http://www.voanews.com
By Peter
Clottey
Washington, D.C
19 December 2008
A
cross section of Zimbabweans advocating military action against President
Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF government had their hopes dashed after the leader
of South Africa's ruling party dismissed the move as untenable. African
National Congress leader Jacob Zuma said he is sharply opposed to a military
solution to the Zimbabwe crisis. Zuma contends that there is no war in
Zimbabwe that warrants military intervention. He advocates rather a deep
diplomatic push by ZANU-PF and the main opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) to form a unity government to resolve the country's economic
and political crisis. Political analyst Glen Mpani tells reporter Peter
Clottey that Zimbabweans are demanding solutions to the escalating
crisis.
"I think his (Zuma) comments that he opposes military action in
Zimbabwe are
views that are shared commonly by not only regional leaders,
but also even
Zimbabweans themselves. I think Zimbabweans and particularly
the MDC have
committed themselves to a peaceful resolution of the Zimbabwe
crisis," Mpani
noted.
He said there was need for the leader of South
Africa's ruling party to help
resolve the Zimbabwe crisis.
"But while
he (Zuma) is expressing his disagreement with military action in
Zimbabwe,
he as a leader of the ruling party in South Africa and president
in waiting
should be providing options to say, if we are not using the
military option,
what are we going to use? What is the leverage that we have
against the
Zimbabwe government? Because it does not help to be discrediting
options
that are being put on the table while not providing an alternative.
So he
has to provide an alternative to say how are we going to put pressure
on the
ZANU-PF government to come to the negotiating table and accept the
demands
that are being put forth for a proper and an all-inclusive
power-sharing
agreement," he said.
Mpani said Zimbabweans seem to be tired of the
escalation of the country's
crisis.
"Zimbabweans currently are
desperate, and if you are to ask them to say what
they would hope for, the
level of desperation you see in the country might
have public opinion
possibly shifting towards a more firm intervention in
the country. But if
one looks at it in terms of countries where military
interventions have
taken place, it would not be advisable for military
action to take place,
but for democratic processes to be used to force the
Zimbabwe government to
adopt an accommodative approach in this arrangement,"
Mpani pointed
out.
He said using the military option against President Mugabe's
administration
would not be in the interest of most Zimbabweans.
"We
all know what would happen in a military intervention. And this might as
well play into the ZANU-PF hands because such an environment would create a
reason and a justification that plays into the ZANU-PF propaganda that there
are external forces that are fighting against them. So I don't think that
would be advisable," he said.
Mpani said although there seems to be
no ongoing war in Zimbabwe, the
suffering of the masses warrants some form
of intervention to help resolve
the crisis.
"There is no war like the
type of war that Jacob Zuma is accustomed to,
where guns are blazing in the
streets of Harare. But there is a humanitarian
war in Zimbabwe, where people
are dying of cholera, where there are food
shortages, and where there are
day to day high levels of inflation. And
where there are human rights
abuses, and where activists are being abducted.
And I don't know any other
war than the one that the people of Zimbabwe are
in today. So if you are
talking about war where guns are blazing in
Zimbabwe, yes, there is no war.
But the people of Zimbabwe have reached a
point where they don't even know
what they are going to be eating tomorrow.
So that in itself, I think, is
war enough to warrant regional and
international intervention in resolving
the crisis in Zimbabwe," Mpani
pointed out.
http://www.time.com
By Alex Perry Thursday, Dec. 18,
2008
Zimbabwe's farms are ruined, its economy has evaporated, and its
people have
begun to starve and die of cholera. What better time to call a
feast?
According to reports in Zimbabwe's domestic press on Thursday,
President
Robert Mugabe and delegates to the annual conference of his ruling
Zanu-PF
Party will chomp their way through 124 cattle, 81 goats and 18 pigs
over the
course of their deliberations in the central town of Bindura. "Even
if no
more beasts are donated," said Geoffrey Nyarota, managing editor of
thezimbabwetimes.com, referring to the practice of delegates donating
animals to the leadership, "124 head of cattle is an inordinately large
quantity of beef." With 5,000 delegates expected to attend, he added, it
worked out to "40 delegates per bovine over four days - that is not to
mention the pork, the goat, the maize-meal, the rice, among other basic
foodstuffs currently in acute shortage throughout Zimbabwe." Noting he had
attended weddings at which two bulls had fed 400 guests, Nyarota added,
"This truly is incredible, especially in a country where millions of
impoverished souls are starving."
The catering arrangements for
the ruling party's annual shindig only
reinforces the sense of grand
delusion pervading the top ranks of Zimbabwe's
regime amid the catastrophe
they have brought upon their country. The U.N.
has raised its estimate of
the death toll from the cholera epidemic to
1,111, with 20,580 people
infected. Concern is also growing over the fate of
more than 20 opposition
and civil-society leaders and activists who have not
been seen since their
abduction this past month. Mystery also surrounds an
attempted assassination
attempt against Zimbabwe's air-force chief Perrance
Shiri, who was shot in
the arm by unknown gunmen who stopped his car on
Tuesday. Shiri is a key
member of Mugabe's inner circle who commanded the
notorious North
Korean-trained 5th Brigade that massacred tens of thousands
of supporters of
a rival political movement during the 1980s. (See pictures
of the reign of
Robert Mugabe.)
The government response to the expanding crisis is
increasingly bizarre.
Mugabe has denied that the cholera epidemic exists. (A
spokesman later
claimed he was being sarcastic.) And some of his ministers
and spokesmen
have blamed a Western conspiracy - which they claim is running
militia
training camps in neighboring Botswana with the eventual aim of
recolonizing
Zimbabwe - for the assassination attempt on Shiri. Even the
cholera outbreak
forms part of this dark conspiracy: Information Minister
Sikhanyiso Ndlovu
described the disease as part of a "serious biological
chemical war ... a
genocidal onslaught on the people of Zimbabwe by ... the
unrepentant former
colonial power [Britain], which has enlisted support from
its American and
Western allies so that they invade the country." A senior
Zanu-PF official,
speaking on condition of anonymity, told TIME that the
opposition Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) was behind the attack on
Shiri. "It is the MDC
and its Western donors who are trying to destabilize
our country because we
took land from the whites," he said. "We are going to
stand firm to our
values."
South Africa President Kgalema Motlanthe
has dismissed the regime's claims.
But University of Zimbabwe lecturer John
Makumbe believes the purpose of
touting these incredible fictions is that
"the regime wants to create an
impression that it is a victim when it is
actually the perpetrator of
violence."
Driving Zanu-PF's hysterical
self-deception is the party's loss of popular
support. The erstwhile
liberation movement lost a general election in March,
and after 28 years in
power, Mugabe finished second in the presidential race
behind MDC leader
Morgan Tsvangirai. The regime, which has always claimed
for itself the
mantle of revolutionary vanguard of the Zimbabwean people,
responded with
violence, killing close to 200 MDC members and jailing and
torturing
thousands more. Mugabe has since opened power-sharing talks with
the MDC,
but those have collapsed over the incumbent's insistence on keeping
absolute
control over the police and army, his key instruments of power. But
without
a political solution, Zimbabwe cannot escape economic disaster,
because aid
donors refused to prop up a dictatorial regime.
But Mugabe remains
defiant. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday,
former Home Affairs
Minister Dumiso Dabengwa, a former Mugabe ally, said the
84-year-old
dictator believed in violence as the only remedy. "When I was in
government
and in Zanu-PF, I used to tell Mugabe not to victimize and use
violence
against the MDC, but he did not listen. He refused to stop using
violence
against the MDC, saying that the power base of Zanu-PF was
threatened. He
was unrepentant. He believes violence is the solution." The
U.N. estimates
that 5.8 million people out of a population of up to 12
million will need
food aid in the first quarter of next year. But that won't
stop the cadres
of Zanu-PF from eating their fill in Bindura.
-With reporting by
correspondents inside Zimbabwe
http://uk.news.yahoo.com
3 hours 13 mins ago
Sky News
The
cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe is a problem Mugabe has not yet worked out
how
to handle - but terrorising his critics seems second nature.
A
preventable disease, easily treated, it shouldn't kill anyone.
Yet we
have seen hospitals in Harare overflowing with the sick and dying.
One
senior health official told us why it was so deadly.
He blamed the
government for what he said was a man made epidemic that is
still getting
worse.
The problem for president Mugabe is that it illustrates all too
clearly the
ruinous state of his country.
It is not easy to blame on
his enemies either domestically or abroad.
He has tried to ignore it,
deny it altogether, claim it is under control,
and blame it on the British
colonials as an act of aggression and attempted
genocide.
Mugabe's
frustration is not because there is no longer a functioning water
supply, or
that the broken sewers we have seen are contaminating it.
It is not even
the lack of medicine or hospital staff to treat the sick. It
is because the
outside world can see what is happening.
That any information gets out at
all is largely thanks to local people
risking their lives to document abuses
and film the glimpses we see of their
countrymen starving in villages and
townships or dying in the hospitals.
Far from Mugabe and his henchmen
negotiating to share power we are seeing
the familiar step in the inexorable
process of tightening their grip.
Terrorising the influential, activists
and political opponents alike. Many
of them have disappeared in the last few
weeks.
Some it is feared have been executed. The rest forced into
hiding.
The next step is to accuse the opposition of acts of violence for
which
there seems to be no foundation, let alone evidence.
The regime
then has the excuse to broaden the reach of its intimidation to
remind the
already desperate population exactly who is boss.
So while Mugabe decides
how to deal with the worsening cholera epidemic the
in the face of
international condemnation, at home he is on more familiar
ground.
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=8901
December 18, 2008
By Our
Correspondent
HARARE - Johannes Tomana, a lawyer who has been closely
associated with
Zanu-PF over the years, has been sworn-in as Zimbabwe's
Attorney General.
Welcoming Tomana to the Cabinet President Mugabe called
him "the right man"
to confront the challenges as government' chief law
officer. Tomana takes
over from Justice Bharat Patel, who was acting AG
following the suspension
and eventual dismissal of Sobusa Gula-Ndebele in
May.
The AG's office has been rocked by scandal. The previous incumbent,
Gula-Ndebele was fired amid unsubstantiated allegations that he was purged
for failing to adhere to a Zanu-PF agenda on prosecutions.
The
government says Gula-Ndebele acted in a manner inconsistent with the
status
of a public official when he took a bribe from fugitive NMB bank
director
James Mushore who had fled the country after accusations that he
defrauded
depositors and externalised foreign exchange. Gula-Ndebele was
found guilty
by a three-person tribunal that was established to probe him of
taking a
bribe and promising Mushore that he would not prosecute him when he
returned
home from the UK where he fled to.
On Wednesday, Mugabe was conspicuously
silent on Gula-Ndebele's term of
office at the swearing-in
ceremony.
But the MDC says the swearing-in of Tomana without consultation
with the MDC
showed contempt for the global political agreement signed by
political
parties on September 15.
The ceremony held at State House
was performed before an audience of top
judiciary officers that included
Zimbabwe's Chief Justice Godfrey
Chidyausiku, Judge President Rita Makarau
and Justice Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Patrick
Chinamasa.
Tomana was sworn in under Section 76 of the Constitution which
states that
every AG takes oath of loyalty and office.
Mugabe said
that he was grateful for the former deputy AG's service,
prompting robust
applause from Justice Department employees. He has served
as deputy AG for
11 months.
A staunch Zanu-PF supporter who has vigorously defended
government while in
private practice, Tomana has been an unwavering
supporter of the Mugabe
regime. As senior partner at law firm, Tomana,
Mandaza and Muzangaza, Tomana
has legally represented the Media and
Information Commission and is directly
responsible for the banning of the
country's independent daily newspaper,
The Daily News, and three other
titles. He was lawyer for the MIC for years
and also represented the then
Information Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo
in several cases against
independent journalists.
He is a commissioner of Zimbabwe's largely
useless Anti-Corruption
Commission which has failed to secure even a single
high profile prosecution
despite widespread top level corruption.
He
has routinely been quoted by State media as a political analyst
energetically defending some of President Mugabe's more questionable
policies.
Soon after he was sworn in Wednesday, Tomana sought to set
a new tone for
the Justice department. He urged Zimbabweans to desist from
crime.
He pledged to "help you continue to protect Zimbabwean
interests.
"I am sure that Zimbabweans are not prepared for rhetoric,
they have had
enough of it," Tomana said. "All that they want now are
solutions. I will
not claim to be the solution, but I shall say that
Zimbabweans are the
solution.
"In my own assessed view, the reason
why Zimbabwe is suffering is because we
have allowed crime to dominate our
lives. I want to promise everyone that
the security services are ready, the
judiciary is ready and I am more than
prepared to help the nation fight
crime."
Tomana said it was the duty of every Zimbabwean to insist on the
protection
afforded to them by the law, co-operate in fighting crime and to
abstain
from criminal activities.
With little less than a year acting
as deputy AG (Crime), Tomana faces a
number of challenging tasks. They
include dealing with human rights cases
such as the incommunicado detention
over two dozen of opposition and civil
rights activists and handling
political cases impartially.
http://www.nehandaradio.com
19 December 2008
By
Fortune Tazvida
MDC senator and veteran activist Sekai Holland has
expressed concerns about
a United Kingdom based website run by lawyer turned
journalist Itayi Garande
and running stories supporting Robert Mugabe's
brutal regime.
Holland claimed the website had now been 'infiltrated' by
Zanu PF supporters
and 'its very dangerous that the website is being used to
spread stories in
support of Mugabe.' Initially called Talk Zimbabwe.com the
website announced
that due to 'new investment' it would rebrand itself as
the Zimbabwe
Guardian.com.
Nehanda Radio understands Garande the
editor left Zimbabwe to stay in
Switzerland for some time. Around 2000
thereabouts Garande came to the
United Kingdom and within no time struck up
a close friendship with Bright
Matonga (now Zimbabwe's Deputy Information
Minister).
He was also to be close friends with sports fitness trainer
Themba Mliswa
(later deported for swindling money from desperate Zimbabwean
immigrants).
Mliswa is now living on a farm in Karoi that was violently
seized from a
former white farmer. Our sources say the trio of Garande,
Matonga and Mliswa
were to form a strong bond and stayed in the same town of
South End for some
time.
Garande is also close friends with Zanu PF
apologist George Shiri, a regular
contributor on several British radio and
television shows in which he
defends the regime. Both are regular visitors
at the Zimbabwean Embassy in
London.
No one seems to know what
Garande does for a living despite his claims that
he works as a consultant
for the African Development Bank. His immigration
status is also not known.
He started off as a critic of the government; a
common infiltration tactic
said one source, before making an editorial
u-turn in 2008 and showing his
true colours.
In the run up to the March election Garande gave away the
game by constantly
attacking the presidential aspirations of independent
candidate Simba
Makoni. The common position within the establishment was
that Makoni was
weakening Zanu PF's grip by leaving the party and Garande
made sure this was
editorialized in his website.
So if Garande's
place of employment is not known and he spends most of his
time at the
Zimbabwean Embassy, in the company of George Shiri, what could
he be doing
for a living in the UK? Nehanda Radio leaves this to its readers
for
conclusions. But what the growing revelations have triggered are calls
for
his deportation to Zimbabwe.
'The UK have in place targeted sanctions
aimed at people like this, why are
they not deporting him?' a reader in our
forums questioned. A senior
opposition official said they had already
contacted the relevant authorities
with a view to see if Garande qualified
under the measures meant to
ostracize people who back Mugabe.
We put
forward these allegations to Garande and in the spirit of balanced
reporting
publish his response. ....
-----
Garande responds to growing
deportation calls
19 December 2008
By Itayi Garande
The first
premise is that I reserve the right to have an opinion; and
respect those who
have theirs. Many people that I have interacted with in
the journalistic
fraternity know that I do not represent one particular
viewpoint. I think
partisanship simply kills journalism.
We have to know who we are first:
journalists or activists, or both to
understand our role in the community. I
recently saw a picture of a burning
man during the xenophobic attacks in
South Africa and wondered: Where is the
cameraman and why is he not helping?
I also saw a picture (during the
Ethiopian famine of the early 90s) an eagle
about to land on a dying kid.
The photographer should have saved the kid;
but the story would not have
reached the international audience. I guess
these are the trade offs that
journalists sometimes have to battle
with.
If we put our own deductions into the stories that we tell, we
are
twisting the facts. I have had the advantage of studying law and
practising
journalism. What I have learnt from journalism is that you have
to present
the facts as they are. The advantage from law is how to gather
the evidence
and make deductive reasoning using those facts.
I guess
in journalism, I have to allow others to form opinions about
those facts;
which is where we start from at Talkzimbabwe. We cannot censor
the way
people feel or think. We can have our opinions about it, but we
nevertheless
have to allow them to filter through, if they are not
libellous, insulting,
profane and downright malicious.
The article in the Observer was informed
by Sekai Holland's opinion.
She is entitled to that opinion; but that opinion
does not make it
fact. 'Infiltrated' by CIOs suggests that I do not know
about those
CIOs, so why is it an issue for me? She did not say "Itayi
Garande is
a CIO". So just like the reader, I have to investigate to see if
CIOs
are using the site to promote violence, torture and the like.
If
you asked me whether we support Zanu PF elements who butcher,
falsely
imprison and torture people, the answer is an emphatic "No!".
If you asked me
whether we support MDC-Tsvangirai violence the answer is the
same. We do not
condone violence; that is not our role.
Do we have Zimbabwe and
Zimbabweans at heart? Yes, indeed. Are we supposed
to support Morgan
Tsvangirai and the MDC? Hell no! Is
not supporting Morgan Tsvangirai
synonymous with supporting Zanu PF, hell
no! Why can't we not support both?
In any case, as a publisher, we do not
make these choices except in our
opinions; but obviously our general
editorial policy will lean towards our
bias. Is our bias Zanu PF? No! Our
contention is that the MDC should be
scrutinised -- with a toothcomb. Others
scrutinize Zanu PF, Mavambo, PF
Zapu, Zanu, DP, etc. We do not castigate
them for that. This is a free
world, or is it?
Free speech is a very elusive concept. We have come to
recognize that. It is
a concept not respected by those people purporting to
fight for it. Infact,
many so-called activists, who cry for free speech
have
been at the forefront of denying other people that right.
This is
tantamount to media violence. That violence transforms itself
into de facto
censorship of small media organisations by big media
houses and well-funded
activist groups who think they own the thinking
space. Talkzimbabwe.com was
a victim of that media violence, but will not be
intimidated.
We will
respond to those individuals who have made it their business
to criticise our
way of doing things, but at the same time reserve our
judgment over theirs.
We realize that apart from inciting and causing
mayhem, recent media
violence directed at us, is an instrument of fear and
social control. We
will not succumb to either of those.
There is a lot of vile media
violence in Zimbabwean online publications and
one of the reasons why
Talkzimbabwe.com was founded was to neutralize that
violence, provide a
platform for free and fair talk and we will not abrogate
that
responsibility.
There are no Zimbabweans who are more Zimbabwean than
others. We all want
the best for our country. The knee-jerk retort of
critics to our way of
doing things will not deter us from our obligation -
to provide news to the
people of Zimbabwe. We realize the perils of the
medium we have chosen.
The Web has become the online forum of choice for
hate groups
precisely because it allows them to avoid interacting with those
who
disagree with their views, and provides a false sense of security
-
away from physical interaction. Chat rooms, forums and emails have become
the new areas of mental violence, hate speech and social division. Those who
are responsible for running these fora carry the burden of responsibility
for the mess we see in our society today.
Genuine peace, genuine
progress in our country can only be a sum total of
divergent ideas, not
polarized singular ideas of a group that tries to
impose its thinking on
another. Genuine progress requires discussion, must
be dynamic, not static,
changing to meet the challenge of each new
generation, not promote the ideas
of a generation that has seen its day, or
a group that thinks it only has
the right to exist.
Peace is not an event. It is a process - a way of
solving problems.
That is why today, after the historic signing of the Truth
and
Reconciliation documents in South Africa, there's still no peace
in
that country. This is why, today, in Kenya the supposed coalition shows
signs of weakness. Genuine, effective debate is crucial.
There is no
better venue for discussing ideas than the Internet today;
especially for a
Diaspora community. But that venue should not be abused by
self-seeking,
neurotic individuals who do not have their nation at heart,
but their
self-seeking agendas. Fear today is pervasive. Insecurity grips us
all and
often we blame the wrong people for the wrong issues because they
decide to
view the
world differently from us.
Talkzimbabwe.com is a forum for
debate and news provision. It is not a
platform for hate speech. Those who
consider it overtly propagandistic and
hugely partisan should examine
closely the rest of the online publications
on Zimbabwe, and some of the
vitriol encouraged by so-called established
media houses and trained
journalists.
One commentator said: "The problem with the internet, of
course, is
that it transmitted considerable flakiness alongside pithy truth
telling.
Blog sites, for good and ill, are unfiltered and unaccountable."
Zimbabwe is
not spared. Progress depends on believing in the common humanity
and the
consideration of "the Other" - not the thwarting of
it.
Appreciating our common humanity depends on respect for
other's
viewpoints, the ability and moral bravery to see things through
the
eyes of the other, even of one's adversaries. The belief that Zimbabweans
should be a homogenous group that sees issues the same way is misplaced.
This view militates against our common humanity and dehumanizes
us.
The expectation that every Zimbabwean should like the MDC and support
Morgan
Tsvangirai is a dis - ease in our society. It is unbridled and
ignorant
hubris. So what can the media do? Three things: One is to present
diverse
opinions without fear of label; Zanu PF, MDC, CIO, etc. Exchanges
should be
respectful and truth seeking, not insulting and point scoring as
we have
witnessed in hate media always seeking negativity out of Zimbabwe,
sometimes
where it's uncalled for.
The opposite is not true. You
can't always seek positivity where it is
uncalled for. We need not veer away
from tough questions and hard challenges
or to humiliate those who do not
think like us in mindless wars of
propaganda. Secondly, the media should
expand the thinking capacities of its
readership, not constrict it. This
idea should operate on the logic of
power-expansion and
community-preservation.
Zimbabwe is a community within a global
community. The power of the
Zimbabwean community should be expanded to
preserve that community. The
mindless fights in the media today constrict
that power and our capacity to
self-determine as a nation. Thirdly, media
should inform with detail,
expertise, accuracy, accountability and
sensitivity - the stories that can
help our country to avoid the
abyss.
At the end of the day the public is quite capable of sorting out
the
gold and the dross that is in the media today. Those publications that
claim
superiority might actually be viewed as dross by the rest of the
public.
According to John Kennedy, "in the final analysis, our most basic
common
link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the
same air.
We all cherish our children's future. And we are all
mortal."
The onslaught on our organisation by those who think they know
us
better than ourselves is sickening. We have no illusions about the
predatory
nature of some organisations that mask themselves as people's
organisations
or political parties or media
organisations.
Established Zimbabwean journalists are supposed to be the
good guys on
freedom of expression, right? The Opposition is supposed to be
protecting
that right, right? So why are they at the forefront of
denying
that right, by sanctioning those who exercise it freely, as
they
demand?
I thought there was a difference between opposing a Government
and trying to
destroy a whole nation. Those people who have been calling for
armed
invasion in Zimbabwe, under the banner of Responsibility to Protect,
are
effectively trying to destroy a whole nation. Those who think they can
gain
power by calling for an armed
insurrection exhibit serious signs of
mental fatigue.
This business about CIO labels, pro-Government,
anti-Government
labels, is neither progressive nor helpful. Talkzimbabwe.com
does not exist
in the 'Dark Ages'.
http://www.irishtimes.com
Friday,
December 19, 2008
Bill Corcoran in Cape Town
THE MOST striking feature about
Zimbabweans who have crossed the border into
Musina, South Africa's
northernmost town, is their depth of fatigue,
according to Irish
missionaries working in the town.
Hungry and in many cases infected with
cholera, a water-borne disease that
is lethal if left untreated, the
majority are close to collapse by the time
they cross into South Africa via
the Beitbridge border post near Musina in
Vhembe district.
Fr Aidan
McHugh, a Missionary of the Sacred Heart who has worked in the
region for
the past six years, operates a small food distribution centre in
the town
five days a week as part of his religious order's response to
Zimbabwe's
growing humanitarian crisis.
The 69-year-old from Swinford, Co Mayo says
the disintegration of Zimbabwe's
society has caused one of the worst
humanitarian situations he has seen in
South Africa since he arrived here 19
years ago, with the number of refugees
arriving in the area rising by the
day.
"When we started last March we were handing out 30 to 40 food
parcels a day,
but that has risen to 350 a day this month. You have men,
women and children
who are hungry, have no money and are sick from various
illnesses because
their have no strength left.
"Some of the people
travel over 100 miles on foot through the bush to get
here, driven on by the
fear of dying from disease, hunger or being targeted
by their own
government. Once they get here many just collapse," he told The
Irish
Times.
Last week Vhembe district was declared a disaster zone by the
Limpopo
provincial government following the revelation that 664 cases of
cholera had
been treated by local and international doctors and nurses
trying to contain
the outbreak.
The majority of the cases were
Zimbabweans who had travelled there seeking
medical help because their own
healthcare system has collapsed, due to the
country's ongoing political and
economic meltdown.
Zimbabwe's government has been paralysed for three
months due to the
inability of the country's rival political parties to
agree on the
ministerial make-up of the unity government outlined under the
powersharing
deal signed on September 15th last.
Yesterday the United
Nations confirmed that Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic is
continuing to spread,
and has now claimed the lives of 1,111 from the 20,581
cases the
organisation has recorded since the start of the outbreak last
August.
A total of 11 people have died from the disease in South
Africa so far,
while cases have also been reported in border areas in
Mozambique, Zambia
and Botswana.
The UN World Health Organisation has
said the total number of cases could
reach 60,000 unless the epidemic is
stopped, but western countries have been
slow to offer financial support
because of their mistrust of President
Robert Mugabe's regime.
At
present, Fr McHugh says, there are up to 2,000 refugees living under a
blistering sun in an open municipality-owned field in Musina, which suffers
from severe water and sanitation shortages.
"I find the whole
situation so depressing and everyone is living in fear of
catching the
disease. The people are just sitting around the campground
doing nothing but
waiting. Musina has now been renamed 'little Zimbabwe'
because of the
crisis.
"Those that have the strength move on after a few days towards
Pretoria,
Johannesburg and Cape Town where they say they are going to look
for work so
they can send money home to their families, who have
nothing."
Brother Frank Gallagher of the De La Salle Brothers has been
running a small
night shelter for boys between the ages of 10 and 15 in
Louis Trichardt, a
town about 90 miles south of Musina.
While not
exclusively for people from Zimbabwe, the Dublin-born brother says
most of
the young people staying there at the moment are from that country,
and in
need of somewhere to stay, because sleeping in the open leaves them
exposed
to being picked up by the police or attacked by thieves.
"Most of the
people we have here walked from Musina, and they use us as a
rest stop
before moving on south. The ones who are very sick we bring to the
local
hospital, but many people try and hide their illnesses from the others
in
the shelter because of the stigma. Often we only know they have been sick
because we find empty medicine bottles around the area after they have
left." Brother Gallagher adds: "The people we get here are really
appreciative for any help they receive, and we try to help as best we can.
But we are only a small group - there is only room for 14 each night - and a
drop in the ocean of need really."
John Huruva
The fight for freedom and justice in Zimbabwe is not going to end with Mugabe's departure.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December
2008 20:00
THE Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC yesterday
confronted the ruling Zanu PF
for the first time over its charges of
banditry, raising political tensions
between the two parties currently in
faltering talks to form an
all-inclusive government.
The
confrontation, which took place in parliament, has put the ball
firmly in
Zanu PF's court to prove its claims which have drawn in Sadc
countries, in
particular Botswana which has been accused of providing the
MDC-T with
military training and logistical support.
The MDC move came
hard on the heels of remarks by South African
President Kgalema Motlanthe on
Wednesday dismissing Zimbabwe's allegations
that Botswana was drilling MDC-T
insurgents to oust President Robert Mugabe
from power. He said he didn't
believe it.
In a parliamentary motion yesterday, the MDC went
head to head with
Zanu PF over the issue and urged the House of Assembly to
condemn claims of
banditry as "unfounded, irresponsible and
reprehensible".
Moving the motion, MDC-T MP for Lobengula-Magwegwe,
Siphepha Nkomo,
described the Zanu PF allegations as a "falsehood" which
could lead to
unnecessary "bloodshed".
"Aware of Zanu PF's
history of plotting, conspiracy and
counter-conspiracy, disturbed by the
attempt to create a falsehood that the
MDC is behind the case of banditry,
aware of the attempt to create
conditions to justify a crackdown on the
people of Zimbabwe and state of
emergency, concerned with the unwarranted
and unjustified attacks on the
sovereign and independent state of Botswana
by Zanu PF," Nkomo said, "we now
call this House to condemn efforts to
create an artificial atmosphere of
conflict, attrition, bloodshed and
intolerance among the peace-loving people
of Zimbabwe and also condemn
attacks on Botswana."
Motlanthe, the Sadc chairperson, said the
regional bloc did not
believe allegations by Zimbabwe that Botswana was
training the youths.
Motlanthe told journalists at his Union
Buildings office in Pretoria
on Wednesday that Zimbabwe's allegations lacked
substance.
Relations between Harare and Gaborone have been sour for
several years
but took a dangerous twist last month when Zimbabwe first
raised the
allegations.
"We do not believe that (allegation
about insurgents). We do not think
there is any substance to the
allegation," Motlanthe said. "But of course
the Zimbabwean authorities would
cite an explosion at a police station and
that kind of stuff to actually
claim that the government of Botswana could
train the MDC cadres - it's
against the Sadc principles, that is why we
really take it with a pinch of
salt."
Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa had earlier this week
claimed that
the government had gathered "compelling evidence" that Botswana
and the
MDC-T were plotting war on Mugabe.
The government
also attempted to link the shooting of Zimbabwe
Airforce commander Perrance
Shiri by unknown gunmen to the alleged plot to
effect illegal regime change
in Zimbabwe.
Motlanthe said Sadc decided to probe the banditry
allegations because
they were made by a member state.
He
said: "But of course because the allegation was made officially,
that is why
it had to be investigated but I have no doubt that it will come
to
naught."
Motlanthe said it did not make sense that the MDC-T,
which is properly
registered and has participated in several elections,
could now choose war
to gain political power.
"It (MDC-T)
is represented in parliament .there would really be no
logic in that at this
late hour they are planning for a military option.
There is an army in
Zimbabwe which cannot be confronted with people who are
trained over
weekends," said the South African leader.
A probe team headed
by the principal secretary in Swaziland's Ministry
of Defence, John Kunene,
was expected in Botswana yesterday to search for
military camps where
Zimbabwe alleges youths from the MDC-T were being
trained.
Kunene is expected to submit a report on his mission to the interstate
defence and security committee of Sadc's Organ on Politics, Defence and
Security.
Botswana and the MDC-T have denied training
bandits to fight Mugabe,
with the opposition's secretary-general Tendai Biti
saying the allegations
were a ploy by Mugabe to justify declaring a state of
emergency.
"We have no doubt as a party that they (government)
are going to
declare a state of emergency," Biti told journalists in Harare
on Monday.
"As a matter of fact we are not training
bandits."
He added: "In fact the MDC is a de facto government
of the day. We
control parliament, the chairman of the MDC, Lovemore Moyo is
the speaker of
parliament and the president of the MDC is the prime
minister-designate.
"So how does the MDC, which is controlling
government want to destroy
that?" he said.
Biti said the
MDC-T would pursue "constitutional, peaceful and
democratic means to bring
change".
Last week, the Zimbabwe government claimed that
Botswana had refused
to send a team to Harare to get the evidence of its
involvement in training
bandits, but Gaborone denied ever being
invited.
Botswana's Minister of Foreign Affairs and
International Cooperation,
Phandu Skelemani, said the country was not aware
of an invitation extended
to it by Zimbabwe to see the
evidence.
Skelemani said: "What invitation? To go to Harare to
do what? In the
first place, the terms of reference of the investigating
team spell out
clearly where the investigations should be
conducted.
They ought to be conducted in Gaborone where, in the
wild dreams of
the Zimbabwean authorities, there are camps where MDC-T
cadres are receiving
training."
He said Zimbabwe had failed
to produce the evidence.
"On the other hand we insisted that
the investigating work should
start here as Botswana is the place where we
are supposed to be training
MDC-T cadres. There was never an agreement that
the team should visit
Zimbabwe," said Skelemani.
Motlanthe
also disclosed that Sadc had put in place a new mechanism
for delivering
urgent humanitarian aid to crisis-hit Zimbabwe.
Motlanthe said
financial and material aid would be channelled through
a new structure
called the Zimbabwe Humanitarian and Development Assistance
Framework once
an inclusive government is formed.
The framework, a
non-partisan agency, would comprise government,
non-profit organisations,
religious leaders and agricultural unions.
Every member of the
15-nation grouping was expected to contribute to
the effort "in accordance
with (their) resources and capabilities".
Motlanthe said Zanu
PF and the two MDC formations were supportive of
the
initiative.
"President Mugabe accepts also that the situation
is very dire and
that the people of Zimbabwe need assistance to relieve them
of the
deprivation they've had to endure for some time," Motlanthe
said.
The severe cholera outbreak that has killed around 1 000
people since
August had compounded an already bad situation characterised by
serious food
shortages, he said.
BY DUMISANI MULEYA AND
CONSTANTINE CHIMAKURE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December 2008
19:52
STATE security agents probing last Saturday's attack on
Air Marshal
Perrance Shiri have reportedly linked the incident to either
Zanu PF's
succession battle or alleged MDC banditry.
Reliable sources told the Zimbabwe Independent that the probe team -
made up
of the police, Central Intelligence Organisation and Military
Intelligence -
was pursuing the two lines of inquiry and were tasked to get
to the bottom
of the matter.
The MDC-Tsvangirai has since denied involvement
in banditry and the
state's attempt to link it to Shiri's
shooting.
The Air Force commander was shot in the arm and was
reportedly
recovering at Manyame Air Base Hospital.
The sources
said the investigations have so far revealed that Shiri
was shot at by at
least four gunmen as he was driving past Pote Bridge along
the
Harare-Bindura road. He was on his way to his farm in Mashonaland
Central.
"There are two lines of inquiry being pursued,"
one of the sources
said. "What is not in doubt at the moment is that this
was meant to be a
political assassination, but the question is by who? There
is suspicion that
the shooting could be linked to the infighting in Zanu PF
or to the MDC,
which the state claims is training youths in Botswana to
destabilise the
country."
Home Affairs minister Kembo
Mohadi this week said the attempt on Shiri's
life revealed that his
assailants were trained and there was a clear pattern
to destabilise the
country through acts of terrorism.
"The attack on Air Marshal
Shiri appears to be a build-up of terror
attacks targeting high-profile
persons, government officials, government
establishments and public
transportation systems," Mohadi said.
The sources said the
probe team has collected bullets and shells from
the scene of the shooting
incident and sent them for ballistic testing.
Shiri, the
sources said, pulled out a service pistol and fired back
soon after the
attack prompting his assailants to bolt.
He reportedly phoned
Prisons Commissioner Paradzai Zimhondi and
informed him of the attack before
seeking help from surrounding farms. He
was later taken to Manyame for
medical attention.
Shiri, Zimhondi, police commissioner
Augustine Chihuri, army commander
Constantine Chiwenga and CIO director
general Happyton Bonyongwe allegedly
spearheaded the re-election of
President Robert Mugabe during the
presidential poll run-off on June
27.
The countdown to the poll was littered with violence that saw
Tsvangirai pulling out of the race, but the election went ahead
regardless.
The MDC-T said the attempt on Shiri's life should
be blamed on the
internal conflicts in Zanu PF.
In a statement, the
party said Zanu PF was now "fundamentally
exhausted and tired" and
"exhausted nationalism creates conditions for
internal destabilisation and a
discourse of internal civil conflict."
The MDC-T said Zanu PF
had failed to undergo periodic rebirth and
renewal and had remained trapped
in a modicum of sterility, banality and
dishonesty.
"In
short, it is the unresolved issue of succession in Zanu PF that is
at the
root cause of the violence against Perrance Shiri and the dislocation
in
Zanu PF," the party said. "In our view, there are so many individuals
and
factions vying to succeed the aged Mugabe.
However, each of those
factions has a control and influence on members
of the army. Therefore, Zanu
PF factionalism and unresolved succession
battles are also being played out
in the military junta."
The MDC-T said the arsenal used against
Shiri could only have been
owned and possessed by members of the Zimbabwe
National Army.
Efforts to get comment from police spokesperson
Wayne Bvudzijena were
in vain at the time of going to press
yesterday.
BY CONSTANTINE CHIMAKURE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December
2008 19:46
THE state this week pressed ahead with the prosecution of
white
commercial farmers for allegedly staying put on gazetted land despite
a Sadc
Tribunal ruling last month that they had no case to answer because
the
country's land reform programme undermined the rule of
law.
This comes amid reports that the then acting
attorney-general (AG)
Barat Patel had advised the government to abide by the
tribunal ruling.
President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday appointed
deputy AG (Criminal
Division) Johannes Tomana as substantive
attorney-general and Patel will
return to the High Court bench where he is a
judge.
Four farmers, among them Thomas Beattie and Colin
Cloete, appeared
before a Chinhoyi court yesterday, but magistrate Tinashe
Ndokera postponed
the matter to January 5 as state papers were not in order
for trial to kick
off.
The court heard that prosecutor
Tawanda Zvekare had left court
documents in Harare and, therefore, the
matter could not proceed.
Beattie and Cloete were some of the
farmers who approached the Sadc
Tribunal seeking redress after they were
served with eviction orders while
others were evicted from their farms by
the government.
The tribunal ruled that the action of the
government was driven by
racism and contravened a treaty of
Sadc.
The ruling read:"We therefore hold that in implementing
(Constitutional) Amendment 17, the respondent (Zimbabwe government) has
discriminated against the applicants (farmers) on the basis of race and
thereby violated its obligation under Article 6 (2) of the (Sadc)
Treaty"
The Namibia-based tribunal ruled that the farmers
evicted from their
land and those who received notices of evictions should
return or stay put
on the farms because Zimbabwe's land reform undermined
the rule of law.
The Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment Act 17,
which became law in
2005, nationalised all land, and the Gazzetted Land
(Consequential
Provisions) Act served all remaining white farmers with
eviction notices.
The notices that have since expired gave Beattie and
his co-accused a
90-day grace period to wrap up business and vacate their
properties from the
day of receiving them.
If found guilty,
the four face up to two years in jail.
BY LUCIA
MAKAMURE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December 2008
19:20
ZANU PF's central committee has accused the Morgan Tsvangirai-led
MDC
of refusing to "work towards the resolution of the country's
challenges",
hoping that the United Nations will intervene and call for
fresh elections.
The accusations were made in a report tabled
yesterday at the
beginning of Zanu PF's three-day national conference in
Bindura.
Zanu PF and the two MDC formations signed a unity
government deal on
September 15, but it is yet to be consummated because
Tsvangirai is
insisting on equitable power-sharing, arguing that his party
cannot be a
junior partner in the new administration.
"At
present, MDC-T has been reluctant to positively participate and
contribute
towards the resolution of the country's challenges," read the
central
committee report. "By so doing, the opposition hopes that a way
might be
found calling for a United Nations-supervised general
election."
Zanu PF averred that the strategy was being
complemented by opposition
sympathisers in the education and health delivery
services currently on
strike.
"For health delivery service
workers, the industrial action is being
undertaken at a time when the
country is facing cholera," the report said.
"The cholera outbreak has been
hyped to attract the international attention
which has culminated in the
attempted assessment mission by a delegation
comprising former United
Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, former US
president Jimmy Carter and
Gracia Machael."
The committee blasted unnamed Western
countries for allegedly
financing Sadc member states to strain diplomatic
relations with Harare.
Botswana has been highly critical of President Robert
Mugabe's government
after his controversial victory in the June 27 one-man
presidential run-off
poll.
President Ian Khama said his
country did not recognise Mugabe as the
legitimate president of Zimbabwe and
the ex-army general vowed to boycott
all Sadc Summits the 84-year-old leader
will attend.
Zanu PF, in the report, claimed that the country's
economic problems
were a result of illegally imposed sanctions, which the
MDC-T and its
associated civil societies advocated.
"The
effects of economic sanctions manifest themselves as foreign
currency
shortages, contracting industrial capacity to manufacture, high
levels of
unemployment, hyperinflationary rate, crumbling health and
education
delivery systems and loss of tradition markets such as the
European Union,"
the report added.
Turning to the state of the party, the
central committee said
factionalism was still rife in Zanu PF and was
affecting at least five
provinces.
"The party has been
experiencing factionalism within its ranks for a
long time but these came to
the fore when two politburo members, namely Dr
Simba Makoni and Dumiso
Dabengwa, defected from the party to launch the
Mavambo project," the
committee said. "The effects of their defection are
still posing a serious
threat to the party."
The central committee said national
chairman John Nkomo's office was
instructed to set aside outstanding
disciplinary cases and lift suspensions
on members to promote unity and
harmony before the March 29 harmonised
elections.
Beneficiaries of the pardon were former party provincial chairpersons
linked
to the controversial Tsholotsho meeting of November 2004, allegedly
meant to
re-arrange the Zanu PF presidium: July Moyo, Jacob Mudenda, Mike
Madiro,
Themba Ncube and Jabulani Sibanda. In the same report, Zanu PF's
legal
department said it had financially assisted party supporters "caught
up in
cross fire of election-related violence" in the countdown to the June
27
run-off.
Turning to agriculture, the central committee
recommended the seizure
of idle farms, most of them grabbed by government
officials and Zanu PF
supporters during the violent 2000 land
invasions.
"Repossess plots with evidence of gross under utilisation
and re-offer
the same plots to those on the waiting list," the committee
urged.
It also blamed "unviable prices" for agricultural
produce,
unavailability of inputs, poor planning and deteriorating
infrastructure for
declining productivity in the sector despite quasi-fiscal
interventions by
the central bank.
Government's lethargic
approach in announcing prices for bulk
agricultural produce has often been
blamed by commercial farmers.
The central committee said an
unattractive foreign exchange policy and
Reserve Bank delays in paying an
excess of US$30 million owed to gold miners
could result in a 10% decline in
production in the mining sector.
"Therefore, to salvage the
situation, it is urgent that viability be
restored through adoption of a
viable exchange regime," the report
recommended.
Zanu PF
also blamed disorganisation and lack of funds on its proxy
labour union, the
Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU), for failing to
hoodwink
impoverished workers to support government policies widely
criticised for
the unprecedented economic meltdown.
Instead, the committee
credited the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions
for being a "dominant" labour
federation.
"Due to organisational and funding shortcomings,
the ZFTU has failed
to make a significant impact on the labour market," the
report stated.
"Concomitant with the articulation of such an ideology, the
party needs to
develop a strategy for organising the worker into structures
and programmes
that are effective not only in representing worker interests,
but also
aligning with labour in a practical way."
The
central committee also recommended government to effect a
"systematic
remuneration criterion" for teachers, amid fears that most
government
schools could fail to open in January.
So desperate is the mass
emigration of qualified teachers that
government re-hired 488 retired
teachers to ameliorate the brain drain to
cover for an estimated 15 000
teachers that have fled the harsh economic
environment.
The
Zanu PF decision-making body outside congress also proposed the
establishment of a "Consolidated Educational Fund" for intern
teachers.
The committee said information and communication
technology equipment
donated by Mugabe to improve computer literacy at rural
schools remained
unused due to lack of electricity.
Mugabe
is today expected to officially open the conference to be
attended by over 5
000 Zanu PF members drawn from the party's district and
provincial
executives, central committee, politburo and national
consultative members,
youths and women's leagues.
BY BERNARD MPOFU
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December 2008
18:22
ZIMBABWE'S decade-long crisis has deepened despite the year
opening
pregnant with hope for a permanent political solution to spur
economic and
social revival.
The majority of people are
wallowing in abject poverty in a country
with an economy characterised by
hyperinflation, spiralling prices of basic
commodities -- most of them in
short supply -- an unemployment rate of over
80%, and the collapse of the
health and education sectors.
Two elections were held --
harmonised elections on March 29 and a
presidential run-off on June 27 --
but failed to settle the political
impasse between President Robert Mugabe's
Zanu PF and the Morgan
Tsvangirai-led MDC.
The country is
edging towards a tipping point with virtually
everything going down, even
though the year had started with high hopes.
Former South
African President Thabo Mbeki had managed to bring
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and
the smaller faction of the MDC led by Arthur
Mutambara to the table to
hammer out a political solution to the country's
crisis.
The three parties agreed on Constitutional Amendment No 18 for
harmonised
polls and to amend draconian laws, the Access to Information and
Protection
of Privacy Act, the Public Order and Security Act and
Broadcasting Service
Act. The import of the agreements was to create an
environment for free and
fair elections in line with the Sadc guidelines and
principles on democratic
elections.
Zanu PF and the two MDCs also agreed on a
transitional constitution,
but it was never adopted after Mugabe
unilaterally declared March 29 the day
for the harmonised polls and insisted
that a new supreme law should be
crafted after the elections. The two MDC
formations wanted the elections to
be held in June. The talks between the
parties were then stalled.
On February 5, Zanu PF was shaken
when former Finance minister and
politburo member Simba Makoni broke ranks
with the party and announced his
presidential ambitions. Zanu PF immediately
fired him from the party.
A few weeks later, another politburo
member, Dumiso Dabengwa, and
former Speaker of Parliament Cyril Ndebele came
out in support of Makoni's
ambition.
Zanu PF primary
elections to select parliamentary candidates claimed
the scalps of senior
ministers, among them former Education minister Aeneas
Chigwedere and
Agriculture minister Rugare Gumbo, amid allegations of vote
buying and
rigging.
The MDC-Tsvangirai primaries were also not spared the
allegations of
vote buying and to a large extent imposition of
candidates.
The countdown to the March 29 elections was
characterised by general
peace, although local observes -- the Zimbabwe
Electoral Support Network and
the Zimbabwe Peace Project -- said there were
isolated cases of violence in
parts of Manicaland and the Midlands. Mugabe,
Tsvangirai, Makoni and Langton
Towungana battled it out in the presidential
election on March 29, which
later turned controversial.
For
the first time since Independence, Zanu PF lost its parliamentary
majority
to the opposition. The MDC-Tsvangirai won 100 seats against Zanu PF's
99 and
the MDC-Mutambara's 10. The other seat went to independent legislator
Jonathan Moyo.
A number of ministers were defeated in the
parliamentary elections.
These included Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa,
Mines minister Amos
Midzi, Energy minister Michael Nyambuya, Mechanisation
minister Joseph Made,
Women's Affairs minister Oppah Muchinguri, Interactive
minister Chen
Chimutengwende and Water Resources minister Munacho
Mutezo.
But with change on the horizon, the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission
(ZEC) was slow to announce the results of the presidential polls,
amid
claims by Tsvangirai that he won convincingly.
ZEC
insisted it was still counting, collating and verifying the votes.
It took
the commission over a month to announce the results, which confirmed
that
Tsvangirai had out-polled Mugabe, but had failed to garner the 50% plus
votes to win the presidency.
Tsvangirai polled over 47% of the
total votes against Mugabe's 43% and
Makoni's 8%. The MDC-Tsvangirai alleged
that the results were rigged. While
ZEC was holding on to the results,
reports emerged that Zanu PF, using state
agents were preparing for a
"military like" campaign for a presidential
election run-off, which the
commission later set for June 27.
Terror camps were reportedly set
up throughout the country by state
security agents, war veterans and Zanu PF
militia.
In the countdown to the run-off more than 100 opposition
supporters
were allegedly killed, 200 000 internally displaced and at least
10 000
injured. Zanu PF also claimed that some of its supporters were
murdered and
others intimidated by suspected MDC-Tsvangirai youths in areas
like Bikita,
Shamva and in Manicaland.
While violence was
stalking the nation, the humanitarian crisis set in
and was worsened when
the government banned the operation of humanitarian
agencies on June 4 over
allegations that they were campaigning for
Tsvangirai to win the
run-off.
The ban left millions of poverty-stricken villagers
exposed to serious
food shortages and Unicef reported that about 100 000
child-headed families
were affected while 1,3 million orphans could not
access free education,
food and healthcare.
Despite the
violence and the deteriorating humanitarian situation,
Mbeki stunned the
world when he declared that there was no crisis in
Zimbabwe.
Some victims of the political violence sought
sanctuary at the
MDC-Tsvangirai headquarters in Harare and the South African
and American
embassies. Due to the increased violence, Tsvangirai pulled out
of the
run-off, which was condemned worldwide as a sham after ZEC went ahead
with
it and Mugabe won 85% of the votes cast.
The
condemnation resulted in Sadc, the Africa Union and the United
Nations
calling for fresh talks for the formation of a unity government.
The talks culminated in the signing of a memorandum of understanding
between
Zanu PF and the two MDC formations on July 21 and then an
all-inclusive
government deal on September 15.
The deal is yet to take off with
Tsvangirai insisting that he would
not be party to the unity government
unless there is equitable distribution
of ministerial portfolios, governors'
posts and the composition of the
National Security Council, among other
outstanding issues.
As Mugabe and Tsvangirai grappled for
power, the humanitarian crisis
deteriorated and the cholera outbreak made
the situation worse.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said an
estimated 5,1 million people
would face hunger between January and March
2009. Government's own estimates
put the figure at 8,2
million.
The UN this week said cholera has claimed close to
1000 people since
its outbreak in August.
This year also
saw the collapse of the public health sector in the
country. Government
hospitals and clinics faced a critical shortage of basic
drugs, food, water,
surgical equipment and above all staff.
Specialist doctors,
nurses and nurse aides were on strike for part of
the year demanding better
working conditions and to be paid in foreign
currency.
Their
strike saw most wards in government hospitals closed and people
failing to
receive treatment.
On the other hand, private hospitals were charging
medical fees in
foreign currency -- beyond the reach of many. The education
sector was not
spared the political impasse.
Primary and
secondary schools, state universities and college students
spent the better
part of the year without receiving any education. Teachers
and lecturers
went on strike and teachers' unions called for the
cancellation of
examinations this year, but that was ignored by Zimsec.
Results of Grade 7
examinations are yet to be released.
The opening of state
universities for the last semester were delayed
due to a number of reasons,
among them shortage of staff. The cash crisis
did not spare ordinary
Zimbabweans.
The central bank has throughout the year set strict
daily maximum cash
withdrawal limits for individuals and companies. The
amounts were at the
mercy of spiralling inflation.
The
situation was worsened by the licensing of foreign currency shops,
which
resulted in them charging for most goods and services in hard
currency.
Last month Mugabe re-appointed central bank governor Gideon Gono
to serve
another five-year term despite concerns from the MDC-Tsvangirai and
economic
analysts that his policies had resulted in the current
hyperinflationary
environment.
Tsvangirai is yet to return home after attending a
Sadc extraordinary
summit in South Africa on November 9 and is now a guest
of Botswana
President Ian Khama.
He insisted last week that
he would only return to Zimbabwe if the
government issues him a new
passport.
On the other hand, the government said if the MDC-T refused
to support
Constitutional Amendment No19 Bill in parliament it would call
for fresh
elections. The Bill gives legal effect to the power-sharing pact,
but the
MDC-Tsvangirai said it would only support it if outstanding issues
were
resolved.
With the year coming to an end, the
MDC-Tsvangirai said there was
renewed violence against its supporters. A
number of people from the civil
society and the MDC-T have been kidnapped.
Among them is Jestina Mukoko, ZPP
director. Court orders to produce the
victims have been ignored.
Last Saturday, Air Force commander
Perrence Shiri reportedly escaped
an assassination attack on his way to his
farm in Mashonaland Central. The
state alleged that a gunmen shot at
him.
This came amid claims by Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa
that
government had "compelling evidence" that the MDC-Tsvangirai was
training
youths in Botswana to destabilise the country. Botswana and the
MDC-Tsvangirai have since dismissed the allegations as a fabrication. South
African president Kgalema Motlanthe said he didn't believe the
claims.
One can only wonder what 2009 has in store for
hard-pressed
Zimbabweans!
BY WONGAI ZHANGAZHA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December 2008
18:18
HARARE -- once dubbed the sunshine city with an abundance of
clean
water, good roads and well-manicured gardens -- is today in the world
news,
not because of its beauty, but its association with the deadly cholera
outbreak.
The capital has since October been under the
spotlight after the
outbreak of the epidemic largely blamed on the Zimbabwe
National Water
Authority (Zinwa)'s incapability to supply clean potable
water, and unblock
sewer pipes.
The cholera outbreak has
since been declared a national disaster and
has so far claimed an estimated
1 000 lives.]
The outbreak in Harare epitomises the dearth of
service delivery in
the capital in the past decade -- things have literally
fallen apart. Harare
has become hazardous to its estimated three million
residents and this has
seen the diplomatic community, civil society and the
corporate world coming
in to clean up the city in an effort to combat the
highly contagious
disease.
The aid organisations have seen it
easier to work directly with the
Harare City Council and not with central
government. This has not gone down
well with government officials who
believe that all aid must be channelled
through government
ministries.
In an interview this week Harare mayor Much Masunda
said the
diplomatic community, civil society and the corporate world had
come
together to help clean up the capital and reclaim its past
status.
Masunda said his appeal to the diplomatic community to
help in the
fight against cholera was being heeded.
"I told them
that they are stakeholders in the city as they live here,
work here and
their residences are here," Masunda, a respected lawyer, said.
"The
diplomats pledged that they will channel their help to us through
United
Nations entities."
The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef)
had earlier this week
received more than US$20 million, which was used to
procure a four months
supply of aluminum sulphate to be used in the
treatment of water in the
country, and procurement of water
bowsers.
Masunda said the chemical supplies are already
trickling into the
country and that Unicef has asked the government for
unfettered access to
all affected suburbs in the city, especially in the
high density suburbs. A
non-governmental Dutch organisation, Hivos, has
offered US$200 000 to
sponsor the cleaning up of Budiriro, where the cholera
outbreak impacted
heavily.
Masunda said the revival of
Harare's twinning arrangement with the
German city of Munich this year had
resulted in 400 000 euros worth of drugs
being delivered to Beatrice Road
Infectious Diseases hospital for
distributions to satellite clinics. He said
a further 100 000 euros in aid
from Germany was also on its
way.
The city of Harare has also started to rehabilitate
broken-down
vehicles with technical assistance from the German organisation
GTZ.
The first case of cholera in Harare was reported in
Budiriro and at
one point the army dispatched soldiers to clean up the area
and banned all
street vendors from the suburb. However, because of the
economic meltdown,
the exercise was futile, as vending is the source of
income for many
unemployed people living in the high density
suburbs.
In an effort to spruce up the image of the city, Radar
Holdings and
Border Timbers have offered to give for free all the material
needed to
patch up potholes in Harare while Lafarge proposed to repair all
potholes
along the Acturus road from Kamfinsa to Manresa road and to collect
garbage
from Mabvuku.
Masunda said the council's clinics,
which are being used as quarantine
centres for cholera, were getting help
from the Red Cross and Celebrate
Health -- a subsidiary of Celebration
Centre -- who have offered to
supplement the income of health service
workers in hard currency.
The mayor said two private engineers
- chief executive officer of
Hubert Davies, Richard Maasdorp, and KW
Blasting boss Keith Battye --
offered to carry out a study on long-term
solutions to the water woes.
The engineers were currently waiting
to be granted access to some
documents in the custody of Zinwa. Most
suburbs have gone for more than
three months without running water and most
roads are now littered with
potholes, endangering the lives of motorists and
damaging vehicles.
One would be forgiven for dismissing as a
dream reports that Harare's
beauty once captivated world leaders in the
early 1990s when two high
profile events were hosted in the city -- the
Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting in 1991 and the All-Africa Games in
1995.
During the All-Africa Games, Harare hosted more than 6
000 athletes
from 46 countries, but 13 years later the "sunshine" of the
capital has been
eclipsed by piles of uncollected garbage, and burst water
and blocked sewer
pipes, which are now a common sight in the central
business district.
On almost every major road in Harare's
central business district there
is a burst water pipe resulting in the loss
of precious treated water.
Flowing raw sewage is a common sight
in Mufakose, Mabvuku, Tafara,
Highfield (Canaan Engineering) and
Dzivarasekwa -- some of the country's
poorest townships.
Residents in Mabvuku have resorted to digging drainage trenches across
their
yards to avoid raw sewage from spilling into their homes.
Potholes, commonly referred to as "craters" because of their deep
nature,
have established themselves as permanent features on the capital's
roads.
The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) in
a report published
this year said deep potholes found in most roads in
Highfield (Canaan
Engineering), Mufakose, Kambuzuma and Mabvuku were
becoming a cause of
concern for motorists.
"According to
our reports, the council has not yet started any work to
repair the roads.
Whilst CHRA appreciates that the council inherited a 'dead'
municipality
from Ignatius Chombo's (Minister of Local government) illegal
and corrupt
commissions, we urge the council to commence the road
maintenance programme
and save the motorists from the nightmare they
continue to experience as
they drive on the roads," said CHRA in the report.
BY LUCIA
MAKAMURE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December 2008
17:58
ZIMBABWE is going through profound and unprecedented multiple
crises
and each one of them is simultaneously broadening and deepening.
Professor
Steve Hanke of the Cato Institute tells us that Zimbabwe is the
first
country in the 21st century to hyperinflate.
The last
official inflation data were released in July and stood at
231 million % but
at the beginning of October Hanke put it at 516
quintillion % (516 followed
by 18 zeros) and said it was the second worst in
history.
The
recent deadly cholera epidemic is the most visible symptom of
comprehensive
institutional decay but there are many other invisible
epidemics that
tragically and daily afflict virtually every sector of the
Zimbabwean
society.
Two thousand and eight was a watershed year in many
respects. First,
it signalled regime rupture and the breakdown of Zanu PF's
hegemonic
stranglehold on Zimbabwe politics.
It also gestured
the beginning of the decomposition of Zimbabwe as a
de facto one
party-state, which the country has been since Independence when
Zanu PF
systematically embarked on the fusion of the ruling party with the
state.
With each passing year the line between the party and
the state grew
thinner and thinner until at the time of the March 2008
elections the two
were hardly distinguishable.
In fact, the
difficulties attendant on the September 15 Interparty
Political Agreement --
also referred to as the Global Political Agreement
(GPA) -- hinge on this
structural reality that for the GPA to be
operational, it demands an
effective divorce between Zanu PF and the
Zimbabwe state. Disentangling Zanu
PF from the state is part of Zimbabwe's
agonising and protracted transition;
it's no easy task.
Allied to the above point is another
cardinal fact which is that March
29 confirmed a massive swing in political
allegiance away from Zanu PF to
the two MDC formations.
The
latter now control the lower and more powerful House of Assembly
albeit with
a wafer thin majority. The opposition forces also captured a
majority of the
local council seats triggering considerable - but as it
turned out premature
-- jubilation among those keen on regime change via the
ballot
box.
Then all hell broke loose and many Zimbabweans experienced a
Hobbesian
moment where life is solitary, nasty, brutish and
short.
The results of the presidential election were indeterminate,
prompting
a run-off election that was mired in unprecedented political
violence and
intimidation that prompted the withdrawal of Morgan Tsvangirai
from the race
leaving the other contender, incumbent Robert Mugabe, as the
only candidate
and winner of that blood-stained June 27 run-off
election.
The March harmonised elections were held against the
background of a
year-long Sadc political mediation process whose flagship
but unstated aim
was to unblock Zimbabwe's blocked democracy by creating
conditions
auspicious enough for free and fair elections and whose result
would be
beyond dispute.
The elections failed to settle with
any finality the question of who
should legitimately reside in State
House.
What the ballot box failed to settle Thabo Mbeki sought to
deliver via
the Sadc dialogue process whose first fruit was the Memorandum
of
Understanding on July 21 followed two months later by the September 15
landmark political settlement.
Again, many people celebrated
this momentous development, and again,
this proved premature. Since then,
developments have tragically moved in the
wrong direction, that of the
incipient Somaliarisation of the country.
The year 2008 was
therefore one of sharp contrasts. It began with most
Zimbabweans euphoric
about the prospect of regime change via the ballot box,
a trust (misplaced
it turned out to be) in the supremacy of the ballot over
the
bullet.
The litmus test of a mature electoral democracy is when the
bullet
supports the ballot and is not a substitute for it. In the ugly
inter-election period (between April and June 2008), the bullet was not only
in competition with but sought to supplant the ballot.
For this
and other unsavoury reasons, and to many Zimbabweans, 2008
was the nastiest
year since Independence. Will 2009 be nastier? What does
2009 portend for
Zimbabwe?
The starting point is that Zimbabwe is in transition;
a difficult,
precarious and unsteady transition from the present regime type
to another.
The embodiment of this transition is the Interparty Political
Agreement
which has just been gazetted as part of Constitutional Amendment
No. 19
(CA19).
To the extent that CA19 seeks to remake Zimbabwe
politically by
reconfiguring power, the IPA is a regime change
mechanism.
A regime is essentially a set of rules of the game and
in this case
the IPA is about the rules of the political game through which
the three
political gladiators seek to remake Zimbabwe in their
image.
More significantly, the IPA is not about the end-state but
is a
framework that facilitates and guides the motion from one dispensation
(the
present) to another. So, it is a transition instrument, and that places
Zimbabwe firmly in the category of countries in political transition but a
transition that has many difficult though not insurmountable
barriers.
As we storm into 2009, a prognosis of what is in
store for Zimbabweans
may be in order.
Will the IPA survive the
increasingly inhospitable political
environment and the vicious reaction of
the state to real and perceived
threats to national security? What will
Zimbabwe be in 2009? The Zimbabwe
situation is and will be very fluid and
jelly-like in the short term.
One thing for sure is that Zimbabwe
will remain on a transition path
for the simple reason that the transition
that was triggered by the March 11
2007 events is irreversible and
unstoppable.
At best, it can be slowed down which is what both Zanu
PF and MDC-T
are doing through their stalling tactics and as part of their
brinkmanship.
However, the speed of the transition and its
sustainability will
depend largely on the configuration of power in Zanu-PF
and MDC-T in the
next few weeks. Both parties are populated by hawks --
hardliners who are
keen on sabotaging the IPA but for different reasons --
and doves or
softliners who would like the normalisation of the abnormal and
anarchic
situation in the country.
There is tension between the
two tendencies in each party (but
especially in Zanu PF) and which of the
two tendencies emerges triumphant in
the gladiation for supremacy will very
much determine the fate of Zimbabwe
in 2009 and beyond. The future of IPA
itself will rest on how the above
tension is resolved.
What
is also starkly evident to most fair-minded Zimbabweans is that
the
electoral route is an unviable and thorny route.
Fresh elections
are clearly not an answer under present conditions,
conditions that over the
years have produced elections without choice. Can
anyone who is anybody
seriously envisage elections with choice in
present-day Zimbabwe? Who would
benefit from such pre-doomed and vacuous
elections? In short, it would be a
reckless path to take.
In any case neither Sadc nor the African
Union is likely to endorse
another electoral contest that is likely to
re-enact the bloody
inter-elections saga without resolving the legitimacy
question with any
finality.
My prognosis is that 2009 will
witness a firmer political transition
away from resilient authoritarianism
and towards democratic opening.
Further, I see no other vehicle for this
than the Global Political
Agreement.
It is an instrument --
albeit a second-best instrument -- for
unblocking Zimbabwe's blocked
democratisation. It is on the basis of this
that I am in the optimistic
camp. Whatever lies in the womb of 2009 is not
likely to be uglier than
2008.
The real burden for 2009 and beyond will be addressing
the knotty and
entrenched problems associated with (1) the capture and abuse
of the state
by political gladiators, (2) the de-institutionalisation of
state structures
and institutions, (3) the militarisation of politics and
society, (4) the
politicisation of the military and security, and (5) the
isolation and
"unsplendid" isolation of Zimbabwe and the demonisation of
Zimbabweans in
the regional and international community.
Getting Zimbabwe back on track will be the country's supreme
challenge. It
will be difficult but not impossible.
Professor Masunungure
lectures in political science at the University
of Zimbabwe.
BY
ELDRED MASUNUNGURE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December 2008 17:54
GOVERNMENT'S pronouncement at the
weekend that it will call for fresh
harmonised elections if Constitutional
Amendment No19 fails to get through
parliament is premised on President
Robert Mugabe's desire to resolve the
ineffectuality of his presidency
without the control of the House of
Assembly.
Political
analysts said without the control of parliament, Mugabe's
presidency would
be ineffectual in the long run and hence the threat of
fresh elections if
the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC uses its legislators in the
House to block the
passage of the Bill.
The Bill was gazetted on Saturday to give
legal effect to the
September 15 power-sharing deal between Mugabe,
Tsvangirai and the leader of
the smaller formation of the MDC, Arthur
Mutambara.
On Monday, MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti said
his party would
not support the Bill in parliament until outstanding issues
on the
power-sharing deal are resolved, adding that they would welcome a
fresh
presidential poll as long as it takes place under international
supervision.
Among the sticking points Biti cited were the
allocation of
ministerial positions, appointment of governors and the
constitutive
composition of the National Security Council.
"The call for an election is an honest submission by Zanu PF that it
can't
be the government of the day," Biti told journalists in Harare.
"However,
the only unfinished business is the run-off presidential election
of June
27, not the harmonised elections of March 29. The next election
should be
done under international supervision of the United Nations,
African Union
and Sadc."
Alex Magaisa, a Zimbabwean lawyer based in the UK,
said Zanu PF was
now talking of new elections to deal with its major
handicap - the inability
to control the House of Assembly, where the two MDC
formations enjoy a
simple majority.
"There are two centres
of power right now - the presidency and
parliament," Magaisa observed. "Zanu
PF controls the presidency, but the
MDCs control the key part of parliament
- the House of Assembly."
He said Zanu PF had never faced this
situation before and had no clue
how it could manage the country without
control of parliament.
"I am very certain that if Zanu PF had control
of parliament, they
would have done what they did previously and gone ahead
to form a
government. After all, they are still in power!" Magaisa argued.
"So an
election would seem to be a way to wrest control of parliament from
the MDC
to ensure that it can do as it wishes - kuita madiro akamba, as we
say in
Shona!"
Some of the analysts said it seemed Zanu PF
was not serious on having
fresh elections, but realised that options for it
were limited.
"The writing is on the wall and clearly without
the support of MDC-T,
no inclusive government can be put in place and more
importantly the Sadc
resolution is quite explicit that no party can proceed
unilaterally,"
Zimbabwe-born South Africa businessman Mutumwa Mawere
argued.
"It is Zanu PF that needs legitimacy and, therefore, it is
not in a
position to threaten anyone, but must acknowledge the reality of
what is at
stake. It is MDC-T that wants fresh presidential elections and
not general
elections as Zanu PF is now proposing."
Mawere
said Mugabe knew that the world would not embrace him without
the cover of
an inclusive government.
"He also knows that it would be risky
to proceed with presidential
elections without the general election, as this
will not give him the two
years that he would want prior to the general
elections," Mawere observed.
"If the constitutional amendment fails to pass
in parliament, Mugabe has
geared himself to run for at least two years on
the basis that a general
election would be the minimum required to resolve
the political impasse."
Magaisa was of the opinion that Mugabe
intended to use violence to win
the elections if they were to be
held.
He argued: "They will up the ante in terms of violence
and
intimidation and seek to win at all costs. They will not accept
international supervision; rather it will be more of the charade we have
seen in the past and although it will solve absolutely nothing, it will give
Zanu PF and Mugabe a platform to rule without being hamstrung by a powerful
opposition.
"Right now Zanu PF's biggest problem is not
that the economy is in
very bad shape but that for the purposes of power
they cannot control what
goes on in parliament. If they did, they would just
go ahead and form a
government as if everything were
normal."
University of Zimbabwe political science professor
Eldred Masunungure
said Zanu PF's dangling of the prospect of fresh
elections was part of its
brinkmanship.
"As things stand
now, I view this option as more of theoretical than
an empirical
possibility," Masunungure said. "It is possible, but highly
improbable. In
any case, Zanu PF is at its weakest since Independence and it
would be
suicidal for the party to call elections in an environment of
multiple
crises that are all blamed on it.
The party can only be serious
with calling for elections if it has
developed suicidal
tendencies."
He argued that national resources were not also available
for the
elections.
"I don't see Sadc or the African Union
endorsing such a reckless
decision," Masunungure predicted.
Another
political scientist Michael Mhike said the power-sharing deal
was on the
verge of collapsing and would be very difficult to salvage given
the
position of the MDC-T on the one hand and that of Zanu PF and the Sadc
on
the other.
"Every time I look on the horizon I see the sun
setting on Zimbabwe
as far as the global political agreement is concerned,"
Mhike said. "And I
fear it will be a very long and dark night before we see
sunrise. That's not
only because of Zanu PF's intransigence but also because
of what appears to
be a lack of proper direction within the
MDC."
He argued that the MDC had a clear choice - to go ahead
with the unity
government deal or to cut ties completely and look for other
strategies, if
any.
Magaisa agreed with Mhike and said the
recent MDC-T national executive
resolutions did not show much light on the
power-sharing pact.
"They (MDC-T) complain bitterly about the
fundamental breaches of the
deal and say the negotiations are stalled, but
just the week before they
were in Pretoria discussing the Bill and we heard
thereafter that it was
left to the principals to finalise the small
details," Magaisa said. "Yet
they threaten to oppose it in parliament and
still quite incredibly, say
they are still committed to the negotiation
process, even whilst it
expresses anger at the abductions and the handling
of the cholera epidemic.
Where are we exactly?"
He said it
seemed the MDC-T was sticking to the charade of the talks
only because they
have no other viable option.
Masunungure was of the opinion
that the power-sharing agreement could
be rescued and accused the MDC-T of
grandstanding and engaging in its own
brinkmanship by asserting that it wont
support the Bill.
"The reality on the ground is that there are no real
alternatives to
the deal, this is true of the MDC-T as it is of Zanu PF," he
added.
Masunungure said if fresh elections have to be held they
should be
harmonised.
"Calling for one election
automatically triggers all the four
elections (in line with Constitutional
Amendment No18) unless if it's a
by-election. You ought to realise that even
though the presidential run-off
was controversial and produced highly
contestable results, it marked the end
(legally) of the whole set of
elections," he explained.
While the haggling for power
continues, pressure is mounting in the
region, continent and internationally
on Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara to
put their differences aside and form
the inclusive government to deal with
the country's deepening political and
humanitarian crisis.
On Saturday, South African President
Kgalema Motlanthe said the
gazetting of the amendment would pave the way for
the formation of an
inclusive government.
Motlanthe is also
chairman of Sadc which at a summit last month said
it had resolved the
remaining differences toward forming a unity government
in
Zimbabwe.
The African Union last week encouraged all three parties
to go into
government as soon as possible.
BY CONSTANTINE
CHIMAKURE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18
December 2008 18:46
INTERNATIONAL civic organisations have demanded the
immediate
suspension of all locally extracted diamonds from the Kimberley
Process
Certification Scheme (KPCS) after citing a government crackdown that
has
reportedly claimed the lives of at least 50 illegal diamond diggers at
Chiadzwa, Manicaland.
The Kimberley Process Civil Society
Coalition, which comprises civic
organisations fighting against illegal
diamond trade, last week piled
pressure on the Kimberley Process
Certification Scheme (KPCS) to impose a
blanket suspension on Zimbabwe's
rough diamonds.
This comes amid reports of a bloody crackdown
on the illegal diamond
miners by a joint operation of the police, army and
secret agents codenamed
Operation Hakudzokwi.
In a damning
statement, the KP Coalition claimed that the crackdown
was meant to prop up
President Robert Mugabe's administration against the
backdrop of a worsening
economic and humanitarian situation.
"Non-governmental organisations,
concerned about the unending flow of
conflict diamonds, call upon the
Kimberley Process and its member states to
act immediately," read the
statement.
"First the Kimberley Process must suspend Zimbabwe from
participating
in the certification scheme. A suspension of shipments will
deprive
legitimate producers in Zimbabwe of immediate revenue, but it will
not stop
them from mining and stockpiling diamonds against the day when
Zimbabwe has
been given a clean bill of health."
If this
action is effected, mines such as Dorowa and the government
owned Zimbabwe
Mining Development Corporation that has concessions in
Chiadzwa, would
suffer most.
The coalition also demanded that the KPCS issue
what it termed a
"clear and unequivocal" statement criticising the
government on the alleged
human rights abuses.
"The
Kimberley Process must take a stand against the harnessing of
diamonds for
the systematic abuses by a pariah regime," said Annie
Dunnebacke of Global
Witness, a member of the KP Civil Society Coalition.
"We can no longer
assume that Zimbabwe has the ability or ethical standards
needed to control
its diamonds in ways that conform to the principles
espoused by the
Kimberley Process."
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme
was introduced by the
United Nations in 2003 to certify the origin of rough
diamonds from sources,
which are free of conflict and human rights
violations. It is against the
trading of what the KP calls "blood
diamonds".
According to lawyers, the scheme is "soft law" and
as such was not
legally binding on the participating
countries.
The lawyers said due to its status, there can be no
legal consequences
for the violation of the recommendations within the
scheme.
The diamonds could not be adversely possessed because
they do not meet
KPCS requirements.
The coalition also appealed to
the conflict diamond scheme to revoke
Zimbabwe's participation in
international trade of the precious mineral
after citing Reserve Bank
governor Gideon Gono's utterances suggesting
rampant smuggling of the gems
at the country's borders.
In September, Gono claimed that at
least US$1,2 billion worth of
diamonds were being lost each year through
smuggling.
This, according to KPCS, is against trading
requirements, which entail
shipment of diamonds in a tamper resistant
container that is accompanied by
a government-validated Kimberley Process
Certificate.
Ian Smillie of Partnership Africa lobbied the
certification to suspend
the controversial gems on allegations of
indiscriminate "extra-judicial
killing" by the government.
Efforts to get comment from the Minister of Mines and Mineral
Development
Amos Midzi were in vain at the time of going to print.
BY BERNARD
MPOFU
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December 2008
18:44
ZIMBABWE'S domestic debt rose 17 800% inside one month to $179,6
trillion on September 8 from $1 trillion recorded on August 8, creating
heavy future taxes official, figures revealed this week.
The rise in government domestic debt levels, which is now being kept
secret
by the Reserve Bank, was sparked by huge interest payments which
account for
about 90% of the total debt.
The debt has been ballooning
because of the Reserve Bank's advances to
government, largely for the
agricultural mechanisation programme and food,
fuel and power imports as all
major sectors of the economy are reportedly
operating below
30%.
"The stock of government domestic debt on September 8
stood at $179,6
trillion, from $1 trillion on August 8," according to the
Reserve Bank on
Wednesday.
With government's continued
reliance on borrowing from the local
market, domestic debt is estimated to
end above 10 quadrillion this year.
The mismatch between fiscal
revenues and expenditures also opened a
significant funding gap resulting in
government utilising the overdraft
window at the Reserve Bank, while at the
same time borrowing from the
domestic debt.
The Reserve
Bank's advances to government have over the past five
years accounted for
about 80% of total debt, a situation bank economists say
was evidence that
government was broke and had no other source of revenue
other than the
domestic market.
Figures from the Reserve Bank show that the
solvency of government was
already seriously compromised with the current
interest rates, and
technically government finances will not be better off
with even a 1% rise
in interest rates.
The increasing
government debt stock raised fresh fears of renewed
turbulence in the
crisis-strapped economy, battling with high inflation
currently at 231
million %.
Economists however say the inflation figure was well
above.
The surge in domestic debt was the result of high
interests on the
market which were in line with the inflation
rate.
Government has also been forced to rely on domestic
borrowings because
their tax revenue base has dwindled because of company
closures which have
led to retrenchments. This means that in real terms, the
government is
collecting less revenue through corporate and income
tax.
Analysts say the debt stock was likely to rise further on
increased
borrowing by government to finance the import of wheat and maize,
electricity, civil servants' salaries and sustain the Basic Commodities
Supply Side Intervention (Baccosi).
With inflation at 231
million % government's huge appetite for cash is
also likely to spur
increased money printing, pushing money supply growth
upwards.
The fact that Zimbabwe has no access to
international capital has only
aggravated the situation.
Meanwhile
the Reserve Bank has kept the lid on the money supply (M3)
figures.
The official figure to date is 420 867,4% for April.
Economic analysts
this week said the figure could be nearing 500 million %
after Gono
introduced 27 new denomination notes this year
alone.
Annual broad money supply growth has maintained an
upward trend since
November 2003 reflecting the inevitable Reserve Bank's
intervention to
stimulate the supply side of the economy in the absence of
external support.
Official figures from the Reserve Bank show
that on an annual basis
domestic credit grew by 482 460,9% for April,
largely driven by growth in
credit to the private sector - 412 919,7%,
credit to government - 734
013,7%, and claims on public enterprises - 216
066,7%. The Reserve Bank has
not published any latest figures since
then.
Credit to government has largely been from domestic banks
because of
the drying up of external lines. Lenders in the domestic market
no longer
have the capacity to meet the needs of government.
BY
PAUL NYAKAZEYA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18
December 2008 18:40
A DRIVE through the industrial sites around the
country may persuade
one to conclude that manufacturing processes have
advanced because of
emissions of clear as opposed to thick dark,
smoke.
In actual fact it signifies the little production actually
taking
place. On all fronts, 2008 was a drastic year for players within the
manufacturing sector. Annual shutdowns came as early as March for some firms
and for some these might turn out to be permanent closures.
Together with agriculture and mining, the manufacturing sector is one
of the
economic pillars upon which our economy has been based.
For the six
months ended June 30 2008, the sector accounted for 15% of
the country's
export proceeds. Contribution to GDP in 2007 was approximately
17% whilst
15% of the country's formal labour force had jobs in this sector.
Production from the sector has however been in freefall since the turn
of
the millennium. According to the 2007 CZI manufacturing survey, output
for
2007 declined by 28% compared to the 18% slump experienced the prior
year.
Most companies are operating below the 10% capacity
level. Financial
results indicate that volumes have slumped by between 20%
and 80%. Colcom
reported a volume decline of 72% whilst Delta had a fall of
43%. Though Zim
dollar figures point to phenomenal growth, revenues have
plummeted in real
terms.
Frankly speaking, firms are walking on
thin ice -- just producing
enough to break even. Some firms, like Art, are
even considering halting
production at some plants owing to massive under
utilisation of machinery
whilst others like PGI have sent employees on leave
as cost cutting
measures. Colcom and CFI have shelved some of their projects
owing to a
shortage of stock feed.
Persistent power cuts,
raw material shortages and deteriorating
infrastructure are some of the
problems haunting the sector. Inflation has
also taken its toll on employee
incomes.
Salaries are no longer a source of motivation for most.
Employee
fatigue is now evident thereby exacerbating the brain drain as
experienced
workers seek greener pastures in the region.
Companies have turned into training institutions with interns joining
in the
exodus band soon after acquiring the requisite skills.
The
exchange rate management framework in place is hindering progress
within
industry. The recognized inter-bank market is greatly lagging the
open
market thereby overvaluing the local unit.
Huge exchange losses
have been encountered in converting export
proceeds to the local currency.
Firms have also encountered problems in
trying to access their Foreign
Currency Accounts.
Forex shortages have become perennial challenges
to the firms' ability
to procure essential raw materials.
Hyper-inflation has crippled businesses' ability to finance
projects.
Credit lines have collapsed forcing industry to operate
on a cash
basis. Bank notes on the other hand have been in short supply for
some time
now. In other countries, such a scenario would see a number of
firms falling
by the wayside. A notable example is the ongoing credit crisis
that has
forced Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, better known as "the big
three"
companies of the US automobile industry to beg Congress for a
lifeline.
Effects of the June 18 price blitz are still visible.
Manufacturing is
in dire need of massive recapitalisation.
Bacossi and Aspef facilities have not yielded the desired results. In
his
half year monetary policy statement, the central bank governor disclosed
that, approximately US$13,5 million and Z$2,7 quadrillion had been disbursed
to 95 manufacturers to boost production whilst Z$160 trillion had been
disbursed to support 15 major grocery and hardware retailers and
manufacturers.
These injections are just a drop in the ocean as
independent analysts
estimate US $2 billion as the minimum amount needed to
bring industry back
to optimum levels.
The legal and
regulatory environment has been another thorn to the
segment. Gravely
crippling the sector is the current pricing mechanism
enforced by the
National Incomes and Pricing Commission. This pricing system
is sinking
companies deeper in quicksand.
Price reviews have always lagged the
rate of inflation or the movement
on the exchange rate upon which prices are
now based. So how are firms
managing?
Most corporates are
now focusing on generating "other income" as core
activities are not
generating enough revenue streams to sustain operations.
Fair value
adjustments and realised gains on equity investments have been
buttressing
earnings of late. Some firms had even established safe havens in
illegal
foreign currency trading before the plug was pulled.
Companies
have also resorted to growing exports in the face of
plummeting local demand
for products as a result of shrinking disposable
incomes. Innscor turnover
from regional operations amounted to US$85, 5
million which translated to a
growth of 61% from the prior year.
Management even highlighted that
the group will focus on expanding its
presence within the region Art also
disclosed that regional operations now
account for 49% of the group's
turnover.
Those serving the local market are producing high
margin products.
Dairibord Zimbabwe Ltd is one such firm that has
successfully moved from
producing traditional milk which is always under the
spotlight of the
authorities.
Innovative modes of payment have
however had to be developed to enable
value retention. Fuel coupons and
payment in the form of raw materials are
now popular. In short "Barter
trade" is back.
The advent of Foliwars was a great relief to most
companies as it
enabled regionally comparable prices to be charged. Rates of
stock turnover
are however still low as the majority of the potential market
is still
earning Zim dollars.
As the curtain comes down on
2008 expectations are high that the
downward trend might still be reversed,
if only the political standoff can
be addressed. This will help create an
atmosphere conducive to business
operations.
BY KUMBIRAI
MAKWEMBERE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December
2008 18:37
WHEN banker Nigel Chanakira recently described the country's
state of
the economy as a "dead man walking" at the Confederation of
Zimbabwe
Industries annual conference, his remarks were seen by some
delegates as
insensitive.
The year 2008 will go down as a
historic one for both good and bad
reasons on the economic front.
The country's official inflation rate was 100 580,2% in January rising
to
231 million % in July.
Inflation figures have not been
announced since, with independent
economic analysts estimating the rate to
be above one billion percent.
The Zimbabwe dollar continued to
lose value against major currencies,
resulting in the economy being
"dollarised".
Reserve bank Governor Gideon Gono removed 13
zeroes from the currency
in a move which has not been helpful as it was not
backed by increased
production from all major sectors of the
economy.
So bad has been the economic environment that Gono
introduced 27 new
denominations this year alone.
A closer look
at numerous papers presented at business forums since
the beginning of the
year and government's economic blueprints to date
points to one thing -
Zimbabwe's comatose economy is desperately in need of
salvation.
This desperation has heightened amid delays in
the formation of an
inclusive government between President Robert Mugabe and
leaders of the two
Movement for Democratic Change formations -- Morgan
Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara.
First to come was the
United Nations Development Programme
Comprehensive Economic Recovery in
Zimbabwe. Then came the
government-authored Economic Recovery Package for
Zimbabwe, which again
pinned hopes of economic "recovery" on new
governance.
The latter probably the last economic recovery plan
for the year
revealed a drop in investment growth to below 4% of the Gross
Domestic
Product. The current recession also saw the country dropping to 158
from 154
out of 181 economies rated in the World Bank doing business
category.
Given the import-driven nature of Zimbabwe's economy,
this decline
could further paralyse virtually all sectors in dire need of
foreign
exchange.
University of Zimbabwe Graduate School of
Business professor Tony
Hawkins is however sceptical whether the formation
of a new all-inclusive
government would result in immediate
buoyancy.
"We should be realistic and mature about the post
crisis period,"
Hawkins warned. "Indigenisation without external lines of
credit is not
enough to resuscitate the economy. It could take up to 15
years for the
economy to reach mid-90s levels."
Agriculture
once the mainstay of the economy faced one of the toughest
seasons in
history despite a massive mechanisation programme to back the
sector. Widely
publicised as the "Mother of Agricultural seasons", the
2007/2008 cropping
season turned out to be a failure when it emerged that
more than two thirds
of the country's 12 million population required food
aid.
The
current season could be a replica of its failed predecessor
despite
government's assurance of adequate food production. Resultantly,
this could
push food inflation in the coming year.
An international aid agency
Famine Early Warnings Systems (FEWSNET)
said Zimbabwe's combined commercial
and humanitarian cereal imports must
triple by March 2009 to meet the
country's requirements for the remainder of
the marketing
year.
The country's depressed manufacturing sector struggled
throughout the
year with depressed capacity utilisation due to low
capitalisation and
damaging price controls in June 2007.
Now
estimated to be below 10%, capacity utilisation in the
manufacturing sector
continues to be subdued despite the September 26
decision by government to
legally allow business to trade in foreign
currency.
The
Foreign Exchange Licenced Wholesalers and Retailers (Foliwors)
which were
ostensibly established to generate foreign currency needed to
boost industry
might not generate the $900 million which government said was
required to
improve capacity utilisation to 80% in the coming year.
Statistics
indicate that exports of manufactured goods amounted to
US$113,04 million in
the first six months of the year compared to US$473,17
million recorded
during the same period last year.
The wide discrepancy between
the Foliwors and regional prices might
not generate the desired foreign
exchange in the year ending December 31.
Evidently this has resulted in
continued shopping sprees across our borders.
This is a blot to local
industry and could stifle government efforts to
manage runaway inflation now
estimated to be over a billion percent.
To show the magnitude
of desperation in the sector, delegates at the
CZI Congress in October
emphasised "restoration"- which appears to be the
only key to economic
turn around.
The mining, once a key generator of ofreign
currency, bore the brunt
of the economic meltdown. Several gold mines
closed, platinum and chrome
mines suspended operations in the last quarter
of the year on the back of
depressed world market prices.
Statistics by the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe since the beginning of
the
year pointed to one thing - an all time low in production of most
minerals.
This downward trend led to the suspension of Fidelity Refiners and
Printers
from London Bullion Market Association due to below par gold
deliveries.
This decline in production has been blamed on a
plethora of reasons,
chief among them being the delays by the Reserve Bank
to pay over US$30
million owed to the gold miners.
These
delays have seen frantic attempts by the Chamber of mines to
engage
government and the central bank over the matter. Recently the
chamber
started to lobby government to suspend the central bank bullion
trading
licence. This year gold production is expected to hit an all time
low of 4,5
tonnes compared to 27 tonnes at peak.
Diamond mining in Marange
has also failed to attract foreign exchange
to the formal market due to a
reported dogfight by government departments
over control of the
gems.
The Reserve Bank, which is understood to have a keen interest
in the
diamond fields, however blamed smuggling for the low
returns.
Currently contributing US$50 million in forex
receipts, tourism
recorded another 58% decline in the first six months
despite frantic efforts
by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority to carry out
publicity campaigns to save
the country's bartered image. This figure
represents at most 3% of GDP.
This decline could prevail in the
wake of recent travel warnings by US
government on American citizens that
was triggered by a dilapidated health
delivery sector and reported increase
in politically motivated abductions by
suspected state
agents.
The financial sector has not been sparred from the
recession.
Hyperinflation became the byword by most bank officials as most
institutions
struggled to provide cash to multitudes of
depositors.
In May the Reserve Bank relaxed the foreign
exchange policy when it
introduced the ongoing interbank feorx market. This
development received a
fair dosage of approval only to be widely condemned
after reports that the
rates were managed by the central bank. Resultantly
the then new exchange
rate regime lagged behind the parallel market
rates.
So redundant has the interbank bank rates been that the
central bank
chief recently admitted that he was now purchasing foreign
exchange on the
parallel market which he termed the United Nations
rate.
The month of August saw the Reserve introducidng a new
currency after
years of using bearer cheques.
The banks also
reintroduced old coins as well as well as new ones
which almost immediately
lost value due to hyperinflation. November was a
bad month for the stock
market.
The central bank cracked the whip on suspected fraudulent
dealers on
the bourse resulting in all trading stopping. Market watchers now
await
whether the Securities Commission would restore activity at what had
become
the alternative investment option for many.
"The
year has been a very challenging for banks both financially and
otherwise,"
said Bankers Association president John Mangudya. "Banks do not
do well in
an economy that is shrinking.
Next year should be a year to focus
on production so that we can tame
this monster called inflation. Once we
improve on production, our clients
will have more to bank and the financial
sector will then respond
positively."
BY BERNARD MPOFU
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18
December 2008 18:33
PARASTATALS this week said they had come up with
survival measures for
next year to ensure that they remain viable should the
central bank governor
Gideon Gono stick to his word of not supporting them
through quasi-fiscal
activities.
Speaking to businesdigest,
Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa)
spokesperson Tsungirai Shoriwa
said although they have been receiving
financial assistance from the central
bank they did not entirely depend on
that money.
"The
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe assisted often, especially when we had
serious
problems such as the cholera outbreak," Shoriwa said.
"We have
come up with measures that will ensure we remain viable in
the future. Zinwa
has been granted authority to bill all corporates in
foreign currency. We
are hopeful that this development will improve foreign
currency inflows for
chemicals and other repairs.
"We have written to government to
allow parastatals to charge viable
tariffs to ensure we remain viable,
because most of the tariffs being
charged by parastatals are sub economic,"
he said.
Shoriwa said Zinwa had the mandate to provide
consultancy to those
constructing dams on farms and if they were allowed to
charge viable service
fees, they would not appeal for funds from the central
bank.
Speaking to business stakeholders at a business
conference hosted by
the National Economic Consultative Forum (NECF), Gono
said parastatals such
as Tel*One, Net*One, Air Zimbabwe, Zinwa and Zesa had
become a burden to
the central bank.
"Zimbabwe is the only
country in the world where telecommunications
are a burden to the
government," said Gono.
Gono said the central bank was
continuously funding Net*One and
Tel*One's international
connections.
He said mobile networks should stop subsidising
subscribers but
instead charge viable tariffs to ease congestion because it
was not a "force
matter to have a mobile phone".
National
airline Air Zimbabwe is likely to increase their rates next
year as they
will not be getting any foreign currency assistance from the
central bank
starting next year.
According to Gono, Air Zimbabwe has been
one of the biggest spenders
gobbling up between US$3,7 million and US$4,5
million every week.
Gono said this year alone, the airline has
spent no less than US$95
million from the Reserve Bank because they have not
been charging in foreign
currency.
"Starting next year, Air
Zimbabwe should not bring their weekly bills
to the central bank and
travellers should be prepared to meet the true cost
of travelling," Gono
said.
Net*One however dismissed claims by the central bank
governor that he
has been "continuously funding them".
Net*One managing director, Reward Kangai said the group's operations
have
always been self-funded. Although they have on some occasions received
financial assistance from the central bank, "they will not at all be
affected by the absence of funding from by the central
bank".
"Net*One has only been requesting for assistance from
the Reserve Bank
for access to foreign currency to pay its foreign suppliers
of goods and
services but has always paid for that foreign currency using
its local
currency," said Kangai in a written response. "Net*One operations
have
therefore always been self-funded," he said.
"The
business of mobile communication operations requires almost 95%
capital and
working capital in foreign currency most of our equipments are
not locally
manufactured and software support services are payable in
foreign currency,"
Kangai said.
"The move by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to issue
foreign currency
licences to mobile operators in Zimbabwe, including Net*One
will therefore
not only assist the operators to meet some of their
operational costs but
also capital expenditures.
"Thus, the
intended reductions of quasi-fiscal activities by the
monetary authorities
should not negatively affect Net*One at all," said
Kangai.
Analysts however said Gono might not meet next January's deadline that
brings an end to the bank's involvement in quasi-fiscal activities despite
promising an end to the supra-ministerial interventions.
Analysts said delays in forming an inclusive government and the
absence of a
national could force Gono to perpetuate quasi fiscal activities
aimed at
bailing out the heavily indebted government.
Expressing
sceptism in Gono's remarks, University of Zimbabwe
political science
professor Eldred Masunungure said the Reserve Bank could
continue with its
"ill-advised policies".
"He should not have undertaken the
policies in the first place,"
Masunungure said. "In my view those were
outside his jurisdiction. The fact
that he is abandoning them is however
salutary bearing in mind that he
should have started carrying out the
policies."
"It will be extremely difficult to stop those
activities given the
ongoing delays in forming an inclusive government and
the absence of a
national budget. I do not see the talks being concluded in
January.
I think that will be very optimistic and in the absence of
a budget
the Reserve Bank may be compelled by default to intervene," he
said.
BY JESILYN DENDERE
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18
December 2008 18:27
WORK on Rainbow Tourism's new Beitbridge hotel
ended earlier than
planned in 2008, due to seven artisans working on the
civils phase of
construction contracting cholera.
With
under 18 months to the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament kick-off
in South
Africa, progress on the luxury 120-bedroom hotel by the Limpopo,
planned to
open in time to accommodate football fans, was halted, due to
cholera
hitting the workers, shortages of fuel at the border town and
complications
arising from dollarisation of Zimbabwe's economy.
The
life-threatening water-borne cholera epidemic hit the labour camp
of Costain
Zimbabwe, main contractors on the project. With seven workers
already
infected, the site was shut and remaining craftsmen sent home early
for
Christmas.
Civil works (building of service roads, pathways and
installation of
utilities) on the hotel, planned to sleep up to 300 guests,
were due to be
completed before the local building industry closed
mid-December for a
month, a traditional year-end holiday.
But this early preparatory phase of construction wasn't completed by
deadline date, as work was totally stopped.
South African
World Cup officials asked Zimbabwe to supply 2 000 hotel
rooms to cater for
a projected overspill and accommodation shortage in South
Africa during,
immediately before and after the premier football event.
A
spokesman for the builders said, following the "informal
dollarisation" of
Zimbabwe's economy, suppliers were demanding payment for
inputs either in
local cash: almost impossible to adequately source, or in
scarce United
States dollars.
"The economy has virtually dollarised and very
little can be bought in
Zimbabwe dollars, particularly if it is not cash.
This is a fundamental
issue to be resolved and agreed upon for the project
to successfully
proceed," said Costain's spokesman.
Meanwhile in Harare, RTG operations chief, Lewis Chasakara, said early
closing of the site was disappointing but the hotel group was confident of
getting the project back on schedule. He said RTG fully intended to open in
good time to benefit from World Cup spill-over demand for
rooms.
When complete, the new hotel is expected to cost the
equivalent of
US$12 million. NSSA's pension fund will finance and own the
structure.
BY DUSTY MILLER
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December 2008
17:15
PEOPLE say the opposition is holding out on the Global Political
Agreement, not agreeing to anything more, "waiting for government to
collapse", so that they can take over.
Apart from the fact
that the 18 km-long diamond fields of Chiadzwa
provide unimaginable riches
permitting the regime to retain its control for
many, many years to come, my
question is -- at what point exactly does a
government
collapse?
I submit that when its currency is no longer
generally accepted within
its borders, it has collapsed. When basic service
infrastructure no longer
functions -- water, electricity, telephone,
sewerage -- it has collapsed.
When its banking system is paralysed,
it has collapsed. When its
health and education systems no longer function,
it has collapsed. When a
large portion of its population is dependent on
food provided from outside
the country, it has collapsed.
When
its people are suffering a massive health epidemic as a result of
its total
neglect of infrastructure and service provision, it has
collapsed.
When one of the three arms of government,
parliament, is not
functioning, it has collapsed -- or mutated into an
undemocratic state.
When another of its arms, the judiciary, cannot or will
not respond to
lawyers' demands to protect and enforce human rights, it has
indeed mutated
into a dictator state, whose stay in power will end the
instant its people
regain their control over the government they supposedly
elected into power.
Indeed, when its claim on power is a
generally unrecognised
presidential election result following massive
intimidation, violence,
murder and displacement of whole villages so they
could not vote, and the
withdrawal of the only other candidate for these
very reasons, such a
"government" cannot be a legitimate government at all
-- so it does not even
need to collapse to lose its
legitimacy.
The fact is that government's collapse is evident
all around us. What
we need is a leader who recognises this, and takes up
the reins of power to
guide the floundering state onto a better course to
safety, recovery and
prosperity.
Imagine for a moment that
even Zanu-PF recognises that they have
collapsed. What is the process for
this official collapse, and at what
point can a new leader take over? Will
they announce in the Government
Gazette: "We have collapsed" and call for a
new government? In democratic
countries, the governing party is forced, by
its sense of shame if nothing
else, to resign.
In some
dispensations, the president or head of state would flee the
country,
leaving a public vacuum to be filled. But where you have a head
of state
refusing to see reality, there is no such vacuum. We cannot
imagine Robert
Mugabe knocking on Morgan Tsvangirai's door and saying:
"Sorry, shamwari,
I've messed up, so now I'm handing over to you."
What we should
be able to imagine, and what should in fact be
happening -- it should have
happened long ago! -- is Morgan Tsvangirai
knocking on Robert Mugabe's door
and saying: "Sorry, shamwari, you've messed
up, so now I'm taking over from
you."
Indeed, the Sadc leaders anointed him Prime Minister on
September 15,
in accordance with the Global Political Agreement. He should
have taken
that as a cue and proceeded to act the part, as far as he was
able. There
is much he could have done, and could still do, before being
officially
sworn in.
Surely, it is patently obvious to
everyone that this government has
collapsed? There is no need to wait any
longer -- what we need is
leadership and action. Not action in the sense of
getting people onto the
streets or a general strike or whatever, but action
in the sense of taking
control of the situation and stopping the slide into
total chaos, to save
the nation of Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai has
the goodwill of practically the entire world on his
side. He does not need
to wait even another day for this government to
collapse -- it has already
collapsed. The danger is that, in waiting, the
riches of Chiadzwa will
embolden the regime without solving any of our
problems. We are waiting for
Tsvangirai, or maybe someone else, to put on
his or her leader's shoes and
lead our nation out of the collapse we are in.
Stevenson writes
from Harare.
BY TRUDY STEVENSON
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 11 December 2008
21:17
ZIMBABWEANS in the diaspora, particularly in neighbouring South
Africa, are toying with a plethora of opportunities that could bring an end
to the struggles of many nationals battling to survive in
Zimbabwe.
It has been difficult to appeal to the emotions of
Zimbabweans in the
diaspora. Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono tried to
appease Zimbabweans
through the Homelink project but came out with lukewarm
results.
This is because Zimbabweans in the diaspora simply do not
trust each
other, are suspicious of each other, are jealous of each other,
are envious
of each other and thus have no culture of
collaboration.
A curable malady has ravaged many diasporans who
focus selfishly on
immediate individual benefits.
Whatever
happened to teamwork? Whatever happened to unity of purpose
or to
progressive development? Never before has the adage "divided we fall"
been
so manifest as it presently is among cynical Zimbabweans.
Even in
the midst of xenophobic attacks earlier this year the
diasporans failed to
come together to assist the affected, instead looking
to the South African
public and NGOs to come to their aid. Golf games and
pretentiousness
continued in the midst of this tragedy.
Typical diasporans are
divided into groups of "pure migrants", those
people who in the eighties
came from the West of the country and went on to
work after a couple of
years in Botswana and later migrated to South Africa
or
Bantustans.
This group has no emotional attachment whatsoever to
Zimbabwe. Then
you have those who migrated prior to 1994, many of who have
become citizens.
This group has some modicum of interest in what happens in
Zimbabwe.
The third group is those transferred as professionals
to South Africa,
but lately opportunities for this group have fizzled away
due to black
economic empowerment programmes for which they do not qualify.
This group
tends to be residents and citizens.
Their attachment
to Zimbabwe is ambivalent at best, quick to
dissociate themselves from
Zimbabwe and criticise it.
The last group consists of those on
various work permits, recent
immigrants who tend to be professionals and
small business owners (traders).
They have a significant attachment to
Zimbabwe but are suspicious of any
organisation which they quickly label as
a Zanu PF agent.
These are a very politically charged
lot.
In this bleak and bleary system of things for the
Zimbabweans, a small
group of Zimbabweans in the diaspora has unveiled what
could be the best
answer to overcoming the misery that has engulfed a nation
whose citizens
are now dogged by their own disunity, mistrust and
disrespect. "God helps
those who help themselves".
This
group is arranging an investment mission in Zimbabwe once the GNU
is in
place, to empower Zimbabweans in South Africa via various activities
that
include creation of jobs for diasporans through Zimbabwean-run
SMEs.
In a whisper, this is the bone and marrow of Batanai
Bambanani
Zimbabwe Association (BBZA), a non-profit, non-political
registered
organisation which promotes the interests of Zimbabweans in South
Africa
through business, professional, social and legal
activities.
BBZA wants to create a value system based on
selflessness, tolerance,
respect, honesty, hard work and unity of purpose
that endure over time by
assisting to create a business friendly climate for
Zimbabweans in the
diaspora and at home.
There might not be
any success stories to tell or an enormous database
to boast of at the
moment but there are a number of initiatives BBZA can do
for any Zimbabwean
who becomes a member.
Imagine duty free exports of vehicles to
Zimbabwe for members or local
currency rates in hotels in Zimbabwe or
changing driver regulations when one
brings his or her vehicle to Zimbabwe
and as a member of BBZA is allowed to
let his or her friends and relatives
assist in driving his South African
registered vehicle in
Zimbabwe!
If we are inspired by such wonderful prospects, we
should be motivated
and moved to join and be involved in the activities that
BBZA can offer. The
association's business activities promote the interests
of business members
through lobbying and propositions to governments and
other institutions.
This means creating strong business linkages with
Zimbabwean businesses and
creating a diasporan economy by assisting with
business opportunities and
investments.
On the professional
front, BBZA's well-oiled pledges aim to improve
professionalism through
educational programmes that span insights on
immigration and immigration
laws.
This will in turn promote self-reliance through mentorship
programmes
that will provide Zimbabweans in the diaspora with a distinct and
sustainable advantage in South Africa and the world. An association such as
BBZA could easily encourage and propagate the participation of diasporan
professionals in playing their part in revamping the Zimbabwean
economy.
One way in which the professionals could play their
crucial role is on
the provision of legal advice, advice on immigration
services and laws and
advice on immigration requirements specific to
Zimbabweans in order for them
to carry out their business ventures with
almost no legal impediments.
This legal branch could well ensure
that the activities of BBZA are in
accordance with the constitution of the
host countries and hence ensure the
smooth flow of businesses run by
Zimbabweans in the diaspora.
Vukani Madoda writes from South
Africa.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December 2008
17:50
AS 2008 draws to a close Zimbabweans are once again confronted
with
the reality of yet another bleak year ahead. A rougher and more
turbulent
year lies in front of us and it will be a long haul before
relief.
There is no light at the end of this particular tunnel.
As they say
the only light which might be flickering is that of an oncoming
train - so
be warned!
After Christmas and New Year holidays
which will be predictably
miserable, it is clear 2009 will bring an
avalanche of worse problems so
long as President Robert Mugabe remains
ensconced in power without even a
veneer of legitimacy and acceptance by
voters and the international
community.
Mugabe has finally
come round to subtly admitting that he has no
legitimacy after his June 27
charade. That is why he is now calling for
another election when he has not
yet even finished a year into his new term.
The real deal for
long-suffering Zimbabweans would be Mugabe's quick
departure, preferably
through a negotiated exit, not talks or elections and
such other pursuits
which won't resolve this deep crisis.
Elections are an
important democratic mechanism to elect leaders and
governments, but not in
this sort of an environment. Another election under
the current conditions
would only succeed in visiting a brutal campaign of
terror upon already
traumatised voters.
Talks remain the only viable option on the
table so far but the
trouble is they may soon end up being overtaken by
events.
The current seismic political and economic situation
may rapidly shift
and trigger different dynamics that could render talks and
negotiating
parties somewhat irrelevant.
This is more
likely next year largely because Mugabe is cultivating an
explosive
situation, a deadly political powder keg. He however does not seem
sufficiently aware of the volatile storm brewing around
him.
The coming year is likely to prove a defining moment for
Zimbabwe. If
nothing is done to stop this decline, it would be a year of
upheaval. The
warning signs are there for all to see. Political events
between March, when
Mugabe first suffered electoral defeat, and the recent
riots by soldiers
clearly show things are fast changing.
However, Mugabe is precariously out of touch with reality.
Evidence that Mugabe is a denialist who is completely out of touch was
provided by Heidi Holland in her book, Dinner with Mugabe, published this
year. Asked how he would like to be remembered when he is gone, Mugabe
said:
"Just as the son of a peasant family who, alongside others, felt
he
had responsibility to fight for his country. And did so to the best of
his
ability. And was grateful for the honour given him to lead a country and
be
remembered as one who was most grateful for the honour that people gave
him
in leading them to victory over British imperialism. Yes, for that I
want to
be remembered."
There you have it. Mugabe only
wants to be remembered for his role
during the liberation
struggle.
For him history starts and ends with the struggle. No
one should
measure him by what he has done or not done since 1980. His acts
of
commission and omission must not be part of his life history, just his
heroics during the struggle which, by the way, Edgar Tekere has called into
question.
The connection between this and 2009 and beyond
is that Zimbabwe is
heading for a catastrophe as long as Mugabe is still in
the picture, hanging
around in the corridors of power.
Holland concludes whatever Mugabe says, he will be remembered by most
as a
tyrant -- his place in the hall of infamy is guaranteed -- but by
others as
a sad figure who suffered and sacrificed.
This is an apt
conclusion.
Given the dramatic events of 2008, particularly his
defeat in the
March presidential election first round and vicious fight back
through a
brutal campaign of violence and murder, Mugabe would undoubtedly
be
remembered by far too many civilised Zimbabweans as a dictator who
wreaked
havoc across the land for a whole generation in a bid to seize and
keep
power at all costs.
Some of course would remember him as a
freedom fighter who lost his
revolutionary path or a leader of a revolution
that lost its way.
But even then his negative contributions
evidently far outweigh the
positive.
The verdict would not
be unanimous, but there would be a broad
consensus that he presided over a
corrupt and incompetent regime which
ruined the economy and crushed dissent
via vicious repression.
If any further evidence is needed to
prove Zanu PF's repression, the
current wave of abductions does it.
It is very difficult to imagine what kind of a country Zimbabwe would
be in
2009.
As long as Zanu PF is in power, the coming year will
bring horror. The
economic meltdown will intensify, inflation will scale
billions, company
closures and capital flight get worse, unemployment and
poverty will be
ubiquitous, starvation rampant and survival very
tough.
This is the harsh reality we face as we cross over into
a potentially
explosive 2009.
BY DUMISANI MULEYA
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December 2008
17:47
ON December 4 last year President Mugabe gave a
state-of-the-nation
address which when viewed today, 12 months later,
provides an apt
illustration of a wasted year due to leadership failure.
Mugabe last year -
as he will perhaps do this year - wished us a happy and
prosperous new year.
But that is all he can do - wish.
The
fundamentals on the ground point to an even more difficult 2009 as
long as
the country continues to lack direction as a result of poor
leadership and
dated demagoguery practised in pursuit of legitimacy.
This has
been the most difficult year in the post-Independence history
of this
country notwithstanding Mugabe's promises last year that "government
will
continue to do all in its power to make life bearable in the face of
existing difficulties".
Last year, he thanked the people for
their "stoic resilience in the
face of these challenges". But the stoicism
is fast wearing off.
Mugabe said: "Government, in conjunction
with key stakeholders, has
pursued measures to bring about a sustained
turnaround of the economy."
There was more positive talk of the narrowing of
political differences
between political parties to establish a broad
consensus around national
interests.
Then there was the
usual fiction about economic recovery underpinned
by growth in agriculture,
tourism and mining. There was even special
reference to the Marange diamonds
as underpinning the revival of the mining
sector. The chaos that obtained in
Marange this year is emblematic of the
state of affairs in governance across
the country.
To address the situation in the fuel sub-sector,
Mugabe said
government had embarked on projects to revive petrol blending
with ethanol,
and the production of biodiesel from
jatropha.
He also spoke of the problem of limited water
supplies in urban areas.
As part of measures to redress this situation, he
said government would
drill boreholes in the affected areas to augment
existing water supplies.
None of this was achieved. As this
year draws to a weary close, we
look back at Mugabe's promises with disgust
and disappointment. It is time
our leaders had a reality check.
Apart from pointing accusing fingers at the West and phony saboteurs
at
home, the Zanu PF regime has this year demonstrated in spectacular style
that it has gone off the rails. It can no longer be trusted with fixing this
economy and healing a society that has become restive due to gnawing
poverty.
We deserve better but we continue to live in a
divided society due to
political intolerance and fear by our rulers of
losing power. Each passing
day this year was an excruciating grind for
families with no food, water or
electricity.
Basic health care
has ceased to exist because government hospitals
have become shells where
people go to die. Government schools and colleges
offered no tuition for the
greater part of the year due to a year-long
strike by
educators.
Business lost many productive hours as workers spent
half the day
queuing for cash at banks or moonlighting to make ends meet.
The year is
closing as the country is grappling to control a medieval
disease in the
form of cholera. How low can we sink as a
nation?
But we have not reached rock-bottom yet. There is more
suffering to
come in the New Year for Zimbabweans as long as the political
leadership in
this country fails to put human dignity ahead of parochial
political
entrenchments.
The ingredients of greater poverty,
political strife - even
degenerating into outright anarchy and attendant
economic collapse - are
manifest. There is no properly formed government in
place and no economic
recovery and we are close to a year in this parlous
state. There is no
affordable food in the shops.
There is
renewed political tension due to abductions and accusations
by Zanu PF that
the MDC is training bandits to cause unrest in the country.
The
economic collapse has escalated in December with the crash of the
local
currency against the US dollar. This, coming at a time when the whole
economy has virtually dollarised, paints a gloomy picture in the New
Year.
There is real possibility that most manufacturers closing
their plants
for the Christmas break will not reopen due to viability
challenges. As a
country, we are inching closer to the tipping point because
of the tension
which has been building up.
There are two clear
choices here: either the leadership works quickly
to find a workable
political settlement or allows the situation to
degenerate into absolute
chaos. The latter choice is too ghastly to
contemplate but it is a real
prospect.
In the next few days, or perhaps at the Zanu PF
conference in Bindura
this weekend, President Mugabe will once again wish us
a Merry Christmas and
a prosperous 2009.
This time we hope that
he does not make the pronouncements he made
last year for the sake of
ceremony. We hope to experience real prosperity in
2009 under a caring
leadership that can free us from hunger and disease.
That
certainly won't come from Zanu PF.
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December 2008
16:55
ONE of the many actions of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
which
provoked pronounced resentment amongst the Zimbabwean populace was the
imposition of limits upon amounts of cash withdrawals.
As
hyperinflation progressively, and very rapidly, eroded the
purchasing power
of money, the RBZ constraints upon cash withdrawals from
banks resulted in
the intensifying fury of the hundreds of thousands who
queued for endless
hours daily to withdraw their permitted pittances from
banks and building
societies, demand increased exponentially, and with
surging resonance, that
RBZ discontinue the restraints upon cash
withdrawals.
RBZ
at no time concealed that the regulation of quantum of cash
withdrawals was
being pursued most unwillingly and reluctantly, but was
necessitated by
force of circumstances. Diverse reasons were given for the
regretted
containment of cash withdrawal levels.
First and foremost was
that the imposition by the European Union of
general economic sanctions
upon Zimbabwe, as distinct from the previously
prevailing (very merited)
sanctions targeted against only certain
individuals within, or associated
with, the ruling political hierarchy, had
had some grievous repercussions,
to the prejudice of the population in
general.
These
included that not only was RBZ no longer able to procure the
security
paper necessary for the production of Zimbabwean currency bank
notes, but
that a considerable consignment of such paper, fully paid, for
had been
impounded in Germany.
In consequence, RBZ simply did not have the
resource required to
produce a sufficiency of currency to serve national
needs, and especially so
as the extent of those needs was soaring upwards
daily as a consequence of
extreme inflation.
Thus RBZ had no
alternative but to apply what was tantamount to a
rationing system to the
issue of currency, irrespective of consequential
hardships, but the efficacy
of the system was gravely impaired by numerous
RBZ and commercial bank
personnel circumventing the constraints in order to
advance personal gain,
to the disadvantage of the greater majority of the
populace.
Concurrently, there is little doubt that the
Reserve Bank's actions
were also motivated by a desire to curb the endless,
monolithic rise in
inflation. This has not been stated by RBZ, but logically
it must have been
part of the rationale for wishing to limit the amount of
currency in
circulation.
On the one hand, the lesser the
availability of currency, the lesser
will be consumer demand, and when
demand levels decline in relation to
supply levels, sellers are driven to
stimulate greater sales volumes by
containing price
escalations.
On the other hand, for like reasons, minimisation
of currency
availability restricts demands for foreign currencies within the
black
markets, with resultant exchange rate stabilisation to a greater
extent than
when demand is on the increase.
As rising foreign
currency costs automatically impact upon the costs
of imported goods (which
are a direct or indirect element of almost every
business) such exchange
rate movements are highly inflationary.
Therefore, whilst only very
minimally effective, it must be assumed
that the restrictions upon cash
withdrawals imposed by RBZ were in part
pursued in an attempt to contain,
at least to a minimal extent, the
endlessly upward rise in prices, as
evidenced by the horrific, never before
experienced, inflation of more that
two billion per cent per month.
But no matter how valid may
have been the reasons for RBZ's
containment of cash withdrawals, the
oppressed population was deeply
resentful, and wholly disregarded such
reasons.
The harsh fact was that the average Zimbabwean could not
access a
sufficiency of cash to fund the absolute bare essentials of daily
living for
himself, his family, and dependents.
Permitted
withdrawal levels did not suffice to meet basic requirements
for
accommodation, utilities, transport, food, education, health care, and
the
like.
And the insufficiency of cash was grievously worsened by the
unjustified and uncaring demand by almost all parastatals, local
authorities, and businesses, not to accept cheques, but to receive cash
payments.
Such demands were justified on the two-fold basis
that such entities
also have cash needs, and that value payments by cheques
is very
considerably eroded by the impacts of inflation during the
inordinately long
periods of effecting cheque clearances.
But
parastatals and local authorities are supposedly "owned" by the
people, and
exist to serve the people, and yet they are very substantially
worsening the
circumstances of the people, and instead of fulfilling their
service and
caring obligations, are compounding the hardships of the
community.
When, over the last two weeks, RBZ was able
to effect a meaningful
increase in cash withdrawal limits (although not to
the extent demanded by
the populace, being the removal of all restrictions),
money mania
immediately set in.
Overnight rates of exchange in
the unlawful "alternative" foreign
exchange markets burgeoned upwards,
rising by more than 1000 % in less than
24 hours.
The foreign
currency dealers, in total disregard for the devastating
economic
repercussions, and with equally great disregard for the fact
that
inevitably they would eventually be victims of those repercussions to
as
great an extent as would be most Zimbabweans, allowed avarice and greed
to
override all else.
That contemptuous lack of concern for the
negative impacts upon an
already almost wholly emaciated economy, and
upon an appallingly
impoverished populace, and with equally great lack of
concern that those
adverse impacts would, in time affect all Zimbabweans,
including
themselves, was driven by the grasping, money-grubbing, rapacious
desire to
achieve immediate enrichment (driven by conviction that other
opportunities
would arise to ensure maintenance and growth of wealth,
notwithstanding the
further economic collapse being triggered by
them).
Concurrently, vast numbers of shopkeepers realised that
the somewhat
increase availability of cash would not only increase costs, as
a result of
the exchange rate movements, but would also increase consumer
demand.
Therefore, when the increase in cash withdrawal levels
became
effective last Thursday, innumerable shops closed their doors,
pretending
that they were doing so for purposes of stocktaking, but actually
in order
to radically adjust their selling prices.
They had
total disregard for the cost of goods as had been sustained
by them, and for
a fair and reasonable profit margin thereon, and instead
were driven by
their wild "guesstimates" of replacement costs, and by
anxiety to
exploit opportunities of maximized profits.
Money mania reigned
supreme, with no concern as to possible
consequences. No thought was had to
the inevitable boomerang effects of yet
cataclysmically greater inflation
being triggered by them, which would
repercuss upon the gravely distraught
economy to a gargantuan extent, to the
intense prejudice of
all.
The RBZ needs, as expeditiously as possible, to
discontinue all cash
withdrawal constraints, but concurrently all facets of
the economic society,
including the milliard of unofficial currency
traders, and all in commerce,
as well as the banking sector, need to pursue
a responsible,
sociologically-conscious drive to contain inflation, instead
of fuelling it.
National economic responsibility must override avarice,
greed, and money
mania, not only driven by communal obligation, but also
self-interest.
l Many have urged me to respond to Chido
Makunike's attack in last
week's issue of the Zimbabwe Independent, upon me
and my prior week's
article on land reform.
Makunike is
entitled to his opinion (even if a wrong one), but is
neither entitled to
misrepresent, distort or misconstrue that which I have
written, nor to
libelously accuse me of dishonesty and racism.
If Makunike would
remove the chip from his shoulder, he would have a
more balanced perception.
Accordingly, I dismiss his attack upon me with the
contempt it deserves, and
will not belittle myself to replying to his
spurious
contentions.
BY ERIC BLOCH
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December
2008 16:50
SINCE the launch of his book, Casino Economy, last week RBZ
Governor
Gideon Gono has been all over the media boasting about his
education and
claiming to have a PhD in Strategic Management from Atlantic
International
University.
It is important to note that
Atlantic International University is not
accredited by the US Department of
Education. What this means is that its
credentials are open to
question.
Muckraker refers anyone seeking further information
on the night
school doctoral programme to webpage: http://www.aiu.edu/Accreditation.html.
Lack of accreditation in the US means the qualifications offered by that
institution are not recognised by employers and other reputable
institutions.
The university on its website says that it
"offers distance learning
degree programmes for adult
learners".
It says "as a nontraditional university, with self-paced
programmes
taken online, by correspondence or home study, AIU lifts the
obstacles that
keep professional adults from completing their educational
goals".
"Fast track affordable degree programmes allow adult students
to
finish college, earn a degree, and advance their
careers."
It is good to see Gono improve his education. But why
didn't he enroll
at a university that has a recognised profile and which is
endorsed by the
US Department of Education? Why this strange little outfit
that nobody has
heard of?
'Botswana has availed its territory,
material and logistical support
to MDC-T for the recruitment and military
training of youths for the
eventual destabilisation of the country with a
view to effecting illegal
regime change," Patrick Chinamasa claimed in a
statement published on
Monday. "Compelling evidence has already been
proffered and the matter is
now in the hands of the (Sadc)
Troika."
Needless to say, Chinamasa was unable or unwilling to
provide a scrap
of "compelling evidence" to support these ludicrous charges.
And it is good
to see South African president Kgalema Motlanthe saying he
doesn't believe
Zimbabwe's claims. But expect to see MDC-T youths paraded on
the ZTV news
any night now, all confessing to the charges Chinamasa has
brought against
them.
Haven't we all been here before? Does
anybody recall the Cain Nkala
case when President Mugabe, speaking in
Bulawayo, accused the MDC of
"terrorism"?
Botswana has
rendered itself "a surrogate of Western imperial powers;
it is acting
contrary to its past role as a Frontline State," Chinamasa
said.
This is laughable although the Botswana authorities
may not find it so
amusing. Since when has a country's decision to "act
contrary to its past
role" been grounds for public abuse?
The Front Line states disappeared in 1994. The organisation no longer
exists. Botswana has adapted its foreign policy to the needs of a new era.
It has moved on. That is why it is a stable and prosperous state. Nobody
takes Zimbabwe's archaic mantras seriously, including its closest
friends.
And the region certainly won't be impressed by
Chinamasa's threats.
"It is for them (Botswana) to realise that
they have put themselves on
a course that is bound to bring a lot of
suffering on Zimbabweans and the
region, including the population of
Botswana," he warned.
Zimbabweans are already suffering without
Botswana's intervention,
thanks to Zanu PF.
"The MDC-T had
negotiated in bad faith and has engaged in dialogue as
a ploy to string us
along," Chinamasa claimed.
"Since the cholera outbreak began in
August," he claimed," Britain and
the United States along with several
African askaris like Kenyan opposition
leader Raila Odinga have called for
an invasion of Zimbabwe.We can look our
people in the eye and say 'enough is
enough'. Our backs are now to the wall
and a day may soon come when each and
every one of us may be called to
defend our revolutionary gains and our
sovereignty," he said.
Now what do you call that language if
not warlike? Since when has
Britain or the US advocated the invasion of
Zimbabwe? Yes, they called for
Mugabe to go. But most Zimbabweans are saying
the same thing. That doesn't
require an invasion. And can you imagine any
self-respecting government
calling the prime minister of another African
state an "askari"?
This is childish abuse of the sort you would
expect from certain
columnists in the Herald, not a whole
government.
Perhaps we shouldn't expect too much. After all,
this is a regime
where the president calls the leader of the opposition a
prostitute. And
then can't understand why nobody wants to join him in
government.
This is not the way to get respect. Nor is abducting one's
opponents.
Isn't that bad faith of the worst kind?
How can
Chinamasa talk of bad faith when people are being made to
disappear?
If the state behaves like a South American
dictatorship of the 1970s
it will get the reputation it deserves. The whole
world is following the
Justina Mukoko case, quite rightly regarding it as
emblematic of Zimbabwe's
cruel misrule.
Then of course
there is the small matter of making arbitrary changes
to provisions in draft
legislation without telling the people you are
negotiating
with!
The Government of Botswana meanwhile has called for an
end to
sabre-rattling. It urged "all those calling for military action
against
Zimbabwe to desist from doing so as such action can only prolong and
bring
more suffering to the people of Zimbabwe who have already suffered
enough at
the hands of the authorities in that country.
Furthermore, those calls can only give credence to claims we now hear
emanating from Zimbabwe of a plot to invade the country. The claim of an
invasion in our view is nothing more than a desperate attempt to gather
support and sympathy from within and outside Zimbabwe
in order to
distract attention from the real problem."
Indeed!
Government spin doctors can be excused when they accuse Western news
agencies of misreporting or distorting President Mugabe's remarks. But we
had on Thursday the extraordinary case of presidential spokesman George
Charamba excoriating the BBC and France 24 for reporting
accurately.
The two broadcasters had quoted Mugabe saying at
Heroes Acre that: "I
am happy to say our doctors, assisted by others and the
WHO, have now
arrested cholera. So now there is no case for war
anymore."
It was good to hear cholera has been arrested rather than
abducted.
But the president was being sarcastic, Charamba pointed
out.
"President Mugabe clinched his argument through sarcasm,"
he said,
noting that now efforts deployed so far towards containing the
outbreak were
beginning to yield positive results, could the West now call
off the war
they had declared?"
Their reporting was a
"wilful distortion of a clear statement", he
said.
In fact
it was a straight-forward piece of reporting what the
president said. Is it
seriously suggested networks should broadcast what the
president wished he
has said or meant to say?
Then we had Sikhanyiso Ndlovu providing
the following gem.
"The foreign governments calling for
President Mugabe to resign are
'malicious' and 'racist'," he told RFI last
Tuesday. "Those countries can
say this to a black government. Why don't
they call on John Major (sic) to
step down because there is a failed economy
in England?"
Ndlovu has been touting a very old theory that the
Rhodesians were
responsible for spreading anthrax. Now he has embellished
the story to
include cholera.
"They seeded cholera around
Harare where the new Zimbabwe government
later built large-scale housing
like Budiriro, Dzivaresekwa, and Chitungwiza
so that the freedom fighters
would catch the disease and die before they
could reach the city," Ndlovu
declared last week.
The minister is a little wide of the mark.
The townships he referred
to were mostly planned and built by the Muzorewa
regime in the late 1970s.
They would hardly have seeded cholera among people
they regarded as their
own supporters.
As Luis Michel, EU
aid commissioner, reminded us recently, "cholera is
a disease of destitution
which used to be almost unknown in Zimbabwe".
Indeed it is a
political disease which strikes those societies where
governments have not
made sufficient investment in clean water supplies
because they are spending
money on other things like mercs and huge
mansions.
Ministers who try to shift the blame for the current outbreak are
simply
drawing attention to their own failure to maintain the water system
in and
around Harare. Zanu PF is a party full of excuses. But they don't
seem to
realise nobody believes them any more.
Meanwhile, John Major will
be delighted to hear that he should step
down, 18 years after the event.
Just a pity that our so-called Minister of
Information hasn't a clue who the
British prime minister is. What a circus!
And have you noticed that as
the multi-faceted national crisis begins
to engulf Zanu PF, so they are
setting upon each other.
Which may explain certain recent events!
Needless to say, they are
trying hard to link everything to
their
latest plot theory but it won't wash.
What are we being asked
to believe? That there is a link between an
attempt on the life of Perrance
Shiri, the bombing of Harare Central police
station earlier this year, the
bombing of the Manyame River road and rail
bridges, the bombing of the
Harare CID HQ, and another attack on Harare
Central police station, the
petrol bombing of government institutions last
year, the bombing of the
Bulawayo-Harare railway line, "compelling evidence"
tying Botswana to the
training of "bandits" believed to be linked to "an
alleged MDC-T plot to
unconstitutionally unseat the government", and cholera
planted by the
British in the 1970s?
And not a scrap of evidence produced in court to
support this web of
convenient conjecture.
"The attack on
Air Marshal Shiri appears to be a build up of terror
attacks targeting
high-profile persons." Kembo Mohadi announced to the
gullible state
press.
Who apart from Shiri has been "targeted"? We weren't
told. But watch
this "plot" and its various permutations as it takes over
the public
discourse for the next few months.
We have always
regarded AFP quite highly as a new agency. But they
have one profound
structural flaw. They allow an anti-American bias to creep
into their copy.
Which they can't really help on account of being French.
They don't like
Bush and they hated Blair almost as much as our own state
publicists.
One illustration of this bias will suffice. On
Tuesday AFP reported
"visiting US President George W Bush on Sunday scurried
for cover when a
journalist hurled his shoes at him".
Now
Muckraker saw that clip several times on Sunday and Monday. Bush
didn't
scurry anywhere. He ducked but he didn't scurry. In fact he showed
remarkable agility.
Later in the story AFP corrected its
position somewhat. "The shoes
missed after Bush ducked." it
admitted.
So where did the "scurry" come from? An editor in
Paris? Or was the
report embellished at the Herald?
Whatever the
case, it probably reflected the views of the Arab street.
Bush declared it
was a perfect example of people being able to express
themselves
freely.
The assailant described it as his "parting gift". Now
don't get any
ideas!
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Thursday, 18 December 2008
16:37
SADC has betrayed the people of Zimbabwe and killed their hopes
this
year by adopting a kid-glove approach to the political crisis in the
country
that has imploded into a humanitarian crisis of disastrous
proportions.
Over 1 000 people are estimated to have succumbed
to the cholera
epidemic since it broke out in August and five million more
face starvation
due to shortage of food, but Sadc has been accommodating to
President Robert
Mugabe's regime when the situation clearly required a
tougher stance.
Despite the signing of a unity government pact
between Mugabe and the
leaders of the two MDC formations - Morgan Tsvangirai
and Arthur Mutambara -
on September 15, Sadc has done little to ensure
fairness and equitability in
the power-sharing deal.
Since
the signing of the deal, it has become evident that the majority
of Sadc
leaders were less comfortable with Tsvangirai than they are with
Mugabe and
have been exerting pressure on the prime minister-designate to
join an
inclusive government he would be a junior partner in.
On the
other hand, the regional leaders have repeatedly deferred to
the 84-year-old
ruler despite his excesses.
Sadc must either shape up or ship
out - if they cannot solve the
political crisis they should say so and let
things be.
To continue to raise hopes and insist on the global
political
agreement that is yielding nothing except disease and abductions
is
tantamount to buying time for the Mugabe regime while the humanitarian
disaster is unfolding.
The political impasse has left the
country without a functional
government since March and the paralysis has
seen the economy continuing to
plunge and the humanitarian situation
deteriorate with Sadc watching in awe!
Sadc's mediation
process, which gave Zimbabweans hope, seems to be
failing and appears not to
be salvageable.
The journey to the mediation began with a Sadc
summit in Tanzania in
March last year following the assault on opposition
leaders, among them
Tsvangirai.
This opened the door for
Sadc to intervene in what Mugabe may like to
call a domestic
matter.
Both Mugabe and Tsvangirai accepted then as they still do that
Sadc
had a role to play in resolving the matter.
Former
South African President Thabo Mbeki - Sadc's point man on
Zimbabwe - played
a critical role in the pre-March elections negotiations
that led to the
necessary constitutional and legal amendments. Through the
facilitation of
Sadc, elections were held and the rest is history.
The current
Sadc challenge is not the mere formation of an
all-inclusive government, but
is broader and encompasses more issues, which
evidently the regional bloc
cannot handle.
Legitimacy is still a problem and Sadc has
failed to provide
direction. This is a litmus test for the regional grouping
which it appears
determined to fail.
Sadc should have told
Mugabe that without Tsvangirai he has no
legitimacy and should, therefore,
have ceded real power-sharing to the MDC
leader.
To the
extent that Mugabe and Tsvangirai do not trust each other, it
was important
for Sadc to intervene in search of a common ground.
Equally,
Sadc should have pronounced its opinion on the adequacy and
equitability of
the current deal on the table. It appears that the agreement
is skewed in
favour of Mugabe and Zanu PF.
Sadc leaders can and should stand
up for the principles that they
purport to share and should subject
Zimbabwe's conduct to such principles
and values.
There is
a lot that Mugabe would now wish in the passage of time to
change.
Surely even Mugabe in the quietness of his time
cannot be satisfied
that Zimbabwe will turn a new leaf if the kind of change
that comes from the
deal is not credible. Credibility has to be tested and
accompanied by
change.
Sadc must recognise that Mugabe
represents the past and the future
belongs to other leaders.
It is
inconceivable that anyone who values the future of Zimbabwe
would want to
persist with the same disastrous course of events that we have
witnessed of
late.
Mugabe cannot sustain an argument that he will alone
bring change.
Zimbabwe needs to turn a new leaf and this can
only be accomplished by
Mugabe conceding that there is a problem in the
construction of the deal on
the table that leaves him in power to frustrate
the wheels of progress from
moving forward.
The Sadc
leaders should have been firm with Mugabe by demanding that a
resolution be
found so that the work to rebuild the country begins in
earnest. And they
should speak out about abductions and other human rights
abuses.
There is no need on the part of the Sadc leaders to
pull punches.
The challenge for them is to tell Mugabe that the
September 15 deal
demanded power-sharing not grabbing, but they ducked the
challenge. They
have betrayed the people of Zimbabwe and history will
remember them as the
cowards they are.
Editor's Memo with
Constantine Chimakure
http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com
Good land Management Is The Only Way
Thursday, 18 December 2008
17:43
I READ with great interest the report by Ian Scoons of the
University
of Middlesex entitled "Myths about land reform" (Zimbabwe
Independent
September 19).
It would appear as if he had
collaborated with the University of the
Western Cape to seek justification
for the expropriation plans in South
Africa.
In the attempt
to expose the myths he revealed a grim picture of the
A1 situation in
Masvingo and an even grimmer one for the A2s, but believes
that there are
some grounds for optimism. He appears to be unaware of the
limitations
placed on agriculture by the five differing ecological regions
of
Zimbabwe.
If these are ignored there can be no hope of ever
restoring
sustainability and prosperity to agriculture in
Zimbabwe.
The incontestable fact of the matter is that the land
grabs and
following fragmentation of prosperous farm land is the main cause
of
economic meltdown and is an indirect cause of the bitter polarisation of
the
nation.
That is the position on the ground unless one
believes that targeted
travel bans and sudden change in weather patterns due
to global warming
brought the country to bankruptcy in six
years.
Before land reform, commercial agriculture provided the
core business
of Zimbabwe.
When it was deliberately looted
and gutted by government officials the
subsidiaries, commerce and industry,
tourism and mining all staggered and
began a downward spiral which is
accelerated to this day.
When government robbed the
subsidiaries to prop up land reform the
company failed. In consequence the
government has been voted out by the
shareholders but refuses to submit,
fearing retribution for its misdeeds.
While most of the
expertise which drove commercial agriculture has
gone, the models of land
use pioneered by it over 100 years are there to be
resuscitated.
If all aspects are followed that is, secure
tenure of the correct
sized units, low interest short and long term finance
made available,
irrigation and good marketing in place, submitting all
operations to the
supervision of an independent natural resources board with
strong powers
such as the previous farmers willingly submitted themselves
to.
Only then does turnaround become possible. The process will
however be
a protracted bumpy ride over decades and will require substantial
international aid.
Des Wiggill,
Glendale.
---------
Cholera Wrecking Havoc In
Bikita
Thursday, 18 December 2008 16:42
I WENT to Marecha
village in Bikita district, Masvingo Province
recently where I had gone to
bury my uncle who was robbed from us by what
has been confirmed to be
cholera.
He had complained of a running stomach after he had
attended a funeral
of one of his subjects; he was a village
head.
We later received the news that he had succumbed to the
disease and
had died on the way to Silveira Mission Hospital which is
several kilometers
away. There is no transport service in the area and the
car in which he died
en route to the hospital had been hired from Masvingo
which is at least
100km away. The process to get a car from Masvingo took
more than eight
hours whilst his life was ebbing.
When I
went there for the funeral, I was shocked to hear that 10
deaths including
my uncle's had occurred during the week and all are
suspected to have been
caused by cholera. I am hereby asking for assistance
from well-wishers and
the authorities to nip this problem in the bud.
The authorities
may need to pronounce our area a cholera zone so that
appropriate measures
are taken to combat it and also protect unsuspecting
visitors into the
area.
E Maundu,
Harare.
---------
Big
Step Forward
Thursday, 18 December 2008 16:33
AFTER so
many disappointments and delays we should not be surprised
when we get very
little response to developments that take place in the long
drawn out saga
that is meant to resolve the political crisis in Zimbabwe.
Also, because of the complexities and the secrecy that always
surrounds such
developments, the media does not always pick up its
significance.
What happened last week is that the negotiators
resumed discussions on
Wednesday in Harare and after two days settled on a
draft of constitutional
amendment number 19.
It was then
printed in the Government Gazette on Saturday and will now
face 30 days of
debate at national level before going to parliament in mid
January for
possible acceptance and adoption by a two thirds majority.
Few
of us expected such a smooth passage of this significant and
substantive
change to the constitution and it seems clear that it was
achieved only
because the South African government -- at last -- grasped the
nettle and
told Zanu PF to get on with the task and stop any
procrastination.
The amendments proposed are far reaching.
They will restore
citizenship to many thousands who were stripped of their
citizenship for
political reasons.
They make it possible to
hold dual citizenship. They create the post
of Prime Minister and the
Council of Ministers and make this new structure
responsible for
government.
They stipulate that the president will remain head
of state and in
charge of the security ministries but it also creates a
National Security
Council to replace the JOC and gives the MDC a major role
in the Council and
the ability to block any unlawful
activity.
The amendments also provide for the president to make
senior
appointments only after he has consulted and agreed on those
appointments
with the prime minister.
Best of all the deal
includes a specific time table to be followed in
the drafting of a new
constitution that in two years time will replace the
existing one and permit
the first truly free and fair democratic elections
in 30
years.
We still have a few things to get out of the way before
the new
legislation can be passed into law. The MDC is demanding that these
be dealt
with before the new legislation comes before parliament in
January.
These are the legal basis of the National Security Council
to be
agreed and drafted for consideration by parliament in January at the
same
time as the constitutional amendments; the equitable allocation of
ministerial portfolios between the three parties; the rescinding of the
appointment of governors and their replacement by new appointments
representing the party that holds a majority of MPs in each province; and
the return to Zimbabwe of all diplomats and their replacement by new
appointments agreed in terms of the GPA.
These are not
minor issues and we would have wanted them out of the
way first but we are
quite happy to see them resolved while the main
legislation goes through the
process required by the constitution. This
should not be
difficult.
The MDC is already working behind the scenes to
address the immediate
emergency -- it is working on food supplies, water
systems and the health
crisis and is trying to put many aspects of the
stabilisation and recovery
programme into a form that will allow swift
action once the new government
is in place.
I think that
any country that cannot feed its population, cannot
provide basic security
of person and property and cannot provide even the
most rudimentary health
services or education for its children, is, by
definition, a failed
state.
Not even the most ardent supporter of Zanu PF can deny that
today and
they resort to blaming everyone else for our ills.
The best we saw of this syndrome was this week when the water crisis
in our
cities was blamed on Ian Smith and the British who were accused of
infecting
our people with cholera in a form of biological and chemical
warfare! And
these guys think they should be taken seriously!
Eddie
Cross,
egcross@africaonline.co.zw
---------Who
is Playing God George?
Thursday, 18 December 2008 16:22
IN
last week's Nathaniel Manheru column in the Herald and in ZBC news
bulletins, President Robert Mugabe's spokesperson George Charamba lamented
what he called the misrepresentation of Mugabe's "Cholera has been arrested"
speech while burying Elliot Manyika at the Heroes Acre.
One
can understand Charamba's frustrations in defending and spinning
Mugabe's
words, at a time when it is increasingly difficult to do so. And it
is clear
Charamba has run out of spin.
ZBC then went on to play and
replay Mugabe's Heroes Acre speech, which
all but confirmed what he had
said, that cholera had been dealt with.
One feels pity though for
ZBC for having to defend the indefensible,
and if journalists were to quote
the president it is because that is what he
said, with his own mouth in
front of thousands and in front of cameras.
Charamba lamented
that all he wishes for is objective reporting from
the Western media, not
manipulation of facts or events.
Well said! It is interesting to
note that this is the same person who
controls the state media and who has
at no point asked the same media to be
objective in their reporting or
coverage of the so-called enemies of the
government. Charamba wants to be
treated differently from the same standard
of measurement that he applies on
all others he perceives as his enemies.
He has the guts after
this to threaten Zimbabwean journalists playing
god and threatening to
withdraw their accreditation. In other words, he is
going to cut their means
of livelihood and they will suffer because he did
not like what they
wrote.
Contrary to what Manheru said, it is you then George who
is playing
god, it is you who has brought chaos in the Zimbabwean media
landscape by
playing god and distorting the journalism field with your
stubbornly
one-sided approach. The journalists that you now threaten have
done nothing
unexpected of them; they reported what the president said. You
on the other
hand, have interpreted what the president said, embellished it
with your
words seeking to change the meaning of what he
said.
You rightfully, as your job entails sought to defend your
employer,
that is all fine but please stop playing god and stop pretending
that all
journalists in Zimbabwe belong to you and that they are puppets in
your
hands, who you manipulate to suit your desires.
We
hope after this and in your briefings with President Mugabe, you
advise him
honestly and openly about the situation in Zimbabwe. One can only
conjecture
that he is not aware since he lives in Zimbabwe but not with us.
He does not
suffer water and electricity shortages. He does not suffer from
lack of
medical attention; he does not buy with forex in our shops; he does
not use
commuter omnibuses. He relies on you George to know what Zimbabwe
looks
like.
He only knows what court jesters tell him. And they tell
what only
amuses him about the greatness of his kingdom and how everyone is
happy and
loves the king. I hope you advise him that cholera is still very
much on the
loose and taking hundreds of lives, while our hospitals are
shut. We only
hope one day you will realise that you are, after all, only
human like us.
Rashweat Mukundu,
Harare.
--------
Zimbabwe Independent SMS
Thursday, 18
December 2008 16:46
ROBERT Mugabe compares Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak
to the pig
infection and mad cow disease in Europe. Infection to animals and
human
beings. do they compare? He is not serious at all.
Tiisetso,
Beitbridge.
IT'S time to say enough is enough to Robert Mugabe.
If the so called
power-sharing talks fail, elections should follow since we
cannot be held at
ransom by a man whom we told to go peacefully in 2002 and
March 2008.
Tendai, Mutare.
ZIMBABWE will never be a
colony again but we must use the US dollar
and not our Zimbabwean dollar. We
do not need outsiders for help unless they
support Zanu PF.
Mike.
I LIVED in Harare before Independence and the streets were
swept and
rubbish collected daily. The problem now is that cleaning streets
is an
event rather than a continuous process.
Tacky.
How can the so called mediator be taken seriously when he exclusively
takes
offence at Tsvangirai's "lack of respect for Sadc heads" and yet keeps
quite
when Didymus Mutasa labels the same Sadc "day dreamers" for ruling in
favour
of white farmers?
T Bingepinge, Harare.
I beg to differ
with those who argue that Tsvangirai is pushing his
luck too far. We should
learn from the Lancaster House Agreement to see the
effects of rushed or
incomplete agreements. Farm invasions for instance
could have been avoided
if it had fully dealt with such issues.
Wamwano, Zengeza
2.
CAN somebody tell Thabo Mbeki that he should learn to be
original
because his letter in which he blasted MDC-T sounds like something
we have
been hearing for eight years now? Mbeki should spare us the tired
lecture
which has revealed what many have always suspected, that he is not
an honest
broker.
Native Intelligence.
FUNNY how the
Sadc delegation were hailed for their one-day situation
assessment, a feat
the Elders were told is impossible.
Observant.
THE
reactions to the so-called Western led invasion of Zimbabwe are
quite
interesting. But they seem to fail to understand the underlying cause
of
Zimbabwe's problems; leadership failure in the Zanu PF led government and
not cholera. This failure has brought a lot of suffering which now threatens
our peaceful existence. The recent army riots are an example.
Analyst.
JORAM Nyathi's Candid column reflects objective, mature
and principled
journalism. An invasion of Zimbabwe by UN or any other force
is not in the
interest of Zimbabwe. Let's focus on finding a solution to the
cholera and
hunger.
Mavase, Zvishavane.
JORAM Nyathi
should do the right thing and just join Zanu PF and stop
acting as a
political analyst. You do a very good job in selling Zanu PF
propaganda.
I Nyakudya.
JORAM Nyathi is clearly
rabidly bigoted. His articles are unduly
anti-Western and are not objective.
He is no different from Nathaniel
Manheru.
Idaz,
Harare.
ZIMBABWEANS would prefer to suffer with no deal than accept
a bad
power-sharing deal. We are sick and tired of analysts who pretend to
have
the people at heart.
Taneta J.
ZANU PF propaganda
continues to defy science. It does not have even a
morsel of respect for the
force of gravity as it keeps on going up and up.
It is conspicuous to all
and sundry that times have changed and no amount of
the same egregious
proportions can alter that fact. They don't think twice
about insulting
people's conscience not withstanding Muckracker has given
free lessons as to
the number one rule in politics: never insult the voters.
I wish that they
would learn!
Albert Ndagurwa, Mutare.
ZANU PF has been in
power for 28 years destroying the economy. They
cannot purport to be
bringing anything new this time around. They just must
go.
Observer.
NO sudoku for last week's edition? You have at least one
less leader.
Disappointed.
THE late ambuya Mlambo left an
indelible mark on the entire nation.
She moulded God-fearing, respectful and
righteous youths. To many she
deserved a place at the national
shrine.
Papa.