Reuters
Mon Feb
12, 2007 3:37 PM GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's annual inflation leapt
to a new record 1,593.6
percent in January, showing no respite in a crisis
marked by chronic
shortages of foreign exchange, food and fuel and
unemployment of more than
80 percent.
Inflation, which the government
has dubbed its number one enemy, is the
highest in the world.
Critics
blame President Robert Mugabe's politically-driven policies
including the
seizure of land from white commercial farmers to resettle
landless blacks.
The veteran leader says Zimbabwe is being sabotaged by his
opponents.
The Central Statistical Office said January inflation
quickened from 1.281.1
percent in December, while on a monthly basis prices
jumped 45.4 percent,
compared to 36.3 percent in December.
"It is the
non-food items that pulled the inflation rate upwards. The top
three items
that contributed most to year-on-year inflation were
electricity, gas and
other fuels," Moffet Nyoni, acting CSO director, told
reporters.
The
government has forecast inflation will ease to between 350-400 percent
by
the end of the year but analysts differ, saying the government does not
have
policies or proposed reforms to slow rampant price increases.
Political
tensions are rising as urban workers bear the brunt of the
economic crisis
that has hit the cost of consumer goods, rentals, public
transport fares and
medical fees.
Doctors and nurses have been on strike since last month to
protest worsening
conditions, paralysing state hospitals and have now been
joined by some
teachers and university lecturers.
The top union which
represents government employees said at the weekend that
it was demanding a
review of salaries of all civil servants, and said if the
demand was not met
the "agitated" workers would consider protests.
The Zimbabwe dollar is
officially pegged at 250 to the U.S greenback but
fetches up to 5,000 on a
thriving black market.
Mugabe denies charges he has run down the economy
and instead says Western
countries have sabotaged the economy to punish his
government for the land
seizures.
The Times
February 13, 2007
Adam
Sage
PARIS President Chirac has bowed to pressure from Britain and blocked an
attempt by President Mugabe of Zimbabwe to break his diplomatic isolation by
attending a Franco-African summit on the French Riviera this
week.
After intense lobbying from London, the French authorities told Mr
Mugabe
that he would not be welcome in Cannes for the three-day meeting
between Mr
Chirac and African heads of state, which begins tomorrow. Mr
Chirac was
widely criticised for ignoring European Union sanctions and
inviting Mr
Mugabe when the summit was held in Paris in 2003.
Other
African leaders had threatened to boycott the summit in support of Mr
Mugabe. But the French authorities were confident that the boycott would
fail to materialise. Zimbabwe's inflation rate, already the world's highest,
rose to 1,593 per cent in January.
Zim Online
Tuesday 13 February
2007
By Brian Ncube
BULAWAYO -
Zimbabwe's central bank has doubled salaries for youth
militia squads
employed to monitor prices in shops to Z$1.2 million per
month, a figure
more than 10 times the monthly salaries of teachers and
doctors, sources
told ZimOnline.
Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon
Gono, who claims the
country's runaway inflation is largely fueled by
profiteering businesses,
has since last year employed about 5 000 graduates
of the government's
controversial national youth service training programme
on a campaign to
ensure shops obey state controls on prices of basic
goods.
The youth militias - known more for committing political
violence and
persecuting opposition supporters - are assisted by uniformed
police who in
recent months have arrested several business executives and
shop managers
found selling basic goods above prices gazetted by the
state.
"We do not get pay slips. We get our money direct from the
Reserve
Bank, where we are made to sign some forms bearing our names. We
renewed our
contracts at the beginning of the year and we will be here doing
the duties
up to the end of March," said one member of the youth militia,
who agreed to
talk to ZimOnline on condition he was not named.
Ministry of Youth officials referred questions on the matter to Gono
who
would not deny or confirm whether youths salaries had been doubled but
said
the central bank would strive to ensure price control teams earned
enough
money to keep them out of corruption.
Gono said: "We make sure that
they do not indulge in corruption
because that is what we are fighting as a
nation. I cannot disclose their
salaries because that is a matter of
personal privacy."
Before the latest increase two weeks ago the
youths, who have always
earned more than the average civil servant including
police officers helping
them to monitor prices, were earning $600 000 per
month.
The lowest paid teacher earns about $84 000 per month, a
figure way
below the Z$460 000 that the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe says a
family of
five needs per month to survive. Junior state doctors earn about
$600 000
per month.
Teachers at some government schools have
since last week been on
strike, turning up in class but refusing to conduct
lessons, to protest
their poor salaries. Doctors have boycotted work since
last December
pressing the government to hike their salaries and improve
working
conditions.
Nurses have since joined doctors on strike,
further straining a public
health sector that is barely functional at the
best of times due to
under-funding, drugs shortage and an overload of
HIV/AIDS cases. Scores of
patients are said to have died in the past weeks
because of otherwise
treatable illness if doctors were at work.
More state workers are threatening to strike unless President Robert
Mugabe
and his government increase salaries to cushion them against
inflation which
according to the latest figures released by the Central
Statistical Office
is pegged at 1 593.6 percent, the highest in the world.
The
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, the largest labour federation
in the
country, has also given the government until February 23 to address
pay
grievances of doctors, teachers and that it fixes the bleeding economy
or
face a general strike by workers across the country.
Churches and
human rights organisations accuse government youth
militias of hunting down
supporters of the main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change party,
beating, raping, torturing and sometimes murdering
them as punishment for
not backing the government.
The government denies its youth
brigades persecute the opposition and
also rejects charges of human rights
violations in the country. - ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tuesday 13 February
2007
By Mfana Ka Ncube
HARARE
- A Zimbabwe government minister on Monday accused a militant
teachers'
union of pursuing a "political agenda" to destabilise the
education sector
in the country.
Zimbabwean teachers last week downed their tools to
demand improved
salaries and working conditions. The strike action was
called by the
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ).
Aenias Chigwedere, who is the Minister of Education, Sports and
Culture,
said the government was aware of "political machinations" by the
PTUZ and
elements within the opposition to destabilise the education sector.
"This is a political issue by the PTUZ. Teachers are going about with
their
business of teaching. This organisation (PTUZ) is pursuing a political
agenda," said Chigwedere.
Chigwedere, who last week told
ZimOnline that state security agents
were on the ground to monitor the
teacher's strike, spoke as the PTUZ
yesterday said police and other
government agents were harassing striking
teachers.
PTUZ
secretary general Raymond Majongwe said for example, three
teachers from
Gaza school in Chipinge district were arrested last week for
allegedly
taking part in the strike action.
Majongwe said the three were
detained by the police for nearly two
hours at Chipinge police station
before they were released without charge.
Majongwe identified the
three teachers as Charles Kaguramhamba, Henry
Chinorumba and one P
Dube.
"There has also been harassment of teachers in and around the
country
by the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) who are visiting
schools to
see if the teachers are teaching.
"But the truth of
the matter is that our members have remained
resolute and are not teaching.
Education officers in Harare are also going
around threatening teachers with
dismissal," said Majongwe.
Teachers are among the lowest paid civil
servants in Zimbabwe with for
example, highest paid teacher taking about
Z$150 000 while the lowest paid
teacher takes home about Z$84 000 a
month.
The teachers are demanding salaries of Z$540 000 a month and
transport
and housing allowances of $100 000 and $150 000 each respectively.
They also
want the government to exempt them from paying school fees for
their own
children.
The teachers joined a long list of state
workers that includes
university lecturers, doctors and nurses who have been
boycotting work to
push the government to improve their
salaries.
Strikes by teachers for better pay and working conditions
are common
in Zimbabwe which is battling a seven-year old economic crisis
described by
the World Bank as unprecedented for a country not at war. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tuesday 13 February 2007
By
Nqobizitha Nkomo
BULAWAYO - Dozens of placard-waving residents on Monday
demonstrated in
Bulawayo to protest against plans by the
government-controlled Zimbabwe
National Water Authority (ZINWA) to take over
the city's water supplies.
The demonstrators, who sang songs denouncing
President Robert Mugabe's
government, criticized the plans to hand over the
city's water management to
ZINWA.
The residents some of whose
placards read, "ZINWA will bring disaster to
Bulawayo," and "ZINWA: a
classic failure, you want to pollute our water,"
accuse the water authority
of serious inefficiency.
Bulawayo executive mayor, Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube,
later addressed the
demonstrators.
No arrests were reported following
the demonstrations.
The issue of the take-over of the city's water
supplies has divided the
ruling ZANU PF party with some prominent members of
the party pushing to let
the opposition-dominated council continue taking
charge of the city's water
supplies.
For example, last week, ZANU PF
Politburo member Dumiso Dabengwa is said to
have raised concern over the
ZINWA takeover at a Politburo meeting in Harare
with Mugabe defending ZINWA
saying it had authority over all water affairs
in the
country.
Bulawayo, a bastion of the main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change
party, lies in the drought-prone Matabeleland region in
south-western
Zimbabwe.
The city has grappled with severe water
shortages since time immemorial with
the Zimbabwe government compounding the
problem after it failed to act on a
proposed project to draw water from the
mighty Zambezi River to the city. -
ZimOnline
Zim Online
Tuesday 13 February 2007
By
Tinotenda Zhou
HARARE - Premier Soccer League (PSL) chairman, Tapiwa
Matangaidze is under
pressure to make public his involvement with the ruling
ZANU PF after fellow
members of his management committee refused to donate
money towards
President Robert Mugabe's birthday party.
The
complaints over Matangaidze's desperate bid to have the PSL sponsor
Mugabe's
birthday party set for 21st February, comes a day before the league
unveils
a sponsorship package for the 2007 season.
Members of the PSL management
committee who are against the idea of
sponsoring Mugabe's lavish birthday
party which is scheduled for Gweru, want
Matangaidze to make it clear that
he is with ZANU PF in a personal capacity.
Matangaidze has since been
appointed into the 21st February Movement Fund
Raising
Committee.
"Initially Matangaidze wanted to involve the PSL in the
fund-raising for the
party but we strongly objected. Now I think he is in
there as an individual
and we hear that he has been given a post in the fund
raising committee.
"But then Harare is awash with rumours that we as the
league are putting
money for an individual's birthday party when clubs are
struggling to
survive. This will surely taint our image and sponsors might
not be happy
working with us.
"This is why we want the chairman
(Matangaidze) to explain his position. The
PSL is apolitical and we welcome
to our football matches, every member of
society no matter their political
orientation," said the source.
Mugabe's birthday is lavishly celebrated
every year and this year the
committee is looking to raise a whopping $300
million.
There are reports in Harare that the PSL management committee is
pushing for
a clear-the-air meeting with their chairman over the
issue.
Meanwhile, clubs will finally know who will sponsor the league at
a function
set for Harare this afternoon. Last year, the PSL was reduced to
a social
league after the management committee failed to secure a sponsor. -
ZimOnline
Daily Mail UK
Last
updated at 15:58pm on 12th February 2007
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
celebrate his 83rd birthday next week
Supporters of Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe have launched a drive to
raise £600,000 to celebrate his 83rd
birthday next week amid the country's
worst-ever economic
crisis.
Critics say the money would be better spent on salaries for
impoverished
teachers, nurses and doctors, who have been on
strike.
Lavish celebrations are due to be held in the central town of
Gweru on
February 24, three days after the long-time Zimbabwean leader turns
83.
The fund-raising is being spearheaded by the 21st February Movement,
a youth
organization set up in 1986 to raise money for the president's
annual
birthday celebrations, according to the state-controlled Herald
newspaper.
"We are looking forward for a big day for the youths to share
some very
important moments with his Excellency the president," Absalom
Sikosana, the
ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front
secretary for youth
told the newspaper.
News of the party plans comes
as many Zimbabweans struggle to make ends meet
in a deepening economic
crisis.
Inflation is running at 1,280 per cent and there are critical
shortages of
foreign currency, essential drugs and basic
commodities.
Mugabe blames the United States and Britain for imposing
sanctions,
precipitating the crisis.
But critics point to the
president's controversial policies including a
campaign of white land
seizures that has seen agricultural production - once
the country's economic
backbone - plummet by at least 40 per cent.
Levels of discontent are
rising: this weekend a civil servants' union warned
that its 180,000 members
were "agitated" over low salaries and wanted a
minimum 400 per cent pay
rise.
Nurses and doctors at four hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo have
been on
strike for seven weeks', paralysing health care.
The weekly
Standard newspaper said in an editorial comment on Sunday that it
was
"ironic" the government "sees absolutely nothing amiss in hosting an
ostentatious birthday bash" when doctors and nurses were on strike and
thousands of students could no longer afford university fees.
But the
ruling party's youth secretary insisted that young people were "very
keen"
to see the president on his birthday.
"That day is a day where he will be
closer to them, encouraging them to have
good morals," Sikosana said.
IOL
February 12 2007 at 03:58PM
Zimbabweans, struggling to make ends
meet amid hyper-inflation, are
being asked to dig into their pockets for a
party this month to mark
President Robert Mugabe's 83rd birthday, an
official said on Monday.
"We are looking for ZIM$300-million (about
R8,7-million) that will be
used at the birthday celebrations in Gweru,"
Emmanuel Fundira, chairperson
of the 21st February Movement, told AFP on
Monday.
"Some of the funds will be contributed by the country's ten
provinces
who will donate ZIM$15-million each. The remainder of the funds
will be
donated by individuals like myself and others."
Mugabe
is set to turn 83 on February 21, the date that his ruling
Zimbabwe African
National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) has traditionally
thrown a massive
party attended by thousands of party loyalists and
diplomats.
The fund-raising committee has so
far raised ZIM$87-million in cheques
and pledges for the party to be held in
the central Zimbabwean city of
Gweru, Fundira said.
This year's
celebrations will be held under the theme "Empowerment,
Prosperity and
Peace," Fundira said.
Once a regional model, Zimbabwe's economy has
been on the slide for
nearly eight years with inflation now at a world
record 1 281 percent.
Previously unheard of food shortages are now
widespread as at least 80
percent of the population living below the poverty
line.
Families often resort to skipping meals, striking ingredients
like
butter and milk off shopping lists and cycling or walking long
distances to
work.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since
independence from Britain in
1980, has been ostracised by the West over
allegations of human rights abuse
and rigging elections.
The
21st February Movement was set up in 1986 as a welfare
organisation to mark
Mugabe's birthday.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Grey Samakande
FEBRUARY is here once again and
many in the corridors of power are running
up and down to please just one
man. While people from the Midlands area and
other provinces countrywide are
sinking deeper and deeper into poverty, with
some even dying of hunger,
politicians are still seen to be exhilarated by
the 21st February Movement.
They are looking around for donations to make
the Movement a success rather
than source food to feed the dying masses.
The 21st February Movement was
established in 1986 as a welfare organization
for youths and as a medium to
inspire youths to be well behaved through
emulating the exemplary character
of their patron, President Mugabe. As we
all know, the only youths
recognized by the government today are the Green
Bombers whom the government
trained to terrorize innocent people. With
elections coming, the funds
raised during the planned events in the Midlands
are no doubt going to be
used to mobilize these notorious youths.
The chairman of the provincial
finance committee, prominent Gweru
businessman and politician, Enos Size
said donations continued to pour in
and there were signs that the 21st
edition of the movement would this year
be bigger and better compared to
previous events.
"The donations we received are from two districts only,
Kwekwe and Gweru. We
received 21 cattle valued at $16, 8 million, 21 tones
of mealie meal, one
and half tones of maize and cash," Size said.
"We
realized about $53 million from a family fun day that we hosted at
Queens
Sports Club in Kwekwe. Deserving special mention is one Gweru
pedigree
commercial farmer, Mr Victor Mhanga who donated seven beasts - that
is six
Brahman heifers and one bull. He has made us proud as it is quite an
outstanding donation. On behalf of the fundraising committee and the
provincial leadership, we want to thank him very much," added
Size.
While donations are part of every business's success, I think it
will be
more appreciated if the donations were meant for a reasonable cause.
Considering the number of families struggling with their day to day fight
for survival, there is need to identify these families and direct such
donations to them. In any case it is very easy to find the suffering people
because they are in the majority in Zimbabwe today. People would appreciate
more if the business community that is fighting, tripping each other to
donate would actually help them. That was their businesses would prosper
within their own communities.
With the current economic hardships,
people should be focusing on trying to
find ways through which to help and
develop communities instead of wasting
resources on one day that is meant to
celebrate the birthday of one man who
has done so much to destroy the
country we all so love.
Take for example, the seven beasts donated by the
farmer; wouldn't it be
wise to pass them on to youth groups so that they
start breeding projects
instead of killing them for a feast? I would think
it would be of much
benefit to the youth and community at large. Anyway this
is not possible
because some businessman and politicians want to be seen to
be participating
in Zanu PF activities so they gain political
mileage.
Size was not even ashamed to tell the world that the Movement's
organizing
committee had managed to raise some substantial funds from the
Highlanders
and Chapungu match as more than 2 000 people paid to watch the
game.
The sporting fraternity is collapsing because there is no funding
from the
government, but they have the guts to divert match takings to fund
the
Movement. One wonders if these people have the youth at heart. Sporting
is
one activity that could develop the youth immensely and keep them off
crime
because it has got a lot of discipline.
What are the youths
emulating from this kind of leadership and the so-called
Movement, if I may
ask. Things need to change and the business community
could start by doing
their own bit in ploughing back into the communities
that make them rich
rather than this unashamed way of trying to catch Mugabe's
eye by donating
to an outfit that does not serve the country's youth at all.
Reuters
Mon 12 Feb
2007 9:55 AM ET
By Charles Mangwiro
CAIA, Mozambique, Feb 12
(Reuters) - Floods in Mozambique have left 68,000
people homeless and
280,000 more may be forced to evacuate this week, a top
official said on
Monday as refugees crowded into dismal camps to escape the
raging
waters.
Boats and aircraft have been used to move people from flooded
regions around
the Zambezi river, many with little more than the clothes on
their backs.
But relocation centres have in some cases been little
improvement, with
officials saying they are short of drinking water, food
and proper shelters.
"I lost everything. Our homes are underwater. The
flood waters hit us in the
middle of the night (last week)," said Julita
Dinala, who had come with her
eight children to a camp in Manica
province.
"We were rescued the following morning. But now we are here
without food and
shelter and the government is saying there are no access
roads to bring the
food," she added.
The floods, sparked when rains
from neighbouring Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi
poured into the overflowing
Cahora Bassa Dam, have killed 29 people and
damaged thousands of homes and
schools, mainly in the central Zambezia and
Sofala provinces.
Experts
fear the crisis could surpass the devastating floods of 2000 and
2001, which
killed 700 people, displaced half a million and wrecked
infrastructure.
"We expect more water than we had in 2001. ... The
situation is
deteriorating and it will get worse but this time we are better
prepared
than in 2001," Paulo Zucula, head of Mozambique's national relief
agency
INGC, told Reuters.
CROCODILES AND
FLOODS
Zucula was speaking in Caia, one of the worst hit areas, some
1,400
kilometres (875 miles) north of the capital Maputo.
He said
around 27,000 people had been moved to accommodation centres and
around
41,000 others had no shelter after their homes were submerged.
As many as
280,000 more people -- mostly poor rural folk who live in tiny
mud huts and
survive by growing vegetables and livestock -- would probably
be forced from
their homes this week as more rains swept the southern
African country,
Zucula said.
Many face homelessness for the second time after the floods
six years ago
wrecked their homes.
Andre Awade, the district
administrator in Nhaclo in Tete province, said
some people were reluctant to
evacuate because relocation centres were so
poorly supplied, with some
lacking even chlorine to clean drinking water and
fuel for the
boats.
"We have done much of the rescue work ... but in some islands
there is
resistance because people have lost most of their belongings, so
they want
to keep whatever is left."
In Chapunga, in Sofala, around
600 people flocked to an accommodation centre
but tents are scarce and many
are sleeping in the open.
Marco Mabuleza said local residents were caught
between the dangers of the
Zambezi flood plain -- which include crocodiles
-- and the rocky, poor soil
in higher elevations.
"We came here by
boat. We couldn't bring anything. We have no food, no
shelter, and it is
raining heavily. We have been here for a week without
assistance," he
said.
"If we go to the high areas there is drought and the ground is
rocky. If we
go to the lower Zambezi there are crocodiles. So we prefer to
face the
crocodiles and floods because our problem is hunger."
12 Feb 2007 11:27:00 GMT
Source: International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
(IFRC) - Switzerland
Website: http://www.ifrc.org
The
Zambezi River which stretches from Angola to the Indian Ocean in
Mozambique
is threatening to displace thousands of families in Zimbabwe,
Zambia,
Mozambique, Malawi and Namibia following the heavy rains experienced
in the
last few weeks.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies has
released more than 270,000 Swiss Francs (US$ 216,000,
? 166,000) from its
Disaster Relief Emergency Fund for Angola, Malawi,
Mozambique and Zambia in
the past few weeks. It may soon be calling for more
financial support as the
situation continues to deteriorate.
The
Drought Monitoring Centre, a climate-based organization which receives
rainfall data from all parts of the world, said the central sector of the
Southern Africa region should expect occasional rains over the greater part
of that area up until February 21.
The Zimbabwe Civil Protection Unit
issued a statement warning that the water
levels in Zambezi river were
expected to continue rising from Kazungula to
the confluence of Kariba dam.
Usually if this area is flooded it also
affects the Caprivi Strip in
Namibia.
The statement also warned the river authorities, fishing
companies, safari
lodges and all those involved in water borne social
activities to watch out
for possible stronger and higher currents anticipate
within a few days to
come.
The Zimbabwe Red Cross disaster team is
already on standby. "We recently
conduct some flood disaster preparedness
workshops and our teams are ready
to be deployed should the situation
deteriorate," says Mr. Desmond Mudombi,
the disaster manager for Zimbabwe
Red Cross society.
The latest developments in Mozambique have been a
serious cause for concern.
Reports indicated that floods have already killed
29 people and they are
calls for international help to rescue more than
500,000 people threatened
by the rising water.
The government has
already order people occupying the bank of the river to
move to higher
ground. The government fears that this could be more dramatic
than 2000/2001
floods especially in the central region where the Zambezi
River and its
tributaries - the Shire and Revubue - have become swollen with
waters from
Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
"Our Red Cross societies in Mozambique,
Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe are
currently busy on the ground, especially in
Mozambique and Angola where the
situation is worse than any other country,
the volunteers are raising
awareness for people at grass root level to
relocate in safer areas,
providing first aid, heath education, water
chlorination and several other
important services in such an operation,"
says Robert Kwesiga, the
Programmes coordinator for the International
Federation in southern Africa.
Malawi also experienced heavy rains from
early January resulting in flooding
in the Lower Shire region affecting the
districts of Chikwawa and Nsanje.
Malawi Red Cross Society together with
other stakeholders conducted an
assessment in the affected areas. A total of
20,061 households were affected
when houses collapsed and several hectares
of crops damaged. The two
districts have received some assistance from the
Government and other
stakeholders in terms of food and emergency kits. To
date the International
Federation has allocated Malawi Red Cross $ 71,000 to
cater for shelter
needs of the affected population, which include 2.500
tarpaulins, 3 large
tents, 50 Plastic sheeting rolls and operational
funds.
The torrential rains have so far caused extensive damage to crops
and
property in main parts of Zambia. The country has been receiving above
normal rainfall which has negatively affected a number of households across
the country, especially North western and Northern Provinces.
Latest
reports indicate that Luangwa River which passes through Lusaka
province
recently bursts its banks thereby affecting households along the
banks. The
only road linking Luangwa town to the rest of the country has
been submerged
thereby making the district inaccessible by road.
"Essential supplies to
the district cannot be delivered, unless by air. If
the situation continues
for an extended period, the district will run out of
essential supplies,"
says Mr. Trust Hakulipa, the disaster manager for
Zambia Red Cross society
adding that the assessment team failed to affected
people.
In
Mpulungu, a total of 1,900 people have been affected and 369 houses
collapsed, Zambia Red Cross volunteers have been on the ground providing
relief to the affected people. Over 2,500 people were left homeless in
Kapiri while in Solwezi 573 people had their houses swept away the floods.
The Zambia Red Cross has so far dispatched a relief materials comprising of
an assortment of relief items worth K77 million.
"Given the severity
of the situation in Mozambique, we are now mobilizing
our resources and
deploying our disaster response expert team to support
Mozambique Red Cross.
Based on the findings of the needs assessment, we will
obviously be calling
for more resources to strengthen our support to our Red
Cross societies
responding to the emergencies," says Françoise Le Goff, Head
of the
International Federation's regional delegation in Harare, Zimbabwe
VOA
By Jonga Kandemiiri
Washington
12 February
2007
Officials of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe,
which called its
members out on strike one week ago, said Monday that
officials of the rival
Zimbabwe Teachers Association are meddling by telling
striking PTUZ members
to return to work.
PTUZ officials said officers
of ZIMTA, considered close to the government,
were telling striking teachers
that ZIMTA had engaged the government in pay
negotiations.
But
Zimbabwe Teachers Association Chief Executive Officer Peter Mabhande
said it
is not true that his organization is telling teachers to abandon
their
strike.
Though ZIMTA is not a party to the strike, it opened talks with
Harare
officials through the National Joint Negotiating Council late last
week. But
officials of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe were
ejected from
that Friday meeting .
Some 17,000 PTUZ members - and,
according to credible reports, many members
of ZIMTA - are on strike
demanding wages be raised over the country's
poverty line. The Consumer
Council of Zimbabwe recently drew that line close
to Z$500,000.
PTUZ
President Takavafira Zhou told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's
Studio 7
for Zimbabwe that only his union can tell its members when to go
back to
work.
ZIMTA official Mabhande said the strike is not his organization's
focal
point. He said that if negotiations fail to yield results, ZIMTA
members
will decide what to do next.
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
12
February 2007
The management of Harare Hospital in the
Zimbabwean capital fired 80 doctors
late last week despite a statement by
Health Minister David Parirenyatwa
that authorities would not dismiss
striking hospital residents, medical
sources said Monday.
Medical
staff at Harare Hospital said at least 80 junior and senior
residents
received letters of dismissal Friday from the hospital's chief
executive
officer, Julius Nderere. That brought to about 90 the number of
striking
doctors dismissed to date.
Hospital administrators said the doctors had
violated health services
regulations which prohibit health personnel from
absenting themselves for
more than 30 days.
On Thursday, Dr
Parirenyatwa appeared to nullify the dismissal of 10 doctors
fired for
taking part in the strike. The latest development raised questions
as to who
is really in charge in the national health care crisis,
particularly as Dr.
Parirenyatwa abruptly left on leave for about a week at
one point in the
eight week labor dispute. Zimbabwe Defense Minister Sydney
then stepped in
to take charge temporarily.
The striking doctors are demanding that their
monthly salaries be increased
from less than Z$100,000 to Z$5 million, or
US$1,000 at the informal market
exchange rate. They have rejected a
government offer of Z$1 million a month,
sources said.
Sources close
to the situation said Parirenyatwa met Monday with
representatives of the
junior and senior resident hospital doctors in
Harare.
Doctor
representative Simbarashe Ndodha told reporter Carole Gombakomba of
VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that Dr Parirenyatwa said he is awaiting the
outcome
of deliberations by the Health Services Board on the doctors'
grievances.
By Ndimyake Mwakalyelye
Washington, DC
12 February
2007
Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe is inflicting economic pain on
millions, but for
those battling AIDS it poses a deadly threat as prices of
antiretroviral
drugs soar out of reach.
The latest 12-month inflation
rate of 1,594% means overnight changes in the
cost not only of
antiretroviral drugs but other key elements of HIV-AIDS
therapy, like
food.
So-called first-line ARVs that used to cost around $Z50,000 a month
now run
between Z$75,000 and Z$80,000, and those prices are moving at an
alarming
speed.
Reporter Ndimyake Mwakalyelye sought perspective from
two experts in
sustaining treatment and care for people living with HIV-AIDS
in the
Zimbabwean environment.
Lynde Francis is executive director of
The Center, a Harare HIV-AIDS care
facility, and Elisha Chidombwe is
executive director of the Zimbabwe AIDS
Prevention and Support Organization,
which helps companies develop HIV-AIDS
programs for workers.
The
Herald (Harare)
February 12, 2007
Posted to the web February 12,
2007
Harare
CHITUNGWIZA Central Hospital has embarked on a project
to outsource drugs
that should see private pharmaceutical companies being
housed at the health
institution to assist patients when the hospital runs
out of essential
drugs.
Referral hospitals are currently operating
without adequate essential drugs,
which have made them become only
assessment and testing institutions before
subsequently asking patients to
buy drugs elsewhere.
Owing to this scenario, the concept of getting
treated in hospital had
become a thing of the past with some admitted
patients having to send
relatives to scout for drugs elsewhere.
Half
the time the drug combinations are not found at one pharmacy with some
patients' relatives in Harare having to go as far as Kwekwe for another
combination drugs.
Chitungwiza Central Hospital chief executive
officer and renal specialist,
Dr Obadiah Moyo, yesterday said his hospital
has taken cognisance of this
challenge and decided to invite interested
pharmaceutical companies to work
with them.
"Making drugs readily
available is critical in the treatment of patients.
"We would like to
help address the shortages of drugs we sometimes
experience by closely
working with private pharmaceutical companies," Dr
Moyo said.
He said
investigations conducted by his hospital showed that private
pharmacies had
the foreign currency to buy drugs from various countries that
include
France, Australia and South Africa.
"Private pharmacies are never short
of essential drugs.
"We need to bring those pharmacies closer to our
patients so that when we
are dry, they will always be available."
He
said the hospital was currently working out a mechanism that would see
the
hospital assisting patients on medical aid to get all drugs they need
and
pay later through the institution.
"We have the interest of the patients
at heart and we are trying all sorts
of schemes to see that our patients are
treated," he said.
He said the incorporation of private pharmacies
concept was driven by the
impact of economic environment on the supply of
drugs at the hospital, which
has seen replenishing of drugs and gloves
becoming a major challenge.
"Outsourcing will help us shed our financial
handcuffs and release the funds
to support other systematic costs of doing
the hospital business."
Dr Moyo said the hospital staff would be
enkindled to work towards a
business like environment and the periodic bouts
of drug shortages currently
gripping the hospital ending.
"This is
the best option for us to jump on the financial amphitheatre and
improve the
supply of drugs," Dr Moyo said.
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By Dennis Rekayi
HARARE - The Zimbabwe Election
Support Network (ZESN) has condemned threats
that were allegedly made by the
president of the Council of Chiefs, Chief
Fortune Charumbira, to expel
villagers who support the opposition.
A report from the electoral body
looking at Chief Charumbira's comments to
villagers in Masvingo last year
and repeated by him ahead of next week's
parliamentary by-election for
Chiredzi South, ZESN said the Chief had said
the ruling party would withhold
food aid from them if they supported the
opposition.
Said Charumbira
to the villagers: "The position is that only Zanu PF
supporters will be
allowed to reside in my area. I want my headmen to take
note of this
position. If you are an opposition supporter this is the time
to pack your
bags. I don't know where you will go because other chiefs will
take the same
stance."
A ZESN official who attended a rally at Chilonga Primary School
in Chiredzi
South this month where Zanu PF is seeking to retain a seat left
vacant by
the death of its Member of Parliament reported Charumbira had
again
threatened villagers if they went out and voted for the opposition.
Zanu PF
and the two MDC factions are all fielding candidates in the
by-election.
"These threats are blatantly illegal," said ZESN. "ZESN
notes with utter
dismay that at this rally Chief Charumbira apparently
instructed chiefs to
campaign for the ruling Zanu PF party, adding that as
traditional leaders
they were supposed to know 'which side their bread was
buttered'. He also
ordered traditional leaders in rural Chiredzi South
constituency to deny
state supplied food aid to opposition supporters. The
Chief also instructed
fellow traditional leaders in the area to herd their
subjects to the polling
stations to ensure a victory for Zanu PF victory in
the by-election."
Zanu PF has long been criticised for threatening
villagers into submission
through the use of food aid.
The network
said it was distressed by the fact that chiefs and headmen have
abandoned
political neutrality in the performance of their duties in their
communities.
It condemned all political traditional leaders and other
political players
who are taking advantage of the current economic hardships
and using food as
a "vote buying" tool.
The alleged statements by
Charumbira are unconstitutional, illegal and in
gross violation of human
rights, said ZESN.
"The alleged actions on the part of Chief Charumbira
undermine the efforts
to achieve genuine democracy in Zimbabwe, one of the
hallmarks of which is
political tolerance for opposing political
views."
"ZESN therefore urges the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and
the
relevant law enforcement agents to ensure that the laws of Zimbabwe are
respected and that all players abide by the law irrespective of their
political affiliation. As for this matter we ask the ZEC to counteract such
threats to ensure that voters are assured of the right to make political
choices freely and that their ballots will remain secret."
The
network is appealing for a peaceful election in the Chiredzi South
parliamentary by-elections.
Mail and Guardian
Godwin Gandu
12 February 2007 11:59
Mass desertions in the army are creating anxiety in the country's
Joint
Operations Command, which implored its Chairperson, President Robert
Mugabe,
late last year, to improve the living conditions of the defence
forces.
Mugabe is the commander-in-chief of the defence
forces. The
Joint Operations Command, which manages issues of national
security,
comprises the army, prisons, intelligence and
police.
General disgruntlement within both the army and the
police has
reached alarming levels, as indicated by the increasing numbers
of soldiers
and officers who have gone absent without leave in recent
months. Posters of
officers who have deserted are plastered on the walls at
the army's King
George VI headquarters in Harare, and I Commando along the
airport road.
"The general feeling within the army is that
only senior army
officers are being taken care of, from major upwards and
nothing for junior
officers whose salaries are way below the poverty datum
line," says an army
officer within the army stationed in Bulawayo, the
country's second-largest
city.
"Majors, colonels,
lieutenant colonels and brigadier generals
are pampered with [Toyota]
Prados, residential stands in posh suburbs like
Borrowdale, Chishawash Hills
and farms, but none for junior ranking
officers," he
said.
"The disgruntlement is so high. There is no adequate
food,
uniforms and the number of those being fired for expressing their
feelings
on the state of affairs, including politics, is going up," he
said.
The defence force has more than 40 000 employees, while
the
police force has an estimated 35 000.
Late last year,
the parliamentary committee on defence and
security recommended in a report
that army personnel should be reduced,
given the financial constraints the
army faces.
In a report which is in the possession of the
Mail & Guardian,
the parliamentary committee noted that the Zimbabwe
National Army (ZNA) had
a total allocation of Zimbabwe $116-billion
(R3,5-billion at the official
rate and R163-million at the black market
rate).
"The allocation excluding employment costs translates
to 51,5%
of the ZNA estimates submitted to the treasury and it falls far too
short of
the requirements for 2007 for the ZNA to perform its basic
constitutional
and statutory mandates," the committee
observed.
The committee further noted that salary increases
in 2007 would
remain inadequate: "The ZNA was allocated a total of
$116-billion against a
bid of $320-billion. At current scales, the
allocation can only support a
pay increase of 350% which would see a general
duty soldier remaining under
the poverty datum line, which at the time is
pegged at $175 000."
The committee was also yet to confirm
with the treasury "if the
allocation includes money for the leave days that
were accrued by the
defence forces during the four years they were in the
Democratic Republic of
Congo".
"If it does," the report
said, "salaries will be negatively
impacted."
The shadow
secretary of defence and security for the opposition
Movement for Democratic
Change, Giles Mutsekwa, told the M&G the situation
in the army was "very
serious indeed, a worrying development".
"It is true that
there are mass desertions from both defence
forces and the police force.
They are not happy with their conditions of
service and remunerations as
well.
"But what is disturbing is that these volunteers take
various
other jobs across the Limpopo. This includes being employed as
security
guards and in some instances as general workers in an industry,"
Mutsekwa
said.
"It is obviously so because the jobs they
take in South Africa
are paying more than what they get here in Zimbabwe,"
he said.
"The issue here is that you train a person and you
let that
person get disgruntled to the point that he settles elsewhere. You
could
only be building a time bomb."
The Herald
EDITOR - I refer to the article in The Herald
Business of Friday 9
February 9 2007 titled "Zimbabweans pump R2,2 billion
into S. Africa".
In my view, Zimbabwe does not have a foreign
currency problem but a
misalignment of priorities and a penchant for
luxuries.
I happen to stay in Midrand, South Africa, and I see
trolleys and
trolleys of luxury goods being loaded into Zimbabwe-registered
vehicles at
Makro.
That we can spend more than US$300 million
on petty luxuries while the
economy is in doldrums is beyond
me.
We even have some Government departments and parastatals
queuing to
import luxury vehicles from South Africa.
Why can't
they use the same money to import kits from Japan and have
the vehicles
assembled at Willowvale?
Have they not heard of the multiplier
effect of foreign currency?
That simple act alone can create
massive downstream activity from use
of local paints to other
accessories.
Every week we are flooded by hoards of people who want
us to pay
satellite TV subscriptions for them from here - some pay six
months or more
in advance.
Is it compulsory to watch satellite
TV?
On a pro-rata basis, we are probably one of the poorest
countries with
such fascination for satellite TV.
We spend $50
million importing fertilizer from peddlers when less than
half that amount
would be enough to meet the foreign currency needs of
manufacturers in
Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is the only country in the world where it is
more profitable
to wheel and deal than produce something.
Last
year, we facilitated a ZimTrade mission to South Africa and
listened to
excruciating and harrowing stories of Zimbabwean exporters
trying to export
just to keep afloat while the scarce foreign currency is
misused. It might
be interesting to do a detailed study of how the foreign
currency that comes
into the country was used over the last year.
It is time we as a
nation realise that belt tightening is not for the
poor alone, if we are to
extricate ourselves from the hole we are digging
with our
profligacy.
Tafirenyika L. Makunike.
Noordwyk,
South Africa.
jurnalo
Monday 12 February 2007 07:20
A court in Zimbabwe will this
week hear an application by Equatorial Guinea
to have alleged British coup
leader Simon Mann deported to the central
African country in May, reports
said Monday.
Mann was accused of plotting to topple Equatorial Guinea's
President Teodoro
Obiang Nguema in 2004. He is due for release in May from a
Zimbabwean jail,
where he has been serving a sentence for firearms and
security convictions,
said the state-controlled Herald
newspaper.
Mann's defence lawyer Jonathan Samkange was quoted as saying
the case for
Mann's deportation would be argued at the Harare Magistrate's
Court on
Thursday.
He said Zimbabwean government lawyers would be
representing Equatorial
Guinea.
"All they (Zimbabwe) can do is try to
assist Equatorial Guinea by providing
a magistrate and lawyers and they will
simply present the Equatorial
Guinea's position," Samkange told the
paper.
Mann was arrested along with 69 other South African soldiers of
fortune in
March 2004 when their Boeing 727 landed at Harare International
Airport to
pick up a consignment of weapons.
The Zimbabwean
authorities accused the men of being on their way to topple
Obiang's
government, but they maintained they were on their way to the
Democratic
Republic of Congo to guard diamond mines.
Most of the men, who were
convicted of minor immigration or aviation
offences and sentenced to short
jail terms, were released in 2005 from
Harare's Chikurubi Maximum Security
Prison.
Mann received a longer sentence under Zimbabwe's security and
firearms laws:
seven years, later reduced to four. In Zimbabwe prisoners
only have to serve
two-thirds of their jail terms.
At the time the
alleged mercenaries were arrested Zimbabwe did not have an
extradition
treaty with Equatorial Guinea. One has subsequently been signed.
dpa
rt
Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 12th February
2007
Those of us who have been engaged in armed conflict know what it
is like to
be on guard duty. Large or small, the people and things that you
are
protecting at that time of your life are, in a special sense, your
responsibility. If you allow yourself to fall asleep, or your attention is
not what it should be, or you are simply careless, it can have serious
consequences for others.
Being elected to public office is a bit like
that - you are elected by
people who put their trust in you and your ability
and determination to
protect what is important to them. Life and liberty
might be at stake, or
simply clean water. Whatever it is, it is a real and
serious responsibility
and history judges harshly those who fail on their
watch even if they have
been successful in other matters.
While
Zimbabwe has died, who has been on watch? Mbeki for one, Bush for
another,
Blair, a third world leader with the power and resources to protect
the
lives and liberties of all Zimbabweans from the tyranny that has
ambushed
them. One of them, President Mbeki of South Africa gave his state
of the
nation address last week. Great fanfare and fuss, guns firing salutes
and
the eyes of the world on the South African Parliament.
More than any
other world leader, Mbeki has had the responsibility of
Zimbabwe on his
watch. He is perhaps the most powerful leader in Africa,
Zimbabwe's closest
neighbor and its largest trading partner. Alone in the
world of power
brokers, Mbeki has the resources and the influence to change
events here and
he also has the history of his own country to back up any
action he might
take. Instead he has done nothing but sleep on his watch,
allowing the
destruction of his neighbor's economy to take place in the face
of the
world's condemnation. He continued to abuse his responsibilities
yesterday
by not mentioning Zimbabwe even once in an hours address.
The ANC shortly
celebrates their 100th anniversary. 100 years - all but 13
years spent
fighting another regime spawned by racial prejudice and a desire
to hold
onto power no matter what. Fighting for democracy, human rights, the
right
of assembly, and freedom of association and speech. The right to
security
and equal opportunity in the land of his birth. The right to go to
school,
to basic health, to all those things that are the norm in many
countries and
which go towards making life half decent and rewarding. All
the things
denied to us by the Mugabe regime since 1995.
In its struggle against
oppression, the ANC had the support of the whole
world. In the end it was
Mrs. Thatcher, as Prime Minister of Britain, who
did what was necessary to
get the Nationalist Government in South Africa to
start the process to put
things right in South Africa. It was not street
protests or Umkonto (the
armed wing of the ANC) that did this - it was
western pressure working
through the British government. Once the
breakthrough had been achieved, the
process of negotiation and compromise
was able to get underway and
eventually the new South Africa emerged in
1994.
It was the same in
Rhodesia - we were a nation looking disaster in the face.
We had been at war
with ourselves for many years; we were completely alone
apart from South
African assistance. The Rhodesians were winning battles but
losing the war.
At that time there was no prospect of negotiations or a
peaceful resolution
of the conflict. I can remember leading a group of 35
young white Rhodesians
to see Mr. Smith. We presented him with a detailed
analysis of our prospects
- the threats and opportunities. We urged him to
negotiate while he still
had the strength to steer negotiations so that we
could secure a reasonable
outcome. He brushed our views aside and stated
very clearly that he believed
they were winning the war and would prevail.
For most of my companions at
that meeting, it was the end of the road; they
quietly left the country, not
prepared to give their lives for what they saw
as a lost cause.
Then
came the intervention of the American Secretary of State. He, with the
full
support of the President of South Africa, gave Mr. Smith an ultimatum.
Smith
records in his biography that he could not say no to that ultimatum
and he
called it the great betrayal. We were saved by that action and after
three
more years we were able to see ourselves deciding on new leadership -
not
through the barrel of a gun, but by means of a free and fair election
supervised by the western powers and ourselves. Would it have happened if
the men and women on that watch had not done their duty - no! The
consequences of failure for both South Africa and Zimbabwe would not have
borne thinking about. We botched the outcome because our new leadership has
been unable to accept real democratic governance and give up power when
defeated at the polls.
Now we have new leaders on the watch. Bush and
Blair have bigger fish to fry
and anyway, African States are now independent
and sovereign. Zimbabwe is
back into a state of crisis, facing the very real
possibility of total
collapse with potentially disastrous consequences for
the region, including
South Africa. Mbeki has even more power and influence
than his predecessors
in Pretoria.
Last night he appeared on a SABC
programme and was questioned on his stance
about Zimbabwe. His reply was
disingenuous to say the least. He stated that
they were encouraging the
leadership in Zimbabwe to sit down and "like South
Africa" sort out their
problems together. If we did that he said, we would
find South Africa in
full support of the process. The question is how to get
there? I was part of
a MDC team sent to a location outside Pretoria to hold
informal talks with
Zanu PF leaders some three years ago. The talks were
arranged and sponsored
by very senior South African leaders. Only one Zanu
PF official (Zvobgo)
pitched and he was removed from the venue before tea on
the first day by
officials from the Zimbabwe Embassy and sent back to
Zimbabwe on the
instructions of Mr. Mugabe.
It is the long stated position of the MDC
that we will talk to Zanu PF any
time, anywhere, providing there are no
preconditions. Mr. Mbeki knows that
and he also knows who stands in the way
of such talks. So did his
predecessors - they knew that Smith had to be
broken if there was to be any
progress. They did that on the 23rd September
1996 and then could, in some
measure, stand back and watch the process
evolve. South Africa's transition
was no different.
What Mr. Mbeki
fails to do or even to acknowledge is that the problem lies
in the refusal
of the Zanu PF regime to face the people in a truly free and
fair election
and then to accept the outcome? Is that difficult to
understand? Is it an
impossible goal? The answer to both questions is no,
not at all. But the
people with the power to influence events must act, and
act soon. Mr. Mbeki
shows no sign of doing so and quite frankly it is not
the responsibility of
the US or Europe any more - its our collective
responsibility as Africans to
fix this particular problem. By failing on
this issue on his watch (he has
been President of South Africa for the whole
period of our melt down), Mr.
Mbeki runs the risk of undermining everything
else he has
achieved.
But most of all he will not be protecting the very interests of
those who
entrusted him with leadership in South Africa itself. All he has
to do is
call Mr. Mugabe and tell him to start talks with his opponents.
Being a
power broker is what it is all about.
FROM THE ZIMBABWE VIGIL
The Vigil has been asked to facilitate two
launches over the next two
Saturdays
1. Saturday, 17th
February: WOZA Solidarity UK is joining us to launch
WOZA's people's charter
in the UK. WOZA (Women of Zimbabwe Arise) consulted
thousands of people in
Zimbabwe at almost 300 meetings to find out what they
want in a new
Zimbabwe: the result is the people's charter. WOZA is now
asking
Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to sign up to this charter. To read the
charter,
check link:
http://www.swradioafrica.com/pages/peoplescharter071206.htm.
On Wednesday,
14th February at 6 pm there will be an audio-visual
presentation of WOZA in
action in Bulawayo + speakers. Venue: Room G50, SOAS
(School of Oriental and
African Studies) Main Building, Thornhaugh Street,
Russell Square, London
WC1H 0XG. Nearest tube: Russell
Square.
2. Saturday, 24th February: Viomak, the Zimbabwean protest
singer, is
releasing her second album "Happy 83rd Birthday President R G
Mugabe (bones
of a 30 year old)" at the Vigil. She will be singing a song
from the album
"Mangwanani Baba". Viomak has invited the Zimbabwean
Ambassador, Mr Gabriel
Machinga, to come to the Vigil to accept her birthday
present to Mugabe.
Watch this space!
PLEASE COME AND SUPPORT THESE
EVENTS.
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 by the current regime 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
Zimbabwejournalists.com
By a Correspondent
LONDON - Failed asylum seekers from
Zimbabwe continue to live in abject
poverty in the United Kingdom as various
attempts to have the Labour
government allow them to work have all but
flopped.
A campaign to have Members of Parliament back a scheme through
which failed
asylum seekers from Zimbabwe could be allowed to work legally
rather than
wallow in their desperation and destitution has since failed to
attract the
desired 100 MPs to have a motion moved in Parliament.
On
the other hand, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) which
last year was offering failed asylum seekers £3 000 to return to Zimbabwe
under the voluntary returns scheme, is now calling on failed asylum seekers
to reach out to them so they can be assisted to go back through a £3 500
package. The offer is open till May.
Jan de Wilde, Chief of Mission
of IOM UK says of the scheme: "IOM very much
welcomes this enhancement to
the standard level of Reintegration Assistance,
even if it is time-limited.
With our help it can be used very effectively to
contribute to a more
sustainable return home. As ever, we will work hard to
ensure that everyone
who chooses to benefit from the enhanced package will
be able to do
so."
Investigations by zimbabwejournalists.com revealed hundreds of
Zimbabweans
were reporting to various immigration centres and police
stations around the
UK as they seek to have their cases heard again. Each of
the failed asylum
seekers has a sorry story to tell either of their day to
day survival in the
UK or their treatment in detention camps.
Other
failed asylum seekers have since stopped reporting fearing they could
be put
into detention as the government awaits the green light to deport
them.
Deportations were stayed to allow organisations and lawyers fighting
for the
failed asylum seekers to appeal against a decision last year
allowing the UK
to send people back to Zimbabwe. It is not clear how many
Zimbabweans remain
in detention to date and many anxiously wait to hear
whether the court
decision would be in their favour or not.
Most failed asylum seekers have
also been tagged to discourage them from
going underground.
"Life as
a failed asylum seeker in the UK is really painful," said one
failed asylum
seeker who spoke on condition he was not named. "I stayed in
detention for
six months and my whole view of the UK has been changed by
what I have had
to go through in the past few years. I live in poverty and
have to be in the
house at certain times to avoid being taken into
detention. I also have to
report every week, and I mean every week, as if I'm
a criminal. It is like
asylum seekers have no rights."
"I, however, want to thank the Zimbabwe
Association and many others
representing Zimbabweans here in the UK for all
the hard work they do to try
and help us. I for one really appreciate. Most
of us were let down by
lawyers who messed up things for us and some have
been told their cases have
reached their logical conclusions and all that
remains is to be sent back
home regardless of the fact authorities here tell
the world that things are
still bad in Zimbabwe," he added.
He said
Zimbabweans were by nature hard workers and would be happy to
contribute to
the UK national purse by being able to pay taxes rather than
live off
handouts either from the government or well wishers.
Another asylum
seeker who only wanted to be identified as Emily said she had
been forced to
sleep on a friend's floor because she had nowhere else to go
and is
appealing to the Zimbabwean community in the UK to come together and
help
those of their compatriots who are suffering here.
"Life is tough as a
failed asylum seeker. I am so hurt because I know my
life is in danger if I
go back home but the UK insists I have to go back. I
live in fear of being
returned everyday but I keep hoping and praying," she
said. "I used to
receive a weekly allowance but have since received a letter
from the Home
Office telling me I was no longer to receive NASS support
because I had lost
my appeal case so without a job and without any other
source of income, I
had to squat."
"Many of us sleep rough here. We go from place to place
because sometimes
even your relatives get tired of you. There are some
houses actually where
some good Zimbabweans have been helping out but that
has its own effects
like overcrowding and the spreading of diseases," said
Alma, another failed
asylum seeker.
"I lost so much weight in
detention and in there I saw how many of us are
being driven to the wall,
some have even developed mental problems. Imagine
living in detention for
more than a year. Most of us are not allowed to
access even hospital care.
It is frustrating to know we are waiting for that
decision so they could
start sending people back to a country which is being
looked at as a
pariah."
Writing to zimbabwejournalists.com, Luka Phiri said many failed
asylum
seekers he knew were homeless.
"Many of those affected are the
failed asylum seekers who can not be
returned back to Zimbabwe because of
certain legalities. Some Zimbabweans
have been fortunate that they never
really experienced the whole complex
draconic asylum structure. They claimed
asylum and within few weeks they
were granted leave to remain," he
said.
He added: "If you are a failed asylum seeker this is what you
experience;
· Homelessness
· Being without a job.
· No access to
health care except primary care
· No college will accept you as an asylum
seeker
· No legal aid unless your case has virtues
· No bank account
·
No uniqueness to get things like a drivers licences
Those still getting
NASS support get a shared room and £35 vouchers which
cannot pay for the
weekly reporting travel costs to the Home Office or the
police. Failed
asylum seekers interviewed said the NASS support differed
from person to
person but could hardly see them through the week.
Phiri says the
Zimbabwean community should certainly try to assist their
fellow countrymen
and women who are suffering in the UK.
"For those who are settled you
have a big role to play by helping those in
dire need. If you have
accommodation to offer for free to any one please do
not hesitate to contact
me as I have a number of Zimbabweans who need a roof
on top of their heads.
Just get in touch and help those who cannot help
themselves. Remember you
are helping not because you can afford but because
someone has no roof or
food to eat," he said.
Luka can be contacted on lphiriuk@yahoo.co.uk or on
07951293766
Others trying to assist failed asylum seekers include the
Zimbabwe
Association which can be contacted on zimbabweassociation@yahoo.co.uk
or 020
7549 0355
With Professor Stanford Mukasa
12 February
2007
In Letter from America Dr. Stan Mukasa discusses Robert Mugabe's
politics of
desperation for staying in office as long as possible, while
dragging
Zimbabwe down.
The "madman from Ngomahuru" is now
desperately grasping at the straws.
As the howling winds of change reach
within an earshot of Zimbabwe Robert
Mugabe and his regime are now
desperately trying all kinds of mumbo jumbo
and witches' brew strategies to
maintain their dictatorship.
Everything is falling apart. Zimbabwe is
disintegrating like a crumbling
cookie. A daily dossier of the situation on
Zimbabwe gives a distressing
narrative of how Zimbabwe is sinking
deeper.
The so-called "Look East" policy, stubbornly and mindlessly
enforced by
Mugabe, has not brought any noticeable benefits to the
masses.
Now the Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono says Zimbabwe must "Look
West!"
Even the Chinese appear to agree. The Chinese president was recently
scheduled to visit a number of African countries including Zambia, but not
Zimbabwe. This is the second time Zimbabwe has been skipped by her great
friend and compatriot.
Several on- and -off monetary reforms have
ended in disaster : the
devaluation of the dollar, removal of three zeroes
in the dollar
transactions, the so-called home link plan, restrictions on
foreign currency
distribution, police strip searching, or more accurately,
pick pocketing,
Zimbabweans, commodity price controls one day and no price
controls the next
day, ad nauseam.
Mugabe's Cabinet reshuffle was
like a merry- go- round circus involving
recycling the same deadwood
ministers.
In one mindless act after the other, the creation of the
senate has, as the
MDC predicted, turned out to be unproductive and a sheer
waste of resources.
Even the Mutambara MDC faction, which emotionally and
sheepishly embraced
participating in these elections to the extent of
splitting the MDC, do not
talk about the senate. They are too embarrassed to
mention that they are
members of this white elephant.
In the meantime
the Zimbabweans are going through very tough times. They are
the direct
victims of Mugabe voodoo economic policies and raw terror.
Like a madman
from Ngomahuru, as the late Edison Zvobgo once described him,
Mugabe is now
desperately reaching for the straws in what has become the
politics of
desperation to survive.
Mugabe has reached what Gramsci once called an
organic crisis - that is when
a state system or regime is surrounded by
formidable adversarial forces. In
that situation the political leadership
will pull all stops in a desperate
bid to survive. Attempts by Mugabe to
extend his rule beyond 2008 are
meeting with resistance from his own
anachronistic politburo.
On and off invitations to white commercial farmers
to come back to, or stay
on, their farms have merely added fuel to the
prevailing view that the
Mugabe regime is now bereft of any progressive
ideas to get the country out
of the mess Mugabe so recklessly
created.
Some insiders say Mugabe is now fully aware that his regime is
coming to a
shameful end. He knows that the comfortable lifestyles he and
his top
officials enjoy while the rest of the country suffers untold
hardships are
contributing to his downfall.
Neither money nor luxury
cars nor goods they enjoy are bringing them any
happiness at all.
And
there is a real possibility that Mugabe may be daily updating and
revising
his exit plans which could include an unannounced, unceremonious,
midnight
and physical departure from Zimbabwe. People with inside
information say
Mugabe now spends more time holed in his multimillion-
dollar and heavily
fortified mansion. He comes to his office for one or two
hours a
day.
It must be one of the most baffling and mind boggling events that,
after
such wanton and reckless destruction of Zimbabwe, Mugabe is still
clinging
to power.
A musician once sang; What is it that makes people
in power feel they must
stay forever?
Back in the 1960s the former
president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, said African
leaders created
neo-colonialism once they had tasted the personal benefits
that came from
political power.
When they were struggling as nationalist leaders they
lived very humble and
ordinary lives. They were teachers, clerks,
bookkeepers, some of them
heavily indebted and others barely able to make
ends meet.
Now these nationalist leaders were suddenly elevated at
independence to
positions of power where they were getting extraordinary
benefits, like
luxurious mansions, free flights around the world, hefty
salaries and
allowances.
A good number of them had no professional
qualifications that would assure
them good jobs capable of maintaining their
lifestyles when they left their
political offices.
It was not a
coincidence that the late Enos Chikowore reportedly committed
suicide soon
after he had been left out of a cabinet reshuffle. Kumbirayi
Kangai was
known to threaten Mugabe that if he should ever lose a cabinet
position he
would reveal untold facts about Mugabe and ZANU PF.
There is a good
reason to believe that the late Maurice Nyagumbo may have
committed suicide
in 1989 not so much because he had been exposed in a car
scandal but that he
had lost a golden opportunity to make a fortune. A
diplomat once said
everyone was surprised that Nyagumbo left very little
money for his family,
and the widow was living a desperate life.
The former president of
Tanzania, the late Julius Nyerere, who voluntarily
stepped down in 1985,
castigated African leaders who wanted to hang on to
their positions long
after they had ceased to be useful, let alone relevant.
Nyerere ruled
Tanzania from 1964 to 1985. He called upon African leaders to
set limits to
their rule.
The past few years have witnessed attempts by a number of
African leaders to
extend their term limits: Nunjoma in Namibia, Chiluba in
Zambia, Obasanjo in
Nigeria, Moi in Kenya, Muluzi in Malawi and now Mugabe.
In many of these
cases the people said "No" to presidential term extensions
- leading to the
embarrassed leaders backing down.
While Mugabe is
stubbornly and desperately hanging on to his position he is
aware that
popular pressure will force him out. His cronies in government
and ZANU PF
also know this.
This is why Mugabe has made some minor concessions by
offering to reduce his
position to that of a ceremonial president while
creating a powerful post of
a prime minister as head of government.
What
is peculiar about it is that Zimbabwe once had a prime minister and a
ceremonial president. The position of a ceremonial president was dissolved
when Mugabe replaced President Banana in 1987.
Zimbabwe also once had
the Parliament and a senate. The senate was dissolved
because it was then
considered a waste of money and time. Now it has been
restored. It is still
a waste of resources.
Both the offer for a return to a prime minister and
a ceremonial president
as well as the restoration of the senate are no more
than irrational acts
from people who are clueless about the dynamics of
governance.
They are -- in the true spirit of the madman from Ngomahuru --
now muddling
through day by day like blind men, acting on a whim and trying
all tricks in
the book to survive at a personal level.
In his moments
of desperation and knowing that, as he celebrates his 83rd
birthday, life is
now downhill for him, Mugabe is hell bent on crash landing
the country, a
scorched earth policy that comes from a man who will
sacrifice anything to
avoid any personal liability for two decades of
misrule.
SW Radio Africa Zimbabwe news
The Herald
(Harare)
February 12, 2007
Posted to the web February 12,
2007
Fidelis Munyoro
Harare
A HARARE inmate finally tested
freedom on Thursday after languishing in
remand prison for 10 years without
trial due to bureaucratic bungling.
Marko Simakani, who went into Harare
Remand Prison in July 1997 and "got
forgotten" only had his trial start
recently after he raised his plight with
Judge President Justice Rita
Makarau on her maiden tour of the prison in
October last
year.
Last Thursday Simakani (30) had his rape and murder charges
dismissed on
reason of his insanity. However, Simakani will briefly remain
in custody
while the prison authorities arrange for him to be transferred to
a
psychiatric institution for treatment, before being released into
society.
He has Justice Makarau to thank for ending his long wait for
justice. During
the tour, Justice Makarau found 10 remand prisoners who had
been condemned
behind bars without trial or sentence for several
years.
When Simakani was finally brought to court for his trial a week
after the
Judge President's maiden tour, Justice Anne-Mary Gowora delayed
the hearing
of the case to allow him to under go a mental
examination.
Through his lawyer, Mr Harrison Nkomo of Mtetwa and
Nyambirai, Simakani
offered a plea of not guilty to both charges.
Mr
Nkomo argued that his client had no recollection of events and if he did
indeed rape and killed Nyarai Bangura, then he did so while his mind was
disturbed.
After the trial resumed last week, Justice Gowora
acquitted Simakani after
hearing evidence of his mental status at the time
he committed the offence.
Justice Gowora, in her ruling, said there was
no dispute about his
commission of the crime. She said the only issue for
the court to determine
was whether or not he had the requisite intent to
kill the girl.
"The court is satisfied that at the time the accused
committed the two
offences he was mentally disordered so as not to be
responsible for his
actions.
He is therefore found not guilty and
acquitted by reason of insanity."
The judge also found as a fact that
Simakani's medication ran out the day
before committed the offence. Justice
Gowora said in considering how
Simakani should be treated after his
acquittal in view of his mental
condition, the court would adopt a cautious
approach since he committed the
crime after he ran out of
medication.
"Given that scenario without the assurance from a medical
practitioner, he
cannot be released into the general populace without
constituting a danger
to society.
We are constrained to have him
placed in an institution for examination or
treatment," she
said.
Simakani was charged with rape and murder he allegedly committed in
1997.
Ms Chipo Muronda of the Attorney General's Office alleged that
Simakani
stopped Bangura (16), on July 23, 1997, on her way to school and
dragged her
into a thick bush where he raped her once.
The Herald (Harare)
February 12,
2007
Posted to the web February 12, 2007
Harare
ZIMBABWE
National Water Authority is owed over $800 billion in unpaid water
bills by
Government departments, residents and private companies and is
considering
disconnecting the debtors' water supplies.
The Minister of Water
Resources and Infrastructural Development, Engineer
Munacho Mutezo, said
among those in arrears were hospitals, prison services
and farming
settlements, who were not paying water bills.
Earlier on Friday, Eng
Mutezo told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on
Local Government that
the debt was crippling Zinwa operations.
Members of the committee had
asked why water was being disconnected to
important institutions like
hospitals and prisons, in view of the critical
services they
offer.
"My heart bleeds when my officers cut water to these institutions,
but the
problem is that they are not paying. Water does not come free, it
costs
money. How do these institutions expect Zinwa to supply them water
when they
are not paying? We need money to buy chemicals and other
requirements," said
Eng Mutezo.
He said he had to order his officials
to reconnect water supplies to the
defaulting institutions following pleas
from them.
Eng Mutezo said the decision by the Government to take over
the distribution
of water from local authorities would allow them to focus
more on
development.
"By taking over Zinwa, it gives local
authorities time to refocus on other
developmental issues," he
said.
He said he would be going to Bulawayo to explain to the residents
on the
importance of Zinwa taking over the running of water
supplies.
The decision to travel to Bulawayo comes in the wake of stiff
resistance
from Bulawayo City Council to the take over by the water
authority.
"We will be going to Bulawayo to explain to them what
Government means when
it says it says Zinwa was taking over the running of
water supplies," he
said.
Several achievements have been made since
the take over by the water
authority and these include the purchase of
several gadgets like pumps and
filters among others, he said.
"We
have a water status summary everyday, monitoring the production and
distribution of water levels. We also have a number of contact persons who
have volunteered and accepted to be contacted and to be asked if there is
water," he said.
The Herald
THE $1,6 million lawsuit won by banker Ms Pindie
Nyandoro against
Harare City Council last week over damages caused on her
Mercedes Benz by a
pothole in one of the city's roads, should give the
council a rude
awakening.
The landmark judgment will certainly
open floodgates for litigation
against the city council, which seem to be
struggling to keep the city's
roads in good condition.
It has
become extremely difficult to drive in and around some parts of
Harare as
roads have become impassable and dotted with potholes.
The pothole
that Ms Nyandoro plunged into along Enterprise Road is
believed to have cost
many other motorists a fortune in vehicle repairs,
especially damaged
tyres.
This is a clear case of failure by council to discharge its
duties of
maintaining the road in a proper state as stated by High Court
judge Justice
Charles Hungwe who presided over the case.
Harare
boasted of pothole-free roads for many years but today the
situation is not
the same as the damage to the roads is occurring at a much
faster rate than
the council can repair them.
Council is fully responsible for
ensuring that city roads are safe for
motorists and there should be no room
for this neglect.
There are some areas in Harare where residents
have resorted to
patching up potholes using crushed stones and
sand.
One example is Tynwald North where residents come together
occasionally and work on the pothole damaged road off Kirkman
Road.
No road maintenance has been effected in the area since 1998,
including refuse collection.
Westlea residents too have
followed suit and are seen regularly
working on potholes and filthy environs
owing to uncollected garbage in the
area.
While refuse
collection has been poor in most areas, council has
started collecting
garbage in some parts of the city.
Walking down the pavements of
Harare's central business district is no
longer a joy any more. It can be
dangerous.
The open drainage system and cracked pavements have
landed some people
in hospital after falling or tripping over these
obstacles.
We are certainly sure that not many people are aware
that they can sue
council for injuries and it is a matter of time before
claims start piling
up at Town House.
Harare continues to grow
each day and it is vital for the men and
women who run the city to live up
to this challenge.
The Herald (Harare)
February 12, 2007
Posted to
the web February 12, 2007
Harare
THE State has been "incensed" by
the reluctance of three senior Government
officials to have their statements
recorded with the police as evidence in
the corruption case of two senior
civil servants in Harare.
Prosecutor Mr Obi Mabahwana last week told the
court that the trial of
Harare metropolitan provincial administrator Justin
Chivavaya and Harare
West district administrator Nelson Mawomo, was being
stifled by the
reluctance of Science and Technology Deputy Minister, Cde
Patrick Zhuwawo,
Harare Governor Cde David Karimanzira and Harare Commission
chairperson Ms
Sekesayi Makwavarara to give statements.
Mr
Mabahwana said the docket of the duo was referred back to the Attorney
General's office for assistance on how to deal with the three
politicians.
This is third time the State has complained about the
conduct of the three
politicians in the case in which Chivavaya and Mawomo
are accused of
conniving and corruptly issuing out 415 residential stands
and houses at
Whitecliff under operation Garikai last year.
Mr
Mabahwana argued that the Governor's statement was more important in that
he
was the one responsible for the authorisation of the issuance of
accommodation under the operation.
It was also submitted that Cde
Karimanzira's evidence was crucial, as he was
present on the day of the
distribution of houses to beneficiaries.
He added that Cde Karimanzira
should explain the procedure used in the
allocation of accommodation as well
as confirming whether a correct
procedure was followed on the case in
question.
Harare regional magistrate Mr Morgen Nemadire remanded the two
to March 30
pending completion of investigations.
Last month, the
Chief law Officer Mr Joseph Jagada from the AG's office
wrote a letter to
the officer commanding Criminal Investigation Department
Assistant
Commissioner Stephen Mutamba saying the trio risk being subpoenaed
to court
to testify without giving any statements to the police.
The police were
empowered to record statements from the three as the
investigating officer
in the matter detective sergeant Derick Rusere has
reported to the
prosecution that he could not record any statements from the
trio since last
year.
Chivavaya and Mawomo, arrested in July last year, are on $20 000
bail
apiece.
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
12
February 2007
Zimbabwean authorities have banned all
political gatherings in the Midlands
capital of Gweru in the run-up to
celebrations of President Robert Mugabe's
83rd birthday to be held there at
considerable expense, local opposition
sources said Monday.
Funding
of Z$300 million is being raised by the so-called 21st February
Movement, a
semi-official organization all of whose members were born on
that date,
which is the president's birthday, since Zimbabwe became
independent in
1980. The expense has been criticized as as a poor use of
funds in a country
where millions of citizens are falling into poverty and
hundreds of
thousands cannot afford AIDS drugs
Despite the organization's name, the
celebration will be held on February
24.
That Z$300 million is equal
to Z$1.2 million at the official exchange rate
of Z$250 to the American
currency. However, at the prevailing exchange rate
of over Z$5,000 to the
U.S. currency in the parallel market it is about
equivalent to
US$60,000.
Mkoba parliamentarian Amon Chibaya, a member of the Movement
for Democratic
Change faction of Morgan Tsvangirai, said he had scheduled a
meeting on
Friday, but was told by police that all political meetings were
barred until
after the celebration.
Speaking from Harare, Chief
Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police, said he was
not aware of the ban on political meetings.
Chibaya told reporter
reporter Carole Gombakomba of VOA's Studio 7 for
Zimbabwe that the ban comes
just as his MDC branch prepares for local
council elections.