CHENJERAI Hunzvi, the late leader of the war veterans' movement, became a
Member of Parliament after he had led the violent farm invasions
of 2000.
Unfortunately, he was not there long enough to make his
mark, although on the few occasions that he made news in the House, most
people wished he had not stood up to speak.
Hunzvi died before
he had finished his term as the MP for Chikomba. It is entirely Zanu
PF's business to choose who should represent the party in
Parliament. If other people are concerned that some of the party's
choices have lowered the national esteem of MPs in general, then that may not
be Zanu PF' s preoccupation at all, as it has its own agenda to
pursue.
After all, this is the party of the struggle for
liberation, with the slogan Ndeyeropa which, unfortunately, was not discarded
after 1980 when the struggle ended in victory for the people.
In
the years since then, the party has done little to persuade the people in
general that with independence came political maturity, the maturity to
conduct politics without the violence of the
liberation struggle.
But to select Joseph Chinotimba as their
candidate for the Highfield by-election seems guaranteed to turn the campaign
in that constituency into a bloody affair.
Chinotimba boasted
loudly that he was the "commander of the farm invasions", and was seen as
Hunzvi's right-hand man during that dark period of bloodshed.
His role in the "invasion" of the private companies that followed the terror
on the farms, was quite prominent too, although he did not publicly boast of
having been the "commander" of that outrage.
Other notable
participants in that episode of mayhem were Chris Mutsvangwa and Chris
Pasipamire, the former now an envoy, and the latter, incredibly, a student in
the United Kingdom.
And Zanu PF wants Chinotimba to be their MP for
Highfield. Of course, at the end of the day, it is the voters of Highfield
who must make the final decision: do they want Chinotimba to be their
MP?
The primary concern of most people is not whether Chinotimba
wins or loses: it is the conduct of the campaign.
In Kuwadzana,
where there is another by-election, there was violence long before the poll
date was announced.
The Zanu PF candidate is a businessman who has
no known background of rabble-rousing or "commanding" anything as bloody as
farm invasions.
Yet there has been mayhem there, with Zanu PF
youths setting up their notorious "bases", from which they terrorise innocent
residents.
Things could be different in Highfield where the Zanu PF
candidate is a man known to have the track record of someone who has featured
prominently in incidents of violence. After his victory as the Zanu
PF candidate, Chinotimba appealed to the Zanu PF youths to refrain from using
violence in the run-up to the election.
It is entirely a matter of
speculation if the youths will heed this appeal. Since the parliamentary
election in 2000 no election has been held in this country where there has
been no violence.
In Highfield, the participation of a candidate
with a well-documented record of violence ought to be a vital element in
considering stringent police measures to prevent a violent
campaign.
Both seats are held by the MDC, and Zanu PF, which has
lost ground in most urban areas, seems determined to rid itself of the tag of
being a rural party.
It is not inconceivable that the party
could throw everything into this campaign, including the kitchen
sink.
In the end, it is the people of Highfield who must decide. It
would be amazing if they chose violence.
Gifted scholar-cum-statesman, the late Julius Nyerere, the
former President of Tanzania once wrote: "The politics and political turmoil
of any country are the exclusive business of the people of that nation unless
and until they impinge directly on the territorial integrity of
another country."
President Mugabe once roared against Tony
Blair and warned him to keep his fingers in his own pie. Interfering with the
domestic disputes of any nation is essentially unethical and it violates the
international laws of territorial integrity.
No country can even
force another country to do its bidding; the indigenous people should take
responsibility and confront their problems.
I have noticed with
dismay the rate at which Zimbabweans are emigrating to other countries in
search of greener pastures.
One wonders how durable this is as a
long-term solution to a crisis. Kembo Mohadi intimated on Saturday 18 January
2003 in The Daily News that the passport department will soon be working 24
hours a day to enhance efficiency in the processing of travel
documents.
It is astonishing that a government should work 24 hours
to send its own people outside the country how disgusting! It is a clear
admission of failure. The only way that the Mugabe regime can ameliorate its
appalling failure is by opening up its borders for the exodus of its
populace. It enables the government to buy time and prolong its illegitimate
tenure.
Personally, I believe that this is not a sustainable
solution for any nation. Indeed forex changers, especially on the black
market, are making a killing, but this is only viable at a micro or family
level. The nation today requires a people willing to confront the crisis
headlong.
I happened to be in one of the long passport queues in
Bulawayo a few weeks ago. The queues there were terrible. I could
not believe that thousands, indeed millions, of Zimbabweans are fleeing from
one old man. Of course, the old man is backed by strong and repressive State
apparatus, but I believe the collective will of the people is supreme. Kenyan
political commentator and scholar, James Ngugi wrote: "No force on earth, not
even nuclear weapons, can finally put down the organised power of an awakened
people."
Zimbabweans have put too much faith in the international
community to solve their crisis for them. International pressure is good to
condemn autocracy. However, it is beyond their jurisdiction to
interfere directly and solve an internal crisis unless a clear genocide has
been committed.
All the same, it is hideous for South Africa to
declare that last year 's presidential elections were "free and fair".
Nkosazana Zuma, the South African Minister of Foreign Affairs was in
Zimbabwe late last year and made ludicrous comments about Zimbabwe being a
haven for both locals and tourists. To cap the rhetoric, she was speaking
from the luxurious resort of Victoria Falls.
Logically speaking,
would anyone expect to find dirt in a hotel? Similarly, could she
expect to find anything amiss in a tourist resort? She made the ill-informed
statement at a time when thousands of people were concomitantly being flogged
and harangued in Insiza district.
This is but the tip off
the iceberg to buttress my argument that salvation for Zimbabwe does not lie
in the hands of the international community.
Now where should
our salvation emanate from? Several hypotheses have been proffered. Others
argue that we should wait for divine intervention. Yet others implore Britain
to make a drastic move to alienate and stifle the Harare government into
resignation.
The alternatives are all appealing but I believe that
we as Zimbabweans have an active role to play. Intellectual arguments
have apparently proved ineffective as Zanu PF is not prepared to bow down to
such mediocre pressure.
I am not about to propagate a gospel of
violence and despondency. However I believe that the Zimbabwean crisis has
made it easy for any opportunists to capitalise. Ever wondered why business
people are making a killing? It is because ours is a crisis
situation.
Unfortunately we do not have such political predators.
We do not need clandestine leaders like Lovemore Madhuku who are suspiciously
working in cahoots with anti-revolutionary elements.
The poorly
organised stay-aways are destroying the people's hopes of successful mass
action. I am reliably informed that the people wanted to riot immediately
after Learnmore Jongwe's burial, but it is alleged that the MDC leadership
calmed them down.
They allegedly proposed a revolt after Jongwe's
burial, an instance of poor, unsustainable revolutionary praxis.
I also happened to hear Gibson Sibanda, the vice-president of the
MDC addressing a meeting in Matopo on 29 December 2002. I was particularly
irked by his proposed way forward. He frantically argued that we should
leave Mugabe to the natural elements. He argued that the crisis in Zimbabwe
will virtually force Mugabe's regime to accept a rerun of elections,
without even attempting to elaborate how.
It is foolish to expect
Mugabe to pave way for elections just like that. The MDC must be wary of
triviality, to the amusement of Zanu PF. Zanu PF enjoys toying with petty
issues. MDC supporters and senior officers shall continue to be harassed,
arrested and detained illegally. This buys time for Zanu PF and they love
it.
It is time that somebody was arrested for a real issue. How
many times have MDC officials been falsely accused and tortured? St
Mary's MP, Job Sikhala is currently nursing wounds from severe torture for
charges that are apparently baseless. How could anyone possibly write
documents and plans for torching a bus? And how could that action directly
topple the government?
The MDC should simply seek national
consensus and engage in well-organised mass action that will cripple the
economy and inevitably force the government to its knees. They have done it
before and they should complete the job. The situation is ripe, though the
people still need political grilling.
I would for once agree
with Munyaradzi Gwisai, Sunday Mirror, 19 January 2003, that chaos is what we
need to remove Mugabe, though it still has to be an organised noise.
ARI Ben-Menashe, the key State witness,
yesterday conceded that parts of a video recording which forms part of the
prosecution evidence in the treason trial of opposition MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and two senior party officials, was inaudible.
The
video, clandestinely recorded at Ben-Menashe's instance, shows
the proceedings of the meeting where Tsvangirai allegedly asked Dickens
& Madson, a Canadian-based political consultancy firm of which
Ben-Menashe is president, to assist in a plot to assassinate President Mugabe
and thereafter depose the Zanu PF government.
The meeting was
held in a boardroom at the Dickens & Madson headquarters in
Montreal.
Ben-Menashe struggled in some instances to follow what
was being discussed in the video-taped meeting and repeatedly asked for a
replay of the tape.
In some cases Ben-Menashe leaned towards the
speakers, holding his hand to his ear, but admitted after failing to follow
the discourse: "I can' t make out the words" or "There are inaudible words
from . . ."
South African advocate George Bizos, the head of the
defence team, complained on Tuesday about the quality of the video
recording. "You can't hear any intelligible or meaningful
conversation," Bizos said.
But the Judge President, Justice
Paddington Garwe, yesterday ruled that "the best approach would be for the
tape to be shown in full".
He said the court would make its
decision on the quality of the tape in due course. The judge advised
the defence lawyers to take note of portions of the four-and-a-half-hour tape
over which they had queries.
Ben-Menashe stunned the court when he
asked the court to "limit" his presence in court, saying he needed to attend
to "very serious" commitments.
The judge said while he appreciated
Ben-Menashe's concern the trial still had to proceed in accordance with the
rules of the court.
Tsvangirai, Welshman Ncube, the MDC
secretary-general, and Renson Gasela, the party's shadow minister of
agriculture, have pleaded not guilty.
On Tuesday, Ben-Menashe
exonerated Ncube as the only person who appeared not to be privy to the
alleged assassination and coup plot.
"The only person who seemed
surprised was the good professor," Ben-Menashe said as he was being led by
Deputy Attorney-General Bharat Patel in giving his evidence-in-chief. "He did
not seem to know anything about this."
Menashe said during the
meeting at the Dickens & Madson headquarters, Tsvangirai said the reason
he came to the meeting was to discuss the transitional process, the
presidential election and the post-transition programme.
He said
Tsvangirai said he would persuade the acting Vice-President to form a
transitional government with the MDC and that the MDC would get rid of
government ministers and buy off permanent secretaries once the party assumed
power.
Ben-Menashe said Rupert Johnson, who allegedly told Gasela
he acted for Dickens & Madson, attended the meeting as an MDC
representative.
RIOT police were called in to quell the situation at
Hillside Supermarket in Bulawayo when violence broke out in a maize-meal
queue.
Several people escaped with minor injuries when police
descended on the rowdy crowd which threatened to storm the supermarket and
grab the scarce commodity.
The disturbances, which occurred at
the weekend, started when consumers alleging they had written authority from
the police jumped the queue.
Those who had been in the queue for
long hours took exception to this.
"Some of the queue jumpers, who
were brandishing what they said were letters from the police, were assaulted
by the people in the queue," said one eyewitness.
The police
refused to comment on the incident. Meanwhile, as the shortage of
maize-meal in Bulawayo shops continues, the staple is readily available on
the black market, exposing loopholes in the distribution system. The
black market dealers sell the maize-meal in small packets of less than a
kilogram , for $200 each.
Some shop owners yesterday said they last
received deliveries of maize-meal more than four months ago.
But
Livingstone Mashengele, the chairman of the Matabeleland North maize
distribution task force, said maize deliveries in the province
were continuing.
Jabulani Sibanda, the ruling Zanu PF provincial
chairman, has clashed with other party officials over irregularities in the
distribution of maize-meal.
Senior Zanu PF officials have been
accused of diverting maize-meal for resale on the black market.
VENANCIO Dube, the city councillor for Ward 11 in Gweru, was
arrested and detained overnight at Mkoba Police Station after he allegedly
failed to account for more than 30 bags of maize-meal stashed at his
home.
The police raid came after the residents had accused their
councillors and senior Zanu PF officials of diverting maize-meal for resale
on the black market.
Although the details of his charges were
sketchy, officials at the police station confirmed Dube, of Zanu PF, was
detained in police cells last Thursday and released in unclear circumstances
on Friday.
"We will only release the full details of the charge
after completing our investigations," said an official at Mkoba Police
Station.
Eyewitnesses said after Dube's arrest, the police later
proceeded to his neighbour's home where they allegedly recovered 27 bags of
maize-meal.
Dube was not at home when The Daily News visited his
house in Mkoba 5. Several residents who spoke on condition of anonymity
applauded the police raid, saying it was long overdue.
In September last year, angry residents stormed the home of another Zanu PF
councillor, Michael Gara, to protest against the chaotic distribution of
maize-meal in the suburbs.
Councillors have now been given full
responsibility to collect maize-meal from the millers for distribution in
their respective wards.
SENIOR Zanu PF officials yesterday said President Mugabe
had no right to appoint his successor as Zanu PF leader.
Media
reports have said that he was seriously considering Emmerson Mnangagwa, the
Speaker of Parliament, as his successor.
Josiah Tungamirai, a
member of the ruling Zanu PF politburo and the former Air Force of Zimbabwe
chief, said in Harare a successor was chosen by the people and not by an
individual.
"Our party's constitution clearly stipulates that the
party president is chosen by the members and not by one person," he said.
"The president can then choose members of the politburo and his Cabinet not
his successor."
John Nkomo, Zanu PF's national chairman and the
Minister of Special Affairs in the President's Office, confirmed Tungamirai's
view.
He said there were no provisions in the Zanu PF constitution
giving the president the power to appoint a successor.
"Presidential candidates are nominated by the 10 provinces and the names are
presented before the party's congress," Nkomo said. "The president does not
appoint a successor. Normally he would not get involved. Every member of the
party is free to exercise their right in the election of their provincial
candidate.
"If the president has his own choice, then he has to
sell the name to the provinces, but that is unusual. I refer you to Article 5
of our party's constitution which stipulates that the National People's
Conference (NPC) has the power to declare the president of the party elected
at congress as the State presidential candidate of the party."
The membership of the NPC is drawn from the central committee, national
consultative assembly, council of the women and youth leagues, provincial
councils, co-ordinating committees and the district
executive councils.
On why Mnangagwa's name kept cropping up as
Mugabe's successor, Nkomo said: "That is allowed in a democratic state. I do
not know how or why, but people are entitled to their own opinions in a
democratic state."
Philip Chiyangwa, Zanu PF's chairman for
Mashonaland West province, said it was the responsibility of the provinces to
choose a successor.
"What is being said in the Press has nothing to
do with Zanu PF," he said. "It's not our style. We meet as provincial
chairpersons and nothing of that sort has been discussed yet. But according
to our party, the successor is chosen by the provinces. Mugabe is there until
2008 when his term expires."
Mnangagwa lobbied hard to become
Zanu PF's national chairman in 2001, but lost to Nkomo.
Despite
Mnangagwa's loss, Mugabe went on to appoint him Zanu PF's secretary for
administration in the politburo, the administrative body of the party's
central committee. Mnangagwa has long been viewed as Mugabe's blue-eyed
boy, earning the front-runner role as Mugabe's successor.
That
suggestion has been greeted with scorn and anger among most senior Zanu PF
officials.
Johannesburg's Business Day newspaper on Monday reported
that Tungamirai and Solomon Mujuru, the former Zimbabwe National Army
commander, were against Mugabe's choice of Mnangagwa as his
successor.
Tungamirai would not be drawn to comment on that, while
Mujuru could not be reached yesterday.
Mugabe was re-elected
president of the republic in the violence-torn March 2000 election and is
expected to leave office in 2008 after being in power for 28
years.
LUSAKA - Zambia will offer thousands of hectares of free
farmland in a bid to end persistent food shortages and encourage agricultural
exports, finance ministry officials said this week.
A pilot
project would start soon by offering 90 000 hectares of farmland in Serenje,
central Zambia, and 100 000 hectares in Kaoma, southern Zambian, Deputy
Finance Minister Patrick Kalifungwa told Reuters.
Agriculture
ministry officials said Zambia was looking to initially parcel out 1
000-hectare plots to commercial farmers with capital to start work
immediately - growing maize as well as fresh vegetables, fruit, flowers,
coffee and tobacco.
Only 2.7 million hectares of Zambia's 18.2
million hectares arable land is utilised.
With five rivers and a
high water table, Zambia is a prime target for irrigation farming and the
government is embarrassed that its people starve despite the huge farming
potential.
Kalifungwa said it was envisaged that any commercial
farmers who could support more than 1 000 hectares of land could get it as
the country moved to diversify its economy away from copper and cobalt
mining.
"If an investor wants 10 000 hectares and can show that
they have the capacity to till it, we shall give it to them. The idea is to
ensure that we start putting all our land to proper use," Kalifungwa
said.
In his budget last Friday, Finance Minister Emmanuel Kasonde
set aside US$2.9 million for electricity and roads in Kaoma and Serenje
districts.
Agricultural ministry officials said the government had
targeted some of Zimbabwe's white farmers, whose land was seized for blacks
by President Robert Mugabe.
More than 130 Zimbabwean white
farmers have bought parcels of land in Zambia and they will be eligible to
gain free land under the new programme.
"White farmers have shown
their commitment to land in Zimbabwe and we feel that Zambia could gain from
their professionalism," a senior government official told
Reuters.
A vast majority of Zambia's 11 million population are
urban dwellers who shy away from tilling land. The lack of a farming
tradition is partly blamed for food shortages in Zambia.
Some
14.4 million people in six southern African countries - Zambia, Zimbabwe,
Malawi, Mozambique, Lesotho and Swaziland - face critical food shortages
because of a combination of drought and poor farm management.
- Reuter
By
Zhean Gwaze Staff Reporter 2/6/03 1:29:50 AM (GMT +2)
JAMES Mubi, an unemployed school-leaver from Harare's high-density suburb of
Mabvuku, anticipates making as much as $45 000 from the cricket World Cup
games to be played in Zimbabwe this month.
He is in fact one of the
few Zimbabwean entrepreneurs looking forward with any enthusiasm to the six
games the International Cricket Council (ICC) has decreed will be played in
the country despite widespread international and local protest.
But Mubi's anticipation has nothing to do with the game of cricket itself. He
neither knows nor cares what the sport is about.
His enthusiasm is
reserved for the huge profit he will make when he exchanges five match entry
tickets he bought for $1 000 each for one of the most coveted commodities in
Zimbabwe today: hard cash.
The school leaver was lucky enough to
purchase five of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union's (ZCU) 7 000 tickets, which were
sold out within three days.
Mubi enthusiastically tells the
Financial Gazette that he plans to resell the tickets to desperate cricket
lovers at a much more inflated price than the ZCU ever intended.
He confessed: "I will be aiming to sell my tickets for at least US$5 and I
will get a windfall and cover my life expenses.
"I think it's a
reward for being prepared for this tournament because I will get a lot of
money when I change it on the parallel market."
While the
government has pegged the rate of the American greenback at $55 against the
Zimbabwe dollar, the US currency trades at between $1 500 and $1 800 on the
thriving parallel market for hard cash spawned by severe foreign exchange
shortages.
But while Mubi gleefully anticipates his windfall, it's
business as usual for most struggling Zimbabwean enterprises, which are not
expecting any surge in business during the cricket World Cup
games.
The games, which are to be co-hosted by Kenya, South Africa
and Zimbabwe, are being held in Africa for the first time.
The
ICC's decision to hold some of the matches in Zimbabwe has sparked local and
international outrage, with some Western countries pressing their teams to
boycott the games scheduled for Zimbabwe.
Several countries and
human rights org-anisations say holding six matches in the country will lend
credibility to the government of Zimbabwe, isolated from the international
community partly because of last year's disputed presidential election and
alleged government human rights abuses.
Some local civic bodies
have threatened to hold mass demonstrations during the cricket games, while
the opposition Movement for Democratic Change says it will wear black
armbands to commemorate the death of several Zimbabweans during political
violence in the last three years.
But as the final preparations are
made for the cricket tournament, the colour of choice for most local
businesses is red. Commentators this week said Zimbabwean consumer
enterprises, hotels and tourist resorts were more concerned with next week's
Valentine's Day than a tournament that would normally herald the influx of
thousands of international tourists.
A survey this week found that
most retailers, hotels and tourist resorts were not anticipating a large
number of international visitors and were therefore not making preparations
to attract their custom.
Transport operators said they were looking
forward to the games, but their ability to cash in on the foreign cricket
teams and their fans would depend on whether they had adequate fuel to ferry
them around Bulawayo and Harare, where the six Zimbabwe-hosted matches will
be held.
Stone sculptors and curio vendors, hard hit by the decline
in foreign tourist arrivals in Zimbabwe, are also anticipating a surge in
business during the cricket World Cup.
Music promoters, on the
other hand, are not marketing any shows as would normally be the case with
major soccer tournaments.
"There are no bookings for the tournament
and we are not expecting any customers because by now, people should have
made reservations," said an official from Harare's Sheraton Hotel, who spoke
on condition she was not named.
Hospitality sector officials
said the only hotels likely to benefit from the cricket games were the Crowne
Plaza Monomotapa in Harare and the Holiday Inn in Bulawayo, which they said
had arranged with the ZCU to accommodate all the foreign teams playing in
Zimbabwe.
Officials from the two hotels however declined to
comment, referring all questions to their head offices.
An
official with the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) said most hotels
were not making costly preparations for the cricket tournament because of the
possibility that matches might be moved elsewhere as a result of potential
unrest.
Although ICC security inspections have determined that
Zimbabwe is a "safe" venue, several teams remain uneasy about the security
situation in the country, especially because of planned
protests.
Australian cricketers were this week said to be due to
meet their country's high commissioner to Zimbabwe before deciding whether to
call for their match in Bulawayo to be switched for security
reasons.
The English team, which has already asked for its Harare
game to be moved to South Africa because of the political situation in
Zimbabwe, is said to be closely monitoring the Australian squad's
manoeuvres.
"Our main concern is with the significant numbers of
demonstrators planning to protest," Richard Bevan, head of England's
Professional Cricketers' Association told Reuters in London.
"Large numbers seem to be migrating into the cities due to the food shortages
in Zimbabwe and we are concerned about the level of police brutality during
the World Cup matches." The HAZ official told the Financial Gazette:
"For the industry, the tournament is an everyday event because of the
disagreements going on."
Several local nightclubs, already battling
declining clientele because of Zimbabwe's economic crisis, said it would also
be business as usual for them and they would not be running any promotions
that might not pay off.
Steven Mandebvu, a manager at a nightclub
in Mabelreign, said: "It's difficult to prepare for this tournament because
it's only a handful of foreigners that are coming into the country and they
cannot account for every Zimbabwean who can no longer afford to pay for
entertainment."
As for ordinary Zimbabweans, many who spoke to the
Financial Gazette said they were too busy trying to make ends meet to be
concerned about the cricket tournament. Most Zimbabweans have been hard hit
by food shortages, rising unemployment and declining living standards in the
past three years.
Violet Makoto of Harare said: "I cannot afford to
spend the whole day watching cricket while my family is without mealie meal
and bread."
THE government
has withdrawn charges against 41 white farmers hauled before the courts last
year when they failed to vacate their properties to make way for blacks
resettled under a controversial land reform programme, it was learnt this
week.
Colin Cloete, the president of the Commercial Farmers' Union
(CFU), which represents most of Zimbabwe's white farmers, said by the end of
last week, charges had been withdrawn against at least 41
farmers.
"So far six farmers in Beitbridge, 14 in Nyamandlovu, two
in Mutare and 14 in Marondera had their cases withdrawn," said Cloete, whose
case, together with that of four Chegutu farmers, has also been
dismissed.
The farmers were initially charged with contravening the
Land Acquisition Act, under which their properties were earmarked for
the resettlement of peasant and aspiring black commercial farmers in
the government's agrarian reforms.
White farmers were given 90
days in which to cease production and vacate their properties, and several of
those failing to do so were arrested and brought before the
courts.
Agriculture experts say the seizure of commercial farms has
combined with drought to cut food production by at least 60 percent and has
also worsened Zimbabwe's economic crisis.
The dismissal of the
charges follows the renewal of talks between the government and the CFU,
during which the Ministry of Agriculture is said to have promised white
farmers that those wishing to continue farming would be allocated
land.
Cloete told the Financial Gazette: "Let's just hope the
government is going to be genuine or maybe it has had a change of heart. If
we are given the chance we would like to go back (to the land).
"The economy is struggling and the food security is threatened. We need to
commit ourselves and save our country from these doldrums."
He said
even if farmers returned to their land, it was too late for them to have any
impact on agricultural output for the 2002-2003 season, during which
production is expected to fall by more than 50 percent.
"Personally, I have got settlers on the farm and I cannot do any farming. It
is too late to plant, maybe with the exception of the winter crop - that is
burley and wheat," Cloete said.
Analysts have also said it is
unlikely that commercial farmers will return to the land unless the
government provides them with concrete assurances that their properties will
not be seized from them again.
"The letters of charges withdrawal
do not constitute giving us the farms," the CFU president said.
"Next week they might give us a letter telling us to go back to court and get
off the farms. It's a hide-and-seek game and we do not know who will win," he
added.
Agriculture Minister Joseph Made declined to comment on the
matter this week. However, in a letter to the Public Prosecutor at the end of
last month, the civil division of the Attorney-General's Office made it
clear that charges against white farmers were being withdrawn because of
ongoing negotiations with the government.
Part of the letter
reads: "We refer to the above matter wherein we have been instructed by our
client, the Minister of Lands, to instruct you to withdraw criminal charges
against the above accused.
"The accused are currently engaged in
dialogue with the government and it is not in the direct interest of our
client to pursue the criminal charges at this stage."
TWO huts belonging to Johannes Nyamayedenga, Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation's Masvingo bureau chief were set ablaze yesterday by
some youths as the land dispute between the reporter and war collaborator,
Jabulani Mbetu worsens.
A group of youths led by Mbetu went to
Nyamayedenga's plot on Farm 12 a few kilometres east of Masvingo city and
chased away his worker before setting alight two huts on the
property.
The youths allegedly manhandled the worker and ransacked
the huts before burning them. Mbetu is claiming ownership to the piece of
land located near the banks of Lake Mutirikwi.
The two were
given the piece of land under the government's fast track resettlement
programme.
The police in Masvingo were yesterday dispatched to the
scene to assess the damages. Relations between Nyamayedenga and
Mbetu reached boiling point last month when the war collaborator demanded the
journalist's eviction.
However Nyamayedenga has insisted that he is
the legitimate owner of the piece of land which he said was allocated to him
by the district land committee. The land was given to the reporter after the
government audit team in August last year revealed that Mbetu was an absentee
land lord.
Masvingo district administrator Makanzwei Jecheche said
Nyamayedenga was legally given the land by the district land committee after
Mbetu had deserted the property. On the other hand Mbetu who is a
former Zanu PF mayoral aspirant is claiming that he was given the land long
back by the chief of the area.
Masvingo police spokesman Inspector
Learn Ncube said the law is going to take its course.
"We are
going to arrest anyone who is found to be on the wrong side of the law,"
Ncube said.
Meanwhile the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) said
it is fully behind Nyamayedenga and will take legal action against the war
collaborator.
ZUJ second vice-president Isdore Guvamombe said:
"Nyamayedenga is a Zimbabwean citizen who is entitled to a piece of land in
his country of birth. It is unfortunate that someone is taking the law into
his own hands. Justice must prevail."
And now to the Notebook . . . Third Chimurenga
journalism
2/6/03 1:19:00 AM (GMT +2)
World
Food Programme (WFP) director James Morris is one guy we are certain
now knows what we mean when we talk of Third Chimurenga
journalism.
Morris, you will remember, was up in arms two weeks ago
about a story in which the Herald alleged he had accepted the inevitability
of the chaos on Zimbabwe's farms, also known as the fast-track land
reforms.
After writing to the Herald's editor, Pikirayi Deketeke,
complaining that the state mouthpiece had misrepresented him in the story,
Morris got the shock of his life when Deketeke and company edited the very
letter of complaint itself to the extent that it now conveys a different
meaning altogether.
Morris had to dash off another letter to
Herald House which reads: "Thank you for publishing my letter to the editor
in the January 28 edition of the Herald, which was sent to correct a
misrepresentation of my meetings with government.
"However, I
note with concern the deletion by your paper of two key words in my original
letter. This edit changes its meaning, so I am obligated to request that you
publish this note and my letter of 25 January in its entirety.
"Specifically, I particularly stressed the importance of reaching former
commercial farm workers, as well as vulnerable populations in resettlement
lands, and those living in urban areas.
"The letter that appeared
in the January 28 edition omitted the words commercial farm workers. Instead
it refers to former workers. I am concerned with the plight of former
commercial farm workers and do not want my statements on this matter
distorted by the Herald."
Where are you Comrade
Mahoso?
Has Made been
flying
again?
After a 24-hour visit to Zimbabwe last
week, South African Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza told journalists in her
country that Zimbabwean government officials had admitted making a mistake by
taking too much land from the country's large-scale producing white
farmers.
A fact the South Africans have chosen to ignore in the
past because of their "hear no evil, see no evil" quiet
diplomacy.
But the reports of the Harare authorities' admission was
not what caught Mukanya's eye. What was most startling was the suggestion
that Zimbabwean officials had told Didiza that the country was expecting a
maize crop of 1.1 MILLION TONNES.
Are we to assume Made has been
flying again?
This is the same guy who last year circled the
country in an army chopper and by the time he touched down was convinced
Zimbabwe would have a bumper harvest.
After that, Made was deaf
to the results of proper food supply surveys carried out by the WFP and other
professional groups. As a result, the government was not quite prepared for
the reality of maize meal shortages.
Where will more than a million
tonnes of maize come from given how erratic the rainy season has been so far
and the fact that the so-called new A2 commercial farmers, by Made's own
admission, have not taken up all the land given to them to produce
food?
Our suggestion is that Made should be banned from flying in
the interests of Zimbabwe's food security.
Bribery
or
dialogue
So all this talk
about renewed dialogue between the government and white commercial
farmers is nothing but cheap bribery and political skullduggery.
It seems the government is desperate to bring the Commercial Farmers' Union
(CFU)'s leaders back to the negotiating table and hoodwink the Commonwealth
troika, the EU and everyone else in the progressive world into thinking that
it has finally seen sense.
So desperate in fact that the Ministry
of Agriculture is now willing to withdraw the charges preferred against the
very same white farmers that only last year it was calling the worst
criminals under the sun.
In a letter signed by the acting director
of the civil division at the Attorney-General's office, Loice Matanda-Moyo,
and marked to the attention of chief law officer Steven Musona, the lengths
to which the government will go are made patently clear.
Part of
the letter reads: "We refer to the above matter wherein we have been
instructed by our client the Minister of Lands to instruct you to withdraw
criminal charges against the above accused.
"The accused are
currently engaged in dialogue with the government and it is not in the
interest of our client to pursue the criminal charges at this
stage."
There you are CFU, go ahead and make an agreement with
these sharks and as they have done many times in the past, they will wriggle
out of it and resurrect those same charges against you once they think it no
longer serves their interest to let you off the
hook.
A Benz for
Midzi
please!
So Amos Midzi hasn't had the
ritual ministerial Mercedes Benz allocated to him yet. The unlucky fellow can
be seen driving around Harare in a Nissan hardbody truck just like any other
not-so-successful indigenous business guy.
The truck, however, is
rumoured to belong to the very cash-strapped Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (ZESA), which we hope would not be putting it to better
use.
Asked why he was using the ZESA truck, the Minister of Energy
could only say he had not been allocated a car yet and was using what
was available.
Mukanya hopes that this absence of a ministerial
Benz at Midzi's car park, instead of the easily blamed forex shortages, is
not the major reason behind the worsening of Zimbabwe's fuel crisis since the
man took over fuel procurement. The fellow could just simply be
de-motivated.
THE government contrived to make a spectacle of itself yet
again this week with its blatant attempts to intimidate Zimbabweans and
international observers from attending the opening of the treason trial of
three opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leaders.
Two journalists were arrested outside the High Court, while other reporters,
members of the public, parliamentarians, lawyers, MDC supporters and
diplomats were reportedly initially barred from the courtroom
by baton-wielding, gun-toting police officers.
It was only after
the intervention of Judge President Justice Paddington Garwe, following an
urgent application by the defence, that the proceedings were fully opened to
the public.
It is intriguing that the government - for it is only
the government that could have authorised the police action on Monday -
should resort to such heavy-handed tactics at a time the world's attention is
focused squarely on Zimbabwe ahead of the cricket World Cup
games.
Far from leaving well enough alone at a time the country is
under the world's spotlight as the expiry and renewal of European Union
smart sanctions loom and a crucial meeting of the Commonwealth troika draws
near, the ruling ZANU PF seems anxious to paint itself as the crude,
dictatorial and fascist government the international community believes it to
be.
The government, whose bull in a china shop tactics are
legendary, is increasingly acting as if skeletons in its closet are on the
verge of escape and is using whatever means are at its disposal to hold off
the reckoning for one moment longer.
Witness the over-reaction
last Wednesday to what should have been a simple meeting between the Harare
City Council and its ratepayers as well as the arrest of journalists and a
Bulawayo city councillor the day before for soliciting information about
Zimbabwe's food shortages.
The week before, officials of the
Lutheran World Federation, reportedly in the country on a humanitarian
mission, were detained "on suspicion of being undercover journalists" and
deported last Wednesday.
This tendency by ZANU PF to shoot itself
in the foot by unwittingly parading its own shortcomings for the world to see
must be a Godsend for the ruling party's detractors.
But the
treason trial of MDC leaders Morgan Tsvangirai, Welshman Ncube and Renson
Gasela is one case where the government cannot afford to use its strong-arm
tactics in an attempt to pervert the course of justice.
As damaging
as some of the defence's revelations are likely to be to ZANU PF, it is
nevertheless in the government's own best interests that this trial be
conducted in the full glare of the public eye.
The ruling party
will have to overcome its self-protective instincts because it is only by
allowing the nation to hear the evidence for itself and observe the manner
the trial is handled that all stakeholders can ascertain whether this very
important trial is fair and the rule of law prevails.
Any
attempt in the future to prevent Zimbabweans and other interested parties
from making up their own minds about the guilt or innocence of the MDC
leaders, based on whatever evidence is presented by the prosecution
and defence, will taint any court ruling that is against the opposition
party officials.
So too will any government efforts to hamper
the defence from fully pleading its case and presenting whatever witnesses
and evidence that can rebut the prosecution's claims.
Justice
must prevail and it must be seen to prevail by the entire nation and the rest
of the world.
Ndlovu proposes privately-run correspondence
university
2/6/03 2:55:11 AM (GMT +2)
BULAWAYO -
ZANU PF deputy national commissar Sikhanyiso Ndlovu has submitted proposals
to the government for the creation of Zimbabwe's first privately-run
correspondence university, it was learnt this week.
Ndlovu, who is
the former deputy minister for Higher Education, said the university, if
authorised by the government, would be known as the University Without Walls
(UWW).
He would not disclose how much money would be needed to
bankroll the project, but said the multi-million dollar university was likely
to open to the public in September.
"The idea was mooted in 1994
but was abandoned after President (Robert) Mugabe appointed me deputy
minister," Ndlovu told the Financial Gazette.
"I have
resurrected the idea and I can safely tell you that I have submitted my draft
charter with the relevant authorities in government.
"It (charter)
has been to the National Council for Higher Education for assessment. The
council has made recommendations and improvements on the charter. A committee
is looking into the issue raised and we will then send it for final
assessment to the National Council for Higher Education, which will send it
to the minister."
He said if the Higher Education Ministry approved
the charter, it would be forwarded to Mugabe for his
endorsement.
"It's only when the President has signed the charter
that the university will then open its doors to the general public," Ndlovu
said.
"I hope by September this year it will start operating. This
will be a multi-million dollar investment in education for our people. The
institute will have branches in all of the country's ten provinces but the
main centres will obviously be Bulawayo and Harare."
He said
when fully operational, the UWW would offer various degrees to about 30 000
people every year.
Ndlovu told the Financial Gazette that he would
be chancellor of the long-distance university.
"I will appoint
other staff such as the vice-chancellor, the bursar, the registrar among
others," he added.
The ZANU PF politician, who owns and runs the
private Zimbabwe Education College, was instrumental in the establishment of
the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) in 1998.
Several universities
have been opened in Zimbabwe since 1990, most being run by the government and
churches.
Mugabe is the chancellor of all the country's public
universities, which include the University of Zimbabwe in Harare, the
National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo, ZOU and Midlands
State University.
HARARE magistrate Caroline-Ann Chigumira yesterday threw
out the case against Job Sikhala, the MP for St Mary's and four others
charged with attempting to oust the government.
Meanwhile,
Advocate Charles Selemani who represented Sikhala and his colleagues was late
in court after he was arrested on allegations he was "an MDC
lawyer''.
In her ruling, Chigumira said there was no legal basis on
which to place Sikhala and the others on remand.
The State based
its case on a document allegedly written by Gabriel Shumba, one of the
co-accused in Chitungwiza on 13 January at Nyamutamba Hotel.
The
defence counsel led by Selemani admitted that the document was written by
Shumba but he was under duress and undue influence from the security
agents.
Chigumira said since the State had not opposed the defence
counsel's submission, there was no basis on which to place Sikhala, Shumba
and the others, Charles Mutuma, Taurayi Magaya and Gabriel Shumba's brother
Bishop, on remand.
Detective Garnet Shumba and a Masvingo police
officer from the law and order section, who were implicated in the torture of
Sikhala, did not show up at the court yesterday. Neither did the
case's investigating officer, a Ms Rwizi.
Chigumira said: "There is
no basis to place the accused on remand given that the defence counsel has
said the document which is forming the basis of the charge was written under
undue influence and duress.
"Such evidence at law is inadmissible.
The State outline left a lot to be desired. The police did not submit a
request for remand form but just an annexure attached to the outline of the
State case. The annexure is the document which the defence said was written
under undue influence."
The case was initially handled by senior
prosecutor Thabani Mpofu who has not been located for almost three weeks
now.
Sources say Mpofu might have fled the country in fear of his
life after he became the subject of alleged victimisation last month after
he told the court there was no connection between a burnt Zimbabwe
United Passenger Company bus and MDC youths brought to court. Sikhala and
his co-accused were initially implicated in the burning of the bus, before
the charges were changed to treason.
Chigumira said since the
State, now led by prosecutor Chifarayi Dube, had failed to bring the alleged
"torturers" of Sikhala to court, it could not tell what really
transpired. Selemani said the alleged torturers should have been
brought to court: "I am quite disturbed by the State's attitude which is
designed to conceal the identity of the torturers of my clients by failing to
bring them before this court."
Sikhala and the others were on
$30 000 bail each, while the MP and Shumba had been directed to surrender
their passports. They were told they could collect their bail and travel
documents from the Clerk of Court.
Selemani said: "I was walking
with my wife and we were approached by about seven policemen who said they
wanted to search me. "I was surprised and told them I was carrying some
privileged and confidential documents for my clients. "Then they
started to accuse me of being an MDC lawyer. They bragged that if they had
arrested the city mayor there was nothing to stop them from arresting
me."
Selemani said he insisted on being taken to the charge office
if the officers felt he had committed an offence.
"When we
arrived at the Harare Central Police Station, I was first taken to the law
and order section and later to the Internal Security Intelligence Section,"
Selemani said.
"The officers then dumped me there and I later
approached the officer-in-charge of the section to explain why I had been
brought to the station. He said he did not know."
SHUWA, shuwa, I had
nothing to do with it. God is my witness; sure, sure. It was Tim Docking's
idea, although my presence at the United States Institute of Peace in
Washington, D.C., might have inspired it. But once he mooted the idea of a
"Briefing" on Zimbabwe, I encouraged it.
The Institute of Peace is
a non-partisan outfit, a think tank of sorts, funded by the United States
Congress to research, think and discuss ways of resolving conflicts
peacefully around the globe; it also researches, thinks and discusses ways of
preventing conflicts from occurring.
The Institute's researchers
come from all over the world where there is conflict or a potentially
explosive situation. Marie Smyth from Northern Ireland is doing comparative
research on child soldiers in South Africa, Israel and Northern Ireland. She
is involved in the peace process in her perennially beleaguered
country.
Abstract topics about peace may be entertained. For
instance, we have a lady from England, Vivien Hart, who instead of
researching on how to prevent the bad blood between Blair and Mugabe from
deteriorating into armed conflict between Britain and Zimbabwe, is doing it
on constitution making as a way of preventing conflicts.
This is
24 years after the Lancaster House constitution that is partially the source
of Zimbabwe's problems! There are senior and junior fellows programmes so
that the effort is perpetually rejuvenated.
Docking is the person
in charge of, as it were, the "Africa desk" at the Institute's rather complex
bureaucracy. Every region is covered. Africa competes for attention with
other regions and there is intra-region competition.
For
instance within Africa, there is the "Sudan peace process" which is currently
the talk of the town, superceding Cote d' Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone,
Madagascar and Zimbabwe.
Former Sudanese Ambassador Francis Deng
(who is also a Fellow with the Institute) facilitates discussion on the Sudan
peace process. I have been to three "briefings" on the "Sudan peace process"
in less than a month, one of them hosted by the Institute of Peace, the other
two at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies where Deng
teaches with William Zartman, the acclaimed Africanist professor of conflict
resolution.
The Middle East seems to be the region that is
currently a top priority in the Institute's "briefings" calendar, with Iraq
and Afghanistan topping the list.
Hardly a week passes without
some sort of briefing on Iraq and Afghanistan. No wonder Tim and I soon had
apprehensions once the invites started going out.
First, was the
title of the briefing. I would have settled with "What future for Zimbabwe?"
but Tim thought "Mugabe's Zimbabwe" sounded and appeared more juicy. "It's
true; inyika ya VaMugabe zvedi," I thought to myself as I recalled: "Blair,
keep to your Britain and I keep to my Zimbabwe", the President declared at
last year's Earth Summit in Johannesburg. I did not want Tim to remind me of
this; so I let it pass.
The second hurdle was the speakers. We
finally settled for Walter Kansteiner, Assistant Secretary of State for
African Affairs. He is the advisor to the American Secretary of State, Colin
Powell, on African issues and how to prioritise them; our Ambassador to
Washington, Dr Simbi Mubako, responsible for telling the truth about our
country to the American government and people; Robert Rotberg, director of
African Studies at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University;
and myself.
The moderator was Dr Chester Crocker, who advised
former Secretary of State George Schultz on African affairs during the Ronald
Reagan's presidency. Would they come?
Tim asked me specifically
whether the ambassador would come? "Invite him and see. After all this is his
job. I like him; he is a very pleasant and non-assuming person," I said by
way of recommendation. He confirmed that he would be willing to speak. So did
Rotberg who had recently returned from a fact finding visit to Southern
Africa, Zimbabwe in particular.
Kansteiner was out in the field in
Africa, probably in the Sudan. He confirmed about four days before the
"briefing". I had no choice. My fellowship depended on it! Dr Chester
Crocker, who is also the chairman of the Institute's Board of Trustees had no
choice but to acquiesce to Tim's arm-twisting.
I would meet Tim
in the peaceful corridor of the Institute and ask, by way of encouragement:
"Any drop- out yet?" until the day of the briefing. Closer to the day, we
started worrying about attendance. A whole Assistant Secretary of State,
rushing from Africa to an empty conference room! A whole Ambassador! I was
particularly worried that he would ask me: "Ko, Professor, where are the
masses?" We were not particularly apprehensive about the reaction of Prof
Rotberg because he could legitimately brief me and Tim and we would call it a
day.
The conference room was full to capacity. Excess guests
watched the deliberations on the Institute's television set in the foyer
where chairs were provided for their comfort. So, through skill and luck, all
speakers came and the briefing was well attended.
Perhaps it was
not skill and luck. It may have been that the Zimbabwe issue still bothers
people in Washington. Dr Crocker was visibly pleased when he said at the end:
"We thought with all this media attention focused on Iraq, Zimbabwe may have
been forgotten. This attendance and participation has been
encouraging."
Briefly, this is my take on what was said at this
briefing.
Kansteiner did not mince his words about renewing US
sanctions against Zimbabwe. He stated the State Department position so
succinctly that there was no room to plead. In fact, sanctions are likely to
be expanded under this administration, which might be re-elected at the end
of 2004. Even if the democrats win, there is no consolation; it is under a
democrat administration that sanctions were introduced in the first
place.
So, unless Comrade Chimurenga of the December 12 Movement in
Harlem wins the next American presidential election, chances for a rethink
on sanctions are "from zero to non-existent", to borrow a phrase from
Professor Moyo. So, what are we waiting for?
For His Excellency
and his colleagues to come to terms with this reality and act responsibly.
What does acting responsibly entail? The issue is simply that, rightly or
wrongly, the thinking in this place is that President Mugabe is blocking
democracy and good governance. The theory that he will change and start doing
things the right way is too optimistic, to say the least. Only with a
different leader, albeit in ZANU PF, can the country move forward. I might
have to give in to this interpretation by western Mugabentologists. We may
have to concede that they know him better.
One more thing about the
Institute of Peace. There are Republicans and Democrats among its staff, but
hardly any faction fights, at least in the open, a feature of American
society we discussed and admired with Ambassador Mubako when I visited our
Embassy earlier on to make a courtesy visit on him. Ndinetsika! I have
manners!
lProfessor Masipula Sithole is a lecturer of
political science at the University of Zimbabwe and director of the
Harare-based Mass Public Opinion Institute.
ZIMBABWE has been
excluded from the British government-funded Elephant Trade and Information
Systems Fund, which is aimed at curbing the illegal trade in ivory in
southern Africa, it was learnt this week.
British Nature Protection
Minister Elliot Morley said the 60 000 pound fund would be disbursed to
Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
Zimbabwe, where elephant
poaching is rife, is conspicuously absent from the list of southern African
beneficiaries of the fund.
The country's National Parks and
Wildlife Management Authority deputy director, Vitalis Chadenga, this week
told the Financial Gazette he was unaware that Zimbabwe had been excluded
from the programme.
He said: "I am unaware of it so I can't really
say anything."
Zimbabwe was last November refused permission by the
United Nations' Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) to dispose of ivory stocks accumulated over several
years.
CITES said the country, which would have earned crucial
foreign currency through the ivory sales, did not have the capacity to
effectively monitor trade in its ivory because of corruption and political
instability.
According to wildlife industry experts, the country
has lost at least 50 percent of its wild animals because of poaching,
primarily blamed on ruling party supporters who have occupied wildlife
producing properties for the past three years.
The experts say
failure to effectively monitor and curb poaching could have contributed to
CITES' rejection of Zimbabwe's request for permission to trade in ivory and
other elephant products.
Botswana, Namibia and South Africa were
however allowed one-off sales of their ivory stockpiles.
Morley
said in a statement: "I recognise that those southern African states which
have stable and well-managed elephant populations will want to carry out
legitimate trade in elephant products.
"However there must be
robust monitoring systems in place first to prevent
exploitation."
The Elephant Trade and Information Systems Fund will
enable the three beneficiaries to buy equipment to monitor the movement of
elephants and elephant products.
Wildlife industry experts said
Zimbabwe's exclusion from the fund dealt another blow to the country's
attempts to monitor its 89 000-plus elephant population.
The
National Parks and Wildlife Authority, in charge of the country's state
wildlife sanctuaries, no-longer receives funds from the government and this
has put pressure on its capacity to monitor its elephant population and other
endangered species.
It has also failed to effectively curb the
poaching that followed the invasion in February 2000 of commercial farms by
government supporters and war veterans.
Zimbabwe is estimated to
have lost over 30 000 animals, worth more than $6.7 billion, to poaching
since the farm invasions.
BULAWAYO - A former
National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) official this week said the parastatal
might need at least US$100 million to overhaul its dilapidated rail network,
widely blamed for a head on collision at the weekend that caused 50
deaths.
Aggripa Madlela, NRZ chief manpower planning manager from
1988 to 1997, said the money was needed to replace the rail utility's
outdated signaling system, old diesel locomotives, the rail track
itself, telecommunications equipment and rolling stock, among other
infrastructure.
He said the parastatal needed to replace the 61 DE
(diesel electric) 10 engines and the 13 DE 11s it was using because their
life span had already expired.
Most of the infrastructure would
have to be imported from China and the United States of America, the rail
expert said.
According to state media reports, the government has
allocated the NRZ $500 million to improve its network. This is 300 times less
than the $150 billion that Madlela's estimated US$100 million would convert
to on the parallel market for hard cash, where most of Zimbabwe's foreign
currency deals are transacted.
On the official forex market,
which is severely short of hard cash, the NRZ's estimated requirements would
convert to $5.5 billion.
Madlela, who worked for the NRZ for 17
years, said the parastatal's workshops alone might need at least US$6 million
to stock up with spare parts for the broken down locomotives and coaches it
is unable to repair at the moment.
Serious foreign currency
shortages have hampered the import of spare parts, making it impossible to
repair some equipment.
"From my calculations as the former chief
planner, the parastatal needs in all about $150 billion in foreign currency
to rehabilitate the railways because of 20 years of neglect," Madlela told
the Financial Gazette.
"Everything, from rolling stock
to signaling equipment, locomotives and coaches has decayed.
"If
they don't look for this money, we will continue to have such disasters on
our railways," the former NRZ official said.
"The railways'
management has highlighted these issues over the years to the government but
nothing has changed. What we have are more and more accidents. The documents
are there for all to see."
Last weekend's head on collision of a
passenger and goods' train is one of several that have taken place on the
Bulawayo-Victoria Falls route since 1980. In 2000, 16 people were killed
along the route when two trains collided.
Last year, 22 people
were injured when a train derailed on the same route after hitting an
elephant.
According to reports on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting
Corporation (ZBC) on Monday, the NRZ experiences as many as 300 train
accidents, many of which are not reported to the public.
The
rail utility's acting general manager Munesuishe Munodawafa had not responded
to written questions from the Financial Gazette by yesterday, but he was
quoted in state radio and television reports this week blaming last weekend's
accident on a dilapidated rail network.
Madlela said: "Because
there is a shortage of everything at the company, technicians and engineers
have been told to be very innovative and improvise. This increases the
probability of an error and this accident was bound to happen because of
that."
The government has instituted a board of inquiry into the
rail disaster, while the ZBC has made veiled accusations against
opposition parties who have a "hold" over NRZ employees and could have
"pushed" or "forced" them into being negligent and causing the
accident.
Gibson Sibanda, the vice president of Zimbabwe's main
opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is a former NRZ
employee.
MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi yesterday dismissed
attempts to link his party to the train disaster, calling them "inhuman".
Zimbabwe's embattled
President Robert Mugabe is looking to Asia and the Far East for an economic
lifeline in the face of stiff Western sanctions and a worsening economic
crisis in his country.
Analysts say Mugabe may squeeze some help
out of his old socialist friends in China and from new allies in Malaysia,
Thailand and Singapore - but the key to staving off a deepening economic
crisis in his country lies in restoring viable relations with the
West.
Key Western donors - including the International Monetary
Fund and the World Bank, Nordic countries and the United States - cut aid to
Zimbabwe three years ago over Mugabe's controversial land seizures, his
poor management of the economy and a crackdown against the
opposition.
Zimbabwe has been cultivating financial and trade ties
with the Middle East, China and southeast Asian countries since 1998. But the
need for other sources of aid has intensified since Western sanctions started
to bite in the last year.
"I would not say it is desperate, but
it is certainly very urgent and vital that we have a bigger circle of friends
and economic relations with those countries which are not trying to control
us or to re-colonise us," said one senior official who declined to be
named.
"We need friends who treat us as equals and with dignity,
and we need to develop economic relationships in which there are mutual
benefits," the official said.
"These friends and relationships
are not just found in the West as some businesses would want us to believe,
but they are also found in the East and around the world."
Aside
from its traditional role as one of Zimbabwe's main arms suppliers, China has
increased tobacco imports from the southern African country, and invested in
Zimbabwe's construction industry and water projects.
Malaysia
has extended small but critical loans to Zimbabwe for fuel imports and
invested in joint ventures in housing and factory shell construction.
Singapore has looked at marketing electrical goods and Thailand at joint
investments in agriculture and tourism.
Mugabe recently took a
two-week holiday in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore which was slammed by
critics as a wasteful joy-ride. The government said the holiday was a useful
follow-up to strengthen business ties.
Mugabe's drive to seize
white-owned farms for black resettlement, his controversial re-election last
year, and other governance issues have crippled relations between Zimbabwe
and its Western donors, including former colonial ruler Britain.
Harare accuses Britain of leading a "racist" campaign to isolate
the president and sabotage Zimbabwe's economy in order to maintain
white economic dominance in southern Africa.
British Prime
Minister Tony Blair's government has rejected the charge, saying it would not
be in its interests to sabotage an economy in which 300 British companies
still dominate.
Mugabe's re-election last March was condemned as
fraudulent by the opposition and many Western countries, including Britain
and the US. The government says the polls were free and fair.
Allegations of human rights abuses, and favouritism in food distribution have
only worsened political relations.
Last year the United States and
European Union imposed travel and financial restrictions on Mugabe and dozens
of officials and supporters of his ruling ZANU-PF party.
Earlier
this month, a senior US official said Washington planned to tighten sanctions
on Mugabe's inner circle.
EU politicians are arguing over whether
to extend their sanctions for another year, but there are signs the
restrictions are hurting Zimbabwe's elite - which according to recent
newspaper reports have put pressure on Mugabe's government to end the
stand-off with the West.
Analysts say it could take a few years for
stronger trade links with south Asian countries to pay off - leaving the
country scrambling for immediate help.
"For now Zimbabwe needs
urgent credit lines and can only get these by restoring and maintaining sound
relations with Western donor countries and organisations," said one African
diplomat based in Harare.
"It will be difficult but not
impossible," he added.
John Robertson, one of Zimbabwe's leading
political economic commentators, said Mugabe's efforts to rebuild a crumbling
economy with assistance from the East will not go far, or at least not far
enough.
The economy is in its fourth year of recession, and
Zimbabwe is grappling with severe food, fuel and foreign currencies
shortages. Inflation, unemployment and poverty levels have all reached record
highs.
Analysts say the economy is likely to get worse this year if
Mugabe presses on with the land campaign and maintains sweeping price
controls that have crippled a number of local industries.
"These
countries don't have the kind of hard cash that Zimbabwe is looking for and
when they have it, they can only offer a one-off kind of assistance and not
the sustainable flows we require," he said.
THE star
prosecution witness in the treason trial of Zimbabwe's main opposition leader
said yesterday he suspected a man implicated in an alleged plot to
assassinate President Robert Mugabe was a US agent.
Ari
Ben-Menashe, a Canadian-based political consultant, told the High Court that
a man named Edward Simms from a group dubbed "Team America" took part in a
videotaped meeting with Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan
Tsvangirai.
Ben-Menashe said he believed the term "Team America"
was a code name for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Tsvangirai and two MDC colleagues face the death sentence if convicted in a
trial that has sharpened international scrutiny of Mugabe, already under fire
from Britain and other Western nations. They accuse him of rigging his
re-election, repressing political opposition and compounding food shortages
by seizing white-owned farms.
The treason trial has also raised
tensions in Zimbabwe. Riot police tussled with reporters and diplomats
outside the court as the proceedings began on Monday.
Yesterday's session reviewed a video recording of the meeting involving
Ben-Menashe, Tsvangirai and Simms in Montreal in December 2001, just months
before Tsvangirai challenged Mugabe in a presidential election.
Referring to Simms, Ben-Menashe said he told Tsvangirai that work had been
done "to get these guys on your side to do the elimination on
your behalf".
It was not clear from Ben-Menashe's testimony
whether there was evidence linking Simms to the CIA.
Tsvangirai's defence lawyers told the High Court when the case began on
Monday that Ben-Menashe was an unreliable witness.
The defence said
there was no man called Edward Simms working as deputy director of the CIA in
Africa.
State prosecutors say the videotape of the meeting is proof
that Tsvangirai sought to arrange Mugabe's assassination in hopes of sparking
a coup d'etat.
MDC secretary general Welshman Ncube and another
party official, Renson Gasela, face the same charge.
All three
have denied plotting to kill Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since independence
in 1980 and has recently tightened his grip as the country sinks into an
economic crisis.
Defence lawyers, led by famed South African human
rights attorney George Bizos, claim the video was altered to implicate the
MDC and discredit the opposition before presidential elections last
March.
Ben-Menashe testified on Tuesday that he had signed a
contract with Ncube to arrange Mugabe's assassination, and then went on to
alert Harare to the alleged plot. -Reuter
FOUR members of the
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) who were arrested in Marondera on
Monday on allegations of attempting to overthrow the government through
unconstitutional means were released yesterday.
Dr Lovemore
Madhuku, the NCA chairman said the charges against them were
dropped. "'This is a clear case of harassment. They detained them for
no apparent reason,"' he said.
The four are Bopoto Nyandoro, the
NCA regional chairperson, Patience Nhlazi, NCA field officer, Esnath Kadzomba
an office assistant and Malani Zilela an NCA activist, all from Mashonaland
East.
The NCA said the four were picked up at around 12pm on Monday
and were detained under section 15 of the infamous Public Order and Security
Act (POSA) that lays charges against attempts to illegally overthrow
the government through unconstitutional means.
In another
matter, the organisation said on Saturday the police in Bulawayo picked up
and harassed the NCA regional chairperson, Justin Ndlovu, NCA Bulawayo field
officer, Anastasia Moyo and an NCA driver, Talitha Dube.
In a
statement yesterday, the NCA said the three were picked up at around 10am and
were released at around 12pm on the same day. They were allegedly harassed
and asked a barrage of questions to do with NCA activities, its funders and
the demonstrations scheduled for 8 February.