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Mugabe 'not
happy in Zimbabwe unity government'
http://news.yahoo.com/
AFP
– Sun Dec 5, 4:48 am
ET
HARARE (AFP) – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told his South
African
counterpart he is not happy being in a power-sharing government with
long-time challenger Morgan Tsvangirai, a state weekly reported on
Sunday.
"I told President (Jacob) Zuma I am a lawyer and I am not happy
to be in a
thing which is semi-legal," Mugabe was quoted as saying by The
Sunday Mail,
revealing for the first time details of meetings with Zuma last
month to try
to prevent the collapse of Zimbabwe's power-sharing
government.
"Our authority as a government does not derive from a
properly constituted
constitutional position but from a makeshift
arrangement and Zimbabweans
should never be governed on such a makeshift
arrangement for too long.
"I feel awkward in a thing like that,
absolutely awkward," he is quoted as
saying.
Mugabe and Tsvangirai
formed the power-sharing government last year to ease
tensions in the
aftermath of a bloody presidential run-off election in 2008
and to mend an
economy ravaged by a nearly decade-long crisis.
Under the agreement, the
country is expected to hold elections after a new
constitution has been
adopted.
But the constitution-making process, which has been marred by
violence at
public meetings, has yet to be completed.
Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party has declared polls will be held around June next year
with or
without the new constitution agreed to in the power-sharing deal.
Tension
has also been rising in the unity government following disagreements
among
top government officials and haggling over the allocation of key
jobs.
Last month Tsvangirai, the prime minister and head of the Movement
for
Democratic Change - Tsvangirai (MDC-T), asked the high court to revoke
Mugabe's appointment of provincial governors saying he had not been
consulted.
But Mugabe vowed he would not reverse the disputed
appointments.
"We remain resolute that there won't be any movement on
governors until we
see a commitment on the part of the MDC-T to end
sanctions and pirate radio
stations," Mugabe was quoted as saying by The
Sunday Mail.
The long-time ruler accuses Tsvangirai of calling for
Western sanctions
including a travel embargo against himself and members of
his inner circle,
and of using pirate radio stations broadcasting from
abroad to peddle lies
about him and his party.
He has vowed not to
make compromises on issues hampering the power-sharing
government until the
United States and the European Union lift the sanctions
and pirate radio
stations cease broadcasts in Zimbabwe.
Zuma met with Zimbabwe's leaders
on November 26 to try to smooth over
disputes threatening their
government.
"There had been a breakdown of communication between the
leadership of the
government here. That has been resolved," he said
afterwards.
"The meetings (between Mugabe and Tsvangirai) are going to
continue. All the
issues are going to be discussed and resolved," he said.
Chombo
fleece council of millions over Harare airport road
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
04 December, 2010
10:16:00 Sunday Times
As investigators into the $80-million
airport road construction saga rage
on, Harare City councillors have
uncovered evidence that the controversial
Estonian company Augur Investments
is being used as a conduit to fleece
council of millions of dollars and vast
tracts of prime land.
The scam, according to an investigation by the
Harare City Council, again
implicates the Minister of Local Government,
Rural and Urban Development,
Ignatius Chombo, senior council employees and a
caretaker commission which
ran council affairs in 2008.
Copies of the
report compiled after an investigation by councillors have
been sent to the
Prime Minister's office and parliament for investigation.
Council is also
expected to make a report available to the Anti-corruption
Commission and
police.
Speculation of corruption was fuelled when, during
investigations, it
emerged that a company owned by Chombo, Harvest Net
Investments, shares the
same address as Augur.
According to
correspondence intercepted by councillors, Chombo's Harvest Net
and Augur
are both located at 62 Quorn Avenue, Mt Pleasant, Harare.
But senior
officials deny any wrongdoing. It has also turned out that Augur
has no
capacity to construct the airport road, and has since subcontracted a
South
African company, Power Construction SA.
After Augur was awarded the
tender two years ago, it formed a joint- venture
company with the city
council, Sunshine Developments, in which council has a
30% stake while Augur
holds 70%.
In the deal with council, Augur will get over 1000 hectares of
land in
exchange for the construction of the road. Augur says it wants to
use the
land to construct shopping malls and golf courses, among other
projects.
All the deals were signed by a caretaker council chaired by
Michael Mahachi,
with Tendai Mahachi as the town clerk. The two, who are
said to be related,
signed all the million-dollar deals, and at times, the
report says, Chombo
witnessed the signing.
Part of the report by
councillors says: "In a recorded interview, Dr T
Mahachi indicated that
Augur was approached by the council during the
Zimbabwe International Trade
Fair in Bulawayo.
"This meeting culminated in the council entering into
an agreement with
Augur on the formation of Sunshine and, thereafter, the
awarding of the
airport road contract.
"It is pertinent to note that
the address which is cited as Augur's in the
shareholders' agreement is the
same address that Minister Chombo's Harvest
Net also cites in its articles
of association as its own.
"The caretaker council was formally appointed
in a letter written by Dr
Chombo, on 21 May 2008. The minister therefore was
endorsing an agreement
being signed by his appointee (MMahachi) with Augur
Investments, a company
that shares and operates from the same address as his
company, Harvest Net."
"The picture has emerged that the dealings and
decisions made by the
caretaker council are a well-orchestrated plan to
plunder government and
council resources on a grand scale.
"There is
substantial circumstantial evidence that points to the fact that
Minister
Chombo's irregular appointment of a caretaker council in 2008 was
calculated
to derive some personal benefit for some people," reads part the
report.
But the town clerk Tendai Mahachi says everything was done
above board. "It
is important to note that these agreements have council
resolutions and were
entered into in a transparent manner."
Chombo
could not be reached for comment.
ZISCO
scandal: Mugabe blacklists Mittal over Blair links
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/
04 December, 2010
10:21:00 By Zoli Mangena
Arcelormittal, the world's largest
steelmaking company, was politically
blocked from taking over Zimbabwe's
state-owned firm, Ziscosteel, because of
its chief executive's friendship
with former British prime minister Tony
Blair.
Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe and Blair are bitter enemies. Mugabe has
described Blair as a
"a gay gangster", while Blair labelled Mugabe as on the
"eccentric end of
the market".
The two last met during the Commonwealth heads of government
meeting in
Durban in November 1999.
Their meeting, at which they
tried to fix the sour relationship, broke down
in chaos and bitterness.
Since then they have only spoken about each other
in disparaging
terms.
Information obtained by the Sunday Times this week shows that
Mugabe and his
advisers did not want ArcelorMittal to win the bid to take
over Ziscosteel
because of CEO Lakshmi Mittal's friendship with Blair.
Mittal is Europe's
richest man and the fifth richest in the world. The steel
tycoon has a
personal fortune of $28-billion.
"A security check was
done on the companies which were bidding for
Ziscosteel and it was found
that ArcelorMittal's boss has connections with
Blair and for that reason the
company was never going to win the bidding
process," a senior business
executive told the Sunday Times.
"In the first round of bidding it was
made clear to government officials by
those close to Mugabe that
ArcelorMittal was not wanted.
"By the time the company dropped out of the
race, it was already politically
blacklisted and was not going to
win."
Eventually the tender to buy Ziscosteel was won by Mauritian-based
Essar
Africa Holdings, which is a subsidiary of another Indian steelmaking
giant,
Essar Group. -Times Live
Anxious
times as amnesty deadline nears
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Written by Tapiwa Zivira
Friday, 03
December 2010 10:47
JOHANNESBURG -- On most days in the summer, the
weather in South Africa’s
popular commercial capital, Johannesburg,
generally ranges from cool to
warm. But there is always the odd day when
temperatures can sometimes soar
to levels only familiar to inhabitants of
Africa’s deserts to the north and
south-west of the continent.
But
the scorching sun today is hardly on 32-year old Terrence Masika’s list
of
worries as he shifts and shuffles along in the queue with thousands of
other
Zimbabwean immigrants anxiously waiting to submit his application for
a work
permit here at the Johannesburg offices of South Africa’s department
of home
affairs along Harrison Street.
“I have been sleeping here for three days,
but I have only been able to get
forms to fill in, so I am back for the
fingerprints,” Masika says, as he
sweeps his forehead with the back of his
palm, mopping the sweat.
But it is not the seemingly endless queue, nor
the sweltering heat that
worries Masika or his fellow illegal immigrants
waiting here or at various
home affairs facilities in all major cities
across South Africa.
Christmas visit
What worries the immigrants is
that they may not be able to acquire permits
by Christmas, meaning they
would have to forgo the traditional end of year
visit back home to see
family and friends for fear they will this time round
not be able to skip
the border back into South Africa.
While tens of thousands of Zimbabweans
regularly entered South Africa
illegally, talk within an anxious Zimbabwean
immigrant community here is
that this time it might not be possible after
Pretoria vowed to not only
deport all illegal Zimbabwean immigrants once the
amnesty on deportation
expires but to also seal the borders and ensure no
more illegal entry.
“If I do not mange to get a permit, then it means no
more home visits during
this festive season or at any other occasion for a
long time to come,” said
Simon Chimbeu, a barman at a club in Rosebank, one
of Johannesburg’s top
districts.
“I do not think it would be wiser to
go anywhere near the border once home
affairs (South African) start this
campaign we hear they will launch once
the permit deadline expires,” said
Chimbeu, echoing the fears of most
Zimbabweans staying here
illegally.
Anxious times
These are anxious times for illegal
Zimbabweans immigrants. The official
position is that once the clock strikes
12 midnight on December 31, any
Zimbabwean immigrant caught without a permit
to stay in South Africa will be
immediately arrested and taken to a holding
centre before they are deported
back to Zimbabwe.
Although officials
in Pretoria have on countless times emphasised that they
do not plan to
launch a campaign with police and trucks prowling the
suburbs, rounding up
illegal Zimbabwean immigrants for deportation – such
massages have not done
much to calm the fears of Masika, Chimbeu or the next
illegal Zimbabwean
immigrant you meet on the street.
Besides, the mere fact that after
December 31 one could be easily deported
if they fail to produce a valid
permit seems to far outweigh any official
assurances that they will not be a
manhunt for illegal Zimbabwean
immigrants.
The only way out, it
seems, is to endure these never ending queues and hope
that at the end of
the tortuous journey one’s application for a permit is
successful.
The procedure to apply is on paper a very simply and
straightforward
process.
To apply for a South African permit one must
submit a valid Zimbabwean
passport and proof of employment in the form of an
official letter from a
registered company or an affidavit from an
employer.
Hostile, incompetent
Once one provides proof that they are a
citizen of Zimbabwe working,
studying or engaged in business in South Africa
they are then issued withy
an application form and advised of the date on
which to return the forms to
the application centre and upon which they will
also have their fingerprints
taken for home affairs records.
After
one submits the application form and have had their fingerprints taken
all
they now need to do is to wait for an SMS confirming that their
application
is being processed and the date when they should come and
collect their
permit. An SMS is also sent to applicants once the permit is
out.
But
that is how the system works on paper. In reality it is a journey to
hell
and back, to use the old and tired cliché.
For starters many of the
immigrants do not have birth certificates, national
identity documents or
passports to show that they are Zimbabweans and will
therefore have to spend
days queuing at Zimbabwean consulate offices to
obtain these before they can
apply for South African permits.
Thousands of the immigrants were by last
week still trying to obtain
passports amid growing fears that many will not
make the deadline to submit
applications for permits.
Then there is
the problem of an understaffed and traditionally incompetent
South African
home affairs bureaucracy that in addition is also well known
for its hostile
attitude towards foreigners especially from Zimbabwe.
A quick look at the
statistics coming from the South African home affairs
department is a good
indicator of the kind of logjam the whole process seems
headed
for.
According to the latest figures from the departments, out of the 73
400
applications received so far, 46 000 are yet to be processed -- and this
less than four weeks before deadline day, while multitudes continue to
gather at home affairs centres to submit their applications.
At least
5 000 applications have been rejected since the process started in
September
and this raises another problem – what to do with those wishing to
appeal
against rejection of their initial applications.
Rejected
applications
The Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in South Africa
(Cormsa) believes
the December deadline must be pushed back to at least June
next year to
avoid the whole scheme collapsing in chaos.
“We haven’t
any indication (from government) whether (extension of deadline)
this is
possible,” Cormsa director Caroline Wanjau told the media last
week.
“What is of concern to us is there are still issues such as people
waiting
for their passports. The first batch of those passports was only
delivered
by the end of October,” said Wanjau, whose group fights for the
rights
immigrants and refuges in South Africa.
According to Wanjau,
Cormsa was pushing for a meeting with government
officials to discuss the
appeals process on rejected applications among
other issues, which means
that, perhaps, not all hope is lots for those
whose applications have been
turned down.
However it is not all doom and gloom for every immigrant.
For the about 20
000 who have had their applications for permits approved,
it is the
proverbial dawning of a new era.
Barbara Nkowani is a
teacher who has lived in South Africa for the past nine
years using fake
documents. And this, according to her, is how her situation
has dramatically
changed since she got her permit.
“I used to be scared of being caught by
the police but now I am free; I can
now move around freely and I can even go
home and come back easily,” she
told The Zimbabwean on Sunday. She can count
herself luck.
As for Masika and his fellow immigrants waiting with him in
that long queue
along Harrison Street, it’s still going to be many more days
of anxious
waiting.
UK
think tanks wanted US to wash its hands of Zimbabwe
http://www.politicsweb.co.za/
Tuttle
05 December
2010
"Africa specialists" advised Americans to stop public criticism of
Mugabe
From the American Embassy London to the Secretary of State
Washington DC,
February 6 2009
CONFIDENTIAL
SUBJECT: AFRICA:
U.S. VERSUS UK PRIORITIES, LONDON THINK TANKS COMMENT
REF: A. 08 LONDON
1426 B. 08 LONDON 2477 C. LONDON 289 D. LONDON 266 E.
08 LONDON 2882 F.
08 LONDON 3165 G. 08 LONDON 2917
Classified By: Political Counselor
Richard Mills, reasons 1.4 (b/d).
¶1. (SBU/NF) Summary. During the
transition to the Obama Administration,
London think tanks have been active
in discussing USG and HMG priorities in
Africa. Poloff took the opportunity
to poll opinions among Africa
specialists at Chatham House, RUSI, the Royal
Africa Society, Africa
Confidential, the Commonwealth Policy Studies Unit,
and International Crisis
Group (please protect). The following are
issue-by-issue consensus summaries
from those discussions:
-- HMG's
Africa policy lacks focus and is unable to internally prioritize
its Africa
policy.
-- Zimbabwe should/will remain a priority for the UK for
historical reasons,
but the USG's focus is ‘surprising,' as it is largely a
contained crisis
that should be treated as a regional issue. A ‘tough and
quiet' approach
should be considered.
-- Somalia should be more of a
priority for HMG, given the UK's history with
the region, the large number
of Somali Diaspora in the UK, and the real
security threats that community
may present to the UK.
-- Nigeria, especially the Niger Delta and
corruption issues, should be a
greater HMG priority because of Nigeria's
financial links to the UK, large
UK-based Diaspora community, and energy
potential.
-- Sudan, including the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the
Darfur crisis,
should remain top USG and HMG priorities because of the
regional impact
destabilization would have on the Horn.
-- South
Africa's desire for a permanent UNSC seat should be the leverage
point for
the USG and HMG to actively improve relations with South Africa.
-- The
global economic downturn will have a greater affect on Africa than
the IMF
and World Bank are predicting.
-- Engaging African Diaspora communities
should be a key USG and HMG focus,
as Africa is the most politically
globalized continent.
-- Engaging Muslims in Africa may be a mechanism to
also improve relations
with the Middle East and South Asia. End
summary.
UK Africa Policy Lacks Direction, Unable to
Prioritize
¶2. (SBU/NF) Most London-based think tank Africa specialists
thought HMG had
lost its ability to prioritize on Africa, especially since
the October 2008
departure of Prime Minister's Special Advisor on Africa and
Development
Justin Forsyth. HMG's creation of an inter-agency
Defense-Foreign
Office-International Development Cabinet Sub-Committee on
Africa, they
thought, had not succeeded in resolving internal HMG disputes
over
priorities in Africa. Given the UK's credit crunch and diminishing
international influence, the Chatham House Africa specialist asserted, HMG
should be trying to burden share on Africa with the French and the EU. HMG,
however, has not done that effectively and is therefore spreading itself too
thin, resulting in a lack of tangible impact in areas of strategic British
interest.
¶3. (C/NF) Embassy comment: Forsyth, while hit-or-miss on
follow through,
was generally able to corral UK government departments into
setting African
priorities: Sudan, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria. FCO Minister for
Africa Mark
Malloch-Brown has tried to provide direction (ref A), but his
‘nice guy'
approach of dealing directly with African leaders through his
well-established network of contacts, coupled with the lack-luster direction
of the new FCO Africa Director Adam Wood (ref B), has meant no serious
consideration of the UK's priorities in Africa.
The UK's National
Security Strategy also failed to provide any direction,
though efforts are
underway to improve the document (ref C). Brendan Cox,
former Crisis Action
head, is due to replace Forsyth at No. 10 in
mid-February, but many of those
with whom we spoke questioned if he will
have the political capital to make
any real impact on the UK's Africa
policy, given Prime Minister Brown's
standing in the domestic polls and need
to focus on the global economic
situation. End comment.
Zimbabwe
¶4. (SBU/NF) Several think tank
analysts thought that Zimbabwe should and
will remain a top priority for the
UK, but that HMG's history of bombastic
statements has only served to
solidify President Mugabe's status as a
colonial liberation leader and
rallied South Africa's unwavering support.
From a strategic perspective,
these analysts termed the USG's focus on
Zimbabwe as ‘surprising' because
Zimbabwe is not a threat, but largely a
contained crisis.
They said
that Zimbabwe's crisis should be treated as a regional issue, not
an
international one, and that the USG should not sacrifice it's relations
with
South Africa, the more strategic partner, over Zimbabwe, even if the
political events in Zimbabwe run contrary to the USG's democracy
agenda.
They recommended the international community take a ‘tough and
quiet'
approach to Mugabe and ZANU-PF, sanctioning and obstructing their
personal
freedoms but without commenting publicly. They asserted that the
international community's concern about Zimbabwe being a regional
destabilizer is largely unfounded, as most of the Southern Africa
Development Community (SADC) - especially South Africa - ‘can take of
themselves.'
Somalia
¶5. (SBU/NF) Given the UK's history, the
large number of Somali Diaspora in
the UK, and the real security threats
that community may present to the UK,
think tank security specialists
thought Somalia should be more of a priority
for HMG. HMG, they argued,
should be more innovative on Somalia policy,
focusing on local community
engagement and finding humanitarian and social
initiatives where material
benefit can be derived without deployment of an
excessively large
peacekeeping force.
The RUSI Africa specialist said HMG and the USG's
previous entry point to
Somalia was through Ethiopia. With the withdrawal of
Ethiopian troops, a new
entry point should be found quickly. He thought both
IGAD and the AU could
serve in this capacity. He also asserted that
recognition of Somaliland
should be considered to allow it access to
international mechanisms for
development and capacity support, as well as to
support its democratic
development in the face of increasing Islamic
militant pressures.
¶6. (C/NF) Embassy comment. Cabinet office officials
have told us that they
consider Somalia a serious security concern, but they
have not been able to
induce other HMG departments to move on it, in large
part because of the
failure of the HMG process to set Africa priorities.
HMG's budget crunch
also seems to be hindering the decision-making process
(ref D). End comment.
Nigeria
¶7. (SBU/NF) Think tank West Africa
specialists, citing Nigeria's
significant financial links to the UK, large
Diaspora community, and energy
potential, said that the country, especially
the Niger Delta and corruption
issues, should be a clear HMG priority, but
it has not been. HMG's capacity
for political analysis on Nigeria, they
thought, was both ‘weak and
shallow.'
The RUSI security specialist
said Nigeria, as well as Africa as a whole,
needs better maritime security
and should be able to secure its ports. Weak
land and maritime security,
combined with fragile state and government
institutions, is an integrated
problem in Nigeria, he asserted.
¶8. (C/NF) Embassy comment: Although the
Foreign Office appears interested
in developing a more focused and strategic
policy on Nigeria, the Home
Office's drive to conclude a prisoner transfer
agreement has prevented HMG
from moving forward on any other meaningful
issues (refs E, F, and G). End
comment.
Sudan
¶9. (SBU/NF) All
the think tank analysts consulted agreed that Sudan,
including
implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and
finding a
political solution to the Darfur crisis, should remain top HMG and
USG
priorities because of the regional impact destabilization of Sudan would
have on the entire Horn of Africa.
South Africa
¶10. (SBU/NF)
These analysts also all agreed that now was the time for both
HMG and the
USG to improve relations with South Africa. It is time to mend
fences,
especially for the UK, and South Africa's desire for a permanent UN
Security
Council seat as part of UNSC reform, should be the leverage point,
they
asserted. South Africa, they assessed, has the potential to break up
unhelpful African voting blocks in the UN, in spite of its ‘diplomatically
difficult' time during its recent rotation on the Security
Council.
The Global Economic Downturn and Africa
¶11. (SBU/NF)
Royal African Society specialists thought the global economic
downturn would
affect Africa significantly, much more than the IMF and World
Bank have been
reporting, because of falling commodity prices. Increased
unemployment, they
thought, would likely increase urban unrest and
destabilize individual
nations' security.
Engaging the Diaspora
¶12. (SBU/NF) Several
think tank specialists noted the importance of the
African Diaspora. With
the global credit crunch, they thought, the African
Diaspora's role will be
increasingly important, both economically and
politically. They asserted
that Africa is the most politically globalized
continent, even if it is not
economically globalized.
They indicated that HMG and the USG should find
ways for the Diaspora to
constructively engage on the continent, which will
influence African
governments in favor of Western values, as most large,
affluent African
Diaspora communities are based in the
West.
Islam
¶13. (SBU/NF) The RUSI Africa specialist suggested
that HMG and the USG
should do more to engage Muslims in Africa, as it is an
easier entry point
for fostering goodwill that may transmit to more
difficult geographic areas,
like the Middle East and South
Asia.
TUTTLE
Source: Wikileaks, December 5 2010
Grace
Mugabe linked to Chinese mafia
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
05 December, 2010 03:59:00 by Irene
Moyo
HARARE – Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe has been linked to
the Chinese
mafia, in startling revelations that are said to have caused
some diplomatic
discomfort between Harare and Beijing and were the main
reason for last
month’s purge on companies mining the controversial Marange
diamond fields.
London-based think-tank Africa Confidential said President
Robert Mugabe was
told by the Chinese government that his wife Grace – who
is reportedly
pursuing her own mining interests in the controversial diamond
fields – was
dealing with dubious traders from Hong Kong where she has
property
investments.
“Senior Chinese officials, including President
Hu Jintao, were concerned
enough about this relationship to inform President
Mugabe personally that
these Hong Kong traders had links to Triad criminal
syndicates, which have
already established a strong base in South Africa,”
said the think-tank.
The Triad is a Chinese organised crime organisation
involved in extortion,
money laundering, human trafficking and
prostitution.
Mugabe, who is said to be furious at the diplomatic
embarrassment caused by
these revelations and security breaches, has ordered
an investigation of all
the entities operating in Marange.
“The first
victims of the presidential order were the directors of Canadile
Miners, one
of the two officially sanctioned companies exploiting the
Marange field,”
the group said.
Canadile directors and officials from the Zimbabwe Mining
Development
Corporation (ZMDC) were arrested in Mutare last month in the
course of what
was billed as a government crackdown on illicit mining and
smuggling.
Canadile is a joint venture of the South African firm Core
Mining and
Minerals and the state-owned ZMDC.
The Zimbabwe government
cancelled Canadile’s diamond claims in November and
announced it was taking
control of the joint mining venture following
allegations that the firm’s
fraudulently acquired mining concessions in
Marange.
Chiadzwa is one
of the world’s most controversial diamond fields with
reports that soldiers
sent to guard the claims after the government took
over the field in October
2006 from ACR committed gross human rights abuses
against illegal miners who
had descended on the field. - Zimbabwean
Chombo
to crack whip on errant councils
http://www.dailynews.co.zw
By Guthrie Munyuki
Sunday, 05 December
2010 18:24
HARARE - Local government minister Ignatius Chombo has
promised a crackdown
against errant councils whom he has directed to
finalise their budgets and
submit estimates of revenue and expenditures to
his offices by end of the
week.
The directive puts into sharp
focus the hefty allowances and salaries earned
by top management in
municipalities, which the minister has previously said
were hidden in
artificial budget lines.
He said the deadline by his ministry also
intends to ensure that budgets
were approved timeously to enable local
authorities to commence revenue
collection from the first day of
2011.
A letter sent out to all councils by local government secretary
Killian
Mupingo last week, says Chombo will hold budgetary verification
exercises
with all local authorities, starting with the Northern region
councils on 6
and 7 December, and Southern region on 9 and 10
December.
Chombo warned that no budgets would be approved without
requisite
information as per the ministry’s checklist, which includes
salaries and
allowances which have been identified as cost drivers that
inhibit quality
service delivery in the municipalities.
“The levels
of salaries and allowances for staff members of local
authorities were
identified as a cost driver,” Chombo said in his earlier
directive to local
councils where he warned them against increasing salaries
and allowances for
management.
“ The government policy of 30:70 costs to service delivery
ration has been
widely flouted as purely budgetary exercise with inflated
revenue
predictions. It has also been noted that many of the perks for staff
and
management, which should be listed as employment costs, are hidden in
other
budget lines.”
Although Chombo gave a directive to councils to
freeze wage increases and
allowances which he said should be done with his
express approval, the
Harare City Council, in its proposed US$260 million
budget for 2011,
continues to flout the government ratio of 30 percent wage
bill against 70
percent for service delivery.
Salaries would gobble
70 percent of the budget which the city fathers would
finance through rates,
supplementary charges and levies.
If approved, the budget will trigger
increases in fixed water charges for
high-density and low-density consumers,
as well as rentals.
Gweru City Council was forced to withdraw its
proposed 2011 budget by
ratepayers who resisted its US$15, 6 million, which
had earlier been pegged
at US$12 million.
If the budget had been
approved, service charges would have been upped by
more than 40
percent.
Since the formation of the inclusive government which brought in
dollarization, local authorities’ managements have taken a lot of flak for
living lavish lifestyles funded by steep rates for consumers.
Harare
City Council managers and councillors earn hefty allowances in
sittings,
despite presiding over collapsed service delivery.
Most residents have
complained of high and inflated water bills charges by
council despite going
for weeks without the precious mineral.
Raw sewage and garbage have
increased in the city raising fears of an
outbreak of cholera which killed
4293 people between November 2008 and
January 2010.
The government
declared the outbreak a national emergency and requested aid
from
international donors.
IOM Supports
Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency Efforts to Identify Diaspora
http://pr-canada.net/
Posted
by marin2008
Sunday, 05 December 2010
IOM Press Briefing
Notes
The Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency (ZIMSTAT) with support
from IOM is
today convening a workshop in Kadoma to identify challenges on
quantifying
the Zimbabwean diaspora ahead of the 2012 national
census.
The workshop, funded by the IOM 1035 Facility and the
European Union, brings
together representatives from government ministries
and agencies,
universities and international development partners, to
discuss the
methodological and technical aspects of capturing the number of
Zimbabweans
abroad.
Over the last decade, Zimbabwe has
experienced significant social and
economic upheaval which has led to
unprecedented levels of emigration from
the country. At the same time,
Zimbabwe's capacity to capture accurate and
timely migration and immigration
statistics has been severely limited due to
resource
constraints.
As a result, the nature and extent of the Zimbabwean
diaspora remains
largely unknown, making policy and programme planning
difficult. However,
the Zimbabwean diaspora is estimated at roughly four
million individuals,
with the number of Zimbabweans in South Africa alone
believed to be between
one and 1.5 million.
Through its support
to ZIMSTAT and the conference on diaspora data
collection, IOM seeks to
further strengthen policy formulation and planning
on diaspora engagement
for reconstruction and development. Such planning
could be key to
development with recent estimates showing remittances to
Zimbabwe totalling
as much as 7.2% of the country's gross domestic product.
Zimbabwe charity appeal: 'We can help this
family pull through'
Peta Thornycroft reports from Harare on the
courageous efforts of Zane, a charity working to get Zimbabwe's poorest back on
their feet.
By Peta
Thornycroft in Harare 7:00AM GMT 05 Dec
2010
Tanaka, whose name means “it is nice” in
Zimbabwe’s Shona language, was born in Harare on August 13. She and her twin
brother, Tawanda, seemed well when they left the state maternity hospital, and
the family celebrated their birth.
Early one morning, three weeks later, however,
the babies’ father, Farai, 38, went to their bed: only one of the newborns was
crying for food. Tawanda was dead.
When a community health worker visited the
grieving couple, it became apparent that the baby had starved to death. The
babies’ mother, Patience, had insufficient milk for one baby, let alone two.
The charity – its full name is Zimbabwe, a
National Emergency – was set up by the former MP Tom Benyon in 2002, after he
met Kathy Olds, a Zimbabwean who fled to Britain with her children when her
husband, a farmer, was murdered. On visiting Zimbabwe, Mr Benyon saw for himself
the dramatic effects of the country’s hyperinflation, which wiped out assets and
savings and left large parts of the population destitute.
The charity now has 32 employees as well as
scores of volunteers, helping a wide range of Zimbabweans, from pensioners –
many of them former British civil servants and soldiers who lost their property
and savings and are barely surviving – to the poor and needy in the slums, where
one in three people under 40 suffers from Aids.
Last year, it channelled £1.3 million from
overseas to fund its work and to give small cash grants to some of the neediest.
Conditions in the country, where the average
life expectancy is just 46, can be appalling, and the continuing shortage of
food in a nation that once exported surplus farm produce to the rest of Africa
means that millions of Zimbabweans have an inadequate diet.
“We brought in food to feed Patience up and
improve the quantity of her breast milk,” said the community worker, who – like
all Zane’s local employees – cannot be named for safety reasons.
Tanaka is now a healthy 3.5kg, slightly below
the normal weight for a baby of her age, “but she is catching up fast”.
In normal terms, it didn’t take much to ensure
the health of Tanaka – some beans, cooking oil, peanut butter and dried fish
and, according to the health worker, “within days, Patience’s milk supply
improved” – but in Zimbabwe and, in particular, in the troubled suburbs of
Harare, it takes a wide network of community workers, operating carefully and
diplomatically, to help those most in need.
Often it is dangerous work. This sort of
high-density suburb was targeted for clearance by Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF
government five years ago, three years before it struck a “power-sharing”
agreement with the opposition MDC.
The UN estimates that more than two million
people lost homes and small businesses during the clearances. The UN provided
temporary plastic shelters, but there weren’t enough to go around, and people
such as Farai and Patience were left to live in houses constructed from
cardboard, with only a plastic roof against the elements.
“We are dreading the rains,” says Farai. “We
want rain so we can grow vegetables, but we know we will be wet all through
summer.”
The community worker is positive, however. “We
think this family can pull through with support. “Our main work is not to
provide food, but to help people survive by making them self-sufficient, so we
encourage them to grow vegetables, or help them set up small shops, or transfer
skills so they can provide for their families.”
Farai had been a policeman for 10 years before
he was forced to leave the force in 2008. “I don’t know why I was sacked, I
never talked politics at work,” he says. Now, he has no job. He also has
HIV-Aids, and his dry, red lips are tell-tale signs that the antiretroviral
drugs he is receiving, thanks to western aid, have yet to stall the progress of
the disease.
Patience is free of the virus, although both her
parents died from it a few years ago.
Most people in urban areas now openly talk about
their HIV-Aids infection and, through the dedicated counselling of the health
workers, Aids is now seen as a disease and not a disgrace.
Robert has Aids – and for someone who has
recently lost the use of his legs, the 48-year-old has a sharp sense of humour.
Sitting on the only “chair” (it is an old tractor tyre) in his shelter, he roars
with laughter when asked if his wider family can help support him and his
immediate family. “Do you know of anyone here who has a job? I don’t know a
single person who has a job. I used to have a job as a farm worker, but the
white man I was working for was kicked off his land.”
So Robert now lives in a Harare ghetto, in a
plastic and cardboard shelter held together with tape, where there is no
electricity and no sewage system. The family survives because his wife walks
about 20 miles every day to collect wood to sell.
Robert receives free antiretroviral drugs, but
his wife, Lilian, 35, though also HIV-positive is not considered ill enough to
qualify for the drugs.
She looks fit and is receiving decent nutrition
thanks to the Zane-supported health workers. Robert is taken in the volunteers’
truck to have his blood checked every month, and weekly he sees a
physiotherapist. Slowly, he is regaining some use of his legs.
His three children, aged between six and 13,
aren’t being educated as there is no money for even the modest fees asked by the
local school.
Anthony, 13, has to spend much of his time
heaving his father’s heavy frame around. The young boy has had three years of
schooling in the past, and would love to finish his education. “I can still
remember how to read and write a bit,” he says.
“We try to get involved in the most extreme
cases,” says the health worker. Unfortunately, the network of volunteers doesn’t
have the resources yet to help everyone in the ghetto. “This family are
dependent on the mother selling firewood, but we can help in other ways.”
Like Farai and Patience, Robert and Lilian live
from day to day. Their one hope is that the government will continue to leave
their meagre homes standing, and then, with Zane’s help, they will be able to
carry on trying to rebuild their lives.
Zimbabwe Vigil Diary – 4th December 2010
A small window opened in the
freezing weather to allow us to hold our Vigil as normal – although with
depleted attendance. The current cold spell has been the worst in living memory
so early in the winter. Train travel was disrupted by snow and traffic brought
to a standstill in many places because of icy roads. Sue Toft, a supporter in
deepest Kent – 40 miles or so from the Vigil – phoned to say she had been
snowbound in her home for four days and was preparing to venture out on foot to
buy food . .
Being brought to a standstill gave
Vigil supporters pause to digest three interesting developments. Mugabe’s
predictable anti-Western posturing at the EU-Africa summit in
Libya seems, in retrospect, to have done
our cause nothing but good. To Europeans – and that means of course black
British people as well – he was seen – in former
US Ambassador Dell’s terms – as a
delusional egomaniac. In many African eyes he was simply an embarrassment.
Mr Dell’s assessment in 2007 of the
leading Zimbabwean politicians published by Wikileaks chimed with our own views:
Mutambara lightweight, Welshman Ncube duplicitous, Tsvangirai indecisive, Mbeki
partial. But we at the Vigil remain puzzled why the
US continued to support Mbeki’s
‘mediation’ and why it did not make clear its opposition to the abortive GNU
from the beginning. It would have helped those of us who
did.
The third development provided a
reproof to dodgy academics using small-scale unrepresentative studies to try to
legitimise Mugabe’s land ‘reform’ policy. Zimonline, based in
South
Africa, spent three months looking at the
real beneficiaries of the land grab (http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=6474). It said more than 40% went to
Mugabe’s cronies, many of then given multiple farms. Mugabe and his wife have fourteen. All of Zanu PF’s 56 politburo
members, 98 Members of Parliament and 35 elected and unelected Senators were
allocated former white farms. All 10 provincial governors have seized farms,
with four being multiple owners. Apart from senior army and police officers and
government officials, 16 Supreme Court and High Court judges also own large
farms.
There is nothing new here to Vigil
supporters but it underlines how difficult it will be to remove these thieves
from power. Deep down they know they will not be able to justify their looting
and any change of regime will expose them to justice. The simple fact is that
they will always be at risk of being brought to book under international law.
The Zimbabwean looters are not in
the same position as their models elsewhere in Africa. The Kenyan elite took massive
bribes and stole aid money, difficult to trace. President Tshombe of the DRC and
the leaders from countries such as Nigeria and
Angola looted natural resources. But as
for the stolen farms it is going to be very difficult for Zanu PF people to
explain them away or for Mr Chombo to explain how he owns half of every city in
Zimbabwe or for Mines Minister M’puffed-up
to explain the ‘diamonds on the soles of his shoes’.
The Vigil’s advice to the Zimbabwean
mafia is that they would be wise to sell their farms to
China and go and lie low somewhere in
Asia. There is a steady demand for food
by the UN which has now launched a new appeal to mainly Western donors for
US$415 million to feed some 1.7 million Zimbabweans for the next three months.
Perhaps the Chinese might consider growing food on the underused farms and sell
it to the UN at a discount? After all
Zimbabwe is likely to be a repeat customer .
. .
Other
points
·
It was
good to be visited by Judith Todd, the Zimbabwean human rights champion, who was
briefly in London. She said how encouraged she was
that we were still going and how she looked forward to reading our diary every
week. She reminded us that in 1980 international police monitored the Zimbabwean
elections and she suggested this might be a sensible way forward for next year’s
elections. Given the recent Nazi-like response from Police chief Chihuru that
any non-Zanu PF victory would not be allowed, this seems a good idea. (See
Events and Notices for Judith’s book.)
·
Thanks to
Patson Muzuwa who brought a mini-busload of supporters from
Leicester and led the singing and
dancing.
For latest Vigil pictures check: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zimbabwevigil/.
For the latest ZimVigil TV programme check the link at the top of the home page
of our website.
FOR THE RECORD: 86 signed the register.
EVENTS AND NOTICES:
·
The Restoration of Human Rights in
Zimbabwe (ROHR) is
the Vigil’s partner organisation based in
Zimbabwe. ROHR grew out of the need for the
Vigil to have an organisation on the ground in
Zimbabwe which reflected the Vigil’s mission
statement in a practical way. ROHR in the
UK actively fundraises through
membership subscriptions, events, sales etc to support the activities of ROHR in
Zimbabwe.
·
ROHR Nottingham launch
meeting. Saturday 11th December.
Venue: St Saviour’s Community Halls, Arkwright Walk,
Nottingham NG2 2JU. Contact Allan Nhemhara
07810197576, Christopher Chimbumu 07775888205, P Chibanguza 07908406069 or P
Mapfumo 07915926323 / 07932216070.
·
ROHR
Liverpool branch
Christmas fundraising party. Saturday
18th December from 2 – 10 pm. Venue:
Kensington
Methodist
Church,
294 Kensington, Liverpool
L7 2RN. Traditional food available and Zimbabwean sounds and lots
more. Contact: Anywhere Mungoyo 07939913688,
Trywell Migeri 07956083758, Sheilla Mironga 07578541227, Patience Karimanzira
07832712074
·
Christmas Virtual Vigil.
Saturday
25th December. We will not be
meeting outside the Zimbabwe Embassy because there will be no public transport
and central London will be deserted. Please hold a virtual Vigil by praying for
Zimbabwe and singing the national anthem at
6 pm.
·
ROHR
Newcastle general meeting. Saturday 22nd January
from 2 – 6 pm. Venue: Warwick
Court,
Warwick Street, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE8 1EY. 3 mins walk from
the Gateshead Interchange opposite
Gateshead Civic Centre and Gateshead Police Station. Free parking available. For directions
please contact Susan Ndlovu 07767024586, Allen Chamboko 07500246416, Kuda Derera 07411337933, Rugare Chifungo (Coordinator)
07795070609 or P Chibanguza (Coordinator)
07908406069
·
Vigil Facebook
page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8157345519&ref=ts.
·
Vigil Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/zimbabwevigil.
·
‘Through the Darkness’, Judith
Todd’s acclaimed account of the rise of Mugabe.
To
receive a copy by post in the UK please email confirmation of your order and
postal address to ngwenyasr@yahoo.co.uk and
send a cheque for £10 payable to “Budiriro Trust” to Emily Chadburn, 15 Burners
Close, Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 0QA. All proceeds go to the Budiriro Trust
which provides
bursaries to needy A Level students in
Zimbabwe
·
Workshops aiming to engage African
men on HIV testing and other sexual health issues. Organised by the Terrence Higgins
Trust (www.tht.org.uk). Please contact
the co-ordinator Takudzwa
Mukiwa
(takudzwa.mukiwa@tht.org.uk) if
you are interested in taking part.
Vigil
Co-ordinators
The Vigil,
outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from
14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights in
Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October
2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are
held in Zimbabwe: http://www.zimvigil.co.uk.
Zimbabwean
political parties should form an alliance to defeat tyranny
http://www.thezimbabwemail.com
04 December, 2010
10:27:00 Dumisani O Nkomo
ZIMBABABWE is in a continual state of
flux as we seem to be moving in
circles as far as the political logjam is
concerned - what with the latest
SADC debacle, the hullaballoo about
elections and the disappearance of the
constitutional reform agenda from the
political topography of the nation.
I would like to suggest that the
season demands and requires leaders who
will look beyond narrow sectarian,
personal and party interests and put the
country first. We should not allow
our judgment to be eclipsed by the here
and now, especially the hype about
elections which usually culminates in us
sacrificing our values, vision,
priorities and the interests of the people
of Zimbabwe.
The Global
Political Agreement (GPA), with its numerous flaws, offers a
reasonable
roadmap for the country for at least the next three to four
years, and which
we need for constitutional, legislative and institutional
reform, national
healing, economic stability and growth.
There is a feeling of
helplessness and hopelessness about the elections in
an overtly unfair and
uneven political playing field epitomised by growing
political tensions, the
arrest of journalists, an incomplete constitutional
reform process and the
proposed draconian legislation limiting public access
to critical
information.
I would like to explore several options that could be
considered by
progressive Zimbabweans. They are an invitation to a
conversation about our
nation.
� A poll boycott
Who says
everybody has to dance to the tune of one person and one party by
blindly
participating in elections? One option would be to take the
initiative from
President Robert Mugabe by boycotting elections unless
minimal demands are
met.
This would isolate Zanu-PF and its leader and highlight the gravity
of the
political crisis to the international community. It would also
delegitimise
whatever government comes into place.
Hopefully, this
stance would force SADC to intervene before such an
election. However, a
poll boycott does have its downside. First Mugabe and
Zanu-PF could simply
ignore the boycott and continue with business as usual
as they did in 2008.
But we all know that embarrassment may not be enough to
stop Zanu-PF.
Furthermore, a boycott could take us back by another 10 years
as the next
election would be in another five years.
The gains made since 2008 would
be reversed as a partisan parliament would
pass more repressive legislation.
Investor confidence [what's left of it]
would dwindle and there could be
scaling up of "measures and sanctions".
The Chiadzwa diamonds could come
in handy in propping up the regime although
a ban of exports of the gems is
likely to be intensified. In the interests
of the nation, a poll boycott
would mean a lot of pain for Zimbabweans in
the short to medium
term.
The objective of such an action would be to force the SADC, African
Union
and the international community to push for comprehensive political
and
economic reforms. The election boycott strategy would only work if
understood in the context of strategic action and as a means to an end not
an end itself. At best it would work as a threat and not something to be
actually done. The opposition should count the cost before it engages in
this act.
� Minimalist approach
There is a school of thought
that elections should be held only if certain
minimum demands are met, such
as the immediate political environment,
targeted legislative reform,
regional and international election observers
and provision of
constitutional mechanisms for transfer of power. This
approach seems to be
the most realistic but is based on a set of
assumptions, the most important
being that these minimalist demands will be
met. I seriously doubt that
Zanu-PF will agree to international observers as
this will play into "the
West is interfering propaganda".
� Rainbow alliance and minimum
demands
The only sure way of wresting power from the incumbent in an
election under
the current conditions is for opposition parties to form a
sort of rainbow
coalition.
These parties have to agree on an
electoral pact under which they would back
one candidate in the presidential
elections. The only three things that
stand in the way of such an
arrangement are: inflated egos, insatiable
political appetites and
ideological differences.
It is imperative for the leaders of MDC-T,
MDC-M, Zapu, Simba Makoni and
other progressive forces to come together and
form a coalition with an
electoral pact which would enshrine a formula for
fielding candidates in
various constituencies and one candidate for the
presidential elections .
Opposition party leaders should put the national
interest above partisan
interests and political libidos. An analysis of
political behaviour in the
last ten years shows that though this is the most
desirable scenario, "our
winner take all, nation gains nothing" attitude may
be our biggest enemy.
The two MDC factions were on the verge of an agreement
in the run-up to the
2008 elections but, alas, expediency prevailed and they
campaigned against
each other.
Realistically though some opposition
parties do not seem to add any value to
the electoral and democratic
experience as displayed by some of the 13
parties that contested in the 2008
elections.
Alliances with parties such as Moreprecision and the Zimbabwe
Youth in
Alliance, which garnered 70 votes between them, would not be
politically
cost-effective, but the strength of Dumiso Dabengwa's Zapu and
the key role
it could play in the transfer of power equation cannot be
ignored. Nor can
the value of the political talent of the MDC-M and the mass
appeal of the
MDC-T, or the charisma of Morgan Tsvangirai and the
intelligence of Simba
Makoni, be ignored.
The combined political
weight of Tsvangirai /Tendai Biti, Arthur
Mutambara/Welshman Ncube, Dabengwa
and Makoni will decimate Zanu-PF in any
election.
Obviously these
parties and their leaders differ on ideological grounds but
when a house is
on fire the identity, religion and political opinion of
those trying to put
out the fire ceases to be important.
This alliance should then demand
that elections be held in conformity with
the SADC Guidelines and Principles
on the Conduct of Democratic Elections
which espouse the creation of a level
electoral playing field.
Observers from SADC and other regions should be
in the country at least 90
days before election day so that they can monitor
the pre- election
environment which is usually fraught with violence. The
voters' roll needs
to be updated and accessible, the state media accessible
to all political
parties and repressive legislation reviewed.
� The
best option
The best route remains the full implementation of the Global
Political
Agreement with emphasis on constitutional and institutional
reform, national
healing and economic stability and growth. Elections for
now are a short cut
and could be a short cut to nowhere. We need to script a
new framework that
provides for democratisation of state institutions and
processes as well as
a conducive environment for investment and
growth.
� Nkomo is CEO and spokesman of the Matabeleland Civil Society
Consortium -
Habakkuk Trust. He writes in his personal capacity. This
article was first
published in the Times Live