http://www.monstersandcritics.com/
Dec 20, 2010,
17:15 GMT
Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister
Morgan
Tsvangirai said Monday they would continue to work together to keep
their
troubled coalition government from collapsing.
In a rare joint
press briefing, both Mugabe and Tsvangirai said they were
happy with the way
Zimbabwe's economy had improved since the two erstwhile
enemies formed a
coalition government last year.
'We are different parties, we go at each
other at the party level, yes,'
said Mugabe, 86.
'But let it not be
said that we are dysfunctional, we are at war. No,' he
added, defending his
attack on Tsvangirai at a conference of his Movement
for Democratic Change
(MDC) over the weekend.
Tsvanigirai said, 'This inclusive government will
not collapse. We will make
sure that it does not collapse.'
Mugabe
was flanked by Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara
with
whom he formed a unity government last year.
That followed African
regional leaders' refusal to recognize a presidential
run-off vote in which
Mugabe had declared himself the winner in 2008.
Tsvangirai, who had won
the first round, pulled out of the run-off election,
citing violence
targeting his MDC supporters.
The coalition government has been marred by
disagreements between Mugabe and
Tsvangirai, leading to calls for a new
election as the only solution.
Over the weekend Mugabe told his
supporters that he was tired of working
with Tsvangirai and wanted elections
next year.
But at the Monday briefing both Mugabe and Tsvangirai said
Zimbabweans would
go to elections once a referendum for a new constitution
had been held. They
declined to name a date for the referendum.
'The
inclusive government is a transitional mechanism that will lead to an
election,' Tsvangirai said, saying he hoped for a 'roadmap' pointing the way
to elections after a referendum.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
20 December, 2010 05:25:00
AP
HARARE,— Zimbabwe's president said Monday the country's fragile
power-sharing government is making some progress despite the coalition
partners being "at each other's throats."
Robert Mugabe, who has been
in power for 30 years, entered into the
coalition in 2009 with longtime
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who
became prime minister.
Deep
rifts in the two-year coalition have raised serious doubts about its
future.
Over the weekend Mugabe said he regretted joining the coalition and
wanted
early elections to bring it to an end.
But after meeting with his
coalition partners Monday, Mugabe said that the
deal has given Zimbabweans
"a sense of togetherness."
"Just because we go at each other's throats at
party level, let people not
think we are a dysfunctional government," Mugabe
said at the year-end press
conference with Tsvangirai at his
side.
Mugabe said the unity government had made progress despite disputes
between
its leaders over the pace of reform, the appointment of senior
government
officials and the return to the rule of law after years of
political and
economic turmoil.
On Monday, after about an hour of
talks at Mugabe's State House office
complex, the two main coalition leaders
exchanged pleasantries, despite
Mugabe's remarks that he regretted the
coalition at the weekend annual
convention of his party.
Tsvangirai
told reporters he wanted to convey "a positive evaluation" of the
power
sharing deal but said there was still deadlock on some key political
issues
in the coalition agreement.
"We have made gains" in economic reform and
public services," he said. He
said shortages of money and resources had
prevented further gains.
Mugabe said the power sharing deal had an
official lifespan of two years
that expires in February but the rewriting of
a new constitution would need
to be completed before any fresh elections can
be held.
Mugabe has called for national elections in mid 2011. A new
constitution is
slated to be put to a referendum before then, but public
canvassing for
constitutional reform and redrafting of the new document is
way behind
schedule. The completed version is unlikely to be complete by May
as
scheduled.
The nation's coalition was formed after violence marred
elections in 2008
and Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change
party boycotted a
presidential runoff poll, citing torture, intimidation and
illegal arrests
of his supporters.
Tsvangirai's party has called for
international election observers to
monitor any future polls to deter
further violence and ensure a free and
fair poll.
http://www.dailynews.co.zw/
By Reagan Mashavave
Monday, 20 December 2010
18:47
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai on
Monday revealed that they have not yet agreed on when the
country will hold
elections, adding a new and confusing twist on whether the
polls will be
held next year.
Addressing journalists at State
House, Mugabe, Tsvangirai and deputy-prime
minister Arthur Mutambara said
the polls will be held in line with the road
map on the Global Political
Agreement (GPA) signed two years ago.
This is despite the fact that
Tsvangirai and Mugabe have separately been
telling their supporters to
prepare for elections in 2011, but a dispute
between the two has emerged
with the latter calling for a general election
while the prime minister
prefers a presidential election.
Mugabe made the announcement at his
party’s conference at the weekend, a day
after Tsvangirai had also made his
party’s views known.
The three leaders who formed a coalition government
last year, said despite
the evident tensions among them, the coalition
government remained intact.
“The next election, as far as the three of us
are concerned, is a
process-driven setting. No one here can tell you we are
going to have
elections on this date or that date.
“Different
political parties have different interpretations, until such time
as it can
be discussed, when the time for elections comes and we have one
common
position, I think you have party positions and not national
positions,” said
Tsvangirai while explaining the different signals on
elections coming from
the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and Zanu PF.
“This inclusive
government has not collapsed and will not collapse - at
least we will ensure
that it is there to fulfill its mandate for the
duration of the transition
until an election is conducted,” he said.
Mugabe shared the same views
with Tsvangirai, saying although the three main
political parties in the
country have expressed their positions, the unity
government is yet to
decide on the election date.
“As the Prime Minister has told you, parties
may have different opinions and
these opinions naturally will be discussed,
we haven’t come to that,” Mugabe
said.
The 86 year old leader said
the Constitutional Select Committee (Copac) will
announce dates of when the
referendum will be conducted, giving an insight
of when the next polls would
be held.
Mugabe appealed to the media to promote peace in the country in
the period
towards elections.
“You play a major role and please play
that role in bringing about peace,
peace, peace. Preach about peace as much
as possible, no to violence,”
Mugabe said.
Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe
must hold an election that will not be
characterised by
violence.
“There are incidences of violence that we have witnessed and we
are
committed as leaders to ensure that the next election is certainly not
characterised by a culture of violence. That demon must be ostracised
because it is a demon that no-one wants,” Tsvangirai said.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
20 December, 2010 10:56:00 Staff Correspondent
IN a
bizarre defiance, the outgoing MDC-M President Professor Arthur
Mutambara
has insisted he may contest as Presidential candidate in 2011
general
elections amid reports of bitter infighting and skulduggery that
have cost
leading member of the MDC-W, Education Minister David Coltart his
position
from the party.
For the MDC-W leadership 2011 Congress, Bulawayo Province
which IS mainly
made up of Ncube’s Kitchen Cabinet, nominated: President -
Welshman Ncube,
Deputy President - Frank Chamunorwa, Chairman - Goodrich
Chimbaira,
Secretary General - Priscilla Misihairabwi Mushonga, Deputy
Secretary
General- Moses Mzila Ndlovu, Treasurer General - Paul Themba
Nyathi, Deputy
Treasurer General - Miriam Mushayi and there was no mention
of David
Coltart.
Sources said Welshman Ncube intervened to get
Senator David Coltart
appointed into what he called the National Executive
Council along with
Nqgabutho Dube after a huge outcry from party
members.
In the coalition government, Education Minister David Coltart is
credited
for his hardworking efforts in reviving the dilapidated country’s
education
which has suffered at the hands of Robert Mugabe’s
regime.
On his Facebook profile, Welshman Ncube was attacked by his party
members on
why David Coltart was being sidelined, and for more than twelve
hours he
could not give a clear answer, only to come back 24 hours later to
announce
that he had foisted him into a National Executive
Council.
One livid party member Bekithemba Mpofu said, "So one of the
most
hardworking Ministers gets overlooked? Wondering what criteria is being
used? Coltart is being overlooked by his own province.
Leen Coleen
Mokoena said, "Yes why have they left Coltart out? He is by far
the most
hard working Minister Zimbabwe has ever had. He is sincere and has
Zimbabwe
at his heart regardless of what they continue saying of him being a
former
Rhodesian."
Sources said the party’s decision to sideline or shove
Coltart away from
frontline is influenced by his recent public spat with
Robert Mugabe’s War
Veterans.
Meanwhile in Manicaland, where Mutambara
comes from, violence broke out
after the province rejected the imposition of
Welshman Ncube as leader.
Sources said there are now parallel structures in
the province. The province
is likely to launch a Mutambara led faction in
the party.
On his Facebook profile, Ncube said, "Our MDC provincial
nominations in
Manicaland were disrupted by police yesterday."
The
Zimbabwe Mail reporter at the scene said police were called in to
disperse
rowdy mobs belonging to Ncube and Mutambara factions who fought
running
battles against all day, with both factions claiming be the
legitimate
provincial executive.
Nominations for Manicaland will now be carried out
in Bulawayo, sources
said.
In a dramatic twist Mutambara is now
saying he may turn out to be the next
head of state even though he is
stepping down as leader of the party.
Addressing a Diaspora conference in
the resort town of Victoria Falls,
Mutambara left delegates bemused when he
insisted he was not going anywhere.
In a clear show of bitterness over
the handling of his removal from
leadership which was first reported by The
Zimbabwe Mail, the Robotics
Professor said, "I took a plunge and see where
that took me; I became the
president of MDC. After that I became the Deputy
Prime Minister," he said.
"Muchashama ndava Head of State because I am
not going anywhere,’’ Mutambara
said in defiance.
The Deputy Prime
Minister however, said he was not going back on his pledge
to quit the
leadership of the MDC.
But, sources said Mutambara had no choice but to
throw in the towel after he
failed to gunner any support from the party’s
provinces.
"I am stepping down as the leader of my party MDC. I am not
running- it’s
done.
"We are going for a congress in January and I
have said that I am not
contesting for any party post but I will still be a
member of the party,’’
he said.
Mutambara had to step aside when he
became a pariah within his own party
after widespread accusations that he
was taking the party into Robert Mugabe’s
pockets.
Analysts said
Mutambara is likely to lose more if he openly defies his party
and so he has
to abide by Welshman Ncube’s wishes and act in a normal way
right through to
the life span of the coalition government and so that he
can drive off in
his free Mercedes Benz and all the packages that goes with
his
position.
We could not verify other reports saying Mutambara is planning
to join Zanu
PF, but those close to him are urging him to stay in MDC-W and
lead his
faction to challenge Ncube’s leadership.
It has also since
emerged that a majority of the party’s provincial
structures have been wiped
into backing Secretary General, Professor
Welshman Ncube, to take over as
leader of the party.
Ncube was not eligible to stand again for his
current post, having served
the mandatory two terms allowed under the
party’s constitution, a situation
which is not explained as to why Mutambara
is not accorded protection by the
party’s constitution.
In true
Robert Mugabe’s fashion, Ncube has wiped into line Matabeleland
North,
Bulawayo, Matabeleland South, Harare, Midlands North and South and
Mashonaland East provinces to replace Mutambara.
Mutambara was
invited to lead MDC in February 2006 following the split of
MDC in
2005.
He did not contest the presidential elections in 2008 preferring,
instead,
to throw his weight behind Mavambo Kusile leader Dr Simba Makoni.
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
19 December,
2010 07:34:00 MOSES MATENGA
MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti on
Sunday said his party was worried
about the deployment of serving and
retired members of the army in villages
around the country and called for
their immediate removal.
He also said the presidential election his party
was pushing for next year
did not mean a declaration of war against the
people like what happened in
the disputed June 27 presidential election run-
off.
Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has denied that the army has
been
deployed throughout the country.
Biti was addressing hundreds of
party supporters in Kuwadzana where he said
calls by Zanu PF for elections
showed the party was “bloodthirsty”.
He said if Zanu PF engaged in
violence this time around, President Robert
Mugabe would go it alone
again.
He reiterated that if elections were held next year, they would
only be
presidential polls, which were inconclusive in 2008.
He
called for the freeing of airwaves to spare the people from Zanu PF
propaganda churned out on the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation.
Biti described Zanu PF members as “vampires who have gone
for two years
without blood”. He went down memory lane narrating how people
died at the
hands of Zanu PF.
He said MDC-T saw no need to use
ammunition against the people compared to
Zanu PF.
“They will kill
and unleash violence but there are no brakes to real change.
We are only
left with two bus stops now and these are the new constitution
and elections
to deal with (President) Mugabe once and for all.”
Biti said Zanu PF
leaders were too tired to bring anything new to Zimbabwe.
“The only
ammunition we have is the people and let’s all register to vote
and conclude
the presidential elections,” he said.
Kuwadzana East MP Nelson Chamisa,
said what the MDC-T achieved in two years
was what Zanu PF failed in 30
years.
Chamisa said Zanu PF had to demilitarise the villages and stop
intimidating
people.
“The ballot should thrive over the bullet and
our aim as the MDC-T is not to
fire police officers or soldiers but to do
away with (President) Mugabe.” -
NewsDay
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Tichaona Sibanda
20
December 2010
The MDC-M provincial chairperson for Manicaland province,
Sondon
Mugaradziko, is still in police custody a day after he was arrested
when
chairing a party meeting.
Heavily armed police pounced on a
provincial council meeting in Mutare on
Sunday and disrupted proceedings.
While the rest of the council members were
told to disperse, Mugaradziko was
taken in by the police, facing charges of
organising a political meeting
without clearance.
A member of the JOMIC from the MDC-M, Frank
Chamunorwa, told us their
provincial chair was still in custody on
Monday.
‘We were told the police were taking him to court today (Monday)
but that
has not yet happened. ZANU PF held their conference there and
nothing
happened to them and our guys were working on preparations for our
own
conference and they get arrested. This is a scandal,’ Chamunorwa added.
http://www.swradioafrica.com
By Tererai
Karimakwenda
20 December, 2010
War vet leader and violent ZANU PF
thug, Jabulani Sibanda, who has
terrorized innocent people around the
country, is reported to have brought
his campaign to the Chikombedzi area of
Chiredzi. Our correspondent Lionel
Saungweme says that Sibanda was
threatening elderly villagers last week,
saying their throats would be cut
if they did not support ZANU PF in
elections next year.
Sibanda went
through Chikombedzi last Thursday, in the company of a local
CIO official
known as Matambanadzo and a war vet named Hatlani Makondo.
According to
Saungweme, Matambanadzo told villagers that he is in possession
of a ‘black
book’ that will have the names of all supporters of the MDC or
ZAPU. He said
the names in his book would ‘catch hell’ when elections come
in
2011.
ZANU PF has been targeting areas where the MDC won heavily during
the 2008
elections. Saungweme explained that ZAPU is also gaining ground in
parts of
Chiredzi, and Sibanda threatened supporters of that party as well.
.
The ZANU PF thug’s name is always linked to political violence and he
regularly operates ahead of elections. He has been accused of terrorizing
people in different parts of the country since Robert Mugabe announced that
he wanted elections next year.
The MDC called for Sibanda’s arrest
after he traveled through Masvingo
province, assaulting and threatening MDC
supporters. But as always the
police did not act and he continues his work
for ZANU PF with impunity.
But he was forced to leave the Masvingo area
after MDC structures organized
their youths to resist him and his thugs.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Irene Moyo
Monday, 20 December
2010 06:39
HARARE – Zanu (PF) has threatened to expel “interfering”
Western diplomats
as the former ruling party rolls out a campaign to crush
opposition to its
quest to wrestle power lost in the last elections held in
2008. In a move
targeted at envoys from the United Kingdom, the United
States, New Zealand
and Australia, President Robert Mugabe’s party said it
would not countenance
any further interference by the West in Zimbabwe’s
internal politics.
“The party resolves that foreign envoys who promote the
West’s regime change
agenda and interfere in the internal affairs of
Zimbabwe be expelled,” ZANU
PF said in a communiqué issued at the end of its
annual conference held in
the eastern border city of Mutare on Saturday.
This is not the first time
Mugabe has threatened to kick out the ambassadors
of “hostile” Western
countries.
He issued the same threat in March 2007
after accusing Western diplomats of
supporting the opposition MDC-T party
led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai. The veteran leader said at the time
that diplomats who wanted to
represent their countries in Zimbabwe had to
"behave properly" or they would
be thrown out.
He again made a similar
threat in August this year when, through Foreign
Minister Simbarashe
Mumbengegwi, he read the riot act to the ambassadors of
the UK, US,
Australia, New Zealand and the European Union for walking out
during his
speech at the burial of his late sister in Harare. The diplomats
were also
warned against their continued interaction
with MDC-T officials.
They were
ordered to stop visiting opposition officials and attending their
court
appearances and those breaking the order would face imminent
expulsions.
Mugabe is particularly keen on expelling British ambassador to
Zimbabwe,
Mark Canning, and his American counterpart, Charles Ray, as an
example of
what he can do to the rest of the Western diplomats. The two have
been
outspoken in their criticism of the Mugabe regime.
Observers however say the
expulsion threats may be just that – mere rantings
of a cornered despot who
wants to portray a Macho image among bewildered
supporters. “These will
remain just threats because Mugabe himself knows
that such action would
attract similar measures from the West, something
that he is not prepared to
do at the moment,” said political analyst Donald
Porusingazi.
Cutting off
ties with the rich Western nations would be suicidal for Mugabe
who is
desperate to win back voters who deserted his party at the height of
an
unprecedented economic crisis in 2008. “After all the political
grandstanding normally associated with Zanu (PF) meetings, even Mugabe
himself knows that completely shutting out the money-totting West would be
like signing his own death certificate. Without Western backing, there won’t
be any recovery of agriculture, health and education sectors to talk of,”
added Porusingazi.
Western nations have always bankrolled Zimbabwe’s
social sectors and the
effects of their support were seen when they withdrew
assistance at the
height of the country’s political crisis in the mid-2000s.
The Western
pullout triggered a collapse of the education sector, with an
unprecedented
exodus of qualified teachers and children not going to school
for more than
a year.
Most health facilities also closed due to lack of
staff and drugs while
those that remained open demanded extortionist prices
before offering
services. The timing of the expulsion threats is
particularly interesting as
it comes at a time when Zanu (PF) is pushing for
elections next year. Mugabe
wants to silence the envoys so that they would
not comment on
the cases of violence that his party is expected to unleash in
the run-up to
the polls.
http://www.radiovop.com
20/12/2010 15:31:00
Gwanda,
December 20, 2010 – Traffic cops manning road blocks along the
country’s
major roads are demanding “Christmas gifts” from motorists.
Driving along
the Beit-Bridge-Bulawayo road has in the past week become a
nightmare with
underpaid police officers demanding bribes from travellers
who breach
traffic regulations.
The highway has become a hive of activity as South
African based Zimbabweans
return home for the festive
season.
Officers accept anything from groceries to cash.
“These
guys are stealing from us, you can hardly pass a roadblock without
having to
leave something for them and they are not even ashamed to ask,
they just
tell you they want something for Christmas”, said Mbonisi Fuzwayo
who was
heading for Tsholotsho.
With Police officers manning roadblocks in every
20km motorists travelling
to Bulawayo from South Africa part with a
fortune.
“We are just working for these police officers as they take a
huge chunk of
our savings , something has to be done quickly” , said Dumiso
Muleya a
commuter omnibus driver.
Overloaded and un-roadworthy motor
vehicles are not impounded as long as
motorists can afford to bribe law
enforcers.
This has seen a surge in road accidents over the past years as
defective
vehicles are allowed on the country’s roads.
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Lovejoy Sakala
Sunday, 19 December 2010
09:19
NYANGA NORTH - Residents here have vowed not to pay radio and
television
licences to the state broadcaster Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation (ZBC)
because they were not getting transmission.
Irate
residents told The Zimbabwean On Thursday they had gone for many years
without television despite ZBC demanding exorbitant license fees. ZBC is
demanding an annual radio and television licence of US$50 from residents and
US$100 for motorists.
“We have had no ZBC signal transmission for a long
time here and we are
surprised that they demanding licence fees from us. We
rely on foreign
stations such as Radio de Mozambique, Studio 7, Voice of
America and SW
Radio. I don’t even know any presenter on ZBC TV and radio,
“said Marka
Munowenyu, a street vendor. Residents complained they were
isolated from the
rest of the country and were starved of
information.
“Here in Kazozo and Ruwangwe we don’t even access newspapers
because the
road network is bad. As you can see most people have invested
so much in
satellite dishes,”said Rodreck Mawoyo, a local teacher. During
the
inauguration of the inclusive government in 2009, Information, Media and
Publicity minister Webster Shamu promised to open the airwaves to other
private players but to date nothing has materialised.
http://www.radiovop.com
20/12/2010 12:18:00
Harare,
December 20, 2010 - Prisoners at Harare Central prison have been
moved from
their cells to create room for five goats which have been kept at
the prison
complex for the past one week.
This means several prisoners have to share
the tiny cells in an already over
congested prison.
Officers who
spoke to Radio VOP were unable to say who the owner of the
goats
is.
“We tried to ask the logic of keeping domestic animals in prison
...but we
were victimised for that. It’s not the first time that domestic
animals have
been kept in prison. Three months ago we witnessed chickens
being kept in a
cell," said a prison officer who declined to be
named.
In August Harare Remand Officer in Charge Chief Superintendent
Chibaya was
interrogated by senior service officials for keeping 200
chickens in a
prison cell meant for juveniles. He is alleged to have quickly
removed the
chickens from the cell before the investigation team
arrived.
Efforts to get a comment from Harare Central Prison Officer in
Charge Chief
Superintendent Norbert Chomurenga were fruitless as his mobile
phone was not
reachable.
http://www.swradioafrica.com/
By Alex Bell
20
December 2010
Zimbabweans in South Africa are pleading for the deadline
to regularise
their stay in the country to be extended, as thousands of
people look set to
miss the cut off date next week.
But the December
31st deadline looks unlikely to change after South Africa’s
Home Affairs
Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, announced last week that
there would be no
extension. After a meeting with various rights groups
concerned about the
faltering documentation process, she said that the
department would not
resume deportations of Zim nationals until all
applications made before the
deadline had been processed. She however warned
once again that no new
applications would be considered in the New Year.
Rights groups have been
calling for an extension of the deadline for
sometime, warning that
thousands of people will miss out on the opportunity
to get relevant work or
study permits. Getting the permits relies on having
proper identification,
in the form of a Zimbabwean passport, but the
authorities are struggling to
deal with the numbers requested. Only about 10
000 passports have been
issued in the past two months, out of many tens of
thousands.
Dlamini-Zuma has since lashed out at her Zimbabwe
counterparts, blaming
their failure to produce enough passports for creating
the backlog on South
Africa’s side. As a result South Africa’s Home Affairs
are now prepared to
accept receipts proving that a passport application has
been made, in order
for people to apply for South African
permits.
This however is also having a knock on effect, with people just
being issued
receipts instead of passports, even if they applied for the
documents two
months ago. Some people, who risked journeying back to
Zimbabwe to beat the
queues at consular offices in South Africa, are now too
afraid to cross the
border with just a passport receipt.
One woman
waiting in a queue at a consulate in South Africa told SW Radio
Africa on
Monday that people are frustrated and angry. She explained that
most people
were risking their jobs by waiting in queues all day, as some
people have
only been allowed to take a single day off work.
“This is my third day in
the queue, but my employers are very understanding.
This is not the same for
others. All we want is the deadline to be extended,
we are praying this
happens,” the woman said.
The tension in queues has been building, and
last Friday assault charges
were laid against a security guard at a consular
office in the Western Cape.
The guard manhandled refugee activist Braam
Hanekom and some Zimbabweans
waiting in the chaotic queue. Hanekom, from the
group PASSOP, told SW Radio
Africa on Monday that he was shocked by the
treatment of Zimbabweans at the
consulate.
“The security guards were
assaulting and beating people in the queues and
when I tried to speak to
people, I was basically assaulted and stopped from
speaking,” Hanekom
explained.
Hanekom added that one of the people being “pushed around” by
the security
guard was a man carrying his seven month old
son.
“People are being charged up to R800 for a passport, even though it
costs a
fraction of this to print one. We think the money could be better
spent on
having more people to deal with applications and better security,”
Hanekom
said.
Hanekom continued by saying that South Africa’s Home
Affairs will be making
“a dangerous and reckless move if they don’t extend
the deadline.” He said
that the threat of deportations was already adding to
xenophobic tensions in
the country, “because local South Africans aren’t
going to know who is legal
and who isn’t, they’ll just want the foreigners
gone.”
“Home Affairs is really setting South Africa up for another wave
of
xenophobic violence, so it’s really crucial that they extend this
deadline
and make sure the documentation process is done properly,” Hanekom
said.
http://www.radiovop.com/
19/12/2010 13:30:00
JOHANNESBURG,
December 19, 2010-The South African Government says it will
stick to its
December 31 deadline for all Zimbabwean immigrants in the
country to get
permits or face massive deportations in January.
Zimbabwe can produce
only 500 passports a day. With about 40000 applications
still waiting to be
processed, the backlog for passports will not be met.
South Africa proposes
that all applicants for Zimbabwean passports must
attach a copy of the
receipt for their passport application form.
South Africa will keep the
application for regularisation aside until the
applicants have received
their passports.
South Africa will probably not be able to finalise all
applications by
December 31, partly because fingerprinting and verification
of records take
time.The department will call people in batches for
fingerprinting, but
applications must meet the deadline. Some people do not
have the necessary
documents with them in South Africa to apply for
passports in Zimbabwe.
They must place themselves on a list and "indicate
that they have a birth
certificate and that they were registered in
Zimbabwe. Or, they have an ID
document but it is not in South Africa. And
maybe list their parent's
names".
The South African government will
ask the Zimbabwean government to verify
the citizenship of these people. If
they are on the list, and their forms
are in by December 31, their
applications will be put aside until their
citizenship is verified.
Those
who are able to obtain confirmation of citizenship from the Zimbabwean
consulate or embassy but are waiting for a passport or ID, will also have
their applications set aside until they can be processed.
Although
applications close on December 31, the processing will continue
beyond this
date. No deportations will be done until the applications have
been
processed.
http://www.reliefweb.int
Source: The
Zimbabwean
Date: 19 Dec 2010
Written by Wallace
Mawire
Sunday, 19 December 2010 09:07
CHIREDZI - The International
Organization for Migration (IOM) has handed
over a revolving livestock
scheme to the community which was set up to
benefit Zimbabwean refugees who
want to return home from South Africa.
The scheme was started in 2007 as
a joint project between IOM and Chiredzi
district authorities to help
re-integrate people that wanted to come back
home. According to Yukiko
Kumashiro, IOM Programme Support Officer, the
project "was done to promote
sustainable livelihoods through the
establishment of a community-managed
livestock scheme".
"The project sought to provide a viable livelihood
opportunity, offer
returnees an income generating activity, contribute to
household and
community development and reduce the incidence of irregular
migration,"
noted Kumashiro. Kumashiro added that with financial support
from the
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the
project
targeted 200 returnees from South Africa who were assisted and
registered by
the IOM Beitbridge Reception and Support Centre.
She
said the beneficiaries targeted were households with orphans, unemployed
youths, the elderly and the chronically ill and also female headed
households. At inception, 201 households were assisted with 886 goats and
the goat population had risen to over 2400 goats after two years.
"By
the end of the project, a total of 460 households had been assisted and
another 200 households were registered to receive goats from the third cycle
of the pass on scheme", she said. The project is reported to have also
equipped the beneficiaries and the host community to engage in commercial
goat production and offer good quality meat which could compete on the
domestic and international market.
"The revolving livestock scheme
stimulated the development of a commercial
small livestock industry in Ward
9 of Chiredzi District, an indicator of the
multiplier effect of the
project," she added. Also recently IOM assisted
project beneficiaries with
marketing and managed to facilitate the sending
of goats to an abattoir in
Masvingo. Beneficiaries who sent their goats
expressed joy at the returns
realised.
The group was assisted by IOM to open a bank account for the
project.
Members are required to make contributions into the Livestock
Insurance Fund
Account so that there will be resources available to meet
market related
costs. Throughout the project duration, IOM has been working
closely with
government agencies and departments, NGOs and other
stakeholders. The
support from Agritex, the Veterinary department, the
Ministry of Labour and
Social Services, the District Administrator's office
and the Chiredzi Rural
District Council had been instrumental to the success
and sustainability of
the project. Communities have expressed interest to
continue the project.
IOM will use the positive outcome of this project
to develop strategies to
replicate it in other areas such as
Plumtree.
"It is our hope that the Ward 9 community through the
structures that were
set up in partnership with relevant government agencies
will continue to
work in the same spirit and realise benefits from the
revolving livestock
scheme. If managed well the scheme will be able to
spearhead development in
this community and the impact will have a
spill-over effect into other
sectors of the economy", said IOM Head of
Programmes, Natalia Perez.
http://www.mg.co.za/
HARARE, ZIMBABWE Dec 20 2010
11:51
A Zimbabwean human rights organisation on Monday urged the
country's ruling
parties to allow freedom and fairness in elections
tentatively planned for
next year.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
on Saturday called for new elections next
year. Many opposition groups and
human rights organisations fear that his
Zanu-PF party might resort to
violence to stay in power after being forced
into a power-sharing agreement
after the 2008 elections.
The report from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights argued that the country
could slip back into instability if elections
were not fair.
It further argued that conditions on the ground have not
improved since the
2008 elections that resulted in over 200 deaths, mainly
of backers of Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change party, which was
then in the opposition.
African leaders
forced the creation of a coalition government in February
2009 after
rejecting the results of a presidential election runoff boycotted
by
Tsvangirai. -- Sapa-DPA
http://www.zimonline.co.za/
by Own Correspondent Monday 20
December 2010
HARARE – The International Centre for Settlement of
Investment Disputes
(ICSID) has appointed a three-member arbitration
tribunal to consider the
request by a German family that is contesting the
seizure of its farms by
the Zimbabwean government.
The von Pezold
family sought assistance of the Paris-based ICSID in July
after its three
farms –Makandi Tea and Coffee Estate, Border Timbers Estate
and Forester
Estate in Manicaland – were invaded by members of President
Robert Mugabe’s
Zanu (PF) in June.
In case number ARB/10/15, Bernhard von Pezold and
others are suing the
government of Zimbabwe for loss of income during the
three-week-long
stand-off between the German investors and marauding gangs
from Mugabe’s
party.
The case was registered on the roll of the
Paris-based tribunal on July 8, a
few days after the Harare regime bowed to
pressure from the Germany embassy
to order
The ICSID appointed
Canadian lawyer Yves Fortier on December 9 to head the
three-member
arbitration tribunal that will hear the von Pezold application
for
damages.
The former Canadian ambassador and permanent representative to
the United
Nations will be assisted by Malawian lawyer Peter Mutharika and
New Zealand’s
David Williams.
Mutharika is ironically the younger
brother of Malawi’s President Bingu wa
Mutharika, a close ally of
Mugabe.
The younger Mutharika is the current Malawian Justice and
Constitutional
Affairs Minister.
The German investors are accusing
the Zimbabwean government of failing to
act against the illegal occupants
who claimed they were allocated the
properties under Mugabe’s controversial
land reform programme.
Harare only ordered the armed and alcoholic mob
off the farms after the
Germany government threatened to withhold aid to
Zimbabwe, which totalled
more than US$50 million in 2009.
The illegal
land occupiers are believed to have looted maize and other crops
valued at
more than US$1 million since moving onto the farms on June 18.
The
properties are covered by a bilateral investment promotion and
protection
agreement (BIPPA) between Zimbabwe and Germany in 1995 but which
came into
force in 2000.
The agreement precludes any farms owned by Germans from
expropriation under
Zimbabwe’s controversial land reform
programme.
This will be the second time the Zimbabwe had been dragged
before the ICSID.
A group of Dutch nationals in April 2009 won its case
against the Harare
regime after appealing to the ICSID for compensation for
loss their
properties.
The Dutch farmers argued that their properties
were protected by a bilateral
investment treaty under which Harare promised
to pay full compensation to
Dutch nationals in disputes arising out of any
investments in Zimbabwe.
Several countries, among them Austria, France,
Germany, Mauritius, Holland,
South Africa, Sweden and Malaysia, have signed
investment protection
agreements with Zimbabwe.
The chaotic and often
violent land reform programme – that Mugabe says was
necessary to ensure
blacks also owned some of the best land previously
reserved for whites by
former colonial governments – is blamed for
destabilising the mainstay
agriculture sector and knocking down food
production by about 60
percent.
Zimbabwe has largely survived largely on food handouts from
international
relief agencies since the land reforms began nine years
ago.
Mugabe however denies his land redistribution exercise caused hunger
and
instead puts the blame on poor weather and a crippling economic crisis
responsible for shortages of seed and fertilizers for farmers to produce
enough food.
http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Tobias Manyuchi Monday 20 December
2010
HARARE – A close ally of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
requested US
assistance in setting up a fund to be used to entice Zimbabwe’s
security
commanders into retirement, according to the latest American cable
released
by WikiLeaks.
According to the cable, Elton Mangoma, a top
member of Tsvangirai’s MDC
party, told a senior diplomat with the US embassy
in Harare in a meeting
late last year that the Prime Minister’s party wanted
Washington to
contribute to fund that would be used to buy off security
chiefs.
"According to Elton Mangoma, MDC-T Minister of Economic
Development and
member of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's inner circle,
the MDC would
like the U.S. to contribute to a 'trust fund' to buy off
securocrats and
move them into retirement," said the US cable.
It was
not clear from the cable whether Mangoma, who requested support for
the
proposed ‘trust fund’ in meeting with embassy chargé d’Affaires
Katherine
Dhanani, had been specifically sent by Tsvangirai to ask for the
support or
was merely relaying the general thinking of the MDC party.
Zimbabwe’s
hardliner generals are widely seen as wielding a de facto veto
over the
country’s troubled transformation process and likely to block
transfer of
power to the winners of elections expected next year should the
victors not
be President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU PF party.
"Mangoma said that a
primary obstacle to political progress and reform was
the service chiefs.
Unlike many ZANU-PF insiders who had stolen and invested
wisely, these
individuals had not become wealthy.
"They feared economic pressures, as
well as prosecution for their misdeeds,
should political change result in
their being forced from office. Therefore,
they were resisting…progress that
could ultimately result in fair
elections,” cable said.
The security
chiefs are Mugabe’s staunchest allies and are credited with
keeping the
President in power after waging a ruthless campaign of violence
in 2008 to
force then opposition leader Tsvangirai to withdraw from a second
round
presidential poll that analysts had strongly tipped the former trade
unionist to win.
Tsvangirai had beaten Mugabe in the first round
ballot but failed to achieve
outright victory to avoid the second round
run-off poll.
The security chiefs have previously vowed to never salute a
president who
did not take part in Zimbabwe’s 1970s liberation struggle, in
what was seen
as a clear warning they would topple any government led by
Tsvangirai who
did not take part in the independence war.
The US
cables, of which WikiLeaks it has nearly 3 000 on Zimbabwe alone,
have been
a most welcome propaganda tool for Mugabe who has used them to
portray the
Tsvangirai and the MDC as puppets of the America and the West. –
ZimOnline
http://www.pressdemocrat.com
Patients barter livestock, corn for
medical services at hospital run by
Santa Rosa nurse with ties to Sebastopol
church
By CELIA W. DUGGER
NEW YORK TIMES
Published: Monday,
December 20, 2010 at 4:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, December 20, 2010 at
9:22 a.m.
CHIDAMOYO, Zimbabwe -- People lined up on the veranda
of the American
mission hospital here from miles around to barter for doctor
visits and
medicines, clutching scrawny chickens, squirming goats and
buckets of maize.
But mostly, they arrived with sacks of peanuts on their
heads.
The hospital's cavernous chapel is now filled with what looks like
a giant
sand dune of unshelled nuts. The hospital makes them into peanut
butter that
is mixed into patients' breakfast porridge, spread on teatime
snacks and
melted into vegetables at dinnertime.
"We literally are
providing medical services for peanuts!" exclaimed Kathy
McCarty, a nurse
from Santa Rosa who has run this rural hospital, 35 miles
from the nearest
tarred road, since 1981.
The Chidamoyo Christian Hospital is rooted in
Sonoma County, where its board
members regularly meet at King Hwa Chinese
restaurant in Sebastopol and
volunteers load containers full of medical
supplies. McCarty's salary is
paid by the Sebastopol Christian Church, where
she has been a member since
childhood.
"A lot of people from our
church have gone over the years," said Rosanne
Prandini, who spent a month
at the hospital this summer. "And a lot of
medical people from Sonoma
County, who aren't affiliated with our church,
have gone over."
The
Chidamoyo hospital, along with countless Zimbabweans, turned to barter
in in
2008 when inflation peaked at what the International Monetary Fund
estimates
was 500 billion percent, wiping out life savings, making even
trillion-dollar notes worthless and propelling the health and education
systems into collapse.
Sue Beckstead, a Sebastopol resident and
hospital board member who collects
donations and forwards them to McCarty,
said patients bring in whatever they
can to pay.
"People come into
the hospital with goats, chickens and peanuts," Beckstead
said. "Kathy said
if they don't have to give something, they don't think the
service is any
good."
Since 2008, a power-sharing government has formed after years of
decline
under President Robert Mugabe, and the economy has stabilized.
Zimbabwe
abandoned its currency last year, replacing it with the American
dollar, and
inflation has fallen to a demure 3.6 percent. Teachers are back
in their
classrooms and nurses are back on their wards.
But a recent
U.N. report states Zimbabwe is still poorer than any of the 183
countries
the U.N. has income data for. It is one of three countries in the
world
worse off now on combined measures of health, education and income
than it
was 40 years ago.
For many rural Zimbabweans, cash remains so scarce that
the 85-bed Chidamoyo
Christian Hospital has continued to allow its patients
to barter. Studies
have found that fees are a major barrier to medical care
in rural areas,
where most Zimbabweans live.
"It's very difficult to
get this famous dollar that people are talking
about," said Esther
Chirasasa, 30, who hiked 8 miles through the bush to the
hospital for
treatment of debilitating arthritis. Her son, Cain, 13, walked
at her side
carrying a sack of peanuts to pay for her care.
Here in this rustic
outpost with no phone service and often no electricity,
the Chidamoyo
hospital and the people who rely on it have entered an
unwritten pact to
resist the tide of death that has carried away so many.
Life expectancy in
Zimbabwe, plagued by AIDS and poverty, has fallen to 47
years from 61 years
over the past quarter century.
Patients provide the the crops and the
animals they raise and the hospital
tends to their wounds, treats their
illnesses and delivers their babies. Its
two doctors and 15 nurses see about
6,000 patients a month and have put
2,000 people with AIDS on life-saving
antiretroviral medicines.
The hospital charges $1 to see the doctor -- or
a quarter bucket of
peanuts -- while a government hospital typically charges
$4, in cash only.
Short of cash like the people it serves, the hospital
practices a level of
thrift unheard of in the United States. Workers and
volunteers steam latex
gloves in cloth bags to sterilize them for reuse,
filling the fingers with
water to ensure against leaks. They remove the
cotton balls from thousands
of pill bottles to swab patients' arms before
injections. And they collect
the tissue-thin pages of instructions from the
same bottles for use as
toilet paper.
For most of the past year, the
hospital did not have enough money to stock
blood. McCarty said women who
hemorrhaged after giving birth or experiencing
ruptured ectopic pregnancies
were referred to bigger hospitals, but often
they had no blood either. Eight
women died, she said. Just recently, the
U.N. has begun paying for blood at
the hospital to improve women's odds of
surviving.
Standing over an
anesthetized woman before a Caesarean section, Dr. Vernon
Murenje recalled
how frightening it was to operate without blood in stock.
"You're
operating," he said, "but then at the back of your mind, you'll be
thinking,
What if we have significant blood loss?"
As he prepared to make the
incision, the hospital was in the midst of almost
two weeks without
power.
Its old generator, already used when the hospital bought it 20
years ago,
lacked enough juice to run the X-ray machine or to keep the
florescent
lights from flickering. It was turned on just before the
Caesarean section.
The air-conditioner coughed weakly to life in the
stifling room.
When Rosanne Prandini volunteered at the hospital in June,
she assisted in
the operating room during such operations.
"One of
which the power went out," she said. "We were running around trying
to get
more light."
When she and her husband Steve returned to Sebastopol, they
began working
with the Rotary Club of Sebastopol to raise money for a new
generator. So
far they've raised $10,000 of the $30,000 McCarty needs, she
said.
"In very difficult circumstances, Kathy just shines," Prandini
said. "She is
totally committed."
Press Democrat Staff Writer Nathan
Halverson contributed to this report.
Monday,20 December 2010
Twenty three months ago, the MDC helped
form the inclusive government in Zimbabwe. We were guided by the righteous and
noble objective of stabilizing the economy and rescuing the people from the
precipice of poverty, uncertainty, starvation and indignity wrought by three
decades of corruption and misgovernance.
This month, we all celebrate the
birth of Christ and look positively to the year ahead, well aware of the value
we have brought into government and the role we have played in stopping the
bleeding and making sure that Zimbabweans have every reason to hope again. We
are not there yet and I have no doubt about the huge task that lies ahead in
returning the country to normalcy and in laying the foundation for a great
future for our children.
But over the past two years, we in the MDC
have shown that it is possible to turn over a new leaf, to have some order in
government and to bring Zimbabwe back to its years of glory and to earn respect
from its peers in Africa and beyond.
As I take stock of the past year and look at the priorities of 2011, I am humbled by some notable achievements but at the same time aware of the great strides we would have made were it not for the needless tension in this government. Our positive impact is a matter of public record. Inflation has been tamed and we are now poised for a growth of 8,1 percent after having spent the past 24 months concentrating on stabilizing the economy.
- We have added value to this government.
- We have pulled this nation from the brink of collapse to a new potential of hope.
- We have averted an inevitable plunge into the abyss to set the country back on the rails; on a new path of stability, development and growth.
- We are the people’s conscience in this government and every day, we are mitigating the excesses of entitlement and corruption and keeping in check a sulking minority unused to working in the interest of the people.
- We have shown what a determined people can do, even in the face of open Zanu PF provocation.
- We have weathered and survived dark and sinister plots to undermine the collective government work programme and the real change agenda.
- We have remained resolute, in the full knowledge that we are the true people’s representatives because of the clear mandate given to us in a legitimate election.