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Harare - At least five women were injured and 10 arrested
when Zimbabwe
police broke up a demonstration against food shortages in the
second largest
city, Bulawayo, an activist claimed on
Wednesday.
Magodonga Mahlangu of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) said from
the
southwestern city that riot police arrested them after they marched
through
the city making "a lot of noise, beating pots and waving
placards".
The demonstration, which she said had the support of around
200 women, had
been called to protest against "high prices of food and
shortages that are
leading us into starvation", according to a Woza
statement.
Perpetua Dube, a lawyer for the women's group, confirmed the
arrests. She
said the women were "being held at various police stations"
around Bulawayo.
But police denied that there had been any demonstrations
in Bulawayo.
"It's a lie. There were no demonstrations," police
spokesperson Smile Dube
said.
Zimbabwe is in the grip of severe food
shortages threatening around half of
the country's 11.6 million people. Even
people with jobs struggle to make
ends meet with hyper-inflation, currently
at more than 500%, eroding wages.
In October Bulawayo health officials
reported that 43 people, mostly
children, had died of malnutrition in the
city in the previous two months.
Mahlangu said on Wednesday the
demonstrators had been able to march for
around 5km to central Bulawayo
before three truckloads of riot police broke
up the
demonstration.
"I've got five injured (protesters) who were beaten by the
riot police," she
said.
The march by the women comes around two weeks
after the country's main
labour body called for countrywide street
demonstrations to protest high
taxes and economic hardships.
More than
100 activists, including labour leaders, were arrested during
those
demonstrations, which were also broken up by police.
SOKWANELE
Enough
is Enough
Zimbabwe
PROMOTING
NON-VIOLENT PRINCIPLES TO ACHIEVE DEMOCRACY
We have a fundamental right to freedom of
expression!
As the ruling party overhauls some of its structures and woos back old
members ahead of its annual conference next month, founder member and Zanu PF
strong man, Enos Nkala, says he has
finally turned his back on politics.
Nkala’s remarks
come on the back of recent moves by some members of the ruling party to lure
back Edgar Tekere, also a founder member and fire brand politician from
Manicaland province. Tekere’s return to Zanu PF is expected to shore up the
party’s floundering political fortunes as it discusses a possible successor to
President Robert Mugabe who is now 79.
Nkala, who
blames the current Zanu PF leadership for ruining the party and destroying the
country’s economy, says Tekere could be of help to Zanu
PF.
“Well I think Tekere is a strong character, strong politician, so the
Manyikaland people want him so that he can contest the seat of president since
there are rumours that President Mugabe
is thinking about retirement,”
said Nkala from his home in
Bulawayo.
Mr.
Nkala, (72)
is a veteran politician from Matabeleland who made his mark during the early
years of the Zimbabwe African National Union which played an important role in
bringing about independence in 1980.
Nkala, Tekere
and the late Maurice Nyagumbo were part of the so-called “inner circle” of Zanu
PF.
Zanu PF was formed in Nkala’s
Highfield home in August 1963. Nkala
resigned from the government and the party in 1989 after he admitted buying two
vehicles from the Willovale Motor Plant and reselling them at an inflated
price.
“They know I am completely out of politics and I do not want to go back.
So there is no need for them to court a person who will say no. I have made up
my mind not to go back to politics. I went into politics to fight for this
country, delivered it and was in government and resigned for reasons that are
known.”
Mr.
Nkala, born
in Filabusi, a mining settlement 85km south east of Bulawayo and he held several
ministerial portfolios prior to his unexpected resignation. He was made minister
of Finance immediate after the country’s independence. He also was instrumental in helping end the
ZAPU anti-government activities in the early 1980s, becoming minister of
National supplies in 1983 and two years later Minister of Home Affairs. Mr.
Nkala was minister of Defence from 1988 to 1989 after being
investigated by the Sandura Commission.
“Everyone knows that I sold a car which I should not have sold at a
higher price. This car was not stolen I had bought it and my offence was to put
a higher price on it and there fore we were taken into what was called the
Sandura Commission and the focus then was on me and Nyagumbo because we had been the pillars of the party. We had
been opposed to a lot of things, Marxism, Socialism and all the kind of
confusions that were being brought from outside into our country, we were
opposed to. So there was a move to remove us not only from the party, even in
government. Mind you, you should not forget that the time this Sandura
Commission came unity had come, Nkomo was now in Zanu PF so some of us were no
longer useful to the party. Some
strategy was designed so that we would be moved out.” said Nkala.
Now a born again Christian,
Nkala says a break with his
past has changed his perspective of life and politics. He believes that Zanu PF
is in a fix with an economy on its knees, massive starvation, political
instability and lawlessness. “Zanu is on the death bed, it is dying, it is
disintegrating and the purpose for which it was formed, has been
lost... the economy is gone, the party itself is disintegrating,
the war vets themselves are running the party and some them are ignorant human
beings. Fighting the war does not make you a leader. The forthcoming national
conference may precipitate the death of Zanu PF because whoever they elect would
be unacceptable to other groups. There are too many factions now in Zanu PF,” he
said.
It was the awarding of hefty payouts to self-styled liberation war heroes
in 1997 that triggered the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe. This was accelerated
by the ensuing violent land seizures as government set to balance past land
inequities. Today more that 5 million Zimbabwe are in need of food aid as
commercial agriculture was disturbed by the controversial land redistribution
exercise. The new farmers have gone without adequate inputs to make up for what
has been lost. Seeds, fertiliser and tillage are not available and at times,
when they are available, they are not affordable.
‘they are
finished’
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Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe will instead be presiding from
tomorrow
over a conference of his ruling party.
Observers are looking for a
sign of when and in what circumstances the
ageing president might stand aside
for a transitional government to take
Zimbabwe out of its spiralling economic
and political crisis and end its
international banishment.
Commonwealth members have argued bitterly up to the last moment about
whether
Mr Mugabe should be allowed to join their meeting.
A Commonwealth
panel ordered Zimbabwe's suspension from the
organisation's ministerial
councils, initially for a 12-month period, after
Mr Mugabe's disputed
re-election in March last year. The measure was
extended to enable the full
Commonwealth to decide this month what to do
with its most troublesome
member.
African members, less critical about the elections than
observer teams
from outside the continent, have been loath to ostracise Mr
Mugabe or
question his government's expropriation of white-owned farms, which
has
crippled the export economy.
The issue has driven a wedge
between Zimbabwe's African neighbours and
the "old" or "white" Commonwealth -
Britain, Australia, New Zealand and
Canada. It threatens to undermine the
role that the Commonwealth - a
voluntary, non-treaty organisation made up
mostly of former British
colonies - seeks to play as a bridge between north
and south.
Only two weeks ago, Mr Mugabe was teasingly saying how
he looked
forward to the summit. Yesterday he railed against what he called
"the
Anglo-Saxon unholy alliance", in a state of the nation address to
the
Zimbabwe parliament.
His presence would almost certainly
have forced Tony Blair, UK prime
minister, and other leaders to cancel their
attendance, and would have
created a quandary for Queen Elizabeth II, due to
open the meeting in her
capacity as titular head of the
organisation.
Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has been
gaining credit as
a regional peacemaker and wants a successful meeting, said
emphatically last
week that Mr Mugabe was not invited. Piqued, Mr Mugabe said
Zimbabawe might
"say goodbye to the Commonwealth" and tried to rally others
to stay away in
protest. But Commonwealth officials said there were no signs
of a boycott,
with some of Mr Mugabe's sympathisers - such as Namibia's
President Sam
Nujoma - already in Nigeria.
Don McKinnon, the
organisation's secretary-general, is working towards
a compromise, which
would involve setting up a mechanism to review
Zimbabwe's case. The New
Zealander's own position, as he seeks reappointment
for a second four-year
term, is being contested, largely as a result of his
handling of the
issue.
This is the second Commonwealth leaders' meeting to be held
in
Nigeria - both dominated by Zimbabwe. The first, in 1966, was called
to
discuss how to deal with Ian Smith's minority white regime, after
its
unilateral declaration of independence in what was then Rhodesia.
Zimbabwe
joined the Commonwealth when white rule ended and Mr Mugabe came to
power,
in 1980.
Many of the Commonwealth's 19 African members
view Mr Mugabe's regime
as embarrassing, as well as damaging to investment in
the continent.
But even the most critical governments, such as
Kenya's, are unwilling
to take a public stance against another African
state.
On the three-member panel responsible for looking into
Zimbabwe's
case, John Howard, the Australian prime minister, has been in a
lengthy
stand-off with two African presidents: Nigeria's Mr Obasanjo and
South
Africa's Thabo Mbeki.
South Africa, which has been
facilitating low-level contacts between
government and opposition parties in
Zimbabwe, is hoping to ensure enough
progress towards a transitional
arrangement to justify ending the country's
exclusion at the Abuja
meeting.
Apparently convinced that Mr Mugabe has already decided to
stand down,
Mr Mbeki has confidently predicted a settlement by the middle of
next year.
South African officials argue that attempts to isolate
Mr Mugabe have
failed to achieve anything.
In the Commonwealth,
the issue has become entangled with that of
Pakistan, which is also seeking
an end to its suspension, decreed after
General Pervez Musharraf's 1999
military coup.
"We expect them to lift it. The reasons for which we
were suspended
are not there any more," said a Pakistani diplomat, citing the
country's
move back towards civilian government with last year's
parliamentary
elections.
But African members say the
Commonwealth would be practising double
standards by approving a military
ruler.
Nigeria, the host, was readmitted four years ago only after
President
Obasanjo, himself a former military dictator, was elected to power
as a
civilian.
Business Day
Wait for outcome of Zim court case:
Mbeki
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
By
Donwald Pressly
South African President Thabo Mbeki has urged opposition
Democratic Alliance
MP Colin Eglin to be patient and wait for the outcome of
legal action being
taken over the Zimbabwean presidential
poll.
Zimbabwe's opposition - the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
led by
former trade union leader Morgan Tsvangirai - was defeated by
President
Robert Mugabe in the March 2002 poll and has challenged the poll in
court.
Replying to Eglin's question, which noted that African leaders had
committed
themselves uphold democracy and good governance, whether Mbeki was
doing
enough to persuade Mugabe to restore democracy, the president said: "On
the
matter of Zimbabwe, the Honourable Member would know that we have
been
engaging the leadership of Zimbabwe to do whatever is possible to assist
the
people of Zimbabwe to find solutions to the challenges which confront
them."
"We are convinced that progress has been made in many areas of
concern
during informal talks between the (ruling) Zanu-PF and the opposition
party
(the MDC). However, there are some outstanding issues that still need
to be
resolved."
The president said what was required was to continue
encouraging the
leadership of Zimbabwe to accelerate this process and
normalise the
situation as a matter of urgency and create the possibility to
address the
serious economic challenges facing the people of
Zimbabwe.
"As you would know, the matter of the last presidential
elections is before
the courts of Zimbabwe and they have the responsibility
to make a ruling on
the matter."
Earlier, the MDC information
secretary Paul Themba Nyathi said the MDC was
opposed to violent removal of
Mugabe. His party would like to see free and
fair elections being held
resulting from negotiations. He noted, however,
that no formal talks were
taking place between his party and Zanu-PF.
Asked by New National Party
parliamentary leader Boy Geldenhuys whether SADC
citizens' properties in
Zimbabwe were being protected, or returned, Mbeki
said he would have to get
an update on this matter.
"One of the matters we have discussed (with
Zimbabwe) is the matter of land
distribution. One consequence of that
discussion ... is that they have
reviewed what has happened. I have received
a long report of a commission to
assess this. One of the matters raised there
is precisely the matter that
Honourable Geldenhuys has raised. It is a matter
that is on the agenda."
Combined Harare Residents Association is holding a public
meeting on the
proposed
HARARE MUNICIPAL BUDGET
tomorrow Thursday 4
December
5.00 - 8.00 pm
SABC
05:03:25
Zimbabwe oppostion to accelerate
resistance
December 03, 2003, 08:20 PM
Opposition parties and other civil organisations in Zimbabwe
have vowed to
accelerate resistance towards their government. Speaking in
Pretoria, South
Africa, Zimbabwean Pro-Democracy groups say recent
demonstrations are only
the beginning. The Zanu-PF led government in
Zimbabwe has been described by
the various opposition groupings as ruthless.
They also say that the
government and its agents are becoming more
aggressive towards opposition
movements.
A journalist and nine women have allegedly been
the latest
victims of the heavy handedness of the government towards the
opposition
during protest action in Bulawayo today. The 10 were reportedly
engaged in a
protest march organised by the group - Women of Zimbabwe Arise,
Woza. Labour
organisations in the country say they are not entirely dependent
on support
of the international community.
The Zimbabwean
Pro-Democracy group has been in South Africa for
the past two days. Their
visit and interaction with the institute of
democracy in South Africa (Idasa)
is an attempt to create a greater
awareness of the problems ordinary
Zimbabweans face. The group is also
expected to hold a closed-door meeting
with international diplomatic
representatives.
Oil Companies Start Using Noczim Pipeline
The Herald
(Harare)
December 3, 2003
Posted to the web December 3,
2003
Harare
SOME private oil companies have already started using
the National Oil
Company of Zimbabwe pipeline to transport fuel from Beira
into the country.
Other companies were expected to finalise contracts
with Noczim by the end
of this week, in a move that is expected to bring down
the prices of fuel as
the companies cut on transport
costs.
Petroleum Marketers Association of Zimbabwe chairman, Mr
Masimba Kambarami
yesterday said they had formed a technical committee to
oversee the
implementation of the deal.
The committee, comprising
Noczim and oil companies representatives, would
monitor and help in
distributing the right quantities of fuel to companies
that would have used
the pipeline.
"Using the pipeline is more efficient and we are looking
forward to that,"
said Mr Kambarami.
"We are waiting to finalise the
contracts and each company will have its own
standard agreement with
Noczim."
Mr Kambarami said the use of the pipeline had many advantages
over using
haulage trucks that were costly and unreliable to transport large
quantities
of fuel.
"This will have an effect on prices as Noczim will
charge a standard fee
that is lower than that being charged by road
transporters," he said.
Oil companies were charging pump prices of nearly
$3 500 a litre for petrol
depending on the costs incurred by a particular
company to transport the
fuel.
The gazetted pump price of petrol is $1
980 a litre.
One of the private oil companies, Comoil (Pvt) Ltd, said the
pipeline was
the most formidable and reliable means of bringing fuel into the
country.
Comoil spokesperson Mr Fanuel Kangondo said in a statement,
relying on
overland transportation of fuel into Zimbabwe would not satisfy
demand.
"We have to use the pipeline as it is by far the cheapest and
fastest mode
of transportation of liquid fuels into the country," he said.
The Government
in August deregulated the oil industry and introduced a
two-tier pricing
system.
Under the new system, Noczim would sell fuel
to selected institutions at $1
750 a litre for petrol and $1 650 a litre for
diesel.
The public would buy leaded petrol at $1 980 a litre from filling
stations,
with diesel costing $1 850 per litre. The service stations would
sell
unleaded petrol at $2 600 a litre.
The deregulation of the oil
industry was meant to improve efficiency in the
procurement of fuel that has
intermittently been in short supply since the
end of 1999.
Challenges Can Be Overcome
The Herald
(Harare)
DOCUMENT
December 3, 2003
Posted to the web December 3,
2003
Harare
THE full text of the Sixteenth State of The Nation
address by President
Mugabe in Parliament yesterday.
Mr Speaker, I
address this honourable House at a time our hope for a better
agricultural
season is being generated by the falling rains. Yet economic
difficulties
continue to pose challenges that demand solutions.
Despite the prevailing
hardships, Government has remained committed to
creating conditions for
genuine and far-reaching economic empowerment of the
indigenous people, that
began with the recovery and redistribution of land
as the basic natural
resource. Only through such an empowerment programme
can we hope to grow an
economy that responds to our needs.
Mr Speaker, as we continue to
consolidate the economic empowerment policy,
underpinned by the land and
agrarian reform, we have to confront the issue
of full utilisation of this
newly acquired land for poverty reduction and
wealth creation. The
Presidential Land Review Committee was thus established
to map the way
forward for agriculture in the new circumstances of changed
land ownership.
The conversion of Agribank to a fully-fledged development
Land Bank provides
a new vehicle through which enhanced support can be
provided to the
agricultural sector.
Mr Speaker, the shortage of foreign currency and its
pervasive influence on
all economic activities has created a highly
inflationary environment. The
situation is aggravated by the drought
experienced in the 2002/2003 season
that negatively impacted on agricultural
production and, in turn, the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). These
circumstances have prompted Government to
remain committed to creating
conditions for accelerated economic revival,
growth and
development.
The experience of the past few years has clearly emphasised
the need to
resolve basic distortions in the economy which have often yielded
new and
not always helpful personalities in the citizenry. It is quite clear
to us
that two-tier interest rates; two-tier exchange rates and a two-tier
economy
cannot take us forward. We are one country that would be best served
by one
integrated economy driven by clear, predictable, stable and
sensible
socio-economic rules.
The coming year should see a vigorous
enforcement of well designed
turn-around programmes across all the sectors
with emphasis given to key
industries in both the primary and secondary
sectors. The monetary and
fiscal sector should be effectively addressed and
the issues of inflation
and interest rates handled in a manner that will
promote production and
enable greater credit and investment.
However,
of major concern to Government is the present externalisation of
foreign
currency and precious minerals, especially gold, by unscrupulous
business
entities and individuals to the detriment of national development.
Measures
will thus be taken to plug loopholes in existing regulations in
order to send
a clear message that corruption and dishonesty will not be
tolerated. The
Zimbabwe Republic Police, with the assistance of related
agencies, will
therefore be urged to enforce the law without fear or favour,
and without
regard to stature or status of persons or organisations.
Mr Speaker, the
burden to effect positive changes is not just that of the
public sector. It
has to be that of the private sector which, after all,
bears the greater and
more practical responsibility of growing this economy.
There is a lot that is
not right in the private sector and that needs to be
corrected in order to
move the economy forward. The smart partnership
binding Government, Business
and Labour, should be re-invented to supersede
the current negative culture
of name-calling, finger-pointing, and
duplicitous behaviour. We all are
witnesses to the futility and high cost of
trying to build an economy in a
social environment poisoned by pointless
conflict.
The ever rising
prices are adversely affecting the individual incomes of the
generality of
the populace. In an effort to protect consumers from
unprecedented, and often
inexplicable price increases, Government will
henceforth undertake rational
management of prices of basic or controlled
and monitored commodities through
the use of pricing models that have been
developed on select basic
goods.
Mr Speaker, there can never be sustainable economic revival and
development
without clear policy directions in the critical areas of energy
and
transport. Funding for the Expanded Rural Electrification
Programme
continues to be mobilised from both domestic and international
sources, and
especially friendly countries. On the Domestic scene, bonds
worth $22
billion have been raised to fund the programme, while a facility of
US$110
million was successfully concluded with the Chinese. Negotiations with
India
for a facility of US$300 million are at an advanced stage. Other
similar
programmes are being negotiated with other countries. To date, 1
992
projects have been completed since the inception of the
Rural
Electrification Programme. Of these, 197 were undertaken in the last
12
months. An additional 522 projects are currently in
progress.
Comprehensive activities to confirm commercial viability of
coal bed methane
extraction in Matabeleland North are underway. These will be
followed by a
pilot project involving the drilling of production wells and
testing gas
flows, according to international standards so as to ensure
sustainable
levels of gas exploitation, determine the size of investments, as
well as
the lifespan of commercial projects. Discussions are underway with
Iran for
interested investors to work with the Lupane Gas Development
Company, a
national investment vehicle, constituted to promote and develop
the project.
The electricity reforms currently underway seek to raise
resources to expand
local generation capacity and enhance security of power
supply.
Because of the pivotal role that the rail sector plays in the
economy,
Government has embarked on a recapitalisation programme meant to
restore the
National Railways of Zimbabwe's capacity as an efficient bulk
traffic mover
in the short to medium term period.
Improvement of
public passenger transport is another Government priority. To
this end, the
NRZ's recapitalisation programme will also cover the
refurbishment of
commuter coaches in order to increase carrying capacity.
Government has
granted ZUPCO a $5.5 billion guarantee for its
recapitalisation, $1 billion
having been disbursed in this financial year to
procure more buses. Another
$2,4 billion has been earmarked for the
reconstruction of old buses as part
of measures being taken to rehabilitate
and increase the fleet.
A good
road infrastructure is vital for economic development. As a
consequence,
Government, through the Road Fund, has approved maintenance
activities of all
Road Authorities in a bid to preserve the roads
infrastructure. This year,
the Fund collected $5,5 billion and disbursed
$4.4 billion to the four
Authorities, namely, the Department of Roads, Urban
Councils, Rural Councils
and the District Development Fund.
Further, Government is embarking on
the construction of highways on a dual
trunk basis in order to improve
traffic flow as well as reduce accidents. It
has enlisted the assistance of
the private sector through the Build-Operate-
and-Transfer (BOT) Concession
Arrangements for identified major routes in
the country.
In
telecommunications, Tel-One has completed the Matabeleland
digitalisation
programme that saw the installation of state-of-the-art
communication
equipment at the Victoria Falls Exchange and the
Bulawayo-Victoria Falls
link; commissioning in Harare of the second Trunk
Switch for international
connectivity and mobile interconnection; and
launching of two digitalisation
projects for Beitbridge and Murewa. The
opening of fourteen new postal
outlets, bringing the total number of outlets
in the country to 314, will go
a long way in facilitating mail communication,
especially in rural areas,
where the majority of our citizens
reside.
In order to embrace and benefit from the convergence of
telecommunications,
multimedia and broadcasting technology, giving rise to
the concept of
Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs),
consultations are
underway for the development of a national ICT policy and
strategy
framework. The framework will seek to harness ICTs in the
empowerment of our
people in various fields of endeavour.
Mr. Speaker,
housing is a basic socio-economic human need and a critical
factor in
determining the culture, values and wealth of a nation. Government
is
therefore implementing the National Housing Delivery Programme as a
matter of
priority to ensure swift and integrated housing delivery to
overcome the
current backlog that has risen to unsustainable levels. The
programme covers
major urban centres as well as small towns and growth
points, and ensures the
delivery of basic services, particularly potable
water and sanitation to
newly resettled farmers.
Mr. Speaker, the implementation of the Tourism
Recovery Plan has led to
partnership building between Government and business
in tourism promotion
and development, resulting in aggressive marketing
campaigns on the
domestic, external and new markets, particularly, China and
Malaysia, where
tourism offices are now operational. Furthermore, the
establishment of the
Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, through regional
co-operation, is expected
to further strengthen our tourism industry. The
sector is already showing
signs of recovery as both the number of visitors
and foreign exchange
receipts are on the increase.
Mr. Speaker, the
HIV and Aids pandemic continues to ravage the country as
demonstrated by the
still unacceptable prevalence rate of 24.6% among the
sexually active
age-group of 15-49 years. To strengthen and expand
interventions aimed at HIV
and Aids prevention and mitigation, 123 Voluntary
Counselling and Testing
centres are operational, while 174 maternity units
are providing the full
package of Prevention of Parent-to-Child Transmission
including Nevirapine.
Notwithstanding our range of mitigatory measures, by
far the biggest
challenge in dealing with HIV and Aids remains the need to
adopt healthy
lifestyles.
Pursuant of an education system that produces highly
competent, patriotic
and globally competitive Zimbabweans, the Ministry of
Higher and Tertiary
Education has been developing all vocational and
technical training
programmes to Higher National Diploma level and setting up
systems to
upgrade polytechnics to degree awarding institutions. In line with
this, the
entire training curriculum is being reviewed to conform to regional
and
international trends.
Remarkable strides have been made in
university education. The Harare
Institute of Technology (HIT) is being
transformed into a technological
institution awarding higher level Bachelor
of Technology Degrees and will
act as an incubator for technologies produced
by local scientists and
inventors. The functional plan, draft university
bill, and resources
required, are in place, with co-operating partners such
as UNESCO already
providing funding to kick-start the project. Arrangements
with the National
University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the SIRDC
are at an advanced
stage to ensure that the first group of trainees commences
training next
year. Government is also working on the construction of a State
University
in Lupane as part of our continuing decentralisation of
university
education. A Government-appointed steering committee is working on
the
modalities to operationalise the institution in 2004.
However,
achievements recorded in manpower development are being eroded by
the brain
drain, largely in the health and education professions. Government
is ready
to work with the private sector in formulating national policies on
the
utilisation of skills and other resources of Zimbabweans in the diaspora
for
the development of the country.
Government has remained supportive of the
welfare of citizens by
intensifying the thrust of social protection
mechanisms. Consequently, the
implementation of the drought relief programme
was decentralised to all the
58 districts and the 28 urban councils in the
country in response to the
recurrent flood and drought seasons of the past
three years. The vulnerable,
elderly, disabled and chronically ill persons
continue to receive allowances
while the able-bodied are employed in various
public works programmes in
return for food or cash remuneration. An amount of
$12,5 billion was made
available this year to cater for the public works
programme benefiting some
1,3 million people.
In response to
Government's appeal for humanitarian assistance, the
international community
contributed aid amounting to US$212,8 million
through the World Food
Programme during the period July 2002 to June this
year. Further, US$64,8
million has been mobilised to cover the period July
2003 to June next year.
This gesture by the international community is
sincerely appreciated.
Nonetheless, Government continues to call upon
co-operating partners to
extend their support to our land reform programme,
a major vehicle for
poverty reduction and economic empowerment.
Persistent droughts have
increased the risk of malnutrition among children
in both rural and urban
areas. Worst affected are children under five and
those of school-going age.
In view of this, Government allocated $2,1
billion for child supplementary
feeding. To reduce the number of vulnerable
children dropping out of school
due to economic hardships, Government
assisted more than 680 000 children in
both primary and secondary schools
through the payment of levies, tuition and
examination fees under the Basic
Education Assistance Module.
Mr
Speaker, on the international stage, Zimbabwe continues to defend the
right
of self-determination of nations and non-interference in the internal
affairs
of other states, particularly where such interference is not for
self-evident
humanitarian or other moral imperatives. We abhor global
high-handedness of
the strong and powerful; we abhor unilateral interference
in the internal
political affairs of other countries, especially smaller
states. We
accordingly jealously guard our sovereignty against
such
interference.
The recent events in Iraq have clearly shown that
the uni-polar order that
presently governs international relations is both
unjust and unsustainable.
It is a source of conflict and even of war and
calls for a more positive
alternative order in which the principles of the
United Nations Charter
prevail.
Developments in Latin America, the
Carribean, Asia and here in Zimbabwe,
coupled with the growing strength of
the People's Republic of China as an
alternative global power point indicate
a new alternative direction which in
fact could be the foundation of a new
global paradigm. Zimbabwe must work
for this new paradigm which is founded on
principles of sovereignty and
independence. Our continued membership of the
Commonwealth, itself a mere
club, is dependent on this fundamental
consideration currently being
vitiated by Britain, Australia and New Zealand,
the Anglo-Saxon unholy
alliance against Zimbabwe.
It is important to
note that we continue to enjoy the support and solidarity
of many nations
where some Western powers have chosen to be hostile to us
because of our Land
Reform Programme. The 13th Summit of the Non-Aligned
Movement in Kuala
Lumpur; the COMESA Summit in Khartoum; the African Union
Summit in Maputo;
the SADC Summit in Dar-es-Salaam and the 58th Session of
the United Nations
General Assembly, all bear testimony to growing support
for our position. It
is gratifying that our friends have remained steadfast
on matters of high
moral principles such as our Land Reform Programme. After
all, Zimbabweans
seek nothing more than being in charge of their own
resource and means of
production, the land. We alone should remain the
makers of our destiny. There
is thus the need for us to work for genuine
unity so that our family house is
not divided and remains solid and
impenetrable.
The Zimbabwe Defence,
Police and other Security Forces have continued to
further the cause of our
internal peace and stability and thus remain the
ultimate defenders and
protectors of our Independence and sovereignty.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, the
challenges currently facing Zimbabwe can be
overcome. The onus is upon all of
us to work as a united people, proud
Zimbabweans, in tackling the present
macro-economic instability, in
succeeding to reverse the negative growth
rates and effecting the envisaged
turn-around of our economy. We can do it
and indeed we shall do it!
May I, on this note, wish you all a Merry
Christmas and a Happy and
Prosperous New Year.
IOL
'African leaders must unite to boot Mugabe'
December 03
2003 at 02:18PM
Canberra - Australia on Wednesday urged African
leaders attending this
week's Commonwealth summit to pressure Robert Mugabe
to resign as president
of Zimbabwe, a member of the 54-nation
grouping.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth's decision-making
councils
after alleged intimidation and vote-rigging in Mugabe's 2002
re-election.
Speaking ahead of his departure for the Commonwealth Heads
of Government
Meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja, Australian Prime
Minister John Howard
said he wanted "strongly increased international
pressure" on Mugabe to
resign.
"I'm rather hopeful that at the
Commonwealth conference, those leaders that
are closer to him in Africa will
understand the strength of world opinion
and will bring pressure to bear on
him to depart the scene," he told a Perth
radio station.
'Wanted
strongly increased international pressure on Mugabe'
Howard lobbied leaders
at the previous summit hosted by Australia in
February 2002 for Zimbabwe to
be suspended from the group if the March 2002
presidential elections were not
declared fair by a Commonwealth observer
group.
Mugabe, who was not
invited to this week's summit, sought support from
fellow African leaders to
be allowed to attend.
Queen Elizabeth II - who remains head of state of
most of the Commonwealth
countries - and the prime ministers of Britain,
Australia, Canada, New
Zealand and Pacific nations said they would boycott
the meeting if Mugabe
attended.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
said last week Mugabe was welcome to
visit his country, but would not be
allowed to attend the December 5-8
summit.
Mugabe then indicated he
might pull out of the Commonwealth, blaming "white"
nations like Australia
for excluding Zimbabwe.
'They would boycott the meeting if Mugabe
attended'
Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon and other and member
countries
like Britain, Australia and New Zealand have repeatedly criticised
Mugabe
for human rights violations.
Under Mugabe's despotic rule the
struggling southern African nation's
economy is in
free-fall.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told parliament
this week
Zimbabwe's economy is expected to shrink by 13 percent this
year.
Downer said inflation was 526 percent and expected to rise up to
700
percent, half of the population was in need of food aid and there
was
insufficient foreign exchange to buy seed, fertiliser and spare parts.
-
Sapa-AP
Mail and Guardian
Zimbabweans to blame for crime, says
Botswana
Gabarone
03 December 2003
15:36
Botswana's police chief has broken ranks with its government by
blaming
hordes of illegal border-crossers from Zimbabwe for a sharp increase
in
crime, a daily newspaper reported on Wednesday.
"The influx of
illegal immigrants into Botswana, most especially the
Zimbabweans, is a
serious problem impacting negatively on the crime scene
and undermines crime
prevention efforts," police commissioner Norman
Moleboge told the Botswana
Gazette.
"Zimbabweans have now become a formidable burden to the police
service," he
said. "The police facilities are overcrowded by Zimbabweans. Our
facilities
are flooded... and we are no longer able to maintain a proper
upkeep of our
offices."
Botswanan President Festus Mogae last month
vowed to crack down on illegal
immigrants and constantly referred to the
regional political problems in
Zimbabwe without directly naming the
country.
Botswana is currently experiencing a huge influx of illegal
immigrants from
Zimbabwe as a result of a political and economical meltdown
in the
neighbouring country.
The country's immigration department has
said more than 125 000 Zimbabweans
enter the country illegally every month.
On an average, only 2 500 are
repatriated every month.
The police boss
said even law-abiding Zimbabweans who entered the country
covertly were
"draining the resources" of Botswana.
The illegal immigrants have been
blamed an upswing of crime in the country,
including robberies, murders,
rapes and petty theft. - Sapa-AFP
Daily News
Doctors reject 200 percent salary hike
Date:3-Dec, 2003
REPRESENTATIVES of striking doctors in
Zimbabwe have rejected a 200
percent salary increase believed to have been
made after Special Affairs
Minister John Nkomo intervened to end an
industrial action that has crippled
the public health delivery
system.
Sources close to the matter said Nkomo was believed to have
been
tasked by President Robert Mugabe to end a stalemate between the
government
and striking doctors.
An official of the Hospital
Doctors' Association said the Public
Service Commission (PSC), which employs
civil servants on behalf of the
government, had made the offer of a 200
percent pay hike after Nkomo gave
the organisation a 48-hour deadline to
table an offer to the doctors.
"(PSC chairman) Mariyawandah Nzuwa
offered the increase on Monday, but
we refused to accept it because it was
too low," an official with the
doctors' association said.
"The
offer was made through the senior doctors following
Nkomo's
intervention."
Junior doctors, who are demanding a 15
000 percent salary hike, have
been on strike since last month, and have been
joined by senior doctors and
consultants.
The senior doctors and
consultants joined the industrial action saying
the government's failure to
resolve the dispute with their colleagues had
burdened them with too much
work.
Doctors earn a monthly salary of about Z$300 000 (US$55),
excluding
allowances. The government has conceded that a salary review is
needed, but
has described the doctors' demands as outrageous.
The impact of the doctors' strike has been compounded by the decision
by
public hospital nurses to down tools two weeks ago, saying the government
had
failed to honour its promise to award them an 800 percent salary
hike.
The situation at public hospitals remained critical this
week, with
most wards remaining closed. Doctors and nurses seconded from the
uniformed
forces were this week only attending to critical
cases.
Sources said Nkomo had taken over negotiations with doctors
after it
became apparent that the PSC had failed to avert the
crisis.
The sources said Nkomo met with senior doctors at his
offices on
Thursday and Friday last week and on Monday this week, and pleaded
with them
to convince their junior counterparts to return to
work.
The sources said the meetings had shown that the PSC had not
made an
offer to junior doctors, even though it claimed to have done
so.
"It became apparent that Nzuwa had lied when we asked him to
give us
the figures so that we could convince the junior doctors to return to
work,"
a senior consultant who attended the meetings said.
"On
Friday, Nkomo then ordered Nzuwa to come up with an offer by
Monday. But
Nzuwa's offer was too low."
It was not possible to secure comment
from Nkomo or Nzuwa.
News24
SACP to focus on Zim workers
03/12/2003 15:18 -
(SA)
Cape Town - South African Communist Party (SACP) general
secretary Blade
Nzimande is to lead a delegation next week to Zimbabwe to
focus attention on
the plight of the Zimbabwean working class.
In a
statement the party said the five person delegation would meet the
ruling
Zanu-PF of President Robert Mugabe, the major opposition formation -
the
Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai, key social
movements
and civil society organizations, including the Zimbabwean Congress
of Trade
Unions and faith-based structures.
The SACP - which is in alliance with
the ruling African National Congress
(ANC) in South Africa - said the visit
had been "fully canvassed" with the
ANC, the Congress of South African Trade
Unions, "and colleagues in
government".
SACP spokesman Mazibuko Jara
said: "The visit occurs within a context of
ongoing South African and
Zimbabwean interaction and solidarity efforts, in
many of which the SACP has
been an active participant."
Among the objectives of the visit were to
enrich "at first hand" the SACP's
understanding of the strategic perspectives
and concerns of the key
political and social protagonists in Zimbabwe and to
discuss fostering wide-
ranging Zimbabwe dialogue and negotiation
The
party would focus attention on the working class including the urban
and
rural poor "including millions of Zimbabwean women in the context of
the
current political impasse and deepening economic crisis."
With
Nzimande in the delegation will be SACP deputy general secretary
Jeremy
Cronin, who is an African National Congress MP and chairperson of
the
National Assembly transport portfolio committee; Lindelwa Dunjwa, member
of
the central committee; Themba Mthembu, KwaZulu Natal provincial
secretary;
and Lucian Segami, member of the steering committee of the Young
Communist
League.
Reuters
03 Dec 2003 15:11:52 GMT
Zambia bids to end
Zimbabwe Commonwealth
sanctions
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
LUSAKA,
Dec 3 (Reuters) - Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa said on Wednesday
he would
lead a campaign at this week's Commonwealth summit to end
neighbouring
Zimbabwe's suspension from the group.
"We want the suspension to be
lifted... Zambia does not support the
continued suspension of Zimbabwe (and)
we will raise the matter so that the
suspension is lifted," Mwanawasa told
reporters at Lusaka airport as he left
for the summit.
Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe has not been invited to Friday's
Commonwealth Heads
of Government Meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja after
being suspended
from the 54-member body over allegations of vote-rigging in
his 2002
re-election.
The suspension, originally for a year, was extended after
deep divisions
emerged in the group of mainly former British colonies over
how to handle
Mugabe, who is accused of abusing human rights and mismanaging
Zimbabwe's
now crippled economy.
"We were hoping that they would lift
the suspension but it has continued.
The matter should come up for review.
Zambia is saddened at the continued
suspension of Zimbabwe," Mwanawasa
said.
The Zambian president's comments appeared to set him on a collision
course
with other Commonwealth leaders such as British Prime Minister Tony
Blair,
whose International Development Secretary Hilary Benn told Reuters
on
Tuesday Britain would campaign to maintain the suspension.
Mugabe
has threatened to leave the Commonwealth if membership threatened
Zimbabwe's
sovereignty, and accused Britain, Australia and New Zealand on
Tuesday of
creating an "Anglo-Saxon unholy alliance" against him.
He says a "white"
section of the Commonwealth is trying to punish his
government's seizure of
white-owned farms for distribution among landless
black
Zimbabweans.
The issue has dominated the run-up to the summit, and
Australian Prime
Minister John Howard said on Wednesday he hoped it would not
dominate
proceedings in Nigeria.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth was due to
arrive later on Wednesday for a visit
that will include opening the
meeting.
Foreign funds provides some good news for health sector
HARARE, 3 Dec 2003
(IRIN) - The Norwegian Agency for Development on Tuesday
earmarked
approximately US $1.1 million for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF)
in Zimbabwe
to purchase and distribute essential medicines.
An acute shortage of
foreign currency has crippled the health system, with
the Ministry of Health
and Child Welfare unable to finance urgently needed
drugs to treat some of
the most basic health conditions.
Many rural health facilities are at a
standstill. Fuel shortages, combined
with a shortage of qualified staff, have
left the public health system
unable to meet the growing health needs of the
population. And as the rainy
season begins, the potential outbreak of malaria
and water-borne diseases
such as cholera, if left unchecked, could have
lethal repercussions,
especially for young children who are most vulnerable
to these diseases, a
UNICEF statement said.
Zimbabwe's crumbling
health sector last week received a major financial
boost when the
Geneva-based Global Fund donated US $24 million for the fight
against
HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Dr David Chitate, executive director
of the National AIDS Council (NAC) was
quoted by local media as saying that
although the funds were not yet
available, a total of US $7 million would be
used in the fight against AIDS,
while the remainder would be used in malaria
and tuberculosis control and
mitigation programmes.
Chitate said the
NAC would administer the funds, but was yet to come up with
a detailed budget
or programme proposals, which were pre-requisites for
disbursement.
An
estimated 33.7 percent of Zimbabwean adults are HIV-positive.
The Global
Fund donation comes at a time when the government has struggled
to find the
money for an anti-malaria spraying programme, while
tuberculosis, which was
brought under control in the 1980s, had re-emerged
as a major health
problem.
Cholera outbreaks a serious threat
JOHANNESBURG, 3 Dec 2003
(IRIN) - Cholera outbreaks have claimed the lives
of about 40 people in
Zimbabwe and international NGO Save the Children UK
(SCUK) has warned that if
the disease spreads to urban and former commercial
farm areas it could be
disastrous.
Chris McIvor of SCUK told IRIN that the district of Binga, in
Matabeleland
North province, first experienced a cholera outbreak about four
weeks ago.
This was followed by an outbreak at Nyaminyami, in Mashonaland
West
province. These districts in the western Zambezi Valley are two of the
least
developed in Zimbabwe.
So far, 350 cases and 19 fatalities have
been recorded in Binga, while
around 400 cases and about 20 deaths have been
reported in Nyaminyami,
McIvor told IRIN.
"The real issue is: is it
sufficient to call it an epidemic, and is it
serious? In Binga and
Nyaminyami, I would say, certainly it is," he said.
The fatality ratios
in the two districts pointed to a serious lack of
preparedness for the coming
rainy season. Cholera is a waterborne disease.
"Normally [the fatality
ratio] should be about one percent - above 2 percent
indicates that treatment
has been slow, medication has not been supplied,
and that health and
awareness campaigns have been delivered slightly later
than they should have
been," McIvor added.
While "everybody's worked very hard, and the
commitment of the ministry of
health team has been very evident - with nurses
staying in [quarantine]
camps for three to four weeks at a time - the cholera
outbreak has caught
all of us unawares and unprepared". Anti-cholera
prophylaxes and treatment
drugs "were not pre-positioned, neither were they
available at national,
provincial, or district level", he said.
"If
the cholera continues and spreads to other areas, given that there's
a
national shortage of drugs, then we could be in trouble," McIvor
warned.
SCUK was exploring the possibility of importing drugs from South
Africa in
case of future outbreaks, as well as to make sure the currently
affected
districts had adequate supplies.
IMMEDIATE
INTERVENTIONS
The NGO had already distributed "primary drugs for the
treatment of cholera,
as well as prophylaxes" for people in contact with
cholera sufferers in
Nyaminyami. McIvor explained that prophylaxes were
important, as someone
"may be a-symptomatic, but still a carrier" of the
disease.
SCUK had also assisted in setting up cholera quarantine camps,
"we've
managed to source some tents from ICRC (International Committee of the
Red
Cross), water bowsers from UNICEF (UN Children's Fund), as well as food
and
some household items for those facilities".
"We've also provided
for Binga 1,600 litres of diesel and 400 litres of
petrol, so the ministry of
health technicians can get around the district to
provide the public with
information, set up camps, take people to hospital,
etc, while in Nyaminyami
we provided 1,400 litres of diesel, and 400 litres
of petrol for similar
purposes," McIvor said.
One of the main ways of preventing the spread of
cholera was through public
education, he added. The disease is "quite easy to
control if people have
the information - that they should wash their hands
after going to toilet,
etc. It can be treated if people know what [symptoms]
to look out for -
lives can be saved through good public education, setting
up [quarantine]
camps and making sure they're adequately stocked."
He
said about 5,000 bars of soap had been distributed "to every family in
the
main site of the Binga outbreak, and we will be supplying soap, along
with
public education, to families in Nyaminyami in the very near future."
He
warned that the latest outbreaks needed to be quickly contained.
"Are we
prepared if cholera expands? At the moment we are not adequately
prepared.
The disease thrives in overcrowded conditions, and if it reaches
urban or
former commercial farming areas [which have been densely
resettled], there's
potential for us to see a significant rise in deaths,"
McIvor
said.
Fighting cholera "has got to be everyone's responsibility:
national
government, local government, international and national
NGOs".
"This is an emergency - it's not a joke, cholera is appalling when
you see
it. Young kids sitting with drips on stone floors, or lying in their
own
vomit and diarrhoea ... if you see it once, you never want to see it
again.
It's a preventable, treatable, social disease. It's
everybody's
responsibility," McIvor concluded.
MSNBC
Australia hopes Zimbabwe will not derail
Commonwealth
CANBERRA, Dec. 3 — Zimbabwe will be the top issue at a
meeting of
Commonwealth heads of government later this week but Australian
Prime
Minister John Howard said he hoped the issue would not dominate the
summit.
Speaking on Wednesday night before he left for the summit in
Nigeria,
Howard said he would welcome Zimbabwe back into the Commonwealth if
it stuck
to accepted democratic principles of the 54-nation group of mainly
former
British colonies.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the
Commonwealth last year after Mugabe
was accused of rigging his own
re-election. He has not been invited to the
Commonwealth Heads of Government
Meeting (CHOGM) from December 5-8.
''I hope it doesn't dominate the
conference. I hope that we can give
impetus to progress in world trade, which
will be of enormous benefit to
developing countries that want to export their
agriculture,'' Howard told
Australian television.
World trade talks
have been struggling to get back on track since
ministerial talks for the
World Trade Organisation's Doha round of
negotiations collapsed in Cancun,
Mexico, in mid-September. Further talks
are due to be held later this
month.
''If they (the developing countries) were to get better
(market)
access that would be of infinitely more value to them than the
overseas
development aid they now receive,'' Howard said.
But it is
the Zimbabwe issue that has already dominated preparations
for the
Commonwealth meeting and already split the group along broadly
racial
grounds.
On Tuesday Mugabe accused Australia, Britain and New Zealand
of
forging an ''unholy alliance'' against him, while at the weekend
he
suggested Zimbabwe could quit the Commonwealth if the country had to give
up
its sovereignty to be readmitted.
Mugabe accuses what he calls
the ''white'' section of the group of
pursuing a vendetta because of the
government's seizure of white-owned
farms. But South Africa and Nigeria have
been seeking a softer line on
Zimbabwe.
''I'm not worried about a
push for Zimbabwe to come back in the
tent -- I want Zimbabwe back. But
Zimbabwe must match Commonwealth
principles if she is to be readmitted,''
Howard said.
Australia has said it will support the re-admission of
Pakistan --
which was suspended from the Commonwealth in 1999 after a
military coup put
General Pervez Musharraf in power -- because a general
election in 2002 had
restored democracy.
However lifting Pakistan's
suspension is opposed by some countries,
including India.
From Business Day (SA), 3 December
SA solicits MDC's views
In an apparent move to give an urgent push to talks on a
Zimbabwean
settlement ahead of the opening of the Commonwealth heads of
government
meeting this weekend, foreign affairs department officials met
leaders of
Zimbabwe's main opposition group yesterday. No statement has been
issued
yet, but Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad has called for greater
political
will "on both sides" in Zimbabwe to work towards a settlement. With
Zimbabwe
on the Commonwealth agenda in Abuja it is likely yesterday's meeting
was
aimed at assessing the current position of the Movement for
Democratic
Change. SA is under international pressure to show the results of
its quiet
diplomacy policy on Zimbabwe.