Torture is Robert Mugabe's election weapon

The Telegraph

By Stephen Bevan and special correspondents in Bulawayo
Last Updated: 12:03am GMT 02/12/2007

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has stepped up the use of torture
against political opponents, civil rights protesters and students in an
attempt to clamp down on dissent ahead of next year's elections.

A Sunday Telegraph investigation has revealed how torture methods that
were once used only by the feared Central Intelligence Organisation,
Zimbabwe's internal security agency, are now routinely employed by uniformed
police officers. Victims report that electric shock torture is being used
simply to spread indiscriminate terror.

They have given vivid testimony of life behind the barbed-wire fences
of Fairbridge camp, a sprawling police detention centre in dusty bushland 15
miles outside Zimbabwe's second biggest city, Bulawayo. It backs up claims
by Zimbabwe's opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
that the government has stepped up its campaign of intimidation despite the
continuing talks between the two sides mediated by South Africa's president,
Thabo Mbeki.

The revelations from former camp inmates also raise further concerns
about the decision by Portugal, which holds the presidency of the European
Union, to invite Mr Mugabe to next weekend's EU Africa summit in Lisbon. The
invitation has prompted the Prime Minister Gordon Brown to boycott the
event, saying he will not share a table with a man guilty of "oppression and
repression".

Fairbridge, which houses a feared police unit known as the "Black
Boots", acts as a regional interrogation centre for students and protest
leaders arrested in southern Zimbabwe, where support for the MDC is
strongest. Its bloodstained cells have been full in recent months as Mr
Mugabe seeks to quell protests over the country's 8,000 per cent inflation
rate and chronic food and fuel shortages.

Accountancy student Velathi Ncube, 25, was among 30 taken there after
taking part in a protest over a 400 per cent increase in fees at Bulawayo's
National University of Science & Technology. "They put us all in one room
and told us to lie on the floor on our stomachs, then they started beating
us randomly," he said.

"They said 'we'll teach you not to rebel against the authorities,
we'll show you who has power now'. They took us one by one to another room
for questioning.

"When my turn came I was told to remove my clothes. I sat on a stool
facing one of the policemen who asked me: 'Who organised the demonstration?
Who is sponsoring you?'. There were two other policemen standing behind me
with pliers. Whenever I gave them an answer they didn't like, they grabbed
me with the pliers on my neck and shoulders. I cannot describe the pain."

The next day, he and the other students were dumped in the bush 45
miles away.

Another victim, 33-year-old Mandla Nyathi, a Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions activist, told how he and five other union members were taken
to Fairbridge after being arrested during a demonstration. "When we arrived
we were taken into a room whose walls were covered with blood, and the floor
was strewn with broken bottles and odd shoes," he said.

"The police demanded to know the whereabouts of our leadership, and
when we did not give them the information the torture began."

When he still refused to give them any information, police officers
took out whips and started lashing him.

"When that failed they electrocuted me through the genitals," he
added. "As I passed out I could hear my colleagues screaming in pain as
well."

Some of the worst alleged abuses by police have been carried out upon
members of the civil protest group Woman of Zimbabwe Arise, most of whom are
ordinary mothers. Of 397 members interviewed in a recent survey, 40 per cent
said they had been tortured by police, and 26 per cent needed medical
treatment for their injuries.

One activist, Angela Nkomo, revealed how she was taken to Fairbridge
after taking part in a demonstration in Bulawayo early this year.

"We were forced to strip naked and lie on our stomachs before dozens
of Black Boots beat us with baton sticks and leather belts," she said.
"After that we were interviewed individually in a room full of male
policemen while we were naked." Another member, Clarah Makoni, 19, broke
down in tears as she recalled how she was forced to run through what she
described as an obstacle course of electric wires. "The torture continued
for hours," she said. "I was whipped while lying on my stomach. They then
put me in a room full of ice."

According to the latest monthly report on political violence produced
by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, during the first nine months of this
year there were 776 cases of assault and 526 cases of torture - almost twice
as many as over the same period last year.

Tendai Chabvuta, head of the forum's research unit, linked the
increase in torture to the forthcoming congress of Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu
PF party next month. It is expected to ratify Mr Mugabe as its presidential
candidate for elections due in March.

"It's quite clear that 2007 is the worst year for human rights in
terms of politically motivated violence against opposition forces and human
rights activists," said Mr Chabvuta.

Most 'million' were forced to march

Zim Standard

  By Caiphas Chimhete and Vusumuzi Sifile

MOST people in Friday's "Million-Man March" in support of President
Robert Mugabe's candidacy in next year's elections were forced to take part
in the proceedings, it has emerged.

Among the conspicuous absentees were Vice-President Joseph Msika,
Retired Army Commander Solomon Mujuru, Information Minister Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu, Zanu PF spokesperson Nathan Shamuyarira, Zanu PF chairperson John
Nkomo, and former Home Affairs Minister Dumiso Dabengwa.

Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Minister of Rural Housing and Social
Amenities Emmerson Mnangagwa, both said to be eyeing Mugabe's job, attended
the rally. Mujuru endorsed Mugabe.

According to insiders, Mujuru was "politically correct" to attend, but
didn't score high marks on the dress code for the occasion.

While everyone else wore something with Mugabe's picture emblazoned on
it, Mujuru wore a formal dress with no picture of the 83-year-old leader on
it, nor the party's flag.

War veterans' chairman Jabulani Sibanda said "over a million" people
took part in the proceedings, but independent estimates put the figure at
not more than 200 000. The country's largest stadium, the National Sports
Stadium has a capacity of 65 000.

Veteran journalists and commentators said the crowd was much smaller
than the number of people who came to the Zimbabwe Grounds to welcome Mugabe
home in 1980.

Sibanda said no one had been coerced to march.

"We never forced them to close Mbare Musika," Sibanda said.

"People came on their own from all parts of the country. They were
marching freely. In any case, does Mbare Musika even accommodate 500 people?
There were over one million people at the Zimbabwe Grounds."

Even some heads of parastatals that "graced" the event went there
under pressure from the top. But other senior government and ruling party
officials boycotted the event.

Sibanda, the prime organiser of the solidarity marches, likened the
absent top officials to "leaves in a whirlwind".

"Some of the people we always believed understood the reasons for the
struggle have forgotten the purpose of the revolution," said Sibanda. "Most
of them are not revolutionaries. They just found themselves among
revolutionaries. They are like leaves in a whirlwind. The leaves are not a
whirlwind, but they are part of it."

Shops, vegetable and flea markets in Mbare and Highfield were ordered
to close down. Civil servants were coerced to take part in the event,
virtually bringing business to a standstill.

War veterans and the notorious Zanu PF youth militia, donning their
familiar green uniforms, shepherded vendors in the streets of Harare to join
the march to the Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield, 10 km away.

And as has become the norm, the first target was Mbare Musika and
Mupedzanamo Flea Market in Harare, where vendors were ordered to close their
stalls and join the march.

The vendors confirmed yesterday they were given a week's notice.

Those who refused risked losing their stalls.

When The Standard news crew visited Mbare on Friday morning, the
vegetable market was unusually quiet and most shops closed. Commuter bus
touts and drivers were either sleeping in their vehicles or playing games on
the street, as there were no passengers to ferry into the city.

"We were told one week ago that the flea market would be closed and
that everyone must join the march. We could not defy that order because we
would lose our stalls," said one vendor who identified himself as Arnold. "I
personally lost a lot of business because of the useless march . I usually
make up to $60 million a day."

Most affected were vendors who sell perishables such as tomatoes and
fruits.

There were also hundreds of travellers waiting hopelessly at the bus
terminus. They said they had been told buses were ferrying people to the
march and would only be available the following day.

The Standard established that some travellers from Chihota communal
lands en route to Harare were diverted at 'Mbudzi' roundabout and ordered to
join the march.

Residents of Highfield, Glen Norah and Glen View were not spared. They
were rounded up and ordered to march to the Zimbabwe Grounds - where Mugabe
later addressed the reluctant marchers - to make up the numbers.

Earlier in the morning, a good number of Highfield and Glen Norah
residents had been given free fertilizer by Zanu PF officials so that they
would take part in the march.

"We were given fertilizer for free at Gazaland shopping centre and our
names were written down to make sure we took part in their march," said
57-year-old Mbuya Sibanda of Glen Norah A.

At Machipisa shopping centre, all shops - except for OK supermarket -
were closed. The vegetable market at Lusaka was also closed.

Those from the rural areas who came in buses, trains and lorries, were
forced to make the journey to Harare.

In some parts of Manicaland, Masvingo and Midlands people were told
that those who refused risked losing the tractors, combine harvesters,
fertilizer, ploughs and other implements they received from the government
under the farm mechanization programme.

But there was chaos in the evening when marchers failed to get
transport home. The buses that brought them were suddenly not available.

One CEO said: "If you can't beat them, join them. That is what is
happening now. If I had not attended I would have been labelled as being
against Mugabe's candidacy.

Economists say the closure of shops and industry will have a serious
impact on the economy. They said other than the closure of industry, the
money spent on busing people from all over the country, feeding and
accommodating them could have been used to buy fuel or pay for electricity.

"We have over 4.1 million people in dire need of food, we don't have
fuel or electricity and you have a government squandering trillions of
dollars in support of an old man who is the source of our misery. My foot!"
said one economist.

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) president, Marah
Hativagoni, refused to comment saying she was attending a church service.

Education: 30 years backwards and still declining

Zim Standard

  By Vusumuzi Sifile

TWENTY years ago, University of Zimbabwe students fought the
administration and among themselves over the quality of education.

Today they fight for a chair, a plate of sadza, a textbook, a seat in
a commuter omnibus, among other mundane objects.

Student leaders no longer confront the authorities on student issues.

Students go for days without a proper meal. Their fees are mostly
higher than the average income parents can afford. There is an almost
permanent accommodation shortage on campus.

There is an equally unending lecturers' exodus, shortage of books and
learning equipment. Girls are reportedly turning to prostitution to make
ends meet.

Former UZ Vice-Chancellor Professor Gordon Chavhunduka recalls with
nostalgia how it was like "a fairy tale" at the same university.

"We had everything," he says. "The library was fully stocked with new
publications from the most renowned publishing houses.

We had foreign lecturers as guests. Not now."

The standoff between the government, on the one hand, and Britain and
the United States of America, on the other, saw a sharp decline in the
number of foreign guest lecturers. Chavhunduka said politicians, such as Ian
Smith, would hold discussions at the university with students.

"We would invite them regardless of their politician affiliation. The
situation today is terrible. I am told there is a shortage of library books,
and newly published books from outside the country are no longer available."

During his days, Chavhunduka says, student life was good. "The
environment was most ideal for their interaction. I can say we have gone
back to pre-independence standards."

Chavhunduka believes the standard of education is now worse than it
was 30 years ago.

Students are destitute following the institution's refusal in July to
re-open their halls of residence, effectively banning students from staying
on campus.

Student leaders believe this was part of the administration's plan to
"fix them" for their demonstrations over deteriorating standards.

The situation at all State universities - Bindura, Chinhoyi, National
University of Science and Technology (NUST) and Midlands State University -
is no better.

The president of the NUST Students Representative Council, Langton
Muchembere said last week: "The current spate of victimization of student
leaders in Zimbabwe by the tyranny of Robert Mugabe... is unacceptable."

Six NUST student leaders were recently suspended for "leading students'
unrest".

Muchembere said the "current learning environment is not conducive".
Among other things, he said "there is a chronic shortage" of lecturers,
accommodation and transport.

Just before this year's NUST graduation ceremony, students petitioned
Mugabe to urgently resolve their crisis.

"Thousands of students are expelled, suspended, arbitrarily arrested,
detained, tortured or killed for demanding better education."

But the director of information and publicity at NUST, Felix Moyo said
universities were not hospitality or finance institutions providing food,
accommodation, and money for students.

He said most of the students' complaints were about their physical
needs, not the core business of universities.

"We are in the academic industry to give tuition of world class
quality. While certain things may look like they have gone down, I can vouch
that we still have the best and most effective quality control measures," he
said.

Lovemore Chinoputsa, UZ Student Executive Council (SEC) president,
said Mugabe "should be ashamed of himself by capping students" who wrote
exams without learning much.

"There should be 1200 lecturers at UZ but there are only 450, most of
them pursuing their master's programmes," said Chinoputsa.

At Chinhoyi University, Ngonidzashe Muusha, a student leader, said:
"All students, undergraduate and postgraduate, are being treated like Grade
One pupils."

The academia shares Chavhunduka's sentiments: universities are
churning out "half baked graduates".

The former chairperson of Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT), Dr
Ibbo Mandaza, said the standards have "declined tremendously".

"We have a serious problem, I have no doubt about that," said Mandaza.
"As in every other sector, we currently have a serious capacity problem.
Most of our skilled personnel have left the country, and this is impacting
negatively on the quality of education at our institutions."

MDC shadow Minister of Education, Fidelis Mhashu, described the
situation at the country's universities as "deplorable".

He accused government of being reluctant to address the crisis in
state universities. Instead, Mhashu said, students who air their grievances
are victimized.

"Even up to now they have not started renovating the halls of
residence at the UZ. When students complain they are labelled
anti-government and members of the opposition. They are either fired or
suspended from the institution," said Mhashu, who chairs a parliamentary
committee on education.

The committee, which met student leaders last week, will tour
universities across the country to assess the situation.

Efforts to get a comment from the Minister of Higher and Tertiary
Education Stan Mudenge and the Association of University Teachers (AUT) were
fruitless.

Cash crisis: RBZ blamed

Zim Standard

  By Jennifer Dube

BUSINESS and banking sector sources have expressed concern over the
central bank's failure to contain the deepening cash crisis, as depositors
virtually besieged commercial banks yesterday.

Few could access the stipulated limit of $20 million for one
withdrawal. Most banks could only give their clients $10 million or $5
million.

"We are still in the dark," a banking executive said. "We have not
heard anything from the RBZ."

On 20 November, RBZ governor Gideon Gono said the cash shortage was a
sign of the demand for money as people prepared for the approaching festive
season.

"This is not to say we cannot do anything," he said at a meeting with
businesspeople. "We have pumped a lot of money into the market through
various interventions, which is not supported by production and we are
waiting to see what happens."

"It has been 10 days now since the governor addressed us and we were
hoping something would have been done by now," Zimbabwe National Chamber of
Commerce president Marah Hativagone said yesterday.

"We were hoping that the currency was being changed."

Bishop honoured for exposing Gukurahundi

Zim Standard

  By Kholwani Nyathi

BULAWAYO - Retired Archbishop Henry Karlen, who was one of the
Catholic Church clerics who exposed the 1980s massacre of 20 000 civilians
in Matabeleland and the Midlands was on Friday honoured by the city council
for his "heroic sacrifice".

Karlen was among three senior citizens who were conferred with civic
honours by the Mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube for their "long and meritorious
public work" in the city during the council's annual review of the 2006/7
municipal year.

Others were Amratbai Desai, credited for supporting nationalist
parties led by the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo during the struggle for
independence, and the late Paul Carl Pretorious, who was recognised as one
of the most successful soccer referees in the country's history.

In 1984, Karlen was one of the first people to speak out against the
Gukurahundi atrocities when he accused the government troops of carrying out
"a campaign of starvation, torture, rape, beatings and murder against the
civilian population".

At the time he was a bishop in Bulawayo before becoming the first
Archbishop of the newly created archdiocese in the city in 1994.

He was succeeded by Bishop Pius Ncube, another fierce critic of the
military operation, who was forced to resign earlier this year following a
government-sponsored "sting operation".

"He (Karlen) went out of his way and at great personal risk to his own
life to assess the situation in Matabeleland North in 1983 and in
Matabeleland South in 1984," read a citation for the award.

"And he offered help to the beleaguered people in the two provinces."

In 1999 President Robert Mugabe said the killings were a "moment of
madness" but his government is yet to publicly apologise to the victims and
provide compensation.

Born in Switzerland in 1922, Karlen taught in seminaries in Europe and
South Africa before moving to Bulawayo in 1974. After his retirement he
founded Hope for a Child in Christ which has helped with funds raised from
his home country.

Byo down to one day of water

Zim Standard

  By Kholwani Nyathi

BULAWAYO - The city of more than one million people will from this
week be reduced to one day's supply of water a week after the
decommissioning of its fourth supply dam.

Bulawayo, now facing one of its worst water shortages in living
memory, has already stopped pumping water from Umzingwane, Lower Ncema and
Upper Ncema dams after they ran dry.

On Friday, Mayor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube (pictured) said by today the
council would stop pumping water from Inyankuni Dam, thus relying only on
Insiza Dam and a few boreholes at the Nyamandlovu Aquifer.

Insiza Dam will supply the city with less than 55 000 cubic meters of
water a day against an average requirement of 145 000 cubic meters.

The dam is expected to run dry in the next eight months if there are
no significant inflows during this rainy season.

"We have to further tighten the water rationing regime," Ncube said.
"After the decommissioning residents will be getting water once a week for
about only 18 hours.

"This will have serious repercussions on the economy and health of the
city."

Residents have had to endure persistent water cuts since the beginning
of the year as the city battled to ration the little water available.

The government has been accused of turning a blind eye to the crisis
after a Chinese company awarded the tender to construct a pipeline linking
the idle Mtshabezi Dam to the city abandoned the project five months ago due
to non-payment.

The cash-strapped Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) has also
been struggling to rehabilitate the 77 boreholes at the Nyamandlovu Aquifer.

The boreholes have the capacity to supply the city with an additional
15 000 cubic meters of water a day. They were vandalised by newly resettled
farmers and only 28 have been rehabilitated, providing the city with 4 000
cubic meters of water a day.

"We are grateful to Delta Beverages," said the Mayor, "for donating
billions of dollars towards the rehabilitation of the boreholes at
Nyamandlovu and we continue to hope that the Mtshabezi-Umzingwane interlink
will be completed soon.

"But the long-term solution to our perennial water problems is the
Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project."

The ambitious scheme to draw water from the Zambezi River some 450km
away has remained on the drawing board since 1912, with successive
governments failing to allocate funds for the project.

No dam has been built for Bulawayo since 1979 despite the population
having grown from about 250 000 to more than one million people.

Workers to continue 'sleep in'

Zim Standard

  BY our staff

SEVENTY workers of Kingstons Limited have vowed to continue with their
"sleep-in" until they are awarded enough transport allowance to commute to
work every day.

The workers have been sleeping at the company's head office in Harare
for the past two weeks because they say on their paltry wages and transport
allowances they cannot commute to work every day.

Workers' Committee chairman, Foreman Nyamutukuwa said the workers
resolved to continue with the sleep-in.

"We have no choice but to stay here because we don't have money for
transport. Our families are complaining because we have been away for too
long but we have no choice," he said.

The workers have visited several government offices to seek resolution
of the dispute but the company's management "is not too keen" to address the
problem, said Nyamutukuwa.

Last week, workers and management representatives went for arbitration
at the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare but failed to
reach agreement.

"We could not agree because the labour officer, a Mr T Masaisai, was
taking sides, not wanting to listen to us," he said.

ZPPDP vows to win elections

Zim Standard

  By Vusumuzi Sifile

A NEW political party last week boasted it intended to "embarrass"
both the ruling Zanu PF and the opposition MDC in next year's harmonised
elections.

The Zimbabwe People's Progressive Democratic Party (ZPPDP) has still
to be officially launched, but declared, through its leaders, it would win
the elections.

In an interview the president, Tafirenyika Mudavanhu, and
secretary-general, Gibbs Paul Gotora, said they were confident they would
form the next government.

"From what we have done so far," said Mudavanhu, "we have no doubt we
will win the elections next year."

Unlike a number of new parties formed in recent years just before
elections, which have subsequently fizzled out within months, the ZPPDP
leaders say they have "done everything" to win next year's elections.

But the party has no full-time staff and was virtually unknown until
last week when an advertisement appeared in this newspaper.

But Mudavanhu was undeterred: "The fact that we are still new is not
an issue. We were formally registered on 3 August, but all along we were
establishing our roots.

"As it is now, we are almost through with the selection of candidates
for next year. We will contest every position at every level, and we have no
doubt, on the basis of what we have done so far, we are going to win."

Asked what it was they "have done so far", Mudavanhu said: "We are a
membership based party. So far we have close to two million registered
members.

We are not like all the other parties that depend on supporters.
Supporters can change their allegiance anytime, but with members, you are
guaranteed they will be on your side all the time."

Mudavanhu insisted there were a number of "respected businesspeople"
involved in the project, but could not give their names.

Gotora said the structure of the party "also makes it very easy to win
an election".

"We have members at all levels. The lowest level, the village
congress, has 588 executive members, representing seven leagues".

The party's platform has as its priorities minority rights, economic
issues and democratic concerns.

Learn from white farmers, says Msika

Zim Standard

  By Kholwani Nyathi

BULAWAYO - Vice-President Joseph Msika last weekend attacked Zanu PF
officials who are evicting the few remaining white commercial farmers.

Observers said this was another indication of the growing divisions in
the government over how to conclude the land reform programme.

Msika is the most senior Zanu PF official to criticise State Security
Minister, Didymus Mutasa's approach to the land reform programme.

He advocates a moratorium on new land allocations.

Mutasa has reportedly been pushing for the prosecution of white
farmers still occupying farms gazetted for resettlement. He has accused
unnamed Zanu PF politicians of campaigning to keep the white farmers on the
land.

But speaking at a function to raise funds for the idle Ekusileni

Medical Centre in Bulawayo, Msika hit out at politicians who wanted
Zimbabwe to be "100% black" and advised new farmers to learn from
"successful whites instead of being jealous".

"I feel duty-bound to make these comments," Msika said, as he departed
from his prepared speech. "We fought against a system, not the skin
pigmentation of certain members of our society and how can you turn around
and say you want a Zimbabwe that is 100% black?

"I will never support such an idea. my conscience is clear on this and
I don't care who is promoting it.

"Our biggest challenge is to learn to live together."

Msika said he was forced to make the comments after realizing that
most white and Asian Zimbabweans were no longer interested in taking part in
national events.

Msika has come to the rescue of a number of white farmers facing
eviction from their farms by people claiming to have been given offer
letters by Mutasa's office.

Political leadership in Mashonaland recently asked Msika to intervene
over the continued farm disruptions and new offer letters.

The leaders, through senior politburo member and party spokesman
Nathan Shamuyarira, wrote to Msika to convey to the presidency their
recommendations to nullify Mutasa's recent land offer letters and illegal
farm invasions spearheaded by top army officials, the police and senior
civil servants.

In a letter to Msika, dated 19 October and delivered on 25 October,
Shamuyarira said the Mashonaland West political leadership, in consultation
with traditional leaders and land committees, had recommended that the
remaining white farmers be allowed to continue farming on land still in
their possession.

This is in sharp contrast to Mutasa's position that all white farmers
should be kicked off the land. A number of farmers on the list are facing
litigation after they failed to vacate the land as required by the law.

The party leadership said white farmers should be allowed to continue
producing on the land because they worked with the local people.

The letter followed an earlier meeting with Msika at Cooksey Hall
during which the VP rebuked the leaders for failing to deal with
land-related problems in the province.

The resolutions included giving back to Rydings School in Karoi the
community and property, including $800 million, allegedly misappropriated
when the school was taken over by Mutasa's lawyer, Gerald Mlotshwa.

Mlotshwa claimed ownership of Rydings School on the basis of an offer
letter that allocated him Enthorpe Farm on which the school is built.

He proceeded to appoint businessman Themba Mliswa - said to be Mutasa's
nephew - chairman of the school's board of governors. The trustees of the
school contested the takeover and wrote a petition to President Robert
Mugabe while challenging the acquisition in court.

The court has barred Mlotshwa and Mliswa from interfering with the
administration, assets and programmes at the school.

The leadership also recommended "the removal of those members of the
Zimbabwe National Army, the police, and senior civil servants who illegally
occupied farms in Mashonaland West province".

A number of commercial farmers, especially those who own

conservancies have donated generously to various fund-raising
activities in support of schools and hospitals.

At the Ekusileni fund-raising event, about $94 billion was raised

mainly from a wildlife auction after a number of conservancies donated
lucrative hunting and fishing packages.

"To our farmers, especially in wildlife, if there is a white person
near you who is doing very well, don't be jealous of him but learn from his
experience," Msika said.

A not-so-merry Christmas for most

Zim Standard

  By Rutendo Mawere

GWERU - Big, bright banners in shops advertising sales discounts and
Christmas "specials" normally mark the arrival of Christmas.

Traditionally Christmas, by the end of November, would have excited a
frenzy of shopping and spending. Shop windows would be bathed in glittering
Christmas displays, Christmas lights and invitations to meet Santa Claus,
with his Ho! Ho! Ho! chant so filled with such unrestrained joy the
temptation to join him is almost irresistible.

But as Zimbabwe grapples with its seven-year itch, the economic crisis
spawned by the 2000 land grab fiasco, the traditional Christmas cheers have
been muted, and heavily disrupted, with most consumers and retailers saying
the "Merry" in Christmas will be enjoyed by only a few - the corrupt, the
well-heeled or those with friends in high places.

With only a few weeks before the customary, delicious celebration that
precedes the eventual madness of 25 December, most shops in Gweru have not
yet put up decorations and the bunting and special offers to capture the
festive mood.

Instead of the Christmas discounts which usually characterize most
retail shops this time of the year, a snap survey around the city of Gweru
revealed that prices continue to skyrocket daily.

Sales at retail outlets, which generally peak at this time, are
stagnant. Most shop shelves are still empty from the after-effects of the
government's reckless price blitz. Those filled with imported goods are
selling them at what have been called "unChristmasy" prices - prices beyond
the reach of many. Most retailers' verdict: there will be no Christmas at
all.

Tichaona Zhanda, a worker at a clothes retail shop where women's
blouses are selling for more than $10 million and men's trousers for nothing
below $22 million, told The Standard prices had overtaken incomes.

"Things have become too expensive for many, even myself. If you can
afford just to feed your family without clothing them, you should count
yourself lucky," he said in a voice throbbing with gloom.

In another shop once bustling with customers at this time of the year,
till operators were actually idly sharing jokes in the deserted shop.

One shop attendant said the few customers who bothered to come into
the shop took one look at the prices, shook their heads from side to side,
then walked out without a word, still shaking their heads.

At this time of the year, shops would usually extend their shopping
hours and take in extra staff, but this year it might not be necessary.

The economic meltdown has not only affected the retailers, but has
spelt doom for most of the workers.

In one shop belonging to a cut-price chain of shops, a woman from
Silobela in Lower Gweru carried a huge black bag. She said she had last
visited Gweru in July. She told The Standard this time she was going back
home with an empty bag.

"I am quite shocked with the prices of both food and clothes," she
said in undisguised dejection. "Things seem to have gone up a million times
from the time I was last here. I had come to get new clothes for five
children, two grandchildren and myself, after selling some tomatoes. But the
money that I have is not even enough for a pair of shoes."

Tariro Shoko, a factory worker in Gweru who makes less than Z$14
million a month, said there would be no Christmas to talk about.

"Christmas will be a non-event," she said. "Besides the fact that
there is not much surplus money to spend after paying the rent and rates,
there isn't much to buy in the shops. I can't even afford to buy a few rands
or pulas to go and pick a few things in South Africa or Botswana."

David Shonhiwa, a Gweru teacher, said while Christmas was supposed to
be a time of joy for most people this time it would be full of misery.

"The holiday has been dampened already and there is no hope of an
enjoyable Christmas. We are hungry and we will be hungry. There is nothing
to look forward to," he said

With a small bottle of cooking oil selling for Z$7 million and
parallel market sellers targeting the Z$15 million mark by December, a 2kg
packet of sugar selling at Z$2.5 million, 5kg rice at Z$13 million, shoes at
over Z$22 million and clothes above Z$30 million and inflation at more than
14 000%, it will be a merry Christmas for only a select few.

US wants free and fair polls - envoy

Zim Standard

  By Our Staff

THE new US Ambassador to Zimbabwe James D McGee (left) last week said
his country remained committed to seeing free and fair elections next year,
through which the people of Zimbabwe can express their will.

"My job as US Ambassador to Zimbabwe is to work with anyone who wants
to co-operate with us to improve the situation here," he said in a statement
released on Thursday (22 November) after presenting his credentials to
President Robert Mugabe at State House in Harare.

His remarks seemed to coincide with a report by a US think tank that
Washington should act now to capitalise on developments in Zimbabwe and
chart a new direction for its Zimbabwe policy - one that focuses not just on
disapproval of the current regime, but also on a vision for the country's
future and a plan on how to get there.

After presenting his credentials, Ambassador McGee said he was
thrilled to be in Zimbabwe and excited about the challenges ahead.

"I am looking forward to working with the people of Zimbabwe during
this increasingly difficult period in their lives," he said.

An important part of his job, McGee said, would be overseeing US
assistance to Zimbabwe. The US will give more than US$200 million worth of
assistance this year. The US will help feed nearly one in five Zimbabweans
with about US$170 million of food aid.

Support for HIV/Aids programmes have increased to US$31 million this
year, including anti-retroviral treatment for 40 000 Zimbabweans. Ambassador
McGee said: "Today is Thanksgiving in the US. It is a day on which we give
thanks for all that we have. That makes it even more important to focus on
our programmes that help bring aid to the many Zimbabweans in need."

McGee arrives in Zimbabwe after three years as US Ambassador to
Madagascar and the Union of the Comoros. He also served as Ambassador to
Swaziland from 2002 to 2004.

The US Ambassador arrives here after a US think tank, the Council on
Foreign Relations - an independent, non-partisan organization - said last
week Washington should act now to capitalize on developments in Zimbabwe and
develop a new direction for its Zimbabwe policy, one that focuses not just
on disapproval of the current regime, but also on a vision for the country's
future and a plan for how to get there.

"Years of Western condemnation and targeted sanctions have done little
to alter the course or speed of Zimbabwe's decline," said the council in its
45-page report. "A continuation of the same painful deterioration that has
characterized the country in recent years is one possible scenario for the
future.

"Nevertheless, today internal economic and political pressures are
coinciding with increased international attention and regional engagement in
the Zimbabwe crisis."

The United States could help establish clear incentives for potential
successors to Mugabe to embrace vital reforms, the Council said.

"By working multilaterally to build consensus around
governance-related conditions for re-engagement, and by marshalling
significant reconstruction resources in an international trust fund for
Zimbabwe," the Council said, "the United States can encourage and even
hasten constructive forms of potential political change by affecting the
calculus of those who are in a position to trigger a transition.

"Instead of scrambling to respond to unfolding catastrophe or simply
setting the stage for another crisis in the future by focusing exclusively
on short-term stabilisation and ignoring governance, the United States can
be prepared to support stabilizing efforts that create the conditions for
growth and development."

Once governance reforms were consolidated, the international
investment in Zimbabwe's recovery should be secured with initiatives that
focus on making transitional gains sustainable, including efforts to revive
agriculture, reform the security sector and provide services and opportunity
to Zimbabwe's youth.

". . . The United States can seize on the opportunity presented by
change by engaging in detailed consultations with the Southern African
Development Community (Sadc) now and developing a regional dimension to
reconstruction plans. The United States can develop an approach to Zimbabwe's
transition that, in the best case, complements South Africa's own efforts."

Zimbabwe could move from the list of irritants in the bilateral
relationship to the list of issues on which the US and South Africa were
invested in each other's success.

Towards the end of 2006 the State Department's Office of the
Co-ordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization spearheaded an
inter-agency planning exercise to prepare for a range of potential changes
in Zimbabwe. The US and others had also been part of multilateral
discussions about the prospects of re-engaging with Zimbabwe and the reforms
that would be necessary to re-establish normal relations with the donor
community.

Britain had begun planning for re-engagement with Zimbabwe when
political conditions become ripe, the Council said, and the World Bank was
co-ordinating analytic work that would be shared among donors to help them
respond to the needs of a Zimbabwe in transition.

"But more needs to be done to make these efforts effective," the
Council said. "Zimbabwe, with its tremendous national potential and existing
roster of civil society leaders who have worked tirelessly and at great
personal risk to resist oppression, lends itself to the US desire to see
success stories emerge in Africa that is grounded in democratic governance
and respect for the rule of law."

The report supports continuing current policies aimed at pressuring
President Mugabe's government and easing the suffering of the Zimbabwean
people. It also aims to encourage the US, other major international donors,
and the states of southern Africa to act now to ensure donor co-ordination,
and, critically, begin marshalling the resources necessary to help the
people of Zimbabwe put their country back together again.

By doing so, the US and others can help create incentives for peaceful
political change in Zimbabwe, the report says.

Community mobilisers reinforce child health issues

Zim Standard

  By Bertha Shoko

Gwirikwiti, ini handichadi!

Mhetamakumbo, ini handichadi!
Rurindi, ini handichadi
Zveunyope, ini handichadi, tonobaisa vana vedu!

THIS was the sound of singing that could be heard kilometres away as
we approached Gutu rural district hospital two weeks ago.

I was in a team of journalists travelling to this rural area to
observe how community mobilisation programmes on the Child Health Days being
organised by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and the United Nations
Children's Fund (Unicef). When finally we arrived where the group of
community mobilisers was gathered, we found the jovial mood contagious, as
some of my colleagues joined in the singing and dancing.

At the centre of all this, was one woman who stole my heart with her
passion for teaching communities about children's health. Even at the age of
60, Fadzai Winnie Mawedzenge, the Gutu District Nursing Officer and a
community mobiliser, is so full of energy it's hard to believe she is a
grandmother.

Mawedzenge's compositions (including the one at the beginning of this
article that encourages women to immunise their children) plus her spirited
singing, are really what community mobilisation programmes need.

Affectionately known as Mbuya Mawedzenge, her experience in the health
profession spans over thirty years and she says only God will stop her from
doing what she loves best: taking care of the sick. But at the centre of her
heart, is the children's health.

"Children need our protection as adults," she says. "We must protect
their health and ensure that they receive the best medical care so that they
grow up healthy and intelligent. This is why I became a community mobiliser,
I want to teach communities about the importance of immunising children.

"When I teach them I don't want to bore them with too many medical
issues; that is why I choose a strategy to educate them through songs, with
messages about prioritising children's health and dance. This always works."

This is what the community mobilisers in Gutu have been doing over the
years since the first Child Health Days began two years ago, but it's not
all rosy in this rural community as we found out.

Health officials expressed concern over some church missions in the
area who were preventing children from being immunised
because they do not believe in going to the hospital.

Masvingo provincial nursing officer Judith Chitandwa told
Standardhealth some of these missions were making it difficult for the
province to achieve 100% immunisation coverage.

According to Unicef, Masvingo province has one of the highest
immunisation rates in the country.

Chitandwa said her ministry has of late been working with traditional
leaders and the police to force these religious sects to bring their
children forward for vaccination.

Said Chitandwa: "We are very concerned about these churches because
they are violating the rights of these children. But using the authority of
chiefs and the police, sometimes works."

Chitandwa said even through some of their community mobilisation
programmes the ministry and Unicef have been very helpful as some sects
bring in their children for vaccination then take the children back to
church for a cleansing ceremony, known in Shona as "kuchenura".

In Midlands province, while in Mvuma and Chirumuhanzu we also heard
that some sects refuse to have their children immunised during the Child
Health Days campaign. We also heard that some women bring their children to
the hospital during the night because they fear being punished by their
husbands and church leaders.

District Nursing Officer for Mvuma, Jotam Chinyama told Standardhealth
this is a sign that at least their mobilisation campaigns are yielding good
results.

He said: "These women who are members of these missions now know that
immunisation is beneficial to their children and make an effort to come at
night and risk being expelled from the church."

This year's Child Health Days were targeting more than 2 million for
immunisation.

In the song at the beginning of the article women attending an
awareness campaign are saying that they no longer want measles, polio,
tuberculosis and because of that they will not be lazy to go and get their
children vaccinated.

Voter education lags far behind

Zim Standard

  By Rutendo Mawere

GWERU - Although elections scheduled for early next year are only a
few months away, most Zimbabweans eligible to vote have not received any
worthwhile voter education, according to a survey by the Mass Public Opinion
Institute (MPOI).

The national survey on Zimbabwe Electoral Processes and Reforms,
conducted in all the provinces and released recently, says 68% of the
potential voters in Zimbabwe have not received any voter/civic education.

Anyway Ndapwadza, the principal researcher at the Institute, said in
Gweru last week there would be many spoilt papers in the ballot boxes if a
vigorous voter education exercise was not undertaken.

Civil society members present at the occasion when Ndapwadza presented
the results of the survey said the government needed to allow civic
organisations to immediately launch voter education programmes as the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) had not done much.

The ZEC, composed mostly of civil servants, has the official mandate
to provide voter education.

"If there were a lot of spoilt papers during the 2005 parliamentary
elections, where voters were voting only for MPs, imagine what would happen
when there will be so many names for different positions," said Peter
Muchengeti, National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations' regional
chairperson. "If people do not receive voter education now they will be very
confused on the voting day."

On voter/civic education by party affiliation, the survey revealed
that supporters of the Morgan Tsvangirai-led Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) were the worst affected, with 75% of the sampled supporters saying
they had not received any voter education.

Sixty-four percent of the Arthur Mutambara faction said they had not
received any voter education.

For Zanu PF, 60% of the members were in dire need of voter education.

Another finding of the survey was that 32% of potential voters had
still not registered at the time of the inquiry.

Lyson Mlambo of the Mutambara MDC faction acknowledged that political
parties, especially the MDC, still had to educate their supporters on how to
vote.

"Past elections have shown that despite the fact that we have a strong
base," said Mlambo, "we lose elections partly because most of our
supporters, especially the youths, are not registered voters. As political
parties we should urge all our supporters to register for the 2008
elections."

The survey revealed that only 60% of the potential voters considered
the 2008 elections to be "very important".

Rural women fail to access ARVs

Zim Standard

  BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE

RURAL women are among the groups most infected by HIV/Aids but account
for only a quarter of women accessing anti-retroviral treatment in the
country, a recent international report said.

Also vulnerable and failing to access anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs),
according to the report, are prisoners and adolescents who do not fall
within the government's treatment programmes, targeted mostly at adults and
children.

The report, titled "Missing the Target 5: Improving Aids Drugs Access
and Advancing Health Care for All", and released last Tuesday, attributed
the sad scenario to poverty and lack of information among women in rural
areas.

As a result, said the report, many rural women had opted to manage
their symptoms with herbal treatment.

"According to research on HIV-positive women's health, three-quarters
of all women on treatment were from urban areas - yet the majority of those
in need live in rural areas," said the report, prepared by the International
Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC).

The report said although Zimbabwe had made "great strides" in
providing treatment for adults and children, there was a growing number of
infected adolescents who were either born with HIV or contracted it after
birth.

"This group has been largely neglected because they neither fall
within treatment programmes targeted at adults nor those for children. At
the same time, there seems to be no immediate, deliberate plan to ensure
that they have access to treatment," said the report.

People's Budget: what people?

Zim Standard

  BY NDAMU SANDU

FINANCE Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi's 2008 National Budget is
unrealistic and will not improve the lives of Zimbabweans, economic
commentators said last week.

Announcing what he called the "People's Budget", Mumbengegwi said
expenditure would total $7.84 quadrillion with revenue streams at $6.08
quadrillion giving a budget deficit of $1.76 quadrillion.

He did not provide clues on how the budget deficit would be financed,
heightening fears that the printing press would be busy again next year.

Analysts say the huge budget deficit was "unhealthy" for a country
starved of foreign injection from multilateral agencies such as the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Mumbengegwi said the Budget was "geared to reduce inflation by
enabling communities at grassroots level to generate their own goods and
services at affordable prices".

He gave workers relief by increasing the tax-free threshold to $30
million, from 1 January 2008. The tax bands end at $500 million above which
income is taxed at 47.5 percent.

Tax-free bonus and performance-related awards were increased to $75
million effective 1 November 2007.

Mumbengegwi projected real economic growth of 4%, driven by a growth
in agriculture and improved industrial performance and economic programmes
by the grassroots - a feat analysts say is unattainable.

Mumbengegwi said the 2007-2008 agricultural season, dubbed "The Mother
of all Agricultural Seasons", had to be accorded the highest priority.

"Since the majority of our people are engaged in agriculture,
increased support for agriculture is increased support for the people. This
is why this Budget is dubbed the People's Budget," he said.

The People's Budget envisages to whittle down inflation to 1 978% by
December 2008 from the current peak of nearly 15 000%.

There was no mention of an exchange rate review, leaving exporters in
a quandary.

An official exchange rate of $30 000 to the US$ against a thriving but
illegal parallel market rate of Z$1.7 million did not even jolt Mumbengegwi
into action.

He showed the government's desperation in chasing for revenue, even in
saloons. He said presumptive tax, introduced a few years ago, would be
extended to saloons at a rate of $50 million or 10% of gross income per
quarter, whichever is greater, with effect from 1 January 2008.

He said the tax net would soon be extended to the informal sector.

Analysts say Mumbengegwi's figures would be eroded by inflation.

"The figures he is talking about are going to be torpedoed by
inflation," said economic commentator Dr Daniel Ndlela.

He said at the current inflation levels, the budget would be deflated
by 40% before it was rolled out.

Ndlela said: "We will have 60 percent of the budget when it is rolled
out in January."

He said the real ruling market price in the economy was guided by two
things: level of inflation and the exchange rate.

Ndlela says at face value, Mumbengegwi's presentation was a normal
budget which will be deflated by runaway hyperinflation.

He advocates an inflation-adjusted budget, as all companies listed on
the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange now prefer.

David Mupamhadzi, group economist at the Zimbabwe Allied Banking Group
(ZABG) said revenue targets of $6 080 trillion would be difficult to attain
as most corporates are facing difficulties.

"Most corporates are not doing well and their contribution through
corporate tax will be down and this creates a huge funding gap," he said.

He said because of the huge deficit, there would be recourse to the
domestic market which would be inflationary.

On inflation targets, Mupamhadzi said it was premised on the
assumption that the current supply initiatives would yield positive results.

He said the pricing framework was neglected and this made it difficult
to meet those targets.

"Because of price controls, a lot of time is being spent in the
boardroom to determine prices," he said.

Mupamhadzi says the only way to drive economic growth was through the
rejuvenation of industries. "All that industries want is a conducive
environment where they are allowed to sell at competitive rates, which was
not addressed in the budget," he said.

Tendai Biti, secretary general of the main wing of the MDC, said
attempts to label the budget as a "People's Budget" rang hollow and
unoriginal.

"For all practical purposes, this budget is arguably the most
anti-people budget since independence," he said.

He said anticipated revenue collection of $6.08 quadrillion was
fictional, "given the continuing shrinkage of the supply side of our
economy".

Biti said in the present operating environment there was no reason to
expect that revenue collection would be anything more than 60% of the
revenue target of $6.08 quadrillion next year.

He said the government would print more money and borrow from the
domestic market, triggering inflationary pressures. "More inflation means
further theft on the people's savings and incomes," Biti said.

He said the budget was anti-people as it was premised on a false
turnaround matrix of a growth in agriculture. With a fertiliser deficit of
over 50% and a seed deficit of 40% a bumper harvest was a mirage.

"More important is the fact that an accumulation model based on
agriculture and mining is a false one," he said. "In this century, to
believe that agriculture and mining can offer a way out of supply side
haemorrhage is totally ahistorical," Biti said.

One banker summed up the future prospects: "Mumbengegwi said it is a
People's Budget. I have read it over and over again but I can't see the
people in it and I really wonder where we will be next year."

Gold support price 'useless' already

Zim Standard

  Jennifer Dube

RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe Governor's Number One enemy, inflation, seems
to be getting the better of him, with indications it has wiped out the value
of his recently unveiled gold support price.

Already, there is discontent among small-scale miners.

Gideon Gono last month gained instant popularity with the miners when
he increased the gold support price from $3 million to $5 million a gram.

But the Zimbabwe Miners Federation last week said the facility was
"now worth nothing".

In an interview, ZMF president George Kawonza, said they would soon be
back at the negotiating table in anticipation of another upward review.

"The $5 million is no longer enough and this is posing serious
viability problems", he said. "The way the value of the dollar is going down
we may have to close shop and look for other means of survival."

Miners constantly pressed for a better support price for the greater
part of this year, which resulted in successive reviews from $350 000 a gram
to $1 million, then $3 million during the first half alone.

Presenting his mid-year monetary policy statement last month, Gono
announced the support price would be increased from $3 million to $3.5
million, backdated to last August, while that for September was raised from
$3.5 million to $4 million.

"As monetary authorities we call upon all gold producers to take
advantage of these raises and increase their deliveries to the Reserve
Bank," Gono said then.

His call came against a record of constantly declining deliveries to
the central bank, amid speculation that some miners were resorting to
side-marketing in search of better returns.

Econet hikes cellphone tariffs 450%

Zim Standard

  By Nqobani Ndlovu

BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe's largest mobile service provider, Econet
Wireless, last week complained that sub-economic rates had led to a
deterioration of its communication services.

For the same reason, the company said it had failed to carry out
expansion projects due to reduced revenue against increasing operating
costs.

Econet is counting the cost of the harsh effects of the government's
controversial price blitz that forced many companies to either downsize
operations or close shop altogether.

As a result, Econet Wireless on Thursday raised its cellphone tariffs
by over 450%.

Econet chief executive officer, Douglas Mboweni said they raised the
rates from $7 500 to $43 000 a minute for a local call and from $15 000 to
$89 000 for an international call to shield them from runaway inflation and
other operational costs.

"We are failing to manage infrastructure because revenue has become
too low due to low tariffs against high inflation and other operational
costs," Mboweni told Standardbusiness on Wednesday.

"Construction of sites and base stations to increase subscriber base
was affected by the low tariffs and where construction was taking place, it
was at a slower pace due to reduced revenue."

Econet Wireless communication services have also taken a beating from
severe power outages, now a major contributor to calls not getting through
between networks.

The mobile service provider says its operations are being severely
disrupted despite efforts to install diesel generators to minimize the
impact of load-shedding by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority.

Mboweni said low tariffs disrupted cellular coverage since there was
now congestion on its network at a time when the company was failing to run
diesel generators to minimize the effect of disruptions of its operations
due to power cuts.

"Low tariffs worsen the quality of service. The tariffs were just too
low, meaning that subscribers were staying on the phone for hours, thereby
creating congestion on our network. That was further worsened by power
outages," said Mboweni

The new rates would enable the company to go ahead with work started
earlier this year to add capacity to the network and increase its subscriber
carrying capacity from the current 800 000 to 1.2 million by February 2008.

Econet Wireless early this year signed two contracts with Ericsson of
Sweden and ZTE of China to supply equipment for the expansion project, with
Ericsson expanding the core network which is made up of the switching
systems, whilst ZTE would supply radio base stations for the southern part
of the country.

Bakers form NIPC sub-committee

Zim Standard

  By Our Staff

BAKING industry stakeholders have formed an eight-member sub-committee
to the National Incomes and Pricing Commission to spearhead the
resuscitation of the troubled sector, industry sources said last week.

The subcommittee has representatives from the NIPC, Grain Marketing
Board, Grain Millers' Association of Zimbabwe and National Bakers'
Association.

It will act as a task-team, making recommendations to the government
through the NIPC in a bid to avert another bread crisis.

"All stakeholders will now be equal partners under the committee and
in that way, nobody will dominate others, although the NIPC will be in the
chair," said a source.

GMB acting public relations manager Joseph Katete and NBA chairman
Vincent Mangoma confirmed the development.

Sources said intense negotiations among the stakeholders led to an
agreement that all parties would be committed to the resuscitation of the
industry, killing the black market.

Among other measures, the GMB is expected to release sufficient wheat,
about 20 000 tonnes, in the next two weeks to kill both the wheat and flour
black markets.

About 10 000 tonnes are needed to satisfy that country's weekly
demand.

"Flooding the market with wheat and flour will kill the black market
and give the industry some breathing space," a source said. "That will then
allow for forward planning. The GMB has sufficient wheat at the moment and
there is no need to hold on to it as that only fuels the black market."

Constrained supplies were pushing wheat prices from the official $111
million a tonne to $1 billion, it was reported.

Katete said GMB currently has a weekly allocation target of 6 000
tonnes but the parastatal would consider the proposal.

Due to a price stand-off with the millers, the parastatal was
reportedly failing to attract buyers to meet the weekly target a fortnight
ago.

"From Monday until today (Thursday), we have released 5260,68 tonnes
and we are confident we will beat the target this week," Katete said."It has
to be appreciated that in the prevailing economic environment, there is need
to continuously review prices."

It is also hoped that the new negotiating platform will allow millers,
the GMB and bakers to suggest specific pricing models to the NIPC, in
anticipation of a shift from the current situation whereby NIPC unilaterally
determines the price.

The GMB is also expected to provide wheat only to established millers
who have a recognised distribution list and can account for their supplies.

Sources said the recent emergence of many millers, with the majority
failing to account for the wheat they receive from the GMB, raised the
suspicion that there were bogus millers possibly behind the black market,
hence the need to screen them.

Geldof unveils African plan

Zim Standard

  Poverty campaigner Bob Geldof and Africa
advocacy group Data have introduced an African Trade Initiative ahead of the
EU-Africa summit.

Its aim is "to ensure that Africa is able to grow through increased
exports and regional trade".

But Data argues European Union is "rushing" Africa into "potentially
unfair" trade agreements.

Geldof also said that the developed world had failed to deliver its
promises on Africa.

"The initiative emphasizes the urgent need for further opening of EU
and US markets to African products, reform of subsidies that harm African
producers and enhanced aid for trade commitments that address Africa's
supply-side challenges," Data said. - BBC News.

After Zambian Airways, who's next?

Zim Standard

  BY NDAMU SANDU

PLANS to attract foreign airlines into Zimbabwe will bear fruit only
if the government addresses the fuel crisis, players in the aviation and
tourism sector said last week.

The industry has been beset by high fuel costs. Jet A1 fuel averages
US$1 a litre, the highest price in Africa, which has claimed the scalps of
British Airways and Zambian Airways.

BA pulled out of the Harare-London route in October, saying the route
was not viable.

Zambian Airways suspended its daily flights to Zimbabwe on Friday,
citing high fuel costs and extreme currency fluctuations.

Ethiopian Airlines almost pulled out last month but had "an eleventh
hour": change of heart.

"We are selling Jet A1 fuel at more than US$1 per litre, against
US$0.40 at airports in Libya to an average of US$0.64 in most parts of
Africa. Our price is not only high but prohibitive,"said an aviation expert.

Jet A1 is being sold by a consortium of BP and Total. An official at
BP told Standardbusiness Jet A1 was being sold for US$1.1511 a litre, which
experts said was not only exorbitant but prohibitive.

Tourism players said the price of fuel had haunted the aviation
industry for some time.

"Anyone who has taken a keen interest in Zimbabwe as a tourist
destination would confirm that every time you talk to an airline, including
Air Zimbabwe they moan about the price of Jet A1 from the so-called
consortium," said Karikoga Kaseke, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) boss.

"We hear them talk of viability problems, fuel being the major
concern. The Jet A1 fuel price is the highest in Africa. Yes, politics or no
politics, the issue must be resolved because we can't leave it like that
perpetually."

Kaseke says the foreign airlines' pull-out was a blow to the ZTA's
efforts to attract more tourists.

He said accessibility was paramount in destination marketing and was
one of the 4As in attracting tourists.

The other As are attraction; accommodation; and advertising

Chipo Mtasa, Zimbabwe Council for Tourism (ZCT) President told
Standardbusiness last week that stakeholders had to put their heads together
to work on modalities to attract other airlines.

"We need to look at what other incentives could be provided that would
attract other airlines," Mtasa said.

Zambian Airways pulled out after British Airways, Swiss Air,
Lufthansa, KLM, and Air France left over the years, again citing
unviability.

Air Zimbabwe has sent out an SOS to other players in the region for
partnership deals to fill the void left by BA.

Appearing before a portfolio committee on Transport and Communication,
Peter Chikumba, Air Zimbabwe group CEO said they targeted a number of
players, including Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic.

But analysts say it would be almost impossible to fill the void unless
the price of fuel was addressed.

They warned more airlines would "red card Zimbabwe" if the fuel price
issue was not resolved.

And the parliamentary portfolio committee on Transport and
Communications has taken a keen interest in the challenges faced by
airlines.

Leo Mugabe, the committee chairperson told Standardbusiness they were
deliberating on the matter though "it would be unfair to pre-empt the
discussions of the committee".

Scrap congress if Mugabe is Zanu PF's choice

Zim Standard

 Comment

THE reason Zanu PF supporters are staging marches in support of
President Robert Mugabe's candidature for the ruling party during next year's
harmonised polls is precisely because he does not enjoy the absolute backing
of every member of the party, and most Zimbabweans who are non-members.

The idea behind the marches is to try and disprove what everyone
knows: that he has lost the unrivalled support he once enjoyed but took for
granted. Otherwise, why would a show of "mass support" be necessary? If
there is such overwhelming backing for him, then the most logical thing for
a responsive ruling party would be to consider the cost, the resources and
the inconvenience to the ordinary people that holding a congress entails and
act in the interests of the majority.

But that is unlikely to happen because the marches are a contrived
process, designed to whip everyone into line and ensure compliance at the
extraordinary congress next week. It's stage-managing the congress. It is
obscene for a select few to feast for several days when millions of fellow
Zimbabweans cannot afford a full square meal a day.

Political heavyweights from Bulawayo had objected to the marches, but
their presence was volunteered at the so-called "Million Men and Women"
parades, ensuring they recanted their positions.

There is something anachronistic in a supposedly people's party that
can devote vast resources to bring people from all over the country for a
march, when the same party is not prepared to invest similar efforts to
ensuring Zimbabweans can access their money from banks, or find public
transport that is affordable.

At a time the international community estimates 4.1 million
Zimbabweans require food aid until the next harvest, it is a demonstration
of unparalleled extravagance and insensitive for the government and Zanu PF
to spend so much money, time, effort and resources just to "prove" that
President Mugabe "enjoys" the support of all Zimbabweans.

In 2004 six of the country's 10 provinces decided the fate of the
country's politician leadership. It is precisely because of fear of that
outcome, of three years ago, that we have orchestrated "solidarity" marches.

It is only those impervious to reality that expect Zimbabweans to
march in support of a continuation of a situation where they are subjected
to months of erratic water supplies and an ever present threat to their
health. The late Solomon Tawengwa was axed from the leadership of Harare
City Council after the capital experienced acute water supplies for just
five days. Now the whole country is hostage to the most severe shortage of
supplies.

It is disingenuous to assemble people to demonstrate support for some
of the most traumatic power cuts this country has ever seen; for fuel
shortages; falling standards of health; rapid decline in educational
standards and the general standards of living. We doubt they could have been
celebrating Zimbabwe's deterioration under Mugabe's leadership, unless each
of the marchers was paid millions, which would explain the cash crisis at
banks.

But it does not escape many that in 1980 Zimbabweans turned out on
their own volition in hundreds of thousands, but that on Friday, they were
psychologically intimidated, threatened, guided and herded into the Zimbabwe
Grounds.

Bishop Abel Muzorewa had a rude awakening in 1980; the numbers he was
used to seeing during his helicopter rides and rallies did not translate
into votes and he suffered one of the most embarrassing defeats in the
political history of this country.

The citizen as a radical activist

Zim Standard

  sundayopinion by Bill Saidi

AS Christmas approaches and all Christians, and many non-Christians,
prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, there must be a sense of the
lugubrious among most citizens.

In terms of enjoyment, outside the spiritual edification of
remembering The Nativity, this is not a season to be jolly for Zimbabwe.

There is not enough joy or money to go around - as naked a truth as
the empty supermarket shelves.

This may be an exaggeration: the country is broke.

But picture this: a depositor goes to a bank to demand the money they
left there for safekeeping. They are told there is none. Do they respond
with a polite "Thanks. I'll come back when you have some."

The consolation, if you are a super-optimist who faces a firing
squad - for stealing a chicken liver - with a smile, is there is little to
buy, if you get the money.

Some people might think this citizen is entitled to bash something or
someone.

Others might say the citizen should revise the conventional view that
bank managers are part of the human race, and not three-headed monsters from
The Deep.

If the country is not broke, then where is the money? Who is hiding
it? Gideon Gono? He has identified the culprits, although it's hard to say
most of it is the work of a bunch of under-30s found with Z$1.7 billion in
Gadzema last week.

Is this country in a mess or is it not? December is not going to have
much good cheer. But who, among the leaders, is worried that real people
might not celebrate this festive season with a festival?

Not Zanu PF, not the president, who seems put off by any suggestion he
might not make it to the Lisbon conference of the European Union and the
African Union.

His most public comment on the crisis: be patient, give us time.

If, like me, you get the desperate feeling that we have heard this
refrain before, don't be alarmed.

Meanwhile, Zanu PF - or a section of it, anyway -was worried about The
Million Men and Women march in favour of President Mugabe.

Frankly, if any Million Men, Women and Children march should be held,
it must be in protest at this "mother of all messes" we are in.

It should be organised by the Combined Harare Residents' Association
(CHRA) and the Women of Zimbabwe Arise! (WOZA). Their record is spectacular
and filled with heroism. The women, in particular, have scored so many
successes they ought to be asked by civil society to write The Essential
Handbook on Demos.

Incidentally, these two come immediately to mind as the near-perfect
examples of the citizen as a radical, followed by the National
Constitutional Assembly. Here, we are not counting the political parties.
Their agenda is to replace the government.

You could say it is their own "regime change" strategy, without the
external component.

The perfect citizen is radical in insisting on obtaining the maximum
benefits from those they entrust with that responsibility, whether it is the
city council or the government. This is a citizen who pays taxes and all the
other bills from the service providers.

But they believe in taxes being linked, absolutely, to representation.
In other words, in the case of Harare, Mutare and other urban areas now run
by the Ccs - Chombo's commissions - they wouldn't pay anything, in protest.

The commissions don't represent the voters' wishes.

The radical citizen would engulf the providers of electricity and
water in a permanent bubble of terror. There would be daily vigils at their
offices, until power and water were supplied without interruption to all
households.

They would run daily advertisements in the newspapers and in the
independent radio and TV stations (wish-wish), calling them money-grubbing
charlatans.

They would target the responsible cabinet ministers for special
parodies in all the media. They would give them no rest, until they begged,
on bended knees, to be let off the hook - by publishing in every newspaper,
TV and radio station a full-page apology to the citizens and pledge to start
earning their salaries by not knocking off until they satisfied everyone
that nobody would be without water or power, unless they had been delinquent
in paying the bills.

That is the radical citizen. . . ready to get bashed for what they
stand for.

saidib@standard.co.zw

Standing for Parliament

Zim Standard

  Sundayview by Judith Todd

'Daddy, they hate you...next time they will shoot you'

I WENT to seek Byron Hove's signature for my nomination form. Byron
was the first black president of the students' union at our local university
and he and I, along with two others, had been arrested, charged and found
guilty in 1964 under the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act of organising a
demonstration of students outside parliament to protest against the banning
of the Daily News, Zanu and the People's Caretaker Council, which is what
Zapu had renamed itself after it was banned.

Byron was one of the first to leave Zapu and join Zanu after the 1963
split in the nationalist movement. He was often brave and forthright and
therefore in trouble with those to whom principle and free-thinking were
anathema. But now Zanu PF was giving him another chance to prove his
obedience. I didn't realise until the Zanu PF list was published that Byron
himself was a candidate. Sitting with Byron when I went into his office was
the veteran journalist Farayi Munyuki, who, to my great surprise and
pleasure, agreed enthusiastically to also be one of my signatories.

That evening I was to meet Justin Nyoka at 5.30PM at Sandro's to
collect his signature. I was becoming quite brazen in asking people if they
would support me, and no one yet had turned me down. The list of people
nominating me to stand for parliament was becoming impressive.

Justin was late, and by the time he arrived at about 6.15PM, the news
was already about the Zanu PF Central Committee, which had met that day, had
decided not to support any PF Zapu candidates.

Minister Eddison Zvobgo passed the table where I was waiting for
Justin and I stood up to greet him. Looking very grave, he asked how I was
feeling. I said that I was feeling exceptionally well. Then he said: "How
could you have allowed PF Zapu to put your name forward as a candidate?"

"I was honoured."

"But you could have been a Zanu PF candidate."

"You didn't ask me."

"We only ratified our candidates today."

He moved on and Justin joined me. I said he really didn't need to sign
if supporting me caused any embarrassment. He laughed, but then said quite
seriously: "Judy, you are much too young to embarrass me."

I couldn't fathom that remark. Ezekiel Makunike, director of
Information at the ministry, also signed.

I saw another PF Zapu nominee, George Marange. In his late fifties or
early sixties, he was handsome and solid, with a beard turning white. He
looked a bit like Swapo's Sam Nujoma. But he didn't seem well, and kept
shifting around as if seeking comfort for his body. He had spent the best
part of his adult life in detention, and had been picked up again a few
weeks before in the latest sweep and taken from his home in Gweru to
Lalapanzi for four days.

His wife, a nurse, went straight to CIO when he was taken, and
demanded his release and threatened to go to the press. CIO expressed
complete ignorance and suggested she enquire at the police station.

Mrs Marange had managed to take the registration number of the car in
which George had been driven away, and there, at the police station, was the
car. First the police denied knowledge of him, but then, faced with her
fury, the fact that she had the car registration number and that she was
threatening to go to the press, they admitted having picked him up and
agreed to release him. When eventually the police told Marange at Lalapanzi
that they were going to release him and drive him back to Gweru, he refused,
in case he really disappeared on the way. He found a friend to drive him.

He said his six-year-old daughter wept when they were reunited. She
said: "Daddy, they hate you. They came for you with guns. Next time they'll
shoot you. Let's run away to the communal lands."

He said when he found his children so alienated, he wondered what he
had fought and suffered for under white supremacy.

The previous Monday in Bulawayo, a young former Zipra commander had
said much the same thing to me. "Even our own people laugh at us now. 'What
do you think you were fighting for?' they ask."

I tried to comfort him by saying that surely the achievement of
Zimbabwe was in itself an important and necessary step on the way forward?
Reluctantly, he seemed to agree.

The nomination court sat on the morning of Monday 12 October, and at
noon announced the names of 36 candidates to contest the 20 seats in
parliament. When eventually I left the court I was feeling slightly sick
because of what I had learned and observed.

One of those I had spoken to was Fay Chung, a Zanu PF candidate. I
discovered that the prime minister had called her in only the previous
Wednesday and asked her to stand. She said to me that she hadn't really
wanted to, but had agreed.

Fay, two years older than me, and I had overlapped for one year at
university, from which she graduated in 1962. After teaching for five years,
she went on to graduate from the University of Leeds with a master's degree
in philosophy before going to teach at the University of Zambia. In 1975 she
started working full-time in Mozambique for Zanu in what was called teacher
education and curriculum development. After independence, Fay became head of
planning in the Education Ministry, and by 1983 had become head of the
curriculum development unit.

I knew nothing much about Fay's background, save that she was born in
Zimbabwe, was attractive, pleasant to me, obviously brilliant and
hard-working, but whenever I thought of her, I was worried by her continued,
even fierce, identification with Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF. She must have
known, for example, about "re-education" and the horrors that had entailed
in Zanu hands in Mozambique. Rugare Gumbo and other friends of hers had been
among the victims. It was difficult to understand how someone who had named
her daughter Rudo, Shona for "love", could support and promote the
philosophies and leadership of killers.

On that unusual day, I said to Fay that I was surprised by Zanu PF's
inclusion on their list of Lieutenant Colonel Gaza, real name Mahlaba, as I
had thought he was in Mozambique. She said he was, and had been called back
by Mugabe only on Friday. Then I saw Major General Jevan Maseko, who had
been called in by prime minister Mugabe on Wednesday evening and given until
the next morning to think about his nomination.

I laughed and said that I thought he probably hadn't slept that night.
Maseko said gloomily that he hadn't slept since. He had consulted his wife,
and she said he had no choice but to accept the order to stand for
parliament. He would have to take a drop in salary from about Z$40 000 to
Z$18 000. Even Fay would have a substantial drop in salary. Looking on the
bright side, she said she thought the prime minister wanted to improve the
level of debate in parliament.

"Yes," I said, "by including people like Thrush and Elsworth and Reid,
who hasn't opened his mouth since he's been in there."

These were all people supported by Zanu PF.

Fay was standing next to Minister Simbi Mubako, whom I hadn't seen for
ages. He greeted me pleasantly. Nelson Mawema, one of Eddison Zvobgo's more
powerful enemies from Masvingo, was by his side. Someone asked if Thrush,
formerly a member of the Rhodesian Front and whose nomination to parliament
had just been announced by Zanu PF, was a member of the party. Mubako and
Mawema said yes, yes.

"When did he join?" the questioner persisted. Mubako and Mawema
started racking their brains, so I tried to help.

"In 1963?" I hazarded, which was the date of the formation of Zanu.
Simbi laughed his usual nervous laugh, but Mawema couldn't smile. What was
going on in Zimbabwe wasn't actually very funny.

Excerpt from Judith Todd's latest book, Through the Darkness; A Life
in Zimbabwe, available from www.zebrapress.co.za.

The task of stopping Aids and keeping the promise

Zim Standard

  sundayview by Elizabeth
Mataka

ON the 20th World Aids Day (1 December 2007), we are again beseeching
leadership to "Stop Aids and keep the promise". We asked them to do so last
year, and we are asking them to do so again. Although much has been done
since the last World Aids Day, Aids clearly has not stopped. Stopping Aids
is the ultimate measure of progress in the Aids response, but we must
remember that it is not the only one.

We need not look further than the UNAIDS epidemic update which was
released last week. Data in that update shows that the global HIV prevalence
has levelled off and HIV infections in a number of countries have declined.
The levelling off is an indication of progress and therefore points to a
simple fact that somewhere, in the Aids response, someone is keeping their
promise.

But still, this year there were 2.5 million people infected with HIV,
1.7 million of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. Although these numbers are
lower than last year and evidence that efforts are working, these numbers
are astoundingly high. And as is said time and again, more needs to be done.

There are 33.2 million people living with HIV, 68% of whom live in my
region of the world. This levelling off of the epidemic, encouraging as it
is, is still at an incomprehensibly high rate and sub-Saharan Africa is
carrying the load.

I sit here with copies of the Abuja Declaration, Maseru Declaration,
Maputo Declaration, the Declaration of Commitments on HIV and a host of
other commitments that my political leaders in Africa have endorsed and to
which we can hold them accountable. But what can you hold me accountable
for? What promises have I made towards the Aids response in Africa?

I am determined to use my tenure as the United Nations Special Envoy
on Aids in Africa to work with the governments in my region to make sure
that Aids is a priority and that they deliver on their commitments. Where
some are falling short, I will identify opportunities to fortify their
responses.

I will encourage governments to make a promise to enforce the rights
of women and girls. I will ask them to allocate resources and change
legislature to support this promise, ensuring women's economic independence
and their right to education, property, inheritance and health services. As
the UNAIDS epidemic update shows, 61% of all those living with HIV in Africa
are women. And 26 years into the epidemic, we know that underpinning this
terrible statistic is gender inequality. I will speak out about those
cultural practices that fuel this inequality and are harmful to women and
girls.

I will work towards the meaningful involvement and participation of
civil society in the decision-making processes at national, regional and
continental levels. We know that without the engagement of civil society,
particularly groups of people living with HIV, none of the promises I, or
governments make, will be realised.

And I promise Africa that I will work tirelessly towards ensuring that
all of us on this continent have access to HIV prevention, treatment, care
and support.

But these are the promises that I have made to stop AIDS. They are
also the promises that I will keep. What promises have you made?

This campaign asks that you, the individual, make a promise to stop
Aids. It also asks that you keep the promise that you make. You may not be
able to change legislation, or affect national budget lines, but you can
make a promise to know your HIV status, change your risky behaviour, protect
yourself from infection and stop discriminating against people living with
HIV.

These, I can assure you, are powerful promises, that if kept, can stop
Aids.

Elizabeth Mataka is the United Nations Special envoy on Aids in
Africa.

Zim Standard Letters

 Call to redefine role for the youth in Zimbabwe politics

THE possibility of a new invigorated dispensation in Zimbabwe is
slowly and progressively becoming real - that is, if events and sentiments
in the political circles of late are anything to go by.

As the youth, we are very conscious of the dearth in the current
choices and are keenly but cautiously transforming ourselves to be the
drivers of any initiative that seeks to retard the accelerated
disintegration of Zimbabwe.

In this regard we have been faced by many probabilities, possibilities
and propositions that it has become necessary for us to define the terms on
which we can align with any new movement in Zimbabwe.

Anyone who wishes to include the youths and probably gain their
support should first of all define for us a number of points.

Firstly, there is need to clearly define the characters involved in
such an initiative. This way the youths get the chance to assess the
seriousness, commitment and eventually the level of trust they may render to
the cause of such a movement. Some people are well-known, perpetual,
habitual looters and abusers; thus transparency of characters enables the
youths to make informed decisions on whether or not to participate.

Heretofore, these characters should then lay out a proposed frame of
interaction with the youths. This should define the role the youths would
play in the movement. Would they be equal partners able to be given
leadership responsibilities or would they just be mere foot soldiers? This
definition of impending responsibilities allows for forecast of abuse and
misuse.

These characters again should categorically describe their mission in
Zimbabwe. What interests they are pursuing, whose agenda and for whose
benefit? Clearly no movement can prosper if based upon loose values.

Any movement that entertains hopes of solidarity from our generation
should value that Zimbabwe is a sovereign state whose independence shall
never be tampered with; Zimbabwe comes first, Africa second and the World
third; Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans, everyone else is a brother; Zimbabwe is
Zimbabwe by virtue of its boundaries, history and culture; and the voice of
the people of Zimbabwe is the voice of God.

Having satisfied the above, there arises the need to define the terms
of interaction within the movement. Whilst the basis of alliance is guided
by the above principles, it is important that there be a framework of
interaction between classes and races in the movement.

In this regard, what would be the terms of association between the
ordinary workers and the landowners/industrialists? Whose struggle would we
be fighting? Do we want to create employment or do we want to give the
industrialists the chance to enable their business to prosper at the expense
of the worker?

Any alliance that would be built between us and the
landowners/industrialists should simply be aimed at strengthening the
prosperity of the nation. This can only be reflected through the trust built
through comradeship and not through exploitation even within the movement.
As a condition the movement should make an undertaking to reduce tax from
the current 45% to as low as 5%; that way the worker benefits from his toil.

In the same context, whilst we are equally Zimbabweans, there is need
to clarify the conditions for comradeship between blacks and whites in the
movement. Is this camaraderie built upon a common goal - to create a better
Zimbabwe for everybody or is it based upon the presence of a common enemy?
Clarity of motives allows for trust and comradeship.

Having said the above, the youths are very willing to participate in
the struggle with anyone who genuinely shares the same vision and values. As
long as there is inter-generational suspicion the youths will continue to
pursue their objectives on their own.

It is time the older generation engaged us as equal partners in the
struggle, otherwise we will continue to sustain our struggle patiently,
cautiously and committedly knowing full well that a genuine struggle is like
a baobab tree - it sheds leaves when the conditions are not conducive but
flourishes as soon as the first drop of rain falls.

Freeman Chari

Harare

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 Corrupt cops abusing innocent civilians

ON Monday 22 October 2007, as I was leaving Third World night club I
met two police officers based at St Mary's Police Station.

They accused me of following them with the intention of stealing from
them. While trying to reason with them, one of them started assaulting me.
He appeared so drunk that all reason and senses seemed to have deserted him.

I then told them that I was going to report to the police that they
had assaulted me. All the way to the police station it was claps and kicks.
It seemed as though I had become their punch bag.

As we were nearing the police station they told me that if I thought I
was clever, I was not. In fact, they said, I was a fool and they were going
to frame me and say that I had tried to steal from them. Indeed that is what
they did! They wrote the docket in their state! The officer on duty appeared
helpless and as a result I was locked up for the night in a cell with a
dozen other inmates who were fighting for the threadbare blankets. The cell
was full of mosquitoes.

The following morning I asked to speak to the Officer in Charge. He
then went and talked to the two officers (whom I have since positively
identified), who had assaulted me. Much to my horror, when he returned he
asked me to pay a fine for "behaving in a disorderly manner in a public
place".

The initial theft charge was dropped and I was asked to pay $40 000. I
did in order to escape from the hell hole.

My concern is: If police officers scheme like this, how many innocent
civilians are in jail for offences they never committed and because they
have no proper legal representation?

It seems the police know that the majority of Zimbabweans fear them
and for this they can trample all over us.

I believe the officers who assaulted me have a case to answer and I am
determined not to rest until justice has prevailed.

GT Sauramba

Zengeza

Chitungwiza

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 Renovations at UZ residential halls on course

THE 11-17 November issue of The Standard carried a story which made a
number of false allegations about the University of Zimbabwe. The falsehoods
revolved around allegations of the university administration's inertia in
relation to the renovation of students' residential halls on campus.

For the record, the university wishes to inform its stakeholders and
the public that renovations to the students' residential halls on campus are
visibly in progress. Had the writer of the story elected to seek the
objective truth, he/she would have seen that glazing of the halls was in
progress.

In fact, the repair of broken window panes and glass doors in dining
halls and kitchens is almost complete. In view of the extensive damage done
to the halls, it would be myopic and unrealistic to expect the renovations
to be completed "overnight". However, plans are in place and targets set to
ensure that the halls are functional as soon as possible.

Traditionally, the university has been able to provide accommodation
to only one-third (about 4 000 students) of its student population of about
12 500. The remaining two-thirds (8 000+ students) have always had to secure
their own accommodation, rented or otherwise, outside the campus.

The university has always performed a liaison role in assisting the 8
000+ students to secure rented accommodation within the city's environs and
in making more convenient transport arrangements to and from the campus for
this category of students.

Following the closure of the halls of residence on campus, the same
services were extended to the students who had been in residence.

Surprisingly, The Standard and some other media have deliberately
chosen to appear to be very much concerned about the welfare of only
one-third of the students.

UZ Information office

Mount Pleasant

Harare.

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 Lamenting fall of Zanu (Ndonga)

MY heart bleeds for my party, the original party, Zanu which now uses
Ndonga as its symbol, because it is losing focus and concentrating on
internal squabbles.

The late Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole, our late president - may his
soul rest in peace -should be turning in his grave. The current leader
Wilson Khumbula may be very rich but I doubt his ability to lead the party.

I don't want to talk about his legitimacy (the 2002 legal battle with
Vesta Sithole); no I will not discuss that. Why should people think that
Khumbula has a hidden agenda, to make sure that the party never rises from
the doldrums?

People rally behind any person they think will best represent their
wishes. Khumbula may have the resources but remember politics is a game of
numbers. All Zanu (Ndonga) supporters should rally behind any other person
besides Khumbula. He has failed. We do not want to experience the same
embarrassment of 2002 again.

Lastly, let's aim at having a few seats in Parliament then start from
there. Stop fighting each other.

Supporter

Chipinge

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 Keep exposing the truth

I appreciate the work being done by your
publication. The issues that you raise in your newspaper are necessary in
stimulating public opinion, thereby initiating public dialogue.

Dialogue is the hottest-selling development approach in modern day
society, as a peace-based model of development. Civic participation in the
development planning process is more vital in Zimbabwe today than at anytime
before.

Exposing the truth is what is regarded as newsworthy to the buyers of
your newspaper.

Keep up the good work, as it is relevant in a democratic society.

Danny Fletcher Kajokoto

Harare