Zim Independent
Letter
Welcome to Zimbabwe, really?
I
ARRIVED in Zimbabwe a few days ago through the Beitbridge border post as
a
visitor from South Africa driving my SA-registered car.
The
following has happened: Day one: I was charged R100 atthe border
for
something called "carbon tax". My efforts to try and find out what this
tax
is all about met with either blank looks or embarrassed giggles. I'm told
I
will be expected to pay another R100if my stay exceeds one
month.
I tried to get diesel at the Shell service station in Chivhu.
I was told by
the pump attendant that, yes, there was diesel in the pump.
However, he was
pushed out of the way by a man dressed in a leather jacket
who,
assuming(incorrectly) that I didn't understand or speak Shona, told the
pump
attendant to go away and that he would handle me.
He then
told me there was no diesel in the pump but that he had 20 litres in
a
chigubhu (container) which he couldsell to me for $6 500. I declined
his
offer.
Day two: In Harare I was sworn at in Shona for allowing
pedestrians to cross
infront of my car when the pedestrians had the right of
way. The offending
taxi driver looked more than startled when he heard my
reply, again in
Shona. His suggestion was to run them over.
Day
three: Now this is reallygetting interesting. I joined adiesel queue
in
Belvedere in mySA-registered vehicle. After six hours in the queue a
combi
arrived next to my car and the driver then told (again in Shona) the
driver
of the car in front to move over to let him jump the queue, waving a
$500
note.
I watched with interest until I realised that the
diesel supplies at the
pump were not unlimited. I then drew the attention of
the pump attendants to
this queue jumper and they very bluntly told himto go
to the end of the
queue. Once again, I was sworn at in Shona, and I was
threatened by the
queue jumper who said he was a war veteran and could
therefore do as he
liked even in Harare.
He then produced a
sjambok and threatened to use it on me amidst more
threatening in Shona. It
appears the police in Milton Park, on being told
that a war vet was causing
an upset inBelvedere, declined to attend.
The queue jumper then finally
left the queue when he was told by me in Shona
that he was getting nowhere.
He drove off threatening to come and get me and
suggested that I go back to
where I came from - which just happens to be
Zimbabwe!
I am really
getting quite excited to see what day four will bring. Perhaps
it might just
explain some of the foregoing or the welcome toZimbabwe sign
that is
prominent at Beitbridge.
John Hope,
Harare.
Zim Independent
Editor's Memo
All is not well
Joram Nyathi
I
AM surprised that despite predictions of the economic meltdown causing
civil
unrest and mass uprisings, nothing has happened in nearly three
years.
President Mugabe and Zanu PF are still with us even if tottering and
very
nervous.
Despite the untold suffering they have inflicted on
Zimbabwe, people have
not shown any inclination to rebel. Don't ask me why
because I don't have an
answer.
But I do not believe this has
anything to do with police brutality or fear
of the army. If anything, the
majority of the foot soldiers and members of
the police force would quickly
switch allegiance and join the ranks of the
toiling masses in any serious and
sustained mass uprising.
Most of them have not benefited from their
drudgery in defence of the
Establishment. They have no houses, they have no
transport, they cannot send
their children to school and they have to fight
the dogfight that everybody
else must fight everyday to buy scarce food
commodities.
Nor can it be said to be the fault of the MDC not
instigating an uprising.
That is not the job of an opposition party. The
opposition is there to
mobilise support for its own policies, to show people
where things have gone
wrong and point the way forward. In other words, to
provide an alternative
source of power and leadership. Nothing would be
gained by giving government
the excuse to detain the entire MDC leadership
for instigating a mass
uprising.
Whatever discontent is building
up around the MDC, Zimbabweans cannot at the
end of the day avoid blame that
they are the problem. If they can still
afford to live with Zanu PF's ad hoc
policies why should it be Robert
Mugabe's or Morgan Tsvangirai's fault? It's
not the fault of Thabo Mbeki,
Olusegun Obasanjo, Tony Blair or any other
foreign leader either. As the
Iranians say: "The disease that is in us is
from us."
What I find most enervating is government's failure to
exploit this
political impasse to adopt positive policy initiatives for
national
reconstruction after the ravages of land appropriations and the
bitterness
caused by the violence of the last two elections. What people are
desperate
for is not mass action but leaders who can subsume their personal
interests
for the common good. People are fed up with vindictive, spiteful
and
mean-spirited opportunists who will seize every space on television or
in
newspapers to insult our intelligence about Tony Blair hijacking
Zimbabwe's
petroleum on the high seas or Tsvangirai causing power outages and
shortages
of foreign currency - scapegoating.
Zanu PF already
should have had a head start in this direction as the ruling
party -
preaching reconciliation. (I was shocked the other day to see
Mugabe
embracing Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama in Mozambique and yet he won't
deign
to talk to Tsvangirai, let alone embrace him.) Zanu PF is so trapped in
the
survival mode they don't know what needs to be done.
That lack of
a clear vision for the future of the nation - and not the
party - is partly
responsible for the brain drain we are experiencing.
People are not running
away for lack of commitment to Zimbabwe. Most of
those running away have made
a great contribution to the country in terms of
starting businesses and
creating jobs. But government has stymied their
creativity by trying to place
a party tag on any and everything one does.
This has turned Zimbabwe into a
net exporter of talent and skills that we
need to chart the way
forward.
People had great expectations for both the presidential and
parliamentary
elections. After the debacle of those elections, they were
reticent about
mass protests because nobody was interested in bloodshed,
nobody offered
them as the last option and certainly could not be the final
solution.
People hoped that those in leadership would give them respite from
the chaos
of the election by showing the way forward. None of that seems to
be
forthcoming from government or Zanu PF.
No sane Zimbabwean even
in Zanu PF believes cheap government propaganda that
food shortages and our
economic problems are caused by white imperialists.
That explains why most of
those leaving Zimbabwe flock to the same countries
government tries to
portray as the authors of our misery - the United
Kingdom, Canada, the United
States, Australia and New Zealand. Very few
think of Malaysia, China or
Cuba.
Government's biggest single blunder is its failure to win the
goodwill of
its citizens. Well-meant advice from virtually all quarters of
society is
seen through the tunnel vision of party survival. It has refused
to engage
them in efforts to revive the economy or to engender faith in its
policies.
It has failed to harness their energies and creative abilities for
the good
of the nation.
Price controls have been imposed on almost
all basic commodities against
advice, yet experience shows that an item
disappears from supermarket
shelves the moment its price is controlled. The
closure of bureaux de change
was a unilateral and unpopular impost. The
result is that people now move
around carrying huge sums of money which they
change in their homes or
offices while government pretends it has a
controlled exchange rate. The
reason the parallel market is thriving is
because people are fighting
against government impositions.
Those
within the party lack the honesty to speak their minds, while those
outside
it who have vision are sneered at as potential trouble-causers
trying to
torpedo the gravy-train. The long and short of it is that
government and Zanu
PF have been fugitives from the truth since the
ill-fated February 2000
constitutional referendum. They have never wanted to
come face-to-face with
the reality and the people again. Unfortunately they
can never hope to win
their propaganda war without first convincing people
about the goodness of
their intentions.
The way forward is to harness the creative powers
of all Zimbabweans and
rebuild our shattered lives. That is what is meant
when people talk about
internal solutions. The majority of the people don't
want to be Zanu PF or
MDC - they want to forge ahead with life and make
Zimbabwe work once again.
The solution to Zimbabwe's political and economic
crises can only come from
Zimbabweans working together. Then everybody going
abroad becomes the
country's ambassador and publicity officer.
But
what solutions has government offered so far? More arbitrary arrests,
more
torture camps, more diatribes, and more draconian, targeted laws
against the
opposition and the media and generally creating a siege
environment
throughout the country. And the counterblast has been more
strident agitation
for constitutional change and mass action. People's
energies are being
dissipated in pursuit of agendas that can only lead to a
disastrous
end.
So long as government continues to pretend that only Zanu PF has
solutions
to our problems, it will remain alienated from the people and will
have a
daunting task trying to convince the international community that all
is
well in Zimbabwe.
Zim Independent
CIO operative accused of poaching
Taurai
Dzengerere
THE notorious Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative,
Joseph
Mwale, is at it again. He has been implicated in a poaching scandal
together
with Zimbabwe Republic Police Assistant Inspector Chiwandike in
Chimanimani.
Mwale is alleged to have connived with Chiwandike and 10
other Zanu PF
supporters to poach an eland bull in Charleswood Estate which
is owned by
Roy Bennett, the MDC MP for Chimanimani, according to a lawyers'
statement
made available to the Zimbabwe Independent.
Bennett is
seeking legal action through his lawyers.
Chiwandike and 10 other
poachers were caught red-handed by Bennett's workers
skinning the eland and
Chiwandike appeared to be the leader of the group,
according to the lawyers'
statement.
Mwale is also alleged to have mobilised people to invade
Bennett's farm.
Efforts to get comment from Bennett were fruitless as his
mobile phone was
not reachable.
Over the past two years, Mwale has
been implicated in various acts of
terrorism against opposition supporters,
the most serious being his
involvement in the petrol bombing which killed
Talent Mabika and Tichaona
Chiminya in 2000.
In a highly charged
letter from Bennett's lawyers copied to Inspector
Chogugudza, the
Officer-In-Charge of Chimanimani, the lawyers said
Chiwandike and his
accomplices were surrounded by farm workers who effected
a citizens'
arrest.
What surprised the workers is that when the police came to
the scene, they
were under the leadership of Mwale, who is the
Officer-In-Charge of the CIO
in Chimanimani.
"Mwale ordered
Chiwandike and other poachers together with the workers who
had effected
their citizens' arrest to disperse. No one was arrested," said
the
statement.
"Thereafter Mwale and the other five police officers
loaded the carcass of
the Eland bull into his vehicle and drove off," said
the lawyers.
Zim Independent
Lavish allowances planned for retired presidents'
wives
Vincent Kahiya
IN a move meant to guarantee a lavish
lifestyle for the First Family,
the government wants to amend the law to
raise the allowance of the spouse
of a retiring president or his deputy to
the same level as that of the
spouse of a serving
president/vice-president.
Under the proposed amendments to the
Presidential Pension and
Retirement Benefits Act, in the event of Mugabe
retiring, the First Lady
Grace Mugabe, for example, will continue to receive
the same benefits as
those of the spouse of a sitting
president.
Government sources this week said draftsmen at the
Ministry of
Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and officials from the
Ministry of
Public Services, Labour and Social Welfare were going through the
Bill
before it is tabled in parliament.
The amendments also
seek to peg the pensions of presidents and
vice-presidents at 90% of the
salary of an incumbent
president/vice-president. President Mugabe
turns 79 today while
co-vice-presidents Simon Muzenda and Joseph Msika are 80
and 79
respectively. Muzenda last year hinted at plans to
retire.
This is the second time in five years that the
government has sought
to amend the Presidential Pension and Retirement
Benefits Act.
In 1998 the then Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs minister
Emmerson Mnangagwa tabled amendments to the Act seeking to
increase the
amount of pensions payable to former presidents and
vice-presidents and
their spouses from half to two-thirds of the allowances
of a sitting
president or vice-president and their spouses.
Before the 1998 amendments, a vice-president was entitled to a pension
under
the Parliamentary Pensions Act if he had made pension contributions
for the
period stipulated under this Act.
The government in November
last year raised the salary of the
president by 20% from $1 396 776 per annum
to $1 676 131. The increment was
backdated to July 1 2002. He also enjoys an
annual cabinet allowance of $336
600, a general allowance of $336 000 a year
and a housing allowance of $470
268.
Zim Independent
Zimbabwe appeals for more food assistance
Augustine
Mukaro
THE government has made a late appeal to the World Food Programme
(WFP) to
continue food aid support for another year as there is no end in
sight to
the country's severe shortages and famine, say diplomatic
sources.
WFP food assistance is set to close at the end of March, raising
fears that
malnutrition will increase, especially in the hardest hit
provinces,
Masvingo and Matabeleland North and South.
Diplomatic
sources said the government only made the official request for
the
continuation of food aid last week. There has not yet been an answer
from
United Nations Development Programme which oversees the
WFP's
operations.
"Government will not even get the response in
time to bridge the gap," a
source warned.
"The UN and its system
would have to launch a fresh appeal to donors to make
funds available to
purchase the food and that would need a minimum of up to
three months before
the food shipments can start getting into the country.
The UN is not a donor
but mobilises funds from various donors to buy food,"
said the
source.
Donors may not respond to the Zimbabwean appeal in time
because of
commitments elsewhere and the current stand-off between the
government and
the international community.
Despite government
assurances that newly resettled farmers would provide
adequate food for the
nation, latest estimates show that agricultural
production will fall far
short of the country's requirements.
The need for more food aid is
widely viewed as a sign of the failure of the
country's "fast track" land
resettlement, said the source.
The government estimates that maize
production for the 2002/2003 season will
only amount to 571 000 tonnes,
according to the UN's Humanitarian Assistance
Report for February. Of that
only 56 000 tonnes are expected to flow to the
Grain Marketing
Board.
The estimates mean that the country will have a 1,3 million
tonne deficit
for the 2003/2004 marketing year. Zimbabwe has an annual food
requirement of
1,9 million tonnes of maize to bridge its marketing year. The
figure does
not include about 500 000 tonnes for strategic grain
reserves.
Zim Independent
Mugabe under pressure over human rights abuse
Blessing
Zulu
PRESSURE continued to mount on President Robert Mugabe after
Amnesty
International this week urged France and fellow African leaders at
the
Franco-African summit to condemn him for his abuse of human
rights.
Amnesty International, the leading international human rights
group, urged
world leaders to hold Mugabe accountable for his growing record
of human
rights violations.
"African leaders must take a more
public stand against state-sponsored
repression and violence in Zimbabwe,"
said Amnesty.
"A stronger stand is vital to ending impunity in
Zimbabwe and protecting the
human rights of all Zimbabwean citizens," said
the organisation.
The human rights group charged that over the past
three years Zimbabwe's
security forces and state-supported militia had
committed human rights
abuses with impunity.
"The cycle of
harassment, arrest and torture of those peacefully expressing
their opinion,
and those in opposition to government views must end.
Those responsible
for human rights violations and abuse must be brought to
justice," said the
organisation.
Amnesty International said Mugabe's presence in Paris
presented the French
government with an opportunity to show its commitment to
the guidelines of
the European Union (EU) policy on torture and other cruel,
inhuman or
degrading treatment and punishment.
"The EU's objective
is to influence third world countries to take effective
measures against
torture and ill-treatment and to ensure that the
prohibition against torture
and ill-treatment is upheld," said Amnesty
International.
The
group said Article 5 of the African Charter to which Zimbabwe is
signatory
prohibits torture, inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment.
Amnesty
International also condemned the torture of opposition MP Job
Sikhala, human
rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba, and MDC supporters Charles
Mutuma, Bishop
Shumba and Taurayi Magaya.
The organisation said the government's
sole aim was to silence dissent.
Zim Independent
You are the wind beneath our wings
DEAR Henry and
Andy, "The strongest man on earth is he who stands most
alone." - Henrik
Ibsen.
What you two young men did before your opening match was huge! Not
only did
it show enormous courage and integrity, but it also inspired a
nation. It
set everyone who loves Zimbabwe (here and abroad)
alight!
It illustrated in no uncertain terms just how important it is
to stand up
for what is right.
It could never demean the game you
love. To the contrary, it has given it
honour and dignity.
I once
heard you sing Wind beneath my wings, Henry, and that is what the
words in
your joint statement have done for a nation demoralised by a
cruel
dictatorship.
Your action showed that you care and you are
prepared to speak out even
though it may cost you dearly! Your brave words
have lifted us all.
We too mourn the death of democracy in our
beloved Zimbabwe. Knowing there
are men of your calibre in our midst gives us
hope for the future. We have
two sons living in the US and they too have been
awed by your courageous
gesture. They said it made them proud to be
Zimbabweans.
Henry and Andy, we salute you! Grace and peace be yours
in abundance. God
bless you both.
"When the One Great Scorer comes
to write against your name, He marks, not
that you won or lost, but how you
played the game." - Grantland Rice.
Keith and Colleen
Henderson,
Bulawayo.
------------
Let's stand by Olonga and
Flower
AN open letter to the leaders of cricket.
If you
lived here you would know that Henry Olonga and Andy Flower's
statement is
absolutely true and timely.
You would also realise that the England
team were well-informed when they
realised that their presence would lead to
demonstrations which, however
peaceful and restrained, would promote more
intimidation, suffering and
degradation of human rights of
expression.
Have you heard about Thursday night, February 13, when
police prevented a
meeting organised by the National Peace Building Committee
of the Crisis in
Zimbabwe Coalition from proceeding?
The topic for
discussion was: "The church: resolving or deepening the
Zimbabwe
crisis?"
Speakers were to be: Bishop Trevor Manhanga - president,
Evangelical
Federation of Zimbabwe; Dr Reginald Matchaba-Hove - chairperson,
Zimbabwe
Election Support Network and Brian Kagoro - co-ordinator, Crisis in
Zimbabwe
Coalition.
The people arrested were John Makumbe -
chairman, Transparency International
Zimbabwe; Brian Kagoro; Bishop Trevor
Manhanga; John Stewart - Peace
Building Committee of the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition and Ian Makone of the
MDC.
Everyone was released later
in the night on condition that they report to
the Law and Order Section in
the morning.
And have you heard about the Women of Zimbabwe Arise
(Woza) demonstration
for love, peace and non-violence? They were outside the
United Nations'
office in Harare declaring that they wanted Kofi Annan to be
their Valentine
and protector.
They were giving out flowers and
singing songs for Valentine's Day when they
too were arrested, detained and
subsequently released.
A Woza group in Bulawayo was also detained for
a similar demonstration.
Henry and Andy deserve commendation and respect
just as surely as a pop star
who declares that he/she is living with HIV/Aids
in order to bring out the
reality of the situation.
I have met no
one yet - black or white - who has anything but admiration for
their brave
and honest gesture.
Please stand by them. They should be the toast of
Zimbabwe and the whole
cricketing world.
Betty Ashton,
bashton@mango.zw
---------------
Zimbabweans
cowardly, individualistic
ZIMBABWEANS generally applauded the action
taken by Andy Flower and Henry
Olonga when they went public with their
condemnation of the political
problems in our country.
The fact
remains, however, that Zimbabweans have become cowards
and
individualistic.
We all ask ourselves what would happen to our
families if we confronted the
government?
The government is well
aware of these fears and it exploits them. The
so-called Green Bombers run
riot, ex-combatants run riot, police run riot
and brothers of politicians can
export hundreds of tonnes of scarce sugar
because they have been licensed
to.
We don't dare ask how they got the export permits in the first
place when
everyone else is being told by Joseph Made that foodstuffs may not
be
exported because of shortages.
Those are actions of a
government that has not lost touch with the masses,
but one that has nothing
but contempt for them.
Cricket authorities, like tennis
administrators, are part of the problem.
Which is why Olonga and Flower are
braver in their action than we thought.
The two Chingokas, Paul and
Peter, are great patronisers of the so-called
First Family. Paul's Tennis
Zimbabwe has Grace Mugabe as its patron.
Tell me, for what? Paul
Chingoka boasts of his weekly one-on-one meetings
with "that very intelligent
Amai". So we are supposed to be impressed,
intimidated and leave him
alone.
Here is a huge organisation that does not even have a
secretary-general - a
one-man band in which the so-called executive committee
is virtually
hand-picked.
The better organised, employment
generating Zimbabwe CricketUnion, would be
doing very fine without having to
resort to the protective patronage of
President Mugabe. But for some reason
the ZCU wanted President Mugabe to be
their patron. Now it has come back to
haunt them.
If England's refusal to come to our beloved country has
been political, and
I do believe it is political, shouldn't we accept that we
Zimbabweans
started it all by inviting the Mugabes to be our patrons, our
protectors?
Our people are seething inside. It's all bottled up. One
of these days, and
I am sure it will be very soon, it's going to blow
up.
We have history to learn from but, like Mobutu Sese Seko and
others before
and after them, our leaders keep believing it can't happen to
them.
One of these days someone will complain loud enough for the
investigators at
The Hague to notice.
There is certainly a case
here for the silver-haired lady prosecutor. Right
now she probably is too
busy as is another of Mugabe's best friends, Big
Milo. Nicolae Ceauscescu is,
of course, gone and he and his wife also
thought it wouldn't happen to them.
It did.
We pray that it will not be violent when the end does come.
It need not be.
A
Makuwire,
London.
----------
Bouquets to English cricket
team
BOUQUETS to Nasser Hussain and his men and brickbats for the
International
Cricket Council (ICC).
The civilised world will applaud
the action of the English cricket team in
refusing to come to Zimbabwe.
Patriotism and fair play won in the end.
It was surely inconceivable
that British sportsmen would contemplate
participating in any sporting event
inside a country whose head of state, on
numerous occasions, had pulled no
punches in castigating their government
and personally insulting their
elected Prime Minister. Not only that, but
outpourings about "whites" being
the enemy would scarcely have been
encouraging.
There is no place
for those holding the highest "degrees in violence" inside
cricket grounds,
either on the pitch or the refined social atmosphere of the
tea
pavilion.
As for the ICC, the worldly wise will have difficulty in
throwing off
suspicions that big political money had an important hand in
selecting
Zimbabwe as a match venue in the first place. Keep sport out of
politics.
How often in recent weeks have we had that admonition chucked in
our faces?
Horse feathers.
Let us hope that the English captain
and his players will receive the
official acknowledgement in time that they
deserve. They have made the right
decision by putting their country's honour
before personal considerations.
Well done chaps and good luck in the
tournament down south. You will perhaps
need it.
Pain Stopped
Play,
Chiredzi.
Zim Independent
Muckraker
Obasanjo, Mbeki scared of the
truth?
POOR old Saurav Ganguly, burnt in effigy in his home town of Calcutta
this
week after losing to Australia in the cricket World Cup. Hell hath no
fury
like an Indian fan thwarted, it would seem.
India scored just 204
over the Netherlands before losing by nine wickets to
Australia. Indian
police have guaranteed that the Indian captain's house
will be closely
watched to protect his family from marauding mobs.
What is so ironic
about all this is just a couple of weeks ago Ganguly was
making public
statements about how safe Zimbabwe was and how unjustified
England were in
feeling insecure about their visit to Harare and Bulawayo.
Ganguly told the
media in South Africa that when India toured Zimbabwe in
2001 it was all very
peaceful.
Of course it was then. Now it's a rather different story as the
daily
arrests of Zimbabweans by a partisan police show.
Ganguly no
doubt thought he was being helpful to his government, just as the
supine ICC
has bowed to India, Pakistan and South Africa in refusing to
accept the facts
on the ground here. But it's interesting how these
interventions come back to
haunt their authors!
"Times of London report totally false," screamed the
Herald last Saturday
regarding remarks by Kenya's foreign minister, Kalonzo
Musyoka, that
Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth could not be
arbitrarily lifted
by the troika, two of whose members were in favour of
allowing the matter to
lapse. "Decisions can only be taken at (December's
Chogm in) Abuja," he
said.
"Kenya" had "distanced itself" from the
report carried by news agencies as
well as the Times, the Herald
announced.
And what "Kenya"? That country's Daniel arap Moi-appointed
High Commissioner
to Harare. We were also told by Zimbabwe's High
Commissioner to London,
Simbarashe Mumbengegwi that Kenya's envoy to Britain,
also a Moi appointee,
had "expressed dismay" at the report. Mumbengegwi
translated this as
"totally false".
In fact the reports were totally
accurate. Musyoka was quoted using exactly
the same words by a number of
reporters present at his press conference in
London. He was evidently not
misquoted.
So what happened? It's quite obvious that no sooner had the
report been
spotted on the front page of this newspaper as well as in the
Times than
Kenya's envoys to Harare and London came under immense pressure
from
fire-breathing ministers at this end and our High Commissioner in
London
acting on their behalf. They were probably told of common African
positions
and reminded just how nasty this government could be about African
countries
that step out of line.
Whatever the case, it is time for
Musyoka to recall those diplomats who
represent the old Kenya. They are not
welcome here - or anywhere else.
Mumbengegwi was on Saturday reported as
saying "the decision to suspend
(Zimbabwe) was taken by the troika and the
decision to reverse that
suspension must be taken by the troika".
He
is absolutely right. Olusegun Obasanjo and Thabo Mbeki cannot
arbitrarily
make a decision to drop suspension without a meeting of the
troika. That has
not taken place. In fact Obasanjo and Mbeki have abdicated
an international
responsibility in refusing to see the process
through.
It will be recalled that they argued at Abuja in September that
they couldn'
t decide on further measures until their mandate was completed
in March 2003
when they would assess if Harare had met its commitments. Now
they have
abandoned the process without fulfilling their responsibility to
meet as a
body and decide on their response. What are Obasanjo and Mbeki
afraid of?
The answer is obvious: the truth.
Zimbabwe's electoral
system is still run by the army. And Zanu PF militias
remain the regime's
instruments of terror and coercion. Only the seriously
delusional will
believe things have got better since last March.
And can you believe
Mumbengegwi saying a majority of two to one is valid at
a meeting that hasn't
taken place? Does he know nothing about the
Commonwealth's consensual
decision-making process? And since when have
Zimbabwean officials given a
damn about what the majority think?
Has anybody noticed how Henry
Olonga's Zimbabwe song, played relentlessly on
ZBC for two years since its
release including the run-up to the cricket
World Cup, has not been heard
since Monday, February 10? Strange isn't it?
The Herald seems to think
that the opposition is deliberately "quoting (sic)
trouble" by defying
Posa.
"Knowing fully well that the police have a constitutional duty to
uphold and
enforce the law, the opposition MDC has led a campaign of defiance
in order
to provoke the police into arresting them and subsequently
portraying
themselves as victims," the Herald claims.
Really? Is that
what's happening? Or are members of civil society and the
opposition
exercising their constitutionally-guaranteed rights to protest
against
injustice while the police pursue a partisan agenda to deny people
the rights
to which they are entitled?
Isn't that the truth? And people who are
detained, beaten and tortured for
exercising their rights are universally
regarded as victims.
Posa is unconstitutional. If democracy is "about
majority rule", as the
Herald claims, why doesn't the government allow the
majority to express
their views? Why did it close polling stations when
people were still
waiting to vote last March? Why does it encourage Zanu PF
militias to beat
the hell out of the opposition? Why does it manipulate the
news? Why do the
police feel compelled to arrest women and nuns and judges
whose verdicts
ministers don't like? This is manifestly not a regime basking
confidently in
the affection of its people!
The Herald has been
carrying the views of Ghanaian exile Baffour Ankomar on
its pages again of
late. These are reproduced from his London magazine, New
African.
He
suggests starvation is the result of Britain and the US cutting lines
of
credit to Zimbabwe. He says nothing about the government's ban
on
private-sector imports of maize or its disruption of commercial
farming.
We recall Ankomah visiting Zimbabwe last year and appearing on
ZTV to defend
the Mugabe regime. More recently he has been telling
journalists in Zimbabwe
what sort of press freedom they should or should not
enjoy.
Our question for Ankomah is this: Who paid for your visit to
Zimbabwe last
year? Why have you not disclosed this information before you
preach the
Department of Information's gospel to unsuspecting
audiences?
The CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault was in Harare last weekend.
She appears to
have missed the arrests and brutal treatment of John Makumbe,
Brian Kagoro
and others last Thursday evening. A few hours later she was on
CNN saying
"security was not the problem" in Harare.
So what was the
problem? School children were interviewed saying they would
miss not seeing
the cricket after England's withdrawal.
The next day Charlayne's
camera-person was arrested while filming a
Valentine Day's gathering outside
the UNDP headquarters. We didn't hear what
Charlayne had to say about that.
Last year we reported that Charlayne
received a bunch of roses from John
Nkomo on her birthday. There will be no
bouquets from Muckraker until we hear
it like it is!
The deputy secretary for Environment in the Ministry of
Tourism and
Environment, Margaret Sangarwe, says the pollution of air, water
and
forestry by some companies "is a critical issue the country has been
facing
for many years without any legal protection of the
environment."
But she didn't say why the state has failed so
conspicuously to protect its
citizens for so long. And why did she refer to
"companies" without
mentioning the commuter omnibuses and trucks that spew
deadly emissions
which are hazardous to the health of motorists? Those
imported from the Far
East seem to be particularly noxious.
A good
measure of the sincerity of government in attending to pollution will
be the
speed at which it deals with the pollution on the roads and requires
the
installation of catalytic converters.
The government wants the CFU to
sign up, among other things, to the
statement in a memorandum of
understanding that the land grabs of the past
three years are "irreversible"
and that any compensation for the land taken
will have to come from
Britain.
The CFU, which has been standing firmer than in the past against
these
blandishments, should remind those trying to twist their arms into
signing
this dubious document that nothing is irreversible. Throughout
Eastern
Europe governments have been restoring property where possible to
their
original owners. The same has been happening in Uganda where
Asians
dispossessed in the 1970s have been encouraged by state incentives to
return
and revive the industries they once ran. Mozambique is offering land
to
those who can work it in the national interest, restoring food
production
lost through a wave of nationalisation in the 1970s and
80s.
Muckraker's advice to Colin Cloete: Here's your chance to redeem
your
timorous outfit. No deals with a discredited regime in sudden need of
your
"dialogue". Tell Joseph Made and Jonathan Moyo what to do with their
MOU.
And press for a land commission to investigate anomalies, corruption
and
theft in land redistribution.
That might restore the CFU's
standing in the eyes of the people, something
you - along with the ZCU -
urgently need to do.
A report in the Standard says Foreign Affairs
minister Stan Mudenge has
called on the Commonwealth to disband if it does
not want to lift sanctions
against Zimbabwe. He said the Commonwealth had
been divided along racial
lines because of the Zimbabwe "issue". "If
Australia, Canada, Britain and
New Zealand want the interests of the whites
without Africa, we say destroy
your Commonwealth," declared Mudenge at a
meeting in Masvingo last week.
The question that Muckraker wants Mudenge
to answer is why he is so bitter
about Zimbabwe's suspension and yet so
passionate about the country being
readmitted into a "racist" organisation?
And why didn't Mudenge challenge
the appointment of the so-called troika on
Zimbabwe if there was no anomaly
in President Mugabe's re-election? Why is
his government unwilling to
address issues of human rights abuses and the
breakdown of law and order in
the country instead of attacking those who
point out these blatant
aberrations?
Muckraker is not surprised by
Mudenge's proposed solution of "destroying"
the Commonwealth. His government
has destroyed commercial farming, the rule
of law, the economy and the health
sector in Zimbabwe. All basic foodstuffs
are in short supply because of
government's destructive price controls. We
have seen very little of
constructive policies since the failed February
2000 constitutional
referendum. That mode is sadly being extended to the
Commonwealth. Mudenge
should get real and attend to the issues that caused
Zimbabwe's suspension
from the Commonwealth instead of trying to hide behind
the race issue.
Zim Independent
Major policy change overdue on parastatals
ZIMBABWE'S
parastatals are bleeding to death. The nation's coffers are
nearly dry and
the overburdened taxpayer is overstretched. The solution
suggests itself that
government should dispose of most of these
money-guzzlers.
No, says
the government, that would amount to selling the family heirloom.
But it
would need more than a magician to convince anyone what strategic
interest is
served by a parastatal such as Noczim when the country has been
in the grip
of a crippling fuel crisis for the past two years, and there is
no end in
sight.
The national air carrier Air Zimbabwe is a shambles as we speak.
Workers at
the parastatal have warned that Air Zimbabwe faces total collapse
soon
unless there is a huge capital injection. Most of the airline's planes
have
been grounded because there is no money to service them.
A lot
has also been said about Zisco's recapitalisation and its fruitless
search
for a strategic partner. Nothing seems to be working.
It would be
pointless to labour the case about the National Railways of
Zimbabwe after
the recent train disaster in Dete in which about 50 people
were killed after
a head-on collision because of decrepit railway
infrastructure and signalling
equipment.
The point must be made though that the parastatal is
severely
undercapitalised and therefore underperforming. Firing the NRZ board
is no
more than papering over the cracks. In fact it amounts to victimising
NRZ
management for government's own failure to ensure the parastatal has
enough
resources to operate properly.
In any civilised country where
people's lives are taken seriously - not as
mere pawns in a political game -
the Minister of Transport would have
resigned in shame rather than victimise
his employees.
But it is the ramifications of the virtual collapse of the
NRZ which should
set the nation thinking more seriously about how far this
country has been
run down through a culture of non-accountability and
treating party politics
as the ultimate goal of sovereignty.
The
problems at the NRZ have resulted in the parastatal failing to move coal
from
Wankie Colliery which has in turn forced the temporary closure of
Circle
Cement, the biggest cement producer in Harare. That will severely
impact on
construction companies which depend on Circle for cement supplies.
The
ripple effects go as far as the informal sector where most of the
unemployed
have been supplying pit and river sand to those involved in
housing
construction. While the NRZ might have severance packages for its
redundant
employees, the same cannot be said of those in the construction
trade who
were caught off-guard by the sudden closure of Circle Cement.
The
importance of coal in the curing of tobacco cannot be overestated as we
move
closer to the tobacco harvesting and selling season. Newly-resettled
farmers
who took to tobacco as their new cash cow will have to watch as the
fruit of
their labour goes to waste because there is no coal for curing it
before it
is taken to the auction floors.
The viability of power utility Zesa has
never been fully exposed for what it
real is because of the credit lines
extended by South Africa's Eskom. But
already the country is beginning to
experience unannounced, intermittent
load-shedding. According to industry
sources, Zesa's supply capability to
provide power is so overstretched that
if industry were operating at full
capacity, they would not cope.
It
is estimated that Zimbabwe's parastatals will this year require over
$120
billion from the fiscus and yet they already owe nearly US$750 million
to
foreign creditors.
What is needed is a holistic programme to
commercialise, and ultimately sell
off most of these parastatals. There is no
point in treating these entities
as the family heirloom when they have become
a serious drain on the fiscus.
Their impact on the nation's fiscal deficits
is enormous. What is the point,
for instance, of maintaining the GMB's grain
monopoly when it cannot
replenish the country's strategic reserves and nearly
half the population
faces starvation?
The government could appoint
technical committees of strategic thinkers and
planners to examine parastatal
requirements in terms of equipment, human and
capital resources to get them
going. Thereafter they can be disposed of at a
good return. The Cotton
Company of Zimbabwe and Dairibord are good examples
of what privatisation can
achieve.
Government cannot continue much longer to run parastatals like
charity
organisations. A culture of business sense is long overdue. In their
current
shambles, Zimbabwe's parastatals have become a haven of corruption
and
sheltered employment for redundant relatives and cronies, at a huge cost
to
the taxpayer.
Zim Independent
Commonwealth troika expected to meet again
Dumisani
Muleya
THE Commonwealth troika on Zimbabwe is still expected to meet next
month to
discuss a report by the club secretary-general Don McKinnon on the
local
economic and political crisis, it emerged yesterday.
Diplomatic
sources said the troika - which comprises Australian Prime
Minister John
Howard, who is also the Commonwealth chair, South African
President Thabo
Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo - was
expected to meet
despite resistance from the two African leaders.
In a letter to
Howard last week, Obasanjo suggested it was no longer
necessary for the
troika to meet as scheduled as the Zimbabwean situation
was allegedly
improving.
But sources said the meeting was still on the
cards.
Obasanjo also said Zimbabwe's suspension should be lifted
because Harare was
doing something to address issues of concern to the
Commonwealth - land,
democracy, human rights and
elections.
Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth councils on
March 19 last year
for a year for blatant vote-rigging.
Obasanjo,
in his letter which he said was written with Mbeki's approval,
accused Howard
of not being an honest broker on the issue that he claimed
was mostly land,
as opposed to electoral fraud. Mbeki has also been
insisting that a regime
change in Zimbabwe was a prerogative of Zimbabweans.
However,
diplomats this week said Obasanjo and Mbeki were simply confused
about the
troika's mandate. They said the two leaders were inclined to
obfuscate to
avoid moderating and containing President Robert Mugabe.
"Obasanjo
and Mbeki are not qualified to be honest brokers, if ever that is
the issue,
because they whitewashed and endorsed Mugabe's hotly-disputed
re-election in
March last year," a diplomat said.
"But the constitution of the
troika was never based on the concept of honest
brokerage. Howard is involved
because he is the current Commonwealth chair
and Obasanjo and Mbeki because
they had been dealing with the Zimbabwe
crisis well before the troika was
formed."
The issue, diplomats say, is about Zimbabwe's suspension for
vote-rigging
and what it is doing to address issues raised at the troika
meeting at
Marlborough House in London last year, and not land and change
of
government.
South African Foreign Affairs minister Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma yesterday
proved in an interview with Radio France International
that Pretoria has
bought Mugabe's package of claims that Harare was putting
its house in
order.
Dlamini-Zuma blamed Britain for the land
crisis in Zimbabwe and parroted
Harare's assertion that the situation has
improved because citizenship laws
were being amended to accommodate
immigrants from the region.
"Zimbabweans have tried to make sure that
the white farmers who want to
continue to farm still have land on which to
farm, and of course there were
some mistakes in the implementation," said
Dlamini-Zuma.
Zim Independent
Govt bungled Paradza arrest - lawyers
Blessing Zulu
THE government bungled its hasty arrest of High Court
Judge, Justice
Benjamin Paradza, legal sources told the Zimbabwe
Independent.
Jonathan Samkange, Justice Paradza's lawyer, said his
client was still
a member of the bench and could still try
cases.
"Justice Paradza has not been fired or suspended," said
Samkange.
"The judge still has his powers and can preside over
cases," said
Samkange.
The Legal Resources Foundation (LRF)
said the government did not
follow the correct procedure in handling the
Justice Paradza case.
"It is the view of the LRF that an
internal inquiry ought to have been
conducted in the first instance by the
Judge President into allegations
levelled against Mr Justice Paradza before
criminal proceedings were invoked
against the Judge," said the
LRF.
The LRF said the action only helped to demean the office
of the judge.
"The unseemly haste with which the Judge was arrested
and detained is
an affront to the dignity of the office of the Judge and
creates in the
minds of the public an unfortunate impression that Mr Justice
Paradza is
being harassed for making judicial pronouncements that have not
been
favourable to the authorities," said the LRF.
Paradza,
a sitting judge, is being charged on allegations of
attempting to obstruct
the course of justice.
Sternford Moyo, the president of the Law
Society of Zimbabwe, said the
procedure adopted was
premature.
"An independent tribunal should have been set up,"
said Moyo.
"The judge can be suspended at this stage by the
tribunal and if there
is indeed misconduct, the tribunal can take the matter
up with the Judicial
Services Commission. The matter can then be taken to the
attorney-general
for prosecution," said Moyo.
Zim Independent
AirZim still pays strike breakers
Blessing
Zulu
Cash-strapped Air Zimbabwe, which is battling to pay creditors,
continues to
lose money by providing perks to suspended managers and paying
strike
busters and ghost workers, the Zimbabwe Independent has
learnt.
Ngonidzashe Gumbo and Annah Maria Huruni, two managers who were
suspended by
the national airline two years ago, are still enjoying their
privileges and
perks.
"The two still drive a Mazda 626 and a
Nissan Hardbody truck respectively,
both owned by Air Zimbabwe," said a
source at the national airline.
"They still enjoy all the perks that
go with these positions. For a national
airline that is facing a financial
crisis, this is not sustainable," the
source said.
Air Zimbabwe
managing director Rambai Chingwena would not confirm or deny
these
revelations.
"The matter of those two is largely historical," said
Chingwena.
"The issues are covered by confidentiality. We held
confidential discussions
with them but I can confirm to you that they are not
on our payroll," said
Chingwena.
The national airline hired close
to 70 strike busters in November as a stop
gap measure during its engineers'
strike.
Addressing engineers at Airways Sports Club in Hatfield two
weeks ago,
Chingwena begged the engineers to co-exist with those who had been
hired.
"We appeal to you to work with the workers we had recruited
when you went on
strike," Chingwena said. "We ask you to co-operate with
them."
Sources say the strike busters are each being paid more than
$80 000 per
month.
Commenting on why the contract engineers were
still being employed by the
cash-strapped airline, Chingwena said: "Their
term of office expires at the
end of this month and we are not going to renew
their contracts."
Workers also told the parliamentary portfolio
committee on Transport and
Communication last week that there were ghost
workers who were being paid by
Air Zimbabwe. The portfolio committee is
investigating these allegations.
Air Zimbabwe is plagued by serious
cash flow problems threatening its
viability. The national airline is failing
to pay its creditors who are owed
millions of dollars in foreign
currency.
Colonel Christian Katsande, the permanent secretary in the
Ministry of
Transport and Communications is said to be considering a shake up
at Air
Zimbabwe.
"It is true that heads will roll at Air
Zimbabwe," said a source.
"At the moment he is still occupied with
the problems at the National
Railways of Zimbabwe," said the source.
From SABC News, 19
February
Tsvangirai's accuser says key
invoices destroyed
The key state witness in the treason trial of Morgan
Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, said his firm had destroyed evidence
which defence lawyers say could prove the veteran activist was framed.
Tsvangirai and two colleagues in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) could
be sentenced to death if convicted of plotting to kill President Robert Mugabe.
All three deny the charges. The state's case hinges on a videotape of a meeting
between Canadian political consultant Ari Ben-Menashe and Tsvangirai at which
they allegedly discussed Mugabe's "elimination". Ben-Menashe told Zimbabwe's
High Court that his business partner had told him this week the firm had
destroyed invoices detailing $615 000 worth of work it subsequently did for
Mugabe's government. "There were always security concerns about the Zimbabwe
files. There were different times when there were concerns that our office was
entered and our files tampered with," he said, adding that he personally had
nothing to do with the destruction of the invoices.
Lead defence attorney George Bizos, who has repeatedly
criticised Ben-Menashe as an unreliable witness, said the destruction of the
invoices could prove that Ben-Menashe made the videotape expressly to frame
Tsvangirai. "The disappearance of the vouchers must have been engineered for the
purpose (of concealing) that the $615 000 you received was for the work that you
did for the government of Zimbabwe in making the tape," Bizos said. Bizos said
state lawyers had told him that Zimbabwe's government would also not produce
copies of the invoices, which Ben-Menashe said were instalment payments on a
broader contract his firm, Dickens and Madson, had with Harare. Tsvangirai's
treason trial comes at a time of heightened tension in Zimbabwe, where Mugabe is
facing both demands for political reform and his worst economic crisis in more
than two decades in power. Ben-Menashe has previously hinted that former
colonial power Britain and the US Central Intelligence Agency were involved in
the alleged assassination bid, which he has described as part of a plan to stage
a coup in the troubled African country. Tsvangirai and his co-accused say the
alleged plot was set up by the government to discredit the MDC ahead of March
2002 presidential elections which Mugabe eventually won amid charges of
electoral irregularities from several western countries.
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 20
February
Truffle dinners for £190 at the
Mugabes' glittering hideaway
Philip Delves Broughton in Paris is thrown out after trying to
have a cup of tea in the hotel where the presidential suite costs £2,850 a
night
The pale, hunched manager of hotel security began mumbling in
French. What with the harpist playing and the chink of china tea cups, it was
hard to hear him. "We thought we had made it clear. We no longer want you among
our clientele. You are making them uncomfortable," he said. In one corner was
Lord Saatchi and his wife, the novelist Josephine Hart, over on a day trip.
"Shame on France," she said after seeing the tiny band of British protesters
outside. In another corner sat the billionaire banker Joseph Safra, whose
brother Edmond was killed in a fire in his flat in Monte Carlo four years ago.
Three French women d'un certain age in furs and immaculate blonde hairdos
smoked and gossiped. The security guard shrugged and fiddled with his
walkie-talkie. Such is the Plaza Athenée when Robert Mugabe is staying in town.
One minute they are offering you eclairs, the next they are muscling you onto
the street.
The reason for the manager's anxiety soon became clear. Two
black Mercedes pulled up at the hotel's side entrance and a group of bodyguards
sprang up from their salmon pink fauteuils beside the harpist. A tall, slim
black woman in shining leather shoes, a long black overcoat, gold hoop earrings
and a yellow headscarf strode in. Behind her cowered two men, both in dark
coats, both carrying unmarked shopping bags and one carrying a large Louis
Vuitton handbag.The other guards stood in a row, hiding the route to the
staircase as six more men scurried past each clutching designer bags, up the
stairs to the third floor. The Mugabe entourage has blocked off one side of this
non-smoking floor, occupying rooms 323-356, including a presidential suite
costing £2,850 a night. The least expensive rooms are £350. The French
government is pulling out all the stops for Mr Mugabe as he attends the
Franco-African summit, which starts today and ends tomorrow, deploying 40 riot
police to protect his hotel. France is paying for the summit, but not the
accommodation. Most of the poorer heads of state are staying with their
ambassadors.
Mr Mugabe, however, has opted for a hotel convenient for his
wife's shopping. In recent years Grace Mugabe has become notorious at home for
her profligacy on her husband's foreign trips. The Plaza Athenée, owned by the
London-based Dorchester Group, is on the Avenue Montaigne, beside Harry Winston,
the jeweller, and surrounded by the great names of high fashion, such as Dior,
Valentino and Christian Lacroix. It is discreet by the standards of Paris's
great hotels and favoured by rich Europeans and Latin Americans. The walls are
all pink or pale grey stone, the chandeliers are not too gaudy and the waiters
wear black Nehru jackets rather than the tailcoats you see at the Ritz. One of
its most appealing features is its restaurant Alain Ducasse which holds the
maximum three Michelin stars. Last night's menu included a £190-a-head truffle
menu, as well as the more humdrum chilled langoustines with caviar, for £77, and
bitter orange glazed duck foie gras for £47. At 6pm, the maitre d' was still
unsure whether he would be serving the Mugabes. M Ducasse, usually all too eager
for publicity, was said to be unavailable for comment on the morality of feeding
Zimbabwe's first family. Today, Mr Mugabe will attend the opening session of the
Franco-African summit and in the evening he and his wife will be welcomed by
President Chirac and his wife to the Elysée for an official heads of state
dinner. You can be sure Grace Mugabe has something decent to wear.