminated water could be
tested, has closed
down because of a lack of running water. The Zimbabwe
National Water
Authority is another front for corruption, pumping money into
the pockets of
Mugabe and his cronies, while the country's water, the
essence of life,
becomes a conduit of death. The Health Minister of Zimbabwe
has advised
citizens not to shake hands to prevent spreading the disease,
advice that
seems oddly reminiscent of the Victorian health expert who
insisted that the
disease was caused by eating too many plums.
My
most vivid memory of Harare, from long before the country began to
disintegrate, is the smell of the blossoming jacaranda trees. Those same
streets now reek of raw sewage, in a country slowly being poisoned by its
own effluvia.
In 1858, just four years after Snow's discovery, London
suffered the "Great
Stink", when drains overflowed and bacteria thrived in
the warm summer. The
smell reached the House of Commons, and although the
curtains were drenched
in chloride of lime to try to keep out the appalling
pong, the Honourable
Members finally acted: the drains were fixed and
cholera was eradicated.
The stink of corruption and death from Zimbabwe
can no longer be ignored,
but the cure, like that for cholera, may be
surprisingly obvious: a matter
of political willpower and concerted
action.
One contemporary said of Snow: "The naked truth was what he
sought and
loved." He simply removed the handle of the pump. The naked truth
is that
only way Zimbabwe can recover is to remove Robert Mugabe.
http://www.iol.co.za
December 10 2008 at 03:05PM
Maputo - At
least four people have died from 20 cases of cholera
reported in
Mozambique's Mossurize district on the border with Zimbabwe
since December
4, the daily Noticias reported on Wednesday.
It cited Vasco David
Gaspar, Mossurize district administrator.
Gaspar said the dead
included a baby of less that five years and added
that the other 16 people
were detained at a local health centre in Macuo
village, which is 10km from
Chipinge.
The reports of the infections came a day after health
minister Ivo
Garrido told reporters in Maputo on Tuesday that there were no
confirmed
cases of cholera in the east African country related to the recent
outbreak
in neighbouring Zimbabwe which killed more than 600 people. -
Sapa
http://ionglobaltrends.blogspot.com
Wednesday,
December 10, 2008
Human rights lawyers in Zimbabwe have had their hands full with
the past
week's abductions of prominent defenders like attorney Zacharia
Nkomo and
Zimbabwe Peace Project director Jestina Mukoko, who were forcibly
seized
from their homes during early morning hours by security agents of
President
Robert Mugabe's government. The crackdown, in combination with the
post-election political stalemate and a burgeoning cholera outbreak, has
drawn a steadily growing call by world leaders for President Mugabe to step
down, and critics outside the country are seeking intervention by the United
Nations.
The US-based organization AIDS-Free World has urged the UN
Security Council
to call an emergency session to stop President Mugabe's
ZANU-PF supporters
from waging what it calls a second campaign of rape and
sexual torture
designed to crush the political opposition. The group's
co-director Stephen
Lewis, a former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa,
says it sees a
correlation between last week's disappearances, a resurgence
in politically
related sexual violence, and attempts to silence Zimbabwe
rights critics
from speaking out.
"We have a feeling that this
conjunction of factors is going to lead to
another outbreak of terrible
sexual violence. And the things they are doing
to women, the young woman who
was taken a few days ago, Jestina, at five o'clock
in the morning in her
nightgown, and hasn't been heard of since. And now, in
another kind of
nightmarish way, of more human rights activists. This is
what a regime does
as an act of unbridled vengeance as they are going down,"
he
noted.
Lewis says Jestina Mukoko and two of her associates who also
disappeared
last week performed courageous service for the victims of
poverty, disease,
and rights abuse in far-reaching areas of Zimbabwe and
that their removal
from the scene sends a chilling signal to women across
the country.
"The work she was doing was incredibly important and noble.
She had people
across the country covertly keeping an eye on what was
happening, trying to
preserve security where it was broken, trying to
distribute food and make
sure that people were fed. And I would think that
the message that is sent
to the women of Zimbabwe is a message of terror.
There's been such
incredible sexual violence, and now, you have the
additional abduction and
potential ruthless behavior towards the human
rights activists," he said.
On Tuesday, US President George Bush joined
calls by his Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, by British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown, Kenya's Prime
Minister Raila Odinga, and several outspoken
Southern African rights
advocates for President Mugabe to leave office. But
the African Union
rejected suggestions that troops should be sent in to
force a resignation.
Stephen Lewis, who also served as Canada's Ambassador
to the United Nations,
said the growing opposition to a perpetual ZANU-PF
regime would not hurt
human rights crusaders cause in the country, but that
ultimately, it will be
up to African leaders to persuade President Mugabe to
give up power.
"I rather doubt they will respond to the President Bushes
and the Gordon
Browns. What will bring Mugabe to an end is the surrounding
African
countries. It's got to be the Raila Odingas, the Archbishop Tutus.
It's got
to be the head of Zambia. It's got to be the countries in the
Southern
African Development Community (SADC) that themselves turn the
screws on
Mugabe. The time is over to exonerate him because at one time in
his life,
he fought the anti-apartheid struggle, and the way he will be
brought to an
end is by his fellow Africans," says Lewis.
With
reports that Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic has now spread to South Africa
and
Botswana, AIDS-Free World co-director Stephen Lewis says he thinks that
Zimbabwe's neighbors, particularly South Africa, will not be in the mood to
countenance further consequences from Harare's instability and will
hopefully act more forcefully for regime change in their neighboring
country. He also says that with countries like Croatia and the United
Kingdom holding leadership within the UN Security Council this month, there
is a good chance the body will agree to meet to address the crisis in
Zimbabwe before the end of the year.
By Howard Lesser
Published
with the permission of Voice of America
Published by Mike Hitchen, Mike
Hitchen Consulting
10 December 2008
Zimbabwe's economy, agriculture, its education and healthcare systems have virtually collapsed. Caritas members continue to provide direct food aid to over 600,000 people and indirectly help many more.
http://edition.cnn.com
December 10,
2008 -- Updated 1404 GMT (2204 HKT)
HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- A child cries from hunger, but no tears
come from
her swollen eyes.
Zimbabwe's government maintains that the
situation is being exaggerated by
the West in an effort to exert pressure on
President Robert Mugabe to leave
office.
But the World Health
Organization (WHO) says the desperate situation has
triggered a widening
cholera outbreak that has killed 775 people and
infected more than
15,000.
"You have to eat in the same place you sleep right next to the
buckets, the
same buckets that we used as toilets," one cholera patient says
on the
video. "There is no water to bathe."
And little to eat. Women
foraging for food in the bush find dry branches
with only a few
berries.
"This packet of juice will be my supper tonight," one woman
says.
Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai -- who is still
trying
to form a unity government with Mugabe under a recent power-sharing
deal --
said the situation can only be addressed once a "legitimate
government" is
in place.
"Once there is a legitimate government, it
is up to that government to deal
with the problems the country is facing,
which are quite wide-ranging,"
Tsvangirai told CNN on Wednesday.
"But
the immediate intervention of the health crisis has exacerbated the
situation to the extent that it has now become an international
crisis."
The WHO says the current cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe has a high
fatality
rate because sufferers are either not able to reach health centers
in time
or that the health centers lack the capacity to treat the
cases.
"The epidemic is clearly on the increase," Dr. Eric Laroche, a WHO
official
in Harare, told CNN on Wednesday. "I think it's going to last for
several
months."
In addition to the WHO, the Red Cross has responded
to the outbreak and is
sending staff and medical supplies into
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe's main hospitals have all but shut down and the small
clinics
equipped by international aid organizations are overcrowded and
unable to
cope with the thousands of cholera patients. Health workers inside
Zimbabwe
believe scores are dying at home.
Laroche said the WHO is
receiving cooperation from the government, but the
health care system is
abysmal.
"The quality of the care, the supplies that come inside
Zimbabwe, also need
to be restored," Laroche said. "So there's a lot of work
to do, because the
health system is collapsing for the time
being."
One Zimbabwean health care worker, who would not show his face on
the video,
said he fears the death toll will skyrocket.
"People are
dying even at the health institution," he said. "It's beyond
control. We are
going to witness so many deaths in the coming weeks."
He expressed
frustration that so many people are dying from cholera, a
disease that "is
both preventable and curable."
"Nobody should die from cholera," he said.
"We are quite unfortunate."
Zimbabwe, already experiencing an economic
crisis, was struck with the
raging water-borne cholera in August. Health
experts say the battle against
the disease can only be won if Harare has
adequate water-treating chemicals
and disposes of refuse
properly.
Zimbabwe's information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said Tuesday
that the
country has enough chemicals to purify water and enough money to
buy pipes
to mend sanitation lines.
He maintained that the outbreak
is under control, blaming the West for
causing the crisis as an excuse for
military intervention.
International leaders -- including U.S. President
George W. Bush, French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, and Kenyan premier Raila
Odinga -- have recently
called for Mugabe to step down for failing to
contain the cholera outbreak.
Frustration inside Zimbabwe is building.
Last week, doctors and nurses
protested over the lack of medical supplies
and other resources at the
country's hospitals.
Labor unions have
protested over the deteriorating economy. Even soldiers
once shielded from
economic hardships by the Mugabe regime went on a rampage
last week when
they were unable to access wages from the country's banks.
Human rights
activist Elinor Sisulu, who has lived and worked in Zimbabwe
and now
coordinates civil action outside the country, called on African
leaders to
demand Mugabe step down before Zimbabwe explodes.
"In any population where
you have high levels of desperation, anger and ...
people arrive at the
conclusion that we've tried a peaceful political
process and this is not
working, then anything can happen," she said
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
December
11, 2008
Martin Fletcher
in Harare
It happened in the blink of an eye and with military precision. At
precisely
1pm a handful of women walked to the middle of a busy junction in
central
Harare and began chanting antigovernment slogans.
Scores of
other women lurking on the nearby pavements streamed in to join
them,
hoisting placards demanding action to end the cholera epidemic.
Within
two minutes a demonstration by 200 women was marching exuberantly
along a
crowded Kwame Nkrumah Street, chanting, singing and handing out
flyers
denouncing the "corrupt, incompetent and illegitimate" regime of
President
Mugabe.
It was electric - a rare public demonstration of resistance in
the capital
of a cowed and broken country. Crowds on the pavements looked on
admiringly
and grabbed the flyers, although few plucked up the courage to
join in.
The women marched only as far as the UN Development Programme
office - a few
hundred yards. They presented a petition demanding greater
international
assistance to combat cholera because the Mugabe regime was so
inept.
Then they vanished, melting back into the lunchtime throng as rapidly
as
they had gathered. By the time the security services arrived they found
only
flyers blowing along the pavements.
The demonstration by Woza -
Women of Zimbabwe Arise - lasted barely ten
minutes and was ignored by the
state-controlled media in the country, but
that was not the
point.
The onlookers would have taken the flyers home and passed them to
friends.
Word of the defiance would have spread rapidly through the
oppressed
townships in Harare.
It was reported on the websites from
which so many Zimbabweans learn what is
really happening. It would have
encouraged the downtrodden at a time when
hope scarcely exists, and that is
exactly what Jenni Williams intended.
Mrs Williams, 46, the feisty
granddaughter of an IRA veteran and an Ndebele
woman he met while gold
prospecting in Rhodesia, is the founder of Woza and
a remarkable woman in
her own right.
She started the organisation in 2002 to resist the
increasing human rights
abuses of the Mugabe regime by non-violent
means.
"We saw that the crisis in Zimbabwe was affecting mostly women,
and women
were silent," she told The Times this week. "So we said, 'Come on,
women,
let's do something and show Zimbabweans they can speak out and live
to tell
the tale'."
Mrs Williams has lived to tell the tale, but only
just. By 2003 her husband,
an electrician, and three children had decamped
to Britain, mainly at the
insistence of her mother-in-law after police
arrested Mrs Williams, raided
her home and threatened to have her two
teenage sons "re-educated" by the
youth militia of Mr Mugabe's Zanu (PF)
party.
She has since been arrested 32 more times, spent a total of three
months in
filthy police cells and been tried and acquitted three
times.
This year she and Magodonga Mahlangu, 31, her fellow leader, have
spent six
weeks in the infamous Chikurubi prison in Harare for demonstrating
against
the political violence of the election period, and three weeks in
the
equally grim Mlondolozi prison in Bulawayo for demanding action against
hunger.
They led that second demonstration only a day after a judge
dismissed the
charges from the first case, and face trial next month on
charges arising
from the second.
Mrs Williams lives in safe houses in
Bulawayo and Harare, moving every two
or three months, training more
activists and planning the next lightning
demonstration.
She could
have joined the millions of other Zimbabweans who simply left the
country.
Instead she chose to send her family to Liverpool while she stayed
and
fought.
"This is my home. This is my children's home. I am here making
Zimbabwe
liveable so they can come home and have a future and my husband can
get a
job," she said. "My family are extremely committed ... I survive on
the
money they send me. They know my role."
She is sustained by her
commitment to the cause and sense of progress.
"Locally, regionally and
internationally we are torchbearers for human
rights. We have made
injustices visible. Whenever they arrest us we make it
cost them in terms of
the reputation of the Government," she added.
Woza has grown rapidly to
have 75,000 members and has won international
human rights
awards.
Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, named Mrs Williams
one of her
ten "women of courage" last year. For all their success, however,
the
ultimate prize - the removal of Mr Mugabe - remains elusive because
there
are too few Zimbabweans as bold as Mrs Williams. Battered, terrifed
and
starving, they will not rise up.
The regime is "weaker than it's
ever been, but the missing link is the
people", she said with evident
frustration. "We live in hope. Mugabe is five
days away from being removed
if the people do something. But they are too
good at being
victims.
"We've taken to insulting them. We say, 'even the frog
eventually jumps out
of the sewage pond'."
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Showers Mawowa
Thursday 11 December 2008
OPINION: A rather unimagined twist
of events occurred last week in Zimbabwe's
perpetual political vicissitudes.
This time it was the very guarantor of
President Robert Mugabe's
authoritarianism: soldiers running amok in the
capital.
Undoubtedly
Mugabe's only remaining line of defence; the military's public
display of
anger has been celebrated by many as a good omen.
An equally significant
number has however remained skeptical, attributing
the actions by the few
soldiers to a mysterious grand scheme by ZANU PF.
For a populace that has
been conned in four successive elections and
subjected to physical,
emotional and psychological trauma for nearly a
decade the apprehension that
drives the skepticism is understandable.
This is especially so
considering the pervasiveness and debilitating outcome
of ZANU PF's militant
authoritarianism.
Not a single person in Zimbabwe has been spared of ZANU
PF's brutality
either directly or through their kith and kin.
There
is a point however in suggesting that ascribing the rioting by
soldiers to a
ZANU PF consolidated ploy for whatever outcome might be giving
the party too
much credit.
The rioting is in fact a symptom of a crumbling
dictatorship. It equates to
the proverbial mysterious finger of a man's hand
that wrote on the wall
before the biblical King Belshazzar pronouncing the
end of his Kingdom.
The rioting of soldiers, at least ostensibly, is a
protest against Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Gideon Gono and his
"genomics" (Gono's voodoo
economics).
The soldiers irked by the
failure to secure their hard earned albeit
worthless Zim-dollars, ran amok
and chose as their chief target "Gono's
illegal foreign currency
dealers".
No doubt a number if not most of those caught in this ensuing
melee were in
fact ordinary Zimbabweans who, bereft of any more decent
survival
alternatives have been compelled into foreign currency
racketeering.
These are men and women who would have opted to survive
through honest and
legal means had it not been for the dilapidated
economy.
But critically true as was said to have been pointed out by the
rampaging
soldiers Gono has his men and boys. It is known that there is an
illicit
foreign currency scheme presided over by Gono, never mind his public
grand
standing against illegal trade.
While Gono is the epitome of
this type of wealth accumulation he is not
alone. His colleagues in
government, the ruling party and military have also
deployed their traders
most of whom evade police arrest by use of party and
government
connections.
The involvement of Zimbabwe's ruling elite in illegal
currency trade is
emblematic of the economic and political order that has
characterised
post-2000 Zimbabwe.
The violent, disorderly and lawless
2000 land occupations gave direction to
this fashion of lawless wealth
accumulation.
At least US$1,7 billion worthy of Zimbabwe's wealth is lost
through
smuggling compared to less than a billion total official exports
annually.
Those who have undertaken illegal economic activities have done
so with
impunity under this regime of lawlessness.
In few cases where
the law has been applied, this has been discriminate and
directed at weeding
out unwanted elements in ZANU PF by one faction against
another.
Given the magnitude of Zimbabwe's economic rot, a riddle has
puzzled many -
the continued existence of ZANU PF dictatorship and its
ability to maintain
a comparatively cohesive repressive apparatus in
defiance of many a pundits'
predictions.
The continued existence of
what can be referred to as a Zimbabwe economy has
baffled many.
Most
civil servants including the soldiers have had to do with a monthly
salary
enough only to buy two loaves of bread for close to two years now -
yet the
army has remained loyal. The current salary for a soldier is
equivalent to
US five cents.
This paradox can only be explained by analysing the
economic base that has
sustained ZANU PF and the ruling bureaucracy in the
2000s.
The significance of formal jobs for the military and police and
all formal
employment for that matter is not in the salary but the
opportunities for
illicit economic activities provided.
Security
forces are thus surviving on bribes at road blocks, booty from
looted shops
during the price monitoring raids, instant taxation at gold and
diamond
mining sites, bribes from control of queues for basic commodities,
bribes
from shop owners facing charges of over pricing, business people
accused of
all sort of things among other things.
Those connected to ZANU PF, from
top to lower rugs, have in this disorderly
system taken advantage of their
political positions and allegiance to amass
illegal wealth.
This
manipulation goes down to the poor suburb and rural village where
patronage
has become the basis of whatsoever form of distribution.
The pervasive
nature of this system has enabled ZANU PF to maintain a
reasonably broad
clientele. This broad clientele is by no means in the
majority, but big
enough to neutralise any dissent and potential for open
revolt among
security forces.
It is within this context that the recent action by a
few Zimbabwean
soldiers becomes significant.
By ascribing their
misery to the illicit order of accumulation as
represented by the illegal
currency trade the soldiers are attacking the
very soul and life-blood of
ZANU PF dictatorship.
It might be that hitherto the post-2000 "genomics"
combined with Mugabe's
brutal intolerance of rebellion had succeeded in
incapacitating potential
for rebellion.
The system cannot cope
anymore. In the coming days the following might prove
to be
decisive:
Firstly, the continued economic decline has now stretched the
regime further
than Gono's innovation can manage. Tendai Biti the opposition
Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) party secretary general in a lecture at
the
University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in November 2008 made a telling
analogue
by likening the Zimbabwe economy to a dead decomposing carcass upon
which
maggots feed.
But after a time he observed, the carcass dries
up and disintegrates into
situ, a point at which the maggots can no longer
feed on it.
Moreover, the narrower the economic base the more intense the
internal
struggles for rents and economic privileges. This creates fissures,
widens
cracks and increases the probability of the regime disintegrating
altogether.
We have seen this in the ruling party's factional
contests for control of
gold and diamond mining, the reserve bank and
occupied farms.
The total and now official dollarisation of the Zimbabwe
economy will
financially amputate the regime. Whereas Gono had rigged the
economy by
printing money he cannot print the US dollar, the rand and the
Pula.
This strategy might have worked before in helping the regime see
another day
but the enormous scale of inflation makes printing of the
Zimbabwe dollar
futile. It will only further spiral inflation and render the
Zimbabwe dollar
practically dysfunctional.
Sooner than later the
Zimbabwe currency will be discarded altogether for the
US dollar, the Rand
and the Pula.
There are clear indications that in this short while
dollarisation has
effectively diminished the value of external currencies in
Zimbabwe. For
instance, the US dollar price of chicken in Zimbabwe is worth
three chickens
in South Africa.
Of course this is typical of any
unproductive economy. Any new denomination
introduced quickly loses
value.
This has eroded the advantage that those with access to foreign
currency had
enjoyed. The impact of this is to reduce the number of
beneficiaries of the
system.
The third factor has to do with
Zimbabwe's reliance on diaspora remittances.
This accounts for a significant
portion of the population's ability to
survive in spite of the economic odds
and the continual availability of
foreign currency in the parallel
market.
It is difficult to imagine what the impact of the global
recession will be
on the ability of the people in the diaspora to send
remittances home. This
may turn out to be the only significant effect of the
global recession on
Zimbabwe.
The sum of all this - the situation is
worsening further suffocating the
regime.
Add to all this the cholera
epidemic and the ratcheting international cries
for Mugabe to go, the
internal discord in ZANU PF and above all the symptoms
of hunger now
translating to anger in the military.
The international community
(including South Africa) in its intervention to
save those affected by
cholera and the food crisis has been clear on playing
a direct role that
excludes the ZANU PF government. This denies ZANU PF a
chance to politic
with aid as it normally does.
What looks direr is that having missed the
2008 agricultural season Zimbabwe
will require international food support at
least until March 2010.
Surely we do not have more days with Mugabe on
the throne. The exit of
Mugabe may turn out to be more dramatic than we
fought and hoped for. And
this, true to Mugabe's words will be an act of
God.
In the final analysis, Mugabe and ZANU PF did dig their own grave.
The unity
government might well be ZANU PF's last chance. - ZimOnline
http://www.chronicle.co.zw
Wednesday,
December 10, 2008
Chronicle Reporter
THE Government has ordered
retailers and suppliers in the country to revert
to last week's prices on
all commodities and service charges before the
increase of the daily cash
withdrawal limit from $500 000 to $100 million
last Thursday.
In an
interview from Harare yesterday, the chairman of the National Incomes
and
Pricing Commission (NIPC), Mr Godwills Masimirembwa, said the Government
will this week crack down on errant shop-owners who might break the law by
overcharging.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will on Friday once again
increase daily cash
withdrawal limits for individuals to $500 million, up
from $100 million,
which was introduced last week.
"First of all, the
price increases of 3 December were totally unjustified.
There was no reason
for those increases but only that the business community
just wanted to
fleece people," he said.
"We have actually sent a circular to wholesalers,
suppliers, retail shops
and other service providers to stick to the prices
which were prevailing
before 3 December. If they do not do that we will
trace them and cause their
arrest and eventually prosecution."
The NIPC
chairman said the organisation was also going to cause the
cancellation of
trading licences of those businesses that were caught on the
wrong side of
the law.
"We will at the same time be watching those businesses that will
close on
Friday in anticipation of the price increases. Our thrust is
prosecution,
fines and imprisonment of up to five years," he said.
Mr
Masimirembwa said the Government through the RBZ was trying to assist
people, but the business community was robbing citizens of their
rights.
He said that shops, which were allowed to trade in foreign currency,
would
be expected to stick to the margin of a top up of 30 percent in their
pricing, or risk their licences being cancelled and being prosecuted.
"We
will be asking for custodial sentences this time because what these
people
are doing is not fair. We know that some of them are charging their
goods at
more than 100 percent profits in foreign currency."
Mr Masimirembwa said the
RBZ has since allocated the commission a number of
vehicles which will
enable the price inspectorate officers to monitor what
will be happening on
the ground throughout the country on Friday.
"Everyone in my office will be
involved in this programme including myself.
We have to protect our people
from these greedy individuals," he said.
The price of commodities and other
services shot up by shocking margins last
week when the daily withdrawal
limit was increased from $500 000 to $100
million.
It is anticipated that
on Friday, when account holders are allowed to
withdraw $500 million, the
prices of commodities and other services will
shoot up again.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Cuthbert Nzou
Thursday 11 December 2008
HARARE - South Africa resumed the
push for a unity government in Zimbabwe by
meeting officials from its
troubled northern neighbour's opposition on
Wednesday, as the United Nations
said a cholera epidemic has now killed
close to 800 Zimbabweans.
The
cholera epidemic, coupled with acute food shortages, has highlighted
Zimbabwe's worsening economic and humanitarian crisis that analysts say can
only be tackled successfully through joint effort by President Robert Mugabe
and the opposition in a government of national unity.
South African
officials led by that country's former local government
minister Sydney
Mufamadi met with the leader of the smaller formation of
Zimbabwe's
opposition MDC, Arthur Mutambara, in Harare yesterday.
More talks are
scheduled with the main MDC formation led by Morgan
Tsvangirai and President
Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party to impress
upon the Zimbabwean rivals
the need to quickly form a new unity government
outlined under a September
15 power-sharing agreement.
"The facilitators arrived this morning and
have since met Mutambara and will
met negotiators from ZANU PF and the
Tsvangirai-led MDC," said a diplomat
from South Africa, whose former
President Thabo Mbeki is the regional SADC
grouping's appointed mediator on
Zimbabwe's crisis.
"The facilitators want the parties to agree on the
immediate gazetting of
Constitutional Amendment No19 Bill they agreed on in
South Africa more than
a fortnight ago," said the diplomat, who spoke on
condition he was not
named.
The Bill gives legal effect to the
political power-sharing pact and provides
for the appointment of Tsvangirai
as prime minister and Mutambara deputy
prime minister in a government of
national unity.
However the MDC-Tsvangirai, which holds the most seats in
Parliament and
could very easily block passage of Amendment 19, has
threatened not to vote
for the Bill if outstanding issues of the inclusive
government agreement
were not resolved.
Among the sticking issues are
the allocations of ministerial portfolios, the
appointment of provincial
governors and the constitution and composition of
the National Security
Council, among others.
Mutambara yesterday confirmed meeting the
facilitators.
"I met them in the afternoon and impressed upon them that
the constitutional
Bill should be gazetted immediately so that we can work
on addressing the
worsening humanitarian crisis in the country," Mutambara
said.
He added: "We said we need the inclusive government like yesterday.
We can
only deal with the cholera crisis, the political crisis, the hunger
crisis
if we have an inclusive framework.
"The call by the
international community for Mugabe to leave is stupid. How
is he going to
leave and under what law? Who is going to replace him? We
need an inclusive
government."
Western leaders and some African leaders alarmed by rising
deaths due to
cholera have in recent days stepped up calls for Mugabe's
resignation, calls
that have however not been supported by the African
Union.
Besides Mufamadi, the facilitation team is also made up of South
Africa's
director of presidency Frank Chikane and Mbeki's legal adviser
Mojanku
Gumbi, among others.
Efforts to get a comment from MDC-T
spokesman Nelson Chamisa on the arrival
of the facilitators were in vain
yesterday.
Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, confirmed the coming
of the
facilitators on Monday. - ZimOnline
http://kubatanablogs.net/kubatana/?p=1078
Amanda, one of my colleagues, has been keeping me amused with
her telephone
calls to the President's Office. She's been phoning them
trying to get
either a Fax number or an Email address. Apparently their fax
is broken and
they don't have email. Pull the other one I say.
We
would like your help though. Give the little guy a call on +263-4-707098
and
make a noise about the recent abductions of civic and political
activists in
Zimbabwe.
This entry was posted on December 10th, 2008 at 9:46 am by Bev
Clark
As calls for Robert Mugabe's removal grow
louder, it's clear that now is the
time for the international community to
act
Jeremy Kuper
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday December 10 2008 23.00
GMT
The cholera epidemic has forced the world to consider radical
solutions to
the problems in Zimbabwe. Can outside intervention bring down
Mugabe, is it
desirable, and how should this be achieved? Bishop Tutu has
been calling for
the UN to use military force for some time. Last week the
Kenyan prime
minister Raila Odinga added his voice to those calling for
regime change.
Odinga indicated that ANC leader Jacob Zuma is on-side and
would have no
hesitation in forcing Mugabe to quit. The question is whether
this tough
talking will translate into action.
The British foreign
secretary, David Miliband, also seems to be stiffening
his resolve. "We are
working with our international partners including
members of the UN security
council to address the situation. There is now
domestic and international
clamour for change," Miliband said on Friday.
Zimbabwe's neighbours Botswana
and Zambia have also expressed support for
change. This is the most powerful
anti-Mugabe coalition to date. South
Africa, the main regional power, now
has a seat on the security council, and
should take the lead. It would
certainly be in their interests to sort out
their neighbours' problems, as
refugees bringing cholera flood into the
country.
The UN's
International Criminal Court (ICC) could be used to arrest Mugabe
and put
him on trial in the Hague, as suggested by Archbishops Tutu and
Sentamu at
the weekend. There is a clear precedent for this. Charles Taylor,
the
Liberian warlord and former president, was arrested by Nigerian forces
and
tried by the ICC. There is a warrant out for Joseph Kony, leader of the
Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, and for the president of Sudan, Omar
al-Bashir. Mugabe should be tried for his crimes against humanity, the
massacres in Matabeleland in the early 1980s.
The African Union is
another route. An unlikely saviour perhaps, but it has
intervened
successfully in the Congo, Somalia, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, and
the Comoros.
The African Union constitution allows forcible intervention in
a member
state in what it calls "grave circumstances". Military intervention
in
Africa can work, and success stories include Sierra Leone, Liberia and
the
overthrow of Idi Amin by Tanzania.
Zimbabwe is not Iraq, and the country
does not appear to have the capacity
to resist a well-disciplined force for
long, if at all. Soldiers are already
looting in the capital Harare. Maybe
for a price, a deal could be done. As
Blessing-Miles Tendi points out: "The
rank and file in the army do not share
the allegiance to Mugabe and Zanu-PF
that is a hallmark of senior army
officials with liberation war experience."
Senior military officials have
vowed they will not serve an MDC-led
government because the MDC did not
participate in the liberation struggle,
but then they would say that.
"Zimbabwe's neighbours, regional powers,
African leaders and the parties in
Zimbabwe should know that there is
massive international support for any
collective effort to bring a real
change to Zimbabwe," Miliband says. Africa
has been slow to get involved in
the crisis in Zimbabwe, but this could be
its chance to show the world a
united front by getting rid of Mugabe.
On Friday Condoleezza Rice said it
was time for Mugabe to leave. Although
she may end up leaving before him,
Mugabe's time must have nearly run out.
Botswana's foreign minister has
called for the borders to be closed, and in
the last few days there have
been reports that some crossings between Zambia
and Zimbabwe have been
cordoned off, on the pretext of keeping out cholera.
Zambia has also
offered MDC leader Morgan Tsvanigirai a safe haven. If he
were to take up
the offer, then he could call for the overthrow of Mugabe.
If he were to do
so from within Zimbabwe, it is likely that he would face
the death penalty
for the charge of treason, as he did in 2004. An appeal
for outside
intervention by Tsvangirai would give legitimacy to a coalition
trying to
impose regime change.
Regime change can succeed in Zimbabwe, and what is
the alternative? "The
situation has gone beyond a wait and see approach,"
said South African
leader Jacob Zuma, after sitting on the fence for far too
long. South Africa
has failed to effect a change through Mbeki's quiet
diplomacy and Zuma's
lack of leadership. This failure sends out the wrong
signals to other
would-be dictators across the continent. People are dying -
now is the time
to act.
http://www.voanews.com
The Following
is an Editorial reflecting the Views of the US Government
10 December 2008
In little more than the span of a
single generation, Robert Mugabe and his
government transformed Zimbabwe
from one of Africa's most prosperous
countries into one of its most abysmal
failures. And as he's done throughout
his 28 year presidency, he's refused
to take responsibility for the failure
of his policies, instead blaming
every setback on political opponents,
malevolent outside governments, or
possibly the weather.
When Robert Mugabe was elected President of
Zimbabwe in 1980, he inherited a
stable economy, a solid infrastructure and
an agriculturally rich nation.
Nearly three decades of mismanagement later,
Zimbabwe's official inflation
rate is 231 million percent, although the real
rate is much higher. The
unemployment rate is at 90 percent. The
infrastructure is falling apart.
The collapse of the health care system,
once southern Africa's finest, has
led to a deadly cholera epidemic that has
thus far caused some 600 deaths
and sickened 20 times that many in Zimbabwe
and is now spreading to
neighboring countries. Hospitals were forced to
close due to lack of just
about everything, including food and medication.
According to donor
organizations, half of Zimbabwe's population, or about 5
million people,
will need food aid in the coming months. And the government,
locked in a
power-sharing impasse with the opposition, is impotent or
unwilling to help.
Zimbabweans are suffering, and an increasing number of
world leaders have
stated that the country cannot heal as long as Robert
Mugabe stands at its
helm. "The deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe is a
further illustration of
the mis-rule of Zimbabwe's rogue government," said
British Foreign Secretary
David Milliband. Kenya's Prime Minister Raila
Odinga called for African
governments to oust Zimbabwe's President, and
South African Archbishop
Desmond Tutu stated that Mugabe had turned a "bread
basket into a basket
case."
President George Bush also is speaking
out on the tragedy, saying it is time
for Mr. Mugabe to go. As the architect
of this disaster, Zimbabwe cannot,
and will not, begin to recover until he
steps down.
http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com
10th
Dec 2008 06:50 GMT
By Nyasha Nyaira
TODAY Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world in
commemorating international
human rights day against a backdrop of
increasing abductions of ordinary
people who support the opposition and
activists such as Jestina Mukoko.
As a young Zimbabwean who was born
free, I feel so sad that things in my
country continue to go down on a daily
basis. I watch television everyday
and try to make sense as to why things
continue to go the way they are in
our country but I get confused.
I
grew up watching Jestina Mukoko reading the news on television together
with
other news anchors like Praxedes Jeremiah, Tsitsi Vera, Noreen Welch,
Dorcas
Chibanda and all such that the news of Mukoko's disappearance has
been very
disturbing.
As we commemorate international rights day, let us remember
all those whose
families in Zimbabwe right now do not know where their
children, fathers,
mothers, sisters, uncles are because they have either
been abducted by
unknown people or have been killed because of political
violence.
I also remember growing up and reading stories that said
Zimbabwe's police
were the best in terms of dealing with homicide issues. In
that regard we
all would expect them to investigate and get to the bottom of
the more than
18 missing opposition MDC members and supporters and also
activists like
Mukoko.
Zimbabwe needs to get back into the family of
nations and this starts with
respecting people's rights - our right to speak
our minds, our right as a
people to join political parties of our choice,
our right to worship, our
rights to gather and embark on programmes that
improve us as a people
without fear or favour.
Everyday on television
or in international newspapers or on news websites
writing about Zimbabwe,
all you see are pictures, videos and stories about
how cholera is decimating
our relatives back home.
It makes me sad that we are having to die of
such a treatable diseases in
Zimbabwe as educated as we are. The Zanu PF
government has failed to serve
the people, a people it promised milk and
honey just over 28 years ago.
Zanu PF government inherited a vibrant
economy which had survived sanctions
from Britain after Ian Douglas Smith
declared the unilateral Declaration of
Independence in 65 but that's a
subject I can not speak authoritatively on.
All I know is that things are
getting worse in the country and there is need
for a serious leadership that
takes its people seriously. Seeing my country
on the news everyday and
everyone using us as a laughing stock of the world
reduces me into tears.
Wither Zimbabwe, I ask myself all the time.
It is time for us to stand up
and be counted and fight for what is right in
our country - peace,
development, respecting each other, tolerance and such
related
issues.
We were dubbed the bread basket of Southern Africa only a few
years ago but
our country can now no longer feed its people with food being
used as a
political weapon.
Zanu PF needs to accept that it has
played its big role in liberating
Zimbabwe. Maybe it is now time to move on
and pass on the baton stick to
future leaders who can take our country to
the next level. No one can ever
take that away from them and we thank them
for educating us through policies
adopted at independence, long before my
parents ever thought I would come
into this world. But now people are
hungry, people are dying of cholera so
what rights are we celebrating or
commemorating today when we cannot even
feed ourselves or treat ourselves.
Hospitals are closed down because of no
medicines.
The time has come
for the current crop of leaders in Zanu PF to seriously
think about their
legacy, if at all there is anything left, and hand over to
the next crop of
leadership that can take Zimbabwe out of its problems,
remove all bad laws
that hinder the growth of our people and related issues.
Ihave also read
that MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's former assistant Gandhi
Mudzingwa has
also been abducted, two days before international rights day.
"He was
abducted by nine gunmen in six vehicles . and he has not been
found,"
Nelson Chamisa, the MDC spokesperson said in a statement.
Six weeks ago a
group of 15 MDC activists were taken from their homes 40
kilometres north of
Harare in Mashonaland West They have not been heard of
since - a two-year
old is part of the group.
"It's going to get worse," Welshman Ncube, the
secretary-general of the
smaller Mutambara faction said of the abductions.
"As long as there is a
political stalemate Zanu PF will move into default
mode and use the only
weapon it has left which is violence and
coercion.
"It is in their nature. Killings, abductions and arrests are
how they
conduct political struggle."
How sad it is for our country to
read such chilling remarks.
Zimbabwe has had no Cabinet since the March
presidential election that
started the current political impasse with the
political and humanitarian
and economic crisis getting worse.
The
cholera outbreak that has killed 578 people since August and an
inflation
rate of 231 million percent and rising - the world's highest.
I hope
Zimbabwe will one day rise again to become a regional and African
giant -
its rightful position on the continent.I continue to hope for a
better
Zimbabwe and hope the world remembers us today.
Address of
Xavier Marchal, Ambassador
Head of delegation of the European Commission
to Zimbabwe
Avondale, Harare, 10 December 2008
We are here
today to celebrate a permanent drive towards an international
ethic on Human
Rights, based on dignity, liberty, equality and brotherhood.
Human Rights
are universal, indivisible, inter-related and
inter-independent. They
embrace civil society, political, economic, social
and cultural rights, and
they are set out in a wide range of international
and regional
instruments.
Human Rights and Democracy lie at the core of
European Union's construction.
They also constitute one of the cornerstones
of the Union's external action.
They are part of the political dialogue it
holds with any third country, or
through international fora such as the
United Nations, or the African Union.
They are the Essential Elements of the
Cotonou Partnership Agreement, a
political-trade-aid pact linking the Union
with 78 developing countries
including Zimbabwe.
Human Rights
reinforce human dignity and allow individuals to reach their
full potential.
Their respect creates peaceful and stable societies. States
which abide by
them make more reliable partners. There is no peace and no
development
without Human Rights.
Poverty reduction, the main objective of EU
development policy, will only be
achieved in a democratic environment. This
is why the EU supports the
promotion of Human Rights and Democratisation,
including the strengthening
of the civil society.
It is on
these premises that I am talking to you, openly and transparently,
and I am
so pleased I am able to do so.
Zimbabweans are going through most
traumatic times. Social and economic
rights are critically denied. The level
of politically motivated violence
has reached intolerable levels in past
months, and is on the rise again.
People are victimized for expressing their
political opinion.
Yet, Freedom of assembly and of the media, as
well as an atmosphere free
from intimidation and violence, are crucial for
the current political
process to be completed in a meaningful way. The
Governing Authority has
prime responsibility in this respect, in line with
its international
obligations.
Human Rights values are also
defended and promoted by Human Rights
defenders, Organisations, and
Activists. They are a very diverse and
courageous group of people composed
of community leaders, lawyers,
journalists, trade unionist, women and
children's rights activists, who
advocate, mobilize and often put their life
at risk to defend the
fundamental freedoms of their fellow
citizens.
In Zimbabwe, they are playing a critical role with
regards to the betterment
of Human Rights. They deserve very high
recognition and credit for their
significant and persistent contribution in
this respect, particularly in the
context of the 2008 elections. They have
done an outstanding work in an
extremely difficult
environment.
Often they pay for their dedication. Such could be
the case of Jestina
Mukoko, the Director of Zimbabwe Peace project. She has
been abducted and is
missing since 3 December. I would like to dedicate this
anniversary we mark
today to her, and to call again for her rapid safe
return to her home. I
express my deepest concerns as regards her possible
fate. Two others of her
ZPP colleagues have also been abducted on 8 December
and I equally call for
their immediate release.
The
combination of various financial instruments allows significant support
from
the European Commission to promote Good Governance, support civil
society
and Human Rights in Zimbabwe, for a total EC current contribution
above 35
Million euros.
The main EU instrument to promote Human Rights is
the European Instrument
for Democracy and Human Rights. Significant funding
is currently being
implemented in Zimbabwe under this instrument. The main
objective is to
assist civil society in promoting HR and democratic reforms,
in building
consensus and conflict resolution mechanisms, in enhancing
political
representation and participation, as well as in strengthening
coalitions
among organizations.
Under another instrument,
called the Instrument for Stability, the EU
supports a critical Programme to
strengthen dialogue and democracy in
Zimbabwe. This programme aims at
improving stability in the context of and
following the 2008 elections, and
at building the basis for a future
national reconciliation process. It
intends to put in place a coherent
support approach aimed at restoring
democratic governance.
Several other EC funded programs are
focused on the overall improvement of
Human Rights, democracy, and
Governance.
One key EU instrument of support for the improvement
of Human Rights, the
implementation of which unfortunately has not been
asked for by the
Government in the last election, is the EU Election
Observation Scheme.
Yet, it is widely recognised as one of the most credible
scheme in this
domain.
The overall objective of EU support to
the betterment of Human Rights in
Zimbabwe is to act in a comprehensive
manner to help address key issues
which are of universal concern, in a
spirit of proactive yet non complacent
constructiveness, in full line with
the Cotonou Agreement.
But it is the Government which should take
measures ensuring implementation
of policy declarations related to Human
Rights matters. It is Government
responsibility to achieve compliance with
International and regional
Instruments, and to proceed with the ratification
of international treaties
and with their transposition into national
legislation. To put it simply:
Zimbabwe ratified the Cotonou Agreement, and
consequently must respect its
Essential Elements.
Today,
Human Right Defenders, representatives of Human Rights organisations,
civil
society, academics, members of Parliament, civil servants,
representatives
of International Organisations and of the diplomatic
community have been
invited to watch a film to celebrate the 60th
anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
The EU has cooperated with the
Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights to produce the short
stories of this film. People from all over the
world took part in this
initiative. They are related to the six themes of
the Universal Declaration,
notably Culture, Development, Dignity and
Justice, Environment, Gender and
Participation.
Tomorrow as well, we will celebrate again the
centrality of Human Rights,
with a session aimed at young Zimbabweans, from
various places of Zimbabwe.
The film will be screened, and a discussion
organised on Human Rights issues
with a Human Right Lawyer as facilitator.
This important event is organised
by the Netherlands in cooperation with the
EC.
I feel it is particularly important to celebrate this
anniversary in
Zimbabwe. Equal rights for all, the core principle of the
Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, are inscribed in the Power Sharing
Agreement
signed on 15 September. Only if they are fully respected, will it
be
possible for Zimbabweans to find the path of recovery and reconciliation.
This would then trigger essential international re engagement, in which the
EU would play a key part.
Thank you.
Ambassador of
France to Zimbabwe
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
Venue: Avondale,
Harare.
10 December
2008
Excellencies,
Ambassadors,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Let me start by thanking Bishop Bakare for his message
of peace and
tolerance in this momentous occasion. We are here to celebrate
the 60th
anniversary of the Universal declaration of Human Rights and
today's
ceremony in Harare is co-hosted by the Delegation of the European
Commission
and the Embassy of France in its capacity as chair of the
European Union
Council.
I will not speak for long in order to
leave the floor to my colleague Xavier
Marchal, Head of Delegation of the
European Commission to Zimbabwe and then
to one of Zimbabwe's foremost Human
Rights defenders, Mrs Beatrice Mtetwa.
After bearing with us, you
will be rewarded with the screening of European
short movies depicting
multiple aspects of human rights.
[60th
anniversary of the UDHR]
Briefly then, this year marks the 60th
anniversary of a fundamental text,
namely the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, which was approved by the
General Assembly of the United Nations
gathered in Paris on the 10th of
December 1948.
France played
an important role in the drafting of this text which is based
on the 1789
French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The
text adopted
in 1948 added to those earlier rights, political rights, the
right to
nationality, the protection of foreigners as well as "social,
economic and
cultural rights".
[ZIMBABWE]
This anniversary is
of particular significance here in Zimbabwe where Human
Rights defenders and
civil society at large are not often afforded the basic
dignity owed to
every human being.
This year alone has witnessed untold
suffering, especially between April and
June, but also in the past few weeks
during which several activists,
community leaders and citizens standing up
for the rights of their fellow
Zimbabweans have disappeared or been forcibly
abducted.
[JESTINA MUKOKO]
Amongst many others, we
have in mind Mrs Jestina Mukoko, National Director
of the NGO Zimbabwe Peace
Project, who was abducted from her home on the 3rd
of
December.
We were gathered at the Residence of France on 28
November to pay tribute to
the struggle of ZESN [ZESEUNNI] for basic
freedoms such as the right to
vote. On that occasion, an official French
distinction was granted to the
organisation.
Jestina was
there together with her friend Rindai Chipfunde, director of
ZESN, as the
Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) had also been in line to get this
award.
On the 8th of December, along with Xavier Marchal from
the European
Commission and Zuzana Beranova, Chargée d'affaires of the Czech
Republic, we
made an official "démarche" to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
in Harare to
express our deep concern about Jestina Mukoko's disappearance
and request
assistance from the Zimbabwean authorities to locate and release
her.
But the response we got was rude and anything but
transparent.
[What the EU does for
Zimbabwe]
Apart from our support in favour of the promotion of
human rights, the EU
efforts also rest on the assistance brought to the
people of Zimbabwe.
Indeed, the European Union is the first and largest
donor to Zimbabwe,
contributing more than 300 million US dollars in aid
every year.
["sanctions"]
As for the so-called
sanctions which are all too often portrayed as
responsible for all evils,
including cholera (!!!), let me take this
opportunity to stress that they
target ONLY those people responsible for
trying to kill democracy in
Zimbabwe : we are talking about 178 individuals
who are banned from
travelling to the European Union and whose assets in the
Union have been
frozen, as well as about a general embargo on the sales of
weapons to the
military authorities of this country,
nothing
else,
and especially nothing against the people of Zimbabwe,
quite the contrary as
our efforts to support them are permanent and
unfaltering.
[Conclusion]
I want to end by saying
that the brave people of Zimbabwe truly deserve a
much better destiny than
the one they are enduring at the moment.
Let us all work towards
bringing forth in 2009 those changes willed by the
people during the
elections of the 29th of March 2008.
The European Union, which
will be chaired by the Czech Republic from the 1st
of January 2009, will
continue lending its unwavering support to the
promotion of democracy and
Human Rights for the people of Zimbabwe.
I thank you for your
patience and as promised I now give the floor to my
colleague and friend,
Xavier Marchal.
http://news.theage.com.au
December 11, 2008 - 9:42AM
Zimplats
Holdings Ltd says its survival is under threat following a fall in
metal
prices over the past four months and it is trying to raise cash to
complete
a critical mine development project in Zimbabwe.
Zimplats, which produces
platinum from the Great Dyke mineral range in
southern Zimbabwe, said it had
not been able to generate enough cash to
complete an expansion project at
its Ngezi mine due to the metals price
fall.
It has forecast a
"significant" earnings loss and cash shortfall for the
half year ending
December 31, unless prices recover.
"Shareholders are advised that due to
the significant fall in metal prices
since mid July 2008, your company's
short term viability and survival are
under serious threat," it said in a
statement dated December 10 and lodged
with the Australian Securities
Exchange on Thursday.
"At prevailing metal prices, your company is not
able to generate sufficient
cash to meet its on-going operational needs, as
well as the requirements of
the Ngezi Phase 1 expansion project, which is
now at a critical stage of
implementation."
Zimplats said it was
imperative the project was completed because it would
lower its cost
structure and allow it operate profitably in future.
"Shareholders are
further advised that despite the cost saving and cash
preservation measures
being implemented, it is forecast that your company
will record a
significant loss and cash shortfall for the half year," it
said.
"Unless there is a dramatic recovery in metal prices, the same
would apply
for the year to 30 June 2009."
Zimplats said its
operating subsidiary, Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Private)
Ltd, will seek
additional debt funding to meet the projected cash shortfall.
"Efforts
are currently under way to raise the additional funding from
off-shore
financiers, an exercise not without its risks," it added.
Without the
funding, Zimplats will not be able to complete the Ngezi Phase 1
expansion
project as scheduled in 2009.
Zimplats said while management are
confident the company can service the
increased debt, the current state of
credit markets are a concern.
"In view of the above, shareholders are
advised to continue to exercise
extreme caution in their share dealings," it
said.
Zimplats shares ended on Wednesday at $5.50.
http://www.africanews.com/site/list_messages/22043
Posted on Wednesday 10 December
2008 - 10:00
Justice Zhou, AfricaNews reporter in Johannesburg,
South Africa
Truckloads of children of schooling age are being secretly
smuggled each
night through the porous borders to the crime hotbed city of
Johannesburg. A
syndicate of human traffickers is cashing in on Zimbabwean
youths escaping
hardship into neighboring South Africa lured with false
lucrative job
offers.
Once there, the refugees are held hostage, to
their surprise, in isolated
bungalows where money is extorted from them. At
times hostages are ordered
to surrender their belongings, raped or beaten
up. The coyotes would then
free boys whilst girls, some as young as 12 years
of age are kept and traded
to brothel magnates operating in the notorious
central Johannesburg suburb
of Hill brow.
The thriving brothels host
throngs of destitute youths who suffer dire
exploitation, abused as sex
workers and strippers. In the worst case
scenario, youths are exposed to the
danger of contracting HIV.
"I was promised a job before I left home by
the men who brought me here"
said Regina Chauke, one of the victims who now
stay at the Central Methodist
Church which shelters hordes of Zimbabwean
asylum seekers.17 year old
Regina, a college drop-out, was raped several
times by a stranger who had
sweet-talked her into accepting a job at a
Johannesburg call center. She
also lost her educational certificates to this
'good Samaritan' who suddenly
only turned out to be a
smuggler.
Jacqueline Tladi, a spokesperson for the Johannesburg based
NGO, the
Southern African Women's Institute for Migration Affairs, (SAWIMA),
which
serves the needs of African immigrants said her organization is
dealing with
significantly rising number of similar cases involving sex
slavery and
domestic servility.
However a senior inspector at
Hillbrow Police Station refused to be drawn
into questions about the
trafficking ring, referring the matter to low
ranking officers who expressed
lack of information, only promising that 'a
sting operation will be embarked
on to uncover the organized smugglers and
bring them to book'
With
Zimbabwe's economy melting down further, it is clear human trafficking
will
also escalate, posing immense danger to the lives of susceptible
youths.
I have been reading your website for quite a
while and I feel it is only
proper that I commend you for a well balanced
projection you seem to give to
the news regarding zimbabwe.
One of
today's contributions from one Jupiter Punungwe of Zimbabwe times,
is a
piece of sensational bashing that I have not seen on your site for
quite
some time.
I take issue, maybe umbrage is the right word at the criticism
that she
levels against Messrs Odinga and Selemani. Lanaguage like'airing
his teeth'
is rather insulting , to what purpose does she hope to achieve
with this?
Both the two gentleman are simply expressing frustration that
the common
man in zimbabwe and africa at large are feeling at the
intransigence that
seems to be displayed by zim leadership in the face of a
severe crisis. I do
not agree with the sentiments of the two but do take
time to remember the
neighbours of Rwanda decided to look the other way when
people were
massacred in Rwanda, to this day Mr. Bashir of Sudan is doing
the same to
the people of Darfur. What these two gentleman are simply doing
is remind
the other African leaders that what is going on in Zimbabwe is
unacceptable.
You will no doubt also remember that it was Julius Nyerere
who put the
brakes on that mad ogre Idi Amin in Kampala. Had he not,
millions more would
have perished needlessy in Uganda. No one wants war it
is senseless and
needless but what do the good do when the bad use guns on
them?
Jupiter also needs to get her geography right. Sanctions have been
imposed
on zimbabwe(rhodesia- during the war years) before and this gave
bath to
some of the grandest projects in the region one of which was the
Tazara
railway line linking Lusaka and Dar es Salaam. To limit dependency on
apartheid south africa the then Sadc promoted the Beira corridor which
brought with it the upgrading of the port of Mozambique. By the way DRC has
got a striving port in Kinshasa which can take care of imports for the DRC.
Zambia also has the the Trans-Kaprivi highway which links Walvis Bay to
Livingstone. So yes Jupiter the countries of the region can survive very
well without sending cargo through Zimbabwe, it is happening right now as we
speak. Goods are leaving Beira port destined for Malawi and Zambia without
passing through zimbabwe, please open your eyes.
The cholera
epidemic is better contained without the socalled petrol as it
is the same
petrol that militates against containment as people are rendered
less mobile
thus easier to quarantine.Yes, quatantine, cholera is
communicable disease.
The above article written by Jupiter just gives us a
lot of anger which
James Joyce describes as "voluble zeal" or Shakespierre's
'sound and fury
signifying nothing".We dont need this 'product' presently as
we have it in
abundance, what we need is rational thought less hot air in
the process
soiling the good pages of 'Zimbabwe situation com'
This kind of writing
does not only expose the writer for an angry person who
has thrown all
decency out of the window and can not be bothered to
research, a cornerstone
for all good writers and instead substitutes facts
for dramatics. Zimbabwe
does not need this kind of writing at this crucial
time in its history,
allowing this to go on unaabated would be a great
travesty on your
part.
Having said the foregoing, like Messrs. Odinga and Selemani before
her,
Jupiter is entitled to her opinion but this does not give her the
right
to insult her readers and we must ask that she does carry out some
research
before rushing to meet some imaginery deadline by dishing out
spurious half
baked junk masquerading as some journalistic licence. He
rushing to print
without proper researching of facts shows the contempt with
which she holds
your readers and Zimbabwe situation has done great service
to its readership
without clowns clouding a noble vision to inform the world
about what is
obtaining in zimbabwe.
This takes to another columnist
from the same stable, I assume he is a
gentleman busybody calling himself
John Huruva who last week was telling us
that the soldiers rioting in the
streets of Harare were part of grand scheme
of the government of zimbabwe to
impose the state of energency..please give
it a rest monsieur busy
body!
I think the compilers of the reports on the website need to screen
with care
some of the contributions coming from some of these
writers..please..
Best Regards,
C
------------
Elliot
Manyika
Do you know that he was a member of the notorious BSAP
Special Branch before
independence. On his autograghy they are only
narrating from the point his
was ambassador to Malawi. Before he served as
first secretary to Zimbawe
High Commion in London, a job reserved for high
ranking intelligence
officers, where was Elliot. From close and reliable
sources from 1978-80 he
served in the Special Services now CIO. He is one
of the few Smith
experienced Smith regime agents retained by Mugabe. And
tribe was his gift.
If he wa an ordinary Zimbabwean could have arrested. How
many people who
crossed into Mozambique or Zambia in the 80s to join the
struggle, but
surprisingly were dragged be the court as imposers, or fake
war veterans.
Here is a fake, who faked he way to the top. His only
qualification is
signing sill songs like NORA
----------
Open
letter to the supporter of Mugabe
To whom it may
concern
My mother was born in Zimbabwe and I was born in london but have
always
felt a connection with Zimbabwe and have always been proud of this
great and
fine country.
I spent many years as a child
standing outside the south African embassy
with my mother campaigning
against apartheid.
Also supporting that Zimbabwe should be a free county
with all it's people
having an equal share and being equal
citizens.
I don't understand what is happening at the moment. In
my view looking at
Zim from the outside the MDC clearly won the election,
they won the first
round fair and square. ZANU decided they were not ready
to share power so
rigs the election in their favor forcing a second round.
We all know where
we stand now and what is happening.
What I
do not get is the short slightness of it all. There will come a day
when the
great freedom fighter Mr. Mugabe will pass away.
At this point any
solidarity for ZANUPF from other African nation will go
and the MDC will get
full power, the memory of Robert Mugabe will be that of
a dictator not a
freedom fighter and that is how he will be remembered.
The rest
of ZANU will probably end up in jail or in front of the Hague.
So
why when you knew that you lost the election did you try and retain
power,
you talk about Africa being strong and having vision, wanting to find
their
own solution but to me it is pretty simple you have elections the
party that
looses hands over power to the party that wins.
Then they are in
opposition and they work hard and trying to win the next
election.
They do not hide behind false issues and lie to
their people saying that it
is all the fault of the west and that london
wants to take over Zim by
force, as a UK citizen I want Africa to stand on
its own feet and show the
world that Africans are equal to the rest of the
world.
You shoot yourself everyday in the foot, Zimbabwe is
clearly in a worst
state than 30 years ago and the only people to blame are
those who have been
in power for this time, when my mother tells me story
about her childhood
and I compare them with sorties from my farther growing
up in london after
the second world war with rationing and so on, Zimbabwe
was a better place,
this country had the chance to show the world what can
be done but instead
they chose to destroy the great
Zimbabwe.
Now you are killing your citizens, kidnapping them,
torturing them shame on
you.
I call on you to resign and hand
over power to the party that won the
election and retire in
peace.
The rest of ZANU should start thinking about their long term
ambitions, yes
you might me lining your pockets now, thinking you are big
boys and that you
are untouchable well you are wrong history only repeats
itself and remember
Romania, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Congo.
You can not
hide for ever and by creating more problems now you are only
leaving
yourself open for prosecution at a later date, shame will be brought
onto
your families for ever. So stop thinking about the present and start
thinking about the future, do you really think Robert Mugabe will live
forever...
R