The latest refugees from Mugabe's lawless Zimbabwe - hundreds of
elephants
Wildlife experts in Zambia fear flight from poachers is
damaging crops and property
Michael Durham in Mosi-o-Tunya National
Park, Zambia Monday December 29, 2003 The Guardian
Hundreds of wild
elephants are the latest refugees from violence and disorder in Robert
Mugabe's crisis-torn Zimbabwe. The animals are fleeing the country by wading
across the Zambezi river to escape being shot or trapped by so-called "war
veterans" and illegal hunters. Game wardens in Zambia say record numbers of
elephants are crossing the Zambezi, which forms the border between the two
countries, to avoid being poached by armed gangs in
Zimbabwe.
"Elephants are quite intelligent and can communicate. They know
they are safer on this side of the river," said one game warden.
The
exodus is an indication of the devastation facing wildlife in Zimbabwe, where
animals are said to be at risk of indiscriminate slaughter in reserves and
former privately owned game parks.
With the breakdown of law and order,
animals of all kinds are reportedly being poached on a massive scale for
ivory and even for food.
At Mosi-o-Tunya National Park, on the Zambian
side of the Zambezi river near Victoria Falls, elephants are crossing the
river daily. Wildlife experts say the movement is much larger than the normal
seasonal emigration and is causing a serious problem for Zambian authorities.
There are so many elephants trapped in a small area that serious damage is
being caused to the environment.
About 200 elephants are thought to be
living in the small national park, close to the city of Livingstone, an area
more used to a population of about 50. The elephants are stripping the bush
of foliage and knocking down trees, and there are conflicts between the wild
elephants and farmers. Elephants killed two local villagers in the park this
year.
Marianthy Noble, Zambia representative of the UK-based David
Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, said: "Lawlessness in Zimbabwe is definitely a
factor in driving more elephants into Zambia and causing a problem here. If
an elephant is shot, others will leave the area for safety. Elephants
can communicate over up to seven miles - and they never forget.
"Until
recently Zimbabwe had an excellent record for wildlife conservation and some
of the best game parks in the world. But with land redistribution, some of
the best game parks have been settled or invaded by people with no experience
of wildlife management at all. Game is being systematically wiped out by
local people shooting and setting snares. It's lawlessness."
According to
reports, game hunters from South Africa are taking advantage of the breakdown
in law and order to buy hunting licences in the former conservancies,
allowing them to shoot anything that moves. In other cases, villagers are
reported to be killing wildlife "for fun".
Zimbabweans living on the
Zambia side of the border are cagey about discussing wildlife in Zimbabwe for
fear of repercussions for relatives and business associates still inside the
country. However, Andy, a white Zimbabwean working for a Zambia safari lodge,
said: "Everybody knows there is illegal hunting in Zimbabwe on a massive
scale. Wildlife is being wiped out. That is why the elephants are coming
across.
"In some areas, there are so many snares set that animals caught
in them are just being left to rot. National parks are issuing illegal
hunting licences without knowing how much game there is."
Another
safari lodge employee near Victoria Falls said: "There are certainly more
elephants arriving. From time to time, we have heard shooting at night from
the Zimbabwe side. There is only one explanation - poaching."
The head of
the Zambian Wildlife Authority (Zawa), Hapenga Kabeta, said he had been
assured that Zimbabwean wildlife authorities were implementing "appropriate
wildlife management" and providing good leadership in conservation issues. He
blamed the exodus on drought and overpopulation.
He said reports on the
internet that up to 80% of Zimbabwe's wild elephants had been slaughtered
were without foundation. However, he acknowledged there might be a problem on
Zimbabwe's private game parks, where land redistribution meant new owners
"may not have the skills" and wildlife could be at risk.
Experts
acknowledge that the influx of elephants into the tiny Mosi-o-Tunya park is
presenting a problem for Zambian authorities. The park is hemmed in by houses
and farms and smallholders have blamed the elephants for damage to fruit
trees and property.
Simasiku Pumulo, who farms 200 hectares of maize,
millet, vegetables and fruit in the Sinde co-operative on the edge of
Livingstone, said wild elephants regularly visited his land to eat what they
could find.
"Sometimes they come at night and break down the trees just
across from the front door. It is terrifying, you cannot go out," he
said.
"The elephants destroy the maize and dig up vegetables... If you
plant five acres of maize, the elephants usually eat four of them. To put so
much work into growing food for the elephants is very annoying - I believe
they should be culled."
Park authorities are considering how to solve
the problem without resorting to a cull, which would be unpopular with
wildlife experts and tourists. Under present Zambian law, elephants cannot be
shot - although the government will reintroduce hunting next year.
One
possible solution is to open up an elephant "corridor" to encourage
the animals to migrate 124 miles north to a larger national park at Kafue,
where elephants are in short supply.
Tories call for ban on cricket tour of Zimbabwe By
Ben Russell, Political Correspondent 29 December 2003
Jack Straw
was under pressure yesterday to veto England's planned cricket tour of
Zimbabwe next autumn amid concern that the trip would endorse the regime of
President Robert Mugabe.
Michael Ancram, the shadow Foreign Secretary,
urged Mr Straw to intervene to prevent a repeat of the "shambles" before
England pulled out of a match in Harare during the Cricket World
Cup.
The England and Wales Cricket Board has pledged to take a final
decision about the planned tour at the end of February. Tim Lamb, the ECB
chairman, has already conceded the board will have to balance political and
moral as well as sporting considerations when deciding on the
tour.
But any decision to go ahead would meet with fierce opposition
because Mr Mugabe has removed Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth.
Mr
Ancram said in his letter to the Foreign Secretary: "Is there not now
a strong case for a more hands-on approach from the British Government
in advising the ECB?
"I understand that the ECB has put off a decision
on the tour until as late as February or March next year. Would it not be
better for the Government to take a lead and put a stop to this tour now
rather than risk a repeat of the shambles surrounding last year's World
Cup."
Derek Wyatt, the Labour chairman of the Commons all-party Zimbabwe
group, said: "We are seeing the Commonwealth Secretary General on 6 January
and then we will have an idea of how the land lies. After that we plan to
see Tim Lamb in the New Year. We will tell him not to go.
"It would be
mad for them to go. They would be crazy to go. As [former South African
president Nelson] Mandela said, no sport in an abnormal society. Eight
million people are dying. We should not not prop up this regime."
Namibian land threat fuels fears of another
Zimbabwe December 29, 2003
By Martin Boer
Okahandja, Namibia - Impoverished black farmers and labourers in Namibia have
warned they will start invading the country's mostly white-owned commercial
farms next month.
The Namibian government has been quick to condemn
the threats, but many white farmers fear parallels with the violent land
seizures that have plunged neighbouring Zimbabwe into crisis.
Those who imagine otherwise are engaging in wishful thinking, according to
one of them, Martin Wucher, whose family has raised cattle in the abundant
countryside of central Namibia for nearly a century.
"They just
hope it doesn't happen," said Wucher "Farmworkers, farmers can't
live without each other" .
Land is a charged issue in
Namibia, where whites make up less than a tenth of the 1,8-million people and
about 4 200 white farmers own half the agricultural land.
Namibia was first ruled by Germany, then South Africa.
Blacks
couldn't own land until the mid-1980s, and most of those working it today
still can't afford to buy it.
Since Namibia became independent in
1990, the government has sought to restore equality in land ownership through
its "willing seller, willing buyer" programme.
The state, which
gets first refusal on any agricultural property up for sale, has bought 124
farms covering more than 680 000 hectares and reallocated them for free to
more than 9 000 needy Namibians.
The target set in 2000 was to
redistribute 9-million hectares in five years.
But more than 200
000 landless Namibians still await resettlement. They include blacks driven
off their land under South African rule and farm labourers who never owned
land of their own.
To make matters worse, the new owners of
redistributed farms tend to employ fewer workers, forcing more people off the
land, according to the Legal Assistance Centre, based in
Windhoek.
Alfred Angula, general secretary of the Namibia Farm
Workers Union, claims there are thousands of underused commercial farms not
up for sale that could accommodate its members.
The union is
particularly concerned about workers who live on the farms where they work.
When they lose their jobs, they also lose their homes.
Commercial farm owners concede it's a legal grey area.
"We supply
them with houses," said Helmut Fortsch, chairperson of the Agricultural
Employers Association. "But after they have been laid off, how do they stay
on, and under what conditions?"
Angula said talks with the Namibia
Agricultural Union, an umbrella group representing commercial farmers, had
been a "total failure" and that if there was no deal next month, labourers
would start invading farms.
The government says it won't tolerate
illegal occupations. However, Lands Minister Hifikepunye Pohamba concedes
that reform has been too slow.
"This is because the willing buyer
may have money to buy, but if there is no willing seller, you will still have
the money."
Pohamba said many of the properties offered to the
government were not suitable for farming and had been rejected.
Wucher, like most Namibian whites, is of German descent. His family has owned
Bergquell farm since 1904.
His great-uncle purchased the first of
what would grow to 9 000ha when he came to Namibia with the German army.
There are now 700 cattle grazing the land.
The farm employs six
workers who live on the property, with 14 dependants.
"We can't
work without them, and they can't live without us," Wucher said.
While many labourers live in shacks, Wucher pays more than double the minimum
wage and has helped his employees to buy homes in nearby Okahandja, 65km from
Windhoek.
One man in his 60s, who has worked for the family since
he was a teenager, now owns two houses in town that he rents out to
supplement his income.
Wucher argues against chopping up farms,
saying that big is better in the modern agricultural world.
Simion Nikongo, a welder working on a white-owned farm north-east
of Windhoek, sees it differently.
"This land is important to us
as Namibians. "It would be better if farms were distributed to many different
people." - Sapa-AP.
Zim calls on SA help in Ebola scare December 29,
2003
By Jillian Green
Zimbabwean health officials
have requested help from South African microbiologists to investigate a
suspected Ebola virus case at Victoria Falls.
But a virologist
at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg, Dr
Lucille Bloemberg, said the institute had yet to receive any specimens. The
institute would be responsible for determining whether the specimens carried
the virus.
"Although details are very sketchy at present, on the
information available to us, this does not sound like the Ebola
virus.
"If and when the specimens arrive, then we will do the
tests. Until then we should not make a huge issue out of this," Bloem-berg
said.
Media reports quoted Zimbabwean Health Minister David
Parirenyatwa as saying that an Angolan cross-border trader had died of Ebola
fever.
Parirenyatwa said he had asked South African laboratories to
help confirm the suspected virus, and specimens had been sent to be
assessed.
The trader had crossed into Zimbabwe after travelling
from Angola through Namibia and Botswana.
He was admitted to
Victoria Falls government hospital on Christmas Eve and died the following
day, hospital authorities told the state-controlled Sunday
Mail.
Parirenyatwa stressed that the case was still only
suspected, not confirmed. Efforts had been made to isolate the victim, and
hospital staff had been put on alert for possible subsidiary
infections.
The alert puts extra pressure on Zimbabwe's health
system, which is already on the point of paralysis due to a two-month strike
by junior doctors and nurses, protesting against pay and
conditions.
Understaffed and ill-equipped wards are also flooded
with patients suffering from HIV-related conditions.
Ebola,
spread by contact with body fluids, is mostly fatal and there is, as yet, no
cure.
Earlier this year, the disease claimed the lives of dozens in
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Symptoms include high
temperature, bleeding and liquefaction of internal body organs. The disease
is believed to originate among apes in equatorial forests and may be spread
to humans by the bushmeat trade. - Sapa-DPA.
By Mduduzi
Mathuthu 29/12/03 A newzimbabwe.com survey of 2605 Zimbabweans from across
the world shows 82 percent of them think President Mugabe has lost his senses
and an astonishing 75 percent would back a precision military strike if that
would remove him from power.
In a sign of the growing desperation
among Zimbabweans tired with the recalcitrant leader's 24-year domination of
power in the southern African country, 47 percent of those polled said they
would like to see opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai replacing
Mugabe.
Tsvangirai is 20 points ahead of former finance minister Simba
Makoni who polled 27 percent of the vote, with Strive Masiyiwa a distant
third with 13 percent of the vote. Mugabe's two trusted allies, Speaker of
Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa and Zanu PF chairman John Nkomo, both touted as
his likely successors fared badly with Nkomo coming a poor fourth with
five percent of the vote. Even motor-mouthed Zanu PF die-hard, Shuvai Mahoso
came ahead of Mnangagwa with 3 percent, with the latter scoring a poor
two points.
We asked our readers to vote in the polls supervised by
Pollhost.com. In one poll - conducted through the newzimbabwe.com website -
we asked if our readers thought President Mugabe had lost his senses. An
amazing 82 percent of the respondents thought he had lost his senses big
time, 11 percent thought he was a victim of racist meddling while only five
percent trust him and think he is still sane.
President Mugabe's
ratings have gone down since the beginning of the often violent land grabs in
1997 and dramatic changes in the judiciary system which have been closely
followed by the introduction of draconian legislation designed to punish his
opponents.
Acute food shortages which are blamed on the chaotic land
redistribution programme and poor government planning have left half the
country's population facing starvation and President Mugabe's opponents and
food relief agencies put the blame squarely at his
feet.
Newzimbabwe.com stressed that the results of the surveys are not
scientific but are certainly indicative of the prevailing mood among
Zimbabweans, most certainly those who have access to computers and have a
basic free access to information and average intellectual awareness. The
website which is Zimbabwe's only 24-hour rolling news site targets all
Zimbabweans and is not affiliated to a particular group or political
party.
While most surveys in recent months have all reflected
growing disenchantment at President Mugabe's administration fed mostly by
the worsening economic situation in the country, his officials will be
alarmed that 76 percent favour a military strike aimed at eliminating
him.
Only 19 percent said they would never back a military strike on
Mugabe while three percent were unsure.
The survey results were
collected in the same week that American soldiers smoked out former Iraq
tyrant Saddam Hussein from a tiny hole where he was holed up near his home
town of Tikrit, a far cry from his plush palaces which became the symbol of
his power.
The survey was conducted barely a month after a hitherto
unknown group calling itself the Zimbabwe Freedom Movement surfaced in a
pre-recorded tape, vowing to assassinate Mugabe. The group said they were
weighing several options, including downing a passenger plane or helicopter
ferrying the President.
The government said the group was sponsored by
Zimbabwe's former colonial masters Britain, a claim swiftly dismissed by the
British government's Minister for Africa Chris Mullin who said while they had
been approached for funding by a group seeking to carry out similar action,
they had been told the British government would only support peaceful means
of political change in Zimbabwe.
We also wanted to know how our
readers would like to see the back of President Mugabe, if indeed they do. A
respectable fraction of 18 percent of Zimbabweans say they would give him a
chance to call for a free and fair election. But there is still a high figure
of 63 percent who don't care how he exits and would prefer to see his back by
any means, while 10 percent say there is no need for him to leave
office.
President Mugabe was last elected in March 2002 in a
hotly-disputed ballot in which he sailed to victory with a 400 000 margin -
the smallest since independence. The opposition Movement for Democratic
Change has filed papers at the High Court contesting his victory, alleging
rampant voter intimidation, rigging and stuffed postal votes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- There
must be something about politicians which gives them some sort of ability to
ignore the real issues of a particular situation and to concentrate on the
irrelevant when it suits them. Frank Chikane's recent article, Setting record
straight on Zimbabwe policy (December 24), is a case in point. The current
situation in Zimbabwe has long since reached the ultimate in crisis levels
rule of law no longer exists for the government, the judiciary has been
reduced to mere puppets of the state, human rights abuses and violations are
the order of the day and the entire economic structure has been completely
destroyed. Why? Because of the greed and obsession with power of President
Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe came to power just over 20 years ago and
immediately obliterated about 20000 of his potential political opponents not
whites but black fellow countrymen the Matabele in the Bulawayo
area.
The "land distribution" scheme, which has seen white commercial
farmers evicted by Mugabe's thugs, was nothing more than a
well-orchestrated smokescreen to hide the atrocities that were and still are
being perpetrated against Mugabe's political opponents.
The fact that
SA has a neighbour where millions of people face starvation as a result of
the brutal and callous manner in which it is governed seems a matter of
complete indifference to our government.
The real issue is whether or not
our government cares about the atrocities and human rights abuses being
perpetrated by Mugabe's government and whether it is concerned about
Zimbabwe's starving millions.
If so, what action is President Thabo Mbeki
going to take? Is he going to talk softly and politely to Mugabe and ask him
to please desist from such unsavoury practices?
The citizens of
Zimbabwe are on their own. If they want to get their country back from the
current level of insanity, they are going to have to get rid of Mugabe.
Certainly they can forget about any help from SA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Growing
pressure on Pretoria to show how it can mediate end to
Zimbabwe's crisis SOUTH African churches and trade unions have recently
made clear their intense displeasure over SA's policy of quiet diplomacy
towards Zimbabwe. Church leaders have gone so far as to say the policy raises
questions about government's morality.
The Group of Eight (G-8)
industrial countries could also soon show dissatisfaction over the policy,
after having given it some time, and many African and developing nations are
not prepared to show solidarity on the issue any more.
In the next few
weeks quiet diplomacy could be given its last chance by the international
community, now that Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu (PF) has dropped preconditions for
talks with the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC).
However, if there is no distinct progress at the talks, all bets
will be off and the pressure will be on Pretoria to step in and broker a
deal.
SA's government could find itself severely at odds with the church
and its trade union allies on a vital policy in an election year if there is
not success in brokering a deal, or no shift to a tougher stance on
Zimbabwe. And the postapartheid stock of international goodwill and
diplomatic credibility could be at stake next year if there are attempts to
buy time for quiet diplomacy.
Time is no longer on President Thabo
Mbeki's side. Buying time in Zimbabwe in the hope of a settlement makes the
future there look increasingly messy. There is talk of civil uprising, coups
d'état, and warlordism. The country faces long-term economic damage, and
famine looms.
Although time is not on his side, Mbeki has reduced
diplomatic tools at his disposal to bring about a settlement. Having
stridently protested against Zimbabwe's continued exclusion from the
Commonwealth, and having stood next to President Robert Mugabe at Harare
airport earlier this month, Mbeki cannot easily abandon quiet diplomacy for
graduated pressure.
That would involve rhetoric and forthright
condemnations of human rights abuses and the stolen election, followed by
"smart sanctions" to restrict the travel and business of the ruling Zanu (PF)
elite.
As Mugabe is likely to understand that SA's policy cannot be
easily abandoned, threats to bring in graduated pressure could lack
credibility. If Mugabe is convinced it is now or never for a deal that
entails his resignation and ultimately a free and fair election, the answer
has to be yes, the policy is working.
But quiet diplomacy has always
widened Mugabe's options to say no to talks, no to early retirement, and no
to an early election. He may want to buy time with talks and try to go for
the end of his term in 2008, while ensuring his successor can lead the party
and win an election.
What can be done within the confines of quiet
diplomacy is limited. But Mugabe can be warned that SA is paying a high cost
for its policy. And SA can also work hard to re-establish its honest broker
position with the MDC.
It is very probably on the basis that plans would
be in place for a successor to Mugabe by the time of the Zanu (PF) party
conference earlier this month, that the G-8 gave SA time for its policy to
work. But the conference has come and gone with no sign of an apparent
successor.
In mid-June, at the World Econo- mic Forum's southern African
summit in Durban, Mbeki kindled hope there would be a settlement in Zimbabwe
within a year. And on his visit to SA in July, US President George Bush said
he accepted SA was the "point man" on Zimbabwe.
Judging from an
article by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in the New York Times a few
days ahead of the visit, the inclination of the US administration was to push
SA far harder on Zimbabwe. That the US and G-8 have not recently issued
public criticism over SA's stance is an indication they accept, for now, that
SA is doing its best. But what if by next June there is no
progress?
Should this be the case it is hard to list or quantify what may
be lost for SA, but overall good relations with the G-8 could be in
jeopardy.
A great deal stems from SA's overall good relations
internationally, partly predicated on SA's role as a stabilising force in the
region. SA has an easy opening in G-8 capitals, which has allowed it to gain
valuable endorsements of its continental recovery plan, the New Partnership
for Africa's Development.
Now a diminishing number of African and
developing countries openly favour SA's policy of quiet diplomacy towards
Zimbabwe, and are unwilling to waste diplomatic capital by speaking out in
its favour.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Commonwealth heads of
government chairman, rejected Mo zambican President Joacquim Chis- sano's
accusation that the decision to continue Zimbabwe's suspension was
"undemocratic".
And apart from the statement from Southern African
Development Community members challenging the decision, there was silence
from developing countries on the issue.
However, it is domestic
sources of pressure on the policy from the church, the trade unions, and
potentially the Communist Party that government may find most troubling.
Former Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu and Johannesburg church leaders have
issued a stinging rebuke to government.
Trade union federation Cosatu is
also outraged, saying it stands ready to blockade the SA-Zimbabwe border if
asked to do so by unions in Zimbabwe. While the African National Congress is
certain to win the election, disagreement within the tripartite alliance
could keep voters away from the polls.
SA's quiet diplomacy policy on
Zimbabwe is under more domestic and international pressure than ever before
and the pressure has only just begun in earnest.
Herald
Reporter SOME families in the Sentosa suburb of Harare have gone for the past
two days without electricity while in parts of Ruwa, ZimRe Park and Gutu
people had a dark Christmas after experiencing similar problems.
Some
residents said the urgency in solving consumer’s problems was lacking at the
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority offices throughout the country and
officials were taking advantage of consumers’ patience.
Mr Valani Bhila
told The Herald yesterday that despite reporting the case to Zesa they were
only given verbal assurances that the problem would be rectified.
"We
told them of our problem but they did not come, we can’t be happy with our
families when the situation is like this," said Mr Bhila.
He said meat in
his fridges worth about $600 000 was rotting as a result of the power
failure.
"It is a shame that we have to search for firewood to do our
cooking although we live in Harare," said a distraught Mr Bhilla.
An
elderly couple that was also affected said Zesa was letting them
down.
The couple said it has become common for Zesa to ignore calls
for electricity faults particularly during the holidays.
Residents of
Ruwa and some parts of ZimRe Park were also thrown into darkness after
thieves stole electricity cables.
"We went for three days without
electricity and when the fun was over there was the power," said a Ruwa
resident.
In Gutu-Mpandawana and outlying areas consumers spent the
Christmas without power while Zesa vehicles were seen driving up and down
almost aimlessly.
"There has been no thunderstorm, there have been no
rains and it is particularly bad for people to fail to get power on a day
like this," said one businessman.
Zesa has of late been failing to
cope with the faults which they have blamed on ageing installations.
Electricity pylons fell in Mtoko a few days before Christmas and the growth
point of 17 000 people and other areas like Nyamapanda, Kotwa and others
along the highway leading to Malawi through Mozambique were plunged into
darkness.
By Rex Mphisa and Freeman
Razemba ZIMBABWEANS have blamed the police, transport operators and the
Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) for the rise in carnage on the country’s
roads.
This comes amid reports that the holiday death toll has risen to
51.
Most Zimbabweans felt police should come down hard on potential
offenders and move away from their relaxed approach.
Vehicle examiners
needed to be more strict without any leniency since their relaxation cost the
country scores of lives.
Transport operators were blamed for releasing
defective vehicles, putting the lives of their passengers at
risk.
Many people interviewed by The Herald said if police blamed most of
the accidents to drunken driving they (police) were shooting themselves in
the foot because they should by now have kept that under check.
Police
yesterday reported another four deaths, bringing to 51 the number of people
killed so far this festive season.
Some 381 others were injured in 424
accidents reported countrywide between December 20 and
yesterday.
Police spokesman Inspector Andrew Phiri said four people were
killed on Saturday afternoon and yesterday morning.Of the four, two were
killed in Masvingo, one in Harare and one in Mashonaland West.
"We are
not talking about something new here, it’s the same problem year-in year-out
and what are we saying is, it’s not enough to talk about the cause and not
arrest it?" said one motorist whose car was hit by a drunken driver.
He
could not travel for Christmas.
He said during most holidays, police
blame accidents on negligence and drunken driving but had done nothing to
arrest the situation.
"There are no breathalysers and very few speed
traps on the roads, one holiday I drove from Harare to Chiredzi and I did not
see a single highway patrol car on the road," he said.
Another
motorist said police at roadblocks concentrated on such things
like seat-belts, rear view mirrors, drivers’ licences but never took any
drivers for alcohol tests. They should do this randomly.
Police
highway patrol vehicles were at one time equipped with breathalysers but of
late no motorists were summoned to blow the machine.
Some motorists said
police concentrated mostly on better-looking foreign registered vehicles
while some locally registered visibly unroadworthy vehicles were waved
on.
Police also had a tendency of not quizzing people driving latest
model cars whom they always addressed as "chefs" and allowed them to pass.
They forget that these are the people who cause most accidents as they are
the drunkards.
One motorist said our roads are always full of
unroadworthy motor vehicles. But the high number of accidents is only
recorded during holidays. He said police must be missing something. It is not
the motor vehicle which is the causer of the accidents but the driver, he
said. The state of the drivers must be checked at every police roadblock.
They should not concentrate on the motor vehicle.
In Chegutu a Herald
reporter observed a fully-loaded bus going through a roadblock despite having
a single wheel on one side of its rear axle.
Vehicle examiners were not
spared by motorists who accused them of selling licences and unleashing bad
drivers onto the roads.
VID officers, some of whom have been arrested for
selling licences, were also blamed for failing to stamp their authority by
being strict on car examinations.
"If the VID was strict we would not
have these cars we see on the roads that are accidents waiting to happen,"
said Mr Charge Tsiwo.
Some drivers accused police of accepting bribes and
letting loose some culprits that had the potential of causing
accidents.
While Zimbabwe has far very few vehicles as compared to
developed countries in Europe the country’s accident rate was cause for
concern.
Police blame most of the accidents to speeding, drunken driving,
negligence, overtaking errors and other human error among others.
Some
of the haulage truck drivers are also in the habit of putting objects such as
small tree branches, in the event of a breakdown, at the back of their
vehicles instead of using a red breakdown triangle.
This has however
resulted in many unaware motorists, ramming onto the back of these
trucks.
Inspector Phiri said it was an offence for any motorist
especially haulage truck drivers to travel without breakdown
triangles.
"Our police officers manning roadblocks should also demand to
see these breakdown triangles from any motorist," he said.
He said
those who put the objects in the event of a breakdown should do so at a safer
distance.
"Motorists should then exercise caution when they find these
objects," said Insp Phiri.
But some motorists said police should never
allow objects other than breakdown triangles to be used. Every motorist
stopped at a road block should be asked to produce a breakdwon triangle, they
said. It is also the duty of the police that all motor vehicles have
reflectors. Those without breakdown triangles or reflectors on their motor
vehicles should be fined there and then, they said.
Heavy truck
drivers were also accused of bad road behaviour at night during which they
failed to dip their lights or respect drivers of smaller vehicles that were
vulnerable in the event of being involved in accidents with
larger trucks.
Police have been assuring the nation that they are out
in full force during this festive period, to deal ruthlessly with any
motorists caught on the wrong side of the law and those with vehicles that
are unroadworthy.
Police have since issued 8 662 tickets to motorists for
various offences and generated more than $251 million.
The highest
number of deaths has been recorded in Mashonaland West where 16 people were
killed during this period while Masvingo comes second where nine people were
killed. The least is Manicaland, which had one person killed.
Herald
Reporter ZIMBABWE can develop and prosper without the aid of Western count-
ries — if people are united and share a common vision, the Minister of State
for Science and Technology, Dr Olivia Muchena, has said.
Dr Muchena
praised Malaysia for raising itself from the economic doldrums when its
relationship with the West had hit its lowest ebb.
"It is totally
incredible, but it is possible if people are united with a common vision," Dr
Muchena said on Tuesday at a function for the Information Kiosk operators
drawn from eight districts countrywide held by DC Africa Interne in
Harare.
The operators are graduates of the National Youth Training
Service programme.
They are part of a group of 60 youths who were
trained to operate Internet business by DC Africa Internet to empower the
youths of Zimbabwe with technology that would lead to future development in
the impending world of e-commerce and e-communications.
Dr Muchena
urged the youths to emulate Malaysia and inspire themselves to achieve the
best in the new technology to improve the nation.
She also commended the
Malaysian-based president of the World Assembly of Youth and chairman of DC
Africa Internet, Mr Donald Charumbira, for using his strategic position to
empower and facilitate young people of Zimbabwe to transform the country into
a prosperous nation.
Mr Charumbira said the project had been a success
story as DC Africa Internet had managed to set up InfoKiosks in eight
districts.
The kiosks are in Harare, Bindura, Mutare, Marondera,
Masvingo, Gokwe, Chinhoyi, Buhera and Tsholotsho.Mr Charumbira said DC Africa
Internet was expected to cover all the 57 districts in the country by April
next year.
"Presently, more than 150 computers have been imported for the
programme," he said.
Mr Charumbira said in the long run, there would
be need for more equipment and a larger investment into satellite
technologies that would provide instant high-speed connectivity to even the
most remote areas of Zimbabwe.
Malaysian deputy ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr
Muhammad Tajul Ahmad, Mashonaland East Governor Cde David Karimanzira
attended the function
Herald
Reporter ILLEGAL immigrants who had become notorious in Harare’s Avenues area
have gone underground following a swoop by the police to flush out
criminals.
Illegal dealing in foreign currency and precious metals,
prostitution and other shady deals had become rife in the Avenues and most
people blamed these on the sudden influx of foreigners from different parts
of Africa.
Their arrival had also irked locals who found themselves
pushed out of the heart of Harare by the foreigners who can afford paying
rent in foreign currency now preferred by most property owners.
The
immigrants, mostly from the Great Lakes region, West Africa and some Sadc
countries had flooded the Avenues area where they rented flats in foreign
currency.
Locals renting some flats in the area who paid their rentals in
the local currency were being evicted in favour of the foreigners who paid in
foreign currency, particularly in United States dollars.
"The police
rounded up most foreign nationals and things are getting back to normal, we
were living in a contradiction with landlords also demanding rentals in forex
from us the locals," said bank teller Mr Edward Moyo who has lived in the
Avenues for the past three years.
Mr Moyo said criminal activities had
become rampant in the Avenues.
"Vices like prostitution were also being
promoted by the foreigners because they had ready cash," he said.
Most
of the foreigners come to Zimbabwe as refugees but escape from holding camps
with some opening up small businesses in the city.
There are an estimated
10 000 refugees in the country with about 1 000 at the Waterfalls Transit
Centre in Harare awaiting vetting.
Most of the foreigners lived at flats
along Samora Machel where they were also involved in illegal gold buying,
changing counterfeit foreign currency on the parallel market and drug
dealing.
The foreign nationals have also been alleged to be duping locals
to buy counterfeit money of both foreign and local
currency.
Counterfeit bearer cheques have of late been intercepted in
pubs and hotels in the capital city and it was alleged foreign nationals
manufactured them.
A Harare motorist recently lost close to $750 000
after buying petrol mixed with water from some West African nationals at a
hotel in the Avenues area.
Prostitution has also gone out of hand at the
hotel where the peddlers rent rooms for months to entertain locals and mostly
foreigners who were reported to be paying as much as US$50 for a night with
the prostitutes.
However, the foreign currency has come at a price for
some of the prostitutes who find themselves having to sleep with a group of
foreigners after being drugged and risking contracting the HIV virus that
leads to the incurable Aids disease.
"It is better that the police
continue to clean this area out of the foreigners because they are sometimes
up to no good," said a 24-year-old prostitute who refused to be
identified.
She said her colleague who used to rent a room at the hotel
recently went blind after her client suspected to be of West African origin
threw some unknown acid on her face after they argued about what currency he
should have used to pay her.
"The woman was drugged and had acid
thrown into her face following a heated argument over money. The woman had
demanded to be paid a fee for services rendered in foreign
currency.
Panic gripped the capital, particularly the Avenues area a few
weeks ago following the discovery of female human body parts.